Hong Kong: HK expands tax pact network

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui

On behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, I signed a comprehensive avoidance of double taxation agreement (CDTA) with the Government of Bangladesh today. The Agreement will reduce the withholding tax rates for certain passive income in Bangladesh, which will in turn help minimise the tax costs for Hong Kong businesses investing in Bangladesh, thereby facilitating the trade and economic development in both places. Together with the CDTA with Bangladesh, Hong Kong has now signed CDTAs with 47 economies.

When expanding the coverage of Hong Kongs CDTA network, the Government has on one hand sought to sign CDTAs with Hong Kongs major trading and investment partners, while on the other hand striving to initiate negotiations with emerging economies with potential for growth in bilateral trade and investment. This is conducive to consolidating our relationship with our established trading partners while fostering links with new trading partners with a view to helping our enterprises tap vast business potential in new markets.

Among our top 20 trading partners, 15 are Hong Kongs current treaty partners, which accounted for over 70% of Hong Kongs total trade last year. This illustrates that our work in expanding Hong Kongs treaty network meets the practical needs of our business community. Twenty-nine of our treaty partners, including Bangladesh, are tax jurisdictions participating in the Belt & Road Initiative. Among them, member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Middle East countries are important Belt & Road markets of Hong Kong as well as one of our key focuses in expanding Hong Kongs CDTA network. At present, Hong Kong has entered into CDTAs with six Member States of ASEAN (namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam) as well as four countries of the Middle East region (namely Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates).

The COVID-19 epidemic over the past three years inevitably posed difficulties to our work in signing and negotiating CDTAs with other tax jurisdictions. Nevertheless, we have not slowed down or halted our efforts to expand the CDTA network. During the epidemic, we conducted negotiations with eight countries via virtual meetings. After the epidemic, we immediately resumed face-to-face negotiations with our partners. We have just commenced negotiations with Azerbaijan, and will soon commence negotiations with a few countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

This year, the Hong Kong SAR Government also sought the approval of the Legislative Council to create a permanent directorate post in the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) dedicated to expanding the CDTA network in a more strategic manner. Compared with the average in previous years of commencing negotiations with two to three tax jurisdictions every year, the Government aims to double the output of our negotiating work with the strengthened directorate support in the IRD. In particular, the focus will be on tax jurisdictions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and emerging markets such as ASEAN, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.

In view of the challenging external economic environment, the expansion of the CDTA network is no easy task. The decision to commence negotiations and the progress of negotiations depend primarily on the CDTA policy of our negotiation partners. Notwithstanding this, our efforts never stop. We will continue to actively strive to conclude the negotiations with our negotiation partners with a view to signing the CDTAs as early as possible. Through setting out the allocation of taxing rights between two tax jurisdictions and providing relief on tax rates in respect of different types of income, CDTAs facilitate investors in better assessing the potential tax liabilities of their economic activities, thereby creating a more favourable business environment for enterprises and helping Hong Kong enterprises venture into overseas markets. Foreign enterprises also need not worry about being double taxed when doing business in Hong Kong, which will attract them to establish or expand their business here.

The Hong Kong SAR Government will continue to step up efforts to expand our CDTA network, and actively identify suitable trading and investment partners to commence negotiations. To help us accelerate the expansion of the CDTA network, I very much welcome your views in this regard, such that we can further enhance the attractiveness of Hong Kong as a business and investment hub, and jointly consolidate Hong Kongs status as an international economic and trade centre.

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui wrote this article and posted it on his blog on August 30.

This story has been published on: 2023-08-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
America's perspective on China has been mistaken

09:03, August 30, 2023 By Xu Ying ( Chinadaily.com.cn

The complex China-US relationship sits at a historic inflection point. As strategic rivalry intensifies, voices across the world are questioning long-held assumptions underpinning Washington's hawkish turn against Beijing. On August 11th, Bloomberg's chief economist Tom Orlik argued that America's perspective on China has been profoundly mistaken. Current policies rooted in notions of containment rest on a flawed understanding of China's true ambitions. By pursuing cooperation in spheres of mutual interest, ties could regain a constructive trajectory.

Orlik contends the view of China as a threat to US hegemony is misguided. America has rallied partners to restrict China's rise, fearing its development model as a challenge to the liberal world order. But in reality, China's goal is recovering its historic status as a leading power, not supplanting American dominance. Its ideology and domestic policies do not inherently undermine America's global standing. In fact, China's growth creates openings for win-win collaboration.

A key misperception is conflating China with the Soviet Union. Whereas the Soviets sought to export communist revolution, China aims primarily to lift its population out of poverty. Two systems can coexist peacefully without inevitable confrontation. America must abandon the 'Cold War mentality' of containment and accept China's resurgence as legitimate. Progress requires nuance, not shoehorning China into Western norms.

Economically, the US underestimates China's resilience against technology and trade restrictions. Its vast domestic market can sustain high growth rates even while decoupling from the West. Attempts to stifle China's rise will only fracture supply chains and harm American consumers. Washington must reorient its zero-sum economic paradigm to accommodate China's rightful place in the global economy.

Orlik advises recalibrating ties based on shared interests. On climate, health and nuclear issues, China and the US have convergent priorities. But in its zeal to outcompete China, Washington disregards overlapping goals. Diplomatic coordination on pressing regional crises can also unlock quiet progress out of the spotlight. America must recognize where mutual interests align and build goodwill through pragmatic cooperation.

For progress, blind antagonism must give way to nuance and communication. America cannot impose its worldview on China. But channels exist for positive-sum engagement if Washington abandons coercive policies. Orlik suggests leaders survey ties with fresh eyes, untethered from ideological biases that see conflict as inevitable. Therein lies hope of forging a constructive modus vivendi.

Significantly, Orlik's views reflect currents within America's policy circles questioning the combative stance against Beijing. As a Western economist breaking from the consensus narrative, his insights deserve our attention. They lend credence to China's perspective and could be referenced to realign ties.

Of course, realism is needed. Structural tensions rooted in distrust and power asymmetry will persist. But Orlik's call of retuning relations away from antagonism and towards cooperation signals room for optimism. And as domestic attitudes evolve, political possibilities expand. With skillful diplomacy and messaging, both Beijing and Washington could foster a climate where stabilizing relations becomes thinkable.

Some in Washington already argue China ties need not be a zero-sum game. Avoiding Thucydides's trap requires political courage to break old paradigms, but brings ample rewards. Handled deftly, this moment of turbulence can illuminate a path forward built on mutual respect for two great civilizations. Therein lies the kernel of a constructive relationship: not inevitable conflict between rival systems, but peaceful coexistence between equals in a multipolar world.

In conclusion, Orlik's perspective provides a window into emerging fissures within America's China narrative. As Washington's policies reach their limits, more voices are questioning the logic of containment. We must actively promote alternate framings centered on engagement, not antagonism. While challenges persist, by channeling these winds of change, we could gently steer relations towards calmer seas.

The author is a Beijing-based commentator. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
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When Brett Kern was 2 years old, his younger sister was born. As a reward for his good behavior during his first visit to the hospital, his parents gave him an inflatable plastic dinosaur  the kind that were ubiquitous during the 1980s.

In 2012, Kern and a fellow artist were organizing a dinosaur-themed art show. He found one of the cheap toys and slip-cast it in ceramic, a mold-making process to re-create an object multiple times. It was just an idea that popped into his head, based on that fond memory. He produced some more, and galleries called him back and asked him for a re-supply.

I never envisioned they would become what they were, he said.

People collect as many species as he can make, often in a specific color. Or a particular species in multiple colors.

***

For Future Fossils, open now at the Radius Gallerys Clayworks ceramic gallery, hes sharing more than 50 sculptures in 13 species. The title alludes to his technique  molding a sculpture based on a plastic toy.

Youre turning this object into stone, which is basically what the fossilization process is, he said. This item of pop culture in my youth, in my memories, is now like a permanent rock object that will last, he said.

The dinosaurs boast charmingly simplified shapes that remove all sense of intimidation (teeth and claws) in favor of inviting glee. They come complete with gold-lustered nozzles and curving wrinkles around their fake plastic seams, carefully arranged on a multi-level tiered display, custom-made just for them.

On the larger end, size-wise, are the long-necked brontosaurus and brachiosaurus, if you prefer herbivores. Predator fans, look out for the T. rex. Mammals arent excluded: There are woolly mammoths, too. The ichthyosaur represents the oceanic species. For a deep-cut, see the long-necked and fiercely armed therizinosaurus, which had its first modern appearance in Jurassic World Dominion.

Lisa Simon, the gallerys co-owner, said theyve watched people's reactions to them, now and during a 2021 exhibition that included his work.

There is definitely a literal sense of tromp loeil  to trick the eye  that happens when you see them," Simon said. "Bretts work provides such a good example of how art activates the mind; just looking at it brings up a whole bunch of questions: How is it made? Is it a balloon? Is it hard or soft? Do the pieces come apart? Does the plug work?

Those naturally lead to other questions of why, and eventually just to simple delight, marvel, wonder," she said.

Kern, who continued collecting toys into his teens when it was not a particularly cool thing to be doing, said it seems to have become accepted again. Oddly enough, hes now found himself turning these serious adults who collect art into, essentially, toy collectors. They now have their shelf, with their collection on it, because of these pieces."

Not only that, it seems that it "gives them permission to do it, too, because theyre fancy art objects. Theyre not cheap, plastic items.

Career turns toward the prehistoric

While this isnt a direction that Kern, a lifelong fan of pop culture from his youth, had figured for himself, its proven successful. The Radius display includes a checklist of the 13 smaller dinosaur species, since some collectors want them all. He has an avid fan in Spain who bought one of each, in red. An early sign, from 2012, that he was onto something: Actress Jennifer Garner bought a large, deep purple stegosaurus and showed it off during a live webcast from her home.

He changed his method early on, too. For the early pieces, he made molds of toys he bought. That quickly became limiting, and raised issues of appropriation. What you see now are wholly original creations: He draws designs and assembles his own inflatables from vinyl, then casts individual pieces: legs and torsos. The Triceratop's protective frill is so thin you might also assume its plastic rather than clay.

Its the second time hes shown work in Missoula, after a 2021 inclusion in the Ceramics Invitational. Kern is based in Pennsylvania, but has some ties to Montana. He spent a year at the Red Lodge Clay Center as a long-term resident.

For the occasion, he made a new dinosaur: A maiasaura, a duck-billed dinosaur that in his rendering is hatching from an egg. (He likes to premiere a new species with a little something extra.)

The duck-billed dinosaur was discovered in 1978 by paleontologist Jack Horner, west of Choteau.

It had both eggshells and a baby along with an adult, which indicated to him that the adult cared for its young, hence the name, which translates to good mother lizard.

It's the first dinosaur that was named in the feminine, he said.

***

Pop culture figures show up elsewhere in his work, although not in this particular Radius show. In an ongoing project called The Hellenistic Series, he adapts figures like Alf, Weird Al and more into the forms of classical sculpture. Think Sylvester Stallones Rocky in the pose of The Boxer at Rest or Raphael, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (not the artist), in the defeated, reclining pose of The Dying Gaul.

Like the dinosaurs, the references conjure an air of recognition in the viewer, but have a specific undercurrent for Kern. For instance, Alf, the furry alien of a show of that name, has been transported into the shows of Boy Strangling Goose.

Theyre personal works, with the character standing in for the artist. During a period where he was having some difficulties related to his teaching work, Alf emerged as his stand-in, almost like someone communicating through a meme.

Alf is this big-hearted character who's trying to help, and then everything he does is turned around against him, Kern said.
Visit theroxytheater.org for up-to-date screen times.

Opening

Bottoms

Lesbian best friends start a fight club in their high school so they can lose their virginity to cheerleaders, and, surprisingly, their plan works. But when things get out of hand, the two need to find a way out before their ruse is exposed. Rated R. Stars Ayo Edebiri, Rachel Sennott and Kaia Gerber. A lot of critics are calling this movie "the queer 'Fight Club,''' but we already have a queer "Fight Club." Its called "Fight Club." Opening Friday, Sept. 1.

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Our summer-long Coen retrospective comes to an end with a week-long run of the greatest movie about bowling ever made. The Dude and his bowling buddies get caught up in an unforgettable case of mistaken identity. As long as there are White Russians, Im down for whatever, man. Rated R. Stars Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi. Opening Friday, Sept. 1.

Continuing

Barbie

Barbie has it all: A Dreamhouse, a pink 1956 Corvette and a whole collection of friends. But when she realizes that life in plastic isnt as fantastic as she thought, she and her himbo boyfriend set out on a quest to find answers. Rated PG-13. Stars Glitter Hair Barbie, Jam N Glam Barbie, Ocean Friends Barbie and Will Ferrell, who I am almost certain is playing his same character from The Lego Movie.

Oldboy

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of a true cinematic masterpiece, Park Chan-wooks tale of revenge returns to theaters on a newly restored and remastered cut. After being kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years, a businessman suddenly finds himself in a twisted game of cat and mouse. I relate to this movie because I, too, make horrible decisions at sushi restaurants. Rated R. Stars Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae and Kang Hye-jeong.

Special screenings

Her (2013)

The Roxy celebrates its 10th anniversary as Missoula's community cinema with a month of special screenings and events. We asked our patrons to vote for their favorite film from each year of our operation, and were showing each years favorites. We start in 2013. Not only were we reminding everyone that "You Only Live Once," but we traveled to the near future with Spike Jonzes sci-fi romantic drama about a man falling in love with his computer's artificial intelligence virtual assistant. I hope she likes ironic mustaches. Rated R. Stars Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams and Olivia Wilde. Playing Saturday, Sept. 2 as the kickoff to "The Roxy at 10: Celebrating a Decade of Missoulas Community Cinema."

Sorcerer (1977)

Last month, director William Friedkin, the controversial auteur behind "The French Connection," "The Exorcist," and "The Boys in the Band," passed away at 87. To honor his career, were showing his true masterpiece, one of the tensest movies of all time. Four outcasts take a job driving unstable boxes of poorly aged dynamite across rickety rope bridges in South America. That sounds like a pretty scary job, but if it has health insurance, Im in! Rated R. Stars Roy Scheider, Chico Martinez and Bruno Cremer. Playing Tuesday, Sept. 5, as part of MTFF Presents.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The next installment of "The Roxy at 10" takes us to 2014. We were all spending money on celebrity iPhone games, dyeing our armpit hair and taking a trip to "The Grand Budapest Hotel." Wes Anderson, the director of the films you either love or hate, presents the story of a famed concierge who is framed for the murder of a wealthy dowager. Rated R. Stars Ralph Fiennes and all the other people youd expect to see in a Wes Anderson movie. Playing Wednesday, Sept. 6.
Here's some business news in the Missoula area:

The Montana Department of Commerce has announced that application periods for four grant programs aimed at bolstering tribal business development and strengthening Indigenous entrepreneurship in Montana are now open. The grant funding is provided by Commerces Office of Indian Country Economic Development.

These initiatives underline Commerces dedication to provide not just funding, but a platform for innovative ideas to flourish, businesses to expand and traditions to thrive, said Scott Osterman, director of the Montana Department of Commerce. "Through these grants, tribal businesses are empowered to drive innovation, create opportunities and shape a prosperous future for their communities."

Small business owners who are enrolled members of Montanas tribal nations are invited to apply for the Indian Equity Fund Small Business Grant, an initiative aimed at fortifying the growth of small-scale enterprises. The grant is for expanding the scope of Indigenous entrepreneurship and enhancing local economic vitality. The IEF grant currently has $320,000 of funding available. Application period: Sept. 1-Oct. 31, 2023.

The Native American Business Advisor grant presents an opportunity for aspiring Indigenous entrepreneurs to access expert guidance, mentorship and resources to kick-start their business ventures. The program is designed to "provide a solid foundation for success and sustainability in the competitive business landscape." The NABA grant currently has $160,000 of funding available. Application period: Sept. 1-Oct. 16, 2023.

The Tribal Business Development Grant offers tribal governments or tribally owned businesses a unique opportunity to secure funding for shovel-ready projects that will drive economic prosperity and sustainability. This grant empowers Montanas tribally owned, for-profit business enterprises to expand, diversify, flourish and ultimately contribute to the overall progress of tribal communities. The TBDG grant currently has $240,000 of funding available. Application period: Sept. 15-Oct. 25, 2023.

In recognition of the significance of tribal culture and heritage in promoting tourism, the Tribal Tourism Grant was established to support tribal initiatives that enhance tourism offerings and showcase the rich traditions of Indigenous communities. The grant funding empowers tribes to share their stories and attract visitors, ultimately contributing to economic growth and cultural exchange. The TTG grant currently has $120,000 of funding available. Application period: Oct. 1-Nov. 30, 2023.

The Spruce Street Studio located at 500 E. Spruce St. Suite A in Missoula will be holding a special First Friday event on Sept. 1.

From 5-8 p.m., owner Thomas Diess will be hosting an event for Fran McDermott, who owns Tanuki-san Quilts. McDermott creates antique kimono silk quilts, and they'll be on display.

Quilts Kimono quilts will be available at the Spruce Street Studio.

"Fran's kimono silk quilts will cover all wall space here for the month of September, something I have been wanting to do for some time," Diess said. "She has found many fans and collectors of her work here in town since she entered the studio, and is also kept quite busy with custom work and commissions. This will be her first full gallery show in Missoula."

The Boys and Girls Club of Missoula County will be hosting its third annual Blue Door Banquet on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 5:30 p.m. in the UC Ballroom on the University of Montana campus.

Get ready to celebrate 25 years of dreams realized at the Boys & Girls Club of Missoula County," said CEO Kristian Stipe. "Our 25th-anniversary soiree, inspired by Dr. Seuss, promises an evening of whimsy and wonder. For a quarter-century, we've been crafting memories, nurturing potential, and turning ordinary moments into extraordinary journeys for our future leaders."

There will be a three-course feast and costumes inspired by Dr. Seuss are encouraged, but not mandatory.

For information and tickets go online to bgcmissoula.org/blue-door-banquet or contact Bailey Bristol at bailey@bgcmissoulacounty.org.

Birdie Thatcher, an interior design company in Missoula, is moving locations from 333 N. Higgins to 2000 S. Higgins.
In the wake of a double-fatal shooting in Superior on Sunday, a man is facing felony charges accusing him of killing both his wife and a local bartender.

Kraig W. Benson, 47, is charged with two felony counts of deliberate homicide, according to court documents filed in Mineral County on Tuesday. If convicted, he faces a possible maximum of two life terms in prison.

The victims were identified by authorities as Jennifer Savage Benson, 49, and Logan Gardner, 43, both Superior residents. A GoFundMe was set up for their families. Jennifer is survived by her two daughters, and Logan by his brother and nephew.

At about 9:23 p.m. on Sunday, a 911 call came into Mineral County dispatch for two people fighting and shots fired at the Four Aces Bar in Superior. The caller said two people died inside the bar and roughly 10 gunshots were heard. He reported the suspect left in a dark-colored Chevrolet Tahoe, according to charging documents.

Authorities put out a warning to surrounding counties to be on the lookout for the suspect car.

Deputies arrived at the bar and found a man dead, lying face-down behind the bar. The victim was recognized as Logan Gardner, a Superior resident and Four Aces bartender, charging documents stated. Deputies learned a second gunshot victim, later identified as Jennifer Benson, was transported by Superior fire and medical personnel to the Mineral Community Hospital. She died at the hospital.

Surveillance footage reviewed by officials showed a man and woman sitting next to each other at the bar. The mans physical appearance matched that of a description provided by a witness for the suspect who left in the Tahoe.

At about 9:19 p.m. the man, suspected to be Benson, allegedly reached into his waistband, pulled out a gun and shot the woman in the head. As the woman fell off the barstool, charging documents allege Benson turned and fired several times at the bartender, identified as Logan Gardner.

Prosecutors accuse Benson of subsequently taking off in the Tahoe, which spurred a brief pursuit. Authorities asked Superior residents to stay locked inside their homes on Sunday evening. Around 11 p.m. Benson was found and arrested by Missoula County deputies on Highway 12, west of Lolo, according to charging documents.

The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation was called in to investigate the case. They found several pieces of evidence at the bar, including fired cartridge casings, fired bullets, broken glass and a gun on the bar.

According to the Mineral County District Court clerks office, a hearing date for Bensons initial appearance has yet to be scheduled. He's not facing any charges in Missoula. An arrest warrant issued for Benson requests a $5 million bail.

"The community of Superior and those who call it home are riveted by this unsurmountable loss and are striving to come together as a community to overcome this horrific tragedy and support the victims' families," the fundraiser page states.
High temperatures in the 90s with winds gusting to 35 mph kicked up a grass fire northeast of Pryor Tuesday afternoon that threatened homes and outbuildings.

Yellowstone County Sheriffs deputies went door-to-door along Pryor Creek Road suggesting residents voluntarily evacuate, said BIA fire duty officer Karl Big Hair.

According to the Montana Fire Info website, the fire had grown to more than 10,000 acres by 7:30 p.m. and was 0% contained. The fire quickly grew to become the third largest fire in the state, according to Fire Info.

Non-residents have been asked to stay out of the area and Pryor Road has been closed.

Numerous fire engines from Yellowstone and Big Horn counties and numerous aircraft were assisting in controlling the blaze

The fire apparently began in the area southeast of the junction of Pryor Creek Road and Blue Creek Road, Big Hair said.

Farmers were harvesting dryland grain where the fire started about 1:20 p.m. on farmed flats east of Pryor Creek Road, four miles northeast of Pryor, he said.

The fire was human caused, Big Hair added.

The first engine on scene reported the blaze at 100 acres at about 1:30 p.m.

Hot, dry winds fanned fanned the fire over the graveled Hay Creek Road with 10-foot flames at about 3:40 p.m.

Construction workers wisely left the area, said Big Hair. A bulldozer, five more engines and water tenders were enroute to help secure the rear of the fire at 5:30 p.m.

A National Weather Service fire meteorologist wrote: It will be very windy at the fire site over the next 24 hours Wind will persist overnight, with gusts to 40 mph. With the dry cold frontal passage Tuesday night, winds should shift clockwise to blow from the west, then from the northwest by morning, driving the fire away from the inhabited valley of Pryor Creek.

Across the state, there are at least 35 fire burning, 11 of those were reported in the last 24 hours, According to Montana Fire Info. The largest is the 20,000-acre Niarada fire in Lake and Flathead counties. The River Road East fire near Plains in Sander County is 26% contained at 17,227 acres. Firefighters are also battling the 7,276-acre Big Knife Fire that is mostly in Missoula County.

Most of the fires are in the western parts of the state, although there are three in Rosebud County and one each in Richland, McCone and Valley counties.

This year, there have been at least 1,370 large fires in the state, 20 of them reported in the last week.
When Amy Stiffarm addressed a group of two dozen health care professionals in Missoula on Thursday, she began with a reality check.

It doesnt matter what initials you have behind your name, she said, referencing Ph.D., M.D., R.N., or other earned professional titles. Tribal communities want to know why youre there and what brought you to this work. If you want information from people, you have to give it, too.

Stiffarm is Aaniiih and a descendant of the Chippewa Cree and Blackfeet tribes. She grew up in Harlem, just outside the Fort Belknap Reservation, studied at Salish Kootenai College, earned her masters degree from the University of Montana and recently was in the first graduating class of the University of North Dakotas new Indigenous Health Doctoral program.

Stiffarm now works as the program manager for Native American initiatives at Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, a Helena-based organization that aims to improve the life of families. Part of her work includes conducting workshops on cultural safety for Indigenous women and birthing people.

Missoula County helped publicize Thursdays workshop, and Anna Semple, who works for the health department, said demand for the event was so high that registration filled within a few days.

Stiffarms training centered on cultural safety. A concept first created in New Zealand by Maori nurses, cultural safety stems from the idea that there can be barriers when people of different cultures try to access Western health care systems. In practicing cultural safety, a provider or health worker will reflect on their prejudices, examine their impact when interacting with clients, address their own biases and use what theyve learned to positively influence a work environment.

Its about having the awareness of power in certain relationships and shifting that power so the client or the patient can say, I felt safe in this interaction, Stiffarm explained.

To best serve Indigenous communities, Stiffarm told the group that, first, its important to understand them.

If youre going to engage in Indigenous health, you have to be part history teacher, she joked.

Stiffarm argued that different periods of federal policy have influenced how Indigenous people today approach health care.

She began with the Doctrine of Discovery, which provided a framework for Christian explorers and justified settler colonialism.

Scholars point to colonization as the start of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis, she said. Documents show war generals intended to kill Indigenous women and children to reduce the population.

Stiffarm said the persistent Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls epidemic affects how Native Americans receive perinatal health. Most Indian Health Service facilities in Montana are not equipped to deliver babies, so, Stiffarm said, many Indigenous people must leave their communities for prenatal appointments and to give birth. But leaving the community comes with risk. There are still towns Stiffarm said she will never stop in when shes driving, as she feels she must be vigilant for her own safety.

I gave my girls the talk, she said. Its, You have to stay close to me because you are at risk. Its something thats on my mind all the time, every trip to the grocery store, on every road trip. So when people come to your offices, just know this is always in the back of peoples minds.

She spoke next of the Removal Period, from 1855 to 1891, where tribes were forced to leave their traditional homelands for reservations.

This has impacts on perinatal health, Stiffarm explained. Youre removing access to food, taking away access to traditional land. Tribes used to be nomadic, following buffalo. It was a healthy lifestyle, and confining them had really devastating results on health. You hear that Natives have low rates of breastfeeding or high rates of diabetes, but its important to understand the root causes.

In the Relocation Era, Indigenous people were promised jobs, security and opportunity if they moved to cities like Missoula, Butte, Chicago or Seattle. But, as Stiffarm explained, the policy was actually intended to disrupt and dismantle tribal communities.

Think about someone who moves (to a relocation city) and gets pregnant, Stiffarm said. They dont have access to communal support. They dont have access to traditional ceremony and health care, and they experience a lot of discrimination.

Historical context, Stiffarm argued, is necessary to shift the narrative of Indigenous health from one of deficit and disparity to that of strength and understanding.

Weve been through a lot, she said. But we are still here. And we know the reason we were able to survive all of that is because of the power of our culture.

Stiffarm argued that Western medicine can overlook lived experiences, so she encouraged those in the room to be open-minded, thoughtful and to hold space for Indigenous people to share what works and doesnt work for them.

Its going to take a lot of work for cultural safety to be the norm in Montana, she said. But Indigenous birthing people and babies are worth it, and we deserve it.

To schedule a training with Amy Stiffarm or to learn more about her work, visit hmhb-mt.org.
The race to succeed Montana's Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arnzten is taking shape well ahead of any other statewide elections on the ballot next year.

The GOP sweep of statewide elections in 2020 seated first-term officials in four of the five statewide partisan offices. Arntzen was the only one entering a second term then, setting up the Office of Public Instruction race as the only statewide contest without an incumbent in 2024.

Democrat Shannon O'Brien, a Missoula state senator and former education policy advisor to former Gov. Steve Bullock, made her bid for office official Wednesday morning.

"In todays highly competitive global economy, it is absolutely critical that we make sure Montana students graduate from high school with the skills they need to be successful in college, the military, or the workforce," OBrien said in Wednesday's press release. "Our states future economic success depends on Montana schools providing our students with a quality public education."

O'Brien is the only Democrat so far to pursue the office, while two Republicans announced their campaigns earlier this year to replace Arntzen, who is termed out. Arntzen recently opened an exploratory campaign for Montana's eastern congressional district, which current Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale is expected to vacate in pursuit of a rematch with Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester.

Susie Hedalen, Townsend School District Superintendent and vice chair of the state Board of Public Education by way of a Gov. Greg Gianforte appointment, made her own hard launch in July with endorsements from Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen already in hand.

"Parents have a right to know what they are learning in school and that they are safe," Hedalen says in a campaign video last month. "Parents also deserve to know Montana's teachers and school administrators are doing their very best to provide their kids with an excellent education while respecting their family values."

Sharyl Allen, Arntzen's deputy at the Montana Office of Public Instruction after stints at school districts in Montana and Arizona, has also been campaigning for the top education post in the state.

Candidates can't even file for candidacy with the Montana Secretary of State's Office until January, but O'Brien has already raised more than $22,000 through the end of June, the latest available reporting deadline with the commissioner of political practices. Denise Juneau, the last Democrat to hold the Superintendent's post, is O'Brien's campaign treasurer.

Hedalen has yet to report any fundraising or expenses for her campaign, while Allen has contributed $1,000 to her campaign for early appearances in rural parades this summer.

Wider lens

No one has filed to run against Republican Auditor and Commissioner of Securities Troy Downing, who may leave another open field for that office after launching a exploratory campaign of his own for the eastern congressional district earlier this month.

Bozeman-based attorney Ben Alke has filed as a Democratic candidate for attorney general for a presumptive challenge to Republican Austin Knudsen, elected in 2020. Alke has yet to stand a campaign up outside of filing paperwork with the commissioner of political practices.

Democrat Jesse Mullen, a regional newspaper owner who ran and lost his bid for the state senate last year, has filed to take on Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen.

The only hardened campaign against Gianforte so far comes from within his own party: First-term Republican legislator Tanner Smith of Lakeside announced his candidacy before the Fourth of July. The Montana Free Press reported in June that Ryan Busse is mulling a run for governor to challenge Gianforte as a Democrat. Busse is a former firearms industry executive who has recently made some publicity hay out of Montana's landmark climate case decided in District Court earlier this month; his two sons are plaintiffs in the case.
The University of Montana Skaggs School of Pharmacy recently was awarded over $2.4 million to recruit and support Indigenous pharmacy students through the Universitys Native American Center of Excellence.

The grant funding came from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. It supports NACOE's efforts to grow the number of Native American health care providers statewide and increase overall health care providers in rural areas across Montana. A majority of pharmacists practicing at the Indian Health Service, Tribal Health and other facilities across Montana are Skaggs School of Pharmacy alumni.

Graduating that many Native pharmacists is really impactful, said NACOE Program Coordinator Wilena Old Person.

The four-year grant will bolster continued efforts to increase Native clinical and campus-based faculty, support research to help alleviate health disparities, and provide cultural trainings relevant to health care and behavioral health. The grant is directed by Skaggs School of Pharmacy faculty members Lori Morin, Mark Pershouse and Cherith Smith.

With the support of federal grants, the school has graduated 85 Native American pharmacists. It ranks among the top five schools nationally for the highest number of American Indian and Alaska Native Doctor of Pharmacy students, including 11 students enrolled this academic year.

While the numbers are impressive, Old Person credits the programs success to the supportive, student-centered environment cultivated within NACOE. The center works with Native UM pharmacy or pre-pharmacy students and connects them with services like tutoring and mentorship, as well as a community of university staff and peers who share a spectrum of Indigenous identities.

I think having Native people in Native-focused grants is really important, said Old Person, who grew up on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning before graduating from UM with a history degree. I work with students who look like me. I can help advocate for them.

Nano Stiffarm, a Gros Ventre tribal member and descendent of the Blackfeet, Cree and Little Shell tribes, transferred to UM after a year at Montana State University, initially to pursue his dream of becoming a pharmacist. He also found connection and community on campus through NACOE mentorship and UMs Health Careers Opportunity Program.

One thing I noticed throughout my time at UM is there are a lot of programs for Native students, Stiffarm said. That was always really attractive to me, that support system.

Also hailing from Browning, Stiffarm said the support system helped him transition from a small town to living in an urban area where his entire high school class could fit into a single anatomy classroom. Finding connection, community and support helped him feel like he wasnt just a number.

Now in his last year of the Doctor of Pharmacy program, Stiffarm is doing a pharmacy rotation in Hardin in addition to completing an MBA. Hell apply to residency programs in the fall, bringing him one step closer to his end goal of returning home to Browning to serve his community as a pharmacist.

Pharmacy graduates often return to work in their Native communities, Old Person said. Each improves the level of health care access and lessens health disparities while providing care with the cultural needs and norms of Tribal or rural communities in mind.

In rural areas, we know access to health care is just not the greatest. Pharmacists are, a lot of the time, the most accessible health care providers. Stiffarm said. Ive always just wanted to have an effect on the people in my community.
The FBI quietly wiped malicious programs from more than 700,000 computers around the world in recent days, the agency said Tuesday, part of an operation to take down a major component of the cybercrime ecosystem.

The operations goal was to disrupt a long-running botnet, a network of computers linked together by the same malicious programs, called Qakbot. Qakbot is a versatile tool that has long been available for rent to cybercriminals who use it to gain initial access to victims computers or files.

Botnets often rely heavily on hacking and exploiting computers that belong to people or companies who usually have no idea their devices are moonlighting as accomplices to cybercriminals. It is rare and often legally complicated, though not unprecedented, for the FBI to persuade a court to let it kick hackers out of victims computers without their knowledge.

The FBI got a courts permission to proceed with the operation on Aug. 21, according to a copy of the warrant. Agents proceeded to hack into Qakbots central computer infrastructure four days later, the FBI announced, and forced it to tell the computers in its botnet to stop listening to Qakbot.

Keith Jarvis, a senior researcher at the Atlanta cybersecurity company Secureworks, which was monitoring the botnet and its takedown, said most computers infected with Qakbot were most likely effectively fixed in the first few hours of the FBI operation.

In a media call after the announcement, an FBI official who asked not to be identified said the FBI developed a particular removal tool for the operation. Victims will not be notified that their devices had been fixed or that they had ever been compromised, he said.

However, the FBI gave the names and email addresses of some of the people who had been hacked to Have I Been Pwned, a website that allows anyone to check whether they appear in certain major data breaches. Have I Been Pwned added 6.4 million email accounts tied to Qakbot to its database Tuesday.

Story continues

The FBIs announcement said that law enforcement agencies in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Romania and Latvia participated in the Qakbot takedown. The FBI official declined to say whether anyone was arrested or whether any governments were part of the cybercriminal operations.

Bradley Duncan, a researcher at Palo Alto Networks, said that while some of the largest cybercrime gangs use Qakbot to infect companies, schools and hospitals with disruptive ransomware, the FBIs action was unlikely to translate into a major reduction in cyberattacks. Hackers have plenty of other ways to break in, he said.

Although any disruption is good, Qakbots disruption may not make a massive dent in ransomware operations, Duncan said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
CONNELLY SPRINGS  A man on probation received two drug charges last week after a search of his home.

Danny Edward Yates, 23, of Connelly Springs, was charged with felony possession of a Schedule I controlled substance and maintaining a vehicle or dwelling for a controlled substance, according to a news release from the Burke County Sheriffs Office.

The charges came after narcotics investigators and probation and parole officers searched his home on Rhodhiss Road on Aug. 24, the news release said. Authorities had received multiple complaints from the public about his residence.

Investigators found 6 grams of suspected heroin while searching the home, the release said.

Yates was convicted of misdemeanor assault on a female and resisting an officer in 2020, according to records from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.

His bond was set at $20,000, the release said. Hes due in court Sept. 15.
Students encouraged to enter contests

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1448 here in Butte is taking applications for its patriotic essay contests  Voice of Democracy and the Patriots Pen.

Voice of Democracys theme this year is "What are the Greatest Attributes of Our Democracy?" and is open to students in grades 9-12.

The Patriot's Pen program is open to students in grades 6-8, with the theme How are You Inspired by America?

For contest rules, contact VFW representatives Mike Samples at 406-490-7235 or Kirk Waren at 406-202-1869.

Entries for both contests must be submitted to the local post by Oct. 31.
Starting in September, Trinity Muscatine Public Health's team will focus on older adults as it observes National Healthy Aging Month.

Earlier in the year, Trinity Muscatine Public Health took the time to acknowledge National Immunization Awareness Month (NAIM), using the occasion to shift focus onto the countys youngest residents in the hopes of encouraging their parents to make sure that their children and infants have the immunizations they need.

This time, the team is shifting focus towards the other side of the age group.

According to the Iowa Department on Aging, over 25% of the states population is expected to be 60 years or older. As such, both Trinity Muscatine Public Health and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services are using the month to remind older Iowans to keep up on their key vaccines.

Vaccination plays a vital role in preventing illnesses and protecting older adults from potentially severe complications, Christy Roby, Director of Trinity Muscatine Public Health, said in a public statement. Staying up to date on immunizations is one of the easiest, safest ways to protect yourself.

Some of the diseases that older residents might be susceptible to, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) include the flu, shingles, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, pneumonia, Hepatitus and COVID-19.

As such, the CDC recommends adults ages 50 years and older stay up to date on COVID, flu and shingles vaccines, as well as the Tdap vaccine. Adults who are 65 and older, meanwhile, should consider the pneumococcal vaccine to prevent potentially life-threatening pneumonia while the Hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for adults until age 59.

For those wishing to know if they are up to date on each of these vaccines, Trinity Muscatine Public Health encourages older adults to consult with their healthcare providers in order to determine which vaccines are recommended for them based on their personal health status and potential risk factors.

To learn more about recommended adult vaccines, residents can visit https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/rec-vac/index.html.

Here are some key health policies that will and will not change with the COVID-19 public health emergency's end Here are some key health policies that will and will not change with the COVID-19 public health emergency's end
After confirming that Welch Hotel Senior Apartments has been vacated due to concerns about structure, City of Muscatine Assistant Community Development Director Andrew Fangman reported a structural engineer will be examining the building.

Fangman said the ownership of the apartments became aware of a structural issue. The building was vacated on Aug. 23 at the owners decision and the tenants have all been housed elsewhere. He also said that vacating the building was the decision of the property owners and not a result of city enforcement.

We dont know a whole lot more, Fangman said. We are kind of waiting to see what the engineer reports. The property owner is doing everything correctly and above board and is doing all this voluntarily.

On Tuesday, the building office and businesses on the first floor were vacant. The current complex is designed as affordable apartments for those 55 and older. According to the building's National Register of Historic Places nomination form, the four-story building has 26 units. The building is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places since 1979 and is part of the Downtown Commercial Historic District.

According to a press release from owner Richman Asset Management Inc., the residents arent being allowed back into the building to retrieve belongings after the building has been declared unsafe. The property management company is currently working with the residents to find permanent alternative housing.

As the safety of our tenants is the primary concern for the owner, after observing some cracks in the exterior bricks of this 100-year-old building, we immediately engaged a structural engineer to inspect the building, the release said. As soon as the inspector recommended that the building needed to be evacuated, we took immediate action that day to relocate the tenants to temporary housing. Upon further inspection, it was determined that the building was unsafe for any occupancy or even temporary entrance to recover belongings.

The release also said it is unknown how long it would be or if it is even possible to bring the tenants back into the building. The company is continuing to monitor the situation.

On June 15, a building at 113 Iowa Ave. was declared unsafe by a structural engineer and its tenants were evacuated.

On May 28, the Davenport a six-story apartment building in Davenport, collapsed and three people were killed. Shortly after the collapse, the City of Davenport filed enforcement action against owner Andrew Wold claiming he failed to keep the building is a safe, sanitary and structurally sound condition. Multiple lawsuits have also been filed alleging Wold and the City of Davenport knew of the buildings condition and did not inform the tenants.

This is being done proactively, Fangman said of the Welch building. The owners are getting out in front of this particular issue. They are doing the right thing.

Photos: Attorneys for amputee, spouse, hold news conference on lawsuit after building collapse in Davenport 060723-qc-nws-presser-32.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-33.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-34.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-21.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-35.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-36.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-26.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-25.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-18.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-15.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-17.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-13.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-41.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-20.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-23.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-39.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-24.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-40.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-31.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-02.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-01.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-22.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-07.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-29.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-19.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-08.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-14.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-16.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-30.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-42.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-10.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-11.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-27.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-09.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-03.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-38.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-37.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-28.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-04.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-05.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-06.jpg 060723-qc-nws-presser-12.jpg
Kenyans make up an astonishing 25% of Worldcoins customer base, the National Assembly Ad Hoc Committee of Inquiry has been told.

The committee is probing the operations of the Cryptocurrency firm in the country, where 350,000 Kenyans registered for World Coin in just under one week.

David Njoka, the Head of Cyber Security Standards and Policy at the National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Committee, informed the committee that Worldcoin initially presented itself as a research institution before intensifying its data collection and processing operations.

Mr Njoka noted that the rapid pace at which Worldcoin was gaining acceptance in the country was notably concerning.

We need to stop and look for a solution, 350,000 in one week is quite high, he said.

Contrary to previous statements made by government officials, asserting that the data collected from Kenyans remained within the country and was secure, Njoka revealed that the data is actually stored on servers located in the United States of America.

From our interviews they mentioned that the data was transferred to the Amazon servers based in the US. They had indicated that the data is secure but that needs deeper investigations, Njoka said.

Njoka and his director, James Kimuyu, faced strong criticism from committee members for their perceived failure to fulfill their responsibilities and for allowing Worldcoin to operate unlawfully within the country.

What is your role in registering and operationalisation of companies like Worldcoin? Posed Dagoreti South MP John Kiarie.

Tetu MP Geoffrey Wandeto added: We should be expecting proper answers to the questions that we ask because no one else can answer them. We need to amend the cybercrimes act and put in place a proper committee that has teeth to bite.
Prominent Kenyan photographer, Muma Pix(born Francis Mungai0 has refuted any notions of a romantic relationship with actress Jackie Matubia.

Rumors have been rife after the pair teamed up to work on social media projects, with one of their video skit showing them in bed together.

But in an interview with Commentator, Muma Pix set the record straight saying their bond is rooted in a robust friendship that has flourished over a period of three years.

This has been like three years now. I met Jackie in 2020 or 2021. One of my favourite artists, and we ended up being really good friends. So, sijui mbona watu wanachachisha, he said.

Muma Pix, who has been actively producing and sharing content on social media platforms, acknowledged that Jackie Matubia played a pivotal role in inspiring him to venture into content creation.

Hii story ya content ni yeye alikuwa ananipush sana nijaribu. It wasnt something I was open to because naturally, I am a very private person.

And with her being a very good actress, I feel she has also made me a better content creator. I find myself doing a lot of content with her, said the photographer.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Francis Mungai  (@muma_pix)



In response to the widely circulated video that depicted a light-hearted interaction between him and Jackie, where she playfully pushed him away, Muma Pix clarified that both of them were fully clothed during the exchange.

I find it interesting that people find a way to stretch such a simple skit into a whole thing but sasa nitafanya aje watu watafikiria vile wanataka, he said.

Muma Pix also spoke about his longstanding friendships with both Jackie Matubia and Blessing Lungaho, who are said to have parted ways.

Ive been around even before they made their relationship public. Ive supported them throughout their journey, and my loyalty remains steadfast, he said.

Adding: I have been friends with both Jackie Matubia and Blessing Lungaho throughout their relationship. I was there before they went public with their relationship, I was there during their relationship, and Im there even now.

I am the constant. Whatever happened to her is her personal life. Im friends with both of them. Ata kuna content weve done the three of us, so if it was a problem then ingeonekana kitambo.
The National Police Service(NPS) has invited Kenyans to share their opinions through a public participation initiative concerning the proposed police uniform.

On Tuesday, the NPS announced, The National Police Service kindly invites the public to participate in the selection process for the proposed Kenya Police Service uniform.

The NPS team is scheduled to tour eight regions across the nation, engaging both officers and the general public in the assessment of the uniform design. They will then compile a report to be submitted to the Committee responsible for shaping the plan.

During a press briefing on Tuesday, Peter Ndungu, the director in charge of logistics, said this initiative aligns with President William Rutos pre-election commitment to introduce a more modest police uniform.

We are only concerned with the design, not about texture or standards. Officers have voted through acclamation on what they want, Ndungu said.

The scheduled sessions for the exercise are as follows:
Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino is a free man following his acquittal in a case pertaining to his alleged misuse of a firearm in connection with the shooting incident involving DJ Evolve.

Magistrate Bernard Ochoi criticized the prosecution for its inadequate presentation of evidence, noting the absence of proof to support the accusations against Babu.

After a thorough examination of the evidence presented during the court proceedings, Ochoi pinpointed two key matters for evaluation in the case.

Firstly, he considered whether Babu was intoxicated and acted in a disorderly manner on the night when he allegedly shot DJ Evolve.

Secondly, the magistrate deliberated on whether DJ Evolve indeed suffered a gunshot wound and, if attributable to Babu, whether there was an intention behind the act.

On the issue of Babu Owinos sobriety, the court was not convinced by his testimony that he was not drunk because there were prosecution witnesses who testified to seeing him taking alcohol.

However, there was no tangible evidence produced in court by the prosecution to prove he was drunk.

Samples taken dont show that the investigating officer desired to know the alcoholic content in Babus blood, the court noted.

The court also said the prosecution did a shoddy job as no medical evidence was presented to show what injuries DJ Evolve sustained. Ochoi mentioned that the Investigating officer relied on CCTV footage.

In my view, the footage cant be substituted for medical evidence. A medical report or p3 form should have been availed to confirm the victim had suffered a gunshot wound, said the Magistrate.

Upon reviewing the court-displayed CCTV footage, the court observed that while the background appeared dark, the counter where Babu was standing was clear.



However, the Investigating officer said he could not be able to see or identify Babus firearm in the video clip. There was no evidence to show Evolve was injured by a bullet.

Surprisingly the investigating officer stated that he did not record a statement from DJ Evolve. One wonders whether it was deliberate or a case of negligence, said the court.

The court also pointed out that the ballistic report didnt conclusively establish that Babus firearms were used in the shooting. The individual who recovered the bullet head and the cartridge was never called in to testify.

If the bullet head was recovered on the wall as claimed was it not necessary for a ballistic expert to visit the scene and adduce evidence, was it not necessary to provide medical evidence to show that the bullet exited from Evolves body and landed on the wall? posed the magistrate Ochoi.

The ballistic expert and the eight prosecution witnesses provided testimony during the trial, stating their inability to definitively determine if the bullet, cartridge head, and cartridges originated from Babus firearm.

They highlighted the fact that numerous firearms could use 9 by 19mm ammunition, implying the potential for other weapons to share the same characteristics.

During the court proceedings, the officer emphasized in his testimony that he could not definitively assert that Babus gun was responsible for discharging the retrieved bullet, cartridge head, and cartridge.

Having evaluated the evidence in court. I find that the prosecution has failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, the Magistrate ruled.
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, announced Aug. 23 that $500,000 is being provided to Napa County through the federal Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

The grant program provides funding to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops and support specialty crop growers through marketing, education and research.

Our region has a strong tradition of agriculture made possible by the farmworkers who work every day to grow world-class products, Thompson said. The funding from the federal Specialty Crop Block Grant Program will help to recruit and retain farmworkers and provide current farmworkers with the training and education they need to build a successful career in the fields and beyond. I look forward to seeing how this funding helps to strengthen our agricultural community.

The project in Napa County will introduce and recruit young and beginning farmers, as well as members of socially disadvantaged and underrepresented groups, including women and veterans, to the variety of specialty crop career opportunities. It also creates and implements work force training programs to develop and maintain the technical skills required to keep the California specialty crops sector competitive.

The project will address these priorities by introducing and attracting a new young workforce to wine grape careers through Fields of Opportunity, a youth mentorship program on Napa farms and a new year-round apprenticeship program.

The project will also develop the technical skills of Napas current work force to increase expertise and retention through work force training, through a conference on leadership and management training and bilingual train-the-trainer workshops for Napa farmworkers who speak Spanish.

PHOTOS: American Dream Award recipients American Dream Awards 1 American Dream Awards 2 American Dream Awards 3 American Dream Awards 4 American Dream Awards 5 American Dream Awards 6 American Dream Awards 7 American Dream Awards 8 American Dream Awards 9 American Dream Awards 10 American Dream Awards 11 American Dream Awards 12 American Dream Awards 13 American Dream Awards 14 American Dream Awards 15 American Dream Awards 16 American Dream Awards 17 American Dream Awards 18
Dear St. Helena Community,

As the executive director of St. Helena Preschool For All, I am honored to share a story of promise, perseverance, and the transformative power of community support.

When our organization embarked on this journey in 2010, we werent quite sure what our impact would be in our community. As time went by and we began to connect with families we began to see how powerful this opportunity was for families. Now we envision a future where every child, regardless of their background, could access the gift of high-quality early childhood education. We recognized that this opportunity for both children and families can be transformative, and we were determined to make a difference.

Today, as I reflect on our journey, I'm filled with gratitude for the strides we've made and the lives we've touched. Over the years, we've opened doors of opportunity for more than 248 children and their families, fostering a love for learning and setting the stage for their success.

However, I must be candid. While our commitment remains unwavering, we've faced challenges along the way. The truth is, the journey to provide equitable education for all hasn't always been easy, but at the core of our organization we have always put our families first, which is something that continues to guide our direction.

We could not have come this far without the steadfast support of some of our incredible partners  the Roger J. Trinchero Family Foundation, St. Helena Unified School District, the city of St. Helena, and the St. Helena Rotary Club are just a few of the many organizations and individuals we are honored to call our partners. Their dedication and belief in our mission has been a tremendous part of our success in the community.

Our organization is currently in the last day of the St. Helena Rotarys Preschool Promise Campaign, which represents a pivotal opportunity for our community to create a direct impact on a child and their family. This campaign aims to remove financial barriers, ensuring that children can experience the enriching opportunity of early childhood education. It's a promise to our children, our community, and our future.

As I reflect on my time as director, I realize how fortunate I have been to work with so many families, who continue to be an extended part of our organization.

If you are reading this today, I am reaching out with a heartfelt plea on behalf of our children and families currently enrolled in our program. Our Preschool Promise Campaign is an urgent call to action. We've raised $29,350 of our $40,000 goal to help ensure that families who apply for our program have access to a transformative education. This is a promise we can't fulfill alone; it requires the collective effort of every member of our community.

Your support can change lives. Your donation, no matter the size, can ignite a spark of curiosity in a child's mind. Your involvement can send a powerful message to families that we are a community that takes care of its own.

So, I ask you to rally around our organization. Join us in this mission to empower futures through education. Your contribution can light up a child's world, shape their dreams, and set them on a path to success.

Visit our website at shpreschoolforall.org to make a donation. Share our campaign with your friends, family and colleagues. Spread the word that together, we are making a promise  a promise to uplift, educate and empower.

Thank you for your unwavering support, and a special thank you to our community sponsors for making the promise:

PROMISE MAKER ($5,000): Robert and Jean Edwards, Jennifer Lamb.

PROMISE PARTNER ($2,500): Central Valley, Sunshine Foods.

PROMISE SUPPORTER ($1,000+): Anonymous, Margo Kennedy, Honig Winery, Malloy Imrie & Vasconi Insurance, Kathleen Patterson, Jack and Pam Preston, John Sales, Mike and Ann Thomas, and Jeff and Cindy Warren.

Together, we can make a positive change, and I am grateful to stand beside you in this journey of promise.
Two stars of beloved St. Helena Drama productions like The Wizard of Oz, Once Upon a Mattress and Thoroughly Modern Millie are working on a new play together.

Download Napa Valley Register news app today! Your story lives in the Napa Valley. Get in-depth stories from the Napa region and beyond  including news, sports, features and politics.

The twist? This ones being staged not at St. Helena High School but in New York City, where Mia Pelosi and Lucy Harrington are looking to make their mark on the worlds most prominent and competitive theatrical scene.

SuperMarket 86, written by Pelosi and directed by Harrington, is slated to run Oct. 10-14 at Teatro LATEA in Manhattans Lower East Side, as part of the New York Theater Festival.

Its about a cashier and four girls who get stuck in a supermarket during a storm and spend a long night learning about each other and about themselves. Pelosi compared it to John Hughes 1985 film The Breakfast Club.

Things are revealed, and they all leave a little different from when they walked in, Pelosi said.

The pair launched a GoFundMe campaign earlier this month to raise money for costumes, props, sets, crew and rehearsal space. Within a few days, theyd exceeded their $3,000 goal with help from St. Helena school faculty members and other longtime supporters of St. Helena Drama.

I was blown away by all the support, Pelosi said.

Pelosi and Harrington started studying drama and choir in sixth grade with St. Helena Drama Director Patti Coyle.

I am thrilled that both of these talented alumni are continuing to pursue their passion for theater and are working together in the Big Apple, Coyle said. There is no stopping them now.

SuperMarket 86 premiered last winter at New York Universitys Experimental Theater Wing, as Pelosis senior project. She went on to earn a bachelor of fine arts degree in drama from NYUs highly selective Tisch School of the Arts.

When she got the opportunity to stage an expanded version of it for the New York Theater Festival, she needed someone to direct it, so she turned to her old St. Helena friend Lucy Harrington.

Harrington participated in St. Helena Drama until her junior year, when she transferred to Justin-Siena High School in Napa. She was also active with Cafeteria Kids Theater, including one of the lead performers in 2017s Shrek the Musical.

She kept in touch with Pelosi on her way to earning a bachelors degree in theater at Northwestern University  another top program  and was planning to move from Chicago to New York.

Harrington appreciated the plays theme of young people, two of them former couples, connecting in unexpected ways.

Theyre all at places in life that theyre not super happy with, Harrington said. They come to understand their situations in a different way. They feel a connection that enables them to dream bigger or see themselves in a new light.

The off-stage roles of writing and directing might come as a surprise to St. Helena audiences who remember Pelosi and Harrington for their acting and singing.

Pelosi had written songs and co-directed St. Helena Dramas 12 Angry Jurors with Sofia Osborne in 2018, and she said singing is still her biggest passion. It wasnt until she spent the summer of 2022 in a theater program in Amsterdam that she was inspired to start writing. The program encouraged students to create their own work  be it dance, song or drama.

My roommates advice was just to write a page, Pelosi said. So I did, and then I kept going, and it became something I thoroughly enjoyed. Im trying to be as versatile as possible as an artist.

Harrington has directed four shows since 2021, including a large-scale production of Matilda that incorporated circus and acrobatic elements. When she moves to New York, she hopes to support the development of new shows by emerging artists.

I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to work on a new play, especially one written by my best friend from home, Harrington said.

To help fund the upcoming production of SuperMarket 86, go to gofundme.com/f/supermarket-86-at-the-new-york-theatre-festival. If you happen to be in New York in October, tickets are available at newyorktheaterfestival.com/supermarket-86.
If tamping down Earth-warming greenhouse gases were as simple as separating coffee grounds, eggshells, leftover lasagna and other kitchen scraps from other waste, Californians certainly would be up to the task. Wouldn't they?

Download Napa Valley Register news app today! Your story lives in the Napa Valley. Get in-depth stories from the Napa region and beyond  including news, sports, features and politics.

That's the assumption behind a groundbreaking state law that took effect at the start of 2022: that the state's residents and businesses can redirect at least three-fourths of the organic waste once destined for landfills, where it would decompose into methane, a super-potent gas that traps up to 84 times as much heat as carbon dioxide.

But after 18 months under the new law, California has made uneven progress toward that goal. While most cities and counties have complied with the law, 126 asked for more time. And many people who live in apartments and condominiums, in particular, have not been offered the green-bin option that would allow them to recycle compost-worthy items at home.

Projecting that California would fall well short of its goal of removing 75% of green waste from landfills by 2025, the state's Little Hoover Commission in June recommended a "temporary pause" in implementing the law. The good-government agency said more time is needed to fine-tune regulations, provide more funding for green waste facilities and launch a statewide education campaign.

But the Legislature has shown no signs of ordering a slowdown, and the top state official overseeing the reform said easing the pace would be counterproductive.

"What we really need is this cultural shift of moving away from a disposable lifestyle," said Rachel Machi Wagoner, director of CalRecycle, "and really recognizing  from the manufacturer on through to the consumer at the point of use  the total value of any product and considering its next life."

CalRecycle has worked cooperatively with local governments, which either haul green waste or contract with private companies to do the work. CalRecycle reports that most cities, counties and special districts are making adequate progress, but a review is underway to zero in on those that need to do more.

Wagoner said she remains confident that, once proper systems are in place, the environmentally minded state will happily redirect kitchen scraps and yard waste to separate containers.

The organic material is hauled to facilities that either turn the material into compost, mulch or bio-gases that can help power natural gas vehicles.

"You don't have to go out and buy an electric vehicle to fight climate change, though that is a great thing," Wagoner said. "The single fastest and easiest thing that Californians can do is take a banana peel, or watermelon rinds and chicken bones, and put them in their green bin. Then they've already had a huge impact on climate change."

Experts describe the benefits of compost as exponential. It not only cuts methane emissions but returns nutrients to the soil, allows the ground to hold precious moisture and abets the "sinking" of Earth-warming carbon dioxide into the soil.

Scientists estimate that 20% of the methane plaguing California comes from landfills. If the state can reach its organic waste reduction goals, it would have a benefit equivalent to taking 3 million cars off the road, according to CalRecycle.

Those potential improvements inspired the California Legislature in 2016 to approve Senate Bill 1383, requiring all residents and businesses to separate "green" waste. The law went into effect on Jan. 1 of last year.

CalRecycle officials have stressed that they want to use friendly persuasion to get cities and counties to comply. But the law allows fines of up to $10,000 a day for those that fail. Local governments have the power, in turn, to fine residents and businesses that don't segregate kitchen and yard waste from landfill-bound garbage. Penalties can range from $50 to $100 for a first offense and increase up to $500 for third and subsequent failures.

City officials have said they are loath to penalize residents and business owners. No fines have been levied so far  or at least none have been reported publicly.

Photos: Napa business gets your trash bins 'truly clean'
A bill passed by the state Legislature on Monday may sway the state Supreme Court to clear a path for student housing and supportive housing for homeless people on People's Park in Berkeley.

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Assembly Bill 1307 passed the state Assembly on Monday following passage in the Senate on Aug. 17. Votes in both houses were unanimous.

It's unclear when California Gov. Gavin Newsom will consider whether to sign the bill, but it will likely be important to state Supreme Court justices when they rule on litigation between two community groups and the University of California over the university's plans to build housing on the park.

"We are grateful for the legislature's remarkable and rapid response, on behalf of the people of California, to an appellate court's unprecedented interpretation of CEQA," UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof said by email Tuesday.

"Left in place, that court's ruling could have prevented students across the state from getting the housing they need and deserve, while bestowing new powers on powerful NIMBYs who wish to impede the construction of housing not just for students but also for the unhoused and low-income families," Mogulof said.

The alleged NIMBYs (an acronym for the phrase "not in my backyard") are likely the groups Make UC a Good Neighbor and the People's Park Historic District Advocacy Group, which don't want housing on People's Park.

The park is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it provides what the groups say is needed open space in a densely populated Berkeley neighborhood near the university.

Neither of the community groups consider themselves NIMBYs, said Harvey Smith, who speaks on behalf of the groups.

Rather, the groups support the development of more housing for students and California residents, who are suffering because of a lack of housing in the state.

Smith argues that the university has other sites where it can build housing while the university argues it needs to build housing on all available sites, including People's Park.

Smith countered that it may take 20 years for that to happen and if that's the case, the groups may consider supporting housing at People's Park.

But he maintained that the open space of People's Park would really be needed because even more people would be living in the area.

Mogulof said the state "Supreme Court still has jurisdiction to resolve" the litigation between the University of California and the two groups, "even though the statute has been adopted."

"UC will ask the Supreme Court to consider the new statute when it issues its ruling," he said. "The campus will resume construction of the People's Park project when the lawsuit is resolved and hopes that the new law will substantially hasten the resolution of the lawsuit."

Newsom's office said Monday that it doesn't "typically comment on pending legislation. The Governor will evaluate the bill on its own merits."

The office added, "As you know, the Governor has been active on this issue and earlier this year filed an amicus brief with the California Supreme Court in support of UC Berkeley's plan to build much-needed student housing in People's Park."

Photos: Napa Valley College's student housing complex is halfway home NVC student housing 4 NVC student housing 3 NVC student housing 2 NVC student housing 1 NVC student housing 9 NVC student housing 8 NVC student housing 7 NVC student housing 6 NVC student housing 5 NVC student housing construction NVC student housing construction
Finance ministry: Armenia economic growth target will be maintained at 7% level in 2024

Elnur Mammadov: Most points in peace treaty have been agreed upon by Azerbaijan, Armenia

Statement: Alma-Ata Declaration has no mention of former union republics of ex-USSR

Dollar drops, euro rises in Armenia

Armenia defense sector capital spending planned in amount of around $1.4 billion in 2024

Lawyer: Maestro Sergey Smbatyan is acquitted

Premier: Armenia defense spending planned to be increased by 125% in 2024 compared to 2018

Armenia, Ukraine officials underscore Pashinyan-Zelenskyy first meeting

ReA15: 300 animation films, 30 guests from 40 countries, around 500 audience; Armenia international festival summed up

Armenia's Pashinyan: There is serious progress in North-South motorway construction

Around 12kg narcotics attempted to be smuggled into Armenia from Iran

Armenia finance minister: Considerable part of 2.6 billion to be provided by EU is loan

Armenia official: We will not increase pensions, minimum wages in 2024

Armenia finance minister: National debt of more than $10 billion is safe

Pashinyan: Armenia government expects 7% economic growth in 2023

COAF secures 10M grant to transform education in Armenia's Syunik Province

RFE/RL: US supports EU monitoring mission in Armenia, embassy says

Hurricane Otis kills at least 48 people in Mexico

$135M to be allocated for needs of those forcibly displaced from Karabakh, Armenia PM says

Armenia nationals can now open bank accounts in Russia in simplified manner

Armenia MFA former spox shares video of Russian peacekeepers withdrawal from Karabakh

202-million-year-old dragonfly fossil discovered in UK

Armenia premier: I hope arrangements for opening border with Turkey will be implemented in near future

Pashinyan: Current world orders collapse is serious threat to Armenia

Armenia labor, social affairs minister is in Iran, memorandum to be signed on highly qualified workforce exchange

Armenia PM: 3 main principles of signing peace treaty with Azerbaijan have been agreed upon

Armenia defense minister attends Beijing Xiangshan Forum opening ceremony in China (PHOTOS)

Biden, Netanyahu discuss ongoing Israeli airstrikes in Gaza

Arab, Muslim users of social media unhappy with ongoing supply of oil from Azerbaijan to Israel

Attempts are being made to destabilize situation in Russias Dagestan from outside, leader Melikov says

20 people injured, 2 in critical condition after mass riots at Russias Makhachkala airport

Kamala Harris: US has no plans of sending combat troops to Israel, Gaza

Russia researchers develop water evaluation system using smartphones

Russias Makhachkala airport closed until November 6

France releases city electric cars that can be driven without driver's license

Thugs attack bus carrying women, children in Russias Makhachkala

Anti-Israel protest in Russias Dagestan, crowd storms into Makhachkala airport

Slovenia donates 120,000, through Red Cross, to forcibly displaced people from Karabakh

Overall 3342 children died in Gaza since start of war

Israel bombs areas near Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza

Palestinian Red Crescent: Israel demands evacuation of Gaza hospital

UN peacekeeper wounded in Lebanese shelling

Israel Armenians newspaper: Situation in Israel still difficult

Iran President: Zionists were defeated, forced to retreat

Death toll of Palestinians in Gaza exceeds 8000

Azerbaijani Defense Minister also visits China

Israeli airstrikes on two houses in Gaza kill 13 civilians

Israeli army names main priority

UN Secretary General criticizes Israel again

Building of Jewish cultural center is set on fire in Russia

UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting

Russian MoD: Crimea was attacked by 36 Ukrainian drones at night

Armenian Defence Minister leaves for China

Forcibly displaced teachers from Artsakh can continue work in Armenia

Death toll of mine accident in Kazakhstan reaches 42

Israeli PM deletes controversial post from social media, apologizes

Israeli opposition leader, National Security Minister criticize PM

At least 331 Israeli soldiers killed since start of war with Hamas

Baku arrests Iranian spies who wanted to create Kerime state in Azerbaijan

Lemkin Institute calls on UN to prepare proper mission to Artsakh

Moscow, Ankara effectively coordinate efforts to tackle important regional issues

Israeli army boosts contingent in Gaza, enters deeper into enclave

Aide to Aliyev, Iran Ambassador discuss Azerbaijani-Armenian relations

US Eisenhower aircraft carrier enters Mediterranean Sea

Road accident in Armenia leaves 2 dead

Iranian President: Israel has crossed the red lines

Artsakh President: Russian side was in observers position

Armenia Security Council Secretary meets assistants to US Secretary of State, France President

Armenia PM sends condolences to Kazakh President over mine accident

Death toll of mine accident in Kazakhstan reaches 33

Russian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministries confirm the need for normalization between Baku and Yerevan

Hamas ready to release eight hostages at Russia's request

RA Economy Ministry, JP Morgan discuss international market accessibility

Hamas says there is no progress in hostage negotiations

Germany ready to send over 1 thousand military personnel to Middle East

Fatal car accident occurs in Yerevan

Tunis President says Palestinians have right to stand firm against Israel

Armenia Economy Minister, British Chamber of Commerce reps discuss coop

Israel promises to allow trucks carrying aid into Gaza

Erdogan: Israel should end madness and stop attacks on Gaza

If Gaza is destroyed, it will create catastrophe for decades, if not centuries

Palestinian Red Cross loses contact with all workers in Gaza

IDF expands area of ground operations in Gaza north

Moldovan President explains increasing of defense spending

US, Israeli defense ministers discuss military operations in Gaza

Chinese FM calls Taiwan independence biggest challenge for Sino-US relations

US may not have enough funds to help Ukraine, Israel at once

IDF expands ground operations in Gaza Strip

US calls its strikes on targets in Syria message for Iran

Iran warns of potential new fronts against US

Armenia says yes to UN resolution on Gaza truce

UN General Assembly adopts resolution on Israel-Hamas truce

UAVs, missiles attack US base in Syria

Israeli army says its actions are not ground invasion

Jordanian FM on Gaza ground war: Catastrophe for years to come

The Washington Post: US calls on Israel to rethink Gaza ground invasion

Georgia legislature head: There are positive developments for signing Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement

CoE congress adopts declaration on humanitarian situation in Karabakh, neighbouring cities and regions

Lindsey Snell: Armenians who stayed in Karabakh aren't allowed to speak to their loved ones without being monitored

Charles Michel: EU leaders announced they intend to continue mediation on Armenia-Azerbaijan settlement
Armenia and Iran are working to considerably increase trade. Last year bilateral trade stood at $714 million. Data of this years first half shows a 13% increase, which in turn shows that the positive pace of dynamics is maintained, Armenpress reported.

On August 25, an exhibition showcasing the products offered by Armenian and Iranian companies in agriculture, manufacturing and tourism opened in Yerevan with the purpose of boosting bilateral trade between Armenia and Iran.

Hojatollah Abdolmaleki, Advisor to the President of Iran and Secretary of the Free Zones High Council of Iran, was personally leading a delegation to Armenia and attended the event.

Armenias commercial attache to Iran Vardan Kostanyan told Armenpress that both sides are seeking new opportunities to further develop trade. The two countries plan to increase bilateral trade to $1 billion, and then to $3 billion.

Kostanyan said that Iran plans to open eight new free economic zones, bringing the number of its Free economic zones to fifteen.

We are now looking into the untapped potential and opportunities to utilize them in bilateral cooperation. On the other hand, our neighbor is still under sanctions, therefore while carrying out economic policy we are unconditionally taking into consideration this fact. Iran provides state support and protection to companies investing in its economy, Kostanyan said.

He underscored direct meetings between business representatives.

Armenia and Iran attach great importance to the prospect of carrying out shipments through the Persian Gulf-Black Sea logistic route, and the Armenian side is maximally seeking to support the implementation of this megaproject, attaching great importance to the use of its own territory. The option of exporting Armenian goods through Iranian territory to Arab countries and India is also under discussion, and in this context, the parties have decided to find solutions through joint efforts, and simplify the procedures applied from both sides on that road, Kostanyan said.

Armenias membership to the Eurasian Economic Union and its land border with Iran gives opportunities for establishing enterprises and carrying out broad joint projects, he said.
A meeting of representatives of the Russian community of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) was held Tuesday in Stepanakert, Artsakhpress reported.

Aleksandr Bordov, head of the Russian community of Artsakh, noted in his address that Nagorno-Karabakh is in a dire situation today, and only the strength and endurance characteristic of the people of Artsakh enable them to overcome with honor the trials of these months.

"Naturally, we remember that it was not easy for our grandfathers and fathers either, as the entire history of the holy land of Karabakh is a struggle for freedom, life, the right to live in the land of our ancestors," he said.

The head of the Russian community of Artsakh made a historical reference to Armenian-Russian relations, and in that contextalso to the history of the Russian presence in Artsakh. According to Bordov, over the centuries, Armenians and Russians have created spiritual ties, which suggests the need to build strong allied relations for both peoples, countries, and faith.

According to the speaker, both the people of Artsakh and the Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh have found themselves in a difficult, actual crisis situation.

"It is clear that today we should be on the same side of the barricades," noted the head of the Russian community of Artsakh.

"We [i.e. the Russian community of Artsakh] definitely have nothing against the population of Azerbaijan, but we are against the [Azerbaijani] blockade [of Artsakh] that has been going on for 206 days and what has been carried out by the military and political leadership of Azerbaijan on the Karabakh land; moreover, contrary to the tripartite statement. All this, as well as the historical memory of the tragic events in Sumgait, Baku, Nagorno-Karabakh, when brutal crimes were committed [by Azerbaijanis] against the Armenian population, dictate the impossibility of [Artsakh] being a part of Azerbaijan and living together in the created situation; the wounds of the losses are too heavy," Bordov added, urging to devote all strength to the task of having a safe and prosperous Artsakh.

Then, in their speeches, the representatives of the Russian community of Artsakh highlighted the importance of Armenian-Russian friendship, and reflected on the ways out of the current situation as a result of the blockade and the opportunities.
Well, you just have to implement the arrangements, and that is the guarantee; a very simple answer. Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated this during Wednesdays press briefing. She noted this to the remark that Russia proposes a direct dialogue between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan and the latter insists on holding a meeting on its territory, and asked whether Russia guarantees the safety of the members of the Armenian delegation, taking into account the fact that the Azerbaijanis are abducting the Armenians passing through the Azerbaijani checkpoint installed in the Lachin corridor.

"If you have agreed on something, let alone signed it, especially at the highest level, it must be implement, not make other interpretations, invent new constructions, involve third partiesnot even a third, some fifth and tenthand some bead game.

"There are agreements, and they must be fulfilled; this is the guarantee. As soon as dishonesty begins in the execution of agreements, there are no more guarantees there. It is necessary to implement what we have agreed. I am telling you about a 180-degree fundamental change in the position of the leadership of Armenia on an important issue.

"The position [of Armenias authorities] has drastically changed on a key issue; that is, on a key issue for Yerevan itself. But this is the issue of Yerevan, this is the issue of making their internal decisions, and so on. But there are obligations that have been reached and sealed with signatures. But those obligations, if they have not been canceled, have been reaffirmed many times, and their fulfillment is a guarantee," said Zakharova.
The situation is very difficult, we want to tell our friends in Armenia and Artsakh that they are not alone. We are here to show it. Xavier Bertrand, President of the French Regional Council of Hauts-de-France, stated this in Armenia at Wednesdays joint online press conference with the President of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)

"We are ready to raise your voice and support you. In addition to words, we have intensified our cooperation. Very specific actions will be taken," he said.

Also, Bertrand called on the President of France to petition to the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution in the interests of the people of Artsakh.

France's humanitarian aid to Artsakh and the current visit of several leaders of French regions to Armenia, according to him, are also sent as a signal to the international community.

"Many people do not know that Azerbaijan does not allow Artsakh Armenians to live freely, that newborns do not have enough food, that access to energy resources is very limited. People are deprived of all this because of Azerbaijan which ignores international law. That is why we organized a humanitarian convoy. I emphasize, a humanitarian convoy, so that people can live with dignity. And we weren't allowed [by Azerbaijan] to do that. We condemn it" he said.

The head of the aforesaid French region informed that part of the aforementioned French humanitarian aid will be distributed to the refugees from Artsakh, while the other part will remain idle, waiting for the reopening of the road to Artsakh.

"We encourage others to take the same steps so that the international community wakes up. A tragedy is happening here, and we all support Artsakh and Armenia.

"Azerbaijan wants to turn Nagorno-Karabakh into a prison or even a cage and evict the [Armenian] inhabitants from there. We don't want this. We want the population of Nagorno-Karabakh to live freely there.

"Do we have to wait a little longer for the international community to wake up to casualties due to lack of medical aid and food shortages? This tragedy can be avoided, and adding new ones to this tragedy can be avoided. The international community should remember what happened in the last century," concluded the president of the French Regional Council of Hauts-de-France.
23:26





Bilal Gani (18), a resident of Subhash Mohalla in Bhajanpura, was apprehended near Signature Bridge around 2 am on Thursday by the northeast district police, while Mohammad Sameer alias Maya was nabbed by the Special Cell Wednesday night, they said.





Harpreet Gill (36) and his 32-year-old maternal uncle Govind Singh were shot at and injured around 11.30 pm on Tuesday in the Subhash Vihar area in northeast Delhi when the two were out on a motorcycle. Gill was pronounced dead at a hospital.





The two were on a motorcycle when the assailants on a scooter and a motorcycle intercepted them and opened fire at them, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said.





According to the police, accused Gani and his associates Sameer (18), Sohail (23), Mohammad Junaid (23) and Adnan (19) were partying in North Ghonda, Bhajanpura.





Around 10.30 pm, they decided to step out for a ride on two scooters. They stopped at a few places and finally started riding on a narrow lane, Tirkey said.





Gill and Singh, riding in the same lane, wanted the accused to stop and give them a way. Gani and his associates became aggressive and Junaid slapped Singh. When Gill and Singh tried to get down to speak with the accused, Sameer opened fire at the two, aiming at their heads, the DCP said.





He said the accused were identified after scanning the footage from CCTVs installed in the area.





Efforts are on to apprehend the other accused, Tirkey said, adding that further investigation was underway.





According to the police, Gani, who worked at a welding shop in Bhajanpura, turned 18 on Sunday. In 2022, he was involved in a murder as well as a robbery case in Bhajanpura. Being a minor at that time, he managed to come out of the Children's Observation home, the police said.

Two men were arrested in connection with the killing of a senior manager of e-commerce giant Amazon and injuring his uncle in northeast Delhi's Bhajanpura area, the police said on Thursday.
PRNewswire Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 30: Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bengaluru, organized KAPRASCON '23 The 3rd Annual Conference of Karnataka Association of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgeons, at Shangri-La Bengaluru No. 56, 6B, Palace Road, Abshot layout, Vasanth Nagar, Bengaluru- 560001, Karnataka. The two-day event saw the enthusiastic participation of leading experts and upcoming practitioners in Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic surgery in huge numbers. Dr. Anantheswar Y N, President KAPRAS and Consultant Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgeon, Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bengaluru, opened the conference by welcoming all the participants and expressed his pleasure of having the chance to host the prestigious annual event here at Bengaluru. Addressing the gathering, he said, "It gives me immense pleasure to invite you all to KAPRASCON 2023 held at Bengaluru on 26th and 27th August 2023. The Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgery, Manipal Hospital, Old Airport Road, Bengaluru, is proud to host the 3rd KAPRAS meet at Hotel Shangri La, Bengaluru." He emphasized the conference was an excellent platform for the participants to gain knowledge, share their professional experiences, and have interactive and thought-provoking scientific sessions. Dr. Srikanth V,Consultant Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgeon, Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bengaluru,said, "The participation of eminent plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgeons from across the country and Karnataka in an impressively large number has truly overwhelmed the organizing team. The attendance of more than 185 out of the 235 plastic surgeons registered with the Karnataka Association of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgeons KAPRAS (accounting for about 80% of all the registered plastic surgeons) at the conference hosted by the department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgery, Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road, in itself is the testimony to the commitment and dedication of Manipal Hospitals towards the field." Emphasizing the department's services in providing a full range of plastic surgeries,Dr. Ashok B.C, Consultant Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgeon, Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bengaluru,said, "Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road, Bengaluru, takes pride in being one the oldest departments of plastic, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgery in Karnataka. The department is equipped with all the latest and cutting-edge technology and is constantly at the forefront of innovation. The highly skilled and experienced senior plastic reconstructive and aesthetic surgeons offer a full range of plastic surgeries." He also stated that the department has been undertaking various teaching programs, including fellowships and DNB, for over fifteen years. With an exciting line-up of scientific lectures and master classes, discussion forums, and case presentations, the conference was an excellent platform for scientific deliberation. It was an opportunity for all the eminent Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgeons from all over Karnataka and India and the team at Manipal Hospitals to come together to exhibit and exchange their knowledge about the latest breakthroughs in plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgeries. Imparting more valuable insights for emerging and established practitioners, the esteemed plastic surgeons also shared their experiences of challenging cases and success stories. The participants also had an excellent chance to showcase their knowledge and share their experiences through scientific paper and poster presentations. The two-day conference was a grand success and highlighted the efforts of the organizing committee, where the team from Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bengaluru had left no stone unturned in giving the participants a memorable conference that was in the best of their academic interest and also doubled as a social platform for them to indulge in meaningful interactions. Photo:https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2196639/Inauguration.jpgPhoto:https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2196640/Group_Picture.jpg (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
Miss World Karolina Bielawska, who is currently in India and exploring the country, recently visited the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune. She expressed her admiration for the medical staff at the hospital and also said that she is overwhelmed with the love and warmth she received in the country. While interacting with the media, she said, I am honoured to be aware of the great work that everyone here at the hospital is doing. All of the nurses and doctors, and how they have kept the place and taken care of the people, it is wonderful. I am pleased that I can see it, and we will do our best to support it. I just want to thank all of the healthcare workers from the bottom of my heart because, without you, we would not be here. You are doing an excellent job, and I appreciate everything you do for society. It is a difficult job, she added.She further shared her experience of visiting India and said, We have got immense love and warmth here in the country. India treated us very nicely. Earlier, Karolina expressed her desire to work in Bollywood especially with superstar Shah Rukh Khan. She told ANI, It would be lovely to be in a movie of Shah Rukh Khan. I've had the privilege of meeting producer Sajid Nadiadwala and also would love to work with SLB (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) in the movies he has been making with palaces and princesses. I know Aishwarya Rai was in his movie as well. Aishwarya is another wonderful Bollywood actress. It would be an honour for me to be able to learn and explore this market as well." Previously, she also praised India for the achievement of the Chandrayaan-3 soft landing on the south pole of the moon."It is an incredible achievement and India should be very proud. As I mentioned, India is wonderful in so many areas, when it comes to science, engineering, and space. I mean great India is a great World that we all can look up to, she told ANI. Karolina Bielawska from Poland won the title of international beauty pageant Miss World 2021. She is a Polish model, TV presenter, social activist, UN Messenger of Peace Goodwill Ambassador, philanthropist and publicist. Karolina Bielawska is on the India tour for the upcoming Miss World 2023. (ANI)
Actors Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani set major couple goals every time. They frequently go out together for dinner or movie outings, and they never fail to leave their fans drooling. Actor Sidharth Malhotra posted a photo of Kiara on his Instagram stories on Wednesday as the actor is eager to know what project his wife will be working on next. Sharing the picture, Sidharth wrote, "May your smile keep shining on every set and wherever you go! You deserve nothing but true happiness. Can't wait to see what you're shooting next! (red heart emoji) @kiaraaliaadvani." Sidharth posted a BTS picture of Kiara from a recent shoot where she was seen smiling for the camera in an orange and white shirt. Sidharth and Kiara tied the knot in an intimate ceremony on February 7 at Suryagarh Palace in Rajasthan.They apparently fell in love while shooting for 'Shershaah'. Recently,SidharthandKiarastarrer film Shershaah won the Special Jury Award.'Shershaah' is based on the life of Captain Vikram Batra, who laid down his life in the service of the nation while recapturing Indian territories from Pakistani intruders during the Kargil War in 1999. Apart from Sidharth and Kiara, the film features Shiv Panditt, Raj Arjun, Pranay Pachauri, Himanshu Ashok Malhotra, Nikitin Dheer, Anil Charanjeett, Sahil Vaid, Shataf Figar and Pawan Chopra among many others acted in the hit war drama.In the film, Sidharth stars in dual roles as Batra and his twin brother Vishal, while Kiara plays the role of his girlfriend Dimple Cheema. It's amazing to see how their love story transcended from reel to real life. Directed by Vishnu Varadhan, 'Shershaah' was released on August 12, 2021.Meanwhile, Kiara will be seen in the upcoming 'Game Changer' alongside 'RRR' actor Ram Charan and an action thriller film 'War 2' alongside Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR.Sidharth, on the other hand, will be seen in his upcoming film 'Yodha'. Apart from that, he will also be making his digital debut with the upcoming web series 'Indian Police Force'. Helmed by Rohit Shetty, the series also stars Vivek Oberoi and Shilpa Shetty in pivotal roles and will stream exclusively on the OTT platform Amazon Prime Video. (ANI)
The naval officer told Governor S Abdul Nazeer and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday that Visakhapatnam would host the Milan 2024, a multilateral naval exercise, under the auspices of Eastern Naval Command (ENC) in February 2024. Dignitaries and navies from 57 countries are expected to participate in Milan 2024.

During the interaction, Vice Admiral Pendharkar, AVSM, VSM briefed the Governor on major operational issues of the Command and the conduct of MILAN 2024.

The meeting covered important issues pertaining to civil-military coordination and coastal security framework.

Rajesh Pendharkar recently assumed charge as ENC Chief.

In a separate courtesymeeting with the Chief Minister, Vice Admiral Pendharkar explained the various initiatives undertaken by the Indian Navy to overcome the challenges arising in relation to maritime security in the Eastern Seaboard.

CM Jagan presented an idol of Sri Venkateswara Swamy to Pendharkar and in return, the ENC Chief presented the CM with an INS Visakhapatnam ship replica.

Senior Navy officers Captain VSC Rao, Captain Rohit Kattoju, Commander YK Kishore and Lieutenant Saikrishna were also present in the meeting. (ANI)
Six accused have been arrested for robbing a businessman of Rs 23 lakh at gunpoint in the Ghaziabad district's Vijaynagar area over a week ago, police said. According to Ghaziabad Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Nipun Aggarwal, the robbery took place on August 21, when the businessman was on his way from Delhis Ghazipur market to Dasna in Ghaziabad. The DCP said that one of the accused in the robbery was aware that the Ghazipur market in Delhi witnessed frequent transactions in cash. Hence, the accused along with his other five accomplices hatched a plan to make some quick money, the DCP said. "On August 21, the accused spotted the businessman arriving from Delhis Ghazipur market and therefore followed him on their bikes and a car. The men in the car clicked a picture of the businessman's scooter and forwarded it to the bikers waiting ahead," said the DCP. The bikers then started chasing the businessman's scooter. As soon as the businessman reached Vijayanagar police station area, the 6 accused looted his scooter at gun point," he added. Thereafter, the accused robbed the money kept in the scooter of the businessman and fled from the scene after leaving the scooter at some distance. The Ghaziabad Crime Branch team on Tuesday arrested the six accused and recovered 20 lakh 50 thousand rupees. Illegal pistols and a scooter have also been recovered, said police. Police further said that the six accused have a criminal history and have been involved in many loot incidents. All six accused are residents of Meerut and Noida. However, two accused are still absconding, and a team has been set up to nab them, added police. Further investigation into the matter is underway. (ANI)
After the central government announced a reduction in the prices of LPG cylinders by Rs 200, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha expressed gratitude and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the reduction in LPG domestic gas cylinder prices on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. This is a huge gift to the women of the middle class and poor households," Tripura CM told ANI. The residents of Tripura, especially the women are appreciative of this scheme. "I thank our Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of the people of Tripura," added CM Saha. Earlier yesterday, West Bengal Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari also expressed gratitude for the LPG price cut and said, "We welcome the gift Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given to the citizens of the country on Raksha Bandhan. This step would definitely benefit the common man." Speaking to ANI on price reduction in domestic LPG gas cylinders, Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi also stated, "It is a relief to all women because they run the households and even small things make a lot of difference and this is a big thing." Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday also thanked PM Modi and called the LPG price cut a gift to the PM's sisters on Raksha Bandhan. Earlier in the day, the Union Cabinet decided to cut LPG domestic gas cylinder prices by Rs 200 for all users. Briefing reporters on the decision of the Union cabinet, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said the decision is a gift from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the women of the country on Onam and Raksha Bandhan. The meeting of the Cabinet was chaired by Prime Minister Modi. Effective Wednesday, the price of a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder will be reduced by Rs 200 across the country. In Delhi, for instance, the decision will bring down the cost of a 14.2 kg cylinder from the existing Rs 1,103 per cylinder to Rs 903. This across-the-board reduction is in addition to the existing targeted subsidy of Rs 200 per cylinder to Ujjwala households, which will continue. Therefore, the effective price in Delhi for Ujjwala beneficiaries after this reduction will be Rs 703. It may be noted that there are more than 31 crore domestic LPG consumers, including 9.6 crore Ujjwala beneficiaries. Anurag Thakur said the current government has initiated several schemes for the development of women, including pucca houses, toilets, additional foodgrains, and Direct Benefit Transfer during the Covid pandemic. (ANI)
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday reiterated his claims about China "invading" Indian territory in Ladakh. The Congress leader termed the matter of China including Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China as a part of its territory in its latest edition of the 'Standard Map" as a "serious issue". Speaking to the media ahead at the Delhi Airport, Gandhi said, "I have been saying this for many years... What the prime minister has said, I have just returned from Ladakh... What the prime minister has said...That not an inch of land has been invaded..it is totally false". The Congress leader claimed that all the people of Ladakh know that China has "intruded upon" Indian land. Answering a question from ANI on China incorporating Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China in its new map, Rahul Gandhi said," The question of the map is a very serious one. But they (China) have captured our land. The prime minister should also speak on this issue". The former Congress president was on his way to Mysuru in Karnataka where he along with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will attend the launch event of the State Government's Gruha Lakshmi scheme. This scheme will be rolled out at a public function in Mysuru in the presence state Chief Minister Siddaramiah and senior leaders of the party. Under the scheme, one among five poll promises made by the Congress during its election campaign, the state government will provide Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of the family of BPL families. China on Monday released the 2023 edition of its standard map, which shows the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory. Earlier this month, during his visit to Ladakh, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Centre, saying that its claim that not an inch of Indian land was taken by China's People Liberation Army (PLA) troops "is not true". The Congress MP claimed the locals, too, contend that Indian territory was intruded upon and taken by the Chinese troops, adding that it was a matter of concern. "The locals here are concerned about China taking our land. They have said that the Chinese troops took away their grazing land. However, the PM says not an inch of land was taken away. This is not true, you can ask anyone here," Rahul had said. (ANI)
According to the police, the incident took place around 11.37 pm on Tuesday.

The deceased, identified as Harpreet Gill, was a resident of the Bhajanpura area, police said, adding that he was rushedto the Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital where he was declared dead by the doctors.

The injured, identified as Govind Singh, is also from Bhajapura area. He is currently under treatment at the LNJP hospital, the police said.

According to the police, the two were travelling on a motorbike near Subhash Vihar in the Bhajanpura area when the assailants intercepted them.

They opened fire at them before fleeing the spot, the police added.

A case was registered in connection with the incident and an investigation is underway, police said.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday announced that women in the state will be able to avail free rides on state-run buses on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan (Rakhi). According to an official statement from the chief ministers office, women passengers in the state will be able to travel for free in city buses from 12 pm on August 30 to 12 am on August 31. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that on the occasion of Rakshabandhan, it has been decided to make free travel of mothers and sisters in buses operated by the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation from 12 noon on August 30 to 12 midnight on August 31, the statement said. It further said that women can avail of free travel facilities in Uttarakhand Transport Corporation buses passing through Uttarakhand and other states. This year, Raksha Bandhan will be celebrated on the night of August 30 and the festival of Rakhi will not be celebrated the entire day or in the morning hours like previous years, but rather during the night hours. Every year in India, the festival of Raksha Bandhan is observed to celebrate the unbreakable bond between brothers and sisters, which is commemorated by sisters who tie Rakhi to their sibling's wrist. Raksha Bandhan is observed on the full moon day, also known as Poornima Tithi, of the Shukla Paksha in Shravan Maas (Sawan month). Earlier on Monday, women from different parts of Uttarakhand tied 'Rakhi' to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on the occasion of the Raksha Bandhan ceremony ahead of 'Raksha Bandhan' organised at the CM's residence in the capital Dehradun. The Uttar Pradesh government has also announced free bus travel for women in the state on this auspicious occasion. Taking to the social media site X, formerly Twitter, CM Yogi Adityanath made the announcement. He wrote, On the auspicious occasion of Rakshabandhan, a sacred symbol of brother-sister love, in Uttar Pradesh, free travel facilities will be provided to all mothers, sisters, and daughters in the state's government buses from 12:00 am on August 29th to 12:00 am on August 31." (ANI)
The deceased was identified as Vakkil, a native of Uttar Pradesh.

Th injured, identified as Ravi, was admitted to a hospital where he is currently undergoing treatment.

The tanker lorry was used to transport chemicals.

The explosion took place while the workers were carrying out the welding work on the tanker.

The Malumichampatti police are investigating the matter.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)
The schoolchildren greeted PM Modi with smiles as he entered the classroom and tied the sacred thread to him.

As the girls stepped up to tie the rakhi, Prime Minister Modi greeted them with an affectionate smile, asking their names and classes.

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1696753045869314172?s=20

In an adorable moment, one of the girls gave PM Modi a peck on his cheek as he proceeded to bend down and bless her.

PM Modi was seen sitting on a chair with the schoolgirls taking turns to tie rakhis.

Prime Minister also posed for a group photo with schoolgirls and teachers on the occasion.

The customised rakhis, which the girls tied on PM Modi's wrist, had his image on them.

The festival marking the eternal bondbetween a brother and a sister is being celebrated with signature pomp and fervour across the country.

In Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district, schoolgirls tied rakhis to CRPF jawans.

In the Samba district of the Valley, BSF jawans celebrated Raksha Bandhan with school children. (ANI)
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury left his New Delhi residence on Wednesday afternoon to record his statement before the Parliament's Privileges Committee in connection with his suspension from the Lok Sabha. The Congress leader was earlier scheduled to record his statement before the parliamentary panel at 12.30 pm. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had tabled a motion seeking Chowdhury's suspension citing disruptive behaviour. He was alleged to have indulged in disruptive behaviour when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of the Union cabinet were addressing the House during the Monsoon Session earlier this month. Oral evidence of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, MP in connection with motion/resolution adopted by the House on 10 August 2023 leading to his suspension from the service of the House and referring the matter to the Committee of Privileges for further investigation and report to the House, read the agenda of the Privileges Committee. The resolution to suspend Chowdhury from the Lower House was passed by a voice vote. The parliamentary panel will examine Chiwdhuury's statement in connection with his suspension and submit a report to the House through the chairman of the committee. Sunil Singh, a BJP MP from Jharkhand, is the chairman of the Privileges Committee.The committee does not believe in taking maximum days in any case of suspension of MPs in the said matter. It will conduct the inquiry in a time-bound manner and submit the report at the earliest." (ANI)
A case has been registered at the Phoolbagan police station in Kolkata under the West Bengal Prohibition of Ragging in Educational Institutions Act 2000.

According to the police, the principal of the Gurudas College filed a complaint against the two ex-students of the college and accused them of ragging the present ones by regularly visiting the college and pressuring them to participate in political programmes.

The victim had alleged that some students, allegedly forced them to attend political events and allegedly threatened to cancel their registration if they failed to do so. The complaint was directly made to UGC, which directed the college authorities to take immediate action.

A probe is underway and further details are awaited.

Earlier this month, A first-year undergraduate student, Swarnodip Kundu, died after falling from the second-floor balcony of the Jadavpur Universitys main hostel on August 9.

His family alleged that he was a victim of ragging, evoking condemnation and outrage across the state.

The alleged suicide incident led to pandemonium in West Bengal politics with Education Minister Bratya Basu blaming Governor CV Ananda Bose for the demise of the student, to which, the governor reverted, "Im a responsible Governor. I will be very glad if someone acknowledges it.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, earlier, launched an anti-ragging helpline number 18003455678 for all educational institutions in the state.

CM Banerjee termed the Jadavpur incident an 'eye-opener'. (ANI)
Delhi's Patiala House Court dismissed the bail application of a man accused of doing recce of the area before the sensational Pragati Maidan Tunnel gunpoint dacoity of Rs 50 lakh from a businessman in June. The accused shot himself accidentally by a countrymade pistol in his possession and was hospitalized. A separate case in this regard was lodged in Delhi's Burari. However, an accused Pawan has already been granted in the robbery case. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Shailender Malik on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea of Vishal considering his case different from that of Pawan. "With regard to the applicant/accused it has already come on record that he carried out recce prior to the incident and thereafter one day prior to the incident he received a gunshot injury from the country-made pistol being in his possession. Therefore separate FIR was registered," ASJ Shailender Malik said in the order on August 29. He observed, "That apart, there is evidence showing that at the time of incidence applicant/ accused may not be present at the place of incident but was in contact with his co-accused persons as is reflected from CDR and call location." Moreover, that fact is corroborated by recovery from his instance. Therefore no case is made out for a grant of bail. Application accordingly stands dismissed, the court ordered. "No doubt one of the co-accused Pawan Kumar Jha has been released on bail. However, I find that his case is altogether different than the case of applicant/accused as said accused was only driving a car," the court said in the order passed on August 29. The present case has been registered in respect of the Incident of June 24 2023 when an armed robbery took place in Pragati Maidan Tunnel wherein four armed robbers who came on two motorcycles stopped one OLA cab and forcibly robbed a passenger /businessman at gunpoint by taking away his bag carrying Rs.1.5-2 lakhs and fled away. It is also alleged that a total sum of Rs 50 lakhs was robbed from the complainant/victim. During the investigation, three accused persons namely Usman Ali alias Kallu, Anuj Mishra alias Sanki and Kuldeep alias Lungad were arrested from whom there was a recovery of Rs 1,03,000 cash, an automatic pistol and two live cartridges besides a motorcycle. The court noted that from the disclosure of those accused persons they robbed Rs 50 lakhs and accused Usman was the mastermind. Whereas later in the investigation applicant/accused Vishal was also arrested on June 28, 2023. It is further alleged that during an investigation of the possession of Vishal, Rs one lakh was recovered which belonged to the complainant. It is also in the allegations that applicant Vishal conducted the recce before the incident. However, one day prior to the incident, he accidentally fired upon himself the country-made pistol. Because of that injury, he was hospitalized. During arguments, it was stated that the applicant/accused Vishal was in contact with other co-accused persons at the time of the alleged robbery as is reflected from CDR and call location. It was submitted by the Counsel for the accused that he was in judicial custody since June 26, 2023, and is no longer required in the investigation. It was further submitted that one of the co-accused namely Pawan Kumar Jha has alreadybeen granted bail. It is further submitted that at the relevant time of incidence accused was hospitalized and was taking treatment for his injuries, as such was not involved in the alleged crime. On the other hand, an additional public prosecutor opposed the bail application and submitted that accused was part of the conspiracy and was part of the group which committedrobbery upon the complainant and took away Rs 50 lakhs at gunpoint. It was also submitted that it is due to the fact that he accidentally shot himself with his own country-made pistol due to which he got himself hospitalized but was still in contact with other co-accused persons. It was further argued that there was a recovery of Rs one lakhs from the applicant/accused and that money is of the complainant as is reflected from the stamp on currency notes. (ANI)
West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that all the "evidence" will be "tampered with" by the time the police investigation into the Duttapukur firecracker factory explosion incident is complete. Earlier on Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court dismissed a plea moved by Suvendu Adhikari seeking a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the firecracker factory explosion case. "On our petition, the Court said it's a premature stage after investigation there's the liberty to come. Till then, all the evidence will be tampered with," Adhikari said speaking to ANI. Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the state government has deliberately put charges under the "firecracker" section in the FIR so that the NIA cannot investigate. "This is a case fit for NIA. However, given the section under which the FIR has been registered, the NIA does not stand a chance to investigate. To prevent the NIA, the state government has put charges under the firecracker section," the senior BJP leader said. Justifying the need for court intervention in the case, Suvendu Adhikari said, "The central government cannot bring the NIA into the investigation as per law. So there was a need for court interference...However, the court said that it is a premature state. After investigation, the NIA has the liberty...However, till then all evidence will be tampered with." Suvendu Adhikari, however, was optimistic that the case will be reopened after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is elected to power in the state. He alleged that the state is run by explosives. "When the public will bring the BJP Government into the state, then the case will be reopened just like the Sikh riots and the Bhagalpur communal clash...The entire Bengal is running on explosives and every day a new explosion is taking place," the BJP leader said. Reacting to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's statement on LPG cylinder price cut, Adhikari said, "It is not an accusation but an attempt to take the credit. It's an opportunist statement. She has destroyed Bengal. There are 2 crore unemployed youths in Bengal, no industry, no business-friendly environment, 50 lakh migrant labourers are leaving Bengal." Earlier on Sunday, Suvendu Adhikari wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and requested him to initiate an investigation by the NIA into the Duttapukur firecracker factory explosion incident. The Barasat district hospital informed on Sunday that a total of seven people died in the blast that occurred at an illegal firecracker manufacturing factory in Duttapukur. (ANI)
With elections scheduled for later this year in Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday gave the charge to the three newly appointed ministers in the cabinet expansion. Rewa MLA Rajendra Shukla, Balaghat MLA Gauri Shankar Bisen, and Khargapur MLARahul Singh Lodhi were given the charge. CM Chouhan gave the charge of Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) to Gauri Shankar Bisen, Rajendra Shukla took the charge of Public Health Engineering and Public Relations and Rahul Lodhi (Minister of State) Cottage and Village Industries (Independent Charge) and Forest. Earlier on August 26, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has expanded his cabinet. The chief minister included three more MLAs in his cabinet on Saturday. These three MLAs took the ministerial oath today at a function in the Raj Bhavan. Prior to this expansion, the state ministry had 31 members, including the CM. As per constitutional norms, the number can go up to 35, which is 15 per cent of the strength of the MP assembly which has 230 members. The last expansion of Shivraj Chouhan's cabinet took place in January 2021. The MP Chief Minister who is serving his fourth term as Chief Minister and is the longest-serving Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh is looking to balance caste equations and address regional aspirations with this expansion ahead of the State polls. Rajendra Shukla, a 4 time MLA from Rewa Constituency in the Vindh region is one of the new ministers. Shukla earlier served as the minister of Commerce in the Madhya Pradesh Government. Gaurishankar Bisen a Rajput leader from Balaghar Constituency Mahakoshal region who had earlier served under Shivraj Chouhan as a minister is the second new name in the cabinet. OBC leader Rahul Lodhi from Kharagpur has also been included in Shivraj Singh Chouhan's cabinet, OBCs form nearly 40 per cent of the state's population. He was elected to the Damoh Constituency in a by-poll in May 2021. Madhya Pradesh is among the five states where assembly elections are to be held later this year to elect 230 members of the state. Recently, the BJP released its first list of 39 candidates for the 230-seat state assembly. After which the prominent leaders seeking tickets from the party have intensified their preparations to showcase their hold in their respective constituencies. In the 2018 assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Congress emerged as the single largest party with 114 seats and BJP got 109 seats. (ANI)
One person has been killed in Ukraine's Kupiansk due to Russian shelling, the governor of Ukraines Kharkiv oblast, Oleh Syniehubov said, according to Al Jazeera. In a statement on his Telegram, Syniehubov said, A 45-year-old civilian man died as a result of artillery shelling. The building of the meat processing plant where the deceased worked as a security guard was damaged." An apartment building and a private household were also damaged in the city. A 67-year-old man was wounded by shrapnel. He refused hospitalisation, he said, according to Al Jazeera. In the early hours of Monday, at least two people were killed and five others were injured after Russia launched a missile strike on a Ukraine village, CNN reported citing a senior Ukrainian official. Andrii Yermak, head of the Ukrainian President's office, said the strike caused an explosion at an oil mill in the village of Hoholeve. Local officials said search operations and the removal of rubble are ongoing. Meanwhile, theRussian Defense Ministry told reporters that its Air Defense Troops have foiled Kyiv's attempt to attackRussian territory with an aircraft-type drone and shot it down in the Moscow Region, as per TASS News Agency. "On August 28, at about 4:30 am Moscow time, the Air Defense Troops foiled another attempt of the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack on Russian territory with an aircraft-type drone. It was destroyed in the air over the territory of the Lyubertsy district of the Moscow Region," the ministry said. On February 24, 2022,Russiainvaded Ukraine in an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War which began in 2014. The invasion has killed tens of thousands on both sides. Russian forces have been accused of mass civilian casualties and of torturing captured Ukrainian soldiers.Earlier in July,Russiawithdrew from the Black Sea Grain initiative, an agreement that had permitted Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports a year ago, despite the war, to help alleviate a global food crisis. (ANI)
Despite all the aggressive attempts by China, New Delhi through its continuous efforts to improve goodwill without business interests is pushing back against Beijing in the crucial region of South Asia, senior defence analyst and professor Derek Grossman said in a piece on the website of the think tank Rand Corporation. Amid the intensifying strategic confrontation between the United States and China dominating most foreign-policy debates, another important competition is quietly playing out in the South Asia region. The jostling between India and China for influence in South Asiafrom the Himalayas to the islands off the subcontinent in the Indian Oceanwill likely prove crucial to the fate of Washington's strategy to keep the region free and open from Chinese coercion. And the good news, at least for now, is that New Delhian increasingly close US partnerhas been mostly successful in pushing back against Beijing's rising influence across the region, Grossman stated. According to the author, the South Asia region comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lankahas been a hotbed of Sino-Indian strategic competition for years. New Delhis concern is that Beijing, through its multiple border confrontations plans to spin a web of alliances to encircle India, on both land and sea and ultimately supplant it as the dominant power over South Asia. Notably, all the region's countries, except Bhutan, are participants in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a vast economic plan for investment and infrastructure development. Beijing has also secured access to key ports along the Indian Ocean, including Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantota in Sri Lanka, and Chittagong in Bangladesh, that have caused New Delhi to worry about a so-called string of pearls strategy aimed at hemming India in, the think tank stated. As per the author, the situation was worrisome for India, as China-friendly governments came to power in the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and, of course, Pakistan. But, today India has strong ties to the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and it has shored up relations with Bangladesh. New Delhi has at least matched, if not surpassed, Beijing's influence with the Taliban in Afghanistan. To be sure, Pakistan remains an intractable problem because of longstanding sovereignty and territorial disputes over the Kashmir region as well as Islamabad's all-weather partnership with Beijing. But bilateral relations between India and Pakistan have not appreciably worsened either. While India is worried that Bhutan has not included it in border negotiations with China, New Delhi maintains a longstanding relationship with the Himalayan kingdom, allowing it to keep close tabs on the situation to secure its interests. All of this indicates an important inflection point in South Asia. India is no longer losingand may even be winningits strategic competition with China in the region, the author stated. Following the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, China seemed like the obvious great power to fill the void. Beijing has long desired access to the Mes Aynak copper mine. In April, a Chinese firm offered the Taliban USD 10 billion to mine lithium deposits. In May, the Taliban agreed to allow China to extend BRI into Afghanistan from Pakistan. While Beijing has cultivated ties to the Taliban, the reality is China has remained exceedingly cautious because of concerns that the Taliban might secretly harbour and instigate Islamic extremist groups to launch attacks into China's Xinjiang province, the think tank stated. India is likewise concerned that Taliban-run Afghanistan might once again become a playground for terrorists, especially those who are anti-India and supported by Pakistan, it has taken a gamble and forged working ties with the Taliban. In June 2022, New Delhi deployed a technical team to its embassy in Kabul to maintain operations in the country. India has also sent humanitarian aid in the form of food and medical supplies as well as development assistance. These signs of goodwill, which do not necessarily have an attachment to business interests, have been welcomed by the Taliban, and the regime is reciprocating. For example, the Taliban last December reportedly asked New Delhi to complete 20 stalled infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, in an initiative that would rival China's BRI. In February, India also announced funds budgeted for Afghanistan's reconstruction, garnering applause from the Taliban, the think tank stated. The author believes that India may also benefit from strained relations between the Taliban and their patron, Pakistan. Notably, the attacks in Pakistan by the Taliban's sister group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have risen since the end of a cease-fire in 2021, including a February incident in which five Pakistani soldiers were killed. The controversy over the disputed Durand Line separating Pakistan and Afghanistan has given India additional opportunities to serve as an alternative patron. This could harm China's standing as well since it is closely aligned with Pakistan and shares many of Islamabad's goals in Afghanistan, as per Rand Corporation. The India-China competition is fierce, also in Bangladesh, but the author believes that India clearly has the edge. This should not be surprising, given that Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, in large part owes its very independence since 1971 to India's military support against Pakistani forces, he stated. Nevertheless, China has been making inroads there for some time. In 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a visit to Dhaka, inking 27 BRI agreements worth around USD 24 billion and making China the biggest foreign line of credit to Bangladesh. On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged USD 2 billion in assistance in 2015. Beijing and New Delhi both have access to Chittagong, Bangladesh's principal seaport along the Bay of Bengal, and China last year finished construction of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge to cut down transit times between Chittagong and Dhaka. Additionally, both sides are jockeying to develop Mongla and Payra ports. Through BRI, China has pledged to develop Bangladesh's road and rail infrastructure, as well as its power grid. China also remains a top trading partner, the Rand Corporation stated. Despite all the frictions, India has developed into Bangladesh's most important strategic partner in recent years. Bangladeshi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam noted in May that Bangladeshi-Indian ties were unparalleled, incomparable to any other achievements that bilateral neighbouring countries have made despite having some issues. He further observed that while China was a friend, especially in the economic domain, Bangladesh's relationship with India is at a different level because of the history. Indeed, India has invited Bangladesh to New Delhi as its special guest at next month's G-20 summit. Some of this sentiment is undoubtedly baked into New Delhi's traditionally close ties to the Awami League, the Bangladeshi political party that has been in power for nearly 15 years. However, Chinese mistakes have played a role as well. Most notably, since Xi's visit to Dhaka in 2016, BRI projects have generally stalled. The Padma Multipurpose Bridge is one of the few examples of tangible progress. Additionally, Dhaka is likely frustrated by other issues, including the yawning bilateral trade deficit in Beijing's favour and Chinese diplomatic inaction to push Myanmar's military junta to repatriate Rohingya refugees. Bangladeshi Foreign Affairs Minister Abul Kalam Abdul Momen discussed these points during thenChinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang's visit to Dhaka in January, but apparently made little progress, according to Rand Corporation. Meanwhile, as Foreign Policy described in a detailed report, China has been encouraging its citizens since at least 2015 to secretly move to and systematically establish villages in Bhutan, which it then uses as a pretext to annex Bhutan's land. In 2017, a months-long standoff between Chinese and Indian forces near the corridor at Doklamthe tri-border point joining Bhutan, China, and Indiaunderscored the extreme sensitivity of the region. Meanwhile, in the Maldives, India has enjoyed a total reversal of its strategic fortunes since 2018, as per the author. Former Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen, who aggressively courted China instead of India, is now in prison on corruption and money laundering charges. Yameen had been Beijing's man in Male, the Maldivian capital. During his tenure, the Maldives joined BRI and signed a free-trade agreement with China. Yameen's government passed laws that allowed foreigners, including Chinese nationals, to own land, according to the author. Yameen had also sought to construct a Chinese observatory capable of monitoring ship movements throughout the Indian Ocean region (though the project was apparently scrapped) and called for a greater Chinese presence in the Maldives to counter India. His party eventually ran a national India Out campaign, supported by Beijing. However, Yameen's successor, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, has radically changed course, pursuing an India First strategy while continuing to engage China on BRI projects, albeit less aggressively than Yameen. When Solih made a four-day visit to New Delhi to meet with Modi in August 2022, India extended a USD 100 million credit line to finance infrastructure and other projects in the cash-strapped Maldives, including the construction of the Greater Male Connectivity Project, a bridge-and-road project that will connect Male to three other islands. This project will rival the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge between the capital and two other islands that was completed by China in 2018. In Nepal, there is an old adage that the country has historically been a yam between two boulders, always at risk of being squeezed by its behemoth neighbours, the Rand Corporation stated. On the other hand, although China's partnership with Nepal has been growing in recent years, Nepal-India relations are based on centuries of cultural, religious, and economic ties. Xi visited Nepal in October 2019, making him the first Chinese leader to do so in over 20 years. On his visit, he signed 23 agreements and memoranda of understanding for infrastructure and other deals, together worth USD 496 million in financial assistance. Xi further said that China's relationship with Nepal would be elevated to a strategic partnership of cooperation, which put Nepal on the same level, in Beijing's eyes, as a range of other nations that support Chinese development. But even under the pro-Chinese communists, Nepal refused to abide by all of China's wishes. For example, Nepal would not terminate a USD 500 million development grant from the United States, which was supported by India, to improve the country's electricity grid, the think tank further stated. Since 2021, India and Nepal have returned to normalcy. PM Modi met then Nepalese PM Sher Bahadur Deuba, a member of the India-friendly Nepali Congress party, twice in 2022, once in New Delhi and once in Lumbini, India, which is revered as Buddha's birthplace. After Nepal's November 2022 election returned the communists (albeit a different faction) to power, PM Modi met the new Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal this June, and the two leaders signed various agreements on trade, transit, and energy. This suggests that Beijing, even under favourable circumstances, cannot prevent or limit Kathmandu from engaging productively with India, Rand Corporation piece stated. Like in the Maldives and Nepal, Sri Lanka's recent domestic politics has also been a boon for India. The ousting of Sri Lanka's pro-China President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the wake of the country's debt crisis brought President Ranil Wickremesinghe to power. Wickremesinghe recently visited PM Modi in New Delhi and signed economic and energy agreements. That India was the first country to offer a bailout package to Sri Lanka did much for neighbourly goodwill. India's offer of USD 4 billion in humanitarian and financial assistance eclipsed Beijing's support for USD 2.9 billion through the International Monetary Fund, which not only was delayed but also came within the awkward context that China still owns as much as 20 per cent of Sri Lanka's foreign debt. However, Beijing continues to have a significant clout in the country. For example, over Indian objections, a Chinese navy ship in August 2022 docked at Sri Lanka's Hambantota port, which abuts one of the Indian Ocean's most strategic shipping lanes. Beijing owns and operates Hambantota on a 99-year lease; it gained control over the port as a consequence of Sri Lanka's inability to pay back BRI debts. There are also rumours that Beijing plans to build a radar facility at Dondra Bay, near the southernmost tip of Sri Lanka, that could spy on military bases as far away as India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the British-controlled island of Diego Garcia, from which the U.S. military operates as well. But, the change in leadership has clearly improved India-Sri Lanka relations at China's expense, Rand Corporation stated. Notably, Pakistan has always been a challenge for India, but since the last significant border flare-up in 2019, tensions have mostly eased along the disputed border in Kashmir. In an encouraging sign, Pakistan's thenPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier this month said, We are prepared to talk to everyone, even [India], provided that the neighbour is serious to talk serious matters on the table because war is no more an option. Indeed, Islamabad refrained from escalating the 2019 incident further. Also, when Pakistan could have supported its declared iron brother China during the May 2020 Sino-Indian fighting in the disputed Galwan Valley by opening a second front, it kept its powder dry. The China-Pakistan relations continue to soar. Last month, the two partners celebrated the 10th anniversary of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, one of the biggest and most strategically significant BRI projects; they have also increased military cooperation, such as with Beijing's delivery of two frigates to the Pakistani navy in May. But the simple fact that Islamabad remains willing to engage with New Delhi and has kept the Kashmir border region largely peaceful is a victory in and of itself, the author further stated in his piece for the think tank. Overall, India appears to be winning the strategic competition in South Asia. But there is no guarantee it will stay that way, he added. An election can change a country's geopolitical alignment in the blink of an eye. China remains a formidable player. Its ties to Pakistan are deep and close, its engagements with the Taliban in Afghanistan are growing, and it has a robust economic presence in Bangladesh, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. China can also leverage its strengthening relations with the military regime in Myanmar, which has both a long border with China and a lengthy coastline on the Bay of Bengal. Beijing's interest in developing the port of Kyaukphyu, Myanmar, has potentially significant implications for India's maritime security. Grossman, however, has also raised concern that if India fails to prevent Chinese influence from deepening across South Asia, it could seriously jeopardize the US Indo-Pacific strategy as well. In this scenario, New Delhi would be intensely focused on strategic competition in its neighbourhood and less likely to have the bandwidth to support US objectives farther afield, whether in Southeast Asia or the Pacific. India might also prioritize its partnership with Russia in hopes that Moscow might convince Beijing to change its behaviour. Meanwhile, the US should also look to bolster New Delhi's efforts to not only stay ahead of Beijing in South Asia but further widen the gap, Rand Corporation stated. (ANI)
According to details provided by the PTI spokesperson, the party has sought the Supreme Court to take note of the infringement of human rights.

The PTI spokesperson also stated that both national and local human rights organisations should speak out against the unconstitutional actions, according to ARY News.

According to the PTI spokesperson, Pakistan's constitution does not permit secret trials conducted behind closed doors.

Earlier, the hearing of cypher case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief was shifted to the Attock jail.

As per details, the notification issued by the law ministry stated that the ministry permitted the hearing of cypher case against the former prime minister in Attock jail.

The cypher case against the PTI chairman will be heard by Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain in Attock jail.

It is important to note that a special court in Islamabad ordered the PTI chairman to be jailed in judicial custody in the Cypher case at the Attock Jail, where the former premier is being held.

The order comes hours after IHC suspended PTI Chairman Imran Khans three-year sentence in the Toshakhana case.

Imran Khan must appear before the special court on August 30 in connection with the cypher matter, according to the court's decision, ARY News reported. (ANI)
Condemning China for incorporating Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin in its new map, Member of Tibetan Parliament-in-exile, Dawa Tsering, said, "China can never be trusted." China on Monday released the 2023 edition of its standard map, which shows the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory. "China always says that it wants friendship with you but Chinas malice is concealed behind its sweet talk. Never trust Chna and its leaders, because they can never be anybodys friends," Tsering told ANI. Xi Jinping should never-ever be trusted," he stressed. He also urged, All South Asian countries to stand against the Chinese expansionist policy. It has to be condemned. Another Tibetan MP in exile, Yeshi Dolma called China's act provocative. She said that China wants to provoke India ahead of the G20 Summit next month. "China illegally invaded Tibet in 1959, and now it is trying to encroach the border of neighbouring country India," Dolma told ANI. The two Tibetan MPs in exile made these remarks while interacting with ANI during the Jammu chapter of their visits to different Indian states. A delegation of 11 Tibetan MPs in exile is on an India tour, visiting leaders and intellects of different states to make them aware of the situation in Tibet. In Jammu, they also met with strategic analyst, Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma, who also expressed his opinion on Chinas expansionist policy and called the new standard map of China, absolutely wrong. China is an expansionist country and its first example is Tibet which was an independent kingdom and was captured by China in 1950. After that China started spreading all around and they came to Aksai Chin as well.now they are spreading their legs everywhere in Taiwan, Lt Gen Sharma told ANI. This is absolutely wrong. All historical records show that Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh along with McMahon line, were given to India, he said. He also said that China wants to come and sit in Tibet because it wants to put a tight knot over our Himalayas, over our necks. Meanwhile, India has lodged a strong protest against China, while rejecting claims made by Beijing in the so-called "standard map". The Ministry of External Affairs has said that China has no basis to claim Indias territory, adding that such steps from the Chinese side would only complicate the resolution of the boundary question. In response to media queries on Tuesday, MEA Official Spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi said: "We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 'standard map' of China that lays claim to Indias territory." "We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," he added. The map released on August 28 by Beijing shows Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. The map also stakes claim over Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea. The map also incorporates China's claims over the nine-dash line thus laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei have all claims over the South China Sea areas. It was released by Chinas Ministry of Natural Resources during the celebration of Surveying and Mapping Publicity Day and the National Mapping Awareness Publicity Week on Monday in Deqing County, Zhejiang province, as per China Daily newspaper. This is not the first time that Beijing has employed such tactics. In April this year, China had unilaterally renamed as many as 11 Indian locations, which included names of mountain peaks, rivers and residential areas. (ANI)
Two men in Uganda are accused of "aggravated homosexuality," a crime that carries a death sentence under the countrys contentious new anti-gay laws, CNN reported. In the Soroti area of eastern Uganda, a 20-year-old man was charged on August 18 after he allegedly "performed unlawful sexual intercourse with one [man] aged 41 with a disability," according to Jacqueline Okui, a spokesman for the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. According to the widely criticised law, "aggravated homosexuality" includes incest, sex with children, as well as persons who are disabled or elderly. In addition to prohibiting homosexual marriage in Uganda, the law that was brought into effect in May also imposes a life sentence for same-sex offences. The 20-year-old man's attorney, Justine Balya, told CNN that the law's penalties were totally out of proportion. Of course, the fact that the law is being enforced in this way is entirely unconstitutional because it seeks to criminalize what is often consensual conduct between adults, she said. She also said that trials in cases of this nature could take a very long time to complete, and she anticipates her client will spend a significant amount of time in pre-trial remand. According to Balya, they are representing a number of individuals detained for less serious violations of the Anti-Homosexuality Act. Since the law was passed in May, two people have been charged with the capital offence in Uganda, including the man who was apprehended in Soroti. In Jinja district in eastern Uganda, another man was charged with "aggravated homosexuality" last month for allegedly engaging in "a sexual act with a child aged 12 of the same sex," according to Okui. They are both being held on remand and will show up in court in September, as reported by CNN. Museveni finally gave his approval to the bill in May after a period of ambiguity during which it was briefly sent back to parliament for reconsideration. Legislators, Ugandan Christian and Muslim leaders, and some social media users all strongly favour the bill. However, this choice has provoked widespread criticism, fueled anxieties in the LGBTQ+ community, and sparked legal disputes. The bill, according to US President Joe Biden, is "a tragic violation of universal human rights," and he also ordered a study of US funding and investment in Uganda. The US also announced visa restrictions for Ugandan government personnel but did not name those affected. Following the anti-gay legislation, the World Bank earlier this month declared it would not accept any loan requests from Uganda. Days before the World Bank's resolution, the UN announced that its human rights office in Uganda would close after nearly 20 years of existence, citing a decision by local authorities to "terminate the mandate" of the UN rights authority. In response to criticism of the anti-gay bill, Museveni accused the World Bank of attempting to force his nation "into abandoning our faith, culture, principles, and sovereignty, using financial pressure." After the decision, Museveni announced, Uganda will develop with or without loans, CNN reported. (ANI)
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan will remain behind bars after a special court extended his judicial remand in a cypher case till September 13, Geo News reported citing sources. Pakistan's special court established under the Official Secrets Act extended Khan's judicial remand in the cypher case, a hearing of which was held at the Attock District Jail on Wednesday. The case was heard byJudge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnai. He issued the decision in the case of the missing cypher, a classified state document that Khan had waved during his political gathering ahead of his ouster from office last year. Hearing of the case took place at the Attock District Jail following approval by the Law Ministry amid security concerns expressed by the Interior Ministry. Khan has been in jail since August 5 in the Toshakhana case for failing to properly declare gifts he received while in office. Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi who was arrested on August 19 in the cypher case will also be produced at the judicial complex in relation to the cypher case today. He completed two-day remand is completed today, the sources told Geo News. PTI leader Babar Awan a lawyer is representing Qureshi in court. A day earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had directed authorities to release Imran Khan on bail after it suspended his conviction and three-year jail term in the Toshakhana case, Dawn News reported. He, however, continues to be in jail for the cypher case. The bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri on the former prime ministers appeal against his prison term announced the much-anticipated order, that comes months ahead of the national elections in the country. According to Dawn News, the trial court in Islamabad had convicted the PTI chief in the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that involved concealing details of state gifts and jailed him for three years. The verdict meant he was disqualified from contesting general elections for five years. (ANI)
United Kingdom Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will be in China on Wednesday for a bilateral visit during which he will raise Beijings human rights obligations, including in relation to communities in Xinjiang and Tibet. UK government said in a statement that Cleverly will hold bilateral meetings with Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Vice President Han Zheng and will discuss issues such as climate change. This is the first visit of a UK Foreign Secretary to China in over over five years The statement said that the climate change issue cannot be tackled without China as the worlds largest investor in sustainable energy and the largest emitter of carbon, the choices that China makes are critical to our collective ability to tackle this global problem. The Foreign Secretary will state that Chinas global significance comes with a responsibility for international security helping to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine, diffusing tensions in the South China Sea and ceasing malign activity in cyberspace. During his visit, the Foreign Secretary will raise Beijings human rights obligations, including in relation to communities in Xinjiang and Tibet. He will also challenge China on the erosion of autonomy, rights and freedoms in Hong Kong under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, as well as other UK interests including the sanctions placed on UK MPs. It is important we manage our relationship with China across a range of issues. No significant global problem from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic instability to nuclear proliferation can be solved without China," Cleverly said. "Chinas size, history and global significance means they cannot be ignored, but that comes with a responsibility on the global stage. That responsibility means China fulfilling its international commitments and obligations," he added. The statement said it is important to have discussions face to face and raise these issues directly with the centre of the Chinese system, making clear the UKs position with the decision makers in Beijing. This approach is in line with that of international partners, such as the recent visits of Five Eyes and European partners, it said. The engagements come after a visit to the Philippines, where the British Foreign Secretary held talks on a range of subjects including maritime security, climate and trade. This visit comes amid strains in Britains relations with China. In July, the UK's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) released a report that claimed that the appointment of David Cameron as the role of Vice President of a billion-pound China-Uk investment fund and as Vice President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was in some part engineered by the Chinese state. Accusing the UK government of failing to recognise the issues involved, the report stated that China has penetrated "every sector" of the UK's economy. (ANI)
Pakistans Gojra Saddar police on Tuesday registered two cases against 158 people for protesting against inflated power bills and blocking the M-4 at two points between Gojra and Toba Tek Singh interchanges on Monday, Dawn reported. Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper. In Gojra, the cases were registered under identical sections of 341, 506, 290, 291, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code against the electricity protesters. In one FIR, the complainant of ASI Waris Ali Shami said 23 nominated and 50 unidentified persons broke the fence of the motorway and blocked traffic by holding a protest on it near Chak 311-JB. In another FIR registered against 15 nominated and 70 unidentified persons, ASI Muhammad Nawaz claimed that the protesters blocked the traffic on the M-4 near Chak 434-JB. No arrest has been made so far, as per Dawn. A protest was held against high tariff power bills at Kamalia on Tuesday where the citizens blocked traffic on Chichawatni-Rajana Road at Kalma Chowk. They torched bills and shouted slogans against the government. Meanwhile, a man allegedly committed suicide at Dijkot near Faisalabad after he failed to pay his Rs 40,000 electricity bill. The family of Muhammad Hamza (35), a resident of the Sabri Town locality of Dijkot, told police that he was already at his wits end due to financial constraints and the exorbitant electricity bill proved the last nail in his coffin. When he could not pay his bill, he shot himself dead. However, Dijkot police said an investigation would be carried out into the incident to confirm facts. The deceased was the father of two minor children, as per Dawn. Meanwhile, The Express Tribune recently reported that as the protests over exorbitant electricity bills refuse to die down, the Pakistan caretaker government is considering providing a one-slab benefit to household consumers. As the nationwide protests continue, a high-level meeting was held on Monday to address the issue. During the meeting, there were discussions over various proposals intended to reduce the distress of the power consumers, which will subsequently be presented to the federal cabinet for approval on Tuesday. Sources said that the plans to extend instalment relief to the consumers for the bill payments were discussed, giving the citizens an option to pay their bills in more than two instalments and easing their financial burden, according to The Express Tribune report. Similarly, another proposal that is being considered is to provide relief to the people by allowing them to pay a portion of the electricity bill during the winter months when energy consumption reduces. Furthermore, the meeting sought the Pakistan Finance Ministry's views on slashing the taxes imposed on the electricity bills. (ANI)
At least two persons were killed and two others injured after Russian missile attacks on Ukraine's Kyiv in the early hours of Wednesday, CNN reported citing Kyiv's Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko. He said fire and rescue services continue to work at the wreckage sites. Klitschko said, "Fire and rescue services continue to work at the wreckage sites. In particular, in the Darnitsky district and in four areas in the Shevchenkivskiy district of the capital." Meanwhile, Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, on Wednesday, said Russia using drones and missiles launched a "massive" attack on Kyiv on Tuesday night, CNN reported. In a post shared on Telegram, Popko wrote, "Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring." He said several groups of drones travelled towards Kyiv "from different directions," and later missiles were fired towards the city from Tu-95MS strategic bombers. Popko said that air defence forces destroyed over 20 "enemy targets," according to CNN report. Amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the US has announced an additional USD 250 million security assistance package for Kyiv, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday. Blinken said the package includes air defence missiles, artillery ammunition, Javelin systems and rockets, and mine-clearing equipment. He stated that the US will also provide ambulances, spare parts, services, training, and transportation. In a statement, Blinken said, "Today we are announcing the next package of military assistance to aid Ukraine as it defends its territory and protects its people. This package contains important capabilities to help Ukraine on the battlefield." He further said, "It includes AIM-9M missiles for air defence, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, mine-clearing equipment, Javelin and other anti-armour systems and rockets, over 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition, ambulances, demolition munitions for obstacle clearing, as well as spare parts, services, training, and transportation." On August 29, one person was killed in Ukraine's Kupiansk due to Russian shelling, the governor of Ukraines Kharkiv oblast, Oleh Syniehubov said, according to Al Jazeera. In a statement on his Telegram, Syniehubov said, A 45-year-old civilian man died as a result of artillery shelling. The building of the meat processing plant where the deceased worked as a security guard was damaged." An apartment building and a private household were also damaged in the city. A 67-year-old man was wounded by shrapnel. He refused hospitalisation, he said, according to Al Jazeera. (ANI)
Speaking with journalists outside the court before his arrest, the senior PTI leader alleged that the cases made against him were false.

Blowing up balloons has also become terrorism, he said questioning the ambiguity around the arrests pertaining to the May 9 violence.

Aftab Siddiqui was also nominated but escaped after holding a press conference. People who hold press conferences [easily] leave, Geo News quoted Sheikh as saying.

The PTI further alleged that he and his colleagues are still facing lawsuits due to political vengeance.

I have been exposing the corruption of the Pakistan Peoples Party, he added.

Sheikh also lamented the violation of Constitution and law by the rulers.

Notably, following the May 9 violence, a provincial high court bench restricted the police from apprehending Sheikh till May 19 after his son moved the court against a potential arrest, Geo News reported.

On May 9, this year, former PM and PTI Chairman Imran Khan was arrested from inside the High Court in Islamabad by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the charges of corruption in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust, which he owns alongside his wife, Bushra Bibi.

Following Khan's arrest, his party called for demonstrations, which turned violent in many places. The administration resorted to a crackdown and many arrests were made across the country. The people accused in the May 9 violence are being tried at military courts. (ANI)
The meeting will be held under the presidency of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) chief Rakesh Pal.

The meeting will be attended by stakeholders/ representatives from various organizations namely the Indian Coast Guard, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Director General of Hydrocarbons, Information Bureau, Director General of Shipping, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The 134th OSCC meeting was held in January this year, under the Chairmanship of the Director General, Indian Coast Guard, VS Pathania.

During the meeting, Pathania highlighted the importance of offshore energy installations in the country and their security.

He said that the possibility of assault by inimical forces cannot be ruled out, stressing the need to stay focused and be ready to take stringent offshore security measures at all times.

The ICG Director General also cautioned that as a forum, OSCC cannot afford to ignore any factor impinging on offshore security and all stakeholders have to maintain thorough preparedness to respond promptly with coordinated and concerted efforts. (ANI)
North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile, the Japanese Prime Minister's office said in a statement on Wednesday. In a post shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Japanese Prime Minister's office in a statement said, "North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow." Japanese PM Fumio Kishida ordered authorities to make efforts to gather, analyse and provide adequate information. He said that the authorities should ensure the safety of aircraft, vessels and other assets. He directed officials to take all the measures for precaution, including readiness for contingencies. In a post on X, the Japanese PM's Office said, "Dedicate maximum effort to gather and analyze information, and provide the public speedy and adequate information. Ensure the safety of aircraft, vessels, and other assets. Take all possible measures for precaution, including readiness for contingencies." Last week, North Korea's second attempt to launch a spy satellite, Malligyong-1 into orbit failed due to an error in the emergency blasting system in the third stage of the rocket, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. North Korea's KCNA reported that the National Aerospace Development Administration launched the second reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1 aboard the new-type carrier rocket Chollima-1 at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground after the first one failed in May. "The flights of the first and second stages of the rocket were normal, but the launch failed due to an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight," the KCNA report read. "The NADA said that it would make clear in a short span of time the reason why the emergency blasting system was operated abnormally," it further added. Explaining that the cause of the relevant accident is not a big problem in the aspect of the reliability of cascade engines and the system, the NADA said that it will carry out the third reconnaissance satellite launch in October after thoroughly investigating the reason and taking measures. Earlier, in May, North Korea conducted its first spy satellite but failed to reach the desired place. After the failure, KCNA said that some problems like "serious defects" appeared, and the rocket carrying the spy satellite faced an abnormal firing of its second-stage engine and lost propulsion, adding that "low reliability and stability of the new-type engine system" were the reason behind failure. (ANI)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will visit India to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi from September 9 to 10. Prior to his visit to New Delhi, Trudeau will travel to Indonesia to participate in the ASEAN Summit and thereafter head to Singapore for a bilateral visit. "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that he will travel to Jakarta, Indonesia to participate in the ASEAN Summit from September 5 to 6, 2023. This will be followed by a bilateral visit to Singapore from September 7 to 8, 2023. He will then participate in the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, from September 9 to 10, 2023," Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. At the G20 Summit in New Delhi, Trudeau will work with international partners to tackle global crises to build a better tomorrow for people around the world. He will promote the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in his role as co-chair of the SDG Advocates group. Canada Prime Minister's Office in the statement said, "At the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, under the theme One Earth One Family One Future, the Prime Minister will work with international partners to tackle todays global crises to build a better tomorrow for people around the world." It further said, "He will promote the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in his role as co-chair of the SDG Advocates group, and advocate for increased collaboration in the areas of climate change, international financial institution reform, food and energy security, gender equality, and improved global health." According to the statement, Trudeau will continue to advocate for collective action to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for the military offensive in Ukraine. Canada Prime Minister's Office in the statement said, "Canada is, and will always be, a champion of the rules-based international order, and the global trade and economic progress that depend on those rules. Russias brutal war of aggression in Ukraine is an attack on the rules that all countries rely on to do business, trade, grow, and improve life for their citizens." It further said, "Thats why, at the G20, Prime Minister Trudeau will continue to advocate for collective action to hold Putin accountable for his illegal war and to secure a just and durable peace that starts with Russias immediate withdrawal from Ukraine. Working collaboratively to tackle global crises while holding Russia accountable is essential to maintaining the integrity and effectiveness of the G20." The G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. India has assumed the G20 Presidency from December 1.The G20 comprises 19 countries - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, US, UK and the European Union. The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population. In the Indo-Pacific region, Trudeau will reaffirm Canada's commitment to strengthening economic cooperation and removing trade barriers to create good middle-class jobs and make life more affordable for people on both sides of the Pacific. According to the statement, he will work with his counterparts to strengthen ties between people and drive climate action. ] In the statement, Trudeau said, "We live in an increasingly interconnected world, and it is clear that the crises that exist today can only be addressed by pulling together. I look forward to meeting with global leaders to address the challenges and crises we are facing, seize opportunities for Canadians, and ensure a strong economy for now and for generations to come." During his visit to Indonesia, Trudeau will meet Indonesian President Joko Widodo to keep working together to tackle climate change, improve food security and advance economic ties by underscoring Canadas commitment to conclude a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Indonesia, Canadas largest export market in Southeast Asia, according to the statement. In Singapore, Trudeau will strengthen bilateral relations between the two nations, particularly by promoting Canadian exports and positioning Canada as a destination of choice for investment opportunities. During his visit, he will meet with his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong and a number of private sector leaders. According to the statement, Justin Trudeau's visit to the Indo-Pacific region will be an opportunity to make progress and deliver results on issues of importance to Canada and its international partners. (ANI)
Michael Fox, who is leading New Zealand's largest-ever trade delegation to India, hailed the success of the Indian Space Research Organisations third lunar exploration mission Chandrayaan-3. We arrive in India to celebrate another piece of history. In this case, India's successful mission to the moon. This is an extraordinary achievement, said Fox, the chairperson of the India New Zealand Business Council while addressing the event on Wednesday. He described Indias scientific victory as a testament to its ambition and ability to pursue the same. The scientific victory is India's and it's a testament to India's ambition, ability to execute, and it has demonstrated that to the world, Fox added. India took a giant leap as ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the south pole of the moon on August 23, making it the first country to have achieved the historic feat and bringing to an end the disappointment over the crash landing of the Chandrayaan-2, four years ago. Michael Fox began his address to the India New Zealand Business Council with a few childhood anecdotes about India. Fox apart from being the Chair of India New Zealand Business Council, also holds a number of other advisory roles including sitting on the New Zealand International Business Forum and Export New Zealand Advisory Board. I'm going to start this very auspicious inaugural of the Indian New Zealand Business Council in India by telling you about all of the Island of New Zealand. Whenever we got a vacation, we had to write out a chapter from a local history book, and it happened to be about my hometown's historical associate with India. Napier was named after Charles James Napier, we have a suburb called Clive after Robert Clive, two figures of the British Raj, he said. Fox also said, Clearly, things have come a long way, and a lot has happened since then. In particular in more recent years. But I think what we're doing here today showing up, sharing ideas, building relationships, and finding new ways to succeed together as a new chapter in India and New Zealand's shared history. But this one, we are writing ourselves. David Pine, New Zealands High Commissioner to India was also present on the occasion and also addressed the council. As a Kiwi, I find it hard to describe the pride, I feel in seeing a New Zealand business delegation of this quality in India. Truly, what we've been seeing over the course of this week has been the new New Zealand engaging in a new way with the new India, Pine said. He said that the India-New Zealand Business Council was meeting the expectations and the level of ambition that all of our ministers have encouraged us to strive for. New Zealands High Commissioner to India also said that the relationship between the two countries is indeed moving smoothly and rapidly into its next phase, and shortly the outcomes of this week's visit by New Zealand Trade and Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor will become more visible. This is New Zealands largest trade delegation to India reflecting a re-prioritising of ties with India. The delegation, comprising 50 members and senior leaders of five business organisations, comes at a time of renewed focus on New Zealands trade and investment relationship with India. The India New Zealand Business Council in New Zealand published a major review of the economic relationship in April and it has contributed to a great deal of discussion in trade, investment and political circles. The Indian government has identified agriculture, agri-tech, education, fintech, forestry, horticulture and renewable energy as key priorities and New Zealand mission participants have the technologies and skills to address some of those development needs. Indians in New Zealand are playing a key role in the delegation, which is no surprise considering that 5 per cent of New Zealands population is of Indian descent. (ANI)
One person is dead and another was injured in a shooting that happened Wednesday morning in Fernandina Beach, the Nassau County Sheriffs Office said.

Deputies responded to a home on Nottingham Drive, where the shooting happened, around 5:30 a.m. This is south of the intersection of South 8th Street and Sadler Road.

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One person is being detained and investigators are currently conducting interviews to determine what happened, NCSO said in a Facebook post.

Investigators said more information will be released when it becomes available.

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One person died and another was injured Wednesday morning in an apartment building fire on Second Avenue in Akron.

An apartment fire in the 1100 block of Second Avenue left one person dead and one person transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries Wednesday morning, according to the Akron Fire Department.

The fire was reported at 7:34 a.m. and displaced 30 building occupants; the American Red Cross is providing assistance to them.

According to authorities, the fire was under control before 10 a.m.; its cause and origin are under investigation.

Johnny Jordan, a longtime resident of the East Akron apartment building, lives across from the unit that caught fire on the third floor. He said his unit wasn't affected, but the strong smell of smoke woke him up before he realized there was a fire across the hall.

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"I was fast asleep when I first smelled smoke, and I heard people yelling that there was a fire and I got out of my apartment as quickly as I could, still half asleep," Jordan said. "I didn't know the gentleman who lived in that unit; I only saw him a few times  but it's just sad for anyone to lose their life like that."

Akron police chase: 1 dead, 2 injured after Akron police pursue stolen vehicle possibly connected to shooting

Jordan said all residents of the building were evacuated while crews battled the fire. The occupants of the lower two floors were allowed back into their units. He said he didn't know how the fire started, or when the residents of the third floor would be allowed back in their homes.

"I've been waiting out here for a little over five-and-a-half hours, and I hope I can get back into my place soon," Jordan said. "My apartment was a little smoky, but nothing was damaged."

Melena Thomas, who also lives on the third floor, said she awoke to shouts from neighbors who were in the hallways and already outside of the building.

"It's lucky that I heard people shouting; the fire alarms were going off in the hallway, but I couldn't hear them  and I'm just glad that I could get out in time," Thomas said. "My apartment wasn't smoky at all, so no alarms were going off in my unit; I would've never woken up had I not heard people screaming."

She said she didn't smell any smoke or hear the hallway smoke alarms going off until she opened her front door to discover the nearby fire.

"I walked out of the apartment and there was just so much of that thick, black smoke; after I went down the first time, I forgot my keys  so I had to go back up to my apartment, and you just couldn't see anything."

Tuesday afternoon, the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office said the person who died has not yet been identified and that next-of-kin had not been notified.

Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@gannett.com, or on Twitter, @athompsonABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: 1 dead, 1 injured in Akron apartment fire on Second Avenue
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Kansas City-area schools make up half of the top 20 schools in Kansas and Missouri, according to U.S. News and World Report.

The publication released its annual rankings of the best high schools in the nation this week. U.S. News also breaks down the best high schools in each state.

Kansas City cafe among Southern Livings best new restaurants of 2023

For Kansas, seven of the top 10 schools are in the Kansas City area.

KCKs Sumner Academy once again took the top spot in the state. But its rank on the nationwide list dropped to 110 from 32 last year.

After Sumner, the Kansas list features multiple Johnson County schools, including four of Blue Valley School Districts five high schools.

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Here are the top 10 public high schools in Kansas:

Sumner Academy of Arts and Science, KCK Shawnee Mission East High School, Prairie Village Blue Valley North High School, Overland Park Blue Valley Northwest High School, Overland Park Blue Valley High School, Stilwell Rock Creek High School, St. George Blue Valley West High School, Overland Park Olathe Northwest High School, Olathe Andover High School, Andover Manhattan High School, Manhattan

On the Missouri side, only three Kansas City schools landed in U.S. News top 10, with St. Louis-area schools dominating the list.

FOX4 newsletters: Get the latest news delivered to your inbox

Ewing Marion Kauffman High School was the highest-ranked Kansas City school in the state at No. 6.

Here are the top 10 public high schools in Missouri:

Metro Academic and Classical High School, St. Louis Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, St. Louis Ladue Horton Watkins High School, Ladue Clayton High School, Clayton Kirkwood Sr. High School, Kirkwood Ewing Marion Kauffman High School, Kansas City Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, Kansas City Park Hill High School, Kansas City Lafayette Sr. High School, Wildwood Parkway West High School, Ballwin

Schools were evaluated and ranked based on a variety of criteria, including standardized test scores, parent and student surveys, extracurricular activities, and indicators of teacher quality.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
A Delta flight hit severe turbulence as it was approaching Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Tuesday, sending 11 people to the hospital after landing.

The Airbus A350, which took off from Milan, Italy, landed safely shortly before 7 p.m. after hitting turbulence about 40 miles northeast of the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The plane was carrying 151 passengers and 14 crew members, according to the airline.

Both customers and crew members of Delta flight 175 were among those who were injured. It was not immediately clear how many of each were hurt or how severe any of their injuries were.

It was the latest in a series of incidents this year in which people have been hurt when their flights hit severe turbulence.

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One person was killed in March when a Bombardier CL30 jet flying from Dillant-Hopkins Airport in New Hampshire to Leesburg Executive Airport in Virginia encountered severe turbulence. That flight was forced to divert to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

Multiple people were hospitalized in another March incident after a Lufthansa flight from Austin to Frankfurt, Germany, hit turbulence and was forced to make an emergency landing at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

One day later, around 20 passengers and crew members on a Condor flight from Frankfurt to Mauritius were injured because of turbulence.

Young Americans dominating 2023 U.S. Open

Companies offer student loan relief for new hires

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This story has been archived. For the latest on Hurricane Idalias path, click here.

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  Idalia is now expected to make landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.

As of the 11 p.m. update, the National Hurricane Center said Idalia is moving north at around 18 mph. The storms wind speeds have increased to 110 mph.

Real-time wobble tracker monitoring Hurricane Idalias shifts in Gulf of Mexico

The storm is currently located 120 miles southwest of Cedar Key, according to the National Hurricane Center.

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There is the potential for destructive life-threatening winds where the core of Idalia moves onshore in the Big Bend region of Florida, with hurricane conditions expected elsewhere in portions of the Hurricane Warning area along the Florida Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said.

Parts of Floridas Big Bend can see storm surge between 12 and 16 feet. Residents in coastal areas should listen to local officials.

Some areas north of Tampa Bay expected to see 6 to 11 feet of storm surge, with 4 to 6 feet in the Tampa Bay area and 3 to 5 feet south of Tampa Bay.

The storm surge threat is increased thanks to higher-than-normal high tides due to Wednesdays Super Moon.

Do I need to evacuate? Orders issued for several counties ahead of Idalia

The National Hurricane Center said residents in these areas should be prepared for a long period of power outages.

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for:

Englewood northward to Indian Pass, including Tampa Bay

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for:

Middle of Longboat Key northward to Indian Pass, including Tampa Bay

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for:

Dry Tortugas Florida

Chokoloskee northward to the Middle of Longboat Key

West of Indian Pass to Mexico Beach

Sebastian Inlet Florida to Surf City North Carolina

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for:

Bonita Beach northward to Englewood, including Charlotte Harbour

Mouth of the St. Marys River to South Santee River South Carolina

Beaufort Inlet to Drum Inlet North Carolina

Neuse and Pamlico Rivers North Carolina

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for:

Mouth of the St. Marys River to Edisto Beach South Carolina

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for:

Lower Florida Keys west of the west end of the Seven Mile Bridge

North of Surf City North Carolina to the North Carolina/Virginia

border

Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds

The worst weather will be between Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon.

Most of the tornados will happen Tuesday night, while the biggest storm surge for the Tampa Bay area will happen Wednesday morning.

Idalia Resources

Watch WFLA Nows 24/7 coverage to stay up-to-date on Idalia. Get the latest on closings and weather conditions in your area on our Tracking the Tropics page.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
Eleven people were rushed to the hospital Tuesday after their Delta flight hit intense turbulence as it neared Atlanta, according to officials.

Delta Air Lines Flight 175 from Milan, Italy, to Atlanta experienced severe turbulence" before landing safely at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta said in a statement.

The eleven injured passengers and crew members were taken to a hospital and are expected to make a full recovery, a Delta spokesperson said.

Read more: How airlines trick you into paying more

The flight was about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta when the crew reported severe turbulence, the Federal Aviation Authority said in a statement. The FAA said it will be investigating.

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There were 151 passengers and 14 crew members aboard the aircraft, an Airbus A350-900, Delta said. The flight landed in Atlanta at 7 p.m., according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website.

It was not the only Delta flight to encounter problems Tuesday. A flight from Salt Lake City to New York made an emergency landing in Denver after crew reported a possible hydraulic issue, the airline said.

Read more: This is not your captain speaking: Moans and groans are taking over some flights' P.A. systems

Another Delta flight from Memphis, Tenn., to Salt Lake City made an emergency landing in Wichita, Kan., after crew reported a possible pressurization issue that required operating the aircraft at a lower altitude.

A spokesperson for Delta said the crew decided to divert the flights "out of an abundance of caution," and both planes made safe landings. The issues on the international and domestic flights were unrelated, the spokesperson said.

Both aircraft were in operation Wednesday. The FAA said it is investigating both incidents.

Sign up for Essential California for the L.A. Times biggest news, features and recommendations in your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
FILE- Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Prize Winner and Founder of Grameen Bank, speaks during the opening ceremony for the One Young World summit at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013. 160 global leaders including more than 100 Nobel laureates have written an open letter on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, to the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, urging her to suspend judicial proceedings against Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus for alleged violation of labor laws. Supporters of Yunus say the charges are politically motivated because of differences he has with the prime minister. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)  More than 170 global leaders and Nobel laureates have urged Bangladesh's prime minister to suspend legal proceedings against Muhammad Yunus , who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people.

In an open letter, the leaders, including former U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and more than 100 Nobel laureates, said they were deeply concerned by recent threats to democracy and human rights in Bangladesh.

"One of the threats to human rights that concerns us in the present context is the case of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus. We are alarmed that he has recently been targeted by what we believe to be continuous judicial harassment, said the letter, dated Tuesday.

We are confident that any thorough review of the anti-corruption and labor law cases against him will result in his acquittal, it said.

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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responded by saying she would welcome international experts and lawyers to come to Bangladesh to assess the legal proceedings and examine documents involving the charges against Yunus.

If they send the experts and lawyers, many more things will get revealed, which remain untouched. Many such things will come out, Hasina said.

In 1983, Yunus founded Grameen Bank, which gives small loans to entrepreneurs who would not normally qualify for bank loans. The banks success in lifting people out of poverty led to similar microfinancing efforts in many other countries.

Hasina's administration began a series of investigations of Yunus after coming to power in 2008. She became enraged when Yunus announced he would form a political party in 2007 when the country was run by a military-backed government and she was in prison, although he did not follow through on the plan.

Yunus has also criticized politicians in the country, saying they are only interested in money. Hasina called him a bloodsucker" and accused him of using force and other means to recover loans from poor rural women as head of Grameen Bank.

Hasina's government began a review of the bank's activities in 2011, and Yunus was fired as managing director for allegedly violating government retirement regulations. He was put on trial in 2013 on charges of receiving money without government permission, including his Nobel Prize award and royalties from a book.

He later faced more charges involving other companies he created, including Grameen Telecom, which is part of the countrys largest mobile phone company, GrameenPhone, a subsidiary of Norwegian telecom giant Telenor.

Earlier this month, 18 former Grameen Telecom workers filed a case against Yunus accusing him of siphoning off their job benefits. Defense lawyers called the case harassment and vowed to fight the allegations.

Separately, Yunus went on trial on Aug. 22 on charges of violating labor laws. The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments brought the case against Yunus and three other people in 2021, alleging discrepancies during an inspection of Grameen Telecom, including a failure to regularize positions for 101 staff members and to establish a workers welfare fund.

Yunus and 13 others were also named in a case brought by the Anti-Corruption Commission accusing them of embezzling funds from Grameen Telecom.

In their letter, the global figures also urged that Bangladesh's upcoming elections, expected to be held by early January, be credible.

Hasina said the elections would be free and fair.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has alleged that the elections will be rigged and threatened to boycott the voting if Hasina does not step down and hand over power to a caretaker government to oversee the balloting. Hasina has rejected the demand.
The Education Department announced $72 million in student-debt relief for 2,300 borrowers.

The borrowers attended Ashford University, which a judge said engaged in fraudulent behavior.

The loans are set to be discharged automatically, and borrowers shouldn't need to take extra steps.

Another batch of student-loan forgiveness just came for thousands of borrowers in California.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden's Education Department, along with Attorney General Rob Bonta of California, announced it was canceling $72 million in student debt for 2,300 borrowers who it said were "cheated" by Ashford University, an online for-profit school based in San Diego. This relief is a result of approvals for borrower defense claims, which are forms borrowers can submit if they believe they were defrauded by the school they attended, and if approved, their loans for that school would be forgiven.

According to the press release, this announcement is a result of an Education Department review of a 2017 lawsuit the California Department of Justice brought against Ashford and its parent company, Zovio, during which California argued the school misled students by lying about tuition costs and employment potential, along with engaging in aggressive recruiting tactics. In 2022, a judge ruled that Ashford made 1.2 million misrepresentations to students and faced a civil penalty of $22.3 million. Ashford and Zovio are appealing the decision.

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"What Ashford University did to its students was unconscionable and illegal," Bonta said in a statement. "That's why the California Department of Justice took Ashford and its parent company to court. Ultimately, we prevailed, securing more than $22 million in penalties. I want to thank the Biden-Harris Administration for changing the lives of thousands of former Ashford students today. They have lived a nightmare for too long."

Student-loan borrowers impacted by this discharge are not expected to have to make any payments on those loans. The department said it would notify qualifying borrowers that their loans would be forgiven in September, and they would see any remaining balances "zeroed out and credit trade lines deleted," the press release says. Any additional payments borrowers make on that balance are set to be refunded, and Bonta told reporters on a Wednesday press call that Ashford borrowers who did not apply for relief could submit a claim to studentaid.gov/borrower-defense.

The court's decision stated that Ashford's "admissions counselors would cross a 'gray line' ethically or 'do things they wouldn't normally do' to boost numbers to keep their jobs." The department's review found that only 25% of students graduated from Ashford within eight years of enrolling, and borrowers wrote in their applications for relief that they were unable to obtain employment and experienced financial burdens.

Since Biden took office, his Education Department has taken several steps to provide debt relief to targeted groups. Most recently with regards to borrower defense actions, the department announced that 7,400 students who were enrolled at Colorado-based locations of CollegeAmerica would receive $130 million in debt relief after accusations the company engaged in "widespread misrepresentations about the salaries and employment rates of its graduates."

The department also eased the process for students to submit borrower defense claims earlier this year, including creating a more streamlined application process and expanding the types of school misconduct that would qualify a borrower for a loan discharge. However, a federal judge recently blocked those reforms following a lawsuit filed by a for-profit college group that claimed the changes were unfair to schools.

This relief also comes just days before the federal student-loan payment pause is set to end. After more than three years, interest is beginning to accrue again on Friday, with bills becoming due one month later. To ease the process back into repayment, the department announced a 12-month "on-ramp" period during which missed payments would not be reported to credit agencies, along with a new income-driven repayment plan  known as the SAVE plan  intended to make monthly payments more affordable.

The department has also begun forgiving student loans for borrowers under a one-time account adjustment for borrowers on income-driven repayment plans, most recently wiping out balances of 804,000 borrowers who made the required 20 or 25 years of payments. It's set to continue to evaluate borrowers' accounts for relief every two months.

Read the original article on Business Insider
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  An armed burglar pointed a gun at a womans head while her granddaughters watched, threatening to kill her if she didnt get the combination to a safe in her home in the northwest valley, according to an arrest report.

Two men are in custody in the Clark County Detention Center after a series of home break-ins, which took place over several days from Aug. 6-10 in Summerlin and the northwest Las Vegas valley. The face a list of charges in the break-ins, and both are scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 12.

Rondel Wilson, 24, faces 21 charges  including the armed burglary charge, which carries a $100,000 bail amount. Shamar Swanson, 26, faces 15 charges, with a $50,000 bail amount set on the armed burglary charge.

Shamar Swanson, left, and Rondel Wilson. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)

According to arrest reports, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department detectives identified the suspects using video surveillance images and DNA evidence from the scenes of three incidents. All the burglaries involved two black males and a black Dodge Challenger with black rims and a paper license plate. In each case, the burglars entered through a rear sliding glass door.

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Surveillance images helped police identify Wilson as the man who threatened the woman during the Aug. 8 break-in. The woman wasnt harmed before the suspects left out the broken back door. They forced her to call her husband to get the combination, and he said he was around the corner and would be home shortly. The suspects took her phone and threw it into the backyard swimming pool as they left.

A third suspect present at the northwest valley burglary has not been apprehended.

Items taken in the burglaries include a handgun and ammunition, jewelry, cameras and designer handbags.

Wilson was apprehended as he left a North Las Vegas casino on Aug. 23, and police recovered the handgun that was stolen, tucked into Wilsons waistband. While police were looking for a second subject who was with Wilson, he slipped his handcuffs and tried to run back into the casino. He faces an escape charge related to that.

Swanson was arrested at his east Las Vegas home on Aug. 24.

Metro police asked for the publics help in identifying the suspects on Aug. 14, and photos from that request included images of the car used in the burglaries.

Charges against Wilson:

Burglary with a deadly weapon ($100,000 bail)

Grand larceny of a gun

Burglary with a deadly weapon (2 counts)

Conspiracy to commit robbery with a deadly weapon

Robbery with a deadly weapon

Assault with a deadly weapon

First-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon

Home invasion with a deadly weapon (2 counts)

Child abuse with a deadly weapon (2 counts)

Possession of a gun by a prohibited person

Carrying a concealed weapon without a permit

Buy/possess/receive stolen property $25,000-$100,000, or gun

Escape by a felony prisoner

Conspiracy burglary (3 counts)

Conspiracy home invasion (2 counts)

Charges agains Swanson:

Grand larceny of a gun ($50,000 bail)

Burglary with a deadly weapon (3 counts)

Conspiracy kidnapping, first degree

Conspiracy to commit robbery with a deadly weapon

Home invasion with a deadly weapon (2 counts)

Buy/possess/receive stolen property $25,000-$100,000, or gun

Conspiracy burglary (3 counts)

Conspiracy home invasion (2 counts)

Robbery with a deadly weapon

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
Two Charlotte businessmen will serve time in prison for selling fraudulently obtained iPhones in the U.S. and internationally.

We will continue to work together on critical cases impacting our city, county and state.  Chief Jennings (@cmpdchief) August 31, 2023

In a news release, the district attorneys office said Hamzeh Jamal Alasfar, 31, and Tayseer Issam Alkhayyat, 35, were each sentenced to 46 months in prison for the multi-year scheme.

The goal of the scheme was to buy, sell, and ship the iPhones domestically and internationally.

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PREVIOUS: Local business owners facing federal charges for allegedly selling stolen iPhones

Court records show Alasfar and Alkhayyat ran the scheme from 2013 to 2020. Dozens of the packages, which also included other devices, were sent to buyers in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.

The pair ran several businesses in Charlotte that they used to carry out the scheme. Along with their employees, the men bought new phones from people who got ahold of them fraudulently.

Prosecutors believe between January 2019 and January 2020, they sold and shipped more than 20,000 new iPhones for over $20 million through one of their businesses.

Alasfar and Alkhayyat pleaded guilty on March 2 to interstate and foreign transportation of stolen property.

The two were ordered to serve three years under court supervision when theyre released from prison.

(WATCH BELOW: Charlotte business owner indicted in $1.2M COVID loan fraud scheme)








Two active-duty staff sergeants were arrested for possession of explosives, according to the Muscogee County Sheriffs Office.

In a statement released Tuesday, the sheriffs office said Staff Sgts. Christopher Reese, 30, and Lue Lor, 30, were arrested after an investigation conducted by both MCSO and the Criminal Investigation Division of Ft. Moore.

Deputies seized 33 explosive devices, 20 rifles, seven handguns, a mortar shell and $3,100 worth of steroids.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

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Its unclear what they intended to do with the explosives and the guns.

Reese was charged with 33 counts of possession of explosive devices. Lue was charged with two counts of possession of explosive devices and oe count of possession of steroids with extent to distribute.

The case is still under investigation.

According to the sheriffs office, Reese and Lor were found with 33 explosive devices, 20 rifles, seven handguns, $3,100 worth of anabolic steroids, and an inert mortar shell.

Both soldiers were taken into custody at the Muscogee County Jail without incident, according to deputies.

The sheriffs office included pictures of the seized items with their release.

Reese was charged with 33 counts of possession of explosive devices.

Lor was charged with two counts of possession of explosive devices and one count of possession of anabolic steroids with the intent to distribute them.

The case remains under investigation by both MCSO and the Ft. Moore Criminal Investigations Division.

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A Chicago resident didnt know riding the local train would unexpectedly turn him into a hero and change the trajectory of his professional career.

According to Readers Digest, it was a typical day for Anthony Perry, who hopped off the train at Chicagos 69th Street station in June 2022. Since Perry was interested in purchasing a car, he was on his way to meet his grandfather, who had agreed to accompany him to view one he had been eyeing.

Out of the blue, a physical altercation erupted between two men at the station, which led to the two falling onto the train tracks. Although one of the men landed on his back, they continued to tussle until he began to shake uncontrollably. This caused the other guy involved to hop off him and jump back to the waiting area above ground.

The man who was still on the tracks fell on the third rail, the conduit for the 600 volts of electricity the Chicagos L trains need to run day in and day out. Perry and other witnesses grew terrified as they watched the mans head continuously bounce on the rail due to the electrical shocks running through his body. It looked like the unnamed man lost his life. However, Perry refused to let him lie on the tracks. Thats when the 20-year-old decided to take it upon himself to help the man.

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He slowly descended on the train tracks and took big steps since he assumed all of the rails were powered up and could electrocute him as well. He was initially shocked the first two times he grabbed the victims hand to get him off the rail. Pushing through the strong electrical currents, he successfully managed to pick the man up and carefully place him by the concrete barricade.

The man was still alive but not coherent. An onlooker dressed in scrubs instructed him to give him chest compressions, Readers Digest reported, which the young man immediately did until the mans body started twitching again.

Once the paramedics and firefighters arrived, he moved out of the way so they could do their job, and he went on with his plans for the afternoon. Unfortunately, by the time Perry and his grandfather made it to see the car, someone else had bought it. The incident made the local evening news and noted a mysterious man saved the day. After one of his friends leaked his name to the media, a local philanthropist honored his quick actions with a car. In addition, the Chicago Fire Department reached out to him to join their team, and he is currently training to become an EMT.

The hometown hero credits his belief in God as the reason he wasnt scared to lend a helping hand.

The word Ill use is faith, he said, according to Readers Digest. Faith over fear.
At the 2023 Mrs. American pageant, Utah resident Hannah Neeleman (aka the woman behind the Ballerina Farm Instagram account) stepped up to the microphone to answer the final onstage question.

When have you felt the most empowered? was the question directed toward Neeleman.

I have felt this feeling seven times now, as I bring these sacred souls to the earth. After I hold that newborn baby in my arms, the feeling of motherhood and bringing them into the earth is the most empowering feeling I have ever felt, Neeleman said, to cheering and applause from the crowd.

Her answer has now gone viral on social media and she was crowned the winner of the 2023 Mrs. American pageant, according to the pageants official Instagram account.

Though Neeleman was in the pageant as Mrs. South Dakota, she and her husband, Daniel, own a farm in Kamas, Utah. She posts pictures and videos of their life to her 6.2 million followers on Instagram.

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Her videos feature her making homemade bread and mozzarella cheese, decorating bright and intricate cakes, arranging flowers and tending to livestock, all while her children pop in and out of her videos helping her.

The Instagram influencer is also a veteran at pageant competitions. When she started attending Brigham Young Universitys theater ballet program at age 16, she also competed for Miss Springville and won that title, per the Deseret News. She then was second runner-up for Miss Utah and for Miss National Sweetheart.

Neeleman moved to New York City when she was accepted at the Juilliard School and there she also became Miss New York City, according to the Deseret News.

After Neeleman married, she and her family were living in Brazil for her husbands work. While most of his co-workers in Brazil would head to the beach on the weekends, we found ourselves venturing inland, marveling at countrys productive farming community, the couples farm website said.

One day, while visiting a cattle ranch in in central Brazil, we ran into something that shocked us. As the experienced rancher talked about his impressive cattle operation, Daniel couldnt stop looking at the mans pigs, the Ballerina Farm website said. They werent locked up in stalls. Rather, they were out to pasture munching on grass side by side with the cows. They also enjoyed perusing fallen fruit from a smattering of mango, guava, cashew, and star fruit trees that dotted the farm.

Then, the Neeleman family returned to Utah and opened up Ballerina Farm  a reference to Neelemans career as a ballerina. When the family moved back, Hannah Neeleman competed for Mrs. Utah and won that title in 2021, per Utah Valley 360.

Now the Neelemans sell meat, baked goods and other farm products through Ballerina Farm. Hannah Neeleman is also something of an Instagram influencer, posting aesthetic videos of her making food from scratch. Some of her recipes are included on the farms website as well.

Daniel Neeleman also is on Instagram as @HogFathering. Hes amassed 293,000 followers.
21-Year-Old Pregnant Woman Fatally Shot By Police Outside Kroger After Being Accused Of Stealing Alcohol | Douglas Sacha via Getty Images

TaKiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant woman in Ohio, has died after being shot by police.

The fatal encounter happened after Young was accused of stealing alcohol from a Kroger grocery store in Blendon Township, Ohio, on Thursday evening.

According to Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford, a Kroger employee called police and reported Young, saying she fled the scene after stealing bottles.

Belford said in a video statement that Young was found in a Lexus sedan without plates in front of the store. She also parked in a space for disabled people, the chief added. Young allegedly refused to comply when officers demanded her to get out of the car at least a dozen times.

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The woman put the car in gear and accelerated forward, Belford said in the statement, according to Atlanta Black Star. The officer who was directly in the path of the oncoming car fired one shot through the front windshield.

Officers ran after the car as it kept moving, the chief added.

It then came to a stop on the sidewalk outside the store, Belford said. Because the drivers door had been locked, officers immediately broke the drivers window so they could attend to the woman and begin medical assistance.

Young was pronounced dead at the hospital. Her unborn child also died. Youngs family told reporters that police are hesitating to release bodycam footage because they are building their own narrative.

She stole something from the store, Youngs grandmother, Nadine Young, told The Columbus Dispatch. You didnt have to shoot the woman; she would have eventually gotten out of the  car. You didnt have to kill her and the baby.

The family mourned the loss of their loved one during a candlelight vigil outside the Kroger store on Aug. 25.

They didnt have to kill two lives, Nadine said. Her and a new baby girl she was excited about.

Young was expected to give birth to a baby girl, her third child, in November. The 21-year-old already was raising two boys, ages 6 and 3.
Over the past day, 35 combat clashes took place at the front. Ukrainian troops continue to advance on the Melitopol front.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 18:00 on 30 August

Details: During the day, the Russian army carried out 30 missile and 52 air strikes, as well as 35 attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems on the positions of Ukrainian troops and populated areas.

The aviation of the Defence Forces of Ukraine carried out 10 strikes on personnel concentration areas and four strikes on the Russian anti-aircraft missile systems.

Units of Rocket Troops and Artillery struck one area of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment, one command post and one station of the Russian electronic warfare system.

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The Russians conducted unsuccessful offensives on the Lyman front near Novoiehorivka and Bilohorivka, on the Bakhmut front near Kurdiumivka, and on the Zaporizhia front near Mala Tokmachka.

The Defence Forces are holding back the advance of Russian troops near Marinka and Staromaiorske in Donetsk Oblast.

Quote: "At the same time, the Defence Forces of Ukraine continue to conduct an offensive operation on the Melitopol front, consolidating their positions and carrying out counter-battery combat measures."

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A 4-year-old in Tennessee died after being shot point-blank in the chest Sunday by a woman who said she was teaching the girl firearm safety, according to authorities.

Breanna Gayle Devall Runions, 25, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Evangaline Gunter.

The childs parents, Adam and Josie Gunter, told ABC affiliate WATE that Evangaline had been in temporary custody at a home in Rockwood, which Runions shared with girlfriend Christina Daniels and another child, a 7-year-old girl.

Evangaline Gunter, 4, was fatally shot in Tennessee on Sunday.

Evangaline Gunter, 4, was fatally shot in Tennessee on Sunday.

According to a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrest warrant obtained by HuffPost, Runions told police that she had taken a 9 mm handgun out of its case, removed the magazine and called Evangaline over to show her firearm safety.

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Runions pressed the barrel of the gun against the childs chest and pulled the trigger, police said she told them.

Daniels told police that she saw Runions take out the gun, remove its magazine and put it to Evangalines chest, but she turned away and didnt see her pull the trigger, according to the warrant.

The 7-year-old girl told authorities that she saw Runions shoot Evangaline and said the bullet struck a glass bottle, sending shards her way, according to the warrant.

Before the shooting, Evangaline and the older girl were being punished that morning by Runions for not waking up the women and for eating Daniels food without permission, according to the warrant and a statement from Russell Johnson, district attorney general for Tennessees 9th Judicial District. Runions struck both girls with a sandal before forcing them to stand in different corners of the womens bedroom, authorities said the older girl told them.

After the shooting, the women drove Evangaline to a nearby Walmart location to meet an ambulance, Roane County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Boduch told the Roane County News, and the vehicle transported the girl to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Boduch could not immediately be reached by HuffPost.

Evangalines mother told WATE that she was experiencing a mixture of anger, rage, guilt following her daughters death and was blaming herself for Evangaline being in someone elses care. She said that this was the result of a court decision but that shed expected to regain custody soon.

I feel like its my fault that I let her be there, Josie Gunter said. I should have been more attentive.

The Gunters said Evangaline was joyful and always smiling.

You look at her and shed brighten your day, Adam Gunter told WATE.

Her hugs were so full of life, and love, Josie Gunter said. Thats the one thing Im going to miss the most, is her hugs and her smile.

She wanted to be a cheerleader so bad, she added. That little girl was cheerleading before she could even walk.

The Tennessee Department of Childrens Services confirmed to HuffPost that it had launched an investigation in the case, and officials are also working with law enforcement in the criminal probe.

The Gunters said on Facebook that a funeral for Evangaline is planned for Tuesday, Sept. 5. Following the services, the family will host a birthday party  Evangaline was just about to turn 5 when she was killed  at Riverfront Park in Harriman.

All that has known her, that loved her, knew her in some small way you are all more than welcome to come show your condolences, Josie Gunter wrote. Please let her love spread.

Runions on Tuesday waived her right to a bond hearing, and a status hearing is scheduled for Sept. 19. Her appointed public defender did not respond to a request for comment from HuffPost.

She is being held at Roane County Jail on a bond of $1.5 million.

Experts say guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the U.S. The American Public Health Association says gun violence is a public health crisis in the country. Nearly 29,000 people have died from gun violence so far in 2023, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

Related...
Hurricane Idalia is expected to make landfall in Florida early Wednesday morning, as residents of Florida and nearby states are bracing for impact.

The National Hurricane Center expects the storm to reach a category 3 major hurricane before making landfall on the Gulf coast of Florida early Wednesday morning. State and national officials are all warning that the storm could strengthen as it continues to head up the East Coast.

Here are five things to know ahead of Idalias expected landfall:

1. Multiple states declare state of emergency

Multiple states have joined Florida in declaring states of emergency. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) declared a state of emergency Saturday and has since expanded his executive order to include more counties included. As of Tuesday afternoon, 49 of the 67 counties in the state were under states of emergency. He also has delivered updates multiple times in the days since, in order to provide up-to-date information ahead of the storms impact.

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North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have all followed as warnings heighten around the potential impact the storm could cause as it heads in the north-northeast direction. The National Weather Center said as the hurricane travels up the East Coast late Wednesday and Thursday, it will bring the center of Idalia near or along the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) on Monday declared the emergency, activating the emergency operations plan in the state. A press release from his office said the state of emergency also lifts rules governing transportation, allowing aid and resources to be transported, saying, It is important for North Carolinians to gather emergency kits and prepare for the storm before its too late. We also want to make sure our farmers are able to protect their crops.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon and warned that the storm could bring tornadoes and heavy rainfall.

We are taking every precaution ahead of Hurricane Idalias landfall tomorrow, and I am taking this additional executive action to ensure state assets are ready to respond, he said in a statement. Georgians in the expected impact area can and should take necessary steps to ensure their safety and that of their families. We are well positioned to respond to whatever Idalia may bring.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) issued a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon, saying in a statement, Although South Carolina may avoid the worst of Hurricane Idalias impacts, this State of Emergency is issued out of an abundance of caution to ensure that we have the necessary resources in place to respond to flooding events and are able to respond quickly if the forecast worsens, adding, Now is the time for South Carolinians to begin making proper preparations, and everyone should begin actively monitoring official sources for the most up-to-date information  especially those along our coast and in low-lying areas.

2. FEMA says it will be a life threatening event

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell warned that the storm could be life threatening and described the various steps the federal government is taking to help states.

In an update on Tuesday, Criswell said she spoke with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and encouraged the state to share information about areas of concern so FEMA can set up response and recovery operations in the appropriate areas as quickly as possible.

FEMA has activated its National Response Coordination Center to support requests for federal assistance, Criswell said. FEMA also has fully stocked distribution warehouses and is working with the American Red Cross and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which have also provided resources and help.

FEMA has deployed 640 personnel, which Criswell said includes six Incident Management Assistant teams, nine Urban Search and Rescue teams and three Disaster Survivor Assistance Strike teams, which are all prepared to respond if requested to do so.

Those living in Hurricane Idalias path should rush to complete preparedness actions, as this storm is expected to intensify rapidly into a dangerous major hurricane before landfall Tuesday night. There is a danger of life-threating storm surge along portions of the Florida Gulf Coast, from Tampa Bay to the Big Bend region, FEMAs statement read.

Criswell also said FEMA was closely coordinating with officials from Georgia and South Carolina and stands ready to provide support as needed.

3. Supermoon will worsen Idalias storm surge: National Hurricane Center

On Wednesday, August will see its second full moon, and, according to NASA, it will be a supermoon, which refers to a full moon occurring near or at the time when the Moon is at its closest point in its orbit around Earth.

During a supermoon, otherwise known as a perigean full moon, high tides and low tides are more extreme, since the moon is closest to Earth. Scientists and elected officials alike have raised concerns that the risk of high tide, just as the storm is expected to make landfall, could cause more severe damage as the rising water levels flood more of the coast.

The National Hurricane Center warned in its latest bulletin that The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.

The NHC warned that, if the peak surge comes at high tide, then water levels could reach heights of up to 15 feet above ground, in the area from Aucilla River to Yankeetown, Florida. In Tampa Bay, levels could reach 4-6 feet above ground.

The NHC provides a list of potential storm surge areas and the respective heights that water levels could reach if the storm peaks at high tide.

4. Biden pre-approves disaster relief, speaks to DeSantis

President Biden pre-approved disaster relief and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local response efforts, Biden announced Monday.

His action authorized the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate relief efforts and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures in order to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe, in several listed counties, read the announcement.

Biden approved an emergency declaration in Florida ahead of the storm and said on Tuesday that he has been frequently communicating with DeSantis, telling reporters, Were providing everything he could possibly need. Were in constant contact.

Were worried about the surge, the ocean surge. We dont know exactly  hour to hour, were watching this, he continued. But I told the governor, and the mayor of the region thats likely to be hit first, that were there as long as it takes, and well make sure they have everything they need.

DeSantis, at a press conference on Monday ahead of Bidens approval, said he expected Biden to approve the request for the emergency declaration and dismissed a reporters question about whether he has any concerns communicating with the president, considering he is running for his job in 2024.

No, I mean, look, I think when you have situations like this, youve got to put the interests of the people first, DeSantis said at the press conference.

I mean, you know theres time and a place to have political season. But then theres a time and a place to say that this is something thats life threatening. This is something that could potentially cost somebody their life, it could cost them their livelihood, and we have responsibility as Americans to come together and do what we can to mitigate any damage and to protect people, DeSantis continued.

5. Mass evacuations begin

DeSantis and other Florida officials have pushed residents to heed orders to evacuate the area if they live in a zone ordered or recommended to do so.

Since issuing the states emergency declaration, DeSantis has expanded the order to include more counties. As of Tuesday afternoon, 49 of 67 counties were under a state of emergency and there were notices to evacuate throughout 22 counties.

The evacuation zones in Florida are depicted on a map with various classifications, depending on whether it is mandatory or recommended to evacuate. The evacuations, as indicated clearly on the map, are located almost exclusively along the coasts of the state.

DeSantis and other officials have stressed the concern about a storm surge and the risk residents along the coasts face as water levels, the National Hurricane Center is warning, could reach up to 15 feet along the coast, if the peak storm surge happens during high tide.

Florida residents ordered to evacuate have been pushed to do so immediately if they have not done so already. DeSantis said on Monday that those who have been ordered or suggested to evacuate do not have to flee the state. Going tens of miles inland could suffice, as opposed to traveling hundreds of miles to a different state, DeSantis said on Monday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
SAN DIEGO  Labor Day weekend is upon us! For those who have yet to make plans for the long holiday, there are plenty of ways to kick back and relax right here in San Diego County.

With an Excessive Heat Warning making most of the region sweat in the days ahead of the three-day weekend, many residents may be looking for ways to cool off as they spend their time leisurely.

Here are five things to do to kick-off the month of September as we honor all the work and contributions of laborers across the country:

Brazilian Day Festival coming to San Diego

 Go paddle boarding: What better way to spend the holiday than out on the water? San Diego County has several ideal spots for paddle boarding such as Mission Bay, La Jolla Shores, Carlsbad Lagoon, or one of the countys many reservoirs. Check ahead to ensure bookings are available.

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 Post up at the beach: Sink your toes into the sand at one of San Diegos pristine beaches. This option is for those who dont mind crowds as Labor Day weekend is sure to bring out the beachgoers. Plan ahead for parking and get there early to make the most out of your beach day.

 Have a park picnic or barbeque in the shade: There are county parks scattered throughout the region that are ready to provide you shade and grass this Labor Day weekend. This is a great option for those looking to escape to some greenery, all while grilling up their favorites.

 Go boating: From sport fishing and whale watching to diving excursions and relaxing dinner cruises, the options are many when it comes to enjoying some local fun off the coast. There are tour options in the San Diego Bay, Coronado, Oceanside, and boat rentals at some county lakes.

 Cool off with the family at Sesame Place San Diego: Soar down some water slides, splash in the wave pool, and then grab a tube to relax in the lazy river at this water park. Kids ages 3 to 9 can get in for free Labor Day weekend when accompanied by an adult with a paid ticket.

Enjoy your three-day weekend San Diego and be safe out there!

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
In The Know by Yahoo

If you've never cleaned your washing machine filter before, you may be surprised to find what's lurking in there.
A major Republican donor and one-time financial backer of former President Donald Trump is now a leader in the Florida chapter of No Labels third-party presidential bid.

Allan Keen, a Florida-based real estate developer and investor who gave more than $137,000 to Trump-related election entities last cycle, has joined the centrist political group in a leadership role with its Florida chapter.

I help when I can help. I believe in the cause, Keen told POLITICO. After Trump's actions on Jan. 6, 2021, he said he surrendered his Republican voter registration card for one that says, "No Labels Party of Florida.

Keens involvement with No Labels is an extension of the work he has done with the group since 2016, including donating to its Problem Solvers PAC. But it is likely to heighten Democratic criticism that the third-party presidential bid will only hurt President Joe Bidens reelection prospects.



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No Labels, which referred all questions to Keen, has insisted that it does not want to play the role of spoiler in electing Trump. But it has also directly solicited financial help from GOP fundraisers, of which Keen is a member. And some Republicans concede that its presence on the ticket will harm the current president.

A third party will likely benefit Trump, said former Trump spokesperson Sean Spicer, whether it's No Labels or Green Party candidate Cornel West. He compared such efforts to Jill Stein's Green Party campaign in 2016. West only needs 30,000 votes to tip Wisconsin to Republicans, Spicer said at the Republican debate in Milwaukee last week.

Much earlier in his political-giving career, Keen supported Democrats. But his most recent roster of beneficiaries includes GOP luminaries such as Mitt Romney, John McCain, John Boehner, Marco Rubio and the Bush-Cheney ticket. He has also donated to Arizona Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Krysten Sinema's campaign as recently as this year.

Keen initially backed former Gov. Jeb Bush in the 2016 primary before, in his words, "reluctantly" voting for Trump. Though he did not approve of everything Trump did  "he did a bunch of stupid things," Keen said, like attacking the late Arizona Sen. John McCain  the Florida businessperson supported Trump for reelection and hosted an $11,500 per person fundraiser for the then-president in February 2020.

"I did support him. I gave him money and went to a few events. I felt he was a better candidate at that time, Keen said in an interview.

Keen attributes Trumps attacks on McCain in part to his loss in Arizona. He also criticized all the shenanigans" of Jan. 6, which, he said, prompted him to go all in on No Labels. Keen didn't think what Trump did was "appropriate.

The Florida investor first became involved with No Labels in 2016 and joined the board of the Florida affiliate after the 2020 election. The Florida group is headed by Kathleen Shanahan, a businessperson who previously served as chief of staff for then-Gov. Jeb Bush.



Keen said he has no predetermined opinion on who might top a No Labels presidential ticket. That, of course, will be a process, he said. I think everyone feels that reason and good judgment will prevail such that there is no anointed person  the way it should be.

No Labels has yet to choose presidential and vice presidential candidates, but it has already qualified as a presidential party that can run candidates on the ballot in 10 states, including in both Arizona and Florida.

The group has hinted that it may drop its third-party effort if Trump is not the nominee. That scenario is looking increasingly less likely. At the debate in Milwaukee last week, most of Trump's rivals vowed to support him even if charges against Trump on Jan. 6 result in a conviction.



CORRECTION: A previous version of this report misstated the year of Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Left to right, Uchechi Unamma shows her phone to Juwon Adeyemo in front of the U on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. Both students are first-year graduate students from Nigeria. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News

Following a recent Supreme Court ruling that effectively eliminates the use of affirmative action in college acceptance, legacy admission practices at highly selective universities are under intense scrutiny.

A civil rights group has filed a lawsuit challenging legacy admissions at Harvard University, alleging the practice discriminates against students of color by giving an unfair advantage to the mostly white children of alumni.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights is investigating whether Harvard racially discriminates by favoring applicants with ties to donors and alumni in its admissions process, according to a letter from the agency.

When asked about giving legacy students preference in college admission, 70% of Utahns responding to a recent Deseret News/University of Utah Hinckley Institute of Politics poll said they oppose the practice. Slightly more than a quarter  26%  said they approve while 4% said they did not know.

In Utah, where the vast majority of college students attend public universities or colleges, legacy admissions are not a significant factor because none of the campuses are highly selective in their admission practices.

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Even the states flagship university, the University of Utah, admits some 89% of students who apply, according to its Common Data Set for 2022-2023. A smaller subset elects to enroll.

The states most selective university is Brigham Young University, with a 59% acceptance rate, according to U.S. News and World Reports latest college rankings, a figure confirmed by the university. Westminster Universitys acceptance rate is 76%, according to the college rankings. Both are well above those of Ivy League schools, most of which have single-digit acceptance rates.

Dayanara Zarate, a first-year student at the U. studying pre-nursing, said she believes the university makes significant efforts to make admission accessible to a wide array of students but Ive definitely felt the pressure and the hardness of just trying to compete with other people who come from a background that has a college education.

Zarate said she relied on her older sister, first in their family to attend college, to help her apply, navigate the financial aid process and enroll at the U.

She is six years older than me, so she actually was the first to go to college and Im following her. ... She had to grow up pretty fast, filling out a bunch of forms for my mom, who doesnt speak English and all that. Since she had to experience that on her own and figure it out, she was really helpful in helping me out, Zarate said.

Dayanara Zarate, a freshman from Logan, studies on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News

While the poll revealed widespread opposition to legacy playing a role in college admission decisions, those most opposed were respondents ages 24-40, those who identified as somewhat liberal, women and those earning $25,000 to $49,000 annually.

Seventy-five percent of Utahns polled with some college were either somewhat opposed or strongly opposed, while 82% of people who described themselves as somewhat liberal were opposed.

The least amount of opposition was among Utahns age 57 and up, although 65% said they strongly or somewhat disapproved of legacy admissions.

Along partisan lines, 68% of Republican respondents said they were somewhat or strongly opposed. Among Democrats, a combined 75% were opposed.

The poll of 803 Utahns was conducted by Dan Jones & Associates from Aug. 7-14. It has a 3.46% margin of error.

According to The New York Times, many selective colleges and universities give a leg up during the admissions process to the children or grandchildren of alumni, making them more likely to gain admission.

Legacy preferences appear to be a more common practice among private universities but a 2018 survey by Inside Higher Ed found 6% of public colleges used the strategy as well.

College officials say legacy preferences help create an intergenerational community, which can aid fundraising, according to The New York Times.

Correction: In a previous version, the margin of error was incorrectly listed as plus or minus 4.46% in the story and graphic. The correct margin of error is 3.46%.
While Hurricane Idalia will likely be downgraded to a tropical storm once it sweeps through Florida and Georgia, it will still bring strong winds with gusts up to 40 mph and serious flooding, especially in areas already known to be problems in the Midlands.

The whole state of South Carolina is expected to be impacted by the storm, more serious along the coast and Interstate 95 corridor and lessening as you go west.

Here are nine suggestions from various sources including the National Weather Service, Accuweather and the National Hurricane Center to help you come through Tropical Storm Idalia perhaps not unscathed but alive.

If youre told to evacuate, do it. Dont ride it out. Dont stay just to be able to say you came through a storm or to witness the unbelievable power of Mother Nature. You can see it on TV. Today we have the benefit of early warnings, as opposed to the deadliest storm ever, Hurricane Galveston in 1900 that killed as many as 12,000 people. Marie D. Jones, author of The Disaster Survival Guide: How to Prepare for and Survive Floods, Fires, Earthquakes and More told Accuweather, You not only put yourself and your family at risk, but the lives of first responders who will have to attend to you if you are injured or in danger from rising floodwaters. Leave early so as not to get stuck in traffic. And take your pets. Do not leave them to fend for themselves. In the days before the storm is expected to hit you should have collected important papers and assembled a go bag of essentials and medicines to grab quickly.

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If you wait too long or decide to stay, do not go outside. Know that 6 inches of swiftly moving water can knock you off of your feet. And, you dont know what else is in there with you. Do not drive through flooded roads. Two feet of water can sweep a car away. If you are stuck, stay inside unless the car is filling with water then get on the roof. Retreat to what should be your fully stocked home  food, batteries, radio. Use flashlights, not candles. While lovely, they are also a fire risk for what could be days without power.

If youre at the beach, do not go for a walk. Storm surge is the leading cause of hurricane related deaths in the United States. The surge on Charleston area beaches is expected to be 4 feet, more than enough to cause grave damage.

Be smart about what room you shelter in. Tall or weak trees can be easily toppled by trees. Dont choose the attic should water creep into and up stairs. Choose the roof, where first responders can see and rescue you. Consider adding an escape hatch in your attic if you consider the attic a good place to shelter.

Its commonly believed that if you tape your windows they wont break. Think again. Board them up. They will break and the glass will be in huge flying pieces that can hurt you.

Open windows will not help relieve pressure from inside. What will happen is the wind will lift the roof off your house. Physics.

This one is said every time there is a storm so people must still be doing it. Do not run your generator inside. They must be well ventilated to keep carbon monoxide, which is odorless, from building up in your home. Carbon monoxide causes the most deaths from poisoning. Keep charcoal grills outside too.

That brings up another point of ensuring that everything you have outside is secured  lawn furniture, grills, umbrellas. High wind causes them to become projectiles.

Once power is restored dont turn everything on at once. Be sure to turn off switches and appliances when the power goes off except two to let you know the power is back on. Then turn everything off one at a time.
Video from an LAPD body camera shows Albert Ramon Dorsey shortly before his death in a gym locker room in Hollywood in 2018. (LAPD)

Reversing a decision from December, a panel of federal appellate court judges ruled Wednesday that a Los Angeles police officer who fatally shot a man in a gym shower in 2018 is protected from litigation by the controversial judicial doctrine of "qualified immunity."

The 2-1 ruling by the three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals highlighted the powerful court's conservative-liberal divide, particularly on matters of police accountability, and how important decisions can hinge on a single vote.

The ruling occurred after a judge appointed by President Obama retired and was replaced on the panel by a judge appointed by President George W. Bush, which shifted the ideological balance of the panel. The panel voted in May to rescind its earlier ruling and reconsider the case.

The new ruling undoes a December victory for the family of 30-year-old Albert Dorsey, whose killing by LAPD Officer Edward Agdeppa after a struggle at a 24 Hour Fitness in Hollywood sparked protests in L.A.

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Read more: 9th Circuit rejects 'qualified immunity' as reason to toss LAPD gym shooting case

The ruling had also been considered a win for advocates of police reform nationally, who have long denounced qualified immunity as a barrier to police accountability and lauded the decision for challenging the doctrine's sweep.

The new ruling instead hands a win to Agdeppa and the city of L.A.  though it may not stand, either. With two split panels in a row ruling in opposite ways, the case could be taken up by a 11-judge "en banc" panel of the 9th Circuit or appealed to the conservative U.S. Supreme Court, which has upheld immunity for officers in other cases.

Qualified immunity protects officers from personal liability in civil litigation when their actions on the job don't violate "clearly established law." The court Wednesday found that Agdeppa's actions fit that criterion, based on the circumstances of the altercation with Dorsey.

Dorsey was naked in the gym locker room when Agdeppa and another officer arrived. Gym employees had accused Dorsey of trespassing and causing a disturbance.

The officers asked Dorsey to leave, and he ignored them, dancing to music as he moved about the men's locker room. Eventually, the officers attempted to handcuff Dorsey, who was bigger than the officers, without success.

The encounter was partly captured by the officers' body cameras, which were knocked to the ground before the shooting. They captured sound but no video of the officers Tasering Dorsey multiple times before Agdeppa shot him.

Agdeppa and his partner accused Dorsey of attacking them, and Agdeppa said he was in fear for his partner's life when he shot Dorsey. Their account has been disputed, in part on the grounds that the officers did not have visible physical injuries.

Brian Dunn, an attorney for Dorseys mother, Paulette Smith, said he was frustrated with the latest ruling, which had left a "sour taste" in his mouth. Smith brought the family's lawsuit.

"What it shows is it doesn't matter the merits of your case; it matters who is sitting on the panel," he said.

Dunn said he hadn't decided whether to ask for an en banc review or to otherwise appeal. There are remaining claims in the case  including around the city's negligence in the matter  that don't hinge on the individual officer's immunity, and which he may focus on pursuing instead.

Dunn noted it has already been five years since Dorsey was killed. He said he wants to prioritize the wishes of his client, who he said has been frustrated by the 9th Circuit's handling of the case.

"She just thinks games are being played, and I don't have a logical way of talking her out of that notion," Dunn said. "My first concern is getting this case to court on her remaining claims."

Kevin Gilbert, an attorney for Agdeppa, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the Police Department would "continue to monitor the court's actions."

In 2019, the Los Angeles Police Commission  a civilian body that reviews police shootings  ruled that Agdeppa violated LAPD policy when he shot Dorsey. The commission said the officers should have de-escalated the situation and called for backup.

After Dorsey's family sued, a lower court agreed with the family that qualified immunity did not protect Agdeppa from personal liability in the matter. That decision was appealed to the 9th Circuit.

Read more: Fatal shooting by officer at 24 Hour Fitness violated LAPD policy, Police Commission rules

In December, a three-judge 9th Circuit panel composed of two Obama appointees and one Trump appointee issued a 2-1 ruling upholding the lower court's decision.

Judge Morgan Christen, an Obama appointee, wrote the court's majority opinion at the time. She was joined by Judge Gary Feinerman, a federal court judge from Illinois and a fellow Obama appointee who had been assigned to the panel.

Christen wrote that the lower court was correct in finding that a jury should consider whether Agdeppa's use of deadly force "violated clearly established law" because there were "significant discrepancies" between the officers' versions of events and other evidence in the record. There also was no evidence, she wrote, that Agdeppa had warned Dorsey that he was going to use deadly force before doing so, despite the 4th Amendment requiring such warnings.

"It is not our place to step into the jurys shoes and we do not know what happened in the crucial interval before Agdeppa shot Dorsey," Christen wrote.

The panel's third member, Circuit Judge Daniel Bress, dissented, arguing that the "split-second decision" by Agdeppa presented "a classic case for qualified immunity."

After the ruling was issued but before a decision was made on a request that the case be reheard by a larger 9th Circuit panel, Feinerman resigned from judicial service and was replaced in the case by Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan, the Bush appointee.

In May, the court gave notice that the reconstituted panel had decided to withdraw its December opinion in favor of reconsidering the case itself.

This time, Bress wrote the opinion of the court, joined by Callahan, finding that Agdeppa's use of deadly force "did not violate clearly established law," and that he was therefore entitled to qualified immunity.

Bress wrote that regardless of discrepancies about the exact nature of the incident, Dorsey had clearly attacked the officers. He also wrote that the facts of the case did not necessarily require that Agdeppa issue a warning of deadly force, again because of the rapidly evolving nature of the situation.

Christen dissented, reiterating her arguments from the December opinion that a jury, not the court, was better positioned to determine whether Agdeppa's actions clearly violated law.

Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
" Tropic Thunder " director/actor Ben Stiller in 2008 promoting the problematic movie, in which Robert Downey Jr. wears blackface. (Jacques Brinon / Associated Press)

My first unpleasant encounter with the current meaning of the word problematic occurred a couple of years ago.

I was mingling with some twenty- and thirtysomethings at an outdoor birthday party in San Francisco. It was a bit chilly, as San Francisco usually is, but a distinct and quite different chill fell over my little conversation group as we began to discuss Ben Stillers Tropic Thunder, the hilarious (in my opinion) movie that spoofed Hollywood careerism and war movies.

I dont remember why, exactly, we were talking about a film that came out in 2008. But all these years later, I said, I was still laughing at Tom Cruise 's surprising role as fat-fingered, balding studo boss Les Grossman, a filthy-mouthed bully who  it was rumored  was based on the producer Scott Rudin and/or Harvey Weinstein, legendary industry monsters who both happen to be Jewish.

One woman looked at me and said, That role was problematic.

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But it was satire, I replied. It was funny.

It was still problematic, she said. He was channeling Jewish stereotypes.

At that point, I thought it best not to mention one of the movies other stars, Robert Downey Jr., who played a white Australian actor playing a Black American Vietnam war vet. In blackface.

Feeling wrongfully admonished, I changed the subject.

Read more: Abcarian: Lies, damn lies and social media  there's a reason this country is so deeply polarized.

But ever since, Ive wondered how the word problematic, so vague, had become such an effective insult and shorthand for someones (well, my) moral failure or insensitivity.

I plugged the word problematic into the Google Ngram Viewer, a website that shows patterns of word usage in English-language literature, and discovered that its use has soared in the last few decades and shows no signs of slowing.

But why?

Read more: Abcarian: Need a respite from Trump, DeSantis, the Bidens and global warming? Check out 'Suits'

In a 2021 Atlantic essay, Oxford political theory professor Teresa M. Bejan offered a possible answer:

Academics like me love to describe things as problematic. But what do we mean? Were not saying that the thing in question is unsolvable or even difficult. Were saying  or implying  that it is objectionable in some way, that it rests uneasily with our prior moral or political commitments. ... It relies on a subtle sort of bullying in place of mutual justification. It excludes, rather than explains.

Bingo.

I would suggest that the word problematic has evolved to its current charged usage because the phrase politically incorrect, once used ironically by smug leftists, was hijacked by smug conservatives to denote rigid left-wing ideological conformity. According to the Ngram Viewer, the use of politically correct and politically incorrect has fallen dramatically in the last several years after surging in the years between 1980 and 1997. (That kind of cancellation is pretty much what happened to the word "liberal," when the late MAGA Republican Rush Limbaugh turned it into his favorite epithet.)

Back in 2016, when former President Trump was first running, Slate published an essay about the trouble with problematic and its tendency to obscure whats really being said.

Read more: Abcarian: Why no one should debate Trump or RFK Jr.

You dont often hear people saying that Donald Trumps latest rants about immigrants or women are problematic, wrote Haley Swenson. Instead, his words are called racist, sexist, and dangerous. But when it comes to conversations about culture and representation, we apparently feel the need to undercut, obscure, and distance ourselves from our own arguments.

Several years before Trump began his political ascent, a high school student named Liat Kaplan started an anonymous Tumblr page called Your Fave is Problematic, a less direct way of highlighting the problem with "problematic."

As Kaplan explained it years later in the New York Times, The posts contained long lists of celebrities regrettable (racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ethnophobic, ableist and so on) statements and actions  the stuff that gets people canceled these days.

With satisfaction, Ive noticed at least the beginning of a backlash has been brewing against problematic, and its snotty little cousin deeply problematic.

The essayist Jill Filipovic said as much earlier this month when she confessed in the Atlantic that she regretted embracing the concept of "trigger warnings.

Read more: Abcarian: Why is it that a journalist has higher ethical standards than a Supreme Court justice?

"Back then, she wrote, I was convinced that such warnings were sometimes necessary to convey the seriousness of the topics at hand (the term deeply problematic appears a mortifying number of times under my byline).

The other day, I watched Tropic Thunder again for the first time in years.

It trades on and pokes fun at stereotypes of Black people, white people, Asian people, Jewish people, actors, agents, studio heads, war heroes. I wonder if it would get green lighted today.

Personally, I found Cruise's star turn as Grossman just as hilarious and true as the first time I saw it, maybe even more so because his alleged inspirations  Rudin and Weinstein  have gotten their karmic comeuppance in the wake of the MeToo movement.

Offensive? Perhaps. Over the top? For sure. But problematic? Banish the thought.

@robinkabcarian





If its in the news right now, the L.A. Times Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
China, US aim to get dialogue back on track

09:13, August 30, 2023 By Wang Keju and Zhong Nan ( Chinadaily.com.cn

Premier Li Qiang shakes hands with visiting US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Tuesday in Beijing. Li called on both sides to enhance mutually-beneficial cooperation. Feng Yongbin / China Daily

Talks: Role for enterprises also highlighted

The meeting in Beijing on Tuesday between top officials from China and the United States has provided a forum for the two sides to reestablish dialogue mechanisms and help properly handle trade friction, analysts and business leaders said.

During his meeting with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Premier Li Qiang said that economic and trade relations between China and the US are mutually beneficial and win-win in nature, and that China is willing to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with the US in the economic and trade fields. He also called on the US to work together with China and take more pragmatic actions.

Vice-Premier He Lifeng also met with Raimondo. The two sides had candid, pragmatic and constructive discussions on implementing the important consensus reached at the meeting in Bali in November between the two countries' heads of state, as well as on economic and trade issues of common concern, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The Chinese side expressed its concerns over measures taken by the US, such as tariffs imposed under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974, export controls against China and investment restrictions. The two sides agreed to continue to maintain communication and support enterprises of the two countries in carrying out pragmatic cooperation, Xinhua reported.

On Monday, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with Raimondo, and the two sides agreed on concrete steps to ensure open lines of communication between the world's two largest economies on export controls and commercial issues.

Wang also called on the US to deliver on its commitment to not seek decoupling from China, and raised serious concerns about issues such as US semiconductor policies, discriminatory subsidies and sanctions on Chinese enterprises.

While upholding the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, China is willing to work with the US to foster an enabling policy environment for cooperation between the two countries' business communities, Wang said.

Analysts said both sides are striving to put dialogue mechanisms, which have been seriously disrupted by the US' damaging unilateral trade measures and policies toward China, back in place to help restore economic relations.

The two sides agreed to maintain regular communication, with the two commerce chiefs agreeing to meet at least once a year.

Wu Xinbo, dean of Fudan University's Institute of International Studies, said that China and the US share extensive interconnected interests and cooperate widely on trade and investment, and that appropriate handling of friction will lay a solid foundation for stable economic ties.

Although immediate changes like the US reversing tariffs or lifting high-tech investment restrictions are yet to happen as a result of the high-level talks, modest yet measurable progress has been made in establishing government-to-government communication mechanisms, with the participation of enterprises also emphasized, Wu said.

A bilateral working group involving government officials and business sector representatives to seek solutions on specific commerce issues has been set up, and it will meet twice a year at the vice-ministerial level, with the first session to be hosted by the US in early 2024, according to Chinese and US statements.

Meanwhile, the two sides have initiated an export control information exchange mechanism, which will serve as a platform for understanding their respective export control systems and improving communication.

He Weiwen, senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, said it is a positive sign that the two countries have scheduled a series of meetings via newly established mechanisms, which will enhance the transparency of export control enforcement and facilitate normal business and trade cooperation.

While such moves will shore up exchanges and reduce misunderstandings, the administration of US President Joe Biden is unlikely to abandon its hard line, and Washington will probably continue to insist on hampering China's development of cutting-edge technologies, including semiconductors and artificial intelligence, He Weiwen added.

Moving ahead, more tangible steps from the US are needed, rather than simply vowing not to decouple from China, in order to better resolve conflicts and bridge differences on the economic and trade front, the senior fellow said.

Rosa Chen, vice-president of Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, a subsidiary of Danaher Corp, a US-based industrial conglomerate, said that with the Chinese government's new guidelines to provide a more favorable business environment and broader market opportunities for foreign-invested enterprises, the company's manufacturing and innovation capabilities will be further enhanced in China.

As Danaher's single largest investment project in China, the R&D and manufacturing center of Danaher'a diagnostics platform in the country will be officially launched later this year.

"We will continue to accelerate our localization process to quickly respond to the diverse needs of Chinese clients," Chen said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
LANSING  A more generous paid leave policy, a 100% clean energy standard and protections for abortion access were among the policy priorities outlined by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a speech Wednesday laying out her agenda for the fall.

"Today I want to answer one question. What's next?" Whitmer said, kicking off her speech.

In her speech, Whitmer laid out her answer to that question and ended with a call to celebrate everything she said Michigan has to already offer as she looks to the state's future. "We have it all. So let's tell the story. Because we're Michiganders, damn it. And there's nothing better."

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer asks Whats Next as she speaks from the Lansing Shuffle in Lansing on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

The governor uses the annual State of the State address delivered in the state House chamber to outline policy goals. But, for the first time, Whitmer delivered a second policy speech focused exclusively on her legislative ambitions for the rest of the year. She delivered this one about half a mile from the Capitol at the Lansing Shuffle, a food hall along the city's riverfront that Whitmer said stood as "a symbol of Lansings resurgence."

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Democrats secured control of both chambers of the Michigan Legislature for the first time in 40 years. So far, they've mostly stuck together on key votes, including on legislation to reverse GOP labor laws, establish new gun safety measures and repeal abortion restrictions.

Whitmer took a victory lap during her speech, touting economic development efforts to bring electric vehicle battery plants to Michigan, investments in public safety and repealing the state's abortion ban.

On the heels of those policy wins for the governor, Whitmer put forward her wish list for the fall blasted by GOP legislative leaders as extreme and expensive. "Unfortunately, it has become painfully obvious that whats next for the people of Michigan is bad news for their pocketbooks," said Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers her "Whats Next" Address that outlines her legislative priorities for the fall at the Lansing Shuffle in Lansing on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

Whitmer wants lawmakers to craft a paid family and medical leave policy that would allow workers to take time off to take care of a newborn or sick relative without suffering a financial cost for missing work. She billed the proposal as a way to help businesses attract and retain workers and bring new residents to the state.

"No one should have to choose between being there for their family and a paycheck," she said. Whitmer did not specify how many weeks of leave she'd like to see implemented or who would pay for the time off workers take.

Nessel: Legal opinion on Whitmer's education overhaul 'premature'

Whitmer also wants lawmakers to pass a 100% clean energy standard.

"We must face climate change head-on and grow our economy," she said. She vowed to put her administration's MI Healthy Climate Plan unveiled in April last year into action. The plan has a goal of achieving 100% carbon neutrality economy-wide by 2050 and calls for legislation adopting a renewable energy standard of 50% by 2030. Democratic lawmakers have zeroed in on their own plan, introducing legislation that would require 60% of utilities' energy to come from renewable sources by 2030 and require utilities to use 100% carbon-free energy by 2035. Whitmer did not explicitly back that timeline, but Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II previously said the Whitmer administration supports "the more aggressive standard."

Whitmer also called for changes at the Michigan Public Service Commission, such as permitting clean energy projects through the commission and allowing the commission to incorporate climate and equity considerations into their decisions.

UAW President Shawn Fain, left, speaks with U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, after Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers her "What's Next" Address that outlines her legislative priorities for the fall at the Lansing Shuffle in Lansing on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

While Whitmer has already moved to protect the right to abortion in Michigan, she wants lawmakers to repeal laws abortion rights proponents say create unnecessary barriers to accessing abortion.

"This forces patients to drive hundreds of miles for care or mandate that they receive biased, inaccurate information about their health," she said, seeming to refer to restrictions abortion rights proponents say make it difficult to open clinics and a 24-hour waiting period required before obtaining an abortion. She called for passing a so-called Reproductive Health Act to "roll back these harmful restrictions."

The governor called on lawmakers to codify protections in the Affordable Care Act in the event legal challenges thwart the federal health care law. Whitmer called for adding to state law protections for preexisting conditions, allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance plan, banning annual or lifetime caps and requiring insurance plans to cover essential services. Whitmer additionally said she hopes to establish an independent prescription drug affordability board to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor, left, gives a big hug to Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist before Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers her "What's Next" Address that outlines her legislative priorities for the fall at the Lansing Shuffle in Lansing on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

With an eye toward the 2024 election, Whitmer backed plans to shore up protections for Michigan's election system.

"We cannot allow the will of the people to be tossed out or overturned, and we can't permit politicians to stay in office despite getting voted out," Whitmer said.

Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Whitmer's Michigan agenda: Paid leave, abortion access, clean energy
On Tuesday morning, Harvey Drahos got the news hes waited almost eight decades for.

In 1945, the now-100-year-old veteran was wounded in the Battle of Okinawa, suffering shrapnel wounds to his right wrist, brain damage from a major concussion, and PTSD. But a series of clerical and bureaucratic errors  from incorrect discharge papers to a 1973 fire in the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis that destroyed his records  left him without the recognition he deserved.

It took him 68 years just to get his health benefits. And though hes gotten different recognitions for his service over the years, all on display in a room in his house, he didnt have a key honor: the Purple Heart.

His attempts to secure one for his injuries have spanned decades. Even with the help of two senators, three representatives, and a myriad of organizations, each attempt went in vain.

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In June, Drahos, fresh out of an aortic valve replacement surgery, told The Olympian he was ready to move on from his quest for the award. He had come to terms with the possibility that hed never get it.

I qualify for at least one or two Purple Hearts, he said in June. And nothing. They just say, No, no, no, no. I just practically gave it up already.

But longtime friend Karen Schoessel, who has led recent communication and advocacy efforts for Drahos, refused to let him give up on the fight. Though an attempt to secure the award with U.S. Rep. Marilyn Stricklands help earlier this year was also unsuccessful, Schoessel saw an opportunity in the power of the people.

In the weeks following The Olympians publication of an article about his quest, Drahoss injustice started to receive national attention. That  combined with an August video by youtuber Rishi Sharma on Remember WWII with Rishi Sharma featuring Drahos  started turning the tides in the veterans favor.

From Boy Scout troops to Department of Veterans Affairs individuals, people all over the country started reaching out to support Drahos and look into his case. Sharma, who has worked with veterans who faced similar obstacles to receiving their Purple Hearts, encouraged viewers to send emails to an Army public affairs officer  so many that the officer reached back out to Schoessel.

(The public affairs officer) started getting bombarded  it was just a flood of emails  asking for her to do something, she said. She got in touch with me and said OK, what can you do to make this stop ... I said, You need to correct this long overdue wrong.

The public affairs officer put her on a call with the director for military records corrections almost immediately. Drahos filled out yet another set of forms over his incorrect records, and Schoessel sent them binders of information.

Pressure placed Drahoss case on the fast track. A process that usually took him 18 months and resulted in a no went through in seven working days. And on Tuesday morning, it was Schoessel who called Drahos to tell him the news: The Army Review Boards Agency approved his Purple Heart request.

He had only one word to say: Wow.

Due to the fact that all the records were lost, misplaced and burned, its really difficult to prove that you were even there. But now that its all finished, I am very, very happy, he said. Im just blessed and surprised and its an absolute miracle.

To Drahos, the award is a personal recognition of his contributions during the war, and his changed records will preserve his legacy. He looks forward to sharing them with his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, many of whom are unaware of the extent of his service.

His Purple Heart is now on its way in the mail. The first thing he plans to do when he gets it is to give it a hug, he said.

But to him, whats even more special is the support that he received along the way.

I am so loved by so many people I am not aware of, all over the United States, he said. People write to me, call me, encourage me. In five months Ill be 101, and to me thats extremely important, this part of my life. I really, really appreciate it.
A former CIA officer charged with drugging and sexually assaulting dozens of women while stationed abroad on official business plans to challenge his accusers claims as mere figments of their imaginations, making his case with the help of a psychologist who has previously testified on behalf of Harvey Weinstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Jerry Sandusky, and Bill Cosby.

Dr. Elizabeth Loftus , PhD, an expert in the phenomenon of false memories, will try to convince a jury not to trust the accounts of a multitude of women who say they were assaulted by Brian Jeffrey Raymond, according to a notice of intent filed Aug. 25 by the disgraced spys defense team and first reported by The Daily Beast.

Loftus became famous in the 1970s for her work exploring the so-called misinformation effect, which holds that a persons memories of past events can easily be controlled, manipulated, and altered by outside forces. She reportedly charges $600 an hour, though she claimed to have been paid only $10,000 of a promised $14,000 for assisting Weinsteins defense. The venerable Review of General Psychology named Loftus, who teaches at UC-Irvine, the most eminent female psychologist of the 20th century, but her testimony for a veritable rogues gallery of rapists and abusers gained the famed psychologist a degree of contempt from the public at large.

In 2021, her brother told The New Yorker, If the MeToo movement had an office, Beths picture would be on the ten-most-wanted list.

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The grotesque allegations against Raymond, 47, first emerged in May 2020, when a passerby reported seeing a naked, hysterical woman desperately screaming for help on the balcony of an apartment in Mexico City that had been leased by the U.S. government. Investigators say they subsequently found hundreds of photos and videos on Raymonds digital devices of unconscious women in his bed. In them, according to prosecutors, Raymond could be seen holding open the womens eyes, waving their limp arms and legs in the air, or placing his fingers in their mouths to show the camera that they were fully passed out cold.

A source with firsthand knowledge of Raymonds personal and professional affairs previously told The Daily Beast that the CIA opened an administrative case against Raymond following his arrest, and that he resigned from the agency soon after.

So sorry, I dont feel free to comment at this point in time, Loftus said in an email on Wednesday.

Raymonds attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutor Lara Pomerantz questions Elizabeth Loftus during the sex trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell in New York City. Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

Raymond pleaded guilty in July 2021 to federal charges of sexual abuse and transporting obscene material, and would have been subject to prison and lifetime registration as a sex offender. But last September, he suddenly changed his plea and decided to take his chances at trial, arguing that he couldnt have done everything prosecutors said he did, because he suffers from erectile dysfunction.

When Raymond finally goes to trial, which is scheduled for Nov. 8 in Washington, D.C. federal court, Loftus will provide testimony concerning the workings of human memory, the effects of suggestion on memory, the mechanism of creation of false memories, the characteristics of false memories, how memory fades and weakens over time, and how memory becomes more vulnerable to contamination, defense attorneys John Marston and A. Joseph Jay III wrote in their notice of intent. She will describe scientific research showing that false memories can be described with confidence, detail, and emotion, just like true memories. This can occur when people come to believe in these experiences and are not deliberately lying. Dr. Loftus would identify some of the suggestive activities that occurred in the current case.

The notice says Loftus will inform the jury that suggestive activities can explain how it is that a person might go from having no memory of sexual abuse to later having memories of abusive acts, even where the memories are false. She will explain the mechanism by which false and/or distorted memories can be created as a result of post-event information and occurrences, suggestion, influence or the like, and will describe the characteristics of false and/or distorted memories.

In particular, memories can be described with confidence, detail and emotion, even when they are false, the notice goes on. She may be called upon to point out some of the suggestive activities that occurred in this case.

Among the material investigators say they found on two of Raymonds phones include a profile of a woman he met on a dating site (left), and messages with one alleged victim about alcohol (right). U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

The notice includes a transcript of Loftus testimony in Maxwells 2021 federal trial, and a back-and-forth between Loftus and defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim may offer a glimpse of things to come in November.

At one point, Loftus emphasized that false memories are not necessarily deliberate, and that people can inadvertently mislead others. In another exchange, Loftus discussed motivated false memories, saying that people seem to be more willing to accept suggestions when its going to fit with their prior beliefs, or fit with some motives. On a broader scale, Loftus testified, human beings frequently remember ourselves in a better light than perhaps is accurate.

Prosecutors, for their part, plan to introduce evidence of additional sexual assaults allegedly committed by Raymond, but not included in the indictment against him. The government has said Raymond slipped knockout drugs into snacks or beverages consumed by his victims; in its own notice, also filed Aug. 25, prosecutors said they have, among other things, photographic evidence depicting food prepared, presented, or offered by the defendant during his dates with women, as well as his Bumble and Tinder DMs, draft online dating profiles, email inquiries sent to online pharmacies, and communications between the defendant and a friend regarding targeting women for sexual intercourse.

Raymond has not commented publicly on the allegations. However, court filings have shown that he insists he never drugged anyone and that the encounters in question were consensual.

Im a single guy, Raymond told a pair of federal agents shortly after he returned to the U.S. from his Mexico posting, according to one filing. I date girls. This has never happened to me before, and Im a very chill individual. Im not aggressive We did have things to drink that night, but I never got the impression that she was not of sound mind or anything like that.

Following Raymonds arrest, a CIA spokesperson told The Daily Beast, [The] CIA condemns in the strongest terms the crimes committed by former Agency officer Brian Jeffrey Raymond.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Hillary Hamilton has been appointed as acting County Auditor by the Clark County Commissioners, according to a spokesperson from the office.

>>LIVE UPDATES: Hurricane Idalia: Storm moves into Georgia on way to South Carolina

This follows former auditor John Federers announcement to retire effective Friday, September 1.

Hamilton has been employed by the Clark County Auditors officer for 18 years, the spokesperson said.

She has served as Appraisal Director for more than nine years, where she has guided the office through two triennial updates and one mass reappraisal.

Hamilton lives in Pleasant Township with her husband Joe and their three children, Connor, Madeline, and Benjamin.

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Im very excited and grateful for this opportunity. I pride myself with the rapport that Ive built with taxpayers and organizations throughout my service. Whether it has been answering a value question, helping a taxpayer with homestead, or issuing a dog license  communicating and helping the taxpayer has always been the most satisfying part of my career, Hamilton said.

>>TRENDING: Senator Mitch McConnell freezes while speaking in Kentucky

Hamilton was recently named Chief Deputy Auditor during Federers recent absence, the spokesperson said.

Federer served three full terms as Clark County Auditor as he was first elected in 2010, and then re-elected in 2014, 2018, and 2022.

While he was in office, he made serval changes, including restructuring departments, implementing online dog tag sales, and allowing more use of the Clark County GIS system, the spokesperson said.

He trusted me and had the confidence to designate me as Chief Deputy. He knew with my skillset and leadership experience, I was the best candidate to run the Auditors Office. My vow is to lead and support a well-run, efficient office that will communicate and support the various entities and taxpayers of Clark County, Hamilton said.

The Clark County Republican Party is expected to vote on an acting auditor the serve the remainder of Federers term next month, the spokesperson said.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas tried to intimidate the head of a local social justice organization into withdrawing a public records request she filed last year, she alleges in a new lawsuit.

Lora McDonald, executive director of the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, or MORE2, says Lucas called her days after she filed an open records request in November and in a raised, angry voice expressed his displeasure about it.

Lucas spokeswoman Jazzlyn Johnson, in a written statement, said the mayor considers McDonald a friend, with whom he has communicated extensively and amicably for years. Johnson did not directly answer a question as to whether he raised his voice in the conversation at issue, but addressed it this way:

In a decade of public life featuring challenging airport negotiations, protesters at his home, multiple recall efforts, hate mail during the COVID-19 crisis, and a public uprising on the Plaza, the mayor has never been characterized as an angry man. We disagree with any accounting otherwise.

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McDonald requested communications between Lucas and the city attorney about a lawsuit the mayor filed against the state last year, which sought to halt the enforcement of a new law requiring Kansas City to spend more on its police.

A week later, McDonalds lawsuit alleges, Lucas call felt like an attempt to intimidate, harass or coerce her into withdrawing her request, wrote her attorney, Spencer Webster.

In the lawsuit, Webster accused the city of violating the states Sunshine Law when it did not respond in a timely manner. The city said the attorney assigned to her request had resigned, noting the law department had lost five attorneys within the last month, McDonalds lawyer wrote.

The city agreed to provide some documents, but not communications between the mayor and the citys lawyer, citing attorney-client privilege, according to the lawsuit. Webster described that as an attempt to improperly withhold records.

What is such a secret between a mayor and a city attorney that we cannot know about it? McDonald asked in a letter to City Council members the day she filed suit.

The Kansas City Police Department is overseen by the five-member Board of Police Commissioners. Four members are appointed by the governor and the fifth seat is held by the mayor.

McDonald, who like Lucas supports efforts to regain local control of the police department, said in the letter that the proposed ballot language for Amendment 4 was horrible. The amendment, which requires Kansas City to spend more on KCPD, was approved in November.

On a call with civil rights leaders before the vote, a member of the mayors office said the city attorney missed the deadline to challenge the language, McDonald wrote. She wondered if that was on purpose, she said in the letter.

Most importantly, I had heard the new counter narrative from the state control supporters: City Hall is corrupt and not capable of governing our police department, she wrote. If something suspicious was going on, I wanted it to be found locally and worked out locally, by us, which now includes you who are reading this.

McDonald also asked the newly elected City Council to open an investigation into Sunshine requests.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 10 in Jackson County Circuit Court, names the city of Kansas City as the lone defendant.

It asks the court to declare the requested records described in the lawsuit as public records not subject to exemptions that would allow the city to close any portion of those records.

The lawsuit further asks the court to find that city officials purposefully or knowingly violated the Sunshine Law. It asks the court to impose a civil penalty as well as order the city to pay McDonalds attorneys fees and court costs.

An initial hearing in the case was set for Dec. 18.
Tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees living in the U.S. have reached the second anniversary of the withdrawal with no permanent way to remain in the country as lawmakers repeatedly fail to advance legislation to solidify their status.

Almost as soon as Afghan evacuees began to arrive in the U.S.  a group that now totals roughly 80,000  advocates began crafting an adjustment act, mirroring the practice of past military evacuations by the U.S. government of offering permanent residency to those lifted from war-torn countries.

But the bill has faced constant roadblocks to being passed by Congress or attached to other must-pass legislation  resistance primarily coming from a small group of GOP lawmakers that is leaving Afghans and immigration advocates exasperated.

Afghans that specifically came here are struggling a lot especially when a lot of their humanitarian parole visas are expiring. And it has been two years that they are in temporary status and theres no pathway for them to apply for permanent status, said Helal Massomi, an evacuee who now works as the Afghan policy adviser for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

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And I think thats not keeping a promise to allies of 20 years of war.

In the absence of action from Congress, the Biden administration has asked Afghans to apply for re-parole, which allows the executive to waive certain populations into the country that might not otherwise be eligible for a visa.

Youre having instance after instance of them being asked to trust the process, or take one more step or just apply for this one more thing until we figure this out, said Joseph Azam, board chair for the Afghan-American Foundation.

And not surprisingly, a lot of them are wondering if their permanent state in the U.S. is actually impermanence.

Children play with stones at an Afghan refugees camp on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Sept. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

The stall in Congress isnt due to widespread opposition, but it has twice been blocked by one Republican senator.

The most recent attempt to get the legislation rolled in with an annual defense policy bill in August died after the amendment to do so was put on hold by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).

Frankly, Democrats havent been the problem. The sole problem is Republicans who are worried about the politics of this, said Shawn VanDiver, founder of the #AghanEvac coalition.

Dealing with Congress

In the midst of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, Congresss focus on aiding evacuees was clear.

But that support has waned as the evacuation has fallen out of the news cycle and Republican investigations have focused more on the disaster of the exit than efforts to provide a permanent home to those who landed here.

This bill has come up at pretty much every major vehicle over the past 18 months. And it is a story of resilience on the part of civil society and the Afghan community here in the United States that this bill is not dead, said Chris Purdy, head of Veterans for American Ideals.

Advocates say they are getting sick of what they see as double talk.

You have people on the anniversary of the fall of Kabul, especially Republicans, lamenting our irresponsible withdrawal and all the suffering thats caused and how weve abdicated our leadership, Azam said.

There will be that in one tweet. And theyll completely ignore dozens and dozens of meetings, thousands of letters and tens of thousands of pleas for them to act.

The Afghan Adjustment Act would allow evacuees to apply for permanent residency and later citizenship while establishing a task force to help those who were left behind in the withdrawal arrive as refugees.

In both cases, applicants would face the most rigorous vetting possible, undergoing the multi-step screening process required for refugees.

Refugees board buses that will take them to a processing center at Dulles International Airport in Virginia after being evacuated from Kabul following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan Aug. 27, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

While all evacuees were screened before entering the country  with some spending more than a month in overseas locations before their arrival  an inspector general report found Department of Homeland Security personnel didnt always have all data needed for the screening.

However, those who were deemed a potential risk werent forwarded onto flights to the U.S.

The second round of vetting included in the legislation is a mechanism added to address any concerns about the prior background checks.

Still, that issue has been the chief complaint for a small handful of lawmakers.

I think the critics of this bill make it sound like you pass this bill and the [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] fairy is just going to go to everybodys house with magic green cards and that is not the case at all. Its just very disingenuous, Purdy said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) raised objections the first time the bill was introduced in 2022.

Then in July of this year, Cotton introduced his own bill that would provide conditional residency to Afghans. His legislation also limited the parole process  blunting the very mechanism that allowed their arrival and that is also being used at the border to allow some Latin American and Haitian citizens to enter the country.

The Cotton bill was designed to serve as an alternative to the Afghan Adjustment Act, but it didnt secure any Democratic co-sponsors and failed to gain much traction.

The Cotton bill was in no uncertain terms a poison pill. There were no Democrats on it. It essentially created a thousand flaming hoops for Afghans to jump through and then it tried to gut parole authority, Azam said.

The Afghan Adjustment Act, reintroduced just a few weeks before Cottons bill, has roughly equal numbers of Republican and Democratic co-sponsors in each chamber, more than 40 in total. Its most viable push toward the presidents desk came in late July during an effort led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to attach it to the defense policy bill.

Cottons office put a hold on that amendment, and advocates then complained they were unable to get through to his office during last-minute negotiations, with VanDiver saying his team ghosted the discussions.

Tom Cottons team did a good job during the [evacuation], and since then, I think immigration hard-liners in his office have taken over, and theres just no movement, VanDiver said.

So while Tom Cotton wants to wrap himself in the flag of being a veteran and say he stands with Afghans, the tangible results dont exist.

If Tom Cotton really really cared about Afghans, hed come to the table and he would negotiate in good faith and stop trying to put on the backs of Afghans wholesale immigration reform he knows will never pass, VanDiver added.

When reached for comment, Cottons office said the U.S. cant cut corners in offering a pathway to remain in the country.

The United States should help those Afghans who worked alongside U.S. troops, but our gratitude does not require compromising Americans safety as we pick up the pieces from Joe Bidens disastrous and chaotic withdrawal, Cottons office said.

We should provide them with legal stability and a path to successfully integrate into the U.S., but we cant cut corners or risk giving green cards to terrorists embedded in the evacuated masses.

The statement also included a false claim that described many evacuees as completely unvetted, despite the screening required for any evacuee boarding a U.S. bound plane.

Those backing the bill dismiss Cottons fears and note the Afghan Adjustment Act would spur a second round of vetting for evacuees who would otherwise likely remain in the U.S. regardless of their immigration status. They argued the passage of the law, as a result, would actually directly address their security concerns.

Growing frustrations

In other corners, advocates have grown frustrated by those who have been active voices in criticizing the administration for the fallout but who havent been part of the push to get the bill included in broader legislation.

Azam said when advocates were camped on the Capitol steps pushing for inclusion of the Afghan Adjustment Act in a continuing resolution last September, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) stopped by but stressed the importance of the GOP taking back the House so they could investigate the matter.

They would rather this be like an open wound to exploit for 2024, he said.

In a statement from his office, Waltz said hes primarily focused on those left behind who are eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) given to people who aided the U.S. military.

While the status of these refugees absolutely needs to be addressed, the priority for our office has been on the 150,000-plus SIV applicants and family members who are currently being hunted by the Taliban due to Bidens disastrous withdrawal. To this day not one senior administration official has resigned or been fired due to this debacle, his spokesperson said in an email.

The GOP has launched an investigation since coming into power, an effort led by the House Foreign Affairs Committee chaired by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

We appreciate the need for congressional oversight. And also, we want to see action to help Afghans alongside that oversight. It doesnt help Afghans to drag a bunch of volunteers before Congress. That doesnt help Afghans today to do these hearings, VanDiver said.

This isnt history yet. This is still ongoing.

A Lazarus bill

A fraction of those brought to the U.S.  less than 10,000  have been able to adjust their status since being evacuated, according to data from May and June obtained by The Hill.

Some were already in the pipeline for SIVs, and the initial applications that have been processed are largely being approved.

Still the review is slow-going, with only about 5,600 out of roughly 17,000 applications approved.

And even those who spent significant time working alongside the military may not meet the strict criteria, including the female tactical teams that aided in the war.

The entire purpose of the Special Immigrant Visa program is to provide permanent residency to those who have supported the United States abroad. And its clear to me that these brave women should also qualify, Klobuchar said during a floor speech in July pushing for the bill.

Many have also applied for asylum, but the process is marred by a years-long backlog, even as the government has tried to prioritize applications from evacuees.

Are they going marginally faster than the average person? Probably? But the average person is still backlogged for years, Purdy said.

A woman embraces her sister-in-law as she arrives with other Afghan refugees on a flight at Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va., Aug. 23, 2021. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

So far only about 2,500 out of more than 17,000 have been approved, with figures suggesting more than 100 have already been denied the status.

Massomi, the evacuee and Afghan policy adviser, is one of the few to already have her asylum application granted, something largely due to her background working in womens and minority rights in Afghanistan.

Representatives or congressmen or senators go to [the] media and talk about how they havent forgotten about Afghans, how they would want to do something for Afghans.  But when it comes to action, we see nothing from their side, Massomi said.

If you actually want to do something, do something in policy where you actually have authority.

Some evacuees have applied for multiple types of relief, an expensive and time-consuming prospect that often requires legal assistance.

Evacuees have submitted more than 35,000 applications for different types of relief, but its unclear how many of those may include Afghans who have applied for the various options, including Temporary Protected Status.

There are also still nearly 24,000 Afghans who havent applied for any adjustment of status at all.

What is not bad is the administration is trying to find solutions to this problem. But what is bad about this is the real solution lies with Congress. And theyre the ones that could fix a lot of problems that were seeing but instead want to punt this to the Biden administration to kind of tweak around the edges and hope that they can do whatever they can as the executive to make it not their problem, Purdy said.

But Congress is the one that has the authority to solve all of this right now.

He called the Afghan Adjustment Act a Lazarus bill, a nod to the man brought back from the dead by Jesus.

Its not falling apart, its just being held up really by two senators because they dont want immigration. Well get it done but its just like how difficult is Sen. Cotton and Sen. Grassley going to make this? he asked.

But Azam has some of his own doubts, stressing the need to take action when Congress returns in September.

Everybodys like, One more push! And its just one more push uphill until it rolls back down on top of us. And I feel like that cycle is also going to exhaust people, he said.

Were getting to primary season. And, you know, good luck trying to get something thats immigration adjacent through Congress, right?  I really do feel like whats coming up next in the next month or two is the last window.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The News

NAIROBI  More African governments are increasingly clamping down on the Chinese-owned video platform TikTok over concerns it is being used to spread and promote hateful messages, explicit content, and politically malicious material.

Last week, Kenyas President William Ruto held a virtual meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew over concerns that explicit content had taken over the platform and was eroding cultural values. The presidency reported that Chew had committed to ensuring that content is moderated to fit community standards. It said he also agreed to set up a Kenyan office to coordinate its operations in the continent, adding that it would create more job opportunities for Kenyans.

Earlier this month, Senegal announced the apps suspension, alleging that the platform was preferred by ill-intentioned people to disseminate hateful and subversive messages threatening the stability of the country. The statement came amid weeks-long anti-government protests that rocked the country following the imprisonment of an opposition figure.

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Authorities in Somalia issued an order to shut down the video platform on Aug. 20 on security grounds, stating that terrorists and immoral groups use it to spread horrific content and misinformation to the public.

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In a survey of news consumers by the Reuters Institute, Kenya had the third highest proportion of news consumers who use TikTok as a news service. The use of TikTok increased by 14% last year during the election season, with political actors using the app to target younger voters. The report said TikTok has played a role in spreading both information and misinformation in recent elections in Kenya.

TikToks director of government relations and public policy in Sub-Saharan Africa, Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, said in a statement the company is constantly evolving our policies in response to emerging trends to address inappropriate content on the platform and protect user privacy.

The TikTok CEO faced a much more hostile U.S. Congress in March when there was much talk of banning the app in its most valuable market, but other than removing it from government phones, talk of an outright ban seems to have quietened down.

Muchiras view

Calls to ban TikTok in Kenya over reports of inappropriate content and hate speech on the platform have grown louder in the past few weeks, with a private citizen petitioning the countrys parliament.

The call to set up an office and employ more Kenyans may score political points for the president who has repeatedly promised to create more job opportunities for the citizens. However, the quality of jobs offered by social media platforms in Kenya has been controversial, particularly around content moderation. Both TikTok and Meta have struggled with this issue here.

But its also worth noting that TikTok has not only been used to socialize and share ideas but also organize political groups and lead anti-government protests which is of concern to some governments like Senegals. It was certainly the case here with Kenya after the general election last August. This would perhaps be a more pertinent explanation for more urgency by various government agencies to attempt to control the platform.

In a statement to Semafor Africa, Communications Authority of Kenya  the countrys body that regulates the communications sector  said it was working with social media companies in the country to ensure consumer rights are not violated.

Room for Disagreement

Banning TikTok is not the solution to privacy issues and concerns about explicit materials, Mugambi Laibuta, internet law expert and an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, told Semafor Africa. He added that instead of limiting freedom of expression by suspending the social media app, concerned government agencies need to put renewed efforts into content moderation beyond material in English and Kiswahili, which are official languages in Kenya. The greater challenge in part is the content distributed in local languages, and measures to cover that scope should be implemented, he added.

The View From NIGERIA

Social media companies with over 1 million users in Nigeria are required to be incorporated and have a physical address in the country. But a year after the directive was issued last September, no major social media company  or large service platform as the Nigerian government categorized them  is known to have set up shop, besides Meta which opened an office in Lagos in 2021 before the directive. NITDA, the technology sectors main regulator, did not respond to a request for comment.

The requirement followed a seven-month ban on Twitter from June 2021 after the platform deleted a tweet by the official account of then president Muhammadu Buhari that was deemed offensive. Months of back and forth between the government and the company produced a resolution that Twitter, which opened its first Africa office in Ghana in 2021 while it was owned by co-founder Jack Dorsey, would incorporate in Nigeria. Twitter (now called X) remains available in the country but without an office.
Its hard to let go of any vacation, let alone to the other side of the planet, to a blip of land in the middle of the Pacific roughly 2,000 miles from its nearest neighboring nation.

French Polynesia was a Bucket List line item for me. I was supposed to visit Tahiti and its neighboring islet of Moorea for my 50th birthday, which unfortunately fell in the Year of Our Pandemic 2020.

But this year, I made it.

Gumbo file, the secret sassafras in this Creole classic

These islands, with their predictably perfect temps and astonishing early sunsets, have healing properties. Trails to waterfalls that meander past sacred stone marae, centuries old. Lush peaks devoid of light pollution, where one can lie on the grass and behold the diaphanous static of the Milky Way and all its vastness. Cool lagoons that come in every shade of blue. Warm, wonderful people.

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These islands will transform a person. Gently. Naturally. With very little effort.

Its not unlike the processes that create Tahitis national dish.

Despite its more prevalent French name, poisson cru (raw fish) is a singularly Tahitian dish, a simple, fresh melange that Polynesians were enjoying long before any of the colonizers showed up. There are variants between the versions found in Tonga vs. Samoa vs. Tahiti (Names, too: ota ika in Tongan, for example, ia ota in Tahitian  both of which also translate to raw fish), but the foundation is solid: fish, citrus juice and coconut milk. The addition of fresh fruits and vegetables add in flavor layers and snappy texture. I found it on the menus of virtually every restaurant, food truck and snack shack I encountered.

The most common protein in poisson cru is tuna, though occasionally other types of seafood are employed. I know this because I tried it everywhere I went during my time in French Polynesia. No, I am not exaggerating. In fact, I planned it.

I first learned of this dish amid pre-travel research. It looked good. It sounded good. I knew Id enjoy it. And while some plates outshined others, from my very first taste at La Casa Bianca, a casual marina-side pizzeria in Punaauia on Tahiti-Nui, to the a la Chinoise version I grabbed off a roulotte in the sleepy world surf capital of Teahupoo, I was hooked.

(Roulotte is French for trailer, by the way. There are legions of them here.)

The Chinese variation of the dish adds a few other flavors to the party  ginger, sugar, soy sauce and vinegar among them  and at this particular truck, it was featured among a roster of items Id come to learn as island staples: grilled meat (here it was steak au poivre), chao men (stir-fried noodles) and frites.

Tahiti has been a French colony since 1880, but the nations missionaries arrived several decades earlier. Frites, not unlike poisson cru, are omnipresent. You can also get a good, fresh, crusty baguette at any corner store, at nearly any time of day, for about fifty cents. Car dashboards island-wide are littered with crumbs; youll see cyclists traveling with armpit-secured loaves, and most shoppers at the market carry long, skinny, reusable bags just for bread.

Ceviche: a bright, juicy bite for summertime

If you like ceviche, kinilaw or poke, youll probably like poisson cru. It is less acidic than the Latin and Filipino raw fish preps and just a little creamy. The dice on the fish varies (I lean toward larger, bite-sized hunks), but theres no wrong way. I had versions where the tuna was cut into thin strips or diced tiny, perhaps a better option for those who enjoy literally eating all the things in one bite.

Tahitians make poisson cru at home. A lot. The fish on display at the Marche Papeete in Tahitis capital are, much like their tiny counterparts on the reefs, a kaleidoscope  only on ice. So, too, are the wares of local fishermen on Moorea, who hang their bright-eyed catch on roadside racks where folks roll up to snatch specimens that were swimming perhaps just an hour or two earlier. You can also get it, grab-and-go-style, everywhere from the supermarche to the gas station minimart. Yes, I sampled here, too. Travel is an adventure. For the stomach as much as anything else.

After nearly 14 consecutive days, youd think Id have been ready to let it go. But no. I needed one more fix. To the fish market I went, where a vibrant pink slab of ahi awaited transformation  it seems that making the dish at home completed mine.

Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun, join the Lets Eat, Orlando Facebook group or follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Poisson Cru

Poisson cru is naturally low-carb and gluten-free. This recipe is something of an amalgam of several I found online. They are all more or less the same, with some versions including green onion or bell pepper and others calling for lemon juice instead of lime. Try what speaks to you. Cut and slice your tuna and vegetables as you prefer  make it your own.

Ingredients

1 pound sushi-grade ahi, cubed

1 tomato, diced

1/2 red onion, finely diced

1/2 cucumber, diced

3/4 cup coconut milk

Juice of 2 limes

Salt & pepper

Instructions

Combine onion, tomato and cucumber in one bowl. In another, toss tuna and lime juice. Marinate about 5 minutes. Add tuna/juice to diced mixture. Gently combine. Pour in coconut milk, toss, season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy as is atop a banana leaf or serve with rice (perhaps a coconut version). Other possible sides include boiled sweet potato or taro. Plenty of local cafes offer frites as an option, as well. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun, join the Lets Eat, Orlando Facebook group or follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) has really lost her way. Even Ahsokas (Rosario Dawson) snarky droid Huyang (David Tennant) knows this, although hes not exactly swift like the Jedi. That doesnt stop him from informing Sabine that shes the worst candidate to be a Jedi out of all the Jedi hes ever known. Ouch.

Still, Ahsoka cant give up on Sabine. The pair have spent the first two episodes bickering over finding Grand Admiral Thrawn and their old pal Ezra Bridgers, but by Episode 3, Time to Fly, the pair have agreed to look past their differences and fight together as a fierce duo. Too bad Sabine has been out of Jedi training for quite some time. Ahsoka has a lot of work on her hands.

Tale is old as time with this one, when it comes to the Star Wars franchise. A Padawan seeks out guidance from a Jedi mentor. The youngster wants to learnfast, as soon as possible. But the force doesnt come with the snap of a finger. The trainee grows restless, but as Ahsoka puts it, Anger and frustration are quick to give power. Today, Sabine doesnt realize her true powers. Leave it for next week, or even the week afterweve still got five episodes left for her to fully come of age.

Meanwhile, General Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) meets with Chancellor Mon Mothma (Genevieve OReilly) to ask for assistance in the fight against Thrawn. Unfortunately, the Senate Committee seems to think Hera is more involved with finding Ezra than she is protecting the New Republic. Hera pleads her caseif hes alive, Thrawn is super dangerousbut Mon Mothma argues that the fragile New Republic would be better off using their resources elsewhere.

Lucasfilm Ltd.

Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang jet off to find Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), who they fear is setting up some sort of bridge to find Thrawn. Theyre right: Morgan has built a massive donut-shaped starship in the Denab system, where communication lines are blocked. The dead zone makes it impossible for Sabine and Ahsoka to call for help. Theyll have to battle Shin (Ivanna Sakhno) and her Imperial droids on their own.

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An epic space battle commences, with Sabine and Huyang trying to escape the Imperial area while Ahsoka stands in a spacesuit atop their ship. Using her lightsaber, Ahsoka blocks incoming blasts from enemy ships. Ahsoka is, for lack of a better descriptor, a complete badass. Its marvelous to see that Ahsoka is highlighting this fact.

Shin fails to stop the trio from escaping her clutches, which proves that an apprentice needs full, proper training before they can take the lead on their own. Where is Baylan (Ray Stevenson), her master? Morgan is infuriated with Shin. Ahsoka is smarter than to leave Sabine to defend herself when her training is incomplete.

Ahsoka Episode 2 Recap: Sabine Wren Throws it Back to Rebels

As Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang escape, they come face-to-face with a flock of star whales. These are called purrgil, and they made a brief (albeit telling) appearance in the most recent season of The Mandalorian. Fans of Star Wars: Rebels may recall that Ezra can communicate well with these creatures. In fact, he used them to take down Thrawn in a battle.

Could Ezra be sending these whales as a signal to show that hes still around? Or, purrhaps these creatures will be used later in another battle against Thrawn. Huyang explains to Ahsoka and Sabine that the purrgil travel in between galaxies, creating paths followed by galaxy jumpers.

Lucasfilm Ltd.

One of those galaxy jumpers happens to be Morgan and her Imperial powers, Huyang finds, as shes building a hyperspace ring that could, hypothetically, travel to neighboring galaxies. The enemy vessel is not complete, though. Sabine, Ahsoka, and the others have time to stop Morgan before she makes the journey to save Thrawn.

The good guys end this episode with a leadtheyve got the purrgils and they know they need to stop Morgan in her tracks. First, though, they need to escape this desolate planet before Baylans army locate them in the thick red leaves of a forest.

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While the past few months have shown us that theres still a lot that AI cant do that humans can (like write news articles, for example), there are a few areas where the bots are starting to gain an edge on their flesh-and-blood counterparts.

Case in point: A team of engineers at the University of Zurich in Switzerland published a study Tuesday in the journal Nature where they developed an AI dubbed Swift that can fly drones capable of beating human pilots in head-to-head races. The hybrid learning system in which the bot was trained has the potential to be used in autonomous technologies like self-driving cars, personal robotics, and even autonomous planes.

Our result marks the first time that a robot powered by AI has beaten a human champion in a real physical sport designed for and by humans," lead author Elia Kaufmann, an autonomy engineer at the University of Zurich, told The Daily Beast in an email. "This result is a milestone for robotics, machine intelligence, and beyond, which may inspire the deployment of hybrid learning-based solutions in other physical systems, such as autonomous vehicles, aircraft, and personal robots, across a broad range of applications."

The world of drone racing has blown up since its humble beginnings in 2011, when a group of German hobbyists held the first official drone race. While there have been efforts to develop a drone-flying AI in the past, none have been able to defeat human pilotsuntil now.

The team behind Swift designed it using deep reinforcement learning (DRL), which is a type of machine learning for AI that teaches it how to behave in specific situations through trial and error. Over time, it learns how to obtain the correct outcome through rewards (in this case, thats winning the race). The DRL is also conducted in simulations utilizing real-world data to mimic physical environments.

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"Swift uses onboard sensors, therefore it is fully autonomous," Kaufmann explained. "You dont need to first instrument the environment with external sensors; instead, just turn on the robot and fly!"

For the study, the race track was designed by a professional drone-racing pilot. Swift competed against three human drone-racing champions who were each given a week of practice on the track. In a series of head-to-head races, the AI was able to defeat the humans in 15 out of 25 races. It also managed to clock the fastest recorded race time on the trackand was even half a second over the best human pilot time.

"The findings of this project can be leveraged in diverse domains that require an autonomous robot to perform a task in a timely manner," Kaufmann said. "One potential application would be autonomous infrastructure inspection, autonomous warehouse management, or search and rescue scenarios."

Does this mean AI-fueled drones will soon take over our roadways and skies in a Terminator-esque hellscape? Not quite. Theres still quite a way to go, due to the limitations of the Swift system.

You Can Control These Flying Racing Drones With Your Brain

For one, if a mistake does occurif the Swift drone hits a barrier or flies into the grounditll struggle much more than a human pilot, who can right the drone and fly back up. It also wouldnt react well to changes in the physical environment like weathersomething humans can excel at.

The real world is also much more unpredictable than a virtual one, Guido de Croon, a robotics researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands who wasnt involved in the study, said in an accompanying commentary.

He added, [Although] the flight behaviors of the drones typically used in racing have been modeled extensively, predictions still fall short of reality, especially at high speeds, during agile maneuvers or in the presence of external disturbances.

However, the model still offers a new and potentially groundbreaking approach for autonomous robotics. At the very least, it might help Elon Musk finally figure out how to make a self-driving car that doesnt try to kill its driver.

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Red Flags

Less than a year into the AI boom and startups are already grappling with what may become an industry reckoning.

Take Jasper, a buzzy AI startup that raised $125 million for a valuation of $1.5 billion last year  before laying off staff with a gloomy note from its CEO this summer.

Now, in a provocative new story, the Wall Street Journal fleshes out where the cracks are starting to form. Basically, monetizing AI is hard, user interest is leveling off or declining, and running the hardware behind these products is often very expensive  meaning that while the tech does sometimes offer a substantial "wow" factor, its path to a stable business model is looking rockier than ever.

Closed AI

Underlying it all is the OpenAI-shaped elephant in the room. The company's game-changing chatbot's release in November 2022 brought on some major magical thinking on the part of investors who hoped that the burgeoning technology's commercial value "would materialize at light speed," longtime AI investor and partner at the VC firm Index Ventures Mark Goldberg told the WSJ.

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Now that wellspring of optimism is coming back to haunt them, as even the OpenAI chatbot's usage seems to be plateauing or even declining. Take Midjourney and Synthesia, two more brand name AI startups where, as the WSJ points out, data from the analytics platform Similarweb shows traction flatlining (the latter, though, raised a cool $90 million in June thanks to backing from Nvidia.)

Adding to their woes, the market is lousy with free offerings  a perfect illustration being ChatGPT  and users have been hesitant to shell out for a paid version.

The Upshot

That's not to say the whole ship is sinking. OpenAI is slated to generate $1 billion in revenue over the next year, offsetting at least some of the staggering cost of running ChatGPT.

But while Google and Microsoft have the resources to lose money for years, and OpenAI has a premier product that went massively viral, it's not clear how much oxygen that's going to leave for the Jaspers of the world.

What's left, as Goldberg put it, is "a shallow trough of disillusionment" in the AI space  and the path forward seems to get murkier by the day.

More on the AI industry: AI's Dirty Secret: Poor People in the Developing World Are Doing Most of the Work
Air defence systems destroyed more than 20 Russian targets in Kyiv's airspace on the night of 29-30 August and the morning of 30 August.

Source: Serhii Popko, Head of Kyiv City Military Administration

Quote: "Night air attack. Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring. The enemy launched a large-scale and combined attack using drones and missiles."

Details: First, the Russians used strike UAVs (as per the information available, they used Shahed loitering munitions).

Several groups of drones were heading for Kyiv from different directions.

Soon after, missiles launched from Tu-95MS strategic aircraft flew at the capital.

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All in all, over 20 Russian targets were destroyed by air defence forces.

Debris fell in several districts of the capital.

Some people were also killed.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
The Air Force has detected the presence of a likely carcinogen at its three intercontinental ballistic missile bases, including unsafe levels of the chemicals at sites in North Dakota and Montana.

An effort to decontaminate those facilities is now underway.

The service said Aug. 26 that of 900 samples taken at missile facilities across Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana; F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming; and Minot AFB, North Dakota, 68 tested positive for polychlorinated biphenyls  a class of chemicals used in oils, electrical components, appliances and more until they were banned in 1979.

The discovery is part of a sweeping yearlong study, now about halfway done, to determine whether the airmen who manage Americas nuclear arsenal are at greater risk of cancer and other health impacts, like immune or reproductive system problems, as a result of their jobs.

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The study, launched by Air Force Global Strike Command boss Gen. Thomas Bussiere in January, is examining the air, soil, water and physical surfaces of the above-ground missile alert facilities used by Air Force security personnel, cooks, maintainers and others who interact with the nuclear enterprise each day, and the underground launch control centers where airmen sit ready to fire missiles at a moments notice.

Our airmen are charged with carrying out the nations most important mission, and they deserve a safe and clean work environment while they perform duties, Bussiere said in a release.

To collect its samples, the Air Force in June and July wiped high-touch surfaces and places where contaminated equipment is now or was previously installed in each bases alert facilities and launch control centers.

At F.E. Warren, nearly 6% of samples tested positive for PCBs. None registered levels high enough to be deemed unsafe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

At Malmstrom, 7% of samples tested positive for PCBs. Two samples exceeded the EPA threshold to require cleaning: one from alert facility Hotel-01, and another from alert facility India-01.

And at Minot, 10% of samples tested positive for PCBs. There, too, two samples surpassed the EPAs safety threshold  both from alert facility Delta-01.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules require cleanup of surfaces that contain more than 10 micrograms of PCB chemicals per 100 square centimeters, or an area about the size of a persons palm. A microgram measures approximately one-millionth the weight of a paper clip, the Air Force said.

PCBs arent always easy to reach, like those that have turned up in places like the underside of electrical switch boxes, the service told Air Force Times.

All areas that tested positive for PCBs, regardless of how contaminated, are undergoing remediation, an Air Force spokesperson said.

Biohazard crews can clean each site within a day or two, and the Air Force is keeping airmen out of those locations until that work is done, the service said. That means shuffling airmen around to perform maintenance and other work in facilities where PCBs werent found, until its safer to return to areas where the carcinogens turned up.

Once PCB-positive areas are cleaned, the Air Force is retesting them to make sure theyre chemical-free.

As part of the wider study, the service will swab spots around its missile facilities three times over the course of a year to determine whether chemical exposure varies by season.

The service previously tried to rid its nuclear missile sites of PCBs in the 1990s; its unclear whether those scrubs were not comprehensive enough or if the chemicals resurfaced in the following decades.

The Air Force is also sampling the air, water and soil at its missile bases to search for multiple kinds of contamination, from pesticides to radon. No airborne PCBs were detected in the air samples, the service said.

While the Air Force isnt issuing any specific recommendations to airmen who have worked at the affected facilities, it encourages current and former troops to talk to their health care providers if they have any symptoms of cancers like non-Hodgkin lymphoma or other ailments.

At least 268 troops who worked at nuclear missile sites have reported cancers, blood diseases and other illnesses over the past several decades, according to the Torchlight Initiative, an advocacy group comprised of former missileers and their families.

The Air Force is trying to push information on the cancer study as widely as it can across its nuclear missile community, parts of which fall outside of Air Force Global Strike Command. It relies on outside groups, like the Association of Air Force Missileers, to spread the word to those who have since separated or retired.

Bussiere has pledged to take further action as the cancer study yields more results.
Russia launched 16 combat drones and 28 cruise missiles at Ukraine last night, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on Aug. 30.

Ukrainian air defense destroyed 15 of the 16 Shahed kamikaze drones and all 28 of the Kh-101, Kh-55, and Kh-555 missiles, according to the Air Force.

The drones and missiles were shot down above Kyiv, Cherkasy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Zhytomyr oblasts, the Air Force said.

Debris from a drone destroyed by air defense damaged infrastructure in Zhytomyr, including a railway track, according to Governor Vitalii Bunechko.

Oleh Kiper, the governor of Odesa Oblast, said that 8 Russian cruise missiles headed towards Odesa oblast were shot down over the sea.

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The authorities in Cherkasy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Zhytomyr oblasts reported that there were no casualties.

In Kyiv, however, falling debris killed two people and injured three others, the Kyiv city military administration reported.

Debris caused a fire in a commercial building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, killing two security guards aged 26 and 36 years old.

Outside the city, 35 emergency service workers were deployed to Kyiv Oblast's Fastiv and Bucha districts due to fires caused by falling debris. A 69-year-old woman, a 43-year-old man, and a 49-year-old man were injured.

Read also: Biggest drone attack on Russia, Crimea reported

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported after midnight on the night of 29-30 August that there was a threat of attack by Russian drones and ballistic missiles in a number of oblasts, and later said there was a missile threat in southern oblasts.

Source: Ukrainian Air Force; air-raid warnings map

Quote from the Air Force: "The first group of enemy strike UAVs is currently in the area of Sumy and Chernihiv oblasts, moving towards Kyiv.

The second group is in the area bordering Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv oblasts, moving in the direction of Kropyvnytskyi."

Details: An air-raid warning was issued in the central, eastern and northern oblasts.

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Quote from the Air Force: "A group of enemy attack UAVs is near the junction of Chernihiv and Kyiv oblasts and the state border of Ukraine with the Republic of Belarus!

They are moving towards Kyiv!"

Update: At 02:15, an air-raid warning was issued in Kyiv, which lasted for one minute.

It was issued again at 02:39. Serhii Popko, Head of Kyiv City Military Administration, reported that again there was a threat of attack drones.

Later, a warning was issued in southern oblasts due to a missile threat.

Then, the air-raid warning was extended to the whole of Ukraine, except for the western regions.

At 04:53, a warning was issued throughout Ukraine due to the threat of cruise missiles.

At 05:30, the all-clear was given.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
While Hurricane Idalia makes its way into Georgia, the storm continues to bring bad weather  and many travel delays  to parts of Florida.

Idalias center moved into southern Georgia, just hours after it made landfall near Keaton Beach on Floridas west coast as a Category 3 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Centers 11 a.m. Wednesday advisory. Several airports across Florida shut down Tuesday before the storm slammed the state.

READ MORE: Power outages, record flooding spread as catastrophic Hurricane Idalia leaves Florida

Heres what to know about airports as some reopen and many navigate mass disruptions.

Tampa

Tampa International Airport reopen for arriving flights at 4 p.m. Wednesday, airport officials announced on X, formerly known as Twitter.

TPA TO REOPEN TO ARRIVING FLIGHTS ONLY AT 4 PM TODAY



TPA sustained minimal damage from Hurricane Idalia



Departing flights and normal operations will resume early Thursday morning



Please check directly with your airline for the latest flight updates pic.twitter.com/cKwtnTc5ZY  Tampa International Airport (@FlyTPA) August 30, 2023

Departing flights and normal operations will resume early Thursday morning. According to Flight Aware data, more than 340 flights from or headed to Tampa were canceled Wednesday.

Sarasota-Bradenton

Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, which closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, reopened at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

St. Pete-Clearwater

St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, which closed at 3 p.m. Tuesday, reopened at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

PIE will close 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 29th due to Tropical Storm Idalia and plans to reopen Wednesday, August 30th at 3:00 pm. Passengers should check with their airline for flight information updates.  St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (@iflypie) August 28, 2023

Tallahassee

Tallahassee International Airport reopened Wednesday at 4 p.m. after shutting down Tuesday at 11 p.m. According to FlightAware data, most flights from or headed to Tallahassee were canceled Wednesday.

Tallahassee International Airport has reopened as recovery efforts progress following Hurricane #Idalia. Customers are encouraged to verify the status of their commercial flight with their airline prior to heading to the airport. pic.twitter.com/s3oVlglrPY  Tallahassee International Airport (@TLHAirport) August 30, 2023

Gainesville

Gainesville Regional Airport Terminal will remain closed until 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The Gainesville Regional Airport Terminal is closed until 5 pm Wed 8/30/2023. No flights are operating until this evening. Rental car counters are also closed. No rental cars will be available except for arriving aircraft. The airport is not available as a shelter. Stay safe! pic.twitter.com/hszGST5uUg  Gainesville Airport (@GNVAirport) August 30, 2023

No flights are operating until this evening, the airlines post on X said. Rental car counters are also closed. No rental cars will be available except for arriving aircraft.

South Florida: Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports

As of Wednesday afternoon, Miami International Airport has 296 delays and 64 cancellations, according to Flight Aware data. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has 261 delays and 20 cancellations.

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Flight impacts above are likely due to several factors including inclement weather over parts of the U.S., airline, or federal airspace operational decisions, among other issues, FLL spokesperson Paris Tyburski told the Miami Herald.

Orlando

While Orlando International Airport is open, officials expect delays and cancellations.

While our airport is open and operational, flight disruptions are expected throughout the day - delays/cancellations & bag delivery delays may occur. Check with your airline for updates in regards to your flight. For airport status: https://t.co/vm0yMYHkcv#HurricaneIdalia pic.twitter.com/juY7zN4VkO  Orlando International Airport (@MCO) August 30, 2023

As of Wednesday afternoon, the airport has 375 delays and 136 cancellations, according to Flight Aware data.

Southwest Florida

Southwest Florida International Airport near Fort Myers is dealing with delays and cancellations. As of Wednesday afternoon, the airport has 60 delays and 39 cancellations, according to Flight Aware data.

Please check your airlines website for cancellation and delay information, a statement on Facebook said. By this afternoon, most flights will be operating normally.
Russia closed airspace over Moscow and Tula Oblasts after reports of drone strikes on Aug. 30, Russian state media claimed.

At 1:50 a.m. local time, Russian state news agency TASS reported attempted drone strikes over Bryansk and Oryol Oblasts. The report claimed that air defense units shot down three drones over Bryansk and one over Oryol.

Russia blamed the attempted strikes on Ukraine.

The same night, Russia claimed that drones struck a military airfield in Pskov Oblast, destroying four Il-76 aircraft.

Following the alleged strikes, Russia closed airspace over Moscow and Tula Oblasts.

According to Russian media, Moscow's Vnukovo airport shut down the night of Aug. 30, while flights at Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports were delayed.

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TASS later announced that Vnukovo airport resumed operations.

On Aug. 29, Russia claimed that air defense units shot down two drones flying over Tula Oblast. Airport closures and reports of drone strikes in the Russian Federation have increased in recent weeks.

Read also: As counteroffensive presses forward in southeast, every meter costs a life

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
A gust of wind uprooted a 6-foot beach umbrella that flew through the air and impaled a woman's leg on Alabama's Gulf Coast this week.

The horrific injury, which happened about 48 hours before Hurricane Idalia crashed into neighboring Florida's Gulf Coast, sent the woman to a trauma hospital, City of Orange Beach Fire Department Deputy Chief Jeff Smith told USA TODAY.

"We train for these type of injuries, but I've been employed here 27 years and we've never have had, to my knowledge, anyone impaled by a beach umbrella," Smith said Wednesday.

'A strong gust of wind'

Beach goers relax in Orange Beach, Alabama on June 27, 2010.

Firefighters responded to the beach off Perdido Beach Boulevard just after 9 a.m. Monday after getting a report of a traumatic injury.

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The accident happened in front of a private condominium while an attendant was closing umbrellas lined along the beach due to high winds, Smith said.

Arriving crews reported finding a woman impaled through the lower leg by a beach umbrella that had been "dislodged by a strong gust of wind."

Bracing for Hurricane Idalia: Hurricane go bag essentials to grab as Idalia carves out path toward Georgia and Florida

Umbrella shaft cut off on each side of her leg

Boaters are pictured from the beach on June 27, 2010 in Orange Beach, Alabama.

The woman was conscious and alert at the scene, officials said.

"From what I heard from staff, she was pretty calm and was in a standing position when it hit her," Smith said.

Paramedics stabilized the woman and were forced "to cut the umbrella shaft on each side of the leg for transport," the department reported.

The woman was taken in stable condition by a medical helicopter to a trauma center in Mobile, Smith said.

She was expected to recover.

When crews later opened the umbrella, Smith said, it spanned about 6 feet in diameter.

Waffle House index: 5 locations shuttered as Hurricane Idalia slams Florida

About 48 hours before Idalia

People enjoy the beach a day after Hurricane Sally passed through the area on September 17, 2020 in Orange Beach, Alabama.

The accident happened about 48 hours before Idalia slammed into Florida's Big Bend near Keaton Beach on Wednesday morning.

The fire department was warning people to avoid the water and to be careful in the area due to Idalia's anticipated landfall.

https://www.facebook.com/OrangeBeachFire/posts/pfbid02yX3SXLajcLs34gAyuELurnH945MRoraykUm5Ys9HpCpup2uXuRv3KMogECtYbQcRl

"Please dont put yourself or our rescuers at unnecessary risk - stay out of the water!" the department wrote in a Facebook post.

On Wednesday, Smith said the surf along Orange Beach was still rough and the city had double red flags flying alerting people not to enter the water.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior correspondent for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 6-foot beach umbrella impales woman's leg in Alabama
Three decades ago, Herb Schroeder was working as a professor and engineer for the University of Alaska, researching rural sanitation. But in that work, he never met a native Alaskan engineer.

So in 1995, he decided to change that, by founding the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program within UAA to support Alaska natives from kindergarten through doctorate in the STEM fields.

No paywall. No pop-up ads. Keep The 74 free with a donation during our Fall campaign.

He realized, If there were more Alaska native engineers working, there wouldnt be people from outside making big decisions, said Michele Yatchmeneff, an ANSEP alumnus and UAAs executive director of Alaska education and outreach. It would actually be our Alaska native students making those decisions for their communities.

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Now, ANSEPs yearlong Acceleration Academy allows students to attend UAA full-time as high school students, taking regular college courses and earning college credits. They also have the opportunity to experience professional internships in STEM industries, like oil and gas and conservation. The vast majority of their students identify as native Alaskans.

One of the main reasons ANSEP was founded was because it was believed that Alaska natives were not smart enough to hold degrees or positions in the STEM field, said Cody Kapotak, an ANSEP alumnus and a coordinator for the U.S. Forest Service Partnership.

Watch, in the mini documentary above, how ANSEP is changing that perception, empowering Alaska natives, and giving them a seat at the table.
Alex Murdaugh cant stay out of trouble.

The former Hampton County attorney and convicted double murderer has had some of his prison privileges temporarily suspended after he used another inmates account information to make a phone call where he provided information that was delivered to the news media for an interview, according to a statement from the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

The former multimillionaire who recently pleaded guilty to federal charges of stealing millions from his clients has lost his telephone and canteen privileges for 30 days. He is currently serving two consecutive life sentences.

Alex Murdaugh

On June 10, Murdaugh read portions of a journal that he kept during his Colleton County trial for the murder of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul, to his attorney through a legal call, which prison officials say they did not record or monitor in order to protect attorney-client privilege.

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His attorney, Jim Griffin, who represented Murdaugh at his murder trial, recorded Murdaugh reading the information and provided it to the producers of the upcoming Fox News documentary, The Fall of the House of Murdaugh, according to the Department of Corrections.

When prison officials learned of the interview on Aug. 8, they say that they suspended Murdaughs access to his phone and tablet. Inmates of the South Carolina Department of Corrections are not allowed to conduct interviews.

Dennis Patterson, assistant deputy director of operations for the Department of Corrections, also sent Griffin a letter warning him that his actions intended or not, assisted Mr. Murdaugh in violating our policies and could jeopardize your telephonic communications with him in the future.

SCDCs interview policy is rooted in victims rights and is longstanding. The department believes that victims of crime should not have to see or hear the person who victimized them or their family member on the news, the department said in its statement.

Griffin declined to comment Wednesday evening other than to say that I have the highest respect for Director (Bryan) Stirling and the job he is doing.

But after Murdaugh lost access to his phone, he used another inmates PIN to make phone calls from the prison, which is prohibited by Department of Corrections policy. On the call, which was reviewed by the warden of the prison, Murdaugh could be heard telling someone that he was using another inmates number because his was not working, according to an incident report released by the department.

Murdaugh was found guilty of violating policy, but did not break any laws, corrections officials say.

Mudaugh still does not have use of his tablet. Tablets are designed and secured for correctional use. They are considered a privilege. The department will determine when and if inmate Murdaugh will earn the opportunity to be issued a tablet again, according to the statement.

Staff writer John Monk contributed to this story.
A West Humboldt Park resident has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the opening of an Amazon facility in her neighborhood until the company goes through a public approval process.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court Tuesday by attorney Ramsin Canon on behalf of resident Maura Madden, alleges Amazons planned delivery facility at 1260 N. Kostner Ave. was improperly classified under the citys zoning code and should have gone through a special use and approval process before the citys Zoning Board of Appeals. Amazon plans to open the facility Sept. 27.

Madden, who told the Tribune she has lived in the neighborhood for 17 years, is suing under a state law that gives people who live within 1,200 feet of a property the ability to sue in order to restrain, correct, or abate the violation (of an ordinance or ordinances), according to her lawsuit.

The complaint alleges the 140,000-square-foot facility should have been designated a freight terminal under the citys zoning code, which Madden alleges would have required Amazon to go through a special use process in front of the citys Zoning Board of Appeal.

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Defendant constructed, maintains and uses the property in a way that violates or will violate local ordinances adopted pursuant to the citys home rule zoning authority, the complaint alleges.

In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly said the company was in the process of reviewing the lawsuit.

We follow all applicable zoning laws and regulations when opening a new facility and we received our certificate of occupancy from the city of Chicago on August 4, 2023, Kelly said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Planning and Development declined to comment.

A special use process would have required the notification of residents within a certain distance of the facility, the lawsuit alleges. It would have also required the project to be approved by the zoning board.

I think as someone who literally can throw a stone from her front door and hit the side of an Amazon building, I should know whats going on, Madden said. She said she was particularly concerned about potential impacts of the facility on the respiratory health of children in the neighborhood.

The lawsuit alleges Madden was given no formal notice of the development before construction began. The complaint alleges she will suffer from unreviewed and unstudied environmental, traffic, noise, lighting, aesthetic, and other social impacts, because she lives near the building.

Its an economic opportunity for them, said Madden, who works as an executive assistant. Is it an economic opportunity for us? Whats the environmental impact? And can we actually believe anything that they say?

The lawsuit asks Circuit Judge Anna Loftus to grant a preliminary injunction prohibiting the operation of the building as a freight terminal until Amazon receives special use permissions to do so.

West Side community groups have been attempting to wrangle concessions from Amazon over the project for around two years.

Community organizations have asked the corporation to hire 60% of its workforce for the site from West Side neighborhoods, as well as calls to pay wages of at least $28.50 an hour. Some organizers wanted Amazon to sign a community benefit agreement, which would have formalized a deal for the company to give certain benefits to the neighborhood in exchange for community support.

Amazons early plans put the building opening in late 2022. The company said early this year its opening had been delayed by supply chain issues and unspecified business reasons.

In January, protesters with the groups Get to Work and Black Workers Matter gathered outside the newly-painted facility, calling for Amazon to open it and hire locally.

Earlier this month, protesters with neighborhood groups Black Workers Matter, Get to Work and the West Humboldt Park Community Coalition gathered across the street from the building, again calling for commitments around local hiring and wages, as well as raising concerns about the environmental impact of the facility on the community.
Maddie Abuyuan / HuffPost; Getty ImagesTupac, Ice-T, and N.W.A.

Maddie Abuyuan / HuffPost; Getty Images

Tupac, Ice-T, and N.W.A.

America Has Always Tried To Be Hip-Hops Overseer

In the early 1980s, when hip-hop was cementing itself in the Black community, so was a devastating new drug and a police force that didnt know what to do with either.

By Phillip Jackson

Aug. 30, 2023

Lets all jump in the whip and go back. Back to 2005, I was in the sixth grade, and the most popular hip-hop songs were still accompanied by dances. You know, Soulja Boy and all the other crank dats that would follow.

And while that music had its place, it didnt have the substance I wanted. It didnt feel like the CDs my father used to play during car rides when I was younger.

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So, I started my own journey into hip-hop with Dr. Dres The Chronic and Raekwons Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. I was immediately a fan of the gritty and deceptive stories told from their on-the-ground eyewitness perspective, and the music was still relevant.

One commonality I found between the two iconic rap albums from the East and West Coasts was this unapologetic attitude and approach to telling what was really going on in their neighborhoods.

Through hip-hop, I would learn about war: The war between the Black community and the police.

As hip-hop rose to prominence in the early 80s, so did crack and, with it, violence. As the country declared a so-called war on drugs, they also declared a war on Black people and the music that was becoming the voice for the community. Rappers became journalists with raw and deep storytelling glorifying an inner-city Dickensian dream. No longer was the media a go-between for what was happening in drug dens. We no longer needed a Public Information Officer for an areas drug task force. Ice-T could report exactly what happened at 6 N the Mornin.

Los Angeles police search suspected members of the Rolling 60s gang for weapons and drugs during a sweep in south Los Angeles. The South L.A. area accounts for the largest number of street gangs in the nation, about 150 groups of mostly Black and Hispanic youths. Credit: Bettman/Getty Images

Los Angeles police search suspected members of the Rolling 60s gang for weapons and drugs during a sweep in south Los Angeles. The South L.A. area accounts for the largest number of street gangs in the nation, about 150 groups of mostly Black and Hispanic youths. Credit: Bettman/Getty Images

Six in the morning, police at my door

Fresh Adidas squeak across the bathroom floor

Out my back window, I make my escape

Didnt even get a chance to grab my old-school tape.

With man-on-the-street narratives came the over-policing by neighborhood cops looking to get residents under their thumb. It would be two years after the protagonist in Ice-Ts rap ran from the police before America finally felt the wrath of young Black men in those communities who were tired of being harassed for merely existing.

In August 1988, the infamous and legendary hip-hop group N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) dropped a few lines that forever cemented raps stance on police who grossly overused their authority when dealing with the Black community.

Fuck the police comin straight from the underground. A Young nigga got it bad cause Im brown, the group rapped in their infamous single aptly titled Fuck Tha Police.

A

A "Crip" (left) dressed in blue, showing the Gang colors, is arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department anti-gang unit with two friends after stealing a Cadillac Car; a search turned up weapons and drugs. Oct. 16, 1984, Compton, South Central Los Angeles, California.

And just like that, the war was on. This line struck a nerve in the music industry and throughout Americas political landscape. Racial politics and police violence infused groups like N.W.As success, but it was only the tipping point.

During the late 80s and 90s, rappers highlighted the ills of dealing with the police when Black. There was KRS-One, who played with the word officer until it became overseer in Sound of the Police, Public Enemy with Fight the Power, Ice-T who shook the whole industry with Cop Killer and Tupac, who not only had a history of bashing the over-policing of Black folks in his music but even outside of his music he was never one to mince words when talking about or to cops.

After the fatal 1996 shooting of the rapper in Las Vegas, Chris Carroll, a Las Vegas Metropolitan police officer on the scene, had this to say (nearly 20 years later to a local news site) of Tupacs response when asked who was the culprit behind his wounds: And he went from struggling to speak, being noncooperative, to an Im at peace type of thing. Just like that  And thats when I looked at him and said one more time, Who shot you? I thought I was actually going to get some cooperation. And then the words came out: Fuck you.

As these artists tried to share what was happening in their communities with the general public via their music, authorities began to eye them more  looking to end the messaging woven into their rhymes.

Rappers Ice Cube and MC Ren from N.W.A. performs during the 'Straight Outta Compton' tour at the Genesis Convention Center in Gary, Indiana in July 1989. Credit: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

Rappers Ice Cube and MC Ren from N.W.A. performs during the 'Straight Outta Compton' tour at the Genesis Convention Center in Gary, Indiana in July 1989. Credit: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

Detroit, Michigan, 1989

N.W.A is commanding the stage. The group attempted to perform their hit Fuck Tha Police, but they only made it through the first 30 seconds before they heard what sounded like gunshots.

Turns out the gunshot sounds were cherry bombs set off by Detroit police in an attempt to sabotage the groups performance. The police were apparently afraid the songs lyrics would incite violence. An example of police trying to control and withhold Black stories by attempting to keep their voices out of the mainstream.

And that was only the beginning.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) reportedly created a unit that rappers would label hip-hop cops to keep tabs on rappers beefs along with their comings and goings. The NYPD would deny it, but Derrick Parker, a former NYPD detective, would later confirm that the Enterprise Operations Unit followed rappers in 1996. Parker, a hip-hop lover, also claimed he held a four-hour class for officers on beefs within hip-hop and the rivalry between East Coast/West Coast rappers. He claimed that 1997 NYPD cops were in Los Angeles when Notorious B.I.G was murdered. The citys police also allegedly followed New York rappers without their knowledge.

Around the same time, then Death Row Records president Suge Knight reportedly hired off-duty LAPD officers to work for his label. Cops fingerprints were starting to smear all over hip-hop, and somehow, rappers began going to jail.

As a Black man, Ive been skeptical of the unmoving microscope placed by authorities on some of my favorite artists who are simply trying to tell the stories that they lived.

Meek Mill performs as a surprise guest during Jay Z's set during the 2017 Budweiser Made in America festival - Day 2 at Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Sept. 3, 2017, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Meek Mill performs as a surprise guest during Jay Z's set during the 2017 Budweiser Made in America festival - Day 2 at Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Sept. 3, 2017, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Take the legal situation of Meek Mill, which posited a national discussion around criminal justice and bail reform after he was imprisoned for probation violations following a fight in 2017 and for doing tricks on his dirt bike later that same year.

First things first, harassing a person for poppin wheelies is just some petty-ass police behavior. Secondly, what was so unfortunately ignored by conservative contemporaries surrounding the Philadelphia rappers case was that the reason he was caught up in the American legal system stemmed from a classic and disappointing scenario of police brutality.

In 2007, Philadelphia police claimed that the then 19-year-old rapper pointed a gun at officers after being confronted for selling drugs to an informant. Mill claimed it was all bullshit and that he was arrested and brutally beaten by police. His mother even photographed her sons swollen and bandaged face, for which a stylized version of the image was later used as the cover photo for his Dreamchasers 4 mixtape.

My mom took this pic and filed it with internal affairs, nothing happened! he explained in a 2020 post on Instagram. I been a rebel since!!! #georgefloyd I got charges for breaking one of the cops hands also like he didnt break his hand on my face!

And Mill isnt the only rapper who has been caught up in the justice system.

Foxy Brown, Da Brat, Lauryn Hill, and Remy Ma have all served time. In 2005, rapper Lil Kim was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. The famed New York rapper was looking at 20 years for perjury and conspiracy after a shooting at a local radio station. According to Billboard, Lil Kim and her crew were leaving New York radio station Hot-97 (known as WQHT-FM) when they ran into Capone-N-Noreaga, also known as CNN, with whom they were beefing. Apparently, Lil Kim was mad over a diss from rival New York rapper Foxy Brown on CNNs song Bang, Bang. A shootout ensued, and one person was injured. But because hip-hop is a truth-telling sport until you get pinched, Lil Kim claimed that she didnt see Damion Butler or Suif Jackson, also known as Gutta, who had already taken plea deals at the scene of the shootout. Prosecutors seemingly couldnt believe what they were hearing, considering both men were good friends of the rapper and had admitted to being at the scene. Oh, and Butler is also Lil Kims manager. But hip-hop doesnt believe in snitching, so the Get Money rapper did what any good soldier would do. Its twisted the way jail has become a resume builder in hip-hop, and the system, which is set up to hold Black bodies, doesnt mind at all. In fact, it would prefer it this way.

Earlier this year, Young Thug and 27 others were hit with RICO charges. For those not up on game, RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law initially created to stop the mafia. Young Thug (Jeffery Williams), Gunna (Sergio Kitchens), Yak Gotti (Deamonte Kendrick) and Slimelife Shawty (Wunnie Lee), who all released music on YSL (Young Stoner Life) records were hit with the RICO.

Before RICO, a person could only be charged with an illegal activity that theyd done. After RICO, groups could be charged as interworking parts of a criminal empire; seemingly innocuous tasks could be considered illegal if there was proof that the task was a part of the larger groups criminal activity.

Gunna and Young Thug perform during Gunna Presents New Album

Gunna and Young Thug perform during Gunna Presents New Album "DS4EVER" Concert at The Masquerade on Jan. 15, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia.

In the case of Young Thug, the indictment alleges he is a founder of a gang with the same name as his record label, Young Slime Life, also known as YSL. In May, the Atlanta rapper was charged with conspiracy to violate the RICO Act, gang activity involvement and more found in the 56-count indictment.

Some co-defendants, including rapper Gunna, have taken pleas, and 14 are set to stand trial.

Whats caused a national argument around the case isnt the RICO charges, as clearly the police have constantly been policing hip-hop, but news that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis  yep, the same Willis who indicted former President Donald Trump on RICO charges  is using the lyrics from the rappers songs against them.

The indictment cites lyrics from nine Young Thug songs, including Ski and Slime Shit, Variety reports. Several lyrics from the 2019 song Just How It Is are listed, including I done did the robbin, I done did the jackin, now Im full rappin and Its all mob business, we know to kill the biggest cats of all kittens, which the court deems in the indictment an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Also noted by the court is the 2021 song Bad Boy, which includes lyrics like, Smith & Wesson .45 put a hole in his heart / Better not play with me, killers they stay with me, and, I shot at his mommy, now he no longer mention me.

Atlanta rapper Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, speaks with his attorneys Keith Adams, left, and Brian Steel, right, at the Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. He was indicted in a RICO case earlier this year.

Atlanta rapper Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, speaks with his attorneys Keith Adams, left, and Brian Steel, right, at the Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. He was indicted in a RICO case earlier this year.

This isnt the first time the law has used lyrics as evidence, but music organizations are supporting the Restoring Artistic Protection Act (Rap Act), designed to protect artists freedom and creativity.

Freddy Mercury did not confess to having just killed a man by putting a gun against his head and pulling the trigger. Bob Marley did not confess to having shot a sheriff. And Johnny Cash did not confess to shooting a man in Reno, just to watch him die, Congress members Jamaal Bowman of New York and Hank Johnson of Georgia, who introduced the legislation, wrote in a press statement, adding that the bill would limit the admissibility of evidence of an artists creative or artistic expression against that artist in court.

Gunnas free, and Thug is still imprisoned, which means theres been a hip-hop ruckus about whether Gunna committed one of the deadliest sins in hip-hop: snitching. Part of Gunnas plea agreement was that he had to admit in court that YSL wasnt just a record label but was also a criminal street gang. Doing so allowed Gunnas release. That admission may prove damaging for the rest of the YSL members awaiting trial. It may also prove damaging for Gunna on the outside. Who knows. Some six months after he left jail, Gunna released Gift & a Curse, which addressed all allegations against him.

And Im sure his fans and opps werent the only ones listening.

This story is part of a HuffPost series celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. See all of our coverage here.
American Airlines flight attendants overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to authorize a strike, making them the latest aviation employees to authorize such a move.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), the union representing the flight attendants, announced that 99.47 percent voted in favor of authorizing a strike, with 93 percent of the union members voting over a monthlong period. The union said it would call a strike if contract talks do not yield significant improvements.

Today, we sent a clear message to American Airlines management: We are fired up and ready for a contract. They ignore this strike vote at their peril, APFA National President Julie Hedrick said in a statement. Our contributions to the success of American Airlines must be recognized and respected.

Despite the vote to authorize the action, an actual strike may still be many steps away. According to the union, the flight attendants cannot strike until they are released by the National Mediation Board and a 30-day cooling off period has elapsed.

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The American Airlines flight attendants last month announced they would seek a vote on whether they should be authorized to strike. More than 26,000 flight attendants are seeking a one-time 35 percent wage increase, a 9 percent annual raise and increased benefits in a new contract with the airline.

Our contract became amendable in 2019, and Americans Flight Attendants have not received cost-of-living increases or any other quality-of-life improvements, even as they played an essential part in keeping American in the skies both during and after the pandemic, Hedrick said last month.

The vote comes after American Airlines pilots also authorized a strike back in May as their own union negotiated a new contract with the airline. Multiple other industries have also authorized strikes or have started strikes over the past few months, including Hollywood actors and writers.

A spokesperson for American Airlines said the results of the strike authorization vote will not impact the airlines operations.

Were proud of the progress weve made in negotiations with the APFA, and we look forward to reaching an agreement that provides our flight attendants with real and meaningful value, the spokesperson said in a statement. We understand that a strike authorization vote is one of the important ways flight attendants express their desire to get a deal done. The results dont change our commitment or distract us from working expeditiously to reach an agreement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
After a year of avoiding the Ada County Courthouse in a defamation case brought against him, far-right activist Ammon Bundy appeared for a hearing Tuesday morning.

Bundy was arraigned in Boise on contempt of court charges and a trial date was set in his latest tussle with the justice system in Idaho. Fourth District Judge Lynn Norton issued an arrest warrant for Bundy in April after he allegedly violated a court order to stop harassing and intimidating witnesses in the since-resolved St. Lukes case, the Statesman previously reported.

Bundy was arrested Aug. 11 on that warrant at a high school football fundraiser, according to previous Statesman reporting. He bonded out of the Gem County Jail for $10,000 after spending more than 24 hours inside.

Fourth District Judge Nancy Baskin set a bench trial to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 2 at the Ada County Courthouse. Any sentence will be decided by Baskin and not a jury because the maximum penalty for Bundy would be six months in jail. He also could face fines for each time hes found to have violated the court order.

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The charges against Bundy relate to the St. Lukes defamation case that concluded in July with a jury ordering Bundy and an associate, Diego Rodriguez, to pay $52.5 million in damages to the health system and other plaintiffs. The case began after Bundy and Rodriguez led protests at St. Lukes hospitals in Meridian and downtown Boise in March 2022 over a child welfare case involving Rodriguezs 10-month-old grandchild.

Bundy has since declared that he owes St. Lukes nothing.

Ammon Bundy represented himself at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise for his arraignment hearing with Judge Nancy Baskin.

The defendants were found to have posted multiple lies online about the hospital system its health professionals, and about why the baby was taken into custody. They posted videos and blogs saying the hospital was working with the government to take children away from Christian families to be sexually abused and given to gay couples, according to court documents.

Bundy was accused of harassing witnesses in the case multiple times in April, leading to the contempt charge. At least three witnesses were unwilling to testify because they feared the tactics used by the former gubernatorial candidate and his followers, according to St. Lukes attorney Erik Stidham.

The plaintiffs also have alleged that Bundy, Rodriguez and their followers have continued to attack and harass witnesses who testified in the July trial.

Bundy represents himself in court

Bundy represented himself at Tuesdays hearing, as he often has done after arrests, including on trespassing charges. Baskin strongly recommended he obtain an attorney for the trial or use a public defender. Bundy said it was difficult to find someone willing to represent him.

Theyre very, very hard (to find) and theyre expensive, Bundy said.

About 20 people were at the hearing to support Bundy, and some spoke out of turn in court.

Baskin went back and forth with a few attendees when multiple people said they wanted to represent Bundys Peoples Rights Network. Members have taken issue with the perception that Bundy controls the group, and one person told Baskin she need(s) to understand what Peoples Rights Network is.

I dont need to understand that today, Baskin responded. All I know is to represent any entity, a person needs to be a licensed attorney in the state of Idaho.

The Peoples Rights Network also called on its members to demonstrate in front of St. Lukes attorneys office and at the home of Norton, the judge who issued the warrant. Followers also posted photos of flyers attacking Norton.

Ammon Bundy speaks to members of the media and the public outside of the Ada County Courthouse.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is warning people about defensive mountain goats on Mount Timpanogos. | Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Angry and defensive mountain goats are taking out peoples dogs on Mount Timpanogos, goring them with their horns or in one case, simply lifting the dog up and tossing it over a cliff.

Theres a reason they are called wildlife. Theyre wild and the nannies, like any mom, are hyper-protective of their kids.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is issuing a warning on how to stay safe, and keep your dogs safe, while hiking in mountain goat territory  especially with the long Labor Day weekend just a few days away.

Mountain goats can impale you with their horns, so you dont want to risk coming into contact with one, said the divisions Once-In-A-Lifetime Species Coordinator Rusty Robinson.

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Remember that they are wild animals, so always give them plenty of space. They are found in some pretty extreme terrain, so you dont want to risk getting too close to one while on the edge of a cliff. Be aware of your surroundings, stay alert and dont put yourself in those situations. If you need to turn around and cut your hike short, do it.

A trio of dogs in separate incidents were killed by mountain goats in a months span this summer at Mount Timpanogos, one of several locations in Utah that are host to the states population, numbering about 1,500.

Dog owners beware! Mountain goats on Mt. Timpanogos killed 3 dogs in the past few weeks, acc'd to Timpanogos Emergency Response Team pic.twitter.com/G6SeI9uwDI  Utah is Awesome! (@UtahIsAwesome) August 22, 2023

Related

Mountain goats are known for their fluffy white coats and agility in rocky terrain due to rubbery-like hooves that help sustain their grip on steep cliffs.

Like domesticated goats, there is a cuteness factor in their appearance that nevertheless should be admired from afar. They are much stronger than they appear and not docile.

In 2010, a mountain goat gored a hiker in Olympic National Park and then stood over the man, refusing to move until it was pelted away with rocks by a ranger. The man died from his injuries and park officials later located and killed the goat, which was known for its aggressive behavior.

At British Columbias Yoho National Park in 2021, authorities say a necropsy revealed a grizzly bear died from wounds it sustained from a mountain goat after an unsuccessful predation attempt. A CBC report said the bear had puncture wounds on its neck and its armpits consistent with injuries a mountain goat could inflict.

Wildlife resources has these tips to help you if there is a mountain goat encounter while hiking or backpacking:

Give them plenty of space (roughly 150 feet or more). Mountain goats will often stand their ground or charge you if you get too close.

If you see a mountain goat coming down the trail you are on, turn around and head back down the trail to avoid getting too close to them.

Like other big game animals, mountain goats can be especially aggressive toward dogs. Keep dogs leashed and under control at all times. It is against Utah law to allow dogs to chase or harass protected hoofed wildlife, like mountain goats.

If a mountain goat begins approaching you, slowly back away and give it some distance. If it continues approaching, wave your arms and make loud noises to try to scare it away.

The division warned that male mountain goats typically get more aggressive during their breeding season, which typically takes place in November. The nanny goats get more aggressive when they have babies. They usually give birth in late May and then the nannies and kids join up and form large nursery herds. This is when the female goats are the most aggressive.
AOC says the left was "bewildered" by power for so long because they hadn't experienced having it.

She told The Times that power was generally seen as something held by a "consummate insider."

In the interview, Ocasio-Cortez spoke of how the Democratic Party has changed since her first election in 2018.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a newly-published interview said that her political influence has been scrutinized so heavily by Democrats because progressive members of the party "haven't really had a political presence" in the United States like the one they currently possess.

During a conversation with The New York Times, the third-term New York Democrat said that one of the reasons why voices like hers were seen as novel when she first ran in 2018 was because many candidates were often viewed as more supportive of corporate interests over real people.

"I think very often you had this consummate insider that was bankrolled by corporate money and advancing this, frankly, very neoliberal agenda," she told The Times. "And those were the people that we were used to seeing in power. And so I think over time there's been an inherent association between power, ascent and quote-unquote selling out."

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"I often say to my grass-roots companions that the left, for a very long time, was not used to having power in the United States," she continued. "And so when we encounter power, we're so bewildered by it."

When asked if liberals were "suspicious" of power, Ocasio-Cortez said that many people often feel as though "there's no way in this country you can accrue any kind of power without there being some Faustian compromise."

In 2018, Ocasio-Cortez ran as a progressive who would challenge the status quo and advance the interests of the working-class communities that she represents in the Bronx and Queens.

She immediately faced criticism during her campaign and after she entered the halls of Congress the next year, with some members of her own party disdainful of her and Republicans eager to tie her more progressive views to the entire Democratic Party.

"When I first came in, I came into an environment that I sensed was never going to give me a chance, and into a party that was extremely hostile to my presence, extremely hostile to my existence," she told The Times. "That's one of the reasons I dug so powerfully into my work."

But Ocasio-Cortez has sought to forge relationships across all political divides at the Capitol.

The congresswoman, who backed the 2020 presidential campaign of Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, has worked with President Joe Biden's White House to advocate for a range of social-spending measures.

And she has worked with Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania in seeking to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.

Read the original article on Business Insider
AOC slams Ron DeSantis over his desire to send US special forces to Mexico to combat drug cartels: 'So reckless that it's difficult to even capture'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Jeff Bachner/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

In a NYT interview, AOC pushed back against DeSantis over his idea to send US forces into Mexico.

DeSantis said last week that he'd send US special forces into Mexico to go after drug traffickers.

Many of the GOP presidential candidates have sought to project a hard-line stance on border issues.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a new interview blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his support for sending United States special forces into Mexico to combat drug cartels, calling the idea "reckless."

During a conversation with The New York Times, the third-term New York Democrat argued that DeSantis' remarks illustrated the inattention that many American leaders give to other countries in the Western Hemisphere.

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"Such a suggestion is so reckless that it's difficult to even capture," she told the newspaper.

"But the political incentive for Ron DeSantis to say something like that speaks to the lack of real attention that we pay domestically to our role as a member of this hemisphere," she continued. "Part of our increased engagement in the region is not just about how we are thought of in Latin America, but also domestically, how we understand our closest neighbors."

During the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate, DeSantis spoke of the need to declare a national emergency "on day one" to push back against drug traffickers in Mexico.

"Would I use force? Would I treat them as foreign terrorist organizations? You're damn right I would," he said.

"When these drug pushers are bringing fentanyl across the border, that's going to be the last thing they do," he continued. "We're going to use force and we're going to leave them stone-cold dead."

Vanda Felbab-Brown, the director of the Brookings Institution's Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, told CNN that classifying the cartels as a foreign terrorist organization "doesn't eliminate the diplomatic controversy and outrage in Mexico that any Mexican government would have."

"We can say what we want on our side  from the perspective of the Mexican government and Mexican military, that would be very much seen as a massive violation of sovereignty," she told the network.

While speaking with The Times, Ocasio-Cortez also said immigration was the Biden administration's "weakest" issue.

"This is one area where our policy is dictated by politics, arguably more so than almost any other," she told the newspaper. "There are very clear recommendations and suggestions that we have made to the administration to provide relief on this issue, and it's my belief that some of the hesitation around this has to do with a fear around just being seen as approving or providing permission structures, or really just the Republican narratives that have surrounded immigration."

Insider reached out representatives of the DeSantis campaign for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Amarillo Police Department on Wednesday released results from its annual Sex Offender Compliance Check, including one out-of-state warrant leading to an arrest and minor children taken into custody by a state agency.

APD recently coordinated the compliance check of all registered sex offenders in Amarillo. During a two-week period in August, a total of 697 addresses were checked. APD said a total of 28 reports were generated for various law violations, and 17 individuals were arrested for failure to comply with registration requirements, including one with an immigration hold.

Detectives from the Special Victims Unit (SVU), officers from the Proactive Criminal Enforcement Unit (PACE), and the U.S. Marshalls were involved in the operation, police said.

APD said the current number of registered sex offenders in Amarillo is 682.

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Officers learned that seven offenders had absconded before the operation began.

As a part of this operation, on Aug. 18, the U.S. Marshals in Randall County located and arrested Thomas Golding, who had a warrant out of Twin Falls, Idaho, for sexual abuse of a child under 16. While making the arrest, the Marshals discovered there were minor children in the home. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) took custody of the children. Police said that investigation is ongoing, and further charges are possible.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo sex offender compliance checks lead to 17 arrests
A Cleveland County sheriffs deputy, shot and killed early Wednesday, is being remembered as a courageous and compassionate woman who loved serving others.

Jordan Cannon, 40, was found shot to death just before 2 a.m. Wednesday at her home in the 10900 block of SW 30, authorities said.

At the scene, Oklahoma City police arrested her husband, Vaughn Cannon, 41, also a deputy, who had been with the Cleveland County Sheriffs Office since March 2021.

Police said the Cannons were engaged in a heated argument.

Vaughn Cannon was booked into the Canadian County jail on a murder complaint. The investigation is ongoing.

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The fatal shooting follows another deadly gun incident involving an area law enforcement officer.

Lt. Jennifer Haddock, a 40-year-old Edmond police lieutenant, was arrested in connection with the shooting death of her 36-year-old brother while off duty in early August.

In Cleveland County, Sheriff Chris Amason said he was deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Jordan Cannon, a deputy he said was senselessly murdered at her residence.

This heinous act not only robs us of a dedicated and courageous public servant, but it also shakes the very foundation of our community in which she served, Amason said. This tragedy has come (as) a shock to all of us. We are actively trying to mend and repair this void that is left at the Sheriffs Office.

In June 2021, Jordan Cannon started with the sheriffs office as a school resource officer before moving to the patrol division.

She later served on the crisis intervention team, for which she later became an instructor.

Cannon also served with the sheriffs office honor guard.

The loss of Cannon, who was known for her love of law enforcement and her connection with co-workers and the community, will be felt for a long time, Amason said.

Jordan was a ray of sunshine who had a smile that could light up a room, he said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Police: Deputy arrested in death of wife Jordan Cannon, also a deputy
A Harrisburg lawmaker wants all schools in Pennsylvania to be staffed with armed guards.

State Sen. Mike Regan (R-York) is seeking this mandate through Senate Bill 907. The proposed law would create a mandate for districts to pay for an "armed, trained, and vetted school security person" at each building during school hours.

We require our children to attend school, therefore it is incumbent upon us to do everything we can to secure them while they are there, Regan said in a prepared statement.

Failure to enact this bill would leave our schools, teachers and students more vulnerable to attack. That is too great a risk that we just cannot take.

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Since 2018, lawmakers in Harrisburg have provided $800 million in grant funds to help schools pay for safety and security upgrades, according to Regan.

Not every school has used these funds to hire security personnel. About half of the commonwealth's 500 districts place armed officers in schools, Regan said, citing Pennsylvania Department of Education data.

State Sen. Mike Regan

The time to fix that is now, before another school falls victim to a heinous act of violence, he added.

This measure could also affect extracurricular activities. It gives school boards the option to hire security for other events on district property outside of normal instruction hours.

To become law, Senate Bill 907 will need the approval of both the Senate, where the GOP has a majority, and the Democratic-led House of Representatives.

The signature of Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, would also be required. It's unclear whether Regan's bill has widespread support in either party.

CeaseFirePA, one of the commonwealth's most prominent gun control organizations, is "emphatically opposed" to the idea.

Campaign director Josh Fleitman said a Washington Post analysis from 1999-2018 showed that guards were present at 40% of the schools where shootings occurred, evidence that armed personnel aren't a deterrent. He urged Regan and other legislators to instead look at red flag and mandatory safe storage laws for firearms.

"There's very little, if any, evidence that making our schools like prisons will make our schools safer," Fleitman said.

Bruce Siwy is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network's Pennsylvania state capital bureau. He can be reached at bsiwy@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @BruceSiwy.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Do PA schools need armed guards? A state senator believes so
Growing up, Raleigh native Patricia Harris used to put on her fathers American Legion cap for two-minutes every day  that was as long as he would allow.

To be a legionnaire, you have to earn the right to wear this cover, her father said to her.

More than 40 years later, Harris is the North Carolina national vice commander of the nonprofit veterans service organization, and will receive the Chapel of Four Chaplains Legion of Honor Bronze Medallion, a service award, at this years convention.

Shell receive the award Thursday in front of thousands of veterans, who traveled to Charlotte from across the country for the 104th annual American Legions national convention. This is the third year Charlotte hosted the convention, which decides on changes to the groups operations, recognizes members with honors, hosts speakers and forums and allows legionnaires to meet one another.

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Its a huge reunion, said Michael E. Walton, the chairman of the Legions convention commission.

A legionnaire for life

National Vice Commander Patricia Harris is the states first woman and African American to hold to position. Harris is a life-long Legionnaire, and is being awarded at this years national convention for her service to the veteran community.

Born and raised in Raleigh, Harris was the child of two parents in the military. Her father was a World War II veteran, and her mother was in the American Legions auxiliary.

Harris joined the Army in 1980, and served for 15 years. Harris parents wanted her to go to a university close by and join the Army Reserves. But Harris wanted something different.

She worked with elements of 18th Airborne Corps, 3rd ACR, 10th Mountain, Fort Campbell and other forward elements as combat service support. She also served as a communications non-commissioned officer, working with equipment for battlefield communication. She was stationed everywhere from Fort Hood, Texas, to Iraq as a part of Operation Desert Storm.

The American Legion has always been a part of her life, she said. That includes being part of the Legions auxiliary for juniors when she was a child at the Charles T. Norwood American Legion post 157 in Raleigh.

Now, Harris is North Carolinas first woman and African American to serve as the Legions states commander.

The Four Chaplains

The award Harris will receive Thursday  the Chapel of Four Chaplains Legion of Honor Bronze Medallion  is grounded in the story of four army Chaplains in 1943 that gave up their life jackets on a sinking ship so that others could live. The medallion is awarded to people who provide a level of service that affects the lives and well-being of a large number of people.

And Harris parents raised her to be a giving person.

Harris said she feels compelled to give back to the veteran community because of the challenges that shes faced and witnessed in the military  including domestic abuse and sexual assault. As a non-commissioned officer, she has seen those who struggle to find safe housing outside of the military base because they did not have the rank to be provided with homes inside with their families, Harris said

As the second-highest award in the Legions honors program, both Harriss work with the American Legion, and her own personal mission to help female veterans was considered.

The red shoe experience

Born and raised in Raleigh, Harris served in the U.S. Army and was deployed in the Gulf War. She returned to Raleigh after her deployment and started her non-profit, Women Veterans Support Services.

Her mission to help female veterans in crisis started when she realized there was no organization that did so after she returned to Raleigh from her deployment in the Gulf War in 2007.

She wanted to create something that could help women in crisis when they needed it, which is not always during normal business hours. Thats why she makes sure her organization, Women Veterans Support Services, can be reached at any time, day or night. And she draws on the national network of veterans in the American Legion to ensure services reach as many people as possible.

Harris said her community in the American Legion helps in her nonprofit service because the national network of veterans help her reach those in need if she cant physically be there.

We get calls from every state, so they can put human eyes on a person we cant see if we are talking to them (on the phone), she said.

The Red Shoe Experience is the name for the full package of programs offered by Women Veterans Support Services, which includes support for homelessness, domestic violence and sexual assault. Harris focuses on finding housing and shelters for those in need that allow family members, and even pets, to stay together. Other programs they provide are support groups and job preparation and placement.

The story of the red shoe comes from Harris helping a mother and her three children who were found at a Veterans Affairs building in Raleigh. They were living in nearby woods, so Harris put them up in a hotel, bought them clothes and food using her own money.

The next day, Harris took them to the Veterans Affairs homeless shelter. Harris said she walked in to hear one of the children describing her to a social worker as a pretty lady with red shoes. She used the idea to market the nonprofits programming.

She stills serves as the executive director of the organization. She doesnt get paid for her position because the thousands of dollars the organization raises every year goes towards helping veterans in need.
SAN DIEGO  Two suspects were arrested in connection to last weeks fatal stabbing at a trolley stop in Logan Heights, said the San Diego Police Department.

The victim  now identified by authorities as 70-year-old Michael Goodin of San Diego  suffered a stab wound to his chest near the Harbor Drive trolley around 10:30 p.m. Thursday. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

San Diego Police Homicide Detectives were called in and have been investigating the matter. SDPD says detectives have learned the victim got involved in a brief verbal argument with a small group of people in the moments before a fight broke out.

Brother of Encanto shooting suspect talks to FOX 5

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During this altercation, authorities say the victim was stabbed at least one time in the chest and beaten. The suspect group reportedly fled the area.

Detectives have now identified 36-year-old Rafael Chavarria and 29-year-old Angelo Soto Vargas as suspects in this case, according to SDPD. Both are San Diego residents.

On Monday at 8:45 p.m., Chavarria was located by security officers from the Metropolitan Transit System at the trolley stop at 1255 Imperial Ave. in San Diego. Officers responded to that location and arrested Chavarria in connection to this incident.

On Tuesday at 5:15 a.m., police say Vargas was located at a camper he was residing in along the 3300 block of K Avenue in San Diego. He was also arrested as a suspect in this case.

Both Chavarria and Vargas were booked into San Diego County Jail on suspicion of murder and elder abuse.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
At about 04:00 on 30 August, Russian forces launched a missile attack on the settlement of Kurakhove in Donetsk Oblast, striking a five-storey residential building. A body has been retrieved from under the debris, and eight people were injured.

Source: Roman Padun, Head of the Kurakhove Military Administration, in a commentary for Suspilne Donbas

Details: Padun stated that the Russian forces launched over five attacks on residential quarters in Kurakhove during the day. They shelled the central part of the settlement and residential areas with artillery.

A search and rescue operation has been ongoing at the site of the attack since Wednesday morning.

Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office reported that as of 10:00, five women and two men have been injured in the attacks on Kurakhove.

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Padun later told Suspilne about another casualty who had asked for help, and one person who had been killed, whose body was retrieved from under the rubble.

Quote: "As a result of the missile attack, one person has been killed and eight injured. There was a direct strike on an apartment block. The fourth and the fifth floors of the building have been destroyed."

Details: Padun said there was another attack on the afternoon of 30 August: Russian forces attacked the outskirts of the town some time after 14:00. No one was injured.

The Donetsk Oblast Directorate of Ukraines State Emergency Service reported that a kindergarten caught fire due to one of the attacks: the fire engulfed an area of 200 sq. m, and 16 firefighters worked to put it out.

Padun also reported that on 30 August, the distribution of humanitarian aid was halted at all the distribution points in the district due to possible provocations by Russia and the threat of massive attacks.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
Christina Voyles, a senior marketing director, and her husband, Robert Hubble, moved to San Francisco in 2015 when Christina landed a job at the University of Berkeley.

Her father had worked there when she was only two years old, so it felt like a nice full circle moment.

But the city had changed from the one Christina cherished in fond memories of her childhood. San Franciscos large homeless population has become a problem for all residents of the surrounding Bay Area.

Christina explains how people have learned to kind of get on with things, and leave them alone.

'San Francisco was never like this before' Christina claims - De Agostini/Getty Images

One day, as Christina was having lunch outside, enjoying the good winter weather before heading back to work, she was the victim of an unprovoked attack by a homeless man.

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He started approaching me and as he got closer and closer, I put my arm up and said Im sorry I dont have any change, Christina explains. He then stared and lunged at me.

She remembers him grabbing her by her hair and scraping the inside of her mouth, as he threw her around: I could not get him off, and I remember thinking I had to get away from this construction cement wall that was next to us because there was a corner and I was afraid he would knock me into it.

I was just screaming for help as he was dragging me around, Christina adds.

After 10 to 20 seconds, which she says felt like forever, two construction workers managed to pull him from her. They then held him down while someone else called the police.

The emergency services came and there was an ambulance for him that took him away, as he claimed he was having a heart attack.

One of the policemen sort of talked to me to make sure I was okay. But I was in so much shock that I just went back to my office and went back to work, she adds.

After Christina told her co-workers what had just happened, they urged her to visit the campus clinic and go home, so she did.

I went to the on campus clinic, and because he had scratched me in the mouth, they had to put me on a drug to prevent possible HIV  as a preventative measure.

At the time, I was only six months out of finishing my breast cancer treatment and was still on a drug for that treatment  which is quite hard on your system. So having to go on the HIV preventative treatment on top of that was a lot. 

Looking back, Christina shares her disbelief at the fact that emergency services paid her little to no attention, but invested all of their efforts in calming her attacker down.

Attacker knew how to play the system

In the days that followed, Christina never stopped going to work, but she describes how she wasnt coping very well: I was jumpy, every little thing freaked me out.

I wanted information about him. I wanted a picture of him so I could recognise him if I saw him again. I ended up contacting the police department, she explains.

Christina describes how they were really helpful, and provided her with a picture of the attacker and filled her in on what they knew about him.

He was in his 60s and he was really well known to police as a homeless person who was becoming increasingly violent over the years.

They also told me how he had just got out of jail a couple of days before and hed already attacked somebody else, Christina adds.

She recalls how, when the man was finally pulled away from her, he immediately said he was having a heart attack and that she had come after him.

I know mental illness plays a huge part in stuff like this, but he definitely had his faculties about him. He knew how to play the system, and the cops said as much.

The situation with the ever growing homeless population in San Francisco is not news. Christina thinks the root of the citys issue is very simple: Homeless folk are very enabled.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the city opened a temporary sanctioned tent encampment for homeless people - Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

If there is no repercussions to bad and aggressive behaviour, why would they change? The city has been very lax.

Incidents becoming normalised

Following the attack, Christina tried to retain a sense of normality, by convincing herself that it had been an isolated incident.

I forced myself to stay at my job and in the city at first. I am not a petite little girl. I have always thought I was pretty strong. Ive been through cancer. So I thought I could handle it, she shares.

In addition to having started to see a therapist to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, Christina signed up for a self-defence class.

It was so interesting, and sad, how women would talk about their own incident with homeless people, but in a very normalised way  as if they were talking about a grocery store closing down.

Christina remembers a lady who had shared how she struggled getting in and out of her apartment every single day due to a homeless person, usually on a lot of drugs, blocking the doorway.

This young woman would have to sneak into her own home so she did not get attacked, Christina says.

She adds: There is this level of acceptance because you cant avoid it.

San Francisco never like this before

Looking back at her teenage years, when Christina would visit her friends in the city, she recalls: San Francisco was never like this before.

Youre constantly dodging and weaving and everybody acts like that is normal. I think downtown is empty. No one is around as it is very taken over by homeless folk.

'Its not comfortable to be around. Youre outnumbered' says Christina - Jeff Chiu/AP

Its not comfortable to be around. Youre outnumbered. The best way to describe it is to compare it to a video game, having to deflect anything and anyone that is coming at you.

This sense of fear never really went away for Christina, and eventually the couple decided to leave San Francisco and move away for good.

Its tough, because you want to be kind and you want to help people, but there has got to be another way to help and get them up on their feet.

Have you visited San Francisco? What was your experience like? Join the conversation in the comments section below

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.
Attorneys in the homicide trial of James Tafoya outlined their cases during opening statements Wednesday in Pueblo district court.

Prosecutors with the 10th Judicial District Attorney's Office claimed Tafoya acted with deliberation based on a false belief when he shot and killed Anthony Valdez in May 2022, while Tafoyas defense questioned how thoroughly the case was investigated by police.

Tafoya is charged with first-degree murder, prohibited use of a weapon, vehicular eluding, and obstructing government operations after Valdez was found dead of a gunshot wound in the late afternoon of May 23, 2022, in a laundry room adjoining a garage in a residence in the 1500 block of North Lacrosse Avenue.

Prosecution highlights evidence, Tafoya's confession to police

During opening statements, Deputy District Attorney George Poland began by playing a clip of a 911 call placed by Tafoya's grandfather.

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During the call, the grandfather stated there was a body in his garage and he did not know who it was or how it got there. During the call, he stated his grandson, James Tafoya, also regularly accessed the garage.

A Pueblo firefighter responded to the scene and found Valdez's body with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

Tafoya was contacted at the scene by a police officer and allegedly claimed he "found" the body, wiped up the blood on the floor, placed towels on the man's head, and covered him. Poland stated that Tafoya told the officer the situation was "complicated" and that he would "explain later." He then left the scene, despite being told by the officer to stay.

A police officer initiated a short car chase but terminated it due to public safety concerns. Meanwhile, at the scene, an empty wallet and Valdez's license were recovered along with a lighter and a plastic pipe that Poland stated was commonly used to smoke heroin.

The next morning, Poland alleged that Tafoya dropped off a 9mm Taurus handgun loaded with hollow-point ammunition at the residence.

Poland said that in a phone call with his grandfather, for which police Detective Ryan Torres was present, Tafoya claimed he "wasn't worried," and that he "had to do it to protect his daughter." Poland emphasized that Tafoya never claimed self-defense or claimed that Valdez was an intruder.

Poland also highlighted a police interview with an ex-partner of Tafoya's, who is the mother of Tafoya's daughter. Tafoya and his ex had been separated for over a decade.

Poland said the woman told police Tafoya had a "bad, bad" drug problem and had reached out to her after fleeing police, saying that he believed he "had to do it" based on a belief that Valdez was torturing and abusing his daughter. However, the ex stated that was not the case and that her daughter, who lived with her, was fine.

On the evening of May 24, Tafoya was arrested in a foot chase along Fountain Creek by Pueblo police. In an interview with police, he said he believed that "Hootie," a nickname for Valdez, "would not let his daughter go home" and that he believed he saw Valdez "with his hand on a drill, and heard the kid screaming, 'Dad, kill him.'"

Tafoya stated he then shot Valdez in the back of the head with the handgun. During the interview, Tafoya acknowledged that his drug use "may have affected his judgment" and that he used heroin and methamphetamine.

"I couldn't live with the idea that I didn't do (anything), I know it's still murder," Tafoya can be heard saying on the recording."

Poland concluded by saying that the defendant acknowledged that because of his meth and heroin use, he formulated a false belief that someone was hurting his daughter and acted with deliberation based on that belief. He again emphasized that there was no claim by Tafoya of self-defense or intrusion in the case, and asked the jury, after hearing all evidence, to deliver a guilty verdict.

Defense claims Pueblo police did not thoroughly investigate

Bo Worthington, a Colorado Springs-based attorney representing Tafoya in the case, focused his opening statement not on the evidence that will be heard during the trial, but on the evidence that will not.

For example, he stated that the jury will not hear how Valdez got to the house; what he and Tafoya intended to do at the residence; anything about where Valdez's cell phone was; or information on that cell phone that may have clarified his intentions at the residence.

Worthington acknowledged his client's drug habit, stating that it "is what it is," and that his client had a long struggle with drugs. However, he stated his belief that Valdez was also one of the "shady characters who hang around drug users."

Worthington stated that during the trial, which is scheduled through Friday, jurors will hear from a witness who'll testify that Valdez went to the residence that night with "nothing but bad intentions" and sought to rob and steal from Tafoya, including a Jeep parked outside the residence.

Worthington stated he does not believe police thoroughly investigated the matter and left evidence on the table.

"The real meat and potatoes of this investigation was done over the course of only about 40 hours," he said.

Worthington said that while his client made statements he admitted "sounded crazy" during his police interview, no one really investigated the veracity of his claims.

Worthington stated he did not believe the prosecution had gathered enough evidence to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and asked the jury to deliver a verdict of not guilty after they hear the evidence.

Past coverage of this case: Detective claims Pueblo man confessed to murder in May

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.

Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jayreutter1. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Attorneys deliver opening statements in homicide trial of James Tafoya
El Paso city. Rep. Cassandra Hernandez, along with her husband Jeremy Jordan and former City Manager Tommy Gonzalez, are all being named as "co-conspirators" in a whistleblower complaint to be filed by Chief Internal Auditor Edmundo Calderon over intimidation he experienced in the wake of his report on city fuel card use earlier this year.

In a July letter to City Attorney Karla Nieman, Calderon's attorney, Laura Enriquez, listed several instances of intimidation and retaliation, which she said "affected (Calderon's) compensation, promotion, demotion and performance evaluation."

More: El Paso City Council continues investigation into members' 'excessive' fuel card use

"The city of El Paso must support transparent and inclusive government and should not permit any person to retaliate against employees," Enriquez states in the letter. "Retaliatory actions create a 'chilling effect' that discourage or suppress the willingness of people to speak out and report possible crimes by elected officials. This is particularly true in a case that involves the auditor whose responsibility is to guard against misuse of taxpayer funds."

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The letter gives notice that Calderon will file a state whistleblower complaint within 60 days of the letter. With the letter submitted on July 21, a formal whistleblower complaint is expected before the end of September.

"Mr. Calderon requests pursuing the grievance process for this workplace complaint and gives notice of a claim for violation of the whistleblower statute," the letter states.

The letter was sent to Mayor Oscar Leeser and City Attorney Karla Nieman. The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Enriquez, in a brief interview Tuesday night, confirmed that the letter was sent on July 21. She and Calderon declined to provide additional comment on the letter.

In a written statement, Hernandez criticized Calderon for an "inherently deficient" audit and called his letter announcing the whistleblower complaint "yet another instance of his unwarranted singling out and undue distress imposed upon both myself and my family."

She likewise blasted his use of the word "excessive" to describe the $6,700 in city funds she used to gas up multiple vehicles last year, saying the "reckless and arbitrary use of the term ... has fueled many of the false narratives surrounding these events."

"Now, seemingly in a bid to divert public attention, the auditor appears to be making unfounded claims, perhaps to distract from an audit he cannot justifiably defend," Hernandez wrote. "No city employee, contract worker, or uniformed officer has approached me regarding this flawed administrative review. I have not lodged any complaints against Mr. Calderon, and his allegations remain unsupported and inaccurate."

How did the fuel card review start?

The investigation into city fuel card use by the mayor and El Paso City Council kicked off after Calderon received an anonymous tip alleging that former city Rep. Claudia Rodriguez was using her city-issued fuel card to fill up campaign workers' vehicles. The audit department began obtaining data on fuel card usage in December 2022 and requesting video footage from the El Paso Police Department in March 2023.

During this search, Calderon discovered that Hernandez's fuel card had been used while she was in Vancouver, Canada.

More: 'We're the watchdogs': Oversight and audit committee looks to hold City Hall accountable

Calderon met with EPPD Det. Jerome Hinojos on April 6, 2023, to review 2022 Purchase Activity Reports and Hinojos intimated that he would work to secure as much relevant video footage as possible. That afternoon, Interim El Paso Police Chief Peter Pacillas told Calderon that the EPPD needed to start a criminal investigation "due to possible credit card abuse and/or misapplication of fiduciary property," the letter states.

That night, Calderon spoke with Nieman and city CFO Robert Cortinas but was unsuccessful in his attempt to reach Gonzalez.

Letter alleges Tommy Gonzalez, Cassandra Hernandez conspired against auditor

On April 27, Assistant City Attorney Juan Gonzalez "demanded" to see a draft of the audit findings, which had not yet been released, before approving the May 4 council agenda. Calderon reluctantly provided the document in a format that could not be changed and the findings were made public May 1.

On May 18, after the findings had been presented to the council and a further investigation had been launched into misuse of city gas cards, Calderon attended a budget meeting for the Internal Audit Office alongside Cortinas, City Clerk Nicole Cote and Tommy Gonzalez.

More: Ethics Commission dismisses city Rep. Cassandra Hernandez's request for reconsideration

The letter states that during the meeting, Gonzalez "was intimidating (Calderon), trying to influence his work and impede his independence," the letter states, and making reference to Calderon's request for additional funding to support cybersecurity work.

That afternoon, Gonzalez attended a budget meeting with the Streets Department and "said that the audit was flawed and not done correctly, disparaging (Calderon's) work," the letter states.

On June 9, Calderon was notified that his budget request, in part, had been denied.

On June 21, Deborah Paz, whose Women's Voices for Political Reform PAC shares an address with Jordan's RallyPoint Public Affairs, filed an ethics complaint against Calderon "with the help of co-conspirators Cassandra Hernandez, Jeremy Jordan," the letter states.

More: Rep. Cassandra Hernandez's husband files bar complaint against Ethics Commission chairman

"The city attorney's office refused to hire an attorney for (Calderon), even though the allegations occurred while he was acting in his official capacity and resulted in him reporting a potential crime by an elected official to the police," Enriquez wrote. "In this complaint, they attack (Calderon's) ethics, professionalism, claim he misused his position, and accuse him of election tampering. Particularly, the complaint refers to my client's employment prospects which amount to intimidation."

The complaint, identical to a complaint filed earlier by Paz against city Rep. Brian Kennedy, was ultimately dismissed.

Shortly after, on July 5, Hernandez voted against hiring Calderon as the auditor and refused to recuse herself from the vote. Despite a May 6 election moving the auditor's office to report directly to City Council, Calderon has still not been given a contract.

"My client has endured intimidation and harassment described (in the letter) as well as other instances of abuse since his report," the letter states. "These actions all took place within the last 90 days. Under the (whistleblower) statute, the burden of proof will be on the city based on the timing of the retaliation."

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This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso Auditor Edmundo Calderon alleges whistleblower violation
A referendum on a new law to establish an Indigenous Voice to Parliament that will also recognize Indigenous people in the constitution will be held on October 14, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Wednesday. File photo by Bianca de Marchi/EPA-EFE

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Wednesday that the nation will hold a landmark referendum in October on whether to grant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people political representation in parliament.

Albanese launched a "Yes" campaign for the Oct. 14 Indigenous Voice to Parliament vote which will ask voters whether the government should recognize Indigenous people in the constitution and establish an advisory committee of Indigenous Australians to "get better results" for them.

"The Voice is about advice. The parliament and government that Australians vote for in the normal way every three years will still be responsible for decisions and laws and funding. Just as it always has been," said Albanese.

"With a Voice though, we'll be able to hear directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities about the challenges they face in health and education, in jobs and housing, and we'll be able to learn about the things that are working in local areas, so we can replicate them and make them work right around the country."

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Albanese appealed to Australians to vote for the proposal by saying what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people wanted for their children was the same as all Australians -- healthcare, education good jobs, staying safe and leading fulfilling lives.

"That's what they are asking you to say 'Yes' to at this referendum."

Giving local people a say would also save money by ensuring state funding actually reaches the people on the ground, reducing waste and getting better results where they are needed, Albanese said.

A majority of Australians, 51% or more, need to vote yes for the to pass with majority support in four of Australia's six states.

Most people acknowledge Indigenous Australians are disadvantaged by almost every measure, but disagree on how best to address the problem with the opposition Liberal Party spearheading a vote "No" campaign and actively fundraising for it.

Party leader Peter Dutton said the Voice proposal was dividing the country at a time when it needed to come together.

"Changing our Constitution to enshrine a Canberra Voice Bureaucracy will take our country backward, not forwards. The prime minister is dividing with his Voice proposal, not uniting us," he wrote in a social media post.

The new law was born out of a 2017 document called the Uluru Statement from the Heart which states: "When we have power over our destiny, our children will flourish."

Drafted by more than 250 Indigenous leaders, the statement, named for the sacred rock formation in Australia's Red Center, is considered the most consensual call for reform of the way the administration of government affects First Nations Australians.

Australia is the only country in the Commonwealth that has yet to sign a treaty with its Indigenous people.
Commuters walk past a vote "yes" stand for the upcoming Voice referendum at the Civic Bus Interchange in Canberra, Australia, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that Australians will vote on Oct. 14 in a referendum that would enshrine in the nation's constitution a mechanism for Indigenous people to advise Parliament on policies that effect their lives known as the Voice. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australians will vote on Oct. 14 in a referendum that would enshrine in the nations constitution a mechanism for Indigenous people to advise Parliament on policies that effect their lives known as the Voice.

Proponents say embedding the Voice in the constitution would recognize the special place that Indigenous people have in Australian history while giving them input in government policies.

Opponents argue it would be the biggest change to Australias democracy in the nations history and divide Australians along racial lines without reducing Indigenous disadvantage.

As Australias first referendum in a generation approaches, the bipartisan support regarded as essential to successfully changing the constitution has not emerged and Indigenous leaders remain divided.

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Here are some questions and answers about key issues behind the referendum:

WHO ARE INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS?

Australia is unusual among former British colonies in that no treaty was ever signed with the nations Indigenous inhabitants. The Aboriginal people of Australias mainland are culturally distinct from Torres Strait Islanders who come from an archipelago off the northeast coast. So Australias Indigenous population is known collectively as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

They accounted for 3.8% of Australias population in 2021, a 23.2% increase in five years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Some say declining stigma encouraged more Australians to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage. Others say Indigenous roots are being faked to claim government benefits aimed at overcoming Indigenous disadvantage.

Indigenous Australians are the most disadvantaged ethnic group in Australia.

Indigenous men have a life expectancy of 71 years and Indigenous women 75 years. Thats 8.6 years shorter than other Australian men and 7.8 years shorter than other Australian women.

WHAT IS THE VOICE?

On referendum day, Australian adult citizens will be asked to vote yes or no on a single question: A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognize the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?

If the answer is yes, the constitution would be rewritten to state that the Voice may make representations to the Parliament and executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Proponents say there would be no Indigenous right of veto over government policy and lawmakers would be free to disregard the Voices representations.

But opponents argue the courts might interpret the Voices constitutional powers in unpredictable ways, creating legal uncertainty.

Its not clear who would be part of the Voice and how they would get there. Proponents say the Voice would include Indigenous Australians from all eight states and territories, the Torres Strait Islands and remote and regional communities.

Members would be chosen by local Indigenous people and serve for a fixed period.

The Parliament would have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Voice, the constitution would say.

CASES FOR AND AGAINST

The Australian Electoral Commission has begun sending to voters a pamphlet written by lawmakers with cases for voting yes and no.

Proponents argue that the Voice is needed because Indigenous Australians die years younger than other Australians, have a suicide rate twice that of the wider community, have worse rates of disease and infant mortality and fewer education opportunities.

They argue that this is evidence that the current approach isnt working and a Voice would lead to governments making better decisions.

Opponents say the Voice would be the biggest change to Australian democracy in the countrys history and the biggest ever change to Australias constitution.

They say the courts rather than the Parliament would determine the Voices power and Australians would be permanently divided in law and spirit.

The Voice would also be a first step towards Indigenous claims for repatriation and compensation.

WHERE DID THE IDEA OF A VOICE COME FROM?

The Voice was recommended in 2017 by a group of 250 Indigenous leaders who met at Uluru, a landmark sandstone rock in central Australia that is a scared site to traditional owners. They were delegates of the First Nations National Constitutional Convention that the then-government had asked for advice on how the Indigenous population could be acknowledged in the constitution.

The conservative government immediately rejected the proposal, arguing that a Voice would be seen as a third chamber of Parliament, an unwelcome addition to the House of Representatives and the Senate.

When the center-left Labor Party won elections in May last year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used his first speech to commit his government to creating the Voice.

The Liberal Party and the Nationals party, which formed the previous conservative coalition government, both oppose the Voice.

HOW IS AUSTRALIAS CONSTITUTION CHANGED?

Changing the constitution has never been easy and more than four in five referendums fail.

A referendum to change the constitution requires what is known as a double majority  the support of most Australians nationwide plus a majority of voters in a majority of states. Five referendums have failed because while they were supported by most Australians, they fell short of gaining majorities in at least four of the six states. Voter turnout is high because voting is compulsory.

Of the 44 referendums held since the constitution took effect in 1901, only eight have been carried and none since 1977.

When Australia last held a referendum in 1999, Indigenous recognition in the constitution was a key issue behind one of the questions. Australians were asked to approve adding a preamble to the constitution  an introduction that carried only symbolic and no legal significance.

The preamble was to have acknowledged that Indigenous Australians had inhabited the country since time immemorial and were honored for their ancient and continuing cultures.

Some observers argue that such an acknowledgment of Indigenous Australians place in the nations story would be an easier constitutional change to make today than the creation of the Voice.
Aboriginal groups march against planned changes in heritage protection laws, in Perth

Aboriginal groups march against planned changes in heritage protection laws, in Perth

By Praveen Menon

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australians will vote on October 14 on whether they want to change the constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait island people, a defining moment in the struggle for Indigenous rights in the country.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the date for the landmark referendum in Adelaide on Wednesday, describing it as a once-in-a-generation chance to unite the nation.

"October 14 is our time...its our chance," Albanese told a cheering crowd.

"Its a moment calling out to the best of our Australian character. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people this has been a marathon. For all of us, it is now a sprint."

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Australians will now face a six-week campaign before voting in the referendum, where they would be asked whether they support altering the constitution to include a "Voice to Parliament", an Indigenous committee to advise federal parliament on matters affecting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people.

Any change to Australia's constitution requires a national referendum.

Australia is a global laggard on relations with its Indigenous people, in comparison to many other developed nations including Canada, New Zealand, EU nations and the U.S.

It has no treaty with its Indigenous people, who make up about 3.2% of its near 26 million population and track below national averages on most socio-economic measures.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people are not mentioned in Australia's constitution despite inhabiting the land for over 65,000 years.

Pat Anderson, an Aboriginal woman who is co-leading the campaign for the change, said a majority of Aboriginal people support the Voice to Parliament because they know it will improve outcomes.

"Between now and referendum day, we ask everyone to remember that we as First Nations Peoples know what works best for our communities and we believe that a Voice will finally be the step to improve our peoples lives," she said in a statement.

Opposition Liberal party leader for Indigenous affairs, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said the Voice to Parliament was an "elite proposal" that would divide the country.

"It is that old rule of divide and conquer that I can't stand for," she said in a news conference aired on TV.

DIVISIVE DEBATE

The government has staked significant political capital on the referendum's success, and top sporting codes, major corporations, faith-based groups and welfare groups support the campaign.

But public debate on the issue has been divisive, and support for the proposal has dipped in recent months, according to opinion polls.

Backers argue voting yes will help mend fraught ties with the Aboriginal community and unite the nation, and the advisory body will help prioritise Indigenous health, education, employment and housing.

Some opponents, however, argue the move would divide Australians along racial lines and hand excessive power to the Indigenous body. Others have described the Voice as a symbolic and toothless body.

The plans failed to secure bipartisan support, with the conservative opposition Liberal Party saying it will campaign to vote "No" in the referendum.

Some senior Liberal party leaders, however, have broken ranks and supported the Voice referendum.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, whose government rejected the Voice to Parliament in 2017, says he now supports the plans.

"The Voice delivers recognition and respect to Indigenous Australians in the manner they have sought," Turnbull said in an opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday.

"On October 14, together we can bend the arc of history a little further towards justice by voting YES," he said.

TOUGH REFERENDUM

Referendums in Australia need to surpass a high bar of 'double majority' to be successful. This means it must be backed by more than 50% of voters nationwide, and supported by a majority of voters in at least four of the six states.

In the past there have been 44 proposals for constitutional change in 19 referendums, and only eight of these have passed, the last in 1977.

In the most recent referendum in 1999, Australians voted against changing the constitution to establish Australia as a republic.

Campaigners supporting the change launched campaigns across the country, talking to people and offering more information about the proposal.

"Im just trying to vote yes for the recognition of the real owners of Australia," Sydney resident Oscar Rodas, who was at one of the campaigns, told Reuters.

"Hope everybody just do the same, but its going to be really tough election, the referendum.

(Additional reporting by Cordelia Hsu; Editing by Stephen Coates and Lincoln Feast)
Authorities with the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department are asking for the publics help in locating a 19-year-old woman missing out of the Palmdale area, officials announced Tuesday.

Michelle Blanca Ballesteros, who also goes by the name Sam, was last seen in the 39900 block of 10th Street West in Palmdale around 9 a.m. July 4, according to LASDs missing person bulletin.

Ballesteros is described as a Hispanic female standing approximately 4 foot 10 inches tall, weighing around 72 pounds with short brown hair and hazel-colored eyes. She was last seen wearing a yellow shirt and blue jeans.

Michelle Ballesteros

Her family believes her possible destination is Bakersfield, CA. They are concerned for her well-being and are asking for your help, the bulletin stated.

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Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact LASDs Missing Persons Unit at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be made through Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or online at L.A. Crime Stoppers.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
A woman who was found dead in an industrial area in the Hegewisch neighborhood died as the result of a violent assault, according to the Cook County medical examiners office.

The unresponsive womans body was discovered around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 1400 block of E. 130th Street, according to Chicago police. The woman was unidentified, but believed to be between 30 and 45 years old, police said.

An autopsy performed Wednesday found that the woman died of multiple injuries in an assault and her death was ruled a homicide, the medical examiners office said.

Police offered no other details on case as detectives continued their investigation. No arrests had been made.

The area where the body was found is an industrial area sandwiched between the Calumet River and the Bishop Ford Expressway. The womans body was near a packaging company and a trucking yard. Officials at the packaging company couldnt be reached for comment.
I backpacked across six cities and four countries in Europe last year, including Berlin and Zurich.

I booked two Airbnbs in the suburbs to save money, and the towns surprised me.

These small towns felt like hidden gems. And if I wasn't on a budget, I never would have seen them.

When I planned my two-week backpacking trip through six European cities across four countries in October 2022, the last thing I expected was to be blown away by my budget bookings.

Berlin, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Milan, and Zurich were the destinations on my itinerary. For most of these stops, I booked accommodations within city limits. But to save some money, I stayed in two Airbnbs about an hour outside of Berlin and Zurich by train.

When I visited Berlin, I spent two nights in a tiny-home hotel in Neustrelitz, Germany, for $140.

A 3D map of Neustrelitz, Germany found in the town square in October 2022. Joey Hadden/Insider

My hotel was a 20-minute walk from the train station. Sure, it would have been easier to wake up in Berlin. But to my surprise, I enjoyed starting and ending each day with a relaxing walk through a place I'd never heard of, where I spotted the occasional backpacker among mostly locals. I thought it was a peaceful town with charming cobblestone streets. And if I hadn't been traveling on a budget, I probably never would have visited it.

Quiet streets in Neustrelitz, Germany. Joey Hadden/Insider

When I left Germany with stays in Vienna and three Italian cities ahead of me, I was already looking forward to my final accommodation several nights later in Switzerland.

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My last stop in Europe was Zurich, and I slept in a tiny wine-barrel home in a small village named Roggwil for two nights for $400.

The author's Airbnb in Roggwil, Switzerland. Joey Hadden/Insider

Rogwill rests in the rolling hills of Switzerland, and to me, it had the most striking scenes of the entire trip. On my final night in Europe, I took an unplanned hike in the area and caught a gorgeous sunset over the village. It was an epic ending to my two-week adventure, and like in Neustrelitz, I couldn't help thinking if I hadn't booked that specific Airbnb, I never would have seen it.

A sunlit field in Roggwil, Switzerland. Joey Hadden/Insider

I expected nothing more than a place to sleep in these towns, so I was pleasantly surprised to find they felt like hidden gems. Neustrelitz and Rogwill were relaxing counterparts to my travels in Berlin and Zurich.

Next time I backpack through Europe, I'll find more accommodations in small towns to experience the quiet, slower pace of suburban life while photographing landscapes in less-visited areas of the continent  and save some money.

Read the original article on Insider
Chris Bodue paddles through his flooded neighborhood from Hurricane Idalia in Tarpon Springs, Florida on August 30, 2023. (GREG LOVETT/THE PALM BEACH POST/GREG LOVETT/THE PALM BEACH POST / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Hurricane Idalia has zipped through Florida. How long will it take for the bad weather to clear?

Idalias center moved into southern Georgia, just hours after it made landfall near Keaton Beach on Floridas west coast as a Category 3 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Centers 11 a.m. Wednesday advisory. The hurricane brought some gloomy and nasty weather  as well as rain, strong winds, tornadoes, and life-threatening storm surge along the west coast.

READ MORE: Power outages, record flooding spread as catastrophic Hurricane Idalia leaves Florida

Heres the forecast by region, according to the National Weather Service.

South Florida

The Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas were largely spared from Idalia. According to the National Weather Service in Miami, the region may see a few strong thunderstorms through Wednesday afternoon and evening, though thats nothing unusual for the time of year. And its steamy hot, with a feels-like temperature of 105 to 110 degrees.

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Closer to home we will still [see] some indirect impacts from Idalia in the form of coastal flooding along the Gulf coast and gusty winds, NWS Miami said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

8/30 at 7:45am: Hurricane Idalia makes landfall as a Category 3 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph near Keaton Beach, Florida.



Closer to home we will still some indirect impacts from #Idalia in the form of coastal flooding along the Gulf coast and gusty winds. pic.twitter.com/45GkvfC3iN  NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) August 30, 2023

South Florida is under a wind advisory, with possible gusts up to 40 mph. Theres also a high risk of rip currents  and a probability of localized flooding  amid high tides known as king tides.

The weather service predicts a 50% chance of showers Wednesday and Thursday, with chances of rain dipping as the week progresses.

The Florida Keys

Much like South Florida, the Keys werent heavily affected by Idalia.

The Lower Keys were under a wind advisory Wednesday morning, though winds are expected to decrease into the afternoon. Coastal flood warnings were also in effect for most of the region.

Some parts of the Keys, the NWS in Key West said, may see water levels along the coast that are one to two feet higher than normal due to high tides. Theres also a chance of 40% chance of rain Wednesday, which should drop to 30% on Thursday.

North Florida

By dinnertime Wednesday, people in North Florida can expect a return to normalcy, said Mark Wool, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

The weather in the area has improved steadily on Wednesday afternoon. Wind gusts have been downgraded to a tropical storm warning as Idalia traverses southeast Georgia as a Category 1 hurricane. Into the late afternoon, gusts near Tallahassee will continue diminishing in severity.

Here's the full video of the destruction of the Horseshoe Beach, FL camera moments ago. This camera was at least 10 feet above sea level. Waves were overtaking this camera during its final moments. https://t.co/y3ZAok0Ft0 pic.twitter.com/JUu8JGZwQG  RadarOmega (@RadarOmega) August 30, 2023

The region witnessed significant storm surge, with a live camera at Horseshoe Beach being washed away and record-setting flooding at the Keaton Beach gauge, Wool said. By the evening, first responders will be able to get out into the streets to begin clearing trees and assessing damage.

Northeast Florida

Northeast Florida wont likely clear up until Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Parts of the area are still under a tropical storm warning Wednesday afternoon as Hurricane Idalia rolls into southeast Georgia, according to the NWS in Jacksonville.

The regions coastline is under flood advisories. Anywhere from one to three feet of storm surge is possible. Theres also a high risk for rip currents, flooding rains and a favorable situation for tornadoes.

11AM Hurricane Idalia Update



Hurricane Idalia is now a Cat 1 Hurricane. Hurricane Warnings remain in effect over much of SE GA and Hamilton County, FL. Tropical Storm Warnings remain in effect over the rest of the area. Hurricane Watches in effect for Camden and Glynn Counties. pic.twitter.com/OiyzWB2LwR  NWS Jacksonville (@NWSJacksonville) August 30, 2023

Rain chance on Wednesday is 70%, with possible thunderstorms into the afternoon. By Thursday, the weather will bounce back to normal as the chance of rain drops to 30% though it may feel as hot as 106 degrees.

Tampa Bay

Good news for the Tampa Bay area: Clearer weather is on the horizon.

The region is still experiencing rain, wind, thunderstorms and coastal flooding from storm surge, but many of these threats will diminish over the course of Wednesday afternoon, said Ali Davis, a meteorologist with the Natiomal Weather Service in Tampa Bay. By the evening, things will slowly return to normal in some areas.

Davis said coastal flooding in the area has been substantial, adding that the area is seeing more flooding than during 2021s Hurricane Ida. In the early afternoon hours of Wednesday, a high tide will worsen coastal flooding, but as the tide diminishes in the late afternoon and evening, conditions will improve.

When it comes to flood safety, it means knowing to never drive around barricades or through flooded roads! Also, floodwaters can contain dangerous chemicals and objects that could harm you or make you sick. https://t.co/rv0xocI6Yo #Idalia #FLwx pic.twitter.com/2Xs5WGD8yS  NWS Tampa Bay (@NWSTampaBay) August 30, 2023

The NWS urges the public to assess conditions before returning to routine. If you live along the coast, be wary of flooding in your area.

Central Florida

The weather in Central Florida should return to normal by Wednesday evening, said Jessie Smith, a meteorologist with the NWS in Melbourne, which oversees forecasts for Orlando.

Conditions in the area are already steadily improving, and will continue to do so over the next few hours. The area could still see some strong gusts of wind and thunderstorms passing through, but the worst of the storm is over.

There are no reports of flooding or severe wind damage in the area, Smith said. The highest wind speed that the NWS Melbourne office recorded was a 51 mph gust in Kissimmee, just south of Orlando.

Smith urged residents to be aware of their surroundings as they return to normal Wednesday afternoon and evening.

We did just get brushed by a major hurricane, so people should just keep that in mind.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper warned the states residents Wednesday afternoon to brace for near tropical storm-strength weather over the next few days as the tail end of Hurricane Idalia moved north from Georgia and South Carolina.

Cooper asked North Carolinians to just batten down the hatches for a little while, with tropical storm warnings in effect for the states coast.

We expect winds, rain and flooding to continue to impact our state even into Saturday, Cooper said at a press conference at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh. He said people should stay off flooded roads and listen to emergency alerts.

Cooper also authorized National Guard activation, which means soldiers and vehicles are staged in key areas ready to deploy when and if theyre needed, he said.

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Swift water rescue teams are also ready to deploy.

I encourage people to listen to local officials and make sure you have a plan if youre in an area with a flood risk, Cooper said, asking people to visit ReadyNC.gov for more information about hurricane resources and preparedness.

Cooper said he spoke with President Joe Biden about an hour before the press conference.

Its important for us to coordinate with our federal partners in times like this, he said. Were hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida Wednesday morning as a Category 3 storm. Flash flooding and river flooding is likely across Georgia and eastern North Carolina and South Carolina through Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper urged residents to just batten down the hatches for a little while as the remnants of Hurricane Idalia moved north toward the state Wednesday afternoon.

Cooper, a Democrat, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday. He said the Triangle can expect rain, but that most of the storms heavier effects will be east of Interstate 95. He said there could be storm surge and flooding.

North Carolina Emergency Management reports that wind gusts of up to 40 to 60 miles per hour are expected along the coast on Thursday, with gusts of 25 to 40 miles per hour possible inland, across the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Emergency Management advises that there could be power outages and downed trees as a result.

Cooper said that previous storms showed state leaders that they need more information about rivers and potential flooding, so need to more closely monitor river levels.

Local officials can provide information and warnings and evacuation to people that may live on the river and may be in danger of flooding, he said. Weve learned a lot about what we need to do with our transportation system, and getting roads open as quickly as possible. I think North Carolinas experience in this area has shown us that coordination is most important.

UNC-Wilmington will hold classes online on Thursday. Near Wilmington, the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher will close to the public on Thursday, citing the forecast of adverse weather impacts in the Cape Fear region from the hurricane. The aquariums operations and animal care teams will remain onsite, and the aquarium plans to reopen on Friday.

Cooper said with hurricane season now reaching North Carolina, getting ready for the next one, I think, is really important for people to do.

Those visiting North Carolina beaches need to be careful, Cooper said. They should stay inside and off the roads during the bad weather.

Just batten down the hatches for a little while, he said.

Hopefully, that if we get through this, they can still have a weekend that will be positive, Cooper added, referencing coastal tourists. But until the storm has passed, everybody needs to be careful and stay safe.
Life in the Navy can be stressful during the best of times, with rough seas, long hours, and cramped conditions for sailors to deal with. However, there are probably few moments more stress-inducing than when sailors are told to brace for impact due to inbound missiles that could immanently rip into the ship and detonate.

Most all of us will thankfully never have to experience what it's like being locked in a steel container full of explosive material while missiles are flying directly at said container, which has nowhere to hide on the open ocean. That's why the video footage captured from inside the World War II-era refitted Iowa class battleship USS Missouri, during the latter stages of the Gulf War, is so intriguing. It allows us to see exactly how the crew reacted to incoming Iraqi Silkworm anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs).

This was not a drill.

The footage was captured from inside Missouri's main battery plotting room  the ship's fire control center for its massive 16-inch guns  on February 25, 1991, off the coast of Kuwait.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yonyV6_6ur4

Missouri, which was reactivated and modernized in the mid-1980s, arrived in the Middle East in early January 1991 in response to growing tensions following the decision of Iraqs then-President Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait in August of 1990. In terms of upgrades, Missouri boasted 16 RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, eight Mk 143 Armored Box Launcher mounts for 32 BGM-109 Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles, and four 20 millimeter Phalanx CIWS rotary cannons. The vessel also received radar and fire and control system upgrades, as well as improved electronic warfare capabilities.

At the time the video was captured, coalition forces were pushing ahead with the ground war in Kuwait during the final phase of Operation Desert Storm. As part of the deception, Missouri was shelling Kuwait's coastline with its massive deck guns, harassing Iraqi forces in a feinted amphibious landing, which began at around 12:55 A.M. on 25 February.

Just after Marine Corps helicopters turned around from flying towards Kuwait's coast, at around 4:52 A.M., Iraqi forces fired two Silkworm ASCMs at Missouri. The launches were visually observed by an A-6 Intruder, which reported two distinct plumes from the area of al-Fintas  the northernmost Silkworm site south of Kuwait City. One of the ASCMs quickly fell into the sea, but the other proceeded towards Missouri.

An artists' representation of USS Missouri on February 25, 1991, off the coast of Kuwait. U.S. Navy

The moments onboard the ship following the missile being spotted are documented clearly in the video. In the footage, we can hear the ship's crew being told to brace for impact. Missile inbound brace for shock. With the missile reportedly approaching the starboard side, the sailors no doubt feared the worst and braced for that vector of attack. A moment of laughter punctures the tension shortly after this in the video, when a voice over the intercom asks control do you have the missile visually? to which the response Im not looking for it."

Missile in-bound brace for shock. U.S. Navy

Fortunately, HMS Gloucester, which was serving as an escort for Missouri, detected the inbound missile via radar and fired two Sea Dart surface-to-air missiles to intercept it. Significantly, this was the first time a sea-launched surface-to-air missile had ever successfully intercepted an incoming missile in combat. Missouri also fired countermeasures, which confused the Silkworm's guidance system. Missouri's four Phalanxes also were switched from standby to auto-engage, however, they did not fire. The Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate USS Jarrett, which was also supporting the mission, did not fire on the missile with its Phalanx as it was outside of the range envelope. The men were subsequently instructed to relax brace.

HMS Gloucester. Unknown author

At around the six minute mark in the footage captured on February 25, the frame shifts, showing the sailors wearing anti-flash hoods while others are visibly carrying anti-flash gloves. At the 18:30 mark, the men are instructed to don their gas masks due to a suspected gas or chemical attack. Although this footage appears to be part of the same series of events, it actually depicts a second incident that took place later in the afternoon on February 25.

At that time, Missouri was continuing to bombard targets ashore. Although HMS Gloucester had since departed, Missouri was supported by USS Jarrett, the minesweeper HMS Atherstone, and the destroyer HMS Exeter.

Upon seeing smoke from a fire ashore, the result of Iraqi troops dynamiting an oil well, Exeter informed the other ships that an Iraqi missile was likely inbound. The sailors were once again instructed to brace for impact.

Missouri deployed chaff countermeasures, which fell between it and the Jarrett. Jarrett's Phalanx, which had already been set to auto-engage, locked on to the countermeasure chaff clouds and fired. Missouri ended up getting sprayed by 20mm cannon fire as a result. However, the Navy's official statement on the event, released six and a half months after Operation Desert Storm ended, notes that the vessel only suffered "superficial damage."

Second inbound missile. U.S. Navy

After what must have felt like an eternity, the sailors aboard Missouri were instructed to relax their brace, but continue to put on their protective over garments. Shortly after the men are almost all fully kitted out in the gear, the all clear is given. All stations this is the XO [Executive Officer] relax the gas masks. From what I understand what we got [sic] theres no reported gas now, and theres no reported missile activity.

The relief on the sailors faces at that moment is clear to see. Although Iraq did not use chemical weapons during the Gulf War, fears that Iraqi forces would use them were rife across the services.

Relief after the second missile and suspected chemical attack receded. U.S. Navy

Watching the chain of events of the day unfold on video  just one microcosm of a ship that housed over 1,500 sailors,  is obviously quite something, but it only goes so far to suggest what may have been going on inside the mens heads at the time. Bill Genereux, a professor of Computer & Digital Media Technology at Kansas State University who worked on the systems that aimed Missouris guns, describes what it was like being in the battery plotting room that day:

This memory [aboard Missouri on February 25] is forever embedded in my memory. If you have ever come face to face with your own mortality, perhaps through an accident or a close-call or, heaven forbid, the loss of a close loved one, you know these days.

I was deep inside of an armored WWII battleship. The plotting room is one of a battleships vital organs so to speak. It is the brains to the ships brawn, the 16 guns. Without the computer equipment in this space, the ship cannot fight, so it is located deep inside the armored belt, right next to the engine spaces, meant to be safe from shells and torpedoes. Even so, with a missile bearing down on you and you can do nothing but stand there and take whatever is coming, you have to wonder if this could be the end?

Fortunately, our battlegroup had some missile destroyers along with us riding shotgun, and the HMS Gloucester shot down the one that came nearest to us. Ill never forget the name of that ship either.

Later in the video, you can see us putting on gas masks because we were warned that a gas attack was imminent. Missiles, now gas? At that point I was wearing a little protective box on my head, inside of a bigger protective box  the plotting room, inside of a bigger box  the armored belt, inside a still bigger box floating in the ocean  the battleship. Claustrophobia anyone?

Genereux has also produced illustrations of the event, one of which can be seen below.

Genereux's illustration of the events on February 25, from memory. Bill Genereux

Shortly after the events of February 25, 1991, and after a 100-hour ground operation, the Gulf War came to a close. In March of 1992, amid Navy budget cuts and the absence of a perceived threat from the Soviet Union due to the ending of the Cold War, Missouri was decommissioned. Today she sits as a museum ship in Pearl Harbor right next to the USS Arizona memorial.

Altogether the footage, and Genereuxs testimony, provide truly remarkable insights into how sailors aboard Missouri responded to a direct threat from an incoming anti-ship missile. In the years since, these weapons have proliferated even to non-state actors and are a bigger threat than ever before. Even just seven years ago, attacks on U.S. warships by Silkworm missiles fired by Houthi forces in Yemen likely resulted in very similar scenes. In a Pacific fight against an adversary armed to the teeth with far more advanced anti-ship missiles of many types, these intense vignettes could play out with alarming regularity.

Contact the author: oliver@thewarzone.com
A wet and rainy day in Salt Lake. Looking out through the Symphony Hall windows at Temple Square. | Stuart Johnson, Deseret News

Utah has the highest rate of weekly attendance at church in the country. Thats according to data scientist Ryan Burge, who posted a graph on social media showing weekly attendance trends in the U.S. and Canada.

Using data from the European Social Survey and the Cooperative Election Study, Burge was able to calculate the overall weekly attendance rate of the U.S. and Europe. The average weekly attendance rate in the U.S. is 25%, while Europe has a 14% attendance rate.

Poland, a country known for its large Catholic population, has the highest rate of weekly attendance, at 44%, out of any U.S. state or European country. Utah ranks second at 41%.

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Deep South states like Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas report relatively high rates of weekly attendance. The state in the U.S. with the lowest rate is New Hampshire at 12%. There are 20 European countries, including France, Denmark, Great Britain and others, at the same rate of attendance as New Hampshire or lower.

This is survey data on religious attendance. All fifty states are included, as well as many countries in Europe.



The overall weekly attendance rate:

US - 25%

Europe - 14%



44% of Poles report weekly attendance. Higher than any state.



It's 3% of Danes. Lower than any state. pic.twitter.com/Rz5vgC3k1Q  Ryan Burge  (@ryanburge) August 30, 2023

While trends related to belief in God and attendance at religious services have dipped downward over the last couple decades, a quarter of the country still attends religious services weekly.

But among those who still affiliate with a religious tradition, theres fairly compelling evidence that their religiosity is at least as high as it was 40 years ago, Burge wrote in a 2022 Deseret Magazine article. And, in some cases, they are more devout than Christians from the 1970s.

Heres a closer look at what data shows us about those who attend weekly services in the U.S. and in Utah, and what religious attendance can do for a society.

Related

What are patterns among those who attend weekly services?

Among those who attend church in the U.S., there are some common patterns related to educational attainment, income levels and marital status.

Drawing from the same data source (the Cooperative Election Study), Burge wrote for Religion Unplugged, Those who are the most likely to attend services weekly are those with a graduate degree. The least likely to attend are those with a high school diploma or less. And these arent small differences, either.

Religious affiliation is also higher among those with higher rates of formal education. Again, its hard to look at these numbers and make some big claim about how education chases people away from religion, Burge wrote.

When it comes to income, the affluent and the poor arent the groups with the highest rate of weekly attendance. Its the middle-class. Middle-class professionals with an income around $60,000 to $100,000 are the ones most likely to slide into the pews each weekend, Burge wrote for Religion Unplugged.

Theres also a gap in religious attendance between the single and married. Marriage leads to much higher levels of religiosity  at any age, Burge wrote.

Related

Why does Utah have a high rate of weekly attendance?

A high percentage of the population in Utah affiliates with a religion. Fifty-six percent of the state affiliates with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6% as white mainline Protestant, along with Buddhists, Muslims and white evangelical each composing 3% of the state. White Catholics make up 2% of the population in the state and Hispanic Catholics are 1%, according to PRRI.

Religious affiliation is an important metric for religiosity, but its not the only metric. Weekly attendance at religious service is one activity among others (such as prayer or reading scripture) that shows levels of religious adherence.

The trends seen nationally predicting weekly religious attendance comport with the demographics of people who are likely to attend weekly services in Utah, though Utah does buck a couple of trends.

The plurality of people who attend services weekly in the Beehive State (36%) have an income of $50,000 to $99,000, according to Pew Research. This is similar to the national trend.

Educational attainment is where Utah bucks the national trend when it comes to attending weekly services. Forty-two percent of people in this category have attended some college, 25% have completed high school or less, 23% have a college degree and 11% have a post-graduate degree, per Pew Research.

Utah, like the rest of the country, does have a gap between the married and the never married when it comes to weekly religious attendance. Sixty-seven percent of people who attend are married while 22% are never married, 4% are living with a partner, 5% are divorced or separated and 3% are widowed, per Pew Research.

Related

Religion and social capital rate in Utah

So what does a high rate of weekly attendance at religious services mean for a state or country?

Looking at Utah as a case study, the states high rate of religiosity and religious affiliation may contribute to higher rates of social capital, according to the Social Capital Project.

Social capital is a term for describing the health of relationships in society. Relationships like those cultivated through families, churches, institutions and communities positively impact the rate of social capital in a particular area.

A 2023 report from American Enterprise Institute found areas with high populations of Latter-day Saints (and mainline Protestants) also had high social capital rates. Report authors Scott Winship and Thomas ORourke said Latter-day Saint doctrine and institutional structure aid in helping members feel connected to their neighbors.
(NewsNation)  After five years of investigating who is behind Flannery Associates, the big secret has been revealed.

Flannery Associates is comprised of a group of ultra-wealthy Silicon Valley investors acquiring vast parcels of land northeast of San Francisco with the mission to build a new California city from scratch.

The group has invested more than $800 million on almost 54,000 acres of agriculture-zoned land surrounding the Travis Air Force base in Solano County, California, since 2018, public records revealed.

Airfare is finally cheaper, but you may want to book soon

Despite early speculation that China was behind the purchases, and as companies with ties to China have been ramping up efforts to buy American farmland, legal representation for Flannery has maintained the group is controlled by U.S. citizens, with 97% of its capital coming from U.S.-based investors.

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Among some of the groups investors are LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, prominent Silicon Valley investor Michael Moritz and Stripe co-founders and siblings Patrick and John Collison.

However, Rep. John Garamendi shared his concerns with NewsNation about the projects potential impact on local farmers.

Oh, Ive been around a long time. And Ive seen these kinds of pie in the sky, utopian cities come and go. If I were an investor in this, Id be very, very concerned, Garamendi said.

Flannery Associates is now the largest land owner in Californias Solano County, which is 60 miles northeast of San Francisco. And investors have spent well above the market value for the 55 acres of farmland.

But Garamendi said the company has strong-armed farmers out of their land, pressuring them with legal action to fork their properties over.

These folks have used strong-arm mobster techniques to try to force landowners to sell generational family farms. Farmers have been sued for their unwillingness to sell because they dont want to sell their family farm, Garamendi said.

The group hopes to transform the farmland into a so-called utopian city, offering clean energy, reliable transportation and thousands of jobs. However, the land is not currently zoned for urban development, and Garamendi has national security concerns, too, with the location of the project being so close to the Air Force base.

Presently, that land is zoned in such a way that development cannot take place there. If they take the initiative. If they override the current zoning plans, then they could encroach on the base operation, he said.

Residents of Solano County must vote to re-zone the land, something Garamendi says will be an uphill battle and doesnt address state and federal rules as well.

Developers trying to buy Hawaiian real estate amid fire recovery

Representatives for Flannery have reached out to Garamendi to discuss their plans but he isnt convinced they have a solid plan in place and wants to speak with their developer.

I dont think they have an individual that actually knows what it takes to build a new city, the billions of dollars that will be necessary to put in the streets, the roads. And by the way, theyre going to have to build about 12 miles of new state highway, which goes right through their property. I dont think they have a clue what theyre doing, Garamendi said.

In the meantime, Flannery still has an ongoing lawsuit against the farmers for $510 million, alleging they colluded to inflate the price of the land.

According to the New York Times, lawmakers representing some of the land-owners have filed to dismiss the case and others have already reached potential settlements with Flannery.

Were ready for a sit-down discussion. And if that doesnt work, were ready to have a brawl to protect the base, Garamendi said.

Flannery Associates plans to continue meeting with Solano County residents and elected officials this week to discuss their project, the New York Times reported.

Devan Markham contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
James Charles exchanged sexually explicit messages with underage fans.

Jeffree Star made racist and transphobic comments and was accused of sexual assault.

Tana Mongeau was racist toward Black creators.

For that they were all canceled, presumably never to be heard from again. But not so fast because these disgraced YouTubers are rising in popularity all over again. It begs the question, is being "canceled" even a real thing? Or just the rallying cry from those facing a modicum of consequence for their own behavior?

In the 2010s when YouTube influencers were living large with tens of millions of subscribers and a constant stream of brand deals, Charles, Star, and Mongeau were some of the most successful. So when accusations of misconduct started flying many thought it would be career-ending, but even though some of these YouTube juggernauts have been canceled multiple times over, they keep rising from the grave, proving that facing backlash from fans doesnt mean you cant win them over again on a new platform.

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Before becoming embroiled in controversy Star and Charles were both successful beauty gurus and Mongeau drew fans because of her drama-filled Storytimes. Now after retreating from the limelight for a short period, all three have resurfaced and are already skyrocketing to fame once again.

Star is spending his time livestreaming on TikTok where he has 5.5 million followers, Charles has over 38 million followers on TikTok where he is creating makeup content and he just recently launched an independent makeup line called Painted, and in 2021 Mongeau launched a podcast called Cancelled that has millions of listeners and is currently touring the country.

If youre being talked about and remembered, that is important, especially now that the industry has become so saturated. If people know you by name, that is a good thing, Crystal Abidin, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University in Australia, told NBC News.

The repeated success of these three former-YouTubers highlights the fact that your actions have very few consequences in an era when stars seem to be able to bounce back even if theyve been accused of racism or sexual assault.
FILE - Men organize their belongings at a makeshift tent camp outside the Petit Chateau reception center in Brussels, on Jan. 17, 2023. The Belgian government said Wednesday Aug. 30, 2023 it is imposing a ban on providing shelter for single men seeking asylum, arguing its insufficient reception capacity should be freed for families, women and children first. Aid organizations condemned the move as reneging on international commitments. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys, File)

BRUSSELS (AP)  The Belgian government said Wednesday it will no longer provide shelter for single men seeking asylum, arguing its insufficient reception capacity should prioritize families, women and children. Europe's foremost human rights organization and aid groups condemned the move as reneging on international commitments.

Belgium has long come under criticism for failing to provide enough shelter to the thousands of people who are seeking protection from persecution back home. Long lines of tents along streets outside the main processing center in Brussels have become a stain on Belgium's reputation.

On Wednesday, Asylum State Secretary Nicole de Moor said increasing pressure on asylum housing was expected over the coming months and she wanted absolutely to avoid children ending up in the streets this winter. Instead, single men will have to fend for themselves.

According to the EU Agency for Asylum, male applicants last year accounted for 71% of asylum claims.

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Belgium's move was met with criticism from human rights organizations, with the 46-nation Council of Europe, the continent's most important human rights group, taking the lead.

Contacted by The Associated Press, the CoE's Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic said that the lack of accommodation has serious consequences for the human rights of people applying for asylum in Belgium, including from the perspective of their right to health.

Last December, she urged Belgian authorities to provide better assistance to asylum-seekers after hundreds of people slept on Brussels streets in freezing temperatures, scenes that went on through much of the winter.

"I reiterate my call to the authorities to implement swift measures and durable solutions to address structural shortcomings in the asylum system in Belgium and ensure that accommodation is available for all those seeking international protection, including single men, she said.

Others were more scathing.

We thought wed seen it all, but no. The Belgian government isnt just sitting on human rights, its burying them by suspending the reception of single male asylum-seekers, said Philippe Hensmans, director of Amnesty International Belgium.

De Moor complained that the influx of asylum-seekers over the past two years in the nation of 11.5 million had filled shelters almost to their capacity of 33,500. Last year, Belgium had nearly 37,000 applications for protection, the federal agency Fedasil said.

On top of the asylum-seekers, Belgium is also giving help to some 62,000 Ukrainian refugees who fled Russias war in their country.

Last year alone, labor courts convicted Fedasil over 5,000 times for failing to provide proper shelter.

Still, said de Moor, our country has already done more than its share for a long time, and she called on some other EU nations to increase their effort instead.
A south Georgia community is mourning the loss of its sheriff who died in a crash.

Sheriff Robert Rodgers, 52, was killed Tuesday, Aug. 29, while responding to a service call in Wilcox County, the sheriffs office announced on Wednesday.

The single-vehicle accident occurred at about 4 p.m. on Georgia Highway 233, according to Georgia State Patrol.

Troopers said Rodgers was driving when he lost control, veered off the road and struck a tree. The impact caused the vehicle to flip on its side.

Rodgers died at the scene, despite efforts by first responders, according to a preliminary report.

He gave his life while protecting the citizens of Wilcox County, which is what he loved best, Major Mitchell Thompson said in a statement posted on the sheriffs departments Facebook page.

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The beloved lawman was first elected sheriff in 2016, WXIA reported.

News of Rodgers death prompted an outpouring of tributes from across the state.

Sheriff Rodgers was a good customer, always smiling and friendly, the owners of Panchos at the Lake wrote on Facebook. We send prayers to his wife Haley, his family, friends, and Wilcox Sheriff Department.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

Troopers said the crash is under investigation.

Wilcox County is about 150 miles southeast of Atlanta.

Security guard shot dead trying to stop men from breaking into cars, Georgia cops say

Watch daredevil deputy leap onto empty boat speeding at 40 mph off Florida coast

18-year-old firefighter dies after crashing on his way to 911 call, Texas family says
Third-party presidential candidate Cornel West is sharing his thoughts on Bernie Sanders supporting President Joe Bidens reelection bidand hes not a fan. During an interview on The Hills Rising, Westwho supported Sanderss 2016 presidential campaignsaid he understood Sanders decision even though he doesnt necessarily agree with it.

Brother Bernies making a plausible argument, but I think deep down in his heart, he knows that the Democratic Party has no fundamental intention of speaking to the needs of poor people and working people, West stated. The scholar didnt stop there.

Read more

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Whether women are going to be able to continue to control their own bodies, whether we have social justice in America, we end bigotry  around that, I think, we have got to bring the entire progressive community to defeat Trump or whoever the Republican nominee will be.

No politicians are above reproach, but somehow Trump being reelected is a still a real possibility. Hopefully, the Democratic Party will use everything in their arsenal to keep conservatives from taking over the White House.

More from The Root

Sign up for The Root's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.
Attendees of Dragon*Con 2012 attend an event by fake presidential candidate A. Zombie and his human wife on September 1, 2012 in Atlanta. Some low-polling presidential candidates risk becoming zombie candidates. Credit - Rick DiamondGetty Images for AMC Networks

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIMEs politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox.

Tim Scott had an utterly unremarkable evening at his first presidential debate. No one really went after him. He didnt go after them. He spoke for just eight minutes over the course of two hours, and when he did, he largely faded into the navy-blue backdrop. Even his stans were left wondering where their guys fire went.

One poll found just 4% of Republicans thought Scott had won the evening. He tied for last in Google searches before and after the debate. And yet, Scotts not going anywhere anytime soon. He was the first candidate to order ads beyond Labor Day, and has one of the biggest war chests in the race.

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The Zombie Candidate is a feature every four years, a politician who just doesnt know when to quit. We are coming to a stretch of the 2024 presidential race where campaigns are starting to look less like thriving enterprises and more like tragicomedies.

More From TIME

One debate in, Scott doesnt belong in this camp just yet. There are certainly others who got to the ghoulish phase of a campaign much more quickly. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez , who didnt qualify for the debate stage last week, has effectively ended his bid. Two others who were on stage in MilwaukeeNorth Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinsonmay not make the cut for the second debate in September.

Thus we start to inch closer to the zombie phase of this campaign, where walking-dead candidates try and try and try to break through, with no reasonable expectation of success. Its just a question of when the candidates finally glance in a mirror and see themselves as extras in Michael Jacksons Thriller music video.

Sen. John Thune of South Carolina, the chambers No. 2 Republican, traveled to Milwaukee last week to cheer Scott on. His assessment of his Senate colleagues place in the field showed his discomfort at seeing his party remade in Donald Trump s image.

We need an alternative to the former President, Thune told me. We will see. Clearly, theres an appetite out there for grievance, politics grounded in fear. But I think theres a majority out there who are looking for somebody who appeals to peoples hopes and doesnt prey on their fears.

Thune offered this assessment moments after a GOP debate in which most of the candidates tried to reach GOP primary voters in the exact way he was criticizing. It was, to borrow from The Nation, The Donald Trump Look-Alike Contest. Most of the candidates tried to channel some element of Trumpism into their performance and position. Scott lacked a breakout moment, but he also was utterly unwilling to try to sell himself as a Trumpist pol, even though the polls show such a pander could be a winning strategy for the moment.

I asked Thune if that high-minded approach can work in 2024, given Trumps talent for monopolizing the American publics attention. Thats the question. Is there a lane? How wide is that lane for someone who reflects those character traits? he asked with more than a little regret in his voice. I hope its a wide lane. I think theres an appetite out there.

Scotts ace team had flooded Iowa airwaves with more ads than any rival in the lead-up to the debate. He doubled down on an initial $6 million outlay for ads in Iowa and New Hampshirethe biggest of the cycle at the timeand added another $8 million to that leading into what was supposed to have been a breakout performance in Milwaukee but turned out to be rather milquetoast. Scott, who has made his optimism and his faith central to his pitch to voters, can still afford to stick around. After all, he ended the second quarter fundraising ahead of everyone in the field except Trump, and an independent super PAC supporting him has $40 million in ads teed up into January.

As it stood after the debate, though, one statistical analysis put Scotts odds at becoming the nominee, at best, at a 5% chance. Trump, by contrast, still stood at a 78% shot at being the nomineeeven after sliding 6 points in a poll taken after the debate that Trump skipped. (These number crunches are clearly not predictive; the same quants put Hillary Clintons chances of winning the White House in 2016 at 71%.)

And while donors still like Scott, there comes a point when the cold reality of campaigns sets it.

Four years ago, Rep. Eric Swalwell realized he wasnt going to win and stopped on July 8. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper called it quits on Aug. 15, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee followed on Aug. 21, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand bowed out on Aug. 28. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio ended his campaign on Sept. 20. Tim Ryan stopped running on Oct. 24 and Beto ORourke quit on Nov. 1. Joe Sestak suspended his race on Dec. 1, Steve Bullock exited on Dec. 2, then-Sen. Kamala Harris left the next day, Julian Castro did the same on Jan. 2 and Sen. Cory Booker dropped out on Jan. 13.

Put simply: as getting on the debate stage got tougher, if not impossible, Democrats not named Joe Biden found compelling reasons to put aside their own ambitions in service of a party desperate to make Trump a one-termer. Those same motives may be what keeps the Republicans this time in the race. To a tee, the NeverTrumpers see a competitive primary as useful, in that it could show Trumps manifest vulnerabilities, weaken him heading into an expected head-to-head with Biden, and maybefinallyconvince some Republican voters that theyve been swindled by a salesman. Trumps unprecedented and ongoing legal peril remains a latent factor in strategy sessions, a not-so-quiet hum that nurses an optimism that compels some candidates to think theyre still alive and in the mix.

Then there are the less-idealized incentives. Staying in the race gets Trumps rivals on television, which begets political donations for this race and beyond. Book deals, paid speeches, and media deals often come with familiarity and celebrity. The six Democratic Senators who ran for President in 2016 cashed book royalties topping $7 million. And until Trump decides to start punching down in a real way, there arent a whole lot of costs to stick around. After all, unlike the Democrats four years ago, the Republicans are not facing pressure to coalesce around one candidate to save them all.

And therein lies the other main threat of a long slog of an unwieldy field: they dont decide to cede until its too late, damaging their own brands and potentially hobbling their partys unity headed into November. In 2016, both Sens. Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders stuck around in their respective fights for delegates longer than some thought appropriate. Cruz made the Indiana primary his last stand against Trump. He then tried and failed to block him at the convention in Cleveland, and eventually bent the knee with an endorsement. His reputation arguably never recovered from the clumsy winding down of his losing campaign. Sanders supporters arrived at their nominating convention in Philadelphia ready for a fight that didnt ultimately matter; the quarrel only exacerbated intra-party disagreements that depressed activism and ActBlue click-throughs. To this day, Democrats question whether the independent from Vermont struck a critical blow to party unity by dragging out the primary.

At some point you have to beat the other candidate, Thune tells me as other reporters rush to hear from supporters of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tech bro Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Vice President Mike Penceall of whom leaned into pluckish appeals to the partys base. There will be plenty of chances to engage down the road, Thune continues, though Im not sure who hes trying to convince. At some point you cant play to tie, or play to get second. You have to play to win.

And to win in this current Republican Party, serious candidates like Scott may have to look less like a zombie and more like a zealot.

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Write to Philip Elliott at philip.elliott@time.com.
President Joe Biden, center, delivers remarks on recovery efforts for the Maui wildfires and the response to Hurricane Idalia, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Biden administration is canceling $72 million in student loans for 2,300 borrowers who say they were cheated by Ashford University, a former for-profit college that was purchased by the University of Arizona in 2020.

The Education Department announced the action Wednesday, saying it will seek to recoup the money from the University of Arizona.

The university denies any liability, saying in a statement that it had absolutely no involvement in, and is not directly or indirectly responsible for, the actions of Ashford and its parent company and will be "assessing its options.

Before its sale, Ashford was an online for-profit college that enrolled more than 100,000 students. It was owned by the company Zovio and based in San Diego.

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A California court in 2022 found that Ashford frequently lied to students to get them to enroll. Its recruiters misled students about the college's accreditation, costs and the amount of time it would take to graduate, the court concluded.

That lawsuit, brought by the state of California, was the basis of the Education Department's cancellation.

President Joe Biden said his administration wont stand for colleges taking advantage of hardworking students and borrowers.

These borrowers were lied to about the cost of attending Ashford, were misled about how long it would take to get a degree, and were deceived about the transferability of Ashford credits, Biden said in a statement. They deserve better.

The action will automatically discharge loans for 2,300 borrowers who attended Ashford from March 2009 through April 2020 and applied for cancellation through the Education Department's borrower defense program. Those borrowers will see their loan balances zeroed out, and they will be refunded for payments on their federal loans.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta encouraged other former Ashford students to apply for relief if they were deceived.

What Ashford University did to its students was unconscionable and illegal, Bonta said. Thats why the California Department of Justice took Ashford and its parent company to court.

Under its previous ownership, Ashford's recruiters told students they would be able to work as teachers, social workers, nurses and drug and alcohol counselors, but the school never got accreditation for those professions, according to California's lawsuit.

Recruiters also told potential students they would never face out-of-pocket costs, which wasn't always true, and they boasted about accelerated programs, even though the bachelor's degree programs were structured to take five years to finish, the suit said.

Only 25% of Ashford students graduated within eight years of enrolling.

The court ruled in favor of California in 2022 after an 18-day trial and imposed a civil penalty of $22.3 million against Ashford. The penalty is being appealed.

The University of Arizona purchased Ashford University in 2020 and turned it into an online branch of the school, changing its name to the University of Arizona Global Campus.

It's one of several for-profit colleges that have been purchased and absorbed by nonprofit universities, including Purdue University's purchase of Kaplan University, and the University of Idaho's purchase of the University of Phoenix, which is expected to be finalized next year.

The Biden administration is separately taking steps to propose widespread student debt cancellation after the Supreme Court rejected the president's previous proposal in June. The Education Department is gathering negotiators for a rulemaking process that will get underway in October.

The department said it plans to issue a final rule on cancellation sometime next year.

___

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE PHOTO: Taiwanese flags are seen at the Ministry of National Defence of Taiwan in Taipei

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden 's administration has approved a military transfer to Taiwan under the Foreign Military Financing, or FMF, program normally used for sovereign states, according to a notification sent to Congress.

The notification, which was seen by Reuters on Wednesday, informs congressional committees of the State Department's intention to obligate up to $80 million in FMF funds in support of Taiwan.

"FMF will be used to strengthen Taiwan's self-defense capabilities through joint and combined defense capability and enhanced maritime domain awareness and maritime security capability," the notification said.

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Taiwan's defense ministry expressed its thanks, but said it had no comment on the details of the aid, noting that the United States has already been helping strengthen the island's combat capabilities under existing policies and laws.

The Taiwan notification was first reported by the Associated Press.

Representative Michael McCaul, Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was glad the administration was "finally" providing FMF to Taiwan.

"These weapons will not only help Taiwan and protect other democracies in the region, but also strengthen the U.S. deterrence posture and ensure our national security from an increasingly aggressive CCP (Chinese Communist Party)," McCaul said in a statement.

FMF, the largest military assistance account managed by the State Department, provides primarily grant assistance to foreign governments for the purchase of U.S. defense equipment and military training under the Foreign Military Sales program.

A State Department official confirmed the notification to Congress and said the decision to provide Taiwan with FMF assistance did not reflect any change in U.S. policy.

Beijing claims the democratically governed island as its own territory, and warns against any forms of "official exchanges" between Washington and Taipei. Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

China has repeatedly complained to the United States about military aid and sales to the island. Its defense ministry has said the U.S. military must stop all forms of "military collusion" with the island.

The United States, Taiwan's most important arms supplier, last month announced a Taiwan weapons aid package worth up to $345 million.

Last week, the United States also approved a possible $500 million sale to Taiwan of infrared search and track systems for F-16 fighter jets, as well as other equipment.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Gerry Doyle)
The Biden administrations Department of Health and Human Services is recommending that the Drug Enforcement Administration significantly loosen federal restrictions on marijuana but stopped short of advising that it should be entirely removed from the Controlled Substances Act.

The health agency wants the drug moved from Schedule I to Schedule III under the CSA, potentially the biggest change in federal drug policy in decades.

HHS Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine wrote in a Tuesday letter to the DEA, first reported by Bloomberg News, that the recommendation was based on a review conducted by the Food and Drug Administration.

The DEA confirmed to POLITICO that it received the letter.

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As part of this process, HHS conducted a scientific and medical evaluation for consideration by DEA. DEA has the final authority to schedule or reschedule a drug under the Controlled Substances Act, a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement. DEA will now initiate its review.

The HHS letter is part of the official review process initiated by President Joe Biden last October: The FDA conducts the review, which is then sent to the National Institute on Drug Abuse and HHS, after which HHS transmits a letter of recommendation to the DEA. The DEA is not required to follow HHSs recommendation.

The White House on Wednesday refused to comment on the review process.

The administration process is an independent process led by HHS, led by the Department of Justice, and guided by evidence, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. Were just not going to comment on that.

Cannabis is currently a Schedule I substance on the CSA, which means it is deemed to have a high likelihood of abuse and no medical uses. Heroin and LSD are also Schedule I drugs. Schedule III drugs are categorized as having moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. The category includes ketamine and testosterone.

The HHS recommendation is the result of a nearly yearlong federal review of all available marijuana research. Bidens executive action  which also included federal pardons for low-level marijuana convictions  was seen by many as a political move taken ahead of the midterm elections to incentivize turnout among younger and more progressive voters.

At the time, advocates and some lawmakers urged Biden to take clear steps to remove cannabis completely from the CSA  versus rescheduling it. Legalization advocates on Wednesday reiterated that rescheduling would not solve many of the problem theyve been asking the Biden administration to correct.

Rescheduling cannabis from 1 to 3 does not end criminalization, it just rebrands it. People will still be subject to criminal penalties for mere possession, regardless of their legal status in a state-level medical program, cannabis advocate Justin Strekal told POLITICO on Wednesday.

Federal-state conflict

Federal law has failed to keep up with massive changes over the last decade in state cannabis policies. Twenty three states now allow anyone at least 21 years old to legally posses the drug, while 38 states have established medical marijuana programs.

But because cannabis businesses are not federally legal, they are subject to a federal tax code that prohibits narcotics traffickers from taking typical tax exemptions for business expenses like salaries and benefits. That code does not apply to Schedule III, so if the DEA approved HHS recommendation, cannabis businesses around the country would immediately be paying much less in federal taxes.

That would provide a big boost to the financially struggling industry.

Its giant, said Charlie Bachtell, CEO of Cresco Labs, one of the country's largest cannabis companies, in an interview. I think you would see a healthier cannabis industry a year from now.

Rescheduling could also mean legislative changes on Capitol Hill, where a bill to make it easier for banks to offer financial services to the cannabis industry  backed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)  has been slowly plodding toward the finish line.

Changing marijuana's federal classification would almost certainly make it easier for cannabis businesses to access banking services and raise cash even without any legislative changes.

I dont see a need for the SAFE Banking Act if this in fact becomes the official position, said Jonathan Havens, a cannabis attorney at Saul Ewing who previously worked for the FDA. Im not saying that all banks will want to jump into this space, but the need for safe harbors I dont think exists like it does today.

Schumer on Wednesday urged the DEA to quickly follow through on this important step but added he is continuing to work in Congress to pass important marijuana legislation and criminal justice reform.

The shift in federal cannabis policy would also make it easier to conduct research on the health effects of cannabis consumption and for pharmaceutical companies to bring cannabis-based drugs to market. Researchers have long chafed at restrictions that only allow them to procure cannabis from a single farm at the University of Mississippi that bears little resemblance to the high-potency products many consumers are purchasing in state-legal markets.

But if the FDA decides to fully enforce regulations on the cannabis industry as it does all other Schedule III drugs, that could mean major changes for state markets.

The question that I have is whether or not the current industry will eventually be replaced by the pharmaceutical industry, said Rachel Gillette, head of the cannabis practice at Holland & Hart, noting that ketamine and anabolic steroids are also Schedule III drugs. I cant go down to the corner store and buy those things.

Some state regulators, however, dont think that much will change.

This adjusts the type of security and type of bureaucracy that exists around federal research into the substance [and] it would make it easier for companies to bring cannabis based pharmaceuticals into market, said John Hudak, Director of Maine's Office of Cannabis Policy, in an interview. But in terms of administration of a state program, it has very little impact.

Mixed response

The cannabis industry on Wednesday was ebullient, while drug legalization advocates and some lawmakers had a more tepid  or downright condemnatory  response to the news.

We believe that rescheduling to Schedule III will mark the most significant federal cannabis reform in modern history, said Edward Conklin, executive director of the US Cannabis Council, an advocacy and trade group, in a statement. President Biden is effectively declaring an end to Nixons failed war on cannabis and placing the nation on a trajectory to end prohibition.

While the industry would see immediate financial benefits from a loosening of federal restrictions, however, criminal penalties on cannabis would not change dramatically. That prompted some advocates to criticize the HHS recommendation.

This shift would fall woefully short of the promises made by President Biden during his 2020 presidential election campaign, especially promises made to Black and Brown communities, said Cat Packer, director of drug markets and regulation at the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates legalizing all drugs.

Anti-legalization advocates, meanwhile, blasted the move as potentially detrimental to public health.

"The addiction profiteers who have been exposed for lying about marijuanas physical, mental and economic impacts, are desperately looking for legitimacy in the wake of mounting evidence their products are harming millions of Americans," said Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, in a statement. "It is regrettable that the Department of Health and Human Services move now appears to be a nod to those monied interests."

Adam Cancryn and Chelsea Cirruzzo contributed to this report.

CLARIFICATION: This report has been updated to clarify what the DEA confirmed to POLITICO.
Channel 11 News has learned President Joe Biden may make another Labor Day visit to Pittsburgh.

The president was here last Labor Day to talk about jobs and the investments his administration has made.

Related Coverage >> President Joe Biden visits United Steelworkers Union Hall in West Mifflin on Labor Day

We have learned, while details have not been finalized, the president may visit a union rally Monday afternoon, which would happen after Pittsburghs Labor Day parade.

Pennsylvania is a big battleground state heading into 2024.

Last Labor Day, President Biden also visited the battleground state of Wisconsin as he was trying to build support for senate and congressional candidates.

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Stay with Channel 11 News for more details in the coming hours and days.

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President Joe Biden speaks about the government response and recovery efforts around wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, and the ongoing response from the federal government to Hurricane Idalia at the White House on Wednesday, Aug. 30, in Washington.

President Joe Biden speaks about the government response and recovery efforts around wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, and the ongoing response from the federal government to Hurricane Idalia at the White House on Wednesday, Aug. 30, in Washington.

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden, accused by Republicans for weeks of not responding robustly enough to wildfires in Hawaii, on Wednesday emphasized how quickly he has reacted to Hurricane Idalia, which came ashore in Florida and now menaces three other states that voted against him in 2020.

In White House remarks, Biden said he spoke with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis yet again, as well as Georgias Brian Kemp , South Carolinas Henry McMaster and North Carolinas Roy Cooper.

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Early Monday morning, long before the storm made landfall, I spoke with Gov. DeSantis and approved an early request for an emergency declaration to enable him to have the full support, ahead of time, to protect the peoples lives of the state of Florida, Biden said, adding that his most recent conversation with DeSantis was just an hour or so earlier during his meeting with Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in the Oval Office. I guess hes maybe tired of hearing both of us, but it seemed like he welcomed it.

Biden said that politics  DeSantis has been among the most strident of his critics as the Florida governor seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination  has not been part of their conversations.

I think he trusts my judgment and my desire to help, and I trust him to be able to suggest that this is not about politics, this is about taking care of the people of the state, he said.

Biden also spoke in detail about his visit last week to the Hawaiian island of Maui to see the devastation and promised that federal help would continue as long as it was needed. I want to be clear with the people of Maui about what to expect, he said. The work were doing is going to take time.

Republicans have accused Biden of having ignored the fires because he was on vacation, although there is no indication that his administration did not respond in a timely manner to requests from state and local governments for assistance. He said he welcomed a GOP congressional investigation into his response.

Idalia came ashore in Floridas Big Bend region, a sparsely populated rural area known for its marshy shoreline and lack of the sandy beaches that attract both tourists as well as large-scale residential development.

The offshore waters are also far shallower than off other parts of the state, meaning that storm surge builds up quickly and cannot easily dissipate into deeper ocean.

Criswell said that some parts of affected areas saw surge as high as 15 feet above sea level, and local responders were getting calls from residents who refused to evacuate and are now stranded.

Last autumn, as DeSantis was running for a second term as governor and waving off questions about his presidential aspirations, Biden visited Fort Myers Beach to view damage from Hurricane Ian. He praised DeSantis management of the states storm response and even allowed DeSantis to speak at the event from behind a lectern bearing the presidential seal.

DeSantis handling of the storm helped boost his popularity among independent voters and even some Democrats, allowing him to open up a larger lead over Democratic nominee Charlie Crist and ultimately winning by nearly 20 points.
A new proposed rule would extend overtime pay to 3.6 million more salaried workers, ensuring they receive extra pay for long hours, the Department of Labor announced Wednesday.

The rule would guarantee overtime pay for most salaried workers earning less than $1,059 per week, or about $55,000 per year. It will go through a notice of proposed rulemaking for public comment for 60 days and comes after the Biden administration reached out to employers, workers and unions to inform the proposal.

The rule would also involve automatically updating the salary threshold every three years to reflect current earnings data in order to prevent future erosion of overtime protections.

And it would restore a Labor Department regulation that was practiced from 2004-19 but ended during the Trump administration that ensured workers in U.S. territories who are subject to federal minimum wage have the same overtime protections.

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For over 80 years, a cornerstone of workers rights in this country is the right to a 40-hour workweek, the promise that you get to go home after 40 hours or you get higher pay for each extra hour that you spend laboring away from your loved ones, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said in a statement.

Ive heard from workers again and again about working long hours, for no extra pay, all while earning low salaries that dont come anywhere close to compensating them for their sacrifices, she said.

Su was nominated by President Biden for the Labor secretary post in February but has not been confirmed by the Senate, with her nomination at a standstill due in part to a lack of support from moderate Democrats.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Biden on Wednesday said he would welcome a potential Republican investigation into the federal governments response to deadly wildfires in Maui after he laid out what his administration has done to help the island recover.

Biden, delivering remarks from the White House about the Maui wildfires and Hurricane Idalia, was asked by a reporter about House Republicans plans to probe the response to the fires in particular.

Biden suggested House Republicans should go out and talk to every elected official, from the mayors, to the governors, to United States senators about the situation in Maui.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) and Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) have repeatedly thanked Biden for his administrations response to the fires on Maui, which killed more than 100 people and destroyed swaths of the island.

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The president said Wednesday that the White House would spend $95 million to help strengthen Hawaiis electrical grid in the wake of the wildfires, and he vowed the federal government would support rebuilding efforts in a way consistent with traditions on Maui.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee announced this week that it would launch an investigation into the federal response on Maui. The move came days after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) first floated a potential probe, saying he was very concerned about the response.

Republicans widely criticized Biden for waiting to visit Maui, though the president said he did not want to travel to the island while it could impede rescue and recovery efforts. Biden also addressed the fires at the top of remarks multiple times while traveling in the days after the fires, despite GOP criticism that he did not weigh in on the disaster.

Biden visited Maui last week to tour the devastation and meet with community members and local leaders.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Russian media reported what appears to be the biggest drone attack on Russian territory and Russian-occupied Crimea overnight on Aug. 30.

Ukraine has not confirmed that it is behind the attacks.

A drone strike was reported in Pskov Oblast, with reports of explosions at Pskov International Airport. Pskov is over 800 kilometers north of Kyiv, near the border with Estonia.

Russian state news agency TASS reported that the strike had damaged four Il-76 aircraft at a military airfield.

Russian media outlet Meduza said that the 334th military transport regiment, armed with Il-76 aircraft, is deployed at Pskov airport.

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Pskov Oblast Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said he was on the scene himself, and uploaded a video to his Telegram channel showing smoke and flames rising from the site. He announced that the airport will be closed for the rest of the day.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin claimed that Russian air defenses shot down a drone headed to the city over the Ruza district of Moscow Oblast, west of the capital. No casualties have been reported.

According to Russian media, Moscow's Vnukovo airport shut down the night of Aug. 30, while flights at Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports were delayed, after the airspace over Moscow and Tula oblasts was closed.

The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed that drones were shot down over Bryansk, Oryol, Kaluga, and Ryazan oblasts.

TASS claimed that air defense units shot down three drones over Bryansk and one over Oryol.

A drone or its debris allegedly hit the Kremniy EL microelectronics factory in Bryansk, causing damage.

The Bryansk city administration said that an explosion took place at the headquarters of Russia's Investigative Committee in the city.

Multiple videos of massive explosions in Bryansk were posted on social networks.

In Kaluga Oblast, a drone hit an empty oil product storage facility, Kaluga Oblast Governor Vladislav Shapsha said.

In Russian-occupied Crimea, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol alleged that there had been an unsuccessful attack on Sevastopol with sea drones.

The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed to have destroyed four Ukrainian high-speed military boats in the Black Sea, which would have been used to land special operations forces.

Read also: Budanov: Only 60-70% of deployed Ukrainian maritime kamikaze drones destroyed by Russia

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Russian forces attacked Ukraine's capital with drones and missiles overnight, killing two people and injuring three, the Kyiv city military administration reported on Aug. 30.

Two security guards aged 26 and 36 years old died, according to the administration. They were killed when debris caused a fire in a commercial building in the Shevchenkivskyi district.

An air alert was announced in Kyiv around 02:30 local time.

The State Emergency Service reported that 97 emergency service workers were deployed to put out the fires caused by debris falling on both the Darnytskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts.

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Outside the city, 35 emergency service workers were deployed to Kyiv Oblast's Fastiv and Bucha districts due to fires caused by falling debris. A 69-year-old woman, a 43-year-old man, and a 49-year-old man were injured.

The Internal Affairs Ministry reported that the debris caused a fire on the local cemetery and damaged six houses.

"Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring," Popko said, adding that air defense shot down more than 20 drones and missiles.

Read also: Biggest drone attack on Russia, Crimea reported

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
McALLEN, Texas (Border Report)  Millions of dollars have been earmarked to clean up a polluted segment of the Rio Grande known as Zacate Creek in Laredo, Texas.

Migrant woman in Border Patrol custody dies in Rio Grande Valley hospital

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, earlier this month announced $1 million in federal earmarks would go to the Zacate Creek Restoration Project, which includes revegetation and reforestation where the creek feeds into the Rio Grande.

Those funds are part of $8.6 million in U.S. funding that has been culled together for the restoration project by the City of Laredo, Webb County, and the Department of Interior. This includes some land pledged by the city and $2 million pledged by the county.

Laredo City Councilwoman Melissa Cigarroa. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report File Photo)

In addition, Mexicos federal government recently pledged $81 million to repair a dilapidated sewage facility that it operates in Nuevo Laredo, across the Rio Grande from Zacate Creek, Laredo City Councilwoman Melissa Cigarroa told Border Report.

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Theyve had tremendous collector problems and pipe failures. And so it is to rehabilitate their sewer system, Cigarroa said Tuesday.

Cigarroa said the cleanup efforts south of the border will greatly improve the creek area that they are trying to revitalize.

Its a combination, right? Were all trying to reclaim this green space and develop it, she said. To create these green spaces where people can come and gather and Nuevo Laredo has been incredibly supportive.

The city also has discussed making it a birding sanctuary.

Cigarroa said the Zacate Creek Restoration Project is a pilot program for the binational river park project that leaders from both countries are trying to develop along the banks of the Rio Grande in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo.

Binational river park, Laredo border crossing expansion part of D.C. talks

In the Zacate Creek area, down river, they want to revegetate the region and reforest the area with native species, clean out the trails, and make more accessible a stunning waterfall.

A waterfall at Zacate Creek, in Laredo, Texas, near the Rio Grande, will be the highlight of a restoration project funded by multiple U.S. entities. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report File Photo)

It will be revitalized by restoring all that and then also dealing with invasive species and erosion and really trying to draw out the gem. Weve got a natural waterfall there, she said.

The nonprofit Rio Grande International Study Center will be helping with the reforestation and revegetation as well as removing invasive species, said Cigarroa, who is former board president for the organization that studies the Rio Grande watershed.

Cigarroa said replacing invasive grasses with native grasses seems to be incredibly important following the destruction from wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, earlier this month.

Water is life, and Zacate Creek is no exception, Cuellar said in a statement. The Zacate Creek Restoration Project ensures Laredoans will continue to enjoy this natural geographical feature.

Cuellar, who is from Laredo, earlier helped to secure $2 million in congressional funding for the binational river project.

Proposed binational river park can help conserve water, boost border security

More funding and projects related to the binational river project are expected to be announced this week at the NADBank Summit 2023 that is being held in San Antonio, which starts on Wednesday.

Border Report plans to cover the Summit and will update with additional information.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
The museum needs space to host exhibitions, conduct educational programs, and engage the community. It also needs space to store artwork and artifacts.

Frontier Development and Hospitality Group, a Black-led firm based in Washington, will help expand Philadelphias African American history museum.

According to The Philadelphia Tribune, the city selected the company to aid in transforming the former Family Court building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway into a boutique hotel. As part of the expansion, the African American Museum will also move from its small location at 701 Arch Street to a more prominent space on the block.

Screenshot of the Family Court building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. (Credit: YouTube CBS Philadelphia)

Evens Charles, founder and managing principal of Frontier Development & Hospitality Group, said at a news conference Tuesday that he is proud to be selected as a co-developer on a transformational project.

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Im just filled with so much gratitude that the City of Philadelphia, PIDC, and all stakeholders put in their [request for proposals] a diversity and equity component to allow a firm like mine to have this great opportunity, Charles added, according to The Philadelphia Tribune.

In August, the city announced that four development companies had been selected as finalists to redesign the site; proposals were due in February.

This particular proposal offered the best mix of development team diversity, experience, project financing, and a very thoughtful design, said Jodie Harris, president of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., the citys public-private economic development corporation, at the news conference.

Since 2010, the city has sought proposals for redeveloping the Family Court building as a hotel. There will be more than 200 rooms in the rehabilitated building and a restaurant, bar, and event space.

The proposal calls for new buildings that will house the African American Museum, the expansion of the Free Librarys Parkway Central Library, and the librarys new Children and Family Center, per The Philadelphia Tribune.

Harris said the proposal represents a unique fusion of sustainable, forward-thinking development and a profound respect for Philadelphias history.

The city committed $50 million in funding for the new project.

The developers need a variety of permits to complete renovation work on the historic court building. It was built in 1941 and appears on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.

Sabrina Brooks, chair of the African American Museum in Philadelphias board of directors, noted at the news conference that the museum is excited to have a new, state-of-the-art building dedicated to fulfilling our mission and vision.

Our new location will serve as a reminder of Philadelphias inherent connection to Black history, culture, and heritage, Brooks said. And we will submit our legacy here in Philadelphia alongside famed institutions like the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Foundation.

We envision AAMP to be a world-class destination while also serving as a pillar and resource to the communities that we all call home, Brooks added.

According to Brooks, the museum needs space to host exhibitions, conduct educational programs, and engage the community. It also needs space to store artwork and artifacts.

Project completion is likely to occur in 2028.

The post Black-led firm to develop bigger African American history museum in Philly appeared first on TheGrio.
Blake Masters is making plans to launch another Arizona Senate bid, potentially as soon as next week, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Masters did not reply to a request for comment. Masters won the GOP nomination last year but lost to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in a critical swing state.

Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's advisers say she is expected to announce a Senate campaign in early fall, though some Republicans are skeptical Lake and Masters would run for the same seat. Pinal County sheriff Mark Lamb is another GOP candidate.

Barrett Marson, an Arizona-based GOP strategist, said he talked to Masters a few months ago and he was pretty decisively in. However, he said, Masters had been waiting for Lake to decide whether to run.

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I think he is now under the impression that maybe Kari Lake isnt going to run, because Ill tell you if Lake and Blake are both in, he is wasting his time, he said. They occupy the same lane. They have nearly the same name. And she has much better positive name ID among Republicans than Blake does.

If Kari Lake runs, there is no lane for Blake Masters, he added.

This years Senate race could be much weirder than last year, with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema potentially running as an independent  though she hasn't yet indicated her plans  and Rep. Ruben Gallego running for the Democratic nomination.

And Republicans could face a tough primary between Masters, Lake and Lamb; GOP leaders have shown no preference among those candidates. Last year, Washington Republicans eventually soured on Masters candidacy as conservatives pushed for more funding in his race, a sign the party is divided on the kind of nominee that can win in Arizona. And traditional GOP candidates like former Gov. Doug Ducey have passed on the race.
Admiral John Aquilino, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), offered remarkably detailed comments on what he sees as critical future capabilities needed to fight and win a high-end conflict in his vast area of responsibility  namely against China.

Aquilino's remarks came from the National Defense Industrial Association's Emerging Technologies and Defense symposium in Washington, D.C. yesterday, which The War Zone attended. Joseph Dunford, a retired Marine four-star general and the ex-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hosted the discussion with the INDOPACOM boss.

Adm. John C. Aquilino, Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, has a very ambitious plan to connect all his forces and allies via a 'single pane of glass' interface. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Anthony J. Rivera)

The talk quickly ventured into the topic of how Aquilino is preparing for what could become an unprecedented fight in terms of the speed and the scale that said capabilities will be applied over a vast battlefield. What's clear is that networking and data-fusion remain the centerpiece of America's emerging warfighting strategy in this tense region. At the center of the Admiral's plans is a grand networking scheme that ties everyone in the battlespace together  including regional allies  and offers a single 'pane of glass' God's eye view of the battlefield to everyone from soldiers on desolate windswept islands, to allied warships, to commanders managing the conflict thousands of miles away.

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Author's note: Long quotes in a direct transcript fashion were used for this piece as there was no better way to properly convey the complex concepts the Admiral was putting forward, how they relate to one another, and the extra color that his own words could only provide.

"The approach for the United States military... is one piece of the forms of national power that are required, because the PRC [People's Republic of China] problem will require all forms of national power, and it's referred to as 'integrated deterrence' by the Secretary of Defense. I can speak about the military arm. Although we're coordinated with some of the other portions of national defense... our approach is to provide for lethal combat power west of the international dateline that's prepared to respond, that's postured accordingly, that is tied with our allies and partners, and has the right capabilities to be able to deter. And let there be no doubt the goal is to prevent this conflict, not to have it."

"That said, the Secretary gave me a second mission and says if deterrence has failed, then you better be prepared to fight and win... When we talk about the capabilities needed, we talk about it through the lens of 'blind, see, and kill...' The ability to operate in contested space survivably and deliver the effects that we're tasked to do, that's the 'blind' piece. The 'see' piece has to have a persistent understanding of the battlespace, where everything is at every second to a targeting level quality."

"Think, click, and shoot."

The Ticonderoga class cruiser USS Cape St. George launches a Tomahawk cruise missile. (USN)

"Then the kill piece is the right weapons with the right numbers of weapons, and the network that links them to be able to affect and close the kill chain. And my argument is all of my geographic combatant commander brothers and sisters want and need that same capability. We refer to it in the terms of 'decision superiority.' And that means first, we have it today, but we need to accelerate it and we need to always stay in front of any adversary."

Dunford then asked Aquilino about the challenges China is putting up to U.S. power projection, and what he feels better or worse about today than five years ago in terms of confronting and overcoming those challenges.

"What I think is they're on their five year [plan], and if you go back three different budgets for them, or four years, over our 20 years in the desert, they focused very clearly on delivering a force capable to take on the United States. And the speed and acceleration that they have shown and they are delivering, right, when you talk about outputs, we all look at the Chinese to understand, truly, where they are, what they're doing. The largest military buildup since World War Two, both in conventional forces and then strategic-nuclear. J-20s are in full-rate production, ships coming off their industrial baseline at numbers that only replicate what we did in the Lehman time and the 600 ship Navy kind of time frame. Again, nuclear build up... is the largest and continuous we've seen. So those are the concerning pieces. And that's what we're walking into."

The massive expansion of China's Navy is one of many concerns for U.S. commanders to deal with. (PLAN)

"Now, on the optimism side, the department focusing on the PRC as the primary security challenger and the defense strategy-based budget that has been pushed forward, certainly is encouraging. The deputy's words on the delivery of outcomes with speed [Deputy Secretary of Defense Hicks' speech earlier in the day which you can read more about here] is encouraging..."

On how allies play into all this, Admiral Aquilino offered these words:

"As we all know, the key, or one of our asymmetric advantages, as we work through this delivery of deterrence is our synchronization, information sharing and work together with our allies and partners. Five treaty allies in the region: Japan, Korea, Philippines, Australia and Thailand. The work that we do together everyday, and it is every day with those allies, is critical  the partners as well [as] the rest of the nations in the region. What you have seen occur is more integration, more multilateral operations and rehearsals, and practice together. It is an asymmetric advantage that we have, whether we're talking about the trilateral relationship between Japan, Korea and the United States, recently described and emphasized by the heads of state. Whether you're talking about the support and the additional sites in the Philippines that we will build out and practice in order for our forces to be able to operate together. The work in Australia with AUKUS tied with the United Kingdom to deliver once-in-a-generation warfighting capability, and then expand from technology and other areas besides submarines, where we can deliver warfighting effects. Again, it's really an asymmetric advantage. And probably... one of the key opportunities that we have to continue exploiting."

"So let me get into a couple of programs now, because the development and the initiation of the programs I'll talk about... First, we talk about a Joint Fires Network. So when I articulate 'blind, see and kill,' the Joint Fires Network is the mechanism by which we would integrate, synchronize, and utilize to deliver effects anywhere in the battlespace, and bring to PACOM [INDOPACOM]  that's over half the globe. Whether they be fires, effects or logistics requirements, and synchronize those actions across the board. And those are applicable to be supported and delivered to our allies and partners as well."

Joint Fires Network will tie forces together via datalinks to provide a common actionable tactical picture. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sonja Wickard/Released)

"Second, is a mission partner environment. Think of that as the transport mechanism to deliver and synchronize, integrate and operate with our allies and partners. Think of a 'single pane of glass' with the ability for login attributes, classification, and FTO requirements to be able to communicate with my partners anytime, anyplace, anyday."

"Third is referred to as the Pacific Multi-Domain Training And Experimentation Capability (PMTEC)... So think about linking ranges from the west coast of the United States, to Alaska, to Australia, to Guam, and to further forward in Japan, and anywhere in the theater. So, if you think about the ability to train together, over the broad space needed, and utilize that range as an experimentation capability with our allies and partners, now you get right after what the deputy was talking about, on how you practice, rehearse, experiment, and ultimately deliver capability."

"And then lastly, we work through what we refer to as Stormbreaker, which is our ability to run through scenarios, to develop CONOPS to assess those CONOPS and plan at a speed that can't be done today, without 'stubby pencil' J5 planners, but to automate that set of capabilities."

Dunford then pushed for more info about the massive amounts of data and the processing, deconfliction, and display of that data under the 'Joint Data Integration Layer.' Dunford also noted that it is designed to overcome issues with interoperability and integration among disparate force elements.

"For us, it's the Assault Breaker Two team that is plugged in on Hawaii. Matter of fact, they have put the virtual team and built a simulation facility in the Pacific for us to use this. Here's the metric for me, 1,000 targets in 24 hours  targeting level quality, persistent, ready to go. Now that's supported by many of the ISR [information, surveillance, and reconnaissance] assets... But really, what we're looking for is 'all source Intel' and the ability to distill it down to that wisdom we discussed. And boy, you're right, we still don't have enough ISR. But what I think this data-informed ability to pull it all together, you know, I go back to the aircraft shoot-down not long ago. And I think you were in the chair, right? How did we find out that the Russians actually shot that airplane down was by a social media post. We all have that data, because it all contributes. And then we have to weed through it to determine what's a value and how does it deliver to the fight."

Under the Admiral's ambitious plan, everything will feed into a deconflicted and refined common battlespace picture, from high-end ISR assets like this MQ-4C Triton to a swarm of unmanned surface vessels to space-based sensing and even data collected by sensors that are forward-deployed by small ground units. The distributed nature of battlefield data collection will be critical to winning a future fight, but parsing and fuzing all of it and transferring it around a vast battlefield will be major hurdles. (USN)

Asking for more specificity as to the over-arching network that will enable what could only be defined as a revolution in connected warfighting, Aquilino gave this very clear summary:

"So from the INDOPACOM perspective, we are purely focused on the kill chain and the ability to persist, sustain, and command the fight. So think 'F2T2EA'  find, fix, target track, employ and assess. That is the foundational set of actions that have to occur from the military warfighting capability sense. Now on top of that, the approach is to be able to deliver a common operational picture for every node in the battlespace  the same exact targeting level quality picture for everyone. And in that mesh node of delivery, any fighting formation is able to employ and carry out their responsibilities in the battlespace, whether there's an attempt to impact those command and control nodes. But that mesh allows it to occur. And again, the network that we're talking about, we refer to as the Joint Fires Network."

Project Manager Tactical Network, Program Executive Office for Command Control Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T), conducts Scalable Network Node (SNN) new equipment training for the 51st Expeditionary Signal Battalion (ESB)  converting the unit to a modernized ESB-Enhanced (ESB-E) formation  at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington. The SNN provides a significant reduction in the footprint requirements of an ESB-E. (Amy Walker, Project Manager Tactical Network, PEO C3T public affairs)

As to how very ambitious capabilities like the Joint Fires Network, and other emerging high-tech concepts, will go from great sounding ideas to operational realities at scale, Aquilino said the following:

"In the Pacific, we certainly need to scale. Again, I don't know if I tie those two together the emerging technologies and scale. I think what I would say is the emerging technologies in our construction of the Joint Fires Network, Mission Partner Environment, PMTEC and Stormbreaker, I would view it through the lens of pulling those emerging technologies into the open architecture, in places where we provide benefit, and then deliver those capabilities. The scaling of it... when we did our first experiment with the Joint Fires Network, we started with a eight nodes  in exercise Northern Edge Tac (sp?) One. In Northern Edge Tac Two we went up to 20 nodes. So, the key is to both inject emerging technologies that are advancing the capability, and then scaling it at a pace. So, I don't know if I tied the two together, but they certainly are interrelated and I just kind of gave you our approach on how to do this. And then in the next exercise-slash-experiment, we hope to increase that even more, and at some point, we'll pull in and plug one into one of our allies and partners. So the continued growth assessment on what was right, what was not right, and then [the] ability to adjust quickly. I think that's where it fits."

An F-117 aggressor recovers from a Northern Edge sortie, with Pantheon's 727 test jet and an B-1B in the background. Northern Edge is a critical set of test-focused war games that help prove emerging technologies and especially those surrounding networking. (USAF)

Finally, the Admiral offered more detail about what it will take, both in terms of diplomacy and technology, to get the U.S. and its regional allies all viewing the same battle 'picture' via advanced networking and communications:

"I think the first thing I would say is the sharing agreements across partner nations, right, all of our agreements are bilateral, and we're talking about a multinational way to link it. So we're gonna have to get to the agreements. We have to make sure that our partners trust that we will protect the things that are critical to them. We have to make sure that it's cyber-safe. We have to make sure that all of those nations understand what we're trying to do, how we're trying to do it, and how it betters the theater. So, the agreements piece is probably the longest pole."

"There are technology pieces that the team is working on... And oh, by the way, we've tried this before. The CENTCOM partner network... 33 nations or so we're trying to get to a single pane of glass ability to synchronize, communicate, coordinate, organize and operate. Right now I have 16 separate networks to do that, and I can't get two of my buddies on the same piece of glass. So it's a huge challenge."

"Technologies is a piece, agreements are a piece, and with all the great work that my team and the department has done on the allies and partner side, we think we can move this pretty quickly too."

Contact the author: tyler@thedrive.com
Editors note: This story was updated at 9:20 p.m. EST to correct the name of one of the Marines killed.

CANBERRA, Australia  The bodies of three U.S. Marines killed in a tiltrotor aircraft crash during a training exercise in Australia were retrieved from the crash scene while another Marine remained in critical condition, the Marine Corps said Tuesday.

Those killed were from Illinois, Virginia and Colorado.

3 Marines who died in Osprey crash in Australia identified

The Marine V-22B Osprey with 23 Marines on board crashed Sunday in tropical forest on Melville Island while taking part in Exercise Predators Run, a drill that includes the militaries of Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.

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All 20 survivors were injured and were flown by rescue aircraft 80 kilometers (50 miles) south to the city of Darwin within hours of the crash. Three of those Marines remained in Royal Darwin Hospital on Tuesday, one in critical condition and two stable, a Marines statement said.

The three casualties had been declared dead at the crash site and their bodies were returned to Darwin late Tuesday, a statement said.

From left to right: Capt. Eleanor V. LeBeau, 29; Maj. Tobin J. Lewis, 37; and Cpl. Spencer R. Collart, 21, died in an MV-22 Osprey crash in Australia on Aug. 27, 2023. (Marine Corps)

Up to 2,500 U.S. Marines have been based in Darwin for six months a year since 2012 as part of the U.S. military pivot to Asia to counter Chinas growing influence in the region.

Col. Brendan Sullivan, commanding officer of the Marine Rotation Force-Darwin, said the Marines focus was on supporting the recovery of wreckage and investigating the cause.

We are deeply saddened by the loss of three respected and beloved members of the MRF-D family, Sullivan said in a statement.

Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and with all involved, Sullivan added.

The three killed were Osprey pilot Capt. Eleanor V. LeBeau, 29, originally of Belleville, Illinois; Cpl. Spencer R. Collart, 21, from Arlington, Virginia; and Maj. Tobin J. Lewis, 37, from Jefferson, Colorado. All were based in Darwin.

The names of the injured had not been released.

President Joe Biden also offered his condolences to their families.

Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of the Marines who lost their lives in this deadly crash, Biden tweeted, referring to his wife Jill Biden. We are praying for those who also suffered injuries.

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but during flight can tilt its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane.

Before Sunday, there had been five fatal crashes of Marine Ospreys since 2012, causing a total of 16 deaths.

Three Marines were killed when an Osprey plunged into the Coral Sea off Australias northeast coast in 2017. The remaining 23 people on board were rescued.
The body of a missing man was found in the Neponset River in Bostons Hyde Park neighborhood on Wednesday, after crews began searching for the man earlier this week, state police said.

Troopers from the Massachusetts State Police Special Emergency Response Team found the body in a section of the river near the Dana Avenue Bridge at approximately 1:10 p.m.

Investigators believe the body is that of a missing 60-year-old man from a nearby homeless encampment.

Troopers began searching for the missing man on Monday morning after two other men who lived with him in the encampment found the missing mans walker and other personal items along the shoreline of the river near B Street in Hyde Park, state police said.

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Emergency responders were called to the area of B Street near Hyde Park Avenue and Grantley Street just before 7:30 a.m. Monday for a report of a person in the Mother Brook stream, according to Boston Police.

The Massachusetts State Police Dive Team and Boston Fire Department Dive Team recovered the body on Wednesday.

An investigation into the mans death is ongoing by the State Police Detective Unit for Suffolk County with assistance from the State Police Crime Scene Services Section and the State Police-Milton Barracks.

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
The body of a 73-year-old man missing out of Wrentham was recovered from a pond in Hamilton Wednesday days after he was last seen, officials said.

Steve Perrys body was found in his vehicle near the Chebacco Lake boat ramp. The Wrentham man had not been seen since getting lost while driving Saturday, police say.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Perry drove on a darkened roadway that led to the boat ramp, eventually plunging into the water, according to Wrentham police.

Sad to report, Mr. Perry has been located and is deceased, the Wrentham Police Department shared on Facebook. Apparently disoriented, Mr. Perry accidentally drove into the water, submerging his vehicle, resulting in his death. The incident is under investigation.

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Perry, a retired truck driver, failed to return home on Saturday, August 26 after driving to visit a local restaurant.

Perry told police calling his cell phone he became lost after getting on Route 495. Officers spoke with Perry several times throughout the night as the Wrentham man drove from Providence, then south of Hartford, Connecticut and finally to the North Shore of Massachusetts. Police lost contact with him once his phone went dead.

The incident is under investigation by the Essex County District Attorneys Office State Police CPAC unit.

We extended our sympathies to his family and friends, Wrentham police said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Target employees stand under a tree in the parking lot outside the evacuated store on Route 70 in Brick Township Tuesday, August 29, 2023.

Bomb threats made against Target stores in New Jersey and several other states all turned out to be hoaxes Tuesday, according to authorities.

At the Shore, multiple Targets in Monmouth and Ocean counties  including in Middletown and Brick  were temporarily evacuated as law enforcement officers assessed the credibility of the threats and conducted searches of the complexes.

Avoid the area of Target due to police activity at the store, Brick police announced in an email alert to the public at 11:54 a.m. Tuesday. The store is closed until further notice.

At 1:29 p.m., a follow-up alert was issued: Our investigation revealed that the threat was unfounded and the Target store has now been determined safe and is back open for business.

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High-tech groceries: Scan your palm to pay at Whole Foods NJ supermarket checkouts. Here's how it works.

We are working with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to track down the origin of this threat, said Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer, when he was asked to comment late Tuesday afternoon.

The Brick Township Police Department did a great job evacuating the Target in Brick and ensuring the building was safe. We will do everything we can to get to the bottom of this, Billhimer said.

Target in Local News: Target opening new store at Eatontown Plaza

The New York Daily News reported on its website Tuesday that bomb threats were also made against Target stores in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Target employees walk through the parking lot outside the evacuated store on Route 70 in Brick Township Tuesday, August 29, 2023.

This morning numerous bomb threats were made via email to various Target stores throughout Charlotte, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina posted on X. At this time, there is no indication of any validity to the threats. There appears to be a trend of emails with similar threats made in other states today.

Local Shopping News: This Toms River shopping center getting new stores, new look

Mark Spivey, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office, referred inquiries about the threats in its jurisdiction to the FBI field office in Newark, which did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Target also did not respond to a request for comment.

Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bomb threats against Target stores in NJ, part of multi-state hoax
Photo: BC Ale Trail

There are just a few more days left to get your vote in for the BC Ale Trail's Best Brewery Experience Award.

With more than 220 craft breweries on 21 ale trails throughout British Columbia, the BC Ale Trail is the ultimate guide to BC's best craft breweries, and they're inviting beer enthusiasts far and wide to nominate their favourite brewery as the best in the province.

Every craft brewery across B.C. offers a unique experience for the local community, as well as visitors, but the Best Brewery Experience Award looks to find out who is doing it best  Whether its an ever-changing rotating tap menu and delicious accompanying food to a great seasonal patio or trivia night.

Previous winners include R&B Brewing in Vancouver, Twin City Brewing in Port Alberni, Land & Sea Brewing in Comox, as well as the reigning champion, Camp Beer Co. in Langley.

Voters can submit a nomination at through the BC Ale Trail website and will be entered into a draw to win a Beer Lovers Prize Pack, which includes a $100 gift card to a BC Ale Trail brewery of choice, a limited-edition sling bag, hoodie and camp mug.

Voting closes on August 31.
EAGLE PASS, Texas (Border Report)  Calling it a financial failure and threat to the lives of asylum-seekers, a coalition of border groups on Tuesday renewed their demands for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to end Operation Lone Star.

The state has spent $4.5 billion in the past two years to deploy Department of Public Safety troopers and the Texas Army National Guard to the Texas-Mexico border. The state also has placed razor wire, and empty shipping containers on the north side of the Rio Grande and recently deployed a 1,000-foot-long string of buoys south of Eagle Pass.

Member of Texas National Guard shoots Mexican man across border

The state has earmarked an additional $5 billion to continue the anti-illegal immigration op for another two years.

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Its wasted money. What could they spend the money on besides this political stunt that Abbott is carrying out here? said Juanita Martinez, a member of the board of directors of the Eagle Pass Border Coalition. Eagle Pass is a beautiful town. We are not under attack by immigrants, we are not in danger. We are fine. We want Abbott out of here. We want the concertina wire to be gone.

Grievances were aired at Shelby Park, a few feet from where the state is storing spare buoys, patrol boats and more than a dozen government vehicles and assorted gear. It was the first public event at the park since the city decided against designating it as private land so state officials could have free reign there.

Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, said Operation Lone Star is not only a symbol of hate against migrants fleeing poverty or persecution but is also killing and injuring people. He cited drownings in areas where the operation is ongoing, and a Saturday incident in which a Texas state guardsman allegedly shot a Mexican man across the Rio Grande.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: National Guard member crashes truck into gate at National Butterfly Center

We are calling on the State Department to launch a criminal investigation not only of that incident, but also multiple incidents under Operation Lone Star, Garcia said. The buoys at Eagle Pass are part of that campaign of violence against our immigrant communities. I am glad the people of Eagle Pass are resisting.

Grassroots activists from El Paso to Brownsville, Texas, joined Martinez and Garcia in calling for the termination of Operation Lone Star and said their communities dont support it.

Abbott hosts Republican governors at border buoys, ground zero for illegal immigration

Abbott last week took a handful of Republican governors to the border and said Operation Lone Star is working. His office said it has led to more than 420,000 apprehensions of undocumented migrants, 33,600 criminal arrests and 30,500 felony charges filed.

Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden administrations refusal to secure the border, the governor said. Every individual who is apprehended or arrested and every ounce of drugs seized would have otherwise made their way to communities across Texas and the nation.

Visit BorderReport.com for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border

Migrant encounters at the Southwest border again rose in July and have remained steady in the Del Rio sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, which includes Eagle Pass, CBP data shows.

The activists say they will continue to dispel misconceptions about the U.S.-Mexico border and called for a public gathering at Shelby Park on Labor Day to remember migrants who died en route to the U.S.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
Boston police are asking for help recovering a viola worth tens of thousands of dollars that was stolen in Brighton.

The viola, worth around $70,000, was stolen between 2:00 a.m. and 3:50 p.m. this past Sunday from a residence on Glenville Avenue, according to the Boston Police Department.

The 16.5-inch long viola is stored inside a black BAM Black Panther HighTech case valued at $1,300 with two Boston University stickers, and a Vivant Vintage sticker.

Anyone with information is strongly urged to contact District D-14 Detectives at (617) 343-4256.

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
When Brad Schlaikowski opened Courage MKE, he created a new beginning for LGBTQ+ children and young adults.

The group home provides displaced youths with shelter, health care, counseling, life skills, socialization and potential family reunification. Schlaikowski and his husband, Nick, make sure they get to school, and try to give them similar experiences to what any child has in a family setting.

Schlaikowski's own new beginning is an important piece of the Courage MKE story.

Schlaikowski, 43, came out as gay when he was 32. He and Nick initially helped LGBTQ+ youths on a slightly smaller scale as foster parents. Many of the children came to them beaten up, with physical wounds and internal trauma as well.

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Schlaikowski recalls one of their final fosters. She was a queer, Black woman who had been physically tormented in her prior group home. He remembered her coming to them with patches of hair missing. Schlaikowski realized he needed to do more.

Courage MKE was born in December 2015.

He and Nick formed relationships with supporters, such as Kohls. Four years later, they opened the doors to Courage House, Wisconsins first home for displaced LGBTQ+ youths.

The Courage House is a licensed group home on Milwaukees south side that welcomes homeless queer and questioning youth referred through the Wisconsin foster care system. It is supported by stipends from the foster care system and through donations from members of the community.

To give a sense of the organization's growth, in 2019, revenue was just over $400,000. Last year, it surpassed $800,000.

Now, Courage MKE is in the process of renovating another house  this one for young adults. Schlaikowski noted that it can be particularly difficult for people aged 18 and older because they are aging out of the foster care system. But, they are still in need of help.

Those queer young adults who can no longer be eligible to live in the youth Courage House will soon have access to apartment-style rooms. They will learn important life skills while accepting and embracing their identities.

Courage MKE is renovating a south side complex to create apartment-style space for displaced LGBTQ+ young adults, and there is a rainbow on the front door. (Credit: Grace Cady)

Courage House is the result of a long, sometimes painful, journey

For Schlaikowski, the opportunity to do this kind of work was a long-time coming.

When he was in high school, his peers knew he was gay. As he joked, he had glitter falling off his wings when he walked through the halls.

But, Schlaikowski wanted to be an early education teacher, and he knew that being an openly gay man pursuing that career might be a problem for some people. So he concealed his identity.

I dialed it back a little bit  took a step back into the closet if you will, Schlaikowski said.

He married a woman, had three children and lived and worked in Pewaukee for many years.

Then things shifted. Schlaikowski told his wife he couldn't keep hiding his identity, and he came out as gay to his children.

My conversations with them (his kids) were always, Just be you. And I was being a liar. I was lying to them, he said.

Both Schlaikowski and his wife wanted to make the transition as comfortable as possible for their children. So, they gave their kids some time to adjust, and then Schlaikowski moved out.

The process was hard for everyone. But, the love they shared helped guide him through the difficult times.

I dont regret any moment of that life, he said. We had a wonderful life.

Eight months after their divorce, Schlaikowski and his former wife met up for a drink. They wanted to touch base because they shared children and years of history. That night unexpectedly created a lasting friendship.

Now, Schlaikowski said, things are almost unimaginably good.

He has a great relationship with his former wife  as does his now husband Nick.

She doesnt even call me as much as she calls my husband, Schlaikowski said. Im a very lucky man because things could have gone a very different way.

After making the move from a nuclear family in Waukesha County to coming out, marrying a man and having a new blended family, Schlaikowski found his purpose.

Mission is focused on trauma-informed care

Today, something Schlaikowski needs to be prepared for in his work is anger.

These kids only know how to survive, Schlaikowski said. And that survival sometimes means theyre gonna flip a table or say something hurtful. Because they want to make sure that theyre not the ones who get hurt this time, and its a defense mechanism.

Schlaikowski shared that he even purchases worn wooden chairs from Goodwill or similar thrift stores to have in the backyard for the residents to destroy if they need to channel their anger somewhere.

If were in that mindset where we need to be destructive, then lets go break some chairs, Schlaikowski said.

Schlaikowski noted that possibly the most important part of Courages mission is its trauma-informed care.

Courage MKE is a nationally accredited group home. Last year, it became the first group home in the metro Milwaukee area to earn a Qualified Residential Treatment Programs certification, meaning it operates with a trauma informed mindset.

These kids come to us with all of this trauma, and you know, its very hard some days to remember that its not personal, Schlaikowski said.

He mentioned that these youth have so much going on up here and motioned around his head. So, it is important that Schlaikowski and his employees are prepared for all kinds of behavior.

Some of the youths admitted to Courage House are there because their parents have rejected them and kicked them out of their homes for their queer identity. This creates barriers and significant trust issues.

So theres this wall here for trauma that we need to work on with therapy, but then theres this wall of my queer self, Schlaikowski said of the many layers these youths need to peel back to heal themselves.

But healing is possible.

One of Schlaikowski's fondest memories lies in this simple moment  a transgender woman spinning in a yellow sun dress on the front porch of Courage House after finally being able to dress as a girl in a safe environment.

That made every ounce of it, every minute, every single thing worth it, Schlaikowski said.

"Now more than ever" this kind of work matters

Moments like those are all the more important because LGBTQ+ youths are under attack in other places where they should be able to feel safe. Schlaikowski singled out Arrowhead High School for disallowing teachers to have safe space signs in their classrooms for LGBTQ+ youth.

My bullies when I was a kid are now bullying my children, Schlaikowski said. The people that a school is responsible for are the children. Why are we catering to these hateful, racist, homophobic adults?

He believes steps like these make Courages mission so vital.

I mean  were going back like a hundred years, Schlaikowski said.

They also make packages that reach a broader audience

Although it caters primarily to the people that it can house, Courage MKE also provides for other youths in Milwaukee.

Its Courage Kits are composed of hygiene products and other necessities such as hand warmers, and they are dispensed around the city. Employees and volunteers affiliated with Courage MKE package these kits and deliver them to public schools, churches and shelters.

Its about dignity, Schlaikowski said, referring to access to hygiene products that low-income youths may not have available at home.

For Schlaikowski, it always comes back to dignity. For those who are shunned by many of today's public policies. For those queer youth and young adults living in Courage House.

And given his journey, for himself.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee man opened Wisconsin's first home for displaced LGBTQ youths
Transportation officials believe the Bridge Forward concept for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project would open up less land for development than Bridge Forward advocates claim.

Bridge Forward's ambitions for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project could add up to $140 million in costs and present numerous technical challenges to build, Ohio and Kentucky transportation officials said Tuesday.

A coalition of local activists and leaders, Bridge Forward has pushed to sink Interstate 75 and U.S. 50 and expand city streets from the west side of Downtown into Queensgate.

In a public response to Bridge Forward, officials said the group's plan would:

Add at least $100 million and as much as $140 million in construction costs to the $3.6 billion Brent Spence project. That's up from an earlier estimate of $65 million to $80 million.

Require $1 million more a year to operate and maintain a proposed tunnel for part of U.S. 50.

Create safety issues by requiring vehicles to navigate too-steep roadways, too many stoplights and too many pedestrians.

Open about 13 acres of developable land on the western edge of Downtown Cincinnati, instead of about 24 acres depicted in the latest Bridge Forward plan.

Mary Landwehr of Edgewood, Kentucky, came with her husband, Phillip, to see the progress on the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project at an open house earlier this month in Covington.

Costs and construction complexities

A high-level review from Brent Spence officials, posted to the projects website on Tuesday, says the Bridge Forward concept presents numerous technical challenges as well as significant cost implications.

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The Bridge Forward concept could also stretch out the construction schedule, now anticipated to begin early next year and continue to 2030, according to Jack Marchbanks, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).

That's because the Bridge Forward plan would require review of a "significant amount of detailed design work," Marchbanks said in a Monday letter provided to The Enquirer.

"If the (design) decision is delayed for any reason, there is a risk that the overall project will be delayed," Marchbanks wrote to Rep. Bill Seitz, a Republican from Green Township who had requested a review of the Bridge Forward plans on July 24.

Cost called 'tremendous return on investment'

Cincinnati accountant Brian Boland launched Bridge Forward in 2020, calling for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor design to allow for more development opportunities near downtown Cincinnati.

Bridge Forward founder Brian Boland and his supporters were undaunted by the response from the Ohio and Kentucky transportation departments. The group's proposal would be a "tremendous return on investment" when the bridge project is done, the group said in a statement.

"We urge (Cincinnati City) Council to step up now and guarantee the funding," the statement said.

Council could tap funds from Issue 7, the 2020 transit tax, as well as county, state and federal dollars to cover the extra cost, said John Cranley, former Cincinnati mayor and part of the Bridge Forward coalition. Council earlier endorsed Bridge Forward's aspirations for development, as did the Hamilton County Commission.

"Spending less than 5 percent of the total project for a historic change is a bargain for our region," Cranley said.

In creating new connections to the west side, the Bridge Forward concept would repair some of the disruption created by construction of I-75 in the 1960s, added Mark Mallory, another former Cincinnati mayor and Bridge Forward supporter.

We are still dealing with the damage that was done," Mallory said in a statement. "This is a chance to create new opportunities for one of Cincinnati's most historic neighborhoods. Finding the money to pay for it should be a priority.

Phases of I-75 construction

Governments invited to 'innovation period'

The Brent Spence team will continue to evaluate the Bridge Forward plan and any other concepts submitted during the project's coming "innovation period" for additional public input. With the July hiring of primary contractors for the bridge work, that period is expected to begin in early September and continue for 60 days, Matt Bruning, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation, said Tuesday.

"Local governments will be engaged during this process," the project site's new posting said.

Seitz challenged Bridge Forward to identify funding for what it wants.

"The burden would now seem to fall on the Bridge Forward people to come up with the extra money and to answer the issues around constructability, he said Tuesday via email.

.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What do Ohio and Kentucky think of Bridge Forward?
Maricopa County Republicans want to run their own presidential primary, with no early voting and a hand count of the results.

Arizona Republican Party activists, not content with doling out censures like Snickers bars, this week came up with yet another genius plan to kneecap the partys prospects in the 2024 election.

The Maricopa County Republican Committees executive board on Sunday demanded that the party stage its own presidential preference primary in March, telling government elections officials to butt the heck out.

Naturally, state GOP Chairman Jeff DeWit quickly rejected the countys demand given that the party is wholly unprepared to run an election.

Its a pity, really. In their own bumbling way, the county zealots have hit upon a great idea, though not for the reasons they think.

Republicans still believe this was stolen

Party leaders dont trust the people who run elections to, well, run elections.

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And really, why would they, having embraced every whack-a-doo conspiracy theory invented to rile up the MAGA faithful?

(See their Aug. 23 Resolution to Reclaim Election Integrity in Arizonas 2024 Presidential Preference Election, wherein they claim that in 2022 hundreds of thousands of illegitimate ballots were counted, as proven in court. Judge who threw out that claim says whaaaat?)

After our election was stolen from our beloved president Donald J. Trump in 2020, thousands of Americans across this country stood up to get in the fight for real election integrity, real election reform, MCRC Chairman Craig Berland said, in a video explaining the county partys demand.

Then we watched in 2022 as our election were once again stolen. For example, Kari Lake was denied her rightful place in the governors seat.

What a hand-count election would require

As a result, county Republicans demanded that the party run its own election to select a presidential nominee next year.

By the people, for the people," Berland demanded. "One day, one vote, paper ballots, hand count, all at the precinct level.

So, lets review what that election by the people for the people would require.

No early voting, never mind that 80% to 90% of voters prefer it.

Instead, Republicans would be have to head to the polls on March 19 should they want a voice in their partys nominee.

Is it wildly unrealistic? Absolutely

More specifically, to their designated precinct, one of more than 1,700 polling places that would have to be set up across the state.

Where they would vote on paper ballots to be counted by hand by whomever the party can find to work in those 1,700-plus precincts.

With the results presumably announced by bedtime.

Results that would presumably be accurate, because the party would presumably know what its doing.

Presumably.

Still, Republicans are onto something

Wildly unrealistic? Absolutely.

And yet the county GOP braintrust is right. This is an idea whose time has clearly come.

Why are taxpayers paying for these internal presidential primaries when fully a third of the states voters can't participate? Unlike in the fall primary election for state and local races, independents cannot vote in the parties' spring presidential preference elections.

Bar Trump from the ballot? Secretary of state says 'no'

So why, again, are we footing the bill?

DeWit called the countys plan a publicity stunt, and said it was too late to change course -- though he invited the county to run (and pay for) its own parallel election, whatever that means.

It's unclear how the GOP will pay for it

No doubt, DeWit's rejection has something to do with the estimated cost of putting on a primary: $13 million to $15 million.

Thats money that could be used to try to reclaim a U.S. Senate seat next year or hold onto the Republicans slim majority in the Legislature.

Actually, its money that doesnt exist.

As of June 30, state campaign finance records show the party had just under $144,000 in the bank  a pitiful sum that shows traditional Republican donors just arent going there anymore.

The county party, meanwhile, reported $31,100 cash in hand.

They'd need to raise about $12.8 million to get this clown car moving. And that would leave them with nothing in the tank to propel the party's prospects in November 2024.

Wrong execution but right idea

This, on the eve of a major election in one of the nations battleground states.

As one longtime Republican Party activist  now former, having been chased out by the far right conspiracy crowd  told me:

Terrible idea! They cant afford it, Kathy Petsas said. They dont have any people with institutional knowledge around who know how to even organize a caucus. They are going to alienate/disenfranchise the majority of Republican voters. It wont have the security or sense of impartiality.

And yet, the Maricopa County GOP is right.

Republicans should run  and pay for  their own election.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @LaurieRoberts.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona GOP (sadly) won't run its own presidential primary
Broughton High School in Raleigh is sending students home early at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday because of a faulty air conditioning system.

Due to our HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system not working at full capacity and high temperatures in the building, we will dismiss students at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 30, Janiece Dilts, Broughtons principal, said in a message on the schools website.

Dilts said school buses will provide transportation home for students who ride by bus. She said parents can pick up their students for rides out as usual. Staff will remain on campus with students until they are picked up.

District maintenance staff are working on repairs, and the school will update when it knows more, Dilts added.

Aerial view of Broughton High School in Raleigh, which is sending students home early at 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 30, 2023 due to HVAC issues.

HVAC issues at multiple Wake schools

Broughton is the fourth Wake County school to close for the day or dismiss students early this week since traditional-calendar schools began on Monday. Both East Millbrook Middle School in Raleigh and Green Hope High School in Cary sent students home early on Monday due to HVAC problems.

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Carver Elementary in Wendell was closed Tuesday due to HVAC issues. It reopened Wednesday.

Last week, Southeast Raleigh High School had to dismiss students early twice.

Heading into this week, at least seven Wake year-round and modified-calendar schools had previously sent students home early at one point or another this summer due to HVAC issues.

Teachers at more than 50 Wake schools have complained that the air conditioning at their schools are not working properly. Wake blames a staffing shortage in its HVAC shop and parts delays for the problems.
Nesbitt Discovery Academy ranked in the top 10 in the state for "Best North Carolina High Schools" from the U.S. News and World Report list.

ASHEVILLE - One of Buncombe County's public high schools ranked top 10 in the state for "Best North Carolina High Schools" by U.S. News and World Report.

Nesbitt Discovery Academy came out at No. 7 for the 2023-24 school year.

Principal Heather Brookshire told the Citizen Times in a Aug. 29 email how proud she is of her students and staff.

"It's always a good feeling to have our school be recognized for excellence in education," she said.

"Our teachers are incredible people who love students and work tirelessly to bring their best every day. I am excited for our students and staff to be recognized for this accomplishment as it's an honor and privilege for us all to get to work and learn at NDA!"

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Brookshire said that college and career readiness is at the center of what they do at Nesbitt. "It is our goal that all students walk across the stage prepared and ready for their next steps in life," she said.

NDA is a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) high school. Its goal is to provide challenging curriculum that will prepare students for college and develop talents in STEM fields, according to its website.

The rankings are out of 705 high schools in the state.

Here are some of the U.S. News and World Report N.C. rankings for the 2023-24 school year:

Buncombe County High Schools

7 : Nesbitt Discovery Academy, West Asheville, 379 students.

113 : A.C. Reynolds High School, 1 Rocket Drive, 1,140 students.

129 : T.C. Roberson High School, 250 Overlook Road, has the most enrolled students in the county, 1,479.

143 : North Buncombe High School, Weaverville, 978 students.

199 : Enka High School, Candler off of Enka Lake Road, 1,015 students.

264 : Buncombe County Early College is located on AB Tech's campus and has the lowest enrollment of 232 students.

266: Owen High School, Black Mountain, 676 students.

440-563: Erwin High School, Asheville, 1,070 students.

The other three high schools in Buncombe County  Virtual Academy, Community High and Middle College  were unranked.

Nesbitt Discovery Academy had the highest 2023 ranking among Western North Carolina schools in the "Best North Carolina High Schools" from the U.S. News and World Report list.

Asheville City High Schools

51 : School of Inquiry known as SILSA is located inside of Asheville High School and has 341 students.

103: Asheville High School in the city district has 1,132 students.

Asheville High School August 18, 2023.

Henderson County High Schools

69 : Hendersonville High School, 753 students.

114 : Henderson County Early College, Flat Rock, 175 students.

134 : West Henderson High School, Hendersonville, 1,087 students.

241 : North Henderson High School, Hendersonville, 1,068 students.

248: East Henderson High School, Flat Rock, 910 students.

Top 10 best high schools in the state

1: The Early College at Guilford in Greensboro, Guildford County Schools District, 197 students.

2 : STEM Early College at N.C. A&T in Greensboro, Guildford County Schools District, 192 students.

3 : Onslow Early College, Jacksonville, Onslow County Schools District, 189 students.

4: Wake NCSU STEM Early College High School, Raleigh, Wake County School District, 235 students.

5 : Raleigh Charter High School, 559 students.

6 : Philip J. Weaver Ed Center, Greensboro, Guildford County Schools District, 306 students.

7 : Nesbitt Discovery Academy, Asheville, Buncombe County Schools District, 379 students.

8: Highland School of Technology, Gastonia, Gaston County School District, 533 students.

9 : Woods Charter, Chapel Hill, Woods Charter School District, 181 students.

10: Ardrey Kell High School, Charlotte, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, 3,494 students.

How it's ranked

The U.S. News and World Report ranks schools based on six categories, and each category is worth a certain percentage.

30%: college readiness, this is based off of the proportions of twelfth graders who took and earned a "qualifying score" on at least one Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exam  if a student earns a qualifying score, then it is worth three times more than just taking the exam.

20%: state assessment proficiency, which is the total score on the assessments the state requires that students have to pass for graduation.

20%: state assessment performance, measured by the comparison between the total scores on state assessments and the U.S News' expectations with the proportions of students who are Black, Hispanic and from low-income households.

10%: underserved student performance, based off of the scores on state assessment just from students who are Black, Hispanic and from low-income households. The U.S. News' compares these scores with what is "typical" in the state for non-undeserved students.

10%: college curriculum breadth, U.S. News' measures this by how many 12th graders took and earned a qualifying score on AP and IB exams in multiple areas.

10%: graduation rate, measured by ninth graders who graduated four academic years later.

More: Fast, fun facts before Buncombe County Schools starts; How well do you know your school?

More: Blue dresses, pink bows, 1st day jitters: Back to school in Asheville and Buncombe County

McKenna Leavens is the education reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at mleavens@citizentimes.com or follow her on Twitter @LeavensMcKennna. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: See NC high school rankings by US News and World Report
Burger King must face a lawsuit that accuses the company of misleading its customers, a US judge has ruled (Getty Images)

Burger King must face a lawsuit that accuses the company of misleading its customers by making its Whopper burger appear larger on the menu than it is in reality, a US judge has ruled.

The class action lawsuit alleges the fast food chain shows the burger with a meatier patty and ingredients that overflow over the bun. It also alleges the Whopper was made to look 35% larger, with more than double the amount of meat compared to what was actually served to customers.

Burger King has denied the allegations. The company has previously argued that it was not required to deliver burgers that look exactly like the picture.

US District Judge Roy Altman said it should be left to jurors to tell us what reasonable people think. But he dismissed claims that Burger King misled customers with its television and online advertisements.

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The flame-grilled beef patties portrayed in our advertising are the same patties used in the millions of Whopper sandwiches we serve to guests nationwide, a Burger King spokesperson said in a statement after the ruling.

The Burger King website describes the Whopper as the burger to rule them all, that contains a real meaty beef patty, and other ingredients.

Fast food chains McDonalds and Wendys are also facing a similar lawsuit in the US, accusing the companies of unfair and deceptive trade practices.

The Burger King website describes the Whopper as the burger to rule them all (Burger King)

The lawsuit alleged that McDonalds and Wendys burgers in marketing materials were at least 15% larger than they were in real life.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Taco Bell was sued in the US for selling pizzas and wraps that allegedly contained half the filling that was advertised.

The Independent has contacted Burger King for comment.
Buster Murdaugh has broken his silence to deny any involvement in the mysterious killing of gay teenager Stephen Smith  and insist that he still believes his father is innocent of the murders of his mother and brother.

Alex Murdaughs only surviving son spoke out in his first TV interview since his family was propelled to national attention, for the new three-part FOX Nation documentary The Fall of the House of Murdaugh.

In the interview, Buster slammed rumours that he too could have been involved in a heinous murder  that of 19-year-old Smith in July 2015  and offered an alibi for his whereabouts on the night the teenager was killed.

I never had anything to do with his murder, and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level in any regard, he said in a clip from the documentary, due for release on 31 August.

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Smith, a nursing student, was found dead on a road in Hampton County, South Carolina, in the early hours of 8 July 2015  not far from the prominent Murdaugh familys estate where Alex Murdaugh murdered Maggie and Paul six years later.

Despite Smith suffering blunt force trauma to the head and there being no skid marks or vehicular debris on the road, officials ruled his death a hit-and-run at the time.

Smiths mother long questioned this official account and, for years, the Murdaugh name continued to crop up in connection to the case.

Buster and Smith were classmates and there were unsubstantiated rumours that the two had been in some sort of relationship around the time of his death.

Smiths mother Sandy Smith named Buster as the prime suspect in her sons murder in a letter begging the FBI to get involved in the case back in 2016.

In June 2021  mere days after Maggie and Pauls murders  SLED announced that it was opening a new investigation into Smiths death.

Buster Murdaugh gives first TV interview (Fox Nation)

This April, the agency then finally announced that Smiths death was being investigated as a homicide and his body was exhumed for a private autopsy.

No one has ever been charged over Smiths death and law enforcement have never announced anything linking Buster to the killing.

In the FOX Nation documentary, Buster for the first time offered an alibi for the night of Smiths death saying that he was at his familys Edisto Beach house with his late mother and brother.

Hitting out at the rumours that continue to swirl, he said it was a terrible thing to be accused of.

I dont want to be rude here, but have you ever been accused of murdering somebody? he asked.

Well, let me tell you, this is very, very, very, very, very, its a terrible thing to place on somebody with absolutely no fact. I mean, it has harmed my reputation. I mean, people perceive me as a murderer.

In the interview, Buster also doubled down on his fathers innocence in the murders of Maggie and Paul  even after a jury of 12 peers convicted him back in March and he was sentenced to life in prison on the charges.

Maggie and Paul were found shot dead on the familys 1,700-acre Moselle estate back on 7 June 2021. Alex Murdaugh had called 911 claiming to have found their bodies.

When asked if he ever thought it possible that his father might have killed their loved ones, Buster insisted no.

No, because I think that I hold a very unique perspective that nobody else in that courtroom ever held. And I know the love that I have witnessed, he said.

Stephen Smith was found dead in a road back in 2015 (Sandy Smith/GoFundMe)

The 29-year-old went on to say that he thinks there are a lot of questions that still need to be answered about the murders.

My biggest thing that I want people to realise, that there are always two sides of the story. Now, they can pick which one they want to believe, he said.

But I think theres a heck of a lot that still needs to be answered about what happened on June the 7th.

He said that prosecutors presented a crappy motive and that the case was not fair.

I do not believe it was fair, he said. I was there for six weeks studying it, and I think it was a tilted table from the beginning.

And I think, unfortunately, a lot of the jurors felt that way prior to when they had to deliberate. It was predetermined in their minds prior to when they ever heard any shred of evidence that was given in that room.

Buster said that he believed the police were under an awful lot of pressure to come up with a suspect in the killings and so the route that they decided to go with was to charge his father.

He also blamed the media coverage of the case which he said left jurors going into the process with their minds already made up.

Because of everything they had the ability to read prior to the trial, he said.

Alex Murdaugh as he is sentenced to life in prison (AP)

I think that people get overwhelmed, and I think that they believe everything that they read. And I think it took advantage of a jury pool in a very small town in a very small county.

Now, with his father behind bars, he said he fears that the real killer is still walking free.

I think I set myself up to be safe but yes, when I go to bed at night, I have a fear that there is somebody that is still out there, Buster added.

Throughout the high-profile murder trial, Buster stood by his father, attending each day of the courts proceedings with his family members.

Buster also testified in his fathers defence saying that Murdaugh had been destroyed and heartbroken in the aftermath of the deaths of his mother and brother.

But despite continuing to insist his fathers innocence even now, Buster did not deny that his father may be a psychopath.

Im not prepared to sit here and say that it encompasses him as a whole, but I certainly think there are characteristics where you look at the manipulation and the lies and the carrying out of that such, and I think thats a fair assessment, he said.

When asked if he worries he might be like his father, Buster also had some harsh words for his fathers character.

Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh (Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook)

No, I do not worry, because I am not a thief. I am not a liar. Im not a manipulator, he said.

In those regards, I am nothing like him, but, in other regards, I believe that I do hold some of his more admirable traits, which I am quite proud of.

Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced to life in prison for the murders and is serving his time in the maximum security facility McCormick Correctional Institution in South Carolina.

He is also facing a slew of financial fraud charges for stealing millions of dollars from his law firm clients and his dead housekeeepers family and over a botched hitman plot where he claims he paid an accomplice to shoot him dead.

As well as Smiths death, Murdaughs high-profile conviction also shone a spotlight on some other mystery deaths tied to the South Carolina legal dynasty.

An investigation was also reopened into another mystery death connected to the Murdaugh family  that of their longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.

She died in 2018 in a mystery trip and fall accident at the family home. Murdaugh then allegedly stole around $4m in a wrongful death settlement from her sons.

At the time of his murder, Paul was also awaiting trial for the 2018 boat crash death of Mallory Beach.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A Saudi court has sentenced a man to death over his posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, and his activity on YouTube, the latest in a widening crackdown on dissent in the kingdom that has drawn international criticism.

The judgement against Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, seen Wednesday by The Associated Press, comes against the backdrop of doctoral student Salma al-Shehab and others facing decadeslong prison sentences over their comments online.

The sentences appear part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's wider effort to stamp out any defiance in the kingdom as he pursues massive building projects and other diplomatic deals to raise his profile globally.

Al-Ghamdis death sentence over tweets is extremely horrific but stands in line with the Saudi authorities escalating crackdown," said Lina Alhathloul, the head of monitoring and advocacy at the London-based advocacy group ALQST.

Lengthy prison sentences issued for free speech, such as 27 years against Salma al-Shehab, have not received sufficient outcry, and the authorities have taken this as a green light to double down on their repression, Alhathloul said. They are sending a clear and sinister message  that nobody is safe and even a tweet can get you killed.

Officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the sentence handed down by Saudi Arabias Specialized Criminal Court, which was established to hear terror cases but now also weighs charges against activists.

According to court documents, the charges levied against al-Ghamdi include betraying his religion, disturbing the security of society," conspiring against the government and impugning the kingdom and the crown prince  all for his activity online that involved re-sharing critics' posts.

Saudi officials offered no reason for why they specifically targeted al-Ghamdi, a retired school teacher living in the city of Mecca. However, his brother, Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, is a well-known critic of the Saudi government living in the United Kingdom.

This false ruling aims to spite me personally after failed attempts by the investigators to have me return to the country, the brother tweeted last Thursday.

Saudi Arabia has used arrests of family members in the past as a means to pressure those abroad into returning home, activists and those targeted in the past say.

The sentence drew immediate criticism from international rights groups.

Repression in Saudi Arabia has reached a terrifying new stage when a court can hand down the death penalty for nothing more than peaceful tweets, said Joey Shea, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Saudi Arabia is one of the world's top executioners, behind only China and Iran in 2022, according to Amnesty International. The number of people Saudi Arabia executed last year  196 inmates  was the highest recorded by Amnesty in 30 years. In one day alone last March, the kingdom executed 81 people, the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history.

However, al-Ghamdi's case appears to be the first in the current crackdown to level the death penalty against someone for their online behavior.
In the states quiet, picturesque town of Cedar Glen, a simple clothing store, Mag.Pi, was the focus of a heinous act of violence. On Friday, August 18, a man arrived at Mag.Pi, and the life of store-owner Laura Ann Lauri Carleton was abruptly ended. According to accounts of that day, this act was perpetrated with vicious purposes.

Mag.Pi was a labor of love for Lauri, who was well-known within the community. Her journey in fashion began as a teenager in her familys business, Fred Segal, in Los Angeles. After graduating from the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, she spent over 15 years as an executive at Kenneth Cole. In 2013, she realized her dream by opening Mag.pi on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. Her ventures success led to the opening of a second store in Cedar Glen in 2021.

Opinion

Lauri was not just a store owner, she was also a loving mother of nine, a wife to her husband, Bort, and an advocate in the community. She was the heart and soul of her store, and her success in the community wasnt solely due to her fashion expertise, but rather to her genuine passions and upstanding character.

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To her friends and the community, Lauri represented more than her store  she was an advocate. Matthew Clevenger, a member of the Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ community, said that Lauri championed individuality and authenticity, standing firm for acceptance.

When Mag.Pi opened its doors in 2021, Lauri displayed a Pride flag at the store. The flag was repeatedly vandalized and torn down multiple times. Undeterred, Lauri always rehung the flag each time it was taken down.

Lauri was a contributor to the Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ community and an enthusiastic participant in their Pride boat parade. Her commitment to individuality, authenticity and acceptance was unmistakable. Mag.Pi itself featured a dedicated Pride section showcasing rainbow-colored products.

Mag.Pi and Lauris acts in support for the LGBTQ+ community was an expression of our Constitutional free speech. While we may not agree with every manifestation of free speech, it is every Americans right to exercise this liberty.

Tragically, the situation escalated beyond the removal of the Pride Flag. Lauris senseless death was an act of violence that can only be described as abhorrent.

We find ourselves in a time marked by contention. Too frequently, violence takes the place of civil discourse and reasoned debate. The prevailing trend of vilifying those who hold differing viewpoints is a perilous approach that can lead to tragic outcomes.

In recent times, we have all seen this trend of vilification become the rule rather than the exception. Rather than rely on debating facts and holding ourselves to a high standard of decorum, the go-to strategy is hostility toward others, rather than discussing the merit of the ideas they profess.

Lauris death was unnecessary and tragic. It was spurned by hate. This is absolutely unacceptable. We must all take care to temper what we see around us and take the time to truly get to know one another.

Let us honor Lauris memory by rejecting violence as a means of resolution. In the face of adversity, let her legacy inspire us to find common ground and embrace the power of respectful dialogue and understanding in order to help foster a more perfect union. Our children deserve it.

California State Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh represents the 23rd Senate District, which includes portions of Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties. She is the first Republican Latina state senator in Californias history.
On Tuesday night, Laura Ingraham discussed why some lifelong Democratic voters are changing political parties for the 2024 presidential election, and Lawrence ODonnell spoke about the legitimacy of former President Donald Trump s defense teams appeal regarding his March 4, 2024, trial date.

Fox News  Are Democrats losing the Black vote?

Tuesday night on The Ingraham Angle, Ingraham spoke to Madeline Brame, a national crimes victim advocate and CEO of Rescue Angel, about whether Democrats are worried about losing the Black vote.

You are someone who voted Democrat most of your life, Ingraham told Brame. Tell us what youre seeing out there.

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Brame replied, Myself, as a 40-year loyal Democrat, because thats what we were told that thats what Black people were supposed to vote, was Democrat. Until I realized in 2020, after my son was killed, the way I was treated by the criminal justice system here in New York and the justice that I did not receive for the murder of my son by Democratic District attorney Alvin Bragg.

Brame said that all anyone has to do to know that there is a real issue in the United States is to leave their house. When youre from the hood, all you have to do is step outside your door, but we continue to give our votes away for nothing in return, she said, adding that is one of the reasons she will be voting for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

Ingraham then asked what Brames message to President Joe Biden would be regarding his idea that white supremacy is the biggest threat to the country or Black America now. Is that the way you see it?

Absolutely not, Brame said. The biggest threat to America right now is that they continue to impose on us, and we continue to chase the ghost of slavery past, and they continue with the narrative to keep us enslaved in our minds with the slavery, oppression and racism.

Related

MSNBC  Donald Trumps appeal issue

On The Last Word, Lawrence ODonnell discussed the statement released by Trumps defense team regarding the trial date set in the federal election case by Judge Tanya Chutkan scheduled for March 4, 2024, with former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal.

ODonnell read the transcript from Trumps head attorney, John Lauro, part of which said, The trial date will deny President Trump the opportunity to have effective assistance of counsel in light of the enormity of this case. I feel I need to put that on the record so theres no doubt that, in our judgment, that trial date is inconsistent with President Trumps right to due process and his right to effective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment.

When I read that transcript, I saw right there that John Lauro was making, in effect, writing the first lines of the appeal if Donald Trump is convicted in this case, ODonnell said. What do you make of that?

Katyal replied, It certainly, Lawrence, is an appeal issue; its just not a very good one ultimately. ... These kinds of appeals are filed day in and day out, and they are routinely rejected every time.

He added that he believes there's a very important principle, which is a need for a speedy trial because justice delayed is justice denied. And these kinds of tricks to try and delay things dont go over well.
Peyote is a small, spineless, button-shaped cactus capable of producing hallucinatory effects upon ingestion. While there have been movements in recent years to protect indigenous peoples religious right to peyote, equitable access to the plant requires more action. Senator Scott Wieners proposal, Senate Bill 58  which decriminalizes the possession and cultivation of peyote, among other psychedelics  could shift California closer to this goal than ever before.

After the federal government uprooted tribes from their ancestral lands and relocated them to the arid American Southwest in the mid-1800s, peyote became a staple in the religious practices of tribes including the Apaches, Comanches, Kiowas and Navajos. Despite peyotes cultural significance, the Supreme Court upheld state laws banning the cactus without religious exemption in 1990. Peyote currently remains a Schedule I drug under the Drug Enforcement Agencys classifications, alongside ecstasy and heroin.

Opinion

Consider the benefits of legalization: Decriminalizing the Schedule I drug could boost Californias economy. The last time California decriminalized a Schedule I drug  marijuana  the Golden State raked in $5 billion in economic growth, and the cash crop yielded 83,000 jobs to date. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, marijuana sales in California generated more than $216 million in tax revenue. Theres little reason to believe that the legalization of peyote growing wouldnt reap similar economic rewards.

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Furthermore, the decriminalization process has never been safer. Decriminalizing the growing of peyote carries significantly less risk than decriminalizing the production of other drugs. One mitigating factor is its natural growth cycle. Peyote takes between six to 12 years to mature under greenhouse conditions while marijuana plants mature in eight to 12 weeks and opium poppies mature in 120 days. The dedication peyote growing requires is more likely to garner the engagement of individuals more akin to wine growers than clandestine apothecaries.

Keep in mind that the dangerous part of peyote has already been commercially available to the American public for decades without widespread negative ramifications. The hallucinogenic chemical in peyote is called mescaline. Mescaline is also found in San Pedro cacti, Peruvian Torch cacti and many other common cacti that are legally bought and sold every day in nurseries like those found at Lowes or Home Depot. Mescaline levels found in the San Pedro cacti can be as much as 4.7%, similar to levels found in peyote.

Decriminalizing peyote cant increase dangerous contact with mescaline, since public access to the drug would not fundamentally change.

In fact, many Californian cities have already pushed for completely decriminalizing possession of the plant. By removing negative stigmas associated with indigenous religious use, California can help ensure that all indigenous peoples have access to peyote, not just those who belong to federally recognized tribes. With that said, some indigenous groups oppose bills like SB 58 because they worry that legalization will increase poaching and habitat destruction.

If California were to join the market, the Golden State could compete alongside the Lone Star State to relieve the strain on suppliers and the natural habitat.

Passing SB 58 could help heal the fraught relationship between California and its indigenous tribes. Plus, its not every day that a state gets the opportunity to bolster its economy while upholding justice. California has nothing to lose but an outdated perspective on a small, spineless, button-shaped cactus.

Stephen Dai is an undergraduate researcher focused on constitutional law at UC Berkeley. This piece was also informed by conversations with Anthony Carrasco and Kenneth Bryan Hsu.
Even as a mysterious cabal of tech tycoons and venture capitalists began buying more than $800 million worth of farmland to build a utopian city in Solano County, the local board of supervisors abruptly voted to dissolve a longstanding agriculture advisory committeejust when it was most needed.

At the May 2 meeting, Solano County Board chairman John Vasquez said that the committee had long since completed its original mission, which he described as advising the board on revising the General Planwhich included new zoning for this largely agricultural county in Northern California.

The original plan was passed as a ballot measure in 1984 in response to an earlier effort by another developer to build a new city. The measure restricted development to within the limits of the countys seven existing cities for at least 10 years. It was renewed in 1994 and then incorporated into the current county plan, which is not due for revision until 2028.

[The advisory committee] served their purpose, they accomplished the things that needed to be done, and, and now theyre just meeting to be meeting, Vasquez told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

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Jeannie McCormack, a third generation farmer in the countys Montezuma Hills, offered the board a very different view during the public comment section of this May meeting where the board considered the results of an annual evaluation of its various committees. She contended that the agricultural advisory committee could perform a vital function at a critical moment in the countys history.

The agricultural community in Solano County is going through a very devastating time now, McCormack told the board. There is a very well-heeled buyer who is coming out and buying up all the farmland for prices that do not relate in any way to the real market. And agriculture will be gone in the Montezuma Hills.

She paused.

I hope not, but it could be before I die. And I just cannot bear that.

A History Lesson for the Mega-Rich Bullies Bankrolling California Land-Grab

She was speaking as someone for whom family legacy and a love of those hills dwarf even a mountain of cash. She saw the advisory committee as a repository of another kind of wealth.

We need to marshal our agricultural human resources in this terrible situation, she continued.. And thats what the Agricultural Advisory Committee has been.

She said she and her husband had both served on it.

Its just a fantastic way of sharing information among farmers who are involved in very different enterprises, she went on. I hope that you will keep our committee. We need it, we need it desperately right now.

Board member Wanda Williams spoke in favor of keeping the board. She is more city than country and had not been sure what to do when she received a call regarding a dispute between two farmers over bumblebee poop. She had sought the advice of the agricultural committee, but was informed that it had been instructed not to meet. She did not name who exactly had given that order, but specified that it was shortly before the committee was notified that it was being dissolved pending a vote by the board.

She called it a disservice to the county and a very bad message to the agricultural community.

This is their opportunity to have a voice, to share some advice with us, she continued. I believe instead of dissolving this, it should be restructured.

She added that the board should have sought the advice of the advisory committee as the mysterious Flannery Associates began a five-year spending spree, buying thousands of acres, often at inflated prices.

The Former Whiz Kid Behind Tech Billionaires Plan to Build Utopian City

[The farmers on the committee] should have been involved and had an opportunity to come advise our board when Flannery was buying up all the land, she said. They werent given the opportunity to share that information when it first started happening with them. We see how theyve been pretty much bullied into giving up their land.

Williams proposed an alternative to dismantling the advisory committee.

I [would] like to request that it be restructured and that we work with them to build the new structure, making sure the board is actually sending them the information so that we can get their advice on issues that do come up that we need their input on, she said.

Vasquez was not persuaded. He told his fellow board members that the committee was not a group set up to receive updates.

It was a group to provide information on topics of interest to the board, he said. We had chosen there is not much for them to do because we had not delegated that to them.

He appeared to think that all made sense.

I dont see the usefulness of it anymore, he concluded.

The board then proceeded to vote 3-2 to dissolve the committee.

Solano County Board of Supervisors meeting on May 2, 2023. Solano County Board of Supervisors

One matter the now-defunct advisory committee could have advised the board about was a federal antitrust suit that Flannery Associates filed 16 days later against a group of longtime farmers, seeking $510 million in damages for alleged price fixing.

The threat of legal action spread fear though much of Solanos agricultural community. Some farmers, such as 68-year-old Wesley Stewart, were unaffected, simply telling Flannery Associates they were not interested in selling when the company approached them two years ago.

And thats it, he told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

By way of explaining his no sale position, he said, Weve been there since the 1860s.

But numerous farmers who were not named in the suit were afraid even to discuss the matter for fear of legal repercussions

And to make it worse, two farmers told The Daily Beast on background, Flannery Associates has sought to capitalize on divisions within families over whether to take the money or not.

[Flannery Associates] were trying to turn family members against each other. If one set of cousins wanted to sell, and the other, who was doing the actual farming, did not want to sell, the company would pit the two against each other, a farmer who asked not to be named said. That part of it was really awful.

Such tactics are not surprising when you consider that the scheme was reportedly thought up by Jan Sramek, who has been described by The Daily Beast as a former Wall Street wunderkind who finds guidance in a quote from Ayn Rand: The question isnt who is going to let me; its who is going to stop me.

Jeanne McCormack, a third generation Solano County farmer, speaks at the May 2, 2023 Solano County Board of Supervisors meeting in favor of keeping the county's Agriculture Advisory Committee. Solano County Board of Supervisors

Other Flannery investors identified by The New York Times are billionaire greedsters who seem ever-ready to ignore principles for principal. But there are also seemingly decent souls such as Laurene Powell Jobs. You have to wonder how she allows herself to be party to a scheme whose lasting effects are prophesied by the farmer who spoke to The Daily Beast.

The nastiness that they have left behind will not disappear when this thing is over, the farmer said. Because those cousins will remember how their cousins stabbed them in the back.

The farmer added, And thats a really heartbreaking thing.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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California correctional officers are on track to win a deal that fundamentally enhances their retirement benefits through a major policy change, according to an initial analysis of the agreement produced by the Legislative Analysts Office.

One of the biggest changes presented in the tentative agreement between the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and CalHR is a guaranteed employer contribution to a 401(k) plan known as Savings Plus.

The state would make a one-time contribution of $475 to the account in November 2024. Starting with the January 2025 pay period, the state will make monthly contributions worth 1% of the employees salary. This would be on top of the employer-funded CalPERS pensions that state civil service employees receive, and all permanent full-time employees would be eligible.

By granting members access to both a state-funded pension and a 401(k) plan, the CCPOA agreement fundamentally changes the states retirement benefit, according to the LAOs analysis.

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Such a change warrants serious and extensive deliberation, the analysis read.

The CalPERS pension represents a defined benefit plan, which provides a fixed and predetermined amount of money for employees upon retirement. The employer bears the responsibility for investing and funding these traditional pension plans. Retirees often value the sense of security that comes with a guaranteed income each month.

In contrast, a 401(k) is the most common form of a defined contribution plan, which puts the investment burden largely on the employee. Employees fund their own accounts with pre-tax dollars, and the employer typically matches an employees contribution up to a certain amount. In the 1990s, the defined contribution plan surpassed traditional pensions as the dominant form of retirement plan.

As part of those deliberations, the LAO report prompts the Legislature to consider what problem the proposal is trying to address, in addition to whether there should be a vesting requirement on the 401(k) plans. The analysis also poses the question of whether the state should decrease pension benefits for state workers who also receive employer-funded 401(k)s.

Former state finance director Michael Genest said he wouldnt be surprised if other unions, particularly those representing public safety officers, asked for similar retirement perks.

If one guy can get it, why cant the other guy get it? Genest said. Thats the way this stuff works.

The proposed agreement doesnt include any reduction of pension contributions. Genest suggested the state couldve used the introduction of 401(k)s to lower the financial burden placed on it by an underfunded pension fund. In July, CalPERS reported that the fund was approximately 72% funded, meaning it could pay only 72% of the benefits it owes if it had to pay them out today.

Its a missed opportunity, Genest said.

If the state were to change its mind and choose to decrease its CalPERS contribution, it would face significant hurdles due to the so-called California Rule  the longstanding legal precedent that bars public agencies from cutting retirement benefits without offering workers additional compensation. The state would have to give CCPOA another perk, such as increasing the 401(k) benefit further, if it wanted to decrease the pension liability, Genest said.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Assembly budget committee were expected to consider the tentative agreements for bargaining units represented by CCPOA, SEIU Local 1000 and the International Union of Operating Engineers. The bills will then need the approval of the Legislature before Gov. Gavin Newsom could sign them. Union members will also need to ratify the agreements before they can take effect.
In deep blue California, the next U.S. senator is almost certain to be a Democrat  most likely one of the three top candidates in the race: Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland, Rep. Katie Porter of Orange County, or Rep. Adam Schiff of Los Angeles County.

Whats more, theres a good chance a Republican wont even make it past the primary; there could very well be two Democrats battling it out in the 2024 general election to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

For that, you can thank  or blame  Abel Maldonado, a former GOP lawmaker and lieutenant governor who almost single-handedly changed the way we do elections in California.

Maldonado was serving in the state Senate in 2009 when he struck a deal: He agreed to vote with Democrats to pass a controversial budget bill, but in return, he wanted support for switching up the way primary elections are conducted.

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It worked; Democrats agreed to put a measure on the ballot asking voters whether they wanted a top-two, open primary for state offices  meaning all candidates would appear on the ballot, regardless of party affiliation, and the top two would advance to the general election.

The measure passed by 8 percentage points in 2010, radically changing the way California runs primary elections for many offices.

As a result, there have been times when Republicans have been shut out of a spot on the November ballot in major races. It happened in U.S. Senate races in 2016 and 2018 when two Democrats made it to the general elections. It could happen again in 2024.

Why did Maldonado do it?

The way Maldonado sees it, a tight race between the two top vote-getters makes more sense than a meaningless election between a Democrat and a Republican who has no chance of winning, given Californias political demographics. According to the most recent report from Californias secretary of state, 47% of voters are Democrats and 24% are Republican.

With a top-two primary, if two Democrats make it to November, Republicans can choose the candidate they find more palatable, who is almost certainly the more moderate.

By Maldonados reasoning, that would give GOP voters a voice in the outcome, and act as an incentive for centrist candidates to run on platforms that will appeal to all, or at least most, voters.

The goal was to allow lawmakers to represent the people and not work for a political party, Maldonado said in a recent interview. The idea when I did the open primary was to have someone who was reasonable, pragmatic and open-minded and deliver for the people, not for the party.

It all makes sense, at least in theory.

In reality, though, Republicans have another option: Vote for neither candidate. In other words, surrender.

Could a Republican make the top two?

With so many Democrats in the race, its possible the vote could be split to such a degree that a Republican could slip in. Except there are multiple Republicans in the race as well, and none is established enough to attract big donors.

Eric Early, an attorney and Donald Trump stalwart who ran unsuccessfully for Congress and state attorney general, had an impressive showing in one of the early polls. A Los Angeles Times/UC Berkeley poll released in June showed Early on top, with 18% approval among likely voters. Porter was next with 17%, followed by Schiff at 14% and Lee at 9%.

A majority of voters  42%  were either undecided or planned to vote for someone else.

Other polls that included more candidates werent so kind to Early. In an Emerson College poll, he was supported by 3%. Another Republican candidate, Coast Guard veteran James P. Bradley, outpolled him with 4%.

Schiff led that poll with 15%, followed by Porter, 14% and Lee, 6%.

Most of those polled  again, 42%  were undecided.

That speaks to how early it is in the election cycle. Also, while they may be well-known among news junkies, the top three Democratic candidates dont necessarily have a lot of name recognition outside of their districts, making it incumbent on them to make a mark over the coming months.

Those are three very partisan Democrats. Theyre going to have a hell of a primary, Maldonado predicted.

As for the Republican candidates, its going to be an uphill battle, he said.
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

NEWSOM NOTCHES A HOUSING VICTORY

Via Maggie Angst...

Score one for Gov. Gavin Newsom in holding local leaders accountable for the states housing and homeless crises.

Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Tuesday that they had reached a settlement with the City of San Bernardino over allegations that it violated state housing laws. Under a threat of litigation, San Bernardino agreed to update its housing plan to meet state-mandated goals, which include 8,123 additional housing units by 2029.

Cities that fail to follow the law and plan for their fair share of housing will be held accountable  the status quo will not be tolerated, Newsom said in a statement.

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State law requires local governments to adopt multi-year housing plans that then serve as a blueprint for future growth and development. Once adopted, the plan is implemented through zoning ordinances and other statutes.

San Bernardino failed to adopt a compliant housing plan for 2021-2029 before the states October 15, 2021 deadline. Under the settlement, the city has agreed to go back and adopt a plan by Feb. 7, 2024.

San Bernadino is not the only city to take heat over failing to adhere to stringent housing laws. The state also filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Huntington Beach for allegedly blocking housing production.

Our states Housing Element Law is in place to ensure that all cities build their fair share of housing. No city is spared from that legal obligation, Bonta said in a statement. It is not a choice. It is the law.

EQUALITY CALIFORNIA RALLIES FOR LGBTQ CAUSES

Via Grace Scullion...

Equality California, the LGBTQ advocacy group, partnered with legislators Tuesday for their annual day of lobbying at the Capitol.

It came less than 24 hours after Protect Kids California announced a campaign to get three measures on the November ballot that diametrically oppose Equality Californias agenda.

So what is the gay agenda, as multiple legislators called it?

In healthcare:

Sen. Scott Wiener , D-San Francisco, seeks mandated health plan coverage of preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEp, a medication that protects against HIV in SB 339 .

Sen. Caroline Menjivar , D-San Fernando Valley, wants to update who qualifies as infertile in order to expand fertility treatment coverage to LGBTQ couples via SB 729 .

Asm. Wendy Carrillo, D-Los Angeles, would see that out-of-state healthcare plans serving California patients would be required to comply with California law surrounding abortion and gender-affirming care coverage with the passage of AB 1432.

LGBTQ children:

Court petitions by minors seeking to change their legal name and gender would be sealed from the public under AB 223 introduced by Asm. Mike Ward , D-San Diego.

The states Department of Education would develop a one-hour training on supporting LGBTQ students to be taken annually by public school teachers under AB 5 , introduced by Asm. Rick Chavez Zbur , D-Los Angeles.

The Department of Social Services would be required to ensure that foster parents met the needs of foster children regardless of their sexual orientations or gender identities under SB 407 introduced by Wiener.

Law enforcement:

Agencies would be required to use a criminal suspects preferred name and pronouns when posting mugshots to social media, and prohibit the posting of mugshots for suspects of nonviolent crimes, under AB 994 introduced by Asm. Corey Jackson, D-Moreno Valley. Its an effort to reduce deadnaming, the act of using a transgender or nonbinary individuals name from before they transitioned.

Constitutional amendment:

This November, California voters will be asked if they wish to remove language from the states constitution that says marriage is only between a male and female, enshrining the right to same-sex marriage.

The work at the local level may be more intrinsic to advancing LGBTQ rights, said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association.

We have 2,000 school board races coming up this year. This is where the fight is going to happen, he said.

PPIC LOOKS AT CALIFORNIA VOTERS

It shouldnt surprise anyone to learn that the average likely Californian leans Democratic. But, as the Public Policy Institute of California revealed in its recent voter profile, while voters are more likely to be Democrat (49%) than Republican (26%), independent (21%) or with another party (4%), they are ideologically mixed.

A little more than a third (38%) describe themselves as liberal, while another third (32%) say theyre moderate and another third (30%) identify as conservative.

California independent voters are more likely to lean D (46%) than R (26%), while 28% say they have no major leaning.

As of February of this year, nearly 22 million Californians are registered to vote, out of the 26.7 million who are eligible. Thats an increase of three percentage points from February 2019, the year preceding the last presidential election.

Likely voters are disproportionately white (52%, while only 39% of the population is), and also tend to be older (50% are 55 and older), more educated and affluent (80% have at least some college education, while 54% make $80,000 a year or more), homeowners (69%) and U.S.-born (84%).

QUOTE OF THE DAY

I oppose banning the Gadsden flag in schools for the same reason I oppose conservative schools districts that ban LGBTQ flags in schools. Let kids be their authentic selves and give them a world of information  students can figure out whats important to them.

- Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Los Angeles, via X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

Wendi Fisher flew from Illinois to be at her ex-husbands bedside after he was transferred from Sacramento County Main Jail to the hospital. Norman Fisher was in a coma when she arrived. He died May 27 at age 47. The only reason The Sacramento Bee learned Norman Fishers name was because Wendi identified him, via Theresa Clift .

Unlike homicides and suicides, medical deaths at the jail, including overdoses, typically lack any independent oversight, via Theresa Clift .

Correctional officers in Californias state prisons are poised to earn more than $1 billion worth of raises, retention bonuses and other perks as part of a new deal bargained between their union and Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration. The high-cost proposal comes as California works to reduce its prison population and closes facilities in the name of lowering prison spending, via Maya Miller .

A Northern California Democrat will become the new state Senate leader after making his move to succeed the bodys longtime president pro tempore just before the end of this years legislative session, via Lindsey Holden .

A bill strengthening civil rights protections against caste discrimination earned approval from the California Assembly Monday, placing the measure one step closer to Gov. Gavin Newsoms desk for his signature, via Shaanth Kodialam .

The embattled California agency that provides employment services and unemployment insurance has been designated as a high-risk agency in a new report from the state auditors office, via Maya Miller.
Lt. Eric Moore looks inside a cell at Salinas Valley State Prison in 2010. The facility is one of three hard-to-staff units targeted for $10,000 staff bonuses in a tentative 2023 contract deal with the correctional officers' union. (David Royal / Monterey County Herald via Associated Press)

California prison guards are on track to get more than $1 billion in raises, perks and benefits over the next three years as part of a tentative contract that includes $10,000 bonuses at three hard-to-staff units.

The deal with the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn.  the union for roughly 26,000 correctional workers  comes as the state has downsized its prison system by closing two facilities and making plans to empty out at least two more.

Despite the decreasing number of prisoners and prisons, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the hope is that retention bonuses will help solve the staffing struggle.

We are experiencing challenges in recruitment similar to other law enforcement agencies, prison spokeswoman Mary Xjimenez told The Times. Our recruitment efforts are extensive and ongoing, with retention bonuses being part of our overall efforts.

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But a report published Tuesday by the California Legislative Analysts Office raised concerns about some portions of the proposed agreement, and said data do not clearly support the claim that the state has had any serious problems attracting staff.

Glen Stailey, the union's president, did not directly respond to an inquiry about the state analysis, but said that contract discussions are going smoothly.

We have reached a tentative agreement that will first go through our internal process before we comment publicly about the substance of it, he said.

Read more: Appeals court rules lawsuit by family of San Quentin guard who died of COVID-19 can proceed

The union has to formally approve the contract to make it final, as do the Legislature and the governor. The state Senate budget committee already approved it last week

Gov. Gavin Newsom 's office, which was responsible for the negotiations that led to the tentative agreement now on the table, referred questions to the states Department of Human Resources, which said it does not comment on pending labor negotiations.

Aside from offering $10,000 bonuses to staff at three units  Salinas Valley State Prison in Monterey County, California State Prison in Sacramento and R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego  the tentative contract would also include $5,000 payments for new workers who relocate or commute more than 50 miles to work at any of 13 targeted facilities.

The agreement, first reported by CalMatters , also includes a 3% salary hike both this year and next, which will cost the state an additional $259 million each year. Some workers could get $100 more per month for having a college degree or speaking a second language, or $200 per month for having a commercial drivers license.

Other perks include two $1,200 payments to support employee health and well-being, and a new employer-funded 401(k) plan in addition to the existing pension plan.

Though the two-year agreement would take effect retroactively beginning last month, the state's $1-billion cost estimate is spread out over a three-year period to account for spending that would extend beyond the life of the contract.

The proposal comes months after the California Department of Human Resources released its 2022 pay study , which found that prison employees across the state earn about 23% less than jail deputies in Californias six largest sheriffs departments.

But Tuesdays assessment from the Legislative Analysts Office, the states nonpartisan fiscal advisor, pushed back on that finding, saying the analysis was based on flawed methodology.

The analysis found that the pay study didnt take into account overtime earnings that made up roughly 24% of prison workers gross regular pay last year. And the six sheriffs departments that served as points of comparison were not representative because they were all in large counties with particularly high costs of living.

More than 50 percent of state correctional officers are employed in lower-cost inland areas, the report said. It recommended that the Legislature not use this study to evaluate whether or not the states compensation for correctional officers is appropriate.

Read more: L.A. County says phone calls will be free in all its jails by Dec. 1

The report also challenged the idea that the states prisons are having problems recruiting and retaining corrections officers. Despite a recent increase, data showed, the corrections department's vacancy rate is still lower today than it was a decade ago, decreasing from 14.5% in January 2014 to 12.9% in July 2023. And from 2013 through last year, the report said, the prison system turned away more than 90% of qualified applicants.

The high level of interest in the job despite its challenging working conditions likely reflects that, compared with other jobs that have similar education requirements, the state provides correctional officers competitive salaries and benefits as well as job security, the report said, noting that it appeared turnover had increased slightly over the past few years.

The report also raised concerns about some details of the contract, noting that the $1,200 health and well-being payments  estimated to cost around $59 million total  do not include any requirement that the money be used for that purpose.

Additionally, the report said, the creation of an employer-funded 401(k) plan would reflect a major policy shift, expanding the retirement benefits beyond what is already among the most generous pensions for state employees.

Aside from financial concerns, the analysts office criticized the Newsom administrations last-minute delivery of contract proposals for several bargaining units. The governor's office gave budget committees only three days to review thousands of pages of documents before needing to plan hearings, the report said.

Prison reform advocates have criticized the high-priced proposal, too. Alesha Monteiro, the statewide policy coordinator for Californians United for a Responsible Budget, a coalition focused on shifting spending away from police and prisons, said the prison guard union "wields outsized political power" compared to other other labor groups.

It's disheartening to hear about guards receiving bonuses while stories of mistreatment, abuse and neglect within California prisons regularly surface," Monteiro said. "All the while other state employees continue to face financial struggles and fight over the crumbs CDCR leaves behind.

Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
(FOX40.COM)  The California Senate will soon have a new leader after the Democratic caucus unanimously voted for Northern California Senator Mike McGuire to be the next Senate President Pro Tempore.

McGuire has served in the legislature since 2014, representing a rural district that stretches along the coast from just north of San Francisco to the California-Oregon border.

I feel incredibly honored, McGuire said.

Senate candidates visit Stockton to support Rep. Josh Harder reelection campaign

The President Pro Tempore presides over the upper house, helps set the agenda and works directly with assembly leaders and the governor on key legislation, including the budget.

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McGuire will take over the position from Senator Toni Atkins , who has been in the position for the last five years.

Atkins will remain in the role through the fall as legislators push to get their bills to the governors desk ahead of the mid-September deadline.

One of the most effective leaders in California state history is our current President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, McGuire said. I know I have big shoes to fill. 

Sen. Steven Bradford discusses first bill related to CA Reparations effort

It was never my intention to serve until 2024, Atkins said. I think that is unrealistic, a disservice. When you care about something so much you want to pass the torch to someone you know is going to care equally and the job as diligently, I know that with absolutely with Senator McGuire.

The reason for the change in leadership is not clear but comes just months after a fractured Assembly Democratic caucus voted in Robert Rivas to replace longtime speaker Anthony Rendon as the leader of that body.

Both Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Republican Senate Minority Leader expressed their congratulations to McGuire and said they look forward to working with him.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
The union representing California state scientists will vote on whether they want to authorize a strike, should the state and the union reach an impasse at the table. The vote marks an escalation of a nearly three-year contract fight that saw scientists reject an offer from the state earlier this year.

The California Association of Professional Scientists, which represents roughly 5,300 rank-and-file and managerial level scientists in state government, announced its strike authorization vote Tuesday after the board of directors unanimously approved it over the weekend.

The scientists are seeking raises of 30% to 40% to address what they say are longtime pay disparities within their unit and between their counterparts in engineering positions. The union argues that its members are performing similar work to the engineers yet receive significantly less pay.

The CAPS Board of Directors and CAPS Bargaining Team urge all CAPS members to vote YES to authorize a strike, the union wrote in its update to members. Bargaining team chair Jacqueline Tkac did not immediately respond to a phone call and text message seeking comment.

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The authorization vote does not mean that the union is calling for a strike. Instead, the vote would give the union authority to initiate a work stoppage if the union and the state cant come to an agreement at the table and declare an impasse. Only CAPS members can participate in the authorization vote, which began Tuesday and will continue through 8 a.m. Friday. Nonmembers who wish to vote must sign up for membership before Thursday, according to the union update.

More than 50 legislators signed on to a letter of support last week calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Human Resources to quickly reach a deal with CAPS. The letter was spearheaded by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, D-Inglewood, who chairs the Assemblys Public Employment and Retirement committee.

McKinnor is also carrying a bill, AB 1677, that would commission the UC Berkeley Labor Center to conduct a salary study of the scientists bargaining unit. That bill is currently on the Senate Appropriations suspense file, where bills are screened for their potential fiscal impact. Frequently, lawmakers use the suspense file as a tool to kill or quietly amend bills before sending them to the floor.
Chinese vice premier meets U.S. commerce secretary in Beijing

Xinhua) 09:20, August 30, 2023

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng meets with visiting U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with visiting U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Beijing on Tuesday.

The two sides had candid, pragmatic and constructive discussions over implementing the important consensus reached at the Bali meeting between the two countries' heads of state, as well as economic and trade issues of common concern.

The Chinese side expressed its concerns over measures taken by the United States, such as Section 301 tariffs, export controls against China and two-way investment restrictions.

The two sides agreed to continue to maintain communication and support enterprises of the two countries in carrying out pragmatic cooperation.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng meets with visiting U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Photo: Korean Central News Agency

North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, hours after the U.S. flew at least one long-range bomber to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against the North.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missiles were launched late Wednesday evening from North Korea's capital region.

It said South Koreas military boosted its surveillance posture and maintained its readiness in close coordination with the United States.

Japans Defense Ministry also announced that North Korea fired at least one suspected ballistic missile.

Earlier Wednesday, the United States flew a B-1B bomber to the Korean Peninsula as part of field exercises with South Korea. The field training is being held on the sidelines of an ongoing annual U.S.-South Korean computer-simulated command post exercise called Ulchi Freedom Shield" that began Aug. 21.

North Korea views U.S.-South Korean military drills as an invasion rehearsal.

North Korea is sensitive to the deployment of U.S. B-1B bombers, which are capable of carrying a large payload of conventional weapons.

Wednesday's B-1B deployment is the 10th flyover by U.S. bombers on the Korean Peninsula this year.

South Koreas Defense Ministry said the bomber took part in aerial drills with other U.S. and South Korean warplanes in waters off the Korean Peninsulas west coast. It said the drills demonstrated the countries' combined defense posture and the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea.

North Koreas state media said Tuesday that leader Kim Jong Un called for the military to be constantly ready for combat to thwart plans by its rivals to invade. Also Tuesday, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan mobilized naval destroyers for a trilateral missile defense exercise off South Korea's southern Jeju island.

Kim said in a speech marking the countrys Navy Day on Monday that the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been made unstable with the danger of a nuclear war because of U.S.-led hostilities, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Since the beginning of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 weapons tests, many of them involving nuclear-capable missiles designed to strike the U.S., South Korea and Japan. Many experts say North Korea ultimately wants to use its increased military capabilities to wrest greater concessions from the U.S.

North Koreas testing spree has caused the U.S. and South Korea to expand their drills, resume trilateral training involving Japan, and enhance regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets at the Korean Peninsula. In July, the United States deployed a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in four decades.
[Source]

California could soon become the first state in the country to officially ban caste discrimination.

Moving forward: Sen. Aisha Wahab s (D-CA) anti-caste discrimination bill, Senate Bill 403, received an overwhelming 50-3 vote during Mondays state assembly and is now being returned for a re-vote before Gov. Gavin Newsom signs the new bill into law. The latest move came months after Seattle became the first city in the country to ban caste discrimination.

Her reaction: In a statement on Monday, Wahab, who is the first Muslim and Afghan American elected to the state legislature, thanked those who supported and voted for the bill, including the numerous civil rights organizations, legal organizations, and bar associations across the state and nation.

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We are protecting people from a long-standing form of discrimination with SB 403, Wahab continued.

More from NextShark: Miss 2022? Buy last years air online from Japan

The bills history: Wahab first introduced SB 403 to the California Senate on March 22. In a statement in May, after the bill received a vote of 34-1, Wahab explained that this bill is about workers rights, womens rights, and civil rights. This bill is about ensuring the American Dream is accessible to all those who pursue it.

About the bill: SB 403 aims to add caste as a protected category under Californias Unruh Civil Rights Act and fair housing and employment laws.

Opposing the bill: Wahabs SB 403 reportedly saw strong opposition throughout its process, including those who sought to remove the word caste from the bill, or the bill itself.

More from NextShark: China Successfully Brings Back World's First Lunar Samples in 40 Years

The California senator eventually removed the bills background information on South Asia and the caste system in July after Assembly members Alex Lee and Evan Low requested the Assembly Judiciary Committee include caste under the ancestry subcategory of the state Unruh Civil Rights Act in June.

The oppositions reason: Pushpita Prasad, a board member of the Coalition of Hindus in North America, said in July that the bill stereotypes and profiles one community based on something we cant control, which is our birth.

So, we really ask our legislators to reject it, and to really stop platforming hate against a minority community.

More from NextShark: Recalled San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin announces he won't run for reelection this year

About the system: The caste system had been practiced for centuries before it was outlawed in 1949. As one of the worlds oldest forms of social stratification, the caste system is divided into four categories: the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Outside of those four were the achhoots or the Dalits, formerly known as the untouchables.

Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark!

Former Chicago graduate student found guilty of spying for China
Canada is issuing advice to LGBT+ travellers who are considering trips to the US, urging them to assess the potential impact of recently enacted laws in certain states.

Within Canadas travel advisory for the US, there is now a warning specifically directed at LGBT+ individuals.

Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect [LGBT+] persons, the advisory from Ottawa said on Tuesday. Check relevant state and local laws.

Canadas deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland said the new advice was issued on behalf of experts who look carefully around the world and monitor whether there are particular dangers to particular groups of Canadians.

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The inclusion of local laws such as Floridas so-called Dont Say Gay bill has raised concerns about the potential infringement on the rights of the LGBT+ community within the US.

Such developments possibly prompted Ottawas decision to issue the advisory.

The advisory, however, does not name any particular states.

The US State Department said the government was committed to promoting tolerance, inclusion, justice, and dignity and to advancing the rights of the LGBT+ community.

Every Canadian government... needs to put at the centre of everything we do the interest and the safety of every single Canadian and every single group of Canadians. Thats what were doing now, Ms Freeland told the media.

The US stands as the first travel choice for Canadians, with a considerable 2.8 million trips from residents in June alone.

Notably, approximately 1 million individuals, constituting 4 per cent of the Canadian population aged 15 years and above, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or with a sexual orientation differing from heterosexuality, as indicated by official data from the previous year.

Additional reporting by agencies
A Fayetteville man is being sought by police after weapons and drugs were found a vehicle spotted speeding through a school zone on Wednesday. the Fayetteville Police Department said in a release.

Warrants have been issued for Kelvin LeBruce Grate, 19, charging him with felony fleeing to elude arrest and felony maintaining a vehicle for the storage and sale of illegal substances, a news release from the Fayetteville Police Department said.

According to police, at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, officers spotted a vehicle speeding 51 mph in a 25 mph school zone on Ireland Drive. When officers attempted to stop the vehicle, it fled, and struck another vehicle on Raeford Road before being abandoned at a nearby apartment complex, Officer Alexandria Pecia said.

A search of the abandoned vehicle, police said, led to the seizure of two handguns, 337 grams of marijuana and 226 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, the release said.

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Police said that Grate was identified as the driver of the vehicle.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Crimestoppers at 910-483-8477. Anonymous tips can also be submitted electronically by visiting http://fay-nccrimestoppers.org or by downloading the free P3 Tips app available on your device's app store.

Public Safety Reporter Joseph Pierre can be reached at jpierre@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Car speeding through Fayetteville school zone contained weapons and drugs
WASHINGTON  As the Supreme Court was putting the finishing touches on the final opinions of the last term, Chief Justice John Roberts told an audience in May that the ethics scandals swirling around the court were an "issue of concern" and that the justices were "continuing to look at things" to address the problem.

Since then, the ethics concerns have only worsened, and Roberts has remained silent. As attention shifts to a new term that begins this fall, some Supreme Court watchers have grown pessimistic that anything will change.

"Chances of something actually happening, I would say, are zero with no rounding error," quipped Steven Lubet, an emeritus law professor at Northwestern University who has supported tighter ethical standards at the high court for decades. "I think if it was going to happen, it would have happened."

The other seven: Flowers from Oprah, travel to Italy: Here's what Supreme Court's new disclosures reveal

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The debate over Supreme Court ethics may gain new attention in coming days as annual financial disclosure reports for Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are released. Thomas, in particular, has been at the center of controversy involving private jet travel and luxury vacations paid for by a Republican megadonor.

Those disclosures for 2022 could provide new insight  and open new questions  about gifts offered to the justices. Thomas and Alito are the only two releasing financial details now because they were granted an extension to file their reports. It's not clear whether Thomas will submit amended disclosures for past years covering the previously unreported travel that has been the focus of controversy.

Chief Justice John Roberts speaks as he receives the Henry J. Friendly Medal in Washington on May 23, 2023.

What does seem clear, based on statements from the justices over the summer, is that there is little to no agreement on how to proceed. Congress, meanwhile, is unlikely for now to approve legislation Senate Democrats are pushing that would require a code of ethics at the court. Republican lawmakers have balked at the idea.

Poll: Half of Americans don't trust Supreme Court

Faith in the court has tanked in recent years. An Ipsos poll this week found that half of Americans have little or no trust in the justices and that faith in the Supreme Court has slipped below that of other legal institutions, including juries, local police and state judges. Only corporate attorneys fared markedly worse than the high court.

Roberts didn't respond to questions about what, if any, progress had been made since his remarks this year.

"The Supreme Court has failed to rise to the occasion by refusing to do anything of substance to address the growing concern Americans have about its integrity," said Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, which advocates for stricter ethical standards. "I'm putting my hopes in Congress and the potential for future bipartisan support.

There was bipartisan interest in ethics changes at the Supreme Court in the past. But the fight has recently devolved into a partisan one, with Republican lawmakers accusing Democrats of hammering the issue as a way to undermine a court where conservatives hold a 6-3 advantage.

'Dead as fried chicken': Senate panel approves Supreme Court ethics measure

Roberts, as always, chose his words on the question carefully in May as he accepted an award in Washington.

"I want to assure people that I am committed to making certain we as a court adhere to highest standards of conduct," Roberts said at an American Law Institute dinner. "We are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment."

Since then, the court has declined to provide clarity on what Roberts meant by "things we can do."

Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett speaks during the Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, in Lake Geneva, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) ORG XMIT: WIMG113

Private jets paid for by mega-donors and a hedge fund billionaires

At the time of Roberts' speech, Thomas was under pressure after a series of stories in ProPublica that revealed private jet trips and luxury yacht travel he had accepted from Harlan Crow. The GOP megadonor also purchased property from Thomas and his family  none of which was reported on required annual disclosure forms.

Nearly a month later, Alito acknowledged that he flew to Alaska for a fishing trip on a private jet in 2008 that belonged to a hedge fund manager who repeatedly brought cases before the high court. Weeks later, The Associated Press reported that aides to Justice Sonia Sotomayor pressed colleges and a library to order copies of books she had authored in connection with public speaking events.

Alito and Thomas have brushed aside the reports, saying they weren't required to disclose their travel because of a hospitality exemption to the reporting rules. And in an op-ed this year in The Wall Street Journal, Alito said he had no obligation to recuse himself from cases involving the hedge fund billionaire who paid for the travel.

Roberts doesnt have the power to impose ethical standards on his own, and there are signs that there isn't unanimous support for change among his colleagues. Speaking earlier this month in Portland, Oregon, Justice Elena Kagan said that "the nine of us have a variety of views about this  as about most things."

"It's a hard thing to get as much consensus as you can in the way that we like to do," Kagan said, "but I hope that we will make some progress in this area of the kind that the chief justice talked about."

FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court is seen, July 13, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File) ORG XMIT: WX102

Thomas, Alito financial reports: Will they shed new light?

Speaking on Monday, Justice Amy Coney Barrett said she welcomed scrutiny of the court, according to several media accounts, but she did not discuss the ethics controversies directly.

"Justices and all judges are public figures, and public criticism kind of comes with the job," she said.

Barrett and the rest of the bench filed their financial disclosures in mid-May, but Alito and Thomas sought extensions until mid-August. As they have in the past, the first batch of disclosures showed that several of the justices were reimbursed for travel to Europe or received outside income for teaching at law schools in 2022  arrangements that also have come under scrutiny.

Advocates for greater transparency at the court said the reports are far from perfect, in part because it's unclear how closely they're being scrutinized internally for consistency with disclosure requirements in the law. Several of the justices have claimed that the law setting up the disclosures does not apply to the Supreme Court  because it is a separate branch of government  and that they are submitting the information voluntarily.

"How is that an ethics system? You can't have a system of ethics that relies on self policing," said Delaney Marsco, senior legal counsel for ethics at the Campaign Legal Center. "Other branches of government, to be clear, are not perfect  but they are miles ahead of the Supreme Court."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court mum on ethics months after Clarence Thomas travel flap
Theres no shortage of good food in Charlotte, but sometimes you have to go big. A wedding proposal or milestone anniversary, a notable birthday, promotion or other special occasion calls for restaurant reservations that offer something special.

So we set out to find some of the most indulgent and extravagant food and drink options that the city has to offer. Now, were dreaming of caviar and champagne, steak and seafood  and a whole lot more  at some of Charlottes top restaurants.

Heres what we found for luxury meal options in Charlotte:

Location: 2001 W Morehead St., Suite D, Charlotte, NC 28208

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Get adventurous at Counter-, the tasting restaurant that earned chef/owner Sam Hart a finalist spot at the James Beard Awards for Best Chef: Southeast. The restaurant doesnt release its dishes in advance. Instead, it pairs 10- and 14- course menus with a theme that creates a storyline featuring music and art for a sensory experience.

Cost: $175 for the 10-course tasting meal; $235 for the 14-course dinner.

Counter- uses fine dining to tell a story, reaching all your senses.

Location: 305 W 4th St, Charlotte, NC 28202

While its not atop highest price points for dinner in Charlotte, its unlikely youll find another restaurant in town with as many options for blinged-out, gold-laden food as youll find at Deluxe Fun Dining. Its Marinated Australian Lamb Chops come wrapped in edible 18K gold leaf, accompanied by baby potatoes, rice and vegetables, marinated red onion, Ajvar Sauce and flatbread. You can also get a gold-coated lobster tail or chicken wings at brunch, a gold Tomahawk steak or cocktails with gold adornments.

Cost: $56 for the lamb chops  and you can add on a 6 ounce lobster tail for $25.

Deluxe Fun Dinings gold-wrapped Australian Lamb chops.

Location: Ballantyne Village, 14819 Ballantyne Village Way Charlotte, NC 28277

Steak is a classic celebration dinner, and the reigning champion of the dish in Charlotte is Hestia Rooftop with its Wagyu Supreme Tomahawk, which is dry aged for 45 days. Let me quote myself from an earlier story and note: It is melt-in-your mouth tender, and it is exquisite.

Cost: $399, and it must be ordered ahead when you make reservations.

Executive chef Dustin Hildebrandt cooks the Wagyu Supreme Tomahawk tableside at Hestia Rooftop.

Location: 300 S Tryon St Suite 100, Charlotte, NC 28202

Poultry lovers looking to switch things up can get an extravagant experience at La Belle Helene. The French restaurants Duck A LOrange For Two comes with roasted marbled potatoes, haricot verts and sauce bigarade.

Cost: $81

La Belle Helenes Duck A LOrange For Two.

Location: 2907 Providence Rd STE 101, Charlotte, NC 28211

Omakase  which means leave it up to the chef  is all about luxury. Omakase Experince by Prime Fishs version involves 16 courses of small plates and seasonal nigiri. The chef prepares the dishes right in front of you using fish imported directly from Toyosu Fish Market in Tokyo, in an interactive and intimate environment. Sake pairings are available for each course, as well.

Cost: $300 per person, paid during the reservation process, plus beverage, tax and gratuity

Location: 19918 N Cove Rd, Cornelius, NC 28031

What says indulgence like Champagne? On Thursday nights, Peninsula Prime offers Champagne flights so you can up your game with a bubbly tasting. Each option features three 4 ounce glasses that are equivalent to two full glasses.

Theres three tiers to choose from: Piper, Moet and Veuve; the Charles Gardet trio from Reims, France;. and the JayZ flight featuring Roederer, Ace of Spades and Cristal for $295.

Cost: The Piper, Moet and Veuve flight is $75; the Charles Gardet trio is $100; and the JayZ flight is $295.

READ NEXT: If youre looking for a great meal in Charlotte, head to  the suburbs?

Location: 129 East 5th St., Charlotte, NC 28202

A seafood tower can glam up any occasion  especially when its an all-out deluxe version. At Sea Level, The Truist Tower includes a chefs selection of 24 oysters, 12 mussels, 10 raw clams, shrimp cocktail, seasonal ceviche, salmon poke, Maine lobster and Marshallburg Farm caviar.

Cost: $175

The Truist Tower at Sea Level includes a chefs selection of 24 oysters, 12 mussels, 10 raw clams, shrimp cocktail, seasonal ceviche, salmon poke, Maine lobster and Marshallburg Farm caviar.

Location: 4425 Sharon Rd, Charlotte, NC 28211

Steak 48 has racked up the accolades for its fine dining atmosphere, including being named North Carolinas top-rated steakhouse by Yelp. So its not a surprise that there would be a few luxe options. Well call out what must surely be the most extravagant side dish in town  the Alaskan King Crab & Rock Shrimp Mac & Cheese, made with provel, romano, parmesan and a touch of Velveeta, along with herb butter.

Cost: $46

Steak 48s Alaskan King Crab & Rock Shrimp Mac & Cheese.

Location: 1212 The Plaza, Charlotte NC, 28205

Put some bling on your brunch or dress up your dinner with a caviar spread. Supperlands Osetra Caviar can be ordered as an an add-on la carte item during brunch service, at dinner and at the bar. Pick the traditional or classic options, each paired with blinis, creme fraiche, egg salad and chives.

Cost: Brunch buffet is $65/person, plus tax & gratuity, and dinner service is a la carte. Adding on Traditional Osetra Caviar is $89, while the Classic Osetra Caviar is $146.

Supperlands Osetra Caviar comes in two options  traditional or classic  and is paired with blinis, creme fraiche, egg salad and chives.

Now that weve told you how to spend big money on dining, its all about balance: Check out our guides on cheap eats below:
Social media companies have been pilloried by Republicans for taking down content or suspending accounts, or simply for restricting the spread of some information.

But the Supreme Court is set to hear a pair of cases in its next term  NetChoice v. Moody and NetChoice v. Paxton  that could undercut the GOPs complaints.

Despite its conservative majority, the Supreme Court could find that social media companies have free speech rights too. If so, it would rule that when the platforms restrict, fact-check or take down content, this is constitutionally protected speech and the government cannot interfere, which is the view of many legal experts.

The ruling will be momentous, wrote Clay Calvert, a First Amendment expert at the American Enterprise Institute.

How we got here

This issue has been winding its way toward the Supreme Court for a few years, after Republican-controlled state legislatures in Florida and Texas tried to crack down on social media companies in 2021, following the suspension of then-President Donald Trump from Facebook and Twitter in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

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In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill in May 2021 that prevented major social media companies from suspending or deleting the accounts of politicians in the state. Companies were also barred from restricting the spread of information by or about politicians.

If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently, to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable, DeSantis said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a campaign stop in Dyersville, Iowa, on Aug. 24. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)

A federal court in Florida blocked the Florida law on First Amendment grounds. But a few months later, Republicans in Texas passed a similar law. GOP Gov. Greg Abbott said the law protects Texans from wrongful social media censorship.

As in Florida, a federal court rejected the Texas law. Social media platforms have a First Amendment right to moderate content disseminated on their platforms, the judge wrote.

But then, in federal appeals courts, the two laws took different paths. The Florida law was rejected by the 11th Circuit, but the Texas law was upheld by the Fifth Circuit. The platforms are not newspapers. Their censorship is not speech, wrote Fifth Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham.

The Supreme Court put off hearing the two cases this past year and asked the Biden administration to weigh in. Two weeks ago Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar did so, arguing that the platforms content-moderation activities are protected by the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court is now likely to grant a hearing for the two cases, which it would announce this fall.

The Supreme Court justices gather for a group portrait in October 2022. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Are social media companies censoring conservatives?

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio is one of the Republican Partys top voices for the claim that the Biden administration has censored conservatives.

The Biden [administration] abused its powers to coerce Facebook into censoring Americans, Jordan claimed recently.

Jordan has often cited a ruling in Louisiana on July 4 by federal Judge Terry Doughty, who decried what he described as a federal regime of mass censorship targeted at conservatives.

Critics say Doughtys ruling combines, or conflates, two issues: the decisions by social media companies to leave up, take down or restrict information, and attempts by government officials to persuade these companies to do so.

Read more from Yahoo News: GOP claims government coerced Facebook to take down content

Doughty found that Biden officials coerced the social media companies to remove or restrict information they didnt like, much of it related to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Coercion  which, in this sense, means the government threatened retaliation if its requests to social media were not met  is against the law.

The same Fifth Circuit that upheld the Texas law will determine whether the Biden officials were engaged in coercion, and that issue may also head to the Supreme Court.

Rep. Jim Jordan at a hearing on July 26. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)

But the social media companies can  and, under the First Amendment, must  decide for themselves what their rules are and how to enforce them, conservative attorney Paul Clement argued for the companies.

Just as the government cannot compel a newspaper to run content, it cannot ... compel a private parade organizer to include a group whose values it does not share, Clement wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court.

Those principles equally apply to a private social media companys editorial judgment about what content to disseminate (or not to disseminate) via its website, applications, and online services.

Tech companies hopeful the Supreme Court rules in their favor

Nicole Saad Bembridge, an attorney for the internet companies trade association NetChoice, told Yahoo News that a Supreme Court ruling in July  which upheld a web designers right to refuse to design a website for a gay couples wedding, on free speech grounds  was helpful foreshadowing for how the court might rule in support of the social media companies.

And Calvert, the First Amendment expert, argued that a ruling supporting the independence of the social media companies would do a lot to solve the problem of government officials trying to lean on them, as both the Biden and Trump administrations have done.

It would  perhaps, ironically  finally give social media platforms solid legal precedent to forcefully push back on requests from government officials to take down content they dont like, Calvert wrote.
The anger and frustration on UNC-Chapel Hills campus was palpable Wednesday as hundreds of students demanded during a rally that lawmakers address gun violence across North Carolina and the rest of the country.

Holding up a large banner that read, This is our reality, students from different groups, including March For Our Lives and Students Demand Action, took turns talking about the fear and panic they and their friends felt on Monday as the entire university went on lockdown while police searched for an armed man.

In a matter of seconds, we went from taking notes, walking in the quad, being at home, to being forced to run, barricade the doors; theres nothing normal about returning to school tomorrow, said Kyle Lumsden, a volunteer with UNC Students Demand Action. Theres nothing normal about hearing from people, Thoughts and prayers, and the continuous idea that we cannot prevent these tragedies.

The lockdown that students, faculty and staff were forced into Monday ended after authorities arrested Tailei Qi, a 34-year-old graduate student at UNCs Department of Applied Physical Sciences, later charging him with shooting and killing his faculty adviser, Zijie Yan.

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Just over 48 hours later, the university is preparing to return to normal operations. Classes are set to resume on Thursday. Before that, UNC will hold a vigil on Wednesday night for Yan, an associate professor who joined the faculty in 2019. Another vigil was held for Yan on Tuesday.

Outside UNCs South Building on Wednesday, the large crowd that had gathered said Yans name to remember the professor, who has been described by colleagues as an enthusiastic scientist and an outgoing, kind friend.

Several students who spoke at the rally lamented the fact that for many of them, the fear of an active shooter situation was nothing new.

Our entire lives, as a generation, weve been told to run, hide and fight, said David Hogg, a survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that claimed 17 lives in 2018.

Hogg, who co-founded the group March For Our Lives in response to the Parkland shooting, asked those in the crowd to raise their hands if they had heard those instructions while growing up in school.

Several students raised their hands.

Weve asked for too long, and waited for too long to make this change, and we have to be that change, Hogg said, adding that it was time for more young people that have grown up intimately aware of the danger of mass shootings and other gun violence to get involved in the political process and run for office themselves.

If they wont change the gun laws here in North Carolina, guess what, its time to change the government, Hogg said.

We need to refuse to hide from the responsibility that we have to protect future generations, Hogg added. We need to refuse to listen to the people that say to us, Oh, youre too emotional to be talking right now, what happened just happened one time, when this happens every single day in America.
Questions about ChatGPT-maker OpenAI's ability to comply with European privacy rules are in the frame again after a detailed complaint was filed with the Polish data protection authority yesterday.

The complaint, which TechCrunch has reviewed, alleges the U.S. based AI giant is in breach of the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) -- across a sweep of dimensions: Lawful basis, transparency, fairness, data access rights, and privacy by design are all areas it argues OpenAI is infringing EU privacy rules. (Aka, Articles 5(1)(a), 12, 15, 16 and 25(1) of the GDPR).

Indeed, the complaint frames the novel generative AI technology and its maker's approach to developing and operating the viral tool as essentially a systematic breach of the pan-EU regime. Another suggestion, therefore, is that OpenAI has overlooked another requirement in the GDPR to undertake prior consultation with regulators (Article 36) -- since, if it had conducted a proactive assessment which identified high risks to people's rights unless mitigating measures were applied it should have given pause for thought. Yet OpenAI apparently rolled ahead and launched ChatGPT in Europe without engaging with local regulators which could have ensured it avoided falling foul of the bloc's privacy rulebook.

This is not the first GDPR concern lobbed in ChatGPT's direction, of course. Italy's privacy watchdog, the Garante, generated headlines earlier this year after it ordered OpenAI to stop processing data locally -- directing the US-based company to tackle a preliminary list of problems it identified in areas including lawful basis, information disclosures, user controls and child safety.

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ChatGPT was able to resume offering a service in Italy fairly quickly after it tweaked its presentation. But the Italian DPA's investigation continues and it remains to be seen what compliance conclusions may emerge once that assessment has been completed. Other EU DPAs are also probing ChatGPT. While, in April, the bloc's data protection authorities formed a task force, via the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), to collectively consider how they should approach regulating the fast-developing tech.

That effort is ongoing -- and it's by no means certain a harmonized approach to oversight of ChatGPT and other AI chatbots will emerge -- but, whatever happens there, the GDPR is still law and still in force. So anyone in the EU who feels their rights are being trampled by Big AI grabbing their data for training models that may spit out falsities about them can raise concerns with their local DPA and press for regulators to investigate, as is happening here.

OpenAI is not main established in any EU Member State for the purpose of GDPR oversight, which means it remains exposed to regulatory risk in this area across the bloc. So could face outreach from DPAs acting on complaints from individuals anywhere in the bloc.

Confirmed violations of the GDPR, meanwhile, can attract penalties as high as 4% of global annual turnover. DPAs' corrective orders may also end up reworking how technologies function if they wish to continue operating inside the bloc.

Complaint of unlawful processing for AI training

The 17-page complaint filed yesterday with the Polish DPA is the work of Lukasz Olejnik, a security and privacy researcher, who is being represented for the complaint by Warsaw-based law firm, GP Partners.

Olejnik tells TechCrunch he became concerned after he used ChatGPT to generate a biography of himself and found it produced a text that contained some errors. He sought to contact OpenAI, towards the end of March, to point out the errors and ask for the inaccurate information about him to be corrected. He also asked it to provide him with a bundle of information that the GDPR empowers individuals to get from entities processing their data when the information has been obtained from somewhere other than themselves, as was the case here.

Per the complaint, a series of email exchanges took place between Olejnik and OpenAI between March and June of this year. And while OpenAI responded by providing some information in response to the Subject Access Request (SAR) Olejnik's complaint argues it failed to produce all the information it must under the law -- including, notably, omitting information about its processing of personal data for AI model training.

Under the GDPR, for personal data processing to be lawful the data controller needs a valid legal basis -- which must be transparently communicated. So obfuscation is not a good compliance strategy. Also indeed because the regulation attaches the principle of fairness to the lawfulness of processing, which means anyone playing tricks to try to conceal the true extent of personal data processing is going to fall foul of the law too.

Olejnik's complaint therefore asserts OpenAI breached Article 5(1)(a). Or, more simply, he argues the company processed his data "unlawfully, unfairly, and in a non-transparent manner". "From the facts of the case, it appears that OpenAI systemically ignores the provisions of the GDPR regarding the processing of data for the purposes of training models within ChatGPT, a result of which, among other things, was that Mr. ukasz Olejnik was not properly informed about the processing of his personal data," the complaint notes.

It also accuses OpenAI of acting in an "untrustworthy, dishonest, and perhaps unconscientious manner" by failing to be able to comprehensively detail how it has processed people's data.

"Although OpenAI indicates that the data used to train the [AI] models includes personal data, OpenAI does not actually provide any information about the processing operations involving this data. OpenAI thus violates a fundamental element of the right under Article 15 GDPR, i.e., the obligation to confirm that personal data is being processed," runs another relevant chunk of the complaint (which has been translated into English from Polish using machine translation).

"Notably, OpenAI did not include the processing of personal data in connection with model training in the information on categories of personal data or categories of data recipients. Providing a copy of the data also did not include personal data processed for training language models. As it seems, the fact of processing personal data for model training OpenAI hides or at least camouflages intentionally. This is also apparent from OpenAI's Privacy Policy, which omits in the substantive part the processes involved in processing personal data for training language models.

"OpenAI reports that it does not use so-called 'training' data to identify individuals or remember their information, and is working to reduce the amount of personal data processed in the 'training' dataset. Although these mechanisms positively affect the level of protection of personal data and comply with the principle of minimization (Article 5(1)(c) of the GDPR), their application does not change the fact that 'training' data are processed and include personal data. The provisions of GDPR apply to the processing operations of such data, including the obligation to grant the data subject access to the data and provide the information indicated in Article 15(1) of GDPR."

It's a matter of record that OpenAI did not ask individuals whose personal data it may have processed as training data when it was developing its AI chatbot for their permission to use their information for that -- nor did it inform the likely millions (or even billions) of people whose information it ingested in order to develop a commercial generative AI tool -- which likely explains its lack of transparency when asked to produce information about this aspect of its data processing operations via Olejnik's SAR.

However, as noted above, the GDPR requires not only a lawful basis for processing people's data but transparency and fairness vis-a-vis any such operations. So OpenAI appears to have got itself into a triple bind here. Although it remains to be seen how EU regulators will act on such complaints as they weigh how to respond to generative AI chatbots.

Right to correct personal data ignored

Another aspect of Olejnik's beef with OpenAI fixes on errors ChatGPT generated about him when asked to produce a biography -- and its apparent inability to rectify these inaccuracies when asked. Instead of correcting falsehoods its tool generated about him, he says OpenAI initially responded to his ask by blocking requests made to ChatGPT that referenced him -- something he had not asked for.

Subsequently it told him it could not correct the errors. Yet the GDPR provides individuals with a right to rectification of their personal data.

"In the case of OpenAI and the processing of data to train models, this principle [rectification of personal data] is completely ignored in practice," the complaint asserts. "This is evidenced by OpenAI's response to Mr. ukasz Olejnik's request, according to which OpenAI was unable to correct the processed data. OpenAI's systemic inability to correct data is assumed by OpenAI as part of ChatGPT's operating model."

Discussing disclosures related to this aspect of its operation contained in OpenAI's privacy policy, the complaint goes on to argue: "Given the general and vague description of ChatGPT's data validity mechanisms, it is highly likely that the inability to correct data is a systemic phenomenon in OpenAI's data processing, and not just in limited cases."

It further suggests there may be "reasonable doubts about the overall compliance with data protection regulations of a tool, an essential element of which is the systemic inaccuracy of the processed data", adding: "These doubts are reinforced by the scale of ChatGPT's processed data and the scale of potential recipients of personal data, which affect the risks to rights and freedoms associated with personal data inaccuracy."

The complaint goes on to argue OpenAI "should develop and implement a data rectification mechanism based on an appropriate filter/module that would verify and correct content generated by ChatGPT (e.g., based on a database of corrected results)", suggesting: "It is reasonable in the context of the scope of the obligation to ensure data accuracy to expect OpenAI to correct at least data reported or flagged by users as incorrect."

"We believe that it is possible for OpenAI to develop adequate and GDPR-compliant mechanisms for correcting inaccurate data (it is already possible to block the generation of certain content as a result of a blockade imposed by OpenAI)," it adds. "However, if, in OpenAI's opinion, it is not possible to develop such mechanisms -- it would be necessary to consult the issue with the relevant supervisory authorities, including, for example, through the prior consultation procedure described in Article 36 of GDPR."

Data protection incompatibility by design?

The complaint also seeks to spotlight what it views as a total violation of the GDPR's principle of data protection by design and default.

"The way the ChatGPT tool was designed, taking into account also the violations described [earlier] in the complaint (in particular, the inability to exercise the right to rectify data, the omission of data processing operations for training GPT models) -- contradicts all the indicated assumptions of the principle of data protection by design," it argues. "In practice, in the case of data processing by OpenAI, there is testing of the ChatGPT tool using personal data, not in the design phase, but in the production environment (i.e., after the tool is made available to users).

"OpenAI seems to accept that the ChatGPT tool model that has been developed is simply incompatible with the provisions of GDPR, and it agrees to this state of affairs. This shows a complete disregard for the goals behind the principle of data protection by design."

We've asked OpenAI to respond to the complaint's claims that its AI chatbot violates the GDPR and also to confirm whether or not it produced a data protection impact assessment prior to launching ChatGPT.

Additionally, we've asked it to explain why it did not seek prior consultation with EU regulators to get help on how to develop such a high risk technology in a way that could have mitigated GDPR risks. At the time of writing it had not responded to our questions but we'll update this report if we get a response.

We also reached out to the Polish DPA, the UODO, about the complaint. A spokesperson for the UODO confirmed receipt of the complaint -- which they said it is now analyzing to decide on further actions. They also confirmed it is the first such complaint the authority has received regarding ChatGPT. And said they have not previously had any correspondence with OpenAI regarding ChatGPT's GDPR compliance.

"The [UODO] has been looking at generative AI tools for a long time in light of the requirements of the GDPR regarding lawful, fair and transparent processing of personal data and data access rights," the spokesperson also told us. "The authority is wondering how artificial intelligence systems should be designed in accordance with the GDPR, and how to determine the relationship between the GDPR and the [EU] AI Act. New legal regulations, such as the AI Act, which limit the impact of AI on the analysis of biometric data or human emotional states allow us to look into the future with hope.

"We expect that the AI Act will allow us to protect fundamental rights against inappropriately functioning AI algorithms. Nevertheless, at the same time, the Personal Data Protection Office is aware that due to the possibility of automatic decision-making based on data analysis, there may be a risk of inappropriate use of AI, e.g. to manipulate public opinion, spread false information or discriminate against certain social groups. These are the challenges that the [UODO] has to face. The Office also reminds that customers must be informed how their data is used and processed by AI and be able to consent to their use."

The spokesman also emphasized the importance of conducting a data protection impact assessment, stressing that "particular emphasis should be placed on DPIA". "A personal data controller who uses tools such as ChatGPT should apply a risk-based approach and conduct a data protection impact assessment before starting to process data using artificial intelligence," they added.

They further confirmed that the authority has joined the dedicated EDPB task force looking at ChatGPT's GDPR compliance, saying the effort aims to "foster cooperation and exchange information on possible enforcement actions conducted by data protection authorities regarding the ChatGPT service and provide the platform for its joint analysis on the EU level".

Discussing their own expectations for the complaint, Olejnik's lawyer, Maciej Gawronski, suggests the length of time it could take the Polish regulator to investigate could be "anything from six months to two years".

"Provided UODO confirms violation of the GDPR we would expect UODO to primarily order OpenAI to exercise Mr Olejniks rights," he told us. "In addition, as we argue that some of OpenAIs violations may be systemic, we hope the DPA will investigate the processing thoroughly and, if justified, order OpenAI to act in compliance with the GDPR so that data processing operations within ChatGPT are lawful in a more universal perspective."

Gawronski also takes the view that OpenAI has failed to apply Article 36 of the GDPR -- since it did not engage in a process of prior consultation with the UODO or any other European DPA before launching ChatGPT -- adding: "We would expect UODO to force OpenAI into engaging into a similar process now."

In another step, the complaint urges the Polish regulator to require OpenAI to submit a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) with details of its processing of personal data for purposes related to ChatGPT -- describing this document, which is a standard feature of data protection compliance in Europe, as an "important element" for assessing whether the tool is compliant with the GDPR.

For his part, Olejnik says his hope in bringing the complaint against OpenAI and ChatGPT is that he will be able to properly exercise all the GDPR rights he has found himself unable to so far.

"During this journey I felt kind of like Josef K, in kafka's The Trial," he told us. "Fortunately, in Europe there's a system in place to avoid such a feeling. I trust that the GDPR process does work!"

This report was updated with comment from the Polish data protection authority
A cyclist rides past the Amazon warehouse at Division Street and Kostner Avenue in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood on Aug. 22, 2023. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

A West Humboldt Park resident has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the opening of an Amazon facility in her neighborhood until the company goes through a public approval process.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court Tuesday by attorney Ramsin Canon on behalf of resident Maura Madden, alleges Amazons planned delivery facility at 1260 N. Kostner Ave. was improperly classified under the citys zoning code and should have gone through a special use and approval process before the citys Zoning Board of Appeals. Amazon plans to open the facility Sept. 27.

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Madden, who told the Tribune she has lived in the neighborhood for 17 years, is suing under a state law that gives people who live within 1,200 feet of a property the ability to sue in order to restrain, correct, or abate the violation (of an ordinance or ordinances), according to her lawsuit.

The complaint alleges the 140,000-square-foot facility should have been designated a freight terminal under the citys zoning code, which Madden alleges would have required Amazon to go through a special use process in front of the citys Zoning Board of Appeal.

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Defendant constructed, maintains and uses the property in a way that violates or will violate local ordinances adopted pursuant to the citys home rule zoning authority, the complaint alleges.

In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly said the company was in the process of reviewing the lawsuit.

We follow all applicable zoning laws and regulations when opening a new facility and we received our certificate of occupancy from the city of Chicago on August 4, 2023, Kelly said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Planning and Development declined to comment.

Organizer Farrah Walker, in red, speaks during a protest for action on jobs and pollution on Aug. 16, 2023, outside a new Amazon delivery station in West Humboldt Park. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

A special use process would have required the notification of residents within a certain distance of the facility, the lawsuit alleges. It would have also required the project to be approved by the zoning board.

I think as someone who literally can throw a stone from her front door and hit the side of an Amazon building, I should know whats going on, Madden said. She said she was particularly concerned about potential impacts of the facility on the respiratory health of children in the neighborhood.

The lawsuit alleges Madden was given no formal notice of the development before construction began. The complaint alleges she will suffer from unreviewed and unstudied environmental, traffic, noise, lighting, aesthetic, and other social impacts, because she lives near the building.

Its an economic opportunity for them, said Madden, who works as an executive assistant. Is it an economic opportunity for us? Whats the environmental impact? And can we actually believe anything that they say?

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The lawsuit asks Circuit Judge Anna Loftus to grant a preliminary injunction prohibiting the operation of the building as a freight terminal until Amazon receives special use permissions to do so.

West Side community groups have been attempting to wrangle concessions from Amazon over the project for around two years.

Community organizations have asked the corporation to hire 60% of its workforce for the site from West Side neighborhoods, as well as calls to pay wages of at least $28.50 an hour. Some organizers wanted Amazon to sign a community benefit agreement, which would have formalized a deal for the company to give certain benefits to the neighborhood in exchange for community support.

Amazons early plans put the building opening in late 2022. The company said early this year its opening had been delayed by supply chain issues and unspecified business reasons.

In January, protesters with the groups Get to Work and Black Workers Matter gathered outside the newly-painted facility, calling for Amazon to open it and hire locally.

Earlier this month, protesters with neighborhood groups Black Workers Matter, Get to Work and the West Humboldt Park Community Coalition gathered across the street from the building, again calling for commitments around local hiring and wages, as well as raising concerns about the environmental impact of the facility on the community.
CHEBOYGAN COUNTY  Cheboygan County Sheriff Tim Cook said he was recently approached by local resident Jim Conboy, an avid bicyclist, about teaming up and providing bike lights to riders in the county.

Jim said through the Rotary Club of Cheboygan, which he is a member, they teamed up with the League of Michigan Bicyclists (LMB) to see if Rotary could receive bike lights that we could hand out to those riding in dark conditions, Cook said in a press release.

(From left) Deputy Jon Hutchison, Jim Conboy and Lieutenant Dean Tebo.

Conboy did some research and found that the league, in partnership with the Michigan Office of Highway Safety and Planning, had a program to distribute lights free of charge.

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I see many riders, especially in the dark hours, that do not have lights on their bikes, Conboy said. Through Rotary I was able to apply and we were awarded 25 sets of lights.

Conboy said he wanted to make sure cyclists in all areas of the county had the opportunity to receive the lights. Thats when he reached out to Sheriff Cook.

I talked with the sheriff and his department took off with the lights and in two months were able to get them passed out in many areas of the county, Conboy said.

According to Cook, most of the contacts his department made with cyclists were in the morning or evening hours.

Deputies would make contact with a cyclist without lights and assist by putting the lights on the bikes, he said.

Cook added that for many of the riders, the bike was their only transportation to and from work or appointments.

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Craig Tarvis received a set of free bike lights from the Cheboygan County Sheriff's Department.

One of the recipients was Craig Tarvis, who thanked Deputy Jon Hutchison for his lights.

I appreciate that I was able to receive the lights, I use my bike a lot to get around town, he said.

According to the League of Michigan Bicyclists, 48 percent of bicyclist fatalities were reported in dark conditions.

It is an important safety program and my hope is Rotary can continue to partner with LMB and work with other departments to pass out more lights, said Conboy.

 Contact Jillian Fellows at jfellows@petoskeynews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Cheboygan County Sheriffs Department helps provide lights for cyclists
While no one quite knows how the U.S. Marine Corps became synonymous with enjoying a rainbow menagerie of waxy childrens drawing instruments, the stereotype that devil dogs eat crayons is here to stay.

Though many a veteran entrepreneur has capitalized on this trope in the form of edible variants, one company took these tasty treats boldly where no one has before: the brewery.

A few years back, New Jerseys Icarus Brewing put out a North East Imperial India Pale Ale called Drinking Crayons.

The label is written in childlike caps and dripping with melting red crayons  arguably a Marines favorite flavor. And it clocks in at an impressive 7.9% ABV, which certainly guarantees a night of barracks mayhem.

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A 12-pack of the more low key Shrinking Crayons is a 4.8% beer that retails for $25. Alas, neither are sold nationwide. Retail locations are limited to the coastal areas of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and a few outliers in New York  but perhaps its worth a trek for a few good brews.

Brewed with Domestic 2 Row, Scottish Golden Promise, Wheat Malt, Oats and Dextrin Malt. Hopped with Columbus, El Dorado, Amarillo and copiously dry hopped with Lupulin Mosaic, Lupulin Azacca, Lupulin Amarillo and Columbus. Bursting with juicy tangerine, overripe mango and sweet melon notes before landing on a lightly dank finish, reads its official description.

One reviewer on Tavour wrote, Not as waxy as Id expected, considering its drinking crayons.

Though the company doesnt appear to have distinct ties to the U.S. military, some of its other brews seem tailor-made for consumption by salty veterans who have sported the eagle, globe and anchor. Theres Liquid Swords, Life Unraveled, and Dare to be Stupid, just to name a few.

Taste the rainbow.
A defamation legal battle regarding Hans Niemann , a teenage chess prodigy, who was accused of using vibrating sex toys to cheat during a tournament in Missouri last year reached its conclusion Monday. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A defamation legal battle regarding a teenage chess prodigy accused of using vibrating sex toys to cheat during a tournament in Missouri last year reached its conclusion Monday.

Hans Niemann, 19, defeated the Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen , 31, in a chess match that led to accusations -- including from other chess grandmasters -- that he had cheated, according to a lawsuit obtained by UPI. The lawsuit was filed against Chess.com, Carlsen and others.

"Shortly after those events, Chess.com privately closed Niemann's account and published an investigative report about Hans Niemann's play," Chess.com said in a statement Monday. Chess.com, the leading platform for online gameplay, had suspended Niemann after the accusations were made.

"Since June, both sides have negotiated privately in a good-faith effort to resolve their issues and allow the chess world to move forward without further litigation. We are happy to share that all sides have reached an agreement," Chess.com said in the statement.

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The statement noted that each entity involved has its own "opinions about the events surrounding the controversy and they agree they should each be able to talk openly about their views."

A defamation legal battle regarding Hans Niemann, a teenage chess prodigy, who was accused of using vibrating sex toys to cheat during a tournament in Missouri last year reached its conclusion Monday. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Chess.com said it has fully reinstated Niemann, affirming that there has been "no determinative evidence" that he cheated in any in-person games.

The organization published a statement from Carlsen in which the grandmaster acknowledged the lack of evidence Niemann cheated in last year's Sinquefield Cup matchup.

A defamation legal battle regarding Hans Niemann, a teenage chess prodigy, who was accused of using vibrating sex toys to cheat during a tournament in Missouri last year reached its conclusion Monday. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

"I am willing to play Niemann in future events, should we be paired together," Carlsen said.

Niemann said in a statement that the lawsuit had been resolved "in a mutually acceptable manner" and said he looked forward to returning to Chess.com.

"As Hans returns to Chess.com, he will be allowed to play in any and all events, and will be treated no differently from any other player," the organization said.

"Chess.com always retains the right to open and close accounts based on our judgment, and we take that stewardship seriously."

The lawsuit also involved the American chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura who also implied in several comments on Twitch that Nieman may have had a history of online cheating.

However, it did not appear to include Canadian grandmaster Eric Hansen's Twitch feed ChessBrah, archived by Twitter users, in which he alleged that Niemann had used sex toys to cheat.

Instead, the lawsuit primarily focused on Carlsen who Niemann alleged "viciously and maliciously retaliated" against him for defeating him.

"Carlsen's unprecedented actions, coupled with his unfounded accusations, sent shock waves through the chess world and instantly thrust Niemann into the center of what is now widely reported as the single biggest chess scandal in history," the lawsuit reads.

"Due to his unparalleled stature and influence in the chess community, Carlsen knew that the public would believe his accusations of cheating against Niemann, even though Carlsen had no legitimate basis to believe Niemann actually cheated against him."

In the end, the lawsuit says, experts have concluded that Carlsen lost the match because of his particularly poor play rather than any exceptional play by Niemann.
CHICAGO  Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson joined Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday to reiterate a call for the federal government to expedite work permits for asylum-seekers in Chicago, adding urgency to his message by emphasizing the city would be unable to support ongoing additions to a migrant population that already totals more than 13,000 if changes arent made.

Let me state this clearly: The city of Chicago cannot go on welcoming new arrivals safely and capably without significant support and immigration policy changes, Johnson said during a news conference at the Illinois Restaurant Associations Loop headquarters. This change would be a commonsense measure that would provide greater opportunities for (new) arrivals, immigrants, to build their lives here in the state of Illinois.

It was the first time since taking office in May that Johnson rang the alarm on the city potentially reaching the end of its runway for supporting asylum-seekers should the federal government not act soon.

On the eve of the anniversary of the initial migrants arriving in Chicago by bus from Texas, Pritzker and Johnson were joined by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and other Democratic members of the states congressional delegation at an event organized by American Business Immigration Coalition Action to push for federal policy changes that would allow new arrivals to enter the workforce more quickly.

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Since the first bus arrived a year ago, its become increasingly clear that welcoming new arrivals is not a short-term crisis, but its a long-term dynamic, Johnson said. Speaking of long term, let us champion and enact solutions that will secure long-term success.

Democratic officials and business leaders called on President Joe Bidens administration to allow states to sponsor work permits for both recently arrived migrants and immigrants who entered the country without legal permission to work in industries facing labor shortages, such as the hospitality, manufacturing, construction and health care sectors.

Echoing a letter Johnson and Pritzker sent Monday to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas , the officials asked the Biden administration to use a significant public benefit designation to speed up the process of authorizing migrants to work and become less reliant on government aid.

The letter said Illinois and Chicago had spent and obligated $250 million to help the more than 13,000 asylum-seekers who have come to Chicago from the U.S.-Mexico border in the past year. The process for those migrants to apply for work authorization can take anywhere from several months to well over a year, according to experts who spoke to the Tribune in July.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the letter, though Johnson told reporters he and Mayorkas had a good conversation and were scheduled to talk again Thursday.

The new arrivals have no immediate legal pathway to work, Pritzker said.

If after these many months asylum-seekers still are not being given permission by the federal government to support themselves with a plethora of available jobs, well, frankly, this moves from a short-term humanitarian mission to a long-term crisis, the governor said.

Pritzker, a key supporter of Bidens reelection campaign who successfully pushed for his party to bring the Democratic National Convention to Chicago next year, has been talking about the need for swifter work authorization for months and has previously said hes discussed it directly with the administration, all with no visible sign of progress.

The governor, who later Wednesday greeted first lady Jill Biden at OHare International Airport, stopped short of criticizing the president for lack of action, instead taking a shot at former President Donald Trump.

We want to get to a solution, Pritzker said. So does the president, by the way. He is calling for comprehensive immigration reform. He believes that we ought to figure out a way to manage the challenge at the border, which started under the prior president, I might add  who is exacerbating it, he and his party, with the rhetoric that theyre putting out there.

Others at Wednesdays event, though, sought to frame the issue in more bipartisan terms. Rebecca Shi, executive director of the business coalition, noted that Republican governors such as Eric Holcomb of Indiana, Spencer Cox of Utah and Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma have expressed support for an expedited path to work for the migrants.

This isnt just a Democratic issue. This is an American issue, Shi said.

Still, Johnsons comments on the need for more federal help signaled the urgency of the situation from City Halls perspective. The city has struggled to provide shelter for the new arrivals, and is currently considering spending $1.5 million to buy a 10-acre site on the Northwest Side to transform a vacant Marine Corps reserves training facility into housing for migrants.

In July, New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned incoming migrants that there is no guarantee of help there for them, but at the time he stood alone among big-city mayors.

Johnson, in a news conference earlier this month, reacted to the comments by reaffirming Chicagos commitment to welcome all and noting government is still running. Were still providing support and services.

I cant speak for (Adams) decision, but I certainly have used his, as well as (Los Angeles) Mayor (Karen) Bass and (Houston) Mayor (Sylvester) Turners, experiences as a way to reflect on that very question, Johnson said when asked if Chicago would at some point actively discourage migrants from coming. And heres what Im committed to: honoring the law of being a sanctuary city, in building systems of care that provide a pathway with dignity for individuals who are seeking refuge and hope here in the city of Chicago.

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(Bloomberg) -- Zijin Mining Group Co., a leading Chinese copper and gold miner, has slowed acquisitions due to high project valuations and geopolitical tensions.

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The number and scale of deals completed by the company is fewer than previous years, although its still actively looking for merger and acquisition opportunities generally, President Zou Laicang told investors at a briefing on Wednesday following the companys first-half results.

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Zijin has acquired a series of copper and gold mines from Africa to Europe and Canada in recent years to meet its ambitious output goals. Its also expanded into lithium in a bid to become a major player in the global market for the battery metals used in electric vehicles.

The slowdown is due to fierce competition as well as a fine tuning of its M&A strategy, said Zou. Projects are attracting very high premiums and Zijin is becoming more cautious, particularly as metals prices are relatively high, he said.

Considering the geopolitical and economic environment, Zijin will lift investments within China and neighboring countries, he said. Itll also target big projects that could have a significant influence on the companys performance, with a focus on gold, copper and zinc, as well as new energy minerals.

Lithium prices have collapsed in recent months, although the slump is within expectations, Executive Vice President Lin Hongfu told the briefing.

Lithium carbonate in China has more than halved from its November peak to just over 200,000 yuan a ton after a surge in supply. The companys projects are still profitable even if lithium carbonate prices were to slump to 100,000 yuan, said Lin.

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Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie boasted that hes living rent-free inside Donald Trumps head after the former president launched another attack on him.

Trump on Tuesday fired off a rant on his Truth Social platform saying Christie SHOULD DROP OUT OF THE RACE.

Christie, one of a number of candidates running against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, said that wont happen.

He only wishes I was going away, Christie said, saying Trump was obviously watching as he criticized the former president on TV when he posted that message.

I was laying out the truth about him, Christie said, adding the one thing he cannot stand is when someone credible calls him out.

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He knows Im not just some politician talking about his problems. Im someone whos done it, and done it well, Christie said, noting his 130 wins and zero losses in prosecuting political corruption cases when he was a U.S. attorney.

I know how deep his problems are, and how much theyre damaging both the Republican Party and the country, Christie said. Im not getting out this race. Maybe he should think about getting out of the race since hell be spending most of March and half of April in a courtroom in Washington, D.C.

Thats a reference to the scheduled March 4 start of Trumps federal election interference trial, one of four criminal cases against the former president.

Christie is polling in the low to mid-single digits, far behind Trump and behind a number of other candidates including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy and former United States Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Yet the former president seems to devote outsize attention to Christie, frequently responding to his TV appearances by attacking him on social media despite the fact that the two were once close allies.

In 2016, Christie became one of the first prominent Republicans to endorse Trump and remained a loyal insider for the duration of Trumps presidency, but turned into a critic afterward.

See his full conversation with CNNs Kaitlan Collins below:

He only wishes I was going away, Chris Christie says of Donald Trumps call for him to drop out. "It's great, you know, Kaitlan, to live rent-free in Donald Trump's head. He says he was waving his finger no when asked about supporting Trump if criminally convicted. pic.twitter.com/kwpQ1rQ1PZ  Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 30, 2023
Christa Pike's attorneys have tried at least three times in federal and state court to get her off death row.

That's not stopping them from trying again.

Pike's counsel filed a motion in Knox County Court on Wednesday to reopen her petition for post-conviction relief, arguing that a recent court opinion shows courts have recognized that youth serves as a factor in sentencing, a development the attorneys say aligns with decades of research into adolescent brain development.

They hope it will also allow them to bring before the original trial court years of evidence of Pike's then-untreated severe mental illness and extensive trauma, which trauma psychologist Dr. Bethany Brand called "one of the most tragic and profound chronic abuse histories I've heard of."

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Pike, now 47, was 18 when she brutally tortured and killed fellow Knoxville Job Corps member Colleen Slemmer with two other young people, repeatedly beating and cutting Slemmer with a knife.

Pike was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996, making her the last person in Tennessee to receive a death sentence for a crime committed as an 18-year-old. She has been the only woman on Tennessee's death row since 2010, when then-Gov. Phil Bredesen commuted the death sentence of Gaile Owens, who died in 2010.

Two years ago, officials moved to set her execution date.

If her sentence stands, Pike will be the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years. She would be the first person put to death in Tennessee for a crime committed at age 18 since the death penalty was reinstated nationwide in 1976.

"Since 1996 both Christa and our state have changed," said Pike's attorney Kelly Gleason of the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender. "We know so much more about the adolescent brain, mental illness and trauma. If Christa were tried today, her youth, trauma and severe mental illness would be taken into account, and she would be sentenced to life imprisonment."

Convicted killer Christa Gail Pike talks with defense attorney James Crowson before the start of proceedings Friday, April 11, 2008 in Knox County Criminal Court. Pike was in court for a fifth day as her defense team continues a bid for a new trial in the 1995 killing of fellow job corps student Colleen Slemmer.

In a handwritten letter to The Tennessean, Pike says she takes responsibility for what she did. She also says she's "changed drastically since I was a teenager."

"Think back to the worst mistake you made as a reckless teenager. Well, mine happened to be huge, unforgettable and ruined countless lives," she wrote. "I was a mentally ill 18 yr. old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I'd done. Even more to accept how many lives I effected. I took the life of someone's child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think that someone as loving and compassionate as myself had the ability to commit such a crime."

Brand said Pike still struggles with mental health, "but she's become much, much more understanding of herself and people" over the years.

Pike is also represented by Randy Spivey of the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender.

Slemmer's mother May Martinez said she wasn't surprised that Pike's attorneys were trying again to reduce her sentence.

"My daughter will never go to rest knowing all this is still happening," she said in a phone interview Wednesday. "I just turned 70. So I'm saying you know, I might not be alive when it happens."

Pike's history of abuse, neglect and mental illness

The 26-page petition states plainly what Pike's attorneys feel are the mitigating factors in her case: "In addition to her youth, Christa Pike was also severely mentally ill, and had a horrific childhood and adolescence."

Pike was born in Beckley, West Virginia, into a family with a "long history of interpersonal violence, substance abuse and child abuse," according to Brand's extensive psychological report on Pike, attached to the petition.

Pike was raped several times in her youth, as early as preschool by her grandmother's boyfriend, who threatened to kill her pets or hurt her family if she told anyone. Her home life was volatile, filthy and cruel, and the few family members she developed a relationship with did little to stop the abuse at the hands of other adults in her life.

The Tennessean does not typically name victims of sexual assault but opted to in this case because the extent and severity of Pike's trauma is central to her petition for post-conviction relief.

She began abusing marijuana at 9 years old and drinking alcohol at a very early age, remarking that she was outdrinking grown men by age 12.

Throughout her horrific childhood, Pike developed post traumatic stress disorder and already had signs of untreated bipolar disorder, Brand said. It's then that she also likely began to dissociate as a means to escape her life, Brand said.

All these factors combined with her brain development at 18, which in a more typical teenager would still be far from developed.

"So this means that Christa's brain at 18 years old was not only immature and underdeveloped, like any other 18-year-old, but also had damage in the same area that's responsible for good decision making," said Ali Winters, a social worker and clinician who has worked with Pike for years.

When she was in the midst of what she experienced as distress, her brain had already been trained to malfunction, based on what Brand told The Tennessean.

"I know she was part of creating a horrible situation. But her brain did what it had learned to do, and that was to dissociate so she wasn't fully in a normal way of thinking, a rational way of thinking and behaving," Brand said.

January 12, 1995

Christa Gail Pike turns to give her lawyer a note pad before being escorted from the courtroom for the lunch break Monday, March 18, 1996.

After she was sent to the Job Corps, a federal program to help low-income youth, in Knoxville, she developed a relationship with a boy in her class, Tadaryl Shipp. Pike became jealous of Slemmer, who she felt was flirting with Shipp.

On Jan. 12, 1995, she, Shipp and her friend Shadolla Peterson planned to lure Slemmer out by the University of Tennessee's campus. There, they carried out the torture and killing.

Pike broke part of Slemmer's skull and kept it. The day after the killing, Pike showed up at the scene of the crime, dancing and singing, a haunting fact that was repeated in media coverage.

Her actions were heinous. But Brand says based on her conversations with Pike that she was not in touch with reality at the time.

"It made it sound like she was jubilant. I think she was psychotic or very close to psychotic," Brand said.

Pike's attorneys note in the petition that while courts have since said that Shipp was equally responsible for the murder, his age prohibited him receiving a death sentence. He was 17 at the time of the crime and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Peterson received a six-year probationary sentence.

Early on in her sentence, Pike was convicted of the first-degree attempted murder of fellow incarcerated woman Patricia Jones. Her attorneys say that she was still unmedicated for her mental illnesses at that time.

In the years since the murder, Slemmer's mother, Martinez, has repeatedly called for Pike's execution.

"Honestly, my heart breaks every single day because I keep reliving it and reliving it," Martinez told WBIR in 2021. "They both get fame from it. And I just want Christa down so I can end it."

Pike said she's apologized to Slemmer's mother face-to-face, "but I'm not sure it was accepted."

"I wish I could say or do something that would ease her pain but I know that's impossible," she wrote in the letter to The Tennessean.

But Martinez said Pike never tried to apologize to her during trial and hasn't reached out after being convicted.

Martinez said she can't find peace until Pike is executed because until then, part of her daughters skull will remain in state custody.

"I can't find peace, knowing that still part of your daughter is in the state," Martinez said.

'There is no hard line of maturity'

Pike's attorneys see the Tennessee Supreme Court's November 2022 decision in State of Tennessee v. Tyshon Booker as opening the door for her appeal.

The court ruled in Booker that Tennessee's mandatory life sentence for homicide convictions is unconstitutionally cruel when applied to minor offenders because "juveniles are constitutionally different than adults for sentencing purposes; juveniles have lesser culpability and greater amenability to rehabilitation."

Pike's attorneys argue that the principles underpinning that decision should apply also to those who are still in adolescence but not legally juveniles.

"If the courts agree that a 17-year-old is not eligible for mandatory life in prison due to well-established adolescent brain science, we should not death-sentence an 18-year-old. There is no hard line of maturity or difference between the brain development of a 17-year-old and 18-year- old," Gleason said.

Gleason said she expects the court will hear from the state before ruling on the motion to reopen Pike's petition for post-conviction relief.

Solitary confinement

Pike is involved in a distinct lawsuit against state corrections officials, arguing that departmental rules have kept her in de facto solitary confinement for more than 25 years.

She says that for the greater part of her incarceration, she has had "no social engagement with other incarcerated individuals or prison staff, no educational or religious programming, and nearly no physical contact with another human being."

Pike's mental and physical health have deteriorated as a result of her confinement, the effect of which has been exacerbated by her pre-existing psychiatric conditions, the lawsuit states.

Christa Gail Pike cries during a bid for a new trial in 2008 while listening a recording of herself confessing to killing Colleen Slemmer in 1995.

The lawsuit states a Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) policy requiring that those sentenced to death be housed in areas segregated from the prison's general population has resulted in her prolonged solitary confinement.

The 46 men on Tennessee's death row "have freedom of movement, can socialize with each other, hold jobs, and attend educational and religious programming together" with the other men sentenced to death, but Pike, as the sole woman on death row, is confined alone, the lawsuit states.

TDOCs policy of segregating death row inmates from other inmates may make sense for men but has resulted in years of prolonged isolation for Ms. Pike as the only woman on death row. She filed this lawsuit to be able to share a meal, participate in group therapy, work at a job, or have some minimal interaction with others," said attorneys Brian Roark and Angie Bergman, who are representing her in that case.

State attorneys say her treatment falls "far shy" of cruel and unusual punishment as she has food, shelter, clothing and two hours of recreation per day, as well as access to a television, radio and a few other items.

Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas' Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, said more experts are recognizing research showing the harms of prolonged solitary confinement.

The Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville, Tenn., seen from Briley Parkway, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018.

Prolonged solitary confinement has been recognized as torture by several international organizations, including the United Nations.

"These people (on death row) were sentenced to be executed; they weren't sentenced to be tortured," Deitch said. "And there's a belief that what people experience in solitary confinement is tantamount to torture."

Pike, 47, is housed at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center (DJRC) in Nashville. Last August, she filed her lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee against former TDOC Commissioner Lisa Helton, DJRC Warden Gloria Fisher and other TDOC and DJRC leadership.

Pike claims that her treatment violates the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment; the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause because she is being treated differently than men on death row; due process protections because her prolonged isolation is without "legitimate penological interest"; the Americans with Disabilities Act due to her mental illness; and her rights to have contact with her attorney and spiritual adviser.

TDOC officials have made exceptions to the mandatory segregation rule for death row prisoners before. Owens, the other woman previously on death row, was allowed to live in the prison's general population.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanMealins.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Christa Pike, only woman on Tennessee death row, asks to reopen appeal
The U.S. premiere of writer-director Minhal Baigs We Grown Now  a gentle, powerful coming-of-age gem set in 1992, detailing the friendship of two boys growing up in Chicagos Cabrini-Green housing project  opens the Chicago International Film Festival Oct. 11, festival officials announced Wednesday.

Much more, Im guessing, will be written about Baigs third feature in the coming weeks. An initial viewing suggests its a vital and beautifully acted addition to the roster of Chicago movies.

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We Grown Now makes its world premiere at the early September Toronto International Film Festival. The Rogers Park natives previous feature, the 2019 Hala, is currently streaming on Apple TV+; its a much-admired story of a Muslim Pakistani teenager navigating her traditional home life while finding her way socially, and sexually, among her peers.

Baig filmed parts of Hala in Rogers Park, and at Northside College Prep high school, which she attended a few years earlier. Her new film is centered in the now-demolished Cabrini-Green high-rises, a controversial product of the Chicago Housing Authority.

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Blake Cameron James plays a resident of the Cabrini-Green housing projects in 1992 Chicago in "We Grown Now." - Original Credit: (Participant/HANDOUT)

Today only the original, low-slung mid-20th century Cabrini Rowhouses remain; We Grown Now used that location for exterior scenes, as did the 2021 remake of Candyman.

Baigs story focuses on 10-year-old Malik (Blake Cameron James), whose mother Delores (Jurnee Smollett) and Mississippi-born grandmother (S. Epatha Merkerson) face a life-altering decision to move, or not, after an escalation in violence, fatalities and mistrust. One scene, powerfully rendered, depicts a swarm of Chicago police going door to door, searching for drugs. Theyre treating us like were criminals, Smolletts character says at one point, under her breath. Like roaches in our own home.

Much of We Grown Now follows Malik and his friend Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez) as they make the most of an ever-tightening and increasingly scrutinized life in Cabrini-Green. In one sequence, the boys cut school, ride the L, visit the Art Institute and begin to see whats beyond their everyday horizons. It recalls Ferris Beullers Day Off in that respect, though in every other way, Baigs picture is worlds away from John Hughes territory.

A narrative synopsis of We Grown Now suggests one gut punch after another. But like Hala, and hints of her debut feature, 1 Night (2016), Baigs latest operates in a more reflective vein of poetic realism, somewhat reminiscent of the richly imagined work of Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk).

Itll make a fine opener for the 59th edition of Chicagos biggest film festival. We Grown Now will screen at the Music Box Theatre. Most of this years festival screenings are scheduled for a venue new to the festival: The AMC NewCity 14, formerly the ArcLight, at 1500 N. Clybourn Ave.

As it has in recent years, the festival expands its geographical reach with screenings and events elsewhere, including the Gene Siskel Film Center downtown, the Chicago History Museum at the southern tip of Lincoln Park, the Hamilton Park Cultural Center in Englewood, Pilsens Harrison Park, Austins La Follette Park, the Logan Center for the Arts on the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park, and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

We Grown Now screens Oct. 11 at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; tickets on sale Sept. 5. Full lineup of the Chicago International Film Festival will be announced Sept. 18; passes now on sale at chicagofilmfestival.com.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

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mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune
The claim: New study proves Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine causes cancer

An Aug. 20 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows two dissected mice with their inner organs exposed.

SHOCKING: New Study proves Pfizer mRNA induced turbo cancer, the post reads.

The post received more than 1,000 likes in nine days. A similar post shared on X, formerly Twitter, in July was reshared more than 10,000 times.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: False

There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer. The post distorts a case report focused on a mouse that died of lymphoma after it was given a second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a study. The report did not claim the two events were causally linked and its author called the Instagram post "a complete misinterpretation" of the researchers' work.

Report finds evidence of causality 'lacking'

The Instagram post references a case report published in Frontiers in Oncology in May that examined a study involving 14 mice injected with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The case report focused on one mouse in the study that died of lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, two days after receiving its second dose of the vaccine.

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But the report does not assert this event "proves" the mouse developed cancer because of the vaccine, as the Instagram post claims.

In fact, the report states evidence to make such a determination is "lacking" and that a causal link between the two events "cannot be unequivocally established and may represent coincidence."

The researchers want to "explicitly distance ourselves from the erroneous conclusion that our publication would provide evidence for a causal link between mRNA vaccination and cancer development," Sander Eens, one of the authors of the case report, said in an email to USA TODAY. He called it "a complete misinterpretation of our case report without any notion of its stated nuances and limitations."

There are also several problems with the study that make the claim faulty, Dr. David Gorski, a professor of surgery and oncology at Wayne State University, told USA TODAY.

Fact check: No evidence of a link between COVID-19 vaccines, cancer spike in people under 50

First, the vaccine doses given to the mice were between 480 and 600 times the size of those typically given to humans when accounting for body weight, Gorski wrote in a blog post that also debunked the claim.

Another problem stems from the way the vaccine was given, Gorski said. Humans receive it as a shot into a muscle. But the report detailed how the vaccine was injected directly into the mice's tail veins in the study, which Gorski said gives the vaccine a direct path to the animals' heart and lungs.

If its injected into the muscle, most of the vaccine stays in a relatively small area. It doesnt really go very far, Gorski told USA TODAY. If you inject it into the bloodstream, its in the bloodstream  its going everywhere.  Nothing like what is done in real life.

The study also tracked the body weights of the mice. Roughly a week before it received the vaccine, the mouse that died prematurely began losing weight  a key indicator of illness in mice. And the particular breed of mouse used in the study is known to spontaneously develop cancers, specifically lymphomas, Gorski said.

That leads me to think the mouse probably had cancer before, he said.

Researchers have gone on to vaccinate more than 70 mice during the study, and the one described in the case report was the only one to develop cancer, Eens said.

There is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The post shared on X is from the account for the 2022 film Died Suddenly," which promotes baseless claims about the COVID-19 vaccines. Far-right conspiracy theorist Stew Peters produced the film.

USA TODAY has debunked other inaccurate claims promoted by Peters, including the false claims that the COVID-19 vaccine is made from snake venom and that the war in Ukraine is fabricated.

USA TODAY reached out to Peters and to the social media user who shared the post but did not receive responses from either.

Health Feedback also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Post falsely links Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, mouse cancer | Fact check
MSNBCs Chris Hayes on Tuesday was among those who mocked Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) for his latest dismissal of climate change, saying the GOP lawmaker came so close to figuring it out.

Loudermilk, talking with Fox Business Stuart Varney about incoming Hurricane Idalia, lamented how global warming had (usually correctly) become the go-to explanation for extreme weather events.

Im not a scientist Stuart but its amazing that anything that happens that is bad, the first thing that many want to do is blame it on climate change, he said.

I think were on the anniversary of Katrina, today, one of the worst storms in history, the Georgia Republican continued. If it was climate change, if its continuing to get worse, then would you not see more and more? Or this storm being worse and worse?

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Watch the video here:

GOP Rep. Loudermilk: If it was climate change, if it's continuing to get worse, then would you not see more and more or this storm being worse and worse?



Yes, Congressman, storms are getting more powerful and more frequent. pic.twitter.com/VbDyzatqjT  All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) August 30, 2023

Hurricanes and other big weather events are becoming more frequent and powerful, though.

On its website, the Environmental Protection Agency notes how cyclone intensity has risen noticeably over the past 20 years.

Climate change is expected to affect tropical cyclones by increasing sea surface temperatures, a key factor that influences cyclone formation and behavior, it adds.

NASA, meanwhile, predicts that due to global warming hurricanes will likely cause more intense rainfall and have an an increased coastal flood risk due to higher storm surge caused by rising seas.

The global frequency of storms may decrease or remain unchanged, but hurricanes that form are more likely to become intense, it adds.

Related...
CNN has named Mark Thompson, a former top executive at The New York Times and the BBC, as its new CEO and chairman as the network gears up to cover the 2024 presidential election, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery said Wednesday.

Thompson will officially take over on Oct. 9, a press release by the company states.

There isnt a more experienced, respected or capable executive in the news business today than Mark, and we are thrilled to have him join our team and lead CNN Worldwide into the future, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said.

Thompson comes in at a critical time for CNN as the organization contends with lower ratings amid the inevitable decline of cable news, which for now remains a profitable business, and the need to tread its future in the digital space.

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The world needs accurate trustworthy news now more than ever and weve never had more ways of meeting that need at home and abroad, Thompson said. Where others see disruption, I see opportunity. I cant wait to roll up my sleeves and get down to work with my new colleagues to build a successful future for CNN.

Mark Thompson was named the new CEO of CNN.

Mark Thompson was named the new CEO of CNN.

Following the ouster of Chris Licht as the networks chief executive after a chaotic time at the top, Zaslav appointed a team of four executives to lead the network in the interim period saying he was in no rush to bring in a new CEO.

But Zaslav seems to now have settled on Thompson to the surprise of staffers who thought CNN veterans Amy Entelis, Eric Sherling, Virginia Moseley as well as his trusted lieutenant and CNN Chief Operating Officer David Leavy would remain in charge through the 2024 elections, according to Variety.

Earlier this month, the network announced a major overhaul of its programming, in what was considered the interim teams first signature move following Lichts departure. Thompson was briefed on the changes but had no role in them, according to the Times.

The company said the members of the interim leadership team will continue in their functional roles, and will now report to Thompson.

I know theyll be a huge help to Mark when he comes on board, Zaslav said in an email to employees.

Internal note from @WBD CEO David Zaslav to @CNN staff internally about the Mark Thompson hire just went out. (See below) https://t.co/xj1JhlDVKbpic.twitter.com/8zWdFP2Unp  Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) August 30, 2023

In a memo to staffers, Thompson acknowledged the challenges facing the business, adding that theres no magic wand that I or anyone else can wield to make this disruption go away.

We face pressure from every direction  structural, political, cultural, you name it, he said.

Thompson continued: Ive spent most of the past twenty years figuring out with colleagues at some of the worlds other great news operations not just how to survive the revolution, but to thrive in it and gain new audiences and revenue streams. I aim to do the same at CNN.

The consideration of Thompson for the role was first reported by Semafor. Other contenders included James Harding, another former BBC executive who now leads Tortoise Media, the outlet said.

The Wall Street Journal reported Zaslav and Thompson previously worked together under a joint venture the BBC had with Discovery.

Thompson, who joined the Times in 2012, is credited with turning around the Times digital subscription business and leading several successful projects at the company, including the launch of the Daily podcast and NYT Cooking, before departing in 2020.

In an interview with McKinsey senior partner Yael Taqqu and McKinsey Publishings Raju Narisetti recounting his tenure at the top of the Times, Thompson said one of the things that helped him succeed there was the cold eye of an outsider.

In this case, I took the job because, besides all the problems and the difficulty of change in a legacy media organization, I thought there was also immense potential, he said in July 2020.

Prior to his role at the Times, Thompson served as director general of the BBC for eight years in what is a considered a high-stakes, politically charged position. He left following overseeing the coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Thompson started his career at the British public broadcaster in 1979 as a production trainee.

In an interview with the New Statesman in 2010, Thompson had said the BBC had a left-wing bias when he joined the organization.

In the BBC I joined 30 years ago, there was, in much of current affairs, in terms of peoples personal politics, which were quite vocal, a massive bias to the left, he said at the time. The organisation did struggle then with impartiality.

Thompsons start at the Times was marred with questions given he was director general when a top show on the network canceled a report exposing former BBC presenter Jimmy Saviles alleged abuse of children and women.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the then-publisher of the Times, addressed the controversy in a letter to staffers saying Thompson provided a detailed account of what happened and he was confident Thompson played no role in the cancellation of the segment.

Thompsons entry is the latest in a series of changes at the top of CNN in recent years.

Zaslav announced Licht would take over as CEO of CNN in February 2022 after the resignation of Jeff Zucker. Zucker announced he was stepping down after nine years at the network over an undisclosed relationship with a colleague.

Lichts time at the top was marked with controversy but it was a damaging 15,000-word profile written by The Atlantics Tim Alberta that sealed his fate. During Lichts leadership, the network saw poor ratings and lower profits, and drewheat for hosting a town hall with former President Donald Trump as part of his efforts to get back into Republicans good graces, among other things.

Licht, a former executive producer at CBSs The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, was also the one to announce the shutdown of the networks streaming service CNN+ just weeks after its widely advertised launch last year.

Yet CNN appears to now be ready to dip its its toes back into streaming, announcing the launch of a 24-hour live streaming channel on Max.

Related...
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is defending the "Don't Tread On Me" flag in response to a now-viral video showing a 12-year-old student being told by school officials to remove a patch depicting it from his backpack.

Video of the incident sparked a social media uproar on Tuesday after it conservator author Connor Boyack posted it on X, formerly Twitter. The video, which appears to be filmed covertly by the boy's mother, shows a school official explaining that the student was barred from displaying the flag, also known as the Gadsden flag, because school staff believed it to be associated with slavery and racism.

Meet 12yo Jaiden who was kicked out of class yesterday in Colorado Springs for having a Gadsden flag patch, which the school claims has "origins with slavery."



The school's director said via email that the patch was "disruptive to the classroom environment."



Receipts in the  pic.twitter.com/qQ8jK1zSpR  Connor Boyack  (@cboyack) August 29, 2023

A 'teaching moment'

Footage of the meeting at The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs went viral and eventually prompted Polis to step in to defend the flag as "a proud symbol of the American revolution."

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"(The flag is an) iconic warning to Britain or any government not to violate the liberties of Americans," Polis, a Democrat, said in a response to another user on X. "It appears on popular American medallions and challenge coins through today and Ben Franklin also adopted it to symbolize the union of the 13 colonies. Its a great teaching moment for a history lesson!"

The Gadsden flag is a proud symbol of the American revolution and a iconic warning to Britain or any government not to violate the liberties of Americans. It appears on popular American medallions and challenge coins through today and Ben Franklin also adopted it to symbolize the pic.twitter.com/sroNXnlJsf  Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) August 29, 2023

In a statement sent to USA TODAY, Conor Cahill, the governor's press secretary, said that Polis "is pro-freedom and supports freedom of expression."

"Governor Polis wants Colorado kids to enjoy their free speech and learn from their peers when they interact in the classroom and beyond," Cahill said in the statement.

What is the Gadsden Flag?

A man holds a flag and listens to a speaker during a rally at South Carolina's Statehouse on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021, in Columbia, S.C. There was a stepped-up law enforcement presence at the capitol as authorities across the country prepared for potential unrest in the days leading up to President Joe Biden's inauguration. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

The coiled rattlesnake of the Gadsden flag with its "Dont Tread On Me" warning against a yellow background has its origins in the American Revolutionary War as a symbol of unity against the British empire, according to Britannica. In recent years, the flag has become the symbol of the American Tea Party political movement and has also been adopted by far-right extremists.

In 2014, a Las Vegas couple who espoused anti-government, pro-gun beliefs killed two police officers at a pizza restaurant and draped over one of their bodies a swastika and a Gadsden flag.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona has previously defended the flag as a commonly symbol of the U.S. Marine Corps since 1775, saying it "has long symbolized the spirit of the American Revolution" and continues to be displayed at military bases.

An unseen woman in the video taken in Colorado Springs is heard invoking the flag's longstanding association with individualism and liberty when defending the student's decision to display it.

"The Founding Fathers stood up for what they believed in, against unjust laws," the woman can be heard saying. "This is unjust.

A man holds a Gadsden flag as several hundred members of the Proud Boys and other similar groups gathered for a rally at Delta Park in Portland, Oregon on September 26, 2020.

'I find it wrong:' Cosmetics brand ends Alice Cooper collection after he called trans people a 'fad'

District: Gadsden flag was among patches displaying guns

A school district official said in a statement to USA TODAY that the Gadsden flag patch was among a half dozen other patches on the student's backpack, some depicting semi-automatic weapons.

The student had first come to Vanguard last week with the backpack displaying the patches, one of which also referenced alcohol, according to an email provided to USA TODAY that Vanguard's board of directors sent to families on Tuesday.

Vanguard administrators consulted with Harrison School District 2 administrators, who directed the charter school to inform the students parents that the patches were not permitted under its policy, the email says. But on Monday, the student returned to the school with the patches still visible, which prompted administrators to pull him from class and have the meeting with his parents.

"The student has removed the semi-automatic patches and returned to class without incident," Mike Claudio, assistant superintendent of student support for the district, said in the statement. "As a school district, we will continue to ensure all students and employees can learn and work in a safe and nurturing environment."

A man wears "Don't tread on me" flag, also known as a "Gadsden flag," mounted on his bicycle helmet in June. The man was among a group of Donald Trump's supporters who had gathered in Miami, where the former president was arraigned in federal court.

Claudio did not specify whether the student also had to remove the Gadsden flag patch. But the email says that after the board of directors called an emergency meeting, it was decided that the student may display the patch after all.

"The Vanguard School recognizes the historical significance of the Gadsden flag and its place in history," the board of directors wrote. "This incident is an occasion for us to reaffirm our deep commitment to a classical education in support of these American principles."

'Heinous:' 10 arrested in NY homeless man's kidnapping, death, police say

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Viral video of student prompts Colorado governor to defend Gadsden flag
A 25-year-old man from Denver has been arrested in connection with a criminal mischief pattern involving the deliberate removal and damage of LGBTQ Pride flags in New York Citys West Village neighborhood, police said Tuesday.

Patrick Murphy was charged with a hate crime and criminal mischief after the incident on June 10, when multiple LGBTQ Pride flags displayed at the Stonewall National Monument were vandalized.

Police said they are investigating two other vandalism cases that targeted LGBTQ Pride flags outside the monument in June, which is Pride Month.

On June 15, several transgender Pride flags were deliberately removed and damaged at the monument. And on June 18, an unidentified person removed multiple Pride flags at the monument. No suspects have been apprehended in either case.

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The Stonewall National Monument is across the street from the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar that was the site of a June 1969 uprising widely considered to be a turning point in the modern LGBTQ rights movement. In 2016, the bar and the adjacent Christopher Park were designated as a national monument, making them the first LGBTQ space in New York City to receive landmark status.

Last week, a 52-year-old woman was attacked while she was jogging just a mile west of the monument at Hudson River Park. Police said she was approached by a person who made an anti-LGBTQ remark and then struck her in the face. The woman fell to the ground and sustained minor injuries. Police released a security image of the attacker and have asked for the publics assistance in identifying the person, who ran away.

This latest incident is one of several attacks against LGBTQ people, establishments and symbols in New York City over the past year.

In February, a woman was arrested and charged with multiple hate crimes after she allegedly torched an LGBTQ Pride flag hanging from a restaurant. In May, a man was caught defecating on a Pride flag in Manhattans Upper West Side neighborhood. In December, two people were arrested after a group of protesters allegedly vandalized New York City Council member Erik Bottchers apartment building with graffiti that included homophobic slurs.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WKRN)  A Columbia woman has pleaded guilty to defrauding a North Carolina clinical laboratory company out of nearly $400,000, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

Sonya White, 56, admitted to defrauding the unnamed company by creating a fictitious vendor named Mid TN Diagnostics between March 2017 and June 2019. During that time, White caused Mid TN Diagnostics to submit fraudulent invoices for payment to the company totaling $389,620, according to U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis for the Middle District of Tennessee.

CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime news from Middle Tennessee

Further, the DOJ announced, White admitted that when the grand jury issued a subpoena to her fictitious company, she then caused the company to submit falsified documents to the grand jury.

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Now that she has pleaded guilty to the crimes, she will face sentencing on Feb. 2, 2024. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. In addition to the fine, White has agreed to a forfeiture money judgment against her for the $389,620 she falsely obtained from the unnamed company.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
The U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Tennessee reported Aug. 30 that a Columbia woman pleaded guilty to defrauding a North Carolina clinical lab out of nearly $400,000.

A Columbia woman pleaded guilty to defrauding a North Carolina clinical lab out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to a Wednesday report by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Tennessee.

Sonya White, 56, of Columbia, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to defrauding a North Carolina clinical laboratory company out of nearly $400,000, said U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis for the Middle District of Tennessee.

White admitted that she defrauded the clinical laboratory company, identified in court documents as Company A, by creating a fictitious vendor named Mid TN Diagnostics, the reports says.

Between March 2017 and June 2019, White caused Mid TN Diagnostics to submit fraudulent invoices for payment to Company A. In total, the fraudulent invoice scheme caused Company A to lose approximately $389,620.

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The report says White also admitted that, when the grand jury issued a subpoena to Mid TN Diagnostics, she caused the company to provide falsified documents to the grand jury.

Whites sentencing is set for Feb. 2. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. In addition to any fine, White has agreed to the entry of a forfeiture money judgment against her in the amount of $389,620.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor J. Phillips is prosecuting the case.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Columbia woman pleads guilty of $400,000 in fraud of North Carolina lab
A 41-year-old man was charged with child endangerment causing the death of a child and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon in the shooting death of an 8-year-old boy on the West Side, police said.

Ramon Sumerlin, of the 3100 block of West Flournoy Street, was arrested Monday in the 11400 block of South Elizabeth Street and charged in connection with the Aug. 15 shooting death of a boy at Sumerlins residence, police said.

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[ 8-year-old boy fatally wounded in accidental shooting overnight, Chicago police said ]

Shortly after 4:30 a.m. that day, police say Sumerlin left the boy, Jacari Brown, unattended. The child found the gun and accidentally shot himself in the chest.

Sumerlin was scheduled to appear at a bail hearing Thursday.
Developers are hoping to begin construction on a 380-acre lake and housing development south of Grinnell and Interstate 80 in 2024. It would be the first major public lake constructed in Iowa since Lost Grove Lake in Scott County began filling in July of 2012, and one of only a few to be built in the past 30 years.

Previously: Around Iowa: Lost Grove Lake set to open today

Backers of the project are seeking public and private financing for the estimated $32 million project, to be named Sapphire Lake.

Several developers have considered the project over the last 20 years, but it is moving forward this year with the prospect of getting a $10 million grant from the state's Destination Iowa program, according to Poweshiek County Supervisors Chair Jason Roudabush.

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The plan calls for homesites around the lake, about an hour east of downtown Des Moines, and nearly 1,000 acres of fully accessible parks, campsites and trails. It also includes a public beach, floating boat docks, a boat ramp, a boat fueling station, play areas, a fishing dock and an ADA accessible kayak launch.

Economic analysis firm Decision Innovation Solutions of Urbandale identified tax increment financing (as the best option for the local portion of funding in a Destination Iowa Grant Application prepared for the city of Grinnell in April. TIF allows the developer to use taxes collected from the increased property value of the project to finance the improvements.

More: With latest Field of Dreams grant, stadium project's public funding now exceeds stated budget

As a city, we have been supportive of this project and understand the economic benefits it would have, said Grinnell City Manager Russ Behrens, while adding that the scale of the project is challenging in comparison to the size of Grinnell, a city of fewer than 10,000 people.

But Behrens said the city believes the financial assumptions used to project the TIF financing of the project are reasonable.

If the lake is built and the housing is developed, the city of Grinnell would annex the area, said Behrens.

No plan to use eminent domain to acquire needed land

The Poweshiek County supervisors on Monday heard a proposal for the project, but Roudabush said the meeting was informational and no proposal was put before the board for action.

This is the first time the project has been introduced as being a public lake, said Roudabush, adding that Poweshiek County and the city of Grinnell would share in maintenance of the dam, if completed.

The proposal to make the lake public was a key element in gaining the support of Grinnell official, said Behrens.

More: Stunning Sun Valley Lake home offers a martini dock, custom bunks, and custom finishes

Roudabush said McClure Engineering and ATI Group of Ankeny are involved in the project. McClure is doing the engineering and design of the project while ATI is doing the housing development.

The project would seek to purchase the needed land for the 400-acre lake and surrounding development, said Roudabush.

There absolutely, positively will not be any use of eminent domain, he said.

The preliminary timeline for the project calls securing public and private financing and options to purchase land to by late 2023; completion of design and permitting in mid-2024; and dam and lake construction starting in the final half of 2024, according to the Sapphire Lake Iowa website.

It projects construction of 600 to 750 new housing units.

The plans laid out on the website indicate the city of Grinnell would supply water and sewer services to the new development. The lake would boast depths of 10-50 feet and would be protected with sedimentation and phosphorous reduction structures, environmental buffers and erosion control facilities.

Water quality a top consideration

Behrens said he is impressed with the amount of engineering design that has been done to protect water quality for the proposed lake, adding that the watershed is relatively small and consists of a mixture of pasture, grassland idled through government programs and row crops. The lake would be part of the larger Skunk River watershed, which ultimately flows into the Mississippi River.

Terry Lutz, chair of McClure engineering, said everything is being done to make construction of the lake as environmentally friendly as possible.

"Construction of the lake represents a $30 million investment and we are conscious of wanting to protect the water quality as much as possible," said Lutz.

More: Planning to swim? These 10 Iowa beaches are not recommended due to bacteria, algae levels

Lutz said housing will offer multiple options and price ranges including single-family, duplex and possibly some multi-family units.

The proposed lake would be long and narrow, with a surrounding topography that would protect it from the wind, said Lutz.

The economic impact report predicted the 10-year construction impact of the development could top $650 million and bolster property tax revenue to the county, city and schools by more than $38 million from 2026-2058 after the project has been completed.

The proposed lake, situated between Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, has 1.3 million people within 60 minutes driving distance. Roudabush said the proximity to the larger population centers may make the new lake development attractive for vacation homes.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Sapphire Lake near Grinnell would add housing, public recreation area
The claim: Post implies Florida authorities planned mass casualty event during hurricane

An Aug. 28 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a video of a man standing outside in the rain, recording himself as he gives breaking news about Hurricane Idalia.

They tell residents there's a hurricane coming, Hurry, hurry, go to the gas station, fill up your tanks now,'" says the man. "So the people go fill their tanks up, only to later learn that the gas has been contaminated with diesel fuel. ... They'll get on the interstates and highways and byways in Florida, and their vehicles will suddenly die. This is the ingredient for mass casualty event (sic)."

Some social media users took the video as evidence the government was planning a disaster.

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Like Hawaii, they gonna make sure as many people as possible can't get out? wrote one user.

The post amassed more than 600 shares in two days. The video was first shared on TikTok, where it was shared over 44,000 times.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: Missing context

The implied claim here is wrong. While a group of Citgo gas stations did accidentally receive gasoline mixed with diesel fuel, authorities warned the public of the mishap and identified the specific stations that had contaminated gas.

Authorities warned public about contaminated gas

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services informed Florida residents on Aug. 27 that fuel purchased in the Tampa Bay area the day before "has a strong likelihood of being contaminated."

The situation arose after the gas company Citgo found that one of its gasoline shipments delivered to the Port of Tampa had been accidentally mixed with diesel fuel, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Diesel fuel is harmful to any car engine that uses gasoline. Citgo and government officials notified the community of what had happened.

The company said in a statement that it notified all Citgo marketers who lifted gasoline and diesel from the ports terminal between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. that day to stop their sales.

A limited number of retail locations are affected, and Citgo is currently coordinating efforts to remove the product from the retail locations that received it, the company said.

Fact check: Video of large dolphin pod from 2020, not Tropical Storm Hilary in California

State officials held an Aug. 27 press conference to address the situation. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said it was another factor that could complicate preparation and evacuation efforts ahead of Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on Aug. 30.

Theyre trying to get the list of all the gas stations that may have had cross-contamination so that people know if they filled up at any of these stations, that they probably dont want to drive their car because youre going to have people potentially just stuck on the side of the road," DeSantis said. "I mean, if you fill up your tank with diesel and you start driving it, its not gonna end well."

Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said officials were coordinating with petroleum retailers and the ports to ensure the disruption would not be widespread or prolonged.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services provided an update on Aug. 29 on which Citgo stations in Florida had received the contaminated gas, and which ones had been cleared.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gas contaminated with diesel before Idalia wasn't planned | Fact check
LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WOWK)  An escaped inmate from Arkansas who has been on the run for the last year has been arrested in West Virginia along with three other people.

According to U.S. Marshals, the inmate, identified as Samuel Paul Hartman, 39, escaped from a work detail near the East Arkansas Regional Unit on Aug. 12, 2022. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 after being convicted of raping a 14-year-old.

U.S. Marshals say a vehicle approached the work crew while Hartman was on work detail last August. Two women got out of the vehicle and allegedly fired shots at the work crew while Hartman ran toward the vehicle. The women were later identified as Hartmans wife, Misty Hartman, 39, and Hartmans mother, Linda Annette White, 61.

The vehicle then fled while Department of Corrections officers pursued. DOC officers say they followed the vehicle almost to the Mississippi River, where the Hartmans and White ran toward waiting jet skis. Authorities later found the jet skis abandoned on the Mississippi side of the riverbank, according to U.S. Marshals.

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26 states see substantial spike in COVID hospitalizations, CDC says

While investigating, authorities learned in March 2023 that White had ties to West Virginia. U.S. Marshals in Arkansas say they then reached out to the Southern District of West Virginia for help in the case.

Just over a year after Samuel Hartmans escape, U.S. Marshals, West Virginia State Police, the Greenbrier County Sheriffs Office and the Lewisburg Police Department located the group at the Quality Inn in Lewisburg, West Virginia, on Aug. 29, 2023.

U.S. Marshals say the Hartmans, White and Whites boyfriend, 52-year-old Rodney Trent, of Lester, West Virginia, were all arrested at the scene.

The United States Marshals Service, Arkansas State Police, and the Arkansas Department of Corrections have kept this case on the forefront and followed hundreds of leads over the course of the last year, said Joe Profiri, Secretary of the Arkansas Department of Corrections. We appreciate the support and assistance from all agencies involved, the Arkansas Governors office, and the State of West Virginia in bringing this case to a successful conclusion.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
A man armed with a shotgun was prevented entry into a predominantly Black Pennsylvania church, possibly thwarting a racially motivated mass shooting.

The 38-year-old white male, Jeffrey Harris, had failed to gain permission to enter the Greater Dominion Church in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Aug. 27. In response, Harris raised his loaded 12-gauge shotgun at two women standing at an intersection on the corner of Melrose Avenue and Fourth Street near the location of the church.

Jeffrey Harris (@Official USCrime on Twitter)

Police officers received a criminal complaint at 9 a.m. that morning about the incident between the two women and Harris and went to investigate.

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Related: Straight from Satans Back Pocket: Angela Rye Blasts Anna Duggars Father In Video for Delivering Sermon Claiming Enslaved People Failed to Protest Slavery and Were Saved By Church Leaders on Plantation

The officers, in an interview with church Bishop Kenneth Crumb, were told that Harris was denied entry to the church because the service was too packed. Crumb told the officers that had he just come an hour later, he wouldve been allowed entry and was grateful this did not happen.

When you just think about how close we came to having the same kind of horrific situation that we had at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, its like the Grace of God. Thank God for his grace, for his covering over us, because this could have been a total different way, Crumb told WTAE-TV.

There is a whole lot of mass murders going on, there is shootings, particularly in the African-American community, people targeting our communities, Crumb said.

Harris would eventually be confronted by Ambridge police and would point his gun at the officer on the scene. The officer called for backup and, with some assistance, managed to arrest Harris, who now faces several charges, such as aggravated assault and terrorist threats.

Crystal meth was discovered on Harris body after the arrest.

Police later searched Harris home and discovered that his porch was covered in slippery lubricant.

Officers even found a weapons case with a drilled hole creating a tactical position from which the occupant would fire at the front door from a protected position, according to the report.

A bomb squad was called to Harris home to deactivate a device suspected to be an explosive. Later, officers found even more crystal meth, a cache of weapons and a handwritten note detailing plans for a mass shooting.

Harris failed attempt was less than 24 hours after a white man in tactical gear killed three Black people inside and outside a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, before turning one of his guns on himself.

In Harris case, the bond was set at $975,000. A preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 5.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY
WASHINGTON  Questions over whether Donald Trump is legally eligible to run for president again have started to pick up steam in New Hampshire, where Republicans have been quarreling over the possibility that the former president would be left off the states 2024 primary ballot.

The legal theory in question takes aim at Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which says no one who has engaged in insurrection or rebellion or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, is allowed to hold public office. Some have argued that Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his actions before and during the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, fit that definition.

It's an argument that has picked up steam in the must-win Granite State. New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan has requested legal guidance from the New Hampshire Attorney Generals office, which is carefully reviewing the legal issues involved, Scanlan and Attorney General John Formella said in a joint statement Tuesday.

But the officials clarified that they have not taken any position on whether the former president and current GOP front-runner will be on the ballot in New Hampshire.

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Attorney Bryant Corky Messner, who was the GOP nominee for the New Hampshire Senate race in 2020, called the theory very compelling in an interview with USA TODAY. He predicted Scanlan will be in a difficult position over the seemingly narrow legal question that could have major ramifications for the 2024 Republican primary.

Hes very conscientious and serious about this, and he said he could not make a decision unless he had some legal guidance, and I agreed with him, Messner said. I absolutely agreed with him that hes in a difficult position without a court telling him how to interpret that.

Bryant "Corky" Messner is aRepublican candidate for U.S. Senate in the Sept. 8, 2020, New Hampshire primary election.

Efforts to keep Trump off ballot are an assault on democracy, New Hampshire GOP chair says

Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, riot at the Capitol, some legal scholars and his critics say, disqualify him from running for president under the 14th Amendment. That includes pressuring election officials in key battleground states and accusations that he incited the Capitol attack.

The theory gained traction after two conservative legal scholars endorsed it in a draft law review article published earlier this month.

We think that if these constitutional duties are taken seriously, there is a list of candidates and officials who must face judgment under Section Three. Former President Donald Trump is at the top of that list, William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas wrote.

Messner said the article "really ignited me to essentially become an advocate for the Constitution.

The goal, Messner said, is not to disqualify Trump from the ballot but to have the Supreme Court decide on his eligibility. If New Hampshire officials decide to allow Trump to appear on the ballot, Messner said, he would partly finance a lawsuit and suggested proponents of the theory would sue in other states.

I think this ought to be nonpartisan, and it ought to be a focus on what the Constitution says, Messner said. Of course, once you get into the legal system, its an adversarial process, and each side can argue their cases, but ultimately we need a judicial decision.

The Donald Trump Georgia indictment: Everything you need to know in one place

Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Windham High School in Windham, New Hampshire, on August 8, 2023.

The legal theory has garnered plenty of critics. Chris Ager, chair of the New Hampshire state Republican Party, in an interview with USA TODAY denounced the push to keep Trump off the ballot.

Ager, who is remaining neutral in the Republican primary, described the efforts as an assault on American democracy and argued that New Hampshire voters should decide whether Trump is qualified for the presidency.

Whatever happened to letting the people decide? Lets let the people decide, and lets have a free, fair, open donnybrook of an election, and whoever wins, lets rally behind them and move the country forward, Ager said.

If Trump is on the ballot and Messner or another party tries to push the case all the way to the Supreme Court, Ager said, the state GOP probably would intervene and join the legal battle. If the secretary of state determines Trump can't be on the ballot, Ager said, his party would join a lawsuit with the aggrieved candidate.

The legal hypothesis is also controversial among Trump's Republican rivals seeking the White House. One of Trump's opponents, presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, has expressed support for the theory and said he expects multiple lawsuits across the country challenging Trumps candidacy.

I expect those lawsuits to be filed. I expect some states to take that action, Hutchinson said on CNNs State of the Union. I think its a serious jeopardy for Donald Trump under our Constitution of not being qualified.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on April 27, 2023 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Trump, who is currently dealing with a growing number of legal cases against him, is the Republican frontrunner for the Republican presidential ticket.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump disqualified from being president? Some Republicans aren't sure
DEBARY, Fla.  Anyone keeping tabs on Hurricane Idalias path might be doing a double take at a few of the computer models predicting a loop in the Atlantic Ocean and a return to Florida for a second landfall next week.

At least two models have shown runs that include a loop back toward Florida after the tropical cyclone emerges into the Atlantic Ocean, said Gus Alaka, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

If that sounds familiar, Hurricane Ivan followed a very similar path in the midst of the wild 2004 hurricane season that saw Florida struck four times.

"The most famous (or infamous) looping storm has to be Ivan," said Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University.

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Like Idalia, Ivan moved between Cuba and the Yucatan and traveled north in the Gulf of Mexico. After making landfall in Alabama and pushing through the Carolinas, Ivan traveled southward in the Atlantic then crossed over South Florida as a tropical depression, and made a third landfall in Louisiana.

Hurricane Ivan in 2004 made three landfalls in the United States, striking Alabama, then making a loop in the Atlantic Ocean to make a landfall first in South Florida, then in Texas. A few hurricane models suggest a weaker Idalia could take a similar track.

Ivan and Co.

Ivan wasnt the only hurricane to accomplish a loop during the hectic 2004 season. Hurricane Jeanne did a loop in the Atlantic before its eventual landfall in Stuart in South Florida.

Klotzbach's personal "loopy" favorite is Hurricane Ginger in September 1971. It traveled east of Bermuda, completed two loops in the Atlantic, and eventually made landfall in North Carolina.

At least nine other storms since 1963 have made some kind of loop as prevailing currents pushed them around, either before landfall or after returning to the ocean. That doesn't include storms that looped around over land while dissipating.

On Tuesday, the more pressing question on the minds of Floridians was just where Idalia would wind up along Floridas Gulf Coast Wednesday morning and how strong it would be.

What is Idalia's track forecast?

The hurricane is expected to take advantage of extremely warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico and rapidly intensify before a potentially historic strike along Floridas Big Bend region with a catastrophic storm surge of up to 15 feet and winds of up to 115 mph.

As Idalia crosses over Florida into Georgia and South Carolina and emerges into the Atlantic, it could be moving so quickly it might retain its hurricane status, the National Hurricane Center said in a Tuesday afternoon forecast discussion.

Beyond Friday, the center shows Idalia as a tropical storm drifting nearly stationary between the U.S. and Bermuda.

HURRICANE SEASON: Idalia's path goes through hot waters in the Gulf of Mexico. That's concerning.

What happens after Idalia moves back into the Atlantic?

One model, the Global Forecast System, commonly known as the GFS, has consistently shown Idalias remnants moving back over south or central Florida. Alaka said that particular model has made similar projections before.

"Its very rare" for a storm to make landfall in the Gulf and then emerge into the Atlantic, then circle back, he said. "But its certainly something to watch for next week."

One ensemble model, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model, has several members showing the remnants or a weak tropical storm version of Idalia drifting toward the south and essentially hanging out there or curving back toward Florida, Alaka said. "Its on the table, but that forecast is still five days away."

Even if Idalia does slide back toward Florida, Alaka said "theres no indication it would re-intensify because of the unfavorable wind shear" in the Atlantic.

A Canadian Meteorological Centre model run also shows the remnants moving over South Florida. Other models show the remnants moving southward or dissipating, but forecasters say it's too soon to say what could happen.

An unlikely scenario

It's hard to forecast further than a week out, and errors grow as the forecast time lengthens, said Kole Fehling with the National Weather Service office in Melbourne, Florida. "Right now, given the time that its a week or so out, (our) confidence is pretty low."

Some of the model solutions take the remnants "back into the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which is the last place we want to see anything at this point," said meteorologist Josh Nagelberg of Perry Weather.

Whatever happens off the East Coast could be influenced by Hurricane Franklins passage, Nagelberg said. It's likely Franklin's passing would cool the surface waters in the ocean, providing an additional obstacle to Idalia's future.

'KIND OF USED TO IT': Not everyone chooses to flee possible monster Hurricane Idalia

Other hurricanes and tropical storms with looped tracks

A search of NOAA's database reveals a little history behind the tracks of nine other storms:

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Idalia forecast: Could storm make a second trip to Florida?
A St. Louis County worker was killed when a lawnmower he was operating rolled on top of him, Missouri cops say.

The employee was mowing Tuesday, Aug. 29, in the area of Maline Creek in Jennings, a northern suburb of St. Louis, according to the St. Louis County Police Department.

Police said they found the worker pinned under the large lawnmower in a body of water. The man, who KTVI reported was 44 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Its believed he was operating the mower when it rolled down an embankment, pinning him underneath it, according to police.

Officers have not publicly identified the county worker. Its unclear how long he was pinned before being discovered.

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Anyone with information is asked to contact the St. Louis County Police Department at 636-529-8210.

5-year-old run over by lawn mower while playing in SC yard flown to hospital, cops say

Driver of riding lawnmower killed in collision with SUV on highway, SC cops say
People applying for marriage licenses in Boston will no longer be required to identify their sex or gender when filling out forms, thanks to a new set of guidelines aimed at empowering gender-diverse residents.

The changes, which were adopted by the city on Tuesday, were put in place to provide more dignified experiences for all city residents  including those whose gender and sexual identities have historically not been recognized or supported by government agencies.

Residents who are already married and wish to have an updated marriage license issued without their sex or gender identification can do so by contacting the city registry.

Our fundamental charge in public service is ensuring that our services and opportunities reach everyone, and that starts with affirming and supporting constituents of all identities, Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement.

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Boston must continue to work to dismantle the historic inequities and injustices that persist. This update to Boston marriage licenses is a huge step in building a city that is truly inclusive, she added.

The change is the first the city has made based on its new gender-aware guidelines, which were developed with members of the citys LGBTQ community and are designed to better inform city employees on how to engage with people when it comes to gender identity.

Were committed to ensuring that all City employees and departments get the proper support to embed gender-inclusive language and practices into the way they engage with residents and ask for personal information, said Julia Gutierrez, the citys chief digital officer.

The guidelines will be regularly reviewed based on the feedback the city receives, Gutierrez added.


A Massachusetts court ruled Wednesday that defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial. McCarrick is accused of assaulting a teenage victim in 1977 and faces charges from the same victim in Wisconsin. Photo by Patrick D. McDermott/UPI

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts court ruled Wednesday that former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick is not competent to stand trial for decades-old allegations that he had sexually abused a teenage boy.

McCarrick is accused of assaulting a 16-year-old victim at a 1974 wedding celebration at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

The alleged victim says he was assaulted twice during the day of the wedding, according to a complaint filed in 2021.

Massachusetts forensic psychologist Kerry Nelligan said McCarrick showed signs of "deficits of his memory and ability to retain information," during an examination in June.

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"These deficits are not going to get better," Nelligan added. "There is no cure. There is no medication that can improve the symptoms."

In April Wisconsin prosecutors charged McCarrick with fourth-degree sexual assault related to the alleged abuse of the same individual in 1977.

The accuser says he was groped in Wisconsin's Geneva Lake by McCarrick, who at the time was a priest in New York's Archdiocese, and another adult man. The accuser also says McCarrick had sex with him the day before groping him in the lake and that he had been abused by McCarrick repeatedly over the years, starting when he was 11.

In 2019, McCarrick was defrocked after the Vatican held a trial during which they found him guilty of abusing underage and adult pupils.

The Vatican's investigation found that Pope John Paul II had appointed McCarrick to the position of Archbishop of Washington, D.C., after an inquiry found that McCarrick had sex with his pupils.

McCarrick is the highest-ranking Catholic official to be charged in the United States in relation to a sex crime.
As a soon-to-be-retired board member of Chicago Dramatists and an actor in the local scene, I read Chris Jones and Roche Edward Schulfers recent opinion pieces on Chicago theater with interest.

Jones laid out the problems with the authority one might expect from the leading critic, and Schulfers detailed explanation of different producing economies, followed by his solution of combining commercial and not-for-profit theaters to uplift the industry as a whole, is inspiring. May his suggestions take root.

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Chicago has always been a city of haves and have-nots in life, dramatic and real. The competition for theater funding is intense: The corporations, the foundations and the wealthy favor the established companies, while smaller donors keep the others afloat. Some smaller companies live on the donations of their actors or writers who have transitioned to TV and film to keep their companies alive. The spectrum is wide on donor lists.

On one end, Shulfers Goodman Theatre has a large base of donors as it sits in a downtown space on Dearborn Street built for them in 2000. Next door fiscally, Steppenwolf Theatres heavily endowed company recently rolled out the Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center and Helen Zell Ensemble Theater. The Halsted Street campus is gorgeous. Yet, these sterling institutions have been affected by the pandemic and the economics of producing in 2023. Theyve had to shrink to survive, contract to compete and compromise to continue.

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On the other end of the spectrum, Chicago Dramatists sits at the intersection of Chicago, Milwaukee and Ogden avenues. The theatrical intersection of development, hope and keeping the doors open. We no longer produce. We do what we do best: develop playwrights, develop new work and support dramatic writers at every stage of their evolution. Dedicated to growing, nurturing and championing dramatic writers of all kinds. Committed to advancing the new play field.

Chicago Tribune Opinion Weekdays Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

As a former artistic associate, I refer to it as home. Ive enjoyed success and managed to make a living while doing what every actor in Chicago does: whatever we can to get paid. Then, later in life, give back to the community that welcomed me. Donate, raise money, perform public readings of work in development and join the board of directors. I even tried my hand at producing a new work called Johnny 10 Beers Daughter by Dana Lynn Formby, along with a nonequity company that specializes in magical realism called Something Marvelous. Its been a great ride and mostly pleasurable. Ive had the chance to work with extraordinary writers, actors, directors, designers and board members, many from the business community.

What the public may not know is that the United States provides little to no support for theater arts. Germany has several hundred theaters that are subsidized by the government. The U.S. has no state-subsidized theaters. Zero. We do have the National Endowment for the Arts, which hands out hundreds of millions of dollars to artists who work in various media, such as poets, novelists, educators, actors, playwrights, fine artists, sculptors, musicians and community groups. Sound like a lot? By comparison, Reuters estimates that the oil and gas industry is subsidized to the tune of between $10 billion and $50 billion a year in the U.S. Last year, oil subsidies topped $7 trillion worldwide, according to the International Monetary Fund. That. Is. A lot.

So maybe its not the fault of the theater industry as it struggles to survive. As it scrounges for money to entertain, inform, inspire and provide a communal experience to laugh, cry, be amazed and heal. Perhaps it is us. We the people. We allow our politicians, our body politic (another theater in the Chicago boneyard), to hijack our communal dollars to subsidize industries that may do more harm than heal. Industries that overheat our oceans and our atmosphere. Industries that cause wildfires that choke our cities and burn our forests, hurricanes that swamp our states, droughts that dry out our farmland, which then needs subsidies to survive these disasters.

We throw financial and tax subsides at Big Oil and Gas, Big Agriculture, Big Pharma, the airlines, health care. We always find funds for war. Funds to relieve the failures of housing bubbles, banking and the financial industry. But spare are the public funds for theater.

Maybe we need the great theater bailout of 2024? Pump some much needed billions into a once-thriving industry to lift all theater in this country, especially in Chicago, where there is a rich history of production going back decades. The community, commercial and not-for-profit groups will be eternally grateful.

Randy Steinmeyer is a Chicago journeyman actor.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
The COVID-19 virus is spreading in Stanislaus County and could be an unwanted guest in households Labor Day weekend.

A small surge of COVID-19 cases began in August and has gained some steam.

Kamlesh Kaur, a spokeswoman for the county Public Health division said test positivity in the county was 12.7% as of Aug. 22. It was 10.1% the previous week.

Health agencies are collecting less data today compared to when the pandemic was raging and local hospitals were packed with patients.

Kaur said the positivity rate is based on COVID tests done at physician offices and hospitals. Many people with symptoms dont get tested or they use an at-home kit, she said.

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Modesto is part of a program that monitors wastewater for evidence of COVID-19 transmission. Modestos average wastewater detection level for all variants quadrupled from Aug. 9 to Aug. 24, according to the Healthy Central Valley Together Program. Turlocks reading tripled during that same period.

A state dashboard said hospitals in Stanislaus County had 43 new patient admissions for COVID-19. Hospitals in California were caring for 1,438 total patients with COVID-19 as of Aug. 19, according to the most recent state data, an increase of about 200 patients from the previous week.

County health officials are asking residents to gather safely over the weekend in well-ventilated areas, as a precaution to protect people who are more vulnerable to a serious case of COVID-19.

Those coming down with symptoms should be tested and should stay away from others, Kaur said. Those testing positive should isolate themselves for five days.
CPAC power couple Matt and Mercedes Schlapp are apparently having a hell of a time dealing with allegations that Matt Schlapp made unwanted and inappropriate advances toward other men.

So naturally they are accusing The Daily Beast, the outlet reporting the news, of doing Satans work.

Earlier this year, Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the influential Conservative Political Action Conference, was sued by a former campaign worker for Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker over allegations that Schlapp groped the staffer without permission.

Although Schlapp has denied the claims, The Daily Beast reported Monday that he tried to settle with the man earlier this year, which the Schlapps also denied.

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The Daily Beast included the denial, but also noted The Washington Posts reporting that Schlapp was facing new groping allegations, one involving a CPAC staffer who accused Matt Schlapp of attempting to kiss him while drinking late after a work function in 2017.

The other alleged incident occurred in early 2022, according to the Posts sources, who said Schlapp made unwanted physical advances toward someone elses employee while on a CPAC business trip in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Daily Beast said Monday it had independently confirmed the existence of the two new allegations through multiple people, including the former CPAC staffer who made the 2017 accusation.

The Schlapps have denied all of the allegations  and apparently didnt appreciate The Daily Beast for reporting them. Nor did they appreciate who they believe to be the real force behind this sordid tale: Satan himself.

Mercedes Schlapp, a senior fellow at the CPAC Foundation and the wife of Matt Schlapp, called the website Satans publication to persecute Christians and their families, while Matt Schlapp chimed in by saying, Soon to start a weekend edition: the Saturday Satan.

The Daily Beast is Satans publication to persecute Christians and their families.  Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) August 30, 2023

Soon to start a weekend edition: the Saturday Satan https://t.co/xLVnMQs4RC  Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) August 30, 2023

HuffPost attempted to reach out to Satan to see if the fallen angel is involved with The Daily Beast in any capacity, but did not receive an immediate response.

But a lot of people on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, had thoughts, including one Daily Beast staffer who jokingly suggested Mercedes Schlapp was on to something. Sadly, this is true, wrote reporter Will Sommer.

As someone who wrote a number of pieces for them, can confirm, the freelance contract was written in goat's blood. https://t.co/ao5KNkkTWL  Adam Kovac (@AdamJKovac) August 30, 2023

Other people raked the Schlapps over the coals:

The mark of the (Daily) Beast https://t.co/l96Y7C7s5U  Murtaza Hussain (@MazMHussain) August 30, 2023

NEW FAMILY VALUES: when a young man says your husband grabbed my junk and pummeled it at lengthget angry at a website! https://t.co/l3iGltinE7  Joel Lawson (@JoelLawsonDC) August 30, 2023

What is wrong with these people? Seriously, what is wrong with them? https://t.co/gluZRBK9va  Sherrilyn Ifill (@SIfill_) August 30, 2023

Related...
Emergency crews are performing high-water vehicle rescues after Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Floridas Big Bend Wednesday morning.

Kevin Guthrie, executive director of Floridas Department of Emergency Management, said Wednesday high-water vehicle rescues are taking place from Pinellas County into Pasco County and in towns along Floridas west coast including Palm Harbor, Clearwater and New Port Richey.

Guthrie said in an interview on CBS Mornings that crews would use high-water vehicles in areas they can access, which are normally in 2 feet or 3 feet of water.

If we have to shift to a flat bottom boat methodology, well certainly do that, he added.

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Idalia made landfall in Floridas Big Bend region at 7:45 a.m., according to the National Hurricane Center, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph at Keaton Beach in Taylor County.

Just before landfall, the Taylor County Emergency Operations Center was forced to abandon its site and go to the backup location at the Perry-Foley Airport in Taylor County, Guthrie said.

The Hurricane Centers Storm Surge center predicted storm surge up to 11 feet in Big Bend. According to Guthrie, there is already a 6-foot storm surge in Cedar Key, a city in Floridas Big Bend region.

This is far from over, there is going to be these bands of rain that train well into the afternoon, maybe even to the early evening hours across the Big Bed area, Guthrie said. So were not done with this by no means, lots of wind damage, lots of tree canopy damage, lots of power line damage.

Crews are working to restore power in southwest Florida and just below the Tampa Bay region, Guthrie said.

Storm surges are expected to impact the Gulf Coast of Florida through Wednesday evening, even as the storm moves makes its way toward southeast Georgia and South Carolina.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Criminals who refuse to face justice will be forced into the dock for sentencing under new powers for judges  and face longer behind bars if they fail to appear.

The reforms, announced on Wednesday by Rishi Sunak, will give judges new powers to order an offender to attend their hearings and require reasonable force by prisoners officers in order to ensure convicted criminals face the court and their victims and their families.

The power of custody officers to use reasonable force to make criminals appear in the dock or via video link will also be enshrined in law, giving them the protection in legislation to take action. If they continue to resist despite a judges order, they will face an extra two years behind bars.

The moves follow an outcry over neonatal nurse Lucy Letbys refusal to appear for her sentencing for the murder of seven infants.

Thomas Cashman also refused to attend his sentencing for killing nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in a shooting in Liverpool, as did the murderers of Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa.

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The Prime Minister, who met Pratt-Korbels mother Cheryl in Downing Street on Wednesday to pass on the news personally, said the law change would mean offenders would no longer be allowed to take the cowards way out.

Mr Sunak said: Like many, I was appalled that people who have committed awful crimes somehow are able to take the cowards way out and not appear in court for their sentencing and to hear the impact that their crimes have had on the victims families.

I dont think thats right. There shouldnt be an easy way out.

Thats why were going to change the law so that courts could compel these offenders to be present for their sentencing and to hear the impact that their actions have had, but also, if necessary, to use reasonable force to bring those people to court, and also to add time on to their sentence if they dont appear.

I think thats the right thing to do. People rightly expect criminals to face up to the consequences of their actions.

Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, will introduce the legislation this autumn as part of the Kings Speech to ensure criminals begin their sentences with societys condemnation ringing in their ears. However, it is not yet clear when the new law will take effect.

The law will apply to any crime that carries a maximum sentence of life, including murder and soliciting murder, rape, causing grievous bodily harm with intent and causing death by dangerous driving.

Judges will have the discretion to use the new powers as they see fit. This could include not ordering offenders to attend in cases where it is expected they would cause significant disruption that would distress victims and their families.

Ministry of Justice sources suggested that the use of reasonable force would not permit officers to drag or carry an offender into court, but would allow the use of restraint techniques.

If someone was really struggling, that would be less likely to meet the threshold of reasonable force, said one source.

Thomas Cashman refused to attend his sentencing - Merseyside Police

Ministers accept that a criminal like Letby facing a whole life term without the prospect of ever being released might not be deterred by the threat of an extra two years in jail.

However, they say the option of reasonable force and an enforced video-link into their cell gives judges other options.

Claire Waxman, Londons victims commissioner, who has campaigned with families for the law change, said: While this is a positive step, Government must be wary of the unintended consequence of using force to ensure attendance at hearings, so as to not make sentencing an even more distressing experience for victims.

It is important that the Government commit to streaming the sentencing and the victim personal statements into the cells of those who refuse to attend in person.

Labour said that there was still no timeline for when ministers would act.

Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, said: We called for new laws on this back in April last year  but the Conservatives have dragged their feet.

This is the fourth time in over 18 months the Government has promised action  and yet again they have failed to outline a proper timeline on when they will act.

In government, Labour will give judges the power to force offenders to face justice in court. The families of victims deserve nothing less.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.
The Czech Republic froze 347.36 million of Russian sanctioned assets, the Czech Ambassador to Ukraine Radek Matula announced on Aug. 15 during a meeting with the head of Ukraine's Agency for Search and Asset Management (ARMA).

The two parties discussed future prospects for mutual cooperation, particularly concerning enhanced collaboration between ARMA and Czech counterparts in asset detection, search, and management.

Matula highlighted that Czech law enforcement agencies are actively monitoring information about sanctioned Russians and reaffirmed Pragues support for Ukrainian EU and NATO integration.

ARMA is responsible for identifying, tracing, and managing assets that are subject to criminal proceedings to ensure they are efficiently utilized and safeguarded. Its two primary goals include preventing illicit gains and supporting legal proceedings.

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Throughout this past year the Court managed to confiscate 277 vehicles, 136 properties, 42 packages of corporate rights, and 537 works of art. Following this confiscation, a transfer of 25.8 billion UAH (around $700,000) was made to the Fund for Addressing the Consequences of Russian Armed Aggression.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Russia launches mass attack on Ukraine, attempts cross-border raid in northern region

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
A family was supposed to pick up their loved ones ashes from a New Jersey funeral home within a few days after his service and planned to keep them inside their house  as he had wished, according to a new lawsuit.

Katherine Garcia, the daughter of Walter Garcia, who died Jan. 27, 2022, and Consuelo Alzate Garcia, Walter Garcias widow, never heard from A.K. Macagna Funeral Home in Cliffside Park after his service was held there on Jan. 29, 2022, a complaint filed Aug. 25 in Bergen County Superior Court says.

When Katherine Garcia went to the funeral home on Feb. 7, 2022, she learned the home lost her fathers ashes, according to the complaint.

She was told his ashes were left inside the funeral directors running car, which was stolen from the funeral homes driveway while the vehicle was unlocked with the keys inside, the complaint says.

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Authorities told Katherine and Consuelo Garcia that the car was ultimately located, but Walter Garcias ashes were nowhere to be found, according to the complaint.

Now, they feel as if they lost him twice, John Nulty, their attorney of Cammarata, Nulty & Garrigan law firm, told McClatchy News in emailed statements on Aug. 30.

Mr Garcias death was unexpected, Nulty said. He was hospitalized for an extended period during COVID-19 which limited their ability to see and comfort him during his final days.

Katherine and Consuelo Garcia are suing Macagna-Diffily Funeral Home, Inc., which does business as A.K. Macagna Funeral Home, and its director Anthony Macagna Jr. on several causes of action, including breach of duty and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

McClatchy News contacted the funeral home for comment on Aug. 30 and didnt receive an immediate response. The lawsuit was first reported by North Jersey Media Group.

The loss of (Walter Garcias) ashes has greatly exacerbated the emotional pain and suffering caused to and felt by (Katherine and Consuelo Garcia) as a result of (his passing), the complaint says.

The funeral home and Macagna Jr. are accused of failing to properly protect, store, transport and deliver Walter Garcias ashes as they were obligated to.

The lawsuit demands a trial by jury and seeks to recover unspecified damages for Katherine and Consuelo Garcia.

It is difficult for them to think of his remains being tossed away in some unknown location rather than being brought home as was his wish, Nulty said.

Cliffside Park is about 10 miles west of Manhattan, New York.

Woman was cremated by accident, lawsuit says. Now family cant trust if ashes are hers

Cruise passengers body decayed after crew stored it in drink cooler, familys suit says

Husband died after working on American Horror Story set. Now his widow is suing
A Dallastown teenager has been charged with causing nearly $27,500 in damage to more than 100 properties in the City of York and Spring Garden Township by spraying them with graffiti, law enforcement officials said at a news conference Tuesday.

Police, who showed a blurred photograph of the 17-year-old, have not identified him because he will go through the juvenile court system. York City Police Det. Frank Clark said the boy targeted personal homes, churches, a school, railroad property and other items.

He even tagged a Rabbittransit bus while it was stopped at a traffic light, Clark said.

York City Police Det. Frank Clark describes how he was tracking the Dallastown teen responsible for over 100 marks on buildings in York and Spring Garden township.

"He confessed to his actions, and he was very apologetic for what he did, and he's willing to clean it up himself," Clark said.

Why police are targeting graffiti

Police and city officials explained during a news conference at a parking garage near Central Market why they are targeting graffiti.

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Commissioner Michael Muldrow highlighted the broken windows theory  that visible signs of crime, destruction and disorder will promote more, which will tarnish people's outlook on their self-image, causing them to lose hope.

He explained the mission his department has had to get children to appreciate themselves and the place they call home. They also want the community to see its beauty, potential and worth as well as for others to see its value.

"We called this press conference today to deliver one message," he said. "Simply put: Respect our city."

Surrounded by evidence of the tagging that started around January 2022, York City Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow said that "...we called this press conference today to deliver one message," he said. "Simply put: Respect our city."

York Mayor Michael Helfrich said the city police department has been doing "an amazing job" at reducing crime. So far this year, it has the fewest homicides in decades.

It has had a 75% closure rate on homicides, Helfrich said. The national average is 61%.

This gives the police department an opportunity to address other issues in the community, he said.

Graffiti will not be tolerated, Helfrich said. It isn't art. It's an expression of ego that isn't beneficial to the individual or community.

York nurtures many young artists, he said, and he's glad "we're taking an opportunity to hopefully, send this young gentleman in the right direction."

Katie Mahoney, chief marketing and business development officer for the York County Economic Alliance, spoke about encouraging artistic expression and connecting artists to places where they can create, enhance, and exhibit their work.

"Rather than tagging property and causing thousands of dollars of damage, we would love to connect any aspiring artists to the many public spaces, funding sources, art galleries and mentors who can help develop and expand one's potential in a community-minded and productive way," she said.

How the teen was caught

Clark said he started noticing the tagging in January 2022 while driving around the city.

"What really got me is the one day when he decided to tag a Rabbittransit bus while it was moving," Clark said. "From that point forward, I was dedicated to finding him when I had time and I wasn't investigating the other major crimes."

Graffiti on the Central Market parking garage on August 29, 2023.

The teen eventually slipped up and was caught, Clark said.

The youth was able to travel around the city while his guardian was working in the area, police said.

York City Police have filed 101 counts against the teen including criminal mischief and institutional vandalism, according to police and First Assistant District Attorney Timothy Barker with the York County District Attorney's Office.

Barker noted that rehabilitation is the hallmark of the juvenile justice system.

How to report graffiti

Anyone who sees someone spraying graffiti or marking a building with a tag should call police immediately with a good description, Clark said.

Officers will try to respond to catch the person in the act.

Contact police one of the following ways:

Submit a tip through the CRIMEWATCH App or at www.yorkcitypolice.com. Click on "submit a tip" and fill out the available boxes.

Email Detective Commander Andy Baez: abaez@yorkcity.org

Call the York City Police Tip Line at 717-849-2204.

Call the York City Police Department at 717-846-1234 or 717-849-2219.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Dallastown teen charged with $27,500 in graffiti damage in York
On August 30, 1983, Guion Bluford became the first Black astronaut in space. File Photo courtesy of NASA

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 30 B.C., Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, killed herself following the defeat of her forces by Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome.

In 1780, Gen. Benedict Arnold betrayed the United States when he promised secretly to surrender the fort at West Point to the British army. He fled to England and died in poverty.

In 1918, Fanta Kaplan, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, attempted to assassinate Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Lenin , shooting him twice. He survived wounds to each shoulder, one of which pierced his lung.

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In 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed in Japan to oversee the country's formal surrender at the end of World War II. MacArthur told United Press Japan's "punishment for her sins, which is just beginning, will be long and bitter."

Evacuee children wait for the next flight after being manifested at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 19, 2021. File Photo by 1st Lt. Mark Andries/USMC

In 1954, Hurricane Carol prompted evacuations along the North Carolina coast. The storm later battered states along the northern eastern seaboard and killed 72 people.

In 1963, a hotline was established between Washington, D.C., and Moscow, allowing President John F. Kennedy direct phone access to the Kremlin for the first time.

On August 30, 2011, two U.S. Justice Department officials charged with overseeing the failed government gun-smuggling operation "Fast and Furious" were replaced. File Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

In 1967, the nomination of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed. Marshall was the first African American to sit on the court.

File Photo courtesy Library of Congress

Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu of Japan sign the "complete capitulation of Japan" on September 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo. On August 30, 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed in Japan to oversee the country's formal surrender at the end of World War II. File Photo by Ed Hoffman/UPI

In 1983, Guion Bluford became the first Black American astronaut in space aboard the Challenger as part of the STS-8 mission. Bluford participated in four Space Shuttle missions, his final in 1992.

In 1994, the Lockheed and Martin Marietta corporations agreed to a merger that would create the largest U.S. defense contractor.

A visitor walks past a US made Lockheed Martin army surface to surface missile on the opening day of the Eurosatory international exhibition for Land and Land-air Defene in Villepinte, north of Paris, June 12, 2006. The show is to run until June 16. (UPI Photo/Eco Clement)

In 2003, more than 120 people, including prominent Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, were killed in a bomb attack on Iraq's Imam Ali Mosque.

In 2011, two senior U.S. Justice Department officials charged with overseeing the failed government gun-smuggling "sting" operation dubbed "Fast and Furious" were replaced amid bitter congressional criticism of the mission. The plan was to pass thousands of weapons to suspected Mexican gun smugglers and trace them to drug leaders, but hundreds of firearms were lost, some showing up at crime scenes, including the 2010 slaying of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Vladimir Lenin makes a speech in the Red Square at the unveiling of a temporary monument to Stepaz Razin on May 1, 1919. On Aug. 30, 1918, Fanta Kaplan, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, attempted to assassinate Lenin, shooting him twice. File Photo by Grigori Petrowitsch Goldstein/Wikimedia

In 2021, the United States completed its evacuation mission at the international airport in Afghanistan, officially bringing an end to the longest war in U.S. history.

In 2022, Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the former Soviet Union, died at the age of 91.

Storm surge from Hurricane Carol batters the coast of Connecticut on August 31, 1954. On August 30, 1954, Hurricane Carol prompted evacuations in North Carolina. File Photo courtesy NOAA

File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
The Dayton Metro Library wants to help new Americans looking to become United States citizens.

The Northmont branch will hold a Citizenship Civics Test Prep program on Sept. 2 and Sept. 16 from 10-11 a.m.

>> 10 Ohio towns ranked among top 50 hottest zip codes, 2 local areas make cut

During the program, patrons will review questions asked on the Citizens Civics Test which is used during ones nationalization interview.

Registration is required, and the library said only a few spots remain.

For more information and to register visit here.

This embedded content is not available in your region.




Oklahoma Democrats are calling for an impeachment probe of Ryan Walters, the states superintendent of public instruction, citing a range of recent issues, including bomb threats against a school district following one of Walters provocative social media posts.

In a statement Tuesday, state House Democrats said theyve made a formal request to the GOP speaker to set up a bipartisan committee to investigate whether theres sufficient evidence to impeach Walters. The Democratic caucus cited Walters consistent pattern of inflammatory language aimed at our public education teachers, outright lies and targeted attacks on local control.

Walters, a Republican firebrand known for focusing on culture war issues, has ushered in the nations first religious charter school, promised to put God back in schools and threatened to take over the states largest school district in Tulsa, a showdown that pushed out the local superintendent  all within his first eight months in office.

Most recently, Union Public Schools, a district on the edge of Tulsa, said it has received bomb threats on six consecutive school days. The threats began last week after Walters shared a viral video that drew critical attention to one of the districts librarians on social media.

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Left and right, people are asking us to get up, stand up and do something to fix things and calm this down, state Rep. Melissa Provenzano, a Democrat and assistant minority leader, said in an interview. Provenzanos district includes Union Public Schools.

Walters spokesperson called the House Democrats push for an impeachment investigation shameful.

In seeking to remove a popularly elected constitutional officer, they represent a direct threat to our democracy, Dan Isett, an Oklahoma Department of Education spokesperson, said in an email.

Republicans hold a supermajority in the Oklahoma Legislature, and none of them have voiced support for impeaching Walters.

Impeachment is not something that should be taken lightly, and the call by a group of House Democrats seems to be more of a ready, fire, aim approach, Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall said in a statement. Last week, McCall condemned the threats against Union Public Schools and said hed like to see political activism surrounding education eliminated, and that Oklahomas elected leaders should not be adding fuel to the fires of controversy.

The threats began the same day that Walters retweeted a post from a day earlier on the conservative provocateur account Libs of TikTok, which featured a video of a librarian at Union Public Schools. The video shows the librarian walking next to a book shelf with the text POV: teachers in your state are dropping like flies but you are still just not quite finished pushing your woke agenda at the public school. Thats different from the caption that the librarian originally posted on her TikTok account, which Libs of TikTok removed: My radical liberal agenda is teaching kids to love books and be kind  hbu??

When Walters retweeted the Libs of TikTok post to his nearly 10,000 followers, he added: Woke ideology is real and I am here to stop it.

The video spread quickly online and has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Union Public Schools, a district that includes a southeastern portion of Tulsa and adjacent suburbs, said it has received seven rounds of anonymous bomb threats targeting specific schools, its administrative offices, staff home addresses and a local office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. One of the threats, according to a copy shared by the district, stated, You will stop pushing this woke ideology or we will bomb every school in the union district.

The threats have been deemed not credible, according to the Tulsa Police Department, which is investigating the case along with the Broken Arrow Police Department and the FBI. Union Public Schools said it has increased security and swept the buildings each time a threat came in, but it has not canceled classes.

John Federline, assistant superintendent of Union Public Schools, said last week that nearly a third of the districts 15,000 students were either absent or picked up early by their parents after the threats. The librarian highlighted by Libs of TikTok and Walters is tremendously upset, Federline said.

She clearly said that her radical agenda was teaching kids to be kind and to love books  thats what she said on her original post and thats something that we would ask of all of our teachers, he said.

Chaya Raichik, the California resident who runs Libs of TikTok, which has 2.4 million followers on X, declined to comment and instead emailed an insult. Last year, Boston Childrens Hospital faced several bomb threats after a series of posts by right-wing social media accounts, including Libs of TikTok.

Walters has declined to comment on his post on X and his spokesperson declined Tuesday to comment on the bomb threats. Last week, after the first threat, the department told the Fox 23 TV station in Tulsa, The issue here is the employees actions, thats why Superintendent Walters commented on it.

Provenzano said Walters social media posts and the bomb threats were the final straw for Democrats.

State Sen. Kay Floyd, the top Democrat in the Oklahoma Senate who represents Oklahoma City, said she supports her House colleagues request, citing the bomb threats to Tulsa-area public schools.

These threats are a direct result of reckless rhetoric and must be addressed, Floyd said in a statement.

Conservative groups in the state, including the Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Association and the Tulsa chapter of Moms for Liberty, said they stand by Walters. Janice Danforth, chair of the Moms for Liberty chapter, said she thinks the calls for an impeachment probe are ridiculous and an attempt at mob rule.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, left, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson arrive for a news conference Aug. 30, 2023, to urge President Joe Biden to use legal authority to expand work authorizations for migrants. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson joined Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday to reiterate a call for the federal government to expedite work permits for asylum-seekers in Chicago, adding urgency to his message by emphasizing the city would be unable to support ongoing additions to a migrant population that already totals more than 13,000 if changes arent made.

Let me state this clearly: The city of Chicago cannot go on welcoming new arrivals safely and capably without significant support and immigration policy changes, Johnson said during a news conference at the Illinois Restaurant Associations Loop headquarters. This change would be a commonsense measure that would provide greater opportunities for (new) arrivals, immigrants, to build their lives here in the state of Illinois.

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It was the first time since taking office in May that Johnson rang the alarm on the city potentially reaching the end of its runway for supporting asylum-seekers should the federal government not act soon.

[ Tempers flare at community meeting on migrant shelter opening in East Hyde Park hotel ]

On the eve of the anniversary of the initial migrants arriving in Chicago by bus from Texas, Pritzker and Johnson were joined by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and other Democratic members of the states congressional delegation at an event organized by American Business Immigration Coalition Action to push for federal policy changes that would allow new arrivals to enter the workforce more quickly.

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Since the first bus arrived a year ago, its become increasingly clear that welcoming new arrivals is not a short-term crisis, but its a long-term dynamic, Johnson said. Speaking of long term, let us champion and enact solutions that will secure long-term success.

Democratic officials and business leaders called on President Joe Bidens administration to allow states to sponsor work permits for both recently arrived migrants and immigrants who entered the country without legal permission to work in industries facing labor shortages, such as the hospitality, manufacturing, construction and health care sectors.

Echoing a letter Johnson and Pritzker sent Monday to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the officials asked the Biden administration to use a significant public benefit designation to speed up the process of authorizing migrants to work and become less reliant on government aid.

The letter said Illinois and Chicago had spent and obligated $250 million to help the more than 13,000 asylum-seekers who have come to Chicago from the U.S.-Mexico border in the past year. The process for those migrants to apply for work authorization can take anywhere from several months to well over a year, according to experts who spoke to the Tribune in July.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the letter, though Johnson told reporters he and Mayorkas had a good conversation and were scheduled to talk again Thursday.

The new arrivals have no immediate legal pathway to work, Pritzker said.

If after these many months asylum-seekers still are not being given permission by the federal government to support themselves with a plethora of available jobs, well, frankly, this moves from a short-term humanitarian mission to a long-term crisis, the governor said.

Pritzker, a key supporter of Bidens reelection campaign who successfully pushed for his party to bring the Democratic National Convention to Chicago next year, has been talking about the need for swifter work authorization for months and has previously said hes discussed it directly with the administration, all with no visible sign of progress.

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The governor, who later Wednesday greeted first lady Jill Biden at OHare International Airport, stopped short of criticizing the president for lack of action, instead taking a shot at former President Donald Trump.

We want to get to a solution, Pritzker said. So does the president, by the way. He is calling for comprehensive immigration reform. He believes that we ought to figure out a way to manage the challenge at the border, which started under the prior president, I might add  who is exacerbating it, he and his party, with the rhetoric that theyre putting out there.

Others at Wednesdays event, though, sought to frame the issue in more bipartisan terms. Rebecca Shi, executive director of the business coalition, noted that Republican governors such as Eric Holcomb of Indiana, Spencer Cox of Utah and Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma have expressed support for an expedited path to work for the migrants.

This isnt just a Democratic issue. This is an American issue, Shi said.

Still, Johnsons comments on the need for more federal help signaled the urgency of the situation from City Halls perspective. The city has struggled to provide shelter for the new arrivals, and is currently considering spending $1.5 million to buy a 10-acre site on the Northwest Side to transform a vacant Marine Corps reserves training facility into housing for migrants.

In July, New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned incoming migrants that there is no guarantee of help there for them, but at the time he stood alone among big-city mayors.

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Johnson, in a news conference earlier this month, reacted to the comments by reaffirming Chicagos commitment to welcome all and noting government is still running. Were still providing support and services.

I cant speak for (Adams) decision, but I certainly have used his, as well as (Los Angeles) Mayor (Karen) Bass and (Houston) Mayor (Sylvester) Turners, experiences as a way to reflect on that very question, Johnson said when asked if Chicago would at some point actively discourage migrants from coming. And heres what Im committed to: honoring the law of being a sanctuary city, in building systems of care that provide a pathway with dignity for individuals who are seeking refuge and hope here in the city of Chicago.

ayin@chicagotribune.com

dpetrella@chicagotribune.com
Demolition of the office building and parking deck on the former Alcatel-Lucent campus in Naperville is underway but what the propertys new owner plans to do with the site hasnt been disclosed.

Oak Brook-based Franklin Partners purchased the 40-acre parcel at Naperville and Warrenville roads for $4.75 million in April. A demolition permit was issued July 28 allowing the company to raze the 500,000-square-foot building at 1960 Lucent Lane and the three-story parking garages on each side.

The building at 2000 Lucent Lane, to the north, is not part of the demolition. An overhead bridge connecting 1960 and 2000 Lucent Lane will be removed, permit diagrams show.

Lucent Technologies built the glass-and-steel dome complex in 2000, which can be seen from Interstate 88, before it was acquired by Alcatel, a French company, in 2006. The merged company was sold to Nokia in 2016.

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Franklin Partners did not respond to requests for comment on the demolition or future plans for the property. City officials said no development plans have been submitted.

At one point, Franklin was considering a proposal to build a a warehouse facility at the northwest corner of the property but later abandoned the idea after the Naperville City Council made it clear it would not be supported. Later, the council tweaked its zoning code to keep warehouses and distribution centers out of the Interstate 88 research and design corridor.

One reason behind the change, Mayor Scott Wehrli said, were concerns that truck-based facilities would have a negative effect on residential and office properties because of their poor visual aesthetics and the increased traffic, noise and light pollution they generate.

Scott Day, an attorney representing Franklin, said the company decided it would instead market the property for technology-focused businesses.

At one point, Lucent and Alcatel were large Naperville employers and once Nokia purchased the merged firm, consolidating all of its operations into the northern building, it became a major presence in the city. At its peak, Nokia employed about 12,000 people in Naperville.

This is not Franklin Partners first property acquisition in the city, In 2018, it and Wright Heerema Architects purchased the former Naperville headquarters for OfficeMax, redeveloping the building into an amenity-rich, multitenant office building.

mejones@chicagotribune.com
Not long ago, as I left the post office, I found myself humming a 1935 tune: Im gonna sit right down and write myself a letter. I was there to purchase a roll of forever stamps, see whats new with the specialty stamps, and mail a package.

I am an unapologetic fan of what I call snail mail, mail delivered by the post office. And I still love to write letters. Six days a week, I anticipate seeing what has come through my mail slot. Sometimes its catalogs and junk mail. The first of the month is utility, credit card and other bills. And monthly or bi-monthly, New Mexico Magazine, The Atlantic, or AARP magazine. The best days are when there is a personal letter, sometimes unexpected, from a friend or family member.

The post office was founded by the Second Continental Congress in 1775, and Benjamin Franklin was the first postmaster general. Seventeen years later, the Post Office Department was created, and local postmasters began to be appointed, creating jobs in communities. Two major changes to the USPO designation have occurred over time. In 1872 it became a cabinet level position, and almost a century later the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 transformed it into an independent agency. Today it has a governing board of 11 members, including the Postmaster General.

It is one of the few government agencies codified in the Constitution and employs more than 600,000 people in strong middle-class jobs with benefits.

Diane Denish

The postal service, arguably a beloved agency and institution, is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the country, 161 million of them -- residences, businesses, and post office boxes.

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In New Mexico we have post offices or substations in every incorporated community, some unincorporated communities, and in Native communities. That number was hard to pin down but is likely nearing 150.

Occasionally, proposals to privatize the post office emerge. In 2018 there was a proposal by the Trump administration to institute a series of reforms designed to leverage it for sale to the private sector.

The plan received a lukewarm reception. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan voiced the bipartisan concern that the reforms would harm those who depend on the USPO for delivery of prescriptions, business documents, and federal checks  most notably in rural and underserved areas.

Privatizing postal services is one of the rare issues in Congress with strong bipartisan agreement: Dont do it. Each time a privatization proposal surfaces, every member of Congress starts hearing from their constituents, especially those in rural areas.

The USPO has a distinct mission, including to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people.

In New Mexicos villages and towns, it does just that  binds communities together. In the smallest places, where farmers, ranchers and rural dwellers pick up mail at a P.O. Box, folks know when the mail comes in. The post office becomes a gathering place. In more urban areas neighbors greet one another as they wait. Many of us are on first-name basis with our neighborhood postman/woman.

In 2022, after years of wrangling, Congress passed an overwhelmingly bipartisan (79-19 in the Senate) financial reform bill that would insure long-term financial security, six-day delivery, and standards for delivery times.

Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said this: Our country is pretty divided right now, lets be honest. But one enduring reality is that we have a post office that ties us all together, and everybody depends on that post office.

Next time you go to the post office, think about that, and maybe hum along with me.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: We all depend on the post office
In yet another legal scrap among many over the past two years, controversial Des Moines metro bar owner and landlord Edwin Allen III has accused a city of Waukee official of stalking and harassing him.

In a lawsuit, Allen, 45, alleges  and the city denies  that Waukee code compliance officer Paul Carpenter stalked, harassed and trapped him with his vehicle in an attempt to intimidate and punish him for taking legal action against the city.

In an interview Tuesday, Allen said hed been in disputes with city officials over an expired rental certificate and whether he needed to pay city utilities fees for a vacant rental in a duplex.

The city, he said, maintained he needed a rental certificate for "every door" at a rental property, while he believed only one was needed for every property. He acknowledged his certificate for the property had expired.

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They sued me for not having a certificate for each side of a duplex, he said. The reality was the property was vacant. ... They won by default because I didnt show up. In fact, I didnt know about the hearing.

Allen said that during the court case, the city maintained he lived in Waukee and sent notices to the address of a home he rents to his child's mother there. He said he lives in Des Moines.

During a break in legal proceedings, he said, Carpenter showed up at another rental house he owns in Waukee and took pictures of him coming out of that house in the morning and kissing his 5-year-old child.

He said he fled in his car, but Carpenter followed him into a townhome subdivision, blocked him in a driveway and started running toward his car.

I put my car in gear and pulled away, and tore through someones driveway, he said.

Judge declines Waukee's motion to dismiss case

Allen said he caused some damage, which was caught on a residents doorbell camera. He said he reported the incident to police, who did not pursue the case.

So in June last year, he and his attorney, David Leitner, sued City Administrator Brad Deets, Mayor Courtney Clarke, City Council members Anna Bergman Pierce, Charlie Bottengerg, Chris Crone, Larry Lyon and Ben Sinclair and finance officer Linda Burkhart, as well as Carpenter.

"They offered us $10,000 to settle the case, and we told them to go pound sand, he said.

Leitner, who also has been hired repeatedly by Allen's friend and fellow bar owner Steve McFadden, faces possible disbarment after being accused of misconduct.

But this week, a district court judge dismissed the city of Waukee's motion for summary judgment, saying Carpenter's actions, if proven, would violate Iowa's criminal assault law. That decision paved the way for the case to move forward.

Reached Tuesday, Deets said the city cannot comment on ongoing legal matters. "But we do deny the allegations against our city employee."

He also noted the city won its previous case against Allen for failing to update his rental certificate. Under Waukee city code, "no person shall rent, lease, let, operate, or otherwise allow the occupancy of any dwelling unit or any portion of any dwelling unit (including sleeping rooms) unless they hold a valid rental inspection certificate issued by the Development Services Department."

Allen complained he'd been charged by the city for utilities in vacant apartments and said the city puts liens on them if the utilities arent paid.

Its a David versus Goliath thing, he said. Im trying to get the city to change their behavior.

In his lawsuit, he alleged the city illegally billed him after the tenants moved out for water, gas, sewer, solid waste and storm water service, as well as a mysterious tag fee, though none of the utilities were used in 2022. That's different than other Iowa cities, including Des Moines, he contended.

Deets said in Waukee, property owners are responsible for paying minimum monthly charges for water, sewer trash and storm water when a property is vacant. "I can't tell you what other cities do," he said.

Zora owner faced stalking case of his own

Zora Bar and Rooftop is shown on Ingersoll Avenue.

Allen is best known for Zora, a custom-built, three-story nightclub, he opened in 2021 at the busy corner of Ingersoll Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway in Des Moines. The club received heavy social media criticism following incidents of violence, including the Nov. 26 shooting death in its parking lot of 29-year-old Alonzo Lee Kearney, for which no one has been charged.

Earlier this month, Allen closed Zora and sued the city of Des Moines for $10 million for allegedly seeking to drive the bar into bankruptcy.

Allen previously failed to win approval of a zoning change to designate Zora exclusively a bar after a state audit found that, as a restaurant, it was in violation of a requirement that it derive at least half its revenues from sales of food.

In April, Allen pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct to resolve a stalking charge against him. The charge was filed in January after a woman dating McFadden told police McFadden had been tracking her location and confronted her in places he would have had no way to know she would be. After the woman found a GPS tracking device in her car, police arranged to leave her car parked at an Ankeny hotel. Staff there later told police a man called from a phone number connected to McFadden, looking for the woman.

Allen was accused of following the woman to Paws and Pints on Des Moines' west side while McFadden was out of town.

McFadden, an owner in the Tipsy Crow and Grumpy Goat bars and Dough Mama's Pizzeria, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of unauthorized use of a GPS device.

Allen also was cited by Des Moines police in late March for allegedly serving underage minors at the bar on a night when two young women alleged they were sexually assaulted at the bar. Earlier this month, District Associate Judge Kristen Formanek ordered Allen to pay a $400 fine for allowing minors in Zora, which he has appealed.

Other ongoing legal issues

Allen also is entangled in several other ongoing lawsuits, including a civil suit filed by a former tenant, Cyndi Collins, who alleged he demanded sex for a reduction on her rent and another filed by former employee Montejha Maxx Hall, who alleged in an employment discrimination lawsuit that Allen preferred scantily clad, petite white women to work in his club and that he cut her hours because she is Black.

Leitner filed a motion to dismiss Collins' complaint for allegedly failing to exhaust other administrative remedies  a move that got the attorney in more trouble. Unlike other types of discrimination complaints, housing complaints have no such administrative requirements, something Collins' attorneys said they told Leitner before he filed to dismiss the case.

In a July 19 order, Judge Paul Scott found Leitner was "acting in bad faith" and was "at a bare minimum negligent" in filing the frivolous motion, and ordered Leitner to pay Collins' attorney fees for having to respond. Her attorneys say that amounts to $1,290.

Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Reach her at lrood@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8549, on Twitter at @leerood or on Facebook at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Zora owner Edwin Allen alleges Waukee official stalked him in lawsuit
Ron DeSantis has refused to call out Donald Trumps silence over Hurricane Idalia  as the former president stays mum despite being a resident of the Sunshine State.

The Florida governor held an early morning press conference in Tallahassee on Wednesday where he warned residents about the encroaching hurricane, bringing with it life-threatening storm surges to the Big Bend region.

When asked in the briefing about the fact that Mr Trump had not addressed the dangerous storm heading to the state he calls home, Mr DeSantis quickly dismissed the question.

Not my concern. My concern is protecting the people of Florida, being ready to go, he said.

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He continued to instead talk about the preparedness of the state for the hurricane: In Florida, you just have to do this.

Mr DeSantis has repeatedly refused to be drawn into criticising Mr Trump as the two former allies go head to head to become the next Republican presidential candidate.

While the former president regularly attacks the Florida governor in scathing Truth Social posts, Mr DeSantis remains cautious about retaliating  appearing concerned that he could alienate MAGA Republicans.

In Wednesdays briefing, Mr DeSantis warned Floridians that Hurricane Idalia would make landfall by around 8am ET on Wednesday morning in Taylor County and the Big Bend region after it strengthened into a Category 4 storm in the early hours of the morning.

The storm surge up to 16 feet in some areas of the Big Bend region  this storm is life-threatening, said Mr DeSantis.

So do not go outside in the storm... if its calm where you are it may be because you are in the eye of the storm.

He warned: Dont mess with this storm. Dont do anything that will put yourself in jeopardy.

Reporters wade through flood waters as it inundates the downtown area after Hurricane Idalia passed offshore on August 30, 2023 in Tarpon Springs (Getty Images)

At around 7.45am ET, Hurricane Idalia made landfall, hitting the Big Bend region as an extremely dangerous Category 3 hurricane, and bringing with it damaging winds of up to 125 mph and catastrophic storm surge.

Idalia is now moving inland from Floridas Big Bend region, the National Hurricane Center said.

Thousands of Florida residents are currently in warning zones  either having been urged to evacuate in advance of the storm approaching or told to hunker down in homes until further notice.

Ahead of the storm making landfall, evacuation notices had been issued in at least 21 counties in western and central Florida while 46 counties were placed under a state of emergency.

Officials have reassured Floridians that search and rescue operations are poised and ready to go as soon as the storm passes but  during the storm  residents have been urged to look after their families and hunker down inside.

Even after the storm passes, Mr DeSantis warned people not to drive through flooded streets, to assume that all downed power lines could be live and be careful when using generators  for risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Power outages were already being reported on Tuesday evening before the storm hit with around 50,000 homes without power early on Wednesday morning.

Mr DeSantis press conference was also briefly hit with an outage as he spoke of homes being plunged into darkness  before a backup generator restored power.

Meanwhile, a terrifying forecast model has shown that Idalia could actually hit the state of Florida twice over the coming week.

Global Forecasting System, a federal hurricane projection model, forecasted that Idalia would first make landfall on Floridas Big Bend region on Wednesday morning.

It predicts the storm will then travel up through north Florida and into Georgia and South Carolina, before heading back out into the Atlantic.

However, after that, the storm is forecast to turn southwest and head back toward Floridas Atlantic coast to make landfall in the state for a second time on Monday.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) warned shortly before Hurricane Idalia made landfall in the Florida Big Bend on Wednesday morning that it could bring a storm surge approaching 16 feet.

I think that its a hazardous situation, DeSantis, a Republican presidential hopeful, said at Wednesdays press conference. If you end up with storm surge that even approaches that 16 feet, the chance of surviving that is not great. You would need to be maybe even like on a three-story building because it is going to rise very, very [high].

Once this passes, there will be rescue efforts done, if need be, he added. But its potentially very, very hazardous when youre talking about really anything even approaching 10 feet, but when you start talking about potentially 16 feet, that is a huge, huge deal.

The National Hurricane Center is forecasting peak storm surges between 12 and 16 feet from Wakulla/Jefferson County outside Tallahassee down to Yankeetown, just south of Cedar Key.

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About 100 people decided to stay on Cedar Key, a small island off the western coast of the Sunshine State, despite a mandatory evacuation order.

Cedar Key Mayor Heath Davis urged residents to leave the island Tuesday afternoon as the storm approached.

Were here to beg our citizens to heed this warning, Davis said. This storm is worse than weve ever seen. My family has been here for many generations. We havent seen a storm this bad, ever.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph sustained winds shortly before 8 a.m. Wednesday, with the National Hurricane Center warning of the possibility of catastrophic damage.

Water levels along the coast of the Florida Big Bend continue to rise rapidly, the hurricane center wrote in an update, adding, The combination of storm surge and tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.

Updated at 8:57 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Pilot Petra Janney, co-founder of Amelia Air, cuddles one of the 17 dogs she's flying from Bakersfield, where they faced death in an overcrowded shelter, to a rescue organization in Los Angeles devoted to finding them homes. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

For the record:

3:22 p.m. Aug. 30, 2023: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Petra Janney flies a Cherokee Piper airplane. She flies a Piper Cherokee.



Petra Janney nimbly climbs in and around her tiny 1973 Piper Cherokee airplane, preparing the crates inside to hold 17 dogs. She's confident and clearly in control  she's flown dozens of flights like these to save dogs from being killed in overcrowded shelters, but she has to move fast.

It's 9 a.m. in late July at Meadows Field airport in Bakersfield, and already it's pushing 90 degrees. The heat isn't good for her canine cargo, and it will probably be hotter still when she flies back to Whiteman Airport in Pacoima to turn the dogs over to Laura Labelle, co-founder of the Labelle Foundation rescue in Los Angeles, to provide them medical care and nurturing foster homes until they can be adopted.

She's in Bakersfield because California has a huge unwanted pet crisis, and Bakersfield feels like the epicenter. Other states have lots of unwanted pets too, especially Florida and Texas, but California has the most dogs and cats coming into shelters  more than 162,000 a year to date  and the highest "non-live outcomes" in the nation, according to the national database Shelter Animals Count.

Amelia Air co-founder Petra Janney prepares for takeoff from Whiteman Airport in Pacoima. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

Petra Janney loads up crates in her rented 1973 Piper Cherokee airplane to hold 17 dogs, including two litters of newborn puppies. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

That's the nice way of saying that around 19% of those animals  more than 30,000 so far this year  died in custody in California, some from illness or injury or despair but most by euthanasia, "put to sleep," as some call it, primarily because the shelters were out of space. Bakersfield's Animal Care Center shelter is a case in point. This year, it's been euthanizing 200-plus dogs a month, according to Director Matthew Buck, just to make room for the 150 new dogs coming in every week.

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Transporting dogs out of the area is part of the coping strategy for the shelter. The staff regularly works with rescue organizations in and out of the state to move dogs to areas with fewer strays and a greater demand for adoptions. So there are buses who take bigger dogs up to Washington state, or well-heeled donors who pay for Chihuahuas to fly to Connecticut, where the demand for that breed is high and the numbers low, according to Josh Proctor, the shelter's transport coordinator.

Read more: Saving the next P-22 starts with a million hyperlocal seeds and a bare-bones nursery

And today, Janney is doing her part. This trip is costing her at least $300 in fuel and rental fees, but it's money she'd have to pay out anyway to get the flight hours she needs as a private pilot. That's the idea behind Amelia Air, the all-volunteer, nonprofit animal rescue organization she co-founded in 2019. Private pilots need regular flight hours to maintain their licenses, so why not put all that time and expense toward a mission?

Amelia Air is small but it operates on both coasts, with Janney in Los Angeles and co-founder Dean Heistad in Washington, D.C. They've rescued 1,318 dogs, cats and even a few ferrets since they began  310 animals (mostly dogs) this year alone, more than half in California.

Amelia Air has a roster of about 20 volunteer pilots nationwide, but in California, Janney flies the bulk of the missions. This is her 12th such flight this year, so she's all business readying the plane. But now comes the hard part, the guard-your-heart part that also makes it all worthwhile: picking up each dog to safely stow them for the flight.

A very young puppy, eyes still closed, is passed between tender hands as Petra Janney loads her plane. It was part of a litter of four newborns found abandoned in Bakersfield. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

Crates, which will load into the back of Petra Janney's plane to rescue dogs. Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times

A mother and her pups arrive from the shelter to Bakersfield Jet Center where they will be flown to Whiteman Airport and transferred into the care of the Labelle Foundation. Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times

First there's a litter of six hamster-sized newborns, some kind of Chihuahua mix who came into the Bakersfield shelter with their umbilical cords still attached. Then there are four slightly older puppies, pit bull mixes probably, whose eyes are still tightly shut, futilely nosing around the crate for their mother who never made it to the shelter.

These so-called bottle babies are the biggest reason Janney has to hurry, because they can only go a few hours between feedings.

Next is a vigilant, fox-faced mother and her four rambunctious pups, old enough to be weaned. Animal control officers found the mother with six puppies abandoned in a locked crate, says Krystyana Jackson, the rescue coordinator who brought the dogs to Janney this morning. Jackson is part of Unity K-9 Express Rescue, an all-volunteer animal rescue that fosters puppies and dogs who are sick and injured while arranging for permanent placements somewhere away from dog-saturated Bakersfield.

"The puppies were in horrible shape," Jackson says, "super dehydrated, full of worms and emaciated." One puppy was dead by the time the officers found them, a second died at the shelter, but a foster family was able to nurse the rest of the family.

Petra Janney reaches for a mama dog who was found abandoned in Bakersfield in a locked crate with her six puppies. Two of her pups died but foster families with Bakersfield's Unity K-9 Express nursed the others back to health. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

The mother watches quietly as Jackson talks. Her puppies gambol around her, looking healthy and excited, but everyone else seems momentarily stunned by this story. And then Jackson breaks the spell.

"People are evil," she says flatly. Janney takes a breath and their work resumes.

Once the mom and her pups are in their new crate, Janney is ready for the final two, adolescent wheat-colored dogs who tremble in their cages but melt into the arms of whoever picks them up.

The largest one, a scruffy terrier mix, is last. He leans his head against Janney as she prepares to load him in his crate, and she stops to snuggle him back. She's taken time to quickly nuzzle all the dogs before they entered the plane, but this guy is clearly special.

Petra Janney has to guard her heart on these rescue transports "or else I couldn't fly," she said, but the gratitude from this young male terrier was hard to ignore. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

He was a stray, Jackson said, running loose and then held in Bakersfield's cacophonous shelter that's bulging with more than 300 dogs this week. The shelter is bursting at the seams, Buck said, and it's devastating to the staff, who are doing everything they can to get the dogs out alive. More than 4,100 dogs have come in so far this year, 700 more than last year. Its 175 kennels designed for one dog are each filled with two or three or even four dogs.

Paradoxically, adoptions are up by 46%, not surprising since city residents can get a dog spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped, with its own ID tag, for just $20 to cover the city's licensing fee; or for free if they live outside the city. But still, they have to euthanize.

The California landscape, illuminated by the morning light during a rescue mission by Amelia Air from Los Angeles to Bakersfield. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

All the employees own multiple dogs, and then foster more at home  Buck owns four dogs and is currently fostering two more. The shelter even has its own canine herd behind the counter  about a dozen dogs contained by baby gates who were failing in the kennels  in the hope that regular human contact will revive their spirits and improve their chances of finding a home.

The scruffy stray is one of the lucky ones. If he'd stayed any longer at the shelter, he would have been a goner. But here at this airport, far from the shelter's barks and whines, he sighs when Janney cradles him and closes his eyes, his face a perfect picture of grateful relief.

"I don't know if it's all in my head, but they seem to know they're going on to something better," Janney said later. "We're trying to make them see that not all humans are bad people. We're there to help them be less afraid, and I hope they understand that. Once they're in the plane, most of them go to sleep pretty quickly. They just take a nap and come out with their tails wagging, excited for what's next."

Read more: She helped save one of the world's rarest creatures from extinction  and herself along the way

Janney is a pro at protecting her heart. She has two 11-year-old pit bulls at home and no space for more. "If I took home every dog I transported, I couldn't fly anymore," she said.

Nonetheless, once the plane is in the air, she pulls the scruffy stray from his carrier and holds him against her shoulder where he lies like a sleepy baby for the 30-minute flight.

Petra Janney pulled the drowsy young terrier into her lap after takeoff, where he stayed for the rest of the 30-minute flight from Bakersfield to Pacoima. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

When they reach Whiteman, Janney turns him and the other dogs over to Labelle, who whisks them away to waiting foster homes so they can be nurtured and assessed until they're ready for adoption.

There was a little bond, Janney admits later, but it's not the rescues she gives up that keep her awake at night.

"It's the animals we haven't been able to save," she said, "the numbers who are euthanized every year. I try to focus on the dogs I save, and not get overwhelmed by the scale of the problem because despair solves nothing. It makes it harder to act. I believe action is the antidote to despair."

Janney frets that her plane is so small, because animals clogging most of our shelters are big dogs, like those blue-eyed huskies made famous by "Game of Thrones" who were so adorable as pups but as adults have joined pit bulls and German shepherds as the most frequent shelter residents and least likely to be adopted, said Buck.

Despite the overcrowding, California also has the country's highest number of "live outcomes"  pet adoptions and reunions  due partly to an army of volunteers doing all they can to stay their executions. Some donate time to foster abandoned newborns who can't stay in shelters because they require around-the-clock feeding. Some cover medical care for animals who are sick or injured. Some, like Janney's Oscar-winning aunt, Allison Janney , raise money for rescue operations.

Petra Janney sits on the wing of her tiny 1973 Piper Cherokee airplane waiting to load dogs. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

And some, like Amelia Air, focus on getting unwanted animals away from overburdened rural shelters to larger population centers with more medical resources and a greater pool of people wanting to adopt.

Janney is a 30-year-old Harvard grad who grew up in Maine, became a vegan at 17 and now lives in Silver Lake, where she co-founded the consulting firm Hatcher to help people create sustainable businesses. But she doesn't want to talk about any of that. Her focus now is on saving dogs, and she has to steady her voice to explain why it matters.

"I believe we have a crisis of compassion," she said. "People have become immune to the suffering all around them, so rescuing animals is a great way to strengthen our compassion. It's probably easier to deal with a puppy than the homelessness crisis, but this helps strengthen our compassion muscle and, when we do that, I believe it translates into other parts of life."

Janney always wanted to fly, but wasn't motivated to learn until Heistad told her about his idea for Amelia Air. Heistad was inspired by a flight he and his wife made to rescue a neglected Great Dane in southern Virginia. The dog was dispirited and huge, and they weren't sure how to get her inside their small Cessna, Janney said. But when the dog saw the plane, she immediately jumped on the wing and crawled inside. As it turned out, she loves to fly, so they named her Amelia, after the great aviator Amelia Earhart.

A motherless newborn puppy dozes in a crate in the back of Petra Janney's plane. He is part of a litter of six "bottle babies"  so called because they require feeding every two to three hours to stay alive  found abandoned in Bakersfield with their umbilical cords still attached. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

Petra Janney's plane, after unloading all 17 dogs and puppies rescued from Bakersfield. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

When she heard Heistad's dream, Janney said she immediately volunteered to do the paperwork to get the nonprofit started, but she also began taking flying lessons, because she wanted to rescue animals too. She started flying missions right after she got her license in February 2020.

Not all their missions have involved pilot volunteers, however. The most memorable happened last fall, she said. Priceless Pets, a rescue in Chino Hills, got word that a pharmaceutical testing facility near Dallas was done with the 45 beagles in its lab. The dogs had been bred for testing, Janney said, lived all their lives in cages, and were going to be euthanized in 72 hours unless someone could find them new homes.

Read more: My rescue dog bit someone. I almost gave up on him  then I learned to heal us both

Moving 45 beagles in that short of time wasn't possible for tiny Amelia Air, Janney said, but while Priceless Pets secured 45 airline-approved crates that could hold food and water, she called American Airlines to see if they could fit all those dogs on one of their flights from Dallas to LAX.

"They clearly wanted to help and they gave us a very, very good rate, around $9,000 for all those dogs," she said. Amelia Air, which does regular fundraisers, paid for the transport.

Amelia Air has also started covering the driving costs and medical supplies for one of its pilots, a veterinarian in Louisiana named Adi Chatow who volunteers at rural cllnics in her area to provide low-cost sterilizations. It's the only way to stop this avalanche of dogs, Janney said, that and shutting down so-called backyard breeders.

"People have to stop buying dogs so people will stop breeding dogs And they need to realize that bringing home a dog is a commitment for the life of that animal. So if you can't donate or volunteer, at least spread the word. Make sure your friends and family are adopting and not shopping."

Petra Janney, co-founder of Amelia Air, began flying missions immediately after getting her private pilot license in February, 2020. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

After delivering 17 dogs to the Labelle Foundation rescue crew waiting at Whiteman Airport, Petra Janney begins the process of refueling and cleaning the plane, and sterilizing all the crates so she is prepared for her next flight. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

When she gets too frustrated with humans and all the animals being killed, Janney finds strength and solace from remembering the lives they've saved.

All 45 beagles made it safely to California, she said, and in less than two months, Priceless Pets had gotten them all adopted. Janney said she was amazed to see some of the dogs nuzzling with their foster families just two days after their rescue.

Read more: Abcarian: The seizure of thousands of mistreated beagles sparks unsettling questions about animal research

"These beagles never went outside, they had been poked and prodded by humans in their cages for most of their lives; yet, within a few days, everything was forgiven and they were ready to be with a family," she said.

"If they can find a way to forgive people, then I can too. I'm not saying it's easy, but they're so resilient, they inspire me to be resilient too."

Sign up for L.A. Goes Out, a weekly newsletter about exploring and experiencing Los Angeles from the L.A. Times.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
David Ricks, the CEO of Eli Lilly, donated $25,000 on June 22 to a super PAC that is supporting former Vice President Mike Pence 's run for president, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.

The donation to the Committed to America PAC, one of Ricks' largest ever, is notable in contrast to his company's vocal stances against the very issues Pence is most passionate about, like abortion bans and Indiana's controversial Religious Freedom and Restoration Act passed in 2015. But it's also unsurprising in the context of the reality of running a major corporation: Businesses see political contributions as a pragmatic, not ideological, ways to gain access and influence on issues affecting their bottom line.

Ricks has been CEO since 2017. His predecessor John Lechleiter, who was CEO from 2016 to 2018, also donated to the PAC on June 6, to the tune of $50,000. Lechleiter is now a Gov. Eric Holcomb appointee on the board of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.

Eli Lilly and Company CEO David Ricks talks about the back-to-work plan for the company, during a press conference Monday, May 10, 2021 at the downtown Indianapolis headquarters.

A spokesperson said Lilly would not comment on personal contributions and did not make Ricks available for comment.

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Pence is a home-grown Hoosier politician who, while not currently a frontrunner in the Republican presidential race, may stand to gain steam if legal battles end up consuming the campaign of former president Donald Trump. But he also is the first candidate to openly call for a national 15-week abortion ban, while Lilly objected to Indiana's near-total abortion ban passed in 2022; and as governor of Indiana, Pence signed and defended RFRA, to which major corporations like Lilly voiced vocal opposition for fear it legalized discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

While those issues are important to voters and the 2024 presidential race, they are not necessarily the driving force behind a CEO's choice to hedge their bets, IU politics professor Marjorie Hershey said.

More: Since RFRA, Indiana businesses losing leverage in the Statehouse

"Corporations and many other big donors are looking for access," she said. "They're looking for the door to be open when they have something to say to somebody in politics. ... Lilly is not primarily an ideological organization. Lilly is primarily a corporation that wants to make money and get stockholder support so that it gets additional working capital that it can expand with."

Corporations, and individuals associated with them, tend to give to both sides of the aisle so as to not make enemies, but give more heavily to Republicans, whose policies and politics are generally more favorable to business interests, Hershey said. Pence, for example, oversaw a slew of tax cuts as governor, including corporate taxes.

Indeed, during his six years as CEO, Ricks has given to candidates from both political parties across the country, though more heavily Republicans. Many of these recipients were successfully elected and have either leadership positions or sit on committees Lilly would care about, on topics like commerce, agriculture and finance.

Since 2017, Ricks has given at least $380,000 to federal Republican candidates, political action committees or Republican campaign committees, an IndyStar analysis of FEC filings shows. Notably, these include Pence, about $100,000 over a few years to support now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, about $23,000 to support former speaker Paul Ryan, as well as $2,500 to Indiana Sen. Todd Young and $3,300 to U.S. Rep. Larry Buschon.

In the same time frame, he's given at least $55,000 to support Democratic politicians in federal office, including U.S. Rep. Andre Carson and former Sen. Joe Donnelly.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Lilly CEO David Ricks donates $25K to Mike Pence super PAC
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Wednesday appeared to freeze again during a conference with reporters in his state, pausing for more than 30 seconds after being asked if he would pursue re-election, NBC News reports. When the episode became apparent, an aide approached McConnell and asked, "Did you hear the question, senator?" But McConnell remained unresponsive.

Once McConnell's freeze had ended, he briefly addressed another question about Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, another Republican. He was then asked about former President Donald Trump. In both instances, his aide had to repeat the question to him. McConnell dismissed the latter question on the grounds that he does not usually engage in Trump-related matters and then left. The Kentucky Republican spoke for about 20 minutes during the event before the Q&A session with the media. He was not asked about the episode before his departure and his office did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment. The 81-year-old senator had previously frozen for 19 seconds during a Capitol Hill press conference in July before he was escorted away from the cameras. Shortly after, he returned to the podium and continued the event, telling reporters, "I'm fine."

BREAKING NEWS: Sen. Mitch McConnell appearing to have another scary episode in the media gaggle in Covington today. Aides had to step in to help him out and repeat questions. He was eventually lead away. We'll have the full video on @WLWT pic.twitter.com/q9ex5MHxLV  Hannah Thomas (@HannahPThomas) August 30, 2023
Chicago-based mortgage company Guaranteed Rate has been quietly laying off employees across the country for more than a year, according to former and current Guaranteed Rate employees.

The Tribune spoke with more than a dozen current and former employees, and many told the Tribune that layoffs have happened several times in recent weeks, with entire teams wiped out. More layoffs are potentially on the horizon, and company morale is in the toilet, as one current employee put it.

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Weve had progressive layoffs since early 2022 in an effort to right-size for the volume that existed in the industry, said John Palmiotto, Guaranteed Rates chief of retail production until his resignation last week. In fairness, we probably hired more people in the earlier years during COVID than other companies. We staffed up significantly to meet the demands that we had at that time, adding that the company probably did overstaff.

Victor Ciardelli, founder of Guaranteed Rate, at the company's headquarters on April 8, 2014. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune)

The layoffs come at a time when the hot pandemic-era housing market has turned on its head, with the average for a 30-year fixed loan skyrocketing to more than 7% on more than one occasion, keeping would-be sellers in their homes, buyers without homes to purchase and a mortgage industry with a lot fewer loans to close.

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In a statement to the Tribune, CEO and founder of Guaranteed Rate Victor Ciardelli acknowledged the layoffs and said they happened for two reasons: high mortgage rates led to a decrease in loan volume and a need to right-size the business and create more efficiencies, as well as the development of new technology by the company in an effort to streamline its processes, which dramatically reduced the people and time needed to fund a loan.

While these actions were difficult, they were necessary to continue to provide a best-in-class experience to consumers in the new rate environment, Ciardelli said.

Guaranteed Rate, whose name has adorned the home of the Chicago White Sox since 2016, is the countrys second largest retail mortgage lending company, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, a subscription-based industry news and data provider. As a retail mortgage lender, Guaranteed Rate works directly with consumers, while other mortgage lenders work through intermediaries such as real estate brokers. Some lenders use both models.

Inside Mortgage Finance finds business is down nearly 60% for Guaranteed Rate in the first three months of this year compared with 2022, with other mortgage companies seeing similar harsh declines.

Guaranteed Rate did not make Ciardelli available for an interview, nor did the company answer questions regarding how many positions have been eliminated, the processes surrounding the layoffs or the state of morale at the company.

Andrew Pohlmann, chief marketing officer, said in an email, Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on the process of our reductions or how we communicated to employees.

[ Spring housing market stalling as record low inventory plagues buyers ]

Pohlmann declined to say how many people work at the company. Different parts of the companys website cite the total number of employees ranging from more than 9,000 to more than 15,000. Current and former employees told the Tribune in recent days this number is down well below 10,000.

Palmiotto, 57, said layoffs likely numbered in the thousands, with the company having around 8,000-9,000 employees prior to the layoffs in 2022. Furloughs also took place last year, Palmiotto and other employees said.

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We tried to maintain staff as much as we could, hoping that business would bounce back or that conditions would change, Palmiotto said. They didnt really improve.

Real estate industry news outlet HousingWire first reported on August layoffs at the company last week.

There have been no Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification layoffs  the type of job cuts that require notifying the state when mass layoffs are issued or a plant is shuttered  at Guaranteed Rate from 2021 until now, according to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

After six years with Guaranteed Rate, Palmiotto now works at The Money Store, a subsidiary of MLD Mortgage, based in New Jersey. He said he switched jobs because I felt going to a smaller organization, I would have more influence and more of an ability to be more involved in strategic direction and decisions.

Palmiotto said he was one of around 10 people who reported to Ciardelli.

Khadijah Parks, 27, worked for Guaranteed Rate as a remote employee based out of New Jersey before she was laid off from a technology team in October 2022. She was brought on during the hiring boom to be on a new team that helped support other mortgage companies Guaranteed Rate was acquiring and creating. Now, she said, her team and other tech teams have been decimated.

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Parks worked for the company for about 11 months and was laid off right before her severance package would have increased significantly if she had made the one-year mark, she said.

It was terrible, Parks said, who had come back from vacation the day of her layoff. They had the nerve to even say I could feel free to finish up the work I was doing.

Parks remains unemployed.

[ Illinois saw cooler spring housing market as inventory remained tight and mortgage rates high ]

Current and former employees including Parks said that there was a lack of communication from upper management about layoffs.

Palmiotto said he doesnt know why messaging wasnt better, but there were conversations around it. He also said he wasnt privy to what morale was like given that he was a remote employee not based in Chicago.

I feel like everybody handled it the best they could, Palmiotto said, adding that he didnt think the layoffs could have been prevented and that layoffs were not unique to Guaranteed Rate.

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Other mortgage companies including Rocket Mortgage and Better.com have also faced layoffs and buyouts because of the slowdown in the housing market.

Mindy Marchetti, 47, was a manager on a technology team like Parks for Guaranteed Rate. She started in August 2021 as a remote employee and voluntarily left the company in March of this year after she witnessed the layoffs.

When I was hired, we were in a mortgage boom, so things were amazing. We had all kinds of resources, and company morale was excellent  Marchetti said. As the rates started to increase, layoffs came. And I am a single mom, and I had to make sure that I had some career stability, so that is why I chose to look elsewhere.

Marchetti said Ciardelli and Nik Athanasiou, COO of Guaranteed Rate, mentioned the need for layoffs due to the market downturn at some weekly calls with team managers and loan officers.

By the time she left, Marchetti said there were layoffs every two weeks, resources were waning on her team, morale was very low and there was a feeling of instability.

It just felt like your number could be called next, Marchetti said.

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Correction: An earlier version of this story included an inaccurate list of mortgage lenders that have conducted layoffs and buyouts. The story has been corrected.

ekane@chicagotribune.com
While investigating a mysterious brain lesion, a group of Aussie neurosurgeons got the surprise of their lives when they discovered a live freaking worm inside their patient's cranium.

In an interview with the BBC, a Canberra, Australia brain surgeon described the gruesome scene that unfolded during what would otherwise have been a routine procedure  but which instead became what researchers are now calling a world-first.

The eight-centimeter-long red worm was discovered in the brain of a 64-year-old woman last year, as described in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, after a long bout of strange symptoms that ranged from abdominal pain and diarrhea to night sweats and depression. After being initially treated for pneumonia in early 2021, the patient's condition did not fully improve, and by the summer of 2022, with all other options exhausted, her doctors found a strange lesion on a brain scan and finally decided to open her head up.

Dr. Hari Priya Bandi, the woman's surgeon, said that she felt the roundworm before seeing it while biopsying her brain.

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"I thought, gosh, that feels funny, you couldn't see anything more abnormal," Bandi said. "And then I was able to really feel something, and I took my tweezers and I pulled it out and I thought, 'Gosh! What is that? It's moving!'"

Everyone in the operating room was, as the neurosurgeon described, "shocked" by the worm that was "happily moving, quite vigorously, outside the brain." What's worse, researchers believe it may have been fully developed inside her brain for up to two months before they finally pulled it out.

https://twitter.com/HIVDocSK/status/1696426869678391316

Known as Ophidascaris robertsi, the red roundworm found inside the woman's brain is most often seen in carpet pythons, which the BBC notes are non-venomous and found all over Australia. The scientists who studied the strange case believe that the woman became an "accidental host" after foraging some Warrigal greens, a type of edible wildlife that's also popular with pythons. Those greens, parasitologist and main study author Mehrab Hossain wrote, could easily have had snake feces on them, thus contaminating the woman.

Hossain notes in the paper, that this kind of actual living brain worm has, until now, "not been reported"  and as Dr. Sanjaya Senanayake, an infectious disease expert who consulted with Bardi after the initial discovery of the worm, tells the BBC, this incredible finding doesn't bode well.

"It just shows as a human population burgeons, we move closer and encroach on animal habitats," Senanyake said. "This is an issue we see again and again, whether it's Nipah virus that's gone from wild bats to domestic pigs and then into people, whether it's a coronavirus like Sars or Mers that has jumped from bats into possibly a secondary animal and then into humans."

"Even if you take away the yuck factor," the epidemiologist added, "this is a new infection never documented before in a human being."

And in this case, as with COVID-19, that novelty definitely is not a good thing.

More on parasites: Scientists Surprised by DNA in Worms That Control Hosts' Brains
PROVIDENCE  Newly released documents shed light on the City of Providence's initial $45 million demand if and when it takes over the deed and the stalled development of the fortress-like, largely abandoned Cranston Street Armory.

The state made the city's letter public on Wednesday in response to an open-records request from The Journal, along with a spreadsheet of potential funding sources that the state provided the city.

What does Providence want in exchange for taking the Armory?

As a starting point, Mayor Brett Smiley's administration asked the McKee administration for $45 million over three years.

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"While the city is eager and interested in the prospect of acquiring this property, as youve recognized, the building requires significant investment for both its ongoing maintenance and for future capital improvements," Smiley's chief of staff, Emily Ward Crowell, wrote Gov. Dan McKee's chief of staff, Antonio Afonso, on July 7.

"These future investments are beyond the scope of what the citys budget can absorb," Crowell wrote.

The 1907 Cranston Street Armory, abandoned by the National Guard in 1996, has served multiple purposes over the years, including a distribution site for polio vaccines, a venue for inauguration balls, and, last winter, a warming site and homeless shelter.

More: For decades they pushed to revive Cranston Street Armory. All they have is an empty shell.

"Given this, we would request that the state provide grants to the city, totaling $45 million over the next 3 years, to ensure that the city can care for the building while also making the necessary improvements to its core infrastructure quickly," she wrote.

Is the deal moving forward?

It is not clear where the negotiations stand nearly two months later and, more specifically, where the McKee administration stands on the city's $45-million ask.

Asked the status, McKee spokesman Matt Sheaff said: The discussions with the City of Providence regarding the potential transfer of the Cranston Street Armory remain ongoing."

"At this time, terms are still being negotiated and discussed. A final agreement has not yet been reached. We look forward to our continued conversations with the mayor and his team," he continued.

City spokesman Josh Estrella said: "In its current state the building needs significant deferred maintenance and capital upgrades, which is why we made an initial ask of the State for $45 million over three years. These discussions have been collaborative and productive and we anticipate this process to be ongoing for the next several months while we negotiate a deal that works best for our community."

As for the future use of the building, he said: "The Administration hopes to see a combination of small businesses, maker space, public spaces, community organization spaces, and potentially even housing....What we need to do now is integrate the communitys desire for this space with the level and sources of funding that is available."

Documents paint a picture of what happened as the Scout deal fell apart

The city's July 7 proposal, the spreadsheet of potential funding sources and a series of emails between city and state officials provide a fresh glimpse into what was happening just before  and after  McKee's announcement July 17 that the state was terminating its contract with Scout Ltd., the Philadelphia firm hired to redevelop the abandoned Armory.

Tying his announcement to a newly released consultant's report, McKee said at the time: "It became clear that the proposal put too much risk on Rhode Island taxpayers and not enough on other sources."

The announcement sparked anger, frustration and concern in the surrounding neighborhood for the future of the cavernous building on the city's West End, that has been largely empty since the Rhode Island National Guard pulled out in 1996, except for relatively short stints as a homeless shelter, movie staging ground and headquarters for the State Fire Marshal's Office.

On that same day he announced he was cancelling the state's contract to develop the Armory into a hub of activity with Scout Ltd., McKee and Smiley publicly acknowledged for the first time that they had had "preliminary discussions" about the state handing the Armory over to the city to redevelop as it sees fit.

And then came weeks of public silence while emails flew back and forth.

A postcard in the West Broadway Neighborhood Association's collection depicts the Cranston Street Armory in its heyday.

The city's July 7 proposal began:

"The City of Providence (the city) appreciates the opportunity to discuss the potential transfer of the Cranston Street Armory (the Armory) to the citys ownership. The Armory is an important piece of ... Providences history and should be used as an asset to spur economic development, contributing to the vitality of the neighborhood and city where its located."

"The purpose of this memo is to provide the state with proposed terms for this transfer for discussion, including the $45 million divided into increments of $20 million in the current budget year (FY24), then $15 million (FY25) and $10 million (FY26)," the proposal continued.

"This investment would ensure that the building is transferred responsibly with a clear plan for future success," Crowell wrote.

"Further, we would request that the state enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU)," setting the stage for the city's operations team to "work in close coordination with the [state's] Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) and other relevant state agencies to prepare for taking over the care and control of the building while ensuring that the building is responsibly maintained during the transition."

And finally, she wrote: "The city will continue to maintain ... the parking lot adjacent to the property as well as Dexter Training Ground Park ... Thank you in advance for consideration of this proposal and for the potential transfer of this important property, we look forward to further discussion."

Deal could come with significant ARPA funds for Providence

The spread sheet prepared by McKee's budget team reflects the potential availability of a total of $44 million statewide in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, including $16.6 million for "community learning facilities, $4 million for "out-of-school-time learning grants" and $27 million for "housing priority projects" that must be contractually obligated by Dec. 31, 2024.

The list also includes: a whopping $125 million in ARPA dollars for "broadband equity, access and deployment" statewide.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: City of Providence will take Cranston Street Armory from RI - for a price
Last week belonged to Donald Trump.

CNN's Zachary Wolf correctly described it when he wrote, "The exhausting view of this bizarre week  with the first GOP presidential primary debate one day, followed by the fourth arrest this year of the former president the next  is that everyone should prepare for so much more of this uniquely American and continuously unbelievable political spectacle. It will be impossible to look away."

One week ago, the Republican Party held its first 2024 presidential primary debate. Trump refused to participate. He leads DeSantis, his closest rival, by 40 points in polls. Trump's foul shadow hung over the event. When asked by the moderators, 6 of the 8 prospective Republican presidential candidates basically declared their loyalty to the traitor ex-president and promised to support him should he become the party's nominee in 2024. The Fox News crowd, gathered in Milwaukee for the debate last Wednesday, booed when Trump was criticized for his crimes against democracy.

The next day, Trump was arrested and booked at the Fulton County jail for his alleged crimes in connection with his Jan. 6 coup attempt, which involved rigging the outcome of the presidential election in Georgia. Trump immediately began selling images of his mug shot and has reportedly made millions of dollars so far from his MAGA followers. Trump's arrests and indictments continue to fuel his popularity among his MAGA followers and other right-wing voters.

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On Wednesday night, at the same time as the Republican primary debate, Trump gave a fake interview with former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson. During their conversation, Carlson and Trump amplified violent fantasies about assassination plots and civil war. The two furthered the Big Lie about the 2020 election and continued spreading the conspiracy theory that Trump is being persecuted by a "deep state" conspiracy led by the "evil" Democrats and President Joe Biden.

As I am writing this essay, Trump literally just sent out the following fundraising email to his MAGA cultists, continuing with his fascist fantasies and themes of persecution and martyrdom:

During my Tucker Carlson interview  which, by the way, has now garnered more views than when Oprah interviewed Michael Jackson  Tucker asked me how I'm able to remain cheerful even as I face 4 different sham trials and a threat of 1,000 years in prison as an innocent man. It's a fair question. But I told Tucker that the only reason I'm able to endure such vicious and baseless attacks is because of the wonderful support I have from the American people. When I look at the polls, when I look at our grassroots fundraising numbers, when I tour the country and am welcomed with such unbelievable love and patriotism, I am filled with endless motivation to NEVER SURRENDER our mission to save America. The truth is: I'm not in this fight all on my own I have millions and millions of patriots standing by my side who are equally as committed to making our country great again. And yes, that's right  I'm talking about YOU, Friend. Your support keeps me motivated, inspired, determined, and fearless in the face of the most vicious attacks I've ever been subjected to in my entire life.... (But, of course, if you're doing poorly right now in Biden's Third World America, don't even think about donating. Our movement is about making YOUR life great again, so I don't want you to incur any cost that would hurt you or your family. And very soon, I'll be back in the White House, and you're going to be prospering like never before. Just wait and see!)

None of this is normal.

Instead of continuing to warn the American people about Trump and his movement's increasing danger to American society and democracy, the ex-president's interview with Tucker Carlson was largely ignored by the mainstream news media or treated as a curiosity to be mocked. The worst and most dangerous reactions to Trump's interview by the mainstream news media and its professional centrists and hope peddlers talked about it through the lens of theater criticism and horse race journalism as something "boring" or that "we heard this before and there is nothing new, so who cares?"

That a criminal ex-president, who has tens of millions of followers, and is tied in or leading President Biden in the polls, and is promising to unleash a reign of fascist terror and revenge if he get takes back the White House is being ignored and dismissed by the news media because he is "boring" and "repetitive" is an indictment of them as a class and an institution. In all, many of the same voices who normalized Donald Trump in 2016 and then acted surprised and shocked when he won are doing the same thing now. That is not a mistake; it is a choice.

In a powerful new essay at The Philadelphia Inquirer, William Bunch makes this intervention:

I guess the 20th-century author and socialist Upton Sinclair really nailed it when he wrote, 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." If you watch enough not-Fox cable TV news, you'll occasionally see an expert on fascism like NYU's Ruth Ben-Ghiat or Yale's Timothy Snyder explaining the roots of this American authoritarianism, or you can read a piece like Margaret Sullivan's Guardian take on the fascist appeal of Trump-clone Ramaswamy. But then it's back to your regular programming, including a desperate desire to frame today's clash in the context of long-lost 20th-century democratic norms, and to blame any transgressions on a mysterious "tribalism" that plagues "both sides.". These are the stakes: dueling visions for America  not Democratic or Republican, with parades and red, white, and blue balloons, but brutal fascism or flawed democracy. The news media needs to stop with the horse-race coverage of this modern-day March on Rome, stop digging incessantly for proof that both sides are guilty of the same sins, and stop thinking that a war for the imperiled survival of the American Experiment is some kind of inexplicable "tribalism." We need to hear from more experts on authoritarian movements, and fewer pollsters and political strategists. We need journalists who'll talk a lot less about who's up or down and a lot more about the stakes  including Trump's plans to dismantle the democratic norms that he calls "the administrative state," to weaponize the criminal justice system, and to surrender the war against climate change  if the 45th president becomes the 47th. We need the media to see 2024 not as a traditional election but as an effort to mobilize a mass movement that would undo democracy and splatter America with more blood like what was shed Saturday in Jacksonville. We need to understand that if the next 15 months remain the worst covered election in U.S. history, that it might also be the last.

I asked Dr. Lance Dodes, who has been one of the most consistent alarm-sounders about Trump's diseased mind and the danger(s) he and his movement represent to the public, for his analysis of the criminal ex-president's "interview" with Carlson:

In the Carlson interview Trump demonstrates, again, the primitive psychology that makes him the enormous danger he is to democracy and other human beings. He inadvertently tells us of his bottomless hatred and capacity for violence in the manner he always does  by attributing these characteristics of his to his victims and opponents. This primitive process, called projective identification, is evident in his recent statements such as, "There's a level of hatred that I've never seen" in Democrats, and that they are "savage animals; they're people that are sick." Trump's assigning his own traits to others and his simultaneous inability to recognize the actual feelings, rights or thoughts of others, coupled with his absence of the capacity for empathy, is just what is seen in the famous criminals against humanity, like Putin and the well-known tyrants of the twentieth century. Trump's current interview is just another example of his derangement for those able, and willing, to see.

I also asked Dr. Mark Goulston, who is a leading psychiatrist and author, for his thoughts about Trump's interview with Carlson. He focused in on Trump's power as a cult leader:

Donald Trump was interviewed by Tucker Carlson which played at the same time as the recent GOP debate. As always Trump does have a killer instinct to turn any potential adverse event into an opportunity. For instance, consider his merchandising his mug shot to raise funds from his base. By talking "civil war and possible assassination" in his interview with Carlson, in his political base's mind, he was able to trump anything any of the other GOP candidates could/would say in their debate. The challenge for any of his GOP or Democratic rivals is how to stop his teflonic ability to turn anything thrown at him into something that works for him. He famously said, "I Could ... Shoot Somebody, And I Wouldn't Lose Any Voters." How can we break the hypnotic spell he has over his base and more importantly his grip on the media which has been reporting on him every day since he announced that he was running for President in 2015? It appears that Trump is an "equal opportunity disparager," doesn't care about anyone else and is probably disdainful of his base for their being such easy marks for whatever he wants to do. Might there be a way to collect and broadcast video clips of arrogant disdainful remarks about people from a lower socioeconomic status that his base comes from similar to Mitt Romney saying that 47% of the United States was government dependent. And if such clips could be discovered, might there be a way to say to his followers, "Want to know what Trump really thinks of you?"

As seen on Jan. 6 and throughout the Age of Trump and beyond, the Republican Party and its propaganda machine are highly skilled at both using stochastic terrorism (coded appeals and implied threats) and overt threats and incitements to violence as a tool in their war against real democracy.

Trump's followers listen to these commands. Over the weekend, for example, a white supremacist murdered three Black people in Florida. National security and other experts continue to warn that there are millions of Trump's followers and other members of the right wing who support and are potentially willing to engage in acts of terrorism and other violence  including a second coup attempt, civil war, or insurgency, to put Trump back in office.

Jason Blazakis, who is a Senior Research Fellow at The Soufan Center, explained to me via email how Trump's interview with Carlson is part of a much larger pattern of violence and disruption by neofascist and other right-wing malign actors:

The rhetoric of the interview between Carlson and Trump represented a 45-minute microcosm of what is wrong with extreme far-right media and extreme-far right political figures. Steeped in conspiracy theories and fond memories for the January 6 insurrection, the discussion normalized violence as a response to political disappointment. Like many of President Trump's tweets in the lead-up to the 6th of January, the Trump/Carlson engagement created a narrative that can fuel violence. Trump doesn't have to inspire mass protests to be dangerous. He just has to light the spark of evil in one person for them to do horrific things in his name. We saw this in the wake of the Mar-a-Lago raid, when an individual went to an FBI field office in Ohio to carry out an attack.

Donald Trump is more than a man or a leader, he is a symbol and example of a much larger history of fascist and authoritarian leaders and demagogues. In that way, Trump is behaving much the same way as Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin.

Dr. Marcel Danesi, author of the new book "Politics, Lies and Conspiracy Theories: A Cognitive Linguistic Perspective," explained to me via email how:

The Carlson-Trump interview put on display both Trump's paranoia as well as his uncanny ability to project it onto others, reinforcing his leadership as a valiant warrior in stopping the purported degeneration of America's true nature. It was a lesson on the ability of the master liar to make his own paranoia everyone else's by creating what Oscar Wilde called a "mind fog". The interview was nothing if not a quagmire of thought confusion which, nonetheless, was intended to stoke resentments, anger, and even hatred by innuendo. In the mind fog, there is literally no clarity, just random delusional, self-referential thoughts, which Trump somehow has the uncanny ability to connect to his fictional mission to overthrow a supposed deep state. The interview was a "Twilight Zone" of surreal verbal dysfunction, which Carlson constantly tried to make coherent with questions that appeared to have the import of truthful discourse, but which actually created further obfuscation by virtue of the fact that it allowed Trump to project paranoia. The whole interview was worrisome, reminiscent of Ralph Waldo Emerson's warning that "Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society." Carlson and Trump repeatedly created scenarios in which the hero in America's cultural war (Trump) feels that his liberty and thoughts were being dismantled by vast, shadowy forces. It was, overall, an example of what Orwell called "creative paranoia", a paranoia that is partially real and partially fabricated.

Danesi also said this about Donald Trump's mug shot:

The look of defiance that Trump simulated for his mug shot is the assumed pose of an angry lionesque warrioran image that comes right out of Machiavelli, who advised would-be tyrants to be both a "fox," able to baffle and deceive people, and to act and look like a "lion," feigning bravery and strength, pretending to be a valiant warrior for truth and justice. Adopting the ferocious countenance of an angry lion allows Trump to portray himself before his sustainers as a captured leader needing protective supportthe lion cannot fight the battle on his own; he needs an army behind and in front of him. As Machiavelli went on to suggest, the master liar must never show any weakness or gentility; he must always be, or at least appear to be, brutal, exuding righteous anger, control, power. Machiavelli saw this as the necessary performance of the lion role that the despot must always be ready to enact. The mug shot is a portrait of this role.

For the American people to escape the Trumpocene and its great troubles and confusion, Donald Trump must be defeated at the polls and also convicted and sentenced to prison.

These two steps much be taken for his power as a fascist cult leader to be diminished  but as I explained in a previous essay, the neofascist movement is now much larger than he is and will endure for a very long time. To purge that poison will require a decades-long project of democratic renewal and rehabilitating the country's civil society institutions and political culture.

But what must not happen is for the country's news media and other opinion leaders to minimize or downplay Donald Trump and his MAGA movement's dangers to American society. To normalize Trumpism and American neofascism by accepting it as the new status quo and reporting on it through the lens of theater criticism, "bothsidesism" or the political horserace and access journalism is to almost guarantee that it will gain a permanent foothold in American society.

For at least seven years, too many leading voices and institution in the American news media have made that choice and the enduring power of a criminal ex-president and enemy of democracy Donald Trump  who is basically tied with Biden in many polls and the Electoral College  is the result.

Read more

about Trump's threats
Jaiden, the 12-year-old boy who was kicked out of class for wearing a Gadsden flag patch on his backpack, is back in school with his constitutional rights restored.

"The Vanguard School recognizes the Gadsden flag and its place in history," wrote the school's board of directors in a statement. "At this time, the Vanguard School Board and the District have informed the student's family that he may attend school with the Gadsden flag patch visible on his backpack."

A video of the student and his mother arguing with officials went viral on social media earlier this week. The Vanguard Schoola charter school overseen by Harrison School District 2 in Colorado Springs, Coloradohad initially maintained that the "Don't tread on me" rattlesnake was a racist symbol associated with slavery and the slave trade. Jaiden's mother objected, patiently explaining that the Gadsden flag's origins can be traced to the Revolutionary War; its warning was directed at British tyranny, though subsequent freedom movements have adopted the flag for various causes.

In the face of overwhelming criticismincluding from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D)the school district conceded its mistake and reversed course. Libertas Institute President Connor Boyack, who first publicized Jaiden's predicament, reported on Tuesday that Jaiden was back at school and free to display the Gadsden flag.

Jaiden should sell this and monetize his new fame ???? pic.twitter.com/YjKjpKRAny  Connor Boyack ???? (@cboyack) August 30, 2023

This is welcome news. Young people should not automatically lose their free expression rights when they set foot in school, and there's no reason whatsoever to think that Jaiden's Gadsden flag backpack was disruptive in the classroom. Hopefully, school officials everywhere are paying attention: Don't tread on kids.

The post Don't Tread on Jaiden! School District Learns Its Lesson appeared first on Reason.com.
Dozens of people were arrested in Nigeria on charges that they had been involved in a gay wedding. Homosexuality is illegal in the most populous country on the African continent.

The police detained 67 people celebrating a same-sex wedding, one of the largest mass detentions targeting the LGBTQ+ community, the Associated Press reports.

State police spokesperson Bright Edafe told reporters Tuesday that homosexuality will never be tolerated in Nigeria after the gay suspects were apprehended in southern Delta states Ekpan town at about 2 a.m. Monday.

Homosexuality carries a punishment of up to 14 years imprisonment under Nigerias 2013 Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act. Those who aid in a same-sex wedding are subject to 10 years in prison.

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As a result of the arrests, Amnesty International Nigeria called for an immediate end to this witch-hunt.

In a society where corruption is rampant, this law banning same-sex relationships is increasingly being used for harassment, extortion, and blackmail of people, according to the agencys director in Nigeria, Isa Sanusi.

Edafe told reporters that 200 people were initially detained after police stormed a hotel in Ekpan during a gay wedding. Later, 67 of them were arrested, according to the AP.

As police paraded around the detained individuals and broadcast the procession online, one arrested person protested that they were not at the wedding. Instead, they said they were at the hotel for a different event.

According to a second person detained, he was arrested as he headed to a fashion show.

Many African countries have criminalized same-sex relationships, including Uganda, where a recently passed law makes homosexual acts punishable by death under certain circumstances.
Oviedo police said a driver crashed into a taekwondo studio where a class was in progress on Tuesday evening.

Police said the cat went off the roadway and crashed into the building near the intersection of Oviedo Boulevard and Mitchell Hammock Boulevard.

Officers said the woman driving the car was taken to a nearby hospital. Four people inside the building ranging from teens to adults suffered minor injuries but were not hospitalized.

Police said the crash remains under investigation.

Read: Woman, child injured in Orlando shooting, police say

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A driver used a hammer to strike another drivers vehicle during a road rage incident in Merriam, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

Shortly after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, police received a call about a road rage incident that was occurring on West 75th Street near Interstate 35, said Capt. Jeremiah Waters, a spokesman for the Merriam Police Department.

One of the drivers allegedly exited their vehicle and struck another vehicle with a hammer, causing damage. The driver then got back into their vehicle and started to leave, Waters said.

As the attacker started to pull away, the victim got out of their vehicle and was bumped by the other drivers vehicle. The attacker then left the area. The victim was not injured.

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Several cities border that intersection, so video from cameras there helped Merriam police identify the vehicles involved, as well as lead detectives to a person of interest they are investigating, Waters said.

Police have contacted several witnesses in the area, and have the information they need at this time, he said. Because its an ongoing investigation, Waters declined to release any further information.

People who find themselves confronted during a road rage incident should drive away and go to their local police department or a safe area to avoid escalating the situation, Waters said.
Fire from explosions near the airport in Pskov, night of August 30

At least four Il-76 military transport aircraft were damaged in an apparent UAV strike on the Kresty airfield in Russias Pskov Oblast, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Aug. 30.

Four Il-76 aircraft are damaged after an UAV attack on a military airfield; a fire broke out, two aircraft are ablaze, TASS quotes a report by Russian emergency services.

Read also: Significance of Ukraines breakthrough near Tokmak and damage to Russian strategic aircraft  ISW

Furthermore, Pskov regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov also said that air defense in Pskov airport was dealing with a drone attack.

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Read also: Explosions in occupied Berdyansk  mayor

The Defense Ministry in Pskov airport is responding to a drone attack, said Vedernikov.

Read also: Drone attacks reported in Russias Pskov and Belgorod oblasts

Im on site since the beginning of the incident. Preliminary reports suggest there are no casualties. The extent of the damage is being assessed.

The Pskov airport is approximately 650 kilometers away from the Ukrainian border.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
An explosion rocked the State Investigative Committee building in the Russian city of Bryansk early on Aug. 30, as reports came from around European Russia overnight that waves of drones had attacked military air bases and other targets.

Read also: Drone strike damages four Il-76 aircraft deep in Russian territory

The SOTA Telegram channel reported that the explosion in Bryansk was heard around 6 a.m. local time. The blast wave shattered windows in the building, but there was no fire, and no casualties, the city administration reported later.

The post about the explosion at the Investigative Committee building was later deleted by the press service of the administration.

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Meanwhile, Bryansk Oblast Governor Alexander Bogomaz said that "two Ukrainian drones" had attempted to attack a TV tower in Bryansk. He claimed that Russian air defense systems had managed to shoot down all of the targets.

Read also: Drones target Tula Oblast, Russians claim successful interceptions

Russian authorities typically claim that all attacking drones are either shot down or disabled by electronic warfare systems, causing them to crash. There is evidence, however, that some of the drones reach their intended targets  for instance, a skyscraper in western Moscow that houses offices of several Russian government ministries was hit twice within three days.

Ukraine typically denies being responsible for the drone attacks in Russia, but drones of known Ukrainian manufacture are regularly filmed in Russian skies.

Earlier, it was reported that a drone had crashed onto the premises of Gruppa Kremniy El, a major microelectronics factory in Bryansk, in the early hours of Aug. 30. It is one of the largest microelectronics factories in Russia.

Three Ukrainian drones were shot down over Bryansk, but "no one was injured, Bogomaz said later.

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
Since the beginning of the year, drones have attacked the territory of Russia and temporarily occupied Crimea more than 190 times. Strikes on the night of 29-30 August in six regions of the Russian Federation became the largest in 2023.

Source:  news, citing BBC Verify, which has been tracking reports of drone strikes in Russian media since early 2023

Quote from : "Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukraine of being behind drone strikes in recent months.

Ukraine hasn't claimed responsibility for these, although President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously said that attacks on Russian territory are an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process."

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Details: In 2023, drone attacks were concentrated in Bryansk, Belgorod, and Kursk oblasts of Russia near the western border with Ukraine, as well as in Russian-annexed Crimea.

In addition, there were about a dozen attacks by naval drones on Russian targets in the Black Sea this year, including naval bases and the Crimean (Kerch) Bridge, according to BBC Verify.

INFOGRAPHICS: 

Drones have reached Moscow Oblast, which is located approximately 450 km from the border with Ukraine, at least several times. These attacks led to the evacuation of people and temporarily stopped the operation of Moscow airports.

Russia even accused Ukraine of trying to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin during an alleged attack on his residence in the Kremlin in Moscow on 3 May. Ukraine denied this.

Social media reported that Bober (Beaver) long-range attack drones were involved in several recent attacks on Moscow.

Unmanned aerial vehicle expert Steve Wright from the University of the West of England cross-analysed images of these aircraft and confirmed video footage of the 30 May Moscow strikes and concluded that the two models were similar in design and that the Beaver was "most likely" used.

The BBC also reports that the drone's wreckage, which crashed about 100 km from Moscow in February, was similar to the UJ-22, a type of drone manufactured in Ukraine. This drone has a range of 800 km in autonomous flight.

In 2023, the targets for attacks were the oil facilities, airfields and energy infrastructure of Russians.

In particular, journalists found at least nine reports of drone attacks on oil depots. One of them was in Sevastopol (Crimea) on 29 April. Several oil tanks were destroyed as a result of the strike.

On 30 August, Russia reported a series of drone attacks across the country, including a strike on an airfield in Pskov that burned down four military cargo planes.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!






The weapons and attempted murder charges a teen faced in connection with the shooting of a 15-year-old Mount Prospect boy have been upgraded to murder since he died days after being shot.

The accused teenager is now facing six counts of first-degree murder in the shooting death earlier this month of Damian Hernandez, 15, of the 900 block of Foxwood Drive in Mount Prospect, Cook County prosecutors said Tuesday.

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The 14-year-old appeared in juvenile court Tuesday where authorities upgraded the charges.

Police said Hernandez was shot in the 1700 block of Clear Creek Bay on Aug. 17. He died five days later from his wounds at Advocate Lutheran Generals Childrens Hospital in Park Ridge.

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Hernandez was a transfer student at Township High School District 214 and was entering his sophomore year, school officials said. SD214 officials declined to say in which of the districts six schools Hernandez was enrolled.

Palatine police told Pioneer Press they believe the shooting is gang-related, but declined Tuesday to provide additional details, citing the ongoing investigation. Authorities did not say that the slain boy was in a gang.

The accused 14-year-old was taken into custody following the shooting and initially faced attempted murder and weapons charges, authorities said. The youth remains in juvenile custody in Cook County and is scheduled to appear in court again for this case in September, prosecutors said.

In addition to this teen being charged in connection with the fatal shooting, another one is being sought, authorities said.

An arrest warrant was issued on Aug. 23 for a second person. Jesus Pantoja, 18, of the 1500 block of Silver Lane, in unincorporated Palatine, is wanted in connection with the shooting, police said.

Anyone with information regarding Pantojas whereabouts is urged to call Palatine police at 847-359-9000. Pantoja is considered to be armed and dangerous, police said.

Clifford Ward is a freelancer.
This image made from a social media and and provided by Ostorozhno Novosti shows smoke billowing over the city and a large blaze in Pskov, Russia, on Aug. 29, 2023. Russian officials accused Ukraine of targeting six Russian regions early Wednesday in what appeared to be the biggest drone attack on Russian soil since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine 18 months ago. (Ostorozhno Novosti via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukraine sent waves of drones deep into western Russia in more than four hours of nighttime attacks that struck military assets, Russian officials and media reports said Wednesday.

The drones hit an airport near Russias border with Estonia and Latvia, causing a huge blaze and damaging four Il-76 military transport planes, the Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

With at least six regions targeted, the barrage appeared to be the most extensive Ukrainian drone attack on Russian soil since the war began 18 months ago, although no injuries were reported. The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Ukraine of cross-border incursions on the Belgorod region of Russia and of launching drones toward Moscow.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who usually don't claim attacks inside Russia. The Kremlins forces, meanwhile, hit Kyiv with drones and missiles during the night in what Ukrainian officials called a massive, combined attack that killed two people.

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Aerial attacks on Russia have escalated recently as Ukraine pursues a counteroffensive. Kyiv increasingly targets Russias military assets behind the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukraine has also claimed to have used naval drones against Russian ships in the Black Sea. Ukrainian media said Kyiv saboteurs used drones last week to hit bomber aircraft parked at air bases deep inside Russia.

The airport in the Pskov region, about 700 kilometers (400 miles) north of the Ukrainian border and 700 kilometers (400 miles) west of Moscow, suffered the most damage in the overnight attacks.

Smoke from a massive fire billowed over the city of Pskov, the region's namesake capital, according to social media posts, including video of loud bangs and flashes, along with the crackle of air defense systems and tracers in the night sky.

Pskov Gov. Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the airport canceled for the day to assess damage, which he later said was not major, adding that normal operations would resume Thursday.

Other regions hit were Oryol, 400 kilometers (240 miles) south of Moscow, as well as Ryazan and Kaluga, which are both 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of the capital. Also hit was Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, according to the Russia Defense Ministry.

Three main Moscow airports  Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo  temporarily halted incoming and outgoing flights.

The Associated Press was unable to confirm whether the drones were launched from Ukraine or inside Russia.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister of digital transformation, said his country has drones with a range of up to 500 kilometers (300 miles), although he did not take responsibility for any attacks in Russia or Crimea, the peninsula that Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

If you look carefully at the news recently, in general, every day there are news about long-range drones that hit various targets both in occupied Crimea and in the territory of Russia, Fedorov told AP recently. So in this regard, lets say, that more or less a mass production of these drones has appeared.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military would undoubtedly analyze "how this was done in order to take appropriate measures to prevent these situations in the future.

Firing at distant Russian targets could reflect a Ukrainian tactic of stretching the Kremlins military resources as Moscow scrambles to buttress its air defenses, said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Putting air defense systems there means you cant put them somewhere else, he told AP. This draws on Russian capability.

Russias Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine was relying on foreign help because the drones simply would not be able to fly such a distance without carefully researched information from Western satellites.

Russian state TV largely ignored the strikes, aside from a brief mention of the Pskov fire. But Russia 1's popular political talk show 60 Minutes opened with the attacks. It showed videos of the Pskov fire and blasts in Bryansk that had flooded social media, along with a soundtrack of sinister music.

Russia, meanwhile, also used drones as well as missiles in its biggest bombardment of Kyiv in months, Ukrainian authorities said.

Two security guards, aged 26 and 36, were killed and another person was injured by falling debris, said Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, posting on Telegram.

Russia launched Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones at the capital from various directions, followed by air-launched missiles, Popko said. It was unclear how many were fired, but Popko called it the biggest attack on the capital since spring.

Kyiv resident Iryna Oblat pointed to debris in the street and shattered windows in surrounding buildings.

Look where it hit, look what happened to the house, she said. Garages are on fire. We dont know how many cars and garages were destroyed because firefighters and police wont let us in.

Also on Wednesday, Russia-installed officials in Crimea reported repelling an attack of drones targeting Sevastopol's harbor. Past drone attacks have hit fuel depots and airfields in Crimea or Russian-held areas of Ukraine.

Late that same day, the Kremlin-appointed leader of Crimea claimed that a Ukrainian cruise missile was downed over the peninsulas eastern part, with falling debris damaging a power line. Regional officials in Russia's Bryansk province also claimed that nine drones were brought down on over its territory on Wednesday.

In Ukraine, explosions were reported in the southern city of Odesa and the Cherkasy region.

Ukraines air defenses destroyed 28 cruise missiles and 15 of 16 Shahed drones targeting Kyiv and multiple regions across the country overnight, the air force said in its daily Telegram update.

The White House, meanwhile, said it has new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Moscow looks to Pyongyang for munitions for the war.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the finding just weeks after the White House said it determined that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, during a recent visit to Pyongyang, called on North Korea to increase munitions sales to Moscow. Russia wants additional artillery shells and other basic materiel, Kirby said.

___

Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Emma Burrows in London and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Fall isnt just back to school. For many, it also could be back to work.

The Rock Hill region has several upcoming hiring events across three counties. They combine to include dozens of employers across a host of work fields. The events are scheduled during Workforce Development Month in South Carolina.

Gov. Henry McMaster, in announcing the Workforce Development Month initiative, said the state will highlight opportunities for people and businesses to continue prosperity for both.

The strength of South Carolina is its hardworking people and the skilled workforce we have developed through collaboration with our business community and targeted investments into training programs that meet their hiring needs, McMaster said.

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September will bring job fairs and hiring events, along with workshops, training, conferences, rural outreach and more across the state. A statewide symposium on Sept. 19 will focus on business challenges like recruiting, training and keeping workforce.

The Rock Hill region has several events planned. A community event from 8 a.m. to noon Friday at the Catawba Community Mental Health Center in Rock Hill kicks off several hiring opportunities. They include:

 Food industry inspection company FlexXray has a hiring event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 6 at the SC Works site in Rock Hill, 454 S. Anderson Road, suite 202 in the Business Technology Center. The company is hiring for line worker, line lead, laborer and helper positions. The Texas-based company has locations in four states including an inspection and rental site on Stateview Boulevard in Fort Mill.

 The Gateway Conference Center in Richburg hosts more than 40 public and private employers at a Sept. 7 job fair. The 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. event includes employers from across York, Lancaster and Chester counties. Industries range from law enforcement, education and healthcare to manufacturing, transportation and communications.

Find a full list of participating employers at this Gateway Conference Center link online.

Potential applicants should bring multiple copies of their resumes and be prepared to apply or interview on-site.

 SC Works plans a hiring event as part of the Habitat for Humanity of York County Rock the Block event Sept. 16. Rock the Block is a neighborhood beautification effort on Lige Street in Rock Hill. Organizatons and businesses will have tables set up there. For more information, visit yorkcountyhabitat.org.

 Clinton College in Rock Hill hosts a career fair Sept. 18. The 3-5 p.m. event will be held in the school library. The school lists a host of staff and faculty positions on its employment page.

 SC Works has two job fairs scheduled for Sept. 20. Both are in Lancaster, on the USC Lancaster campus. The James Bradley Building of Arts has one from 8 a.m. to noon, with another set for the 476 Hubbard Drive main address from 9 a.m. to noon.

 The Rock Hill American Legion building at 524 Heckle Boulevard in Rock Hill has a job fair on Oct. 4. The SC Works event runs 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

For area residents who live close to county lines, there are separate events for Cherokee, Fairfield, Union, Kershaw and Chesterfield counties listed in their respective regions on this online map from SC Works.
An Edison middle school teacher has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.

Julius Coaccioli, 55, of Woodbridge, a science teacher at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, is facing a charge of having less than 1,000 images of child pornography, a third-degree crime, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said.

Coaccioli was arrested Wednesday without incident at his home, the prosecutor's office said.

New Jersey State Police received a cyber tip, and an investigation was conducted by Detective Ken McGarry of the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and Detective Stephanie Redline of the Special Victims Unit of the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office. Coaccioli was charged as a result of that investigation, the prosecutor's office said.

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Crime: Edison police officer charged with drunken crash that killed two passengers

Coaccioli's salary in the school district's May 4, 2022, agenda of reappointed personnel for the 2022-23 school year was listed at $106,369.

"Upon receiving notification from the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office regarding the arrest of one of our staff members, the district took immediate action. The individual has been placed on administrative leave and barred from all school grounds until this matter has been resolved by the courts," Superintendent of Schools Edward Aldarelli said in a statement. " The safety and security of our students continues to be our top priority."

The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective McGarry of the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office at 732-745-3140.

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Edison middle school teacher arrested on child porn charge
A layer of smog blurs the Los Angeles skyline. The Biden administration announced this month that it would start over with a new review of the nation's ozone pollution limits rather than move forward with tougher standards now. (Etienne Laurent / EPA-EFE/REX)

On his first day in office, President Biden ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider dozens of actions taken by the Trump administration. One of the most important on that list was the last-minute decision in December 2020 to keep in place outdated health standards for smog.

But now, instead of moving to strengthen the nations limits on ozone  the lung-searing gas in smog  the Biden administration is delaying action until after the November 2024 election.

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan announced last week that rather than fix the Trump administrations decision, the agency would start over again with an entirely new review. Because the federal rule-making process is slow, it means the smog standards will not be updated for at least a few more years.

This needless delay will harm people across the country by making them wait longer for relief from ozone pollution that inflames the lungs, triggering asthma attacks and other serious respiratory illnesses that sicken people and can require hospitalization and cut lives short. It's been nearly eight years since these standards were updated and with this decision that's likely to stretch beyond a decade. Its all the more infuriating because the inaction is cloaked in the language of scientific integrity and the need for additional study. Paralysis by analysis, as the saying goes.

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Read more: Editorial: The 2022 heat wave killed 395 Californians. It shouldn't have taken so long to find out

Regan's decision came two months after the agencys Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, an independent panel of experts, concluded that the current ozone standard of 70 parts per billion is not sufficiently protective of public health. The panel said it should be strengthened to between 55 and 60 ppb, based on scientific evidence that even healthy young adults are experiencing bad health effects with the current "safe" smog levels.

The agency defends the decision to redo the analysis with the excuse that the latest science was not included in its prior assessments and that a new review will be more thorough and unassailable. It says there is no hidden agenda behind the do-over. But this action comes awfully close to President Obamas cynical and science-denying move in 2011 to stop the EPA from issuing tougher ozone standards so as not to hurt his reelection chances.

Reviewing and updating air quality standards every five years to reflect the latest science, as required by the Clean Air Act, is one of the most important environmental actions a president can take. But ozone is such a widespread and hard-to-clean pollutant it's one of the most highly politicized too.

More protective standards, as the current science demands, will force the nation's polluting industries, including big factories, oil and gas operations and power plants, to do more to clean up. Business interests and local officials don't like that, and as a result, presidents of both parties have chosen to disregard science and delay action. Its disappointing to see the Biden administration join that list.

Read more: Editorial: Biden says hes practically declared a climate emergency. Why won't he do it for real?

This kind of foot-dragging has real consequences, not only in slowing the cleanup of dangerous air pollution, but by giving Americans a false picture of how safe it is to breathe.

It has been clear since George W. Bush was president that the nations limits on ozone pollution are too permissive and that air currently designated as safe may actually be unhealthy. More stringent ozone standards would change that, updating the Air Quality Index to more accurately reflect the risks. It would also extend the protections of the Clean Air Act to more of the country because many areas with smog levels that meet the current standard of 70 ppb would violate a tougher limit, so many states would have to cut emissions to get back into compliance.

Read more: Editorial: We know soot pollution is deadly. The EPA needs tougher standards to protect public health

Regan has sought to reorient the EPA around environmental justice, but his actions undermine his words because air pollution hits communities of color hardest. Its worth remembering that many of the same actions needed to curb smog-forming pollution also reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, and would help put the administration on track to meeting its ambitious climate targets.

Environmental groups who have decried the agencys delay are urging Regan to finalize new health standards by the end of 2025, a reasonable demand. But the timeline the agency has provided so far suggests it wont be anywhere near that quick.

The EPA should at the very least commit to that timeline, while working on other rules to speed up the nations progress on cutting smog. When it comes to pollution that is continually harming communities and damaging childrens developing lungs, clean air delayed is clean air denied. And thats almost as bad as doing nothing at all.

If its in the news right now, the L.A. Times Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Not putting up with the defendants lawyers garbage, Washington Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan set Donald Trump s trial for trying to steal the 2020 election to begin on March 4. Trumps attorneys had argued for a date in April, not a month later, but 25 months later, in 2026. Trumps legal team didnt flag a particular day to counter Special Counsel Jack Smiths request for a Jan. 2 commencement, so assume they would have been satisfied with April 1, 2026. But Chutkan wasnt fooled.

Many have noted March 4, a Monday, is just a day ahead of Super Tuesday, when 15 states will have Republican presidential primaries or caucuses with Trump on the ballot.

However, we see March 4 as more symbolically important than the political calendar, as being about government and Americans self-rule under the Constitution. For most of our history with this Constitution, March 4 was Jan. 20, the beginning of a new term.

From George Washingtons first term and the 1st Congress gathering at Federal Hall downtown in 1789 to FDRs first term and the 73rd Congress, March 4 was inauguration day for both the president and the legislature (yes, we know that George wasnt sworn in until April 30 that very first time).

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The four-month time lag from an early November election until the first week of March perhaps was fine during the days of horses, but by 1932 it was too long and the 20th Amendment, ratified in 1933, shortened the lame duck period until January. Since then, each new Congress would be sworn in on Jan. 3, with the president taking office on Jan. 20. The other change was instead of the old Congress counting and certifying the Electoral College vote in February, the new members would do the counting under the gavel of the old vice president on Jan. 6. Now, thanks to Trump, thats a date that everyone knows, including the D.C. grand jury that indicted him.

That once obscure date and its attending procedures were long just historical oddities until Trump and his gangsters decided to launch a coup against democracy and thwart Joe Bidens legal, landslide victory.

But Jan. 6 was just the last in a series of illegal efforts to change the results once he knew that he lost fair and square. Trump tried to get vote counts altered by election officials. He tried to get courts to change the outcomes. He tried to get Republican legislators to set aside the will of the people of their states and substitute a Trump victory. He tried to use fake electors to cast phony Electoral College votes for him. And as each con failed and the clock ticked towards Bidens term, Trump got more desperate, so he tried to get Vice President Mike Pence to throw out the legitimate Electoral College tally.

When Pence did his duty and refused, then Trump tried to sack the Capitol to prevent Bidens win from being finalized. That failed also.

That is Smiths case against Trump. It is not about politics. It is about the law and lawbreaking. The president, as the highest official in the land, is supposed to uphold the law, not break it.

See you in court on March 4, Mr. Trump.

___
Convicted drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman wrote to the federal judge who oversaw his case, asking for his wife and young daughters to visit him in the notorious federal United States Penitentiary Florence, a supermax prison in Colorado, according to a handwritten letter obtained by CBS News.

Guzman is serving a life sentence plus 30 years at the supermax prison after being convicted of murder conspiracy and drug charges in 2019. The notorious prison is so isolated and remote that Guzman in January sent Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador an "SOS" to be extradited to Mexico due to the alleged "psychological torment" he said he was suffering in the U.S. prison.

The letter, which was filed on Friday and translated for the court, asked the judge to "authorize a visit from my wife and bring the girls as well."

Guzman's wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was sentenced to three years in prison for helping her husband run his multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise. She also helped him plan a dramatic escape from a maximum-security Mexican prison in 2015 using an elaborate one-mile underground tunnel complete with a motorcycle on rails.

Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as

Guzman wrote that the prosecutors "were opposed to her visiting me" in New York because they believed "she could pass threatening messages to the witnesses." He maintained that "this was ridiculous since all conversations during the visits are recorded."

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During Coronel Aispuro's sentencing, she asked the judge for a punishment that would allow her to watch her then 9-year-old twin daughters grow up. Guzman wrote that daughters are in school in Mexico and would only be able to visit "during the vacation period, 2 times per year [or] 3 times at most."

He said his wife would be the only one to visit him because his mother and sisters do not have travel visas. His wife, Guzman wrote, would be able to visit after September 13, 2023, when "her detention ends ... and she will be able to travel anywhere in the country."

In June, Coronel Aispuro was moved from federal prison to community confinement, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed to CBS News. Coronel Aispuro is scheduled to be released in mid-September, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Breaking down Biden's drug price plan and the challenges it faces

Schools look to improve air quality to reduce COVID-19 spread

Paul Whelan seen in Russian prison in rare video
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  El Coyote Bar & Cantina is celebrating its first year in Oklahoma City with an Inaugural Chile and Wine Festival.

According to the New Mexico-inspired restaurant, the celebration is planned for Saturday, September 23, from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. at El Coyote Bar & Cantina in the Britton District.

LOCAL NEWS: AutismOklahoma invites community to art show

The 12-hour birthday bash features food, drinks and a couple surprises, as well as the on-site roasting of Hatch green chiles. There will also be Spanish wine tastings, tres leches birthday cake, pinatas and prizes.

El Coyote. Image courtesy El Coyote.

El Coyote's 1st birthday celebration. Image courtesy El Coyote.

We opened El Coyote last year to bring a slice of Santa Fe to the people of Oklahoma City and its exceeded all of our expectations. So we thought, why not celebrate together in the spirit of New Mexico, said Jonathon Stranger, chef-owner of One Table Hospitality, the restaurant group that comprises El Coyote, Bar Cicchetti and Osteria. We have an entire day planned, paying homage to the place that gives us our inspiration, but adding our own twist to make it unique to OKC.

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New Mexico State Universitys Chile Pepper Institute says a Hatch chile pepper must be grown in New Mexico for the pepper to be authentic. The event will have imported Hatch chile peppers roasted on-site all day. The peppers will be available for sale until they are sold out.

LOCAL NEWS: Oklahoma restaurant among Southern Livings best new restaurants of 2023

Officials say tickets for the event are $40 per person and are only available at the door on the day of the event. All-access tickets include:

Spanish wine tastings with a wine expert

Green chile-infused snacks and botanas

Access to the partys activities and events

$20 tickets will be available for those under 21, accompanied by a ticketed adult.

A part from the botanas, their full menu will be available alongside option to buy additional wines by the glass and by the bottle.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
Ukrainian snipers are focused on taking out high-profile Russain targets and demoralizing troops.

A sniper unit training near Bakhmut calls itself "Devils and Angels," The Wall Street Journal reported.

Military experts say taking out unit commanders can cause disarray among troops.

While Ukrainian troops struggle to proceed through Russia's minefields, an elite team of snipers are focused on taking one shot at a time  and strategically picking off high-profile Russian military targets.

The team of snipers has dubbed itself the "Devils and Angels," according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. A crucial part of their role is to take out high-level Russian commanders and other high profile targets, with the ultimate goal of sowing shock, chaos, and disorganization in the enemy ranks.

"If you're assembling to attack and your lieutenant is picked off, the unit goes into disarray," military historian and retired Army Major General Robert Scales told the Journal. Even killing the leader of a small unit can "completely discombobulate the unit," he added.

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The snipers training near Bakhmut told the outlet that in addition to their marksmanship, they're training to be even more elusive in the field. "We work quietly, we are invisible," a sniper who goes by Fisher said.

Ukrainian snipers have previously said it's their mission to terrorize and demoralize Russian troops. One sniper who was severely wounded in battle told CNN last week he underwent 16 operations just so he could get rejoin his unit on the frontlines in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Journal "snipers also become much more important when the front lines stabilize, as they have for the last many months in Ukraine."

Ukraine's snipers have said they don't typically use ghillie suits, camouflage often used by Western snipers to help them blend into the environment, because they were too heavy to hike in across battlefields, Insider's Ryan Pickrell previously reported. The snipers do, however, say they prefer Western rifles.

Night-vision technology has also helped Ukrainian snipers identify and hit their targets, with an unverified video from June appearing to show them holding off a Russian attack by aiming at thermal images of moving targets.

Also in June a Ukrainian sniper picked off Vladimir Andonov, a Wagner Group member known at "The Executioner" and one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most notorious mercenary fighters.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Oswego Village Board may raise water and sewer rates coming up rather than wait a few years as part of measures to help pay for the villages transition to Lake Michigan water with a connection through the DuPage Water Commission.

The villages consultants Baxter & Woodman recently presented a preliminary rate study to the board.

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The analysis projected water and sewer rates going up beginning May 1, 2024, Baxter & Woodman engineer Alexis Shotton said.

The village board adjusted water rates in 2017 for fiscal years 2018 to 2022 based on a 2016 study. Trustees then re-evaluated the rates in 2019 and lowered them based on the water and sewer fund having a healthy reserve, village officials said.

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There has not been a rate increase since May 1, 2022, Oswego Public Works Director Jennifer Hughes said in her report to trustees.

The village received authorization Aug. 10 for a Lake Michigan Water Allocation Permit from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to begin receiving Lake Michigan water in 2027, village officials said.

Oswego, Yorkville and Montgomery decided in mid-December 2021 to change from relying on well water to Lake Michigan water. The Illinois State Water Survey has used projections showing the region could run out of ground water from the aquifer it uses in the next 20 to 40 years.

Trustee Kit Kuhrt suggested the village take a serious look at increasing water and sewer rates this year rather than later to help build the reserve fund and pay down the debt service for the move to Lake Michigan water.

We need to really start moving faster, Kuhrt said. I know rates have steadily been going up but we should have done a bigger increase to start planning ahead.

The largest costs associated with the connection to Lake Michigan water are proposed to occur in 2026 and 2027, Shotton said. Federal grants on a large scale to help pay for the transition are limited at best, village officials said in response to questions from trustees.

Water is such a big deal across the entire country and we are in one of the best places in the world for fresh water as opposed to states such as Arizona and Colorado, Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo said. If there were major grants to go to water systems, we may not be first on the list.

The analysis given to the board looked at the villages historical water expenses and revenues and used the data to project through April of 2031, the consultants said.

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We also evaluated major tiers of users within the village that is primarily residential, Shotton said.

The analysis included commercial, industrial and senior users, she said.

Overall our goal is to provide rate increases that are necessary to provide a financially sound, fair and equitable utility funding and reduce the impact as much as possible to customers. The village considers 2031 a planning horizon for the project since that is the completion target, Hughes said. By 2031 we will have completed the construction and know our costs. Our goal is to get us to the platform to where we need to be with the rates.

The villages leaders were supportive of developing a communication plan to inform the community that water and sewer rates will be going up.

I dont want to surprise anybody. I want to get this out in front of everyone as quickly and loudly as we can, Oswego Village President Ryan Kauffman said.

The village continues to do everything possible to lessen the severity of future water rate hikes related to the Lake Michigan water project, Di Santo said in a response to questions from The Beacon-News.

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The village established a real estate transfer tax via a successful referendum that will generate revenue for the water fund, he said. In addition, the village is working on an application for Water Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act funding, which is a low-interest federal loan.

The Village Board earlier this year paid off $1.7 million of water fund debt early, he also said.

The village is hopeful the DuPage Water Commissions contract negotiations with the city of Chicago will provide relief on water rates as well, he said.

Following all of these measures, the impact to water rates from switching to Lake Michigan will be less than predicted back in 2021 when the board selected Lake Michigan from the new water source options, Di Santo said.

Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
Two days before a mob of Donald Trumps supporters stormed the US Capitol, the now-former leader of a neo-fascist gang was arrested in Washington DC shortly after stepping off a plane from Miami.

Enrique Tarrio was wanted by police after he admitted to tearing down and burning a Black Lives Matter flag outside a historically Black church in the nations capital during December riots connected to a protest supporting then-President Donald Trumps false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

On 6 January, 2021, Tarrio watched the insurrection unfold from a hotel in Baltimore.

Before his arrest two days earlier, Tarrio wrote to his lieutenant: Whatever happens  make it a spectacle.

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Tarrio is now among four members of the self-described Western chauvinist gang facing decades in prison after they were found guilty in May of seditious conspiracy and other charges in connection with the mobs assault. Tarrios verdict marked the first successful seditious conspiracy conviction against a January 6 defendant who was not physically at the Capitol that day.

Federal prosecutors are now asking a judge to sentence convicted Proud Boys members to decades behind bars. Tarrio could face up to 33 years in prison, the longest sentence yet in connection with the attack.

In a sentencing memo, prosecutors said the men organized and directed a force of nearly 200 to attack the heart of our democracy and intentionally positioned themselves at the vanguard of political violence in this country.

The defendants understood the stakes, and they embraced their role in bringing about a revolution. They unleashed a force on the Capitol that was calculated to exert their political will on elected officials by force and to undo the results of a democratic election, prosecutors wrote. They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals.

During the trial, prosecutors presented hundreds of internal messages revealing the groups toxic rhetoric and culture of violence depicting a gang that came together to use force against its enemies in the weeks leading up to January 6, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors argued that the Proud Boys were not merely obedient followers of the former presidents commands but were preparing for all-out war to undermine millions of Americans votes and upend a democratic election to preserve his presidency.

Tarrio, as the leader of the gang, along with his four co-defendants, directed, mobilized and led a crowd of 200 supporters towards the Capitol on January 6, leading to dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, breaching of the Capitol building, and assaults on law enforcement, then bragged about their actions on social media and in group chat messages that were later shared with jurors, according to prosecutors.

Defence attorneys have placed the blame on the words and actions of then-President Trump, who directed his supporters to fight like hell the morning of the attack and  in a message from a debate stage heard loud and clear by members of the Proud Boys and their allies  stand by.

It was Donald Trumps words. It was his motivation, Tarrios attorney Nayib Hassan told jurors in closing arguments. It was not Enrique Tarrio. They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald J Trump and those in power.

Enrique Tarrio (AP)

Proud Boys emerged in cities across the US as a violent response to antifascists organizing in the wake of the 2016 election, exploiting white, right-wing male rage and relying on semi-ironic posturing and barroom culture to launder far-right, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT+ views.

Tarrio, who assumed the role of group chairman in 2018, previously was a prolific cooperator with local and federal law enforcement agencies, according to court records and testimony from a former attorney.

His own lawyer and an FBI investigator said Tarrio helped authorities prosecute more than a dozen people in cases involving drugs, gambling and human smuggling between 2012 and 2014. Tarrio has denied his involvement.

During a televised presidential debate on 29 September, 2020, debate moderator Chris Wallace repeatedly asked then-President Trump whether he would denounce white supremacism. Mr Trump asked for a name to reference. Joe Biden, standing on the opposite side of the stage, suggested the Proud Boys.

Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, Mr Trump said. But Ill tell you what somebodys got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem.

Almost immediately, Proud Boys members and their allies celebrated what they heard as a call to action.

Trump basically said to go f*** them up! Tarrios future co-defendant Joe Biggs wrote on Parler at the time. This makes me so happy.

Accounts also circulated a meme illustrating the president wearing a Fred Perry shirt  a part of the groups unofficial uniform  and a peaked cap bearing the Proud Boys logo with the text standing by for your orders general, sir.

Another image included an incorrect version of the presidents remarks that more acutely resembled a call to arms: Proud Boys can stand back and stand by, because someone has to take care of antifa and these people.

Although I am excited about our mention on the debate stage  I am not taking this as a direct endorsement from the President, Tarrio wrote on Telegram.

Him telling the Proud Boys to stand back and standby is what we have ALWAYS done, he added.

On Parler, Tarrio said: Standing by, sir.

Following Mr Trumps defeat in the 2020 election, Tarrio and hundreds of members of the Proud Boys and other far-right groups marched through Washington DC, where they set fire to a Black Lives Matter banner seized from historic Black church Asbury United Methodist. The group also attacked Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, another historic Black church.

During his arrest after his arrival in Washington on 4 January, 2021, police found Tarrio was carrying two high-capacity magazines compatible with high-powered rifles. Both were empty.

He faced a misdemeanor charge of destruction of property for burning the churchs sign and two subsequent felony charges for possessing a high-capacity feeding device.

Tarrio had previously admitted in comments on Parler and on a Proud Boys-affiliated podcast that he was responsible for burning a churchs sign.

In the burning of the BLM sign, I was the one that lit it on fire, he said. I was the person that went ahead and put the lighter to it and engulfed it in flames, and I am damn proud that I did.

Later that year, he announced he was stepping down from his leadership role with the Proud Boys, as other members start getting more involved in local politics, running our guys for office from local seats, whether its a simple GOP seat or a city council seat.

But in the wake of January 6, as the group decentralized, members have harassed drag queen story-telling events at libraries and amplified groomer smears aimed at LGBT+ people.

The group has been central to a wave of attacks and threats against drag performers and the people and venues that host them, according to a recent report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Proud Boys chapters targeted 60 such events, with more than half resulting in physical and verbal clashes, the report found.

In July 2021, as part of a plea agreement dropping the felony charges against him, Tarrio pleaded guilty to destruction of property and to a misdemeanor count of attempted possession of a high-capacity magazine. He was released in January 2022 after serving four months in jail.

Members of the Proud Boys gathered outside the Tennessee state capitol on 21 August (Getty Images)

Five months later, a federal grand jury indicted Tarrio and four other men  Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola and Zachary Rehl  for seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol attack.

US District Judge Timothy Kelly barred prosecutors from discussing Tarrios prior arrest during the Proud Boys trial, but jurors were exposed to dozens of messages revealing members hateful rhetoric and calls for violence in private messages and across social media platforms and in public statements  and in a video showing them burning the Black Lives Matter banner.

In the weeks leading up to January 6, Tarrio had assembled a Ministry of Self-Defense with his co-defendants and Jeremy Bertino, a former Proud Boy who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and served as a key government witness at trial. Bertinos testimony implicated Tarrio and the other men in a conspiracy to what he said was anything that was necessary to save the country  including breaking into the Capitol to block the certification of an American election.

Days before the attack, Tarrio exchanged messages with another person who shared a plan called 1776 Returns that included plans to occupy crucial buildings with as many people as possible, including the House and Senate. That person wrote that revolution is [sic] important than anything, to which Tarrio replied: Thats what every waking moment consists of  Im not playing games.

On January 6, Tarrio told followers on social media that day to do what must be done and, in a group chat with other Proud Boys members, do it again.

Make no mistake, he wrote in another message. We did this.

Enrique "Henry" Tarrio, 39, was born in Miami to Cuban immigrant parents.

He was initially reluctant to join the Proud Boys until he was courted by members at a party for far-right activist Milo Yiannopoulos in 2017; Tarrio was there working security.

Tarrio rose through the ranks of the burgeoning neo-fascist gang, attending events for Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka, rallying alongside members at 2017's so-called Unite the Right event in Charlottesville, Virginia that exploded into lethal violence, and broadening his Florida chapter into a national operation.

"Before me  and they hate it when I say this  they were the Gavin McInnes fan club," he told the Miami New Times. "We weren't really political."

In 2013, he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a healthcare fraud case involving diabetic test strips, then assisted federal prosecutors to identify a dozen other suspects, according to court records. He served one year and four months in prison.
The Office of the State Attorney announced Wednesday that an Escambia County grand jury indicted a Pensacola man for first-degree murder for allegedly selling a fatal dose of fentanyl.

Quantae Solethia Sanders, 38, was indicted Tuesday with first-degree murder through causing death by the unlawful distribution of fentanyl. He is allegedly responsible for the death of Christopher West who died Jan. 18 after overdosing on the fentanyl he allegedly bought from Sanders.

"During the course of a death investigation from January 2023, it was determined that (West) died from fentanyl intoxication," an earlier Pensacola police press release said. "Sanders was developed as the suspected fentanyl dealer."

First-degree murder in Florida is a capital felony, so, if Sanders is convicted, the only legal sentence a judge can provide is life in prison. Sanders is set for arraignment Friday.

Other Escambia County overdose cases have resulted in homicide charges

Under Florida law, a person can be charged with first-degree murder if that person unlawfully distributed a controlled substance and someone dies as a result of the controlled substance.

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PPD spokesperson Mike Wood said there are various ways investigators can find drug dealers, but it can sometimes be hard to track overdoses back to the dealer, especially if the person who overdoses dies.

Sanders arrested: PPD: Pensacola man arrested for homicide after selling fentanyl to person who later died

While somewhat infrequent, there have been multiple other instances where an individual has faced homicide charges after allegedly selling or supplying someone else with narcotics.

Pamela Schwarz

In 2022, Escambia County Jail inmate Pamela Schwarz was indicted with first-degree murder after she allegedly snuck fentanyl into her cell and gave some to her cellmate 52-year-old Shirley Barney on May 25. Barney then had an overdose and died, but not before Schwarz allegedly flushed the remaining drugs down the toilet.

Several hours later, corrections officers found the 52-year-old unresponsive.

Schwarz is currently serving a 20-month sentence for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and possessing drug equipment, according to court records. She is awaiting her next court date scheduled for Oct. 11.

James Mitchell

James Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison May 21, 2018, in connection with the overdose death of victim Donald Davis.

Over a two-day trial, state prosecutors presented witness testimony that on Jan. 30, 2014, Mitchell sold black tar heroin to the Davis and a group of others. Davis wife found him deceased at their home later that evening.

Along with his homicide by delivery of heroin sentence, Mitchell was issued a separate 25-year sentence for trafficking in heroin, conspiracy to possess heroin and resisting an officer with violence.

Marcus Dewayne Jackson

On Sept. 20, 2017, an Escambia County jury convicted Marcus Dewayne Jackson of homicide by delivery of a controlled substance.

On Nov. 20, 2015, the Pensacola Police Department found Jim Cady deceased in a halfway house on Barcelona Street in Pensacola. An investigation determined that Jackson sold a quantity of heroin to Cady the previous day. A medical examiners report determined that heroin was Cadys cause of death.

Jackson was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola man Quantae Sanders indicted in fentanyl overdose death
The Educational Service District 123 board of directors chose Lindsay Lightner to fill one of three seats recently vacated by a successful recall in the Richland School District.

Lightner will begin her service and take the oath of office at the Richland School Boards next meeting on Thursday. Her term in the Director No. 3 seat will run until voters elect someone for the position in the November general election.

This was one of the more difficult decisions weve had to make, said ESD 123 board chair Terry Brandon. We toyed with putting names in hats and pulling one out.

ESD 123 was tasked by law to appoint one school board member after voters decided in the Aug. 1 primary to remove board members Semi Bird, Audra Byrd and Kari Williams over an illegal vote to make COVID masks optional.

Richland School Board member Lindsay Lightner

Once Lightner takes her place on the board, the Richland School Board will have the quorum it needs by law to hold public meetings and conduct business.

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In coming weeks, Lightner and her fellow school board members  Rick Jansons and Jill Oldson  will interview and appoint two more candidates from the Richland community to serve in seats vacated by Byrd and Williams.

The candidate chosen to fill Williams seat will serve until after the November election, and the candidate chosen to fill Byrds seat will serve for the next two years.

Lightner works as career-track assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Washington State University Tri-Cities, where she teaches courses in elementary science methods and preservice teacher preparation.

She has worked as a New York City middle school teacher, an English instructor and advisor at Pennsylvania State University and as a lecturer and student teacher supervisor at Canterbury Christ Church University in London.

During Tuesdays interviews, she highlighted her extensive background in education and her work teaching the next generation of educators.

The ESD 123 board also interviewed Scott Butner, a former Richland School Board member and professional photographer, as well as Jeffrey Estes, a retired Pacific Northwest National Laboratory director.
The EU needs to increase spending on defence and support for Ukraine, Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said.

Source: European Pravda, citing Hanno Pevkur at an informal meeting of EU defence ministers in Toledo, Spain

Quote from Pevkur: "The slow pace of European defence spending and investment hinders both the support of Ukraine and the development of national defence capabilities. Not only the lives of Ukrainians are at stake, but also the defence capability of Europe itself."

Details: Pevkur says that the European Peace Facility supported Ukraine in the amount of 4.6 billion, which is only 0.03% of the European GDP.

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Pevkur emphasised that this proves that the EU "has the collective ability to continue to support Ukraine to the victorious end and ensure the safety of our citizens".

He also recalled the agreement to supply Ukraine with one million rounds of ammunition by the spring of 2024.

Quote: "With six months to go, it is already clear that all EU member states will have to make more efforts to achieve this goal. In addition to supplying existing munitions and new production, we must urgently consider alternatives to achieve the goal, including upgrading obsolete munitions and purchasing from third countries".

Background:

In July, Hanno Pevkur expressed hope that Ukraine would win the war with Russia this year.

It was previously reported that the White House is working with Congress to allocate additional funds to Ukraine.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
The European Union aims to train 40,000 Ukrainian soldiers by the end of 2023, as part of its ongoing European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM), EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Aug. 30, according to RFE/RL journalist Rickard Jozwiak.

Read also: Far more intense than expected  Ukrainian marines speak about U.K. training

Currently, there are plans to train 25,000 soldiers, however, Borrell is pushing to increase this number to 40,000 Ukrainian troops. Further details of the proposal have not been disclosed.

On June 20, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced that under EUMAM in 2023, the bloc plans to train 30,000 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including troops who are part of the Territorial Defense Forces.

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
The European Commission is ready to provide proposals on how to use Russia's frozen assets in the interests of Ukraine, a representative of commission, Christian Wiegand, has said.

"We stand ready to present a legal proposal taking into account the discussions with the member states," Wiegand said, news agency Ukrinform reported on Aug. 30

He said that this issue had been discussed by EU leaders at the last European Council meeting in late June.

Read also: Disputes between EU member states over additional funding could threaten aid for Ukraine  FT

"Were working with the Spanish presidency (of the European Union) on exploring a step-wise approach and we are supporting discussions. We also sent a paper in that regard to the Spanish presidency at the end of July," Wiegand added.

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He noted that the European Commission is ready to submit a "detailed proposal, taking into account discussions with member states."

Read also: EU Commission includes Ukraine into its economic forecasts for the first time

Intensive work is also underway with the EUs partners in the G7. According to Wiegand, it is "very important for EC to coordinate this internationally."

Earlier, the media reported that the EU cannot legally confiscate completely frozen Russian assets and is instead focusing on obtaining the temporary use of them.

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
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) in Odesa have detained a former company commander of a battalion of Luhansk militants who had left for Ukraine-controlled territory and wanted to "lie low".

Source: Press service of the Odesa Oblast Prosecutor's Office, press service of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU)

Details: The SSU reports that the detained Odesa resident is a supporter of the Kremlin regime. During the mass riots in Odesa in early May 2014, he "took an active part in provocations in favour of the Russian Federation".

Then, in order to avoid responsibility for his crimes, he fled to the temporarily occupied part of Luhansk Oblast, where he joined the ranks of militants.

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There, he was appointed commander of the intelligence unit of the Russian-controlled Prizrak ("Ghost") group, which was later subordinated to the command of the 2nd Army Corps of Russia.

According to the SSU, since then he had been fighting against Ukrainian troops in the east, including in the area of the Bakhmut road, under the alias Santa.

The prosecutor's office specifies that the man was in the ranks of militants from June 2014 to 2016. In particular, he took part in the armed confrontation in Lysychansk to keep the city under Russian control and seize settlements, buildings and other facilities in Luhansk Oblast.

According to the prosecutor's office, he became the company commander of the 14th Prizrak battalion after "successfully completing his tasks".

PHOTO: PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

The SSU reports that the militant later decided to leave his leaders for Odesa. In the city, he tried to "lie low".

During searches at his places of residence in Odesa, the SSU found photographic evidence of his stay in the so-called Luhansk Peoples Republic.

The man was served a notice of suspicion under Article 258-3.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (participation in a terrorist group). He is currently in custody. He faces up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.

For reference: The Prizrak battalion is an illegal armed formation created by collaborator Oleksiy Mozgov in Luhansk in 2014.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
INDIANAPOLIS  Former Muncie police officer Chase Winkle on Wednesday was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for physically abusing five local arrestees and then filing false reports about his actions.

The 36-year-old Winkle had pleaded guilty last December to 11 charges pending against him in U.S. District Court  five counts of depriving arrestees of their constitutional rights by physically abusing them, and six counts of obstruction of justice.

The obstruction charges stemmed from fraudulent police reports Winkle filed about the cases, in most instances falsely claiming those arrested were resisting at the time he struck or kicked them.

Chase Winkle

"I know that I was wrong," Winkle told Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, adding that he had "overcompensated" for "insecurities" about his abilities as a police officer "by using excessive force."

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Winkle also said he had issues with alcohol abuse and anger.

One of his defense attorneys, Jonathan Bont, said a mental health professional had concluded his client should never have been hired as a police officer.

During the assaults leading to Winkle's convictions, in 2018 and 2019, his father, Joseph Winkle, was Muncie police chief.

Chase Winkle said Wednesday he wished he had been fired after the first allegations of excessive force were lodged against him.

Judge Pratt  who ordered Winkle taken into custody by federal marshals at the conclusion of Wednesday's hearing  said he "showed no mercy, absolutely no mercy" in his dealings with his victims.

"He beat everybody," she said. "And then he lied about it."

The judge discussed details of some of the allegations against Winkle, noting he had used an electronic stun device to shock one victim who was handcuffed, "with his face crushed" by earlier abuse.

Pratt said Winkle "terrorized the Muncie community."

Bont said his client was "an excellent father" who was patient in dealing with his children, and also "a hard worker and an innovator" who had been active as a volunteer in many community projects.

"Chase Winkle is not homicidal," the attorney said. "He is not a sociopath. He is not beyond rehabilitation."

But he maintained Winkle should not have been retained as a city police officer.

"In many respects, Chase was set up to fail," Bont said.

Judge Pratt said Winkle "knew what he was doing" and "had the ability to quit that job."

"You can't blame your dad or the Muncie Police Department," she said.

Katherine G. DeVar, a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division, said Winkle had "seriously damaged" the trust local residents have in police officers.

She did note, though, that after agreeing to enter guilty pleas, Winkle had expressed willingness to testify against Joseph Krejsa, a Muncie police sergeant charged with filing false reports about Winkle's conduct.

However, Krejsa, now retired from the MPD, later pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to 19 months in prison. (He is now incarcerated in a federal prison in West Virginia.)

Judge Pratt suggested testimony offered by Winkle would have had "little value."

"He could not be a credible witness because of his behavior," she said.

The judge also imposed a $1,000 fine.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pratt had sentenced another former Muncie police officer, Jeremy Gibson, to 14 months in federal prison.

Gibson in May 2022 had pleaded guilty to violating an arrestee's civil rights  by physically abusing him  and then filing a false report about the 2018 incident.

That arrest also involved Chase Winkle.

Gibson's attorney, David Markus, noted his client had never been the target of a complaint other than the incident with Winkle.

Markus said Gibson "is and always has been a good man."

"He has done anything he can to right this wrong," he added.

In a sentencing memorandum, Gibson's attorneys said their client "fell prey to a corrupt police department characterized by nepotism, a lack of training and supervisors who turned a blind eye to unethical practices."

(All of the allegations in the federal excessive force probe predate the present Muncie police administration under Chief Nate Sloan.)

Markus on Wednesday was unable to persuade Pratt that his client  who has three young children and a pregnant wife  should serve his sentence on home detention.

However, the judge agreed to order that Gibson not begin serving his prison term until January, so he can be present for the birth of his fourth child.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ex-officer Winkle draws 10-year term for abusing arrestees, obstruction
WASHINGTON (AP)  The sentencing for former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of orchestrating the far-right extremist groups attack on the U.S. Capitol after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, has been delayed until next week because the judge hearing the case became sick.

Prosecutors are seeking 33 years behind bars for Tarrio, who had been scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday. That would be the longest sentence so far among hundreds of Capitol riot cases.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who postponed the sentencing shortly before it was to take place, isnt bound by prosecutors recommendation when he sentences Tarrio in Washingtons federal courthouse, which sits within view of the Capitol. The sentencing for former Proud Boys chapter leader Ethan Nordean was also delayed Wednesday; it will now be Friday.

Kelly this week also was scheduled to sentence three other Proud Boys members who were convicted by a jury in May after a trial alongside Tarrio and Nordean. Its unclear whether their hearings will be postponed, too.

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Tarrio had already been arrested and ordered to leave Washington, D.C., by the time Proud Boys members joined thousands of Trump supporters in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as lawmakers met to certify Joe Biden's election victory. But prosecutors say Tarrio organized and led the group's assault from afar, inspiring followers with his charisma and penchant for propaganda.

Tarrio was a top target in one of the most important Capitol riot cases prosecuted by the Justice Department. He and three lieutenants were convicted in May of charges including seditious conspiracy  a rarely brought Civil War-era offense that the Justice Department levied against members of far-right groups who played a key role in the Jan. 6 attack. His sentencing, now set for Sept. 5, caps one of the most significant prosecutions in the U.S. Capitol insurrection.

Using his powerful platform, Tarrio has repeatedly and publicly indicated that he has no regrets about what he helped make happen on January 6, prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

The Justice Department has also recently charged Trump with conspiring to subvert American democracy, accusing the Republican of plotting in the days before the attack to overturn the results of the election that he lost to Biden, a Democrat. The Tarrio case  and hundreds of others like it  function as a vivid reminder of the violent chaos fueled by Trumps lies around the election and the extent to which his false claims helped inspire right-wing extremists who ultimately stormed the Capitol to thwart the peaceful transfer of presidential power.

Trump, who is the early front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, insists he did nothing wrong. His trial is set for March 4.

The 33-year prison sentence that prosecutors have recommended for Tarrio, 39, of Miami, is nearly twice as long as the harshest punishment that has been handed down so far in the Justice Department's massive Jan. 6 prosecution. The longest prison sentence so far went to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who got 18 years for seditious conspiracy and his conviction on other charges.

Tarrio, Nordean and fellow Proud Boys Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were convicted of seditious conspiracy. A fifth Proud Boys member, Dominic Pezzola, was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other serious charges.

Prosecutors also recommended prison sentences of 33 years for Biggs, 30 years for Rehl, 27 years for Nordean and 20 years for Pezzola. Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, and Rehl, of Philadelphia, led local Proud Boys chapters. Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-described Proud Boys organizer. Pezzola was a group member from Rochester, New York.

Tarrios lawyers denied the Proud Boys had any plan to attack the Capitol. They argued that prosecutors used Tarrio as a scapegoat for Trump, who spoke at the Stop the Steal rally near the White House on Jan. 6 and urged his supporters to fight like hell.

In urging the judge for a lenient sentence, Tarrios lawyers noted in court papers that he has a history of cooperating with law enforcement. Court records uncovered in 2021 showed that Tarrio previously worked undercover and cooperated with investigators after he was accused of fraud in 2012.

Tarrio's lawyers urged the judge to see another side of him  one that is benevolent, cooperative with law enforcement, useful in the community, hardworking and with a tight-knit family unit and community support.

Police arrested Tarrio in Washington two days before the riot on charges that he defaced a Black Lives Matter banner during an earlier rally in the nations capital, but law enforcement officials later said he was arrested in part over concerns about the potential for unrest during the certification. He complied with a judges order to leave the city after his arrest.

On Jan. 6, dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members and associates were among the first rioters to breach the Capitol. The mobs assault overwhelmed police, forced lawmakers to flee the House and Senate floors and disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Bidens victory.

Tarrio picked Nordean and Biggs to be his top lieutenants on Jan. 6 and created an encrypted Telegram group chat for group leaders to communicate, according to prosecutors. The backbone of the case against Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders was messages that they privately exchanged before, during and after the Jan. 6 attack.

Make no mistake ... we did this, Tarrio wrote to other group leaders.

Tarrio also posted encouraging messages on social media during the riot, expressing pride for what he saw unfold at the Capitol and urging his followers to stay there. He also posted a picture of rioters in the Senate chamber with the caption 1776.

Several days before the riot, a girlfriend sent Tarrio a document entitled 1776 Returns. It called for storming and occupying government buildings in Washington for the purpose of getting the government to overturn the election results, according to prosecutors.

More than 1,100 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol attack. More than 600 of them have been sentenced, with over half receiving terms of imprisonment.

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
Former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio is set to be sentenced on Wednesday for a failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election, capping one of the most significant prosecutions in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Prosecutors are seeking 33 years behind bars for Tarrio, who had already been arrested and ordered to leave Washington, D.C., by the time Proud Boys members joined thousands of Trump supporters in storming the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify Democrat Joe Bidens 2020 electoral victory. But prosecutors say Tarrio organized and led the groups assault from afar, inspiring followers with his charisma and penchant for propaganda.

Tarrio was a top target in one of the most important Capitol riot cases prosecuted by the Justice Department. He and three lieutenants were convicted in May of charges including seditious conspiracy  a rarely brought Civil War-era offense that the Justice Department levied against members of far-right groups who played a key role in the Jan. 6 attack.

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Using his powerful platform, Tarrio has repeatedly and publicly indicated that he has no regrets about what he helped make happen on January 6, prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

The Justice Department has also recently charged Trump with conspiring to subvert American democracy, accusing the Republican of plotting in the days before the attack to overturn the results of the election that he lost. The Tarrio case  and hundreds of others like it  function as a vivid reminder of the violent chaos fueled by Trumps lies around the election and the extent to which his false claims helped inspire right-wing extremists who ultimately stormed the Capitol to thwart the peaceful transfer of presidential power.

Trump, who is the early front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, insists he did nothing wrong. His trial is set for March 4.

The 33-year prison sentence that prosecutors have recommended for Tarrio, 39, of Miami, is nearly twice as long as the harshest punishment that has been handed down so far in the Justice Departments massive Jan. 6 prosecution. The longest prison sentence so far went to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who got 18 years for seditious conspiracy and his conviction on other charges.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly isnt bound by prosecutors recommendation when he sentences Tarrio and separately sentences former Proud Boys chapter leader Ethan Nordean on Wednesday in Washingtons federal courthouse, which sits within view of the Capitol. Later this week, Kelly is scheduled to sentence three other Proud Boys members who were convicted by a jury in May after a trial alongside Tarrio and Nordean.

Tarrio, Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were convicted of seditious conspiracy. A fifth Proud Boys member, Dominic Pezzola, was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other serious charges.

Prosecutors also recommended prison sentences of 33 years for Biggs, 30 years for Rehl, 27 years for Nordean and 20 years for Pezzola. Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, and Rehl, of Philadelphia, led local Proud Boys chapters. Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-described Proud Boys organizer. Pezzola was a group member from Rochester, New York.

Tarrios lawyers denied the Proud Boys had any plan to attack the Capitol. They argued that prosecutors used Tarrio as a scapegoat for Trump, who spoke at the Stop the Steal rally near the White House on Jan. 6 and urged his supporters to fight like hell.

In urging the judge for a lenient sentence, Tarrios lawyers noted in court papers that he has a history of cooperating with law enforcement. Court records uncovered in 2021 showed that Tarrio previously worked undercover and cooperated with investigators after he was accused of fraud in 2012.

Tarrios lawyers urged the judge to see another side of him  one that is benevolent, cooperative with law enforcement, useful in the community, hardworking and with a tight-knit family unit and community support.

Police arrested Tarrio in Washington two days before the riot on charges that he defaced a Black Lives Matter banner during an earlier rally in the nations capital, but law enforcement officials later said he was arrested in part over concerns about the potential for unrest during the certification. He complied with a judges order to leave the city after his arrest.

On Jan. 6, dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members and associates were among the first rioters to breach the Capitol. The mobs assault overwhelmed police, forced lawmakers to flee the House and Senate floors and disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Bidens victory.

Tarrio picked Nordean and Biggs to be his top lieutenants on Jan. 6 and created an encrypted Telegram group chat for group leaders to communicate, according to prosecutors. The backbone of the case against Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders was messages that they privately exchanged before, during and after the Jan. 6 attack.

Make no mistake ... we did this, Tarrio wrote to other group leaders.

Tarrio also posted encouraging messages on social media during the riot, expressing pride for what he saw unfold at the Capitol and urging his followers to stay there. He also posted a picture of rioters in the Senate chamber with the caption 1776.

Several days before the riot, a girlfriend sent Tarrio a document entitled 1776 Returns. It called for storming and occupying government buildings in Washington for the purpose of getting the government to overturn the election results, according to prosecutors.

More than 1,100 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol attack. More than 600 of them have been sentenced, with over half receiving terms of imprisonment.

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Marjorie Stortz, a resident at Porter Place in Tinley Park, and assistant Fredell Bell create Hawaiian bracelets to raise money to help those affected by wildfires on Maui. (Porter Place)

Porter Place residents selling bracelets to help Hawaii

Some area seniors with dementia are trying to make a difference one bead at a time. In response to the devastating wildfires on Maui, residents at Porter Place in Tinley Park are making and selling bracelets made with traditional Hawaiian puka shells and beads to raise funds for those impacted by the tragedy.

The bracelets are on sale at Porter Place, 17833 Harlem Ave.

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All of the funds raised in the sales will be donated to Hawaii Community Foundations Maui Strong Fund which is providing financial resources that can be quickly deployed with a focus on rapid response and recovery.

Having dementia doesnt diminish the desire to help others both near and far. said Jennifer Boonstra, life engagement director for Porter Place, an Anthem Memory Care community. Our residents continue to be committed to serving others, and it brings them great joy to make a difference in the world.

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More information about the sale and donations is with Boonstra at jboonstra@anthemmemorycare.com.

Dennis and Pat Talbot create bracelets using Hawaiian puka shells and beads to raise funds for Maui Wildfire relief at Porter Place in Tinley Park. (Porter Place)

Parade to close McCarthy Road Sept. 16

On Saturday, Sept. 16, 123rd street (McCarthy Road) will be closed between 96th Avenue and 80th Avenue from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the Palos Park Autumn in the Park Parade. The parade starts at 11 a.m. and leads to the event on the Palos Park Village Green, 8901 W 123rd St.

Genealogical & Historical Society presents map program

The South Suburban Genealogical & Historical Society meets at 10 a.m. Sept. 9 at the SSGHS Library, 3000 W. 170th Place, Hazel Crest, for a program from Donald and Tanya Smith of Greeley-Howard-Norlin-Smith presenting History of Chicagoland in Maps.

The Smiths are closing their company, which has done land surveying and mapmaking since 1854. They begin with the brief history of how and why the land in the U.S. was originally divided & sold. A brief history follows of their familys 168+ year Land Surveying & Map Making business. The Smiths will talk about the most interesting projects, including some of the many boundary disputes, from their historical archive. In addition to their PowerPoint presentation, they will display some antique instruments as well as some of the antique & vintage maps, plats, atlases from their unique historical archives.

More information is at ssghs.org

Chamber 57 Annual Breakfast set in Matteson

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is among those being honored at the 11th Annual Breakfast of Chamber 57 from 9 to 11 a.m. Sept. 14 at the Matteson Holiday Inn, 500 Holiday Plaza, in Matteson.

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 >

The events theme is Rising Beyond, A Celebration To Excellence, and the keynote speaker is Matthew Simpson, the African American Business Development manager of the Office of Minority Economic Development for the Illinois Department of Commerce.

Others to be honored include Isaac Greene, senior pastor at Life Church; and Bonita Estelle, External Affairs manager for ComEd. Tickets and information are at chamber57breakfast23.eventbrite.com.

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Walk where Freedom Seekers walked Sept. 23

Experts from the Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project will present the fascinating and historically accurate story of the hundreds, perhaps thousands of people escaping slavery, called Freedom Seekers, who traveled the Underground Railroad through the south Chicagoland region seeking freedom in the north prior to the Civil War at a Hike the Freedom Trail event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 23.

The tour will include a brief celebration of the one-year anniversary of the installation of a state historical marker on the site of the Ton Farm, along the Little Calumet River.

Led by professor Larry McClellan and Tom Shepherd of the Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project, the free tour is co-sponsored by the Forest Preserves of Cook County and the Calumet Heritage Partnership.

The tour will depart from the Beaubien Woods Boat Launch near 134th Street and the Little Calumet riverfront at 10 a.m. and will be partly by bus and partly a hike requiring moderate walking. The event is free but registration is required at http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ejyfkd2p8412ba78&llr=xwordcfbb. More information is with Shepherd at Tomshepherd2001@yahoo.com or 773-370-3305.

Send news to communitynews@southtownstar.com.
A sentencing hearing for the former leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, was abruptly delayed Wednesday morning due to an unknown emergency, his lawyer and Justice Department officials said.

Tarrio is staring down decades in prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Prosecutors have requested 33 years in prison for Tarrio, the highest sentencing sought for anyone convicted in connection to the riot. Prosecutors said Tarrio influenced countless subordinate members of the Proud Boys and the general public in a conspiracy to forcefully stop a peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 election.

In federal court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday ahead of the expected sentencing, Tarrio joined four other members of the right-wing extremist group who were tried earlier this year. Each of the defendants were convicted in May of serious felonies, and all but one were convicted of sedition.

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Tarrio had asked the court for less prison time than what the Justice Department (DOJ) recommended but did not request a specific sentencing range, according to court filings. Instead, he argued against the use of a terrorism enhancement in deciding his sentence.

To apply the terrorism enhancement prosecutors are seeking, defendants must have committed an offense that was calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct.

Tarrio was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but throughout his four-month trial, prosecutors said he led a plot to keep former President Trump in the White House.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason McCullough told U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly on Tuesday that the jurys findings in the high-profile case showed that the defendants intended to coerce the government that day.

The focus of this was obstructing the peaceful transfer of power.  That is a significant crime, McCullough said. They did it, they prepared to do it, they recruited individuals they believed could help them do it.

Tarrio attorney Sabino Jauregui countered that the one-time leaders absence at the Capitol should prevent Kelly from applying the enhancement.

Tarrio wasnt present; he wasnt there, Jauregui said. He did not control the Proud Boys on Jan. 6.

Kelly will likely rule on use of the enhancement for each defendant at their individual sentencings later this week.

The DOJ also gave Proud Boys member Joe Biggs  one of Tarrios co-defendants and a former correspondent for conspiracist Alex Joness InfoWars  a 33-year sentence recommendation. The government requested sentences ranging from 20-30 years for the other three defendants: Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.

At the hearing Tuesday, law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 described the lasting effects of that day in victim impact statements.

The Capitol attack was the first time U.S. Capitol Police officer Shae Cooney was unsure if she would make it home at the end of the day, she told Kelly during the hearing.

Feeling my phone vibrate for hours, knowing my family was trying to reach me and I couldnt do anything for hours, was very heartbreaking, she said through tears, taking breaks from speaking to wipe her eyes with tissues.

Cooney said she knew her jobs daily duties could range from pointing tourists to the nearest Starbucks to defending the nations legislature. But she couldnt have imagined what happened Jan. 6, she said.

I never thought Id be fighting my own fellow citizens that day, she said. To have a group of people who on any other day were very pro-police, pro-law enforcement, pro-United States, for hours continuously attack us and beat us with thin blue line flags  I never thought Id see that happen.

Capitol Police Inspector Thomas Loyd used his statement to push back against claims that law enforcement failed to do their jobs Jan. 6, saying that he witnessed the most violent fighting in my 33-year career that day.

Despite their tremendous beating, all those who could walk showed up for work the next day, Loyd said, choking up. I could not have been prouder.

During the Proud Boys months-long trial, prosecutors said they engaged in a consistent drumbeat of calls for violence after Trump lost the 2020 election. The group gained notoriety when Trump urged them to stand back and stand by during his first debate against President Biden in response to being asked if would denounce the group.

After Trump lost the 2020 election, Tarrio issued his own command on the alternative social media platform Parler, according to trial evidence, which read: Standby order has been rescinded.

Prosecutors said during the trial that the extremist group viewed itself as Donald Trumps army on the day the Capitol was attacked, while defense attorneys argued the true culprit was the former president himself, who riled up the mob of his supporters and pointed them toward the Capitol.

It was Donald Trumps words, it was his motivation, it was his anger that caused what occurred on Jan. 6, another Tarrio attorney, Nayib Hassan, said in closing remarks of the trial.

Trump has since been charged in two criminal cases linked to his efforts to stay in power following his election loss. The federal case in Washington, D.C., charges Trump with conspiring to overturn the election, resulting in the Capitol attack  efforts meant to obstruct a bedrock function of a democracy, according to his indictment.

The former president is the leading Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential race. A federal judge Monday set his D.C. trial to begin March 4, the day before Super Tuesday.

Updated at 9:32 a.m. ET

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro outside the US Federal District Court in Washington, DC, on 15 July 2022 (EPA)

Former Trump White House trade advisor Peter Navarro will stand trial next month for allegedly wilfully defying a congressional subpoena after he claimed he was merely following an executive privilege claim from former president Donald Trump.

Judge Amit Mehta said Mr Navarros claim to have been instructed by Mr Trump to invoke executive privilege during a 20 February 2022 phone call was not accurate in a ruling delivered aloud from the bench and first reported by Politico.

Mr Navarro had argued that an assertion of executive privilege by Mr Trump over a subpoena from a House select subcommittee on the coronavirus response also applied to a subpoena he later received from the House January 6 select committee  the compulsory process he is charged with ignoring.

But Judge Mehta noted that binding case law on how to handle executive privilege claims states that such a claim has to be specific and cannot be a blanket assertion made to avoid responding to any questions at all. He also said Mr Navarro would have had to show up for his deposition and make particularised assertions in response to questions,

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There was no formal invocation of executive privilege by [Trump] after personal consideration nor authorization to Mr Navarro to invoke privilege on his behalf, he said.

He said Mr Navarro had not met his burden to show that Mr Trump had ordered him to invoke executive privilege, which means Mr Navarros trial will start as scheduled.

Judge Mehtas ruling comes just days after a hearing in which hed chided the former Trump administration adviser and his attorneys for not having evidence to support their executive privilege claims.

The former White House aide, who has openly bragged of helping to formulate plans that were meant to keep Mr Trump in office despite his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, has said he refused to comply with the compulsory process because he was honouring a claim of executive privilege by Mr Trump.

But at the Monday hearing, Judge Mehta had appeared sceptical about the basis for letting Mr Navarro present such a defence to a jury when he goes on trial next month.

The former White House official testified he was told not to comply by the former president during a 20 February 2022 phone call between the two men, 11 days after the House panel issued the subpoena.

It was clear during that call that privilege was invoked  very clear, he said. There was no question that the privilege had been invoked from the get-go  none.

The judge told the ex-Trump aides lawyer, Stanley Woodward, that their argument was hard to support absent direct evidence that Mr Navarro was actually told not to comply with the subpoena.

I still dont know what the president said  I dont have any words from the former president, said the judge, who added that testimony from Mr Navarro about how Mr Trump once expressed regret for not letting him testify was pretty weak sauce.

The record is barren, there is nothing here, even after your clients testimony, the judge said.
By Karen Lema and Poppy McPherson

MANILA (Reuters) -The U.S. military is in talks to develop a civilian port in the remote northernmost islands of the Philippines, the local governor and two other officials told Reuters, a move that would boost American access to strategically located islands facing Taiwan.

U.S. military involvement in the proposed port in the Batanes islands, less than 200 km (125 miles) from Taiwan, could stoke tensions at a time of growing friction with China and a drive by Washington to intensify its longstanding defence treaty engagement with the Philippines.

The Bashi Channel between those islands and Taiwan is considered a choke point for vessels moving between the western Pacific and the contested South China Sea and a key waterway in the case of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The Chinese military regularly sends ships and aircraft through the channel, Taiwan's defence ministry has said.

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Marilou Cayco , the provincial governor of the Batanes islands, told Reuters in a message she had sought funding from the U.S. for the building of an "an alternative port" there, which was intended to assist the unloading of cargo from the capital, Manila, during rough seas in the monsoon season.

She said the plans were to build a port on Basco island, where local authorities say high waves often make the existing port inaccessible, and that a decision could be made in October.

The Philippines has in the past year almost doubled the number of its military bases that U.S. forces can access, ostensibly for humanitarian assistance, and also has thousands of U.S. troops in the country at any given time, rotating in and out for joint training exercises. China has said these U.S. moves were "stoking the fire" of regional tensions.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposed port in Basco.

Two other Filipino officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media, said U.S troops had visited Batanes recently to discuss the port.

One, a senior military official, said the Filipino armed forces were interested in radar and improving monitoring capabilities in the area.

Cayco confirmed the visit, saying they came "one time to assess" the proposed alternative port.

The move comes as Washington pursues closer ties with Asian nations to counter China in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines, its former colony and treaty ally.

Kanishka Gangopadhyay, a spokesperson for the U.S embassy in Manila, said U.S. Embassy and U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) experts had been engaging the governor and local government, "at their request, to discuss ways USARPAC can support engineering, medical, and agricultural development projects in the province."

He did not mention the port specifically.

MARCOS INCREASES U.S. ACCESS

Previous President Rodrigo Duterte had threatened to scrap the U.S.-Philippines alliance and realign the country with Beijing but relations between China and the Philippines have grown tense under the current president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Marcos, the son and namesake of the disgraced late strongman president, has sought closer ties with Washington, granting it access to four more military bases, including several close to Taiwan, though not in Batanes, and announced joint patrols in the South China Sea.

Marcos has said the bases under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) could prove useful if China attacked Taiwan.

Security officials in Manila said they believed any military conflict in the Taiwan Strait would inevitably affect the Philippines, given its geographic proximity to Taiwan and the presence of over 150,000 Filipinos on the democratically-governed island.

Batanes also served as one of the training sites during this year's joint military exercises, known as Balikatan, which involved more than 17,000 Filipino and American troops, making it the biggest ever edition of the military drill.

At the time of the exercise, Cayco said she was seeking investment to build seaports and airports in the island province that is home to 18,000 people. The province could harbour Filipinos fleeing Taiwan if conflict breaks out there and residents have been worried about mounting tensions, according to local government officials.

The Philippines and China have also clashed in recent months over disputed waters in the South China Sea, with Chinese vessels firing water cannons on a Filipino vessel trying to send supplies to an outpost.

Cayco said she didn't have any conversation with the U.S. about EDCA or about radar installations.

She also said there had not yet been discussions about what access the U.S would have to the proposed port, but troops could use all ports in the area for regular military exercises like the Balikatan.

Jay Batongbacal, maritime affairs expert at the University of the Philippines, said the proposed port "would certainly be needed for the islands defence in a worst case scenario."

"If I were a Chinese strategist, I would want to take the Batanes at minimum in order to ensure control of the Luzon straits and use the island to prevent the approach of adversary naval forces," he said.

(Reporting by Poppy McPherson and Karen Lema; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Two killed in biggest Russian air strike on Ukrainian capital in months

By Yurii Kovalenko and Vladyslav Sodel

KYIV (Reuters) -Russia's largest air strike on Kyiv since spring killed two people early on Wednesday, with the debris of downed missiles falling on buildings, a park and a school, Ukrainian officials said.

Reuters captured footage of a fireball that fell out of the night sky into a part of the Ukrainian capital close to a supermarket, detonating in a huge explosion that bathed nearby residential tower blocks in light.

Three people were wounded in the overnight strike on Kyiv, and combat drones attacked infrastructure in the central region of Zhytomyr, where an unidentified facility and railway tracks were damaged and trains were delayed, they said.

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"The blast wave broke all the windows, the entry doors are broken too. We were terribly scared," said Liudmyla Savchuk, a 57-year-old teacher whose apartment in northwestern Kyiv was damaged.

"Then there was another explosion in a couple of seconds, 20 or 30 seconds. We're cleaning everything now," she said, showing Reuters a piece of debris that had flown through a window.

Ukrainian air defences shot down all 28 incoming missiles and 15 of the 16 drones in the overnight attack, which also targeted the Black Sea region of Odesa, said General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's armed forces.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces struck a number of Ukrainian command and reconnaissance posts. "The goals of the strike have been reached. All the assigned targets have been neutralised," it said.

Moscow also said Ukraine had carried out an overnight drone attack on western Russia.

"MASSIVE ATTACK"

Russia has conducted regular, but smaller, air strikes on Kyiv this summer, and hit the capital with large-scale aerial attacks in May.

The latest attack began with drones heading towards Kyiv from different directions and was followed by a salvo of missiles launched by Tu-95 strategic bombers.

It was not immediately clear what had been hit by the single drone that was not shot down.

"Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring. The enemy launched a massive, combined attack using drones and missiles," Serhiy Popko, the head of the city's military administration said on Telegram.

The bodies of two people were found in a non-residential building, mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

At around 4.00 a.m. (0100 GMT), a burning lump of missile debris flew through the night sky over southwestern Kyiv's outskirts and landed nearby, a Reuters witness said.

Several buildings were damaged by debris, and officials in the Kyiv region said six private houses were damaged by missile fragments and several people were injured.

"Humans don't do such things. There are no military objects here, nothing  just an apartment block... The missiles fell in the park," said Roman Feshchenko, 76, a resident in the northwest of Kyiv, one of four places where debris came down.

The general prosecutor's office said separately an 82-year-old woman had been killed overnight by Russian shelling in her home in the village of Svarkove in the northern region of Sumy.

(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Gleb Garanich; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Explosions were heard in Odesa on the night of 29-30 August after an air-raid warning was issued, and the Russians attacked the oblast with Kalibr cruise missiles.

Source: Suspilne Odesa news outlet; Ukrainian Air Force; Odesa.Ofitsiino (Odesa.Officially); Oleh Kiper, Head of Odesa Oblast Military Administration

Quote from Kiper: "Russian terrorists are attacking Odesa Oblast with missiles."

Details: The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea were moving towards the south of Odesa Oblast.

Suspilne Odesa reported that sounds of explosions had been heard in Odesa.

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Odesa's official Telegram channel noted that the Russians were attacking Odesa Oblast with sea-launched missiles.

"Combat operations are underway," the statement said.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
(Reuters) -A group of senior military officers in Gabon announced on national television on Wednesday they had taken power and election results were annulled, just minutes after President Ali Bongo was declared to have won a third term.

If successful the coup would represent the eighth since 2020 in West and Central Africa, a region that in the last decade had made strides to shed its reputation as a "coup belt", only for persistent insecurity and corruption to open the door to military leaders.

Here is a list of some recent coups:

NIGER

In July 2023, members of Niger's presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum inside his palace and appeared on national television saying they were seizing power to end the "deteriorating security situation and bad governance."

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Days later the junta declared the head of the presidential guard, Abdourahamane Tiani, the new head of state, raising concerns about the security of a region where Niger has been a key ally of Western powers seeking to contain insurgencies by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

The main West African bloc ECOWAS has been trying to negotiate with the coup leaders but said it was ready to send troops into Niger to restore constitutional order if diplomatic efforts failed.

Niger has authorised Mali and Burkina Faso's armed forces to intervene on its territory in case of an attack.

BURKINA FASO

In January 2022, Burkina Faso's army ousted President Roch Kabore, blaming him for failing to contain violence by Islamist militants.

Coup leader Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba pledged to restore security, but attacks worsened, eroding morale in the armed forces that led to a second coup in September 2022 when current junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power.

GUINEA

In September 2021, special forces commander Colonel Mamady Doumbouya ousted President Alpha Conde. A year earlier, Conde had changed the constitution to circumvent limits that would have prevented him from standing for a third term, triggering widespread rioting.

Doumbouya became interim president and promised a transition to democratic elections within three years.

ECOWAS rejected the timeline and imposed sanctions on junta members and their relatives, including freezing their bank accounts.

The military regime later proposed to start the 24-month transition in January 2023, but opposition parties say it has done little to put in place institutions and a roadmap to return to constitutional rule.

CHAD

In April 2021, Chad's army took power after President Idriss Deby was killed on the battlefield while visiting troops fighting rebels in the north.

Under Chadian law, the speaker of parliament should have become president. But a military council stepped in and dissolved parliament in the name of ensuring stability.

Deby's son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, was named interim president and tasked with overseeing an 18-month transition to elections.

The unconstitutional transfer of power led to riots in the capital N'Djamena that were put down by the military.

MALI

In August 2020, a group of Malian colonels led by Assimi Goita ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The coup followed anti-government protests over deteriorating security, contested legislative elections and allegations of corruption.

Under pressure from Mali's West African neighbours, the junta agreed to cede power to a civilian-led interim government tasked with overseeing an 18-month transition to democratic elections to be held in February 2022.

But the coup leaders clashed with the interim president, retired colonel Bah Ndaw, and engineered a second coup in May 2021. Goita, who had served as interim vice president, was elevated to the presidency.

ECOWAS lifted some of the sanctions on Mali after the military rulers proposed a two-year transition to democracy and published a new electoral law. The country is scheduled to hold a presidential election in February 2024 to return to constitutional rule.

(Compiled by Hereward Holland)
Veola Bray, St. John Missionary Baptist Church's family support ministry leader, poses for a photo in the sanctuary of the northeast Oklahoma City church, site of an Aug. 30 International Overdose Awareness Day event.

A local ministry director opens her presentations with one sentence designed to make people feel more comfortable talking about substance abuse and alcohol addiction.

"There are no perfect families," Veola Bray, St. John Missionary Baptist Church's family support ministry leader, said recently.

"That's what I tell people and that seems to help them, particularly in a church setting. Some people say they identify with it but a lot of times, nobody wants to talk about it."

Bray and St. John have teamed up with the Oklahoma Faith Network to host a community event on Aug. 30 in conjunction with International Overdose Awareness Day. The International Overdose Awareness Day Informational Session is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the church, 5700 N Kelley. The special day of awareness is officially Aug. 31.

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Michael Owens with the Oklahoma Faith Network, formerly the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, said overdose awareness day is a time to bring members of the community together for inspiration, education and support.

More: How a new Oklahoma program aims to combat fentanyl overdoses in the state

Bray said education and support are critical, particularly because of the prevalence of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.

"We're in a whole new ballgame with fentanyl being put in everything," she said.

Bonnie Campo, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, agreed. Fentanyl, she said, is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. And, it is a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the United States.

Bray said she tries to let people know that addiction touches many individuals and families in the community and it is OK to talk about it.

"It's still a no-no in the church to talk about it, but people still need the help," Bray said.

Porsha Burden, community and social action ministry leader at Northeast Missionary Baptist Church, said her church received a 2022 grant from the Oklahoma Faith Network that is being used for ministry work in the area of substance use education and her group has also developed a training program focusing on behavioral health.

Like Bray, she said people don't always like to discuss such issues, but "we have to do better at normalizing those conversations."

International Overdose Awareness Day

International Overdose Awareness Day is Aug. 31, and several community organizations are hosting related events open to the general public. Here are several community activities planned in conjunction with the special day:

International Overdose Awareness Day informational Session, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 30, St. John Missionary Baptist Church, 5700 N Kelley, speakers, community resources.

International Overdose Awareness Day-OKC, 7 p.m. Aug. 31, Love's Stage at Scissortail Park, 300 SW 7, speakers, event will end with walk to Skydance Bridge in memory of all lives lost to addiction, sponsored by nonprofit FATE  Fighting Addiction Through Education. Information: https://www.facebook.com/events/s/international-overdose-awarene/137642442677632/.

Trust Women-OKC/Shred the Stigma Barbecue and Overdose Awareness event, 11:30 a.m. Aug. 31, Trust Women parking lot, 1240 SW 44, hot dogs and vegan options, moment of remembrance, resources from community partners, syringe disposal. Information: drew@shredthestigmaok.org; https://www.facebook.com/SHREDtheStigmaOK/.

For related information and resources, go to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse's "OK I'm Ready" website at https://okimready.org/.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Groups will host International Overdose Awareness Day events in OKC
A family from Florida met a woman for the first time this week after their son received a living-donor transplant from her.

Logan Salva was diagnosed with Alagille syndrome, a rare genetic mutation, when he was 2 months old. His best chance at survival was a liver transplant.

This is one of the conditions that leads to liver failure and death unless you can have a liver transplant. Theres no other treatment available for it currently, said Dr. George Mazariegos, the chief of pediatric transplantation, UPMC Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh.

The family, who are from the Ocala, Fla., area, learned about living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT). LDLT eliminates the need for patients to be placed on the waiting list and offers the opportunity to transplant earlier and when patients are healthier. UPMC leads the nation in living-donor liver transplants.

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His parents and immediate family all stepped up to be a living donor, but none of Logans immediate family was a viable option.

The family got a call from Pittsburgh about a person, someone they didnt even know, who wanted to donate a portion of their liver and was a perfect match. Makenzie Beach, the donor, is also a nurse at UPMC Hamot in Erie.

It just felt it was the right thing for me to do, Beach said about becoming a living donor.

The procedure was done on June 8, and both Logan, now 20 months old, and Makenzie are recovering well.

So that just as a win-win, we were able to offer that in a timely fashion for him. And now hes back home in Florida and were continuing to help him and the team and work together to provide the care for his care post transplant, which is, of course, super important, Mazariegos said.

Beach met Logan and his parents via ZOOM.

It was so emotional, but so amazing. And I couldnt ask to be part of something bigger or better than this. Its like a real miracle, Beah said about meeting the family. I cant even imagine how crazy their life has been with having a sick child. I hope they have so much relief and so much for a normal life now and and easier life for all of them.

Beach also has a message for those thinking of becoming a living donor.

It was way easier than I thought it would be. I would do it again if I could. Im three months out and I feel like I didnt even have surgery. Im back at work full time and Ive no health consequences or effects at all from this, she said.

She says the couple weeks of discomfort to save a life was a small price to pay.

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The family of a Kansas City police officer killed in a February car wreck will receive a $100,000 insurance settlement through a wrongful death claim brought against the other driver, according to a recent legal filing in Jackson County Circuit Court.

A petition to approve the settlement was filed Friday on behalf of Cassie Muhlbauer and her three children stemming from the death of KCPD Officer James Muhlbauer. It was made jointly with lawyers representing Jerron Lightfoot, 19, who faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the crash.

Through the settlement, Lightfoot denies and disputes any and all liability to Cassie Muhlbauer, the wife of the officer. The agreement still requires a judges approval.

On Feb. 15, hours after the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Parade, James Muhlbauer, 42, and his K-9 partner Champ were on duty and driving through the intersection of Benton Boulevard and Truman Road when their KCPD patrol vehicle was struck on its drivers side.

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The patrol car was pushed into 52-year-old pedestrian Jesse Eckes, who was sitting near a concrete traffic signal. James Muhlbauer, his K-9 partner and Eckes died in the crash.

Kansas City Police Officer James Muhlbauer and his partner Champ were killed in the line of duty, the man accused of manslaughter in the crash has been released on bond

Lightfoot, then 18, allegedly told police his brakes failed.

Surveillance video from a nearby business allegedly showed Lightfoot ran a red light before crashing into the police car.

Detectives also obtained data from the computer in Lightfoots car showing he had been driving at 90 miles per hour  far above the posted limit of 35 mph  two seconds before the crash. They also determined the brakes were working as the vehicle slowed substantially before impact.

Jackson County prosecutors charged Lightfoot in February with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains free on bond.

Earlier this month, a separate wrongful death claim brought on behalf of Eckes three adult children was settled for $100,000. It also was to be paid out by Lightfoots insurance carrier.

Lightfoot did not admit any liability in settling that case.
BRICS challenges Western hegemony with strategic expansion

09:22, August 30, 2023 By XING YI in London ( Chinadaily.com.cn

Seasoned authority on BRICS affairs, Sameep Shastri, has emphasized that the organization's recent expansion demonstrates its inclusivity and multilateralism, challenges Western hegemony, and will bring new markets and resources to aid sustainable development and foster cooperation in the Global South.

After the 15th BRICS Summit concluded with the addition of six new members, Shastri, vice chairman of the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told China Daily in an inteview on Friday that this step would further strengthen the faith in the multipolar world order, and the new member states will infuse BRICS cooperation with new momentum and energy.

The chamber is a non-governmental organization based in New Delhi that promotes business and supports entrepreneurs in BRICS nations.

"I believe the Western Hemisphere has dominated our economic needs for too long, and I think it's time that BRICS becomes the face of the Global South to show that the Eastern Hemisphere also has strength," Shastri said.

Before the expansion, the BRICS countries  Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa  represented 42 percent of the world's population and 23 percent of global GDP. It was announced on Thursday that Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have become new members.

"With the addition, it represents half of the world The new members would bring market, resource, industry to the table, allowing diversification of trade relationships and potentially leading the creation of new supply chains," said Shastri, adding that the economic complementarity among the member countries will increase trade and investment opportunities.

"That might include joint ventures and renewable energy projects, oil and gas explorations, and energy in infrastructure development. Oil trade will become easier because of Middle Eastern countries," he said. "Middle Eastern countries don't have that strong service industry, whereas China and India are very good with it. So we'll be complimenting where our needs are."

The entry of new members would open opportunities for tourism and cultural exchange. "We share geographically very different boundaries, but culturally we all are very, very rich Tourism will become more popular. Hospitality leads to the travel business.  I think if you look at it, our options are unlimited," he said.

Shastri pointed out that the new members will lead to collaborative efforts of funding in the New Development Bank. Established by BRICS in 2015, this bank aims to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies

"Right now, only BRICS nations have funded the New Development Bank and other nations will now be able to fund it. So that means more growth in infrastructure, sustainable and health development projects... Ultimately, everything is related to financial capital," he said.

A strengthened BRICS group will break Western economic hegemony, which has dominated the world's economic policies, said Shastri. "I personally feel the monopolistic nature should change. It should be a fair play and it is time that we lead these policies and because it is our population that needs the right kind of policy making in growth."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
During a special meeting Tuesday, the University Park Village Board voted to terminate special counsel Nina Fain and lobbyist Frank Bass. (Alexandra Kukulka)

Four University Park trustees held a special meeting Tuesday and voted to fire the special attorney in the Aqua Illinois lawsuit and the village lobbyist.

Trustee Theo Brooks, who was appointed board chair due to Mayor Joesph Roudezs absence, announced the resignation of Nina Fain, who was special counsel for the village in the ongoing lawsuit against Aqua Illinois for allegedly not providing safe drinking water to University Park.

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She resigned. She left a beautiful letter and Im going to give her a good response because her and I always had a good relationship, Brooks said.

The agenda was posted Friday, Brooks said, and by Monday afternoon Fain sent in a resignation letter, Brooks said. The boards legislative attorney said the board still had to vote to terminate Fains contract because it was an agenda item, he said.

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Fain said in a statement is disappointed she wont work for the village anymore, and pointed to a political shift that lead to Tuesdays vote.

When leadership changes, team members do too. It is just life and people move on. The villages future is bright and people do what they think is best to do, Fain said.

The board voted 4-0 to terminate Fain, with Roudez and trustees Janelle McFadden and Karen Lewis absent. Without discussion, the board voted 4-0 to remove village lobbyist Frank Bass.

Trustee Donna Fulcher said she voted to terminate Bass because she found out that he pushed for a bill that would have created a University Park development authority board to focus on redeveloping vacant and underutilized properties throughout the village, which she feels wouldve limited the Village Boards powers.

That was something that I didnt care for or know, Fulcher said.

Fulcher said she called Bass to learn more about what he did for the village, and he forwarded her emails he sent to the village manager with grant recommendations.

Brooks also said he voted to terminate Bass because of his push for the development board. When he learned about the bill recently, Brooks said he was blindsided by it.

Additionally, Brooks said he did not like how closely Bass seemed to work with Roudez.

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I felt he did not operate in the best interest of the village, Brooks said.

Bass declined to comment.

Village attorney Nina Fain gives an update July 25, 2023, to University Park trustees and residents about free water testing Aqua Illinois will provide to residents and the pending litigation against the company. (Alexandra Kukulka)

Brooks said he voted to terminate Fain because the village was paying about $5,000 a month for her services but not much was being done to help residents.

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 >

Trustee Jewell Thompson her vote was because during the boards July meeting, Fain came to give a presentation.

Thompson said when she asked Fain about her role in the lawsuit, Fain didnt give her a clear answer. When Thompson asked Fain who advocates for the village in the lawsuit, Fain said the attorney generals office.

We dont need to spend money for no reason. Its a waste of money, Thompson said.

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Fulcher agreed with Thompson adding that the presentation held in July was Fains opportunity to tell the trustees and residents about all the work shes done.

We gave her a chance, Fulcher said. But it was nothing she actually does.

Trustee Gina Williams said she listened in on some of the court hearings in the Aqua case and that Fain wasnt present.

I just feel that there was not enough being done by Ms. Fain as far as Aqua, Williams said. I wish her well, but I think more couldve been done.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA)  The fatal shooting of a University of South Carolina student has been ruled justifiable, authorities confirmed Wednesday.

Nicholas Anthony Donofrio, 20, of Connecticut, was shot and killed Sunday morning while attempting to enter the wrong home. Police said Donofrio lived on the same street where he was shot but that he had attempted to enter another home.

Following an investigation, the Fifth Circuit Solicitors Office and the Columbia Police Department now say charges will not be filed against the homeowner and ruled the shooting justifiable.

Person gets sick, dies from amebic infection after swimming in Texas lake

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Police said Donofrio repeatedly banged and kicked the door, then broke the glass window and reached inside for the doorknob. Thats when police said the homeowner shot and killed Donfrio.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the homeowner.

His parents declined to comment about the shooting to Nexstars WTNH, saying they were heartbroken and in disbelief. They said Donoforio was a great son, loving, compassionate, all the traits you would want in a son.

Donoforio had recently moved into an off-campus house, and was excited to live with four friends for his junior year.

In a statement obtained by the Associated Press, the University of South Carolina said it is providing resources and support to those who may be affected by this tragedy.

Earlier this year, a then-16-year-old Kansas City boy was shot in the head after mistakenly going to the wrong home to pick up his siblings. The homeowner, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, fired shots through a glass door, police said. He has since been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action while the boy, Ralph Yarl, is expected to fully recover from the two gunshots and traumatic brain injury he suffered, Nexstars WDAF reports.

Convicted rapist who escaped on jet ski in 2022 is arrested in West Virginia

Days later, a woman was fatally shot in upstate New York after a homeowner allegedly opened fire on her and her friends, who mistakenly drove to the wrong address, authorities said. The property owner, 65-year-old Kevin Monahan, was charged with second-degree murder, Nexstars WTEN reports.

Last fall, a student at the University of Tampa was killed after trying to get into the wrong car, according to Nexstars WFLA.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA)  The fatal shooting of a University of South Carolina student has been ruled justifiable, authorities confirmed Wednesday.

Nicholas Anthony Donofrio, 20, of Connecticut, was shot and killed Sunday morning while attempting to enter the wrong home. Police said Donofrio lived on the same street where he was shot but that he had attempted to enter another home.

Following an investigation, the Fifth Circuit Solicitors Office and the Columbia Police Department now say charges will not be filed against the homeowner and ruled the shooting justifiable.

Person gets sick, dies from amebic infection after swimming in Texas lake

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Police said Donofrio repeatedly banged and kicked the door, then broke the glass window and reached inside for the doorknob. Thats when police said the homeowner shot and killed Donfrio.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the homeowner.

His parents declined to comment about the shooting to Nexstars WTNH, saying they were heartbroken and in disbelief. They said Donoforio was a great son, loving, compassionate, all the traits you would want in a son.

Donoforio had recently moved into an off-campus house, and was excited to live with four friends for his junior year.

In a statement obtained by the Associated Press, the University of South Carolina said it is providing resources and support to those who may be affected by this tragedy.

Earlier this year, a then-16-year-old Kansas City boy was shot in the head after mistakenly going to the wrong home to pick up his siblings. The homeowner, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, fired shots through a glass door, police said. He has since been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action while the boy, Ralph Yarl, is expected to fully recover from the two gunshots and traumatic brain injury he suffered, Nexstars WDAF reports.

Convicted rapist who escaped on jet ski in 2022 is arrested in West Virginia

Days later, a woman was fatally shot in upstate New York after a homeowner allegedly opened fire on her and her friends, who mistakenly drove to the wrong address, authorities said. The property owner, 65-year-old Kevin Monahan, was charged with second-degree murder, Nexstars WTEN reports.

Last fall, a student at the University of Tampa was killed after trying to get into the wrong car, according to Nexstars WFLA.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
A Georgia man who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots in a gas mask and lied to the FBI about his involvement has been arrested, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

William Beals was charged with lying to the FBI, a felony, as well as disorderly conduct and theft of government property.

According to federal investigators, Beals traveled from Tennessee to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Jan. 6 riots. He clashed with police lines early in the afternoon before briefly entering the Capitol building when police were overrun by rioters.

Beals entered the Capitol again later in the afternoon, this time donning a gas mask, and continued to clash with police.

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After leaving the Capitol, Beals posed for photos with stolen Capitol Police equipment and posed on top of a Capitol Police motorcycle.

Ex-Proud Boys leaders sentencing delayed as he stares down decades in prison

When the FBI questioned Beals about the photos in October 2021, he claimed they were fake or doctored and denied that he participated in the riots, investigators said.

Authorities recognized tattoos on Bealss hand and neck and pointed out the similarity to the tattoos in the photos. Beals stated that many people had the same tattoos and continued to deny entering the Capitol, the Justice Department said.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested on charges related to the Jan. 6 riots, the department said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A federal judge on Tuesday upheld a preliminary injunction sought by prison company CoreCivic against a state ban that would have forced it to close the last detention center in New Jersey used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch said in a ruling that state statute AB 5207 was "unconstitutional" when applied to the federal government's operation of the Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth near Newark Airport.

AB 5207 is a state law passed in 2021 that prohibits local jails from entering into new contracts to house federal immigration detainees. The detainees are usually asylum seekers and other undocumented people waiting for their immigration cases to be resolved and those who have incurred violations.

CoreCivic in February sued Gov. Phil Murphy and Matthew Platkin, the state's attorney general, claiming that the state ban should be declared unconstitutional and superseded by federal law. The state filed a motion for dismissal of the suit in May, arguing that CoreCivic has failed to prove it would be harmed by the law banning new contracts with the facility.

Protesters gathered in front of the Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth on June 17 calling for the permanent shutdown of the facility that houses ICE detainees and for those detainees to be set free.

The Tennessee-based CoreCivic, one of the world's largest prison companies, sought an injunction to prevent the state from enforcing the law against the company as it was in the process of renewing its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which expires on Thursday. According to ICE, a recent count of the population at the Elizabeth Center found about 220 held there, nearly capacity in a facility that can house up to 300 people.

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Kirsch said in his ruling that the statute is a "dagger aimed at the heart of the federal government's immigration enforcement mission and operations." He also said if the New Jersey facility was closed due to the state law and a neighboring state passed a similar law, it "would result in nothing short of chaos" in terms of immigration enforcement.

The judge's decision met with either disappointment or approval, depending on where people stood on this lawsuit.

More: Immigrant advocates plan summer of protests, hoping to close NJ detention center for good

Platkin issued a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying: "We are disappointed with todays ruling, which we view as interfering with NJs right to protect its residents. Private detention facilities threaten the public health and safety of New Jerseyans, including when used for immigration purposes. We will be appealing this decision."

Activists who have been rallying this summer to ensure the detention center closes for good, citing a history of medical neglect and substandard conditions at the facility, also expressed dismay.

Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, said in a statement: While we are bitterly disappointed in todays decision, we also know this is not the final step. We are pleased that the Attorney Generals Office has already shared their intent to appeal, and our communities will continue to take this issue to the streets to demand the shutdown of the Elizabeth Detention Center."

More: To continue detaining immigrants, prison company takes top NJ officials to court

Ryan Gustin, a spokesman for CoreCivic, said the company applauded the decision.

"We appreciate that we had the opportunity to present our positions to the court and are grateful that we have the privilege of continuing to support the vital mission of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security," Gustin said.

Gustin deferred a question on whether ICE and CoreCivic have come to an agreement on the operation of the EDC. ICE did not immediately respond to the question or issue a statement about the court's decision.

Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration and culture for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com

Twitter: @ricardokaul

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: ICE detention center in NJ to continue operation after ruling
The case of a Forest Hill man arrested in the early days of COVID-19 over a Facebook post is heading back to a federal district court after an appeals court said the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office wasn't entitled to qualified immunity.

The detective who arrested Waylon Allen Bailey on March 20, 2020, also violated Bailey's First Amendment rights, the court ruled.

Bailey was arrested on a charge of terrorizing after his March 20, 2020, post about the sheriff's office being told to shoot "the infected" on sight. He included a hashtag referencing the Brad Pitt zombie movie "World War Z," and he and a friend joked about the situation in the comments.

The case of a Forest Hill man arrested in the early days of COVID-19 over a Facebook post is heading back to a federal district court after an appeals court said the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office wasn't entitled to qualified immunity.

The Aug. 25 opinion from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans stated U.S. District Court Judge David C. Joseph was wrong both to rule Bailey's post wasn't constitutionally protected free speech and that Detective Randell Iles and Sheriff Mark Wood had qualified immunity.

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Qualified immunity is legal principle that protects government officials from liability as they work.

"When Iles arrested Bailey, he violated Baileys clearly established First Amendment right to engage in speech even when some listeners consider the speech offensive, upsetting, immature, in poor taste, or even dangerous," reads the opinion.

The case is being sent back to district court for further proceedings based on the decision.

Waylon Bailey arrest: Man arrested after allegedly posting Rapides deputies would shoot those sick with coronavirus

Waylon Bailey lawsuit: Forest Hill man gets support from national groups after arrest for COVID Facebook post

The sheriff's office, in its initial news release, said it was notified about Bailey's post but didn't state how. The court opinion states Iles was assigned to investigate, so he and other deputies went to Bailey's home and arrested him despite not having an arrest warrant.

According to Bailey, the deputies were wearing bulletproof vests and approached him in his garage with their guns drawn. But Iles said in court documents that he walked up to Bailey, introduced himself and shook his hand.

"While Bailey was handcuffed, one of the deputies (not Iles) told him that the 'next thing [you] put on Facebook should be not to f**k with the police,' and the deputies laughed," it reads.

The charge was dropped when the Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office declined to formally charge Bailey. But he sued in September 2020, alleging his First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated and that people viewed him as a terrorist because of the arrest.

Joseph dismissed Bailey's lawsuit in July 2022, but he appealed. Although the district court decision has been reversed, no new court dates have been scheduled yet, according to online records.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Court: No qualified immunity for Rapides Sheriff's Office in arrest
The federal government may soon be loosening some regulations on marijuana.

An official from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has asked the Drug Enforcement Administration to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, according to reports. The move was initially reported by Bloomberg News.

Rachel Levine , the assistant director for health, sent a letter to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram asking for marijuana to be lowered from the harshest classification, which is defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, to the third tier, which includes drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence, as defined by the DEA.

For comparison, fentanyl is listed as a Schedule II drug.

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Last year, President Joe Biden asked cabinet members to review expeditiously how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.

Federal law currently classifies marijuana in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the classification meant for the most dangerous substances. This is the same schedule as for heroin and LSD, and even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine  the drugs that are driving our overdose epidemic, Biden noted in a statement.

While illegal at the federal level, cannabis has been approved for recreational use by 25 states, districts and territories.

Medicinal marijuana has been legalized in 43 states, districts and territories, with 11 more states allowing cannabis products with low levels of THC  the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis  to be used for medicinal purposes.

Along with growing acceptance and use, officials at multiple levels have also been reviewing and, in some cases, reversing criminal penalties for marijuana use, possession and sale.

Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana, Biden said. Its time that we right these wrongs.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
The Biden administration has stopped helping states rebuild from past disasters with money from the federal government's main emergency fund, which is nearing depletion from dozens of storms and wildfires this year.

The restrictions will put pressure on Congress to approve President Joe Bidens Aug. 10 request for $12 billion in emergency money to replenish the disaster fund.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, Biden stopped short of vowing that the federal government would provide sufficient disaster aid during the current hurricane season.

"If I can't do that, I'm going to point out why," Biden said, without explicitly saying he would blame lawmakers for stalling or rejecting his $12 billion request. "How can we not respond? My God."

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Biden added, "I'm confident  even though there's a lot of talk from some of our friends up on [Capitol] Hill about the costs  we're gonna do it."



Under new spending restrictions, the federal disaster fund can be spent only to address life-threatening emergencies such as Hurricane Idalia, which swept into the northern Florida Gulf Coast early Wednesday. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said at the White House on Tuesday that FEMA is using its remaining disaster funds only for critical response efforts to Idalia, the Maui fires and any other extreme weather events.

FEMA said in an internal memo obtained by POLITICOs E&E News that its disaster fund is "approaching exhaustion" and that restrictions are needed due to "the current disaster environment with a major fire and multiple hurricanes."

The agency imposed the spending restriction Tuesday with little notice. The change does not affect FEMA aid to individuals or payments from the agency's flood-insurance program.

FEMA said in its advisory that it "had intended to provide 10 full days notice" but had to act immediately to address two simultaneous major disasters  the Maui wildfires and Hurricane Idalia  and other potential hurricanes.

The restriction, known as "immediate needs funding," limits FEMA to spending disaster funds on life-saving measures such as clearing debris from roads, maintaining services such as health care and water, and providing emergency housing for displaced individuals.

The restriction could temporarily halt thousands of projects by states to rebuild facilities and infrastructure that were damaged by disasters in the past decade or longer ago.

FEMA pays a large share of those projects costs  usually 75 percent. Without federal funds, states will have to delay projects or spend their own money and await reimbursement.

The spending restrictions have been anticipated since April when Criswell warned publicly that the agencys Disaster Relief Fund would be drained by this summer.

FEMA has imposed similar restrictions eight times since 2001, most recently in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey caused tens of billions of dollars of damage in southeast Texas.

Congress has been in recess since early August and unable to act on Bidens request to replenish the disaster fund. The Senate returns to Washington on Sept. 5, and the House returns Sept. 12.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that he will introduce legislation to approve the $12 billion the moment the Senate reconvenes and that he will demand an immediate vote.

I will not allow Washington to continue playing games with disaster aid and the lives of those needing our help, Scott said in a statement.

Lawmakers already face a teeming agenda when they return, including the need to reach a deal to keep the government operating past Sept. 30 despite deep partisan disagreements about spending.

A coalition of major government associations wrote a letter Tuesday to congressional leaders urging them "to act swiftly" in approving emergency funds and warning that without additional money, "recovery projects will grind to a halt."

The signatories include the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Counties and the National League of Cities.

The $12 billion is part of a $40 billion emergency-funding request by Biden that includes $24 billion to help Ukraine in its war with Russia. Some lawmakers oppose the Ukraine request and want to consider it separately from the other emergency funds.

Reporters asked Biden on Aug. 25 in California if there is a possibility he would agree to divide his spending request.

None, Biden replied.

Criswell said the disaster funds current balance is $3.4 billion  a significant sum that is equal to the amount of money Congress gave the fund for the entire 2011 fiscal year.

But 65 federal disasters or emergencies have been declared since April 1, including nine in the past week alone, as extreme heat has fueled major wildfires in states including Louisiana, Washington, Rhode Island and Hawaii.



The 65 disasters and emergencies in the past five months is more than occurred in any full year from 1953 to 1995, an E&E News analysis of FEMA records shows.

FEMA is reviewing an additional 11 requests from governors seeking disaster funds.

This is our new normal, Criswell, the FEMA administrator, said at the White House.

We don't have a typical operational season like we've had in the past, Criswell added. We started with atmospheric rivers in California in January, extreme tornadoes in the spring to the wildfires, and now we are in peak hurricane season. And we have had an unprecedented number of disaster requests from governors.

The FEMA spending restrictions are temporary and will be lifted as soon as Congress refills the disaster fund, though it is unclear when that will occur.

Congress has approved previous requests for emergency disaster funds with little opposition. But the accompanying request for Ukraine aid could complicate and delay approval.

Without emergency cash, the disaster fund is expected to receive $20 billion as its annual appropriation on Oct. 1 when fiscal 2024 begins.

Congressional leaders are mulling a continuing resolution to keep the government funded while lawmakers work on longer term plans. Disaster money could be part of a CR, but House conservatives have balked at such a stopgap without deeper cuts and policy concessions.
A group of female professors at Vassar College announced Wednesday they are suing the school over alleged discrimination in pay.

The plaintiffs, consisting of Vassar professors ranging from the English to physics departments, say the college has known for years there was a growing gap in pay between male and female educators.

Through this action, we seek to achieve what we were prevented from accomplishing through private internal channels: gender equity for ourselves and other female full faculty, and the adoption of fair processes to ensure that future generations of faculty are paid, promoted, and evaluated fairly, the plaintiffs said in a statement.

The lawsuit alleges women are paid less in their starting Vassar salaries compared to men, that the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., liberal arts schools merit-rating system is biased and that receiving promotions is more difficult and takes longer for women than for men.

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The complaint shows that in the 2021-22 school year, male professors were making 10 percent more than female professors, at an average of $153,238 compared to $139,322.

The Hill has reached out to Vassar for comment.

The female professors say they have tried working with the college for 15 years to correct the issue before deciding to pursue legal action.

The lawsuit aims to establish a new system for promotions and receive back pay for all current and former full-time female professors back to 2015.

Plaintiffsand all Vassar female full professorsare leaders in their fields and highly regarded by both their contemporaries and their students, attorney Kelly Dermody said. For too long, Vassar has refused to equitably value their contributions to the College. We hope this case will prompt Vassar to finally live up to the storied role in the movement for gender equality that it so publicly claims.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Biased changes to ballot language spur lawsuit. Ohio Republicans failed in an attempt to doom an abortion rights ballot initiative by changing the threshold of votes needed for it to pass. Now, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRosewho said the attempt was "100 percent" about thwarting the abortion measurehas a new tack to stack the deck against it: using highly charged and potentially misleading ballot language.

Backers of the measure are, in turn, suing over the LaRose-approved ballot summary.

The measure, dubbed Issue 1, will be put to Ohio voters this fall and would amend the Ohio Constitution to make explicit that the state protects reproductive freedom.

It would add a "Right to Reproductive Freedom" section to the Ohio Constitution, stating that "every individual has a right to make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on: contraception; fertility treatment; continuing one's own pregnancy; miscarriage care; and abortion. The State shall not, directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against either: an individual's voluntary exercise of this right or a person or entity that assists an individual exercising this right" unless it "demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual's health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care."

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The proposed amendment goes on to say that the state could still ban abortion "after fetal viability" (defined as "the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient's treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus"). However, post-viability bans could not apply in situations where "the pregnant patient's treating physician" deems an abortion necessary "to protect the pregnant patient's life or health."

Backers of the amendment proposed putting its full text on the ballot. That seems like it should be pretty uncontroversial, no? When it comes to something as weighty as amending the state's constitution, it's good to give voters all of the context and facts.

But in a 3-2 vote last week, the Ohio Ballot Boardwhich contains LaRose as a memberrejected the idea that this fall's ballots should include the amendment's full text. Instead, they opted for summary language submitted by LaRose's office.

The summary text characterizes the bit about post-viability bans and their exceptions by saying the amendment would "always allow an unborn child to be aborted at any stage of pregnancy, regardless of viability, if, in the treating physician's determination the abortion is necessary to protect the pregnant woman's life or health."

It uses the phrase unborn child instead of fetus.

It leaves off any mention of specific reproductive rights other than abortion, omitting the amendment's references to contraception, fertility treatments, continuing a pregnancy, and miscarriage care.

Instead of saying that the amendment would restrict "the State"defined in the proposed amendment as "any governmental entity and any political subdivision"from interfering with reproductive freedom, it says it would block "the citizens of the State of Ohio" from doing so.

And instead of saying the amendment would give Ohioans the "right to make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions," it says it would guarantee the right to one's own "reproductive medical treatment." Backers of the amendment suggest this change falsely implies that the amendment would make the state provide and fund abortions.

The new language "is blatantly misleading and purposefully inaccurate," asserted Rep. Elliot Forhan (DSouth Euclid).

"The entire summary is propaganda," said Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights co-chair Lauren Blauvelt.

LaRose is "the public servant responsible for conducting free and fair elections in Ohio" but he's "playing dirty to win. It's wrong," opined journalist Marilou Johanek in the Ohio Capital Journal.

LaRose called the new language "fair and accurate."

The Ohio Ballot Board is supposed to be a neutral arbiter of ballot language. But before voting on the language, board member and state Sen. Theresa Gavarone made it clear that she's anything but neutral. "This is a dangerous amendment that I'm going to fight tirelessly against," she said.

"Gavarone also claimed, as anti-abortion groups throughout the state do as well, that the amendment is 'an assault on parental rights,'" but "neither the amendment nor the summary approved by the board mention parental rights of any kind," notes the Ohio Capital Journal. "The senator continued her comments during the board meeting, saying the true nature of the amendment 'is hidden behind overly broad language,' despite the fact that the board summary took out pieces of the full text."

This week, Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit challenging the proposed ballot summary, calling it "irreparably flawed" and aimed at misleading Ohioans into voting no on the proposal. The group is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to order the board "to reconvene and adopt the full text of the Amendment as the ballot language" or, alternatively, to "adopt ballot language that properly and lawfully describes the Amendment."

FREE MINDS

First Amendment experts discuss age-verification laws. In a new panel discussion hosted by the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, First Amendment lawyers Lawrence Walters and Bob Corn-Revere have a wide-ranging discussion about age-verification laws, regulation of social media, and Woodhull's case against FOSTA:

R Street Institute's Shoshana Weissmann has been doing a series of columns about age-verification proposals. Her latest looks at how VPNs render enforcement impossible.

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Reminder: We can't drug war our way out of fentanyl overdoses

If you know that the DEA seized enough fentanyl last year to kill every American you should understand the impossibility of ending drug overdoses by stopping the supply of fentanyl. The drug war created the incentives that brought us street fentanyl. Interdiction can't stop it. https://t.co/jLLdHwZOAK  Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) August 30, 2023

 and most fentanyl entering the U.S. is coming through legal ports of entry, not being smuggled over the U.S.-Mexico border. Reason's Fiona Harrigan noted this last year:

Despite the idea's sticking power in certain circles, it's inaccurate to say that undocumented immigrants crossing an open border are chiefly responsible for fentanyl arriving at the country's doors. In reality, U.S. citizens carrying the drug through legal ports of entry are primarily to blame. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported an upward trend in fentanyl seizures over the past few years. From 2,800 pounds seized in FY 2019, CBP seized 11,200 pounds of fentanyl in FY 2021 and 12,900 pounds in FY 2022 through the end of August. Seizures conducted by two distinct bodies within CBP combine to yield those numbers. The first, the Office of Field Operations (OFO), enforces immigration and customs laws at ports of entrypoints where someone may lawfully enter the United States. The second is U.S. Border Patrol, which intercepts undocumented individuals and illegally imported goods between those ports of entry. The vast majority of fentanyl seized in recent years has been obtained by the OFO, not Border Patrol. The drug was mainly seized from smugglers at legal ports of entry, not illegal border crossings. OFO seizures amounted to 2,600 pounds in 2019 (93 percent of the total fentanyl seized by CBP), 4,000 pounds in 2020 (83 percent), 10,200 pounds in 2021 (91 percent), and 10,900 pounds so far in 2022 (84 percent). The Drug Enforcement Agency confirms the port trend, saying that "the most common method employed [by Mexican cartels] involves smuggling illicit drugs through U.S. [ports of entry] in passenger vehicles with concealed compartments or commingled with legitimate goods on tractor-trailers."

QUICK HITS

 "The Environmental Protection Agency removed federal protections for a majority of the country's wetlands on Tuesday to comply with [the] recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling" in Sackett v. EPA, NPR reports. (More on the Sackett case from Reason's Ronald Bailey.)

 Journalist Stephen Lemons brings us updates from jury selection in the Backpage trial:

Court recessed till tomorrow in #Backpagetrial in federal court in Phoenix. They're doing individual voir dire of jurors now. So far they've only gone through 10, leaving 100 to go. 1/ https://t.co/vXGOeLEKhw  Stephen Lemons (@stephenlemons) August 30, 2023

 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is facing allegations that police tortured people brought to a facility known as the "Brave Cave" for arrest processing.

 Economists are worried about mid-size cities experiencing a "commercial real estate apocalypse."

 Los Angeles officials want to make it more difficult for RV owners to rent out their spaces.

 Alabama is set to try out a new, untested execution method.

 A 12-year-old student in Colorado Springs was removed from class for having a Gadsden flag patch on his backpack.

 "Do students have privacy rights when it comes to their parents?" asks the Los Angeles Times.

 Rick Perry makes the conservative case for psychedelic medicine.

The post From 'Fetus' to 'Unborn Child': Ohio Adopts Biased Ballot Summary of Abortion Amendment appeared first on Reason.com.
People were prevented from getting near Crown Dundee High School in Carpentersville Wednesday morning while police from multiple law enforcement agencies responded to an unconfirmed report of shots fired. (Gloria Casas/The Courier-News)

Students at Carpentersvilles Dundee Crown High School were placed in lockdown Wednesday morning following a report of shots fired, which officials now believe was a swatting incident.

A search of the school did not turn up a suspect, weapons or sign of a shooting, Carpentersville Police Chief Todd Shaver said, but students were moved to the fieldhouse as a precaution while waiting to be reunited with parents.

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Later Wednesday afternoon, School District 300 Superintendent Susan Harkin issued a statement saying the threat was a hoax.

In todays incident at Dundee-Crown, an individual placed a false call, making a serious threat against the school, Harkin said. As a result, law enforcement responded immediately and enacted their safety protocols. After a thorough investigation, it was determined that the threat was unsubstantiated, and our students and staff were never in danger.

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Emergency vehicles fill a parking lot at Dundee Crown High School in Carpentersville Wednesday morning in response to an unconfirmed report of shots fired. (Gloria Casas/The Courier-News)

Carpentersville Village Manager John OSullivan and Village President John Skillman said a preliminary investigation showed the phone number used to make the threat was one digit different from the one used to make a bomb threat at South Elgin High School earlier this week.

The call sent dozens of tactical police officers armed with rifles out to search the 1500 Kings Road school building about 9:30 a.m. Meanwhile, parents notified of the situation via text and social media and receiving messages from their children converged outside the school to await news of what was happening.

Police blocked the buildings street entrances, but parents parked their cars on Kings Road and nearby streets, creating a traffic jam as they went to the school on foot.

Yandreina Ortega was among the hundreds of parents who gathered at the site, visibly shaken over what might be happening with her 17-year-old daughter. Ortega hadnt been able to reach her daughter, but the teen called her father to tell him she was hiding in a classroom and trying to be quiet.

Nearby, a police officer gave parents an update, informing them no one had been injured and urging them to be patient. A volunteer translated his words in Spanish.

Ortega said she wouldnt be comforted until she could see and hug her daughter.

(His message) didnt help, she said while crying.

Lily Andalon was able to reunite with her 15-year-old daughter, Victoria, by mid-morning Wednesday.

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Its OK, its OK, mami, Andalon said as she hugged and comforted her daughter.

A woman speaks on a phone Wednesday outside Crown Dundee High School in Carpentersville, where parents were awaiting word on their children following an unconfirmed report of shots fired. Police say they've found no evidence yet that there was gunfire. (Gloria Casas/HANDOUT)

Victoria was just exiting a school bus when school officials quickly directed students into a nearby classroom. She said wasnt sure if the lockdown was just a drill because no one seemed to be taking it seriously, with some students talking on their phones and teachers appearing unconcerned.

However, when a school official came into the room and told students to hide, the scene changed dramatically, she said. She heard someone say there was an active shooter.

Thats when my hands got cold and I got scared, Victoria said.

Later, she said, students were sharing what turned out to be incorrect information about someone being shot during a fight.

Lily Andalon said she couldnt get any details about what was going on at the school. You are imagining the worst, she said.

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The experience left Victoria shook up, but Im glad to be with my mom, she said.

Other parents were irritated by the lack of communication, and their frustration grew more vocal when students were allowed to exit onto a field but not allowed to join their parents.

The Kane County Sheriffs Office, inundated with phone calls from people wanting to know what was happening, issued a social media announcement about 10 a.m.

People gather around the entrance to Dundee-Crown High School on Wednesday morning to await news on a report, which police have not been able to confirm, that shots were fired at the Carpentersville school on Kings Road. (Gloria Casas/The Courier-News)

Please know, there is no incident occurring inside or outside the building (per the superintendent), the post said. All students and staff are safe and under district and building supervision. The lockdown was instituted as a precautionary measure.

Harkin posted a similar announcement on the high schools website, www.d300.org/dchs, at 10:07 a.m. and followed it up at 2:02 p.m. with a message saying the incident was a hoax.

Dundee-Crown High School is believed to be the victim of a malicious act known as swatting, she said. These false reports often include threats of violence that require an immediate emergency response. Unfortunately, swatting has impacted many school districts in Illinois and nationwide. Swatting is illegal. It strains valuable law enforcement resources. It creates unnecessary panic within communities. And it has significant consequences for the responsible parties.

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Police and district officials are actively seeking the person responsible, Harkin said, and urged parents to talk to their children about the dangers and ramifications of making false threats.

Parent Tamieka Ingram said the incident was frightening, and prompted her to come to the school. She knows Dundee-Crown sometimes has drills, she said, but this time (it read like) its not a drill, its real life. This is happening.

And even when she knew it was a false alarm and she spotted her daughter in the field, she was irritated that students initially werent allowed to go to their parents.

They are not allowing us to get our kids. They said they would let us get our kids one by one, but this is frustrating, she said.

Other parents became angry, yelling at police and directing their children to disregard the police and come to them.

Despite the problems cited by parents, Shaver said he was impressed by the police response and how well their active shooter training  a session for Carpentersville firefighters and police was conducted recently  prepared them for what to do.

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It has really paid off today because everyone knew what their job was, Shaver said.

Mike Danahey contributed to this report.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
Relatives and activists pay tribute to the victims of Pinochet dictatorship, in Santiago

Relatives and activists pay tribute to the victims of Pinochet dictatorship, in Santiago

By Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - As Chile readies to mark 50 years since the 1973 coup against then President Salvador Allende , the country is increasingly asking a question about the thousands who disappeared in the years of military dictatorship that followed: "Where are they?".

The South American country is ramping up a hunt, with a National Search Plan launched on Wednesday by progressive President Gabriel Boric to consolidate the reams of case files and investigations, hoping to unearth new leads.

During the bloody 17-year dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet , some 40,175 people were executed, detained and disappeared, or tortured as political prisoners, according to the Ministry of Justice, based on fact finding by various commissions.

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There are 1,469 people who were victims of forced disappearance, of which 1,092 were detained and disappeared, while 377 were executed and their remains never returned.

"We had the illusion that they were alive, but over the years we realized they weren't," Juana Andreani, a detainee herself during the dictatorship, and a friend of a person who disappeared, told Reuters.

"At least they should tell us what happened to them, what was done to them? That is the worst part of these 50 years."

Chile on Sept. 11 will mark half a century since the coup, part of a wave of military rule in the region in the 1970s that also included Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, where families have also pushed to unearth information about the disappeared.

The searches have normally, at best, led to families being given bone fragments identified as their kin who disappeared. Many around the region remain to be found and identified.

In an unusual case earlier this week, a 42-year-old lawyer who was stolen at birth during the Pinochet era and raised in the United States, met his biological mother for the first time after finding her thanks to DNA tracing.

Victims of human rights violations and their relatives say the Armed Forces must have more information that they have not yet provided about the fate of the missing or dead, including pushing for files in the United States to be declassified.

Daily briefings made to then-U.S. President Richard Nixon on Sept. 8 and Sept. 11, 1973, were declassified earlier this week, which show how he was briefed on Chile's unfolding coup.

In Chile there have been dozens of trials and convictions for human rights violations, though Pinochet himself, who died in December 2006 at the age of 91, was never convicted of his responsibility for the crimes.

Many people still want more answers and accountability.

"Obviously the higher ranks of the Armed Forces are responsible. What did they do with the corpses?" said Carlos Gonzalez, who was detained and tortured by the military during the dictatorship.

"It can't be that we don't know what happened with around 1,000 Chileans. This just can't be."

(Reporting by Reporting by Natalia Ramos and Reuters TV; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Sandra Maler)
(Bloomberg) -- The European Commissions proposed quota for herring catches for 2024 in the Baltic Sea represents a fatal blow to fishing in Finlands waters, according to fishermen in the northernmost European Union country.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The plan presented by the EUs executive arm earlier this week entails only allowing by-catching of central Baltic herring and Bothnian herring alongside other fish, and would end any targeted fishing of the species. It cited their weak stocks.

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If implemented, the commission proposal means an end to the vast majority of commercial fishing in Finland, industry association SAKL said in a statement on Tuesday. Herring accounts for 90% of the catch in Finlands waters.

While the commission cited advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea for its decision, the scientific body had proposed a cut of 39% for the quota on Bothnian herring and 17% for central Baltic herring relative to this years levels, rather than an effective ban on their catches.

Finlands government has yet to set out its stance, with a final decision on the quotas slated to be taken by EU agriculture and fisheries ministers when they meet for two days starting Oct. 23.

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Two Chicago firefighters escaped a man armed with a knife who had locked them inside an Auburn Gresham home covered with suspected gasoline Tuesday, Chicago police said.

The firefighters responded to the residence in the 7700 block of South Marshfield Avenue for a call of a garage fire shortly after 12:15 p.m. When the firefighters arrived, they met with a man, described as between 52- and 54-years-old, who said he wanted them to check the basement for a gas leak, a police report said.

When they went downstairs, the man pointed a knife at the firefighters and told them they could not leave. When they tried to flee, they encountered reinforced lock doors as the man chased them with the knife, according to the report.

More firefighters arrived at the scene, but the man said he would only speak to the FBI. Soon after, responding firefighters gained entry to the residence through a rear window after attempts to come through a front door were unsuccessful, the report said.

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The trapped firefighters eventually reached the main floor of the residence and were able to escape. Chicago police found the armed man barricaded in a bathroom where he made statements that he wanted to harm himself. Police were able to breach the door and take the man into custody.

Police said they found an empty holster on the man, a multicolored knife on the floor of the bathroom and a yellow knife in his pocket. Police found a loaded handgun in the stairwell, according to the report. While clearing the scene, officers found gasoline covering the floors of the residence.

After a suspected pipe bomb was found, officers summoned the bomb and arson squad but the pipe bomb was determined not to be a threat.

The man was taken to a hospital for evaluation, the report said, and no injuries were reported during the incident.

The man was arrested and charges are pending.
Video shared with media captures the moments leading up to Marion County Sheriff Deputy John Durms death in July during what was supposed to be a routine inmate transport, but within minutes, became a brutally violent escape attempt.

On July 10, Durm was returning a detainee to the Adult Detention Center from a hospital visit when he was strangled to death just outside the transport van. The inmate charged with the strangling, identified as 34-year-old Orlando Mitchell, is accused of using his handcuffs to kill the deputy and stealing the jail wagon.

Related: A deputy accused of paralyzing an Indiana man stayed employed until a fellow deputy died

Marion County Sheriff's Office Deputy John Durm

Court records state Mitchell crashed into a utility pole just outside the jails campus and was quickly taken into custody. Hes charged with murder, robbery resulting in serious bodily injury and escape.

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The prosecutor is seeking the death penalty in the case.

Two deputies with the sheriff's office were fired last week during the ongoing investigation into Durm's death. Durm was with the sheriff's office for 38 years.

Initially, the sheriff's office intended to publicly release the video but a court order filed by Mitchell's attorney Aug. 30 prohibited the department from doing so.

What the video shows

Surveillance footage, edited and censored by the Marion County Sheriff's Office, shows the moments after Orlando Mitchell allegedly killed Deputy John Durm on July 10, 2023. The footage is shown during a news conference Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, at the Community Justice Campus in Indianapolis. Durm was strangled in the sally port of the Adult Detention Center on the campus.

Compiling footage from body cameras and surveillance cameras, the 14-minute video shows what court records have so far stated about what happened that day and the events that transpired earlier that morning.

The video begins at 9:03 a.m., when Durm escorted Mitchell from the jail's medical office to take him to Eskenazi Hospital via a jail wagon. Mitchell is seen following Durm in an orange jumpsuit and being outfitted with leg shackles and handcuffs attached to a belly chain, with the chain later being used to strangle Durm.

At 9:26 a.m., Durm and Mitchell arrive at the hospital. Mitchell was taken to a waiting room and while inside, hospital surveillance footage showed him sitting down, then touching and moving around his leg shackles. The video stated the shackles remained intact.

After the appointment, Durm returned with Mitchell to the jail wagon. At 11:13 a.m., the pair arrived back at the jail's sally port, similar to a garage. Durm is then seen opening the back door of the van and removing a milk crate. He then moved the crate to open the inner door of the transport van. As he turned to place the crate on the ground, Mitchell stepped out of the van and is seen lifting his hands above his head to bring the chain from his belly chain around Durm's neck.

More: Man paralyzed after ride in Marion County jail wagon settles federal lawsuit

The video states the two men fell to the ground during the struggle, and Mitchell continued to strangle Durm for the next two minutes until the deputy became unresponsive. At 11:17 a.m., with Durm blurred on the ground, Mitchell found a handcuff key, removed his handcuffs and got into the van.

The video then cuts to body camera footage from a Cumberland police officer transporting an inmate at the same moment the video said Mitchell gained control over the jail wagon. The officer's body camera showed him driving into the garage, then the van driven by Mitchell backing out of the parking space.

"What is...what the (expletive)," the officer is heard saying after the video said he saw Durm on the ground. "Jailer down in the sally port. Send help."

The Cumberland officer got out of his car and asks if Durm if he is OK.

Two deputies in a black Dodge Charger passed Mitchell as he drove out of the sallyport and smashed into a security gate. The video said one of the deputies tried to follow the van but was stopped by another closed security gate.

Mitchell crashed into a utility pole on Prospect Street, just outside the parking lot. He was taken into custody and brought back to Eskenazi Hospital for minor injuries.

Handcuffs, firing, demotions: Sheriff's office answers questions

Marion County Sheriff Kerry Forestal holds up his handcuffs while speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, at the Community Justice Campus in Indianapolis. The news conference was held to release video surveillance footage of events before and after Deputy John Durm's July 10 murder, and announce changes being implemented as a result of the incident.

As part of the presentation, the sheriff's office answered several questions about jail operations and staffing.

Q: Why was Deputy Durm in the sally port alone with Mitchell?

A: Due to chronic and acute understaffing, the practice of having only one deputy transport an inmate had become standard.

Q: How short-staffed is the sheriff's office?

A: The sheriff's office is short 75 detention deputies and 75 deputies.

Q: Was another deputy supposed to meet Durm at the sally port?

A: No such arrangements were made.

Q: Was anyone watching the cameras in real-time during the attack?

A: Yes.

Sheriff Kerry Forestal said someone was tasked with watching surveillance cameras at the time, though no action has been taken against the employee as of Wednesday. Forestal further said there are about 80 views of the sally port, and one person may be watching "26 or 27 cameras simultaneously."

"And at the same time, on a smaller screen, this may have been happening between the vans," alluding to the strangling.

Q: At what time and point ... did other deputies notice there was an altercation?

A: After Durm was discovered by a Cumberland police officer.

Q: At what time and point of altercation did the deputies respond to the sally port?

A: Immediately upon notification by the Cumberland police officer that there had been an attack. The officer was arriving with a detainee at the same time Mitchell took control of the van and drove away, shortly before 11:20 a.m.

Q: What disciplinary actions were taken after the (killing)?

A: A high-level rotation of senior staff within the Adult Detention Center occurred Aug. 19, 2023. This included one senior-level demotion from major to captain. The purpose was to get "fresh eyes of perspective" on operations to correct or remediate any complacency or substandard practices that may occur. On Aug. 23, two deputies were terminated for substandard performance on July 10 ... those two deputies were Steve Monday and Danielle Knight. A captain in the Adult Detention Center Medical was demoted to lieutenant and transferred to another assignment.

Q: How are (detainees) cuffed during transportation?

A: (Detainees) leaving the detention center are transported with handcuffs, belly chain and leg shackles.

Q: How old were the handcuffs used for Mitchell's transport?

A: It is impossible to determine.

Q: Was Mitchell wearing a belly chain and did the handcuffs or belly chain malfunction?

A: Yes, he was wearing a chain. No, the assumption is that he slipped (the belly chain) off.

Q: Are (detainees') hands and feet attached to each other with a chain?

A: No.

Q: Were both sally port doors closed at the time of the attack?

A: No.

Q: How many people are in the Adult Detention Center awaiting trial for murder?

A: As of Aug. 30, there were 196 people awaiting trial for murder.

What's changed?

Forestal emphasized that while the problems with understaffing and complacency are not solely to blame in Durms death, the issues played a role in setting the stage for the attack.

He said the office made the following changes to its policies many of which pertaining to jail transport. The policies were put into effect July 10.

All off-site medic transport will require two deputies. The two staffers may be a combination of one deputy and one detention deputy, but never two unarmed deputies.

The officer shall radio to the officer in charge of Eskenazi Hospital upon arrival. Theyll provide additional security to the hospital during the visit.

A heart defibrillator is now fixed to the wall inside the adult detention sally port.

Vehicles entering the security gate to the sally port will identify their agency and the number of inmates on board. The control clerk will radio staff in the jails processing hub and processing will meet the incoming driver in the sally port.

Inmates charged with murder will begin to wear red uniforms as an outward reminder when they leave the Adult Detention Center.

Training academy staff will provide retraining and complacency training on belly chains.

The Sheriffs Office is renewing its request for cameras in transport wagons.

Contact reporter Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana sheriff fires 2, demotes others after deputy's killing
The first person to allegedly enter the Capitols southwest terrace tunnel on Jan. 6, 2021, has been arrested by the FBI  more than two years after the riot, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Brett Rotella of North Carolina became infamous among post-Jan. 6 internet sleuths because of his identifiable outfit  a red skull cap, a dark vest over a red sleeveless shirt and light-colored shorts. He has been accused of leading a large group of rioters toward the tunnel and charging U.S. Capitol Police, while turning his back to deflect rubber bullets from the officers.

He faces felony obstruction and assaulting a police officer charges, among other misdemeanors.

Rotella led the charge to enter the tunnel, which later was site to some of the most brutal melees during the riots, the Justice Department said.

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After police retreated, rioters broke through glass panes in the tunnels doors and then began concerted pushes against police lines, partially led by Rotella, investigators claim.

The FBI was tipped off about Rotellas identity via online reports and confirmed his identity late last month when an FBI agent followed him to an Aldi grocery store.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested on charges related to the Jan. 6 riots across all 50 states, including more than 350 for assaulting police officers, the Justice Department said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Biden administration has approved the first-ever U.S. military transfer to Taiwan under a program that is generally reserved for sovereign states.

A spokesperson for the State Department confirmed to The Hill that it notified Congress of the sale on Tuesday.

The notification said the material would be used to strengthen Taiwans self-defense capabilities, according to The Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the notification.

A potential $2 billion was set aside in Taiwan Foreign Military Financing (FMF) as part of the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The package carves out $80 million, according to the State Department spokesperson.

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The implication of FMF likely will escalate tensions between the U.S. and China, which considers Taiwan to be part of its sovereign territory and seeks reunification with the island.

Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to reunite with Taiwan, which is a self-governing island, and has protested all U.S. arms sales to the self-governing island.

The State Department spokesperson noted the provision of FMF funding to Taiwan does not represent a change in Americas current policy on the island, under which the U.S. does not support Taiwanese independence.

This is the second time the U.S. has provided military assistance under FMF to a non-nation-state, the first being to the African Union, American officials reportedly said per the AP.

FMF funding uses U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund the supply of materials to foreign countries.

AP reported the copy of the notification did not include exactly what military equipment or systems would be covered by the FMF funding, but listed items that could be covered include air and coastal defense systems, armed vehicles and ballistic missile cyber defenses.

FMF could also be used to support training for Taiwanese military forces.

The White House nor the State Department immediately responded to The Hills request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 Updated at 7:11 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Canada resident looked out the window to find five bears had taken over the yard  and didnt plan to leave any time soon, video shows.

I always look out the window just to see if theres anything out there, Wendy Chartrand told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. I woke up to find three bears on my side lawn. And when I went back to look out the window again, there were five bears.

The young black bears converged on a yard in Prince George, British Columbia, according to a video shared Aug. 28 on the Facebook page of a local business, Park Avenue Apparel. Chartrand is a co-owner of the store, she told McClatchy News.

Apparently I have a bear sanctuary, Chartrand wrote in the post. This is a once in a lifetime photo moment.

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Video footage shows the bears spread out across a recently-mowed yard. The animals are medium-sized and appear larger than cubs but not yet fully grown.

Three bears are wandering closer to the house, video shows. Two others are playing and wrestling near a tree. Several houses can be seen in the background.

One bear wanders off camera toward the house while another pounces on the nearest playmate, the video shows. The pair wrestles around, standing up and knocking each other down.

It was a pretty amazing experience, Chartrand told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The bears stayed in the yard for about two hours, she said in comments on Facebook.

Looks like a family reunion, one Facebook user commented.

The animals stuck around until Chartrand used the sirens of her home alarm system to scare them away, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Prince George has had a record summer for bear sightings, city officials said in an Aug. 24 news release. The city in British Columbia is about 470 miles northeast of Vancouver. Local officials encouraged residents to take extra precautions to prevent human-bear interactions.

Photographer finds herself surrounded by wolf pack in Arctic. See incredible moment

Watch as clueless tourists crowd mama grizzly and cubs in Yellowstone National Park

Hunters kill bear after surprising her and cub, officials say. One of them is shot too
U.S. District Judge David L. Russell dismissed a lawsuit against Mount St. Mary High School filed by more than a dozen Jane Does who accused the school of fostering a climate of sexual abuse.

As part of his ruling, Russell held that the Title IX statute of limitations had run out.

Here is more of what we know about the case.

In dismissing the case, did the judge clear the school of wrongdoing?

No. The judge did not weigh in on the evidence of the Jane Does case, nor issue rulings on the allegations of abuse and coverups.

What is the statute of limitations for such cases?

The judge held that the statute of limitations in this case was two years starting from the time the Jane Does knew or had reason to know of their injuries and the cause of their injuries.

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More: Judge dismisses sex abuse lawsuit against Mount St. Mary Catholic High School

What is the remedy for students who miss the statute of limitations in a Title IX case?

If the statute of limitations has run out, there is no legal remedy.

However, the judge wrote that the Jane Does may amend their pleadings.

Here is what one of their attorneys, Rachel Bussett, told The Oklahoman on Tuesday:

Upon review of the opinion, it appears that the court analyzed plaintiffs negligence and Title IX claims together, Bussett said. These claims are alternative theories of liability based on similar but not all the facts. These claims have different elements from one another, and statutes of limitations which begin running at different times. Upon refiling, we will ensure that these distinctions are more clearly delineated.

If the Jane Does amend their pleadings, how would they get around the statute?

One path that could be taken falls under what is known as the discovery rule, which seeks to effectively lengthen the statute of limitations.

The rule provides that a claim does not start to run until the date on which a plaintiff discovers an injury, instead of on the date when the wrongful act causing the injury took place.

More: OSSM new hire comes from another school accused of ignoring sexual harassment

In the Mount St. Mary case, this might mean Jane Does refiling a case could claim the statute of limitations should be extended because some of them did not know for how long the school allegedly covered up abuses until after they each reported their specific cases of alleged abuse.

The issue is not whether the girls knew that they were assaulted, but whether they knew about the schools complicity and cover-up of the abuse," Bussett said.

Was the judge critical of the school?

He was not. In his order, the judge was careful to characterize the case as allegations and arguments made by the Jane Does. He was simply determining whether the pleadings were sufficient for the case to move forward.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Mount St. Mary lawsuit dismissed, but future legal action could occur
Flights across Florida were disrupted by Hurricane Idalia Tuesday and Wednesday, as airports closed in preparation for the storm.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned travelers Tuesday afternoon that Tampa International Airport, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, Sarasota Bradenton International Airport and Tallahassee International Airport had all closed or would close ahead of the hurricane.

Tampa suspended all commercial operations at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and was followed by St. Pete-Clearwater at 3 p.m., Sarasota Bradenton at 7 p.m. and Tallahassee at 11 p.m.

Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning in the Florida Big Bend region as a Category 3 hurricane, with forecasters warning of the potential for catastrophic damage. The hurricane, which has lost some of its intensity as it has moved inland, has since been downgraded to a Category 2.

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Hurricane #Idalia is causing flight cancellations as it makes landfall in Florida, the FAA said Wednesday in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Severe weather can affect flights beyond the immediate area. Check with your airline for your flight status before leaving home.

According to the flight tracker FlightAware, 193 flights out of Tampa International Airport, or 89 percent of all flights, had been canceled as of Wednesday morning. Another 22 flights out of Sarasota Bradenton, 16 out of Tallahassee and four out of St. Pete-Clearwater had also been canceled.

Tampa International Airport remained closed Wednesday but said it hoped to announce its reopening plans later in the day. Tallahassee International Airport has not yet issued any updates about its potential reopening.

St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport plans to reopen at 3 p.m. Wednesday, while Sarasota Bradenton International Airport was open and operational at 8 a.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Barrington Hills police are asking residents to be aware of a 1,600-pound bull that made its way off a local property. - Original Credit: News-Sun (Barrington Hills/HANDOUT)

In the latest installment of northwest suburban bovines on the loose, Barrington Hills police are asking residents to be aware of a 1,600-pound bull that made its way off a local property.

The brown and white beast was reported missing over the weekend and was spotted Sunday near the intersection of Illinois Route 62 and Old Sutton Road, police said.

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Barrington Hills police are asking residents to be aware of a 1,600-pound bull that made its way off a local property. - Original Credit: News-Sun (Barrington Hills/HANDOUT)

The bull was photographed Tuesday about a half-mile north of that location. Police distributed pictures on the BHPD Facebook page that were taken by a security camera and showed the bull wandering through someones backyard. A swing set was visible in the background of one of the pictures.

Although the bull may appear docile, police are warning people to not approach it and to call authorities if they see it.

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The wayward bull is wandering an area about 15 miles south of where an American bison was captured in the spring of 2022.

The buffalo, dubbed Tyson the Bison, escaped from a farm near Wauconda in 2021 and spent months on the loose before he was safely captured in May 2022 in a Lake County forest preserve.
Fair Use"/>

On Tuesday, Florida police arrested a man who they say killed his pregnant girlfriend in November 2022 because she didnt want an abortion. The tragedy underscores that the dangers of pregnancy arent limited to medical complications.

Donovan Faison, 21, reportedly shot Kaylin Fiengo to death in her car last year when she was 18. She was 12 weeks pregnant at the time of her death and already had a young son. Investigators learned that the pair had been arguing for weeks about Fiengos pregnancy, per a release from the Sanford Police Department. They believe Faison wanted Fiengo to have an abortion, and her refusal to do so was the probable motive for the homicide. They confirmed Fiengo was near the end of her first trimester but did not say if Faison was the father.

Read more

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Homicide is a top cause of maternal death in the United States, meaning that pregnant women are more likely to be killedfrequently by an intimate partnerthan they are to die of health problems.

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Sign up for Jezebel's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.
GAINESVILLE, Fla.  Some Florida Gulf Coast residents who chose to ride out Hurricane Idalia at home instead of evacuating were forced to swim out of their windows to escape waves of water crashing through their front doors early Wednesday morning.

In Crystal River, the powerful Category 3 hurricane left a trail of destruction behind, including toppled trees and homes and buildings almost completely underwater.

Brenda and Phil Henley, who live in Crystal River and chose not to evacuate, told MSNBC's Jose Diaz-Balart that some people had to swim to safety.

A vehicle is partially submerged after the arrival of Hurricane Idalia, in Cedar Key, Fla., on Aug. 30, 2023. (Julio Cesar Chavez / Reuters)

Swimming out of their windows, literally, from their homes, Phil Henley said, adding that the water moved in fast.

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Citrus County, where Crystal River is, was under a mandatory evacuation order for all low-lying areas west of U.S. Highway 19. The couple chose to ride out the storm at home but left once the water started coming.

I said we got to get out of here because were fixing to get flooded out, he said.

Because of how fast the water was moving, the couple feared it might have reached as high as the ceiling of their home. I think weve lost everything, Brenda Henley said. I dont know.

The hurricane made landfall in Big Bend near Keaton Beach just before 8 a.m. ET, with heavy rain and maximum sustained winds of 125 mph that quickly flooded streets, damaged buildings and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of customers. There have been two fatal weather-related crashes, including a 59-year-old man in Gainesville who was driving a Toyota Tacoma in extremely rainy conditions when the vehicle veered out of its lane, into a ditch and ultimately crashed into a tree, officials said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a briefing Wednesday afternoon that there have been no confirmed storm-related deaths.

In Cedar Key, an island city in the Gulf of Mexico, a hotel was destroyed, a road was underwater and bridges leading off the island were submerged, said Michael Bobbitt, who did not evacuate.

It doesnt look good. All of our commercial buildings downtown are underwater. A serious percentage of our homes have been inundated with water, he told MSNBC. In general, our structures are in trouble. Our roads are in trouble, but our community here is strong.

Like Crystal River and other coastal communities, officials in Cedar Key ordered the mandatory evacuation of all residents in mobile homes, recreational vehicles and low-lying areas. A majority of the roughly 700 residents chose to leave.

Authorities in Levy County, which includes Crystal River, said Wednesday that people should stay in their sheltered location and that search-and-rescue operations were underway.

Bobbitt, whose house was built on a hill protecting him from flooding, stuck around so he could help his community.

Mike Sellers surveys flood waters after wading in to check on his mother in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia in Clearwater Beach, Fla., on Aug. 30, 2023. (Adrees Latif / Reuters)

The handful of folks that stayed behind, stayed behind because they knew no help would be coming for the folks that might need it, he explained. Our chief of police, one deputy, volunteer fire department, the mayor and me, weve been out doing everything we can to help folks like Cedar Key always does.

Bobbitt said he expects the water will recede enough by Thursday so bigger trucks can get onto the island with supplies.

A flooded boardwalk in Clearwater, Fla., after Hurricane Idalia passed through on Aug. 30, 2023. (Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP - Getty Images)

James Westerhorstmann lives right off of Clearwater Beach. Officials in Pinellas County ordered a mandatory evacuation of certain areas. Westerhorstmann, who has been through several hurricanes, said he stayed put because he knew his condominium could withstand the storm and he wanted to keep an eye on things.

He also did not want to take space at an emergency shelter away from someone who really needed it.

"Theres a lot of confusion going to the shelters and Im in pretty good shape, Ive been through these," he told NBC News. "The positive thing is that we were prepared, we had a little bit of knowledge of where it was going."

Westerhorstmann, a retired Navy veteran, said he made sure his family was prepared with enough food, water and batteries. Now, they just plan to relax at home until it is safe to leave.

"Were going to sit it out, enjoy the day," he said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Florida officials tasked with reviewing a new Advanced Placement course on African American Studies raised multiple concerns the curriculum didnt offer any opposing viewpoints or other perspectives of slavery before the state rejected the program earlier this year, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday.

The newspaper obtained copies of internal state documents after the state said in January that it would not allow schools to offer the new Advanced Placement course. The state claimed at the time the pilot program significantly lacked educational value and violated Florida law. The decision came amid Gov. Ron DeSantis  (R) ongoing effort to target so-called woke culture, including the passage of the Stop WOKE Act last summer meant to limit teaching about systemic inequality.

The documents, however, appear to show an effort to whitewash the countrys history of slavery. In one lesson, the AP curriculum focuses on how enslaved Africans were removed from the continent and taken to plantations on Portuguese colonies that later became a model for slave-based economy in the Americas.

State reviewers said they were concerned the lesson may not address the internal slave trade/system within Africa and may only present one side of this issue. In a separate lesson that discussed how Europeans benefited from the slave trade, state reviewers claimed the curriculum may lead to a viewpoint of an oppressor vs. oppressed based solely on race or ethnicity.

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In yet another case, a reviewer said a unit about abolitionists that worked to free slaves was not factually inclusive or balanced. The curriculum, the reviewer said, would be more accurate if the word owners was used rather than enslavers.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has campaigned on his efforts to limit teachings of racial inequality and LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has campaigned on his efforts to limit teachings of racial inequality and LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms.

The documents noted there were many times reviewers said the course should include perspectives from the other side, but didnt add any detail as to what perspectives they meant.

The Herald notes one of the reviewers was linked to conservative groups including the Civics Alliance, which seeks to bar woke standards from teaching curriculum. Many of the comments in the document were not attributed to specific individuals.

DeSantis, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has made efforts to target critical race theory and LGBTQ+ rights a core component of his campaign. He has quieted that strategy in recent weeks, but his campaign has gained national steam.

The College Board told the Miami Herald that it didnt fully understand the critiques of the course, as Florida officials didnt share the full findings of their review. Still, the group sparked criticism earlier this year from scholars who accused the body of omitting key teaching points amid political pressure from the DeSantis administration. Officials at the board admitted it had tried to coordinate with the governors team to see the program offered to as many students as possible, but later said it would revise the course to better reflect this dynamic discipline.

In embarking on this effort, access was our driving principle  both access to a discipline that has not been widely available to high school students, and access for as many of those students as possible, the College Board wrote in April. Regrettably, along the way those dual access goals have come into conflict.

The organization plans to submit the final version of the AP course for approval in November, but its unclear if Floridas laws will allow it to be offered.

We certainly hope that Florida students will have the opportunity to take this course, Holly Stepp, a spokesperson with the College Board, told the Herald this week.

Related...
Foodgod, aka Jonathan Cheban, is suing a bunch of folks after an accident he sustained at home about three years ago.

Kim Kardashians bestie filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County on Friday demanding $20 million.

The TV personality, who legally changed his name to Foodgod in 2019, alleges that on Oct. 19, 2020, he bought a bottle of of San-Js Korean barbecue sauce from Milams supermarket on 17100 Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach.

When the reality star got back to his Bal Harbour apartment, he placed the product in the refrigerator. A few hours later when he went to open the bottle to use it for dinner, it inexplicably exploded, the legal papers allege.

The glass broke in several shards with the main portion of the bottle slicing open his hand causing significant blood loss, says the suit, which is accompanied by a picture of the jagged bottle, its top, with the seal still intact, sliced off. There is also a disturbing photo of Chebans stitched-up lower palm and bandaged wrist that we will not show here, though TMZ did.

Only a few inches further down and the defective bottle would have sliced major arteries in his wrist, says the suit, which blames manufacturing defects.

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Defendants in the case include everyone from San-J International sauce company and Milams to the glass makers (Ardagh) and distributor (KeHe).

Since the injury, the blogger/influencer complains that he has suffered nerve damage and ongoing pain. The 49 year old also says he has lost out on jobs, although his Instagram page is lit up with various placements since the unfortunate incident.

Foodgod is required to seek therapy and to alter the way he handles items during videos and advertisements while also fighting through the pain and discomfort, the documents say. These injuries will likely affect Foodgod for the rest of his life.

Each defendant has 20 days after being served to respond.
The Ford F-150 Lobo looms on the horizon in the U.S. After more than two decades of the nameplates success in Mexico, the Lobo could finally be headed to America as a performance truck, much like the late and great SVT Lightning. Well, if the latest rumors that Ford Authority reported on turn out to be true.



According to unnamed sources at Ford, a new model called the F-150 Lobo will debut along with the rest of the 2024 F-Series lineup. The F-150 is due for an update, and Ford has patented a number of model names that indicate new F-150 trucks are on the way; among these are the F-150 Thunder, F-150 Flash and F-150 Lobo. Ford has been selling a Lobo pickup in Mexico since 1997, using the nameplate to distinguish between its work models and upscale F-150 trucks.

Read more

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According to sources familiar with the new variant, the 2024 Ford F-150 Lobo will be its own trim, similar to how the Tremor is positioned in the F-150 lineup. Unlike that off-road oriented model, the Lobo will boast a lowered ride height. Additionally, the trim features a sinister and aggressive appearance [...] Details about the 2024 Ford F-150 follow the companys recent move to trademark F-150 Lobo with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The new Lobo will feature small changes to the F-150 that Ford can cheaply install during assembly. The point is to offer more options in order to easily maximize profits from the F-150, which is a consistent best-seller for Ford. But if that means that my lifelong dream of a U.S. market Lobo will finally come true, then Im all for it, even despite Fords cynical exercise.

I do hope, however, that the badge will be stamped in all caps, as that of the Mexican market trucks. It is highly unlikely the new truck will simply be called the Ford Lobo, as opposed to the F-150 Lobo, but thats still a gnarly badge.

Its unclear what the changes to the truck will comprise other than suspension tweaks and modified exterior design  in all likelihood needed to boost the F-150's aerodynamic performance. Neither is there any word on what engine will power the F-150 Lobo if it comes to market, but if the Lobo takes after the SVT Lightning, then a V8-powered F-150 Lobo could come to the U.S. as early as next year. And it had better be a single cab.

Photo: Ford

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A Maywood man accused of choking a 19-year-old woman to death during sex appeared in court this week for a status conference, nearly four years after he was arrested and the case gained national attention.

Michael Gaffney appeared before state Superior Court Judge James Sattely on Monday with his attorney, Ilene McFarland, to discuss the latest in the case.

The last time Gaffney appeared in court, at the end of June, McFarland was waiting for a report from Dr. Marianne Hamel, a forensic pathologist hired to review the medical examiner's findings.

During the hearing, McFarland provided Sattely and Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor Suzanne Cevasco with an update, noting that Hamel had recently gone to the New Jersey State Police forensics lab to look at some slides the medical examiner had seen.

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McFarland said Hamel should begin writing her report soon and that she is expecting it to be completed within two weeks. She added that she would touch base with the pathologist to make sure there is nothing she needs to do regarding her investigation.

Cevasco requested that any of the notes taken by Hamel and the report be given to the state as part of the case's discovery, which she estimates will take an additional two weeks depending on what the report contains.

Gaffney is due back in court on Oct. 2 for another status conference.

Gaffney was arrested in November 2019 after he allegedly choked Francis Garcia while they were having rough sex inside her car outside a party in Hackensack. During his detention hearing, Gaffney's previous attorney, Adam Lustberg, said an emergency room doctor had said Garcia died of a benzodiazepine overdose.

Gaffney was released from electronic monitoring in May 2021. McFarland said it is too soon to estimate when a potential trial could take place.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen County sex choking case hearing discusses evidence
For four decades, trained Austrian horses leaped, jumped and performed medieval battle movements such as the lavade and the courbette to classical music in front of audiences at the Old Mill Creek Tempel Lipizzan Farms in northern Lake County.

That all ends Sunday, when the Tempel Lipizzans and their trainers give their final performance, which is sold out. The family of founders Esther and Tempel Smith is ceasing all public programing, including performances and tours.

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The public will no longer be able to watch Lipizzans use their powerful legs to perform aerial maneuvers, nor will they be able to visit the horses in the stables and stroke their manes.

This decision did not come lightly, said Esther Buonanno, program director and granddaughter of the founders. But our ownership family is moving in different directions.

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For 65 years and three generations, promoting and preserving the Lipizzan breed and classical horsemanship has been a passion for our family, those who have worked closely with the horses and community members near and far, Buonanno said.

In fact, she just started a new program this season featuring updated music, and several years ago offered programs year-round on ways the horses learn to dance.

Esther and Tempel Smith, right, founders of Tempel Farms, donate horses on loan to the Lincoln Park Zoo on July 20, 1966. The horses are, from left, Marshall Capriola, a 6-month-old Haflinger colt; Minnie, a 6-year-old chestnut-colored, long-white Haflinger mare and the mother of Marshall; Capriola, a white 11-year-old Lipizzan mare and her dark 5-month-old Lipizzan colt. Receiving the donation are Bernard F. Rogers, the president of the Lincoln Park Zoological Society, left, and Charles Aaron, the secretary of the society. (James O'Leary/Chicago Tribune)

The family will care for and sell 66 Lipizzan horses. It will also continue to run its organic farm on the property, selling produce to the public.

The property is not going for sale, Buonanno said. We are fortunate that we can take the time necessary to place and sell each one of our beloved horses.

Closing the doors to performances and education has saddened patrons, including Diana Mason Bruhn of Woodstock. She learned about Lipizzan horses after reading a book called Airs Above the Ground as a young girl.

I was enthralled by descriptions of the beautiful movements of classically trained dressage horses, she said.

Bruhn saw Lipizzans perform for the first time at McCormick Place in Chicago in the 1980s. It was something I will never forget, and I still have the program, she said.

When her three adult daughters were growing up, they joined 4-H and took lessons in dressage, Western and English-style horse riding. They also attended shows at Tempel Farms.

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We learned about training methods, and watched horses perform at different levels, Bruhn said. We loved the parade of snow-white mares and their beautiful dark foals. We always enjoyed a visit to the luxurious Tempel Farms, where the matinee performances were always a thrill. We learned to appreciate the training and beauty of their Lipizzans.

Bruhn, who has owned horses for more than 38 years, said, Tempel Farms and their Lipizzans will always have a special place in my heart. I am sorry to see that Tempel Farms will be no more.

Rider Anita Adams has Neapolitano V Sonora perform a capriole in 1998 at the Temple Farms. (David Trotman-Wilkins/Chicago Tribune)

The Lipizzan breed was created in Europe in the 16th century and became known for its ability to not only maneuver in battles, but also to pull carriages and perform artistic, balletlike steps.

In 1958, Chicago industrialist Tempel Smith and his wife, Esther, negotiated with the Austrian government to import 20 Lipizzans to America. They moved the horses to some of their roughly 6,000 acres of farms and open space in northern Lake County. They cultivated crops and created space for the horses.

Tempel Farms has remained one of the few places in the world where Lipizzan horses are bred, trained and perform on the same property. The owners received an award from the Austrian government in 1997, honoring them for preserving the Lipizzan culture in the United States.

In 1985, Tempel Lipizzans pulled the casket of an unknown soldier from the Vietnam War at Arlington National Cemetery.

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In September 2020, Tempel and Esther Smiths daughter Martha Smith Simpson, a champion of preserving the Lipizzan breed preservation and educating others, died. She and her sister and partner Linda Smith Buonanno spent 40 years working to promoting classical riding in the United States.

Linda Smith Buonanno and the estate of Martha Smith Simpson continue to own the Tempel Farms property. Smith Buonannos daughter, Esther Buonanno, remained extremely involved with the Lipizzans over the years, helping orchestrate, for example, a student program for learning dressage.

Tempel Farms celebrated its 65th anniversary this summer.

A village plan for Old Mill Creek was created decades ago to include maintaining the horse operation, and the Smith family heirs own 86% of Old Mill Creeks land. Records show that 1,500 acres of mostly Smith-owned land was set aside by the plan as a scenic and conservational green belt, forming a wooded necklace around a future village of some 500 to 1,000 homes.
A fomer Kechi police lieutenant who misused Wichita police cameras to stalk his estranged wife has had his officer certification revoked, according to a document released this week by a oversight organization.

Victor Heiar could not be reached for comment. The Kansas Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training revocation document was released Tuesday.

In April, the 32-year-old Park City man was put on probation for 18 months after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanors in computer crime and stalking in the case. He was with the Kechi Police Department from March 24, 2019 to October 26, 2022, the day he was arrested.

Heiar used the Flock Safety license plate reader surveillance system on Oct. 23 to track the victims whereabouts between Sept. 23 and that day. Flock cameras use machine learning and artificial intelligence to search for specific license plates or the make and model of a vehicle.

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The company, which reports its cameras and gunshots sensors are used by agencies and neighborhoods in more than 3,000 communities, said it was the first report of an officer abusing the system.

Wichita police have been using its cameras since 2020. Law enforcement with a subscription can access other departments Flock cameras. Wichita police say they revoked Kechis access to the citys database after the unlawful search.

Heiar had asked the victim on Oct. 23 where she went around 10 a.m., according to an arrest affidavit released in the case. She replied asking how he knew she wasnt home.

You were spotted on meridian, he texted on Oct. 23.

She replied: Spotted, by whom?

And he replied: Does it matter(?)

The victims friend, who originally inquired about getting a protection from abuse order for her, told a detective that the victim was scared of Heiar and would often tell family where her kids were in case she were to come up missing or murdered, a detective wrote in the affidavit.

Heiar told a detective that he knew he was misusing Flock.

When asked how he believed it made (the victim) feel, he said that she probably said she felt threatened, and unsafe and that he was out to kill her, the affidavit says.
A federal grand jury in Boston on Wednesday indicted a former Middlesex County Sheriffs deputy who is accused of making violent threats to burn down the Plymouth County Courthouse and threats to kill court security officers.

Joshua P. Ford, 42, of Kingston, was indicted on three counts of interstate transmission of a threatening communication, Acting U.S. Attorney Josh Levy said in a statement. Ford is currently in state custody and will appear in U.S. District Court in Boston at a later date.

According to the indictment, Ford served as a deputy for the Middlesex County Sheriffs Office between about 2009 and 2017.

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Prosecutors allege that on March 13, Ford sent 12 emails to a total of about 140 people, almost all of them Massachusetts law enforcement officers, with each email containing the same text: [there] is no more justice system anymore just WAR and I am calling on all able bodied officers my brothers in blue to suit up for a fight.

Prosecutors allege that Ford then asked those law enforcement officers to arm themselves with firearms and armored vehicles and declared, Tomorrow we burn down the Plymouth County Court house to the ground.

It is further alleged that the emails included a link to a video Ford posted on YouTube and British video hosting service BitChute, Levy said.

According to the indictment, the video, titled, War Has Been Declared (expletive) All, is an 11-minute recording of Ford in a kitchen, where he speaks directly to the camera.

Prosecutors allege that in the video, Fords principal assertion is that the justice system is corrupt, and he makes various statements about police officers, correctional officers, court officers, a judge, a prosecutor, defense attorneys and others.

Prosecutors allege that Ford expressed particular contempt for Middlesex Sheriffs officers, and he is accused of saying, And guess what? Im (expletive) coming. Im (expletive) coming, and hells (expletive) coming with me. Im going to (expletive) get every last one of you (expletive). I know where you work. And I am coming to get you.

Prosecutors allege Ford also threatened to break the arms and legs of every court officer and to kill court security officers working in the Plymouth County Courthouse, calling on other law enforcement officers to assist him by bringing guns, gasoline, C-4, armored personnel carriers and SWAT teams to his confrontation, which he scheduled earlier this year, for 8:30 a.m. on March 14, Levy said.

Local law enforcement arrested Ford on March 13, after the emails were sent, Levy said.

The charges of interstate transmission of a threatening communication each provide for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBIs Boston Division made Wednesdays announcement. Kingston Police and Marshfield Police assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Beck of the National Security Unit is prosecuting the case.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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A former North Shore resident was sentenced Wednesday in connection with filing fraudulent applications for more than $660,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan funds and using those funds for personal expenses, including buying an alpaca farm in Vermont.

Dana L. McIntyre, 59, of Grafton, Vermont and previously of Beverly and Essex, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper to two years in prison and three years of supervised release, Acting U.S. Attorney Josh Levy said in a statement. He was arrested in 2021.

McIntyre, the former owner of Rasta Pasta Pizzeria in Beverly, was also ordered to pay $679,156 in restitution and forfeiture, Levy said. On April 13, McIntyre pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.

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Make no mistake about it, this was no momentary lapse the in fog of the pandemic. Mr. McIntyre submitted multiple bogus applications for pandemic money was supposed to provide a lifeline to small businesses and their employees during a national emergency. He stole from the American taxpayers and the many small businesses which truly needed those loans to survive, Levy said. Just last month our office expanded the resources dedicated to investigating and prosecuting COVID fraud. Whether someone used stolen money to buy luxury goods or fancy cars or exotic farm animals, we intend to find them and hold them accountable.

McIntyre capitalized on a national catastrophe and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a limited pool of money set aside to help struggling businesses, to buy a farm, stock it with alpacas, and make a fresh start for himself in Vermont, Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBIs Boston Division, said in a statement.

The funds made available through the Paycheck Protection Program were intended to help businesses and their employees get through the financial hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Mr. McIntyres greed betrayed the good intentions of the American taxpayer, said Special Agent in Charge Christina Scaringi with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General. The sentencing today should serve as a reminder that if you defraud pandemic-related government assistance programs, you will be held accountable. HUD OIG will continue to work with its law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorneys Office to bring these matters to a just conclusion.

In March 2020, McIntyre used the names of his adult children to submit two fraudulent applications to the U.S. Small Business Administration for Economic Injury Disaster Loans for businesses that did not exist, Levy said.

Beginning in April 2020, McIntyre submitted an application and weekly certifications in order to receive Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits, Levy said. In these filings, McIntyre falsely claimed that he was not working or receiving income as a result of the pandemic, while McIntyre in fact was still operating the restaurant and paying himself income from the business.

By September 2020, when McIntyre sold the restaurant, he had received over $17,000 in PUA and related benefits that he was not entitled to receive, Levy said.

In April 2020, McIntyre submitted a fraudulent application for a PPP loan of over $660,000 through an SBA-approved lender, Levy said. In the application, McIntyre inflated information about the pizzerias employees and payroll expenses and falsified an official tax form in an effort to qualify the business for a larger loan amount. After receiving a PPP loan of over $660,000, McIntyre sold the pizzeria and used nearly all the funds to purchase a farm in Vermont, as well as eight alpacas, and other personal expenses, including two vehicles and airtime for his crypto-currency themed radio show.

Cohen said the FBI will continue to aggressively pursue people who are misusing money from the economic relief program.

Anyone who knows of similar instances of fraud is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

The U.S. Department of Justice has more information about combatting Covid fraud on its website.

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By Panarat Thepgumpanat and Chayut Setboonsarng

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is preparing documentation to draft a request for a royal pardon, but when it would be submitted was at his discretion, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Thaksin returned to Thailand in a vaunted homecoming last week after spending 15 years abroad in self-exile. After landing in a private jet, he was transferred to prison to serve an eight-year sentence on charges of abuse of power and conflict of interest remnant from his days in power.

Hours after his arrival, Srettha Thavisin of the Shinawatra family-backed Pheu Thai party sailed through a parliamentary vote to become prime minister, fuelling speculation that Thaksin had struck a deal with his former enemies among the country's conservative and royalist military that ousted his governments in 2006 and 2014.

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Thaksin and the Pheu Thai party have denied this.

During his first night in Thailand, he was moved to a police hospital with chest pains and high blood pressure.

On Wednesday his lawyer Winyat Chartmontri told Reuters the former premier was preparing a request for a royal pardon.

"Thaksin is proceeding on his own and is currently in the preparatory stages of documentation and drafting the request," Winyat said, adding the legal team has not seen the request.

The timing of when of the request will be submitted will be at Thaksin's own discretion, said Winyat.

Despite being away for 15 years, Thaksin still towers over Thai politics, known for populist policies like universal healthcare and cash handouts. Parties loyal to him have won every election in the last 20 years until 2023.

Anti-Thaksin groups have petitioned the corrections department to block any attempt to seek a pardon, citing that corruption cases should not receive clemency.

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
An attorney for former Tri-County Electric Co-Op CEO Darryl Schriver has filed a request for depositions from all nine members of the power companys Board of Directors in regard to his firing earlier this month, according to Parker County court records.

Schriver had been placed on administrative by the Board of Directors pending a review of information, though a spokesperson would not elaborate on what information was being reviewed, citing a personnel matter. The power company confirmed Schriver had been fired earlier this month.

After a thorough and thoughtful review, the Board concluded that it is in the best interests of the co-op and its members to begin a search for a new CEO, Tri-County board chair Max Waddell wrote in a statement that was sent to the Star-Telegram by a Tri-County spokesperson. We appreciate the contributions Darryl has made to our cooperative during his tenure with us.

An 18-page petition filed to Parker Countys 415th District Court Thursday shines more light on what happened that led up to Schrivers dismissal. The petition claims that one or more of the respondents defamed Schriver.

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Schriver said he has not been able to figure out who defamed him despite his inquiries. He believes, according to the court filing, that one or more of the board members conspired, outside the realm of their actual Board meetings, to ensure his unlawful termination.

The court petition reads that Schriver does not have adequate information to pursue a lawsuit against the board members to initiate a cause of action for conspiracy.

In Texas, anyone can request depositions from people before filing a lawsuit.

Schriver received excellent performance evaluations during his time at Tri-County, the court petition reads, and that he had an unblemished record in the industry. The documents also state the board had passed a multimillion dollar pension payout for the former CEO if he stayed with the company until 2029.

The petition claims board chair Max Waddell called Schriver the night of June 28 to inform the then-CEO he had been put on administrative leave with pay and asked him to not go on Tri-County property and surrender his work equipment.

On July 10, Tri-County lawyers told Schrivers lawyer that the basis of Schrivers administrative leave was a whistleblower claim, but lawyers did not elaborate on who brought the claim or what that claim was. Tri-County lawyers later clarified they were looking into misuse of credit card and other financial issues.

An investigation into Schrivers alleged credit card misuse found a $1,103 payment for an American Airlines flight for Schrivers wife to attend a CFC Forum with him that wasnt deducted from his payroll as it had been in the past, according to the petition. There were also meritless allegations Schriver had attempted to forge the board chairs signature on a form that approved his $50,000 bonus.

Schriver denied misusing his credit card and engaging in inappropriate financial conduct in regard to the Co-Op in an email to Waddell, according to the court documents.

The only thing that is quite clear to me is that my being place on leave, and any subsequent potentially adverse employment action against me, has been and would be in retaliation for my own whistleblowing activities, both in the past and by way of this letter, Schriver wrote in the email, according to court documents.

Schrivers email to Waddell documented instances of what he believes are poor financial decisions made by previous leaders.

The reality is I have refused to engage in unlawful conduct and am being retaliated against for that refusal, Schriver wrote in the email, according to court documents.

Jay Aldis, Schrivers attorney, could not be reached Wednesday morning via phone call and text message for comment. Waddell did not return a phone call seeking comment Wednesday morning.

When reached for comment on the matter late Tuesday, a spokesperson for Tri-County sent the Star-Telegram an emailed statement.

TCEC intends to protect the best interests of Cooperative members and we look forward to bringing this matter to a rapid conclusion, the statement reads.

Schriver began his tenure as Tri-Countys CEO in May 2017. The Aledo-based power company provides electricity to 16 counties in the northern and western portions of the state.
John Eastman , a onetime attorney to former President Trump, said he and his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case did nothing wrong in an interview with Fox News that aired Tuesday evening.

We did nothing wrong. We were challenging the election for what even Vice President [Mike] Pence described as serious allegations of fraud and numerous instances of officials violating state law, Eastman told Fox Newss Laura Ingraham. And if we cant speak out about that, then our freedom of speech, our right to petition the government for redress of grievances are gone.

Eastman and 18 others, including Trump, face a combined 41 charges in a sweeping racketeering case brought by Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis, alleging they sought to overturn the states election results to keep Trump in power.

Trumps former lawyer designed and helped push a legal strategy attempting to overturn the 2020 election, which used slates of fake electors in battleground states to swing the elections outcome in Trumps favor. Pence was also expected to toss out the real electors as part of the plan, which he ultimately declined to do.

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In the Fox News interview Tuesday, Eastman doubled down on his election fraud claims  claims which Ingraham pushed back against numerous times.

I had lots of evidence of fraud, Eastman said.

I havent seen that evidence, and Im always wanting to see everythingId love to see that evidence, Ingraham said.

There is no evidence of far-reaching election fraud in the 2020 election.

Eastman also questioned the basis for the state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act charges he and the other 18 defendants face, which Ingraham posited requires the defendants to have believed their election fraud claims were phony and still decided to go forward with overturning the election results.

Theyve got all the evidence. Theyve got all my emails. My phone was seized over a year ago, so theyve got all that stuff as well, Eastman said. And I challenge them to find a single email or communication that supports that implausible theory.

The Trump lawyer claimed the indictment amounts to an effort to stifle people from receiving legal representation when raising challenges to election results.

Theyve made that very clear that thats what theyre up to, and we cant allow it to happen, Eastman said.

Eastman surrendered at the Fulton County jail last week over the nine counts he faces, ranging from conspiring to commit false statements and writings, and forgery, to the RICO charges. He was released on a $100,000 bond the same day.

He is set to be arraigned next week, where he will formally hear the charges against him and enter a plea.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A former British intelligence worker confessed Wednesday to the attempted murder of a U.S. National Security Agency employee who had worked at the same base as him in western England, British news agencies reported.

Joshua Bowles, 29, pleaded guilty to trying to kill the woman, referred to in court only as 99230, with two knives outside a Cheltenham community center three miles from their base on March 9, according to the BBC and the U.K.'s Press Agency.

Police tape seen at the crime scene in London, on July 31. / Credit: Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The woman's nationality has not been confirmed, but The Guardian newspaper and at least one other British outlet reported that she was a U.S. citizen.

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Appearing at the Old Bailey court via videolink from London's Belmarsh Prison, Bowles was also charged with assaulting a man, named as Alex Fuentes, who tried to stop the attack on the NSA employee.

The court heard that Bowles had stopped working at GCHQ, one of the U.K.'s central intelligence agencies, security and cybersecurity agency, by the end of 2022. At the beginning of 2023, according to the prosecutor, he began tracking the woman's movements, including online. He also researched two other employees of the U.S. agency, the prosecution said.

Bowles learned that the NSA worker played netball at a community center near the base and, having conducted a practice run a month before, attacked the woman, armed with two knives, as she was leaving the complex around 9:15 p.m.

Bowles punched Fuentes when he tried to protect the woman, who ran back into the community center.

Bowles pursued her with a knife in his hand, according to the BBC, after his first one broke in the parking lot.

The woman was able to flee back into the netball court, while Bowles remained in the community center reception area.

The woman was taken to a local hospital and treated for multiple stab wounds, including one which pierced her liver, according to Sky News.

Bowles was charged after an investigation by British counterterrorism police.

"Through our extensive and thorough investigation, it is clear that Bowles had selected his victim because of where she worked," Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright, head of counterterrorism policing in the southeast of England, said in a statement. "It is for this reason that it was appropriate for specialist counterterrorism officers and staff to lead the investigation."

Hurricane Idalia downgraded to Category 1 storm, headed for Georgia

Major flooding from early afternoon high tide feared in Florida after Idalia

Water still rising in Florida from Hurricane Idalia
Editors note: Read the depositions in full by clicking the links at the end of the article.

Since New Hampshire lawmakers passed a law barring teachers and state employees from advocating for certain concepts around race, sex, and other characteristics, enforcement has been quiet. In two years, just one case has made it onto a docket with the states Commission for Human Rights.

But a federal lawsuit filed against the bill by several school diversity officials, teachers unions, and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire is continuing in the U.S. District Court, District of New Hampshire in Concord. And earlier this month, plaintiffs in the case released a string of depositions from key officials, including Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut and Commission for Human Rights Executive Director Ahni Malachi.

The law, known to some as the divisive concepts law, bars teachers from espousing ideas that people of one race, gender, sexual orientation, age, or other protected characteristic are inherently superior to or discriminatory toward a person with a different characteristic, or that they should be treated differently. Proponents say it will prevent instruction that singles out students of one race or gender; opponents say the law is vague and will prevent nuanced classroom discussion and instruction.

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Heres what some of the depositions  conducted this spring  reveal about how the law has been carried out.

How NH handles complaints against teachers

The new law has direct implications for teachers careers: A finding of fault could result in the State Board of Education suspending or revoking their teaching licenses.

But the process to get there is complex.

For ordinary code of conduct complaints against teachers, the Department of Education investigates and sometimes pursues an inquiry. Under the divisive concepts law, the department does not initially have a direct role; any complaints must be submitted in writing by a complainant to the Commission for Human Rights first, and adjudicated there.

Only if the commission has issued a finding against a teacher does the department step in and conduct its own investigation. That investigation may then be accompanied by a recommendation to the State Board of Education, which can choose to take action against an educators credentials.

Its not my job, its not within the purview of my responsibility to adjudicate whether or not certain actions by an educator would be some type of an action under (the new law), said Edelblut in his deposition.

In his own testimony, Richard Farrell, an investigator with the department, stated that the department can investigate violations of the teachers code of conduct only; he does not act upon any complaints sent in relating to violations of the new Freedom from Discrimination law.

But that hasnt stopped parents from sending complaints about school instruction material to the education commissioner. And it hasnt prevented Edelblut from looking into those complaints through his capacity as commissioner.

In his testimony, Edelblut said he often speaks personally to parents who reach out to him over their concerns with a teachers instruction or materials. He often will pass on those complaints to Farrell. And he will also sometimes reach out to school superintendents to make them aware of the complaint and let them make their own decisions.

In one example, a parent at Kensington Elementary School contacted Edelblut about the use of A Good Kind of Trouble in a classroom, according to the deposition.

 It is a terrible book that shames white children into thinking they are the oppressors in society, the parent wrote, according to the deposition. This book talks about gunshots, rioting, looting, burning down buildings. It also made our daughter very uncomfortable and scared.

Edelblut read the book himself, which features a Black middle schooler navigating life and joining the Black Lives Matter movement. Edelblut, who called the book very poorly written, contacted the superintendent to raise the parents concerns; he later spoke to the assistant superintendents and principal of the school during an event there to discuss the book, he testified. The department took no further action, he said.

On another occasion, a parent of a student at Hillsboro-Deering High School, Betsy Harrington, brought to Edelbluts attention the existence of a book on the school eBook app Sora, The Lesbianas Guide to Catholic School, that featured sexual content and that was accessible by younger students via phone, the deposition said. Edelblut worked with the school district and the company to try to clarify how to install age controls for the books in that district.

In a third instance, Edelblut spoke to a Republican lawmaker, Rep. Louise Andrus of Salisbury, who was concerned about certain book titles in a school district, according to the deposition. Edelblut suggested that Andrus remind the superintendent that the titles would likely be subject to a right-to-know request in order to encourage faster cooperation.

In April 2022, Edelblut released an op-ed with an accompanying document filled with photos and screenshots of material that he said concerned parents had sent him, including classroom posters promoting LGBTQ+ rights and Black Lives Matter. Asked in an interview at the time, he said the release was not meant to suggest that he thought the instruction violated the new anti-discrimination law.

The point of these examples is really to flag or highlight content that individuals among my constituencies have brought to our attention that they believe may conflict with value systems of the families of the children that are in the schools, he said in his deposition, when asked about the op-ed.

He added later: My hope would be that the teacher would recognize that they, too, have a parent who is uncomfortable with some of the matters that are taking place in the school, and they would work with that parent to try to resolve those.

Commissioner Edelblut has final say over whether the department pursues code of conduct investigations

When Edelblut passes on parental complaints of teacher behavior to Farrell, Farrell can choose to begin an informal investigation into the matter and decide whether it necessitates a full case.

If the complaint relates to the divisive concepts law, Farrell will not take action, he said. But if it rises to the level of a potential violation of the states code of conduct for educators, he will carry out an investigation. That preliminary probe is just to gather facts; later, Farrell can open a formal case and pursue a more extensive investigation.

Either way, the commissioner makes the final call over what happens to the case, Farrell and Edelblut testified. Edelblut, Farrell, and Attorney Diana Fenton with the departments office of governance meet monthly to review the cases that have come before them and make a decision on whether to advance the cases to the State Board of Education.

I think, ultimately, the buck stops with the commissioner, but the effort itself is a collaborative effort, said Farrell.

Edelblut agreed; to have Farrell operate independently of the commissioner would be contradictory to our operation and function as an agency.

In weighing the divisive concepts law, content should be seen separately from instruction, Edelblut says

Over hours of testimony, Edelblut and other state officials declined to speculate on whether the teaching of certain books would hypothetically be in violation of the new law. In most cases, they said more context is needed.

For instance, Edelblut declined to say whether a teacher reading a passage from How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi that states that the only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination, would constitute a breach of the law.

Even if a teacher were to focus on the book, the question would be you need the broader context, Edelblut testified. How is it that the teacher is focusing on that particular passage?

The questions of interpretation go to the heart of the plaintiffs lawsuit, which seeks to argue that the law is too vague to be reasonably followed by teachers and that it will cause educators to self-censor certain materials to be safe.

But Edelblut argued that the use of the material itself should not determine whether a teacher is in violation. The most relevant factors, he said, relate to how the teacher is presenting that material.

So the teacher themselves would be in the best position to know if they are teaching, instructing, inculcating or compelling to express a belief in or support for any one or more of the following (concepts), he testified. The teachers themselves have clarity of the action that they are doing at that time.

State officials pushed to clarify the law after concerns from teachers over how to interpret it

When the divisive concepts law was passed as part of the 2021 state budget bill, educators raised alarms about how to interpret it, and how to know whether certain instruction violated it.

State officials, too, were somewhat flustered.

There was a perception of murkiness, said Farrell in his deposition. What would we do? How would we do it? Im not talking about anybody or  anybody in particular. Im just looking at what was the role of this agency going to be. And there was a lot of rumor, innuendo, murkiness, and I wanted  Im a guy that likes clear.

The state Department of Justice drafted a question and answer document to address those concerns, which it released in July 2021 on behalf of the Attorney Generals Office, the Commission for Human Rights, and the Department of Education.

That Q&A is currently the only interpretive document available around the law; since the lawsuit was filed against the law in December 2021, the Department of Education has declined to comment on its interpretation, directing educators to the Q&A document, Edelblut said.

In her own testimony, Malachi said the Department of Justice has not issued further guidance to determine how the Commission for Human Rights should interpret the law. That process follows the seven commissioners interpretation of the law according to the commissions own standards, she said.

Click below to read the depositions in full. Some parts have been redacted at the agreement of plaintiffs and defendants to preserve the confidentiality of Commission for Human Rights cases:

Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut

Department of Education attorney Diana Fenton

Department of Education investigator Richard Farrell

Commission for Human Rights Executive Director Ahni Malachi

Commission for Human Rights Assistant Director Sarah Cohen

This story was originally published by New Hampshire Bulletin

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Four takeaways from depositions in the divisive concepts lawsuit
Stuart Varney of Fox Business Network, left, and Univision anchor Ilia Calderon will moderate the next GOP presidential debate on Sept. 27. (Richard Drew/Associated Press; Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

For the record:

8:50 a.m. Sept. 1, 2023: An earlier version of this article misspelled Rudolph Giulianis first name as Rudolf.



Fox Business Network will carry the next Republican presidential primary debate, but the channel's longtime star anchor Maria Bartiromo won't be a part of it.

Parent company Fox News Media announced Wednesday that Stuart Varney, a daytime anchor on the business network, will moderate the Sept. 27 event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley alongside Univision anchor Ilia Calderon and Fox News host Dana Perino , of "The Five" and "America's Newsroom."

Dana Perino, Fox News co-host of "The Five" and "America's Newsroom." (Michael Nagle/For The Times)

Former President Trump did not participate in the first GOP debate on Fox News held in Milwaukee on April 23, which scored a better-than-expected average of 12.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen, and was recognized by many in news media for helping to define the non-Trump GOP candidates.

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There are no indications that Trump, who has a large lead in the polls, will appear at the September debate. The event will be carried on Fox Business Network, Fox News and the streaming service Fox Nation. A Spanish language feed will air on Univision.

Read more: Former New York Times and BBC exec Mark Thompson will lead CNN

Fox News did not comment on the absence of Bartiromo, who was co-moderator with anchor Neil Cavuto the last time Fox Business presented a primary debate in January 2016.

Bartiromo, who anchors the network's daily "Mornings With Maria" and Fox News Channel's political discussion program "Sunday Morning Futures," had a prominent role in the defamation case against Fox filed by Dominion Voting Systems, which received a $787.5-million settlement.

Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo in 2020. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

Dominion claimed it was damaged by numerous false statements made about voter fraud in the 2020 election on Fox News. Many of the claims pushed by former Trump were made on Bartiromo's programs with little pushback by the anchor.





Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudolph W. Giuliani spread the debunked claims three times on Bartiromo's Sunday program in the weeks that followed the election. (Powell, Guiliani and Trump have all been arrested in Georgia and charged with attempting to fraudulently overturn the election results in the state).

Fox News paid the massive landmark settlement to Dominion in April to avoid having its executives and on-air talent take the witness stand in a trial.

Evidence in the case revealed that Bartiromo believed Trump's claims, despite Fox News' own reporting that the allegations were false. Fox News executives were also concerned that Trump-supporting conspiracy theorists were getting Bartiromo's attention and influencing her approach to the voter fraud story.

Read more: Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo is front and center in Dominion's defamation suit

Bartiromo has remained in her roles on Fox News and Fox Business Network after the massive payout. Her appearance on the debate stage would at minimum become a distraction, especially as Trump continues to assert that the 2020 election was stolen.

Fox News faces another defamation suit over its election coverage, from voting machine company Smartmatic, and Bartiromo is a defendant in the suit.

Ilia Calderon attends the 2023 TelevisaUnivision upfront in New York City in May. (Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images)

Varney is politically conservative but has a reputation as a tough questioner willing to make Republican politicians squirm. He has been anchor of Fox Business Network's "Varney & Co." since 2007.

Calderon, who co-anchors Univision's evening newscast, previously served as a moderator in a 2020 Democratic primary debate on CNN.

Perino is a former White House press secretary in the George W. Bush administration. She is a co-host on "The Five," the most watched program in cable news.





Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Murdaugh family of Hampton, S.C., has always been clannish - three generations of prosecuting attorneys holding the same office for 85-plus years while running a sometimes notorious family law firm - but few clans have ever held such an intensely loyal dynamic as the family of convicted killer and disgraced attorney Richard Alexander "Alex" Murdaugh.

For six weeks during Murdaugh's double murder trial in Walterboro, his son, Richard "Buster" Murdaugh Jr. listened to gory mountains of evidence and testimony on how his father brutally murdered the mother of the family, Maggie, and the youngest child, Paul, with weapons designed to take down mammoth wild hogs, then made a mad, hi-speed dash away from the crime scene, leaving behind a trail of lies and false alibis.

Surrounded by other Murdaugh family members, shock, grief and disbelief were often evident on their faces, but their visages held no clue as to exactly what they thought, felt or believed during that televised and highly publicized trial.

Now, "Buster," the only member of that immediate family not dead or incarcerated, tells documentary makers that his father's murder trial was not fair and he steadfastly believes Alex Murdaugh is innocent of family bloodshed.

Richard Alexander "Buster" Murdaugh Jr., at right, with Fox News Anchor Martha MacCallum.

Buster Murdaugh speaks out on Fox Nation documentary Aug. 31

As Murdaugh mania reignites for viewers this fall, FOX Nation, FOX News Medias subscription-based streaming service, will present a new docuseries, The Fall of the House of Murdaugh, on Thursday, Aug. 31, announced FOX Nation President Jason Klarman. The series will air earlier than its original mid-September air date due to "increased viewer demand," says the network.

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Hosted by Martha MacCallum , the three-part limited series features exclusive access to Alex Murdaugh's surviving son, "Buster," as well as other family members, friends, media and his defense team.

During the series, MacCallum, a FOX News Channel anchor and executive editor of The Story, conducts the first television interview with "Buster" since his family was thrust into the spotlight back in 2019 and again in 2021.

During the Fox interviews, "Murdaugh Jr."Buster" discussed the basic family dynamic - how his parents never picked favorites, but he also felt closer to his mother - as well as how his family rallied together to support his brother Paul after a fatal 2019 boat crash that exposed his family to negative publicity and lawsuits.

But the bombshells occur when he is asked about the June 7, 2021, killings of his mother and little brother and the 2023 double murder trial that followed.

Buster Murdaugh, second from right, son of defendant Alex Murdaugh, looks to his father after Judge Clifton Newman charged the jury and begin deliberation in Murdaugh's double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse, Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their Colleton County home and hunting lodge on June 7, 2021.

Buster believes father Alex Murdaugh not guilty of murder

Millions of viewers around the world heard testimony that family weapons and family ammunition likely killed Maggie and Paul Murdaugh at their own home in Colleton County, Moselle. They watched and gasped when a tell-tale video put Alex Murdaugh in the kill zone and crime scene just minutes before the triggers were pulled - exposing lies that the accused father had admittedly repeated for two years.

But when asked during the Fox Nation interviews if it was possible that his father actually committed those murders by his own hand, "Buster" told MacCallum, "No, because I think that I hold a very unique perspective that nobody else in that courtroom ever held. And I know the love that I have witnessed."

But the only surviving son of the convicted killer admits that his father is a "thief," a "liar" and a "manipulator."

"In those regards, I am nothing like him," said "Buster," "but, in other regards, I believe that I do hold some of his more admirable traits, which I am quite proud of."

Buster Murdaugh, the son of Alex Murdaugh listens to testimony given by his father at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. Grace Beahm Alford/The Post and Courier/Pool

Buster Murdaugh discredits police, trial, judge and jury

"Buster" Murdaugh shared a lot of strong opinions with Fox Nation, often discrediting the work of the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, trial judge Clifton Newman, and the Colleton County jury that found his father guilty. He adds that he did not believe the trial was a fair and balanced one.

The younger Murdaugh claimed that state police were on a lot of pressure to come up with a suspect in this high-profile homicide investigation, and "rushed to judgment."

Here are a couple of exchanges from the Fox Nation interview:

MacCallum: You said that you thought they rushed to judgment because the person who found the bodies was the easiest person to charge. Why would they want to do that to your dad?

Buster Murdaugh: I think it's one of those things where you have to do something. And I think that it was - and that's the option and the route that they decided to go with ... My biggest thing that I want people to realize, that there are always two sides of the story. Now, they can pick which one they want to believe. But I think there's a heck of a lot that still needs to be answered about what happened on June the 7th.

MacCallum: When you look back at this trial, they didn't find a murder weapon. They didn't find any bloody clothing. There were no witnesses. A lot of digital evidence.

Buster: Yes, crappy motive.

MacCallum: You think it was a crappy motive? And yet 12 jurors all agreed that your dad killed your mom and Paul.

Buster: That's right. I do not believe it was fair.

MacCallum: Why?

Buster: I was there for six weeks studying it, and I think it was a tilted table from the beginning ... And I think, unfortunately, a lot of the jurors felt that way prior to when they had to deliberate. It was predetermined in their minds prior to when they ever heard any shred of evidence that was given in that room... I think that people get overwhelmed, and I think that they believe everything that they read. And I think it took advantage of a jury pool in a very small town in a very small county.

"Buster" even criticized the presiding judge, Judge Newman, who sentenced Murdaugh to two life sentences for the killings and now oversees all of his father's more than 100 state criminal cases.

MacCallum: For the sentencing, Judge Newman spoke and he said that: "I'm sure Maggie and Paul visit you every night when you're trying to go to sleep." And your dad said: "Every day and every night." Did you think the judge was going too far?

Buster: Yes, I think that's just another one of his clever little lines to suggest that he agrees with the guilty verdict. I think he was very straightforward about that. And I think it was just a kind of a cruel analogy to be throwing out amongst a -- just an overly public trial.

Buster Murdaugh listens to jury charges during the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on Thursday, March 2, 2023. Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool

More about Fox Nation's 'The Fall of the House of Murdaugh' docuseries

According to a Fox Nation press release, the three-hour series will "offer a one-of-a-kind look into the trial, crimes and complicated life of Alex Murdaugh," and viewers will gain exclusive access to his defense team, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, behind-the-scenes footage before and during the trial, never-before-seen home movies, as well as intimate prison revelations from Alex himself.

The Fall of the House of Murdaugh features a comprehensive look inside the case that many have tried to tackle since the day the difficult story unfolded," stated FOX Nation President Jason Klarman. "Through a firsthand account from Buster Murdaugh and access to key players, including friends and family, this series puts forward several missing elements that have not been brought to light.

Producers also say the show will take viewers "behind the veil of the Murdaughs legal strategy as it happened in real time and will be interwoven with sit-down interviews with the same legal team," as well as the lead prosecutor on the case, Creighton Waters, and Attorney General Alan Wilson, who discuss their current strategy.

The series also aims to "dive into the fraught life of Alex, Maggie, Paul and Buster and their own scandals as a family, including a string of crimes, deaths and mysteries that continued to weave the Murdaughs tangled web."

Additional interviews throughout the series include Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill, who read the guilty verdict, local attorney Joe McCulloch, Moselle dog kennel manager Roger Dale Davis Jr., Walterboro Mayor William T. Young Jr., the prosecutions forensic expert Dr. Kenneth Kinsey and more.

The Fall of the House of Murdaugh is produced by Texas Crew Productions alongside Executive Producers David Karabinas, Jamie Lustberg and Brad Bernstein.

Ironically, the show shares a name with earlier Murdaugh-related productions and literary efforts, including ABC 20/20's "Fall of the House of Murdaugh" and the upcoming historical/true crime epic by Gannett journalist Michael DeWitt Jr., Fall of the House of Murdaugh: Moonshine, Mayhem and Murder in South Carolina, but there are no connections between the works.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Buster Murdaugh says dad Alex not guilty, attacks judge, jury, SLED
Gary Mayor Jerome Prince (right) talks with U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during a press conference and tour of the Gary/Chicago International Airport to view projects that are creating jobs and improving the airport's cargo operations on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. (John Smierciak / Post Tribune) (John Smierciak/Post-Tribune)

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg joined state and local officials at the Gary/Chicago International Airport on Wednesday, where he touted the billions of federal dollars invested in projects around the country through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

According to the Midwest Economic Policy Institute, Indiana is on track to receive more than $7.92 billion in transportation-focused funding from the law, including over $6.5 billion for roads and bridges, $100 million for electric vehicles, and $170 million for improvements to Indiana airports.

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I think we can all agree that transportation infrastructure is a place where we can find a lot of common ground, Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Smith said at the event. Record investments are being made, not only to maintain our infrastructure, but to improve our infrastructure, not only with our roads and bridges, but as evidenced here today, with all modes of transportation.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (left) talks with U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan and Gary Mayor Jerome Prince during bus tour of the Gary/Chicago International Airport to view projects that are creating jobs and improving the airport's cargo operations on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. (John Smierciak / Post Tribune) (John Smierciak/Post-Tribune)

Garys airport received a total of $8 million in federal community project funds in 2022 and 2023, with the money going toward a specialized fire truck, snow removal equipment, a heavy air cargo logistics apron and a new sanitary sewer for the cargo center. The airport has requested another $3.5 million in federal funds for 2024, which would help further expand its cargo operations, airport executive director Dan Vicari said.

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Gary Mayor Jerome Prince said that the expansion of airport operations will provide a significant boost to the regions economy.

The Gary/Chicago International Airport is poised to soar, he said, and theres certainly a pun intended, but this is probably the best opportunity that the city of Gary  and not only the city but the region  has seen in a while.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (right) listens to Dan Vicari, Executive Director of the Gary/Chicago International Airport (left) during a bus tour of the Gary/Chicago International Airport to view projects that are creating jobs and improving the airport's cargo operations on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. (John Smierciak / Post Tribune) (John Smierciak/Post-Tribune)

IIJA dollars have been put to use at various projects across the region, including in Hammond and Schererville, where the Department of Transportations Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program awarded the cities $7 million and $8.4 million, respectively, for the construction of new overpasses. The projects are aimed at alleviating the dangers and delays associated with at-grade rail crossings, problems that gained renewed public attention after an April ProPublica report showcased shocking videos of Hammond students clambering over or under stopped trains on their way to school.

This is completely unacceptable for the United States of America or anywhere else, Buttigieg told reporters.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (left) is greeted by Alyssa Flores (right), an ironworker apprentice with Local 395, during a press conference and tour of the Gary/Chicago International Airport to view projects that are creating jobs and improving the airport's cargo operations on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. (John Smierciak / Post-Tribune) (John Smierciak/Post-Tribune)

Buttigiegs visit was part of a multi-stop tour of Hoosier State sites benefited by federal infrastructure investments, including stops in Elkhart and Indianapolis. In Gary, he met with members of the United Steelworkers and greeted apprentice ironworkers before the airport news conference. Creating and sustaining union jobs, Buttigieg said, is an important part of the Biden administrations economic agenda and a critical aspect of the IIJA.

I hope you understand, first of all how much this legislation is about you, he told the ironworkers. Were excited about using the airports and driving on the bridges and having those trains. Were also excited about the work that is being created building those bridges and fixing those airports, making those railroad safe. We know that that is creating opportunity for you that you can plan a career around, that you can buy a house with, that you can educate your kids with.

During his remarks at the news conference, U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, highlighted the ongoing push for an IIJA-funded Midwestern hydrogen hub. The legislation allocated up to $7 billion to establish six to 10 regional projects aimed at developing hydrogen energy infrastructure. The Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen, which brings together over 60 public and private entities across the region, submitted its application in April. The U.S. Department of Energy will announce funding awards to hydrogen hubs in the fall.

Mrvan urged Buttigieg to talk to your boss about the Midwestern bid, which he said will put people to work for the next 10-15 years.

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U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (center) listens to Daniel Vicari, Executive Director of the Gary/Chicago International Airport (left) during a bus tour of the Gary/Chicago International Airport to view projects that are creating jobs and improving the airport's cargo operations on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. (John Smierciak / Post Tribune) (John Smierciak/Post-Tribune)

Buttigiegs remarks included a veiled criticism of Republican legislators in Indiana and other red states who recently passed bills aimed at restricting the types of library materials available to students.

Were about building bridges, he said. Were not interested in banning books.

adalton@chicagotribune.com
The Fresno County District Attorneys Office on Tuesday filed multiple charges against a New Mexico man accused of kidnapping a family until a man in Fresno paid a ransom to set them free.

Cristian Guadalupe Ortiz Coronado, 31, faces four counts of kidnapping for ransom, one count of attempted kidnapping for ransom, one count of attempted kidnapping and two counts of child abuse.

Ortiz Coronado was arrested Friday after he allegedly kidnapped a mother and her two children, as well as two men.

The Fresno County District Attorneys Office said Ortiz Coronado had been hired by the families to transport the victims from Mexico to Fresno.

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But when family members were unable to pay additional money for transporting the three adults and two children, Ortiz Coronado left with the victims, including a 9-year-old, and did not return the victims until promised of the additional payment.

Ortiz Coronado was arrested after an officer was waved down by a man near Maple and Central avenues about a kidnapping involving his family, according to Fresno police. He said his wife and son were being held hostage.

If convicted, Ortiz Coronado could face life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Agreed to pay

The father told officers he agreed to pay the man to take his wife and two young children from the Mexico border to Fresno. The suspect arrived in Fresno with the family members and met the father at the agreed location. But the suspect demanded more money for the trip, police said.

Police said the wife and son remained in the suspects vehicle and the man told the father to call him when he had more money and then drove away.

Officers investigated and, working with the FBI, were able to track the suspects phone to a Madera address.

Family members were not injured, police said.

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In the last few hours of Xander Villaloboss young life he went from being a happy-go-lucky toddler to a boy fighting desperately to stay alive.

A 911 call played Tuesday for the jury in the trial of Aaron Moton, Xanders alleged killer, recorded some of the childs last gasps for air.

His mother, Nikkey Rojas, is heard talking with a 911 operator in a panicked voice. She tells the operator hes lethargic, his body is nearly completely limp and his skin has a pasty hue.

Those in the courtroom listened to Xanders groaning as he struggles to breathe. Several of Xanders family members attending the trial left the courtroom after becoming emotional. One of the jurors also appeared to be crying.

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The boys bruised body was taken to Community Regional Medical Center where he died from his injuries. Forensic pathologist Michael Chambliss with the Fresno County Sheriff-Coroners Office testified Monday that the child suffered a fatal liver injury the likes of which he has never seen.

The child was struck in his abdomen with such force that it caused his liver to split.

The 25-year-old Moton, Rojoss ex-boyfriend is charged with Villaloboss death. But his defense team of lawyers Scott Kinney and Jennifer Mele, are trying to cast doubt on prosecutor Amy Cobbs theory that Moton struck the child so severely that it caused his death.

Kinney pointed the jurys attention to statements made by the childs mother Rojas and her sister Kelli, who lived in the same west-central Fresno apartment complex and who helped take care of Xander.

Xander died on Oct. 5, 2021, at the hospital and his death immediately raised eyebrows among doctors, who suspected child abuse. Photos taken during his autopsy showed numerous bruises, some relatively new and others already starting to heal.

Kinney questioned the childs mother about his injuries. He asked her if she noticed several bruises on his legs and on his back on the day he died.

She said no and Kinney asked why not.

I didnt pay attention, she said.

He also asked her if she ever saw Moton strike Xander and she said no. She also denied physically disciplining Xander.

Xanders aunt, Kelli Rojas testified that she also hadnt notice the bruises until the day Xander was taken to the hospital.

She testified that Moton told her he suspected Xanders older sister might have struck her little brother. But she didnt believe him because Xanders sister had not been around Xander for the last few days. The girl spends half her time with her father who lives elsewhere.

Kelli Rojas also testified that Moton sent her several text messages the day Xander died, suggesting the boy injured himself on a bunk bed in their apartment or had hit his head on a wall.

She also told prosecutor Cobb that Moton asked her not to speak with police about Xander.

Kinney was surprised at the allegation. He asked Kelli Rojas why she had never mentioned to police that Moton urged her not to talk to detectives. She replied that she did not know.

The trial continues Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Dept. 72.
Wahoo can be caught all year in South Florida, but the days leading up to and after the full moon in August is the absolute best time to not only hook one of the tasty speed demons, but also catch a big one.

How big? Captain Chris Lemieux of Boynton Beach caught a personal-best 85-pound wahoo fishing in a tournament with his buddy, Chris Meek, a few years ago. But he recently surpassed that with an 87-pounder.

Lemieux was guiding a group of 12- to 14-year-olds during his annual weeklong Kid Camp and had started the trip by trolling for wahoo. But that produced only bonito, a hard-fighting member of the tuna tribe whose strong-tasting flesh is better suited for making trolling baits than making dinner.

The kids asked if they could use the live pilchards that Lemieux had netted that morning to catch blackfin tuna, which often hang out with bonito.

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Were sitting there catching bonitos like crazy, and one of the kids said, Oh, man, my bonito got eaten in half. So I just assumed a barracuda or a shark ate it, Lemieux said. I look over the side and theres this giant, massive wahoo just circling the boat. I said, Reel it up, reel it up! As hes reeling it up, the fish swipes at the remaining half and kind of hits it a little bit.

I reached over and grabbed a rod that had just a monofilament rig on it, a live-bait rod. I tied a titanium wire rig on it real quick and just cut a chunk of the bonito and cast it out. The wahoo ate it right next to the boat.

As wahoo typically do, the big fish made a blistering first run, dumping all the 25-pound monofilament line on the conventional reel and getting into the braided line backing.

After seeing the size of the wahoo, none of the kids wanted to fight it. So Lemieux handed the fishing rod to his mate, Kole Hawk, then started the twin Mercury outboard motors on his 27 Conch center console and chased the fish offshore.

We caught him real quick, in like 15 minutes, Lemieux said. It was a really, really cool experience with the kids.

With a full moon on Aug. 30, local anglers have a great opportunity to experience a catch like that in the days leading up to and after that date. Lemieux said he catches wahoo the best two or three days before and two or three days after the full moon in August.

Lemieux, who can be booked for charters at 561-767-6211, said trolling a bonito strip, which is about an 8-inch-long piece of bonito belly, or dead ballyhoo behind a colorful Sea Witch lure is the most effective way to hook the prized gamefish. But bigger baits can produce bigger fish this month.

This time of year, just because there are bigger fish around generally, you could fish a bigger bait like a bullet bonito or a swimming mullet, Lemieux said. The average size wahoo is bigger this time of year and theyre eating bonitos and bigger stuff. Were not catching little 13- to 20-pound wahoos that are eating little baby flying fish and little baby ballyhoos.

I love catching them on live bait but just to target them on live bait is very hard. To truly catch them consistently, you have to troll, just because youre covering so much ground.

We dont have a specific area where they congregate. They will congregate around certain wrecks and stuff like that, but there are so many other predators like barracudas and sharks and amberjacks. Trying to sit there and target a wahoo on certain wrecks is very, very hard because youre going to get so many other bites when youre live-baiting.

Lemieux prefers to troll for wahoo on an outgoing tide because the current pushes ballyhoo, flying fish, pilchards and blue runners out of local inlets. Small bonito will feed on those baitfish and wahoo will eat those bonito.

Hell troll in 100 to 150 or 200 feet at the start of the outgoing tide. Later in the tide, hell catch wahoo deeper, in 300 to 400 feet.

Once you get a bite, just kind of stay in that area, Lemieux said. Theyre usually not by themselves, theyre usually in packs. So Ill stay in the area for a little while and hopefully get another bite.

But as the youngsters on Lemieuxs boat discovered, this time of year is when one wahoo bite can be all you need.
DAYTON, Ohio  The futuristic Next Generation Air Dominance fighter platform now in the works is likely to be one of the most complex, highest-stakes weapon acquisitions in the U.S. Air Forces history.

The sixth-generation fighter jet is expected to include new technologies ranging from cutting-edge adaptive engines to an autonomous drone flying alongside its wings. If NGAD works as the service hopes, it could prove critical in a potential war against China.

But in recent years, the advanced digital engineering techniques the Air Force once thought would lead to a revolution in rapid aircraft development and fielding have not always panned out. The concept allows engineers to create designs or models to test assumptions more quickly and accurately. And with digital engineering expected to play a central role in the NGAD effort, experts say the service will have to ensure the technique lives up to its promise.

This isnt the first time the Air Force looked to a digital design revolution to usher in a new generation of aircraft. During the services last major new jet acquisition, the T-7A Red Hawk trainer, the Air Force and manufacturer Boeing promised the program would lead to a fresh way of designing and building future aircraft.

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The service was so bullish on the potential benefits of a future built on digital aircraft engineering that in 2020 it made a short-lived attempt to rebrand the trainer the eT-7, and also dub future aircraft designed in this way with an e prefix.

Since then, a series of missteps and delays have pushed back key milestones on the T-7  and caused a bit of the shine to rub off from its much-heralded digital design approach.

In a May breakfast, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall made clear the extent to which digital engineering had lost its luster in the wake of the T-7s troubles.

It is a significant improvement, but it has been overhyped, Kendall told reporters. More integrated digital designs, better modeling all help, but theyre not revolutionary.  They dont replace testing entirely.

Not a magic wand

Digital engineering has been around in one form or another since the 1970s, said Heather Penney, a senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Computer-aided design helped shape many aircraft in use today, including the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, F-22 Raptor jet and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The concept evolved as processing, algorithms, modeling and simulation improved, she explained. Now, Penney said, digital engineering can include everything from 3D models of individual aircraft parts  fuel pumps, hydraulic lines, electrical system bundles and more  to models of how an aircrafts various systems interact with one another or the aircraft as a whole.

Having this type of digital model doesnt only inform the aircrafts design, she said, but also shapes the tooling and manufacturing of the aircraft. As an example of a significant advancement this technology can provide, she pointed to Boeings amazing ability to use digital processes to fabricate T-7 components so accurately that they fit together without needing shims. And she highlighted the B-21 and the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile as examples of complex and so-far successful Air Force acquisitions that made tremendous use of digital engineering.

A series of missteps and delays have pushed back key milestones on the T-7 aircraft  and caused a bit of the shine to rub off from its much-heralded digital design approach. (Courtesy of Boeing)

But, she noted, its not a magic wand that waves away any bumps [in] design, and cant take the place of solid engineering fundamentals.

An aerodynamic instability in the T-7 known as wing rock, in which its wings could have dangerously rocked back-and-forth in some flight conditions, was fixed in 2021, but was one of several factors that prompted the Air Force and Boeing to start to rethink its schedule in 2022.

Additional issues, including an escape system and ejection seat that could endanger the T-7s pilots, as well as glitches with its flight control software, led to further delays.

For the eT-7, digital engineering was going to make this airplane go fast, the design was going to go fast, it was going to knit everybody together, it was going to be a bumpless design process, Penney said. What our experience with the eT-7 has been is that digital engineering is just a tool. You still have to get the engineering right.

Penney said blame for the T-7s problems, like those with its ejection seat system, cant be laid at the feet of digital engineering  but notably, digital modeling failed to catch the T-7s issues in advance.

In roundtables with reporters at the Air Forces Life Cycle Industry Days, held July 31-Aug. 1 in Ohio, officials described how the service is trying to expand its approach to digital engineering by spreading the benefits throughout the entire life span of an aircraft  in a concept it calls digital materiel management.

In a June whitepaper, Air Force Materiel Command said digital materiel management aims to dramatically accelerate and streamline the processes of designing, creating and sustaining aircraft or other systems by using digital methods throughout their life cycles, from the initial idea to retirement.

Were playing the long game, said Brig. Gen. Dale White, the Air Forces program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft. That is critically important. If you just look at digital through the lens of design and development and test, youre going to limit yourself. We all know the majority of the funding is spent on the sustainment tail.

And so being able to make decisions that you couldnt normally make before, because you didnt have that amount of information this early in the process, really is a game changer, continued White, who oversees the NGAD program.

By having a single digital trail following an aircraft through its entire life cycle, officials argue, it will be easier to carry out techniques such as predictive maintenance, which helps track exactly how long parts have been on a plane and leads to their replacement before they are likely to fail.

Certainly, the concept can work, but the Government Accountability Office found in a December 2022 report that the military hasnt taken full advantage of it. Technology limitations are hampering widespread adoption of predictive maintenance, such as problems with older information systems and a lack of digitized maintenance manuals.

An artists rendering shows the potential LMXT tanker refueling a Next Generation Air Dominance fighter. (Courtesy of Lockheed Martin)

The military reported predictive maintenance has enabled pilots to avoid helicopter aircraft accidents and identify failures that were undetected by mechanics, avoid maintenance costs, and redirect maintenance personnel to other work creating cost efficiencies, GAO said in the report. But the examples are from limited experience. [And] in order to implement predictive maintenance more broadly, changes will be necessary to mainstream business processes to address resource challenges from personnel, parts, and technology.

According to military service officials, unplanned maintenance  which adversely affects costs and operations  can be reduced through greater use of predictive maintenance, the report read. Military service officials acknowledge that, while they have examples of improvements they attribute to predictive maintenance implementation, the examples are from limited experience, and the military services generally lack metrics to evaluate the results of predictive maintenance.

Next-gen propulsion

In May, the Air Force took its most significant public step forward to date on NGAD when it announced it had sent industry a classified solicitation for an engineering and manufacturing development contract for the secretive program. The Air Force also said it plans to award the contract in 2024, with Lockheed Martin and Boeing widely expected to be the two remaining bidders. The Air Force hopes to have NGAD in production by the end of this decade.

And with Kendall estimating each fighters price tag at hundreds of millions of dollars, the service cant afford to get it wrong.

So far, little has been said about how digital engineering is contributing to NGAD. During the May roundtable, a few days after the Air Forces solicitation announcement, Kendall described a situation where service engineers and other NGAD program officials at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio were living in the same design space as the bidders. Program officials have direct access to the databases that the two firms vying for the program use to hone their NGAD designs, Kendall said, and use that access to offer their own suggestions.

In Dayton, Ohio, White  who oversees the creation of NGAD  and other officials offered more insight into how the Air Force and contractors are using digital engineering as they ramp up work designing the aircraft and propulsion systems.

When past fighters were designed, White explained, they were sketched out on paper in two dimensions. As the designs went through one iteration after another, he said, those sheets multiplied until reams of paper tracing each step in an aircrafts evolution piled up.

But as NGAD takes shape, White said, those mountains of paper have been replaced by a constantly evolving digital design. In years and even decades to come, he added, that will make it easier for NGAD to evolve to stay ahead of the threats it will face.

U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall pauses before he answers a question Sept. 7, 2022, at the annual Defense News Conference. (Colin Demarest/Staff)

Its a living thing, he said. You can constantly make informed decisions about where youre going and where you think you need to be.  Its not enough to be digital just from an engineering perspective. Youve got to have a good foundation to understand what the threat is doing. And thats going to allow us greater flexibility.

What its allowing us to do is become more informed buyers, he added. In this world, there are a lot of things you dont have to do physically because you have greater visibility and a better grasp and command of the knowledge because of the digital [tools] we didnt have before.

And the NGADs propulsion system will be the first entirely new military propulsion system to be digitally designed and produced, according to John Sneden, director of the Air Forces propulsion directorate.

The companies working on the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion system, or NGAP  primarily GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney, alongside Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman  are just now getting into a place where they can start designing it in a completely digital, 3D environment, he said. Given the last fighter engines designed for the Air Force were created decades ago for the F-35 and F-22, Sneden said, this is a new approach.

This illustration shows a concept for the U.S. Air Force's future fighter, known as Next Generation Air Dominance. (Boeing)

All of that predated the digital environment, he explained. There really hasnt been a requirement thats out there for [digital engine designers] to really sink their teeth into until we got to NGAD.

Having the propulsion system digitally designed and built, from the ground up, will make it easier to update and further develop at pace with evolving threats, Sneden added.

NGAP is still in the early design stages, he said, but as it moves into the testing phase, the digital-based modeling will help fine-tune digital tests and combine various models to see the second- and third-order effects of design changes.

When you start getting into testing models, you might have one thats different for structures, you may have another one thats different for thermodynamic properties of the engines, Sneden explained. Can we pour those together so we can better see, when you make a change here, heres how it impacts you downstream?

When the time comes to start prototyping or building the engines, he added, the contractors can send 3D digital blueprints to their own suppliers to make components, instead of relying on 2D drawings.

Physics gets a vote

Penney stressed that for digital engineering to yield benefits, a program must take the time and effort from the start to understand exactly how it will use digital tools.

If you dont have that foundation, that will leave you with technical debt as you begin to move forward, Penney said, and could inadvertently cause problems further on down the road. You have to get it right at the beginning.

In Dayton, officials agreed with Kendalls comments that advancements in digital modeling  while important  cant entirely replace real-world testing. They described how they hope future programs can use both techniques to fill in the gaps a single approach would provide.

The Air Force, along with GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney, already conducted a great deal of design and development on adaptive engines that were considered as replacements for the F-35 under the Adaptive Engine Transition Program, or AETP.

The Pentagon ultimately decided not to put AETP in the F-35, instead opting for an upgrade of the fighters current engines. But AETP engine technology  such as the adaptive fans that will allow the engine to shift to the most efficient configuration for a given situation  will likely be folded into NGADs engine development process.

Sneden said by leveraging existing AETP technology, NGAP can reap the best of both worlds when it comes to testing. NGAP will use digital modeling, he explained, but those digital tests will be shaped by real-world results from prior tests conducted for AETP.

When were testing an engine, were actually testing a series of technologies to find out how they work so you can actually craft a testing baseline, Sneden said. Weve done real-world testing [on the XA100 and XA101 engines] so we can see how adaptive engine technology runs across the portfolio, how those materials hold up, how the adaptive fan works  all of that.

An XA100 prototype engine is seen at the U.S. Air Forces Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tullahoma, Tenn. (Courtesy of GE Aviation)

Now what you can do is take that testing baseline and start incorporating it into your NGAP understanding, and start to merge those worlds of real world and digital together so you have this nice fusion that happens.

White, in his own roundtable, underscored the Air Forces intent to use digital testing to buttress real-world testing. His office hopes that combining the two forms of testing will allow it to cover gaps and yield a much richer set of data.

Were using the virtual aspects of the model to make sure that were filling in the blanks of the data, White said. And then as you do that, its kind of like a puzzle. The puzzle starts to fill its way out, and you become more comfortable.

Having multiple ways to conduct testing comes in handy when trying to put fledgling aircraft through some of the more extreme flying conditions they might encounter, said Col. Kirt Cassell, chief of the Air Forces T-7 Red Hawk program office.

No matter how good your digital engineering is, physics gets a vote, Cassell said. When youre at high angles of attack ... its still very difficult to get advanced models to predict the real-world physics.

Sneden noted the Air Force hasnt even begun to reach the limits of how digital tools can help keep an engine running throughout its entire life.

For example, he said, digital tools could help find ways to make spare parts for an engine more easily or efficiently with additive manufacturing. Or it could help find a new way to repair a broken part instead of taking the lengthy and expensive step of replacing it with an entirely new one, he said.

Were just starting to lean into that technology, he added.
(Bloomberg) -- Soldiers in Gabon appointed the head of the republican guard as the OPEC member states new leader, hours after placing President Ali Bongo under house arrest and annulling elections in which he secured a third term.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The putsch in the former French colony is the ninth in sub-Saharan Africa in the past three years, and follows a coup in Niger last month. The military takeover drew condemnation from the US, Nigeria, France and the African Union, as it sparked a slump in the nations dollar bonds and raised concerns of a spill over of the selloff to other African countries with high political risk.

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Read More: Gabon Coup Triggers Bond Selloff Sparking Contagion Fears

General Brice Oligui Nguema will serve as Gabons transitional president, according to a statement read out on state television in the capital, Libreville, on Wednesday evening. The junta said it will maintain a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the nation of 2.3 million people, and urged residents to return to work on Thursday.

Nguemas appointment came after army officers appeared on Gabonese state television in the early hours of Wednesday to announce theyd canceled an Aug. 26 vote and dissolved the countrys institutions. President Bongo is under house arrest with his family and medical doctor, while one of his sons has been detained, the officers said in a separate broadcast.

Gabons dollar bonds due June 2025 and November 2031 were the worst-performing in emerging markets on Wednesday. Shares in French mining group Eramet SA, oil and gas producer Maurel & Prom SA and a listed unit of TotalEnergies SE, which all have operations in Gabon, sank in Paris trading.

The country is one of OPECs smaller members, pumping about 200,000 barrels a day, and has abundant manganese deposits, though these resources havent translated into better living standards. About one-third of Gabons population live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

The putsch raises anxiety about a potential contagion of coups in Africa and increases pressure on regional bodies including the Economic Community of West African States to act to restore civilian rule in Niger, after the 15-nation bloc threatened to use military force to compel the military junta to relinquish power.

Read More: Whats Driving the Coups Across Sub-Saharan Africa?: QuickTake

French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Monday that if the bloc doesnt restore democracy, all the presidents across the region are more or less aware of the fate that awaits them.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US was closely watching the developments and had accounted for all its embassy personnel and troops in the country.

We remain strongly opposed to military seizures or unconstitutional transfers of power, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. We urge those responsible to release and ensure the safety of members of government and their families and to preserve civilian rule.

Read more: Gabon Coup Brings Investors Focus Onto Oil Producers, Miners

Since 2020, there have been two coups each in Burkina Faso and Mali, as well as military takeovers in Chad, Guinea, Niger and Sudan. The latest putsch highlights the inability of the African Union to prevent coups, said Charlie Robertson, head of macro strategy at FIM Partners UK Ltd. in London.

The ineffective African Union has sat back and watched regime after regime topple in Africa and failed to reverse any of the coups in recent years, he said. The African Union needs to step up and take some responsibility for whats happening on the continent, before the coup contagion spreads further.

The continental body, which suspended Niger from all its activities following the coup in the West African nation, said it strongly condemns the armys actions in Gabon, according to a post on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, whose nation is Africas largest democracy, echoed the criticism.

The president is working very closely and continuing to communicate with other heads of state in the African Union toward a comprehensive consensus on the next steps forward with respect to how the crisis in Gabon will play out into how the continent will respond to the contagion of autocracy we are seeing spread across our continent, Tinubus office said in a statement.

Gabon has been ruled by two men for more than five decades.

Bongo was first elected president in 2009, four months after the death of his father, Omar Bongo , who had held power since 1967. He secured a second seven-year term in 2016 in the closest election in the nations history, and violence and looting ensued after his victory was announced.

The ruling familys grip on power has come under pressure in recent years. Soldiers launched a failed coup in 2019, months after Bongo suffered a stroke that sidelined him for almost a year.

Ex-colonial power France has maintained strong ties with Gabon, despite widespread concerns about its democracy and human rights record. President Emmanuel Macron visited Bongo in March, in a move widely seen as an expression of support.

Frances record of backing ruling families, dictators or presidents-for-life in the region in the name of stability has long been a source of a resentment in its former colonies. It has fed anti-French sentiment that has been exploited by coup plotters.

--With assistance from Moses Mozart Dzawu and Ruth Olurounbi.

(Adds State Department comment in 10th paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
This video grab shows coup supporters cheering police officers in Libreville, Gabon, Wednesday Aug. 30, 2023. Mutinous soldiers speaking on state television announced that they had seized power in and were overturning the results of a presidential election that had seen Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba extend his family's 55-year hold on power. ( AP Photo/Betiness Mackosso)

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP)  Mutinous soldiers in Gabon proclaimed their republican guard chief as the countrys leader Wednesday after placing the just-reelected President Ali Bongo Ondimba under house arrest, alleging betrayal and massive embezzlement during his long-time rule over the oil-rich Central African nation.

The coup leaders said in an announcement on Gabons state TV that Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema had been unanimously designated president of a transitional committee to lead the country. Oligui is a cousin of Bongo, who earlier Wednesday had been declared the winner of the country's latest presidential election following 55 years of rule by him and his late father.

In a video from detention in his residence, Bongo called on people to make noise to support him. But the crowds who took to the streets of the capital instead celebrated the coup against a dynasty accused of getting rich on the countrys resource wealth while many of its citizens struggle.

Thank you, army. Finally, weve been waiting a long time for this moment, said Yollande Okomo, standing in front of republican guard members who had helped stage the takeover.

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Coup leaders said there would be a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time but that people would be allowed to move about freely during the day on Thursday.

The president of the transition insists on the need to maintain calm and serenity in our beautiful country ... At the dawn of a new era, we will guarantee the peace, stability and dignity of our beloved Gabon, Lt. Col. Ulrich Manfoumbi said on state TV Wednesday.

Oligui, the new military leader, used to be the bodyguard of Bongos father, the late President Omar Bongo , said Desire Ename a journalist with Echos du Nord, a local media outlet. Oligui also was head of the secret service in 2019 before becoming head of the republican guard.

Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, has served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years, and there has been widespread discontent with his reign. Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in 2019 but was quickly overpowered.

The former French colony is a member of OPEC, but its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few  and nearly 40% of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank. Its oil export revenue was $6 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Nine members of the Bongo family, meanwhile, are under investigation in France, and some face preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering and other forms of corruption, according to Sherpa, a French NGO dedicated to accountability. Investigators have linked the family to more than $92 million in properties in France, including two villas in Nice, the group says.

A spokesman for the coup leaders said that Bongos unpredictable, irresponsible governance risked leading the country into chaos. In a later statement, the coup leaders said people around the president had been arrested for high betrayal of state institutions, massive embezzlement of public funds (and) international financial embezzlement.

Analysts warned that the takeover risked bringing instability, and could have more to do with divisions among the ruling elite than efforts to improve the lives of ordinary Gabonese.

The Bongo family has been associated with systematic misappropriation of state revenues, but the latest events should be viewed with great caution, as they offer no guarantee of good governance and democratic transition, Sherpa said in a statement.

The coup came about one month after mutinous soldiers in Niger seized power from the democratically elected government, and is the latest in a series of coups across West and Central Africa in recent years. The impunity those putschists enjoyed may have inspired the soldiers in Gabon, said Maja Bovcon, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm.

In weekend elections, Bongo faced an opposition coalition led by Albert Ondo Ossa, an economics professor and former education minister. Minutes after Bongo was declared the winner, gunfire was heard in the capital, Libreville. Later, a dozen uniformed soldiers appeared on state television to announce they had seized power.

Libreville is a stronghold of the opposition, but it was unclear how the coup was seen in the countryside, where more people traditionally back Bongo.

The president pleaded for support in a video showing him sitting in a chair with a bookshelf behind him.

Im calling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really, he said in English. The video was shared with The Associated Press by BTP Advisers, a communications firm that helped the president with polling for the election.

Shortly after the video went public, people with Bongo had their phones seized by soldiers, said Mark Pursey, the chief executive officer of BTP Advisers. Bongo's son and communications director were being held at military headquarters, Pursey said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the coup, and called on military leaders to ensure the safety of Bongo and his family, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Ossa, the opposition leader, told The AP he wasnt ready to comment and was waiting for the situation to evolve.

The mutinous officers vowed to respect Gabons commitments to the national and international community. But the coup threatened to bring the economy to a halt.

A man who answered the phone at the airport said flights were canceled Wednesday, and the private intelligence firm Ambrey said all operations at the countrys main port in Libreville had been halted. Several French companies said they were suspending operations.

France condemns the military coup that is underway in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments, French government spokesperson, Olivier Veran, said Wednesday.

France has maintained close economic, diplomatic and military ties with Gabon, and has 400 soldiers stationed there for a military training operation. The U.S. Africa Command said it has no forces stationed in the Central African nation other than at the U.S. Embassy.

Unlike Niger and two other West African countries run by military juntas, Gabon hasnt been wracked by jihadi violence and had been seen as relatively stable.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the events in Gabon were being followed with great concern." He said it was too early to call it part of a trend or a domino effect in military takeovers on the continent.

A spokesperson for the State Department later released a statement saying U.S. authorities remain strongly opposed to military seizures or unconstitutional transfers of power.

We urge those responsible to release and ensure the safety of members of government and their families and to preserve civilian rule, said Matthew Miller in the statement.

Nigerias President Bola Tinubu, however, cited a contagion of autocracy we are seeing spread across our continent," in a statement issued by his office. It said he was conferring with other heads of state and the African Union, whose commission condemned the coup and called for a return to democratic constitutional order.

___

Mednick reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press reporters Cara Anna in Nairobi, Kenya, Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Angela Charlton and Oleg Cetinic in Paris; and Jon Gambrell and Malak Harb in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Zane Irwin in Dakar, Senegal contributed.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John E. Martin called the crimes of health care fraud and aggravated identity theft allegedly committed by a Crown Point woman egregious in both their scope and boldness before denying bond.

Martin said during the hearing in U.S. District Court in Hammond that there was no way ever he would place Christine L. Reese of Crown Point on house arrest  even with an ankle monitor  because her document forgery skills at the heart of the complaint against her are too good to ignore.

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Reese was charged Aug. 23 after an FBI raid on her Crown Point home produced evidence confirming she used others identities to obtain a job as a licensed clinical psychologist  she is not one  with Mid-America Counseling Services.

Once Mid-America Counseling fired her, she opened her own telehealth psychology practice Sanctuary Counseling LLC five days later, with Roy C. Reese Jr., who at the time was a boyfriend/business partner. They married Oct. 4, 2021, according to court documents. There she passed herself off as a licensed clinical psychologist who treated patients, made recommendations to officials on patients behalf, and then proceeded to bill Medicaid and private insurers for services she was not legally authorized to provide.

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Reese Jr., who resides in Chicago, was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a Level 4 felony, as a result of the raid on Reeses Illinois Street residence in Crown Point after weapons were found in a backpack at the home that allegedly belonged to Reese Jr. Reese Jr., previously was found guilty of murder in 1993 and was also convicted of smuggling contraband into a prison and possession of contraband in a penal institution on Dec. 1, 1999, according to court records.

He denied ownership of the weapons and bonded out of Lake County Jail Tuesday by posting $2,500 bail.

Reese Wednesday sat next to her federal court appointed defense attorney Peter Boyles, looking down at the table expressionless as Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Wolff outlined in detail her alleged crimes, showing evidence obtained from her home that supported the claims.

Among the evidence discovered at the home was a copy of Reeses certified birth certificate as well as an altered certified birth certificate that changed her first name from Christine to Julie Christine with Julie added to the document in an almost identical font as the original, Wolff said.

The forged birth certificate made her initials appear to be the same as those of the licensed psychologist whose Indiana Professional Licensing Agency identification number she allegedly fraudulently used to open her telehealth practice.

It appears the evidence (in this case) is very strong, Martin said.

Reese stands accused of using the IPLA identification number of three different individuals to carry out various parts of the scheme that enabled her to get a job as a licensed clinical psychologist; open her own practice as such; illegally treat patients; and then bill Medicaid and other insurers for her services.

She used the identification number of a LaPorte-area registered nurse bearing the same first and last name to get her first job as a clinical psychologist. She used the forged birth certificate and the IPLA number of a clinical psychologist with similar initials to apply to open her practice. She also use the IPLA number of a former supervisor at Midwest Counseling, indicating the doctor was a supervising doctor at her practice when she applied to be able to accept Medicaid, according to Wolff.

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That this was not Reeses first offense but more a pattern of sophisticated criminal behavior also weighs into his decision to deny bond, he said. Martin cited charges stemming from an arrest in Wisconsin where Reese in 2005 was convicted of identity theft involving 26 individuals. All of her current criminal activity occurred after she was sentenced to 50 months in prison, the high end of the 41 to 51 month sentencing recommendation at the time, he said.

Her document counterfeiting skills have only gotten greater since that first case, he said.

Martin appeared incredulous at what he described as the boldness of Reese pretending to be a doctor and treating people in need, going so far as to make recommendations in one instance concerning a custody case and another about a patients fitness to own a gun.

Its just so egregious. Its not just the egregiousness of it. Its the boldness to do those things and not care about the harm, Martin said, adding Reeses behavior shows she will do about anything to make money or whatever it was she was trying to do.

Martin said the potential damage Reese may have caused by impersonating a doctor is great. He said there is no way to know if she was proving care to individuals who may have been suicidal or homicidal or with other issues that needed professionally qualified care.

Its a compelling case. Its an unusual but compelling case, Martin said.

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This is not your typical health care fraud case, Wolff said. Most cases of health care fraud usually involved health care practitioners who are licensed in their fields and may even be good at their discipline, but have gone afoul of Medicaid billing rules.

This is nothing like this. This defendant is a sophisticated, experienced criminal. When one part of her scheme failed, she did something else, Wolff said.

Wolff said unlike in the Wisconsin case, here Reese is not just stealing identities, she is claiming to be something she is not qualified to be.

Wolff said Reese has 12 prior felonies including one for failing to return from furlough in arguing against bond. He said other charges also show a pattern of defying the court.

This defendant does not and will not comply, Wolff said.

Boyles said the defense had no further comment other than what was provided in the pretrial report.

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cnapoleon@chicagotribune.com
FILE PHOTO: Gabon's President address the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York City

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - President Ali Bongo has won a third term in the presidential election with 64.27% of the vote, the Gabonese Election Centre (CGE) said on Wednesday, after a delay-plagued general election that the opposition has denounced as fraudulent.

Announcing the result in the early hours, CGE head Michel Stephane Bonda said Bongo's main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, had come in second place with 30.77%. Bongo's team have rejected Ondo Ossa's allegations of electoral irregularities.

Tensions are running high amid fears of unrest after Saturday's presidential, parliamentary, and legislative vote, which saw Bongo seeking to extend his family's 56-year grip on power while the opposition pushed for change in the oil-rich but poverty-stricken Central African nation.

A lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts, and the authorities' decision to cut internet service and impose a nighttime curfew nationwide after the poll has raised concerns about the transparency of the electoral process.

(Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Gerry Doyle)
LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabonese President Ali Bongo, speaking from apparent house arrest on Wednesday, asked the international community to "make noise" to support him and his family in a video shared widely online after military officers declared they had seized power.

The video was confirmed as authentic by BTP Advisors, a PR firm that has worked closely with Bongo on his election campaign.

"The people here have arrested me and my family. My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place ... Right now, Im at the residence and nothing is happening. I dont know whats going on," Bongo said in English, addressing the camera from a chair in what looked like a richly furnished state room.

"I (want) to send a message to all the friends we have all over the world to tell them to make noise."

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He was smartly dressed and showed no outward signs of mistreatment. He spoke calmly, pausing occasionally as if searching for the right words to convey the urgency of his message.

Military officers announced on national television earlier that the armed forces had taken control and placed Bongo under house arrest. His son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and others had also been arrested, the officers said.

If successful, the Gabon coup would be the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020 and end the Bongo family's 56-year grip on power. It follows Saturday's disputed election, whose results, including Bongo's announced victory, the military officers said had been annulled.

(Reporting by Edward McAllister; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Nick Macfie)
A North Carolina high school is the best in the nation for 2023-24, according to rankings released today by U.S. News & World Report. The Early College at Guilford in Greensboro lands at No. 1 in U.S. News annual rankings of the best public high schools in the nation.

Locally, Highland School of Technology in Gastonia again grabs the top spot among public high schools in the Charlotte metro. Following Highland on the local list are Ardrey Kell High School in south Charlotte and Community School of Davidson, respectively.

ALSO READ: Parents, CMS board concerned about proposed changes to magnet schools program

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Highland, a magnet school in Gastonia, ranks as the eighth-best public high school in North Carolina and 424th nationally. Highland last placed at No. 1 in 2021. In 2022, it ranked at No. 3  behind No. 1 Ardrey Kell and No. 2 Cato Middle College High School.

North Carolina has 563 schools in the rankings, with 28 schools (5%) landing in the top 5% nationally and 53 (9.4%) in the top 10%. South Carolina, meanwhile, has 226 schools in the rankings, including three schools (1.3%) in the top 5% nationally and 11 (4.9%) in the top 10%.

Read more here.

VIDEO: Parents, CMS board concerned about proposed changes to magnet schools program








People are praising a TikTok account that is translating Bible stories into Gen Z slang.

The videos refer to Jesus as the "main character," and to Mary as a "pick-me girl for God."

But a theological scholar was more skeptical, and questioned whether it's gone "too far."

Viewers are praising a TikTok account that is using popular Gen Z slang terms to retell Bible stories. Some say the videos are helping them to understand the Bible, while others say they are helping them to learn Gen Z slang. But a theological scholar was more skeptical about the longevity and appropriateness of the translations.

Since posting its first video on August 19, Gen Z Bible Stories has gained over 166,000 followers and 1 million likes across 13 posts.

The account's most viral video, titled "Annunciation," retells the story of the conception of Jesus Christ. It was posted on August 22 and has been viewed over 3.6 million times.

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In the video, the TikToker referred to Mary as a "pick-me girl for God," and said that she had "passed God's vibe check," and had been chosen to become "the mother of the main character."

The creator went on to use other slang terms, such as "body count," which refers to the number of sexual partners someone's had, to continue to tell the story.

They also used the phrase "cuffing season," a term popularized by SZA's song "Big Boy" that refers to the time of year when single people are actively searching for short-term romantic partners to spend the colder months with.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

In another video, titled "John's Glow Up," the TikToker tells the story of how John, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, "entered his prophet era" and told people how to "pass God's vibe check."

This embedded content is not available in your region.

The videos have been broadly well received. Several viewers wrote that they thought they were hilarious, and one referred to the account as a "masterpiece."

Many viewers also commented that they were not religious, but that they would read the Bible if the stories were told like this, or that these retellings had helped them to understand it better.

Several viewers also wrote that the videos are helping them to learn Gen Z slang, and one wrote that they felt like they were "learning a new language."

But it's not clear that the account will necessarily convert viewers to Christianity in the long term.

Dr. Brent Strawn, a professor of Old Testament at Duke University in North Carolina, told Insider that these videos are examples of the "ongoing work of Bible translation."

He said that the Bible translations get revised frequently as language is updated and that in some ways, updating the Bible using Gen Z terms is an "extreme" reflection of that.

While Strawn said that these translations might make some of the material more accessible to people, he also questioned whether this account has gone "too far," and suggested that the language risks "cheapening" it.

"Some of the slang terms might be things that you would use for dating situations," he said. "Is that really the same thing as the notion of the annunciation of the virgin birth to Mary?"

He also questioned the longevity of the videos, given that slang can so quickly become outdated. "Even in a few months, or certainly a year from now, some of these slang terms will have been forgotten and new ones will replace them so that the translation is almost instantly out of date," he said.

The rise of social media has meant that popular Gen Z slang terms are ever-changing and that they can become outdated as quickly as they were popularized. Terms that were popular less than a decade ago, such as "YOLO," "canceled," and "snowflake," have already been labeled as embarrassing.

The creator of Gen Z Bible Stories did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Ukrainian forces continue to gain ground past the recently-liberated village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukriane's General Staff said on Aug. 30.

Ukrainian troops were successful in moving towards Novoprokopivka, a village less than four kilometers south of Robotyne, and Verbove, another settlement 10 kilometers to the east, according to the General Staff.

On Aug. 28, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that Ukrainian forces had liberated Robotyne and moved southeast of the village.

The advance is part of Ukraines larger offensive operation in the direction of Melitopol, a strategically important city for cutting off the land bridge between Russia and occupied Crimea.

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The Ukrainian military added that its forces are continuing their offensive south of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, while holding back a Russian offensive in the directions of Bakhmut, Kupiansk, and Lyman.

Moscow is concentrating troops in the area, trying to retake the territories lost during a Ukrainian surprise counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast last autumn.

Read also: As counteroffensive presses forward in southeast, every meter costs a life

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Four states have declared states of emergency due to Hurricane Idalia which has grown in strength as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.

Idalia strengthened to a Category 2 storm Tuesday and could make landfall as a major hurricane Wednesday with winds in excess of 110 mph. The treacherous hurricane is also forecast to drive a potentially deadly storm surge to the Big Bend area of Florida's west coast.

By Tuesday afternoon, Idalia was located about 195 miles southwest of Tampa with winds of 100 mph.

Officials issued a hurricane warning along hundreds of miles of Florida coastline as the storm nears landfall. Florida has declared a state of emergency for 49 counties and Gov, Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that three additional counties, Brevard, Orange and Osceola, were added to the declaration.

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Neighboring states Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina have already declared states of emergency. Heavy rain is expected to continue into Thursday throughout the region, prompting concerns about flash flooding in some areas.

What is a storm surge?: Florida is on storm surge watch as Idalia grows stronger

Idalia forecast to hit southeast Georgia after crossing Florida

After making landfall along the western coast of Florida, Hurricane Idalia is forecast to move northeast across the state and into the southeastern part of Georgia, according to the latest model from the NWS.

The hurricane center said Idalia is expected to bring flash flooding to southern Georgia through Thursday.

Savannah, Georgia has at least a 40% chance of flooding, according to National Weather Service in Charleston.

Lots of updates related to Hurricane Idalia incoming. Bottom line: subsequent shifts of the forecast track slightly westward have increased chances for impacts across inland Georgia, especially for southeast central Georgia. A thread : #gawx pic.twitter.com/823irZqg51  NWS Atlanta (@NWSAtlanta) August 29, 2023

North Carolina's main concern with Idalia is flash flooding

Flash Flooding remains North Carolina's primary concern for "the area's with heaviest rainfall totals from from Raleigh, south and east," according to the NWS.

The weather service also forecasts winds from 25 to 40 mph and the threat for possible tornadoes.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, declared the emergency Monday and in a statement from his office said it was to activate the states emergency operations plan, waive transportation rules to help the transport of fuel and critical supplies and services, help first responders and assist the agriculture industry to prepare in advance for inclement weather and protect consumers from price gouging. 

"It is important for North Carolinians to gather emergency kits and prepare for the storm before its too late. We also want to make sure our farmers are able to protect their crops," Cooper wrote.

 Latest information on Hurricane #Idalia concerning central North Carolina.



Flash Flooding remains the primary concern for our area with heaviest rainfall totals expected from Raleigh south and east. Strong winds (25-40mph) and threat for tornadoes will also be possible. #Ncwx pic.twitter.com/7FpRrotCPh  NWS Raleigh (@NWSRaleigh) August 29, 2023

Hurricane watch in effect for South Carolina after declared state of emergency

The weather service reported a hurricane watch in effect along the Georgia coast that stretches up to Edisto Beach, South Carolina. Charleston County, as of Tuesday evening, was excluded from the watch.

South Carolina also declared a state of emergency Tuesday ahead of potential impacts caused by Idalia. Gov. Henry McMaster warned that residents should take precautions despite the state likely missing the "worst of Hurricane Idalias impacts."

"I have declared a State of Emergency out of an abundance of caution to ensure that we have the necessary resources in place to respond to flooding events and are able to respond quickly if the forecast worsens," McMaster wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The NWS said a flood watch in southeast South Carolina will be in effect through Wednesday.

ALERT: Hurricane Watch now posted for the Georgia coast and the lower South Carolina coast up to Edisto Beach, South Carolina. The Hurricane Watch DOES NOT include Charleston County at this time. #gawx #scwx #chswx #savwx  NWS Charleston, SC (@NWSCharlestonSC) August 29, 2023

More: ia-now-a-hurricane-how-will-the-storm-impact-the-piedm

Idalia to bring light rain and 30 mph wind gusts to southeast Alabama

The southeastern parts of Alabama will face widespread rain and heavy winds Wednesday as Hurricane Idalia moves inland. Dothan and Ozark, just north of the Florida border, could see wind gusts up to 30 mph.

The worst of Idalia is forecast to miss central Alabama but its proximity to southeastern parts of the state are expected to bring heavy rain and wind to the area.

2pm Radar: Widespread storms are moving northwestward from the Florida Panhandle into southeast Alabama. Gusty winds up to 40mph are possible as they move into Pike and Barbour Co. Meanwhile, isolated to scattered activity has developed roughly along & east of I-65. #alwx pic.twitter.com/KfEJOV4yAO  NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) August 29, 2023

Track Hurricane Idalia's path

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Idalia prompts flash flood risks in Georgia, North and South Carolina
Georgias GOP House Speaker is slamming his colleagues efforts to defund Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) amid the ongoing hurricane, suggesting that it could violate the state constitutions separation of powers clause.

Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns (R) addressed the GOP caucus in a letter Wednesday, hitting back on some Republican members push to defund a duly-elected district attorney of this state and her office in an attempt to interfere with the criminal justice system. He suggested that the effort to remove a district attorney from office should not take precedence over human needs in the state, like the aftereffects of Hurricane Idalia.

While this real-time crisis unfolds, unfortunately, we continue to have a few members of the General Assembly making misleading or false claims about the General Assemblys lawful powers regarding an ongoing criminal case before our Judiciary, he wrote in the letter that was obtained by The Hill. It is an unfortunate reality of todays politics that theatrics sometimes garner more attention than genuine human needs like those that will unfold today in south and coastal Georgia.

He warned that removing funding for the district attorney would also have the unintended consequence of prompting delays or preventing prosecutions in serious offenses including murder, rape and armed robbery. He said if members were actually concerned about serious crime in Atlanta, then the move to defund the district attorney would obviously be harmful to public safety.

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It is unfortunate some would knowingly suggest such a reckless course of action despite the devastating effects it would have, he wrote.

He also explained how reducing the pay of an individual district attorney or assistant district attorney would mean reducing the pay of all district attorneys across the state, noting that funds are not provided to individual circuits on an individual basis. Instead, circuits receive funding for one district attorney and an additional assistant district attorney based on the total judge count and other considerations, he said in the letter.

Burns also suggested that taking such action could violate the Georgia Constitution.

Targeting one specific DA in this manner certainly flaunts the idea of separation of powers, if not outright violates it, he wrote. We as members of the General Assembly have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the State of Georgia, these United States and the laws thereof. We trust that our criminal justice system will deal with this matter impartially and fairly, and we will not improperly intercede in this matter in direct contradiction to the oaths we took.

While the letter does not explicitly mention Willis, a handful of Republican state lawmakers have called for a special session to impeach and remove her or defund her office. Last week, state Sen. Colton Moore , who represents the northwest corner of Georgia, said Williss political persecution of former President Trump and her behavior following the indictment merits an investigation.

The Legislature has this great check and balance when it comes to controlling the purse. Ultimately, from what Ive seen, I think she should completely be defunded of any state dollars. People in northwest Georgia and Georgians all over dont want their tax dollars going to fund this type of political persecution, Moore told The Hill earlier this month.

Willis brought an indictment against Trump and 18 other co-defendants earlier this month over their alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Since then, some Republicans and Trumps allies in Washington and Georgia have begun attacking Willis over the indictment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Georgia General Assembly remains divided about next steps after the indictment of former President Donald Trump .

Following the former presidents arrival at, and then exit from, the Fulton County Jail for his arrests booking photo and processing, a variety of GOP members pushed to find a way to take action against the District Attorney responsible, Fani Willis .

Georgia Sen. Colton Moore led a charge via a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp requesting a special legislative session to impeach Willis.

House Speaker Jon Burns is not as supportive, according to a letter he sent to lawmakers Wednesday.

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Burns chose the day Hurricane Idalia bears down on Florida and Georgia to both call for prayers for those in harms way and tell Georgias Republican Caucus that some members claims about what the General Assembly can do are misleading our outright false.

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The letter states in part, that we continue to have a few members of the General Assembly making misleading or false claims about the General Assemblys lawful powers regarding an ongoing criminal case before our Judiciary.

Burns called it an unfortunate part of modern politics, saying that theatrics sometimes garner more attention than genuine human needs, such as what residents in south and coastal Georgia are facing amidst Idalias trajectory.

Additionally, the Speaker said efforts to defund Willis office directly would both interfere with the criminal justice system in Georgia at large, but have impacts across the state.

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Regardless of your views of this case, removing this funding would also have the unintended consequence of causing a delay or complete lack of prosecution of other serious offenses, like murder, rape, armed robbery, gang prosecution, battery, etc., Burns said in part.

He went further, telling his colleagues in the caucus that if they truly have concerns about crime in the Atlanta area, their idea to defund Willis office, and her staff, would be harmful to public safety, as well as require legislative action to change the Georgia budget. Burns noted that DAs office salaries and funding were formula-based, meaning that to defund one would be to defund all by default.

Targeting one specific DA in this manner certainly fl[outs] the idea of the separation of powers, if not outright violates it, Burns warned. We as members of the General Assembly have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the State of Georgia, these United States and the laws thereof.

In closing, Burns letter said lawmakers should trust the criminal justice system will deal with the matter impartially and fairly, and they would not directly intervene in contradiction to the oaths we took, and sharing his prayers for safety in the storm that is Hurricane Idalia.

While Moore and some of his fellows in the Georgia Assembly have made moves to act against Willis, theyre not alone.

Separately, the U.S. House GOPs members have opted to open their own investigation into Willis as a result of the former presidents indictment.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan announced the launch of an inquiry into Wilis, working to determine if Willis indictment of the president and his 18 co-defendants had been in coordination with federal officials.

Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also said Willis should lose her job.

As reported by the Associated Press, the Georgia General Assembly hasnt held impeachment proceedings in more than 50 years, and that since Republicans do not have the full two-thirds majority required to convict Willis in the state Senate, they would have to get help from Georgia Democrats to pull it off.

Additionally, to call a special session without the governors authority, both chambers of the Assembly would need to have a three-fifths majority, also requiring some Democratic support.

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Opposition Georgian MPs Roman Gotsiridze and Khatia Dekanoidze have proposed to temporarily suspend the issuance of investment and short-term residence permits to Russian citizens until the end of 2024, the countrys public broadcaster reported on Aug. 29, according to RFE/RL.

Read also: Ukrainian woman reportedly killed in Georgian landslide

At his press conference, Gotsiridze said that he had already registered the relevant bill in the Georgian parliament.

Currently, foreign citizens in Georgia can apply for a residence permit to purchase real estate with a market value of more than $300,000 or invest the same amount in the country's economy.

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The MP said that a short-term residence permit is also granted when purchasing real estate with a market value of more than $100,000.

Gotsiridze explained his proposal by saying that the country is currently experiencing a "difficult socio-economic situation" and that its citizens are leaving the country en masse, while a large number of Russians, most of whom have significant financial resources, move to Georgia.

From 2022 to June 2023, Russian citizens bought up to 10,000 apartments in Georgia, which indicates their long-term residence plans in the country.

Read also: Georgia summons Polish diplomat after Polish doctors visit Saakashvili

Gotsiridze said that Russians are also setting up their own companies and buying other types of real estate besides apartments. At the same time, real estate prices have risen significantly, making it more difficult for Georgian citizens to buy and rent apartments, the lawmaker noted.

Read also: Full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine projected to last beyond Biden's first term  Berezovets

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Georgia has taken a neutral position, refusing to impose sanctions against the Kremlin regime or to provide military assistance to Kyiv. At the same time, Tbilisi has provided humanitarian support and accepted Ukrainian refugees.

Read also: 15 years ago, Russia invaded Georgia under the pretext of supporting separatists

However, Georgia also became a country where Russians flocked to in great numbers after the announcement of mobilization in Russia in September 2022.

As of February 2023, Russian citizens have already opened 100,000 bank accounts in Georgia.

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
The mayor of the German city of Freiberg Sven Kruger traveled to Russia to attend the Peter's Ball, where he gave a speech praising Russia while omitting any mention of the full-scale war waged against Ukraine, German weekly newspaper Die Zeit reported on Aug. 29.



The event took place in St. Petersburg on Aug. 25. Its organizers stated that they wanted to revive the "Russian cultural code" of the old imperial tsarist times.

According to the newspaper, Kruger delivered a speech at the ball in which he spoke in favor of "good cooperation" between Berlin and Moscow. Among other things, the mayor said that he remains "optimistic," and that is why he began learning Russian last year.

Read also: Odious Ukrainian film director Oksana Bayrak flees to Russia

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Kruger also said that Russia and Germany "will overcome the difficult times and find a way to live together again in the future."

Read also: Pro-Russian supporters in Warsaw stage demonstration demanding an end to support for Ukraine

He told Die Zeit that he was invited to the ball by organizer Hans-Joachim Frey, who has long had close ties to Russia its and dictator, Vladimir Putin. In the spring, the Russian dictator awarded him a medal, after which Frey declared that he was "on Russia's side."

Politicians from Freiberg criticized the mayor's trip. In particular, the leader of the CDU parliamentary faction, Steve Ittershagen, said that he was "surprised, and it is unacceptable for the mayor to go on stage in Russia and interfere in international affairs."

Kruger has been the mayor of Freiberg, Saxony, home to about 40,000 people, since 2015. For a long time, he was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, but in 2018 he left the party because he disagreed with the coalition's policies.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A 5-year-old boy from Chicago died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot early Wednesday morning when he picked up a gun at a relatives Gary home, according to a release from Gary Police.

Around 8 a.m., police received a report of a shooting in the 2400 block of Fillmore Street, according an email from Gary Police spokesman Cmdr. Sam Roberts. Police detained a 32-year-old Gary man, who said that he was given permission from the people who reside at the home to visit and check on the child and a 17-year-old Chicago girl while the adults were away.

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The man told police he arrived at the home earlier in the morning after a night out and placed his gun down before falling asleep, the release said. He told police that he woke up when he heard a loud noise, saw the child was shot and believed that the child accidentally shot himself.

The man drove the child to the hospital for treatment, but the child died from his injuries, police said.

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The boys name has not been released by the Lake County Coroners Office, pending notification of his family.

Gary Police are working with the Lake County Prosecutors Homicide Unit and are asking for anyone with information about this incident to please contact (219) 755-3855.

In a separate incident on Aug. 27, Gary Police were called to a restaurant in the 4300 block of Broadway and found a 53-year-old Gary man with a gunshot wound in the front passenger side of his car, Roberts said in an email. The victim told the police that he, his 46-year-old girlfriend, their son and a family friend were at the business when he and the girlfriend started arguing.

She got out of the car to grab his order, and as they continued fighting, she got out of the car a second time, pulled out a gun and shot him, Roberts said. The girlfriend was arrested at the scene, he said.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
COLOGNE, Germany  The German navy is slated to lead a multinational drill in the Baltic Sea in September meant to help defend NATO members Estonia and Latvia against an attack, presumably from neighboring Russia.

The annual Northern Coasts exercise series has offered Baltic Sea nations a chance to test operations as a combined force since its inception in 2007. With Russias attack against Ukraine as the backdrop, planners this year have made clear this years iteration was conceived to address the real-world possibility of an attack against NATO on the northeastern flank.

The main exercise area this year, from Sept. 9 to Sept. 23, will be the waters off Estonia and Latvia, leaving only the Baltics southernmost nation of Lithuania as a buffer between the exercise action and Russias Kaliningrad enclave.

The drill is set to include 3,200 personnel from 14 nations, roughly 30 vessels, submarines and up to 15 aircraft as well as amphibious formations, according to a Germany navy statement. Participants will fall under five task groups  two standing NATO formations in charge of the Baltic Sea, two led by Germany, including one that includes anti-submarine aircraft, and one amphibious task group led by the United States.

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A newly established command element based in Rostock, Germany, the German Maritime Forces Staff, will direct the exercise. Officials there hope the experience will help round out any kinks toward the units full operational capability.

The Baltic Sea has strategic significance as a commercial and military bottleneck, with more than 2,500 cargo ships delivering import and exports goods through it daily, according to the German defense ministry. The Baltic Sea route is also the main NATO resupply line to member nations Finland and the Baltics, as the thin strip of land that connects Poland to the Baltic nations, through Belarus to the east and Kaliningrad to the northwest, supports only limited flow and may collapse during conflict.

NATO members have celebrated the accession of Baltic Sea nation Finland to the alliance, plus neighboring Swedens pending application, as a chance for a beefier naval posture in the body of water, which is known for its shallow depth.

Russia has its own Baltic Fleet, headquartered in Kaliningrad, with ships routinely observing Western naval exercises in the area from a distance. Moscow last staged its own Baltic naval drills in early August.
FILE - German federal police officers guide a group of migrants on their way after crossing the border between Austria and Germany in Wegscheid near Passau, Germany, on Oct. 28, 2015. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet on Wednesday Aug. 30, 2023 classified Moldova and Georgia as so-called safe countries of origin meaning asylum seekers from there can be rejected and deported faster than in the past. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

BERLIN (AP)  Chancellor Olaf Scholz 's cabinet on Wednesday classified Moldova and Georgia as so-called safe countries of origin meaning asylum seekers from there can be rejected and deported faster than in the past.

The move, once parliament has approved the new regulation, is a further step in efforts to curb migration to Germany as the country struggles to house and integrate more than 1 million refugees who fled the war from Ukraine last year. Different from others fleeing to Germany, Ukrainians do not need to apply for asylum but get a right of residency immediately.

In addition to Ukrainian war refugees, more than 188,000 people applied for asylum in Germany this year. Among those, 6,612 applications came from Georgians and 1,910 came from Moldovans during the period from January to July. However, the approval rate for asylum pleas from Georgians and Moldovans stands currently only 0.15%, the German interior ministry said.

Despite the new regulations, Georgians and Moldovans will be able to continue to apply for asylum, but their chances of approval will be close to non-existent now. Also, the designation as a safe countries of origin shortens legal deadlines, especially for appeals to overturn negative decisions on asylum requests. An appeal has no suspensive effect, meaning people can be deporting during a pending trial.

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German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser praised the Cabinet's decision as an important step toward channeling people who come to Germany for a better life but are not wanted.

More than a tenth of rejected asylum applications comes from Georgia and Moldova, Faeser said.

So here we can effectively reduce irregular migration very quickly," she added.

The minister said Germany is also in the process of concluding migration agreements with Georgia and Moldova. The government has been trying to finalize migration deals with individual countries to open doors for immigrants with skills that are much needed on Germany's labor market, such as nurses or truck drivers.

The German government defines safe countries of origin as countries from which it can be assumed, based on the democratic system and the general political situation, that no state persecution is to be feared there in general and that the respective state can protect against non-state persecution in principle.

Opposition Christian Democrats criticized the new classification as only a drop in the ocean.

In addition to extending border controls, it would also be urgently necessary to classify the Maghreb states of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia as safe countries of origin, the parliamentary faction of the Christian Democrats said in a written statement, adding that the government had not done enough to curb migration..
Berlin has transferred 10 Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine as part of its latest military aid package for Ukraine, the German government said on Aug. 30.

The tranche also included a TRML-4D air surveillance radar, 16 VECTOR reconnaissance drones, four 8x8 HX81 heavy transporter trucks, along with four semi-trailers, 13 million rounds of small arms ammunition, and a field hospital.

Earlier this year, Germany announced that in cooperation with partners, it will provide Ukraine with at least 100 older Leopard 1 tanks to aid in its efforts against Russian aggression. The first 10 of them were delivered on July 20.

In August, the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall purchased 50 Leopard 1 tanks from a private company in Belgium, announcing that 30 of them would be sent to bolster Kyiv's forces.

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Several of Ukraine's partners, including Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark, planned to purchase almost 100 Leopard tanks from a Swiss company in order to send them to Ukraine. However, Switzerland has blocked the sale, citing its neutrality policy.

Read also: Media: Nearly 100 Leopard 1 tanks stored in the open as Switzerland rejects transfer to Ukraine

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Cold War nuclear weapons tests scattered radioactive material across the globe. That material can still be found in trace amounts in the sea, the soil, and  according to a new study  the flesh of wild boars roaming the forests of southern Germany.

Experts have long known that Europes wild boars have high levels of radioactivity, so high, in fact, that their meat is generally unsafe to eat. In some regions, hunters avoid the animals entirely, which has caused their numbers to surge. Scientists believed this was the result of the 1986 meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear plant, which sent radioactive material wafting over Europe. But the new research suggests that much of the radioactive material in wild boars predates the Chernobyl disaster.

For the study, scientists examined 48 samples of wild boar meat from across southern Germany, finding high levels of radioactive cesium in most of the samples. Comparing the levels of short-lived cesium-137 with longer-lived cesium-135, they were able to infer that the boars had been contaminated by the fallout from nuclear weapons tests carried out during the Cold War.

Overall, 88 percent of the samples surpassed the safe limit for radioactive cesium in food. And nuclear weapons tests accounted for as much as 68 percent of the contamination in boars. The findings were published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

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Over decades, radioactive cesium from nuclear tests has slowly migrated underground. As a result, most animals have been exposed to less cesium over time, but not wild boars. Because boars root around in the ground for food, such as buried deer truffles, they are continually excavating radioactive fallout, which explains why levels of radioactive cesium remain persistently high in boars, even as they drop in other animals.

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A federal judge on Wednesday ruled in favor of two Georgia election workers who sued Rudy Giuliani for defamation, further ordering the attorney associated with former President Trump to pay sanctions.

Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss sued Giuliani in December 2021 over his baseless statements claiming the duo helped commit election fraud.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in a 57-page opinion ruled in favor of the two election workers by default after Giuliani resisted turning over discovery in the case. Her ruling suggested Giuliani may have done so to reduce his legal exposure in other cases.

Perhaps, he has made the calculation that his overall litigation risks are minimized by not complying with his discovery obligations in this case, Howell wrote. Whatever the reason, obligations are case specific and withholding required discovery in this case has consequences.

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Howell also ordered Giuliani to pay nearly $90,000 and his businesses to pay more than $43,000 to reimburse legal fees the election workers incurred in their attempt to compel Giuliani to turn over the discovery.

The ruling marks a significant legal blow for Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor and New York City mayor turned attorney for Trump. Giuliani was indicted this month in Georgia for his actions following the 2020 election, including allegations that overlap with the election workers lawsuit.

In the wake of the election, Giuliani made a series of false statements about Freeman and Mosss work at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, where ballots were counted. Giuliani and other Trump allies baselessly claimed the two workers committed election fraud by processing suitcases of illicit ballots.

Howells ruling finds Giuliani civilly liable by default for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy.

This 57 page opinion on discoverywhich would usually be no more than two or three pagesis a prime example of the weaponization of the justice system, where the process is the punishment. This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI, Ted Goodman, political advisor to Giuliani, said in a statement.

A trial will still be held to consider damages, and Howells ruling gives Giuliani a final opportunity to turn over discovery for the trial.

Giuliani has notably appeared to face a cash crunch as his legal bills mount. He also faces two defamation suits from voting equipment companies and disbarment proceedings.

Trump is scheduled to attend a fundraiser for Giuliani next month.

Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention, Howell ruled on Wednesday.

Rather than hand over the documents, Giuliani late last month conceded in court filings that the statements in question were false and defamatory.

Howell said the admissions hold more holes than Swiss cheese, noting that Giuliani reserved his ability to argue the statements were opinion or constitutionally protected for appeal.

The reservations in Giulianis stipulations make clear his goal to bypass the discovery process and a merits trial  at which his defenses may be fully scrutinized and tested in our judicial systems time-honored adversarial process  and to delay such a fair reckoning by taking his chances on appeal, based on the abbreviated record he forced on plaintiffs, Howell ruled.

Yet, just as taking shortcuts to win an election carries risks  even potential criminal liability  bypassing the discovery process carries serious sanctions, no matter what reservations a noncompliant party may try artificially to preserve for appeal, she added.

This story was updated at 1:03 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Speaking on Wednesday with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo, Glenn Youngkin tried his best to play it coy. "I've said over and over again how humbling it is to even talk about my name" in the context of a potential 2024 presidential run, the first-term Republican governor of Virginia said, while insisting that he remained focused on his home state and its upcoming legislative elections. "I am not paying attention to the filing deadlines" for early upcoming primary races, Youngkin claimed, emphasizing instead the "conservative common-sense policies" he argued would help Republicans keep the state House and flip its Senate. But in spite of being asked directly whether he was "considering jumping into the 2024 race," at no point did Youngkin explicitly rule out tossing his hat into a crowded GOP primary field intent on toppling party front runner, former President Donald Trump .

For months, Youngkin's name has burbled on the lips of a growing segment of the GOP donor class who, "panicked about their current choices, are holding back 2024 money with the long-shot dream of luring an alternative" to Trump "at the last minute," Axios reported. But is this former private equity executive and relative political neophyte really the answer to the never-Trump Republicans' prayers?

What the commentators said

"While the Republican donor community and the Republican elite is excited by Youngkin, the GOP base is in a different place," according to one party insider who spoke with Axios. While 57 percent of Virginians approve of Youngkin's job performance as governor according to a late-July Morning Consult survey, a new poll by Roanoke College shows him trailing Trump by nearly 40 points in his home state. He also trails behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose degrading status as the top Trump alternative has contributed to some of the focus on Youngkin in his stead.

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"Fox News really is desperate to get a non-DeSantis alternative to Trump," the Daily Beast's Justin Baragona noted on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this month.

That discrepancy between donor overtures and the Republican base' steadfast adherence to Trump thus far is the product of "beltway/donor cope," Semafor's Dave Weigel said, adding that it's "Grass-is-greener-ism, too." If former Trump United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, or South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott weren't already running, "there'd be a 'draft Haley/Scott, they can save us' donor meme."

Which isn't to say that Youngkin wouldn't be a formidable candidate. Not only was he the first Republican to win statewide office in blue-leaning Virginia in more than a decade, but by "running a center-right campaign centered on quality-of-life issues like the economy, public safety, education and personal freedoms" he represents "precisely what Republicans need to do at the national level to remain viable," according to longtime Democratic consultant Douglas Schoen. Youngkin's appeal, per Schoen, is that he was able to avoid "Trumpian style politics  without directly denouncing Trump or his voters." It's a balancing act echoed by a source close to Youngkin, who told Axios this spring that if he runs, the governor would be "in his own lane: He's not never-Trump, and he's not Trump-light."

What next?

As he insinuated in his Fox Business interview, Youngkin's immediate focus on Virginia's upcoming statewide elections will serve as something of a bellwether for his future political plans. Even though the governor would "likely face logistical challenges if he jumped into the Republican presidential primary in November, given that the Iowa caucuses are in January" The Hill reported, one Youngkin aide told Axios that "if the guy flips any seats at all, it's proof that his political machine is ready to go." Should Youngkin flip the Virginia Senate for Republicans entirely, "the pressure for the governor to jump into the presidential race will be enormous, no matter looming state filing deadlines," according to The Wall Street Journal. Conversely, "if that effort fails this November, it could chill any presidential plans he might have," Axios pointed out.

For his part, Trump obliquely addressed the possibility of a Youngkin challenge late last year, writing on Truth Social that his name "Sounds Chinese, doesn't it?" before characteristically asserting that the governor "couldn't have won without me."

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Aint no party like a gay block party that spreads across all of New Orleans.

Southern Decadence, one of the biggest LGBTQIA+ events in the Deep South, returns to New Orleans on Labor Day weekend.

The event brings in more tourists than Pride Month in NOLA, and every gay bar has events or special guests planned for the weekend. There are also many themed parties, including the weekend block party at the Phoenix Bar in the New Orleans Marigny.

There will be about 250,000 people visiting the Big Easy over the weekend, Nola.com reported.

And everyones gotta eat.

New Orleans is known for being one of the best food cities in the U.S.  and the world. From hidden gems to local favorites to tourist traps you absolutely cannot miss, the dining scene in NOLA is top notch and one that should be explored.

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But many restaurants require reservations in the Big Easy. And if youre a last-minute planner or dont like to have an itinerary when you travel, fear not.

I travel to New Orleans almost weekly for a nice walk or job  and with a goal to try somewhere new each time. Ive made a list of some of my favorite spots to try that dont require a reservation when you need a food break in the Southern Decadence revelry. Hours are subject to change, so check each restaurants website or social media pages before you go.

A lot of restaurants in the actual French Quarter dont require reservations and are geared toward tourists. I wanted to give a few other options in different neighborhoods around the city, or local favorites in the Quarter proper.

Did I miss your favorite spot? Email me and let me know at jmitchell@mcclatchy.com.

American Townhouse, French Quarter

This French Quarter gay bar and restaurant is a favorite among locals. Theres a beautiful bar in front that always has a rainbow flag or two hanging around. In the back is a kitchen with a top-tier bar food menu. Theres also a patio if sitting outside is your thing, but I prefer being in the air conditioning, enjoying loaded waffle fries with pop music blaring.

Another great thing about American Townhouse is that the restaurant is open until 1 a.m. or later.

American Townhouse is also a favorite of Mattlan Ladner, a social media influencer who runs a popular TikTok food account called BigEatsy.

What to order: Boudin and cream cheese egg rolls, chicken fingers, fish and chips

Address: 1012 North Rampart

Pizza Delicious, Bywater

Locals call it Pizza D and its in arguably the coolest area of the Big Easy. Grab a slice or two and sit outside and get ready for some of the best za of your life. If you over indulge, theres a great walking path across the street and over an arch to walk off the calories. Then wed suggest going back to Pizza D and getting a pie to-go for when you get back home from the bar.

Pizza Delicious is not open late, so this would be a great choice for lunch. They also deliver!

What to order: garlic knots, Caesar salad (trust me on this), Pizza D supreme

Address: 617 Piety Street

Phone: 504-676-8482

Note: Pizza D is closed on Mondays

Who Dat Coffee Cafe, Marigny

Its one of my favorite breakfast spots in New Orleans and Who Dat Coffee Cafe has a long history of being inclusive and welcoming of the LGBTQ+ community.

Who Dat is open daily until 2 p.m. and until 9 p.m. Thursday-Sunday. The menu is full of classic Louisiana breakfast, lunch and brunch options with a twist. If you go, do not skip on the Not Yo Mamas Corn Cakes. They are unlike any other dish youll have in the city.

What to order: Not Yo Mamas Corn Cakes, Da Cajun Scramble, PattiMelt

Address: 2401 Burgundy Street

Katies Restaurant & Bar, Mid-City

Creole-Italian fare is their specialty, and the red sauce is top notch. But so are their classic po-boys. The menu at Katies is as diverse as the people who eat there, and its popular among locals and tourists. If theres a wait, you should probably wait. Especially if youre hungry. The garlic feta fries is the best appetizer in New Orleans, and you cant change my mind.

Katies is also known for their barbecue ribs that were featured on Food Networks Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.

The restaurant does not take reservations for parties less than eight people.

What to order: garlic feta fries, blackberry jalapeno barbecue ribs, crawfish beignet

Address: 3701 Iberville Street

Vals, Uptown

Im usually the kind of person who is going to pick the meat option, but the veggie tacos at Vals are the star of their menu. The vibe is Instagrammable and the menu is great if you like small plates or trying a lot of things.

What to order: sweet potato taco, elote, roasted corn and mushroom taco

Address: 4632 Freret Sreet

Dat Dog, French Quarter and Uptown

If youve ever been to New Orleans, youve heard of Dat Dog. And this is the perfect chill spot to fill up your belly after a wild night out in the French Quarter. I prefer the French Quarter location, but it is a bit more touristy than the two Uptown spots. You cant go wrong at either spot. Dat Dog also has vegan options.

What to order: Irish Channel Dog, Crawfish Special

Address: Uptown  5030 Freret Street or 3336 Magazine Street; French Quarter  601 Frenchmen Street

Parkway Bakery & Tavern, in between Treme and Mid-City

Everyone has a lot of opinions about po-boys and where to get them. This is my favorite place in New Orleans for a po-boy. If its not yours, lets agree to disagree. But the poor boys at Parkway are great, parking is usually relatively easy and you can wash it down with a glass bottle of Barqs Root Beer.

What to order: Roast beef with gravy, the James Brown, hot ham and cheese

Address: 538 Hagan Avenue

Lil Dizzys, Treme

This Black-owned cafe on Esplanade is only open for lunch but you cannot beat their creole cuisine or soul food. I dream about their two-piece fried chicken and always get the mac and cheese.

What to order: seafood gumbo, two-piece fried chicken with a side, dirty rice

Address: 1550 Esplanade Avenue

Mollys Rise and Shine, 11th Ward

Its a local favorite and is always featured on foodie TikTok videos  and for good reason. If you want a good, filling breakfast, this restaurant is where you should park your butt for a while.

What to order: fried chicken biscuit, biscuit and gravy, carrot yogurt

Address: 2368 Magazine Street

Other restaurants to try in New Orleans

Bearcat, CBD and Uptown

Dian Xin, French Quarter

Sun Chong, French Quarter (takes reservations, but easy to get into on Mondays)

Flour Moon Bagels, Bayou St. John
Fox News issued a public apology Saturday for a recent false story about a Gold Star family after Military.com revealed that the Marine Corps had privately urged the network to pull the article.

The Military.com coverage on Aug. 23 showed how the Marine Corps confronted Fox News in July over its story on Sgt. Nicole Gee, one of 13 service members killed during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago. The Fox News story elevated claims from a freshman congressman that the Gee family had to pay $60,000 to transport her remains to Arlington National Cemetery.

That turned out to be incorrect, and Fox News later quietly deleted the story without any correction or public acknowledgment of the error. The Gee family did not have to pay for transporting the Marine's remains. After Military.com published the exchange between the service and the news outlet, other outlets like The Washington Post, CNN and Newsmax picked up the story.

Read Next: 8 US Marines Remain in a Hospital After a Fiery Aircraft Crash Killed 3 During Drills in Australia

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Fox News declined to comment for the Military.com story, which included emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. It issued the apology Saturday -- exactly two years after Gee, along with 10 other Marines, a Navy corpsman and a soldier, were killed by a suicide bomber while assisting in the evacuation of personnel at the Abbey Gate near the Kabul airport.

"The now unpublished story has been addressed internally and we sincerely apologize to the Gee family," a Fox News spokesperson told Military.com via email. The statement was first reported by the site Mediaite and then obtained by other outlets.

Military.com asked Fox News whether it had contacted the family directly to apologize and if it expected to issue a published correction to the piece, which was deleted without explanation soon after the Marine Corps pushed back on its claims and Task & Purpose cast doubt on its accuracy.

Fox News did not answer those questions, but provided the apology statement.

The story stemmed from Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who told Fox News that Gee's family was forced to pay to have her remains transferred from California to Arlington National Cemetery at a cost of $60,000.

Days after the inaccuracy came to light, Mills, who is an Army veteran, walked back his claim and said that the family was "in their time of grief, confused" about the transportation policy. On Monday, Military.com asked Mills' office whether he had offered the family an apology similar to Fox News, or if the family could expect one.

A spokesperson for Mills provided the publication a statement the congressman made in July about the handling of Gee's remains, but did not comment on an apology.

Christy Shamblin, Gee's mother-in-law, was first to offer an apology, almost immediately after the story took off.

"At the time, I just understood we would be responsible for the cost of her transportation to Arlington," she told Military.com a few days after the initial Fox story. "I now understand there is a reimbursement process for this."

"I am truly very sorry, and Congressman Mills has been very supportive and helpful," she added.

Fox News softened its claim by changing the headline and adding information after the initial publication. At the time, a top spokesperson for the Marine Corps accused the outlet of using the family to draw readers.

"Using the grief of a family member of a fallen Marine to score cheap clickbait points is disgusting," Maj. James Stenger said in a July 27 email to Fox News executives.

Throughout that week in late July, Fox News updated its story without note and eventually deleted it outright without an official retraction, which is typically accompanied by an update stating why a piece was removed.

The 47-page Pentagon policy on remains transfers does require family members of fallen service members to pay up front if they want their loved one's remains to be transferred to a second location after they are shipped back from overseas at direct cost to the government. The second transfer would then be reimbursed by the Defense Department.

After being transported from Afghanistan to California, where she was memorialized by her local community, Gee's family wanted Nicole's remains transferred to Arlington. Before any process could even begin for the second transfer, a nonprofit called Honoring Our Fallen secured a donation from a veteran to ship the remains via private flight.

"We did not have to pay any bill and never had a bill presented," Shamblin told Military.com last month after the Fox News story disappeared from its website without a correction.

When telling her story to Mills at a Gold Star family event, it was her intent to bring light to the policy and -- in general -- get answers from President Joe Biden's administration about how the Afghanistan exit where her daughter-in-law died was the "success" the president touted it to be.

"None of our kids went over there asking what political affiliation anybody had," she told Military.com recently, saying that her interest in hearing answers from top officials has nothing to do with politics for her. "I would just like them to have a chance to tell me how this was successful."

Of the Gold Star family community, Shamblin said, "it's a group you don't ever want to be a member of, but the members are pretty spectacular. We hold each other up pretty well."

-- Drew F. Lawrence can be reached at drew.lawrence@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @df_lawrence.

Related: Inside the Marine Corps' Fight with Fox News over a False Gold Star Family Story
Jim Cantore remained a Florida man as of late morning on Wednesday.

The Weather Channel meteorologist, who flew in to Gainseville Monday, is apparently still in the thick of things in Cedar Key, where Idalia was predicted to make landfall.

The monster storm is currently making its way into southern Georgia, hours after Idalia slammed into Keaton Beach in the the so called Big Bend of Florida as a Category 3 hurricane at around 7:45 a.m.

A RECORD 6.9 foot storm surge in Cedar Key, FL. Surrounded by water as expected. #UOF #idalia pic.twitter.com/o1ugmxyA0R  Jim Cantore (@JimCantore) August 30, 2023

Cantore tweeted a video from a precarious looking stairwell in his bunker, its first floor completely flooded.

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The 59-year-old industry vet was taking his current, damp situation in stride.

I want to show you why were kind of trapped in this building for a while, he says to the camera. But we knew we would be, OK?

The camera then pans down to show dirty water almost reaching the handle of the front door.

READ MORE: Ginger Zee says she is leaving Zone A as she covers Idalia

Were up 23 to 25 feet, Cantore explains. You can see how water is coming into the first floor, which is exactly what we expected.

This is a good sign, according to the TV star, as the water is now retreating from a record setting 6.9 feet of storm surge.

Its gonna be awhile, Cantore says matter-of-factly. The onshore wind is gonna keep the surge up....

Maybe itll be gone by tonight. Well see.

READ MORE: Is your airport open? How did Idalia affect flights?
Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission executive director Ty Warner speaks during a celebration of the Gary Public Transportation Corporation's new all-electric buses on Wednesday, August 9, 2023. (Kyle Telechan for the Post-Tribune) (Kyle Telechan/Post-Tribune)

A $70,000 federal grant, announced recently by U.S. Rep Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, will enable a four-year-old economic development program to continue its work in Northwest Indiana.

The grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, part of the Department of Commerce, will support the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commissions economic development program.

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This money helps us to do a total add-value to economic development in the region, NIRPC Executive Director Ty Warner said. It enables us to work in the federal economic development space.

NIRPC first received the federal economic development designation four years ago, after working more than 10 years  before Warner began there  to obtain it.

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Were really thankful that it didnt take longer to come, Warner said.

Soon after NIRPC got the economic development designation, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and much of the regions and nations economy shut down.

Then, federal funds enabled NIRPCs economic development program to develop both a revolving loan program for businesses and a plan to help make the regions economy more resilient to future disruptions.

Denarie Kane, NIRPCs economic development coordinator, said two businesses received $50,000 each under the loan program. They have begun paying back the loans, and the funds then will be available to other businesses.

The resiliency program, developed by consultants and approved last December by NIRPCs governing board, calls for improving the regions infrastructure, attracting and retaining more jobs for skilled workers, and expanding the regional economy.

The resiliency program is still a work in progress, Kane said, as she works with groups and organizations in the region to advance various aspects.

One program she mentioned calls for improving access to broadband internet access to low-income households, including those in rural areas.

The Affordable Connectivity Program, run by the Federal Communications Commission, helps low-income households get access to the high-speed internet service that has become vital for education and business.

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The program provides up to a $30 monthly discount on monthly internet services for qualifying households, and up to $100 to help them buy a computer, laptop or tablet.

Any time I talk to one of our member communities, Kane said, I ask, Would you please help advertise the Affordable Connectivity Program?

Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Back in 2021, thenRepublican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel postedof all thingsa Pride Month greeting on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. Happy #PrideMonth! McDaniels post read. @GOP is proud to have doubled our LGBTQ support over the last 4 years. McDaniels message was hailed at the timeat least by some Republicans interviewed in Politicoas a sign of a changing political climate.

Compare this to a message posted in June of this year from an account later linked to Ron DeSantis s presidential campaign, which shared a violently homophobic and transphobic video, ostensibly targeting former President Donald Trump for being too supportive of LGBTQ rights. To wrap up Pride Month, lets hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it, the ironic post reads.

Some believe these kinds of tactics will backfire on DeSantishis war on woke and his attacks on Disney, schools, and history have been used by various pundits to explain his lag in the polls. It may be true that similar attacks on LGBTQ+ people will turn out to be electoral losers, as some surveys suggest and some political analysts forecast. Yet the GOP obsession with attempts to criminalize queer and trans life has become a reliable fixture of the 2024 campaign, fueled by fights set in motion by candidates like DeSantis.

Whatever power anti-LGBTQ politics have to boostor tankpresidential candidates prospects, the threat is continuing to grow off the national political stage. From those dwelling in governors mansions to those readying for their next session in the state legislatures, to those claiming unfettered power to prosecute people under laws that have been struck down, these are the people who stand to benefit from the focus pulled to the presidential race.

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This week, Republican-backed bans targeting drag in Texas and Montana faced inevitable constitutional challenges in federal courts. While the bans prospects for being upheld are far from secureand rest on their respective states making the case that the laws are not meant to discriminatetheir backers leave no doubt about the bans intent: to paint LGBTQ communities as threats to children. Now, as if to emphasize how such bans were crafted to undermine LGBTQ peoples constitutional rights, a Tennessee prosecutor announced in a letter released Tuesday that he would enforce a drag ban that was already ruled unconstitutional; the letter was addressed to organizers of a Pride event to be held in Blount County this weekend, his apparent intended target.

Bans on drag are part of the deluge of anti-LGBTQ legislation that has overwhelmed statehouses in the past few years. After some far-right activists succeeded in making Drag Queen Story Hour a steady feature on Fox News, and after far-right groups began regularly targeting drag events for harassment, a few state lawmakers in Texas and Florida demanded that drag bans be introduced in 2022. In the midterm elections that year, at least 21 Republican candidates and political action committees deployed anti-trans and anti-drag messaging in their campaignswhich, according to some analysts, may have hurt them. As American University School of Public Affairs assistant professor Andrew Flores argued in The Washington Post last year, the combination of a growing bloc of LGBTQ voters and Republicans escalating attacks on LGBTQ rights perhaps contributed to defeating at least some of those Republicans. But there were notable exceptions, like Governors Ron DeSantis in Florida, Bill Lee in Tennessee, and Greg Abbott in Texas, who all went on to sign drag bans in 2023. Still, in his overall analysis, Flores wrote, anti-LGBTQ politics appears to be mobilizing more LGBTQ voters than voters who oppose LGBTQ rights.

Lee was the first to sign a drag ban into law this March, along with a ban on providing gender-affirming health care to minors. DeSantis followed suit with a ban targeting drag in May, with Texas and other states soon after. Some of the bans, like the one in Texas, avoid mentioning drag entirelyevidence of what the Texas Observer described as the linguistic contortions they use in an attempt to target queer and trans people without mentioning them by name.

Montanas does mention drag by name, and was passed in an openly anti-democratic and anti-trans legislative session last spring. During this session, Montana Republicans with the states Freedom Caucus engaged in a sustained campaign against Democratic Representative Zooey Zephyr, one of the legislatures two transgender members. The Freedom Caucus pushed the Republican-majority state House of Representatives to vote to ban Zephyr from the floor, and won. They made her out to be an instigator of what they called an insurrection for having spoken out against anti-trans legislation, including the drag ban.

Unsurprisingly, the bans arent weathering their challenges well in the court of law. In Texas, the states attorneys on Monday attempted to argue that a ban on drag shows was content neutral and didnt discriminate against drag performances, despite the fact that Abbott clearly celebrated it as an anti-drag ban shortly after it became law. (Texas Governor Signs Law Banning Drag Performances in Public. Thats right, Abbott posted in June on X, linking a news story on the bill signing.)

Mondays hearing wasnt exactly a runaway success for the state. In one particularly embarrassing exchange, as The Texas Tribune reported, the judge asked a witness the state billed as an expert on the impact of sexually explicit materials on minors if they had met anyone who had incurred a lifelong affliction as a result of their experience with a drag queen. Per the Tribune, the witness said the only people that fit that description were also exposed to sexual abuse; the witness was subsequently dismissed by the judge. The ban will go into effect Fridayunless the judge issues a preliminary injunction, which, given how the hearing went for the state, is definitely not out of the question.

Meanwhile, in Montana, lawyers for the state attorney generals office continued their struggle on Monday to defend a vague, broad drag ban as nondiscriminatory. Signed by Republican Governor Greg Gianforte in May, the ban was challenged in federal court in Butte in July by a group of 10 plaintiffs, including a schoolteacher, a bookstore, and a trans author and activist. (Lest there be any confusion about whether the legislation is nondiscriminatory, as the state is arguing, the bans sponsor in February accused drag performers who read books to children as having a sick agenda.) This weeks hearing comes not long after the state lost its attempt to halt a temporary restraining order, during which it argued that the law didnt ban drag queen story hours outright because libraries could hold them outside regular library hours. When the judge asked at what time they had in mind, an attorney for the state said that libraries could host the story hoursevents for children at 11 oclock at night.

Montanas ban shares a key feature with many of the other states bans targeting drag: It is written in broad, vague language seemingly designed to produce a chilling effect, encouraging people to enforce the law based not on its contents but in fear of how it might be used against them. Its working. Following the bans passage, a public library in Butte used the law to justify prohibiting a trans woman from presenting a public talk on the history of trans and Indigenous people. County Attorney Eileen Joyce, the top local prosecutor, advised the library to cancel the event after receiving a transphobic message on social media (which called the presenter it and pleaded, Will the local police be allowing this to happen?). The prosecutor acknowledged, as the Montana Free Press reported, that the countys actions could be seen as discriminatory toward transgender people and possibly even grounds for a lawsuit. Sure enough, the woman whose talk at the library was canceled was among the group of plaintiffs who filed a challenge to the law in federal court in Butte in July.

Its clear that these bills are shabby pieces of legislation that should not hold up under the barest judicial scrutiny. But they were not designed to be workable laws. Rather, the bans have proven most successful so far in creating chaos, both for those potentially penalized for violating them and for those charged with defending the bans. This is by design. While Republican state lawmakers make blatant attempts to define drag as somehow outside protected First Amendment speech, their lawyers have been left arguing in court that the bans arent what they are: an attempt to target a specific group for a particular kind of expression.

As these constitutional challenges to the bans proceed, they may well continue to underwhelm yet more members of the judiciary. On that level, they look like they are losing: Tennessees was struck down as unconstitutional, and Floridas is temporarily blocked from being enforced, as is Montanas. In Tennessee, however, as reporting late Tuesday from legal journalist Chris Geidner revealed, one district attorney claims he has the power to prosecute any violations of the struck-down ban should they occur at Blount County Pride on Saturday, despite a federal judge striking down that ban in June as an unconstitutional restriction on speech. Blount County District Attorney Ryan Desmond also admitted he tried but failed to find a legal way to block the Pride event before it occurs. In other words, Desmond and his staff looked high and low for a way to violate the Constitution, but they came up empty-handed, Geidner wrote. They are apparently not going to let that stop them.

What if the bans arent meant to succeed on their face, as law? What if the point is the chaos and fear, the scapegoating of queer and trans people as enemies? As a recent DeSantis campaign email asked his supporters, Why do Joe Biden and the Left think its common sense to salute the Pride Flag?as if inviting them to define queer and trans people out of real America. And as the Tennessee prosecutors threats have shown, while those backing these bans deploy the law to justify marginalizing and penalizing queer and trans people through redefining drag as a crime, defenders are also willing to go outside the law to continue to attack these communities and paint them as threats to the country.
Alabama state Rep. David Cole (R) on Tuesday was arrested and charged with voter fraud on accusations he voted in multiple or unauthorized locations, according to jail records provided by Madison County Sheriffs Office.

According to the sheriffs records, Cole was booked Tuesday afternoon and released on bail amounting to $2,500. The charge is a Class C felony, meaning conviction could result in up to 10 years in prison.

Al.com, a local news outlet, said Attorney General Steve Marshalls office confirmed he was prosecuting the case.

Additional details of the charges were not immediately available in court records. However, the arrest comes after increased scrutiny over Coles primary residence.

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Cole was elected to represent District 10 in the Alabama legislature, but local reports claimed Cole actually lived in District 4, which would violate state law. Libertarian candidate Elijah Boyd challenged the election results in court.

In a deposition in May, according to reports, Cole sat for more than two hours answering questions that centered on whether Cole truly lived at the District 10 home listed as his residence.

During the deposition, he said he could not remember whether he had moved any personal property into the home. He also said he could not recall whether he had ever slept at the home overnight and said he could not recall ever eating a meal at the home or bathing there.

Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R) issued a statement Tuesday, according to multiple reports, and said the investigation was ongoing and he was waiting for more details to emerge. He stressed the importance of election integrity.

In recent years, the Alabama House has prioritized legislation that promotes election integrity, and we believe that any allegation of fraud must be addressed regardless of the party, public official, or candidate involved, the statement read.

Alabamians may remain confident that their elections are conducted honestly, their votes are cast and counted fairly, and their ballot boxes are secure. Now, it is up to a court of law to determine the validity of the allegations Cole is facing, and I anticipate Alabamas election laws will withstand their true intent, Ledbetter continued.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
As anyone who read the indictments from special prosecutor Jack Smith or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could attest, the evidence against Donald Trump is overwhelming in both the federal and Georgia cases involving the attempted theft of the 2020 election. But even if you haven't read a word of either, one could surmise the seriousness of the situation from the way Republican leaders are reacting. Trump's defenders are lashing out with the favorite rhetorical device of authoritarians everywhere: Psychological projection.

Take, for instance, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., blabbering on about impeachment inquiries into the baseless conspiracy theories about Presiden t Joe Biden. Rep. J im Jordan, R-Ohio, is making impotent threats of retaliatory investigations. Meanwhile, Republicans, like Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, are seeking to shield Trump from his legal woes by hijacking must-pass government funding legislation to hinder prosecutors who have successfully secured indictments of Trump. The already shrill tones emanating from Republicans on all levels are reaching glass-shattering decibels. Unfortunately, as is usually the case, they're looking for innocent victims to take their frustration out on  and in some states, the victim is the concept of democracy itself.

In Wisconsin, voters have reacted to the twin Republican assaults on democracy and reproductive rights by electing Justice Janet Protasiewicz to the state supreme court this year. While it was not explicitly a partisan election, Protasiewicz won because she was both loudly pro-choice and critical of her opponent, Dan Kelly, for blatantly supporting Trump's 2020 coup efforts. Wisconsin Republicans have worked hard for a long time to gut democracy in their state to the point where Democrats would have to win by 12 percentage points to get a bare minimum in the state house. The hope is that the new liberal court majority, empowered by voters, can scale back the gerrymandering.

"This is nothing short of an unprecedented coup," the court's conservative chief justice, Annette Ziegler, wrote in an unhinged email to the new, voter-chosen liberal majority. She also characterized the changes to the court as a "recent hostile takeover" and accused the new majority of conducting an "illegal experiment" by voting to weaken her bureaucratic powers.

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Ziegler has been using this "coup" language all over the place to demonize the liberal majority. As with most things from Republicans today, the accusation is a confession, on two levels. First, the actual coup effort of recent history, as Ziegler no doubt knows, was conducted by Trump. Second, Ziegler herself had been refusing to re-open the court to allow the new liberal majority to take cases. She's just mad because they rewrote the rules so they can actually do the job voters hired them to do.

In Tennessee, Republicans are also having a tantrum over the fact that voters just keep insisting on their right to choose their own leaders. In April, Republicans in the state legislature expelled two members on false claims of incivility, but in reality, Republicans reject the right of voters in urban districts to elect Black Democrats as representatives. The two were shortly restored to office by voters and clearly Republicans aren't happy about it. The majority voted again on Monday to silence Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville. Again, the pretense was that he was "out of order" during a debate over a gun safety bill.

Democrats walked out in protest and Jones released a video explaining, "What is happening is not democratic. It is authoritarianism."

Just left the House Chamber after Speaker Sexton forced a vote to silence me for the remainder of the legislative day (for speaking off topic) and ordered the public cleared out of the gallery.



This is the authoritarianism we are fighting against. pic.twitter.com/xfDAh9DpmI  Rep. Justin Jones (@brotherjones_) August 28, 2023

As with the initial expulsion, what's truly bizarre about this is Democrats have no real power in Tennessee anyway, as it's a red state with its own dose of gerrymandering. But that's how entitled Republicans feel in the Trump era. It's not enough to control all levers of government. The very fact that Democrats still get to vote and speak out at all is viewed as unacceptable.

Certainly, Trump built on years of Republican voter suppression and other anti-democratic efforts, but this petulant GOP loathing of anything that even smacks of democracy owes quite a bit to his shameless assertion that any election Trump does not win is "fraud." Now that he's been indicted in two separate jurisdictions for his efforts to overturn democracy, Republican leaders are, in a pique of defensiveness, doubling down. Because heaven forbid they admit that having a democracy means letting voters pick who they want as leaders.

Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics? Subscribe to her newsletter Standing Room Only.

It's a sign of how normalized the fascist effect has become in the GOP that barely anyone batted an eye to the violent rhetoric that poured out of Republican leaders and pundits in response to Trump's indictments. Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was squawking about how conservatives need to "rise up" and threatened a "civil war." Failed Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake was raving about how there needs to be "a street fight, a fist fight" on Steve Bannon's podcast. And, of course, there was the projection, such as with right-wing talk radio host Stew Peters ranting about how Democrats are "the real insurrectionists who have committed sedition," justifying the use of "extra-legal" options to remove them from power.

What is perhaps more surprising and equally dangerous is the number of GOP figures who are propping up fake governments in an effort to undermine the authority of real elected officials. As Right Wing Watch reported, earlier this month, a group of right-wing activists led by former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum "held a simulated Article V convention in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia" in hopes of kickstarting an effort to void out the actual Constitution. Larry Klayman, of the misnamed Freedom Watch, claims to have convened an extralegal "citizen grand jury" and "citizen judge" in Idaho to file charges against President Biden for made-up crimes.

It's easy to laugh at this stuff, but it helps build up GOP morale to abuse real power to prosecute Democrats on false evidence and false accusations. On Fox News, for instance, Jesse Watters hosted a GOP political operative named Ned Ryun, who was screaming for the mass arrest of Democrats as retaliation. He didn't even really bother to pretend they had committed crimes to justify it. Certainly, the House Republican chatter about impeaching Biden and investigating the prosecutors falls into this category. The fake grand juries and constitutional conventions only serve to make these abuses of power, used just to prop up lies, seem more legitimate.

All of this comes from the same place: The Republican belief that they should hold all the power, regardless of what voters believe. So much so that they back Trump's criminal efforts to stay in power, despite losing an election. It's all the more reason to hope that the March 4 date for Trump's federal trial for an attempted coup stays put. Republicans clearly need even more persuasion that the fascistic path they are on will lead to no good. They won't wake up overnight if their leader gets convicted for his crimes, but the more the cognitive dissonance increases, the harder it will be for them to hang on.

Read more

about Republicans' anti-democratic moves
Drax Group, a 3,400-employee clean energy company, has the Scottish governments go-ahead to build out a 500-million-pound (roughly $630 million) water battery.

The underground pumped storage hydro plant could be a game changer for housing renewable energy in Scotland. Its also part of a plan to strengthen the UKs power grid, officials said in a project summary.

Hydropower has real potential to play a greater role in our transition to net zero, and to help ensure a resilient and secure electricity supply across the U.K., Scotlands First Minister Humza Yousaf said in the Drax report.

The project, which is still in early development stages, leverages the power of the wind, water, and gravity to make and store energy. The system could also be used to store solar power.

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Water batteries include two reservoirs, with one positioned above the other. When renewable energy sources (in Scotlands case, wind turbines) are producing more power than needed, the extra juice pumps the water into the top reservoir. And, thanks to the power of gravity, the stored water is kept as charged energy.

When the grid needs a boost, the water in the top reservoir can be released to the bottom one, turning a turbine and creating electricity, per the U.S. Department of Energys description of the process. The Scotland project will use a reversible turbine to move the water between reservoirs.

Water batteries are an effective way to solve renewable energys notable storage conundrum, providing a reliable alternative to lithium-ion batteries, which are costly and difficult to mine.

These plants play a critical role in stabilizing the electricity system, helping to balance supply and demand through storing excess power from the national grid, Drax CEO Will Gardiner said in the companys report.

The 600-megawatt plant will be located at the Hollow Mountain of Cruachan Power Station, in a scenic, mountainous area with a long history of hydropower. The new, underground hydro-storage project would bring the sites overall power capacity to more than a gigawatt, Drax officials claim.

To put that into perspective, a gigawatt is equal to the power of about 1.3 million horses. Around the house, a gigawatt represents the power needed for 100 million LED lights, according to the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.

This office also has a list of benefits Scotland should realize as part of this unique project. The U.S. has 18 states using water batteries, with more on the way. They are ready for service during periods of heavy usage, like during heat waves. The systems are highly efficient, at 70-80%.

In Scotland, Drax and government officials are still working out the market details to bring this project online. However, they are planning for the water to be flowing by 2030, employing nearly 1,000 people and helping to power Scotland and its neighbors more cleanly.

The Scottish Government will continue to urge the U.K. government to provide an appropriate market mechanism for hydropower, Yousaf said in the Drax report.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Del Norte and Siskiyou counties Tuesday as wildfires force evacuations, destroy homes and cut power in Northern California.

The Happy Camp Complex began burning in Siskiyou County on Aug. 16 and has since burned more than 22,000 acres as of Wednesday. The complex, in Klamath National Forest, is at 39% contained, according to Calfire.

The Smith River Complex in Del Norte County started on Aug. 20 and has since burned more than 75,000 acres. These fires have affected nearby Crescent City and threaten the community of Gasquet, according to the declaration. The fire is 7% contained, according to the United States Forest Service.

Crescent City has a population of nearly 6,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, while Gasquet has a population of roughly 600.

Current wildfires on California-Oregon border

Map: NATHANIEL LEVINE | Sources: U.S. Department of the Interior, IRWIN, NIFC, NASA, NOAA and Esri

The announcement specified the following provisions for affected residents and those working to restore the community:

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Licensing requirements and out-of-state contractor fees would be waived for those working with the California utilities agency to restore electricity in the area.

Residents who have been impacted by the fires will have easier access to unemployment benefits

Fees will be waived for affected residents who are looking to replace their drivers licenses and marriage or birth certificates.

Smoke from the wildfires in Northern California and southern Oregon has made its way into the Sacramento Valley and the region is under a red flag warning due to dry, hot and windy weather conditions.

CALIFORNIA'S AIR QUALITY

This live-updating map shows the combined readings for particulate matter and ozone.

What do you want to know about life in Sacramento? Ask our service journalism team your top-of-mind questions in the module below or email servicejournalists@sacbee.com.
People march in Jacksonville, Fla., on Monday to honor the victims of an Aug. 26, 2023, mass shooting. The killer targeted Black shoppers at a local store. (Washington Post )

I graduated from college in 1996.

That year, President Clinton signed an anti-church-burning bill into law. Between the time I received my high school diploma and my bachelor's degree, more than 40 predominantly Black churches had been burned in the South alone.

Not in 1966. In 1996. A tough pill to swallow for the that was a long time ago crowd.

Tom Royals was the defense attorney for one of three young white males convicted of burning the Rocky Point Missionary Baptist Church in Mississippi back in 1993. Reportedly they yelled "burn, n, burn" as they sped away. Royals, who had lived in the state since the 1950s, described the arson as irrational and the arsonists as young, drunk and crazy.

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Racist would have been more accurate. Certainly more direct. But not flattering. So, Royals took the scenic route in describing his clients actions in hopes of softening the blow. It didnt work.

This week, I am returning to teach at the college from which I graduated in 1996. Also, this week, President Biden issued a statement saying that white supremacy has no place in America.

Quite the bookends.

The year I left college, Black churches were being burned to the ground  some reportedly by members of the KKK. More than a quarter of a century later, a white man with swastikas painted on his gun and a white supremacist patch on his tactical vest, guns down three Black people in Jacksonville, Fla.

Read more: American political leaders have a hard time condemning racist shootings like the one in Jacksonville. Why?

In between, there have been too many racially motivated hate crimes to list. Theres no need dig up archival footage from the civil rights era in the 1960s when racist attacks are still occurring with great regularity in real time.

Bidens statement took the direct approach in condemning what happened last weekend in Florida. As did those made by local law enforcement in the immediate aftermath.

This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said of the killer. I dont know that the targets were specific, but I know that any member of that race at that time was in danger. Of the Black race.

FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said, This was a targeted attack, a hate crime that was racially motivated.

So why did Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) take the scenic route in describing what occurred? He wrote on social media that a sick person committed the acts and that we condemn this in the strongest possible terms and hope for a day when violence like this is absent from our society.

Violence like what, I wonder? In 2021, Gaetz called the Anti-Defamation League a racist organization, so clearly hes not afraid to use the word. Yet he withheld any mention of race while talking about a racially motivated attack.

Read more: Editorial: There's no place like America for gun violence

For a defense attorney such as Royals, using vague and equivocal language is consistent with trying to defend a client. So why is Gaetz  who invited a Holocaust denier to the State of the Union address in 2018  being so vague? Why wont he state the obvious?

Of the 37 church fires in Florida investigated by the Clinton administration, most took place in Jacksonville. However, some occurred in the same congressional district where Gaetz was attending high school at the time. Some occurred while Gaetz was attending classes at Florida State University.

In 2015, nine Black worshipers at a church in Charleston, S.C., were murdered by a white supremacist. Three years later, a white supremacist attacked a Pittsburgh synagogue leaving 11 Jewish worshipers dead. In 2019, 23 shoppers, mostly Latinos, were murdered in El Paso by a white supremacist radicalized by the great replacement theory promoted by Tucker Carlson and other commentators and right-wing extremists. Thats the same worldview echoed by the gunman who entered a Buffalo, N.Y., grocery store in 2022, killing 10 people. The 180-page manifesto made clear he targeted his victims for being Black.

The problem for that was a long time ago crowd is the definition of long time ago needs constant updating. It refreshed when I was in college. It refreshed when Gaetz was in college. It has been painfully refreshed for students returning to campus this week.

Generation after generation of Americans are confronted with racially motivated violence and right-wing elected officials trying to dismiss reality with equivocal language. Like a defense attorney. In 2021, while addressing a crowd of supporters, Gaetz said, They arent really coming for me. Theyre coming for you. Im just in the way.

Great  but who exactly is he trying to protect?

@LZGranderson





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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Judit Gerencser (C), deputy director general of National Szechenyi Library, receives a collection of books from Li Xikui (R), Vice President of Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, at the opening ceremony of an exhibition on "Chinese Characters and Civilization" at the National Library of Foreign Literature of Hungary in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 29, 2023. The exhibition was held here on Tuesday, showcasing the art and craft of Chinese script. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

An exhibition on "Chinese Characters and Civilization" was held at the National Library of Foreign Literature of Hungary on Tuesday, showcasing the art and craft of Chinese script.



The exhibition opened with a recital of Hungarian and Chinese poetry by students from the Confucius Institute at the University of Miskolc, their peers from Debrecen and Szeged Universities, and young students from schools in Budapest.

Visitors to the exhibition also got to learn about the history and evolution of Chinese characters, which were carved into bones, wood, or bronze, before being crafted on silk and paper.

Some of these relics - the Chinese Oracle-Bone Inscriptions - were deemed precious enough to earn a spot in UNESCO's exclusive World Heritage catalog.

"We are very pleased that we can give a home to this event and exhibition (...) and that we have created a very fruitful relationship with China and the Chinese people," said Judit Gerencser, deputy director general of National Szechenyi Library.

"Characters are the carriers of civilization, while Chinese characters carry the essence of Chinese civilization," said Li Xikui, Vice President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

He highlighted the literary dialogue between Hungary and China, and how this event epitomized the spirit of cultural exchange that strengthens ties between nations.

"We wanted more Hungarians to understand Chinese culture and fall in love with it. This is our ultimate goal," Li told Xinhua.

The exhibition will last until Sept. 20.

A woman visits an exhibition on "Chinese Characters and Civilization" at the National Library of Foreign Literature of Hungary in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 29, 2023. The exhibition was held here on Tuesday, showcasing the art and craft of Chinese script. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) not fit for office after he appeared to freeze up at a podium Wednesday for the second time in recent weeks while taking questions from reporters.

Severe aging health issues and/or mental health incompetence in our nations leaders MUST be addressed, Greene wrote on Wednesday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. She attached a clip from the incident earlier in the day.

Biden, McConnell, Feinstein, and Fetterman are examples of people who are not fit for office and its time to be serious about it, Greene continued, comparing McConnells freeze-up to what she suggested were health-related conditions affecting President Biden, along with Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and John Fetterman (Pa.).

Lawmakers have expressed similar health concerns about Feinsteins mental capabilities, with a small number in her party even calling on her to resign. Fetterman checked himself into a hospital for several weeks to get treatment for clinical depression. He also survived a stroke during his campaign.

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Biden is the oldest president in history to be elected to the White House and has acknowledged in interviews that questions about his age are totally legitimate but said hes fully capable of running for reelection. According to the White House, his doctor has given him a clean bill of health.

In a subsequent post, Greene raised the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment, which addresses succession and disability as it applies to the president.

These politicians staff and family members should be ashamed of themselves by enabling and allowing their loved ones to remain in office all to hold power. We are talking about our countrys national security and its all at stake! 25th amendment and other measures need to be on the table, she wrote.

Greenes comments echo some arguments expressed by members of both parties, who have raised concerns about an aging Senate, both in terms of mental acuity and in terms of reflecting the demographics of their constituents. The median age in the U.S. Senate is 65.3 years, according to Pew Research Center.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The group of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas  former clerks who signed on to a letter this week defending the justice from attacks on his integrity, his character [and] his ethics included one individual whose integrity has been drawn into serious question: John C. Eastman.

Eastman is accused of undermining the core of American democracy  free and fair elections  by scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Prosecutors there charged him earlier this month as part of a sprawling racketeering case that also implicates former President Donald Trump.

Eastman is also currently defending his law license in a California state bar trial.

In late 2020, when Trumps election loss was becoming clear, Eastman wrote a memo outlining the steps then-Vice President Mike Pence could take to stop the formal certification of the election in Congress. He helped concoct a plan to have an alternate slate of electors falsely certify that Trump won in Georgia and elsewhere.

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In their open letter, the former clerks called upon Thomas incredible life story. The son of a young single mother living in poverty, Thomas eventually went to live with his grandparents and studied at a segregated Southern school. He fell in alongside the Black Power movement before heading to law school and turning heel, later joining the Reagan administration.

And yet, the stories most often told of Justice Thomas are not these, the signees complained. Lately, the stories have questioned his integrity and his ethics for the friends he keeps. They bury the lede.

Thomas public profile has taken hit after hit this year because reports have emerged detailing the extent of the favors he appears to have accepted from wealthy friends over the past three decades  expensive yacht tripsand real estate deals among them.

These trips were not disclosed via standard annual financial forms before reporters started digging into them, fueling accusations that Thomas  and the high court itself  may not actually exhibit unimpeachable integrity as his former clerks maintain. Thomas wifes exploits have also raised alarm; Virginia Ginni Thomas has stood by the false idea the 2020 election was fraudulent.

Other signees include James C. Ho, now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit who recently argued that anti-abortion doctors experience an aesthetic injury when a patient chooses to end a pregnancy; Fox News pundit Laura Ingraham; and Judicial Crisis Network President Carrie Severino, who has helped shape the federal court system by recommending judicial appointments like those of Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

Clarence Thomas and another oft-criticized conservative justice, Samuel Alito, asked for a 90-day extension to file their 2022 financial disclosure forms earlier this year.

The forms are due to be made public shortly.

Related...
(Bloomberg) -- GSK Plc will invest more than 250 million ($272 million) in a Belgian site for vaccines as the country builds on its position as a global health and biotech hub.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The drugmaker will build a new unit for freeze-drying vaccines in Wavre, the worlds largest vaccine production site.

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The new center, southeast of Brussels, will become operational in 2027 and will house both non-living vaccines, such as Zona and RSV shots, and live inoculations against measles and varicella, GSK said. It will produce tens of millions of doses a year.

The Covid pandemic has opened the worlds eyes to what we have here in Belgium, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said at the site. We see biopharma is becoming much more geostrategic than it used to be. We see other countries are looking with an interested eye at what is happening in Belgium, so we take measures to stay on top.

Belgium which exported Covid vaccines throughout the world during the pandemic, is investing about 1.5 billion a year in biotech, according to Emmanuel Amory, head of GSK in Belgium. GSK itself invests between 300 million and 500 million in Belgium a year.

The freeze-drying technique aims to make vaccines more stable and extend their shelf life.

Rudy Rosolen, vice president for production at GSK Belgium, said the centers innovative techniques will help increase reliability of supply, number of doses and their quality.

GSKs commitment follows last years announcements from Pfizer Inc. on investing 1.2 billion in its Belgian branch in Puurs, and a 300 million plan from Takeda in Lessines.

Belgium has more than 140 biotech companies and startups.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
This video captures the moment when debris from a Russian missile hit the Auchan hypermarket in Kyiv's Darnytskyi district on the night of 29-30 August.

Source: The Guardians YouTube

Details: In Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv, the debris of a downed missile fell on the territory of an industrial facility and into non-residential buildings, and in Darnytskyi district  on the roof of the store.

On Wednesday, 29 August, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that two people were killed in a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Three were injured and hospitalised. Kyiv City Military Administration clarified that two security guards of the company, men aged 26 and 36, were killed.

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Background:

On the night of 29-30 August, Ukrainian defenders destroyed 43 of the 44 air targets launched by the Russians: 28 cruise missiles and 15 attack drones.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
A child holds a poster with a message that reads in Spanish: "No to fraud," during a protest alleging electoral fraud in the runoff presidential election, in front of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal building, in Guatemala City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. The party of former first lady Sandra Torres, who lost to rival Bernardo Arevalo, filed a complaint Aug. 25th, alleging fraud in the way the votes were counted. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

GUATEMALA CITY (AP)  Guatemalas Congress, which is controlled by the currently governing party, on Wednesday refused to recognize the seven lawmakers from the Seed Movement party of President-elect Bernardo Arevalo, following the suspension of his party earlier this week.

Lawmakers declared their Seed Movement colleagues independents in the latest move against the party since Arevalos landslide win Aug. 20. Prosecutors have accused the Seed Movement of wrongdoing in gathering signatures for the partys registration years earlier. The case was announced in July after Arevalo won a surprise place in the presidential runoff against former first lady Sandra Torres.

Anti-corruption prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche officially advised the Congress of the partys suspension despite pending court appeals. The U.S. government has sanctioned Curruchiche for allegedly obstructing corruption investigations.

Wednesday was the Congress first session after a two-month recess. Arevalo is among the seven lawmakers declared independents and he was present at the session Wednesday.

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At a news conference later, the Seed Movement said it was the victim of a government conspiracy and would seek an injunction blocking Congress move. It said it would also file a complaint with the legislatures leaders.

In recent days we have witnessed the systematic articulation of actions aimed at the disappearance of the Seed Movement, at the same time cancelling the support of the Guatemalan people at the ballot box who expressed an emphatic no to corruption, said party lawmaker Samuel Perez.

Seed Movement legislator Roman Castellanos said the impact is that Seed Movement lawmakers cannot hold leadership positions in the Congress. They also lose the presidency of the sole congressional committee they held, he said.

The body acted differently in the case of another party, the National Change Union, months earlier when its party status was cancelled by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. The party allied with the governing party of President Alejandro Giammattei did not have its lawmakers declared independents or stripped of their committee leadership positions.

Arevalos win is worrying to entrenched powers because he has promised to re-start the campaign against corruption.
Some of the world's leading astronomical observatories have reported cyberattacks that have resulted in temporary shutdowns.

The National Science Foundation's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, or NOIRLab, reported that a cybersecurity incident that occurred on Aug. 1 has prompted the lab to temporarily halt operations at its Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii and Gemini South Telescope in Chile. Other, smaller telescopes on Cerro Tololo in Chile were also affected.

"Our staff are working with cybersecurity experts to get all the impacted telescopes and our website back online as soon as possible and are encouraged by the progress made thus far," NOIRLab wrote in a statement on its website on Aug. 24.

Related: Spies and hackers are targeting the US space industry: report

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It's unclear exactly what the nature of the cyberattacks were or from where they originated. NOIRLab points out that because the investigation is still ongoing, the organization will be cautious about what information it shares about the intrusions.

"We plan to provide the community with more information when we are able to, in alignment with our commitment to transparency as well as our dedication to the security of our infrastructure," the update added.

The cyberattacks on NOIRLab's facilities occurred just days before the United States National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) issued a bulletin advising American space companies and research organizations about the threat of cyberattacks and espionage.

RELATED STORIES:

 These 3 teams just hacked a US Air Force satellite in space ... and won big cash prizes

 US Space Force creates 1st unit dedicated to targeting adversary satellites

 Russia is jamming GPS satellite signals in Ukraine, US Space Force says

Foreign spies and hackers "recognize the importance of the commercial space industry to the U.S. economy and national security, including the growing dependence of critical infrastructure on space-based assets," the bulletin stated. "They see US space-related innovation and assets as potential threats as well as valuable opportunities to acquire vital technologies and expertise."

This isn't the first time that astronomical observatories have been the target of cyberattacks. In Oct. 2022, hackers disrupted operations at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, and NASA has been the victim of cyberattacks for years. In 2021, the agency was affected by the worldwide SolarWinds breach that NASA leadership called a "big wakeup call" for cybersecurity.
U.S. citizens in Haiti are being urged to get out. The State Department on Wednesday said given the spiraling violence and infrastructure challenges, American citizens should depart Haiti as soon as possible via commercial or private flights.

The warning comes a month after the State Department ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel and their eligible family members from Haiti. At that time, too, U.S. citizens were urged to get out.

Since then, the situation has worsened, with human rights groups recording new deaths in Port-au-Prince and the Artibonite Valley, and the displacement of thousands due to escalating violence by armed groups. The new alert on Wednesday is yet another sign of how quickly security is deteriorating, especially in neighborhoods of the capital that are increasingly being overtaken by gangs.

On Monday, residents in Tabarre, site of the U.S. Embassy, awakened to heavy gunfire with residents saying it sounded like a war zone. In a notice, employees at the U.S. mission were warned to remain on the compound of the embassy and nearby residential housing until further notice. They were also prohibited from traveling between the two. Others were told to avoid the area of the U.S. Embassy and residential compounds.

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That same day, Haiti National Police Director Frantz Elbe announced that specialized units were being mobilized to help rid areas of gangs. He lauded recent police successes in Carrefour Feuilles, a hilltop community near downtown Port-au-Prince that has been under nonstop attack since mid-August.

But on Tuesday, police suffered a blow. Armed bandits with the Grand Ravine gang set fire to a police substation in Savane Pistache, a neighborhood of Carrefour Feuilles.

Despite the security situation, the Biden administration continues to deport Haitians back to the country. Immigration advocates said they received word that 66 Haitian nationals were scheduled to be returned on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight to Port-au-Prince on Thursday.

Since October, the United States and the head of the United Nations have been trying to get a country to lead a multinational force into Haiti to help police quell the violence. Last week, a delegation from Kenya visited Port-au-Prince but so far no official announcement has been made about whether that country will go ahead with an offer to help.

Residents flee their homes to escape clashes between armed gangs in the Carrefour-Feuilles district of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.

The United Nations has said that more than 2,400 Haitians have been killed this year by gang violence, and 900 others have been kidnapped. The recent gang attacks have also forced the displacement of at least 5,000 people from Carrefour Feuilles, which, if controlled by gangs, will provide access to other middle-class communities, creating a new kidnapping route for gangs.

In ordering U.S. citizens to leave, the State Department warned that flights out of Haiti will fill up quickly and travelers may have to book flights several days or even weeks in advance of departure.

Major U.S. carriers to Haiti, including American Airlines, have severely cut back flights in recent months and ticket prices, even with advanced purchase, have soared. Passengers are being charged $2,000 or more for a one-way economy class ticket out of Port-au-Prince.
Former  Hannah Montana  star Mitchel Musso was arrested for public intoxication and theft after refusing to pay for a bag of chips while intoxicated at a hotel, authorities said.

TODAY.com obtained a press release from the Rockwall Police Department in Texas confirming that Musso spent a night in jail for two Class C misdemeanors.

The press release said police received a 911 call on Aug. 26 about an individual causing a disturbance at a local hotel. Authorities arrived and spoke to the caller, who claimed someone who appeared intoxicated took a bag of chips from the hotel and started eating them.

When the subject was asked to pay for them, he became verbally abusive and left without rendering payment, the press release said.

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Police identified Musso outside of the hotel after speaking with him. They investigated and determined the Disney Channel alum showed signs of intoxication before arresting him.

Mitchel Musso visits Planet Hollywood on June 15, 2009 in New York City. (Bruce Glikas / FilmMagic)

Authorities also discovered that Musso had multiple outstanding traffic warrants.

The 32-year-old actor was taken to the Rockwall County Detention Center, booked for public intoxication and theft and spent one night in jail, according to the press release. He left on Aug. 27 after posting a $1,000 bond.

TODAY.com reached out to Mussos team for a comment.

Musso is best known for playing Oliver Oken on Hannah Montana, alongside Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jason Earles and Emily Osment. He also voiced a character on the animated series Phineas and Ferb and starred in the Disney XD sitcom Pair of Kings.

In October 2011, E! News reported that Musso was arrested for drunken driving in Burbank, California, when he was 20 years old.

He spent a few hours in jail before leaving, without having to pay bail, according to the outlet.

In October 2021, Musso opened up about his mental and physical health journey in an Instagram post featuring two photos.

The one on the left I was 119 pounds sick depressed and broken, he wrote in the caption. The photo on the right is me today 160 pounds mentally and physically rebuilt stronger than I was before.

At the end of the post, he added, I am here for you if you need any type of help getting started. Lmk, which means let me know.

He returned to Instagram in June to reveal his new kitten.

Embracing the nights enigmatic embrace w babyboy, he said in the caption.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
The News

Five months ago, as lawmakers grilled TikToks CEO over his companys ties to China, it seemed like Congress might actually try to ban the social media giant. But since then, Capitol Hills effort to delete the app from Americans phones has faded from public view, with multiple bills stalling out.

Progress has been slowed by a combination of competing priorities, policy clashes, and concerns about political blowback, sources say. But lawmakers and aides insist a TikTok bill may still be in the cards later this year.

I dont think the moment has passed, said one Republican Senate aide. Its just a matter of catching lightning in a bottle, which is what you always need to move legislation.

The View From The House

At least two major TikTok bills have yet to receive a full vote in the House  one by Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc. and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., who head the chambers select committee on China, and another by Foreign Affairs panel Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

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But members are still quietly working on a new piece of legislation. The talks are being led by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers , R-Wash., whose panel held the March hearing with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.

McMorris Rodgers rejected the notion that momentum had stalled during a brief interview last month. Were still working on the language for a targeted approach, a targeted banning, she told Semafor.

One House GOP aide characterized TikTok legislation as a priority but said that other must-pass bills  like the debt ceiling and the annual defense policy bill  had consumed the schedule. The person expressed hope that the House would have space to act on a TikTok bill by the end of the year, once the lawmakers are done fighting over government funding.

I know people are still working on this and people are still talking about it internally, the source said.

Gallagher said he was working to help McMorris Rodgers committee arrive at the best approach.

I think Republicans still share a concern about allowing TikTok to become the dominant media company in America and I know we are working behind the scenes to arrive at a unified position on how to ban it or force a sale, he said in late July.

The View From THE SENATE

The RESTRICT Act from Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va. and John Thune, R-S.D. looked like it had momentum in the spring, picking up a White House endorsement and two dozen cosponsors in a matter of weeks. The legislation would let the administration limit or ban foreign tech platforms that are based in countries deemed adversaries.

But the bill ran into a buzzsaw of opposition from libertarians and prominent Fox News personalities who accused it of giving terrifying powers to the federal government. Even some proponents of regulating TikTok worry that the legislation would hand overly broad authority to the executive branch.

Warner has said he is working to address concerns about the bill. But Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. is already crafting an alternative. A committee aide suggested its aimed at giving the administration tools to address national security threats posed by foreign tech platforms, but not the power to ban them outright.

Shes not looking to shut down peoples dance videos or small businesses on TikTok. Thats not the intent, the aide said.

The View From The White House

In theory, Biden could try to take unilateral action on TikTok  but its unclear he will. The Treasury Departments Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has been reviewing the company since before the president took office and has yet to reach any kind of deal with ByteDance. The White House, which has enforced a ban on TikTok on government devices, doesnt talk about the internal deliberations.

Some say the administration believes it needs legislation from Congress for any action against TikTok to stick (an effort by the Trump administration to unilaterally ban TikTok was blocked by the courts).

I think the administration has made a calculus that it will just kick the ball to Congress and say if Congress really cares about TikTok, theyll ban it, said the House GOP aide. The White House and Treasury Department didnt respond to requests for comment.

Morgans view

Its hard to believe Congress will have the bandwidth to come up with a viable TikTok bill, given the other priorities sucking up oxygen in Washington this year, from the budget to Ukraine aid to the farm bill.

But even if lawmakers can find the focus, the threat of political backlash might scare them off. One Democratic aide told me they thought an effort to regulate TikTok had dropped off on Capitol Hill in part because of concerns about potential backlash from young people, particularly among Democrats. A Republican strategist who expressed concerns about TikTok said lawmakers simply waited too long. Acting now would require stripping 100 million people of a platform they love. Good luck with that, the person told me.

Room for Disagreement

TikTok still hasnt made a lot of friends on Capitol Hill and as the Republican Senate aide noted, one bad story could thrust the issue back into the spotlight. A former ByteDance executive alleged in a court filing earlier this year, for instance, that Chinese government officials accessed data of TikTok users in Hong Kong (the company denied this).

Folks are increasingly worried about what China is doing, the aide said.
You are here: Arts

An exhibition of the famous Chinese Dehua white porcelain is in full swing at the Stadthaus in Frankfurt, Germany.

Over 90 items of Dehua white porcelain, known to European customers as "Blanc de Chine", are on display at the exhibition.

The items, produced in Dehua County in China's Fujian province, include tea services, vases and effigies.

The Frankfurt show is the first leg of an itinerant exhibition which will visit around 20 countries around the world over the course of five years.

White porcelain produced in Dehua hit foreign markets as early as the Song Dynasty, and became popular in Europe during the Ming Dynasty.

The aim of the itinerant exhibition, which was initiated by white porcelain producers in Dehua and kicked off in Beijing, is to promote the industry and explore opportunities for cooperation with foreign partners.

The exhibition in Frankfurt will last till Wednesday.
New York Yankees' Harrison Bader hits an RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

NEW YORK (AP)  Speedy center fielder Harrison Bader was placed on waivers Tuesday by the New York Yankees, a person familiar with the move told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the move, first reported by Newsday, was not announced.

Teams have until 2 p.m. EDT Thursday to claim the 29-year-old, who is eligible for free agency after the World Series. A club taking over Baders contract on Thursday would owe $758,065 of his $4.7 million salary.

What does waivers mean? Bader said playfully after the Yankees beat the Tigers 4-2 in Detroit. A native New Yorker, Bader then added: In all seriousness, regardless of what happened or may happen, just getting the opportunity to play in this uniform  and I still hopefully do get the opportunity to play in this uniform  just everything that's happened has just been an absolute blessing, an absolute gift.

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A player must be in an organization before midnight EDT Thursday to be eligible for a postseason roster.

Bader learned of the waivers when he saw it on a television crawl in a clubhouse kitchen 10-15 minutes before game time.

"I understand its a business. You learn it," he said. I'm a long way away from being a pup coming up in the Cardinals organization.

I'll just be by my phone, he added. But listen, it is what it is.

A Gold Glove winner with St. Louis in 2021, Bader is hitting .239 with seven homers, 37 RBIs and 16 stolen bases in 18 attempts over 83 games. He is in an 0-for-17 slide and 5 for 50 from Aug. 12 on.

Bader strained his left oblique in spring training and didn't make his season debut until May 2. He was sidelined between May 29 and June 20 with a strained right hamstring.

Bader was acquired from St. Louis on Aug. 2 last year for left-hander Jordan Montgomery and hit five homers in nine postseason games for the Yankees.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis alleged Floyds lack of knowledge regarding the criminal justice system was the reason he failed to make bond arrangements before turning himself in.

Harrison Floyd has received a bond, joining the other co-defendants in the Georgia criminal indictment of former president Donald Trump.

Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee approved the $100,000 bond order on Tuesday, five days after Floyd turned himself in at the Fulton County Jail, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Floyd, the former leader of Black Voices for Trump, is the only one of the 19 suspects in the Fulton County election probe to serve jail time in connection to it.

Virginia-based attorney Chris Kachouroff submitted paperwork to represent Floyd in Georgia on Monday, claiming Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis office contacted him the next day to arrange the bond. He further asserted that the prosecutor didnt like the optics of Floyd remaining behind bars, which is the only reason he received a bond.

Harrison Floyd III, one of the two Black people named in the criminal case against former president Donald Trump in Georgia, received a $100,000 bond on Tuesday, five days after he turned himself in to the Fulton County Jail. (Photo: Screenshot/YouTube.com/Fox 5 Atlanta)

She was just letting him rot in there, Kachouroff said, AJC reported. I told Harrison, This is ridiculous. She should have jumped in there and done the right thing.'

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However, Jeff DiSantis, a representative for Willis, dismissed Kachouroffs claims, countering that Floyd had the chance to negotiate a consent bond in the same way as the other defendants charged in the indictment, yet waited until Tuesday to do so.

While all the other defendants, including Trump, turned themselves in with a pre-arranged bond, Floyd arrived Thursday without a lawyer. He was subsequently detained and booked like any other criminal defendant.

Floyd faces five felony counts involving the alleged harassment of Fulton County elections worker Ruby Freeman. According to the indictment, he conspired with co-defendants Stephen Lee and Trevian Kutti, who is also Black, to get Freeman to falsely admit she had taken part in fraud at Atlantas State Farm Arena, where votes were tallied in the 2020 election.

Floyd appeared in court for the first time on Friday, where he represented himself and requested a public defender because he could not afford the expensive fees involved with a problematic racketeering case.

Judge Emily Richardson refused Floyds request for bail, saying he was a flight risk and posed a threat to commit other crimes if freed. She cited his February arrest in Maryland for allegedly assaulting an FBI agent attempting to serve him with a grand jury subpoena in connection with Trumps federal election meddling case in Washington, D.C.

An audio of a conversation between Willis and Carlos J.R. Salvado, who represents Floyd in the Maryland criminal case, mentioned that the district attorney had dispatched a person to meet Floyd at the jail when he turned himself in. Willis said Floyd declined a consent bond at the time.

In the phone discussion, Willis said when Floyd arrived in Atlanta, he created a commotion in the jails lobby and essentially pleaded to be booked. She added that all the other defendants attorneys visited her office to set up bail before their clients turned themselves in.

Salvado appeared to concur with Willis that Floyds ignorance of the criminal justice system contributed to his predicament.

You know what? I feel bad about it, and Im gonna tell you the reason I feel bad is theres 19 defendants on this indictment, and he is the only one held with no bond, Willis said, AJC reported, and I think its because hes a layperson, and he doesnt understand.

A GiveSendGo donation fund for Floyd, now somewhat of a celebrity in conservative circles, had raised over $275,000 by late Tuesday afternoon  surpassing its goal of $200,000  with contributions ranging from $5 to $5,000.

The funds description refers to Willis as a weak Democratic prosecutor only interested in boosting her political career. It also claims that Floyds treatment as a disabled Marine Corps veteran is a travesty.

Harrison is innocent, the site reads. There is no victim here in this fake case being brought by Fani. Harrison shouldnt have to post any bond whatsoever. After all, how can he be a flight risk when he voluntarily turned himself in?

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post Harrison Floyd, final Trump defendant in jail, given $100,000 bond appeared first on TheGrio.
Harrison Floyd, the only co-defendant in the Georgia election case who was not released after surrendering, has negotiated his bail and has been released on bond, according to court records.

A judge signed off on a $100,000 bond agreement for Floyd on Tuesday, five days after he was detained at the Fulton County Jail. Floyd was released a few hours after he reached a bail agreement Wednesday morning.

A leader of Black Voices for Trump, Floyd is accused of trying to convince Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman to make false statements about election operations on Election Day 2020, under the guise of offering her help.

Floyds bond amount is $25,000 more than defendants Trevian Kutti and Stephen Lee, who were charged similarly for their efforts to influence Freeman.

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He is charged with racketeering, conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings and influencing witnesses.

Floyd surrendered at the jail last week without negotiating his bail in advance, as his 18 co-defendants did.

He has been detained at the facility ever since, and a judge denied bail for Floyd at a Friday hearing, deeming him a potential flight risk. Floyd was arrested earlier this year for allegedly assaulting an FBI agent serving him a grand jury subpoena.

The Black Voices for Trump leader was charged earlier this year with assaulting an FBI agent. According to federal investigators for the case, Floyd yelled profanities and attacked an agentwho served him a subpoena as part of special counsel Jack Smiths election fraud investigation.

At a bond hearing Friday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Emily Richardson denied Floyd bail, pointing to that open case as a reason to remand him to jail.

Floyds arraignment is set for Sept. 6, where he will formally hear the charges he faces and enter a plea. It is scheduled to take place just before noon, about half-way through all 19 defendants in the case who are also expected to be arraigned that day.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
As Hartford Sen. John Fonfara works to win votes for the Democratic primary election Sept. 12, the mayoral candidate has received endorsements from three large union groups.

Fonfara, a longtime legislator who co-chairs the powerful finance committee, received the endorsement of the New England Healthcare Workers Union District 1199 SEIU, one of the largest health care unions in the state with over 26,000 workers, according to its website. In Hartford, the union represents thousands of nurses, CNAs, technicians, clerical employees, service and maintenance workers in nursing homes, hospitals, and community programs for the developmentally disabled.

Sen. Fonfara has demonstrated his commitment to fighting inequity, particularly throughout the pandemic and its aftermath. The understanding that we need a recovery for all and leadership to achieve this recovery clearly made Sen. Fonfara the best choice for SEIU members. Stacey Zimmerman, associate director SEIU CT State Council.

Other union endorsements of Fonfara include CSEA SEIU Local 2001  a labor union for the states active and retired public service employees  and the Amalgamated Transit Union  Local 425, the largest labor union representing public transit workers in the U.S. and Canada, according to its website. The local transit union represents over 150 families in Hartford, according to Artan Martinaj, president of Local 425.

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Hes always there for us, hes the kind of guy we would be proud to have as a mayor, Martinaj said. Were looking forward to working with him as mayor.

In the Sept. 12 mayoral primary Fonfara will vie for Democratic votes against former state Sen. and judge Eric Coleman and Land Bank CEO Arunan Arulampalam, who overwhelmingly received the party endorsement at the city nominating convention.

These endorsements are a clear indication that our campaign is gaining momentum, Fonfara said. Ive spent the last few months knocking on countless doors throughout our city and the feedback is consistent  people want a different kind of mayor who will focus on dealing with the root causes of the challenges facing our city. Until we tackle poverty head-on, get more of our children enrolled in pre-K, and reading by third grade, and create pipelines to careers with our citys biggest employers, we are destined to continue the cycle of poverty and violence that plagues Hartford. This starts with changing City Halls priorities and from day one I promise the people of Hartford that I will do everything in my power to change the trajectory of the city I was born and raised in and have lived my whole life.

In addition to union support, Fonfara has also received endorsements from state Reps. Minnie Gonzalez and James Sanchez, and former state Rep. Edwin Vargas.

I support John Fonfara because we need a mayor with a vision and a plan for a better Hartford, Gonzalez stated. John has a proven record of accomplishments of caring for the city and putting our communities first. He is our best choice to provide the necessary leadership to improve the quality of life for all residents and I look forward to working with him as Hartfords next mayor.

I am proudly endorsing Sen. Fonfara for mayor of Hartford, Sanchez said. John Fonfara will champion initiatives to foster economic growth, improve education, and prioritize the well-being of all Hartford residents and neighborhoods.

In addition to the Democratic town committees support, Arulampalam received the first labor union endorsement in the race from The Greater Hartford-New Britain Building Trades or LIUNA Local 230, composed of hundreds of construction workers in Hartford. Arulampalam also received the endorsement of Hartford state Rep. and Assistant Majority Whip Julio Concepcion back in June.

Early in the race Coleman was endorsed by the Greater Hartford Progressive Democratic Womens Club.

J. Stan McCauley, AccessTV.org founder, pastor and president of the Greater Hartford African American Alliance, has been endorsed by former Democratic state Rep. James Amann, who served as Speaker of the House from 2005 to 2009.

Stan has led a life close to the heart of Hartford. He knows its people and their challenges. As a pastor, he listens closely to his neighbors concerns, understands their daily difficulties and counsels compassionately as he aids them in their needs, Amann said. He can be found on any given day helping citizens in need navigate the often confusing, complex and, at times, overwhelming social-public bureaucracies that define a major city. He is a true man of the people.

Other candidates including councilman Nick Lebron, McCauley, and Giselle Jacobs have all met the requirements to be on the ballot in the November general election, according to the registrars office. Fonfaras campaign has said they plan on meeting the requirement, regardless of what happens in the primary contest. Colemans campaign said they already submitted the necessary signatures, but those signatures havent been officially counted yet.

Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
In this photo taken by a telescope, a satellite draws a trail in the form of a straight line flying against the background of the Andromeda Galaxy, over the village of Podolye, Russia, 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of St. Petersburg, on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. | Dmitri Lovetsky, Associated Press

From a July expedition off the coast of Papua New Guinea, a collection of small metallic spheres was recovered from the sea floor, which famous Harvard scientist Avi Loeb said Tuesday are from outside our solar system.

Tuesdays press release, first reported by USA Today, suggests that 57 of the 700 metallic spheres, which were recovered by using a magnetic sled the team dragged through the water and sand, are interstellar in origin based on the composition and isotopes. That is unmatched by existing material in our solar system, Loeb said in an interview on The Michael Shermer Show.

This is a historic discovery because it represents the first time that scientists have analyzed materials from a large object that arrived to Earth from outside the solar system, Loeb wrote in his Tuesday blog post on Medium.

All 700 spheres were sent to be analyzed to four different locations, including Harvard University; University of California, Berkeley; Bruker Corporation and the University of Technology in Papua New Guinea, per Loebs blog post about the expedition.

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However, the question still remains if the spheres are artificially made or natural in origin. As Loeb pointed out to Shermer, more analysis is needed to determine if any alien technology is present.

The journey began in 2017, when a Maui telescope recorded something entering our solar system  researchers named it Oumuamua, meaning scout or messenger, per The New York Times.

Who is Avi Loeb?

Loeb, a renowned theoretical astrophysicist at Harvard University, started studying Oumuamua more in-depth the following year. He started to think that the object, shaped like a long tube and gaining speed near the sun, was a light sail.

This thought process sparked more intrigue and interest in the object for Loeb as he sought to find the remnants of Oumuamua on the ocean floor to prove his hypothesis and created the Galileo Project with help from EYOS Expeditions.

Loeb is not only known for his many titles at Harvard University  chairman of the astronomy departments, director of the Institute of Theory and Computation and director of the Black Hole Initiative  but for his focus on extraterrestrial lifeforms, the Times reported.

While many of his colleagues have scoffed at his current expedition and refused to peer review his work, he has remained strong in saying that scientists need to keep open minds to the possibility of more advanced life forms and keep exploring.

What is the Oumuamua paper?

Charles Hoskinson, who is a co-author of the study on the Oumuamua object  which has yet to be peer-reviewed  posted the draft on his X, previously known as Twitter, account.

This result means we likely have the first extrasolar object ever recovered, he wrote. We also have a fairly good idea where the large fragments landed for the next expedition, which will allow us to determine if the object was artificial or just part of another planets core.

I've been waiting for a long time to finally post this paper. I co-authored a paper with Avi Loeb analyzing the samples we collected from the Pacific Ocean. We discovered spherules that appear to be from a different solar system due to their ultra high abundance of Beryllium, pic.twitter.com/DRNCk5cL3A  Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) August 29, 2023

Related
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) on Tuesday stressed that what the residents of Maui need most in the wake of this months catastrophic wildfires are federal resources and bipartisan support, not political attacks and scapegoating.

Maui is neither a political talking point nor some new thing for the internet to argue about, he told HuffPost.

Schatz has been on the ground in historic Lahaina town in recent days and said the devastation from the infernos  the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century  continues to grow.

The damage to this community  physical, economic, emotional  is still being tallied, he said. We need to get kids back in school. We need to reestablish a health center. We need to rebuild water infrastructure. And weve got a long, long way to go.

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The death toll from the blazes currently stands at 115. Another 388 people were still unaccounted for as of last week, although as many as 100 on the missing persons list have reportedly come forward to say they are safe. The fires destroyed some 2,220 buildings, and the estimated damage ranges from $4 billion to $10 billion.

Schatz is working on a supplemental appropriations bill to secure additional resources for the lengthy recovery ahead. Schatz refrained from estimating exactly how much that could cost; he said it is safe to say that we are going to need billions of dollars from the federal government in order to make this work.

Maui Country Mayor Richard Bissen speaks as Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), President Joe Biden, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and his wife Jaimie, listen after Biden toured areas devastated by the Maui wildfires on Aug. 21.

Maui Country Mayor Richard Bissen speaks as Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), President Joe Biden, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and his wife Jaimie, listen after Biden toured areas devastated by the Maui wildfires on Aug. 21.

On Monday, a bipartisan congressional delegation from the House Natural Resources committee toured what little remains of fire-ravaged Lahaina, on Mauis western coast, and met with survivors and responders. But as is the case with so many other disasters, this one has not escaped partisan mudslinging.

Republicans have condemned President Joe Bidens response at every turn, from his no comment to a reporter when asked about the rising death toll  the White House has since said he never heard the question  to the Federal Emergency Management Agency issuing one-time $700 checks to affected households for immediate needs such as food and water. Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who left the Democratic party in 2022 after a yearslong shift to the political right, called the checks almost a slap in the face.

Schatz said criticism over the $700 checks is nothing more than a talking point that ignores the scale of the federal governments efforts on the ground. To date, the White House says it has distributed $12 million in assistance to over 3,300 households and deployed more than 1,000 federal workers to aid in the response.

Im not going to spend my time trying to run interference on some Schatz paused. Maui is not a political talking point. Lahaina is not a new thing for the internet to argue about. It is a community that has been flattened, and it needs our support on a bipartisan basis.

The people on the ground that are doing the work  the search and rescue teams, the Red Cross, the social workers, the pharmacists, the fire department personnel, many of whom lost their own homes while they were fighting the fire  those people represent the best of Maui, he added. And those people are not trying to make some kind of point on social media. Theyre just doing the work and trying to provide as much help as they can.

U.S. President Joe Biden, aboard Marine One, inspects the fire-ravaged town of Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

U.S. President Joe Biden, aboard Marine One, inspects the fire-ravaged town of Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

During the first GOP presidential debate last week, the Maui fires came up as part of a broader question about whether the candidates believe in human-caused climate change. What followed was a wild spectacle of punting and outright climate denial. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used the question as an opportunity to accuse the corporate media of turning a blind eye to what he views as Bidens failure to appropriately respond to the Maui fires.

Asked about Republicans responses at the debate, Schatz said it is vital that leaders rally around the needs of Maui residents.

I dont think theres any doubt that climate change is making natural disasters more frequent or more severe. No serious person doubts that, he said. But I will say it is really important for Maui that we maintain our discipline of focusing on the people who actually need our help, and not turning this into a new thing that we all argue with each other over.

Right now, our fellow Americans need us to act like grown-ups and set our ideological differences aside and provide some relief, he added.

Schatz also warned against finger-pointing until local and federal investigations into what led to the deadly disaster run their course.

There are now multiple independent investigations that are underway, and I think those are really important, he said. I think its also important that politicians dont weigh in before the investigation has really started in earnest. We need to be clear-eyed about what went wrong, who, if anyone, made a bad decision. But every day Im on Maui, I realize people urgently need our help.

Theres a time and a place and a process for accountability, but if finding a scapegoat prevents us from delivering the help that people need in the meantime, you can count me out.

The GOP-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Tuesday launched an investigation into the federal governments response to the Maui wildfires, Honolulu Civil Beat reported.

The response by federal, state, and local officials to the catastrophic wildfire in Maui raises serious questions and Americans, especially those impacted by this tragedy, deserve answers, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the committees chairman, said in a statement to Civil Beat. As recovery efforts continue, the House Oversight Committee has a responsibility to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently and effectively.

Related...
A Hawaiian family put up a sign telling tourists to stay out of its neighborhood, ABC News reported.

"You have tourists taking pictures of the destruction in Lahaina while there's still bodies there," Courtney Lazo said.

More than 100 people were killed in the wildfires that devastated the Hawaiian island of Maui.

A family in Maui has made a sign telling tourists to keep out of Lahaina while recovery efforts are ongoing.

The Lazo family has lived in Hawaii for about 10 generations and represents yet another group of locals unhappy with tourists visiting the island after the devastating wildfires, ABC News reported.

Laihana, where the Lazo family lives, is in West Maui. It was one of the areas hit hardest by the fires. Lahaina is a tourism hot spot  some 2 million people are said to visit the city every year.

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One family member, Courtney, told ABC News that she found it inappropriate to see tourists in Hawaii vacationing while locals "haven't even had the time to grieve on our own."

"You have tourists taking pictures of the destruction in Lahaina while there's still bodies there. They're snorkeling off the waters while they're pulling people out of the water," Courtney said in the report, adding that the presence of tourists felt "like a slap in the face."

The Lazo family has made a sign warning tourists to stay out of the neighborhood, ABC News reported. Vance Dizon, Courtney's uncle, helped make the sign, which says "Tourist Keep Out."

Dizon has the sign attached to a fence near the border of their neighborhood, hoping to create an unofficial checkpoint and block out tourists, ABC News reported.

Dizon and his brother narrowly escaped being burned in a fire by hiding behind a seawall in the ocean, said in an Instagram post by his niece, Tiare Lawrence. Dizon suffered an injury to his arm while running to safety, per the post.

More than 100 people were killed in the wildfires in Maui, and more than 300 people were said to be missing.

Hawaii is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the US, with over 10.4 million visitors in 2019. The Hawaii Tourism Authority says it "urges visitors to refrain from going to West Maui" but tourists are welcome to visit other areas in Hawaii.

Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) (@HawaiiHTA) August 17, 2023

Courtney and Lawrence did not respond to requests for comment from Insider.

Correction: August 30, 2023  An earlier version of this story misstated Lahaina's location. It's in West Maui, not East Maui.

Read the original article on Insider
Editors note: This story has been updated to include additional information provided by Ysleta Independent School District on Aug. 31.

Over one year after 19 children and two adults were murdered at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas  America's third deadliest school shooting  Texas legislators passed House Bill 3, a state law aimed at improving school security by requiring armed guards on every public school campus and improving mental health measures for students.

HB 3, passed June 14, goes into effect Sept. 1, giving school districts time to expand their security measures or propose viable alternative safety plans.

The El Paso Times met with parents, teachers, administrators and school police officers to gauge their reactions, to better understand the law's nuances and to track compliance with HB 3 in El Paso County's three largest school districts  El Paso, Socorro and Ysleta  as the 2023-2024 school year begins.

EPISD hires off-duty El Paso police to comply with HB 3

El Paso Independent School District is the largest in West Texas, operating 76 campuses with roughly 50,000 students. EPISD also maintains its own police force with 44 officers.

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To make up the difference between the 76 campuses and 44 officers, Chief of Police Manuel Chavira explained, the district's police department partners with the El Paso Police Department "to hire their off-duty officers to work at our campuses."

EPISD Police Chief Manuel Chavira discusses school threats at a news conference at El Paso Regional Communications Center on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. His police force hires off-duty city police to fill in the gaps in their school security coverage.

Before the Uvalde shooting in 2022, Chavira's department only stationed its officers at EPISD high schools and middle schools. Elementary schools did not consistently have an armed guard present, a gap in the district's safety protocols that the shooting at Robb Elementary School tragically brought to light.

For the entire 2022-2023 school year, off-duty city police were stationed in EPISD elementary schools throughout the school day. This practice will continue for the upcoming academic year, Chavira said, and El Paso ISD police will continue to serve in high and middle schools.

As Chavira put it, EPISD has effectively been compliant with the armed guard provisions of HB 3 even before the bill existed. "It looks like the legislators were thinking along the same lines," he added with a chuckle. "Now it's a mandate."

More: How a false tale of police heroism in Uvalde spread and unraveled

SISD fully compliant with armed guard law

Of the three largest school districts in El Paso County, only Socorro ISD maintains a police force of 72 officers, more than large enough to cover its 51 campuses. Unlike most other districts across the county, it does not need to compete to hire off-duty municipal police.

SISD "had the foresight to add to our police department over the last few years," Superintendent Nate Carman said, and has been preemptively compliant with the armed guard portion of HB 3 since last year.

YISD not compliant with HB 3, is seeking good cause exception

As of August, Ysleta ISD is not compliant with the armed guard requirement of HB 3. The county's third-largest school district does not have its own police force and is struggling to hire off-duty city police.

Lynly Leeper, the chief financial and operational officer of the district, pointed out that YISD was seeking a "good cause exception."

"Ysleta ISD has the necessary measures in place to comply with the alternative standard under HB3, and we are in the final stages of the hiring process to add more armed guards to our workforce," according to a YISD statement.

YISD "will not divulge details of howwe are meeting these conditions" out of concern for safety and security," wrote Tracy Garcia-Ramirez, director of communications, in an email.

She added that the district's plan for a good cause exception was approved at the June 28 YISD board of trustees meeting and that it is prepared to submit the plan for the state's approval "at the request of (the Texas Education Agency)."

Explaining the district's failure to comply with the intended provisions of HB 3, Leeper cited a nationwide shortage of law enforcement officers. Public school districts, she explained, simply cannot compete with retail stores offering more money to off-duty city officers. Chavira noted similar concerns for EPISD, but claimed to have found a successful sales pitch: "Your kids are going to our schools, why don't you work your part-time gig at our place?"

YISD Superintendent Dr. Xavier De La Torre speaks at the State of Education Address on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, at Starlight Event Center in El Paso, Texas. His district is not compliant with the armed guard requirement of House Bill 3, effective Sept. 1, 2023.

In a July 2022 interview with CBS4, Ysleta ISD Superintendent Xavier De La Torre announced his desire to put a proposal to build a district police force before the school board "by September, October at the latest."

This move would have put YISD on equal footing with its peer districts in the county. Since then, however, De La Torre's administration "decided not to move forward in recommending this to the board," Leeper said, once again citing the shortage of eligible candidates for law enforcement positions and budgetary concerns.

While it is unclear if YISD will become compliant with HB 3 and what its alternative plan consists of, Leeper affirmed that "the safety of students and staff is our foremost priority."

Old buildings, new safety concerns

School safety is not simply having an armed guard present, but also "providing a safe and secure environment" in terms of campus design and architecture, as Chavira put it. Directives from the state require districts to update older campuses to stricter safety standards, like funneling visitors to a single controlled entrance.

"The average age of our campuses is over 50 years old," Chavira noted. Grand, historic buildings like El Paso High School, established in 1916, were built in "more naive times" and will need significant updates to face safety challenges that new campuses are already designed to handle.

El Paso High, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, in El Paso. Old school campuses like El Paso High School, built between 1914 and 1916, pose new safety challenges in the age of school shootings and require improved security infrastructure.

In this age of school shootings, older campuses  with multiple entrances, outdated classroom doors and limited camera surveillance  require "rewiring, replumbing, changing the door strikers, the doorknobs," Chavira explained.

Even in newer schools, many of the campus upgrades are invisible. "You can't see a lot of the changes," said Carman. He spoke of "hardening" entrances and adding cameras and "bullet-resistant window film on some of our windows."

"Those type of things are very expensive" and time consuming. While House Bill 3 dedicates an extra $15,000 per campus for safety upgrades, Chavira added, "we need more."

Even with armed guards, 'it is terrifying' to send kids to school

Even with armed guards and hardened entrances, "it is terrifying to send my kids to school every day," admitted Myndi Luevanos, a mother of four students in El Paso. Her fear, born out of an unfathomable number of mass shootings in Texas and the United States, is shared by parents across the country.

"I tell them I love them, in case it's the last thing they hear from me," she admitted. "Every morning."

Although Luevanos is somewhat reassured by the presence of an armed guard in her children's schools, she is still "especially upset that Texas lawmakers aren't doing enough."

Texas governor Greg Abbott speaks in Uvalde, Tex., on May 27, 2022, three days after the state's most deadly school shooting. Abbott claimed that gun restrictions were "not a real solution" to mass shootings.

Luevanos  a founding member of the El Paso chapter of Moms Demand Action, a gun safety activist group  supports "common sense gun laws," such as raising the age to buy semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21 in Texas.

Despite calls from the families of victims in the Uvalde shooting for similar gun control measures  and despite the fact that the Uvalde murderer purchased his weapons just days after turning 18  Texas Republicans are resistant to make changes to state gun policy.

Just one day after the Uvalde shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott claimed that gun restrictions were "not a real solution" to mass shootings, instead pushing the armed guard and mental health provisions that would eventually become HB 3.

More: Canadas bold moves after horrific mass shooting hold lessons for Texas, US

HB 3 is 'only one step in the right direction'

In the year between Abbott's comments after the Uvalde shooting and the passage of the HB 3 , Texas politicians from both parties worked earnestly on solidifying new school security measures into law.

In a statement sent to the El Paso Times, state Sen. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso, noted his support for HB 3, which he sponsored.

State Sen. Cesar Blanco speaks at the 88th Legislative Session Wrap-Up on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, in Downtown El Paso. Blanco supports House Bill 3 but sees it as "only one step in the right direction."

The law, Blanco wrote, "does not take a cookie-cutter approach, and instead gives local districts the flexibility to determine what type of security personnel they will have, if any."

Blanco added, however, that HB 3 was "only one step in the right direction."

More: We have gun laws; we aren't using them: Joe Moody, Gloria Aguilera Terry

School administrators in El Paso tend to agree. Representatives from all three large school districts brought up the minuscule increase in safety funding per student that came with HB 3, from $9.72 to $10. Only 28 more cents, as Carman put it, "doesn't go very far."

Blanco's statement added that "the Legislature has failed to adequately address the easy access to guns," citing the issues with Texas firearm policy that concern activists and parents like Luevanos and that state Republicans are loath to reform.

In spite of political resistance, Blanco promised to "advocate for universal background checks, red-flag laws, raising the age and curbing access to war-like assault rifles."

"Gun safety is school safety," he added.

'It is a calling' to work as police in schools

Although school security policy is decided in Austin, this tense political discourse from lawmakers, activists and administrators often obscures the actual role that armed officers play in schools in communities like El Paso.

To better understand how HB 3 works in El Paso schools, the El Paso Times spent a morning with two SISD police officers, Rebecca Calvillo and Rigo Aguilar, as they went about their duties at Montwood High School.

Socorro ISD police officers Rigo Aguilar and Rebecca Calvillo patrol the Montwood High School campus on Aug. 8, 2023.

The work of a school police officer is psychologically demanding. As Aguilar put it, "it's a calling" to serve in schools, where the threat of shootings is a daily reality officers can never ignore.

But with large portions of their day spent filling out paperwork in an office without air conditioning behind the school's gym, much of the officers' day-to-day work is  thankfully  less dramatic than the debates around school shootings and HB 3 suggest.

During passing time between classes, Calvillo and Aguilar coordinated with school security officers  who are not armed and do not have the same authority as police  to keep hallways clear of clumps of students. The officers and guards were friendly with students, offering fist bumps and politely reminding lingerers to head to class.

"I like your haircut," Calvillo said to a young student walking with a security guard. The high schooler beamed back at her and was escorted off to his in-school suspension. "We're not out to get them," Calvillo explained.

A Montwood High School security guard fist bumps a student during passing time between classes on Aug. 8, 2023. "Were not out to get them," one officer said of students.

While duty may be mundane and even friendly at times, Aguilar is quick to dispel the "misconception" that school police officers "just do school stuff" and are not real police. Both he and Calvillo attended police academy as any other officer would and share jurisdiction with city and county departments.

Often, Calvillo and Aguilar collaborate with other police departments in surrounding neighborhoods to deal with traffic stops or robberies, just as officers from other departments would be called in to help at schools in the event of an emergency.

Although SISD has set a goal of having two police officers and four security guards on every high school campus, the officers' duties can still be overwhelming. Just three days after the officers showed the El Paso Times around the school, Montwood was evacuated because of a bomb threat.

"God no," Calvillo quickly answered when asked if two officers and four security guards was sufficient. With a matter as sensitive and volatile as school security, there is always more to be done.

The 'scary and selfless' duty of teachers

The political pressure and abject trauma of school shootings rests heavily on educators, too.

Jennifer Galindo, an award-winning educator in El Paso public schools, remembered going through a campus lockdown when one student stabbed another at a nearby high school in SISD.

Her students "started crying, like something hysterical," she recalled. "I just felt that fear off them, and at that point, I knew, if something were to happen ... I had to be willing to put my life on the line for those kids."

"It's a selfless feeling," Galindo added. "Scary and selfless."

HB 3 is in part designed to alleviate this fear and burden from teachers  and "it's actually working out," said Ross Moore, president of EPISD's American Federation of Teachers, a union which represents school employees.

With an armed guard in the building, teachers, who are already responsible for passive security measures such as making sure classroom doors are closed and locked throughout the day, can focus on instructing students.

If a district is not compliant with the armed guard requirements of HB 3, however, Texas legislators allow for districts to seek a "good cause exception" and develop an alternative safety plan. One alternative that the new law sketches out is arming teachers themselves.

More: Is arming teachers the best use of school funds?: David Knight

Moore, a veteran who speaks about security matters with the authority of his experience, is fundamentally opposed to weapons in the classroom. "Arming teachers is a no-go," he asserted.

"What happens when the first responders walk in and see a grown-up with a gun in his hand or her hand?" he asked. "The instinct is, shoot first, figure it out later."

So far, no district in El Paso has agreed to arm teachers. To a large degree, Moore explained, decisions like these come down to "the politics of the district." For districts in more rural and conservative parts of the state  especially those with less access to off-duty police officers  arming staff is now a sanctioned option under state law.

In El Paso, the consensus is that police and teachers each have their own demanding duties that require time, focus and specialized training.

"We want teachers concentrating on students and the success of students, and we don't want them to have to also carry a gun and try to perform those duties as well," Chavira said. "We have a police department that will do that."

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso schools scrambling to hire armed officers to boost safety
HARBOR SPRINGS  The Health Department of Northwest Michigan has ended the partial body contact advisory for Zorn Park in Harbor Springs.

People enjoy a sunny morning at the Zorn Park City Beach in Harbor Springs on Tuesday, July 4, 2023.

In addition, a partial body contact advisory for Richardi Park in Bellaire has ended. The advisories previously posted at the beaches have been removed.

Resampling done at Zorn Park has returned with an E. coli level of 7.0 per 100 milliliters (ml). The beach is located at 151 E. Bay St. in Harbor Springs.

The retest at Richardi Park came back from the lab with an E. coli level of 267.9 per 100 ml, below the threshold for an advisory based on Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) water quality standards.

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E. coli levels testing at 300 or below per 100 ml do not qualify for safety advisories. Full use of the water is considered safe.

Subscribe: Check out our latest offers and read the local news that matters to you

Water sampling is done throughout the summer months to monitor E. coli levels at many public beaches. The levels change frequently, impacted by the presence of fowl, waves, and more. When a sample comes back that creates an advisory of any type, the water at that beach is sampled again the next day to keep the public updated.

The health department posts beach monitoring reports weekly on its website at nwhealth.org/beach.html. Through an EGLE supported web-based program, the public has real-time access to beach water quality results for beaches all over Michigan. Information can be found at deq.state.mi.us/beach.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Health department lifts two beach advisories
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  The Henderson Fire Department announced Wednesday three dates for open houses this fall, allowing the community to tour local fire stations.

According to a release from the HFD, residents will be able to tour the station, meet with firefighters, check out firefighting apparatus, watch safety demonstrations, and learn how their local station is enhancing their community.

Community outreach plays a major role in the Henderson Fire Department, encompassing fire and life safety, injury prevention and risk reduction, health and wellness, and career education, the release stated.

Three Henderson Fire Department stations will be open to the public this fall.

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On Saturday, Sept. 9, Station 85, located at 285 West Horizon Drive, will host an open house on from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Station 91, located at 2901 Democracy Drive, will be the second station to host an open house on Saturday, Oct. 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The final open house scheduled will be at Station 84, 400 North Valle Verde Drive, on Saturday, Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
BRICS to play bigger role in improving global governance

09:32, August 30, 2023 By Song Wei ( China Daily

A worker arranges a signboard of the 15th BRICS summit outside the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug 17, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

The 15th BRICS Summit held in Johannesburg from Aug 22 to 24, the first in-person gathering of BRICS leaders since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, attracted global attention, especially because the five original members of BRICS are now regional powers.

On Aug 24, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa officially announced the inclusion of the six countries in BRICS, marking the second expansion of the grouping. Initially, the grouping comprised the "BRIC Four"  Brazil, Russia, India and China. "BRICS" came into being with the inclusion of South Africa in December 2010.

In comparison with the first expansion, the second one has attracted much more global attention. As a matter of fact, more than 40 countries have expressed their desire to join BRICS, with about 20 of them submitting formal applications to do so. This means the six new members were included in the grouping after much deliberation by the existing BRICS leaders.

The BRICS leaders' decision to include the six countries as new members was based on significant strategic consideration and keeping in mind the BRICS mechanism's future direction and objectives. Overall, the fundamental goal of BRICS is to serve as a primary institutional vehicle promoting cooperation among developing nations and a key collaborative platform for the Global South.

But contrary to Western propaganda, BRICS is not a clique of self-seeking countries. Instead, it is an open forum based on the principle of "seeking common ground while preserving differences". The new BRICS members are all developing countries, even though Saudi Arabia and the UAE are relatively affluent countries due to their oil economies, and Argentina has a high human development index. However, they vary significantly in terms of their political system, culture and level of development. This means BRICS will focus on inclusive development.

Considering these factors, it's understandable why only six countries have been inducted into BRICS as new members. Given the substantial differences among the member states, the larger the grouping becomes, the more challenging it will be to reach a consensus on any issue. Through controlled "expansion", BRICS can enhance its influence without compromising its cooperative efficiency. The six new members are unique in their own ways  home to large populations, strong economies and/or traditional culture.

Egypt, for instance, has long been a prominent regional power in North Africa and the Arab world, while Argentina is a major player in Latin America, second only to Brazil. Iran and Saudi Arabia are major Middle East powers and Ethiopia, a historically and culturally important country, has the second-largest population in Africa and its capital, Addis Ababa, is home to the headquarters of both the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa.

As for the UAE, it has developed into a global aviation and maritime hub and has the sixth-largest oil reserves in the world. Also, it has been a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2022-23 term.

Each of the new member states has distinct attributes. As such, their inclusion in BRICS will help further enhance the strength and global influence of the grouping's mechanism.

The BRICS mechanism operates on the principle of consensus-based decision-making and flexible cohesion, which allows it to rally developing countries for a common cause and help build a fair and rational new international political and economic order.

That BRICS has not yet built a permanent secretariat doesn't mean its members have been engaging in superficial cooperation, because the BRICS mechanism has developed into a multi-tiered collaborative structure, which includes leaders' summits, meetings of foreign ministers, security officials and coordinators, regular communication among representatives of multilateral institutions, and cooperation across various fields.

The performance of the BRICS New Development Bank, too, is noteworthy. The NDB doesn't serve only BRICS member states. Its services extend to all developing countries, though BRICS members enjoy preferential borrowing rights. On allegations that the NDB is a "China club", Leslie Maasdorp, NDB vice-president, recently said that China, like other BRICS members, is a shareholder in the bank, and it is not the largest shareholder, and emphasized that the idea of the NDB being a "China club" is baseless.

By making efforts to establish a fair and rational global political and economic order, amplifying the voice of developing countries and addressing common global issues such as climate change, the BRICS members have been able to overcome their differences. And, hopefully, they will play a more significant role in the international order to improve global governance.

The author is a researcher at the National Academy of Development and Strategy and a professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
The first-ever Golden Panda Awards, a global event to honor outstanding international film and TV works, will be held this September in Chengdu, Sichuan province. The announcement was made at a press conference in Beijing on Aug. 26 by the organizers of the awards.

Organizers of the Golden Panda Awards introduce the event at a press conference held at the Media Center Hotel in Beijing, Aug. 26, 2023. [Photo courtesy of the Organizing Committee of the First Golden Panda Awards]

The prestigious event is set to be a cultural celebration that embraces diversity and fosters global cultural exchange. Awards will be presented in four categories: film, TV drama, documentary and animation. Renowned film director Zhang Yimou will serve as the jury president for this year's Golden Panda Awards.

The inaugural edition of the awards will comprise three main events  the Golden Panda Night, Golden Panda International Cultural Forum and Golden Panda Awards Ceremony. In addition, three supporting activities including a panda tour, film screenings and a film exhibition will be held.

Gao Zhongwei, deputy director of the Office of the Organizing Committee of the First Golden Panda Awards and executive deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee, explained that the name "Golden Panda" was chosen to symbolize the preciousness and respect associated with gold. He added that the event aims to promote global cultural exchange and wished all guests a bountiful autumn.

"The giant panda, China's national treasure, is cherished by people all over the world due to its rarity and value, and serves as an excellent ambassador for cultural exchanges," he said.

Ren Zhonglun, vice chairman of the China Film Association and representative of the preliminary jury, stated that the selection of award winners will primarily be considered from three key aspects: the work's values, aesthetic standards and artistic presentation. From July 1, 2019, to March 31, 2023, the awards received an impressive 7,024 submissions from 104 countries and regions across five continents. Notably, 4,927 submissions came from outside of China, accounting for 70% of the total.

After the preliminary evaluation by the organizing committee, a total of 90 nominated works were selected across four categories: 29 films, 26 TV dramas, 20 documentaries and 15 animations. Notable entries included China's sci-fi film "The Wandering Earth II" and TV dramas "A Lifelong Journey" and "Minning Town," as well as the American movie "Jojo Rabbit," Italian TV drama "My Brilliant Friend" and Japanese TV drama "Hanzawa Naoki II."

The Golden Panda Awards trophy flanked by panda mascots on display at a press conference for the inaugural Golden Panda Awards in Beijing, Aug. 26, 2023. [Photo courtesy of the Organizing Committee of the First Golden Panda Awards]

A total of 25 awards will be presented during the event, with the winners to be announced during the ceremony on Sept. 20. The final evaluation by the jury will occur in mid-September in Chengdu. "The Golden Panda Awards are a distinctive and innovative accolade, combining traditional principles of film and television with a global perspective," Ren said. "The establishment of these awards is of profound significance."

The inaugural Golden Panda Awards, organized by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Sichuan Provincial People's Government, will be held in Chengdu from Sept. 19-20. The event will welcome around 600 internationally renowned guests, including Jackie Chan, Lang Lang, Nathan Wang, Malcolm Clarke, Alai and Wang Jinkang, according to Hu Yun, member of the award organizing committee and vice governor of the Sichuan Provincial People's Government. The awards will be held every two years and Sichuan province will be the event's permanent host.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)  On Monday, The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) released video and information to the media about a violent stabbing of one of its officers, followed by five explosive gunshots that neutralized and killed the aggressor, 25-year-old Sandra Lopez-Ochoa.

The information on the stabbing  and shooting  and the video came at a news conference at LVMPD headquarters in downtown Las Vegas.

Credentialed members of the media were and often are present at such events, including broadcast, digital, print, electronic, and foreign language outfits.

Henderson police probe shooting, but they say victims arent talking

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Generally, LVMPD holds news conferences within 72 hours and is known to provide frequent updates on these matters.

Contrast that with the police shooting on June 24. Police set up a staging area after one of their officers shot and killed a man at a bus stop near Boulder Highway to keep the media out and gave scant details.

Almost a month later, following no discernable timeline, the Henderson Police Department (HPD) released what they refer to as a news conference.

Henderson police release video after deadly shooting

With no media present, the HPD brass explained in a YouTube video the events leading up to and including the killing of that suspect  Steven Brucker, 53  mispronouncing his name (as Bruckner) throughout.

Police shooting on June 24, 2023, near the 200 block of West Sunset Road. (Credit: Henderson Police Department)

They offered no opportunity for any member of the media to inquire, challenge, criticize, follow up, or otherwise engage with regard to those events.

Immediately pressed by the 8 News Now Investigators with a request for an on-camera interview, the HPD responded curtly: We cannot accommodate your request for interview, the public information office wrote. Their salutation and closing were almost as long as the body of the email.

Henderson Police Department vehicle (KLAS)

The same office emailed the 8 News Now Investigators to say that the Henderson police chief, Hollie Chadwick, would not answer questions for the story, which was described to city officials as an investigation into transparency in local government.

In May, in Chadwicks first week on the job as chief of the department made herself available to the 8 News Now Investigators for a sit-down interview.

When asked whether the city and its officials make it difficult to access information she had the following to say.

Theres no reason why we would be making things difficult, Chadwick said. And moving forward we will make sure that all the documentation and transparency are there for the community.

Chief Hollie Chadwick photo provided by the City of Henderson

Chadwick is Hendersons fifth police chief since 2012. Her two predecessors each left the department on bad terms  one suing for discrimination and wrongful termination and the other after receiving votes of no confidence from the citys two police unions.

Requests to interview the members of the Henderson City Council and Hendersons Mayor, Michelle Romero, were forwarded to HPD by a city spokeswoman: If you havent already reached out, I am looping in the HPD Public Information Officer team due to the nature of your request, as the topics you are inquiring about pertain to the Police Departments operations, an email said.

Councilman Dan Stewart of Hendersons Fourth Ward, at one of the citys recent Morning Meet Ups with the individual councilmembers and voters, provided some clarity on the issue of these so-called news conferences.

I think its a good way to get the information out, Stewart told the 8 News Now Investigators, calling the process cumbersome.

Might not be the best, but I think its certainly adequate at this point, he added.

Stewart admitted that the council and the citys executive panel, including Romero, are aware of questions about the citys transparency.

Thats something were looking into, Stewart said. Because its been raised before.

One member of the law enforcement community in Henderson also told the 8 News Now Investigators that transparency is an issue in Henderson  both with the virtual press conferences and with the city attorneys office in particular.

Attorney Andrew Regenbaum, the executive director of the Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers, represents officers and supervisors in Hendersons two police unions.

He acknowledges that under Chadwick, the police department seems more forthcoming with information, but that the city attorneys office does not.

There are inconsistent standards and I think theres a lack of transparency from the city attorneys office, Regenbaum told the 8 News Now Investigators.

Explaining that he has trouble getting information and documents he needs in order to represent his clients in disciplinary, personnel, and other matters, Regenbaum elaborated.

My concern is for the officers that I represent, he said. And to the extent that the public wants transparency when you have a major event such as an officer-involved shooting, I think its important for the officers that the public know what happened as soon as possible.

The Henderson Police Department provided the following statement to 8 News Now:

The Henderson Police Department understands the importance of transparency and prioritizes open communication with its community.

To provide stakeholders within the community and the media with pertinent information about major police incidents, HPD provides recorded videos called Critical Incident Community Briefings and publishes them on YouTube, social media, and Nextdoor in addition to emailed press releases to our partners in the media. This practice allows all stakeholders to readily view Critical Incident Community Briefings at the same time.

Regarding how HPD releases crime data, the City of Henderson website has an open data portal for anyone to access the latest crime data. Additionally, the HPDs landing page on the City of Henderson website provides access to annual reports, geographical crime searches, crime statistics, and sex offender listing.

The Henderson Police Department is committed to open communication with community members and strives to accommodate and respond to resident, business, and media inquiries.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
The US Department of Homeland Security recommends preparing a go-bag for use during emergencies. schfer via Getty Images

Preparing a go-bag or disaster supplies kit is critical to one's survival during an emergency.

Hurricane Idalia is set to hit Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday.

The National Hurricane Center has asked people to "take all necessary actions to protect life."

With Hurricane Idalia set to hit Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday, the authorities have asked people residing nearby to take the necessary precautions.

"This is a life-threatening situation," the National Hurricane Center wrote in an update at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. "Persons located within these areas should take all necessary actions to protect life and property from rising water and the potential for other dangerous conditions."

But it's not just about evacuating. The US Department of Homeland Security recommends preparing a go-bag or disaster supplies kit.

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Here are the 14 items you should have in your go-bag:

Water (one gallon per person for several days, for drinking and sanitation)

Food (a supply of non-perishable food that can last several days)

A cell phone with chargers and a backup battery

A flashlight

A first-aid kit

Extra batteries

A whistle (to signal for help)

A dust mask (to help filter contaminated air)

Plastic sheeting and duct tape (to shelter in place)

Moist towelettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties (for personal sanitation)

Wrench or pliers (to turn off utilities)

A manual can opener (for food)

Maps of the local area

A battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert

Besides the above, the Department of Homeland Security also suggests packing additional items like prescription medications, sleeping bags, and warm blankets.

The department also advised storing these essentials in one or two easy-to-carry containers such as plastic bins or a duffel bag.

"Being prepared for any type of emergency or disaster can make the difference between life and death. We can't stress that enough," Red Cross spokesperson Sherri McKinney told NPR on August 25. "Have a plan, have a kit, and know how to evacuate your area."

The US has been hit by several natural disasters in recent weeks. Besides this year's Atlantic hurricane season, wildfires decimated the Hawaiian island of Maui in August, killing at least 115 people.

Heavy rains brought about by Tropical Storm Hilary also flooded parts of San Diego, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, and left Nevada's Black Rock Desert inundated last week.

Read the original article on Insider
Auto regulators ordered Tesla to hand over data about a hidden Autopilot mode that lets drivers stay hands-free.

It reportedly removes a prompt telling drivers to put their hands on the wheel, and was discovered by a software hacker.

The letter was made public days after Elon Musk livestreamed himself driving while using his phone.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says Tesla has an Autopilot mode that lets drivers go hands-free for an extended period of time, and has ordered the company to hand over data about it, Bloomberg first reported.

The NHTSA's letter was sent to Tesla last month as part of an investigation into its vehicles crashing into emergency vehicles. The letter was posted to the agency's website on Tuesday.

It raised concerns about an Autopilot configuration that would let drivers "operate their vehicles for extended periods without Autopilot prompting the driver to apply torque to the steering wheel."

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Typically, if a driver using Tesla's Autopilot or Full Self-Driving feature takes their hands off the wheel, a visual symbol blinks on the car's touch screen. If they still don't place their hands on the steering wheel, it escalates to a beeping noise, and if there's still no action then the ability to use Autopilot can be disabled.

The Verge reported that this could be disabled back in June, after a software hacker said they'd discovered the secret configuration and dubbed it "Elon mode."

The NHTSA's letter said it was concerned drivers may attempt to activate this potentially dangerous mode since it was reported. Tesla has not publicly confirmed whether or not it exists.

"The resulting relaxation of controls designed to ensure that the driver remain engaged in the dynamic driving task could lead to greater driver inattention and failure of the driver to properly supervise Autopilot," the agency's chief counsel said in the letter.

Tesla's manual says that, when using Autopilot, drivers should "keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times."

Elon Musk said last December that a software update would let some Tesla drivers disable the "nag," but that hasn't yet been implemented.

The NHTSA confirmed on August 25 that Tesla had filed a confidential response to its letter.

Earlier this month, Musk livestreamed himself driving a Tesla in Palo Alto, California while using a phone  a violation of Tesla's own rules and California state law.

Palo Alto police told The Verge that Musk would escape a fine for using his phone while driving because no officer had witnessed it in person.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Sushi Kodawari, which has leased space at 2100 Central St., is not open yet  owner Karson Thompson is angling to debut sometime in the fall.

But it is already noteworthy for two reasons. It will be the citys first stand-alone omakase restaurant  an intimate, fine-dining sushi experience where there is no set menu and each course is determined by the chef. (In Japanese, omakase translates roughly to I leave it up to you.; kodawari means the pursuit of perfection.)

It will also likely be Kansas Citys smallest restaurant, and certainly its smallest high-end one. With just an eight-seat counter offering two seatings per night, Sushi Kodawari will max out at 16 diners every evening it is open.

The Star recently spoke to Thompson about omakase, his sushi background, finding his way back to the Midwest and what you can expect when you make a reservation at Kodawari.

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Q: Howd you get it in your head that you wanted to open an omakase counter in Kansas City?

A: Im a very nontraditional entrant into this marketplace. Im trained as an attorney and have been practicing law for the last 10 years or so in Austin. I was looking for a way to do something that would make people happy to see me for a change.

I had sushi for the first time when I was an undergrad at KU, at a place called Wa on Mass Street. It was probably just a typical California roll. But Im from a cowtown in western Kansas. Id never had raw fish before. I just thought it was so amazing, so cool and cosmopolitan. I got really into sushi and eventually took a trip to Japan, where I had my mind absolutely blown in terms of understanding what sushi can be and what that dining experience can be.

In Austin, we were fortunate to have an omakase place that we went to a lot. But then the owner left for Chicago. And I missed that experience. So I started dabbling in preparing sushi at home, getting more and more serious about it. My wife and I always joked that once I got to the point where I was making sushi Id feel happy paying for, then maybe I could consider a career change. And toward the end of COVID, it felt like I was about there. I took another trip to Japan as kind of a reality check on myself. It was really helpful, and it challenged me, but overall it made me feel good about where I was at. So at that point we decided to move forward.

Why KC?

My wife is from the Kansas City area. We have 4-year-old triplets and were looking to get back closer to family. Also, Kansas City doesnt really have anybody doing this concept yet. I felt a city this size would have an appetite for it.

Talk about the omakase tradition, and the specific concept youre planning at Sushi Kodawari.

So, generally speaking, omakase as a restaurant trend is sort of like a prix fixe menu, where you dont have to order anything and you eat whatever the chef decides is on the menu that day. If youve been to a restaurant with a tasting menu, its a little bit like that: a fine-dining coursed experience.

The menu will vary based on seasonality. To me, its about serving fish when its best  which is different from serving fish when its freshest. Sometimes fresh is good, but not always. A lot of fish out there benefit from a little time after theyve been out of the ocean.

Ill be doing Edomae, which is a style of sushi that originated in Tokyo in the 1800s, in the days before refrigeration, when sushi vendors would set up carts along the docks and sushi was grab-and-go, made with fish that was preserved and cured to keep the fish fresher for a longer period of time. So, well draw on a lot of those classic preservation techniques, but also some more modern ideas as well. For example, well have a dry-aging refrigerator of the kind youd see at a high-end steakhouse. It ages the fish, gets the moisture out, releases robust flavors, and improves the texture.

Overall, the idea is to do something a little more complex and interesting than the typical rolls-and-bowls sushi you can find around town.

Talk a little more about the differences between what youre planning and a typical neighborhood sushi spot.

If your only sushi experience is from going to a big retail chain or a local place thats primarily roll-based, the biggest difference is the focus on nigiri as opposed to rolls. Nigiri is just a slice of fish on a ball of rice. Its a way of presenting the fish more simply and in a way that highlights whats great about that particular fish, as opposed to using fish as one ingredient in a larger recipe that pulls flavor from things like mayonnaise and sriracha.

So, in a 15-course omakase meal, you may have 10 pieces of nigiri, most of which are different fish, and it lets you experience a wide spectrum of flavors. And then outside of the nigiri, we will serve some smaller plates with maybe some baked fish, oysters and other shellfish, caviar, fish roe. Well probably do chawanmushi, which is a Japanese egg custard served with fresh vegetables and shrimp and presented in a teacup.

But the bulk will be the focus on the fish. For me, as a customer and kind of a sushi snob, the fun of a place like this is coming back throughout the year to see what has transitioned off the menu and whats back on. Winter means that really fatty mackerel I like might be back, or in the summer you can catch those firefly squids that only pop up a couple months a year.

Will it be just you preparing the dinners, or will you have anybody else helping out?

Well probably hire just one other person whose job will primarily be a serving role. Ive been to a lot of these types of restaurants and seen them run lean on a small staff and also with larger staffs. I think they work better with fewer people.

Whats the space going to look like?

The Crossroads building its in is called The Creamery  it was historically a production facility for ice cream, and its been renovated by 3D Development, which is the group thats doing Pennway Point as well as the old Star building. The building is mostly office space for design and architecture firms, but theres one spot at the bottom that they carved out as a home for a restaurant.

I was told that several restaurants have checked it out and most thought it was too small. For me, its a little more space than I need. But its such a cool building, and weve made a little gallery area up front with some seats where people can hang out before they transition to the counter area for service.

Were in permit review with the city right now. Once we get that OK, well lock in the construction schedule, and the buildout should move pretty quickly from there since its such a small space. Ideally, well open sometime this fall.

Whats it going to cost me to eat there?

We dont have anything totally nailed down yet on pricing. Id say the target is to be comparable with other high-end dining experiences downtown.

Reservations only?

Correct. In Tokyo, some places have implemented an even-numbered seating rule to ensure all the seats are filled. So, you can only book for 2 or 4 guests, not 1 or 3. But Im not sure that will be an issue for us. Youve got to be a pretty serious diner to book a meal like this just for yourself, and if you are that serious, I definitely want you in my restaurant.

Whats your sense of how ready Kansas City is for an omakase experience like this?

Theres an education component to it, for sure. People will have to get over that initial hurdle, but once you see this in action I think it will catch on. Ive had so many experiences taking friends and family from small-town Kansas who only know rainbow rolls to places like this. And most of the time its so great  you get to sit there and eat and watch their minds explode.

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Four teens were detained early Wednesday after allegedly breaking into a south Sacramento home and fleeing in a stolen vehicle, authorities said.

The incident started just before midnight when Sacramento police officers were called to a home on the 7900 block of Kenelworth Way in the Valley Hi / North Laguna neighborhood after multiple armed suspects entered the residence and assaulted the victim before fleeing, according to the Sacramento Police Department.

As officers investigated, they learned that deputies from the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office were in pursuit of a stolen white Kia believed to be connected to the robbery.

Deputies found the vehicle in the area of Valley Hi Drive and Mack Road just after midnight, said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sheriffs Office. When deputies tried to make a traffic stop, the car fled, leading authorities on a high-speed chase that continued onto Interstate 80 and ended on the Yolo Causeway around 3 a.m.

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Three suspects inside the vehicle fled on foot into the wildlife refuge area but were located and detained with help from SWAT officers. One occupant of the Kia remained behind and also was detained.

Gandhi identified the suspects as four boys  a 15-year-old, a 16-year-old and two 17-year-olds. He said firearms were also recovered by deputies.

Both agencies say the investigation into the robbery and chase are ongoing.
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) doubled down Tuesday on his criticism of GOP presidential candidates support of former President Trump as their partys 2024 nominee even if he were convicted of the various charges against him, calling it a mistake.

It was the fact that they said, even if he was convicted of a felony, that they would still support him for president, Hogan said during an interview on The Hill on NewsNation. Hes innocent until proven guilty. Theres no question theres been some overzealous prosecution; I understand all the concerns. But if hes found guilty of felonies, in most states, you cant even vote or serve on a jury.

At last weeks GOP primary debate, moderator Bret Baier asked the candidates to raise their hands if they would stand by their pledge to support Trump if he secures the partys nomination and is later convicted. All but former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie raised their hand.

I just thought that was a mistake, Hogan said. And  as a lifelong Republican, a guy that came up through Reagan, I just didnt understand how somebody could make that commitment without even hearing the trial or the evidence or knowing what he was convicted of.

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Hogans comments echoed those made last week when he told CNNs Dana Bash he was embarrassed and disgusted to see most of the candidates raise their hands.

Hogan disgusted most GOP candidates would put a convicted felon in the White House

Hogan, who serves as the national co-chairman of No Labels  a political group that has been pushing for a third-party ticket  has signaled that the group may launch a third-party bid if the 2024 election is a rematch between President Biden and Trump.

Maybe we have to, depending on where we are next spring, provide a third option because a vast majority of people in America  nearly two-thirds  do not want Joe Biden or Donald Trump to be president, Hogan said, noting that a possible third-party bid has not been decided on.

Hogan said that if No Labels were to consider putting up a nominee, it would likely not be until April, after the results of Super Tuesday are in.

At this point in time, Im really still focused on, Im hopeful that we can find someone other than Donald Trump to rise up in the Republican Party, because Im tired of losing, Hogan said.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

The Hill Elections 2024 coverage

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Competitors at a chili cook-off in Northern California say they were subjected to homophobic slurs at the event and that someone drove a vehicle over their goods.

Thomas and Cody Nicholson Stratton, a married same-sex couple who own a farm called the Foggy Bottoms Boys, were competing in the cook-off at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale, according to the Times-Standard, a newspaper in nearby Eureka.

They heard antigay comments from another attendee all day, such as Oh, thats so gay. You should be over there. With the F-ggy Bottoms Boys, Thomas Nicholson Stratton told the paper. He did not identify the source.

As I was going to get our vehicle to pack up our items, we had that person that was doing hateful comments run over some of our ingredients and then back over them again, damaging the supplies and a piece of equipment, he said. he continued. Our employees were literally a foot away sitting on coolers and chairs, he noted.

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Other people on the commenters team kept trying to intervene and did not join in the homophobic actions, he added.

Although Nicholson Stratton did not name the person or team involved, an area business, the LoCo Fish Co., apologized via a comment on the Foggy Bottoms Boys Instagram post about the incident.

Im extremely sorry for our actions, LoCo wrote. We are NOT anti-LGBTQ in any shape or form. The Times-Standard sought comment from the business but did not receive a response.

LoCos station at the cook-off was staffed by co-owner Jayme Knight and other staff members and was located next to that of the Foggy Bottoms Boys. Ferndale police arrested Knight Thursday evening for driving under the influence and held him at the county jail for several hours, according to jail records. The Times-Standard was unable to obtain further information from the police department by its deadline.

Nicholson Stratton said only that police and officials with the fair were helpful, and the fair's organizers arranged for reimbursement for any losses. The Foggy Bottoms Boys Instagram post drew many supportive responses. I am sorry to hear this upsetting information, one commenter wrote. Thank you for speaking up and addressing the issue. Yall are the definition of commUNITY, and it looks like most of us know this! Sending all our unconditional love and respect your way.

Another said, Keep standing strong and proud and shining bright! Hate will not be tolerated in our community!!! Im really glad you shared this experience with all of us.
A few days ago, the Philadelphia Inquirers indispensable columnist Will Bunch wrote a viral column about all the ways in which the media is already failing to meet the moment with its horse race coverage of the 2024 election. America, he cautioned, is entering its most important, pivotal year since 1860, and the U.S. media is doing a terrible job explaining what is actually happening.

Bunch deplores the corporate medias coverage of Donald Trumps surrender to a Georgia jail last weekall motorcades and pundits and mug-shotteryas the very sort of spectacle that best serves Trumps interests. He describes the bulk of the programmingaround both the election and Trumps criminal trialsas including a desperate desire to frame todays clash in the context of long-lost 20th-century democratic norms, and to blame any transgressions on a mysterious tribalism that plagues both sides. 

In the aggregate, what Bunch is calling for is less spectacle and side bets on the will-he-or-wont-he chances of a conviction and jail sentence, and more contextualization and explanation of how authoritarian movements rely on breaking democratic norms to amass power and legitimacy.

What struck me in reading Bunchs diagnosis of the political press corps is that weve actually been here before: His critique is equally apt with respect to covering the Supreme Court. Throughout 2016, as thenSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell staged an unprecedented blockade of Merrick Garland at the Supreme Court, the bulk of the corporate press either ignored it or grew bored of it. Because there was no historical or political language or framing for what was taking place, it simply became a nonstory or a tawdry repetition of the both-sides talking points about Robert Bork.

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For the bulk of the past year, as weve been confronted with the towering pile of stories about justices accepting luxury trips and gifts from billionaires with a vested interest in the conservative legal movements deregulatory project, each successive tale has largely been processed in the media under the rubric Lifestyles of the Rich and Life-Tenured. The gifts, the trips, the spectacle of ultra-wealthy yachts and wines are almost never explicitly tied to the larger conversation about which billionaires own which justices and how much they pay to own the court. Its a spectacle, for sure, in much the same way Mar-a-Lagos chandeliered bathrooms are a spectacle, but the spectacle isnt the story here; the bustling marketplace for renting a life-tenured jurist is the story. And how we allowed this to happen? Thats the scandal.

To repurpose Bunchs critique, anyone who is presently writing and thinking about the Supreme Court who is not locating the chief justices refusal to appear to testify before Congress, or Justice Samuel Alitos inappropriate and ex parte claims about congressional power over the judicial branch, within a much larger conversation about the court and the rule of law is missing the point. As story after story appears, suggesting that the same person who is cultivating relationships between billionaire donors and Supreme Court justices is also working to suppress elections, the failure to understand and then write about the Supreme Court as an institution largely captured by moneyed partisan political interests feels more and more like journalistic malpractice.

An example: Mark Meadows is back in the headlines again for his diligent efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential electionbut somehow, the fact that Ginni Thomas , the wife of a sitting justice, was texting him to urge that he do precisely this act has fallen away almost completely. Somehow, its been cleansed and purified by way of the same machine that insists that Justice Clarence Thomas is a good person and, as such, does not have to be subjected to any rules. The media almost unfailingly counterbalances each tale of wildly improper judicial conduct with an obligatory quote from one of the people intimately involved with that improper conduct about liberal threats to an independent judiciary, simply feeding the both-sides machine without ever noting that the person being quoted is in fact an accomplice to the misdeeds.

We have spent a good bit of time at Slate trying to reimagine a more contextualized way of reporting about the Supreme Court, and as I was rereading Bunch, it occurred to me that if we just keep reporting on the high court as a set of score cards totting up wins and losses for conservatives and liberals, we ignore the fact that the current six-justice supermajority on the court itself represents a threat to democracy and accountability, and that setting up a side beat to cover the justices various trips and grifts has largely had the effect of separating coverage of the justices from coverage of the court itself, even though the two are intrinsically connected.

Perhaps an essential component of court coverage in the coming weeks and months should include reference to supreme courts around the world that have either become part of a larger authoritarian creep or been sidelined in order to pave the way for more authoritarianism. Just as we should not be covering politics as though divining the winners is an end in itself, we have to stop covering cases the same way. As Bunch reminds us, the end in itself in the realm of politics is the preservation of democracy. So too the endpoint of a justice system is justice, as opposed to how many votes were logged for and against the Clean Water Act last year.

At some point in the very near future, the atomized coverage of politics and law will converge as Donald Trump attempts to deploy the former to swallow the latter up whole. That means that as much as we must cover the 2024 presidential contest and the Trump trials as national referenda on the future of democratic norms, we must work harder to cover the conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court as an engine of illiberalism, and not as one of two lacrosse teams working out the contours of Chevron deference on the grassy fields of fair play.

Every time we cover a case without mentioning who is paying for it, were betting on the horse race. Every time we reference a justice without noting who has been paying for them, were egging on the horse race. Every time we accept as principled journalism that which is mere advocacy, were tacitly approving of the horse race. And in so doing were persistently leaving vital matters of democratic concern, from voting rights to minority rule, on the cutting room floor. Unless we stop scrutinizing the Supreme Court as a mystical doctrinal laboratory that operates only in its opinions and matters for only a few weeks in June, we will continue to tell only a fragment of its story. Cases do not happen in isolated test tubes if the lab has already been paid for by special interests and the chemists are getting bonuses for producing the desired results. Almost all cases on the docket are part of a campaign to alter the constitutional and statutory landscape. That isnt new. But as Bunch notes, if we dont cover them as such, and if we cover them as though the only interesting question is who won, and by how many points, we wont be covering them for much longer.
Congress is racing the clock to fund the government ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline as the threat of a shutdown looms  but to some House conservatives, a shutdown isnt much of a threat at all.

A handful of hard-line Republicans are brushing off  or even embracing  the possibility of a shutdown, arguing that bringing the government to a screeching halt is more acceptable than allowing the country to continue on its current spending trajectory.

If a shutdown occurs, then so be it if theyre not gonna stick to what [Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)] agreed to, which is starting on a path of financial security, which we dont have, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told The Hill in an interview.

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.)  who in July said we should not fear a government shutdown  went even further when talking to The Hill last week.

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Eighty-five percent or so of the government continues to operate, and most Americans wont even miss it, Good said. And if thats the leverage that we need to utilize to force the Democrats to accept spending cuts and an end to the harmful policies that are, again, crushing the American people  I mean, then we need to do that.

While the Republicans flirting with a shutdown are a tiny minority within the GOP conference, they add another layer of complication for McCarthy as he works to keep the lights on in Washington without angering his right flank, who are pushing for steeper spending cuts and policy additions as part of the appropriations process.

McCarthy is asking House Republicans to help him pass a short-term continuing resolution, or CR, to fund the government beyond Sept. 30 as both chambers slog through the government funding process. The House has cleared just one of 12 regular appropriations bills, while the Senate has not gotten any past the finish line. The House will be in session for just 11 legislative days until the end of fiscal 2023.

I dont think anybody wants a government shutdown, McCarthy told reporters in Syracuse, N.Y., last week.

As the calendar inches closer to the end-of-September deadline, McCarthy is utilizing an argument that could appeal to some conservatives: warning about the ramifications a shutdown may have on the conferences investigations into the Biden administration.

He cautioned that the probes into Hunter Biden and the Biden familys foreign business dealings  which McCarthy said could soon develop into an impeachment inquiry as a natural step forward  would be halted.

So I would actually like to have a short-term CR, only to make our arguments stronger, McCarthy said on Foxs Sunday Morning Futures. If we shut down, all the government shuts it down, investigation and everything else. It hurts the American public.

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who is leading the Houses probe into the Biden family businesses, also warned about the effects of a shutdown.

Any type of shutdown would  interfere with our investigation. Any excuse the Biden administration can give not to be transparent with the House Oversight Committee, theyre gonna take that, Comer said Tuesday on Fox Business.

But some hard-line conservatives are balking at that analysis.

We are not going to be distracted by a shiny object saying, if you dont get this continuing resolution passed, we wont be able to pursue the impeachment inquiry, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) said Monday on Fox Business. Thats nonsense.

Conservatives have laid out demands not only for government funding as a whole, but for a stopgap bill to keep the government open.

Last week, the House Freedom Caucus released an official position opposing a continuing resolution without significant policy reforms on the border, Department of Justice and woke policies in the Pentagon, while re-upping their demand that top-line spending is chopped down further than levels in currently drafted bills.

If those requests are not met, Norman said, a shutdown would be an acceptable byproduct.

Weve made it clear, youve seen the letter the Freedom Caucus sent out, $1.4 trillion limit, no rescissions to plus-up the appropriations. And were opposing a CR. And if a byproduct is the shutdown of the government, then so be it, Norman said.

With around three dozen members of the House Freedom Caucus and just a slim House GOP majority, unified opposition from the hard-line conservative group could sink a stopgap measure unless it wins Democratic support  a prospect that remains unclear.

And it is unlikely that the Democratic-controlled Senate will agree to the Freedom Caucus demands  a dynamic that makes other Republicans willing to compromise for the sake of keeping the government open.

I believe that we have an obligation to fund the government, and I will reach a compromise with whoever I have to to make sure that the government continues running, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a 22-year veteran in the House, told reporters Tuesday at the Capitol.

If theres a shutdown, then quite frankly, you know  I will live through it; Ive lived through a number of them, but I dont think its constructive and neither does the Speaker, he later added.

Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), a member of the Freedom Caucus along with Norman and Good, said he doesnt think a shutdown is the right course of action, but the talk of one could help move the ball forward as the appropriations process slowly progresses.

I dont think its good for the country to have a shutdown, but sometimes its good for some members to make rhetoric about a possible shutdown because then maybe we can get everybody to come to some kind of agreement that makes sense for the American people, Griffith said earlier this month.

While some members like Good see the threat of a shutdown as a potential leverage point, the chance of a shutdown backfiring is well within the realm of possibility.

Shutdowns are unpredictable, said Ryan Walker, the acting executive director and vice president of government relations for Heritage Action for America, the advocacy arm of the conservative think tank. Its hard to discern where the American public are going to place blame.

But Walker added that while his organization would not take a position on a government shutdown, the frustration is real.

There are members from all across the spectrum who have simply had enough, and they want to change, Walker said. A CR is a continuation of the Biden administration spending and does nothing on policy.

Democrats, for their part, are slamming Republicans who say they are unbothered by a shutdown, arguing that the behavior from conservatives in the House is out of touch.

I think its irresponsible, and I think its cruel, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) told reporters Tuesday in the Capitol.

This is not a responsible way to run a government, and certainly for them to very flippantly say so be it shows how out of touch they are with what we need to do to govern and really support the American people, she added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
You are here: Business

A staff member of Meitu demonstrates the company's software product at Xiamen Software Park in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese internet company Meitu generated 1.26 billion yuan (175 million U.S. dollars) in revenue in the first half of 2023, an increase of 29.8 percent year on year.



The company recorded an adjusted net profit of 151 million yuan in the first six months, up 320.4 percent year on year, according to the company's financial report disclosed on Monday.

The surge was mainly the result of subscription revenues related to photo, video and design products powered by AI-generated content, with the number of VIP app users reaching a record high of 7.2 million by June 30.

The total number of monthly active users reached 247 million by the end of June.

Research and development (R&D) expenses increased by 10.8 percent to 294 million yuan during the period.

Founded in October 2008, Meitu is an AI-driven technology company that aims to "beautify" users with its image products and beauty management services.
Florida residents shared heartbreaking photos of the destruction caused by Hurricane Idalia after the powerful storm swept into the state on Wednesday.

Idalia made landfall around 8am as an extremely dangerous Category 3 storm with 120mph winds and warnings of catastrophic coastal surge up to 15 feet in places. More than 250,000 customers were left without power on Wednesday.

The hurricane came ashore near Keaton Beach in Big Bend, southeast of Tallahassee, an area known as Floridas nature coast and less densely-populated than other parts of the state.

But that was cold comfort for the small, tranquil communities dotting the coastline with Idalia forecast to be the strongest storm to hit the region in more than 100 years.

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Cedar Key was one of those severely impacted by storm surge and winds. Michael Presley Bobbitt, a playwright who lives in the town, decided not to evacuate and was sheltering on the second floor of his home, he shared on social media.

Im okay. The water has made it to my backyard but it will have to go up 7 ft to flood my house I might be about to get lucky. The rest of the island is not lucky. Our entire downtown is submerged. Houses everywhere are submerged. The far away in [sic] is coming apart and heading out into the Gulf of Mexico, he posted on Wednesday morning.

The Far Away Inn, a small pet friendly business of motel and cottages, is located a short walk from the beachfront.

Waves were lapping up the roof lines of single story homes on Cedar Key Island after Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Wednesday with powerful winds and storm surge (Screengrab/Facebook/Michael Presley Bobbitt)

Mr Bobbitt shared photos and videos of waves lapping up the windows of single-story homes as torrents of water swept away roofs, wooden structures and furniture.

Im gonna get a motorboat here in the water shortly, so I can get to some of the outlying areas of the island to make sure that there are no old people stuck or in need of help, he told the BBC.

Michael R Holley, an author and owner of Cedar Key Pizza And Subs restaurant, also shared updates from the island.

He wrote that power went out around 5am and that peak storm surge was a little over 6ft where he was but there were mixed reports from downtown.

[T]hank you to the sooooo many who have reached out, he wrote.

Cindy Bonish, another resident, shared images from the ocean-facing Dock Street. Her photos showed water rushing through restaurants and other businesses.

Dock Street looks like it took a pretty big hit, these restaurants keep our town alive. If anyone has the ability, please contact owners or workers in any restaurant in Cedar Key, they are our life line, she wrote.

Also The Cedar Key Market, our only source of real groceries on the island, if we can help them salvage something it would be good for the entire city. This is going to be a hard one for all but if we all work together hopefully we can get back soon.

The owners of Cedar Keys Low-Key Hideaway and Tiki Bar, who evacuated for the hurricane, shared photos from a camera set up inside the business which showed it had been partially submerged.

Thank you all so much for the kind words!! We hope all our friends and neighbors, wherever they are, are safe! The resilient nature of the people here is unmatched and I know we will all come back better than before. It truly takes a village. Look out for more pictures when we get back to the island. Hope to see you all soon, one way or another, they wrote.

Cedar Key Fire Rescue asked for people to be patient as they waited for the retreat of high tide before surveying the town.

Most of the streets around the downtown area are underwater. We cannot get out at this time to see judt how bad things are. Please do not come to Cedar Key. We will let everyone know when roads are open so you can come to town safely... We have no power, officials wrote on Wednesday morning.

Cedar Key island, a small community in Big Bend, Florida was inundated with water during Hurricane Idalia (Screengrab/Facebook/Michael Presley Bobbitt)

Idalia also impacted areas still recovering from Hurricane Ian which struck Florida less than a year ago. The Category 4 storm killed 150 people and damaged 52,000 structures.

Streets flooded in Fort Myers Beach after it sustained major damage in September 2022. Powerful waves also lashed the three-mile long Sanibel Island causeway which was partially destroyed during Ian.

Idalia rapidly intensified overnight as it barrelled towards Floridas west coast where thousands of residents had been ordered to evacuate. And thought it may be the first major storm to hit Florida this hurricane season, it joins a long list of disasters in the United States and globally which are being amplified by the climate crisis.

In recent decades, the ocean has absorbed 90 per cent of excess global heat, largely caused by emissions from burning fossil fuels, and this summer has seen historical high surface temperatures including around Florida. Warmer waters supercharge tropical cyclones with more heavy rainfall and storm surge as they come ashore.

While the frequency of tropical storms is not increasing, the chance that they become stronger and more destructive systems has increased by about 8 per cent per decade in the past 40 years, according to climate scientists. The proportion of Category 4 and 5 tropical cyclones is also projected to increase around the world in the coming decades due to human-caused warming, according to the latest report from the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from 1 June to 30 November, is forecast to be above average this year.
A traffic jam in the Panama Canal could take at least 10 months to clear up, new data shows.

The wait time to get through the canal has increased massively for ships.

Holiday shopping will likely be impacted, with higher prices and out-of-stock items.

Drought conditions causing a massive traffic jam in the Panama Canal have been extended for at least 10 months, meaning that holiday shopping will likely be sorely impacted as ships crawl through the canal at a slow pace.

According to new data shared with Insider by supply chain visibility startup Project44, the wait time for ships that haven't been booked with the canal has increased 280% since June.

It used to take a vessel about two-and-a-half days to pass through the Panama Canal, but now ships are taking an extra week to make it through, averaging a nine-and-a-half day journey.

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Since ships are taking much longer to move through the body of water, delayed shipments will likely screw up holiday shopping plans.

"Current drought regulations for the Panama Canal have been extended for at least the next 10 months, meaning the restrictions will likely impact this year's holiday shopping," Jenna Slagle, Senior Data Analyst at Project44, told Insider.

"We're in the thick of peak shipping season  the time of year when retailers ramp up shipping in anticipation of increased demand with holiday shopping season," Slagle said.

Slagle added that there are already "severe restrictions" on the number of ships that can pass through the canal and the amount of cargo each ship is allowed to carry, resulting in huge wait times to pass through, especially for those ships without proper bookings.

Project44 said that the delays are mostly falling on those ships without booking appointments with the Panama Canal Authority. Shippers familiar with the route who "proactively schedule appointments and maintain robust communication channels with the canal are experiencing significantly fewer disruptions compared to those who infrequently use this route," the organization said.

But, Salgle added, "As the delayed ships gradually arrive at their intended destination, we expect to see downstream effects on holiday shopping with out-of-stock items."

Additionally, the Panama Canal Authority might place a higher price on ships passing through the canal, so shippers might have to use smaller boats to transport their goods. Either way, higher prices for the ships likely mean higher prices for the items they're bringing to your area, Slagle explained.

"This overall rise in shipping costs could be passed along to consumers, ultimately driving up the prices of goods and services that depend on this crucial maritime route," Slagle said.

The Panama Canal traffic jam can be chalked up to unprecedented conditions in Panama. The canal relies on rainwater to replenish itself, but a lack of rain this summer has made it harder for ships to get through.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Much of the legislation Texas lawmakers passed in the 88th Legislature is set to become law Friday.

Of the 774 bills that will go into effect, the new laws reach across all areas of Texans' daily life, affecting everything from taxes and registration fees to hospital visits and trips to the voting booth.

Here's a breakdown of a few of the bills.

Fentanyl poisoning

Gov. Greg Abbott signs one of four bills aimed at curbing the growing fentanyl crisis during the Fighting the Fentanyl Crisis Bill signing at the Texas Capitol on June 14. The laws designate October as Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month, require schools to provide education on fentanyl abuse prevention and make it clear that people who cause death by distributing fentanyl can be prosecuted for murder.

Lawmakers passed House Bill 6 to increase penalties for fentanyl related deaths, creating a second-degree felony for manufacturing or delivering fentanyl that results in an overdose.

Anyone charged with manufacturing, delivering or possessing between 200 to 400 grams of fentanyl with intent to deliver will face a first-degree felony, which comes with a minimum 10-year sentence and up to life in prison and a fine up to $100,000. For anyone caught with more than 400 grams, they could face a 15-year minimum jail term and a fine up to $250,000.

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More: Is Narcan nasal spray enough? Some say shot needed to fight fentanyl overdoses in Austin.

The Republican-led effort to pass HB 6, which addresses a rise in fentanyl deaths, requires that death certificates include the phrase "fentanyl poisoning" or "fentanyl toxicity" if the substance is discovered in a toxicology analysis.

"This law makes clear that any person who causes a death by unlawfully manufacturing or delivering fentanyl can be prosecuted for murder in the state of Texas," Gov. Greg Abbott said in June at a bill signing ceremony alongside advocates for harsher penalties for fentanyl use and distribution.

'Rogue' prosecutors

Republicans in the Legislature passed House Bill 17 to challenge district and county attorneys who they call "rogue" and accuse of letting politics influence their decisions rather than fulfilling their oath to uphold the state's laws.

The measure had been designated a priority at the outset of the legislative session by Abbott as well as by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who heads the Senate, and House Speaker Dade Phelan.

GOP scrutiny on prosecutors gained momentum last summer when five Texas district attorneys pledged in a statement that their offices would not prosecute abortion-related crimes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that guaranteed a person's right to an abortion.

Other prosecutors had said they won't prosecute theft cases when the goods stolen are under a certain dollar amount, or election fraud.

Under HB 17, an elected prosecutor could face a removal trial for official misconduct after a resident in their county files a complaint.

CROWN Act

The CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, passed with bipartisan support to prevent discrimination related to hair textures and protective styles such as braids, locs, twists and knots.

House Bill 567 prohibits discrimination in schools, workplaces and housing based on certain hair textures or protective hairstyles historically and culturally associated with race.

More: Texas House approves CROWN Act, sets protections against race-based hair discrimination

Under the new law, any dress or grooming policy implemented by a school district, including extracurricular activities, "may not discriminate against a hair texture or protective hairstyle commonly or historically associated with race," the bill reads.

Books and school safety

House Bill 900 mandates that book vendors that sell library materials to school districts create a rating system for books that are "sexually relevant" or "sexually explicit."

Under the bill by Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, districts will be prohibited from buying books from vendors that dont follow the ratings. The law bans sexually explicit materials from school libraries and requires parental consent before a student may check out sexually relevant materials.

Gov. Greg Abbott, right, congratulates Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, after the governor signed into law HB 900, legislation that prohibits sexually explicit material in Texas public school libraries, at the Capitol on June 12.

On Monday, an U.S. district judge heard arguments from lawyers for several Texas book sellers  including Austins BookPeople and Houston-based Blue Willow Bookshop  who have asked for a legal pause to the new law's start while its constitutionality is decided in court.

Outside of books, major legislation tied to schools came through House Bill 3, which seeks to address and boost school safety.

The bipartisan legislation spends nearly $330 million over the next two years to bolster school security infrastructure and increase school safety resources for campuses across Texas.

Illegal voting is again a felony

After lowering the penalty for illegally voting in Texas to a misdemeanor in 2021, lawmakers returned to the Capitol this year and approved House Bill 1243, which reinstates the charge's previous penalty of a second-degree felony.

While opponents of the bill painted the measure as an act of voter suppression, advocates said the legislation is simply a return to the previous long-standing penalty.

Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, talks about SB1, the property tax bill, in the Senate on the first day of the first special session at the Capitol on May 30.

"We wouldn't want to give folks the impression that we're making some radical change in the law," said Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, a leader on the issue in the past two sessions, during legislative debate earlier this year. "We're restoring the law to where it was two years ago, I think that's important."

While many other election related issues failed during the session, one election law going into effect Friday will disband the Harris County elections office and place the responsibility of handling elections in the state's largest county to the county's tax assessor-collector.

Border landowner compensation

As border issues continued to come up throughout the 140-day legislative session, Senate Bill 1133, which compensates property owners with up to $75,000 for damage on agricultural land, quietly passed with broad support in the House and Senate.

Senator Cesar J. Blanco speaks during a press conference to bring awareness to Senate Bill SD29. Senator Cesar J. Blanco says that he wants to make sure that everyone in the state of Texas has access to quality healthcare during the state's healthcare workforce shortage.

SB 1133 by Sen. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso, establishes a landowner compensation program that allows for a maximum $75,000 payment for property damage tied to trespassing or other crimes along the Mexico-Texas border.

Rules and eligibility requirements for the compensation program will be developed by the attorney general's office.

LGBTQ bills in court

Brigitte Bandit left testifies against SB 12, SB 1601 as Valerie DeBill waits to also opposes the bill in the senate chambers on Thursday, March 23, 2023. The Senate State Affairs committee is taking up controversial bills SB 12, SB 1601 which is an anti-drag show bill, and several criminal justice bills.

A ban on gender affirming care for minors is set to go into effect Friday despite an ongoing legal challenge.

Last week, an Austin-based judge ruled in favor of a temporary injunction for Senate Bill 14, which prohibits doctors from providing certain gender-affirming medical treatments  including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and certain surgeries  to minors experiencing gender dysmorphia, a condition in which a persons gender identity doesnt match the persons sex at birth. The attorney general's office, however, successfully appealed that ruling to the Texas Supreme Court and the law is back on track for a Friday start.

SB 14 would also revoke the medical licenses of physicians who provide such care, and bans health care providers, hospitals and other entities that offer those medical treatments from receiving any public money.

More: Families, rights groups sue Texas over ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors

In an effort to regulate "sexually oriented performances," Senate Bill 12 restricts those performances from taking place on commercial or public property or in the presence of minors.

Conduct deemed unacceptable under the new law, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June, includes exhibitions of sex acts, sexual arousal or any device designed specifically for sexual stimulation.

A lawsuit filed earlier this month by the ACLU of Texas in a U.S. district court in Houston argues that vague parameters in the new law violate both the First and Fourteenth Amendments, creating a prior restraint on free expression and an avenue for prosecutors to censor constitutionally protected activities.

More: Keep Austin Queer'd: Austin Pride carries on despite stifling heat and contention

In response to SB 12, which passed in the waning days of the legislative session in May after months of edits, protests and heated floor debates, a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocates and organizations are seeking an injunction in hopes of having the law found unconstitutional.

The case filed in Houston is ongoing, with a ruling possibly coming soon as the bill is set to go into effect Friday.

No more diaper, feminine hygiene taxes

Under Senate Bill 379, diapers, baby wipes and feminine hygiene products will be exempt from state sales tax.

Families who are struggling to afford diapers and other necessities each month will see relief every time they go to the store. This law is a major step toward a healthier Texas, said Holly McDaniel, executive director of the Austin Diaper Bank.

House Rep. Donna Howard speaks during a press conference about H.B. 62, a property tax relief program. Howard sponsored the tax exemption bill in the House.

The tax exemption comes alongside medicaid benefits for new mothers, who will be eligible for one year of health insurance after the birth of a child.

Electric car registration

For those looking to buy and register a new electric vehicle in Texas, the price to do so will go up Friday.

Registering a new electric car will cost $400 after Senate Bill 505 passed both legislative chambers unanimously earlier this year, creating a distinction between electric and standard vehicles. Additionally, the legislation creates a new $200 annual registration renewal fee for electric cars, with that revenue directed to the state highway fund. Standard cars and light trucks pay an annual fee of $50.75.

Ban on COVID-19 restrictions

A priority item for Patrick, the lieutenant governor, Senate Bill 29 will prohibit governmental entities in Texas from implementing or enforcing a vaccine mandate, mask mandate or private business or school closures in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: New Texas laws go into effect Sept. 1 impacting LGBTQ+ people and more
Russia's conviction rate for AWOL soldiers soared to 100 a week, UK officials said.

Lack of training, low motivation, and the dangers of combat were driving the trend, they said.

Russia has deep problems with recruitment, and is offering big cash rewards to sign up.

Almost 100 Russian soldiers are convicted every week for refusing to fight in Ukraine, UK intelligence said Wednesday, part of a broader manpower crisis in the Russian military.

British officials were passing on figures reported by Mediazona, an independent Russian news outlet.

The UK Ministry of Defence said "the high rate of convictions demonstrates the poor state of morale in the Russian Army and the reluctance of some elements to fight."

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It pointed to a wider struggle for Russia to motivate people to fight in Ukraine. On Tuesday, British officials noted that Russia was struggling to recruit despite more than doubling pay for some ranks in its military, making it one of the most lucrative careers in Russia.

But the high fatality rates on the front lines make signing up a risky decision, which many try hard to avoid.

Mediazona, citing data from the websites of military courts as of July 19, reported a dramatic increase in cases of Russian soldiers absent without official leave (AWOL) since March 2023.

By June, Russian military courts were handing out 100 sentences per week, the outlet said.

Two Russian soldiers were last week sentenced to serve at least two years in a penal colony for disobeying orders to return to the frontlines in Ukraine, the UK officials said.

It attributed the trend to a "lack of training, motivation, and high stress situations" faced by Russian forces in the war, the MoD added.

"Although some soldiers have refused to fight and attrition rates remain high, Russia highly likely mitigates their loss by committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline."

As well as hiking pay, Russian has been reaching beyond its own citizens to staff the army. Tactics have included recruiting Central Asian migrant workers based in Russia and offering a $5,200 sign-on bonus to recruits from neighboring Kazakhstan.

After mobilizing 300,000 soldiers in the autumn of 2022, Moscow set a goal of recruiting 400,000 more by December 2023.

Many military analysts think the goal is implausible, given that it took far longer to recruit smaller numbers in the past.

In addition to low morale, the respected Institute for the Study of War think tank stated last week that the Russian military is suffering from infighting and shortages.

"Russian commanders regularly punish servicemen who keep their vehicles for minor administrative violations, and that Russian personnel feel that they are "at war" with their commanders," the ISW said, citing the influential Russian military-blogger community.

Russia's military has suffered 120,000 deaths since the start of the war, US officials told The New York Times.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Hurricane Idalia spared Central Florida overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, with the Orlando area receiving several bands of rain and gusts of winds  though a far cry from devastation experienced elsewhere in the state.

No major damage was reported in Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola counties by authorities. Orange saw between 1.5 and 2.5 inches of rain as the hurricane blew by, Mayor Jerry Demings said.

Storms are unpredictable, Demings said at a Wednesday news conference. Always treat them like they are serious. We always plan for the worst and we hope for the best. While we may have been less impacted by the storm than some areas, that storm could have turned and we could have been more impacted.

Government operations ranging from public schools, city halls and county administration offices are due to reopen Thursday, as garbage collection and other services resume.

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One large tree was reported down in the Conway area, while the Orlando Utilities Commission had about 28 outages related to the storm, and Duke Energy peaked at around 500 outages, Demings said. Of more than 700 traffic signals countywide, just nine were damaged Demings said.

Shelters in Orange and Lake counties were closed by midday Wednesday. Orange County officials say 151 people used them and 90% were unhoused.

Overall, it was a sigh of relief, compared with dramatic images of storm surge and devastation in the Big Bend, where the Category 3 hurricane made landfall near Keaton Beach.

This is a good test run for the next storm, and Im sure theyll be one, said Lauraleigh Avery, the emergency manager for Orange County.

In Osceola, emergency manager Bill Litton said government operations would reopen Thursday and traffic signals were all operational.

The good news is, we have no damages to report throughout the county, he said in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Orlando experienced minimal impacts from the storm, city officials said.

Lake County plans to reopen its government operations on Thursday, said James Frye, a county spokesperson.

By midday, Seminole County had nearly deactivated its emergency response center after reports of minimal damage, across the county, according to county spokesperson Andy Wontor.

It really wasnt that bad, she said, regarding reports of storm damage.

Martin Comas of the Sentinel staff contributed.
Hurricane Idalia struck Florida's Big Bend Wednesday, displacing thousands and bringing strong winds and flooding to the area.

The National Hurricane Center said the Category 3 tropical cyclone has caused "catastrophic" storm surge and damaging winds that spread into southern Georgia. More than 330,000 customers in Florida and Georgia are without power and floodwaters have already shut down roadways and entered homes. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said there are no confirmed fatalities as a result of the storm yet, but he has warned residents to prepare for more damage.

"It is likely to cause a lot of damage. That is just a reality. So prepare for that," DeSantis said during a press conference at the state's Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday.

As of Tuesday night, nearly 5,000 people had been evacuated to more than 110 shelters, according to Stephanie Fox, a spokesperson for the Red Cross, which is managing 17 of those shelters.

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Here's how you can help those impacted by Hurricane Idalia:

The Red Cross delivers snacks to Lincoln High School where Floridans have taken shelter from Hurricane Idalia on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.

Red Cross

Ahead of the storm, the Red Cross mobilized more than 500 disaster responders along with dozens of specialty response vehicles and truckloads full of supplies and meals, Fox said.

Those wanting to help can visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) or text the word IDALIA to 90999 to make a $10 donation. People can also write Hurricane Idalia in the memo line of a check and mail it with a completed donation form to the address on the form or their local Red Cross chapter.

The Red Cross is also stocking hospitals in the Florida Panhandle with additional blood products to prepare for impacts to transportation routes in the coming days, according to its website. Fox said blood donations will also be "critically important" because the storm has led to the cancellation of more than a dozen blood drives.

Florida Disaster Fund

DeSantis announced the Florida Disaster Fund, part of the nonprofit Volunteer Florida Foundation, would be activated to support those impacted by Hurricane Idalia. People can donate to the fund, which distributes money to service organizations to support disaster response and recovery, by sending a check in the mail or making a donation here.

The Tampa-based nonprofit Project DYNAMO is "preparing to conduct rescues and help in any way possible in response to Hurricane Idalia," spokesperson Monica McShaffrey told USA TODAY. People can donate on the organization's website and also request an evacuation from various locations including Florida.

Feeding Tampa Bay plans to distribute food to the most vulnerable communities impacted by the hurricane after the storm passes. People can donate to help fund meals, or find food distribution sites, on the nonprofit's website.

Samaritans Purse, an international nonprofit, has sent two disaster relief units stocked with tools and equipment to Albany, Georgia, according to spokesperson Kaitlyn Lahm. She said the organization is looking for volunteers to clean up debris, tarp roofs and make other home repairs. People can sign up on group's website to be notified when the organization needs volunteers.

International Medical Corps will provide healthcare and related assistance to storm survivors in the wake of Hurricane Idalia, according to spokesperson Shelley Wenk. Donations can be made here.

GoFundMe

GoFundMe will be monitoring its platform for fundraisers created to help specific individuals, families, and businesses affected by the storm, according to spokesperson Karla Flores. GoFundMe.org, a nonprofit charitable partner of GoFundMe, has also launched a general 2023 Hurricane Relief Fund for all people who are personally affected during this years hurricane season, including anyone impacted by Idalia, Flores said.

Contributing: John Bacon and Christopher Cann, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Idalia slams Florida. Here's how you can help
Editor's Note: For the latest news on Idalia, see our updates file here

PERRY, Fla.  Downgraded to a tropical storm, what had been Hurricane Idalia powered across southeastern Georgia and the Carolinas on Wednesday evening after making landfall earlier along Florida's Big Bend as a Category 3 tropical cyclone and driving "catastrophic" storm surge and flooding for hundreds of miles.

As of 2 a.m. Thursday, the storm's center was located 20 miles southwest of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, heading northeast at 21 mph with sustained winds of 60 mph.

"Flash and river flooding is likely across Georgia and the eastern Carolinas through Thursday," the National Hurricane Center said in its afternoon update.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a late-afternoon briefing that some of the hardest-hit areas are laden with debris, severely damaged property, and reports of looting. He gave a stern warning to the looters.

"People have a right to defend their property," DeSantis said. "In this part of Florida, you've got a lot of advocates and proponents of the 2nd Amendment, and I've seen signs in different people's yards in the past after these disasters [that say] 'You loot, we shoot.' You never know what's behind that door."

He said he has told the state's emergency responders and law enforcement personnel to protect people's property.

"We are not going to tolerate any looting in the aftermath of a natural disaster. I mean, it's just ridiculous that you would try to do something like that on the heels of an almost category 4 hurricane hitting this community," the governor said.

"You go break into somebody's house, and you're trying to loot, these are people that are going to be able to defend themselves and their families. We are going to hold you accountable from a law enforcement perspective at a minimum, and it could even be worse than that, depending on what's behind that door."

Development

 Idalia weakened to a tropical storm while moving near the coasts of northeastern South Carolina and North Carolina Wednesday afternoon.

 All hurricane warnings have been cancelled, the hurricane center said.

 More than 275,000 homes and businesses were without power in Florida as of Wednesday afternoon, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us. Another 175,000 were powerless in Georgia.

A morning landfall in Taylor County

Radar imagery indicated the eye of Idalia made landfall along the coast of Florida's Big Bend near Keaton Beach in Taylor County around 7:45 a.m. with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.

That was the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida since the "Cedar Key hurricane" of 1896, which also had 125 mph winds, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

Authorities said the worst damage appeared to be in Taylor County, southeast of Tallahassee and one of the most rural and economically challenged areas of the state. Two businesses reportedly caught fire, some had roofs torn off, and the county's Emergency Operations Center had to evacuate to more secure facilities.

No confirmed fatalities in Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Wednesday afternoon in the hard-hit town of Perry, Florida, near where the hurricane barreled ashore.

"There are as of now no confirmed fatalities," DeSantis said, but added that "we're still assessing what is going on on the ground in the places that had the initial impact."

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for his state ahead of Idalia.

"Georgians in the expected impact area can and should take necessary steps to ensure their safety and that of their families," Kemp said, adding that emergency management officials were "well positioned to respond to whatever Idalia may bring."

Biden says politics not a factor in dealings with DeSantis over Idalia

After speaking with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis several times about the federal assistance for Hurricane Idalia, President Joe Biden on Wednesday said presidential politics hasnt been a factor in their interactions.

"I think he trusts my judgment and my desire to help, and I trust him to be able to suggest that this is not about politics, Biden said. This is about taking care of the people of his state."

DeSantis is running for the GOP nomination to try to deny Biden a second term.

Making remarks to reporters about how the administration is responding to the storm, Biden also said extreme weather events are causing significant damage like weve never seen before.

I don't think anybody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore, he said.

Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY

Hurricane Idalia: USA TODAY is providing free news coverage, public safety information and resource guides

USA TODAY text message updates: Sign up to receive updates on Hurricane Idalia and its aftermath from journalists across the USA TODAY network

Two homes were destroyed by fire during Hurricane Idalia in Hudson, Fla. on Aug. 30, 2023,

Follow the path of Idalia

This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm but does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.

Cedar Key braces for more flooding

Cedar Key was pummeled by Hurricane Idalia, and the storm's roll into Georgia won't mean an end to the local threat, authorities said. The key was decked by not just hefty winds but a dramatic storm surge. Lt. Scott Tummond of the Levy County Sheriffs Office said the town hasnt hit its peak water levels. There's a full moon, and high tide is coming early Wednesday afternoon, he said.

As of 11:45 a.m., first responders hadnt been able to launch their rescue efforts. But he said winds were subsiding and the county had plenty of rescue resources.

The waters going to rise, and its going to rise probably a lot quicker than what they would expect it to," he said. "If theyre in an area thats inundated and it gets higher, it may block their ability to get out.

 Douglas Soule, USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida

Winds and rain hit Tybee Island, Ga., on Aug. 30, 2023, as Hurricane Idalia moves into the state after its Florida landfall.

Flooding and fear on Hudson Beach

North of Tampa in flood-stricken Hudson Beach, Donn Stofan stood alongside Old Dixie Highway about 11:30 a.m. , wracked with worry over his buddys safety blocks deep within the neighborhood-wide flood zone.Hes supposedly on his rowboat with his two dogs and his son, the the retired Spring Hill electrician said, standing on the Clark Street asphalt by a flooded commercial plaza.He was out about an hour ago, and he went back to get more stuff. I have his two cats, and his clothing he got out the first time, Stofan said. Everything is underwater where he lives."As Stofan spoke, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission airboat roared to life and floated south down Old Dixie Highway, carrying two first responders.Im shaking. Im a nervous wreck. My wife is almost crying over there, he said, gesturing toward higher ground.

 Rick Neale, Florida Today

Dangerous rescue operations in Pasco County

Water entered an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 homes across Pasco County, triggering an array of dangerous rescue operations for residents who rode out the storm, Pasco County Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Jeremy Sidlauskas said.

We had a lot of people that were in their homes. We had people that were getting up on their roofs. We had people that were hiding out in their attics. We had all kinds of stuff that we encountered today, Sidlauskas said.

Of great import, firefighters responded to at least two burning homes amid the floodwaters, Sidlauskas said.

We had multiple structure fires this morning that were very difficult to contain because of the high water. In at least one case, we took a floating fire pump in a boat  and our firefighters went in on foot, he said.

As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sidlauskas said no injuries had been reported in Pasco County. First responders entered flooded neighborhoods, such as Hudson Beach, using jon boats, high-clearance vehicles, brush trucks, tanker trucks, airboats and other vehicles.

It certainly could have been worse. But this is pretty devastating for the homes and the people in our community, Sidlauskas said.

Wading through hazardous floodwaters, Hudson High School senior McKenna Colwell and three friends tried to reach her mothers home in low-lying, hurricane-socked Hudson Beach about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday to see if she was all right.

But Colwell said they were forced to turn around  the water level in the streets near Old Dixie Highway was approaching chest-deep.

Terrified. Crying. Ive been crying. And I havent heard nothing from her, Colwell said, walking away from the flooded zone.

So I dont know if shes good. Swimming? Not swimming? the 18-year-old medical assistant said, shaking her head.

Thwarted on foot, Colwell and her friends vowed to try to use a high-clearance vehicle to reach her mother.

 Rick Neale, Florida Today

Threat of tornadoes, heavy rains remains

Tornadoes were possible across central and northeast Florida into southeast Georgia, the hurricane center said. The tornado threat will increase through the afternoon across coastal South Carolina and continue into Wednesday night for coastal North Carolina.

Idalia was forecast to produce 4 to 8 inches of rain and up to 12 inches in isolated areas from portions of North Florida through central Georgia and South Carolina, then through eastern North Carolina into Thursday. Flash, urban and moderate river flooding with "considerable impacts" were possible, the hurricane center said.

Another danger Idalia brings: Tornadoes are a threat: Here's what to know.

Idalia was about the size of Colorado

Idalia was about 350 miles across, and hurricane-force winds spread about 50 miles in diameter. Idalia covers an area about the size of Colorado, which measures 380 miles wide.

At 8 a.m. Wednesday, minutes after landfall in Keaton Beach, Florida, Idalia's tropical-storm force wind field covered an area of about 96,211 square miles. That's a little smaller than the state of Colorado, which measures about 104,000 square miles.

At that time, Idalia's hurricane-force wind field was 7,850 square miles, about the size of New Jersey, which has about 7,354 square miles of land.

 Jennifer Sangalang and Jeffrey Meesey, Tallahassee Democrat

'Near apocalpytic scene' on Cedar Key

A weather service tide gauge at Cedar Key reported a water level of 6.8 feet above "mean higher highwater, which is an approximation of inundation in that area," the weather service said.

Michael Bobbitt, a clam fisherman who decided to stay on Cedar Key to help rescue people who have refused to leave, told USA TODAY just after 6 a.m., "it's a near apocalyptic scene here." Bobbitt said storm surge from Hurricane Idalia "completely swallowed our boat ramps," all of Dock Street and First Street, where the historic downtown begins, and was racing farther inland.

He added that "worst case scenario" predictions of storm surge in Cedar Key may very well occur as Hurricane Idalia, now a category 4, continues toward the Big Bend coast.

In Tarpon Springs, some shops hope for business as usual

More than 150 miles south of where Idalia hit land, floodwaters from the Anclote River swamped the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks, a popular tourist destination. City workers closed vehicle access just shy of the main drag, Pinellas Avenue, where high-clearance vehicles were forced to traverse a flooded stretch of roadway.

Elsewhere in town, street lamps remain lighted in the historic downtown district as some shopkeepers made preparations to open for the day.

Tarpon Springs resident Ken Kruse had mostly shrugged off warnings about Hurricane Idalias approach. But by 9 a.m. Wednesday, rising waters from the Anclote River had overwhelmed his street, Grand Avenue, with thigh-high floodwaters, swamping vehicles parked alongside his six-unit apartment complex.Around 6 oclock, it looked like it was about to go into my car. It was going to be past the door jamb, he said as a man atop a stand-up paddle board floated down the street. So I got out and moved my car to higher ground. And the rest is history. It just kept coming in."Tarpon Springs first responders shut down an array of streets surrounding Kruses neighborhood, near the downtown business district. A green Pinellas County Sheriffs Humvee with two deputies tried driving past Kruses apartment complex but had to retreat because of the water.

 Rick Neale, Florida Today

Chris Bodue paddles through his flooded neighborhood from Hurricane Idalia in Tarpon Springs, Florida on Aug. 30, 2023.

Two hurricanes, one satellite image

Hurricane Franklin is still churning in the Atlantic, and now that storm and Hurricane Idalia are visible in the same satellite image. It's the first time since 1950 the Atlantic Basin  which consists of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico  has had two Category 2 hurricanes with maximum sustained winds of more than 110 mph in August simultaneously, according to Phil Klotzbach, a research meteorologist at Colorado State University.

 Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida

Fleeing Taylor County, hunkering down in a shelter

Harold Weaver has spent 55 of his 60 years in Taylor County. He has weathered storms, big and small, but he's not taking a chance with Hurricane Idalia. Weaver didn't want to risk staying in his apartment behind the sawmill in Perry, Florida, which is just 20 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

He has his 4-year-old grandson, Karim, to worry about. He and his family took a shuttle from Perry to Tallahassee to weather the storm in one of the seven shelters in Tallahassee.

"This one is too big," Weaver said. "I had a gut feeling, I need to get out."

Forrest Allen and his wife, Sheila, traveled to Rickards High School on Tuesday afternoon from Taylor County, where officials issued a mandatory evacuation order and closed shelters.

"We have an old house and it's not in the best condition," Forrest Allen said. "We did the best we could with boarding up the windows, but we really don't know where we stand."

 Ana Goni-Lessan and Alaijah Brown, Tallahassee Democrat

Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore seen on Cedar Key

The Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore, famous for being in the middle of major storm events, was reporting from Cedar Key. "We have water entering homes," and it will get worse, Cantore reported shortly after the storm made landfall about 80 miles to the northwest in Keaton Beach.

Cantore's arrival was highly anticipated after he tweeted Sunday that he was trying to determine where he would set up for the storm. Sunday was the day Idalia officially formed as a tropical storm after swirling out in the Caribbean as Tropical Depression Ten.

Access to Clearwater Beach roadways shut down

In Clearwater, 20 miles east of Tampa, access to Clearwater Beach, Gulf Boulevard and the causeway were closed. Residents leaving the islands won't be allowed to return until the storm impact subsides, the city said on its website.

"We are seeing issues with flooding and debris in the roads from #Idalia," Clearwater police posted on X, formerly Twitter. "Our best advice is for everyone to stay home and off the roads for several hours."

Major flooding underway

In Tampa, Flooding shut down much of Gulf Boulevard, the roadway connecting Pinellas Countys barrier islands. Access to the Pinellas barrier islands was closed, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office announced shortly before 6 a.m.

Other coastal roadways were also seeing flooding, traffic signals were out, and wind was gusting 40 to 60 mph, authorities said. Residents on the islands may still evacuate.

The storms eye has already passed offshore on its way to landfall in the states Big Bend. But flooding in the Tampa Bay region has just begun, ahead of this afternoons high tide expected around 2 p.m. A gauge in St. Petersburg has reached major flood level with the water more than 5 feet above Tuesday's high tide and rising.

Flooding conditions could continue even after winds from Hurricane Idalia have subsided, the emergency alert said.

 Dan Glaun, Fort Myers News-Press

Downtown deserted ahead of the storm

In Cedar Key's quaint downtown and Dock Street area, the streets lined with restaurants and local shops on stilts were deserted. Metal and wood boards were nailed over windows and doors of beloved eateries, clashing with the pastel signage of restaurants bearing the names Tipsy Cow, Steamers and Duncan's on the Gulf.

It's one of a cluster of islands in the Gulf Coast known for its wildlife, and it has about 800 residents and only one road going in or out.

Jordan Keeton, 39, owns 83 West, the largest restaurant on the island. It juts out over the Gulf of Mexico, and both floors are surrounded by windows. He and his family and friends were moving out the last of the most valuable items, including a wooden bench shaped like a boat, which has been with the restaurant for over 50 years, he said.

"Our house is rated at a (Category) 5. I'm not worried about it there," he said.. "This one, not so much. So we'll see what happens."

Contributing: James Call, Tallahassee Democrat; Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Idalia updates: Historic storm pounds Florida, Georgia, Carolinas
Hurricane Idalia, which was downgraded to a Tropical Storm around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, is set to bring heavy rain and strong winds to south and coastal Georgia, including the Savannah area.

Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Tuesday and is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Friday.

"We are taking every precaution ahead of Hurricane Idalia's landfall tomorrow, and I am taking this additional executive action to ensure state assets are ready to respond" said Governor Brian Kemp in a release. "Georgians in the expected impact area can and should take necessary steps to ensure their safety and that of their families. We are well positioned to respond to whatever Idalia may bring."

Check below for the latest updates. This story will be updated regularly by Savannah Morning News staff.

Latest NOAA advisory: Tropical Storm Idalia moves into South Carolina 9 p.m. update

A tropical storm warning is still in effect for Savannah with storm surge warnings from St. Catherine's Sound, Georgia, to South Santee River in South Carolina.

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Savannah Morning News updates will resume Thursday morning after damage assessments. City of Savannah offices will remain closed through Thursday.

Downed trees and power lines: City of Tybee Island warns residents to stay inside 8 p.m. update

The City of Tybee Island posted on its Facebook page telling residents and visitors to stay inside unless absolutely necessary. There are downed trees and power lines around the island. City crews will be out at first light to assess and repair storm damage. City Hall will be closed again Thursday.

Storm approaching: Chatham Emergency Management Agency 5 p.m. update

Idalia was downgraded to a Tropical Storm around 5:45 p.m., and Georgia's north coast counties still remain ready for its upcoming impact. Chatham Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) stated in its 5 p.m. update that the area is under a Tropical Storm Warning and Storm Surge Warning; a Tornado Watch is in effect until 6 p.m., and a Flood Watch until 2 a.m.

As of 5:30 p.m., Idalia was a Tropical Storm with tropical storm force winds and higher gusts located 25 miles west of Chatham County moving in a northeasterly direction at 21 mph.

The greatest impacts are expected to occur in Chatham County between now and 9 p.m.

The agency said that the greatest impacts are still predicted to be rainfall, coastal flooding and rip currents. Areas prone to flooding are at risk, and with the additional kick from a king tide the tides at Fort Pulaski's tide monitor are predicted to be at 10.1 feet. The risk of severe weather, including tornadoes, still exists.

Bryan and Effingham schools closed Thursday | 3:35 p.m.

Both Bryan and Effingham schools announced Wednesday that they would be closed Thursday but will re-open Friday.

Weather.com radar projecting hurricane to move toward Augusta and Columbia, S.C. | 3:30 p.m.

As of mid-afternoon, the weather radar is showing that the worst of Hurricane Idalia will move through the state more toward Augusta and Columbia, S.C. rather than taking aim at the coast. However, more than 8,000 Georgia Power customers have been affected by the severe weather.

The core of the storm was over Swainsboro, 90 miles west of Savannah, as of 3:30 p.m.

The area around Claxton in Evans County is under a flash flood warning until 7 p.m.

City of Savannah to keep non-emergency offices closed Thursday | 3:05 p.m.

The City of Savannah stated government offices will remain closed through Thursday, August 31, due to inclement weather from Hurricane Idalia.

All critical workforce for the city and emergency essential services will continue responding at full capacity as weather permits. Those departments include public safety, sanitation, water and sewer, stormwater, park and tree, and traffic engineering, among others.

The following impacts to City services on Thursday, August 31 will be:

All non-emergency essential City government offices will be closed.

In-person payments at the Coastal Georgia Center for utility, tax, license, and other fees will be closed.

Recorders Court will be closed.

In-person services with the Office of Special Events, Film, and Tourism will be suspended.

Building closures, including all services within, will include City Hall, Civic Center, Community Centers, Cultural Arts Center, Floyd Adams City Services Complex, Savannah Municipal Services Annex and the Savannah Entrepreneurial Center.

Non-emergency public safety offices will be closed, to include police records.

According to the City of Savannah, sanitation collection services will resume on Thursday with a modified schedule. Wednesday's collection route will start on Thursday with subsequent collections resuming on Friday. Vegetative debris should be set out according to normal guidelines.

For questions about City services or to submit a service request, residents can call 311. Service requests can also be submitted online at Savannahga.gov/311request.

Tornado warning issued for Statesboro, Ga. | 2:25 p.m.

The NWS Charleston issued a tornado warning for Statesboro. This warning is active until 2:45 p.m.

According to the NWS, a tornado warning is when a tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar.

Tornado Warning including Statesboro GA until 2:45 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/peYOJ2QTrN  NWS Charleston, SC (@NWSCharlestonSC) August 30, 2023

Wind gusts pick up in Savannah, Hurricane Idalia predicted path shifts | 2:15 p.m.

As Idalia moves across southeastern Georgia toward the South Carolina border, increased wind gusts and rainfall appeared in the Savannah area.

The latest path projection shows the eye wall, which was near Vidalia at 2:15 p.m., going north of Savannah rather than a direct hit.

Approximately 4,000 Georgia Power customers in the Savannah area are without power. More than 100,00 customers across the state are without power.

Bryan and Effingham counties prepare for storm

Bryan and Effingham County are preparing for the storm as it makes its way across south Georgia this afternoon. Bryan County recently issued a state of emergency.

Matthew Kent, public information officer for Bryan County, said the city is gassing up vehicles and the emergency operation center, where department heads and county leaders gather to make decisions, has been activated. Kent said it is imperative residents follow safety protocols throughout the entirety of the storm and to be mindful of floodwater.

Public works is standing by for any damage that may be, said Kent. That may happen from high winds or flooding and they are clearing ditches to make sure they remain as clear as possible for water to flow through. For individuals, we always suggest having water and food for three days and for your pet as well. We encourage people not to drive across water because they don't know really know how deep it is and it doesn't take very much to make a car float.

When the tornado struck Ellabell and Pembroke last year, the county had assistance from outside agencies. This time, they are on their own, making preparation for this storm even more meaningful.

After [the tornado], we kind of went through to see what we could do better and to see what went well, said Kent. There are some things for emergencies that are consistent across the board as far as response goes. We will look at that tornado and see what we can draw from that.

On the Effingham County Emergency Management Agency Facebook page, the organization is asking residents to take caution as the area is expected to receive 4-8 inches of rain. Residents living in the county should also expect power outages.

Savannah airport cancels flights for Hurricane Idalia | 12:30 p.m.

The Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport remains open, but all flights from 2 p.m. to tonight are canceled, according to Lori Lynah, Director of Marketing and Air Service Development.

The earliest flights on Thursday will either be delayed or canceled.

Were expecting resumption of service tomorrow, but I dont have an exact time, Lynah said in a phone call.

Part of I-75 closed in South Georgia | Noon

Power lines came down Wednesday at I-75 northbound near Loch Laurel Road about 10 miles south of Valdosta, according to Lowndes County's emergency service Facebook page.

Officials are routing northbound traffic off I-75 at Exit 5 and have set up a detour. They are currently waiting for conditions to improve/wind speed to drop so that the power company and Georgia Department of Transportation crews can safely respond. I-75 southbound is not affected.

What to know: Traffic disruptions on I-75 in south Georgia due to Hurricane Idalia

Savannah mayor, officials update on resources and potential curfew | 11:20 a.m.

During a press briefing, city leaders reiterated the need to shelter-in-place as Hurricane Idalia moves into Georgia.

In short, the important thing is we are in a significant storm right nowand its going to get worse throughout the day, City of Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said.

Johnson said hes heard from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the offices of Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who offered their support to the city.

The city will open up a safety center, located at the Savannah Cultural Arts Center at 201 Montgomery Street, which will provide cots, water, and snacks as supplies are available. The center will be open from noon to 8 p.m., Johnson said. Pets are not permitted.

Johnson said the city and partners have set up a street team, which is going out to places where people usually hang out, ensuring the local homeless population has access to shelter.

City Manager Jay Melder noted the uptick in public safety operations, including two additional water rescue teams.

Our number one priority is public safety. And that starts with our residents at home, said Melder.

Audrey King, vice president of Georgia Powers south region, said Georgia Power is prepared for the potential power outages that Idalia may cause. King said that Georgia Power has received assistance from Alabama Power and Mississippi Power.

You may begin to see impacted areas as wind gusts increase fallen trees and downed power lines potentially, said King.

Asked about the potential curfew, Mayor Johnson said, Everything's on the table.

It depends on the conditions and depends on the recommendation from our public safety professionals. The key here is don't be out on the streets. If you don't have to be out in the streets, stay home.

Hurricane Idalia now a Category 1, more than 20K without power in Valdosta area | 11 a.m.

Idalia was downgrade to a Category 1 storm, with max sustained winds of 90 mph, at 11 a.m.

The eye wall of the storm had been battering south Georgia, largely in the Valdosta area, for more than an hour. More than 20,000 Georgia Power customers were without power as of 11 a.m.

Roughly 4,000 customers in the Savannah area were without power, according to the Georgia Power Outage Map.

Tybee Island declares state of emergency, but no curfew will be implemented

City of Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions posted on Facebook at 10 a.m., saying that a state of emergency for Tybee was being declared and there would be no curfew for residents but reminding them to stay off the streets and not drive through water.

Sessions added that there was hurricane watch in place until 3:00 p.m., a storm surge and tornado watch in place until 8:00 a.m. Thursday. Tybee is expected to feel the impacts as early as 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the most severe being from 5-10 p.m. The official high tide that's expected will be at 8:20 p.m., and 10.3 feet.

According to a NWS spokesperson, the center of the storm will pass over Tybee, with potential for sustained winds of 60-75 mph and wind gusts 70-80 mph, 3-4 inches of rain is expected with 3-5 feet of water.

Tornado warning issued for parts of Bryan County | 10:30 a.m.

The NWS Charleston issued a tornado warning for Richmond Hill, Keller and Burroughs in Bryan County. This warning is active until 11 a.m.

According to the NWS, a tornado warning is when a tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar.

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Thousands without power in Valdosta area | 10:30 a.m.

According to the Georgia Power Outage Map, more than 10,000 customers in the Valdosta area are currently without power. The eye wall of the storm was moving through the area between 10-10:30 a.m., causing downed power lines and felled trees.

More than 1,000 people in the Brunswick area were also without power as of 10:30 a.m.

Georgia power outage map: See where the power is out as Hurricane Idalia nears

Tornado warning issued in parts of Chatham, Liberty counties | 10:10 a.m.

The NWS Charleston issued a tornado warning for Bloomingdale, Ellabell and Fleming in Chatham and Liberty counties. This warning is active until 10:30 a.m.

Bloomingdale is just west of the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, near the Tanger Outlets and Costco.

Tybee Island mostly empty ahead of Idalia's arrival | 10 a.m.

The beaches of Tybee Island were mostly empty Wednesday morning as residents brace for potential storm surge, which is predicted to be 2-4 feet. Intermittent heavy rains and winds came through the area as Idalia's bands moved in.

A handful of weather news teams  along with one solo fisherman  were seen along the Tybee Pier & Pavilion.

The eye wall of the storm was passing though south Georgia, near Valdosta, as of 10 a.m.

A lone fisherman fishes from the Tybee Island Pier as a news crew reports from Tybee Island, Georgia on Wednesday, August 30, 2023 as Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida.

Hurricane Idalia downgraded to a Category 2 as it weakens over land | 9:30 a.m.

As Hurricane Idalia makes its way across north Florida and southeastern Georgia, the storm is now a category 2 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph.

The eye wall was crossing the Georgia-Florida border and nearing Valdosta as of 9:30 a.m. Wind gusts in the area could reach 80+ mph.

Savannah, Ga. seeing some rainfall, winds from Idalia outer bands | 8:30 a.m.

The Savannah area is beginning to see early effects of the Idalia outer bands, with light rain and mild winds in the area. Stronger winds are expected to arrive in the area between noon and 2 p.m.

Most streets in Savannah were relatively empty with little or no traffic.

The tide was extremely high with water reaching almost equal to River Street in some areas.

Georgia power outage map: See where the power is out as Hurricane Idalia nears

Traffic updates: Which roads in the Savannah area are closed? Live updates on Idalia's impact

Hurricane Idalia makes landfall in Keaton Beach, Fla. as category 3 storm | 7:52 a.m.

Idalia officially made landfall just before 8 a.m., bringing 125 mph winds to Keaton Beach and the surrounding coastal area. Much of north Florida, south and coastal Georgia were already seeing rain and some winds.

Idalia predicted to still be a hurricane when it arrives in Georgia

According to the latest model from the National Hurricane Center, Idalia will likely bring hurricane-level winds  approximately 74-110 mph  and rainfall to Georgia after passing through Florida.

Winds should begin to decrease in intensity as the storm moves into South Carolina and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Hurricane Idalia predicted path and wind severity.

Idalia intensifies to Category 4, tornado watches issued for parts of Georgia

Early Wednesday morning, Hurricane intensified to a Category 4 storm, just hours before it is expected to make landfall in Florida.

"On this track, and potentially factoring in a little more angling to the east, Idalia will be ashore somewhere south of Perry in central Taylor County between 8 and 9 a.m.," said Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist for WeatherTiger, in a report for the Tallahassee Democrat.

WeatherTiger Hurricane Idalia updates: Category 4 storm still strengthening

The National Hurricane Center said this storm will bring "catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds" to the Florida coast. A Category 4 storm has winds of 130-156 mph and has the probability of catastrophic damage, according to the National Weather Service.

The NWS issued a tornado watch early Wednesday for much of south and coastal Georgia, stretching from Valdosta to Savannah and up to Screven County.

5am EDT 30 Aug: #Idalia has become an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, and is nearing landfall in Florida Big Bend region this morning. Catastrophic & life-threatening impacts from Storm Surge & Winds expected as Idalia moves ashore. https://t.co/y75tVkKVK7 pic.twitter.com/0NfINii9Mo  National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 30, 2023

Savannah, Ga. preparing for Hurricane Idalia, curfew in consideration

The City of Savannah announced that Mayor Van Johnson, II will declare a state of local emergency effective Aug. 30 at 6 a.m. The state of local emergency allows the city manager "to execute emergency management plans and procure necessary resources to prepare for and respond to any impacts brought on by Hurricane Idalia," the press release said.

Savannah is considering a curfew on Wednesday at 6 p.m. until Thursday at 6 a.m. "if weather conditions necessitate a curfew be put in place for public safety," according to a release at 4:20 p.m. Tuesday. An official announcement will be made public if the curfew is enacted. Residents are urged to limit travel on Wednesday.

More: Tropical storm and storm surge watches in affect for Tropical Storm Idalia

How will King Tides affect the Savannah area's potential for flooding?

Heavy rains regularly bring flooding to coastal Georgia, but Idalia's arrival is syncing up with another flood-inducing condition on the coast: King tides. King tides are exceptionally high tides that take place during full or new moons due to the moon's gravitational pull and impact on tides. When storms and heavy winds combine with high tides it can exacerbate flooding not only on the coast but up rivers and streams, as well.

"As of right now we're looking at 4 to 6 inches of rainfall, and we do have an astronomical high tide or a 'king tide' that is coming for Wednesday night," Jones from CEMA said. "With that extremely high tide coupled with the rainfall, there is a potential for us to have water encroachment across Highway 80 going out to Tybee Island."

In this case, which happens a few times every year according to Jones, Tybee could be cut off and isolated for a few hours. He said CEMA is also keeping an eye on the Burnside Island area, which also has the potential to be isolated, as well as other low-lying areas that tend to have the worst flooding impacts.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Hurricane Idalia live updates from Savannah, coastal Georgia
Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast Wednesday morning with the National Weather Service warning of a "life-threatening, dangerous situation."

USA TODAY is providing live coverage of the storm as it makes landfall in Florida. You can watch the coverage at the top of the page or on USA TODAY's YouTube channel.

A hurricane warning has been issued for hundreds of miles of Florida's coastline as Idalia has become Category 3 storm, with sustained winds of 125 mph.

As of 5 a.m. Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said the storm's center was forecast to reach the Big Bend coast of Florida this morning. After landfall, Idalia was expected to turn toward the northeast and east-northeast, moving near or along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina later Wednesday and Thursday.

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At a briefing Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said highway tolls were being waived, shelters were opening and hotels were prepared to take evacuees. More than 30,000 utility workers were preparing to repair outages once the storm passes.

Maps: Hurricane Idalia's path as powerful storm approaches Florida and Georgia

Webcam livestreams

Webcams are planted at beaches along Florida's Gulf Coast, with some in Hurricane Idalia's potential path. See what the scene in Florida looks like:

Clearwater Beach, Florida

Clearwater Beach is located on the west-central coast along the Gulf of Mexico, around 25 miles west of Tampa.

Tampa, Florida

Tampa, along the Gulf of Mexico, is south of where Idalia's eye was projected to make landfall, but flooding in the Tampa Bay area had already begun by Wednesday morning and the city could still face high winds. It is about 23 miles north of St. Petersburg and 25 miles east of Clearwater Beach.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Idalia livestreams: Webcams show Tampa, Clearwater, Florida
People traveling to the Chinese mainland, either directly from China's Taiwan region or transiting through Taiwan, will no longer be required to take a pre-entry nucleic acid or antigen test for COVID-19 starting from Aug. 30, according to a mainland spokesperson on Tuesday.

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks in response to a media inquiry regarding the adjustment of COVID-19 protocols for cross-Strait travelers.
While Hurricane Idalia is still moving through the Gulf and eyeing landfall near Floridas Big Bend region, first responders from Central Florida and around the state are closely watching and waiting.

Theyll be mobilizing to areas hardest hit by this major storm.

In recent days, theyve been planning and strategizing as best they can so theyre ready to hit the ground running when Idalias aftermath becomes reality.

READ: LIVE UPDATES: Hurricane Idalia nears Florida as major Category 3 storm

In Orlando, members of several local fire rescue agencies have positioned themselves at the Orange County Convention Center.

Proud to join crews all over the state in deployments. https://t.co/0GpEpxK9du  Seminole County Fire Department (SCFD) PIO Media (@scfdpio) August 30, 2023

They include MARC 5 and Task Force 4.

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READ: Hurricane Idalia: How to check power outages, what to do if you lose power

Teams have been collecting and loading supplies that will be used and distributed during post-hurricane cleanup.

Task Force 4 is continuing to prepare for Hurricane Idalia. pic.twitter.com/ucQTogLZMq  Orlando Fire Dept (@OrlandoFireDept) August 29, 2023

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue has also staged at the convention center.

Photos: Hurricane Idalia impacts Florida

Members are ready to respond to the worst damage that Hurricane Idalia leaves behind.

On Tuesday, Aug. 29, members of #MDFR #FLTF1 deployed to Orlando, FL to stage in preparation to assist in response efforts ahead of Hurricane Idalia. The 90-person team will be deployed as part of a Type I US&R Team and to assist with state operations. pic.twitter.com/vKiiMLVLbO  Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (@MiamiDadeFire) August 29, 2023

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement recently announced the activation of its State Emergency Operations Center Team to support ongoing operations.

READ: Hurricane Idalia: Share your photos & video

FDLE said it has already started setting up equipment and mobile command posts at strategic locations.

In advance of Hurricane Idalia, FDLE regional support and logistics teams throughout Florida are preparing to deploy personnel and equipment for a ready response to the storm's aftermath. FDLE has started pre-staging equipment and mobile command posts at strategic locations. pic.twitter.com/7d4qGHjrvV  FDLE (@fdlepio) August 29, 2023

In addition to heavy equipment that includes everything from cargo trucks to chainsaws, FDLE has 80 agents and analysts who are ready to deploy.

READ: Hurricane Idalia: What is a king tide and how will it affect Idalia?

The Florida Department of Transportation took to social media to share images of its preps to offer assistance whenever and wherever its needed in the coming days.

Among FDOTs inventory  nearly 1,100 generators that crews will use to get power restored to traffic signals in areas impacted by the storm.

In the coming days, members of these agencies may be stepping into different communities, but their mission to help and keep others safe will remain the same.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning in the Florida Big Bend as a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph sustained winds, the National Hurricane Center said while warning of the possibility of catastrophic damage.

Extremely dangerous Category 3 Hurricane #Idalia makes landfall in the Florida Big Bend. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be 125 mph. Catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds ongoing, the center wrote in an update at 7:45 a.m. ET.

The storm briefly became a Category 4 storm early Wednesday morning, reaching maximum sustained winds of 130 mph by 5 a.m. ET. The hurricane centers 7 a.m. update, however, showed a slight dip to 125 mph sustained winds, bringing Idalia down to a Category 3 storm. A subsequent 8 a.m. ET update brought the maximum sustained winds down slightly to 120 mph, still a Category 3 storm.

The National Hurricane Center, however, stressed that the storms downgrade did not change the catastrophic threat posed by Idalia.

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This change in wind speed does not diminish the threat of catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds, its 7 a.m. update read, with forecasters warning of a catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds occurring in the Florida Big Bend region.

The 8 a.m. ET update showed Idalia about 10 miles south-southeast of Perry, Florida.

Storm surges remained a serious threat as the high tide threatened to inundate coastal areas. Many residents on the coast of Florida had been ordered or advised to evacuate ahead of the storm.

Water levels along the coast of the Florida Big Bend continue to rise rapidly, the hurricane center warned.

The combination of storm surge and tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline, it added, saying water levels reaching 16 feet above ground were possible from the Wakulla/Jefferson County line to Yankeetown.

The center said the storm is expected to weaken now that its made landfall, but it still is likely to be a hurricane as it heads across Florida and southern Georgia later Wednesday.

Idalia is forecast to be a tropical storm when it nears the coasts of northeastern South Carolina and North Carolina on Wednesday night and Thursday, the latest update read.

Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina have all issued states of emergency, allowing officials to provide aid more effectively without going through bureaucratic processes.

Updated at 9:03 a.m. ET

Read more from The Hill:

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Hurricane Idalia was downgraded to a tropical storm Wednesday night, just 10 hours after making landfall on Floridas Gulf Coastcapping a day of devastation along a series of historic cities in the states Big Bend region.

But Idalias wrath didnt stop at the bordernor did it cease once the storm lost its hurricane-strength winds, spawning off tornadoes that continued to damage property and injure people as the storm swept through South Carolina and beyond.

Video taken in Goose Creek, just north of Charleston, shows one such twister gaining enough power to pick up and flip a car, shocking drivers on a local highway. A tornado watch is in effect for much of the states coast through 4 a.m. Thursday morning.

Authorities in the area cautioned that flooding risks from the torrential downpour would extend into the night, with rivers expected to sustain up to five feet of overflow and storm surges of up to nine feet in the Charlseton Harbor, according to the National Weather Service. As of roughly 8 p.m., the city was experiencing its eighth highest tide on recordwith the worst still yet to come.

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Idalia first made landfall as an extremely dangerous Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning with winds near 125 mph and a deadly storm surge that erased miles of southeast Floridas coastline.

The National Hurricane Center said at 7:45 a.m. ET that the storm had come ashore along the Gulf Coast near Keaton Beach. By 10 a.m., Idalia was downgraded to a Category 1 storm, and by 5 p.m. it no had hurricane-strength winds. Federal forecasters wrote that Idalia still posed a flooding threat to southern Georgia and South Carolina as a massive tropical storm.

A pair of fatal car crashes during the storm killed two men on Wednesdayone in Pasco County, just north of Tampa, and another in Gainesville, home to the University of Florida in north-central Florida. Both men lost control of their vehicles and slammed into trees, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Its unclear if the deaths will officially be tied to Idalia, however, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday afternoon there were no confirmed fatalities.

Photos and videos of cities directly in Idalias path showed mass destruction, with roofs ripped off homes, gas stations and bridges partially toppled, and some downtowns inundated entirely.

1634663330 A backyard is flooded in Steinhatchee, Florida, by Hurricane Idalia. Getty Images/Chandan Khanna

More than 363,000 customers were without power in Florida and Georgia as of 9 p.m., according to poweroutage.com. Tampa International Airport, Tallahassee International Airport, and Sarasota Bradenton International Airport were all shuttered ahead of the storm on Tuesday night. Tampa said it reopened its airport for inbound flights at 4 p.m. Wednesday and will reopen entirely on Thursday morning because it suffered minimal damage.

In an afternoon update on Wednesday, DeSantis said utility workers were out en masse in rural counties hit hardest, as were search-and-rescue teams. He said the lack of local resources in Floridas Big Bend region, which has a population of less than 100,000 people, could make recovery take longer than it did after Hurricane Ian hit Southwest Florida last year.

He also issued a stern warning to any would-be thieves taking advantage of the havoc wreaked in the state by Hurricane Idalia: You loot, we shoot.

The National Guard said it sent about 5,500 members to Florida to help with rescue and recovery.

President Joe Biden spoke about the storm in a press conference, using it and the recent wildfires in Maui as an example of the worlds growing climate crisis.

I dont think anybody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore, Biden said. Idalia was the first major hurricane to strike Floridas Big Bend region since Hurricane Easy struck nearby as a Category 3 storm in 1950.

Hurricane Idalia caused devastating damage to homes in Florida's Big Bend with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph. pic.twitter.com/IbZiC201WE  AccuWeather (@accuweather) August 30, 2023

Authorities closed off access to the barrier islands in Manatee and Pinellas counties, home to some of Floridas most well-known beaches like Clearwater and St. Pete Beach. The storm surge in Cedar Key, a historic old Florida city founded in 1842, was as high as at seven feet by Wednesday morning. One local resident described an apocalyptic scene from the surge and torrential downpours.

Videos shared on social media appeared to show blackouts and power line flashes in Perry, while extensive flooding has been reported in Tarpon Springs and Steinhatchee.

INCREDIBLE VIDEO | Heartbreaking footage to watch. This is a time-lapse video from Steinhatchee, Florida early Wednesday morning as storm surge from Hurricane Idalia pushed ashore. Surge values could top out over 10 feet in spots around this location. #Idalia #FLwx pic.twitter.com/xyMABT0Ylq  Zach Covey (@ZachCoveyTV) August 30, 2023

Residents in the Tampa Bay region were warned early Wednesday that even emergency services may not be able to rescue them, with coastal flooding occurring as far as 200 miles south of where Idalia eventually made landfall. Its gonna get to a point where we just can not get to you, Madeira Beach fire chief Clint Belk told CNN.

Police in St. Petersburg also said firefighters had to rescue a person from a flooded mobile home park. Emergency operations were completely suspended in Walkulla County due to the extreme weather. Emergency personnel and first responders will not be responding to calls for service until the weather improves as the conditions are simply too dangerous, Wakulla County Sheriff's Office wrote in a Facebook post.

This things powerful, DeSantis said Wednesday morning. If youre inside, just hunker down until it gets past you. You dont want to be messing around with these winds. Theres going to be things flying all over the place.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Hurricane Idalia plowed through Florida's Apalachee Bay as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday.

It's the first time a serious hurricane has hit the area, according to the National Weather Service.

The geography of the area may have worsened the storm's effects.

On Wednesday, Hurricane Idalia brought a Category 3 hurricane to Florida's Apalachee Bay for the first time.

A serious hurricane, one that ranks Category 3 or higher, hasn't hit this stretch of land on Florida's northwest coast since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1851, according to the NWS.

On Wednesday morning, the winds of the storm reached 125 mph. Idalia also brought with it a storm surge  a wall of water  up to 16 feet high.

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After the initial storm surge, intense flash floods began moving through the Big Bend, piling water onto the streets.

Transformers blew up, roofs were torn off of trailers, and about 250,000 homes were cut off from their power supply, Gov. Ron DeSantis told the Tampa Bay Times.

"When you try to compare this storm to others, DON'T. No one has seen this," the National Weather Service's Tallahassee office shared on X, the platform formerly called Twitter.

Big Bend is the informal name for the region of land that borders Apalachee Bay. It's known for its fields of wild sea grass, shallow clear waters, and abundant wildlife, according to the US Geological Survey.

It's home to some of the more sparsely populated areas in Florida, including Taylor County  only the 54th most populated county out of the 67 that comprise Florida, USA Today reported. Even so, Florida's urban rescue crews are poised to swoop in and help people who may be trapped.

The geography of the Big Bend area may have made the effects of the storm more intense, University at Albany atmospheric scientist Kristen Corbosiero told the Associated Press.

"The water can get piled up in that bay. And then the winds of the storm come around, they go around counter-clockwise, that's going the same direction, the same shape of the bay so that water can just get pushed in there," she said.

As of 2 p.m. ET, some of Idalia's early threats had begun to ease, Tallahassee's NWS announced. But the officials urged that with flooding, citizens should proceed with caution.

Read the original article on Insider
Fueled by higher-than-normal ocean temperatures and veering more to the west than anticipated, Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.

The storms high winds and heavy rain tore down power lines and clogged interstate highways and local roads with downed trees and debris as it slammed into Valdosta. The city was still largely without power Thursday.

Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk told The Telegraph that the storm was something I never want to see again.

Paulk said that in the storms aftermath, amid felled trees and snapped power lines, locals were inquiring about which roads were closed.

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Its easier, he said, to tell you which ones are open.

Interstate 75, which runs through Valdosta, the county seat there, was closed for about six hours.

At times, it was blowing and raining so hard you couldnt see 15 feet in front of you, Paulk said. The utility people, they had to pull their (crews) back in it got so rough.

Scores of county roads were blocked by fallen trees. Telephone poles in spots were keeled over at 45-degree angles.

Youd run up on a tree that had the road blocked, Paulk said. Youd turn around and thered be another one down behind you.

EMA Lowndes posted this photo of pwerlines down across a roadway to there Facebook page. The caption read Power lines are down across Lowndes County. Motorists that must be out should proceed with caution.

You dont count on the state here

There wasnt a single road in Fargo free of keeled-over trees and snapped branches as of 1:30 pm. At least three roads were impassable, including U.S. Highway 441 north of town.

Roy Abbott, the mayor of the town of about 250 people at the western entrance to the Okefenokee Swamp, spent the morning driving down every one of Fargos roads to inspect the damage.

We got beat up pretty bad, Abbott said by phone while preparing to head back out on his tractor to clear debris.

Fargo was prepared for worse than what it got. Until late last night, Abbott believed his town was in the path of the eye of the storm as it passed over Georgia  but its route shifted some 50 miles to the west, traveling over Valdosta instead.

A shelter was set up in a city auditorium. Abbott encouraged people in mobile homes and other unstable housing to make use of the refuge.

If you live in a ramshackle type house, theres been a few people I told, I think you best go over to the auditorium. And they did, they took my advice, they went over there, he said.

Abbott said some 20 or 25 people, mostly families, stayed in the auditorium Tuesday night. Another shelter was set up in the corner of a church.

While Fargo rode out the worst of the storm, the mayor said, the wind is still kicking up every so often.

Hard work remained: clearing trees and repairing property damage. Fargo will need resources it doesnt have.

Were gonna assess what we need done and hopefully the state will help us. Were gonna need some manpower, Abbott said.

He was skeptical help would come in sufficient quantity.

If we need, the county will help us, but the state  you dont count on the state here, he said. The state is not too concerned about this part of Georgia.

Gusts more than 80 mph

EMA Lowndes posted this photo of pwerlines down across a roadway to there Facebook page. The caption read Power lines are down across Lowndes County. Motorists that must be out should proceed with caution.

Idalia left tens of thousands of Georgians without power from Valdosta to Tifton, east to Waycross and up to Savannah.

Matt Pittman, who runs Pittmans Taxidermy in Homerville, a town of about 2,400 people between Valdosta and Waycross, said the brunt of Idalia had been pretty rough.

As the storms eye moved through at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, Pittman said by phone that power was out at his place south of town, as it was for thousands across that region on the northwestern fringes of the Okefenokee.

A tree just fell on the neighbors house a few minutes ago, but theyre OK, Pittman said.

He figured some of the gusts that ripped through topped 80 mph.

I just was talking to a neighbor that lives probably 5 or 6 miles down the road and hes got trees down all in his yard, Pittman said. He had a small metal building that looked like beer can if you crumpled it up in your hand.

Valdosta firefighters help residents evacuate the Courtyards on Park apartment complex after Hurricane Idalias high winds and heavy rain swept through south Georgia.
The husband of Swedens crown princess has denied rumours that there has been infidelity in the marriage and rubbished any claims that they are on the brink of divorce.

Prince Daniel, Duke of Vastergotland, who will become prince consort if his wife, Crown Princess Victoria, becomes Queen, called rumours about his marriage mean and false in a rare TV interview with SVT, Swedens public broadcaster.

Many friends from across Sweden and overseas have got in touch and things arrived at a certain point where we felt we could no longer accept it, he said in the interview, which was aired on Tuesday (29 August).

I dont think there is any reasonable person who believes in this rumour, he added.

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However, Daniel Nyhlen, a reporter for Stoppa Pressarna who first published the claims in early 2022, has insisted that the sources they used were very credible.

We had very credible informants, including special police guards and other staff close to the couple, Nyhlen told a podcast for the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. I really had no qualms about it. This is about Swedens constitution.

Prince Daniel, born Olof Daniel Westling, was a personal trainer and gym owner before he married into the royal family.

The pair met in 2002 when Prince Daniel became Victorias personal trainer. By 2008, they moved into an apartment on the grounds of Drottningholm Palace. They married in 2010, in a lavish ceremony that was Swedens first full-scale royal wedding since the marriage of King Carl XVI.

The Prince and Princess of Wales with Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden, photographed in 2018 (PA)

Initially, there was some disapproval surrounding the match, with some Swedes criticising Daniels commoner background.

The pair now share two young children, Princess Estelle, 11 and Prince Oscar, seven. Victoria is the eldest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf, making her heir to the Swedish throne, and therefore, Daniel will become prince consort if she ascends the throne.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Princess Estelle of Sweden, Prince Oscar of Sweden and Prince Daniel of Sweden (Getty Images)

The rumours of an infidelity in the marriage were circulated in early 2022 when Stoppa Pressarna (Stop the Press), a Swedish celebrity gossip outlet reported that Daniel had betrayed his wife and the pair were extremely close to a divorce. The outlet claimed that Victoria decided to give her husband another chance when the royal household issued a statement to deny any rumours.

In an initial statement released last year, the couple said: We wish to make it clear, once and for all, that the rumours that are now spreading are completely baseless.

A statement on the couples Instagram read: It has come to our attention that there are widespread negative rumours about our private relationship.

Allegations are being spread about betrayal in the relationship and an impending divorce.

Normally, we do not comment on rumours and speculation. But in order to protect our family, we wish to make it clear, once and for all, that the rumours that are now spreading are completely unfounded.

However, the celebrity news outlet continued to report that the couples relationship was in jeopardy, which prompted Daniel to re-address the claims in the SVT interview.

Meanwhile, Victoria, Daniel and their two children have made a number of public appearances in recent weeks.
Associate Justice Anita Earls joined the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2019 as a civil rights advocate for a fair and unbiased judicial system and she has remained one.

Now, according to the state Judicial Standards Commission, Earls willingness to address the state Supreme Courts indifference to diversity and the role of race in judicial decisions is a potential violation of the Judicial Code of Conduct. Specifically, its alleged that she failed to act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.

Earls, one of two Black Democrats on the court dominated by five white Republican justices, initially complied with an investigation triggered by an anonymous complaint that was eventually dismissed. But when the complaint was strangely reopened, Earls had had enough.

On Tuesday, she filed suit in federal court seeking to have the commissions probing of her comments and possible punitive action against her declared a violation of her free speech rights under the First Amendment.

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Legally, Earls appears to be on solid ground. In its latest investigation, the commission is citing a vague standard to restrict her speech. Her comments in an interview with the online publication Law 360 did not involve specific cases before the court.

Indeed, in addressing a pressing public concern, Earls was serving the very standard she is said to be violating. When an associate justice is candid about where the judicial system needs to improve, it promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.

The lawsuit filed on Earls behalf by Raleigh attorney Pressly Millen makes clear how of the commissions investigation subverts the standards its supposed to enforce. It says, The Commissions actions in instituting the investigation indicate that it believes that promoting public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary, is best accomplished by threatening judges who speak out about what they view as imperfections or defects in the judicial system and who do so in a measured and nuanced manner.

The commission  a 14-member group of judges, lawyers and lay persons appointed by the chief justice, the N.C. State Bar Council the governor and the legislature  is not necessarily at fault. That the law governing the commission allows for anonymous complaints and that the standard involved is so subjective make political gamesmanship in the guise of judicial oversight almost inevitable.

The public should know who is complaining about a judge and the outcome of the complaint. In this case, the source of the complaint could very well be a Republican in a black robe.

If anyone is at fault for weakening public faith in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, its the Republican justices who took control of the court following the 2022 election. They put a partisan stamp on the court by reversing decisions on gerrymandering and voter photo ID that were only months old.

Nothing had changed about the facts of the cases. All that had changed is that the court shifted from a 4-3 Democratic majority to the current 5-2 Republican majority. The rapid reversals were virtually unprecedented and drew national attention to the increasing partisanship of supreme courts in states that choose their justices through partisan elections.

The North Carolina Supreme Courts image is also undermined by having Associate Justice Phil Berger Jr., the son of the state Senate leader, sit in judgment on cases in which his father is a lead defendant.

The cause of the courts loss of public confidence goes deeper than five Republican justices. Republican state lawmakers restored partisan labels to judicial elections and ended public funding for statewide judicial campaigns, a change that forces appellate court judges and state Supreme Court justices to appeal to partisans for campaign funding.

Earls offers a needed dissent to the judiciarys politicization and its tilt against the interests of minorities and low-income people. She wont be silenced. Now its up to North Carolinians who value impartial justice to listen.

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett @newsobserver.com
Hurricane Idalia could set a record for its intensification rate, according to hurricane experts, who point to the hot water feeding the storm as a key factor.

Hurricanes get their energy from warm waters, so as Idalia rapidly approached the coast of Florida, its momentum was only fueled by the fact the Gulf and around the coast of Florida has some of the hottest sea water in the world at the moment, experts said.

Hurricane professor Kerry Emanuel, who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), warned Idalia stands a chance of setting a record for intensification rate because its over water thats so warm.

Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said the temperature is rocket fuel for the storm.

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Its 88, 89 degrees (31, 32 degrees Celsius) over where the storms going to be tracking, so thats effectively rocket fuel for the storm, Klotzbach said.

Its basically all systems go for the storm to intensify, Klotzbach added.

Scientists say the warm water is a result of human-caused climate change, a natural El Nino and other weather events.

Idalia made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm with 125 mph maximum sustained winds, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced in a 7:45 a.m. update Wednesday. By 8 a.m., the storm had sustained winds of 120 mph.

In the past day, however, Idalia intensified rapidly. At 5 a.m. Tuesday, the storm had sustained winds of 75 mph.

By 5 a.m. Wednesday, the storm reached maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, making it a Category 4 hurricane, before it subsequently dipped again and made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane.

A storm is considered to have rapidly intensified when it gains 35 mph in wind speed in 24 hours.

NHC groups storms into 5 categories. Category 2 hurricanes are storms with sustained winds of 96-110 mph. Category 3 hurricanes are storms with sustained winds of 111-129 mph. Category 4 hurricanes are storms with sustained winds of 130-156 mph.

The Associated Press contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The federal government may need more money to respond to the sheer number of natural disasters occurring this year, Biden administration officials said this week, as Hurricane Idalia devastated the Florida coast and Hawaii continued its recovery from historic fires on Maui.

But the administrations request to Congress proposed earlier this month already ties supplemental disaster relief funding with more assistance for Ukraine  a pairing that could slow down or even jeopardize both requests amid Republican infighting over continued support for Kyiv.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican and a supporter of continuing aid to Ukraine, called on the administration to propose immediate supplemental aid for disaster relief as Idalia was passing through Florida on Wednesday morning.

No matter how anybody feels about Ukraine funding, those two things should never be one for the other, Rubio said. When it comes to taking care of Americans in harm, that should be priority.

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Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, also a Republican, said that Biden was playing politics by pairing the two requests and that he would propose an immediate supplemental package for the Federal Emergency Management Agency once Congress reconvenes from summer recess next week.

READ MORE: Biden lauds DeSantis as two leaders work to boost Idalia recovery efforts

FEMA currently has $3.4 billion in its disaster relief fund, and is requesting an additional $12 billion for the rest of the year. Hurricane and wildfire seasons traditionally run through summer and fall, but climate change has worsened the length and the intensity of both.

The Biden administration is also asking for $24 billion in further aid to Ukraine.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, a Democrat, has said he supports the administrations proposal as it is currently written and will work to get it passed. Schumer has already consulted Hawaiis two Democratic senators, Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono, on the supplemental requests, he said. Neither has not called for the two requests to be decoupled.

A White House official told McClatchy that the supplemental request  similar to past requests  reflects urgent needs both with respect to national security and critical domestic areas like disaster relief.

The official noted that both disaster relief and support for the defense of democracy in Ukraine have strong bipartisan support.

Bundling various funding proposals into one supplemental package is not uncommon for administrations to request or for Congress to pass. But a growing divide among Republicans over whether to continue support for Ukraine in its war effort could slow down or jeopardize the FEMA request.

READ MORE: High stakes for Gulf Coast, Ron DeSantis as Idalia approaches Florida

The administration is requesting supplemental security, economic, and humanitarian assistance funding that would support Ukraine, as well as countries and vulnerable populations worldwide impacted by Russias unprovoked and brutal invasion of Ukraine, reads an Aug. 10 letter from Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Second, the president has an ironclad commitment to supporting communities across the Nation as they recover from disasters, the letter continues. Catastrophic weather and climate disasters in the United States caused more than $170.5 billion in damages last year alone.

President Joe Biden suggested he knows a battle lies ahead on Capitol Hill over the request in remarks from the White House on Wednesday, warning Republican lawmakers he would place responsibility on them if disaster relief funds run dry.

How can we not respond? My God. How can we not respond to these needs? Biden said. Im confident, even though theres a lot of talk from some of our friends up on the Hill about the cost, we have to do it. This is the United States of America.

READ MORE: Hurricane Idalias flood and storm surge in Florida were caught on video. Take a look

Asked whether the White House would continue pairing the two requests, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday she would not engage in hypotheticals.

The president has made it very clear what he is asking from Congress as it relates to the supplemental, Jean-Pierre said.

Im just not going to get into hypotheticals of what the Congress might present, she added. What we have asked for is incredibly important. And so were going to continue to have those conversations.
Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over the 11th meeting of the Council of Chairpersons of the 14th NPC Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 29, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Senior Chinese lawmakers met on Tuesday during the country's ongoing legislative session.

The meeting of the Council of Chairpersons of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee was presided over by Zhao Leji, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.

The meeting heard reports on the deliberations of bills during the session, as well as suggestions for revisions to some of the draft normative documents under review. Based on the deliberations, revisions have been made to the draft normative documents, and draft legal decisions have been prepared.

The meeting decided to submit the updated normative documents to the ongoing session of the NPC Standing Committee for review.
With Hurricane Idalia predicted to make landfall in Florida as a major hurricane, and potentially make its way to South Carolina, what other major hurricanes have made an impact on Beaufort County?

The projected track of Hurricane Idalia.

NOAAs National Hurricane Center defines the timeline of each years annual official hurricane season for the Atlantic basin as occurring from June 1 to Nov. 30, with tropical cyclone activity potentially happening before and after those dates, and that the Atlantic hurricane seasons peak is on Sept. 10, with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October.

As for reasons you should be prepared, its best not to take such dangerous weather lightly as they can evolve quickly.

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In addition to the Palmetto States southeastern location, South Carolina is one of the most vulnerable states to hurricanes and tropical storms. Six coastal counties border the Atlantic Ocean. These counties have more than 200 miles of general coastline. Densely populated coastal areas, especially during peak tourist seasons, coupled with the generally low coastal elevations significantly increase the states vulnerability, according to the Beaufort County Government website.

Amid the current hurricane threat coming from the Gulf of Mexico, the Lowcountry has faced numerous hurricane threats over the past number of years.

Of these threats, the region has had several instances where a major hurricane was just shy of hitting Beaufort County.

A man walks among the debris on a street in Bluffton after Hurricane Matthew hit.

To be categorized as a major hurricane, a storm has to be ranked as a Category 3 or higher. For this to occur, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale estimates the potential property damage from a hurricanes sustained wind speed based off of a 1 to 5 scale rating; thus, giving the hurricane a Category of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Its important to remember that how deadly a hurricane may be should not be solely relied upon by its given category. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale does not take into account other potentially deadly hazards such as storm surge, rainfall flooding, and tornadoes, the NOAAs National Hurricane Center continued.

Pallets of bottled water at Target in Bluffton, SC have been put on display. The pallet at the front of the store was quickly dwindling. This photograph was taken on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 9:55 a.m.

To view Beaufort Countys 2023 hurricane preparedness video, go online and visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5mwG0plzPo.

Within the last decade, recent hurricanes that have impacted the Palmetto State include Hurricane Matthew in 2016, Hurricane Irma in 2017, Hurricane Florence in 2018, Hurricane Dorian in 2019, and Hurricane Ian in 2022, the countys website continued. Additionally, Hurricane Joaquin, combined with a separate storm system, resulted in historic flooding from the Midlands to the Lowcountry in 2015.

Of these, only three directly and seriously impacted Beaufort County.

Hurricane Matthew

After impacting Hilton Head during the early hours of Oct. 8, 2016, Hurricane Matthew went on to flood the island and surrounding communities. Initially beginning its rampage as a Category 5 hurricane, Matthew made an impact on the island as a Category 2 hurricane after its path traveled off the coast of South Carolina.

Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island after Hurricane Matthew struck in October 2016.

During its presence in the area, Matthew substantially flooded the local community and knocked down an estimated 120,000 trees on Hilton Head Island alone.

This tree at Treetop Villas on Cordillo Parkway on Hilton Head Island took a lamp post with it when it toppled during Hurricane Matthew on Oct. 8.

At the time, the hurricanes wind speeds presumably reached a total of 88 mph, had a total of 14.04 inches of rainfall, destroyed many of the islands dunes and properties and reportedly cost over $51 million in response efforts, according to previous Island Packet reporting.

A typical scenario homeowners had to face on Hilton Head Island in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Hurricane Irma

Similar to Matthew, Hurricane Irma began as a Category 5, the highest ranking on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. However, Irma only made its impact on Beaufort County as a tropical storm on Sept. 11, 2017 as it slowed while traveling through most of Florida and Georgia as the storms course adjusted and traveled northwest.

Tropical Storm Irmas expected path for the rest of Monday into Tuesday

Irmas main effects on the area was predominantly a flooding issue due to storm surges, which was the primary cause of more than $1.3 million in structural damage to about 203 structures on Hilton Head Island, as previously reported by The Island Packet. In the prior report, Chris Yates, the towns building official, detailed that the areas hardest hit on the island included South Beach in Sea Pines, the Point Comfort area, the Burkes Beach area and Hilton Head Plantation.

A catamaran, left, ended up on its side and entangled in these dead trees in front of a beachfront home along South Beach on Hilton Head Island after being washed there by the storm surge from Tropical Storm Irma on Monday. South Beach was badly eroded by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and suffered another blow this year with Irma.

At Hurricane Irmas maximum strength, it had recorded maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, which was recorded on Sept. 5, 2017.

This image captured released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Irma moving toward the U.S. earlier this week. --

Hurricane Dorian

Staying off the coast of South Carolina in 2019 and only making an impact on Beaufort County without a direct hit, Hurricane Dorian blew damaging wind and rain onto Hilton Head Island and the rest of the county on Sept. 4-5. The hurricane caused significant tree damage throughout Hilton Head due to its high wind speeds. Dorian was ranked as a Category 3 hurricane when traveling just off the coast of South Carolina. Roughly 80 trees on Hilton Head Island were knocked down. Dorians maximum sustained wind speed was near 115 mph at the time.

Hurricane Dorians path has drawn comparisons to Matthew, which brought torrential rains and flooding to much of the Carolinas.
Hurricane Idalia slammed a region of Florida that is far less acclimated to hurricanes than other parts of the state, giving the area its most intense storm in nearly a century.

Although the storm swept through less heavily populated areas, meaning it posed a relatively low risk of death or injury, experts warn that the region lacks many of the resilience measures of big coastal cities  and could face destructive flooding or ecological damage.

The thing that makes [Idalia] a little bit unusual is that it hit a part of the Florida coastline which has experienced very few hurricane-level landfalls in the last hundred years, said hurricane professor Kerry Emanuel , who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Outsiders may associate the Sunshine State with densely populated coastal cities and the preparations they have made against frequent storms. On Wednesday, however, the Category 3 storm made landfall southeast of Tallahassee along whats known as the Nature Coast. The area is dotted with pine forests and marshland rather than beaches and resorts, and it hasnt experienced a Category 3 storm since 1950. The only such storm before that hit in 1896.

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Meanwhile, a Category 3 storm or above has never in recorded history passed through Apalachee Bay, which abuts an area of the state known as the Big Bend, according to the Tallahassee office of the National Weather Service (NWS)  until Idalia arrived Wednesday.

When you try to compare this storm to others, DONT. No one has seen this, the NWS office said in a warning.

The Big Bend, a section of northern Florida that bridges the states panhandle and the wider Florida peninsula, was one of the areas in the state hardest hit by the hurricane.

The good thing is, not very many people live there, Emanuel said. Where the surge was largest would be likely in a very unpopulated spot, we kind of dodged a bullet  a very bad bullet.

However, despite the sparse population of the area, the flatter topography means the effects of any flooding are likely to be widespread, said Carrie Stevenson, a coastal sustainability agent with the University of Floridas Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

[T]hose who live there are going to get hammered, she said. The 130-mile-per-hour wind is going to take out homes, going to take off roofs, anything thats one story is probably completely flooded. Anything thats on pilings might survive it, but theyre not going to be able to access it very much.

Florida as a whole is no stranger to hurricanes, and climate change is not widely believed to be directly increasing the number of storms. However, these storms are getting stronger, Stevenson said.

Theyre all, almost all major hurricanes instead of Category 1 and 2, and so thats whats really devastating, she said.

The ocean temperature in the Gulf of Mexico this time of year is exceedingly warm, its like bath water, said Jamie Rhome, the acting director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Associations National Hurricane Center in Miami. Waters have been slightly warmer than normal this year, and thats ample fuel for any hurricane to move across and strengthen.

In general, the science is indicating that climate change would allow storms to have a bigger impact, so youd get the same number of storms but theyd have a bigger impact, said Rhome. Meanwhile, he said, Sea level rise makes the storm surge worse, and the warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, creating the potential for heavier rainfall and more flooding.

The Big Bend areas got a lot of marsh, but its also timber country, so theres a lot of forestland there, Stevenon said. So winds like this will snap off the pines, theyll blow them over and theyll be bent.

Much of Floridas landscape developed under the threat of intense coastal weather, so the direct threats from humans to the ecosystems are quite a bit larger compared with those from events like Idalia, said Emanuel.

However, Stevenson cautioned that despite the lower risk of human death or injury in the low-population area, the storm poses possible ecological threats that could have chain reactions with wider implications.

Anybody in forestry in that area is going to be impacted heavily because theyre likely going to have lost a huge number of trees, and the ones that did survive it, theyll probably get pine bark beetles infest[ing] within a year, she said.

Previous beetle infestations have been devastating, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Rhome said its too early to tell exactly what downstream ecological effects this specific storm may have, but that based on my past experience, a storm of this impact would have a huge impact on the coastal morphology, the back bays and the rivers, and a massive change in the overall environment.

Theres nothing particular about this storm that looks different, he added. It just hit an area that hasnt been hit, based on our records, in a long time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Bradenton, Anna Maria Island and Manatee County escaped the worst of Hurricane Idalia, which grazed Southwest Florida as a Category 2 hurricane.

On Wednesday, there was no loss of life or catastrophic damage reported, though storm surge left some roads, homes and businesses severely flooded.

Evacuation orders were lifted around midday as the surge began to recede. Residents were allowed to return to homes in low-lying and coastal areas, and the bridges to Anna Maria Island reopened.

However, island leaders asked that non-residents stay away from the beaches until residents had a chance to return and assess damage. Anna Maria said it would strictly limit entry to residents and business owners.

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Power outages in Manatee County were minimal, impacting about 18,000 homes.

Damage assessments by county officials were underway and had topped $2 million.

While flooding was bad in some areas, officials said it could have been worse.

Were seeing flooding all along the (Manatee River,) Riverview Boulevard, Riverside, the Riverwalk, said Bradenton City Administrator Rob Perry. Quite honestly, its fairly minimal compared to what it couldve been.

Anna Maria Island, Bradenton see flooding

The cities of Anna Maria, Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach were underwater Wednesday morning.

We have extreme flooding on all our roadways, Police Chief Bill Tokajer of Holmes Beach said. The roads arent passable and no bridges open to Anna Maria Island.

It wont be possible to assess damage until the flooding recedes, Tokajer said.

In the city of Bradenton, Mayor Gene Brown and city administrator Rob Perry were evaluating flooding along the citys riverfront.

At 9:49 a.m., street flooding had reached three or four houses deep from the Manatee River.

We are trying to blast out to everyone stay out of the water. We dodged the windstorm, but not the flooding, Brown said.

In Palmetto, Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant said there was flooding along Riverside Drive, but roads are passable and city crews were picking up debris Wednesday morning.

It looks like we fared as well as could be expected. It seems like we have been blessed, she said.

But floodwater remained a dangerous hazard. In Palmetto, a police officer blocked vehicles from entering 11th Street Court West, where downed power lines caused an electrical hazard. The occasional pop or hiss from arcs of electricity could be heard from the waves lapping across the road.

Bill Logan, Manatee Countys information manager, said county crews were assessing damage on Wednesday, with an eye toward reopening country buildings on Thursday.

Rubonia was also flooded, illustrated by pictures shared by the Manatee County Sheriffs Office.

Anna Maria Island makes plans to reopen

Manatee County lifted its evacuation order for Anna Maria Island at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

The mayors of the three Anna Maria Island cities met in an online conference to discuss reopening.

Heres what they decided:

Holmes Beach would reopen at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to everyone, but is asking those who dont live on the island to wait for flood waters to recede and not create wakes that go into residents homes, Mayor Judy Titsworth said. We are asking people if you dont live out here, give the property owners a day or two, Titsworth said.

Bradenton Beach was planning to reopen at 4:30 p.m. as well, Titsworth said.

The city of Anna Maria planned to reopen at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to residents and business owners only, Mayor Dan Murphy said.

Anna Maria officials are asking others to stay away, due to the magnitude of the flooding.

Anna Maria will have a barricade to check IDs of drivers, he said.

Some of the streets are unbelievably flooded. Its just not safe, Murphy said.

The most flooded areas are in residential pockets in the city center, but there was also flooding along Bayfront Park and North Bay Drive, nearly to Bean Point, he said.

I have lived in Florida all my life and this is the worst I have seen. I dont have much debris. What I have is a lot of water and its not going anywhere. It breaks my heart to look at this, Murphy said.

Evacuation orders expired as of 2 p.m. and residents who could safely access their homes were allowed to do so. All shelters closed with a few remaining evacuees awaiting transport, Manatee County government said in a press release.

Please check the citys website, www.cityofannamaria.com for details and updates, the county press release said.

Residents react to storm damage

By Wednesday morning, Bradenton-area residents had taken to the streets to assess flood damage in their neighborhoods and local parks.

Supervised by their parents, children Willow and Teddy Baxter frolicked in river water that rose onto the sidewalk at the Bradenton Riverwalk.

The floodwaters submerged part of the Rossi Park splash pad and some playground equipment.

Their father, Ted Baxter, said the family decided to ride out the storm in their house along the riverfront. While his house was safe from flooding, neighbors appeared to have floodwater in their homes.

At Portosueno Park, several residents inspected the flooding near the boat ramp. Wednesday morning, the water breached the seawall and submerged roadways in the neighborhood.

The water rose so high that manatees, a common site at the park along Palma Sola Boulevard, swam over the seawall and began feeding on the grass, said Janet Rezze, a Palma Sola Park resident.

I watched manatees eat our grass in the backyard, Rezze said. That was new.

Joanne Wilhelm sheltered with Rezze after evacuating her Longboat Key home. As of Wednesday morning, she had not had a chance to inspect her property.

Weve seen pictures and theres flooding up to the back door, said Wilhelm. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that it doesnt get inside the house.

Well have plenty of stories to tell, Wilhelm said.

Along Riverside Drive East, near Manatee Memorial Hospital, two residents stayed awake until nearly 3 a.m., bracing for the worst of Hurricane Idalias storm surge.

By the time the sun came up, waves from the Manatee River slammed into their home. Cristie Caseman and Brian Zoller prayed the water would not continue to rise as inches entered their garage and kitchen pantry.

We were lucky. This is the worst weve seen it, said Caseman. The stuff in the pantry is replaceable. The house is not.

Bradenton water treatment plant offline

For about six hours Wednesday, the city of Bradenton urged its residents to reduce their water usage after its water treatment plant went offline in the wake of the storm.

Officials asked municipal water customers to conserve water until the tides subside and water levels return to normal. The city requested that those who use city water refrain from washing dishes and doing laundry and take showers sparingly.

In an interview with the Bradenton Herald, Jeannie Roberts, the citys public information officer, confirmed that Bradentons drinking water supply is safe. Residents may continue to drink and cook with the water without concern, she said.

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, the system had returned to normal.

Minimal impacts to Manatee growers, SRQ airport

Manatee County agriculture, a leader in Floridas vegetable and melon production, appeared to have largely been spared from heavy damage by Idalia.

Im still making phone calls but at this point mostly some flooding in the fields and wind damage but very minor, Lisa Hickey, interim county extension agent, said in an email. The big tomato growers in Duette are saying they had about 40 mph winds and minimal flooding that will subside with no issues.

Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, which closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, reopened at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

We didnt have a lick of damage, Rick Piccolo, the airports president and CEO, said.

All of the scheduled Wednesday morning arrivals at SRQ were canceled by the airlines on Tuesday out of an abundance of caution, Piccolo said.

Manatee County services to resume Thursday

Although it will be awhile before homeowners affected by flooding, and 3,660 FPL customers and 311 Peace River Electric Cooperative residents without power to get back to normal, county government was planning to reopen.

The county will be open for business Thursday, Acting County Administrator Charlie Bishop said in a press release. Though there may be a few facilities that wont open due to ongoing assessment, we are doing all we can to get the bulk of our programs and facilities back to normal operations.

Manatee County Area Transit (MCAT) will resume operation Thursday and county waste pick up will also resume, with normal Tuesday pick-ups on Thursday, Thursday pick-ups on Friday, and Friday pick-ups on Saturday.

There will be no recycling or yard waste this week. Manatee County 3-1-1 will close at 5 p.m. and will resume normal operating hours Thursday.

All county parks will be open Thursday. However, flooding may limit use of certain amenities. All county buildings will be open Thursday, except the following:

Island Branch Library (closed to parking lot flooding)

Coquina Beach Parking (portions may be inaccessible due to post-storm clean-up)

Tower Two Lifeguard Stand (report of electrical issues)

We would like to thank the public for their cooperation in staying put while we begin our recovery efforts, County Commission Chair Kevin Van Ostenbridge said in a press release.

Children try to catch a cricket in the floodwaters in Palmetto after Hurricane Idalia passed on August 30, 2023.

City of Bradenton workers closed parts of Virginia Drive along Wares Creek after Hurricane Idalia created flood waters making the road impassable on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

A woman takes photos on her phone near Wares Creek after Hurricane Idalia passed on August 30, 2023.
Idalia made landfall as one of the more powerful hurricanes in Florida's history. For a second time, Sen. Mitch McConnell froze and struggled to speak during a news conference. And many are still missing as the search for victims of the Maui wildfires nears an end.

 Hey there! Laura Davis here. Its time for Wednesdays news.

But first: Its a whopper of a lawsuit.  Burger King will have to face a class action suit accusing the fast food giant of false advertising, alleging the size of their Whopper burger is a lot smaller IRL than in ads.

The Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here.

Historic storm pounds Florida, Georgia

Leaving behind shredded buildings and hundreds of miles of flooding, Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning along Florida's Big Bend as one of the more powerful storms in state history. Radar imagery indicated the eye of Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach around 7:45 a.m. as a Category 3 hurricane, driving sustained winds of 125 mph.  Follow our live storm coverage.

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Catastrophic storm surge, power outages: In the small town of Perry, near where the storm came ashore, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said some of the hardest-hit areas are laden with debris and severely damaged property. More than 450,000 homes and businesses were without power in Florida and Georgia on Wednesday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.

Warnings issued for Georgia, Carolinas: By Wednesday evening, Idalia had weakened to a tropical storm, centered about 115 miles west-southwest of Charleston with sustained winds of 70 mph. The storm is forecast to move over the Carolina coastline Wednesday night and into Thursday.

 How to help: Donate, volunteer to assist those affected by Hurricane Idalia.

Chris Bodue paddles through his flooded neighborhood from Hurricane Idalia in Tarpon Springs, Florida on August 30, 2023.

Mitch McConnell freezes, struggles to speak again

Once again raising concerns about the 81-year-old's health, Sen. Mitch McConnell froze before in the middle of a news conference Wednesday and was escorted away from the microphones. At an event in Kentucky, the Republican Senate minority leader was asked about running for reelection in 2026 and seemed to start to answer before freezing and going silent. It's the second time in less than two months the senator has frozen up in this way. An anonymous McConnell aide said the senator will be consulting a physician prior to his next event.  Here's everything we know.

Fellow senators help Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., away from the podium after the 81-year-old froze at the microphones for a news conference on July 26, 2023.

What everyone's talking about

The Short List is free, but several stories we link to are subscriber-only. Consider supporting our journalism and become a USA TODAY digital subscriber today.

Officials near end of search for Maui wildfire victims

More than three weeks after deadly wildfires ripped through Lahaina, Hawaii, officials in Maui say they're nearing the end of the search and recovery phase. The count of confirmed dead has stood at 115 for several days  making it the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century. Nobody knows how many people are still missing. Maui County officials said they have covered 100% of the devastated area in Lahaina, and the next step will be to remove hazardous materials from the burn areas so residents can safely return.  The latest on recovery efforts.

The 150-year-old banyan tree in Lahaina is still standing, but will it survive?

The aftermath of the wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 16, 2023.

Giuliani loses defamation lawsuit from 2 election workers

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trumps campaign lawyer for the 2020 election, is liable for defaming two Georgia election workers by repeatedly accusing them of mishandling ballots, a U.S. district judge ruled Wednesday. A month ago, Giuliani conceded he didnt want to dispute that he made false statements about election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss. Since then, Giuliani has said he conceded to get try and get his case dismissed, but the judge ruled that Giulianis stipulations hold more holes than Swiss cheese.  Here's what we know.

Rudy Giuliani speaks outside the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Aug. 23.

A break from the news

Laura L. Davis is an Audience Editor at USA TODAY. Say hello: laura@usatoday.com. This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network. Support quality journalism like this? Subscribe to USA TODAY here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Idalia, Mitch McConnell, Maui wildfires: Wednesdays news
In the latest installment of Ukraines campaign of drone strikes against Russian airbases, four Il-76 Candid heavy cargo aircraft were reportedly left damaged last night at an airfield in the far northwest of the country. Footage of the aftermath of the incident shows one of the airlifters burning fiercely on the tarmac as well as multiple other fires in the vicinity of the airbase. Unconfirmed reports suggest that up to 20 drones may have targeted the base, as part of a large-scale and complex series of drone attacks across Russia.

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1696784537085264230?s=20 https://twitter.com/kromark/status/1696769677978923496?s=20

Kresty Air Base, in Pskov Oblast, came under drone attack last night, according to Russian sources, with the first reports appearing shortly before midnight. Quoting emergency services in its initial reporting, Russias state-run TASS news agency said that four Il-76s had been damaged, two of which had caught fire. A subsequent report from the RIA news agency also described two of the planes catching fire.

There have also been unconfirmed claims that a Tu-22M3 Backfire bomber was also hit in the raid on Kresty.

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https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/status/1696636011583848557?s=20 https://twitter.com/Arvelleg1/status/1696640330160882118?s=20 https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1696654690392408467?s=20

The regional governor of the Pskov Oblast, Mikhail Vedernikov, confirmed that the base had been struck, uploading a video showing a large fire, and with the sound of an explosion.

The defense ministry is repelling a drone attack on Pskovs airport, Vedernikov said on Telegram. The governor said that he was at the scene of the attack and that, according to preliminary information, there were no victims.

The airbase is home to the 334th Military Transport Aviation Regiment  or 334 VTAP in its Russian abbreviation  which has been operating the Il-76 from here since 1979. The base is thought to operate up to around 20 Il-76s. If claims that four of the transports were damaged are accurate, that would represent a significant portion of the resident fleet.

Kresty Air Base. (Google Earth)

https://twitter.com/kromark/status/1696650877442879803?s=20 https://twitter.com/kromark/status/1696650879733039522?s=20

As for the Il-76, this medium/long-range military transport is the most important of its type in the Russian Aerospace Forces and has been used in the war in Ukraine, primarily in rear areas.

In its primary Il-76MD version, it carries more than 105,800 pounds of cargo in a pressurized freight hold. The cargo compartment seats 167 troops or 245 with a second deck installed, or 126 paratroopers. Military equipment can be airdropped from high or low altitudes.

A Russian Aerospace Forces Il-76MD lands at Kresty Air Base. Igor Dvurekov/Wikimedia Commons

Co-located with the military airbase is Pskov Airport, serving commercial flights. The airports operator has stated that all flights from the facility for August 30 have been canceled, with NOTAM information provided by the airport blaming this on technical reasons.

Located more than 370 miles away from the closest Ukrainian territory, Kresty Air Base is far closer to the Russian border with Estonia. However, Pskov Oblast has come under drone attack before, and the airbase is clearly now within reach of these kinds of standoff Ukrainian attacks. There is also the possibility of localized operations by partisans or Ukrainian operatives that less specialized drones launched from close by for attacks on critical locations.

The approximate location of Kresty Air Base, in Pskov Oblast. Google Earth

As is typical for these kinds of operations within Russia, Ukraine has not said it was involved in the Kresty attack.

However, Kyiv did claim that four Russian aircraft had been destroyed in Pskov, without commenting on the nature of the incident. Yes, four Il-76 transport planes were destroyed in Pskov at an airfield, they are beyond repair, Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraines GUR military agency, told Reuters. Also, several others of those [aircraft] are damaged, but the information is being checked.

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1696825547525967970?s=20

Furthermore, Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in the past that attacks on Russian territory are an inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair process as the war with Russia continues.

Theres no doubt, meanwhile, that Kyiv has stepped up its use of drones to attack targets inside Russia, including those deep within its borders.

On August 19, for example, at least one Tu-22M3 bomber was destroyed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Soltsy-2 Air Base in Russia, near St Petersburg. Satellite imagery The War Zone obtained from Planet Labs shows the aftermath of that attack.

https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1693238607417676133?s=20

Also overnight, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported explosions in Tula and Bryansk, both inside Russia, reportedly due to Ukrainian drones. The same source said that drones had been shot down over the Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan, and Kaluga regions, as well as the region surrounding the Russian capital.

https://twitter.com/Faytuks/status/1696679300110426487?s=20 https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/status/1696650366375326166?s=20 https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1696665847584977296?s=20

Another wave of drone attacks against the Russian capital was reported, too, with the AP news agency stating that airspace above Moscows three main airports  Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, and Domodedovo  had been temporarily closed. This measure is typically taken in response to drone attacks in the capital region.

https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1696648536471879991?s=20

Russias foreign ministry said today that the latest Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian territory overnight will not go unpunished, Reuters reports.

In a briefing to journalists, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the drones would not have been able to fly such long distances without intelligence provided by Western countries.

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1696788117619957902?s=20

While the Russian Ministry of Defense frequently makes claims of having thwarted Ukrainian drone attacks using its air defenses, as well as electronic warfare measures, its clear that enough of these drones are getting through and causing significant damage to military installations and equipment, as well as other infrastructure.

This is a developing story. Stay with The War Zone for updates.

Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com
My son is autistic and has ADHD, sensory processing disorder, speech disorder and clinical depression.

However, when people first meet him, they assume he is neurotypical.

I have to remind myself that he can do hard things, and his courage inspires me.

On Aden's first day of kindergarten, he threw himself on the ground in front of the school and screamed at the top of his lungs. When I tried to pick him up, he grabbed my hands and dug his nails in, breaking the skin. He was wailing, I was bleeding, everyone was staring. The other 5-year-olds were lined up behind the teacher, silent and compliant, their parents glaring at me for ruining an Instagrammable moment.

What they didn't understand was what Aden seemed to know intuitively  that going to school would be the hardest thing he's ever done. I felt his pain. After all, parenting Aden is the hardest thing I've ever done.

My son is autistic

During those first few weeks of kindergarten, the principal called me nearly every day. Aden had been sent to his office, or Aden wouldn't stop punching him, or a team of grown men had been sent to the art room to "secure" my 40-pound 5-year-old. The principal would wait for me to share some solution that would transform Aden into the happy kid we all wanted him to be. But I didn't have any solutions, so the principal kept calling.

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Aden is autistic. He also has ADHD, a sensory processing disorder, a sleep disorder, a speech disorder, and clinical depression. Aden is also highly intelligent and deeply empathetic. He can name every species of carnivorous plant, and he asks the best questions of anyone I know.

But when people first meet Aden, most assume he's neurotypical. So when he runs away from me in public or leaps from my grasp into oncoming traffic, or tells me in his loudest voice, "I HOPE YOU DIE," people don't always make the mental leap to disability. A well-meaning family member put it this way: "No one looks at Aden and thinks he's Autistic  they look at you and think you're a terrible parent."

I can't afford to send him to a private school

Maybe only a terrible parent would send a kid like Aden to a traditional, public elementary school, where every day is filled with precisely the sights, sounds, and situations Aden finds intolerable. The overhead fluorescents are too bright. The other kids are too loud. The class changes activities every 10-15 minutesa dream for the average kindergartener but a nightmare for mine. Aden cannot fathom why he should stop doing something he enjoys simply because a grown-up said so. Every time he's wrenched from playtime to reading, then from reading to math, I imagine him conjuring Dorothy Parker: "What fresh hell is this?"

I think about homeschooling him or sending him to a private school that specializes in kids like him. But I am a single parent with a full-time job, and Aden has an older brother. How could I homeschool Aden and make enough money to support a family of three? And even if I could afford private school, how could I transport two kids to two different schools, neither of which start until 8am, and get to work by 8am? It feels as impossible as making it through the school year felt on that first day of kindergarten.

Summer break makes me anxious about going back to school

Over the course of months, Aden made progress. In September, he thrashed on the ground, scratched my hands, or refused to get out of the car. By December, Aden could walk into school holding my hand, his fingers clasped over the scratches that were just starting to scab over. By spring, I could drop him off and watch him enter the building all by himself, and on the best days, the kid who used to punch the principal would give the principal a high-five.

But summer break threatens to derail all that progress, and I'm afraid of what could happen on the first day of first grade. Even though he's spending his summer in therapy, Aden tends to compartmentalize  he'll eat a piece of broccoli with his food therapist but not with me or cooperate with his occupational therapist but not his teacher. I don't know if the progress he's making at therapy will translate to a school setting, just like I don't know if Aden will calmly walk into school in September the way he did back in June. Even if the first day of first grade goes well, Aden will still be navigating a world not designed for him  a world that makes being alive inherently hard.

I remind myself Aden can do hard things. He is stronger than me, braver than me, and more resilient than me. His courage inspires me to be the parent he needs me to be. If I expect him to get up every day and tolerate what feels intolerable, I have to be willing to do the same. I have to accept the frustration, embarrassment, and fear I may feel if we repeat that first day of kindergarten again this year. Most of all, I have to remind myself  sometimes multiple times a day  that it's much harder to be Aden than it is to be Aden's mom.

It's August, and the scars that Aden left on my hands last year have faded. The skin there is tougher because of him. As far as first grade goes, I'm not sure if we're ready. But I know we're ready to try.

Read the original article on Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Coming soon: Sign up for the India Edition newsletter by Menaka Doshi  an insider's guide to the emerging economic powerhouse, and the billionaires and businesses behind its rise, delivered weekly.

Most Read from Bloomberg

New Delhi lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing over the publication of an official map that shows China claiming Indian territory in the Himalayas, a sign that tensions over a border dispute are simmering before a major summit next month.

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Beijing this week released an official map showing parts of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh under Chinas control, expanding from a move in April to rename 11 areas in the region as part of southern Tibet. Aksai Chin, a disputed plateau in western Himalayas claimed by India but controlled by China, was also included.

We reject these claims as they have no basis, Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement late Tuesday. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

China released the map so publishers, companies and others have an official version to reference. Foreign firms sometimes run into trouble with the Chinese government over how they use maps. Last year, Seven & i Holdings Co.s China-based convenience store business was fined for identifying Taiwan as an independent state on its website.

When asked about the map at a regular press briefing Wednesday in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said his government hoped the relevant sides can remain objective and calm and refrain from overinterpreting.

See: The China-India Border Dispute Bedeviling Ties: QuickTake

The latest flareup comes just days after President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi briefly spoke at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, asking officials to work at resolving the border dispute now in its third year.

The nuclear-armed Asian neighbors share a 3,488 kilometer (2,167 mile) border and are locked in their worst territorial conflict in four decades due to a deadly clash in May 2020. Several rounds of talks have done little to ease tensions, with thousands of soldiers, missiles and fighter jets still positioned along the Himalayan border.

Xi and Modi have mostly avoided direct talks since the dispute began despite crossing paths at a number of international meetings. Xi is expected to attend the G-20 leaders gathering in New Delhi on Sept. 9-10 and ahead of the meetings in India and South Africa, Chinese and Indian commanders had agreed to work swiftly to resolve the boundary issue.

Summits in the past has given China and India the opportunity to defuse tensions. An unscheduled meeting between Modi and Xi on the sidelines of a Group of 20 gathering in Hamburg in 2017 led to a resolution of a tense 70-day stand-off between the two armies, which were deployed toe-to-toe inside Bhutan.

The situation this time around is more complicated. China has sought to separate the border dispute from its overall relationship with India but New Delhi insists normal bilateral relations depend on resolving the border dispute.

India has discouraged companies from trading with  and investing in  China, banned some mobile phone applications developed by its neighbor and cut back on the issuing of visas to Chinese nationals.

--With assistance from Jing Li, Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Allen Wan.

(Updates with a map and comment from Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday refuted statements made by John Eastman, an ex-attorney for former President Trump who claimed during her show to have evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

One of the other things they said is that Bill Barr said there wasnt any evidence of fraud, Eastman said, referring to the former attorney general. Well, I have lots of evidence of fraud.

Well, I havent seen any evidence, Ingraham interjected. And Im always wanting to see everything  and Id love to see that evidence, she continued before criticizing the former president for not having the legal work done on the front side of the election.

Eastman was one of more than a dozen Trump associates who have been indicted this month and charged in Fulton County, Ga., in connection with an alleged plot to overturn the states 2020 election result.

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Ingraham has been a staunch Trump supporter for most of his time in politics and was recently moved to a new 7 p.m. hour by Fox News as it reshuffled its prime-time lineup following the ouster of Tucker Carlson , its formerly top-rated host.

Carlsons firing came in April, just days after the network agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 million in settlement money in connection with unfounded claims made on its air about the companys software being promoted by Trump and his allies.

Trump has ridiculed Fox for months over its coverage of him and its firing of Carlson.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A pretrial detainee at an infamous jail in Atlanta, Georgia, died on Saturday  four days after filing a complaint accusing deputies of excessive force.

Jail officials said that a detention officer found Samuel Lawrence, 34, unresponsive in his cell during dinner rounds Saturday. He was taken to the Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Fulton County Jail is being investigated by the Justice Department and has recently garnered media attention as the site where former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants were recently booked and released in the Georgia election interference case.

Lawrences cause of death is still unknown, but the Fulton County Sheriffs Office said that the local medical examiners office will perform an autopsy and the Atlanta Police Department will be conducting an investigation.

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His death marks the fourth one this month and at least the seventh of this year at the jail. There have been more than 60 deaths from 2009 to October 2022, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In the complaint filed on Aug. 22, the individual lists several instances of abuse, harm and poor conditions, which he claimed are in violation of the 4th, 8th and 14th Amendments.

The man said that deputies used excessive force by kicking me in the head, stomping [on] my hands while in handcuffs and wrongfully pepper spraying [me]. He also said a deputy failed to protect me from physical abuse [by an inmate] which led to my ribs being bruised.

In the complaint, he notes he was being held in an isolated cell with no water, limited food to shorten his calories and a toilet that didnt work, and that he hoped to see some justice, peace [and] sanity as he is still suffering from injuries.

The man had been in jail since December on a second-degree arson charge, initially without bond. He eventually received a bond of $30,000 that his attorney was attempting to get reduced. The individuals hearing would have been next month. He was never convicted of the charge.

Related...
A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced Jiang Guowen, formerly a senior municipal political advisor for Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, to life in prison for accepting bribes.

The Intermediate People's Court of Hulun Buir City in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region convicted Jiang, former chairman of the Harbin Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, of accepting bribes worth an approximate total of 104 million yuan (about 14.47 million U.S. dollars) either directly or through his relatives.

He was found guilty of taking advantage of his former positions in Heilongjiang to seek benefits for others in project contracting, litigation enforcement, job promotions and other areas from 2005 to 2019, accepting vast sums of money and gifts in return.

Jiang was deprived of political rights for life, and all of his personal property will be confiscated, the court said, adding that his illegal gains will be turned over to the state treasury.
Julia Morrison (right) talks with Anna Sorokin on a phone held by Alfredo Martinez at the "Free Anna Delvey" gallery opening. Jacob Shamsian/Insider

A new art gallery, "Free Anna Delvey," features five prison drawings from Anna Sorokin.

She's still in jail, so she hired an art forger to recreate them in a large format.

The gallery show is building grassroots support to bring her into the New York art scene.

"I'm a notorious art forger," is how Alfredo Martinez introduced himself. "Basquiat, mostly."

He is underselling himself. Martinez served a couple of years in prison in the early 2000s for a scam where he forged paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat. While incarcerated, he began taking art seriously on his own terms. One of his prison drawings, of a gun, was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art. In the two decades since he finished his own sentence, Martinez has become a fixture of New York's downtown art scene, curating dozens of gallery showings that connect big names and grittier, up-and-coming artists.

So when Anna Sorokin  also known as Anna Delvey  was released from prison in February of last year, Martinez knew he had to collaborate with her.

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He noticed some of Sorokin's drawings from her stints in Riker's Island and Albion Correctional Facility, posted on her Instagram, and saw a promising young artist.

A year's worth of canceled plans and coordination from jail culminated Thursday night with "Free Anna Delvey," a gallery showing in Manhattan's Lower East Side  not far from the hotels Sorokin scammed  featuring around two-dozen artists riffing on the con artist. Five of the works of art are by Sorokin herself, recreated on large-print watercolor paper by Martinez.

"If she's gonna get someone to copy her artwork, it's good she got a Basquiat forger to do it," Martinez told Insider.

Thursday night's opening served as a launchpad for the gallery show, which runs until March 24 at 176 Delancey Street. In the 150-person throng, which spilled out into the outdoor backlot, a few familiar people from Sorokinworld made an appearance. Emily Palmer, the reporter who covered her trial for the New York Times, was there ("I think I'll include a few paragraphs about this in the next story, about her immigration issues," she said.) Todd Spodek, the criminal lawyer who defended her in her trial, depicted by Arian Moayed in Netflix's " Inventing Anna ," also showed up. One man, who identified himself as a graffiti artist, approached him.

"Are you her lawyer? I need a lawyer," he said.

"What's your tag?" Spodek asked.

Spodek told Insider he's done 11 trials since Sorokin was convicted, in April 2019, for her scam where she pretended to be a fake heiress with a $60 million trust fund to bilk money from financial institutions so she could build a business called the Anna Delvey Foundation. None of those trials, he said, has received nearly as much attention. But for Sorokin, he said, he hoped the art show would prove that she can move her life forward.

"What I want for Anna is for the trial and the tribulations of the past to be one chapter in a multi-chapter book about her life," he told Insider. "It's time to move past that. She's created wonderful art. People are here to celebrate her and that's what's important."

Chants of 'Free Anna Delvey!'

One person who did not make an appearance was, of course, Sorokin herself. While she finished her prison sentence in February 2021, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested her six weeks later and has kept her in jail since, claiming she hasn't been rehabilitated. Sorokin, a German national, has spent the past year fighting deportation and was nearly flown out earlier this week.

At around 9:15, Sorokin called Martinez's phone. His co-curator, Julia Morrison  who herself had a moment in the spotlight when she minted an NFT of screenshots of what she said were Instagram messages from Armie Hammer about sex slavery and cannibalism ("Dibs on the glute muscles and ribs for smoking," Hammer appeared to have said in the messages; he's denied wrongdoing)  told the rest of the room to "shut the fuck up."

"We're paying $1,000 for this phone call," Morrison yelled.

Sorokin, alone in her jail cell, thanked the crowded room for their support.

"Free Anna Delvey! Free Anna Delvey!" the crowd chanted.

"Very happy and grateful for the grassroots support I've been getting from both young artists and the art world in general," Sorokin told Insider Friday morning. "Hope I'll be present in person for the next one."

"Send Bitcoin" by Anna Sorokin, recreated and colored by Alfredo Martinez. Provided by Julia Morrison

Morrison told Insider she teamed up with Martinez to help Sorokin "pivot to the art world." They came up with the idea in February 2021, when Sorokin was freed from prison, of "a con artist turned artist helping another con artist make her way into the art world." But Sorokin ignored the Instagram DMs they sent.

"It was impossible to get ahold of her," Martinez said. "So what I did was, I planted some story in Page Six to get her attention."

Sorokin saw the story and got in touch. At first, Martinez and Morrison wanted to have Sorokin create an NFT for a gallery, subverting her reputation for forging financial documents, since NFTs are used for authentication. But when she was re-arrested, they pivoted. They obtained Sorokin's drawings, and Martinez, acting as her artist's assistant, recreated them.

The self-aware drawings joke about the media attention and thumb their nose at ICE and the prison she's been in. One depicts her at a command center called "JPay," the app she used to communicate to the outside world from Albion Correctional Facility. She's wearing Agent Provocateur and Alexander Wang paired with prison socks. She wants people to send her Bitcoin.

Why is Sorokin the one in jail?

Morrison had two pieces of her own work at the show. One is "Nothing to See Here: White House Toilet," a toilet filled with shredded documents meant to recreate "the White House toilet where former President Donald Trump flushed documents and other property belonging to the American public." She said she planned to fill it with pee and resin, then smash it with a sledgehammer this weekend. The other was "Manafort in a fort," of her pet hamster named Manafort in a cage lined with shredded pages of Paul Manafort's indictment.

Here was the message of "Free Anna Delvey," Morrison said: Trump took 15 boxes of classified documents home with him to Mar-a-Lago  not to mention all the other stuff. Paul Manafort helped install pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine. Sorokin took around $200,000 but paid it all back and served out her prison sentence. So why was she in jail and the others walking free?

"She paid her time. She paid restitution for all of her crimes," Morrison said. "There are many men who have done the same thing that she's done, but they have connections, influence, power, and fancy names. And they never see the inside of a day of court because of it."

Julia Morrison spills shredded documents into a toilet. Jacob Shamsian/Insider

The gallery had another function too, Morrison and Martinez said. As an established artist, Sorokin could qualify for an O-1 artist visa, which could allow her to remain in the US.

Morrison's pieces weren't for sale, but the others at the gallery were. Sorokin's were priced at $10,000 apiece. On Friday morning, Morrison told Insider there was a single buyer interested in snapping up everything from the gallery, and that the costs were being negotiated.

Other works explored other aspects of Sorokin's personality. Noah Becker, the artist and magazine publisher, who told Insider he speaks to Sorokin multiple times a week, created a painting of graffiti-covered sculptures imposed on an impressionist landscape.

He described his painting as "post-art-world," said Becker, who recently recorded a podcast interview with Sorokin about her artistic interests. "The millennial to end all millennials."

Rina Oh Amen and "Her Royal Highness Princess Annoushka (Anna Delvey) Louise of Savoy," which presents Sorokin as a Russian monarch. Jacob Shamsian/Insider

Rina Oh Amen painted "Her Royal Highness Princess Annoushka (Anna Delvey) Louise of Savoy," which casts Sorokin as a royal surrounded by monarch butterflies and the imperial Russian crown atop her head.

The painting, Oh Amen said, evoked the imperious way Sorokin carries herself. As with Sorokin's sense of humor, it was steeped in irony.

"Usually, it's the other way around," she said. "Marie Antoinette did not care about the poor people. But Anna Delvey did not care about the rich people."

It was an apt metaphor. While the crowd celebrated her and jeered the people who got away with worse, Sorokin remained in jail. Her power, after all, was only on paper.

Read the original article on Insider
Heres a look back at what Jesus said about women in the Bible.

In the canonical New Testament, Jesus has a number of interactions with women. Women are present at every stage of Jesus life and he speaks about them positively. While the New Testament has many examples of Jesus speaking about women, there are three prominent tropes: women as disciples, women as witnesses and women who anointed Jesus.

Women as disciples

The opening of Luke 8 reads, Soon afterward he went on through one town and village after another, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herods steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to them out of their own resources.

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Here, Jesus identifies Mary Magdalene , Joanna, Susanna and many others as his followers who ministered to people with him.

Jesus identified women as disciples in other places. In Matthew 12:49, the text reads, And pointing to his disciples, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

Jesus message about discipleship was that everyone can follow him.

Women who anointed Jesus

The gospels include two stories of women anointing Jesus.

The anointing by a repentant woman

This episode only occurs in the gospel of Luke. The gospel author wrote, And a woman in the city who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.

The women then anoints Jesus feet and Jesus tells a parable to Simon. After forgiving the womans sins, he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go in peace.

The anointing by the women at Bethany

A woman at Bethany anoints Jesus in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John.

In the gospel of John, Martha served dinner while Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus feet, and wiped them, with her hair. After she anointed him, Judas Iscariot asked why the perfume wasnt sold to give to the poor.

Jesus responded, Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.

Women as witnesses

Women were the first witnesses to the resurrected Christ.

A messenger from God told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, He has been raised from the dead. Then, while the women rush out of the tomb, they meet Jesus, who tells them to tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.

The gospel of Luke contains a similar episode.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary mother of Jacob/James and other women with them saw two men in dazzling clothes. These messengers communicated that the Son of Man has risen from the dead and they rushed to the eleven apostles to tell them this. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. Peter went to the tomb to confirm this.

Biblical scholar Barbara Reid wrote, Narratively, the women at the cross, burial, and empty tomb are the crucial link to the crucified and buried Jesus, whose tomb is empty. The women are also the connection back to Galilee, providing the necessary link for remembering what Jesus told the disciples there.
After a two-year effort to prevent the release of an investigation into the Shasta County Sheriff's Office and former Sheriff Eric Magrini, county officials have complied with a court order to turn over the report to the Record Searchlight.

This is the second of two stories detailing findings from the thousands of documents released by the county earlier this month. The documents included results from the county's investigation into the sheriff's office, known as the Ellis Report.

The Ellis investigation was commissioned by the county in 2021, following a request by captains and lieutenants in the Sheriff's department who had complained about working conditions in the agency.

"As dedicated professionals, we feel that the safety of our community is paramount and it cannot be achieved under the current conditions that exist within the sheriff's office," the letter from the Sheriff's Administrative Association to the county Board of Supervisors says. "If resolution cannot be achieved, our only option will be to make notification to the California Attorney General or determine if recall proceedings are feasible, and our hope is that this will not be necessary."

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More: How we got here: The two-year effort to obtain records from Shasta County

After receiving the letter, the county hired Sacramento law firm Ellis Investigations to look into the issues raised by the Sheriff's Administrative Association, which represents lieutenants and captains in the department.

The Record Searchlight is naming members of the Shasta County sheriff's command staff, county officials and union leaders in all stories because they are public figures. However, the newspaper is voluntarily withholding the names of other workers and is not publishing the Ellis Report in full in order to balance individual privacy with the public's interest in this case.

Here are the findings of the Ellis Report:

In this 2022 file photo, then Shasta County Executive Officer Matt Pontes attends a Board of Supervisors meeting

Did Magrini obtain an unauthorized rap sheet on former county CEO Matt Pontes?

The report says Magrini acknowledged he illegally obtained background information about Matt Pontes.Magrini used a statewide law enforcement communication system known as CLETS to search Pontes criminal background when Pontes applied for the CEO job. Using the system for employment background checks is illegal, according to the California Attorney Generals Office.

Magrini thought it was OK to use the CLETS system to conduct background checks because the county regularly performs personal history checks for hiring, the report says. Magrini accessed the CLETS system looking for criminal records to possibly knock Pontes out of the running for the CEO job so former Shasta County Director of Support Services Angela Davis could get the position, according to written testimony in the report from Capt. Pat Kropholler, who at the time was president of the Sheriff's Administrative Association.

However, the Ellis Report said Davis could not have benefited from disqualifying Pontes because she had already been offered a job in Siskiyou County by the time Magrini accessed CLETS. The now-former county CEO had criminal theft convictions on his record from 1994 in Santa Barbara County.

Did Magrini follow correct procedures in January 2020 during captains' promotions testing in the department?

The report found he did not.

After being sworn in as sheriff in January 2020, Magrini promoted Jason Barnhart to undersheriff. That meant the sheriff had to hire or promote from within the department to backfill positions. After selecting Capt. Gene Randall to oversee the jail, the Personnel Department told sheriff's officials they were supposed to test for the position through personnel, the report says.

So Magrini and Barnhart needed to redo the captain promotion process. Magrini acknowledged that he failed to correctly conduct the captain promotion testing, the report says. Also, while Lt. Tyler Thompson took the captain's test in January 2020, his name was left off the captain's promotions list, the report says.

"Sheriff Magrinis failure to properly follow the promotion process raised concerns because it affected Lt. Thompsons promotion opportunity during the next available promotion in June 2020," the report says.

In this 2021 file photo, then Shasta County Sheriff Eric Magrini speaks to the Board of Supervisors.

Did Magrini interfere in an investigation into a February 2020 officer-involved shooting investigation?

The report concluded Magrini did not interfere.

Sheriff's Sgt. Jose Gonzalez shot Thomas Andrew Barbosa after his vehicle went off a cliff in Ono following a vehicle chase to the small western community in the western part of the county. The Redding Police Department took over the investigation into the shooting because it involved a sheriff's office employee. Video evidence of the shooting initially implicated Gonzalez, but Kropholler analyzed information from the incident and wrote an executive summary.

Kropholler was concerned Magrini would interfere with the shooting investigation because of past conflicts between Gonzalez and the sheriff, the report says. Kropholler had accused Magrini of preventing him from submitting the executive summary of the investigation to the Shasta County District Attorneys Office. The report concluded Kropholler should not have become involved with the investigation because of a possible conflict of interest, as Gonzalez and Kropholler both worked in the sheriff's office.

The report determined that Kropholler should have given a summary of the incident he wrote to Redding police. The report also said Magrini made inappropriate comments about the shooting after watching the video of the incident. "In hindsight, this evidence reflected that Sheriff Magrini made premature comments, based on viewing the video, reflecting a belief that Sgt. Gonzalez officer-involved shooting was not justified," the report said.

Ultimately, Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett did not file charges in the case, saying there was not sufficient evidence to charge Gonzalez in the shooting.

Did Magrini fail to investigate threats made against former Public Health Officer Karen Ramstrom?

The report concluded Magrini did investigate threats made against Ramstrom.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many members of the public were upset at some of the state-mandated restrictions placed on businesses and schools. That anger led to threats against Ramstrom. One commenter at a Board of Supervisors meeting yelled out Ramstroms home address and threatened protests at her home. A social media post also threatened to take out the county's top doctor.

The sheriffs office, Redding police and county officials met several times regarding the threats, the report says. They performed a risk assessment and put together a plan to protect Ramstrom from possible attacks, the report says. She was also advised on how to react to any threats. The county hired a private security firm to monitor her home and Redding police also were alerted to the threats, the report said.

In this 2020 file photo, then Shasta County Sheriff-Coroner Eric Magrini receives his oath office.

Did Magrini tell a sheriffs deputy to delete a recording of a May 2020 Deputy Sheriffs Association meeting?

While the report concluded Magrini did not explicitly tell Deputy Ben Estill, then-president of the Deputy Sheriff's Association, to delete a recording of a DSA meeting the sheriff had attended, the deputy felt he was pressured to delete the recording, the report says.Another deputy recorded the May 2020 meeting for the benefit of those who could not attend, the report says. Estill met with Magrini and Barnhart in Magrinis office, where the sheriff informed the deputy the recording could have been illegal because it was done surreptitiously.

However, because Sheriff Magrini stated that Dept. Estill had possibly committed a misdemeanor, Dept. Estill believed that he needed to delete the recording. He (Estill) did not see any other option. Dept. Estill was in a room with two of his bosses telling him that he possibly committed a crime, so Dept. Estill wanted to take responsibility and show that the DSA acted in good faith and was not trying to set up Sheriff Magrini or engage in trickery, the report says.

Did Magrini inappropriately communicate with local militia groups during June 2020 social justice protests?

The report concluded Magrini did not invite Shasta County militia members to stand guard during the protests.However, the report said he did communicate with Woody Clendenen, a leader of one militia group, and told him to have his group "stage" on Oregon Street a block away from the Court Street protesters and not to engage them. Magrini said he would not use the militia for enforcement or police actions, the report says.

"This investigation considered that 'to stage' meant to be at the ready. (Capt. Brian) Jackson stated that (Capt.) Kropholler told him that Sheriff Magrini instructed the Cottonwood Community Militia to stage, or standby, on Oregon Street and he understood this to mean that they were to be ready. While this provided some support (that) Sheriff Magrini instructed militia groups to be ready to respond, it was not enough to outweigh the countervailing evidence that Sheriff Magrini wanted to prevent the groups from engaging," the report says.

Other witnesses, including sheriff's Lt. Jesse Gunsauls, said Magrini told them before the demonstrations that the militia was one call away if the protests became violent, the report says.

Did Magrini say he wanted protesters to burn down a county building?

Magrini made comments about wanting protesters to burn down the South County Patrol Station because it was dilapidated and he distributed a photo among department employees of Capt. Pat Kropholler with a Hitler mustache drawn on it, joking that it could be used to provoke protesters into torching the building, the report says.

Magrini made the comments about the time that social justice demonstrations were taking place in Redding in June 2020. Magrini drew a map from the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Redding to the patrol station and marked it "Precinct 3," in reference to a Minneapolis police precinct burned during George Floyd protests, and said if protesters were going to burn down a building it should be the South County Patrol Station, the report says.

"Witness accounts and documents supported that Sheriff Magrini altered Cpt. Krophollers employee photo with a Hitler mustache and commented that he wanted to post the photo on buildings to incite protestors into burning down the buildings," the report says.

Several witnesses said Magrini made the comment about burning down the station and the Hitler mustache as jokes, but they felt it was not appropriate under the circumstances. In an account provided by Jackson, Sheriff Magrini making a joke about Cpt. Krophollers photo was an example of Sheriff Magrinis immaturity.

During one meeting in 2020, the report said Jackson told the sheriff he should not engage in such jokes. Cpt. Jackson also reminded Sheriff Magrini that he was now the sheriff of the county and that he needed to start acting like it.

Did Magrini inappropriately interfere with the countys SHIELD Training Center lease?

The report concluded he did not.

Shasta College officials oversee the law enforcement and firefighting training center in Redding. The county wanted to lease space there for an emergency operations center during the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report says. Magrini, who served on the training center board, recused himself from the vote on leasing the space, the report says. He also said the County Counsels Office and the Purchasing Department reviewed and approved the lease, and witnesses corroborated his statement, the report says.

Did Magrini misuse grant funding to purchase an inmate transfer vehicle?

The purchases went through the proper approvals at the county, the report says.

Kropholler said the county spent $250,000 on a prisoner transport vehicle. Magrini said he used federal grants issued during the pandemic to buy the vehicle because at the time the county had to take inmates to state facilities as far away as Bakersfield. The vehicles had restrooms onboard so they didnt have to stop along the way. Those stops could create a safety issue. The purchases went through the proper approvals at the county, the report says.

Did Magrini misuse COVID funding to buy television sets?

Witnesses said the purchases were warranted and were approved by the proper departments. Others raised questions as to whether buying large-screen televisions was a proper use of funds to offset the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pontes told investigators he did not have a problem with buying televisions with Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act grants. The report says Undersheriff Jason Barnhart said he saw Magrini using the televisions for videoconferences with other department heads, which became more common during the pandemic.

Such a purchase was not abnormal. Mr. Pontes did not know of any department head who did not have a television in his or her office, the report says. However, Jackson said, the sheriffs office should have put more money into saving businesses than purchasing televisions, according to the report. Kropholler also said he did not think the purchases were an effective use of CARES funds, the report says.

The Ellis Report said former Shasta County Executive Officer Matt Pontes' shooting qualifying test results for a concealed carry permit may have been completed before he actually took the shooting test.

Did Magrini facilitate Pontes' concealed carry application?

Magrini did not facilitate Pontes obtaining a concealed carry weapons permit in 2020, the report says.

Obtaining a concealed weapon carry permit requires applicants to pass a background check, attend an eight-hour classroom course and pass a qualifying shooting test, the report says.

According to the investigation, Magrini arranged to have a former sheriffs captain provide the classroom instruction in Pontes office. The classroom courses usually took six-and-a-half hours and another hour of homework, the report says. The retired captain told investigators his session with Pontes took two-and-a-half to three hours, the report says.

Additionally, the instructor did not recall but (said) he possibly filled out the (shooting) qualification sheet in advance to expedite the process, the report says. The shooting qualification required an applicant to shoot 16 of 20 shots within the innermost nine rings of a paper target, the report says.

The evidence, however, reflected that Mr. Pontes qualification form was completed months prior to when he went to the range to shoot, the report says. An image of the shooting results, included in Pontes application, shows Pontes hit 20 of 20 shots within the required area of the target for the three guns he wanted permitted. While there may have been irregularities in the application, Magrini might not have known about them, the report says.

Moreover, even if Sheriff Magrini knew that (the instructor) completed the qualification form in advance  and this investigation did not find that to be the case  Sheriff Magrini plausibly had discretion to vary the forms process, the report says.

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Did Magrini inappropriately approve overtime pay for Barnhart?

The report says the evidence obtained during the investigation indicates Barnhart went through the proper channels to get his overtime approved at various times when he was a captain and a lieutenant.

Captains and lieutenants typically only receive overtime under special circumstances. While Barnhart worked on the department bomb squad he received $17,723 in overtime in the years 2016 to 2019, the report says.

Did Magrini inappropriately secure raises for sheriff's office employees?

Did Magrini stall raises for department employees until he became sheriff so he could take credit for the raises? The report said he did not.

The investigation showed Pontes and Director of Support Services Shelley Forbes managed the process of when raises were implemented and the raises were secured through contract negotiations with the Deputy Sheriffs Association. Magrini did not get a raise in 2020 and Barnhart did not have close involvement with the decision regarding his own raise, the report says.

In this file photo, members of the public attend a Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Did Magrini say he would not send 15 deputies to protect the Board of Supervisors because they didn't give him a raise?

The investigation concluded yes, Magrini made the statement because he was upset at the board for postponing his raise.

During the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, board meetings were often raucous and some speakers made threatening remarks toward the supervisors. The board requested extra deputies attend a January 2021 meeting to provide security, the report says.

Magrini denied saying he would not send additional deputies to a supervisors meeting, and he said the board did not request them. But the investigation found that witnesses backed up the claim that the sheriff said he would not send extra deputies because he was angry at the board for not giving him a raise.

Some witnesses interviewed also said sending 15 deputies to a supervisors meeting would have made matters worse. Sheriff's Capt. Jackson said he thought sending 15 deputies to a board meeting was absurd. However, Jackson said "he was present during a meeting when Sheriff Magrini stated that he would not send fifteen deputies to a Board meeting because he did not trust the supervisors after they voted to decline his raise," the report says.

Did Magrini create a toxic work environment at the sheriff's office?

Finally, the report concluded that Magrini did not create a toxic environment within the sheriffs office.

But there were conflicting accounts about the atmosphere in the department, the report says. In January and February 2021, both the Deputy Sheriffs Association and the Sheriffs Administrative Association issued votes of no confidence in Magrini. A letter from the DSA to Magrini said there was a growing divide in the department, employees did not feel supported and morale was low. An SAA letter to the Board of Supervisors said the working environment was extremely hostile and unproductive. Capt. Gene Randall said leadership meetings in January 2021 became contentious and left him feeling sick.

The Ellis Report put part of the blame on Kropholler, then president of the SAA, for complaining about issues in the department. As well, to the extent that staff felt that an uncomfortable work environment existed in the main office, it understandably arose, in part, due to the current tension between Sheriff Magrini and (Capt.) Kropholler. Still, these tensions were not enough to support that Sheriff Magrini created a toxic environment at work, the report says.

Magrini still works for the county, a county spokesman said in August. He would not say whether Magrini was out on leave. But Board of Supervisors Chairman Patrick Jones said Aug. 23 he has not seen Magrini at work for several months.

Magrini did not reply to voicemail messages left on his phone.

Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on Twitter at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Report reveals former Shasta County sheriff violated state law
The Russian Defense Ministry has changed its reporting system to limit the amount of information it releases about Russia's war in Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its Aug. 29 report.

The ministry also appears to be "attempting to censor complaints along the front line and reports of Ukrainian advances," the ISW said.

According to the ISW, the ministry previously published a daily report of its own that differed in some aspects from the updates sent separately by each group of Russian forces.

However, on Aug. 29, the press services of all groupings issued the ministry's daily report rather than their individual summaries.

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The change "may reflect [the ministry's] wider efforts to censor Russian reporting on the war and unify its own narrative," the ISW said.

It is not clear yet if the change will become standard policy going forward, but if it does, more limited reports on activities at the front lines will be released in the Russian information space.

On Aug. 28, the ISW reported that the ministry had angered ultranationalist factions in Russia by attemping to silence criticism of commanders at the southern front.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Military reports advance on southeastern front; Putin to visit China







Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
ROME (Reuters) - The partner of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been accused of victim blaming after comments he made about rape on his television talk show.

Andrea Giambruno, who hosts the "Diario del giorno" (Daily diary) programme on the Rete 4 commercial station, was commenting after a gang rape of a young woman in the Sicilian capital Palermo hit the headlines.

"If you go dancing, you have every right to get drunk - there shouldn't be any kind of misunderstanding and any kind of problem - but if you avoid getting drunk and losing your senses, you might also avoid running into certain problems and coming across a wolf," he said in his programme on Monday evening.

Opposition politicians condemned the comments.

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"I say to Giambruno that boys should be educated to show respect, rather than girls taught to be careful. Teach them (males) the value of consent, rather than girls to be wary," said Cecilia D'Elia, a senator with the opposition Partito Democratico.

Giambruno, whose television career has taken off since Meloni became the head of a right-wing government last October, said his comments had been taken out of context to create a "surreal" controversy.

"I didn't say that men are free to rape women who are drunk," he told Corriere della Sera in an interview on Wednesday.

"Some politicians are jumping on a false headline and calling for my suspension, but for what reason? For having told young people not to take drugs?" he added.

Meloni, who has a young daughter with Giambruno, has not commented on the situation.

It is not the first time that Giambruno's comments have caused controversy.

In July, he told German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach "to stay at home, stay in the Black Forest", after Lauterbach questioned the viability of tourism to southern Europe because of intense heat waves.

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Keith Weir; Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Gavin Jones and Mike Harrison)
Jamie Crick , a presenter who worked on Classic FM and Jazz FM, has died at the age of 57.

The family of the broadcaster said on Tuesday (29 August) that Crick died following a short illness.

A spokesperson for Bauer Media UK said: Jamie Crick was a broadcaster through and through and played an integral role on our radio stations.

He was also a great friend to his colleagues at Jazz FM, Scala Radio and the wider Bauer Media teams. He will be sorely missed by them all, along with his friends and listeners.

Our radio stations have a big gap to fill and will pay tribute accordingly in the near future, but while they all come to terms with Jamies unexpected passing, they will continue to broadcast the music that he loved in his honour every day.

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Our deepest condolences are with his family and loved ones at this time.

Crick presented his final Jazz FM show on Monday (28 August). On the programme, he played tracks ranging from Roy Ayerss Everybody Loves the Sunshine to The Dave Brubeck Quartets Take Five.

He signed off from his show with the words: I will see you in couple of weeks, Im just going to go and enjoy the rain.

The presenter joined Jazz FM in 2014 as a guest presenter before taking over the breakfast show and then moving to the afternoon slot in 2016.

He had spent around 20 years on Globals Classic FM from 1994 onwards, and was creative director of the UKs first LGBT+ station Gaydar Radio, which he helped launch.

The family of @jazzfm and @ScalaRadio broadcaster Jamie Crick have announced his death at the age of 57 following a short illness, our deepest condolences are with his family and loved ones at this time. A spokesperson for Jazz FM and Scala has shared the below: pic.twitter.com/K0fEv7scro  Bauer Media Group UK (@bauermedia) August 29, 2023

Fellow radio presenter Simon Bates wrote on X, formerly Twitter: So very sad to learn that Jamie Crick has died. When I first started at Classic FM, Jamie was a fund of support, kindness and good humour.

Hugely saddened to hear of the passing of Jamie Crick. Long before his national career, I heard Jamie on County Sound and thought thats the kind of presenter Id like to be.

Many years later, I was only too pleased to welcome him into the @BBCSussex @BBCSurrey family.  pic.twitter.com/9qnkVLviKq  Mark Carter (@MarkCarterMC) August 29, 2023

BBC South and BBC South East deputy managing editor Mark Carter, who saw Crick join the corporations local teams, wrote: Hugely saddened to hear of the passing of Jamie Crick. Long before his national career, I heard Jamie on County Sound and thought thats the kind of presenter Id like to be.

Many years later, I was only too pleased to welcome him into the @BBCSussex @BBCSurrey family.

Crick also co-founded Encore Radio, which celebrated the music of musicals, in 2018 and also presented a programme about the form of theatre on Bauers Scala Radio.

Nick Pitts, content director of Jazz FM, also paid tribute to the late broadcaster, writing: I am very lucky. I get to make friends with some amazing people who I also work with. @Jamie_Crick was one of those very special people who I had a lot of time for.

Someone who cared for others, loved being on the air and today, someone who has left our world.

Additional reporting by Press Association
Jesse Watters, the Fox News host who succeeded Tucker Carlson in the networks primetime evening slot, has again drawn criticism by praising Donald Trumps recent mug shot, suggesting the image is only likely to increase the disgraced former presidents appeal to Americas Black community.

Mr Watters invited ridicule last week when he reacted to the shot of Mr Trump  taken at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, as he was booked following his fourth criminal indictment in as many months  by declaring: I say this with an unblemished record of heterosexuality. He looks good and he looks hard.

He also argued in an opening monologue to his show: The mug shot turned Trump into a sympathetic character in Black America. Dont underestimate the power of a famous mug shot.

Mr Watters cited the case of celebrity homemaker Martha Stewart, who befriended the hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg after being arrested, to support his contention that the notoriety that comes with a criminal case can lead a white felon to be embraced by the Black community.

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He pursued the idea on Mondays show as part of another monologue insisting Mr Trump was being persecuted by his political enemies, as the Republican himself has regularly claimed.

This isnt a battle of ideas, the host said of the former presidents arrest. Theres no effort at persuasion. This is the removal of a political opponent through brute force, through handcuffs and ballot gimmickry.

But the Democrats Soviet-style tactics have alienated their most loyal voting bloc. The mug shot has breathed new life into the Trump campaign and broadened his appeal to Black Americans.

He continued: Over the weekend, with the help of mugshot merchandise, the Trump campaign raked in over $7m. Today, my garbage man told me hes buying mugshot T-shirts for everyone he knows this Christmas.

The mugshot is up on the side of buildings in the inner city. The 2016 phenomenon is happening all over again. Trump won that election because of a laser-like focus on the Forgotten Man. A bond was formed back then that can never be broken. And theres a new Forgotten Man, the Black man.

An extract of Mr Watters soliloquy was posted on X by the media monitor Acyn, who also pointed out the inner city mural invoked was actually captioned: M.A.G.A. My A** Got Arrested.

Watters: The mugshot has breathed new life into the Trump campaign and broadened his appeal to Black Americans Today my garbage man told me hes buying mugshot tee shirts for everyone for Christmas. pic.twitter.com/r5QQ0Cn5Cx  Acyn (@Acyn) August 29, 2023

The clip was widely shared, with many liberal commentators agreeing the presenters views were profoundly racist in assuming Americas Black citizens gloried in criminality.

The idea that black Americans have a knee jerk fondness for anyone who has ever been arrested is profoundly racist, wrote political commentator Ben Dreyfuss.

Insider journalist Bryan Metzger called the take so insanely racist that I cant believe people are saying it out loud while podcaster Jordan Uhl added: We knew they were going to try to spin this as a positive for Trump in 2024 but Im not sure anyone predicted them going with Black people love mugshots.

Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett said: Wow. Fox host Jesse Watters says Trump getting a mugshot has broadened his appeal to Black Americans. He then cites his garbage man as a source.

That observation was also made by ex-Republican National Committee spokesman Tim Miller, who remarked: How serendipitous that multiple prime time Fox talking heads have had encounters with anonymous working class black folks who love Trump.

The Independent has contacted Fox News for comment.

Mr Watters, who was recently described by MSNBC columnist Paul Waldman as an internet troll who happens to be on TV, is not the only conservative to have made this argument.

Fringe right-wing documentarian Dinesh DSouza, who was pardoned by Mr Trump while in office, posted last week: In the urban black community, a mug shot can be an iconic symbol, both of victimisation and of greatness. Its a defiant UP YOURS to the man. Think Tupac Shakur. Trump is now the ultimate gangsta in our culture.
Less than a week after the state announced a multi-million dollar loan for a bankrupt Central San Joaquin Valley hospital, a new player has emerged unexpectedly that wants to take over hospital management.

Modesto-based hospital management company American Advanced Management, Inc., announced their interest at a bankruptcy hearing Tuesday in taking over operations of Madera Community Hospital.

The company says it has experience saving bankrupt medical facilities. Earlier this month, the company announced a proposed lease to own partnership to take over Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital in Hollister, according to CalMatters. They also operate Coalinga Regional Medical Center in Fresno County. The hospital system says on its website that it was the first company in California to revive a rural hospital following bankruptcy and closure.

We want to make sure the public knows theres an alternative, Matthew Beehler, chief strategy officer for American Advanced Management, said in an interview with The Bee on Tuesday.This hospital is of interest to us because of our facilities that are nearby, and we believe that theres an opportunity here, said Hamid Rafatjoo, a partner with Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and counsel for American Advanced Management, Inc., during a Tuesday bankruptcy hearing.

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News of this new interested party comes just days after the state of California announced that Madera Community Hospital now has access to a $50 million state loan, plus a $2 million bridge loan to cover operational costs while it works out a potential deal, as part of the states Distressed Hospital Loan Program.

Madera Community Hospital is already in negotiations with another suitor, Adventist Health, a faith-based, nonprofit health system operating in California, Oregon and Hawaii. The proposed Adventist deal was made public late July and is contingent upon the $50 million loan from the state in year one, plus another $30 million in funding for year two.

Madera Community Hospital closed in December and filed for bankruptcy in March after a deal fell through to sell the hospital to Trinity Health, owners of Fresno-based St. Agnes hospital. The abrupt closure left 160,000 Madera County residents without access to an acute medical care facility in their county.

So far, Madera Community Hospital hasnt shown any interest in American Advanced Managements proposal, according to Rafatjoo. He criticized the hospitals leadership for not seriously considering their offer and filed a motion for discovery to investigate why the hospital hasnt reported its other options to the court.

We would like to  find out if this is a situation where people are just trying to preserve their jobs in the future, Rafatjoo said at a Tuesday bankruptcy hearing.Without providing any evidence, he said that under Adventist Healths proposal, management would be able to keep their jobs, but not with American Advanced Management. (The Adventist Health letter of intent doesnt specify details on hospital managements future employment.)

Madera Community Hospital Chief Executive Karen Paolinelli said in an email statement to The Bee that Rafatjoos contention is completely false.

While Paolinelli said she couldnt share information on potential suitors, she said the hospital Board of Trustees voted on Adventist Health as they felt Adventist Health would be able (to) serve the health care needs of our community in the future, Paolinelli said.

Riley Walter, an attorney representing Madera Community Hospital in the bankruptcy proceedings said that American Advanced Management was acting like a jilted lover who wants to get back together.

Madera hospital welcomes the opportunity to respond to AAMI (American Advanced Management Inc.) and to lay out its reasons why the Board chose Adventist, he said.

Madera Community Hospital still has the exclusive right until Oct. 6 to put forth a plan to file a reorganization plan to keep the business alive and to pay creditors over time.

Advanced American Management was able to address the court because they recently purchased a general, unsecured claim of $391 to Madera Community Hospital, court records show.

What American Advanced Management is proposing

According to American Advanced Management executives, theyve been engaged with Madera Community Hospital since December 2022.

Beehler said they want to turn Madera Community Hospital into a true community hospital that serves as a referral destination where they can transfer patients from their Coalinga-based facility, for example.

For us, we want Madera (Community Hospital) to be a hub, not a spoke, he said.

Theyre proposal includes a management services agreement to run the hospital, followed by a transition to change of ownership with an asset purchase agreement. Theyre also putting up to $30 million of their own funding in the deal in exchange for the real estate and license of the facility.

As part of this plan, creditors would be, if not paid in full, close to that, Beehler said.

American Advanced Management says in court filings that their proposal is materially more favorable to the Debtor (Madera Community Hospital), its estate, and its creditors than that proposed by Adventist Health.

Beehler said they also offered to cover the hospitals operational costs so that Madera County taxpayers dont have to foot the bill during negotiations. On Friday, Madera County Board of Supervisors voted to allocate $500,000 to support the hospitals operational costs during the month of September, in addition to the $500,000 they gave to the hospital in August.

Adventist, he said, is not contributing any of their own funds to help reopen the hospital.

Our belief is that (Adventist Healths current proposal) has a low likelihood of success in getting through bankruptcy court, especially given that there is an alternative proposal that brings significant repayment to the creditors, Beehler said.

It isnt immediately clear when or how creditors would be paid under the proposed deal with Adventist Health. A spokesperson for Adventist Health didnt answer specific questions from The Bee about a proposed repayment plan for creditors.

Creditors want to see other proposals

Madera Community Hospital creditors say they want to see more proposals for the hospital.

Andrew Sherman, legal counsel for the creditors committee said Tuesday that theyd welcome discussions from all potential interested acquirers.

As far as where a transaction ultimately goes, Sherman said, we welcome a competitive process.

American Advanced Management, Rafatjoo added, is not gonna go away.

Everybody is hanging their hat on this concept of oh, we already signed up with Adventist, he said, thats not binding on this estate.

Any deal that Madera Community Hospital moves forward with requires court approval.
You are here: China

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out search and rescue of the people missing in the recent flood disaster in southwest China's Sichuan Province in an instruction.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, also demanded comprehensive investigation and strengthened safety supervision to ensure the safety of the people's lives and property.

A brief bout of heavy rain on Aug. 21 triggered a natural disaster at a highway construction site along a river in Jinyang County in Sichuan's Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

In his instruction, Xi called for ensuring appropriate measures to console the families of the victims.

He has asked the State Council to dispatch a task force to conduct a thorough investigation into the disaster and take stern actions against those responsible in accordance with the law.

Lessons must be learned from the disaster and comprehensive checks must be carried out to address problems and risks and ensure that all parties involved earnestly perform their duties, Xi said.

Premier Li Qiang has also issued an instruction, urging prompt efforts to ascertain relevant facts and information, as well as an all-out search and rescue of the missing.

Li called for efforts to identify the cause of the disaster, draw lessons from it and punish those responsible.

Following the orders from Xi and Li, the Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched a work group to the site to oversee search and rescue operations.

Local authorities in Sichuan and Liangshan are also mobilizing rescue forces for relief work.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that chances of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden and his family are looking more and more likely.

I do think its looking more and more likely that we move to whats  called an impeachment inquiry phase of our Oversight investigations relative to the Bidens, and frankly the [Department of Justice], Jordan, also a House Oversight Committee member, said on Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla.

On Sunday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Fox Newss Sunday Morning Futures that an impeachment inquiry is a natural step forward after House Republican-led investigations into Biden and his family, which McCarthy and other GOP leaders claim reveal improper foreign dealings.

So, if you look at all the information we have been able to gather so far, it is a natural step forward that you would have to go to an impeachment inquiry, McCarthy said.

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House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) criticized Republicans for their recent consideration of an impeachment inquiry Tuesday morning on CNN, arguing they were merely following orders from former President Donald Trump.

They have nothing to show for their majority throughout the year, Jeffries said on CNN. And so, as a natural consequence of that, they just continue to take orders from Donald Trump, their puppet master in chief, who has directed them to persecute and to go after Joe Biden, which may take the form of an illegitimate impeachment inquiry.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is seeking information about White House meetings with a lawyer working with special counsel Jack Smiths office, fanning impartiality concerns regarding Smiths prosecution of former President Trump.

Jordan on Tuesday sent letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House chief of staff Jeff Zients seeking information about communications between Jay Bratt  the Department of Justices (DOJ) chief of counterintelligence and export control who is also on the case concerning Trumps retention of classified documents  and the White House, as well as all communications between the White House and the Justice Department relating to the special counsel investigation.

Jordan pointed to three instances that Bratt had meetings with White House officials: in September 2021, November 2021 and March 2023. He cited a New York Post story that relied on White House visitor logs.

Jordan raises issue with the 2021 meetings by noting that former President Trumps lawyers were negotiating with the National Archives about obtaining his presidential records.

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An unnamed source told the New York Post that those meetings were national security related, which a source with direct knowledge of the meetings confirmed to The Hill.

Jordan also highlights a March 2023 meeting with Bratt, White House office deputy chief of staff Caroline Saba and FBI agent Danielle Ray. A special counsel spokesman told the New York Post the meeting was for a case-related interview, and Jordan noted that it occurred nine weeks before special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump on charges relating to retention of the documents.

This new information raises serious concerns regarding the potential for a coordinated effort between the Department and the White House to investigate and prosecute President Bidens political opponents, Jordan said in his letters to Garland and Zients.

A source with direct knowledge of the meeting told The Hill that DOJ officials came to the White House to interview a witness who was a career employee at the White House and worked there during the Trump Administration, and that Saba was a junior assistant for the White House counsels office and facilitated the DOJs access to the building to conduct the interview. The source said that the interview was entirely about events during the Trump years.

Jordan then ran through an NBC News report about a lawyer for Trumps butler alleging that Bratt improperly pressured him in an attempt to get his client to cooperate in the probe  alleging that Bratt brought up the lawyers application for a judgeship in Washington, D.C.

President Biden has repeatedly said that the Justice Department should operate independently, but House Republicans have focused heavily on what they allege to be the weaponization of the federal government to target political opponents on a variety of issues.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has more than 5,000 potential emails from three aliases President Joe Biden used while serving in the Obama administration, according to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed Monday.

The New York Post first reported in 2021 that Biden used at least three pseudonyms"Robin Ware," "Robert L. Peters," and "JRB Ware"on emails that mixed family and government business. The aliases were reportedly discovered in emails found on Hunter Biden 's infamous laptop.

The Southeastern Legal Foundation, a legal nonprofit group, filed a FOIA request in June 2022 for all emails associated with the aliases. In its initial response to SLF's FOIA request, NARA said it had identified roughly 5,400 records potentially responsive to its request. However, NARA has yet to turn over those records. On Monday, the SLF filed a FOIA lawsuit to compel production.

"All too often, public officials abuse their power by using it for their personal or political benefit. When they do, many seek to hide it," SLF General Counsel Kimberly Hermann said in a press release. "The only way to preserve governmental integrity is for NARA to release Biden's nearly 5,400 emails to SLF and thus the public. The American public deserves to know what is in them."

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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (RKy.) also asked the National Archives earlier this month to turn over the records. The House Oversight Committee has been investigating Biden's business affairs and allegations of influence peddling. Biden has insisted that he maintained an "absolute wall" between family business and government affairs.

Whether or not those emails contain government business or evidence of impropriety that Republicans have been searching for, the use of multiple pseudonymous email addresses and aliases, at the very least, creates suspicion for FOIA requesters. How are watchdog groups and records requesters supposed to know the government is performing complete searches if the existence of alternate or private email addresses isn't revealed?

However, despite criticisms from transparency groups, the practice has been fairly widespread for at least the past few administrations. Obama-era EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used the alias "Richard Windsor" and her private email address in messages with lobbyists. Former Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch also used alias email addresses. Trump-Era EPA administrator Scott Pruitt had four government email addresses.

The Obama administration defended using alternate government email addresses as necessary for high-level political appointees since the flood of emails to their public inboxes made those accounts unreasonable to manage.

At a 2013 press conference, then-White House press secretary Jay Carney assured reporters that "this is a practice consistent with prior administrations of both parties, and, as the story itself made clear, any FOIA request or congressional inquiry includes a search in all of the email accounts used by any political appointee."

Carney also stressed that the officials still used government email addresses, not private ones. "It is obviously counseled very clearly that we do not use and should not use private email accounts for work," he continued.

NARA guidance is clear that private email should not be used for government business except in extraordinary circumstances. If it is, the messages should be promptly forwarded to an official account for archiving.

A couple of years later, the scintillating topic of email retention policies became the crux of a presidential election and a significant contributor to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 's defeat. Despite Democrats' attempts to wave away Clinton's private email server scandal with "but her emails," it was an intentional and serious mishandling of public records, for which Clinton refused to take responsibility until it became clear that it was a significant political liability.

The details of the server scandal have receded into the partisan fog of history, but it's helpful to remember that it wasn't just Clinton. State Department employee and Clinton aide Huma Abedin also had an account on the private server. And although Clinton aide Philippe Reines fiercely denied (to myself and roughly a dozen other reporters) using private email for work, he later turned over 20 boxes of emails from a private account in response to a FOIA lawsuit against the State Department.

Two of Biden's three known email aliases were private Gmail accounts. In one email published by The Daily Mail, Hunter Biden emailed one of those private accounts to push for then-deputy White House counsel John McGrail to get a job in the Treasury Department. Biden responded, "Re Johnny call me right away Dad."

As I said, it's unknown what NARA's tranche of emails contains or whether those private Gmail accounts were included. But if their haul involves government business, it will be a major political headache for Bidenof his own making.

The post Joe Biden's Email Aliases Are a Potentially Serious Transparency Problem appeared first on Reason.com.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed a hate speech watchdog group on Wednesday, ramping up the committees probe into the nonprofit organization.

Jordan issued the subpoena to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) for documents relating to its communication with the federal government. He also sent a letter to the group accusing them of refusing to comply voluntarily with the committees requests.

CCDH has previously responded to the committees requests by stating it appears to misunderstand the nature of the organizations work, which they said is nonpartisan and funded by private donors, not government contracts or donations.

However, Jordans latest letter continues to press the CCDH over its communication with the government. Jordan wrote that by declining to produce anything of substance in response to the Committees request, CCDH is hindering the Committees ability to fulfill its constitutional oversight obligations.

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The subpoena follows a request from Jordan to the CCDH earlier this month seeking documents and communications between the CCDH and the federal government, as well as with social media companies.

CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed called the latest inquiry a pointless, time-wasting attack on our work and an attempt to silence our efforts to study and hold social media companies accountable.

After we explained to the Committee that we engaged with both Republican and Democratic administrations, this request oddly shrunk to focus almost entirely on our communications with the current administration, Ahmed said in a statement.

We look forward to continuing to engage on a bipartisan basis with political parties in the US and elsewhere in productive conversations on preventing the spread of hate and disinformation that harms human life, but this request looks increasingly like a wild goose chase, he added.

In a letter sent to Jordan in response to the first request, a lawyer representing the CCDH responded that the committee may not have a clear understanding of CCDHs mission or work.

The letter stated that the CCDH given its designation as a 501(c)(3) charitable entity, the group is obligated to remain nonpolitical and nonpartisan. It also went on to say that the CCDH has worked with officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations, including the former Trump administration.

The CCDH regularly puts out reports that track the spread of misinformation on social media platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.

The pressure on the CCDH is part of House Republicans ongoing allegations of anti-conservative censorship online. Democrats have criticized the GOPs focus on the allegations, noting in hearings held about the accusations that it is within private companies First Amendment rights to moderate content as they choose.

In addition to the pressure from Jordan, the CCDH is also facing a lawsuit from X, which was purchased by billionaire Elon Musk in October.

The initial request from Jordan was sent just days after X filed its lawsuit. The complaint alleges the CCDH unlawfully scraped data from the platform and hurt the companys revenue after advertisers paused spending on the site.

The CCDH has pushed back on the allegations and pledged to defend itself against the complaint.

 Updated at 7:19 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Update: The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office has announced that Mr. Wilson has been located safe.

Update #2:



Mr. Wilson has been located safe! Thank you all for your assistance!!  Jax Sheriff's Office (@JSOPIO) August 30, 2023

Original: The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office has initiated a search for a missing endangered adult who has been reported missing in the vicinity of Highway 301, spanning from Bradford County to Nassau County.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

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The missing individual, identified as 81-year-old Mr. Robert Fulton Wilson Jr., was last seen earlier today around 11:00 a.m. at his residence located in the 10400 block of Civic Club Drive.

Mr. Wilson was reported to be operating a 2006 Silver Honda Ridgeline, bearing Florida license plate number: 406-1VP. This vehicle is distinguishable by its noticeable damage on the drivers side and the absence of a drivers side mirror.

The urgency of the search is compounded by Mr. Wilsons medical condition, as he has been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. Given the circumstances, authorities are urging the publics assistance in locating him to ensure his well-being and safety.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

The missing individuals details are as follows:

Name: Robert Fulton Wilson Jr.

Age: 81

Sex: Male

Height/Weight: 510'/150 lbs

Eyes/Hair: Brown/Gray

Clothing: Tan Cargo Pants and Dark Blue Work Shirt

The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office is urging anyone who possesses information that could aid in locating Mr. Wilson to immediately contact their office at 904-630-0500 or call 911. In light of his vulnerable condition, every bit of information can play a critical role in his safe return.

Local residents and community members are advised to remain vigilant and keep an eye out for any sign of Mr. Wilson or his vehicle along the Highway 301 corridor between Bradford and Nassau Counties.

Mr. Wilson was last seen at around 8:30 p.m. on Crystal Springs Rd. and Chaffee Rd. area.

Silver Alert - Please ReTweet



The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office is currently searching for a missing endangered adult who could be lost in the area of Highway 301 between Bradford County and Nassau County. Mr. Robert Fulton Wilson Jr. was reported missing by family earlier today pic.twitter.com/VC2PhAWDWe  Jax Sheriff's Office (@JSOPIO) August 30, 2023

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The Scottsboro Boys rape trials refers to a case in which two white women wrongfully accused nine Black youths of raping them on a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931.

The judge presiding over Donald Trump s federal criminal case in Washington is pushing forward with a March 2024 trial date, decrying the former presidents allusion to the historic Scottsboro Boys case.

Trump cited the 1931 Supreme Court ruling to support his claim that special counsel Jack Smith isnt giving him enough time to prepare a defense ahead of trial, according to CNN.

Earlier this month, Smith filed four counts against Trump, including conspiring to defraud the United States and obstructing an official proceeding, the latter of which he successfully brought against rioters who raided the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan (left), who is presiding over the federal criminal case of Donald Trump (right) in Washington, D.C., is pushing forward with a March 2024 trial date, decrying the former presidents counsels allusion to the Scottsboro Boys case. (Photos: AP)

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan expressed her distaste for the comparison to the Scottsboro Boys case, chastising the former presidents counsel for using the profoundly different case to attempt to delay going to trial next year.

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Quoting the case, the defense argues that scheduling a too speedy trial is not to proceed promptly in the calm spirit of regulated justice but to go forward with the haste of the mob, Chutkan said, referencing the 1932 Supreme Court opinion in Powell v. Alabama.

The Scottsboro Boys rape trials refers to a case in which two white women wrongfully accused nine Black youths of raping them on a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931.

En route to look for work in Memphis, Tennessee, the boys initially received a minor charge after a fight broke out on the train. Later, two women accused them of rape.

They went through several trials, and an all-white jury ultimately sentenced all except the youngest to death. After several appeals and retrials, each of the nine teens served a minimum of six years in jail.

In addition to Powell v. Alabama, those trials led to the 1935 Supreme Court case Norris v. Alabama, which cleared the path for racially diverse juries.

Five Scottsboro defendants had their rape charges dismissed by Alabama, while the sixth, Clarence Norris, was granted a pardon by Gov. George Wallace in 1976. The three Scottsboro Boys who had neither gotten a pardon nor had their convictions overturned received posthumous pardons from the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles in 2013.

Judge Chutkan made clear there is no connection between one of the most well-known racial injustice cases of the 20th century and Trumps attempts to maintain power in the wake of his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

This timeline does not move the case forward with the haste of the mob, she said. The trial will start three years, one month, and 27 days after the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

While Trumps lawyers didnt discuss the Supreme Court decision at Mondays hearing, they used it to introduce their Aug. 17 brief to Chutkan.

Trump attorney John Lauro informed Chutkan that while they would abide by her decision, they wouldnt be able to supply sufficient representation to a client charged with serious offenses as a result of the trial date.

He also provided a list of additional legal options for Trump to delay the trial.

Retired California Superior Court Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell told CNN that comparing the Scottsboro Boys case to Trumps was stunningly stupid and ridiculous.

If you want to alienate a judge in the case, this was exactly what to do, he added, the network reported. A female judge, a Black judge, and to talk about that case and compare it to Trumps case was absurd.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post Judge decries Trumps reference to Scottsboro Boys case during federal court proceedings appeared first on TheGrio.
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the induction of a transgender woman into the Wyoming chapter of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, court documents show.

The lawsuit was filed in March by six members of the sorority, who alleged the sororitys chapter at the University of Wyoming limits membership to women only but inducted a man as a member.

In the ruling filed Friday, Wyoming US District Court Judge Alan Johnson noted the sorority does not expansively define who is a woman in its bylaws and said the court would not provide a definition.

With its inquiry beginning and ending there, the court will not define a woman today, Johnson wrote.



The plaintiffs had claimed, officials disregarded the secret voting process required by Sorority rules and after extensive behind-the-scenes direction from national Sorority officials and alumnae advisers, according to the complaint.

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The lawsuit named Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, Mary Pat Rooney, the president of the fraternity council of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, Kappa Kappa Gamma Building Co, a Wyoming non-profit and a transgender student as defendants.

The lawsuit claimed that Kappa Kappa Gamma under its bylaws says that every new member must be a woman. Kappa Kappa Gammas bylaws state that it is a single-gender organization that is comprised of women and individuals who identify as women.

Johnson ruled that a federal court may not invade Kappa Kappa Gammas freedom of expressive association and could not impose the plaintiffs definition of a woman.

Kappa Kappa Gamma applauded the courts ruling in a statement to CNN.

Kappa Kappa Gamma applauds the courts ruling in Wyoming upholding a private organizations right to choose their members. We look forward to moving past this lawsuit so we can continue the important work being done every day on behalf of all of our members, the sorority said.

CNN has reached out to Rooney for comment on the judges ruling.

In a statement to CNN, attorney Cassie Craven who represents the plaintiffs said the fundamental issue at the center of the lawsuit remains undecided and her clients will continue their fight.

The Courts opinion reflects an idea that the Plaintiffs cannot agree with. Womens rights do mean something. Women have a biological reality that deserves to be protected and recognized and we will continue to fight for that right just as women suffragists for decades have been told that their bodies, opinions, and safety doesnt matter, Craven said.

Rachel Berkness, an attorney representing the transgender student, told CNN her client is proud that the court saw the allegations against her for what they are: as irrelevant, unsubstantiated, and unbefitting in federal court.

The court recognized that she is a transgender woman who has the same right to be a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma as any of her sisters, Berkness said in a statement to CNN. And although she regrets the pain and hurt this lawsuit has caused members of her sorority, she hopes this decision makes it a little harder to use of the legal system as clickbait to profit from bullying.

In the ruling, Johnson stated the lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs could still amend and attempt to refile their complaint.

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Peter Navarro , a former senior White House adviser to former President Donald Trump, failed to prove that Trump asserted executive privilege to block him from testifying to the House Jan. 6 select committee, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta keeps on track Navarros Sept. 5 contempt-of-Congress trial, where he will face jurors on two charges that he defied the committees subpoena for testimony and documents related to Navarros role in Trumps bid to subvert the 2020 election.

Navarro has long claimed that Trump asserted privilege to block him from appearing before the Jan. 6 select committee in early 2022 when the panel subpoenaed him. But Navarro has never produced direct evidence to back that claim and, more importantly, Trump and his attorneys have repeatedly declined to say whether Navarro was accurately reflecting their conversations.

Mehta cited Trumps refusal to corroborate Navarros claims as the most compelling reason that he found Trump did not, in fact, seek to block Navarros testimony to the select committee.

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"There was no formal invocation of executive privilege by [Trump] after personal consideration nor authorization to Mr. Navarro to invoke privilege on his behalf, Mehta said.

Navarros trial, which is likely to be brief, will head to jury selection on Tuesday. Mehtas ruling means the former Trump trade adviser will not be able to argue to the jury that he believed Trump asserted privilege and effectively blocked him from complying with aspects of the select committees subpoena.

In addition, Mehta noted that even if he had shown Trump asserted privilege, the select committee had indicated it planned to ask him questions about topics that did not touch on his communications with Trump and therefore wouldnt be covered by any privilege assertion.

Mehta, who has spent months wrestling with the complicated and largely unsettled law surrounding executive privilege, granted Navarro a final opportunity on Monday to prove that Trump explicitly told him not to comply with the select committees subpoena. But Mehta ruled Wednesday that Navarro had not met his burden to convince him that Trump had ever explicitly done so.
An alleged arsonist was denied bond by a federal judge who ruled he was "absolutely a danger to society" after he was accused of starting a fire at the 100-year-old El Paso Scottish Rite Temple in Downtown El Paso.

Noah Ochoa, 30, who is facing a federal arson charge, will remain jailed at the El Paso County Jail after he was denied bond Tuesday, Aug. 29, by U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne T. Berton. The detention hearing took place at the Albert Armendariz Sr. Federal Courthouse in Downtown El Paso.

"I respect and accept the judge's ruling, but my main concern remains on my client's mental health issues," attorney Sergio Saldivar, who is representing Ochoa, said after the hearing. "This case sheds a light on the mental health crisis we are facing in the criminal justice system. We need to focus on making sure defendants like my client who are accused of a crime are evaluated properly and given the mental health care they need."

Saldivar declined to comment further on Ochoa's mental health issues. While Ochoa's mental health was discussed during the hearing, no details were given of what mental health issues Ochoa faces.

Noah Ochoa seen here after he was arrested Oct. 25, 2021, on two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant.

Federal prosecutor Adam Hines declined to comment and directed all questions to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas. Officials from the office declined to comment.

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Ochoa allegedly broke into the El Paso Scottish Rite Temple about 12:25 a.m. on July 24, and started a fire in the building. He was arrested Aug. 22 on suspicion of arson charge by U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agents.

More: Las Cruces man, woman arrested in violent robbery of casino prize winner in West El Paso

Video surveillance footage taken from the temple allegedly shows Ochoa grabbing cans of gas from his car, breaking into the temple, pouring the gas inside it and then lighting it on fire. Ochoa suffered second degree burns after mistakenly lighting his shoes and pants on fire, a federal complaint affidavit states.

ATF agent LeChondra Chambers testified during the detention hearing that El Paso Scottish Rite Temple officials have yet to report the monetary value of the damages. Images posted on Facebook by El Paso Scottish Rite Temple officials show extensive damages to the inside of the building.

El Paso Scottish Rite Temple officials declined to comment on the case.

"We have been asked by the law enforcement agencies involved to refrain from making any comments or statements until the agencies have completed their investigations," El Paso Scottish Rite General Secretary Larry V. Kane said in an email.

Arguments over whether the case should even be tried in federal court and Ochoa's mental health issues were the main focus of Tuesday's hearing.

Federal prosecutors argued that since the El Paso Scottish Rite Temple rents the building to two different organizations that pay with banks from other states, Ochoa actions impacted interstate commerce. This would make it a federal crime.

A pair of sphinxes guard the entrance of the 100-year-old El Paso Scottish Rite Temple located at 301 W Missouri Ave. in Downtown El Paso.

Saldivar argued arson is a state crime, so the case should be handled in state court. He added federal prosecutors' arguments as to why it should be tried in federal court failed to meet the standard of proof of probable cause.

He added, the organizations who rent the building were not using the building at the time of the fire nor was any of their property damaged.

After hearing arguments, Judge Berton recessed the court and went to deliberate the issue.

She returned to the courtroom more than 30 minutes later with her decision. She ruled there was probable cause Ochoa alleged actions did impact interstate commerce.

A pair of sphinxes guard the entrance of the 100-year-old El Paso Scottish Rite Temple located at 301 W Missouri Ave. in Downtown El Paso.

In his closing arguments, Hines said Ochoa's criminal history showed he was a threat to the community.

Ochoa was out on bond in a state case when he allegedly started the fire at the temple.

He is facing two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant. Ochoa was arrested Oct. 25, 2021, in connection with that case. The case remains pending in state court.

"There are no conditions to ensure the safety of the community," Hines said.

Courts: Man accused of beating to death estranged wife's boyfriend at El Paso airport goes to trial

He added, "luckily no one was hurt" in the fire.

Ochoa's mental health issues are better treated with the help of his family, not in jail, Saldivar argued.

"He is charged in state court, but he has not been convicted of any crimes," Saldivar said in his closing arguments. "My client has mental issues which need to be evaluated. Who better to help address and watch him for his mental health issues than his family. His family wants to help him and will do all they can to get him help."

Judge Berton ruled Ochoa was "absolutely a danger to society" because of his "history of violence" and breaking the terms of his state bond by using drugs.

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

A pair of sphinxes guard the entrance of the 100-year-old El Paso Scottish Rite Temple located at 301 W Missouri Ave. in Downtown El Paso.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Judge denies bond for alleged El Paso Scottish Rite arsonist
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Rudy Giuliani is legally liable for defaming two Georgia election workers who became the subject of conspiracy theories related to the 2020 election that were amplified by Donald Trump in the final weeks of his presidency.

In an unsparing, 57-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell said Giuliani had flagrantly violated her orders to preserve and produce relevant evidence to the election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, resulting in a default judgment against him. She also ordered him to pay Freeman and Moss punitive damages for failing to fulfill his obligations.

The ruling means the case will now proceed to a trial purely to determine the amount of damages Giuliani will have to pay the two election workers.

Just as taking shortcuts to win an election carries risks  even potential criminal liability  bypassing the discovery process carries serious sanctions, Howell wrote.

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Giuliani spent weeks accusing Freeman and Moss of manipulating ballots during Georgias vote-counting process after the 2020 election, despite repeated investigations that debunked and discredited the allegations.

The harassment that Freeman and Moss endured as a result of these conspiracy theories is at the heart of some of the criminal charges now facing several of Trumps co-defendants in the Georgia racketeering case brought by Fulton County prosecutors.

Giuliani is charged in that case, in part, for making false statements to Georgia legislators related to his attacks on Freeman and Moss. Hes also facing charges for his role as Trumps attorney in the aftermath of the 2020 election, leading a campaign to sow doubt about the election results and amplify baseless claims of fraud to bolster Trumps courtroom efforts to overturn the results.

Howells ruling is tied to a lawsuit that Freeman and Moss filed in 2021 against Giuliani in federal court in Washington for defamation, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Howell has now ordered the damages question to head to a jury.

Its unclear how much money the pair will seek in the trial. They can pursue both direct compensation for the damage to their reputations and other harms they faced, as well as punitive damages  which in some cases can far exceed direct damages. The total might be influenced by what Giuliani does next.

Howells ruling comes several weeks after Giuliani appeared to concede that he made false claims about Moss and Freeman, part of a bid to avoid having to provide additional evidence. But Howell said the carefully crafted admissions, contained in a court filing from Giulianis lawyers, hold more holes than Swiss cheese.

Howell has given the former New York City mayor and former federal prosecutor until Sept. 20 to produce documents about his net worth, which she said he has dragged his feet on producing so far, as well as records from his companies related to the revenue produced by his Common Sense podcast.

Freeman and Moss originally sued both Giuliani and the owners of the conservative, pro-Trump One America News network, alleging that reports about claims the pair tampered with ballots were unfounded and libelous. One Americas owners settled with the two women last year for an unspecified amount, but the litigation has continued against Giuliani.

Giuliani has blamed several factors for his difficulties in searching his records for evidence relevant to the case. Those factors include the FBIs seizure of his devices in 2021 as part of a foreign-influence investigation (which did not lead to any charges against him) and serious personal financial difficulties he has faced since Trumps defeat in 2020.

The FBI took every electronic device in my apartment and my law office, Giuliani said at a May hearing in the suit. Indignantly insisting that he was not trying to deny the plaintiffs access to evidence related to their claims, he said: Ive been dealing with this for 50 years. I understand the obligation.  Theres nothing I want to hide. Id like them to see everything.  Not being perfect doesnt mean youre deleting things. I dont delete things.

Ted Goodman, a political advisor to Giuliani, echoed that point Wednesday, calling the ruling "a prime example of the weaponization of our justice system, where the process is the punishment."

"This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI," Goodman said.

After repeated requests by Giuliani, a Trump political action committee recently agreed to pay $320,000 to allow Giuliani to pay a vendor to perform searches for digital evidence related to the lawsuit.

Howells latest ruling comes amid a renewed and assertive effort by Giuliani and his allies to convince Trump to foot more of Giulianis mounting legal bills, which now include not only civil lawsuits, but the criminal indictment in Georgia.

Howell, an appointee of President Barack Obama, said in her ruling Wednesday that she considered it possible that Giuliani concluded that dodging his obligations related to the election workers lawsuit made sense strategically to avoid giving fodder to prosecutors or lawyers pursuing other cases.

Perhaps, he has made the calculation that his overall litigation risks are minimized by not complying with his discovery obligations in this case, Howell wrote. Whatever the reason, obligations are case specific and withholding required discovery in this case has consequences.

Howell also suggested that Giulianis complaints about the flurry of legal demands he is facing are theatrical and intended for political consumption.

Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention, she said. The fact that Giuliani is a sophisticated litigant with a self-professed 50 years of experience in litigation  including serving as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York  only underscores his lackluster preservation efforts.

Last month, Howell ordered the former mayor to pay nearly $90,000 of the election workers legal expenses due to what she found was noncompliance with her earlier discovery orders. In her ruling Wednesday, the judge ordered Giuliani and his businesses to pay an additional roughly $43,000 due to the failures. Those sums are separate from any damages a jury may impose.
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that former Trump White House official Peter Navarro failed to prove former President Trump invoked executive privilege that Navarro says prevented him from testifying before the House Jan. 6 committee. His trial will proceed as planned next week.

Navarro was charged with contempt of Congress after refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

During a pretrial hearing Monday, the former Trump official said it was clear  that privilege was invoked  very clear during a February 2022 phone call with Trump that occurred days after Navarro was subpoenaed by the House panel, according to multiple reports.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Wednesday that Navarro provided no specific evidence for the court to consider over his claim that privilege was invoked.

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Mehta said the act of invoking privilege requires affirmative conduct. The decision to invoke privilege must be made by the president, personal consideration must be involved and privilege cant be asserted by mere acquiescence, he said.

There was no formal invocation of executive privilege by [Trump] after personal consideration nor authorization to Mr. Navarro to invoke privilege on his behalf, Mehta said.

The former Trump economic adviser faces two counts stemming from his failure to appear for a deposition before the House committee that investigated the attack and for failing to produce documents requested by the committee. He has pleaded not guilty.

During the pretrial hearing Monday, Mehta said that Navarros defense arguments were pretty weak sauce, saying the court still did not know what Trump had said to Navarro to leave him with the impression executive privilege had been invoked, according to the reports.

Ex-White House adviser Steve Bannon was convicted earlier this year of two counts of contempt of Congress for evading the House Jan. 6 committee. He was sentenced to four months in prison but has not yet served that time after a judge said he could remain free pending appeal.

Jury selection in Navarros trial is set to begin Sept. 5.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A judge set bond Tuesday for the only defendant in the Georgia election interference case who was jailed after he surrendered to authorities last week.

Harrison Floyd, one of former President Donald Trump's 18 co-defendants charged in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, has negotiated a bond after a separate judge initially told him he was a potential flight risk.

According to court papers filed in Fulton County Superior Court, Judge Scott McAfee set Floyd's bond at $100,000  broken down as $40,000 on racketeering charge and $30,000 each on a charge of influencing witnesses and a charge of conspiring to commit solicitation of false statements and writings.

Floyd, the former leader of Black Voices for Trump, has been jailed since he surrendered Thursday afternoon. All of the other defendants, including Trump, were released on bond last week after they were booked.

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Fulton County jail records at 10:30 p.m. ET Tuesday showed that Floyd was still in custody. An attorney for Floyd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Harrison Floyd. (Fulton County Sheriff's Office)

At Floyd's initial court appearance Friday, Judge Emily Richardson denied his bond request and ordered that he remain at the Fulton County Jail over concerns that he was a potential flight risk, an assertion Floyd rejected.

Richardson also cited a pending case in which Floyd is accused of having assaulted a federal officer this year as one of the reasons she denied his bond request.

Prosecutors in the Georgia case have accused Floyd of involvement in a scheme to pressure election worker Ruby Freeman to make false statements. Trump and his allies had falsely accused Freeman of election fraud.

Trump and other co-defendants are scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 6; some have waived formal arraignments and already pleaded not guilty.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A judge set bond on Tuesday for Harrison Floyd, the only defendant in the Georgia election subversion case to be jailed upon surrendering to Fulton County authorities last Thursday.

Judge Scott McAfee set Floyds bond at $100,000 total, with $40,000 for his racketeering charge, $30,000 for a charge of influencing witnesses and another $30,000 for a charge of conspiring to commit solicitation of false statements and writings.

Unlike Donald Trump and the 17 other co-defendants who surrendered in the Georgia election interference case last week, Floyd did not have a prearranged bond and has been jailed since last Friday afternoon. At that time, Judge Emily Richardson denied his bond request, deeming him a potential flight risk and noting that he has a pending case for allegedly assaulting an FBI agent earlier this year.

Floyd, the former director of the group Black Voices for Trump, pushed back on her concerns.

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Theres no way that Im a flight risk, maam, he told Richardson.

I showed up before the president was here, he continued, in reference to Trump, who surrendered to authorities last Thursday.

Harrison Floyd's mug shot.

Harrison Floyd's mug shot.

Floyd said that when he appeared before the judge last week, he couldnt afford a lawyer, saying hed been quoted between $40,000 and $100,000 for the cost of retaining one. Hes now represented by Todd A. Harding, according to the bond agreement.

Floyds lawyers did not immediately reply to HuffPost to clarify whether Floyd has been released now that hes been granted bond.

The charges against Floyd revolve around accusations that he pressured former Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman into illegally changing the 2020 election results in Trumps favor. Floyd is accused of texting and calling Freeman and recruiting a former publicist for the hip-hop artist Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to come to her home.

According to Freeman, the publicist, Trevian Kutti, tried to get her to implicate herself in committing voter fraud and told her she was going to jail if she didnt cooperate with him.

Related...
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit, challenging the induction of a transgender woman at the University of Wyoming's Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Photo courtesy of University of Wyoming

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the induction of a transgender woman at the University of Wyoming's Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson ruled on behalf of Artemis Langford and the sorority, stating the court would not define a woman since Kappa Kappa Gamma had failed to "expansively" define the gender in its bylaws.

"The University of Wyoming chapter voted to admit -- and, more broadly, a sorority of hundreds of thousands approved -- Langford," Johnson wrote in his 41-page ruling Friday.

"With its inquiry beginning and ending there, the court will not define 'woman' today. The delegate of a private, voluntary organization interpreted 'woman,' otherwise undefined in the nonprofit's bylaws, expansively; this judge may not invade Kappa Kappa Gamma's freedom of expressive association and inject the circumscribed definition plaintiffs urge," the ruling said.

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The lawsuit, which was filed in March by six members of the sorority, claimed "Kappa Kappa Gamma limits membership to women only," but last fall "the sorority inducted a man, Terry Smith, as a member."

"Kappa Kappa Gamma was founded in 1870 as a single-sex organization for women, and it has consistently described itself as such," the lawsuit stated, adding that Langford's inclusion in the sorority made them feel uncomfortable and that they were "deprived of the all-female environment."

In June, chapter leaders filed a motion asking the district court to dismiss the lawsuit. Sorority council President Pat Rooney and the sorority's nonprofit organization cited court precedent -- in Kadel v. Falwell -- to reject the plaintiffs' claims that the term "woman" can only be interpreted to mean a person that is born biologically female.

"Kappa Kappa Gamma applauds the court's ruling in Wyoming upholding a private organization's right to choose their members," the sorority said in a statement. "We look forward to moving past this lawsuit so we can continue the important work being done every day on behalf of all of our members."
Just under half of North American office-goers come in for less than 6 hours a day, a new study says. Getty Images

43% of workers returning to the office came in for under 6 hours in the first half of 2023, said a workplace analytics firm.

In the same period, average office occupancy rates in North America peaked at 35% per week.

Firms have been seeing significant pushback to their return-to-office mandates.

About 43% of North American workers who ventured back to the office clocked in for fewer than six hours a day during the first half of 2023, according to a report by workplace occupancy analytics firm Basking published on August 3.

The remaining 57%, or 3 in 5 office-goers whose data was analyzed, went in for over six hours daily. This compares to almost 60% in the Asia-Pacific region and 58% in Europe during the first half of the year. A typical work day runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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That's a big drop from before the pandemic, when about 84% of office visits lasted for six hours or more, per the Washington Post.

Basking used WiFi usage to measure office occupancy and visits. It is not immediately clear how the firm derived the data.

Those clocking in for the shortest stints  representing about 1 in 5 North American office-goers  did so for less than 3 hours a day.

And that's only for the office workers that did come in.

Average office occupancy rates in North America peaked at 35% a week during the first half of the year, per Basking's data.

The start and end of the workweek were the least popular for office-goers, with North American offices seeing a 17% occupancy rate on Monday. The occupancy rate dropped to about 12% on Friday.

Employers have been increasingly demanding that workers return to the office, with RTO pushes from bosses at companies like Amazon, Apple, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan.

JP Morgan took to tracking ID card swipes to ensure hybrid workers come in at least three days a week. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs demanded workers be present in the office five days a week in August.

However, employees have been pushing back against their RTO mandates.

Even back in April, over two-thirds of the 700 executives at US financial services firms surveyed by Deloitte said they would quit if their workplaces mandated 5-day-a-week presence in the office.

Basking did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
In the early 1920s, it is estimated the Ku Klux Klan had more than 60,000 members in Kansas. In September 1924, the Klan held the Second Imperial Klonvocation in Kansas City. It attracted 5,000 delegates from across the country. They were told by grand dragon Hiram Evans that they were of superior blood.

When people think of the Klan, the Confederate states come to mind. In fact, the original incarnation of the Klan dates to 1866, when Confederate soldiers met in a small town in Tennessee to form a secret club. Their first leader was a former Confederate general, Nathan Bedford Forrest, who declared himself grand wizard.

Initially, the Klan attracted Confederate soldiers who were bitter about losing the Civil War and the freedom given to slaves. But the Klan grew into an equal opportunity hate group, with targets including Catholics, Jews, homosexuals and immigrants.

The Klan was also active throughout the heartland of America.

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In the early 1920s, the second version of the Klan numbered more than 6 million men who vowed to maintain white supremacy forever. Their wives and children were also enlisted.

It is difficult today to grasp the visibility of the Klan and its leaders. In Indiana, grand dragon David Stephenson rode to work in a chauffeur-driven Cadillac, lived in a spacious mansion and had a 98-foot yacht. He was photographed with the governor at the inauguration ball and heartily applauded for using the Klan to gain control of the state. Of Indianas 92 counties, 90 had Klan chapters.

The Klan claimed to control 15 U.S. senators and 30 congressmen. In many cities, the police, judges, ministers, mayors and newspapers supported Klan activities. Most received direct cash support from the group. These community leaders would meet in private to choose who would run in elections for every office available.

The most frightening aspect of the Klan was lynching. While the group wasnt behind all such attacks, racial terrorism was widespread. Between 1883 to as late as 1941, some 4,500 people were lynched, including 41 in Kansas. In Salina, Dana Adams was lynched on April 20, 1893. Despite a large crowd in attendance, no arrests were made. When Adams father approached the city council about some type of reparation for his son, the council said the sons life was worth two dollars.

As the lynching, beatings and sheer terrorism by the Klan continued, members insisted they were 100% American and devoted to law and order. They also acted, astonishingly, as a morality police. They were disgusted by immigrants making their own beer and appalled by women who bobbed their hair, wore inappropriate clothes and danced to jazz music.

The Klan broke up parties, searched for lovers in parked cars and invaded private homes looking for alcohol and card playing. They tried to ferret out adulterers. A white doctor was whipped, tarred and branded because he filed for divorce. In doing so, the Klan claimed their efforts were to preserve the sanctity of the home.

By 1921, the Klan was called to account for itself in congressional hearings. Imperial wizard William Simmons opened his testimony by saying: Allow me to introduce myself. I am a churchgoing man. He continued to say there was nothing wrong in promoting white supremacy. It was only white pride, and not anti-American.

In an act of defiant hubris, he said: Our masks and robes are not worn for the purpose of terrorizing people. I say, before God, they are as innocent as the breath of an angel.

In 1925, Kansas made history and became the first state in the nation to legally oust the Ku Klux Klan. Led by newspaper editor William Allen White, the state outlawed Klan activity. White said at the time: What was once a thriving and profitable hate factory and bigotorium now laughed into a busted community.

The Kansas State Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of Klan documents and photographs. A new book by Pulitzer Prize winning author Timothy Egan is an excellent, highly readable history of the Klan in the Midwest. Its titled A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klans Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them. Quotations taken from the book for this article are used with permission from the publisher.

Mike Durall is a freelance writer, the author of 10 books and a weekly columnist for the Salina 311 newspaper.
Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, poses for a photo at the Deseret News in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. Riebe is running to replace retiring Rep. Chris Stewart in Utahs second congressional district. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Editors note: This is the fourth in a series of profiles the Deseret News is publishing on the candidates running for the 2nd Congressional District.

Utah State Sen. Kathleen Riebe didnt have the luxury of focusing solely on a lesson plan the morning of her first day as an elementary school teacher in Magna, Utah.

She was on the phone with her mother who lived across the East River from smoke-filled Manhattan. It was 9/11. And Riebes brother and brother-in-law, like her father and grandfather before them, were New York City police officers.

Thankfully, Riebes patrolmen brothers, and firemen cousins, survived the tragedy. But the weight of public service, and the sacrifice it demands from family members, was something Riebe brought with her as she stood before that 4th grade class. Two decades of public service and two state policy-making positions later, Riebe is drawing on her blue-blood heritage to run an unlikely campaign to turn Utahs 2nd Congressional District from red to blue.

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As the Democratic nominee for Novembers special congressional election, Riebe is relying on her status as the only schoolteacher and current state lawmaker in the race to persuade voters that the right person to fill Republican Rep. Chris Stewarts seat is not a conservative, but rather a self-described moderate Democrat focused on issues that matter to working- and middle-class parents like herself.

I think people are ready for a change, Riebe said in an interview with the Deseret News.

Riebe sincerely believes this election could be a unique opportunity for a Democratic upset. For one, it is an open seat, and Riebe thinks the division between the Republican candidates hoping to fill it  Becky Edwards, Bruce Hough and Celeste Maloy  may harm the eventual GOP nominee in a general election.

However, the odds are, to say the least, not in her favor. The 2nd Congressional District is considered a safe Republican seat by the National Republican Congressional Committee. In 2022, Stewart was reelected by a 25-point margin. And in 2020, 2nd District voters chose former President Donald Trump over President Joe Biden 56 percent to 39 percent.

But as one of only six Democratic state senators in a body of 29 members, Riebe is used to making her influence felt in the face of a daunting majority.

Im really frustrated with all the wedge issues on both sides, Riebe said. Id like to stop with that noise and get down to work for whats really important to people.

Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, poses for a photo at the Deseret News in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. Riebe is running to replace retiring Rep. Chris Stewart in Utahs second congressional district. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Long itinerary from Long Island

Despite her best efforts to hide it, Riebes students never fail to ask about her faint but unmistakable New York twang.

Growing up on Long Island, Riebe was surrounded by stories of the city; of the days when her police officer grandpa had to chase down cars by bicycle and her firefighter uncle was kept so busy he would sometimes forget his car on the Staten Island ferry.

Such is the life of a civil servant, Riebe says. She remembers the missed birthdays, Christmases and vacations when her father was on duty.

You dont make a ton of money, Riebe said, but you are taught that it matters what happens in your community.

To supplement her husbands income, Riebes mother took a job at a private school, allowing Riebe and her twin sister to attend tuition-free, and leading to what Riebe sees as a pivotal life experience.

Riebe often recounts how observing her 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Hahn, as she made the classroom a place where struggling students could succeed, convinced her that education was her calling. Riebe later received a double major in elementary education and sociology from Hofstra University.

However, her plans were put to the side when her father passed away the same year she graduated from college. Riebe spent the next several months taking care of her mom and working at a school after hours.

The next decade saw Riebe explore her passion for pairing education with outdoor recreation  from catching baby hammerhead sharks at a Georgia summer camp to leading teenagers on guided tours of Europe  and her love of trying new things outside her comfort zone. Riebe worked as a truck driver, a bartender, a police dispatcher and the only woman on a wildland forest firefighter crew before permanently settling down in her favorite outdoor mecca, Utah,

As an avid skier and hiker, Alta, Utah, was the logical place to finally grow some roots, which she did, getting married and having two children, one of whom attends Brighton High School and the other who just started his first semester at the University of Utah, Riebe said.

Riebe and her family have lived in Cottonwood Heights for the last 21 years.

Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, talks to journalists at the Deseret News in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. Riebe is running to replace retiring Rep. Chris Stewart in Utahs second congressional district. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

From school teaching to community advocacy

While in Alta, Riebe got her first job having to do with her college degree, teaching at Pleasant Green Elementary in Magna as an educational technology specialist. In the years since, Riebe has taught every grade K-through-6 at multiple elementary schools, including Fox Hills in Taylorsville and Robert Frost in West Valley. She currently teaches at Howard R. Driggs in Holladay and Rosecrest in Millcreek.

If prompted, Riebe will dive into an enthusiastic explanation of how technology can be used to make classroom settings more flexible and feedback-oriented to meet the needs of those who are struggling to keep up. But it wasnt long after she launched her teaching career that Riebe realized her results in the classroom were linked to problems in her community and the policies formulated to address them.

I think when you are in a community where you see every layer of success and failure, you carry those faces with you, she said. And so when you think about a policy, you think about it from your own family, but then you also think about it with the families that you work with.

After years of increasing community involvement, Riebe became frustrated that teachers and marginalized members of the community werent getting a fair hearing at the state Capitol or state school board. What better way to craft policy, she thought, than to ask those who will be the most affected by it? And what better way to bring that approach to Utah, she decided, than to run for public office.

Riebe ran for and was elected to the Utah State Board of Education representing District 10 in 2016 where she emphasized the importance of supporting Utah Core.

Fellow board member, Carol Lear, says Riebes motivation for running included wanting to bring a practitioners viewpoint to conversations about education policy.

I think she feels like lawmakers at all levels are not understanding a teachers experience. Theyre not understanding what its like to be dealing with issues one after another, after another, every single day, Lear said.

Riebe found this issue so pressing she decided to launch a campaign for the state Senate to try to increase investment in public education.

This issue carried Riebe to a 15-point victory over the Republican incumbent, flipping the district to Democratic for the first time since at least 2012.

Riebe entered office in 2019, representing Utah Senate District 8, which became District 15 after redistricting, and now serves on 13 committees, including executive appropriations, education and higher education appropriations.

In January, Riebe was chosen as Utah Senate Minority Whip, the second ranking minority position, just under Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla.

(Riebe) knows how to work when youre in a super minority and be able to communicate and articulate and still be an advocate for the constituents that she represents, Escamilla told the Deseret News.

Escamilla said she is glad her colleague decided to run for Stewarts soon-to-be vacant congressional seat, having challenged Stewart unsuccessfully herself in 2014. Escamilla says her experience in the minority has prepared Riebe to be an influential member of Congress.

Washington D.C. needs more people that are effective leaders and be able to work across the aisle, which of course, any member of the minority caucuses here in the legislature are experts on, she said.

During her time in office, Riebe has opposed bills that restrict abortion and close abortion clinics, saying such moves infringe on womens rights. She has also opposed Republican efforts to amend the income tax earmark for public education and legislation expanding needs-based school vouchers.

But Riebe says being in the minority does not mean being a perpetual no vote. Of the hundreds of bills passed every year, she explained, the vast majority are the result of compromise between parties, containing Democratic input as long as minority members are determined enough to make their voices heard in the final product.

Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, poses for a photo at the Deseret News in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. Riebe is running to replace retiring Rep. Chris Stewart in Utahs second congressional district. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Riebes congressional lesson plan

Although she ran for Utah Senate to support the public education system, Riebe says Congress is not the best place to decide issues regarding education.

As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Riebe said she would try to keep education a local issue, and devote her efforts instead to cutting spending and cutting costs for everyday Americans.

The debt is something that I feel really strongly about, Riebe said, mentioning how the countrys deficits have spiraled just in the years since she was in college. Now were here again. Its really upsetting.

Riebe says Congress can start to address the problem by cutting fraud and waste in payments to government contractors and by eliminating as many pet projects as possible so appropriations bills focus only on those things that benefit the entire country.

When it comes to shrinking the large government welfare programs that are the main drivers of national debt, Riebe is supportive of reforming the programs instead of raising taxes.

I dont believe in spending foolishly or erratically. I think that they should be long term plans with goals that can keep people in secure jobs and security in our lives, she said.

Riebe added that if elected, she would join the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 18 Democrats focused on fiscal responsibility.

Coming to a very rational decision and having very moderate ideas, I think that is what serves us best, Riebe said.

On the issue of Ukraines war with Russia, Riebe says supporting Ukraine at the rate were at right now is good because if Ukraine were to lose there would be more chaos in the world economy as both Russia and China feel emboldened to attack their neighbors.

Despite living outside of the 2nd Congressional District, Riebe says her work in the district as a teacher and as a lawmaker, participating in rural caucus meetings every Friday and dealing with statewide issues, has given her a deep understanding of the districts main concerns.

Riebe says the top three issues she will prioritize are: rural healthcare, infrastructure and affordable housing.

Riebes campaign announced a Freedom First Agenda and a video for digital advertising on Tuesday, focusing on freedoms of access and affordability. Riebe says she supports pro-tenant, labor-friendly regulations and expanding Medicare and Medicaid.

For me, public service is the family business, the announcement reads. Its time we send someone to Washington who will fight for a Freedom First agenda and bring dignity and respect back to Utahs politics and Congressional delegation.

The general election, where Riebe will face off against the GOP nominee, as well as nominees from other registered parties, is scheduled for Nov. 21.
Ken Paxton s lawyers say he will not testify at his impeachment trial next month, removing uncertainty on whether the suspended Texas attorney general will open up about the bribery and misuse of power allegations that have him facing possible removal from office.

Texas House prosecutors, however, are fighting to get him to talk. In a recent case filing, they argue that it should be up to them, not Paxton, to decide if he should testify. If Paxton then refuses to answer questions on the stand, the 30 senator-jurors can take his silence as a sign that hes hiding something, the prosecutors say, thereby damaging his bid to prevail at trial and return to his job.

Paxton has been suspended without pay since the House on May 27 voted overwhelmingly to impeach him on 20 charges. Paxton has generally denied any wrongdoing.

The legal teams' fight centers on the Fifth Amendment, which protects a defendant like Paxton from being forced to testify against himself. In a criminal trial, the protection goes further, carrying an instruction that the jury cannot take a defendant's silence as an inference of guilt.

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As such, in a pretrial motion, Paxtons lawyers are seeking to block him from being compelled to testify by arguing this is a criminal proceeding.

Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms Lewis Bowden guards the door to the Texas Senate chamber, which was closed Tuesday for preparations for impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton. The trial is scheduled to begin in a week.

'Something really bad was going on,' former Ken Paxton aide says in support of impeachment

Given that an impeachment trial is legally considered to be a criminal proceeding, there can only be one conclusion: the Attorney General may, but cannot be forced to, testify, Paxtons lawyers wrote.

In an Aug. 15 response, House lawyers say that Paxton has it wrong: that this is closer to a civil trial. In a civil proceeding, a defendant can be compelled to testify, and only then can he invoke the Fifth Amendment. In that scenario, a jury may draw what is known as an adverse inference, meaning jurors can assume that if Paxton did answer, and did so truthfully, his response would be against his interests.

Paxton, prosecutors argue, wants to have it both ways by refusing to testify without using his Fifth Amendment privilege.

So he can avoid ... negative publicity and disdain  as Texas top law enforcement officer  from refusing to publicly answer questions before the Senate in an effort to cling to the office he abused, the lawyers wrote.

To support their case, House lawyers cite a trial in Jefferson County, where in 1962 the Texas Supreme Court ruled that a sheriff facing removal could be called as a witness.

Fake Uber name: Paxton used 'Dave P' for secret meetings with mistress, new filings allege

Karen Burgess, an Austin lawyer who practices civil law, said that in her experience a jury or judge "will hold them to the adverse inference and find the answer would have been what the questioner wanted."

Thus far, the argument that the proceeding is criminal has not won over Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the trial's presiding officer. In a recent interview with Fox 26 in Houston, Patrick, who will decide the motion on whether Paxton must take the witness stand, said that the proceeding is neither criminal nor civil but political.

Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxtons lawyers say he will not testify at his impeachment trial next month. Texas House prosecutors want to compel him to take the witness stand.

Given that position, its kind of like no holds barred then, said Bob Perkins, a retired Travis County criminal court judge. On ordering Paxton to testify, Perkins said, it would seem to be the House managers can do anything that they want.

The trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 5 and could last up to three weeks. Laid out over 16 impeachment articles, House lawyers accuse Paxton of misusing his office and engaging in bribery to provide legal assistance to a campaign donor, now-indicted Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.

Paul, a key witness, is unlikely to say much if called to testify. In June, he was arrested and charged in federal court with eight counts of mortgage fraud, so anything he says in Paxtons trial could be used against him in his own case. In July, Paul sat for a deposition in a separate civil matter involving a property dispute and, according to a transcript reviewed by the American-Statesman, refused to answer questions by invoking the Fifth Amendment.

Nate Paul, bribery & whistleblowers: Breaking down the investigation into Texas AG Ken Paxton

Paxton likewise has good reason not to testify. After the impeachment trial, he will appear in a Houston courtroom to resolve a now 8-year-old felony securities fraud case. A trial is set tentatively for February, and anything Paxton says in the impeachment trial could jeopardize his defense in his criminal trial.

Also looming over Paxton is an ongoing federal investigation into his relationship with Paul. The Statesman recently reported that prosecutors seated a grand jury in San Antonio to review evidence and witness testimony.

In June, the Senate approved rules for the impeachment trial, which, notably, do not address Paxtons testimony. What they do say is the presiding officer  Patrick  has the power to compel witnesses to testify and to punish an uncooperative witness with contempt. The rules prohibit lawyers from prolonged, repetitive, or unnecessary questioning. That seems to indicate that if Paxton takes the stand, then House lawyers cannot probe him at length if he invokes the Fifth Amendment and refuses to answer questions.

Ken Paxton impeachment trial: Austin lawyer Mindy Montford could be key witness. Here's why.

Rick Flores, an Austin defense lawyer, said it makes sense for House prosecutors to want to question Paxton, even if he's unlikely to answer.

"I'd think they'd want to call him to the witness stand and make him say the words that he's invoking the Fifth Amendment," Flores said. "The optics of him saying that would be bad for him."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Paxton refuses to testify at impeachment trial; House could compel him
A new school year brings excitement, new routines and the chance for success. But for too many parents across Kentucky, theyre sending their children back to a school they know just isnt meeting their needs.

The results are pretty staggering. More than half of Kentucky students cant read at grade level. Even fewer are proficient in math. Only 29% of elementary school students are where they should be in science.

Clearly, something in our education system isnt working.

Its time for Kentucky to enact a meaningful school choice program that lets parents design the right learning environment for their children. At the most basic level, school choice is about recognizing that the goal of education is the success of students, not the funding of a school.

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Kentucky must begin funding students, not systems. Every child learns differently.

We wouldnt be the first to do it either. In fact, our lack of innovative educational options puts Kentucky outside the mainstream. Every one of our neighboring states had a working school choice program during the last academic year.

Indiana actually has three educational choice programs, and 52,000 students have participated. Families received scholarships for everything from tuition assistance for non-public schools to services like special needs therapies, individual classes, testing fees and transportation.

More than 60,000 Ohio students used school choice last year. Then, pro-student leaders in the legislature expanded the states program so that every single student was eligible for a scholarship up to $8,400.

The West Virginia Hope Scholarship is open to 93% of students in that state and covers everything from private school tuition, tutoring, AP exam fees, afterschool or summer education programs and more.

Seven states around the country have a universal school choice program, meaning every student  regardless of family income  is empowered to find a learning environment that fits their needs. We have the opportunity to learn from the best practices of states around the country that have tried various school choice programs. That means, when school choice comes to Kentucky, well have a program ready to foster student success.

Kentuckys kids arent just falling behind. They are behind. And the effects will be felt across our economy and society for generations to come.

Earlier this year, the Kentucky General Assembly considered an amendment to our Commonwealths constitution that would explicitly allow for school choice. The legislation passed a key committee, and leaders in Frankfort have already signaled that this bill will be a top priority during the next legislative session.

We are so grateful to the pro-student leaders, parents, and advocates in Kentucky who are ready to make school choice a reality in our state. It cant come soon enough. Kentucky students need our help, and they need it now.

To learn more about the school choice movement in Kentucky and how we can help every child thrive in the classroom, visit EdChoiceKY.com.

Moe Lundrigan is the president of EdChoice Kentucky. He previously served as the Christian Academy School System executive director.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.) said Tuesday that former President Trumps trials should not compromise his ability to have a robust campaign schedule if he secures the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

I do think we need to make sure that in the timing, if Trump does emerge as the Republican nominee, that it does not compromise the ability to have a robust campaign schedule, Khanna said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. I imagine that the courts will take that into consideration if he is the nominee.

The Hill Elections 2024 coverage

Khannas comments come after U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan set Trumps Washington, D.C., trial for March 4, one day before Super Tuesday, when voters in more than a dozen states will head to the polls for the Republican presidential primary. The date is shortly after special counsel Jack Smiths original request for a Jan. 2 trial date, but far earlier than the Trump teams suggested date in April 2026.

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While arguing appeals may move Trumps D.C. trial date, Khanna said his instinct is that the judges would not hold his trials at a time that could compromise his campaign performance.

My instinct on all of this is theyre not going to have trials in the middle of something thats going to compromise a candidates ability  who has real traction  to have a fair fight, Khanna said.

Khanna, a leading House progressive, has paid close attention to the 2024 campaign calendar in recent months as hes traveled around the country to key battleground states. Hes officially endorsed President Biden and speaks to voters on behalf of the Democratic agenda, but he has also occasionally differed from some within his party on the order of primaries and caucuses in early voting states.

The D.C. trial is one of Trumps three trials currently scheduled during the primary process in 2024. His fourth case in Georgia has yet to be scheduled but could also fall during campaign season.

Trumps trial over an alleged hush money scheme before the 2016 election is slated to begin March 25 in Manhattan, two days after the Louisiana primary and one week before the April 2 primaries in Delaware, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

The trial over Trumps alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left office is scheduled in Florida for May 20, one day before Kentucky and Oregon hold their primary elections.

The former president has argued his mounting legal troubles are likely to take him away from the campaign trail at times.

While maintaining the judges should consider Trumps dual trial and campaign timelines, Khanna noted some of the allegations against Trump are very serious.

You cant just say, OK because someone was president or someone is a candidate that youre above the law, everyone is under the law and that these  allegations, with the evidence, need to be pursued, Khanna said.

Hanna Trudo contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
After nearly 50 years, investigators closed the infamous Lady of the Dunes murder case on Monday, determining that the victims husband was her killer.

Ruth Marie Terry, 37, was found dead on July 26, 1974, by a family in the dunes of Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts. At the time, authorities could not even identify her body but investigated the case as a homicide.

Now, investigators say Terry was killed by her husband, Guy Muldavin.

Based on the investigation into the death of Ms. Terry, it has been determined that Mr. Muldavin was responsible for Ms. Terrys death in 1974. Mr. Muldavin passed away in 2002, the Cape and Islands District Attorneys Office announced in a news release on Monday that was sent to HuffPost.

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According to Provincetowns government website, Terrys deceased body was found nude on a beach towel, with her head resting on folded jeans. The left side of her skull had been crushed and her hands severed from her body, but no weapons were found on the scene. Her death, which likely occurred up to three weeks before she was found, was determined to have been caused by a blow to the head.

The case gained widespread attention over the years, with several theories arising about what had happened. For five decades, investigators worked to identify Terry using blood and DNA samples, clay model facial reconstruction and age-regression drawings. She eventually became Massachusetts oldest unidentified homicide victim.

Finally, the FBI identified Terry last October through investigative genealogy, which combines DNA analysis with traditional historical research. A special agent from Bostons FBI described the development as a major break that would lead investigators closer to identifying her killer.

The investigation also revealed that Terry and Muldavin had been traveling together in 1974 shortly after their marriage. Investigators found that Muldavin had returned from the trip that summer in Terrys vehicle and had told people that his wife had died.

Muldavin was also a suspect in the disappearance of his previous wife and his stepdaughter in the 1960s, according to NBC News.

The Provincetown Police Department and Cape and Islands District Attorneys Office did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment.

Related...
The Kremlin worked with Russian security services to keep mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhins funeral secret, according to a new report.

The Wagner boss was laid to rest in a St. Petersburg cemetery Tuesday after what was, by all accounts, an understated and lackluster ceremony with just 20 to 30 people present and no military honors.

Two unnamed Russian officials who spoke to The Moscow Times said the muted nature of the funeral was deliberate: The aim was to ensure that when the coffin with Prigozhins body was lowered into the grave, there were no mass gatherings of citizens, mercenaries and sympathizers around, as well as no broadcasts and photos on social media from the entrance to the cemetery, one of the officials was quoted as saying.

The Federal Security Service reportedly worked with top Kremlin officials to ensure the funeral would be kept under wraps.

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Prigozhin, with his demand for justice, sharp and often truthful statements, caused emotion among Russians and as a formal Hero of Russia, and as a peoples hero. Do we need heroes who marched on Moscow? No, the official was quoted as saying.

Prigozhins Death Must Alert the West to Putins True Nature

The other official suggested the modest funeral ceremony could also be the Kremlins way of knocking Prigozhin down a peg after he publicly humiliated Vladimir Putin with his violent mutiny against military leadership in late June.

I think the countrys leadership could not forgive him, he said.

The Kremlin has feigned cluelessness over the Aug. 23 plane crash that killed Prigozhin, Wagner co-founder Dmitry Utkin, and several other top members of the mercenary group. Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, acknowledged Wednesday that the crashwhich happened exactly two months after Prigozhins armed uprisingmay not have been an accident.

A day after Prigozhins burial, his gravesite is reportedly being guarded around the clock by members of the National Guard.

They ordered the burial a day in advance, we were told that everything was secret. The coffin was not opened, a staffer at the cemetery was quoted as telling local outlet Bumaga.

Afterwards, the staffer, Igor Nazarov, said security services had descended on the cemetery and were restricting who could enter.

But people arent really coming. What, are you expecting lines like at the Russian Museum? The Wagnerites would then have to gather everyone in Belarus and rent a train, he said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Wednesday that investigators were considering the possibility that the plane carrying mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was downed on purpose, the first explicit acknowledgement that he may have been assassinated.

"It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including the version - you know what we are talking about  let's say, a deliberate atrocity," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the investigation.

Asked if the International Civil Aviation Organization would investigate the crash, Peskov said that the circumstances made it different, though he cautioned that investigators had made no formal conclusions yet about what exactly took place.

"Let's wait for the results of our Russian investigation," Peskov said.

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The private Embraer jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow killing all 10 people on board on Aug. 23, including two other top Wagner figures, Prigozhin's four bodyguards and a crew of three.

The cause is still unclear, but villagers near the scene told Reuters they heard a bang and then saw the jet plummet to the ground.

The plane crashed exactly two months since Prigozhin took control of the southern city of Rostov in late June, the opening salvo of a mutiny which shook the foundations of President Vladimir Putin 's Russia.

Russia has informed Brazil's aircraft investigation authority that it will not probe the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet under international rules "at the moment", the Brazilian agency told Reuters.

Asked about that report, Peskov said: "First of all, the investigation is under way, the Investigative Committee is engaged in this."

"In this case there can be no talk of any international aspect," Peskov said.

In an unusual move, the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), which oversees aviation accident investigations in a grouping of former Soviet republics including Russia, said it was not investigating the crash, adding that it would not be commenting on the "circumstances of the incident".

The day after the crash, Putin sent his condolences to the families of those killed and said he had known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the chaotic years of the early 1990s.

"He was a man with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life," Putin said, while describing him as a talented businessman.

The Kremlin has rejected as an "absolute lie" the suggestion by some Western politicians and commentators - for which they have not provided evidence - that Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed in revenge.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he was not surprised by the death and that not much happened in Russia that Putin was not behind.

After Prigozhin's death, Putin ordered Wagner fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state - a step that Prigozhin had opposed due to his anger at the defence ministry that he said risked losing the Ukraine war.

Followers of Prigozhin laid flowers, messages and poetry at his grave on Wednesday, hailing him as a fearless warrior.

In life, Prigozhin liked to brag that he was one of the world's most feared mercenaries with the best fighting force.

Opponents such as the United State cast Prigozhin as a brutal commander who plundered African states and meted out sledehammer deaths to those who crossed him.

Though he won the bloodiest battle yet of the Ukraine war for Putin by capturing Bakhmut, Prigozhin became enraged with what he said were the treacherous failings of Putin's military - and warned that Russia could lose the entire Ukraine war.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Philippa Fletcher)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met French President Emmanuel Macron on Aug. 30 during Kuleba's official trip to France.

According to the minister, their conversation concerned "further military support, expanding the Peace Formula coalition and (Ukraine's) grain exports to countries in Africa and beyond."

Yesterday on Aug. 29, Kuleba met his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, who reaffirmed France's backing for Kyiv amid the ongoing Russian invasion: "This support will continue and intensify as long as needed to defeat the Russian aggression."

The trip comes as part of Kuleba's tour to three European countries this week: France, Czechia, and Spain. The minister was earlier hosted by Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky in Prague on Aug. 28 and is scheduled to arrive in Toledo, Spain on Aug. 31 to attend an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.

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The negotiations held on the trip, according to the foreign ministry, are to focus on weapons supplies, namely air defenses, Kyiv's path toward the EU, the upcoming Global Peace Summit, and the promotion of Ukraine's peace formula.

Read also: Carl Bildt: The return of EU enlargement

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The Maverik gas station chain announced Tuesday that it completed its acquisition of Midwestern chain Kum & Go and will rebrand its Utah and Intermountain West locations as Maveriks. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News

The Maverik gas station chain announced Tuesday that it completed its acquisition of Midwestern chain Kum & Go and will rebrand its Utah and Intermountain West locations as Maveriks.

Terms of the finalized deal were not disclosed, but the Salt Lake City-based convenience store company and its primary owner, FJ Management, also acquired Solar Transport, a tank truck carrier and logistic provider brand, in addition to Kum & Go, as a part of its agreement with the Krause Group. The agreement was first announced in April.

The acquisition effectively doubles Maverik's portfolio to more than 14,000 employees and 800 locations in 20 states, making it the 12th-largest convenience store chain in the country. Maverik CEO Chuck Maggelet will oversee the new "combined organization" moving forward, according to the companies.

"We are excited to welcome Kum & Go and Solar Transport team members to Maverik. Together, we'll offer our customers an adventurous and differentiated convenience store experience across fuel, food service and inside-store offerings," Maggelet said in a statement. "We look forward to using our combined resources to grow our business and further elevate our product offerings to provide the best service to our customers."

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Plans are already underway on what that means for Kum & Go, an Iowa-based company founded in 1959. It opened its first Utah location last year after revealing plans to open more than 30 stories in the Beehive State the year before.

All Utah locations that have opened over the past few months will be rebranded to Maverik stores in the coming months  along with other Kum & Go locations across the Intermountain West. In an interview with the National Association of Convenience Stores, Maggelet said about 120 to 140 stores across Utah, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming will be rebranded to Maverik stores beginning at the start of 2024.

Maverik is still mulling what to do with all the other locations, which represent about two-thirds of the Midwest brand's footprint.

"Right now, we think we can bring a lot of what's really good about Maverik into the Kum & Go world without necessarily rebranding and will continue to evaluate future changes," Maggelet added.

Kum & Go was established by William Krause and Tony Gentle in Hampton, Iowa, at the end of the 1950s. It remained in the family for decades with Tanner Krause, the founders' great-grandson, serving as the company's CEO. However, it was announced Tuesday that he will "transition out of the company" as Maverik takes over.

"I'm confident Kum & Go and Solar Transport are set up for future success with Maverik," said Kyle Krause, founder and CEO of the Krause Group, in a statement. "As we start the next chapter at Krause Group, we will nurture our family of brands and create more opportunities to do good in the world."
(Bloomberg) -- Drone attacks targeted multiple regions of Russia in a widespread retaliatory strike for the Kremlins invasion of Ukraine, as the authorities in Kyiv battled the heaviest air assault the city has faced since the spring.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Four Ilyushin Il-76 military transport planes were damaged at an airport in Russias northwestern Pskov region, state-run Tass news agency reported Wednesday, citing an unidentified emergency services official. Russian air defenses claimed they shot down drones in five other regions including near Moscow, as well as in Sevastopol in occupied Crimea.

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At least two people were killed and three wounded amid housing damage and falling debris in Ukraines capital region following Russian missile and drone attacks, local authorities said. Air defense forces said they shot down 28 Russian cruise missiles and 15 drones overnight in Kyiv and four other regions including Odesa and Mykolaiv in Ukraines south.

The strikes came as the Ukrainian military cites progress in a grinding three-month counteroffensive to reclaim occupied territory and steps up attacks far behind the front lines, including widening use of strikes inside Russia and deploying sea drones against Russian ships in the Black Sea. Last week it also staged a special-forces raid in Crimea.

The attack on Pskov, which borders NATO member states Estonia and Latvia, was particularly noteworthy as its located some 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Ukraine. Its home to an elite Russian paratroop unit that was deployed to Ukraines Bucha, where atrocities were recorded during the occupation. Regional Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said on social media that all commercial flights from the airport were halted Wednesday.

Russias Defense Ministry made no reference to the strike in Pskov even as it listed the downing of drones in other parts of the country.

The war is increasingly moving to Russias territory and it cannot be stopped, Mykhailo Podalyak, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wrote on social media. Russia lacks effective air defenses, while Ukraine acts from defensive principles and strictly adheres to an agreement not to use weapons provided by its international partners in strikes against Russian territory, he said.

While Ukraine mostly doesnt comment on the strikes, the scale and range of air attacks against Russia has steadily intensified since two drones were destroyed over the Kremlin in May. Russia last week said it downed 42 drones and a missile fired by Ukraine, the largest single attack by unmanned vehicles since the war began.

That came at the end of a week of almost daily retaliatory strikes against Russia, including attacks aimed at Moscow that have damaged buildings despite President Vladimir Putins demand to strengthen air defenses following a large-scale assault involving eight drones in May.

Moscow shut four international airports briefly again overnight in the latest attacks as a combat drone was downed near the capital. In central Russia, drones also were shot down in the Ryazan, Kaluga, Oryol and Bryansk regions.

Russias Defense Ministry said it destroyed four Ukrainian special forces speedboats in the Black Sea. Ukraines special forces called the claim fake in a Telegram post.

The intensified fighting pushed wheat prices up from the lowest level since early June.

Attention shifted this week to the frontline in southern Ukraine, where authorities in Kyiv said troops had pierced the first line of Russian fortifications and are fighting to widen the breach. The counteroffensive has been bogged down by Russian forces dug in along a vast front line stretching from the Donbas region in Ukraines east through the south to the mouth of the Dnipro river.

The slow-moving push has worried Ukraines allies, who say a long fight risks giving Putin the upper hand in a war of attrition.

--With assistance from Paul Abelsky.

(Updates with detail throughout)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
The heads of district administrations and educational institutions of the Ukraines capital are to ensure Kyivians will have uninterrupted access to civil defense shelters during air raid alerts, Kyiv City Administration has reported.

The city administration said 83% of kindergartens, 91% of schools, 95% of vocational and technical education institutions, and 75% of professional higher and higher education establishments in Kyiv had shelters as of the end of August 2023.

Overall, 68% of educational institutions in Ukraine have various types of shelters, with total capacity of 4.7 million students and teachers.

Read also:

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
Kyle Rittenhouse , who as a teenager shot and killed two people at an anti-racism protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is being sued by the estate of one of the men who died, according to court documents.

Since the killings Rittenhouse has become a high-profile figure on the US right, feted at events by rightwingers, appearing on conservative media and lauded by gun rights activists.

But in a lawsuit filed in Wisconsin this week, lawyers representing the estate of Joseph Rosenbaum, who Rittenhouse shot with an assault rifle in August 2020, said Rittenhouse and a series of other defendants had intentionally and unjustifiably caused the death of Joseph Rosenbaum.

Rosenbaums estate is also suing several law enforcement departments, including the Kenosha police department and Kenosha county sheriffs department, along with the City of Kenosha. The lawsuit was submitted on Friday, and the estate is seeking unnamed damages.

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In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Rittenhouse, who was cleared of homicide and attempted homicide, responded: Im being sued again for defending my life.

Rittenhouse was 17 years old when he traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, from his home in Illinois, armed with an assault-style rifle, in August 2020. Black Lives Matter protests had been taking place in the city after Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer, leaving Blake partially paralyzed.

On arriving in Kenosha, Rittenhouse joined other armed men acting as a self-described militia and roamed the city, before killing Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, 27.

In the Rosenbaum lawsuit, lawyers allege that police, who were seen to be handing out water to groups of armed men  despite them breaching a curfew  did not adequately respond. Newsweek first reported on the filing of the lawsuit.

The law enforcement defendants deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit, the lawsuit claims.

As a result, defendant Rittenhouse fired his assault rifle indiscriminately multiple times at citizens on the street. He shot and killed two men, seriously injured a third, and narrowly missed a fourth.

Law enforcement, Rosenbaums lawsuit claims, did nothing to stop Rittenhouses conduct.

They did not disarm him. They did not limit his movement in any way. They did not question him. They did not stop him from shooting individuals after he started. They did not arrest him, detain him, or question him even after he had killed two people.

Rittenhouse returned to Illinois after the killings, and was arrested at home in Antioch the next day. He was found not guilty on charges related to the shootings in November 2021, but is facing two other lawsuits, from the family of Huber and from Grosskreutz, who Rittenhouse shot in the arm.

Rittenhouse, Kenosha police department, the City of Kenosha and other parties named in the lawsuit did not respond to requests for comment.

Defendants intentionally and unjustifiably caused the death of Joseph Rosenbaum, the lawsuit alleges.

As a consequence, the estate have suffered and continue to suffer, significant emotion of distress and harm, including but not limited to the loss of society and companionship with Rosenbaum.
The arrival of a bus carrying migrants from Texas at L.A.'s Union Station on July 14 prompted the City Council to investigate taking legal action against Texas and its governor, Greg Abbott . (Raul Roa/Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to look into whether the city can sue the state of Texas and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for sending a busload of migrants to Los Angeles on June 14, and to investigate whether Abbott's actions violated any criminal laws.

"These motions are about investigating whether Gov. Greg Abbott committed kidnapping, human trafficking or any other crimes when he sent vulnerable families on a 23-hour bus ride with little or no food or water," Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez said shortly before the 13-0 vote.

The June 14 bus was the first sent to Los Angeles by Texas. Ten more buses have arrived in the 2 months since, with the most recent bus arriving at Union Station during the council's Wednesday meeting.

The proposal directs City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto's office to investigate and begin proceedings on potential civil legal action that could be taken against Texas, Abbott, or "any other entity relating to planning and actions of June 14, 2023." It also asks Feldstein Soto's office to investigate and report on whether "human trafficking, kidnapping or any other crime was committed" on or before the day the day the first bus was sent.

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"The L.A. City Council members are complete hypocrites. In June, they unanimously voted to become a sanctuary city, welcoming migrants to the city, Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said Wednesday afternoon, making an apparent reference to the councils June 9 vote to toughen policies around the use of city resources for federal immigration enforcement. (That so-called sanctuary city ordinance would essentially codify existing policies, but it still has to be drafted by the city attorneys office and return to the council for a final vote before becoming law.)

Mahaleris asserted that migrants had willingly chosen to go to Los Angeles on buses stocked with food and water, saying they signed a voluntary consent waiver available in multiple languages upon boarding that they agreed on the destination."

Governor Abbott should be ashamed of himself for playing politics with the lives of vulnerable migrant families. ... I am deeply offended by his inhumane actions and am eager to investigate this further, Feldstein Soto said in a statement Wednesday evening.

The council also unanimously approved a separate resolution calling on L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascon, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, and U.S. Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland to similarly investigate and report on whether any crimes were committed.

Read more: Texas sent more asylum seekers to L.A. even as Hilary raged, immigrant rights group says

Both the proposal and the resolution were originally introduced on June 16 by Soto-Martinez and fellow Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez, Monica Rodriguez and Nithya Raman. The text of both documents only directly addresses the first bus, though council members spoke of the other buses during their comments.

During the council meeting, Soto-Martinez also excoriated Abbott for sending a bus of migrants to the city earlier this month while Los Angeles was under an unprecedented tropical storm warning and officials were urging residents not to travel.

Mayor Karen Bass also slammed Abbott after that bus arrived, calling the move evil.

Councilmembers Kevin de Leon, Heather Hutt and Imelda Padilla also spoke in support of the proposals.

Padilla, the newest member of the council, directed her comments to the service organizations that have helped welcome the arriving migrants, saying she knew the arrival of large numbers of people at once could cause strain and asking them to reach out if they needed assistance.

The bus that arrived Wednesday morning carried "35 asylum seekers from Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Russia, and Venezuela," including 21 adults and 14 children, according to the nonprofit Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles, known as CHIRLA.

More than 400 people have arrived on 11 buses since mid-June, Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl said Wednesday.

"The city has continued to work with city departments, the county and a coalition of nonprofit organizations, in addition to our faith partners, to execute a plan set in place earlier this year. As we have before, when we became aware of the bus yesterday, we activated our plan," Seidl said in a statement.





Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Sangamon County State's Attorney Dan Wright labeled David Dale Smith "a monster beyond any rehabilitative potential" following Smith's sentence to life in prison Tuesday.

Smith was convicted of murdering 80-year-old Donna Lea Bricker in her near north-side duplex in early 2019.

Circuit Court Judge John "Mo" Madonia presided at a hearing at which Smith, a 58-year-old former neighbor of Bricker's, spoke.

Smith, who briefly moved to Lindenwood, Illinois, after Bricker's murder, could have gotten as little as 20 years in prison. He was also "extended term" eligible, meaning that he could have faced an additional 20 to 100 years behind bars based on a pair of aggravating factors.

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More: Software expert: 'All indications' HSHS outage was caused by a cybersecurity attack

Those factors included Bricker's age and the fact that the state proved Smith exhibited "exceptionally brutal and heinous behavior."

Because a June 28 jury found Smith guilty "beyond reasonable doubt," Madonia had the discretion to impose the life sentence.

Bricker was found in her home in the 700 block of West Elliott Street on Jan. 6, 2019, by family members when she didn't show up for church services. An autopsy confirmed that Bricker had died from ligature strangulation, but she also had been stabbed.

Smith was apprehended by authorities in Lindenwood, an unincorporated area in northern Illinois between Rockford and Rochelle, in mid-March 2019.

Smith at one time had been a next-door neighbor of Bricker's though he had an address listed on South 11th Street at the time of her murder.

Briefly addressing the court, Smith apologized to Bricker's family, though he later said he had nothing to do with her death.

Bricker's daughter, Debbie Squires, spoke on her mother's behalf as did Bricker's brother, Harold Losey.

Two of her granddaughters, Bella Allen and Ashley Fandel, also spoke.

Wright added Smith received "the only just sentence permitted by Illinois law."

Bricker was a longtime member and volunteer at Third Presbyterian Church. At 70, she left Springfield to run a food pantry in Breathitt County, one of Kentucky's poorest counties in the Appalachian Mountain region.

She retired from the Illinois Education Association as a printer. Bricker once owned a home daycare and formerly worked at School District 186, Fannie May Candies, Contact Ministries, Sparc, Building Blocks, Sangamo Electric and Allis Chalmers.

In addition to Wright, First Assistant Derek Dion and Assistant State's Attorney Brittany Lehr prosecuted the case.

Smith was represented by Jeffery Page and Tawnya Frioli of the Public Defender's Office.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: David Dale Smith was sentenced to life in prison for 2019 murder case
Guy Rockwell Muldavin, who went by several aliases, married Ruth Marie Terry several months before her murder, cops say (Massachusetts State Police)

After nearly 50 years, the mystery of the Lady of the Dunes case has finally been solved with police concluding that the woman whose mutilated body was discovered on Cape Cod was killed by her husband.

For decades, the victim had been known only as the Lady of the Dunes before she was finally identified in October as 37-year-old Ruth Marie Terry, following the use of genetic genealogy.

On Monday, Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois announced that Terrys husband Guy Rockwell Muldavin  who married her just a few months before she disappeared  has now been identified as her killer.

Muldavin was also a prime suspect in the death of another one of his wives and a stepdaughter in the 1960s. He died in 2002.

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Further details about what led to the break in the investigation now were not revealed, with DA Galibois only confirming that one of the states most infamous cold cases had now been closed.

Based on the investigation into the death of Ms Terry, it has been determined that Mr. Muldavin was responsible for Ms Terrys death in 1974. Mr Muldavin passed away in 2002, he said in a statement.

Terrys nearly decapitated body was found in the sand dunes of Provincetown, Massachusetts  a popular summer vacation spot  in July 1974.

She was naked on a beach blanket with her hands severed so she could not be identified by her fingerprints.

Her skull had been crushed and she was nearly decapitated. The cause of death was later determined to be a blow to the head, with authorities believing she had been dead for several weeks before her body was found.

Terry was the oldest unidentified homicide victim in Massachusetts, despite authorities working for years to identify her and her killer by exhuming her remains, performing clay model facial reconstruction, and releasing age-regression drawings of her face.

She was finally identified in October 2022 after her jaw was tested using genetic genealogy at the Othram forensics lab, the Cape Cod Times previously reported.

Ruth Marie Terry, 37, was identified as the Lady of the Dunes, in October 2022 (FBI)

Since then, investigators had zeroed in on Muldavin. State police said they learned he had been driving his wifes car after they returned from a trip to Tennessee to visit her family.

When Mr Muldavin returned from that trip, he was driving what was believed to be Ms Terrys vehicle and indicated to witnesses that Ms Terry had passed away, Mr Galibois said in a statement.

Ms Terry was never seen by her family again.

Who was Guy Rockwell Muldavin?

Muldavin is thought to have wed Terry in 1974 just months before her body was found on the beach.

He previously made national headlines when his ex-wife and 18-year-old stepdaughter disappeared.

Following their disappearances, he fled and was later questioned about what happened to them. But, he was seemingly never charged in their presumed deaths, according to media reports at the time.

Ruth Marie Terrys body was found at the Cape Cod seashore in 1974 (FBI Boston)

He went on to have at least two more long-term relationships with women, both of whom were mentioned in Muldavins 2002 obituary: his widow, Phyllis, who died in 2021; and a sister, Joan Towers. She was not a blood relation but the two referred to each other affectionately as siblings after a romantic relationship turned platonic, a family friend previously told The Independent in November.

The family friend said back then that he was speechless over the revelations that were emerging about Muldavin.

At the time he knew him, both he and Muldavin had been living in California  the state where the latter died  and nowhere near Provincetown, Massachusetts or Reno, Nevada or any other locations that are referred to now in connection with Muldavin, the friend tells The Independent.

He was great, the friend said of the Muldavin he knew. I really loved him. I mean, he was terrific. And I was very close to him ... Im speechless, because none of it makes any sense.

US Cold Case Lady of the Dunes

He said, however, that he knew little of Muldavins history, other than the fact he believed hed been born in New Mexico.

Muldavin was born in 1923, police say, though details are scant regarding the early life of a man whose aliases include Raoul Guy Rockwell and Guy Muldavin Rockwell.

According to a 1960 UPI report following his later brushes with the law, Muldavin was schooled in Switzerland, New York, and Connecticut as well as tutored privately on his family cattle ranch at Tibera, N. M.

By the time he was a young adult, Muldavin had made his way to New York, where he was working as a professor at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, according to the obituary for his first wife, Joellen Mae Loop. A former beauty pageant contestant and model, she died in January 2002 - just two months before Muldavin passed away.

The starry-eyed beauty and Muldavin  known to her as Guy Raoul Rockwell  fell in love in New York, the obituary continued.

She left her career and the big-city nightmare and moved into a tree stump along a river in California, read the obituary, published in a Washington state paper. Her husband sang at KIEM radio stationn Monday through Friday at 5 oclock.

The couple later moved to the northwest, where Rockwell took a job in the Seattle Bon Marche furniture department. The couple then owned a large antique shop. They were married ten years.

Ruth Marie Terry was found on 26 July 1974 in the dunes of Provincetown at the edge of Cape Cod; her head had been nearly severed and she was missing both hands (FBI)

Though the obituary does not state when the pairs marriage dissolved, Muldavin was living in Seattle and running an antique shop in 1960 when another of his wives, Manzanita Aileen Manzy Ryan, disappeared.

She and her 18-year-old daughter vanished on April Fools Day of that year, UPI reported; in July, Muldavin divorced Manzanita, claming desertion, and married Evelyn Emerson.

When police went to the home hed shared with Manzanita - his second wife, according to UPI - bits of human tissue and pieces of human body were located in a newly sealed septic tank.

The report also pointed out that, five days after he married Ms Emerson, her stepmother had given him a cashiers check for $10,000 to buy antiquities for quick resale in Canada.

He and the money vanished, around the same time serious questions began swirling about the fate of Manzanita and Dolores. Muldavin was eventually picked up in an apartment in Greenwich Village, on the other side of the country in New York.

He was described by media at the time as a sometimes actor and DJ in California, an antiques dealer in Seattle and a bunco artist and great lover everywhere he went, according to SFGate.com.

The New York Daily News reported he had three wives and many sweethearts by 1960 and was known around Greenwich Village for his nightly soirees with beatniks, art lovers, celebrities and celebrity hunters, all bound by Muldavins magnetism and offbeat philosophy.

Whatever happened within the justice system, Muldavin appears to have been free and up to his old tricks by the early 1970s, when police believe he married Terry months before she was murdered.

While his former wife was lying buried in a Massachusetts cemetery plot, however, Muldavin continued to forge relationships and build a life on the West Coast. He also married Phyllis Roper, who was listed as his widow in his 2002 obituary. She died last year.
MSNBCs Lawrence ODonnell said Rudy Giulianis drinking habits are reportedly under the microscope in the federal case related to Donald Trumps attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election.

How drunk does your lawyer have to be before you stop following his advice? ODonnell asked on Tuesday night. That is a question  a legal question  that Donald Trumps criminal defense team will have to answer when he goes on trial.

Giuliani, a longtime Trump ally and former New York mayor, was Trumps most visible attorney during that period and became known for bizarre and erratic behavior.

Now, Rolling Stone is reporting that the office of special counsel Jack Smith is looking into allegations that Giuliani was drunk when he gave Trump legal advice and that Trump knew his attorney had been drinking.

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That could potentially undercut arguments that Trump was just relying on the advice of an attorney in his attempts to overturn the election.

Former prosecutor Glenn Kirschner told ODonnell that reliance on advice of counsel could normally be a viable defense in some cases, but its implied that the counsel should be sober.

Trump, Kirschner said, may have a hard time making that argument with a straight face.

Giuliani has admitted that he drinks  especially scotch  but claimed he functions more effectively than 90% of the population.

See ODonnells full conversation with Kirschner below:

Need help with substance use disorder or mental health issues? In the U.S., call 800-662-HELP (4357) for the SAMHSA National Helpline.
HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT)  Republican candidate for Kentucky governor, Daniel Cameron, announced his economic plan on Wednesday during a press conference.

During the press conference, Cameron was critical of Beshears administration, claiming the governor has expanded the welfare state and created a culture of dependency.

 Andy Beshear has lead as the welfare governor, Cameron said during the press conference, I will lead as the workforce governor.

How Beshear and Camerons education plans are similar and how they are different

Cameron said his economic plan will include 10 principles that will guide him as Kentuckys next governor. Cameron calls these principles his Vision for Prosperity

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Cameron listed the following 10 principles as part of his Vision for Prosperity:

Your money belongs to you, not the government

Work is honorable

The social safety net shouldnt be a trap

Merit determines outcomes

Families are the bedrock of society

A strong education system builds a strong economy

Kentucky should embrace its advantages, not run from them

Kentucky should be the best place in America to start and grow a business

Rural communities deserve support and opportunity

State government is the first line of defense against federal overreach

Cameron said every budget he submits as governor will keep Kentucky on the path to eliminating income tax. He also said he would work with the general assembly to keep tax codes simple, fair and competitive.

I will be the governor who eliminates the income tax.

Cameron also challenged Governor Beshear by claiming he bloated the welfare state. He also said many able bodied Kentuckians have not been encouraged by Beshears administration to find work.

To reestablish a culture of work, and to tackle our low workforce participation rate as governor, Ill implement work requirements for able-bodied medicaid recipients who are not taking care of their families or pursuing an education.

Cameron said his administration will help welfare recipients get back into the workforce and avoid a benefits cliff. He also said his administration would strengthen workforce programs and improve coordination between state and local leaders so workers would not have to leave their community to find a job.

Sturgis mayor resigns after lack of city funds cause issues

Following Camerons press conference, officials with the Kentucky Democratic Party highlighted economic growth and low unemployment rates in the state and criticized Cameron for his plans to privatize public schools and increase taxes on working people.

Andy Beshear has delivered the two largest electric vehicle battery plants in the United States, said Kentucky Democratic Party spokesperson Anna Breedlove. Daniel Camerons economic plan is two posters full of empty slogans.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
FILE - James Nells, of the Navaho Tribe, and a teacher at Riverside Indian School, leads the Riverside Indian School color guard during opening ceremonies Saturday, July 9, 2022, in Anadarko, Okla., for a meeting to allow U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, rear, to hear about the painful experiences of Native Americans who were sent to government-backed boarding schools designed to strip them of their cultural identities. The list of boarding schools in the U.S. that once sought to civilize Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians is getting longer. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition released a new interactive map Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A group focused on shedding more light on the troubled legacy of boarding schools where Indigenous children were stripped of their culture and language as part of assimilation efforts released a new interactive map that includes dozens of additional schools in the U.S. and Canada.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition already had what was considered the most extensive list of boarding schools. The total now stands at 523 schools, with each dot on the map providing some brief details about the school.

The Minnesota-based group has spent years building its inventory of data, with efforts being bolstered in recent years by the U.S. Interior Department. The federal agency released its own list of more than 400 schools last year as part of an ongoing investigation meant to recognize the multigenerational trauma that resulted from boarding school policies.

The coalition's latest research identified an additional 115 schools, with the majority being operated without federal support by church institutions that had authority to establish schools to carry out U.S. policies meant to assimilate Native children.

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Samuel Torres, the coalitions deputy chief executive, sees the map as a tool that can help relatives who are seeking answers and those who are healing.

Every Indigenous person in this country has been impacted by the deliberate attempt to destroy Native families and cultures through boarding schools," Torres said. "For us to visually see the scope of what was done to our communities and Nations at this scale is overwhelming, but this work is necessary to uncover the truth about this dark chapter in American history.

The coalition already is using the latest findings to inform future research and archival digitization efforts. In November, it plans to update the map to include links to archival records.

The map was created in partnership with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, which is dedicated to educating people about injustices inflicted on First Nations, Inuit and the Metis Nation by the forced removal of children from their families in that country.

Through this digital map, we are not just capturing history," said Jessie Boiteau, a member of the Metis Nation and a senior archivist for the center. "We have created a tool that can be used today to impact what happens in the future.
U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones on Tuesday ordered Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and former president Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows to offer opinions on a key matter essential to addressing Meadows's argument that his Georgia prosecution should be tried in federal court.

Jones asked both parties to provide their views on whether "a finding that at least one (but not all) of the overt acts charged occurred under the color of Meadow's office [would] be sufficient for federal removal of a criminal prosecution under [the federal removal statute]."

When Meadows took the stand on Tuesday, he argued he was acting in his capacity as Trump's top White House aide when he reached out to Georgia officials following the 2020 elections. Fulton County prosecutors, on the other hand, asserted that Meadows' actions went well beyond the responsibilities of his federal position.

Meadows was charged in Willis' sprawling racketeering indictment, which accuses him and 17 others of conspiring to subvert the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

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In court documents, his legal team has already revealed their plans to seek the dismissal of the charges from a federal judge if the case is transferred to federal court, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Even if a judge doesn't dismiss the charges, the shift to federal court would provide Meadows with a broader and potentially more conservative pool of jurors and bar cameras from entering the courtroom.

The pivotal point of contention for the removal hinges mainly on whether Meadows can prove that he was indicted for actions he carried out in his capacity as a federal official.

"The judge has clearly concluded that some of Meadows' indicted conduct was not within the scope of his office (chief of staff)," Lee Kovarsky, a University of Texas law professor and expert in the removal statute, told Salon. "He wants to know whether there is removal when some  but not all  of the indicted conduct is within [the] official scope."

To get his case "removed" to federal court, Meadows needs to establish three things, which include proving that he was a federal officer at the time of the alleged offense, who was performing his "official duties" and took actions within "the color of his office."

To fulfill the third requirement, Meadows has put forth a federal defense known as Supremacy Clause immunity. This provides protection to federal officers, safeguarding them from state prosecutions that emerge due to actions they believed, subjectively and reasonably, to be "necessary and proper to their official duties," Kovarsky explained in Lawfare.

"Willis has arguments on both prongs (2) and (3)," Kovarsky said. "She'll argue that you don't meet prong (2) unless all of the indicted conduct relates to official duties. And she'll argue on prong (3), where Meadows' has asserted 'Supremacy Clause immunity,' that the defense is not colorable unless it could defeat the RICO count entirely and it cannot defeat the RICO count entirely if some of the indicted conduct is not within the scope of the office."

He added that if Meadows' case is removed then Trump will most likely argue that "his case rides along with Meadows and that he gets removal" as well.

Clark Cunningham, professor of law at Georgia State University, also weighed in on X, formerly Twitter, arguing that this order "could be very bad news" for Willis.

"If I were the DA, I would ask grand jury for a superseding indictment that removes the name of Mark Meadows from Acts 5, 6, 7, and 19 of Count 1 (but continuing the allegations as to Donald Trump)," he wrote.

The first three alleged overt acts by Meadows (Acts 5, 6 and 7) are not necessary to establish his liability under RICO, but keeping them in the indictment now runs an "enormous risk" for the DA of losing the removal issue, in light of Judge Jones' order, since these overt acts come closest to meeting the test for federal officer removal, he added.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Cunningham explained that Acts 5 and 7 involve White House meetings between Trump and state legislators, for which Meadows made "plausible claims" on the witness stand that his role was limited to what the Chief of Staff typically does. Act 6 alleges only that Meadows asked a member of Congress from Pennsylvania for the phone numbers of the leaders of the state legislature in Pennsylvania, again saying this was a typical task for a chief of staff.

"Act 19 alleges that Trump & Meadows met together with another White House staffer, John McEntee and asked him to prepare a memo for a strategy to disrupt the January 6 session of Congress," Cunningham wrote. "Meadows testified firmly that Act 19 did not describe anything he had done and it is not worth continuing to try and prosecute Meadows for Act 19."

Jones ordered that Willis and attorneys for Meadows file their briefs by 5 p.m. on Thursday.

"This is a genuinely uncertain area of law," Kovarsky said. "Removal is going to be a close call, although I don't think the immunity defense itself will succeed when ultimately asserted." 

Read more

about Fani Willis' case
MADISON  A Republican effort to force Justice Janet Protasiewicz off a redistricting lawsuit is an effort "to nullify the election" she won in April, liberals argue in a new filing with the state Supreme Court.

Republican senators named as defendants in the lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's electoral maps filed a motion last week requesting Protasiewicz, a former Milwaukee County judge, recuse herself from the case. Protasiewicz, who won the April election with an 11-point margin, called the maps "rigged" during her campaign and said she would "enjoy taking a fresh look at the gerrymandering question."

Republicans argue that between those comments and the millions of dollars the Democratic Party of Wisconsin spent in support of Protasiewicz's campaign, she cannot act on the dispute impartially "because she has prejudged the case."

"At the very least, those statements create the appearance that she cannot act impartially," lawyers for the GOP senators argued.

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Protasiewicz has said she would recuse herself from cases brought by or against the state Democratic Party. There are two redistricting lawsuits before the court, neither of which involves the party.

Lawyers representing the voters who brought the case argued in a response filed Tuesday that the GOP senators' arguments are without merit. The filing argues that Republicans filed the motion because they were "unhappy with (the April) electoral result, which they could not prevent through gerrymandering."

The filing notes that conservative justices who received financial support from Republican groups did not remove themselves from previous redistricting challenges heard by the state's high court. Referencing Protasiewicz's comments on the campaign trail, they argued "there is no recognized basis to require recusal based on campaign remarks."

The comments were "well within the requirements of the Code of Judicial Conduct," they wrote.

Lawyers also argued the voters on the case are not seeking to maximize an advantage for the Democratic Party, arguing "ungerrymandering the map favors voters, not parties."

"Respondents demand that Justice Protasiewicz recuse herself is not only unsupported by fact or law, it would be contrary to her duties as a sitting justice on the Supreme Court," they concluded. "Respondents ask her to abdicate her responsibility to administer justice in this case, and to discharge her duties as a member of this Court elected by the people of the state of Wisconsin. Granting Respondents motion would be a violation of her oath of office and would render meaningless Wisconsin voters constitutional right to elect the justice of their choice."

Protasiewicz, who was sworn in earlier this month, has pledged to rule impartially regardless of having communicated personal beliefs during her campaign.

The court is considering taking up two lawsuits filed directly with it, bypassing lower courts, earlier this month after it flipped to liberal control for the first time in years. The lawsuits seek to overturn maps drawn by Republican lawmakers and replace them ahead of the 2024 election.

Republican lawmakers have raised the prospect of impeaching Protasiewicz if she does not step away from the cases.

It is up to Protasiewicz to decide whether to recuse. The court ruled in 2011 that justices cannot kick each other off cases for alleged bias.

"A majority of this court does not have the power to disqualify a judicial peer from performing the constitutional functions of a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice on a case-by-case basis," said the majority decision, written by former Chief Justice Patience Roggensack, former Justices David Prosser and Michael Gableman and current Chief Justice Annette Ziegler.

THANK YOU: Subscribers' support makes this work possible. Help us share the knowledge by buying a gift subscription.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Liberals counter GOP move to block Protasiewicz from redistricting case
Lawyers for Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall, left, and Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat responded Monday to Gov. Kevin Stitt's lawsuit challenging the Legislature's ability to extend state-tribal compacts without Stitt's approval.

The Oklahoma Legislature can renew compacts with tribal nations without Gov. Kevin Stitt s approval, top lawmakers said in court documents filed Monday.

House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat want the Oklahoma Supreme Court to throw out the governors legal challenge of a pair of new laws that extend certain state-tribal agreements. They contend the Legislature has the power it needs to pass the extensions despite the governors objections.

The laws renew tobacco tax compacts with tribal nations, as well as some vehicle registration compacts, for one year until December 2024.

Lawyers for McCall and Treat contend in their new court filing that Stitt is trying to strike down the extensions because of his personal vitriol toward tribal nations. Lawmakers had to act to save the expiring agreements, which bring in tens of millions of dollars to the state every year, according to the filing.

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Oklahoma citizens should not be once again asked to foot the bill for a governor who clearly has no desire to put the states interests over his personal vendettas, McCall and Treats attorneys wrote in the filing.

The court has not indicated when it might rule but gave Stitt until Wednesday to respond to McCall and Treat.

Court documents argue why Gov. Stitt does not have the authority to challenge compact extensions

Stitt has said he will not agree to any extensions without changing terms of the deals to make clear they do not apply throughout tribal reservations, only to smaller sections of land directly owned by or for tribes. Pushing back against the increasing recognition of tribal reservations in eastern Oklahoma has been one of Stitts most prominent policy positions in recent years.

McCall and Treat have argued the governor could use the extra year to negotiate with tribal leaders.

But on July 31, hours after lawmakers voted to pass the extensions into law, Stitt filed suit to block the renewals.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced July 31 that he had filed suit to try to block two new laws from taking effect hours after the Legislature voted to approve them. The laws renew some state-tribal compacts through 2024.

Attorney General Gentner Drummonds office filed court papers in the case Monday, siding with the Legislatures authority and opposing Stitts argument that the Oklahoma Constitution grants the governor ultimate power.

The governors authority actually comes from state law, which the Legislature can enact and amend, wrote Garry Gaskins II, the top trial attorney in Drummonds office.

More: Oklahoma lawmakers voted to extend some tribal compacts for 1 more year. But will relations improve?

He said in the filing that the attorney general was entering the case in part to encourage the governor to stop squandering hundreds of thousands of dollars in state resources, particularly because the state Supreme Court already has ruled against the governor having sole authority to compact with tribes.

The governors current litigation is simply a continuation of his fruitless and personal war against our tribal neighbors, Gaskins wrote.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond's office filed a court brief in opposition of Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is seeking to strike down two new laws that extend certain state-tribal compacts for one year.

Stitts office declined to comment on the claims that the governors broader disputes with tribal nations were driving the lawsuit. Spokesperson Abegail Cave said Stitt would address the legal arguments as necessary in court.

Treat told The Oklahoman on Tuesday that he views the lawsuit as frivolous, when the governor could be saving the state time and money by meeting with tribal leaders to work out deals outside of court. He said hes seen no signs Stitt has been meeting with tribal leaders to renegotiate the agreements before they expire again next year.

We very well may change state law if he continues to act in a manner that we dont find prudent, Treat said.

Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw nations back Oklahoma Legislature on tribal compact extensions

The Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations filed a joint brief in the case to back the Legislature. Sara Hill, attorney general for the Cherokee Nation, said compacts are the basis of many legal relationships between tribal nations and the state, and its critically important to understand who has the power to enact them at the state level.

Under the two laws approved by the Legislature last month, tribes can opt in to renewing their tobacco tax and vehicle registration compacts by notifying the state. Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, sent in that paperwork Aug. 14, saying his tribe agreed to the renew its vehicle registration compact.

John Shotton, chairman of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, notified the state Aug. 10 that his nation was agreeing to renew its tobacco tax compact. Under terms of the deal, tribes and the state split the tax money generated from tobacco sales on tribal land. Shotton declined further comment.

Stitt also is divided from other state leaders in a separate legal dispute over gaming compacts that he negotiated without legislative sign-off.

Although the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected the deals, federal regulators did not, prompting an ongoing lawsuit to sort out the future of the deals in federal court.

Drummond is trying to force Stitt out of the case. Treat and McCall have said they support Drummonds efforts.

Read more:

Molly Young covers Indigenous affairs. Reach her at mollyyoung@gannett.com or 405-347-3534.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Legislature can extend tribal compacts without Gov. Stitt, lawmakers say
Mecklenburg Countys most active homebuilder has secured a large swath of land for a new project in Kannapolis.

Lennar Corp. plans to build homes and townhomes on a 106-acre site thats less than 2 miles from the N.C. Research Campus. The Kannapolis City Council approved a development agreement last year with Suncrest to allow for significant residential development there.

READ: Kannapolis approves new agreement for long-planned U.S. Performance Center project

The site was previously owned by Arizona-based Suncrest, which acquires land and works with homebuilders to develop it. Suncrest previously secured approvals to allow for hundreds of homes and townhomes to be developed at the site, known as Bakers Creek.

Read more here.

VIDEO: Drivers, residents frustrated with incomplete highway project in Kannapolis




Hurricane article omits 1962 Columbus Day Storm

Shaun Goodwins Aug. 21 article, Why doesnt Washington state get hit by hurricanes? provides an informative explanation about the climate conditions that prevent hurricanes in our region. It failed, however, to mention the Columbus Day Storm of 1962  perhaps the most momentous storm to strike the state since the 19th century.

The Big Blow, as it was also called, began as a typhoon named Freda over the western Pacific, where it had been downgraded to a tropical storm prior to a rapid turn east. It regained speed and power, slamming into Washington and Vancouver Island on October 12, 1962.

By that time, though technically an extratropical cyclone rather than a full-fledged typhoon, the storm set the standing record for the lowest recorded pressure in Oregon (958 hPa), the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane. Wind gusts of 116 mph were recorded in Portland, while Naselle in southwest Washington experienced a gust of 160 mph, and several coastal communities saw gusts in excess of 130 mph.

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It was one of the most intense storms in recorded history. At least 46 people died and damage exceeded $1.5 billion in todays dollars. Goodwins solid article would be a bit more complete had he addressed this event, still remembered by many who experienced it.

John McLain, Olympia

Support library policies

The board of the Friends of the Olympia Library staunchly supports the Timberland Regional Library and the diverse resources it provides for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people in our region.

Our community includes people and families of many different cultures and perspectives. Timberland Regional Library recognizes this through the wide range of materials in its collection.

Importantly, Timberland Regional Library supports library patrons in making choices about the materials appropriate to the ages and views of their families by placing books in well-marked, age-appropriate areas. We hope the Timberland Board continues to support the current policies and procedures of the organization.

Jann Hoppler, President, Friends of the Olympia Library

Support Gundersen for Port Commissioner

Rose Gundersens workforce training emphasis is vital to economic development.

As a career and technical educator, I am keenly aware of employers need for technical and job readiness skills and the importance of providing worksite learning opportunities for our youth and job seekers. That is why I support Rose Chiu Gundersen for Port of Olympia Commissioner. I am excited about her emphasis on supporting workforce training as a vital avenue for economic and social development.

Gundersen has been a collaborator on workforce training and development for youth and second-chance job seekers in her past role as the small business liaison at the state Department of Labor & Industries, and she is leading the Retail Workforce Initiative in her current role as the Washington Retail Associations VP of Operations and Retail Services.

In the past three years, Rose has advanced job-readiness skills for our students by securing federal funding for students to access three business and marketing certifications, passing a retail workforce promotion bill into law, providing her staff time to partner with educators and other businesses in our region, and seeking feedback from the education community about seeking grant funding to help build a bridge between education and employment.

Employers are struggling to find qualified employees and many boomers with skills will retire in the next few years. The workforce training priority demonstrates Gundersens insightfulness and the ability to identify gaps relevant to both the business and education spheres.

When Gundersen casts a vision, she delivers by being strategic and collaborative.

Teresa Melone, Yelm
The Beverly Hills City Hall's historic building is seen last year. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)

To the editor: Thank you for pointing out the two-faced approach by the Beverly Hills City Council on the abortion issue.

When it was popular in California to support the pro-choice movement, leaders were touting their supportive proclamations. When an abortion clinic decided to open in the city and spend millions of dollars here, the Beverly Hills City Council was all in favor.

But as soon as the mayor and police chief learned that the clinic would face negative publicity from the radical right, the council's support wilted like a unwatered flower, and the landlord rescinded the clinic's lease.

Welcome to Beverly Hills?

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Bruce Schwartz, Beverly Hills

..

To the editor: For 50 years, Republicans argued that Roe vs. Wade should be overturned because the question of abortion should be determined by each state.

But now, with Roe overturned, some Republican presidential candidates are saying they would sign a national ban on abortion, giving the states no say.

Send in the clowns  or don't bother, because they're here.

Edward A. Ruttenberg, Rancho Palos Verdes

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Watching and waiting

Did you see where the former president, who once lied about his height to avoid being categorized as obese, slammed Chris Christie for being obese? Did you see the recent report noting that the infamous mobster, Al Capone, also called the federal investigation into his criminality a witch hunt.

Did you see that a grand jury in Georgia indicted the former president for leading a criminal organization that attempted to steal the election from Joe Biden? It used the racketeering (RICO) statute famously employed in the past to prosecute mobsters.

The former president has now been indicted four times. A jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll. Yet his popularity among his supporters has skyrocketed. Do they think hell escape a guilty verdict in all four cases? Or doesnt it matter? Instead, dont they share and bask under the former presidents whining about his victimization? After all, what constitutes a grievance other than a tacit admission of being a loser victimized by a winner?

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Me? Im savoring the spectacle of four criminal trials and the further richly earned debasement of the former president. But, Im also waiting in anticipation to see whether one of his severe personality disorders, logorrhea, gets him fined, first, and subsequently thrown into jail before any jury ever gets around to convicting him. Given that he just cant stop talking, what will the MAGA deplorables do then?

Break out the popcorn!

Walter C. Uhler, State College

Put an end to greyhound racing

This September, the House Committee on Agriculture will vote on an amendment to outlaw all gambling on greyhound racing nationwide. Even though greyhound racing is a dying industry, more than $400 million is still bet on dog races each year in our country. Further, as dog racing slowly dies in the United States, foreign dog tracks have begun appealing to American gamblers over the internet.

The animal protection community has fought greyhound racing for decades due to animal welfare concerns. Greyhounds endure lives of confinement at commercial tracks and many dogs suffer serious injuries. Due to these concerns, Pennsylvania outlawed greyhound racing nearly two decades ago.

The member of Congress who represents most of our community, Glenn GT Thompson, is the chair of the committee that will determine whether the amendment to end greyhound racing is approved. Congressman Thompson will have enormous influence over the fate of this legislation. The amendment will be identical to a bill named the Greyhound Protection Act (H.R. 3894) which has already been filed, available at www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/3894.

Please email Congressman Thompson today urging him to support the Greyhound Protection Act Amendment as part of the Farm Bill. Your voice matters! You can submit your comment in support of the Greyhound Protection Act using this link: thompson.house.gov/contact/email-me

For more information about greyhound racing and the proposed legislation, please visit the greyhound protection group GREY2K USA at www.grey2kusa.org.

Please also visit saynocasino.org and join our Facebook group to connect with our communitys campaign to stop predatory gambling!

Andrew Shaffer, State College
A man from Denver, North Carolina, was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a young girl, according to the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office on Wednesday.

The sheriffs office says Gregory Clark Ross, 41, is charged with four counts of statutory sex offense with a child under 15 years old.

SEE MORE: Former youth pastor charged with third round of sex crimes

According to the sheriffs office, detectives got a report on Aug. 14 from the victim. Its not clear if the sheriffs office is looking for additional victims.

Ross was arrested on Wednesday and booked into jail on a $160,000 bond.

(WATCH: Two K-9s join force at Lincoln County Sheriffs Office)
This list will be updated as more school systems announce their plans. Please check back for a fuller report.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning as a Category 3 hurricane and is pushing toward North Carolina.

The storm has since weakened to a tropical storm and is expected to impact North Carolinas coast and inland areas.

The National Weather Service has a hazardous weather outlook in place for the central part of the state, forecasting strong winds and heavy rain. The Raleigh area could get 1 to 2 inches of rain from Wednesday evening to Thursday evening.

Heres a list of Triangle public schools that have announced closings.

Wake County

 The Wake County Public School System has not announced any changes in schedule or closings.

Durham County

 Durham Public Schools has not announced any changes in schedule or closings.

Orange County

 As of early Thursday evening, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools planned to be open and operate on a normal schedule Thursday. The school system will communicate updates to the public through email, its website and social media.

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 The Orange County Schools has not announced any changes in schedule or closings.

Chatham County

 Chatham Charter School in Siler City will open at 10 am for K-12 students and staff are directed to report to work by 9:20 a.m. Thursday. The campus will open for students at 9:30 am. All after school activities Thursday are canceled.

Johnston County

Johnston County Public Schools will be closed on Thursday; this includes all after-school activities on Thursday. This decision has been made out of an abundance of caution and per the guidance of local and state emergency service officials, the system stated in a news release.

Lee County

Central Carolina Academy in Sanford will operate in an asynchronous remote learning format on Thursday, a school spokesperson said. All after school activities for Thursday are canceled.

Students should login to Canvas to complete assignments. Eleventh graders taking college courses will need to continue working on course assignments.

Ascend Leadership Academy will have remote learning only, according to ABC11.

Kimberly Cataudella , Brooke Cain and Martha Quillin contributed to this report.
FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican

VILNIUS (Reuters) - Majority-Catholic EU member Lithuania has summoned the Vatican's top diplomat in the country after Pope Francis told Russian youths to remember they are the heirs of "the great Russian empire".

In response to the impromptu remarks Francis made on Friday in a live video address to Catholic youths gathered in St. Petersburg, the Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Ministry invited the Apostolic Nuncio for "a talk" after the archbishop returns from holidays, a ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The Vatican said on Tuesday Pope Francis did not intend to glorify Russian imperialism in the speech, in which he also extolled Russian emperors Peter the Great and Catherine II who expanded the Russian empire.

The territories of Lithuania and Poland were annexed into the Russian empire in the 18th century by Catherine II. The countries broke away after World War I, after two 19th century revolts against the empire were brutally suppressed.

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Francis' intent was "to preserve and promote all that is positive in the great Russian cultural and spiritual heritage", said Vatican.

Ukraine, once part of the same empire, said the comments were "deeply regrettable". The Kremlin described them as "very gratifying".

Lithuania, a nation of 2.8 million where three quarters identify as Roman Catholics, has been a staunch critic of Russia and supporter of Ukraine in both the European Union and NATO.

The Catholic Church is still revered in the country for its anti-Communist, pro-independence stance while it was under Soviet Union annexation. During the period, the Vatican kept Lithuanian diplomatic representation to the Holy See as it did not recognize the annexation.

Francis celebrated a mass to a crowd of an estimated 100 thousand in Lithuania when he visited in 2018.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
UNICEF partners with China to pilot climate-resilient WASH technologies in Cambodia

Xinhua) 09:42, August 30, 2023

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Delegates from China and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday started a three-day field visit to Cambodia to conduct a feasibility study for piloting climate-resilient water and sanitation (WASH) technologies and solutions in the kingdom, said a UNICEF's press statement.

The Cambodia-China Climate-Resilient WASH Cooperation Project is part of the South-South cooperation program between the two countries and UNICEF, the statement said.

"The feasibility study mission to Cambodia aims to leverage Chinese expertise on solar-powered water supplies, water purification and fecal sludge treatment in urban and rural areas to help identify gaps in technology and infrastructure," the statement said.

UNICEF Representative to Cambodia Will Parks said the Children's Climate Risk Index ranks Cambodia in the top third of nations facing high risks to the impacts of climate change, and that children are highly exposed to water scarcity, riverine flooding, and vector-borne diseases, among others.

"We are grateful to the People's Republic of China and UNICEF China for their support in implementing innovative, climate-resilient responses that build sustainable environments for the most vulnerable communities," he said.

In Cambodia, one in four people in rural areas still lack access to improved water resources and sanitation, presenting risks to public health, hindering development and resulting in water resource contamination risks, according to the statement.

"UNICEF China is working closely with our partners to promote international cooperation on children's rights and the Sustainable Development Goals," Acting UNICEF Representative to China Nenad Radonjic said.

"This collaboration between Cambodia and China is a good example of how we can act as a facilitator for knowledge exchange and technical cooperation in the sector of WASH, climate and the environment, to help address common and critical challenges facing children globally," he added.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has summoned the Vaticans ambassador to provide an explanation following Pope Francis' recent remarks in which he praised the "greatness" of the Russian Empire, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported on Aug. 30.

Read also: Pope sends cardinal to Kyiv to discuss 'just peace' with Ukrainian leadership, Vatican says

"The Foreign Ministry has invited the apostolic nuncio for a conversation in early September when Archbishop Petar Rajic will return from his vacation," said Paulina Levickyte, the ministrys spokesperson.

On Aug. 25, Pope Francis delivered a video address to a meeting with Russian catholic youth in St. Petersburg.

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Moscow quoted his address to the participants of the event:

"Never forget your heritage. You are the heirs of the great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, that empire  a great, enlightened, [country of] great culture and great humanity. Never give up this heritage, you are the heirs of the great Mother Russia, go forward with this. And thank you. Thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russians."

Read also: Pope Francis condemns Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports grain terminals

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called his words imperial propaganda, which the Kremlin uses to justify the murder of thousands of Ukrainians and the destruction of hundreds of towns and villages.

Read also: Europe not seeking creative approaches to peace in Ukraine  Pope Francis

At the same time, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav, said that the pontiff's words were voiced "spontaneously, without any attempts at historical assessments, let alone support for Russia's imperialist ambitions." He noted that these remarks caused deep disappointment in society and hurt representatives of religious organizations.

Read also: Kremlin pleased by Popes acknowledgment of Russian cultural heritage, Vatican clarifies statement

The Apostolic Nunciature (the Vatican's diplomatic mission) in Ukraine released a statement saying that the Pontifical Representation "firmly rejects the aforementioned interpretations, as Pope Francis has never endorsed imperialistic notions" and is a "staunch opponent and critic of any form of imperialism or colonialism.

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
Were doing another live Dolphins blog at The Miami Herald today because of a flurry of moves expected. Today, please check at the bottom for live updates, including quick hits from Chris Griers 2 p.m. news conference:

1). The Dolphins are expected to move Jalen Ramsey and Elijah Campbell - and possibly Robert Jones - to injured reserve with a designation to return this season. That would allow the team to create openings on their 50 man roster.

On Tuesday, the Dolphins made two players practice who they then released: tight end Tyler Kroft and cornerback Parry Nickerson . Considering the Dolphins arent known as particularly ruthless, it would seem that one or both of those players could be re-signed when Ramsey, Campbell and perhaps Jones are shifted to IR.

[Update: The Dolphins have re-signed Nickerson, as Jordan Schultz reported. They also re-signed Kroft. And Miami claimed nobody waived by another team].

2). A source confirmed Stephen Holders ESPN report that the Packers were the mystery bidder for Jonathan Taylor.

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As we reported over the past week, the Dolphins and Colts discussed several permutations involving players and draft picks. But a trade never got close because the Colts kept asking for more and more, including receiver Jaylen Waddle , as Indy media reported and a team source confirmed.

Miami never considered the trade request for Waddle.

No team offered a first-round pick for Taylor, who can still be traded anytime before Nov. 1. But Taylor is ineligible to play for any team until Game 5 because hes on PUP.

3). The Dolphins are expected to put together a 16-player practice squad with safety Ethan Bonner, receiver Braylon Sanders , multiple front-seven defenders who were cut by the team (including Cameron Goode) and some players from other organizations. Six players on the practice squad can be experienced veterans.

LIVE BLOG

12:10 p.m.: The Dolphins are re-signing Nickerson, who had an impressive two weeks of camp. That gives them a cornerback room of Xavien Howard , Kader Kohou, Cam Smith, Kelvin Joseph , Eli Apple and Nickerson.

Ramsey and Nik Needham (PUP) are healing from surgeries.

12:45 p.m.: The Dolphins lost two of their 2023 draft picks on Wednesday, when sixth-round tight end Elijah Higgins and seventh-round offensive lineman Ryan Hayes were claimed by other teams.

Arizona claimed Higgins, who was transitioning from Stanford tight end to NFL receiver. Indianapolis claimed Hayes, who had some good moments in camp after a solid career at Michigan.

Miami hoped to move both players to their practice squad but that plan was torpedoed.

The Dolphins claimed no players who were waived by other teams.

1:15 p.m.: The Dolphins have begun signing players to the practice squad, including center Alama Uluave, receiver Braylon Sanders and edge player Cameron Goode.

1:30 p.m.: Dolphins general manager Chris Grier, asked the reasons why they werent more aggressive in pursuing Dalvin Cook or Jonathan Taylor: We felt good about the roster we have. When you build a team you look longterm and short. We are always aggressive but always going to be mindful - salary cap related...

He said he believes this roster is good enough to compete with Kansas City, Cincinnati, Buffalo...

Grier said there wont be contract talks with Tua Tagovailoa this season. Miami could revisit the idea of a longterm contract next offseason; the Dolphins previously picked up his $22 million 2024 option, but that could be replaced by a longterm deal.

Grier confirmed he had conversations with the Colts about Jonathan Taylor. He said he in general, he wouldnt trade Waddle...

Grier said he made an offer to Christian Wilkins but those talks will be tabled until the end of the season. He can be a free agent in March, though the team can put the franchise tag on him...

Elijah Campbell will stay on the active roster even though hes injured, Grier said... So Rob Jones and Jalen Ramsey are heading to IR... Grier said Keion Crossen on Tuesday suffered freak injury and is out for the year....

Tanner Conner is sticking around on the Dolphins practice squad, Grier said. Theres no decision on Robbie Chosen...

He said cornerback Kelvin Joseph, acquired from Dallas for Noah Igbinoghene, fills the Dolphins need for another nickel player. Kelvin can play inside or out.

3:15 p.m.: Besides center Alama Uluave, receiver Braylon Sanders, tight end Tanner Conner, safety Ethan Bonner and edge player Cameron Goode, the Dolphins announced three other practice squad signings: defensive end Randy Charlton, defensive lineman DaShawn Hand, linebacker AJ Johnson.

3:30 p.m.: Tyreek Hill was not spotted at practice, but his absence is excused and theres nothing to worry about... DeVon Achane (shoulder) was in a red non-contact jersey... Terron Armstead, Liam Eichenberg, Robert Jones, Salvon Ahmed, Jeff Wilson, Elijah Campbell and of course, Jalen Ramsey were sidelined with injuries.

3:45 p.m.: The Dolphins are signing former Patriots guard Chasen Hines to their practice squad, his agent told sportswriter Doug Kyed.

Hines was a Patriots sixth round pick out of LSU in 2022. He spent much of last year on injured reserve. He played 111 snaps at left guard in preseason and permitted two sacks, per PFF.

4 p.m.: The Dolphins re-signed tight end Tyler Kroft, as expected. Parry Nickerson and Kroft likely will fill the roster spots on the 53 that will be created when Miami moves Jalen Ramsey and Robert Jones to injured reserve.

4:15 p.m.: The Dolphins added veteran safety Joshua Kalu to their practice squad; he was cut by Washington this week. He appeared in 44 games with five starts for the Tennessee Titans; he had 68 tackles and two forced fumbles and one interception. Hes the 10th confirmed addition to the Dolphins practice squad.
Heres the latest on Hurricane Idalia as it moves through Georgia.

Tropical Storm Idalia heads into South Carolina

The system that made landfall in Florida as a major hurricane traveled further up the Georgia coast and neared South Carolina Wednesday night, the National Weather Service said in an 8 p.m. weather update. The storm was about 60 miles west of Charleston and still brought 65 mph winds.

Bibb Countys tropical storm warnings and other severe weather watches expired Wednesday night, though the NWS projected rain from the storm to remain in Middle Georgia through Thursday morning. Some tropical storm warnings were still in place in counties further north, including Toombs and Jefferson counties.

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The NWS also noted a threat of some tornadoes for parts of the Carolinas, but predicted little to no impacts by tornadoes in central and north Georgia.

Idalia downgraded to tropical storm

The storm system that wracked Florida and south Georgia with rain and wind was downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm kept moving east at a speed around 20 mph after passing over Valdosta and then Statesboro Wednesday afternoon. Its expected to continue over the Georgia coast and into South Carolina late Wednesday night.

Winds were measured at 70 mph around 5 p.m. as the storm was still west of Savannah. Rain should be expected from east-central Georgia to South Carolina for much of the night, NWS said.

-Micah Johnston, mjohnston@macon.com

Nobodys panicking

A few years ago, Clint Bowmans wife bought him a weather station off Amazon as a Fathers Day gift. They installed it on a pole in their backyard, where it measures the wind and rain.

Bowman, a retired teacher, lives in Waycross, Georgia. This morning, his weather station measured gusts of wind as high as 23 miles per hour.

When that thing hit 23 this morning, the pine trees were bending over at 15, 20 degrees, Bowman said. It was a hard, hard gust.

Since his weather station was partially sheltered by a neighboring house, the actual wind speeds were likely higher.

Then the trees outside began to crash down. Some were audible from within his house.

These are very tall, very old pine trees, Bowman said.

More recently, the rain let up as the storm passed directly over Waycross.

The eye is passing through right now, so its pretty calm, Bowman said.

Some residents whove been hunkered indoors all day cant resist surveying the damage to their town while they can.

A lot of people are driving around looking. They probably shouldnt be, but they are, said Bowman.

Much of the town doesnt have power.

But Bowman says Waycross residents are remaining calm. Nobodys panicking.

 Gautama Mehta, gmehta@macon.com

Something I never want to see again





In Idalias wake, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk told The Telegraph by phone early Wednesday afternoon that the storm was something I never want to see again.

Paulk said that in the storms aftermath, amid felled trees and snapped power lines, locals were inquiring about which roads were closed.

Its easier, he said, to tell you which ones are open.

Interstate 75, which runs through Valdosta, the county seat there, was closed for about six hours.

At times, it was blowing and raining so hard you couldnt see 15 feet in front of you, Paulk said. The utility people, they had to pull their (crews) back in it got so rough.

Scores of county roads were blocked by fallen trees. Telephone poles in spots were keeled over at 45-degree angles.

Youd run up on a tree that had the road blocked, Paulk said. Youd turn around and thered be another one down behind you.

 Joe Kovac Jr., jkovac@macon.com

Brunt of storm pretty rough in deep south Georgia





Matt Pittman, who runs Pittmans Taxidermy in Homerville, a town of about 2,400 people between Valdosta and Waycross, said the brunt of Idalia in Georgia had been pretty rough.

As the storms eye moved through at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, Pittman said by phone that power was out at his place south of town, as it was for thousands across that region on the northwestern fringes of the Okefenokee Swamp.

A tree just fell on the neighbors house a few minutes ago, but theyre OK, Pittman said.

He figured some of the gusts that ripped through topped 80 mph.

I just was talking to a neighbor that lives probably 5 or 6 miles down the road and hes got trees down all in his yard, Pittman said. He had a small metal building that looked like beer can if you crumpled it up in your hand.

 Joe Kovac Jr., jkovac@macon.com

Idalia, meet Vidalia

As Hurricane Idalia slogged across southeast Georgia on Wednesday, it wrung out a mop of atmospheric moisture that stretched from the edge of Alabama to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

One locale on the weather map between Macon and Savannah stood out in Idalias radar-green-and-yellow swirl: Vidalia.

The Toombs County towns name read like a near namesake for the storm.

On the ground there, downpours spit sideways as steady 30-mph winds blew through the land of the famed sweet onions at midafternoon and, at times, toppling trees and power lines.

Its just dreary-looking outside, Vidalia Fire Chief Brian Sikes said by phone.

Asked by a Telegraph reporter if anyone there had recognized the storms Vidalia-like name, the chief said there was, in fact, mention of the similarity.

Someone said to me that theyre gonna survive Idalia in Vidalia, Sikes said. It was ironic. We were sitting here trying to figure out, How do they come up with these names? I think they chose Vidalia and just took the V off of it.

 Joe Kovac Jr., jkovac@macon.com

All North Central Health District locations closed

The Georgia Department of Public Health announced Wednesday morning that all North Central Health District locations will be closed Wednesday due to Hurricane Idalia. This includes county health departments, WIC offices, the HOPE Center and the district office, according to a news release.

For the safety of health department clients and staff NCHD has suspended operations on Wednesday. Regular hours are expected to resume Thursday, August 31, read the release.

The North Central Health District includes county health departments in Baldwin, Crawford, Hancock, Houston, Jasper, Jones, Macon-Bibb, Monroe, Peach, Putnam, Twiggs, Washington and Wilkinson counties.

- Jenna Eason, jeason@macon.com

Idalia begins eastern turn

As Idalias eye churned south and east of Valdosta at about 20 mph, it has begun edging easterly, angling toward Waycross and Georgias vast and forested Atlantic coastal region below Interstate 16 west of Interstate 95.

The National Hurricane Center reported maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.

A 52-mph wind gust was reported at south Georgias Moody Air Force Base.A storm surge warning was in effect from just north of Sapelo Island, Georgia, and into South Carolina. A hurricane warning was also in place for much of Georgias coastline.

 Joe Kovac Jr., jkovac@macon.com

West Georgia should only see wind, little rain

While Idalia appears to be heading straight up I-75, meteorologists expect it to turn east/northeast, sparing much of western Georgia.

Since yesterday there has been some westward shifts in the overall track of Idalia, Katie Martin, a meteorologist with the NWS said. The forecast remains generally the same for Columbus. We dont have any type of warning. There are tropical storm warnings are to the east. Columbus will seue wind gusts of 25mph maybe occasional gusts around 30 mph. There may be some rainfall of 10th to a quarter of an inch through tomorrow morning at 8am. Columbus may see thunderstorms throughout the day.

Macon is more on the true outskirts of Idalia, so rainfall totals are 1.5 over the next 24 hours. Gustier than Columbus with winds in 40 mph. Valdosta rainfall expectations are 2-3 and is under a tropical storm warning. More wind and persistent heavy rain. Valdosta sustained 30-35mph and gusts to 55mph.

 Kala Hunter, khunter@ledger-enquirer.com

Incredible #Idalia storm surge 6 and counting here at Cedar Key, FL pic.twitter.com/8MzaHJpWce  Jim Cantore (@JimCantore) August 30, 2023

Churches cancel Wednesday night services

Middle Georgia churches have announced the cancellation of Wednesday night services due to Hurricane Idalia.

Several local schools and colleges have canceled classes or moved them remote.

Here is a list of churches who have announced cancellations:

Central Baptist Church : Central family, out of an abundance of caution with the expected potential of power outages and dangerous conditions, we will be cancelling our Midweek Meal and ALL Midweek (Wednesday night) activities. In addition, we will be closing the church office at 1 PM today. Stay safe and please join us in praying for all of those in Idalias path.

Church in the Orchard : Due to the condition of our campus grounds with the ongoing construction, we are having to cancel midweek service tonight. With the amount of rain that has already fallen and scheduled to fall, our parking would be very limited. We will move our Speed The Light Taco dinner to next Wednesday, we pray everyone has a safe evening. Were look forward to Sunday Morning.

First Baptist Church of Christ : All church activities are canceled for tonight due to the tropical storm warning in effect. Please be safe and take care of yourselves and others!

Second Baptist Church: Out of an abundance of caution with the expected high winds and the potential of power outages during food preparation hours, we will be canceling Wednesday Night Supper and ALL Wednesday Night Activities.

 Jenna Eason, jeason@macon.com

Macon-Bibb EMA Director Spencer Hawkins, center, watches Gov. Brian Kemps press conference on Hurricane Idalia Wednesday inside the emergency agencys bunker in downtown Macon.

Middle Georgia under tropical storm warning, flood watch

Hurricane warnings were issued for vast areas south and near a line stretching from Valdosta to Savannah, while rare tropical storm warnings reached far inland along an arc roughly from Albany to Macon and Warner Robins on over toward Milledgeville and Augusta.

In a predawn alert, the National Weather Service said tropical storm-force winds, up to 57 mph, were possible in parts of the midstate. Downed trees and electrical outages are likely as trees and limbs clip power lines. Flooding and tornadoes are also possible.

Wind gusts to 40 mph and 1-to-3 inches of rainfall were more likely in Middle Georgia locations.

 Joe Kovac Jr., jkovac@macon.com

Atlanta airport dealing with cancellations, delays

At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, more than 90 flights are canceled for Wednesday, many of them to and from affected airports in Florida. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has canceled more than 125 flights across its system for Wednesday.

Airlines are offering waivers to allow travelers with bookings to, from or through areas that may be affected by the storm, who want to change their travel plans without paying certain extra charges.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines waiver of a difference in fare for flight changes applies to Brunswick, Columbus, Savannah and Valdosta, Georgia; Charleston, Hilton Head Island and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Daytona Beach, Fort Myers, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Key West, Orlando, Panama City, Sarasota, Tallahassee and Tampa, Florida for passengers with flights booked Aug. 28-31, with certain limitations.

 Kelly Yamanouchi, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Threat slight for hurricane-spun tornadoes

Tornadoes, which are sometimes spun up by the outer bands of hurricanes and tropical storms, were deemed an isolated threat for Georgia as of midday Wednesday. The National Weather Service noted in a statement that fortunately, Idalia is a fast-moving storm and will be shunted eastward as a surface cold front pushes southward into north Georgia, and impacts will begin to quickly diminish.

 Joe Kovac Jr., jkovac@macon.com

Hurricane Idalia makes landfall in Florida

At 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, Idalia, as a Category 3 hurricane, made landfall along the coast of the Florida Big Bend near Keaton Beach. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be 125 mph.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts it will be at hurricane strength as it hits southeast Georgia late this afternoon, then gradually weaken to a tropical storm as it goes along the South Carolina coast.

 Mary Dimitrov, mdimitrov@islandpacket.com

Idalia is forecast to be at hurricane strength as it reaches southeast GA late this afternoon, then becoming a tropical storm as it tracks along the SC coast.https://t.co/3jVyiczXiy pic.twitter.com/bw6z9SLEyt  NWS Charleston, SC (@NWSCharlestonSC) August 30, 2023
Sacramento woke up to a hazy skyline Wednesday morning as wildfires continued to burn north of the capital city.

According to an air quality forecast from Spare the Air, winds began to push smoke from wildfires in the far northwest corner of California and southern Oregon into the Sacramento region on Tuesday. The result: Worsened air quality across the Sacramento Valley.

Air pollution was recorded at unhealthy levels, above AQI 150 in parts of Sacramento, Yolo, Sutter and Colusa counties  Oak Park, West Sacramento, Davis, West Butte and Princeton  according to an online air quality map from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Pollution levels reached unhealthy for sensitive groups near Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, North Highlands and Carmichael. Moderate levels were recorded in Roseville, Citrus Heights and Fair Oaks.

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According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, AQI readings between 101 and 150 are considered unhealthy for sensitive groups including children, pregnant women, older adults and those with heart and lung conditions. Moderate AQI readings between 51 and 100 are considered acceptable but conditions could affect those extremely sensitive to ozone.

The Sacramento regions forecast for Wednesday has air quality at 112 AQI, according to Spare the Air. Thursdays forecast is 91 AQI.

TODAYS AIR QUALITY

This live-updating map shows the combined readings for particulate matter and ozone.

CALIFORNIA'S AIR QUALITY

This live-updating map shows the combined readings for particulate matter and ozone.

Red flag warning in effect for the Sacramento Valley

The areas first red flag warning of the year remains in effect through 8 p.m. Wednesday as wildfire threats loom, according to the National Weather Service.

A red flag warning is issued when fire conditions have either entered the area or are expected soon. The mix of gusty wind, low humidity and high temperatures could cause a wildfire to grow quickly in both size and strength.

The highest threat will be on the western portion of the Sacramento Valley, along Interstate 5, according to the weather service.

Winds are expected to whip between 15 and 25 mph, with gusts from 30 to 35 mph.

A Red Flag Warning remains in effect through 8 PM today for portions of the Sacramento Valley. Breezy winds & very dry conditions will create critical fire weather conditions.



Be sure to use extra caution if using outdoor equipment and keep vehicles off of dry grass! #cawx pic.twitter.com/IOPRZ73Tof  NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) August 30, 2023

What do you want to know about life in Sacramento? Ask our service journalism team your top-of-mind questions in the module below or email servicejournalists@sacbee.com.
Police arrested the person they say is responsible for a road rage shooting in southeast Charlotte Wednesday that put three schools on lockdown.

Just before 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, a woman was transported to Atrium Main with serious injuries following the shooting on Rama Road near Sheppard Court, according to MEDIC.

The shooting took place while students were being dropped off at schools in the area. This prompted Rama Road Elementary School, McClintock Middle School, and East Mecklenburg High School to go into lockdown, according to CMS.

ALSO READ: Sheriff: Lockdown lifted at East Union MS; student tip deemed not credible

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Around 8:15 a.m., CMS announced that the lockdown had been lifted.

Thats wild, said Lisa Coriano, a parent who picked up her daughter from McClintock Middle.

The schools sent out a notice but not in a timely enough fashion for Shaquanda Geathers.

I feel like we should have gotten some kind of notice beforehand, but we didnt find out until our kids were already on the way to school, said Geathers, a parent. That was kind of nerve-wracking.

Cariano would have liked to see administrators handle the communication differently, as well.

They said it was on a lockdown, she said. Yes, thats what they are supposed to do, I guess. But I think a phone call or a child should be able to call home to say, Hey, Im safe.

The 35-year-old victim was shot in the leg and is recovering at home, police said.

On Thursday, police announced that Andre Malik Whitfield had turned himself in and was charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

Its unclear what started the road rage incident.

VIDEO: East Union Middle School placed on lockdown; no active threat, county says




Canton residents, some in tears, opened up about the impact the Karen Read murder case has had on their community during a town select board hearing on Tuesday night.

Read, the girlfriend of late Boston Police Officer John OKeefe, is accused of backing over him and leaving him to die in the snow outside of a Canton home during a blizzard in January 2022. She is charged with second-degree murder in his death.

The case has drawn national attention over the defenses claims of a wide-ranging cover-up encompassing everyone from attendees of a party at the home, to law enforcement officials who have investigated OKeefes death.

The defense claims OKeefe entered the home, where party attendees beat him up and then covered up his resulting death and left him outside in the snow.

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Prosecutors allege Read was drunk behind the wheel when she hit OKeefe while executing a 3-point turn in the driveway.

Karen Read, 41, of Mansfield, Mass., is charged with manslaughter in the Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, death of Boston police Officer John OKeefe. O'Keefe, 46, was off duty at the time of his death.

High bail for girlfriend charged with manslaughter in death of off-duty Boston police officer

High bail for girlfriend charged with manslaughter in death of off-duty Boston police officer

High bail for girlfriend charged with manslaughter in death of off-duty Boston police officer

High bail for girlfriend charged with manslaughter in death of off-duty Boston police officer

High bail for girlfriend charged with manslaughter in death of off-duty Boston police officer

Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe

Karen Read is arraigned in Stoughton District court accused of manslaughter in death of off-duty Boston Police officer John O'Keefe

Its been a long 19 months and I want to see if theres an outside and independent investigation, non-biased, that can look into this terrible thing that happened 19 months ago today, an emotional Canton resident said in front of a large crowd that gathered at the board hearing.

OKeefes bruised and battered body was discovered in a snowbank outside the home the next morning.

Read has maintained her innocence from the start, and earlier this summer, her parents told Boston 25 News that theyre confident in their daughters innocence as her legal fight continues.

In a rare move, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey released a video statement condemning the alleged ongoing harassment of witnesses in the case, calling it absolutely baseless.

An investigation remains ongoing.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Richard Grayson has won three primary elections in Arizona as a write-in candidate. He said he's seeking a fourth as a No Labels candidate.

Organizers of the newly recognized No Labels Party in Arizona assert many things, including that they have no desire to field candidates for state office in the 2024 general election or to hold a state primary election.

Evidently, theyll have to put up with both nevertheless.

Thats because of unique Arizona election rules that are favorable even to those candidates who cant muster support from their political parties or the electorate to qualify.

Write-in candidate rules have a loophole

Two people have pulled papers to run as a No Labels candidate and more could be on the horizon.

Normally, that doesnt mean anything.

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A hopeful would still need to collect sufficient nomination signatures to qualify for the primary and then secure at least that same number of votes to advance to the general election.

Even with a much lower signature threshold than for candidates of established parties  that is, Democrats or Republicans  its not a sure thing.

Except for wrinkles in Arizona law involving write-in candidates, which at least one of the two No Labels aspirants, Richard Grayson, will look to exploit.

The filing period for write-in candidates begins after the regular filing period for the primary has ended and when the primary ballot lineups are clear.

Earn the nomination with just 1 vote

The timing allows opportunistic write-ins to select a race that features no or few other challengers.

Even when no candidate of a party qualifies via nomination signatures, the county recorder's offices must print and mail out ballots for primaries  in this case, ones listing the various offices up for election, but with blank space where candidate names would otherwise appear  to voters on the Early Voting List or who request an early ballot.

More notably, state statutes enable a write-in candidate of a party that is not qualified for continued representation on the official ballot  a new political party falls under this category  to win the partys nomination with a plurality of the votes.

As few as one.

Grayson has won three primaries that way  twice under the Green Party and once under Americans Elect  with as few as two votes.

Eleven votes in the 2012 primary were his high mark; he was trounced in the general election by U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar.

Grayson sees this as performance art

To say Grayson is a political provocateur is no exaggeration.

He spent his early adulthood campaigning for candidates for national and state offices in New York where he grew up. He took a turn as candidate himself and kept at it over the past four decades, decidedly more as performance art than political ambition.

He once ran for city council in a Florida community and when the topic of protection of horses came up, he mused that they probably make for very intelligent voters and should be given the right to vote.

Grayson also suggested that the community change its name from Davie to David to add formality and gravitas.

In 1980, he ran for vice president of the United States, pledging to ban religious bookstores and restore the monarchy.

He simply wants to mess up No Labels

Hes an avowed progressive Democrat who banks, as he has done in other Arizona elections, on running as a protest candidate against an incumbent Republican.

And to do it by undermining No Labels, which he sees as nothing more than a nefarious bid to siphon Democratic support and get Donald Trump reelected.

He doesnt seek nor want help from the Democratic Party because he doesnt plan on campaigning or winning.

He recycles a response he once gave to a reporter: If I win, the first thing Id do is demand a recount.

It doesn't matter that he won't win

Grayson hasnt decided which race hell run. Hes eyeing one in which a GOP incumbent faces no challengers.

But true to form of his performance art, he has created a Pinal County (where he lives) No Labels Party voters for Joe Biden web page and registered an Arizona No Labels Party for Joe Biden PAC.

Grayson sees his motivations, like his chances of winning a general election, as unimportant.

I am very immature even in my 70s. Maybe I think I can do to No Labels what the Democratic Party would like to do. Maybe not, he told me.

But, hey, Ive made a lifetime of public performances by being disingenuous.

Reach Abe Kwok at akwok@azcentral.com. On X, formerly Twitter: @abekwok.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: This Democrat is running under No Labels Party just to mess things up
Lower Makefield police have yet to crack the case of vandals egging homes and vehicles in the township, and have now issued an alert. They say it's no yolk.

After prices soared, some Americans have decided to allegedly steal and, at times, commit crimes with eggs.

Lower Makefield police first reported cases of "unknown person(s)" egging vehicles on Roelofs Road at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 12. At 9:30 a.m. that day, police also reported a case on Pickering Drive, where someone egged a home and vehicle.

On Aug. 21, police said they received reports of a home on Aspen Drive egged for two consecutive days. That same day, a resident on Pine Line also reported a home egging at 10:18 p.m.

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On Wednesday Lower Makefield police issued an alert. "There have been numerous reports of vandalism, specifically eggs being thrown at homes and vehicles, throughout the [t]ownship. Residents are encouraged to report these incidents to police."

Bucks County residents were urged to share any information or video footage with Lower Makefied at 267-274-1165.

More: Report says rent is going down in PA. How does your rent in Bucks County compare?

More: Bucks County districts prep for back to school. Here's when students return

It's hardly the first case of eggs leading to police reports. In July, three Georgia men were reportedly charged with murder following an alleged lover's quarrel that resulted in egg-throwing at a man's house.

The price of a dozen eggs soared to $4.82 in January 2023, according the Federal Reserve. The cost has since dropped to $2.09 cost per dozen, as of July 2023, the latest figures available.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Lower Makefield fights back on egging vandals who hit cars, houses
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick presides over on the Senate floor during the first day of the second special session at the state Capitol in Austin on June 28, 2023. Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune

In the Texas Senate, what Dan Patrick wants  Dan Patrick typically gets.

Widely regarded as one of Texas most powerful lieutenant governors ever, Patrick has embraced his reputation as a hard-charging political strategist and kingmaker, known to run roughshod over the Legislature to get his way.

But as the Republican-dominated Senate prepares to take on the historic task of deciding whether to permanently remove fellow Republican and Attorney General Ken Paxton , Patrick is confronting an uncomfortable and unexpected test of his own  fraught with political, legal and ethical landmines.

In the lead up to Tuesdays trial, Patrick has been under tremendous scrutiny and pressure as Paxton allies and opponents search for signs of which way he may be leaning. And whether he likes it or not, it is turning into a legacy-making moment in the latter years of his career.

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I will be honest: I was concerned that Patrick was gonna put his thumb on the scale, said Steve Armbruster, the chairman of the Williamson County GOP who opposed his precinct chairs resolution condemning Paxtons impeachment. Anyone that pays any attention to Texas politics knows that theres only one vote that matters in the Texas Senate, and thats the lieutenant governors.

Politically, there are no easy paths for Patrick. If he oversees Paxtons removal, it will anger a faction of conservatives to which Patrick has long owed his political career. If Paxtons acquitted, it would affirm skeptics suspicions of Patricks bias in favor of the attorney general all along. Those concerns metastasized with the revelation that Patrick accepted $3 million from a pro-Paxton group in late June.

An acquittal would also further inflame tensions between Patrick and Phelans House, where House Republicans put their political capital on the line when they overwhelmingly voted to impeach Paxton for abuses of office.

Those who know Patrick well say he is working hard to rise to the moment. Sherry Sylvester, a former top adviser to the lieutenant governor, said he has worked harder to prepare for this than anything I have ever seen him do.

[His] goal is to preside over a fair and unbiased process that reflects the integrity of the Senate and is befitting this historic moment in Texas history, Sylvester said in a statement. The rule making process so far makes it clear that he and the Senate are approaching this with the utmost seriousness.

Patricks campaign did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Paxton also did not respond to a request for comment.

Patrick and Paxton, of course, have plenty of political kinship. They share top donors in the far-right benefactors Tim Dunn and the Wilks family. They are both staunch allies of former President Donald Trump, who spoke out against Paxton's impeachment in the House. And they have both bonded over their dislike for the House speaker, Dade Phelan, who they have criticized for being too conciliatory toward Democrats.

When Paxton was facing a close reelection battle in 2018, Patricks campaign gave him a $250,000 boast in the final days, loaning him $125,000 and giving another $125,000 as an in-kind contribution for ads.

But the two are not exactly kindred spirits.

When Paxton was facing a hotly contested primary last year, Patrick initially stayed on the sidelines and raised alarms in Paxtons circle that he was working to undermine Trumps support for Paxton, The Texas Tribune reported at the time. Patrick ultimately endorsed Paxton in the primary runoff.

That murkiness around their relationship, combined with all the pretrial events, has fueled perhaps more intrigue than ever around the lieutenant governor, who is otherwise known for being relatively transparent about his plotting at the Capitol. Now, he is playing his cards close to the vest and keeping Austin on edge about how he feels personally.

Does he actually want Paxton to go? Is he just putting on a show before an inevitable acquittal?

Mixed signals

The trial rules that Patricks Senate issued in June  after a protracted period of deliberation  were the first big sign that Patrick might not let Paxton off easy. The rules rejected some proposals that Paxtons side had specifically called for, like no live witness testimony.

Even before the Senate approved the rules, Patrick rebuffed Paxtons fiercest defenders, who had argued the House impeachment process was so broken that the Senate should return the articles to the lower chamber in protest.

In general, we have to deal with it, Patrick said at the time.

The House impeachment managers complimented the rules as fair, while Paxtons team was more muted.

Yet if the rules gave Patricks skeptics some new optimism, it was zapped a few weeks later.

Campaign finance reports released in mid-July revealed Patrick accepted $3 million in funding from a political action committee, Defend Texas Liberty, that had been fervently defending Paxton. The funding included a $1 million donation and $2 million loan.

Patrick has declined to comment on the donations. Curiously, he issued the gag order one day before the donation and loan became public. One Democratic state senator, Nathan Johnson of Dallas, did not hold back, calling the funding obscene in a tweet that criticized Defend Texas Liberty, not Patrick.

While Paxtons side initially sought to flatter the Senate with predictions they would take the process more seriously than the House did, his lawyers have shown increasing frustration. His lawyers in a recent impeachment filing demanded that the Senate sanction the House impeachment managers for not complying with Patricks discovery orders, saying the only remedy at this point is throwing out the entire case. The filing did not explicitly criticize Patrick or the Senate, but the subtext was clear from Paxtons side: They believe the Senate is letting the House impeachment managers make a mockery of the process.

Paxtons allies have been willing to give latitude to Patrick, though they have not scored him perfectly. Some, for example, have objected to the trial rule that prohibits Paxtons wife, Sen. Angela Paxton , from voting in the trial, arguing it effectively disenfranchises her voters in the process.

I really think [Patrick]s done the best he can given the fact this is not a common process he can go back to, said Abraham George, chairman of the Republican Party in Collin County, where Paxton lives. Plus, Abraham added, both Patrick and Paxton have similar bases  their politics align a lot  so I think that made it even tougher for him to make sure he does it right.

Political trial

Preparation for the trial has consumed Patricks summer. He has scaled back public events, campaign fundraising and media appearances.

In one of his few TV interviews since he issued the gag order, Patrick turned heads with a three-sentence comment.

"Its not a criminal trial. Its not a civil trial. Its a political trial, Patrick said.

The comment came as the two sides were battling one another in pretrial filings, and it was welcome news for House impeachment managers who had been asserting the same view.

After the rules were set, one of Patrick's next big moves was issuing the gag order, prohibiting parties from publicly commenting on a range of topics.

But the gag order has faced numerous challenges. There was Johnsons tweet, which prompted Paxtons lawyers to ask Patrick to disqualify Johnson as a juror. There have been multiple apparent leaks to the media, including a leak of witness lists to the Dallas Morning News that were supposed to remain confidential. And Paxtons team has pushed the envelope with various communication tactics by leaning on a provision of the gag order that allows them to recite information that is already out in the public.

Patrick has not publicly enforced the gag order against anyone and has even raised questions about whether he is following it. While he has declined to comment on the Defend Texas Liberty funding, he sent out a fiery tweet Sunday denying that there were back-channel conversations between the Senate and Paxton about the possibility he would resign before the trial.

Patricks also taken heat for his selection of counsel for the trial. Earlier this month, he picked Marc Brown, a former state appeals court judge in Harris County, to be his top legal adviser for the trial, but Brown withdrew a day later, citing a donation he had given to one of Paxtons primary challengers in 2021.

Browns decision came after the Tribune asked the former judge and Patricks office about the donation. But it also came after Texas Scorecard, a conservative site that is usually friendly to Patrick, published a story alleging a close relationship between Brown and House impeachment investigators.

At some point, Dan Patrick might need to find out why his staff didnt ask about this fellows inbound and outbound donations, Scorecard publisher Michael Quinn Sullivan said in a tweet. The due diligence seems to have been non-existent.

On Monday, Patrick picked Lana Myers, a former state appeals court judge from North Texas, to be his impeachment counsel. Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi, a vocal critic of Paxtons impeachment, called Myers a great choice on Twitter.

Taking it all in, Paxtons skeptics believe they have, at a minimum, avoided the worst-case scenario: a process glaringly biased in favor of Paxton. Yet they also know Patrick still holds a lot of power  both under the trial rules and more generally as lieutenant governor  and can still slant the process his way if he chooses.

The view from Paxtons world

While Paxtons supporters have not been as critical as Patrick as they have been of Phelan, they have had disagreements with the Senates handling of the case.

John OShea, a Paxton friend who is running for Congress in North Texas, said he had a few concerns about how Patrick has handled his role so far. In a statement, OShea said it was his firm belief that Patrick should have remanded the impeachment to the House due to how shoddily it was handled there. OShea also cited the Brown debacle, saying Patrick initially picked a counsel who recused himself only after it came to light in the news that he had close ties with the House investigators and had contributed to Kens primary challenger.

Angela Paxtons recusal continues to be a sore spot. The trial rules allow her to attend the trial but says she cannot vote on anything or participate in deliberations.

Paxtons lawyers had lobbied against such a rule and Angela Paxton voted against the rule package, appearing to cite her required recusal as the reason. Steve Hotze, a conservative activist in Houston who supports Paxton, has sued the Senate to overturn both Angela Paxtons recusal and the gag order.

After the rules were finalized, Doug Deason, a prominent GOP donor from Dallas who is close with the Paxtons, tweeted that Angela Paxtons recusal was a poor decision by the rule-making committee, which is made up of seven senators.

Someone wants to be AG, Deason said.

In an interview last week, Deason said he thinks Patrick, overall, is taking [his role] seriously and has been thoughtful about it. But echoing fellow Paxton friends like OShea, Deason said Patrick should have just refused to accept the impeachment from the House. The lieutenant governor, Deason added, knows I feel that way.

I think he looks at this as as much of an attack on him and the Senate as much as on Ken Paxton, Deason said. I think the House, the leadership, did this to put the Senate in this awkward position that theyre now in.

Patricks future

For Patricks critics, the $3 million from Defend Texas Liberty is all they need to know about how the trial will ultimately go. On the flip side, longtime observers of Patrick have speculated he could be looking to cement his all-powerful status in Austin by defying his biggest donors when the spotlight is the brightest.

While Paxton is fighting to retain his job now, the 73-year-old Patrick is not up for reelection until 2026 and may be in the final years of his political career. He said earlier this year that he intended to run again, but it was a reversal of previous statements and speculation persists about whether he is truly committed to another term or just trying to avoid lame-duck status by saying he will seek reelection.

Inside the Senate, it is no secret that multiple GOP senators would run to succeed Patrick when he is done as lieutenant governor. Patricks preferences in the trial  or at least the perception of them  could weigh heavily on those senators who may be seeking his blessing one day.

That assumes Patrick remains the presiding officer throughout the trial. The rules give Patrick multiple off-ramps to deemphasize his role in the trial, including the ability to appoint a senator or jurist to replace him as presiding officer.

Patrick seems unlikely to do so at this stage, but such wrinkles continue to fuel intrigue around his historic role.

Even Democrats are giving Patrick his space. Asked how seriously the party believes Patrick is taking his role, the Texas Democratic Party provided a statement from chair Gilberto Hinojosa that avoided any shots at the lieutenant governor.

Texas Democrats have faith that Democratic Senators are taking their responsibility as jurors in the Paxton trial very seriously, Hinojosa said.

As for pro-Paxton Republicans, they are still largely behind Patrick, hoping he ultimately delivers a comeuppance to the House.

Lt. Gov. Patrick has acted as a fair and impartial arbiter who has preserved the rule of law, as well as the dignity and stature of the upper legislative chamber, Rinaldi said, during this political spectacle that was imprudently forced upon them by a House in disarray.

The full program is now LIVE for the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 21-23 in Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations coming to TribFest. Panel topics include the biggest 2024 races and whats ahead, how big cities in Texas and around the country are changing, the integrity of upcoming elections and so much more. See the full program.
 Flash

The United States announced on Tuesday an additional package of military assistance to Ukraine worth $250 million.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the new package includes AIM-9M missiles for air defense, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, and over 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition.

The latest assistance is executed under a previous directive from President Joe Biden using the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA). Weapons and equipment being provided through this approach are drawn directly from the Department of Defense's (DoD) inventories for Ukraine.

This is the Biden administration's 45th PDA-related military aid to Ukraine since August 2021, according to a DoD list of the latest weapons heading to Ukraine.

The Biden administration has committed more than 43.7 billion dollars in military assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, according to the DoD.
While taking an oath of secrecy, a grand juror recorded himself with his phone, looked into the camera and said Im about to lie, according to federal prosecutors.

Alexander Hamilton  a 28-year-old Washington, D.C. resident not to be confused with one of the founding fathers of the U.S.  filmed grand jury proceedings within D.C. Superior Court and posted the videos to his public Instagram, prosecutors said.

Several videos shared to his account with more than 10,000 followers were of at least 18 different witnesses and their grand jury testimony about serious violent crimes, including homicides, according to court documents, which say their identities were compromised.

In some of the videos Hamilton posted to his Instagram story, he called witnesses rats and snitches  and even broadcast some testimony live, according to his statement of offense filed in court.

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Sometimes, Hamilton overlaid videos of witness testimony with images of rats, the statement of offense says.

In October, an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department came across Hamiltons Instagram account and saw live posts of videos he realized were filmed inside the Superior Courts grand jury room, according to a criminal complaint. Hamilton was arrested in November 2022, prosecutors said.

On Aug. 29, Hamilton pleaded guilty to contempt and obstruction of justice in violation of federal and D.C. law, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia announced in a news release.

McClatchy News contacted a federal public defender representing Hamilton for comment and didnt receive an immediate response.

The secrecy of grand jury proceedings protects the integrity of ongoing investigationsbefore serving, grand jurors take an oath to protect this secrecy, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said in a statement.

We will vigorously prosecute those, like Hamilton, who compromise the integrity of the criminal justice system.

Hamilton calls witness a vicious rat

Hamilton also shared his recordings in text messages, prosecutors say.

In one video sent via text on Oct. 6, Hamilton filmed the face of a grand jury witness and called them a vicious rat out loud, his statement of offense says.

Hamilton told investigators he filmed grand jury proceedings on one of his two phones, prosecutors said.

Hamilton knew, when he disclosed these videos, that doing so violated the grand jury secrecy rules and the Chief Judges instructions, his statement of offense says.

Hamilton also knew that calling witnesses derogatory names and revealing their identities on his public Instagram could pose a security risk to witnesses, could discourage others from testifying as witnesses, or could otherwise impede the grand jury investigations.

At a sentencing hearing set for Nov. 29, Hamilton will face up to three years in prison, prosecutors said.

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An Alton man was sentenced to 135 years in prison in connection with the shootings of three people, including a woman whose leg was nearly severed.

Steven Foster, 37, received the sentence Wednesday in Circuit Court in Madison County. Following a week-long jury trial in March, he was found guilty of three counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of aggravated battery with a firearm and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm.

This is a repeat criminal. This isnt the first time he has terrorized our community, but its definitely the last, said Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine said.

The shootings occurred on Sept. 8, 2021 in the 700 block of Oakwood Estates in Alton. They were the result of a dispute between Foster and one of the victims, who had made fun of the condition of a car driven by Fosters friend.

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After arguing, Foster left the scene but soon returned and opened fire, according to court records.

All three victims suffered serious injuries and were treated at a hospital in St. Louis. One victim suffered a gunshot that nearly blew her leg off, Assistant States Attorney Morgan Hudson told the sentencing judge, but doctors successfully reattached the limb.

At the sentencing hearing Wednesday, Hudson asked Associate Judge Neil Schroeder to impose a sentence exceeding 100 years. She noted that Foster fired into a crowd of more than 20 people, and that a baby had been present minutes earlier.

Hudson also noted that Foster has a lengthy criminal record and was on federal probation for a drug offense at the time, yet he chose to arm himself and return to the dispute.

He could have gone home. He should have gone home, Hudson argued.

Foster will be required to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence.

Haine commended the witnesses, who demonstrated courage by cooperating in the investigation and testifying at trial. Hudson and Assistant States Attorney Luke Yager prosecuted the case. Alton Police Department, Illinois State Police Crime Lab and other agencies assisted, Haine said.

Im proud of the work of the States Attorneys Office in this case, and Im equally proud of the way the community came together to help us secure this conviction and sentence, Haine said. Fortunately, no lives were lost as a result of this violence.

This was a complicated investigation that involved a very chaotic scene, Haine said.
WHITEWATER DRAW WILDLIFE AREA  Philip Lavretsky sat behind a camouflaged screen, head down but eyes to the sky as a trio of ducks circled in a possible glide path onto the pond before him.

Dont move, he whispered to the others in his blind as the birds circled again, this time zooming directly overhead, between the trees that shaded and obscured his hideout. But the ducks flew on, out of sight.

He was ready at the trigger had these ducks only folded up their wings and come in for a landing in front of him.

But he was no ordinary duck hunter, and these were no ordinary ducks. Lavretsky is a wildlife geneticist from the University of Texas at El Paso, out to capture Mexican ducks, a species about whose habits and critical habitats surprisingly little is known. He and a few colleagues were spread out across this southern Arizona refuge to learn more so that game managers from here to central Mexico could better protect the waterfowl.

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The report that the ducks would hear if they fell for his trap would come not from a shotgun, but from a row of explosive charges stuffed into metal cylinders attached to a bunched-up, 30-by-50-foot net and staked into the dirt on the bank.

Each cylinder was open in the rear, so the blast would propel it forward, flinging the net over ducks on the water. A wire led from each rocket to an ignition button in Lavretskys hand.

He blew his duck call as group after group disappeared behind trees, and sometimes the racket drew them back for a second look at two mallard decoys he had set out. Ibises and killdeers waded in the pond, but the ducks wouldnt stop. Eventually, Lavretsky removed the decoys in case they didnt look right to his targets.

Science, like ducks, can't be rushed.

Were they mallards or some other kind of duck?

That's especially true with these particular ducks. Chris Klasen, a Ducks Unlimited volunteer helping with the study that afternoon in mid-August, said he learned it when he moved from Indiana to Arizona and started chasing desert waterfowl. There was something different about the mallards here.

At least, he thought these brown ducks in the hills and vales of southeastern Arizona were a subspecies of mallard, North America's most abundant duck. So did the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The birds had most of a mallards look, though only some of the males had the telltale green or, more often, partially green head. They hung out with mallards in fall and winter, when mallards returned here from their northern breeding ponds. And the brown-headed local ducks  even the drakes  counted as hen mallards in a hunters daily bag limit.

A Mexican duck just before being released on Aug. 16, 2023, at the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in McNeal, Arizona.

But these ducks were different. There was the head, which even when showing green might only have a streak of it. There was the fact that they stuck around southern Arizona or northern Mexico, not joining the others on seasonal flights north.

And there was something about their behavior, which Klasen described as somewhat gregarious and prone to flocking up when mallards were around, but also skittish, a trait he associates with pintail ducks, making them more difficult to decoy into gun range.

You get a very wary duck, he said, which is the Mexican duck.

Indeed, it turns out these were and are Mexican ducks, and not mallards after all. But it would take Lavretsky a while to prove it.

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Mexican ducks had been classified as their own species when then-President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act, and due to their relative scarcity north of the U.S.-Mexico border, they enjoyed the acts protection until 1978. Thats when then U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined it had erred, and that the Mexican duck was so interbred with mallards that it was, itself, a population of mallards.

Not so, said Lavretsky, who runs his schools population and evolutionary genetics lab. He collected and sampled the ducks, which generally range through much of central and northern Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and New Mexico, and into Arizona. After comparing DNA, he found the Mexican duck to be more different from mallards than mallards are from black ducks, which are classified as their own species.

Lavretsky published a paper with those results in 2015, but said the American Ornithological Union, since rebranded as the American Ornithological Society after a merger, recommended maintaining the birds mallard subspecies status until the rate of hybridization could be determined.

Philip Lavretsky (center), UTEP associate professor of biological sciences, puts captured Mexican ducks in a crate on Aug. 16, 2023, at the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in McNeal, Arizona. Assisting Lavretsky is Eric Larson, a volunteer.

Lavretskys further studies in Mexico and the U.S. found that when mallards and Mexican ducks congregate, only 5% are hybrids. That compares to a hybridization rate of 25% between mallards and black ducks, he found. This research led the experts and the Fish and Wildlife Service to again reclassify Mexican ducks four years ago, this time back to their own species.

Glaciation a half-million years ago forced the ancestors of mallards and Mexican ducks into refugia in Arizona and Mexico, according to what Lavretsky called the current hypothesis about their evolution. When the ice retreated to the north, many resumed northern migration patterns, and their line became mallards. But some were content and well-adapted to the desert, and they became Mexican ducks.

Figure out where the ducks go and maybe their population would take off

The same year that Mexican ducks regained their species status, Klasen turned his passion for duck hunting into a part-time job under the name AZ Desert Waterfowl. The Sierra Vista firefighter began guiding clients from around the country on his days off as they sought to fill out their North American list of duck species bagged. The Mexican duck rounded out the list at 42.

Theyre trophy hunting, Klasen said. He aids them through his arrangement with a ranch owner for access to hunting grounds on the border. The birds can be unpredictable, given the unpredictable nature of water in the desert, he said. Sometimes a big rainy season leads to hundreds of birds coming within range in Cochise County. Other times, drought disperses them, perhaps to Mexico, to ranchers stock ponds, or to hidden wetlands.

Mexican ducks are captured and fitted with radio collars and then released on Aug. 16, 2023, at the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in McNeal, Arizona.

Its hard to know where they go  or even where they breed  because decades of confusion over their status led to a lack of research.

We dont have a lot of water or wetlands, Klasen said, but if we could figure out where these birds are going or what theyre using, maybe we could take better care of it and these birds (population) would take off.

That, now, is what Lavretsky and colleagues at the Fish and Wildlife Service and New Mexico State University aim to learn, with funding support from Ducks Unlimited. So Klasen, a Ducks Unlimited member and volunteer, joined Lavretsky and crew at Whitewater Draw in mid-August to help trap Mexican ducks for the study.

At Whitewater Draw: Tens of thousands of sandhill cranes return to southern Arizona for the winter

The wildlife area, managed by the Arizona Game & Fish Department, is 18 miles northwest of the border town of Douglas, as the duck flies, and 14 northeast of Bisbee. It includes ponds supplied by pumped groundwater. Its surrounded by a dry valley, scrub, tallgrass, croplands and dirt. Various waterfowl use its ponds and marshes in season, as do sandhill cranes, but the Mexican ducks may be present at any time of year.

By day, the birds fan out in search of food, sometimes plundering nearby cornfields that supply cattle feed to Willcox-area dairies. In the evening, they often return to Whitewater Draw, as they gradually did on the afternoon of Aug. 16, when Lavretsky sat on a folding stool, camouflaged by the limbs of a tree above him and some drab mesh staked in the ground before him.

Waiting, waiting, waiting and then duck! Those are ducks in the net

Dan Collins, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services migratory bird coordinator who is working with Lavretsky on this study, lay in another blind at a different pond. The two texted back and forth about what they were seeing, each noting when they had a chance to unfurl the nets they minded, but each also holding back in hopes of nabbing more than one or two ducks.

The goal for the day was to fit 10 ducks with aluminum leg bands, and several of either sex with little strap-on backpacks containing radio transmitters to track where they would go in the year after their release.

Dan Collins (top), USFWS migratory game bird biologist, and Eric Larson, volunteer, fit a Mexican duck with a tracking collar on Aug. 16, 2023, at the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in McNeal, Arizona.

They had anchored one end of each net along the shoreline with rebar and attached the other end to several rockets. Each man held a wired remote to set off the charges, which would fling the net over swimming ducks and hold them until they could grab them and place them in crates.

Lavretsky waited in his blind until, at about a quarter after 4, a lone female Mexican duck finally descended and began gorging on the corn in front of the net. Then a second one joined her.

Lavretsky waited for more and, after 45 minutes, was rewarded with wave after wave of Mexican ducks, dozens in all. Perhaps 20 of them parked themselves in the nets path before the biologist touched off the rockets to ensnare 11 of them and, momentarily, one of the ibises. The nets anchor had ripped free from the dirt on one end, flinging the net aimlessly beyond the ducks, or he would have caught more.

Moments after the blast, Collins, Klasen and another volunteer sped up a dike in two trucks, arriving at the pond in time to help gather the ducks and free the ibis before they might drown. After crating the ducks, the crew went to work processing them: a numbered band around the ankle, a solar-powered transmitter on the back with straps over the shoulders and around the chest, blood drawn and measurements taken.

Philip Lavretsky (center), UTEP associate professor of biological sciences, and Eric Larson (right), volunteer, take a blood sample from a Mexican duck on Aug. 16, 2023, at the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in McNeal, Arizona.

How have the ducks adapted to their desert habitat?

It was a rewarding end to what had been a long day for a crew that arrived on site early enough to see the Perseids meteor shower but failed to lure a duck into their grasp during the morning session. The final count was nine drakes and two hens. They placed transmitters on five of them. With one attached to a hen during in a previous tracking session, that gave them three of each sex to track remotely in the wild.

Ducks Unlimited gave $50,000 to the cause. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added $42,000. Collins said he was able to convince his agency to pay for GPS tracking of the ducks after they were reclassified. New Mexico State is covering costs for a graduate student to assist.

One important aspect of this study is to find out where these ducks breed. As much time as these biologists spend with them in the field, they said, they almost never see them rearing a clutch of ducklings on a nest.

Dan Collins (center), USFWS migratory game bird biologist, hands off a captured Mexican duck on Aug. 16, 2023, at the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in McNeal, Arizona.

Klasen said a rancher he knows has reported seeing ducklings on next in hillside wetlands, a possible desert adaptation that Collins said could make sense if the ducks are trying to avoid raccoons, foxes, skunks or other predators that frequent the valleys.

It wouldnt be the only distinction from their cousins, the mallards. Mallards molt a whole new suit of feathers at once, while Mexican ducks appear to molt piecemeal. It can give them a more ragged look, but it also allows them to fly if needed, whereas molting mallards might be flightless for weeks.

Mallards can usually afford the time, the biologists said, because if their pond dries up they can waddle to the next one nearby. In the desert, walking miles to the next suitable nesting site would make them actual sitting ducks for predators.

It's possible Mexican ducks also might be able to breed at any time of year, a hypothesis Lavretsky said he's testing. If so, its another adaptation to the desert, allowing the duck to capitalize whenever suitable water and food are available.

Chris Klasen releases a Mexican duck on Aug. 16, 2023, at the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in McNeal, Arizona.

Contrary to their listing during the early days of the Endangered Species Act, Lavretsky said, Mexican ducks appear to be doing well. The most recent survey, now more than a decade old, estimated there are 50,000. But Lavretsky has seen tens of thousands assembled on just one lake in Mexicos Chihuahua state, and believes there are more.

Models suggest that climate change may help Mexican ducks in their northern ranges, Lavretsky said. While they typically live south of Interstate 40 in Arizona and New Mexico, he knows some are also breeding as far north as Colorado. Thats where biologists banded one, assuming it was a mallard before Lavretsky shot it in Mexico and showed that it was in fact a Mexican duck.

You can also use these birds as indicators for whats going on on the land, he said. If climate change and drought force them to seek new waters, tracking them will show it.

Southern Arizona: Will this hidden gem become a tourist attraction? How park status could affect Chiricahuas

In essence, these scientists are hoping to do for Mexican ducks what others did for Prairie Pothole species decades ago: They want to establish where they live and breed, so conservation efforts might be targeted in the right places. Hence the transmitter backpacks.

We need some hens to show us the way, Lavretsky said.

Ducks Unlimited Arizona State Chairman Kevin OConnell came out for the mornings capture attempt, eager to learn more about the habits and habitats of one of the states unique birds.

Weve always believed it was its own species, OConnell said. Now that it officially is just that, he hopes this science project in coming years will aid in its conservation.

If it walks like a Mexican duck ...

Q: How can you tell a Mexican duck from a mallard?

A: It's complicated, and for most people might require closer inspection. A field identification primer from the American Birding Association suggests looking at the head. At the male Mexican duck's dark "eye-line," a line pointing to the corner of the eye will stand out. The Mexican duck is darker overall, "with a sharp demarcation between the breast and lighter, more tan-colored throat."

There are also differences in the pattern of breast mottling and in bill colors. Male Mexican ducks, at least in the northern parts of their range, occasionally sport green patches or stripes on their heads, said Lavretsky, the UTEP wildlife geneticist who studies Mexican ducks. That only happens in juveniles and old ducks, but it can fool some observers into thinking they're looking at a mallard hybrid. Lavretsky is collaborating on an app that could make identification easier, even allowing users to snap a picture and get an answer. Meantime, it's probably a good thing that hunters can still count any Mexican duck as a mallard hen in their bag limits, because that's what many people will mistake them for.

Q: Where do they live?

A: Mexican ducks generally range from central Mexico north into Chihuahua and west to the Sinaloa and Sonora coasts, and into west Texas, southern and central Arizona and in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. In Arizona, they're mostly south of I-40, and especially in Cochise County. But they're known to breed at least as far north as Colorado, and biologists say they may be poised to expand their range northward as the climate changes.

Q: Are they endangered?

A: No, though federal biologists thought so back in the early 1970s before they were temporarily reclassified as a mallard subspecies. Not much information has been gained about their habitat needs since then, but they are known to number at least in the tens of thousands and may be growing in number.

"Everywhere I go where Mexican ducks are, there's an abundance," Lavretsky said. Maybe the clearest sign that they're not endangered: You can still shoot a couple of them a day during duck season if you like.

Brandon Loomis covers environmental and climate issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Reach him at brandon.loomis@arizonarepublic.com or follow him on X @brandonloomis.

Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Sign up for AZ Climate, our environment newsletter and follow The Republic's environmental reporting team at environment.azcentral.com and @azcenvironment on Facebook, X and Instagram.

You can support environmental journalism in Arizona by subscribing to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mexican duck study to yield clues for Arizona waterfowl conservation
A 21-year-old Florida man was arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting an 18-year-old woman who was pregnant with her second child after she refused to get an abortion, police said.

Donovan Faison was arrested on Tuesday and charged with two counts of homicide in the deaths of Kaylin Fiengo and the unborn child. Investigators said the two had multiple arguments about the pregnancy, and they believe he shot her after she refused to terminate it, the Sanford Police Department said in a statement.

A photo of Kaylin Fiengo.

A photo of Kaylin Fiengo.

Police discovered Fiengos body on Nov. 11, 2022, in the driver seat of a vehicle parked at Coastline Park with an apparent gunshot wound. No suspect was immediately named.

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The senselessness of this type of violence is infuriating, Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith said in a statement last year. Kaylin was a young mother who had her whole life ahead of her.

Investigators later confirmed that Fiengo had gone to the park that night to meet up with Faison to talk about the pregnancy, police said.

Ricky Fiengo, Kaylins father, told local news outlet WESH last year that his daughter was expecting a second child and took her role as mother very seriously after the birth of her first, whom she occasionally posted about on social media.

Its just going to take a village, he said. Its going to take all of us to help and chip in to raise that child and let that child know how great his mother was.

Kaylins mother, Sarah Schweickert, described her daughter to WESH last year as a vivacious, loving, funny, and caring young woman.

Schweickert added, She is a loss for many, but for her mom an empty hole in my heart that will never heal.

Ten months after Fiengos death, Faison was arrested without incident.

This beautiful, young woman and mother was taken from this world far too soon, and in a horrific way, Smith, the police chief, said on Tuesday. We hope todays arrest brings the slightest amount of peace for Kaylins family and the young son she left behind.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three women have reported being the victim of physical violence from their intimate partner in their lifetime.

Research by the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians found that 324,000 pregnant people are abused each year in the U.S. Homicide is the leading cause of death during pregnancy and, in most cases, is committed by an intimate partner.

Related...
The man accused by police of stealing monkeys from the Dallas Zoo in January and February has been found incompetent to stand trial, according to Dallas County court records. Instead, he was sent to a state hospital for mental health care.

Davion Irvin, 24, was arrested in February and charged with six counts of animal cruelty in the case involving two emperor tamarin monkeys, along with two charges of burglary of a building in connection to the cases of the zoos missing clouded leopard and the tamarin monkeys.

Nova, one of the zoos clouded leopards, disappeared about three weeks before Irvins arrest, after her cage was cut open. The leopard was eventually found on the zoo grounds and returned to her enclosure.

A similar cut was found in the langur monkeys enclosure after Nova escaped and was later found. None of the langur monkeys escaped or were harmed.

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Irvin told investigators at the time that he stole the tamarin monkeys and tried to steal other animals from the zoo because he loves animals, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

But Irvin wont be facing trial after court documents indicate a court-ordered psychiatrist found him incompetent last month to stand trial.
A Colorado man has been arrested for allegedly removing and destroying LGBTQ Pride flags at New York City's Stonewall National Monument, which commemorates iconic uprisings in the struggle for LGBTQ+ civil rights.

Patrick Murphy, of Denver, was charged with a hate crime and "criminal mischief" after he allegedly removed and "broke" multiple transgender Pride flags that were displayed on the fence surrounding Christopher Park, New York Police Department Detective Ronald Montas told USA TODAY. Murphy, 25, was arrested Monday, Montas said.

The attack, one of several police are investigating, happened during LGBTQ Pride month, which occurs every year in June to commemorate the Stonewall Inn uprisings for LGBTQ rights, which began on June 28, 1969.

Murphy pleaded not guilty, according to court records.

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"It is preposterous to conclude that Patrick was involved in any hate crime," Robert C. Gottlieb, Murphy's attorney, told USA TODAY. "The evidence will clearly show that whatever happened that night involving Patrick was not intended to attack gays or their symbol, the gay Pride flag."

Murphy's arrest comes after several other attacks on LGBTQ Pride flags this year in New York. In February, a woman was arrested and charged with multiple hate crimes after she allegedly torched an LGBTQ Pride flag hanging from a restaurant. In April, a man was caught defecating on a Pride flag in Manhattan.

This month in California, a woman was shot and killed by a 27-year-old man who ripped down a Pride flag hanging outside her clothing shop.

The message "We Love You Lauri " is seen on a Pride flag at a makeshift memorial outside the Mag.Pi clothing store in Cedar Glen, near Lake Arrowhead, California, on Aug. 21, 2023. The owner of the store, Laura Ann Carleton, was fatally shot on Aug. 18 by a man who "made several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag" displayed outside her store, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's department. The suspect was later killed during an encounter with deputies.

What is the Stonewall National Monument?

The Stonewall National Monument encompasses Greenwich Village's historic Stonewall Inn gay bar, Christopher Park and the surrounding streets and sidewalks where the 1969 Stonewall uprisings against police occurred, according to the National Park Service.

The monument was designated by President Barack Obama in 2016.

The fence surrounding Christopher Park, a public city park, is adorned with different LGBTQ Pride flags, some of which are placed there by U.S. park rangers. The area also includes a photo exhibit showing images of police raids, which were common at bars where LGBTQ people were suspected of gathering. At Stonewall, patrons and LGBTQ advocates rioted against police for days, demanding they be given the same treatment under the law as non-LGBTQ New York residents.

The monument commemorates "a milestone in the quest for LGBTQ+ civil rights," the park service says on its website.

Attacks against LGBTQ Pride flags on the rise

Authorities across the country have been responding this summer to a growing number of attacks targeting LGBTQ flags.

Sarah Moore, an extremism analyst with the Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD, recently told USA TODAY she has tracked incidents across the country where people damage, burn or steal Pride flags hanging outside private residences, restaurants and other businesses. Earlier this year, there was an online hate campaign using a hashtag that advocated for a destroy-the-Pride-flag challenge, she said.

There's definitely been an increase in attacks against Pride flags," Moore said.

Just in August, Moore has tracked attacks on Pride flags in Newtown, Connecticut; Capitola, California; Hamtramck, Michigan; Seattle and Houston.

"We need allies more than ever," Moore said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LGBTQ Pride flags destroyed near the Stonewall Inn; suspect arrested
A Virginia man stumbled upon lottery tickets in his truck  and one held a huge surprise.

Douglas Herbert was cleaning out his truck when he discovered the batch of tickets. He decided to check them and discovered one was worth $100,000, officials said.

Herbert, a Richmond resident, is still grasping the big win, the Virginia Lottery wrote in an Aug. 29 news release.

I scratched my head, Herbert told lottery officials. I had to make sure. Its going to take time to sink in.

Herberts win was the real deal, and it came after he went to a Chubbys store in the Richmond area. While there, officials said he spent $3 on a ticket for the Powerball games June 14 drawing.

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The night of the drawing, the estimated Powerball jackpot was $342 million. Though Herbert missed out on the jackpot prize, his ticket still matched enough numbers  four numbers as well as the Powerball  to win big.

The Virginia Lottery in its news release didnt say how much money he kept after taxes.

Its not the first time someone has left a lucky lottery ticket in their truck. In South Carolina, a man flipped down his trucks visor and found a forgotten ticket that made him richer, McClatchy News reported in March.

Clerk prints wrong ticket for Virginia lottery player. Mistake pays off in a big way

Lottery player wins big prize in Virginia  then doubts whether his ticket is real
Dharmesh Patel of Pasadena was at the wheel when his Tesla plunged off a cliff with his wife and two children inside earlier this year. (San Mateo County Sheriff's Office )

A Pasadena man whose family was inside his Tesla when it plunged off a cliff in San Mateo earlier this year is seeking to avoid a criminal conviction in his case, saying that he suffers from depression.

Dharmesh Patel filed a motion in San Mateo County Superior Court arguing that his case should be moved to Mental Health Diversion Court because of his major depressive disorder.

Patel was arrested by the California Highway Patrol and charged with three counts of attempted murder following the Jan. 2 crash, which first responders initially deemed an "absolute miracle" because no one was killed. But the mood quickly soured when authorities revealed they believed Patel drove off the cliff intentionally.

Patel's wife, Neha, their 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son were in the car when it plummeted more than 250 feet off Devils Slide, a notorious part of Highway 1 south of San Francisco.

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Read more: 'He intentionally tried to kill us': Wife's statement to paramedics key to charges against Tesla driver who drove family off cliff

Patel's attorneys hope the 2018 Mental Health Diversion Court law could help him avoid a criminal sentence.

The law allows for offenders to have their prosecutions postponed temporarily or permanently if they are ordered by a judge to go into a mental health treatment program.

For misdemeanor cases, the programs cannot last longer than a year. For felonies, they cannot last longer than two years.

Certain crimes are excluded from eligibility, including murder and manslaughter. But Patel's charges  attempted murder  are not barred from the statute. Still, a judge will need to take into account the seriousness of the criminal allegations when ruling on Patel's motion, Los Angeles defense attorney Lou Shapiro said.

"When you have a situation like this where the act was very egregious and this could happen again, and people could get very badly hurt, a judge is going to be less likely to want to take that risk and grant diversion," he said.

Read more: L.A. criminal court program diverts mentally ill offenders from prosecution

Shapiro said judges take into account whether there were victims in the case and the likelihood of recidivism.

Patel's defense attorney, Joshua Bentley, filed the motion for diversion last week. The papers were under seal, according to the district attorney's office. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Prosecutors have yet to respond to the motion.

Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
 Flash

At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President of the Republic of Benin Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon will pay a state visit to China from August 31 to September 3.

In response to a question concerning the visit, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that China and Benin enjoy long-standing and profound friendship. The two countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations last year.

Over the course of more than half a century, China and Benin have treated each other with sincerity and friendship. The bilateral relationship is a fine example of equality, mutual respect and mutual trust between developing countries, the spokesperson noted.

In recent years, thanks to the personal commitment and guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Talon, the China-Benin relations have maintained a good momentum of growth, with deepening political mutual trust, fruitful cooperation in various sectors and close communication and coordination in regional and international affairs, the spokesperson said.

During the visit, President Xi Jinping will hold a welcome ceremony and a welcome banquet for President Talon, and the two heads of state will hold talks. Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji will meet with President Talon respectively. President Talon will also attend the Global Trade in Services Summit, the spokesperson said.

"We are confident that this visit will provide new impetus for the friendly cooperation between our two countries in various sectors and bring the bilateral relationship to a new height," the spokesperson added.
A 69-year-old man died Tuesday night after being hit by a car near New Castle while trying to cross a road in his motorized wheelchair, Delaware State Police said.

The man's death marks the 90th fatality on Delaware roads this year, according to the Delaware Department of Transportation.

First responders were called to Route 40 (Pulaski Highway) at Wilton Boulevard at 8:44 p.m. for reports of the crash. There, troopers found the man, whom they have not yet identified publicly, dead at the scene of the crash.

Delaware State Police investigate after a fatal collision involving a mobility scooter user at the intersection of Route 40 and Wilton Boulevard near New Castle about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday night.

Through their investigation, troopers determined a 47-year-old man was driving his Toyota Camry on Route 40 when the man in the wheelchair tried to cross the road, into the path of the car.

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Police said the area was not well-lit and the man "was not wearing reflective clothes, carrying a flashlight or using a crosswalk."

The driver of the Camry hit the man, causing him to be ejected from his wheelchair. The driver of the car was not hurt.

Troopers closed the road for about four hours while they investigated.

Got a story tip or idea? Send to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com. For all things breaking news, follow her on Twitter at @izzihughes_

READ: How a handprint allowed police to charge man with shooting woman in road-rage incident

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: 90th person killed on Delaware roads following crash near New Castle
SAN DIEGO  A man was killed Wednesday in a stabbing near a McDonalds in the Midway District, San Diego police said.

According to SDPD, police received a report of a stabbing around 11:25 a.m. at the McDonalds located at 3805 Midway Drive.

Upon arrival, officers found a man in the parking lot with at least one stab wound, police said. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Brother of Encanto shooting suspect talks to FOX 5

During their preliminary investigation, police learned that a man pulled up in a vehicle, possibly a white or light-colored minivan, and chased the victim down and stabbed him, Lt. Jud Campbell said.

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According to police, the suspect was last seen driving in a light-colored minivan westbound on Midway Drive.

The identity of the victim has not yet been publicly released. He was described as a man in his 30s by police.

The motive behind this attack remains unclear. It happened in broad daylight as several people were inside the McDonalds at the time of the stabbing.

Its very early to speculate about motive or whether they may or may not have known each other, Campbell said. It does seem like this was very immediate, in the sense that this suspect went directly to this victim.

The incident is under investigation and homicide detectives were on scene to search for physical evidence, potential victims and nearby surveillance footage that may have captured the attack, Campbell said.

FOX 5s Zara Barker contributed to this story.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
A Connecticut man said he found a bag containing nearly $5,000 in the parking lot of a bank.

He told local media that he made the spontaneous decision to take the cash.

Now, three months after that decision, he has been charged with larceny.

A Connecticut man said he found a bag containing nearly $5,000 in cash lying in the parking lot of a bank and kept it. But three months later, he now faces a charge of third-degree larceny.

Robert Withington, 57, said he made the discovery near a bank in Trumbull, Connecticut, on May 30, according to Trumbull Police Department.

"I walked out onto the parking lot, saw something on the ground and there was no one around so I picked it up," Withington told the Connecticut Post. "It's not like I stole something."

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Withington described the moment as spontaneous, emphasizing that he didn't plan anything in advance, and telling the Connecticut Post it felt like he "hit the lottery."

According to the police department's news release, Withington "kept the bag, believing that he had no obligation to return the bag to its rightful owner."

Withington heard nothing about the cash for months, but behind-the-scenes Trumbull Police detectives were investigating the money's disappearance.

The police department said the investigation was launched after an employee of the town's Tax Collector Office was unable to find a bank deposit bag while making a delivery to the bank.

Police said the bag was clearly marked with the bank's logo and contained documents identifying the owner as the town of Trumbull.

Withington told the Connecticut Post that he was clueless as to who it belonged to.

"I just took the cash and called it a day. I don't even know whose it was because I didn't look," he said, per the local news outlet. "All I saw was cash."

Detectives conducted multiple interviews, obtained search warrants, and reviewed surveillance footage for months, the police department said.

Their investigation revealed that the bag had accidentally been dropped on the ground outside the bank and then picked up by Withington, the department said.

Withington was later questioned by detectives, during which he acknowledged his presence at the bank on May 30 and his decision to take the bag, according to police.

He was charged on August 25 with third-degree larceny and was released on a promise to appear in court on September 5, 2023.

The Associated Press said the charge is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.

But Withington strongly insists he never intended to do anything criminal, telling the Connecticut Post: "I have never had a criminal record in my whole life."

He added: "This is like a crock of baloney. I found money and now it's probably going to cost me money."

Withington did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Police are searching for a suspected gunman who shot and wounded a man in the parking lot of a Hollywood grocery store Tuesday afternoon.

Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to calls about the shooting in the parking lot of the Pavilions store located near the intersection of Melrose Avenue and Vine Street around 4:40 p.m., officials told KTLA.

At the scene, authorities located a man believed to be about 35 years old suffering from a gunshot wound. He was conscious and breathing when paramedics with the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the scene and took him to the hospital.

Aerial footage from Sky5 showed a heavy police presence in the parking lot of the grocery store. Bullet holes were visible in the victims dark-colored vehicle.

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First responders on the scene of a shooting near Melrose Avenue and Vine Street on Aug. 29, 2023. (KTLA)

First responders on the scene of a shooting near Melrose Avenue and Vine Street on Aug. 29, 2023. (KTLA)

Details are limited and it is unclear what led up to the shooting, but authorities said the suspect is described as a 30-year-old man with a ponytail, who was last seen driving westbound on Melrose Avenue in a white four-door Toyota hatchback.

No further details about the incident were provided.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.
The former Goodwill store on Saviers Road in Oxnard, seen on Tuesday, was the site of a fatal shooting in March 2022. The alleged shooter has been ordered to stand trial for murder.

An Oxnard man has been ordered to stand trial for murder in a 2022 shooting at an underground party in an abandoned Goodwill store. He will also stand trial for a 2021 Christmas Eve shooting outside the Target store in Riverpark.

Willis Nichols, 20, will be tried for one count of murder and four counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm along with several special allegations, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. The two-day preliminary hearing wrapped up Friday in Ventura County Superior Court, court records show.

The fatal shooting took place on the night of March 12, 2022, at the empty Goodwill building at 3075 Saviers Road in Oxnard. Adrian Sandoval, 21, of Oxnard, was killed. Two other men were hospitalized. Authorities have said about 100 youths and young adults were at the party and the property owners were unaware of the event. Oxnard police arrested Nichols, then 19, in July that year after a months-long search during which they issued a public request for help.

Willis Nichols

The building still stood empty Tuesday, with little trace of the former thrift store except an old sign on the exterior wall warning people not to loiter or trespass. The site is in a strip mall south of the junction with Channel Islands Boulevard.

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Nichols has also been charged in connection with a shooting at The Collection shopping center in Oxnard's Riverpark neighborhood.

On the afternoon of Dec. 24, 2021, Nichols allegedly fired at a vehicle in the parking lot outside the Target store. An Oxnard man, 31, was struck several times and suffered serious injuries, prosecutors said. Rounds almost hit another person in the vehicle.

Nichols has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied all special allegations. His next court appearance is set for the morning of Oct. 4 in courtroom 12. He remains in Ventura County jail custody and is not eligible for bail.

The former Goodwill store on Saviers Road in Oxnard. A defendant has been ordered to stand trial for a 2022 fatal shooting during an underground party in the abandoned store.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Man will stand trial for fatal shooting at former Goodwill in Oxnard
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and his daughter, former Fortune 500 CEO Heather Manchin, have pitched major donors on a $100 million project aimed at boosting centrist policies and politicians, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal.

Heather Manchin told the WSJ she registered the politically active nonprofit, called Americans Together, in late July and plans on hiring staff in the coming weeks. She said the group would not be linked to the West Virginia senators political future, which has been uncertain as he faces the end of his six-year term as senator in 2024.

What we both very much agree on is the system is very broken and actually in deep trouble, Heather Manchin told the WSJ. We have been thinking about what can be done to bring people together.

Manchin has left the door open to various avenues for his political career as he considers whether to run for reelection, potentially in a matchup against West Virginias popular Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who announced his Senate run in April.

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In a May poll, Justice led Manchin 54 percent to 32 percent in a hypothetical matchup. The poll showed a closer hypothetical matchup against Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va), a candidate more closely aligned with former President Trump also running for Manchins seat.

Manchin has also suggested he may leave the Democratic party and become an independent, and he has even toyed with the possibility of running for the White House.

The Hill Elections 2024 coverage

The WSJ spoke with several major donors who said they discussed the proposal with the Manchins, but said the Manchins have not made any specific requests and that donor meetings have consisted of a vaguely defined future.

According to a memo to potential donors that the WSJ viewed, the project was described as a coalition that would mobilize the middle, and change the national narrative and garner support for those willing to prioritize policy and country over party and politics.

It was not immediately clear how Americans Together would distinguish itself from groups like No Labels, which also promotes centrist candidates and policies. The senator has appeared at events hosted by No Labels, but Heather Manchin said the two groups are not affiliated.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and his daughter, former pharmaceutical executive Heather Manchin Bresch, are pitching wealthy political donors on the possibility of launching a centrist political group designed to focus on curbing federal spending, improving domestic energy production, tightening border security and fighting crime, a person familiar with the planning told CBS News.

Whether the organization is designed to buoy Manchin, 76, serve as a political party or merely support other moderate Democrats and Republicans is unclear. But more plans are set to be announced soon, a person familiar with the planning tells CBS News. Potential donors the Manchins are pitching include Home Depot founder Ken Langone.

News of the Manchin family project was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Manchin has said he will decide on whether to run for re-election to his U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia Senate by the state's January filing deadline. He has also said he is considering overtures to run as part of a unity ticket next year, should President Biden and former President Donald Trump emerge as the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees. Manchin is aligned with No Labels, the bipartisan group working to get a potential third-party candidate on the ballot in November 2024.

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Manchin told a West Virginia radio show earlier this month that he's "thinking seriously" about leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent or third-party candidate.

"I'm thinking seriously," Manchin said. "I have to have peace of mind, basically. The brand has become so bad, the 'D' brand and 'R' brand. In West Virginia, the 'D' brand because it's [the] national brand. It's not the Democrats in West Virginia, it's the Democrats in Washington."

He wouldn't be the first senator to leave the Democratic Party of late. The moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona left the Democratic Party to become an independent in December.

Heather Manchin Bresch, 54, became the first woman to run a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company when she took over the Netherlands-based Mylan in 2012. Bresch and her company were criticized for raising the price of a two-pack EpiPen to a whopping $600 by 2016. Mylan eventually settled a lawsuit with the Justice Department and other agencies for $465 million over what it charged Medicaid for EpiPens. She retired in 2020.

 Kathryn Watson contributed to this report

Mitch McConnell appears to freeze again in exchange with reporters

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Dwayne Anderson's family was hoping against hope.

Even though Anderson was going to receive the mandatory sentence by law, his wife and his mother-in-law made impassioned pleas for his release during Anderson's sentencing hearing Wednesday in Richland County Common Pleas Court.

Dwayne Anderson (in green jail jumpsuit) waits to hear his sentence Wednesday in Richland County Common Pleas Court. Assistant Prosecutor Nik Buckmeier is in the foreground.

Anderson, 40, was convicted Aug. 2 by a jury of trafficking in cocaine with a major drug offender specification and possession of cocaine.

Jurors did not find him guilty of firearm and forfeiture specifications. He received 11 years in prison. If he misbehaves, he could receive 16 years.

"I really don't have any discretion in my sentence," Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson said. "It's a required sentence under Ohio law."

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Anderson arranged to have 2 kilos of cocaine mailed from Texas to a relative of his in Mansfield.

"What he didn't realize was it was intercepted in Cleveland by the U.S. Postal Inspector," Assistant Prosecutor Nik Buckmeier said. "They did a controlled delivery with METRICH."

Anderson arrested in February

The reduced portion contained 99 grams of cocaine. When Anderson went to pick it up on Feb. 17, he was arrested.

Buckmeier said "the totality of the circumstances" led to Anderson's conviction.

"He also had a phone conversation to Guadalajara, Mexico," Buckmeier said.

Defense attorney Mark Wieszorek pointed out to the judge that Anderson had no prior record, owned a small business and supported his family.

Several of his loved ones were at Wednesday's hearing.

"Won't you please let him come home?" Monique Anderson, his wife, asked of Robinson. "Please just let him come to handle his family affairs before you take him away from us."

'Please give him another chance'

Kathy Likely, Anderson's mother-in-law, also tearfully addressed the court.

"He's a good man, so please, please give him another chance," she said. "If you give him another chance, you won't ever see him up here no more."

When Anderson was given the chance to address the court, he accepted responsibility for his actions.

"I'm sorry for putting my family through this and doing the wrong thing," he told Robinson.

The judge did impose court costs and lab fees but did not fine Anderson since he will be in prison.

His loved ones shouted encouragement to Anderson as they left the courtroom.

mcaudill@gannett.com

419-521-7219

X (formerly Twitter): @MarkCau32059251

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield man tried to have 2 kilos of cocaine mailed to relative
On the eve of the release of his documentary film about the fall of Mariupol, director Mstislav Chernov spoke to NV about how he filmed under shelling, miraculously survived, and escaped across the front line in a car pierced with shrapnel.

Just before Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Associated Press correspondent Mstislav Chernov and his colleagues decided to head for Mariupol, a key city on the border with the occupied part of the Donetsk Oblast, to broadcast news from there. When they ended up as the only journalists with international accreditation in the city surrounded by invaders, it became clear that they had unique footage. It was then that Chernov decided, if he survived, to turn it into a film to show the world "the true face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine."



In total, Chernov spent 20 days in the besieged city and documented numerous Russian war crimes, in particular the consequences of the bombing of a maternity ward. He then managed to reach Ukrainian-controlled territory through a number of Russian checkpoints and the front line.

The premiere of Chernovs film 20 days in Mariupol took place in January at the 2023 Sundance 2023 Film Festival in the United States, where it won the Audience Award in the festivals World Cinema Documentary category. In May, the filmmakers received the most prestigious U.S. journalism accolade, the Pulitzer Prize. 20 days in Mariupol was also awarded the main prize in the Docudays UA International Documentary Film Festival. It will be released in Ukrainian cinemas on Aug. 31.

NV: I saw your film yesterday, and it made a very strong impression. Soon all Ukrainians will be able to see it. If a person who has not seen the film asked you what it was about, how would you answer?

Chernov: This is a film about the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, about the first 20 days, and the siege of Mariupol. About how the war has destroyed Ukrainians lives and how they, in spite of everything, have fought and tried to survive.

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NV: This is a very heavy film. Ukrainians are going through a lot because of this war. Why do you think they should still watch it?

Chernov: You know, I saw how the international audience reacted to this film and how Mariupol residents reacted. To be honest, I was even a little afraid. My first fear was when the film got into the [program] of the Sundance festival, and I was worried that it would be too heavy for viewers. But it received the Audience Award, and I realized that people want to see it and they want to understand what happened then. And this story is not yet over for many people.

When Mariupol residents came [to the screening]  they cried. It was very hard.But at the same time, it was like therapy

When Mariupol residents came [to the screening] in the United States and Europe, and then at the Docudays festival in Kyiv  there were many of them who were in the film  they cried. It was very hard. But at the same time, it was like therapy  something that needs to be experienced again in order to understand what happened to us. In addition, it gives Ukrainians  and especially Mariupol residents  hope that no one will forget about their city.

This is the first thing. The second is that despite the fact that the film is difficult, there is a lot of hope in it. It seems to me that hope is one of the main themes and thoughts of the film. Therefore, people who have seen the film do not come out broken. They leave with hope in their hearts. Because even in the worst moments  even when children die and people are losing their lives, homes, and their city  there is always someone nearby who helps. There is always a sense of unity. And it gives hope to me as a director and, I think, to the audience too. And we all need that feeling, especially when the struggle has been going on for so long.

NV: What do you think is the most powerful scene in the movie?

Its strength lies the film takes the viewer to Mariupol and does not allow them to leave until the film ends

.Chernov: I cannot say that one particular part is the most powerful. After all, the power of documentaries is that we see more than the one or two or three minutes of news through which we [usually] perceive world events. Instead, we get a complex perception. The power of cinema and the power of 20 days in Mariupol is in the fact that from the very first minutes, you are brought to Mariupol and [remain] there, together with the journalists through whose eyes you see all the stories, along with those people who are surviving under Russian shelling. That is, its strength lies precisely in the fact that the film takes the viewer to Mariupol and does not allow them to leave until the film ends.

NV: Tell us a little about the filming. How did you get to Mariupol, and why did you decide to go there? And who was with you? As far as I know, the three of you worked together  with photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and correspondent Vasilisa Stepanenko.

Chernov: Yes, I was shooting video, Evgeniy was taking photos, and Vasilisa was our producer. The decision to remain in Mariupol, even under siege, was made even before the full-scale invasion. We decided to go there on Feb. 23, because we knew that in any case, whether Russia attacked Ukraine from all sides, or decided on a new wave of escalation in the Donbas, Mariupol would still be under attack. It is so close to the front line, and Russia then concentrated so many forces on the borders and in the occupied territories, that we understood that it would most likely be surrounded. But we did not know that he would be surrounded so quickly and that it would be tens of kilometers deep in occupied territory. This made the job difficult.

NV: Did you have a plan when you went there?

Chernov: First of all, I didn't plan to make a film. My job is news. Every day I publish news dispatches for the Associated Press, and they circulate around the world, because our international agency has a thousand subscribers. But when I realized that there were no international journalists left in the city, and we were the only ones who could film anything and show it to the world, I realized that every shot would be important. Especially when we saw how many potential war crimes were occurring every day.

I sent [from the surrounded city] 40 minutes of what was filmed, and there were 30 hours filmed

So, I stopped filming just news and started filming every minute. I understood that if we were lucky and we got out of there, then something more would need to be done. In fact, I sent [from the besieged city] 40 minutes of what was filmed, but I had filmed 30 hours. But these 30 hours may be 1% of what actually happened in Mariupol. And what happened in Mariupol is maybe 1% of what happened in all of Ukraine. Therefore, in order to convey the scale of the tragedy, a larger format like a film is needed.

NV: When you were in Mariupol, where did you live there? How did you eat, and how did you plan where would you work the next day?

Chernov: We lived in the same conditions as other people: we cooked in pots on fires and melted snow to get water. The problem was with communication and with batteries. The Ukrainian Red Cross helped us a lot. They are fantastic people! They did this until the building where they were based was bombed. Then doctors helped us. After all, the surgery was constantly working in the hospital, and the wounded were constantly arriving, so they had generators working and had power. There we charged our batteries and slept on the floor next to the patients.

Read also: Ukrainian partisans carry out sabotage attack in Mariupol, says National Resistance Center

When the hospital was surrounded, we miraculously escaped from there. The police helped us. One of them, Volodymyr, risked his family to save us and take us out of the city. He helped us charge the batteries and find [a place with a mobile connection] from where we could send [materials to our editor]. He left [Mariupol], returned to Donbas and was recently hit by a Russian missile in Pokrovsk. He went through two operations, and had a severe wound to his lungs and many shrapnel injuries. Now he has already started rehabilitation, but it [will be] a long process.

NV: Coming back to Mariupol: were you there for exactly 20 days?

When the Russian army advances, it simply destroys every neighborhood it enters, while the areas it already occupies are shelled much less frequently

Chernov: Yes. We left on March 14. It was the second day of the so-called green corridor. True, there was no official green corridor, but people began to break through the checkpoints. Then part of the city was already occupied and the front line moved into the city itself. The occupied part of the city was fired upon less because when the Russian army advances, it simply destroys every area it enters, and the areas already occupied by it are shelled much less, because the Ukrainian military tries not to shoot at civilians. Therefore, the already-occupied part of the city began evacuation. But some people were able to drive a little further. There was a chaotic evacuation through checkpoints in different directions: more to Zaporizhzhya and Berdyansk.

NV: Did you cross paths with Russian troops there? Were there any incidents with them?

We went through 15 checkpoints. But precisely because it was the first days of people leaving and there was chaos, there were no rigorous checks

Chernov: We were lucky, because our car was completely broken, peppered with shrapnel, and not all the doors opened. We were just sitting behind these [broken] doors, hiding our equipment. They [the Russians] could only look through the front windows, which were also broken, but they couldn't see the whole car. We passed through 15 checkpoints. But precisely because these were the first days of the departure of people and there was chaos, there were no strict checks. They were not yet taking all the men out of the cars checking their phones.

Later it was completely different. We know what happened to Mantas Kvedaravicius, a documentary filmmaker from Lithuania, who was also in Mariupol and was filming a documentary. So we're really lucky.

NV: How did the locals behave, because it is known that before the start of the full-scale war, more than half of Mariupol residents 52% regarded Russia "warmly" or "very warmly." Did this somehow manifest itself during the occupation?

Chernov: I cant name the percentages, but I didnt have the impression that 50% of people were waiting for Russias arrival. There were far fewer such people. I remember going into [another] basement that families were using as a bomb shelter and living there. In the corner you could always see a few people who support Russia. They stayed away from those who supported Ukraine, of which there were always more.

Read also: Russia demolishes 465 damaged high-rises in occupied Mariupol

There were many who did not support anyone  just people who wanted to live in peace. Many such people are still around. But what happened after the full-scale invasion (I see this trend in my native Kharkiv, and in Mariupol, and in many cities in Donbas): people who didnt care, and those who were warm towards Russia, finally understood the Russians true face and their methods. And they realized that they could only live in Ukraine. Now they wholeheartedly support Ukraine.

NV: In the film, you quote a doctor who said that war is like an X-ray  it reveals everything that is inside a person. Good people get better, and bad people show their worst. Perhaps you remember some of the behavior you saw, both good deeds and bad?

Even though there are a lot of heavy moments, panic, and tragedy in the movie, we always see people supporting each other

Chernov: As I said, despite all the hardships and tragedies, we always saw people supporting each other  those whom they dont even know, just those who are nearby, like neighbors and patients. The police, firefighters, doctors, ordinary people, and volunteers. And the deeper the crisis, the more the city was hurting, the greater this support was.

There were ordinary people who completely took over organization and providing assistance to thousands of people who were hiding in large bomb shelters like the drama theater, the large Terrasport gym, and several others. These were ordinary people who helped everyone who came, got water, cleaned sewers, looked for food, and took people to the hospital. It was fantastic, and I had never seen anything like it.

But there was also chaos and looting. Usually I dont speak about this, but I remember how looters chased me, trying to take away my camera. During a crisis, bad people show their faces. Because the police simply could not manage to detain them. There were also those who passed information to Russia. We saw this too.

NV: Tell us more about these cases. How did you know someone was passing on information?

Chernov: There were many stories, because we talked with the police and special operations forces who were looking for just such people. These cases became known after Mariupol was occupied. The soldiers who emerged from captivity also talked about them. There were only a few such agents, but Russia, most likely, had been preparing them for years. They were activated during the full-scale invasion.

NV: What do you think helped you get out of Mariupol unscathed? After all, the Russians, they say, were hunting for you. I mean, they knew you were there, and they were looking for you.

Chernov: As I said, the chaos helped us, because these were the first days [of the evacuation]. And it helped that we met the Red Cross convoy, with which we moved through the front line. Getting through the front lines was the hardest part. You can drive through the checkpoints, but what will you do on the front lines, where there is fighting? Planning helped, along with luck. But in general, it was not what, but who that helped.

NV: And what was your reaction when you found out that the Russians called the consequences of the bombing of the maternity ward you filmed a staged performance? What did you feel then?

The more absurd and cruel an act Russians commit, the more they will [spread] propaganda that denies it

Chernov: Nothing. Because we had already been through nine years of this hybrid information war. It was clear that the more people involved, and the more absurd and cruel the acts that the Russians commit, the more they will [spread] propaganda that denies it.

I remember what it was like after the Russians shot down MH17 flight in 2014. I was one of the first international journalists to get on the scene. That footage went around the world. But at the same time, Russia launched a massive disinformation campaign. So this method was already clear.

Therefore, when we saw the consequences of the bombing of the maternity ward, we realized how important these shots would be for the world to understand the true face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We were already expecting a full-blown disinformation campaign. And it is impossible and unnecessary to fight it  you just need to do your job and keep filming.

NV: You have filmed more than one war. You were in Syria and Iraq. In your opinion, is the war in Ukraine different from other wars you have seen?

Chernov: I have been filming wars for nine years now and over the years I have seen that they are all connected in one way or another. Russia is always there somewhere  be it Syria, where Russia also destroys cities with its bombs, be it Chechen fighters who joined ISIS in Iraq, or "peacekeepers" (actually Russian special forces) in Nagorno-Karabakh. And so on. Everywhere there is a Russian trace. But all the same, the war in Ukraine remains the hardest for me. My career as an international and military journalist began in 2014. And I'll tell you the truth: there was nowhere worse than in Mariupol  such chaotic bombing, such concentrated pain and danger.

NV: When you were in Mariupol (I understand that it was dangerous and often scary there), were there any peak moments which you thought were the worst in your life?

Every day you wake up in the basement and realize that you have to go out and go shoot, and this could be your last day.

Chernov: Hard to tell. It was constant. Every day you wake up in the basement and realize that you have to go out and go shoot, and this could be your last day. But you see that the doctors come out and go to work. Moreover, the doctors did not sleep at all  I do not know how they survived, but they kept working. Police officers traveled around the city helping people. Firefighters  even after everyone had been bombed, there were no cars or fire stations left, they still went and sorted through the rubble. Of course, you also go out and do what you can. But it's scary.

I remember a moment when we were surrounded. I'm not going to tell you everything, because it's in the movie  there are many interesting details that were not in the news and that have never been published. So, we were surrounded in hospital No. 2, which was already behind the front line. The Russians went to the hospital, and we understood that if they found us, then that was it. It was scary.

NV: Have there been moments when you wanted to put the camera down and intervene in the situation, perhaps to help or do something?

There is a simple rule for journalists who work in [conflict] zones: if you see that there is someone competent who can help the person, you keep filming

Chernov: We did this often. It just wasnt visible, because we put the camera away. There is a simple rule for journalists who work in [zones of] conflict: if you see that there is someone competent who can help a person who is suffering or injured, then you continue to shoot. If there is no such person, then you drop the camera and help. There were moments when we helped doctors carry the wounded or carry food around the hospital  sorts of small things that did help a little.

NV: For your work in besieged Mariupol, you and your colleagues received the Pulitzer Prize. Tell us about how this happened.

Chernov: In fact, [this award] is not only for 20 days in Mariupol. Together with Lori Ginnant, our correspondent who lives in Paris, we produced 11 investigations about what happened in Mariupol after the occupation and after we left: how the Russians kidnapped and took away children, how houses were demolished, what happened to the drama theater  a complete reconstruction of its bombing and so on. For these 11 investigations about Mariupol (and this is a year of work), we received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

When we heard that we had received it, we were happy, because it meant that the world trusts Ukrainian journalism. This is important. Because over these nine years, the status of Ukrainian journalism has risen from the level of a local biased point of view to professional objective work. And this is a general trend in world journalism: now people who work in their country are more trusted.

Read also: Russia reinforcing Berdyansk from temporarily occupied Mariupol

NV: Has the award ceremony already happened?

Chernov: No, the ceremony will be in October. And I think it's important to travel to represent Ukrainian journalism and talk, talk, talk about the war. Because there are many people who are tired. And there are people who do not watch the news at all, but do watch movies and documentaries. 20 days in Mariupol gives us the opportunity to speak frankly about the Russian invasion of Ukraine with such people.

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
On Sunday Ms Greene posted in support of Yom Kippur - using an image of a Jewish menorah candle-holder (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

In a surprise move, Georgia Republican Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene agreed with Democrats in saying that cameras should be allowed in federal courtrooms.

We need public cameras in federal courtrooms, Ms Greene tweeted on Tuesday. A man plead (sic) guilty to planning to murder me and was only sentenced 3 months! BLM rioters attacked police night after night all summer in 2020 and over 95% of them had their charges dropped! America needs to see whats happening!!

Although the Georgia Republican did not allude to former President Donald Trump , Democrats have been making the case for federal courtrooms to be televised in at least one of Mr Trumps federal proceedings. He has been indicted federally twice: one related to his handling of classified documents and one related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

They wrote a letter on 3 Augustone day after the former president was indicted in the federal 2020 caseto Judge Roslynn Mauskopf, the director of the Administrative Office of the US Courts.

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The letter, led by Rep Adam Schiff and signed by 37 other Democratic lawmakers, pressed that the trial be shown unfiltered, to the public. The Democrats pleaded for the trial to be broadcasted, as it ensures timely access to accurate and reliable information, emphasising the extraordinary national importance to our democratic institutions and the need for transparency.

We need public cameras in federal courtrooms.



A man plead guilty to planning to murder me and was only sentenced 3 months!



BLM rioters attacked police night after night all summer in 2020 and over 95% of them had their charges dropped!



America needs to see whats happening!! https://t.co/do35OrMmMf  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 30, 2023

Given the historic nature of the charges brought forth in these cases, it is hard to imagine a more powerful circumstance for televised proceedings, the Democrats wrote. If the public is to fully accept the outcome, it will be vitally important for it to witness, as directly as possible, how the trials are conducted, the strength of the evidence adduced and the credibility of witnesses.

In her tweet, when the Georgia Republican wrote about a man pleading guilty to planning to murder me, she seemed to be referring to Joseph Morelli.

In February, he pleaded guilty to threatening Ms Greene after making several phone calls to her Washington, DC office in 2022. He reportedly said in one voicemail, Im gonna have to take your life into my own hands  Im gonna hurt you. Physically, Im gonna harm you. He was sentenced in federal court earlier this week to three months in prison.

Advocating for televising federal courtrooms might be a precarious move for Ms Greene, seeing as she is a vocal supporter of Mr Trump. Last week, she told The Guardian that she knows her name is on a list of possible vice president picks as vice-president, should the former president win the Republican nomination.

Ms Greene even posted a mocked-up mugshot on X on the same day that the former president turned himself in to Fulton County officials; he faces 13 state charges regarding an alleged plot to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia.

I stand with President Trump against the commie DA Fani Willis who is nothing more than a political hitman tasked with taking out Bidens top political opponent, Ms Greene wrote, alluding to the local prosecutor leading the case against Mr Trump and 18 associates.
 Flash

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner military group, was buried in private on Tuesday in his native city St. Petersburg.

Prigozhin's press service said in a post on Telegram that the burial ceremony took place in a closed format, and those who wish to pay respect to him may visit the cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Russia's TASS news agency, citing sources, reported that in accordance with the wishes of Prigozhin's family, only his family members and close friends were invited to the funeral.

A Russian private jet crashed on Aug. 23 in Russia's Tver Region en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing all 10 passengers and crew members on board. Prigozhin and some senior members of Wagner were among the victims. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
For years now, Mark Meadows has avoided answering questions about his involvement in former President Donald Trump s efforts to overturn the 2020 electionwhich is why his decision to suddenly testify in Atlanta federal court on Monday was such a surprise.

Trumps one-time right-hand man is trying to wrestle the Fulton County District Attorneys case out of relatively liberal local courts and place the case before a federal judge. But the way he did it raised serious questionsboth for himself and for Trump.

So far, Meadows MAGA loyalty has paid off. He successfully ignored the House Jan. 6 Committees congressional subpoena without getting prosecuted by the feds. And his name is nowhere to be found in the recent D.C. indictment from the Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Mark Meadows Just Took an Enormous Risk. Will It Pay Off?

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Its all the more curious, then, that Meadows decided to take the witness stand on Monday and assert that he was merely doing his job as Trumps chief of staff when he partook in what Atlanta prosecutors call a pressure campaign to flip the vote there. Because in doing so, hes essentially pointing the finger at his boss.

He now cannot ever say, I wasnt doing this for the president, I was acting on my own, said Peter Odom, a former prosecutor at the Fulton County DAs office.

Indeed, Meadows entire defense rests upon the idea that he was just doing his job, that his efforts to connect Trump with people who would help to overturn the election was at the direction of the former president himself. Its precisely that point which Fulton County DA Fani Willis is trying to prove: that Trump was at the center of this entire criminal conspiracy.

Meadows didnt respond to a request for comment.

Even if that wasnt Meadows intent, his lengthy testimony Monday may help Willis illustrate that argument.

Odom said its reasonable to think of Meadows decision to testify as flipping without actually flipping. While Meadows has yet to cut any deals with prosecutorswhich would require agreeing to plead guilty to snag a lighter punishmenthe has at this point definitely tied his conduct to Trump, which means they could go down together.

Its a type of vicarious liability, as University of Georgia law school students learn from Professor Emeritus Ronald Carlson.

Theres an ancient legal doctrine: Respondeat superior. Its Latin for Let the master answer, which means that a boss is ultimately responsible if he directs the agent to do something, Carlson said.

Importantly, Carlson noted that Meadows testimony was largely exculpatory. After all, the congressman-turned-adviser didnt give prosecutors what they were really after: any hint that Trumps campaign was squarely behind the multi-pronged effort to flip Georgias election results through fake testimony in the state legislature, prodding election officials to question voting data, and the presidents menacing phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to find 11,780 votes for him that didnt exist.

I didnt see a smoking gun admission by Meadows on the main pointwhether they were extending re-election campaigning he did not say these were political moves, Carlson said.

Mark Meadows Surrenders to Jail After His Last-Minute Plea Fails

Still, having Meadows say every phone call and text message that set into motion Trumps anti-democratic plans was part of his official White House duties is still ammunition for the DA.

Hes giving fodder to the prosecution, said Jonathan R. Nash, a law professor at Emory University. Trump can still say, I didnt tell him to do that but the prosecution has a lot to work with.

In some sense, Meadows had to make some version of that argument. Proclaiming that he was strictly doing his job as a White House employee is the key that Meadows hopes will unlock the path toward moving the case to federal court, legal scholars told The Daily Beast.

The American legal system has layers of courts with different jurisdiction, and federal officers are generally protected from getting hit with state criminal charges by overly aggressive local prosecutors by being able to shift cases into federal courts. Its a strategy that has several potential upsides. One is that Meadows could try to seek immunity by claiming he was technically a federal officer acting under the color of office with a colorable defensemuch the same way that U.S. mail carriers cant be criminally charged for simply doing their government jobs. Another is that a federal case would draw jurors from a larger section of Georgia, pulling from much more conservative rural counties instead of Atlantas diverse and progressive city population.

His choice is also something of a revealing bet. It shows he is once again putting all his money on a single horse: Trump winning back the White House in 2024.

Trump can pardon him. I mean, thats huge, Odom said.

Meadows decision caught many TV pundits off guard, particularly those with long careers as prosecutors who are only accustomed to thinking from a law enforcement perspective. They saw the move as risky in the extremewith little to no potential benefit.

We are seeing more and more white collar defendants testifying in their own defense. And this makes sensethese defendants have no priors and very little baggage to speak of, said David Oscar Markus, one of the nations top defense attorneys.

Al Drago/Reuters

At the end of the day, a criminal defense lawyer and his client have to make a risk-reward analysis. In this case, Meadows and his lawyers really want to remove the casethey filed lightning-fast and are pushing hard for it. So they decided that the risks of testifying were outweighed by the reward of winning the removal hearing. And thats the kind of thing that prosecutors, who have never represented an actual person, have a tough time understanding because they view the world through a prism of guilt instead of with open eyes, Markus said.

Legal scholars told The Daily Beast we have yet to see just how damagingif at allMeadows testimony could be to himself and his 18 other co-defendants. But one things for sure: Fulton County DA Willis now knows what Trumps trusty adviser plans to say at trial. And if he deviates in the slightest, prosecutors can point that out to jurors and call his integrity into question.

If hes going to change his story, thats much more complicated now. Hes said things under oath. Even if he said something that seems innocuous, the prosecution can use it at trial, Nash said.

Its a serious risk, and its exactly what shows just how important it was for Meadows to try getting his case away from a Fulton County jury made up of Southern cityfolk.

I prosecuted people down there, said Odom, who used to work at the DAs office now run by Willis. The people of Georgia felt very offended by the presidents attempt to use Georgia as a tooland theyre proud of their governor for standing up to him. They re-elected him.

Those Fulton County juries tend to be very kind to many defendants, he said. But I dont think theyd be kind to Mark Meadows.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Your slice of the headlines in Ukraine. Daily. Wednesday, August 30, 2023.



 Widespread drone attacks target key assets deep inside Russia, damage four Il-76s military transport aircraft in Pskov

After enduring 18 months of regular air raids by Russia, Ukraine struck back at its attacker overnight on Aug. 29-30, sending waves of drones to attack military and military-related targets across European Russia.





 Vast majority of Ukrainians see liberating all Ukrainian territory as key to defeating Russia

More than 83% of Ukrainians think the liberation of all Russian-occupied territories, up to Ukraines 1991 borders, would mean Ukraine had defeated Russia in the war, a new poll has found.





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 Kyiv mourns loss of legendary pilot in plane crash

Friends and family gathered in Kyiv on Aug. 29 to bid a final farewell to pilot Andriy Pilshchykov, known by his call sign Juice, who tragically lost his life in an airplane crash in Zhytomyr Oblast, the national broadcaster Suspilne reported on Aug. 29.





 How Ukrainians became the driver of Poland's economy

There is a direct connection between Polands economic miracle and Ukrainian workers, which is only strengthened by the influx of war refugees in need of work.





 Disputes between EU member states over additional funding could threaten aid for Ukraine  FT

EU financial aid for Ukraine is being delayed due to sharp disagreements between member states, concerns about national budgets and rising costs in Brussel, threatening the flow of financial support to Kyiv, the Financial Times reported on Aug. 29, citing its sources.





 Ukraine and Poland sign landmark railway agreement after almost 30 years

Ukraine and Poland have signed an agreement aimed at developing passenger and freight train services between the two nations, Yevhen Liashchenko, the head of Ukraines national railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia, has said in a press release issued by the Ukrainian rail operator on Aug. 28.





 Ukraine honors fallen soldiers on Day of Remembrance

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi in a message on Telegram on Aug. 29 honored the memory of the soldiers who have died in the fight for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.





 Military explains effect of liberation of Robotyne in southern Ukraine

The liberation of Robotyne has, among other things, put psychological pressure on the enemy, Natalia Humeniuk, the spokeswoman for the Southern Ukrainian Defense Forces, said on Ukrainian national television on Aug. 29.





 US strongly condemns persecution of Crimean Tatars by Russia  Blinken

The United States unequivocally condemns the persecution of Crimean Tatars by Russian occupation authorities, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Aug. 29, in the midst of reports of a new wave of mass arrests and detentions on the Russian-occupied Ukrainian peninsula.





 Russian militant from neo-Nazi Rusych group, detained in Finland, asks for extradition to Russia

A Russian militant from the neo-Nazi Rusych group, Jan Petrovsky, who was detained in Finland, has requested that he be extradited to the Russian Federation, the Russian embassy in Finland has said in a statement.

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
As flames ripped through Maui's historic town of Lahaina on Aug. 8, in what would become the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century, desperation was everywhere.

Social media showed the fire and people running for their lives, and yet Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen would not say what he was doing as the flames spread.

"I'm not going to speak to social media," he told CBS News. "I wasn't on social media. We didn't have time for that."

And yet, Bissen wouldn't say what he was doing. It was the mayor's job to ask the state for emergency backup. But in a tense back-and-forth with CBS News national correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti, Bissen said he did not place a single call in the hours during and long after the fire.

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"Mayor Bissen, you are the highest ranking official here on the island. If the buck stops with your office, how is that possible?" Vigliotti asked.

"I can't speak to what  or whose responsibility it was to communicate directly," Bissen responded. "I can't say who was responsible for communicating with General Hara."

Major General Kenneth Hara, the director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said in a recent interview with Hawaii News Now that he was initially unaware of crucial details about the fire. "I thought everyone had gotten out safely," he said. "It wasn't until probably the next day I started hearing about fatalities."

"I thought everyone had gotten out safely," he said. "It wasn't until probably the next day I started hearing about fatalities."

But Hara also wouldn't clarify exactly where he was as the fire was gaining strength, telling CBS News he doesn't think he "could have done anything about [the deaths]."

"That fire was so rapid, and by the time everyone had situational awareness, it was too late," he said.

But there are renewed questions about if it was too late. Many victims ran into the ocean to escape the flames, and some weren't rescued until the morning.

In the days following the firestorm, thousands of people, including tourists and residents, were stranded without power, running water, food or access to medical aid.

The official death toll as of Wednesday stood at 115, but an unknown number of people were still missing on Maui. The number of unaccounted for reached as high as 1,100, according to an FBI assessment.

More workers could get overtime pay under Biden proposal

Idalia weakens as it moves over Georgia

Russia accuses Ukraine of large-scale drone attack
Lawyers for victims suing Hawaiian Electric over this months deadly wildfire in Maui have subpoenaed a former consultant for the public utility, seeking his correspondence with top utility officials about their knowledge of wildfire risks and necessary upgrades to its power grid, according to a recent court filing.

The Friday subpoena seeks to depose Mark Thaller in Virginia on Sept. 25 and require him to turn over records of his exchanges with Hawaiian Electric officials, including documents related to wildfire mitigation plans and Decisions to Defer wildfire mitigation CAPEX, or capital expenditures, to future years, the court filing says.

The subpoena also seeks what it identifies as the Thaller Letter, which purports to be a notification of his concerns to the utility companys board of directors, according to the filing.

The letter has several attachments, including documents characterized as a June 6 Ethics Investigation and an Ethics Cover Up by Execs and Legal, according to the subpoena. The planned deposition will include at least two dozen questions, which are listed in a separate filing with the subpoena, which appeared aimed at establishing Thallers relationship with the company and the veracity of the records, according to court filings.

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Mikal Watts, one of the plaintiffs attorneys in the lawsuit, previously told NBC News that his legal team had planned to issue a subpoena duces tecum  a type of a subpoena that primarily seeks the production of documents  to a man whom Watts described as a whistleblower cooperating in the case.

That subpoena has been issued, and were in the process of getting him served, Watts confirmed Tuesday.

Watts previously declined to identify the whistleblower or answer questions about the subpoena, other than to say the man had referred to documents he could not share under his employment terms unless they were subpoenaed. Watts declined to elaborate about the matter Tuesday, other than to confirm the subpoena had been filed in court.

Thaller, 64, of Gainesville, Virginia, did not immediately respond to a voice message left for him Tuesday evening.

A spokesperson for Hawaiian Electric said late Tuesday the utility did not have a response to questions about the subpoena or Thaller.

Thallers Linkedin profile describes him as an Innovator and Entrepreneur Intensely Focused on Impact with a long list of academic degrees, including a doctorate of philosophy in conflict analysis and resolution. It also includes a professional biography that says he strongly supports and promotes transparency, ethical compliance, and collaboration.

While at Hawaiian Electric he frequently communicated directly with the firms Board of Directors, CEO, President, and senior executives, the biography says. Most notably, he provided the firms General Counsel with the foundation of a new, equitable, and transparent Code of Ethics.

Neither Thallers LinkedIn profile nor the subpoena provide complete dates for when Thaller worked with Hawaiian Electric.

The suit seeking to depose Thaller, titled Jan K. Apo v. Hawaiian Electric Industries, alleges that Hawaiian Electric helped set the stage for the catastrophic wildfires in the historic town of Lahaina on Aug. 8. It identifies videos and accounts from witnesses who allegedly saw downed power lines sparking the initial fires, and it accuses the utility company of years of inaction to upgrade power equipment and manage trees and other vegetation that utility officials knew posed dangers. The lawsuit also argues that the utility should have had a system to shut down its power grid before fierce winds whipped up sparks into an uncontrollable inferno.

The lawsuit is one of at least 13 filed since the fire, which has killed at least 115 people. Many other people remain missing.

Among those suing Hawaiian Electric is Maui County, which contended in a lawsuit filed last week that it caused the fire by failing to shut off power despite repeated warnings of high winds from Hurricane Dora and the potential fire dangers they posed.

Hawaiian Electric denied responsibility for the deadly blaze in a statement Sunday.

While it acknowledged that downed power lines most likely ignited a fire the morning of Aug. 8, the utilitys statement cited Maui Countys public declarations that that blaze had been 100 percent contained and extinguished later that morning. The utility said that by the time the county reported a flareup at 3 p.m., all of its downed power lines had been de-energized for more than six hours.

Hawaiian Electric also said the official cause of the deadly fire has yet to be determined, and it called Mauis lawsuit factually and legally irresponsible.

We were surprised and disappointed that the County of Maui rushed to court even before completing its own investigation, Shelee Kimura, Hawaiian Electrics president and CEO, said in the statement.

We believe the complaint is factually and legally irresponsible, the statement said. Unfortunately, the countys lawsuit may leave us no choice in the legal system but to show its responsibility for what happened that day.

Following the statement, Hawaiian Electrics stock value, which had plummeted after the fires, soared by 44.6% to $13.97  the biggest one-day percentage gain since the company went public in 1983.

John Fiske, a lawyer representing Maui County, said Monday that if Hawaiian Electric has information of a second ignition source, HECO should offer that evidence now.

The ultimate responsibility rests with HECO to de-energize, ensure its equipment and systems are properly maintained, and ensure downed power lines are not re-energized, he said in a statement.

Watts said Tuesday that Hawaiian Electrics comments appear carefully constructed as part of a common defense strategy to diffuse liability. While it is directed at Maui Countys lawsuit, the statement has little relevance to most of the other lawsuits, he said.

If you read it closely, they didnt say there was a separate ignition source, Watts said of the statement. In a defensive posture to Maui Countys lawsuit, theyre saying: 'Wait, a minute. Youre suing us for all this damage caused by the town of Lahaina burning up, but it burned after your people didnt put out the fire correctly.' So its more like a contributory negligence defense.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
After a Mt. Pleasant man was indicted this month by a grand jury for allegedly carrying a firearm onto the campus of Columbia Central High School in May, school district administration commented Tuesday about the incident.

Former firefighter Roy Brooks was indicted on Aug. 17 by a Maury County grand jury and charged with carrying a firearm onto the school's property.

Brooks allegedly responded without authorization to an active shooter scare at CCHS on May 3, which was later deemed a "hoax" by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, who said many schools across the state were affected.

According to District Attorney Brent Cooper, Brooks arrived at the school May 3 wearing a tactical vest and carrying an AR-15 rifle. Brooks, who was terminated by Columbia Fire & Rescue in 2022, was charged with carrying a weapon onto school property, a Class E felony, and later booked at the Maury County Jail on Aug. 25 on $10,000 bond.

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More: 'We're ready': Maury Co. students return to school with pep in step on Monday

School district comments on incident

Maury County Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Ventura and the district released a statement about the incident on Tuesday, explaining the district discovered a week after the incident that Brooks had been armed on campus.

Maury County Sheriffs Department and City of Columbia Police Department initially responded to the shooter hoax call in May.

"The response was immediate and applauded," the district statement said.

"Upon assessing the scene, the threat was deemed by officials to be invalid and resulted from a 'Robocall.' Once local law enforcement authorities cleared the scene and deemed the campus safe, Central High School returned to business as normal."

However, one week later on May 9, the school district received notice that one of the responders was not among authorized law enforcement personnel, according to the statement.

" ... Maury County Public Schools received an allegation that one of the armed responders at the active shooter incident was not employed by either of the responding authorities and questioned that individuals presence on campus during the incident," the statement says.

Maury County Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Ventura stands at the board of education in Columbia, Tenn. on July 28, 2022.

The district did not state where the allegation originated, but explains that Superintendent Lisa Ventura notified the sheriff's department and police department of the possible presence of an unauthorized person on campus.

"Subsequently, Maury County Public Schools turned its surveillance footage over to the District Attorneys Office to investigate whether a crime had been committed," the statement said.

"Maury County Schools took no further action as there was a continuing investigation by local law enforcement and no immediate threat to school safety."

PHOTOS: 'We're ready': Maury Co. students return to school with pep in step on Monday

Police chief recounts response to hoax

The investigation remains ongoing with Maury County Sheriff's Department as the lead investigating agency.

While the incident occurred on county grounds, Columbia Police Chief Jeremy Alsup said police served as a "second unit" during the initial call, which is proper protocol because the incident happened at a school.

Brooks was not an authorized member of any local law enforcement response team.

"I've seen video where he is around our S.W.A.T. team members. There was a discrepancy because we had some guys out there training and people thought he had arrived with us, since he arrived at the same time," Columbia Police Chief Jeremy Alsup said. "But he is not on our S.W.A.T. team nor was he representing our S.W.A.T. team at the time.

"At the time, our main focus was the safety of the children and the teachers in that school."

Alsup added the reason no arrest was made at the time was that law enforcement did not deem Brooks an immediate threat.

Controversy brews in school community

Meanwhile, the incident seems to have sparked controversy between district leadership and Central High school leadership, regarding the district's timing in communicating about the incident.

Maury County Commissioner Gabe Howard said he stands behind Central High School Principal Michael Steele after a supposed "suspension," along with the same sentiment from some high school parents.

Howard called it "a mistake, and an example of what happens when there is a lack of communication."

Michael Steele

He also said "communication" could have been better between the district and Steele.

"Steele was the leader of this school, and he should have been briefed about all of this. There should be a positive resolution on this, and [Ventura] has the ability to do that, the ability to make this suspension go away, realize that emotions were high given the circumstances ...

"Dr. Steele is an asset to this community and adds value to the kids at Central High School's life."

More: Steele named principal at Columbia Central High School

The school district has not confirmed any disciplinary action taken toward Steele with The Daily Herald.

"It is the policy of the Maury County Public Schools not to discuss personnel matters," the district statement said Tuesday.

"Maury County Schools is committed to providing a safe environment for the students, faculty, and community, especially within our schools and campuses. Policies, procedures, and safety measures are continuously being evaluated. We are thankful for our partnership with the local law enforcement officials."

This is a developing story.

Jay Powell is a general reporter for The Daily Herald. Get up-to-date news in your inbox by subscribing to The Daily Herald newsletter at www.ColumbiaDailyHerald.com.

Kerri Bartlett contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: School district responds to indictment of armed man on Central High campus
University of Michigan officials offered no motive for what one regent, who said he was briefed on this weeks internet outage, reportedly described as a "targeted attack" on three of its campuses' online systems nor has a suspect been identified.

But even if that is known, there may be good reason not to disclose it if anything like what happened in 2020 to the University of California-San Francisco is in play here.

What makes the 2020 case especially unusual is that not only did UCSF fall victim to an attack, but the private back-and-forth ransom negotiations were also leaked to a news organization, adding to the university's violation and embarrassment.

Ben Rosenfield, 18, of Birmingham talks about his experiences on campus before and after the internet went down at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. The Information Assurance team at the university shut down the internet at all the campuses on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 1:45 p.m. after a significant security concern was found.

More: University of Michigan reconnects to internet, Wi-Fi as online systems gradually restored

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It also shows, as UCSF warned in 2020, "the growing use of malware by cyber-criminals around the world seeking monetary gain, including several recent attacks on institutions of higher education."

Experts say universities, schools, governments, hospitals, businesses and even the military are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks and ransomware, an effort to extort money by threatening to lock out systems or release sensitive information. They also say that agreeing to an attackers demands is often a bad idea.

Still, while the California case might not be representative of what is happening at U-M, it shows what kind of cyber dangers exist and the need for digital security and offers insight into why victims are reluctant to discuss the details of the cyberattack.

More: Free Press review surfaces errors in degree claims by 2 state lawmakers in bios

More: Before U-M's Saturday game on Peacock, the streaming site reveals fans' favorite TV shows

Regent Paul Brown was quoted Tuesday saying that the cyberattack was aimed at U-M.

And U-M President Santa Ono was more circumspect but disclosed that public safety and federal law enforcement partners had become involved, but also suggested that sharing too much information could compromise the investigation.

'Significant progress' on outage

U-M said Tuesday afternoon after three days of the outage that its cybersecurity experts have made "significant progress" during the past day, and that all students, faculty and staff can now authenticate into their U-M accounts and access umich.edu when using off-campus and cellular networks.

But without knowing everything that U-M is dealing with, that progress could be just one of many hurdles.

U-M officials have made no mention of any kind of ransomware or an extortion attempt, and neither the FBI nor Homeland Security, two federal agencies that potentially could be involved with investigating cybercrimes, would confirm to the Free Press involvement in an investigation.

The state Attorney Generals Office told the Free Press that it wasnt investigating the U-M attack.

Information stations are strategically placed around the campus to help direct students to classes and other resources after the internet went down on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. The Information Assurance team at the university shut down the internet at all the campuses on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 1:45 p.m. after a significant security concern was found.

Still, in the 2020 case, UCSF said it detected a security incident in what it said was "a limited part" of its school of medicines information technology environment. It quarantined several systems as a precaution and isolated the incident from the network.

UCSF said it "stopped the attack as it was occurring."

But the attackers, identified in news reports as Netwalker, also managed to launch malware, or damaging viruses, that encrypted servers and made them temporarily inaccessible unless the university paid a ransom. The second cyberstrike locked down vital information, and, UCSF said, forced it to pay $1.14 million as a part of the ransom demand.

Reporting ransom negotiations

In the California case, UCSF said it made a difficult choice, but, in the end, decided the encrypted data was just too important to "some of the academic work we pursue as a university serving the public good."

UCSFs humiliation, however, didnt stop there.

The London-based BBC News said in its reporting that an anonymous tip allowed the British news outlet to follow the ransom negotiations between Netwalker and the university. The back-and-forth dealmaking unfolded, the BBC said, over hours "in a live chat on the dark web."

For the negotiations, the BBC reported, there was a countdown clock, which created pressure. The university asked for more time and begged to bring down the ransom demand. The amount started, the BBC reported, at $3 million. The university countered with $780,000.

The attackers balked.

So UCSF upped its offer to $1.02 million. The attackers said anything below $1.5 million was too low.

UCSF finally offered a little more than $1.14 million and, the next day, sent Netwalker bitcoin.

UCSF said just after the cyberattack it was "working with a leading cyber-security consultant and other outside experts to investigate the incident and reinforce our IT systems defenses."

And in 2021, the FBI announced a coordinated international effort to disrupt Netwalker, which the federal agency said has affected several groups, including municipalities, hospitals, police and colleges and universities. It added, as advice, that coming forward as soon as possible after an attack boosts the chances of catching the criminal.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: University of Michigan isn't sharing details on internet outage attack
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson joined Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday to reiterate a call for the federal government to expedite work permits for asylum-seekers in Chicago, adding urgency to his message by emphasizing the city would be unable to support ongoing additions to a migrant population that already totals more than 13,000 if changes arent made.

Let me state this clearly: The city of Chicago cannot go on welcoming new arrivals safely and capably without significant support and immigration policy changes, Johnson said during a news conference at the Illinois Restaurant Associations Loop headquarters. This change would be a commonsense measure that would provide greater opportunities for (new) arrivals, immigrants, to build their lives here in the state of Illinois.

It was the first time since taking office in May that Johnson rang the alarm on the city potentially reaching the end of its runway for supporting asylum-seekers should the federal government not act soon.

On the eve of the anniversary of the initial migrants arriving in Chicago by bus from Texas, Pritzker and Johnson were joined by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and other Democratic members of the states congressional delegation at an event organized by American Business Immigration Coalition Action to push for federal policy changes that would allow new arrivals to enter the workforce more quickly.

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Since the first bus arrived a year ago, its become increasingly clear that welcoming new arrivals is not a short-term crisis, but its a long-term dynamic, Johnson said. Speaking of long term, let us champion and enact solutions that will secure long-term success.

Democratic officials and business leaders called on President Joe Bidens administration to allow states to sponsor work permits for both recently arrived migrants and immigrants who entered the country without legal permission to work in industries facing labor shortages, such as the hospitality, manufacturing, construction and health care sectors.

Echoing a letter Johnson and Pritzker sent Monday to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas , the officials asked the Biden administration to use a significant public benefit designation to speed up the process of authorizing migrants to work and become less reliant on government aid.

The letter said Illinois and Chicago had spent and obligated $250 million to help the more than 13,000 asylum-seekers who have come to Chicago from the U.S.-Mexico border in the past year. The process for those migrants to apply for work authorization can take anywhere from several months to well over a year, according to experts who spoke to the Tribune in July.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the letter, though Johnson told reporters he and Mayorkas had a good conversation and were scheduled to talk again Thursday.

The new arrivals have no immediate legal pathway to work, Pritzker said.

If after these many months asylum-seekers still are not being given permission by the federal government to support themselves with a plethora of available jobs, well, frankly, this moves from a short-term humanitarian mission to a long-term crisis, the governor said.

Pritzker, a key supporter of Bidens reelection campaign who successfully pushed for his party to bring the Democratic National Convention to Chicago next year, has been talking about the need for swifter work authorization for months and has previously said hes discussed it directly with the administration, all with no visible sign of progress.

The governor, who later Wednesday greeted first lady Jill Biden at OHare International Airport, stopped short of criticizing the president for lack of action, instead taking a shot at former President Donald Trump.

We want to get to a solution, Pritzker said. So does the president, by the way. He is calling for comprehensive immigration reform. He believes that we ought to figure out a way to manage the challenge at the border, which started under the prior president, I might add  who is exacerbating it, he and his party, with the rhetoric that theyre putting out there.

Others at Wednesdays event, though, sought to frame the issue in more bipartisan terms. Rebecca Shi, executive director of the business coalition, noted that Republican governors such as Eric Holcomb of Indiana, Spencer Cox of Utah and Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma have expressed support for an expedited path to work for the migrants.

This isnt just a Democratic issue. This is an American issue, Shi said.

Still, Johnsons comments on the need for more federal help signaled the urgency of the situation from City Halls perspective. The city has struggled to provide shelter for the new arrivals, and is currently considering spending $1.5 million to buy a 10-acre site on the Northwest Side to transform a vacant Marine Corps reserves training facility into housing for migrants.

In July, New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned incoming migrants that there is no guarantee of help there for them, but at the time he stood alone among big-city mayors.

Johnson, in a news conference earlier this month, reacted to the comments by reaffirming Chicagos commitment to welcome all and noting government is still running. Were still providing support and services.

I cant speak for (Adams) decision, but I certainly have used his, as well as (Los Angeles) Mayor (Karen) Bass and (Houston) Mayor (Sylvester) Turners, experiences as a way to reflect on that very question, Johnson said when asked if Chicago would at some point actively discourage migrants from coming. And heres what Im committed to: honoring the law of being a sanctuary city, in building systems of care that provide a pathway with dignity for individuals who are seeking refuge and hope here in the city of Chicago.

ayin@chicagotribune.com

dpetrella@chicagotribune.com
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) didnt mince words Wednesday when discussing the hurdles Washington faces in preventing a government shutdown next month.

Its a pretty big mess, he said in Kentucky on Wednesday afternoon, before once again appearing to freeze while taking questions from reporters.

The Speaker and the president reached an agreement which I supported in connection with raising the debt ceiling to set spending levels for next year, he added.

The House then turned around and passed spending levels that were below that level, he said. Without stating an opinion about that, thats not going to be replicated in the Senate.

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Lawmakers return to Congress next month after a weeks-long recess, and members in both chambers expect to see floor action on some of the 12 annual appropriations bills laying out government funding for fiscal 2024.

However, there is much uncertainty around whether Washington will see its first shutdown in years next month, particularly as some conservatives are already downplaying the threat of a funding lapse amid internal GOP divisions on spending.

At the same time, the gap between funding levels pursued by appropriators in the House and Senate has widened in recent months as bipartisan support has grown in the upper chamber for emergency funding in areas like defense.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has indicated the House likely will need to pass a continuing resolution (CR), which temporarily freezes spending at current levels, to prevent a funding lapse.

However, the leader pushed back against the idea of a CR that punts the funding deadline too close against the holidays when asked about a stopgap bill to freeze spending through December in a recent interview.

I want to make sure were able to set this where its not by a holiday, that its just enough time that, if we can do more of our work, that we could be in conference with the Senate, he said recently on Fox Businesss Sunday Morning Futures.

However, McConnell signaled on Wednesday that a CR into December is still on the table.

I think well end up with a short-term congressional resolution, probably into December, as we struggle to figure out exactly what the governments spending levels are going to be next year, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Mitch McConnell s latest health scare guarantees Republican senators will return from recess next week just as they left  publicly and privately discussing the future of their 81-year-old leader.

The Senate GOP leader paused for roughly 30 seconds during a press availability in Kentucky, a little more than a month after a similar episode in the Capitol in late July. His office attributed both episodes to lightheadedness, adding that McConnell would consult on Wednesday with a physician as a precautionary measure.

That explanation may not stem questions when the Senate reconvenes next week. While worries about McConnell's first freeze had faded somewhat during August recess, with even some critics publicly defending his abilities, the second incident is sure to trigger increased scrutiny of McConnell's hold on the conference, as well as who might succeed him.

Senators quickly sought more information about McConnells health after the incident, according to one person familiar with the dynamics. Shortly after the Wednesday incident, McConnell held calls with his closest allies including Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), Conference Chair John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), according to people familiar with the calls. All of them are potential successors to McConnell.



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The leader sounded like his usual self and was in good spirits, said Ryan Wrasse, a spokesperson for Thune. McConnell told Cornyn he was doing well, a Cornyn spokesperson said.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the No. 5 GOP leader, also spoke with McConnell on Wednesday and said afterward via a spokesperson that McConnell sounded fine.

The questions over McConnells health began after he fell in March and suffered a concussion. That injury kept him out of Senate business for several weeks, and McConnell has sometimes struggled to hear reporters questions since that episode  in addition to the two public pauses that occurred on camera.

A spokesperson for the GOP leader asserted in a July statement that he "plans to serve his full term in the job."

After he fell, obviously he was a little bit groggy when he first got back. But hes picked up a lot more energy since then, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said in a July interview.

Internally, McConnell is facing dual dynamics: His potential successors  Cornyn, Thune and Barrasso  are backing his leadership, staying supportive and say hes sharp. Theres no mechanism to force another leadership race until the end of next year, though a group of five senators can call a special conference meeting to discuss the matter.

Theres no sign of that yet, though some Republican senators privately say his grip on the caucus and his engagement in meetings has waned since March. The dynamics are complicated by McConnells 2022 leadership race, in which he both won handily and faced his first opposition ever. He beat Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a former chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, 37-10. That means he has a built-in group of detractors amid the latest health queries.

McConnell has led the conference since 2007, the longest run for a Senate party leader in history. He will be up for reelection in 2026, and his pause on Wednesday occurred after a question about whether he will run again.

The GOP leader still has unfinished business. He's trying to facilitate more aid to Ukraine and offer an alternate vision to former President Donald Trump. Trump and McConnell havent spoken since December 2020, and Trump continues to advocate for Republicans to replace McConnell. The Kentucky Republican refuses to speak about Trump even as the presidential candidate cruises toward the GOP nomination.



McConnell is also highly focused on flipping the Senate in 2024, particularly after 2022's disappointing election losses. And he's hoping to help Daniel Cameron, a former aide, win the Kentucky governorship this fall, even dispatching his chief of staff to the state to help beat Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. If there is a Senate vacancy, the governor would select the replacement from a small group of Republicans recommended by the state GOP.

Its no stretch to say McConnell loathes discussing his health in public. He simply said he was fine after the July pause, brushing off questions about his condition and cracking to reporters after a call with President Joe Biden that he got sandbagged, a reference to Bidens public fall earlier this year.

Biden on Wednesday called McConnell a good friend and said he planned to try and get in touch with the GOP leader.

McConnell quietly answered questions after his Wednesday freeze, which came at the tail end of an extended speech at a Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce event. Its one of several events McConnell had in Kentucky during the August recess, a sign that the GOP leader is staying visible and active back home.
 Flash

Giant panda Yi Yi waits to board a plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.

At a brief ceremony held at the Giant Panda Conservation Center in Zoo Negara, Deputy Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Huang Tiong Sii said Yi Yi, who is now five years old, had been scheduled to return in 2020, but this was postponed due to the pandemic.

"Considering that Sheng Yi also reached 24 months of age last May, the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) has agreed to Malaysia's proposal to send the third Giant Panda cub back together with Yi Yi," he said.

He also commended the important role the giant pandas, including their parents, have played in fostering closer ties between China and Malaysia.

"Yi Yi, meaning friendship, and Sheng Yi, meaning peace and friendship, have been chosen as the names for the two Giant Panda cubs born to the loving pair Xing Xing and Liang Liang, who arrived in Malaysia on May 21, 2014. These meaningful names reflect the significance of friendship and peace, and symbolize the strong bond between Malaysia and China," he explained.

The cubs are the second and third cubs born in Malaysia: Yi Yi was born on Jan. 14, 2018, and Sheng Yi was born on May 31, 2021. The first cub born in Malaysia, Nuan Nuan, traveled back to China in November 2017.

Their parents Xing Xing and Liang Liang, who celebrated their 17th birthday last week, will stay on in Malaysia for the time being.

Zoo Negara said in a statement that the cubs would remain in their hearts and minds through good memories and strong bonds that have been developed between the zoo's staff, handlers and visitors and the giant panda family.

Giant panda Sheng Yi waits to board a plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

"Their playful antics, gentle roars and endearing presence have seamlessly woven themselves into the very fabric of our zoo's identity. From their first hesitant steps to their mischievous adventures, every moment was a testament to the sheer joy and wonder these pandas brought to all who crossed their path," the statement said.

Chin Chet Mooi, a volunteer who has dedicated her time and effort to the bears since Xing Xing and Liang Liang first arrived in Malaysia in 2014, said the moment of farewell is one of bittersweet memories and she understood the need for them to return home.

"Their future is in China. We have done our best to take care of them. They are going back to fresh air and snow. I am really looking forward to seeing photos and videos of them playing in the snow in China," she said, adding that she hoped to be able to make a trip to China to see Yi Yi and Sheng Yi as she had previously made a trip to see Nuan Nuan.
Six Ukrainian pilots died when two helicopters crashed in Donetsk Oblast on Aug. 29 under unknown circumstances, Ukrainska Pravda (UP) reported on Aug. 30, citing its sources.

The pilots belonged to the 18th Separate Army Aviation Brigade and were carrying out military tasks in the Bakhmut direction at the time of the incident, the brigade's spokesperson Yevhen Rakita told the Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

Two Mi-8 military helicopters were completely destroyed in the crash in Kramatorsk district. The bodies of all six soldiers were found on the spot.

Rakita clarified that the names of the pilots and circumstances of the incident are not being disclosed for security reasons, but revealed that one of the servicemen was from Poltava Oblast.

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The State Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation into the incident, the Ukrainska Pravda article reported.

In another aviation tragedy, three Ukrainian pilots died on Aug. 25 when their two L-39 training jets collided. The victims included a decorated pilot well-known by his callsign Juice.

Read also: State Bureau of Investigation considering multiple versions of fatal trainer aircraft collision

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Russian airbases suffered at least nine strikes, leading to damage or destruction of at least 24 military aircraft in Russia, Belarus, and occupied Crimea, the Russian independent news outlet Verstka reported on Aug. 30.

Attributing the attacks to the Ukrainian military, the outlet presented a list of incidents that led to the damage or the loss of a military plane in the Russian rear. Kyiv officials often avoid publicly taking responsibility for strikes against Russian targets outside of Ukraine.

Verstka based its conclusions on data from Russia's Defense Ministry, media reports, and open-source intelligence (OSINT) researchers. In some cases, Ukrainian officials reported higher losses to Russian aircraft than the outlet presented.

The first attack was reported shortly after the start of the invasion on Feb. 25, 2022. A Russian transport plane was destroyed while based at the Millerovo airfield in Rostov Oblast, presumably destroyed either by a drone or a Tochka-U missile, Verstka said.

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Four Su-30SM fighters and seven Su-24M bombers were destroyed in an Aug. 9, 2022 attack against the Saki airbase in Crimea. On Dec. 5, 2022, drone strikes against the Engels-2 and Dyagilevo airbases in Saratov and Ryazan oblasts led to the damage of one Tu-22M3 and two Tu-95 bombers.

An A-50 early warning and control plane was reportedly damaged by quadrocopters while stationed at the Machulishchy airfield in Belarus. The Belarusian opposition reported at the time that the attack was conducted by local partisans.

In early May, drones attacked an airfield in the village of Seshcha in Bryansk Oblast, damaging an An-124 transport plane.

The frequency of the strikes against Russian airbases increased in August. At least two Tu-22M3 bombers were destroyed and one was damaged in attacks against Novgorod and Kaluga oblasts on Aug. 19 and 21, Verstka reported.

Although the chief of Ukraine's military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov did not confirm that Kyiv was behind the two aforementioned attacks, he said that two bombers were destroyed and two more were damaged in the process.

Most recently, four Il-76 transport planes were damaged at a military airfield in the Russian city of Pskov overnight on Aug. 30, Verstka said. According to Ukrainian intelligence, the four planes have been destroyed, and two other aircraft were likely damaged.

According to Budanov, Russia currently deploys 436 military aircraft in offensive operations against Ukraine.

Read also: Intelligence chief: Russia has 27 operable Tu-22M3 bombers left following recent strikes

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Finding workspace can be a challenge for South Florida artists, especially when ones practice requires an etching press, book-making equipment or letterpress. But Miami is in luck. Settled into the Little River-Little Haiti area are two exciting options: Tom Virgin, local artist, art teacher, professor and master printmaker, runs Extra Virgin Press on NW Second Avenue, where he works with fellow artists, writers, poets and the community. IS Projects, formerly in Fort Lauderdale, is nestled on NW 73rd Street, in a capacious space where artist-owner Ingrid Shindall offers a suite of printmaking, workshop and book arts opportunities to local artists, artisans and to the book-making and print-curious.

Both shops have letterpresses and join a few other letterpress shops in the area. Yet outside of university settings, its difficult to find the kind of operations that Virgin and Shindall oversee.

One of the most engaging aspects of printmaking is the materiality of the medium: the thickness and feel of the paper; the smell of the inks, the hand and arm movements when cutting woodblocks or turning the press wheel.

Virgins studio is all about actual and metaphorical light. Rays from a skylight illuminate the well-ordered space where woodcut prints adorn the walls. His two letterpress machines are placed diagonally in order to optimize the space. Flat files and drying racks are against the walls and a mellow wood cabinet sits close to his desk.

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I always wanted to make art, says Virgin, who grew up in Michigan, where his art odyssey began with the study of painting and printmaking. He then moved to South Florida where he earned a BFA from Florida Atlantic University and an MFA with a printmaking focus at the University of Miami. Afterward, Virgin taught at area schools, universities and colleges, while crafting a career as a fine artist. He is represented in private and public collections, and has won numerous awards and grants. He opened his current shop in 2017, in a building close to and owned by the Emerson Dorsch gallery principals, longtime supporters of Virgin and his vision.

There is a huge community that makes this place exist, and that has made this little letterpress into a small community press, Virgin said. Groups, like O Miami Poetry Festival, and Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator come to Virgin, and he often also donates his time, energy and his artwork. He is deeply invested in collaborations with other artists, writers and poets on art books  sumptuous volumes with thick creamy papers, combining words and images. I am a bookworm, and a lot of what Ive been doing has been books, he said, noting that he also teaches book arts, including how to print, sew and bind them. Books have been part of my practice for a long time.

Still, his print work is unmistakable, with wry humor and masterful use of deep and shallow space. Hanging on the wall is 13 Views of Mount Hood: Through Downtown, homage to storied Japanese master printmakers Hokusai and Hiroshige, which conjure thoughts of nature and the civilization built upon it.

13 Views of Mount Hood: Through Downtown, 2010, woodcut print on Okawara, by Tom Virgin, one in a series of 13 prints that were made in an artists residency at Oregon College of Art and Craft as an homage to Hokusai and Hiroshige, heroes of print.

Only four miles away, IS Projects has a dedicated book-making area that Gutenberg might envy. Schindall moved to Miami from her Fort Lauderdale space when her rental building was slated for demolition. Reaching out to friends and colleagues, she came upon Matthew Vander Werff and Ashley Melisse Abess, principals of MVW Partners, which had assembled a group of properties in the Little River area. The Miami-based real estate firms focus is on urban culture which honors the neighborhood and attracts interesting and diverse tenants in the arts, retail and restaurant spaces.

IS Projects was a natural fit for the neighborhood as Ingrid offers so much to the community from an education, gallery and fine art perspective, MVW commented by email. Historically we have rented studio spaces to local artists and current tenants include Dale Zine, Bill Brady, Kelly Breeze and Brian Butler.

In 2021, AJ Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in MVW Partners Little River portfolio. Local talent is a priority for both parties, according to MVW, who also said that Schindall was connected to MVW Partners via current tenants and friends of the neighborhood.

Tom Virgin, Seaoats (Uniola paniculata), Diptych Relief print on Chinese paper with gold leaf.

It was very Cinderella the way it all came together, says Schindall. Over a month, she and her team moved several letterpresses, including a behemoth Heidelberg, screen printing equipment, and a papercutter large enough to hold a seance on. The doors opened in June of 2022.

Its been a journey for Schindall. A Delray Beach native, she studied art with a focus on printmaking at The Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, and had several residencies, including an apprenticeship in South Africa at David Krut Arts Resource before deciding to return to South Florida.

A contemporary artist whose main medium is prints and books, she explores both. One small area of the space is reserved for her work. On the wall is one of her recent works that deals with an issue close to her heart: the ocean.

Titled Best Laid Plans, folds of found water management surveys, with the ocean imagery screen-printed on top, cascade downward, toward a poem written by Schindall. Its somewhere between a print and an artists book.

My current work is exploring the material language of the book as a signifier or authority  that is where the book structure comes from: The imagery and the message, there are a lot of different ways it can be interpreted, she says.

Best Laid Plans references Ingrid Schindalls concerns and thoughts about the ocean.

The surface of the ocean has multiple meanings for Schindall. It is meditative and gives rise to ideas of self-reflection. And, as global warming accelerates, the ocean is increasingly an urgent environmental focus.

Schindall is not afraid to push the traditional boundaries of her craft, while repurposing discarded materials, like the old blueprints.

Ive been playing around with the idea of printmaking as a practice of tool making that makes particular marks, she says. I love making tools, I love making things that can do other things. That fascination comes naturally. As a child, much of her after-school time was spent with her grandmother, Signy Schindall, who ran a business buying and selling antique dolls. Many afternoons were spent restringing miniature arms and legs, she recalls.

The range of offerings at IS is broad. Along with lessons there are classes, and the space can be rented for private events. There are residencies and internships, while Schindall and her team work with other artists on special editions of prints and books.

Ingrid Schindall and Amanda Linares next to type cabinets at IS Projects.

Both Virgin and Schindall provide a range of traditional commercial services, such as creating posters, business cards, invitations and signage. Schindalls commercial business is named Nocturnal Press.

The printmakers have positioned themselves in an ever-expanding artists community that will eventually be home to Oolite Arts, which evolved from Art Center South Florida. Oolite will move from its Lincoln Road space in Miami Beach to a new 26,850 feet campus on NW 72nd Street, where it will offer artist studios, residency and community programs, and art classes.

WHAT: Extra Virgin Press

WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment

WHERE: 5920 NW Second Avenue, Miami

INFORMATION: 786-385-3838 or extravirginpress.com

WHAT: IS Projects

WHEN: 11 a.m.  7 p.m., Tuesday through Friday: by appointment Saturday and Sunday

WHERE: 290 NW 73rd Street, Miami

INFORMATION: 305-646-1065 or isprojectsfl.com

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Dont miss a story at www.artburstmiami.com.
(Reuters) - Facebook's parent Meta Platforms has rejected a recommendation from its oversight board that it suspend the account of Cambodia's former Prime Minister Hun Sen over allegations he used it to threaten opponents.

Meta on Monday said it had determined that "suspending accounts outside our regular enforcement framework would not be consistent with our policies, including our protocol on restricting accounts of public figures during civil unrest."

The board, which is funded by Meta but operates independently, had advised in June that the company suspend Hun Sen's account for six months over a video that it said violated rules on violent threats.

Meta, in a written statement, agreed to take down the video but said it would respond to the board's recommendation to suspend Hun Sen after a review.

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Cambodia barred the 22-member oversight board from the country, declaring the recommendation was "political" in nature.

The Meta case came after several users reported a January video where Hun Sen, 71, said those who accused his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of buying votes in a 2022 local election should file a legal case, or face a beating from CPP's supporters.

The self-styled strongman, who led Cambodia for nearly four decades until being replaced by his son Hun Manet last week, has been accused by human rights groups of using Facebook to intimidate political opponents and discourage criticism of his governments, which his administration denies.

Hun Sen remains influential in Cambodia and after stepping aside vowed to stay in politics for at least another decade.

His Facebook page, which he temporarily stopped using, had a following of 14 million, a figure close to the size of Cambodia's population. New content started to appear again just a few days ahead of a lopsided election in July, operated by a member of Hun Sen's media team.

Meta's oversight board on Tuesday said it stood by its decision and called for Meta to "do everything in its power to deter public figures who exploit its platforms to incite violence".

"Elections are a crucial part of democracy and social media companies must ensure their platforms are not misused in ways which threaten to undermine them," it said.

Cambodia's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications on its Facebook page on Tuesday "congratulated" Facebook for its decision and reiterated that the Meta oversight board was still unwelcome.

"They made bad recommendations, which were political in nature, and interfered with Cambodia's internal affairs," it said.

(Reporting by Fanny Potkin; Editing by Martin Petty)
A protester holds a portrait of a missing person demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Mothers of some of 111,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico over decades of violence, most believed to have been abducted by drug cartels or kidnapped by gangs, marched on Wednesday down Reforma Avenue. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mothers of some of 111,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico over decades of violence on Wednesday marked the International Day of the Disappeared with protests and demands that the government do more to locate their loved ones.

Most of those missing are believed to have been abducted by drug cartels or kidnappers, and their bodies buried in shallow graves or burned.

Some marching down Mexico City's main boulevard were also protesting an apparent government effort to minimize the problem.

About 200 protesters  almost all women  chanted: Where are they? Where are our Children?

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Edith Perez Rodriguez, one of the marchers, wore a T-shirt with photos of her two sons, Alexis and Jose Arturo Dominguez Perez. They vanished without a trace a decade ago in the northern state of San Luis Potosi.

Lack of funding and manpower have left police and prosecutors unable to conduct even the most basic searches  leaving it to volunteer groups made up of mothers, who often walk through suspected body dumping grounds with shovels, plunging long steel rods into the earth to detect the odor of cadavers.

If we dont search for our children, nobody will do it, said Perez Rodriguez.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has claimed the number of missing has been inflated and that many may have returned home and not bothered to notify authorities. He has launched a massive door-to-door effort by military and unqualified civilian personnel asking residents whether their missing relatives have returned, and checking their names against vaccination rolls.

Activists say that money and effort could be better spent looking for the missing, or at least their remains.

What are they going to do, said Perez Rodriguez, noting that each agent has to handle about 250 missing persons cases, leaving them no time to really investigate.

That is why we are here, she said, to tell the president these numbers are not inflated. This is the reality, she said, pointing to dozens of other protesting mothers.

Similar marches were held in several other cities in Mexico.

Irma Guerrero has been looking for her son, David, who disappeared in San Luis Potosi on Jan. 13, 2022. Since then, she said she has received nothing, not from anyone in the way of help.

Asked about the resignation of Mexico's top search official, Karla Quintana, last week, Guerrero said she did not care. "None of the officials have helped us."

Only the bad guys know, and they dont help us, Guerrero said.

Quintana, who did not explain the motives for her resignation, reportedly objected to sending unqualified personnel around to interview victims' families. Such questioning of already-traumatized families could be damaging, activists say.

Few doubt there may be people listed as missing who have returned home. But many also believe that a similarly large number of missing people in Mexico's most violent regions may never have been reported by their relatives, either because of fear of reprisals or distrust of authorities.

That distrust is widespread.

Jessica Martinez Cervantes is still looking for her brother Esteban, who also went missing in San Luis Potosi in July 2020.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, she said when asked what help she has received from the government.
By Sarah Morland

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico's Supreme Court said on Wednesday it had decriminalized abortion in the central state of Aguascalientes, making it the twelfth Mexican state to revoke criminal penalties for the procedure.

The court said the former law had criminalized health workers and "totally suppressed the constitutional right of women and people with the capacity to bear children to choose, and therefore their right to health, equality and non-discrimination."

It also violated the right to health of victims of rape, by imposing "requirements which hinder and delay access to health services which, in such cases, should be guaranteed promptly and urgently," the court said.

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Though Mexico's Supreme Court unanimously ruled penalizing abortion unconstitutional in 2021, most of the country's 32 states have yet to amend their local legislation.

Rights group GIRE said it had filed a lawsuit in early 2022 alongside four other rights groups as part of a nationwide strategy to eradicate the criminalization of abortion in Mexico.

GIRE celebrated the ruling, saying the state would now have an obligation to provide abortion services.

Religious group ConParticipacion called the ruling "unfortunate" in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying it showed "pre-natal violence and discrimination."

Many women and rights groups lauded the decision, however, posting green hearts on social media, representing the so-called Green Wave, the social movement for reproductive rights that has swept Latin America since the start of this century.

The movement has been fueled by landmark cases, such as that of an 11-year-old girl in Argentina who was forced to give birth in 2019 after being raped, despite begging for an abortion.

Earlier this month, an 11-year-old rape victim in Peru was initially turned away from a hospital as she approached 18 weeks pregnant. Rights groups protested and the United Nations called on the state to intervene.

Some Latin American and Caribbean countries permit abortion in cases of rape or when the mother's life is at risk, but lengthy legal procedures can put the option out of reach.

(Reporting by Sarah Morland and Lizbeth DiazEditing by Bill Berkrot and Grant McCool)
Mayor Francis Suarez is what you might call an entrepreneur. Hes the figure head of Miami-Dade Countys largest city. He ran for president until this week. Since the beginning of 2020, hes had more than a dozen side gigs  very lucrative ones that helped him earn millions, the Herald reported Wednesday.

Suarezs outside employment has been a source of controversy after Herald reporters found he received monthly $10,000 consulting payments from a real-estate developer who needed favorable treatment from City Hall. Those payments are now the subject of an FBI investigation.

Suarez has become rich while receiving a mayoral compensation package worth $130,000.

The position of Miami mayors is part time, which has allowed Suarez to seek outside employment. Yet Suarez earns what, by Miami standards, is full-time compensation  and a hefty one. The citys median household income is less than $48,000 annually, according to the U.S. Census.

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Not only does Suarezs many outside jobs raise the question of his commitment to the office to which he was elected, but Miamians should ask why they are paying their mayor top dollar for it.

New financial disclosure forms he filed with the Federal Elections Commission as part of his short White House run show that Suarez listed an income range of $2.1 million to $12.9 million for the past 20 months. His wealth came from 15 consulting arrangements or jobs, including his compensation for being mayor, as well as five investment properties. Suarez also has a $360,000-per-year position at a private equity firm.

Just a decade ago, when he first took office as a commissioner, Suarez, a lawyer, listed a negative net worth. At the end of 2022, it was $3.4 million.

Perhaps the mayor just worked really hard  and, so far, theres no evidence he might have committed any wrongdoing. Perhaps its a coincidence that Suarez earned millions while he held a public job he used to raise his profile among wealthy donors and tech bros. Or that some of his earnings came from the same industries he promotes as mayor.

For example, Suarez, a crypto currency enthusiast, received stock options from Redivider, a crypto mining company where he is a minority investor. The company was previously looking to open a mining operation in Homestead, the Herald reported. Suarez also received $50,000 to $100,000 from Bilt Rewards, which, in 2021, he said on social media he wanted to bring to Miami.

Suarez has been reluctant in the past to disclose his sources of income, but federal requirements in his presidential run required him to do so. Were the mayor not seeking the White House, we might have never found out by how much he grew his wealth while in office.

Suarezs opaqueness about this issue raises even more questions about whether Miamians are getting a return on their investment in the citys leader.

Click here to send the letter.
With Hurricane Idalia projected to bring high winds and heavy rain to Middle Georgia, local school districts have started canceling Wednesday classes.

Bibb County Schools will have an asynchronous day for students and a remote work day for staff Wednesday.

Out of an abundance of precaution for the safety of our students and staff, tomorrow (Wednesday) will be an asynchronous day for students and remote work day for employees. Employees, please check your email for more direction. Students should work on any homework and assignments.

Here are the local districts who have announced closures or remote work so far. The Telegraph will update this story throughout the evening/morning:

Universities/colleges closing early Wednesday

Georgia College and State is closing at noon

Middle Georgia State will close at noon

Schools closed Wednesday

Academy for Classical Education (ACE)

Baldwin County

Cirrus Academy

Crisp County: Due to the expected impact from Hurricane Idalia, Crisp County Schools will be closed Wednesday, August 30, 2023. We will continue to monitor roadway safety for next steps. Safety will continue to be our priority. Thank you and be safe.

Dodge County

Dublin City Schools: Dublin City Schools will be closed for all students tomorrow, Wednesday, August 30th. All games, practices, and extracurricular activities scheduled for tomorrow have also been canceled. Staff can work from home tomorrow, Wednesday, August 30th. At this time, we anticipate returning to school on the morning of Thursday, August 31st.

First Presbyterian Day School (FPD): Due to the potential for heavy rains, flooding, gusting winds, and power outages, school and all scheduled events and practices are cancelled for Wednesday, August 30.

Laurens County : Laurens County School District announced on Facebook Tuesday afternoon that all Laurens County Schools will be closed to staff and students Wednesday. All after school events and activities on Wednesday have been canceled, according to the post. We will resume regular school hours and activities on Thursday. Please stay safe, the post read.

Pulaski County: At 3:30 P.M. Governor Kemp issued a State of Emergency for the entire state of Georgia ahead of Hurricane Idalia. In the interest of safety for students and staff, Pulaski County Schools will be closed on Wednesday, August 30th.

St. Andrews Montessori School : St. Andrews Montessori School in Macon will be closed (Wednesday) due to inclement weather expected with the approaching hurricane.

Twiggs County : Due to the impending inclement weather caused by Hurricane Idalia, Twiggs County Schools, Jeffersonville Elementary School Twiggs County High School /Middle will be closed on Wednesday, August 30th.

Wilkinson County: Wilkinson County Schools will be closed on Wednesday, August 30th, due to Hurricane Idalias projected impact on the area. District administrators will keep a close eye on the weather and related developments and provide updates on social media, the district website, and One Call system. All extracurricular activities, practices, and games have been canceled as well.
McALLEN, Texas (Border Report)  U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said a migrant woman died while in Border Patrol custody on Monday in Harlingen, Texas, where a young migrant girl died in custody three months ago.

Man, woman dispute who crashed car carrying 4 migrants

In a statement sent to Border Report, CBP officials said the 29-year-old woman tragically passed away while in U.S. Border Patrol custody in Harlingen, Texas.

Officials say the woman and her family had been apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley on Sunday evening and had been in Border Patrol custody for less than 20 hours total.

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She experienced a medical emergency while in custody, was treated by an on-site medical team, Emergency Medical Services were called to the station and transported her to the local hospital, where she was pronounced deceased, according to the CBP statement.

In May, 8-year-old girl died while in Border Patrol custody in May, also at a Harlingen hospital.

Panamanian-born Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez suffered from sickle cell anemia and a heart condition. She died May 17 after testing positive for the flu and being held in the isolation medical unit at the same Border Patrol facility.

Her family was among thousands of asylum-seekers who crossed the border from Mexico into South Texas just before the lifting of Title 42 and the implementation of current Title 8 asylum rules. The new rules require all migrants seeking asylum to schedule asylum interviews via the CBP One app and to claim asylum in other countries they come to prior to leaving their homelands.

An independent audit following Anadiths death found the tragedy was clearly preventable had protocols been in place to identify vulnerable youth and populations at the facility, according to a court report by a pediatrician.

The girl had been held with her family at the same facility for eight days before being sent to a local hospital where she died. That medical isolation wing was shut down in June following her death, but the Border Patrol facility remains open.

The nationality, information on her traveling family, and medical condition of the woman who died Monday also were not released. This story will be updated if additional information is received.

Migrant advocates have long complained that they have no access to asylum-seekers who are apprehended and in Border Patrol and/or CBP custody. They can only speak with them and access them once they are released to Immigration Customs Enforcement and/or paroled into the country.

Migrant advocates question death of 8-year-old girl in CBP custody in South Texas

CBPs Office of Professional Responsibility is conducting an investigation into Mondays death, the agency says. The Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Inspector General and the Harlingen Police Department also have been notified.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
 Flash

Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu on Tuesday called for joint efforts from China and Africa to enhance cooperation and safeguard global security.

Delivering a keynote speech to the plenary session of the third China-Africa Peace and Security Forum in Beijing, Li noted that humanity has faced with unprecedented challenges as global development enters a new phase of instability and transformation.

He said China is willing to join hands with Africa to tackle security challenges and safeguard international equity and justice, thus injecting more certainty and stability into the world.

China and Africa should step up strategic communication and pragmatic cooperation, and enhance the quality and efficiency of their security cooperation, therefore making more contributions to maintaining regional and global security, Li said.

More than 100 senior representatives from the African Union (AU) and nearly 50 African countries attended the forum. At the session, they made speeches on such topics as peace and security, maritime security, and the anti-terrorism situation in Africa.

Expressing gratitude to China for its strong support in terms of peace and stability, the representatives said that they look forward to strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation with China, and will strive to create a better future for African and Chinese people.

Also on Tuesday, Li held meetings with the defense leaders of Senegal, Comoros, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Ghana, Zambia, South Sudan, Gambia, Mauritania, Uganda and other countries respectively, as well as the commissioner for political affairs, peace and security of the AU Commission.
The News

Military leaders in Gabon said they had seized power and placed President Ali Bongo under house arrest on Wednesday, days after a widely-disputed election declared Bongo the winner.

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In a video shared on social media, the deposed president pleaded for help while under house arrest. I want to send a message to all of the friends we have all over the world, to tell them to make noise, Bongo said.

Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema, who headed the coup, initially denied reports that he has been selected to replace Bongo. I am not declaring myself yet, I am not considering anything at the moment. It is a debate we will have with all the generals, he said the in an interview with French outlet Le Monde.

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He added that Bongo is now retired and enjoys all his rights... He is a normal Gabonese, like everyone else.

The leaders of the coup later announced that Nguema was named transitional president and that a nightly curfew would remain in place, AFP reported.

Bongos electoral win on Saturday had been criticized by the opposition. Journalists were prevented from covering the election, and international observers were not allowed to monitor the proceedings.

On social media, videos circulated showing people celebrating in the streets of the capital, Libreville, at the news of the militarys takeover. Bongo has held power in Gabon since the death of his father, Omar Bongo , in 2009.

Gunfire was heard in Libreville earlier Wednesday.

Alexiss view

The coup seems to be a reaction to the dynastic rule of the Bongo family whose 56-year reign over the oil-rich nation hasnt translated into wealth for most citizens, which explains the videos of celebrations circulating on social media.

The opposition cried foul even before Bongo was announced as the winner of the election, but the government blocked internet access in the wake of Saturdays vote and provisionally banned three French broadcasters over their election coverage, which effectively stripped dissenters of a voice. Bongos previous election victories were disputed as fraudulent by opponents and a change to voting papers just weeks before this years election prompted criticism.

The implications of the coup in the central African country are likely to be felt beyond its borders. Its the worlds largest producer of high-grade manganese ore, one of the most widely used metals in the world. It makes up around 14% of global supplies, according to analysts. The OPEC member is also one of Africas largest oil exporters producing around 200,000 barrels a day. And in recent years the country  one of the worlds most forested nations  has been at the vanguard of using climate finance to develop new sources of revenue and diversify away from a reliance on crude oil sales. It has developed eco-friendly policies, such as the sale of green bonds in exchange for protecting its woodland and a $500 million blue bond to safeguard marine life. Investors have already taken a dim view of the coup.

Step Back

This is not the first time the military has tried to overthrow Gabon's government. In 2019, putschists took over a local radio station while Bongo was in the hospital following a stroke. That coup was unsuccessful, and the leader was subsequently arrested, Pulse Nigeria reported.
Milwaukee police have arrested a man they believe struck an officer with a vehicle during a warrant operation Friday.

Online records show Timothy Jinor-Riley, 20, had a warrant for failing to appear in court in a December 2022 drug case.

He now also faces charges of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and bail jumping. He remained in custody Tuesday, Milwaukee County Jail booking records show.

Members of a multiagency task force, which included the Milwaukee Police Department and the FBI, were trying to find Ramon Trujillo, 18, who had open warrants in three criminal cases, according to a criminal complaint released Tuesday.

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They got word he was in the area of West Greentree Road and North Port Washington Road in Glendale, and spotted a black Honda Accord with Texas license plates belonging to Trujillo. It was in the parking lot of a hotel on the 7000 block of North Port Washington Road.

Trujillo was later seen near the hotel's outdoor seating area, making his way toward the Honda with two other people.

The three people entered the Honda and officers moved in with undercover vehicles to arrest Trujillo. An officer got out of one of the undercover vehicles, and the driver of the Honda hit the gas and pinned him between the two vehicles.

More: Milwaukee day care operator charged with abuse

The officer fired three times. According to the complaint, the undercover vehicle rocked backand forth from the force of the impact, and the Honda ultimately continued driving in the parking lot, but officers in a marked squad car were able to stop it, the complaint said.

Jinor-Riley and Trujillo each sustained gunshot wounds and were arrested. The complaint doesn't say whether the third person in the vehicle, who wasn't identified, was arrested or faces charges.

Police recovered a Glock pistol under the front driver's seat.

The officer, a 31-year-old man with five years of service, was recovering at a hospital and will be placed on administrative duty while the investigation continues, police have said.

More: Anthony Wingo's family says police aren't working hard enough to catch his killer

Online court records show Jinor-Riley was charged previously in Milwaukee County on Dec. 23, 2023, with felony possession with intent to deliver marijuana as a party to a crime.

He posted a $3,000 bond on Feb. 3, and one of the conditions of his release was that he not commit any crimes.

Court records show Jinor-Riley failed to show for a Feb. 9 preliminary hearing and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee man charged with pinning officer between 2 vehicles
Two people have been killed as a result of a Russian missile attack on the city of Kyiv.

Source: Kyiv City Military Administration; Klitschko on Telegram

Details: Kyiv City Military Administration reported that, according to preliminary information, two people had been killed as a result of debris falling on premises belonging to a business in Shevchenkivskyi District in Kyiv.

One more person was wounded.

Quote from Klitschko: "Following another emergency call in Shevchenkivskyi District, medics took one more wounded person to hospital.

A 24-year-old woman sustained glass cuts."

Updated: Later, Klitschko said that firefighters and other emergency services are continuing to work at the scene, in particular in Darnytskyi District and in four places in the capitals Shevchenkivskyi District.

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Klitschko also noted that two people had been wounded and taken to hospital.

Later, Kyiv City Military Administration reported that three people had sustained injuries of varying severity.

They also specified that two of the companys security guards, aged 26 and 36, had been killed.

Background: The falling of Russian missile debris and fires were recorded in Kyivs Darnytskyi and Shevchenkivskyi Districts.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
A 25-year-old Pasco mother is accused of whipping her 6-year-old daughter with a HDMI cable until another adult stopped her.

The woman then went to the store, leaving the girl alone in their Margaret Street apartment, according to court documents. When Adriana Rivas returned, her daughter was missing and she called police for help.

Officers later found the girl safe at the girls grandmother home.

Rivas was arrested and charged in Franklin County Superior Court with second-degree assault of a child. She pleaded innocent and remains in the Franklin County jail in lieu of $75,000.

Her two daughters were taken into protective custody, according to court documents.

Adriana Rivas sits next to her attorney Tim Dickerson in Franklin County Superior Court on Tuesday, Aug. 29. She is accused of beating her 6-year-old daughter with an HDMI cable and then leaving her in her apartment.

The facts alleged in this case are absolutely horrific, Deputy Prosecutor Dave Corkrum said as he asked to keep Rivas bail at $75,000.

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He noted that Rivas has 22 probation violations and failed to show up in court 24 times.

Her attorney, Tim Dickerson, pointed out that she is employed and is a student at Columbia Basin College, and her past offenses were not violent and happened when she was a juvenile.

She is in danger of losing her home and pets, he said. She has no money and no way of posting bail.

Judge David Petersen said he believed she posed a threat to the community. He said he was reviewing some search warrants in her case while the girl was missing and he fully expected the child would be found dead rather than injured.

Court documents dont say what the search warrants were for.

Missing 6-year-old

Pasco police initially went to Rivas apartment about 7:45 p.m. Aug. 22 after her mother found the girl wasnt there, according to court documents.

Rivas initially told police, she left the child at home because she pooped her pants and she went to Fred Meyer on the bus with her 8-year-old daughter to buy food and toilet paper.

Once Detective Julie Lee read Rivas her rights, Rivas admitted to becoming so angry at the girl that she saw red and started whipping her with an HDMI cable, Lee wrote in the affidavit.

Adriana said that she hit the child so many times, she couldnt give me a number, Lee wrote.

She stopped when a man named Henry Lopez stepped in and told her to stop. Court documents dont explain what his relationship was to Rivas and the girls.

She told investigators that she left the girl on her potty chair and went to the store, and when she returned the girl was missing.

Lopez provided police different information. He said he saw bruises on the girl the day before after finding her in the bathtub. Then he saw her again in the bathtub with bruises on her face on Aug. 22.

He said he took Rivas to Fred Meyer so she could go shopping. Then he went to her mothers home and told her what Rivas had done to the girl.

Court records dont say whether the girls grandmother came to pick her up.

The girl was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, where medical staff reported finding new and old bruises on the girl, as well as red markings that appeared to have come from being hit with a cord.
This photo provided by Wiley Smith shows Fabian Nelson. Mississippi will have its first-ever openly gay state legislator after Nelson won his Democratic primary election runoff Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. (Wiley Smith via AP)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Mississippi will have its first-ever openly gay state legislator after a House candidate won his Democratic primary election runoff Tuesday.

Fabian Nelson, a 38-year-old realtor from Byram, prevailed over Roshunda Harris-Allen, an education professor at Tougaloo College and alderwoman in Byram. The race to represent the House district in the south Jackson metro area was decided in a runoff after neither Nelson nor Allen received a majority vote in the Aug. 8 primary. A local pastor finished a distant third and did not advance to the runoff.

Nelsons victory comes on the heels of a historic wave of restrictions passed by Republican-controlled legislatures targeting the rights of transgender people. LGBTQ+ advocates say theyve seen a record number of measures aimed at their community in 2023. In February, Mississippi enacted a ban on gender-affirming hormones or surgery for anyone in the state younger than 18.

Republicans did not field a candidate for the general election, so Nelson will go on to represent the district. He will be sworn in before the next legislative session in January. His win marks the fulfillment of a goal he's had since visiting the Capitol on an elementary school field trip and telling his teacher he'd sit on the House floor one day.

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I still think I'm in a dream. I'm still trying to process it and take it in, Nelson said in an interview Wednesday. It's still shocking to me, I have to be honest.

Nelson was endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, the nations largest organization devoted to LGBTQ+ rights. In June, the organization declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S., pointing to the passage of bills it deems discriminatory.

It sends a real message in a time when we are seeing attacks legislatively and through violence against the LGBTQ+ community that the majority of people reject that kind of animus, Rob Hill, state director of the Human Rights Campaign's Mississippi chapter, said in an interview after Nelson's victory. "I think a lot of youth around the state who have felt like their leaders are rejecting them or targeting them wont feel as lonely today.

The Hinds County district includes Southwest Jackson and part of Byram, Salem and Terry. Nelson said he connected with voters by relying on his deep local ties. In office, he wants to increase health care access for low-income people by pushing for Medicaid expansion.

Dont get me wrong, its great being first, but ultimately what won this campaign is the fact that Im in touch with my community and the issues my community is facing, Nelson said.

He also wants to be a voice against policies that harm marginalized communities, he said.

At the end of the day, I put my suit on the same way every other person who walks in that statehouse does," Nelson said. "Im going to walk in there, and Im going to be a sound voice as to why things like this cant continue to go on in the state of Mississippi.

In a statement, Annise Parker, president of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, said Mississippi is "one of the last two states to achieve the milestone of electing an out LGBTQ+ lawmaker. 

Voters in Mississippi should be proud of the history theyve made but also proud to know theyll be well-represented by Fabian, Parker said.

One of the authors of Mississippi's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, Republican Rep. Nick Bain from Corinth, was trailing Wednesday in a nail-biting primary runoff in north Mississippi. The race still had not been called Wednesday, but Bain trailed fellow Republican Brad Mattox, who owns a gun shop called Big Bang Trading Company.

In south Mississippi, Felix Gines, a Biloxi City Council member first elected as a Democrat, lost a Republican runoff to Zachary Grady, a former police officer.

Rodney Hall, a recent aide to GOP Congressman Trent Kelly and former Army veteran, won the Republican primary in a northeast Mississippi district and faces no opponent in November. He is set to become the first Black Republican elected to the state Legislature since the 1890s.

___

Michael Goldberg 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 him at @mikergoldberg.
Schools in Mississippi are not seeing a significant increase in the number of COVID-19-like cases despite a significant rise in cases statewide over the summer.

Mississippi began seeing an increase in the number of cases of COVID-19-like illnesses in July and August after reaching a weekly low of 368 cases in mid-June, according to health department records.

In the week ending Aug. 19, the latest available, the state saw nearly 2,000 possible COVID-19 cases  more than six times the number of cases reported two months earlier.

Mississippi started the year with 2,149 cases  the highest so far in 2023  in the week ending Jan. 7. That number steadily declined until June. Now, the year's weekly high could soon be surpassed if cases continue to rise.

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At this point, officials with the state's public and private universities as well as its community colleges and K-12 schools, are taking no action but are staying aware and following state health department recommendations.

And if it is up to Gov. Tate Reeves , they never will.

On Monday, Reeves issued a scathing statement accusing the media of speculating whether mask mandates or other COVID-related protocols will return.

"Mississippians will not and should not submit to fear again," Reeves said in the statement. "In the early days of COVID, there was understandable uncertainty. We did not yet know what we were facing.

"As the months unfolded, it became clear that there were two pandemics. A disease that was easy to spread and that was deadly for many vulnerable people. And a pandemic of fear stoked by 'the expert class' that demanded total subjugation of the American people."

Click here: Read Gov. Tate Reeves' statement in full

The Clarion Ledger and Hattiesburg American asked school officials throughout the state whether they would consider masking again or taking other COVID preventive measures.

In the Jackson area, officials at Jackson State University said they are not seeing any COVID-19 spikes on campus.

"We are mask-optional, and we are following the Mississippi State Department of Health guidelines," said Alonda Thomas, chief communications officer and associate vice president for Marketing and Communications at Jackson State.

Cases of COVID-19-like illnesses continue to rise in Mississippi, according to the state Department of Health.

Belhaven University also has not seen an increase in the number of possible COVID-19 cases, said David Sprayberry, Belhaven's director of public relations.

"We are always monitoring it carefully, but we have not seen any significant change," he said. "Student safety comes first, and we will adjust our pattern if the circumstances change."

Mississippi College in Clinton has not seen an increase in COVID-19-like illnesses.

"As of now, there are no additional protocols in place at Mississippi College," said Bruce Coleman, a communications specialist at MC. "Students have been advised to follow their physicians' orders regarding COVID-19."

The University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University are not seeing a significant increase in cases on their campuses.

"We will continue to monitor those cases and encourage our campus community to be mindful of their health and to get tested as soon as possible if they believe they have any symptoms," said Jacob Batte, director of news and media relations at the University of Mississippi.

"As with the pandemic, we are following protocols from the Mississippi State Department of Health and IHL," Mississippi State University Vice President of Communications Sid Salter said in an email. "We have received no guidance in that direction and while we have seen some slight uptick in COVID diagnoses, we have not seen an alarming number."

Like MSU, other universities in the state are not taking action, but continue to monitor coronavirus activity.

"William Careys leadership remains attentive to local, state and national updates about COVID-19, but has not instituted any changes to its policies at this time," Carey spokesperson Suzanne Monk said.

Nearby, the University of Southern Mississippi also is taking no action at this time.

The Institutions of Higher Learning, which governs the state's public universities, has not issued any new measures regarding COVID-19 protocols, said Kim Gallaspy, IHL assistant commissioner for Government Relations.

"We will continue to rely on the Mississippi State Department of Health for recommendations to mitigate the spread of COVID-19," she said.

Mississippians will not and should not submit to fear again. In the early days of COVID, there was understandable uncertainty. We did not yet know what we were facing. As the months unfolded, it became clear that there were two pandemics. A disease that was easy to spread and pic.twitter.com/fbDATWNiOb  Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) August 28, 2023

None of the state's community colleges appear to be taking extra measures, either.

The community colleges take seriously the health and safety of all students," said Kell Smith, executive director of the Mississippi Community College Board. "As autonomous institutions, it is up to each community college to establish its own policies.

The state's K-12 school districts set policy according to guidance from the Mississippi State Department of Health.

"MSDH encourages all schools to follow CDC guidance for COVID-19 prevention," said Dr. Kathryn Taylor, interim state epidemiologist. "When K-12 schools or school districts have COVID-19 cases or outbreaks they are encouraged to reach out to MSDH for guidance and recommendations as needed. K-12 schools are also able to request COVID-19 tests from the MSDH COVID-19 unit if needed."

Could masking or other measures designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 be returning to Mississippi now that schools are back in session?

While Mississippi schools may not be taking extra precautions, other areas of the country are taking a proactive stance.

Not far from Mississippi's border, one university in Louisiana is taking action to help stop the spread of the coronavirus on its campus.

Dillard University began requiring masks indoors at its New Orleans campus. A Nola.com news article reported Loyola University also noted an increase in COVID-19 cases, and is asking people on campus to continue basic hygiene practices, but is not requiring masks.

Louisiana also has seen its COVID-19 infections rise at an alarming rate in the last two months, with more than 8,000 cases reported in the week ending Aug. 20, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.

In other parts of the country, public school districts are closing campuses due to the spread of COVID-19, according to a USA TODAY report. Two districts in Kentucky and one in Texas have announced temporary closures.

According to USA TODAY, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data on coronavirus cases is several weeks out of date and no longer tracks COVID-19 infections. Most Americans take at-home tests and don't report results. However, more than a quarter of wastewater testing sites reported a large increase in virus levels over the past two weeks as of Aug. 21.

Do you have a story to share? Contact Lici Beveridge at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: COVID-19 increases; Mississippi schools take no action
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo.  Authorities have confirmed that the niece of the Ferguson police chief was found shot to death inside her Black Jack apartment.

Kayla Patterson, 25, was one of two people gunned down within minutes of each other Monday evening.

Suspect wanted after road rage incident in Merriam ends with window smashed

Police found Patterson inside her residence at the Whisper Lake Apartments around 9 p.m.

The St. Louis County Police Department is handling the investigation, Ferguson Police Chief Troy Doyle said in an email. Doyle went on to say that his family is heartbroken over Pattersons death.

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Investigators are still working to find out what led to that shooting and have not said if a suspect is in custody.

Residents are trying to come to grips with the tragic news.

Our women, they should not have to go through violence, physical, domestic, any type of violence at all. I also have a daughter. It would hurt me to my heart if something like that was to ever happen to her, said Francine Manning.

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Approximately 10 minutes before Patterson was killed, police were called to Glen Owen Drive near Bahama Drive and found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim, Frederick Gett, was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved. He was 45.

Police said the Gett shooting could have been the result of a robbery.

Anyone with information on either shooting is asked to contact the St. Louis County Police Department at 636-529-8210. If you wish to remain anonymous or are interested in a cash reward, call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
(Bloomberg) -- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell froze after a reporter Wednesday asked his thoughts on seeking reelection, the second public episode in as many months to raise concerns about the 81-year-old lawmakers ability to remain in office.

Most Read from Bloomberg

McConnell abruptly stopped and stared ahead for more than 30 seconds after the reporters question about a potential 2026 run during an appearance in Covington, Kentucky. An NBC reporter posted video of the exchange on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.

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Eventually, a woman standing next to McConnell stepped forward to ask if he had heard the question. When he didnt move, she said to the group, Im sorry were going to be a minute. Then she and another person went to him. Seconds later he said, OK but didnt respond to the question.

McConnell, a shrewd legislative tactician and prolific fundraiser, has been a bulwark of the Republican Party establishment, moderating the populist impulses of former President Donald Trumps allies while protecting traditional conservative priorities, including funding for Ukraine.

A spokesman for McConnell said in an emailed statement that the senator felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today. An aide said he felt fine but planned to consult a doctor before his next event.

The mental acuity of older American political leaders has surfaced as an issue as Republicans campaign against President Joe Biden , 80, on his age and critics press Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, 90, to resign because of her frailty and confusion.

In July, McConnell froze for about 20 seconds during a news conference on Capitol Hill. He was led away for a few minutes but then returned to the microphones and said he was fine and able to do his job.

The two episodes come months after McConnell suffered a concussion and broken rib in a March 8 fall at a fundraiser in Washington. He was discharged from a hospital on March 25 but didnt return to the Senate until mid-April.

Earlier: McConnells Senate Colleagues Stand by Him Amid Health Scare

Hes a good friend and so Im gonna try to get in touch with him later this afternoon, Biden said of McConnell, with whom he served in the Senate.

John Thune , the No. 2 Senate Republican, spoke with McConnell after the incident. The leader sounded like his usual self and was in good spirits, Thune spokesman Ryan Wrasse said.

Lawmakers are not in Washington and few immediately reacted to McConnells latest episode. But at least two representatives  Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican  questioned McConnells fitness for office.

Craig Robinson, a longtime Republican strategist, said, I feel bad for him, I really do. But I also dont think that being in leadership is the right spot for him.

Democrats and independents aligned with the party have a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate. Any absence by McConnell wouldnt affect partisan control of the chamber. If he were to leave the Senate during his term, Kentucky law requires a temporary replacement from the same party until theres a new election in the heavily Republican state.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, has called that 2021 law unconstitutional and suggested he would challenge it in court. Vikram Amar, a professor of law at the University of Illinois who has examined the Kentucky law, called the law constitutionally problematic but questioned whether a court would overturn it.

Earlier this year, McConnell became the longest-Senate party leader ever, surpassing the 15-year record held by Mike Mansfield, a Montana Democrat, for more than four decades.

Relatively few bills have become law without McConnells support or at least his acquiescence, thanks to a strong grip on the partys rank-and-file and the Senates filibuster rule.

Hes played a key role in numerous budget deals, crafting bills to avert or end government shutdowns and debt limit crises, with the next major deadline just a month away when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

At the Wednesday event, shortly before falling silent, he said of the current budget conflict, Honestly, its a pretty big mess.

Read More: McConnell Freezes at News Conference, Raising Health Questions

He played a unique role on Ukraine behind the scenes, repeatedly urging the White House to raise its spending requests, while criticizing Biden for delays in providing more advanced weapons, and helped smooth the way for an expansion of NATO in the wars wake.

If McConnell steps down from his leadership post, it would set off a leadership scramble, with three Republicans  Thune, John Cornyn of Texas, and John Barrasso of Wyoming, seen as most likely to contend for the top spot.

Thune is the Republican whip, a post Cornyn held until he was term-limited out, and Barrasso now serves as the partys No. 3 elected leader.

Rick Scott of Florida also challenged McConnells leadership last year, complaining of a lack of an agenda, after Republicans failed to win the majority. Scott had been in charge of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2022 elections.

The GOP relies heavily on McConnells fundraising prowess. The Senate Leadership Fund, a Super-PAC allied with McConnell, spent more than $246 million in last years elections, according to Open Secrets. Thats more than any other outside group seeking to affect the outcome of elections in 2022.

McConnell personally raised $65.9 million for his 2020 campaign, the last time he was up for reelection. His opponent, Amy McGrath, out-raised McConnell by $28.2 million, but he he won with 57.8% of the vote, suggesting its an uphill climb for Democrats to pick up that seat when it comes up in 2026.

--With assistance from Steven T. Dennis, Akayla Gardner, Laura Davison, Erik Wasson and Ryan Teague Beckwith.

(Updates throughout.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had another worrisome freeze-up during a news conference on Wednesday, going silent for more than 30 seconds after a Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce speech in Covington, Kentucky.

It was eerily similar to an episode last month in which McConnell had to be whisked away by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) after suddenly freezing at the podium during another press conference with reporters at the U.S. Capitol.

BREAKING NEWS: Sen. Mitch McConnell appearing to have another scary episode in the media gaggle in Covington today. Aides had to step in to help him out and repeat questions. He was eventually lead away. We'll have the full video on @WLWT pic.twitter.com/q9ex5MHxLV  Hannah Thomas (@HannahPThomas) August 30, 2023

On Wednesday, McConnell suddenly paused as he was answering a question about running for re-election in 2026. An aide came to his side and asked if he had heard the question but the 81-year-old didnt respond.

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Im sorry yall, were going to need a minute, the aide said.

After half a minute of uncomfortable silence, McConnell eked out a word. Okay, he muttered.

McConnell fielded two more questions from reportersone about Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, and another about former President Donald Trumps latest indictment. Both questions had to be repeated to McConnell by his aide, who ended the press conference after the Trump question.

A spokesperson for McConnell told The Daily Beast that the senator felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today. An aide added, While he feels fine, as a prudential measure, the Leader will be consulting a physician prior to his next event.

President Joe Biden said that he planned to check in with McConnell, calling the minority leader a good friend.

I just heard, literally, coming out. And Mitch is a friend, as you know, not a joke, Biden said at the White House during a briefing about Hurricane Idalia. We have disagreements politically, but hes a good friend. So, Im going to try to get in touch with him later this afternoon.

Prior to the alarming Q&A, McConnell delivered a speech for about 20 minutes.

If Its Goodbye Mitch and Dianne, Who Takes Their Place?

His health has been a concerning issue for Republicans, who hold 49 seats in the Senate to Democrats 51. McConnells two freezing incidents, coupled with the concussion he suffered after a fall at an event earlier this year, havent painted the most optimistic picture of the aging senators condition.

In fact, a report from Politico earlier this month suggested that McConnells colleagues are growing increasingly alarmed at his health. Particularly, his deteriorating hearing loss has reportedly become more obvious to aides and colleaguesone of whom approached McConnells staff about getting the senator hearing aids.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.

Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.
(L-R) Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) reaches out to help Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) after McConnell froze and stopped talking at the microphones during a news conference after a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans U.S. Capitol 26, 2023 in Washington, DC. Also pictured, L-R, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), and Sen. John Thune (R-SD). McConnell was escorted back to his office and later returned to the news conference and answered questions. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnells shaky health is in the news again after he was unable to speak for more than 30 seconds while taking questions from reporters on Wednesday.

McConnell, who is 81, had a similar incident just a month ago. And he spent five days in the hospital in March after suffering a rib fracture from a fall.

McConnells ability to continue as Republican leader in the Senate was already in question after the first two health scares. Those questions will grow louder now, despite his earlier insistence that he would complete his term as leader.

Here are the three Republican senators  all named John  who might replace McConnell as the leader of their party in the upper chamber of Congress. McConnell has been one of the longest-serving and most consequential Senate leaders in U.S. history.

Sen. John Thune

The 62-year old South Dakotan has been the No. 2 Republican in the Senate since 2019. He is a mild-mannered politician with a moderate streak. And he has been critical of former President Donald Trump.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

Thune contemplated leaving the Senate in 2021 but then decided to run for reelection in 2022, a race he easily won.

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Thune has been in the Senate since 2005. He considered running for president in the past, most notably in 2012, but since then he has focused on Senate service. He led the Senate Republican Conference for many years and the Senate Republican Policy Committee, both of them consensus-building roles.

Sen. John Cornyn

Cornyn, 71, from Texas, has been in the Senate since 2003. He is a former associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court who went on to serve as attorney general of that state as well.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

Cornyn was the No. 2 Senate Republican  a position known as the whip  for six years before Thune took over the role. Unlike Thune, Cornyn has also led the campaign arm of the Senate GOP, focusing on helping his party win elections. He is savvy, with sharper-edged politics than Thune.

Cornyn was at one point considered a nominee for the Supreme Court.

Sen. John Barrasso

Barrasso, 71, hails from Wyoming, and is most likely to move into the second Republican spot if McConnell has to step down from leadership or the Senate.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

But if neither Thune nor Cornyn can gain the votes from their fellow Senate Republicans to win the top job, Barrasso would be in the running.

Barrasso was appointed to the Senate in 2007 to replace Sen. Craig Thomas after his death. Since then he has moved up the ranks of Republican Senate leadership, chairing the Republican Policy Committee after Thune and then taking over the leadership of the Senate Republican Conference after Thune became whip in 2019.
Fox News Medias Stuart Varney and Dana Perino alongside UNIVISIONs Ilia Calderon will be the co-moderators of the second Republican debate, the networks announced on Wednesday.

The debate, which will be broadcast on FOX Business Network (FBN) and UNIVISION, will take place on Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Seven candidates in the field have so far qualified for the debate. That includes Donald Trump , who is unlikely to attend as he has said he is not doing the first two debates.

The selection of moderators provides some clues as to the direction the debate is likely to head. Varney is a host on Fox Business Network where he focuses largely on economic policy and private industry. Perino, a former press secretary for President George W. Bush, co-anchors Americas Newsroom and is a co-host of The Five, one of Fox News primetime shows that focuses largely on culture issues and politics. Calderon, a history-making Afro-Latina anchor, currently co-anchors UNIVISIONs flagship evening newscast, NOTICIERO UNIVISION.

The debate is set to air from 9pm through 11 pm on Fox Business News and Fox News Channel alongside a livestream simulcast on Fox Nation. It will air in Spanish exclusively on UNIVISION.
Fox News Medias Dana Perino, Stuart Varney and Univisions Ilia Calderon will moderate the second Republican primary debate, the networks revealed Wednesday.

The debate is scheduled for Sept. 27 and will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

We are very proud to have Stuart Varney and Dana Perino co-moderating the second debate with UNIVISION to provide Americans with a comprehensive view of the qualifying candidates vying for the Republican nomination for president, Fox News Media president Jay Wallace said in a statement.

Varney hosts Varney and Co. on Fox Business Network, which airs the debate, and Perino is a co-host of The Five on Fox News.

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Univision will air the debate at the same time in Spanish.

As in past election cycles, we seek to inform Hispanic voters nationwide about their choices while representing our communitys issues during this election cycle, Maria Martinez-Guzman, Univisions executive vice president of news, said in a statement.

Calderon is the co-anchor for Univisions national evening newscast and the presenter of the networks weekly newsmagazine, Aqui y Ahora.

News of the upcoming moderators comes a week after the first GOP primary debate, moderated by Fox News Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

Related...
DNA helped identify a suspect in a nearly 20-year-old homicide case, Modesto police report, and the man  arrested Tuesday afternoon  has confessed.

This is the second cold homicide case solved by the Police Departments Violent Crimes Unit this month. The first was the arrest in Texas mid-month of a former Modesto man suspected in the case of a 15-year-old who disappeared on April 25, 1986, and is presumed murdered.

Tuesday afternoons arrest of 38-year-old Modesto resident Justin Guice is in the case of a fatal shooting during what appeared to have been a home invasion robbery gone wrong.

On Aug. 18, 2004, at about 8:30 p.m., officers responded to the incident at an apartment complex in the 1800 block of Tully Road, near Briggsmore Avenue. They found 31-year-old Tajuan Belton outside, suffering at least one gunshot wound.

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Modesto Bee reporting at the time said Belton staggered out of his apartment and collapsed in front of the complex. He died before emergency personnel got him to Doctors Medical Center.

According to police at the time, witnesses said Belton opened his door after hearing a knock. When he did, the gunman forced his way in and shot Belton with a handgun.

Tuesdays MPD news release says the suspect fled the scene, leaving behind evidence that was collected by investigators. Detectives from our Violent Crimes Unit thoroughly reviewed this cold case and collaborated with the Department of Justice to obtain a DNA profile from the collected evidence, utilizing modern techniques. This collaborative effort successfully led to the identification of 38-year-old Justin Guice, a resident of Modesto, as a potential suspect.

Tuesday, Detectives Josh Grant and Josh Lawrence interviewed Guice, which resulted in a full confession to the shooting death of Belton, the release says.

Detectives told department spokeswoman Sharon Bear that there is no indication of any other participants in the shooting.

Guice faces charges of murder, discharge of a firearm causing death, and home invasion. He is being held without bail.
Modestos initiative to provide people who live in their cars a safe place to park overnight and receive basic services is expected to debut Friday, about a year after the City Council approved the program.

The six-month pilot program has 25 spaces for people who live in cars, minivans and pickup trucks. It is getting off to a modest start as of Tuesday, with one woman meeting the programs requirements. The Bee could not reach the woman for comment.

The program is in a gravel parking lot next to The Salvation Armys Berberian Center at Ninth and D streets. The army will manage it. The city has budgeted $200,000 from some of its federal pandemic relief funds to pay for it.

About a dozen people have applied for the program, according to Jim Stokes, director of the Stanislaus County and Salvation Army shelters in the Berberian Center. The shelters have 393 beds between them and are running at nearly 100% capacity.

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Stokes said Tuesday that a couple of the people who applied live in recreational vehicles, which the program does not take. Other applicants could not meet the requirements of having a valid drivers license and a vehicle that is insured and registered.

One man qualified for the program but has since dropped out, Stokes said.

City officials have said the program approved by the City Council was based on best practices among other communities that offer safe parking.

Stokes said the armys case manager will help people with getting drivers licenses, insurance and registering their vehicles. The case manager will be able to help them get those things all street legal so they can come into the program, he said.

Donations taken for license, registration and insurance costs

Stokes said the Stanislaus Community Foundation is accepting donations to cover these costs and the army is talking with two other partners about providing funding.

The Salvation Army is gathering information about the people applying for the program, including the barriers they face. Modesto Community and Economic Development Director Jessica Hill said that based on that information, the program could be adjusted.

If we need to shift the program, we can address it after we gather the data on the six-month pilot, she said.

Hill called Fridays debut a soft start. She said that over the past couple of weeks, the city has provided handouts about the program to homeless service providers but soon will expand its efforts to get the word out.

She said the citys police officers, park rangers and homeless outreach workers will tell people who live in their cars about the program. Hill said she was excited the program was starting after many months of work.

Background check required

The Salvation Army is providing portable restrooms, wash stations, drinking water, security, trash disposal and case management. Participants check in between 7 and 9 p.m. and must leave by 7 a.m. The screening process includes a background check, and registered sex offenders are not allowed.

The program has taken a long time to start. A City Council committee first discussed the proposal in November 2021, and the council approved it in July 2022. City officials at the time said they expected the program to start later that year.

Hill said starting the program has been complicated because it involves four parties. The gravel parking lot is owned by a company affiliated with Stanislaus Foods, the cannery next to the Berberian Center. The county is leasing the parking lot, and the city is subleasing part of it from the county.

It took time to work out issues regarding risk and liability, Hill said. Stokes said it took about nine months for the contract to go through The Salvation Armys approval process.

If we do this well, Id like this to expand, Stokes said Tuesday. Its a good model. It has the potential to meet more people than the shelter can do. There are so many different types of homeless folks, and we want to meet them where they are. This gives us more capacity to do this.
Sara Kloek, her husband, and her 2-year-old daughter were flying out of DC on American Airlines.

The mom and daughter had two aisle seats, despite American's policy to seat families together.

Kloek said the airline told her to pay for an upgrade, but later resolved the issue for free.

Sara Kloek, her husband, and her 2-year-old daughter were flying on American Airlines from Washington, DC, to Minnesota on August 24.

The day before, Kloek went to check in for their flight, and she immediately knew the assigned seat arrangements weren't going to work.

Kloek told Insider that the airline had seated her and her daughter in two aisle seats across from one another and her husband seven seats behind them, which she said, "doesn't work when you're flying with a 2-year-old."

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Kloek knew American Airlines had committed to sitting families together for free where possible, but when she reached out to the airline, she said she was initially told by a representative that her options were either to pay to upgrade or wait and have an airline worker figure it out at the gate. Another airline rep eventually reached out to resolve the issue for Kloek for free.

Sara Kloek wanted to sit directly next to her daughter, who needed a window seat

In February, American Airlines announced its new policy to make it possible for families to sit together for free, CNN reported. American's family-seating policy says it can seat children 14 and under with an adult in their family, as long as everyone is booked in the same reservation and if "adjacent seats are available in the same class of service your child is ticketed at the time of booking," among some other conditions.

Kloek said when she booked the flight to visit family in Minnesota on August 17, there weren't any free seats together. She initially didn't think this was a big deal and figured American Airlines would have it sorted by the time she checked in.

But she said she was surprised when she pulled up their boarding passes and saw she and her daughter had two aisle seats.

The aisle seats weren't the only issue. Kloek said her daughter was traveling in a car seat, and according to American Airlines' policy, it's preferred that car seats are positioned in window seats. The travel website The Points Guy says this is so the seat does not block a passenger from exiting the aisle during an emergency.

Sara Kloek said she was assigned an aisle seat across from her daughter. Philip Lange / Shutterstock

After spotting the issue, Kloek said she reached out to the airline using its chat feature.

There, a representative told her she could upgrade for $61 or wait until she arrived at the airport to have the flight attendants figure it out, she said. (A representative for American Airlines told Insider a gate agent would have likely assisted Kloek, not a flight attendant.)

"I didn't think it was fair to put that on the flight attendants, and I didn't think I needed to pay the $61 because of these commitments," Kloek said, speaking of American Airlines' family-seating policy. "We were fine sitting wherever, as long as I could be with my 2-year-old."

Kloek said she decided to post about the situation on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and tagged American Airlines. An American Airlines representative then reached out and helped her get two side-by-side seats, Kloek said.

Looking back on the issue, Kloek said it seemed "like a problem that technology could solve."

The American Airlines representative told Insider there were automatons in place that help avoid situations like Kloek's. But they added that customers who had similar issues were welcome to reach out to customer relations, the airline's reservation team, or American Airlines on X.

Flight attendants have previously told Insider that passengers can't expect seat swaps

Multiple TikTokers have gone viral for requesting seat swaps so families can sit together.

The reaction to these videos has been mixed. As Insider previously reported, TikTok users seem increasingly resistant to the idea of being pressured to move for the convenience of other people's families.

In March, an influencer posted a video on a plane in which she insinuated she refused to swap seats so a family could sit together with all their kids. She later suggested in her comments section that the video was a "joke," but many commenters agreed with the sentiment behind the video, saying they believe it's the parents' responsibility to book seats in advance if they want to be seated together.

Insider spoke to five flight attendants and had them weigh in on the debate. While they agreed it didn't hurt to ask, they said no one should expect it.

Kloek said she didn't want to risk that rejection or spend time wondering what she was "going to have to do to make it work" so she or her husband could sit next to their child.

When Kloek and her family made their return journey home earlier this week, she and her daughter luckily had no issues sitting next to one another.

Read the original article on Insider
Catholic devotee Gavaadandov reads from a bible while reciting a Christian prayer before bed, in Mongolia

Catholic devotee Gavaadandov reads from a bible while reciting a Christian prayer before bed, in Mongolia

By Joseph Campbell

ARVAIKHEER, Mongolia (Reuters) - Perlimaa Gavaadandov offers a tribute to the sky by splashing a cup of freshly boiled milk tea just outside her yurt on the edge of Mongolia's grasslands, following an age-old tradition.

But at the end of her daily morning ritual, the 71-year-old pauses for a brief Christian prayer and crosses herself across the chest.

"For me, I offer this to our god and pray, without losing our culture," said Gavaadandov, who belongs to Mongolia's tiny Catholic minority, which the Church says numbers about 1,450.

It was important to keep alive Mongolian traditions alongside her Catholic faith, she said.

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"I also teach my children to preserve this valuable heritage," added Gavaadandov, who wore an orange deel, or traditional silk robe.

With Pope Francis set to arrive on Thursday in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, she and several fellow parishioners hope to greet him and follow his every step until he leaves on Sept. 4.

"I am so excited that he is coming and Ill get the chance to meet him in person, especially since he is the leader of the Catholic religion," she said. "I cant wait to see him."

Gavaadandov, who lives on the outskirts of the central city of Arvaikheer, became a Catholic about 18 years ago, soon after a mission set up in her neighbourhood, being drawn initially by her curiosity at the foreigners speaking accented Mongolian.

Once a member of a regional government council during Mongolias communist era, Gavaadandov said she found her new faith during a difficult time after suffering a leg injury.

Eventually her leg got better, and she became a devout Catholic. For years, she often attended church services alone, but gradually her family, including her grandchildren and husband, joined her.

Still, the news of Pope Franciss visit to her landlocked country was completely unexpected.

The nation of about 3.3 million is strategically significant for the Roman Catholic Church because of its proximity to China, where the Vatican is trying to improve the situation of Catholics.

Mongolians' nomadic lifestyle makes it difficult for the mission priests to keep in touch with parishioners, however.

"It is their way of life," said James Mate, a priest at Our Mother of Mercy Mission, where Gavaadandov attends church in a small yurt, or circular domed tent common in central Asia.

"They go upcountry to take care of their animals, to check on their relatives and so forth," added Mate, who originally hails from Kenya and delivers church services in Mongolian at one of just three Catholic parishes outside the capital.

Mongolia has just two native Catholic priests across a total of nine parishes. Arvaikheer has about 55 converts, Mate said.

About 60% of Mongolians identify as religious. Buddhists make up 87.1% of this number, with Muslims accounting for 5.4%, while 4.2% are Shamanist, 2.2% Christian and 1.1% follow other religions, the U.S. State Department says.

Occasionally Gavaadandov finds herself wishing she had come to her new faith sooner.

"Sometimes, I think if I were little younger, I could have converted sooner and met believers around the world and seen lots of nice things," she said.

(Reporting by Joseph Campbell; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
In June 2023, 16 young Montanans filed a constitutional climate lawsuit against the state of Montana, stating they had a right to a clean and healthful environment. The youth allege that the state of Montana, by supporting a fossil fuel-driven energy system that worsens the climate crisis, is violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, to seek safety, health, and happiness, and to individual dignity and equal protection of the law.

Article IX, Section 1 of the Montana state constitution reads, The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations. The young people received guidance from Our Childrens Trust law firm.

On August 14, 2023, a Montana judge agreed. Some say this ruling may have a long-lasting impact on other lawsuits in motion regarding similar constitutional rights in several other states. A similar case will soon be heard in Oregon.

FILE - Youth plaintiffs in the climate change lawsuit, Held vs. Montana, arrive at the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse, on June 20, 2023, in Helena, Mont., for the final day of the trial. A Montana judge on Monday, Aug. 14, sided with young environmental activists who said state agencies were violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by permitting fossil fuel development without considering its effect on the climate. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)

Nobel Peace Prize winner testified about climate change at trial

Steven Running, professor emeritus of ecosystem and conservation sciences at the University of Montana, and Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH, distinguished professor and John P. Holton Chair of Health and the Environment, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and co-winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, were at the June trial in Helena, MT. They are also members of the National Academy of Sciences and Medicine, respectively.

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Running testified about how human-caused climate change is amplifying the hydrologic cycle, whereby wet areas are getting wetter and dry areas are getting drier. Snowpack seasons are shortening resulting in the drying of mountain forests leading to increased intensity and frequency of wildfires, not just in Montana but in many areas of the country. Running described an increasingly dire situation of wildfires getting more severe and more frequent in western North America  causing health impacts across the nation  as heavy fossil fuel use continues to churn out emissions at levels that continue to accelerate global heating.

More: GOP can lead the way on climate change. The Republican debate shouldn't shy away from it.

Along with more severe wildfires, Montana is experiencing more extreme heat days, droughts, flooding, warming of rivers and streams, and declining winter snowpack. The namesake glaciers of Glacier National Park are melting. Specifically, Running noted that Montana air temperatures are rising 0.42degF per decade since 1950, and spring snowmelt is 2 weeks earlier since 1950. And Montana isnt the only state experiencing extreme weather events due to fossil fuel combustion.

One only needs to look at the catastrophic wildfires in Maui that started on August to see whats coming for many areas of the country that have failed to take aggressive action to address climate change impacts. It only takes a spark to start a deadly chain reaction that leads to tragedies like those experienced in Lahaina, Maui. Sadly, Hawaii isnt the only state experiencing the impacts of severe droughts. There are currently wildfires burning thousands of acres in Texas, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado. And theres no end in sight unless we fully address the climate crisis.

FILE - Lead plaintiff Rikki Held listens to testimony during a hearing in the climate change lawsuit, Held vs. Montana, at the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse on, June 20, 2023, in Helena, Mont. A Montana judge on Monday, Aug. 14, sided with young environmental activists who said state agencies were violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by permitting fossil fuel development without considering its effect on the climate. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)

Young people already suffering from climate change

Patz observed other testimony at the trial that is important for young and old alike. Psychiatrist Lise Van Susteren testified that there are significant increases in anxiety, depression, despair and a growing feeling of anger and powerlessness among our young people. The mental health impacts are just starting to surface. Imagine the lasting impact that the Maui wildfires will have on generations to come. And there will be many more wildfires that will impact scores of people of all ages if we fail to act.

Pediatrician Lori Byron testified that wildfires, smoke conditions, and extreme temperatures can damage the lungs and brains of children, which are still developing, more than they can those of adults. She also described the emotional impact of experiencing such extreme conditions, testifying that they amount to adverse childhood experiences. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such experiences can have lifetime impact.

So what can we do? Lets start with our governments. Instead of streamlining approvals of new coal-generated power plants, look first to other energy sources. Solar. Wind. Nuclear. Geothermal. All are viable energy sources that will help all states grappling with very real consequences for climate change.

Jonathan Patz, left, and Steve Running.

Then, lets look at our own actions. Are there things we can be doing as individuals to reduce our carbon footprint? There are many things we can do to do our part to reduce the burning of fossil fuels.

Here are a few ideas from the UW-Madison Office of Sustainability.

When the 16 young people in Montana went up against the fossil fuel industry and bureaucracy, some thought it was a publicity stunt. But they prevailed due to the overwhelming climate science experts who have been warning everyone for years about the impacts. We hope the results of this trial can accelerate the political momentum needed to bring about a net-zero carbon emissions and climate stabilized world.

Steven Running is professor emeritus of ecosystem and conservation sciences at the University of Montana. Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH, distinguished professor and John P. Holton Chair of Health and the Environment, University of Wisconsin-Madison. They were co-winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gen Z is already suffering from climate change, harm to environment
Nearly 200 people were arrested in Nigeria for attending a gay wedding, including the couple who got married, according to police in the western African country. Photo courtesy of Council on Foreign Relations

Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Nearly 200 people were arrested in Nigeria for attending a gay wedding, including the couple who got married, according to police in the western African country.

Using the country's homosexuality laws, officers arrested hundreds of "gay suspects" early Monday morning at a hotel in Ekpan town, Delta state, in southern Nigeria.

"The amazing part of it was that we saw two suspects -- and there is a video recording -- where they were performing their wedding ceremony," Delta State Command spokesman Bright Edafe told reporters.

"This is not something that will be allowed in Nigeria," Edafe added. "We are in Africa and we are in Nigeria. We cannot copy the Western world because we don't have the same culture."

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While there were reports of 200 people arrested, 67 were detained and will be charged "upon completion of the investigation," Edafe said.

Nigeria's Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act bans same sex relationships. Mass arrests are common in the country.

According to the law, which was enacted by president Goodluck Jonathan in 2013, same sex marriages are punishable with up to 14 years in prison. Anyone who "witnesses, abets or aids the solemnization of a same-sex marriage or union" faces up to 10 years.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the law when it was enacted, saying it "dangerously restricts freedom" of expression for all Nigerians. Britain and Canada have also criticized the law.
A Nigerian police spokesperson said the police are investigating at least 67 individuals found at a gay wedding. Delta State Command/Facebook/Screenshot

At least 67 people are being prosecuted by the Nigerian police on charges of attending a gay wedding.

In Nigeria, anyone attending or abetting a gay marriage faces up to 10 years in prison.

When questioned by local reporters, some attendees said they were instead at a night-time fashion event.

The Nigerian police said they arrested more than 100 people at a gay wedding on Sunday evening, declaring that authorities would prosecute many in the crowd for "allegedly conducting and attending a same-sex wedding ceremony."

A spokesperson for the Delta State Command told reporters on Tuesday that officers found at least 200 people attending the event, and that 67 of the attendees are still being investigated.

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Officials took issue with many of the attendees having "cross-dressed like females," the spokesperson said in a Facebook live broadcast seen by Insider.

Same-sex relationships are illegal in Nigeria, with the country imposing 14-year prison sentences on anyone entering into a gay marriage contract or civil union. Witnessing, aiding, and abetting a same-sex marriage can result in a prison sentence of 10 years.

"We are not going to take this lightly, we are going to ensure they are prosecuted accordingly," the police spokesperson said.

Dozens of the accused were made to sit and stand on a raised platform behind the spokesperson, and they were later interviewed by local media outlets, the broadcast shows.

Some of those arrested denied that they were attending a gay wedding, and told reporters they had been participating in a night-time fashion show. Others tried to hide their faces from the cameras.

State police said in a Tuesday press release that officers arrived at the event in the city of Warri on Sunday evening, scattering the crowd and chasing guests. They added that officials have obtained footage of the gathering that showed a marriage ceremony and wedding festivities taking place.

Amnesty International Nigeria condemned the arrests in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

"Amnesty International is calling on the Nigeria's Delta state police command to immediately release the over 100 men, arrested and paraded to the media, over allegedly organizing gay marriage and put an immediate end to this witch-hunt," the organization wrote.

"It is mind-boggling that the mere act of dressing style, hair, or sitting in a pair can assume criminal proportions," it added.

The Delta State Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Read the original article on Insider
Gray wolf OR-93 ventured from Oregon to Southern California in 2021, a journey that signaled the potential return of predators to the state. (California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP)

On the morning of July 6, Michelle Harris saw a huge canid with yellow eyes dash across a fire road lined with charred snags and giant sequoias blackened by recent wildfires.

The animal paused, started to pace and made clipped barking sounds  like it was very worried about something, recalled Harris, a biologist who was working on a restoration project in the area. Then it tilted its head back and let out a really decent howl.

All I could think was, It doesnt look like a coyote, but it has to be, right? 

Animal tracks and DNA analysis of scat and hair samples determined it was an adult female gray wolf, the leader of a previously undetected pack settling into Giant Sequoia National Monument  a region of the Southern Sierra Nevada that hasn't felt a wolfs paw in more than a century.

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Now, biologists are cautiously optimistic that Californias southernmost wolf pack, which includes the female's four offspring  two males and two females  will adapt to its new environs some 130 miles north of Los Angeles.

Yet the sudden appearance of the so-called Tulare Pack is already generating friction among Central Valley livestock owners and the managers of ambitious fuel reduction projects underway in and around areas of Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument scorched by recent wildfires.

Read more: Why did California officials drop two mountain lions in the desert and leave them to die?

In a recent letter, a group of environmentalists urged the U.S. Forest Service to suspend post-fire logging operations in the region until it can determine whether any activities associated with those and other projects could adversely affect the wolves.

Thats because the environmental reviews for the projects have not considered the impacts of hand crews with chainsaws, bulldozers and trucks on endangered gray wolves and wolf habitat.

Environmentalists say their presence is vital to restoring the rhythms of life among countless other animal and plant species that evolved with them.

Wolves rewild the landscape and thats good not just for the wolves but for entire ecosystems, said Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity.

California years ago laid out a welcome mat for wolves, and we can keep it there if we dont get led astray by old fears and misconceptions, she said.

The trouble is, wolves also kill livestock, raising concerns among ranchers.

We believe it will be important for state wildlife officials to put a radio collar on one or more wolves in that pack to better understand how they are behaving, said Kirk Wilbur, vice president of government affairs at the California Cattlemens Assn.

Read more: Fear of the 'Big Melt' turns to big relief along California's Eastern Sierra

We fully realize how risky and difficult that will be, but we need wolf data to help protect livestock, as well as wolves, he said.

Wildlife authorities were reluctant to reveal details about where the wolves have been seen, fearing that it might make it easier for hunters to track them down and kill them.

Its a very small pack, but it has generated a lot of very mixed emotions, said Jordan Traverso, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Wolf advocates want us to make things as hospitable as possible for them, she said. On the other hand, their return worries a whole bunch of people who run businesses based on livestock.

In California, the gray wolf is listed as a state endangered species and cannot be killed unless in defense of human life.

State wolf recovery provisions pay full market value to every rancher verified to have lost livestock in wolf attacks. Reimbursements are also offered for the purchase of nonlethal protection measures such as fencing and guard dogs.

Under a new pay for presence program implemented this year, ranchers can even be reimbursed for indirect impacts on cattle and sheep within a pack territory including wolf-induced stress that can result in reduced weight or breeding problems.

So far, there have been no confirmed kills of livestock in the region.

Before the organized wolf extermination campaigns of the 19th and 20th centuries, wolves thrived in nearly every region of North America north of Mexico City.

By the 1930s, the wolf population had been all but wiped out, their disappearance hastened by aggressive hunting by European settlers and then national programs to eradicate predators on public lands.

Once numbering in the millions, only about 7,500 are left in the lower 48, and as many as 11,000 in Alaska, where they are hunted as big game.

Their absence disrupted predator-and-prey relationships throughout the nation and resulted in a population explosion of deer and elk.

The fewer than two dozen wolves currently believed to be living in Northern California include the Lassen pack, whose territory covers portions of Lassen and Plumas counties; the Beckworth pack in eastern Plumas County, and the Whaleback pack in eastern Siskiyou County.

The status of seven all-black wolves discovered near Shasta in 2015 remains unknown. They have not been seen "following their implications in two livestock casualties and amid fears of poaching," Weiss said.

Read more: Trash heaps and wild parties: Blight invades a beloved L.A. escape

Then there was the epic journey of OR-93, a lone gray wolf that in late 2021 ventured from Oregon to the very edge of Southern Californias crowded suburbs in search of territory and mates.

Californias most adventurous wolf was found dead on the afternoon of Nov. 10 that year, near a frontage road running parallel to Interstate 5, about 50 miles north of Los Angeles.

A necropsy conducted by state wildlife authorities determined that OR-93 died from trauma consistent with a vehicle strike.

OR-93s travels had signaled the potential return of a predatory force that some conservationists say would repair the out-of-balance wildlands and make them more stable and diverse.

DNA analysis confirmed that the adult female in Tulare County is a direct descendant of OR-7, which crossed the state line in 2011 to become the first known wild wolf in 90 years to make the Golden State part of its range.

In any case, gray wolves occupy a small part of their historic range. Scientists say a comprehensive recovery plan encouraging their return is crucial to returning ecological stability across thousands of square miles of still-wild habitat.

Among them was ecologist Chad Hanson, who, in an interview, said the wolf pack has become, of all things, the beneficiary of wildfires that jump-started new generations of nutritious grass and shrubs that attract deer they prey on.

Higher ungulate abundance provides prey for wolves, he said. "Logging reduces habitat for deer, adversely impacting endangered wolves."

That kind of talk leaves some federal forest managers and timber industry advocates quietly seething.

But Harris, 28, worries over the outcome of what is shaping up to be a contest for dominance between two top predators, Canis lupus and Homo sapiens.

I havent noticed any fresh evidence of the pack since July, she said, There's been a lot more activity in the area since then. Maybe theyve moved to a quieter place with room to roam."

Hopefully, she added, theyre taking down deer instead of cows and sheep.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
More than 240K without power in Florida after Idalia makes landfall

More than 240,000 Florida residents are without power after Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning.

According to PowerOutage.us, 243,521 people were without power mid-Wednesday morning. Floridas Big Bend area appeared to be the most affected, with Taylor, Lafayette and Wakulla counties seeing outage percentages of more than 65 percent.

The storm made landfall as a Category 3 storm, but it was downgraded to a Category 2 storm as of 9 a.m., according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricanes maximum sustained winds now sit around 110 mph.

Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell warned Florida residents to take the storm seriously Tuesday, despite their familiarity with weather like hurricanes and tropical storms.

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I know that the people of Florida are no stranger to storms, and I encourage all Floridians to take this storm seriously, Criswell said at a press conference Tuesday.

Idalia is the third tropical cyclone to make landfall in Florida in 12 months.

Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 28 in Cayo Costa, bringing destruction to southwest Florida as it hit with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph.

Hurricane Nicole hit Florida as a late-season Category 1 storm on Nov. 10. It made landfall near Vero Beach.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Following Polk County's lead, more Iowa counties are poised to pay for sexual assault victims' emergency contraceptives after the state attorney general's pause on payments for those services.

Since January, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has halted the office's long-standing practice of covering the cost of morning-after pills and, in rare cases, abortion for victims of rape in Iowa.

To date, more than 160 reimbursement requests for rape victims' morning-after pills are pending, according to documents first obtained by Iowa Public Radio. These claims are submitted to the Attorney General's Office by hospitals and pharmacies that dispense these medications to victims.

The reimbursement requests total around $7,500, IPR reported.

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With no clear indication of when Bird plans to make a final decision on whether to resume those payments, a handful of counties across Iowa are beginning to take up the issue to ensure those services remain free to victims, following the lead of Polk County, which voted earlier this month to provide free services for emergency contraception like Plan B, and in rare cases, abortion.

While some counties are still fact-finding the logistics of covering these services, elected officials in other counties hope to approve funding for these medications in the near future.

More: Iowa AG says pause on paying for rape victims' emergency contraception still under review

Among them is the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, which is expected to vote Thursday on a proposal to allocate $10,000 to cover the cost of dispensing emergency contraception for sexual assault victims in the county who request medication to prevent a pregnancy.

To the elected officials on the board, the cost is minimal compared to the peace of mind these services provide to victims, said Johnson County Supervisor Jon Green.

"We will get this taken care of in Johnson County," Green said.

The funding would be allocated directly to the county's Sexual Assault Response Team, which employs the sexual assault nurse examiners who conduct forensic exams and provide these medications to victims. These nurses are deployed to hospitals within the county 24/7 to care for victims in the immediate aftermath of their attack.

My Way is a brand of emergency contraception.

Johnson County's Sexual Assault Response Team has faced budget cuts the last three years, and though they hope to avoid charging patients for emergency contraception, "they do not have the funds available to absorb this cost," according to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.

Those dollars, which would come from the county's general fund, will also help support rape victim services, the board states.

"These women are victims of a crime," said Johnson County Supervisor Lisa Green-Douglass. "The only reason this is being called into question is because A) they're women and B) the medicine is possibly preventing a pregnancy that, if it happened she couldn't get an abortion for. It has this political veneer on it that it wouldn't otherwise have if we're just looking at all of these other things that we find that don't ever get called into question."

The Attorney General's Office did not respond to requests for comment.

More: Iowa nurses fear pause on paying for emergency contraception could drive away rape victims

More local boards likely follow Polk County's lead

Sexual assault response teams across the state say providing victims with free and confidential access to emergency contraception is critical can access the care that they need, and to help women move on from their attack. They worry that forcing women to seek out and pay for their own emergency contraception could be a major barrier to some.

Victim services advocates say even if Bird decides to permanently halt payments, they will continue to provide these medications to victims without cost.

But it appears more local officials in certain parts of the state hope to fund that cause. In recent weeks, sexual assault nurse examiners across the state say they have been in discussions with other counties who are considering a similar move made by the Polk County Board of Supervisors.

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors is so far the first to follow suit. However, it's still unclear how many other counties plan to take up those costs, as some counties are just beginning to have those conversations.

That includes Story County, where its Board of Supervisors is still exploring such a move within its county. However, discussions among county officials remain in the early stages, said Supervisor Latifah Faisal.

"Theres been some informal conversations," Faisal said. "Weve received input from different residents asking us to look into it, so we are looking into it."

Other counties have indicated they are further down the road on this issue. In Linn County, Supervisor Ben Rogers expects the board to soon take up formal discussions "in support of providing funding."

Currently, he said officials are working with the local Sexual Assault Response Team to collect information on the number of victims and the estimated cost the county could provide to fund services impacted by the Iowa Attorney Generals decision.

The board is also working with the Linn County Attorney's Office to understand the legality of providing this funding, Rogers said.

"One of our core missions at Linn County is reducing barriers and obstacles to accessing necessary and lifesaving services quickly and effectively," Rogers said. "We believe in supporting our community partners and this is an extension of that support."

Earlier this month, Polk County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution to ensure emergency contraception remains free to victims within the county.

More: Polk County will pay for rape victims' emergency contraception amid state pause

The resolution directs Polk County Crisis & Advocacy Services, which oversees the county's Sexual Assault Response Team, to pay for services that were historically paid for by the Attorney General's Office if the current pause becomes permanent.

Under this measure, medication to prevent pregnancy will be available to all those who seek help in the county, regardless of where they live, county officials say.

Of the 270 women who were victims of sexual assault that Polk County served last year, 105 of them received free emergency contraception, officials say. Last year's budget was $3,000, according to the board.

Polk County Supervisors also criticized Bird's move following their vote earlier this month, saying that the state's pause on its program puts partisan politics before women.

Its clear the Iowa attorney general has given women of rape and sexual assault the Bird, and it is a disgusting act of cruelness to these victims who deserve compassion & care as they cope with this trauma, Supervisor Matt McCoy said in a statement. Iowans deserve to know the rationale for pausing this program, and the impact that it has on sexual assault victims. The Iowa attorney general continues to stonewall the public when they request information about her cruel decision.

Why are counties starting to pay for these services?

Earlier this year, Bird confirmed that she directed her office to pause payments for emergency contraception and abortions for victims of sexual assault using the state's victim compensation fund.

Bird, a Republican and ardent abortion opponent, has previously said that pause is part of a larger review of Iowa's victim services program, and that she was evaluating whether this is an appropriate use of public funds."

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird speaks during an Iowa March for Life rally at the Iowa State Capitol on Saturday, June 24, 2023, in Des Moines.

More: Iowa stops paying for rape victims' morning-after pills and abortions

"That audit is ongoing," Alyssa Brouillet, a spokesperson for the attorney general, said in a statement last month. "Until that review is complete, payment of these pending claims will be delayed."

The state's victim compensation fund pays for out-of-pocket expenses facing sexual assault survivors who seek medical help, such as treatments for sexually transmitted infections. The fund also pays for sexual assault examinations to collect forensic evidence, regardless of whether or not they report their assault to law enforcement.

Former Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat who held office for 40 years before he was ousted by Bird in January, also directed the state's victim compensation fund to also pay for emergency contraception and abortions for rape victims.

According to records provided to the Des Moines Register in April, the Iowa Attorney General's Office paid $9,899.62 for 267 claims for morning-after pills, and zero dollars for abortions in 2022.

Dollars for the victim compensation fund come from fines and penalties paid by individuals convicted of crimes. General taxpayer dollars are not used for the fund.

Bird is a staunch abortion opponent. Her office is defending a new state law in court that would ban nearly all abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in the embryo, or at about six weeks of pregnancy.

Other critics have called on Bird to provide an explanation for her pause on payments for sexual assault victims' services, saying the move has put victims and victim advocates in limbo for the past several months.

Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said permanently ending payments for emergency contraception and abortion would have immense harm on Iowans.

"Imagine being in a space where you have just been violated in such an inhumane way," Richardson said during a recent Planned Parenthood press conference. "You want to ensure that when you are accessing services as a survivor, that your humanity is seen. The unfortunate result of what we are seeing within Iowa is that these victims of sexual assault are being victimized more than once."

Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa counties offer funding for rape victims' morning-after pills
A military court in Moscow has sentenced a citizen of Ukraine to 12 years imprisonment for allegedly planning to detonate an explosive device in Russia's Bryansk Oblast, the court's press service announced on Aug. 30.

Russian officials claim that Oleksandr Bobrovitskyi was a member of a saboteur group organized by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

The man was reportedly asked to detonate an explosive device "at one of the transport or industrial infrastructure facilities" in the region with the goal of undermining Russia's war against Ukraine, the court claimed.

According to the court's statement, Bobrovitskyi arrived in Russia and settled in Bryansk Oblast, but was eventually arrested by Russian law enforcement while extracting a cache containing components of the explosive device.

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Bobrovitskyi was convicted on the charges of terrorism and illegal possession and manufacturing of an explosive device and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment and a fine of 550,000 rubles.

The Kyiv Independent could not verify the veracity of the charges as Russia regularly uses trumped-up accusations and lengthy prison sentences to oppress both domestic opposition and Ukrainian citizens in occupied territories or those who otherwise end up in the hands of Russian authorities.

Bryansk Oblast lies at Russia's western border with Belarus and with Ukraine's Chernihiv and Sumy oblasts. Local officials regularly report on drone strikes and shelling from across the Ukrainian border.

Read also: Media: Russia sentences Ukrainian soldiers to over 20 years in prison

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin claimed that Russian air defenses destroyed a drone bound for the city on the night of Aug. 30 amid a "massive" strike on Russia's western regions.

Sobyanin said the drone was shot down over the Ruza district, west of the capital.

No casualties have been reported. According to Sobyanin, emergency services are working at the scene.

Flights in Moscow were temporarily suspended on Aug. 30 due to alleged drone activity.

"An attempt was made tonight to launch a massive drone attack," Sobyanin said, referring to claims of other drone strikes in western Russia the night of Aug. 30.

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In Pskov Oblast, near Russia's border with Estonia, Governor Mikhail Vedernikov claimed that drones destroyed four Ilyushin Il-76 airlifters at a military airfield. The airport was shut down following reports of the attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed that drones were shot down over Bryansk, Oryol, Kaluga, and Ryazan Oblasts.

The drone shot down over Bryansk allegedly hit the site of a Kremniy EL microelectronics factory, causing damage.

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The funeral of Yevgeny Prigozhin , the Wagner Group founder who died in a plane crash last week, was closed to the public eye on the orders of the Kremlin, the Moscow Times reported on Aug. 30, citing two unnamed Russian officials.

The oligarch who launched a rebellion against the Russian government two months ago was buried in St. Petersburg during a private ceremony on Aug. 29, without the attendance of Russian President Vladimir Putin .

"The task was to make sure that when the coffin with Prigozhin's body was being lowered to the grave, there would be no mass gatherings of citizens, mercenaries, and sympathizers around, as well as no videos and photos on social networks from the cemetery," one of the sources told the Moscow Times.

The officials questioned by the outlet connected the decision to the fact that Prigozhin aroused emotions among the Russian people and came to be regarded as a folk hero.

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"Do we need heroes that march on Moscow? No," one of the sources commented.

A further possible motivation for a closed-door ceremony was the continuing grudge among the Russian leadership toward Prigozhin, the Moscow Times said, referencing one of the officials.

The decision on the private ceremony was reportedly taken after several discussions by high-ranking Kremlin officials and officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Following mounting tensions between Prigozhin and Russia's Defense Ministry, the Wagner Group launched a short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin in June, taking the city of Rostov and marching toward Moscow before abruptly ending the insurrection less than 24 hours after it began.

Prigozhin was allowed to walk free following an undisclosed deal allegedly brokered by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

On Aug. 23, an Embraer Legacy jet carrying the mercenary boss and other key figures of the Wagner Group crashed in Russia's Tver Oblast, causing the death of all 10 people on board.

While the reasons for the crash of Prigozhin's aircraft remain unclear, U.S. officials named a bomb onboard or "some other form of sabotage" as a likely cause of the incident. Russia has rejected an offer by Brazil to assist with the investigation of the plane's crash.

Read also: White House on Prigozhin: Kremlin has long history of killing its opponents

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Pekka Toveri, Former head of the Main Directorate of military intelligence of Finland, called Ukraine's attack at Pskov airfield the most successful today.

Source: European Pravda; Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle with a link to Toveris speech

Details: The politician is a member of the Finnish parliament from the ruling National Coalition party.

"If the initial reports of four destroyed aircraft are true, this will be the most successful attack by Ukraine to date. This number will immediately impact Russian activities," Toveri said.

He believes the attack will force Russia to act, and the Russian Federation will be forced to move aircraft from its usual bases. Or Russia will have to invest heavily in protecting airfields, the politician believes. This would mean Russia would have to withdraw anti-aircraft equipment from the contact zone.

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Any of these options will weaken Russian capabilities.

The proximity of the Estonian border allows for the possibility that the drones were sent from Estonia. However, Toveri says, this is unlikely.

"I do not believe that the Estonian government would risk allowing such activities on its territory. It can almost be considered an act of war," Toveri said.

Ukraine's Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate confirmed the destruction of four Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft during a nighttime drone attack on Pskov.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!






LA MESA, Calif.  A 72-year-old motorcyclist was killed last week in a crash on Interstate 8 in the La Mesa area, authorities said.

The collision occurred around 8:48 p.m. on the westbound I-8, located east of Jackson Drive, Officer Jared Grieshaber with the California Highway Patrol said in a news release.

Woman killed in wrong-way freeway crash

The motorcyclist was riding a Harley Davidson was traveling westbound on I-8 at an unknown speed when he lost control of the motorcycle and overturned, causing the rider to be ejected, according to law enforcement.

CHP confirmed the death of motorcyclist at the scene. His name has not been disclosed at this time. He was identified as a San Diego resident.

Authorities believe driving under the influence was a factor in the crash.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
There's an awful lot of talk about the end of movie stars considering Denzel Washington is right over here, walking around.

Antoine Fuqua 's Equalizer 3," a taut and textured sequel to Washington's vigilante series, isn't one of the actor's best films. It wouldn't crack his top 10. But it vividly encapsulates Washington's formidable on-screen potency.

You might think this would be in the movie's brutal action sequences, but no. It's the scenes of Washington fastidiously having a cup of tea at a sidewalk cafe or strolling the streets of a Sicilian town. This is a movie stitched together less by its plot mechanics than the pleasure of watching Denzel smirk, scowl and smile, in leisurely scenes mixed in with all the murder.

In that way, the Equalizer movies (the third of which is certainly the best of a so-so bunch), remind me of those great Walter Matthau thrillers like Charley Varrick and Hopscotch  movies about old men with expressive eyebrows who are set in their ways but have plenty of tricks left up their sleeve. (Washington, now 68, also took over Matthau's role in the remake of Pelham One Two Three. )

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There's no shortage these days of older stars plying their special sets of skills in action thrillers. Throw a stone in a movie theater and you're likely to hit (and risk drawing the lethal ire of) Liam Neeson, Harrison Ford or Tom Cruise. Equalizer 3, an all-in-all good entry in the genre, is on the bloodier end of the spectrum.

Yet curiously neither the fight sequences (rapid and grotesque) nor the film's sense of suspense (perfunctory) are much of a selling point. The film, scripted by Richard Wenk, opens with a trail of bodies through the main house of an Sicily vineyard. In the wine cellar calmly sits Robert McCall (Washington), who shrugs, Wouldn't let me in, so...

The Equalizer is loosely based on an 1980s TV series about a former intelligence service agent who spends his retirement bringing the scales of justice back in balance for regular folks he happens to encounter. And there's a pleasantly episodic quality to the third film in the series.

A bullet in the back leaves McCall laid up in recovery after he's taken in by a kindly village doctor named Enzo (Remo Girone). We're in Southern Italy. Most of the film was shot along the Amalfi coast, specifically the enchanting medieval fishing village of Atrani. If there's one truly implausible thing about Equalizer 3, it's the fact that there isn't a tourist in sight. McCall, who once out of bed strolls the village's cobbled steps with a cane, seems to be the only American in town. He's quickly charmed by the people who warmly welcome the Americano.

And the same time, the Camorra mafia is pushing harder into the village, with intentions of driving out locals to make room for hotels and casinos. They make a small army of designer-dressed, tattoo-covered thugs, and they descend on the village, unaware of the lurking elite vigilante quietly sipping tea across the street from their shakedowns or eating pasta at the next table.

The well-traveled Fuqua, who helmed both prior Equalizer movies and first directed Washington in Training Day, is in his genre wheelhouse here. He trails McCall patiently and soaks up the local color, with a few touches of Christian imagery from the church above the town. There's a sinister, ominous sense of evil scourges  a heinous drug from Syria, sold by the mafia is funding terrorists cells  seeping into a society of good people.

The clear dichotomy of good and bad is cozy, and so, too, is Washington's savage, untroubled dispatching of the mafia ring. There are CIA officials in the mix, too, including Dakota Fanning's desk clerk turned operative. But they are mostly following McCall's lead. He  Washington really  is in a league of his own, and Equalizer 3," smartly, doesn't even try to suggest it's a close race. Not all are created equal, after all.

Equalizer 3, a Sony Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for strong bloody violence and some language. Running time: 109 minutes. Three stars out of four.

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
MEMPHIS, Tenn.  Two men are facing charges of theft of property after police say they illegally booted and tried to tow away a big rig from a truck stop in Southeast Memphis Monday night.

Its at least the fourth time a truck driver has been targeted in the city in the last few months.

Man accused of robbing, illegally towing victims tractor-trailer

MPD said the truck driver called officers to the Exxon on 4840 Holmes after his 2019 Freightliner was booted and hooked up to a tow truck while he was inside the convenience store getting food.

The truck driver said the tow truck driver also pushed him to the ground while he was on the phone with the police.

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Police said Rufus Newson with A1s Towing and Gary Rhodes with S Line Truck Parking were arrested after they refused to drop the 18-wheeler from the tow truck.

The victim told officers he was only in the gas station for about ten minutes, and when he came out, there was a boot on his tractor-trailer, and he was told he would have to pay $256 to get it removed. The victim said he agreed to pay it, but the tow truck driver lifted up his truck and said the price had been changed to $500.

There are signs beside the gas station that say no free parking for truck drivers, but a clerk inside the gas station said truck drivers who buy gas and food are not required to pay to park.

Police also said a city ordinance requires a boot to be on a vehicle 24 hours before a vehicle is towed away to give the owner a chance to pay a $50 fee.

Over the last few months, police have made several arrests in similar incidents involving truck drivers and A1s tow truck drivers. In one instance, investigators said a truck driver was physically removed from his vehicle by men armed with guns, and his tractor-trailer was towed to A1s lot on Mallory.

Arrests made after two truck drivers are carjacked in Memphis

Henry Foster, a truck driver for forty years, was at the Exxon Holmes Express Tuesday. He said he heard about the crimes and is glad the semi-truck driver involved in the incident Monday called the police.

Man accused of robbing, illegally towing victims tractor-trailer

You know youve got crooks everywhere trying to get over on people, and its so sad, and Im glad police arrested them, and I hope they put them all out of business, said Foster.

Newson is also charged with simple assault. We were not able to contact anyone with A1s Towing and Hauling or S Line Truck Parking after hours.

After the arrests of A1s tow truck drivers in April and July, WREG contacted A1s Towing and Hauling to find out if the arrested men were current or former employees. A woman who answered said the company had no comment about the men or the case before hanging up the phone.

According to court documents, the Shelby County District Attorneys office approved the charges against Rhodes and Newson, and MPDs legal advisor was also advised because of ongoing problems with the wrecker companys activities.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
In his State of the Judiciary speech in January, Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Matthew Durrant asked lawmakers for a 10% increase in pay for judges in the state.

The Legislature delivered, increasing judicial salaries by around 10% and adding around 5% to the salaries for the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state auditor and state treasurer.

Lawmakers also allocated money for cost of living increases for various government staff, as well as targeted increases for employees of certain departments, John Barrand, director of the Division of Human Resource Management, told the state's Elected Officials and Judicial Compensation Commission on Monday.

Although Utah generally pays top elected officials more than the median salary of other states, Barrand said the rates are much lower than private companies would pay for similar leadership roles such as CEO.

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One office that has benefited from salary increases has been that of the attorney general, according to chief of staff Ric Cantrell. Salaries for private attorneys have climbed in the state recently, leading to a decrease in job applications for the office, Cantrell said.

"People love the AG's office because we do damn good work and ... the issues are interesting, but we couldn't get people to apply anymore because we couldn't pay them anymore," he said. "You'd be a fool to work for us for $75,000 when you could work for a Salt Lake City law firm for $200,000 if you've got kids and a mortgage."

Cantrell told the commission the office had previously struggled to fill several positions, including on the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, which investigates and prosecutes people suspected of using the internet to exploit children. He said the job is high stress and requires a high level of experience, making it hard to find qualified attorneys willing to work for a government salary.

But since the salary increase, the Utah Attorney General's Office has been able to fill 24 vacancies and has seen an increase in the quality of applicants, Cantrell said.

"Anyway, we filled that position, we filled another position just like it and we're keeping our children safer in Utah because of that increase," he said.

Salaries for top elected officials

Here's a breakdown of annual salaries for top elected officials and judges in Utah in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the Division of Human Resource Management:

Governor: $182,000, set by Legislature in appropriations act.

Lieutenant governor: $164,610, 90% of governor's salary.

Attorney general: $173,755, 95% of governor's salary.

State auditor: $164,610, 90% of governor's salary.

State treasurer: $164,610, 90% of governor's salary.

District court judge: $203,700, set by Legislature in appropriations act.

Juvenile court judge: $203,700, 100% of district court judge salary.

Utah Court of Appeals judge: $213,900, 105% of district court judge salary.

Justices of the Utah Supreme Court: $224,050, 110% of district court judge salary.
SPRING VALLEY, Calif.  A man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of starting multiple spot fires in Spring Valley, authorities said.

Marcus Fox, 33, faces four counts of arson to property and was booked into custody at the San Diego Central Jail, Sgt. Anthony Portillo with the San Diego County Sheriffs Department said in a news release.

The fires, which were set to trash, wood pallets and a trash dumpster, were reported to deputies just before 6 a.m. along Bancroft Drive and Troy Street, according to law enforcement.

Suspect shot, killed mom and 2 dogs before standoff in Encanto house: SDPD

No structures were burned or threatened as firefighters and several witnesses put out the small fires.

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Deputies detained a man, later identified as Fox, found near one of the fires, Portillo said. Upon investigation, authorities determined the cause of the fires to be arson and developed probable cause to arrest Fox.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the Ukrainians are gradually moving forward with their counter-offensive and that the allies should trust how Ukrainian troops conduct military operations.

Source: European Pravda, citing Stoltenbergs interview with CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour.

"They are pushing back the Russians, they are able to get through some of these heavily defended territories, not least, minefields. Therefore, it is even more important to support them, because we all know that this is a tough fight But they are making achievements, they are gaining ground," Stoltenberg said.

He stressed that NATO allies provide an unprecedented level of military support to Ukraine, but the key decisions are up to the Ukrainians.

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"At the end of the day, it has to be the Ukrainians, their commanders on the battlefield that are making those difficult and tough decisions. What we have seen is that Ukrainians have exceeded expectations again and again. We need to trust them. We advise, we help, we support, but at the end of the day this is the Ukrainians that have to make those decisions," the NATO Secretary General said.

Background: The Pentagon sees that the Ukrainian military continues to slowly move forward and repel Russian aggression.

Earlier, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, spoke about criticism of the pace of the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the media, calling for continuing to help Kyiv and showing patience.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!






FILE - Myon Burrell is photographed at his home in Minneapolis, Dec. 17, 2020, two days after his release from prison. Burrell, a Black man who was sent to prison for life as a teenager but was set free in 2020 after 18 years behind bars, was arrested in a Minneapolis suburb Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, on potential gun and drug charges. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Myon Burrell, who was sent to prison for life as a teenager but was set free after 18 years behind bars, was arrested in a Minneapolis suburb Tuesday after police said they found a handgun and drugs in his SUV.

Burrell, now 37, was released in 2020 after Minnesota's pardons board commuted his sentence in a high-profile murder case. The Black man's prosecution and harsh punishment raised questions about the integrity of the criminal justice system that put him away for the death of a young girl killed by a stray bullet.

The Associated Press and APM Reports in 2020 uncovered new evidence and serious flaws in the police investigation, ultimately leading to the creation of an independent national legal panel to review the case.

The Robbinsdale Police Department said in a news release that an officer on routine patrol Tuesday spotted an SUV veering out of its lane and followed it. The SUV continued to drive erratically, above the speed limit, and went over the lane divider, so the officer made a stop, police said.

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The driver was identified from his license as Burrell. The release said there was an indication of active drug use in the vehicle and that a loaded handgun was found within reach of the driver. Unpackaged marijuana and other suspected drugs also were found in the SUV, it said.

Burrell was booked into the Hennepin County Jail on suspicion of possession of a handgun by a prohibited person but had not been formally charged. Police said additional charges of driving while intoxicated and drug possession may be added.

Calls and emails to one attorney who helped secure Burrell's release in 2020 were not immediately returned, while another said he no longer represents him. Burrell remained in custody Tuesday evening. People held in the jail are not allowed to take outside calls.

Burrell, who was 16 at the time, had always maintained his innocence in the 2002 killing of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, who was shot in the heart while doing homework at her dining room table with her little sister. Edwards death enraged the African American community.

The county's chief prosecutor at the time was Amy Klobuchar, who is now Minnesota's senior U.S. senator. She had used Burrells conviction over the years as an example of her tough-on-crime policies, including during her unsuccessful presidential campaign.

An independent national legal panel formed at her urging to review the murder case concluded that there was a failure to investigate that illustrates tunnel vision and that evidence that could have helped exonerate Burrell was either ignored or minimized.

He told the pardons board that he converted to Islam in prison and became a religious leader while behind bars.

While Burrell's sentence was commuted, his request for a pardon was denied so his felony conviction remained on his record.

The new questions about Burrells case surfaced just before Minneapolis was thrust into the national spotlight by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in a case that forced a national reckoning on race and policing.
President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden arrive at Fort McNair on June 25, 2023, in Washington. | Andrew Harnik, Associated Press

The National Archives and Records Administration has confirmed the existence of three pseudonyms used by President Joe Biden during his time as vice president, according to the Southeastern Legal Foundation, an advocacy group.

Biden used the names Robin Ware, Robert L. Peters and JRB Ware in his emails.

The nonprofit advocacy group has been trying to uncover the pseudonyms Biden used as vice president for the past two years. They first requested the National Archives release those emails in 2021. At the time, the Archives said since the then-vice presidents records were collected on Jan. 20, 2017, they wouldnt be made public until 2022, exactly five years later.

The Southeastern Legal Foundation then filed a Freedom of Information Act request in June 2022. At that point, the Archives said they had identified approximately 5,138 email messages, 25 electronic files and 200 pages of potentially responsive records as a part of the request but the documents were never made public.

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All too often, public officials abuse their power by using it for their personal or political benefit. When they do, many seek to hide it, Kimberly Hermann, the general counsel at the legal nonprofit, said.

The only way to preserve governmental integrity is for (National Archives and Record Administration) to release Bidens nearly 5,400 emails to SLF and thus the public. The American public deserves to know what is in them.

Related

Are the emails important?

The advocacy group has filed a federal lawsuit against the National Archives to get access to the emails, arguing they are central to the congressional investigation into the Biden familys foreign business dealings.

House Republicans have also requested special access from the National Archives to emails between President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden related to business dealings with Burisma and Ukraine.

In an Aug. 17 letter to Colleen Shogan, archivist of the United States, on Thursday, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer asked for unredacted versions of the documents.

Comer, R-Ky., cited an email with the subject, Friday Schedule Card, which was withheld from the public because it contained personal information. The same email had an attachment that said then-Vice President Biden had a scheduled call with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at 9 a.m. on May 27, 2016.

It is concerning to the Committee, however, that this document was sent to Robert L. Peters  a pseudonym the Committee has identified as then Vice President Biden, Comer said in the letter. He also questioned why only Hunter Biden was copied on the email.

Related

What has Rep. Comer requested from the National Archives?

Comer asked for all communications that included the three pseudonyms confirmed by the National Archives.

He also requested access to any emails or documents where Hunter Biden, or his business partners Eric Schwerin and Devon Archer, were included, as well as all drafts between Nov. 1, 2015, to Dec. 9, 2015, when Biden addressed the Ukrainian parliament.

Joe Biden has stated there was an absolute wall between his familys foreign business schemes and his duties as vice president, but evidence reveals that access was wide open for his familys influence peddling, Comer said in a press release.

This move comes after District Judge Maryellen Noreika dismissed the charges brought against Hunter Biden in Delaware as a part of a plea deal, upon the request of the newly-appointed Special Counsel David Weiss.

Under the plea deal, Hunter Biden was going to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and enter a pretrial diversion agreement to avoid prosecution on a felony gun charge.

Now, Weiss can file the same, or additional, charges in another district.

Related
A new interactive map released by the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition marks the location of over 500 American Indian boarding schools - and 130 Canadian residential schools - across North America.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) has launched an interactive map of American Indian boarding schools and residential schools in partnership with the National Center on Truth and Reconciliation.

The map chronicles the locations and basic information of 523 such schools in the United States, as well as more than 130 residential schools in Canada. Many of these schools  in particular boarding schools active between 1819 and 1969  engaged in forced and frequently brutal assimilation of Native students, according to a 2022 report by the Department of the Interior.

Seeing more than 500 dots spread across the country was an emotional moment for Deidre Lyn Whiteman, director of research and education for NABS.

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I still get overwhelmed when I see the map. More than likely there's cemeteries connected to these dots. There are graves next to these places. That's what really saddens me, when I look at it and think about that more, Whiteman told Native News Online. ...it's a tool that's going to be useful to all of our relatives, and our communities and our families.

The map pulls together thousands of hours of work by a staff of less than 20 NABS researchers in partnership with the Department of the Interior in cataloging schools, said NABS CEO Deb Parker, a citizen of the Tulalip Tribe in Washington.

It's an emotional day, definitely, and our team has put in years of work to get to this point  with little to no cooperation from some of these institutions that took these children, Parker said. I really applaud our staff for their tireless work.

The organizations initial list of 367 schools, released in 2021, swelled to 408 through a study by the Department of the Interior. Then, NABS found another 115 through continued research on schools managed by private or religious groups.

Those have been subsequently mapped into a set of clickable entries that produce a short history of each school, including years of operation, any other names the institution might have used as well as funding and management entities. The map therefore represents NABS most recent data, Parker said, but by no means complete data.

Because of all of these research gaps and the lack of funding, we believe that there are other schools out there that we are interested in learning about, so this is up to date as far as our research has provided or gotten us, and we would love for others to join us in this movement to help us create the most inclusive map possible, Parker said. Its ongoing work.

This isnt the only planned project under the NABS banner. The group plans to launch a database with nearly 50,000 records collected from boarding and residential schools to assist family members in further researching their loved ones and their stories. That database should be coming in November, Parker said.

Its another step towards reconnecting families with those lost to a brutal system, said Whitehead, and beginning a long-due healing process.

I've learned more over the years about certain family members and their stories. It's been heartbreaking in that aspect to be continuously reminded about what our relatives went through, Whitehead said. It's also been healing to navigate that - there's nothing wrong with me, there's nothing wrong with my family. There were these systems that were pushed on us, but it's just a good understanding that this was placed upon us.

"I just hope that this shows other Native families that they can start their healing process by looking at these schools. Others can start their own research and their own tools to look into the past - what happened to their relatives, what happened at these schools, to understand and ask those questions and to dive deeper into those histories.

About the Author: "Chesley Oxendine (Lumbee-Cheraw) is an Oklahoma-based reporter for Native News Online and its sister publication, Tribal Business News. His journalism has been featured in the Fort Gibson Times, Muskogee Phoenix, Native Oklahoma Magazine, and elsewhere. \r

"

Contact: ChezOxendine@idonthaveit.com
Native American children have attended at least 523 Indigenous boarding schools since the 19th century, including hundreds that were run by the federal government to assimilate children into White society, a non-profit group says.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition released a new list of Indigenous boarding schools Wednesday that surpasses the number of previously reported institutions.

The list of Indigenous boarding schools in the United States includes many that have closed and some that are still in operation today.

Last year, the Department of Interior released a review of the past efforts by the federal government to assimilate Native American children into White American society. It found the federal government ran or supported 408 boarding schools that forced assimilation between 1819 and 1969.

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Deborah Parker, the coalitions CEO, told CNN that her group identified an additional 115 institutions, the majority of which were operated without federal support.

Theres just so much we dont know and trying to get records from churches has been incredibly difficult until now. Were starting to get some records, but its just not enough, Parker said. Were really trying to build this movement so that we can help families find their loved ones.

Parker said people in many Indigenous communities are still looking for relatives who were taken to boarding schools.

Theyre still trying to search for information that could lead them to where their family members are. We know that many, many children died in the boarding schools and yet, we dont know where theyre right now, Parker said.

The coalitions list includes institutions that meet three requirements: the institutions must have been designed specifically for Native American children, have an educational component and house students for any period of time. The Interior Department had similar criteria but only counted schools opened before 1969 that were operated or directly supported by the US federal government.

The list also includes 125 schools that are currently open and that were or are considered Indigenous boarding schools.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Native American children were sent to schools where they were renamed, told not to use Indigenous languages and had their hair cut, the Interior Departments review states.

Hundreds of those schools were operated or directly supported by the US government but many were also run by religious groups and churches after Congress passed the Civilization Fund Act in 1819. The legislation provided religious organizations with the resources to run more than a hundred schools for Native American children. Many operated like military training camps where children were subject to abuse, neglect and corporal punishment.

In recent years, efforts to raise awareness about the legacy of boarding schools have gained momentum with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland  the nations first Native American to serve as cabinet secretary  who launched an initiative to investigate the boarding schools.

The Interior Departments initial investigation found that 19 boarding schools accounted for the deaths of more than 500 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children but noted the number of recorded deaths was expected to rise, CNN previously reported.

The Department expects that continued investigation will reveal the approximate number of Indian children who died at Federal Indian boarding schools to be in the thousands or tens of thousands, the report said.

CNNs Meron Moges-Gerbi contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Photo 1: Indian Affairs Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Photo taken by Darren Thompson Photo 2: Leaders of the Native American Church lobbied at the House Committee on Natural Resources last September 14, 2022 in Washington, D.C., to preserve the habitat of peyote. James Jones, Counsel for the Native American Church of North America, speaks to staff members of the former Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States.( Photo taken by Darren Thompson).

Leaders of the Native American Church are preparing for another lobbying effort on Capitol Hill to protect the habitat of peyote and are calling on Tribes for their support.

The Native American Church of North America (NACNA) began taking its efforts to protect the habitat of peyote last year, and are strengthening their efforts to protect the plants habitat before climate change and private landowners eradicate the plant.

NACNA is advancing administrative and legislative efforts to the executive branch and U.S. Congress for the conservation of peyotes habitat, NACNA President Jon Brady told Native News Online. We are seeking to conserve and protect peyote and are seeking federal appropriations for a demonstration project for private lands in Texas. We, as NACNA, can only do so much and we need Tribal leader support to continue our efforts across the finish line.

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NACNA, which has more than 300,000 members and is the largest inter-tribal faith organization in North America, is requesting $5 million in federal funding for a new program to be established either by the USDAs existing Conservation Reserve Program or as a stand-alone grant program to be administered by the Department of the Interiors Office of the Assistant SecretaryIndian Affairs.

The program would compensate private land owners for agreeing to convert their lands into a protected peyote habitat and would fund activities that focus on the conservation and managed harvest of peyote.

In the United States, peyote grows on private lands. NACNA leaders worry that in addition to climate change, if the regulations around peyote change, wide-scale personal and corporate cultivation of peyote will threaten the historical and biological integrity of the plant. If not grown in its natural environment, it exposes the population to hybridization, genetic medication, and sterilizationall are in violation of federal law regarding restrictions on peyote.

The Northern Arapaho Business Council, the Fort Hall Business Council, the Three Affiliated Tribes, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy Montana, and the Native American Church of North America-State Of New Mexico have all passed resolutions supporting the preservation of peyote sites.

The Northern Arapaho Business Councilman Keenan Groesbeck wrote a letter to Senator John Barasso (R-WY) on May 3, 2023, asking for support.

The protection of peyote habitat falls within the United States' trust and treaty obligations to American Indians and Alaska Natives and is in alignment with the provisions of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 and the Peyote Amendments of 1994. We sincerely hope that you will fight with the Tribe to protect natural peyote habitats and guarantee tribal citizens the ability to practice their religion in perpetuity.

Meetings are scheduled Sept. 19-21, at the National Indian Gaming Associations Conference Center and will include presentations from National Congress of American Indians Executive Director Larry Wright, NACNA leadership, attorneys specializing in federal Indian law, and more. For more information, visit NACNAs Facebook.

About the Author: "Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at editor@nativenewsonline.net. "

Contact: news@nativenewsonline.net
Two South Carolina men were socializing at a neighbors Midlands home Tuesday when they got into an argument that turned deadly, the Sumter Police Department said.

Barry Lee Thompson, a 56-year-old Sumter resident, was shot and killed, police said Wednesday in a news release.

Thompsons Arnaud Street neighbor, 65-year-old Ronald Glenn Rodgers was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to the release.

The shooting happened on another neighbors Arnaud Street property, police said.

At about 7:15 p.m., officers responded to a call about a shooting and found Thompson in the backyard of the home, according to the release. Thompson was taken to Prisma Health Tuomey hospital where he died, police said.

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Both Thompson and Rodgers were at the mutual neighbors home and socializing before getting into an argument, according to the release. Information about why the men were arguing was not available.

Rodgers pulled a gun and shot Thompson, police said.

No other injuries were reported.

Rodgers drove away from the scene before officers found him in a vehicle on Miller Road, according to the release. Thats about 1.5 miles from Arnaud Street, and near the University of South Carolina-Sumter campus.

Rodgers pulled over and a gun was found during a search of the vehicle, police said.

He arrested without incident and taken to the Sumter County Sheriffs Office Detention Center, police said. No bond has been set for Rodgers, who is scheduled to appear in court again on Oct. 13, Sumter County judicial records show.

Despite the arrest, police said an investigation into the death is ongoing, and the coroners office has scheduled an autopsy.
A 12-year-old girl woke after falling asleep on her couch at night to find a stranger touching her face, California police say.

The startled girl dashed off to alert her family while the accused intruder bolted from the home, stealing a set of car keys at 12:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 28, Riverside police said in a news release.

Officers responding to the incident arrested Daveon Alvarez, 28, whom they describe as being homeless, down the street from the home, police said.

Alvarez faces charges including annoying or molesting a child, burglary, attempted auto theft and violation of parole, police said.

Neighbors reported seeing Alvarez inside vehicles outside the house before he entered the home through an unlocked door, police said.

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Officers thanked the young girl for being brave and providing enough information to put this criminal in jail.

Alvarez is being held without bail, police said.

Riverside is about 55 miles east of Los Angeles.

After-game brawl between 49ers, Raiders fans erupts at California In-N-Out, reports say

Man being robbed of backpack pulls a gun and is killed by police, Colorado cops say

Deputy accused of trying to cover up colleagues DUI crash, California officials say
The CIA wants to share what it knows about world space programs. Some of what it knows, anyway.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency, better known as the CIA, has released a new entry in its World Factbook that catalogues the programs and milestones of NASA, as well as other space agencies around the world. Over 90 countries and the European Union are represented in the new Space Programs section of the agency's factbook, spanning from Algeria to Zimbabwe.

A CIA spokesperson told Space.com that, due to the increased visibility of space programs around the world, there is a need for the agency to provide "sound, reliable background information" for use by students of all ages, journalists, academics or anyone else looking for a "deep dive into a country and its space program."

Related: CIA about UFOs of the 1950s and '60s: 'It was us'

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The Space Programs factbook includes how much each nation spends on its space program, based on available spending estimates and budget information. The resource also includes brief listings on individual countries' key activities, both historical and current.

All of the information in the new factbook section is unclassified and publicly available, and has been gathered together from open sources. Still, it might be surprising to some readers to learn which nations do, in fact, have a space program, the CIA spokesperson added. Nicaragua, for example, a country not commonly associated with spaceflight, pledged to spend over $250 million on a communications satellite with Chinese funding in 2013, according to the factbook.

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The new Space Programs section is the first new appendix added to the CIA World Factbook since 2021. Its addition coincides with the 80th anniversary of the factbook's predecessor publication.

The agency's spokesperson said the CIA's Space Programs appendix is a "living document" that is expected to be updated weekly, but the agency hopes to be able to include more frequent updates in the future.
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption in January 2022 was one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in recorded history . Detonating underwater with the force of 100 Hiroshima bombs, the blast sent millions of tons of water vapor high into the atmosphere.

Some commentators have speculated in recent weeks that the volcano is to blame for searing summer temperatures and are even using the volcano to cast doubt on the role humans are playing in climate change , as reported by The Hill .

So is the gigantic eruption responsible for this summer's sweltering conditions?

"The short answer is no," Gloria Manney , a senior research scientist at NorthWest Research Associates and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and Luis Millan , a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Live Science together in an email.

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"Even though El Nino has made the global temperature higher and the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption might have affected some regions for a short time, the main culprit is climate change," they said.

And numerous studies show that the massive eruption isn't causing this climate change  human activites such as the burning of fossil fuels are the driving factor.

Related: Tonga eruption's towering plume was the tallest in recorded history

Why are some people blaming the volcano?

Massive volcanic eruptions usually reduce temperatures because they spit out vast amounts of sulfur dioxide, which form sulfate aerosols that can reflect sunlight back into space and cool Earth's surface temporarily, the researchers explained. But the Tonga eruption had another effect because it occurred underwater.

"The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption is peculiar because, in addition to causing the largest increase in stratospheric aerosol in decades, it also injected vast amounts of water vapor into the stratosphere," Manney and Millan said.

Water vapor is a natural greenhouse gas that absorbs solar radiation and traps heat in the atmosphere. The aerosol and water vapor impact the climate system in opposing ways, but several studies have proposed that, due to its larger and more persistent water vapor plume, the eruption could have a temporary net surface warming effect, Manney and Millan said.

A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change in January estimated that the eruption increased the water vapor content of the stratosphere by around 10% to 15%  the biggest increase scientists have ever documented. Using a model, they calculated that the water vapor could increase the average global temperature by up to 0.063 degrees Fahrenheit (0.035 degrees Celsius), Eos magazine reported in March.

Some commentators linked the eruption to warming because of this finding, and other studies suggesting a potential warming effect, but researchers involved in these studies have been clear that the volcano isn't a major factor in our wild weather.

"It's probably fair to say that the influence of [the volcano] on this year's extremes is quite small," Stuart Jenkins , a climate scientist and postdoctoral researcher at Oxford University in the U.K. and lead author of the January study, told The Hill.

The underwater Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption on Jan. 15, 2022.

The bigger climate picture

Earth's warming trend predates the eruption. July may have been the hottest month on record for global temperatures, but the five hottest Julys have all been recorded in the past five years, according to NASA.

Manney and Millan said that more detailed models are needed to reveal how much impact the eruption had on global temperatures relative to burning fossil fuels and the El Nino, but the effects are expected to be much smaller than those from burning fossil fuels.

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Tonga 2022 eruption triggered the most intense lightning storm ever recorded

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Tonga's eruption injected so much water into Earth's atmosphere that it could weaken the ozone layer

"Last July's record-breaking global temperatures are just a preview of what may happen if we do not take more bold and ambitious climate action," they said.

In May, the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization warned there's a 66% chance that annual mean global surface temperatures will likely cross a dangerous 2.6 F (1.5 C) warming t h reshold at some point in the next five years.

At 2.6 F of warming, extreme heat waves will become more widespread, with higher chances of droughts and reduced water availability, according to NASA .

Going above 2.6 F could trigger climate tipping points such as the collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets .
A Cranston man accused of causing a fatal crash on Interstate 95 in North Attleboro and leaving the scene is being charged with motor-vehicle homicide, the Bristol County District Attorney's Office said.

A Massachusetts man was killed and a Providence man was seriously injured in the crash, which closed a section of I-95 North near Exit 7 for several hours, the Massachusetts State Police said in a news release.

The fatal crash happened around 4:15 p.m. after a collision on I-95 South sent the Providence man's Cadillac Escalade across the median and into the northbound side, where it collided with a 2015 Jaguar XJ, the state police said.

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More: East Providence police ask for public's footage in crash that killed 1, injured 2

The driver of the Jaguar, Randall Ricketts, 58, of Foxboro, was killed, officials said. The driver of the Cadillac, who is 61 years old, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition Monday, District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn said in the news release. His name hadn't been released.

Two passengers in the Cadillac SUV were taken to Rhode Island Hospital and are in stable condition, Quinn said.

Before crossing the median and crashing into the Jaguar, the Cadillac Escalade had collided with a 2006 Buick LaCrosse in the southbound lanes, and the driver of the Buick left the scene, the police said.

With information from witnesses, the state police broadcast a description of the Buick to all police departments in the area, the police said. At about 5 p.m., the Attleboro police notified the Massachusetts state police that they found a car in Attleboro matching the description. It had a flat tire and front-end damage, the police said.

On Monday night, the state police said they were trying to determine whether a 50-year-old Cranston man who'd been associated with the car had been driving it during the crash.

On Tuesday morning, Quinn's office announced that Joseph Pompei, 50, was arrested and charged with motor-vehicle homicide by negligent operation, leaving the scene of an accident, death resulting, and two counts of the leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury.

He was scheduled for arraignment Tuesday in Attleboro District Court.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Crash closed I-95 and killed Foxboro man. Now driver faces charges.
Donald Trump s legal team tried comparing his federal trial date to the case of the Scottsboro Boys, a move that a retired judge called stunningly stupid.

District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday set Trumps election interference trial for March 4, 2024. Before she made her final decision, Trumps lawyers tried to request a later trial date by comparing Trumps case to Powell v. Alabama, also known as the Scottsboro Boys case. The Scottsboro Boys were nine Black teenagers accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931. The boys were rushed to trial, during which they had terrible legal representation, and convicted just days after the alleged incident. The Supreme Court overturned their convictions the following year, and the case is frequently cited as a glaring example of racial injustice in the U.S. legal system.

The moment in that hearing that struck me, I only have two words to describe it as stunningly stupid. And that was when Trumps attorney compared their desire to delay the case to what happened in the case of Powell v. Alabama, LaDoris Cordell told CNN Monday night about Trumps hearing, referring to the Supreme Court case that overturned the Scottsboro convictions.

What the Trump team did was say that, well, what happened in that trial is what could happen here in this trial, which is absolutely absurd.

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Judge Chutkan, of course, dismissed the comparison and set Trumps trial date for the heart of the Republican primary season.

Trump was indicted for his role in the January 6 insurrection and other attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, one of four indictments. His legal team proposed the trial begin in April 2026, well after the presidential election. The hope was likely that Trump would have been reelected by then and could avoid federal charges.

Special counsel Jack Smith, who investigated Trump for this indictment and for his alleged mishandling of classified documents, requested that the trial begin in January. Chutkan said neither date was appropriate and set the trial for Marchthe day before Super Tuesday.

Cordell said she suspected Chutkan, who is Black, was offended by the comparison to the Scottsboro Boys. Chutkan has already begun receiving death threats from Trump supporters.
As Floridas gulf coast continues to hunker down ahead of Hurricane Idalias arrival Wednesday morning as an extremely dangerous storm, those on the states Atlantic coast are also being warned to keep an eye on the tropical system this weekend.

Thats because the Global Forecasting System, a U.S. federal hurricane projection model, predicts the remnants of Hurricane Idalia could circle back and strike Florida a second time early next week.

If Idalia stays true to the GFS forecast, itd strike Floridas big bend region on Wednesday morning before traversing across North Floridawhere flash flooding, heavy rainfall, and winds in excess of 100 mph are forecastedand eventually through Georgia and South Carolina, back into the Atlantic.

From there, federal spaghetti models forecast Idalia could take a southwest turn and head back toward Floridas Atlantic coast for a second landfall in the Sunshine State sometime Mondayalbeit after losing much of its original power.

The bizarre scenario is far from a certainty, with outside forecasting modelslike the more-trusted European model ECMWFpredicting a different path for Idalia entirely. The looping phenomena of a tropical system is rare, but not unprecedented.

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In 2004, Hurricane Ivan made landfall in Alabamaclipping the Florida panhandleas a major Category 3 hurricane before it traversed across the American South and into the Atlantic Ocean, looping back to make a second landfall with Florida as an extratropical cyclone. From there, it eventually re-entered the Gulf of Mexico and became a tropical storm that delivered heavy rain to Louisiana and Texas more than a week after its initial landfall.

Ivan killed 25 Americans and inflicted a whopping $20.5 billion in damagesinflated by the approximately 120 tornadoes the storm spawned.

Experts fear Idalia, which was upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane Tuesday evening, could be equally dangerous. Thats especially true for Floridas rural big bend region that is particularly vulnerable to flooding because of its very shallow coastal shelf, hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach told The Daily Beast in an email Tuesday.

A model showing the depth of Floridas coastal shelves. Red is considered the most shallow and purple the deepest. National Hurricane Center

Southern Floridas gulf coast has an extremely shallow coastal shelf, which Klotzbach says acts like a ramp for the storm surgeoften the deadliest result of a tropical system. The gulfs shallow shelf is a stark contrast to Floridas eastern coast, which has steep coastal shelves that can reflect some of that storm surge back into the sea when hurricanes strike, Klotzbach said.

Using data from the National Hurricane Center, some models have projected the historic Florida city of Cedar Key could become entirely inundated on Wednesday in a worst-case scenario, with water toppling over homes and leaving much of the town completely submerged.

The tiny city of 700, which was founded in 1842, could suffer from up to 10 to 15 feet of storm surge. Meteorologists begged the towns residents to evacuate immediatelyand pleaded with dare-devil storm chasers to steer clear of the tourist-friendly area, which is famous for its seafood and old Florida vibe.

The National Hurricane Center issues storm surge guidance displaying the 'worst case scenario' surge (i.e., surge that has a 1-in-10 chance of happening)



While this clearly is not guaranteed, it is deeply concerning to see the potential inundation of Cedar Key... pic.twitter.com/vhykg8twBL  Evan Fisher (@EFisherWX) August 29, 2023

If youre thinking about chasing in Cedar Key. Dont, posted Dylan Federico, a meteorologist at Fox 4 in Dallas.

Craig CeeCee, a Mississippi-based meteorologist, posted a more eerie warning to those who try to ride out Idalia on the key.

If youre staying inor chasingCedar Key, think twice, he wrote. You are at high risk of being swamped with flood waters higher than homes, and youll have no way out. First responders won't be able to help you. If you can get out, do so any way you can.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center forecasts Idalia will make landfall about 50 miles north of Cedar Key around 7 a.m. Wednesday, with winds between 111-129 mph. If it makes landfall as a Category 3 storm as forecasted, it will be the first major storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season to make landfall in the U.S.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Utah social media influencer Taylor Frankie Paul, who was charged six months ago for assaulting her boyfriend in front of her children submitted a plea of abeyance Friday, pleading guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for getting her domestic violence charges dismissed. | Screenshot, TikTok

A Utah social media influencer who was charged six months ago for assaulting her boyfriend in front of her children submitted a plea of abeyance Friday, pleading guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for getting her domestic violence charges dismissed.

Taylor Frankie Paul, 29, of Herriman, was charged in the 3rd District Court in February for aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse and criminal mischief.

Charging documents state Paul and her boyfriend were arguing on Feb. 17 when she threw her phone, a wooden play set and metal barstools at him. A video of the incident shows her kicking her boyfriend, putting him in a chokehold and hitting him with a barstool.

Charging documents said one of the barstools she threw put a hole in the wall and the other hit her 5-year-old daughter, who was on the couch next to the boyfriend. A 2-year-old child was also in the room at the time of the incident, charging documents state.

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As part of her plea agreement, Paul pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault count, but all other charges were dismissed. The guilty plea will be held in abeyance for 36 months with a review date on Aug. 24, 2026.

Paul's conditions of agreement include supervised probation, participation in any treatment directed by the probation agency, no consumption or possession of any alcohol or illegal drugs, and no violation of any laws. If Paul successfully completes the abeyance agreement, the felony charge of aggravated assault will be entered as a class A misdemeanor.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.  California Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigned on shutting down Aliso Canyon, a gas storage facility that was the site of the largest methane leak in U.S. history.

Now, five years later, his administration is poised to inject even more gas into the sandstone chamber 8,500 feet beneath north Los Angeles in a bid to stave off energy price spikes and power shortages.

He's also blessed extensions of gas and nuclear power plants that were scheduled to be closed. Keeping the lights on takes precedence over California's clean energy goals, at least for now.

Newsom is grappling with the same nuts-and-bolts challenges of running the electric grid as other blue-state officials in New York as well as the Biden administration. The pivot reflects the awkward reality faced by Newsom and other climate-minded governors: Politics moves far faster than the building of solar fields, wind farms and transmission lines, while power blackouts and electric bill spikes hit home immediately.

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If theres a blackout, its the governors fault," said former Gov. Gray Davis (D), who was recalled in 2003 partly due to rolling blackouts and electricity price spikes during his term. "Certainly they dont send you congratulations when you keep the power on, but ultimately theyll hold the governor responsible for maintaining the grid.



Newsom is scarred from not only the state's bout with two nights of rolling blackouts in 2020, when energy demand spiked during a heat wave, but the memory of a political upset 20 years ago. He's keenly aware of the political risks and the real-world consequences of outages that affect not just comfort and convenience but health, safety and the economy.

If that comes at the expense of the lights staying on, you know, you have to be practical, Newsom spokesman Anthony York said earlier this month of Newsoms position on delaying the nuclear and Aliso closures.

The Newsom-appointed Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to approve the Aliso Canyon expansion, which would boost storage by two-thirds to nearly 69 billion cubic feet.

His administration also extended the life of three aging natural gas plants in Southern California last month and is helping keep Diablo Canyon, the state's remaining nuclear plant, open despite his prior support as lieutenant governor for closing it.

Underpinning all of the extensions is a rapidly changing energy picture on multiple fronts. Extreme weather is becoming more common, producing dramatic swings in demand and extreme events such as wildfires and floods that can abruptly wipe out transmission.

At the same time, energy demand is climbing due to a push to electrify everything from cars to homes. And new sources of renewable energy are backed up for years in permitting bottlenecks.

Climate change is making it harder to fight climate change, said Patty Monahan, a California Energy Commission appointee, earlier this month during a meeting on extending the natural gas plants. As we moved from a system that was really around how we just reduced demand for electricity to a system where we say No, no, let's scale up as fast as possible because that's how we clean the air, it's stressing our system. We are finding it really hard.



The CPUC has been studying closing Aliso Canyon since shortly after a 2015 leak from one of the 114 storage wells at the site, which sits at the foot of the Santa Susana Mountains near the neighborhood of Porter Ranch. The leaking well spewed methane along with benzene and other compounds, sickening residents. It went on for 111 days as attempts to plug it repeatedly failed and prompted 8,000 residents to relocate. Former Gov. Jerry Brown (D) directed the agency to close it by 2027, and Newsom backed closing it even earlier when he first took office in 2019.

Regulators are bucking heavy political pressure in favor of closing the site, including from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and the three leading candidates to succeed her, California Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff.

Others are backing the move, including consumer advocates worried about natural gas shortages and price spikes.

Customers of SoCalGas, the company that owns the storage facility, saw their bills skyrocket by 128 percent from December to January, a shock the company  and the federal Energy Information Administration  attributed to widespread cold, reduced gas flows and pipeline constraints that SoCalGas said could have been moderated by additional Aliso reserves.

Environmental advocates, community organizations and at least 11 legislators are skeptical of the claims, pointing to the profits that SoCalGas parent company, Sempra, recorded last winter.

Prices spiked irrespective of inventories, state Sen. Henry Stern (D-Sherman Oaks) and 10 other lawmakers said in a letter to PUC President Alice Reynolds last week. The letter noted other supply shortages over the last 10 years were not attended by such big price hikes. The CPUC is investigating the spikes, and Newsom asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in February to launch its own probe.

A PUC analysis published a year ago identified an undeniable link between Aliso storage and prices not just in Southern California but across the state. A staff report suggests the commission should expect to phase out the facility between 2027 and 2035, noting the challenges of replacing it with renewable electricity, building electrification and energy efficiency improvements.



SoCalGas spokesperson Brian Haas said in a statement that the company supports the state investigation and that Thursday's expected vote will "help advance our shared goal of maintaining energy reliability at just and reasonable rates.

Stern said he wants to see Newsom take a more aggressive stance toward Sempra.

Hes just got to fight, Stern said in an interview. Were going to need him to put the gloves on and make things a little bit uncomfortable for people and push the envelope.

Porter Ranch residents have been flooding a PUC web page with public comments opposing the expansion and calling on Newsom to keep his word to close the site.

It is impossible for me to tell if anything has changed or what has changed in the governors perspective, said Issam Najm, a neighborhood resident and environmental engineer who is involved in the closure proceedings. I would expect him to chime in on this situation. We have not heard from him yet.
This article was originally published in New Hampshire Bulletin.

For over a year, a group of taxpayers have waged a lawsuit against the state of New Hampshire, seeking to prove that the states school funding model is unfair. This month, lawyers behind that effort made an ambitious ask.

In a proposed settlement offer sent in early August, the plaintiffs asked the state to require that cities and towns send any excess taxes collected by the statewide education property tax back to the state for redistribution  ending a decade-long practice. Since 2011, municipalities wealthy enough to collect more than they need in that tax have been able keep the extra revenue. If the state agreed to the settlement, the result would be a return to the model referred to by opponents as a donor town system.

The settlement offer has dim prospects: The state has not responded to it in the two weeks since it was sent. And even if it were accepted, it would resolve only a portion of the lawsuit, which also seeks to demonstrate that the state does not send enough money for an adequate education to its public schools, distorting property tax rates.

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But the attempt highlights the bigger aims of plaintiffs in the case, known as Rand v. State of New Hampshire, and demonstrates what could be at stake if the state Supreme Court takes up that case and Contoocook Valley School District v. State of New Hampshire in the future.

Heres a refresher of where both lawsuits are and what to expect in the coming months.

Two cases, two focuses

In recent years, two lawsuits have emerged challenging the way New Hampshire funds its schools.

The first, filed on behalf of the ConVal School District and others in 2019, asserts that New Hampshires low level of state support for public schools has hurt districts financially and that the state is not fulfilling its duty to provide an education. The second, filed by taxpayers, argues that the states school funding formula creates broad disparities between towns with more property wealth and towns with less, hurting taxpayers in the poorer towns.

Since the 1993 state Supreme Court decision known as Claremont I  and the follow-up 1997 decision in Claremont II  New Hampshire has been obligated to provide the funding for an adequate education. But despite that mandate, critics argue the state does not do so, and that the current $4,100 minimum of funding guaranteed to every child does not meet that standard of adequacy on its own.

While similar, the two lawsuits were not filed in conjunction, and they address different themes. The ConVal lawsuit is requesting that the court define the realistic cost of an adequate education in order to determine whether the state is providing that to schools. The Rand lawsuit is arguing that the current system creates uneven outcomes for towns and violates the constitutional requirement that state taxes be uniform.

Each of the cases is following its own timeline. The ConVal case has already appeared before the state Supreme Court; in 2021, the court remanded the case back to a superior court so that that court could hold a trial to determine what parts of public school services constitute the minimum requirements for an adequate education. That trial took place in May; the parties are awaiting a decision by Judge David Ruoff of Rockingham County Superior Court.

The Rand case has not yet received a full trial. Arguments in that case were expected to be heard in September  also by Ruoff. But this month, Ruoff announced he was delaying that trial so he can either issue a ruling in the ConVal case or resolve one of the motions in the Rand case. The timing of that case is now in limbo until Ruoff completes those actions.

The spring ConVal trial

While the Rand case is stalled for now, the ConVal case was put into the spotlight this May, when Ruoff presided over a trial.

There, lawyers for the state and the plaintiffs tussled over which parts of a school districts budget  from busing to nursing  are necessary in order to provide an adequate education, and thus necessary to be funded by the state. They disputed whether the adequacy standard requires the state to give schools enough money to keep the number of students per teacher below a certain level.

And they debated the bigger question of whether the states adequacy formula payments come close to covering the actual cost of educating each student, which averages about $24,000 in Contoocook Valley School District.

The same case had been decided for the plaintiffs by Ruoff in 2019, but in that decision, Ruoff declined to issue a recommended per-pupil dollar figure for what the state owes schools to ensure an adequate education. Because the case was then remanded by the Supreme Court back to superior court for a full trial, Ruoff will need to revisit that decision.

The push for SWEPT changes

In contrast to the ConVal lawsuit, one major aim of the Rand lawsuit is to change New Hampshires statewide education property tax, known as SWEPT.

The tax, created in response to the Claremont school funding decisions, was created to help standardize how towns and cities collect property taxes for their public schools. Money raised by the tax helps to offset how much the state needs to pay in adequacy aid payments.

But because towns have different property values, each town collects a different amount in SWEPT. Originally, towns that collected more SWEPT than they needed to offset the state adequacy aid would need to return the rest to the state to be redistributed to other cities and towns. But in 2011, the Republican-led Legislature and Democratic Gov. John Lynch removed that requirement after some railed against wealthier municipalities becoming donor towns. Now, wealthier towns that collect more than they need are allowed to keep the excess and use it to lower their other town taxes. Poorer towns that take in less through SWEPT, must rely on adequacy payments from the state and their own local property taxes to bridge the gap.

This month, lawyers for Rand asked in their settlement proposal for the state to reverse the changes made in 2011. The proposal would require the state to stop allowing cities and towns to keep excess SWEPT revenue starting on April 1, 2025. To properly carry that settlement out, the Legislature would need to act in the 2024 session to undo the 2011 changes; if the Legislature refused, the state could be held liable, according to Natalie LaFlamme, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

The state does not look likely to accept that settlement. If it doesnt, plaintiffs in the Rand case will attempt to ask the New Hampshire courts to require the changes to SWEPT instead.

Uncertain steps ahead

At this point, lawyers in both cases are waiting for more developments from the court. And because both cases are in the same court before the same judge, the timing of each development is intertwined.

Ruoffs order earlier this month staying the Rand trial until he issues the ConVal decision means his decision in the ConVal case will likely arrive in the next few months. At that point, the losing side will likely appeal the case again up to the state Supreme Court.

Ruoffs decision in the ConVal case could affect the trial in the Rand case, especially if he rules on some of the questions that overlap between the two cases. That, in turn, could affect the legal strategies of both the plaintiffs and the state.

But lawyers in both cases are expecting a final destination at the Supreme Court, meaning a resolution in court on New Hampshires school funding formula is still likely years away.

New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Dana Wormald for questions: info@newhampshirebulletin.com. Follow New Hampshire Bulletin on Facebook and Twitter.
The EU is set to import a record volume of liquified natural gas (LNG) from Russia this year, with Belgium and Spain in the lead, the Global Witness reported on Aug. 30.

The bloc's member states spent almost 5.3 billion euros ($5.8 billion) to buy 22 million cubic meters of LNG in the first seven months of 2023 despite the EU's goal to cut off Russian fuels by 2027, the organization said with reference to an industry analytics company Kpler.

The volumes imported by Spain and Belgium make these countries currently the second and third-biggest buyers of Russian LNG respectively, right behind China.

As Global Witness pointed out, the volume purchased this year constitutes a 40% increase compared to the same period in 2021. Between January and July 2023, the EU countries bought 52% of Russia's total exports, compared to 49% in 2022 and 39% in 2021.

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According to the Financial Times, EU imports of Russian LNG were relatively low prior to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as European countries relied instead on gas coming through pipelines.

Since 2022, the EU set the goal of weaning off itself from Russian gas supplies, as well as other fossil fuels. Using the dependency of European countries on Russian imports, Moscow has several times reduced or cut off the gas flow to undermine the EU's support for Ukraine.

However, despite being hooked on Russian gas for years, Europe reduced the pipeline gas imports and decreased the share of Russian gas in the EU's energy mix from 40% to 10% within a year.

In May, the EU and G7 agreed to ban Russian gas imports on routes where Moscow has cut supplies before, in order to prevent the restart of Russian pipeline gas exports on routes to countries such as Poland and Germany.

While the EU has not yet put restrictions on Russian LNG, Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera said that the decision will be made "sooner than later."

Profits from fossil fuels have traditionally constituted a substantial segment of Russia's revenue, feeding the Kremlin's war effort against Ukraine.

Read also: Naftogaz CEO: Ukraine hits autumn gas storage target ahead of upcoming heating season

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
FILE PHOTO: Some of the men charged with public displays of affection with members of the same sex are seen gathered outside a court

By Tife Owolabi

YENAGOA (Reuters) -Nigerian police raided an alleged gay wedding, which is illegal in the country, in the southern city of Warri in Delta state, and arrested 67 people, authorities said in a statement, following a tipoff from a person who knew of the event.

The tipoff about the ceremony came during police interrogation on Aug. 27 of a male cross-dresser, who was dressed as a female, Delta police spokesman Edafe Bright said in a statement late on Tuesday. The statement didn't say when the raid took place.

Bright said those arrested would be charged soon in court.

In Nigeria, like in most parts of Africa, homosexuality is generally viewed as unacceptable, and a 2014 anti-gay law took effect despite international condemnation. Cross-dressing is not illegal but tends to be socially not accepted.

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"The policemen chased and arrested a total number of 67 suspects" for allegedly conducting and attending a same-sex wedding ceremony, Bright said.

Investigations revealed that a drunk guest, who was arrested during the raid, was allegedly raped by a suspect who is now at large, he said.

Efforts were under way to arrest others who fled the scene, Bright said.

Africa's most populous nation's anti-gay law includes a prison term of up to 14 years for those convicted, and bans gay marriage, same-sex relationships, and membership of gay rights groups.

(Reporting by Tife Owolabi; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Livestreaming poised to attract customers, sales

10:10, August 30, 2023 By FAN FEIFEI ( China Daily

A livestreaming host promotes sales of products with local characteristics during an expo in Fuyang, Anhui province. WANG BIAO/FOR CHINA DAILY

Short-video platform Douyin and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group's online marketplace Taobao have invested significantly to attract top-notch livestreaming hosts as part of a broader push to gain a new group of users and bolster sales of products online, industry experts said, amid intensifying competition in China's burgeoning e-commerce livestreaming segment.

Oriental Selection, the livestreaming arm of Chinese education company New Oriental Education &Technology Group, kicked off a livestreaming session on Alibaba's livestreaming platform Taobao Live, at 8 am on Tuesday, attracting more than 2.1 million viewers and surpassing 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) in sales within the first hour.

A number of goods including agricultural products, daily necessities, beauty and skin care items, home appliances and consumer electronics, were peddled during the livestreaming session. Oriental Selection used to sell products via Douyin.

Taobao has stepped up efforts to net online celebrities to promote sales and entice a more diversified customer base via livestreaming.

Luo Yonghao, founder of smartphone maker Smartisan Technology and a key online opinion leader on Douyin, started a livestreaming session on Taobao last October.

Luo peddled household appliances, mobile phones, computers, food and beverages, wine and healthcare products, attracting 5.5 million viewers in just an hour.

Be Friends Holding Ltd, the e-commerce livestreaming agency behind internet celebrity Luo, has opened livestreaming rooms on three platforms  Douyin, Taobao and JD. Hangzhou-based livestreaming e-commerce enterprise Qianxun Group has also opted for multiple channels such as Taobao and Douyin to drum up sales.

"Livestreaming has become a key method widely adopted by consumer brands to retain existing users, attract new ones and boost sales revenue," said Cui Lili, director of the Institute of E-commerce at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Cui said there is an interdependent relationship between top livestreaming influencers and platforms, and that livestreaming hosts or internet celebrities should disseminate high-quality content, not just sell products, to attract more user traffic.

According to market consultancy iiMedia research, the revenue of China's e-commerce livestreaming sector touched 1.4 trillion yuan in 2022, up 19.5 percent year-on-year. This is projected to reach 2.1 trillion yuan in 2025.

Douyin is banking on the fast-developing cross-border e-commerce sector, and has rolled out a store focused on imported goods on its platform, with categories ranging from snacks, makeup and skin care products, and maternal and infant goods.

It has also launched an official livestreaming room for imported goods, with followers surpassing 670,000.

Short-video apps are doubling down on efforts to expand their presence in livestreamed shopping, and the online traffic is shifting from traditional e-commerce platforms to apps such as Douyin and Kuaishou, said Mo Daiqing, a senior analyst at the Internet Economy Institute, a domestic consultancy.

Online retailers should make strategic adjustments to reduce their overdependence on top livestreaming anchors and nurture new ones, she said. More brands are aggressively moving toward their own livestreaming activities, Mo added.

Livestreaming with virtual hosts has also emerged as a new trend.

Global consultancy Forrester said more business-to-consumer, or B2C, brands are using virtual hosts to attract digital-savvy and novelty-seeking young consumers, as they cost less than human talent and reduce risks such as celebrity scandals.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
[Source]

Among Republican presidential candidates, former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley strikes the most fear unto Joe Biden s campaign team, according to an insider.

Driving the news: Haley, 51, is the only woman and one of three Indian Americans in the GOPs pool of presidential hopefuls. What distinguishes her campaign, however, are policy positions that increasingly resonate with more moderate voters, particularly those actively looking for an alternative to Donald Trump.

If they nominate Nikki Haley, were in trouble, a senior Democratic strategist close to the Biden campaign told Politico earlier this month. Such fears corroborate Haleys positioning of herself as the biggest threat to Democrats in a general election.

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Responding to attacks against her age and race earlier this year, she told Fox News: You read the poll numbers of how I do with independents and suburban women, and all of those. They [Democrats] know that I am the biggest threat that liberals have ever seen and theyre scared about it.

More from NextShark: Meet 26-year-old Ryosuke Takashima, the youngest mayor in Japanese history

Debate breakthrough: While one poll declared fellow Indian American Vivek Ramaswamy as the winner of the first GOP presidential primary debate last week  narrowly beating Ron DeSantis  a Washington Post/FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos survey showed Haley as seeing the most improvement. Ahead of the Milwaukee event, 29% of Republican primary voters said they would vote for her; that figure skyrocketed to 46% after her performance.

One of Haleys shining moments came when she took down Ramaswamy on foreign policy  her expertise  after the latter said he would not support more funding to war-torn Ukraine. The former U.N. ambassador explained that Kiev, as the U.S. first line of defense against Russia  and by extension, China  needs continued support.

Haley said at the stage and to Ramaswamy:

More from NextShark: DeSantis signs bill requiring AAPI history in Florida schools

"Putin has said: once Russia takes Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics are next. Thats a world war. Were trying to prevent war. Look at what Putin did today. He killed [Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny] Prigozhin. When I was at the U.N., the Russian ambassador suddenly died. This guy [Putin] is a murderer and you [Ramaswamy] are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country [Ukraine].

Under your watch, you will make America less safe. You have no experience in foreign policy and it shows."

More from NextShark: Rep. Maryam Khan reportedly attacked after Eid al-Adha service in Connecticut

Traffic to Haleys campaign website also surged 10 times after the debate. Meanwhile, views and subscribers to her YouTube channel more than doubled, The Hill reported.

Latest polling: Tony Fabrizio, a prominent Trump pollster, told Republican donors that Haley has surged in Iowa since the debate, Axios reported on Tuesday. While the former president is still on the lead, second place is now essentially a contest.

DeSantis has flatlined, Haley has surged, and Ramaswamy is seen as last week's debate winner, Fabrizio wrote in a memo obtained by Axios. With Haley's surge, DeSantis finds himself with another challenger for a distant 2nd place besides Ramaswamy  Nikki Haley.

More from NextShark: S. Korean MP brings her toddler on stage for press conference about 'no kids zones'
Gov. Phil Murphy recently signed a new transparency law that prevents Garden State businesses from profiting from credit card surcharges added to bills. We all hate paying the extra few percent that some restaurants and retailers tack onto bills when we pay with Visa, Mastercard or American Express, and this law will help us avoid them. Consumers deserve to know what they're being charged, especially in these inflationary times.

However, legislators are missing a greater opportunity to protect consumers from unknown hidden costs. They should expand their focus from annoying credit card surcharges to potentially financially devastating health care overcharges.

Unknown, inflated health care bills can result in years of medical debt, bankruptcy and hospital lawsuits that garnish wages and seize assets. New Jersey hospitals even sued patients for unpaid bills during the coronavirus pandemic. In one typical story, Gina Gonzalez of Woodbridge was forced to sell her car to pay for a $13,500 settlement stemming from a lawsuit filed by Trinitas hospital.

I saw the financial devastation caused by hidden health care fees firsthand as the former head of New Jersey's state health plan. Sometimes these upcharges took the form of exorbitant "facility fees" tacked onto care  even telemedicine. But more often than not, they were just run-of-the-mill price gouging.

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NJ law takes aim at credit fees: How much can businesses charge for credit card fees? A new NJ law dictates that

For instance, Mark Gottlieb of Little Ferry received a $250,000 hospital bill, $89,000 of which he owed out of pocket, for surgery after a car accident. Richard Kodack of Morris County received a $9,000 hospital bill, $7,323 of which he owed out of pocket, for a 20-minute ambulance ride. Given such well-documented health care overbilling, price transparency is urgently needed to protect patients.

Due to the opaque status quo, 11% of New Jersey residents  and 17% of New Jersey residents of color  have medical debt in collections. Early in my career, I was a New Jersey bankruptcy law clerk and saw countless heart-wrenching stories of individuals and families trapped in spirals of medical debt, often through circumstances beyond their control. Many were bankrupted by routine treatments at outrageous and hidden prices. I remember watching their faces as they left the courtroom without hope.

The seal of New Jersey on the rotunda floor in the newly-renovated Statehouse in Trenton on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

In today's predatory health care system, patients are asked to sign a limitless guarantee to pay all ensuing charges as a condition of care. No wonder prices are so high. In what realm is it acceptable to potentially saddle someone with debt that could cost them everything, all while they're in their most vulnerable state?

State legislators can address this anti-consumer health care dynamic by codifying and strengthening federal hospital and health insurance price transparency rules at the state level. These rules require hospitals and insurers to post online their actual prices, including their secret negotiated rates, so consumers can shop for affordable care and have peace of mind that it won't result in financial ruin.

The federal rules have been plagued by noncompliance and a lack of standards. Many hospitals skirt the rules by using cost estimators, which allow hidden fees and overcharges to make their way to final bills. But robust state legislation can usher in meaningful price transparency for residents.

Just as the state Division of Consumer Affairs will inspect New Jersey businesses for compliance with this credit card surcharge law, a state agency can provide enforcement to ensure that health care companies offer upfront pricing that matches patients' final bills.

"All residents and visitors doing business in New Jersey deserve the utmost transparency with respect to their transactions," Murphy said when signing the credit card legislation. The governor and state legislators should follow the courage of their convictions and expand this principle to health care, where it can have a much more significant impact in protecting ordinary consumers.

Christin Deacon is a former director of health benefits operations and policy and planning for New Jersey.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ health care costs: Hidden fees pummel consumers
Last week, police wearing tactical vests fanned out in a Raleigh neighborhood with a bomb-sniffing dog to search in and near the home of a man accused of burning a Trump sign.

They were investigating a threat that explosives were in the house of James Dennis White Jr. after city officials and several media outlets, including The News & Observer, received emails saying explosives had been placed at his home.

White had been seen on camera setting a Trump won sign on fire at the home of a local Republican activist, and subsequently was charged with two misdemeanors. Many media outlets reported the story.

A Raleigh police spokesperson declined to talk specifics in that case, but made it clear that such actions are crime that police take very seriously  even when no explosives are found. Not easy-to-solve crimes, but crimes nonetheless.

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If you receive a similar threat, you should call 911, said Detective Christopher Gay, a former commander for the Hazardous Devices Unit.

Take it seriously because you never know, he said.

Police take threats seriously

Following such reports, Raleigh police deploy bomb technicians and apprentices, along with possibly bomb sniffing dogs, robots, X-ray devices or other tools needed to determine if actual explosives are present, Gay said.

Other police departments take similar actions, but sometimes they may have to reach out to better equipped agencies for assistance or resources.

Hendersonville Police Department might seek help from other law enforcement agencies that have bomb-sniffing dogs or other tools, Henderson Police Chief Blair Myhand said.

We dont disregard the validity of them until we can prove otherwise, said Myhand, who is also president of the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police.

None of us want to have ignored a threat that turns out to be legitimate and people get injured or killed because of it, Myhand said.

Meanwhile, other officers, such as ones in Raleighs Intelligence Unit, start searching for the individuals responsible, Gay said.

Thats not an easy task as email addresses and phone numbers can be disguised, he said. Sometimes the messages come from out of the state or out of the country, he said.

No strangers to bomb threats

So far this year, the Raleigh Police Department has responded to 10 bomb threats, compared to 13 at this time last year, according to numbers provided by Gay. Last year, there were a total of 16 incidents.

Security camera footage showing the Trump Won yard sign owned by John Kane burning after a cyclist is seen lighting it on fire.

Raleigh police typically dont pull in other agencies to investigate such threats, unless they learn the incident is connected to threats made outside the state, Gay said. In those cases, they might work with the FBI.

Regardless of whether explosives are found or not, the North Carolina General Assembly has adopted laws over the years that seek to hold people responsible ccountable with felony charges, said Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.

The laws recognize that there is still damage when somebody makes a false threat, Freeman said.

Some possible charges include making a false threat concerning a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon of mass destruction, which is a Class D felony.

Under that law, the court could order a convicted party to pay restitution to cover the costs and consequential damages from the disruption.

Making a false report regarding a disruptive device is a class H felony in which a conviction could also include restitution.

Related misdemeanor charges might include communicating threats, stalking and making a false report to law enforcement.

Communicating threats of mass violence on school property and making a false report of mass violence on educational property are also Class H felonies.

Raleigh man charged with misdemeanors for allegedly setting Trump Won signs on fire

Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
Vladimir Putin 's press secretary Dmitry Peskov has announced that Russia will not permit an international investigation into the Embraer plane crash in which Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed, stating that it will be "an internal Russian [investigation]".

Source: TASS and RIA Novosti propagandist media

Quote from Peskov: "This is our own Russian investigation [into the plane crash involving Prigozhin - ed.], so in this case, there can be no talk of any international aspect."

Details: According to Peskov, given the current circumstances, the situation with this plane crash is "completely different".

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"Since there are no conclusions in the investigation, I can't articulate it to you exactly, but obviously there are different lines of enquiry, one of which is a line of enquiry  you know what it's about  premeditated murder, shall we say, and so on. So let's wait and see the outcome of our Russian investigation, which is being conducted by the Investigation Committee," Putin's press secretary said.

Reference: Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, better known as the Chicago Convention of 1944, provides for international cooperation. When investigating plane crashes, experts work to improve flight safety without identifying those who are to blame, but investigations are often tainted by political interests.

Reminder: Russia had previously informed the Brazilian aircraft accident investigation authority that for now, the latter will not be investigating the crash of the Brazilian-made plane that killed Yevgeny Prigozhin as they are normally allowed to under international rules.

Background:

Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as "Putin's chef", attempted to march on Moscow with the Wagner Group on 23-24 June 2023, but halted the mutiny and went to Belarus with some of the mercenaries.

Wagner mercenaries had been fighting in Ukraine, but Prigozhin fell out with Russias Ministry of Defence and the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

Prigozhin is presumed to have been killed in a plane crash in Russia on 23 August.

Russias Investigative Committee said it has conducted a molecular genetic examination and confirmed the death of Wagner leaders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin in the plane crash in Tver Oblast.

Prigozhin's press service reported on 29 August that his funeral was conducted privately.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
NORFOLK  A Norfolk man who caused the overdose deaths of two women and raped a third after drugging her was sentenced Wednesday to two life sentences plus 20 years.

The term Norfolk Circuit Judge Tasha Scott handed down to 45-year-old Michael Ebong was the most she could give him under the law.

Ebong wasnt in the courtroom when the sentence was pronounced. About a half-dozen deputies wrestled him out of the room and into a holding cell after he became disruptive. The courtroom was cleared and reopened a short time later.

Defense attorney Thomas Reed told the judge after the break Ebong didnt want to return to the courtroom, and instead was left to listen to the proceedings through speakers in the holding cell.

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Mr. Ebong will always be too dangerous to be free, Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Scott Miles told Scott in asking for the maximum sentence. (He) will be just as dangerous at 70 as he is at 45 from what we saw today.

Miles also pointed to a report written by a psychologist who determined Ebongs chance of re-offending was incredibly high.

Ebong testified during Wednesdays hearing and denied raping or drugging anyone. He also said he felt he had been railroaded by the court system and hadnt been given a fair shake. Scott cut off his testimony after he repeatedly failed to answer the questions that had been asked of him, and he began to tussle with deputies as they tried to lead him back to the defense table.

A jury found Ebong guilty last year of two counts of involuntary manslaughter, rape, and object sexual penetration at the end of a five-day trial.

All three victims had gone to Virginia Beach bars with friends and suddenly disappeared, according to testimony at trial. Prosecutors alleged that Ebong targeted each woman, somehow slipped them some drugs and then took them to his Ocean View apartment to sexually assault them.

Kelsey Paton, 30, and Sheena West, 36, overdosed and died sometime after arriving, but the third woman survived and testified at trial. She also testified at Wednesdays sentencing hearing.

The woman, who is not being identified by The Virginian-Pilot because she was the victim of a sexual assault, said she frequently has trouble sleeping, and when she does she often wakes up screaming. She rarely goes out to socialize anymore, she said, and is always checking the doors in her home to make sure theyre locked. Shes moved two times since the assault and was laid off from her job because shed become so unproductive.

Nothings ever going to be the same, the woman testified. My whole life stopped that day.

According to testimony at trial, West was at Central Shore on Shore Drive on Nov. 14, 2020, when she disappeared. Prosecutors showed jurors surveillance video from the restaurant that night showing her leaving with a man they argued was Ebong. The next morning, Ebong called 911 to report an unresponsive woman and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The next incident occurred in July 2021. Like West, Paton was out with friends when she disappeared. And just like in the West case, Ebong called 911 the next morning to report an unresponsive woman who was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Between those two incidents, Ebong took another women home in May 2021. The woman testified the last thing she remembered was being at Seaside Raw Bar at the Oceanfront with friends, and woke up the next day naked and extremely sick in a strange mans apartment. She eventually persuaded the man, who she identified in court as Ebong, to take her home.

The woman didnt report the incident until a couple of months later, when she saw a social media post about what happened to Paton. The post included photos of Ebong and his apartment.

Ebong was supposed to have been sentenced in December but the hearing was delayed after his lawyers informed the court hed been growing increasingly delusional since being convicted, making it difficult for them to prepare. The judge ordered a competency evaluation and ordered the case continued.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
(NewsNation)  A North Carolina woman who was reported missing now faces multiple charges after being accused of orchestrating a false report about her own murder.

Margaret Frances Maggie Elizabeth Sweeney, of Franklin, was arrested on Aug. 21, 2023. The 37-year-old was charged with causing a false report to a police station, false report of death or serious injury by telephonic communication and obstructing law enforcement officers.

Sweeney was reported missing on Aug. 18, WSPA reports, but was found safe the following day after a search. Police said the information they got initially led them to believe she was endangered or dead.

Someone knows him: Sheriff pleads for tips in Rachel Morin case

Sweeneys actions caused our department, as well as other departments, many hours of work which could have been spent on other matters. Family, friends, and the community as a whole were also very concerned and worried about Sweeneys welfare, the Franklin Police Department wrote in a For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
(NewsNation)  A North Carolina woman who was reported missing now faces multiple charges after being accused of orchestrating a false report about her own murder.

Margaret Frances Maggie Elizabeth Sweeney, of Franklin, was arrested on Aug. 21, 2023. The 37-year-old was charged with causing a false report to a police station, false report of death or serious injury by telephonic communication and obstructing law enforcement officers.

Sweeney was reported missing on Aug. 18, WSPA reports, but was found safe the following day after a search. Police said the information they got initially led them to believe she was endangered or dead.

Someone knows him: Sheriff pleads for tips in Rachel Morin case

Sweeneys actions caused our department, as well as other departments, many hours of work which could have been spent on other matters. Family, friends, and the community as a whole were also very concerned and worried about Sweeneys welfare, the Franklin Police Department wrote in a For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
(NewsNation)  A North Carolina woman who was reported missing now faces multiple charges after being accused of orchestrating a false report about her own murder.

Margaret Frances Maggie Elizabeth Sweeney, of Franklin, was arrested on Aug. 21, 2023. The 37-year-old was charged with causing a false report to a police station, false report of death or serious injury by telephonic communication and obstructing law enforcement officers.

Sweeney was reported missing on Aug. 18, WLOS reports, but was found safe the following day after a search. Police said the information they got initially led them to believe she was endangered or dead.

Someone knows him: Sheriff pleads for tips in Rachel Morin case

Sweeneys actions caused our department, as well as other departments, many hours of work which could have been spent on other matters. Family, friends, and the community as a whole were also very concerned and worried about Sweeneys welfare, the Franklin Police Department wrote in a For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
This story was originally published on IdahoEdNews.org on Aug. 30, 2023.

The terms of two West Bonner school board leaders have ended.

Chair Keith Rutledge and vice chair Susan Brown were recalled in Tuesdays special election. EdNews was unable to reach either trustee for comment after the election.

The community decided that Brown and Rutledge did not uphold their oaths to improve West Bonner schools.

I cried happy tears this morning because its been such an intense battle. The against folks paint us in bad light saying we are woke liberal donkeys, and most of us behind the recall are conservative Republican, who just wanted school board members who listened to the community, said Kylie Hoepfer, a parent and recall organizer who spent countless hours live-streaming school board and town hall meetings to ensure transparency.

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Whitney Urmann, who was vocal in her desire to oust Brown and Rutledge, said, I am ecstatic. It is so nice to know this craziness isnt as far reaching as it can seem sometimes. I was involved because I am an educator and I have been very frustrated the past three years watching the narrative about teachers shifting into this ugly and untrue thing about indoctrination. I am also involved because it seems so un-American to me that a group of people will get elected and ignore their constituents.

Tuesdays voter turnout of 2,162 far outpaced their previous election, when 844 people went to the polls in 2021. Voters opted to recall Brown by a 65.96% to 34.04% margin; for Rutledge, it was 62.66% to 37.34%.

According to Idaho law, the board must now follow a series of steps in order to fill the two vacancies.

The board can declare a vacancy at a regular or special meeting and has 90 days to appoint someone from the zone where the vacancy occurred. If the board fails to find a suitable replacement, they are allowed to appoint someone from anywhere within the districts boundaries. If there is no resolution after 120 days, county commissioners can make the appointment.

More than 2,000 votes were cast in the special election.

Appointees serve out the remainder of the term of office that was declared vacant. Both of their terms expire in 2025.

As of Wednesday morning, the school board has not scheduled a special meeting to declare vacancies, according to a district spokesperson.

Trustee Margaret Hall said the election is official upon the canvass, which is Sept. 7 at 10 a.m.

That is when those apparently recalled will be done with their office, Hall said. Then next steps can and will be taken according to Idaho Code and (board) policies.

On one active Facebook page supporting the recall  Support WBCSD Schools  the reaction was understandably celebratory:

Priest River did the thing! Im so proud of you all, neighbors!!! Let this be a lesson to other boards that try to implement extremist ideas  we WILL put kids first!

Kids come first and foremost.

Dearest Priest River friends and community at large, Congratulations on pulling together and pulling off this recall! Im so very proud of all of you, your commitment and your hard work in getting this done. Pat yourselves on the back, and give plenty of congratulatory hugs and high fives and then get back to work! Im afraid this isnt over. This is only the beginning and where the truly hard work and diligence is going to be crucial.

The conservative voting bloc of Rutledge, Brown and Troy Reinbold no longer controls the board, which has experienced a contentious few months. The trustee seats belonging to Carlyn Barton, Hall and Reinbold are up for election in November.

An effort to recall the two trustees started earlier this summer and gained momentum after the controversial hiring of new superintendent Branden Durst. According to the recall ballot, the reasons for recalling Brown and Rutledge are listed below:

Two months after voting to purchase a language arts curriculum, they brought forth a motion to rescind the purchase  which cost the district money to send the order back.

Trustees dont recognize that a majority vote makes the decisions and the outcome needs to be supported by all members.

Trustees need to be actively involved in policy changes, as that is the boards primary function and should be made after complete discussion at a publicly held board meeting  stop whispering to other board members during public meetings.

Trustees have a hidden agenda and dont respect the rights of constituents and the opinions and ideas of fellow board members.

EdNews was unable to reach Durst for comment, and as of Wednesday morning, he had not posted on social media reaction to the election results.

But thats all behind them now. As the district prepares to welcome students back next week, there are several administrative issues left unresolved: the recently hired special education director quit; trustees will be deciding if they will propose a new supplemental levy; they will be searching for ways to fully fund extracurricular activities; theyre in the midst of choosing an English language arts curriculum; and they were directed to fix compliance issues by the State Board of Education over school finance, transportation, special education and federal programs.

Bottomline is that the community-at-large has to figure out how to work together as a team for the sake of our districts young people. School starts next week, Hall said.
The truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) -North Korea fired at least two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, hours after the U.S. separately deployed B-1B bombers for allied air drills.

Japan's defence ministry also reported that at least one suspected ballistic missile was launched, while Japanese media reported that two missiles were fired and landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

"Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for additional provocations, and is maintaining full readiness through close cooperation between Korea and the United States," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The launch comes a day before South Korea and the U.S. wrap up 11 days of combined military drills, which Pyongyang has denounced.

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The B-1B bombers conducted separate air drills with warplanes from South Korea and Japan earlier on Wednesday.

North Korea's ballistic missiles are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions that have imposed strict sanctions on the nuclear-armed country.

The U.S. is concerned that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are actively advancing, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told a briefing on Wednesday, noting that any arms deal would violate sanctions.

Kirby said Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had recently travelled to North Korea to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries want to more closely integrate their systems for tracking North Korean missile launches, an effort that may soon include more cooperation with Japan as well, U.S. Space Force officials said on Wednesday.

U.S. President Joe Biden agreed with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at an Aug. 18 summit that by the end of this year the three countries would share North Korea missile warning data in real time.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo and Josh Smith in Seoul; Editing by Alison Williams, Alex Richardson and Josie Kao)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Wednesday night, its neighbors said, hours after the U.S. flew long-range bombers for drills with its allies in a show of force against the North.

The launches, the latest in the Norths barrage of weapons tests since last year, came amid ongoing annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises that North Korea regards as a rehearsal for invasion.

There were no reports of damages caused by Wednesday's launches. But observers say North Korea likely aimed to demonstrate again it has missiles capable of striking key targets in South Korea in protest at its rivals' military exercises.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the North Korean missiles both travelled about 360 kilometers (225 miles) before landing in the waters of the Korean Peninsula's east coast. It said the missiles were launched from the North's capital region.

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The Joint Chiefs of Staff called the launches a grave provocation that threatens international peace and violates U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban any ballistic launches by North Korea. It said the South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were analyzing more details.

Japans Defense Ministry said it also detected the launches. It said the missiles traveled a distance of 400 kilometers (250 miles) at the maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (30 miles) before falling outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

Earlier Wednesday, the United States flew at least one B-1B bomber for a joint aerial training exercise with other South Korean and U.S. warplanes, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry. It said the drills off the Korean Peninsula's west coast demonstrated the two countries combined defense posture and the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea.

Japans Defense Ministry said that Japan and the U.S. also conducted a joint aerial exercise involving two U.S. B-1Bs on Wednesday over the waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula. It said the exercise was meant to show the two countries resolves to respond to any emergencies promptly and confirm their response capabilities.

North Korea is extremely sensitive to the deployment of U.S. B-1B bombers, which are capable of carrying a large payload of conventional weapons. Wednesdays B-1B deployment is the 10th flyover by U.S. bombers on the Korean Peninsula this year, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.

On Aug. 21, the U.S. and South Korean militaries kicked off their summer Ulchi Freedom Shield computer-simulated command post exercise. During this year's training, set to last until this Thursday, the allies have included field exercises. South Korean defense officials said Wednesday's joint aerial exercise involving the B-1B aircraft was part of that field training.

North Koreas state media said Tuesday that leader Kim Jong Un called for the military to be constantly ready for combat to thwart plans by its rivals to invade. A state media dispatch cited Kim as saying in a speech marking the countrys Navy Day on Monday that the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been made unstable with the danger of a nuclear war because of U.S.-led hostilities.

Also Tuesday, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan mobilized naval destroyers for a trilateral missile defense exercise near the peninsula in response to North Koreas evolving nuclear and missile threats.

The Kim regime may intend to show that it has the ability to attack at any time and from many directions. It might wish to complicate the allies missile tracking and analysis, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

Kim has been pushing to enlarge and modernize his weapons arsenals. Since the opening of 2022, Kims military has conducted more than 100 weapons tests, some of them involving nuclear-capable missiles designed to strike the U.S., South Korea and Japan and other developmental high-tech weapons systems.

Last week, North Koreas second attempt to launch a spy satellite into space ended in failure again. It said it would make a third attempt in October.

Foreign experts say Kim eventually wants to use his expanded weapons arsenals to force the U.S. to make concessions when diplomacy resumes.

North Koreas testing spree has caused the U.S. and South Korea to expand their drills, resume trilateral training involving Japan, and enhance regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets at the Korean Peninsula. In July, the United States deployed a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in four decades.

-

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.
FILE - This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is an intercontinental ballistic missile in a launching drill at the Sunan international airport in Pyongyang, North Korea on March 16, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Wednesday night, its neighbors said, hours after the U.S. flew long-range bombers for drills with its allies in a show of force against the North.

The launches, the latest in the Norths barrage of weapons tests since last year, came amid ongoing annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises that North Korea regards as a rehearsal for invasion.

There were no reports of damages caused by Wednesday's launches. But observers say North Korea likely aimed to demonstrate again it has missiles capable of striking key targets in South Korea in protest at its rivals' military exercises.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the North Korean missiles both travelled about 360 kilometers (225 miles) before landing in the waters of the Korean Peninsula's east coast. It said the missiles were launched from the North's capital region.

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The Joint Chiefs of Staff called the launches a grave provocation that threatens international peace and violates U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban any ballistic launches by North Korea. It said the South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were analyzing more details.

Japans Defense Ministry said it also detected the launches. It said the missiles traveled a distance of 400 kilometers (250 miles) at the maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (30 miles) before falling outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

Earlier Wednesday, the United States flew at least one B-1B bomber for a joint aerial training exercise with other South Korean and U.S. warplanes, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry. It said the drills off the Korean Peninsula's west coast demonstrated the two countries combined defense posture and the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea.

Japans Defense Ministry said that Japan and the U.S. also conducted a joint aerial exercise involving two U.S. B-1Bs on Wednesday over the waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula. It said the exercise was meant to show the two countries resolves to respond to any emergencies promptly and confirm their response capabilities.

North Korea is extremely sensitive to the deployment of U.S. B-1B bombers, which are capable of carrying a large payload of conventional weapons. Wednesdays B-1B deployment is the 10th flyover by U.S. bombers on the Korean Peninsula this year, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.

On Aug. 21, the U.S. and South Korean militaries kicked off their summer Ulchi Freedom Shield computer-simulated command post exercise. During this year's training, set to last until this Thursday, the allies have included field exercises. South Korean defense officials said Wednesday's joint aerial exercise involving the B-1B aircraft was part of that field training.

North Koreas state media said Tuesday that leader Kim Jong Un called for the military to be constantly ready for combat to thwart plans by its rivals to invade. A state media dispatch cited Kim as saying in a speech marking the countrys Navy Day on Monday that the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been made unstable with the danger of a nuclear war because of U.S.-led hostilities.

Also Tuesday, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan mobilized naval destroyers for a trilateral missile defense exercise near the peninsula in response to North Koreas evolving nuclear and missile threats.

The Kim regime may intend to show that it has the ability to attack at any time and from many directions. It might wish to complicate the allies missile tracking and analysis, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

Kim has been pushing to enlarge and modernize his weapons arsenals. Since the opening of 2022, Kims military has conducted more than 100 weapons tests, some of them involving nuclear-capable missiles designed to strike the U.S., South Korea and Japan and other developmental high-tech weapons systems.

Last week, North Koreas second attempt to launch a spy satellite into space ended in failure again. It said it would make a third attempt in October.

Foreign experts say Kim eventually wants to use his expanded weapons arsenals to force the U.S. to make concessions when diplomacy resumes.

North Koreas testing spree has caused the U.S. and South Korea to expand their drills, resume trilateral training involving Japan, and enhance regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets at the Korean Peninsula. In July, the United States deployed a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in four decades.

-

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un pose for a photo prior to their talks in Vladivostok, Russia, on April 25, 2019. | Pool Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko

New U.S. intelligence shows North Korea and Russia are actively advancing high-level talks for additional weapons and other materials to assist Moscows brutal war in Ukraine, the Biden administration disclosed on Wednesday.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently traveled to North Korea to try to secure additional artillery ammunition, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. Since that visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have exchanged letters pledging to increase their cooperation.

Also after Shoigus visit, another group of Russian officials traveled to Pyongyang for follow-up discussions about potential arms deals between the two nations, Kirby said. Under the potential agreements, North Korea would ship Russia significant quantities and multiple types of weapons for use in Ukraine, he said.

The potential deals also include the provision of raw materials that could help boost Russias military manufacturing capability, Kirby said.

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Any arms deal between the DPRK and Russia would directly violate a number of U.N. Security Council resolutions, Kirby said, referring to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, the countrys official name. We're continuing to monitor this situation closely. And we urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia.

The alleged arms talks come as Russias full-scale war on Ukraine drags on with no end in sight. A Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed to make major breakthroughs, despite ample military support from the West. Both Russia and Ukraine are burning through ammunition and seeking any edge they can in a bid to gain a permanent upper hand.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kirby declined to describe how the United States had obtained the information, citing the importance of protecting sources and methods used. Still, it was the latest example of the Biden administration publicly disclosing intelligence in a bid to stay ahead of Moscow as it has pursued its war on Ukraine.

Kirby said the fact that Putin was approaching a country like North Korea, one of the most isolated on the planet, was a sign of Putins desperation, even as he acknowledged it was not clear how long Russia would continue to wage war.

Its hard to look at this and not see anything but weakness, Kirby said.

North Korea has previously sent artillery to Russia through third countries in the Middle East and North Africa, violating U.N. sanctions, U.S. officials said. Russia has also turned to Tehran for weapons, using Iranian drones to attack Ukraines electrical grid and other civilian infrastructure.

The news came as South Koreas military announced that Pyongyang had launched a ballistic missile on Wednesday. It appears the launch was a reaction to the U.S. militarys annual drills with Seoul.
At the service Tuesday evening for four people, including two children, who died earlier this week in an apparent murder-suicide, the leader of the Islamic Association of Allen called for the congregation to reach out for help if they find themselves in a difficult situation.

Ups and downs, physical challenges, emotional challenges, you know, economical, financial stress, duress, we go through all of these things, Abdul Rahman Bashir told those gathered at the mosque, according to online video of the service. ... For the love of God, if you find yourself between a rock and a hard spot and you need to talk to somebody, find somebody to talk to, somebody you trust.

A father and mother and their two children were found dead in their North Texas home Monday, Allen police said. The childrens grandmother notified police that she had been locked out of their house for about two hours and family members inside were not answering the door.

When officers entered the residence, they found the family of four had been shot to death. Police told KDFW-TV that the victims were parents Farman Sherwani and Layla Sherwani and their 12-year-old son Shaheen Sherwani and 2-year-old son Mateen Sherwani. Police did not say which person is suspected of killing the others.

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On Wednesday afternoon a spokesperson for the Allen Police Department told the Star-Telegram that the investigation into the killing is ongoing, but there were no new updates.

Bashir called the tragedy unimaginable for the Sherwanis family members, and asked the community to support them with their sympathy and prayers.

It is not our responsibility and is not expected of us ... to be passing judgment on anyone, he said.

Police told KDFW that the couples 4-year-old daughter, Lyian Sherwani, drowned earlier this month and investigators believe the girls death was a factor in the triple murder and suicide.

After Tuesdays service, the Islamic Association of Allen hosted a healing circle where counselors were present to help members of the community cope with their grief. On Wednesday night another event was scheduled with licensed counselors and religious leaders to promote mental health and another healing circle is scheduled for Thursday, according to the associations Facebook page.

Bashir said it is important to raise awareness about mental health and have a system in place where people who are hurting can get help. He also encouraged the community to take time to listen to each other.

Your few minutes of time and care and attention, it may be the difference between life and death, he said.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with someone, dial 988.
Anyone who has braved the Notting Hill Carnival will know that it is an experience youre unlikely to forget. The Mas Bands, Steel Bands, Sound Systems and food stalls are an incredible visual spectacle, albeit one counter-balanced by unsettlingly dense crowds, more police officers than youve likely ever seen in one place and an uneasy, unyielding, underlying tension.

Across Sunday and Monday there were 308 arrests; 71 of which were for possession of an offensive weapon, 57 for assaulting police officers with the remainder for offences as serious as GBH and sexual assault. Officers on the perimeter intercepted a firearm. Pictures emerged of men fighting with machetes amid the crowds. On Monday evening eight people were stabbed and one person received slash wounds. One victim is still in a serious condition. There were 198 arrests on Monday alone. To put that into context, thats well over a third of Londons entire custody suite capacity.

When eight people are stabbed in one location you might expect it to be headline news with rolling updates and a reporter dispatched to spend the day as the spectre at the feast, giving timely updates stood against the chilling backdrop of a police cordon. Not after Notting Hill Carnival. The fear of being denounced as a racist has made TV news demur; discussing it is a political hospital pass.

Ahead of the Carnival, a group of ten Labour MPs alleged that Conservative Mayoral Candidate Susan Hall seems convinced of the innate criminality of Black people, and called on the party to publicly condemn her previous comments.

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The comments in question were made during a Police and Crime Committee session of the London Assembly. Hall had said that problems with crime within the Black community is something I have brought up constantly because we need to assist those communities; the problem is, the minute we do we are accused of being racist or as near as damn being racist.

Oh the irony.

But in the wake of the Carnival, those same MPs have been noticeably quiet. In fact, very few of those who were passionately defending the Carnival last week have condemned the violence on Monday night. Perhaps we shouldnt be surprised.

Notting Hill Carnival is already the largest regular single-event policing operation in the country, costing the taxpayer 8.6 million in 2019. The Metropolitan Police have said officers at the event this year were punched, spat on, bitten, head-butted and sexually assaulted. Understandably, the Metropolitan Police Federation says its members dread having to work on it, and its difficult to see how the Metropolitan Police could justify or even facilitate committing greater resources.

One of the alternatives proposed was to move the Carnival to Hyde Park, an idea first mooted by Ken Livingstone but dropped after staunch criticism. Moreover, whilst relocating would move it away from a residential area its hard to see how that would necessarily reduce the cost of policing it, or the potential dangers. Even Hyde Parks Winter Wonderland saw a stabbing last year. Santas Grotto isnt traditionally a place for gangs to settle scores.

Yes, the Carnival is a celebration of Caribbean culture, but that isnt what is being criticised. Criticism of an event that is marred by serious violence every single year isnt a contentious point. Suggesting that eight people being stabbed in one small area on a single day is unacceptable isnt racist.

If only there was a Mayoral candidate who had a strong view on tackling its issues.

Perhaps people should hear her out.

Ben Obese-Jecty is a former Army Officer

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.
Several local activist groups pleaded with Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday not to pardon a former Kansas City police officer convicted of killing a Black man.

The groups, including Its Time 4 Justice, the Kansas City Law Enforcement Accountability Project and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, gathered to speak on the issue in front of the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals in downtown Kansas City, where the former officers appeal will be heard Tuesday.

They were joined by Aquil Bey, the stepfather of Cameron Lamb.

Lamb was shot and killed by Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere in 2019. DeValkenaere, who is white, became the first Kansas City police officer to be convicted in the shooting death of a Black man.

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If DeValkenaere is pardoned, if he is let off the hook by any other means, the people of Kansas City will not stand idly by. We are not going to let this injustice stand, said Mason Strange, one of the organizers of Wednesdays event.

A pardon from Governor Parson will send a strong message to our community that none of us are safe, and that the law will not protect us from violent criminals with a badge and a gun.

FILE - Eric DeValkenaere testifies during his trial on Nov. 10, 2021, at the Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, whose office prosecuted DeValkenaere, has also urged Parson not to pardon the former officer.

DeValkenaere, who is white, was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the killing of 26-year-old Lamb. He has remained free on bond while appealing his conviction.

On Tuesday, a panel of appeals judges will hear arguments about overturning the conviction or granting DeValkenaere a new trial. Jackson County prosecutors will be allowed to defend the manslaughter conviction at Tuesdays hearing.

Baker had sought permission to speak at the hearing after Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said the conviction should be overturned and that he would refuse to argue in support of the conviction.
NEW YORK  Local public schools are preparing for a record number of migrant students  many of whom do not speak English and faced traumatic experiences in their home countries and on their journeys to the United States  when classes resume next week.

Roughly 19,000 newly arrived children in need of language and mental health services, including 500 students who arrived over the summer, have enrolled so far in city schools. The number could be an undercount, as most shelter-based education staff work 10-month schedules that exclude the summer.

Last year, an estimated 1,400 asylum-seeking kids showed up for the first day of school. The city Education Department does not ask families their immigration status, and relies on the number of new students in temporary housing enrolling since last summer as a proxy.

Were going to do everything that we possibly can do to provide as great a level of support as we can, city Schools Chancellor David Banks said Wednesday at a briefing on migrants.

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School placements are taking a week to process, with the first day of classes about the same time away. Some employees having the summer off poses a challenge to that abbreviated time frame.

That is something that we have to continue to solve for, said Melissa Aviles-Ramos, the chancellors chief of staff, who leads the departments work related to asylum seekers. So one of the things that were working on right now is paying overtime ... who can support with enrolling students at the different Welcome Centers or at shelters and other locations.

We are very confident that the students will be enrolled and schools will be ready by September 7, she said.

It remains to be seen whether the public school system can recruit enough bilingual teachers and other staff, such as Spanish-speaking social workers, to meet a rapidly growing population of migrant students.

When school reopens, the city will have roughly 3,400 teachers licensed to teach English as a new language and 1,700 certified bilingual teachers in Spanish on payroll, officials said.

Those staffing levels are unlikely to move the needle for administrators who were already struggling to meet new language needs. Last fall, there were 3,606 English as a second language teachers and 1,640 Spanish bilingual teachers, according to an analysis by the Independent Budget Office.

At the time, fewer than half of schools with at least a handful of migrant students on their registers had one or more bilingual teachers of any language, the report showed.

Banks teased that plans to ramp up recruitment are underway, but not ready to be announced.

For the first time this year, the city is sending an additional $90 million through its primary education funding formula to schools that enroll students in temporary housing, including migrants, and high concentrations of children in poverty or learning English. Banks said the department will coordinate with principals and superintendents as the year progresses and disburse more funds if needed.

This (is) part of the challenge that we have: Students are continuing to come, said Banks. If we use last year as a baseline, were talking about thousands more young people, but I could not give you more of an estimate than that.

_____
An Ocala woman has been charged with 16 counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information in connection with an election fraud case.

According to a press release from the Marion County Supervisor of Elections Office, 24-year-old Maria Guadalupe Bautista of Ocala was taken into custody on Tuesday.

The release notes that Bautista was a paid petition circulator. She attracted the attention of law enforcement officials in November 2021. Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents met with local election officials about a complaint of widespread fraud related to a proposed constitutional amendment for the limited authorization of casino gambling in Florida.

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Marion election officials said 767 petition forms were suspected of being forged, according to release. Bautista turned in 191 of those suspected forms.

From the investigation, officials said 16 petitions submitted by Bautista had fraudulent signatures. Authorities said two of the 16 fake forms were from deceased people.

As of Wednesday, the Gainesville woman remained locked up at the Marion County Jail, where bail was set at $80,000.

Election fraud arrest: Marion County woman charged with voter fraud after double voting in 2020

Assisting FDLE with this investigation was the State Attorney's Office for the 5th Judicial Circuit and the Alachua County Sheriff's Office. Officials said the investigation is ongoing.

"Supervisors of elections take fraud seriously and are committed to protecting your vote," Marion County Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox said in the release. "Throughout the year, our staff verifies thousands of candidate and initiative petitions signed by Marion County voters and validates the signature on each petition."

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Woman accused of election fraud; FDLE says investigation is ongoing
Eight Russian cruise missiles flying towards Odesa Oblast were shot down in the sky over the Black Sea.

Source: Oleh Kiper, Head of Odesa Oblast Military Administration

Quote from Kiper: "During the night, the enemy attacked Odesa Oblast. Eight missiles were destroyed by our air defence forces and the sea guard over the sea. There are no hits or damage.

Thank you to the world's best military!"

Background: There were explosions in Odesa, air defence forces were deployed on the night of 29-30 August.

In total, Ukrainian defenders destroyed 43 air targets over Ukraine out of the 44 launched by Russian forces on the night of 29-30 August, including 28 cruise missiles and 15 attack drones.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
Dillon Bakke was sleeping on the back porch of his moms house in Minnesota when a neighbor called police and reported him as a suspicious person, according to a federal lawsuit.

The responding Saint Paul police officers arrested Bakke on a charge of fifth-degree drug possession and took him to the Ramsey County Jail on Aug. 7, 2022, the lawsuit states. Correctional officers and medical staff noted that he had a visible injury to his forehead, but they failed to note he had hemophilia  a condition that causes blood to not clot properly  despite it being documented in his inmate files.

Over the next several hours, Bakke would be observed exhibiting odd behaviors and yelling in pain  but he was ignored, according the wrongful-death lawsuit filed Aug. 29 in the U.S. District of Minnesota. Two days later, hed be found unconscious in his jail cell.

Weeks later, Bakke died of related brain injuries, according to attorneys representing Bakkes mother, Teresa Marie Schnell.

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As Bakkes next of kin, Schnell is suing Ramsey County and four sheriffs office correctional officers. The lawsuit alleges they violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights by not providing adequate medical treatment.

McClatchy News requested comment from the county and sheriffs office on Aug. 30 and was awaiting a response.

Bakke, 37, was a graphic designer, artist and long-term care facility caregiver before he died, according to his obituary. He also considered himself a political activist.

It was avoidable, attorney Richard Student told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. Had they done anything, they would have been able to get Dillon medical care, they would have saved his life. Instead, 30 hours goes by without anybody doing anything.

One of the officers noted that Bakke began moaning loudly in the middle of the night saying that hes in pain on Aug. 7, 2022, according to the lawsuit. A nurse checked his vitals at about 1:30 the next morning.

For multiple hours thereafter, Dillon continued to yell in pain and yell for his mother, the attorneys wrote. At about 4:45 a.m. he was moved into a segregation cell as he was causing a disturbance in his cell pod.

The four officers had to carry the pretrial detainee to his new cell as he couldnt stand or walk, according to the lawsuit. In their incident reports, the officers wrote that Bakke refused to stand or walk on his own and was passively resisting.

These self-serving statements are false, and are contradicted by relevant body worn camera and jail surveillance recordings that show Dillon was obviously unable to walk or stand on his own, was in severe pain, and was fully cooperative, attorneys said, adding that nobody requested medical treatment.

At about 10:15 a.m. on Aug. 9, 2022  the day Bakke was scheduled for release  a correctional officer found him lying on the floor in a pool of urine, unconscious and unresponsive, the lawsuit states. The officer called for help, and Bakke was taken to a hospital.

He was rushed into an emergency surgery after imaging revealed brain hemorrhaging and related injuries, attorneys said, but he never regained consciousness. He was pronounced dead on Aug. 27, 2022.

The attorneys representing his mother are seeking $3.165 million in damages, records show.

Dillon was a bright and creative soul, and he will forever be remembered ... not only as a great artist, but also as a son, brother, uncle, cousin, and friend, according to his obituary.

Woman sues over sexual abuse at all-female prison known as rape club, she says

Dad died emaciated in California jail cell littered with feces and trash, lawsuit says

Officer ignored dying inmate in Virginia prison after promising to help him, feds say
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  The Oklahoma City Police Department says a Cleveland County Sheriffs deputy has been arrested for the shooting death of his wife and fellow officer.

According to the incident report, officers were called to a domestic disturbance/possible shooting in the 10900 block of SW 30th St. just before 2 a.m. Wednesday.

When they arrived, they found Deputy Jordan Reed Cannon shot to death.

Officials say she and her husband, Deputy Vaughn Cannon, were in a heated argument when Vaugh shot and killed Jordan.

Crime spiking during the summer, experts say excessive heat in Oklahoma can cause violent behavior

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Vaughn Cannon was taken into custody and later booked into the Canadian County Jail on a murder complaint.

We hurt today. In the end, its not the years in the uniform that count; its the sacrifices made, the lives touched, and the legacy left behind. We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Cleveland County Deputy Jordan Cannon, a brave officer who was senselessly murdered last night. This heinous act not only robs us of a dedicated and courageous public servant, but it also shakes the very foundations of the community she served. Our thoughts and prayers are with Deputy Cannons family, friends, and colleagues as they navigate through this unimaginable pain and grief. We call on the community to come together, to support one another, and to honor the memory of this fallen hero by fostering a culture of respect, understanding, and cooperation. May she never be forgotten. Early in her career, Deputy Jordan served the Okarche Community. Many will remember her dedication to the Okarche Public Schools, where she would be found most days reading to kids and keeping them safe. She was an outstanding example to us all. You will be missed. Okarche Chief of Police Forrest Smith

Go to www.thehotline.org to get information on domestic violence or to get help. The website includes both chat and texting options. You can call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for immediate assistance.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
Update 8/3, 3:15 p.m.

The Oklahoma City Police Department says Loubit Abdekadri has been found safe. Sgt. Dillon Quirk says she was spotted in a culvert by the departments drones.

Update 8/30, 2:55 p.m.  OKCPD searches water for missing, non-verbal teen with autism

The Oklahoma City Police Department says they are investigating a possible body in the water near NW 164th & Penn in relation to missing teen Loubit Abdekadri.

Original Story 8/30, 2:25 p.m.  OKCPD searches for missing, non-verbal teen with autism

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR)  The Oklahoma City Police Department is searching for a missing, non-verbal 16-year-old with autism.

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Officials say 16-year-old Loubit Abdekadri walked away from a residence near NW 150th and Penn around 11 a.m. Wednesday.

She was last seen wearing a long sleeve red plaid shirt with khaki pants and red flip flops.

If you see Abdekadri, call 911 immediately.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
A Bartlesville man was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for stalking and threatening U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern and his wife online and in person for years, U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson announced.

Keith Charles Eisenberger, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett to three years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. The terms were part of a plea agreement reached last year.

Eisenberger threatened a member of Congress and his family in an attempt to interfere with and undermine our democratic process and the duties of that official, said Johnson, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, based in Tulsa.

Online threats of violence meant to intimidate elected officials, or any member of our community are criminal acts and will be investigated and prosecuted.

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More: Two Oklahoma members of Congress report assets worth as much as $100 million each

Johnsons office said Eisenberger first began harassing Hern, R-Tulsa, and his wife in late 2018, through phone calls and personal visits to the congressmans offices in Tulsa and Washington, D.C. The U.S. Capitol Police had to remove him several times from the office building, according to the U.S. attorney.

Eisenberger had a vendetta against Hern because he believed the congressman had been appointed to the position instead of him. Hern was elected, not appointed, to Congress, first in 2018.

Eisenberger posted numerous threats on social media. His plea agreement included admissions that he: used electronic devices and cellular devices to send threats through cyberspace with the intent to harass, intimidate and threaten Hern; threatened to assault and kidnap Hern and his spouse with the intent to impede, intimidate and interfere with Hern while he was engaged in his official duties; and threatened to retaliate against Hern.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Man sentenced for years of stalking, threatening Oklahoma congressman
Gov. Kevin Stitt s decision to deploy Oklahoma National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border is expected to cost taxpayers at least $825,000.

The National Guard estimates the 30-day mission, which concludes this month, will cost $825,000. The bulk of those funds will be used to pay the roughly 50 Guard members deployed to El Paso, Texas, according to a document released by the National Guard in response to an Oklahoma Voice public records request.

Stitt, who has been critical of President Joe Bidens immigration policies, initially authorized up to 100 members of the Oklahoma National Guard to deploy to the border after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sought aid from fellow GOP governors shortly after Title 42  pandemic-era border restrictions  expired.

More: Governor Stitt sending 50 members of Oklahoma National Guard to Texas border with Mexico

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Stitt has said the deployment is in the best interest of Oklahoma and the nation, but some critics have called it political grandstanding.

The mission authorization form issued as part of an agreement between Oklahoma and Texas estimated the deployment would generate $550,800 in personnel costs and $270,524 in travel costs. Another $3,963 would be needed to cover the cost of commodities, including fuel, food and other basic supplies, according to the document.

More than 1,000 citizen-soldiers with Task Force Tomahawk, made up of multiple units from Oklahoma Army National Guard, held a ceremony before a deployment to Africa. Next week, 50 Oklahoma National Guard members will be sent to El Paso, Texas.

The form notes Oklahoma agrees to supply resources at no cost to the State of Texas.

Its unclear whether the National Guard or the Oklahoma Military Department will have to cover those costs. National Guard spokesperson Maj. Kristin Tschetter referred to Stitts office a question about who will foot the bill for the deployment.

A Stitt spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about how the deployment would be funded.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt one of several Republican governors to send military personnel to Texas

Stitt visited the states National Guard troops at the border last week before joining Abbott and other Republican governors in a news conference to accuse Biden of not doing enough to secure the nations southern border. Stitt also met with members of the National Guard at a July 30 ceremony ahead of their El Paso deployment.

Abbott last week said 15 governors had deployed military personnel to assist his Operation Lone Star in securing the Texas-Mexico border.

The number of border crossings in June dropped to the lowest level since Bidens first full month in the Oval Office. The Biden administration has touted the decrease as a result of stricter asylum rules, in addition to policies making it easier for migrants to enter the country legally.

The governor believes Oklahoma has a responsibility to assist Texas in securing the border when the federal government fails in that duty, Stitt spokesperson Meyer Siegfried said in a statement.

Governor Stitt knows that secure borders are essential for a strong country, he said.

Citing a rise in fentanyl deaths in Oklahoma since 2019, Siegfried said every state has become a border state due to the widespread impact of drug trafficking.

Gov. Kevin Stitt receives a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border via boat in 2021.

Most of the illicit fentanyl coming across the border is seized at legal ports of entry rather than illegal border crossings, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. More often than not, the people smuggling illicit fentanyl are legally authorized to cross the border, as opposed to migrants seeking asylum.

Stitt could have a greater impact on fentanyl interdiction and reducing human trafficking if he spent $825,000 on programs in Oklahoma, said Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Oklahoma City.

If the governor really wants to be pushing on these things, he ought to be looking here at home instead of sending National Guard troops down to Texas to serve as traffic cops, Fugate said.

When will the deployed National Guard members return?

A member of the House Veteran and Military Affairs Committee, Fugate said 50 National Guard members are unlikely to make a difference when theres already thousands of Border Patrol agents policing the nations southern border.

Guard members will return from El Paso by the end of August, but there is the possibility of another 30-day deployment next year depending on the needs of the Texas Military Department, Tschetter said.

Guard members staff security checkpoints and alert local authorities to migrants who are trying to cross illegally.

About halfway through their deployment, Oklahoma National Guard troops had made contact with about 1,800 migrants, some of whom surrendered or turned back. These interactions led to the apprehension of at least 20 bad actors, Tschetter said.

The mission is going well, and morale is high with our personnel, she said. Guardsmen have been able to assist the Texas Military Department in redirecting people to legal entry points.

Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How much did it cost to send Oklahoma National Guard to the border?
Around one-fifth of cannabis users have a dependency or problematic use, according to a new study.

The study, published Tuesday in the JAMA Network Open medical journal, surveyed primary care patients who are legal cannabis users in Washington state. It found 21 percent of participants have cannabis use disorder (CUD), while 6 percent have moderate to severe CUD.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, signs of CUD include trying but failing to quit marijuana use, using more marijuana than intended or for long periods and continuing marijuana use despite problems at home, school or work.

Patients who use cannabis for any nonmedicated use were at a greater risk of moderate to severe CUD, according to the study. It found 7.2 percent of nonmedical cannabis users had CUD, compared to 1.3 percent of medical-use-only patients, who were mostly older. Participants who reported using cannabis for both medical and nonmedical reasons had the highest risk of moderate to severe CUD with 7.5 percent.

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Compared with medical-use-only patients, participants who used the drug for any nonmedical use were also more likely to report withdrawal, use in hazardous situations, continued use despite consequences, and interference with obligations and activities they gave up.

The finding that CUD was common among primary care patients in a state with legal recreational use, where more than 20 percent of the population reports cannabis use, underscores the importance of assessing patient cannabis use in clinical settings, the studys authors wrote.

Washington was one of the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana in 2012, alongside Colorado.

The study was conducted at an integrated health system in Washington and surveyed 5,000 of 108,960 adult patients who completed routine cannabis screening from March 2019 to September 2019. Among 1688 respondents, the 1463 participants who reported cannabis use in the past 30 days were included in the study.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The $26 million OneNKY Center will rise at the southern foot of the Roebling Bridge in Covington, Kentucky.

A new piece of the skyline is being built in Covington at the foot of the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge.

The OneNKY Center, a 45,000-square-foot office building owned by the Northern Kentucky Port Authority, broke ground at 209 Greenup St. on Wednesday, Aug. 30 in a ceremony with Gov. Andy Beshear, state Sen. Chris McDaniel and Covington Mayor Joe Meyer.

What is the OneNKY Center?

The $26 million OneNKY Center will be a headquarters office building for the following area non-profit groups and regional organizations dedicated to elevating tourism, business and economic development: OneNKY Alliance, Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, meetNKY, BE NKY Growth Partnership, The Catalytic Fund of Northern Kentucky, Horizon Community Funds of Northern Kentucky and the Northern Kentucky Bar Association.

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These agencies already collaborate with one another, sharing services and clientele, according to Christine Russell, executive director of the NKY Port Authority and vice president of strategy for BE NKY, previously known as Northern Kentucky Tri-Ed. Operating under one roof will increase efficiency, she said.

A new research lab with space available

The second floor of the building will be exclusively dedicated to the work of Covington Life Science Partners, Inc. (CLSP). An 11,208-square-foot office and communal lab, known as the Covington Life Science Lab, will be free for rent by anyone interested in conducting research.

Over 2,300 square feet have yet to be leased. Tenants will be offered below-market-rate rents.

A newly-reactivated Port Authority

The OneNKY Center will also serve as a brick-and-mortar example of what the recently re-activated NKY Port Authority, an initiative of the revamped BE NKY, can do. Much like the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority, the quasi-governmental economic development organization also facilitates building projects along the Ohio and Licking rivers. This will be the Port Authority's first built-to-own structure.

"BE NKY is a new entity, the building is an important step in marketing that," said Lee Crume, president and CEO of BE NKY. "It embodies the work we can offer Northern Kentucky."

What will the OneNKY Center look like?

The four-story structure will house over a half dozen regional organizations dedicated to tourism, business and economic development.

Set on a pie slice-shaped lot under the shadow of the Ascent at Roebling Bridge, the architecture of the OneNKY Center will follow the curve of the site itself between Roebling Way and Greenup Street. It will be four stories tall with a stepped outdoor plaza facing Greenup Street and a 45-space parking garage underneath the building.

It's a cramped site, according to Tom Banta, chief real estate officer at Corporex, with streets on all sides, so "there isn't a lot of elbow room" for construction. That's why the building was designed to maximize its footprint within the boundaries of the empty lot.

Another way it will fit in? By complementing nearby architecture, Banta said. The facade will mimic the Roebling Bridge in color and the Ascent in material with white metal paneling and curved blue glass. (The 2008-built apartment tower designed by Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind was also constructed by Corporex.)

'Pro-business and pro-science'

The oversized windows will keep the open-concept office spaces bright with natural light while conference rooms will be confined to the inner core of the building.

"Because this building will host so many visitors to the area, we wanted it to be a place where people feel that Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati are on a progressive path, demonstrating that this area is pro-business and pro-science," Banta said. "For that reason, we wanted it to have a 'wow factor.'"

Approximately 100 people will work out of the OneNKY Center. There will be nearly 11,000 square feet of common space throughout the building.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

How was the OneNKY Center funded?

The $26 million project is the result of a years-long financing effort. Here's the funding breakdown:

The state provided $15 million for the life sciences lab ($12 million for its construction and $3 million for outfitting the lab with equipment).

The Kentucky Association of County Officials (KACo) Finance Corporation issued up to $10 million in construction bonds that the Port Authority will pay back.

The Drees Foundation, Horizon Community Funds, the Haile Foundation and the Durr Foundation contributed philanthropic dollars.

When will construction finish?

Construction is expected to wrap up in March 2025.

More on Going Up

Real estate in Greater Cincinnati is booming. Here at The Enquirer, we aim to bring you in-depth real estate coverage about the developments and neighborhood issues you care about the most.

Thats why our Going Up series provides details behind the design and construction of some of the region's most interesting projects. Feel free to pitch us what we should cover next.

Submit suggestions to sfranklin@enquirer.com or tag @Enquirer on social media. Please include the address or cross streets of the project you want us to look into.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Covington will house new $26M OneNKY Center
FILE - The indictment in Georgia against former President Donald Trump and 18 others is photographed Aug. 15, 2023. Harrison William Prescott Floyd, the only person who spent time behind bars as a result of the sweeping indictment related to efforts to overturn President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss in Georgia, remained in jail Wednesday, Aug. 30, after he was granted bond a day earlier. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

ATLANTA (AP)  The only person who spent time behind bars as a result of the sweeping indictment related to efforts to overturn then-President Donald Trump 's 2020 election loss in Georgia was released from jail Wednesday after his bond was set a day earlier.

A lawyer for Harrison William Prescott Floyd on Tuesday negotiated a bond amount of $100,000 with the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Floyd was charged along with Trump and 17 others in an indictment that accuses them all of illegally conspiring to subvert the will of Georgia voters who had chosen Democrat Joe Biden over the Republican incumbent in the presidential election.

Lawyers for Trump and the other defendants had all negotiated bond amounts before their clients surrendered at the Fulton County Jail by the deadline last Friday. Floyd had turned himself in Thursday without first getting a bond amount set and, therefore, had to remain in jail. A judge denied him bond during a hearing Friday, saying the issue would be addressed by the judge assigned to the case.

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The day Floyd turned himself in, Willis told an attorney who had previously represented him that she had sent someone to meet with him at the jail to offer him a bond but he refused it and said he didn't want to talk without a lawyer, according to a recording of the call her office provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Willis said Floyd "made somewhat of a scene in the lobby of the jail and basically just begged to be booked in, the newspaper reported.

The Fulton County Jail, where Floyd was held and where the others turned themselves in, has long been plagued with problems. Four people held in the main jail have died in the past month and the U.S. Department of Justice has an open civil rights investigation into jail conditions in the county.

Floyd is charged with violating Georgias anti-racketeering law, conspiring to commit false statements and illegally influencing a witness. The charges are rooted in harassment of Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County election worker who had been falsely accused of election fraud by Trump. Floyd took part in a Jan. 4, 2021, conversation in which Freeman was told she needed protection and was pressured to make false statements about election fraud, the indictment says.

In addition to the Georgia charges, federal court records show Floyd, identified as a former U.S. Marine whos active with the group Black Voices for Trump, was also arrested three months ago in Maryland on a federal warrant that accuses him of aggressively confronting two FBI agents sent to serve him with a grand jury subpoena.

An agents affidavit filed in U.S. District Court says Floyd screamed, cursed and jabbed a finger in one FBI agents face and twice chest-bumped the agent in a stairwell. It says Floyd backed down only when the second agent opened his suit coat to reveal his holstered gun.

Meanwhile, legal maneuvering in the case continues.

A lawyer for Trump on Wednesday objected to a filing by Willis that sought clarification on trial timing.

Prosecutors say Kenneth Chesebro worked on the coordination and execution of a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate falsely stating that Trump won the state and declaring themselves the states duly elected and qualified electors.

Chesebro last week filed a demand for a speedy trial. Willis then sought to set the trial for all defendants to begin Oct. 23. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee set a trial on that date for Chesebro alone.

In a filing Tuesday, Willis asked the judge to clarify whether his intention was to separate Chesebro from the other defendants for trial. She said she continues to believe all 19 defendants should be tried together and, at the very least, any of them who file speedy trial demands should be tried together.

Trump attorney Steve Sadow wrote in a filing Wednesday that the court's order needs no clarification and that the judge used his discretion proactively and soundly to presumptively sever those who filed for a speedy trial. Sadow also said Trump intends to file a motion to sever his case from those defendants.

Lawyer Sidney Powell, who's accused of making false statements about the election in Georgia and helping to organize a breach of voting equipment in rural Coffee County, had filed a speedy trial demand last week and on Wednesday filed a motion to sever her case from the other defendants. Her court filing says she has no substantive connection with any other defendant regarding the charges in the indictment.

Chesebro filed a motion Wednesday seeking the disclosure of the identity of 30 unindicted people referenced in the indictment. His lawyers argued that is needed to be able to adequately challenge" prosecutors as they try to meet their burden to show the existence of the conspiracy.

After a Monday hearing on whether former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows can have the case against him heard in federal court rather than in Fulton County Superior Court, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones on Tuesday asked the district attorney's office and Meadows' team for more information before he rules. He gave them until 5 p.m. Thursday to submit additional briefs.

McAfee had set arraignment hearings next week for all 19 defendants. At least three have already submitted not guilty pleas and waived arraignment, meaning they will not have to appear.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect that the indictment cites a conversation that Harrison William Prescott Floyd is said to have taken part in with election worker Ruby Freeman on Jan. 4, 2021, not Jan. 4, 2020.
Hi there, OnPolitics readers. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said back in May that justices were "continuing to look at things" connected with issues of ethics.

Since then, ethics concerns have only worsened and Roberts has remained silent, USA Today's Supreme Court reporter John Fritze reports.

The debate over Supreme Court ethics may gain new attention in coming days as annual financial disclosure reports for Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are released. Thomas, in particular, has been at the center of controversy involving private jet travel and luxury vacations paid for by a Republican megadonor.

The two justices were granted extensions to file their reports. What the financial disclosures include could provide more insight  or raise more questions.

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Keep reading: Case closed? Supreme Court silent after Thomas luxury travel raised ethics scandal

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: OnPolitics: Chief Justice Roberts stays mum on ethics since May
A convoy of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid waits on the road from Azerbaijan to the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where Armenians have not been receiving food and other supplies. (Hayk Manukyan / Associated Press)

Last year on World Food Day, President Biden reaffirmed his commitment to a world where no child has to go to bed hungry, no parent has to worry about how to feed their family, and no one has to face food insecurity. In that same speech, Biden highlighted how the United States had that year alone committed more than $9 billion in lifesaving humanitarian assistance to vulnerable communities around the world.

Sadly, Bidens pledge is not reaching the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, who have been locked in a conflict over their homeland with Azerbaijan since the fall of the Soviet Union.

In this latest chapter, since last December the government of Azerbaijan, under the leadership of its petro-dictator Ilham Aliyev, has implemented an illegal blockade of the only road linking more than 120,000 Armenians, including 30,000 children, in Nagorno-Karabakh to the outside world. It is one of the worlds most overlooked and underreported humanitarian crises taking place today.

Read more: Explainer: Fears over festering Armenia-Azerbaijan territorial dispute

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By limiting access to food, medicine, gas, electricity and other critical supplies to be delivered by the Lachin Corridor, Azerbaijan is on its way to making living conditions so unbearable that Armenians are forced to leave the region.

Earlier this month, a 40-year-old resident of Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, died of starvation, becoming the regions first reported victim of chronic malnutrition and protein deficiency. The lack of food has also contributed to the number of early-stage miscarriages, which reportedly have nearly tripled this summer.

Using food as a weapon has become a popular tool for autocrats to disrupt the lives of innocent people while trying to force concessions that benefit their interests. Russias Vladimir Putin has effectively held the global food supply hostage by attacking Ukraines ports and crippling grain exports via the Black Sea, as together the two countries export 30% of the worlds wheat, 60% of the world's sunflower oil and 20% of the worlds corn.

Azerbaijan is turning to a similar playbook in trying to force its will on the Armenian people by attempting to break their spirit and resolve through food. Biden has steadfastly held Russia accountable for its egregious behavior, and the State Department has been working with European Union officials to attempt to reopen the Lachin Corridor. But those efforts have so far failed.

The lack of leadership from the White House has led other actors on the world stage to fill that void. This month, Luis Moreno Ocampo, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, released an explosive report stating that when assessing the Azerbaijani blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, there is a reasonable basis to believe that a genocide is being committed. And, the report states, Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.

Read more: Op-Ed: The cruel blockade against Armenians shows the world order has collapsed

Having been victims of genocide in the 20th century, Armenians know all too well the horrors of such crimes against humanity and feel their voices and concerns are once again being ignored and sacrificed at the altar of realpolitik.

That type of international gamesmanship was evident at the United Nations earlier this month when the Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation after Armenia urged the global community to help end the blockade. While France and other countries used the opportunity to highlight the principles of international law and humanitarianism as reasons to lift the blockade, other delegations  such as Great Britain, which has significant oil investments in the country  held back on condemning Azerbaijan.

And despite the evidence on the ground, Azerbaijans U.N. representative claimed that Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh were happy and well-fed by sharing printouts of Instagram posts that allegedly showed Armenians getting married and celebrating birthdays.

For Biden, as a president who took office claiming that human rights would be central to his foreign policy, this tragedy threatens to stain his legacy.

So, what can he do? For starters, he can begin by unequivocally calling for an immediate end to the blockade and apply pressure on Azerbaijan through sanctions, as Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) has called for. He can enforce Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act that bans U.S. aid to the Azerbaijani government  restrictions that he, like presidents before him, has waived each year since becoming president. And he can direct Samantha Power, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, to allocate more resources and money toward helping Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The U.S. enabling of Azerbaijans authoritarianism is now costing lives and giving Azerbaijan cover to do what it wants with impunity. Time is running out for the Armenian people living in Nagorno-Karabakh. If Biden truly believes that no child should go to sleep hungry, then hell need to act with far greater urgency to break Azerbaijans blockade.

Stephan Pechdimaldji is a communications strategist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a first-generation Armenian American and grandson of survivors of the Armenian genocide.

If its in the news right now, the L.A. Times Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
I work at the Mexican-American border directly with asylum seekers in the cities of Matamoros and Reynosa, Mexico. I have heard many of their stories of the dangers they have had to face to try and find safety and a better life for their families in the United States.

However, increasingly they are facing life-threatening danger not only from the cartels and corrupt government officials in Mexico and Central America, but now also from the U.S. government. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has put dangerous buoys and razor wire in the Rio Grande to deter migrants. And just last week presidential candidate Ron DeSantis stated at the presidential debate, The president of the United States has got to use all available powers as commander-in-chief to protect our country and to protect the people. So when theyre coming across, yes, were going to use lethal force.

Migrants search for an opening in the razor wire lining part of the Rio Grande bordering Eagle Pass recently as part of Texas' policing of the U.S. -Mexico border.

To be fair, DeSantis comments were made in the context of stopping the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States. However, his words are extremely dangerous because it sets an appalling norm in the current political debates. First of all, even if someone is suspected of smuggling fentanyl, we do not just shoot them. We can arrest them and then let them have their date in the court of law. We are not North Korea or Iran. We are supposed to abide by the Constitution and international human rights.

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However, even more dangerous in the comments is the reality that it is not usually clear who is actually smuggling fentanyl. It is not always evident who is the smuggler, coyote or desperate migrant. This distinction is especially not clear to young 18- and 19-year-old National Guard members who I have seen patrolling the river. We have seen in other countries where border officials actually shoot at those seeking to enter the country. We just learned this past week that Saudi Arabian officials have killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants. I really hope we do not go down that diabolical path.

I know much of this is bravado and DeSantis and the others are trying to raise the fear and xenophobic levels to compete with Trump, but it is dangerous. The GOP keeps tracking further and further to extremism.

In 2016 the cry was to build the wall, now it seems to be to invade Mexico to stop the cartels and kill any smugglers. This, of course, would be disastrous and defy international human rights. Maybe we should actually examine our overly restrictive drug policies that are giving power to the cartels, but that is a different topic for a different time.

What is occurring right now with migrants at the border under Biden is not great. Many are having to wait for months in cartel-filled territory on the Mexican side of the river until they can have a chance to meet with a U.S. immigration official. However, what the GOP is inching toward is something that is unimaginable. The further we go down this road, mass murder does not seem outside of the realm. God forbid that we follow the route of Saudi Arabia instead of our heritage of welcoming the immigrant. Ironically, DeSantis family is a relatively recent example of that heritage.

We must do everything in our power to make sure that extreme ideas do not become extreme policies that would rightfully make us an international pariah.

McCorkle is an assistant professor of education at College of Charleston and works extensively at the U.S.-Mexico border with people seeking asylum.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Opinion: DeSantis immigration rhetoric is beyond dangerous
Editors Note: Jane Horton is a senior policy advisor in the US Congress. She has held many senior roles in the Department of Defense and across the federal government and she is a proud member of Georgetown Universitys US-Afghan Womens Council. The views expressed here are her own. View more opinion on CNN.

Ever since September 9, 2011, my heart has slowly tortured me by replaying the summer from hell, when the Oklahoma National Guard lost soldier after soldier in combat. Its been nearly 12 years since I received the excruciating knock at the door notifying me that my husband Chris had died from a gunshot wound to the head in Afghanistan. Time after time, it all comes flooding back.

I miss him. Deeply. Yet losing him wasnt what broke me. It was the fall two years ago of the country where he gave his life.

This is my first time since Americas disgusting, chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, that Ive put my emotions on paper, splattering them like a toddler spitting out sour milk. My heart has been bursting at the seams with pain, loss and anger.

A military transport plane departs overhead as Afghans hoping to leave the country wait outside the Kabul airport on Aug. 23, 2021. - Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

For 20 years, we as a military community tried to stay strong despite what we received back from war. Many soldiers came home to spouses whod left them, landlords whod evicted them, business partners who despised them for taking time off, children who were angry with them for missing another birthday. Why didnt you call me, dad? Where have you been? Why is this war more important than me? The truth is  duty was.

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Worst of all, many at the top didnt seem to know what the mission was. Did the Joes on the ground, like my husband, even know why they were fighting? Yes, they did; theyd say they were fighting for their fellow comrades to their left and to their right. But did they have any idea why we were there, why their friend was blown up next to them in their Humvee last week so now they were crashing an Afghan wedding to try to find the people who did it?

On August 3, 2011, Chris made his last Facebook post, about losing his dear friend Staff Sgt. Kirk Owen the day prior. With grief comes an icy viciousness and the pain brings with it a profound determination to not only make it home but to ensure that bad men do not, he said.

Spc. Chris Horton, a sniper with 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard, stands with his weapon in Paktia, Afghanistan, in 2011. - Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Hughes/National Guard Bureau

A few days before he was killed that September, Chris wrote me something so painful I shoved it deep inside my heart. Jane, I watched a helicopter crash and it reminded me of a quote by Field Marshal Rommel Dont go to war if you gain nothing from winning.

Is that how you feel? I asked him.

A little bit, he replied.

Five years after Chris was killed, I went to Afghanistan to see the country for myself and to try to answer my own questions as to why we were there. The American people sure didnt seem to know or care what our policies were, nor the toll they took on the people of Afghanistan, who were losing enormous numbers of civilians. There had to be a why and reason somewhere. What I discovered were the people of Afghanistan and all the incredible progress that was being made in their country.

I ended up taking six trips to Afghanistan in different official capacities as I traveled with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretary of defense and other senior leaders involved with the war. A few years later, I worked for the Afghan government as a senior advisor to the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States and hosted hundreds of fellow Gold Star families at the US Embassy in Washington to share Afghanistan with them.

Jane Horton on her first trip to Kabul in 2016. - Courtesy Jane Horton

I had developed a passion for the people, the food, the dancing, the beauty. I bought Afghan silver and lapis to give to the daughters of fallen heroes so they could have something from the land where their fathers blood remains in the soil. These families became my strength. How humbling it was to be in their homes, hear their stories, visit their loved ones graves. The years came and went, and more and more families joined our ranks as Gold Stars.

I would tell them how a million girls had entered school in one year alone, and how there was a higher percentage of women in parliament than we had in the US Congress. Their fallen heroes contributions toward the eradication of the Taliban were changing the way Afghans lived, and that made our losses worth it. It gave us something to hold on to. Something good from the bad.

I met the women in parliament  and even met the Afghan girls robotic team. One Gold Star wife who often came to the Embassy and brought her children wrote the ambassador a note that said, Afghanistan used to be a cold scary place to me, and now its like a warm memory. The people of Afghanistan, the culture, it gave me pieces of my heart back. It helped me heal.

In this March 2016 photo, US Central Command Commander Gen. Lloyd Austin and Gold Star Wife Jane Horton talk at Headquarters Resolute Support Mission in Kabul, Afghanistan. - Myles Cullen/Department of Defense

In 2017, I was escorted to Afghanistans Presidential Palace. To my knowledge, I was the only Gold Star widow to ever make such a trip, and it made US officials nervous, to say the least, to see me travel outside the wire of the gates of Resolute Support Headquarters in Kabul. But I trusted the Afghans; I knew they would keep me safe.

I had little idea what I was doing or what the cultural norms were once I left that base, but I wore five layers of clothing so that I was covered enough on my way to town that no one would know I was an American. Two Afghan sisters I worked with also gave me their favorite scarf to wear over my head. No red lipstick though, Maryam told me. She knew I wore red lipstick almost every day.

After going through what seemed to be 18 layers of security, I entered the palace. As I finally peeked through the gates, there were platoons of Afghan soldiers dressed in ceremonial uniforms drilling, carrying their flag. I tried so hard not to let any tears slip down my face as I was led to meet with the president.

Ashraf Ghani warmly greeted me in what was one of the heaviest and most important moments of my entire life. He thanked me on behalf of Afghanistan for the service and sacrifices of all Americans and their families, of all the fallen and the wounded. The weight of that sacrifice in that moment, and what I represented, was so massive that I almost melted through my chair into the ground.

Jane Horton, senior adviser to the acting secretary of defense, gives a speech in Kabul in December 2020.

When the US withdrew from Afghanistan years later, the presidential palace quickly overrun by the Taliban, all I could think was, How could my husband die, and his death didnt break me, yet the fall of the country he died in did? How could this be worse than the knock at the door?

But this time, everything I loved and everything I had invested in was broken alongside me in pieces on the floor. The country I cherished, the people I treasured. The girls in the school in Paktya  the village Chris died in  who made me pillowcases and gifts, the children at the Kabul orphanage I had just carried, there was no more hope for them. I wanted to hold those babies and never let them go.

How could America let it get to this? We are better than this. How cruel to empower Afghan women and little girls for years, ensure they knew they could be anything they wanted in life, and after they became it, leave them to be hunted and killed for following their dreams? This precious land went up in flames after the American people barely noticed 20 years of war. Our war.

During the withdrawal, I woke up to constant messages from troops on the ground. The mental anguish of being there and not being able to stop the collapse was pure torture for them  many of whom had been working with the Afghan people in their villages for years. They told me women where being trampled, babies were dying from dehydration and people were getting shot. The US had to partner with the Taliban to get flights off the ground.

In this handout provided by the US Air Force, an air crew assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron assists evacuees aboard a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 21, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. - Taylor Crul/US Air Force/Getty Images/Handout

An attack was just waiting to happen. And then it did.

On August 26, 2021, 13 American service members died while working flight evacuations at the Kabul airport. It was one of the worst days of my life. The truth is, it should have been one of the worst days of all our lives, because it was one of the worst days in American history.

The heart that I had spent so many years rebuilding through my love of the Afghan people, through the progress that our countries had made, through my love of the military  a military that had been so stretched and wounded throughout 20 years of war  was ripped apart.

The withdrawal took me back to a place that I never thought I would or could be again. It was a place that might have even been darker than the day Chris died. I threw up again and again.

In every interview that Ive done since losing Chris, Ive been asked in one form or another if my husband died for nothing. How dare they ask me that? How dare they continually ask families of the fallen these questions? When I sent my husband to war, he was no longer mine. He was ours. He was Americas. We as a nation needed to ask ourselves these questions.

Spc. Chris Horton and Jane Horton pose for a photo on their wedding day in 2009 in Cleveland, Ohio. - Courtesy Jane Horton

If we for one second think it was for nothing, then we need to look ourselves square in the face as a country and ask ourselves why we sent our finest treasures to fight, bleed and die in a war that we as a country think wasnt worth it

How dare any Americans avoid considering these consequences, living peacefully here in anytown USA while military families receive unexpected knocks at the door. We are an all-volunteer force; the least Americans can do is pay attention to where we are fighting and wonder why.

We as an American people, as a country, must do better. We must have true accountability, which means dissecting what went wrong. That demands nationwide reflection, especially from those who chose not to serve. It means having Congress conduct an after-action review of the withdrawal that is apolitical, one that peels back the 20-year onion layer by layer and demands that senior military and State Department leaders admit what actually went wrong and how we do better.

It means looking at how we treated an entire country and her people, with civilian casualties, families destroyed, a nation gutted and slaughtered. Only when we do this can we honor our fallen who gave their lives in Afghanistan.

Dont thank my husband for his service if you dont know why he died.

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MEAD, Okla. (KFOR)  The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says a woman was arrested for manslaughter after a deadly shooting Monday in Mead.

Deputies with the Bryan County Sheriffs Office were called a shooting near North Ranchette Road and US Highway 70 sometime Monday evening.

When they arrived, they found an adult male suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.

The victim was transported to a local hospital where he later died.

Holdenville Police warn residents of spike in home break-ins

OSBI agents were requested just after 9 p.m. and 30-year-old Amber R. Smith was arrested, based on evidence obtained by those investigators.

Mugshot of Amber Smith

Smith was booked into the Bryan County Jail for Reckless Conduct With a Firearm and First-Degree Manslaughter.

OSBI officials say the events that led up to the shooting are still under investigation at this time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
ANTLERS, Okla. (KFOR)  The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says a 95-year-old woman is dead and a 73-year-old woman is in critical condition after an overnight home invasion in Antlers.

In the early morning hours of Aug. 29, the Antlers Police Department responded to a home invasion near East Main Street and Northeast D Street.

When Antlers officers arrived, they found two elderly female victims inside. They were both treated at the scene and rushed to a local hospital.

OSBI officials say the 95-year-old succumbed to her injuries and the 73-year-old is listed in critical condition.

Holdenville Police warn residents of spike in home break-ins

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Investigators found evidence of forced entry through the back door of the home.

The OSBI and Antlers Police Department are currently searching for those responsible. If anyone has surveillance video or additional information, please call the OSBI at 580-298-5525.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
Short Straw

When you use a paper straw for drinks, you might think you're being a conscientious citizen of Planet Earth. If so, bad news: a team of scientists say paper straws have more harmful forever chemicals than plastic ones, and at higher concentrations. Well, at least we tried.

Scientists in Belgium discovered that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or the PFAS known as "forever chemicals," were "more frequently detected in plant-based materials, such as paper and bamboo" versus plastic ones, as detailed in a new paper in the science journal Food Additives & Contaminants.

"Straws made from plant-based materials, such as paper and bamboo, are often advertised as being more sustainable and eco-friendly than those made from plastic," said Thimo Groffen, an environmental scientist at the University of Antwerp who worked on the research, in a blurb about the findings. "However, the presence of PFAS in these straws means that's not necessarily true."

This Sucks

The scientists looked at 39 brands of drinking straws made from five different materials: plastic, stainless steel, bamboo, glass and paper. Within this cohort, scientists detected PFAS in 27 of them.

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Paper straws were most likely to test positive for PFAS, with 90 percent of the paper straws having the forever chemicals versus 75 percent in the plastic ones. The paper straws had far higher concentrations of forever chemicals versus plastic.

Almost all the other straws made from different materials also had PFAS, except for stainless steel.

The scientists said manufacturers use PFAS in plant-based straws in order to make them more "water-repellent," but they could also be introduced through contaminated raw materials.

The news shows that it's difficult for consumers to make virtuous or even healthy choices when many of the options on the market are a "pick your poison." It makes any eco-conscious person want to throw their hands up in despair.

Alphabet Soup

The Belgian study corroborates an earlier study from 2021 published in Chemosphere that detected the forever chemicals in paper straws but found plastic straws "had no measurable PFAS."

What's unfortunate about PFAS is that some are water soluble. Yikes. So what's a person to do? Stick with stainless steel? But those are a pain to clean.

Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency aims to get rid of forever chemicals via a whole host of proposed rules and investment dollars. Perhaps in the future, these chemicals will be a thing of the past  but meanwhile, every sip is a slow drip of poison.

More on straws: The Anti-Straw Movement Was Dumb, Annoying, and Actually Worked?
Parents supporting a lawsuit that seeks to enforce Maryland law requiring that parents be notified and have the option to opt out their children from lessons about sexuality rally in Montgomery County, Maryland, on Aug. 9, 2023. | Becket

School started Monday in Montgomery County, Maryland, and with it came the loss of local parents rights to opt their children out of idealogical instruction on family life and sexuality, including gender identity, according to a lawsuit filed by Muslim, Jewish and Christian parents.

The parents asked a federal appeals court this week for an injunction to allow them to opt their children out of storybooks that advocate gender transitioning, pride parades and pronoun preferences for kids as young as pre-kindergarten.

The Montgomery County Board of Education took away parental notice and opt-outs for storybooks for this school year. Parents from a Muslim family, a Jewish family and a Christian family asked the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday for an emergency motion for injunction pending appeal.

In particular, the (school) board has made clear that, once students enter the classroom, parents lose any right to opt their children out of ideological instruction that, in the school boards own words, seeks to disrupt the childs either/or thinking on gender and sexuality, according to the motion for the emergency injunction.

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Children deserve the guidance of their parents when learning about complex issues around gender and sexuality, said Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, which is representing the religious parents, in a statement. Thats why we are asking the Fourth Circuit to step in to protect the right of parents to guide their childrens education consistent with their religious beliefs.

Religious parents in Maryland are suing for the right to opt their children out of a curriculum that includes LGBTQ+ storybooks like Prince & Knight. | Becket

A U.S. District Court judge denied an injunction last week, clearing the way for the school year to begin with the district curriculum that has all students participate in the lessons without informing parents or asking for their consent.

LGBTQ+ advocates and the school boards attorneys say the board is advocating for inclusivity in its curriculum. People who support what the books rallied outside the school district.

I think its really important that everybody is included, that kids get exposure to people who are not like them, Mara Greengrass told News4 in Washington, D.C.

Those opposed rallied on Aug. 9.

The Board forged ahead with its storybook mandate over the concerns of thousands of parents and its own principals, Grace Morrison said in a statement. Morrison is a board member of Kids First, an association of parents and teachers advocating for notice and opt-outs in Montgomery County Schools. But the School Board does not replace parents, who know best about how and when to introduce their elementary-age children to complex and sensitive issues around gender and sexuality.

A preliminary decision by the federal appeals court on the parents emergency motion for an injunction is anticipated early this fall.

The new books were announced last fall for students in pre-K through eighth grade. Becket materials say the books champion controversial ideology. Becket says one book, for example, asks 3- and 4-year-olds to search for images from a word list that includes intersex flag, drag queen, underwear and the name of a celebrated LGBTQ activist and sex worker.

Other books focus on childrens romantic feelings, gender transitioning and gender identification.

The board initially told parents they would be notified when the books were read and they could opt out for their children.

The courts decision is an assault on childrens right to be guided by their parents on complex and sensitive issues regarding human sexuality, Baxter said. The School Board should let kids be kids and let parents decide how and when to best educate their own children consistent with their religious beliefs.

Becket attorneys say the School Board in March revoked notice and opt-outs for the storybooks contrary to Maryland law and the boards policies.

A board member said parents who wanted the legal right to opt out for their children because of religious beliefs were searching for another reason to hate another person.

The Council on Islamic-American Relations filed a declaration with the court with emails from an open records request that showed elementary school principals opposed the boards decision to move ahead without notice and opt-outs.

Religious parents in Maryland are suing for the right to opt their children out of a curriculum that includes LGBTQ+ storybooks like Born Ready The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope. | Becket

Whether the federal appeals court issues an emergency injunction or not, the full case on the issue of whether the school board can mandate the books without notice or opt outs remains to be heard.
Paris Jackson Says Michael Jackson Fans Have Harassed Her, Sent Death Threats Over Not Posting About Birthday | Rich Fury/amfAR via Getty Images

Paris Jackson, the daughter of Michael Jackson, delivered a message to people who have bashed her through the years because she didnt publicly wish a happy birthday to her late father.

Paris finally responded to the criticism as she was getting ready to sing at the Las Colonias Park Amphitheater in Colorado in honor of their fathers 65th birthday, People reported.

The 25-year-old model, who posted an Instagram Story, explained why the late icon didnt like attention on his special day.

So, todays my dads birthday, and, back when he was alive, he used to hate anybody acknowledging his birthday, wishing him happy birthday, celebrating it, nothing like that, she said. He actually didnt want us to even know when his birthday was because he didnt want us to, like, throw a party or anything like that.

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She continued, That being said, social media is apparently how people express their love and affection these days, and if you dont wish someone a happy birthday via social media, it apparently means that you dont love them, that you dont care about them.

According to Complex, Paris said people have told them to take her own life simply because she didnt wish happy birthday to the late icon.

There have been times where I dont post anything for my dads birthday and people lose their f**king minds, she said. They tell me to kill myself and theyre basically measuring my love for my own father based off of what I post on Instagram. So, I made you guys a little video and I hope you enjoy it.

In the caption of the post, she wrote, Please dont use a man you have never met as an excuse to abuse, manipulate, and harass his daughter (who you also have never met).

Paris also posted another video of herself performing alongside popular bands, Incubus and Bad Flower, in Colorado.

He would have been 65 years old today, and he put 50 years of blood, sweat and tears and love and passion into doing what he did, so that I can stand up here on stage in front of you and scream into a microphone, she told the audience.

In a third Instagram video, Paris sat in a dressing room and told their dads fans to honor his birthday by supporting causes such as climate change, and environmental and animal rights activism.

These were things that he loved and was very interested in, and I cant speak for him, because Im a different person and I dont know, but Im sure he would have loved that, she said.

Paris was only 11 years old when her father died in 2009.
HUDSON  Ellen Feiler didnt think Hurricane Idalia would amount to much when she went to sleep in her mobile home in the Hudson Hollow RV Park.

She had ice and plenty of food  and besides, she figured she had nowhere else to go.

I dont have family here and I dont have any money, she said. I didnt want to go to a shelter. So what other option was there?

When she awoke to 3 feet of water lapping at the door of her home, she started fearing for her life.

Feiler, 61, was among dozens of Pasco County residents who needed water and medical assistance early Wednesday after Idalia passed by on its way to slamming into Floridas Big Bend region.

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Two red school buses retrofitted as rolling fire department medical facilities were stationed in a U-Haul parking lot just off U.S. 19 in Hudson. Thats where the county had seen a concentration of calls as rising water swept into low-lying coastal communities.

Dozens of raised military-style vehicles came and went after sunrise, ferrying stranded residents from their flooded homes to county shelters.

When Feiler heard a rescue boat pass she went outside and started waving. She quickly packed a duffel bag and jumped on board. It wasnt until she reached dry land that she realized her purse was left behind, leaving her with no ID and no money.

But not everyone left. Despite the rising tide, her neighbor decided to ride out the rest of the storm at home.

I couldnt believe it, Feiler said. Its your life, I guess, I said. Wonder if Ill see you again.

Crews were seeing 3 to 5 feet of water in some areas early Wednesday. Thats already dangerously high, said Deputy Fire Chief Jeremy Sidlauskas, and storm surge levels were expected to double by noon.

So far, no storm-related injuries have been reported. Residents who are trapped at home should call 911 or flag down a rescue vehicle if its safe to go outside, Sidlauskas said.

Bryan William, 57, thought his home in Sea Ranch, a waterside community just outside Hudson, would be safe.

Despite living feet from the water, he thought he was in evacuation Zone B. His street had never flooded before, not even during Hurricane Ian, he said.

He realized his mistake when he woke up at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. In reality, his home was in Zone A  a mandatory evacuation zone  and he should not have been there. Water was seeping under his front door.

Stepping outside, William said, he saw there was about a foot of water pooling on his residential street. Then, in what felt like the blink of an eye, the flood level jumped up another 2 feet, completely flooding his home.

William said his brain switched off as he walked through his home observing the water creep higher and higher. He made his way outside, where neighbors were also standing in the street in a daze.

When a military-style Pasco Fire Rescue vehicle rolled into the neighborhood, William packed his phone, his laptop and a change of clothes. Left behind were his photos, medication, other things. Recounting the ordeal, his voice trailed off.

Its like, I dont even know how I got here, he said. Im feeling fine, though. What can you do?

  

Tampa Bay Times hurricane coverage 2023

What to know about forecast tracks as Idalia looms over Florida

Idalia could rapidly intensify. How and why?

Hurricane season 2023: Heres what to know about forecast tracks.

Storm surge is deadly. We built a computer model to show how.

How to protect your pets  and yourself  during a hurricane.

Checklists for building all kinds of storm kits

Protect your data and documents using your phone

Protect your home and business before the storm

7 lessons for the 2023 hurricane season from Hurricane Ian.
A passenger went overboard the massive Wonder of the Seas cruise ship on Tuesday near Cuba.

The Royal Caribbean ship is the largest passenger cruise ship currently in service.

A Coast Guard official told Insider that Cuban authorities are leading the search efforts.

A passenger went overboard the largest cruise ship in the world on Tuesday, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson confirmed to Insider.

The Wonder of the Seas was off the coast of Cuba when the person went overboard, officials told Fox 35. Passengers posting about the incident on Facebook said the call happened around 7:30 or 8 p.m. on Tuesday night.

"On August 29, a guest sailing on Wonder of the Seas went overboard," a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean told Insider. "The ship's crew immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities. "

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The Royal Caribbean representative said the cruise line had been working with the US Coast Guard.

But a spokesperson with the South Florida branch of the US Coast Guard told Insider that the Cuban Border Guard is responsible for coordinating the search and rescue mission because the overboard incident happened in Cuban territorial seas. The Coast Guard official said the US agency is not currently involved in the case.

The 230,000-ton cruise ship was two days into its seven-day itinerary after it left Port Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday. The ship is currently south of Cuba, according to cruise tracking data.

The Wonder of the Seas had already diverted from its original itinerary to account for Hurricane Idalia, which is pummeling Florida with record-breaking storm surge this week, passengers said.

Cruise industry blog Cruise Hive reported members of the ship's crew spent approximately three hours searching for the passenger before the ship moved on.

The Wonder of the Seas is the largest cruise ship currently sailing passenger voyages. The massive cruise ship measures 1,188 feet in length across 18 decks. The ship can accommodate nearly 7,000 passengers, as well as 2,300 crew members. Another Royal Caribbean ship, the Icon of the Seas, is set to break the Wonder's record when it starts service in 2024.

Overboard incidents

This is at least the sixth person to go overboard a cruise ship in the past three months.

The previous incidents occurred on the cruise ships Carnival Magic, Carnival Elation, Spectrum of the Seas, Emerald Princess, and Mariner of the Seas. Only one of the passengers was successfully rescued.

While man-overboard incidents are rare, they are a leading cause of death for passengers on cruise ships, according to research conducted by Travis Heggie, a professor at Bowling Green State University who specializes in health and safety risks in the tourism industry.

On average, 19 people go overboard on cruise ships every year  of those, about four people are successfully rescued, a 2020 study commissioned by the industry trade group Cruise Lines International Association found.

The low success rate of man-overboard rescue attempts has prompted debate on whether or not cruise ships should be required to install man-overboard detection systems that automatically alert crew members when a person goes overboard.

In a statement previously shared with Insider, CLIA emphasized that safety and security are a top priority for the industry. "All cruise lines use a variety of measures to maintain a safe environment on board cruise ships, including physical barriers around the periphery of external decks and balconies, video surveillance systems in public areas, and trained crew members who can respond quickly to an unsafe situation or emergency," the spokesperson said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Patagonia hopes to open its first Charlotte store later this year. Plans call for a 9,000-square-foot store at 1930 Camden Road, says Joy Lewis, Patagonias head of North American retail.

The Ventura, California-based upscale outdoor outfitter says neighborhood synergies, with people working and living in South End, make the location a good fit. The retailer has been looking at the market for a couple of years now.

ALSO READ: Phillips Place strikes exclusive deals with 2 luxury retailers

As CBJ reported a month ago, Patagonia will be part of The Design Center of the Carolinas  a historic set of buildings bordered by Camden Road, Hawkins Street, and Worthington and Tremont avenues.

Read more here.

VIDEO: Cheats Cheesesteak Parlor to add a restaurant in South End




Russian media released a video Tuesday of Paul Whelan, the American who has been detained in the country for more than four years on espionage charges.

Whelan appeared in a report from RT, a Russian state-controlled news network. It shows Whelan going about his day in a Russian prison, eating in a cafeteria with others and sewing.

A former Marine, Whelan was detained in Moscow in 2018, charged with espionage and eventually sentenced to 16 years in prison. He has vehemently denied the charges, and U.S. diplomats have pushed for his release.

He can be heard in the clip telling an RT reporter, You understand when I say that I cant do an interview, which means I cant answer any questions.

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His brother David Whelan told CNN that the clips were recorded in May of this year, and that its the first time he and his family has seen Paul Whelan since 2020.

I wish I could see Paul under better circumstances. But it was good to see him again and to see the fight remains in his eyes. It is good to know Paul remains unbowed, David Whelan said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Paul Whelan earlier this month, according to reports. Paul Whelan told media this spring hes positive and confident that wheels are turning for his release.

I have been told that I wont be left behind, and I have been told that although [detained reporter] Evan [Gershkovich]s case is a priority, mine is also a priority, and people are cognizant of the fact that this is having an extremely negative impact on me and my family, he said. And Im told that the government is working tirelessly to get me out of here and to get me home so they can then focus effort on Evan and his case.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges in March and has remained in custody in Russia since. He is appealing his extended pretrial detainment.

Talks of a prisoner trade for Whelan broke down last year  the same talks that eventually resulted in detained WNBA star Brittney Griner being released from Russian captivity.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Imprisoned American Paul Whelan has been seen for the first time in three years after Russian state media released footage of him inside a notorious prison.

The former US Marine is seen in video clips wearing a black prison uniform and hat inside IK-17, a maximum-security penal colony 300 miles east of Moscow.

The footage was broadcast on Monday by Russia Today, a state-controlled propaganda channel.

In one scene, Whelan is seen working at a sewing machine inside the prison, which is located in the remote Mordovia region.

Sir, you understand when I say I cant do an interview, which means I cant answer any questions, he was recorded telling a journalist.

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Whelans family told ABC News that he had told them the video was shot back in May and that he had refused to cooperate with it and suffered retaliation.

Whelans twin brother David told the outlet that they damaged a number of his personal possessions. They stole a number of items from his personal property,

Imprisoned American Paul Whelan has been seen for the first time in three years after Russian state media released footage of him inside a notorious prison. (RT)

Other shots show Whelan eating at a table and seemingly holding up an identification card.

David When said that he was grateful to see the video of his brother, whom the US is still negotiating to be released.

Today was the first time Ive seen what he really looks like since June 2020, he told ABC News.

He seems to look healthy when he stares down the camera at the end of the video. You can see his strength, and I think its contempt for the Russian propagandists.

I think seeing him has helped all of us realize that hes resilient and we need to keep helping him so that he comes home.

The US government has declared that Whelan has been wrongly detained by Russia and has been trying to get him returned to America for years.

Imprisoned American Paul Whelan has been seen for the first time in three years after Russian state media released footage of him inside a notorious prison. (RT)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Whelan by phone earlier this month and assured him the Biden administration was committed to getting him released.

Whelan was arrested in 2018 and charged with espionage, which he has vehemently denied, and was convicted in a Russian court in June 2020.

He is one of two Americans the US says is being wrongly held by Vladimir Putin, along with Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich.

WNBA player Brittney Griner was released from a Russian prison last December after she was involved in a prisoner swap with convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Despite efforts by the White House, Russia would not include Whelan in that negotiation.
UPDATE: Haley Lweis has ben located in DeKalb County and she is safe, according to the Paulding County Sheriffs Office.

The Paulding County Sheriffs is searching for a missing 17-year-old girl who vanished some time after school Tuesday.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Deputies said Haley Lewis voluntarily left South Paulding High School Tuesday afternoon around 12:26 p.m. in her black Ford Explorer with Georgia tag AVA 0754.

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Her vehicle was last seen in Atlanta around 2:38 p.m. Tuesday.

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Haleys family is extremely concerned for her well-being and do not know why she would have been traveling to Atlanta, the sheriffs office said.

Detectives are asking anyone with information about Lewis whereabouts to call 911 or send a tip via the free Paulding Sheriff mobile app.
MERCED, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE)  A male suspect is wanted after allegedly stealing an off-road vehicle from a home, the Merced Police Department announced on Tuesday.

Police say a suspect was seen allegedly stealing a Polaris ATV from a home in the 500 block of Cartmell Drive in Merced on August 16 around 10 p.m.

Officers described the unidentified suspect as a male who had numerous tattoos covering his forearms and neck.

Photo Courtesy: The Merced Police Department.

Photo Courtesy: The Merced Police Department.

Photo Courtesy: The Merced Police Department.

The Merced Police Department is asking anyone with information regarding this incident to contact Sergeant Kalvin Haygood at (209)385-6998.

Investigators also say some crimes could be reported online through the Merced Police Department website.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG)  Democrat State Representative Justin J. Pearson is contemplating whether to press charges against Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton after a scuffle occurred following the special session Tuesday.

Intense chants, passion and protest on the House floor were a special recipe for disaster as the special session on public safety ended for the Tennessee General Assembly Tuesday, leading to a physical showdown caught on camera between Speaker Sexton and Rep. Pearson.

Special session ends in chaos on TN House floor

While I was saying to the Speaker that we are not doing enough, while I was saying that this is shameful and a disgrace to the people in the state of Tennessee, that we are tired of going to funerals, the Speaker violently shoved me in the chest, Pearson said. And then other members of his party also pushed me back towards the clerks desk.

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Pearson and Representative Justin Jones were seen following Sexton while holding signs and Pearson appears to try to get in Sextons face. Then there is a lot of shoving. Its hard to tell who shoved first. Sexton then turned around waving his finger as Pearson was being pushed back.

Tennessee lawmakers react to chaotic end of special session

I told him dont bump me, Sexton said. My security put their hands on the back which knocked me forward and the photographer when you look at it was to my left so we moved right. At that point, we moved right and Rep. Pearson comes in and pops me from the right side.

But Pearson recalls something different.

The speaker had the audacity to turn around and tell me dont touch him despite the fact that he initiated this aggressive act toward me, he said. Its the aggressive attitude of white supremacy that permeates this institution that leads to policy violence and now physical violence against its members.

Both men were quickly separated.

According to communications director Daphne Thomas, Pearson is discussing his options of legal action with an attorney.

Tensions were high between both parties during the session as Republican lawmakers refused to pass legislation that would put restrictions on guns in the state. The session ended Tuesday before Rep. Jones could officially call a vote of no confidence against Speaker Sexton.

Despite the dysfunction, Gov.Bill Lee said the special session wasnt a complete failure, with the passage of four bills.

I believe it was hopeful. It was difficult as I said. It was important, but important, difficult and hopeful those are things. We should celebrate, Lee said.

Pearson said nearly $1 million was likely spent on this special session, mainly due to the number of state troopers needed to secure the capitol.

I am frustrated. I am angry. I am disappointed in the actions of Cameron Sexton and William Lamberth and the governor who refused to actually listen to the voices of the people, Pearson said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG)  State Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis) is contemplating whether or not to press charges against House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) after a scuffle occurred following the special session Tuesday.

Intense chants mixed passion and protest on the House floor were a special recipe for disaster as the special session on public safety ended for the Tennessee General Assembly Tuesday, leading to a physical showdown caught on camera between Sexton and Pearson.

Special session ends in chaos, physical scuffle to bring wild week to a close

While I was saying to the Speaker that we are not doing enough, while I was saying that this is shameful and a disgrace to the people in the state of Tennessee, that we are tired of going to funerals, the Speaker violently shoved me in the chest, Pearson said. And then other members of his party also pushed me back towards the clerks desk.

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Pearson and state Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) were seen following Sexton while holding signs and Pearson appears to try to get in Sextons face. Then there is a lot of shoving. Its hard to tell who shoved first. Sexton then turned around waving his finger as Pearson was being pushed back.

I told him dont bump me, Sexton said. My security put their hands on the back which knocked me forward and the photographer when you look at it was to my left so we moved right. At that point, we moved right and Rep. Pearson comes in and pops me from the right side.

Tennessee lawmakers react to chaotic end of special session

However, Pearson recalled something different: The speaker had the audacity to turn around and tell me dont touch him despite the fact that he initiated this aggressive act toward me, he said. Its the aggressive attitude of white supremacy that permeates this institution that leads to policy violence and now physical violence against its members.

Both men were quickly separated.

According to Communications Director Daphne Thomas, Pearson is discussing his options of legal action with an attorney.

Tennessee Firearms Association celebrates special session with no meaningful results

Tensions were high between both parties during the session as Republican lawmakers refused to pass legislation that would put restrictions on guns in the state. The session ended Tuesday before Jones could officially call a vote of no confidence against Sexton.

Despite the dysfunction, Gov. Bill Lee said the special session wasnt a complete failure with the passing of four bills.

I believe it was hopeful. It was difficult as I said. It was important, but important, difficult and hopeful those are things. We should celebrate, Lee said.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

Pearson said nearly $1 million was likely spent on this special session, mainly due to the number of state troopers needed to secure the Capitol.

I am frustrated. I am angry. I am disappointed in the actions of Cameron Sexton and William Lamberth and the governor who refused to actually listen to the voices of the people, Pearson said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
WASHINGTON  The Pentagon is more than a third through preparing a national defense industrial strategy, with the full document set for release in December, according to Halimah Najieb-Locke, the militarys industrial base czar.

The strategy will arrive at a time of increased attention on the defense industrys capacity. Russias invasion of Ukraine has shown how taxing a long-term conflict can be, while competition with China demands the Pentagon produce more advanced weapons.

Across the department, we now have a shift in approach to the industrial base, said Najieb-Locke, speaking at a conference on defense technology.

The strategys goal, she said, is not to change the Pentagons buying authorities. Instead, the goal is to better use its existing ones and its relationship to the industrial base. Najieb-Locke, who previously advised the House Armed Services Committee on acquisition reform, said she doesnt see further reform as necessary.

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Since the war in Ukraine began last February, the scarcity of basic munitions, like 155mm artillery rounds, has led military officials to push to bulk up the defense industrial base. The fiscal 2023 defense authorization bill, for example, included $2.7 billion in further munition supply.

In the time leading up to the war, many analysts and officials familiar with the industrial base were concerned about its resilience, said Danielle Miller, who works in the Pentagons industrial policy office. But until Russias invasion, those concerns were abstract.

Ukraine  actually takes these concepts and makes them very concrete, said Miller, speaking with Najieb-Locke at the conference.

The strategy will attempt to fill gaps like those seen with the 155mm rounds. Its goals include a ready workforce, resilient supply chains and fair markets. It will include three phases. The first, focused on development, is already complete, said Najieb-Locke, who called this industrial base strategy as the Pentagons first ever.

Other issues of focus include managing sole-source suppliers and ensuring the military has a supply of critical components even as technology advances.

On Monday, speaking at the same conference, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante listed three causes for the industrial bases current state. The first is a lack of planning for longer-term conflicts, like the one in Ukraine. The second is the efficient, but inelastic model of just-in-time manufacturing. And the third is the tendency to balance DoD budgets by skimping on munitions, which over time shrunk the market for munitions overall.

Over time, these forces have shaped the industrial bases size and flexibility, Miller said.

For many things, you cant undo 30 years of policy decisions in a one- or two-year time period, she added. Were going to have to have a consistent, committed effort going forward to achieve these.

The strategy must also chase a moving target. On Monday, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks announced a plan to field thousands of drones to better counter Chinas industrial advantages. While so far short on details, the program is an example of the Pentagons rush to keep pace with its main competitor.

We have to be able to respond in crisis environments that look like Ukraine, said Miller.
With the announcement that the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) approved disaster declaration assistance to Perryton and the surrounding counties, Perryton Mayor Kerry Symons spoke about efforts to rebuild the city.

Symons said that the SBA has people already in place to help those who need assistance.

The support for the city is going great; we have about eight people from the Small Business Administration (SBA) with an office set up taking applications, Symons said. We are having an unbelievably positive response to the SBA coming, with about 20 to 30 applications being done per day. Hopefully, now that we have the SBA here, many of our businesses will be able to rebuild and bring their services back to the city.

The crowd cheers as emergency vehicles pass them at the 104th annual Wheatheart of the Nation Parade on Aug. 19 in Perryton.

He said that residents have had a great response to this assistance and urged residents to work with the SBA to find out what can be done to rebuild. Symons stressed that residents and businesses need to record their damages and reach out to the SBA staff available in the city. He said these requests and applications must be done as soon as possible.

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The state was here to help us immediately; the amount of support that we received from different departments of the state was the best thing that could have helped us, Symons said. It sure makes us proud to be a Texan."

Symons said that the outreach from the Texas Panhandle and the rest of the country has been extremely helpful in getting the city with its businesses and residents back on their feet after the EF-3 tornado and severe weather struck in June.

The majority of donations go through the Amarillo Area Foundation and the United Way. He said that donations have also been accepted for the city for park renovations. Some other charities have helped with construction material and volunteer work in the area.

The Radio Shack on Perryton Main Street had its roof collapse from the tornado in Perryton.

A row of debris from destroyed homes in Perryton from the devastating June 15 tornado which destroyed over 200 homes in the Panhandle city.

The approval for the SBA assistance in the city by our residents has been very positive, Symons said. These low-interest loans can apply to homeowners, renters and businesses."

Symons said that the city has purchased a temporary fire department that will allow it to move its department from the county exposition center soon. He said that completion of the city hall project would still be another six to eight months before it is finished.

Hopefully, we can move out of the county-owned facility and into our temporary fire station in the coming weeks," Symons said. We are rebuilding city hall as we speak; they are working seven days a week on city hall trying to get the fire and police stations and city offices back in that building."

Symons said that it was challenging getting the coordination in response to the natural disaster the city has faced. He credits a great city staff for working to take care of those affected by the tornado.

We have great people that have stepped up and worked extra time to make sure that all of our city services are available to everyone, Symons said. We have been trying to find ways to help the individuals of our city, and our city with trying to write grants that can bring some dollars to back to Perryton to help reestablish our city back to where it was.

Praising the many organizations and churches that worked with tornado victims, Symons said that these groups have done an excellent job helping residents and continue to do great work.

Asked if any upgrades could be done to help with emergency sirens, Symons said the problem was that the tornado hit where the electricity came into the city.

The power was knocked out before the tornado hit the city limits, Symons said. The warning came, and we did not have time to respond, as it, the tornado, just dropped out of the sky.

With the utter destruction of the mobile homes throughout the city, Symons said that due to these homes being the quickest source of housing, many will still opt to go that route. He said that some groups are interested in building more permanent homes in those areas.

The city manager of Perryton, David Landis, also spoke about the approval of the SBA assistance and the need to work fast to get applications done.

We were very pleased that Gov. Abbotts request to the United States Small Business Administration was approved for a disaster declaration for our area, he said. "What this does is, it allows people and businesses in Ochiltree and surrounding counties to apply for low-interest loans to help them in the restoration of their properties."

He said that loans are also available for economic injury loans. According to Landis, the deadline for application of physical damages is Oct. 23, and for economic injury, it's May 22, 2024.

We hope that this spurs some successful applications for some of our most impacted folks to begin resuming business," he said.

Landis added that part of the reason the request was submitted about two months after the disaster was so businesses could better evaluate the economic and physical damages they have suffered.

By waiting until this was when this was declared, we have 60 days from this point forward, Landis said. So, actually, this was a strategically timed request from the governor to give us the time to assess damages.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Perryton mayor praises SBA assistance approval in tornado recovery
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport could lose money in the future because of climate change and extreme weather, the city disclosed in May.

The city's Civic Improvement Corporation, a nonprofit entity of the city, issued a $96 million airport revenue bond series in May to pay back debts related to the smaller Deer Valley and Goodyear airports in the north and west Valley.

In the offering statement to potential investors, the Phoenix entity said wildfires, long-term effects of climate change, "passenger awareness of climate change impacts of aviation," as well as government regulation intended to reduce climate change effects, could harm the airport's "ability to generate revenue."

The disclosure is a rare and explicit acknowledgment from an Arizona city of the adverse consequences climate change could impose on its ability to repay debt. It represents an increased awareness of global warming's economic implications on the city, Phoenix taxpayers and market investors  most of whom are individuals.

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More than 70% of municipal bonds are owned by individuals, often through mutual funds, and roughly 40% of municipal bond interest is paid to households with an annual income of less than $200,000, according to Municipal Bonds for America.

Lower revenue at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport would have financial implications for the airport, city and taxpayers. It could also mean lower yields for people who have invested in the airport revenue bonds for purposes such as retirement.

Mayor Kate Gallego responded to the disclosure on Monday, telling The Arizona Republic "climate change is undeniably our new reality" and that she has sought to "put this reality front-and-center in governance" in hopes it "can bring more awareness to this shared challenge."

Phoenix's disclosure in its airport revenue series represents enhanced transparency that municipal bond analysts say will protect investors and help maintain the integrity of the public market.

According to a report from Municipal Market Analytics, a Massachusetts-based municipal bond research firm, only two of 25 bond series issued by Valley cities and school districts in the first half of 2023 acknowledged the harmful role climate change could have on their ability to repay debt.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal body that regulates the market for stocks and bonds, does not explicitly require climate risk disclosure. The Government Finance Officers Association in 2021, however, recommended new "best practices" that suggest doing so.

And while municipal market experts believe that the mandate will come in the future, Thomas Doe, president of Municipal Market Analytics, said the municipal bond industry has been slow to practice proper disclosure and price in the risk of climate change.

"The industry could be at the forefront of the climate issue but, to date, has demonstrated a limited ability with words and virtually no action," Doe wrote. "Instead, they have historically chosen to respond to crisis rather than anticipate negative events and adequately inform investors of risks."

That's likely because voluntarily disclosing the risk comes at a cost. Investors are more likely to demand more interest paid from the municipal issuers to compensate for the risk to their yield, Doe said.

"It's reasonable to assume that it might get hotter in Arizona (in the future). ... That might be a real risk that impacts the economy," Doe said. In other words, the more risk, the costlier it is for cities to borrow.

Gallego said the city's "proactive stance" on climate initiatives has positioned the city strongly in economic pitches because the city can be seen as "forward thinking."

How climate change could harm the airport

The Phoenix disclosure outlines a handful of ways climate change could harm the airport, and by extension, investors.

Weather patterns, droughts and fire could negatively affect the airport's operations and infrastructure, while new regulations could weaken the airport's financial conditions, the disclosure says.

It's not theoretical. Earlier in August, Hurricane Hilary, which was downgraded to a tropical storm, led to the cancellation of more than 150 flights at Sky Harbor. Extreme heat has grounded planes on three separate occasions in the airport's history: in 1990, when the temperature hit 122 degrees, and in 2013 and 2017 when the temperature hit 119 degrees.

And elsewhere, earlier in the summer, wildfires in Canada blanketed much of the northeastern United States in dense haze, forcing 600 flight cancellations and 2,500 delays, according to media reports at the time.

New regulations targeting greenhouse gas emissions could also "require significant upgrades to planes and facilities and increase the cost of jet fuel, or both, thereby increasing the cost of air travel and potentially reducing air travel demand," the disclosure says.

Travelers get on and off the Sky Train at Phoenix Sky Harbor Terminal 4 on June 30, 2023, in Phoenix, Ariz.

A potential safeguard for the airport is its geographic location, the offering statement says. Deputy Aviations Director Heather Shelbrack told The Republic the reason is two-fold. First, Phoenix doesn't get hurricanes that coastal airports experience. Second, being in the center of a major metropolitan, "we see another decrease vulnerability to events like wildfires and heavy flooding."

To mitigate adverse effects of climate change, Phoenix has purchased "commercial property and casualty insurance and business interruption insurance," the disclosure says.

But it concludes, "no assurance can be given that such insurance will always be available in sufficient amounts, at a reasonable cost or available at all, or that insurers will pay claims in a timely manner or at all."

As climate disasters increase, investors and analysts apply more scrutiny

As climate catastrophes become more frequent, so too does scrutiny over how adequately municipalities are preparing and warning investors.

Cynthia Hanawalt, a senior fellow at Columbia Law School's climate change think tank, said investors are beginning to demand more accountability and climate data from municipal bond issuers.

The recent deadly wildfire on Maui that devastated the historic town of Lahaina is one example of how climate change stands to harm investors.

A general view shows the aftermath of a devastating wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023.

Credit ratings and bond prices for the state's main utility provider, Hawaiian Electric, plummeted in the aftermath of the fire, meaning owners of those bonds are facing a financial loss.

Maui County officials have criticized and sued Hawaiian Electric for failing to shut off power on the island despite heavy winds, leading to downed lines that officials say sparked the fire.

Law firm Hagens Berman on Monday announced its intent to launch a class action lawsuit against the utility for bond investors who had experienced substantial losses.

While climate risk was disclosed prior to the incident, Doe of Municipal Market Analytics said, it raises questions about how accountable ratings agencies and municipalities should be for factoring in future risk versus solely the current conditions.

Credit ratings, from agencies such as Fitch or Moody's, help investors determine how risky an investment is. But those ratings, Doe said, are short-term outlooks regarding the issuer that only last for a year or two.

"So if you have debt that's 10 years or 30 years in length, the ratings don't apply to that. It doesn't capture that future risk," he said.

Across the country, in the $4 trillion municipal bond industry, Doe said "there has been no ratings change associated with climate risk." Instead, those ratings don't change until after disaster has struck, such as in Maui most recently.

Since municipal bonds are viewed as low-risk securities, meaning investors can confidently rely on payback, plus interest, Doe argues the integrity of the industry is at stake.

Without proper disclosure, investors stand to lose money because of climate risks that in some cases may have been knowable and quantifiable to some extent, Doe said. And if investors begin to lose confidence in municipal bonds, local governments' and schools' abilities to raise capital to fund critical infrastructure could start to dry up.

"If you know the risks are here, why does the rating not reflect it until the event happens?" Doe said, "and isn't it interesting the market doesn't price in the risk until the event occurs?"

In crisis mode: More homes mean more heat. Can new building codes help save metro Phoenix from disaster?

FEMA declaring heat a disaster could comfort market investors

The disclosure by Phoenix's Civic Improvement Corporation came about a month before Phoenix entered a blistering summer with record-breaking heat waves and a month after Gallego called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to identify heat as an emergency disaster in her 2023 state of the city.

Gallego has continued to push FEMA since April, hoping to unlock federal financial aid to be used for cooling centers and other permanent infrastructure.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego speaks to the press about Arizona's extreme heat and possible improvements in the response to and prevention of heat-related issues on June 9, 2023, in Phoenix.

Aside from the benefit of helping residents who suffer heat-related injuries, securing support from FEMA for heat emergencies also stands to comfort market investors.

"In the case of hurricanes, the market has found comfort in FEMAs historical support," said Doe and Chris Hamel, president and senior fellow respectively of Municipal Market Analytics.

With an extreme heat designation, Phoenix could lean on FEMA to reassure investors that an outside source of revenue is available to address climate emergency, thereby reducing danger to the city's own revenue.

Looking ahead: As Arizona builds to solve a housing crisis, will its homes withstand future heat extremes?

SEC expected to require climate risk disclosure for public companies this fall

Phoenix's climate risk acknowledgment also comes as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission debates regulatory proposals that would require public companies to disclose climate risk to investors. The proposal would not affect municipal issuers, such as Phoenix-area cities or school districts, but experts say it likely foreshadows similar requirements down the road.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego on Wednesday introduced new heat mitigation officer David Hondula in the shade of trees on a plaza outside City Hall. Hondula said a tree-planting is a top priority.

Hanawalt said the SEC's proposal focuses on requiring companies to disclose both the physical risk that comes from weather disasters, as well as the transition costs that come with adapting to climate change.

"That, I think, should inform municipal issuers when they're thinking about making sure they're making full and complete disclosures. There's going to be a ripple effect of this disclosure rule."

Doe told The Republic he was scheduled to meet with attorneys from the SEC in September to discuss regulations regarding municipal bond climate disclosure.

Reporter Taylor Seely covers Phoenix for The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sky Harbor could lose money from climate change, Phoenix warns
Placer County prosecutors want to file additional felony charges against a man already accused of murder and attempted murder in an April 6 standoff with law enforcement at a Roseville park.

Eric James Abril, 35, of Roseville is accused of taking two hostages during a shootout with police after California Highway Patrol officers tried to serve a search warrant at Mahany Park.

Police officials have said Abril shot a CHP officer at the park, before he took two hostages and shot them both during the standoff with police. James MacEgan of Roseville and his wife, Patricia MacEgan, were taken hostage at the park. MacEgan, 72, died from his injuries. His wife and the CHP officer were wounded by gunfire.

Abril was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with officers, police said. He was hospitalized until the following evening, when he was booked at the Placer County Jail.

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Deputy District Attorney David Tellman is now seeking to add two counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, alleging that Abril also fired gunshots at two other officers during the April 6 standoff with police.

Initial murder and attempted murder charges

Abril is accused of murder in MacEgans death along with special allegations of using a 10 mm handgun to kidnap the victim while committing the crime, according to a criminal complaint filed April 10 by the Placer County District Attorneys Office.

Prosecutors also have charged Abril with aggravated kidnapping causing bodily harm in holding MacEgans wife at gunpoint along with special allegations of using the handgun in the crime.

The criminal complaint also indicates that Abril is accused of attempted murder of a peace officer, CHP Officer Matthew Hiatt, with special allegations that Abril used the handgun and was wearing a body-armor vest in the crime. Abril also faces a charge of being a convicted felon in possession of a gun.

Police respond to a scene of a shooting incident at Mahany Park in Roseville that left a hostage dead and another hostage and a California Highway Patrol officer injured Thursday, April 6, 2023. A suspect was taken into custody.

DA files new court motion in shooting case

The District Attorneys Office wants to amend the April 10 criminal complaint against Abril. In a motion filed Aug. 18, Tellman wrote that reports prosecutors have received since the April shooting at the park provide a legal basis to file the additional attempted murder charges against Abril.

Its unclear what new information was in those reports. Only Hiatt and the woman taken hostage were wounded. No other injuries in the park shooting have been reported.

In an attached draft of the proposed amended complaint, prosecutors allege Abril fired the handgun at peace officers Tyson Becker and Leo Smith. The additional attempted murder charges would also have the same special allegations for using the handgun and body armor vest.

Becker is a Sacramento County deputy probation officer and Smith is a CHP officer, according to compensation records provided by the county and state to Transparent California. Numerous law enforcement officials from agencies in the surrounding area were called to Mahany Park that afternoon to assist, but its unclear which roles Becker and Smith played in the park shootout.

Jail inmate escapes

The prosecution also is asking the court to combine Abrils case in the park shooting with a separate case filed after he reportedly escaped from Placer County Sheriffs Office custody in July.

Abril had been in sheriffs custody until July 9, when he escaped from Sutter Roseville Medical Center. He was being guarded by a sheriffs deputy but managed to defeat his restraints and slip out of the hospital shortly after 3 a.m.

A 33-hour manhunt followed as officials from several law enforcement agencies in the region searched parts of Roseville and Rocklin for any sight of the murder suspect. Abril was captured in Rocklin along Antelope Creek, where a resident spotted the escaped inmate who had nothing on but jail-issued underwear.

Police and sheriffs units stand guard on Greenbrae Road in Rocklin on Sunday, July 9, 2023, after a potential sighting of the Mahany Park murder suspect Eric James Abril, who escaped earlier in the day from a Roseville hospital.

Prosecutors on July 12 filed an additional felony charge of escaping from law enforcement custody while felony charges are pending.

Judge Colleen Nichols this week was expecting to hear arguments from both sides on the prosecutions request to add felony charges against Abril and combine his criminal cases. Abril returned to Placer Superior Court Tuesday morning for the hearing, which only lasted about 3 minutes.

The prosecutor, Tellman, told the judge that he agreed with Abrils attorneys to postpone the hearing until Sept. 19. He said the defense attorneys have promised to file in court any opposition to the prosecutions motion by Sept. 8.

A preliminary hearing for the court to determine whether theres enough evidence for Abril to stand trial remains scheduled to start Nov. 6. But its unclear whether new charges against Abril will delay that hearing.
Polish company PZL Mielec plans to expand its production of F-16 components, with the aim to produce up to 80% of parts needed for the jet's fuselage, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Aug. 30.

PZL Mielec is based in southeastern Poland and is owned by the American defense company Lockheed Martin.

Janusz Zakrecki, the president of PZL Mielec, told PAP that the company currently produces about 50% of the structure of an F-16 fuselage. By the end of 2024, the aim is to produce between 70% and 80% of the fuselage in Mielec.

The plant's hangar has been modernized and a number of its employees have received six months of training at Lockheed Martin's main factory in South Carolina.

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PZL Mielec is one of Poland's major aircraft manufacturers and the largest manufacturing site for Lockheed Martin outside the U.S.

Mielec is located 50 kilometers from Rzeszow, an important logistics hub where NATO reportedly plans to logistics and repair center for Ukrainian military equipment.

Rzeszow airport is a crucial conduit for Western military aid flowing to Ukraine.

Read also: This Week in Ukraine Ep. 22  F-16s and the irrational politics of military aid

After months of protracted discussions, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov confirmed on Aug. 19 that the first Ukrainian pilots, engineers, and technicians have started their training on F-16s.

On Aug. 20, upon meeting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine will receive 42 F-16s from the Netherlands in a "breakthrough agreement."

Denmark has officially announced that it will provide Kyiv with 19 of its F-16 fighter jets, with the first batch of six planes expected to arrive by the New Year, according to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

On Aug. 24, the U.S. announced it will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly and maintain F-16 fighter jets in October.

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Poland will organise the production of components for US-made F-16 fighter jets.

Source: Janusz Zakrecki, Director of the PZL Mielec plant, in an interview with PAP Polish news outlet, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The plant's director says PZL Mielec's ultimate plan is to produce 70-80% of the fighter body structure by the end of next year.

He noted that the production of F-16 Block 70/72 structures is carried out in a modernised workshop at PZL Mielec, which had previously produced military jets.

Quote: "I am pleased that Lockheed Martin has recognised the competence of our employees and the potential of this location and decided to locate the production of F-16 structures here. This is also proof of Lockheed Martin's support for the development of PZL Mielec and the industrial potential of our country."

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Background: Earlier, the authorities of the Polish city of Radom reported that they would address the Polish military and the Defence Ministry for explanations regarding the training flights of F-16s because residents of a Polish town were frightened by the sound of F-16s crossing the sound barrier.

On 15 August, a major military parade marked the Day of the Polish Army in Warsaw, the largest since the end of the Cold War in the last century.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has made strengthening the armed forces a priority for the Polish government. It has promised to double the armed forces size to 300,000 troops and spend about 4% of this year's GDP on defence.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  A shooting in Kansas City, Missouri Tuesday afternoon leaves one person with life-threatening injuries.

The shooting was reported just before 4 p.m. in the area of E. 29th Street and Prospect Avenue.

Elderly man scammed out thousands, KCPD gives advice to protect family members

When officers arrived on scene they found the victim inside a business with gunshot wounds to his chest and left arm.

Police learned that the victim went into the business after he had been shot and no crime scene could be located.

The victim was taken to an area hospital where he is listed in critical condition.

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No suspect information has been released at this time.

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Anyone with information that can help detectives in this case can call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-8477.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
A Salem, New Hampshire man was arrested after police say he intentionally set a church on fire and attempted to break into the convenience store next door last week.

Around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, Hudson, NH police officers were flagged down by a man near the intersection of Central Street and Greeley Steet. The man, Mathew Jackson, 29, told officers that the First Baptist Church on Central Street was on fire, police say.

Police say an initial investigation determined that Jackson himself intentionally started the fire, causing serious damage inside the church. Jackson also allegedly caused further damage to the church when he drove his blue Nissan Versa into the side of the building.

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While officers investigated the church, they were also alerted to a break-in attempt at the 7-Eleven located next door. Officers found that someone had attempted to break down the convenience stores front doors with a fire extinguisher, damaging the glass and locks. The extinguisher was also sprayed, coating the parking lot and front of the 7-Eleven with foam.

The cabinet in the parking lot where the extinguisher was kept was also found to be damaged, police say.

Officers developed probable cause that Jackson was behind both the incident at the 7-Eleven and the church.

Jackson was charged with Class A felony arson, Class A felony burglary, three counts of Class A misdemeanor criminal mischief, Class A misdemeanor conduct after an accident, and Class A misdemeanor resisting arrest/detention.

The incidents remain under investigation by the Hudson Police Department.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  A 65-year-old man was arrested after reportedly threatening a teacher at Cameron Middle School with a large butcher knife, robbing her and then locking her in a closet.

Officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department were dispatched to the school on First Avenue around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29 after receiving reports of an armed robbery, according to an arrest affidavit.

Tennessee Firearms Association celebrates special session with no meaningful results

The victim told police she had been approached by Willie Joe Buford after she arrived at work. While armed with a large butcher knife, Buford allegedly forced the woman into the school gym and demanded she give him money.

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Authorities said the teacher did not have any money on her, so Buford took her car keys, iPhone, AirPods and Apple watch. He then told her, Im not going to hurt you but if you were a white (expletive) Id kill you, according to the affidavit.

Willie Joe Buford (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

After Buford reportedly robbed the woman, police said he made her get into a closet in the gym that locked after the door closed. The teacher banged on the door until some students came and freed her.

Families form nonprofits to address gun, school safety after Nashville school shooting

Meanwhile, the affidavit said Buford stole the womans car, drove it downtown and parked in an underground parking garage at 401 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. He then took her phone and watch and boarded a bus.

Investigators were able to track Buford to a spot on Murfreesboro Road underneath Interstate 24 using the Find My iPhone app, according to the affidavit. After he saw officers approaching, Buford reportedly ran across I-24 and into a tree line on the opposite side of the interstate.

Police said Buford was taken into custody without incident and later admitted to taking the teachers car and other items. The teacher was also able to positively identify Buford as the suspect, authorities reported.

CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime news from Middle Tennessee

Buford was booked into jail on one count of aggravated robbery with a weapon. As of Wednesday, Aug. 30, he was still behind bars with a $100,000 bond.

In an emailed statement, school officials said students had not yet arrived on campus when the teacher was robbed Tuesday morning. The school immediately implemented its emergency protocols and went on lockdown after the incident was reported, the statement said.

The safety of our staff and students is always our top priority, and we are taking appropriate measures to ensure our school environments are a place where students and staff feel safe and secure, the statement continued.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
A child runs past a mural showing Pope Francis with depiction of nomadic daily life in Mongolian outside a church in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. When Pope Francis travels to Mongolia this week, he will in some ways be completing a mission begun by the 13th century Pope Innocent IV, who dispatched emissaries east to ascertain the intentions of the rapidly expanding Mongol Empire and beseech its leaders to halt the bloodshed and convert.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

When Pope Francis travels to Mongolia this week, he will in some ways be completing a mission begun by the 13th-century Pope Innocent IV, who dispatched emissaries east to ascertain the intentions of the rapidly expanding Mongol Empire and beseech its leaders to halt the bloodshed and convert. Francis last year upped the Mongolian church's standing when he made a cardinal out of its leader, the Italian missionary Giorgio Marengo.
Tallahassee is no stranger to power outages, especially when the tropics unleash wind speeds in the double digits.

But officials worried that Hurricane Idalia, one of the first ever major hurricanes to make landfall in the Apalachee Bay, could bring destruction to the electric grid unlike any the capital city has ever seen.

City officials say they have maxxed out resources, including recruiting 200-plus extra line workers, to restore power once Idalias winds die down.

"In preparation for what the National Weather Service predicted would be the strongest storm Tallahassee has ever seen, we have taken advantage of every available resource to aid in our restoration efforts, including more than tripling our electric linemen with mutual aid crews," he said in an email. "With impacts predicted to be more severe than Hurricanes Hermine or Michael, we are well-prepared to respond; however, residents should be prepared for power outages to last several days and implement their emergency plans."

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In this question and answer with the Tallahassee Democrat, Mike Crow, assistant city manager for power delivery, discusses the citys preparations and plans to turn the lights and A/C back on and how long that might take:

Q: What is the city of Tallahassee doing to prepare for the possibility of widespread outages?

A: We have extremely detailed storm response guidelines that we go by. Hurricane seasons obviously form June 1 through Nov. 30, so we prepare year round. What weve done in this instance is weve ... elected to go ahead and try to secure some mutual aid. We knew that it wouldnt be coming from any local utilities within the state of Florida or even surrounding states like Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas  theyre all kind of holding steady to see what the storm does to them. So we reached out Sunday, and we started securing mutual aid. And we were able to get folks in (Tuesday) to pre-stage.

Q: How many folks came in and where are they coming from?

A: Louisiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Nebraska and Oklahoma is who weve secured mutual aid from so far. Weve got about 135 lineman on hand now pre-staged at local hotels ... and theyll be ready to respond in the morning as the storm enters our (area) as passes through.

Q: How many line workers does the city of Tallahassee employ?

A: We have about 75 staff (who would be out in the field). We also have additional crews that will be arriving (Wednesday) and we have some that couldnt make it here until Thursday.

Q: How many line workers are coming on those days?

A: About 100 additional staff.

Q: So were talking about perhaps tripling our manpower?

A: We are, yes, sir. The ones that are arriving (Wednesday) into Thursday would be the Ohio and Nebraska crews. They had a little bit further travel time.

Q: Whats the difference between the mutual aid workers and contract workers that are also helping?

A: We work through a network of mutual aid with our statewide agency, FMEA (the Florida Municipal Electric Association). They organize all of that mutual aid from Louisiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Nebraska and Oklahoma  those are all other municipal utilties that are coming to assist us. Any additional help from contractors is something we secure on our own.

Q: How many contract workers has the city secured?

A: They were able to send five crews, its about 30 total.

Q: Is this the biggest electric repair force that the city has ever mustered?

A: I would it rivals (past storms). We also had a lot of staff come on board during Hermine and Michael.

Q: What is the city doing differently in its approach to repairs since Hermine, a storm that prompted criticism over the city's pace of repairs, and Michael?

A: I feel like I have a different opinion than the narrative that was pushed on (Hermine), but I can tell you how we do differ. As our citizens have become more dependent on our electricity and the need for that and the political climate thats involved, we became extremely proactive in our responses. On Sunday, we were securing mutual aid. We didnt even know if we would be impacted at all, but we went ahead and pulled the trigger ... just in case, knowing if we werent impacted, we would have crews in the state of Florida that we could release to the other municipals that were impacted.

Q: What is the actual ground plan for power restoration?

A: Well have staff on site in place, we have staff staying overnight, just to make sure we have crews available. But well wait until conditions are safe. Thats less than 35 mph sustained winds. And what weve done since Hermine in particular ... we split our service territory into four different quadrants: northeast, south and west. We have priority circuits identified in each of those quadrants, and we have crews assigned to each of those quadrants. We dont just assign crews per storm  those crews are assigned to those quadrants year round. So theyre continuously familiarizing themselves with those areas, theyre riding these priority circuits, taking pre-emptive measures, looking at right-of-way issues, any kind of equipment issues, anything that they see that could become an issue in a storm. Obviously you cant prevent everything, but theyre taking those kind of preemptive measures to ensure that those quadrants are taken care of prior to a storm.

Q: What about after the storm? Do they immediately start going into every little neighborhood?

A: It just depends on the storm, right? Going into this one, what were going to do is well meet in the morning at 6 a.m. Well get an outage count. And well go by circuit. We have our priority circuits: hospitals, nursing homes, critical electric facilities, storm shelters, law enforcement. And well go down and we have each of those number in each quadrant. So well start attacking those priority circuits first. And then well be looking at our outage count and just kind of work our way down.

Q: There was still uncertainty Tuesday about where Idalia could go. But one of the worst-case scenarios is that it goes to St. Marks and that we get a strong windfield right here in town. If that were to happen,, what kind of damage would we see in Tallahassee?

A: We could see a multi-day restoration effort. We could see numerous, widespread outages, especially if this encompasses our entire system. We have a large system and its North Florida  we love our canopy roads, we have lots of tree coverage. So we can see a lot of downed power lines. If it continues to intensify the way theyre predicting and continues to shift in that westerly track, it could be very impactful to the area. Its really hard to predict. If this storm does hit with the magnitude theyre saying ... that would essentially require all the mutual aid that we have. I think that we are adequately prepared for that. Also knowing that once this event gets localized, that a lot of resources within the state will free up. And we anticipate if theres any additional crews needed to be able to be here within a day or so.

Q: When you say multi-day, could it take a week or more? If this storm is worse than Hermine and Michael, I assume the damage will be worse.

Q: You could assume that. Its just there are so many variables involved. I dont anticipate anything over seven to 10 days  a five or six day event. We have to work safely and efficiently, which we do. And these things take time. One of the things I have to kind of highlight is the fact that this is one of the many benefits of having a local utility. Our employees are world class. They live here, their families live here, and they have ownership with the community that we serve. They want to get power back on, theyre out there working their butts off day in and day out. I dont anticipate even in a major hurricane, anything over a week as far as restoration.

A: Does the city know when a customer loses power? Do customers need to let the city know when theyre power goes out in a hurricane?

Q: We do monitor that in our control center, so we do see when outages occur. And we can tell, we have various means to do so. But we encourage any customers to make sure that they call in and report their outage. As the initial restoration starts and we get into what we call the onesies and twosies, that would be your biggest opportunity to have something. I dont want to use the word miss, but it would be difficult to tell. So we do encourage our customers to call. Our customer service, we have folks staffed up to answer phones and all of that.

A: Should customers call a day or two later if their power is still out to see when it might come back on?

Q: We have additional staffing for that, so yes, we encourage them to do that.

A: What do you recommend for people who may be in the dark for several days or whatever it might be?

Q: For one, be patient and know that were working hard. Were going to get to you. And just take those pre-emptive measures and make sure you have enough water, your essential needs, batteries, things like that. If you have a medical need, make a prior arrangements. We have several shelters around open, if power is essential to your livelihood, we encourage you to take advantage of those resources.

A: Is there anything else youd like to tell our readers?

Q: Just have confidence in your utility, know that we plan year round for this. Were very well-trained. I feel like we earned that No. 1 public utility in the nation status, and our guys have ownership of this utility and this community that we serve. And well be out there, and we wont quit until everythings restored.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee power outages from Idalia: The plan to reconnect the city
WICHITA, Kan.  According to court documents, a 19-year-old was pregnant when she was found dead in the trunk of a car Saturday morning in Wichita.

The suspect, Alexander Lewis, has been charged with capital murder, more than one victim. He is being held on a $500,000 bond. He is scheduled to be back in court on Sept. 14, KSNW reports.

Independence police looking for armed suspect near US 40, Little Blue Parkway

According to the WPD, they received a call at 11:08 a.m. on Saturday from a 911 operator in North Carolina reporting a possible homicide in Wichita.

Wichita police said that based on the information given to the North Carolina 911 operator by a family member of the suspect, officers were dispatched to two different locations to check the welfare of the reported victim.

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One of the locations was in the 7600 block of E. 21st St. N.

Upon arrival, Wichita police said they found the suspect and located 19-year-old Zaiylah Bronson in the trunk of his car.

WPD respond to a possible homicide in Wichita on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023 (KSN Photo)

Officers pulled her out of the trunk and provided life-saving measures until EMS arrived. According to the WPD, she was later pronounced dead.

Investigators are still working to fully determine what led up to the incident.

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If you are a survivor of domestic abuse, Wichita police encourage you to contact one of the many service providers in the Wichita area for help. A list of available resources can be found here.

A GoFundMe has been set up to support Bronsons family, including to help with funeral and burial costs. Click here to donate

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
A pregnant woman gave birth to her child alone in a Tennessee jail cell after she sought medical help, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said.

The woman and the baby were in stable condition and under hospital care as of Tuesday night, authorities said. Officials have not shared an explanation for why the woman was not brought to a hospital until after she'd given birth. Those who give birth while detained are usually brought to a hospital during the birthing process, according to non-governmental organization Penal Reform International.

The woman, who was housed in a medical pod at the Montgomery County Jail, notified a deputy of a medical concern around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, officials said. A licensed practical nurse arrived within a few minutes after the deputy contacted medical staff.

The nurse assessed the pregnant woman and left the cell to consult with others, authorities said. A short time later, a registered nurse conducted a follow-up assessment.

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The medical staff left the cell and ordered some additional tests. Deputies also continued to check on the woman in labor.

At 12:41 p.m., just over an hour after the woman had asked for help, a deputy discovered the woman had given birth in her cell, officials said. The deputy helped the woman while jail medical staff and Emergency Medical Services were alerted. The woman and baby were both taken to the hospital.

Several women in the past have sued after giving birth in jail cells. In a 2018 Denver incident, a woman said her pleas for help were ignored for five hours. A woman in Maryland in 2021 also said she was forced to give birth birth alone in a cell.

In the U.S., the First Step Act of 2018 requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics to collect data on pregnancy outcomes in federal prisons, but this does not apply to state prisons and jails, such as the one in Montgomery County where the woman in Tennessee gave birth on Sunday.

Officials dodge questions over Maui wildfire response

Idalia hits Florida with record storm surge

Maui officials face questions over wildfire response
Biden addresses the press on Wednesday Aug. 30, 2023 from the White House. He discusses the federal response to Hurricane Idalia and the historic Maui wildfires. | screenshot from Youtube

President Joe Biden spoke to the press midday Wednesday to address the federal response to both the Maui fires and Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall in Florida at 7:45 a.m. EDT Wednesday morning as a Category 3 hurricane.

What Biden said about Floridas hurricane preparations

He began by discussing the federal response to Hurricane Idalia, which he described as being prompt. Early Monday morning, Biden approved Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis early request for an emergency declaration.

This decision, Biden told the press, allowed Florida to get full support from the federal government ahead of time, before it even made landfall.

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When asked about whether election politics had a place in his conversations with DeSantis, Biden emphasized the Florida governors laser focus on helping Florida adapt and recover from Hurricane Idalia. He said he trusts that he and DeSantis have the same goal, to talk disaster relief and not politics.

Idalia, now moved down to a Category 1 hurricane, is moving its way north up the East Coast, toward Georgia and the Carolinas. Despite not being as strong as when it made landfall, Idalia is still producing dangerous winds up to 75 mph.

Biden informed the press that hed already met with FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell, who hed instructed to fly out to Florida Wednesday afternoon to conduct a federal assessment on the disaster as quickly as possible.

He said he resurged personnel to Florida to help the state to move people to safety and out of the danger zone and to help the governor and his team to the greatest degree possible.

In addition, Biden instructed FEMA to redeploy 1,500 FEMA personnel and 900 coastguard personnel throughout the southeast.

Biden addresses impact of climate crisis

As the storm pattern began to take aim at the East Coast, he said he met with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to make the federal governments support known.

Still, he said, theres much more to do as the storm batters the Southeast.

He addressed the role climate change has played in both Hurricane Idalia and the Maui wildfires.

Biden told the press, I dont think anybody can deny impact of the climate crisis anymore. Just look around, historic floods, I mean historic floods, more intense droughts, extreme heat, significant wildfires, have caused significant damage like weve never seen before, not only throughout the Hawaiian islands and the United States, but in Canada and other parts of the world.

Amid the chaos of Hurricane Idalia and other weather events across the U.S., he remains laser focused on recovery and rebuilding efforts in Maui.

Related

What Biden said about Maui wildfires and power grid improvements

Weeks out from the historic wildfires that scorched Lahaina and much of west Maui, Biden maintained his pledge to give Maui everything the federal government can offer to heal and build back better as fast as possible.

He spoke of past pledges of monetary assistance, including $24 million to remove hazardous material from fires wake and $400 million for debris removal.

In his address, Biden announced that his administration would give $95 million from the bipartisan infrastructure bill for power grid improvements. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Biden said, accelerated this funding to meet the moment.

This funding would ensure electricity can reach places like homes, hospitals and water stations during an extreme weather event.

He said funding would also extend to fortifying power lines and poles, as well as potentially putting them underground. It could go further toward smart meters that would tell operators exactly where an outage or damage has occurred, allowing emergency responders to make repairs quicker.

Later, he added that the scope of the power grids reach would still be determined by the experts, saying that its not irrational to make the judgement to shut off power, I just dont know enough detail on how to do that (or) where that decision is made.

These infrastructural improvements are necessary, Biden said, because these disasters are here to stay.

Biden addressed continual aid to Maui

Necessary, too, is the federal governments continual aid to Maui. In his address, he emphasized an ambition to build back (a) stronger and more resilient future Mauis way.

He pledged additional aid for recovery and rebuilding, should the island need it. He also urged people to remain patient.

The work were doing is going to take time, in some cases a long time. Were going to do it in a way to makes sure were respectful to the wishes and traditions of the Hawaiian people as well.

Still, he knows it will be frustrating as a devil for people.

According to Biden, boots will be on the ground until the job is done and people can return to their lives.

Related
Prince Harry has described how returning from his final tour of Afghanistan triggered an unravelling but no-one around me really could help.

Discussing his time in the military, the Duke of Sussex said he experienced an unravelling after he returned from his tour that triggered the trauma of losing Diana at such a young age.

The confession was made in Harrys new Netflix docuseries, Heart of Invictus, released today.

Prince Harrys new Netflix series Heart of Invictus was released on Wednesday morning (AP)

Harry admitted his biggest struggle after his mum died was that no one around [him] really could help.

He said: I didnt have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify actually what was going on with me.

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He said his return from Afghanistan unlocked suppressed grief that he was never really aware of.

He said: Look, I can only speak for my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unravelling and the trigger for me was actually returning from Afghanistan.

The stuff that was coming up was from 1997 from the age of 12. Losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had, I was never really aware of. It was never discussed, I didnt really talk about it. And I just suppressed it as most youngsters would have done.

But then when it all came fizzing out, I was bouncing off the walls. I was like, What is going on here, I am now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.

Harry said his biggest struggle after his Afghanistan tour was the lack of support network around him (Heart of Invictus, Netflix)

Diana famously died in a car crash at 36 years old, which has been famously blamed on the paparazzi who had been following the princess while she drove through Paris. The accident also resulted in the deaths of Dianas boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and her chauffeur, Henri Paul.

The duke added: Unfortunately, like most of us the first time you really consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the foetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously.

Speaking about his time serving in Afghanistan, he said it was only possible because it was kept a secret.

While I was there for the 10 weeks, no one knew apart from the British press who had all said we will all keep quiet as long as we get access.

But his deployment was cut short when word of his whereabouts were made known, and the Duke was sent home.

Harry said this made him angry as he had spent 10 weeks on the ground in the sand with all the others.

Prince Harry said his tour of Afghanistan unlocked trauma of losing his mother (Netflix)

During a special screening of the five-part series in California, Harry emerged to introduce it, to the surprise of the audience.

In a video circulating on social media, he was heard talking about the sacrifices that veterans and their families make while serving their country.

He said in episode two of the series: One of the key missions of the [Invictus] foundation today is to find those who are sitting on their sofa, staring at a TV and they never want to leave their house. The hard to reach.

There is literally one moment to be able to convince that individual that whatever their plan is and whatever they are thinking and however bad their day is, that will not last forever.
CHULA VISTA, Calif.  Guests attending a private screening of the new Netflix documentary series  Heart of Invictus  received a surprise Monday, an appearance by the Duke of Sussex himself.

Prince Harry shocked attendees at the AMC 10 theater in Chula Vista, greeting guests and watching the screening with the crowd.

The documentary series follows a group of athletes as they prepare for the 2022 Invictus Games, a sporting event founded by Prince Harry for wounded service members, according to Netflix.

The screening was held for service members with the Navy Wounded Warrior Program, according to an Instagram from the USO.

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Harry spoke to the audience about the sacrifices veterans and their families make while serving their countries and how he didnt have the support he needed when he returned home from combat in Afghanistan

The five-episode Heart of Invictus debuted on Netflix on Wednesday, Aug. 30.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego.
NASA's latest space debris technology contract involves a bag that could one day snatch pieces flying in orbit.

NASA recently awarded a space logistics startup, called TransAstra, an $850,000 early-stage contract for a bag that could inflate after it flies into orbit. This is not a space debris mission for flight, however, as the company will be tasked by testing this technology on the ground using inflatable struts. The contract award was reported by SpaceNews .

This will be the second contract for TransAstra in recent years concerning inflatable capture bags. They also received a 2021 early-stage contract from NASA that was initially focused on asteroid or space rock capture.

Related: Clearspace-1 space debris cleanup target in orbit just got struck by space debris

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Very quickly, however, TransAstra realized that asteroids and space junk share many of the same challenges. Asteroids generate pebbles, while space debris can generate tiny pieces resembling the movements of pebbles in space, company officials told SpaceNews.

"We subsequently realized this is the greatest thing ever for orbital debris cleanup," Joel Sercel, TransAstra founder and CEO, said in the report. The company proposes to move this bag around low Earth orbit , to snag multiple pieces of debris, with a space tug that they call Worker Bee.

It could take years or decades for such technology to be ready for spaceflight. Should the mission concert work out and actually reach space, however, there will be plenty of work left to do.

Related Stories:

 ISS fires thrusters to avoid oncoming space junk

 6 types of objects that could cause space debris apocalypse

 SpaceX Starlink satellites had to make 25,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers in just 6 months  and it will only get worse

The European Space Agency estimates that Earth orbit has roughly 36,500 debris objects more than 4 inches (10 centimeters) wide. All trackable objects number something like 330 million objects; each is bigger than 0.04 inches (1 millimeter).

In a perfect example of how out of control the space debris problem is getting, a piece of space junk that was slated to be removed by another, unrelated debris removal test was itself struck by another piece of debris in Aug. 2023, possibly generating more fragments in orbit.
BRAINTREE  The appeals board has granted variances for a proposed restaurant and function facility in the former Dunkin' Donuts University on Granite Street.

Leo Keka, owner of Alba restaurants in Quincy and Hanover, plans to open a restaurant named Scutari featuring moderately priced Northern Italian cuisine in the building at 589 Granite St., near Five Corners. There would also be a function area with space for 200 to 210 people.

Michael Modestino, a lawyer representing Keka, said that in order to add the 37 parking spaces needed to meet town requirements for the restaurant and function hall, his client needed variances from the lot coverage requirement and to expand an existing non-conforming use: the parking lot in front of the building, which is in an area zoned residential.

Margaret Laforest, chief of staff to Mayor Charles Kokoros, told the board the mayor supports the development, and pointed to the many positive comments about the proposal on social media.

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The board voted unanimously at its Aug. 28 meeting to grant the variances.

"I don't think it is a detriment to the area," said appeals board Chair Steven Karll.

More: Read more about Leo Keka's plans for the new restaurant

Keka still needs approvals from the planning board and liquor and restaurant licenses from the license board. He said he hopes to open the business in March.

He did not attend the meeting, but in an earlier interview, Keka said he has no plans to close either of the Alba restaurants.

The Dunkin' Donuts Training Center, the formal name of Dunkin' Donuts University, for more than half a century trained students from around the world in a six-week, hands-on program to cook, brew and serve the company's products. There were mock-ups of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Shops in the building along with working kitchens.

With the chain moving much of its food preparation to centralized bakeries, there was less need for in-person training. Much of the curriculum is online now. The school graduated its last class a year ago.

Reach Fred Hanson at fhanson@patriotledger.com.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Here is our latest offer.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Scutari restaurant planned in Braintree to have more parking spaces
Russian forces attacked residential areas in Donetsk Oblast overnight, killing 2 civilians and injuring 7 others, the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office said on Aug. 30.

A missile hit a farm in the village of Bahatyr in Volnovakha district, killing two men aged 44 and 59 years old.

The Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office believes the Russian army used S-300 surface-to-air missiles to strike the village.

Five women aged 28 to 80, a 25-year-old man, and a 32-year-old man were injured in Kurakhove and 19 houses were damaged, according to Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.

The Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office has started a pre-trial investigation into the war crime of intentionally killing civilians.

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On Aug. 28, the Prosecutor's Office reported that Russian forces launched a strike against Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast most likely using cluster munitions. The attack killed one woman and injured three others.

Read also: Update: Biggest Russian attack on Kyiv in months kills 2, injures 3

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
(NewsNation)  Climate activists caused a miles-long traffic jam when they blocked the only road leading into the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.

Videos posted online show activists using a trailer to block the road that leads into Black Rock City. One video posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, shows a white pickup truck appearing to be from the Pyramid Lake Ranger Station crashing through the barricade set up by protesters.

The blockade led to clashes with motorists and tribal rangers, the Los Angeles Times reported. Pyramid Lake, a tribal law enforcement agency, did not respond to the Times request for comment.

The group behind the protest, Seven Circles, said the purpose of the blockade was to draw attention to capitalisms inability to address climate and ecological breakdown, according to a news release. Seven Circles said Burning Man has been commodified by affluent people who do not live the stated values of the festival.

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Crime, fewer customers blamed for San Francisco Nordstrom closure

Burning Man is an annual festival that brings together artists, makers, and community organizers from around the world, according to the Burning Man Project. Created in 1986 on a San Francisco beach, the festival gets its name from the culminating ceremony: the burning of a large wooden effigy referred to as the Man.

Seven Circles criticized Burning Man for what it said was insufficient steps to achieve carbon negativity and ecological regeneration for Black Rock City by 2030.

The group put forward three demands for Burning Man, including advocating for system change on both a political and economic level; direct action and supporting general strikes, and banning private jets, single-use plastics and unnecessary propane burning.

The group believes that Burning Mans apolitical stance to date is detrimental to its claimed values, especially as carbon emissions continue to rise despite government and corporate commitments to reduce CO2 emissions by more than half by 2030, Seven Circles said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
Enrique Tarrio in Washington, D.C. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)

WASHINGTON  The former leader of the Proud Boys could face the longest prison sentence of any Jan. 6 defendant when a federal judge hands down punishments for members of the far-right group convicted of seditious conspiracy charges related to the Capitol attack.

Sentencing was set to move forward this week after U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly oversaw an all-day hearing Tuesday in the Proud Boys case that included the reading of victim impact statements. But Wednesday's first sentencings were postponed because Kelly is sick, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service told NBC News.

All five defendants, who are in jail while they await sentencing, were in court Tuesday wearing orange prison jumpsuits.

Prosecutors are seeking 33 years in federal prison for Enrique Tarrio, the former leader, who was originally scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday morning. Ethan Nordean was to be sentenced Wednesday afternoon, with prosecutors seeking a 27-year prison sentence.

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Rescheduling logistics are currently being worked out, a court spokesperson said. Tarrio will now be sentenced on Sept. 5 at 2 p.m. and Nordean's is set for Sept. 1 at 2 p.m.

Joe Biggs  whom prosecutors want to spend 33 years behind bars  was scheduled to have his sentencing hearing on Thursday along with Zach Rehl, whom the Justice Department wants to serve 30 years in prison.

Dominic Pezzola  the only Proud Boy convicted in the case who was not found guilty of the rare seditious conspiracy charge  was to be sentenced Friday. Prosecutors are seeking 20 years in prison.

Jurors reached verdicts in the Proud Boys case in May after a four-month trial that began with jury selection in December. Other members of the Oath Keepers have also been found guilty of seditious conspiracy, with founder Stewart Rhodes sentenced in May to 18 years in federal prison  the longest to date of any Jan. 6 defendant.

At Tuesday's hearing, the defendants heard victim impact statements from three current and former members of the U.S. Capitol Police who fought rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, and testified at the defendants monthslong trial.

U.S. Capitol Police Officer Shae Cooney delivered an emotional statement, saying through tears that it was one of the first times she had discussed the fear and pain she experienced during the riot. She also alluded to the death of a friend  Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who collapsed after having fought rioters and died the next day.

Every day we have to be reminded that hes not here anymore because the people in this courtroom decided that they werent happy with how an election went, Cooney said. And they thought the best idea was to break into the Capitol, fight police officers and try to overturn an election.

Capitol Police Inspector Thomas Lloyd, a frequent witness during Jan. 6 trials, expressed his pride in the officers he commanded during the riot.

Despite the tremendous beating my personnel took on Jan. 6, all those who could walk showed up to work the next day, he said at Tuesday's hearing. Once again, I could not be prouder.

A third victim, former Capitol Police Officer Marc Ode, could not attend in person but sent a letter for prosecutors to read on his behalf.

He wrote that Jan. 6 was a planned and organized attempt to overthrow our constitutional process by individuals who determined that their opinion of the few were superior to our constitution and decided to use violence and terror to impose their will.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio and one co-defendant were due to be sentenced Wednesday for their roles in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

But the hearing was abruptly canceled at the last minute.

Prosecutors were seeking 33 years behind bars for Tarrio, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges in May.

A sentencing hearing for former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio and Ethan Nordean , a leader from Washington State, was abruptly canceled on Wednesday.

Initially, the Justice Department issued a statement that the cancelation was due to an emergency, but the United States Marshals Service later clarified to Insider that it was because the judge assigned to the case was out sick.

"Due to an emergency, the court is not proceeding today with sentencings in the Proud Boy cases," the Justice Department first said.

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Defense lawyers also received a text at 8:38 a.m. from court officials saying that due to an "emergency," the two defendants would not be sentenced on Wednesday.

"This was not from the DOJ," said a source involved in the case, who asked to speak anonymously because they were not authorized to comment. "It was court initiated. There was no explanation. All we know is that at this point, nothing is going to happen today."

Prosecutors were seeking 33 years behind bars for Tarrio, the former leader to the extremist group. He was convicted in May of seditious conspiracy and other charges related to his role in the deadly January 6 Capitol riot.

An unrelated case also scheduled for Wednesday before US District Judge Timothy Kelly, the judge who would have sentenced Tarrio and Nordean, was also cancelled.

"No emergency  Judge Kelly out sick," a spokesman for the US Marshals told Insider three hours after the cancellation.

Judge Kelly is expecting to be out sick only briefly.

Two previously scheduled sentencings remain on his docket for Thursday, for Tarrio co-defendants Joseph Biggs, a regional leader from Ormond Beach, Florida, and Zachary Rehl, who headed the Proud Boys' Philadelphia chapter. Nordean's sentencing has been moved from Wednesday to Friday.

The four were convicted in May for their roles in the plot to attack the US Capitol to obstruct Congress' certification of President Joe Biden's election win and to keep Donald Trump in power.

Editor's note: This story was updated to include the reason for the hearing being cancelled.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Sentencing hearings for two leaders of the far-right Proud Boys group have been rescheduled after the judge canceled Wednesdays proceedings because of a medical issue, multiple sources tell CNN.

Enrique Tarrio and Ethan Nordean, both of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy over efforts to stop Joe Biden from becoming president in the wake of the 2020 election, will be sentenced later this week and early next week.

Nordeans sentencing has been scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. ET, while Tarrio, the former Proud Boys chairman, is set to be sentenced Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET.

Family members of the defendants had come to Washington, DC, from across the country for Wednesdays hearing and were visibly upset at the sudden rescheduling, while attorneys for the two men scrambled to figure out travel plans.

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Judge Timothy Kelly, who presided over the trial of the five Proud Boys members, denied motions to acquit the defendants on Monday and heard witness impact statements from multiple US Capitol Police officers who were present when a pro-Trump mob rioted at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Prosecutors have asked Kelly to sentence Tarrio to 33 years in prison and Nordean to 27 years in prison.

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A drone strike at a military airfield in Pskov Oblast, Russia, destroyed four Il-76 aircraft on Aug. 30, Oblast Governor Mikhail Vedernikov and Russian state media claimed.

Vedernikov also announced that the airport will be closed for the remainder of Aug. 30. He said that flights will be canceled at the Pskov dual-use airport until possible damage to the runway has been assessed.

The Russian state news agency TASS said that four aircraft were damaged in the attack, and that a fire had broken out on the premises.

According to Russian media, two of the aircraft were "engulfed in flames."

Vedernikov said he was on the scene himself, and uploaded a video to his Telegram channel showing smoke and flames rising from the site.

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No casualties were reported in the attack.

On Aug. 30, the airspace over Moscow and Tula Oblasts was also temporarily closed following reports of attempted drone strikes.

Reports of drone strikes on Russian territory have increased in recent weeks.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Ukraine liberates Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia Oblast

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Life is filled with a myriad of fleeting moments that make us who we are, and for Purdue graduate student Sara Brown, those moments were likely filled with music.

Memorial pictures sit at the Unfinished P statue at a vigil in remembrance for Sara Brown on Tuesday, Aug. 29 2023, at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Brown, a Purdue graduate student, was killed Aug. 24, 2023, in a vehicle accident.

It was fitting that the music playing Tuesday in the background of her on-campus memorial vigil would be from one of her favorite albums by her favorite bands  The Black Keys and Greta Van Fleet, to name a couple.

Brown, 24, died Friday in a car accident on Robinson Street while heading out of town to St. Louis, Missouri, for the Evolution Festival, and on Tuesday, family and friends gathered at the Unfinished Block P monument on Purdue Universitys campus to hold a vigil in her memory.

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From birth, music was ingrained in Browns existence. Her mother, Debbi Bryant, said she named her daughter after the song "Sara" by Fleetwood Mac.

Music plays in the background at a vigil in remembrance for Sara Brown on Tuesday, Aug. 29 2023, at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Brown, a Purdue graduate student, was killed Aug. 25, 2023, in a vehicle accident.

In Fleetwood Macs 1979 single, "Sara," lead vocalist Stevie Nicks writes in the fourth verse:

Sara. You're the poet in my heart. Never change, and don't you ever stop.

That individuality and comfortability in her own skin was most evident in the times when Brown, an avid concertgoer, would travel by herself throughout the Midwest on weekends to see live shows and festivals  never changing and never stopping to wonder what others might think.

Students gather at a vigil in remembrance for Sara Brown on Tuesday, Aug. 29 2023, at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Brown, a Purdue graduate student, was killed Aug. 24, 2023, in a vehicle accident.

When she first started doing that, I wondered, 'Are you sure you want to go to these things by yourself?'  her mother said Monday night. I just thought it was incredibly brave.

"I dont think I could do that, but she just loved the music that much. She was willing to not have a partner to go with, just go on her own and enjoy the music.

More: Woman killed in a West Lafayette fatality at Robinson and Dehart streets

More: Fatal crash victim was Purdue student, music lover, outgoing-introvert

Often labeling herself as an introvert, Brown would convey just what kind of power music had over her.

Friend and fellow Purdue graduate student Olivya Reyes recalled the times in which that power helped shape and mold Brown into the person she was.

She always told us how shy she was, but every time she came back from a concert, shed say, 'I made so many friends,'" Reyes said. "She always pushed herself to try new things and go to new places, and she always told us that when she was in the music scene, at a concert, those fears and anxieties, none of that mattered.

Students gather at a vigil in remembrance for Sara Brown on Tuesday, Aug. 29 2023, at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Brown, a Purdue graduate student, was killed Aug. 24, 2023, in a vehicle accident.

A graduate from Greene County Tech High School in Paragould, Arkansas, Brown later earned her bachelors degree from Arkansas State University before moving to West Lafayette where she was working towards her masters degree in Human Development and Family Studies at Purdue University.

In the fall of 2021, Brown became a graduate member of the Student Concert Committee, a campus organization that works behind the scenes in choosing and planning live acts to perform at Purdue University. She was set to become a student advisor starting this fall.

Mike Armintrout, senior associate director of Purdue Convocations and advisor of the Student Concert Committee, recalled Browns desire to share her passion with others.

She was always willing to do whatever was asked of her," Armintrout said.

"If it was showing up to promote, be there on site, she was very intrigued and inspired by the concept of live music and what that can do for people, Armintrout said, noting the invaluable asset she was to those around her.

Last year, she just stepped up and did whatever was asked of her," Armintrout said. "I didnt want to lose that. I didnt want to lose a student that was eager, excited and clearly passionate about it.

A Purdue University student consoles a friend at a vigil for Sara Brown on Tuesday, Aug. 29 2023, at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Brown, a Purdue graduate student, was killed Aug. 24, 2023, in a vehicle accident.

But, while Browns influence ranged from different bounds across campus, she left behind fleeting moments that will stay with those who knew and loved her.

Ill remember most how much she followed her passion and her joy with such humility, grace and gentleness. The gift of her passion in loving music, photography and art continued to inspire me, Purdue Lecturer Marissa Knox said.

Im so grateful to have known her and been in the glow of her love of music.

Sara Brown holds up a pumpkin that she painted the lead singer of Greta Van Fleet, Josh Kiszka, at the Purdue University Department of Human Development and Family Science pumpkin paint event in October 2021.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue grad student leaves behind legacy filled with music, joy
Arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are "advancing," a White House official said.

US intelligence shows increasing communication between Putin and Kim Jong Un in recent weeks.

Potential deals between the two countries could see Russia get munitions and raw materials.

Secret arms negotiations between Russia North Korea are "actively advancing," a top White House official revealed this week, as Moscow seeks munitions and raw materials as part of the latest Kremlin scheme to obtain weaponry from pariah states to fuel its ongoing war in Ukraine.

Last month, a Russian delegation led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traveled to North Korea in a bid to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Moscow, the US previously disclosed. Artillery has been a key feature of Russia's 18-month-long invasion of Ukraine, as both sides expend huge numbers of munitions on a daily basis.

But new US intelligence shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un have been exchanging letters ever since those high-level discussions took place, pledging to increase bilateral cooperation between their two countries, White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

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After Shoigu's visit in July, which coincided with a major military parade in Pyongyang, another group of Russian officials traveled to North Korea for additional follow-up discussions about "potential arms deals" between the two countries, Kirby said, adding that important negotiations could continue in the coming months.

"Under these potential deals, Russia would receive significant quantities and multiple types of munitions from the DPRK," Kirby noted, referring to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He said the Russian military plans to use this weaponry in Ukraine and added that the potential deals could also include the delivery of raw materials to help support Russia's defense industrial base.

Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a reception for the Russian military delegation hosted by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as part of the 70th anniversary celebration of the Korean War armistice in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 27, 2023, in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS

The Biden administration has regularly accused the Kremlin of approaching rogue states like North Korea for security assistance  especially ammunition  throughout the bloody conflict, often attributing these actions to the desperation of Russian President Vladimir Putin and crippling widespread sanctions on Moscow implemented by the US and its Western allies.

Iran, another country isolated on the world stage that Washington accuses of supporting Russia, has outfitted Moscow with thousands of explosive drones that its military uses to attack Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure.

Earlier this year, US officials said North Korea had given rockets and missiles to the Kremlin-funded Wagner Group mercenary organization, which spent months fighting in eastern Ukraine alongside the regular Russian military before its ultimate downfall following an armed mutiny against the Kremlin. Several months later, the White House disclosed that Russia had gone as far as to offer food to impoverished North Korea in exchange for military aid.

Ukraine has actually captured North Korean rockets from Russian stockpiles. The Ukrainians then put them to use against the Russians but noted they are wildly unpredictable.

Despite repeated assurances from Pyongyang that it would not sell weapons to Russia, the US remains concerned "that the DPRK continues to consider providing military support" to Moscow, Kirby said, adding that any arms deal between the two countries would violate several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

"We're continuing to monitor the situation closely, and we urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia," Kirby continued. He asserted that the US will take action by sanctioning individuals and entities "working to facilitate arms deals between these two countries."

Ukrainian soldiers prepare shells to load onto an attack helicopter in eastern Ukraine, Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. AP Photo/Bram Janssen

Indeed, the US Treasury Department in March slapped sanctions on a Slovakian national for attempting to facilitate arms deals between Moscow and Pyongyang, which would see the former receive weapons and ammunition in exchange for commercial aircraft, raw materials, and commodities.

"Schemes like the arms deal pursued by this individual show that Putin is turning to suppliers of last resort like Iran and the DPRK," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said at the time. "We remain committed to degrading Russia's military-industrial capabilities, as well as exposing and countering Russian attempts to evade sanctions and obtain military equipment from the DPRK or any other state that is prepared to support its war in Ukraine."

The Biden administration's new warning about Russia's quest for military support on Wednesday comes as Ukrainian forces continue to make slow and steady territorial gains amid their grueling counteroffensive in the eastern and southern regions. Moscow's complex defensive lines  which consist of minefields, anti-armor obstacles, and trenches  have prevented Kyiv's troops from moving at a faster pace because clearing these fortifications is a deadly and painstaking process.

Despite criticism and concerns from some in the West about Ukraine's progress, Washington and its NATO allies have asserted their commitment to providing Kyiv with military support. Earlier this week, for example, the Pentagon announced a $250 million security assistance package, which includes advanced air defense capabilities, artillery rounds, and mine-clearing equipment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin doesnt plan to attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin , who died in a plane crash.

Most Read from Bloomberg

There are no plans for the president to attend, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Tuesday, according to the Interfax news service. We dont have any information about the funeral. This is a decision for family and friends.

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Russian investigators on Sunday confirmed Prigozhins death in the crash, as speculation continued to swirl over a possible Kremlin-ordered execution. All 10 passengers and crew, including some of Prigozhins top lieutenants, listed as having been onboard the Embraer SA Legacy 600 private jet died when it crashed en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg on Aug. 23.

Later Tuesday, Prigozhins press service said on Telegram that a farewell for the mercenary chief had been held in a closed ceremony, and those wishing to pay respects could visit the Porokhovskoe cemetery, which is in St. Petersburg. It wasnt possible to verify the information, and theres been no public indication the authorities have released the body yet.

Read more: Russia Rejects US Claims Putin Likely Approved Prigozhin Killing

Prigozhin led a failed revolt in June against Putins military leaders that threatened the Russian rulers nearly quarter-century grip on power. The US has said the plane crash may have been an assassination approved by Putin himself, suggestions the Kremlin dismissed as an absolute lie. Early US assessments indicated the jet may have been destroyed by a bomb, American officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In his first comments on the crash, Putin said on state TV that hed known Prigozhin a long time and considered him a talented businessman, but one whod made serious mistakes in life. He had earlier denounced the June rebellion as treason, saying it had brought Russia to the brink of civil war.

Prigozhin had sought to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, a close Putin ally, and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov during the mutiny, blaming them for failures in Russias faltering war in Ukraine and accusing them of seeking to destroy Wagner. Putin has stood by both men.

Read more: Putin Bolsters Power Base After Prigozhin Dies in Jet Crash

The Wagner founder led the private military company as it supported Kremlin efforts on battlefields in Ukraine, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. At its peak, Prigozhins group had about 50,000 mercenaries  many of them criminals recruited directly from prison  fighting in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022.

(Updates with Prigozhins press service in fourth paragraph.)

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OAKLAND  A new voting majority of the Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education helped approve a curriculum for the upcoming school year at the board's regular meeting Monday and authorized a search for an interim superintendent to succeed the outgoing schools chief.

But not without opposition.

After the board's two-hour closed executive session, Director of Curriculum Elizabeth McDermond led a one-hour presentation by various department members about curriculum changes for the coming year.

The curriculum

Education & Personnel Chairman Thomas Bogdansky asked whether the "1619 Project" or "critical race theory" was being taught, which McDermond denied, adding there was only an emphasis on "diversity and inclusion."

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Several parents complained that computer links to curriculum details did not work and did not allow a full review of materials.

Board member Kim Ansh argued that the state mandate for one inclusionary example per class had been met, but that "more and more are added to our curriculum each year," and she said board efforts would be better spent on improving test scores to lower the estimated 25% of students projected not to be "graduation ready" in recently released data.

"In pre-calculus, there are multiple word problems referencing same-sex relationships or gender ideology, yet there is only one example referencing people with disabilities," Ansh said. "In AP chemistry, three out of four units give examples of female scientists who are part of the LGBTQ community, yet not one example from the disabled community. Residents and parents want their children to be taught how to think, not what to think."

Parent Cynthia Phillips objected to "ideologies in every unit."

"Parents want you to tell true historical history," Phillips said. "Gender ideology is not a science, it's a personal belief. Climate change is not a settled science. The 1619 Project very clearly says the United States of America was founded upon slavery. That is a lie. America was founded on freedom from the tyranny of the British."

Bogdanksy cautioned that failure to approve the curriculum would be costly and inconvenient, coming days before the start of the school year. The motion passed, over objections from Ansh by an 8-1 vote.

Superintendent search

Ramapo Indian Hills School Superintendent Rui Dionisio was named superintendent of the Fair Lawn School District Aug. 15.

The board also clashed over how to proceed after the Aug. 15 announcement by Superintendent Rui Dionisio that he will be leaving the district to assume charge of the 5,384-student, nine-building Fair Lawn school district by Nov. 12 "unless mutually agreed upon with Dr. Dionisio for an earlier date."

Board President Judith Sullivan attempted to hold a special board meeting last week where the primary action item was a motion to "authorize the solicitation of proposals from professional service firms to perform a superintendent search for the board," with a recommendation to be announced three business days later.

But five members failed to appear at last week's meeting, forcing it to end without a quorum. More options to replace the superintendent were proposed Monday, including:

Advertise internally for an acting superintendent from among Ramapo Indian Hills employees who could assume the role for three-month increments.

Advertise externally for an interim superintendent from outside the district qualified to assume charge of the district for an unspecified period of time.

Advertise externally for bids from search companies to find Dionisio's successor, with a recommendation to be made at the board's next meeting on Sept. 11.

But during board discussion, trustee Aaron Lorenz made motions to table two of the three proposals: one to hire an acting superintendent and a second to immediately seek a search firm for a replacement, favoring an interim superintendent search instead.

More: NJ changes to school equity code won't affect trans youth in sports, group says

"The board is not in any position to be supervising an acting superintendent at this time," Lorenz said. Bogdansky added his support, saying he had interviewed five superintendents and "all five gave the exact same solution" to first seek an interim, while a firm is engaged to conduct a more leisurely search for a permanent replacement.

Board member Vivian Yudin King seconded Lorenz's motions, contending that a resolution to hire a superintendent search group should be done "closer to the end of the year."

"It is time for the board to get down to business and do what is in the best interest of the students, teachers administration and the district as a whole," King said.

Sullivan questioned voting on agenda items before they were discussed. But interim Business Administrator Dora Zeno said motions to table did not require discussion, only a vote.

Bogdanksy again joined the minority faction in voting to table the two options. Voting no were Sullivan, Ansh, Marianna Emmolo and Doreen Mariani.

No set rules

There are no set rules on how a school board replaces outgoing administrators.

Ramapo Indian Hills took 15 months to hire an Illinois search firm in March 2021 to replace former Superintendent Beverly Mackay. She had announced in October 2019 that she planned to retire in August 2020, but interim Superintendent Bruce Watson resigned a month after assuming the post in September 2020 for unknown reasons, and a second interim had to be hired while a search for a permanent replacement was underway.

It took another year to hire Dionisio in August 2021. He joined the district that November and would serve just two years of his almost five-year contract. At the time, former board President Filomena Laforgia attributed the delay to a combination of staff shifts and COVID-19.

In contrast, Fair Lawn Superintendent Nicholas Norcia announced in April that he was leaving the district effective July 23, and Dionisio's appointment to the post was announced Aug. 15.

In Teaneck, Superintendent Christopher Irving announced in April 2022 that he would leave the district that June. Retired Superintendent Barbara Pinsak was hired to return as an interim in May, and, as promised, the board had hired Texas schools chief Andre Spencer by Dec. 15.

Sullivan announced that the board's next meetings would be Monday, Sept. 11, and Thursday, Sept. 28.

A video of the Aug. 28 meeting can be viewed on the board's website under Board Livestream Archives.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ramapo Indian Hills OKs curriculum, interim superintendent search
This week, central Pennsylvania residents will have the chance to see a moon that appears bigger and brighter than usual. The celestial event will be a supermoon and a blue moon, though it wont appear blue in color.

The full moon will occur Wednesday and Thursday, according to Forbes, and the best time to see it is at moonrise either evening. The moon will rise at 8 p.m. Wednesday and 8:27 p.m. Thursday in State College.

The moon will become full at 9:36 p.m. Wednesday, NASA reports, and it will appear full from Tuesday night to Friday morning.

Thursday night should present a good viewing opportunity. The National Weather Service forecast says Thursday night should be mostly clear, with a low around 50 degrees, while Wednesday night is expected to be partly cloudy with a low around 55.

What time is the Super Blue Moon of 2023? https://t.co/J3ftb6r01X pic.twitter.com/JxXCsM0jwi  SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) August 28, 2023

To get the best view of this months blue supermoon and other sights in the sky, NASA scientists recommend scoping out a dark, more rural stargazing spot if possible.

What is a blue supermoon?

A supermoon occurs when the moon is at or near its closest point to earth at the same time as its full, NASA reports, and this makes it appear especially large and bright.

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This will be a blue moon because it is Augusts second full moon. The sturgeon full moon peaked Aug. 1. A blue moon usually occurs once every two to three years, according to NASA.

Its more unusual for a blue moon to coincide with a supermoon  roughly 25% of all full moons are supermoons, NASA estimates, and only 3% of all full moons are blue moons. The interval between blue supermoons can be up to 20 years, but is usually closer to 10.

The next super blue moons will occur in a pair, in January and March 2037, an Aug. 17 NASA article reads.

Although it will be a while before you can catch the next super blue moon, 2023 will have four more full moons, including one supermoon.

Heres when to look:

Sept. 29: Harvest supermoon

Oct. 28: Hunters moon

Nov. 27: Beaver moon

Dec. 26: Cold moon

The Central Pennsylvania Observers will hold a free, public stargazing event from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Friday at Tudek Park.
Editors Note: A version of this story appears in CNNs Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the regions biggest stories. Sign up here.

Rare demonstrations continued for the 11th day in Syrias southwestern city of as-Suwayda on Wednesday, an area populated predominantly by the Druze minority, with residents decrying poor living conditions and demanding regime change.

The protests, which are taking place in areas governed by President Bashar al-Assads regime, have so far shown no signs of abating. Unusually, security forces have refrained from cracking down as hundreds of people took to the streets, according to videos on social media, observers and local reports.

The unrest shows that disgruntlement against Assad remains high as he tries to end his international isolation, even in parts of the country that havent directly opposed him throughout its long civil war. The Druze are Syrias third largest religious minority making up 3% to 4% of the countrys population, according to Minority Rights Group International.

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While some Druze chose to align themselves with either side of the civil conflict, most have avoided doing so, and many have refused to enlist in Assads army.

The protests come at a particularly dynamic time and serve to underline just how vulnerable and unsustainable Assads rule has become, said Charles Lister, director of the Syria program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC. He added that while the president has for years relied on the support or neutrality of Syrias minorities, the fact that the Druze of Suwayda are leading the protest movement now indicates an acute threat for the regime.

Isolated for more than a decade since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings morphed into a bloody civil war between his regime and rebels who sought to depose him, Assad eventually regained control of most of the country with the help of allies Russia and Iran, with a northern strip still controlled by rebel forces.

The UN has said that more than 300,000 civilians have been killed since the conflict broke out, some 1.5% of Syrias pre-war population. Millions of others have been displaced. Despite efforts to hold Assad accountable for the losses, in May he was welcomed back into the Arab fold in a move opposed by Western states and many of the refugees who fled persecution under his rule.

Four months on, the concerted regional re-engagement with the regime can only be said to have destabilized Syria, and considerably worsened living conditions for those inside the country, Lister told CNN.

The strongman nonetheless hopes his re-admission into the Arab League will open doors to the international community, and even the lifting of crippling Western sanctions.

In videos shared on social media, protesters are seen waving the Druze flag and chanting, Long live Syria and down with Bashar al-Assad.

Rayan Marouf, editor of the local Suwayda 24 news website, said that demonstrations in recent days have spanned across several villages in Suwayda governorate and attracted hundreds of people.

While the largest protests are clustered around al-Sir Square in Suwayda city, other, smaller ones are scattered across the governorate, Marouf said. They are demanding regime change and freedoms, he told CNN.

He added that protesters in recent days have also shut the headquarters of the ruling Baath party, which came to power in Syria through a 1963 coup, and which Assad currently heads.

Social media videos also showed protests last week in the southern city of Jaramana, just 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from the capital Damascus.

That was the first time we have seen protests in Jaramana, which has always been known to be a city supportive of the regime in 2011, Marouf said, adding that there have also been protests in rebel-held areas such as Idlib and Aleppo.

Residents in coastal cities inhabited by Assads minority Alawite sect, who had supported the president and his father Hafez since the 1970s, have begun criticizing the regime on social media platforms, according to Marouf, and social media posts.

CNN has reached out to the Syrian foreign ministry for comment.

A bad economic situation

Despite Syrias re-admission into the Arab League, its economy has continued to freefall.

The UNs Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, last week told the UN Security Council that the latest indicator of suffering for the country is the further collapsing economy.

A very bad economic situation has got even worse with every community in the country being affected, Pedersen said, adding that in some three months, the Syrian pound has lost over 80% of its value.

The envoy added that the prices of essential goods, including food, medicine, fuel and other basic commodities, are spiraling out of control. And while the government has taken measures to double minimum state salaries, they are not enough to address the current dire circumstances.

Assad has repeatedly blamed Western sanctions for the economic collapse.

In an interview with Sky News Arabia this month, he insisted that the war was a foreign conspiracy against his country, adding that there wasnt significant domestic opposition to his rule. He didnt show remorse for the policies that led to the war and the ensuing destruction and loss in human life. If we go back in time, we will build and adopt the same policy, he said.

He did however acknowledge that living conditions for Syrians remain dire. How can a refugee return without water, electricity, schools for his children, and no medical treatment? These are the basics of life, he said.

Restrained security forces

While the city of Suwayda has witnessed less intense fighting during the civil war, it became a target of a series of coordinated attacks by ISIS militants against the Druze in 2018. The assault killed more than 200 people, and further fueled tensions between Suwaydas residents and the regime for failing to protect them.

Todays protests are nonetheless unusual, mainly due to the regimes restraint from using violence.

Last year, when demonstrators in the same city stormed the governors office during protests over economic conditions, clashes broke out with security forces and an exchange of gunfire killed two people.

Security forces seem to be trying to contain things without sparking clashes, this is very clear from how authorities are behaving, at least so far, Marouf said. The Syrian regime today is aware that any violent response to protesters will trigger a whirlpool of unprecedented violence in Suwayda.

Lister of the Middle East institute said that while Assad has so far acted with restraint, the threat of violence still remains, especially if the protests spread.

This is a reflection of the challenge posed more than any change in mentality, Lister said. If protests spread deeper into regime territories, those chances (of violent crackdown) will surge.

All eyes are on Assads next moves. The president was invited by United Arab Emirates, the COP28 host, to attend the UNs Climate Summit this year, which will take place from November 30 in Dubai. If Assad attends, it would be his first appearance on the world stage since the start of the civil war in 2011.

For those of us who remained deeply skeptical of normalization, everything happening right now is further evidence of what should have been clear all along: Assad is not the solution to Syrias chaos and suffering, he is the cause, Lister said.

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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Military officers in oil-producing Gabon said on Wednesday that they had seized power and placed President Ali Bongo under house arrest. If successful, the coup would be the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020.

Below is reaction from analysts:

RUKMINI SANYAL, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA ANALYST, ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT

"We deem the latest polls to not have been held in a free or fair manner, as evidenced by the suspension of several foreign broadcasts, absence of international observers, and internet service cuts, and for the local population's perception of the coup to be largely positive.

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"The rebellious soldiers ... will likely introduce a roadmap for a return of elections and civilian rule, but we believe that the timetable for this will be extended and that the military will rule the country throughout the 2023-27 forecast period.

"The risk of economic sanctions being imposed on the oil-exporting country remains low."

MAJA BOVCON, SENIOR AFRICA ANALYST, RISK INTELLIGENCE COMPANY VERISK MAPLECROFT

"The inspiration for the coup likely came from the Sahel, where we have witnessed a spate of coups over the past three years. The military junta also draws legitimacy from the electoral process, which was practically conducted behind closed doors.

"In the case of Gabon, the military can also count on popular support and that of the opposition. The military is unlikely to transfer power to the joint opposition leader Albert Ondo Ossa, who claims to have won the election.

"Based on other coups in the region, we can likely expect a prolonged transition period."

FRANCOIS CONRADIE, LEAD POLITICAL ECONOMIST, OXFORD ECONOMICS AFRICA

"I see very little chance of the coup failing ... of there being any meaningful pressure on the coup leaders to reinstate Bongo. His claimed election win was very obviously fraudulent, and the fix had been in preparation for some time.

"The important thing to watch now is the reaction within Cemac (Central African Economic and Monetary Community), where Gabon is an important country... I expect there will be some sanctions but limited ones, given how popular the coup is for the moment.

"I think that the new team will be less radical in its difference from the status quo than many of the coup cheerers today think  especially because of how important (French oil giant) TotalEnergies is to government revenue and the economy at several levels."

CHARLIE ROBERTSON, HEAD OF MACRO STRATEGY, FIM PARTNERS

"Gabon's coup is strikingly different because it's in a high literacy country, which is relatively wealthy in per capita GDP terms.

"The best case scenario is that this coup really is driven by frustration with a flawed election and a desire to allow the people a chance to vote in a free and fair election.

"The African Union needs to step up and take some responsibility for what's happening on the continent, before the coup contagion spreads further."

(Reporting by Libby George in London, Hereward Holland in Nairobi and Bhargav Acharya in Johannesburg; Editing by Alexander Winning and Nick Macfie)
"The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne faces yet another legal battle after her former costume designer filed a lawsuit alleging she conspired with American Express and the Secret Service to have him falsely charged with credit card fraud.

Christopher Psaila accuses Jayne of intentionally filing for fraudulent refunds through American Express and then bribing a Secret Service agent through her husband to pursue false felony charges against him, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Central California. His allegations were first reported on by the Los Angeles Times in February.

Psaila was charged in 2017 with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft; federal prosecutors dismissed the case in September 2021.

Evan Borges, Jaynes attorney, denied the allegations and said the suit seemed calculated to coincide with the rave reviews of Jaynes Las Vegas residency, which opened at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay over the weekend.

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Independent federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorneys Office made the decision to charge plaintiff with crimes, no one else, Borges said. The notion that Erika controlled the U.S. Government, or for that matter a Fortune 100 company such as American Express, is fantasy.

Image: Erika Jayne, Celebrities Visit Hallmark Channel's

Jayne began working with Psaila, who co-owns the design company Marco Marco, in 2014 to create costumes for her singing career, the suit says. He alleges that he created numerous outfits that Jayne wore during her performance and charged the credit card she provided after she declined to review invoices he tried to give her.

"As a customer of Marco Marco, Defendant Erika Girardi, through her agents, purchased, during 2015-2016, approximately $934,000 worth of goods and services pursuant to 132 separate transactions, all of which were charged to the AMEX card," the lawsuit says.

Psaila submitted text messages, emails, receipts, sketches and social media posts to prove Jayne did, in fact, wear his designs.

Their working relationship continued until December 2016, when Jayne questioned the charges and accused Psaila of overcharging her. At the same time, Psaila's suit alleges that her husband, Tom Girardi, paid a $7,500 bribe to a Secret Service agent, who was his friend and whom he represented in a civil case, to open an investigation into him.

Although he is accused of having facilitated the alleged bribe, Girardi is not named as a defendant in the suit. Girardi, who was disbarred in California in 2021, has been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease and is in a court-ordered conservatorship with his brother serving as his guardian.

The suit alleges Secret Service agents sent Jayne to wear a hidden recorder at a meeting on Dec. 14, 2016, with Psaila to review charges and invoices. Psaila did not admit fault in the meeting, according to the suit, but he promised to do what it takes to make things right.

Jayne and Girardi filed claims with American Express, which Psaila said refunded them $787,117.88 to which they were not entitled. Psaila accuses the credit card company of failing to do its due diligence in investigating the charges before it issued the refund.

The credit card refund, Psaila alleges, was a key part of the grand jury indictment.

"The AMEX refund resulted in the Secret Service Defendants obtaining an indictment because most reasonable people would assume such a reimbursement of that size would be persuasive evidence of wrongdoing," the suit says.

American Express said in a statement Wednesday that federal law enforcement contacted it in late 2016 about its investigation into Psaila and that it did not play a role in his criminal investigation.

"While it is our policy to not comment on the specific activity on an individual Card Members accounts, we followed our regular processes and procedures throughout this investigation as we dealt with law enforcement," the company said.

A representative for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit accuses the Secret Service of failing to "do the basics of any criminal business fraud investigation," including failing to review documents seized in the investigation or a forensic audit of Psaila's business records.

The Secret Service also declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing its policy about ongoing litigation.

Psaila seeks a jury trial and $18.2 million in damages.

Last year, Jayne was dismissed from a lawsuit that alleged that her husband embezzled $2 million from the families of victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash in Indonesia. The lawsuit alleged that Girardi kept the money to "support a never-ending spending spree by himself and Jayne."

Girardi was indicted in February in U.S. District Court in Chicago in connection with the Lion Air case. He was charged with 12 counts: Nine counts allege wire fraud, and three allege misconduct by court officers, stemming from allegations that the defendants failed to distribute money owed to their clients.

Jayne filed for divorce in November 2020, a month before the lawsuit was filed. A judge ordered Girardis assets frozen in a separate case the next month.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)  As Florida officials monitor every wobble Hurricane Idalia makes off its current track, Nexstars WFLA is activating an advanced tool to help track shifts in the storms movements.

The WFLA Wobble Tracker will be live-streamed as Idalia continues its trek.

As the storm approaches the Florida coast, even the slightest wobbles could change Idalias effect on neighborhoods in the impact area.

How to read the wobble tracker

The blue line represents Idalias past track, while the red line shows Idalias future track, according to the National Hurricane Center. To determine if there is a wobble, look at the center of Idalias eye on the satellite.

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Do not be confused by the hurricane symbol on the map. A wobble occurs when the center of Idalias eye moves off of the blue and red lines.

Hurricane Idalia forecast to become extremely dangerous major hurricane, NHC says

As Hurricane Ian was closing in on Florida in 2022, the Max Defender 8 weather team developed the WFLA Wobble Tracker to assist with the real-time tracking phase. The tracker allowed the team to see minute-by-minute if the eye of Hurricane Ian was deviating from the forecast track issued by the NHC. Any time they noticed a deviation, they were able to alert viewers.

The real-time wobble tracker was a huge asset as Ian moved across Florida, WFLA Chief Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli said. It showed each wobble and, more importantly, when the storm was deviating away from the forecast. For example, Wednesday night, the wobble tracker allowed us to warn our audience in Polk County that the storm was moving further south, which meant hurricane force winds would miss northern cities, but the stronger gusts would make a direct hit on southern parts of the county.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
A police department near Columbus, Ohio, will release body camera footage Friday of a fatal police shooting from last week that claimed the life of a pregnant Black woman and her unborn baby. The authorities claim she was trying to flee from shoplifting but in an exclusive interview with The Root, her family attorney says theyre not telling the whole story.



TaKiya Young, 21, was at a Kroger in Blendon Township when an employee accused her and a group of people of stealing alcohol from the store, per The Columbus Dispatch. The employee flagged down a few police officers who were in the area for another reason and pointed them in direction of Young. Two officers then approached her on either side of her vehicle. Authorities claim she ignored their commands to exit the car and instead, hit the gas toward an officer standing in front of the car. Seconds later, the officer shot through her windshield.

Read more

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Youngs grandmother, Nadine, said what was a month full of birthday celebrations, baby shower planning and preparation for maternity photoshoot came to a screeching halt. Young had already lost her mom last year and now, her family is suffering another painful loss. Ms. Nadine said the family wasnt even notified about Youngs death until nearly three hours after the shooting. By then, she was already gone.

Young left behind her 6-year-old and 3-year-old boys and was anticipating the birth of her first babygirl, Nadine said. She was an aspiring social worker and described as the life of the party who brought joy to everyone.



Walton and Youngs grandmother called for the immediate release of the body camera footage and for both officers involved to be held criminally accountable for their actions.

I need justice to be swift. I really need that for these children... for them to know they can count on the law to be swift and for justice to be served right... for them to be able to believe in the law, said Nadine Young.

Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said the two (unnamed) officers involved have been placed on administrative leave upon pending investigation by the Ohio Attorney Generals Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

More from The Root

Sign up for The Root's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.
Do you remember Happy Steak in Fresno?

Or another more modern restaurant thats still around  Country Waffles?

Or what about other decades-old restaurants in the central San Joaquin Valley, including Perkos Cafe, Brooks Ranch, Early Dawn or Jebs Swedish Creamery?

All of them had one thing in common: H.T. Chic Brooks was involved in founding them. Brooks, of Easton, died Aug. 6 at age 96 after dealing with dementia for years.

The mans name was synonymous with the Fresno restaurant scene starting in the 1960s and the decades after.

As late as 2014, a Fresno Bee file photo shows an 88-year-old Brooks in an apron, churning out pumpkin ice cream in the kitchen of Jebs Swedish Creamery in Kingsburg.

88-year-old Chic Brooks churns out his pumpkin pie ice cream at his Jebs Creamery in Kingsburg in this file photo from 2014.

Brooks was involved with at least 20 restaurant concepts with more than 200 locations. Some, like Happy Steak  home of the Golden Spud, a baked potato in gold foil  are long gone. Others are still doing brisk business.

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It wasnt all him, of course. There were partners, and he often franchised the restaurants to new owners who continued to run them for years.

Brooks had three daughters and a son, Randy, who grew up working in his dads restaurants. Randy founded Cool Hand Lukes (named after his own son), which now has six locations, along with breakfast and lunch restaurant Huckleberrys. He and Luke Brooks founded Brooks Burgers together, which until recently had a location in River Park.

He was the type of guy that didnt have any fear of failure, Randy Brooks said of his father. He would just go for things.

He was feisty and tough. Unstoppable.

I think a modern-day Yosemite Sam was the best way to describe it, Randy Brooks said.

Happy Steak

Happy Steak, founded by H.T. Chic Brooks and a partner once had four locations and several more across the Valley. One of the last, at Blackstone and Clinton avenues, became a Chinese restaurant before being razed to make way for apartments.







Happy Steak was perhaps Chic Brooks best known restaurant. Before it was Happy Steak, several locations were Toppers steakhouse franchises and Brooks ran one in Fresno.

When Toppers went bankrupt, Brooks and 17 other franchisees launched Happy Steak. There were at least four in Fresno, along with locations in Visalia, Madera and Hanford  more than 50 in total.

One of the oldest, at Clinton and Blackstone avenues in Fresno, became a Chinese restaurant before it was razed to make way for apartments in recent years.

Brooks had a hand in creating the valleys restaurant landscape for decades. He was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the California Restaurant Association in 2001.

So many people in the valley were employed by the company, said his daughter-in-law, Deborah Brooks. The influence just went on and on.

Firefighter Casey Knee walks back to a fire engine after dropping to his knee and proposing to Sarah Ramsey at a Perkos Cafe on Yosemite Avenue in Modesto in this Modesto Bee file photo from 2005.

Roger Hann of Fresno was 15 when his mom, a waitress at the Chicken Pie Shop, helped him get a job at the Toppers near Clinton and Weber avenues in Fresno in the 1960s.

Things were different back then. Chain restaurants didnt blanket almost every major corner.

There werent that many restaurants, Hann said. There certainly werent that many chain restaurants. You know, Fresno stopped at Shaw, to have four restaurants in town was a big deal.

Hann would go on to become a manager of Happy Steak at age 21, before switching to a career in law enforcement and eventually becoming a crisis and hostage negotiator.

He remembers packed dining rooms on Mondays and Wednesdays. Thats when Happy Steak offered a 99-cent steak dinner  a New York steak or a sirloin with that Golden Spud and toast.

It was a huge draw, he said. When you did a $1,000 day, you worked your butt off. That was the goal, make a $1,000 for the day.

Brooks background

H.T. Chic Brooks, left, talks with kitchen manager Alex Dias while dropping off ingredients for the St. Patrick Day special at the Country Waffles restaurant in Hanford in this Fresno Bee file photo from 2005.

Despite not getting beyond the 10th grade, Brooks would build a multi-million dollar business operation.

He got his start as a member of the Merchant Marines. A kamikaze pilot sank his ship in World War II, and Brooks swam two miles before being rescued, according to Fresno Bee archives.

In 1949, he borrowed $800 from his father and started Chics Quality Market in Waterford, near Modesto. He sold it and jumped into restaurants.

Eventually, he would launch a commissary and a meat plant that supplied the restaurants.

His real love though? Racing pigeons.

The kind you drop off 100 to 300 miles away and the fastest one to make it home wins. Brooks imported, bred and sold the birds.

He basically was one of the worlds leading breeders of racing pigeons, said Dave Shewmaker of Shingle Springs, who also participates in the sport.
You may have read about the Battle of Rhode Island historical site and Patriots Park, which commemorates those who died in the battle. Fort Barton  located directly across from the Tiverton Town Hall  offers a different view of the battle.

The still-standing lookout tower at the site from Revolutionary War times was used by members of the Continental Army and the 1st Rhode Island Regiment to keep an eye on happenings on Aquidneck Island during the battle and throughout the war. Specifically, soldiers monitored the connector from Tiverton and Aquidneck Island, which was occupied by British troops during the war. To prevent the Red Coats from making their way to Tiverton, artillery was stored behind the tower and protected by earthworks still standing today.

Observation platform near the entrance to Fort Barton, Tiverton.

Speaking of monitoring the British, Fort Barton was named after a general who orchestrated the capture of British Commanding General Richard Prescott. Legend has it that General Prescott was dragged off in his pajamas from his home by the Continental Army  a memorable raid for sure.

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When arriving at the fort, I was a little concerned that I would have to do a lot of climbing to get to the lookout tower  I came poorly prepared in flimsy flip-flops. However, the trail to the fort was short (a minute or two at most), and parking can be found right outside its entrance, making for a quick walk to the tower. Beyond the tower, the fort encompasses 83 acres; if youre wearing sneakers and want to explore, continue past the tower into the green areas of the fort.

A railing has been installed on the stairs going up the old tower to improve its safety. The top of the tower provides a surreal view of Aquidneck Island and the Atlantic  its definitely evident as to why the Continental Army chose it as a fort location. The sunset seemed to encompass the entire sky from the top of the tower, and I was even able to spot some landmarks across the water in Portsmouth.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: What's Great off 138: Fort Barton in Tiverton a piece of history
Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody can be seen on the Marion County Records surveillance footage during a raid on the newspaper that was widely condemned. (The Associated Press)

A reporter whose cellphone was seized and finger injured by police during a raid on the Marion County Record has filed a federal lawsuit against the citys police chief, Gideon Cody.

Chief Cody acted in unreasonable and unnecessarily violent fashion, said the lawsuit filed Wednesday by reporter Deb Gruver.

During the Aug. 11 raid, Cody handed Gruver a copy of a search warrant, and she reached for her phone to call Eric Meyer, the papers publisher.

Chief Cody responded by reaching over the papers and snatching the phone out of her hand, the lawsuit alleged.

There was no factual basis to believe Ms. Gruvers personal cellular phone was evidence of the alleged crime, or any crime, the lawsuit continued.

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During the encounter, Gruver said her finger was injured.

Cody did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The raid, carried out by Marion police officers and members of the Marion County Sheriffs Office, provoked worldwide concern about press freedom.

In the application for a search warrant, Cody wrote that he was investigating identity theft and unlawful acts concerning computers. The case pertained to driving records about local restaurant owner Kari Newell.

In the affidavits, Cody mentions reporter Phyllis Zorn and Meyer, but Gruvers name is not included.

In addition to her phone, authorities removed Gruvers computer tower and devices used by Zorn and Meyer.

The lawsuit alleges Cody violated protections covered by the First Amendment, including freedom of speech and freedom of the press, as well as protections included under the Fourth Amendment prohibiting unreasonable search and seizures.

It also says Cody was aware that Gruver, a former reporter for the Wichita Eagle, was investigating his background. Cody applied to be chief in April and the Record began looking into allegations that he had left the Kansas City Police Department after engaging in misconduct. The Star found Cody was under internal review and possibly facing a demotion for allegedly making insulting and sexist comments to a female officer. He was appointed as Marions chief in May.

Warrants were also executed at Meyers home and the residence of City Councilwoman Ruth Herbel.

The newspaper said Zorn had accessed information from the Kansas Department of Revenue website that was open to the public.

Five days after the raid, Marion County Prosecutor Joel Ensey said that insufficient evidence exists to establish a strong connection between the alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized.

The items were returned, and a forensic examiner was tasked with reviewing what, if anything, had been accessed while in police custody.

Last week, Bernie Rhodes, an attorney for the Record (and, at times, The Star), said that the sheriffs office had copied 17 gigabytes of data and failed to destroy it. Later, he said the sheriffs office had agreed to give him a copy of what had been cloned and then destroy the device.

Rhodes has said the paper is exploring its options for a lawsuit, which could include a wrongful death claim. A day after the raid, Record co-owner Joan Meyer, the mother of Eric Meyer, died from sudden cardiac arrest. A surveillance video from the search at their home shows the 98-year-old angered as officers rifle through belongings.
A retired judge said U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan  who is presiding over Donald Trump s election interference case  ought to have what she called The Talk with prosecution and defense teams ahead of the trial, which she has set to begin on March 4.

On Tuesdays broadcast of MSNBCs  All In With Chris Hayes , former California Superior Court Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell suggested the pretrial motion phase was the perfect opportunity for Chutkan to size up both parties and send a warning that she wouldnt tolerate any nonsense.

Cordell would give The Talk, its the judicial talk when she knew there were some issues with a high-profile case, she said.

The Talk is very simple, she explained. You look the litigants and the lawyers, all of them, dead in the eye and you say to them, Im going to give you fairest trial you have ever had, and you are going to give me your respect and youre going to follow my orders, are we clear?

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Generally, Cordell said, they would all agree with her and move on.

It may be time to have The Talk if and when Trumps legal team again tries to delay the start of the trial, she added.

They initially wanted it to begin in 2026.

The tactic certainly worked for me, said Cordell. Especially when youre a female judge, because sometimes we dont get the respect we should be getting as opposed to a male judge, and also being a judge of color.

This combination is such that we have to make sure we are in control of the proceedings, she added. So, I encourage the judge if she has to do so, and maybe shes already done it, to have The Talk early on.

Watch the video here:

Related...
Brazil's Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA) has been told by Russia that a probe into the crash of Yevgeny Prigozhin's Brazilian-made Embraer jet will not be opened "at the moment," Reuters reported on Aug. 30.

CENIPA and the plane's manufacturer Embraer had expressed interest in finding out why the jet crashed, to improve aviation safety.

However, Reuters said that they are facing difficulties in obtaining information due to sanctions on Russia and the reluctance of the Russian authorities to share their findings on the crash.

CENIPA had said it "would join a Russian-led investigation if it were invited and the probe held under international rules."

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The center was referring to the opening of a probe under Annex 13 of the Convention of International Civil Aviation, which promotes close technical cooperation and avoids assigning political blame.

The annex has created an "effective form of international cooperation that has rarely been challenged," and is credited with drastically improving aviation safety, according to Reuters.

Under international rules, the Russian aviation authority was not required to permit a probe as Prigozhin's flight was domestic, though it is typically recommended by the aviation industry.

The cause of the crash remains unclear. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on Aug. 24 that Ukraine did not orchestrate the crash, but added that "everyone understands" who is behind it.

The likely cause was a bomb onboard or "some other form of sabotage," according to unnamed U.S. officials cited by the Wall Street Journal on Aug. 24.

Though the officials stressed that their assessments are not yet complete, the plane did not appear to have been shot down by an air defense missile, the article wrote.

The leader of the mercenary group had launched a short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin in late June. Wagner forces captured the city of Rostov-on-Don and marched toward Moscow before Prigozhin abruptly ended the insurrection.

Following an undisclosed deal allegedly brokered by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, the warlord was allowed to walk free and released a video days before his death claiming to be in Africa.

Moscow has not acknowledged shooting down the plane.

Read also: White House on Prigozhin: Kremlin has long history of killing its opponents

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Two people are facing new charges after a road rage shooting left a 6-year-old girl paralyzed, news outlets reported.

In early July, Onyx Sands was riding in the backseat of an SUV with two other children when she was hit by gunfire in Louisville, police told WAVE.

Officials said people inside the SUV got into an altercation with three motorcyclists. Then, roughly 15 shots were fired at the SUV, one striking Onyx in the back, Louisville Metro Police told WLKY.

Shelby Bisconer, 33, and Edward Sark, 22, were both arrested Tuesday, Aug. 29, and charged with wanton endangerment, police told WAVE. Sark is also charged with assault, according to the news outlet, citing police.

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Police told WAVE 33-year-old Jonathan Rivera was also arrested July 11 and charged with possession of a handgun as a convicted felon.

Arrest reports obtained by WAVE say Bisconer and Sark both fired shots at the SUV. Sark is accused of firing the shot that struck Onyx, police said, according to WAVE.

Onyx was released from the hospital in mid-August, after being there for about a month, WHAS reported.

I know its just been 39 days but we have come a long way, Onyxs mother Chyna told the news outlet. We started out (in) the ICU and those were some of the hardest nights.

Witnesses told police Sark, who had a female passenger on his motorcycle, got behind the SUV while they were driving on a freeway, and began firing, according to WLKY.

Sark and the other motorcyclists were allegedly weaving in and out of traffic, and driving at high rates of speed, WLKY reported, according to police. The driver of the SUV hit Sarks motorcycle when they were getting off an exit ramp, knocking Sark into a vehicle in front of him, police told WLKY.

Sands is now in a wheelchair and has been undergoing therapy, WHAS reported.

Police say the family and the suspects did not know each other, according to WAVE.

CHP arrests West Sacramento man accused in road rage shooting near Isleton Bridge

Man arguing with wife shoots at tree, nearly hits sleeping neighbor, Florida cops say

Teen girl fatally shot after 15-year-old sneaks into bedroom at night, OK officials say
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. not surprisingly praised Donald Trumps mug shot on Jesse Watters Primetime Tuesday  while pondering whether the former president rehearsed the expression for his Georgia booking photo. (Watch the video below.)

I wonder whether he practiced it in front of the mirror or was just angry at the time? the long-shot Democratic presidential candidate asked.

Kennedy, whos become somewhat of a darling among Republicans and has been a regular guest on Fox News, approved of Trumps expression in the mug shot, which has been converted into merchandise by his team. His campaign has raised more than $7.1 million since the photos release after he was charged with election interference in Fulton County, Georgia, a spokesperson said last week.

It was an interesting, probably very shrewd decision for him to put on that very defiant face, Kennedy told the Fox News host. I think its very popular with his base.

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Kennedy noted his own mug shot from a 2001 arrest while he was protesting Navy bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. He served 30 days in prison.

As for Trumps mug shot, from a strategic point of view, it worked very well for him, Kennedy said.

Watters: Do you think the mugshot appeals to a Democrat base in any way?



RFK Jr: I had a mugshot when I was arrested in Puerto Rico when I was doing a protest against the Navy.. pic.twitter.com/uFbjogxfte  Acyn (@Acyn) August 30, 2023

Kennedy has previously lauded the four-times-indicted Trump, calling him the most devastating debater, probably, since Abraham Lincoln.

Related...
A Rocklin school board official has drawn attention and received criticism in recent days for comments she made online last week, urging Christ centered parents to join district advisory committees.

Julie Hupp, a trustee and board president for Rocklin Unified School District, said in an Aug. 22 post on her public Facebook page that it was important to have Christian parents volunteer to serve on the districts advisory board, which makes recommendations for curriculum and other school policies.

We need as many Christ centered, family focused parents as we can get on those committees, she wrote, in part. PLEASE take a look and see what you can commit to for the year. Thank you for your love and support! Together, we will keep our children safe and thriving!

Hupp received pushback from some community members for her post, prompting her to publish a second post in which she expanded her call to action for all family centered individuals and principle centered, loving people. The two posts had tallied nearly 1,000 combined comments by Tuesday afternoon, many of them expressing disapproval at what they said was the trustees promotion of religion.

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Price Johnson said he saw the first post while trying to find more information about the curriculum for his childs class.

Her verbiage was specific and she was clearly calling for a certain religious majority, he said.

Johnson took issue with her statement because he believes curriculum should be determined by district staff and educators, and not be influenced by the religious affiliation of parents.

We should be making decisions based on whats best for our children, not giving in to outside pressure on social and cultural issues, he said.

Johnson founded a Facebook group for parents frustrated with Hupps comments that had garnered more than 160 members as of Tuesday afternoon.

Courtney Weideman, a long-time Rocklin resident and parent, said she thought Hupps comments were blown out of proportion.

I dont see the controversy here, she said. Ive been really impressed with the board and I think theyve done a wonderful job. This seems like a non-story.

Mike Murray, a Rocklin parent and Placer County Board of Supervisors candidate in 2024, said he didnt think Hupp was being exclusionary.

Julie Hupp is one of the most honest, caring and dedicated people I have ever met, Murray said. While some do not agree with her wording, most of the community understands the intent of her post.

In the Aug. 25 follow-up post, Hupp responded to parent feedback, saying the districts advisory committees are open to all.

The inclusion of one does not mean the exclusion of others, she said. I also asked others. It is an open door. If you live in Rocklin and want what is best for children and have the time to commit, come join.

The sign-up period for parent advisory committees at Rocklin Unified ended Tuesday evening.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. Air Force can start testing a new medium-range sensor next month for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System thanks to several recently awarded government contracts, RTX said Tuesday.

The $7 million in awards from the Air Force Research Laboratorys Strategic Development, Planning and Experimentation Office as well as the Office of the Secretary of Defenses Rapid Prototyping Program will help RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, move forward on the development and testing of its GhostEye MR radar.

GhostEye MR is a medium-range multimission radar that can detect, track and identify threats including cruise missiles, drones, and fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. The company said GhostEye MR can both operate as a standalone radar and be integrated with the NASAMS air defense systems used to protect overseas air bases.

The contracts total value is small compared to some other government deals. But Joe DeAntona, Raytheons vice president of requirements and capabilities for land and air defense systems, told Defense News on Tuesday that the agreements allow the firm to move GhostEye MR out of its own research and development efforts and into more of a Pentagon-involved project.

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RTX said the funding will allow an AFRL-run operational test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, now scheduled for September.

In September 2022, the lab and RTX conducted an experiment in Andya, Norway, to demonstrate how the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS  made by Norwegian firm Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace alongside RTX  could be used to defend air bases against advanced aerial threats.

The operational assessment next month will build on that experiment by using the Air Forces command-and-control capabilities to link GhostEye MR with NASAMS Fire Distribution Center, RTX said in a release.

GhostEye MR has been in the works for more than three years, DeAntona said. But so far, before receiving these first government contracts last week, the company has funded the systems development, prototyping and testing through internal R&D, he explained. The companys prototyping work on GhostEye MR took place at its facilities in New England, including in Andover, Massachusetts, DeAntona said.

DeAntona added that if the government decides it wants to fund and move forward with GhostEye MR, then RTX would be able to start producing the sensors for NASAMS within months, not years.

Were ready to move forward, he said. The technology is matured, the form and function of the radar is done. Now its a matter of taking customer feedback and either modifying or delivering what we have to this point based on the customers demand signal.

This isnt a PowerPoint slide. Weve bent the steel, he added, and weve produced an operational radar to meet the requirements of our warfighters.

GhostEye MR will be easily transportable and use the latest sensor technology, DeAntona said, and be able to track incoming threats that are both high and fast, as well as low and slow. It also uses modular technologies that will allow the Air Force to operate GhostEye MR in several different configurations, he noted.

RTX also said GhostEye MR shares some technology with the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor  another radar in the GhostEye series that RTX is building for the Army, but one the company said has a different mission set than GhostEye MR.

DeAntona said GhostEye MR uses an active electronically scanned array, or AESA, radar made from gallium nitride. RTX has said the semiconductor material used to build radar circuits allows for a stronger and more sensitive, longer-range radar signal, while active electronically scanned array technology provides 360-degree coverage.

RTX also said GhostEye MR has a software-defined aperture, which would allow it to add more capabilities through software upgrades.

The United States uses NASAMS to guard airspace over the National Capital Region, and has sent the launcher and munitions to Ukraine as part of the effort to arm the nation against Russias invasion.
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Rudy Giuliani defamed former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, and is liable for damages after he failed to comply with discovery obligations in their lawsuit over his baseless claims that they committed fraud during the 2020 election.

A civil trial will be held to determine the amount of damages.

The bottom line is that Giuliani has refused to comply with his discovery obligations and thwarted plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye Mosss procedural rights to obtain any meaningful discovery in this case, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell wrote in a lengthy opinion.

Just as taking shortcuts to win an election carries risks  even potential criminal liability  bypassing the discovery process carries serious sanctions, no matter what reservations a noncompliant party may try artificially to preserve for appeal, she added.

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Ted Goodman, Giuliani's political adviser, said his client has been "wrongly accused."

This 57 page opinion on discovery  which would usually be no more than two or three pages  is a prime example of the weaponization of the justice system, where the process is the punishment," he said in a statement. "This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI.

Giuliani conceded in a court filing last month that he had made false statements about Freeman and Moss.

Defendant Giuliani, for the purposes of litigation only, does not contest that, to the extent the statements were statements of fact and other wise actionable, such actionable factual statements were false, Giuliani wrote in a signed stipulation that he said was intended to avoid unnecessary expenses in litigating what he believes to be unnecessary disputes.

Freeman and Moss have said their lives were turned upside down when conspiracy theorists, as well as then-President Donald Trump and Giuliani, his lawyer at the time, claimed they committed election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. A brief, heavily edited clip of security video was widely circulated online and by Trump allies as supposed proof.

Giuliani had claimed that Freeman and Moss were passing around USB ports like they were vials of heroin or cocaine. In reality, as reflected in the House Jan. 6 committees report, they were passing a ginger mint.

In a statement responding to the ruling Wednesday, Freeman and Moss stressed that what they went through after the 2020 election was a living nightmare, but they said the ruling puts them one step closer to rebuilding their lives.

Rudy Giuliani helped unleash a wave of hatred and threats we never could have imagined, they said. It cost us our sense of security and our freedom to go about our lives. Nothing can restore all we lost, but todays ruling is yet another neutral finding that has confirmed what we have known all along: that there was never any truth to any of the accusations about us and that we did nothing wrong.

They added: We were smeared for purely political reasons, and the people responsible can and should be held accountable. Throughout all of this, we have kept the faith, secure in the knowledge that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. But faith without works is dead. That is why we did not lie down and go away in 2020, 2021, 2022, or 2023, but instead stood up and are still working to see justice done. The fight to rebuild our reputations and to repair the damage to our lives is not over. But today were one step closer, and for that we are grateful.

Trump, Giuliani and top allies, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, were indicted this month on felony charges in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

Giuliani, who boosted Trumps baseless claims of election fraud, surrendered to authorities in Georgia last week to face racketeering charges alleging he meddled in the states election. The indictment alleges he was a key part of a criminal conspiracy, pressing election officials to act on voting fraud claims he was repeatedly told were false.

Giuliani was booked on the charges last week and, along with the other co-defendants, will be arraigned Sept. 6. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The judge presiding over the defamation lawsuit Georgia election workers brought against Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday granted a default judgment against the former Trump lawyer and New York City mayor in addition to punitive sanctions, a Wednesday court filing shows.

Giuliani last month conceded that he does not contest that his claims about Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea' ArShaye ("Shaye") Moss, who were forced from their homes by violent threats, were "false" and "carry meaning that is defamatory" even as he insisted that he was still contesting their lawsuit. After asking Giuliani to clarify, Judge Beryl Howell on Wednesday issued a default judgment against him "as a discovery sanction" and also ordered him "to reimburse plaintiffs for attorneys' fees and costs."

After losing the defamation lawsuit, Giuliani is liable for the "plaintiffs' defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damage claims," which will be determined at a future hearing.

Giuliani could be on the hook for "thousands, if not millions, of dollars," CNN reported.

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"Rudy Giuliani's financial position, among other things, gets worse," former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance tweeted as Giuliani faces mounting legal bills while former President Donald Trump reportedly refuses to pay him for his post-election work.

In order to facilitate trial preparations, Howell ordered Giuliani to foot the bill by Sept. 20 for Moss and Freeman's attorneys' fees and costs associated with their first motion to compel discovery, which amounts to $89,172.50 with interest that has accrued since July 25  the reimbursement's original due date. Giuliani was also ordered to ensure that his businesses reimburse the mother-daughter duo's attorneys' fees of $43,684 with interest accruing from Sept. 20 against him if his businesses fail to comply.

"Yet just as taking shortcuts to win an election carries riskseven potential criminal liabilitybypassing the discovery process caries serious sanctions no matter what reservations a noncompliant party may try artificially to preserve for appeal," Howell wrote in the ruling.

Just when you think Howell can't find ways to twist the knife harder, she does (and this is only pge 5 of 57): pic.twitter.com/KMS4WNtAMx  Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 30, 2023

Howell wrote that Giuliani paid only "lip service to compliance with his discovery obligations and this Court's orders by failing to take reasonable steps to preserve or produce" electronic communications and data requested by the election workers. Instead, Giuliani "submitted declarations with concessions turned slippery on scrutiny and excuses designed to shroud the insufficiency of his discovery compliance," she wrote.

Giuliani only turned over 193 documents, a single page of communications, "blobs of indecipherable data," and only a "sliver of the financial documents required to be produced," the order said.

The suit will still go to trial to determine the exact amount of fees the poll workers will be awarded with Howell ordering the parties to propose a schedule for future proceedings in the dispute in the period from November to February 2024. In determining those damages, the judge writes, the jury will be instructed to "infer that [Giuliani] is intentionally trying to hide relevant discovery about his financial assets for the purpose of artificially deflating his net worth" unless he adequately responds to the plaintiffs' requests for production that he was ordered to produce by June 30.

"Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery," the judge said in the ruling.

HOWELL is, as usual, deeply cutting, accusing Giuliani of intentionally violating process:



"Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery."  Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 30, 2023

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann questioned "what discovery" Giuliani might be "hiding."

"I suspect it is pretty bad- ie criminally damning- for him to risk this result which is financially ruinous and predicated on his discovery violations," he tweeted.

Moss and Freeman lamented the "living nightmare" and the "wave of hatred and threats" Giuliani "helped unleash" in a statement praising Howell's ruling Wednesday.

"What we went through after the 2020 election was a living nightmare. Rudy Giuliani helped unleash a wave of hatred and threats we never could have imagined. It cost us our sense of security and our freedom to go about our lives," Freeman and Moss wrote. "Nothing can restore all we lost, but today's ruling is yet another neutral finding that has confirmed what we have known all along: that there was never any truth to any of the accusations about us and that we did nothing wrong."

They went on to recall the harassment they experienced as a result of the claims leveled against them following the 2020 election, asserting that they have "kept the faith" and are still working to make sure the people responsible are held accountable.

"That is why we did not lie down and go away in 2020, 2021, 2022, or 2023, but instead stood up and are still working to see justice done," they concluded. "The fight to rebuild our reputations and to repair the damage to our lives is not over. But today we're one step closer and for that we are grateful."

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

As part of their peddling of unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, Giuliani, Trump and their associates repeatedly alleged Moss and Freeman committed election crimes, citing a surveillance video that was heavily circulated across right-wing media that claimed to show the election workers moving suitcases filled with illegal ballots. Giuliani later accused the duo of handing out USB drives at Atlanta's State Farm Arena, which is where votes were being counted.

For his part, Giuliani responded to Wednesday's ruling in a statement through his political advisor Ted Goodman, who, while noting the length of such a document is usually two-to-three pages, called the judge's 57-page opinion a "prime example of the weaponization of the justice system, where the process is punishment"

"This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI," Goodman concluded.

Left: Freeman/Moss response to Judge Howells ruling



Right: Rudy Giuliani response (via spokesman) to Judge Howells rulinghttps://t.co/ciKxuyb3wE pic.twitter.com/9w6H4RRpst  Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 30, 2023

Freeman and Moss originally filed the lawsuit against Giuliani and other defendants on Dec. 23, 2021, accusing them of defamation, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The pair amended the suit in May 2022 to accuse Giuliani alone, seeking monetary damages. They filed motions seeking discovery sanctions against the lawyer last month, alleging that he ignored court orders mandating him to share his correspondence with Trump ally Boris Epshteyn  who Giuliani was determined to have advised to tell Trump about the security footage.

Giuliani is also facing other lawsuits, including another defamation suit from international voting technology company Smartmatic in relation to his claims about election fraud, and a suit accusing him of sexual assault and wage theft brought by his former assistant, Noelle Dunphy. He also faces 13 charges in a sprawling racketeering indictment brought by the Fulton County, Ga. district attorney alleging he, Trump and 17 other defendants organized a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.

Read more

about Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani automatically lost a defamation lawsuit brought by two election workers in Georgia.

He was also slapped with more than $130,000 in legal fees.

The judge said the "cloak of victimization" Giuliani wears in public won't fly in her courtroom.

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani automatically lost a federal defamation lawsuit brought by two election workers after the judge found that he failed to turn over evidence in the case.

He was also slapped with a $132,000 bill for legal fees, adding yet another financial headache for the former New York mayor as he faces a slew of criminal and civil lawsuits related to his personal life, business dealings, and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

US District Judge Beryl Howell didn't mince words in her 57-page ruling in the defamation lawsuit, saying she was handing Giuliani an automatic loss because he failed to turn over discovery evidence in the case. A jury will decide how much he will pay in damages to the election workers, in addition to the sanctions.

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"Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case," Howell wrote in her ruling.

Giuliani had broadcast false rumors that accused Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea' ArShaye Moss of fraud, and they sued him for defamation.

"What we went through after the 2020 election was a living nightmare. Rudy Giuliani helped unleash a wave of hatred and threats we never could have imagined," Freeman and Moss said in a statement Wednesday. "It cost us our sense of security and our freedom to go about our lives. Nothing can restore all we lost, but today's ruling is yet another neutral finding that has confirmed what we have known all along: that there was never any truth to any of the accusations about us and that we did nothing wrong."

In June, Georgia's State Election Board dismissed its yearslong investigation into the alleged election fraud, clearing the women of any alleged wrongdoing.

Giuliani "assured this Court directly that he "understand[s] the obligations" because he has "been doing this for 50 years," Howell wrote Wednesday.

"In this case, however, Giuliani has given only lip service to compliance with his discovery obligations and this Court's orders by failing to take reasonable steps" to preserve and turn over discovery evidence, she continued.

"The fact that Giuliani is a sophisticated litigant with a self-professed 50 years of experience in litigation  including serving as the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York  only underscores his lackluster preservation efforts," Howell wrote.

Giuliani must pay $89,172.50 to reimburse Freeman and Moss for legal fees, plus interest. He's also on the hook for another $43,684 in fees associated with his businesses' failure to hand over discovery evidence in the case.

In a statement, Giuliani's spokesperson Ted Goodman said Howell's opinion was too long. Summary judgement opinions, however, often span dozens or hundreds of pages.

Goodman also repeated a claim that Giuliani made in court, which is that he couldn't access information that was previously seized by the FBI in April 2021.

"This 57-page opinion on discovery  which would usually be no more than two or three pages  is a prime example of the weaponization of our justice system, where the process is the punishment," Goodman told Insider. "This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI."

In her ruling, Howell wrote that complaints about the FBI were just another excuse to avoid fulfilling discovery obligations in the case, and that Giuliani's account of how the evidence was handled by the FBI was contradicted by his own lawyer.

Giuliani "plainly should have known better" given his "much-vaunted experience as an attorney" and should have taken steps to preserve the evidence needed for the case, she wrote.

It is not the government's job to preserve Giuliani's electronically stored information, the judge wrote.

"Simply put, the government is not Giuliani's ESI preservation team, and the FBI's seizure of Giuliani's electronic devices did not obviate his obligation to take additional preservation efforts before and after the seizure," Howell wrote.

This story has been updated.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Rudy Giuliani has lost a civil lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers after he failed to turn over discovery documents in the case, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Judge Beryl Howell issued a default judgment ordering the former Donald Trump attorney to pay nearly $133,000 in sanctions. In a 57-page opinion, Howell admonished Giulianis failure to turn over the documents as willful discovery misconduct.

Perhaps, he has made the calculation that his overall litigation risks are minimized by not complying with his discovery obligations in this case, the judge wrote. Whatever the reason, obligations are case specific and withholding required discovery in this case has consequences.

Rudy Giuliani is seen outside the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Aug. 23. The former Donald Trump attorney was one of 19 people arrested last week after being accused of conspiring to change the results in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Rudy Giuliani is seen outside the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Aug. 23. The former Donald Trump attorney was one of 19 people arrested last week after being accused of conspiring to change the results in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

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Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss sued Giuliani in December 2021 after he claimed that the mother and daughter had helped commit supposed election fraud during the 2020 presidential race.

Giuliani conceded in a court filing earlier this year that he had made false statements against the pair, which he said were defamatory per se. Still, he argued that his statements were constitutionally protected.

The sanctions ordered by the judge must be paid by Sept. 20. They will cover legal fees that the women incurred while attempting to obtain financial documents and information related to Giulianis Common Sense podcast, Howell ruled.

The case will next go to trial to determine any damages in the case. Giuliani will again be given an opportunity to compel with discovery relevant to the determination of damages. If he does not comply, he faces additional discovery-related sanctions, noted the judge.

Giuliani must also hand over the financial documents that the women previously requested, which he was ordered to produce in June.

Related...
2030 mooted as enlargement deadline for EU

10:12, August 30, 2023 By CHEN WEIHUA in Brussels ( China Daily

People rest outside the European Commission building during the Open Day of the European institutions in Brussels, Belgium, May 6, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

European Council welcomes 8 more countries into fold despite challenges

European Council President Charles Michel said on Monday that he wants the European Union to be ready for enlargement by 2030, words that aim to ease the frustration of EU candidate members but were immediately challenged by the bloc's experts.

Speaking at the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia, whose attendees also include leaders of most EU candidate members, Michel said "enlargement is no longer a dream" and "it is time to move forward".

Eight countries have been granted EU candidate status, namely Turkiye, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Moldova, Ukraine, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the last three being granted last year.

"There is still a lot of work to do," Michel said. "It will be difficult and sometimes painful, for the future member states and for the EU.

"I believe we must be ready  on both sides  by 2030 to enlarge."

The former Belgian prime minister called the target "ambitious, but necessary".

"It shows that we are serious. It will build momentum. It will give a transformative boost to reforms and it will generate interest, investments and better understanding, and encourage us all to work together," he said.

The enlargement will remain a "merit-based process", Michel said, citing the criteria relating to rule of law, judicial independence, economic reforms and aligning with the EU's foreign policy.

He also touched on the EU's controversial unanimous decision-making process that some argue have made the bloc less efficient and less effective.

"Completely scrapping unanimity could be throwing the baby out with the bath water," he said.

Slovenia's Prime Minister Robert Golob told the forum that EU preparations for accession "must happen in the next 12 months or they will not happen for a very long time", words that reflect the frustration of the slow enlargement process.

France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that the EU needs to reform if it wants to admit new members.

"The risk is to think we can enlarge without reform, I can testify that it is hard enough for Europe to advance on sensitive topics with 27 members. With 32 or 35 members, it won't be any easier," he told the annual meeting of French ambassadors in Paris.

"We will need audacity, to accept more integration in some areas and maybe even a multispeed Europe," he said, without specifying what he meant by "multispeed" Europe.

Intense discussion

Carl Bildt, former Swedish prime minister and now co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, or ECFR, said the discussion on EU enlargement is heating up, and now Michel says that both applicants and the EU should be ready for enlargement by 2030.

"I'm not entirely certain what he means by that, and I'm not entirely certain he knows himself," Bildt said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Piotr Buras and Engjellushe Morina, senior fellows at the ECFR, noted in a paper last month that "supporters of enlargement should be under no illusion" despite the increased support.

"Skepticism and concerns about the prospects for an enlarged union are still widespread, and these powerful currents will inevitably resurface," they wrote, citing the recent grain dispute when Poland, regarded as Ukraine's strong supporter, sought to prevent the entry of Ukrainian agricultural products into the single market.

Philip Pilkington, an Irish economist, questioned the readiness of two new candidate members of Ukraine and Moldova.

He said that problems arise on the reconstruction of Ukraine, which the World Bank currently estimates at $411 billion, but the EU's total regional development budget last year was only $32.6 billion.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
With less than two years remaining until US voters will decide who will serve as president of the United States from January 2025 to January 2029, former Republican government officials are starting to jockey for position in the coming fight for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, while at least two Democrats challenge President Joe Biden in a Democratic primary.

As the campaign takes shape, here are the names you need to know.

Joe Biden

Mr Biden is the current president of the United States and is now officially gunning for a second term, having announced his reelection bid in a video message on 25 April.

Joe Biden (AP)

Mr Biden, 80, is the oldest person to ever serve as president and his lacklustre approval ratings fuelled speculation that he might stand down so a younger candidate could take up the Democratic Party mantle.

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But the Democrats better-than-expected results in the 2022 midterms appeared to put new wind in Mr Bidens sails before he officially announced his 2024 run

Donald Trump

Mr Trump, 77, officially filed paperwork with the FEC to declare himself a candidate in the 2024 election on 15 November 2022.

Mr Trump is the only US president to face two separate impeachment trials  one after fomenting a violent attack on the US Capitol in hopes of remaining in power despite losing the 2020 election to Mr Biden.

Donald Trump (AP)

He announced his candidacy at the same Palm Beach, Florida, location where FBI agents had conducted a search for stolen classified documents just three months earlier.

The ex-real estate developer-turned-television-presenter-turned-politician is hoping he can become the first ex-US chief executive to reclaim the White House since Grover Cleveland.

Mr Trump faces a series of obstacles on what was once assumed to be a smooth glide path to the GOP nomination, including several of his former top aides and at least one governor he once endorsed - and four criminal indictments.

Marianne Williamson

The self-help author and former spiritual adviser to television mogul Oprah Winfrey, who participated in several Democratic primary debates during the 2020 election, has said she will enter the 2024 race to challenge Mr Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In an interview with Northwestern Universitys Medill News Service, Ms Williamson, 71, confirmed her intention to run next year.

Marianne Williamson (AP)

I wouldnt be running for president if I didnt believe I could contribute to harnessing the collective sensibility that I feel is our greatest hope at this time, she said.

During her aborted 2020 presidential run, she garnered a measure of notoriety for making statements widely considered bizarre, such as a vow to make then-New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern the first head of government she would call as president, and an assertion that she would win the election by "harness[ing] love for political purposes" against Mr Trump.

Nikki Haley

Former South Carolina governor Ms Haley spent two years as Mr Trumps ambassador to the United Nations and during that time garnered some media attention for her sauve ability to avoid engaging with the controversies that engulfed Mr Trumps administration while remaining in his good graces.

Although the former governor turned diplomat previously pledged not to throw her hat into the ring for 2024 if Mr Trump was still running, she appears to have thrown that non-campaign promise away.

Nikki Haley (AP)

On 15 February, Ms Haley, 51, announced that she would enter the race.

In a video released by her campaign, she even went so far as to take a veiled swipe at Mr Trump by noting that seven out of the last eight presidential elections have seen the GOP candidate lose the popular vote.

She also said it is time for a new generation of leadership who will rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose.

Mike Pence

Former vice president Mr Pence officially entered the 2024 presidential race on 7 June after much speculation that he would try to take on his former boss Mr Trump.

Today our party and our country need a leader that will appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature, Mr Pence said in his campaign kickoff speech in Iowa.

Mike Pence (AP)

Mr Pence, 64, was once Mr Trumps steadfast right-hand man until he made the decision not to unlawfully hijack Congress certification of Electoral College votes to keep Mr Trump in office in 2020.

Since then, a rift has been driven between Mr Pence and Mr Trump  though Mr Pence continues to not publicly criticse Mr Trump in the same way other anti-Trump Republicans have.

Mr Pence has made it clear that he would not do things the way the ex-president did during their four years in office together but still promote the traditional conservative values he holds.

In his speech, Mr Pence said: We could revive our economy, and put our nation back on a path to a balanced budget, defend our liberties and give America a new beginning for life.

Although the ex-vice president has a recognisable stature in the GOP, he will likely face an uphill climb to convince voters that he  not Mr Trump  is the best choice.

Ron DeSantis

The current governor of Florida announced his campaign on 24 May after months of speculation by many in the GOP that he would be the perfect successor to Mr Trump.

His campaign kickoff suffered a slew of technical errors when it launched in a Twitter Spaces event with CEO Elon Musk.

Ron DeSantis (AP)

Mr DeSantis, 44, is a former Florida congressman who won his 2018 gubernatorial campaign after receiving a coveted endorsement from Mr Trump.

He is viewed by Republican pundits as a worthy avatar of the current anti-woke GOP and his star has been on the rise in conservative circles since he made a show of ending any and all pandemic-related restrictions and mandates in the Sunshine State.

When Mr DeSantis took the stage at his 2022 election victory party, supporters even chanted two more years in a nod to his potential status as a GOP presidential contender.

Tim Scott

South Carolina Senator Mr Scott officially entered the race for Republican presidential nominee on 19 May after filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

Mr Scott, 57, became the first Black senator to represent a state that had been part of the Confederacy during the American Civil War and the first Black Republican since Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke when he was elected in 2013.

Tim Scott (AP)

The then-freshman GOP senator retained the seat hed been appointed to in a 2014 special election and was reelected easily in 2016 and 2022 with at least 60 per cent of the vote in both elections.

He has long been considered a rising star in the Republican Party, and was given the honour of delivering the partys response to President Joe Bidens inaugural address to Congress in 2021.

Mr Scott reportedly plans to begin airing TV ads in Iowa and New Hampshire in the final week of May, a commitment of $5.5 million that follows his formation of an exploratory committee in April.

He would start a bid with more campaign dollars than any of his 2024 rivals  roughly $22 million that he can automatically convert from his US Senate campaign account to a presidential campaign. The figure is the most any candidate in history has had when beginning a campaign for president, according to the FEC.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Mr Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotechnology entrepreneur and conservative activist, announced his intention to compete in the 2024 Republican primary during an appearance on Tucker Carlsons eponymous Fox News programme (before Mr Carlsons acrimonious departure from the network).

Mr Ramaswamy, 37, is a Yale Law School graduate. He has become somewhat of a celebrity in right-wing circles for his denunciations of stakeholder capitalism, big tech censorship and critical race theory.

Vivek Ramaswamy (AP)

Last year, he founded Strive Asset Management, an anti-woke investment firm opposed to businesses that use environmental, social and corporate governance practices.

Robert F Kennedy Jr

Mr Kennedy Jr, a lawyer, vaccine-sceptic and the son of US Senator Robert F Kennedy, filed candidacy papers with the FEC on 5 April.

The filing places the 69-year-old as the second long-shot Democratic candidate to challenge President Biden, behind Ms Williamson.

Robert F Kennedy Jr (AP)

While he intends to run as a Democrat, Mr Kennedy Jr has ties to former president Mr Trump. In 2017, he was tapped by the then-president-elect to oversee a presidential panel to review vaccine safety and science - despite having repeatedly expressed scepticism about vaccines. He continued pushing those beliefs through the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Kennedy Jrs father, the late New York Senator Robert F Kennedy Sr, was a candidate in the 1968 presidential election before he was assassinated.

Chris Christie

Mr Christie, the pugnacious ex-New Jersey governor and ally-turned-critic of Mr Trump, entered the 2024 Republican presidential primary to directly challenge the man he endorsed after failing to gain traction in the GOP field nearly eight years ago.

In a town hall at St Anselm College in New Hampshire on 6 June, Mr Christie, 60, announced his campaign by positioning himself as a moderate-conservative alternative to Mr Trump who he referred to as a self-consumed, self-serving, mirror hog.

Chris Christie (Getty Images)

Mr Christie twice endorsed Mr Trump for president in 2016 and 2020 but turned on him after Mr Trump refused to concede and ultimately encouraged the January 6th riot.

The former New Jersey governor has been outspoken about his disdain for Mr Trump and is making it very clear in his 2024 campaign that he plans to take him on head first.

Larry Elder

Mr Elder, a former attorney, and current conservative talk radio host, announced on Thursday 20 April on Tucker Carlson Tonight, just like Mr Ramaswamy, that he would be running for president in 2024.

The right-wing candidate said that he felt a moral, religious, and a patriotic duty to join the race for president. He named policing, crime and government overreach as areas of concern.

Larry Elder (AP)

Weve incentivised women to marry the government, Mr Elder, 71, told Tucker Carlson. Weve incentivised men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility. And if I do nothing else in this race, but focus people on those two issues I would perform this service to my country.

Prior to his announcement, Mr Elder had been the host of the popular conservative radio programme The Larry Elder Show on KABC since 1993. He left in April 2022.

Mr Elder has some political experience as he unsuccessfully ran to replace California governor Gavin Newsom in 2021.

Ryan Binkley

Pastor and businessman Mr Binkley announced his entrance into the 2024 race on May 9  another long-shot contender to challenge Mr Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.

We have to be unified, Mr Binkley, 55, said at an event. We have to be in this place, because if were in a time of uncertainty, what its going to take is faith in God and faith in each other to get us through, and its not time for us to back down. Its time for us to believe.

Ryan Binkley (The Way to Freedom)

Mr Binkley has said he is absolutely confident that he could take on Mr Trump, despite having little name recognition and no experience holding elected office.

Asa Hutchinson

The former governor of Arkansas formally announced his campaign for president on 26 April.

In Bentonville, Arkansas, Mr Hutchinson, 72, told supporters he is optimistic about the future of the US and hopes to carry out the same conservative values to the White House that he did as governor.

In this campaign for president, I stand alone in terms of my experience, record and leadership, Mr Hutchinson said.

Asa Hutchinson (AP)

Before becoming governor, Mr Hutchinson was a representative for Arkansas, an administrator for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and transportation security of the US Department of Homeland Security under former president George W Bush.

Mr Hutchinson discussed the economy, crime and border security during his campaign kick-off speech.

Doug Burgum

Mr Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, said he too would be running for the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election on 7 June.

The virtually unknown governor was a software entrepreneur before he was elected to his gubernatorial position in 2016.

Doug Burgum (AP)

In a preview video released the day before his announcement, Mr Burgum, 66, called himself a new leader for a changing economy, indicating his campaign would focus on kitchen-table issues.

But Mr Burgum has dipped his toe into some of the contemporary social issues that many Americans are concerned about when looking at a new candidate.

Mr Burgum is anti-abortion having signed a near-total abortion ban in North Dakota and anti-transgender having signed eight anti-transgender laws.

Will Hurd

Mr Hurd, 45, a former CIA officer and representative for Texas, announced his bid for the Republican nomination on 22 June.

I believe the Republican Party can be the party of the future, not the past, Mr Hurd said to CBS Mornings during his campaign launch.

Will Hurd speaks at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition Spring Kick-off in West Des Moines, Iowa (REUTERS)

Like Mr Christie, Mr Hurd has positioned himself as a moderate alternative to the field of GOP candidates while remaining critical of Mr Trump.

The former Texas representative served in the US House for six years before leaving in 2021. He was the only Black Republican in the chamber during his final two terms.

While in Congress, Mr Hurds district was one of the most competitive in Texas. It included parts of San Antonio and El Paso as well as included most of the Texas border with Mexico.

He gained a reputation as a bipartisan dealmaker, once spending two days in a car with Democrat Beto ORourke in 2017 driving from San Antonio to Washington when a snowstorm cancelled the flights.

Perry Johnson

Mr Johnson, 75, is a businessman who tried to run for governor of Michigan in 2022 but was disqualified due to invalid signatures.

Despite the hiccup, it hasnt stopped Mr Johnson from aiming big and running for president.

US businessman and 2024 Republican Presidential hopeful Perry Johnson speaks at the Republican Party of Iowa's 2023 Lincoln Dinner at the Iowa Events Center (AFP via Getty Images)

On 3 March, Mr Johnson announced his bid for 2024 president in Iowa where he claimed to be: pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, anti-woke and anti-China.

He notably has promoted a plan to cut federal spending by 2 per cent every year and pushing to complete the US  Mexico border wall.

Called it quits

Francis Suarez

Mr Suarez, the mayor of Miami, filed paperwork with the FEC on 14 June  throwing his hat in the ring of an already packed Republican nomination race.

But that did not last long as he chose to suspend his campaign on 29 August after failing to qualify for the first RNC debate.

Francis Suarez (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Mr Suarez, 45, is a Cuban-American who has made a name for himself in Miami, and Florida, as a tough-on-crime conservative. But outside of the state, hes largely unknown.

Some may remember Mr Suarez as one of the first people to contract Covid-19 in Miami-Dade County in March 2020. He documented his progression with the illness to help others understand it better.

Despite his relative obscurity, Mr Suarez expressed confidence that being the only Hispanic candidate gave him a lot of credibility, according to The Associated Press.

In his resignation announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Suarez said: While I have decided to suspend my campaign for President, my commitment to making this a better nation for every American remains.

He added that he looks forward to supporting the eventual nominee
Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine of its largest drone attack in the war so far, saying Ukrainian drones attacked six regions, including a major airport in western Russia.

The most devastating attack struck in the Pskov region of northwestern Russia, which borders Latvia and Estonia, at the Princess Olga Pskov International Airport.

Videos shared by Pskov Governor Mikhail Vedernikov showed a burst of flames erupting in the distance after the drones hit the airport just after midnight Wednesday.

Vedernikov said there were no victims but did not have specifics for the number of vehicles, aircraft and structures damaged by the attack. The regional governor has canceled flights out of the airport while damage is being assessed.

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According to the Russian channel Baza, two aircraft were destroyed and four more were damaged at the Pskov airport.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday said the drone strikes were terrorist attacks targeted precisely at civilian facilities.

We are continuing and will continue the special military operation in order to eradicate this threat to us, Peskov said, according to Russian state-run media outlet Tass.

Ukrainian drones also reportedly attempted to strike across the regions of Orlov, Bryansk, Ryazan and Kaluga, as well as the Moscow region.

Russias Defense Ministry claims it thwarted all of the attacks, including shooting down three drones over Bryansk. The Ministry has remained silent on the drone attack on Pskov, according to its Telegram channel, which has frequent updates on the war.

Ukraine has been striking inside Russian territory for much of the war but has recently increased the tempo of the attacks in the past few months.

Russian military blogger Rybar said Russian air defenses were struggling to defend against the unmanned drones.

Judging by the experience of Pskov, everything is not so good, Rybar wrote on Telegram.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that Russian air defense shot down two Ukrainian drones over Bryansk Oblast, and one missile over Crimea on the evening of Aug. 30.

Russian-installed head of occupied Crimea Sergey Aksyonov claimed that the cruise missile had been down over the eastern part of the peninsula. His advisor Oleg Kryuchkov added that a fragment of the downed missile damaged a power line.

The Crimean Wind Telegram channel reported explosions in Feodosia on the eastern part of the peninsula. Later on, the channel claimed that sounds of live fire have been recorded in the city of Alushta in the southern reaches of Crimea.

On the same evening, Alexander Bogomaz, Governor of Russia's Bryansk Oblast, claimed that two drones had been shot down over the region.

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"There were no casualties or damage. Emergency services are on site," the governor wrote on his Telegram channel.

The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims.

Strikes against targets in Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea have become increasingly more frequent in recent weeks.

On the night of Aug. 29, Russian media reported what appeared to be the biggest drone attack against Russia or Crimea since the start of the full-scale invasion. At least four Il-76 military aircraft have been destroyed in Pskov, a city 800 kilometers north of Kyiv near the border with Estonia.

The same night, drone attacks were reported over Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol, Kaluga, and Ryazan oblasts. The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol alleged that there had also been an unsuccessful attack on Sevastopol with sea drones.

Read also: Biggest drone attack on Russia, Crimea reported

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Russia has informed the Brazilian aviation accident investigation authority that so far, the latter will not investigate the crash of a Brazilian-made plane which killed Yevgeny Prigozhin , financier of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), as they are normally allowed under international rules.

Source: Reuters, citing Brazils Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Centre (CENIPA)

Details: Yevgeny Prigozhin, two top executives of his Wagner Group, and four bodyguards were among the 10 people killed in the crash of an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft north of Moscow on 23 August. Prigozhin was buried during a private ceremony on 29 August.

Brazil's CENIPA stated that to improve flight safety, it would join the Russian-led investigation should it be invited, and if it was conducted as per international rules.

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CENIPA reported that on Tuesday, 29 August, it received a response from Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee, the Commission for the Investigation of Aviation Accidents, saying that the Russian authorities would not open the investigation under Annex 13 for the time being.

Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation  better known as the 1944 Chicago Convention  provides for international cooperation.

Aircraft crash investigations aim to improve flight safety without determining who is responsible, but political interests often taint investigations.

CENIPA and the Embraer's manufacturer wish to prevent future accidents but face obstacles in obtaining information during the investigation due to sanctions against Russia and Moscow's reluctance to allow external scrutiny.

The Embraer Legacy 600 has a good safety record. About 802 Embraer regional jets seating 37-50 people are in operation, built on the same platform as the Legacy 600 corporate jets, which means that Brazil is interested in studying the Prigozhin case.

The flight from Moscow to St Petersburg was a domestic affair, according to the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), and therefore not subject to international rules known in the industry as Annex 13.

The Russian aviation authorities were not obliged to accept CENIPA's proposal, but some former investigators believe they should do so, as the US and other Western governments suspect the Kremlin of involvement in the 23 August crash.

"They are not obliged, only recommended to do that," CENIPA's Chief, Air Force Brigadier General Marcelo Moreno, told Reuters after the agency sent an email last week asking Russia whether it would open such an investigation.

"But if they say theyll open the investigation and invite Brazil we will participate from afar," Moreno added.

John Cox, a US aviation security consultant and former investigator, said the internal Russian investigation would always be questioned without the involvement of Brazil, the country where Prigozhin's plane was manufactured.

"I think its very sad. I think it hurts the transparency of the Russian investigation," Cox said after being informed of the Russian response.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former US air crash investigator, said Russia should accept help from Brazil, even if CENIPA is only able to participate remotely: "If they don't, well, then that's a sure sign that it's not going to be a transparent investigation".

Brazilian aircraft conglomerate Embraer declined to comment.

Background:

On 23-24 June 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as Putin's "chef", tried to march on Moscow with his Wagnerites but stopped the rebellion and fled to Belarus with some of the mercenaries.

Before that, Wagner mercenaries had fought in Ukraine, and Prigozhin had quarrelled with the Russian Defence Ministry and the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

Prigozhin was likely killed in a plane crash on 23 August.

Russia's Investigative Committee announced that it had conducted a molecular genetic examination and confirmed the deaths of Wagner PMC leaders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin in a plane crash in Tver Oblast.

On 29 August, Prigozhin's press service reported that his funeral was held privately.

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A train carrying at least ten Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile systems has arrived in Belarus, local monitoring group Belarusian Hajun said in a Telegram post on Aug. 30.

According to the report, the train arrived at the Osipovichi station in Mogilev Oblast, having departed from Russias Astrakhan Oblast.

Read also: Russia attacks Dnipro with Iskander missiles

The group also notes that a missile testing range  the 4th Central Testing Range of Russia  is located there.

Read also: Russia manufactures 30 Kalibr and several Iskander missiles per month  Ukrainian intelligence

Moreover, the Belarusian Hajun reports that some Iskander-M missile systems have already been supplied to the Belarusian army, and this convoy is not the last to arrive in the country.

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Read also: Russia strikes Pokrovsk with Iskander missiles: 7 dead, 67 injured, including 2 children

On July 28, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) stated that in the Belarusian city of Osipovichi, local military had finished building a hangar for the placement of the Iskander missile launchers, which can carry nuclear warheads.

Earlier, the monitoring group reported that military personnel from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan arrived in Belarus on a Russian Il-76 MD plane, presumably to participate in joint military exercises.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Firefighters work at Pskov airport east of Moscow on Wednesday after drone strikes set military aircraft ablaze overnight. Photo courtesy of Pskov Governor/EPA-EFE

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- At least six regions of Russia came under attack overnight Wednesday in the largest drone offensive against the country since the start of the war in early 2022, and Ukraine came under "massive" aerial bombardment from Russian missiles and UAVs.

Moscow, Oryol, Ryazan, Bryansk, Kaluga and Pskov were targeted by UAVs, and while authorities claimed to have intercepted most of the drones and that there were no injuries, there were airport closures and flight disruptions.

Four Moscow airports were forced to suspend flights temporarily and one of the strikes on Pskov airport 425 miles east of Moscow set ablaze four IL-76 military cargo aircraft.

The Ukraine Defense Ministry confirmed four IL-76s had been destroyed and an unspecified number of others damaged, but without taking responsibility for the attack.

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The airport would remain closed with all flights suspended pending clarification of "possible damage to the runway," said Pskov regional Gov. Mikhail Vedernikov.

A drone heading toward Moscow in the Ruza district was brought down by Russian air defenses, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, while the defense ministry said the interception of three Ukrainian aircraft-type drones over the Bryansk region damaged an administrative building.

A drone flying above the Oryol region south of Moscow was electronically jammed, another over the Kaluga region was brought down and two others targeting the Ryazan region were neutralized, with local authorities confirming the attacks. No injuries were immediately reported.

Russia accused Ukraine's Western partners of aiding and abetting the attacks and threatened retaliation.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the attacks would not have been possible without information from Western satellites, given how far the targeted territory was from Ukraine.

"The actions of the Ukrainian regime will not go unpunished," Zakharova said.

In Russian-occupied Crimea, Sevastopol was targeted by sea drones, according to the city's governor, who said the attack was unsuccessful, while the defense ministry claimed to have destroyed four high-speed Ukrainian special-ops boats in the Black Sea.

A navy fighter aircraft from Russia's Black Sea Fleet destroyed the boats as they were attempting to land at least 50 Ukrainian special forces, the ministry wrote in a social media post.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the two people killed were security guards after the capital was pummeled by the fiercest bombardment in several months as part of a broader assault that saw Russian forces launch 44 missiles and drones at targets across Ukraine.

AFU Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhny said 28 Kh-101, Kh-555 and Kh-55 air-launched cruise missiles were fired from 11 Tu-95 strategic aircraft above the Caspian Sea and the Engels area, while 16 "Shahed-136/131" strike UAVs were launched from the south and the north.

"All 28 cruise missiles and 15 attack UAVs were destroyed by the forces and means of air defense of the Air Force in cooperation with the Air Defense Forces of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Odessa and Mykolaiv regions," Zaluzhny wrote on social media.
Washington  The White House said Wednesday it has new intelligence that shows Russia and North Korea are "actively advancing" high-level talks for more weapons to bolster President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have exchanged letters pledging to increase their cooperation. The letter followed a recent visit from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to the isolated regime "to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia," he said.

After Shoigu's visit, another group of Russian officials traveled to Pyongyang for follow-up discussions on arms deals, Kirby said.

"Following these negotiations, high-level discussions may continue in coming months," Kirby said, declining to give details about how the U.S. obtained the intelligence.

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Under the potential agreements, North Korea would give Russia "significant quantities and multiple types" of weapons to use in Ukraine, he said.

"Any arms deal between the DPRK and Russia would directly violate a number of U.N. Security Council resolutions," Kirby said, using the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "We're continuing to monitor this situation closely. And we urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia."

U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield made similar comments on Wednesday at the U.N. headquarters.

"We cannot  and we will not  stay silent as we receive more information that Russia continues to turn to rogue regimes to try to obtain weapons and equipment in order to support its brutal war of aggression," she said.

Gabrielle Ake and Pamela Falk contributed reporting.

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Russia has informed the Brazilian aircrash investigation authority that it will not allow an independent international investigation into the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet in which Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the private military company Wagner, was killed, the Brazilian agency told Reuters on Aug. 28.

Read also: Putin most likely behind Prigozhin's alleged death, says former British army chief

They are not obliged, only recommended to do that, Air Brigadier Marcelo Moreno, head of Brazils Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents or CENIPA told Reuters after the agency sent an email last week asking Russia whether it would open such a probe.

CENIPA said in an emailed statement it had received a response from Russian Interstate Aviation Committee  Commission on Accident Investigation, with the Russian authority saying it would not open such an investigation for now.

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Read also: Prigozhin likely killed over control of Wagners Africa business  Bellingcat

CENIPA said that in the interests of improving aviation safety it would join a Russian-led investigation if it were to be invited, and the probe would be conducted according to international rules.

Meanwhile, former U.S. air crash investigators have told the media that Russia should agree to a joint air crash investigation in the interests of transparency, as the United States and other Western governments suspect the Kremlin of being behind the crash of the plane, which has a good safety record.

U.S. aviation safety consultant and former investigator John Cox said the results of any Russian investigation would always be doubtful without the participation of Brazil, the country where the plane was manufactured.

I think its very sad I think it hurts the transparency of the Russian investigation. Cox said after being told of the Russian response.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former U.S. air crash investigator, said Russia should accept assistance from Brazil, even if CENIPA can only participate remotely.

If they dont, well, then thats a sure sign that its not going to be a transparent investigation.

Read also: Kremlin boosts security posture amid risks of new coup  Moscow Times

Prigozhin's airplane crash - What is known

A crash involving an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft occurred in Russias Tver Oblast on Aug. 23. The Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) confirmed that among the passengers on board were Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary company, and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin.

According to Rosaviatsia, there were a total of ten individuals on board  seven passengers (Wagner mercenary company officials) and three crew members.

NV

The aviation incident occurred exactly two months after a mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries.

Among the leading theories surrounding the crash are an in-flight explosion and a strike by a missile launched from the ground.

Read also: After Prigozhin's death Kremlin to try to take control over Wagner mercenary company, says ex-CIA director

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, when commenting on the potential assassination of Prigozhin on Aug. 24, referred to Prigozhin in past tense and remarked that the Wagner warlord had led a complicated life.

Earlier, on Aug. 27, the Investigative Committee of Russia formally officially confirmed that Prigozhin and his close associate Utkin had lost their lives as a consequence of the plane crash in Tver Oblast.

Prigozhins burial took place in a "closed format" at a cemetery in St. Petersburg, Wagners press service announced on Aug. 29.

About 30 people attended Prigozhin's funeral at the Porokhovskoe cemetery, and there were no people in military uniform present at the ceremony, according to a cemetery employee.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
FILE PHOTO: A United Nations flag is seen in Pyla in the Larnaca District of Cyprus

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -United Nations sanctions in Mali will end on Thursday after Russia vetoed a renewal of the regime that targeted anyone violating or obstructing a 2015 peace deal, hindering aid delivery, committing rights abuses or recruiting child soldiers.

Independent U.N. sanctions monitors reported to the Security Council this month that Mali's troops and its foreign security partners, believed to be Russia's Wagner mercenary group, are using violence against women and other "grave human rights abuses" to spread terror.

Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of a resolution, drafted by France and the United Arab Emirates, to extend the U.N. sanctions and independent monitoring for another year. Russia cast a veto, while China abstained from the vote.

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Russia then instead proposed extending U.N. sanctions in Mali for one final year, but immediately ending the independent monitoring now. It was the only country to vote yes, while Japan voted no and the remaining 13 members abstained.

Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood told the council that Russia wanted to eliminate the independent monitoring "to stifle publication of uncomfortable truths about Wagner's actions in Mali, which require attention."

In response, Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told Reuters that was speculation and resembled "paranoia," adding that Russia was "upholding the interests of the affected country - Mali, as the council is supposed to do."

The U.S. has also accused Wagner, which has about 1,000 fighters in Mali, of engineering an abrupt request by the junta for a 13,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force to leave. The decade-long operation is due to shutdown by the end of the year.

Mali's junta, which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, teamed up with Wagner in 2021 to fight an Islamist insurgency. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash in Russia last week and President Vladimir Putin then ordered Wagner fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state.

Mali's military junta wrote to the Security Council earlier this month to ask for the sanctions to be lifted.

The current annual mandate for the U.N. sanctions regime and independent monitoring will expire on Thursday. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia made clear that Russia would not discuss the issue any further after the two votes on Wednesday.

The council established the Mali sanctions regime in 2017, which allowed it to impose travel bans and asset freezes. There are currently eight people subjected to the U.N. sanctions measures. The independent monitors reported to the council twice a year on implementation and potential new designations.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Grant McCool)
Russian forces attacked Sumy Oblast 15 times on Aug. 29, shelling eight communities, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported.

The attacks damaged a tractor in Novoslobidske and a private home in Seredyna-Buda.

No other casualties were reported.

The border communities of Svesa, Velyka Pysarivka, Khotin, Bilopillia, Druzhba, and Znob-Novhorodske also came under fire. The attacks caused a total of 115 explosions throughout the day.

Russian forces attacked with mines, grenade launchers, mortar shelling, and artillery.

Sumy Oblast lies on Ukraine's northeastern border with Russia. For over a year, the Russian military has terrorized settlements along the border with daily shelling.

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Read also: Ukraine bids farewell to legendary volunteer commander killed near Bakhmut

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Russian forces have struck the village of Svarkove in Sumy Oblast, killing an 82-year-old woman, the Sumy Oblast Prosecutor's Office reported on Aug. 30.

The woman was killed when her house was hit by shelling around 1:00 a.m. local time.

Svarkove, which is part of the Shalyhyne community, is less than 10 kilometers from the Russian border.

The area of Shalyhyne was hit by 34 explosions over the past night and into the morning, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration said. Four homes were damaged in the attacks.

On Aug. 29, the regional military administration reported that Russian forces attacked Sumy Oblast 15 times, shelling eight communities.

Read also: Russian strike on school in Sumy Oblast kills 4, injures 4

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The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has noted that the Russian Defence Ministry (Russian MoD) is introducing restriction and censorship on information about their war of aggression in Ukraine.

Source: ISW

Details: ISW suggested that the Russian Defence Ministry may be returning to more limited coverage of the war in Ukraine, attempting to censor complaints from the front and reports of Ukrainian military success.

ISW noted that the Russian Defence Ministry recently changed the style of its daily reporting in order to reduce the volume of information about the war it posts every day.

ISW said the Russian Defence Ministry used to publish a daily report that was different from the individual reports of the press services of each Russian military grouping.

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However, on 29 August, the press services of each Russian military grouping published text copied directly from the daily report and not their own original ones.

"The Russian MoD has consistently attempted to institute an information policy that would provide limited information about the frontlines throughout the war.

The Russian MoDs change in reporting, if this trend continues, may reflect its wider efforts to censor Russian reporting on the war and unify its own narrative," ISW summed up.

To quote the ISWs Takeaways on 29 August:

Ukrainian forces advanced near Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast and Robotyne in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast on 29 August.

Russian sources continued to express concerns over Russian vulnerabilities in eastern and western Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Russian milbloggers accused the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the fifth consecutive day of attempting to conceal concerns over the mistreatment of a Southern Military District (SMD) brigade operating in occupied Kherson Oblast.

These milblogger persistent complaints are likely an attempt to spark command changes that may favour Russian Airborne Forces Commander Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky, who reportedly oversees Russian forces in southern Ukraine.

The Russian MoD may be reverting to more limited coverage of the war in Ukraine while attempting to censor complaints along the frontline and reports of Ukrainian advances.

The United States State Department announced a new military aid package for Ukraine on 29 August.

The Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported that the Kremlin is currently focused on promoting five main information operations against Ukraine.

Russian forces conducted offensive operations along the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line, near Bakhmut, along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line, and in the Donetsk-Zaporizhzhia Oblast administrative border area but did not make confirmed advances.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) reported on 29 August that the Russian MoD is still unlikely to meet its targets for volunteer recruitment, despite offering incentives such as high salaries and additional social benefits.

Ukrainian sources reported that occupation authorities continue to forcibly deport Ukrainian children from occupied Ukraine to Russia.

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Long-distance trains are delayed, two of them go to Kyiv

Three passenger trains were delayed in the early hours of Aug. 30, due to a Russian kamikaze drone strike in Zhytomyr Oblast, the press service of the state rail transport company Ukrzaliznytsia has reported.

The following trains were delayed:

No. 54 Przemysl - Kyiv (delay up to two hours);

No. 743 Kyiv Darnytsia - Lviv (delay up to an hour);

No. 68 Warsaw - Kyiv (delay up to 30 minutes).

Read also: Two teachers killed, several injured after drone attack on school in Sumy Oblast

All other 84 long-distance trains are running on schedule, Ukrzaliznytsia said.

Russia launched its latest massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine in the early hours of Aug. 30.

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The air raid on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv was the biggest since spring, with debris from downed missiles falling in two districts of the capital, killing two people and wounding three others.

Read also: SBU detains Ukrzaliznytsia employee for facilitating Russian attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

A total of 28 cruise missiles and 15 drones were destroyed during the overnight attack on Ukraine in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Odesa, and Mykolaiv oblasts.

Destruction was reported in Kyiv Oblast, while in Zhytomyr Oblast, one of the Shahed drones damaged an infrastructure facility and a railway track.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
At least two people were killed and two wounded by debris from shot-down missiles in two Kyiv districts after Russia launched a large attack on the Ukrainian capital and other parts of the country on Aug.30.

More than 20 enemy targets were destroyed over and around the Ukrainian capital as two waves of Russian attacks, one with drones and then with missiles, rushed toward Kyiv. The Ukrainian capital has not experienced such a heavy attack since spring.

Read also: Ukrainian air defenses down dozens of Russian cruise missiles and kamikaze drones in massive overnight air attack

Two male security guards, one aged 26 and the other 36,were killed in Kyiv when debris from a shot down Russian cruise missile fell on an enterprise in the citys Shevchenkivsky District. Other debris fell on the roof of a supermarket of the French company Auchan in Darnytsky District on the left bank of Kyiv, starting a fire.

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The attacks took place between 3 a.m. and 5.30 a.m.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said on Ukrainian national television on Aug. 30 that although the attack was large, it was not of the scale of the ones that Russia had launched at Ukraine during last autumn and winter.

Read also: Ukraine shoots down four missiles overnight, including two above Cherkasy Oblast

"It wouldn't qualify as a massive missile attack, Ihnat said. The (term) 'massive' implies a broader scale, while this constitutes yet another assault by the (enemy). A total of twenty-eight missiles were launched from the Caspian and Engels areas (of Russia), fired from Tu-95MS strategic bombers.

All 28 cruise missiles fired at targets in Ukraine were successfully intercepted and destroyed by air defenses in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Odesa, and Mykolaiv oblasts, Ihnat said. The enemy also launched Shahed kamikaze drones from the Kusrk area of western Russia, as well as from locations to the south of Ukraine. Fifteen out of the 16 Shahed drones detected by air defenses were destroyed.

In Kyiv Oblast, private residences were damaged, and three individuals were injured during the overnight attack.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Multiple military aircraft have been damaged or destroyed in Russia this month.

It is the latest in a series of similar incidents highlighting the vulnerability of its air force.

Its a sign of Russia's inability to protect itself that has Russian war bloggers angry.

Russian military aircraft keep getting damaged or destroyed at airbases deep inside its own territory, exposing gaps in its defenses that Ukraine has been able to exploit.

Military analysts told The Wall Street Journal that Ukraine has likely disabled more Russian aircraft while they were sitting in bases than it had in live combat. It is a situation that will likely prove embarrassing for one of the world's foremost military powers.

The latest damaged aircraft are four transport planes damaged in a drone attack at an airport in the city of Pskov in north-west Russia, including two that were on fire, according to state media outlet TASS.

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It is around 450 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Russia's foreign ministry blamed Ukraine, saying it "will not go unpunished," Reuters reported.

It followed a string of attacks on aircraft at bases within Russia and its occupied territory this month.

A prized supersonic Russian Tupolev Tu-22 bomber was blown up earlier this month at the Soltsky-2 airfield in Russia's Novgorod region, which is also more than 400 miles from the border.

Russia's defense ministry blamed a Ukrainian drone for that attack too.

Around the same time, Ukraine carried out a drone strike on a third facility, the Shaykovka base, where at least one aircraft was damaged. That base was closer, but still 130 miles from the border.

A fourth attack was earlier in August  satellite photos suggested that at least nine Russian planes were damaged or destroyed in Saky airbase in Crimea, around 100 miles from Ukrainian-held territory.

At the time Eliot Higgins, founder of investigative website Bellingcat which often covers Russia, said he "can't think of a time Russia has lost this many air assets in one day in recent memory."

There are broadly two ways to hit distant airfields like this  either of them bad for Russia.

Ukraine could fire drones or missiles from its own territory, which involves defeating Russia's supposedly competent air defense.

Or it could deploy people far enough behind enemy lines to do the attacks at shorter range, defeating its supposedly competent border defenses and security services.

The details of the attacks are rarely clear, but UK intelligence said the attack on the Soltsky-2 airfield was likely launched from within Russian territory.

The attacks prompted recrimination in Russia.

The Institute for the Study of War, a respected US think tank, said that Russian military bloggers criticized officials for not storing aircraft properly using hangars that might have kept them safer.

The ISW said the reaction shows how "such deep attacks support larger Ukrainian efforts to degrade Russian morale."

Ukrainian drone attacks have also touched Moscow in recent weeks, in some cases prompting its airports to close down.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for most of them, but Ukraine has often not taken responsibility, in keeping with a general policy of rarely acknowledging attacks on Russian soil.

Rebel groups within Russia have occasionally taken responsibility for attacks, but not the recent hits on airfields.

Russian officials said on Wednesday that Ukrainian drones were fired at multiple Russian regions: Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow, Reuters reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Russian police lieutenant colonel was killed by a drone while mowing his lawn on his day off, local reports say

Broken windows of a damaged residential building is seen after shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the town of Shebekino, Belgorod Region, Russia on June 21, 2023. Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

A senior Russian police officer was killed by a drone while mowing his lawn on Saturday, reports say.

Identified as Alexey Ch., the man worked in Russia's anti-corruption service, Baza reported.

The local governor confirmed a man was killed by a drone while mowing grass at a country house.

A lieutenant colonel in the Russian police was killed on Saturday by a drone attack while mowing the lawn at his country house, according to local news reports.

The senior officer, identified as Alexey Ch., was the deputy head of a regional department in Russia's anti-corruption and economic security service, Russian Telegram channel Baza reported.

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He was on his day off and mowing grass in Shchetinovka, a rural locality in Belgorod, when the drone attack struck, per Baza.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, wrote on Sunday that a man was killed by a drone while mowing a lawn at a country house in Shchetinovka. However, he did not identify the deceased.

Gladkov blamed Ukraine for the drone attack, saying Kyiv's forces "dropped an explosive device" on the man, inflicting fatal shrapnel wounds.

Belgorod is the Russian region closest to Ukraine's northeastern border, and Shchetinovka is around 20 miles from Kharkiv, a major Ukrainian city that saw intense fighting in 2022.

Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the strike as of Tuesday, and has rarely commented on the recent drone attacks plaguing Moscow, its airports, and Russian air bases.

Ukrainian drone attacks caused the capital's airports to temporarily shut at least three times this week, and Russia said on Monday that it shot down a Ukrainian drone approaching Moscow.

While Kyiv did not say it carried out these strikes, Ukrainian officials have celebrated the attacks, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling them an "inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair process" resulting from Russia's invasion.

The Russian Defense Ministry and Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
There is a high rate of desertion among Russian forces, demonstrating low morale and the reluctance of some Russian soldiers to fight, reads the latest Ukraine situation intelligence report issued by the UK Ministry of Defense on Aug. 30

The desertions likely reflect a lack of training and motivation affecting Russian forces along the entire Ukrainian front line, the Defense Intelligence report said.

Read also: Ukraine gives fiery greeting to Russian command center in occupied southern Ukraine

UK intelligence analysts scrutinized reports about two Russian military personnel sentenced to serve at least two years in a penal colony for refusing to obey orders to return to the front in Ukraine. Another investigation by Russian independent news website Meduza indicates a surge in criminal cases related to soldiers taking unauthorized leave from military units in Russia. Within the first six months of 2023, the courts received 2,076 such cases, according to previous reports.

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Read also: Russian soldiers complain of being treated with disgust by Muscovites

Despite the fact that some Russian soldiers have declined to participate in combat operations and casualties remain substantial, Russia presumably compensates for its losses by deploying poorly trained soldiers to the front line. If this trend persists, the number of convictions for refusing to participate in the war against Ukraine could escalate to 5,200 cases annually, UK intelligence experts say.

Financial compensation, in the form of salaries and additional benefits, is the main factor driving Russians to enlist in the Russian Armed Forces, particularly those residing in the "impoverished regions" of the country, an earlier UK intelligence report on Aug. 29 reads.

In an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Kyrylo Budanov, the Chief of Intelligence for the Ukrainian military, noted that Russia is contemplating the mobilization of an additional 450,000 individuals. Russia revised its conscription law to raise the draft age from 27 to 30 on July 25.

Read also: POW reveals lack of drinking water, logistics supplies, other issues in Russian army

Russia, due to setbacks in their invasion of Ukraine, might intend to enlist another 400,000 contract soldiers. Russian losses in Ukraine are approaching 257,000.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Russian invaders once again attacked settlements in Donetsk Oblast on the night of 29-30 August, killing two civilians and wounding seven more.

Source: Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office

Details: Residential areas of the city of Kurakhovo in particular came under Russian fire. Five women aged 28 to 80 and two men aged 25 and 32 were injured and taken to hospital with mine-blast injuries and concussion.

In addition, the Russian invaders attacked the village of Bohatyr in Volnovakha district, reportedly with S-300 missile systems. The epicentre of the explosions was the site of a farm, where two caretakers aged 44 and 59 were killed  one of the men was indoors and the other was outside. Cattle were also injured.

The explosions damaged apartment blocks and private residential buildings, warehouses and outbuildings.

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It is stated that prosecutors are taking all possible and appropriate measures to document war crimes committed by representatives of the Russian Armed Forces.

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Russian forces have destroyed a kindergarten in the settlement of Mykolaivka in Tiahynka hromada [a hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories  ed.].

Source: Kherson Oblast Military Administration on Telegram

Quote: "This photo shows the ruins of a kindergarten in the village of Mykolaivka in Tiahynka hromada. This is yet another educational institution destroyed by the Russian army in Kherson Oblast. No one was injured in the shelling."

Background:

A 75-year-old man in Kherson Oblast was injured by the Russians on 29 August, and a tractor driver lost his life after hitting a Russian mine near Novopetrivka in Kherson Oblast.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian flag was raised by soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the left bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast, over the district of Dachi, which is now a "grey zone".

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
The so-called authorities of Sevastopol reported explosions on the night of 29-30 August in the area of Sevastopol Bay.

Source: Mikhail Razvozhayev, the so-called governor of Sevastopol, on Telegram; Krymsky Veter (Crimean Wind), a local Telegram channel

Quote from Razvozhayev: "As per the information available, the forces of the Black Sea Fleet are repelling attacks by enemy drones from the sea near Sevastopol Bay."

Details: Krymsky Veter shared a video of which supposedly shows Russian air defence responding in the area of occupied Sevastopol.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
A soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the front line in Zaporizhzhya Oblast

The advance of Ukrainian forces in the eastern and western parts of Zaporizhzhya Oblast has sparked concern among Russians, who acknowledge the vulnerability of their defense lines, reads a report from the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) of Aug. 29.

Ukrainian forces advanced near Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast and Robotyne in western Zaporizhzhya Oblast on Aug. 29. Geolocated footage published on that day indicates that Ukrainian forces advanced south of Bakhmut and about five kilometers southeast of Robotyne.

The Ukrainian militarys General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces conducted offensive operations in the Bakhmut and Melitopol (western Zaporizhzhya Oblast) directions. Ukrainian forces continued to secure positions in Robotyne and are demining the area, Ukrainian Tavriisk Group of Forces spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun said on Aug. 28.

Read also: Russians convert sanatorium in Melitopol into field hospital, says Ukrainian General Staff

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He said that Ukrainian forces could bring more troops to the Robotyne area and would have greater opportunities for maneuver. Robotyne is near the highway to Tokmak, an important Russian ground line of communication (GLOC), noted Shtupun. A Russian military blogger suggested that Russian forces are continuing to commit a significant number of reserves, Airborne (VDV) elements, and TOS-1 thermobaric artillery systems to the area  likely indicating that Russian forces are worried about the vulnerability of their positions in Robotyne, states ISW.

Russian sources continued to express concerns over Russian vulnerabilities in eastern and the western Zaporizhzhya Oblast. A Russian military blogger claimed that the situation near Verbove (18 kilometers southwest of Orikhiv) is very dangerous. Russian Vostok Battalion commander Alexander Khodakovsky, reportedly defending the eastern Donetsk-western Zaporizhzhya Oblast border area, claimed that Russian forces in his sector were stretched in a long arc along the frontline, are having difficulties transferring reserves, and lack resources.

ISW

ISW

Khodakovsky also said that Ukrainian efforts to cut off Russian transport routes would further complicate the situation. Khodakovskys and the Vostok Battalions complaints are likely those of tactical commanders focused on their own local issues on a sector of the front that is of lower priority to Russian theater commanders who are focusing efforts in western Zaporizhzhya.

Meanwhile, Russian military bloggers have been accusing the Russian Ministry of Defense for the fifth consecutive day of attempting to conceal concerns over the mistreatment of the 205th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of Southern Military District (SMD) operating in occupied Kherson Oblast of Ukraine.

Read also: Zaluzhnyi convinced Ukrainian forces on verge of breakthrough  report

The persistent complaints are likely an attempt to spark command changes that may favor Russian Airborne Forces Commander Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky, who reportedly oversees Russian forces in southern Ukraine, suggests ISW. They are likely aimed at discrediting Colonel General Oleg Makarevich, commander of the Dnepr Group of Forces (Kherson Oblast).

The Russian Ministry of Defense may be reverting to the more limited coverage of the war in Ukraine while attempting to censor complaints along the frontline and reports of Ukrainian advances, ISW analysts speculate. The Russian MoD recently changed its daily reporting style to reduce the daily amount of information it reports on the war. Previously, the Russian MoD issued a daily situational report that differed from the individual situational reports from the press services of each Russian grouping of forces.

Read also: Ukrainian forces achieve breakthrough at Robotyne, General Staff reports

The press services of each Russian grouping of forces issued text directly copied from the overall daily situational report instead of their own original reports on Aug. 29. The Russian MoD has consistently attempted to institute an information policy that would provide limited information about the frontlines throughout the war, ISW said.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
One day before classes were set to resume, teachers in the Sacramento City Unified School District received a 10% raise retroactive to July 2022, the result of an uncharacteristically speedy negotiation between the district and its teachers union that was announced Wednesday.

The teachers union and district officials began negotiating earlier this month on a contract reopener before coming to an agreement on the ongoing salary increases, along with 6% ongoing raises for those educators who provide critical services to our students including special education teachers, education audiologists, school nurses, social workers, and school psychologists, district and union officials announced in a joint media statement.

The raises ensure that employees represented by the Sacramento City Teachers Association remain the highest compensated teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and language, speech and hearing specialists in the greater Sacramento region, the district said in a joint statement with SCTA.

The daily substitute pay in the district also will increase to $355.

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After years of acrimony, including a 2022 strike that shut district schools down for eight days, the messages in Wednesdays announcement was remarkably cordial. District officials wrote the sides began negotiating this month with a commitment by both the District and SCTA to work in a collaborative manner.

Former Superintendent Jorge A. Aguilar stepped down in June after six turbulent years leading the 12th-largest district in California.

Our message is clear: Our teachers are invaluable to us, Sacramento City Board of Education President Chinua Rhodes said. Their dedication to our communities, even in the face of challenges, doesnt go unnoticed. Change is possible, and as we strengthen our united gratitude for educators, and eagerly embrace new teaching talents, we aspire to inspire lasting commitment. This agreement ensures our District remains at the forefront, attracting skilled educators to prepare our students for success, an urgent need as our nation and state grapple with a significant shortage of teachers.

Nikki Milevsky, SCTAs president, said the school board and interim Superintendent Lisa Allen have demonstrated a real commitment to moving our district forward in a new, more constructive direction.

This agreement takes a big step in ensuring that every student has a fully-credentialed educator in the classroom who reflects the diversity of our District, Milevsky said in the joint statement.

The district and union said they are now negotiating a two-year contract to cover the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years and will make all reasonable efforts to complete those negotiations by Nov. 15.
Sacramento State leaders said Tuesday that 49% of the Native American cultural items the university possesses and has not yet repatriated, and nearly three-quarters of its human remains, have been claimed by tribal nations and will likely be repatriated within a year.

A state audit completed in June found that 6% of nearly 700,000 collected human remains and cultural items in the California State University system have been repatriated.

Institutions were required to submit inventories and summaries of their collections to the U.S. government under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act by 1995, according to university officials. Historically, submission was done poorly or not at all, state officials said.

The audit found Sacramento State had the third-largest collection of Native American remains at 114,400 items. Sonoma State has the most and Chico State the second-most.

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Forty-nine percent of entries means about 55,424 items are slated to be returned within the next 12 months, school officials said.

Wood said that 73% of all ancestors, or human remains, are projected to be returned in that timeline. The university houses 1,484 ancestral remains, according to the audit, meaning close to 1,100 are expected to be repatriated within the year.

A lot of factors will be at play that could affect that rough timeline, but that is our goal, said Brian Blomster, a university spokesman.

In the Tuesday news conference, Sacramento State President Luke Wood said he would like to see 100% of the items repatriated within the next few years.

(It) is a very aggressive timeline, but it needs to be done, Wood said.

Sarah Eckhardt, the universitys NAGPRA coordinator, said it is difficult to provide a definitive timeline for the rest of the items, as the work is done at the pace dictated by the consulting tribes.

These are human beings, Wood said. The focus has been trying to make sure that what was supposed to occur has occurred. Were talking about lives that have passed on from this life to the next. Thats what I heard very strongly from our native community, the deep level of pain that still emanates from it (to) this day.

Sacramento State sits on Miwok, Maidu and Nisenan land in Californias capital city. The remains were likely collected in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, according to Wood.

We have had ongoing dialogue with our sovereign tribal nations in the local area, Wood said.

He said the university has three liaisons sitting on a campus NAGPRA committee, including representatives from a Shingle Springs-based band of Miwok Indians, the United Auburn Indian Community and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in Yolo County.

He said the campus historically did not provide the resources, staffing or funding to make repatriation possible.

In terms of staffing, the college has hired two full-time employees to coordinate NAGPRA artifacts, and it set aside funding from the provosts office of academic affairs to aid in repatriation efforts, according to Wood.

But, that is simply not enough, Wood said. We feel it is important to acknowledge that the past has not been what it should have been and to apologize to our tribal partners and those that are a part of our native and indigenous community.

The process of waiting for repatriation for their ancestors and cultural items has been unacceptable. It is disheartening, and we must do better.

Where are Native American items stored at Sacramento State?

The Native American remains that the campus possesses are held in a location within the archaeology department, according to campus officials.

The ancestors and cultural objects held by Sacramento State are securely stored on campus in locked rooms that have limited access, Eckhardt said.

She said most objects and human remains are stored in a manner required by federal curation standards, but the school is working with tribal partners to rehouse items when possible into culturally appropriate containers.

Labeling and tracking is typically done on the outsides of boxes on paper tags, officials said. Historically, archaeologists would write tracking information directly on the objects, though this practice is no longer employed at the university, Eckhardt said.

Officials said the repatriation process begins with consultations with tribal nations to determine cultural affiliation, tribal preferences for appropriate handling and what cultural objects in a collection should be repatriated.

Then, appropriate notices are published in the Federal Register. After a 30-day waiting period, transfer of control may proceed.

Eckhardt said the college will frequently enter into agreements with a tribe to hold a collection until the tribe is ready to take possession. She said this will happen in cases where the tribe is waiting for land to rebury the remains.

We know the names of some of these people, Wood said. There are people who are related to the people that are in your facility. So, theres a sense of anger at the timeline.

Notices of repatriation are published on Sacramento States website.

California lawmakers hold hearing on repatriation

Woods repatriation announcement came hours after he answered questions from lawmakers about the issue during a hearing in the California State Assembly conducted by a joint legislative audit and the Select Committee on Native American Affairs, which is chaired by Assemblyman James Ramos, D-San Bernardino. Ramos is Californias first elected Native American lawmaker; he was elected in 2018.

Some of the university presidents present at the hearing said repatriation has lagged to due a lack of funding and guidance from the CSU Office of the Chancellor, according to Maria Lopez, a spokeswoman for Ramos.

Lopez said NAGPRA can issue $7,475 in civil penalties for every campus violation; and CalNAGPRA, a state-level supplement to the federal law, allows for up to $20,000 in penalties depending on the number of violations committed by a campus and the level of additional damage caused to items.

Since 1995, neither state nor federal authorities have enforced penalties that Ramos office is aware of, Lopez said.

She said institutions like Harvard University and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have also violated repatriation laws unpunished.
LAWRENCE, Kan.  Crowds gathered in Lawrence to celebrate the relocation of a sacred prayer artifact back to its native tribe land.

The Sacred Red Rock has been at Lawrences Robinson Park since 1929, but its finally returning to the Kaw Nation.

Panasonic makes De Soto footprint even bigger

Kim Jenkins, chairwoman of the the Kaw Nation, told KSNT that having the rock make its way back to the tribe is a step in the right direction. She hopes it encourages other tribes to take similar steps in retrieving historic artifacts.

Its something that I wasnt a part of, that now were bringing it home, Jenkins said. And now we can go back to bringing it in our ceremonies and doing justice for the rock.

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Those celebrating the rocks return gathered Tuesday in Lawrence to listen to speakers, a drum honor song and join in friendship dances.

In addition to representatives from the Kaw like Jenkins and vice-chairman Jim Pepper Henry, speakers included Gov. Laura Kelly, Lawrence Mayor Lisa Larsen and Lawrence City Commissioner Courtney Shipley.

The 28-ton rock has been at Robinson Park for 93 years, but before that, it was near Tecumseh in Shawnee County. The City of Lawrence has apologized to the Kaw Nation for taking possession of the sacred rock and has been working with them to get it returned.

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The rock will be transported to Council Grove, where Jenkins said the Kaw Nation will be able to properly care for it. According to Jenkins, the rock has played a key part in the tribes history as a sacred prayer item thats often at the center of various ceremonies.

Last week, workers removed the rock from its base at the park. Next, they plan to disassemble the base and send those smaller rocks to Council Grove with the Sacred Red Rock on Aug. 30.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
When deadly gun violence gripped the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday, Emmy Martin received a flurry of text messages from loved ones asking if she was safe.

As she replied while in lockdown in the journalism schools library, she realized that this terrifying event, which shattered the students sense of security and claimed the life of Zijie Yan, an associate professor in the applied sciences department, was deserving of an equally powerful response.

After the terror subsided, Martin, who was in her second week as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel, came up with the idea of displaying on the cover a string of real text messages exchanged by students to show the agonizing hours on lockdown.

A copy of Wednesday's front page shared by Caitlyn Yaede, the Tar Heel's print managing editor, quickly went viral on social media and was largely praised for the emotions it evoked.

The front page of tomorrow's @dailytarheel 



I shed many tears while typing up these heart-wrenching text messages sent and received by UNC students yesterday. Our campus was on lockdown for more than three hours.



Beyond proud of this cover and the team behind it. pic.twitter.com/2gE51TrHZ8  Caitlyn (she/her) (@caitlyn_yaede) August 30, 2023

It also drew a response from President Joe Biden, who shared the front page on social media.

This was the front page of UNC-Chapel Hill's Daily Tar Heel.



No student, no parent, and no American should have to send texts like these to their loved ones as they hide from a shooter.



I'll continue to do all I can to reduce gun violence and call on Congress to do the same. pic.twitter.com/nkLUBUTaNq  President Biden (@POTUS) August 30, 2023

"To see people respond so viscerally and people saying, 'This made us cry,' made all of us on the staff realize our impact," Martin, 20, said. "Every one of us has shed tears. It's just been a lot to process as a student and a journalist, and it has really helped rejuvenate us."

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But the inspiration for the front page did not come instantaneously.

The Tar Heel publishes daily online, but a print version comes only once a week. This week's print edition was set to publish on Wednesday and was slated to be a 16-page preview dedicated to football season at UNC's flagship campus.

The newsroom of The Daily Tar Heel on Aug. 24, 2023. (Emmy Martin / The Daily Tar Heel)

The shooting, however, took precedence. During the lockdown, the newspaper's staff filed live updates on its website.

"I immediately went into journalism mode," Martin said, recalling while she was on lockdown. "I don't know if that was the way to cope, but we had to get this information out to our community while combatting disinformation that was coming out on social media."

Later that day, after UNC police gave the "all clear" on campus, Martin said she and other managers at the paper began thinking about what Wednesday's print edition would look like. They tossed around ideas for the front page, and thought something simple, like a two-word headline, could be compelling.

"What were those words? We didn't know. Nothing felt right," Martin said. "Nothing described what those students experienced on Monday. We were unsure of what to do."

Law enforcement and first responders work at the scene of a shooting on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus (Kaitlin McKeown / The News & Observer via AP)

She said she went home and began scrolling through her phone in bed. The texts she received were succinct: "Are you safe?" "I hear there's a shooting." "Are you OK?"

On social media, friends were posting screenshots of similar messages.

"And that's when it hit me," Martin said, "this is our front page."

She texted Yeade her idea right away and the next morning asked the paper's staff to send her all the texts they got during lockdown. Then, the staff got to work picking the ones that best encapsulated the uncertainty and life-and-death feelings of that moment.

On Tuesday evening, Yeade shared an early copy of the front page. Twenty minutes later, it had 1,000 quote tweets on X, formerly known as Twitter, and has since been reposted more than 18,000 times.

Physical copies of Wednesday's paper ran out on campus on Wednesday.

The response, Martin said, has been overwhelming for the 37 editors and staff of the Tar Heel, which is editorially and financially independent from the university. She said university officials did not reach out to the paper about the front page. The school did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

Martin said the focus is now sustaining coverage of the shooting, assigning stories on the professor who was killed, students' mental health and how various entities responded, from police to the university itself.

The suspected assailant, a graduate student in the same research department as the professor, was charged with first-degree murder and possession of a gun on an educational property. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for next month. Police said Tuesday they are still piecing together a motive.

Classes at UNC were expected to resume Thursday.

"This is definitely a sobering experience," said Martin, who has since tested positive for Covid and has been quarantining in her room. "But now I see how our work matters so much."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
[Source]

San Francisco is the best city for Filipino food in the U.S., according to a new report.

Best cities for Filipino food: The latest Price of Meat report, which helps consumers find high-quality meat, showcased the 20 best cities for Filipino food, with San Francisco ranking as the top city. Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego, Honolulu, San Jose and Houston complete the top 10 list.

About the rankings: The rankings were based on factors such as the number of Filipino restaurants, food award nominations, presence of Jollibee fast food locations and the overall enthusiasm for Filipino cuisine in each metro area.

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About San Francisco: San Francisco, which is the second most populous region for Filipinos in the U.S., showcases its strong ties to Filipino culture through festivals and events while providing a range of dining establishments that specialize in Filipino dishes.

More from NextShark: Aziz Ansari to make film directorial debut with Good Fortune starring Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen

The success of establishments like Abaca, which received a James Beard Award nomination, highlights the exceptional quality and creativity of Filipino food in San Francisco, the organization wrote. Additionally, multiple Jollibee locations reflect the citys appreciation for Filipino cuisine.

For those who have not had Filipino food, the Price of Meat recommends dishes such as lumpia, adobo, pancit and the traditional dessert Halo-Halo.

More from NextShark: 'Kind and Generous' Pizzeria Owner, 56, Brutally Beaten By Thieves in Pennsylvania

Celebration of cultural diversity: While the ranking reflects the increasing popularity of Filipino food across the U.S., Price of Meat also views the report as a celebration of cultural diversity within the nations food scene.

This report is not just about recognizing the best cities for Filipino food. It's also about celebrating the cultural diversity that makes our nation's food scene so vibrant and unique, said the organization's Robert Greene, according to Newswire.

The organization encourages food lovers to explore the listed cities and enjoy the wide array of Filipino dishes available, from traditional to innovative fusion creations.

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Sriracha shortage linked to weather conditions and drought
The temporary Black Rock City where the annual 'radical self-expression' festival Burning Man takes place seen from space by the European Earth-observing satellite Sentinel-2.

Satellites watched as a temporary city sprang up in the Nevada desert, where the famed Burning Man "radical self-expression" festival kicked off on Monday (Aug. 28).

One spacecraft even caught a glimpse of some sort of fire burning on the city's main plaza, although it wasn't Burning Man's main fire, which will close the festival next week.

Satellites of the U.S. Earth-observation company Maxar Technologies took daytime images of the makeshift Black Rock City, showing a circular footprint resembling an ancient Greek amphitheater. In the middle of the city is a round plaza surrounded by a series of concentric circles delineating the city's "streets," around which cars are parked and tents pitched.

Maxar's spacecraft took those images on Sunday (Aug. 27), one day before the official start of the festival, which will run until next Tuesday (Sept. 5).

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Related: Burning Man 2019 spotted from space (satellite photos)

Image 1 of 3

Burning Man festival from space seen by a Maxar Technologies Earth-observation satellite.

Image 2 of 3

The Burning Man festival seen from space.

Image 3 of 3

The Burning Man festival seen from space.

The European Earth-observation satellite Sentinel-2 flew over the city on the same day, catching a glimpse of some kind of fire burning in the middle of the main plaza. The Burning Man festival is named after an effigy that is ceremoniously burned toward the end of the festival on the night before Labor Day, which this year falls on Sept. 4. The fire caught by the Sentinel-2 satellite therefore couldn't be that big fire just yet.

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"Sentinel2 seems to show some kind of fire . Mix of greyscale visible light and SWIR [short-wave infrared]," an Earth-observation researcher who goes by the moniker kosmi said on X, formerly Twitter, under, in a post on Monday that shared the image.

Burning Man is an annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada some 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of Reno. The festival celebrates all forms of "radical self-expression" and "radical self-reliance," which could be described as very unusual forms of art and communal living. Although tickets cost upward of $575, the event lists decommodification and gifting among its main principles.
This is a locator map for Saudi Arabia with its capital, Riyadh. (AP Photo) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  A Saudi court has sentenced a man to death over his posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, and his activity on YouTube, the latest in a widening crackdown on dissent in the kingdom that has drawn international criticism.

The judgement against Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, seen Wednesday by The Associated Press, comes against the backdrop of doctoral student Salma al-Shehab and others facing decadeslong prison sentences over their comments online.

The sentences appear part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman 's wider effort to stamp out any defiance in the kingdom as he pursues massive building projects and other diplomatic deals to raise his profile globally.

Al-Ghamdis death sentence over tweets is extremely horrific but stands in line with the Saudi authorities escalating crackdown," said Lina Alhathloul, the head of monitoring and advocacy at the London-based advocacy group ALQST.

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Lengthy prison sentences issued for free speech, such as 27 years against Salma al-Shehab, have not received sufficient outcry, and the authorities have taken this as a green light to double down on their repression, Alhathloul said. They are sending a clear and sinister message  that nobody is safe and even a tweet can get you killed.

Officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the sentence handed down by Saudi Arabias Specialized Criminal Court, which was established to hear terror cases but now also weighs charges against activists.

According to court documents, the charges levied against al-Ghamdi include betraying his religion, disturbing the security of society," conspiring against the government and impugning the kingdom and the crown prince  all for his activity online that involved re-sharing critics' posts.

Saudi officials offered no reason for why they specifically targeted al-Ghamdi, a retired school teacher living in the city of Mecca. However, his brother, Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, is a well-known critic of the Saudi government living in the United Kingdom.

This false ruling aims to spite me personally after failed attempts by the investigators to have me return to the country, the brother tweeted last Thursday.

Saudi Arabia has used arrests of family members in the past as a means to pressure those abroad into returning home, activists and those targeted in the past say.

The sentence drew immediate criticism from international rights groups.

Repression in Saudi Arabia has reached a terrifying new stage when a court can hand down the death penalty for nothing more than peaceful tweets, said Joey Shea, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Saudi Arabia is one of the world's top executioners, behind only China and Iran in 2022, according to Amnesty International. The number of people Saudi Arabia executed last year  196 inmates  was the highest recorded by Amnesty in 30 years. In one day alone last March, the kingdom executed 81 people, the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history.

However, al-Ghamdi's case appears to be the first in the current crackdown to level the death penalty against someone for their online behavior.
The SBU attacked collaborators in the city of Kamianka-Dniprovska, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, NV sources said

Ukraines SBU security service carried out a drone attack on a polling station in the Russian-occupied town of Kamianka-Dniprovska, in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast on Aug. 29, NV sources within the SBU have reported.

The attack came as local election commission heads from across the district gathered for a meeting at the polling station, the SBU said. It said there were numerous casualties as a result of the attack.

Read also: Russia evacuating collaborators in Zaporizhzhya Oblast

Over 30 collaborators, guarded by Russian soldiers, including fighters of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, were intending to distribute "ballots" and setup voting booths in preparation for sham "elections" in the Russian-occupied part of the oblast. The sham elections were scheduled for Sept. 10.

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The SBU said it used precision strike drones, sweeping in in multiple waves, to carry out the attack. Details about the exact results of the strike "will become assessable later," the SBU said.

Read also: SBU nabs collaborators who had joint business with Russians in Luhansk Oblast

Russian military units are now encircling the town, utilizing electronic warfare systems, anti-aircraft defenses, and other measures. However, the sources indicate that their ability to safeguard the collaborators appears to be limited to verbal assurances only.

"The successful operation by the SBU underscores as another warning to all collaborators working for Russia, putting their lives and safety at stake," NV's sources said.

Photo provided by NV sources in the SBU

Earlier, the Ukrainian Defense Ministrys Main Intelligence Directorate or HUR revealed that a kamikaze drone flew into the window of the apartment of "deputy chairman" of the occupational "military-civil administration" of Kamianka-Dniprovska, Oleksandr Reimer, at around 6 a.m. on Aug. 24. As a result he was wounded and hospitalized.

Read also: SBU detains woman in Sumy for spying on Ukrainian troops

The HUR said it had helped local resistance fighters carry out the attack.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The air hung thick and humid in Chapel Hill on Tuesday, only an occasional leaf on a brick path or slight breeze offering signs that fall is on the way.

Memories of summer were still fresh for students at UNC-Chapel Hill on Monday  less than two full weeks into the first semester of the academic year  when a graduate student at the university allegedly shot and killed an associate professor in a laboratory building, sending the campus into a lockdown for three hours.

Some students, though, hadnt simply returned to Chapel Hill from a three-month summer break. They had arrived to campus this month for the first time.

These students, mostly first-year students and some international students on exchange, huddled in unfamiliar dorm rooms, bathrooms and dining halls, barricading themselves and hiding from the then-unclear danger. They froze upon hearing of the threat  from friends texts, the concerned faculty around them or through university alert messages  trying to get their bearings in a new place and work through their confusion.

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Alert messages sent by the university repeatedly urged people to shelter in place, but gave little specific information about the situation that was unfolding  only an initial warning of an Armed, dangerous person on or near campus, and updates that a suspect was at large.

Ruth Uzochukwu, a first-year student from Raleigh, was walking out of her room in a residence hall to head to class when she learned of the threat. She turned around, went back into her room, and hid alone for the duration of the lockdown.

It was scary to be in there alone, she said. I think thats what got me. Weve had drills, we had situations in high school, but at least I was with other people in my classroom. But handling it alone was what really made it even scarier.

Surreal experience for international student

Uzochukwu was one of dozens of students on campus Tuesday who came to pet local dogs from Hugs and Pups, an organization that formed in the wake of a string of student deaths at UNC in 2021.

Students filtered in and out of the central part of the universitys campus, on the main quad and at The Pit, throughout the day. Many students congregated in groups under the mostly overcast sky, discussing their experiences of the previous day as they waited to see one of about eight dogs on campus with Hugs and Pups, or grab a free slice of pizza from a volunteer stationed outside of the Undergraduate Library.

Alberto Laveron, an international student from Spain who moved to campus less than two weeks ago, sheltered in the FedEx Global Education Center Monday with other students and staff. Growing up in Europe, he said, he did not receive training for active shooter situations, and he was grateful for the guidance of those he sheltered with.

I dont know what I would have done without their help, he said.

Sheltered together, the small group monitored alert messages from the university. Laveron originally had set those messages to go to his European phone number, but was eventually able to get them under his American number, he said.

After the university issued an all clear message around 4:15 p.m., Laveron left the building and walked to a campus dining hall. Along the way, he saw a large police presence still on campus, many with guns. He picked up a plate of brownies and cookies, then returned to his dorm room on campus to eat.

It was just surreal, to be honest with you, he told The N&O. I never thought I would experience something like this.

First-years shelter in dining hall

Katie Fiore and Lucas Moore, both first-year students from Asheville and Cary, respectively, were upstairs in Lenoir dining hall, in the center of campus and not far from Caudill Labs, on Monday afternoon when dining employees began ushering people away from windows and locking the doors.

The pair listened to music  David Bowie and James Taylor, Fiore said  to keep calm, as dining employees continued to serve food and reassure students of their safety. Both told The News & Observer they had received training for active shooter situations in previous levels of schooling, but had not been prepared to experience such an event at UNC, especially so early into their time as students there.

I felt like I had a plan back then for what I was going to do, and I did not expect it to happen here, Moore said. The thought did not occur to me, during my first two weeks here, that this was going to happen.

Muriel Folk, a first-year student from Raleigh, was on the bottom floor of the dining hall building, not yet having swiped her student ID card to get a meal. When a friend approached her to tell her that an active shooter was on campus, the group moved away from nearby windows and gathered together to pray.

Though she now knows she was in close proximity to the Caudill building, Folk said she was unaware of that at the time because of how new she is to the large campus.

Folk said she participated in lockdown drills in elementary school, but had not experienced one at the private school she began attending in seventh grade. She said she had not received training for such situations at UNC.

I think because it was so early in the school year, no one really talked about, you know, what to do in a school shooting here, she said.

Folk said she wants to channel her experience Monday into action on gun violence, but said its daunting to know where to start as a young student on campus wanting to know how to address such a large issue.

The people I was with yesterday  not just those but, you know, 30,000 people on campus  were not knowing if they were going to survive the day, Folk said. And I dont think thats a reality that anyone should have to face.

Folk said Monday was a life-changing event for her, and though her professors have been supportive and caring, she wonders how she will continue to process it all as the semester continues. One of the final alerts from the university on Monday told people to resume normal activities, and classes will resume Thursday after a two-day pause.

How do I go about a normal day after this? Folk said.

The academic year will march on. But the memory of Monday will stay with them.
Schools in Ukraines frontline territories will be closed for students starting from September, even if nearby shelters are available.

Source: Suspilne (Ukraine's public broadcaster), citing Andrii Stashkiv, Deputy Minister of Science and Education of Ukraine, on the national 24/7 newscast

Stashkiv said most of the 13,000 schools in Ukraine plan to return to in-person teaching from the beginning of September.

About 3,800 schools will work in a mixed mode, since the shelters in these buildings may not accommodate all teachers and learners simultaneously.

Photo: Artur Verkhovetskiy/Depositphotos

Pupils from another 2,500 institutions will continue to study remotely.

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Quote: "One fully-fledged shelter costs about UAH 30 million (approximately US$810,000). This year, the state allocated UAH 1.5 billion (approximately US$40 million) for their construction. We expect that a significant number of schools will be equipped with new fully-fledged shelters," Stashkiv said.

He added that schools in the frontline territories will not be open, but institutions that have relocated from temporarily occupied regions will be.

"We have some schools that have relocated from the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts. They are now operating in Ukrainian-controlled territory and will start working remotely from 1 September, including for students from temporarily occupied territories," the deputy minister added.

Background: Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science is proposing to hold the first lesson on the importance of mental health in schools on 1 September.

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Scientists have found material from outside of our solar system for the first ever time, according to a controversial Harvard Professor.

The spheres were found in the Pacific Ocean in June. But early analysis has now indicated that the material came from outside of our solar system, carried by an interstellar object that crashed into the Earth in 2014, according to Avi Loeb , a theoretical astrophysicist at Harvard University.

The material could even be of extraterrestrial technological origin because of some unusual characteristics of the material, he said. Professor Loeb has previously claimed that the asteroid may have been artificial, such as an alien spacecraft.

This is a historic discovery because it represents the first time that scientists analyze materials from a large object that arrived to Earth from outside the solar system, Professor Loeb wrote in his announcement.

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Professor Loeb has made a number of claims about potential extraterrestrial life and visitors from other solar systems. While has made a number of contributions to astrophysics, he is perhaps best known for his suggestions that Oumuamua, the first interstellar object to visit our solar system, could have been an alien probe.

His regular and often unusual claims have led to some censure from fellow scientists, who say that he is given to sensationalism and is damaging the usual process of discovery. His pronouncements can be attention-grabbing and undermine the usual work of science to check extraordinary claims with extraordinary evidence, they have said.

People are sick of hearing about Avi Loebs wild claims, Steve Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University, told The New York Times in July, when Professor Loeb revealed details of his search. Its polluting good science  conflating the good science we do with this ridiculous sensationalism and sucking all the oxygen out of the room.

Professor Loeb made the most recent claims on Medium, where he has been documenting his trip to the Pacific Ocean to collect materials. In recent years he has been taken with a fireball that fell to Earth in 2014  and has been looking to collect any fragments from it.

He has claimed that details about the fireball indicate that it had come from outside of our solar system. Those claims have proven controversial  though they have been accepted for publication in the prestigious Astrophysical Journal, after initially being rejected  because scientists have argued there is not significant enough proof to indicate it really was an interstellar visitor.

Nonetheless, in recent months Professor Loeb and his team have been scouring the Pacific Ocean for any fragments from that object, and in June they announced that they had successfully gathered some examples. Those samples have since undergone testing by scientists.

Now Professor Loeb says that analysis shows that the materials are from a meter-size object that originated from outside the solar system. A number of details about the material indicated that it was of interstellar origin, he said.

He pointed particularly to the amount of beryllium, lanthanum and uranium (or BeLaU) in the objects. That set them apart from other samples not found in the path of the object  and also from objects that would normally be expected to have been formed on the Earth, the Moon or Mars, he said.

Professor Loeb said he he was confident that more objects would be found like IM1, the name he has given to that object he claimed to be an interstellar visitor. He suggested that there could be a few million such objects reside within the orbit of the Earth around the Sun at any given time and that some of them may represent technological space trash from other civilizations.

He also criticised those many scientists who have expressed scepticism about his claims, joking that he was running away from colleagues who have strong opinions without seeking evidence, and I am running towards a higher intelligence in interstellar space and saying that he wishes his critics happiness and prosperity.
Kenneth Donald tasered his partner of seven years, Stephanie Paton, after they spent the previous night drinking together

A man who tasered his hungover girlfriend to get her out of bed has been jailed for 22 months.

Kenneth Donald, 37, from Stirling, believed that his partner of seven years, Stephanie Paton, was taking too long of a Sunday lie-in after they spent the previous night drinking together.

Donald was insisting that Ms Paton get up, when she replied: Five minutes, Im rough. He then warned her: Get up or Ill taser ye.

After Ms Paton, also 37, began to fall asleep again, Donald followed through on the threat, Stirling sheriff court heard.

He had carried out the attack as a joke, his lawyer said, with the weapon, which he bought online.

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Laurelle Johnstone, the prosecutor, said: As Paton was falling back asleep, the accused took a taser device and activated it against her leg, causing her severe pain and thereafter reddening to her right thigh.

The incident was captured by an 11-year-old child on a mobile phone, with the video played in court.

It showed Donald clicking the taser against Ms Paton and laughing during the incident at his home in Raploch, Stirling, on Feb 19 this year.

Taser and knife recovered

Ms Paton, a personal care assistant, reported the incident to police the following month.

Donald was arrested in his car in Bannockburn, Stirling, on March 30, after police viewed the video and obtained a warrant to search his property.

The taser, a pack of taser cartridges, a taser charging plug and cables, as well as a knife in a black cover, were recovered from the rear of his vehicle.

Donald, of Ferguson Street, Raploch, appeared for sentence on Wednesday by video link from Low Moss Prison, in East Dunbartonshire.

He was remanded in custody after last month pleading guilty to possessing the taser, assaulting Ms Paton and possessing the knife.

Fraser McCready, Donalds defence solicitor, said: Ive asked him why he bought the taser. He cant really provide an explanation. He certainly bought it online and used it as a joke.

But a joke is not a defence to a charge of assault.

Imposing the 22-month jail term, Sheriff Keith OMahony said that Donald had a record that includes domestically aggravated matters.

No alternative to custody

He said: These offences are possession of a taser, assault with that taser to injury and possession of a knife.

In my view there is no alternative to a custodial disposal.

Donald showed no emotion as the sentence was passed.

Under the law in Scotland, a taser is classified as a prohibited firearm and cannot be sold, bought or used without legal authority. Even among police, only trained officers are allowed to use them.

In December last year, police north of the border issued a warning to the public after a spike in cases of people being jailed for possessing or firing the weapons, which they had often purchased online from abroad.

A 35-year-old man was given a five-year sentence last year for discharging a taser, disguised as a small torch, repeatedly in a childrens skatepark.

Another five-year sentence was handed to a 51-year-old from Glasgow in January last year, after police raided his home following a tip off and found a haul of stun guns disguised as torches or batons.

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[Source]

Seattle police are warning residents of armed teen suspects who are connected to at least 14 robberies targeting families of Asian descent in south Seattle.

About the string of robberies: According to police, the armed intruders wearing ski masks have broken into over a dozen homes  primarily in the Rainier Beach, Rainier View and Beacon Hill neighborhoods  and held occupants at gunpoint while stealing cash and jewelry before fleeing the scene in a stolen Kia or Hyundai getaway vehicle.

Its a group of three to seven Black males in their teens. They are armed and they are targeting elderly Asians within our communities within the south precinct, Officer Judinna Gulpan of the Seattle Police Department said, according to Fox 13.

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There have been at least 14 home robberies in south Seattle since June, with eight occurring since Aug. 6. The robbers were armed with multiple handguns and at least one long gun.

More from NextShark: Woman in Australia Has Racist Meltdown After Bilingual Asians Speak Non-English Language

Beacon Hill robbery: In one incident captured via a doorbell camera, two armed suspects can be seen approaching and tasing an Asian man on his front porch in Beacon Hill before robbing him at around 4:40 p.m. on Aug. 26.

The victim can be heard crying out in pain and falling backward after being shocked with the taser. The robbers reportedly stole his wallet, gold necklace, car keys, iPhone and rings.

At one point in the robbery, one of the robbers can be seen noticing the doorbell camera before turning it away. However, it falls back into place and continues to record the incident.

More from NextShark: Japanese High School Student Wins World Capoeira Championship

Easy targets: Although 13 out of the 14 victims were of Asian descent, police are not classifying the cases as hate crimes.

Hate crimes are targeted against people because of their ethnicity and this is more about people that they think are easy targets and thats what we are finding so far, Lt. John ONeil reportedly said.

More from NextShark: Highway Patrol Officer Who Risked Life to Save Downed Officer Receives Medal of Valor

Safety tips: The Seattle Police Department has shared safety tips for residents, including installing security devices, reporting suspicious activity and communicating with friends and family on who will be home and at what time.

Anyone with information regarding these home-invasion robberies is urged to contact the Violent Crime Tip Line at 206-233-5000.

More from NextShark: Paghahanap kay Maura: The Washington Post releases first-ever story in Filipino
A second freeze up  this time at a press conference in Northern Kentucky Wednesday  is raising new questions about Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell s health and whether hell serve out his term through 2026..

In this latest event, which occurred about one month after a much-publicized, similar freeze up in Washington, D.C., McConnell paused and fell silent for more than 30 seconds after a reporters question in Covington, Ky. Wednesdays press conference resumed after the pause, but not until after an aide intervened and repeated the question to McConnell.

Heres a look back at some of the influential senators recent appearances and health problems, which began with a fall at a Washington-area hotel in March.

March 8: Fall sends McConnell to the hospital with a concussion

At a dinner event in Washington, McConnell tripped and was later admitted into a hospital for treatment. However, the public did not learn the Senate minority leader had suffered a concussion until about 13 hours after his office said hed reported to the hospital for medical treatment, McClatchy previously reported. At the time, McConnell was expected to remain in the hospital for a few days, his office said in a statement.

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The 81-year-old is the longest-serving U.S. Senate leader in history and the longest serving senator from Kentucky. During a previous fall in 2019, McConnell fractured his shoulder at his home in Kentucky and ultimately recovered from the injury.

March 13: McConnell is discharged from hospital stay, heads to therapy

McConnell was discharged from a Washington hospital March 13 and underwent physical therapy at an inpatient rehab facility before returning home, a statement from a spokesperson said at the time.

While remaining in the hospital over the course of the previous weekend, McConnells medical team discovered he had also fractured a rib.

April 13: McConnell announces hell return to the Senate

After spending more than five weeks recovering from his fall, McConnell announced his return to the Senate the following week.

I am looking forward to returning to the Senate on Monday, McConnell tweeted. Weve got important business to tackle and big fights to win for Kentuckians and the American people.

May 23: Staffers assist McConnell at University of Kentucky event

During a groundbreaking event at the University of Kentucky in late May, McConnell briefly spoke to reporters. Members of his staff asked reporters to speak up when asking questions.

The outdoor event took place with several hundred attendees as the senator fielded questions. Staffers had to repeat some questions for McConnell.

July 26: McConnell freezes for more than 20 seconds at Washington press conference

While giving a statement at a press conference held in the U.S. Senate building, McConnell froze for more than 20 seconds and appeared unable to speak before colleagues escorted him away from the podium. McConnell later returned and said Im fine.

Will McConnell seek reelection in 2026?

McConnell has previously dodged questions about whether hell seek another term in 2026.

Youre asking me to predict what I might do three years from now. I dont have a prediction on that. No news to make, the GOP leader said in a response to a question from the Herald-Leader at an event in Lexington.

Should McConnell decide to give up his seat before the 2026 election, the governor would select his replacement from a list of three options from the Republican Party, as required by Kentucky law. However, theres been some speculation that Democrats in the state may challenge that law, with Gov. Andy Beshear leading the charge.

Lexington Herald-Leader reporters Austin Horn, Tessa Duvall and Monica Kast contributed to this report.
Media reports have revealed details of the funeral of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin , which took place on Tuesday evening, and what happened after the ceremony.

Source: BBC Russian; Vazhnye Istorii ["Important Stories"], a Russian media outlet

Details: Prigozhin's press service announced on Tuesday evening that the farewell to him would "take place in a closed format" (i.e. privately) and "those who wish to say goodbye can visit the Porokhovskoye cemetery."

Preparations for the funeral had been made at several cemeteries in St Petersburg, but Porokhovskoye was not one of those mentioned.

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There was no exact information on the time and place of the funeral. On Tuesday, journalists spent the whole day tracking funeral corteges travelling through St Petersburg.

The media outlet MSK1 was told at the cemetery that Prigozhin had been buried at "around 16:00", but the place of the funeral had not been announced at his familys request.

The Wagner leader was buried next to his father, the TV channel Dozhd ("Rain") reported.

The BBC has reported that the military honours due to Prigozhin as a Hero of Russia were apparently not given during the funeral. The media outlet Agentstvo ("Agency") said, citing an employee of the cemetery, that there were 20-30 people at the funeral, none in military uniform.

Fontanka, another media outlet, reports that visitors to Prigozhin's grave included his widow and daughter.

Vazhnye Istorii reported that visitors were searched before entry, there were a lot of members of the security forces at the cemetery on Wednesday morning, and several Russian Guard buses were parked nearby. Some law enforcement officers spent the night next to the cemetery.

A signpost showing the way to Prigozhin's grave has been hung at the cemetery, and wreaths have been laid there.

The cemetery manager told a Vazhnye Istorii correspondent that Prigozhin's mother had ordered the grave to be dug a day before the funeral. He was buried in a closed coffin.

Quote from the cemetery manager: "Everything happened quietly, calmly, without any fuss. There were hardly any people. There were no salutes. No military either. A normal funeral with VIP [service] elements. It [the grave  ed.] has more sand [on it]; all kinds of flags; the grave is lined with velvet, and the coffin is expensive; ordinary graves are not made like that."

More details: The manager said the security forces started arriving at the cemetery after Prigozhin's press service had announced the funeral, that is, after the ceremony itself.

Quote from the cemetery manager: "[They came  ed.] right here [to the office building - ed.]. They threatened to shoot. They said: 'Who are you anyway? Get lost! Who's asking you? There are serious people here  colonels by the pound!' Im just as surprised as you are. This is a very quiet, peaceful family cemetery. Ive worked here since the 90s. This is the first time anything like that has happened in my long happy life. I don't think this hype will continue.

... In the 1990s, even scarier bandits were buried here; at least the government was involved in arranging the funeral of this one. They [the police officers  ed.] will definitely be here tomorrow, but I don't know exactly how many."

More details: A correspondent from Sever.Realii (a Radio Liberty project) who was present at the funeral of Prigozhin's associate Valery Chekalov at the Severnoye cemetery told the BBC that one of the men who came to the funeral had threatened the journalists, saying that if they refused to film "nicely", then things could "turn ugly" because "there are no police at the cemetery".

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has launched a UAV attack on collaborators intending to hold sham Russian-backed "elections" in the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda sources in the SSU

Details: Ukrainian UAVs targeted a sham "polling station" in the temporarily occupied city of Kamianka-Dniprovska where the Russian proxy "heads of district election commissions" from the entire district had gathered.

A source told UP that the meeting brought together over 30 traitors, guarded by the Russian military, including Kadyrovites [Chechen forces subordinate to Kadyrov and fighting as part of the Russian army  ed.].

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Quote: "During the gathering, they planned to set up voting booths and organise the distribution of ballot papers. The SSU used attack drones to 'correct' the occupiers' plans.

The attack occurred in several waves. The exact aftermath of the strike will be determined later, but we do have reports of many injured.

  ""    pic.twitter.com/bBfLD6lSaR     (@ukrpravda_news) August 30, 2023

 :    -   '  pic.twitter.com/XP8CnKFbEC     (@ukrpravda_news) August 30, 2023

The city itself is surrounded by the Russian military, deploying its electronic warfare forces, air defence and other assets. However, all they can do is pay lip service to protect the traitors. The SSU's effective attack is another indication to all collaborators that working for Russia is dangerous to life and limb."

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-KY, once again froze up for a prolonged period of time in response to a question at a press conference in Northern Kentucky Wednesday.

McConnell, 81, fell silent for more than 30 seconds following a reporters question at a Covington lunchtime event. This comes one month after a much-publicized similar freeze up in Washington took place, when McConnell was escorted away from a press conference, later returning and telling reporters Im fine.

In Covington, a reporter asked McConnell what his thoughts were about running for re-election in 2026. McConnell asked the reporter to repeat the question, then after a moment of pause, Robbin Taylor, McConnells state director, repeated the question to the senator.

McConnell did not speak in response to the question for more than 30 seconds.

BREAKING NEWS: Sen. Mitch McConnell appearing to have another scary episode in the media gaggle in Covington today. Aides had to step in to help him out and repeat questions. He was eventually lead away. We'll have the full video on @WLWT pic.twitter.com/q9ex5MHxLV  Hannah Thomas (@HannahPThomas) August 30, 2023

The press conference resumed after the pause, with a staffer repeating the questions to McConnell. He answered questions about Republican Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron, who has a long history with McConnell including working in his office, and former Republican president Donald Trumps various indictments.

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McConnell has previously dodged questions about his plans to run for another term in 2026.

In response to questions about the incident, a McConnell spokesperson said Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today.

After a second freeze up, heres a look at McConnells health issues in the last year

A McConnell aide told the Herald-Leader that, while he feels fine, McConnell will consult a physician before his next event as a prudential measure.

The Senator, first elected to his post in 1984, was also hospitalized in March after sustaining a concussion from a fall during a GOP fundraiser.

Following public speculation about McConnells health in the wake of his first freeze-up, the Senate minority leader has made several public appearances in Kentucky, including speakings at marquee political events like Fancy Farm and the Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast.

McConnell gave a rousing speech before the main Fancy Farm event at a GOP breakfast in Graves County earlier this month, his first major public appearance in Kentucky after the initial freeze up. At Fancy Farm, a raucous event where members of the crowd jeer political speakers at the top of their lungs, McConnell was at times drowned out but showed some energy in his jokes and boasts at the podium.

McConnells team insisted, following the first freeze up, that he intended to serve his full term as Senate GOP leader, which lasts through 2024, and as U.S. Senator, which would last until 2026.

Questions about McConnells health following both the incident in Northern Kentucky and the freeze up in Washington prompted some revisiting of a McConnell-backed law that ensures governors would appoint a successor of the same party of any Kentucky U.S. Senator who vacated their post. Both Kentucky Senators, McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul, are Republicans. The state legislature has been controlled by Republican majorities in both chambers since 2017. That law, passed in 2021, was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear but was overridden by the legislature.

However, multiple Democrats in Kentucky have predicted that Beshear is likely to challenge the replacement law, should it be needed, by either appointing someone of his choosing, not appointing, or challenging the law through the courts. Beshear has not directly answered questions on what course of action he would take if a vacancy were to occur.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, called McConnell a good friend when asked about the incident. He said Wednesday that he planned to reach out to McConnells team later this afternoon.

The story will be updated.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON)  U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Katie Porter made a campaign stop in San Franciscos Mission District on Tuesday. Rep. Porter (D-Irvine) held a meet and greet with the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club and visited several Latino-owned businesses.

Porter made three stops during a visit to Mission Street Tuesday that lasted slightly more than an hour, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Senate candidate spoke to business owners about some of the problems facing the city, including graffiti and homeless encampments in the area, the Chronicle reported.

Porter, who along with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Bay Area Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) is one of the three leading Democrats running to fill Dianne Feinsteins seat. Feinstein (D-San Francisco), has announced she will not seek reelection at the end of her current term.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
Senator Mitch McConnell was speaking in Covington, Kentucky when he froze up and stared into the distance, according to our media partner WCPO-9 in Cincinnati.

>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Mitch McConnell has fallen 3 times this year: reports

The Senate GOP leader was answering questions at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Government forum at the Madison Event Center, but said he couldnt hear what was asked. The reporter repeated the question before McConnell stopped talking and stared into space.

Another person approached the Republican leader and asked him if he heard what was said. They then said McConnell would need a moment before he would continue, the station said.

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McConnell continued answering questions, but not for a long.

>>RELATED COVERAGE: McConnell is warmly embraced by Kentucky Republicans amid questions about his health

He traveled to Covington to speak on a variety of topics, including the Brent Spence Bridge.

A similar situation occurred in late July leading McConnell to leave his press conference at the Capitol. Here, McConnell walked up to the podium and started talking but then he appeared to lose his train of thought before he cut his thoughts short, mid-sentence, and stared off into the distance., the station said

McConnell said he was fine when asked about the July incident.

McConnell is 81 years old and was out of the Senate, earlier this year for about six weeks after falling and hitting his head. His office later said that he had suffered a concussion and fractured rib, the station said.




FILE PHOTO: Former Pakistani PM Imran Khan speaks with Reuters during an intervew, in Lahore

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior U.S. diplomat Victoria Nuland spoke on Tuesday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani and discussed the importance of "timely, free and fair elections" in the South Asian nation, the U.S. State Department said.

"Acting Deputy Secretary Nuland and Foreign Minister Jilani discussed the importance of timely, free and fair elections in a manner consistent with Pakistan's laws and constitution," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

Pakistani politics has been in a crisis for over a year, with former Prime Minister Imran Khan - who was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence last year - being at the center of it.

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Khan blamed the United States and Pakistan's military for his ousting. Both Washington and the military have denied his claims. The State Department statement on the call between Nuland and Jilani made no mention of Khan.

A Pakistani high court on Tuesday suspended the jailed former prime minister's sentence on corruption charges, but he will remain behind bars as a judge had already ordered his detention in another case. The conviction of Khan, who remains Pakistan's most popular leader according to opinion polls, has also barred him from contesting elections for five years.

Pakistan swore in a caretaker cabinet under interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar in mid-August, tasking it with running the country until fresh elections, which may be delayed beyond November as constituency boundaries are redrawn.

The caretaker cabinet's top job will be to lead Pakistan towards economic stabilization, with the $350 billion economy treading a narrow recovery path after getting a last-minute $3 billion bailout deal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), averting a sovereign debt default.

The election commission earlier this month said new constituencies based on the latest census would be finalized by Dec. 14. After that, the commission will confirm an election date.

Political analysts said that if the caretaker set-up stretches beyond its constitutional tenure, a prolonged period without an elected government would allow the military, which has ruled directly for more than three decades of the country's 76-year existence, to consolidate control.

Nuland and Jilani also discussed Pakistan's economic stability and continued engagement with the IMF, the State Department said.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Sandra Maler and Christopher Cushing)
A highly anticipated sentencing hearing for former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio that was scheduled for Wednesday morning was abruptly postponed, officials said shortly before it was set to begin.

Justice Department spokesperson Patricia Hartman said the proceeding was canceled due to an emergency.

Lisa Klem, a spokesperson for the court, later told The Hill the proceedings were rescheduled because U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who is presiding over the case, is sick.

Tarrios sentencing has been rescheduled for Sept. 5 at 2 p.m., according to court filings. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy and several other serious felonies in May.

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The Justice Department is requesting 33 years in prison for the right-wing extremist groups former national chairman.

Tarrio and four other defendants had been scheduled for sentencing this week for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Joe Biggs  the other defendant for whom the Justice Department is recommending a 33-year sentence  will now learn his fate first. His sentencing is scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m. Defendant Zachary Rehl will be sentenced later Thursday.

Proud Boy Ethan Nordean, whose sentencing was scheduled for Wednesday and canceled, will now be sentenced Friday at 2 p.m., court filings show.

Proud Boy Dominic Pezzolawill be sentenced Friday at 10 a.m.

Brady McCarron, a U.S. Marshalls Service spokesperson, said it is unclear whether Tarrio or Nordean had already arrived at the courthouse Wednesday ahead of their planned sentencings.

Updated at 12:21 p.m. ET

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The sentencing hearings for two former leaders of the far-right Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol, has been canceled due to an emergency, the U.S. Attorney's office for the District of Columbia said on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
[Source]

The woman accused of shoving a top Japanese diplomat in Portland, Oregon, has been indicted in federal court after state charges were dropped at the request of prosecutors.

Background: Arissa Jean Minyonne Robinson, 23, allegedly pushed Yoshioka Yuzo  the consul general for Portlands Consular Office of Japan  to the ground near Southwest Park Avenue and Oak Street on June 17. She fled the scene but was caught shortly after inside the U.S. Bankcorp Tower.

Yuzo first arrived in Portland and assumed his post in March. The 62-year-old was taken to a hospital with a cut to the head and a lot of blood running down the back, according to one police officer.

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Federal charge: Robinson was charged with intentionally assaulting, striking and wounding a foreign official and internationally protected person in federal court. The one-count indictment was unsealed after a Multnomah County judge dismissed her charges of first-degree bias crime, fourth-degree assault and strangulation at the request of the county district attorneys office, The Oregonian reported.

More from NextShark: Disturbing 911 recordings reveal horrific events of Texas mall shooting

Anti-Asian history: Robinson was reported to be a homeless woman with a history of anti-Asian attacks. In August 2022, she allegedly hit a 76-year-old Asian man multiple times before placing him in a chokehold.

In August 2021, she allegedly targeted a mother and her baby in Old Town Chinatown. Reports say she kicked over the babys stroller and later told police that she meant to do it.

Other charges: Robinson also faced other charges, such as second-degree criminal mischief, interfering with a peace/parole and probation officer, interfering with public transportation and recklessly endangering another person, as per the Post Millennial. She was also reportedly involved in court cases related to a landlord-tenant dispute and fare violations.

More from NextShark: NYPD sergeant charged after allegedly assaulting suspects who called him anti-Asian slurs

Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark!

Elderly Asian Woman Stabbed to Death in California By Woman Out on 'Emergency Bail'

Laotian Mothers Best Friend and Only Daughter Fatally Shot in Connecticut
Rex Heuermann, a Long Island architect arrested this summer in the highly publicized Gilgo Beach murders, may go down as one of last in a vanishing species of American criminal.

Hundreds of serial killers roamed the nation in the 1980s and 1990s, captivating the public imagination and inspiring such popular culture brands as the film Silence of the Lambs and the television series Dexter.

America remains fascinated with its serial killers. Yet, in recent years, serial killings have plummeted. One scholarly study found that the number of active serial killers dwindled from 198 in 1987, the largest number on record, to 12 in 2018.

The number of victims dropped from 404 in 1987 to an estimated 36 in 2019, according to researchers at Radford and Florida Gulf Coast universities. They cautioned that the latest number may be low, however, because of the lag time in identifying serial killers.

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Why the decline? Simply put, its harder than ever to get away with serial murder. Experts cite dramatic advances in crime fighting technology, pervasive video cameras and smartphones and a more safety-conscious public.

Would-be serial killers, they might commit crimes, but they get caught before they achieve that status, said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law and public policy at Northeastern University. Its rather difficult to kill a series of strangers and not be detected.

They still exist, people who have those thoughts and passions. But either they attempt to soothe them and they get caught, or they find other outlets.

The decline of serial killers seems all the more striking because of the concurrent rise in spree killings, claiming multiple lives in a single violent episode.

This year is on track to yield a record or near-record number of mass killings, with 34 incidents and 167 victims to date, according to a database maintained by USA Today, The Associated Press and Northeastern University.

Many of the deadliest public mass shootings have happened in the past decade, including the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival shooting in Las Vegas in 2017, the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016 and the Uvalde school shooting in 2022.

In decades past, mass shootings were comparatively uncommon, and serial killers dominated headlines: Ted Bundy, who raped and murdered at least 30 girls and women in the 1970s; John Wayne Gacy, who raped and murdered at least 33 boys and men outside Chicago in the same era; Jeffrey Dahmer, of Wisconsin, who dismembered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991; and Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, who murdered at least 49 girls and women in Washington and Oregon in the 1980s and 1990s.

The golden age of serial murders was in the 70s and 80s, said Thomas Hargrove, founder of the nonprofit Murder Accountability Project. At that time, serial killers were literally flying under the radar.

These days, serial killings are many fewer and farther between.

The most notorious serial killer captured in the past decade is probably Joseph James DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer, arrested in 2018 and linked to at least 13 murders and 50 rapes in California.

But DeAngelos known crimes took place in the 1970s and 1980s, peak decades of serial murder. Advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy enabled police to identify him as the Golden State Killer using genetic samples from relatives, clearing murders from decades earlier.

Heuermann, the Long Island architect, was charged in July in the deaths of three women, whose bodies were found swaddled in camouflage-patterned burlap on a stretch of beach. The women went missing in 2009 and 2010. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty.

Advances in technology allowed investigators to track Heuermann, who prosecutors said had concealed his movements by using disposable cellphones and surfing the web incognito. Investigators said Heuermann betrayed himself with anonymous internet queries such as Why could law enforcement not trace the calls made by the long island serial killer.

Apart from the Gilgo Beach case, casual readers may be hard-pressed to name many contemporary serial killers.

Anthony Robinson of Washington, D.C., is charged in the 2021 deaths of two women whose bodies were recovered in Harrisonburg, Va., and is suspected in three other cases. Police have dubbed him the Shopping Cart Killer, alleging that he moved bodies in shopping carts before dumping them in vacant lots.

Hargrove notes the case of Darren Deon Vann, convicted of killing seven women in Indiana in 2013 and 2014. Though Vann lacks the infamy of a Bundy or a Gacy, Hargrove believes he may ultimately rank among the nations most prolific serial killers.

After his arrest, Vann claimed to have killed way more victims in Illinois than in Indiana. Chicago media have questioned whether Vann may figure in some of the citys many unsolved strangulation murders.

He could actually be in the running for the most killings of all time, Hargrove said.

Criminologists generally define serial murder as the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender in separate incidents, although some researchers set the bar higher: say, at three or four distinct killings. A spree murder, by contrast, is multiple murders by a single offender in a single event.

The rise of mass shootings and decline of serial killings has led some observers to speculate that inveterate killers are choosing to go out in a mass-murder spree. Yet, spree and serial murders are different acts, with different motivations.

The predominant serial killer is a sexual sadist, or at least a sadist, who kills for the fun of it, Fox said. Spree killers dont do it for fun. They have other reasons: revenge, against society, against employers.

Many spree killers expect death or arrest. Serial killers, by definition, must evade capture to succeed. And that is becoming progressively harder to do.

For one, people are more cautious, Fox said. People dont hitchhike any more. People dont let their kids play in the front yard. And then we have cellphones, so if were concerned about a situation or stranded in our car, you just make a call.

Most pedestrians carry camera phones. And, speaking of cameras, there are cameras everywhere, Fox said. Its very hard for an offender to do something in public without being recorded.

Advances in policing, like those that enabled DeAngelos capture, arent lost on prospective serial killers.

Organized killers, they like to read about serial killers, Hargrove said. And they are paying attention, and they are aware that the science has gotten way better, and they recognize that theyre taking ever-increasing risks by doing what they do.

Rather than kill, some with sadistic proclivities may find an outlet in violent pornography, which now proliferates online. There are ways that sexual sadists can satiate their passions without having to use live victims, Fox said. He notes, however, that the porn industry has victims of its own.

The good news, Hargrove said, is serial murder is on the decline. The bad news is, theres still plenty of them out there.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
BEAVER FALLS  Several arrests were made this week after police said members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club assaulted a Beaver County resident early Sunday and stole the person's firearm.

According to a release from the county district attorney's office, the incident occurred at the Big Beaver Ramada Inn around 1:45 a.m. Sunday. When officers arrived at the scene, they were informed several members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club had beaten an individual with boots, fists and brass knuckles, threatened the individual by putting a gun to the person's head and stole the resident's firearm.

While on the scene, police were advised the motorcycle club had reserved a block of 32 rooms at the hotel and a search warrant was obtained to inspect their rooms. Officers said with the potential for a large number of weapons, members of the Beaver County and Washington County SWAT teams were called for assistance in the search.

Inside the rooms, officers said they discovered over 26 firearms, which included the victim's firearm and a gun that was reported stolen in West Virginia. Police also reported finding five sets of brass knuckles, which are illegal to carry in Pennsylvania.

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After the search, officers arrested five individuals:

John Evans, of Beckley, W.Va., for receiving stolen property

Lucas Stone, of Summit Point, W.Va., for robbery, aggravated assault, theft and receiving stolen property

Matthew Richards, of Fayetteville, W.Va., for robbery, aggravated assault, theft and receiving stolen property

Robert Poffenberger, of Fairplay, Md., for robbery, aggravated assault, theft and receiving stolen property

Adam Lowe, of Mt. Hope, W.Va., for robbery, aggravated assault, theft and receiving stolen property

According to online court records, Evans is free on a $25,000 bond and Richards and Lowe on $100,000 bonds. Stone remained held Wednesday night in the Beaver County Jail on a $100,000 bond. Poffenberger also remained in jail because he was denied bail for flight risk reasons. The group is tentatively scheduled for preliminary hearings on Sept. 8.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Members of Pagan Motorcycle Club arrested for assault in Beaver Falls
Sexual abuse charges against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick were dismissed Wednesday after a Massachusetts judge ruled the former Catholic Church official is not competent to stand trial.

McCarrick, 93, was charged with sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy at a wedding reception in 1974 outside Boston. A Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine professor of psychiatry and behavioral science said after examining the cardinal that he suffers from dementia, likely Alzheimers disease.

[The] Commonwealth does not have a good-faith basis to proceed any longer with the prosecution given the testimony and the opinions of the psychologist that Mr. McCarrick is not restorable to competency, the prosecutor said, moving to dismiss the charges.

The former cardinal still faces a sexual abuse charge in Wisconsin over claims stemming from the same victim.

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McCarrick was removed from his public post in the Catholic Church and resigned from his cardinalship in 2018 over sexual abuse allegations. He is the first cardinal to resign over such allegations.

After an internal church investigation, he was found guilty of sex crimes against adults and minors and was removed from the clergy in 2019.

The sexual abuse allegations were first made public in 2018 in The New York Times, which reported that McCarrick preyed on young men who had hopes of entering the clergy. The outlet reported church officials were aware of sexual abuse allegations against McCarrick as far back as 1994.

A longtime powerbroker as the Archbishop of Washington, McCarrick participated in the funerals of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), younger brother to former President Kennedy, and Beau Biden, son of President Biden.

He was also a major booster for the church through his organizing of American donors, and a key ally to Pope John Paul II. He was one of the cardinals who assisted the pope in responding to the churchs child sex abuse crisis in 2002.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
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WEST PALM BEACH  A judge has sentenced a Greenacres man to 50 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to a murder charge in the 2020 shooting death of a security guard while she was on duty at a community near Boynton Beach.

Jones Philippe, 25, pleaded to a lesser offense of second-degree murder during a hearing before Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen. Prosecutors said in court that Philippe shot and killed 18-year-old Dorianne Revol early on the morning of May 9, 2020, in an apparent dispute over money.

Revol's mother told Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigators she heard the dispute and the gunfire while talking with her daughter by cellphone.

The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office initially charged Philippe with first-degree murder in the death of Revol, who was working at Plantina, a community near Boynton Beach Boulevard and Military Trail, at the time of her death.

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15-year-old slain near Lake Worth Beach: Plea deal requires Acreage man to testify against codefendants

Mother says she heard argument about money before shooting

During Tuesday's hearing, Philippe read a brief statement in court, expressing remorse for his actions.

"From the bottom of my heart, I'm really sorry for killing Dorianne," he said. "I shamed my community, I shamed my family and, most of all, I shamed myself. I will always regret pulling that trigger because she didn't deserve that. Her friends and family didn't deserve that."

Revol's family did not speak at the hearing, but Assistant State Attorney Chrichet Mixon told Gillen that Revol's parents were in agreement with the plea deal.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

During the initial investigation, Revol's mother told sheriff's detectives that she was speaking to her daughter on the telephone late on the night of May 8 when she heard a heated verbal exchange on the other end of the line between Revol and a male in what appeared to be a dispute about money.

She heard a man, who investigators later identified as Philippe, tell Revol, "I should shoot you."

She told investigators her daughter called a couple of hours later to report that Philippe had returned and described hearing a fight on the other end of the line, followed by the sound of gunfire.

Deputies responding to the scene found Revol dead inside the guard house. It was just three days shy of her 19th birthday.

Sweet 16 slaying: Teen accused of murder in Boynton extradited to Palm Beach County from Texas

Judge also sentences shooter for other offenses

At Tuesday's hearing, Philippe also pleaded guilty to armed burglary in Revol's death, as well as to charges in three separate cases, including attempted murder in the stabbing of a fellow inmate at the Palm Beach County Jail in May.

Gillen ordered concurrent but not coterminous sentences to Philippe' 50-year prison term, crediting him with three years and nearly nearly months of time served while awaiting trial.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Gunman pleads guilty in murder of security guard at Boynton community
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked a Georgia judge to expedite the trial of all 19 defendants in her sprawling TrumpWorld RICO case after one of them moved for a speedy trial.

Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, one of the architects of former President Donald Trump's Jan. 6 strategy, demanded a speedy trial under state law. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee set his trial date for October 23, four months ahead of Willis' proposed date, but stressed in his ruling that the trial date only applies to Chesebro "at this time."

Willis in a filing on Tuesday asked McAfee to clarify his order, arguing that it is "improper" to automatically sever his case from the other 18 defendants.

"The State of Georgia respectfully requests that the Court set aside its Case Specific Scheduling Order entered on August 24, 2023, to the extent that the Order states, '[a]t this time, these deadlines do not apply to any co-defendant,'" Willis wrote.

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Georgia's speedy trial rules require cases to be tried before the end of two court terms following an arraignment. The arraignment of all 19 defendants is set for September 6. Former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell has also moved for a speedy trial, though McAfee has not set a date for her case.

"The State maintains its position that severance is improper at this juncture and that all Defendants should be tried together," Willis' filing said, adding that at "an absolute minimum" the court should set the trial for Powell and any other defendant that moves for a speedy trial on the same date as Chesebro.

Willis also asked the judge to set a deadline for all defendants who wish to sever their cases.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who served on special counsel Bob Mueller's team, called it a "smart move" by Willis that "amps up pressure on" everyone involved.

"Shows she is ready to go," he tweeted.

"This is either the best bluff ever or she has pocket aces she hasn't totally shown yet," wrote Eric Segall, a law professor at Georgia State University. "[S]he is showing a very strong hand and not giving an inch. Very interesting. Some of the defendants (not Trump) might call her bluff on trials this Fall. I'm betting she's more than ready (with expert help from my friend John Floyd)," he added.

But former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman called the matter a "very tricky legal puzzle."

Chesebro effectively sought to sever his case from the others, which is common since defendants may want to tell their own stories or point the finger at others "without others being able to point the finger at them," he explained. On the other hand, it's in prosecutors' interest to try defendants together.

Motions to sever "require a showing from the defendant. It's not enough that a separate trial will increase your chances for acquittal," Litman continued. "There must be some built-in unfairness, e.g. a statement admissible against one defendant will also come in against another, even though it wouldn't in a separate trial."

Litman predicted it would be "extremely unlikely that the court would order everyone to be tried together at the early date."

"Among other things, many of the codefendants will say they don't have time to prepare, and it violates their due process rights. Note, however, that that basically amounts to the position that the GA speedy trial act is unconstitutional as applied," he wrote. But if a judge rules that Chesebro cannot sever his case, he has a right to a speedy trial date "but no right to be tried independently," meaning other defendants will remain "joined at the hip."

"If no defendant  including Trump  can make the requisite showing to sever, that's their date too," with the exception of those that sought to remove their cases to federal court, Litman explained.

"Thus the puzzle: it seems beyond the pale that the court would order the other 18 (or however many don't win removal) to trial in November. But to avoid doing so, the court needs to find that some defendants have made the showing to sever, which is not automatic," he added. "Perhaps the court will say that the unfairness requiring severance is the abbreviated time schedule itself, but Georgia law provides 3 things a court must consider in deciding a severance motion and that doesn't really fit into any of them I don't envy Judge McAfee here."

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig argued that Willis' move to try all the defendants at the early date was not a "reasonable request."

"The prosecutor cannot force people who are unwilling to exercise that right to be tried that quickly," he said. "I think what Fani Willis is doing here is, A, she's making a statement, and that's perfectly appropriate, to say we're ready on everybody, and B, she's trying to get clarity from the giant. How many trials will there be and when will they be?"

Fellow CNN analyst Jennifer Rodgers added that there is "no way 19 people can be tried together logistically" but questioned the logic of Chesebro and Powell moving for speedy trials.

"I think it's actually foolish of the two of them to want to trial in two months, so I think Fani Willis just wants to get a date certain on the calendar for the 17 others, which is also another group she'll have to thin down before trial because even 17 is just not going to happen logistically," Rodgers said.

Read more

about the Fulton case
The 360 shows you diverse perspectives on the days top stories and debates.

Photo illustration: Victoria Ellis for Yahoo News; photos: Mike Stobe/Getty Images, MPI/Getty Images

Whats happening

More than 155 years ago, the United States amended its Constitution in the wake of the Civil War to prevent Southern rebels from regaining political power at the ballot box.

Any previous officeholder who has taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, reads Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, will now be disqualified from holding office again if they have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

In recent weeks, this so-called Disqualification Clause has been propelled back into the headlines by some of Americas most prominent legal minds, who argue that far from being a quaint postbellum relic, it actually gives todays election officials the power  even the responsibility  to prohibit former President Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot again in 2024.

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Section Three remains an enforceable part of the Constitution [and] covers a broad range of conduct against the authority of the constitutional order, wrote law professors William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas in a deeply researched law review article posted online earlier this month. In particular, it disqualifies former President Donald Trump, and potentially many others, because of their participation in the attempted overthrow of the 2020 presidential election.

Weighing the evidence, former federal judge J. Michael Luttig soon came to the same conclusion. The former presidents efforts ... place him squarely within the ambit of the disqualification clause, Luttig declared in a much-discussed Atlantic essay (written with Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe). The most pressing constitutional question facing our country at this moment, then, is whether we will abide by this clear command.

Democrats have long claimed that Trump and other Republican lawmakers should be barred from office over their actions on (and around) Jan. 6, 2021. But Baude, Paulsen and Luttig arent Democrats. They are leading conservative lawyers.

Now, as a result, a Florida tax attorney is challenging Trumps eligibility in federal court, and election officials in Michigan, New Hampshire and elsewhere  both Democratic and Republican  are considering whether to exclude him from their state ballots.

Why theres debate

Any attempt to remove Trump from the ballot in 2024 would unleash a constitutional crisis of epic proportions, forcing the Supreme Court to intervene.

There are two dimensions to the (very heated) debate over Section 3. The first is legal. Wasnt the Disqualification Clause meant to apply only to ex-Confederates in the 1860s? Wasnt it effectively repealed when Congress granted general amnesty in 1872 and 1898? Dont Congress or the courts need to determine what qualifies as engaging in insurrection or rebellion or giving aid or comfort to  enemies? Doesnt enemies in this case mean enemies in war? And wasnt Trumps scheme to seize the presidency too bumbling to amount to a rebellion or insurrection?

Baude, Paulsen and Luttig say no. Other experts, however, have disagreed.

The even more contentious  and likely more consequential  dimension here is political.

Consider the scenario in which Section 3 is invoked against Trump in 2024, David Frum wrote in the Atlantic earlier this week. Although he has won the Republican nomination, Democratic secretaries of state in key states refuse to place his name on their ballots, as a person who engaged in insurrection against the United States. With Trumps name deleted from some swing-state ballots, President Joe Biden is easily reelected. But only kind of reelected. ... The rage and chaos that would follow are beyond imagining.

Whats next

Filing deadlines for the 2024 presidential contest start with Nevada on Oct. 16, then ramp up in November and December. Election officials typically dont challenge a candidates eligibility until he or she files.

But already, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan , a Republican, has revealed that he will be asking the attorney generals office for their input.

When somebody makes a reasoned argument about what those provisions mean, I feel an obligation to at least listen to them, Scanlan explained.

Likewise, Scanlans counterpart in Michigan, Democrat Jocelyn Benson, has said she is going to follow the law and will be talking with [Secretaries of State] Al Schmidt in Pennsylvania, with Cisco Aguilar in Nevada, with Brad Raffensperger [in Georgia], because we know ... the impact that this decision could have.

Perspectives

History shows that Section 3 was designed to stop figures like Trump from regaining power

Conspiring, whether by violence or coercion, to overturn the outcome of an election is precisely what Confederate officers and officeholders did. They didnt like the outcome of the 1860 election, so they tried to dismantle the United States, first by walking away, then by force.  Its hard to argue that the same thing didnt happen in the aftermath of the 2020 election.  Joshua Zeitz, Politico

But the key question is defining what constitutes 'insurrection or rebellion'  and thats too big a job for partisan election officials

The terms of Section 3 should not be defined down to include mere riots or civil disturbances, which are common in United States history. Many of these riots impede the lawful operations of government, and exceed the power of normal law enforcement to control. ... In the absence of actual engagement in actual insurrection, judged as such by competent authorities, we should allow the American people to vote for the candidates of their choice.  Stanford law professor Michael McConnell, to Reason

Arcane legal debates aside, invoking Section 3 would create more problems than it would solve

The idea that the best way to deal with a demagogic populist whose entire appeal is already based on disillusionment with the established order is for state officials  in practice, state officials of the opposing political party  to begin unilaterally excluding him from their ballots on the basis of their own private judgment of crimes that he has not been successfully prosecuted for  Im sorry, the mind reels. It should not happen, it would not work if it did happen, John Roberts and four more justices would not uphold it, and it would license political chaos to no good purpose whatsoever.  Ross Douthat, New York Times

One of those problems? A new precedent that Republicans could weaponize to disqualify Democrats

If Section 3 can be reactivated in this way, then reactivated it will be. Republicans will hunt for Democrats to disqualify, and not only for president, but for any race where Democrats present someone who said or did something that can be represented as aid and comfort to enemies of the United States.  David Frum, Atlantic

Yes, but  the law is the law, and declining to enforce it wont stop Trump from being Trump

[The fear is that] imposing accountability will only escalate American political division, leading to a tit-for-tat of prosecuted or disqualified politicians.  I think [these] warnings are correct. Trump and his allies are already advertising their plans for revenge. But if past practice is any guide, Trump and his allies will abuse our nation whether we hold him accountable or not.  David French, New York Times
The Sierra Club has endorsed a Maine ballot initiative to create the countrys first consumer-owned electric utility, giving the issue national prominence ahead of the November vote.

The initiative, Question 3, would create Pine Tree Power, a cooperative that would replace the two existing utilities in the state, Central Maine Power and Versant Power, which service about 80 percent and 13 percent of Mainers, respectively. The issue will be on the ballot Nov. 7.

With Pine Tree Power, Mainers can establish a utility responsible to the public, not far-off investors, Sierra Club President Ben Jealous said in a statement. A win in Maine would allow for a quicker, more just expansion of the states electric grid, all while saving ratepayers billions of dollars and advancing the states commendable climate and economic justice goals.

Advocates of the proposal have repeatedly hit a wall trying to create the new utility through legislation. A measure passed the state House in 2021 but died in the state Senate. Gov. Janet Mills (D) vetoed an amended version of the bill after it passed both chambers, saying it may well be that the time has come for the people of the State of Maine to retake control over the [utilities] assets, but taking issue with the specifics of the bill.

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The Sierra Club marks one of the highest-profile national endorsements for the initiative thus far. Another came from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who said in July, Instead of a private power system that last year sent $187 million in profits out of the country, Mainers can have cheaper, more reliable power  and help fight climate change at the same time.

No comparable national figures have come out against the measure yet, with major opponents including the state Chamber of Commerce and the Maine AFL-CIO.

But opponents have vastly out-fundraised proponents as of late August, raising $27 million to supporters $840,000, according to Ballotpedia.

The Hill has reached out to Maines senators, Susan Collins (R) and Angus King (I), for clarifications on whether they back the measure.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Georgia Republicans are considering ways to punish District Attorney Fani Willis after she indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 other defendants earlier this month.

State Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, a Republican, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Senate GOP leaders could hold legislative hearings around whether Willis is using "her position in a political manner" following her sprawling racketeering indictment. He added that he sees Senate Bill 92, a new law that allows a state panel to probe and boot errant prosecutors, as a powerful "tool in the toolbox" that allies of the former president can use to dive into Willis' employment of public resources.

"We believe she is definitely tainted," Gooch told the outlet. "She's politicizing this, and we want to make sure these people get a fair trial and a fair shake."

The initiatives form just two parts of a broader attempt by Trump's allies at the Georgia Capitol and in Congress to retaliate against Willis and other top prosecutors in Trump's four ongoing criminal cases. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is among the Republican legislators who encouraged the House Judiciary Committee to open an investigation into how much Willis' office receives in federal dollars and whether it has coordinated with White House officials. Greene has also floated the idea to Georgia officials to launch their own state-level inquiry into Willis.

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U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., hopes to use an upcoming appropriations bill to cut federal funding for Willis, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg  who indicted Trump in March on falsifying business records charges in connection to a hush money payment  and federal special counsel Jack Smith  who brought down charges against Trump twice this summer in connection to his retention of national security documents after his presidency and efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Willis declined the AJC's request for comment. But during the indictment announcement earlier this month, she said she acted "based on facts and the law."

"The law is completely nonpartisan," the district attorney said. "That's how decisions are made in every case."

Gooch acknowledged that there are limits to GOP attempts to reprimand Willis. He joined other party leaders in condemning a petition by first-term Republican state Sen. Colton Moore to force a special legislative session to impeach the district attorney. That move would require the support of three-fifths of the legislature and, therefore, would need votes from Democratic members.

"We want to make sure we calm down, we look at this stuff deliberately and we do it in a mature way," Gooch said, explaining that he's talked with Moore multiple times about curtailing his jabs of fellow Republicans, whom he recently called "buzzard cowards."

"There's a lot of angry people in this state on both sides of this issue. But there's still a majority of the Republican base who feel like there was fraud in the 2020 election, and they don't feel like it was completely vetted properly and investigated," Gooch added of why they're seeking retribution against Willis. "And that's why a lot of these people are still upset today. They don't feel like they were heard. And I think Colton Moore resonates with those people, and they support what he's saying, but maybe not the way he's saying it and the way he's conducting himself in the chamber."

Moore, however, has signaled he does not intend to mince his words. He told the outlet that his GOP colleagues should be enraged by the indictment of another counterpart, Sen. Shawn Still, who was among those charged in the Georgia indictment. Still has said he committed no wrongdoing when he served as a fake GOP elector.

"To hear that I need to tone it down when I'm encouraging my colleagues to do their legislative duty is absolutely ridiculous," Moore said, "and I hope of people of Georgia see what's going on."

Moore in an appearance on Steve Bannon's podcast warned of a potential civil war if Willis' prosecution is not defunded.

"I don't want a civil war. I don't want to have to draw my rifle. I want to make this problem go away with my legislative means of doing so," Moore said.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

The Republican effort to punish Willis was met with condemnation and allegations that the Senate was trying to abuse its power.

"When judges, juries, and multiple jurisdictions have determined that laws likely have been broken by the same and similar actions, to punish a prosecutor for pursuing justice here is a raw abuse of political power and violation of separation of powers fundamental to democracy," tweeted Sara Tindall Ghazal, a state election board member.

When judges, juries, and multiple jurisdictions have determined that laws likely have been broken by the same and similar actions, to punish a prosecutor for pursuing justice here is a raw abuse of political power and violation of separation of powers fundamental to democracy. https://t.co/16uCa7JUaN  Sara Tindall Ghazal (@TindallSara) August 30, 2023

"It's the smell of desperation: attacking prosecutors when a defendant has no defense to stand on," added former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance. "But in Georgia, it's being taken to new and dangerous levels. Impossible to view this as anything other [than] an effort by Georgia GOP to place Trump above the law."

It's the smell of desperation: attacking prosecutors when a defendant has no defense to stand on. But in Georgia, it's being taken to new and dangerous levels. Impossible to view this as anything other then an effort by Georgia GOP to place Trump above the law. https://t.co/PqlwRNEChN  Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) August 30, 2023

Read more

about the Fani Willis case
A Christian County man with a lengthy criminal history was charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday after being accused of killing his father at a Sparta home.

Chantry D. Hale, 45, punched his father, 66-year-old Jimmy Hale, before shooting him in the head around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, according to investigators. When deputies arrived at the rural property, they found the deceased wrapped in a blanket with duct tape, and near an open vehicle trunk.

Deputies at the Sparta home arrested Chantry Hale, who allegedly had the victim's debit card and driver's license in his pocket as well as a Glock pistol. He was also charged with first-degree armed criminal action.

Documents say a witness saw the shooting and reportedly fled to contact authorities. It's unclear in the police report why the two relatives were feuding.

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Chantry's previous felony convictions include first-degree assault, burglary, felony in possession of a firearm, and repeat DWI offender. Some his crimes date back as far as 1999.

He had recently violated the terms of his parole, according to court documents, and when a probation officer reached out to him, he told the parole officer to "go kill yourself." There was a warrant for his arrest at the time of Wednesday's shooting.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Sparta man and serial felon accused of shooting and killing father
Clean energy is becoming more affordable. However, upfront costs for rooftop solar panel installation and binding contracts with utility providers are creating obstacles for the 93% of Americans that dont currently use renewable energy.

Arcadia is revolutionizing access to clean energy for individuals, starting with monthly savings through community solar and wind energy.

The Cool Down may receive a commission on sign-ups made through links on this page at no cost to you.

What is Arcadia?

Arcadia is a tech company that helps virtually anyone access the money-saving benefits of solar energy without the need to install costly rooftop panels.

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Community solar platforms like Arcadia help people save money on their monthly bills while helping the U.S. transition towards clean energy  a transition that helps our wallets, the planet, national security, and our health.

Whether youre renting or unable to invest in a solar panel system for your home, you can still help produce and reap the benefits of clean energy without ever having solar panels on your roof.

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Your utility company will deliver energy to your home as it normally does because your share of solar panels doesnt send energy to your home but rather to the grid.

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If you live in a state that doesnt support community solar, Arcadia offers a wind energy membership for $5. This fee essentially pays to match your energy consumption with Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) purchased from wind farms.

Join our free newsletter for cool news and actionable info that makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.
An Institutions of Higher Learning committee is narrowing the list of candidates from which to choose the next president of Jackson State University.

A Search Committee appointed by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees on Tuesday, August 29 began the process of reviewing applications from what they reported as 79 candidates vying to become the next President of Jackson State University.

Members of the committee are Dr. Steven Cunningham, chair; Dr. Ormella Cummings; Bruce Martin; Gee Ogletree; and Hal Palmer.

Joined at the 4:30 p.m. meeting at the Universities Center building at the Mississippi Research and Development Center by several members of the Jackson State faculty interested in following the developments, the committee, via a teleconference online meeting platform, voted immediately upon convening to go into a closed or executive session to discuss personnel matters.

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None of the committee members were at the meeting in person and Cunningham immediately gaveled the meeting as adjourned without taking questions from reporters as the doors were reopened after approximately two hours.

The committee is expected to decide who among the applicants will advance to the next level and be asked to submit to interviews for the position.

Kim Gallaspy, assistant commissioner for government relations for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, responding to questions from the Clarion Ledger, issued the following prepared statement:

The Board of Trustees has received 79 applications for the position of President of Jackson State University. The schedule for holding interviews has not been finalized at this time, but we expect to complete the search this fall.

In response to questions over whether Jackson State Acting President Dr. Elayne Hayes-Anthony is still considered an active candidate for the position, the statement added, The Board values confidentiality for all applicants and will not comment on any specific applicants.

Hayes-Anthony has said she wants to be a part of the process as the IHL makes decisions for the future of the school.

I am here. I am a Jacksonian. Whatever I need to do to help my university to make things move ahead, I will do that, Hayes-Anthony said. Oh yeah, I would like to be the next president.

Hayes-Anthony assumed the Acting President role after Thomas K. Hudson was placed on administrative leave earlier this year by the IHL and subsequently resigned.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: IHL considers applicants for Jackson State University president
Massachusetts State Police are searching for a suspect who was shooting paintballs at several cars along Interstate 495 in Haverhill.

Troopers responded to reports of a white or silver sedan or small SUV shooting yellow paintballs at moving cars around 10 p.m. on Monday night.

At least six victims gave statements to the troopers after their cars were vandalized with the paint.

The suspected vehicle has not been located but all local police departments in the area were advised to be on the lookout.

Troopers are actively investigating this incident and suspect it may be related to several similar incidents recently reported.

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There were no injuries during the vandalism, according to police.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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On Tuesday, it was reported that North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls could be ousted from her seat for judicial ethics violations. Did she fail to disclose gifts from a billionaire benefactor on whose cases she was ruling? No. Maybe shed gone on luxury vacations across the globe paid for by some of the richest men in the country and neglected to mention them on disclosure forms? Nope. Perhaps one of these billionaires bought her mom a house? Not that either. Her true crime: Earls, the only Black woman on North Carolinas high court, spoke out about racial bias in her courtroom. Her alleged misconduct was speaking to the media about how few clerks of color the court employed and how her colleagues treated certain attorneys, including a Black woman, who argued before them. For that, a Republican-stacked judicial ethics commission has gone after her. Its targeting of Earls could fulfill the wishes of the gerrymandered Republican Legislature by removing a tireless advocate of racial equality.

Earls, who was elected with 1.8 million votes in 2018 and is a frequent dissenter to the right-wing majoritys decisions, was responding to a study of advocates who argued at the high court. This study found that 90 percent of the lawyers were white and nearly 70 percent were male. Asked for her response, Earls noted the lack of racial diversity among the courts clerks and her colleagues disparate treatment of certain advocates at oral argument. She went out of her way to say she didnt think that this was the result of conscious bias, but we all have implicit biases. Earls also criticized decisions by Chief Justice Paul Newby, a Republican, to end implicit bias training and disband commissions looking into racial justice issues.

The Judicial Standards Commission, which has been reshaped by GOP judges in recent years, is now alleging that Earls concerns about bias in the courtroom may violate judicial ethics rules. The commission investigates complaints against judges, and its investigation could result in discipline for Earls or even her removal from office. If the commission finds a violation, the state Supreme Court would ultimately decide whether to accept its recommended sanction.

The ethics rule in question says that judges should conduct themselves at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. In a letter to Earls, the commission argued that she cant suggest that another judge is biased unless she knows this to be the case. The commission says that without some quantum of definitive proof, its a violation of the ethics rules. In other words, unless Earls has proof that the commission considers definitive, she cant speak out about bias at the highest level of North Carolinas justice system. Never mind that Earls was not singling out one judge or justice, but rather discussing systemic racism as demonstrated through a comprehensive study of diversity at the North Carolina Supreme Court.

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On Tuesday, Earls responded by suing the commission in federal court, arguing that the investigation is chilling her First Amendment right to free speech. She described her comments as core political speech concerning important public policy questions regarding the justice system and administration of the courts.

The truth is that Earls was speaking out in defense of the principles that the ethics rules seek to protect. The conduct that Earls described in her interview, bias in the courts arguments and in its hiring process, could have violated the mandate that judges do their jobs impartially and treat people respectfully. A lack of diversity could certainly give people good reason to doubt the fairness of the judiciary.

The trumped-up charge against Earls is politically motivated. If this complaint had been filed a few years ago, it wouldve been summarily dismissed. But the commission has become yet another weapon for the North Carolina GOP to wield against judges who wont do the bidding of the party or its corporate campaign contributors.

After Newby defeated former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley by 401 votes in 2020, his administration fired the head of the Judicial Standards Commission, who had stood in the way of the GOPs goal of bending the ethics rules to allow judges to be considered permanent candidates, able to raise campaign cash and endorse other candidates throughout their tenures.

Republican leaders in the states heavily gerrymandered Legislature have also tried to reshape the commission over the years. Senate President Phil Berger, whose son is a Republican justice serving alongside Earls, introduced a budget bill this year that radically overhauls the commission to give GOP legislators control. Under current law, the state bar chooses four commissioners, the chief justice picks six, and legislative leaders choose two each. So Republicans already have a majority. But Bergers proposed budget would politicize the commission even further, giving lawmakers the state bars four appointments, and it would ban lawyerswho have expertise thats very relevant to the commissionfrom serving.

Rumors have long swirled in Raleigh that Earls could become the victim of a politicized judicial ethics complaint. She has been in the GOPs crosshairs since she announced her campaign in 2018. Lawmakers passed several bills intended to hinder her campaign, and Republicans threatened to impeach her after she took office. (Like recent impeachment threats in Wisconsin, this happened just before Earls ruled on whether to ban partisan gerrymandering.)

Earls isnt the only judge to face blowback for acknowledging racism or sexism. In Wisconsin, Justice Jill Karofsky also faced bogus ethics charges for calling out one of Trumps post2020 election arguments as racist. Karofsky warned that she was the victim of a political witch hunt: The Wisconsin Judicial Commission, and others like it around the country, simply cannot allow partisan actors to proceed in bad faith and hijack the disciplinary system.

Judges must be able to speak out about the bias that plagues our justice system. Jurists at every level have an obligation to confront bias that they witness. Its in the judiciarys best interest to root out biases that cause people to doubt the fairness of the system.

Republicans disagree. Newbys race-blind agenda forbids any acknowledgment of bias in the system. Though hes been a prosecutor and judge for four decades in North Carolina, Newby claims that hes never witnessed any racism.

Since Newby and his Republican colleagues won control of the court in last years election, theyve backtracked on racial justice. The court is once again willfully ignoring racism in jury selection, as all-white juries sentence Black defendants. And it reversed course on whether a 2018 voter ID law violated the state constitutions ban on discrimination.

Now Republicans want to silence a duly elected justice for speaking out about bias that shes witnessed. By filing suit in federal court, Earls has stood up for her own free speech rights and the rights of citizens across the state to expect and receive equal justice under the law. Shes also shown shes not going to let the radical politicization of the states courts go any further without a fight.
Homes are under construction near wetlands, left, in Oak Island, N.C., Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. The Biden Administration weakened protections for wetlands on Tuesday, a win for developers and agricultural groups in some states. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

A month after the U.S. Supreme Court severely restricted the federal government's power to oversee wetlands, the Republican-dominated North Carolina legislature handed state agencies an order: Don't give the ecologically crucial waters any more protection than newly weakened federal rules provide.

It might seem ironic that Republicans who often complain about the federal government would tether their state's policy to one crafted in Washington, D.C. But this time, doing so meant slashing regulation and aligning themselves with builders, agriculture and other industries that have long sought weaker wetland safeguards.

For decades, federal court battles have pitted environmentalists who want the Clean Water Act to protect more wetlands against industries seeking regulatory rollbacks. The high court's May 25 decision favoring Idaho landowners Michael and Chantell Sackett curtailed powers of the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers to limit wetlands destruction.

It put states at the center of future fights over wetlands that defend against floods, purify water and support wildlife, analysts say.

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The federal rollbacks are creating a vacuum. The states are going to have to step in and fill the void," said Kim Delfino, president of an environmental consulting company and the former California director of Defenders of Wildlife.

The 5-4 ruling expanded the ability of farmers, homebuilders and other developers to dig up or fill wetlands, finding the federal government had long overreached in limiting such activities. Its the latest decision by a conservative-dominated court to limit environment laws and agency powers. With little appetite in a divided Congress to pass environmental laws, the outcome is likely to endure.

On Tuesday, the EPA and the Corps, which make and enforce federal wetlands rules, updated them to comply with the court's decision involving the Sacketts, who disputed the need for an EPA permit to build a house near a lake.

The rule requires wetlands to be more clearly connected to other waters like oceans and rivers to be regulated  a major departure from decades-old federal policy.

Experts say it will take time to determine how the changes will play out in different regions.

States will either enforce or adopt new protections. Others will roll back existing protections, said Geoff Gisler, program director for the Southern Environmental Law Center. The focus will shift from the federal to the state government.

North Carolina offers an early example.

The state, with its flat, sandy coastal plain rich in wetlands, began regulating ones isolated from larger surface waterways about 20 years ago after a previous court decision limited federal authority.

Urged by development interests in the steadily growing region, legislators voted in June to disallow state protection standards exceeding those of the EPA and Army Corps, overriding Democratic Gov. Roy Coopers veto.

The move stripped protections from more than half the wetlands in the flood-prone state hammered by hurricanes in the past decade, said Grady McCallie, policy director for the North Carolina Conservation Network.

We are going to see a lot of devastation, said Gisler of the Southern Environmental Law Center. People who bought new homes, moving to North Carolina to embrace the coastal lifestyle, at some point in the next few years are likely to see their homes flooded.

Chris Millis, a lobbyist with the North Carolina Homebuilders Association, which pushed to link state and federal wetlands policies, said the move was underway before the Supreme Court decision. He said it resulted from state officials making more wetlands subject to regulation in recent years, creating uncertainty for developers.

Even the presence of artificial farm ponds was reducing the number of houses in new subdivisions, Millis said. Its one thing to protect areas of land that do have ecological significance. Its another to take man-made ditches and cattle ponds and claim them as state waters and wetlands.

But more is at stake, said Curtis Richardson, director of the Duke University Wetland Center and a professor of resource ecology. Thousands of the state's wetlands  oval depressions known as Carolina bays, pocosin bogs with sandy peat soil and woodsy shrubs  are formed by rainfall or groundwater and have no connection to surface waters. And Richardson said the Supreme Court ruling  and now the new state requirement not to exceed federal standards  leaves them vulnerable.

You cannot protect every wetland. Not every wetland is sacrosanct," he said. What we want to do is preserve those with the most functional value on the landscape for biodiversity, water quality and other services.

Roughly half of U.S. states rely on federal regulations to protect their wetlands, according to a May analysis by the Environmental Law Institute. That's where the Sackett ruling will have the greatest impact  unless state or local leaders set tougher rules than federal ones.

Many of those states have Republican-majority legislatures and are concentrated in the Great Plains and South. A group of Democrat-led states in the Northeast and along the Pacific Coast have crafted their own wetlands standards. The Sackett decision will have less effect there.

But the divide isnt entirely along ideological lines. Florida, once a swing state but now solidly Republican, has separate protections for its extensive wetlands.

States, worried about shifting federal rules, have acted on their own before. Following years of debate, California strengthened its requirements after the Trump administration proposed rolling back federal rules in 2019.

The job wasn't easy, despite California's left-leaning politics and severely degraded wetlands, said Delfino, the environmental consultant. Some worried that tougher protections would hurt economic development and agriculture. But she said the successful effort means the Supreme Court decision probably won't affect the state much.

It could prompt regulatory cutbacks in the Southwest, where many wetlands are seasonal and have no direct link to a surface water, said Shawn Zovod, a San Francisco-based regulatory compliance attorney who represents developers.

The court ruling also will likely spark battles in ideologically divided states over whether to step up wetlands oversight as federal agencies back off, Zovod said.

Colorado officials, for example, quickly issued an interim policy that requires anyone damaging a wetland no longer protected under federal law to notify the state environmental agency. After Sackett, officials are using their enforcement authority to ensure waters that are no longer federally regulated aren't destroyed.

Those are important parts of our economy and recreational opportunities" said Nicole Rowan, director of the water quality control division at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

A long-term fix, however, still requires action from the state legislature.

Michael Altman, manager of federal regulatory affairs at the trade group Associated Builders and Contractors, said the Sackett decision not only protects fewer wetlands but also makes it easier for developers to determine ones that can be disturbed only with a permit.

Figuring that out has often been a complicated process involving attorneys and consultants, he said, adding, Were hoping that in a post-Sackett environment, therell be clarity in permitting and more efficiency for these important projects.

The court ruling reflects a trend toward relying on state authority and programs, said Ben Grumbles, executive director of the nonpartisan Environmental Council of the States.

The Supreme Court has clearly stated that federal coverage of wetlands under the Clean Water Act is more limited than its been over the last 50 years, he said.

___

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
One of the producers behind Maestro, Netflixs forthcoming biopic about the late American composer Leonard Bernstein, has divulged the way in which Bradley Cooper came to produce, direct, and star in the movie.

Co-produced by Hollywood heavyweights Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Maestro is described as a love letter to life and art and depicts the decades-long relationship between Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre Bernstein (played by Carey Mulligan).

Both Scorsese and Spielberg were, at various points since the rights were acquired in 2008, attached to direct the film before it fell to Cooper.

Speaking to Deadline ahead of Maestros Venice Film Festival premiere on 2 September, co-producer Kristie Macosko Krieger revealed that Spielberg passed directing duties to Cooper after watching his 2018 directorial debut, A Star Is Born.

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Steven was moving towards making West Side Story [the 2021 reboot starring Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler], Krieger explained.

So Steven was no longer going to direct and Bradley like right at that time, I feel like it was March or April of 2018, Bradley said Steven if youre not going to direct this can I throw my hat in the ring? I just finished A Star Is Born. Im just putting the finishing touches on it, can you watch the movie, and if you like the movie Id love to do the job.

Krieger said she, Maestro co-writer Josh Singer and Spielberg were all invited over by Cooper for a screening of his musical drama, which he starred in opposite Lady Gaga.

Bradley Cooper in Maestro (left) and Steven Spielberg (Jason McDonald/Netflix/Getty Images)

Steven watched the movie and like 20 minutes into the film sort of creeped over and he said, You are directing this movie, you must direct Maestro, she said.

The producer added that Spielberg continued to work closely with Cooper on the movie. [Spielberg] was the sounding board for Bradley. He read every draft for the script, she said.

He watched every cut of the film with Bradley. He was involved in all of it.

Following the release of the films first trailer on 15 August, Cooper has courted controversy for wearing a prosthetic nose to portray Bernstein, who was Jewish.

Cooper, who is not of Jewish descent, was accused of reinforcing an antisemitic trope that Jewish people have big noses.

He has since been defended by the children of Bernstein and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use make-up to amplify his resemblance, and were perfectly fine with that. Were also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well, Bernsteins children, Jamie, Alexander and Nina said in a joint statement.

Throughout history, Jews were often portrayed in antisemitic films and propaganda as evil caricatures with large, hooked noses, the ADL said in a statement to Variety. This film, which is a biopic on the legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein, is not that.

Actor and producer Jake Gyllenhaal, who is of Jewish heritage, previously spoke of his disappointment upon losing a bid for the films rights to Cooper, admitting he had been yearning to play one of the most preeminent Jewish artists in America for almost two decades.

Maestro will be in select UK cinemas on 24 November and on Netflix from 20 December.
South Carolina has weathered much harsher storms than Hurricane Idalia, but residents of the Palmetto State should still prepare for the storms arrival, particularly by staying off the road, Gov. Henry McMaster warned Wednesday afternoon.

Weve been through a lot worse than this one appears to be, McMaster said at a Wednesday briefing at the state Emergency Management Division headquarters in West Columbia. Weve seen some bad ones. ... This does not appear to be in that category at all, but it is still dangerous.

Some 200,000 South Carolinians could find themselves without electricity as a result of Idalia, state officials predicted.

Utility crews will not be able to begin repairing power lines until winds are consistently less than 35 mph, and they will not be able to work in the dark overnight, said Nanette Edwards, director of the states Office or Regulatory Staff, which oversees utility companies.

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McMaster and other officials warned of high storm surges in coastal areas  perhaps 1-2 feet in the Georgetown and Myrtle Beach areas, and possibly 3 feet or higher in the Beaufort area  as well as high winds that could down power lines across the state.

The storms expected arrival Wednesday evening at about the time of high tide along the coast also means greater concern of flooding in coastal areas, McMaster noted.

Four shelters were opened in Charleston, Jasper and Williamsburg counties in the Lowcountry, with others on standby, state Department of Social Services Director Michael Leach said. To find shelters, residents can visit www.scemd.org.

Idalia made landfall over Floridas Big Bend as a Category 3 hurricane just before 8 a.m. Wednesday and was traveling toward Georgia as a Category 1 hurricane late Wednesday morning.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon ahead of the storms impacts reaching the Carolinas.

Idalia could be at Category 1 strength when it hits the South Carolina coast late Wednesday, according to meteorologists. Idalia may be downgraded to a tropical storm by that point, but the Midlands area is still expected to see up to half a foot of rain. The Midlands area is currently under a tropical storm warning.

The greatest threat to the Midlands will be flash floods from heavy rain and the chance for tornadoes. The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for all of the Midlands, which remains in effect until Thursday afternoon.

Given saturated soil conditions across the area, flash flooding is likely with this rain, the weather service adds.

Wind gusts of 40 miles per hour or greater Wednesday evening could down trees and create flying debris, the weather service warns.

Several Midlands school districts have altered their class schedules to prepare for the inclement weather.

Public safety officials are urging residents to avoid travel Wednesday evening.

This story will be updated with more details.

LATEST UPDATE on the forecast for #Idalia ! Rainfall is expected to pick up beginning this afternoon.



Avoid unnecessary travel as this storm moves through! https://t.co/y72to4WCDo  Columbia-Richland Fire Department (@ColaFire) August 30, 2023
Authorities are investigating a crash that caused injuries to several people and left two passengers including a child dead in Atwater.

At about 12:10 a.m. Saturday, officers responded to a report of traffic colliison with injuries at Green Sands Avenue and North Buhach Road, according to an Atwater Police Department news release.

Arriving officers located the two-vehicle collision involving a silver Toyota Corolla and a white Acura sedan. Authorities said several occupants inside the vehicles were injured in the collision and were transported to area hospitals.

Police said two passengers inside the Toyota, identified as Joshua Hitto, 26, of Stockton and an 8-year-old girl, were pronounced dead at the scene. According to Atwater Police Chief Michael Salvador, many details of the collision remain under investigation at this time.

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Were trying to determine direction of travel and if speed was a factor, Salvador said.

The cause of the collision remains under investigation, and it is unknown if alcohol was a factor, according to authorities.

Police ask anyone with information regarding the incident to contact the Atwater Police Department at 209-357-6384.
The moderators for next months Republican presidential primary debate have been set.

Fox hosts Stuart Varney and Dana Perino , as well as Univisions Ilia Calderon, will preside over the Sept. 27 event, which will be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The debate, the second of the GOP primary, will be hosted by Fox Business and will also air in Spanish exclusively on Univision.

We are very proud to have Stuart Varney and Dana Perino co-moderating the second debate with Univision to provide Americans with a comprehensive view of the qualifying candidates vying for the Republican nomination for president, Jay Wallace, president of Fox News, said in announcing the decision Wednesday.

Fox hosted the first Republican primary debate last week. Former President Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, skipped the event, citing his large lead in most national polls and what he has described as a hostile relationship with Fox leadership.

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Trump has signaled he does not intend to participate in any of the GOP primary debates, which are slated to occur once a month ahead of the Republican convention next summer.

Varney and Perino are both Fox veterans who have become staples of the channels programming in recent years.

After a stint in George W. Bushs White House, Perino joined Fox 14 years ago and currently hosts its morning news program Americas Newsroom with co-anchor Bill Hemmer.

Varney, a member of Fox Businesss original staff, serves primarily as a conservative political and financial analyst.

Calderon is currently co-anchor of Univisions flagship weekday evening newscast and moderated the final primary debate between Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in March 2020.

Updated: 1:13 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Air Forces eligibility requirements are keeping more Black and Hispanic Americans from joining the service compared to their white peers, according to a report.

The issue, laid out in an Aug. 24 study by the Rand Corp. think tank, is one of interest as it prevents the Air Force from resembling the U.S. population it serves, even as it considers a diverse force to be a military necessity, researchers write.

It also hinders the service from being able to pull potential airmen from demographic groups that are more likely to join the military, an issue made more important given the Pentagons recent struggles with recruitment and a bid to increase diversity within the ranks.

Such efforts, meant to attract more young people and strengthen the force, are stymied by the Air Forces rules to join, Rand researchers found.

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A large segment of the U.S. population is not eligible to enlist as an airman or be commissioned as an officer, and the impact of eligibility criteria is not uniform across gender and race and ethnicity, the report states.

Because most military personnel begin their careers at the entry-level pay grade and positions are filled by promoting from within, achieving diversity at the point of accession is critical to growing and maintaining a diverse workforce across all pay grades.

Body mass index, height, education and aptitude requirements are the biggest barriers to both enlisted and officer eligibility, followed by health, citizenship, criminal records, tattoos and other roadblocks. For instance, enlistees must have a high school diploma or GED, no more than two dependents and not be a single parent, and have no felony convictions. But these requirements affect the eligibility of gender, racial and ethnic groups differently, according to the report.

For example, while Black men make up 7 percent of the enlistment-age population of 17- to 39-year-olds in the United States, only 3.6 percent are eligible to join the Air Force.

Hispanic men, meanwhile, make up 12 percent of that age range but only 7 percent meet the services standards.

The trends are the same for women, with Hispanic women accounting for more than 10 percent of possible service members in the U.S. population but only 8 percent are eligible.

And Black women make up 7 percent of Americans within the age range to enlist, though less than 5 percent could join, the report found.

To try to cast from a wider net, Air Force officials have slightly altered some recruiting rules, allowing some airmen to join with higher body fat percentages and visible tattoos. The service has helped others enlist by aiding them before entrance exams.

In the officer corps, which requires a college degree to enter  usually through graduating from the Air Force Academy  researchers found similar imbalances that affected Black and Hispanic Americans.

Officer eligibility is already much more restrictive than that of enlistment, with approximately 1 in 19 men and 1 in 14 women aged 17 to 23 eligible to enter the academy.

In this category researchers found that Hispanic men and women, Asian women, and white women are less represented in the Air Force accession cohort than in the eligible population.

Even with the eligibility barriers, Rand researchers found that because Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to join the Air Force, it helps offset some of the minority representation issues.

Since 2020, the Air Force has made strides to increase the diversity of its airmen, launching several studies, creating working groups and altering rules to negate practices that may unfairly hinder airmen of color.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Suits creator Aaron Korsch has revealed that the royal family requested script changes after Meghan Markles relationship with Prince Harry came to light.

The now-Duchess of Sussex played attorney Rachel Zane in seven seasons of the popular legal drama before exiting in 2018 ahead of her royal wedding. She became romantically involved with the prince in 2016.

During a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter about Suits renewed popularity on Netflix, Korsch recalled a line that the royal family asked to be cut.

I remember one was a particular line of dialogue and, look, Ill just say what the line was, Korsch said.

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My wifes family, when they have a topic to discuss that might be sensitive, they use the word poppycock, he explained.

Lets say you wanted to do something that you knew your husband didnt want to do, but you wanted to at least discuss it, and in just discussing it, you wouldnt hold him to anything he said, youd be like, Its poppycock.

Korsch continued: So, in the episode, Mike and Rachel [Markles character] were going to have a thing, and as a nod to my in-laws, we were going to have her say, My family would say poppycock. And the royal family did not want her saying the word. They didnt want to put the word poppycock in her mouth.

Meghan Markle and Patrick J Adams in Suits (USA Network)

I presume because they didnt want people cutting things together of her saying cock. So, we had to change it to bulls*** instead of poppycock, and I did not like it because Id told my in-laws that [poppycock] was going to be in the show. There was maybe one or two more things, but I cant remember.

Korsch added that he wasnt sure how or through what channels the royal family was receiving the scripts for his show. I was aware that they were reading them because I got the feedback, but I dont remember the process by which they got them, he said.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Suits broke its own record for the most-watched acquired title, with 3.7 billion minutes watched from 3 July to 9 July across Netflix and Peacock, according to Nielsen data.

In a separate interview with the LA Times, Korsch credited the shows renewed success in part to Markles role in the royal family.

The series originally premiered on USA Network between 2011 and 2019, and aired on Dave in the UK.

It follows an attorney named Mike (played by Patrick J Adams) who lands a job at a prestigious New York legal firm despite never attending law school. Markles character Rachel is his love interest.

Suits returned to Netflix on 17 June  the day of King Charles IIIs birthday parade.
An 18-year-old Montegut woman survived a murder-for-hire by hiding in a closet. She heard her mother and neighbor's pleas as they were gunned down.

The now 20-year-old Chelsie Bourque swallowed back emotions and told jurors how she learned she was the target of the execution during testimony Tuesday, Aug. 29, in Judge Randall Bethancourt's Courtroom in the Terrebonne Courthouse.

Dalvin Wilson, of Eunice, is accused of being the gunman. He faces two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder.

If found guilty unanimously by 12 jurors, he faces life in prison. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

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The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Dennis Elfret, and Wilson is represented by Defense Attorney John Hall Thomas.

Multiple witness testimonies told how the gunman forced his way into Bourque's home and left chaos and heartbreak.

"I had just finished my homework and was about to have dinner," Bourque said. She heard a commotion rooms away, and a gunshot. "I ran into the closet and put the door in front of me."

The gunman struggled with and shot 37-year-old Hope Nettleton, the neighbor, before cornering Bourque's mother, 34-year-old Brittany Cormier, and shooting her between the eyes. Her mother died instantly two rooms away, and the gunman fled. Nettleton eventually died from her injuries as well.

Bourque recalled cries of "No," two gunshots, then silence before she dialed 911. The recording of the phone call was played for the jury.

Her teeth were clenched and her chin trembled as she listened to the audio of the events that occurred Jan. 13, 2021, at her former home on 103 Montegut St.

Prior to the audio being played, Bourque told jurors how she attempted to leave the home while speaking with the dispatcher. She saw her neighbor's body and went back to her room. Tears ran down Bourque's face as the recording of the phone call played.

"Oh God, no!," the 18-year-old Bourque shouted from the recording. "Oh my God. I can't do this. I can't."

More: Eunice man faces murder charge in trial for role in reported botched murder-for-hire

More: LSU lands patent for poison pig gummies to dent Louisiana's exploding wild hog population

Family members of the victims watching Bourque relive the moment muffled their own sobbing in tissues.

According to Andrew Eskin of Carencro, the plot to assassinate Bourque was hatched by her uncle, Beaux Cormier.

Eskin already pled guilty to helping Wilson plan the assassination but said he ultimately didn't go the night of the murders. He said he and Wilson cased the home twice, and tried to enter during one attempt. Other witness testimony identified their vehicle on scene during the previous attempt, but not the men.

Eskin said Brittany Cormier's brother, Beaux Cormier, hired Wilson to kill his niece, Bourque, because she accused him of rape. Beaux Cormier faces trial Oct. 2 on the same charges as Wilson.

Eskin entered a plea agreement with the Terrebonne Parish District Attorney's Office. In exchange for testifying in the two trials, he faces a single manslaughter charge, which carries zero to 40 years in jail.

Only one person witnessed the gunman that night and lived, Bourque's step-father Donovan Martin. The family was packing to move to Mississippi the next day. They had stopped for the night, and Martin was cooking French fries when he answered a knock at the door.

He said the shooter was a Black man with a mask and hoodie. He pushed through the door with a handgun drawn asking for a "Crystal," or "Kristie." But while the gun was trained on Martin, Nettleton walked in on them.

The gunman turned his attention to her, and Martin ran out the door shouting that someone was in his home with a gun.

Martin said he could identify the defendant as the gunman by his eyes and nose.

"I see it in his eyes," Martin said, glaring at Wilson.

As he fled, he heard his neighbor and his wife yelling, "No," and, after two gunshots, silence.

Jerry Nettleton, was exiting his father's home when he saw Martin's panic. He rushed into his own home to warn his wife. She was not there.

During testimony, Jerry Nettleton's statements were short and direct. His cold stare rarely left Wilson as he spoke.

Jerry Nettleton said he grabbed his rifle because he heard the gunshots. He was hard of hearing and spared from the sound of the screams. He rushed to Martin's home and saw a pearl white GMC truck flee the area.

He approached the front door of the home and spotted his wife sprawled on the floor. Jerry Nettleton turned, sent his son home and went to his wife's side to perform cpr.

"I saw Hope on the floor. My son was not far behind me, so I gave him the gun and told him to go home," he said. His speech softened, "She was facedown. I didn't see injuries, but blood was pooled around her."

Jurors were guided through the crime scene with video and photographs, from tire tracks to shell casings to bodies, by Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Investigator and Evidence Custodian Laura Guise.

The evidence, including bullets, casings and photos are set aside for jurors' later viewing. The trial continues Wednesday, Aug. 30.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Survivors retell how a murder for hire left two Montegut mothers dead.
LAPD Det. Ryan Moreno called Saturday's crash that killed three Uber passengers in South L.A. "vehicular homicide all the way." (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

The man accused of killing three people  including two sisters  when he crashed into their Uber in South Los Angeles was out of jail on probation in connection with a murder case, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Los Angeles resident Gregory Black, 31, faces three charges of gross vehicular manslaughter, and if convicted could face up to 25 years in prison to life for each charge, LAPD Det. Ryan Moreno said at a Wednesday morning news conference in Los Angeles. Black, a "well-known gang member" in the area, was out on five-year probation, police said.

At about 5:20 a.m. Saturday, Black was allegedly traveling north on Vermont Avenue in a white Mercedes-Benz when he ran a red light at Century Boulevard and T-boned a black Honda operating as an Uber and carrying four passengers, according to Moreno. Black was traveling "at an extremely high rate of speed," Moreno said.

The force of the crash spun the Honda around five times before it landed against a curb, Moreno said.

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Read more: 3 Uber riders killed, driver and fourth passenger hospitalized after South L.A. car crash

The three passengers sitting in the back of the Uber were pronounced dead at the scene. They were identified as sisters Veronica Amezola, 23, and Kimberly Izquierdo, 27, and their friend, Juvelyn Arroyo, 23.

The front seat passenger, Jesus Lopez, had injuries to his left leg, chest and arms. The Uber driver, Michelle Lee, had a fractured neck and ribs and massive head trauma. They were both hospitalized and are recovering from their injuries.

Black was also hospitalized with a fractured left ankle and other injuries, according to Moreno. Black has a criminal history, including 11 felony charges and three convictions. He also has four misdemeanor charges and one conviction.

Before the crash, Black was allegedly driving at about 100 mph on Vermont Avenue and ran a red light at Imperial Highway about 20 seconds before he hit the Uber. Moreno said the collision site "looked like a bomb went off."

Read more: L.A. County sheriff's deputy accused of trying to cover up DUI crash of fellow deputy

Its obvious when you see these videos that its vehicular homicide all the way, Moreno said. You got an individual driving at speeds upwards of 100 mph in 35 mph streets, blowing red lights and ultimately basically playing roulette and hitting a car, T-boning a car and killing people.

GoFundMe pages have been set up to cover funeral costs for Amezola and Izquierdo and for Arroyo.

Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The second day of the Baby Favi trial was marked by more questions about the jury's readiness and hours of testimony from the case's lead detective.

The jury also heard testimony from a nurse practitioner who examined Baby Favi and two first responders who performed CPR before transporting her to the hospital. During their testimony, the prosecution presented the jury with pictures of Baby Favi's body, a recording of the defendant's 911 call, and a recording of a confrontational police interview with the defendant.

The trial involves charges against Lalo Anthony Castrillo IV for the death of 2-year-old Faviola Rodriguez. Castrillo is accused of intentional abuse of a child, resulting in death. The trial began on Monday and is expected to last until Friday.

Catch up on Day One: One juror excused, two more in question as Baby Favi trial begins in Las Cruces

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Here are a few takeaways from the evidence presentation on the second day of the Baby Favi trial.

1. Nurse speaks on Favi's health before death

The day before Baby Favi died, her grandfather took her to the family's doctor, Laura Ortega. Ortega, a nurse practitioner at a Las Cruces hospital, told the jury that she'd been the family's doctor for years, but Sept. 5, 2018, was the first time seeing Baby Favi. She said Favi came in with a cough, fever, and congestion.

Ortega said Favi was likely experiencing a minor cold but decided to do a wellness check since it was her first time examining Favi. That wellness check informed Ortega that, as far as she could tell, Favi was a healthy 2-year-old with no bruises. Ortega noted in her testimony that she expected to see a few scraps or bruises on most young children but saw none on Favi.

Nurse practitioner Laura Ortega recounts the time she had Faviola Rodriguez as a patient during the trial of Lalo Anthony Castrillo IV on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, at the 3rd Judicial District Court. Castrillo is accused of killing two-year-old Faviola Rodriguez.

On cross-examination, the defense asked about notes Ortega made about Favi's emotional health. Ortega noted that Favi was meeting developmental milestones and had some outbursts of anger but nothing beyond what's typical for a child her age. The defense also asked if Ortega had reviewed Favi's complete medical records. Ortega said she had not since Favi was a new patient.

2. First responders, 911 calls, graphic pictures show the tragic end to Baby Favi's life

The jury also listened to a 911 call Castrillo made the night of Favi's death. In the call, Castrillo tells a dispatcher that he woke up to find Favi covered in vomit. The dispatcher tells Castrillo how to check her pulse and asks if he can feel anything. Castrillo says he does, leading the dispatcher to tell Castrillo to put Favi in a recovery position. Castrillo also told the dispatcher he tried CPR on Favi and tried to get as much vomit out of her mouth as possible.

Prosecutors also presented the jury with a photo of a crumbled-up napkin that Castrillo said he used to wipe Favi's face. The napkin had traces of a red-brown residue.

Two paramedics also testified to the jury about their attempts at CPR on Favi. Both paramedics were asked whether they understood the difference between performing CPR on a small child and a full-grown adult. They described the proper technique, which involves using just two fingers when performing chest compressions instead of two hands.

3rd Judicial District Court Judge James Waylon Counts swears in a witness during the trial of Lalo Anthony Castrillo IV on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, at the 3rd Judicial District Court. Castrillo is accused of killing two-year-old Faviola Rodriguez.

One paramedic, James Cardenas, also recalled what Favi looked like when he arrived. He said Favi had no pulse, her extremities were blue, and no visible fluids (such as blood or vomit) outside her body. Cardenas said he saw no marking indicating CPR was performed before his arrival and described Castrillo pacing the room with his hands over his head. After attempting CPR, Cardenas said the first responders decided to transport Favi to a Las Cruces hospital.

3. Confrontational interview with Castrillo

Much of day two's afternoon was taken up by the testimony of former Las Cruces Police Department Detective Amador Martinez. Martinez retired from the LCPD two years ago after a full career with the department. Martinez was the on-call detective the night of Favi's death and began investigating that night. He said he started by going to the hospital and speaking with family and medical staff gathered there. As he arrived, he said he noticed the medical staff and described them as distraught.

When he examined Baby Favi's body, he noted bruising on her head, face, ribs, and extremities. By that point, Martinez had also been informed that Castrillo believed Favi choked to death on her vomit.

"It just seemed odd to me that, on a choking event, she'd have these injuries," he said.

Retired Detective Amador Martinez recounts his time working on the Faviola Rodriguez case during the trial of Lalo Anthony Castrillo IV on Monday, August 29, 2023, at the 3rd Judicial District Court. Castrillo is accused of killing two-year-old Faviola Rodriguez.

The jury also heard Martinez's interview with Castrillo. In it, Martinez allows Castrillo to describe events from his perspective and then confronts Castrillo. He calls Castrillo's version of events bunk and says that his story doesn't explain how Favi became covered in bruises.

"Your behavior is 'I want to cover my ass,'" Martinez tells Castrillo in the interview. "You can think that," Castrillo responds.

Martinez also asked Castrillo whether he used force to discipline Favi. He said he spanked her a few times but never in anger and that discipline for Favi was mostly stern language and timeouts. Castrillo's lawyer still needs to cross-examine Martinez. That will likely be the first thing to occur on Wednesday morning.

4. Jury issues continue to plague trial

A full day of testimony was scheduled to occur Tuesday. Instead, the court spent much of the morning discussing what to do about a slew of juror issues.

So far, two of the 14 jurors selected have been excused with cause from the trial. The first revealed a connection to Baby Favi's family after hearing Baby Favi's mother's testimony. Another juror said the courtroom temperature was affecting his health and ability to concentrate. He also said that the cross-examination of Baby Favi's mother was too harsh and had biased him against the defense. While the judge disagreed with the juror's characterization of the cross-examination, he ultimately excused the juror.

Loved ones of the plaintiff and defendant listen to a witness' testimony during the trial of Lalo Anthony Castrillo IV on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, at the 3rd Judicial District Court. Castrillo is accused of killing two-year-old Faviola Rodriguez.

That leaves 12 jurors. If another juror is excused, the judge must declare a mistrial. It's unclear what will happen, but multiple other issues with the jury have arisen alongside the two already dismissed. One juror struggled to find childcare for her baby, another complained about a juror's comments during the trial, and another said he had left the country on Saturday and would not be able to deliberate over the weekend if it came to that.

Those issues led Castrillo's defense to call for a mistrial three times. But the judge said the situation had yet to meet the standard required for such a decision.

What's next

On day three, Martinez will be cross-examined by the Castrillo's defense. The prosecution is also set to call on the doctor who oversaw Baby Favi's emergency room treatment and a police officer who reviewed Castrillo's phone during the investigation.

The prosecution has yet to call Baby Favi's grandfather, a central guardian in her life, or a records custodian with the area's 911 call center. Based on statements made in court, it seems unlikely they will be called.

Thursday, day four, also promises to be a critical day. The defense and prosecution will present separate medical examiners to interrupt the cause of Baby Favi's death. In opening arguments, Castrillo's defense said they believe Baby Favi died from a subdural hematoma, which was not necessarily caused by abuse.

On Friday morning, both sides expect to deliver closing arguments and allow the jury the full day to deliberate.

Justin Garcia is a public safety reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at JEGarcia@lcsun-news.com.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Takeaways from day two of the Baby Favi trial, what to expect next
The Williamson County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved a slight increase in the property tax rate that would raise taxes for the average homeowner with a homestead exemption by about $165.

Tensions rose in the court meeting when the district attorney criticized the budget process and the county judge spoke against a request from a law enforcement group for more deputies.

County Judge Bill Gravell was responding to a news conference the Williamson County Deputies Association held outside of the meeting on Tuesday morning, criticizing the court's decision not to hire 22 new deputies. The judge initially had offered the new positions to the sheriff's office, but the budget office cut from the proposed budget, said Sheriff Mike Gleason.

Williamson County commissioners approved a property tax rate increase on Tuesday.

The court decided Tuesday to hire four new deputies when it approved the $390.4 million general fund and road and bridge budget on Tuesday.

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Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick said during the meeting that the commissioners only gave him a few minutes to present his budget requests at a workshop. "There is one opportunity for a public official to be heard at a workshop with 75 people," he said. "How is that public discussion about the budget process?"

He said the Commissioners Court had eliminated hearings where public officials could make presentations about their requests to the public.

"Just because you have the bully pulpit doesn't mean you have to be a bully," Dick told the commissioners.

He said after the meeting that he had requested eight new positions and received three. The ones he didn't receive included two prosecutors for child sexual abuse cases.

Commissioner Terry Cook had recommended one new prosecutor for the district attorney's office at an Aug. 22 meeting but commissioners did not approve her request. She also had recommended that Dick's stipend from the county be raised from $18,000 to $47,000 but the commissioners also rejected that.

The district attorney is paid by the state but also can receive a stipend from the county. Dick hasn't had a raise since he was elected to office in 2016 and the raise was based on the median salary for other district attorneys in the area, Cook said.

More: Williamson County proposes tax rate, to decrease bill by $107 for average homeowner

Assistant District Attorney Cari Warner told the commissioners during public comment on Tuesday that she was "offended" that they had approved a position to handle traffic tickets but "don't see fit to give the DA's office people they are requesting for crime victims."

Commissioner Russ Boles responded to her saying, "Would you be surprised to know that since 2018 the court has approved nine new positions for the DA's office and have increased the budget by 70%?"

Gravell said during the meeting on Tuesday that he was surprised about the news conference being held outside by the deputies union.

"I have not had one conversation with the Williamson County Deputies Association about a staffing crisis," Gravell said. "Since we have invested $5 million in salaries this year, the number of vacancies has greatly dropped to just two for law enforcement. What I would like to know is why is there a staffing shortage when their calls for service have dropped.

More: Williamson commissioners propose $372.9 million budget; plan includes new jobs, raises

"Since 2019, the number of calls placed in (computer-aided dispatch) has dropped 25%," Gravell said. "The number of incident reports dropped 18%. The number of arrest reports declined 46%. The number of citations and warnings dropped 55%."

Deputy Charles Duvall, the president of the deputies association, disagreed with Gravell's figures.

"We got our studies from Williamson County, and they show the actual call volume has gone up "as far as actual calls for service and major calls for service," he said. "We've had more suicides, murder suicides, homicides and drownings this year than I've seen in my eight years of service."

Duvall also said that the sheriff's office had only added 10 additional patrol deputies since 2010 despite the fact that the county had added nearly 250,000 new residents. "According to Williamson County, there are an estimated 53,000 new homes slated to be built in this county in the next year," he said.

"Our response time to major, priority calls  these are home invasions, assaults, drunk drivers  is actually worse than (the Austin Police Department)," Duvall said. "Our staffing levels are much worse. APD is short 500 officers and have 1.5 officers per thousand, we are short 445 (officers) and have .78 deputies per thousand residents."

Duvall also said that Cook had asked commissioners last week to approve 11 new deputies this year for the sheriff's office and 11 new deputies next year, but the commissioners had rejected her request. Cook is the only Democrat on the court. The other three commissioners and the county judge are Republican.

"As long as the Republicans of the Williamson County Commissioners Court do not support the men and women of the sheriff's office, the WCDA cannot continue to blindly support Williamson County Republicans," Duvall said.

The court decided to hire four new deputies and a new criminal attorney for the county attorney's office after Commissioner Valerie Covey requested it on Tuesday, bringing the total number of new employees in the budget to 45.

Covey also requested a $10 million addition to the budget to pay for right-of-way for the county's long-range transportation plan, which the commissioners approved. The money will come from savings the county has.

Under the approved tax rate of 37.7 cents per $100 valuation, the average homeowner with a homestead exemption will pay about $165 more than last year because the tax rate has increased and property values have risen.

The average homeowner with a taxable value of $360,112 after a homestead exemption will pay $1,357 under the new tax rate, which has increased about two-tenths of a cent. The average homeowner paid $1,192 last year with a taxable value of $317,403 after taking a homestead exemption. The property tax rate last year was 37.5 cents per $100 valuation.

The new tax rate will also generate $23.3 million in tax revenue from new commercial and residential properties, a county official said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Williamson County ups property tax rate; deputies criticize budget
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  A teen surrendered to Metro police Tuesday evening for his role in a deadly East Nashville shooting.

According to police, 15-year-old James Tremelle Johnson surrendered at the East Precinct in connection with Saturdays shooting that killed 17-year-old Paul Nicholas Reed outside McFerrin Community Center.

PREVIOUS: Teen dead following East Nashville shooting

James Johnson (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)

A Juvenile Court petition and arrest order charging Johnson with criminal homicide and unlawful gun possession was issued earlier in the day on Tuesday. One of Johnsons relatives brought him to the East Precinct where he surrendered and declined to be interviewed, according to investigators.

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Police said Reed arrived at the community center in a car with other people Saturday afternoon. The car stayed in the parking lot for a while before several people, including Reed, got out.

 Read todays top stories on wkrn.com

Reed reportedly ran briefly before collapsing and the car then fled the area. He was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he died.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
Berlin has transferred another military aid package to Ukraine, which includes ten Leopard-1A5 main battle tanks, the German government said in a message on its website Aug. 30.

Besides the tanks, the message outlined the contents of the package as follows:

Read also: Washington announces $250 million aid package for Ukraine

 One TRML-4D air surveillance radar;

 16 VECTOR reconnaissance drones;

 Four HX81 truck tractors;

 Over 13 million rounds of small arms ammunition.

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The German government clarified that the supply of equipment comes from industry reserves financed by German funds intended for boosting its security capabilities.

Read also: German Defense Ministry confirms transfer of 25 Belgian Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine

Earlier, Belgian media reported that on Aug. 7, the first Leopard-1 tanks were sent to Ukraine from Belgium, purchased by German company Rheinmetall. According to their information, the tanks were shipped to Ukraine after major repairs via Germany and Italy.

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
As global temperatures continue to warm and this particularly brutal summer marches on, some tenants have suffered without air conditioning.

In St. Louis County, Missouri, Tamara Byrd and at least five of her neighbors had to live through a July heat wave sans the relief of central air, KSDK reported.

Landlords are not required to provide air conditioning in the Show Me State, but Byrd was promised cool air when she signed a new lease for $1,300 per month and put $3,000 down. The contract included a remodeled home and central air compliances, Byrd said.

She didnt get it.

Im angry and Im disappointed, Byrd said.

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Spanish Lake Townhomes installed two window units in the two-story home as a temporary solution, but temperatures still reached the high 80s.

Management offered a new unit, but Byrd said there was mold in it. She has asthma, and her daughter has a history of seizures. They were ready to pack up and leave.

Its extremely hot, no air. No air conditioning. Its like walking into a sauna, Byrd said. We have fans going.

Thats just about all you can do without air conditioning, though freezing your pillows and putting buckets of ice in front of strategically placed fans may also help. Dunking your feet in cold water can offer relief, too.

Due to the extreme heat we are experiencing, some AC units are having difficulty maintaining a consistent temperature, Amie Musgrove, area vice president of Spanish Lake Townhomes, told KSDK in a statement. In order to assist residents experiencing these issues, temporary units have been provided until the HVAC vendor can provide assistance. The extreme temperature is causing HVAC companies to be very busy at the moment, which is resulting in long wait times. Some of our residents have multiple temporary units in their homes due to their medical conditions. All residents are encouraged to call our maintenance emergency line when issues arise so that we can handle them quickly.

This kind of problem may only become more frequent as the Earth gets hotter during the next half-decade. In May, the World Meteorological Organization reported that there is a 98% chance that the next five years will be the warmest on record and that at least one of the next five years will also set a record.

Heat can be dangerous and even deadly, and the health effects in cities can be amplified. One problem is that fans may not prevent heat-related illness if the temperature surpasses 95 degrees, according to the World Health Organization.

The St. Louis area can be especially humid, and thats one of the exacerbating factors of heat stress.

Maybe its time for a federal law that requires landlords to provide air conditioning.

Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less, and help yourself while helping the planet.
A special session of the Tennessee General Assembly ended Tuesday with shouting from the gallery and a confrontation between the Republican House Speaker and one of the Democratic lawmakers known as the Tennessee Three on the House floor.

The Houses decision to adjourn the special session without any significant gun safety legislation  after the session was called in response to a March shooting at a Nashville elementary school that left six people dead  led to outcries from members of the public in the gallery overlooking the chamber.

As lawmakers left the House floor to chants of vote them out, Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson appeared to have a brief physical confrontation, leading other members to rush forward and separate the two, according to videos of the incident.

Democratic Rep. Justin Jones also later took to the podium to bang the Speakers gavel and shouted, This House is out of order.

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Pearson and Jones are both members of the Tennessee Three, a trio of House Democratic lawmakers who Republicans sought to expel from the chamber earlier this year for interrupting House proceedings to protest for gun control.

While Pearson and Jones, who are Black, were both expelled, their white colleague, Rep. Gloria Johnson, was not. Both lawmakers ultimately won back their seats in the Tennessee House earlier this month.

House Republicans voted to silence Jones during the special session Monday, after determining that he had breached the chambers newly adopted rules by straying off topic from the bill being debated.

Jones had announced earlier Monday that he was planning to call for a vote of no confidence in Sexton due to his continued abuse of power and dishonor to the public office he holds.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
FILE PHOTO: Terry Gou, Foxconn founder announces he will run for Taiwan presidency during a press event in Taipei,

By Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee

TAIPEI (Reuters) - After mastering making iPhones, Taiwan's Terry Gou , the billionaire founder of major Apple Inc supplier Foxconn, now wants to turn his entrepreneurial skills elsewhere - to be the island's next president.

After at least two previous failed bids, Gou, 72, is seeking to unite a fractured opposition amid rising tensions with China, which he blames on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) hostility to Beijing.

"Over the past seven years, the DPP government has not only brought Taiwan dangerously close to war, but has also pursued flawed domestic policies that have failed to resolve the challenges facing Taiwan's industries and people's lives," he said on Monday, announcing his run to be "Taiwan's CEO" at the January election.

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The DPP-led government has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing, but been rebuffed, and has blamed China for the tensions.

Gou faces the challenge of trying to get the two main opposition parties - the Kuomintang (KMT) which he had hoped to represent as its candidate and the Taiwan People's Party - to work together and "take down the DPP", as he said on Monday.

Before he announced his bid to run as an independent on Monday, Gou had sought the KMT ticket for the presidency but failed.

But his direct language, along with his business acumen, has drawn crowds in pseudo-campaign events across Taiwan that Gou held in the run-up to his announcement.

"He's a straight-talking political outsider," said Sung Wen-Ti, a political scientist at Australian National University's Taiwan Studies Program.

"He can attract market confidence-oriented voters. He can also attract the educated crowd who are into a more technocratic form of governance."

FROM FACTORY JOBS TO APPLE

Gou was not born wealthy. After graduating from university, he worked in a series of factory jobs, as Taiwan in the late 1960s and early 1970s began using its cheap labour force to churn out consumer goods for the rich Western world.

He founded Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, better known as Foxconn, in 1974 with a $7,500 loan from his mother and 11 elderly workers. He first made cheap plastic parts for black-and-white television sets for a Chicago TV manufacturer, before a major deal in 1980 making joystick connectors for Atari games consoles.

In 2000, Foxconn won an order to make Apple's redesigned iMacs, leveraging experience making a variety of parts for the likes of U.S. personal computer vendor Dell.

Gou recalled how he had to be persistent with late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, saying he had to force Jobs to give him a business card.

"He was extremely happy when I managed to help him develop the first-ever iPhone. He showed me how to use the touch screen on the spot," Gou said in 2011 about his relationship with Jobs.

Foxconn eventually became one of the world's largest private-sector employers with at times over a million workers assembling devices for global brands such as Sony Corp, Nintendo Co Ltd and Microsoft Corp.

'I DON'T FOLLOW THEIR INSTRUCTIONS'

Gou remains a lauded figure at Foxconn after stepping down as chairman in 2019, referred to reverentially as "the founder", though the company said on Monday he was no longer involved in day to day management after "handing over the baton" four years ago.

Having built the world's largest contract manufacturer from scratch, Gou's connections reached as high as Chinese President Xi Jinping who he met in 2014 in Beijing, and who in 2017 he described as a great leader, Taiwan media reported.

Gou's parents were born in China and were of the generation that fled to Taiwan after the Communists won China's civil war in 1949, a year before Gou's birth on the island.

In an interview with the Communist Party's official People's Daily in 2018 to mark China's 40th anniversary of landmark economic reform, Gou said he was happy to have witnessed the changes.

He talked about how his father was from Shanxi province and mother from Guangdong, and that when he first visited China in 1987 to trace his family's roots, it was the "first time I had stepped foot on the soil of the motherland".

Earlier this year, Gou vowed to start negotiations with China if he was elected president on the basis that both sides belong to one single China but each can interpret what that means.

"The two sides can sit down together and we can take all the time we need to talk about 'different interpretations."

Still, on Monday he struck a tougher tone when asked if his Foxconn shareholdings meant China could simply tell him what to do if he became president.

"I have never been under the control of the People's Republic of China," he said. "I don't follow their instructions."

Friends in high places have included former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Gou told Trump he wanted to be a peacemaker between Taiwan, China and the U.S. as Taiwan's president.

"Peace, stability, economy, the future, are my core values," he had said after announcing a bid to be the KMT candidate at the 2020 election, although he ultimately failed to get the nomination.

The KMT lost that election by a landslide.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Sarah Wu; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Tesla is facing a federal probe over its mysterious "Project 42," The Wall Street Journal reported.

The SEC is also investigating whether the project involved using company funds for CEO Elon Musk's personal benefit, the Journal said.

The project is internally believed to involve building a glass house for Musk, the Journal previously reported.

Tesla is facing scrutiny over its mysterious "Project 42" that was believed internally to involve building a glass house for Elon Musk, according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal.

The publication said, citing people familiar with the issue, that federal prosecutors are investigating whether Tesla used its own funds for Musk's personal use, and is looking into how much the company has spent on the initiative, as well as its purpose. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York issued subpoenas to multiple current and ex-Tesla employees, some of which have been asked to appear in court in September, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has also launched a probe into the issue, the Journal said. Though, both investigations are in their "early stages," according to the Journal.

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In a statement to Insider, the SEC said it "does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation." The DOJ declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Tesla and Musk also did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.

The billionaire appeared to deny the project involved building a house on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

"I'm not building a house of any kind, let alone a glass one!" he said on the social media site.

In July, the Journal reported that the project involved plans for a glass building that would be set up near Tesla's gigafactory in Austin, Texas and was internally understood to be a house for the Tesla CEO. The project appeared to be for a "dramatic glass-walled building" and concept plans showed differing designs and features, but included residential elements like bedrooms, according to the report.

The project drew scrutiny last year within the company after an order for a special kind of glass was made as part of the building-planning efforts. At the time, the internal inquiry into the order had targeted Omead Afshar, an executive leading Tesla's Texas factory, Bloomberg reported last year. On Wednesday, the publication reported that federal prosecutors were seeking information related to internal communications with Afshar, who was said to be involved in purchasing the construction materials.

Afshar did not immediately respond to a request for comment on X from Insider.

Tesla's board had also inquired into Musk's involvement in the project, and the amount of time any employees had spent on it, according to the Journal's July report.

It can be illegal to use company funds for personal expenses  especially when dealing with a publicly traded company. If a public company were found to have used company funds for an executive's personal use it could lead to an IRS investigation and lawsuits from shareholders.

It's not clear if the building project is still in the works, or whether the glass order was ever delivered, the Journal reported on Wednesday.

Do you work for Tesla or have insight to share? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email at gkay@insider.com

Read the original article on Business Insider
Texas family of 4 dead in apparent murder-suicide weeks after daughter's drowning

Two parents and two of their children were found dead Monday in what appeared to be a murder-suicide in Allen, Texas, weeks after their daughter drowned, police said.

Police on Tuesday said that father Farman Sherwani, mother Layla Sherwani and sons Mateen Sherwani, 2, and Shaheen Sherwani, 12, were found dead when officials responded to a welfare call at the home.

The Islamic Association of Allen, which initially identified the four family members, also said the family's 4-year-old daughter drowned three weeks ago in a swimming pool.

Allen Police Sgt. Jonathan Maness confirmed by email that detectives think the girl's drowning "is believed to be a factor."

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Officers responding to a welfare call Monday morning discovered the four bodies in the home in Allen, a city about 30 miles north of Dallas, police said in a statement.

The home in Allen, Texas, where police say they found four people dead in what investigators say is an apparent murder-suicide. (NBC Dallas-Fort Worth)

Another resident had been locked out for two hours and couldn't reach those inside, police said.

"After other family members arrived at the house, police gained access and found four people dead," the police department said.

It said it is investigating.

On Tuesday, the Islamic Association of Allen held a prayer vigil for the family at a venue packed with worshippers.

"We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of four family members," the association said in a newsletter.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Police in Allen, Texas found two parents and their two children dead after an apparent murder suicide just weeks after a third child  the daughter of the family  drowned, according to police.

On Tuesday, police found Farman Sherwani, his wife Layla Sherwani, and their sons Mateen Sherwani, two, and Shaheen Sherwani, 12, dead after conducting a welfare check at the house, according to NBC News.

Police then learned from the Islamic Association of Allen  the group that identified the bodies  that the family had lost a four-year-old girl to drowning just three weeks before the apparent murder-suicide.

Jonathan Maness of the Allen Police Department told NBC News in an email that the child's drowning "is believed to be a factor" that lead to the tragedy.

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Police were called out to the house after another resident found themselves locked out for two hours and could not contact the others inside.

"After other family members arrived at the house, police gained access and found four people dead," the police department said in a statement.

The Islamic Association of Allen held a prayer vigil for the family on Tuesday, which was highly attended by mourning community members.

"We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of four family members," the association said in a statement.

The centre's leader, Abdul Rahman Bashir, said it had been a "very heavy day" for his community.

"Waking up to the news of losing a four member family all of a sudden is not something that anyone can be prepared for, family members or let alone anyone in the community, so it's been a very heavy day for everyone in the community," he told NBC Dallas Fort Worth.

He said he was aware that the family had recently lost a daughter to drowning.

"As the father of three children myself, it's something very hard to digest and grapple with the gravity of the situation, what the family may have been going through," he said. "We just continue to encourage the community to be there for each other during this time of sorrow and grief and we also encourage the community to cherish their family members and the moments that they have and be cognizant of the uncertainty of life."

Neighbours expressed their condolences for the family to the broadcaster.

"It was just really sad and hard and all of us felt for the family as we were watching them mourn in the front yard," Jacqueline Soto, a neighbour who lives across the street from the residence, said.

Allen Independent School District sent a letter to parents announcing that a fifth grader at the school had died. The school confirmed to the broadcaster that the letter was related to the ongoing investigation, and said it was making counseling available for students.
A Texas judge has declared unconstitutional a law championed by Gov. Greg Abbott that limits the power of Democratic-led cities

A Texas judge declared a law that prevented cities from passing some local ordinances unconstitutional.

The law, championed by the Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, effectively limited the power of Democratic-led cities.

The law even eliminated ordinances that mandated water breaks for construction workers, earning it the nickname "the law that kills."

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican, signed a bill into law in June that prohibited cities from passing certain local ordinances. It was widely seen as an effort to curb the power of Democratic-led cities.

Now, a judge has ruled it unconstitutional.

District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Texas announced the decision on Wednesday in response to a lawsuit from the city of Houston.

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"I am thrilled that Houston, our legal department, and sister cities were able to obtain this victory for Texas cities," Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston wrote in a statement. "HB 2127 was a power grab by the Legislature and an unwarranted and unconstitutional intrusion into local power granted to Houston and other home-rule cities by the Texas Constitution."

The Office of the Attorney General has appealed Gamble's decision, Paige Willey, the director of communications for the Office, said.

"While the judge declared HB 2127 unconstitutional, she did not enjoin enforcement of the law by Texans who are harmed by local ordinances, which HB 2127 preempts," Willey wrote to Insider. "The Office of the Attorney General has also immediately appealed because the ruling is incorrect. This will stay the effect of the court's declaration pending appeal. As a result, HB 2127 will go into effect on September 1."

The law even prevented ordinances that mandated things such as water breaks for construction workers, earning it the nickname "the law that kills." Texas saw protests from construction workers and their allies who said that an end to local water break mandates would result in more incidents of heat-related illness and death.

"This is a HUGE win for the working people of Texas, local govs, and communities across our state," the Texas AFL-CIO posted in response to the decision. "While we expect an appeal, it remains clear this law is an unacceptable infringement on the rights of Texans and cities."

Read the original article on Business Insider
FILE - Standing in the mid-afternoon heat, a worker takes a break to drink during a parking lot asphalt resurfacing job in Richardson, Texas, June 20, 2023. While unrelenting heat set in across Texas this summer, opponents of a sweeping new law targeting local regulations took to the airwaves and internet with an alarming message: outdoor workers would be banned from taking water breaks. Workers would die, experts and advocates said, with high temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) and staying there for much of the past two months. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

CHICAGO (AP)  A Texas judge ruled Wednesday that a new law eroding the power of the state's Democratic-led cities to impose local regulations on everything from tenant evictions to employee sick leave is unconstitutional and cannot take effect.

The decision by state District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Austin, an elected Democrat, is a significant win for progressive leaders in Texas' biggest cities that want to be able to represent their communities. Critics of the law say it would have taken power from local government and denounced it as The Death Star. Texas and its major cities join battles that have flared nationwide over statehouses flexing authority over municipalities.

Thats tremendous victory for the people in this city because it allows the local leadership to represent the Houstonians that we have an obligation to serve, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a news conference following the ruling.

The state immediately appealed the ruling, according to the Texas attorney general's office.

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This will stay the effect of the courts declaration pending appeal," the office said in a statement to The Associated Press, adding that the law would still go into effect on Friday as scheduled.

The case will head to the Texas Supreme Court, which is made up entirely of Republican judges.

Republicans muscled the law through the GOP-controlled Legislature over intense opposition from Democrats, labor groups and city leaders. Supporters said the law was needed to preserve Texas' reputation as a friendly business climate and that a patchwork of ordinances that differ from city to city created unnecessary red tape.

A particularly damaging part of the law, critics argued, was that its full impact was unclear. But they also seized on specific examples, including repeated reminders during a historic summer heat wave that the law would eliminate water breaks at mandatory intervals for outdoor workers. Experts, however, say the law's effects may be more complicated.

Hours before the ruling, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott took to social media to defend the law.

Texas small businesses are the backbone of our economy, Abbott said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. Burdensome regulations are an obstacle to their success. I signed HB2127 to cut red tape & help businesses thrive.

___

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about APs democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
At 9 months old, Tinslee Lewis had been on a respirator for much of her life. The Fort Worth toddler was born with Ebsteins anomaly, a rare and often life-threatening heart condition.

Lewis had been at the intensive care unit at Cook Childrens Medical Center since birth when doctors scheduled to remove her from life support in November 2019. It started a public court battle, where her mother fought the hospital to keep her alive. She drew the support of Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton and staunch anti-abortion group Texas Right To Life.

Her legal fight renewed the push to change legislation over when and how hospitals withdraw life support.

In Texas, hospitals can withdraw life support from their patients 10 days after they notify the patients family. Under the contentious Texas Advance Directives Act, life support can be removed when the hospital determines current care as futile.

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Starting Friday, House Bill 3162 will increase how much notice hospitals have to give patients families from 10 days to 25 days. That new threshold will now begin when medical professionals tell relatives of their intent to end care and give family members an opportunity to find a different health care facility willing to treat the patient. If the family wants to move the patient to another facility, doctors must perform any procedures necessary for a patient to be transferred.

Texas is among a small number of states that have a notice period before doctors are allowed to remove patients from life support. Most states have laws that say doctors are not required to provide futile treatment. Ambiguity over what that means can make it easier for families to challenge attempts to withdraw life support in court, said John Seago, the president of Texas Right To Life.

His group would have preferred that lawmakers require medical professionals to keep patients on life support until families find another health care facility willing to take them in.

While 25 days is not anywhere close to where we want to be, this package also had other meaningful reforms of the process that are going to be good for Texas, Seago said. We were also talking about other good changes to make the process more pro-patient and pro-family.

One of the new requirements that Seago supports is that families are allowed to participate in meetings when an ethics review committee evaluates a doctors decision to end life support.

The new law also requires hospitals to track and report to the Health and Human Services Commission when doctors are withdrawing life-sustaining care.

Texas lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully for years to change the Texas Advance Directives Act. Two years ago, legislation failed after advocates for hospitals and for patients couldnt agree on when and how doctors should be allowed to remove life support without relatives' permission.

We've engaged in deliberation pretty much every legislative session, said Mark Andrew Casanova, an ethics consultant for Baylor University Medical Center. I think the issue, the crux of it, was we were just never able to come to areas of consensus or agreement.

State Rep. Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth, tried a different tactic ahead of this years regular session. Months before lawmakers gaveled in, patient advocates and hospital representatives gathered in the members lounge of the Capitol.

They started with a whiteboard  and went back and forth over more than a dozen meetings on how to word amendments to the law. The bill overwhelmingly passed both chambers.

"Quite frankly, we got way more in the way of reforms than I was expecting," Klick said. "But the stakeholders, they worked hard. We put hundreds of hours in on that bill. The public, when they see how quickly it passed on the floor with very little debate, that's because we've been working for nine months."

Tinslee went home with her mother in April 2022 after a Texas appeals court ruled that she could stay on life support. The family couldnt be reached for comment this month. Seago said Tinslee celebrated her 4th birthday in February.

Despite the change to the law, some groups still want more patients and their families to have even more of a say.

We're from a policy perspective behind the curve in responding to the needs of these vulnerable populations, Terri Carriker, with Protect TX Fragile Kids, said. And so I think that misses the boat in calling ourselves truly pro-life.

Disclosure: Baylor University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The full program is now LIVE for the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 21-23 in Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations coming to TribFest. Panel topics include the biggest 2024 races and whats ahead, how big cities in Texas and around the country are changing, the integrity of upcoming elections and so much more. See the full program.
This article was originally published in Civil Beat.

School is starting in Hawaii as rising global temperatures and decreasing trade winds have led to hotter days. Record high temperatures in the state were set or tied on eight days in July, according to the National Weather Service.

For the thousands of teachers that still lack air conditioning in their classrooms, this means theyll need to get creative.

I currently have 20-plus fans in my room, said Aaron Kubo, a social studies teacher at Hilo Intermediate School.

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Around 3,400 classrooms in the state lack air conditioning, and it could take another four or five years to get cooling systems installed  if the department gets an additional $10 million a year from the Legislature to make the improvements, said Randall Tanaka, Department of Education assistant superintendent in charge of facilities and operations.

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The $10 million dollars appropriated by the Legislature last year for cooling classrooms has already been committed, Tanaka said. It will cover air conditioning units in 860 classrooms. Installing a window unit costs about $5,000 per classroom, but electrical upgrades cost more and vary depending on what work is needed, he said.

Teachers and advocates say they are frustrated with the pace of the departments progress and the lack of transparency around exactly how many units still need to be installed and where.

Corey Rosenlee, former president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association and a teacher at James Campbell High School, said the department should be transparent about which classrooms in the state already have AC, which do not, and which still need electrical upgrades.

The most important thing is taking care of childrens basic needs, he said. Do they have something to eat, something to drink? Do they have a classroom environment thats conducive to learning?

Tanaka said the department has a list of the schools that still need air conditioning but has not provided it despite numerous requests. He said he did not want to create any more anxiety among teachers in classrooms that are lower on the list because they are not at high-priority schools.

But Rosenlee said the push for ACs in schools has gone on too long, and the department needs to be held accountable.

Its frustrating that were still fighting after all these years, he said. Ive been fighting for this since I got to Campbell in 2006.

Campbell High School now has air conditioning.

Slow Progress

Former Gov. David Ige signed legislation in 2016 dedicating $100 million to heat abatement projects in schools and pledged to air condition 1,000 classrooms by the end of the year. About 7,000 of the states roughly 11,000 classrooms didnt have air conditioning at the time.

But the pace of the progress was slow, and Ige called for another $61.7 million to continue the work in 2017.

Around 880 solar-powered air conditioning units were installed at a total cost of about $125 million, Tanaka said. That cost also included some infrastructure upgrades.

Back in 2016, I think it was a relatively new idea, and it was a pretty tough lift, he said. I dont think we fully understood what that effort would take.

But the units quickly began to fail.

They were only designed to carry three or four hours of charge and would automatically shut down, Tanaka said. Some malfunctioned when contractors ran software updates.

Now, many are outside of their warranty period, and eventually, theyll all need to be replaced, he said.

For Rosenlee, the time and money spent on the faulty solar ACs could have been used more efficiently to cool more classrooms.

Osa Tui Jr., president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, called the solar-powered ACs a disaster and said he feared it could make legislators more reluctant to fund other education initiatives.

This only perpetuates the idea that the department is given too much money and that government is wasteful, he said. Its fiascos like this that cause problems elsewhere in the system.

Theyre Dripping Onto The Floor

Kubo said last year, despite the 20 fans whirring in his Hilo classroom, his students had difficulty focusing many days.

The kids come in, they sit down and they start sweating, and the sweating doesnt stop, he said. Theyre dripping onto the table. Theyre dripping onto the floor.

Kubo has been tracking the temperature of his classroom in a spreadsheet since 2018, and the temperature is consistently above 80 degrees. With the humidity factored in, it often feels like its above 90.

Sometimes, as he tries to teach students a concept, he can tell its not sinking in.

Its not the lesson, its just the situation, he said. It is heartbreaking. Theres nothing I can do.

In a survey conducted by the HSTA in June, many teachers reported not having AC in their classrooms, and some who did said the machines often malfunctioned. Some said having multiple ACs running in their schools trip the electrical circuits and cause power outages. Others said they had to buy fans, Gatorade or popsicles for their classrooms with their own money or ask parents for donations.

Its a shame that kids in Hawaii are still having to go to classrooms that are just too hot to learn in, Rosenlee said. And we know its only going to get hotter.

As Kubo was setting up his classroom for the first day of school, it was 87.4 degrees inside, and that was without 25 to 30 students in the room.

Hell continue to do what he can to keep his students cool, but he said the state needs do its part to make sure everyone has a productive environment to learn in.

When asked what his message was for teachers who would have to continue waiting, Tanaka said, Were going to get to you. It may be later than sooner  just hang in there with us.

Civil Beats education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.
A photo posted August 25 shows that the Czech Republics upgraded Soviet 2K12M2 Kub-M2 air defense vehiclesnicknamed the Three Fingers of Deathare now active on the ground in Ukraine, supplementing a small number of Ukrainian Kubs already claimed in service.

Back on May 10, Czech president Petr Pavel stated he would transfer two Kub-M2 batteries to Ukraine, implying a total of six to eight launcher vehicles and two SURN 1S91 radar vehicles, as well as a relatively large number (ie. hundreds or low thousands) of 3M9 ramjet-powered anti-aircraft missiles. Now its clear at least some of those systems arrived.

After 18 months of relentless warfare, Ukraine needs more air defense missiles broadly as it depletes stocks of old Soviet-era missiles fending off a two-front Russian onslaught: constant attacks by cruise missiles and Iranian-origin kamikaze drones hitting civilians in Ukrainian cities, while low-flying attack helicopters and fighter-bombers carry out pop-up attacks on Ukrainian troops on the frontline.

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In service since 1967, the Kub (codenamed SA-6 Gainful by NATO) is undeniably dated, with each battery only able to engage a single target at a time. But its mobileable to follow behind advancing frontline troops and deploy in five minutesand could help Ukraine fill a short-to-medium range air defense gap dealing with low-flying drones, cruise missiles, helicopters and fighter bombers from farther away than most short-range defenses can.

Moreover, the donated Kubs-M2s are a unique Czech modernization by company Retia in the mid-2000s including an overhauled body/ chassises, followed by installation of modern cabling, power supply, NATO interoperable communications systems, and air-conditioning.

The SURN vehicles vacuum-tube-era radars and controls systems were digitized, improving jam-resistance and identify-friend-or-foe (IFF) through signal processing, while new displays and more heavily automated control systems allow for a smaller crew with reduced workload. The upgrade also extended service life of the vehicles and missiles, improved reliability, and decreased maintenance costs through use of digital self-diagnostic tools. As discussed later in this article, the extent and proposed upgrades for Czech 2K12s leaves open the possibility of upgrading them with Western missiles.

The Czech Army still retains at least two of its original four Kub-M2 batteries in 251st Battalion of the 25th Air Defense Regiment based in Strakonice, often deployed in defense of nuclear power plants. Prague will replace these with four truck-based Spyder-LR air defense systems purchased from Israel in a $627 million deal.

The Notorious Kub

Srdjan Popovic - Wikimedia Commons

The Kub splashily debuted a half-century earlier in the October 1973 Yom Kippur war. In a few frantic weeks, 2K12s exported to Cairo destroyed an estimated 40 Israeli Phantom and Skyhawk jets attempting to counter-strike the Egyptian forces that had just seized the Israeli-held side of the Suez canal.

The missiles bedeviled the formerly unstoppable-seeming Israel Air Force due to being more effective against low-flying aircraft (down to 320 feet), and being able to hit powerful Phantom jets traveling at nearly twice the speed of sound from head on (or at Mach 1 from behind). The 2K12 also resisted electronic warfare systems Israeli pilots used to deal with older, static S-75 and S-125 (SA-2 and SA-3) missile batteries.

Unlike these towed-trailer predecessors, the tracked vehicle-based Kub batteries could easily redeploy to protect advancing troops and ambush approaching jets while concealed in unexpected positions.

picture alliance - Getty Images

The Soviet Union had begun developing the 2K12 in 1958, seeking a flexible low- to medium-altitude air defense missile effective out to 12 miles range, complementing the conceptually similar but longer-ranged 2K11 Krug. Development of Kubs then-advanced guidance and revolutionary booster-less solid-fuel ramjet engines took nine years to complete.

A Kub battery combines four 2P25 launcher vehicles with three 3M9 missiles each, one 1S91 Straight Flush radar/command vehicle, and two 2T7M transloader trucks dedicated to carrying spare missiles.

Sran Popovic CCA-SA4 - Wikimedia Commons

Soviet tank or mechanized divisions included a regiment with five Kub batteries for mobile short-to-medium range/altitude air defense.



The 3M9 missile measures 5.8 meters long, and has an effective range of 15 miles and maximum altitude 23,000-26,000 feet and (initially) a minimum of around 300 feet. The missiles were useless without the two radars of the Straight Flush vehicle: the 1S31 surveillance to detect and lock onto aircraft up to 47 miles away, and the shorter-range 1S11 continuous-wave radar used to illuminate a target for the 3M9 to home in on. A Kub battery could set up to fire in just five minutes, and reload its missiles by crane in 10-15 minutes.

Sgt. Thomas Mort/U.S. DoD photo - Wikimedia Commons

At launch, the 3M9 missiles two-stage solid-fuel ramjet motor burns for 20 seconds, accelerating it to nearly three times the speed of sound. The missile initially arcs on an intercept course making course corrections radio-transmitted by the battery. But upon closing it switches to a 1SB4 doppler radar seeker that more precisely homes on the radar waves reflecting off the targeted aircraft from the Straight Flushs 1S11 radara technique known as semi-active radar homing. A radar proximity-fuse detonates the missiles 125-pound warhead upon closing within 30 meters of the target.

Sran Popovic CCA-SA4 - Wikimedia Commons

The Soviet Union rapidly iterated on the 2K12, between 1967-1977 developing improved Kub-M1, M3 and M4 variants (but no Kub-M2; thats the Czech modernization). The M1 and M3 featured broadened maximum and minimum range and altitude, faster engagement time, increased maneuverability, hardening versus enemy countermeasures, and introduction of optical targeting as a backup to radar guidance. The ultimate Kub-M4 (SA-6B) was a hybrid of the Kub-M3s guidance vehicle with the 9K37 launch vehicle of the forthcoming Buk-M1 system which succeeded the Kub, increasing the maximum altitude to 46,000 feet, and allowing engagement of two targets simultaneously.

However, the 2K12s big splash in 1973 led to captured vehicles and missiles being closely studied by Western experts to develop effective tactics and equipment to mitigate the Kubs effectiveness. In 1980s-era wars in Lebanon and Angola/South Africa, Israeli and South African militaries preemptively destroyed Syrian, and Angolan and Cuban S-125 batteries, respectively, before they could do much damage.

Still, when inadequately suppressed, Kub batteries lurking in ambush remained a serious threat even to fast or high-flying jets, downing a Libyan Tu-22B supersonic bomber over Chad, Moroccan Mirage F1 fighters over Western Sahara, and two U.S. Air Force F-16 jets over Iraq and Bosnia and an MQ-9 drone over Yemen. (The downing of Scott OGradys F-16 over Bosnia formed the basis of 2002 war film Behind Enemy Lines.)

The Kubs of NATO and Ukraine

In the early 2000s, Kyiv retired all four of its Kub-equipped air defense regiments (ie. 20 Kub batteries total), choosing to focus on its more modern Buk systems. But after Russias 2014-2015 invasion, Ukraines Aerotekhnika company began working on restoring some of the 89 Kub-M3 vehicles in storage to operational condition.

The company along the way developed a modernized Kub M3/2D model using digital signal processing algorithms enhancing the radar's discrimination against jamming and ground clutters. A test launch of the restored Kubs took place February 2019 in Kherson, which you can see in a promotional video for the Kvadrat-2D below.

Kyiv had plans to equip two Kub regiments with 10 batteries between them. But progress was slow, and a 2017 ammunition explosion in Balakliyapossibly due to sabotagealso destroyed an unknown number of 3M9 missiles.

Media reports indicate two Ukrainian Kub units were declared operational by 2021though a leaked Pentagon document in 2023 claims only one Kub unit was active when Russia invaded. Its unclear whether Kyiv restored more since. Little media of 2K12s operational use, nor any showing their destruction by Russia, has surfaced so far, suggesting limited active numbersthat is, if any were active at all prior to Czech and Slovakian donations.

Ukrainian military - Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile, more Kub launchers remain in service with NATO states Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

The Slovakian Air Force operates 4-5 Kub batteries in the second group of the Nitra-based 11th Brigade. In March 2023 it donated two Kub launchers, one 1S91 radar vehicle, and 200 3M9ME and 3M9M3E missiles to Ukraine. Slovakias remaining 3M93M3E missiles will expire by 2027.

Romania and Hungary, meanwhile, appear inclined to hold onto and modernize their Kub batteries to serve a while longer. Poland and Bulgaria, however represent potential sources of donations of Kub systems, and older Soviet-era 3M9 missiles.

Some other notable remaining Kub operators include Armenia, Cuba, Egypt, India, Iran, North Korea, Serbia, and Vietnam.

The Kub and the Sparrow?

Despite their theoretical mobile frontline capabilities of the Kub, many observers assume the dated weapons are principally attractive for providing additional shots defending against low-flying Shahed drones and subsonic Kalibr and Kh-101 cruise missiles, well away from Russias more modern counter-air defense systems.

However, the Czech donation of Kubs highlights the intriguing curious possibility of upgrading Ukraines Kubs to fire Western missilesparticularly as sourcing out-of-production Soviet missiles could pose long-term problems.

Thats because back in 2011, Czech firm Retia showed off a prototype Kub-CZ with upgraded radar capable of firing Italian-built ASPIDE radar-guided missiles housed in boxy launch cannisters. This amounted to a genuine franken-vehicle combining Soviet, Italian, American and Czech components.

The missiles have maximum speed of Mach 4, range of 25km and have a 32kg warhead.

Missiles were now housed in compact launch containers, thus eliminating the need for constant loading onto launch rails and stacking on transport/loading vehicles. SURNCZ radar was used for guidance pic.twitter.com/COoHvzhbC9     (@praisethesteph) January 9, 2023

The Aspide is derived from the American AIM-7 Sparrow medium-range radar-guided air-to-air missile, but with new maneuvering fins, higher-powered engine, warhead, hydraulics and more jam-resistant inverted monopulse passive radar seeker. According to a datasheet, it can engage aircraft skimming as low down as 80 feet high out to 7.5 miles away.

Ukraine already has a battery or two of trailer-based Spada 2000 launchers armed with Aspide 2000 missiles gifted to it by Spain, giving Kyiv some experience and common inventory should it resurrect the Czech proposal. But an even more intriguing evolutionary path could involve adapting Kubs to fire U.S.-built RIM-7 and RIM-162 Sea Sparrow naval air defense missiles sharing common design lineage with the Aspide.

Both are versatile but primarily optimized for smacking down incoming sea-skimming cruise missiles, these are also effective against both low and high-flying targets. The RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow (ESSM) has much longer range than either 3M9 or Aspide.

Except it wasn't Ukraine who came up with it. Raytheon and WZU Sa back in 2012 had worked on RIM-162s on a 2k12 Kub. Not a huge stretch to fire RIM-76s from a Buk.https://t.co/YLLZhCiWJj pic.twitter.com/WHUF7peAy4  Crossit (@2107crossit) January 6, 2023

If the million-dollar missile were mounted on Kubs, it would require a longer-distance target illuminating radar to leverage that increased range, unless using the latest Block II ESSMs which have their own built-in active radars seekers.

Table by author - Wikimedia Commons

Indeed, in the late 2000s, Polish company WZU has also displayed two different Kub conversion capable of launching ESSMs, either mounting the missiles directly on the launch rack, or inside new cannisters. In the picture below note the dramatic size difference of the Sea Sparrows compared to the 3M9 missile on the center rack.

Technology is there. About 15 years WZU nr2 integrated Sea Sparrow into 2K12 Kub. pic.twitter.com/EBQtNrtQGB  Kamil Sietes (@KSietes) January 6, 2023

How easy such modification would be is unclear, but Ukraine already has found the means to fit RIM-7 missiles to its Buk medium-range systems. The more cutting-edge RIM-162s, however, have not been supplied at least publicly.

Time will tell whether Ukraines military will deem it worthwhile to devote resources to upgrading its modest but growing Kub arsenal to fire Western missilesmuch like its preparing its newer Buk launchers to do so.

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Thurston County deputies are searching for who rammed a stolen car into a smoke shop in Olympia early Tuesday.

Deputies responded to Pipes R Us on Martin Way around 4:30 a.m. to find the front of the store smashed in, and items inside the store stolen.

A Hyundai was ditched nearby. Police tracked its owner, and believe it was stolen from Seattle.

About an hour before the Olympia smash-and-grab, police in Yelm had a similar break-in at a pot store there.

Police are asking if anyone has information or possible dash cam footage from the area at the time of the theft, to contact them.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) called GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy s plan for the Russia-Ukraine war a surrender to Russian aggression.

I think that would be a surrender to Russian aggression, just like we surrendered to the Taliban, McCaul said Wednesday in an interview on CBS News, referring to the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in 2021.

McCaul was asked about Ramaswamys foreign policy platform, which was detailed in a post in The American Conservative earlier this week. In the post, Ramaswamy said he would accept Russias control of the territories its forces have taken and pledged to stop Ukraine from joining NATO in exchange for Russia ending its military alliance with China.

This is not just about Russia and Putin, its about Chairman Xi [Jinping] and China and their unholy alliance, McCaul said. When I went to Asia, what happens in Ukraine will impact what happens in Taiwan. I think that this is very risky foreign policy.

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Ramaswamy was the only candidate during the first GOP presidential debate last week to raise his hand when asked who would not continue to support aid to Ukraine  prompting backlash from some of his 2024 rivals. Republican presidential Nikki Hayley slammed his stance, claiming he had no foreign policy and it shows.

What I did notice at that debate, was that six of the eight candidates were very strongly supportive of our efforts to contain Russian aggression, McCaul said.

And then the last candidate was somewhere on the fence that if Europe stood up to the plate more, that he would be supportive, he added, referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantiss position on the issue.

The Pentagon has provided more than $43 billion in direct security aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the war in early 2022. Last year, Congress approved $47 billion in total direct security assistance.

Defense officials in recent months have said accounting errors freed up a few billion dollars, but the Pentagon is unable to say how much funds are left exactly and how much has been spent.

On Tuesday, the U.S. announced it would send a new security package valued at $250 million, including more small arms ammunition and munitions for missiles for Kyiv.

This latest package brings the U.S. closer to its limit of available Congress-approved funds left for Ukraine, setting up an internal fight within the GOP, which is increasingly divided over continued funding to the embattled country.

The Hill Elections 2024 coverage

The White House earlier this month requested an additional $13 billion in security assistance for Ukraine

We have a supplemental before us, there was no collaboration with Congress, McCaul said. You know, Ive talked to the speaker about this and were going to take a look at it but were not going to rubber stamp or write a blank check.

The Texas Republican said he anticipates something will pass before the end of the fiscal year related to Ukraines counter-offensive.

I just wish the administration had given them the weapons they needed a year and a half, two years ago, because we probably would be in a very different situation today, he said.

Brad Dress contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A top Ukrainian advisor says the war is increasingly crossing into Russia and can't be stopped.

Mykhailo Podolyak posted the fiery comments on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.

Recent drone attacks have damaged Russian aircraft and jets far from the front lines.

A top Ukrainian advisor has a severe warning for Russia: The war is continuing to come to Russian soil and won't be stopped.

On Wednesday, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the Head of the Office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, posted on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, "The war is increasingly moving to Russia's territory, and it cannot be stopped."

He added: "This is a consequence of the lost frontline component (Russia has long been fighting only in numbers and only in defense, despite all propaganda myths) and the lack of realistic power control systems in the regions (including air defense)."

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The fiery comments come amid increasing drone strikes inside Russian territory, including an attack over the weekend that Ukraine said damaged Russian fighter jets.

On Saturday, Ukraine's Security Services said it struck a MiG-29 and four Su-30s  Soviet-made jets prized by Russia for giving them a contested air superiority in the war  at the Kursk airfield in western Russia.

Ukraine said it hit the jets with Australian-made "cardboard" drones that have a range of up to 75 miles.

Drone attacks on Russia  Ukrainian-claimed or otherwise  are not new.

While UAVs pummel Moscow, a drone hit against a Russian Backfire bomber last week sent a shocking reminder that Russia had done little to increase defenses of its strategic bases and vital air assets since previous attacks against strategic bombers in December 2022 presented, what UK intel said at the time, was the "most strategically significant" force protection failure of the war.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A trainload with at least 10 pieces of Iskander M missile systems has arrived in Belarus.

Source: Belaruski Hajun, an independent Belarusian military monitoring media outlet, on Telegram

Quote: "According to the information of Belaruski Hajun, a trainload with at least 10 pieces of Iskander M operational-tactical missile systems arrived at the Asipovichy station (Mogilev Oblast) from the village of Kapustin Yar in Astrakhan Oblast, Russian Federation.

It is known that the missile test range of the same name is located there  the 4th State Central Multi-Service Range of the Russian Federation. Reportedly, the Iskander M operational-tactical missile system has already entered service with the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus. And this trainload with the Iskanders is not the last to arrive in Belarus."

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Background:

In June 2022, Russias President Vladimir Putin stated that he would soon give Belarus Iskander M systems, which can carry ballistic and cruise missiles. Putin emphasised that these missiles could have nuclear warheads.

In April 2023, Russias Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that Belarus already had at its disposal assault aircraft and Iskander-M missile systems capable of delivering nuclear strikes.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!






Gas prices dropped by 10 cents a gallon in Ohio the week before what is expected to be a busy Labor Day weekend.

Some travel sectors have already reported nearly double the reservations they saw this time last year, according to AAA statistics for flights, hotels, rental cars and cruises.

"Compared to 2022, international hotel bookings for the holiday are up 82%," a AAA news release reads. "International cruise bookings are up 44%."

Vacationers who scheduled trips to Canada and Europe cited reduced travel restrictions and cooler temperatures as motivations for leaving the United States.

Domestic cruises 19% more popular this Labor Day weekend

Domestic travel is projected to increase 4% this Labor Day over last, the automotive association reports.

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Seattle, Orlando, Anchorage, New York and Las Vegas are listed as the top five destinations within the country.

Seattle, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Miami are popular not only for their local attractions, but because they serve as seaports for domestic cruises.

Motorists travel down U.S. 30 in North Central Ohio the week before Labor Day 2023.

"AAA data show domestic-cruise bookings over Labor Day weekend are up 19% compared to 2022," the association's news release reads.

Safe driving practices can save lives this holiday weekend

Labor Day brings an end to the dangerous driving period known as the "100 deadliest days of summer," according to Sgt. Ryan Purpura of the Ohio Highway Patrol.

An average of 12 motorists statewide have died over the holiday weekend during each of the past five years, patrol data show. Five died last year, but 17 died in 2021.

Of last year's five fatalities, four involved alcohol or drugs. Of the three where safety belts were available, two were unbelted. One was on a motorcycle and the other on a bicycle.

"We want motorists to make good decisions this Labor Day weekend," Purpura said. "The simple decision to buckle up or not drive impaired could be the decision that saves your life or the life of someone else who is involved in a crash."

Troopers made 406 suspected drunk driving arrests during last year's Labor Day weekend.

How much will gas cost in Ohio for Labor Day travel?

Ohioans planning in-state trips might find their travel budgets a little less tight than originally projected, thanks to what appear to be falling gas prices.

"The national average for a gallon of regular was $3.78 on Labor Day 2022, but has been above $3.80 for the past couple of weeks," a AAA news release reads.

Those prices finally started to fall across the Buckeye State on Monday.

One of the lowest prices reported in all of Ohio  $3.488 for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline  was found in Ashland, just off Interstate-71 near the halfway point between Cleveland and Columbus.

"The price of oil has declined and is staying around $80 per barrel, contributing to lower pump prices," AAA reports. "As Labor Day approaches, gas demand and volatile oil prices, particularly during an active hurricane season, could impact prices."

Labor Day gives workers a chance to get away with their families

The opportunity to get away from the workplace for three straight days was not always guaranteed to laborers throughout history.

The holiday came to life in the 1800s when labor activists pushed for a federal holiday to recognize the contributions workers have made to Americas strength, prosperity and well-being.

Now the holiday is one of the few weekends that workers like Norm Shoemaker are promised off each year.

"Were guaranteed five weekends off, and this is one of them," he said.

Shoemaker is president of the Mid-Ohio Area Central Labor Council, and vice president of United Steelworkers Local #3057.

"We're mainly working seven days a week," he said.

The exceptions off are: Three days for Easter, three for Memorial Day, two the final weekend of July, three for Labor Day and four over Thanksgiving.

"Thats few and far between," Shoemaker said.

That's why the labor council is celebrating with a parade and community celebration starting 10 a.m. Monday in Mansfield.

Not all of the union workers will be there, though, because many will be traveling with their families. It's a rare break, and they don't plan to miss it.

"You get time with your family," Shoemaker explained. "That's what you work for, is to have a life."

What is the best time to drive over Labor Day weekend?

Drivers can expect the most traffic on Thursday between midafternoon and early evening, USA Today reports. Friday will also see more congestion than usual from late morning into the night.

Sunday is likely to see minimal traffic impacts, however.

Best times to drive on the other days:

Wednesday, Aug. 30: Before 7 a.m.

Thursday, Aug. 31: Before 7 a.m.

Friday, Sept. 1: Before 11 a.m.

Saturday, Sept. 2: After 6 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 4: After 7 p.m.

Worst times to drive:

Wednesday, Aug. 30: Between noon and 8 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 31: Between noon and 8 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 1: Between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 2: Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 4: Between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

ztuggle@gannett.com

419-564-3508

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Labor Day weekend travel expected to be much busier than last year
STAUNTON  Following two days of testimony, an Augusta County jury found Travis Brown guilty Wednesday in the torture and killing of 3-year-old Khaleesi Cuthriell.

Convicted of aggravated murder, Brown, 31, will automatically be given life in prison with no chance of parole when formally sentenced Feb. 8.

The jury took just less than four hours to reach its decision.

The prosecution rested its case Wednesday morning in Augusta County Circuit Court. Defense attorney Dana Cormier declined to put any witnesses on the stand, including Brown, and the jury began deliberating by about 12:30 p.m.

It was announced by the Augusta County Sheriffs Office in September 2021 that Cuthriell was missing. Her body has never been found.

Khaleesi Cuthriell.

Evidence during the trial, which started Monday, showed that the girls mother, before being placed in Middle River Regional Jail on a probation violation, sought to place the toddler with a relative. However, testimony revealed that Child Protective Services, a division of Shenandoah Valley Social Services, stepped in and wouldnt allow the move. Instead, the mother placed Khaleesi in the care of Candi Jo Royer, Browns live-in girlfriend, in October 2020. The CPS employee who took her to the home never revisited to check on Khaleesi, evidence showed.

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The toddler would be dead by mid-January 2021, authorities now believe, but she wouldnt be reported missing until September 2021 when her mother told a jail official shed lost contact with the couple and hadnt spoken to her daughter in several months.

With the childs whereabouts unknown, at the time authorities scrambled in an effort to determine where Khaleesi might be.

After police captured Brown and Royer at a motel in South Greensburg, Pennsylvania, the same month Khaleesi was reported missing, Brown was interrogated by investigators from the Augusta County Sheriffs Office. During questioning, he finally admitted the toddler was dead after initially lying and telling investigators a CPS official in a state car had taken her away in January 2021.

Travis Brown.

In explaining her death, Brown claimed she purposely hit her head on a doorframe and died on the second floor of the home he shared with Royer. A drug addict at the time, Brown said he then passed out. After waking, Brown said he left Khaleesis body on the floor until the next day, when he said he wrapped her in a blanket and put her body in a garbage can.

Evidence during the trial showed Khaleesi was being abused soon after she began living with Brown and Royer. Videos and photographs showed most of Khaleesi's body was already covered in bruises, cuts and burns just several weeks after moving into the couple's home. Large swaths of hair were also missing.

Video of Khaleesi taken Jan. 12, 2021, perhaps her last day alive, according to Augusta County Commonwealth's Attorney Tim Martin, showed a frightened and confused child being verbally berated by Royer while being made to stand naked in a dry bathtub in her own feces. Missing most of her hair and covered in cuts and bruises, the toddler was visibly shaking during the ordeal.

On Tuesday in court, Dr. Robin Foster, an expert on child abuse and torture, took the stand and was asked to analyze photographs and videos of Khaleesi. A pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU Health, Foster noted that in the first photo she was shown, taken in November 2020 less than three weeks after the toddler arrived at the couple's home, it revealed slight bruising on her forehead, a swollen cheek and an abrasion underneath her bottom lip.

Just three days later, some of Khaleesi's hair is missing in another photo, and the bruising is more noticeable. Soft-tissue injuries to her face became more pronounced in the photos as her stay at the home progressed. The toddler also thinned considerably during her stay, and had what appeared to be three burns on her right ear that Foster said were most likely caused by a cigarette. In one photo, the child had two ulcerated blisters on the inside of her mouth that were indicative of burns, Foster said. Her feet were discolored in other photos. "Her toes almost look blackened," the doctor testified.

When asked to compare a photo showing a smiling Khaleesi just days after her arrival to another photo taken several weeks later that showed her with numerous injuries and noticeably thinner, Foster said, "It's not even recognizable as the same child." In her opinion, Foster said the case "fits the definition of child torture."

Another witness, a woman Brown had a romantic fling with before fleeing the area in 2021, testified Tuesday that Brown told her "he had murdered somebody."

After authorities arrested the couple in Pennsylvania, Virginia State Police searched their home on Cattle Scales Road near Waynesboro. There, they found bloodstains on a wall that contained Khaleesi's DNA. One of the bloodstains was 6 feet off the floor. Police located a wire hanger with a handle made of tape that contained Royer's DNA and the toddler's, evidence showed. Khaleesi's door to her bedroom also had a lock on the outside, according to evidence.

Travis Brown and his girlfriend tortured Khaleesi to death, Augusta County Commonwealths Attorney Tim Martin said during closing arguments Wednesday in Augusta County Circuit Court.

The couple had a number of electronic communications that were used against Brown, including a testy exchange where Royer tells him "you know what you did Travis." He responds, "Just know the gunshot your [sic] about to hear is a bullet going through my head."

Thats not what an innocent person says, Martin said.

With a nearly packed courtroom looking on, Martin told the jury Khaleesi was starved, burned, isolated and beaten. He also noted that the bloodstained wall containing Khaleesi's DNA was found near a doorframe in her bedroom.

Martin said the couple had total control over the toddler and their intent was to kill her. He threw her away, he said of Brown. She was somebodys baby, and once he was done with her he threw her away.

Defense attorney Dana Cormier argued during his closing argument that Royer was the one who psychologically and physically abused Khaleesi. We saw her doing it in the videos, he said.

Candi J. Royer

Cormier implored the jury not to let anger get in the way of its decision-making process. Take a breath and lets do our job as jurors right now, he said.

Cormier said he will file an appeal.

The jury convicted Brown on a lesser murder charge as well, but it's not clear what will happen to that charge since he was also convicted on the more serious charge of aggravated murder. Brown was also found guilty of child abuse.

"We certainly didn't have a doubt as to whether Travis Brown participated in this," Martin said following the verdicts.

Martin said the two-year investigation into Khaleesi's death was "unbelievably trying. The pictures that you saw, what happened to her, has been devastating ever since we learned about it."

Brown remains at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona.

Royer, also charged with aggravated murder, will be tried in October.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the name of Shenandoah Valley Social Services.

Waynesboro 'Little Free Food Pantry' opens at library

Steve Geiman returns to Wilson Memorial as starter for Valley Cup, plus volleyball results

Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Travis Brown found guilty of murder in toddler's death
A state district judge on Wednesday found Texas House Bill 2127 to be unconstitutional. The law was set to go into effect Friday and would have prevented cities like Austin from requiring construction projects to provide water breaks. In this photo, construction worker Joseph Miller takes a break from building a new condominium tower in the Rainey Street area on a hot day in June.

A judge in Austin ruled Wednesday that Texas House Bill 2127, the controversial Republican measure to limit cities and counties from enforcing potentially thousands of local ordinances in the country's second-largest state, is unconstitutional.

The bench ruling from state District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble came at the end of a hearing Wednesday morning in Travis County, two days before the law, born from the so-called Death Star bill, was set to go into effect.

In preemptively striking down the law  which Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June  Guerra Gamble sided with plaintiff city of Houston and two other cities that later intervened in the lawsuit, San Antonio and El Paso. Dozens more cities informally supported the fight, including Austin, but were not official participants in the lawsuit.

The state is likely to appeal the ruling, setting up what could be a lengthy legal fight destined for the Texas Supreme Court. The first stop is the state 3rd Court of Appeals, an all-Democratic court in Austin.

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For now, Guerra Gambles ruling blocks a long-standing GOP push to bring regulatory consistency across the state that business groups say would standardize processes and promote economic growth. During the recent legislative session, supporters of the bill flooded the Capitol to make a case that the patchwork of rules is crippling to small businesses, like construction companies, that are required to provide certain worker protections, such as water breaks, in one city but not in another.

In court Wednesday, however, lawyers for the cities argued that the law as written would overwhelm cities and counties and fails to provide clear guidance on which ordinances must be canceled before the Friday deadline.

Guerra Gamble, at the end of the hearing, offered: "I do believe their argument is the right one.

HB 2127, the cities' lawyers argued, shifts the burden to cities and counties to show that a local law complies with state law as opposed to the state proving a direct conflict with state law. That shift would open a city or county to an avalanche of lawsuits that their lawyers couldnt possibly handle, the cities argued. And, they added, it would be incredibly expensive to cancel or amend all ordinances that are no longer allowed.

Theyve created absolute chaos in cities to determine what HB 2127 means, said Collyn Peddie, a lawyer for Houston.

HB 2127 prohibits cities and counties from enacting or enforcing an ordinance inconsistent with state law under eight codes: Agriculture, Business & Commerce, Finance, Insurance, Labor, Natural Resources, Occupation and Property. Together, the codes cover more than 1,000 chapters  providing a bruising task for cities and counties to ensure compliance.

Peddie noted that, under the law, it would be unclear if Houston could still consider curbs and gutters as drainage, because the state's definition for drainage does not.

Houston has to know what laws it can enforce," she said. "People have to know what laws are gone, what laws are in place.

More: Austin council member receives sanction, attorney uses 'Death Star' law as part of defense

Since the law was set to go into effect in less than 48 hours, Guerra Gamble had to act fast. But, even so, it was a surprise that she ruled as quickly as she did  from the bench. In Travis County, the common practice is to issue a written ruling days or sometimes weeks after a hearing.

Guerra Gamble, a two-term Democrat, said she spent days analyzing case filings and felt confident even before the hearing that the law was unconstitutional. Tipping her hand earlier Wednesday about how she'd rule, during oral arguments she often nodded as if to agree with the cities lawyers, but sat stone-faced when the state presented its case. In the end, she granted a motion for summary judgment from the cities and denied the state's motion to dismiss the suit.

The ruling marks a victory for labor rights groups, who argued that under HB 2127 cities and counties could no longer enforce protections like water and restroom breaks. Last month, their fight played out in Washington, where U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, in protest went more than eight hours outdoors without water or food.

On the losing side is Abbott, who pitched HB 2127 as a way to stimulate economic growth. During Wednesdays hearing, he shared a link on X, formerly Twitter, to an opinion piece that was favorable to the bill. Published in El Paso Matters, the author was Glenn Hamer, president and top executive of Texas Association of Business.

Abbott wrote: Texas small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Burdensome regulations are an obstacle to their success. I signed HB 2127 to cut red tape & help businesses thrive.

Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, who authored HB 2127, posted that Guerra Gamble's judgment "is not worth the paper it's printed on" and predicted that the Supreme Court will ultimately rule the law is valid.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas judge rules controversial 'Death Star' bill is unconstitutional
Travis Scott s Utopia tour wont include a stop in Houston, the rappers hometown where his Astroworld festival took a deadly turn in 2021.

The goosebumps rapper, 32, took to Instagram Tuesday night to announce the dates and stops for Utopia Presents Circus Maximus, tickets for which go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. local time.

Initially, the 28-stop tour was meant to include a stop at H-Towns Toyota Center on Oct. 19, which would have been his first in Houston show since Astroworld. City authorities wasted no time in condemning the move.

Like most, we were in complete disbelief that anyone would approve of Travis Scott or the production company having another concert, Houston Police Officers Union president Douglas Griffith began a statement sent to KPRC, citing the recently released 1,200-page report of the catastrophe.

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We believe that it is unreasonable to allow this concert to go forward and call upon elected officials to stand up and say, not in our city, not again!

Kicking off Oct. 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina, the tour will now include just two stops in Texas  one in Dallas on Nov. 17 and another in Austin on Nov. 21  before wrapping up in Toronto on Dec. 29.

The Astroworld tragedy occurred on Nov. 5, 2021, the first night of the festival, when a crowd crush killed 10 attendees, including a 9-year-old boy, and injured thousands.

A Texas grand jury decided in June that it would not indict Scott or five others in connection with the disaster. Houston Police said at the time that theyd only completed their very complex 19-month criminal investigation days prior.

As long as there was a pending criminal investigation, it makes it extremely difficult to get insured, lawyer Kent Schaffer previously told ABC News. Now hes going to be able to pick back up where he left off, which is great because, you know, in this country everybodys presumed innocent.
Michigan Republican Tudor Dixon says that former President Donald Trump advised her to soften her message on abortion during her failed gubernatorial bid last year, but that her campaign could not pivot in time.

You came to me and you said, You got to talk differently about abortion. And we could not pivot, we could not pivot in time, she said during an interview with Trump on her podcast, which aired Tuesday.

Dixon, a conservative media personality who has not held public office, was bolstered by Trumps endorsement in her efforts to unseat incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the swing state.

The race was dominated by abortion rights following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as voters simultaneously weighed a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights into the Michigan Constitution. During her campaign, Dixon, who described herself as pro-life, came under fire for failing to say whether she would allow abortions for rape victims.

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Ultimately, voters in the state backed both the ballot measure and Whitmer, who framed abortion access as a key element of her campaign.

Dixon acknowledged the role abortion played in her defeat during an interview Sunday on FOX News Sunday Morning Futures, and warned of the impact it could have again in 20204.

In my own election, the big issue was abortion. Abortion is still out there. We have already seen Joe Biden put an attack ad out just after the debate on abortion once again, Dixon said in the interview. I had $50 million in attack ads against me on abortion. So we have got to get that message correct, and we have got to be able to speak to suburban women.

Dixon told Trump on her podcast: You were absolutely right, sir, and I hope that you are able to navigate that issue in 24 and that we can win those women back. They are already putting out attack ads, and it is not a fair issue for them to attack on.

Trump agreed, noting that criticism over abortion policies didnt happen to me, because theres a way of talking about it.

Exceptions are very important. I think you need the exceptions, said Trump, who has not committed to backing a national abortion ban.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said he does not have the authority to bar Donald Trump from the Arizona ballot next year, despite renewed interest in a provision of the U.S. Constitution that allows disqualification.

Fontes' comments come as some legal scholars and nonprofit organizations are promoting the notion that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires ballot disqualification for anyone who has previously taken the oath of a public office and engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" against the government. They argue that applies to Trump.

But that can't happen under Arizona law, Fontes, the state's chief elections officer, said in an interview with The Gaggle, the politics podcast of The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com.

An Arizona Supreme Court ruling last year concluded that only Congress has the authority to enforce what is called the Disqualification Clause.

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Not that Fontes, a Democrat, agrees with the ruling. He called the Supreme Court's decision "dead, flat wrong" but said he has a duty to follow the law.

However, in a follow-up interview, Fontes said the question is not settled, at least as far as he is concerned.

"It's still an open question," he said Wednesday. "Arizona law is not the only law we have," he said, anticipating it could be changed in what he is certain will be litigation challenging the effect of the Disqualification Clause in any decision he might make.

He also said he would be turning to his own advisers for guidance.

Fontes has set a Dec. 14 deadline to notify county elections officials of which candidates have qualified to be placed on the presidential preference election ballot in March. The counties need notice to prepare ballots and other election materials.

The state Supreme Court waded into the Disqualification Clause debate last year in a lawsuit that sought to block U.S. representatives Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, as well as secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, from being placed on the 2022 ballot.

The plaintiff, a voting rights group out of Boston called Free Speech for People, argued that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment prevented the three candidates from running because of their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, protests that led to an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The organization lost in Maricopa County Superior Court and appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court. The high court concluded because the 14th Amendment gives Congress the exclusive enforcement authority, it "suggests that Arizona law does not provide a private right of action to invoke the Disqualification Clause against the defendants."

That decision allowed the three candidates to be on the ballot. Biggs and Gosar were re-elected to their congressional seats; Finchem lost the secretary of state race to Fontes.

Legal challenges likely in 2024

Fontes called the ruling "stupid."

As he follows the logic of the court's ruling, someone who was born overseas could run for president in Arizona, since there would be no state authority to disqualify the individual for not meeting the constitutional requirement of being born in the United States.

The ruling could lead to other complications, Fontes said.

"Does a 25-year-old get to be on the ballot in Arizona for president?" he asked. "According to the logic of the Arizona Supreme Court, they do."

"That having been said, can the Arizona Supreme Court be overturned?" he asked rhetorically. "If somebody brings a lawsuit? Well, any law can be overturned in a judicial action. Now, I'm not inviting someone to sue me, although it probably will end up happening."

The Constitution requires a president must be 35 years of age or older at the time of taking office.

Despite his critiques, Fontes said his personal opinion is irrelevant and he will abide by the law.

No option but to disqualify

It's too early see any legal action. The secretary of state's office can start accepting nomination papers and petitions for the March 19 presidential preference election on Nov. 10.

But Free Speech for People maintains there is no option but to disqualify if Trump seeks to gain ballot status.

"We have been clear that all secretaries of state and chief election officials must follow the mandate of section 3 of the 14th amendment," Ron Fein, the organization's legal director, told The Republic in an email.

Fein did not specifically address whether the 2022 ruling from the Arizona Supreme Court exempts Arizona, but underscored that "all" elections offices are obliged to follow the U.S. Constitution.

On its website, the organization maintains states don't need congressional action to disqualify.

During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, states disqualified candidates because of their involvement in the war as members of the Confederacy. The 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution in the wake of the Civil War.

More recently, Georgia and New Mexico last year invoked the clause to disqualify candidates who had participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

"These challenges did not need any special federal legislation, relying on standard state legal procedures for challenging a politicians constitutional eligibility for office," the group states.

The effort succeeded in New Mexico, where a state court disqualified a county commissioner. In Georgia, a federal judge rejected an attempt to bar U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green from the 2022 ballot.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @maryjpitzl.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Adrian Fontes says Trump's spot on Arizona ballot is open question
Donald Trump may avoid what would have been his first-ever televised court hearing as he is said to be considering waiving his right to arraignment in the Georgia 2020 election interference case.

Two sources told CBS News that the former president is mulling entering a plea on the charges and waiving his arraignment appearance slated for next week.

The arraignment for both Mr Trump and the 18 allies now charged as his co-defendants is currently scheduled to take place in Fulton County on 6 September.

The judge has already ruled that cameras are allowed in the courtroom, paving the way for a potentially historic moment where Mr Trumps criminal court appearance will be broadcast live to the world for the very first time.

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At least two of his co-defendants in the case  former Trump campaign attorneys Ray Smith and Sidney Powell  have already waived their arraignments and entered pleas of not guilty to all counts.

In each of Mr Trumps other four criminal cases, he has appeared in person for his arraignments  however cameras were not allowed in the courtrooms in any of those cases.

The former president surrendered to Fulton County authorities on 24 August to face 13 charges in the sweeping RICO indictment.

He was booked into Fulton County Jail where he was fingerprinted and had his mug shot taken  marking another historic moment as the first current or former president to ever be captured in a booking photo.

His bond was set at $200,000 with him paying 10 percent in order to be released.

All of Mr Trumps 18 co-defendants in the case also surrendered to Fulton County authorities ahead of the noon ET deadline on Friday 25 August.

All 19 of the defendants were charged with violating Georgias RICO statute.

The indictment accuses Mr Trump and his allies of orchestrating and running a criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere, to accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J. Trump to seize the presidential term of office, beginning on January 20, 2021.

Donald Trump in mugshot (AFP)

This criminal organization constituted an enterprise as that term is deined in O.C.G.A.  l6-14-3(3), that is, a group of individuals associated in fact. The Defendants and other members and associates of the enterprise had connections and relationships with one another and with the enterprise, it reads.

The criminal organisations members and associates engaged in various related criminal activities including, but not limited to, false statements and writings, impersonating a public oficer, forgery, iling false documents, iniuencing witnesses, computer theft, computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, conspiracy to defraud the state, acts involving theft, and perjury.

The other co-defendants are former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Kraken lawyer Sidney Powell, attorneys John Eastman, Kenneth Cheseboro, Jenna Ellis, Ray Smith III, and Robert Cheeley, former US Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark, former Trump campaign official Michael Roman, former state senator and the former chair of the Georgia Republican Party David Schafer, Georgia state senator Shawn Still, Lutheran pastor Stephen Lee, mixed martial artist Harrison Floyd, Kanye Wests former PR Trevian Kutti, former head of the Republican Party in Coffee County Cathleen Latham, Atlanta-area bail bondsman Scott Hall, and former election supervisor of Coffee County Misty Hampton.

DA Willis has spent more than two years investigating efforts by Mr Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in the crucial swing state.

The investigation came following the release of a 2 January 2021 phone call Mr Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where he told him to find enough votes to change the outcome of the election in the state.

All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, Mr Trump is heard saying in the leaked phone call. Because we won the state.

Mr Biden won the state by less than 12,000 votes.

The investigation then expanded from that phone call to include a scheme whereby a group of fake Republican electors planned to falsely certify the results in Mr Trumps favour instead of Mr Bidens. The plot failed and the fake electors have since reached immunity deals with DA Willis office.

Ms Willis said she would like to try the defendants altogether and within the next six months.

In total, the former president is now facing 91 charges from four separate criminal cases.

On 1 August, he was hit with a federal indictment charging him with four counts over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the events leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot, following an investigation led by special counsel Jack Smiths office.

This came after Mr Smiths office charged Mr Trump in a separate indictment over his alleged mishandling of classified documents on leaving office.

Back in April, Mr Trump was charged for the first time with New York state charges following an investigation into hush money payments made prior to the 2016 election.
We must be highly vigilant of Tokyo's ill intentions

10:34, August 30, 2023 By Global Times editorial ( Global Times

Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Due to Japan's claims that there have been "harassing phone calls" from Chinese numbers to Japan in the past few days, and there were reported incidents of throwing stones at Japanese institutions in China, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday that the Japanese government had asked China to urge its citizens to act "calmly and responsibly." The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also summoned the Chinese ambassador to Japan over the matter. Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Tuesday the harassment was "extremely regrettable and worrying," while on the same day, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura expressed "regret and concern" over the so-called "harassment calls." He also said that "some calls were even going to hospitals," and "human life is at stake now." It must be acknowledged that many Japanese politicians are skilled at stirring up emotions.

As of August 29, it has been six days since Japan initiated the dumping of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. During these days, aside from continuously releasing over 1,500 tons of nuclear-contaminated water into the open sea, Japan has primarily focused its efforts on sensationalizing the issue of "safety of Japanese individuals in China." The Japanese government's intentions in making an issue of this matter are deviously calculated: It not only deflects blame onto China but also stages a show in front of the international community. This is aimed at shifting the international spotlight away from the issue of nuclear pollution into the sea and redirecting it toward the diplomatic dispute between China and Japan. By manipulating the narrative, Japan attempts to portray itself as a victim of Chinese bullying in order to garner sympathy. We must not allow Tokyo to succeed in these endeavors, as it would become one of the most extensive and malicious distortions of truth in human history.

Anyone with a sober mind has already seen it quite clearly: The intentions are far from pure for the Japanese side, holding a megaphone, to demand that China ensure the safety of Japanese nationals and the Japanese consulate in China, and for the Western media, particularly from the US, to follow suit by labeling the Chinese society as "anti-Japanese."

The so-called "safety of Japanese nationals in China" is inherently a false proposition. China's consistent stance is to legally safeguard the safety and legitimate rights and interests of foreign nationals in China. Furthermore, what incites outrage in Chinese society is Japan's selfish act of dumping nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, and the target is never the Japanese citizens. Tokyo is well aware of this, yet it deceptively shifts the focus of criticism from itself to ordinary Japanese citizens, attempting to stir up antagonism between the two societies. It must be said that not only is Japan dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean, but both some people in Tokyo and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) are also harboring ill intentions.

This situation also serves as a reminder that the current battle of public opinion is extremely complex. China adheres to a highly responsible attitude and adopts reasonable and moderate countermeasures. However, the Japanese side is currently exploiting the indulgence and shelter of the US and West, blatantly attempting to use this situation to execute a "Divine Reversal" technique, attempting to shift the blame onto China. Yet, the essence of this matter does not lie in the dispute between China and Japan; instead, it's about Japan committing a harmful act against all of humanity. It must not be allowed to manipulate politics and divert international attention, thus neglecting the inherent dangers of dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea and the historical responsibilities Japan should bear.

Therefore, we should maintain a high level of vigilance in several aspects to avoid being influenced by the Japanese side. First, we must remain vigilant against any voices or actions that attempt to shift the focus of this struggle. For 30 years, and possibly even longer, it is crucial that we consistently emphasize that this is not a dispute between China and Japan, but rather a fight to protect the rights and interests of marine ecological security. The two sides involved in this struggle are not China and Japan; instead, it is a battle between all individuals worldwide who value the environment and those entities such as the Japanese government, TEPCO, and others who pose significant environmental risks. The outcome of this struggle directly impacts the life, health and security of all of us, and it is completely unrelated to geopolitics.

Second, we must be vigilant of Japan's attempt to create a misleading "China isolation theory" regarding the issue of dumping contaminated water into the sea. In fact, there have been unsold seafood products from the Fukushima prefecture and its surrounding areas on supermarket shelves in Japan. Fisheries have been affected, and Japanese seafood is prohibited in primary and secondary school cafeterias in South Korea. The people in neighboring countries all have strong sentiments toward the impact of nuclear-contaminated water discharge. All of these phenomena are completely disconnected from Japan's current arrogant attitude of relying on the International Atomic Energy Agency and the US to create "international support" and shift the focus by criticizing China. No matter how Tokyo tries to confuse the public, it cannot change these facts or prevent more and more countries and people from seeing the truth.

Third, we need to be particularly cautious about remarks that incite extreme emotions in Chinese society. To put it bluntly, Tokyo hopes to see Japanese people attacked in China more than anyone else. The "1450 army" (Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party's internet army), the "Great Translation Movement," and anti-China forces in the US and the West are all closely monitoring China, not missing any opportunity they can exploit. Some people suspect that the so-called "security threats" claimed by the Japanese side may have elements of self-orchestration. In this context, we must be especially careful not to do anything that may be used against us or exploited by others.

In short, when it comes to Japan's dumping of nuclear-contaminated water, the truth is clear - black is black, white is white, and black can never be washed white. In the face of the Japanese government's determination to proceed with this action, we need to employ even more sophisticated fighting skills, firmly understanding the purpose and cause we are defending. We must always stand on the high ground of international justice, rendering Japan's political tricks useless.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Although former President Donald Trump maintains a growing lead in polls among Utah Republicans, both he and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have seen a dip in support. | Michelle Budge, Deseret News

Although former President Donald Trump maintains a growing lead in polls among Utah Republicans, both he and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have seen a dip in support.

A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll shows that if the Republican presidential primary were held today, 27% of GOP voters say they would choose Trump and 19% would vote for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Trumps lead is wider than the last poll in July when he led DeSantis by five percentage points, though both he (29%) and DeSantis (24%) have seen their support drop slightly among Utah Republicans.

Former Vice President Mike Pence (9%) comes in third place, while entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (5%) and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., (5%) are tied for fourth. Cheney, a frequent Trump critic, lost to a Trump-endorsed candidate in the Wyoming Republican primary last year and now holds a faculty position at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. She has not declared her candidacy for president.

Nonetheless, Cheney polls higher among Utah Republicans than several declared candidates, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (4%), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (4%), Sen. Tim Scott (2%) and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (2%).

Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney appears onstage in conversation with David Rubenstein at the 92nd Street Y on Monday, June 26, 2023, in New York. | Andy Kropa, Associated Press

Nearly a quarter of Utah Republicans, 24%, either support another candidate or are undecided.

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Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, said the most important number in the poll is the high percentage of undecided voters.

Thats really what we should be looking at right now, is whether or not any of the current slate of candidates can catch fire in the state of Utah, Perry said. Its clear after the debate last week that none of the other candidates have put themselves in a position to really eat away at the lead Donald Trump has over the other candidates, and thats not just in the state of Utah, that is true in states all across the country as well.

But, Perry said, its also clear many Utahns are looking for an alternative to Trump. As the campaign season progresses, and candidates start dropping out, a consensus figure might emerge from among Trumps opponents, he said.

Among self-described very conservative voters in Utah, Trump sits at 47%, with his closest challenger  DeSantis  at 29%. Among moderate voters, Pence is the favorite at 13%, followed by DeSantis (12%) and Cheney (10%).

Religious affiliation is a factor, too. Trump and DeSantis are in a stalemate (23%) for support from self-described very active Latter-day Saints, while Trump leads by over 30 percentage points among somewhat or not active Latter-day Saints (Trump at 49%, and DeSantis at 19%).

Former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., June 13, 2023. | Andrew Harnik, Associated Press

While Trumps lead among Utah Republicans has steadily grown  from an 11-percentage-point deficit in December 2022 to an eight-point lead now  his support in the Beehive State continues to be much lower than in other parts of the country.

In national polls, Trump maintains a 35-percentage-point lead. A recent poll in Arizona shows Trump leading by 47 percentage points; in Nevada, by 30%.

The Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll, conducted Aug. 7-14, came days after Trump pleaded not guilty to criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. News of criminal charges against Trump and 18 others for attempting to interfere with the 2020 election in Georgia did not surface until Aug. 14, however.

To date, Trumps legal battles have caused his overall favorability among voters to drop, even as he stays steady or rises in Republican primary polls.

The question is, can Ron DeSantis or any of the other candidates mount a campaign that can eliminate (Trumps) lead? Perry said. So far, we have not seen it, but Utahns have indicated in this poll theyre willing to consider another candidate.

Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; former Vice President Mike Pence; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; businessman Vivek Ramaswamy; former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley; Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.; and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum stand onstage before a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee. | Morry Gash, Associated Press

Contributing: Suzanne Bates.
The New Hampshire Attorney Generals Office is reviewing the legal argument over former president Donald Trump s eligibility for the 2024 presidential race after his part in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Attorney General John Formella and Secretary of State David Scanlan issued a joint statement Tuesday saying that their offices have been tracking a legal discussion over Section Three of the 14th Amendment and that Formellas office is reviewing the legal issues involved at the request of Scanlans office.

The third section of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution disqualifies anyone who engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the U.S. after taking the oath of office from serving in a federal office.

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Two conservative legal scholars this month pre-published an article arguing that Section Three prevents Trump from running for president again.

According to the Boston Globe report, Scanlan, who will oversee the first-in-the-nation presidential primary in just five months, said hes received several letters lately that urge him to take action based on a legal theory that claims the Constitution empowers him to block Trump from the ballot.

However, Scanlan and Formella on Tuesday said theres been misinformation asserting or implying that the Secretary of States office has already taken a position on or is seeking to take certain action with respect to Donald Trumps candidacy in the primary, adding that neither office has taken a position on whether Section Three of the 14th Amendment applies to the upcoming election.

Trump is facing four criminal indictments, which include his handling of classified documents, efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and hush-money payments made before the 2016 presidential election.

Scanlan told the Globe that judges are better equipped than he currently is to determine whether the campaign that culminated in violence at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, triggers the 14th Amendment.

Trump indicted: Can he still run for president?

Trump federal election trial set for March 4, 2024

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
Former President Trump has said he does not regret skipping the first Republican presidential primary debate, but there are signs he may not be able to dodge the stage indefinitely.

Trump has indicated he does not plan to participate in the debates, pointing to his comfortable lead in the polls. Advisers said they would be surprised to see him take part in next months primary debate in California, which is set to air on Fox Business Network.

But some polling around his decision to skip the first debate and the bump that a few of his rivals were able to generate in his absence have at least opened the possibility that Trump will return to the debate stage sooner rather than later.

I think skipping the debates is risky, said Alex Conant, who worked on Sen. Marco Rubios (R-Fla.) 2016 presidential campaign.

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Trumps decision to skip the first debate worked out because nobody tried to lay a glove on him, Conant said. They spent the whole debate sniping at each other, and since there wasnt a clear winner, Trump won by default. That might not be true at the next debate.

An Emerson College poll conducted Aug. 25-26 found 50 percent of GOP primary voters surveyed said they plan to vote for Trump, down from 56 percent in a pre-debate poll and the lowest support to date in an Emerson poll.

Multiple candidates in the field saw a slight uptick in support in the aftermath of the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence.

The Emerson poll found that 27 percent of voters felt entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy won the debate last week, though his support dropped from 10 percent to 9 percent.

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Haley and Ramaswamy have seen spikes in their fundraising on the heels of their debate performances, and candidates like Pence were able to get significant airtime on stage thanks in part to Trumps absence.

A Firehouse Strategies poll conducted the week before the debate found that 66 percent of Republican voters said Trump should debate, including 77 percent of those who identified as Trump supporters.

Instead of attending the debate, Trump prerecorded an interview with ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson that ran just before the debate kicked off. Carlson asked Trump about a range of topics that included how Jeffrey Epstein died, whether Trumps critics might try to kill him and whether the country was headed for open conflict.

Trump and his team have pointed to the millions of views of the video recorded on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to chalk up the interview as a clear success.

My Poll numbers are UP since the very boring, record setting low (ratings!), Debate. Leading by BIG numbers. I made the right decision, and broke all records with the Tucker Carlson Interview! Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.

Former President Trump prerecorded an interview on X with Tucker Carlson instead of participating in the first GOP primary debate. (Getty Images)

A Morning Consult poll released Tuesday showed 62 percent of GOP primary voters surveyed think Trump has the best chance of beating Biden, up from 53 percent days before the debate.

Trump has for months publicly argued that the debates are beneath him, questioning why he should subject himself to attacks from his rivals when he is leading them comfortably in national and state-level polls.

The former president announced earlier this month that he would not be doing the debates, and senior adviser Jason Miller said he would take Trumps comments at face value as an indication that he would not attend any debates until he says otherwise.

Trump has already signaled he will not attend the second GOP primary debate, scheduled for Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The debate will be broadcast by Fox Business Network, and Trump has frequently complained about Foxs treatment of him.

He has also taken issue with Fred Ryan, the former publisher of The Washington Post, being the chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Reagan library.

There is also Trumps refusal to sign off on a Republican National Committee pledge to support the partys eventual nominee potentially standing in the way of his debate attendance. Trump has said he doesnt want to sign the pledge because he wouldnt back certain rivals, but the party has said candidates must sign the pledge to participate in the debates.

There are some Trump allies who believe the former president remains unlikely to appear on a debate stage with other GOP rivals.

I dont think Donald wants to do the debates, said Sam Nunberg, an adviser on Trumps 2016 campaign. I dont think he wants to be on the stage with DeSantis or [Chris] Christie or stand there for two hours while other people talk. His view is that he still thinks hes president. He feels there should be no primary.

Still, there remain skeptics that Trump can go the entirety of the Republican primary calendar without debating.

Some strategists and commentators have already floated the idea that Trump is giving President Biden a potential excuse to avoid general election debates, while others believe a more consolidated field of rivals will only add pressure on the former president to participate and defend himself in person.

I dont think Trump can go all the way to the Republican convention without stepping foot on a debate stage, Conant said. As we get closer to the caucuses, the candidates, the field will consolidate. Youll see somebody start making moves in Iowa, which will generate media interest and have a snowball effect. Hes going to need to reinsert himself directly into the race to maintain his lead. Hes going to debate at some point, whether its in September or not.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) alleged former President Trump inflated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The allegation came as part of Jamess lawsuit against Trump, the Trump Organization and two of the former presidents children alleging more than a decade of fraud.

Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump both currently serve as executive vice presidents at the Trump Organization, playing prominent roles in their fathers business arm. Ivanka Trump was previously included in the lawsuit, but later dismissed from it by a state appeals judge.

James included the new figure in a court filing urging a judge to partially rule against Trump ahead of the scheduled Oct. 2 trial.

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She alleged that Trump inflated his net worth by hundreds of millions of dollars between 2011 and 2021. In 2014, James accused Trump of exaggerating his net worth by as much as $2.225 billion.

While this is just the tip of a much larger iceberg of deception Plaintiff is prepared to expose at trial  which would result in carving off billions more from Mr. Trumps net worth  it is more than sufficient to permit this Court to rule as a matter of law that each [statement of financial conditions] from 2011 to 2021 was false or misleading, James wrote.

The lawsuit purports that Trumps company falsely inflated and deflated the value of its assets to pay lower taxes and improve its insurance coverage. James is seeking $250 million in financial penalties, in addition to barring Trump and his children from serving as officers or directors of New York-registered or licensed corporations.

Attorneys for Trump argued that the undisputed record in the case establishes the former president as a multi-billionaire presiding over a wildly successful international real estate and licensing empire for decades.

Yet despite these undisputed facts, and despite herself admitting herein President Trump is a successful billionaire even by her own manipulated standards, the NYAG has spent considerable time and taxpayer dollars chasing after President Trump by wading into wholly private, and successfully consummated, commercial agreements  the provisions of which have been fully satisfied  between highly sophisticated parties, the joint motion reads.

Attached to the motion was a transcript of Trumps more than six-hour deposition with prosecutors in April.

In the deposition, Trump repeatedly attacked prosecutors, calling the case ridiculous and a disgrace.

And its a shame that somebody thats done such a good job, the Convention Center in New York, so many things I did for this City, the job in the West Side of Manhattan, thousands of people employed and now I have to come and justify myself to you, Trump said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Georgia election interference

Harrison Floyd, director of Black Voices for Trump, posts bail and is released from jail

Key players: Black Voices for Trump director Harrison Floyd, Judge Scott McAfee, election worker Ruby Freeman, pastor Stephen Lee, publicist Trevian Kutti, Judge Emily Richardson

Floyd was out on $100,000 bail on Tuesday after spending the weekend in jail, the Washington Post reported. Judge McAfee set Floyd's bond on Tuesday. The director of Black Voices for Trump, Floyd is charged with five felony counts for his alleged role in the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

Along with Lee and Kutti, Floyd is accused of threatening election worker Freeman, pressuring her to reveal information under the threat of incarceration if she did not comply.

Floyd was also the only defendant in the case not to have a bond agreement in place prior to turning himself in at Fulton County Jail. Floyd was initially denied bond by Judge Richardson, who cited his prior arrest last year for physically threatening an FBI agent who had attempted to serve him with a subpoena.

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Why it matters: An ardent supporter of Donald Trump , Floyd told McAfee he did not have the money to hire a lawyer. McAfee told him he would appoint a public defender to do so.

First defendant in Georgia election interference case pleads not guilty, two others waive arraignment

Key players: attorney Ray Smith, publicist Kutti, former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell

Ray Smith, a lawyer who worked for Trumps 2020 campaign and is charged with 12 felony counts, became the first defendant in the sprawling case to plead not guilty, CNN reported Monday.

Smith waived his Sept. 6 arraignment and entered his plea on Monday.

Two other defendants also waived their Sept. 6 arraignment: former Kanye West publicist Kutti and Trump campaign lawyer Powell.

In December of 2020, Smith participated in a Georgia state Senate hearing in which he falsely told lawmakers that due to widespread voter fraud, the election results must be vacated and cannot be allowed to stand.

Why it matters: The defendants in the case have begun to pursue their own strategy as to how they will defend themselves in court. Some have requested a speedy trial, while others are seeking a change of venue. As the case progresses, some legal experts say the chances that some defendants will try to cut a deal with prosecutors will only grow.

Jan. 6 election interference

Prosecutors give Trump lawyers 12.8 million pages of evidence

Key players: special counsel Jack Smith, Trump lawyer John Lauro, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan

Federal prosecutors told Judge Chutkan that they had handed over 12.8 million pages of evidence to Trumps legal team, WREG News in Memphis reported.

Included in that number are 5 million pages of grand jury testimony and exhibits and 3 million pages of documents handed over by the U.S. Secret Service.

Trump attorney Lauro said the volume of documents in the case was an avalanche of information and pleaded with the judge to give the defense more time to review them.

Prosecutors countered that 7.8 million pages of the material were already available to the defense and included things like Trumps social media postings and the findings of the House Jan. 6 select committee.

Chutkan ruled that Trumps trial on charges he participated in a conspiracy to defraud the United States and three other felonies would begin on March 4.

Why it matters: Prosecutors have compiled a voluminous amount of evidence against the former president, much of it hiding in plain sight.

Read more:

The New Republic: Former judge trashes stunningly stupid move from Trumps legal team

CBS News: Trumps scheduled trial dates and where they fall in the presidential primary calendar

Associated Press: Trumps drumbeat of lies about the 2020 election keeps getting louder. Here are the facts
Two Georgia election workers at the heart of a Fulton County defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump s former lawyer win a court victory. The former president may opt out of an in-person Sept. 6 arraignment, and his mug shot makes an appearance in a rivals campaign ad.

Georgia election interference

Judge rules Giuliani is liable for defaming 2 Georgia election workers

Key players: Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, pastor Stephen Lee, publicist Trevian Kutti, Black Voices for Trump director Harrison Floyd, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis

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In a separate but related case to the one brought by Willis against former President Donald Trump, Giuliani and 17 others, Howell ruled Wednesday that Giuliani was liable for defaming Georgia election workers Freeman and Moss, Politico reported.

Freeman and Moss filed a suit against Giuliani and Trump for repeatedly pushing conspiracy theories accusing the two workers of manipulating ballots during the counting of votes following the 2020 presidential election.

In the wake of that smear campaign, Floyd, Kutti and Lee all pressured Freeman and Moss to reveal information about vote manipulation or face the threat of incarceration, according to the Fulton County indictment charging the 19 defendants.

Howell ruled that Giuliani had not followed her orders to preserve evidence and offer it to Freeman and Moss as part of the defamation lawsuit. As a result, the former New York City mayor was ordered to pay the two workers punitive damages.

Why it matters: The defamation trial against Giuliani will decide how much he must pay the two workers. At the heart of the case brought by Willis, the same conspiracy theories will be presented as evidence against Giuliani and those accused of harassing Freeman and Moss.

Trump may not appear in person for Sept. 6 arraignment in Georgia

Key players: Judge Scott McAfee, former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell

Like some of his co-defendants in the Fulton County election interference case, Trump is considering entering a not-guilty plea in writing rather than attend a scheduled Sept. 6 arraignment before McAfee in Atlanta, CBS News reported.

Fulton County Superior Court allows defendants the option to either enter a plea in the courtroom, to appear virtually or to submit a waiver and enter a plea in writing.

On Tuesday, former Trump lawyer Powell used a waiver to enter her not-guilty plea.

Why it matters: Trump has been obliged to appear in person for arraignment in the three other criminal cases in which he has been indicted. Unlike the other jurisdictions, Fulton County is likely to televise the Sept. 6 arraignments.

Christie super-PAC uses Trump mug shot in campaign ad

Key player: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

The Trump mug shot released last Thursday following his arrest and booking at Fulton County Jail made its first appearance in a rivals campaign ad this week, NBC News reported.

Tell It Like It Is PAC, which supports Christies candidacy to become the Republican presidential nominee in 2024, is up with the ad in New Hampshire.

As the mug shot of Trump appears, a narrator delivers the following line: "Tired of the drama, the distractions, the lies? Its time for conservatives to win again.

The Trump campaign wasted little time monetizing the mug shot, raising $9.4 million off sales of T-shirts, coffee mugs and other merchandise, Business Insider reported.

Why it matters: Trumps mug shot is something of a Rorschach test, further dividing supporters, who see it as a symbol of defiance against a corrupt system, and critics, who consider it as further confirmation of guilt. In the general election, however, the real battle will be for independent voters.

Read more:

The New Republic: Trump county in Iowa ousts conspiracy theorist, elects Democrat instead

Rolling Stone: Jack Smiths team grilled witnesses about Rudy Giulianis drinking

The Independent: Marjorie Taylor Greene unexpectedly joins Democrats in call for cameras in federal court
Washington  Former President Donald Trump may not show up to his arraignment in Georgia next week, according to two sources familiar with his plans.

Trump is considering waiving his arraignment appearance, which is scheduled for the morning of Sept. 6, the sources told CBS News. He is charged with 13 felony counts related to an alleged scheme to overturn the results of the presidential election in Georgia.

What is a waiver of arraignment?

Fulton County Superior Court allows defendants to appear virtually for arraignments or waive their right to appear at all. Instead, a defendant's attorney would enter a not guilty plea in writing.

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Several of Trump's 18 co-defendants have already waived their formal arraignments and entered not guilty pleas, excusing them from appearing in person.

Trump has not yet filed a waiver of arraignment with the court.

It would be the only time Trump did not appear in person for his arraignment in the four criminal cases that have been brought against him this year.

The former president, who has denied any wrongdoing, surrendered last week at the Fulton County jail after he and 18 others were accused of participating in a "criminal enterprise" that aimed to reverse his loss in Georgia's 2020 presidential election.

What are the other cases against Trump?

The indictment alleged Trump and his co-defendants schemed to overturn the election results, which included making false statements to state legislatures and state officials; creating fake Electoral College documents and recruiting supporters to cast false votes; harassing a Fulton County election worker; and "corruptly" soliciting senior Justice Department officials and then-Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump has been charged in two federal cases, one involving his handling of sensitive government documents and the other related to his alleged attempt to stop the transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election. He was also charged in New York for allegedly falsifying business records related to "hush money" payments to conceal damaging information before the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty in those three cases.

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Former President Donald Trump overstated his net worth by between $812 million and $2.2 billion each year between 2011 and 2021, the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James claims in a filing made public Wednesday.

The allegations were raised in an Aug. 4 filing seeking a partial summary judgment in the office's 2022 lawsuit accusing members of the Trump family and Trump Organization executives of orchestrating an extensive, fraudulent scheme related to valuations of property and Trump's personal financial statements.

James' office is seeking $250 million and sanctions that would halt the company's operations in the state and drastically impair the ability of Trump, Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr. to do business in New York.

The case is scheduled for trial in October, but James' office is asking a judge to first rule against the Trumps in one facet of the case, certain allegations related to fraud. If granted, other claims, including allegations related to falsification of records and issuing false financial statements, would still be considered at trial.

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"No trial is required for the court to determine that defendants presented grossly and materially inflated asset valuesrepeatedly in business transactions to defraud banks and insurers," Andrew Amer, an attorney for James' office wrote in the filing.

A summary judgment motion argues that certain material facts are not in dispute, and as a result, the judge is already in a position to make a decision based on them  avoiding the need to raise them at trial.

A spokesperson for Donald Trump's legal team did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Trump's lawyers argued in separate filing Wednesday that the case should be dismissed. They said Trump received many of the loans at the heart of the allegations too long ago under the state's statute of limitations.

James' office argues in its filing that in order to rule in its favor, the judge must find that Trump's statements of financial condition were "false or misleading" from 2011 through 2021  the years for which the state is suing  and that the statements were used "in the conduct of business transactions."

"The answer to both questions is a resounding 'yes' based on the mountain of undisputed evidence," the attorney general's office said in its filing.

This latest filing comes just as Trump's legal problems are mounting. On Aug. 24, Trump surrendered to authorities in Fulton County, Georgia, where he and 18 others are accused of racketeering in a criminal case related to their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the state's 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost. He is expected to enter a not guilty plea in that case, and denies wrongdoing.

Trump is also charged in three other criminal cases. In Manhattan, he entered a not guilty plea in April to 34 counts of falsification of business records. And he entered not guilty pleas this summer to charges in a pair of federal cases in which he's accused of 40 felony counts related to "willful retention" of national security information after leaving the White House, and four felony counts related to his alleged effort to thwart the peaceful transfer of power after losing to President Joe Biden in 2020.

Trump maintains his innocence and has accused prosecutors from every office pursuing him of doing so out of political animus.

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Donald Trump's campaign has raked in $9.4 million since his historic mugshot was released.

The former president's campaign has sold over $1 million in t-shirts emblazoned with the mugshot.

The haul is another example of how Trump has tried to use his legal struggles to his advantage.

Donald Trump's campaign has raked in nearly $9.4 million since the Fulton County Sheriff's office released his historic mugshot, leading the former president to emblazon his glaring gaze on everything from t-shirts to koozies.

According to Trump's campaign, this fundraising haul led to the outfit raising nearly $20 million in August, a sum that comes after his campaign previously showed some financial stress as it shelled out roughly $20 million in legal fees in the first half of the year.

As expected, the former president and his allies have used the historic moment to the fullest extent possible. The Fulton County Sheriff's Office released the image of Trump less than a week ago.

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His campaign store has an entire page of products that showcase his mugshot. Of that special merchandise, they sold 36,000 T-shirts for more than $1.7 million. (There are three different short-sleeve versions, including one that invokes the famous Obama "Hope" Shepard Fairey poster from the 2008 cycle.) That wasn't all. Supporters bought another 24,000 coffee mugs, which brought in $864,000. The campaign also sold 8,600 mugshot posters for another $352,000.

A Trump spokesperson confirmed the numbers, which were first reported by Fox News, to Insider. The spokesperson also confirmed that the funds were "earmarked" for political activity and would not be used for legal fees.

Trump, who has shown a preternatural talent to generate small-dollar donations, has frequently found a way to hawk merchandise that resonates in the moment. His red "Make America Great Again" hat is easily one of the most ubiquitous pieces of political paraphernalia in modern times. Trump's 2020 campaign even made just shy of $500,000 by trolling liberals who wanted to ban plastic straws.

The former president maintains a commanding lead over the rest of the 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls. According to FiveThirtyEight's weighted tracker, Trump has a 34.4 percentage point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in national polling. DeSantis is the only other candidate in double digits. Conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who made himself the focal point of the first GOP debate, is almost there at 9.9%.

Read the original article on Business Insider
ATLANTA (AP)  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday offered his strongest denunciation to date of efforts by his fellow Republicans to go after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis , dismissing the moves as political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment."

Some Republicans in Washington and Georgia have been attacking Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis since even before she announced the indictment of former President Donald Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Kemp said that any calls for a special session to impeach Willis or defund her office were wrong and that she had done nothing to merit removal.

A special session, the second-term governor said, would ignore current Georgia law and directly interfere with the proceedings of a separate but equal branch of government.

The bottom line is that in the state of Georgia, as long as Im governor, were going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps or harms politically, a clearly agitated Kemp said at a news conference in the states capital.

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In Georgia, we will not be engaging in political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment," Kemp added.

The remarks are a reflection of the divide that remains between Kemp and some other Republicans following the governors refusal to endorse Trumps false claims about the 2020 election and help him try to overturn his narrow loss in the state. Willis has charged Trump and 18 others, including the former state Republican Party chair, with crimes related to the effort.

Trump, meanwhile, has kept up a withering assault on both Willis and Kemp.

Governor Kemp of Georgia is fighting hard against the impeachment of the crooked, incompetent & highly partisan D.A. of Fulton County, Fani Willis, who has allowed murder and other violent crime to MASSIVELY ESCALATE, the former president wrote Aug. 21 on his Truth Social platform. Crime in Atlanta is WORST IN NATION. She should be impeached for many reasons, not just the Witch Hunt (I did nothing wrong!)

Theres little evidence to support Trump's claim that crime is escalating  the number of homicides has fallen sharply in Atlanta this year.

Other Georgia Republicans didn't hesitate to assail Willis, with some joining Trump in the call to impeach the Atlanta-based prosecutor.

Fani Willis should be ashamed of herself and shes going to lose her job, said Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. We'll make sure of that.

Greene spoke to reporters last Thursday outside the Fulton County Jail, shortly before Trump arrived by motorcade to submit to booking and a mug shot. That same day, House Republicans in Washington announced their own investigation of Willis.

By then, a few GOP lawmakers in Georgia were calling for a special session to impeach and remove Willis or defund her office. Others proposed amending the state constitution to let Kemp pardon Trump.

Both are long-shot prospects.

Georgias General Assembly hasnt impeached anyone in more than 50 years, and with Republicans holding less than the required two-thirds state Senate majority to convict Willis, they would have to persuade Democrats.

Colton Moore, a Republican state senator whose purist brand of conservatism wins him few allies, launched a petition for lawmakers to call themselves into special session, requiring signatures by three-fifths of both houses. That too would require some Democratic support. Kemp on Thursday described Moore's efforts, backed by Trump, as some grifter scam to raise campaign contributions for Moore.

Georgia voters amended the state constitution to shift pardon power from the governor to a parole board in the 1940s after a governor was accused of selling pardons. It would take a two-thirds vote of both houses to put a measure before voters to change that status, again requiring Democratic support.

And its not clear Kemp would pardon Trump even if he had that power. Kemp and Trump were on bad terms even before Kemp spurned Trump's calls to overturn Georgia's 2020 presidential election. And relations grew icier after Trump recruited former Sen. David Perdue for an embarrassingly unsuccessful Republican primary challenge to Kemp's reelection in 2022. Kemp, like some other Republican governors, now openly argues that his party needs to move on from Trump.

At least one other top Georgia Republican, state House Speaker Jon Burns, is siding with Kemp in opposing a special session. In a letter Wednesday to fellow Republicans, he squelched talk of a special session for a second time, saying it's impossible to take away the state money that partially funds Willis' office without also taking away money from Georgia's other 49 district attorneys.

Targeting one specific DA in this manner certainly flaunts the idea of separation of powers, if not outright violates it, Burns wrote, arguing that such a move would violate lawmakers' oaths to uphold the U.S. and Georgia constitutions.

We trust that our criminal justice system will deal with this matter impartially and fairly, and we will not improperly intercede in this matter in direct contradiction to the oaths we took, Burns continued.

Looking for other options to go after Willis, some Georgia Republicans are coalescing around a plan to seek her removal by a new state prosecutorial oversight commission that begins work on Oct. 1.

The Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission was created with the aim of disciplining or removing wayward prosecutors. Republicans fought hard for the law because they said some Democratic prosecutors were incompetent or coddling criminals, improperly refusing to prosecute whole categories of crimes, including marijuana possession.

Democrats retorted that Republicans were the ones politicizing prosecutions, and some viewed the law as Republican retribution against Willis. She criticized the measure as a racist attack after voters elected 14 nonwhite DAs in the state.

Kemp, Burns and Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones name the commissions five-member investigative panel to examine complaints. They also name a three-member hearing panel that decides on charges filed by the investigative panel.

Some district attorneys, not including Willis, are already suing to overturn the law. Barring court intervention, people can begin filing complaints on Oct. 1 for alleged misconduct occurring after July 1.

Such complaints could relieve political pressure on Georgia Republicans. But while Kemp said he thought the timing of the Trump indictment  coming as the 2024 presidential campaign is underway  sows distrust and provides easy pickings for those who see the district attorneys action as guided by politics," he didn't believe Willis should be removed.

I have not seen any evidence that DA Willis actions or lack thereof warrant action by the prosecuting attorney oversight commission, Kemp said. "But that will ultimately be a decision that the commission will make.
SANAA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi met on Tuesday with the United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg in Aden, southern Yemen, to discuss ongoing efforts to renew a truce in the war-torn country.

According to the Yemeni state-run Saba news agency, Grundberg briefed Al-Alimi on his recent consultations at the regional level and the ongoing UN efforts to resume the political process between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels.

Al-Alimi reaffirmed his government's support for the UN efforts to renew the cease-fire and resume the negotiations to reach a political settlement to the civil war.

The previous truce, which was brokered by the UN, lasted for six months and expired in October last year. Since then, the UN has been working to talk the two sides into another comprehensive truce, but to no avail.

However, fighting between Houthi rebels and government forces has largely abated on several frontlines in the absence of a truce.

Last week, an Omani delegation visited the Houthi-held capital Sanaa and discussed with Houthi leaders arrangements for "the next round of negotiations, including resuming truce and seeking solutions to the humanitarian issues," according to the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

Yemen has been embroiled in a devastating civil war since 2014, with the Houthi rebels fighting against the government and its allies. The war disrupted Yemen's food supply chain and caused widespread famine, bringing the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of collapse. 
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) said he does not have the ability to bar former President Donald Trump from running for president in his state Wednesday.

There have been calls to bar the former president from being able to run in 2024 related to language in the 14th amendment where it states those who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the government cannot hold office. Fontes said despite those claims, he cannot do so by way of a previous Arizona Supreme Court case.

Now, the Arizona Supreme Court said that because theres no statutory process in federal law to enforce Section 3 of the 14th amendment, you cant enforce it, Fontes said on The Gaggle podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com.

Thats what the Arizona Supreme Court said, so thats the state of the law in Arizona. Now, do I agree with that? No, thats stupid, Fontes continued.

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Fontes said despite his dislike of what the Arizona Supreme Court has decided, he will still follow it because it is Arizona law.

What Im saying is Im going to follow the law, Fontes said. And the law in Arizona is what the law in Arizona is. Whether I like it or not, is irrelevant.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Aleksandra Witek and her two young sons Calvin, one, and Lucian, three (via GoFundMe)

The family of four found dead in an apparently murder-suicide inside an apartment on New Yorks Upper West Side have been identified.

The bodies of Edison Lopez, Aleksandra Witek and their children Calvin, one, and Lucian, three, were found at the home on West 86th Street on Monday afternoon.

The grim discovery was made by Edison Lopezs father, Mario Lopez, who is the buildings former superintendent.

He told the New York Times that he went to check the apartment after his son, the current super, failed to drop the children off for babysitting that morning.

Upon drilling the door lock out of the cylinder, he said he could see his daughter-in-law Witek on the floor with blood already all over her.

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Police then arrived to find Witek, 40, and her children in the hallway with fatal stab wounds, including to the throat.

Edison Lopez was found on a bed in another room with a fatal slash to the throat.

Authorities believe the 41-year-old father killed his family before himself.

Speaking to the Times on Tuesday, Mario Lopez said he was still reeling from the shock and did not believe his son could be responsible.

How would you feel if you found your two grandchildren and your son and your daughter-in-law laying there? he asked.

Police said there were no warning signs of domestic violence.

The investigation is still ongoing.

A GoFundMe in memory of Witek and her sons has raised over $51,000 as of Wednesday morning.
Sen. Ted Cruz is pushing back against the idea that Americans should limit themselves to two beers a week.

George Koob, the director for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, suggested in a Daily Mail interview that the United States recommendations for alcohol consumption could be headed toward Canadas guidelines. Canada recommends people consider reducing their alcohol use and says two or less drinks a week puts drinkers at low risk of harm, according to The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.

I mean, theyre not going to go up, Im pretty sure, Koob said of Americas guidelines, according to the Daily Mail. So, if they go in any direction, it would be toward Canada.

The remarks have been met with criticism from some Republicans, including Cruz.

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Democrats are trying to control every aspect of your life, the Texas Republican told Fox News. We saw this especially during COVID and its continued throughout the Biden administration. All its done is erode trust in public health bureaucrats.

A spokesperson for Cruz did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that when consuming alcohol, drinks be limited to two or less in a day for men and one or less in a day for women.

Leftists are trying to control every aspect of your life.



We saw this especially during COVID, and its continued throughout the Biden administration.



All it's done is erode trust in public health bureaucrats.https://t.co/IoLMly75RW  Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 29, 2023
Two people have been hurt following a collision with a school bus in Burke County Wednesday morning, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

The accident occurred at approximately 6:30 a.m. on Malcolm Boulevard near US 70.

Troopers said a Valdese Elementary School bus was traveling north on Malcolm Boulevard when it attempted to make a left turn onto US 70. However, the bus failed to yield the right of way and struck a 2003 Ford Ranger that was traveling south on Malcolm Boulevard.

ALSO READ: Driver helps students safely evacuate CMS school bus fire in Ballantyne

Two people inside the Ford Ranger were transported to UNC Health Blue Ridge with minor injuries. Two children were on the bus at the time of the collision, but neither were hurt, according to troopers.

Troopers said the driver of the school bus has been cited for failure to yield the right of way.

VIDEO: Driver helps students safely evacuate CMS school bus fire in Ballantyne




LIBERTY - Village police arrested two men and charged them with assault Saturday after two other men suffered cuts in a fight.

Police said they were called to an apartment on South Main Street around 5:30 p.m. Saturday after receiving a report of an altercation at that location.

When officers arrived, they found a 26-year-old man who had suffered several cuts on his face and arms. The officers gave him first aid until emergency medical service personnel arrived.

The man was first taken by ambulance to Garnet Health Medical Center Catskills in Harris. There, he was transferred to a helicopter and flown to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.

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Other officers located two men who were fleeing the scene a short distance away and took them into custody without incident.

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Meanwhile, other officers were called to a residence on Chestnut Street, where a second victim, a 33-year-old man with a cut on his face, was located. He was taken to Garnet Health Medical Center Catskills, where he was treated and released.

Police identified one of the men taken into custody as Jose Luis, 30. He was charged with first- and second-degree assault, both felonies; and second-degree menacing and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, both misdemeanors.

The second man taken into custody was identified by police as Fernando Llano, 22. He was charged with first-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

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Both were arraigned in Town of Liberty Court and are being held in the Sullivan County jail, Luis in lieu of $150,000 cash bail or $300,000 bond, and Llano in lieu of $75,000 cash bail or $125,000 bond.

The names of their attorneys were not immediately available.

State police, Sullivan County's district attorney's and sheriff's offices and Monticello village police assisted Liberty village police with the investigation.

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Two men charged with assault after fight in Liberty
Two active duty soldiers were arrested for possession of multiple weapons and explosives in Muscogee County, according to the sheriffs office.

Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman confirmed that the soldiers were stationed at Fort Moore and were arrested in Columbus.

Staff Sergeant Christopher Reese and Staff Sergeant Lue Lor were arrested after an investigation conducted by the Muscogee County Sheriffs Office Special Operations Unit and Fort Moores Southern Field Office Proactive Investigation Unit, according to the sheriffs office.

The sheriffs office says Reese is being charged with 33 counts of possession of explosive devices. Lor is being charged with two counts of possession of an explosive device and 1 count possession of anabolic steroids with the intent to distribute, according to the sheriffs office.

Items seized include:

33 explosive devices

20 rifles

7 handguns

anabolic steroids (with a street value of $3100)

Inert Mortar Shell

The case is still under investigation, according to the sheriffs office.
Climate change is global but the actions we take here in Sacramento play a role in shaping our environmental future. The Sacramento Bee is undertaking a collaboration with you to examine and celebrate bold and ambitious climate actions that have yielded evidence that theyre making progress here and elsewhere. The goal is to engage you and your neighbors in a hopeful discussion about how we can face climate change with urgency and equity.

Some homeless people whose tents were removed in mid-July from midtowns tree-lined street declined the citys offer of a space at Miller Park Safe Ground because they worried about being on asphalt in the middle of the sun.

A federal judge later barred the city from clearing homeless encampments due to extreme heat conditions, an order that is currently set to expire on Sept. 1.

Residents who live outside experience an intense version of the extreme heat that affects all of Sacramento. In 2021, a report done by nonprofit news organization Climate Central ranked Sacramento as the 11th worst U.S. city for the urban heat island effect, a phenomenon where paved surfaces and dark-colored roofs trap the suns heat. Sacramentos temperatures averaged about 7 degrees hotter than less developed surrounding areas. Last summer, a 116-degree-day set a new temperature-high record for the city.

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These Sacramento neighborhoods feel more heat than others. Where does your area land?

Some shade structures and misters are set up at Miller Park, according to city officials, to combat the rising temperatures. But what if there was a way the city of Sacramento could quickly cool down the ground  and the surrounding area  with just a bucket of paint and a few paint rollers?

Tents bake in the afternoon sun as temperatures hit 91 degrees  cooler than many recent days  at the Safe Ground at Miller Park in Sacramento in August. Communities in partnership with the City of Sacramento. Homeless advocates say there is no protection from the extreme heat at the site because most of the tents are on hot asphalt in direct sunlight.

Could extremely white paint help with Sacramentos extremely hot summers?

Enter, white paint. Regular white paint is already good at reflecting the sun, and has been used to cool buildings in Greece and even rooftops in New York City for decades. But in 2021, researchers at Purdue University released a reflective paint thats even better  like, Guinness Book of World Records better.

The ultra-white coating can reflect just over 98% of sunlight, making the surfaces temperature cooler than its surroundings. In comparison, commercial white paints currently on the market generally reflect about 80-90% of sunlight and are often still warm to the touch.

Its cool to see that people are interested in this, said Emily Barber, a doctoral candidate at Purdue University working on the paint. Were looking forward to being able to get this product to people and hopefully making an impact and knowing what that impact is  which is my job.

In terms of effect on temperatures, the paint, when tested on sunny days, kept outdoor surfaces 8 degrees cooler than surrounding temperatures, and at night, surfaces were up to 19 degrees cooler.

Light-reflecting white paints currently on the market do their job by reflecting visible light and near-infrared wavelengths, which together make up a large portion of the suns rays. But Xiulin Ruans Purdue lab focused on the light particles that were slipping through the cracks: ultraviolet.

Barium sulfate, a compound that is used for sunscreen, oil paints and medical radiology is known to reflect UV rays. So, the team switched out the titanium dioxide often used as a base for commercial paints, as well as varying the particle sizes in the paint to reflect a wider range of wavelengths.

Theyre not the first group to try something like this, according to Barber. But one of the reasons that their lab has gotten national attention is because theyre trying to match the commercial process for paint manufacturing as much as possible  Barber said their goal is to bring this really exciting technology from the lab to the world.

We cant paint over all our problems

Moving the ultra-white paint from the lab to the world takes away a certain amount of control from scientists  and it can introduce new challenges or complications in the application of the material.

Purdues paint likely wont be released commercially for at least a year, and one of the reasons is that theyre still in the process of making the paint more durable and better at resisting dirt. Part of why the paint doesnt reflect even more sunlight is because a higher concentration of barium sulfate particles could lead to the paint cracking and peeling more easily.

Research done in 2016 by UC Davis researchers, in collaboration with researchers in China, on the durability and life cycle of reflective coatings for pavement  though not specifically Purdues ultra-white paint  found that to be effective, reflective coatings may have to be reapplied anywhere from every few months to every few years. However, this may be different for the final paint composition that Purdue releases to markets.

Even if the paint sticks, some studies have found reflective materials to have unintended side effects. Research in Los Angeles in 2019 found that city roads covered in various reflective coatings did their job as advertised in cooling the ground. But by reflecting the sunlight upward, rather than absorbing it as regular pavement does, the pedestrians walking on the streets took in some of the heat themselves, making them feel warmer.

And as far as the cooling paints effect on the lives of homeless people in Sacramento who are living in tents and are concerned about hot pavement, Barber said there are even more factors to take into account.

The paint works due to its large reflectivity, Barber said. Because of that, it can only make a huge difference when there is something to reflect  say, sunlight. If someone places a tent on (painted asphalt), they will neglect the ability of that particular area to cool down below surrounding temperatures, since the surface is no longer receiving light to reflect.

Still, she noted that the force of heat transfer would likely still make the ground underneath tents feel cooler because of the cooler surrounding ground.

I wish there was a clear answer, Barber said. It varies case-by-case, but it all depends on the science that makes the paint possible.

A lot of the answers researchers have right now to the question of whether the paint would be a net benefit to cities, according to Barber, are educated guesses. Although they know a lot about the paint and how it works, there are certain things we wont know until the paint is tested in a more large-scale way out of the lab.

But their goals really are that broad  to someday have global application. While urban heat solutions are a viable application of Purdues research, they initially pursued the idea with the goal of combating climate change.

Paint your roof, solve climate change?

The way Jeremy Munday, a UC Davis professor who researches clean energy, put it, the Earth both absorbs and emits heat. The Earth is currently heating up because greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide trap heat in Earths atmosphere, causing it to take in more energy than it is able to send back out to space.

If the Earth absorbed less energy or emitted more energy, it would cool down, Munday said. So can we get the earth to emit more energy, so that it can start cooling itself down, or at least not heat up anymore?

Thats the question that Purdues lab, along with other researchers across the world, are trying to answer.

We can theoretically stop the Earth from heating up, Munday said. But in order to do so, he estimates that we would have to coat 1-2% of the Earths surface in ultra-white paint  or in other words, approximately the entire United States: cornfields, Rocky Mountains, Tower Bridge and all. And as long as carbon dioxide levels are rising, wed need to paint more and more surfaces with the reflective paint in order to keep up with the amount of energy or heat Earth is absorbing.

Its not exactly a practical plan to execute. And even if it was, Munday warned that if certain regions suddenly became a couple of degrees cooler, there may be some hard-to-predict effect on weather patterns and precipitation. So what would a practical application of this new material look like?

A reasonable place to start, Munday said, would be to cover rooftops with the new paint, and then begin to consider other surfaces where a large amount of sunlight commonly reflects, and cover those.

Q&A: How could new paint lower Sacramento air conditioning bills and fight climate change?

Reflective paint, or any other super-reflective surface, wont remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere  that was never what they were intended to do. Munday said he sees that as almost a separate problem from the one that Purdues paint takes on.

The real solution is that we have to stop burning fossil fuels, Munday said. And we probably need to get rid of the CO2 that weve already put up in the atmosphere, too. In the meantime, we need something as a short-term fix.

Even if reflective cooling via paint is employed as a solution by cities like Sacramento in the future, it might be just one of a combination of tools used to beat the heat, Munday said. But one of the main benefits the paint offers is that if it doesnt work, or has unexpected side effects, theres a simple solution: Paint your roof back to a different color.

This story is made possible, in part, with support from the Solutions Journalism Network .
Katy Ramsey Mason, professor and director of University of Memphis Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic, speaks during a press conference to announce a partnership between the University of Memphis School of Law and Everytown Law Fund to create a partnership to provide legal assistance to pediatric victims of gun violence at Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.

A few years ago, the Memphis-based Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic represented a mother whose teenage son was seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting. He had been shot inside their home, and though he survived, bullet holes remained on a wall, serving as a constant reminder of the pain he felt.

Every time his mother saw the holes, she would relive the trauma of her son being shot. Yet she couldnt convince the landlord to fix the wall.

So, the MLP Clinic  a collaboration between the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Memphis Area Legal Services, and Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital  provided legal assistance, ensuring the landlord repaired the damage.

That is one of the many ways families with children who are victims of gun violence can need legal support.

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One of the things that goes unmentioned by a lot of the attention that gun violence gets  both in our community and nationally  is what happens after people heal from immediate trauma that they've experienced, Katy Ramsey Mason, a professor at the U of M law school and director of the clinic, told The Commercial Appeal. Families have to move forward. And that can be hard.

Katharine T. Schaffzin, dean of University of Memphis School of Law, Katy Ramsey Mason, a professor and director of U of M Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic, Dr. Regan Williams, medical director for trauma services at Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital, and Stacie Payne, a gun violence survivor and fellow with the Everytown Survivor Network, listen during a press conference to announce a partnership between the University of Memphis School of Law and Everytown Law Fund to create a partnership to provide legal assistance to pediatric victims of gun violence at Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.

Now, the MLP Clinic has received a significant financial boost as it looks to provide legal services to these families at a time when the number of child gunshot victims is on the rise.

'Searching them out'

The U of M Law School has received a three-year, $300,000 grant from the Everytown Law Fund, which is part of the New York-based nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety and finances a variety of litigation projects tied to gun violence. The money is going to the MLP Clinic, and it will be used to fund the hiring of an Everytown Legal Fellow who is expected to focus on civil legal issues impacting victims of pediatric gun violence.

The law school is the first place to receive a grant for an Everytown Legal Fellow, and the hope is that the program can be replicated throughout the nation.

We're really trying to do our part to improve the circumstances and the lives of those children who have been affected by gun violence in Memphis, said Katharine Schaffzin, dean of the law school.

Founded in 2015, the MLP Clinic already aids low-income families and patients at Le Bonheur, by providing them with free legal services in a variety of areas. Under Ramsey Masons supervision, eight U of M law students represent families in matters like housing, insurance and education, as well as gun violence.

But the grant and legal fellow  who has yet to be hired  will oversee an additional eight students or so who provide legal support specifically for families affected by pediatric gun violence.

Stacie Payne, a gun violence survivor and fellow with the Everytown Survivor Network, speaks during a press conference to announce a partnership between the University of Memphis School of Law and Everytown Law Fund to create a partnership to provide legal assistance to pediatric victims of gun violence at Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.

We're actually going to be searching them out to say, We have the services that we can provide you, in addition to the medical care that you're going to receive, Ramsey Mason said. The ability to increase those services is really something I think that will be a big asset to our program, to the community, and to the Le Bonheur patient population.

The specific types of civil legal help the MLP Clinic provides will vary depending on families needs. For example, if a gunshot wound leaves a child disabled, it could help the family navigate through the world of disability benefits. Or, if a child were to need special education services after being shot, but their school didnt accommodate them, the clinic could intervene.

Trauma manifests in a lot of different ways. There can be mental health considerations in addition to physical health considerations, Ramsey Mason said. The needs of a family are likely to change after a child has been a victim of gun violence.

There are also families whose children don't survive gunshot wounds, and they, too, often must grapple with pain and other effects long after the violence takes place. Everytown and the U of M Law School held a press conference announcing the grant on Aug. 30, and one of the speakers was Stacie Payne, whose son Cameron was shot and killed in 2015, when he was just 19 years old. She's now a fellow for the Everytown Survivor Network, and she shared what it was like to lose her child - who she described as "smart, lovable," and "fun to be around."

"For just a second, if you could, close your eyes, and imagine being stampeded by a herd of elephants. That's the pain I felt in my heart without Cameron," she said. "I'm proud to be here today... as they announce a new initiative to support families like mine, whose lives have been forever changed by gun violence."

'Not a secret in our community'

The grant from Everytown comes as gun violence remains at the forefront of local social and political conversations. On Tuesday, Tennessees special legislative session ended without significant changes to the states gun laws, which frustrated many community members and activists. And in Memphis, the number of children affected by gun violence has increased in recent years.

Katharine T. Schaffzin, dean of University of Memphis School of Law, speaks during a press conference to announce a partnership between the University of Memphis School of Law and Everytown Law Fund to create a partnership to provide legal assistance to pediatric victims of gun violence at Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.

In 2019, Le Bonheur treated 90 pediatric patients for gunshot wounds, according to data provided by the hospital. Then, in 2020, it treated 134. In 2021, that number jumped to 158, before ticking down to 150 in 2022. As of Aug. 21, its seen 119 patients for gunshots in 2023.

And of those 119, seven didnt survive.

It's not a secret that our community is suffering under the scourge of gun violence, Schaffzin said.

'An incredible honor'

The number of child gunshot victims in Memphis is one of the reasons Everytown selected it for the grant, if not the only reason. Len Kamdang, the director of litigation strategies and trials for Everytown Law  which oversees the Everytown Law Fund  noted that the citys leaders have been open to common sense gun violence solutions, and that it has high-caliber childrens hospitals, like Le Bonheur.

More: How Memphis-area schools are protecting students amid an increase in school shootings

The law schools existing partnership with Le Bonheur through the MLP Clinic also made the city an ideal choice.

The chance to work with juvenile survivors of gun violence and their families, and to provide those legal services, is something we haven't seen across the country, Kamdang said.

The grant is also particularly special for Kamdang. His wife is from Memphis, and its where his in-laws live. Every summer, his daughter spends about a month here.

It's very much a city we want to be a part of our child's life growing up, he said. So, the chance to work with other children in Memphis and help them is an incredible honor.

John Klyce covers education and children's issues for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at John.klyce@commercialappeal.com

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: University of Memphis, Everytown for Gun Safety start partnership
Members of the Boa Mistura urban artists team and community members refresh paint at the STEM Plaza, outside Akron's National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM High School, ranked No. 1 in the city.

Six Summit County high schools were among the top 100 in Ohio, with Hudson High School topping the list at 19th in the state and 540th in the nation, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of top public high schools in the country.

Other Summit County schools in the top 100 statewide include Revere High School (23), Twinsburg High School (57), Green High School (63), Akron STEM High School (77) and Copley High School (85).

More: U.S. News & World Report ranks top high schools for 2022.

In Medina County, Highland High School in Medina ranked 29th and Wadsworth High School in Wadsworth ranked 81st in the state.

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In Stark County, Jackson High School was ranked 50th in the state, Hoover was ranked 56th and Lake was ranked 69th.

Aurora High School was the only Portage County school in the top 100, ranking 18th in Ohio.

The state's 100th ranked school, Boardman High School, is ranked 2,703 nationally.

U.S. News ranked 17,860 public high schools out of nearly 25,000 it reviewed. It ranked 741 public high schools in Ohio.

The rankings were released Tuesday.

Factors in the rankings include students' readiness for college, breadth of college and advanced course offerings, how well underserved students perform, graduation rate and state test scores. Many of these factors can correlate with the demographics of the school and the level of wealth in the community supporting the school. Schools with higher housing values draw more money from levies that can support additional college classes, for example.

Akron high schools ranked

While Akron STEM High School was the top-ranked out of the city's nine high schools (2,110 nationally), three other Akron high schools were listed in the state's top rankings: Firestone was second in the city school district and 110th in the state; Akron Early College High School was third in the city and 162th in the state; and Ellet was fourth in the city and 425th in the state.

Top five schools in Ohio

Bexley High in Bexley Walnut Hills in Cincinnati Mariemont in Cincinnati Indian Hill in Cincinnati Wyoming High in Wyoming

The Early College at Guilford in North Carolina was ranked as the No. 1 public high school in the U.S.

This year, U.S. News adjusted its calculations to account for the cancellation of state testing in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the assessment data for the 2019-2020 year, U.S. News incorporated assessment results from both 2018-2019 and 2020-2021.

To see all the results, click here.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: See which Greater Akron high schools ranked among top 100 in state
By Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. is working with Romania and Moldova to increase Ukraine's grain exports via the Danube river as it explores alternative routes the exports after Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Wednesday.

"We are looking to support alternative routes: that is most prominently the Danube route. That route...stays within NATO territorial waters. So it's one that's very attractive for us because it keeps it into a more secure corridor," the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters.

"That (route) potentially can bring a significant amount, potentially, we'll try to double the amount going to that route," the official said.

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There will be a meeting in the coming weeks with the Romanians and Moldovans to discuss how to maximize the Danube route, the official said.

The grain deal, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022, allowed for safe export of grain from Ukraine's Black Sea ports. Last month Moscow exited the deal, accusing the West of hampering Russia's own grain and fertilizer exports.

The deal aimed to alleviate a global food crisis, and enabled the export of nearly 33 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain. Since its collapse, grain prices have surged as Russian forces have targeted Ukrainian ports with volleys of missiles and drones.

Ukraine is a global major grain grower and exporter and normally ships millions of metric tons of food from its deep-water Black Sea ports of Odesa and Mykolaiv, but has had to rely on its Danube River ports after Russia pulled out of the deal last month.

Washington has also been working with Turkey to support its efforts to bring Russia back into the grain deal, the official added. "We're not directly involved in the negotiations, but our teams are working closely with the UN and the Turks in support of trying to see it restart."

Turkey has been seeking to persuade Russia to return to the grain deal agreement and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is expected to travel to Russia soon to discussed the collapsed deal.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; writing by Simon Lewis; Editing by David Gregorio)
Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad Ahmed Attaf attends a press conference in Algiers, Algeria, on Aug. 29, 2023. Ahmed Attaf said on Tuesday that his country has put forth a political solution to address the ongoing crisis in neighboring Niger. The solution, proposed by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, focuses on consultations among involved Nigerian parties.(Xinhua)

ALGIERS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad Ahmed Attaf said on Tuesday that his country has put forth a political solution to address the ongoing crisis in neighboring Niger.

The solution, proposed by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, focuses on consultations among involved Nigerian parties, the minister said during a press conference held in the Algerian capital of Algiers.

The primary objective is to establish a six-month timeframe for crafting and implementing a political solution that ensures the return of constitutional and democratic governance in Niger, according to the minister.

The process will involve inclusive political agreements and arrangements to effectively address the crisis under the supervision of a civil authority supported by consensus, Attaf said, adding that Tebboune's plan also includes organizing an international conference to raise funds for development programs in the Sahel region.

Algeria still sees Mohammed Bazoum, who was ousted by a coup on July 26, as the legitimate president of Niger, said the Algerian minister, underscoring the importance of a peaceful diplomatic approach over the use of force.

The coup has drawn condemnation from many African countries, which view the unconstitutional change of power as a threat to stability and development on the continent. The international community fears that instability in the Sahel region would breed extremism. 
By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) -China and Britain made tentative steps to repair relations on Wednesday, with Beijing promising better ties if both showed "mutual respect" and London saying it wants to keep lines of communication open, including between the countries' leaders.

Foreign minister James Cleverly is the first senior British minister in five years to visit China, a trip he hopes will reset ties between the two countries after years of tension over security, investment and human rights.

The foreign secretary has argued it would be a mistake to isolate the world's second-largest economy, but some Conservative lawmakers say the trip looks like an expression of British weakness.

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed Cleverly and said both countries should move forward, rather than retreating, particularly in working together to boost the global economy.

"I believe that as long as both sides adhere to mutual respect, equal treatment, view each other's development objectively, and enhance mutual understanding and trust, Sino-British relations will be able to eliminate all unnecessary interference and obstacles," Wang said during the meeting's opening remarks in front of reporters.

Cleverly responded by saying he appreciated having the ability to raise points of disagreement, telling Wang he appreciated him listening to them "carefully and professionally", but he also wanted to raise opportunities.

"It is important for us to maintain these channels of communication at our level as minister-to-minister, ministers in upper government departments," he said. "And, of course ultimately, it is important for our prime minister and your president to have the opportunity to speak directly as well."

A possible meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could come at the G20 summit in India next month, but the British leader told broadcasters his schedule for the meeting had yet to be finalised.

SUNAK UNDER PRESSURE

Sunak, under pressure from lawmakers - including former Prime Minister Liz Truss - who want London to toughen its policy on China and to declare the country a threat to British national security, defended his approach.

"It's perfectly possible to engage with China at the same time as being very robust in standing up for our interests and our values," Sunak said.

The foreign ministry said in a statement that Cleverly had raised issues such as what he described as the damage caused by the Beijing-imposed National Security Law in Hong Kong, called for the lifting of sanctions on some British lawmakers, and emphasised the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

But one Conservative said on condition of anonymity it was unclear what the benefit of the trip was. "We should be robust towards China, but this looks the opposite," the lawmaker said.

The head of parliament's foreign affairs committee, Conservative Alicia Kearns, said she feared ministers had no coherent strategy on Beijing after her committee released a report critical of the government's China policy.

She said the strategy was buried, asking: "How can those implementing policy - and making laws - do so without an understanding of the overall strategy?"

The committee also referred to Taiwan as an "independent country" in a break with the British government's position. Beijing considers Taiwan part of China and strongly objects to perceived foreign interference with the island.

Britain's government does not recognise Taiwan and has no formal diplomatic relations with the island, but it maintains economic and trade ties and has a de facto embassy in Taipei.

Cleverly's visit to China comes as other countries in the West, including the United States, also try to improve their relations with the country.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen in Beijing and Sarah Young in London; writing by Elizabeth Piper and Kate Holton; Editing by Conor Humphries and Jonathan Oatis)
(Bloomberg) -- Foreign Secretary James Cleverly sought to put the UKs ties with China on a more even keel after a rocky few years in which the relationship was damaged by the coronavirus pandemic, clashes over Hong Kong, and suspicions about Chinese involvement in critical British industries.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Cleverlys visit didnt hark back to the so-called golden era of China relations that former Prime Minister David Cameron tried to usher in eight years ago: the foreign secretary was at pains to point out to broadcasters that hed raised the issue of human rights in all his meetings. But he did seek to find common ground on global issues, highlighting the pragmatic approach to the worlds second biggest economy that Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks government is trying to chart.

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This is about engaging directly with the Chinese government, building lines of communication, addressing the areas where we have disagreements, but also looking at opportunities to work together on some of the major issues affecting both our countries and the world, whether that be climate change, the resolution of the war in Ukraine or indeed the opportunity to build our economies, Cleverly told Bloomberg in an interview on Wednesday.

Sunak and Cleverly are trying to reset relations strained by issues including Chinas crackdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong and Britains resulting offer of visas for Hong Kongers, as well as the UK retreat from Chinese involvement in critical national infrastructure. The foreign secretarys trip coincides with a thaw in US-China relations, with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also visiting this week.

The visit is a good step in the right direction for relations, Chris Torrens, vice chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, told Bloomberg TV earlier Wednesday. Hopefully we can move that dial from the wait-and-see approach that foreign investors have had so far this year.

The trip by Cleverly  the most senior British minister to visit China in five years  could also set the stage for the first one-on-one meeting between Sunak and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in India next month. Sunak on Wednesday kept his cards close to his chest, declining to answer a question on whether he would meet with Xi.

China is a country with fundamentally different values to ours and we should be robust in standing up for the things that matter to us, not just for our values but for our interests, Sunak told reporters in London. But alongside that, like all our allies, whether thats America or Canada or Australia and others, its sensible to engage with people so that we can find a common ground on the issues where we can make progress together.

A planned meeting in Bali last year was derailed by a news of a missile strike near Polands border with Ukraine and the British premier remains the only Group of Seven leader who hasnt had a face-to-face with Xi since China lifted its Covid curbs.

An improvement in the China-UK relationship would offer both nations some relief as they look to boost their sluggish economies. China was the UKs second-largest individual trading partner last year after the US, with $132.3 billion of two-way commerce. Beijing wants to shore up confidence among foreign investors wary of regulatory shakeups, tensions with the West and the Communist Partys opaque politics.

Cleverly met with his counterpart Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng on Wednesday, according to Chinese state media. The mysterious removal of Beijings previous foreign minister, Qin Gang, had held up plans for the visit to Beijing.

The basis for the healthy and stable development of the bilateral relationship is through economic and trade cooperation, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said in its readout of Cleverlys meeting with Han. Han said the two countries should respect each others core interests, and called on Britain to create sound conditions for business. A brief report by China Global Television Network on Cleverlys meeting with Wang didnt give more details.

As well as raising human rights, Cleverly told Bloomberg that he called on Chinese officials to stand by their past commitments to uphold Ukraines territorial integrity. He was responding to a question about a Bloomberg News report Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had accepted Chinas invitation to visit, in what would be the Russian leaders first overseas trip since being indicted on allegations of war crimes.

I have said that Russias brutal invasion of Ukraine cannot be justified by Moscow or indeed anywhere else, Cleverly said.

Sunak is trying to repair ties with Beijing without upsetting China hawks in his ruling Conservative Party, who have advocated a harder line against the country. One of them, former party leader Iain Duncan Smith, has repeatedly likened the government approach to the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Another Tory MP, Tim Loughton, told Bloombergs UK Politics podcast on Wednesday that the fact that China is the second largest economy doesnt mean that we have to trade with it.

But Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Alicia Kearns, who is known for her hawkish views on China, said engagement with the Asian nation is necessary.

The choice is not between absolutely no contact and naively trusting, there is a middle ground, she told Sky News on Wednesday. Its more important that James Cleverly is in the room vociferously disagreeing with them so they know our position.

--With assistance from James Woolcock, Rebecca Choong Wilkins, Allen Wan, Evelyn Yu, Li Liu, Stephen Carroll and Caroline Hepker.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
UK Defence Intelligence has noted a considerable number of refusals to fight in the war among the Russian army, which Russia has so far compensated for by enlisting new people without proper training.

Source: UK Defence Intelligence, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The analysts report that two Russians were sentenced to two years in prison on 25 August for refusing to return to the battlefield. Mediazone news outlet said in July that around a hundred soldiers are being convicted weekly of refusing to participate in the war.

"If this trend continues, there will be approximately 5,200 convictions a year for refusing to fight. The high rate of convictions demonstrates the poor state of morale in the Russian Army and the reluctance of some elements to fight," the UK MoD stated.

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The UK MoD suggests that the lack of training, motivation and stressful situations facing the Russian military along the contact line are factors behind the desertion.

"Although some soldiers have refused to fight and attrition rates remain high, Russia highly likely mitigates their loss by committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline. Since Russias September 2022 partial mobilisation, Russia has adapted its approach to warfare by utilising sheer mass for offensive and defensive operations," UK intelligence reported.

Earlier, UK Defence Intelligence stated that although Russia has made military service financially attractive, the Kremlin still faces challenges in recruiting new people to the army.

Meanwhile, Polish intelligence services say Russian intelligence keeps trying to recruit agents to act in Russia's favour.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
Ukrainian secret services and armed forces could have carried out at least nine successful attacks on airbases in Russian regions, temporarily occupied Crimea and Belarus, and destroyed or damaged at least 24 aircraft since the beginning of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation.

Source: Vyorstka [Layout], Russian media outlet, which analysed the reports of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, media and OSINT researchers

Details: The media recalls that the first attack took place on the second day of the invasion, 25 February. One transport aircraft burned down at the Millerovo airfield in Rostov Oblast.

Various sources wrote that a drone or a Tochka-U missile carried out the strike. [Tochka-U is a surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile; in Ukrainian, the term Tochka-U refers also to the operational-tactical missile system used to launch the missiles  ed.]

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Ukraine's largest and most successful strike was on 9 August 2022, against the Saki airfield in Crimea. Then Russia lost four Su-30SM fighters and seven Su-24M bombers.

On 5 December 2022, UAVs attacked the Engels-2 and Dyagilevo airfields in Saratov and Ryazan oblasts. Then three aircraft were damaged: two Tu-95s and a Tu-22m3 strategic bomber.

The next attack was on 28 February 2023. The target was a Russian A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft at the Machulishchy military airfield near Minsk, Belarus. They tried to blow up the aircraft with the help of quadcopters, but it was only damaged.

At the beginning of May, Ukrainian drones attacked the airfield in the settlement of Seshcha in Bryansk Oblast. Then they damaged an An-124 transport aircraft.

There were three successful attacks in August: on 19, 21, and 30 August, on airfields in Novgorod, Kaluga, and Pskov oblasts of the Russian Federation. As a result, two Tu-22M bombers were destroyed, and four transport IL-76s and another unspecified aircraft were damaged.

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!






The Ukrainian military launched a massive drone attack on six regions in Russia overnight Wednesday, according to Russian state media, the largest Ukrainian drone attack on Russian soil in 18 months.

Drone strikes reportedly targeted four regions south of Moscow  Kaluga, Ryazan, Bryansk and Oryol  as well as the Moscow region itself and the region of Pskov, in the countrys northwest near Estonia, Russia claims.

The Pskov strike caused damage at the citys airport, destroying four military transport aircraft, Russian state media said, citing local authorities. All flights to and from the airport for Wednesday have been canceled as local officials assess the damage, media said.

The citys mayor said there were no casualties in the strike and fires have been contained.

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Pskov appeared to be the only region where the drones caused damage. Three drones were shot down over Bryansk, two over Oryol, and one each over Kaluga and Moscow, Russian officials said. No damage or casualties were reported in those regions.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ukrainian drones have hit at least six regions deep inside Russia  including destroying war planes at an airfield  in one of the largest such strikes since the start of Moscow's invasion.

Russian officials described attacks on targets in the Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions, with the assault on the military airfield in Pskov the most significant. Situated more than 400 miles (600 kilometres) from Ukraine, it was where a number of elite paratroopers are stationed. The state-run Tass news agency reported at least four giant Il-76 transport planes were damaged, two of which had "burst into flames".

the governor of Pskov posted video on the messaging app Telegram showing a huge fire with the sounds of sirens and an explosion at the air base. Other videos posted online showed anti-aircraft systems in action around the city, which is about 20 miles east of Russia's border with Nato-member Estonia.

Kyiv confirmed the Russian planes had been destroyed in Pskov, without commenting on the nature of the incident. It generally does not claim strikes on Russian territory, but does say it has the right to hit military targets.

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"Yes, four IL-76 transport planes were destroyed in Pskov at an airfield, they are beyond repair. Also, several other of those [aircraft] are damaged, but the information is being checked," Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence agency.

The number of drone strikes hitting Russia has increased in recent weeks, supporting a ground counteroffensive against Russian forces in Ukraine by destroying equipment and seeking to disrupt supply lines. Moscow typically describes all Ukrainian drone strikes as unsuccessful, regardless of the damage on the ground, but claimed that its own forces had attacked four Ukrainian attack boats in the Black Sea.

In a sign of how disruptive the latest Ukrainian strikes were, Russia's Defence Ministry said they "would not go unpunished". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said Russia was working out where the drones were launched from to try and prevent further strikes. President Vladimir Putin had been informed immediately, as would be the case in any such "massive attacks", Mr Peskov said.

A firefighter works at the site of a missile strike in Kyiv (EPA)

The increase in strikes inside Russia, including repeated drone strikes on central Moscow, have brought the war home to many Russians for the first time, even as Ukrainians have spent the past 18 months under threat of air strikes from long-range missiles and drones.

The latest strikes inside Russia coincided with Moscow's largest barrage against Kyiv in months. Ukraine said its air defences had shot down 28 Russian missiles and 15 out of 16 drones fired overnight.

"Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring. The enemy launched a massive, combined attack using drones and missiles," Serhiy Popko, the head of the city's military administration, said on Telegram.

Back in Moscow, the Kremlin said that it will not conduct an investigation into plane crash that killed the Wagner mercenary group founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, under international rules. "In this case there can be no talk of any international aspect," the Kremlin spokesman, Mr Peskov said, but he did suggest that "deliberate wrongdoing" is among the possible causes.

The private Embraer jet on which Mr Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow killing all 10 people on board on 23 August, including two other top Wagner figures, Mr Prigozhin's four bodyguards and a crew of three. That was two months to the day since Mr Prigozhin began a mutiny against Russian President Vladimir, with his forces marching towards Moscow. The uprising ended 24 hours later after a deal was struck between the Wagner founder and the Kremlin  but a number of Western leaders have suggested that Mr Putin would not let that embarrassment stand. The Kremlin has claimed any suggestion the Russian leader was involving in the killing is an "absolute lie".

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
Ukraine and Norway have signed an agreement on visa-free freight transport, allowing goods carriers to travel between the two countries without permits, the Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine announced on Aug. 30.

The new system will come into effect on Sep. 1 and last at least until June 30, 2024. The measure will apply both to bilateral trade and the transit of goods to other countries.

"We continue to create favorable conditions for our carriers. We are expanding the list of states with which we have instituted visa-free transport, currently including 35 countries," Deputy Infrastructure Minister Serhii Derkach said.

Up until now, Ukrainian cargo carriers could travel to Norway only with specific permits. Since September, they will be allowed in without the necessary authorization, provided their vehicles fit the environmental classification Euro-5 or higher.

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To use the visa-free system, carriers will have to show a certificate confirming the environmental classification of their vehicles. Those of a lower class will have to obtain permits. Ukrainian shippers will be able to obtain 300 permits during the next year.

Kyiv signed a similar agreement on a visa-free regime for freight transport with the EU in June 2022, which has been extended this March to last until June 30, 2024.

Read also: David Kirichenko: How Ukraine is the leading testing ground for the viability of crypto

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(Bloomberg) -- The US announced its latest package of military aid to Ukraine, a $250 million drawdown from existing Pentagon stock that includes anti-mine equipment, obstacle-clearing explosives, AIM-9M air-to-air missiles, artillery shells and other ammunition. This package contains important capabilities to help Ukraine on the battlefield, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

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Vladimir Putin is preparing to visit China in October, the Russian presidents first foreign trip since a warrant for his arrest on alleged war crimes was issued by the International Criminal Court.

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The trip demonstrates a confidence by Putin that authority is stronger than ever after the death of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, investor and long-time Russia watcher Bill Browder told Bloomberg Television.

The Vatican sought to walk back remarks from Pope Francis after he told Russians last week to take pride in being the heirs of that great, enlightened Russian empire. The Foreign Ministry in Kyiv called the speech sad, while the head of Ukraines Greek Catholic Church denounced it as an endorsement of Russias nationalism and imperialism.

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Wheat from European Union nations bordering the Black Sea is trading cheaper than rival origins like Russia, raising its relative attractiveness for buyers.

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BAGHDAD, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Three Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Wednesday in an airstrike on IS hideouts in Salahudin province north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Iraqi military said.

Based on intelligence reports, the Iraqi warplanes bombed IS targets in a rugged area near the town of al-Eith in the northern part of the province, killing three IS militants and destroying four hideouts and some tunnels and caves used by IS militants, according to a statement issued by the Security Media Cell, a media outlet affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.

The statement said that the airstrike was part of an ongoing military operation launched by Iraqi forces two days ago to hunt down the extremist IS militants in the rugged area.

The security situation in Iraq has improved since the defeat of the IS in 2017. However, IS remnants have since melted into urban centers, deserts, and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. 
Russia and North Korea are advancing on a deal to supply Moscow with ammunition.

The White House on Wednesday said it has new information that a secret deal sending artillery ammunition from North Korea to Russia is actively advancing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean despot Kim Jong Un have exchanged letters, pledging to increase their bilateral cooperation, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday morning.

The information was developed after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea last month to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia, Kirby said.

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1684610851922116615?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1684610851922116615%7Ctwgr%5E8254639cf8e19460cc9f23e8628a44d75f5ad740%7Ctwcon%5Es1_\u0026ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fukraine-situation-report-key-donetsk-city-liberated

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Since then, another group of Russian officials visited North Korea to discuss potential arms deals between the two nations, Kirby said, adding that high-level discussions may continue in the coming months.

Under these potential deals, Russia would receive significant quantities and multiple types of munitions from North Korea, which the Russian military plans to use in Ukraine."

The deal likely goes beyond just artillery ammunition, said Kirby.

Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive "is a gunfight and both sides are are blazing away with artillery so we know that artillery is one of those items, but it's multiple levels of types of munitions."

The 155-mm M109 self-propelled howitzer fires onto Russian positions near the occupied Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on August 17, 2023 in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Photo by Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

With its pre-war stocks declining, Russia is firing between 5,000 and 10,000 rounds per day, retired Marine Col. Mark Cancian, who worked at the Office of Management and Budget on Pentagon procurement programs and is now a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic & International Studies, told The War Zone Wednesday.

Ukrainians are firing artillery shells at a similar rate now that "are receiving a lot of cluster munitions to beef up their inventories," Cancian added.

Ukrainian soldier of the Aidar battalion, carries a shell for D-30 artillery on the frontline in the direction of Bakhmut as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on August 14, 2023. (Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The potential deals between Moscow and Pyongyang "could also include the provision of raw materials that would assist Russia's defense industrial base," said Kirby. "Again, I'd remind you our export controls and sanctions are very much targeted at trying to eliminate Russia's ability to have those kinds of raw materials and basic ingredients to to provide to their military manufacturing capability."

An arms deal between North Korea and Russia would directly violate a number of UN Security Council resolutions. We're continuing to monitor this situation closely.

As we have noted in the past, Russia has received a substantial amount of ammunition from North Korea, according to U.S. officials.

It appears a lot more may be on the way and North Korea has massive stockpiles of many types of artillery shells and pieces/launchers that Russia could tap into tilt the critical indirect fire balance on the battlefield.

Before we head into the latest news from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can catch up on our previous rolling coverage here.

The Latest

On the battlefield, Ukraine says it is continuing to gain ground in Zaporizhzhia Oblast as it pushes toward Melitopol.

Ukrainian forces were successful in advances along the Novodanilivka - Novoprokopivka and Mala Tokmachka - Verbove lines, spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andriy Kovalev said Wednesday, according to the Ukrainian Military Media Center (MMC).

https://twitter.com/region776/status/1696905207354188163?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A

Meanwhile, the fight on the eastern front, in the Kharkiv and Donetsk oblasts remains difficult, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Col.-Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said, according to the MMC.

Our units continue to hold back the enemy's offensive in the Kupiansk [Kharkiv Oblast]-Lyman [Donetsk Oblast] direction, he said. The fiercest battles are taking place in the areas of the settlements of Raihorodka and Kovalivka, where the enemy, despite losses, is trying to break through the defense of our troops, using assault units on armored vehicles.

At the same time, the enemy is regrouping and introducing new units from the territory of the Russian Federation with the aim of increasing the number and fighting capacity of its troops.

https://twitter.com/Ghost132607472/status/1696909270388728135

Near war-torn Bakhmut, fierce battles take place every day, he said. The enemy is trying to regain lost positions at any cost, counterattacking our units several times a day.

The Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) said that in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, its forces repelled Ukrainian advance attempts near Robotyne and Verbove. They also claimed to have fought off Ukrainian attempts to advance near Kupiansk as well as Lyman.

https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1696700668730339636

The Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday claimed that in separate incidents, its combat aircraft destroyed six Ukrainian vessels in the Black Sea, killing more than 50 troops.

In one incident east of Snake Island, an Su-24 Fencer destroyed another [Armed Forces of Ukraine] AFU boat with its crew, the Russian MoD claimed.

In a second incident east of Snake Island, an Su-30 Flanker destroyed an AFU high-speed military boat with its crew.

The Russian MoD said that around midnight Moscow time, the Black Sea Fleet naval aviations aircraft destroyed four high-speed military boats with landing groups of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces servicemen with a total number of up to 50 people in the waters of the Black Sea.

The Russians offered no proof of any of these claims and no imagery has emerged on social media to support them.

The claims did however engender a humorous response on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/1696837124463415439

Some Ukrainian pilots who have gone to Denmark to learn to fly F-16s are now ready to begin flight training, Ukrainian Gen. Valeri Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, said Wednesday.

Zaluzhny said Danish Defense Chief Gen. Flemming Lentfer told him that some of our pilots have already successfully completed preparatory measures and can begin flight training.

In addition, the two men agreed with Danish partners to start work on logistics to ensure the maintenance and repair of F-16 fighters in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff Telegram channel.

Zaluzhny also thanked the entire Danish people and the government for the decision to transfer 19 F-16 aircraft to Ukraine and comprehensive support in the fight against the Russian aggressor.

You can read more about the Danish decision to transfer F-16s to Ukraine in our story here.

Ukrainian Gen. Valeri Zaluzhny (left) spoke with Danish Defense Chief Gen. Flemming Lentfer about the training of Ukrainian pilots in Denmark. (Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff photo)

Meanwhile, at an informal meeting of European Union defense ministers in Toledo, Spain, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollengren on Tuesday announced that Romania will host an F-16 training center for Ukrainian pilots and maintainers. That agreement formalizes a plan we reported on back in June.

Ollengren said that training by representatives from Lockheed Martin, makers of the Viper, will take place in Romania while the Netherlands will provide an unspecified number of F-16s.

The Netherlands, which has 42 F-16s, has also promised an unspecified number to Ukraine. You can read more about that in our story here.

You can also read more about the international effort to train Ukrainian pilots and maintainers on the F-16s, including in the U.S., in our story here.

https://twitter.com/DefensieMin/status/1696571394723639638

Germany on Wednesday updated the list of military equipment it has provided to Ukraine.

The latest tranche includes 10 Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks, one TRML-4D surveillance radar system, 16 Vector reconnaissance drones, more than 13 million rounds of small arms ammunition, several trucks and a field hospital.

https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1696911325471920133?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A

With his military facing increasing shortages of equipment and ammunition as its all-out war in Ukraine drags on, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday inspected a state defense industry facility in the Tula region.

Shoigu toured the production facilities of JSC Concern VKO 'Almaz-Antey', which produces modern radar systems, the Russian Defense Ministry said on its Telegram channel Wednesday.

Company head Yan Novikov reported to Sergei Shoigu on increasing production rates and deliveries of modern counter-battery warfare systems to formations and units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation performing tasks in the special military operation zone, the Russian MoD claimed. Lack of counter-battery radar systems have been a chronic issue for Russian forces.

https://twitter.com/gerashchenko_en/status/1696885852012413219?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A

At least two Kyiv residents were killed in what officials are calling the most powerful attack on the capital in months.

Initially, Russians launched a barrage of drones, followed by missiles, Serhiy Popko, head of the KMVA, said on his Telegram Wednesday.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russians attacked with 28 air-launched cruise missiles and 16 Shahed-136 drones and that all the cruise missiles and all but one drone were destroyed.

Anti-aircraft defense worked along the route of tracking missiles and drones in a number of regions of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force said on its Telegram channel. Anti-aircraft missile forces, fighter aircraft, mobile fire groups and other means of attack are involved in repelling an air attack.

However, in Kyiv, falling debris was recorded in several districts. Unfortunately, people died. In the Shevchenkivsky districtpieces of Rashist rockets killed two people, another was injured. Also, as a result of falling rocket remnants, destruction and fires occurred, said Popko.

The Russian MoD claimed its forces launched a group strike with long-range air- and sea-based precision weapons against enemy command and reconnaissance posts. The goals of the strike have been reached. All the assigned targets have been neutralized.

https://twitter.com/gerashchenko_en/status/1696882327740117294?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A

Yesterday we told you that new low-resolution satellite imagery confirmed a Ukrainian claim that Russia is sinking vessels along the Kerch Bridge to form a protective barrier against future uncrewed surface vessel (USV) attacks.

Today, we obtained a high-resolution image from Planet Labs that shows the vessels that were partially sunk are anchored barges. As independent naval warfare analyst HI Sutton (@covertshores) told us yesterday, Russia will likely try to build netting between and even fencing on top of those barges to deter Ukrainian USV attacks. Sutton had previously confirmed the sunken-vessel barrier claim. You can read more about this effort in our story here.

PHOTO  2023 PLANET LABS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION

The late Wagner Private Military Company boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash last week, has been buried in a private ceremony in St. Petersburg, his press service said on Tuesday.

Farewell to Evgeny Viktorovich took place in a closed format. Those wishing to say goodbye can visit the Porokhovskoe cemetery, in St. Petersburg, a Prigozhin-connected Telegram channel posted.

Prigozhin - who launched and then called off a march on Moscow in late June and nine others, including his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, perished when their Embraer Legacy 600 business jet plummeted into the ground.

https://twitter.com/chriso_wiki/status/1696778515293647257?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A

Even with hundreds of miles of trenches and ditches dug out across southern and eastern Ukraine, Russian troops have a hard time hiding from the ubiquity of Ukrainian drones. In the case of this video below, Russian soldiers try to hide in a treeline from a Ukrainian drone, which drops munitions on their position, sending them scattering. It appears at least one Russian soldier in the trench was injured by the blast. But you can also see from this video the tremendous challenge facing Ukraine's counteroffensive. There are numerous such trenches and fortified treelines, like this one paralleling railroad tracks, that need to be overcome or bypassed.

https://twitter.com/region776/status/1696789183497650184?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A

And finally, the old saying claims cats have nine lives. But sometimes, as in the case of the cat in this video who avoided triggering a landmine, felines are smart enough to avoid danger in the first place.

https://twitter.com/region776/status/1696888095772193189?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A

That's it for now. We'll update this story when there's more news to report about Ukraine.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
Ukrainian serviceman with an FPV drone during exercises in Zaporizhzhia region, August 17, 2023

While it will be a tall order, Ukraine has a decent chance to withstand the developing arms race with Russia when it comes to producing and using combat UAVs, Ukrainian volunteer and politician Serhiy Prytula said in an interview with NV Radio on Aug. 29.

Read also: Widespread drone attacks target key assets deep inside Russia, damage four Il-76 military transport aircraft in Pskov

"The task is quite tough, but not impossible," said Prytula.

He added that his foundation is currently exploring procuring new types of kamikaze UAVs of Ukrainian manufacture, capable of covering distances over 200 kilometers and carrying warheads powerful enough to strike important targets in Russia-occupied territories.

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Last year, when we were fundraising for our payback campaign, we contracted 142 kamikaze UAVs, which were all manufactured in Ukraine, he said.

Therefore, we are now paying attention to three [domestic] manufacturers. Interesting designs. And I think we will soon start fundraising for them as well. And I hope we can purchase a lot.

Read also: Russian kamikaze drone strike in Zhytomyr Oblast damages rail infrastructure, delaying 3 passenger trains

Prytula also remarked that some companies in Ukraine have begun manufacturing individual components for FPV (first-person view) drones, though Ukraine is not yet capable of manufacturing them entirely on its own.

According to The Guardian, since the beginning of 2023, Ukraine has conducted about 190 drone strikes in Russian territory and occupied Crimea.

Read also: Russian missiles and drones launched at Ukraine, biggest attack on Kyiv since spring

On Aug. 30, new satellite images surfaced showing barges near the Crimean Bridge, presumably intended to protect against Ukrainian naval drones.

Early in the morning on the same day, Russian official media reported that at least four Il-76 military airlifters were damaged in an apparent drone strike on an airfield in Russias Pskov Oblast.

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
Key developments on Aug. 30:

Russian media reports drone attacks in 6 Russian regions, occupied Crimea

Local authorities: 2 killed, 3 wounded in Russias largest attack on Kyiv in months

General Staff: Ukraine advances further south of liberated Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast

Poland to expand production of F-16 components

Kuleba meets Macron during France visit.

Russian media on Aug. 30 reported what appears to be the largest coordinated drone attack on Russia and on the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

Attacks were reported overnight in five regions in central Russia, in the western Pskov region, and in the city of Sevastopol in occupied Crimea, according to Russias TASS state news agency.

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The largest attack took place at an airfield of the Pskov airport, where Kyivs military intelligence confirmed to Ukrainian media outlets that four giant Il-76 transport aircraft were destroyed and several more reportedly damaged.

According to Russian independent media outlet Meduza, the 334th military transport regiment, armed with Il-76 transport aircraft, is deployed at Pskov Airport.

Pskov regions emergency service reported late on Aug. 29 that Il-76 transport aircraft were on fire, and that 21 equipment, as well as 65 people, were working to extinguish it.

The next day, Pskov region governor Mikhail Vedernikov said all flights were canceled at the Pskov airport to assess the damage to the runway after the drone attack, and air travel in the region was disrupted.

Throughout the full-scale war, particularly after the December 2022 drone attacks on Russian airfields hundreds of kilometers deep inside the country, drones have targeted Moscow and cities far from Ukraine.

Other Russian regions under attack were Bryansk, Moscow, Ryazan, Oryol, and Kaluga.

In Russias Bryansk region, for example, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on his Telegram channel that a shot-down part of a drone partially damaged an administrative building and caused fire.

No casualties were reported inside Russia.

And in Crimea, the Russian proxy head of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, alleged that there had been an unsuccessful attack on the city with sea drones.

Reacting to the attacks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Aug. 30 that Russia is analyzing the routes of the drones and taking appropriate measures to prevent such situations in the future.

The wave of drone attacks reported in Russia and on Crimea comes as Russian forces launched their largest attack on Kyiv since spring.

The intense overnight attack that combined missiles and drones on the Ukrainian capital killed two people and wounded three, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported on Aug. 30.

Two security guards aged 26 and 36 years old died, according to the administration. They were killed when debris caused a fire in a commercial building in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the Ukrainian capital.

Across the country, Russia unleashed 16 drones and 28 cruise missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force reported early on Aug. 30.

Fifteen of the 16 Shahed kamikaze drones and all 28 of the Kh-101, Kh-55, and Kh-555 missiles attacking Kyiv, as well as Cherkasy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Zhytomyr oblasts, were shot down by Ukrainian air defense, according to the report.

Read also: As their kids find refuge abroad, Ukrainian fathers struggle with separation

Ukraine continues to advance in southeast

Ukrainian forces continue to gain ground past the recently-liberated village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the General Staff of Ukraines Armed Forces said on Aug. 30.

Ukrainian troops were successful in moving towards Novoprokopivka, a village less than four kilometers south of Robotyne, and Verbove, another settlement 10 kilometers to the east, according to the General Staff.

On Aug. 28, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that Ukrainian forces had liberated Robotyne and moved southeast of the village.

The advance is part of Ukraines larger offensive operation in the direction of Melitopol, a strategically important city for cutting off the land bridge between Russia and occupied Crimea.

The Ukrainian military added that its forces are continuing their offensive south of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, while holding back a Russian offensive in the directions of Bakhmut, Kupiansk, and Lyman.

Moscow is concentrating troops in the area, trying to retake the territories lost during a Ukrainian surprise counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast last autumn.

Read also: As counteroffensive presses forward in southeast, every meter costs a life

Poland to expand production of F-16 components

Polish company PZL Mielec plans to expand its production of components for F-16 fighter jets, with the aim to produce up to 80% of parts needed for the jet's fuselage, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported on Aug. 30.

PZL Mielec is based in southeastern Poland and is owned by the American defense company Lockheed Martin.

Janusz Zakrecki, the president of PZL Mielec, told PAP that the company currently produces about 50% of the structure of an F-16 fuselage. By the end of 2024, the aim is to produce between 70% and 80% of the fuselage in Mielec.

The plant's hangar has been modernized and a number of its employees have received six months of training at Lockheed Martin's main factory in South Carolina.

PZL Mielec is one of Poland's major aircraft manufacturers and the largest manufacturing site for Lockheed Martin outside the U.S.

Mielec is located 50 kilometers from Rzeszow, an important logistics hub where NATO reportedly plans to set up a logistics and repair center for Ukrainian military equipment.

Rzeszow airport is a crucial conduit for Western military aid flowing to Ukraine.

Kuleba meets Macron during France visit

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met French President Emmanuel Macron on Aug. 30 during Kuleba's official trip to France.

According to the minister, their conversation concerned "further military support, expanding the Peace Formula coalition and (Ukraine's) grain exports to countries in Africa and beyond."

Yesterday on Aug. 29, Kuleba met his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, who reaffirmed France's backing for Kyiv amid the ongoing Russian invasion: "This support will continue and intensify as long as needed to defeat the Russian aggression."

The trip comes as part of Kuleba's tour to three European countries this week: France, Czechia, and Spain. The minister was earlier hosted by Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky in Prague on Aug. 28 and is scheduled to arrive in Toledo, Spain on Aug. 31 to attend an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.

The negotiations held during the trip, according to the foreign ministry, are to focus on weapon supplies, namely air defenses, Kyiv's path toward the EU, the upcoming Global Peace Summit, and the promotion of Ukraine's peace formula.

Read also: Inching forward in Bakhmut counteroffensive, Ukraines hardened units look ahead to long, grim war

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In the forefront. Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the frontline

Oleksiy Danilov , the Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (RNBO), discussed the military's mobilization plans and the impact of corrupt military officials in an interview with NV on Aug. 30.

The ongoing mobilization, initially announced by the president on Feb. 24, 2022, is still in progress. Currently, the military is "enlisting as many (mobilized individuals) as needed" and the military's plans for recruitment are being adhered to, Danilov told NV.

"Every morning when I go to work, I see a line at one of the recruitment centers nearby," Danilov said. "We don't have a situation where it's a kind of process (mobilization) that needs to be loudly talked about by everyone. Are there any issues? Well, yes, of course, there are, as in any matter. But it's not extremely critical."

Read also: Russia trying to recruit mercenaries from Central Asia, says top Ukrainian security official

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Danilov said that a new mobilization plan, once approved, is put into action every two months. The military request the necessary procedures to be conducted through sessions of the National Security and Defense Council to ensure the process continues. However, Danilov stated that there is no necessity to recruit 300,000 individuals into the army all at once.

Read also: No need for new mobilization wave yet  defense minister

Furthermore, Danilov said that the increasing cases of military officials being found to have taken bribes have not influenced the count of those undergoing mobilization.

"Another issue is that Russia consistently alleges that we're conscripting the elderly, blind, and deaf people into the army," Danilov added.

"Spreading such narratives is their prerogative. However, I can state that we have cases, not isolated ones, where people have sustained injuries, where people have lost specific body parts, and yet they proceed to the front lines, continuing their service."

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba , while on a visit in France, has recounted the story of Ukrainian defenders successful counteroffensive in the village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Source: speech by Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at a conference of French ambassadors, quoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Quote from Kuleba: "Right now, the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to advance in their counteroffensive. It is extremely difficult. The number of minefields and fortifications is unprecedented. Russian drones, helicopters and aircraft dominate the air. But we are gradually succeeding.

A few days ago, we broke through the Russian defences in one of the most difficult sections of the front and liberated the strategically important settlement of Robotyne."

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Details: Kuleba told diplomats how this became possible.

The foreign minister said that for several months, one Ukrainian unit had been conducting continuous assaults in this area of the front, and due to exhaustion and losses, at some point, this unit lost the ability to continue the offensive. And then "radical decisions" were made: the unit's leadership was changed.

The minister said that the new commander asked to assemble soldiers who were motivated and ready to perform combat missions. A consolidated group of 31 soldiers was created, a third of whom had no combat experience, but all of whom had the knowledge and will to win.

Kuleba added that thanks to the leadership of the commanders and sergeants, this group established "horizontal links" with neighbouring units and started working on the contact line.

Quote: "For 18 hours, they crawled literally on their stomachs through kilometres of minefields, where the Russians had placed six mines per square metre.

Finally, the unit reached a strip of trees dividing farmers' fields. Everyone in Ukraine knows this word - 'a tree planting'. Its in these plantations, invisible on maps, that the greatest tragedies and heroism of the war take place. So, our unit drove the Russians out of there and held the position for two days until reinforcements arrived.

Subsequently, this group walked another 10 kilometres with backpacks weighing 35-40 kilograms through minefields. They only had time to catch their breath briefly and immediately stormed the fortified Russian positions, drove the enemy out and held out until the main forces arrived.

In total, this unit conducted six assaults and two reconnaissance missions in 40 days. A group of 31 men did the work of an entire battalion, which should have consisted of about 400 men. The losses amounted to seven wounded, including only one seriously injured after stepping on a mine.

In fact, the work of this group made it possible for an entire brigade to attack Robotyne and liberate it after weeks of assaults. After securing its flanks, we open the way to Tokmak and, ultimately, Melitopol and the border with Crimea."

Background:

Ukrainian defence forces from the 47th brigade have entered the recently captured settlement of Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and organised the evacuation of civilians, while the Russians shelled the village with artillery.

On August 23, Andrii Kovalov, the spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that Ukrainian troops had successfully gained ground near Novoprokopivka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and were consolidating their positions.

On August 23, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has posted a video from the village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, which Ukrainian troops recently entered. The Ukrainian flag is already flying over the village.

On August 28, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar has confirmed that Ukraines Defence Forces have completely liberated the village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

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Military medicine experts told Insider Ukraine's medical care in war has been better than Russia's.

Russian troop are lacking basic first aid supplies, like gauze and effective tourniquets.

But Ukraine's medical advantage could be undercut by the sheer number of potential Russian soldiers.

Ukraine has provided superior medical care to its soldiers during the war compared with Russia's, two experts in military medicine told Insider, but the sheer number of potential Russian soldiers  and a historical willingness to relentlessly throw them into battle  could help soften Ukraine's medical advantage.

Dr. Aaron Epstein, a former defense contractor and founder of the Global Surgical and Medical Support Group, said Ukraine as a country has a good medical system that is on par with many other European countries. After Russia invaded, Epstein's group sent physicians to Ukraine to help train the public on treating combat injuries and to give surgeons with other specializations crash courses on being trauma surgeons.

But when it comes to Russia, Epstein said its medical care for its troops has been "somewhat horrendous," adding, "It seems like they're lagging decades behind when it comes to adequate treatment of their own forces."

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In July, the UK Ministry of Defence said that up to 50% of Russian soldiers being killed in combat were dying preventable deaths.

Even the most basic first aid kit materials seem to be lacking with Russian soldiers on the frontlines, Epstein said, noting a video he saw that appeared to show a Russian barracks commander telling troops that if they're shot they should shove a tampon in the hole. The UK's MOD said last year that Russian soldiers were being advised to use women's sanitary products as first aid supplies. A video that circulated on Telegram appeared to show a Russian military staffer telling recruits to "ask your wives, girlfriends or mothers for sanitary pads."

Another video, cited by Epstein and Tanisha Fazal, a professor at the University of Minnesota who studies medical care in war, appeared to show Russian soldiers using essentially what amounted to a piece of rubber as a tourniquet, the kind of equipment the US military had evolved beyond decades ago.

"They might as well be using their belt," Epstein said.

Fazal said she was also surprised to see Russia using such dated tourniquets and apparently lacking basic supplies like gauze, especially because "hemorrhage is the primary cause of preventable battle deaths."

Another concern when it comes to battlefield medical care is how close the wounded are to a hospital. If the higher levels of care are far removed from the frontlines, he said, the only way you would survive long enough to actually make it there is if your injury isn't very severe in the first place. Otherwise, you'd already be dead.

The Ukrainians have been resourceful in setting up care close to combat, using the basements of blown-out buildings as treatment centers or doling out care from trucks that can move at a moment's notice, he said. Because Russia has targeted hospitals with strikes, Ukraine has also been somewhat forced to seek out more hidden spots to issue treatment.

Still, Russia has one clear advantage over Ukraine that could compensate for their inferior medical care: the sheer number of potential soldiers, coupled with the long-standing "Soviet military doctrine" of throwing "waves of people at your enemy," Epstein said.

"There has historically been, frankly, little care for Russian or Soviet lives in combat," he added.

For a comparison, Epstein said the US will not deploy somewhere unless the medical logistics chain has been established, including how to evacuate someone, where the different levels of care are located, and how much time it will take to get wounded soldiers where they need to be for treatment. But for Russian and Soviet soldiers, medical support has largely seemed to be an afterthought.

Russian soldiers and their families have said as much throughout the war, with some complaining that conscripts are being thrown right into battle unprepared, without the proper supplies or training.

Fazel said reports of poor medical care tracked with reporting about how Russian soldiers "see themselves as cannon fodder, which implies that they don't think they're going to be cared for if they fall ill or become injured."

Have a news tip? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@insider.com .

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Ukrainian presidential advisor warned that Prigozhin 's death shows Putin won't negotiate.

Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash last week, confirmed by Russia.

Mykhailo Podolyak said Putin "is focused solely on escalation, scaling up murder and destruction."

A Ukrainian presidential advisor warned that Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin's death shows there's no room to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding that there's no end in sight for the war so long as he's in power.

On Wednesday, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, posted on X, the social media site formely known as Twitter, "Putin is absolutely not a subject suitable for negotiations. The 'story' of Prigozhin's demonstrative murder shows that Putin will not comply with any agreements, does not want any agreements, and is focused solely on escalation, scaling up murder and destruction."

Podolyak added: "So, as long as Putin remains president, the war will continue. Pulling Russia deeper and deeper into the abyss of chaos."

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The disparaging comments come just a week after Prigozhin's death, confirmed by Russian officials, in a plane crash outside Moscow. The death raised suspicions about whether Putin or the government had the Wagner mercenary boss assassinated; Prigozhin had led a failed mutiny against Russian military leadership in June.

Prigozhin's armed rebellion  specifically against Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov over their botched use of Wagner forces in the war in Ukraine  came after months of Prigozhin's public bashing of Russia's Ministry of Defense and the Kremlin itself.

After Prigozhin's death, multiple officials and critics, including US President Joe Biden and the White House itself, suggested Putin was involved in assassinating Prigozhin and that "no one should be surprised" by his death.

Putin himself addressed the plane crash, expressing his condolences for his longtime associate and calling Prigozhin "a talented person" and "talented businessman," but also "a man with a complicated fate" who "made serious mistakes in life," according to translations from Al Jazeera.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ukrainian defenders destroyed 43 air targets out of 44 launched by Russian forces on the night of 29-30 August, including 28 cruise missiles and 15 attack drones.

Source: Ukrainian Air Force; Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force

Details: Russian forces attacked Ukraine with air-launched cruise missiles and attack drones on the night of 29-30 August.

A total of 44 Russian air targets were recorded:

28 Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 air-launched missiles from 11 Tu-95ms strategic aircraft from the Caspian Sea and Engels area;

16 Shahed-136/131 attack drones from the south and north (Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Kursk).

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Air defence systems were responding in several Ukrainian oblasts, following the route of the missiles and drones. Anti-aircraft missile troops, fighter aircraft, mobile air defence fire teams and other weapons were involved in repelling the air strike.

Quote from Air Force: "Air Force assets and personnel in cooperation with Ukraines Defence Forces air defence systems have destroyed 43 air targets within Kyiv, Cherkasy, Odesa and Mykolaiv oblasts, including 28 Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 cruise missiles and 15 Shahed-136/131 attack drones."

         30 

Drones and missiles downed over Ukraine on the night of 29-30 August

UKRAINIAN AIR FORCE

Quote from Oleshchuk: "Almost all enemy air targets were destroyed last night! Thanks to all the defenders who took part in repelling the air attack!"

Background:

Russian forces launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine on the night of 29-30 August.

Russian forces attacked an infrastructure facility in Zhytomyr Oblast, and a fire broke out there as a result of the fall of a downed drone.

Fires broke out due to the falling debris and there were casualties among civilians in the city of Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast.

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Ukraines Defence Forces killed another 570 Russian invaders and destroyed 9 tanks, 8 drones and 17 armoured combat vehicles belonging to the Russians over the past day.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook

Details: Total combat losses of the Russian forces from 24 February 2022 to 30 August 2023 are estimated to be as follows [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses  ed.]:

approximately 262,410 (+570) military personnel

4,423 (+9) tanks

8,596 (+17) armoured combat vehicles

5,476 (+26) artillery systems

733 (+0) multiple-launch rocket systems

500 (+0) air defence systems

315 (+0) fixed-wing aircraft

316 (+0) helicopters

4,395 (+8) operational-tactical UAVs

1,419 (+0) cruise missiles

18 (+0) ships/boats

7,953 (+44) vehicles and tankers

825 (+5) special vehicles and other equipment.

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Ukrainian Defence Forces have made gains and are consolidating their positions in the areas of the settlements of Novodanylivka and Novoprokopivka, and Mala Tokmachka and Verbove in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Source: Ukraines General Staff

Quote: "Ukrainian Defence Forces have been conducting offensive operations on the Bakhmut and Melitopol fronts.

They [the Ukrainian forces] have made progress in the Novodanilivka-Novoprokopivka and Mala Tokmachka-Verbove fronts, consolidating their positions, inflicting artillery fire on the identified enemy targets and carrying out counter-battery measures."

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Details: The defenders are advancing further, south of the town of Bakhmut on the Bakhmut front, consolidating their positions.

DEEPSTATEMAP 30 AUGUST

DEEPSTATEMAP 30 AUGUST

Russian troops conducted offensive actions in the areas of the settlements of Krasnohorivka and Marinka in Donetsk Oblast but to no avail. They faced significant losses among their military personnel, weapons and armoured vehicles; the Russians are shifting units and troops and actively using their reserves.

The Ukrainian Defence Forces continue to hold back the Russian offensive on the Kupiansk, Lyman and Bakhmut fronts.

The Russians conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in the area in and around the settlements of Novoiehorivka and Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast and Bohdanivka, Kurdiumivka, and Ozarianivka in Donetsk Oblast. Heavy fighting rages on.

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ISLAMABAD, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Four terrorists were killed during an exchange of fire with police in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of police said.

The exchange of fire took place when a CTD team raided a terrorists' hideout on an intelligence tip-off in Pishin district of the province, killing the terrorists belonging to a banned outfit, the CTD officials told Xinhua on Wednesday.

On seeing the law enforcers, the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire on the CTD personnel when they were directed to surrender their weapons, forcing them to respond effectively, said officials, adding that the killed terrorists were planning to carry out a terror attack in the province.

The CTD said that a huge cache of arms and ammunition was seized from the possession of the killed terrorists.

Police also launched a search operation in the surrounding areas to arrest accomplices of the killed terrorists. 
Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, has visited Ukrainian defenders on the contact line and set a task to retake the settlement of Klishchiivka on the Bakhmut front.

Source: Syrskyi on Telegram

Quote: "You [the Ukrainian Defence Forces  ed.] are now, as always, at the forefront of the attack, at the forefront of the fighting. You know we have this [settlement] Klishchiivka that needs to be retaken. And here, without exaggeration, it's up to you, your role, bravery, courage, and skills. And I don't know anyone else who could perform these tasks."

Details: Syrskyi, together with the commanders of the 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade, 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, 5th Separate Assault Brigade, Liut (Fury) Brigade, and 68th Separate Jaeger Brigade, planned further actions and discussed solutions to challenging matters.

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The commander also decorated the best soldiers. "I am proud to have the honour of commanding such heroes, and I am confident of our victory. I thank everyone for their service," he stressed.

Background: The Ukrainian General Staff reports that Ukrainian Defence Forces continue to conduct offensive operations south of the town of Bakhmut on the Bakhmut front, consolidating their positions.

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Four Russian Il-76 aircraft were destroyed at a military airfield in the Russian city of Pskov overnight on Aug. 30, Andrii Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Military Intelligence, has confirmed to online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda.

Yusov also said two other aircraft are likely to be damaged.

Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing an anonymous source, that Ukraine's military intelligence was behind the attack.

Russian media outlet Meduza reported that the 334th military transport regiment, armed with Il-76 transport aircraft, is deployed at Pskov Airport.

The attack on Pskov was part of what Russian media reported to be huge wave of drone attacks on Russian territory and Russian-occupied Crimea overnight on Aug. 30.

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Drones were reportedly shot down over Bryansk, Oryol, Kaluga, Ryazan, and Moscow oblasts, the Russian authorities claimed.

According to Russian media, Moscow's Vnukovo airport shut down the night of Aug. 30, while flights at Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports were delayed, after the airspace over Moscow and Tula oblasts was closed.

In Russian-occupied Crimea, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol alleged that there had been an unsuccessful attack on Sevastopol with sea drones.

Read also: Media: Military intelligence confirms strike on Russias 126th Coastal Defense Brigade

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
A University of North Carolina graduate student walked into a classroom building, shot his faculty adviser and quickly left, authorities said a day after the attack paralyzed campus as police searched for the gunman.

Tailei Qi, 34, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and having a gun on educational property in Mondays killing of Zijie Yan inside a science building at the states flagship public university.

Chapel Hill police arrested Qi without force in a residential neighborhood near campus within two hours of the attack, UNC Police Chief Brian James said at a news conference.

PREVIOUS: Faculty member killed in UNC building; suspect in custody, chancellor says

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Investigators were trying to determine a motive and searching for the gun, James said. He declined to specify where in Caudill Labs Yan was killed, saying officers are still looking at evidence. Qi was already gone when a team of officers reached the building, James said.

Yan was a beloved colleague, mentor and a friend of so many on our campus and a father to two young children, UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz at the news conference.

On Wednesday afternoon, the schools iconic Bell Tower will ring in honor of Yans memory and students are encouraged to take a moment of silence, he said. The school also canceled classes until Thursday.

Earlier Tuesday, Qi briefly appeared in Orange County Superior Court in Hillsborough. Judge Sherri Murrell ordered Qi to remain jailed without bond and scheduled his next court date for Sept. 18. After the hearing, Qi bowed to the judge, his Mandarin interpreter, public defender Dana Graves and the guards who took him away in handcuffs.

Graves left court without talking to reporters and did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Yan was an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences who had worked for the university since July 2019, Guskiewicz said Tuesday. He led the Yan Research Group, which Qi joined last year, according to the groups UNC webpage.

Yan was a respected and approachable professor and research adviser who was deeply knowledgeable about the field, said Wen Liu, a 2022 graduate who worked in the lab for three years.

He was somewhat reserved, yet always willing to answer questions with patience and respect and advise lab members who got stuck in their research, Liu said.

For hours he would just be doing things and explaining along the way, said Liu, who was a newbie undergrad in the field at the time and also worked with Qi in the lab. Qi seemed passionate about research, curious about others work and pretty sociable, Liu said.

The labs main goals were making and studying nanoparticles under the effect of light, using lasers, he said. The work has potential applications in medicine and other fields.

A since-deleted page on the schools website listed Qi as a graduate student in Yans research group, with Yan as his adviser, though the police chief said their ties were still under investigation. Qi previously studied at Wuhan University in China before earning a masters in mechanical engineering at Louisiana State University in 2021.

The attack and hourslong lockdown terrified students and faculty who had returned last week for the start of the fall semester. On Tuesday, students pet therapy dogs on campus and chalked hearts, peace signs and messages of hope on walking paths.

Noel Harris, a senior journalism student, said she spent confusing and scary hours locked in a class reading news coverage, listening to police scanners and waiting for university updates about whether the danger had passed.

When an officer arrived, the class asked him to slide his badge under the door first, Harris said. The officer said they were safe but recommended they wait until an all-clear was issued. Soon after, Harris recorded video of people climbing out of an adjacent buildings windows, and she started to wonder so is it really safe? Whats going on? she said.

She said Tuesday that she was still trying to understand why the students left through the windows of Phillips Hall, where math and other classes are held but no shots were fired.

I felt myself just being scared and shocked, but then not shocked at the same time because its like, this happens every day, Harris said.

(WATCH BELOW: Faculty member killed in UNC building; suspect in custody, chancellor says)
For many students of Asian descent, the initial confusion in identifying and apprehending the wrong person in Mondays fatal shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill dredged up ever-present fears of racial profiling.

Before the arrest of suspect Tailei Qi, who is Chinese, another person who matched his description was briefly detained, UNC Police Chief Brian James told reporters that evening. The shooting resulted in the death of a faculty member.

James said the persons close proximity and the description that we were given of the suspect led to the error. Local media outlets showed coverage and shared accounts of an Asian man in handcuffs who was later let go.

We determined very quickly that that was not, in fact, the suspect, James said.

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UNC police did not respond to a request for comment.

Asian male students say they fear going outside

Qi, a graduate student at the school, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and possession of a gun on educational property. UNC police identified Zijie Yan, an associate professor of applied physical sciences, as the faculty member who was killed.

Before police arrested Qi after an hour-and-a-half search, those of Asian descent, particularly men, said they had already been grappling with multiple layers of fear  worried not only for their safety from the gunman but also about being profiled as the suspect by authorities. Many others wondered whether the shooting would misdirect blame from their peers to them. Johnson Wei, a 21-year-old Chinese international student, said he and his Asian male friends on campus were terrified to step outside in public.

We are all international Chinese. Sometimes I wear contacts, but the other day I wore glasses. So I was a little bit afraid the police couldnt differentiate me with the killer. If I came outside, I [could] also get handcuffed, Wei said.

Wei was eating lunch at a dining hall in UNCs business school, not far from the main campus, when news of the gunman appeared on the TV screens. Unsure where the shooter was, Wei said, he began to feel the first rush of fear. A teacher managed to direct students into a classroom, where, Wei said, they remained for more than two hours in silence. But fears around racial profiling began to surface with the release of the Qis photo and news of the person who had been mistakenly detained. The anxieties, Wei said, only grew after the lockdown was lifted.

When I walked outside, I was worried. I was afraid that people would stare at me, look at me in different ways, Wei said.

Mai Nguyen, a former faculty member at the university, said text exchanges with faculty staff members who were barricaded revealed fears of being racially profiled by authorities, as well. That prompted Nguyen to warn anyone in the area of Asian descent of the possibility.

Please stay safe and if you are an Asian male, do not go outside until this is over. The suspect is an Asian male and you dont want to be mistaken, Nguyen posted on social media.

For more from NBC Asian America, sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Some Asian students feel anxiety about racial profiling and returning to class

Michael Zhang, a 21-year-old junior at UNCs undergraduate school, said that even though he felt supported by those he was in lockdown with, he wondered whether the shooting would lead to more hostile tensions and increased discrimination when school resumes.

I dont know whats going to happen when we go back to classes and Im more out into the public, Zhang said.

Zhang said he and a few friends were eating lunch at the student union, at the center of campus, when alerts went off about a person of interest. As images of the first person who was detained, an Asian American man, made the rounds on local media, Zhang said he instinctually felt a deep sense of worry.

I made eye contact with one of my friends whos also Asian, but a woman, when we were behind that curtain, and neither of us spoke, Zhang said. But we understood a little bit about what this might mean for how folks like us are viewed around campus.

UNC has a sizable Asian American population, making up roughly 17% of the student body. It also enrolled more than 2,500 international students in fall 2022. However, the students of Asian descent said the campus environment still is not completely inclusive.

Theres a gap between how people perceive Asians and how Asians really are, Wei said, underscoring that he has enjoyed his time at the school. Some people definitely have some misunderstandings about that, because they come in from the environment with not many Asians around them.

The university did not respond to a request for comment about the campus environment for its Asian and Asian American students.

Sean Nguyen, a UNC alum who graduated in 2021 and was active in establishing the schools Asian American Center, said that while many Asian Americans have reported feeling othered in the past, international students have long felt they were being further marginalized.

There was a pattern I noticed in my conversations. The folks I spoke to felt a really deep sense of alienation from the university and from campus life, because they were not engaged and integrated into campus life, said Nguyen, 25. Im sure that exacerbates mental health issues, feelings of isolation, feelings of alienation, of loneliness.

Racist Covid-19 and 'Wuhan-educated' comments on X inflame tensions

Zhang said he has felt disappointed looking through X, formerly known as Twitter, and seeing social media users try to connect the shooting with coronavirus conspiracy theories and the Asian community. Headlines have spotlighted Qis previous stint at Wuhan University, referring to him as Wuhan-educated. And the night of the shooting, the word Wuhan was trending on the site, with tens of thousands of posts.

Wei said he is nervous not only that innocent Asian students could be wrongfully blamed for the tragedy, but also that they could be associated with violence. And those perceptions are not easy to change, he said.

I want to tell other people around me to unite together. I want us to make friends, especially with the local people, and tell them were not associated with a killer, Wei said. The killer doesnt represent Chinese international students.

Backlash against the Asian American community at the height of Covid, Zhang said, showing how quickly tensions can morph into misplaced anger and rampant profiling.

My mom had told me this whole story about how I should be careful about going outside, because what if people associate us with the virus, Zhang said. And I think I hear her voice right now telling me to be a little bit more careful, because I understand now.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Zijie Yan, the University of North Carolina associate professor who was fatally shot on campus Monday, is being remembered as a creative force who was generous with his time and talents in both his professional and personal life.

Yan, who taught applied physical sciences, was a sweet, dedicated father, who was passionate about his work, friends and former colleagues said.

He was a quiet person with a constant smile, Doug Chrisey, Yans mentor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he got his Ph.D., told NBC News. He was a great cook, great chef. He loved to fish. And I know he loved to be with his daughters.

Yan was shot on the Chapel Hill campus at Caudill Labs, a chemistry building. UNC's police chief, Brian James, said at a news conference Tuesday that the armed suspect headed directly to the victim and left immediately after shooting him. The suspect, Tailei Qi, a graduate student at the school, was charged with first-degree murder and possession of a gun on educational property.

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Chrisey, who has known Yan since 2006, said that over the years they had stayed in touch and that he has kept photos of Yan with his family. Their interactions were always sunny, the professor said, which made news of Yans death particularly shocking.

He was a positive person and he had a great deal to offer, Chrisey, a physics professor whos now the chair of materials engineering at Tulane University, said. Theres no reason why it makes sense for it to be him. I cant imagine he ever said a cross word to me, even once.

Yan excelled in his professional endeavors, Chrisey said, adding that while he was aggressive about his work, he was never competitive or political.

He just felt like he had his own horse to ride and he was going to take the distance and not step in anybody elses area of research, Chrisey said. In an academic environment, thats also pretty unique to have someone be just so positive. I was on the phone with a UNC faculty member a little while ago and we were both crying on the phone about him.

After getting his doctorate at RPI, Yan completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Chicago in 2015. He went on to become an assistant professor at Clarkson University in upstate New York, before making his way to UNC.

Norbert Scherer, a chemistry professor and Yans former postdoctoral adviser at the University of Chicago, echoed many of Chriseys thoughts. Scherer said that the pairs work together helped push toward a new science direction, around optical matter, which consists of metallic nanoparticles bound together by light.

Scherer, who published roughly 15 peer-reviewed papers with Yan, said their collaborative yet challenging relationship helped mutually improve their work.

I always found interacting with him to be both really rewarding, but also the challenging process. And both of those things are what it should be, Scherer said. He was always really well prepared. And his ideas are very clearly thought out.  We would really bounce around and, in the positive sense, critique ideas. There was a lot of back and forth. It was a wonderful working relationship.

Zijie Yan. (via the University of North Carolina)

Though Yan delighted in his own research, both of his former mentors emphasized that he took pride in helping students and budding scientists. Chrisey said he remembers when Yan helped mentor high school students in preparation for a science fair. And Scherer recounted how Yan, whose skills could intimidate students, would practice patience.

What I observed in how Zijie works is that he was very patient and devoted himself to people who were trying, even if they werent aspiring to his level of ability and insight, that if they tried, then he would really work diligently with them, Scherer said.

As friends, family, students and colleagues pay tribute to the late scientist, Chrisey said he hopes that people will see the world with the same attitude that Yan brought with him every day.

His smiling goodness diffused into everything he did, including being a very self motivated and very capable scientist, he said. Its possible in this very imperfect world to have your own little space. You can make your little microcosm of positivity for the world.

On Wednesday, the schools Bell Tower tolled at 1:02 p.m. in Yans memory. The university will also be holding a candlelight vigil later in the day to mourn his loss.

Dr. Zijie Yan was a good man and a dedicated scholar, and he was senselessly killed while doing his job, said Peter Hans, president of the University of North Carolina school system. I join everyone in the Carolina community in condemning this act of violence and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Dr. Yans family, friends, students, and colleagues.

CORRECTION (Aug. 31, 2023, 10:07 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated when classes resume. School resumed Thursday, not Wednesday.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the student journalists at the The Daily Tar Heel, the paper for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, took a different tack to visually portray the panic incited by an on-campus shooting earlier this week.

On Monday, authorities say graduate student Tailei Qi, 34, entered the schools Caudill Laboratories and fatally shot associate professor Zijie Yan, who worked in the schools department of applied physical sciences.

Qi was taken into custody and was held on charges of first-degree murder and carrying a gun on educational property, police records show.

Caitlyn Yaede, the managing editor of the papers print edition, offered a preview on X of Wednesdays front page, which covered the shooting.

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Instead of photos showing the shooter, police or UNC students reacting to the incident, the front page was dedicated to text messages sent by students after an alert warning them of an active shooting was sent out Monday afternoon.

Are you safe? one message reads, while another reads, Where are you? Another student texted, Im so fucking scared.

You can see Yaedes tweet below.

The front page of tomorrow's @dailytarheel 



I shed many tears while typing up these heart-wrenching text messages sent and received by UNC students yesterday. Our campus was on lockdown for more than three hours.



Beyond proud of this cover and the team behind it. pic.twitter.com/2gE51TrHZ8  Caitlyn (she/her) (@caitlyn_yaede) August 30, 2023

The front page has gone viral and received praise from other journalists. As noted by The News & Observer, The Daily Tar Heels staff covered the shooting while under lockdown themselves.

A window into America in the Age of Guns. https://t.co/JdKc8Jx8ET  Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) August 30, 2023

As I dropped both of my children off at college last week .... this. https://t.co/37XXUbDeJc  Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) August 30, 2023

Stunning and horrifying front page, bravo to these student journalists. https://t.co/XNFZWUyjdI  Maura Judkis (@MauraJudkis) August 30, 2023

This is great journalism. A sad, tragic event--but glad to see student journalists respond so well. https://t.co/gm6QcA0Y6u  Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) August 30, 2023

It's truly incredible that young people still want to be part of a profession that far too often does not love them back.



My generation isn't going to change anything. Wish that wasn't the case. But I carry faith that Generation Z and beyond are going to rise and say Enough. https://t.co/TQOBbhqtE7  Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) August 30, 2023

I am so fucking proud of the kids @dailytarheel. Along with being journalists who had to accurately cover this awful day in Chapel Hill, they were also students experiencing this horrible day. But no matter what, they put this paper out. For the community. Daily Tar Heel forever https://t.co/7k0BBL60D3  Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) August 30, 2023

Student newspapers are the best. What a front page. https://t.co/wXMNK91bDp  Rich Eisen (@richeisen) August 30, 2023

This is so powerful. And so devastating. https://t.co/wGO91I12dt  Sherrilyn Ifill (@SIfill_) August 30, 2023

Incredible work by student journalists who endured a horrific day of violence and fear. https://t.co/mR7ezoJ7Ti  Lydia Polgreen (@lpolgreen) August 30, 2023

I am so fucking proud of the kids @dailytarheel. Along with being journalists who had to accurately cover this awful day in Chapel Hill, they were also students experiencing this horrible day. But no matter what, they put this paper out. For the community. Daily Tar Heel forever https://t.co/7k0BBL60D3  Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) August 30, 2023

A lot of people in power will tell you this is powerful and moving, and then theyll do nothing to change things or help you. Theres only one thing anyone in DC cares about - money. The life of your friends are irrelevant to them compared to campaign contributions. https://t.co/xnsIIqNr54  Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) August 30, 2023

"Don't stop texting me."



We don't have to live like this. It's madness. https://t.co/APr31mCLq0  Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) August 30, 2023

Ive never seen a better front page. And neither have you.



Via the brilliant @dailytarheel student journalists. pic.twitter.com/YuwrjeirQk  Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) August 30, 2023

The @dailytarheel is a nonprofit, independent of the university. It's the reason I'm a journalist, and it's necessary for the community, especially in the face of tragedy. If you want to join me in supporting the DTH, do it here https://t.co/tNPrQyY2Olhttps://t.co/lhnb4KPrEp  Terri Rupar (@terri_rupar) August 30, 2023

Related...
A for sale sign in front of a house in the Brookside Greens development in Norton.

Home values across Ohio have skyrocketed, and these historic increases will translate into significantly higher property tax bills for some homeowners but not others.

The math to calculate what a 30% or 40% increase in your home's value means for your property taxes isn't simple either. Ohio's constitution and state laws have created a complicated system of rules and exceptions for how levies can or cannot raise your taxes.

"We have 65 different taxing districts in Butler County," Auditor Nancy Nix said. "Every home is different, every township, every school district. There is no one size fits all, and thats why its so hard to explain anything to anybody."

Some Republican lawmakers are hoping to change the calculations before property tax bills go out next year. The long-term goal is to make the calculations easier. The short-term plan is to reverse some of the tax increases about to go into effect.

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More: Franklin County home values jump average 41% in reappraisal - see how much your area rose

For example, the city of Middletown is a working-class community made famous by U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance's memoir Hillbilly Elegy. Home values there jumped above the countywide average to 40%, and its specific set of levies and exemptions could increase property taxes by more than 20%.

"One day we had two different women from Middletown crying, literally crying, on the phone," Nix said. "Nobody likes more taxes, but the well-off, they know they will be fine. It's the people on fixed incomes and the lower-income, theyre the people who are going to struggle."

Why some taxes rise with home values while others don't

Different levies for schools, libraries, and other local services are why homes with the same assessed value can pay very different tax bills. But equally as important to understanding Ohio's property tax increases is the kind of millage you pay.

The most experienced staff at the Ohio Department of Taxation this years recommended valuation increases are as high as theyve ever been.

Levies are calculated using a measurement called mills. They're one-thousandth of a dollar or $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value. When counties determine their tax bills, they take a home's taxable value (35% of what it's worth) and its total millage to calculate what property owners owe.

A home worth $400,000 would therefore have a taxable value of $140,000 and a single mill would generate $140 in property taxes. If that house was worth $500,000, a single mill would cost $175.

That's the basics of how property values increase property taxes, but Ohio's system isn't that simple. The state constitution divided millage into two categories: inside and outside.

The idea was local governments needed a certain amount to function, so your first 10 mills aren't voted upon and can't be taken away. It's the inside amount homeowners would always have to pay. Outside millage, on the other hand, is what voters approve through levies.

And inside millage behaves differently than outside millage.

Those first 10 mills homeowners pay rises with their taxable value. If a home's value goes up by 25%, as it did in the example above, then those 10 mills would rise by 25% as well. Outside millage doesn't operate like that.

Here's how it works: A school district passes a five-mill levy to collect $1 million a year. When property values rise by 25%, those five mills would generate $1.25 million. Ohio law prohibits local entities from collecting more than voters approve, so the mill rate gets artificially lowered. This is called effective millage.

In that example where a home's value rose to $500,000, the owner would see a $350 increase on their inside mills but potentially see their outside millage stay flat.

The caveat there is another quirk of Ohio law called the 20-mill floor.

This floor applies to school districts, and it says schools cannot drop below 20 mills even if that increases the total amount collected. Homeowners, like those in Middletown, who live in school districts at or around that floor will see school tax increases in percentages that closely match their value increases.

Keeping with the same example, a $500,000 home on that floor would pay $875 more assuming they had five inside mills for schools, five inside mills for other services and 15 protected by the floor.

On the flip side, homeowners living in school districts above the floor won't see the same increases. State law "lowers" those millage rates.

For example, Olentangy School District residents would only see a 4% increase in their taxes from a 35% jump in property values, according to Delaware County Auditor George Kaitsa. But three of his districts (Big Walnut, Buckeye Valley and Delaware City) are at that 20 mill floor and will see bigger increases.

Franklin County has two of its 24 school districts at the floor. And in total, the Department of Taxation says half of Ohio's school districts are at that minimum 20 mill level.

"These values, theyre not lying. The data is not lying," Nix said. "It's the Ohio Revised Code that has us in a bind, and only our lawmakers can fix it."

Different lawmakers, different solutions

In May, a group of southwest Ohio Republicans tried to change how home values get calculated, requiring the Ohio Department of Taxation to use three years of sales data instead of one.

They called it a "common sense solution" that would have dropped Butler County's increase from 38% to 24%. But the idea failed to make it into the state budget before lawmakers left Columbus for the summer.

"We had the fix in the Senate version of the budget, and the House pulled it out," Sen. George Lang, R-West Chester, said.

His goal, when lawmakers return in September, is to pass something, possibly a temporary switch to that three-year calculation, and make it effective before property tax bills go out next year.

"It's going to be disastrous if we don't fix it," Lang said.

More: Ohio expands its property tax exemptions, here's what you need to know

But Rep. Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, isn't convinced that Ohioans need blanket relief from their property taxes.

"To me, property tax relief for people who need it the most makes sense," he said. "Property tax relief for those who can afford the increase in taxes just doesnt seem like a sensical policy."

That's why he's working with Rep. Thomas Hall, R-Madison Twp., on expanding Ohio's homestead exemptions which lower property taxes for certain groups of people like seniors and disabled veterans.

Two other ideas being floated by both Nix and Hall are to reduce that 20-mill floor for public schools or restore some of the Local Government Fund.

"I know (lawmakers) are resistant to take back some of the tax burden," Nix said. "But if they really want to help, thats a way to help."

Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

Get more political analysis by listening to the Ohio Politics Explained podcast

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio lawmakers propose tax changes as homeowners brace for big bills
March For Our Lives co-founder David Hogg speaks at a gun safety rally following a fatal shooting earlier in the week on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, in Chapel Hill, N.C. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP)  A shooting that left a faculty member dead and frightened students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has galvanized gun safety advocates and local Democrats, who rallied the grieving campus community Wednesday to fight for stricter state gun laws.

About 600 students held protest signs on a large lawn in the heart of campus and bowed their heads during a moment of silence as the iconic campus Bell Tower rang in honor of the deceased associate professor, Zijie Yan.

Yan, who led a research group in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, was fatally shot Monday by one of his graduate students inside a science lab building at the states flagship public university, authorities said.

Students who spoke at the rally described hours of terror and confusion during a lockdown and police manhunt that resulted in the arrest of Tailei Qi, 34, who has been charged with first-degree murder and having a gun on educational property. Qi briefly appeared Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court, and Judge Sherri Murrell ordered that he remain jailed without bond. Dana Graves, a public defender who represented Qi at the hearing, left court without talking to reporters and did not respond to an email seeking comment.

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With quaking hands and trembling voices, students chanted Yan's name Wednesday and raised signs that read learning not lockdowns, this is my reality and 1 death by guns is 1 too many. They waved copies of The Daily Tar Heel, UNC's student newspaper, which went viral overnight for its Wednesday front page displaying emotional text messages sent and received by students during the lockdown.

One shot was fired but an entire community was injured, said Luke Diasio, vice president of the UNC chapter of March For Our Lives. It was the most terrifying experience of my life."

March For Our Lives co-founder David Hogg, who launched the nationwide gun control movement in the immediate aftermath of a fatal mass shooting at his high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, hugged teary eyed students, several who he had met previously. He urged them to take their pain and anger to the ballot box.

The reality is, if we don't mobilize after these things happen, they're going to continue happening, Hogg said in an interview with The Associated Press. This is a critical state because this is where change is possible, a lot more than in Washington. If students at UNC and elsewhere turned out and voted, they could change the state legislature.

Hogg criticized North Carolina Republicans, who hold a narrowly veto-proof supermajority in the General Assembly, for enacting legislation this year that repealed a permit system requiring sheriffs to evaluate gun applicants before they could purchase a pistol.

As Republicans plan to redraw legislative maps in a special session this fall, state Democrats are preparing for an uphill battle in 2024, said state party chair Anderson Clayton. Elected at 25 years old, Clayton has trained her focus on young voters, whom she views as essential to shedding Democrats' superminority status in the legislature, holding onto congressional seats and retaining control of the governor's office after Gov. Roy Cooper ends his term.

Now is always the time" for political action, she told the crowd. Now's too late in a lot of ways to be thinking about what we're doing at this moment and how you can engage and put your voices out there.

Volunteers with the UNC Young Democrats registered 24 new voters at the rally, the organization said.

Clayton called for a reckoning in our state capital and accused Republican leadership of not taking the shooting seriously.

House Speaker Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican and UNC alumnus, had said in a statement Monday that he was heartbroken for his Tar Heel family and thankful for the officers and first responders who apprehended the suspect. Moore's office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Clayton's accusation.

Danielle Kennedy, a freshman from Apex, held a handmade sign that read This is my 2nd School Shooting. The computer science student told The AP she was overwhelmed Monday with familiar feelings of terror after having lived through a similar three-hour lockdown earlier this year when a student brought a BB gun to her high school.

"The first time around, I felt afraid, but now I'm just angry," Kennedy said. I'm living proof of how common and deeply traumatic this is for kids in our country.

___

Hannah Schoenbaum 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.
Four University Park trustees held a special meeting Tuesday and voted to fire the special attorney in the Aqua Illinois lawsuit and the village lobbyist.

Trustee Theo Brooks, who was appointed board chair due to Mayor Joesph Roudezs absence, announced the resignation of Nina Fain, who was special counsel for the village in the ongoing lawsuit against Aqua Illinois for allegedly not providing safe drinking water to University Park.

She resigned. She left a beautiful letter and Im going to give her a good response because her and I always had a good relationship, Brooks said.

The agenda was posted Friday, Brooks said, and by Monday afternoon Fain sent in a resignation letter, Brooks said. The boards legislative attorney said the board still had to vote to terminate Fains contract because it was an agenda item, he said.

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Fain said in a statement is disappointed she wont work for the village anymore, and pointed to a political shift that lead to Tuesdays vote.

When leadership changes, team members do too. It is just life and people move on. The villages future is bright and people do what they think is best to do, Fain said.

The board voted 4-0 to terminate Fain, with Roudez and trustees Janelle McFadden and Karen Lewis absent. Without discussion, the board voted 4-0 to remove village lobbyist Frank Bass.

Trustee Donna Fulcher said she voted to terminate Bass because she found out that he pushed for a bill that would have created a University Park development authority board to focus on redeveloping vacant and underutilized properties throughout the village, which she feels wouldve limited the Village Boards powers.

That was something that I didnt care for or know, Fulcher said.

Fulcher said she called Bass to learn more about what he did for the village, and he forwarded her emails he sent to the village manager with grant recommendations.

Brooks also said he voted to terminate Bass because of his push for the development board. When he learned about the bill recently, Brooks said he was blindsided by it.

Additionally, Brooks said he did not like how closely Bass seemed to work with Roudez.

I felt he did not operate in the best interest of the village, Brooks said.

Bass declined to comment.

Brooks said he voted to terminate Fain because the village was paying about $5,000 a month for her services but not much was being done to help residents.

Trustee Jewell Thompson her vote was because during the boards July meeting, Fain came to give a presentation.

Thompson said when she asked Fain about her role in the lawsuit, Fain didnt give her a clear answer. When Thompson asked Fain who advocates for the village in the lawsuit, Fain said the attorney generals office.

We dont need to spend money for no reason. Its a waste of money, Thompson said.

Fulcher agreed with Thompson adding that the presentation held in July was Fains opportunity to tell the trustees and residents about all the work shes done.

We gave her a chance, Fulcher said. But it was nothing she actually does.

Trustee Gina Williams said she listened in on some of the court hearings in the Aqua case and that Fain wasnt present.

I just feel that there was not enough being done by Ms. Fain as far as Aqua, Williams said. I wish her well, but I think more couldve been done.
CANBERRA, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The remains of three U.S. Marines killed in a helicopter crash on an island off Australia's north coast have been recovered.

The U.S. Marine Rotational Force Darwin (MRF-D) said in a statement on Tuesday night that the bodies of the three Marines have been transported to Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory (NT).

The three Marines were killed when their MV-22B Osprey helicopter with 23 personnel on board crashed on Sunday morning approximately 80 km north of Darwin on Melville Island during a training exercise.

The MRF-D said that, as of Tuesday night, two of the Marines who were injured in the crash remained in a stable condition in the Royal Darwin Hospital but a third was in a critical condition and has been moved more than 3,000 km to Melbourne for treatment.

"The cause of the incident remains under investigation," the statement said. 
Emmy Award-winning Univision anchor Ilia Calderon will join Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney and Fox News anchor Dana Perino as a moderator for the second Republican presidential debate, the networks announced Wednesday.

The Sept. 27 debate will be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Univision will air a Spanish-language version of the event on its network.

Calderon co-moderated the final 2020 Democratic primary debate between Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont hosted by CNN.

Calderon will be the only Hispanic person on stage among both moderators and candidates. No Latinos were present during the first debate, for which Miami Mayor and 2024 presidential hopeful Francis Suarez failed to qualify. Suarez ended his long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday.

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For more from NBC Latino, sign up for our weekly newsletter.

So far, six candidates appear to have qualified for the next face-off: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Former President Donald Trump also appears to have qualified, but his participation remains unclear after he skipped the first debate.

In December 2017, Calderon became the first Afro Latina to anchor a weekday evening news program for a major U.S. network.

Calderon was born and raised in Colombia, where she began her journalism career. She joined Telemundo News in the early 2000s before moving to Univision.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Fictional characters have inspired some of the less-common names on the Social Security Administration's baby name list.

Fictional characters have inspired some of the less-common names on the Social Security Administration's baby name list.

When the Social Security Administration releases its annual list of the most popular baby names in the U.S., the agency also shares broader data around American naming choices.

In fact, the SSA tracks all the names given to five or more infants born each year to show the full range of possibilities in this country. Many parents eschew top picks like Olivia, Emma, Liam and Noah in favor of unconventional options such as Greenleigh, Dragon, Fender and Evermore.

From fictional characters to dictionary words, here are 50 unusual baby names that parents chose in 2022. The list reflects names given to fewer than 10 babies born last year.

Girls

Minnow

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Banksy

Cinderella

Joyous

Greenleigh

Delight

Katniss

Skylark

Bronte

Sparkle

Menorah

Elegance

Canary

Evermore

Horizon

Bethlehem

Chai

Brilliance

Fauna

Ibiza

Strawberry

Bardot

Winterrose

Pearly

Willoughby

Boys

Barley

Dragon

Beacon

Utah

Ludwig

Alchemy

Ives

Daytona

Clever

Ontario

Cosmos

Fender

Gilead

Cotton

Valiant

Rooster

Cerulean

Barnaby

Chaos

Ruckus

Crash

Forbes

Awesome

Lancelot

Texas

Related...
Cardinal Archbishop emeritus Theodore McCarrick (C) greets Pope Francis (L) during Midday Prayer of the Divine with more than 300 U.S. Bishops at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on September 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)

Sex abuse charges against former Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick have been dismissed by a Massachusetts judge who ruled the 93-year-old was incompetent to stand trial.

Mr McCarrick, who was the former archbishop of Washington, was charged with assaulting a 16-year-old boy in 1974.

The former cleric, the most senior member of the US Catholic church to face charges, still faces a criminal sexual abuse charge against the same alleged victim, in Wisconsin.

Mr McCarrick pleaded not guilty in September 2021 to allegations that he sexually abused the boy at a wedding reception at Bostons Wellesley College in June 1974.

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His lawyers told the court in April that Mr McCarrick had been examined by experts at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who concluded he suffers from dementia, likely due to Alzheimers disease.

The judge ruled in agreement on Wednesday and prosecutors immediately dismissed the complaint against the former Cardinal.

(The) Commonwealth does not have a good-faith basis to proceed any longer with the prosecution give the testimony and the opinions of the psychologist that Mr McCarrick is not restorable to competency, the prosecutor said.

Mr McCarrick, who now lives in Missouri, did not appear in person in the courtroom but joined the hearing by video.
The State Department urged all U.S. citizens to leave Haiti on Wednesday, strengthening previous warnings over safety concerns in the country.

Given the current security situation and infrastructure challenges, U.S. citizens in Haiti should depart Haiti as soon as possible via commercial or private transport, the department said.

Conditions in the Caribbean country, and especially its capital Port-au-Prince, have deteriorated dramatically in recent months. The U.S. Embassy was briefly closed earlier this month among widespread gang violence and gunfire in the citys streets.

In late July, an American nurse and her daughter were kidnapped and held for ransom by a gang in the country. She was returned to safety about two weeks later.

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The State Department first issued a do not travel notice for Haiti in late July, noting the risk of kidnappings. Nonemergency embassy personnel were also asked to leave the country.

Gang violence in Haiti increased by 28 percent in the first quarter of 2023, and the senior U.N. representative in Port-au-Prince told the U.N. Security Council earlier this year that in 2022, gang violence overall reached levels not seen in decades.

The sharp increase in gang activity began following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021, and it has continued to expand since then.

The violence has caused at least 165,000 Haitians to flee their homes, mostly to temporary shelters.

The U.S. has backed a United Nations plan for a multinational police force in the country, led by Kenya. That force would focus on combating gang violence, mostly in Port-au-Prince.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The US Copyright Office is taking a big step toward new rules for generative AI.

It's opening a public comment period to cover issues of fair use, infringement, and liability.

A comment period is typically the last step before new rules are proposed.

The US Copyright Office is inching closer to creating new rules and regulations around generative AI and how the technology uses the work of authors and other creators.

In a notice filed Wednesday, the US Copyright Office said it is opening up a period of public comment, now through October 18, to further "inform" its ongoing study of artificial intelligence tools like Midjourney, OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Google Bard.

The Office is looking at possible regulatory action or new federal rules due to "widespread public debate about what these systems may mean for the future of creative industries."

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The Office wants input on whether new rules or regulation for generative AI are needed, along with the issues surrounding the use of "copyrighted works to train AI models, the appropriate levels of transparency and disclosure with respect to the use of copyrighted works, and the legal status of AI-generated outputs."

Authors , visual artists and even source code developers are already suing the likes of OpenAI, Microsoft and Meta because their original work has been used without their consent to train something that may ultimately compete against them.

In the government rule-making process, a public comment period typically happens before a final rule is proposed and adopted. The Office earlier this year held a series of "listening sessions" with stakeholders, including representatives of Microsoft (a major backer of OpenAI), VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and The Authors Guild.

Generative AI tools including ChatGPT, Bard and Meta's Llama 2, were developed using massive amounts of information and data scraped and saved by automated web crawlers, which suck up everything they can online, including millions of works under copyright. The major tech companies behind these generative AI tools use the crawled data to train their models without paying the creators who produced the original content. These the models need high-quality, human-generated content to perform well.

More online businesses are slowly becoming aware of the degree to which the web is being scraped for the benefit of generative AI. The likes of Amazon, Airbnb and Tumblr, along with news outlets like The New York Times and CNN, are increasingly blocking web crawlers through an old and relatively feeble tool known as robots.txt. At the moment, there is almost no way to avoid content being crawled and used to create an LLM and copyright law does not currently address the issue.

The US Copyright Office noted that it has already ruled on a some AI-content issues in the last year. In one case, it refused to register a copyright for an AI generated artwork. In another, a book by a human author that included AI generated imagery, the Office only granted copyright for the text by the author.

Now, the Office is looking to go further. It wants to resolve several issues it has identified with regard to copyright and AI, including training data, whether AI generated material is eligible for copyright, liability for infringement by AI systems and how to treat AI outputs that "imitate the identity or style of human artists."

That last issue appears to be new for the Office. Although this has become another widely discussed topic due to ongoing strikes by Hollywood writers and actors, who are fighting, in part, against a desire by studios to use generative AI in place of human writers and performers.

"In both our listening sessions and other outreach, the Office heard from artists and performers concerned about generative AI systems' ability to mimic their voices, likenesses, or styles," the Office wrote in its notice. "Although these personal attributes are not generally protected by copyright law, their copying may implicate varying state rights of publicity and unfair competition law, as well as have relevance to various international treaty obligations."

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Hyunsu Yim

SEOUL (Reuters) -The United States separately deployed B-1B bombers for joint drills with South Korea and Japan on Wednesday, as the three allies have stepped up responses to threats from North Korea.

A U.S. B-1B flew alongside South Korean FA-50 jets and U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters as part of ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, South Korea's defence ministry said. It marked the 10th such flight by an American bomber this year.

North Korea routinely denounces the annual military drills as a rehearsal for war. The allies have stressed that the exercises are defensive.

Separately, two U.S. Air Force B-1Bs joined joint drills with 12 Japanese fighters, including four F-15 jets, according to Japan's defence ministry.

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The U.S.-led bomber drills came days after North Korea attempted a satellite launch that ended in failure.

The U.S. and South Korea began Ulchi Freedom Shield last week - a joint large-scale military exercise designed to enhance their response to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile threats, with the second part kicking off on Monday.

Wednesday's exercise was a demonstration of what the allies have called "extended deterrence" in the face of North Korea's recent space launch vehicle flights and a show of "strong united defence posture", South Korea's defence ministry said in a statement.

Tokyo's defence ministry said the U.S.-Japan joint air drills over the Sea of Japan on Wednesday confirmed the two militaries' "readiness to respond to any situation" amid North Korea's ballistic missile launches.

Japan also participated in a trilateral naval missile defence exercise with the U.S. and South Korea on Tuesday.

On Tuesday in a speech marking Navy Day, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accused the United States and its allies of increasing the risk of nuclear war, referring to an Aug. 18 summit at Camp David between the United States, South Korea and Japan.

"Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the U.S. and other hostile forces, the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been reduced to the world's biggest war hardware concentration spot, the most unstable waters with the danger of a nuclear war," Kim was quoted as saying by state media KCNA.

(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim in Seoul; Additional reporting by Kantaro Komiya in Tokyo; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
U.S. partners will assist Ukraine in restoring its port infrastructure, which has suffered frequent attacks by Russian forces in the past weeks, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority announced on Aug. 30.

The state company overseeing Ukraine's maritime transport signed a memorandum with the U.S. ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans to cooperate in the planning, development, construction, administration, operation, and maintenance of Ukrainian port infrastructure.

The cooperation will also involve the authorities of Ukraine's largest port, the Odesa Sea Port, according to the announcement.

"As two of the world's leading grain exporters, the farmers and workers of the United States and Ukraine are tough and take pride in their role in feeding the world," said Paul Matthews, the CEO of the South Louisana Port.

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"This agreement solidifies Port of South Louisiana's support for the Ukrainian people in the defense of their freedom and creates an alliance with our Ukrainian port partners that focuses on our shared mission of serving global customers and creating economic prosperity for our communities."

Russian forces have escalated their drone and missile strikes against Ukraine's ports and agricultural infrastructure since Moscow's unilateral termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July.

Russia's withdrawal from the grain deal and subsequent strikes against Ukrainian ports sparked fears of food insecurity worldwide as prices of grain products began to rise following the agreement's collapse.

Ukraine's grain exports are vital to the world's food supply. Before the full-scale invasion, the country was the fifth-largest wheat exporter globally. The grain deal had allowed for nearly 33 million metric tons of food to be exported through Ukrainian ports while it was in force, according to the U.N.

Read also: Monitor: Another vessel leaves Odesa port via Black Sea corridor

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
The chef and founder of the World Central Kitchen charity organization Jose Andres became one of the heroes of the NV People project approaching victory

In an interview for NV's "People Bringing Victory Closer" project, Ukrainian chef Yevhen Klopotenko praised the tireless efforts of Jose Andres, whose World Central Kitchen charity has been pivotal in feeding Ukrainians since Russia's invasion began.

Andres is a chef and restaurateur from Washington, D.C., a two-Michelin-starred chef and founder of the World Central Kitchen, a charity organization that provides food to victims of natural disasters and wars, and has been operating here since the first days of the full-scale war in Ukraine.

Read also: James Bond director Fukunaga does volunteer work in Ukraine

Andres became one of the heroes of the NV project People Bringing Victory Closer, which was featured in the August issue of the magazine.

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As part of the project, the inspiring stories of the heroes selected by the editorial team with the help of competent experts were partly written by NV journalists, partly by famous Ukrainians and foreigners, and some of the heroes told about themselves. In particular, here's what chef, restaurateur, and social activist Klopotenko wrote about the founder of the World Central Kitchen charity organization  Jose Andres.

"At first, Chef Jose Andres was a prominent figure in the restaurant industry and in chef circles, and gained fame for his skillful cooking. But after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, he founded the World Central Kitchen organization. Within its framework, he began to implement social projects and provide food to people affected by natural disasters or military conflicts around the world.

Read also: 20 celebs who came to Ukraine in past year

So when a full-scale war broke out in Ukraine, many world-renowned chefs advised our team to turn to Andres. Of course, we listened. He responded to our request immediately. This is how our cooperation began.

Since the beginning of the invasion, Andres and his team have been traveling to all the hot spots in the frontline areas. And in terms of humanitarian aid, the Spanish-American chef has provided enormous assistance to the people of Ukraine.

For example, at the beginning of the war, I was approached by many Odesa chefs and ordinary Odesans. They told me that they were receiving a huge number of refugees from Kherson, from babies to pensioners, and they did not have the resources and money to feed everyone. But thanks to the work of Andres, the World Central Kitchen team, and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, a humanitarian food catastrophe was actually avoided in the first days of the war. Therefore, Andres' contribution is truly invaluable.

I think that Andres's humanitarian work is an example of a chef not just cooking and making money, but doing something one step above for the world community and saving lives. In my opinion, this is what chefs should do. That's when they become great."

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The UN Security Council votes on a draft resolution on the renewal of the Mali sanctions regime at the UN headquarters in New York, on Aug. 30, 2023. Russia on Wednesday vetoed a Security Council draft resolution that would have renewed the Mali sanctions regime. (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia on Wednesday vetoed a Security Council draft resolution that would have renewed the Mali sanctions regime.

The draft resolution, tabled by France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), won 13 votes in favor. Russia voted against it. China abstained.

A competing draft resolution tabled by Russia failed to win enough votes in favor for its adoption.

To be adopted, a Security Council resolution needs nine votes in favor and no veto from any of the five permanent members of the council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

After the vote on the draft resolution tabled by France and the UAE, Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said his country had to cast a veto because the draft did not take into consideration Mali's concerns and the Russian position.

In a letter sent to Security Council members earlier this month, Mali asked the council to terminate the sanctions regime -- travel ban and asset freeze.

Before the vote on the Russian-drafted text, Nebenzia ruled out a return of the sanctions regime if Russia's draft was not adopted.

"So please do heed our words and vote in favor of this (Russian) draft," he said. "If this is not adopted, then there is no coming back to discussing any further resolution on this matter."

The U.S. representative said earlier that his country was committed to working with other Security Council members "to achieve a mandate renewal."

The Security Council established the sanctions regime, targeting individuals and entities engaged in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Mali, in September 2017. The council had renewed the Mali sanctions regime several times. The mandate for the regime expires on Aug. 31, 2023. 
Ukrainian Railways (UZ) has signed a contract with Winncom Ukraine to install a telecommunication network in their Intercity trains, offering wireless Internet access for UAH 78.89 million ($2.14 million), local outlet Nashi Hroshi reported on Aug. 30.

Winncom will handle the supply, installation, and commissioning of the equipment to provide Wi-Fi to passengers of 16 Intercity trains.

Read also: Ukrzaliznytsia shows off new couchette cars for Kyiv-Chernivtsi route

Internet access will be provided via Starlink, LTE, and WiFi from a series of transmitters available to passengers.

The equipment's installation will be complete by April 2024, and a three-year warranty will be provided for post-installation servicing and adjustments.

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Read also: How Ukrzaliznytsia and bed linen manufacturers discussed new contracts  NV report

The contract ended up costing UZ 18% less than the anticipated UAH 96 million.

Winncom Ukraine, owned by Igor Polishchuk and managed by Volodymyr Dubey, has received contracts worth UAH 471 million ($12.8 million) since 2016.

Read also: Czech Republic may transfer its old Mi-24V helicopters to Ukraine

Radim Jancura, the owner of Czech rail operator RegioJet, told NV in an interview that internet access on trains in Europe is usually supplied using several SIM cards on each train. This approach allows for adequate data transmission speed. He also noted that the cost of such equipment is roughly EUR 1,000 per train. In contrast to Ukraine, mobile connection is available everywhere alongside the railways in the Czech Republic.

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
The Lead Affinity Group is a community coalition comprised of passionate, dedicated civil servants, health providers, educators, researchers and community leaders. The coalition was formed in 2017 to address the significant lead poisoning problem in St. Joseph County. In February 2017, the South Bend Tribune published a bombshell article entitled: "South Bends stubborn lead problem." We learned very quickly that (a) lead is toxic, especially to very young children, and affects every organ in the body, (b) there were few resources to help people who were at risk of lead poisoning, (c) community members had little understanding of this problem, (d) the health care system largely overlooked this problem, and most awful, (e) the rate of lead poisoning among children under 7 in some parts of SJC exceeded the rate of lead poisoning in Flint, Mich.

During the past six years, the Lead Affinity Group has met monthly to address this problem, bring awareness and resources and serve as advocates for those at risk of lead poisoning. The problem of lead poisoning was found to be very complex because it is addressed by so many different branches of government, social services and health care, and coordination is lacking. We have spent a great deal of time understanding the intricate web of services and have sought and supported new community resources and impactful policies. As a result, this coalition has raised awareness, improved coordination and communication, advocated for new funding and staff positions and supported the development of new local and state policies.

In the past year, two incredibly important policy changes occurred to address lead poisoning: (a) to increase blood lead testing among children (House Enrolled Act 1313; Effective date: January 2023) and (b) to expand case management of children who have been lead poisoned (Indiana Department of Health; effective date: July 2022).

HEA 1313 states that health care providers must verify that children under the age of 7 have been tested for lead, and if not, to offer this testing, and test all 1- and 2-year olds for lead. Each year SJC has 4,000 births. If all the 1- and 2-year olds were tested, then our testing goal would be 8,000 tests per year. During the past three years, 2,400 1- and 2-year olds have been tested each year. This is just 30% of our goal.

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Childhood blood lead testing must become a routine part of childhood care. The health care system will need to make modifications to ensure they are adhering to this new law much in the same way they implement and adhere to childhood immunization schedules.

Parents, grandparents and caregivers can be advocates for their childs health care by asking for a blood lead test at their childs wellness appointments, for all children under the age of 7, but especially important under the age of 3.

The Indiana Department of Health lowered the threshold at which case management is initiated by local Health Departments in half from blood lead test results of 10ug/dL (micrograms per deciliter) to 5ug/dL. This exponential impact will be dramatic; early data suggests that the number of children who will need case management will increase fourfold.

There are many area organizations working to provide a response to reduce lead poisoning:

 The city of South Bend has a Lead Remediation Grant Program that provides funding for income qualified families including landlords to help make homes lead safe. About 80% of homes in St. Joseph County were built before 1974 and are likely to have lead in the home.

 The St. Joseph County Health Department provides case management to children who have lead poisoning which includes: nursing support and a lead risk assessment to help determine the source of lead in the home. The Health Department also offers support to families whose childrens blood lead level is higher than zero, but does not meet the case management threshold. This response includes support from community health workers.

 The University of Notre Dames Lead Innovation Team has developed a lead screening kit to help families identify hotspots of lead in their home environment. The kit results provide important information for families to begin the process of making their homes lead safe.

Lead poisoning is a scourge on our community and continues to be a relentless danger to our childrens health and future. But we have new opportunities to change this trajectory for our children. The Lead Affinity Group will be conducting community presentations this fall to raise awareness and education. If you are interested in having a presentation conducted for your organization, company or community group, contact Kathy Schuth (nnndirector@nearnorthwest.org) and Heidi Beidinger-Burnett (hbeiding@nd.edu).

We must work together to end this dangerous legacy of lead and create a bright future that is lead free!

Heidi Beidinger-Burnett, Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, and Kathy Schuth, Near Northwest Neighborhood, are co-founders of the St. Joseph County Lead Affinity Group.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: St. Joe County's lead poisoning problem persists
The UNC Chapel Hill community came together at the iconic Bell Tower at the University of North Carolina on Wednesday to gather for a moment of silence in honor of the associate professor who was killed on campus this week.

Dr. Zijie Yan had been with the university since 2019. Yan earned multiple degrees in China before coming to the United States where he earned his doctoral degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic University in New York.

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Yan also spent time at the University of Chicago where he worked under chemistry professor Dr. Norbert Scherer.

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Scherer says the two stayed in touch when Yan left to become a professor, first at Clarkson University in New York then at UNC.

He says Yan was respected by his colleagues and was great at mentoring students.

Zijie, absolutely as a young scientist, was certainly on a great trajectory to become a dominant person in his field, Scherer said.

According to our sister station, WTVD in Raleigh, Yan led his own research group at UNC. The suspect accused of shooting and killing Yan on Monday was listed online as part of that research group. The two were also co-authors of a report that was published last month.

VIDEO: UNC graduate student left building right after killing adviser, police say
Vivek Ramaswamy is continuing to soak up all the media attention he's been getting by responding to the cease-and-desist letter that Eminem sent to him earlier this week for his unauthorized rapping of the song "Lose Yourself."

In an interview Tuesday with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, the Republican presidential candidate said he will "respect" the Detroit rapper's wishes and stop using the 2002 hit.

The Rap God artist recently sent a cease and desist to Ramaswamy after the businessman-turned-politician rapped along to Lose Yourself at the Iowa State Fair this month. A representative for music licenser BMI confirmed to The Times that the company filed the letter on behalf of Eminem.

Read more: Eminem sends Vivek Ramaswamy a warning: Don't use 'Lose Yourself' on the campaign trail

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In typical politician fashion, the 38-year-old Ohio native used the moment to turn the incident into an ideological clash in Tuesday's interview.

"I would just say: Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?" he said. "Eminem, in his rise, used to be a guy who actually stood up to the establishment and said the things that the establishment didn't want him to say.

"I think the fact that my political viewpoints may differ from his  I think people change over the course of their lives, but I have hope for him that he will one day rediscover the renegade that made him great and I'm rooting for that success in his life."

Read more: Who is Vivek Ramaswamy and why did so many of his GOP presidential rivals attack him?

Video of Ramaswamys spur-of-the-moment performance has garnered millions of views on social media. Reactions in the comments section to the right-wing candidates rapping ranged from ultra-supportive to very critical, with most expressing surprise.

But Ramaswamy is no stranger to the rap game. As a Harvard undergrad, he performed at open-mic nights as rapper Da Vek.

I saw myself, honestly, making it big through American capitalism, and thats why the Eminem story spoke to me, Ramaswamy told Politico. I didnt grow up in a trailer, but I also didnt grow up in the same circumstances that most of my peers at Harvard did, either. I aspired to achieve what many of their parents did. It kind of spoke to me, I would say.

The cease-and-desist letter, which was reviewed by The Times, states, "This letter serves as notice ... that BMI has received a communication from Marshall B. Mathers, III, professionally known as Eminem, objecting to the Vivek Ramaswamy campaigns use of Eminems musical compositions...

BMI will consider any performance of the Eminem Works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach of the Agreement for which BMI reserves all rights and remedies with respect thereto.

Sign up for L.A. Goes Out, a weekly newsletter about exploring and experiencing Los Angeles from the L.A. Times.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy talks to members of the media in the spin room following the first debate of the GOP primary season, Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy talks to members of the media in the spin room following the first debate of the GOP primary season, Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee.

As a young Indian American commentator, its both exciting and challenging when an Indian American breaks into the national political arena. To date, weve seen former Louisiana Gov. Piyush Bobby Jindal, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley run for president. But the reality is that Jindal is a footnote to history, Harris is predominantly perceived as a Black woman first, and Haley is white-passing and has only recently embraced her Indian American identity for this latest presidential bid. Moreover, each of these figures is from a previous generation  coming of age in a very different America than the one inherited by millennials and Gen Z.

Therefore, my interest was piqued when, a few months back, I learned of an Indian American millennial whod entered the 2024 presidential race out of nowhere. That candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, burst onto the national political scene last Wednesday at the Republican primary debate.

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Though I had already done a deep dive into the right-wing tech bro and culture warrior, I watched Ramaswamys debate performance with a unique sense of dread. I hoped the people watching at home knew this was no representation of either my generation or the Indian American community. Ramaswamy, 38, is one of the few high-profile young Indian American political voices, but nearly every word out of his mouth betrays the core values of the demographics hes invoking for his deeply cynical campaign.

In rallying cries to his fellow Indians to break free from the British Empire, Mahatma Gandhi often cited and drew from the American Revolution. No doubt Ramaswamy, who has centered the revolution in his messaging, knows this well. However, unlike Ramaswamy, the vast majority of Indian Americans  having come of age during or just after Indian Independence in the mid-20th century  treasure the hard-won privilege of democracy.

At the debate, the biotech entrepreneur fed red meat to the MAGA base, arguing that former President Donald Trump was the best president of the 21st century and dismissing urgent threats to democracy both domestically and abroad (e.g. siding with Vladimir Putins Russia over Ukraine). In stark contrast, in 2016, a reported 77% of Indian Americans voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and in 2020, over 70% of Indian Americans supported the Biden-Harris ticket.

In fact, in response to Trumpism and its anti-immigrant rhetoric, Indian Americans have become increasingly politically engaged in support of progressive policies. As journalist Vidya Krishan explains: Indian Americans used to be sheltered from Americas racial storm  but then came Trump and COVID-19.

Ramaswamy and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley participate in the first debate of the GOP presidential primary season.

Ramaswamy and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley participate in the first debate of the GOP presidential primary season.

Unlike the majority of our community, Ramaswamy sees self-opportunity in the modern Republican Party. Not unlike other non-representative, prominent Republicans, Ramaswamy is eager to weaponize his minority identity against other marginalized groups. He is particularly, and viciously, anti-Black. For example, Ramaswamy, whos written a book mockingly titled Woke, Inc.  a screed against diversity, equality and inclusion efforts and corporate social responsibility  cheered on the Supreme Courts recent decision prohibiting affirmative action in college admissions, arguing that a supposed crisis of fatherlessnessis actually to blame for unequal outcomes for Black Americans.

I went to public schools through eighth grade. It was racially diverse, majority-Black or something close to it, Ramaswamy told ABC News Linsey Davis in June. There wasnt a single one of those Black kids that could not have achieved everything that I have in my life  Ive lived the American dream, Im now running for U.S. president  if they had also been given the same privilege that I had, which was two parents in the house and a focus on education.

Ironically, Ramaswamy is inarguably the beneficiary of such DEI and affirmative action policies, having attended Yale Law School on a Paul & Daisy Soros scholarship targeted to new American immigrant families.

Just as he exploits his identity as an Indian American immigrant, Ramaswamy also attempted to use the debate to claim the mantle of a next-generation leader. But here, too, his positions were painfully out of step with the young voters he supposedly represents. I think we do need somebody of a different generation to lead this nation forward, he said during the Fox News event. Yet despite young voters being more politically engaged than ever, Ramaswamys signature domestic policy idea is to raise the voting age to 25.

On issues that matter most to young voters, such as gun violence and climate change, his answers could not have been farther from the mainstream preferences of our demographic. In response to a question about extreme weather wreaking havoc across the country, Ramaswamy declared that the climate change agenda is a hoax. He also confirmed to moderator Bret Baier that if elected, he would shut down the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives  the federal agency that regulates firearms  in addition to the FBI and the IRS.

As we saw with presidential hopeful Andrew Yang in 2020, limited representation in the national discourse can lead to outlandish or downright wacky figures filling in representation gaps in our politics and media. Ramaswamy comes served up with all the fixings to a political media that is starving for something different from Trump indictments and Hunter Biden investigation pressers  and surely, there is much more Vivek to come. Therefore, its critical that readers, viewers and voters understand that Ramaswamy is an extraordinarily contrived figure who does not resonate with or represent Indian Americans, young voters, or young Indian American voters like me.

Related...
MADISON - If Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz does not recuse from lawsuits challenging the state's legislative boundaries, Republicans who control the state Legislature might consider impeachment proceedings, the Assembly's top Republican said Friday.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos , a Republican from Rochester, said in an interview on WSAU he does not believe impeachment should be considered lightly by lawmakers. But he said the idea could move forward if Protasiewicz does not recuse herself on cases he said she "prejudged" during her campaign for a seat on the state's highest court.

"If there's any semblance of honor on the state Supreme Court left, you cannot have a person who runs for the court prejudging a case and being open about it, and then acting on the case as if you're an impartial observer," Vos told conservative WSAU host Meg Ellefson when asked whether the Legislature could successfully defend the current boundaries with a liberal-controlled state Supreme Court.

"You cannot have a judge who said, you know, the maps are rigged because she bought into the argument that that's why we're winning elections, not the quality of our candidates, and then she sits on that trial acting like she's gonna listen and hear both sides fairly  that just can't happen."

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Protasiewicz did not immediately respond to an interview request.

In January, Protasiewicz called the state's legislative maps "rigged" in a public forum and in March, she told Capital Times reporters in a podcast interview she would "enjoy taking a fresh look at the gerrymandering question."

"They do not reflect people in this state. I don't think you could sell any reasonable person that the maps are fair," Protasiewicz, a former Milwaukee County judge, said in the January forum. "I can't tell you what I would do on a particular case, but I can tell you my values, and the maps are wrong."

Vos suggested if Protasiewicz does not recuse from cases involving the maps, she would violate her oath of office, which might push lawmakers to consider impeaching her.

"I want to look and see, does she recuse herself on cases where she has prejudged? That to me is something that is at the oath of office and what she said she was going to do to uphold the Constitution. That to me is a serious offense."

Vos said court decisions wouldn't trigger impeachment discussions.

"It can't be because they make the decision on a court case that I disagree with, right?" he said. "It has to be where they violate the oath of office, right? Justice Protasiewicz who prejudged cases doesn't recuse herself, right? That could be something we would consider."

Protasiewicz has also supported abortion access, opposition of Act 10

Vos in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also pointed to Protasiewicz's public support for abortion access and describing Act 10, a 2011 law that limited collective bargaining abilities for most public workers, as unconstitutional.

Protasiewicz told the Journal Sentinel in March her opposition to the law, including participating in protests in 2011 and signing a recall petition of then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker, might result in a recusal if she were elected the court.

"I'd have to think about it," Protasiewicz said. "Given the fact that I marched, given the fact that I signed the recall petition, would I recuse myself? Maybe. Maybe. But I don't know for sure."

More: Protasiewicz says she will recuse from cases involving the state Democratic Party, Kelly says he will decide case by case

Vos says impeachment should be 'rare,' carefully thought out

Vos also emphasized he does not support launching proceedings without careful thought and said recent action taken by the new liberal majority created by Protasiewicz's election in April do not warrant impeachment discussions.

The four liberal justices in the first week moved to reduce the powers of the conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler and fired State Courts Director Randy Koschnick.

"I think what was happening at the Supreme Court is wrong. There is no doubt in my mind as a non-lawyer when I just read the language of the Constitution, some of the actions that they're taking are certainly constitutionally questionable. But the idea that we're going to immediately start an impeachment process is probably too radical," Vos said.

"I think it's wrong that we throw that word around without much comment on how rare it should be. Because you have to have something that really rises to a level that requires the person to be taken out of office because remember, if an impeachment occurs, what you are saying is we are substituting our decision as elected officials for that of the voter."

GOP caucus has power to hold impeachment trials under new supermajority

Earlier this year, Dan Knodl's election to the state Senate gave the house a GOP supermajority, unlocking powers for the caucus including being able to hold impeachment trials if Assembly lawmakers launched proceedings using a simple majority, which Republicans hold.

Knodl said in March if he won, he would "certainly consider" support launching such proceedings against Protasiewicz. But Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, also said after Protasiewicz's win over conservative candidate Dan Kelly that Wisconsinites should not expect Senate Republicans to pursue the move as a political weapon.

"To impeach someone they would need to do something very serious, so no we are not looking to start the impeachment process as a regular occurring event in Wisconsin," LeMahieu told WISN-TV.

The Wisconsin Constitution allows lawmakers to remove state officials "for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors."

Democratic Assembly member says Protasiewicz wouldn't need to recuse

Rep. Evan Goyke, a Democrat from Milwaukee who also is an attorney, said Vos' suggestion that impeachment may be possible is "nearly an admission of how tenuous the Republican legislative grasp on power is."

"That type of reaction shows how threatened the Republican majority is by a challenge to their rigged maps. It's really good evidence that the state is gerrymandered, that they'd be willing to go to such an unprecedented maneuver."

Goyke said he believes Protasiewicz's comments during the campaign are not a basis for recusal and expects Protasiewicz and other justices to follow a new recusal standard the liberal majority adopted for court operations.

"I also think that Justice Protasiewicz is a live human being in Wisconsin and understands that we are living in this gerrymander," Goyke said. "I don't think that one comment invalidates her ability to serve."

Goyke also said her 11-percentage point winning margin over Kelly in the April election is "a pretty clear mandate where the people stand."

Vos said Friday he is going to "wait and see how they act."

"But I hope that they will follow what is the established norm for the past 100 years," he said.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Protasiewicz must recuse from maps cases or risk impeachment, Vos says
I wasn't sure if kids were for me. But then I had a miscarriage, and it changed my perspective.

I'd never been a baby person or had the drive to be a mother, so I was never sure I wanted kids.

Though my husband and I went back and forth, we decided to quit contraception to see what happened.

After a miscarriage, I realized I wanted kids and had a son. I still don't love kids but love mine.

On the day my son was born, I felt like any other new parent probably would: Cosseted amid the hospital blue curtains in the ward, my husband and I stared at him, and then one another, in exhilarated awe.

We'd made this tiny being who was now yelling from a bassinet, with his shock of dark hair, long lashes, and minute fingernails.

It was an experience we previously didn't think we would have. Neither of us ever really liked kids  let alone wanted one.

I wasn't sure I wanted to be a parent, but I wasn't sure I didn't want to be one, either

Nobody would have ever mistaken me for a "baby" person. When my friends offered up their newborns for a cuddle, I was always at the back of the line. On a plane, I'd roll my eyes when a distant child started to fuss. Interacting with kids always made me feel like a fraud behind my singsong voice and forced cheer.

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As millennials living in London, my husband and I had always prioritized experiences and careers over starting a family. We'd spent five years living as expats in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, enjoying the spontaneity of throwing clothes into a backpack, jumping on a flight, and eating fancy food.

We liked living our life on our terms. We were blithely sailing past our mid-30s and married for almost a decade. People had stopped asking us when we were going to have a kid. It was a conversation we'd been avoiding for a long time, the unspoken weight of it lurking in the shadows of our marriage. While I've always been a decisive person, I just wasn't sure that I wanted to be a parent. But I wasn't sure I didn't want to be one, either.

Then, another friend announced their pregnancy, and I found myself having another wobble about whether I should want kids, too.

"Wouldn't it be gut-wrenching to find out we couldn't have kids in a few years' time if we changed our minds?" my husband said in the middle of a midnight heart-to-heart.

A miscarriage gave us perspective on what we wanted

The uncertainty was enough to make us try something different from our status quo. If I couldn't get pregnant, we reasoned, at least the decision would be made for us. So we stopped not trying to have a baby and quit using contraception entirely.

A month after that, I got pregnant for the first time.

There was a brief moment of surprise that, biologically speaking, everything worked, even despite the fact that I was 35 years old and in the dubious medical territory of becoming a "geriatric mother."

Then I had a miscarriage.

Just 10 days after I'd seen the two blue lines on the test, while we were still wrapping our brains around the news, we were ushered into a small side room at our local hospital, where a kindly nurse made sympathetic eyes at me from behind a blue hospital mask.

The embryo had made it four and a half weeks. I carried it for six.

The thing that no one tells you is that miscarriages aren't something you experience and then get over quickly. They're drawn out over weeks, and the waiting  for the emotional and physical pain to end  is excruciating.

Two weeks later, when my pain had finally ebbed, something fundamental shifted. Even though the experience was painful, we found a silver lining in it all; from the loss sprang a glimmer of possibility. Even though we'd started without knowing for sure what we wanted, we found ourselves wanting to try again.

I still don't love kids  except for mine

For most of my life, I'd never felt that drive to be a mother. When I got pregnant again two months later, it still didn't kick in. I never cooed over someone else's baby, and during our ultrasound scans, I remained dry-eyed.

But then I saw my son for the first time. It wasn't that I instantly started loving kids  but I loved this kid. I loved the way he was quiet in the hospital, assessing his surroundings while the other babies cried. I loved his little feet that he refused to have covered with a blanket. I loved his silly mullet that curled at his nape.

The author and her son. Courtesy of Camille Hogg

"Our baby is everything. Other babies are just Ken," I quipped, referencing the tagline from the recent "Barbie" movie as we walked out of the hospital heading for home as a trio.

A few weeks later, it still feels true. In my first few weeks of being a parent, I can see, for the first time, the shades of gray between wanting and not wanting kids.

As our lives shrink from overpriced small-plate dinners and last-minute plane rides to feedings, naps, and bath times, I still feel a pang for the life we left behind. I have a new understanding of people still deciding whether they want to have children, fielding intrusive questions while they weigh their options or wait for the perfect moment.

As my son cries inconsolably at 3 a.m., I feel this overwhelming fear that I'm going to mess this up. But when he gazes up at me with curious eyes, grasping my little finger in his tiny fist, I feel some unforeseen piece of me click into place. There's this intrinsic completeness to me that I didn't know was there before.

Even after having a child of my own, the reality is that I'll probably never really love other people's kids. But I'll be more sympathetic when a child cries on a flight from now on.

Read the original article on Insider
Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Police in Ontario called in several beekeepers for backup when approximately 5 million bees fell off the back of a truck.

The Halton Regional Police Service said officers were alerted about 6:15 a.m. that several boxes of bees had fallen from the back of a truck on Guelph Line in Burlington.

"We're not sure how or what exactly took place but at some point the boxes containing bees or beehives slid off the trailer and spilled all over the road," police spokesman Ryan Anderson told CBC News.

Several local beekeepers were summoned to the scene to help gather the estimated 5 million bees.

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Beekeeper Luc Peters said he and his fellow beekeepers had to be extra careful during their efforts because the insects were agitated.

"It's important for people to understand that honey bees are fairly gentle and really don't bother people unless they are bothered. This is a rare situation where you have to keep your distance from them," he said.

Peters said locals can expect there to still be a large number of bees in the area for a few days.

"We're going to be leaving some crates behind. Some of the bees have escaped and we're hoping that they'll naturally return to these crates and we'll come back at a later date to pick them up once the bees have returned," he said.

Police said the driver of the truck was cited for driving with an insecure load.
TEHRAN, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced on Wednesday that it had arrested members of several "sabotage cells" with ties to an Israeli network.

The arrests followed previous operations on July 24 and August 18, during which 14 "terrorists" associated with the network were apprehended and over 40 highly destructive bombs were confiscated, the ministry said in a statement published on its website.

With the help from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and police, the ministry's task forces arrested two armed "terrorists" in the southwestern province of Khuzestanon on August 19, seizing 382 homemade bombs, chemical materials, explosives tools, and 65 incendiary bombs.

Another operation on August 23 led to the arrest of a member of the network who had several "acts of sabotage" on his criminal record in Mazandaran province of northern Iran, the statement said, adding the suspect had acquired remote-controlled sound bombs from the network's leader based in the Netherlands.

Also on August 23, two more network members were apprehended in the western province of Kermanshah.

Additionally, Iranian intelligence task forces raided on August 25 a warehouse belonging to the network in southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, seizing weaponry including machine guns, rifles, grenades, police and military outfits, radios, and police beacons.

The Iranian intelligence alleged that both the network's primary leader Shahin Zahmatkesh, who is based in Denmark, and his associate Siamak Tadayon Tahmasbi, who is based in the Netherlands, have ties to Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. 
CLEVELAND (WJW)  Jatin Popat says he was first alerted by his alarm company that his business was broken into early Thursday morning.

He then drove to the store, Star Value, on West 105th Street in Cleveland.

I saw the police cruiser in the parking lot and thought, wow, they got here fast, Popat said. He soon realized the store was not burglarized, but that the Linndale police cruiser slammed into the store.

Video: Officers seize animal after alleged wolf-dog attack in Cleveland

Security video obtained by Nexstars WJW shows the crash. The video first shows a vehicle drive by the store, followed by a cruiser with the lights and sirens on. The cruiser appears to go over a curb and then slam into the store.

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Linndale Police Chief Tim Franczak says the officer driving the cruiser is OK. He said the officer was trying to get a license plate of a vehicle that they thought may be stolen when the crash took place.

Popat said the chief came to the store and provided insurance information.

I thought I would be covered but now I dont know, Popat said. My lawyer got a letter that the insurance company is saying they are not going to pay, so I am not sure.

He said the crash caused about $40,000 worth of damages to his store.

He added that an employee with his insurance company is saying the village is responsible for the damages, but insurance officials for the village are telling him the department has immunity.



Attorney Tom Merriman says, for the most part, the law protects state and local officials from liability when a member of the police department is operating a motor vehicle while responding to an emergency call.

The store owner didnt do anything wrong but the law is set up to protect police and fire departments so they can do their job, Merriman said.

Speeding driver fled Parma cops, dies in head-on crash

Merriman added that some cities and villages have a special fund to help cover these type of expenses.

The Linndale chief says he is not sure what village officials can do financially for the store owner since the matter was turned over to the insurance company. The chief, however, did say he will look into the matter.

I do feel bad for the owner, the chief said. I have very little to say on this, but I am going to try.



The store owner says he just wants to get his building fixed.

I just want to get back to what it was, Popat said. I just want my shutters back up and the door fixed, thats about it.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
Firefighters in Spokane County are continuing to battle the Oregon Road Fire in Eastern Washington.

As of Wednesday afternoon, that fire has burned more than 10,000 acres and is 79% contained.

Meanwhile, we heard from a man recovering at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after he was caught in the flames of that fire and got burned.

I was watching my skin drip off, Justin Knutsen recalled. My skin was melting.

The hospital said Knutsen and his wife and children had minutes to escape their home in Elk. After his family left, Knutsen decided to go check on two neighbors but his truck failed from the intense heat.

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I had no power in my truck, I had no gas, I had no brakes, I had no steering, I couldnt do anything, said Knutsen. I said to myself I cant sit in this truck so I hopped out and started running. As I was running I couldnt really open my eyes because of the heat so I just remember looking down and making sure I was on pavement still.

He was then picked up by a neighbor as she escaped the wildfire.

That woman saved me. If it werent for her... in five seconds I wouldve been gone, said Knutsen.

Harborview Medical Center said Justin is in satisfactory condition and is recovering from the burns to about 30% of his body. And he is eager to get home to his family and community.

You can watch his full interview in the video below.












STAUNTON  For hours in September 2021, two investigators from the Augusta County Sheriff's Office who'd traveled to Pennsylvania to question Travis Brown tried in vain to get the Waynesboro man to tell them the whereabouts of Khaleesi Cuthriell, according to video shown Tuesday during the second day of Brown's murder trial.

At the time, Khaleesi, 3, hadn't been seen by family members for several months after her mother handed her over to Brown's live-in girlfriend, Candi Jo Royer, in October 2020, before going to jail.

Following the capture of the couple at a Pennsylvania motel after they'd gone on the run, investigators from the sheriff's office immediately caught a flight to the area of South Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in an effort to acquire information that would lead them to the girl, who they hoped was still alive.

Khaleesi Cuthriell.

Initially during the lengthy interrogation, Brown, 31, claimed a Child Protective Services official in a state car had taken Khaleesi away nine months earlier sometime in January 2021. The investigators  who already knew CPS didn't remove the toddler from Brown and Royer's Augusta County home  persisted as they tried to coax the suspect into telling them where Khaleesi had gone.

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"I'm at the point of getting on my hands and knees and begging you," 1st Sgt. Mike Roane of the Augusta County Sheriff's Office said in the video, which was played for the jury.

Brown eventually changed his tune, stating Khaleesi was dead and her body was in a landfill.

"You told me she was alive," Inv. Trevor Rexrode interjected.

"No," Brown said.

"You did," said Rexrode, who again asked for a location.

After claiming he didn't kill her, for the first time during the hours-long interview, Brown got emotional and started weeping.

"Can you tell us where she is?" Rexrode said.

"Please," Roane added.

Brown resisted and instead asked what he'd be charged with before being told not to focus on possible charges. Finally, he told the investigators Khaleesi rammed her head into a doorframe, killing herself in the process. "It's what she did, man," he said.

Brown said he attempted CPR on the toddler but was unsuccessful. "I tried so hard, dude."

A regular drug user at the time, Brown said he passed out after Khaleesi died. After he awoke, Brown said he left the toddler's body on the floor until the next day, when he wrapped her in a blanket and put her body in a garbage can.

"I was scared," he told the investigators. "I didn't know what to do."

Travis Brown.

Earlier in the same interview, Brown said Khaleesi "liked to be smacked" and that she acted like she was "possessed." Brown also claimed he woke up one night to grab a bite to eat from the kitchen when he spotted Khaleesi choking his daughter. He made other odd accusations, telling investigators the toddler was sexually aware, masturbated, was prone to falling, and suicidal.

"We did everything any good Christian person would do," Brown said in the video.

Brown also made false claims that he and Royer, 43, repeatedly tried to call CPS while Khaleesi was in their care. "There was no one to help us," he said in the video. Earlier in the trial, evidence showed Royer and Brown never tried contacting CPS while Khaleesi lived with them.

The child's body was never recovered.

On Monday during the first day of Brown's murder trial in Augusta County Circuit Court, video and photographic evidence showed most of Khaleesi's body was already covered in bruises, cuts and burns within less than three months after moving into the couple's home. Large swaths of hair were also missing. Video of Khaleesi taken Jan. 12, 2021, perhaps her last day alive, according to Augusta County Commonwealth's Attorney Tim Martin, showed a frightened and confused child being verbally berated by Royer while being made to stand naked in a dry bathtub in her own feces.

On Tuesday in court, Dr. Robin Foster, an expert on child abuse and torture, took the stand and was asked to analyze photographs and videos of Khaleesi. A pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU Health, Foster noted that in the first photo she was shown, taken in November 2020 less than three weeks after the toddler arrived at Brown and Royer's home, it showed slight bruising on her forehead, a swollen cheek and an abrasion underneath her bottom lip.

Just three days later, some of Khaleesi's hair is missing in another photo, and the bruising is more noticeable. Soft-tissue injuries to her face became more pronounced in the photos as her stay at the home progressed. The toddler also thinned considerably during her stay, and had what appeared to be three burns on her right ear that Foster said were most likely caused by a cigarette. In one photo, the child had two ulcerated blisters on the inside of her mouth that were indicative of burns, Foster said. Her feet were discolored in other photos.

"Her toes almost look blackened," the doctor noted.

When asked to compare a photo showing a smiling Khaleesi just days after her arrival to another photo taken several weeks later, her body covered in cuts and bruises with most of her hair missing, Foster said, "It's not even recognizable as the same child."

In her opinion, Foster said the case "fits the definition of child torture."

On Monday, Sept. 20, 2021, police searched the home of Travis Brown and Candi Jo Royer on Cattle Scales Road in Augusta County.

After authorities arrested the couple, Virginia State Police searched their home on Cattle Scales Road near Waynesboro. There, they found bloodstains on a wall that matched Khaleesi's DNA. One of the bloodstains was 6 feet off the floor. Police located a wire hanger with a handle made of tape that contained Royer's DNA and the toddler's, evidence showed. Khaleesi's door to her bedroom also had a lock on the outside, according to evidence.

After being called to the witness stand, Brittany Southern testified she had a brief fling with Brown before he fled the area with Royer. During their time together, Southern, who testified she didn't know Brown was already in a relationship, said they were in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant in Verona when he made a startling confession.

"He told me he had murdered somebody," Southern said.

Southern said Brown also used her cell phone to text with Royer. In one exchange with Brown, evidence showed Royer wrote, "I hope you rot in hell. You are a poor excuse for a person. Do you lay in bed at night and think about what you did to that little girl? I do. It's eating me alive."

Royer also instructs Brown to tell Southern about the "brush handle." In another text, she mentions, "The burns." In a follow up text, she says, "The bruises."

Southern testified that when she found out about Khaleesi and asked Brown about the toddler, he responded by storming off and throwing a cell phone at her.

When confronted by defense attorney Dana Cormier about her motivation to testify, Southern, who is being held on unrelated criminal charges, began crying on the stand. "I don't want anything in return. This is a baby!" she said between sobs.

Brown is charged with aggravated murder, murder and child abuse. His trial will resume at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The prosecution is being handled by Martin and Augusta County Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Alexandra Meador, and they have yet to rest their case. When they do rest, Cormier will then be given the opportunity to present his evidence. The trial is scheduled for five days but could end sooner than Friday.

Royer, also charged with murder, will head to trial on Oct. 16.

THE AGENDA: How do you find out about rezoning requests and public hearings?

Staunton declares Friday 'Paul Hatcher Day'

Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Waynesboro man charged with murder claimed toddler killed herself
Until recently, the event known as The Weeping Time, which took place on March 2-3, 1859, at the Ten Broeck Race Course in what is now known as West Savannah, had the unenviable distinction of being the largest documented sale of enslaved individuals in American history. That distinction has now been challenged by a recent finding by a Charleston, South Carolina graduate student.

As documented in a story published by ProPublica in June, College of Charleston graduate history student Lauren Davila unearthed evidence of a potentially larger auction of enslaved individuals on February 24, 1835, in Savannah's sister port city.

What might this mean to the remembrance of The Weeping Time that community members in Savannah have been striving to memorialize, and how will it alter or complement the story of slavery in America that we are still collectively struggling to define?

The Weeping Time is one of those inconvenient historical truths that remained forgotten for generations. Like most of the country, Savannah was selective in what memories it chose to honor, and for nearly a century and a half the Weeping Time was an ugly history that many preferred not to dwell on. It wasn't until 2007 that the Weeping Time began to seep into the popular consciousness when a historical marker was erected in a park on Augusta Avenue in West Savannah, with the help of community activists such as Pamela Howard-Oglesby.

This map shows the former Ten Broeck Race Course, which was the site of the Weeping Time in 1859. The Goodall Tract, which is where the Salvation Army wants to build a shelter, wasn't part of the Weeping Time, according to a recently released study.

There were so many slave auctions in this country, says Howard-Oglesby. There were so many people sold. And most were not recorded. Even the one that was just found [in Charleston] may not be the largest one.

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In the years since the installation of the historical marker in 2007, much more attention has been brought to the Weeping Time by way of national and international articles, books, and efforts to build a memorial on the grounds of the former race track. Howard-Oglesby hopes that the Charleston discovery will help to highlight the need to formally memorialize these events and learn all we can about the truth of our past.

I think everyone should dig around and find as much as they can, says Howard-Oglesby. But what is this [new discovery] going to change? It does not change the fact that my people were sold. We built this country out of free labor... When those Africans came in on the ships into any of these ports, they didn't come one hundred or two hundred, they sometimes came in the thousands. What about the people that stepped straight off the ship? How many were those?

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Climate Change: Historic preservationists face new challenges as sea-level rise threatens Butler Island

Rev. Leonard Small, a member of the Weeping Time Coalition, holds a copy of a 1907 plat map showing what was the Ten Broeck Race Course.

'It helps us confront that dark chapter in our past'

Reverend Dr. Leonard Small, vice president of the Weeping Time Coalition, which is dedicated to the preservation and memorialization of the Weeping Time site, says he was skeptical when he first heard about the Charleston finding.

As soon as I saw this [discovery], I thought, can we validate this? says Small. I would not put a pin in it so far.

There remain some questions about the specifics of the Charleston auction in which some 600 individuals were sold as part of the estate auction for John Ball Jr., described by ProPublica as a scion of a slave-owning planter regime. The currently available documentation for the Charleston sale is somewhat inconclusive as to the precise numbers of individuals who were sold on the date indicated, but Small says that regardless of the exact number of people sold and which sale was the largest, this new finding is a testament to how commonplace the cruelty of the slave trade was.

It still means that you had an extremely vicious, callous disregard for humanity that took place in Savannah, Georgia, that is historic enough to be preserved with more than just a plaque, says Small. He says he will continue to campaign to build a memorial on the site of the former Ten Broeck Race Course in West Savannah.

We say we're a history city, but we don't want certain histories told.

Alderwoman Bernetta Lanier represents District One, which includes the Weeping Time site, and says she wasn't surprised by the Charleston discovery.

It's just an aha moment where we've made another discovery, but this is more than just an isolated incident, says Lanier. It was a regular practice and further highlights the fact that these inhumane acts occurred in the South regularly. By us recognizing and acknowledging this history of these mass sales and auctions of African Americans in the United States is critically important.

It helps us confront that dark chapter in our past... The more we know and the more we discover the more we're able to move forward.

The Weeping Time Marker

'Even now... there are still the effects of slavery'

Noted cultural historian and preservationist with Geechee Kunda Cultural Arts Center & Museum, Dr. Amir Jamal Toure, echoes that sentiment.

Most of us do not know history. We know mythology, says Toure. It goes to show you what we're still dealing with as a country, as a nation.

He says the importance of building a memorial to The Weeping Time is especially urgent in light of the new information coming out of South Carolina.

It needs to be acknowledged and respected instead of being brushed aside or ignored because it's all a part of this larger American story.

You need to do something to memorialize [The Weeping Time] because it tells the story of where we have come from and where we need to go.

Toure also points out that the names of the individuals sold during the Weeping Time have been discovered through the research of auction lists, which has allowed many African American descendants of those sold to trace their lineage back farther than they were ever able to before.

Bernard Powers, professor emeritus of history and director of the College of Charleston's Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston, says that's one of his goals.

That's what we're hoping to be able to do, says Powers. To identify some of the individuals who were descended from the people who were sold here and try to begin to reconstruct their lives.

It doesn't make any difference whether one sale is larger than the other or who can claim the largest number of people sold off. The point is that the average American has no idea that these numbers of people were ever sold off in a single or couple of auctions.

For so many, the legacy of slavery still lives on today and to fully acknowledge the truth of our past and its current repercussions is the only way toward national reconciliation and healing.

Black people are tired of holding these burdens of the past, because it keeps us from moving into that future where we can all have dignity and equality and social justice, says Lanier.

Even now, in this city, Savannah, Georgia, there are still the effects of slavery, says Howard-Oglesby. This wealth gap that's been created is still here because nobody has ever made it up in their mind that it's right to let us come to a level playing field... And they're trying to take this all out of the school systems now. Bad idea.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Charleston enslaved auction finding adds to Weeping Time narrative
The partnership the Wellstar and Augusta University health systems (AUHS) announced last December went into operation Wednesday.

Under a 40-year agreement the two parties announced in March, Wellstar plans to invest nearly $800 million over the next decade in AUHS facilities and infrastructure. That investment will include more than $200 million that will go to Augusta University Medical Center, a more than 600-bed safety net and teaching hospital. Capital for a new hospital, medical office building and ambulatory surgery center in Columbia County also is included in the funding.

Were excited this day has come, said Sonny Perdue, chancellor of the University System of Georgia. Its an opportunity  to make health care better than ever in Georgia.

Augusta University President Brooks Keel said the partnership will allow AUHS to expand its telemedicine program, which will particularly benefit rural Georgia, where residents frequently have to drive 45 minutes to an hour to see a doctor.

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The wealth of experience Wellstar brings to the table and the experience we already have will let us expand what were already doing, Keel said. Wellstar fit the bill because they share our mission and our vision.

Wellstar President and CEO Candace Saunders said the training opportunities the partnership will provide will help address a chronic shortage of physicians and nurses in Georgia.

We need more doctors, more nurses, she said. [The partnership] is going to help bring care to everyone who needs it.

The partnership has drawn criticism from state lawmakers representing districts in metro Atlanta, who complained Wellstars decision to close the 460-bed Atlanta Medical Center (AMC) last fall combined with the closing of a smaller Wellstar hospital in East Point earlier in 2022 has left a health-care desert in majority Black areas of central and southern Fulton County.

But Wellstar officials said closing the hospitals was unavoidable due to aging infrastructure, low patient volumes, skyrocketing labor costs and the loss of coronavirus relief funds that had been available earlier in the COVID pandemic.

Saunders dismissed comparisons between the new partnership and the two closings.

Theyre two independent and separate situations, she said.

The new unified system will be known as Wellstar MCG Health.
The clay mixture from which lithium would be extracted if a mine were to be permitted in Nevada's Thacker Pass.

At first glance, the McDermitt Caldera might feel like the edge of the Earth. This oblong maze of rocky vales straddles the arid Nevada-Oregon borderlands, in one of the least densely populated parts of North America.

But the future of the modern world depends on the future of places like the McDermitt Caldera, which has the potential to be the largest known source of lithium on the planet. Where todays world runs on hydrocarbons, tomorrows may very well rely on the element for an expanding offering of lithium-ion batteries. The flaky silver metal is a necessity for these batteries that we already use, and which well likely use in far greater numbers to support mobile phones, electric cars, and large electric grids.

Which is why it matters a ton where we get our lithium from. A new study, published in the journal Science Advances today, suggests that McDermitt Caldera contains even more lithium than previously thought and outlines how the yet-to-be-discovered stores could be extracted. But these results are unlikely to ease the criticisms about the environmental costs of mining the substance.

[Related: Why solid state batteries are the next frontier for EV makers]

By 2030, the world may require more than a megaton of lithium every year. If previous geological surveys are correct, then the McDermitt Calderathe remnants of a 16-million-old volcanic supereruptioncould contain as many as 100 megatons of the metal.

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Its a huge, massive feature that has a lot of lithium in it, Tom Benson, one of the authors of the new paper and a volcanologist at Columbia University and the Lithium Americas Corporation.

One high-profile project, partly run by Lithium Americas Corporation, proposes a 17,933-acre mine in the Thacker Pass, on the Nevada side of the border at the calderas southern edge. The project is contentious: Thacker Pass (or Peehee Muhuh in Northern Paiute) sits on land that many local Indigenous groups consider sacred. Native American activists are continuing to fight a plan to expand the mine-exploration area in court.

But not all of the lithium under McDermitts rocky sands ranks the same. Most of the desired metal there comes in the form of a mineral called smectite; under certain conditions, smectite can transform into a different mineral called illite that can sometimes also be processed for lithium. Benson and his colleagues studied samples of both smectite and illite drilled from the ground throughout the caldera. Theres lithium everywhere you drill, he says.

Previously, geologists assumed that you could find both smectite and illite in a wide distribution across the caldera, but the authors only found the latter in high concentrations in the calderas south, around Thacker Pass. Its constrained to this area, explains Benson.

McDermitt Caldera map with colored dots for lithium mining assays

Thats important. Benson and colleagues think that the calderas illite formed when lithium-rich fluid, heated by the underlying volcano, washed over smectite. In the process, the mineral absorbed much of the lithium. Consequently, they project the illite in Thacker Pass holds more than twice as much lithium than the neighboring smectite.

Thats really helpful to change exploration strategy, Benson says. Now we know we have to stick in the Thacker Pass area if we want to find and mine that illite.

Some of Thacker Pass's proponents believe that would result in fewer costs and less damage from mining. Anyone who deals with lithium is, on some level, aware of the environmental costs. The recovery process produces pollutants like heavy metals, sucks up water, and emits tons of greenhouse gases. By one estimate, fitting a new electric vehicle with its lithium battery can result in upwards of 70 percent more carbon emissions than building an equivalent petrol-powered car (although the average electric car will more than make up the difference with day-to-day use).

That said, not all extraction is the same. There are two main types of lithium sources: brine recovery and hard-rock mining. Some of the lithium we use comes from super salty pools. Over millions of years, rainwater percolates through lithium-containing rocks, dissolves the metal, and carries it to underground aquifers. Today, humans pump brine to the surface, evaporate the water, add a slurry of hydrated lime to keep out unwanted metals, and extract the lithium thats left behind. Much of the worlds brine lithium today comes from the lithium triangle of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chileone of the worlds driest regions.

Alternatively, we can directly mine lithium ores from the earth and process them as we would with most other metals. Separating lithium from ore typically involves crushing the rock and heating it up to temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Getting to those high temperatures often requires fossil fuels in the first place. This method is less laborious and costly than brine extraction, but also far more carbon-intensive.

[Related: Inside the high-powered process that could recycle rare earth metals]

McDermitt Calderas smectite and illite belong to what some lithium watchers see as a new third category of extraction: volcanic sedimentary lithium. When volcanic minerals containing lithium flow into nearby valleys and react with the loose dirt, they leave behind lithium-rich sediments that require little energy and processing to separate.

With the new alternative, mining proponents claim they can drastically reduce the environmental impact of their current and future activities at Thacker Pass. And the research by Bensons team seems to suggest that, if lithium companies probe in the right places, they might get rewarded more for their efforts.

But this is likely little comfort to lithium-mining opponents in Oregon and Nevada, whose criticisms will be considered as the Bureau of Land Management maps out drilling in the deposit. Their case parallels those of Indigenous Chileans who oppose lithium extraction near their homes in the Atacama and locals fighting a lithium mining project near Portugals northern border. Together, theyre fighting a world thats growing hungrier for lithium, along with new ways and places to exploit it.
Hurricane Idalia is now being tipped to become a Category 4 event, according to the National Hurricane Center, as it barrels towards the Big Bend region of Floridas Gulf Coast, where locals are bracing themselves for a life-threatening storm surge and dangerous high winds.

Idalia was upgraded from tropical storm status on Tuesday morning as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico and is forecast to hit northwestern Florida on Wednesday, packing 120mph winds, before blowing through southern Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina and then back out into the Atlantic.

Western Cuba has already been hit by torrential rainfall and flooding from Idalia that could yet lead to mudslides, bringing further devastation to the tobacco-producing province of Pinar del Rio on Monday and Tuesday, which was hammered by Hurricane Ian last September. State media has yet to report any deaths in the area.

Residents of the Sunshine State have meanwhile been loading up on sandbags and many living in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast have already packed up their cars, readied generators and evacuated their homes in preparation.

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When Idalia finally makes landfall, it will be the first storm to hit Florida this hurricane season, which tends to peak in August and September before coming to an end in late November.

It is expected to bring fresh destruction to a state that, like Cuba, is still dealing with the damage left behind by Hurricane Ian 11 months ago, which left 150 people dead and damaged 52,000 structures.

Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in 46 counties, a broad swathe that stretches across the northern half of the state from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic.

His state has also mobilised 5,500 National Guard members, who have 2,400 high-water vehicles and 12 aircraft at their disposal for rescue and recovery efforts.

A further 30,000 utility workers are on standby to make repairs where needed.

Mr DeSantiss counterparts in Georgia and South Carolina, Brian Kemp and Henry McMaster, have also declared emergencies.

5am EDT 30 Aug: #Idalia has become an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, and is nearing landfall in Florida Big Bend region this morning. Catastrophic & life-threatening impacts from Storm Surge & Winds expected as Idalia moves ashore. https://t.co/y75tVkKVK7 pic.twitter.com/0NfINii9Mo  National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 30, 2023

Floridas governor, who liaised with US president Joe Biden on Idalia in Monday, warned of a major impact during his Monday news conference, adding: The property  we can rebuild someones home. You cant unring the bell, though, if somebody stays in harms way and does battle with Mother Nature.

He said the Florida Department of Transportation would waive tolls on highways in the Tampa area and the Big Bend to help ease the flow of movement as residents seek to escape the path of the storm.

Tampa International Airport and St Pete-Clearwater International Airport have been closed and the Sunrail commuter rail service in Orlando has been suspended.

Many school districts along the Gulf Coast said they would be closed on Wednesday and several colleges and universities have likewise shut their campuses, including the University of Florida in Gainesville.

A map to show the expected path of Hurricane Idalia through Cuba, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas (The Independent/Datawrapper)

A total of 22 counties in western Florida have issued evacuation notices, with mandatory orders in place for some people living in low-lying and coastal areas, for those living in mobile or manufactured homes, recreational vehicles and boats and for people who would be vulnerable in the event of a power outage.

Pasco and Levy counties, located north of Tampa, both ordered mandatory evacuations for some residents.

In the latter, officials said the 900 residents of Cedar Key were warned they must be off the island by Tuesday evening because storm surges bringing 15-foot waves would make bridges impassable.

One word: Leave. Its not something to discuss, said commissoner Sue Colson, making herself abundantly clear.

Hurricane Idalia is just the latest in a summer of natural disasters to hit North America, from deadly wildfires in Hawaii and Canada to the first tropical storm to hit California in 84 years  marking the latest illustrations of the climate crisis in action.

Additional reporting by agencies.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.  A White House initiative designed to break down credentialing and training barriers for veterans seeking better employment is adding health care to its list of targeted careers.

Officials from Task Force Movement on Wednesday announced the new effort during a presentation at the annual American Legion conference in North Carolina. The project will aim to fill some of the estimated shortfall of 2 million health care posts across America with veterans and military spouses through new hiring, training and outreach efforts.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated a lot of the problems within our larger society, said Emily Haas, senior advisor on health care issues for Task Force Movement. Primary care physicians, nurses and general health professionals have been experiencing burnout. The pipeline of replacements is not what it used to be, and retention is really difficult.

Its an unfortunate perfect storm, of need versus a shortage in workforce, she added. So, we see an opportunity for personnel with skills coming out of the military, and for military spouses that have the skills and education but just dont have the support or pathways right now.

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Task Force Movement was launched in April 2022 with a focus on getting more veterans into the trucking industry, in response to an increasing need for additional drivers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic across America. That work expanded late last year to include cybersecurity jobs, another sector with a growing need for trained and qualified candidates.

White House pushing to get more veterans into the trucking industry

The task force has coordinated efforts among industry leaders, government credentialing groups and outside advocates to find ways to ease certification requirements and speed training options for veterans interested in both fields.

Veterans advocates have hailed the work for emphasizing not just the value of hiring veterans but also helping to transition military family members into high-demand careers.

Were trying to solve the pain points that all of America is feeling right now, said Patrick Murphy, former Under Secretary of the Army and chairman of the task force, at Wednesdays announcement in Charlotte.

Nursing accounts for nearly half of the healthcare professionals shortage. Task force officials said theyll look for ways to fill that through new training programs, more targeted hiring of military family members with existing training, and long-term planning with industry leaders on personnel management.

Murphy said they also hope those taking up health care roles will focus on military and veterans health issues, particularly mental health care.

Every day we lose 17 of our veterans to suicide, he said. Launching today is not just about filling jobs with good professionals, but also what we can to amplify those challenges like veteran suicide and let people know that they can make a difference.

The task force released a report on the trucking industrys best practices, hiring challenges and recommended community improvements last spring. Officials hope to develop a similar roadmap for health care employment in coming months, following meetings with corporate leaders, education leaders and veterans advocacy groups.

More information on the task force is available through their website.
The U.S. is concerned that the negotiations between Russia and North Korea on arms supplies are actively advancing, Reuters reported on Aug. 30, citing National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

"We remain concerned that ... (North Korea) continues to consider providing military support to Russia's military forces in Ukraine," Kirby told journalists during a press briefing.

"High-level discussions may continue in coming months," he added.

Kirby pointed out that North Korea has provided infantry rockets and missiles to Russia in 2022, and Moscow has been seeking further arms supplies since then to bolster its war efforts in Ukraine.

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In the spring of 2023, Moscow reportedly approached Pyongyang with the offer of food supplies in exchange for weapons. North Korea has been heavily militarized since the end of the war with its Southern Korean neighbors in 1953 but suffers from chronic food shortages.

Earlier in August, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea's capital to convince the country's leadership to provide artillery ammunition that Russian forces could use in its war against Ukraine.

Moscow also reportedly seeks to obtain raw materials for its defense industry production.

According to U.S. intelligence, another group of Russian officials may have traveled to North Korea following Shoigu's visit. Kirby added that Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have exchanged letters pledging to increase their countries' cooperation.

Washington has repeatedly warned North Korea against providing Russia with arms. On Aug. 17, the U.S. sanctioned three entities attempting to facilitate North Korea's weaponry supplies to Russia.

As the full-scale war against Ukraine takes a heavy toll on the Russian military arsenal and Western sanctions target Russia's ability to quickly refill the stocks, Moscow has been turning to other countries for weapons supplies.

Russian forces have been massively deploying Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones in Ukraine, while U.S. intelligence reported in late July that China is providing Moscow with significant supplies of drones and dual-use technology that can be utilized for military purposes.

Read also: US cautions Russia on North Korea military ties

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un have exchanged letters and are pledging to deepen the relationship between their two countries, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday said arms negotiations between Moscow and Pyongyang have been actively advancing as Russia has sought to evade the US and western sanctions that have made it harder to prosecute the countrys ongoing war against Ukraine.

Mr Kirby added that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu recently travelled to Pyongyang in an effort to convince North Korean officials to sell Russia domestically-manufactured artillery shells, since North Koreas military equipment is largely Russian or Soviet-made.

Since that visit President Putin and Kim Jong-un have exchanged letters, pledging to increase their bilateral cooperation, Mr Kirby said, adding later that Mr Shoigus trip to North Korea was followed by a delegation of other Russian officials.

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Following these negotiations, high-level discussions may continue in the coming months, he said.

Mr Kirby also explained that the deal would involve the transfer of significant quantities and multiple types of munitions from North Korea to Russia for use in Ukraine, as well as the provision of raw materials that would assist Russias defence industrial base.

Any arms deal between the DPRK and Russia would directly violate a number of UN Security Council resolutions ... we urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms production, he said.
NAIROBI, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has vaccinated nearly 1.9 million children in the first phase of its polio campaign, surpassing its target, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday.

The five-day polio campaign was held in the capital of Nairobi, the neighboring Kiambu and Kajiado counties, as well as Garissa in the northeast region and targeted 1.8 million children.

"About a million children were vaccinated in Nairobi, 287,000 in Garissa, 240,000 in Kajiado and over 334,000 in Kiambu," the WHO, which carried out the campaign in collaboration with Kenya's Ministry of Health, said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

"The drive involved hundreds of health workers moving from house to house and some in harsh conditions. Most parents availed their children," the WHO said.

Kenya launched the vaccination campaign targeting children under five years of age following an outbreak of the disease in Garissa County.

According to the WHO, Kenya, with other countries in the Horn of Africa, remains at risk of imported wild poliovirus from neighboring Somalia.

Polio is a debilitating and incurable disease that predominantly affects children below the age of seven.

The WHO said the second and third rounds of the polio vaccination would be carried out in September and October in Kenya. 
The Biden administration said Wednesday it had new intelligence demonstrating that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are actively advancing.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby warned Pyongyang to not provide military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine, saying it would directly violate a number of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on individuals and entities it says have facilitated weapons transfers from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), the formal name for North Korea, to the Wagner Group, the mercenary army that has been fighting for Russia.

The White House said that it has not yet observed North Korea directly supplying Russias armed forces.

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On numerous occasions, the DPRK has said publicly that they will not sell to Russia, but we remain concerned that the DPRK continues to consider providing military support to Russias military forces in Ukraine, Kirby said in a briefing with reporters.

Russia is looking to source artillery ammunition and raw materials for its own weapons-building capabilities in an effort to subvert U.S. and international sanctions aimed at starving its military industry.

Were continuing to monitor this situation closely and we urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia, Kirby said.

Kirby said he could not get into the details of how the U.S. was gathering this intelligence but noted that the secret arms negotiations build on recent public shows of support between Russia and North Korea.

This includes an exchange of letters between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un in April where the two pledged to deepen the bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

In July, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traveled to Pyongyang for North Koreas celebration marking the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement with South Korea.

Kirby said Shoigus visit helped lay the groundwork for a follow-up trip by Russian officials to Pyongyang to discuss potential arms deals, and that high level discussions may continue in coming months.

Kirby said Russia is seeking multiple types of munitions but is focused on increasing artillery supplies for use in Ukraine as the Kremlins full-scale invasion and occupation of the country enters its 19th month.

A second counteroffensive launched by Ukrainian forces in June has proceeded slower than anticipated, encountering dug-in Russian defenses and wide swaths of minefields that U.S. and European officials say present a challenge that has never been seen before.

In July, the U.S. announced it would send cluster munitions to Ukraine to fill up depleted stocks of ammunition.

Kirby on Wednesday said Russia is suffering the same types of shortages amid the grinding war and is looking to North Korea to fill up its stocks.

What were seeing in this counteroffensive is, its a gunfight, and both sides are blazing away with artillery. So we know that artillery is one of those items, but its multiple levels of types of munitions.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Workers at Detroit's "Big Three" automakers may soon hit the picket line. The Detroit Free Press reported that the 150,000 members of the United Auto Workers have "have given union leadership the OK to strike" against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis if an agreement isn't within reach by the end of the current contract, which expires on Sept. 14. "Our goal is not to strike, our goal is to bargain a good contract for our members," said UAW President Shawn Fain.

The union is demanding "a four-day workweek at five-day workweek pay," Marketplace reported. Workers also want a 46% pay raise and restoration of some pension benefits bargained away during the Great Recession  but a shorter workweek, which has raised eyebrows, could help the industry and its workers transition to electric vehicle production. "It's a well known fact that assembling electric vehicles takes fewer person power hours than an internal combustion engine," said Sharon Block, a Harvard Law School professor.

UAW's threatened strike could also affect presidential politics. CNBC reported that the union is withholding its endorsement of President Biden over concerns that its workers will be shortchanged in the EV transition. That's part of a newly "militant" approach under Fain, who became UAW president in the spring. It's time to hold candidates accountable if they want union support, he said. "We can't rely on lip service." Biden, meanwhile, has put out a statement asking "all sides to work together for a fair agreement." Can an agreement be reached?

What's at stake in negotiations?

Fain "is swinging for the fences and beyond," the Detroit News editorialized, with demands that could "return UAW members to their preeminent status among industrial workers" while obtaining a contract that "emphasizes quality of life over quality of work." That's understandable: Detroit carmakers have reported $250 billion in profits over the last 10 years. But "rich times are often short-lived" and Fain has raised the expectations of UAW members. It will be difficult for him to back off the big demands "without appearing to sell out the workers."

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"A strike would be rough for all concerned," the Chicago Tribune added. Workers lost $1 billion during a 2019 walkout at GM, while the company reported losing $3.6 billion from the strike. "No one should wish for a repeat of that harmful affair." But any new contract will have to acknowledge that making electric vehicles requires much less "nuts-and-bolts" work than gasoline-powered cars. "There's no way to turn back the clock to the days of large industrial assembly lines where workers spend their careers doing the same job, the same way."

Yes, the UAW's demands are "extremely ambitious," Ellen Ioanes wrote at Vox. "Unions go into negotiations knowing they'll have to compromise on some elements of what they're asking for, so they aim high." In this case, workers are trying to claw back some of the concessions they gave car companies while the industry teetered during the Great Recession  including lower pay for new workers  while setting the stage for the EV transition. That has implications beyond the automotive industry. "The moment is right for labor to try and claw back losses of the past few decades and try to gain protection and benefits for the future."

Could other auto workers follow?

It's not just Detroit workers who might walk out. Jalopnik reported that Canadian workers at the Big Three automakers are also ready to strike. Their contract expires Sept. 18, four days after the U.S. deadline.

If a strike comes in the U.S., it will be expensive, Peter Berg wrote for MSU Today. One analysis predicts that GM, Ford and Stellantis will lose more than $5 billion from a 10-day strike. But UAW has a strike fund that could partially support workers for up to 11 weeks. That means pressure is on for both sides to come up with a deal that workers can accept while moving the industry into its electrified future. That might not be easy. "This contract negotiation is a fight over the future of the auto industry."

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A second Delaware judge has dismissed lawsuits filed by two pastors seeking to prevent the state's governor from imposing future restrictions on religious worship.

Superior Court Judge Meghan A. Adams' dismissal had the pastors' lawyers promising they would appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.

"The court refused to rule on the question of whether the Delaware Bill of Rights requires that churches remain open when Walmart, Acme and liquor stores are open and Christians are locked down and out of their churches, despite the absolute protection given them in the Delaware Constitution of 1776," said Thomas S. Neuberger, one of the pastors' attorneys.

Neuberger added that in their appeal, they'll ask the Delaware Supreme Court to decide "whether powers given to the governor to discriminate against churches by the General Assembly can ignore freedoms found in our Bill of Rights.

What exactly did the lawsuits argue?

The Rev. Alan Hines, of Townsend Free Will Baptist Church in Townsend, and the Rev. David Landow, of Emmanuel Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, filed the lawsuits in late 2021 seeking an injunction against future emergency orders that place restrictions on houses of worship such as those imposed by Gov. John Carney in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic spread.

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THE QUESTION AT HAND: Lawsuits ask that governors' emergency orders keep their 'hands off' houses of worship

The pastors' lawsuits claimed Carney's emergency orders early in the pandemic denied them their "absolute religious freedoms."

Through their lawsuits, they are asking Carney and future Delaware governors to keep their "hands off" the church in any future emergencies, regardless of any pretense they may offer.

In Carney's motion to dismiss the case, his attorneys argued the governor is immune from damages for the alleged violations. They also argued for dismissal because the pastors' violations of rights were "past exposure," which is "insufficient to demonstrate that there is a current case or controversy entitling them to declaratory relief."

Why was the case dismissed?

Adams, on Monday, agreed with the Carney's lawyers.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

This is the second time the case has been dismissed by a state court. Chancery Court Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster dismissed the lawsuit last year because he said it lacked subject matter jurisdiction  the requirement needed for a court to hear a specific kind of claim.

PREVIOUS REPORTING: Why a Delaware judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging future COVID-19 restrictions

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware lawsuit stopping future religious restrictions tossed  again
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, center, of Utah, and his wife, Sharon Lee, left, greet radio talk-show host Glenn Beck as he walks on stage during a Utah Republican election night party, Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in South Jordan, Utah. | George Frey, Associated Press

Utah Sen. Mike Lee has repeatedly asked Glenn Beck to run for president, the talk show host said last week. At first, it was unclear just how serious the request actually was.

In a clip posted by Mediaite today, Beck spoke about the conversations.

A story Ive never shared before, Mike Lee  and I think it started as a joke  Mike Lee used to say to me all the time, You should run for president, and Im like, Are you out of your mind? Beck told Steve Deace of BlazeTV.

Beck went on to describe a conversation from about a year ago in which Lee again tried to talk him into a presidential run. Beck told him, Mike, thats the dumbest thing and said he had no chance of winning. But Lee laughed and said winning wasnt the point.

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(Lee) said Im not saying you should run for president because I think you could win. Somebody needs to articulate where we are and what we face and who we have always been and need to remember who we are. He said, We need a storyteller, Beck said.

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But Beck went on to say, I think we have that now, noting the performances of Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy in the GOP debate the night before in Milwaukee. Hes also been giving air time to the current GOP front-runner, Donald Trump.

Will @realDonaldTrump have to run his presidential campaign from a JAIL CELL? He tells me "I don't think that's ever happening." pic.twitter.com/iww9QgUyZC  Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) August 29, 2023

Lee confirmed to Deseret News that hes been urging Beck to run  for even longer than Beck indicated.

Ive been talking to Glenn about that since the day I met him more than 13 years ago. I have long appreciated his trust in the American system of government, he said in a statement.

Its not the first time that Beck has had to shut down talk about running for office. In 2010, there was buzz about a Beck-Sarah Palin ticket in 2012 that led to Beck saying on Fox News that there was not a chance he would run. (Palin called the idea a hoot.)

But Politico noted then that although talk show hosts ranging from Chris Matthews to Neal Boortz had considered running for office, few do  with notable exceptions such as former Sen. Al Franken, a Democrat and alumnus of Air America, and former Vice President Mike Pence, who had a radio show in the 1990s before breaking through in politics.

But that doesnt stop their fans from dreaming.

Even before Fox News parted ways with Tucker Carlson, there was hopeful talk among some in the GOP about Carlson running for president in 2024. Some have even proposed a Trump-Carlson ticket, and those fantasies seem less far-fetched than usual, given their joint appearance the night of the GOP debate.

Ep. 19 Debate Night with Donald J Trump pic.twitter.com/ayPfII48CO  Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 24, 2023

As for Beck, though, hes made it clear in the past that hes not interested in seeking office. He has plenty of opportunities to tell the kinds of stories Lee wants America to hear  through his radio show, books, media company and podcast.

And as Politico noted in 2010, hed probably have to take a pay cut as president.

Suzanne Bates contributed to this report.
Damage from explosions in the area of the airport in Pskov, the night of August 30

After enduring 18 months of regular air raids by Russia, Ukraine struck back at its attacker overnight on Aug. 29-30, sending waves of drones to hit military and military-related targets across European Russia.

Explosions occurred at an air base in Pskov, Russia, around 700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, and drone attacks were reported in several regions of the country, as well as in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea.

Read also: Drones attack Russias Bryansk Oblast, investigators building, TV tower and microelectronics factory hit

The drone attack on Russia appears to have been the most massive since the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022. Russian Telegram channels reported that at least 22 UAVs had swept through Russias skies.

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The drones attacked targets in at least six Russian Oblasts: Pskov, Bryansk, Orel, Ryazan, Kaluga, and Moscow. Local authorities everywhere claimed to have "repelled the attacks," while the Russian Defense Ministry did not mention the strike on Pskov at all.

Read also: Drone strike damages four Il-76 aircraft deep in Russian territory

In fact, the most effective strike was probably that on a Russian military air base in Pskov: at least four IL-76 military transport aircraft and a fuel tank were reported to have been damaged. A fire also broke out at the air base, which is home to the 334th Military Transport Aviation Regiment.

Russian Telegram news channel Shot reported that 10 to 12 drones had attacked the air base at Pskov. According to Mash news outlet, one of the drones hit a fueling complex on the territory of the airport.

Local Telegram messenger channels also reported that a fire had broken out at military unit 64044 in the village of Promezhitsi, just to the south of Pskov air base. The unit is the home base of the 2nd GRU Special Forces Brigade, which has taken part in the war against Ukraine

The air base also has a civilian terminal, and the airport has been completely closed for flights until at least Aug. 31, local authorities said. The regions governor Mikhail Vedernikov said the airport would remain closed until the "nature of possible damage" to its runway is determined.

Meanwhile, in Russias Bryansk Oblast, the roof an administrative building was damaged, and its windows shattered by an explosion from an apparent drone strike. Later, Russian media reported there had been a drone attack on the building of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, and an attempted drone attack on a TV tower.

In Kaluga Oblast, Russian media reported that glass had been smashed in a building and a UAV had hit "an empty oil storage tank."

Read also: Whats next for drone attacks on Moscow

In its overnight and morning reports on Aug. 30, the Russian Defense Ministry stated only that Russian air defenses had "stopped Kyivs attempt" to launch drone attacks in Kaluga, Ryazan, Moscow, and Bryansk oblasts, as well as "on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation."

In Bryansk Oblast, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz confirmed there had been a strike on the building of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. Bogomaz said that "two Ukrainian drones" allegedly tried to attack a TV tower in Bryansk, and he claimed that air defenses had managed to shoot down all of the attacking drones.

Later, Russian Telegram channels posted videos of the attack on the air base at Pskov, showing a huge fireball, and the sound of a massive explosion booming across the city.

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have "intercepted" another Ukrainian-made drone over Moscow Oblast, and the Russian capitals Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports were twice reported to have been closed overnight due to drone activity in the area.

Earlier the Kremlin puppet leader in the Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol in Ukraines Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said that the Black Sea Fleet was "repelling attacks" of drones in Sevastopol Bay.

And before that, the Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU reported the "sound of an explosion" and the possible operation of air defenses in Ryazan. Later, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that a drone had been "shot down" over the region.

Read also: Why Russia is struggling to defend itself against drone attacks  expert view

At the same time, the Russian news channel Mash wrote that a downed drone had fallen on one of the largest microelectronics enterprises in Russia, the Kremniy EL factory in the city of Bryansk. The Russian Baza news channel reported that 40 square meters of the plant's 16th building had been set on fire, but that the fire had been extinguished.

The attack on the Russian air base at Pskov comes days after another attack on an airbase in Russia, in Kursk Oblast.

According to NV's sources in Ukraines SBU security service, on the night of Aug. 27, counterintelligence officers from the 13th Main Directorate of the SBU attacked Kursk air base, using kamikaze drones to target four Su-30 and one MiG-29 aircraft.

The drones also hit S-300 air defense radars and two Pantsir air defense systems, the SBU said.

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
YORK, Maine  Wiggly Bridge Distillery is challenging a recent University of Maine report alleging whiskey fungus is growing due to alcohol aging at its Route 1 location.

Alex Maxwell, an engineering planner with a firm hired by the distiller, told Planning Board members Thursday, Aug. 24 that clustering identified near Wiggly Bridge Distillery by the university study did not prove the business is the source. The distillery is seeking approval to expand its whiskey facility, and neighbors have said they are concerned it will increase the amount of nearby black fungus called Baudoinia.

There are several other potential sources within the study area that werent necessarily factored into a regression analysis, Maxwell said, where you could parse out other potential causes of fungal growth.

Dave Woods, left, and his son, David Woods, owners of Wiggly Bridge Distillery, pose in their barrel storage facility. They hope a build a second facility one, but Planning Board members will decide if a nearby presence of fungus will affect their approval.

The rebuttal from Wiggly Bridges team will be considered at the Sept. 28 Planning Board meeting. Board members said they did not receive the new information from the applicant with adequate time to consider it at their meeting Thursday.

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A room filled with residents concerned about the fungus expressed frustration with the decision to continue. Wiggly Bridge applied to build two new barrel houses and expand their facility last year, and the fungus has been the center of discussion. The boards last meeting was continued because their 10 p.m. deadline to stop impeded their ability to hear Wiggly Bridge.

A new study shows Baudoinia, known as whiskey fungus, is likely being caused by Wiggly Bridge Distillery on Route 1 in York. Planning Board members will now decide if the fungus, called Baudoinia, will affect the distillery's approval for an expansion.

The concern for the presence of Baudoinia, known as whiskey fungus, has led the board to scrutinize whether any nearby fungus is caused by the distillery. The board plans to use the study to examine whether it violates the towns ordinance against dust, fumes, vapors and gases that can affect neighboring properties.

Board members say this is the only question remaining in Wiggly Bridges application process, which the distillers say is necessary to grow their business. Residents say they fear their property values and public health are at stake. The Woods family that owns the distillery has argued science provides no evidence that Baudoinia is dangerous.

You all understand, Planning Board member Peter Smith told the audience, We have to be fair to both sides.

ViewPoint: Hotel in York unveils hillside rooms with stunning Nubble Lighthouse views

Wiggly Bridges expert: No evidence distillery is source of fungus

Maxwell, speaking from the firm Fuss and ONeil, told Planning Board members his team was tasked with analyzing the validity of the study of Baudoinia from the University of Maine. The study was commissioned by the Planning Board specifically to determine if Wiggly Bridge Distillery was the source. Its finding claimed Wiggly Bridge was likely the cause of the whiskey fungus presence.

Maxwell told board members they found the studys sampling methodology was problematic, and that incorrect procedure resulted in the clusters that appeared in their results. The study took 100 samples from around the distillery.

Several neighbors are complaining about a black fungus that is coating their homes, which they claim is due to Wiggly Bridge Distillery in York.

Maxwell also said the biggest concern was the study did not account for other potential sources of the fungus in the area. The Woods family has argued other sources of ethanol cause the fungus to grow, including nearby bakeries.

Our biggest thrust to the argument is that there really wasnt a controlled progression analysis done to account for other potential contributing factors to the carbonaceous feedstock needed to grow the fungus, Maxwell told board members.

Normas Restaurant: How Norma Clarks breakfast spot became a favorite for York veterans

Applicants, residents express frustration with delays

Planning Board members did not respond to the presentation, as they said they would read the material presented by Wiggly Bridge and consider it at the meeting in September. They said they would have Tora Johnson, who was behind the University of Maine study, look at their comments and respond.

Both members of the audience and the Woods family expressed a desire for the process to speed up. The Woods family asked the Planning Board to waive their requirement that new information be submitted 17 days before the meeting.

It is our interpretation of reports done, David Woods II told board members, referring to the report from the University of Maine. He insisted the information from Wiggly Bridges analyst was not so new to warrant a delay in its review. He and his father also argued they only received information from Johnson of the University of Maine the day it was presented.

More: Pickleball club drops court expansion in York after neighbors complain about noise

Board members said they needed to continue the meeting because they wanted to give the public a chance to review their response.

Its unfair to the public for them to not have a chance and a go at it, and have their professionals look at it, said Planning Board member Meredith Goodwin.

Owners of Wiggly Bridge Distillery on U.S. Route 1 in York, Maine, shown here on Jan. 27, 2022, said they plan to expand their operations.

Residents who went to the meeting were not happy with the boards eagerness to continue the application until September.

I am so disappointed that this is being pushed for another month again, said Carolyn Zotos in the public hearing section of Thursdays meeting. She was one of several who spoke, saying they had concerns their homes would become covered with whiskey fungus-like communities in states like Kentucky and Tennessee.

This could be York, said Beth Downs of 1 Woodcock Lane. She held up a picture she said showed a community in Kentucky near the Jim Beam manufacturer.

This is what happens. We know this. Weve seen it. There are many lawsuits, Downs said.

Board members asked residents to remain patient as they prepared to deliberate for at least another month.

We have to follow a process, Boardman said. Sometimes it's agonizingly slow.

The Bar Next Door in York: Central Bean owners rebrand cafe with new restaurant

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Wiggly Bridge Distillery fights back against whiskey fungus claims
Even as firefighters progressed battling wildfires and clearing roads, smoke made the air over Shasta and Siskiyou counties unhealthy or even hazardous to breathe on Tuesday.

That smoke could continue to pour into the north Sacramento Valley and north Interstate 5 corridor off and on this week until cooler weather arrives on Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

Winds are blowing smoke south and southeast over Siskiyou and Shasta counties, spreading it from fires now burning in the Klamath National Forest and in northwestern California and Oregon, according to the weather service's Sacramento branch.

Smoke from the Happy Camp Complex hovers over west Siskiyou County. Smoke filled North State skies on Tuesday, Aug. 29, boosting pollution levels in Siskiyou and Shasta counties.

North State residents as far south as Tehama County could sniff smoke on Tuesday morning. By 11 a.m., skies were yellow over Redding and Shasta Lake. The Interstate 5 corridor in Shasta and Siskiyou counties reached levels considered unhealthy to everyone, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's AirNow air quality tracker.

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Note to readers: Weve made this story free as an important public service. If you are able, help power local journalism. Subscribe to the Redding Record Searchlight.

The worst air recorded Tuesday morning was in Yreka and along Highway 96. Pollution in those areas reached levels considered hazardous to all people's health, according to the EPA.

Officials in Tehama and coastal counties issued air quality advisories due to thick smoke, cautioning people not to breathe the smoky air.

For more information, check the Record Searchlight's real-time smoke map at data.redding.com/fires and the EPA's AirNow air quality tracker at AirNow.gov.

Highway 96 reopens

There was also good news.

Highway 96 reopened to motorists, according to a Tuesday morning update from the Klamath National Forest.

Fires burning in the Happy Camp Complex in Siskiyou County closed the highway in mid-August.

One-way traffic controls are in place along stretches of the highway while crews make repairs, remove debris and stabilize slopes and hills around the highway. Motorists should expect delays of up to an hour or more, the forest service said.

East of Seiad, Highway 96 will close to the public between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., and between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., allowing emergency vehicles carrying firefighters and equipment to reach fires that are still burning in the complex, the forest service said.

For information about county road closures, go to the Siskiyou County Public Works website at co.siskiyou.ca.us/publicworks/page/closures-and-delays.

Here's more about the wildfires burning in Siskiyou and Trinity counties.

Happy Camp Complex

As of Tuesday morning, the Happy Camp Complex of fires reached 22,195 acres, up from 19,205 acres on Monday morning, according to the Klamath update.

Those fires were 31% contained on Tuesday morning, up from 29% on Monday.

Much of the fire's growth occurred on the west side of the complex, where the Elliot Fire reached 9,915 acres, up from 7,877 acres Monday morning. That fire remained 2% contained on Tuesday, according to the forest service.

Fire crews will patrol Highway 96 this week to make sure the road stays safe. They'll also mop up hot spots and strengthen containment lines near the highway.

Also on the complex' west side, firefighters battled the 741-acre Malone Fire near Elk Creek Road, which was 7% contained Tuesday morning. This week, firefighters plan to secure fire lines on the 2,148-acre, uncontained Ufish Fire. Winds made working this fire difficult on Monday night, but crews continued containment efforts on Tuesday.

On the eastern side of the complex, the Head Fire grew to 6,931 acres by Tuesday morning, up from 6,844 acres on Monday. Firefighters increased containment on the fire to 45%, up from 35% on Monday.

A community fire operations update meets at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29 at the Karuk Administration Gym, 64236 Second Ave. in Happy Camp.

Deep Fire

People living in Trinity Center breathed cleaner air than their Shasta and Siskiyou neighbors. Pollution reached only moderate levels on Tuesday morning as firefighters continued to make progress battling the 3,924-acre Deep Fire.

Burning southwest of Trinity Center and northwest of Trinity Lake in Trinity County, the Deep Fire grew less than 100 acres between Monday and Tuesday mornings. It was 60% contained on Tuesday, according to a Shasta-Trinity National Forest update.

The blaze scorched trees and brush at the northeast end of Deep Creek on Monday, but rocky terrain blocked most of the fire's progress. On Monday the fire also continued to "back slowly" into Little Salt Creek. Firefighters worked their way north at the Stuart Fork Trail, toward Morris Meadow. This week, crews hope to turn containment efforts east onto the Deer Creek Trail.

"The southern heel of the fire closest to the Van Matre inholdings and the Trinity Alps resort has been cold for several days," the forest service said on Tuesday, with "most evacuation orders were downgraded to warnings."

For evacuation order and warning updates, go to the Trinity County Sheriff's Office Facebook page at facebook.com/people/Trinity-County-Sheriffs-Office/100064589806351/.

Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Wildfire smoke brings poor air quality to Shasta, Siskiyou counties
Grayscale Investmentss court victory over the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday sent cryptocurrency prices soaring, as the market eyes a ruling that may allow the first ever cryptocurrency-based exchange-traded fund (ETF).

If Grayscales bitcoin ETF gets approved, it would be the first time a cryptocurrency is directly tradable on the traditional stock market and available to any investor with a brokerage account.

The SEC denied Grayscales application to turn its bitcoin fund into an ETF last year, but the company sued the agency saying that approvals for similar crypto-related ETFs show that their product should be approved as well.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Grayscale, sending the ETF application back to the SEC for reconsideration.

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The denial of Grayscales proposal was arbitrary and capricious because the Commission failed to explain its different treatment of similar products, Circuit Judge Neomi Rao wrote.

Bitcoin prices are up about 6 percent on the news, along with top crypto-related companies including exchange Coinbase, which saw its shares rise 14 percent Tuesday. Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency, rose in price by about 5 percent.

Major asset managers including Fidelity, Invesco and BlackRock have also applied to create cryptocurrency-based spot ETFs, which would invest directly in cryptocurrency assets and are expected to closely track the price of cryptocurrencies.

The SEC previously approved ETFs based on cryptocurrency futures, but never the assets themselves. That discrepancy sparked the Grayscale lawsuit.

Grayscale hailed the ruling, saying it is a monumental step for American investors, the Bitcoin ecosystem, and all those who have been advocating for Bitcoin exposure through the added protections of the ETF wrapper.

Cryptocurrency advocates have argued that a cryptocurrency ETF will buoy the sector by allowing mainstream investors to enter the cryptocurrency space without having to own the coin themselves. Instead, theyd be investing into a fund which owns the coin.

The proposed ETF is based on the companys already existing Bitcoin Trust, which saw its shares rise by about 13 percent. It has more than $16 billion in assets.

The company argued in its appeal that its status as a trust has prevented it from selling its assets appropriately, therefore driving down its price over time. They argue reclassification as an ETF would solve that problem.

The court decision may hobble SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who has attempted to make cryptocurrency regulation a top priority. He once called the industry like the Wild West and has repeatedly asked Congress for more authority to regulate the sector.

It is unclear if the SEC plans to appeal the decision.

We are reviewing the courts decision to determine next steps, the agency said in a statement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Winnebago's newest Access travel trailer is its cheapest yet at $29,600. Winnebago

Sales of travel trailers  and RVs in general  have slumped since the industry's heyday during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid this decline, Winnebago has unveiled a new cheap travel trailer: the $29,600 Access.

Take a look inside the entry-level RV available November 2023.

Winnebago has unveiled its cheapest entry-level travel trailer yet in a bid to attract budget travelers amid the legacy RV maker's slump in sales.

The RVing boom during the COVID-19 pandemic was a gold rush for companies like Winnebago. But these days, sales aren't looking as red hot anymore. Shipments for these homes on wheels have dropped 47.7% from 2023 compared to 2022, according to July data from the RV Industry Association. And looking at travel trailers specifically, shipments have slid 51.9% during that same period.

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Unsurprisingly, companies like Winnebago have taken a hit.

Winnebago

In June, the RV maker's parent company  which also oversees Grand Design RV and Newmar  announced its third-quarter 2023 revenues of $900.8 million, an over 38% drop from the same period last year.

"Recent years have been some of the highest demand in industry history, so some normalization of RV shipments is not unexpected," the company told Insider in an email.

Despite this, Winnebago says it is "optimistic about the long-term consumer engagement in the outdoors."

Winnebago

Amid its dip in sales, Winnebago unveiled a $150,000 refresh of its cheapest popular camper van in July.

And now, it's going the affordable route yet again with its latest product: the $29,600 Access.

Winnebago

Despite all the social media attention camper vans have received over the past few years, travel trailers still make up the majority of RV sales.

The Access was designed to be an economical option  think the Nissan Versa or Toyota Corolla of trailers.

Winnebago

Before this model, Winnebago's least expensive trailer was the $37,200 Macro Minnie.

The trailer can sleep up to eight people, according to the RV maker.

Winnebago

Eight is a recurring number  the trailer also comes with eight of what Winnebago calls its "premium amenities." This includes a 200-watt solar panel, WiFi systems, electric tongue jacks, and water tank heaters.

And inside, it looks as comfortable as any large travel trailer.

Winnebago

There are several floor plan options. All have a distinct queen bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and dinette. But while some floor plans have bunk beds, others just have a fold-out couch (or both).

There's even an outdoor kitchen on some models.

Winnebago

And if you love modern luxuries, you'll love the porcelain toilet. It's certainly a step up from the plastic composting toilets many camper vans have.

The skylights bring in plenty of natural light while the interior and exterior LED lights brighten up the home at night.

Winnebago

And there's plenty of under-bed storage, which can double as a furry friend's little bedroom.

The trailer will make its official debut at America's Largest RV Show in Hershey, Pennsylvania in September.

Winnebago

If you want an Access for yourself, you'll have to wait a few months. The trailer will go on sale in November 2023.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Migrants waiting to be processed queue outside of the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, on Aug. 1, 2023. Credit - Jeenah MoonThe New York Times/Redux

Ali Sayyid, a father of six, tries to quickly change direction when his children hear the sound of an ice cream truck coming down a New York City street. He cant afford it.

In Afghanistan, life was good and they were eating everything, says Sayyid, who asked that his name be changed so he does not lose his familys placement at the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan.

Sayyid was a civil engineer in Afghanistan in 2021. But after the Talibans takeover, he fledfirst to Brazil and then across the Southern border into the U.S. He is among more than 100,000 migrants that have arrived in New York City over the last year. Many are desperate but unable to work legallyand trapped in the citys overcrowded temporary housing in the meantime. Nearly 60,000 remain in the citys care, according to the mayor's office.

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Since the spring of 2022, our city has borne the brunt of a national crisisproviding shelter and care for a population greater than the entire city of Albany, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in an August 24 statement. New York City has a right-to-shelter law, which means officials cannot legally turn away anyone seeking shelter. The city and state have been fighting in court over the best way to house the influx of migrants. The city of New York sued 30 New York counties for issuing emergency executive orders meant to ban the city for arranging asylum seekers to stay in private hotels like the Roosevelt, which remains a designated arrival center in addition to functioning as a shelter. Last month, dozens of asylum seekers slept outside the Roosevelt Hotel hoping to secure a room like Sayyid and his family.

Construction starts on Randalls Island in New York City on a shelter for recently arrived migrants on Aug. 14, 2023. Spencer PlattGetty Images

In response to traditional shelters reaching near-capacity in early June, the city created 206 emergency shelters, including respite centers in school gymnasiums and parking lots. These facilities were originally intended to house migrants only for a few days, so they dont face the same kind of regulation that shelters do. Many are bare-bones spaces providing little more than a cot to sleep and a few meals.

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Advocates have slammed the city for some of these facilities lacking access to showers and serving frozen meals to residents. The respite centers are at the bottom of the barrel By announcing the emergency situation they bypassed all the laws in the last 40 years that have been put in place, says Mammad Mahmoodi, co-founder of EV Loves NYC, a nonprofit focused on food insecurity in New York City. Rules around cots being spaced out and having an appropriate ratio of bathrooms per people can be overlooked, he says: All of that went out of the window."

When asked about conditions at the respite centers, the mayors office stressed that this is an emergency situation and noted that all sites now have viable shower options. A spokesperson with the office says the city considers respite centers to function as waiting rooms and not long-term stays. But many asylum seekers dont see a clear path to permanent housing.

As the migrant housing crisis grows in New York City, asylum-seekers, advocates, and New York politicians are increasingly focused on a related problem: the slow, kludgy process for getting federal work permits. Allowing for speedy work authorization so migrants can better support themselves, the thinking goes, could relieve some of the pressure on temporary housing. We need the federal government to allow asylum seekers to work, so they can provide for themselves and their families, said Adams. Governor Kathy Hochul echoed his remarks in a public address last weekasking in particular to expedite work permits: Let them work, she said. The Biden Administration hit back earlier this week, recommending that the city and state improve data collection at intake, communication around needing to apply for work authorization and asylum, and ensuring case management and legal services are available at multiple shelter sites.

New York Mayor Eric Adams, left, and city officials listen to a reporters question during a City Hall press conference, on Aug. 9, 2023. Bebeto MatthewsAP

Sayyid and his family filed for asylum two weeks ago, but migrants need to wait 180 days after the application date before qualifying for a work permit. Work permit requests are taking about two months to process, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official. The agency notes that the 180-day waiting period is written into statute, so the agency does not have control over itCongress does.

While some migrants resort to working cash jobs in construction or delivery, Sayyid says he wont consider that; if the police find out, it could tank his familys asylum case. I will not put my family at risk, he says. In the meantime, money is tight. He says the city rejected his application for cash assistance two months ago and that it has only provided him with Medicaid and the shelter placement since he first arrived. It's really time for the state and federal governments to take a more active role and to help people get work authorization, says Kathryn Kliff, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society. Without work authorization, you might get exploited or not have a steady income They dont feel like they have the protection to be able to work in a more above-ground job.

Sayyid is just one of thousands of migrants stuck in temporary housing without the ability to legally earn money towards a more permanent setup. Dozens of migrant men who crossed the Southern border to flee dire economic crises in Mauritania and Senegal ran to a street corner in Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon to get free food from a mutual aid group in the Clinton Hill and Fort Greene neighborhoods. They include former mechanics, electricians, and construction workers struggling to find jobs and currently living at one of the citys respite centers on Hall Street, near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Its a miracle that any of us are alive. Its impossible to live there. No one would risk their lives otherwise, Mohamad Sow, a man from Mauritania at the respite center, says in French. Sow asked for his name to be changed for fear that it could negatively affect his ability to stay in the U.S. (Members of the mutual aid group handing out food translated from French to English.)

The men are all worried about employment, as well as getting kicked out of their current dwelling because of a requirement for all single adult migrants to reapply for shelter every 60 days. Mayor Adams established the rule to provide more room for families with children, but these men dont know where theyll be able to stay next. Local bureaucracy has made it harder to get a city ID that would help migrants open bank accounts, access city services, and secure jobswhich would in turn help them get on the path to moving out of temporary housing. The migrants near Brooklyn Navy Yard say government forms ask for a residential address to get an IDNYC card, but the respite center wont let them use the address where it is located. Some have had to use addresses of churches or mosques instead. But just the city ID still isnt enough: The city notes that the IDNYC card can be used as proof of identity, but employers often require additional proof of work authorization. An official with the mayors office said they would look into the issue.

A migrant from Mauritania washes rice at Bushwick City Farm, which had provided migrants who were staying in a shelter across the street with fresh produce and invited them to use their space for cooking, on Aug. 16, 2023. Jessica RinaldiThe Boston Globe/Getty Images

Amid the increasingly dire situation, a loose web of nonprofits and aid groups has developed to help migrants with everything from basic necessities like bedding, socks, and hygiene kits, to legal advice, to food. EV Loves NYC, the food insecurity nonprofit, says it delivers about 2,000 meals on Sundays to shelters and respite centers across the city. At the Sixth Street Community Centerthe groups home baseslabs of Hebrew text from when the building was a synagogue peek out behind murals of leftist leaders. Hot chicken coming through, yells one volunteer, as another packs rice into boxes. On Aug. 22, theres an Indo-Chinese meal: coconut curry meatballs. A couple days later, the menu is fragrant rosemary chicken and stuffed grape leaves. Theres always a vegan option. Sayyid, the Afghan father of six, relies on the group for halal chicken and meat meals.

Respite centers also often lack key supports like caseworkers. Caseworkers are at humanitarian relief or arrival centers but not at respite centers; they are also prioritizing families, according to an official with the mayors office. Organizer Power Malu from the aid group Artists Athletes Activists sets up at a church in midtown Manhattan every Friday where he has helped gather volunteers to address the gaps. Among them are city employees helping in their free time, Legal Aid attorneys, and bilingual English teachers.

But the issues of work and housing persist. On a recent Friday afternoon, three other young men from Mauritania wait at the church to connect with a volunteer attorney to talk about legal pathways to work and live in the U.S. Elkhalil Mohamed Selma, 24, says he has been staying at a respite center for almost two monthsone that was on the news for not having functioning showers. The security talks with us like we are animals; says we are strangers in this country, Selma says. Every day, he and the other two men go try and find work; every day, they come back without a job.

Write to Sanya Mansoor at sanya.mansoor@time.com.
DHAKA, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's cabinet has approved a draft of the New Development Bank (NDB) Act, paving the way for the country to welcome funds from the lending arm of the BRICS.

The approval came from a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday, an official said Tuesday.

Following approval of the draft law, the official who didn't like to be named said they expect 800 million U.S. dollars from the NDB to fund two projects, including the installation of Dhaka-Narayanganj gas pipeline and supply of water to Mohammadpur's Basila by Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.

Headquartered in Shanghai, the NDB was established with the purpose of mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging market economies and developing countries, so as to complement the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development.

The bank started expanding its membership in 2021 with Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Egypt as new members, marking substantial progress in the bank's membership and a remarkable step towards a global multilateral development bank. 
A Palestinian-American woman said she was discriminated against by employees of Israel's flagship airline.

She claims half her clothes were removed and her photos were deleted by airline employees.

It is now being investigated by the US Department of Transport.

A Palestinian-American journalist who was barred from boarding her flight from Newark to Tel Aviv in July alleged that she was humiliated and discriminated against by employees of Israel's flagship carrier.

Now, the US Department of Transport has opened an investigation into the incident, it confirmed to Insider by email.

The investigation follows a complaint filed by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) on July 31, on behalf of passenger Noor Wazwaz. It was filed less than two weeks after Wazwaz was denied boarding on an El Al Israel Airlines flight on July 18.

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The complaint accuses El Al, as well as the US Transportation Security Agency, of discriminating against Wazwaz  a US citizen  on the basis of her Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab backgrounds, according to an ADC news release.

The ADC previously said in a news release announcing the complaint that Wazwaz faced "serious discrimination and harassment," which it said included being forced to undergo "extensive and humiliating searches and questioning, unlike other passengers."

On the day of being barred from a flight, Wazwaz posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, about her experience.

In the video, she said: "They are telling me that because I am Palestinian and I'm flying into Israel, I'm not allowed to take my laptop, any chargers, not even my portable charger, with me on the plane."

She added: "They are worried that someone packed my bag, that I wasn't the one that packed my bag."

In a thread also posted on X, Wazwaz said she asked an El Al employee explicitly if this interaction happened because she is Palestinian. According to Wazwaz, he responded: "Yes, and you're going to places like Ramallah."

She also claimed that there was an "alert" which showed that her laptop was flagged for potentially containing explosives. Later, she claimed, her shoes were swabbed and caused the same alert.

Wazwaz claimed she was taken into a room for extensive screening, which she said was run by Israeli airline staff.

She wrote: "Took off half my clothes, socks, shoes. Was THOROUGHLY patted down. Head to toe. They swabbed my clothes, my bag, shoes, socks, literally everything."

Wazwaz also claimed that she was documenting the experience on her cellphone when an airline employee "demanded" to look at her photos and videos.

He "proceeded to DELETE my pictures from my phone," she claimed in an X post.

The Palestinian-American journalist said she was later rebooked onto a United Airlines flight to Israel after being denied boarding. But once in Israel, she was subject to additional screening, Wazwaz added.

"This entire experience has taken an immense toll on me," she wrote in an X post on July 18. "For hours I felt so sick, my chest was hurting and my anxiety was at an all-time high."

El Al did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The US Department of Transport confirmed the investigation into the allegation of discrimination against El Al in an email to Insider but offered no further comment.

In a statement, the ADC's National Executive Director Abed Ayoub said: "We believe in the fundamental principle that every individual deserves respect and fair treatment during their travel experience.

He added: "DOT's investigation into Noor's case is a significant step towards ensuring that these values are upheld across the aviation sector."

Read the original article on Insider
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON)  A viral photograph of a woman flashing an AK-47 assault rifle around San Francisco is now being used by federal investigators to keep her boyfriend locked up.

The photo was released by San Francisco police in the summer of 2021 after the young lady and a Cadillac driver allegedly participated in an illegal sideshow on Barneveld Avenue and McKinnon Avenue. The eye-catching image went viral on social media.

(Image via United States Attorneys Office)

In court documents recently filed by the United States Attorneys Office, the suspected sideshow driver was identified as Christopher Gonzalez Nunez, 26, of Hayward.

Nunez is a felon, a member of the San Francisco Mission District Nortenos, and is the womans significant other, prosecutors wrote. He has a disturbing history of gang participation, gun possession and manufacturing, and reckless driving, court documents state.

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The FBI raided Nunezs house on Woodroe Avenue in Hayward earlier this summer. Agents seized numerous illegal firearms, ammunition, and gun assembly tools.

When FBI agents opened Nunezs backpack they found: a 9mm handgun, an unserialized AR-15 style pistol, an unserialized Glock-style handgun, three AR-style 30-round magazines, and extended magazines. Nunez was arrested and charged with federal firearms crimes, as first reported by the Mercury News.

The viral photo, left, and Christopher Gonzalez Nunezs T-shirt, right. (Images via United States Attorneys Office)

Nunez has a history of participating in sideshows, investigators said. When the viral photograph was snapped, he drove, while his significant other leaned out his passenger window armed with an AK47. Not only does the car match a vehicle that Gonzalez Nunez owned at the time, but Instagram users tagged him in photos from the incident and mentioned him by name, prosecutors wrote.

Nunez liked the photo so much that he made it into a T-shirt, prosecutors said.

The AK-47 wielding womans name was not included in the court documents. Prosecutors, however, seem to know who she is. The U.S. Attorneys Office wrote, Gonzalez Nunezs significant other has a criminal history of her own, including a battery conviction and arrest for assault causing great bodily injury, robbery, and domestic violence.

Guns and ammunition were seized from a Hayward home in June 2023. (Image via U.S. Attorneys Office)

Prosecutors filed a motion on August 18 asking U.S. Judge Donna Ryu to keep Nunez in custody as he awaits trial.

Prosecutors said Nunez is a dangerous person. His past gang conduct, combined with his continued possession, assembly, and apparent distribution of firearms  including untraceable ghost guns  poses an unmitigable danger to the public, the U.S. Attorneys Office wrote.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to YourCentralValley.com.
TikToker Brittany Moore has been documenting her search to find good reading spots at Disney World.

She's found quiet areas of Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot so far.

Some TikTokers have applauded her idea, while others say Disney is too expensive to read while there.

Disney World is the ultimate destination for rides, Mickey Mouse-shaped snacks, and, according to one TikToker, reading.

Brittany Moore, a Disney fan who makes TikToks about the theme park and motherhood, shared a video on Saturday about searching for a "peaceful spot at Disney to read."

She filmed herself parking at Magic Kingdom, grabbing a drink at Starbucks, and then walking to the top of the Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant to read with a perfect view of Cinderella Castle and the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel.

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"This spot is amazing if you just want a quiet, peaceful spot," Moore said in her video. "I've been up here for over an hour and nobody has come up here. It has been perfect."

Her video has been viewed more than 300,000 times as of Wednesday.

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Disney fans have since gathered in the comments section of her post to share their thoughts on reading at the Orlando, Florida, theme park.

"I do this often while my husband rides some of the rides with my kids. I like this spot!" one person wrote.

"Going to Disney world to read is peak wealth," another TikToker said.

"How do you get any reading done?? I can't stop people watching. Just curious, why Disney to read?" someone asked.

"That's some expensive book time," one comment read.

In an earlier video posted on August 11, Moore explained that she wanted to read at the theme park because it was her first time having a day to herself since giving birth to her daughter six years ago. She chose Hollywood Studios for her first attempt.

"Six years ago, I went on bed rest when I was pregnant with my daughter and I've been at home with her every day since," she said in her TikTok. "Well today, both of my kids for the very first time are both in school, and I have the day to myself."

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Moore has also said in previous videos that her family is local to the area  they're in the process of building a new house near Disney World  and that they have annual passes to the theme park.

Disney World passes range in price depending on which tier you buy. One option, the $749 Pirate Pass, allows Florida residents to visit Disney World most days of the year, excluding a few holidays and other blockout dates.

If a parkgoer with that pass were to visit at least once a week per year, they'd spend a little over $14 each time they entered Disney World.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

Since posting her first two TikToks about reading in Disney World, Moore has since shared a third video detailing a visit to Epcot with her son, during which she brought books for both of them to read in the Morocco pavilion.

Moore did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
A 64-year-old Woodbridge man has been charged with sexually assaulting a child he was babysitting nearly 40 years ago.

Martin Klose, of the Fords section, was charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree crime, and one count of sexual assault, a second-degree crime, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced.

Klose was being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center in North Brunswick pending a pre-trial detention hearing.

On Aug. 2, the accuser gave a statement to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and Perth Amboy police saying she was sexually assaulted by Klose, a stepuncle, when she was about 4 or 5 years old, according to court papers.

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The accuser reported the assault occurred while Klose was babysitting her and that it stopped when someone else arrived home, court papers say.

The accusers stepmother provided a police statement in which she said she learned of the sexual assault when the accuser was about 10 or 11 years old and went to talk to her, court papers say.

In a statement to authorities, Klose said he touched the accuser, court papers say.

This is the second time this summer Klose is facing criminal charges.

In July he was charged with luring a child online, after he allegedly offered cash in exchange for sex. He was charged with criminal attempted sexual assault and attempting to endanger the welfare of a child, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

In that case Klose was allegedly trying to set up a sexual encounter with an individual he believed to be a 14-year-old girl online, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said.

The investigation into the 1984 incident is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Perth Amboy Detective Rosado at 732- 324-3872 or Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Detective Stolte at 732-745-4045.

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Woodbridge NJ man accused of sexually assaulting child 40 years ago
Acts of violence have claimed the lives of many young Black people who havent even gotten to apply to college. However, the most painful part of each loss is finding that the reason behind the dispute is minuscule - as minuscule as a dipping sauce packet.



Naime Liggon, 16, was stabbed outside a McDonalds located on the 1900 block of 14th Street NW in Washington, D.C. Monday night. Authorities say the stabbing stemmed from an altercation over sweet-and-sour sauce. Liggon and another girl allegedly beat on the 16-year-old who didnt intially fight back. However, when Liggon and her friend entered their vehicle, the 16-year-old lunged at her with a pocketknife.

Read more

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Read more from FOX5 DC:

City officials have said they are laser-focused on combating youth violence. Last month, the D.C. Council passed emergency legislation that expanded pretrial detention for youths charged with virtually any dangerous or violent crime. In her own legislative proposal, which still could be considered in the fall, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) wanted to allow judges to detain youths for their own protection  signaling the lengths she is willing to go to stop the bloodshed. All summer, D.C. government officials have touted programming designed to keep youths safe and engaged while school is out. The mayor told community members in June that the city had 13,000 slots for camp and 14,000 places for youth employment. The U Street corridor is among the areas city officials say will see a curfew crackdown starting Sept. 1 to keep youths under 17 off the streets overnight. A nightlife task force designed to reduce violence had been focusing on the neighborhood.

The current curfew requires kids 16 years old and under to be off the streets between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on weekdays. Theres also a nightlife task force created to reduce violence in the surrounding neighborhood where the stabbing took place, the report says.

We are always looking for ways to make sure our young people are safe and our city is safe. And certainly this summer weve seen some instances of young people out where they shouldnt be, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah told FOX5.

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A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday against Ramsey County and sheriffs office correctional officers alleges they failed to report or give treatment to a man who had suffered a serious and progressively worsening brain hemorrhage while jailed last year, resulting in his death nearly three weeks later.

The 10-page civil rights lawsuit, filed by attorneys Richard Student and Steve Meshbesher on behalf of Dillon Bakkes family, alleges the county and four correctional officers violated Bakkes right to adequate medical treatment under the Fourteenth Amendment.

It was avoidable, Student said Tuesday. Had they done anything, they would have been able to get Dillon medical care, they would have saved his life. Instead, 30 hours goes by without anybody doing anything.

Bakkes mother, Teresa Schnell of St. Paul, has been appointed as the trustee in the wrongful-death action, which names Ramsey County and correctional officers Xue Yang, Alex Grundhofer, Scott Brommerich and Antonio Rulli.

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The countys spokesperson and sheriffs office spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit Tuesday.

According to the lawsuit, Bakke, a 37-year-old artist and graphic designer, caregiver at a long-term care facility and severe hemophiliac, was booked into the Ramsey County Jail on suspicion of drug possession on Aug. 7, 2022, with a visible head injury.

The four Ramsey County correctional officers were aware of the injury to his forehead when Bakke was booked, yet they did so without noting his hemophilia, a diagnosed condition that was previously documented in his inmate file, the lawsuit alleges.

Part of the problem is, they didnt do a CT scan of his head to see if there was hemorrhaging at that point in time, Student said.

The correctional officers also failed to note his prescribed medication and instructions for administering it, which also were in his inmate file at the time of booking, the lawsuit continues.

Bakke began displaying neurological signs and symptoms on Aug. 7 and began vocally and continually complaining about severe pain, the lawsuit says. His condition deteriorated overnight and into the early morning hours of Aug. 8, at which point he was unable to stand or walk, and was yelling out in pain and yelling for his mother.

In response, according to the lawsuit, the four correctional officers went to Bakkes jail cell, handcuffed him and carried him to a cell in the segregation unit, where they laid him down and left. They did not report Bakkes condition to medical personnel or request medical treatment.

Thats the point where theres no excuse to not send him to the hospital immediately, whether you are a correctional officer or medical staff, Student said.

Bakkes condition continued to deteriorate unabated over the course of the next 30 hours and he was found unresponsive in his jail cell on Aug. 9, the lawsuit says.

Bakke was then hospitalized, where imaging revealed extensive intraparenchymal cerebral hemorrhaging and related brain injuries, according to the lawsuit. He died on Aug. 27, having never regained consciousness.

Previous lawsuit

The lawsuit in Bakkes death followed a $3 million settlement in June involving another alleged case of inmate mistreatment and medical neglect at the Ramsey County jail.

Miri Mozuch-Stafford had filed the civil rights lawsuit against Ramsey County and various employees. She said correctional officers tackled her to the ground when she was handcuffed with her arms behind her back at the jail on Feb. 8, 2021. Her tibia was fractured and an artery was severed. Mozuch-Stafford, who was in jail after a disorderly conduct arrest, said she wasnt taken for medical treatment for 17 hours.

Student and Meshbesher also represented Mozuch-Stafford in her lawsuit.

I dont know what gets lost in the mix when youre working in the Ramsey County Jail, but obviously things need to change, Student said Tuesday. And this is just another example of that.

The Ramsey County Board of Commissioners expressed concerns to the Minnesota Department of Corrections about medical care provided to inmates at the jail, they said earlier this year. Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, who is in charge of the jail, had also sounded the alarm about overcrowding.

The DOC said in February it conducted an investigation and that it showed staffing shortages led to delayed or denied medical treatment of inmates. The state agency ordered Fletcher to reduce the jails population, and the sheriffs office submitted a plan to decrease the headcount by about 60 inmates by transferring them to other facilities.

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KANSAS CITY, Kan.  The Wyandotte County prosecutor has ruled a deadly police shooting this year was justified and officers will not face charges.

Kansas City, Kansas, police shot and killed 50-year-old Mark Anderton in February near North 52nd Street and Georgia Avenue.

Olathe officers justified in deadly police shooting: prosecutor

Officials said Anderton was on a bike leaving the scene of a double-overdose after paramedics arrived. No one died as a result of those overdoses.

Anderton made it about a half mile away before some sort of interaction with a KCK police officer. Officials have not elaborated on that interaction.

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Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree said Anderton was reaching inside his waistline for a gun at the time the officer fired his gun.

Dupree said the officer ordered Anderton to stop reaching, but the 50-year-old didnt comply. Police recovered the gun at the scene.

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The district attorney said the officer acted within the bounds of the law since law enforcement can use deadly force to prevent death or bodily harm.

Andertons family was critical of law enforcement after his death. His brother, Eric Anderton, said he struggled to get information. Months later, Eric Anderton said his requests to view body cam footage of the incident had repeatedly been denied.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
The Wyandotte County District Attorneys Office announced Wednesday they would not pursue criminal charges against the Kansas City, Kansas, police officer who fatally shot a man in February.

John Anderton, 50, was believed to be reaching inside of his waistband for a gun, at the time of the fatal shooting, said Jonathan Carter, a spokesman for the office in a release explaining the decision.

The officer ordered Anderton to stop reaching. Anderton did not comply, the release said.

The police recovered a gun at the scene. The officer acted within the bounds of well-established use of force law in Kansas.

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The determination came after reviewing evidence related to the Feb. 3 shooting, which took place shortly after authorities were called at 5:45 p.m. that Friday evening to a reported drug overdose.

Officers located a man and a woman at a home in the 5400 block of Haskell Avenue who were unresponsive and later taken away by an ambulance.

Police then said they witnessed another man fleeing the house on a bicycle. The information was relayed over police radio, prompting other officers to respond to assist in finding him.

A few blocks away, near 52nd Street and Georgia Avenue, a police officer spotted a man who matched the description, said Officer Donna Drake with the Kansas City Police Department in a previous statement. KCPD handled the investigation as part of an agreement to investigate Kansas City, Kansas, police use of force cases.

The officer involved attempted to stop him, an exchange of some sort followed, and the officer fired at the man, Drake said.

No officers were injured. Only one officer fired a weapon, Drake said.

The officer was placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation, per KCKPD policy. They are the latest member of the department to not see criminal charges following a fatal police shooting.

In May, the Wyandotte County District Attorneys Office decided to not pursue charges in the case of another Kansas City, Kansas, officer who discharged their weapon and killed 25-year-old Amareeya Henderson.

A Door Dash driver, Henderson had been pulled over April 29 in a traffic stop near the Kansas City, Kansas, 12th Street Bridge. The office determined following a review of police surveillance that Henderson was driving the car at a high rate of speed while the officer was stuck between the door and the drivers compartment. While holding on to the moving vehicle the officer told the suspect to stop.

Henderson allegedly refused commands before the officer discharged his weapon.

In both cases, the office concluded that police had used deadly force to prevent death or great bodily harm.
China-Africa to inject stability, positive energy to turbulent world: Chinese defense minister

10:37, August 30, 2023 By Guo Yuandan, Leng Shumei and Chen Qingqing ( Global Times

Positive China-Africa cooperation can inject more stability into the world, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu said at the Third China-Africa Peace and Security Forum that kicked off on Tuesday in Beijing. Some defense officials and military officers from African countries also hailed the China-proposed Global Security Initiative (GSI), noting the deepened China-Africa cooperation could help tackle security challenges the continent is facing.

Unlike some former colonial powers in the West such as France that continue to intervene in various ways in Africa, supporting different political factions and inciting conflicts, China respects Africa's independent development and its political wisdom in choosing its own development path, and China actively participates in meetings in tackling hotspot issues and urging regional countries to resolve divergences through negotiations, some observers said.

At present, Africa has become a stage for large-scale geopolitical confrontation, being confronted with many forms of security threats such as terrorism, imperialism and hegemony. The forum, injecting new impetus to the GSI, opposes foreign interference and advocates political settlement of conflict, fundamentally reducing Africa's dependence on external intervention and not creating opportunities for external forces to intervene in the continent, they noted.

Four 'no change'

In a keynote speech delivered at the forum, Li stressed that, as to the cooperation between China and Africa, the principle of equality will not change, the tradition of helping each other will not change, the direction of practical cooperation will not change and the spirit of valuing righteousness will not change.

China is the biggest developing country and Africa is the continent home to the largest number of developing countries. China and Africa share weak and woe, and China is ready to firmly stand with the African people to implement the GSI and build a China-Africa community with shared future, Li said.

In the future, China will enhance military cooperation with Africa in various fields including joint exercises, peacekeeping and escorting, military education as well as professional training in order to inject more certainty, stability and positive energy to a turbulent world, Li noted.

It is the first time the forum was held offline in a post-COVID pandemic setting. Representatives from nearly 50 countries and regional organizations in Africa attended the forum.

The core of Li's speech touches upon the biggest concern of our country and our military, which is the security issue in a turbulent world, Colonel Aboubarca Serme from Mali told the Global Times on Tuesday at the forum. He noted that it is an undoubted consensus of China and Africa that we should enhance cooperation based on dialogue in order to deal with competition.

"Experience proves that the expansion of some alliances has exacerbated the insecurity in the world. Thus we have to change our mind and methods to safeguard global security. This is what African countries, especially Saharan countries, care most about. And cooperation on this should not be limited between African countries and Saharan countries, but should be expanded to all countries with the same goal," Serme said.

Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of African Union Commission, announced at the forum that a joint China-Africa naval exercise will be held in 2024.

"The current global peace and security situation is constantly changing, and Africa's peace and security face challenges. These complex factors include terrorism, violent extremism, and climate change, all of which pose challenges to peace and security. These threats and challenges partially affect national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity," Adeoye said during his speech at the forum.

For the African Union, it is crucial to establish a mutually beneficial partnership with China. China and Africa have a lot of cooperation potential in the field of peace and security, he noted. He also said that he hopes African countries can further enhance capacity building, such as strengthening early warning mechanisms and taking prompt action.

Currently, there are numerous security challenges in Africa, like regular migration and maritime security, Gambian Defense Minister Sering Modou Njie told the Global Times on Tuesday at the forum. He noted that Africa is also working with China to address these problems.

Njie spoke highly of the China-proposed GSI. "It is a wonderful initiative. I think China is partnering with Africa to address global security challenges. And the African continent is appreciative of China's effort. China and Africa have been doing a lot of work in enhancing cooperation in many sectors, especially in the security sector. Today's forum will add an impetus to that initiative."

The China-Africa security cooperation is mainly driven by the African side, as issues on the continent have to be solved by Africans themselves, which is in stark contrast to Western approach of intervening in internal affairs of the African countries, He Wenping, director of the African Studies Section under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"The Sahel region is now the frontline of the counter-terrorism battle, but what we can see is that the US-led Western counter-terrorism moves in some countries did not end up well, leading to poverty and less development," He said. She noted that the China-proposed GSI upholds a comprehensive security perspective, helping to build a more sustainable peace.

Example for global cooperation

During the latest China-Africa Leaders' Dialogue co-chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Johannesburg, South Africa, Xi said China will launch the Plan for China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development, planning to train 500 principals and high-caliber teachers of vocational colleges every year, and 10,000 technical personnel with both Chinese language and vocational skills for Africa.

As China will enhance military cooperation with Africa including military education, some military representatives to the forum said personnel training and military education echoed the needs of African countries, particularly, when terrorism that fills the main roads in Africa is not just an African business but a global threat.

"The cooperation between China and Africa is a successful example for international cooperation," Colonel Serme said. He told the Global Times that a very important point is that China adheres to the principle of not to interfere in other countries' domestic affairs while African countries value independence so much.

"China treats every country equally, it is exactly because of this that we can better understand cooperation with China and I hope all our cooperation can achieve good results in the future," he said.

Gambian Defense Minister Njie said the China-Africa cooperation is expected to be enhanced in numerous fields, such as counter-terrorism. Rather than security and defense, the two sides have also been collaborating in many other important fields like agriculture, health and infrastructure.

"I think this is what we need to do. Africa and China have to collaborate to make sure that the realization of these important initiatives is achieved," he said.

The development and growth of the Chinese military not only provides a solid guarantee for the security of China but also makes significant contributions to maintaining international peace and stability, Zhao Xiaozhuo, a researcher of international military relations at the PLA Academy of Military Science, told the Global Times on Tuesday. "African countries hope to draw from China's development experience and they also want China to take measures to assist African nations in enhancing their security governance capabilities."

These measures include China assisting in personnel training, enabling these individuals to possess military management and command capabilities, as well as the ability to respond to and handle emergencies, he said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
TOKYO, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Workers represented by a labor union at Japanese department store operator Sogo & Seibu Co. will stage a rare strike at the company's flagship store in Tokyo on Thursday, the union said Wednesday.

The big Seibu department store in Tokyo's Ikebukuro shopping district will be closed on Thursday, with around 900 union members at the store refraining from working, the union said.

The action came as the parent company Seven & i Holdings insisted on completing the sale of the chain to a U.S.-based investment fund despite the union's request for a putoff.

The business is expected to sell for over 200 billion yen (about 1.36 billion U.S. dollars) once Seven & i's board finalizes the sale of the struggling department store chain to Fortress Investment Group LLC at a meeting on Friday.

According to local media outlets, the company has seen a decline in store numbers in recent years, with its 28 outlets nationwide in September 2009 now down to 10. 
A 16-year-old wanted for murder in Rochester, New York, was found in Deltona on Tuesday, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.

Al Oliver II was arrested on warrants issued Aug. 25 in Rochester charging him with second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a firearm, sheriff's officials said on a Facebook post.

Volusia County sheriff's officials said this gun was found in a Deltona home where a 16-year-old wanted for murder in New York was located.

Members of the Orange County Sheriff's Office fugitive unit had been surveilling Oliver.

After surveillance was conducted by members of the Orange County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Fugitive Unit, the Volusia Deltona Detectives Unit, and the Deltona Narcotics Enforcement Team, Volusia SWAT executed a search warrant at 112 Caribbean St. at around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

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Police shooting 20-year-old man shot to death by law enforcement during traffic stop in DeLand

A firearm was recovered during the execution of the search warrant, officials said.

Oliver was taken to the Volusia Family Resource Center to be processed and then to the Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Daytona Beach.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New York murder suspect located in Deltona
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -New York's attorney general on Wednesday asked a state judge to declare, even before the start of a trial, that Donald Trump committed fraud by submitting false statements to bankers and insurers and overstating his net worth by up to $2.23 billion.

In filings with a state court in Manhattan, Attorney General Letitia James said evidence in her civil case showed "repeated and persistent fraudulent use" by Trump and his family business of false and misleading financial statements from 2011 to 2021.

James said inflating values of more than a dozen assets by hundreds of millions of dollars established the defendants' liability for fraud under the state's Executive Law.

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"The cumulative effect of these numerous deceptive schemes to inflate Mr. Trump's assets, and hence his net worth, is staggering," and is "just the tip of a much larger iceberg of deception (the state) is prepared to expose at trial," James said.

Less than an hour after James' filing, lawyers for Trump and the other defendants filed their own papers seeking to end what they called James' "crusade against President Trump" and dismiss the entire case.

Citing a recent appellate court decision, they said that many of the transactions James challenged took place too long ago to be reviewed in court, and said the attorney general offered no proof that anyone was harmed by the remainder.

"What she seeks to do here [is] become the post hoc arbiter of the marketplace by interjecting her own judgment into strictly private, profitable transactions," the defendants' lawyers said. "The record evidence now undermines fully her purported claims."

$250 MILLION SOUGHT

James filed her lawsuit last September, accusing Trump of lying about property values, including for his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and Trump Tower penthouse apartment in Manhattan, and his own net worth.

She said Trump did this to fraudulently obtain better terms on loans and insurance, and that his fraud hurt honest participants in banking, insurance and real estate markets.

The attorney general is seeking at least $250 million from Trump, his adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, the Trump Organization and others, and to stop the Trumps from running businesses in New York.

A trial before state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron is scheduled for Oct. 2.

The case is separate from four criminal indictments that Trump, 77, faces as he seeks a second White House term, including two for attempting to reverse his 2020 election loss.

Trump, the Republican front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied wrongdoing in all of the cases, calling them part of a Democratic witch hunt against him. James is a Democrat.

In her filing, James said correcting Trump's suspect valuations would have reduced his net worth by 17% to 39% each year between 2011 and 2021.

The filing said Trump's reported net worth peaked at $6.1 billion in both 2018 and 2019, when he was U.S. president, but would have been no more than $4.2 billion had he arranged for "full blown professional appraisals" of his properties.

James said Trump should have valued his penthouse triplex in 2016 at $119.9 million instead of $327 million, and valued Mar-a-Lago in 2018 at $25.4 million, based on its restricted use as a social club, instead of $739.5 million.

The New York civil case is New York v Trump et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 452564/2022.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who has been floated as a potential 2024 White House candidate, says he is not paying attention to filing deadlines in the early-voting states and instead is focusing on the commonwealths upcoming legislative elections.

Youngkin told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo in an interview Wednesday that he finds it humbling that his name is coming up in the 2024 race, but he is focused on keeping GOP control of the state House and winning a majority in the state Senate in November. He said he is not going to the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire but instead traveling across Virginia to campaign for the legislative elections.

There is nothing more important than us holding our House and flipping our Senate in Virginia. Thats where my full attention is, and I am not paying attention to the filing deadlines, etc. Im paying attention to making sure we hold our House and flip our Senate, the governor said.

Without a clear, viable alternative to former President Trump emerging in the current GOP primary field, Youngkin has been the subject of speculation about the possibility of him mounting a 2024 presidential bid. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch has encouraged Youngkin to run on multiple occasions.

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The Virginia governor, who won election in 2021 in a state that had been signaling that it was trending bluer, has sent mixed messages on whether he would run, saying he would not mount a bid this year but did not rule one out after the legislative elections in November. But he also released a campaign-style video earlier this year paid for by his super PAC.

Filing deadlines for candidates to get on the ballot in the early states are coming up in the fall, with some of them before the November elections that Youngkin mentioned.

He told Bartiromo that the potential for Republicans to win in the legislative elections is so important for Virginians and for the nation to see that this can happen. He said Virginia has shown that even states that were truly blue can be shown to turn red.

He said he watched the first GOP presidential debate last week and was encouraged to see a series of strong voices across America standing up for values that are so important. But he again changed the topic to the Virginia legislative elections.

Youngkin has also been a strong proponent of encouraging more Republicans to vote early to close the gap that Democrats have over the GOP in non-Election Day voting.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
In the months following the 2016 presidential election, mounting evidence suggested YouTubes video recommendations could send viewers down rabbit holes of extremist and hateful content. The heated criticism culminated in YouTube issuing a public statement in early 2019 announcing changes to its content algorithms in an effort to reduce recommendations of borderline content and content that could misinform users in harmful ways. Since then, Youtube claimed its augmentations resulted in at least 50 percent less watch time for racist, sexist, and otherwise prejudiced content via users recommendation feeds.

Little empirical evidence is publicly available to back up the assertion, but new research confirms at least some positive improvements to YouTubes algorithms. That said, experts caution such positives dont negate the harm that radicalizing content continues to inflict on users and the public.

According to a study conducted by a team of researchers from City University of New York, Stanford, Dartmouth, Northeastern University, and University of Exeter, YouTube algorithmic recommendations do not necessarily funnel users through radicalizing rabbit holes, possibly due to changes that the company made to its recommender system in 2019.

[Related: OpenAIs newest ChatGPT update can still spread conspiracy theories.]

The teams findings, published August 30 in the journal Science Advances, utilized a US public opinion survey alongside voluntarily offered browsing data from 1,181 respondents between July and December 2020.

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Instead, exposure to extremist and antagonistic content was largely focused on a much smaller subset of already predisposed users. Still, the team argues the platform continues to play a key role in facilitating exposure to content from alternative and extremist channels among dedicated audiences. Not only that, but engagement with this content still results in advertising profits.

[The] study confirms that platforms like YouTube can, and should, do much more to restrict the reach of extremist content to the dedicated audiences that seek it out, Science Advances editor Aaron Shaw writes in an accompanying piece. YouTube and its parent Alphabet should divest from revenue generating activities related to content that contradicts their public commitments to reduce the spread of hate speech, harassment, and harmful conspiracy theories.

"In a time where social media platforms are backsliding in their efforts to curb hate and misinformation, YouTube should take this and other recent research as an encouraging sign and continue to invest in solutions to make it a safe platform for all consumers and society," Millican continues.

Julie Millican, vice president of Media Matters, a nonprofit dedicated to monitoring far-right misinformation, believes YouTube deserves credit for improving its algorithms to better limit the proliferation of extremist content. "However, the fact remains that hateful, bigoted and conspiracy content remains rampant on the platform and too easily found for those seeking it," she tells PopSci. "Even if only a smaller portion of users become radicalized by content on the platform, we have seen over and over that this radicalization can have deadly consequences."

While continued work on YouTubes recommendation system is vital and admirable, the study's researchers echoed that, even low levels of algorithmic amplification can have damaging consequences when extrapolated over YouTubes vast user base and across time. Approximately 247 million Americans regularly use the platform, according to recent reports. YouTube representatives did not respond to PopSci at the time of writing.
[Source]

Broadway star Zachary Noah Piser has withdrawn from the leading role in the musical Tiananmen: A New Musical, just weeks before its debut in Phoenix, Arizona.

Pisers withdrawal announcement: The Chinese American actor took to Instagram to announce his withdrawal last Friday without offering any explanations. The announcement came as the actor was reportedly on a concert tour in China.

I have withdrawn from the musical Tiananmen, Piser wrote in a brief signed statement.

Speculations about Pisers decision: Although Pisers manager Dave Brenner told CNN that creative difference caused the actor to quit the Tiananmen musical, it is speculated that pressure from Chinese authorities might have played a role.

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More from NextShark: Charlotte man hurls death threat, racial slurs at Asian Market employees after being caught stealing

Wuer Kaixi, a protest leader who worked on the musical as a conceiver and creative consultant, believes the actor departed due to fear.

I believethe reason for his withdrawal is not creative difference, rather, simply fear. He was given pressure by Chinese authorities, Kaixi said. After 30 some years of censoring any information about Tiananmen, the Chinese government today is still extremely afraid of mentioning the atrocity they conducted.

A day before Pisers withdrawal, he was quoted on Playbill saying, I am zproud to bring this powerful story to life on stage. Having helped develop this piece since 2015 makes originating this role that much more meaningful.

More from NextShark: Good Samaritans Protect Asian Man Body Slammed in Broad Daylight in NYC

About the musical: The Tiananmen musical, which is directed by Darren Lee with Music Director Kevin White, is about the bloody 1989 crackdown on democracy protesters in Beijings Tiananmen Square that resulted in hundreds  if not thousands  of deaths. According to a press release, the musical is a vital reminder of the fragility of human rights and the importance of bravery and self-determination in the face of totalitarianism.

Jason Rose, the musical's lead producer, confirmed that the show will proceed as planned from Oct. 4 to 29 at The Phoenix Theatre Company.

This story needs to be told and will be told. Censorship and pressure will not carry the day. Our celebration of bravery for lovers of freedom will, Rose told CNN.

More from NextShark: Rifle, hundreds of ammo rounds found in Monterey Park shooters home; jealousy raised as possible motive

About Piser: Piser previously made Broadway history for becoming the first Asian American actor to take on the title role of Evan full-time in Dear Evan Hansen. Last year, he starred in the Broadway musical KPOP.

Pisers recent announcement highlights the complexities Western celebrities face when dealing with political sensitivities related to China.

More from NextShark: Man Who Attacked 2 Asian American Women in Baltimore Charged With Hate Crimes
In light of corruption uncovered among the military medical commissions in Ukraine, the authorities will examine the decisions on fitness for military service made since the start of the full-scale invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Aug. 30.

"All cases where the decisions are clearly unfounded and illegal should be investigated by law enforcers," Zelensky wrote on the social platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

"Based on the results of the inspection, conclusions will be drawn regarding those who have traveled abroad on the basis of falsified decisions of the MMCs (military medical commissions) since the beginning of the full-scale aggression."

The president made the announcement following his meeting with officials from the Interior Ministry, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the military, the Ombudsman, and representatives of the medical sector and of the Prosecutor General's Office.

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The meeting addressed the results of an inspection of military medical commissions, which has uncovered numerous violations and cases of corruption.

Law enforcement agencies conducted searches in a number of medical commissions across the country in recent weeks, discovering that some officials helped military aged men obtain fake documents proving a disability or being temporarily unfit for military service in exchange for a financial reward.

Most recently, the SBU charged the head of the military medical commission in one of the districts in Kyiv Oblast for reportedly helping more than 50 men evade the draft on the basis of fake medical documentation.

To ensure greater transparency, the military medical commissions will expand their cooperation with civilian healthcare institutions. The authorities will also finalize the digitalization of the commissions' work and review the system of determining fitness for military service, Zelensky said.

Ukraine declared general mobilization and martial law after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. Men aged 18 to 60 are not allowed to go abroad without a special permit.

According to Ukraine's State Border Guard Service, up to 20 men are detained every day attempting to illegally leave the country. Many of them provide falsified documents to gain passage, including fake medical documentation, falsely "proving" they are unfit for service.

Read also: Law enforcement searches hundreds of military enlistment offices, medical commissions

Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
After a meeting of Ukraines National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered a full review of all mobilization exemptions granted by Military Medical Commissions (MMCs) since Feb. 24, 2022, Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Aug. 30.

Read also: Mobilization expansion cannot be ruled out, Zelenskyy suggests

Zelenskyy informed that the meeting included representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ukraines SBU security service, the State Bureau of Investigations, the military, the Healthcare Ministry, human rights representatives, and the Prosecutor General.

Following the meeting, the president gave orders for a comprehensive review of the validity of all MMC decisions on disability and unfitness for military service. Some of these decisions, passed since Feb. 24, 2022, may have been made fraudulently, in exchange for bribes.

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The review will help identify those who may have fled the country based on fraudulent rulings by the MMCs after general mobilization was declared in Ukraine.

He also directed that efforts be increased to expand opportunities for undergoing MMC assessments at civilian medical facilities.

Read also: Zelenskyy honors fallen fighters in Russian-Ukrainian War

In all regions of Ukraine, the full expansion of the MMC's work to civilian medical establishments must be ensured; the military command must fully cooperate with civilian doctors to address this issue, he said.

Read also: No future victories for Russia in Ukraine without further mobilization  Estonian intelligence

Zelenskyy further added that it is necessary to complete the full digitization of all MMC's operations. This would help eliminate lengthy queues that force people to wait for access to MMC's assessments or conclusions.

It is also proposed to review the system of determining fitness for military service to provide commanders with more opportunities to involve servicemen in assignments, and to prevent any abuse of the concept of limited fitness for service.

Read also: No need for new mobilization wave yet  defense minister

The Cabinet of Ministers is tasked with ensuring the efficiency of the MMC's work, the accessibility of all its components, and the recruitment of professional personnel.

Law enforcement will continue to inspect the MMC system and expose who abuse their position by accepting bribes in exchange of fraudulently exempting eligible citizens from conscription or mobilization, Zelenskyy emphasized.

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
Fire restrictions at Zion National Park are being lifted ahead of the Labor Day weekend because all the recent rainfall and improved fire conditions, park officials said Tuesday.

Zion's restrictions, put in place earlier this year, expire at the start of Wednesday. Once it's lifted, campers can have fires within metal rings at Watchman, South and Lava Point campgrounds.

Lyndsay Fonger, Zion National Park's fire management officer, said this month's monsoonal storms have improved plant conditions and reduced fire danger; however, she cautions that people should still be careful when visiting the park.

"This doesn't change that you still need to use fire sense. Make sure fire pits are cold to the touch before leaving and avoid parking or smoking near dry plants," she said.

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Southwestern Utah has received plenty of precipitation in recent weeks. Data from National Weather Service stations positioned in cities surrounding the park show that the region received rain totals that are well above normal for August. For example, Kanab's 2.21 inches of precipitation is nearly a full inch above its listed normal.

More scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to close out this week, continuing into the holiday weekend, said KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson. By tacking onto previous precipitation, they could lead to more flash floods at the park, especially in slot canyons and dry washes.

Zion National Park rangers are already gearing up for what is typically a busy weekend at the park. On Monday, they warned people planning to come to expect long lines and traffic congestion in and around the park.

Park officials also offered a few tips for people planning to visit this weekend:

Check the distance and difficulty of trails to make sure you're prepared for hikes.

Drink a gallon of water per day, and pack salty snacks to avoid heat-related illness.

Bring appropriate gear like sunscreen, a hat, hiking shoes and walking sticks.

Check the forecast before you get to Zion. Pay special attention to temperatures and the likelihood of flash floods.
Rishi Sunak said that 'every life lost to knife crime is a tragedy' while visiting Kilburn police station - Justin Tallis/AFP

The violent scenes at Notting Hill Carnival show the need for a crackdown on zombie knives, the Prime Minister has said, with a man filmed brandishing a machete at the event yet to be arrested.

Eight people were stabbed at the street party amid unsustainable and unacceptable levels of violence on its final day on Monday.

Rishi Sunak said that the event illustrated the need to give police and courts powers to crack down on knife crime in the capital.

It follows the Governments announcement that possessing a machete or zombie knife with no practical use will carry a jail sentence of up to two years under a crackdown to close loopholes in the law.

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Speaking to reporters at Kilburn police station in north-west London, Mr Sunak said: Im grateful to the police for all their efforts to ensure the safety of the carnival and its a good illustration of why we need to take action.

Thats why we consulted on these measures earlier in the year.

Thats why weve spoken to the police to hear first-hand from them  what do they need to keep reducing knife crime, and todays powers will help them do that.

That will build on the progress weve made. Knife crime is already down since pre-pandemic levels but every life lost to knife crime is a tragedy.

Mr Sunak said that the stabbings at Notting Hill Carnival were 'a good illustration of why we need to take action' - Justin Tallis/PA

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police confirmed that the force is investigating video footage showing a young man, with his face clearly visible, brandishing a machete and attacking other youths.

No arrests in connection with the incident have been made, the force said.

The spokesman said: We are aware of a video shared online which shows a male assaulting another male while armed with a large knife.

Officers are investigating and will continue to work closely with partners to prevent this type of crime taking place at Carnival.

On Tuesday it was reported that one police officer was sexually assaulted, six were bitten and others urinated on as the final day of the carnival descended into violence.

In total there were eight stabbings on Monday in separate incidents and 275 arrests across the two days of the carnival for a range of offences.

A 29-year-old man who was stabbed is in a critical condition in hospital following an incident shortly after 9pm on Monday.

The Metropolitan Police Federation said that 75 officers were assaulted, with one being taken to hospital.

Five skips of nitrous oxide were filled by street cleaners in the aftermath of the carnival - Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council/SWNS

Rick Prior, vice chairman of the federation, said in the aftermath of the event that the levels of violence at the carnival in recent years had become unmanageable.

He told the Telegraph: This level of violence is unacceptable and unsustainable. You cant have it that every single year come Tuesday morning were contemplating these types of injuries, these numbers of injuries and sexual assaults and stabbings. It really is awful.

The new legislation cracking down on zombie knives means that machetes designed to look intimidating and threatening will be made illegal under new legislation, which is expected to be included in this autumns Kings Speech.

The maximum sentence for anyone possessing, selling, manufacturing or importing the banned weapons will be increased from six months to two years, as will the maximum penalty for sales of knives to under 18s.

Police will also be given new powers to seize and destroy knives found on private premises if there are reasonable grounds to believe the blade would be used in a serious crime.

Under current laws, police cannot seize knives found during a search on a property, even if they have suspicions of criminal use.

It has also been revealed that more than 13 tonnes of laughing gas canisters were collected after the carnival this year with cleaners having to take special precautions to avoid the dispensers exploding.

Five skips of nitrous oxide were filled by street cleaners in the aftermath of the annual festival, compared with four last year, a spokesman for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has said.

Nitrous oxide has become the second most popular drug among those between the ages of 18 to 25, behind cannabis, according to the Office for National Statistics.

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PHNOM PENH, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia exported 170,968 tons of dry rubber in the first seven months of 2023, up 3 percent from the same period last year, said a General Directorate of Rubber report on Wednesday.

The country earned 228.5 million U.S. dollars in revenue from exports of the commodity during the January-July period this year, down 12.8 percent from 262.2 million dollars over the same period last year, the report said.

"A ton of dry rubber averagely cost 1,337 U.S. dollars in the first seven months of 2023, about 244 dollars lower than that of the same period last year," Him Oun, director general of the General Directorate of Rubber, said in the report.

The Southeast Asian nation exports the commodity mainly to Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and China.

According to the report, Cambodia has planted rubber trees in a total area of 404,578 hectares, in which the trees on 315,332 hectares, or 78 percent, are old enough to be tapped. 
Howard Scarboro, retired CEO of Central Virginia Electric Cooperative (CVEC), recently received the 2023 Cooperative Leadership Award from the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives (VMDAEC).

Scarboro was presented with the Associations highest honor during the VMDAECs 79th Annual Meeting that was held July 23-25 at Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg.

Scarboro was recognized for his creative, dynamic, and forward-thinking leadership during his 16-year tenure with CVEC, according to a news release from the Nelson County-based cooperative.

Roberta Harlowe, CVEC director, praised Scarboros efforts to improve workflow efficiency and implement new technologies, such as the outage management system to benefit the members.

Amongst his many accomplishments as CEO, Scarboro oversaw the design and construction of CVECs state-of-the art headquarters office in Arrington and designed the Cooperatives logo, which is still in use today. In 2003 Scarboro, with his team, created the Gaff-n-Go Rodeo, which is now headed by the VMDAEC and is one of the largest and most successful lineman rodeos in the country, the release said.

Most notably, Scarboro left an operating subsidiary in place when he retired in 2007. The subsidiary was reopened in 2018 as part of the cooperatives rural broadband project, and now operates as Firefly Fiber BroadbandSM, which offers affordable and reliable high-speed internet throughout Central Virginia.

To take on the breadth of things he did in the time he was there is part of what makes him such an outstanding leader, Gary Wood, CVECs current President and CEO, said.
The Amherst County School Board is expected to discuss Gov. Glenn Youngkins K-12 transgender policies at its Sept. 14 meeting.

At its August meeting, Amherst County Public Schools Superintendent William Wells presented to the board the Virginia Department of Educations Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for all students in Virginias public schools first published on the VDOE website July 18.

Wells urged the board to read the model policies and be prepared to discuss at its Sept. 14 meeting at the school administration office, 153 Washington St. in Amherst. The board will hold a closed session prior to that 6 p.m. meeting.

I also feel it would be advisable to have legal counsel present in closed session to discuss any possible legal ramifications associated with adoption or non-adoption of the policy, Wells told the board during its August meeting.

I think thats the best way to go with that, Christopher Terry, the boards chair, said.

The new state guidance rolls back some of the protections afforded to transgender students under the previous administration of Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, and places an emphasis on parents rights.

The guidance requires students to use school bathrooms that match the sex they were assigned at birth except to the extent that federal law otherwise requires. It also requires school division personnel to refer to each student using only the pronouns appropriate to the sex appearing in the students official record, unless a student is legally emancipated, or their parent has instructed the school division in writing that other names or pronouns should be used.
Hours after detaining a person of interest in the missing persons case of a Lynchburg woman, the Lynchburg Police Department announced Tuesday night they have arrested and charged a man with second-degree murder in connection to her death, according to a news release from the department.

Michael L. Perry III, 21, of Lynchburg, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with second-degree murder and the unlawful disposal of a dead body in connection to the death of Avriel Hooks, 20, of Lynchburg, who was reported missing on Aug. 23, LPD said.

Hooks was last seen by her family on Aug. 22 at about 8 p.m., the police said in a prior news release.

The department said Tuesday night detectives worked tirelessly over the past week, utilizing all available investigative resources and partnered with Hooks family, our community, local, state, and federal partners with the hopes of locating Hooks safely.

On Tuesday, Lynchburg police, in partnership with the Amherst County Sheriffs Office, conducted an extensive search in Amherst County, and located a body in a wooded area off U.S. 60, Lexington Turnpike in Amherst, according to the news release.

Earlier in the day, police announced it had discovered a deceased person while searching in Amherst County in reference to Hooks, and also said a person of interest in the case was taken in for questioning from the 1400 block of Garfield Avenue.

The department extended its thoughts to the Hooks family, and thanked the Amherst Sheriffs Office, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations for assistance in the case.

The charges against Perry were filed in the Amherst County court system, a LPD spokesman confirmed.

Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact LPD Detective C.T. Davis at (434) 455-6166, ACSO Investigator B. Escher at (434) 946-9373, or Crime Stoppers at (888) 798-5900. Enter an anonymous tip online at P3Tips.com or use the P3 app on a mobile phone.
TOKYO, Aug 30 ( NHK ) - Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Tokyo will continue to support Kyiv.

Kishida held a video conference with Zelenskyy for about 20 minutes from shortly before 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

After the meeting, Kishida told reporters that he reiterated condemnation of Russia's continued aggression and conveyed Japan's determination to maintain support for Ukraine.

Kishida said he briefed Zelenskyy on the progress of Japan's assistance for Ukraine through NATO trust funds.

Zelenskyy reportedly expressed gratitude to Japan for its efforts to support his country.

Kishida told Zelenskyy that he will make use of Japan's role as the chair of the Group of Seven nations to spearhead efforts with Ukraine in mind. He also pledged to call on emerging and developing countries collectively known as the "Global South" to support Ukraine.

He added that the two leaders agreed to continue to work together closely.
Toyota Motor resumed operations at 12 of its factories in Japan on Wednesday morning.

The automaker halted operations at all 14 of its group's domestic plants on Tuesday, due to a system failure that made it impossible to order parts.

The company has since been doing temporary restoration work, while investigating the cause of the malfunction.

As for the two plants in Fukuoka and Kyoto prefectures, the company plans to resume operations on Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, Hino Motors halted operations at its Koga factory in Ibaraki Prefecture on Wednesday.

The truck maker says it uses the Toyota system that malfunctioned and has run out of components.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) touched on prescription drug costs, agriculture, immigration, education and other issues during his Harrison County town hall meeting Monday at the Rand Center in Missouri Valley.

The meeting, attended by more than 50 constituents, was the 98th public forum on his annual 99-county tour.

Grassley is working on a bill to increase oversight of pharmacy benefit managers, who operate as middlemen between pharmaceutical and insurance companies to negotiate drug prices, he said. The PBM Oversight Act of 2023 would increase transparency and add PBMs to conflict-of-interest restrictions for certain pharmacy and therapeutics committee members.

Concerns about Medicaid payments to hospitals and nursing homes prompted him to explain that rates are set by the states, with the federal government paying 63% of the cost.

In response to a question, Grassley said he supported the legalization of hemp and medicinal marijuana but would not support legalizing marijuana for recreational use. It tends to lead to the use of harder drugs, he said, and many youth use it whose brains are not yet fully developed.

Grassley said he supported an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act offered by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana) that would prohibit the purchase of U.S. farmland and agriculture companies by China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. The Senate approved the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security Act of 2023 to the NDAA by a vote of 91-7 on July 25.

The senator said he thinks theres a good chance Congress will pass a five-year farm bill this year, but there probably wont be much new money in it. He said the rate for crop insurance will probably stay the same. If the parties cant agree on a long-term bill, Congress will pass a one-year bill, as it has done in the past when there was a stalemate.

Asked whether the use of the E-15 ethanol blend is increasing, Grassley said, We still arent seeing enough of it.

He noted that Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird had filed a lawsuit against the EPA earlier this month for illegally delaying rules on the year-round sale of E-15. The suit was joined by Nebraska Attorney General Michael Hilgers.

Grassley does not believe the EPA should dictate when E-15 can be sold, since the climate varies from state to state.

It needs to be left to the states, he said.

People in attendance raised a number of concerns about immigration. Grassley said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer controls the agendas of the Senate and its committees, and Democrats dont want to do anything on immigration. When someone asked how Republicans could do something about it, he suggested electing a Republican Senate.

Every state is a border state, he said. Were being impacted because laws arent being enforced.

When someone said they were worried about Mexican cartels smuggling drugs in, Grassley said the cartels also smuggle in weapons.

The cartels are in every state, he said. Theyre better armed than the Mexican military.

Regarding issues with education, Grassley said, I think we need to realize most things are at the state level, and Id like to have it stay at the state level."

A man who said he had taught school in Iowa and Nebraska for 45 years said, Education in our states was great until the federal government got involved. That started the downhill slide.

Grassley said he had voted for No Child Left Behind and regretted it. He voted for a law to change it 15 years later.

Another person asked about requiring more civics to be taught in schools. He said he would favor that, but noted that the Department of education cannot write curriculum.

One man asked about requiring young people to perform some kind of public service  either in the military or in another way.

I just think that whole area is lacking, he said.

Grassley said he couldnt vote for that, though he would encourage it. He noted that his office offers internships, as do other senators.

Asked whether he would favor abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, Grassley said, If you did away with the Department of Education, youd have to have a sub-agency to distribute federally funded student aid and funding for other federal programs.

I think its our responsibility to make sure Congress is more specific on what the Department of Education can do, he said.

One woman asked Grassley why he voted for the Electoral College on Jan. 6, 2021.

That election was stolen, someone shouted.

Grassley said there were 60 lawsuits (filed by Trumps legal team) that failed to prove that.

One person thanked Grassley for not giving up on Hunter Bidens laptop.

Grassley and some other senators wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland in September 2022 calling for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. The laptop was thought to contain evidence relevant to the case. The Delaware U.S. attorney investigating him was elevated to special counsel earlier this month.

Grassley held his Ida County meeting Tuesday in Ida Grove, which concluded his annual 99-county tour.
The Attorney General of Switzerland has filed an indictment in the Federal Criminal Court against former Algerian defense minister Khaled Nezzar for crimes against humanity committed during the 1990s civil war.

According to the indictment, Nezzar is accused of violating the laws of armed conflicts in accordance with the Geneva Conventions between 1992 and 1994 in connection with the civil war in Algeria and of committing crimes against humanity.

The retired General knowingly and willingly condoned, coordinated and encouraged the torture and other cruel, inhumane or humiliating acts, physical and psychological assaults, arbitrary detentions and convictions and extra-judicial executions.

Following a period of social unrest in Algeria, a multi-party system was introduced in Algeria in February 1989 under a new Constitution. Subsequently, political party Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) was established. In 1990, after the incumbent president stood down as defense minister  an office that had previously been tied to the presidency  the army chief Khaled Nezzar, was appointed defense minister. He thereby took charge of the security forces and, a few months later, the secret services as well.

In December 1990, the Algerian army, led by Nezzar, published a memorandum setting out a plan of action for an armed campaign against the Islamist opposition. After the FIS won a majority in the first ballot of the parliamentary elections, there was further unrest, to which the Algerian government responded by stopping the elections and postponing them for an unlimited period. Subsequently, the opposition formed itself into armed groups. In response to the events and following the dissolution of the parliament and the resignation of president Chadli Benjdid, the Haut Comite dEtat (HCE) was established, with NEZZAR as a member, with the aim of guaranteeing the continuity of the state, ensuring that its institutions functioned, and preserving constitutional order.

On 9 February 1992, the HCE imposed a state of emergency and the policy for eliminating Islamist movements that Nezzar had been instrumental in planning in 1990 was implemented.

According to various public sources, during the civil war between 1992 and 1999, known as the decennie noire (the Black Decade), up to 200,000 people were killed and around 1.5 million people were driven from their homes. A further 20,000 persons are believed to have disappeared.

In 2011, following a criminal complaint from the non-governmental organisation TRIAL International, the Office of the General Attorney (OAG) opened criminal proceedings against Khaled Nezzar, who at the time was resident in Switzerland, for war crimes in accordance with Articles 108 and 109 of the Military Criminal Code of 13 June 1927 (the former MCC) committed during the civil war in Algeria.

In the indictment, the OAG identifies Khaled Nezzar as a person of influence in Algeria in his capacity and function as the defense minister and as an HCE member appointed trusted associates to key positions and knowingly and willingly created structures in order to eliminate the Islamist opposition according to his plan of action. This led to war crimes and widespread and systematic attacks on civilians suspected of sympathizing with the opposition.

The OAG has documented several incidents that took place between 1992 and 1994, citing victims who suffered torture, water/electric shocks and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatments. In addition, arbitrary detentions and convictions as well as extra-judicial executions took place with the ex-defense minister knowingly and willingly condoned, coordinated or ordered these crimes against humanity.
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British Petroleum (BP), an oil and gas global giant, announced Monday August 28 plans to inject $3.5 billion in Egypt for the next three years.

BPs chief executive Bernard Looney made the announcement after meeting with President Abdelfattah al-Sisi.

The investments will go towards research, exploration and development, the office of the Egyptian leader announced. The firm will cooperate on reducing emissions and energy transition, as well the production of green hydrogen.

Operating in the North African country for 60 years now, BP has invested more than $35 billion in the country and produces around 60% of its gas. The announcement comes amid plans by Egypt to drill 45 natural exploratory gas wells in the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta with $1.9 billion in investments until mid-2025.

The plan includes drilling 10 wells between July 2022 and June 2023 which resulted in the huge discovery in the Nargis Offshore Area Concession, which added reserves of 2.5 trillion cubic feet, stated Tarek El-Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

El-Molla added that during the years 2023/2024 and 2024/2025, a total of 35 exploratory wells will be drilled with $1.5 billion in investments.
The President of Guinea-Bissau, Umero Sissoco Embalo, on Wednesday declared his support for the candidacy of former Guinean minister Suzi Carla Barbosa for the African Union Commission (AUC), considering her to be a strong candidate.

The French press reports on Wednesday that the former Foreign minister of Guinea-Bissau has entered the race to succeed Moussa Faki Mahamat, whose term as president of the African Union Commission ends in early 2025.

Shes a strong candidate, said the Guinean Head of state, speaking to journalists on arrival at Bissau airport on his return from a vacation in the country.

Sissoco Embalo considered that Suzi Carla Barbosas candidacy is not because she was Foreign Minister in the government led by the current President, but because she left a mark.

What is true (is that) any Guinean or country in our sub-region would be very pleased and proud to have a minister of her caliber, he said.

If the former minister is chosen for the post, its another source of pride for Guinea-Bissau, as well as for the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), in the presidents opinion.

The Head of State recalled that the African Union is concerned about gender in the choice of leadership, which will mean that if the position is now held by a man, a woman will follow.

Of course there may be other candidates, its even good and plausible that there are other candidates, he said, adding that he has already had demonstrations and support from Portugal and other countries.

The AUC is responsible for the activities of the African Union, is based in Ethiopia and consists of a chairman, a vice-chairman and eight commissioners.

The terms of office are four years, renewable once, and the current Chairman, Moussa Faki Mahamat from Chad, is less than a year and a half away from finishing his second and final term.
When the first revelations in the Clarence Thomas ethics scandal burst forth, conservative intellectuals rushed indignantly to his defense. Sure, they said, he has one very close personal friend (Harlan Crow) who just happens to be extremely rich, and was personally moved to cover educational expenses for his adopted son, his childhood home, and some personal hospitality. But theres no big scandal in wanting to educate an underprivileged child or care for a poor widow.

As reporters have pried more and more details, none of which Thomas has voluntarily disclosed, the facts have gotten worse, and their previous defenses have grown inoperative. Thomas turns out to have not one but several close personal billionaire friends, and they turn out to subsidize some rather lavish tastes on the justices part.

After the most recent revelations, Thomass defenders have gone conspicuously silent. Organs like National Review and conservative legal apparatchik Ed Whelan, who loudly dismissed evidence of wrongdoing by Thomas, have had nothing to say about Thomass many billionaire patrons.

Now, finally, comes a defense (sort of): A total of 112 former Thomas law clerks have signed an open letter defending him against charges of impropriety. It is a revealing document.

By defending, I dont mean detailing the charges against Thomas and explaining why they lack merit. Rather, their approach is simply to insist Thomas is a good person while pretending the exhaustive evidence of his unethical behavior does not exist at all.

In lieu of any engagement with the facts of Thomass misconduct, the letter is padded out with biographical detail, in the style of a book report written by a sixth grader. The authors explain that Thomas descended from West African slaves, was born to a young mother, not more than 20, in segregated Georgia. We learn His father left. And a fire took all he had and the shack where he lived, and even receive details of major world events that took place during his life. (Then came 1968. King was assassinated. Then Kennedy. It transformed him. He left behind hopes of the priesthood. He found Black Power. He wrote about revolution.)

There is just one small passage in the letter that even acknowledges the evidence of misconduct:

Lately, the stories have questioned his integrity and his ethics for the friends he keeps. They bury the lede. These friends are not parties before him as a Justice of the Court. And these stories are malicious, perpetuating the ugly assumption that the Justice cannot think for himself.

So the main defense is that Thomas is allowed to accept millions of dollars worth of gifts as long as his patrons are not personally involved in Supreme Court litigation? (As far as we know, anyway  since Thomas refuses to disclose his gifts, the public is only aware of what the media has been able to figure out in the face of his secrecy.)

The secondary defense is that there is an ugly assumption that the Justice cannot think for himself by reporting on his defiance of anti-corruption norms. Here, the Thomas defenders play the race card in a way that would make Ibram Kendi blush. They are insinuating somehow that Thomas is allowed to accept millions of dollars in undisclosed personal gifts, which no government officials would be permitted to receive, and that only racism can explain why the media would even report it.

In conjunction with the letters detailed recitation of the racism he experienced in his youth (Ive only quoted a small portion of the letter, which is heavily padded), the argument seems to be that Thomas is exempt from ordinary ethical requirements on account of his race, and that only racists would even want the public to know whos underwriting his lifestyle.

The rest of the letter is given over to multiple assertions that his integrity is beyond reproach: Justice Thomas is a man of greatest intellect, of greatest faith, and of greatest patriotism. We know because we lived it. He is a man of unwavering principle. He welcomes the lone dissent. He is also a man of great humor and warmth and generosity  His integrity is unimpeachable. And his independence is unshakable  we unequivocally reject attacks on his integrity, his character, or his ethics.

They reject any question of his ethics! And they somehow believe that their position as clerks, whose careers benefit from Thomass prestige and influence, somehow makes them more rather than less suited to make this judgment. Taken at their word, they believe a factual allegation of ethical misconduct can be adjudicated entirely on a combination of Thomass identity as a once-poor Black man and their say-so as judges of character.

This doesnt tell us anything about Thomass compliance with ethics rules. It does, however, reveal a lot about conservative legal reasoning.
Michael Farris wants your tax dollars for his Christian conservative friends. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/Shuttersto

Parental rights and Parents matter are Republican-blessed slogans for various forms of political warfare over what public schools teach. It sounds pretty innocuous, of course; who doesnt think parents should have some say over what their kids are learning all day? But thats far from what parental rights crusaders want. At the heart of what is driving this movement are two distinct but interrelated goals: giving organized groups of conservative (and usually Christian) parents control over what happens in public-school classrooms at the expense of education professionals, and giving these same parents control over taxpayer-provided education dollars.

So what often begins as protests at school-board meetings about allegedly offensive curricular materials or school programs usually leads to the familiar fight for school vouchers that give parents the resources to take their kids out of public schools if they arent completely satisfied with, well, everything. Make public schools just like the private Christian schools wed prefer, the logic proceeds, or give us their money and well take care of it ourselves at private schools or at home. Its no coincidence that in Republican state after state, school-voucher proposals are couched in the language and ideology of parental rights.

The Washington Post has provided new insight into the way demands for parents rights within the public-school system tend to lead to demands for parents rights to leave public schools while taking taxpayer dollars with them. In an article based on disclosure of a conference call involving a shadowy group of very wealthy Christian conservative activists, it becomes clear the godfather of the parental rights revolution and the director of many of its troops is famed homeschool advocate and conservative legal guerrilla Michael Farris, who was head of the powerful Alliance Defending Freedom until recently:

[S]peaking on a confidential conference call to a secretive group of Christian millionaires seeking, in the words of one member, to take down the education system as we know it today, Farris made the same points he had made in courtrooms since the 1980s. Public schools were indoctrinating children with a secular worldview that amounted to a godless religion, he said.

The solution: lawsuits alleging that schools teachings about gender identity and race are unconstitutional, leading to a Supreme Court decision that would mandate the right of parents to claim billions of tax dollars for private education or home schooling.

In the meantime, state parental-rights initiatives (more than two dozen just this year) and the private-school-voucher programs that 32 states have enacted in some form are building a foundation for this right-to-a-voucher claim and an ever-bigger constituency for taxpayer-financed private and home-based education. Just as important, the ideology of parental rights (to which Farris has contributed in draft legislation at both the federal and state levels) has become a central tenet of Republican politics, which makes sense when you consider how well it combines appeals to conservative Christian-base voters and school-focused suburban swing voters. Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, with Farriss assistance (Farris lives there and was actually the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor back in 1993), made parental rights the signature of his upset victory in 2019, in a state that had been trending very blue. And parental rights as the rationale both for conservative curriculum and school-library controls and for one of the most expansive voucher programs in the country has been central to the rise of Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Republican politicians have long enjoyed attacking teachers unions and educational bureaucrats. Now, they can do so as champions of the rights of parents, to whom children purportedly belong like livestock.

Farris and his former colleagues (and still allies) at ADF are nearly ubiquitous in conservative culture war politics, as New Yorks Irin Carmon noted earlier this year:

[The] Alliance Defending Freedom [is] a group whose leaders like to rail against the homosexual agenda and helped draft and defend the Mississippi abortion ban that became the vehicle to overturn Roe v. Wade last year. The ADF is also behind the suit asking a sympathetic Trump-appointed judge to ban one of two pills used in medication abortion, which is expected to be decided any day now.

But parental rights (a term Farris began heavily using back in 2007) is really the umbrella for all these reactionary causes. And a fragmented education system in which Christian conservative parents can practice their values at public expense is a bit of a model for the broader idea of religious freedom as guaranteeing a separate society in which discrimination is an inviolable right.

So theyre not talking about making public schools more accountable, as the parental0rights rhetoric would suggest. The idea is to replace government schools with training facilities for the godly shock troops of the future.
One looked fresh out of the oven, while the other looked like day-old pastries.

Justin and Hailey Bieber were photographed Monday wearing hilariously mismatched outfits to a Krispy Kreme in New York Citys Times Square. Hailey truly served in a stunning red dress and heels, while Justin was... also there, in sweats and yellow Crocs.

Justin and Hailey Bieber arrive at Krispy Kreme in Times Square on Aug. 28 in New York City.

Justin and Hailey Bieber arrive at Krispy Kreme in Times Square on Aug. 28 in New York City.

To be fair, Justins fit seemed like perfectly appropriate attire for a typical doughnut run. But Hailey was the one truly dressed for the occasion.

Justin presumably hiding behind Hailey.

Justin presumably hiding behind Hailey.

The pair visited Krispy Kreme for apress event for Haileys Rhode skin care line. The model is currently promoting a new strawberry glaze flavor of her popular Peptide Lip Treatment line  hence the dresss berry-inspired color, and the choice to hold the event at a doughnut shop.

With this knowledge in mind, many people on X, formerly Twitter, felt the two-time Grammy winners look was perhaps a bit a-dough-lescent.

id be so angry if i was giving the girls my best look of the year and here come my husband https://t.co/oyFbHX06QL  siyyan (@siyyaninaas) August 28, 2023

hes always dressed like hes about to go help his mom bring in groceries from the car https://t.co/vIlpzhqBHb  Hurt CoPain (@SaeedDiCaprio) August 29, 2023

I would've left him in the car  Esme  (@delreyesme) August 28, 2023

I swear he dresses specifically to embarass her  Angel (@Lorica1111) August 29, 2023

There were also some hints of #discourse about the gender and social dynamics suggested by the couples offbeat, asymmetrical looks. To gobble up the memes, just scroll down!

Story continues

This is the whole Barbie movie monologue in one picture https://t.co/uKpE2t6Rve  officialhambly she/they (@officialhambly) August 28, 2023

How I dress my masculine sims vs feminine sims https://t.co/nxLS1BHq2D  Sashas Space  (@sasha_sspace) August 28, 2023

Taking your large adult son to get a treat https://t.co/k17kAw1E9p  Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman) August 29, 2023

me when i show up somewhere with my femme girlfriend https://t.co/1uXeFku9K8  Kristen Arnett (@Kristen_Arnett) August 28, 2023

this is how all straight couples look in their engagement photos https://t.co/sSrtzCEqeT  stoned cold fox (@roastmalone_) August 28, 2023

crypto bros and girls at conferences https://t.co/cBsA3JRTdW  Erika Lee  (@erikaleetv) August 28, 2023

The person who does the pitch vs the person who works on the account https://t.co/rwHv0kB515  Lulu Cheng Meservey (@lulumeservey) August 29, 2023

what it feels like when women do the emotional labor and men show up to reap the benefits https://t.co/GkEn0O7SYW  s. (@sabrinaahmed) August 29, 2023

Related...
Auburn University junior Alicja Siek recently followed the same advice she would give to any other fellow student.

Have fun and try new things, she said of the words of wisdom she often gives fellow classmates. Im one of those people who tends to hyperfocus on academics, but Ive learned that experiences are also very important. Id tell them to get involved in a club or group on campus, do study abroad if they can and meet new people.

Thats exactly what Siek and a fellow Auburn student, Kate Bouchillon, did while on a recent Doctors in Italy Fellowship Program trip that they say will ultimately produce dividends toward their ultimate goal of becoming a physician.

After graduating Auburn, Ill take a gap year. Then Ill hopefully go to medical school and become a doctor, said Siek, who is majoring in organismal biology, pre-med. Im particularly interested in child psychiatry and family medicine, but a lot of other specialties interest me as well.

Bouchillon has a similar goal.

After graduation, I hope to spend my time interning with Doctors Without Borders in order to gain more intellectual insight into what it means to be a future physician, said Bouchillon, a senior studying biomedical science with a pre-med concentration. Then, I hope to go to medical school to pursue a specialty that has strong patient relationships and a consistent intellectual challenge that requires critical thinking and continuous learning.

Shadowing a profession

Both students recently returned from Italy and were greatly impressed with the Doctors in Italy program, a clinical shadowing opportunity for students who aspire to become healthcare professionals and want to see how medicine is practiced in Europe. Siek said she learned about the program through Auburns study abroad website.

It was listed on the suggested external opportunities page, and it immediately caught my attention, she said. Ive always wanted to go to Italy, and the fact that I could shadow at a hospital there seemed like an amazing opportunity. It was exactly the kind of program that I was looking for.

The Auburn Abroad office recommends that all students interested in non-Auburn programs start their planning early and register with its office to take advantage of advising services, pre-departure health and safety orientations and to be enrolled in Auburn Universitys International Emergency Travel Insurance.

While Siek and Bouchillons trip didnt carry academic credit, Doctors in Italy does collaborate with Auburn on a separate faculty-led program through which students receive credit for the experience as part of completing a class and traveling with a faculty leader. The College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM) runs several medical shadowing programs.

The Auburn COSAM Pre-Health program abroad utilizes Doctors in Italy and runs every other year (alternating with a shadowing program in Spain and Morocco) for pre-health students who will be applying to medical school and need a shadowing program. The last such program run by program director Katie Cooper took 25 Auburn students to Rome in summer 2022. She will run it again during summer 2024.

COSAM also offers a program in the History and Development of Medicine in the United Kingdom. For information on that, students should contact Meredith Powell.

In Bouchillons case, the Doctors in Italy program was a way for her to step out of her comfort zone and branch out her experiences into the world.

I knew it was something I wanted to do, she said. Italy has such a different approach on medicine, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

During her time in Rome, Bouchillon had the opportunity to shadow a doctor in a different specialty each day. She said she met with residents, doctors, nurses and directors at San Giovanni Addolorata Hospital.

She observed endocrinology geriatric medicine, an emergency room, oncology, blood transfusions and analysis, radiology, hematology, oncology, telemedicine and cardiology. She also experienced an intensive care unit, operating rooms, labor and delivery unit and much more.

The human touch

I hope to take certain aspects of what I learned in Italy to what I practice here, Bouchillon said. One of the many areas of growth I had on this trip is my perspective on individuals battling cancer. Their focus on taking care of the person as a whole, physically and mentally, was eye-opening.

I remember the director of mammography saying that he was not only committed to curing people, but also crafting a brighter future for them. To him, this included making sure their mental status was intact, nurturing their sense of self-worth and instilling the belief in post-cancer life's possibilities. This encounter gave me a drive in my determination as I concluded my studies and allowed me to embrace more of the beauty in life itself.

Siek said she learned similar lessons, most notably to be compassionate toward patients. She served in a two-week program in Bologna at the prestigious Policlinicon SantOrsola, a hospital ranked on Newsweeks Worlds Best Hospitals list. There, she shadowed in the cardiology and ENT departments.

One medical student told me something along the lines of that Italians focus more on treating the person rather than the condition, and I found that he was right, she said.

Siek remembers that, on one day while doctors were making their morning rounds and discussing treatments for patients, she observed as a doctor held a patients hand the entire time the patient talked to her nurse.

It was a small gesture, but it showed that the doctor saw the patient as a human being and was trying to offer her comfort, Siek said.

She also observed the nurses, who would touch elderly patients hair in a comforting manner.

It showed me that being a good doctor is about serving the people around you and that medicine should be more than a business transaction, Siek said. Ill definitely carry that lesson with me as I continue my studies and work at Auburn.

The Auburn connection

Being a world citizen is nothing new to Siek. Her hometown is Nisko, Poland  although, she has lived in Auburn since the age of 3 after her father took a job in the area.

Ive always known about the university, she said of Auburn. I love the campus. Its beautiful. I especially love all the trees and greenery.

Bouchillon is from Decatur, Alabama.

My favorite part about Auburn is the Auburn community, she said. Growing up, being a part of a community has been a big part of who I am, and the second I stepped on Auburns campus, I felt as if I belonged.

Bouchillon has some advice as well for incoming students.

Find your drive, your passion and know that you can have multiple passions, but also take the time to appreciate the people around you and the experiences around you, she said.

Both agree such rewarding experiences are plentiful at Auburn  a place that not only brings together students from Decatur, Alabama, and Nisko, Poland, but helps connect them to a country thousands of miles away in a training ground theyll never forget.

For information about study, research, internship, medical shadowing and experiential programs abroad, contact the Auburn Abroad office at auab@auburn.edu and check out the Auburn Abroad program discovery page.
3M Agrees to $6 Billion Settlement in Combat Arms Earplug Litigation

The settlement aims to resolve all claims associated with the Combat Arms Earplug products.

3M has reached a settlement agreement in the Combat Arms Earplug litigation against itself and Aearo Technologies.

In a statement dated August 29, 3M announced it will contribute a total of $6 billion$5 billion in cash and $1 billion in common stockby 2029. The agreement is intended to provide a resolution to all claims associated with the Combat Arms Earplug products. These include all claims in Florida and Minnesota courts as well as any potential future claims.

This agreement is not an admission of liability, according to 3Ms statement on this matter. The products at issue in this litigation are safe and effective when used properly. 3M is prepared to continue to defend itself in the litigation if certain agreed terms of the settlement agreement are not fulfilled.

Due to the settlement, 3M will record a pre-tax charge of approximately $4.2 billion in the third quarter of 2023. This represents the $5.3 billion pre-tax present value of contributions under the agreement net of 3M's existing accrual of approximately $1.1 billion related to this matter. Further details will be included in 3M's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Both Aearo and 3M have begun insurance recovery activities to offset settlement payments. And Aearo began related insurance recovery litigation against its carriers in June.
Crude oil prices moved higher today after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an inventory decline of 10.6 million barrels for the week to August 25.

The estimate compared with a draw of 6.1 million barrels for the previous week.

A day earlier, the American Petroleum had estimated inventories had shed a massive 11.5 million barrels in the week to August 25, which prompted a spike in oil prices.

In fuels, the Energy Information Administration reported a modest gasoline draw and a middle distillate increase.

In gasoline, stocks shed 200,000 barrels in the reporting period, which compared with a build of 1.5 million barrels for the previous week.

Gasoline production averaged 10 million barrels daily last week, which compared with 9.7 million barrels daily a week earlier.

In middle distillates, the authority estimated an inventory increase of 1.2 million barrels for the second to last week of August, which compared with a modest build of 900,000 barrels for the week before that.

Middle distillate production averaged 5 million barrels daily last week, which compared with 5.1 million barrels daily for the previous week.

Refineries processed 16.6 million bpd last week, operating at 93.3% of capacity, with imports averaging 6.6 million bpd, down from the previous week, when imports averaged 6.9 million bpd.

Oil prices, meanwhile, have been on the rise after two depressed weeks during which traders focused on economic data from the United States and China.

This week, however, things changed when the American Petroleum Institute reported that massive inventory draw, suggesting demand for fuels in the worlds biggest consumer remained resilient in the face of challenges.

Hurricane Idalia, which is currently moving towards the Florida coast, contributed to the price rise with the potential for more evacuations in the Gulf of Mexico after Chevron suspended operations at three platforms.

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At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $86.03 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate was trading at $81.84 per barrel, both up from opening.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The renewable energy revolution is here. Global wind and solar energy capacity additions are set to shatter previous records by the end of 2023, with an expected 440 gigawatts to be added by the end of the year, according to figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA). With the unprecedented catalyzation of the global clean energy transition, plus the skyrocketing rate of adoption for electric vehicles (EVs), the world could be on track to hit peak fossil fuel emissions by 2025.

While the rapid rise of renewables is inarguably great news for the planet, the speed of the transition means will likely lead to some energy security hiccups. To support that new clean energy capacity, many other sectors and processes need to keep pace  which wont necessarily be easy. One of these key sectors is energy storage, a vital but nascent industry. Energy storage is essential because key renewable energies like wind and solar power are variable  meaning that their production levels shift up and down according to weather patterns, seasons, and the time of day. Often, the periods in which these energies are least productive are the same periods when energy demand is rising  at the moment the sun is setting on your local solar farm, rendering it essentially useless, the grid is getting a massive hit as locals turn on the lights in their homes and fire up appliances to make dinner.

If we can store surplus renewable energy when production is high and then feed it back into the grid when needed, we can solve a huge energy security issue. While energy storage is still in its infancy, its set to be an incredibly lucrative industry. Law firm Morgan Lewis recently referred to the storage sector as the technology that will cash the checks written by the renewable energy industry, and went on to describe that the global energy storage market will continue its rapid growth, with an estimated 387 gigawatts (GW) of new energy storage capacity expected to be added by 2030a 15-fold increase in global energy storage capacity compared to the end of 2021.

Currently, the sector is dominated by lithium-ion battery packs. However, these present some major drawbacks for the industry as a whole, such as competition over increasingly pricey and geopolitically contentious rare Earth minerals and relatively short-term storage capacity. For these reasons, there is a major race underway to discover the next big long-term energy storage solution. Hacking the equation is such to be an extremely profitable pursuit. The innovative solutions being proposed are incredibly creative and diverse, ranging from high-concept green hydrogen schemes to ideas hinging on some of the simplest tools: pulleys, weight, and gravity.

Indeed, some of the simplest solutions for achieving reliable, efficient, and cost-effective long term energy storage are the most promising. Natural batteries based on heating abundant and naturally occurring elements such as sand, salt, and rock to hold onto thermal energy have recently emerged as a frontrunner. In a recent article titled Could sand be the next lithium? the Washington Post dug into the issue and found that natural batteries have significant advantages over traditional batteries and circumvent some of the stickiest issues currently faced by renewable energy expansion.

In batteries where sand is heated to upwards of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the sand can hold on to that energy for a long time, with temperatures remaining over 200 degrees even when the batterys energy is running low. The sand can hold onto the power for weeks or months at a time  a clear advantage over the lithium-ion battery, the giant of todays battery market, which usually can hold energy for only a number of hours. Plus, the technology doesnt hinge on supply chains and materials dominated by China  another problem faced by lithium-ion batteries. Indeed, these materials can be produced pretty much anywhere on Earth at a relatively low cost.

Renewables are democratic, Claudio Spadacini, founder of Italian company Energy Dome, told the Washington Post. The sun shines everywhere and the wind blows everywhere, and if we can exploit those sources locally, using components that already exist, that will be the missing piece of the puzzle.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

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In July, the big insurance companies raised prices roughly 50% on a worldwide basis, a reaction to the huge claims they had to pay recently. Not many people seemed to have noticed, at first. But insurance companies cant operate without the backstop and off-loading of risk provided by the reinsurance companies. So expect the price of insurance policies to rise if not being canceled altogether.

In August, deadly wildfires spread over the Hawaiian island of Maui. More than 100 people died. Did the actions or inactions of the local electric company contribute to the disaster? Had it invested enough to protect the grid? Had its operators made the right decisions to de-energize fire spreading transmission lines during the fire? What would internal documents show? Hawaiian Electrics stock tanked 70% ($3 billion of wealth erased) as analysts opined on how much the company might have to ultimately pay out in damages to fire victims and their next of kin. The County of Maui filed a case against the utility, arguing that it made serious operational errors that contributed to the disaster.

Property damage caused by the fire has been estimated in the $4-6 billion range. One analyst said the total damages to the economy were $14-16 billion. Hawaiian Electrics enterprise value (the market value of its outstanding stock and bonds) at the end of 2022 was $8 billion but now is only $5 billion. If the courts find the utility responsible for damages, and the insurance carriers resist paying reimbursement, and if the regulators do not permit the utility to pass on the cost of damages to its consumersa successful lawsuit could wipe out the utilitys shareholders, likely triggering a chapter 11 filing for bankruptcy. A lot of ifs, you could say. From a financial and legal perspective it appears that investors are assuming a California type scenario where wildfire claims ultimately bankrupted Pacific Gas & Electric. Related: Oil Rises After EIA Confirms Major Crude Draw

The Maui suit might set a precedent. Plaintiffs could claim, in future cases after grid failures, that utilities should have planned and prepared better, given that climate related disasters were first predicted two decades ago. And that utility managers should have operated differently considering the new circumstances. They had the information and they had plenty of time to adjust. In other words, they knew. Of course, taking preventive steps would cost money which would require regulatory approval. So what did the regulators know, and is that relevant in a lawsuit for damages? The discovery process in any lawsuit will, no doubt, provide answers to those questions and also indicate whether regulators were too cozy with the utilities or just plain asleep at the switch. Neither alternative should provide much comfort to investors or customers of the utility.

Lawsuits against corporations, accompanied by evidence that the malefactors knew, led on the public, or just lied to them, have resulted in large financial settlements. U.S. tobacco companies several decades ago sponsored TV ads with actors in white coats, claiming that something like seven out of ten physicians recommended brand x cigarettes. The industry set up the Tobacco Institute, as a mouthpiece (smoking doesnt cause cancer but people who like to smoke may be predisposed to cancer was one of its arguments) and evidence showed that the tobacco companies adjusted the nicotine content in cigarettes to encourage greater addiction. Ultimately, following multiple state lawsuits, the tobacco companies agreed to a $366 billion settlement to cover the damage they did to public health.

More recently, producers of opiates, accused of pushing the drugs and encouraging addiction, agreed to a settlement in excess of $50 billion. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson is entangled in a lawsuit over the carcinogenic qualities of talcum powder that could lead to almost $9 billion of payments, while 3M Corporation has agreed to a $10 billion settlement for damages caused by the forever chemicals it manufactured. Similarly, German drug company Bayer, has settled $11 billion worth of suits thus far involving harm caused by an agricultural chemical it manufactured. Our point here is that these settlement numbers are quite large and investors in the shares of Hawaiian Electric do not appear to be over-reacting in driving the stock price lower.

The numerous expected lawsuits targeting Hawaiian Electric may center on what the company did or did not do at the time of the firesthe immediate cause of the disaster. If we were in the fossil fuel business, we would be concerned that the next batch of lawsuits might look different. This time the public might seek compensation for harm due to climate change largely caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Now that the effects of global warming have arrived so dramatically it will be harder to claim with a straight face that the science is in doubt, especially since CO2s role as a heat trapping gas has been known to science for over a century. Imagine what a group of state attorneys general might do if they thought a huge tobacco industry type settlement was possible. It would mean possibly hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into state coffers after winning such a lawsuit. Thats a powerful incentive to sue. Forget about AI or crypto. Environmental litigation looks like the growth industry of the future.

A while ago, we advocated that oil and gas companies pay out all the cash they can to investors in order to keep it out of the hands of the litigation lawyers who surely will show up, salivating at the possibility of multibillion dollar payouts. (Lawsuits of this type are already proceeding in Europe.) That would mean spending less on drilling and exploration and not making green investments either because even those assets might end up in the hands of the lawyers as well.

We also pointed out that reinvestment in the oil business over the past decade yielded astonishingly bad returns for investors, anyway. Well, last year, the oil companies, according to Bloomberg, returned more money to investors (via stock buybacks and dividends) than they spent on capital expenditures. Oil companies, after all, dont have to invest. They can draw capital out of the business through a combination of high shareholder payouts (dividends and stock buybacks) and low capital spending. For whatever reason, thats what they did last year.

Electric utilities, on the other hand, do not have spare cash that they can move out of the reach of litigants. For more than a decade they have had to raise outside capital to meet spending requirements and pay generous dividends. Given that electric utilities are smaller than oil companies, lack free cash flow, and usually serve one locality, they make less tempting targets for litigation. Or so we would have thought. Fewer states have an incentive to go after the utility, theres less cash to grab, and lower likely damages per lawsuit.

But when the utilitys transmission lines go down causing fires, or the grid is egregiously unprepared for weather conditions, and people incur large economic losses or even die, this question arises: in light of the decade or more of changed circumstances and warnings, should the utility have been better prepared and taken more comprehensive steps than it did? Up until now, most utility outages did not lead to significant penalties for the utility. Act of God, the regulators traditionally said and passed all the clean up and rebuild costs on to consumers. At some point, though, some plaintiffs will argue that the utilitys senior managers should have known about fire risk, should have been prepared better, and should have had operational procedures in place to meet the new evolving situation. And pointing to specific managerial steps taken or not taken to cope with specific threats might make an easier case than a global assault based on the causes and consequences of climate change.

Equity investors who bought stock in the wholesome makers of the worlds favorite talcum powder or transparent tape never expected those potentially crippling lawsuits. Certainly, few investors at present think of their local electric company, with its protected regulatory status, as a likely target for lawsuits. They may be wrong.

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Crude oil prices extended the gains theyd made on Tuesday today as traders watched Hurricane Idalia approach the Gulf Coast and the American Petroleum Institute surprised the market with a massive inventory draw.

Idalia was forecast to reach Category 4 intensity by the time it made landfall in Florida by the National Hurricane Center, which said as of Tuesday it was a Category 2. Landfall is expected for later today.

Meanwhile, oil and gas operations in the Gulf are mostly business as usual except for three Chevron platforms where workers were evacuated because of the hurricane.

If more oil and gas producers have to evacuate and suspend operations, this would add a temporary upward pressure on prices as the Gulf accounts for 15% of U.S. oil production and 5% of oil production.

Floridians may experience fuel shortages after the hurricane makes landfall but it appears they would be largely isolated to the state.

Besides the hurricane news, the other driver for prices this week has been the APIs regular estimate of U.S. oil inventories, which this week showed a substantial draw of almost 11.5 million barrels for the week to August 25.

Analysts had expected a much more modest draw, of 2.9 million barrels and if the EIA confirms the APIs figures today, this would be even more bullish for oil, suggesting resilient strong demand for fuels.

As a result of this combination of factors, Brent crude was once again trading at over $85 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate was changing hands at over $81 as of late morning trade in Asia today.

The upside potential for oil prices is seen strengthening next month when analysts expect Saudi Arabia to extend its voluntary production cuts for another month while raising official selling prices for Asian buyers under long-term contracts.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Brazil's oil and gas production hit the highest level ever for a single month in July, with production totaling 4.48 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the period, data from oil regulator ANP has revealed. According to ANP, oil output increased 18.6%Y/Y to 3.51 million barrels per day while natural gas production grew 13.6%Y/Y to 154.08 million cubic meters per day.

Previously, global research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie predicted that Brazils private oil companies will increase oil production by 75% from 1.221Mb/d to 2.123Mb/d by 2030. According to WoodMac, international oil companies such as Shell Plc (NYSE:SHEL), Equinor ASA, (NYSE:EQNR), TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE), Repsol Sinopec Brasil S.A. and Petrogal will be among the top producers thanks to their partnership with federal oil firm Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) in the pre-salt and fields under development.

Petrobras is also expected to grow production at an impressive clip, with output expected to increase 61% from 2.15Mb/d this year to 3.46Mb/d in 2030. Last year, the oil and gas supermajor announced that it will increase 2023-2027 investments by about 15% to $78 billion over the companys 2022-2026 projected spending. Of the $78 billion planned for capex, 83% or $64 billion is earmarked for E&P activities while 67% of the E&P capex budget will go to pre-salt activities.

The company also plans to boost spending to reduce carbon emissions to ~6% of the total compared with 4% in the previous plan, and will see its decarbonization fund more than double the current $248M.

Earlier, Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates reaffirmed those targets but said the company is preparing to preview updates to its business plan next month, including a greater focus on renewable energy sources. Unfortunately, Prates said that investors should not expect the kind of huge dividend payments they enjoyed last year, with the companys dividend policy likely to undergo adjustments to reflect the reality of a company investing in the future. Petrobras will also continue to focus on its strengths in offshore oil exploration, especially in the "pre-salt" fields off Brazil's coast, but it "will gradually transform itself," Prates said.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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The oil output cuts in Russia have been holding back its top producer Rosneft from fully realizing its potential, the chief executive of the state-controlled oil giant, Igor Sechin, said on Wednesday.

I should note that Rosneft has been limiting crude oil production in one way or another since 2017, which prevents the Company from fully unleashing its potential, Sechin said in a statement discussing Rosnefts first-half performance.

This year alone, Russia has pledged to cut its oil production by 500,000 bpd. On top of this, Moscow has also promised to reduce its oil exports in August by another 500,000 bpd and to cut September shipments by 300,000 bpd.

Thats not the first time Sechin has complained about the OPEC+ production cuts, as part of which Russia has been curbing output in one way or another for more than five years.

In June this year, Sechin said that Russia is exporting a smaller share of its oil output, losing market share compared to other OPEC+ members. Some OPEC+ members are exporting up to 90% of their oil output while for Russia, the share is around 50% of the total, according to Rosnefts top executive.

Rosneft raised its oil and gas production by 7% in the first half of 2023, but its output had to be lowered in the second quarter, given external production constraints, Sechin said today.

Rosnefts liquids production fell by 2.2% quarter-on-quarter to 3.9 million barrels per day in Q2, on the back of the production cap.

Revenues fell by 25.3% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year, primarily due to the slump in oil prices, the company said.

Rosnefts operations are also challenged by the continuous tax amendments Russia has implemented this year.

The changing tax environment, including legislative changes already enacted and new initiatives, makes the Company's operations more challenging, Sechin said.

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Russias gas giant Gazprom has reported a massive drop in its first-half net profit as deliveries to Europe have slumped compared to 2022 when Russia was still supplying pipeline gas to its European customers for most of the first half of last year.

Gazproms net profit plunged by 8.5 times to stand at just $3.1 billion (296 billion Russian rubles) for the first half of 2023, down from $26 billion (2.5 trillion rubles) for the same period of 2022.

The collapse in Gazproms net profit was also due to the weak ruble, which fell by 24% against the U.S. dollar in the first six months of 2023, Famil Sadygov, deputy CEO at Gazprom, said.

The decline in exports to Europe was partially offset by an increase in supplies to China, which will continue to grow within contractual obligations, as well as by the efficient operation of the oil business, Sadygov also noted.

The major drop in Gazproms gas deliveries to key customers was due to the halt of Russian pipeline gas exports to nearly all European countries. Weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Russia cut off supply to Poland, Bulgaria, and Finland.

Then Gazprom started to reduce supply via the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany in June 2022, claiming an inability to service gas turbine maintenance outside Russia due to the Western sanctions against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.

Gazprom said in early September that Nord Stream would remain shut until operational defects in the equipment are eliminated, before the sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines at the end of September 2022, which definitely closed all pipeline gas routes of Russias gas to Germany.

Separately, Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Gazprom, reported last week a 43% annual slump in its second-quarter net profit amid lower sales.

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Elections in Gabon have ended in a coup, with the countrys military leaders seizing power following an announcement that President Ali Bongoa member of a family that has controlled the Central African nation for over 50 yearshad won a third term in office.

As of Wednesday morning, all state institutions had been dissolved, with General Brice Oligui Nguema appearing to have been installed as the leader of the junta.

The coup in Gabon follows a coup in Niger in July.

Ali Bongo assumed power in Gabon in 2009, replacing his father, who had served as president since 1967. The Bongo familys tenure has been unstable, particularly since 2016, when the first disputed election spread further unrest and led to a failed coup three years later. The coup in Niger possibly emboldened military leaders during an election year.

Media have shown hundreds of people celebrating the coup in the streets of the capital city, where opposition to the Bongo family has grown over the decades, largely because the countrys oil and mineral wealth is thought to have been hoarded by the Bongos.

Gabon is an oil-producing country and OPECs smallest member, with around 200,000 bpd of output, though its oil industry has been in a state of decline since 2014. While oil production in the country has not been affected by the coup, oil prices ticked up early on Wednesday, partly on concerns of the potential for some supply loss. Brent crude was trading up around 0.70% at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Carlyle Groups Assala Energy, which produces oil in Gabon, told Reuters that output had not been impacted by the coup.

Gabon is already rich in other minerals, including Manganese. Gabon is home to the worlds second-largest deposit of Manganese and is its third-largest producer. The country is also home to gold and iron deposits.

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LINCOLN  State and city officials have agreed to move the site of the new prison away from one of the fastest-growing parts of northeast Lincoln to a city-owned site about 7 miles away, just north of Interstate 80.

The joint announcement Wednesday by Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and Gov. Jim Pillen came less than two weeks after the governor announced plans to build the prison about a mile outside city limits  a decision that surprised city officials and generated intense backlash by residents who live in several nearby neighborhoods.

The city and state will swap the land: 305 acres near 112th and Adams Streets that the state said it has purchased for $17 million for 300 acres of city-owned land east of 70th Street and McKelvie Road, just to the east of the citys landfill.

Discussions between the Mayors Office and state officials began shortly after the announcement, and on Wednesday, Gaylor Baird and Pillen called it a win for everyone.

Its a win for the people in Nebraska, a win for the city of Lincoln and a win for the state of Nebraska, Pillen said. This is the perfect location for this to be a transformative prison.

As part of the agreement, the state will be responsible for paying for improvements on the site. It also will initially pay for other infrastructure, including road improvements to the site, as well as removing an abandoned lagoon, wind turbine and underground pipe on the land, and getting sewer and electrical services to the site, Pillen said.

As part of the agreement, the city will pay back the cost of those improvements, not to exceed $7 million, over time.

Sewer and water already are extended to nearby areas.

Gaylor Baird said the city already had plans to decommission the lagoon on the site and will accelerate those plans to accommodate the prison, and improvements to the area will benefit Lincoln as well.

The city still has space available for another landfill and it has taken measures to extend the life of the existing landfill, Gaylor Baird said, including expanding recycling efforts.

Nebraska lawmakers approved spending $350 million for the construction of a new prison, and state officials said the change in location wont affect the timeline: beginning construction in fall 2024 and finishing in 2027.

James Michael Bowers, the city councilman who represents northeast Lincoln, and Danielle Conrad, who represents north Lincoln in the Legislature, credited area residents for standing up and speaking out about the former proposed location.

Im really proud of northeast Lincolnites for getting their voice heard, for organizing and advocating for one another and our community, Bowers said. A lot of folks who participated in this process and had their voice heard dont typically speak up and take time off from work in order to be part of the civic process.

Kurtis Conover, who lives in Waterford Estates, about a mile southeast of the original site, said the new site is the better of the two because it is a more industrial area with considerably less residential development. But he knows some residents still will be negatively affected.

Im sure its not ideal for some people, and I have empathy for them, he said.

The best thing about the past two weeks is how neighborhood residents from all different political perspectives came together to oppose the original site  but hes not sure how much impact they had, in the end.

In the grand scheme of things, you had both political parties playing a political game, and citizens in northeast Lincoln were caught in the middle of it, he said. I am happy in the end the governor and mayor could both put put the politics aside and come to a better solution than the original site.

Pillen said that after initially considering 70 locations, including some in Omaha, his staff narrowed the potential sites and determined Lincoln was the best location because of the existing workforce. He said of the two Lincoln sites, he preferred the city-owned land, reached out to the mayor in May and had more than one conversation. But it was clear she didnt want to sell the land.

Gaylor Baird said city officials met with the governor with the understanding that the city land was among various sites being considered, and declined the states offer to buy the land because the city wanted to use it for future expansion of city recycling, waste management and biogas recovery, among other municipal operations.

We left the meeting at the Governors Office with an understanding they were still considering multiple sites, she said.

City officials told state officials they wanted to continue discussions if the prison were to be located in Lincoln, she said.

It wasnt until shortly before Pillens public announcement that they learned the prison was going in Lincoln, she said.

We immediately reached out to the state to reopen the conversation, Gaylor Baird said. The circumstances changed. And of the two Lincoln sites, this location that were announcing today is the preferred alternative for both parties.

City officials appreciated the states willingness to pivot and renegotiate, she said, and she appreciated the communitys input and advocacy to retain the land near 112th and Adams for its intended residential use.

The city land, near an LES substation, is much less densely populated than the areas around the original site, which is identified in the citys comprehensive plan in the top tier for urban residential development.

Gaylor Baird said she doesnt know yet how the city will use the land at 112th and Adams.

At this time we have no immediate plans for the land, she said. It is possible that we may look in the future to trade that land for property in other parts of Lincoln to support municipal operations for our growing city.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of August 2023
A former Nebraska State Patrol trooper already serving two prison sentences was sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 23, to a third lengthy prison term for the 2022 sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl.

Brandon Dolezal, 26, pleaded no contest to two counts of first-degree sexual assault on a child and was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison by Douglas County District Court Judge Molly Keane. The sentencing hearing came after Dolezal pleaded no contest in June to the two charges and in exchange prosecutors dismissed five other counts.

Prosecutors said Dolezal twice sexually assaulted the girl he first met on the social media app Snapchat. Both incidents occurred in Dolezals pickup truck. Omaha police arrested Dolezal in a parking lot at Skutt Catholic High School, where the girl was a student, on Nov. 1, 2022.

In court, Dolezal apologized to the girl and her family. Matthew Knipe, Dolezals attorney, said his client recognizes what hes done and wants to rectify his problem.

Prosecutor Nathan Barnhill said Dolezals behavior is a part of a calculated and methodical pattern.

Keane said Dolezal has shown a disregard for the law given Dolezals recent convictions in Scotts Bluff and Sarpy counties for similar offenses. She also relayed a statement from the girls family submitted as part of a presentence investigation report.

In the statement, the family said the girl suffers from issues related to the trauma, including difficulty trusting people.

This will be something they will deal with for their entire lives, Keane said.

The Douglas County sentencing was the latest in Dolezals court proceedings.

In Scotts Bluff County earlier this year, Dolezal was ordered to serve 40 to 56 years in prison after being found guilty of four counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of attempted child enticement. He will be eligible for parole in 20 years under sentencing guidelines. With good time, Dolezal could serve 20 to 28 years.

His Scotts Bluff sentence stems from sexting with two girls under 16 years old. At the time the offenses occurred, Dolezal was a state trooper stationed in the Panhandle. Dolezal was fired by the State Patrol in March 2021.

In Sarpy County, Dolezal was sentenced 20 to 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in Bellevue. In that case, Dolezal must serve 10 years in prison before he is eligible for parole and 20 before he must be released.

Dolezals latest prison sentence out of Douglas County will run consecutively to his prior sentences from Scotts Bluff and Sarpy Counties, meaning he will have to complete those prison terms before starting his new sentence from Douglas County.
Kaiyo Sushi is welcoming customers to its location across 36th Street from Twin Creek Plaza in Bellevue.

The sushi and Japanese restaurant is designed to bring the flavor of owner Hong Zheng's Lincoln restaurant, Kinja Sushi, to a new audience with added specialty menu items.

"I live in the area, and I think Bellevue needs a really good sushi restaurant," Zheng said. "There are many choices for sushi restaurants in Omaha and not many in Bellevue. There's definitely enough customer base in here, given (the) military base, and we've seen many military customers already."

While the restaurant has been open since June, Kaiyo Sushi had to wait until mid-August to secure its alcohol permit. With a successful hiring process, a fully staffed kitchen and a comprehensive menu, this local sushi haven is brimming with anticipation to accommodate even more patrons.

"Our sushi chef, Song, has 20 years' experience and has worked in sushi restaurants in New York City," said Zheng. "I think having a really good sushi chef makes a difference."

Sushi chef Song Lin previously worked at Haru Sushi, now known as RA Sushi in Manhattan. Working under a traditional Japanese mentor Lin learned perfectionism, the art of presentation and refined his skills before moving to Lincoln to work at Kinja 13 years ago.

While sticking to the classics on the menu may seem safe, the specialty rolls at Kaiyo deliver a unique and flavorful experience that will have you coming back for more.

For raw sushi lovers, the Sombrero Roll brings spice and a hint of Latin influence to the menu. The roll is made with white fish, avocado, and cilantro topped with raw yellowtail tuna, chili pepper, spicy jalapeno and sriracha with tangy yuzu sauce.

While the Times will give an hon-roll-ble mention to the aptly named Bellevue and Nebraska rolls, the Sweet Fire roll piqued this reporter's curiosity. Zheng mentioned its popularity among customers who prefer cooked sushi.

The roll is made with crispy shrimp tempura, cream cheese, avocado, jalapeno, eel sauce, spicy mayo and Japanese chili pepper. To top off the fusion of flavors, the roll is flambeed right at the table.

The specialty menu also extends to the drinks, with house cocktails like the Effen cucumber vodka Cucumber Breeze, muddled pineapple Key Lime Colada, and banana rum Blue Chair Breeze.

Zheng has made a career opening Asian cuisine restaurants and markets around Nebraska with great success.

Along with Kinja Sushi, Zheng also owns an Asian Market grocery store off 76th Street between Dodge and Cass streets in Omaha and another popular eatery, China Buffet at 2903 Samson Way in Bellevue, just a short distance up the road from the new Kaiyo Sushi.

"For the past two and a half months, we haven't advertised because we wanted to be ready," Zheng said. "Now that we have a liquor license, we're definitely ready."

Kaiyo Sushi is located at 3503 Samson Way, the space formerly occupied by Beijing Tokyo. The restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and again from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Kaiyo is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays.

You can view the full menu at kaiyosushinebraska.com.
An Omaha police officer deployed pepper spray after a fight broke out between two families Wednesday morning at a middle school in North Omaha, according to police.

Officers responded to the Omaha Public Schools McMillan Middle School at approximately 8:04 a.m. for reports of a disturbance and an armed party, according to an Omaha Police Department spokesperson.

According to a letter to families from the schools principal, Andrew Walters, a former student deployed pepper spray in the schools entryway vestibule during school arrival. The former student, a 14-year-old girl, sprayed numerous students and staff, police said.

School staff moved the situation outside and called law enforcement for support, the letter said. Two families then became involved in a verbal altercation outside.

One woman involved in the altercation showed a knife when she felt threatened by the opposing group, but she eventually retreated to her car, police said. The crowd then advanced on officers, and pepper spray was deployed, according to police.

The 14-year-old received a juvenile citation and the woman who had a knife was cited for disorderly conduct, police said.

The letter to families said the school was secured for approximately 45 minutes while police investigated. During that time, no one was allowed in or out of the building, but classes continued as normal.

The school planned to have additional law enforcement present during dismissal on Wednesday, the letter said.

Please be assured that the safety of students and staff is our top priority, Walters said in the letter.
Study Reveals Face Masks Contain Dangerous Amounts of Toxins

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Aug. 30, 2023



WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2023 / Christian Newswire / -- A recent study revealed that disposable face masks, including medical-grade N95 masks, released eight times the recommended U.S. limit of toxic volatile organic compounds (TVOCs). Inhaling TVOCs has been linked to health issues like headaches and nausea, while prolonged and repeated exposure has been linked to organ damage and even cancer.

"Measuring the Quantity of Harmful Volatile Organic Compounds Inhaled Through Masks" was published in April and shared by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers from Jeonbuk National University in South Korea looked at two types of disposable medical-grade KF94 masks made of polypropylene and polyurethane nylon as well as several reusable cotton masks. KF94 are the South Korean equivalent of the KN95 masks used in the United States.

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends keeping TVOC levels below 0.5 parts per million in indoor air. The mask sample with the highest amount of TVOCs had 4,808 cubic meters per microgram, which is about 4.8 parts per million. That means more than eight times the recommended limit.

According to the American Lung Association, TVOCs have been shown to irritate the eyes, nose, and throat, cause difficulty breathing and nausea, and damage the central nervous system and organs like the liver. Other types of products that release TVOCs are paint, caulks, cleaners/disinfectants, pesticides, and even tobacco smoke.

Another new study by German researchers has concluded that wearing face masks can cause carbon dioxide poisoning when worn even for short periods and may have contributed significantly to stillbirths, testicular dysfunction, cognitive decline in children, among other destructive health issues.

The research, published in the journal Heliyon, comprises a review of 43 previously published studies and notes that even short-term exposure to concentrations of carbon dioxide as low as 0.3 percent caused brain damage, increased anxiety, and impaired memory in both pregnant rats and young mice in one study. In another, when male mice were exposed to 2.5 percent carbon dioxide for four hours, testicular cells and sperm were destroyed. The equivalent amount for humans would be 0.5 percent of carbon dioxide over the same time period.

Another study discovered that stillbirth and birth defects occurred in pregnant rats that were exposed to just three percent carbon dioxide, which would be equal to 0.8 percent for humans. The study also points to research that found just five minutes of mask wearing resulted in carbon dioxide levels increasing to between 1.4 percent and 3.2 percent.

In addition, there are hundreds of scientific studies and medical articles that confirm that wearing face masks are not effective at reducing the transmission of COVID-19 and are harmful to people's health in at least 68 ways.

Liberty Counsel provides broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost.



SOURCE Liberty Counsel



CONTACT: Mat Staver, 407-875-1776, Liberty@LC.org


Hours after the Omaha City Council repealed or amended a raft of gun ordinances to comply with a new Nebraska law, Mayor Jean Stothert issued an executive order that will prohibit people from carrying firearms while on city-owned properties.

Signs will be posted on those properties beginning this week. Stotherts executive order prohibits firearms at properties owned, leased or managed by the city. Those properties include buildings, facilities, parks and public spaces.

Law enforcement personnel, trained security members under contract or supervision of a government agency and people who receive prior approval from Police Chief Todd Schmaderer are exempt from the executive order. The order also exempts people who are using shotguns recreationally at the Harry A. Koch Trap and Skeet facility in Seymour Smith Park near 72nd and Harrison Streets.

Stotherts executive order goes into effect Saturday. On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously voted to repeal 22 gun ordinances and amend eight other ordinances because they were invalidated by the new state law, which also takes effect Saturday.

Repealed city ordinances include a requirement to obtain a permit to buy a handgun, a prohibition on people under 21 possessing guns that can be concealed, and restrictions on carrying concealed weapons without a state permit and transporting certain firearms.

Legislative Bill 77 will allow Nebraskans 21 and older to carry concealed weapons without a permit. The bill will apply statewide.

City Council President Pete Festersen said Wednesday he supports the mayors executive order.

Anything we can do to keep our public places safe and secure, we should be doing, Festersen said. In addition to the executive order, Im also pursuing additional measures we can adopt through ordinance.

He said hes considering ideas such as regulating ghost guns and high-capacity accessories, and protecting public properties. Festersen had asked the City Law Department in early August to research those ideas and other new common-sense gun regulations in cooperation with the Omaha Police Department and City Council.

Stothert, Schmaderer and a majority of the City Council opposed LB 77 while it was being debated in the Legislature. But now that it will soon be law, the city was left with no choice but to scrap many of its own gun laws.

Given the enactment of LB 77, its imperative, I think, on the city to not leave those laws on the books, City Attorney Matt Kuhse said before the councils vote. I think its disingenuous for us to allow our citizens to believe these laws are active.

The loosened gun restrictions will likely result in a rise in requests to police that cant be satisfied, Kuhse said.

Whats illegal today wont be illegal on Sept. 2, Kuhse said. The public may not know that. Theyre going to be calling the Police Department for help if they see something that is alarming them. The police are going to show up and theyre not going to be able to do anything about it.

Festersen said the affected city gun ordinances helped get about 1,400 illegal guns off the streets last year. People who have been charged under the repealed gun laws will have their cases dismissed after Saturday if they havent been fully resolved before that date.

World-Herald staff writer Christopher Burbach contributed to this report.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of August 2023
Here's a look at trending topics for today, Aug. 29:

3M earplugs lawsuit

Chemical and consumer product manufacturer 3M said Tuesday it has agreed to pay $6 billion to settle lawsuits from U.S. service members who say they experienced hearing loss or other serious injuries after using faulty earplugs made by the company.

The settlement, consisting of $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in 3M stock, will be made in payments that will run through 2029.

Hundreds of thousands of veterans and current service members have sued 3M and Aearo Technologies, a company that 3M acquired in 2008, over their Combat Arms Earplugs. The service members alleged that a defective design allowed the products  which were intended to protect ears from close-range firearms and other loud noises  to loosen slightly and allow hearing damage, according to Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis, & Overholtz PLLC, one of the law firms representing plaintiffs.

Find out more info about it here:

Djokovic

Novak Djokovic is back at the U.S. Open and will now be back at No. 1 in the rankings.

Djokovic made a winning return after missing the tournament last year, rolling to a 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Alexandre Muller on Monday night.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion had to wait through Coco Gauff's three-set victory to open the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium, followed by an opening-night ceremony marking 50 years of equal prize money at the U.S. Open.

Well, I knew it was going to be a late night for me, late start of the match, Djokovic said. Nevertheless, I mean, I was excited to go out on the court. I didnt care if I started after midnight because I was looking forward to this moment for a few years, to be out on the biggest stadium in our sport, the loudest stadium in our sport, playing the night session.

Read more about it here:

Full moon August 2023

Big, bright lunar displays will bookend August as the moon nears its closest point to Earth. When the moon reaches this position in its orbit while also appearing full, the result is a supermoon  and there will be two this month.

The first of the supermoons peaked at 2:32 p.m. ET on Aug. 1, which means lunar gazers in Europe, the United Kingdom, Africa and the Middle East can catch the orb glowing at its fullest in the night sky at a distance of about 222,158 miles (357,530 kilometers) from Earth, according to calculations from retired NASA astronomer Fred Espenak. For viewers in the United States, rest assured the moon will look round during the evening of Aug. 1. Supermoons generally look brighter and bigger than other full moons because of their proximity, though its not always perceptible to the naked eye.

Then, on Aug. 30, a full moon will appear at the closest point to our planet this year  about 222,043 miles (357,344 kilometers) away  making it an elusive super blue moon.

Get more info here:

***

Get more of today's trending topics here:

Elton John

Tottenham
SHANGHAI  Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Wednesday she warned Chinese leaders that U.S. businesses might stop investing in their country without prompt action to address complaints about worsening conditions due to raids on firms, unexplained fines and unpredictable official behavior.

Raimondos comments add to pressure on Chinese leader Xi Jinpings government, which is trying to revive investor interest and reverse an economic slump. Business groups say confidence among foreign companies is at an all-time low. Official figures show foreign investment plunged in the latest quarter.

Raimondo visited Beijing as part of U.S. efforts to restore relations that plummeted to their lowest level in decades due to disputes about technology, security and Taiwan. She called her meetings with Chinas No. 2 leader, Premier Li Qiang, and other officials very productive but said she didnt pull any punches in conveying business complaints.

Raimondo said CEOs ahead of her trip told her they face increased pressure from Beijings expansion of an anti-spying law this year, raids on some firms, tighter controls on data and lack of information about rule changes.

My point was U.S. business needs to see some action taken to address these issues. Otherwise, they will deem it as just too risky and, as I said, uninvestable, Raimondo told reporters at a Boeing Co. joint venture in Shanghais eastern district of Pudong.

Foreign direct investment in China fell 89% from a year earlier in the three months ending in June, according to official data. Most investment is believed to be brought into the country by Chinese companies disguised as foreign money to get tax breaks and other incentives, but business groups have warned foreign companies are withholding new spending until their status is clearer.

Patience is wearing thin, Raimondo said. She said conditions for companies that have complained for years about technology theft and official favoritism toward Chinese competitors are becoming in some ways even tougher.

Economic growth slid to 0.8% compared with the previous quarter in the three months ending in June from the January-March periods 2.2%. That is equal to an annual rate of 3.2%, which would be among Chinas weakest in decades.

Despite that, Li, the premier, has expressed confidence the economy can hit the ruling partys annual growth target of about 5%.

Raimondo said she welcomed moves such as the ruling partys announcement of a 24-point plan to improve conditions for entrepreneurs. She said the party secretary for Shanghai, Chen Jining, told her Wednesday the city is considering creating a hotline to receive business complaints.

We have to see the situation on the ground match the rhetoric, Raimondo said.

Raimondos visit produced the most substantial results of a series of trips to Beijing over the past three months by U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last month.

The two governments announced Monday they would form two groups to reduce trade tension by sharing information about U.S. export controls on technology that irritate Beijing and discuss other commercial disputes. They also agreed to have officials meet to discuss protection of trade secrets and to hold a travel and tourism summit.

Beijing broke off dialogue with Washington over military, climate and other issues in August 2020 in retaliation for a visit to Taiwan by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The ruling party claims the self-ruled island democracy as part of its territory and objects to foreign official contacts.

Relations already were strained by a tariff war launched by then-President Donald Trump over complaints including that Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology.

Li appealed to Raimondo on Tuesday for concrete actions by Washington to improve relations, a reference to Chinese pressure for changes in U.S. policy on Taiwan, technology and other issues.

Washington has blocked Chinese access to processor chips and other technology on security grounds. That threatens to hamper the ruling partys ambitions to create artificial intelligence and other industries. Xi accused Washington in March of trying to block Chinas development.

The group held its first meeting Tuesday. Raimondo said it would meet several more times. She said the meetings are intended to provide information and wont result in changes to U.S. export controls.

We were able to clarify in the first meeting that were not targeting China, Raimondo said. Were targeting action and behavior which undermine U.S. national security, and we sought to begin clarifying our procedures.

Export controls will continue to be the area of the most disagreement, but communication can only help, Raimondo said.

Conditions for foreign companies have worsened following the expansion of an anti-spying law that some say leaves them unclear about what consumer and other information they can gather.

A research firm, Mintz Group, was fined $1.5 million this month on charges it improperly gathered data. China ordered makers of some data equipment to stop using products from the biggest U.S. maker of memory chips, Micron Inc., on security grounds.

The secretary said she raised the status of Visa and Mastercard as an example of the need to treat each others companies the same way. The credit card issuers have waited for years for approval of applications to operate in China, while Chinese payment services Alipay and UnionPay operate freely in the United States.

We did not resolve anything, but I thought that it was important to put the issue on the table, Raimondo said. And I did feel heard.
Idalia has strengthened from a tropical storm and is now a hurricane, moving through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida. Forecasters believe it will become a dangerous Category 3 storm.

The four meteorologists from Lee Enterprises' weather team  Matt Holiner of Lee Enterprises' Midwest group in Chicago, Kirsten Lang of the Tulsa World in Oklahoma, Joe Martucci of the Press of Atlantic City, N.J., and Sean Sublette of the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia  host a weekly podcast called Across the Sky.

Since launching the program more than a year ago, the team has tackled a variety of topics covering all things hurricanes. Below is a selection of individual episodes so you can learn more about the deadly storms, including a preview of this year's season, stories from hurricane hunters, episodes about recovering from weather disasters and even a look back at Superstorm Sandy.

Listen to the latest episode of the Across the Sky podcast

Previewing the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season

Stories from hurricane hunters

Preparing for and recovering from natural disasters

Understanding the ramifications of climate change and global warming

More information about superstorms and hurricanes
A northeast Nebraska mother is charged in Burt County with child abuse resulting in death due to negligence after her 14-month-old daughter suffered severe burns and drowned in a bathtub.

Josephine Boschult, 22, was arrested Monday after an investigation by the Decatur Police Department. Her daughter, according to the arrest affidavit, died Aug. 14 at home in Decatur.

First responders arrived to find Boschult giving CPR to a small child on the trunk of a car with her husband and two other adults nearby. An officer noticed the child was covered in severe burns as he took over CPR operations.

Decatur Fire and Rescue took the child to a hospital in Onawa, Iowa, where she died. Boschult, according to the affidavit, told police that she was giving her three children a bath and left the 14-month-old in the bathtub while it drained.

Boschult said she received a phone call and left the child in the tub for five to 10 minutes. She returned to find the baby upside down in the bathtub.

An Iowa medical examiner told police that the child suffered from first-and second-degree burns and died as the result of drowning. Boschult told police that the child must have been burned by turning on the hot water while she was out of the room.

A judge ordered Boschult held on $50,000 bail. She must pay 10%, $5,000, to be released.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb.  A teenager died and several other people were injured in a utility vehicle accident in Hall County this week.

Jacqueline Torres, 18, of Grand Island died of injuries suffered in a wreck that occurred early Sunday, according to the Hall County Sheriff's Office.

The Sheriff's Office said deputies and medics were called to an injury accident involving a "side-by-side utility vehicle" at 5419 Old Potash Highway in Grand Island after 1 a.m. Sunday.

The 19-year-old driver lost control of the vehicle, and it tipped, ejecting all six occupants, the Sheriff's Office said. Several passengers were taken to CHI Health St. Francis for treatment. Torres died from her injuries.

The Nebraska State Patrol, Grand Island Police Department and Grand Island Fire Department assisted at the crash site.
The Blue Angels vapor trails had barely faded from the skies from last weekends record-breaking Lincoln air show when Offutt Air Force Bases 55th Wing announced the return of its own show next year for the first time since 2018.

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds will headline the Defenders of Freedom Air and Space Show on Aug. 24-25, 2024, said Maj. Bryce Neil, Offutts air show director.

It certainly is good news, both for military members and civilians, Neil said in an interview. It gives you a lot of pride, and a way to give back to the community.

The Offutt air show used to be a regular event in Bellevue, but a combination of catastrophe, construction and commitments prevented the 55th Wing from staging them for six of the past seven years.

The 2017 show was canceled because of the Wings heavy operational commitments that year. It was held in 2018, but the 2019 show was scrubbed because of flooding and the 2020 show because of the COVID pandemic.

The 2021 and 2022 shows werent held because the airfield was closed for a total reconstruction of its runway.

Lincoln had already announced its 2023 air show when Offutt reopened its runway last September. Neil said the 55th Wing partnered with the Nebraska Air National Guards 155th Air Refueling Wing in putting on last weekends event, which organizers said drew 340,000 people to the Lincoln Airport over two days. That shattered an attendance record of 250,000 set in 2011.

Our committee kind of shadowed them, Neil said. We combined forces. It worked great.

Two Offutt-based aircraft, an RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance jet and an E-4B Nightwatch command-and-control plane, were on static display in Lincoln, which last hosted an air show in 2016.

In addition to the Blue Angels, flying acts including the Air Forces F-16C Viper team, Navy F-35C and EA-18G crews, World War II-era SNJ-4 and P-51 Mustang warbirds, and Lincoln stunt pilot Doug Roth in his single-engine Staudacher.

The Lincoln committee did a fantastic job, Neil said. Were switching gears already and working on the Offutt air show.

He said its necessary to start lining up vendors and volunteers for next years show already. Although the Thunderbirds already have signed on for 2024, other acts must still be lined up and signed to contracts.

Over the next six to eight months well be announcing more performers, Neil said.

Visitors next year will see a much different Offutt Air Force Base than when it last hosted an air show in 2018.

The following spring, a bizarre meteorological event caused massive flooding across Nebraska and western Iowa. The Missouri River overwhelmed two of the levees protecting Offutt and flooded about one-third of the base. Part of the runway was under water, and about 1.2 million square feet of office space inundated.

By August 2024, a post-flood reconstruction boom estimated at $1 billion will be in full swing. But Neil said it wont interfere with the air show, most of which takes place on a part of Offutt that wasnt touched by the flood.

Itll be seamless to the majority of the people who have been to the show before, he said. By the time they get here, theyll have a hard time noticing the construction.

The business community in Bellevue, which abuts the base, welcomes the return of one of the citys biggest annual draws.

It brings tens of thousands of people to town. Its a huge asset, said Diane Bruce, president and chief executive officer of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce. We will welcome it back to Bellevue with our arms wide open.

Close Guardians of Freedom Air Show LINCOLN, NEB - 05/08/2016 Blue Angels ground crew members perform checks as smoke from a controlled explosion drifts behind them during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday, May 8, 2016, at the Lincoln Municipal Airport. MISCHA LOPIANO/Journal Star Guardians of Freedom Air Show The full force of the Blue Angels take a turn together at Sunday's performance. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Flight fans young and old flocked to see the Blue Angels' performance after Saturday's cancellation. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Natalie Lammers, 8, sticks her head out of the cockpit window during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Jack Bennett watches as the the Blue Angels perform their aerial routine during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Ike Suitak, 5, shields his eyes from the sun as U.S. Air Force Wings of Blue paragliders descend during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Crowds watch a demonstration of a mock airfield assault by WWII-era warplanes during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show The Blue Angels for a tight formation over the Guardians of Freedom Air Show. air show 1 The Blue Angels perform during the Guardians of Freedom Airshow in Lincoln in 2016. The show will return in 2023 after a seven-year hiatus. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Crowds wave to the pilot of an F-22 Raptor before he takes off during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Guardians of Freedom Air Show attendees finally got to see the legendary Blue Angels in flight Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Capt. Jeff Kuss of the Blue Angels, who died in a crash on Thursday, waves to the Lincoln crowd while taxiing on the runway before takeoff at the recent Guardians of Freedom Air Show. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels make a little smoke of their own Sunday after being grounded due to poor visibility Saturday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Crowds gather to watch aeriel performances during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Vivian, Francis and Ruthie Stokes walk with their father, Col. Chris Stokes, during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show A member of the U.S. Air Force Wings of Blue parachutes in with the American flag during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Airshow at the Lincoln Municipal Airport on May 8, 2016. Photos: Guardians of Freedom Air Show 2016 Despite hazy weather, thousands attended the Guardians of Freedom Air Show in Air Park over the weekend. Take a look at photos from the event here. Guardians of Freedom Air Show LINCOLN, NEB - 05/08/2016 Blue Angels ground crew members perform checks as smoke from a controlled explosion drifts behind them during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday, May 8, 2016, at the Lincoln Municipal Airport. MISCHA LOPIANO/Journal Star Guardians of Freedom Air Show The full force of the Blue Angels take a turn together at Sunday's performance. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Flight fans young and old flocked to see the Blue Angels' performance after Saturday's cancellation. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Natalie Lammers, 8, sticks her head out of the cockpit window during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Jack Bennett watches as the the Blue Angels perform their aerial routine during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Ike Suitak, 5, shields his eyes from the sun as U.S. Air Force Wings of Blue paragliders descend during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Crowds watch a demonstration of a mock airfield assault by WWII-era warplanes during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show The Blue Angels for a tight formation over the Guardians of Freedom Air Show. air show 1 The Blue Angels perform during the Guardians of Freedom Airshow in Lincoln in 2016. The show will return in 2023 after a seven-year hiatus. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Crowds wave to the pilot of an F-22 Raptor before he takes off during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Guardians of Freedom Air Show attendees finally got to see the legendary Blue Angels in flight Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Capt. Jeff Kuss of the Blue Angels, who died in a crash on Thursday, waves to the Lincoln crowd while taxiing on the runway before takeoff at the recent Guardians of Freedom Air Show. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels make a little smoke of their own Sunday after being grounded due to poor visibility Saturday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Crowds gather to watch aeriel performances during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show Vivian, Francis and Ruthie Stokes walk with their father, Col. Chris Stokes, during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Air Show A member of the U.S. Air Force Wings of Blue parachutes in with the American flag during the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show on Sunday. Guardians of Freedom Airshow, 5.8.16 The Blue Angels perform at the Guardians of Freedom Airshow at the Lincoln Municipal Airport on May 8, 2016.
TOWANDA  A Chenoa Police Department officer was hurt in a crash Monday on Interstate 55, authorities said.

According to a statement from Illinois State Police, troopers were called at 7:10 p.m. to a two-vehicle collision near Towanda on southbound I-55, which involved a Chenoa police squad car.

ISP said the police vehicle ran off the roadway and came to rest upside down in the median.

State police reported that the Chenoa police officer was taken to an area hospital with serious injuries. However, Chenoa Police Chief Travis Cornwall said the officer only suffered minor injuries.

The driver of the other car was not hurt in the crash, state police said.

Cornwall said the officer was taken to the hospital to be treated for a concussion, bumps and bruises and released Monday night. The chief said he talked to the officer Tuesday, and they were "a little beat up and sore."

Considering it was a rollover crash, Cornwall said it was fortunate his officer walked away from it and noted law enforcement from across the county have been calling to check in on them. He didn't immediately know how much time off the officer may need for recovery.

Cornwall said the officer was investigating a traffic violation at the time of the crash.

No further information was available Tuesday.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  Flag carrier Philippine Airlines reinstated two key leadership roles as part of efforts to continue its recovery momentum, according to its parent company PAL Holdings.

PAL Holdings said the unit's board of directors approved the appointment of Eric David Anderson as PAL's chief commercial officer.

Anderson previously served as PAL's Vice President for Revenue Management and Strategy, and brings years of leadership experience as Director for Revenue Management and Planning at Amerijet International Airlines in the US, Finance Manager for Customer Service Ops for Amazon Japan, and Director for Global Cargo Strategy, Alliances, and Product for US mega-carrier Delta Air Lines.

The reinstatement of the position of executive vice president likewise secured its thumbs up. However, the group has yet to disclose who will take the role.

The executive vice president "will report to the President and Chief Operating Officer to ensure that the PAL operations are carried out in accordance with the business plan of the Company," PAL Holdings said in a disclosure on Tuesday.

This move came only three months after Lucio Tan III assumed the position of president for PAL Holdings.

In June, Tan also pursued the acquisition of nine Airbus A350-1000 new-generation aircraft as he seeks to further strengthen PAL's global network.

Despite the volatility in the aviation market, PAL finished 2022 strong and continued this momentum with record earnings hitting $250 million in the first six months of 2023 on the back of robust air travel demand.
BLOOMINGTON  Waiving his right to counsel, Joshua D. Livingston will now represent himself in the state's cases against him involving charges of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death.

Livingston, 41, of Danvers is accused of killing 39-year-old Melissa Ostrom of Bloomington, among several other charges, including possession of a stolen vehicle, criminal damage to government supported property and burglary.

He appeared in court Tuesday before Judge William Yoder for motion to remove the McLean County Public Defender's Office from his cases.

Livingston's court appointed attorney, Matthew Koetters, told Yoder his client was unwilling to speak with him. Livingston said he wanted a different lawyer, but he could not afford a private attorney.

Yoder asked Koetters if the Public Defender's Office would be willing to assign another attorney to Livingston's cases.

"We are not going to do that, your honor," Koetters said in reply.

After reading Livingston's 11 felony charges and the potential penalties that range from probation to 60 years in prison, Yoder asked one last time if Livingston was sure he did not want the Public Defender's Office advising him.

"I do not wish the Public Defender's Office to advise me," Livingston said.

Yoder granted the defendant's motion and noted there will not be a stand-by attorney for this case.

He told Livingston the closer they get to a trial date, the less likely he will be able to request a public defender again.

Livingston is expected back in court at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 1, when the state will present motions related to DNA analysis of evidence found on the victim and one of the crime scenes, as well as a protective order.

Updated mug shots from The Pantagraph Bryant Lewis Derek Roesch Justin M. Mata Marcus D. Wesley Phillip Tinch Trisha L. Hanke William B. Givens David L. Oliver Kenneth E. Funk Jordan R. King Holly M. Isaacson Kenneth L. Minton Tony L. Jackson Britley L. Hilger Jasmine L. Smith Jackie S. Claypool Noah R. Demuth Brandon L. Parsano Alexander N. Williams Carlos Sanchez-Solozarzano Jaylin S. Bones Jordan R. King Dominique M. Banks Austin T. Daugherty Sandra M. Lewis Samantha E. Morris Nolan C. Love Nikkita L. Sandefur Katlin M.B. Wilson Eli C. Garozzo Tysean T. Townsend Curtis J. Byrd Noral K. Nelson Charles J. Tankson Davis, Micah S Livingston, Joshua D. Kevin L. Ewen Emmanuel K. Mpay Ahmad S. Manns Dylan R Mann Tony L. Jackson William R. Linden Zadek U. Moen Zachary T. Willis Cecily M. Sexton Tonisha A. Jackson James A. McConnaughay Jessica M. Longberry Barry D. Guyton Keon E. Spiller Melina Aguilar Carlos D. Cregan Wayne M. Damron Terrance L. Ford Stanley M. Miller Darryl R. Vinson Jarvis K. Heads Wesley M. Noonan Brad Carter Brian K. Burnett Kenneth D. Downey Kenyon J. Bones Brittany N. Greiner
NORMAL  Heartland Community College student Lauren Monk is the recipient of a $2,000 Growmark Foundation Scholarship.

Monk is from Heyworth and is currently a freshman at Heartland studying Agriculture Business.

She is one of 55 students across the United States and Canada to receive the scholarship for promising students in agriculture and business.

More than 500 students from across the United States and Ontario, Canada, applied for the scholarships. Students who received the scholarships will have those funds available for the Fall 2023 semester.

Who was honored? Photos from Heartland's Presidents Medallion Awards ceremony Presidents Medallion Honorees Mary and John Penn Presidents Medallion Honorees Larry and Marlene Dietz Presidents Medallion Honorees Jerry and Carole Ringer Presidents Medallion Honoree Bob Brucker Bob and Julie Dobski, Karen DeAngelis, Cindy Segobiano, visiting Rotarians from India Sukhi and Kirandeep Julie Dobski, Al Bedell, Dee Frautschi Mark and Dianna Johnson, Charlotte and Joe Talkington Merriann and Dave McGee Camille and Ron Springer Sandra and Gordon Bidner Mary Campbell, Julie Dobski Presidents Medallion Roosmarijn and Interim ISU President Andover Tarhule, Julie Dobski Patty McManus, Chris Downing, Steve MacManus Peg Doran, Joan Bullard, Janet Hood Jim and Phyllis White John Penn, Mike Matejka, Hank Campbell Mary and Dennis Feicke Jerry Ringer, Pat Grogg, Carole Ringer Jean-Marie Taylor, Jennifer and Stan OConnor Penn family table Alauna McGee, Kym Ammons Scott Lidia Halder, Wendy West, Raegan Rinchiuso, Larissa McIlvain, Gena Glover Heartland Community College Vice President, External Relations, Kelli Hill Crowd enjoys the beautiful night Heartland Foundation Board Chair Kirk McCullick Heartland Community College President Keith Cornille Heartland Board of Trustees vice-chair Janet Hood Jim White Presidents Medallion Honoree Jerry Ringer President's Medallion honoree Carole Ringer Janet Hood, Presidents Medallion honorees Carole and Jerry Ringer, Jim White, HCC President Keith Cornille Julie Dobski Presidents Medallion Honoree Marlene Dietz Presidents Medallion Honoree Larry Dietz Presidents Medallion Honoree Larry Dietz Janet Hood, Julie Dobski, Presidents Medallion honorees Larry and Marlene Dietz, HCC President Keith Cornille Nancy Evans Janet Hood, Nancy Evans, Bob Brucker, HCC President Keith Cornille Mary Campbell Presidents Medallion Honoree John Penn HCC President Keith Cornille congratulating John Penn
BLOOMINGTON  An Illinois appellate court has sided with a former Bloomington police officer against the city's pension board, which disputed the officer's contention that he was injured in the line of duty.

The plaintiff, Michael Luedtke, said he suffered a knee injury during a struggle with a suspect in August 2018. He underwent arthroscopic surgery and a total knee replacement, but never regained enough function to return to work. He had started with the Bloomington Police Department in 2008, and before that worked for the Woodford County Sheriff's Office and police departments in Eureka and Minonk.

The five-member Bloomington Police Pension Fund Board of Trustees granted him a pension with disability benefits, but denied his request for the line-of-duty disability pension that is paid at a higher percentage of the officer's salary. A McLean County judge previously sided with Luedtke, and this week, a three-judge panel of the 4th District Appellate Court affirmed that decision.

"In this case, the Board's findings Luedtke was not injured during the August 24, 2018, incident was against the manifest weight of the evidence because the opposition conclusion is clearly apparent," wrote Justice Amy C. Lannerd in the appellate opinion released Monday. "The Board's decision ignored the ample objective medical evidence of Luedtke's injury and the opinions of its own chosen independent medical evaluators."

Luedtke referred a request for comment to his attorney, Craig S. Mielke, who said he was happy to see justice served for his client.

I think once the appellate court revied the video for themselves, they were like me scratching their head going, How in the world do you look at this video and conclude as the pension board that it doesnt show an injury, Mielke said.

Detective Paul Swanlund, a representative of the Bloomington Pension Fund Board of Trustees, declined to comment. A message left for Vincent Mancini of Reimer Dobrovolny and LaBardi PC, which represents the board, was not returned on Wednesday.

Luedtke said he and another officer were at a Bloomington apartment complex trying to help a woman who appeared to have self-inflicted injuries by taking her into custody. A man inside the apartment charged at them, and Luedtke said he was hurt in the ensuing struggle.

He said, and medical experts who testified agreed, that the harm was exacerbated because he had torn his ACL in 1988 and injured the same knee again in 2011 while pursuing a suspect.

After the 2018 incident, Luedtke never returned to work. He had arthroscopic surgery in January 2019, a total knee replacement in June 2020 and "manipulation procedure" the following month, and continued physical therapy; still, he was never released to return to full, unrestricted police duty, and "light" duty work was not available, according to the court ruling.

The pension board voted in April 2021 to deny Luedtke the line-of-duty disability pension benefit, which would be equal to 65% of his salary. The not-on-duty disability pension that it granted him instead would allow a benefit equal to 50% of his salary at the time of the disability.

Luedtke's salary was $60,037.34 in 2019, according to city records.

The pension board released its written order and decision in January 2022, contending that his testimony conflicted with what board members saw in body-worn camera footage of the incident and medical reports.

Luedtke sought a review of the board's decision in McLean County Circuit Court, where Judge Rebecca Foley ruled in his favor in November 2022. The board appealed, arguing that it found Luedtkes disability was caused by his total knee replacement in 2020 and that he had failed to show how the 2018 injury precipitated that surgery.

Mielke, a Chicago attorney whose firms clients include the Bloomingtons Policemens Benevolent and Protective Association Unit #21, said the yearslong process reflected the typically complex nature of such cases.

I never understood why the pension board denied this officer his pension, and that was also the finding of the appellate court. They couldnt understand what the pension board did either, Mielke said. It doesnt surprise me it took that long, but when we file these cases after a pension board gives us a bad ruling, we know were in for a battle.

The Bloomington Police Pension Fund board consists of two members that are active officers elected to the board by other active officers. One member is a retired officer elected to the board by other retired officers, one member is appointed by the mayor and the citys finance director, Scott Rathbun, acts as the fifth member.

Swanlund and Jeffrey Linden are the two active officers and Matthew Dick is the retired officer.

The mayor appointee position currently is vacant.
How Time Flies is a daily feature looking back at Pantagraph archives to revisit what was happening in our community and region.

100 years ago

Aug. 30, 1923: Minonk possesses a perfect specimen of physical babyhood in the person of Bobby Scott, who was one of the youngsters examined at the Better Babies' conference at the El Paso Fair. He scored 100. The next highest score was 98.3, belonging to Lucretia Owens of El Paso.

75 years ago

Aug. 30, 1948: Temperature at Pontiac's Chautaqua Park was mild compared to the blistering heat turned on the Republican state ticket by three Democratic candidates. The candidates  Adlai E. Stevenson, for governor; Paul H. Douglas, for senator; and Ivan A. Elliott, for attorney general  were encouraged by a partisan audience of 600 attending a 17th Congressional District picnic.

50 years ago

Aug. 30, 1973: General Telephone Co. of Illinois will request its first rate increase since 1959. The proposed increase will mean an average boost of $1.75 per month for residential bills throughout the GenTel system. For residential customers in Bloomington-Normal, the company's proposed rates would mean an increase of $1.45 to $1.60 per month, about 20%.

25 years ago

Aug. 30, 1998: Over 1,000 Beanie Babies, including more than 60 that were retired, were among the items stolen from an overnight break-in at Bushert's True Value Hardware Store in El Paso. Also taken were telephones, CDs, answering machines and portable radio/tape players. Pam Keller, a store manager, said the retired Beanie Babies were valued between $12 to $190.

101 years ago: See vintage Pantagraph ads from 1922 Gerthart's Union Gas and Electric Co. Hoover Dr. J.A. Moore Dentists Moberly & Klenner W.P. Garretson W.H. Roland Pease's Candy Thor 32 Electric Washing Machine The Kaiser's Story of the War Ike Livingston & Sons Gossard Corsets Cat'n Fiddle 'Stolen Moments' Case Model X The Johnson Transfer & Fuel Co. The Pantagraph want ads Franklin Motor Car Co. 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' Calumet Baking Powder Mayer Livingston & Co. Newsmarket 'The Emperor Jones' 'California Fig Syrup'
Two months after an investigation revealed systemic abuse of developmentally disabled patients at a state facility in downstate Anna, problems apparently continue.

Grace Hou, director of the Illinois Department of Human Services, promised an all-out effort to improve the situation there.

But two developments raise huge concerns. Hou initially insisted that the incumbent facility director was the best person equipped to oversee a fix because of his familiarity with operations now. More recently, Hou reversed herself, removing Bryant Davis, the director of the Choate Mental Health and Development Center since 2014.

Hou replaced Davis with another administrator who has worked at Choate for about six months.

Even more disturbing is a report from an outside advocacy agency  Equip for Equality  that continued to scrutinize patient treatment and concluded that little has changed.

Equip for Equality found conditions at Choate to be so bad that no patients with developmental disabilities should remain at Choate.

That is a striking recommendation, one sure to raise policy as well as political concerns. But its not as shocking as it might first appear.

State officials previously announced plans to transfer at least half of Choates 235 patients within three years.

Transfers might not be much of a solution. Investigative reporting by Lee Enterprises, ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois found that problems like those at Choate are common throughout the statewide system.

Perhaps thats why state promises of a commitment to the highest-quality care at Choate and elsewhere appear to be empty rhetoric issued in response to embarrassing headlines.

Workers at developmental facilities obviously have difficult jobs caring for their patients. But it cannot be too much to ask for an abuse-free environment.

In calling for the transfer of Choates patients elsewhere, Equip for Equality maintained that keeping them there is antithetical to their well being because they receive poor care and are subject to abuse and not provided rehabilitative services.

Frankly, it sounds as if patients there are simply warehoused, creating conditions that lead to patient/staff conflicts.

Patients told investigators they are reluctant to report physical abuse for fear of their caretakers retaliating against them.

At the same time, the states earlier investigation said employees cover up for each other by not reporting misconduct or denying that anything inappropriate occurred. Conversely, employees disturbed by what theyve seen keep quiet out of fear of retribution from administrators or their fellow employees.

This disgrace to the state is showing dangerous signs of being intractable. But the status quo cannot be allowed to stand.

Human Services officials are under the gun. But so, too, is Gov. J.B. Pritzker  it is, after all, his department, run by his appointees. The governor has the power to send a powerful message to those down the line, and he should do so.

If that causes him problems with the union that represents Choate employees, so be it. Decency and compassion require far more positive action than whats occurred since the June report from the state inspector general.
The Chief of Staff Akosua Frema Osei-Opare has launched the Chartered Institute of Realtors (CIR) at the Africa Trade House in Accra today.



In her speech, the Chief of Staff pointed out that the initiative primarily seek to sharpen the skills of real estate developers.



She stated that "the launch serves as a useful additional government efforts towards enhancing safe and sound professional real estate practice in Ghana".



Madam Akosua Frema Osei-Opare who was the special guest of honor at the event said President Akufo-Addo is excited about the presence of the Chatered Institute of Realtors (CIR) and their contribution to the socio economic development of the nation.



She agreed to some defects in the construction sector and promised that the government is acting with a strategy to resolve the housing and road construction deficit.



She said this will serve as a useful platform for safe and sound Real Estate business with urban population increasing at a rate of 75%.



She named a few government projects to solve the defects like the Accra Marine Drive and the 8,000 Affordable Housing Unit recently launched at Pokuase.



Akosua Frema Osei-Opare welcomed the Chartered Institue of Realtors and called for public/private sector collaboration in the industry.



She assured of government support to fulfill the mission of establishing a professional body of Real Estate operators.



Francis Asenso-Boakye, Minister of Works and Housing; Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education; Firas Jaber, Chartered Institute of Realtors and George Mireku Duker, Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in their respective speeches pledged government's unflinching support for the initiative aimed at taking the real estate space to a notch higher.



The event drew dignitaries from the highest office of the land, members of the Diplomatic Corps, other state personalities, and key stakeholders that include real estate developers both local and international, suppliers, construction firms, investors, and major banks within the real estate industry.



The Institute is being established to offer opportunities for sharpening the knowledge, skills, standards, and experiences of practitioners in the real estate industry to meet global standards.



Real Estate in Africa is a rapidly growing industry with many opportunities for investment.



This growth rate is driven mainly by urbanization, population growth, and increased foreign investment.



All around the world, specifically the economically advanced countries, real estate has been a driving force in their development agenda and has provided jobs for several thousands of people with diverse skill sets and backgrounds.



Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, and New York, to mention just a few are famed for their architectural prowess and have become some of the worlds most visited destinations thanks to Real Estate.



Africa has not been left behind with all these developments happening around it. From its blurry past, it can be said that the future of Africa looks promising with the involvement of the government in providing housing for its citizens, particularly the low-income sector of society to alleviate the burden of shelter as a basic need.



The fast-growing rate of the industry worldwide has therefore made it quintessential that players, both potential and major be sharpened with the requisite tools that help improve the activities within the industry globally.



As part of the vision and mission of the launch of the Chartered Institute of Realtors (CIR), the institute will be engaging in a progressive series of seminars and workshops that will see the involvement of seasoned speakers, lecturers, and industry professionals from acclaimed institutions worldwide bringing their knowledge and experience to bear.



The institute intends to, in the foreseeable future, establish itself as a professional body providing education and training courses to its members.







Source: Kofi Aduonum









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Each day, the clock ticks down to the resumption of Ghanas Parliament from recess to pass a new law which shall not only criminalize all forms of LGBT activities in the country but would in addition, throw into jail journalists and media owners who publish pro-LGBT news and persons found to be allies of same-sex relationships.



Ghanas President, Nana Akufo-Addo has remained rather unclear on his exact stance on the Bill and has equally fallen short of coming clear whether or not he would assent his signature to the Bill to finalize its passage into law for it to be Gazetted.



Recently, when the United States Vice President Kamala Harris visited Ghana and the question of whether the country has laws that criminalize sexual rights came up, what Nana Akufo-Addo said was We dont have any such legislation here in Ghana. He was right but he did not add that Parliament is indeed armed to the teeth and ready to pass such a law without any form of restraint.



The President did not add that the said law, when passed would not only target the LGBT community but would jail media owners and journalists who speak in favour of LGBT persons. He did not add that even property owners who rent out their facilities to LGBT persons and their allies risk jail terms.



The President sweet-talked Kamala Harris and the international media without making clear in direct and simple language about the actual practical situation in Ghana.



Nana Akufo-Addo simply said it was a private Members Bill this is not an official legislation of the Government but it is one that has been mooted by a handful of private Members,, but the President did not tell Kamala Harris that the private Members pushing for the passage of the Bill include key appointees of his Government plus Members of Parliament from his party and that his Government has not distanced itself from the said appointees.



Nana Akufo-Addos ambiguity is understandable. He is a globally renowned Human Rights lawyer who does not lack an appreciation of the current globally accepted definition and standards of human rights. In his home country Ghana, Akufo-Addo has been celebrated for being the brainchild behind the brilliant landmark abolishment of the criminal libel and sedition laws which was used to incarcerate journalists over their editorial stance once upon a time in Ghana.



The Bill, mostly known as the anti-LGBT Bill, currently before Ghanas Parliament, is a rather popular one as Ghanaians by their customs, traditions and values, do not countenance homosexual activities.



A key factor that has enhanced public support for the anti-LGBT Bill, officially known as the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights And Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, is the fact that though Ghana is a secular state by law, an overwhelming majority of its citizens are either Christians or Muslims, two religions which abhor same-sex relationships.

Even the Traditional African Religion sects, which constitute a negligible minority of the population, do not support anything LGBT.



The President is in an apparent dilemma on how to respect the feelings of a majority of his people and still remain sensitive to Human Rights issues.



Would Nana Akufo-Addos name go down in history as the Ghanaian President whose signature passed a law that jails journalists over what they write about sexual rights in the year 2023? That would be injurious to his loudly trumpeted Human Rights records of global repute.



A media houses published opinion on sexual preference does not in any way impose that opinion on another person. This aspect of the Bill is a clear direct threat to press freedoms and is unconstitutional. It amounts to media censorship. It suppresses press freedoms. It puts fear in journalists and forbids them from freely expressing their opinions for fear of being jailed. That is the road on which the Government of Nana Akufo-Addo seems ready to drive.



To add salt to injury, the anti-LGBT Bill has taken a partisan political twist and any politician perceived to be speaking against its passage would be coming to a political suicide; no wonder none of the 275 Members of Parliament had the nerves to speak against it when the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin granted that open opportunity.



A spin has been deliberately put on the interpretation of the Bill to misinform the public that opposing the Bill means supporting LGBT activities. A spin that has worked public emotions against opponents of the Bill and cowed them into docility



Many Ghanaians have been hoodwinked into believing that there is an attempt by some persons, mostly of foreign origins, to legalize same-sex marriages in Ghana and the anti-LGBT Bill is the antidote to that attempt.



In reality, the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights And Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, only seeks to criminalize same-sex activities and jail its proponents whether or not they are consenting adults who hide in the closet. It further seeks to jail persons who even rent their facilities to LGBT persons, and journalists who speak on their behalf.



Meanwhile, Ghana already has laws that give protection against any form of non-consensual sex and prescribe jail terms for offenders.



The country already has laws which forbid unnatural canal knowledge or any form of sexual activity involving minors and sex that is not held in private.

Source: MyNewsGh.com









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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has asked for spiritual support from the Chritian faithful in his bid to secure the economic fortunes of Ghana.



The president reechoed his biblical mantra 'The battle is indeed the Lord's' when he assured congregants at the valedictory service for Rev. Dr. Seth Kissi outgoing chairperson of Akyem Abuakwa Presbytery of the Presbyterian church of Ghana in Kyebi in Eastern region.



I urge all of you gathered here to have same believe that the fortunes of Ghana under H.E Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo will be assured. The battle is indeed the Lords, he is quoted to have said.



On the issue of economic recovery, he called for prayers for himself and his appointees to enable them work assidiously to deliver the needed economic relief that Ghanaians are looking for.



Pray for me and the people I have appointed to various positions with responsibilities that we will continue to exercise our responsibilities with humility and integrity.



"Pray for Ghana that it remains united in peace and continues to thrive for progress and prosperity. I continue to abide in faith in the Almighty God to help advance the fortunes of our nation accompanied by appropriate policies, determination,and hardwork on our part, Akufo-Addo stressed.



The pronouncement comes after the president's recent comments on how Ghana will exit the current economic crisis went viral.



On August 26, 2023; Akufo-Addo told the media at the New Patriotic Party (NPP) headquarters that a new NPP leader will get Ghana out of the economic crisis citizens were experiencing.



Ghanas leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in 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 member of Parliament for Korle Klottey, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has urged Ghanaians to promote and support local tourism to boost the countrys economy as her father the late J.J Rawlings did with the popular PANAFEST.



She said the Ministry of Tourism must make efforts to unearth the real history of some historical edifices in the country, especially along the coast of Osu where a lot of pre-independence activities took place.



To her, the efforts of the government to support such activities will attract tourists to these sites all year round to generate revenue.



Dr Agyemang Rawlings, who was speaking on Power FMs Dwaboase programme on the back of the popular Chale Wote street festival which took place at Osu in her constituency ahead of the celebration of the Homowo festival, expressed excitement about how the activities kept Osu and its environs awake for days.



Despite the numerous activities that brought a lot of Ghanaians both home and abroad and other foreigners to the heart of Accra to witness the beautiful street carnival and arts, the legislator believes much can be done to make such festivals bigger than the nation witnessed.



Zanetor, the first daughter of the late Ghanaian leader, J.J Rawlings, told Dwaboase host Kwame Minkah that there are a lot of historical buildings in Osu aside the Independence Square and Osu Castle, stressing that those old buildings and certain families have a rich history that needs to be retold to attract other Africans abroad.



Making reference to the Pan African Historical Theatre Project which is now known as PANAFEST, a cultural event held in Ghana every two years for Africans and people of African descent, Zanetor urged the government to invest in the tourism sector beyond what is being witnessed.



She said the Year of Return which was introduced by the Akufo-Addo government drew its strength from PANAFEST which her father introduced and was first held in 1992 to promote and enhance unity, Pan-Africanism, and the development of the continent of Africa.



I have always tried to bring attention to the fact that tourism is not about building a cathedral. You have things that are there already. In other countries like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago or Cuba, those old buildings that they have, they make sure they refurbish, they renovate and maintain them, she said.



She said the old houses in Osu when refurbished can create employment for the local folks who would like to narrate their family history to the people and improve upon the micro economy in the area.









Source: XYZ









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Opportunity International Savings and Loans (OISL) is a leading Savings and Loans company licensed by the Bank of Ghana in June 2004. The institution on 4th August 2023, once again graduated and celebrated 35 young women in its flagship program of providing vocational skills that seek to transform the lives of Street Porters (Kayayei) who live and labour in the markets and streets to make ends meet.



These girls underwent an intensive four-week training on practical vocational skills such as Beading, baking, and Soap making. Since its inception, this program has successfully taken Two Hundred and Two (202) young women through this impactful program with the sole aim of supporting these girls to establish businesses of their own after graduation. As part of the graduation, the girls were equipped with Startup

Kits and issued with certificates as well.



The graduation event was to celebrate the lives of these girls who had completed the Four-week intensive program showcasing their dedication to endure to the end against all obstacles. The occasion was graced by Mr. Katey Assem (Board Chairman of OISL), Hajia Azara Abukari-Haroun (Chairperson for the Board Transformation Committee of OISL), Dr. Francis Takyi (Ag. Deputy CEO and Chief Risk Officer of OISL), Bishop Emmanuel Victor Adjei Owiredu, Overseer of Jewels of God Church, Nachinaa Isah Abass, the Dagomba Chief of Accra and other Management staff of OISL.



Hajia Abukari-Haroun, who was the guest speaker for the occasion emphasized on OISLs commitment to creating a positive impact in the lives of people. She motivated the recipients to embrace their newfound skills gained through the program and to maximize their potentials.



Mr. Katey Assem, in a heartfelt message, expressed his gratitude to the Kayayei Community and the donors (Medicor Foundation) for the program. He appreciated the ladies for taking this transformative step forward, which is a symbol of letting go of their past struggles as kayayei and never to return again. He urged them to embrace the brighter future of hope and success which is not for themselves alone but also for their families.



The kayayei Project is a collaborative effort between Opportunity International Savings and Loans Ltd. and Medicor Foundation which is dedicated to empowering and educating these marginalized kayayei girls. The Medicor Foundation is an independent and charitable foundation that focuses on education, health and social care to contribute to the sustainable improvement of the wellbeing and empowerment of the vulnerable and disadvantaged people in countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in Eastern Europe.



Out of the Two Hundred and Two (202) ladies who have been trained since the inception of the program, One Hundred and Seventy-Five (175) of them representing 87% are currently utilizing the skills acquired to fend for themselves and their families and Ninety-five (95) of them representing 48% have relocated back to the Northern region for resettlement. These ladies now serve as a living proof of the inherent capabilities present in every marginalized person, showcasing the remarkable possibilities that can be unlocked through appropriate opportunities and support.



Opportunity International Savings and Loans currently has 38 branches serving over 640,500 clients across the country advancing financial inclusion and bringing clients at the base of the pyramid into the mainstream financial services using innovative range of products and services. Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited is a subsidiary of Opportunity International Global Operations with its Head Office in Chicago, USA.

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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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  The state-run Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) is asking Congress for funds to stay afloat since it was not given any budget under the proposed 5.768-trillion government spending plan for 2024.

At the Presidential Communications Offices budget briefing before the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday, IBC-13 president and chief executive officer Jose Policarpio Jr. said the network has been relying on alms to survive since 2023, when it also received zero funding in the National Expenditure Program.

"We are not included in last years NEP, we are just relying on alms," Policarpio pointed out. "Meaning to say, we were able to get some congressional initiative."

"We went through 29 management (changes) and I dont know how come it went this far, why theres so much unpaid retirement (benefits)," he also said.

"Some even told me to bring this matter to the Commission on Human Rights. Nakakahiya na po [It's embarrassing]," Policrpo added.

Then-press secretary Trixie Cruz Angeles told lawmakers that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) did not give any budget to IBC-13 since it was up for privatization.

The networks value, however, was below the 1 billion required by law to be auctioned off.

Policarpio said IBC-13 would need 1.245 billion to continue operations this year. Of this amount, 500 million will be used to pay the benefits of 137 retired employees, some of whom have been waiting for a settlement since 2002.

At least 523 million would be used for the operations of IBC-13s 10 television stations and 11 radio stations, while 139.4 million would be spent on personnel services.

The remaining 83 million would be allotted to maintenance and other operating expenses.

Several lawmakers expressed support for funding IBC-13, with OFW-party-list Rep. Marissa Magsino turning emotional over the prospect of the network ceasing operations due to lack of funds.

The PCO and its attached agencies, meanwhile, have a proposed budget of 1.921 billion for 2024.
Kathleen Addy, the Chairperson, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Tuesday said the economic hardship currently being experienced by Ghanaians must not give rise to any form of political unrest in the country.



She said coup detat was not the solution to the countrys problems, stressing the need for Ghanaians to continue to uphold the tenets of democracy to sustain the gains made.



We cannot afford to erode the hard won gains of our democracyIndeed, when it comes to coups, Ghana has been there  we have done that and we know for a fact that nothing good can come of it, she said.



Addy said this in Accra when she launched the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the NCCE, to mark three decades of the Commissions existence.



It was on the theme: Thirty Years of Sustaining Ghanas Democracy Through Effective Civic Education.



Established by the 1992 Constitution, the NCCE is mandated to educate Ghanaians on civic matters.



Activities earmarked for the anniversary include high-level panel discussion with statesmen on the role of independent government institutions such as the Electoral Commission and National Media Commission, in sustaining Ghanas democracy, visits to the three Arms of Government, and a civic awards ceremony to recognise patriotic citizens and nation builders.



Addy noted that Ghana had made significant progress since it returned to democratic rule three decades ago, building a thriving electoral democracy, upholding the rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedoms.



However, recent happenings in the West African sub-region and the world at large were concerns that could not be ignored.



Also factors such as economic hardship, monetisation of politics and the emergence of fake news, misinformation and disinformation were threats to the countrys democracy, she said, and urged Ghanaians not to forget the years of instability the country endured post-colonial era.



Nothing good came out of the multiple coup detats we experienced in Ghana. Nothing but oppression, fear, widespread atrocities and a culture of silence that those who did not live through the era can never imagine or understand, Ms Addy said.



She pledged the NCCEs resolve to continue to faithfully discharge its mandate through sustaining awareness of the principles and objectives of the 1992 Constitution, educating and encouraging the public to always defend it, and formulating programmes for national, regional and district level for governments consideration.



Today, as we pause to acknowledge how far we have come, we must also reflect on what the next 30 years should look like for the Commission and Ghana, she added.



Stephen Anzantilow, the Director of Anti-Corruption, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said the NCCE was an important institution to the work of CHRAJ.



The NCCE had assisted CHRAJ to protect the fundamental human rights of Ghanaians, insist on accountability and on the respect for the values of democracy in the country.



We are hoping that in the next years to come we will have opportunities to do more things together, because in sustaining democracy, it is important that all independent constitutional bodies will have to work together. That is the only way by which we can achieve success, he said.



Samuel Asare Akuamoah, the Deputy Chairman in charge of Operations, NCCE, said Ghanaians needed to see some results on the recent calls for constitution amendment, indicating that those reforms were necessary for strengthening the countrys democracy.





Source: ghanaweb.com









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The Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV, has emphasised commitment to serving the best interest of his people and the nation as he prepared to mark the 20th anniversary of his enstoolment.



He said he would continue to dedicate himself to the noble fight against poverty and deprivation and intensify efforts to bring development to the Volta Region and beyond.



He was speaking in Accra, Monday, at the Launch of the 2023 Asogli (Te Za) Yam Festival and the 20th anniversary of his kingship themed: 20 Years of Selfless and Inspiring Leadership.



Togbe Afede, in an address, said he had over the years adopted a nationalistic approach to his leadership since the development of the Asogli people and the nation was inextricably linked.



He said he had decided to modernise traditional leadership and make it more responsive to the development aspirations of the people despite the limited resources available, stressing that selfless leadership was important for development.



Recounting the journey to his capture and enstoolment two decades ago, he said everything he had done under his tenure was to bring the desired change in the lives of the people of Asogli and the nation at large.



He noted that the celebration of the festival and his anniversary was to take stock, plan for the future, and thank God for his guidance throughout the years.



The Agbogbomefia of Asogli paid tribute to his relations, predecessors and stakeholders, who continued to play significant roles in providing good governance to the people in the traditional area.



To that end, he announced plans to establish a Foundation to honour the memories of his mother, Rose Anyawoe; and late twin brother, Philip Ata Akpo, who played significant roles in his early life.



He said he intended to commit 60 percent of his business interests towards operations of the organisation and also relaunch, by end of year, the Ghana Medical Aid Fund, to cater for people suffering various forms of strange illnesses, especially children.



I want my work to benefit generations upon generations, and I believe that even though I dont have a whole lot, 40 percent of what I have is enough for me and my family.



My mother did not go to school, but while I helped her to sell the local palm wine and worked on the farm, I learnt hard work, perseverance, honesty, selflessness and empathy. Those have been my guiding principles, he said.



Togbe Afede highlighted key achievements and initiatives in the aviation, education, agriculture, and energy sector, which included execution of the third phase of the Sunon Asogli Power Project which, he said, would add about 500 megawatts to the countrys power generation capacity.



Announcing the release of his 20th anniversary book in due course, he cited, among other projects, publication of the 3rd Edition of the Volta Region Tourists Guide, and the establishment of the Volta Development Agency, which had formed alliance with other agencies with the vision to bring development to the Volta Region.



The former President of the National House of Chiefs expressed thanks for the support offered him in the past 20 years as he executed his responsibilities in various capacities.



The launch brought together traditional leaders from the Volta Region, the Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional Area in the Western Region, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, members of the diplomatic corps, the clergy, and other dignitaries, who hailed Togbe Afede for his exemplary leadership.



The launch was characterised by traditional and cultural performances.





Source: GNA









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A former Chairman of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah, has cautioned Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, against complacency despite securing a convincing win in the New Patriotic Partys (NPP) super delegates conference.



He disclosed that upon his interaction with some NPP grassroots in the Upper West Region, they were not impressed with the vice presidents bid to become the flagbearer of the party, because he contributed to the hardship the Akufo-Addo-led government has inflicted on Ghanaians.



The former PNC chairman warned that if the vice presidents campaign team relaxes its efforts because of the outcome of the Super Delegates Conference, they might end up losing the special delegates congress slated for November 4.



Speaking in a panel discussion on TV3 on August 28, 2023, Bernard Mornah urged Dr. Bawumia and his team to do a thorough scrutiny of the elections and focus on convincing the grassroots to seal his victory as the flagbearer of the NPP.



In my opinion, the vice presidents office should be worried. His campaign team should do a thorough review because what transpired [at the super delegates conference] does not mean it would be the same result on November 4, it won't be. The last time I went to the Upper West region, most of the NPP members who will partake in the November 4 elections didnt have the same mindset as President Akufo-Addo but they couldnt speak. Because they were waiting for the super delegates conference to come to an end.



"After interacting with some of them [NPP members], they said that if the governance of President Akufo-Addo is not going well, then the vice president is part and cant dissociate himself from it and say his ideas werent heeded by Akufo-Addo, he noted.



Background



Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia emerged as the leading contender of the New Patriotic Party Super Delegates Conference.



Per the results, Dr Bawumia garnered 629 votes representing 68.15 percent of the total votes cast. The results are based on figures collated by 17 out 17 voting centres across the country.



Behind him was Assin Central lawmaker, Kennedy Agyapong who polled 132 votes representing 14.30 percent while Alan Kyerematen polled 95 votes representing 10.29 percent in the elections which took place on Saturday August 26, 2023.



Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto secured the fourth spot for the partys presidential primaries with 36 votes representing 3.90%.



Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai-Nimoh tied in 5th position with 9 votes each representing 0.98%.



Other candidates who contested in the elections were Joe Ghartey with 4 votes, Kwadwo Poku with 3 votes, Kwabena Agyepong with 5 votes while Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku failed to secure a single vote.



The Super Delegates Conference is aimed at reducing the pool of contenders vying for the party's presidential candidacy in the upcoming 2024 general election.



Ten candidates from the NPP participated in the race, with the objective of selecting five candidates who will proceed to another round of voting in November this year



The final round will determine the substantive candidate of the NPP for the presidential election ahead of the 2024 general elections.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt has questioned the logic in the New Patriotic Party summoning presidential hopeful, Kennedy Agyapong before their Disciplinary Committee over his conduct during the party's super delegates election on Saturday, August 26.



The NPP is considering a disciplinary action against Kennedy Agyapong for threatening to give the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia a "showdown" after accusing them of intimidating his polling agent during the election.



President Akufo-Addo, I swear God, I will give you a showdown. Vice president, I will give you a showdown. Youve chased away my agent for him to hide in a room, we shall see. You will hear what will happen. I swear God, I will challenge President Akufo-Addo anytime, he said in the viral video.



Commenting on the issue, Mr. Pratt asked; "is it wrong to say 'showdown'?"



To him, he sees nothing wrong with Mr. Agyapong's comment that should call for disciplining him.



"If he has committed a wrongdoing and is being taken to the Disciplinary Committee, nobody can say he shouldn't face the Disciplinary Committee but if it is just because he said 'showdown', I see no wrong on his part", he said on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. says the aspirant among the NPP presidential candidates whose election into the top league of the party surprises him most is Francis Addai-Nimoh.



The New Patriotic Party held a Special Delegates Conference on Saturday, August 26 to select five out of the ten candidates vying for the party's flagbearer position.



At the end of the election, four candidates safely secured their place to compete in the NPP November 4 primary but the party couldn't settle on the fifth candidate as Mr. Francis Addai-Nimoh and former Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko both polled 9 votes.



In view of this, the NPP Election Committee has declared a run-off on Saturday, September 2 for the special delegates to decide who among the two will make the top five.



Analyzing the performances of the candidates, Mr. Pratt stated that for him, "Addai-Nimoh is the biggest surprise in this thing".



He explained that Mr. Addai-Nimoh's performance is surprising because he was least expected to make the list, adding there was little or no confidence in the latter to gain any votes that could make him a contender, thus he attaining 9 votes to be in the run-off is remarkable.



Mr. Pratt gave these submissions on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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A member of the campaign team for New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful, John Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, has alleged that deliberate acts of intimidation, threat and assault were orchestrated against their agents during the August 26 Special Delegates Conference.



According to Richard Nyamah, the incidents of assault and intimidation against Alans agent was an orchestration by the party and government establishment to favour Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.



In North East (region) where I was, they were voting in fours so that what happened is that when you go and you are voting, there are four people in line and you are supposed to show your ballot to the next person following you.



"So that they will see exactly how and what you voted. People were not supposed to bring in phones but they brought in phones. The police stood by when our agents were being beaten mercilessly and they couldnt give a hoot.



I complained personally to the regional commander to be given protection and he told me his interest was in the ballot box. So we are certain in our mind that this was an orchestrated thing across the regions. It wasnt just the Northern region, he stated during an interview on Metro TVs News Night.



Questioned by the host on who he was referencing to as being behind the acts, Mr Nyamah said the establishment, they know something about it. Because for the police commander to stand there and not be bothered and then somebody gets beaten this way, there were more than 20 policemen in there and not a single one of them intervened.



When I was asking them to give out a form for me to fill an incident report the police commander said his focus was on the election and that we should deal with our issues and later on come and file a police report. There and then I realised we were in danger, he said.



He accused the partys leadership of being selective in its administration of justice and seemingly showing disinterest in the cases of assault suffered by Alans agents.



The August 26 election was aimed to pruning the number candidates in the partys flagbearer race from 10 to five.



My Kyerematen who was deemed a leading contender came third with 94 out of over 900 votes.



Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia who placed first obtained 629 of the total votes representing over 68% of valid votes cast.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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Bernard Allotey Jacobs has commended the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP) special delegates on voting massively for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to top the list of five candidates who are to compete in the party's November 4 presidential election.



The New Patriotic Party's Special Delegates Conference last Saturday saw the Vice President poll 629 votes out of 961 votes to come first while his contenders, Kennedy Agyapong, Alan Kyerematen and Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto got 132, 95 and 36 votes respectively.



The party will on Saturday, September 2 conduct a run-off to decide the fate of two other aspirants; former Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko and a leading member of the NPP, Thomas Addai Nimoh, who both polled 9 votes.



Speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show Wednesday morning, Allotey Jacobs reposed full confidence in Dr. Bawumia to be a major threat to the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) during the 2024 election.



He believed Dr. Bawumia will cause an "earthquake" in the 2024 election.



". . Heaven and earth has taken a decision that Bawumia is the chosen one...the earth will shake and the major part will depend on the two people from the Northern Region. So, who owns Northern Region? Now, this is the dynamics that is going to change everything in 2024," he told Kwami Sefa Kayi.



Further urging the NPP to settle on the Vice President, he stressed "sometimes, you put your pride away. You put your ambitions away. For the sake of your party and the victory of your party, you all come together, move as one people with one common destiny and then you can break the eight in 2024".



To him, next year's general election will be "a clash of the Northern Titans", thus between Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and NDC Presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama who are both northerners.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Director of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, has strongly indicated that the opposition party may challenge in court the Electoral Commissions (EC) decision to limit the new voter registration exercise to the commissions 268 district offices.



Chairperson of the EC, Jean Adukwei Mensa, recently announced a new voter registration exercise as part of its preparations for the 2023 District Level Elections, which will begin on Tuesday, September 12, 2023 and end on Monday, October 2, 2023.



The new registration exercise is to allow Ghanaians who have reached the voting age of 18 years since the last registration in 2020, as well as others who are older but were unable to register during the 2020 registration for various reasons, to do so.



Mr. Tamakloe claimed that if the EC is allowed to carry out its intentions, the majority of the new voters will be denied the right to register, adding that the NDCs Legal Directorate will look at legal options to contest the decision.



He thinks that the commission is misapplying the law by limiting the registration to its district offices.



We will explore all the available legal channels to ensure that we will get an outcome that will allow the registration to be more decentralised. We want to ensure that all our MPs are duly protected within the confines of our law, and we will definitely do that, he said.



Already, some political parties have expressed misgivings about the decision of the EC to use only its district offices as registration centres, with District Electoral Officers, Assistant District Electoral Officers and their secretaries serving as the registration officials.



Meanwhile, some staff of the commission are also not happy about the decision to limit the registration to the district offices, raising concerns over lack of flow of funds to the commission.



DAILY GUIDE sources indicated that allowances to be paid to staff have been curtailed, with suggestions that the commission has no budget for the registration exercise.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Kathleen Addy, has cautioned the public and political candidates against the monetization of politics through acts of vote buying and selling as it poses serious threat to the practice of democracy in the country.



According to the Chairperson, the act of political parties and candidates distributing money to voters in order to influence their voting ties during elections has grown stronger over the years.



She stressed that the inability of most voters to fight against this act has had negative implications on democracy in the country as the money given is not for free. She said the giver of the money would be expecting to take leadership role and if that is not successful, the candidate will come back to account for their money.



She highlighted that the conditionality of the act has not only made it dangerous as the money will be accounted for but has also given the impression that democracy can be bought in the country.



The Chairperson therefore called on the public to desist from accepting money from political candidates and parties as this will strengthen the practice of the countrys democracy.



A threat to democracy I would like to highlight is the monetization of politics. This is dangerous because every cedi and pesewa that is used in our electoral process comes from someplace. To use so much money during elections gives the impression of democracy for sale which is very dangerous for the entrenchment of our democracy so we have to be very careful, she said.



We have to, as a people; take the bull by the horns and address this issue that continues to plague us. It is a dicey issue to talk about but we all know is there and we must all be part of the conversation to ensure that this culture does not stay, she added.



She shared this at the launch of the NCCEs 30th anniversary celebration under the theme, Thirty Years of Sustaining Ghanas Democracy through Effective Civic Education.



The year-long anniversary celebration will include panel discussions with statesmen on the role of Independent Government Institutions (IGIs) in sustaining democracy, visits to the arms of government, civic awards to recognise patriotic citizens and national builders as well as other activities.



A representative of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (GHRAJ), Stephen Azantilow, expressed his institutions appreciation for the NCCEs support over the years.



On this occasion, I would like to say that the history of CHRAJ cannot be written without NCCE and we are very proud that they are celebrating their 30th anniversary as their existence has assisted us to protect the fundamental human rights, insist on accountability, and the respect for democracy in Ghana, he shared.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Wildfires in Greece ravaged Acharnes, north of Athens.

Climate change has sharply boosted the risk of fast-spreading wildfires, according to a Californian study published Wednesday that offers lessons for prevention after recent disasters in Canada, Greece and Hawaii.

Scientists at the Breakthrough Institute, a non-profit research center, found that human-caused warming increased the frequency of "extreme" wildfires by 25 percent on average compared to the pre-industrial era, in a study in the journal Nature.

Examining a series of blazes from 2003 to 2020, they used machine learning to analyze the link between higher average temperatures, dryer conditions and the fastest-spreading blazes - ones that burn more than 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) a day.

The impact of climate change varied from fire to fire.

In certain partly dry conditions, global warming pushed the area beyond key thresholds, making extreme fires much more likely. In very dry conditions, the impact was less.

"This means that we should pay the closest attention to the places and times that historically have experienced conditions just on the moist side of these thresholds, but which are being pushed over these thresholds onto the dry side by background warming," lead author Patrick Brown told AFP.

Fierce wildfire season

The researchers calculated that the risk could increase on average by 59 percent by the end of the century under a "low-emissions" scenario where global warming is limited to 1.8 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, and up to 172 percent in an unbridled high-emissions scenario.

Earth's surface has already warmed 1.2C.

Using data from recorded fires, the researchers measured the probability of a given blaze turning into an "extreme" one. Then they used computer models to calculate how far the post-industrial rise in temperatures had increased that risk.

The study controlled for variables such as precipitation, wind and absolute humidity and the researchers warned that changes in these could make the risk from global warming even worse.

California has suffered a string of extreme wildfires in recent years.

In 2020, more than 30 people died and four million acres were devoured by flames in some of the biggest fires in the state's history. The November 2018 "Camp Fire" killed 86 people.

The study's publication followed a summer of wildfires that killed at least 115 people in Hawaii and forced 200,000 from their homes in Canada.

Greece is battling what EU officials called the bloc's biggest wildfire on record along a 10-kilometer (six-mile) front. It has killed 20 people.

A 2022 United Nations Environment Programme report on wildfires said they are becoming more common due to hotter, dryer conditions caused by climate change, including in regions not traditionally prone to them.

Fire prevention

Nature study author Brown said the insights into dryness thresholds could aid prevention measures, for example by indicating the best spots for thinning and prescribed burning of vegetation to reduce the dry natural matter that wildfires feed on, known as "hazardous fuel".

"We are finding that under most conditions, the impact of hazardous fuel reductions can completely negate the impact of climate change," he said.

"It is plausible to have a future of much less wildfire danger despite climate change if we conduct these fuel treatments at scale."

He said the findings could also inform precautions regarding power lines and indicate where monitoring and awareness campaigns should be focussed, and firefighting resources deployed.

Other wildfire experts said awareness of fire risks will become increasingly important for authorities and even holidaymakers.

In a separate briefing by wildfire specialists on Wednesday not related to the study, Andrew Sullivan of Australia's national science agency CSIRO said expenditure was typically "skewed" towards responding to wildfires with not enough money allocated for preventing them.

He said there was a "global need to rebalance expenditure to improve risk mitigation" measures such as managing vegetation and fire-danger forecasting.

More information: Patrick T. Brown et al, Climate warming increases extreme daily wildfire growth risk in California, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06444-3 Journal information: Nature

 2023 AFP
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Tuesday said the Implementing Rules and Regulations for the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) Act have been issued on Aug. 28 and will take effect on Sept. 12.

"IRR will be effective on 12 September 2023, fifteen days after publication," said Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

The IRR will take effect 15 days after its complete publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation, Diokno said.

The MIF will serve as a crucial financing mechanism to widen fiscal space, ease the burden on local funds, and reduce reliance on official development assistance [ODA] in funding big-ticket projects such as those specified in the recently approved Infrastructure Flagship Project [IFP] list, he said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the MIF into law in July, describing it as an extremely important measure and bold step as the government moves to strengthen the economy in a post-pandemic world. In the same month, Diokno announced the drafting of the IRR was in its final stage.

"The National Government shall source its PHP 50 billion contribution from 100 percent of the dividends of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for the first and second fiscal years upon effectivity of R.A. No. 11954; its 10 percent share from the income of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) for a period of 5 years; 10 percent of revenues from gaming operations of other government-owned gaming operators/regulators; government assets and proceeds from privatization of government assets; and other sources such as royalties and/or special assessments for a period of five years," said a statement from the BTr.

The BTr said agencies providing social security and public health insurance services are not allowed to invest in the MIF.

RELATED: Diokno: Maharlika fund draws 'a lot of interest' from multilateral institutions

Meanwhile, Diokno said the search for officers to head the Maharlika Investment Corporation is ongoing.

"The search for the President and CEO (PCEO) of the Maharlika Investment Corporation, two regular directors, and three independent directors is on," he said.

"The qualifications of the PCEO, the regular directors, and the independent directors are provided in Section 39, 22, and 26 of the IRR, respectively," he said.

A copy of the IRR is not yet available on the website of the Philippine Gazette as of posting.
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: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A new study from Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy debunks a common belief about the impact of affordable housing on neighborhood property values. The researchers, led by Assistant Professor Brian Y. An, found that developments funded by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) do not cause hidden harm to the value of some surrounding properties.

The study, titled "Factors Affecting Spillover Impacts of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Developments: An Analysis of Los Angeles," was recently published in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) publication Cityscape. It contradicts a widely held assumption among critics of the subsidy that widely documented increases in nearby property values accompanying LIHTC projects mask damage to other properties. The researchers found no such effect.

"This research is significant as it challenges the stigma often associated with affordable housing," said An. "This pernicious fear of property value decline has been a major source of opposition to affordable housing projects in many communities."

The federal tax credit is designed to encourage private investors to develop affordable housing for low-income households. To better understand its impacts, researchers consulted HUD data on LIHTC properties in Los Angeles, as well as proprietary data on home sales.

They analyzed property values in neighborhoods before and after the introduction of affordable housing developments and compared the changes to those in similar neighborhoods without low-income housing development. Their results showed no significant decrease in property values following the establishment of these developments, regardless of the characteristics of the neighborhood or LIHTC project.

In fact, the research confirms previous studies showing that developments supported by the tax credit broadly increase nearby property values. After completion of mixed developments including both market-rate and subsidized units, surrounding property values rose by 5.4% compared to comparable neighborhoods without tax-subsidized development. Fully subsidized developments boosted property values by 3.2%, the researchers found.

"From a policy perspective, the key takeaway is that LIHTC developments, in addition to creating and preserving badly needed housing that is affordable to low-income households, consistently have positive effects on surrounding property values," the authors wrote in the paper. "A 'bad' place for such properties to be developed does not exist, nor does a 'bad' type of LIHTC development exist. Regardless of the development's size or neighborhood in which it is placed into service, a LIHTC property is likely to have a positive spillover effect on its neighborhood."

The authors noted that some of the conclusions could be specific to Los Angeles, which suffers from an extreme lack of affordable housing. They also noted that rising property values can be beneficial for homeowners, but often can push rental rates out of reach for many existing residents. The researchers are examining these issues in a follow-up study.

More information: Factors Affecting Spillover Impacts of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Developments: An Analysis of Los Angeles. www.huduser.gov/portal/periodi  5num2/article13.html
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The Target Pixel File (TPF) for TOI-332 (marked as a white cross) from TESS S1. Credit: Osborn et al., 2023.

Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new massive and dense exoplanet. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-332 b, is one of the densest Neptune-sized planets known to date. The finding is reported in a paper published August 23 on the pre-print server arXiv.

TESS is conducting a survey of about 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun with the aim of searching for transiting exoplanets. So far, it has identified nearly 6,800 candidate exoplanets (TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI), of which 379 have been confirmed so far.

A group of astronomers led by Ares Osborn of the University of Warwick, UK, has now confirmed another TOI monitored by TESS. They identified a transit signal in the light curve of a K-dwarf star designated TOI-332 (also known as TIC 139285832). Planetary nature of this signal was verified by follow-up observations using ground-based facilities.

"The TOI-332 system (TIC 139285832) was observed in TESS Sectors 1 (July 25Aug 22, 2018, hereafter S1) and 2 (August 22September 20, 2018, hereafter S2) with a 30 min cadence in the full-frame images (FFIs)," the researchers wrote in the paper.

TOI-332 b has a radius of about 3.2 Earth radii and an unusually large mass of 57.2 Earth masses, what yields a very high densityat a level of 9.6 g/cm3. The newfound planet orbits its host every 18.65 hours, at a distance of 0.016 AU from it. The equilibrium temperature of TOI-332 b was calculated to be around 1,871 K.

Based on the results, the astronomers classified TOI-332 b as an ultra-short period (USP) Neptune-sized exoplanet. They added that it represents the so-called "Neptunian desert"a region of period-radius and period-mass parameter space where planets have, so far, been rarely found. This desert encompasses planets between 2 and 9 Earth radii, with masses ranging from 10 to even 250 Earth masses, and orbital periods shorter than five days.

The researchers noted that the interior structure of TOI-332 b is most likely dominated by refractory materials, potentially more similar to that of terrestrial planets. They found that it likely possesses a negligible hydrogen-helium envelope, what presents a challenge to planetary formation theories.

"This unusual planet tests what we currently understand about planet formation; how such a giant core exists without a gaseous envelope remains an unanswered question," the authors of the paper wrote.

When it comes to the parent star TOI-332, it has a spectral type K0V and is estimated to be five billion years old. The star, located some 726.5 light years away from the Earth, is about 12% smaller and less massive than the sun. The effective temperature of TOI-332 was found to be 5,251 K.

More information: Ares Osborn et al, TOI-332 b: a super dense Neptune found deep within the Neptunian desert, arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2308.12137 Journal information: arXiv

 2023 Science X Network
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Emphasizing the need for energy independence and environmental stewardship could help to change people's minds about the climate crisis, a new study says.

Climate change deniers focus on what they can see and have experienced personally, so solutions need to be framed in a way which makes sense to local communities.

But for this to work the political-media ecosystem also needs to shift to support climate action, and their corporate backers held accountable for the damage they have wrought, according to the research.

The study, published in Ethnos Journal of Anthropology, was carried out by Dr. Susannah Crockford from the University of Exeter.

Dr. Crockford spent time in rural areas in three states in the southern USArizona, Louisiana, and Missouri. She found denial, a political-media ecosystem funded by fossil fuel companies, and the influence of conservative white evangelicalism.

Those who Dr. Crockford spoke to did care about erosion and storms and fire and flood and their homes and their livelihoods and their communities. They were aware of climate changes and impacts from extreme weather events. However, they understand these events through what they had personally experiencedwhich they saw as caused by natural and supernatural factorsrather than through climate science.

Dr. Crockford said, "I found a lack of belief in climate change or action comes not from emotional reactions or information deficit but because people's knowledge is insufficient for the scale of the problem faced. People could claim a sense of innocence by refusing to accept climate change.

"Some people thought climate change was just a plot cooked up by the Democrats to force through socialist policies by inventing a phony crisis to solve. Those with religious faith thought what happened in nature could only be determined by God not affected by human activity.

"Fewer people worked in the oil industry but it maintained its symbolic status. 'People need power,' I was told, 'we gotta keep the lights on.' This was said with a shrug, indicating a level of resignation over the loss of land and pollution from oil spills as the price to pay for the benefits that fossil fuels brought."

James, a man in his 60s whose house had flooded twice, told Dr. Crockford he did not believe in climate change. He did not see the proof of riding water visibly on his dock, so he rejected the association between increases in atmospheric carbon levels and sea level rise, although he conceded that he had not paid attention to what he called 'the graphs." Even though James held out the possibility that it was getting warmer every summer, he thought this was because he had become more sensitive to the temperature with age.

On the subject of erosion, however, James was clear-sighted: "The erosion's killing us," he told Dr. Crockford, reflecting on the changes he had seen in his lifetime: "I saw the environment change from a young age to what it is now  all the places I used to fish are no longer there, it's just open water."

Dr. Crockford said, "In Louisiana people interviewed had an acute awareness of the fragility of the land they lived on and the risks to their way of life that they could observe and experience personally. However, their own direct observation and personal experience was prior to, and more important than, the computational models and numerical abstractions'the graphs'of climate science. Climate changes such as erosion and oil spills could be seen, whereas sea level rise could not."

More information: Susannah Crockford, That Which They Will Not See: Climate Denial as a Vector of Epistemological Crisis in the Contemporary United States, Ethnos (2023). DOI: 10.1080/00141844.2023.2242599
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Our Evidence Centre for Education (DECE) has analyzed the ethnic disproportion between students and teachers in English schools.

In their paper "The disproportionality of ethnic minority teachers in England: trends, patterns and problems," DECE director Professor Stephen Gorard and his team examined national data on the ethnicity of students and teachers.

Putting data in a geographical context, they showed how the ethnicity of teaching staff matched up to pupils' ethnicity across England's regions and local authorities.

Ethnicity mismatch between pupils and teachers

Our researchers found that ethnic minority pupils in the North East of England may never be taught by someone of the same heritage.

This is despite the North East having the most proportionate teaching workforce.

Children of Black-African origin make up 1.3 percent of the student population in the North East, while just 0.1 percent of the region's teaching workforce identified as Black-African, for example.

As these numbers are so low, it makes it unlikely that the small number of Black-African students in the North East will ever encounter a teacher with the same ethnic background as them.

The researchers found that the area with the least proportional teaching workforce was London, despite it having the most diverse workforce.

This is due to the capital's exceptionally high ethnic minority pupil numbers.

Role models and aspirations

Our researchers also discovered that ethnic minority applicants to teacher training are less likely to be accepted and less likely to obtain qualified teacher status or an eventual teaching post. The researchers say this needs resolving.

The study concludes that the lack of ethnic diversity in some schools and areas, regardless of proportions, may impoverish the diversity of the whole school system.

Prof Gorard says a lack of diversity among teaching staff can be an issue when it comes to role models, aspirations and general enjoyment of school for ethnic minority students.

More information: Stephen Gorard et al, The disproportionality of ethnic minority teachers in England: trends, patterns, and problems, Routledge Open Research (2023). DOI: 10.12688/routledgeopenres.17798.2
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Vehicles sit in a street flooded by Hurricane Idalia on August 30, 2023 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Hurricane Idalia slammed into northwest Florida as an "extremely dangerous" Category 3 storm early Wednesday, as officials warned of catastrophic impacts including storm surges of up to 16 feet (about five meters).

Authorities in the southern US state described Idalia and its potentially deadly high surging waters as a once-in-a-lifetime event for Florida's northwest coast, ordering mass evacuations and issuing flood alerts.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Idalia, which earlier raked western Cuba, was packing maximum sustained winds of approximately 125 miles (215 kilometers) per hour as it made landfall around 7:45 am (1145 GMT) in Florida's marshy Big Bend area.

Unlike most other coastal regions in the state, Big Bend, located along the arch of the Gulf of Mexico, does not have barrier islands.

"This thing is powerful, if you're inside, just hunker down until it gets past you," DeSantis told a press conference just before landfall.

More than 140,000 customers in Florida were without electricity as of 8:00 am, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us.

"Extremely dangerous Category 3 Hurricane Idalia makes landfall in the Florida Big Bind," the NHC said, noting that the eye made landfall near the community of Keaton Beach.

Residents of Steinhatchee, a small coastal town in Florida's Big Bend region, were ordered to evacuate ahead of Idalia's arrival.

It warned of a possible disastrous storm surge of 12 to 16 feet in some coastal areas.

"Water levels along the coast of the Florida Big Bend are rising rapidly," it warned, noting that at Cedar Key, a string of islands jutting into the Gulf, approximate inundation was at nearly six feet.

"While Idalia should weaken after landfall, it is likely to still be a hurricane while moving across southern Georgia, and near the coast of Georgia or southern South Carolina late today," the NHC said.

'Time to shelter in place'

"Very few people can survive being in the path of a major storm surge, and this storm will be deadly if we don't get out of harm's way and take it seriously," said Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) chief Deanne Criswell.

In the small coastal town of Steinhatchee on Tuesday, resident Robert Bryant made final preparations to evacuate inland with his two cats and a dog.

Idalia made landfall as a major Category 3 hurricane.

"Hopefully, it just blows over and we have a bit of wind... but you prepare for the worst and hope for the best," the 18-year-old student told AFP.

Another Steinhatchee resident, 71-year-old John Paul Nohelj, told AFP he would stay put.

"If you live near the water, you're gonna get a wet butt once in a while," he said, downplaying the risk.

The nearby cities of Tampa and Saint Petersburg, part of a metropolitan area that is home to more than three million people, are of particular concern, authorities said.

"There's a danger of life-threatening storm surge along portions of the Florida Gulf Coast from Tampa Bay to the Big Bend region," said Matthew Payne of FEMA's Office of Response and Recovery.

"The time to evacuate has come and gone. It is time to shelter in place," Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey said Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show.

Reporters wade through flood waters in downtown Tarpon Springs after Hurricane Idalia passed offshore on August 30, 2023.

Airports, ports closed

DeSantis had urged residents of 23 counties along Florida's Gulf coast to evacuate and head to shelters or hotels outside the danger zones.

The US presidential candidate said the hurricane was on track to be the strongest to impact the region in more than a century.

Meteorologists are also pointing to a rare blue supermoon which could further raise tides above normal levels just as Idalia pounds the coastline.

Almost 150 people were killed last year when Hurricane Ian slammed Florida's west coast as a Category 4 storm, bringing ocean surges and strong winds that downed bridges and swept away buildings.

The storm is forecast to dump up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to the NHC.

Tampa International Airport and other regional airports closed ahead of Idalia's arrival, while flights were disrupted along the US East Coast as another hurricane, Franklin, churns in the Atlantic.

Several Florida ports were closed to vessel traffic as of Tuesday night, according to the US Coast Guard.

People ride a bicycle through a flooded street in Havana, on August 29, 2023, during the passage of storm Idalia.

'Marine heat wave'

In Cuba, the storm flooded several communities including parts of the capital Havana and knocked out power to about 200,000 people but there were no deaths reported.

The storm then moved out over the Gulf of Mexico, which scientists say is experiencing a "marine heat wave"energizing Idalia's winds as it raced towards Florida.

Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to climate change.

 2023 AFP
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Laboratory setup of the free-jet flow experiment at TROPOS in Leipzig, with that the experimental proof of the direct formation of sulfuric acid from reduced sulfur compounds has been shown. Credit: Tilo Arnhold, TROPOS

In the atmosphere, gaseous sulfuric acid can form particles that influence the physical properties of clouds. Thus, the formation of sulfuric acid in the gas phase directly affects the radiative forcing and Earth's climate.

In addition to the known formation from sulfur dioxide, researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) have now been able to demonstrate through experiments that there is another formation pathway that has been speculated about for decades. Sulfuric acid in the atmosphere can also be formed directly by the oxidation of organic sulfur compounds.

This new production pathway can be responsible for up to half of the gaseous sulfuric acid formation over the oceans and is thus of high importance for climate projectionsespecially over the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere, as the researchers write in the journal Nature Communications.

Organic sulfur compounds are mainly emitted from biogenic sources and contribute significantly to Earth's sulfur cycle. The sulfur cycle is important for Earth's climate because the oxidation products of organic sulfur compounds, such as sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) and methanesulfonic acid (MSA, CH 3 SO 3 H), initiate new particle formation.

Sulfate particles scatter incoming solar radiation efficiently and affect the formation of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Number and size of CCN significantly change the microphysical and radiative properties as well as the lifetime of clouds. Hence, knowledge of how H 2 SO 4 is formed in the atmosphere is mandatory to understand fundamental processes in the climate system.

On global scale, with an annual emission rate of about 30 million tons of sulfur, the most important organic sulfur compound is dimethyl sulfide (DMS, CH 3 SCH 3 ) followed by methyl mercaptan (MeSH, CH 3 SH) and, to a lesser extent, dimethyl disulfide (DMDS, CH 3 SSCH 3 ).

Numerous laboratory experiments and model simulations were performed at TROPOS to investigate the atmospheric oxidation pathways of these compounds. "To our knowledge, there is so far no experimental evidence for the direct formation of H 2 SO 4 in the gas phase, except via SO 2 oxidation by OH radicals or Criegee intermediates, although this has long been speculated about in the literature and even such pathways are implemented in models," explains Dr. Torsten Berndt of TROPOS.

At TROPOS, experimental proof of direct H 2 SO 4 formation has now been achieved using two flow systems: a horizontal free-jet flow system and a vertical laminar flow tube. With these systems, it was possible to work under different reaction conditions, which allowed an exact investigation of the oxidation processes by using advanced mass spectrometric techniques. In addition, the experimental findings allow the estimation of many kinetic parameters in the sulfur oxidation cycle and thus contribute to an improved understanding of its atmospheric oxidation.

The experimental results were integrated into the complex multiphase chemistry mechanism MCM/CAPRAM existing at TROPOS for model evaluation. "Under the relatively pristine conditions over the Southern oceans, the direct formation of H 2 SO 4 can contribute up to 50% to the total gas phase formation," report Dr. Andreas Tilgner and Dr. Erik H. Hoffmann.

It is postulated that the direct gas-phase formation may be especially important over oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. These regions are often characterized by small SO 2 -to-DMS ratios, which means that the fraction of this direct production pathway can be important there.

Other atmospheric regions, where small SO 2 -to-DMS ratios are expected, are in the outflow regimes of marine clouds. There, high H 2 SO 4 concentrations and the formation of new aerosol particles have been already observed, which can now be explained.

More information: Torsten Berndt et al, Direct sulfuric acid formation from the gas-phase oxidation of reduced-sulfur compounds, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40586-2 Journal information: Nature Communications

Provided by Leibniz-Institut fur Tropospharenforschung e. V.
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Gravitational Wave Detectors as Probes of Dark Matter. Credit: Basudeb Dasgupta

Dark matter is a keystone assumption in the current understanding of the universe. Yet, the elemental identity of dark matter is not known, and its future discovery remains a primary goal in the fields of cosmology and particle physics.

A team of theoretical physicists from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, the Indian Institute for Science in Bengaluru, and the University of California at Berkeley, have proposed a new method to probe dark matter. The method leverages gravitational wave searches to look for dark matter through its predicted effects on neutron stars.

Sulagna Bhattacharya, graduate student at TIFR and lead-author of the study published in Physical Review Letters, explainsdark matter particles in the galaxy can accumulate in neutron stars due to their non-gravitational interactions. The accumulated particles form a dense core, that collapses to a minuscule black hole in the scenario that dark matter particle is heavy and has no antiparticle counterpart; a scenario that has proved difficult to test otherwise in laboratory experiments.

For a large allowed range of dark matter particle mass, the initial seed black hole consumes its host neutron star and transmutes it to a neutron-star-mass black hole. Crucially, theories of stellar evolution predict that black holes form when neutron stars exceed about 2.5 times the mass of the sun, as encoded in the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit, but here dark matter leads to low-mass black holes that are typically smaller than the maximal neutron star.

Anupam Ray, who co-led the work, points out that "for dark matter parameters that are not yet ruled out by any other experiment, old binary neutron star systems in dense regions of the galaxy ought to have evolved into binary black hole systems. If we do not see any anomalously low-mass mergers, it puts new constraints on dark matter."

Intriguingly, some of the events detected by LIGO, e.g., GW190814 and GW190425, appear to involve at least one low-mass compact object. A tantalizing suggestion, based on pioneering work by Hawking and Zeldovich from the 1960s, is that low-mass black holes could be of a primordial origin, i.e., created by exceedingly rare but large density fluctuations in very early universe.

Motivated by these considerations, the LIGO collaboration has undertaken targeted searches for low-mass black holes and set limits. The present study by Bhattacharya and collaborators shows that same non-detection of low-mass mergers by LIGO also puts stringent constraints on particle dark matter.

The constraints presented in this study hold significant value, as they explore parameter space that is well beyond the reach of the current terrestrial dark matter detectors like XENON1T, PANDA, LUX-ZEPLIN, especially for heavy dark matter particles.

Mergers of low-mass black holes are expected to be detectable not only using existing gravitational wave detectors such as LIGO, VIRGO, and KAGRA, but also by upcoming detectors like Advanced LIGO, Cosmic Explorer, and the Einstein Telescope. By considering the planned upgrades of current gravitational wave experiments, and accounting for their increased sensitivity and observation time, the study forecasts the constraints that could be obtained within the next decade.

In particular, the study shows, gravitational wave observations can probe extremely feeble interactions of heavy dark matter, well below the so-called "neutrino floor" where conventional dark matter detectors have to contend with the astrophysical neutrino backgrounds. Instead, if exotic low-mass black holes are discovered in the future, it could be a valuable hint about the nature of dark matter.

The authors sign-off optimistically noting, "gravitational wave detectors, which have already proved useful for the direct detection of black holes and gravitational waves predicted by Einstein, may end up as a powerful tool to test theories of dark matter as well."

More information: Sulagna Bhattacharya et al, Can LIGO Detect Nonannihilating Dark Matter?, Physical Review Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.091401 Journal information: Physical Review Letters
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This Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, 1:31 p.m. EDT satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Idalia, center, approaching Florida's Gulf Coast, and Hurricane Franklin, right, as it moves along the East coast of the United States, southwest of Bermuda. Feeding on some of the hottest water on the planet, Hurricane Idalia is expected to rapidly strengthen as it bears down on Florida and the rest of the Gulf Coast, scientists said. Credit: NOAA via AP

Feeding on some of the hottest water on the planet, Hurricane Idalia is rapidly strengthening as it bears down on Florida and the rest of the Gulf Coast. It's been happening a lot lately.

"It's 88, 89 degrees (31, 32 degrees Celsius) over where the storm's going to be tracking, so that's effectively rocket fuel for the storm," said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. "It's basically all systems go for the storm to intensify."

That water "is absurdly warm and to see those values over the entire northeast Gulf is surreal," said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.

Hurricanes get their energy from warm water. Idalia is at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

"What makes this so tough and so dangerous is" that Idalia is moving so fast and intensifying so rapidly, some people may be preparing for what looked like a weaker storm the day before instead of what they'll get, said National Weather Service Director Ken Graham.

Idalia "stands a chance of setting a record for intensification rate because it's over water that's so warm," said MIT hurricane professor Kerry Emanuel. On Tuesday, only a few places on Earth had conditionsmostly warm waterso primed for a storm's sudden strengthening, he said.

Visitors to the Southernmost Point buoy brave the waves made stronger from Hurricane Idalia on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Key West, Fla. Feeding on some of the hottest water on the planet, Hurricane Idalia is expected to rapidly strengthen as it bears down on Florida and the rest of the Gulf Coast, scientists said. Credit: Rob O'Neal/The Key West Citizen via AP

"Right now I'm pretty sure Idalia is rapidly intensifying," Emanuel said.

At the time Emanuel said that, Idalia was clocking 80 mph winds. A couple hours later it was up to 90 mph, and by 10 p.m. Idalia was a Category 2 hurricane with 110 mph winds, having gained 40 mph in wind speed in 21 hours. A storm officially rapidly intensifies when it gains 35 mph in wind speed in 24 hours.

Scientists have been talking all summer about how record hot oceans are at the surface, especially in the Atlantic and near Florida, and how deeper watermeasured by something called ocean heat contentkeeps setting records too because of human-caused climate change. The National Hurricane Center's forecast discussion specifically cited the ocean heat content in forecasting that Idalia would likely hit 125 mph winds before a Wednesday morning landfall.

Idalia's "rapid intensification is definitely feeding off that warmth that we know is there," said University at Albany atmospheric sciences professor Kristen Corbosiero said.

Beachgoers stay close to shore as choppy waves caused by gusty wind crash on Hollywood Beach, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Feeding on some of the hottest water on the planet, Hurricane Idalia is expected to rapidly strengthen as it bears down on Florida and the rest of the Gulf Coast, scientists said. Credit: AP Photo/Marta Lavandier

That warm water is from a mix of human-caused climate change, a natural El Nino and other random weather events, Corbosiero and other scientists said.

And it's even more. Idalia has been parked at times over the Loop Current and eddies from that current. These are pools of extra warm and deep water that flow up from the Caribbean and into the Gulf of Mexico, Corbosiero said.

Deep water is important because hurricane development is often stalled when a storm hits cold water. It acts like, well, cold water thrown on a pile of hot coals powering a steam engine, Emanuel said. Often storms themselves pull the brake because they churn up cold water from the deep that dampens its powering up.

Not Idalia. Not only is the water deeper down warmer than it has been, but Idalia is going to an area off Florida's western coast where the water is not deep enough to get cold, Emanuel said. Also, because this is the first storm this season to go through the area no other hurricane has churned up cold water for Idalia to hit, Klotzbach said.

Workers at Toucans Bar and Grill board up the restaurant windows ahead of Hurricane Idalia near Clearwater Beach Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Clearwater, Fla. Residents along Florida's gulf coast are making preparations for the effects of Idalia. Credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

Another fact that can slow strengthening is upper level crosswinds, called shear. But Idalia moved into an area where there's not much shear, or anything else, to slow it down, the hurricane experts said.

A hurricane getting stronger just as it approaches the coast should sound familiar. Six hurricanes in 2021Delta, Gamma, Sally, Laura, Hannah and Teddyrapidly intensified. Hurricanes Ian, Ida, Harvey and Michael all did so before they smacked the United States in the last five years, Klotzbach said. There have been many more.

Storms that are nearing the coastlines, within 240 miles (400 kilometers), across the globe are rapidly intensifying three times more now than they did 40 years ago, a study published last week found. They used to average five times a year and now are happening 15 times a year, according to a study published in Nature Communications.

"The trend is very clear. We were quite shocked when we saw this result," said study co-author Shuai Wang, a climatology professor at the University of Delaware.

Storm clouds loom over riverfront homes in Steinhatchee, Fla., ahead of the expected arrival of Hurricane Idalia, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Feeding on some of the hottest water on the planet, Hurricane Idalia is expected to rapidly strengthen as it bears down on Florida and the rest of the Gulf Coast, scientists said. Credit: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Vistors stop and take a photo of the clouds on the south end of Tybee Island, Ga., ahead of Hurricane Idalia on Tuesday, Aug., 29, 2023. Idalia strengthened into a hurricane Tuesday and barreled toward Florida's Gulf Coast. Credit: Stephen B. Morton /Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

Scientists, such as Wang and Corbosiero, said when it comes to a single storm such as Idalia, it's hard to blame its rapid intensification on climate change. But when scientists look at the big picture over many years and many storms, other studies have shown a global warming connection to rapid intensification.

In his study, Wang saw both a natural climate cycle connected to storm activity and warmer sea surface temperatures as factors with rapid intensification. When he used computer simulations to take out warmer water as a factor, the last-minute strengthening disappeared, he said.

"We may need to be a little bit careful" in attributing blame to climate change to single storms, Wang said, "but I do think Hurricane Idalia demonstrates a scenario that we may see in the future."

More information: Yi Li et al, Recent increases in tropical cyclone rapid intensification events in global offshore regions, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40605-2 Journal information: Nature Communications

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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A selection of images drawn in water (linear scales: 250 m) . Credit: Thomas Palberg, Benno Liebchen

Writing is an age-old cultural technique. Thousands of years ago, humans were already carving signs and symbols into stone slabs. Scripts have become far more sophisticated since then but one aspect remains the same: Whether the writer is using cuneiform or a modern alphabet, a solid substrate, such as clay or paper, is required to fix the written structures in place.

However, researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), TU Darmstadt, and Wuhan University asked themselves how to write in a bulk fluid like water without fixing substrates. The concept would not be unlike the way aircraft leave three-dimensional vapor trails behind them when they cross the skycompared to two-dimensional writing with a pen on dry paper.

When you dip the nib of a fountain pen in water and try to write something with it in the water, you will, of course, have little success. The movement of the relatively large nib through the water creates turbulence that will eventually eradicate any ink traces left behind. But as the Reynolds number, i.e., the factor used to calculate fluid flow, indicates: The smaller the moving object, the lower the number of vortices it will create.

However, to take advantage of this, a truly minute pen would be needed and this would require a massive reservoir of ink that would cancel out the effect of the tiny pen. Brownian dynamics simulation of writing a straight line. Credit: Small (2023). DOI: 10.1002/smll.202303741

An ion-exchange bead serving as a pen

The team of researchers decided to adopt a completely new strategy to overcome this inherent problem: "We have put the ink directly in the water and use a microbead made of ion-exchange material with a diameter of 20 to 50 microns as a writing instrument," explained Professor Thomas Palberg of JGU. This bead is so small that it generates no vortices at all. The clever bit is that the bead exchanges residual cations in the water for protons, thus altering the local pH value of the water.

If the bead is rolled across the base of a water bath, it traces out an invisible track of lower pH in the liquid. This attracts the ink particles and they accumulate in the path marked out by the ball point. The result is a fine line of just a few hundredth microns in width, marking out the area of the lowest pH value.

To actually write a letter in water, you just need to tilt the water bath in such a way that the bead moves to outline the required character. "During our first attempts, we moved the water bath by hand but we have since constructed a programmable rocker," Palberg continued. "In a water bath no bigger than a one Euro coin, we were able to produce a simple house-like pattern in the size of the tittle of an 'I' character in an 18 point font, and then viewed this under the microscope. But we are still only in the preliminary phase."

Any kind of written form that can be produced using continuous lines can be readily reproduced, as other simulations have shown. Moreover, interruptions, such as breaks between separate letters, could also be achieved because, for example, the ion exchange process could be switched on and off at will using light exposure techniques. Even erasure and correction of what has been written is possible.

Writing of straight lines. a) Sketch of the experimental situation. The sample is placed on a stage allowing for tilting by  and rotation around the optical axis (OA) by  . The IEX (large sphere) rolls under gravity (large red arrow) through settled tracer particles (small spheres), rolling at much smaller speed (short red arrow). Tracers are swept towards the IEX by the co-moving solvent flow field (green arrows) and are assembled in the back of the IEX into a line of positive density contrast, which is left behind and disperses slowly by diffusion. b) Dark field image of C-IEX45 rolling on an inclined glass substrate (  = 3.1, substrate -potential  S = 105 mV, v IEX = 7.7 m s 1 ) in a suspension of Si832 at c = 0.1 wt.% (tracer -potential  T = 68 mV). Scale bar: 200 m. c) The same but in bright field b/w and at c = 0.02 wt.%. The red arrow denotes the location of the line focus. d) Height averaged pH field in lab coordinates as determined by 3-channel micro-photometry for the experiment shown in panel (b). The pH-values are color coded as indicated in the key. Arrows denote the local gradient direction. e) Ground pH-field as derived from panel (d). f) Map of tracer approach trajectories in IEX-relative coordinates for C-IEX45 rolling at v IEX = 1.6 m s 1 . The red arrow denotes the rolling direction of the IEX. g) Tracer velocity field in lab coordinates as determined from Particle Image Velocimetry for the situation in panel (c). Local velocities are color coded according to the key. Credit: Small (2023). DOI: 10.1002/smll.202303741

This diagram shows how 'writing in water' works. The 'pen' attracts ink while superfluous ink remains behind to mark the trail it has followed. Credit: Thomas Palberg

A non-specific effect that can be used in various ways

Professor Benno Liebchen and Lukas Hecht of TU Darmstadt have developed a theoretical model that explains the mechanism that makes writing in water viable. The corresponding simulations have demonstrated that this mechanism is a generic, non-specific effect and could thus be employed in a wide variety of forms, according to Liebchen, who is head of the Theory of Soft Matter group at the Institute for Condensed Matter Physics (IPKM) at TU Darmstadt.

"In addition to beads made of ion exchange resins, 'pens' consisting of particles that can be heated by lasers could be employed or even individually steerable microswimmers," he noted. "This could even allow extensive parallel writing of structures in water. Hence, the mechanism could also be used to generate highly complex density patterns in fluids."

An important implication of the theoretical simulations is that this new form of writing is not constrained by the need for a base to the fluid container because the effect is non-specific as to where it occurs in the liquid. It would be sufficient if the ink was rapidly transported to the 'written' outlines and these would only disappear by means of diffusion to make sure the lines remain clearly visible for about ten minutes. Using 'adhesive' UV-sensitive inks, it might even prove possible to fix lines and lettering in place for longer.

There are many potential variations that could be realized by means of using different components in the form of the writing instrument, type of drawn trail, ink, or form of steering employed. One option would be to use fluorescent ink and several very lightweight writing beads that could be moved through the fluid in three dimensions with the help of optical tweezers. This would result not only in luminescent shapes but could also be used for the 3D structuring of fluids.

"Our new approach is very robust and has the potential for extreme modularity," emphasized Palberg. "And it can be developed in an exceptionally wide range of different ways."

The paper is published in the journal Small.

More information: Nadir Moller et al, Writing Into Water, Small (2023). DOI: 10.1002/smll.202303741 Journal information: Small

Provided by Mainz University
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:

Image of the lunar south pole created using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument which measures landing site slopes, lunar surface roughness, and has begun generation of a high-resolution 3D map of the Moon. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

When astronauts set off for a trip around the moon in 2024 with NASA's Artemis II mission, they will go primed with knowledge of lunar landmarks gathered by one of the Agency's premiere robotic missions to our nearest cosmic neighbor.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), launched in 2009, has returned a treasure trove of scientific data in its fourteen years of operation, but this is not all the benefit it can provide. With "reconnaissance" right in the name, it should come as no surprise that this mission was designed from the ground up with the idea of aiding crewed spaceflight.

As astronauts prepare to head back to the moon for the first time since 1972, they have been trained on how to identify landmarks, spot geological features, and help mark areas of interest for future landings, all using data gathered by LRO. This training involved scientific visualization put together using LRO data to highlight the features they will see from orbit.

According to Kelsey Young of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, this functionality was baked into the workings of the LRO mission from the very start. "The mission was initially funded and the instruments selected not only to meet science mission directorate goals, but also those of the human spaceflight program," says Young, the Science Flight Operations lead for the upcoming Artemis missions. "The instruments were selected in part because they have use both for science and for exploration."

To this end, the four astronauts selected for the next trip to the moon went through a week-long classroom course which taught them how to identify lunar landmarks from orbit. The class featured data from LRO, which was used to give visual aids to the lessons the astronauts learned. As a capstone to their lessons, the astronauts were tasked with identifying areas of interest for potential landings from a selection of orbital imagery.

This sort of training is crucial not just for Artemis II, but for all subsequent journeys to the moon as part of the Artemis program. As pointed out by Ernie Wright of Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio, LRO has provided us the best global mapping of the shape of any planetary body in the solar system. This includes the Earth, where oceans and polar ice coverage prevent similar high-resolution mapping of the rocky surfaces underneath.

"With the moon, we can do all of those things globally, and one of the reasons that LRO was launched was to find a place that would be interesting to send astronauts," says Wright, who has been working with LRO data for the entire lifetime of the mission.

Jacob Richardson, a research scientist on Goddard's planetary science team who was also involved in the training program put together for Artemis II astronauts, noted human eyes and the human mind can notice things and make split-second inferences better than even the most advanced robotic probe.

Of the classroom course put together for the Artemis II astronauts, Richardson says that hardly an hour went by where they were not using data and imagery from LRO. "One of the things that we did was show them examples of scientifically interesting features that they'll see from orbit," he says.

That way, when the astronauts fly past the moon next year, they will be prepared with knowledge of what they might see, where these features are in relation to each other, and how to seek out features that may be of interest for astronauts who will land on the lunar surface in future missions.

He points out how, as late as the later Apollo missions, our knowledge of lunar surface features was constrained by the technology available at the time. "When we went to the moon with Apollo, we were incredibly successful, especially for an early space-age mission," he says. "But we did that with very limited information on what the surface actually looked like. Even for Apollo 16, we thought that they were landing on lava flows and they were not."

Fourteen-plus years of imagery and data gathered by LRO ensures that astronauts returning to the moon are fully prepared for a successful mission of exploration and discovery as part of NASA's ongoing mission to explore Earth's nearest neighbor.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  Justice Secretary Boying Remulla on Tuesday said any recantation in connection with the murder of former Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo has to be done in open court.

Remulla confirmed the filing of murder cases last Aug.15 against former Negros Oriental Representative Arnie Teves over the death of Degamo and nine others.

Suspects initially confessed that they participated in the killing and named Teves as the mastermind.

But upon getting their own lawyers, they retracted their original statements and claimed that they were just threatened.

"These recanted testimonies have been on their own, standing alone have been proven by other object evidence besides the testimonies themselves which were later recanted," Remulla explained

"But we have other evidence to prove these allegations," he also said. "They can recant it in court after they are presented by the prosecution."

No word yet if the court has already issued a warrant of arrest.

Teves has refused to return home from overseas.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

A bare-chested man loads timber onto a truck inside the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria on Monday, July 31, 2023. Conservationists say the outer region of Omo Forest Reserve, where logging is allowed, is already heavily deforested. As trees become scarce, loggers are heading deep into the 550-square-kilometer conservation area, which is also under threat from uncontrolled cocoa farming and poaching. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

Roaring chainsaws sent trees crashing to the ground, and bare-chested men hacked away at the branches beside a muddy road. Others heaved logs onto a truck, where they were tied in place with wire.

The work was similar on the other side of the road, with a timber-laden truck coughing dark plumes of smoke as it pulled away. This was miles into the conservation zone of Omo Forest Reserve in southern Nigeria, a protected area where logging is prohibited because it's home to threatened species like African elephants, pangolins and white-throated monkeys. But forest rangers, seeing the impunity, were hesitant to act.

"We see people we arrested and turned over to the government back in the forest, and they get emboldened," ranger Sunday Abiodun told The Associated Press during a recent trip to the reserve.

Conservationists say the outer region of Omo Forest Reserve, where logging is allowed, is already heavily deforested. As trees become scarce, loggers are heading deep into the 550-square-kilometer conservation area, which is also under threat from uncontrolled cocoa farming and poaching.

Conservationists and rangers blame the government for not enforcing environmental regulations or adequately replanting trees, impeding Nigeria's pledge under the Paris climate agreement to maintain places like forests that absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

Loggers cut trees and hack away at branches inside the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Conservationists say the outer region of Omo Forest Reserve, where logging is allowed, is already heavily deforested. As trees become scarce, loggers are heading deep into the 550-square-kilometer conservation area, which is also under threat from uncontrolled cocoa farming and poaching. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

The government of Nigeria's southwestern Ogun state, which owns the reserve, denied failing to enforce regulations. In a statement, it said it's replanting more trees than are being cut down.

The forest's gatekeepers and those processing the wood both dispute that assertion, insisting trees are disappearing.

Sawmillers get annual permits from the government to cut down trees until their designated area is completely deforested. Then they can apply for a new section. They say the permit fee of 2 million naira ($2,645) is intended to cover the government's costs to replace trees but that this rarely occurs.

"The government is not replanting," said Owolabi Oguntimehin, a sawmiller in Ijebu, a nearby town that has over 50 sawmilling companies relying on the reserve. "It is not our responsibility to replant because the government collects the fee from us."

Loggers load timber onto a truck inside the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Conservationists say the outer region of Omo Forest Reserve, where logging is allowed, is already heavily deforested. As trees become scarce, loggers are heading deep into the 550-square-kilometer conservation area, which is also under threat from uncontrolled cocoa farming and poaching. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

Besides problems with replanting, authorities don't enforce tree removal standards, even when loggers get permits, according to forest guards, who are employed by the state government.

Joseph Olaonipekun, a guard, said officials from Ogun state's forestry department used to mark trees that could be cut and ensure "strict" enforcement to prevent others from being removed. But that's no longer done, he said.

"By implementing selective logging, the adverse effects on the biodiversity of an area can be minimized while also providing the opportunity for young trees to continue growing," Nigerian ecologist Babajide Agboola said. "This method allows for a more sustainable approach to logging and forest management."

Trees such as Cordia wood, mahogany and gmelina are disappearing from the forest's periphery, according to both sawmillers and reserve gatekeepers.

A logger wields a chainsaw to cut trees inside the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Conservationists say the outer region of Omo Forest Reserve, where logging is allowed, is already heavily deforested. As trees become scarce, loggers are heading deep into the 550-square-kilometer conservation area, which is also under threat from uncontrolled cocoa farming and poaching. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

"There has to be massive reforestation so that the conservation zone will not be dismantled," Agboola said.

But forest rangers hired by the nonprofit Nigerian Conservation Foundation, which is the government's partner in managing the conservation zone, have found it a challenge to protect against illegal logging in off-limits areas.

They say loggers harvesting trees in the conservation zone brag about bypassing regulations by paying off government officials.

"We want the government to support us in preserving the forest," ranger Johnson Adejayin said. He echoed his colleagues in calling for strict enforcement and sanctions, "so that the loggers do not come back to continue their illegal acts and boast that with money they can avoid punishment."

The Nigerian economy, Africa's largest, heavily relies on agriculture, forestry and other land uses. These industries, which are responsible for 25% of Nigeria's greenhouse gas emissions, provide jobs for the majority of people in agrarian communities around the reserve.

Three rangers argue with illegal loggers near a truck carrying timber inside the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Conservationists and rangers blame the government for not enforcing environmental regulations or adequately replanting trees, impeding Nigerias pledge under the Paris climate agreement to maintain places like forests that absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

As a result, there is debate about the political will to enforce environmental sustainability when livelihoods are at stake.

That factor should be considered, said Wale Adedayo, chairman of the Ijebu East local government area where a significant part of the forest is located. He advocated for a reduction of the conservation zone to give more land to locals to farm and log.

But he also acknowledged that "there is a lot of deforestation" that should be reversed to ensure Nigeria's contribution to fighting climate change.

For its part, the state government said "it is incorrect" to blame the pressure to make a living "when loggers illegally find their way into the conservation area to steal parts of the conserved trees."

Adedayo said logging in protected areas "is not possible without the connivance of the civil servants."

A logger walks on timber piled on a truck inside the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Conservationists say the outer region of Omo Forest Reserve, where logging is allowed, is already heavily deforested. As trees become scarce, loggers are heading deep into the 550-square-kilometer conservation area, which is also under threat from uncontrolled cocoa farming and poaching. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

The government's forest guards have seen it first hand.

"There is too much corruption in this forest caused by greed and poverty," Olaonipekun said. "When we say, 'Don't go there,' some go through higher authorities to defy us, and we are helpless."

The government, meanwhile, has delayed formally declaring the conservation area a wildlife sanctuary to protect it from threats like logging, farming and poaching, said Emmanuel Olabode, who manages the Nigerian Conservation Foundation's wildlife conservation project in the forest.

The foundation's rangers are focused on nearly 6.5 square kilometers of strictly protected land where elephants are believed to live and has been designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

"It is left to the government to enforce the regulations," said Olabode, who supervises the foundation's rangers.

Nigerian ecologist Babajide Agboola, photographed in the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, says, "By implementing selective logging, the adverse effects on the biodiversity of an area can be minimized while also providing the opportunity for young trees to continue growing." Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

Loggers transport timber inside the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Conservationists say the outer region of Omo Forest Reserve, where logging is allowed, is already heavily deforested. As trees become scarce, loggers are heading deep into the 550-square-kilometer conservation area, which is also under threat from uncontrolled cocoa farming and poaching. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

People look over timber, some of which came from the Omo Forest Reserve, to be sold at a market in Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria, on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Conservationists say the outer region of Omo Forest Reserve, where logging is allowed, is already heavily deforested. As trees become scarce, loggers are heading deep into the 550-square-kilometer conservation area, which is also under threat from uncontrolled cocoa farming and poaching. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

Logs are milled into boards at sawmill in Ijebu Ode, Nigeria, on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Conservationists say the outer region of Omo Forest Reserve, where logging is allowed, is already heavily deforested. As trees become scarce, loggers are heading deep into the 550-square-kilometer conservation area, which is also under threat from uncontrolled cocoa farming and poaching. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

Loggers even have resorted to violence to ensure their timber supply. Olabode recounted when assailants with assault rifles attacked a rangers' patrol base in 2021, and loggers just kept cutting trees.

"Our rangers escaped with injuries, and we notified the authorities, but nothing was done, and we have not gone back there due to security concerns," Olabode said, adding that the area is now unprotected.

The government says it plans to employ the military and police to combat illegal operators. It urges loggers who follow the rules to "fight their members who are into illegalities."

More information: This is the second in a series of stories from the Omo Forest Reserve. Read the first installment here.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
By Saio Marrah

A former RSLAF soldier has testified before Justice Komba Kamanda of the High Court in Freetown of how, according to him, he was manhandled by an OSD officer attached to the National Social Security and Insurance Trust, NASSIT headquarters in Freetown.

Dankawallie Mansaray who was wounded in action during this countrys civil war and is on invalidity benefit with NASSIT and a government pension, told the High Court on Monday 8th May 2023, that the OSD officer dragged him from the reception area of the NASSIT building down to the corridor on the orders of one Fanta, a staff member at NASSIT attached to the benefit department, who is also the third defendant in the case.

He said the incident occurred after he had gone to Rokel Commercial Bank on Friday 23 July 2021 to collect his pension but was told that NASSIT had not credited his account. He said on the same day he went to the benefits department to ascertain what might have gone wrong.

According to Mansaray, when he made enquiries at NASSIT, Fanta started shouting at me saying I should stop disturbing her because it was not the time for the payment. He said he then proceeded to the reception area to ask for the manager of the benefits section who was incidentally around and that as soon as he started explaining his concerns to the manager, Fanta interrupted their conversation and ordered the OSD officer to drag him out of the building.

Mansaray told the court that the OSD officer then grabbed him by the neck and dragged him forcefully out of the building, kicking me on the way. He said other staff members stood by as he was being manhandled.

The complainant said he was arrested and taken to Central Police Station where the police refused to listen to his complaint about his leg having been broken in the process of being dragged out of the NASSIT building.

He said in the morning, the police officers took him to the Military Hospital at Wilberforce when they realized that the foot was swollen from where he was referred to Life Care Hospital where he said an X-ray showed a fracture on the bone of the left foot.

During a cross examination by the NASSIT lawyer, Israel Jah, the complainant told the court that his pension is usually paid on the 24th and 25th of every month, but that if the 25th falls on a weekend, NASSIT would pay him on the 23rd.

The defendant, who said he is married with two kids, told the court he left the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) on the 18thSeptember 2008, after serving 14 years and 72 days with mental disability and a problem in his left eye.

Copyright  2023 Politico (10/05/23)
NORRISTOWN, Pa.  A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in a murder case against a Pennsylvania woman accused of driving to the Jersey Shore after killing her young son while he slept, according to a defense attorney.

Pennsylvania prosecutors say Ruth DiRienzo-Whitehead, of Horsham Township, strangled her 11-year-old son, Matthew Whitehead, over not wanting the child to grow up with financial hardships.

The boy was found dead by his father, Daniel Whitehead.

Thursday's hearing for an initial appearance would likely be waived, according to DiRienzo-Whitehead's attorney, Eugene Tinari. A trial start date would likely be set, he said.

After strangling her son about 9:30 p.m. April 10, DiRienzo-Whitehead drove off in the family's 2019 Toyota Highlander to Cape May, where she ditched the vehicle in the waters at a beach, prosecutors say.

Police later arrested her outside the family's seasonal home in Wildwood Crest as neighbors watched. She was brought to the Cape May County jail, where she stayed until April 14 after appearing before Cape May County Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury, and was extradited to Pennsylvania.

Following April's extradition hearing, Tinari said his client was going to undergo a psychiatric exam, intending to use those results in the case. The attorney said he believed mental health was a factor in the alleged murder.
ATLANTIC CITY  A multi-building gas leak at Stanley Holmes Village was reported Tuesday, adding to a list of issues at the public housing complex.

The Atlantic City Housing Authority on Tuesday said an inspection found 17 gas leaks in 11 buildings at the complex off Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The authority told tenants in an email that gas supplies were cut off from those buildings, and a timeframe on when they would be restored was unknown.

We have a very good contractor, in Kisby Shore Plumbing, currently repairing the leaks and they also continue to inspect lines for any other potential leaks, DeirDre Brock, director of management for the Housing Authority, wrote in the email.

The authority asked tenants to allow contractors to enter their units to inspect the gas lines and make necessary repairs.

Updates on the repairs would be made once they become available, Brock wrote.

The issues come while the authority is wrapped up in litigation regarding repairs at the complex.

Two weeks ago, a New Jersey Superior Court judge ruled that the Housing Authority did not comply with a previous ruling that required the agency to provide a timeline on repairs at Stanley Holmes Village.

Judge John C. Porto granted the latest motion brought by 87 Stanley Holmes residents in their lawsuit against the agency and ordered the Housing Authority to submit its repair plans to ensure safe gas service and safe, adequate, reliable heat and hot water at the complex.

Rich DeLucry, an attorney with Cooper Levenson and the Housing Authoritys general counsel, said the authority would provide the most detailed plan and timetable that we can ahead of the deadline, but he cautioned it would be a living document.

GALLERY: Poor living conditions at Stanley Holmes Village
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  The Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Wednesday discovered 519 million worth of imported rice in four warehouses in Bulacan.

Authorities found 154,000 sacks of imported rice grains which came from Vietnam and Pakistan, and 60,000 sacks of palay.

"We have just discovered four warehouses storing rice grains and palay, and if the owners of these warehouses fail to show proper documents that they legitimately imported the subject sacks of rice and paid correct duties and taxes thereon, then we will take immediate legal action and confiscate the items here," said Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio in a statement.

The BOC inspection team served letters of authority for inspection to the respective representatives of the warehouses located in Barangay Wakas in Bocaue, and Barangay San Juan in Balagtas. This was after the bureau received intelligence information, it added.

The BOC said the warehouses were temporarily padlocked as inventory of the stored imported goods is being conducted.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier instructed the BOC to continue raids on warehouses to address issues of hoarding and illegal rice importation.

The bureau also raided and sealed three warehouses in Balagtas, Bulacan on Aug. 25.

They were found to be storing 505 million worth of imported rice.
5:57 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time

With the leaves falling and the deer fattened, this is the time to hunt. Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can ride over the stubble, and can more easily see the fox and other animals.

This will be the only full moon with a partial lunar eclipse visible to at least part of the United States. Those in New England, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C. eastern Virginia and eastern North Carolina will see part of the moon shaded brownish red that evening. During lunar eclipses, the moon passes into Earth's shadow.

You can find start and end times for the eclipse at your location using this link. For most of South Jersey, this will be at some point between 5:55 p.m. to 6:25 p.m.
Residents near the intersection of 47th Street and 28th Avenue in Moline are still dealing with the aftermath of sewage backup that caused thousands of dollars in damage.

In early June, a water service pipe leading to a fire hydrant near the intersection of 47th Street and 28th Avenue broke, causing water to enter a sanitary sewer line. The incident occurred during the reconstruction of 47th Street.

Legacy Corporation of East Moline was awarded the bid for the 47th Street full reconstruction project. The project includes the removal of existing seal coat pavement and replacement with concrete pavement, new sidewalks on the side of the street driveway replacements, new water main and services, new sanitary sewer and services, new storm sewer and inlets, and pavement striping.

The Indiana, Illinois and Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting, along with impacted residents, held a news conference on Tuesday, Aug. 29, to shed light on the aftermath. The organization is a nonprofit labor-management organization the seeks to encourage fair contracting in the public construction arena for contractors and workers.

What should have been a summer of warm weather, sunny skies, friends and family, turned into a nightmare of sewage, industrial clean-up, unanswered questions and financial burden, said Andy Waeyaert, III FFC regional manager.

A request for comment to Legacy Corporation of East Moline regarding the incident and ongoing situation was not returned by deadline Tuesday.

The incident

In a statement sent to Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus, the city said On the afternoon of June 7, 2023, a water service pipe leading to a fire hydrant near the intersection of 47th Street and 28th Avenue broke, causing water to enter a sanitary sewer line. The accident occurred during a full street reconstruction project on 47th Street.

The increased volume of water in the sanitary sewer caused a backup, which resulted in water entering the basements of eight homes in the neighborhood, causing extensive damage.

In copies of provided by III FFC and confirmed as authentic by the city, Risk Management Specialist Annette Roby laid out a timeline of the incident in an email sent Wednesday, June 28, to City Administrator Bob Vitas, 7th Ward Ald. Anna Castro and Utilities Director Tony Loete.

Roby wrote that on June 7, Legacy Corporation gave notice to the City that a water pipe on a hydrant leg was leaking into sanitary sewer causing a major backup.

Employees from engineering, water, and sewer arrived on the scene within 10-15 minutes. Eight homes and one business, Meyer Landscaping, were impacted by the incident, the email said.

Roby goes on to further write that Legacy had a water pipe on a hydrant exposed for about a week and that there had been no prior issues with this pipe, and it was not a part of the project. She also wrote that Legacy backfilled the water main with sand and about two hours after backfilling, Legacy noticed the leak coming from the hydrant leg which was later found to have a jagged break in the cast iron pipe.

In the same e-mail from June 28, Roby wrote that staff investigated and had a debrief on June 9, stating that there had not been any issues with the pipe before and that Legacy never gave notice to the city of a concern or issue with the pipe when it was exposed. With the break being jagged, it was likely caused due to pressure or vibration, Roby wrote.

We believe the cause of this break was due to Legacy Corporation improperly backfilling with sand only and driving on top of the backfill, Roby said in the e-mail.

Waeyaert said Legacy should have used a solid backfill that could support the weight of the pipe and any type of traffic that goes through the neighborhood. By using sand, he said, the pressure of heavy equipment driving over it pushes it down since there is no proper support and causes it to break.

When you have a pipe and youre digging underneath it, you need to put a sound foundation behind it or some kind of support so it doesnt break, Waeyaert said.

Waeyaert said that when the pipe broke, water rushed into the sewers, overwhelming the capacity of the system which caused water to back up into residents' homes.

The aftermath

As construction trucks rumbled past during Tuesday's morning news conference, Waeyaert and a few impacted residents called on Legacy Corporation to take responsibility for their actions, claiming that the company is saying they are not at fault.

Jasmine Lees home was one of the eight homes to have damage caused by the incident. Lee said she came home that day to do paperwork, but heard water running in the basement and went to go check.

She walked into her bathroom and her tub was pouring sewage out of it, along with her toilet and shower.

I seriously got a plunger because I didnt know what was happening, she said.

Lee said she called to her significant other to figure out what was happening. She contacted the city to let staff know of the situation and Service Master for clean-up efforts. Service Master, she said, came in and started pumping the sewage backup out of her house right away.

Lee and her significant other have had to strip everything out of their basement, sanitize everything including furnace filters and have even had to deal with bacterial infections.

"I got two bouts of E. Coli," Lee said. "Half my house is unusable."

Each time they strip something away such as pulling carpet off the stairs and taking it through the main floor and out the front door, people have to come in and sanitize everything, she said.

Clean-up for the impacted residents, Waeyaert said, has ranged from $9,000-$10,000.

"I was talking to one resident, and they only had $5,000 of coverage through their own insurance even though it was not their fault," Waeyaert said. "They had to pay $5,000 of their own money just to get it cleaned up and that does not include any of the remodeling or restoration that they have to do."

The city has filed a claim on behalf of the nine claimants with Legacys insurance broker, Hub International, and their insurance carrier, Western National, according to the e-mails the organization obtained.

Lee said she has spent up to $26,000 so far which includes clean-up efforts and replacing flooring and other things she has had to purchase. She has yet to be reimbursed but has a stack of bills and receipts for everything she has purchased so far.

"We're pretty lucky because we plan for floods  it's the Quad-Cities, everybody's basement going to flood," she said. "But it's the sewage part I wasn't ready for."

Photos: Mississippi River continues to recede, Thursday, May 4
After confirming that Welch Hotel Senior Apartments has been vacated due to concerns about structure, City of Muscatine Assistant Community Development Director Andrew Fangman reported a structural engineer will be examining the building.

Fangman said the ownership of the apartments became aware of a structural issue. The building was vacated on Aug. 23 at the owners decision and the tenants have all been housed elsewhere. He also said that vacating the building was the decision of the property owners and not a result of city enforcement.

We dont know a whole lot more, Fangman said. We are kind of waiting to see what the engineer reports. The property owner is doing everything correctly and above board and is doing all this voluntarily.

On Tuesday, the building office and businesses on the first floor were vacant. The current complex is designed as affordable apartments for those 55 and older. According to the building's National Register of Historic Places nomination form, the four-story building has 26 units. The building is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places since 1979 and is part of the Downtown Commercial Historic District.

According to a press release from owner Richman Asset Management Inc., the residents arent being allowed back into the building to retrieve belongings after the building has been declared unsafe. The property management company is currently working with the residents to find permanent alternative housing.

As the safety of our tenants is the primary concern for the owner, after observing some cracks in the exterior bricks of this 100-year-old building, we immediately engaged a structural engineer to inspect the building, the release said. As soon as the inspector recommended that the building needed to be evacuated, we took immediate action that day to relocate the tenants to temporary housing. Upon further inspection, it was determined that the building was unsafe for any occupancy or even temporary entrance to recover belongings.

The release also said it is unknown how long it would be or if it is even possible to bring the tenants back into the building. The company is continuing to monitor the situation.

On June 15, a building at 113 Iowa Ave. was declared unsafe by a structural engineer and its tenants were evacuated.

On May 28, the Davenport a six-story apartment building in Davenport, collapsed and three people were killed. Shortly after the collapse, the City of Davenport filed enforcement action against owner Andrew Wold claiming he failed to keep the building is a safe, sanitary and structurally sound condition. Multiple lawsuits have also been filed alleging Wold and the City of Davenport knew of the buildings condition and did not inform the tenants.

This is being done proactively, Fangman said of the Welch building. The owners are getting out in front of this particular issue. They are doing the right thing.

Photos: March held Saturday to "bring awareness to the horrific event on May 28 building collapse at 324 Main St.
Kewanee Police announced details regarding the arrest of two male juveniles in connection to a shooting threat reported at Kewanee High School last week.

The juveniles 16 and 14-years-old  were taken into custody following police investigation for falsely making terroristic threats, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition without a FOID card.

The shooting threat was reported to Kewanee Police at approximately 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 24.

Officers learned the 16-year-old student sent messages to a Snapchat group indicating that he was going commit a shooting at the high school. The juvenile had also sent a picture of a rifle and a loaded assault rifle magazine.

Officers were able to identify the juvenile and locate him at a residence on South Maple Avenue.

Upon further investigation, officers learned the 16-year-old was communicating with the 14-year-old about the shooting threat. The latter sent the picture of the rifle and loaded magazine to the 16-year-old, advising him to send it to the Snapchat group and say he will shoot up the school.

According to a press release from Kewanee Police, the 14-year-old also told the 16-year-old he would give him the gun if he needs it.

Officers quickly learned the identity of the 14-year-old and located him at a residence on West 4th Street.

After locating the 14-year-old and speaking with him and his grandmother, officers observed plain view evidence at the residence. Upon obtaining a search warrant for the property, officers found an AK-47 style rifle, a magazine for the AK-47, and 7.62x39 mm ammunition for the AK-47 in the residence.

Both juveniles were arrested and transported to the Kewanee Police Department. After gathering statements, they were released to the custody of their guardians and issued referral forms to appear in juvenile court at the Henry County Courthouse.

The 14-year-old was charged with the preliminary offenses of Conspiracy to Making False Terroristic Threats (Class 2 Felony), Unlawful Use of Weapon (Class A Misdemeanor), and Unlawful Possession of Ammunition without a FOID card (Class A Misdemeanor). The 16-year-old was charged with the preliminary offense of Conspiracy to Making False Terroristic Threats (Class 2 Felony).

Kewanee Police does not believe there is an imminent threat to the school or the students, and the department worked in cooperation with Kewanee School District officials during their investigation.

To help ease community members concerns, there will still be police presence at the school and any associated events.
Augustana College welcomed its largest number of international students to campus this week, with 192 students representing 35 different countries.

Upon arriving at the Quad-Cities International Airport on Monday, the first-year students were met by Augie's Global Ambassadors  seven returning international students who support first-year international students with the transition.

Global Ambassadors undergo a two-week orientation before the school year begins. From there, they act as mentors to the first-year international students and organize events and opportunities for the rest of the year.

Two first-year students from Nepal  Summer Pandey, 20, and Ishan Pyakurel 18  say the GAs have been helpful and welcoming since arriving to the United States.

"When I missed my first flight, I was called by a GA and she helped me a lot," Pandey said. "Settling into America has been pretty easy so far."

The warm welcome was appreciated after an exhausting flight for many.

"The fact that all of the Augustana people were waiting at the airport was really sweet," Pyakurel said. "It was a very smooth transition after that, people were really helpful moving in and carrying bags."

The two also agreed on their first impressions of campus, though Pyakurel wishes the Quad-Cities was more walkable.

"Augustana is a really beautiful place," Pandey said. "It feels really nice and connected to nature, like Nepal was, so it feels like home."

He will run 100-meter sprints for Augie's track team and looks forward to the upcoming season  coming off a gap year, he's nervous about "getting back into the flow of things."

Aitana Garcia, an 18-year-old from Spain, is also navigating some nerves on the academic side.

"I'm excited to start my classes and schedule, learning about what I'm truly interested in and everything," she said. "At the same time, that's also kind of what scares me. I'm pretty good at English, but I'm scared I'm not going to 'get everything' in class correctly. The language barrier can still be a bit challenging, so it scares me to not do as good in a class as I could do."

Xong Sony Yang, director of Augie's Office of International Student and Scholar Services, sees the GAs as a year-long leadership program for international students.

"They're just learning some great professional developments to really take along with them," said Yang. "Not only are they part of the welcome team  they're also the ones teaching these international students to become self-sufficient and resilient."

Case in point: On Tuesday, the GAs taught the first-year students how to navigate and board Quad Cities MetroLINK before taking them on a Target run to buy essentials.

Garcia said she was excited for her first Target run, even snapping a photo before entering.

"My friends were like, 'Oh my god, you're going to Target?'" she said. "You'd always see it in movies, shows or YouTube videos (in Spain), and now I'm actually one of those people shopping here."

The GAs also lead first-year students through job searching, how to apply for a Social Security number and other tasks.

"They're putting on programs once a month with the new international students to make sure they're committed, not only with Augustana, but also with the Quad-City community," Yang said.

"When I first came here, so many things were so new to me," said sophomore Sambriddhi Pandey, now a lead GA from Nepal. "I feel like it can be a very difficult situation for anyone, but the GAs made me feel like it's OK to not know certain things," she said.

That guidance, to Pandey, was important during her college transition  even for small things, like adjusting her dorm room's air conditioning.

"My GA was so helpful to me," she said. "She's one of the reasons I wanted to become one and help others."

Many first-year students take comfort in having the GAs on campus to lean on.

"Having everyone to support me and help me adjust to this life, that feels really nice," said Nhi Nguyen, a 17-year-old from Vietnam. "So far, it's been great. I've met really friendly people here  I'm excited to meet new people."

Some first-year students  like Pyakurel and Garcia  are interested in becoming a GA next year already.

"At first, I was scared that I was going to be alone and no one would talk to me  I never felt alone at all," Garcia said. "It's definitely something like I would love in the future, and I would love to be 'that person' to someone else."

Pandey's advice to the first-years? Don't be afraid to ask for anything.

"You just have to be brave enough, strong enough and not hesitant to ask any questions because we're (GAs) always here," she said. "It's OK to get new experiences, it's OK to stumble on things  you're just going to learn and grow from them."
Fire Chief Steve Knorrek was just the fifth paid firefighter hired by the city of Bettendorf.

At that time  September 1983  he worked alongside 50 volunteers. The department received 1,322 calls for service that year, less than a third of the fire departments 2022 call volume.

Forty years later, Knorrek is retiring. His last day will be Sept. 8, according to the city.

Knorrek succeeded Gerry Voelliger in 2018 as interim, then became permanent fire chief. For the three years prior, he served as assistant chief and fire marshal. But his longest-held position was as captain and fire marshal from 1991-2015.

When the city first hired him in 1983, Knorrek recalled he had no firefighting experience or emergency medical certification or training. The city had hired its first paid firefighter in 1975, and staffed with volunteers before that.

Neither was a requirement to be hired at that time. My work experience prior to starting here included a manager at Wendys in Bettendorf, a supervisor at my university cafeteria and house painting, Knorrek said in a news release.

During Knorreks tenure, hes hired 16 people, he said, eight of which were for new firefighter positions.

Over his career Knorrek won the 2015 Governors Fire Prevention Officer of the Year award, served as a member of the American Burn Association International Outreach Committee between 2013 and 2016, as well as on the board of directors of the St. Florian Burn Foundation between 2013 and 2019.

Steve was always a very quiet public servant, but one of high ideals and great integrity, said Bettendorf City Administrator Decker Ploehn in a prepared release. He represented the City and Fire Department with great professionalism and has made a huge contribution to our community and the region as a whole. We wish him all the best!
The expansive field of candidates running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination has started to shrink.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced Tuesday that he is suspending his presidential campaign.

Suarez, in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, said running for president has been one of the greatest honors of my life.

Suarez launched his long-shot bid in mid-June, and made few stops in Iowa. He spoke at the Republican Party of Iowas Lincoln Dinner in Des Moines in late July. He also participated in Gov. Kim Reynolds Fair-Side Chats and the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair earlier this month, where he made his way around the fairgrounds largely unrecognized by the crowds.

As a presidential candidate, Suarez said he would be able to attract Hispanic, young and urban voters.

If we win (those voters), its game over, he said at the Iowa State Fair. Ive already done that. I have a proven track record of connecting with those voters.

Suarez, though, told reporters that if he didn't make the debate stage, it could spell the end of his campaign.

Eminem tells Ramaswamy to leave the rapping to the Real Slim Shady

After creating a viral moment at the Iowa State Fair by performing a rendition of rapper Eminems Lose Yourself, the Real Slim Shady has asked Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to sit down.

Music licenser BMI, on behalf of the Grammy-winning hip-hop artist, sent a letter to Ramaswamys campaign instructing it to cease and desist using his music on the campaign trail.

According to an Aug. 23 letter sent to the Ramaswamy campaign reported by the Daily Mail, BMI will consider any performance of the Eminem Works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach of the Agreement for which BMI reserves all rights and remedies with respect thereto.

Ramaswamy concluded a Fair-Side Chat with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds at the Iowa State Fair with an impromptu performance of the popular Eminem song Lose Yourself, rapping a verse as the audience cheered him on. Ramaswamy told Reynolds at the event the song was his favorite to be introduced to at speaking events. Politico reported last month Ramaswamy used to perform the song often at Harvard as his rap alter ego, Da Vek.

A campaign spokesperson told The Washington Post Ramaswamy just got on the stage and cut loose.

The campaign said it will comply with the request to stop using Eminems music.

To the American peoples chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to the Real Slim Shady, Ramaswamys spokesperson said.

Farmers for Trump coalition grows

Former President Donald Trumps campaign announced Tuesday it has added more than 100 members to its Farmers for Trump coalition announced last month in Iowa.

(T)hese farmers and agriculture leaders serve as the bedrock of many of Iowas rural communities and will help propel President Trump to a decisive Iowa caucus win on January 15, according to a statement from the Trump campaign.

Among the Iowa agricultural leaders supporting Trumps bid for the Republican nomination for president are State Rep. Mike Sexton, a Republican farmer from Rockwell City and chairman of the Iowa House Agriculture Committee, and state Rep. Heather Hora, a Republican and farmer from Washington, Iowa.

Sexton and Hora serve as co-chairs of Iowa Farmers for Trump, along with state Rep. Derek Wulf, a Republican and farmer from Hudson; David Kerr, a farmer and former state lawmaker from Morning Sun; Jeremy Davis, a former senior official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican and farmer from Wilton, who serves as adviser to the trump campaign.

President Trump protected Iowas critical ethanol industry, opened international markets for our agriculture products, stopped China from taking advantage of our farming communities, and battled federal bureaucrats seeking to restrict the rights of landowners, Wulf, vice chairman of the Iowa House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement.

Vivek Ramaswamy visits Davenport to speak with business owners on his campaign
A 34-year-old Hot Springs man who the state called a "wolf in sheep's clothing" was sentenced in Pennington County Court Tuesday to 18 years in prison for abusing two children for five years in Fall River County.

Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Connolly sentenced Eric Peet to two consecutive nine-year sentences for each count of child abuse. Assistant Attorney General Scott Roetzel asked the judge to give Peet the maximum of 10 years for each count.

When Peet was indicted in June 2020 in Fall River County, he faced 14 different counts accusing him of sexually and physically abusing three children for a five-year period between June 2014 and October 2019.

On July 18, he entered an Alford plea to two counts of child abuse against two of the boys during that time frame. By entering an Alford plea, Peet agreed to enter a guilty plea on the charges while still maintaining his innocence.

The state agreed to drop the remaining 12 counts in exchange for the plea, although Roetzel referenced the allegations of sexual abuse at sentencing when he asked for the maximum sentence of 10 years on each count.

In addition to using the wolf in sheep's clothing comparison, Roetzel said Peet "inserted himself in situations to be a savior."

He said Peet took the boys to movies, bought them food and gave them gifts before he escalated his behavior to abuse.

"His motivation was more dark and insidious," Roetzel said.

The parents of the victims and one of the minors listed in the original indictment spoke at the sentencing.

After sitting down behind a mic at the state's counsel table, the father sighed and removed a piece of folded paper from his pocket.

"He has taken something from them they'll never get back," the father said. "He has taken their childhood."

He asked the judge to not only sentence Peet to the maximum, but also not to give him any time served for the 1,065 days he'd spent in jail ahead of sentencing.

"What he's pleading to is 100 times less than what he deserves, and my boys deserve to live a life of freedom." he said.

The victims' mother said Peet "harmed my children beyond words or expression.

"He has destroyed their innocence and taken away their childhood and impacted my family like no other," she said.

The teen who spoke at the hearing said, "I don't feel like it's safe for others either."

Roetzel echoed that sentiment.

"The only place for him at this moment is the South Dakota State Penitentiary," Roetzel said.

The prosecutor also referenced a 2018 protection order against Peet for stalking. Roetzel said the violation involved a family he worked with while working for the Oglala Sioux Tribe's Child Protective Services. Court records show he pleaded guilty to violating the order three times.

Peet's defense attorney, Angela Colbath, told the judge the case is Peet's first felony conviction. She said the state's characterization that Peet has a long history of abusing children is "not supported."

She addressed the protection order from 2018 and explained Peet raised concerns about children in a foster family during his work in child protective services, and the parent "found it harassing."

She said there were no sexual allegations or allegations of grooming in the case. She said Peet knew the family prior to his professional work with them and they "clearly had a falling out."

"Eric has maintained his innocence since day one," she said.

Colbath asked the court to give Peet a suspended sentence and put him on probation. She said his family left Hot Springs and now lives out of state, and he would be able to stay with them.

Peet did not speak at the hearing. He is held at the Pennington County Jail awaiting transportation to the state prison in Sioux Falls.
Gov. Greg Gianforte appointed two charter school advocates to serve on a new commission tasked with overseeing their introduction to Montanas public education system, his office announced Tuesday.

The seven-member commission is responsible for approving authorizers for choice schools around the state. It will include two appointees by the governor and one each by the Superintendent of Public Education, the top Republicans from the House and Senate and the top Democrats from both chambers. The other appointees have not yet been announced.

The governor appointed Cathy Kincheloe of Whitefish and Trish Schreiber of Helmville to four-year terms.

Schreiber has been appointed to chair the new commission. She is an educational therapist for students with learning challenges, the press release stated. Schreiber is also a senior education fellow with the Frontier Institute, a Montana-based conservative think tank.

Kincheloe has over 20 years experience with public charter school organizations, including as a teacher, according to a press release from the governors office.

Passed by the Legislature this year, House Bill 562 allows charter schools to begin operating in Montana for the first time. Community choice schools would operate independently from local school districts, with exemptions from certification requirements and other standards. The schools would be validated under the commission, which sits beneath the Office of Public Instruction.

The law is being challenged in a lawsuit filed by the Montana Quality Education Coalition in June. The Montana League of Women Voters and two teachers, Jessica Felchle of Billings and Beau Wright of Kalispell, are also named plaintiffs in filing.

The lawsuit alleges the new law violates the state Constitution, which vests control and supervision of schools in each district with the local board of trustees and with the Montana Board of Education.




Kathmandu, Nepal, August 30, 2023: Vice President of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact Operations Department, Cameron Alford arrived here in Kathmandu on Tuesday evening.





Vice-President Cameron arrived here in Nepal visit on the occasion of MCC Entry into Force. According to the agreement, August 30 marks the commencement of the implementation of the five-year project.





Issuing a press statement, the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu has said that the U.S. government was excited to know the progress of the MCC compact.





We are committed to collaborate with MCA-Nepal to ensure successful implementation of the compact. All concerned parties are working to attain the goals of the MCC compact on time, the embassy has stated.




Hong Kong: HK, Bangladesh sign tax pact

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui today signed a comprehensive avoidance of double taxation agreement (CDTA) with Bangladesh on behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

The CDTA, signed in Hong Kong, sets out the allocation of taxation rights between the two jurisdictions and is aimed at helping investors better assess their potential tax liabilities from cross-border economic activities.

Noting that Bangladesh is one of the economies participating in the Belt & Road Initiative, Mr Hui said he is confident that the CDTA will further promote economic and trade ties between Hong Kong and Bangladesh, and that it will offer additional incentives for market participants on both sides to do business or make investments.

Under the Hong Kong-Bangladesh CDTA, Hong Kong companies can enjoy double taxation relief as any tax paid in Bangladesh, whether directly or by deduction, will be allowed as a credit against tax payable in Hong Kong in respect of the same income, subject to the provisions of the tax laws of Hong Kong.

It also provides other tax relief arrangements. Bangladeshs withholding tax rates for Hong Kong residents on dividends will be capped at 10% or 15%, depending on their shareholdings. On interest, royalties and fees for technical services, the rate will be capped at 10%.

Hong Kong residents deriving profits from international shipping in Bangladesh will enjoy a 50% tax reduction on profits subject to tax there.

The CDTA is the 47th such agreement Hong Kong has concluded and will come into force after the completion of ratification procedures by both jurisdictions.

The Chief-Executive-in-Council will make an order under the Inland Revenue Ordinance. The order is subject to negative vetting by the Legislative Council.

Click here for details.

This story has been published on: 2023-08-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Ukrainian president, Japanese PM discuss security guarantees over phone

Xinhua) 13:07, August 30, 2023

KIEV, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed security guarantees for his country during phone talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the president's press service said Tuesday.

Zelensky praised the joint declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine adopted by the Group of Seven (G7), urging Japan to conclude bilateral agreements under the document.

"We are ready to start this negotiation process with Japan as soon as possible," Zelensky stressed.

He invited Japan to participate in the next round of consultations on Ukraine's Peace Formula at the level of national security advisors and in the Global Peace Summit.

During the conversation, the parties also discussed the prospects for the extension of the Black Sea "grain corridor" for exporting foodstuffs from Ukraine by creating alternative routes.

Another topic of the talks was the preparation for the Ukraine Recovery Conference scheduled to take place in Japan early next year.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  The proposed 2024 budget for the Department of Education (DepEd) under next year's National Expenditure Program is "not enough" for the needed programs to improve basic education in the country, Vice President Sara Duterte said Wednesday.

The proposed budget for the DepEd next year is 758.59 billion, a 5% increase from the over 721 billion under the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA). This was presented to the committee on appropriations of the House of Representatives.

The 1987 Constitution provides that "the State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education."

"In the NEP, what is proposed for the Department of Education is an increase of only 5.28% compared to the current level," Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said in his interpellation. "I surmise that this is not adequate to respond to the priority projects and programs of the Department of Education."

"Yes," said Duterte, who is the concurrent education secretary. "There is not enough budget to address all the projects and programs that the Department of Education wants to implement to improve basic education in our country."

When asked what should be the adequate appropriation for the DepEd, Duterte said the agency originally requested approximately 900 billion as its budget for fiscal year 2024.

"Of course, we are there with the traditional 'build more classrooms and hire more teachers' track that has been the solution of all previous administrations and previous secretaries," the DepEd chief said. "But right now, we are pursuing another track as well, that is learning from the lessons of the pandemic where we want to institutionalize the blended learning program."

The institutionalization of blended learning, according to Duterte, intends to address the congestion in classrooms, the lack of classrooms, and the shortage of teachers, as DepEd eyes leveraging technology and using asynchronous and synchronous deliveries of teaching.

Learners returned to school on Tuesday. As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, Duterte told lawmakers enrollment for school year 2023 to 2024 was at 24,054,404 from Kinder to Grade 11. Of the number, around 20 million learners recorded were from public schools.

RELATED STORIES:

DepEd: All systems go for Aug. 29 opening of classes despite shortage of 159k classrooms

Public school students welcome new school year as gov't pilot tests decongested curriculum

How about withdrawing confidential funds?

As Duterte admitted that the proposed expenditure program for DepEd is insufficient, Lagman asked if the vice president is open to withdrawing their request for the agency's confidential funds.

Duterte is seeking 150 million for confidential funds of the DepEd.

"Considering the universe of shortages in the Department of Education which would need adequate funding, Madam Secretary, would you voluntarily withdraw your request for confidential funds in the DepEd?" Lagman asked.

Duterte replied: "There is a purpose and a need for confidential funds in the Department of Education because basic education is intertwined with national security. But of course, as we always say, we leave it to the discretion of the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate the wisdom of granting confidential funds to the Department of Education."

In his interpellation, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel claimed the DepEd could not show a "good performance" on its efforts for anti-child grooming and anti-abuse  some of the programs said to be funded by confidential funds.

"Parang ang dating sa akin nag-iimbento tayo ng dahilan to justify confidential funds [It looks like to me they are inventing reasons to justify the allocation of confidential funds]," he said.

He also said confidential funds have a higher allocation than the DepEd's mental health programs, which would only have 116 million next year.

RELATED: Youth lawmaker urges Marcos to declare mental health emergency

Assistant Secretary Dexter Galban said the fund will be for the mental health program and improvement of guidance counseling programs, intertwined with DepEd's programs for substance abuse prevention and adolescent reproductive health, among other youth programs.

DepEd's universe of shortages

Lawmakers tried to pinpoint the shortages the agency needs to address. Here are some of the answers:

- Undersecretary Michael Poa said the country lacks 165,000 classrooms, according to the National School Building Inventory.

- Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado said there is a shortage of 89,000 teachers in the primary and secondary levels.

- Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said it would need around 131 billion to complete the major repairs in school buildings nationwide, while they may seek an increase in the allocation for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses of identified schools needing minor repairs.

- Densing said there is a shortage of 3,966 health facilities for schools nationwide, and this year's budget only covers 333 facilities. He said the proposed 500 million for public school health facilities is "small."




Siraha, Nepal, August 30, 2023: Secretariat meeting of the main opposition party CPN-UML is being started from today at Dhangadhi Municipality-14 Sarre Ambas of Sirha District.





The UML has organized the secretariat meeting at the venue of the fourth national convention of the then CPN ML in 2046BS.





As the convention had elected late Madan Bhandari in the post of partys general secretary, UML has been protecting the place as a historical place of the communist movement.




GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations officials said on Tuesday that sanctions on Niger were blocking vital humanitarian aid such as food and medicine, saying that requests for exemptions had been submitted to regional bloc ECOWAS.





Trucks with food and humanitarian aid have been piling up at Niger's land borders since a military coup on July 26, driving up food prices, in a sign of the impact of the sanctions. The blockade is designed to pressure the junta to restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum to office.





"There is no way to bring humanitarian aid into the country," Emmanuel Gignac, U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) representative for Niger told a press briefing during a visit to Geneva. "The immediate goods (affected) is going to be food and then it's going to be access to medicine, to drugs."





He added that a formal letter from U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths had been addressed to ECOWAS for exemptions.





ECOWAS spokesperson Emos Lungu declined to comment.





U.N. aid flights have also been grounded because they cannot get access to jet fuel because of the sanctions, complicating aid efforts in the giant country. Some agencies are using trucks, said World Food Programme regional spokesperson Djaounsede Madjiangar, but that takes extra time.





Requests for special ECOWAS clearance for aid supplies have so far not been granted, he added.





A U.N. children's agency spokesperson said UNICEF has some 50 containers with immunization, cold chain equipment and therapeutic food stuck at different entry points, unable to get into the country, while more than a million doses of yellow fever and rotavirus vaccines cannot be flown in from Europe due to the airspace closure.





He added the agency was concerned about some 28 million vaccine doses stocked inside the country, with 95% of warehouses currently hit by power outages.




Police on Tuesday released the name of the man who was fatally shot on a South Richmond roadway.

Police investigating a collision were approached at 5:24 p.m. and told about a shooting, police said.

Isaiah Johnson, 21, of Hopewell, had been shot in the 4300 block of Richmond Highway and taken to a hospital, where he died.

The medical examiner will determine the cause and manner of death.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at (804) 646-3915 or Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.
Several area high schools were ranked among the top caliber in the country and around the state, according to the U.S News and World Report.

Five schools were ranked among the countrys top 1,000 public high schools while eight were ranked among Virginias top 50.

The U.S. News rankings are based on schools performance on state assessments, either in absolute terms or by exceeding statistical expectations based on the schools relative level of student poverty, achieving proficiency rates on state tests for a schools least-advantaged student groups, graduation rates and how a school prepares students for college, based on AP exams.

The top rank in Central Virginia went to Open High School, located in Richmonds Oregon Hill neighborhood. The small alternative high school was ranked among the top 1% in the country. It had a graduation rate at 98% with 56% of its student population coming from minority backgrounds.

Richmond Community High School also cracked the top 1% at a rank of 175th nationally, and third in Virginia. Almost 60% of students passed at least on AP Exam at the school with a 100% graduation rate. Around 73% of the student population comes from diverse backgrounds and 99% were listed to be economically disadvantaged.

Three Henrico Schools were listed in the top 6% nationally. Those schools were Deep Run (ranked 567th), Glen Allen High School (ranked 990th) and Mills Godwin High School (ranked 997th).

Midlothian High School was Chesterfield Countys highest-ranked school at 1,443rd nationally and 34th in Virginia. Cosby High School was second, ranked 1,586th in the nation and 38th in Virginia.

Atlee High School was Hanover Countys highest ranked school at 1,608th and 39th in Virginia.

The full rankings are available at the 2023-24 Best High Schools in America page on U.S. News and World Reports website.

Central Virginia Schools in Virginia top 100:

Open High School  2 in Virginia, 170 nationally  Richmond

Richmond Community High School  3 in Virginia, 175 nationally  Richmond

Deep Run High School  11 in Virginia, 567 nationally  Henrico

Godwin High School  24 in Virginia, 977 nationally  Henrico

Glen Allen High School  25 in Virginia, 990 nationally  Henrico

Midlothian High School  34 in Virginia, 1,443 nationally  Chesterfield

Cosby High School  38 in Virginia, 1,586 nationally  Chesterfield

Atlee High School  39 in Virginia, 1,608 nationally  Hanover

Hanover High School  70 in Virginia, 30,012 nationally  Hanover

Freeman High School  71 in Virginia, 3,051 nationally  Henrico

Franklin Military Academy  72 in Virginia, 3,071 nationally  Richmond

Clover Hill High School  78 in Virginia, 3,407 nationally  Chesterfield

James River High School  91 in Virginia, 4,084 nationally  Chesterfield

Tucker High School  99 in Virginia, 4,596 nationally  Henrico
At Virginia Union University, 465 freshmen enrolled this fall, the schools largest class in eight years.

Colleges across the state are pushing hard to bring in students, as demographic changes are lowering the number of high school graduates in the years to come. Many small colleges in the state have s://richmond.com/are-va-s-big-colleges-driving-the-small-ones-out-of-business/article_c4e5fc74-d484-11ed-9455-8b5929eaa50e.html" target="_blank">struggled to maintain their enrollments.

Altogether, VUU expects to have about 1,200 undergraduate and 400 graduate students this year, on par with previous years. Classes began last week.

We know that students have choices, and we are proud they are selecting Virginia Union in rising numbers, said Hakim Lucas, president of VUU. This is especially gratifying at a time when some question the value of higher education.

VUU experienced some lean years before the pandemic. In 2019, the school had fewer than 1,500 students, its smallest group in more than 20 years.

In general, large colleges in Virginia have had no trouble maintaining or growing their enrollments. Last week, George Mason University announced its largest freshman class in school history, with 4,500 students, pushing the universitys enrollment above 40,000 for the first time.

Even Virginia Commonwealth University, which had shrunk four years in a row, welcomed a freshman class of more than 4,500 this year, which might be the schools largest.

Colleges do not officially record their enrollment totals until several weeks into the semester, after some students have dropped out.

Remember these Richmond-area restaurants?
More than one hundred community organizers sang on the steps of City Hall, and an impromptu church choir belted out the old mainstay hymn Amazing Grace.

The prayer vigil, led by Rev. Sherman Z. Logan Jr., saw dozens come forward Tuesday evening to pray for lives lost as a result of gun violence in the city and make a plea to Mayor Levar Stoney to take action.

Following a joint letter submitted to the mayor on behalf of the faith-based organization Richmonders Involved in Strengthening our Communities, RISC, and the Virginia Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators, VCORE, city officials agreed to meet with the two institutions to discuss the implementation of the Group Violence Intervention plan.

While community members waited outside singing hymns, sharing testimonials and prayers, a few RISC and VCORE members sat in a hushed board room with Stoney and police Chief Rick Edwards for more than an hour discussing the citys current gun violence prevention plan and the possibility of a new one.

This is the city we will continue to fight for, so that lives can be saved, so that people can flourish, so that worlds can thrive and so that justice can be realized for every citizen in our city, Pastor Marvin Gilliam Jr. said after sharing the story of the death of his brother-in-law.

Since the start of this year, Richmond has experienced 174 instances of gun-related injury. Last year, the city recorded 349, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Two were the deaths of Huguenot High School student Shawn Jackson and his stepfather, Renzo Smith, following Jacksons graduation ceremony in June at the Altria Theater.

The event shocked residents and led RISC members to call for more deliberate, immediate action by advocating for the national Group Violence Intervention program.

The plan  utilized by numerous police departments including those in Oakland, California; Boston; Detroit; New Orleans; and in Richmonds own backyard, Hopewell  touts that it reduces homicide and gun violence, minimizes harm to communities by replacing enforcement with deterrence and fosters stronger relationships between law enforcement and the people.

According to RISC members, the group first brought this proposed program to the citys attention in February 2020. They argue the city has failed to implement it, which could drastically impact the citys most vulnerable communities as those at the highest risk of shooting someone are often the same people who face the highest risk of becoming a shooting victim.

However, it is not that simple to adopt new policy, city officials said. Currently, the city is already operating another national gun violence prevention program titled the National Public Safety Initiative.

The partnership, established by the U.S. Department of Criminal Justice Services, offers a framework for local police departments to follow that includes numerous overlaps with the Gun Violence Prevention plan. Additionally, the program includes federal funding to cover the cost of various initiatives.

Richmond was one of 10 cities chosen to participate in the federal pilot program aimed at curbing gun violence.

Although city officials did not allow the media to be present during the meeting with the community advocates, Stoney and Edwards spoke to The Times-Dispatch and outlined what was said during the meeting.

Mainly, the conversation centered around the two plans and which was the better option to be implemented.

No one is ever satisfied with someone losing their life to gun violence or someone being wounded by these weapons, Stoney said. We talked in length about that and how were all on the same page about this.

Edwards said the department took into consideration numerous programs before landing on its current strategy. Although there are numerous overlaps between the two programs, like community outreach, deterrence efforts and youth programs, there are things within the GVI plan that the department cannot endorse  including a call-in program.

The call-in program proposes that law enforcement meet with violent groups to tell them that violence must stop. For Edwards, it feels more like a stern talking to and not as effective.

Although in its early stages, the citys gun-related injuries are down from the past two years. Youth-related incidents have also decreased.

Following the meeting, there was little resolution.

We were obviously both disappointed, Stoney said. They are disappointed because we have not said yes to GVI, and we were disappointed because they have not committed to collaboration.

From the Archives: In 1974, a Richmond music festival turned into a full-on riot Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival Cherry Blossom Rock Festival 20181109_FEA_POD_jamDONE.jpg
Virginia Techs College of Engineering is moved out of old Randolph Hall ahead of demolition to make way for a new, almost $300 million Mitchell Hall, administrators said Tuesday.

Moving an entire college out of the 67-year-old Randolph Hall, finished in 1959, was a feat in its own right, said university board of visitors member Tish Long during a meeting Tuesday in Roanoke.

Virginia Techs top ranked College of Engineering has grown 68% since the fall of 2006, Long said. As of last academic year, the number of bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees represent 39% of all degree production at Virginia Tech.

A new and expanded 285,500-square-foot Mitchell Hall will be state of the art and more than 100,000 square feet larger than Randolph Hall, according to a university webpage.

The project received $11 million of design funding from the state in 2020, and full project funding with a total budget of $292 million in 2022, Long said.

Its in the working drawing phase, Long said. Construction activities are anticipated to begin in late 2023 to early 2024, with substantial completion planned for the summer of 2027.

Mitchell Hall got its name after a record $35 million donation from Norris Mitchell, class of 1958, and his wife Wendy in 2021. It became the largest single alumnus donation in school history.

Im a firm believer in the value of a good engineering education, Mitchell said at the time. It has served me very well for many years.
At 6-foot-5, Gov. Glenn Youngkin would have stood out in that Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee last week.

But Youngkin would have been another face in the crowd, given his standard-brand views: taxes are bad, public schools are worse, illegal immigrants are dangerous, LGBTQ kids are disruptive and history is being distorted by the post-George Floyd emphasis on Black, brown and Indigenous people.

Plus, Youngkin  as six of the eight candidates did  would have likely pledged to support Donald Trump as the GOP nominee, even if hes convicted of federal and state crimes.

Youngkin expressed his fealty to Trump even before the self-financing former financiers surprise victory  after two Trump endorsements  in a blue-trending Virginia nearly two years ago. Further, Youngkin hasnt hesitated to disparage the investigations and indictments of the former president as partisan inquisitions.

These were Youngkins words in the televised debate best remembered for Democrat Terry McAuliffes titanic blunder on the role of parents in schools: Who knows whos going to be running for president in 2024. If [Trumps] the Republican nominee, Ill support him.

And on social media, Youngkin has been a reliable apologist for Trump the Alleged Criminal: The Manhattan prosecutor pursuing Trump for paying hush money to a porn star is driven by pure political gain. The federal indictment of Trump for hiding at his home secret documents is evidence of a two-tiered justice system where some are selectively prosecuted.

That wont distinguish Youngkin from the Republican field  because its what Republican primary voters expect.

If he were on that stage, he would be almost as visible as Governor Hutchinson, said Stephen Farnsworth, the University of Mary Washington politics analyst, referring to Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a back-of-the-pack candidate who  with Chris Christie, a former Trump loyalist  was front and center in refusing to back Trump as the 2024 nominee.

Jim Gilmore, a former governor, knows something about those TV debates, having sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, when Trump was elected. The little-known Gilmore looked to the debates to elevate his profile  to spiral up, he said.

Gilmore said he wasnt sure how Youngkin would have fared in the Aug. 23 debate. Describing Youngkin as a very capable communicator ... who speaks well and is clear on what he is doing, Gilmore said broadcast political pageants may be for naught this cycle because Trump will be the nominee unless they can knock him out of the race by the legal system.

Within the echo chamber that is Youngkin World, the boss presumed national ambitions are milked nonstop for media exposure and fundraising. Youngkins flirtation is not necessarily a measure of how he would comport himself as an announced presidential candidate. One can only speculate how Youngkin would have performed in Milwaukee.

A GOP strategist who was watching Youngkin long before Virginians had heard of him, put it this way: oh man, thats a double-hypothetical fan fiction. I dont want to go there.

That Youngkin did not participate in the debate on Youngkin-fawning Fox News  he is not yet an announced candidate and its unknown whether hed have met the required donor and polling thresholds  is evidence his national prospects could imperil his immediate ambition at home: restoring total Republican control of the state legislature.

There are roughly a dozen toss-up seats among the 140 in the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate that will be decided in November. Youngkin is committing time, technology, money and prestige to protecting the Republican majority in the House  currently three seats  and flipping two in the Senate to wrest it from Democrats.

In those swing seats, Youngkin and the candidates hes supporting  many of them hand-picked by the governor  cant be seen as too partisan. That may explain why Youngkins parents-rights pitch isnt focused as much now on supposed woke-ism and LGBTQ rights as on kids overexposure to social media and coronavirus-caused learning loss.

That was the case at a Youngkin-organized, town hall-type meeting outside Fredericksburg earlier this month to lift Del. Tara Durants bid for the Senate. The Stafford County Republican is facing Democrat Joel Griffin, a former Marine, restaurateur and investor, in a potentially competitive race that could be complicated by far-right discontent with Youngkin.

That Youngkin is less shrill where and with whom it may help might also be a hint that ultimately he will pass on a run for the presidency next year. A national candidacy concurrent with his legislative push would affix to Youngkin an image of indelible partisanship. Thus, sitting out 24 maximizes chances of success in Virginia in 23, Farnsworth said.

Never mind that the dominant scenario du jour has Youngkin making a late bid for president, having, in a spectacular demonstration of big-money mobilization, won GOP dominance of the General Assembly, proving his personal popularity is transferable to little-known local candidates and that his 2021 squeaker win was no aberration.

A Trump-led Republican catastrophe in 2024  notwithstanding early polls showing Trump and President Joe Biden in a close race  could create many opportunities for the GOPs fresher faces, with Youngkin among them. In the 2026 midterm elections, he could be a deep-pocketed party builder; maybe a Senate candidate, opposing fellow rich dude Mark Warner.

Youngkin may not have moved on from a 2024 candidacy, yet, but Virginia Republican voters have. The just-out Roanoke College Poll shows Youngkin preferred for the presidential nomination by only 9%, putting him a distant third to Trump, at 47%, but within spitting distance of Ron DeSantis, favored by 13%.

Even as a second choice for the nomination, Youngkin trails DeSantis, Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech investor who, according to Forbes, is worth more than $950 million, making Youngkin  with a $400 million fortune  seem the piker.

The poll does show Youngkin with room to grow  in personal approval. Hes stalled at 51%, approximately his winning tally in 2021. Youngkin was at 51% in May. That was down from 57% in February. Still, Youngkins doing far better than Biden. With a 40% approval rating, the president is underwater in Virginia, a state he carried in 2020 by nearly 10 percentage points.

So other than height, Youngkin does stand out  if only at home.
CHICAGO  A judge on Monday refused to dismiss the case against a father who helped his son obtain a gun license three years before authorities say the younger man shot and killed seven people at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago.

Illinois prosecutors charged Robert Crimo Jr. under an unconstitutionally vague law, his lawyer argued earlier this month.

Lake County Judge George Strickland rejected that argument, as well as a defense contention that prosecutors charged Crimo Jr. too late. The court's rulings mean Crimo Jr.'s Nov. 6 trial will go ahead as previously scheduled.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  The ex-policeman filmed hitting a cyclist and drawing his gun in Quezon City worked for Supreme Court Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario and was immediately terminated after the viral incident, the magistrates office confirmed on Wednesday.

This is to notify the public that Mr. Wilfredo Gonzales was a coterminous employee of the Office of Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario," Wilhelmina Aileen Mayuga, the judicial staff head of Rosario's office, said in a statement.

"His employment was immediately terminated on Aug. 27, 2023 upon discovery of the incident, she added.

Mayuga said the associate justice does not condone any form of violence or abusive behavior.

Gonzales was also earlier ordered dismissed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) on two different occasions due to grave misconduct.

The PNP said the first was in 2006, although it was eventually downgraded to a demotion after Gonzales appealed the dismissal order.

The second one was in 2018, two years after his mandatory retirement, which meant his retirement benefits were withdrawn.

Police have already filed alarms and scandals complaint against Gonzales following the Aug. 8 incident, and the PNP said it is urging the victim to file a complaint for heavier charges.

RELATED: Attempted homicide among possible charges vs. gun-toting ex-cop, lawyer says
WASHINGTON  For President Joe Biden, strong backing for Ukraine's effort to repel Russia's invasion has been a rare issue where he's mustered bipartisan support.

However, the first GOP presidential debate  and recent comments on Ukraine by the 2024 GOP polling leader and former president, Donald Trump  show that the unusual unity will face a stress test as the 2024 presidential campaign intensifies and the leading Republican contenders show antipathy toward American backing of Ukraine.

There long has been an isolationist strain in the United States, particularly in the Republican Party, but rarely has it been shared by so many candidates for president.

On the debate stage in Milwaukee last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would make additional U.S. aid "contingent" on European allies increasing contributions. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy called it "disastrous" that the U.S. government was "protecting against an invasion across somebody else's border" and argued Ukraine funding would be better spent on the "invasion of our own southern border."

Meanwhile, Trump, who did not participate in the first debate, said he will end Russia's invasion in one day if he wins back the White House. Even some of his Republican allies, like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said that assertion was folly.

Trump also has called on Congress to withhold additional Ukraine funding until the FBI, IRS and Justice Department "hand over every scrap of evidence" on the Biden family's business dealings.

Daniel Fried, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland and distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council, said Republican congressional leadership and Biden remain on the same page on providing Ukraine the assistance it needs.

Still, he said the prominent voices in the Republican field calling for the U.S. to slow or wind down support for Kyiv send a troubling signal to allies about what the U.S.commitment could look like following the 2024 election and harken back to the years when isolationists pressured the U.S. to remain neutral during the first two years of World War II.

"The majority of elected Republicans in the committee chairs and the people with power in Congress are still solid," Fried said. "When they attack the administration, it's usually for not doing enough. But Trump and the Trump wannabes represent this other tradition in our history. And the last time this isolationist tradition was powerful in America, it led to catastrophic results."

Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz criticized "MAGA Republicans" on the debate stage for siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukrainian people and alluded to Ramaswamy mocking U.S. politicians who visited Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

During last week's debate, Ramaswamy took a dig at former Vice President Mike Pence and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, both of whom visited Kyiv this summer, for making a "pilgrimage" to "their Pope Zelenskyy" without doing the same for Americans impacted by Hawaii's wildfires and crime and violence in U.S. cities.

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley then slammed Ramaswamy, saying he was effectively standing with Putin and being short-sighted about U.S. interests. "This guy is a murderer. And you are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country," said Haley, who also previously served as South Carolina's governor.

Publicly, the White House stressed that key Republican lawmakers, notably Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, are largely in agreement on the need to continue assistance to Ukraine.

The Biden administration earlier this month called on Congress to provide more than $13 billion in emergency defense aid to Ukraine and an additional $8 billion for humanitarian support through the end of the year. The aid money was included in a supplemental spending request that also includes money to replenish U.S. federal disaster funds and bolster enforcement at the southern border with Mexico. Biden in a brief exchange with reporters on Friday said he was not interested in splitting the request.

The U.S.committed more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, including more than $43 billion in military aid.

"We believe that the support will be there and will be sustained even if there are some dissident voices on the other side of the aisle," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. "We believe that at the core there is still a strong bipartisan foundation of support for our Ukraine policy and for supporting and defending Ukraine."

Support among the American public for providing Ukraine weaponry and direct economic assistance softened with time. An AP-NORC poll conducted in January 2023 around the one-year mark of the conflict found that 48% favored the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, down from the 60% of U.S. adults who were in favor of sending Ukraine weapons in May 2022.

While Democrats have generally been more supportive than Republicans of offering weaponry, their support dropped slightly from 71% to 63% in the same period. Republican support dropped more, from 53% to 39%.
At Virginia Union University, 465 freshmen enrolled this fall, the school's largest class in eight years.

Colleges across the state are pushing hard to bring in students, as demographic changes are lowering the number of high school graduates in the years to come. Many small colleges in the state have struggled to maintain their enrollments.

Altogether, VUU expects to have about 1,200 undergraduate and 400 graduate students this year, on par with previous years. Classes began last week.

"We know that students have choices, and we are proud they are selecting Virginia Union in rising numbers," said Hakim Lucas, president of VUU. "This is especially gratifying at a time when some question the value of higher education."

VUU experienced some lean years before the pandemic. In 2019, the school had fewer than 1,500 students, its smallest group in more than 20 years.

In general, large colleges in Virginia have had no trouble maintaining or growing their enrollments. Last week, George Mason University announced its largest freshman class in school history, with 4,500 students, pushing the university's enrollment above 40,000 for the first time.

Even Virginia Commonwealth University, which had shrunk four years in a row, welcomed a freshman class of more than 4,500 this year, which might be the school's largest. Colleges do not officially record their enrollment totals until several weeks into the semester, after some students have dropped out.
ADO will offer two Tulum International Airport routes in December

Tulum, Q.R.  Autobuses de Oriente (ADO) says once the Tulum International Airport is operational, they will offer two new routes. ADO has confirmed the first two routes from the Tulum International Airport, however, they are working to open more routes depending on demand.

Julio Garcia, head of Grupo Mobility ADO says for now, the bus company will start with two routes in December.

We are already in talks with the commercial part of the Tulum airport. We have worked with them on the projection of passenger service that they are beginning to glimpse, he said.

Garcia says ADO will offer connections with airports in Cancun and AICM (Felipe Angeles International Airport in Mexico City). He says there is great interest in being part of this new connectivity to the Tulum airport. The objective is to consolidate the direct connections with both the municipal head of Felipe Carrillo Puerto and Tulum.

At the beginning there will be these two routes. We depend a lot on their confirmation, on air traffic, but we are there. It is a small airport. It does not have any comparison with that of Cancun, but it will undoubtedly attract more tourism to the state, he said.

Garcia said ADO plans on transporting travelers from the Tulum airport to other parts of Quintana Roo and across Mexico, however, travel figures, demand and operating costs all need to be considered.

We are doing the planning, detailing the routes, supply and demand, among other things. We must be aware that everything is a process and requires a large investment and infrastructure.

There are many factors to consider, but we are happy and with great optimism for this new project and what better place to be considering it than in Quintana Roo, a place full of wealth and tourism, he said.
Navy rescues two drifting catamarans off Isla Mujeres

Isla Mujeres, Q.R.  Two catamarans found drifting off Isla Mujeres were towed to safety by the Navy. The boats were located by Navy personnel during an at-sea surveillance tour Sunday night.

In a statement, the Secretary of the Navy reported that, acting as Coast Guard they gave support to two catamaran vessels in the surroundings of Isla Mujeres.

This action was carried out when a Defender boat from the Naval Search, Rescue and Maritime Surveillance Station (ENSAR) of Isla Mujeres was carrying out a maritime surveillance patrol. During the tour, Navy personnel sighted two catamaran vessels that were were adrift 2.9 nautical miles (5.4 kilometers) west of Isla Mujeres.

The catamarans were towed back to Isla Mujeres by a Navy vessel. Photo: La Secretaria de Marina August 27, 2023.

Both boats were drifting due to electrical and propulsion failures. Naval personnel provided protection support and maritime security to said vessels until the end of their towing to land in order to avoid a possible navigation accident as there is no visibility in the area.

La Secretaria de Marina did not provide information on a crew and / or any passengers on board at the time of the incident.
State business associations calling copyright payment proposal conflict of interest

Riviera Maya, Q.R.  Hotels, bars and restaurants across the state are being faced with a proposal to pay copyright fees in order to have their business licenses renewed. Since the announcement of the proposed reform to a current bill, which would have to be passed by state congress, local business owners are calling it a conflict of interest.

The proposal was put forward by Deputy Hugo Alday last week, a proposal that has caused a stir across the state. During a recent press conference, the various hosting associations requested congress throw this initiative into the trash, which is where it came from.

On Monday, various associations from Quintana Roo held a press conference saying the proposal is contrary to law, it lacerates the economy of Quintana Roo without any benefit to the state and also implies a conflict of interest on the part of the promoting deputy, Hugo Alday Nieto, who has litigated for this particular group.

The proposal is to reform municipal finance laws which would force companies to sign a payment agreement with an Authors Association as a condition for obtaining their state operating license.

Toni Chaves, President of the Hotel Council of the Mexican Caribbean, pointed out that the bill, in which various sectors are required to cover an additional charge for the use of music in their establishments, has no benefit for the municipalities or the state, so it is out of all logic and context.

It seems unheard of to us that legislation is being legislated in favor of private parties and not of the state, he added.

David Ortiz Mena, Vice President of the Council and President of the Tulum Hotel Association, explained that there is an invasion of powers because this collective management society can claim the rights it believes it has through administrative channels.

State business associations are referring to the proposal as a conflict of interest. Photo: August 28, 2023.

Instead, the government is being used to force an agreement, making bargaining impossible and imposing a monopoly on the state. The legislature has nothing to do with promoting the right of individuals, in addition to promoting monopolistic practices, he said.

Jesus Almaguer, President of the Cancun, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres Hotel Association, recalled that for years, Congressman Hugo Alday has declared himself an expert in trademark and was even the litigant that lost the brands of the states destinations, an issue that should be reviewed with the Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council.

The group is urging State Congress to throw this initiative into the trash, which is where it came from, noting that they have already had meetings with Renan Sanchez Tajonar, Deputy President of the Finance Commission, and Julian Ricalde, of the Tourism Commission, among other authorities.

Deputy Huog Alday says his proposal has opened debate on this issue, adding that there is still a long way to go so that copyrights are fully protected. Any person who makes use of music, videos or any other work for profit is obliged to pay.

However, all the business chambers already have agreements with the collective management societies to pay these rights.
A 26-city U.S. tour to spread a message of creating a stress free, violence free society via meditation and other means makes a stop in Roanokes Jefferson Center from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will bring The Journey Within to the auditorium at 541 Luck Ave. S.W. Passes to attend start at $25 and are available online: https://tiny.cc/journeywithinR

The Roanoke chapter of the Art of Living Foundation is hosting the visit. Organizers describe it as an experiential and interactive evening of meditation and wisdom and say 500 people had registered to attend as of Tuesday.

The tour will end at the World Culture Festival in Washington, D.C., Sept. 29-Oct. 1.
Roanokes historic Fire Station No. 1 is one of the states 2023 outstanding projects, selected by Preservation Virginia.

Fire Station No. 1 served the Roanoke community for more than 100 years. Closed and vacant for a decade, Old School Partners  working with Hill Studio  purchased the building in 2019 and undertook a renovation to return the building to public use. Fire Station No. 1 is now home to a boutique hotel, Stock Cafe & Bar, the Txtur furniture store and event space. It was awarded as an outstanding preservation project.

The Preservation Virginia award categories include outstanding preservation, outstanding community preservation, outstanding research efforts, outstanding preservation achievement and the trustees excellence in achievement.

Preservation Virginia is a nonprofit that describes itself as the first statewide organization of its kind in the country.

The preservation awards are an opportunity to thank the individuals and organizations actively working to preserve historic sites in Virginia for future generations, said Elizabeth S. Kostelny, Preservation Virginia CEO, in a news release. Virginia has incredibly rich history, and its important to honor and spotlight those efforts that preserve historic places, build stronger communities and support the economic vitality of the Commonwealth.

Some other winners include:

Cabin renovations at Virginia state parks received an outstanding preservation project award. Significant renovations of camping cabins were undertaken in historic Douthat State Park and Fairy Stone State Park. The completed project revealed original primitive and historic features while offering modern amenities to families vacationing in the parks. PMA Architecture, Stemann/Pease Architecture and Timmons Group and Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation were involved.

The restoration of the Warm Springs Pools in Bath County also received an outstanding preservation project award and those involved included 3North, Lionberger Construction, 1200 Architectural Engineers and The Omni Homestead Resort. The Warm Springs Pools have attracted a devoted following for more than 250 years.

The Green Cove Station Train Depot is an outstanding community reservation winner. In the early 1910s, the Virginia Creeper railroad linked communities in far Southwest Virginia and North Carolina. Today, the Green Cove Station near Damascus is the last remaining depot along the trail. Its successful rehabilitation included the U.S. Forestry Service George Washington & Jefferson National Forests, Virginia Creeper Trail Conservancy and HistoriCorps.

Rick and Susan Humphreys are recognized for an outstanding preservation achievement for several projects in Southwest Virginia. They helped save the Hiram Dooley House from demolition and encouraged a partnership between the town of Abingdon and the National Park Service to preserve the Abingdon Muster Grounds. They utilized historic tax credits to save the 1834 Austin Bronaugh House, which needed considerable restoration, and also preserved the 1840s Sandoe House, now known as A Tailors Lodging.

Thomas Jeffersons Poplar Forest is a trustees excellence in achievement winner. In 1983, the Corporation of Thomas Jeffersons Poplar Forest was established with the ambitious goal of owning and restoring Jeffersons Retreat. The result: Jefferson-era buildings were restored, more than 600 acres of the original property were acquired and a new entrance and trail system were completed. Archaeological excavations revealed new insights into experiences of enslaved individuals, and findings are shared with the public through educational programs.

Awardees will be honored at this years awards ceremony at the Hotel John Marshall in Richmond on Sept. 29, according to the release.
RIDGEWAY  Press Glass Inc. announced plans Wednesday to invest an additional $155.2 million, construct a 360,000-square-foot addition, and create 335 new jobs in Henry County.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the expansion at Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre in Ridgeway.

With this expansion, Press Glass will make the largest single capital investment by a business in Henry Countys history, said Youngkin. The addition of 335 new jobs, more than doubling the companys head count, helps this region continue its economic rebound and demonstrates the resurgence of manufacturing that is happening across the Commonwealth.

The company plans to begin construction on the expansion in the first quarter of 2024 with the expectation that the addition will be open and operational by 2025.

Robust glass lets the sun shine in, Youngkin said. It speaks of style, imagination, and durability.

Press Glass is the largest independent glass fabricator in Europe and is under the direction of Maciej Migalski, the companys president.

Our clients have trusted us and recognized the high quality of Press Glass products, so the expansion of the factory in Ridgeway is a natural step to increase the availability of our offerings and strengthen our position in the American market, said Migalski. After the expansion, the Ridgeway plant will be one of the largest and most automated facilities processing architectural glass in the USA. At the same time, we will create new, valuable job opportunities. We express our gratitude to the local leadership for their invaluable support.

Migalski looked at the audience before him and said that the future looked bright for both Press Glass and Henry County.

The decision of Press Glass to invest and grow in our county is a resounding vote of confidence in our talented workforce, robust infrastructure, and supportive manufacturing environment, said Henry County Board of Supervisors Chair Jim Adams. Not only does this expansion bring prosperity to our local economy, it also reflects the potential and attractiveness of our community for global business.

Seated on the front row when the announcement was made were Del. Wren Williams, state Sen. Bill Stanley, and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith.

Southside Virginia has the people, resources, and infrastructure for manufacturers to thrive, Griffith said. I applaud Press Glass decision to expand their U.S. manufacturing presence in Henry County, bringing 335 new jobs to the region. This investment is great news for our economy, and I look forward to the facilitys completion in the near future.

I am thrilled that Press Glass has committed to expanding their footprint in Henry County. This is a major win not only for our state, but also for Southside Virginia, said Stanley. This new investment will create hundreds of good-paying jobs and further strengthen our economy. I am committed to working with Governor Youngkin and our partners to continue attracting new businesses to Virginia and encouraging current businesses to stay and expand in our beautiful Commonwealth.

Press Glasss announcement of a new $155 million investment and 335 new jobs is fantastic news for our region, Williams said. I want to congratulate Press Glass and our friends in Martinsville and Henry County who worked so hard to make this happen. We will keep advocating for more companies to re-shore American manufacturing to Southside and Southwest Virginia, where we have some of the best workforce, infrastructure, and opportunity available.

Headquartered in Konopiska, Poland, Press Glass was founded in 1991 and has 15 factories in Europe and the U.S. As the largest independent flat glass processing operation in Europe, the company processes glass for fabricators of windows and doors, facades and interior glass constructions. The company opened its Henry County facility in 2020 and employs more than 300 individuals.

Press Glass decision to expand its manufacturing facility in Commonwealth Crossing speaks not only to the strength of Press Glass position in their industry but also to the decision local (elected) officials made 15 years ago to invest in a modern industrial park that would be attractive to growth companies like Press Glass, said James McClain, Chair, Martinsville-Henry County EDC. The EDC is grateful to Press Glass for their continued confidence and investment in Martinsville-Henry County.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation to secure the project for Virginia. Youngkin approved a $2 million grant from the Commonwealths Opportunity Fund to assist Henry County with the project. Funding and services to support the companys employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.
STAUNTON  A September 2021 videotaped interrogation of Travis Brown played to an Augusta County jury Tuesday showed Brown ultimately admitting three-year-old Khaleesi Cuthriell had died.

Brown is on trial for felony murder, aggravated murder and child abuse in the death of Khaleesi. During much of the interrogation by Augusta County Sheriffs investigators Mike Roane and Trevor Rexrode, Brown sticks to a story that Khaleesi was returned to child protective services of Augusta County Social Services.

Roane and Rexrode prod Brown about Khaleesis whereabouts.

If you know shes alive and where shes at, give it to me, Roane says at one point. Rexrode tells Brown, I need you to tell the truth.

Brown finally says Khaleesi died, likely in January 2021. He said she fell in his house on Cattle Scales Road, where she had gone to live after her mother was incarcerated in October 2020.

She fell multiple times a day. We tried like hell to help that little girl, Brown tells the investigators of his efforts and those of girlfriend and co-defendant Candi Royer. Brown said Khaleesi was wrapped in a blanket and thrown in the trash.

Brown denies killing her.

Why would I kill a three-year-old girl I was trying to help? Everything I did was just to help her, he tells the investigators.

But a witness romantically involved with Brown in the summer of 2021 said he admitted to murder.

Britanny Southern told Augusta County Commonwealths Attorney Tim Martin that the couple was at the Burger King in Verona when Brown admitted to murder. But Southern, whose credibility was attacked by defense attorney Dana Cormier for her long felony record, said Brown offered no details on the murder or the location.

The physical decline of Khaleesi was detailed late Tuesday.

A medical expert on the torture of children painted a grim picture of Khaleesis treatment during the three months she lived with Brown and Royer.

Dr. Robin Foster, who works at the Childrens Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University, is a board-certified child abuse expert. She treats hundreds of abused, tortured and neglected children each year. She is in charge of the child protection team at Childrens Hospital and is a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine.

Foster reviewed Khaleesis medical records and the videos and photos of her obtained by investigators. Foster said her review of all the information showed physical abuse, neglect, psychological abuse, and torture of Khaleesi over some time.

A side-by-side comparison of Khaleesis medical condition when she came to live with Brown and Royer in October 2020 and when she presumably died in January 2021 was graphic in the deterioration.

Foster said the nearly three-year-old Khaleesi shown in an October 2020 photo was well-nourished, healthy, and had a full head of hair.

The January 2021 photo of Khaleesi in a bathtub showed her unable to stand up straight. Foster said Khaleesi had lost weight in the trunk of her body, had swollen and purple-colored feet, and had suffered multiple soft tissue injuries. She was also missing large chunks of hair. Because of her medical condition, the physician said Khaleesi was prone to several serious medical conditions, such as cardiovascular collapse and Sepsis.

When Deputy Augusta County Commonwealths Attorney Alex Meador asked if Khaleesis life could have been saved by a trip to a hospital emergency room, Foster said, Yes.
The image of the UNC student newspapers front page is getting national attention the day after a fatal shooting stunned the Chapel Hill campus.

Tuesday night, Caitlyn Yeade, The Daily Tar Heels print managing editor, unveiled the front page of Wednesdays print edition on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Its a full page of text messages sent and received by students  mostly in black type, some in red. The page starts with Are you safe? Where are you? Are you alone? and ends with this: Dont stop texting me.

The front page of tomorrow's @dailytarheel 



I shed many tears while typing up these heart-wrenching text messages sent and received by UNC students yesterday. Our campus was on lockdown for more than three hours.



Beyond proud of this cover and the team behind it. pic.twitter.com/2gE51TrHZ8  Caitlyn (she/her) (@caitlyn_yaede) August 30, 2023

The dramatic image represented the culmination of over 24 hours of coverage provided by the independent student news outlet after the lockdown paralyzed the campus. A professor was fatally shot and a graduate student charged with first-degree murder in his death.

I shed many tears while typing up these heart-wrenching text messages sent and received by UNC students yesterday, Yeade wrote.

The tweet with the front page had thousands of likes, retweets and bookmarks within hours.

Like any news outlet, the staff of The Daily Tar Heel sprung into action to report on the major story of the day: sorting through conflicting updates, making decisions about when to publish details of the investigation.

But unlike other news outlets, the students were living the fear and anxiety in real time moment by moment. On the first day of the second week of classes of a new school year, they were huddled for three hours in classrooms and closets, unsure of what was happening in a classroom building in the central part of campus.

Monday afternoon, Emmy Martin, editor-in-chief of The Daily Tar Heel, tweeted a link to a story about the lockdown that had paralyzed the UNC campus in Chapel Hill.

Currently covering the active dangerous situation on UNCs campus, live updates posted here, she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, linking to a story from the universitys independent student newspaper.

She followed that with a post that showed how close she was to the situation: I am sheltering/in lockdown in a campus building with about 30 other students.

Atmosphere is tense, but folks are remaining calm. Its been 2.5 hours since we received the first alert about an armed person on campus. Waiting for more information from UNC on what to do.

Students report from lockdown

The story from the DTH, as the paper is known, reported the first campus alert at 1:04 p.m. The same story was updated at least 14 times over the course of Monday into Tuesday, and students posted live updates on X from a press conference with the chancellor and police chief.

On Tuesday, reporters and a photographer were dispatched to the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough for the suspects first appearance.

They wrote about classes being canceled for the second consecutive day.

And opinion columnist Zari Taylor, a Ph.D student and instructor, wrote how todays students have grown up in an era of shootings at schools and universities; those who survived the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting are now in college, Taylor wrote. These kinds of shootings, she wrote, have become the norm.

Because these incidents occur so frequently, we can become desensitized and numb to them  even when theyre so close to home, Taylor wrote. We often want to resume a normal after such occurrences, but how can we when there has just been so much loss? How much time is enough?

Georgia Roda-Moorhead wrote a column about collapsing in her mothers arms an hour away after she got the all-clear to leave her barricaded classroom. The headline of her column: A love letter to those grieving: You are not alone.

The Daily Tar Heel is a nonprofit newspaper that relies in part on donations to operate. Information on how to donate can be found at https://dailytarheel.com/page/donate.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and several journalists on Wednesday paid tribute to the late broadcaster Mike Enriquez.

Malacanang praised the former veteran newsman for his "unbiased" delivery of news to the public.

"We are saddened by [the] news of the passing of veteran anchor Mike Enriquez, a pillar in our broadcasting industry. He dedicated his life to delivering unbiased news to the Filipino people," said Marcos in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"Our heartfelt thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this time," he added.

Enriquez passed away on Tuesday at the age of 71. He has been receiving treatment for his kidney disease since 2018.

In December 2021, Enriquez underwent a kidney transplant, resulting in a three-month isolation period. He returned to work in March to cover the 2022 national and local elections.

Moreover, Enriquez's colleagues in the media remembered his journey in the industry that he has been part of since 1969.

Veteran journalist Howie Severino recalled seeing another side of Enriquez during their coverage in Iraq in 2003.

"I saw and heard then another side of Mike that most are unfamiliar with  the mellow, English-speaking voice and un-jologs De La Salle graduate who could converse fluently with the celebrity foreign anchors of the time," he said.

"It was another display of a remarkable tool kit that enabled him to adapt to any part of the broadcast industry he found himself in and build one of the longest and most successful careers in our field."

Meanwhile, television reporter Raffy Tima said that his "Ninong Mike" was always ready for any coverage.

"Always ready, always eager and always happy to be out on the field even after being in the industry for decades," he said in a Facebook post.

"The void you left will never be filled. Thank you for over a half century of service to our beloved industry."

On the other hand, fellow broadcaster Arnold Clavio shared a video of him and Enriquez dancing on TikTok.

"Paalam aking Ama, kaibigan, mentor, kasabwat, boss at higit sa lahat tagapagtanggol . Sabi mo, walang iwanan! Ang daya mo!" said Clavio on social media.

[Translation: Farewell to my father, friend, mentor, buddy, boss, and especially my 'savior'.You told me that you would never leave me! You're so unfair!]

The social media accounts of GMA News and SuperRadyoDZZB on Tuesday also mourned Enriquez's death by changing their profile photos to black and white.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, on another hand, also honored Enriquez calling him a "trailblazer and innovator" who helped shape how Filipinos consume news.

"Sa pamamagitan ng kanyang mga programa, pinahiram ni Sir Mike ang kanyang boses sa hinaing ng mga kababayan nating hindi naririnig o nakikita," Hontiveros said.

[Translation: Through his programs, Sir Mike lent his voice to our countrymen whose grievances are not heard.]
The General Assembly will meet in special session next week to complete its work on a pending budget agreement, with little time to spare before moving into its new legislative home next to Capitol Square.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday that he is calling the legislature into session next Wednesday, Sept. 6, at 10 a.m. to act on revisions to the two-year budget that have been delayed six months by a political impasse over the governor's quest for $1 billion in tax cuts.

He would get $1 billion in tax reductions under the pending deal, but almost all of it in one-time rebates to taxpayers that the Senate insisted on instead of the permanent cuts to corporate and individual income tax rates he had proposed.

Youngkin had said that he "can live with" the compromise over tax relief, bridging a political divide that had caused budget negotiations to break down on Feb. 24, the night before the assembly was to adjourn, and again on June 27, days before the end the fiscal year on June 30. It marked the second time in 50 years that Virginia had entered a new fiscal year without a revised budget, but the state is still operating on the two-year budget adopted 15 months ago.

I am calling Virginias lawmakers back to Richmond to reach a resolution on the state budget. Virginians deserve it," the governor said in a statement. "To make Virginia more affordable for families and local businesses, we must deliver on our shared goals for more jobs, safer and healthier communities, greater workforce and educational opportunities and much needed tax relief for Virginians.

"Together, we can get the job done.

The assembly has little time to complete its work on the budget deal, with details on spending and policy still to be announced. Legislative staff will begin moving into the new General Assembly Building at East Broad and North 9th Streets on Sept. 11 for the building's opening to the public a month later on Oct. 11.

The new building  14 stories above ground and one below  will replace a complex on the same spot that the assembly vacated in 2017 and the state demolished, leaving only the 1912 facade of the old Life Insurance Company of Virginia headquarters facing Capitol Square. The move back into the building has been delayed twice, preventing the General Assembly from returning for its legislative session earlier this year and again this summer.

"We are excited to finally get the project over the finish line," said Joe Damico, director of the Department of General Services, which has overseen the design and construction of the new building for the assembly.

The new building was part of a $300 million package of improvements around Capitol Square that also included renovation of Old City Hall and construction of a parking garage on East Broad Street that will be connected by underground tunnel to the legislature's new quarters. The assembly approved the capital project in 2016 after a political showdown with then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe and then included $25 million in the budget in 2020 to build a tunnel from the new building to the Capitol.

Last September, the state announced that completion of the new building would be delayed by the inability to get critical equipment in time because of global supply chains snarled during the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing the assembly from convening its session there in January. In June, the state said it delayed the move again because of an equipment failure that prevented one of the building's stairwells from meeting building code requirements.

"After experiencing many years of conservation and construction, as well as overcoming many obstacles, I'm delighted that the new General Assembly Building is completed and opening soon," House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Senate Rules Chair Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, praised the construction of a new building that preserves the historic facade on the same site of the legislature's old offices, which occupied three buildings from different eras.

"This blending of old and new is indicative of the legislative body itself, tracing its roots to 1619 but taking a contemporary approach to lawmaking with an eye always on Virginia's future," Locke said.

PHOTOS: General Assembly Building construction
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" "

Cosmic rays enter the earth's atmosphere in large numbers every day. For example, every person is hit by about half a million cosmic rays every hour. It is not uncommon for a cosmic ray to collide with an atom in the upper atmosphere, creating a secondary cosmic ray in the form of an energetic neutron, and for these energetic neutrons to collide with nitrogen atoms.

When the neutron collides, a nitrogen-14 (seven protons, seven neutrons) atom turns into a carbon-14 atom (six protons, eight neutrons) and a hydrogen atom (one proton, zero neutrons). Carbon-14 is radioactive, with a half-life of about 5,700 years.

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For more information on cosmic rays and half-life, as well as the process of radioactive decay, see how nuclear radiation works.

Carbon-14 in Living Things

The carbon-14 atoms created by cosmic rays combine with oxygen to form carbon dioxide, which plants absorb naturally and incorporate into plant fibers by photosynthesis (carbon exchange). Animals and people eat plants and take in carbon-14 as well.

The ratio of "normal" carbon (carbon-12) to carbon-14 in the air and in all living organisms at any given time is nearly constant. Maybe one in a trillion carbon atoms are carbon-14. The carbon-14 atoms decay and are replaced by new carbon-14 atoms at a constant rate. At this moment, your body has a certain percentage of carbon-14 atoms in it, and all living plants and animals have the same percentage.
- Bioenergy development offers many benefits in accelerating the energy transition.



NEW DELHI, INDIA - ACN Newswire - 30 August 2023 - Pertamina will continue to develop bioenergy-based fuels, using natural resources such as sugarcane, corn, cassava, and sorghum. "Our energy will eventually be bioenergy-based, as Indonesia has abundant resources," said Nicke Widyawati, President Director of Indonesia's Pertamina.





Prime Minister Modi addressing the B20 Summit India 2023 on Aug 27. Since taking the B20 mantle from Indonesia in December, 2022, India has worked with business leaders from all G20+ countries through seven task forces and two action councils.







Nicke Widyawati, President Director of PT Pertamina, as Co-Chair for the B20 Task Force on Energy, Climate Change and Resource Efficiency, ensures regional continuity and follow-on from the B20 Indonesia 2022 to B20 India 2023.





"I met with several Indian bioethanol tech representatives in New Dehli as our byproducts can be processed in Indian companies, to follow-up and align our efforts."



According to Nicke, the bioenergy development offers many benefits in accelerating the energy transition. "For Pertamina, bioenergy is not only about reducing emissions but also decreasing import dependency and creating job opportunities. When we promote plantations, we increase work for a significant amount of the workforce."



Pertamina sees that to enhance energy independence, it must optimize Indonesia's natural resources. "It's truly sustainable when we have resources," she explained.



Nicke, as Co-Chair for the B20 Task Force on Energy, Climate Change and Resource Efficiency ensures continuity in agendas for B20 Bali and B20 India. Firstly, new & renewable energy. Secondly, a fair and affordable transition. Thirdly, developing countries with large populations such as India and Indonesia, must provide equal access to clean and affordable energy.



"We cannot do it alone; no country can do it alone. Hence, global cooperation is vital. Pertamina itself has initiated several endeavors in the context of global cooperation for energy transition," Nicke affirmed.



Vice President of Corporate Communication at Pertamina, Fadjar Djoko Santoso, stated that Pertamina is increasingly dedicated to developing energy transition initiatives following global trends.



"Pertamina is pursuing energy transition to achieve national energy resilience, accessibility, affordability, acceptability, and sustainability. In the short term, energy transition will not disrupt energy resilience; on the other hand, it can achieve carbon emission reduction targets," said Fadjar.



Pertamina, as a leading company in the energy transition, is committed to supporting the Net Zero Emission 2060 target by continuously promoting programs that directly impact the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievement. All these efforts align with Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) implementation across all Pertamina's business lines and operations.



Media Contact:

Fadjar Djoko Santoso

Vice President Corporate Communication

PT Pertamina (Persero)

M: +62 813-2063-0765

E: fadjar.santoso@pertamina.com





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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
SIOUX CITY  The Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center will host two monarch tagging events at the end of August and in September.

The public is invited to learn more about the Monarch butterfly's annual migration to Mexico and help tag butterflies at 6 p.m. on Aug. 31 and Sept. 11.

"We're looking for places where migratory monarchs hang out in the evening," Education Director Theresa Kruid said. "Migrating monarch butterflies roost in trees and bushes, sometimes by the thousands, from late August through September."

The programs are free and open to the public. To pre-register, call the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center at 712-258-0838 or email camps@woodburyparks.org.

Participants are encouraged to wear sturdy walking shoes and dress for being outdoors, as they will be walking through tall grasses and the terrain is uneven and hilly.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  Some lawmakers in the country have filed resolutions seeking an investigation into the viral road rage incident in Quezon City involving a former cop assaulting a cyclist.

In Senate Resolution No. 763 filed on Tuesday, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senator Pia Cayetano stressed that the incident was a serious case involving public order and safety, which cannot simply be settled amicably and swept under the rug.

It also highlighted the issue of road sharing, the senators said, adding this concept has long been ignored by and is alien to many motorists.

Citing the Philippine governments commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, Cayetano and Zubiri said that it is vital that we protect our cyclists traversing in traffic through the provision of physical barriers to ensure their safety

In House Resolution 1231, meanwhile, 1-Rider Party-list Representatives Rodge Gutierrez and Bonifacio Bosita said there is a need to probe gun-toting incidents against two-wheeled riders.

READ: PNP confiscates more guns from driver in viral road rage incident, revokes permits

Gutierrez said that the recent incident was not an isolated case.

Inaaral natin ang mga posibleng pagbabago sa gun regulations, o di naman kaya ay pinahigpit na parusa sa mga abusadong active and retired law enforcement natin, Gutierrez said.

[Translation: Were studying possible changes in gun regulations, or imposing tougher penalties against abusive enforcers who are either active or already retired.]

The driver in the viral video who drew a gun against an unarmed cyclist last Aug. 8 was identified as Wilfredo Gonzales, a former member of the police force.
Plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits filed in the May partial collapse of a Davenport building argue water leaks and the placement of an HVAC unit on the roof led to the buildings west wall falling.

The May 28 partial collapse of the building at 324 N. Main St. occurred in the center of the west side of the six-story structure and involved every floor. Three people died, another lost a leg and many people lost their homes and property.

The allegation about the collapses cause is part of an amended petition filed on behalf of Jennifer Smith, Dionte McMath and several other people impacted by the collapse. The suit is one of a half dozen related to the western wall falling.

The suit also names numerous defendants including building owner Andrew Wold and two of his LLCs: Davenport Hotel LLC and Andrew Wold Investments LLC, according to court records. The City of Davenport and several city officials are also identified as defendants.

The amended filing adds City Administrator Corri Spiegel and Rich Oswald, director of Davenports Neighborhood Services, to the list of defendants.

The defendants have not yet responded to the updated petitions allegations.

Water and the roof unit

The plaintiffs accuse Wold and Davenport Hotel LLC of negligence for failing to repair and maintain the building, the amended suit states. Their  and Andrew Wold Investments LLCs  deliberate and intentional violations of city and state building requirements led to the hazardous building being rented to the public up to the day the portion of the western wall fell.

Those violations included water damage from an inadequately repaired roof and the placement of an unpermitted HVAC unit on the unreinforced roof, the suit claims. The HVAC unit weighed thousands of pounds.

The insufficient roof repair and the HVACs placement led to the collapse, the suit alleges.

The roof repair allowed water to flow from the top of the building behind the outer brick wall, weakening load bearing elements, according to the suit. The HVAC unit was directly above the weakened portion of the western wall of the building.

Wold and his LLCs are also accused of failing to address the hazardous conditions at the building, which constituted a hazardous nuisance, according to the suit.

Allegations against the city and its officials

Initially the suits municipal defendants were Davenport and Trishna Pradhan, the former chief building official. The updated version of the suit, filed on Aug. 21, added Spiegel and Oswald.

The suit alleges negligence on the part of the municipal defendants. It argues they failed to abate a hazardous nuisance and order the building vacated before the collapse.

The suit says the city knew the buildings condition was substandard for several years prior to the collapse because of inspections and reports both by its own staff and outside firms.

Examples cited in the suit include:

In 2020, a report from Townsend Engineering about the building noted the deterioration of the west wall.

On Feb. 2, Pradhan issued a notice of public hazard to Davenport Hotel LLC, noting deterioration of the western wall. That same day, a report from Select Structural Engineering noted cracked and crumbling brick on that wall.

On Feb. 3., inspectors from MidAmerican Energy complained to the city about the unsafe, deteriorated condition of the wall.

Prior to the plaintiffs amended petition, the citys counsel began an attempt to have the allegations against Davenport and Pradhan dismissed.

The citys counsel argues they are protected by Iowas immunity laws and that the plaintiffs have not met requirements for negating that protection.

The attorneys for the plaintiffs are contesting the motion to dismiss.

Photos: Demolition continues Tuesday on the collapsed The Davenport apartments 061323-qc-nws-demolitioncontinue-056
SIOUX CITY  A teen who was present at a fatal shooting outside a Sioux City bar has been sentenced to federal prison for illegal possession of a gun.

Jordan Hills, 19, of Sioux City, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to 37 months in prison on one count of possession of a firearm by a felon. He will serve three years supervised release after completing his prison sentence. There is no parole in the federal system.

Hillis played a role in drawing Martez Harrison out of Uncle Dave's Bar, 1427 W. Third St., on May 1, 2021, before Harrison was fatally shot by Dwight Evans, who was later convicted of first-degree murder. Hills later was sentenced to one day in jail for continually intimidating a witness in the case.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Hills, who had a significant criminal history that prohibited him from possessing guns, owned the gun involved in an April 2022 incident in which a woman was shot in the leg while Hills' twin brother, Jalond, tried to wrestle the gun away from her. When police responded, Jordan Hills told officers an unknown man had entered the apartment and shot the woman.

Hills later fired the gun at the woman who had been shot in an attempt to scare her into silence.
SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man wanted for stealing nearly $1,000 in merchandise from Target was arrested early Wednesday after leading authorities on a high-speed chase in Morningside.

According to a complaint filed in Woodbury County District Court, an Iowa State Patrol trooper observed a non-registered Chevrolet Impala without its license plate illuminated at 3:24 a.m. at Gordon Drive and South Martha Street. When the trooper initiated a traffic stop, the driver of the Impala sped off and led the trooper on a pursuit through several stop lights and stop signs, at times accelerating fast enough to make the car's tires squeal and lose contact with the ground.

The chase reached speeds of up to 80 mph in a 30 mph zone, and the driver drove in the opposite lane of traffic. The pursuit ended on Gordon Drive when the driver, attempting to turn south onto South Linn Street, struck a curb, disabling the car. He then surrendered to authorities.

James Wilde, 23, was booked into the Woodbury County Jail on charges of second- or subsequent offense eluding, a Class C felony, and driving while license barred, an aggravated misdemeanor.

Wilde was also arrested on an outstanding warrant for third-degree theft. He is suspected of filling shopping carts with merchandise at Target on April 23 and June 5 and leaving the store without paying for the items, which totaled $983. An arrest warrant had been issued on July 6.
SIOUX CITY  The Woodbury County Law Enforcement Authority cannot confirm if the countys jail project will be completed on time, due to potential litigation and denied providing the county an update on the project.

The new county law enforcement center is slated to be complete by Sept. 14, but the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors believes that date will not be met.

Shane Albrecht, with the Baker Group, the project consultant, said he was unable to provide an update on the project schedule due to conversations with Stinson LLP of Kansas City, Missouri, who is representing the authority for legal services related to "construction and real estate matters."

Board of Supervisors Chairman Matthew Ung asked the LEC Authority to give an update to the board during its regular meeting on Tuesday. He asked for an update on the construction progress, financials and contractor timeline. The county has not received a public update on the project in 2023.

No one with the authority or the Baker Group attended the meeting, despite the advance notice and the authority having a meeting in the same building just 90 minutes before.

Now we wait for an update on a project that has been delayed and we are not sure of the progress or updates. We are only two weeks out, Ung said. It is unfortunately a wrinkle in the process and a disservice that the board is forced to have this discussion by itself.

Law Enforcement Center Construction Construction work is shown Tuesday on the new Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center and jail on 28th street west of U.S. Highway 75 in Sioux 

Potential delay in the project

Ung said the board has no idea if the project is delayed or how long it could potentially be delayed. He said the board members have all heard rumored dates of completion, but those dates vary drastically.

Supervisor Dan Bittinger said City of Sioux City employees told him it would be January. Building Services Director Kenny Schmitz said that based on his experience; he believe the project will not be done on time. Woodbury County Sheriff Chad Sheehan said he asked a month ago for a timeline update and has still not received one. He said the authority was advised by legal counsel not to discuss a completion date.

If its a delay, just come out and say it, Supervisor Keith Radig said. He further asked the board to consider appointing a supervisor to the authority to get more regular updates on the project. Ung said Supervisor Mark Nelson is the only individual on the Board of Supervisors who would be able to join the authority, due to his residence outside the city limits.

Currently, Supervisor Mark Nelson attends the LEC meetings as the county boards liaison but is unable to receive substantive updates outside of what the public receives. The authority is led by Ron Wieck and its members also include Sioux City Mayor Pro-Tem Dan Moore and former County Supervisor Rocky De Witt. De Witt serves as the countys appointee. No decisions were made on the subject on Tuesday.

Law Enforcement Center Construction Construction is shown Tuesday at the Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center along 28th Street, west of U.S. Highway 75 in Sioux City.

Cost of delays in the project

If the contractor is not able to complete construction by Sept. 14 there would be a loss of $15,000 a day at the minimum, based on the loss of the revenue for housing 150 federal inmates per day, Albrecht said in March. He added there would be additional costs to the county such as various contracts and staffing expenses.

Sheehan said the department signed an agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday to house the federal inmates, effective Sept. 1. He said they expect to house roughly 75 federal inmates a day, for a total of around $220,000 a month in revenue, with additional revenue expected from transporting the prisoners.

We dont have room in the facility we're in right now, Sheehan said. Currently, the jail can only house five to 10 federal inmates.

The county has budgeted $1.2 million in revenues for the current fiscal year through June 2024 from the federal inmates. The construction agreement with the projects general contractor, Hausmann Construction, contains provisions for lost revenue, Ung said.

Law Enforcement Center Construction Construction activity is shown Aug. 29 at the Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center, along along 28th Street, just west of U.S. Highway 75.

Potential litigation

On March 17 the LEC Authority approved a letter of engagement with Stinson LLP of Kansas City, Missouri to represent them in potential completion date problems.

Albrecht said at the time Baker Group has worked with Stinson in the past and encouraged the authority to proceed in case problems were to occur with the construction timeline. Wieck previously said the authority and Baker Group are working with Hausmann Construction to ensure the timeline is met.

Tuesday afternoon, the authority had a closed session with Stinson Attorney Brian Sobczyk, citing Iowa Code chapter 21.5. The agenda did not state specifically what subsection the closed session was for.

Albrecht clarified it was subsection C, which states "To discuss strategy with counsel in matters that are presently in litigation or where litigation is imminent where its disclosure would be likely to prejudice or disadvantage the position of the governmental body in that litigation."

Law Enforcement Center Construction The new Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center campus is shown on Aug. 29. The contractor missed Wednesday's deadline to complete the project.

Project update

The Law Enforcement Center Authority did have a project update during their monthly meeting earlier that day, sharing the progress so far and reviewing what is left to complete. Part of the conversation included notice that a punch-list walkthrough will occur Sept. 12.

Albrecht said carpet is going down in many areas throughout the building, benches are being installed in the court areas, two of the three air handlers are running with the last one expected online within two or three weeks, kitchen equipment is being installed, the cells are hooked up and more.

Move-in timeline

Sheehan said there is a 30-day window after the substantial completion date for the final checklist to be completed. He said the sheriff's office will not begin moving in until after that checklist is complete.

If the project was completed Sept. 14, it would be at least six weeks before the sheriffs department would begin moving into the new facility, Sheehan said. He said they were hoping to be moved in before Thanksgiving.

Sheehan said the department is hoping to move in sometime in December now.

The cost of the project and other challenges

Woodbury County voters passed a $50.3 million bond issue in March 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues, the low bid for the main construction phase came in well above estimates at $58.4 million from Lincoln-based Hausmann Construction. With change orders throughout the project, the main construction cost is estimated at just over $60.8 million.

Counting other additional expenses, the project cost stands at $69 million. The new total estimate includes design fees, project management fees, land purchases, bond costs, project change orders and site preparation.

The 122,000-square-foot jail will hold up to 448 inmates, nearly double the roughly 234 inmate-capacity for the current aging facility, located across the street from the county courthouse. The new Law Enforcement Center will also have separate offices for the county sheriff and county attorney, plus five courtrooms.

In January 2022, Woodbury County Sheriff Chad Sheehan alerted the board that an additional $1.3 million annually would be needed to staff the new jail.

Currently, the jail is operating with 65 staff members, including correctional officers and administration. This costs the county $3.34 million each year. The 18 new employees will add $1.3 million in salaries.

When the jail project was initially pitched to the community, it was said no additional staff would be needed. Sheehan said one decision that led to needing additional staff was stacking the jail cell pods to save roughly $1 million.

In October 2022, six pre-cast concrete walls fell and broke due to high winds. All the panels needed to be replaced, but Albrecht said it did not add any costs to the project nor create any delays.

Radig said there have been many pieces of bad news that the county has not been able to control surrounding the project, and this timeline issue is another problem out of the boards control.

The authority has a visitation policy in place for the construction site. Visitors must have 10-hour OSHA training, Hausmann Construction training and prior approval to visit by the sheriff's office, the authority and Hausmann Construction. Visitors are also required to leave cell phones in the Hausmann Construction on-site trailer.

Wieck said allowing people to visit the building is both a security concern and requires them to pull the Hausmann Construction staff off their work to guide the tours. Members of the Board of Supervisors as well as other individuals set to go to work in the new building have been unable to tour the site due to the policy.
MOSCOW  Russian officials accused Ukraine of targeting six Russian regions with drones early Wednesday in what appears to be the biggest drone attack on Russian soil since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine 18 months ago.

Drones hit an airport in the western Pskov region and started a massive fire there, the governor and local media reported. More drones were shot down over Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan, Kaluga and the Moscow region surrounding the Russian capital, according to the Defense Ministry.

The strike in Pskov hit an airport in the region's namesake capital and damaged four Il-76 transport aircraft, Russias state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

Pskov regional Gov. Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the airport canceled Wednesday so damage could be assessed during daylight.

Footage and images posted on social media showed smoke billowing over the city of Pskov and a large blaze. Vedernikov said there were no casualties, and the fire has been contained. Unconfirmed media reports said between 10 and 20 drones could have attacked the airport.

Pskov was the only region where officials reported damage. Three drones were shot down over the Bryansk region, according to the Russian military, and two over the Oryol region, its Gov. Andrei Klychkov said. Two were downed over the Ryazan region, one more over Kaluga, and one more over the Moscow region, officials said.

No damage or casualties were registered in those regions, although some Russian media cited residents of the Bryansk region as saying that they heard a loud explosion.

Also on early Wednesday, Russian-installed officials in the annexed Crimea reported repelling an attack of drones targeting the harbor of the port city of Sevastopol. Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozzhayev said it wasn't immediately clear how many of the drones have been destroyed. It wasn't immediately clear if the attack caused any damage.

Read more:
A state panel is recommending nearly half of Iowas boards and commissions be cut or consolidated with the hopes of increasing efficiency and improving the functions of the remaining boards.

The recommendation was made Tuesday by the state Boards and Commissions Review Committee, which has been tasked with reviewing Iowas 256 boards and commissions and making recommendations for elimination and consolidation. It is an initial recommendation and would need to be approved by the state Legislature and signed by the governor before going into effect.

Iowas boards and commissions have wide-ranging responsibilities. Some have significant budgets and oversee large sectors of state government. Others govern professional licensing, while others set or recommend administrative rules.

Under the panels recommendations, 116 boards would be eliminated or folded into other boards, leaving the state with 140 remaining boards and commissions. Many of those remaining boards would see a change in function and membership under the recommendations.

Iowa Department of Management Director Kraig Paulsen, the committees chair, said the group made recommendations based on which boards were effective and serving Iowans. The committee received written input from the boards when making its recommendations, Paulsen said.

If it couldnt get through those two gates, then it started to struggle, he said. Really, that's what it boiled down to. Is it making an impact for Iowans and is it doing what it's supposed to do?

Paulsen said an overhaul of the states boards is long overdue. Each board was made with a specific purpose, he said, but it was often made independently of the existing framework.

Every now and then, youve got to look at the aggregate, and go, Okay, now what makes sense? What actually should this look like? What would we create if we had a blank slate? he said.

The committee was created in a massive government reorganization law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds during this years legislative session. The law also shrunk the number of department-level agencies and eliminated hundreds of vacant state job positions.

In June, Siouxland Chamber Executive VP Barbara Sloniker, the panel's lone public member, said there wasn't a target goal for how many boards and commissions should be combined, modified or nixed but did say success for the panel would be a reduction in the overall number.

"And maybe we find out we need most of them. Or we need most of them but with fewer members  But its not going to be done in a vacuum. Its going to be done with research and input from people," Sloniker said.

Transparency concerns

Iowa Sen. Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City and a non-voting member of the committee, said Tuesday she is concerned about the way the committee has conducted its work.

To create the recommendations, the six-member board was broken up into subcommittees of two members, allowing the subcommittees to meet privately without violating Iowas open meetings law.

The recommendations were not made public before Tuesdays meeting, and Weiner said that made it difficult for those affected to know whether they should attend the meeting or not.

Theres a line to be drawn between efficiency and not allowing sufficient input from the public and potentially consolidation of power, Weiner said.

When will the changes take effect?

The recommendations laid out at Tuesdays meeting are not final, and still a long way from taking effect.

The committee will hold a public hearing next week where members of the public can weigh in on the proposal. Then at the end of September, the panel will make its final recommendation to the state Legislature.

The Republican-led Legislature will need to decide which recommendations to pass during next years session before Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds can sign them into law.

Rep. Jane Bloomingdale, R-Northwood, who is a non-voting member of the committee, said the process for implementing any of the final recommendations in state law will likely be similar to the government reorganization bill lawmakers passed this year.

Bloomingdale is the chair of the House State Government Committee and managed the government reorganization bill in the House.

Im looking forward to hearing from Iowans and digging into the details on these recommendations ahead of the 2024 legislative session, Bloomingdale said in a statement.

By the Numbers

The panel recommended the following changes to Iowas boards and commissions:

88 boards and commissions would continue with no changes, including the Medical Cannabidiol Board, the Iowa Arts Council and the Board of Regents.

69 boards would be eliminated under the recommendations. Some of those boards were vacant or not meeting regularly, or were convened for a purpose that is no longer relevant, committee members said.

Another 52 boards would be consolidated or merged into other boards. More than a dozen panels under the Department of Health and Human Services would be brought under the Council on Health and Human Services. Commissions dealing with Asian and Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Native Americans and women would be brought under the Human Rights Board.

47 boards and commissions would see reorganization or some other change. For many of those boards, the panel recommended changing the membership or removing rulemaking authority.

Other recommendations

The panel also recommended eliminating the state law requiring boards be balanced between men and women to allow the most qualified Iowans to serve on boards and commissions, according to the report.

Republican lawmakers have tried, including this year, to remove the gender balance requirement from Iowa law. Two Iowa residents also filed a lawsuit in federal court last year seeking to eliminate the requirement.

Paulsen said the law was needed when it was passed in 1986, but he questioned whether the law is necessary now.

Maybe it is still necessary and helpful in 2023, but why not have a conversation? he said.

Other recommendations include creating an ongoing process for reviewing boards and commissions and paying members of certain "critical" boards.

Public hearing

Members of the public will be able to comment during a public hearing on Sept. 6. Paulsen said the panel will allow for 50 speakers to weigh in on the recommendations. Iowans can email bcrccomments@iowa.gov to submit comments or ask to speak at the upcoming meeting.

Iowans should submit their feedback on the committees preliminary recommendations, helping this committee put together a well-rounded final proposal, Reynolds said in a statement. Reviewing Iowas 256 Boards and Commissions is long overdue, and Iowans now have the chance to weigh in on how their taxpayer dollars should be used to support them.

What do Iowans want? An inside look at what 20 Iowans say about their lives, government What Iowans want - Ryan Globe
Following the invasion of Ukraine, Western countries imposed unprecedented sanctions on the Kremlin. The sanctions were set in place in response to Russia's war. Regime change was specifically not part of this objective. In fact, the United States has a long history of working cooperatively with autocratic regimes, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and previously Russia.

However, because of how the situation has unfolded, these two objectives (ending the war and changing the regime) have essentially merged as the conflict has become an existential challenge for the West. Not since Hitler has a single individual been able to personally control a state so completely. Putin is now personally responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, trillions of dollars of damages, and widespread disruption of the international community. The UN International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has concluded that an array of war crimes, violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have been committed in Ukraine. President Biden's initial comment on Putin's actions, "for God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," was promptly walked back to a focus on weakening Russia. But Biden's comment was absolutely correct. Putin's removal has to be an objective, and not just a US objective. It is not a case of opposing a foreign leader because of objection to internal programs but because Putin's leadership threatens global stability, undermining peace and prosperity in Europe, including for the Russian people themselves. Yet, as Michael Rubin comments, the administration is reluctant to seek victory.

Those who do support seeking victory, typically see it as seeking Ukraine's absolute victory or giving Ukraine what it needs to exit the fight. There are two basic problems with these proposals. First, they are heavily focused militarily. More importantly, they do not address the underlying confrontation of Russia with the world. The United States needs to stand up to its traditional global leadership role and promote the emergence of a positive Russian government. This could fundamentally improve the entire global strategic situation

A cease fire could halt hostile military operations but not lift sanctions. Ukraine is totally opposed to relinquishing any territory, even temporarily. And Putin adamantly needs to show some kind of victory. A cease fire under these conditions would provide no basis for a peace agreement to end the war, addressing war crimes and reparations. Lacking that, there is no end of the war in sight, and no basis for lifting the sanctions. A cease fire would shift the confrontation from a military contest to a diplomatic and socio-economic one. The confrontation challenges Russia on a global scale; the ultimate objective is not protecting territory in Ukraine but promoting the emergence of a more progressive Russian government.

The center element of the sanctions is Plutin - the combination of Putin and his plutocracy that has taken control of Russia and led it into a blind alley, waging war not only against Ukraine but against the Russian people. The West is slowly recognizing this as a real existential threat. Lifting of sanctions would require Russia to renounce its claims of sovereignty over regions of Ukraine. This simply cannot happen with Putin in place. A new and more progressive Russian government is now the only way out of the war.

The West needs to make it absolutely clear that the sanctions are not directed against the Russian people, but against Putin's ability to continue the war. Minimizing Russian assets is critical because Putin is draining all the assets he can from the Russian people to support this war effort. Ending the war and ending sanctions could lead to a whole new era of peace and prosperity in Europe. The sudden burst of military effort brought on by the war in Ukraine could be replaced by a sudden collapse of the need for military expansion. Budgets could focus on development. Arms control would become a central area of cooperation. Globally, support for autocracy would be dramatically lessened.

Such a situation would obviously not be attractive to Putin; economic development is actually one of his greatest fears, a fear that the people would actually take charge as happened with several earlier color revolutions. This is what drives Putin's focus on internal repression and what makes public uprisings unlikely, reinforced by broad public support for traditional authoritative governments.

The Russian elite supports Putin out of self-preservation and the wider public largely accepts his baseless claim that Russia's survival and territorial integrity are threatened by the West. But sanctions have also made mid-level officials, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs deeply aware of the impact Putin is having on the country. They are not beneficiaries of the plutocratic system, but rather also victims of Putin and sensitive to the dramatic impact that the sanctions are actually having as the Russian economy is imploding. The West needs to stress that the alternative to sanctions is not a shattered Russia, but a peaceful and prosperous Europe that would include a dynamic new Russia.

The West needs to give that vision of a new Russia as high a visibility as possible, focusing on how it would dramatically change the situation.

- Russian energy supplies are now a challenge for Europe but in a new Europe, Russia would once again be an important player. Western energy managers need to outline what a positive relationship could look like in the future

- Western companies that have withdrawn from Russia need to re-energize discussions with potential partners in Russia, outlining what positive programs could be re-established once sanctions are gone.

- International organizations also need to re-energize discussions with Russian counterparts, stressing their interest in renewing positive programs. The Russian diaspora has to be encouraged to join in this effort.

- Thousands of highly educated Russians who have fled the country in recent months would be the first to return if a new system emerged, and they are badly needed. The Russian diaspora has deep roots in the region and could be a crucial element in building a better Russia, facilitating dynamic economic ties between their countries of residence and a new Russia.

- There is now a new-found effort to mount a coordinated effort against Putin's regime as a Russian Action Committee is laying out a detailed vision how to dismantle the current Russian government and install new representative one.

Overall, mid-level officials and everyday Russians need to see an attractive picture of a dynamic Russia as sanctions are lifted in response to the emergence of new governmental arrangements.

Outreach to the Russian people is essential. The United States and its allies need to stress the willingness to support economic development in Russia and build a mutually beneficial trade relationship. Some of the prior relationships, particularly with energy supply, were overly one-sided and need to be adjusted. The Russian people have to see the absolute sham of Putin's claim of a threat from the West. Detailed information on Putin's corruption, on the major losses of the Russian military - including a major Ukrainian attack on a Russian barracks - and on the devastation of the Russian economy need to be widely distributed within Russia.

The ultimate objective is to demonstrate to the Russians how economic integration with the West would support fundamental development. The central objective of the confrontation with Russia has to be doing what should have been done 30 years ago - integrate Russia economically into the Industrialized World. That is a daunting task, thwarted then by oligarchs determined to keep control of economic systems. That this is the alternative to sanctions has to be made crystal clear to the Russian public.

The Western world with US leadership needs to push for a new and more progressive Russian government that can work cooperatively to address and correct as far as possible the destruction of the war in Ukraine. This would significantly decrease autocracy globally and raise the potential for meaningful talks on nuclear arms reduction.

Sanctions have a mixed history of success. Conceived as an alternative to war, they have frequently led to more violence. They are a limited tool that can actually encourage nationalism, which is exactly what Putin is trying to do with them. But he cannot avoid the fact that sanctions are crippling his economy and provide a strong incentive for key officials and the public at large to insist on change. They are indeed an alternative to war and can be a centerpiece of Western efforts to promote change in the Russian government.


Every week, Dear Prudence answers additional questions from readers, just for Slate Plus members. Submit questions here. (Its anonymous!)

Dear Prudence,

While I identify as mixed-race, most people who meet me could never guess my background. My father is half-Japanese and half-white, and my mother is a South Indian immigrant. Her whole family, like many people from their region, have deep brown skin and tightly curly hair, which in the U.S. means that most people assume shes Blackgrowing up, I remember her getting pulled over and harassed countless times, only for the police to back off the second they heard her accent. I have lighter skin but 3b/3c curls, ambiguous features, and my dads generic American last name plus a name which is popular in India but also fairly common in America (think Nadia or Anika), so when I introduce myself and mention that Im mixed-race without more detail, most people immediately assume Im half-Black and half-white. For most of my life, this has meant being extra aware of microaggressions, shutting down gross questions on what I could get away with saying or doing, and literally carrying a picture of me with my parents in my wallet to silence people who refuse to believe that I could be Asian and white or who try and tell me that Im basically Black and shouldnt say Im Asian, despite the fact that I was raised Hindu, speak Japanese and Tamil fluently, and spent summers visiting my grandparents in India and NYC.

However, I just completed my OB-GYN residency and a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine, and recently began working at a hospital in a major city, which means that like all of my colleagues, my photo, name, and credentials are listed on our website. Last week, I had multiple Black patients and their partners tell me that they requested to schedule appointments with me in particular because they wanted to have a doctor who could understand their experiences and would be able to better advocate for them.

I could see their disappointment when I explained that they had been mistaken, and although I had studied medical racism and Black maternal mortality extensively as a part of my fellowship and was committed to listening and advocating for them, I didnt want them to believe I could fully understand their experiences as Black women and offered to refer them to my Black fellowship classmate who was working at a branch of our hospital in another area of the city if they wanted (one couple accepted). I feel horriblelike I gave people false hopeand I dont know how to prevent people from making this assumption again. Do I somehow work it into my credential listing online? I dont want to spend my career here seeing disappointment on Black patients faces after hearing how excited they were to find me.

Frustrated First Impression Fraud

Dear Frustrated,

Youre doing everything right. Youre honest, compassionate, and, by providing an optional referral, actually helpful! You cant hold yourself responsible for how people misperceive your profileyou certainly arent committing fraudand feeling the need to somehow explain or apologize for your existence is an unfair burden to bear. What might give you some peace is to look beyond your individual interactions with patients to the larger issues that are really at play here. Continue your commitment to addressing Black maternal mortality. Be an advocate for racial diversity in medicine, working to create a world where Black patients have more choices if they want doctors who share their identity. And day to day, just try to be the you can be for the people who choose to keep seeing you. The thoughtfulness you demonstrate by caring so deeply about this unusual situation is part of what will make you a great doctor to them.

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My 4-year-old son, Derek, has an absolute constant need for attention. He cannot go five minutes without needing attention from my husband or me. I promise you, he gets plentyhes home two days a week (the other three days are in day care, which he seems to really enjoy: Hes excited to go in the morning and always happy when we pick him up, so I cant imagine thats the cause), weekends are usually centered around family activities, we have family time every evening, we praise him often (when appropriate), but it never seems to be enough. He cant sit and entertain himselfhe is constantly asking, Mommy/Daddy, come look at this, come watch me do this, play this with me  
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on Wednesday confirmed that a policeman and an alleged member of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) were involved in a road rage incident in Makati City.

NCRPO spokesperson PLTCol Eunice Salas told CNN Philippines Balitaan the incident involved PSSg. Marsan Dolipas, a cop from Pasay City, and a rider who identified himself to be Angelito Velasquez Rencio from the ISAFP.

The incident happened along Osmena Highway in Brgy. Pio Del Pilar, Makati City on Aug. 25.

Citing initial report from Makati police, Salas said the heated argument between Dolipas and the rider started after the latter sideswiped the cop.

Bumaba po si pulis and nakita po nya na mayroong baril dito sa baywang itong rider kaya agad po nyang kinuha yung bariliniiwas po nung pulis yung katawan nya at tsaka yung baril doon sa rider para po hindi na po sila magkasakitan, she explained.

[Translation: The policeman alighted and saw that the rider had a gun on his waist that is why he immediately took it. The cop was moving his body and the gun away from the rider so that they will not harm each other.]

Makatis sub-station 3 responded to the incident. Dolipas and the rider had a discussion at the police station, where the latter introduced himself as a member of the ISAFP. The police confiscated their guns, Salas said.

The NCRPO spokesperson admitted there were lapses in the investigation because no appropriate report was made after the alleged ISAFP member was allowed to leave the police station.

He said he would just retrieve documents proving his affiliation with ISAFP and his mission order to bring a firearm, but he did not return to the police station, Salas said.

Salas also bared that Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos ordered to conduct a manhunt to find the rider. Authorities are also investigating the rider to confirm his identity, connection to the ISAFP, and permit to carry firearm.

Meanwhile, Dolipas was relieved from his post and administrative charges against him are being prepared, Salas said.

Due to the lapses in the investigation, the Makati sub-station 3 commander and desk officer involved were also relieved. Appropriate administrative charges will also be filed against them, according to Salas.

Drivers license suspended

Meanwhile, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has preventively suspended for 90 days the drivers license of both Dolipas and Rencio.

The LTO-National Capital Region has also issued a show cause order requiring the two to explain in a notarized affidavit why they should not be held liable for violations of Section 48 (reckless driving), Section 27 (improper person to use a motorized vehicle), and Section 24 (obstruction of traffic) of the Land Transportation and Traffic Code.

The agency also said its records showed that the motorcycle is an unregistered vehicle.

The LTO-NCR was already ordered to block any attempt to register the motorcycle while the investigation is ongoing, the LTO said in a statement.

Last Aug. 8, former policeman Wilfredo Gonzales was also filmed hitting a cyclist on the head and drawing a handgun after the latter bumped his car in Quezon City.

The road rage incident was not the first time Gonzales was caught and reprimanded for misconduct. Philippine National Police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said Gonzales has twice been ordered dismissed by the PNP when he was in service  although the first one was eventually downgraded to a demotion.

READ: PNP files alarms and scandals case vs. gun-toting cop in QC road rage
How to Do It is Slates sex advice column. Have a question? Send it to Stoya and Rich here. Its anonymous!

Dear How to Do It,

Im a 41-year-old man whose last relationship was over 10 years ago (And it lasted three months). How does one with very little experience even look for a partner? How does one even approach when it seems like women want the privilege I have: The ability to get from A to B with zero human interaction (I live in a Northeast City)?

Lonely Lump

Dear Lonely Lump,

Looking for a partner requires no experiencevirgins are out there looking for partners right now. (Sometimes we hear from them.) More important than experience is self-esteem. It is a motivating factor and it is something that savvy people can read well (which is also to say that they can detect when its lacking). A positive attitude and evident self-care could take you far. And its true, many women dont want to be bothered or hassled as theyre going about their lives, so dont bother or hassle them. Its all about the proper venue and appropriate timing. This is why apps are usefulpeople can log on when theyre ready for that kind of interaction and log off when theyre done. Singles bars, social clubs/activities, and parties are other places where ones presence suggests, with a fair degree of certainty, that they are in the right headspace to socialize. Focus on apps and spaces specifically designated for human interactionI can tell that you havent because youre asking. If you dont try, theres little chance of making any progress. So get out there already.

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Dear How to Do It,

Please dont judge me, Im bewilderedly judging myself right now for all of us! My usual (but not always!) self-pleasure activity in the morning is primarily mechanical. I think naughty thoughts, get out my trusted wand, and quickly take care of business. I am one of those women who reaches a certain point of stimulation where a switch flips and I am suddenly ready to climax and know its about to go down. Recently, I listened to a podcast that happened to describe a horrific scene of terrible violence. One little part of the narrative was so horrific and disturbing, it bothered me for days afterward. While what would be described would be charged as a sex crime, the violence and horribleness of it to me has no sexual component to it and is just a monstrous act of violence at its most vile. There was nothing sexy or erotic about what was described. While it involves a traditionally sexual orifice, this was an act of brutal violence where the perpetrators were destroying a woman with a foreign object. Im sure you can see where this going

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On Thursday, I was taking care of business and was progressing per usual when a mental image of what was described on that podcast popped into my head. I dont even know how I subconsciously created that image. My switch flipped immediately and I fully climaxed. I am disgusted with myself that something so vile, violent, cruel, and awful could pop into my head at all, let alone push me immediately to climax. And yes, the cause/effect wasnt ambiguous. I dont even want to touch myself right now, lest that pop into my head again. What is wrong with me? I dont even feel like I deserve my husband touching me right now.

Should I Remove Myself From Polite Society?

Dear Polite Society,

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Sexy during our rational, waking hours and sexy when were turned on and being steered by sex brain can be two very different things. In Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us, Jesse Bering describes the general reduction of response to disgust that sex (in all of its smelliness, noisiness, and glistening pinkness) can facilitate:

One that evolved to be overly sensitive to disgust during sex wouldnt have been very adaptive after all; so prudish a creature would perish in its own purity as a genetic dead end. Rather, as Sigmund Freud wrote, our libido thrives on obstacles and in its strength enjoys overriding disgust. Indeed, more recent scholars have found that our willingness (and sometimes our eagerness) to let others body products make contact with our lips and tongues or even to slip down our throats entirely is a product of our fluctuating arousal levels. When were horny, were happy to dip into someone elses organic buffet.

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Bering cites a study out of Denmark in which most men said theyd taste a womans breast milk if they were turned on (the same was true for women and ingesting semen). When not turned on, the numbers were much lower. Sexual activity can function as a gateway to let stuff in that, in a calmer state, wed never want anywhere near us. I suspect thats whats happened with yousome wires got crossed and something involving sex organs popped into your head during sex, which is not outrageous given the way our minds can sometimes freely associate on their own. That thing just happened to be heinous and for whatever reason (perhaps the sheer transgression of it all), it worked for you at that moment.

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The most important thing here is to go easy on yourself. This is not a reflection of who you are. You had what sounds like an involuntary response to an involuntary thought. Taking some time off masturbating does make senseyoure so rattled that if you try to not think about that image, you probably will again. Thats the tough part about unwanted fantasiesany real focus on ridding yourself of them is likely to backfire, since that requires thinking about what you dont want to think about. A few years ago, I talked about unwanted fantasies with social psychologist Justin Lehmiller, who wrote a book about fantasies (Tell Me What You Want), and he said one potential (albeit not very reliable) method of ridding oneself of such thoughts is to consciously fantasize about something youre comfortable with at the point of no return, irrespective of what images in your head preceded it. You could try that if you see this come up again. Also, meditation could theoretically help you exert some control over your thoughts. If you arent practicing now, it could take you a while to work up to the point where you feel a true sense of agency, but its worth a try, especially if you continue to be plagued by the podcast image. Many of us are capable of having more control over ourselves than we think.

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Dear How to Do It,

My partner and I are open and poly and into fun times with friends. Weve been invited to a spicy party. For context, this is a days-long, clothing-optional retreat with a party barn where shenanigans are encouraged and we will not know everyone. Weve never been to this kind of scenario. What should we discuss before we go?

Trying to Be a Good Guest

Dear Good Guest,

You and your partner should establish what youre comfortable with and uncomfortable with in terms of a group sex scenario. Given your open/poly status, I assume you have already discussed boundaries and the overall terms of your agreement; just have another one of those conversations and dig into the specifics. Are you OK with playing separately, or would either of you feel more comfortable if youre both present for each others party-barn shenanigans? If your arrangement allows for vetos, will there be anyone there that you have misgivings about your partner hooking up with? If so, its probably best to state that upfront. Are there any kinds of sex acts you want one or the two of you to avoid, for whatever reason? What level of protection do you and your partner feel comfortable using?

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Those are some suggestions for getting in front of any issues (there are few things more skin-crawlingly mortifying than crying during an orgy!), but you should also have positive conversations about what you hope to experience, how youre going to present yourselves (is there any kind of theme to this sex fest?), and which attendees you hope to play with. Definitely discuss the serious stuff, but also try to keep it light and set the tone before you show up. Recreational sex, after all, is meant to be fun, so youre best off showing up with a good attitude and that starts at home.

Rich

More Advice From Slate

Im a hetero woman married to a hetero dude, both in our 30s. Ive been with my husband for a decade. Hes a wonderful husband and father to our two very young children. Last year, I fell hard for a dear, dear friend (also a hetero dude). After clearing it with my husbandwe had always discussed being open to non-monogamyI pursued him, and to my delight, he was interested.
On Tuesday, it was reported that North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls could be ousted from her seat for judicial ethics violations. Did she fail to disclose gifts from a billionaire benefactor on whose cases she was ruling? No. Maybe shed gone on luxury vacations across the globe paid for by some of the richest men in the country and neglected to mention them on disclosure forms? Nope. Perhaps one of these billionaires bought her mom a house? Not that either. Her true crime: Earls, the only Black woman on North Carolinas high court, spoke out about racial bias in her courtroom. Her alleged misconduct was speaking to the media about how few clerks of color the court employed and how her colleagues treated certain attorneys, including a Black woman, who argued before them. For that, a Republican-stacked judicial ethics commission has gone after her. Its targeting of Earls could fulfill the wishes of the gerrymandered Republican Legislature by removing a tireless advocate of racial equality.

Earls, who was elected with 1.8 million votes in 2018 and is a frequent dissenter to the right-wing majoritys decisions, was responding to a study of advocates who argued at the high court. This study found that 90 percent of the lawyers were white and nearly 70 percent were male. Asked for her response, Earls noted the lack of racial diversity among the courts clerks and her colleagues disparate treatment of certain advocates at oral argument. She went out of her way to say she didnt think that this was the result of conscious bias, but we all have implicit biases. Earls also criticized decisions by Chief Justice Paul Newby, a Republican, to end implicit bias training and disband commissions looking into racial justice issues.

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The Judicial Standards Commission, which has been reshaped by GOP judges in recent years, is now alleging that Earls concerns about bias in the courtroom may violate judicial ethics rules. The commission investigates complaints against judges, and its investigation could result in discipline for Earls or even her removal from office. If the commission finds a violation, the state Supreme Court would ultimately decide whether to accept its recommended sanction.

The ethics rule in question says that judges should conduct themselves at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. In a letter to Earls, the commission argued that she cant suggest that another judge is biased unless she knows this to be the case. The commission says that without some quantum of definitive proof, its a violation of the ethics rules. In other words, unless Earls has proof that the commission considers definitive, she cant speak out about bias at the highest level of North Carolinas justice system. Never mind that Earls was not singling out one judge or justice, but rather discussing systemic racism as demonstrated through a comprehensive study of diversity at the North Carolina Supreme Court.

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On Tuesday, Earls responded by suing the commission in federal court, arguing that the investigation is chilling her First Amendment right to free speech. She described her comments as core political speech concerning important public policy questions regarding the justice system and administration of the courts.

Related From Slate Texas Says a Fetus Is a Child, Except When a Parent Sues a Negligent Doctor or State Official Read More

The truth is that Earls was speaking out in defense of the principles that the ethics rules seek to protect. The conduct that Earls described in her interview, bias in the courts arguments and in its hiring process, could have violated the mandate that judges do their jobs impartially and treat people respectfully. A lack of diversity could certainly give people good reason to doubt the fairness of the judiciary.

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The trumped-up charge against Earls is politically motivated. If this complaint had been filed a few years ago, it wouldve been summarily dismissed. But the commission has become yet another weapon for the North Carolina GOP to wield against judges who wont do the bidding of the party or its corporate campaign contributors.

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After Newby defeated former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley by 401 votes in 2020, his administration fired the head of the Judicial Standards Commission, who had stood in the way of the GOPs goal of bending the ethics rules to allow judges to be considered permanent candidates, able to raise campaign cash and endorse other candidates throughout their tenures.

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Republican leaders in the states heavily gerrymandered Legislature have also tried to reshape the commission over the years. Senate President Phil Berger, whose son is a Republican justice serving alongside Earls, introduced a budget bill this year that radically overhauls the commission to give GOP legislators control. Under current law, the state bar chooses four commissioners, the chief justice picks six, and legislative leaders choose two each. So Republicans already have a majority. But Bergers proposed budget would politicize the commission even further, giving lawmakers the state bars four appointments, and it would ban lawyerswho have expertise thats very relevant to the commissionfrom serving.

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Rumors have long swirled in Raleigh that Earls could become the victim of a politicized judicial ethics complaint. She has been in the GOPs crosshairs since she announced her campaign in 2018. Lawmakers passed several bills intended to hinder her campaign, and Republicans threatened to impeach her after she took office. (Like recent impeachment threats in Wisconsin, this happened just before Earls ruled on whether to ban partisan gerrymandering.)

Earls isnt the only judge to face blowback for acknowledging racism or sexism. In Wisconsin, Justice Jill Karofsky also faced bogus ethics charges for calling out one of Trumps post2020 election arguments as racist. Karofsky warned that she was the victim of a political witch hunt: The Wisconsin Judicial Commission, and others like it around the country, simply cannot allow partisan actors to proceed in bad faith and hijack the disciplinary system.

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Judges must be able to speak out about the bias that plagues our justice system. Jurists at every level have an obligation to confront bias that they witness. Its in the judiciarys best interest to root out biases that cause people to doubt the fairness of the system.

Republicans disagree. Newbys race-blind agenda forbids any acknowledgment of bias in the system. Though hes been a prosecutor and judge for four decades in North Carolina, Newby claims that hes never witnessed any racism.

Since Newby and his Republican colleagues won control of the court in last years election, theyve backtracked on racial justice. The court is once again willfully ignoring racism in jury selection, as all-white juries sentence Black defendants. And it reversed course on whether a 2018 voter ID law violated the state constitutions ban on discrimination.

Now Republicans want to silence a duly elected justice for speaking out about bias that shes witnessed. By filing suit in federal court, Earls has stood up for her own free speech rights and the rights of citizens across the state to expect and receive equal justice under the law. Shes also shown shes not going to let the radical politicization of the states courts go any further without a fight.
GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is attempting quite the religious balancing act. He is himself Hindu, and hes calling for the U.S. to emulate Indias controversial Hindu nationalist politicsbut with a religious nationalism based on Christianity. Molly Olmstead tries to unpack whats going on here.

Plus: Nitish Pahwa asks where all this Vivek-omentum is leading. Hes also written about how Hindu nationalist politics first went mainstream in India.

A busy hurricane season

This years Atlantic hurricane season is shaping up to be busier than usual, with forecasters predicting as many as 21 named storms this year. Shirin Ali breaks down the combination of factors thats causing it.

Moms for Liberty beware

The conservative activist group is reveling in its inflated national reputationbut it should realize it wont last, Adam Laats writes. He identifies the fatal flaw in Moms for Libertys century-old playbook.

Revisiting the perfect phone call

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When a recording of Trump asking the Georgia secretary of state to find 11,000 votes leaked, people were quick to call it a smoking gun. Now the infamous callwhich Trump has dubbed his perfect phone callis back in the news, after Mark Meadows testified about it at a hearing on Monday. Ben Mathis-Lilley takes a look at Meadows defense of the callwhich echoes the one Trump himself has madeand how it really makes a compelling argument against a second Trump presidency.

Dad down!

Its that time of year when parents drop their kids off at college for the first time. Dan Kois recently did so himselfand managed to get through it without sobbing! He shares what it was like, and offers some advice for new empty nesters.

Its worth your while to read to the end. Kois may not have cried, but we definitely got a little misty-eyed!

Today, Slate is * TICKLED PINK

 much like Barbara Oppenheimer was when she saw the Barbie movie.

Thanks so much for reading! Well see you tomorrow.
This past spring, the conversation around TikTok centered on whether the app would be banned in America. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was hauled in front of Congress to testify about his companys links to China, the government demanded that TikToks China-based parent company, ByteDance, sell the app or face a ban, and then  nothing. The storm that had been building against TikTok just seemed to fizzle.

While Congress was on summer vacation, Forbes technology reporter Emily Baker-White got her hands on a draft deal from last year that was between TikTok and the United States government and shows what the company was willing to do to keep operating in the U.S.

On Fridays episode of What Next: TBD, I spoke with Baker-White about those negotiationswhat they mean for TikTok and for regulating social media, and whether the government might be asking for surveillance powers that go too far. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Lizzie OLeary: You got your hands on the draft of a deal between TikTok and CFIUS, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which basically fences and approves what foreign entities can do here. That draft outlined what TikTok would have to do to keep operating in the United States. What was in it?

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Emily Baker-White: This draft agreement would give the government much broader power over TikTok, both in what it can access and what it can veto, in a way that struck me as not remotely the way any of our other major platforms are regulated. The way the agreement was structured gives a lot of power to the CFIUS monitoring agencies. Generally, it was framed as something called non-objection power.

What does that mean?

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If you give an agency non-objection power, you have to notify them when youre going to do something, and unless they affirmatively say they object to it, youre fine. If some amount of time passes and they havent said anything, you can move ahead.

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There was a lot of non-objection power in the draft of this agreement. My understanding is that this is not uniqueCFIUS agreements often frame things in terms of non-objection power. However, one of the most interesting specifics from this contract is that the U.S. government would have non-objection power over changes to platform policies, including content policies. Which means that if TikTok wanted to make a material change to their content policiesif they wanted to change the rules about what speech is allowed on the platformthey would have to notify the government in advance.

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Theres one part of the draft agreement that really stands out. Its the creation of a third-party executive security committee operating in total secrecy from ByteDance. What does that mean?

It would require TikToks USDS divisiona separate entity that would be in charge of dealing with decisions about U.S.-based users private informationto have a security committee that would operate in secrecy from ByteDance and make decisions about security issues.

There are layers upon layers upon layers of agreements in this draft plan. You also got to see some of the comments between ByteDance and the government lawyers.

What did their comments tell you?

There was one really interesting comment from the ByteDance lawyers to the CFIUS lawyers that talked about how they wanted to make sure that CFIUS could not come after ByteDance if the recommendations algorithm showed content that they didnt like.

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What if the recommendation algorithm is recommending posts from people who are sharply critical of the U.S. government? How would that fly?

That is something I think ByteDance and the U.S. government today would agree is protected speech, and the recommendations algorithm can recommend that content. We definitely dont want it to get into a situation somewhere down the line where some future administration would try to curtail that. Because thats a really, really fundamental right under the First Amendment.

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There is a level of irony here. In attempting to make sure that China or the Chinese government doesnt influence or censor or promote certain kinds of content, the U.S. is opening up the possibility for them to influence, censor, or promote different kinds of content. What do we do with that?

Thats one of the central tensions here.

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The first tension is about practicability. Can you run a company this way? ByteDance is pushing back on that. The other tension is about the companys independence when it comes to speech issues. If I worked for the U.S. government, my core questions would be: How do we craft something here that does not give the government direct power over speech considerations? What language can we add? What can we specify to make sure that no future administration could try to use this very, very, very powerful tool in a way that could warp discourse to their own political or financial gain?

TikTok is so big and so powerful that anybody who can is going to try to get a piece of that and use it for their own benefit. I think were seeing this tug between governments. I hope that the U.S. government would try to stop that and push back on the idea that the government should have that kind of control.

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Does the U.S. have a good reason to do this? You, after all, were tracked and surveilled by ByteDance.

We dont know, and were not likely to know. The assessment of threats that goes on behind the scenes for CFIUS is often informed by classified government intelligence. The draft agreement did not have any classified material in it, because it went to ByteDance, but the U.S. government is probably looking at a bunch of confidential intelligence that we dont have.

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Related From Slate The Jarring Lesson of Trumps Return to Twitter Read More

Were in the difficult position of having to trust the government and trust that we would agree with their assessment of classified human intelligence about whats actually going on on the ground in China. I dont know whats going on. I dont know if I would agree with the assessment of threats or not. What I do know is that both the Trump administration and the Biden administration have been firm that they believe this is a threat.

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You talked to a number of free-speech advocates who look at this thing and say, this does not bode well for the future. Does this mean anything for other social media companies? Or is this case totally unique to TikTok?

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A lot of the issues that were worried about with TikTok, were worried about with other companies toopropaganda campaigns, disinformation campaigns, censorship issues, and data privacy. We have talked about these issues with Facebook, Meta, Google, and other massive companies. But with TikTok, theres a geopolitics layer that makes these issues salient to a new group of people who werent necessarily tuned in to those conversations about domestic platforms but are tuned in to those conversations about TikTok.

It is very likely that, in the future, there will be other tech companies that are not going to be based in the United States, foreign platforms that are very powerful engines of speech. I hope that our conversation about TikTok, wherever it lands, can help us think about what to do about the sort of massive power of these platforms in an international, politically connected age.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
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If you are like me, you are always looking for ways to build your small business brand online. One of the most credible ways, especially for tech companies, involves using Crunchbase to build your brand.

We recently created a Crunchbase profile for Small Business Trends Media. It was easy to do. Whats more, it lends credibility to our company.

Sell Your Business Drive Traffic to Your Website Discover the Zoho Ecosystem Advertise Your Business Here

Before I go further, I should mention the kinds of companies that a Crunchbase profile is useful for.

Crunchbase is not, in my opinion, a good fit for purely local businesses or Main Street small businesses. For example, if you run a plumbing, handyman or salon business, I suggest you put your effort into a Google My Business listing instead. Youll appear in front of more potential customers that way.

If, on the other hand, you run a technology business then Crunchbase could be a great fit. Crunchbase is ideal for high growth startups, especially those looking for seed capital from angel investors, or equity funding from venture capital.

Crunchbase is also good for online businesses, media and advertising businesses, ecommerce business, or consulting or other business services.

Small Business Deals

Let me share our experience and a few pointers. Then perhaps you too will soon have a Crunchbase profile to help build your small business or startup brand. And a founder profile for you.

What is Crunchbase?

Crunchbase is an open database of businesses.

Its an impressive niche resource for anyone interested in technology companies. As a platform with free and paid options, its far more than a business directory.

On its website Crunchbase says it was founded to be the master record of data on the worlds most innovative companies.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Crunchbase started life in 2007 as a side project of TechCrunch. Crunchbase began as Techcrunchs database to track all the startups looking for funding, being funded, getting acquired, going IPO, or failing in their startup journey.

AOL acquired Techcrunch in 2010. Verizon in turn acquired AOL and rolled Techcrunch and other media properties into something called Oath. Along the way Crunchbase Inc. was spun off from Oath, although Verizon remains an investor.

Today, the Crunchbase database is still heavily weighted toward tracking funding and high growth investment. But with over 675,000 companies in it (by our count), Crunchbase has evolved into a general repository of business information for the tech world.

How Do You Use Crunchbase to Build Brand?

Its easy. The first step is to set up a free Crunchbase account.

To set up an account, you will need to verify your companys identity using one of three big social networks (Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook). Thats simple enough  just connect your profiles.

Someone must be doing a manual review of all new accounts, because there can be a delay. In our case we had to wait a few days before our Crunchbase account was verified.

Once verified, you are set to go.

Here are some key Crunchbase benefits and features:

Get a free profile page for your business. You can add all the basic details such as industry, address, employee size and founding date. This establishes a public record of your company in a third party database, adding credibility to your business. For small businesses and startups, a Crunchbase profile is an easy way to build your brand.

You can add all the basic details such as industry, address, employee size and founding date. This establishes a public record of your company in a third party database, adding credibility to your business. For small businesses and startups, a Crunchbase profile is an easy way to build your brand. Add founder information. Add information about yourself if you are the founder. You can also list other founders. For small business owners, this helps with personal branding. Its also entrepreneur street cred.

Add information about yourself if you are the founder. You can also list other founders. For small business owners, this helps with personal branding. Its also entrepreneur street cred. Identify funding information. If youve raised investment money, you can add details about your funding rounds, VC or angel investors, and more. If your company has no investors, skip this part.

If youve raised investment money, you can add details about your funding rounds, VC or angel investors, and more. If your company has no investors, skip this part. List Board members. Once again, this is mainly for high growth startups seeking funding. Prominent Board members can open doors.

Once again, this is mainly for high growth startups seeking funding. Prominent Board members can open doors. Add events. If you participate in events as a speaker or sponsor, or hold your own events, you can list them.

If you participate in events as a speaker or sponsor, or hold your own events, you can list them. Add press references. You can add links to any news articles about your company.

You can add links to any news articles about your company. Identify key employees. If your employees have Crunchbase profiles, you can list them on the company profile.

If your employees have Crunchbase profiles, you can list them on the company profile. Display your tweets. When you verify/link your Twitter account, your companys tweets automatically appear on your Crunchbase profile. So its a way to share social updates to anyone who sees your profile.

Those are just some of the key fields you can use with a free Crunchbase profile.

What Can You Do With Crunchbase?

As mentioned, one of the key benefits is to get your business listed in Crunchbase. Now if your eyes are getting huge and youre thinking Oh boy, Ill get a link you could be disappointed. Links from Crunchbase are nofollowed.

But think more broadly than links. Here are five uses of Crunchbase:

Use Crunchbase to Build Your Brand  and Protect It

Google and other search engines will show your Crunchbase listing when someone searches for your company by name.

Why is this important? Two reasons:

It establishes your business bonafides for those checking out your company online.

Its a defensive measure. It can help you control how your brand appears in search engines. Wouldnt you rather have a Crunchbase profile show up on page one of Google  instead of a consumer complaint page?

Small local businesses have Google My Business. But a GMB profile is not a great option for online businesses or businesses without a specific service geography. Non-local businesses need something like Crunchbase.

Find Investors and Board Members

You can search for investors, because you see what else theyve invested in. You can find potential Board members, too. Once again, this will be of interest mainly to high growth tech startups.

Prospect for Sales Leads

If you sell a product or service to tech companies, Crunchbase could be a good place to find leads.

Identify and Connect

You could, for instance, find other founders in your geographical area. You might also search for companies to partner with.

Stay Updated on High Growth Tech News

Crunchbase has an active News section of its site. It publishes articles about startups that have been funded, filed for IPO or are planning to, and other developments. In short, Crunchbase News covers the high tech startup scene in much the same way Techcrunch used to do.

Crunchbase News also creates quarterly venture capital funding reports. These reports are perfect for those who want an overview of the VC investment landscape.

Theres also a daily newsletter.

Other Things to Know About CrunchBase

Crunchbase is in the data business. Naturally, this might cause you to wonder how your data is being handled.

Crunchbases own profile page (yes, it has one of those) says it allows users to discover innovative companies and the people behind them. Crunchbase encourages app makers to incorporate site data into their apps. And those that buy the Enterprise version of Crunchbase get the capability to integrate site data with Salesforce.

This means that companies listed in Crunchbase may end up fielding more sales calls and emails.

Most startups and small businesses want publicity, so they will likely see this open data approach as a positive. Those who are concerned about how their data will be used should read the Crunchbase privacy policy closely.

Theres also a paid Crunchbase Pro subscription. The paid subscription (currently $29 / month) opens up more features. These features include more extensive monitoring and searching. Without a paid subscription, the searching can be somewhat limited.

Then theres the editing capabilities. A Wikipedia-like editing function is on every profile. However, you can request that Crunchbase lock your profile if you are concerned about unauthorized edits. And those who make unauthorized changes could be banned as spammers.

Also, if your company fails, you may not be able to get your profile removed. Crunchbases help files say, As historical data holds important value for both our platform and community, Crunchbase prefers not to remove profiles.

We tried to reach Crunchbase for more insights on their strategy and future direction. The company did not respond.

5 Tips for an Awesome Crunchbase Profile

If you you want to use Crunchbase to build your brand  here are five pointers for an awesome profile:

(1) Complete your profile thoroughly. Add your profile. Pay particular attention to the description field. The description shows up in search snippets. It could color a customers first impression. Also pay attention to the industries you choose. This shows up on searches on Crunchbase. Be sure to also use key terms you want your brand associated with.

(2) Follow the Crunchbase Guidelines. These guidelines are mainly best practices such as not listing a personal email address publicly.

(3) Add a founder. Fill out a founder profile for each founder. People network with other people  not with faceless organizations. Besides, its good personal branding, which in turn can help your company. Just ask Richard Branson how personal branding helped his companies.

(4) Share your Crunchbase profile. Post the link on social media. And link to it from your website. This will help boost your Crunchbase profiles prominence. Then its more likely to show up in search results and help build your brand.

(5) Monitor your profile. Because profiles can be edited, its a good idea to monitor yours. If you are concerned about unauthorized edits, ask that it be locked.

Tips for an Awesome Crunchbase Profile Description Complete your profile thoroughly Pay attention to the description field as it appears in search snippets, influencing customers' first impressions. Carefully select industries to associate with your profile. Incorporate key terms for brand association. Follow the Crunchbase Guidelines Adhere to best practices outlined by Crunchbase, such as avoiding public listing of personal email addresses. This ensures a professional and secure profile presentation. Add a founder Create a founder profile for each founder to enhance personal branding. People connect with individuals, not faceless organizations. This boosts your company's credibility and branding impact. Share your Crunchbase profile Amplify your profile's visibility by sharing the link on social media platforms and linking it from your website. Increased exposure enhances your profile's prominence in search results, contributing to brand-building efforts. Monitor your profile Regularly monitor your profile for unauthorized edits. If concerned about changes, request to lock your profile. Staying vigilant ensures the accuracy and integrity of your profile, maintaining a professional and consistent online image. Was this response better or worse? Better Worse Same

With these simple tips your business will soon have a professional profile from a respected business database.

Conclusion

In the ever-expanding landscape of digital branding, finding credible ways to establish and solidify your businesss online presence is essential. Among the array of options, one avenue that stands out, especially for technology-oriented companies, is leveraging Crunchbase to bolster your brand identity.

Embarking on this journey, we at Small Business Trends Media created a Crunchbase profile and found the experience both seamless and reputation-enhancing. However, its important to note that Crunchbase isnt a one-size-fits-all solution; its effectiveness varies based on the nature of your business.

While Crunchbase shines for technology-driven businesses, it might not be as suitable for purely local or Main Street establishments. Plumbing, salons, and similar businesses are better served by platforms like Google My Business that cater to their local customer base.

On the contrary, for tech businesses, startups, e-commerce ventures, and online services, Crunchbase offers immense potential. It isnt just a business directory; its a repository of information for the tech world.

To harness the brand-building potential of Crunchbase, follow these steps:

1. Set Up Your Profile: Start by creating a free Crunchbase account and verifying your companys identity through Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.

2. Leverage Key Features: Use the platforms features to build your brand:

Establish a company profile with essential details to enhance credibility.

Add founder information to boost personal branding and establish entrepreneurship credentials.

Highlight funding rounds and investors for transparency and validation.

List board members for networking and opening new doors.

Incorporate events, press references, and key employees to round out your profile.

Connect your Twitter account to share social updates directly on your profile.

3. Broaden Your Horizons: Beyond profile creation, Crunchbase offers diverse utilities:

Control your brands appearance in search engine results.

Identify potential investors, board members, or partners.

Find sales leads in the tech sector.

Establish connections and collaborations.

Stay updated on high-growth tech news.

4. Consider the Data Business: Crunchbase is fundamentally in the data business. This open-data approach can lead to increased exposure but also potentially more sales calls and emails. Carefully review their privacy policy if data usage is a concern.

5. Optimize Your Profile: To create an impactful profile:

Complete your profile thoroughly with a compelling description.

Follow Crunchbase guidelines to maintain a professional image.

Add founder profiles to infuse a personal touch.

Share your profile on social media and your website for broader visibility.

Monitor your profile for unauthorized edits and request locking if necessary.

As you set sail on this Crunchbase journey, remember that its not just about links, but rather establishing your brands authenticity, visibility, and credibility. Crunchbase becomes your online brand ambassador, shaping your digital presence in an ever-evolving tech landscape.
Deer meat is a type of venison. Venison comes from the Latin Venari, which means to hunt. The term Venison also covers elk, reindeer, sika and fallow deer, all species of farmed deer. But the most common species of domesticated deer raised on a deer farm is the white-tailed deer.

Why a Deer Farm?

Domesticated deer farming is a growing business in rural America; in fact, one of its fastest-growing industries involves livestock. Thats because venison is high in protein and lean meat, which is low in fat.

Are you interested in wondering how to start farming with no money? In other words, you dont have the dough to raise does, or the cash to raise bucks?

Discover the Zoho Ecosystem Drive Traffic to Your Website Sell Your Business Advertise Your Business Here

The USDA has various loan programs designed to help new deer farmers get a start.

What Species of Deer are Farmed in the US?

There are four main species of deer used as farm animals or livestock in the US.

Fallow Deer and Sika Deer

Sika and Fallow deer are popular choices because of their size and beauty. Like the sika, they are smaller than their whitetail cousins and easier to handle and house. They are also nonnative animals in the US, which means they dont live in the wild.

Small Business Deals

White-Tailed Deer

White-tailed deer live in the wild throughout the US and are also the most common type of deer used as livestock on a deer farm. Raising any species on a deer farm is challenging, and the larger species even more so in terms of handling, housing and fencing.

Elk

Raising elk is challenging due to its size. They are powerful and agile and require as much food as cattle. In the wild, they are herd animals, and at all ages, strive to get over or through a fence to join the other animals.

Comparing Different Species of Deer for Farming

To help you make an informed choice, here is a comparison table that outlines key attributes of different deer species that are commonly farmed in the US:

Species Size Ease of Handling Typical Costs Native to the US? White-Tailed Deer Large Moderate $$$ Yes Fallow and Sika Deer Medium Easy $$ No Elk Large Challenging $$$$ Yes

Pros of Deer Farming

Fast to get to maturity

Can reproduce for up to 20 years of age

Have side uses, such as the sale of antlers, antler velvet and hides

Often have two or more young

Cheaper to feed because they requires less fodder than traditional livestock such as cattle

Cons of Deer Farming

Fencing is expensive

Raising deer for meat is a highly regulated industy

Public negativity  an animal lover may view a deer as a pet, and not an animal that may be good to eat.

Deer Diseases Farmers Should Know

There are three main diseases that can affect farmed domestic deer:

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an ugly one. Its a neurological malady that causes muscle wasting and death. It can affect animals at any age. Its thought to be spread via saliva, such as through shared feed areas. There is no vaccine or cure.

(CWD) is an ugly one. Its a neurological malady that causes muscle wasting and death. It can affect animals at any age. Its thought to be spread via saliva, such as through shared feed areas. There is no vaccine or cure. Tuberculosis is also a killer disease. It can spread between animals within the deer herd and also between deer and cattle. An infected bovine can then affect other animals on its farm.

is also a killer disease. It can spread between animals within the deer herd and also between deer and cattle. An infected bovine can then affect other animals on its farm. Brucellosis is not common in most deer species, although it is common in Elk. It can spread in utero from the elk cow to its calf. Although there is a brucellosis vaccine for cattle, it has not been approved for use in deer herds.

Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming a Deer Farmer

1. Research Local Regulations for Deer Farming

Understanding the legal landscape is a cornerstone for setting up a deer farm. Within the United States, regulations regarding deer farming fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture as well as the states Game Commission.

Familiarizing yourself with these laws is essential to avoid any future legal difficulties. A critical hub for resources and guidelines is the North American Deer Farmers Association (NADEFA).

They offer comprehensive guides on everything from enclosure designs to ethical practices. Additionally, for nonnative species like fallow and sika deer, its essential to be aware that different, sometimes more stringent, regulations may be in place.

2. Learn about the Best Practices for Raising Healthy Deer

Running a deer farm isnt simply a matter of keeping the animals contained; its an intricate operation that requires an understanding of the deers unique social structures.

Record-keeping is a non-negotiable task, involving close tracking of each animals health, age, and breeding status. In the wild, young male deer naturally congregate in bachelor groups. On a farm, this instinctual behavior has implications for how youll need to organize your herd.

Knowing that adult males, though initially cooperative, can become hostile during mating seasons informs how youll separate and manage them.

During winter months, or other times of scarce natural forage, youll need to have a backup feeding plan.

3. Gain Knowledge about Deer Farm Requirements

Infrastructure is a major factor to consider when setting up a deer farm. One of the key aspects involves creating efficient systems for food and water dispensation.

Conveniently, these systems can often be installed outside the pen, ensuring that during vulnerable periods like the mating season, theres less need for human intervention within the enclosures.

Fencing is another critical element: not just any fence will do. It needs to be at least 8 feet in height with robust 5-inch diameter posts. Some farmers go the extra mile by wrapping wooden snow fences around the main fences, providing a visual deterrent.

In addition to these, a squeeze chute helps manage the deer for medical check-ups or before theyre sent off to the butcher.

4. Learn How to Breed Deer Populations Safely

In captive environments, safety becomes a paramount concern, especially during the breeding season. While doe deer have impressive conception rates even in the wild, artificial insemination is often the method of choice on deer farms.

This practice, though expensive at around $700 per procedure, offers a more controlled and safe breeding process. Alternatively, some farmers invest in a prime breeding buck, despite its hefty price tag of $5,000 or more.

Understanding the brief breeding window for doesusually only about 48 hoursis critical for planning.

Subsequent feeding schedules, particularly for males who can lose up to 25% of their body weight during the rut, are also vital.

5. Create a Business Plan and Budget for Your Deer Farm

As you plan how to start a farm, consider your main costs. Two of the biggest expenses for the farm are fencing and breeding stock.

Fencing  The current price for a 300-foot roll of 8-foot fencing is about $400. Posts for the fence are $10 and need to be placed every ten feet, gates are about $200. Many farmers also use strands of electric wire on the top and bottom of the fence, to deter predators.

The current price for a 300-foot roll of 8-foot fencing is about $400. Posts for the fence are $10 and need to be placed every ten feet, gates are about $200. Many farmers also use strands of electric wire on the top and bottom of the fence, to deter predators. Breeding Stock  On one fenced acre, you can hold 2-3 adult whitetails or 1-2 elk. You can expect to pay a minimum of $1500 for a weaned doe.

6. Acquire the Necessary Land, Facilities, and Equipment

Your farm will need to be adequately equipped to function smoothly. This includes machinery like tractors, ATVs or UTVs, and trailers specifically designed for transporting deer safely.

The layout of the farm is also essential. Pens will need to be designed to segregate deer by age and sex. A less obvious but equally important requirement is soil quality.

If you find that your lands soil is deficient, its wise to conduct a soil test and then amend the ground to provide the nutrients your deer will need for grazing.

Special handling facilities, like the earlier mentioned squeeze chutes, are also part of essential infrastructure.

7. Develop a Marketing Strategy to Attract Customers

Lastly, but by no means least, is the challenge of marketing your deer farm. Its imperative to identify who youll be selling to, be it direct consumers, retail stores, or restaurants.

Crafting an effective marketing strategy involves more than just traditional advertising; in todays digital age, a wide variety of farming apps can facilitate almost every aspect of farm management.

Search the internet  theres a farm app for almost everything involved in farming. Youll find apps for equipment repair, chicken farming, or even learning how to start a goat farm.

Other Types of Deer Farms  The Grand Canyon Deer Farm

The Grand Canyon Deer Farm has long been a mainstay of old Route 66. The fun place is located in Williams, Arizona.

On the 10-acre Grand Canyon Deer Farm, visitors can touch and feed all the animals in this absolute animal wonderland. During your visit, you can view wallabies, llamas, bison, deer, and more, a truly unique experience.

Finding a Veterinarian

Locating a qualified veterinarian who specializes in treating deer can be a challenging task, especially if your farms handling facilities arent up to par. A deer-focused veterinarian will expect a certain level of infrastructure aimed at ensuring both human and animal safety.

Its crucial to make sure that your facility includes specialized spaces for medical treatment and isolation, as well as effective systems to safely guide the deer into these areas.

Consult with the veterinarian on how to adapt your facilities to suit the medical needs of your herd, ensuring that you can provide a safe and efficient environment for routine check-ups and emergency situations alike.

What are Some Good Programs for Deer Farm Startups?

Colleges and Universities  Many throughout the US focus entirely on white-tailed deer production. Some of the most notable are offered at Penn State University, West Virginia University, and Miami University in Ohio.

The Zoo Keeper Program offers various programs, and you can focus on ungulates (hoofed animals).

The Deer Farm Start-Up Program  is offered through the North American Deer Farmers Association.

How Profitable is Deer Farming?

Deer farming is a significant contributor to agriculture, generating a staggering $7.9 billion in annual revenue in the United States alone.

When you break it down, the meat can be quite valuable, with white-tailed deer meat retailing for an average of $30 per pound and elk meat fetching even more at $45 per pound.

However, its crucial to consider the actual yield from each animal to get a realistic sense of profits. An average 100-pound doe, for example, could offer around 45 pounds of marketable meat.

This meat isnt just steaks; it includes various cuts such as hamburger and tenderloin, which may have different market values.

Understanding these economics can guide you in setting your pricing and revenue expectations.

How Much Land Do You Need for a Deer Farm?

When considering how much land youll need for a deer farm, the requirements are surprisingly modest. A single fenced acre can comfortably accommodate 2-3 adult white-tailed deer, making deer farming an attractive business proposition for those with limited land resources.

This efficiency in land use is why deer farming often tops the list of viable businesses to start on vacant land.

Nevertheless, the acreage needed could vary based on other factors like the availability of natural forage, the type of deer you are raising, and the need for additional facilities like birthing pens or isolation areas.

So, while a small plot may suffice, a thorough assessment of land use is indispensable for operational success
In 2017, 80% of Americans shopped online at least monthly. Having a website to showcase your services or products is pivotal in remaining commercially competitive in the 21st century. That said, if nobody is visiting your website to browse your products or services, it might as well not exist.

How to Increase Traffic to Your Website

Take a look at the following 25 ways to get more people to your website.

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Use Social Media to Attract Visitors

Use social media to promote your website and attract visitors. Post interesting and engaging content on social media with a link to your website, to encourage people to head to your site.

Ensure Your Site is Search Engine Optimized

Optimizing your site by using the right keywords and regularly updating it with fresh content will help it rank better on the search engines, boosting your organic traffic.

Have a Blog on Your Site and Regularly Update It

Having a blog on your website is one of the most effective ways to build engagement with your brand and encourage people to visit your site. Regularly update your blog with informative, entertaining and engaging content to encourage visitors to keep returning to your site.

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Further reading: Why write a blog for business?

Use Pay Per Click Campaigns

As online marketing influencer Neil Patel notes, one of the basic ways to drive traffic to a business website is through paid campaigns. PPC, where you bid on different types of keywords, is an easy way to promote your website to an audience who might not otherwise see it.

Use Business Cards for Offline Promotion

Good old-fashioned business cards are by no means dead and buried. Handing out business cards with details of your sites URL printed on them at every opportunity to lure prospects to your site, is one of the most cost-effective offline marketing strategies.

Visit Trade Shows

Trade shows are a great way to promote your brand, build your network and attract prospects. Use trade shows as a means of handing out fliers and business cards, which has details of your website on them.

Use Influencer Marketing to Attract Traffic

Influencer marketing, whereby an influential individual in your niche with hordes of followers deliberately promotes your brand, products or services, is a proven way for businesses to attract people to their website.

Further reading: What is influencer marketing?

Include Your Web Address on Branded Uniforms

If your business requires branded uniforms, utilize employees uniforms to the maximum by including your website address on branded shirts and jackets.

Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

A record amount of digital traffic is now coming from mobile devices. Ensure your website is navigational from the likes of smartphones and tablets, by using mobile friendly web design.

Guest Blog on Other Sites

Rather than limiting new blogs to your own site, aim to get them published as guest blogs on other sites. Having links to your website on credible sites with high Domain Authority (DA), is a great way to boost your SEO and the organic traffic to your site.

Invite Other People to Guest Blog on Your Site

Inviting others to post high-quality and engaging articles that are void of spammy links on your website, is a great way to increase traffic to your site, as the author of the guest blogs are likely to share the content and build up rapport with your brand.

Post Content on LinkedIn Pulse

Drive targeted business traffic to your site by posting unique and engaging content on LinkedIn Pulse.

Display Your Website Details in Your Office or Shop Window

Promote your sites URL to those passing by your shop or office by simply displaying your web address in the window  an incredibly simple and cost-effective marketing tactic.

Use Car Wraps to Promote Your URL

Ensure your vehicle acts as marketing pedestal to every passer-by by wrapping it with your businesss logo and your websites URL.

Advertise in Print Media

With 17% of small businesses still advertising regularly in newspaper, print advertising is by no means dead. Use the likes of newspapers and magazines to advertise your business, including details of your website to encourage readers to visit your site.

Use Direct Mail Campaigns

Leaving promotional material on coffee tables in waiting rooms and posting it through letter boxes that includes your URL can be a highly successful way to alert prospects to your website.

Publish Interviews with Thought Leaders on Your Website

Publishing interviews or commentary from leading figures in your market can be a great way to encourage people to head to your site and boost its credibility.

Be Interviewed for Other Sites

By the same token, why not start doing interviews yourself as a thought leader in your industry to help raise your online credibility and presence and attract people to your site?

Attend Networking Events

Networking brings a multitude of benefits to small businesses, including the opportunity to promote your website to the right audience.

Check out our 59 business networking tips.

Place Internal Links on Your Site

When publishing content on your website, use relevant and credible internal links in the content to help boost your SEO and make the content a more useful experience for the reader  a key attribute in increasing website traffic.

Publish Original Research on Your Site

Original research helps drive traffic to a website, so endeavor to get your hands on research thats not available anywhere else, whether its through webinars, whitepapers or how-tos.

Read more about market research for small business.

Fine-Tune Existing Content

Does the existing content on your website make the grade in terms of being readable and engaging to visitors? Tweaking the content on your site so its more engaging, promotional (but not spammy) and has a healthy scattering of relevant keywords, will be an effective way to help increase traffic to your site.

Advertise on Local Radio

Advertising on local radio stations remains an effective way to promote your website to a local audience.

Upgrade Old Blogs

Putting fresh life into old blogs by making them relevant to today and to your target audiences can be a cost-effective and simple way to improve your SEO and increase traffic to your site.

Use YouTube to Promote Your Site

YouTube has positioned itself as a respected social site for small businesses. Post creative videos on YouTube to encourage people to subscribe to your channel. Dont forget to mention your URL to promote your website to your YouTube audience.

The Power of User Experience (UX) in Driving Website Traffic

In the quest to increase website traffic, its vital to prioritize user experience (UX) as a central element of your strategy. A seamless and enjoyable UX not only retains visitors but also encourages them to explore your site further and even share it with others. Heres why and how you should focus on enhancing UX:

Importance of UX:

Search Engine Ranking: Search engines like Google consider factors like page load speed, mobile-friendliness, and overall usability when ranking websites. A well-optimized UX can positively impact your search engine rankings, leading to increased organic traffic.

Search engines like Google consider factors like page load speed, mobile-friendliness, and overall usability when ranking websites. A well-optimized UX can positively impact your search engine rankings, leading to increased organic traffic. Visitor Engagement: A user-friendly interface, easy navigation, and intuitive design keep visitors engaged and encourage them to spend more time on your site. Engaged users are more likely to convert into customers and return for future visits.

A user-friendly interface, easy navigation, and intuitive design keep visitors engaged and encourage them to spend more time on your site. Engaged users are more likely to convert into customers and return for future visits. Reduced Bounce Rates: A poor UX can lead to high bounce rates, where visitors leave your site quickly after landing. Ensuring that your website provides valuable and relevant content, loads quickly, and is easy to navigate can reduce bounce rates and keep visitors on your site longer.

A poor UX can lead to high bounce rates, where visitors leave your site quickly after landing. Ensuring that your website provides valuable and relevant content, loads quickly, and is easy to navigate can reduce bounce rates and keep visitors on your site longer. Referral Traffic: A positive user experience can lead to word-of-mouth referrals and social media shares. When users have a great experience on your site, theyre more likely to recommend it to their friends, family, and followers.

How to Enhance UX for Increased Traffic:

Optimize Page Load Speed: Slow-loading pages frustrate users and can lead to abandonment. Compress images, use browser caching, and minimize unnecessary scripts to improve load times.

Slow-loading pages frustrate users and can lead to abandonment. Compress images, use browser caching, and minimize unnecessary scripts to improve load times. Mobile Responsiveness: With the rise of mobile browsing, having a responsive design that adapts to different devices is crucial for a seamless user experience.

With the rise of mobile browsing, having a responsive design that adapts to different devices is crucial for a seamless user experience. Clear Navigation: Organize your content with a clear and intuitive navigation menu. Users should easily find what theyre looking for without confusion.

Organize your content with a clear and intuitive navigation menu. Users should easily find what theyre looking for without confusion. Readable Content: Use legible fonts, proper spacing, and a clean layout to make your content easy to read. Break up long paragraphs with headings, bullet points, and visuals.

Use legible fonts, proper spacing, and a clean layout to make your content easy to read. Break up long paragraphs with headings, bullet points, and visuals. Minimize Pop-ups: While pop-ups can be effective for capturing leads, excessive and intrusive pop-ups can annoy users. Use them sparingly and ensure theyre easy to dismiss.

While pop-ups can be effective for capturing leads, excessive and intrusive pop-ups can annoy users. Use them sparingly and ensure theyre easy to dismiss. Accessible Design: Ensure your website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Use alt text for images, provide captions for videos, and follow accessibility guidelines.

Ensure your website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Use alt text for images, provide captions for videos, and follow accessibility guidelines. Testing and Optimization: Continuously test different elements of your website, such as calls-to-action, forms, and layouts, to determine what works best for your audience. A/B testing can help you refine your UX over time.

Continuously test different elements of your website, such as calls-to-action, forms, and layouts, to determine what works best for your audience. A/B testing can help you refine your UX over time. Interactive Elements: Incorporate interactive elements like quizzes, calculators, and polls to engage users and encourage them to stay on your site longer.

Incorporate interactive elements like quizzes, calculators, and polls to engage users and encourage them to stay on your site longer. Feedback and Reviews: Encourage users to provide feedback and leave reviews. Positive reviews build trust and credibility, while constructive feedback helps you improve your site.

Aspect Importance Strategies Search Engine Ranking Improved ranking on search engines leads to - Optimize page load speed - Mobile responsiveness - Clear navigation - Readable content - Minimize pop-ups higher organic traffic. - Accessible design - Testing and optimization Visitor Engagement User-friendly design encourages visitors to - Optimize page load speed - Mobile responsiveness - Clear navigation - Interactive elements - Feedback and reviews stay longer and explore further. Reduced Bounce Rates A positive UX reduces bounce rates, keeping - Optimize page load speed - Mobile responsiveness - Clear navigation - Readable content - Accessible design visitors engaged. - Testing and optimization Referral Traffic Good experience leads to word-of-mouth - Mobile responsiveness - Interactive elements - Feedback and reviews referrals and social media shares.

Remember that a website with a focus on excellent UX not only attracts more visitors but also retains them, increases conversions, and fosters a positive online reputation. In the digital age, where competition is fierce, a user-centered approach can set you apart and lead to sustained growth in website traffic.

Here are 50 YouTube channel ideas for beginners to get you started.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced today the results of an exhaustive enforcement operation. This comes in the wake of trillions of dollars in pandemic relief designated to assist Americans and businesses during this unparalleled public health crisis.

The Justice Department has highlighted an alarming trend. As billions flowed in aid, unscrupulous individuals both within the U.S. and internationally exploited the crisis, leading to fraudulent claims in the hundreds of billions of dollars, recent data revealed.

In response, the Attorney General formed the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in May 2021. The task force marshaled resources from various departments and the government at large. Their goal is to identify and prosecute these fraudsters and recover ill-gotten government funds.

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This past summer, three interagency COVID Fraud Strike Forces stationed in Maryland, South Florida, and California collaborated with over 50 U.S. Attorneys Offices. Their combined efforts led to a nationwide COVID fraud enforcement operation. The results are staggering. Over a three-month period, more than 700 enforcement actions were initiated, targeting over $830 million in fraudulent activities. From this, over $200 million has been successfully seized through criminal and civil forfeiture actions.

The breadth of fraudulent activities is vast. Monaco revealed enforcement actions against diverse offenders  from street gangs in Wisconsin exploiting unemployment schemes to fund illicit activities to international criminal rings based out of Nigeria and individuals in California defrauding the IRS for monumental sums.

Yet, Monaco stresses that the mission is far from completion. She expressed, Our focus on recovering stolen funds wont be thwarted by fraudsters who try to hide or spend those funds before being prosecuted. We will seek judicial orders requiring convicted defendants to pay back every stolen dollar  and we have 20 years to realize those recoveries.

For small businesses, this signifies the Justice Departments unwavering commitment to ensuring that relief funds reach legitimate entities genuinely affected by the pandemic. The message is clear: a rigorous system is in place to apprehend and prosecute those capitalizing on the nations vulnerability during the pandemic.

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Further cementing their dedication to curbing fraud, Monaco announced the establishment of two new COVID Fraud Enforcement Strike Force teams, one each in Colorado and New Jersey. These additions aim to amplify their efforts in combating fraudulent activities surrounding pandemic relief funds.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco praised the teams dedication and asserted their continued effort to pursue fraudsters, emphasizing that their mission to protect the integrity of pandemic relief efforts remains paramount. She then handed over to Acting Director Galdo for further details on the enforcement sweep.

Small businesses should remain vigilant and ensure their transactions, especially those relating to pandemic relief funds, adhere strictly to the rules, as enforcement actions continue to intensify.
Online reputation crisis happens when any kind of negative information related to your company starts spreading. A single negative review is not a reputation crisis. But if that customers negative experience with your company is being actively discussed on several social media channels, turns into memes, and gets shared among friends  that is a reputation crisis.

Reputation problems occur not only as a result of unsatisfied customers. Unhappy (past) employees can voice their frustration in public. Or a malware attack can result in unfortunate misunderstandings or even data leaks.

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There may be many reasons for a reputation crisis, in fact, so many, that hardly any brand can consider itself safe from one. Social media has given negative comments wings. It is too easy to suddenly see your brand name mentioned in a negative context all over the web, whether your business is big or small. That negative footprint may take years to get rid of.

While any business is dreading facing a reputation crisis, knowing how to react if it happens is fundamental to a speedy recovery.

Make sure you will be the first to know

The earlier you realize theres a reputation crisis coming (or already happening), the better. A crisis often fades away as soon as the business steps in to clarify and fix the situation. A well-set-up social media listening strategy is an effective way to ensure your team and you are promptly alerted of negative comments or publications.

Awario is a solid platform that uses Artificial Intelligence to prioritize important negative mentions and notify you right away. You can set up Awario to send Slack notifications which will come straight to your phone.

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Investigate the situation quickly but thoroughly

While getting an alert is important, dont rush to respond to those comments right away. Try to avoid getting too emotional and remain quiet until you know what actually happened.

Emotions can make things much worse. If theres an unhappy customer or customers voicing dissatisfaction, reply that you are investigating the matter and will keep them updated. If theres a quick fix to an issue (e.g. a refund or a website clean-up), make sure it is fixed as quickly as possible.

Publish an official response

Once you know what is going on, you can post your brands official response. Use all your digital media channels to make sure a lot of people are reached. These include your own site, social media channels, and other offsite channels, like press releases.

Heres a great list of crisis recovery case studies, and here are press release examples for you to have resources ready for when you need them.

Your official response needs to be neutral and professional. Keep in mind that those press releases can rank for your brand name, so focus on what has been done rather than what actually happened. You need to control the sentiment and steer it to the positive side.

Take a pause, then evaluate the impact

Taking a pause is important because you and your team need time to put emotions aside and move on. Even the biggest scandals die out eventually as people lose interest in discussing them any further.

After a few months, you can go back and evaluate the impact as well as figure out what kind of lessons you have learned from the situation.

But before that keep yourself and your team busy with something else. Try to do something useful, yet distracting. This is a time to start a seasonal mini-project to move away from your brand name and try something new. Namify could offer you lots of ideas. Somehow I always feel inspired by just looking at fun names it suggests.

Or run your keyword through Text Optimizer to find some content ideas to keep yourself busy. This is a good time to create something new, invest in lead magnets, or even set up a course.

Once some time passes, start investigating what kind of footprint that reputation crisis caused and how to eliminate the impact. Search for your name in Google and run your brand name through Google Autocomplete tools to see if there are any traces left from that incident. This is important to try and rank your own assets for all of Googles suggestions Google is showing for your brand name.

This tool will run your brand name through Google Autocompletes suggestions and expand them using every letter of the alphabet giving you the full picture of how your name is being searched. Look for any suggestions with potentially negative connotations and create content to address all those search queries:

Dont take it personally

It is too easy to take these situations personally. However, the truth is even very well-organized organizations that take pride in their culture may inevitably face a reputation crisis. Mistakes and misunderstandings happen. And thats just what any brand needs to be ready to cope with. Youve got this.

Managing an Online Reputation Crisis: Effective Recovery Strategies

In todays digital age, an online reputation crisis can occur suddenly, threatening your brands image. To navigate such situations and recover swiftly, follow these essential steps:

Swift Awareness: Stay informed about potential reputation crises using tools like Awario. Setting up real-time alerts for negative mentions helps you respond promptly.

Stay informed about potential reputation crises using tools like Awario. Setting up real-time alerts for negative mentions helps you respond promptly. Thorough Understanding: Before reacting, thoroughly investigate the issue. Avoid emotional responses and focus on comprehending the situation from all angles.

Before reacting, thoroughly investigate the issue. Avoid emotional responses and focus on comprehending the situation from all angles. Official Response: Craft an official response and distribute it across various digital platforms: your website, social media channels, and press releases. Use a professional tone and emphasize the actions taken to address the situation.

Craft an official response and distribute it across various digital platforms: your website, social media channels, and press releases. Use a professional tone and emphasize the actions taken to address the situation. Evaluate Long-Term Impact: Give time for the dust to settle. After a few months, assess the incidents impact on your brands reputation and identify lessons learned.

Give time for the dust to settle. After a few months, assess the incidents impact on your brands reputation and identify lessons learned. Maintain Perspective: Avoid taking the situation personally. Even well-established brands face crises. Prepare your team to handle challenges and turn them into growth opportunities.

Step Description Key Actions Swift Awareness Stay informed using tools like Awario. Set up real-time alerts for negative mentions to respond promptly. - Utilize social listening tools - Set up real-time alerts - Monitor negative mentions - Promptly respond to potential crises Thorough Understanding Investigate the issue comprehensively before reacting. Avoid emotional responses and understand the situation from all angles. - Gather information about the issue - Avoid emotional reactions - Understand the context and details of the crisis Official Response Craft an official response and distribute it across digital platforms. Maintain a professional tone and emphasize the actions taken to address the situation. - Prepare an official response - Share on website, social media, and press releases - Use a professional tone - Highlight steps taken to resolve the issue Evaluate Long-Term Impact Allow time for emotions to settle. Assess the crisis's impact on brand reputation after a few months. Identify lessons learned and growth opportunities. - Wait for emotions to subside - Assess the crisis's impact - Identify lessons and improvements - Consider the crisis as a growth opportunity Maintain Perspective Avoid personalizing the situation. Understand that even established brands face crises. Prepare your team to handle challenges and view them as opportunities for growth. - Avoid personalizing the crisis - Recognize that challenges happen to all brands - Equip the team for crisis management - Approach challenges as chances to improve and grow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an online reputation crisis?

An online reputation crisis occurs when negative information related to your company spreads widely. This can involve multiple negative reviews, discussions on various social media channels, the creation of memes, and sharing among friends. A single negative review might not constitute a crisis, but widespread negative attention can damage your brands image significantly.

What causes reputation problems?

Reputation problems can stem from various sources. Apart from dissatisfied customers, unhappy past employees can publicly voice their frustrations. Malware attacks can also lead to misunderstandings or data leaks, impacting your brands reputation.

Is any brand immune to a reputation crisis?

No brand can consider itself completely safe from a reputation crisis. With the prevalence of social media, negative comments can quickly spread, regardless of the businesss size. Your brand name can be mentioned negatively across the web, making it crucial to be prepared to address such situations.

How can I proactively address a reputation crisis?

Being the first to know about a potential crisis is vital. Implement a social media listening strategy to promptly alert your team about negative comments or publications. Tools like Awario, with AI-powered features and notification capabilities, can help you stay ahead of potential issues.

How should I approach investigating a crisis situation?

Upon receiving an alert, resist the urge to react immediately. Investigate the matter thoroughly to understand the situation fully. Avoid emotional responses, especially if the crisis involves dissatisfied customers. Communicate that you are investigating and assure affected parties that updates will be provided.

What should I consider when crafting an official response?

Once you have a clear understanding of the situation, publish an official response. Utilize your digital media channels, including your website, social media, and press releases, to ensure widespread reach. Maintain a neutral and professional tone, highlighting the actions taken to address the issue rather than dwelling on the specifics of the crisis.

How should I evaluate the long-term impact of a reputation crisis?

Allow some time for the initial emotions to settle. After a few months, assess the impact of the crisis on your brands reputation. Identify the lessons learned from the situation and determine how you can avoid similar issues in the future.

What steps should I take to maintain perspective during a crisis?

Avoid taking the crisis personally. Even well-organized organizations can face reputation challenges. Prepare your team to handle such situations and consider them as opportunities for growth and improvement.

Can a crisis be mitigated through distraction?

Engaging in productive and distracting activities during the aftermath of a crisis can be beneficial. Consider starting a seasonal mini-project or exploring creative ideas. Tools like Namify can offer inspiration for new endeavors.

How can I address the lingering impact of a reputation crisis?

Investigate the residual impact of the reputation crisis by checking Google search results and using Google Autocomplete tools. Create content to address any negative suggestions associated with your brand. Over time, focus on ranking positive assets to outweigh the negative ones.

What mindset should I adopt during a reputation crisis?

While its natural to take such situations personally, its essential to remember that even well-established organizations can face challenges. Mistakes and misunderstandings happen in any business. Adopt a proactive and strategic approach to navigate and recover from a reputation crisis effectively.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  Sen. Grace Poe called on the government to postpone the implementation of the revised guidelines for Filipinos traveling abroad following criticisms that the new rules are too strict.

In a statement on Wednesday, Poe said the "lingering doubts and questions about the new rules must not be swept under the rug."

READ: What you need to know about the new requirements for Filipinos traveling overseas

"Authorities must make traveling through our airports secure against human traffickers, but without being too complicated," said the senator, who chairs the Senate committee on public services.

Poe stressed the need to revisit the new protocols, including the travelers' need to prove they have the capacity to fund their overseas trips, which she described as already "serious enough to merit a thorough review."

The lawmaker also pointed out that the "long list" of required documents puts an additional burden on travelers.

"We welcome the move to address delays and inefficiencies at our airports and curb the scourge of human trafficking. But doing so should not be at the expense of legitimate Filipino travelers," she added.

Poe said the agencies must focus on boosting the capacity of immigration officers to spot trafficking, eradicating corrupt and inefficient personnel, as well as bolstering security at borders.

Last week, another solon lambasted the new guidelines of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).

OFW Party-list Rep. Marissa "Del Mar" Magsino said the new rules would "entail a lot of inconveniences" to Filipino travelers as some documents seem "too difficult to acquire."

READ: Revised guidelines for overseas Pinoy travelers too strict, inconvenient - lawmaker
Starting a shrimp farm can be rewarding for those interested in aquaculture. With the increasing demand for shrimp globally, establishing a successful farm requires careful planning and implementation. In this article, well explore how to start a business in shrimp farming. Lets dive in!

What is a shrimp farm?

A shrimp farm, also known as shrimp aquaculture, refers to shrimp cultivation in controlled environments.

It involves the breeding and rearing of shrimp species, such as the Pacific white shrimp, in specially designed ponds or tanks.

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Responsible shrimp farming practices aim to ensure sustainable production, focusing on factors like water quality, disease prevention, and ecological impact.

Shrimp farms play a significant role in meeting the global demand for shrimp.

The Shrimp Farming Industry in 2023

The global shrimp farming industry is set for substantial growth, with the market expected to reach $69.35 billion by 2028.

Demand for frozen shrimp, driven by its popularity in the food, pharmaceutical, healthcare, and cosmetic sectors, contributes to the industrys prospects.

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However, shrimp production poses environmental risks, as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) notes.

Why You Should Consider Becoming a Shrimp Farmer

Becoming a shrimp farmer could be a viable option if youre seeking a rewarding and profitable venture.

Here are five compelling reasons to consider starting a shrimp seafood farming business:

High demand: The global appetite for shrimp is growing steadily, providing a lucrative market for shrimp farmers.

The global appetite for shrimp is growing steadily, providing a lucrative market for shrimp farmers. Sustainable practice: Shrimp farming can be conducted using responsible and sustainable methods, minimizing environmental impact.

Shrimp farming can be conducted using responsible and sustainable methods, minimizing environmental impact. Profit potential: Shrimp farming has the potential for significant profits due to high market prices and efficient production techniques.

Shrimp farming has the potential for significant profits due to high market prices and efficient production techniques. Versatile market: Shrimp is a versatile product with a wide range of uses, catering to various industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.

Shrimp is a versatile product with a wide range of uses, catering to various industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Ease of entry: With proper planning and guidance, starting a shrimp farm can be relatively straightforward, making it accessible for aspiring entrepreneurs.

U.S. Shrimp Species

When it comes to shrimp species, the United States boasts a diverse range found naturally or farmed.

Here are some prominent shrimp species in the U.S., each with distinct characteristics and considerations for farming:

Marine Shrimp: Commonly known as white shrimp or pink shrimp, this species is abundant in coastal regions, known for its delicate flavor and versatile culinary applications.

Commonly known as white shrimp or pink shrimp, this species is abundant in coastal regions, known for its delicate flavor and versatile culinary applications. Giant Tiger Prawn: Also called black tiger shrimp, these large, impressive creatures are native to Asian waters but are now farmed in the U.S. Known for their size and distinctive tiger-like stripes, they offer a sweet and succulent taste.

Also called black tiger shrimp, these large, impressive creatures are native to Asian waters but are now farmed in the U.S. Known for their size and distinctive tiger-like stripes, they offer a sweet and succulent taste. Freshwater Prawns: Native to freshwater habitats, these prawns are larger than typical shrimp. With a firm texture and slightly sweet taste, theyre popular for their versatility in various dishes.

Native to freshwater habitats, these prawns are larger than typical shrimp. With a firm texture and slightly sweet taste, theyre popular for their versatility in various dishes. Blue Shrimp: Native to the Gulf of Mexico, blue shrimp display vibrant blue coloration and a mild, slightly sweet flavor, making them a sought-after delicacy.

Native to the Gulf of Mexico, blue shrimp display vibrant blue coloration and a mild, slightly sweet flavor, making them a sought-after delicacy. Brown Shrimp: Found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, brown shrimp have a robust flavor and firm texture, making them ideal for various cooking methods.

Found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, brown shrimp have a robust flavor and firm texture, making them ideal for various cooking methods. Pink Shrimp: Residing primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, pink shrimp boast a delicate flavor and tender texture, often favored for their versatility in recipes.

Residing primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, pink shrimp boast a delicate flavor and tender texture, often favored for their versatility in recipes. Rock Shrimp: With a rock-hard shell, rock shrimp are prized for their sweet taste and firm, lobster-like meat, commonly harvested off the southeastern coast of the U.S.

With a rock-hard shell, rock shrimp are prized for their sweet taste and firm, lobster-like meat, commonly harvested off the southeastern coast of the U.S. Spot Prawn: Native to the Pacific Northwest, spot prawns offer a subtly sweet flavor, firm texture, and a distinctive white spot on their tail, hence their name.

Native to the Pacific Northwest, spot prawns offer a subtly sweet flavor, firm texture, and a distinctive white spot on their tail, hence their name. Royal Red Shrimp: Deep-sea dwellers found off the coast of the southeastern U.S., royal red shrimp have a unique taste, described as sweet, succulent, and comparable to lobster.

Deep-sea dwellers found off the coast of the southeastern U.S., royal red shrimp have a unique taste, described as sweet, succulent, and comparable to lobster. White Shrimp: Widely distributed along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, white shrimp have a mild, slightly sweet flavor, making them a popular choice for various dishes.

Shrimp Species Characteristics and Culinary Traits Marine Shrimp Abundant in coastal regions, delicate flavor, versatile cooking. Giant Tiger Prawn Native to Asia, farmed in U.S., large size, sweet and succulent. Freshwater Prawns Larger than shrimp, firm texture, slightly sweet, versatile. Blue Shrimp Gulf of Mexico native, vibrant blue color, mild and sweet. Brown Shrimp Atlantic and Gulf coasts, robust flavor, firm texture. Pink Shrimp Gulf of Mexico inhabitant, delicate flavor, tender texture. Rock Shrimp Rock-hard shell, sweet taste, lobster-like meat, southeastern U.S. Spot Prawn Pacific Northwest native, subtly sweet, distinctive white spot. Royal Red Shrimp Deep-sea dwellers, sweet and succulent, similar to lobster. White Shrimp Atlantic and Gulf coasts, mild and slightly sweet flavor.

Shrimp Production Methods

When it comes to shrimp production, various methods are employed to meet the growing demand for this popular seafood.

Each shrimp production method has its own advantages and considerations, influencing factors such as production scale, environmental sustainability, and water management practices.

Here are some of the main shrimp production methods used in the US:

Pond Culture: The most common method, shrimp are grown in large ponds, utilizing natural or controlled environments to support their growth and reproduction.

The most common method, shrimp are grown in large ponds, utilizing natural or controlled environments to support their growth and reproduction. Raceway Systems: Shrimp are raised in narrow, flowing channels called raceways, allowing for controlled water flow and efficient waste removal.

Shrimp are raised in narrow, flowing channels called raceways, allowing for controlled water flow and efficient waste removal. Biofloc Technology: This method promotes the growth of beneficial microorganisms in shrimp ponds, creating a biofloc system that helps maintain water quality and provides supplemental nutrition.

This method promotes the growth of beneficial microorganisms in shrimp ponds, creating a biofloc system that helps maintain water quality and provides supplemental nutrition. Recirculating Aquaculture Systems: Shrimp are raised in closed-loop systems, where water is continuously filtered and recirculated, optimizing water usage and minimizing environmental impact.

Shrimp are raised in closed-loop systems, where water is continuously filtered and recirculated, optimizing water usage and minimizing environmental impact. Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture: This method combines shrimp farming with other species, such as fish or algae, creating a symbiotic ecosystem where waste from one species is used as nutrients by others.

Choosing a Shrimp Farm Location

When choosing a shrimp farm location, several factors should be considered. First and foremost, water quality plays a vital role in fish farms, as shrimp require clean and well-oxygenated water to thrive.

Proximity to markets is also important for efficient distribution and reduced transportation costs.

The availability of suitable land and access to necessary infrastructure, such as electricity and freshwater sources, must be assessed.

Climate conditions, including temperature and rainfall patterns, should also be taken into account to ensure optimal growth and disease prevention.

Essential Shrimp Farm Equipment

To establish a successful shrimp farm, specific equipment is essential. Lets explore the necessary tools and machinery vital for shrimp farming operations, covering pond management, water quality control, and shrimp handling.

Pond Aeration System: A reliable aeration system is crucial to maintain proper oxygen levels in shrimp ponds, promoting healthy growth, and minimizing the risk of diseases.

A reliable aeration system is crucial to maintain proper oxygen levels in shrimp ponds, promoting healthy growth, and minimizing the risk of diseases. Water Pump: An efficient water pump ensures optimal circulation, maintaining water quality and facilitating the removal of waste materials from the ponds.

An efficient water pump ensures optimal circulation, maintaining water quality and facilitating the removal of waste materials from the ponds. Shrimp Net: A specialized net designed for capturing and handling shrimp enables efficient harvest and transfer of shrimp between ponds or containers.

A specialized net designed for capturing and handling shrimp enables efficient harvest and transfer of shrimp between ponds or containers. Water Testing Kit: Regular water testing using a comprehensive kit allows farmers to monitor and adjust crucial water parameters, ensuring an ideal environment for shrimp growth.

Regular water testing using a comprehensive kit allows farmers to monitor and adjust crucial water parameters, ensuring an ideal environment for shrimp growth. Feeding Equipment: Automatic feeders or feeding trays are essential for the accurate and timely distribution of shrimp feed, optimizing nutrition intake, and reducing wastage.

Automatic feeders or feeding trays are essential for the accurate and timely distribution of shrimp feed, optimizing nutrition intake, and reducing wastage. Shrimp Grading Tools: Tools such as grading sieves or trays are employed to separate shrimp based on size, ensuring uniformity in growth and facilitating market grading.

Tools such as grading sieves or trays are employed to separate shrimp based on size, ensuring uniformity in growth and facilitating market grading. Water Filtration System: A reliable filtration system helps to remove impurities, sediment, and excessive nutrients from the water, maintaining favorable water conditions for shrimp.

A reliable filtration system helps to remove impurities, sediment, and excessive nutrients from the water, maintaining favorable water conditions for shrimp. Shrimp Tanks or Ponds: The primary infrastructure for shrimp farming, tanks or ponds provide a suitable habitat for shrimp, allowing them to grow and reproduce under controlled conditions.

The primary infrastructure for shrimp farming, tanks or ponds provide a suitable habitat for shrimp, allowing them to grow and reproduce under controlled conditions. Water Heating or Cooling System: Depending on the geographical location and climate, a heating or cooling system may be necessary to maintain optimal water temperature for shrimp growth.

Depending on the geographical location and climate, a heating or cooling system may be necessary to maintain optimal water temperature for shrimp growth. Shrimp Disease Prevention Tools: These include disinfection products, probiotics, and medications that assist in preventing and controlling common shrimp diseases, ensuring healthier stocks.

How to Start an Indoor Shrimp Farming Business in 6 Simple Steps

Embark on your journey to establish an indoor shrimp farming business with these six straightforward steps.

From setting up the infrastructure to managing water quality, follow these guidelines for a successful venture. Dive into the details on how to start a farm with shrimp below:

1. Determine Your Business Plan

Formulate a comprehensive farm business plan outlining your goals, target market, and financial projections. Assess feasibility and market demand to ensure a solid indoor shrimp farming venture foundation.

2. Set Up the Ideal Infrastructure

Create a suitable environment for shrimp farming, including tanks or ponds, filtration systems, and temperature control. Ensure optimal conditions for growth and reproduction while maintaining a sustainable and efficient operation.

3. Select the Right Shrimp Species

Choose the appropriate shrimp species based on market demand, compatibility with your infrastructure, and your farming objectives. Consider factors such as growth rate, disease resistance, and market value.

4. Acquire Healthy Shrimp Stock

Source healthy shrimp postlarvae from reputable hatcheries. Ensure proper transportation, acclimation, and quarantine procedures to prevent diseases and maintain the quality of your shrimp stock.

5. Implement Feeding and Management Protocols

Establish a feeding schedule and provide balanced nutrition for your shrimp. Monitor water quality parameters regularly, manage disease prevention measures, and implement best practices for optimal growth and health.

6. Harvest and Market Your Shrimp

Plan and execute a systematic harvesting process, ensuring the shrimp reach the desired marketable size. Develop marketing strategies to promote your sustainably farmed shrimp and secure profitable sales channels.

FAQs

How much does it cost to start a shrimp farm business?

The initial investment required to establish a shrimp farm business can vary significantly, typically ranging from $10,000 to $200,000, influenced by factors such as the scale and extent of production.

How long does it take to grow farmed shrimp?

The growth timeline of farmed shrimp depends on various factors, such as species, water temperature, feeding practices, and desired size at harvest. Generally, it takes around 4 to 6 months for shrimp to reach marketable sizes, but this can vary.

Where are the best places in the U.S. for shrimp farms?

The Gulf Coast region is popular for shrimp farming. Specifically, the best states to start a farm with shrimp include Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, is known for its favorable climate and abundant water resources, making it ideal for shrimp farming. Other potential regions include parts of Florida, South Carolina, and Hawaii.

How much money do shrimp farmers make?

Shrimp farm owners can earn annual salaries ranging from $35,000 to well over $150,000, with the amount dependent on the size and scale of their operation. Some shrimp farms even invest in additional revenue streams. For example, you may look into how to start catfish farming to add even more profitability.

Is shrimp farming a profitable business?

Shrimp farming proves to be a lucrative business, offering significant profitability. With meticulous management and streamlined operations, youll unlock tremendous financial gains and pave the way for long-term success in this lucrative industry.
Under Congressman Roger Williamss (R-TX) leadership, the House Committee on Small Business has raised concerns about a recent proposal from the Department of Energy (DOE) to modify energy conservation standards for ceiling fans. Williams, joined by Representatives Van Duyne (R-TX), Salazar (R-FL), Ellzey (R-TX), and Bean (R-FL), issued a letter to DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm expressing apprehension about the potential impacts of the rule on small business fan manufacturers.

The crux of the concern revolves around the change that seeks to decrease the maximum estimated energy consumption allowable for certain ceiling fan categories, specifically large diameter and belt-driven variants. This proposed shift could compel many small business fan manufacturers to undergo extensive redesigning of their products. Even more alarming, the Committee estimates that the rule might push 10 to 30 percent of small business ceiling fan manufacturers out of the market entirely.

The House Committee on Small Business emphasized the importance of ensuring federal agencies comply with mandates such as the Regulatory Flexibility Act and the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. These legislations are in place precisely to safeguard small businesses from undue regulatory burdens and overreaching rulemaking that can hinder their operations or even lead to shutdowns.

Discover the Zoho Ecosystem Drive Traffic to Your Website Sell Your Business Advertise Your Business Here

An excerpt from the letter elaborated, This rule would require numerous small business fan manufacturers to redesign their products and may put between 10 and 30 percent of small business ceiling fan manufacturers out of business. It appears that the Department of Energy (DOE) may not have properly considered small entities during this rulemaking process.

Highlighting the essence of small enterprises, the letter pointed out, It is important for agencies to examine small businesses interestswhich make up 99.9 percent of all businesses in the United Stateswhen passing any new rule. Americas small businesses deserve to have their voices heard and considered.

To provide some background on the signatories, Congressman Roger Williams leads the committee, and he is accompanied in this effort by Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL), Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-TX), and Rep. Aaron Bean (R-FL).

The situation brings forth critical considerations for small business owners, particularly those in the ceiling fan manufacturing sector. On the one hand, energy conservation measures are pivotal for environmental and economic efficiency. Conversely, when these measures threaten the very existence of small businesses, a careful evaluation is essential to strike the right balance. The Committees stance underscores the importance of impartial consideration, active involvement of stakeholders, and the dire need to prioritize the interests of the nations vast network of small businesses.

Small Business Deals

As the proposed changes are debated and discussed in the coming days, the small business community, environmental advocates, and policymakers will keenly observe the outcomes. The challenge lies in creating rules that align with energy conservation goals without jeopardizing the backbone of Americas economy  its small businesses.
Milton George Dartouzos, 82 of La Plata, MD passed away on August 26, 2023 at St. Charles University of MD Regional Medical Center Hospital in La Plata, MD.



He was born on April 16, 1941 in Washington, DC to the late George Milton Dartouzos and Anna Economopoulos Dartouzos.



Milton was a 1959 graduate of Charlotte Hall Military Academy in St. Mary's County, MD. He entered into the United States Air Force on January 28, 1962 in Baltimore, MD and served until January 21, 1966 from Homestead AFB, Florida. While serving in the military he served as an emergency room medic. Upon leaving the Air Force he furthered his education at the University of Richmond earning his Bachelor Degree in Business. He worked for the Federal Government for 26 years as an Accountant in MD. He then retired to Florida, where he enjoyed making friends and playing Bridge, often competing in various tournaments. He will be buried at St. George's Episcopal Church in Valley Lee, MD. He was a beloved father and will be missed. He is survived by his previous wife Trudy L. Dartouzos and son Daemon A. Dartouzos.



Family will receive friends on Saturday, September 2, 2023 from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. with a funeral service officiated by Rev. Greg Syler at 10:00 a.m., at St. George's Episcopal Church, 19167 Poplar Lane, Valley Lee, MD 20692. Interment will follow in the church cemetery.
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Barbara Wolf, a German diplomat, is not a newcomer to Bratislava.

In the mid nineties, when Slovakia was a relatively new country on the map of Europe, she worked for the European Commission and often travelled to the city on business. Her visits to Bratislava stopped as her career pathway took her to other places. Some years later she found herself in Bratislava again.

Wolf became Germanys ambassador to Slovakia in August 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. As she told The Slovak Spectator three years ago, she was not completely surprised.

I had Bratislava on the list of postings that I applied for, she then said.

Despite her fond memories of Bratislava from bygone days and a handover note from her predecessor, Joachim Bleicker, the coronavirus made it challenging for her to ease herself into the new job and build a network of contacts.

Moreover, less than two years into her posting, in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and the embassy led by Wolf had to find a way to help German citizens fleeing Ukraine. With the constant inflow of information from the Slovak government, including the daily numbers and nationalities of people entering Slovakia from Ukraine, Wolf says that her embassy knew quite well what was happening at the border. Today, it is the German soldiers deployed in central Slovakia who have changed some of the embassys routines.

Overall, things [at the embassy] are getting better, the ambassador says.
Ivan Korcok says main goal is to help Slovakia.

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Ivan Korcok will run in the presidential election next year.

The former foreign minister announced his decision to run as civic candidate on Wednesday.

"My main goal is to help Slovakia. If I succeed, I want to bear co-responsibility for how our country progresses. I would like to offer the experience I have gained from 30 years of service to the Slovak Republic, non-partisanship, and a clear vision of how life in the country should develop," said Korcok.

"If someone turns the foreign policy orientation, if they say the war in Ukraine is the doing of the West, if they try to isolate Slovakia, I will confront them," he added.

Current President Zuzana Caputova's mandate ends in 2024, and she has said she will not run again.

The head of state is elected by citizens in a direct election every five years. Presidential candidates can be proposed either by at least 15 MPs or by citizens by the means of a petition signed by at least 15,000 people.

"I will be a civic candidate," Korcok said. Hence, he will have to collect 15,000 signatures.

Extremists and populists attack Korcok

The Progresivne Slovensko, SaS, and Demokrati parties, as well as the OLaNO coalition welcomed Korcok's decision. But the opposition Smer party said it would not support him, saying, among other things, that Slovakia needs someone who "fights for peace and is capable of rejecting foreign interests harming the country".

Meanwhile, the opposition Hlas party said Korcok bears responsibility for the current state of the country, while far-right Republika said of his candidacy that Slovakia does not need another Zuzana Caputova.

Former diplomat

Korcok entered the Slovak diplomatic service in 1992. He was an ambassador to Germany and the US, and served in the Council of the European Union and at the embassy in Switzerland.

In 2020, he was nominated by the SaS as foreign minister, a post which he held until stepping down in September last year.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230829/new-book-reveals-biden-white-house-did-not-foresee-chaotic-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-1112975198.html

New Book Reveals Biden White House Did Not Foresee Chaotic Withdrawal From Afghanistan

New Book Reveals Biden White House Did Not Foresee Chaotic Withdrawal From Afghanistan

The disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 was unforeseen by the Biden administration as late as the beginning of that month, according to a new book by author Franklin Foer.

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In an excerpt of "The Last Politician: Inside Joe Bidens White House and the Struggle for Americas Future" adapted for The Atlantic, Foer depicts Biden as being unfailingly stubborn and arrogant to the end of the disastrous US withdrawal. Biden believed that unlike his predecessors, he could rise above pressures from the military and foreign policy establishments to finally withdraw the United States from an unwinnable mission in Afghanistan, the book said. As of August 1, a month before completing the withdrawal, the Biden administration reportedly still believed that an orderly transition of power to a governing coalition between the Taliban* and the government of President Ashraf Ghani was possible. It was also noted there were even discussions of Secretary of State Antony Blinken going to Qatar to preside over a signing of an accord. In addition, the State Department believed it would be able to keep the US embassy in Kabul open after the withdrawal. The administration further assessed the Afghan military would be able to hold off the Taliban* for months as no one thought there would be a need to resort to emergency scenarios.The White House, backed by the CIA, did not adjust its posture despite US Central Command head Gen. Frank McKenzie warning a week earlier that Kabul could be surrounded by the Taliban* within a month, the book said. As of August 12, the US intelligence community still did not think the Taliban* would try to storm Kabul until after the planned US withdrawal on August 31, the book alleges.Foer then describes how the Biden administration, lacking will and resources, unwittingly fell into relying on the Taliban* to act in good faith and keep order across Kabul while the US evacuation proceeded. By mid-month, hundreds of thousands of desperate Afghans from the countryside were flooding into Kabul to escape retribution from the Taliban* and trying to find a way out with the withdrawing Americans, the book said. The Biden administration believed it could avoid a repeat of the similarly disastrous US withdrawal from Saigon in 1975, but the situation at the Kabul airport quickly worsened, complete with chaotic scenes of Afghans grisly deaths as they attempted to board airplanes and flee, the book said. The situation was further complicated when 13 US service members and dozens of Afghans were killed in terrorist bombing explosions outside of Kabul airport. In the ensuing chaos, the US government managed to evacuate in a rather manic and ad-hoc manner about 124,000 people, the book said. Despite the public outcry at the numerous casualties and destruction amid the unorganized withdrawal, Biden reportedly nevertheless believed his decision to pull the United States out of Afghanistan was the correct one. Bidens faith in his decision was never shaken, except when a relative of a US service member killed in the terrorist bombing at the Kabul airport on August 26 screamed at him to "burn in hell."Foer is a staff writer for the outlet and former editor of The New Republic.*The Taliban is an organization under UN sanctions for terrorist activities.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221018/blinken-admits-he-believed-us-would-have-afghan-embassy-presence-well-into-2022-before-withdrawal--1101990427.html

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Another Ukrainian Drone Downed Over Russia's Bryansk Region

Another Ukrainian Drone Downed Over Russia's Bryansk Region

Another Ukrainian drone was downed over Russia's Bryansk Region, Alexander Bogomaz, the regional governor, said on Wednesday, adding that there were no casualties or damage.

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Earlier in the day, Bogomaz said that Russia's air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the city of Bryansk. Later, the governor said that two more drones were detected over the city's TV tower and downed. "The air defense forces of the Russian Defense Ministry stopped the attack of Ukrainian terrorists. Another aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down. There are no casualties or damage," Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.Russias air defense also downed another drone in the Kaluga Region on Wednesday, and the incident did not result in casualties or damage on the ground, Governor Vladislav Shapsha said.Also this afternoon, another drone was shot down on the territory of the Dzerzhinsky district [of the Kaluga Region] by air defense forces. The wreckage of the drone fell far from settlements. There were no casualties or destruction of infrastructure, Shapsha wrote on his Telegram channel.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/air-defenses-down-ukraines-drone-over-bryansk-city-1112977818.html

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Biden Impeachment Looms; Ukraine is Russia's Cuban Missile Crisis; France Pushes For War in Africa

Biden Impeachment Looms; Ukraine is Russia's Cuban Missile Crisis; France Pushes For War in Africa

House GOP Leaders argue that impeaching President Biden is the only way to ensure that a proper investigation into his international financial dealings is done in an unbiased manner.

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Biden Impeachment Looms; Ukraine is Russia's Cuban Missile Crisis; France Pushes For War in Africa House GOP Leaders argue that impeaching President Biden is the only way to ensure that a proper investigation into his international financial dealings is done in an unbiased manner.

Dan Lazare, investigative journalist and author of "America's Undeclared War", joins us to discuss the potential impeachment of President Biden. House GOP Leaders argue that impeaching President Biden is the only way to ensure that a proper investigation into his international financial dealings is done in an unbiased manner. Dan Lazare says that the GOP has done a very good job of looking into the scandal. He says that Hunter Biden was doing business in Ukraine and he severely compromised his father. Also, the FBI was complicit in hiding the information from the voting public.Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, joins us to discuss Ukraine as Russia's Cuban missile crisis. Caitlin Johnstone compares the situation in Ukraine to the Cuban missile crisis. Ray McGovern says that he was an army officer when the Cuban missile crisis happened. He says that the world has been through this threat before and therefore we know how the US empire would react if they faced a threat similar to the one that has been posed against the Russian Federation.George Koo, journalist, social activist, and international business consultant, joins us to discuss China. George writes that Joe Biden has focused on trying to contain China and his efforts have been fruitless. He argues that Biden meets with Chinese leaders and pretends to be friendly but as soon as he returns to Washington he returns to his anti-China unfriendly stance. Additionally, his subordinates do the same thing when they meet with Chinese authorities. The US spends hundreds of millions of dollars on propaganda demonizing China so they can spend even more on weapons.Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss Russia and the Ukrainian conflict. Russia's homegrown airliner, the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 has successfully completed its first test flight. Sleboda says that this is a very big deal because Russia had used to turn to Western aircraft for its air fleet. But the economic war of sanctions made it difficult to import the parts needed for Russia to maintain its domestic fleet. The domestic production system of airplanes has become a national security issue for Russia. Russian aviation stocks have soared over 45% due to the successful test of this new aircraft. Mark says that self-reliance outside of the US empire is becoming a must because the neocons have weaponized their system of trade.Laith Marouf, broadcaster, and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss the Middle East. The New York Times reports that the US knew that Saudis were abusing and shooting African migrants. Laith Marouf says that the US is selling itself as the champion of human rights yet it aided the killing of civilians in Yemen. Also, he argues that the US abuses migrants on its border and does not say anything about European nations that abuse migrants. Also, the issue of color makes a difference in how the US addresses migrants' rights. He says that the US elites are using this issue to pressure the Saudi leaders. Also, Iran and Iraq are working together to deal with the issue of Kurdish groups accused of terrorism in Iran. Laith believes that these Kurdish groups have been used as US proxies to destabilize and attack Iran forcing Tehran to move.Rachel Blevins, American independent journalist and RT correspondent, joins us to discuss Africa and foreign policy. President Macron has stated that France is ready to support an ECOWAS military action against Niger. Rachel Blevins says that France has troops on the ground but he seems to expect that they will not be attacked. Also, Niger has demanded that the French ambassador leave the nation. She says that France is a colonial power and is trying to maintain their rule. She says that this string of military coups in West Africa shows that the people in this region are tired of dealing with poverty and strife.Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst, joins us to discuss the decay of the US empire. Caleb Maupin argues that people throughout the US empire have been brainwashed to believe that the government should not act on behalf of the working class. Caleb Maupin says that England is dismantling the welfare state, the rise of neoliberalism has killed the notion of collective obligation and the new gig economy class has no stable source of income. He also says that the basis of the welfare state was the fear of communist expansion.John Kiriakou, former CIA Officer and Co-Host of "Political Misfits" on Radio Sputnik joins us to discuss the corruption of the banking industry. John Kiriakou has written an article in which he shows that banks take arbitrary and capricious actions against working-class customers but turn a blind eye to wealthy state actors such as Jeffrey Epstein. John says that normal people have had their bank accounts seized and closed and had great difficulty getting the situation corrected though they were never accused of a crime. However, Jeffrey Epstein was not held to this standard. Epstein sent over a million dollars to young girls using his bank accounts and no action was ever taken. Also, the Virgin Islands rewrote their child pornography laws and sent the draft to Jeffrey Epstein for review before voting on the final law.The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comCatch us at 105.5FM, 104.7FM, 102.9FM, 1390AM, 1140AM

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the critical hour, potential impeachment of president biden, cuban missile crisis, sukhoi superjet 100, ecowas
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/british-parliament-divided-over-foreign-secretarys-trip-to-china-1112984541.html

British Parliament Divided Over Foreign Secretary's Trip to China

British Parliament Divided Over Foreign Secretary's Trip to China

The UK and other NATO members have taken a schizophrenic approach to relations with China since 2022, alternately attempting to turn Beijing against ally Russia and accusing the it of supplying arms for the conflict in Ukraine.

2023-08-30T17:09+0000

2023-08-30T17:09+0000

2023-08-30T17:09+0000

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British parliamentarians are at odds over engagement with China  as Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visits Beijing.Cleverly met Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng on Wednesday morning, and will hold talks with his counterpart, Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi.That was the same day the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee called for clarity on Downing Street's "Tilt to the Indo-Pacific."The trip was about "making sure we are able to speak regularly about bilateral issues  both the areas where we disagree but also areas where we need to cooperate, the fight against climate change," Cleverly said."We are clear-eyed about the areas where we have fundamental disagreements with China and I raise those issues when we meet, but I think it is important we also recognise that we have to have a pragmatic sensible working relationship with China because of the issues that affect us all around the globe," he added. "We are not going to change China overnight and we are certainly not going to do it in one individual meeting. But it is important that we maintain regular dialogue."Meanwhile the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee published an 87-page report in response to the government's 2021 foreign policy review  which classed Russia as an "active threat" but referred to China more ambiguously as a "systemic challenge"  charging that the government's failure to explain the new stance had led to "confusion across Whitehall."Committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns, an MP from the ruling Conservative Party, noted that the state policy towards Beijing was "at the highest possible security level," meaning that even "some government ministers have not even seen it."She warned that created "big uncertainty" for British firms looking to do business with China and for academics, leaving them "unsure of the boundaries between caution and collaboration."But Kearns indicated her leanings when she said the "Chinese Communist Party"  a common neoconservative shorthand for the Chinese state  "are very explicit on what they're seeking to achieve, and they are therefore exploiting this uncertainty, which is why we have to end it for the publication of an unclassified China strategy."On Tuesday, Cleverly was forced to defend his trip to Beijing from other hawkish backbenchers in his own party  including former Tory opposition leader Iain Duncan Smith and short-lived former prime minister Liz Truss, who want to see China officially designated as a "dangerous threat."NATO member states have switched between trying to woo China away from its close relationship with BRICS partner Russia and accusing it of covertly supplying arms to the Russian armed forces during its special military operation in Ukraine, an allegation both Beijing and Moscow have vehemently denied.Beijing's framework for peace in Ukraine  which includes a commitment from the West to abandon its tactic of unilateral sanctions on other nations  was largely ignored by NATO.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230828/why-us-commerce-secretarys-visit-to-china-unlikely-to-break-ice-1112945786.html

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british foreign secretary james cleverly, uk-china relations, western hostility towards china
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/eu-overplayed-its-hand-in-ukraines-support--analyst--1112992245.html

EU Overplayed Its Hand in Ukraines Support  Analyst

EU Overplayed Its Hand in Ukraines Support  Analyst

EU leaders should bear in mind that they should be accountable to those who are electing them, not to Kiev, when it comes to the blocs budget, analyst Adriel Kasonta told Sputnik.

2023-08-30T15:33+0000

2023-08-30T15:33+0000

2023-08-30T15:33+0000

ukraine

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On Wednesday, the blocs foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced that EU countries will discuss the continuation of financial support for Ukraine at a meeting in Spain on the 30th and the 31st August.The gathering convenes as EU members remain at odds over the blocs 86 billion ($93.2 billion) budget, which includes 20 billion ($21.6 billion) in military assistance for Kiev.According to Adriel Kasonta this situation is challenging because European politicians apparently realize the fact that primarily they are accountable to the citizens of their countries, not to Brussels or Kiev..Kasonta said that he was not sure whether the EU is in a position to provide Ukraine with any additional money. The political scientist referred to last months very famous conference related to the private sector support for Ukraine, which he said clearly showed that governments all across Europe and even in the US perfectly understand that the public support for Kiev is dwindling.The problem, however, is that EU members simply don't have money anymore to support themselves and they don't have money to support Ukraine. That's the bottom line, Kasonta underlined.According to him, knowing that [EU] member states are simply out of money, they are not even able to sustain their own citizens, their own people, the question of supporting the country, which is not even a European member state, is out of question.The analyst suggested that the EU will now try to somehow cover up their inability to provide Ukraine with additional support by pushing and advocating for the private sector to chip in and support Kiev.But everyone who is in the business [] knows that the Ukraine war has been a lost cause from the very beginning. I mean, the United States has achieved what it wanted to achieve. It provided a lot of loans and grants to Ukraine. Ukraine has been privatized. So the goal has been accomplished, per Kasonta.As far as the EU is concerned, he went on, the facts are on the ground that the bloc made a wrong bet and overplayed their hand.When asked how the economic crisis in Germany has impacted the state of the EU budget, Kasonta referred to this Western European country as something that used to be an economic engine of the EU.The analyst recalled the US strategic objective from the very beginning was to prevent a close economic relationship between Russia and Germany, something that he said points out to the fact of the unresolved question of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage.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.No official ivestigation results have yet been announced, but a Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report in February 2023 suggesting that the explosions were organized by the United States with Norway's support.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230829/eu-budget-battle-shows-euroscepticism-and-ukraine-fatigue-rising-1112971757.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230721/how-us-funnels-eus-wealth-into-ukraine-proxy-war-1112049838.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230824/whats-behind-decline-of-germany-1112852729.html

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eu's financial support for ukraine, eu foreign policy chief josep borrell, recession-hit germany, eu's budget, eu members' differences over eu budget
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  The Senate has approved an unnumbered resolution calling for suspension of the implementation of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking's (IACAT) revised guidelines for outbound Filipino travelers.

No senator opposed the resolution introduced by Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva during the plenary session on Wednesday.

The chamber also approved a separate unnumbered resolution allowing the Senate president to file a petition with the Supreme Court seeking a temporary restraining order against the amended rules, only if deemed necessary.

We are authorizing the Senate president to file on behalf of the Senate a petition before the Supreme Court to issue a TRO (temporary restraining order) should the circumstance show it is still necessary for court intervention to put a stop to these IACAT regulations for being unconstitutional, Senator Aquilino Koko Pimentel said.

Pimentel also requested Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to talk to the IACAT, which is under the Department of Justice, to appeal the implementation of the stricter travel guidelines.

Zubiri said while he is one with the IACAT in finding ways to protect Filipinos, he hopes that it can be done "without also hampering their right to travel."

He said he believes the new travel guidelines are unconstitutional and violate Article 3, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution, which states, The liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon lawful order of the court. Neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health.

If the time comes we need to file to the Supreme Court a TRO, maybe I can enjoin the members to join me I truly feel, deep in my heart, it is unconstitutional, he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Jinggoy Estrada filed Senate Resolution No. 771, seeking an investigation into the revised travel rules. He cited concerns on potential violation to the constitutionally guaranteed right to travel and freedom of movement.

The IACAT approved on Aug. 23 the revised guidelines for international-bound Filipino travelers, which aim to "combat the grave menace of human trafficking." The rules will take effect in early September.

READ: What you need to know about the new requirements for Filipinos traveling overseas

Under the amended travel guidelines, all Filipino outbound travelers would be subjected to immigration inspection and will be expected to produce travel documents such as a valid passport, boarding pass, visa, and confirmed return or roundtrip ticket.

Immigration officers may also interview passengers about their reason for travel and request further supporting documents such as proof of financial capacity if they see red flags or suspicion that the traveler is a potential victim of human trafficking.

Villanueva earlier filed Senate Resolution 762, calling for a Senate probe on government efforts to strengthen its anti-trafficking in persons program, particularly for international-bound Filipino passengers.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/gabonese-president-resigned-but-will-retain-civil-rights-1112990215.html

Gabonese President Resigned But Will Retain Civil Rights

Gabonese President Resigned But Will Retain Civil Rights

Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba has resigned, but will retain all civil rights, Head of Republican Guard Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema said on Wednesday.

2023-08-30T12:33+0000

2023-08-30T12:33+0000

2023-08-30T12:33+0000

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He [Bongo] was the head of state of Gabon. He has resigned and enjoys all his rights, Nguema, who reportedly is the coup leader, told a French newspaper, when asked about the president's fate. The general added that Bongo had no right to be reelected for the third time, and the military decided to remove him from power. Nguema also refused to answer the question about Bongo's whereabouts. The council of generals will make decisions on who will lead the country, the republican guard's head said.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/gabons-soldiers-announce-cancellation-of-elections-dissolution-of-institutions-1112980455.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/hackers-attacking-czech-banks-demanded-to-stop-ukraines-financial-support---reports-1112999095.html

Hackers Attacking Czech Banks Demanded to Stop Ukraine's Financial Support - Reports

Hackers Attacking Czech Banks Demanded to Stop Ukraine's Financial Support - Reports

Hackers who disrupted the online services of five Czech banks on Wednesday demanded that the lenders cut financial support to Ukraine, Czech media reported, citing official data.

2023-08-30T18:47+0000

2023-08-30T18:47+0000

2023-08-30T18:47+0000

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The Central European nations cybersecurity agency (NUKIB) acknowledged earlier in the day that several domestic banks had been targeted by distributed denial-of-service attacks that cut off access to online and mobile banking platforms. A Czech news agency reported, citing NUKIB and the PwC consultancy, that the pro-Russian hacker group NoName057 was behind the attack on Komercni Banka, CSOB, Air Bank, Fio Banka and Ceska sporitelna. A cybersecurity expert told the agency that the attack was politically motivated and that clients money was safe at the banks. Fio Banka confirmed this in a statement saying that neither assets nor sensitive personal data were at risk.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230829/eu-budget-battle-shows-euroscepticism-and-ukraine-fatigue-rising-1112971757.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/how-washington-moscow-hotline-kept-the-world-safe-for-60-years-1112991665.html

How Washington-Moscow Hotline Kept the World Safe for 60 Years

How Washington-Moscow Hotline Kept the World Safe for 60 Years

Exactly 60 years ago, the hotline established by the US and the USSR to mitigate nuclear risks and improve mutual communication, became operational. Sputnik has looked back on the history of the famous "red telephone."

2023-08-30T14:29+0000

2023-08-30T14:29+0000

2023-08-30T14:29+0000

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"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs back 1234567890."This was the very first message sent from the US to the USSR on August 30, 1963, through the newly established "hotline" - a direct communications link between the two at-head governments for use in times of emergency. The mysterious message wasn't any sort of a cryptogram: it was a test text that contained all the Latin letters, an apostrophe and all the numbers.Why Was the Hotline Installed?The Washington-Moscow Hotline was established immediately after the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.The crisis lasted from October 16 to 28, 1962, and was resolved after then-President John Kennedy agreed to dismantle intermediate-range 'Jupiter' nuclear missiles deployed in Turkiye against the USSR, in exchange for the removal of Soviet nuclear weapons from Cuba.Earlier, on September 9, 1962, Soviet ballistic missiles were delivered to Cuba within the framework of the USSR's secret Operation Anadyr. The US had been unaware for a whole month that Soviet rockets had already been deployed in the Caribbean nation.For several days, the two Cold War powers had been teetering on the edge of a nuclear war. In the midst of the crisis, it took a staggering 12 hours for the US to receive and decipher Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's 3,000-character message on October 26, 1962, at 18:00 (GMT-4). It was deadly slow given what was at stake at the moment. Having prevented the nuclear apocalypse, Moscow and Washington decided to establish a "hotline" to contact each other in the event of an emergency, a malfunction or an accident.The Direct Communications Link (DCL) agreement was signed in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 20, 1963. The "hot link" became operational less than a month later, on July 13, 1963.What Did the 'Red Phone' Look Like?The US-USSR "hotline" has been traditionally referred to as a "red phone." However, it was never a red phone that could be picked up to speak. Initially, the hotline consisted of two full-duplex teleprinter stations and a wire telegraph circuit, routed through Washington-London-Copenhagen-Stockholm-Helsinki-Moscow, (and as a backup system a radio telegraph circuit routed Washington-Tangier-Moscow).Each side had two teleprinters with the Latin alphabet and two with the Cyrillic alphabet. It was agreed that messages would be sent and received in both Russian and English as a protection against translation errors. In addition, each side was protected by a pair of ETCRRM offline/online One-Time Tape (OTT) cipher machines developed in 1953 by Norway's Standard Telefon og Kabelfabrik A/S (STK) firm.The Russian (Cyrillic) teleprinter, which was an East-German T-63 made by Siemens (formerly known as Siemens & Halske), was delivered to the Pentagon on August 26, 1963. The now famous test message about the "quick brown fox" was sent to the USSR four days later. The Soviet side replied with a poetic description of a Moscow sunset which equally used all the letters in the Cyrillic alphabet Thus, the communication link was successfully established.So they decided to use two satellite communications circuits, one of which was installed by the US via the commercial "Intelsat IV Satellite System". The other one was installed by the USSR and used four of Moscow's "Molniya II Satellites". The two satellite circuits became operational in January 1978, while the radio circuit agreed upon in the 1963 agreement was then terminated. Nonetheless, the wire telegraph circuit was retained as a backup.Meanwhile, technical progress offered new reliable solutions and on July 17, 1984, the US and the USSR agreed to upgrade the DCL with facsimile equipment. As a result, Group III faxes, running at 4800 baud, were installed in both Moscow and Washington. The new equipment boasted a set of unquestionable advantages. First, besides texts, it was capable of sending handwritten messages, charts, maps and photographs. Second, a fax was 12 times faster than a teleprinter.In 1985, the facsimile equipment at both ends became operational. Then US President Ronald Reagan received a lengthy handwritten letter from his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev. The handwriting of the Soviet president was almost unreadable making even the best US translators sweat.What Does the Current Day US-Russia 'Hotline' Look Like?The collapse of the USSR in 1991 did not wipe out the "hotline". The reliable communication link was up and running all the time. In 2007, the Direct Communication Link (DCL) saw a new upgrade: it was replaced by a special computer network with e-mail and chat functionality. The new system started operations on January 1, 2008.It continues to use the two satellites link, but the US and Russia have modernized their space equipment orbiting the planet and replaced the old back-up cable with a fiber optic cable. Now, the governments' urgent messages and data can be sent in near real-time  a sharp contrast with the tense and slow October 1962 exchanges between angry Khrushchev and no less agitated John Kennedy.What Are Other US-Russia Communication Links?Besides the famous "hotline", Washington and Moscow maintain a set of other government connections, as per open sources. The US-Russia communication links also include Direct Voice Link (DVL); Government-to-Government Communication Link (GGCL); Nuclear Risk Reduction Center (NRRC); and Foreign Affairs Link (FAL).How Often Has the Washington-Moscow 'Hotline' Been Used?The direct communication link has been used many times by Moscow and Washington, below are just a few memorable instances:November 22, 1963: The first important message along the line was that of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, which occurred just a few months after the DCL became operational.1967: The DCL channel was also used during the Six Day War between Egypt and Israel in 1967. At the time, US warships were deployed in the Mediterranean Sea and the Soviet ones in the Black Sea. Then US President Lyndon Johnson contacted Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin to clarify the intentions of the fleet movements.The "hotline" was also used in a peaceful environment. Thus, Johnson, who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969, ordered to inform the USSR about the flights of the American "Apollo" spacecraft through the DCL.1971: War between India and Pakistan became yet another occasion when the DCL was instrumentalized by the US and Soviet leaders.1979: The Soviet government's decision to respond to the request of the Afghanistan government and send a limited contingent to the region prompted the US to express its opposition. Having threatened the Soviet Union with "serious consequences" through the DCL, then-US President James Earl Carter Jr. ended his letter to then-Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev quite diplomatically: "Best regards, Jimmy Carter."2016: Remarkably, in October 2016, the Barack Obama administration used the Moscow-Washington "hotline" to warn Russia against interfering in US presidential elections. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rubbished the claims of Moscow's meddling in US elections as absurd. Nonetheless, the alleged "interference" was weaponized by the US establishment to later smear then-Republican President Donald Trump and undermine Russo-American relations.Despite the technical capabilities for communication getting more sophisticated, real communication between Russia and the United States appears to be on the decline. During the Cold War, the leaders of the countries had the political will to create institutions and hold talks about disarmament. Today, the US administrations has undermined the Cold War nuclear arms agreements with Moscow, making the world more dangerous and less predictable.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221231/how-the-ussr-changed-the-face-of-the-world-1105953088.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221220/blast-from-past-how-cia-and-kgb-played-catch--swap-games-1105651270.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220114/pentagon-says-does-not-see-need-for-hotline-with-russia-for-deconfliction-on-ukraine-1092265965.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20210818/a-tale-of-two-withdrawals-why-soviet-and-us-pull-outs-from-afghanistan-were-so-different-1083640041.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230829/russia-voices-position-on-ukraine-and-foreign-affairs-ahead-of-un-general-assembly--1112966991.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/hungarian-pm-orban-to-tucker-carlson-rumors-about-ukraine-prevailing-over-russia-a-lie-1112985915.html

Hungarian PM Orban to Tucker Carlson: Rumors About Ukraine Prevailing Over Russia a Lie

Hungarian PM Orban to Tucker Carlson: Rumors About Ukraine Prevailing Over Russia a Lie

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has sat down with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to discuss a whole array of pressing issues, including those related to Ukraine and the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

2023-08-30T11:20+0000

2023-08-30T11:20+0000

2023-08-30T11:20+0000

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On Ukraine and Threat of WWIIIWhen asked by former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson to comment on US media speculation that Kiev is getting the better of Moscow in the Ukraine conflict, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban rejected it as a lie rather than just a misunderstanding, referring to the huge losses of Ukrainian servicemen.Everybody whos in politics can understand the logic, the figures, and the data, he said'.In this regard, Orban warned that if any Western country would send any boots on the ground [to support Kiev] that would mean a direct war between the West and Russia, and we are in the Third World War immediately. Its a very dangerous moment now.The remarks came amid the Ukrainian Armed Forces futile attempts to break through the Russian defensive lines, a counteroffensive that President Vladimir Putin said brought no result, causing significant losses in the UAFs men and materiel. According to the Russian Defense Ministry's estimates, Ukraine has lost about 43,000 troops and 4,900 units of military equipment since the beginning of the counteroffensive on June 4.On Nord Stream BlastsPart of Orbans interview with Carlson was related to the Nord Stream pipeline network being hit by explosions last year, the Hungarian prime minister saying that when it [the blasts] happened, we [Budapest] commented it as a terrorist attack.The Nord Stream pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, were rocked by blasts in September 2022. The pipeline's operator, Nord Stream AG, said that the damage was unprecedented and it was impossible to estimate the time repairs might take.No official results of investigations have yet been announced, 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 mid-July, media reported that Dutch military intelligence had informed the CIA of Ukraine's plans to sabotage the Nord Stream pipelines months before it happened.On Russia-Hungary Ties and European Security ArchitectureI try to have rational relationships with the Russians, especially on economy and energy, Orban emphasized.Touching upon European security-related topic, he said his personal point is that without involving the Russians into a security architecture of Europe we cannot provide a safe life for its citizens. In this vein, he mentioned NATO, saying that what alliance does is rather strange.The US and its NATO allies ramped up their military assistance to Kiev shortly after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly warned that NATO countries "play with fire" by supplying arms to Kiev, which the Kremlin said adds to prolonging the Ukraine conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, for his part, underscored that any cargo with weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russian forces.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230817/cia-warned-blinken-ukraine-counteroffensive-bound-to-fail-says-hersh-1112675341.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230825/sources-confirm-traces-of-nord-stream-blasts-lead-to-ukraine-not-russias---reports-1112886839.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/us-lawmaker-questions-new-aid-to-ukraine-amid-lack-of-accurate-accounting-1112521336.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/nature-on-ice-russias-northernmost-territory---franz-josef-land-1112980311.html

Nature on Ice: Russia's Northernmost Territory - Franz Josef Land

Nature on Ice: Russia's Northernmost Territory - Franz Josef Land

On August 30, Russia celebrates the 150th anniversary of the discovery of a land later to become Russia's northernmost archipelago, Franz Josef Land. More than 200 separate islands constitute this enigmatic land covered by centuries-old glaciers and paralyzed by permafrost.

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In 1873, a group of explorers from Austro-Hungarian Empire, aiming to reach the North Pole, discovered a new land which they named in honor of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I who ruled at that time.In 1926, the archipelago became a part of the USSR's Arkhangelsk region, having been Russian since 1901. The Soviet Union created infrastructure, established a polar station, an airfield and an observatory there.Although after the Soviet Union collapse in 1991, the land was almost completely abandoned, nowadays the land is flourishing: since 2012 the territory of the archipelago has been a part of the Russian Arctic National Park where polar bears, walruses, Arctic vixen, dovekies and other fauna rule.Check out Sputnik's gallery to enjoy the natural beauty of Russia's northernmost point!

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/new-national-archives-files-reveal-hunter-biden-helped-plan-state-dinners-during-dads-vp-days-1113004034.html

New National Archives Files Reveal Hunter Biden Helped Plan State Dinners During Dad's VP Days

New National Archives Files Reveal Hunter Biden Helped Plan State Dinners During Dad's VP Days

Files obtained from the US National Archives reveal more than 1,000 emails between the office of then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Bidens firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, America First Legal said in a statement.

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We obtained new docs from our lawsuit against the National Archives revealing over 1,000 emails between Rosemont Seneca and the Office of Vice President, the statement said on Wednesday. The vast majority of these emails consisted of direct communications between Rosemont Seneca employees, including Hunter Biden, and the Office of the Vice President. The emails contradict Joe Bidens claims that there was a wall between personal and government business, the statement said, underscoring that Hunter Biden was "intimately involved in planning for high-profile White House events" despite lacking any official role.One of the findings revealed that Hunter Biden took part in planning a 2011 luncheon with Chinese officials, arrival ceremony with the then German chancellor, 2012 state dinner with UK dignitaries, 2013 state luncheon with Turkish officials and a state dinner with French officials in 2014.The Biden name was used to gain access to the White House for Rosemont Seneca and their associates, the statement said, detailing a December 2013 incident in which a lobbyist "reached out" to Hunter's business partner for last-minute tickets to a Christmas tour of the White House. An email obtained from the National Archives further provided a confirmation email that specifically notes tour tickets as being a "big favor for Hunter." The White House asserted executive privilege to withhold 200 emails entirely to protect confidential talks between the president and his advisers, the statement added.The newly released emails come amid an investigation by House lawmakers into alleged criminal activity by the Biden family, including foreign bribery and influence peddling.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230829/us-national-archives-has-5400-bidens-emails-to-hunter-signed-by-fake-name-1112967976.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/niger-rebels-cancel-curfew-imposed-on-july-27-1112989770.html

Niger Rebels Cancel Curfew Imposed on July 27

Niger Rebels Cancel Curfew Imposed on July 27

Rebels in Niger have canceled a curfew that was imposed in the country on July 27, the the Riyadh-based broadcaster reported broadcaster reported on Wednesday.

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A coup in Niger took place on July 26. President Mohamed Bazoum was ousted and detained by his own guard, led by Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani. Most Western countries as well as ECOWAS condemned it. In early August, ECOWAS adopted a plan for a potential military intervention in Niger.The Nigerien National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) announced the annulment of all security and military agreements with France, broadcaster added.Last week, the Foreign Ministry of Niger decided to deprive French Ambassador Sylvain Itte of agrement and ask him to leave the country within 48 hours. Paris said that took note of Nigers request to ambassador, but noted that rebels have no authority to make such decisions.Over the weekend, mass rallies with the participation of a number of generals of the Nigerien army were held at the French base in Niamey. The participants chanted slogans in support of the army and expressed their position against France.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230828/macron-france-to-support-ecowas-military-effort-against-niger-1112950581.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/rebels-in-gabon-appoint-general-nguema-president-for-transitional-period---statement-1112997549.html

Rebels in Gabon Appoint General Nguema President for Transitional Period - Statement

Rebels in Gabon Appoint General Nguema President for Transitional Period - Statement

The rebels in Gabon said on Wednesday they had unanimously appointed General Brice Oligui Nguema as president for the transitional period.

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Earlier on Wednesday, Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba was reelected as the country's head for a third term after securing 64.2% of the vote. Following the election body's announcement, the Gabonese military delivered a televised address, declaring that the election results were canceled and all institutions were dissolved, a French news agency reported. The president has since been placed under house arrest, while his son has been detained.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/russia-carries-out-successful-high-precision-strikes-on-ukrainian-military-intel-command-facilities-1112987597.html

Russia Carries Out Successful High-Precision Strikes on Ukrainian Military Intel, Command Facilities

Russia Carries Out Successful High-Precision Strikes on Ukrainian Military Intel, Command Facilities

- The Russian armed forces have launch a strike with high-precision weapons at Ukrainian command and control, as well as intelligence posts overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

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"On the night of August 30, the Russian armed forces carried out a group strike with long-range air and sea-based high-precision weapons against enemy command and control and intelligence posts. The goals of the attack have been achieved. All assigned objects are hit," the ministry said in a statement.Repelling Ukrainian Attacks in ZaporozhyeThe Russian troops have repelled nine Ukrainian attacks in the Zaporozhye Region in the past 24 hours, where Kiev lost up to 85 soldiers, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday."In the Zaporozhye direction, nine attacks were repelled  In the past day, up to 85 Ukrainian servicemen, a tank, three armored combat vehicles, two pickup trucks, three M777 artillery systems and three US-made M119 howitzers were destroyed in this direction," the ministry said in a statement.Thwarting Enemy Attacks in DonetskThe ministry also said that the Russian military has repelled five attacks in the Donetsk direction."Enemy losses [in the Donetsk direction] amounted to 380 Ukrainian servicemen killed and wounded, four armored combat vehicles, seven vehicles, two D-20 howitzers, the Msta-B gun, and the Rapira anti-tank gun," the ministry said, adding that Ukraine lost up to 120 soldiers in the South Donetsk direction in the past day.Destroying Ukrainian Militants in Other DirectionsIn South Donetsk Direction, Russian Armed Forces carried out strikes on Kiev troops and military equipment. Enemy lost up to 120 soldiers, two armored vehicles, four autmobiles and several howitzers.Also Russian army repelled an attack by Ukrainian armed forces in Krasny Liman direction. The enemy lost 60 men, two armored vehicles and two automobiles. In Kherson direction 15 Ukrainian militants, a howitzer and two automobiles were eradicated.The ministry also said that three attacks have been repelled in the Kupyansk direction, where Ukraine lost up to 100 soldiers.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/russia-increases-production-of-conventional-high-precision-arms-multiple-times-1109024021.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230828/no-antidote-ukrainian-troops-terrified-of-russias-unstoppable-precision-gliding-bombs-1112948316.html

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  The special election to replace expelled Negros Oriental Third District Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. will be held on Dec. 9, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Wednesday.

The poll body said aspirants have three days  or from Nov. 6 to 8  to file their certificate of candidacy (COC).

The election period will then start on Nov. 9 and will run until Dec. 24, during which the gun ban will be in effect.

Meanwhile, the campaign period is from Nov. 9 to Dec. 7.

From Nov. 9 to Dec. 8, the specific prohibited acts are: (1) the release, disbursement, or expenditure of public funds; (2) the construction of public works, delivery of materials for public works, etc.; and (3) the appointment or hiring of new employees, creation of new positions, filling of new positions, promotion or giving of salary increases, renumeration or privileges, the Comelec said in a statement.

Liquor ban will also be imposed from Dec. 8 to 9.

The Comelec added that voting hours on election day will be from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Upon close voting, the counting and canvassing of votes and proclamation of winning candidates will immediately follow, it said.

The last day to file Statements of Contributions and Expenditures is on Jan. 8, 2024.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia also confirmed that 75 million was allotted for the special election.

The House of Representatives expelled Teves on Aug. 16 for his disorderly behavior and for violation of the Code of Conduct of the House of Representatives.

Among the reasons cited were his continued absence without leave and his pursuit of political asylum in Timor-Leste, which was denied.

The ex-lawmaker  who has not returned to the Philippines since late February  faces multiple charges, including for the murder of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo in March this year and three other killings in the province in 2019. He has repeatedly denied the accusations against him.

Days after his expulsion, the House adopted a resolution calling for a special election for his vacated seat.

The Constitution states that in cases of vacancy in the Senate or House of Representatives, a special election may be called. The person to fill the vacancy can only serve for the remainder of the term.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/russia-to-determine-whether-drone-attack-on-pskov-perpetrated-from-latvia-or-estonia--kremlin-1112986441.html

Russia to Determine Whether Drone Attack on Pskov Perpetrated from Latvia or Estonia  Kremlin

Russia to Determine Whether Drone Attack on Pskov Perpetrated from Latvia or Estonia  Kremlin

It is the prerogative of military experts to determine the routes, Peskov said, commenting on whether the hypothesis that the attack on Pskov was launched from the territory of Estonia and Latvia is being considered. He also noted that the special operation will be continued in order to eradicate such threats.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin regularly and promptly receives information about the special military operation, including massive drone attacks on the country, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday."Of course, the supreme commander [President Putin] constantly and promptly receives all the information related to the situation both within the special military operation zone itself and around the operation, and, of course, with regard to such massive attacks, information is also immediately delivered to the supreme commander," Peskov told reporters.Several Russian regions experienced drone attacks on Tuesday night, including the Moscow Region and the Pskov Region, where the drone attack resulted in fire at the Pskov airport. The fire damaged Il-76 military transport aircraft.I have no doubt that our military experts are currently working on these issues, routes [of drone attacks] are being clarified, how this was done is being analyzed in order to take appropriate measures to prevent such situations in the future, Peskov added.On Western Security Guarantees to UkraineThe handling of Ukraine's security guarantees will be one-sided without mentioning Russia's security concerns, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.On August 3, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was preparing a package of security guarantees, intended for the period while Ukraine is not part of NATO. Kiev plans to sign a number of bilateral agreements with the US and 12 European countries in the near future, including with Belgium, Denmark, the Czech Republic and several other nations."So far, the process is rather one-sided, the essence of the process is not exactly clear, but it is clear that such processes cannot be viable without any mention of our security," Peskov told reporters, commenting on Zelensky's statement on providing security guarantees.On Prigozhin Jet CrashThe Russian Investigative Committee is in charge of the case of the plane crash that killed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, and they consider different options, including a deliberate crime, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday."First of all, the investigation is ongoing. This is the task of the Investigative Committee  This is precisely our Russian investigation, so in this case there can be no talk of any international aspect," Peskov told reporters, adding that investigators consider "various versions" of the crash, including a deliberate crime.The spokesman added that it is necessary to wait for the results of the investigation.On Putin-Erdogan Talks ProspectA meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Eecep Tayyip Erdogan will be held in Russia at the earliest possible, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, adding that the official announcement will be made in the near future."[The Putin-Erdogan meeting] will soon take place in Russia, and we will make an official announcement one of these days," Peskov told reporters.On Putins Possible Visit to ChinaIt is premature to inform about a possible visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China, but the countries are working out a schedule of visits at various levels, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday."It is too early to report on this, but I can say that Russia and China are indeed developing a fairly tight schedule for exchanging visits at various levels, including at the highest level. And we will inform you about such trips in due time," Peskov told reporters, commenting on whether Putin will go to China in October.On Political Turmoil in GabonThe situation in Gabon where the military seized power following a presidential election is a matter of deep concern, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday."I would not draw any general conclusions. But the situation in Gabon is a matter of deep concern, we are closely monitoring what is happening there," Peskov told reporters.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/russian-air-defense-repels-mass-attack-of-ukrainian-drones--1112980602.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230805/what-is-nato-treatys-article-5-1112406460.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/russian-air-defense-repels-mass-attack-of-ukrainian-drones--1112980602.html

Russian Air Defense Repels Mass Attack of Ukrainian Drones. All You Need to Know

Russian Air Defense Repels Mass Attack of Ukrainian Drones. All You Need to Know

Ukraine attempted a massive attack of UAVs on Russian territory, achieving no meaningful results. According to regional authorities, there were no casualties.

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2023-08-30T09:46+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

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On August 30, Ukrainian Armed Forces attempted a massive UAV attack on Russian regions, mostly targeting civilian infrastructure  a move generally considered a war crime by international law. Russian air defenses downed or suppressed the drones. Here is a brief summary of the events.Drone Attack on Moscow RegionOne Ukrainian drone was downed by air defense systems in Ruzsky urban district [a Moscow suburb], said Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.He noted that one drone heading for Moscow was destroyed by air defense forces near Ruza. "According to preliminary data, there were no casualties or damage. Emergency services are working at the scene of the incident," he added.Drone Attack on Pskov AirportThe airport in Pskov was attacked by drones, the governor of the Pskov region Mikhail Vedernikov said. "The Ministry of Defense at the Pskov airport repels the attack of drones. Since the beginning of the incident, I have been personally on the spot. According to preliminary information, there are no casualties. The scale of the destruction is being specified. I will give more detailed information after completing emergency operations, which I will personally guide," he wrote in his Telegram channel.A fire broke out at Pskov airport after a drone attack but the damage was localized, there is no threat of the fire spreading, according to the video commentary of the rescuer Sergey Lavrukhin, published in Vedernikov's Telegram channel. The drone attack on the Pskov airport led to a fire that consumed Il-76 military transport aircraft, reports the website of the regional headquarters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.21 units of equipment and 65 people were involved in the elimination of the consequences.Drone Attack on Sevastopol, CrimeaThe governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozzhaev, said that in the area of Sevastopol Bay, according to preliminary information, the forces of the anti-terrorist operation were able to repel attacks by Ukrainian drones. Later Mikhail Razvozhaev announced that the anti-submarine and sabotage support forces that repelled the attack of drones from the sea near Sevastopol Bay have finished work in the water area, there is no accurate information about the destroyed targets yet.Drone Attack on the Bryansk and Oryol RegionsThe governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, said that three drones were shot down over Bryansk when repelling an attack by Ukrainian drones, there were no casualties. Earlier, the Defense Ministry reported that on the night of August 30, an attempt by Kiev to carry out an attack by aircraft-type drones on objects in Russia was stopped. Three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down over the territory of the Bryansk region and another UAV over the territory of the Oryol region by air defense on duty."An unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down over the Sovetsky district of Bryansk. There are no casualties. As a result of the drone crash, the roof and glazing of the administrative building were partially damaged. There is a fire. Operational and emergency services are working on the spot," Bogomaz added. Later it was announced that two Ukrainian drones tried to attack a TV tower in Russia's city of Bryansk, Alexander Bogomaz, the regional governor said, adding that the attack was thwarted by air defense forces, causing no casualties or damage.Hours later, one more Ukrainian drone was downed over Bryansk Region, Alexander Bogomaz said."The air defense forces of the Russian Defense Ministry stopped the attack of Ukrainian terrorists. Another aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down. There are no casualties or damage," Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.Drone Attack on the Kaluga RegionAt about 2:00 Moscow time on August 30, an attempt by Ukraine to carry out a terrorist attack by an aircraft-type UAV on objects on the territory of Russia was stopped, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. "On August 30, at about 2:00 Moscow time [11.00pm GMT], another attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by an aircraft-type UAV on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped," the message says.He also clarified that in the Dzerzhinsky district the drone got into an empty tank for storing petroleum products. "As a result, there was a fire, which was promptly eliminated. There are no casualties. Operational services are working at the scene," the governor added.Several hours later, Russias air defense also downed one more drone in the Kaluga Region, and the incident did not result in casualties or damage on the ground, Governor Vladislav Shapsha said.Also this afternoon, another drone was shot down on the territory of the Dzerzhinsky district [of the Kaluga Region] by air defense forces. The wreckage of the drone fell far from settlements. There were no casualties or destruction of infrastructure, Shapsha wrote on his Telegram channel.Drone Attack on the Ryazan RegionOn the night of August 30, a Ukrainian drone was destroyed by air defenses on duty over the Ryazan region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. At about 4:00 am Moscow time [1 am GMT], air defense means destroyed another Ukrainian drone over the region, the Russian Defense Ministry added.There were no casualties or destruction after a night attack by a UAV in the Ryazan region, the regional government told Sputnik.Ukrainian troops resorted to drone warfare in last several months after loss of several strategic locations and growing number of casualties. Military experts stress that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia pursue no meaningful military goal apart from boosting morale among Ukrainians.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/ukrainian-drone-interceptedcrashes-in-ruzsky-district-of-moscow-region---defense-ministry-1112976051.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230829/russias-defense-ministry-repelling-drone-attack-on-airport-in-pskov-region---governor-1112974446.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230727/forgotten-angels-how-ukrainian-forces-killed-donbass-children-1112191317.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/russian-defenses-down-cruise-missile-in-eastern-part-of-crimea-two-drones-over-bryansk-1113001212.html

Russian Defenses Down Cruise Missile in Eastern Part of Crimea, Two Drones Over Bryansk

Russian Defenses Down Cruise Missile in Eastern Part of Crimea, Two Drones Over Bryansk

Russian air defense took down a cruise missile in the eastern part of Crimea, the region's head Sergey Aksyonov said on Wednesday.

2023-08-30T19:28+0000

2023-08-30T19:28+0000

2023-08-30T19:53+0000

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"Air defense took down a cruise missile in the eastern part of Crimea," Aksyonov said on Telegram. Grass caught fire from the missile wreckage on the ground, and emergency teams are working at the incident site, Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to Crimean head, added.The announcement came just as Alexander Bogomaz, who serves as the governor of the Bryansk region, revealed late Wednesday that two Ukrainian drones were shot down in the territory.It has been detailed that there were no casualties or damage in Bryansk.Within the hour, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the "terrorist attack" by Ukraine had been foiled in both Crimea and Bryansk."On August 30, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was prevented. Two Ukrainian aircraft-type drones were destroyed by air defense on duty over the territory of the Bryansk Region," the ministry said, adding that another Ukrainian missile was destroyed over Crimea.The latest round of thwarted attacks come after Ukraine attempted a massive drone attack on Russian territory overnight Wednesday, to which there were no casualties. The majority of foiled attacks focused on civilian infrastructure, a move that has repeatedly been used by Ukraine and more frequent in light of the stalled and much-touted Ukraine counteroffensive.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/russian-air-defense-repels-mass-attack-of-ukrainian-drones--1112980602.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/russian-foreign-minister-to-address-upcoming-g20-summit-in-india-1112989965.html

Russian Foreign Minister to Address Upcoming G20 Summit in India

Russian Foreign Minister to Address Upcoming G20 Summit in India

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will represent Russia at the G20 summit in India and will address two plenary sessions on September 9 and 10, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

2023-08-30T12:17+0000

2023-08-30T12:17+0000

2023-08-31T13:37+0000

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"On the instructions of the Russian President [Vladimir Putin], Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will head our delegation at the leaders' summit. He is scheduled to speak at two plenary sessions  One Planet on September 9 and One Future on September 10. Both speeches will focus on the key tasks of democratization and strengthening the role of the world majority in global economic institutions, as well as on the implementation of digital transformation," Zakharova told a briefing. The minister is expected to hold several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, she added. "We emphasize the unifying nature of India's G20 presidency, its determination to promote the interests of developing countries and create a constructive atmosphere at the forum. We also welcome the expected decision to include the African Union among the permanent members of the G20," the spokeswoman said. She also said that the forum's productive potential has lately been "artificially limited" by Western countries trying to undermine the G20 consensus principles by "extrapolating questionable G7 agreements to the forum's commitments." On Sunday, Lavrov said that the G20 was beginning to look like a combination of G7 Plus and BRICS Plus members. Russia will coordinate its position on global affairs with the new BRICS nations, including at other international forums, he added. The G20 summit will take place in the Indian capital of New Delhi from September 9-10.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230818/what-is-the-global-south-and-how-can-it-help-topple-western-led-world-order-1112688739.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230826/expanded-brics-has-big-economic-prospects-despite-possible-political-disagreements-1112902355.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/shoigu-demands-almaz-antey-produce-modern-radar-systems-247--1112989513.html

Shoigu Demands Almaz-Antey Produce Modern Radar Systems 24/7

Shoigu Demands Almaz-Antey Produce Modern Radar Systems 24/7

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a working visit to one of the factories of the Almaz-Antey corporation, which produces radar systems, demanded it to work in "24/7 mode", the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

2023-08-30T14:00+0000

2023-08-30T14:00+0000

2023-08-30T15:03+0000

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russia

sergei shoigu

nikita novikov

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russian armed forces

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Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has called for the firm to increase production of radar systems in "24/7 mode", the press service of the ministry said on Wednesday."The Russian defense minister demanded from the corporation's management to organize round-the-clock work of the enterprise, in the 24/7 mode," the ministry stated. Moreover, Shoigu set a task of increasing production and repair of radar detection equipment used in the special military operation in Ukraine, the press service reported. According to the ministry, general director of the Almaz-Antey VKO Concern Yan Novikov, reported to Shoigu on increasing production rates and supplies of modern counter-battery warfare equipment to the units of the Russian Armed Forces "performing tasks in the special military operation zone." In addition, Novikov mentioned that Almaz-Antey has mastered serial production of the newest means of reconnaissance of firing positions.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/russian-air-defenses-shoot-down-two-combat-drones-flying-toward-moscow-1112498026.html

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Footage of Shoigu's trip to defense enterprises in the Tula Region Footage of Shoigu's trip to defense enterprises in the Tula region 2023-08-30T14:00+0000 true PT1M39S

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/three-russian-universities-enter-top-100-of-2023-international-university-ranking-1112992832.html

Three Russian Universities Enter Top-100 of 2023 International University Ranking

Three Russian Universities Enter Top-100 of 2023 International University Ranking

Three Russian universities  Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), St. Petersburg University (SPbU) and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT)  have entered the top-100 of the 2023 Three University Missions Moscow International University Ranking (MosIUR), MSU said on Wednesday.

2023-08-30T13:38+0000

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msu

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viktor sadovnichy

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"The 2023 Three University Missions global ranking included 2,000 universities from 112 countries. Russia remained among the top three global leaders in terms of its representation in the ranking, as 154 universities from the country's 46 regions were listed as the best universities. Three Russian participants made it into the top 100, including MSU (17th place), SPbU (39th place) and MIPT (43rd place)," MSU said in a statement. MosIUR said that the United States was the most represented in the ranking with 252 universities, followed by China with 232 universities, Russia with 154, the United Kingdom with 109 and Japan with 101. "The upper part of the table is dominated by US universities, same as last year. Harvard (#1) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (#2) topped the ranking, followed by Oxford (#3), Cambridge (#4) and the University College London (#5). Best results among Asian universities were demonstrated by the University of Tokyo (#11) and Peking University (#18)," MosIUR said in a statement. Earlier in the day, MSU Rector Viktor Sadovnichy announced that the university planned to develop a number of joint university ratings with Asian and African countries as well as with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), BRICS and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). MosIUR is an academic ranking that evaluates the three key missions of a university  education, science and interaction with society. The rating is published annually since 2017.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230405/moscow-state-university-planning-to-launch-some-20-small-student-satellites-by-2025--1109134107.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/trump-may-skip-arraignment-in-georgia-case-on-september-6-1112982621.html

Trump May Skip Arraignment in Georgia Case on September 6

Trump May Skip Arraignment in Georgia Case on September 6

Former US President Donald Trump may not attend a court hearing scheduled for September 6 in Fulton County, the US state of Georgia, the US news broadcaster reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

2023-08-30T06:53+0000

2023-08-30T06:53+0000

2023-08-30T06:53+0000

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Trump is reportedly considering skipping the arraignment, but has not yet filed a waiver with the court, the broadcaster reported. The report said it would be the first time Trump might not show up in person for his arraignment in the four criminal cases initiated against him on the basis of 13 alleged criminal offenses. Meanwhile, several of Trump's 18 co-defendants have waived their formal arraignments and pleaded not guilty, which allows them to avoid in-person attendance of the hearing, the report added. Trump and the co-defendants all surrendered at the Fulton County jail last week, with all but one of them free on bond agreements. The co-defendants will also be arraigned on September 6 but at a later time. The former US leader is facing criminal charges in Georgia for his alleged role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. The legal cases also come amid Trump's re-election bid in the 2024 US presidential election.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230826/indictments-against-trump-unlikely-to-help-going-into-general-election---poll-1112900559.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230827/trumps-georgia-mug-shot-supercharges-fundraising-raking-in-71-million---report-1112921652.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/ukraine-back-in-the-frame-for-nord-stream-pipeline-bombing-1112994813.html

Ukraine Back in the Frame For Nord Stream Pipeline Bombing

Ukraine Back in the Frame For Nord Stream Pipeline Bombing

Veteran journalist Seymour Hersh detailed the US role in last Autumn's terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipelines. Now suspicion has shifted again to a mysterious team of suspected Ukrainian saboteurs on a small sailing yacht.

2023-08-30T19:32+0000

2023-08-30T19:32+0000

2023-08-30T19:32+0000

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nord stream 2

nord stream 1

nord stream ag

ukraine

germany

russia

us

europe

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German investigators have focused their suspicions on Ukraine over the bombing of Russian gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea.French media reported earlier this week that the investigation into the September 26 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 undersea pipelines of the southern coast of Sweden has followed the lead of mainstream media reports  quoting US 'intelligence sources'  that pointed the finger of blame at a small and mysterious group of individuals.They rented a 50-foot (15-meter) sailing yacht christened the Andromeda from the northern German port of Rostock on September 6 2022, returning it on September 23.Their voyage took them to the tiny Danish island of Christianso in the Ertholmene archipelago, whose population is less than 100 souls but which lies just 27 miles (44 km) from the site of the bombing.The boat was reportedly not cleaned before it was hauled onto its winter dry-dock berth, and specially-trained police dogs sniffed out traces of explosives from the dining table through to the toilet seat.Chemical analysis identified the explosives as HMX, also known as octogen, an advanced and very powerful high explosive 1.7 times more potent than TNT and of such high grade that it is also used to trigger the detonation of nuclear weapons by implosion.The compound has a low sensitivity, making it safe to handle. Crucially, it is suitable for underwater blasting and was also detected in the destroyed pipe sections.Commander Goran Swistek, a maritime security expert at the SWP think-tank, told a TV program that 40 kg of the explosive would have been needed to destroy each of the three pipelines. The identity of the yacht's crew and passengers remains a mystery. The yacht charter was booked through a travel agency named Feeria Lwowa, registered in the Polish capital Warsaw. The company does not have a website or even a phone number, and further investigation found no office or staff at the address given.The manager of Feeria Lwowa was listed as 'Nataliia A' a 54-year-old resident of the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The rental was in the name of a man with a Moldovan identity card which turned out to be false. His real identity is believed to be 'Valeri K' from Dnepropetrovsk, a professional soldier in the Ukrainian 93rd Mechanized Brigade.Le Figaro suggested that Valeri K took diving lessons along the way. But other media reports estimated that the job needed six divers plus a doctor on the boat. The pipelines lay some 44 fathoms (260 feet or 80 meters) below the surface, requiring expert scuba divers who would have had to make multiple stops to avoid suffering the bends since the boat could not have held a decompression chamber.The bombing cut both the in-use NS1 pipeline and the new, higher-capacity NS2 which was yet to be commissioned following sanctions on Russia over its special military operation in Ukraine. The sabotage cut off one of Germany's main energy supply routes, triggering Europe-wide price rises and the shutdown of some manufacturing plants.NATO powers attempted to pin the blame on Russia itself for the attack  despite one prominent Polish political figure thanking the US for the act of terrorism.But award-winning veteran US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a bombshell report detailing how the White House ordered a team of ex-US military divers to plant the explosives under cover of NATO naval exercises that June.That narrative fits with US President Joe Biden's threat in early 2022 that if Russia sent troops to defend the Donetsk and Lugansk republics that "there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2, we will bring an end to it."The journalist later ridiculed reports that shifted blame from the Biden administration to Kiev.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230825/sources-confirm-traces-of-nord-stream-blasts-lead-to-ukraine-not-russias---reports-1112886839.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/us-b-2-spirit-bomber-conducts-historic-hot-pit-refueling-in-norway-1112996919.html

US B-2 Spirit Bomber Conducts Historic Hot Pit Refueling in Norway

US B-2 Spirit Bomber Conducts Historic Hot Pit Refueling in Norway

A US B-2 Spirit bomber aircraft out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri conducted a historic hot pit refueling in Norway earlier this week, the 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron said on Wednesday.

2023-08-30T17:22+0000

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A B-2 Spirit bomber from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., conducted a historic hot pit refueling at Orland Air Base, Norway on Aug. 29, 2023. The occasion marked the first time that the B-2 has landed in Norway, signaling the shared commitment between the US and Norway to deter threats and strengthen the NATO Alliance, the squadron stated. Hot pit refueling involves getting fuel to an aircraft immediately after landing and while one engine stays running, minimizing time spent on the ground. The ability to hot pit refuel in strategic locations provides the US and its allies the ability to increase combat air power over Europe, the statement said. The refueling exercise highlights US-Norway cooperation and the ability of US forces to collaborate with partner nations to confront a broad range of global challenges, the squadron noted. Three US B-2 Spirit bombers are forward deployed from Whiteman Air Force Base to Keflavik Air Base in Iceland in support of Bomber Task Force Europe 23-4, the statement added.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230526/norway-setting-up-new-radar-chain-dubbed-natos-eyes-in-the-north-1110597542.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/what-is-known-about-the-gabon-coup-1112999755.html

What is Known About the Gabon Coup

What is Known About the Gabon Coup

Gabon is a country located in central Africa, bordering Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo, though the borders are closed as a result of the military coup. The military takeover was carried out by the Gabonese servicemen, who declared the presidential election results cancelled earlier on Wednesday.

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Gabon is a country located in central Africa, bordering Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo.The former French colony boasts vast resources, including oil and manganese. Despite the natural wealth, much of the population lives in poverty and more than 20% of the citizens are unemployed.Earlier on Wednesday, the incumbent President of Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba was reelected as the country's head for a third term after securing 64.2% of the votes. Following the announcement of the election results, the Gabonese military delivered a televised address, declaring that the election results were canceled and all institutions were dissolved. The president has since been placed under house arrest, while his son has been detained.Later on Wednesday, the rebels stated that they had unanimously appointed General Brice Oligui Nguema as president for the transitional period.Check out Sputnik's infographics to learn more about Gabon.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 29)  The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Philippines on Tuesday said there is still much work to do to strengthen early childhood education in the country.

UNICEF Philippines' deputy representative Behzad Noubary said only 28% of Filipino learners aged three and four attend preschool, and about 78% for kindergarten.

"If we could increase that, we can see immediate improvements in terms of the success of students in primary learning," he told CNN Philippines' The Final Word.

Citing a UNICEF study, Noubary said preschool education gives Filipino students a better chance of success once they get to primary school.

He added that preschool education may also help address the country's learning crisis.

"There are some LGUs (local government units) where daycare centers are not available. This is something that perhaps could use some standardization across the country," he said.

The deputy representative also pointed out that child development workers in the Philippines are not well-compensated.

"Studies that have been done showed that their pay is quite low, on average less than 10,000 per month, and that they have different levels of qualification," he said.

READ: Daycare workers ask Senate: Are we protected?
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/whos-mark-lambert-and-how-could-he-influence-bidens-china-policy-1112997075.html

Who's Mark Lambert and How Could He Influence Biden's China Policy?

Who's Mark Lambert and How Could He Influence Biden's China Policy?

Mark Lambert is a US veteran diplomat who has been reportedly picked as the US State Department's top China official. Does he suit the job?

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Lambert may be named as the deputy assistant secretary for China and Taiwan, the US mainstream media has said, citing sources familiar with the issue.Previously, the veteran diplomat has served as a deputy assistant secretary focused on Japanese, Korean and Mongolian affairs, and on relations with Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.The Chinese press suspects that Lambert "could be more of an intelligence officer than a regular diplomat," and his appointment could be part of the US' efforts to rebuild its intelligence networks in East Asia. Referring to Lambert's missions in Bangkok and Tokyo, the Chinese media suggests that the two cities "happen to be US intelligence hubs in Asia."It's hardly surprising that the forthcoming appointment is met with an air of distrust in China, given that Sino-American relations have been deteriorating over the past several years.Brown noted that in June, Lambert's apparent predecessor Rick Waters left the post of Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Taiwan. However, Waters is still listed as Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia and the Pacific, so is Lamberts immediate boss, with Daniel Kritenbrink above them, as assistant secretary for East Asia and the Pacific, the expert continued. He added that Kritenbrink answers to the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.What is Washington's China House?If one takes a look at China House's stated goals, one would see that it was established to manage "the scale and the scope of the challenge" posed by the People's Republic, said Dr. Mignonne Man-jung Chan, Research Fellow & Deputy Director of Taiwan Center for Security Studies, National Chengchi University and former Senior Security Advisor to then-Taiwan President, Ma Ying-jeou.The body's goals are in line with Washington's increasingly assertive policy in the Asia-Indo-Pacific region, where the US is actively creating new alliances and new military clusters.How Could Lambert's Appointment Change US' China Policy?"The new appointment of Mark Lambert should not have a big difference in the US China policy, which marks incremental change based mainly on bilateral interaction and needs of both countries," Dr. Mignonne Man-jung Chan highlighted."US China policy has always been driven by the White House, Congress and more and more, NATO. The collective West is increasingly desperate to derail Chinas 70-year progress and development," echoed Brown.Therefore, it's likely that Lambert will continue the China strategy set by Team Biden: on the one hand, the military wing of the US administration is openly speaking about the "deterrence" in the "Indo-Pacific" and calls the People's Republic its longstanding challenge; on the other hand, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo are trying to persuade Beijing that Washington does not want to contain China and that the Sino-American trade relationship is highly valued in Washington.However, given Beijing's increasing economic and political activities in Eurasia, China neither trusts Washington's assurances nor fears US threats. Time will tell whether Team Biden will eventually shift from a zero-sum to a win-win scenario.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230828/why-us-commerce-secretarys-visit-to-china-unlikely-to-break-ice-1112945786.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230830/zelensky-pissed-off-biden-at-first-meeting-with-absurd-demands-new-book-claims-1112998556.html

Zelensky 'Pissed Off' Biden at First Meeting With 'Absurd' Demands, New Book Claims

Zelensky 'Pissed Off' Biden at First Meeting With 'Absurd' Demands, New Book Claims

The first time he came to visit the White House after US President Joe Biden had taken office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bombed the visit, according to a book about the drama of Bidens first two years in office.

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Zelensky made his first trip to Washington, DC, in early September of 2021 to meet with Biden. While the Ukrainian leader had been in office for three years by that point, he had only met Bidens predecessor, Donald Trump, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City and never visited the US capital city some 200 miles to the southwest.The visit was recounted by Atlantic staff writer Franklin Foer in his new book The Last Politician: Inside Joe Bidens White House and the Struggle for Americas Future, which will hit shelves next week.According to Foers recounting, Zelensky pissed off Biden with his demand to join NATO and his absurd analysis of alliance dynamics.It suggested more difficult conversations to come, Foer added.According to Foer, Zelensky seemed to blame Biden for the humiliation he suffered during Trumps first impeachment, which centered around claims Trump had abused his power by threatening to withhold military aid for Kiev until Zelenskys government relaunched a probe into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who in 2014 had been the head of Washingtons Ukraine policy and a board member of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, respectively. This, Foer said, contributed to the political awkwardness of the 2021 encounter.Foer also writes that Zelensky saw Biden as weak after having decided to waive sanctions against the Russian company building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was part of an attempt to assuage the government of then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which had banked heavily on the new gas line to meet German energy needs.To be fair, Biden didnt think much of his Ukrainian counterpart, either, Foer added, noting that Biden was more comfortable with fellow lifelong politicians than slapstick comedians.In his book, Foer does not use direct quotes or cite sources, but according to the books publisher, Penguin Random House, the text is based on unparalleled access to the tight inner circle of advisers who have surrounded Biden for decades.The book covers Biden's presidency from January 2021 up to the present, shedding light on the events following the January 6, 2021, insurrection, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden's political sparring with Republicans, and the beginnings of the conflict in Ukraine, among other events.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230828/why-has-ukraines-zelensky-agreed-to-hold-elections-in-2024-1112949130.html

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The Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society (OSAS) will be hosting a fun fundraiser at Woodbine Mohawk Park this weekend in celebration of the fastest Standardbred of all time, Bulldog Hanover.

Owned by his trainer Jack Darling and Brad Grant, Bulldog Hanover enjoyed a 2022 season that was beyond compare. In addition to becoming the swiftest harness horse ever with his 1:45.4 effort in the William Haughton final stateside at The Meadowlands, he won 14 of 16 races and $1.8 million to give him a total of $2.7 million lifetime.

Now retired and standing stud at Seelster Farms in Lucan, Ont., 'Bulldog' concluded his illustrious racing career being inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and named Horse of the Year on both sides of the border.

This Saturday night, Sept. 2, Mohawk will be celebrating Bulldogs career and fans (19 and older) will have the opportunity to try the special lager named in his honour, Bulldog Brew. The beer was first introduced by The Raceway at Western Fair District during its signature race night this past May.

One dollar from the sale of each tall boy can of Bulldog Brew on Saturday at Mohawk will go towards the Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society, the official adoption agency for harness horses in the province for close to 30 years. Fans have the opportunity to support OSAS, which has found forever loving homes for more than 1,000 pacers and trotters.

OSAS will also have booths inside and outside the grandstand, where patrons can purchase merchandise and/or make a donation. Every Saturday through the summer, OSAS provides a horse for the very popular Meet & Greet, which gives folks attending the races a chance to see a horse up close and have their photo taken with them. This Saturdays horse is the uniquely-coloured trotter, The Painted Pony.

In addition to the Bulldog Hanover celebrations, Mohawks stakes-laden card also includes the Canadian Pacing Derby -- a race in which Bulldog tied the all-time Canadian record of 1:46.4 in 2022 -- as well as the Maple Leaf Trot, Simcoe Stakes divisions and Ontario Sires Stakes Gold events. Post time is 7:10 p.m.

(With files from Ontario Standardbred Adoption Society)
Queensland pacing sensation Leap To Fames stranglehold on $2.1 million (AUD) TAB Eureka favouritism eased slightly after drawing wide when the barriers were revealed today.

But it certainly hasnt fazed his trainer/driver Grant Dixon, who quickly declared theres no way Id swap him for anything else in the race.

Leap To Fame, who boasts 23 wins from just 30 starts and almost $1 million (AUD) in prize money, eased from as short as $1.60 to $1.80 after drawing barrier 13. He will start from gate nine if the four emergencies (also eligibles) drawn inside him dont gain a start.

All 10 runners in the worlds richest harness race will start from the front row at Menangle on Saturday night, Sept. 2, meaning Leap To Fame will be second from the outside.

He never seems to have much luck with draws, so were quite used to them now, said Dixon.

Hes really settled in well here [Menangle] since arriving on Sunday. He had a hopple [workout] with Tims A Trooper yesterday, nothing serious, just to keep them both up to the mark.

As long as he has a good rest of the week, Ive got him where I want him and Im sure hell run a great race.

Dixon has previously declared Leap To Fame the best pacer hes trained in a 35-year career and his stunning rise through the ranks has drawn comparisons with some of the greats of the sport.

Dixon didnt hesitate to label Miracle Mile winner Catch A Wave and exciting three-year-old The Lost Storm as the hardest to beat. The Lost Storm gets the advantage of a preferential draw as a three-year-old and will start from barrier two if the emergencies come out.

Catch A Wave is fast and very good. Hes won a Miracle Mile at this [Menangle] track, so hes the obvious, but The Lost Storm is very exciting and couldnt have done any more.

Itll be interesting how the three-year-olds measure up, especially him. I guess hell actually be four when the race is run under the old [harness] season [which used to end on Aug. 31].

Catch A Wave will start from right inside Leap To Fame (gate eight) and, adding to the intrigue, long-time TAB Eureka favourite and now query runner, Captain Ravishing, is out wide with them in barrier seven.

Its good, but not great. At least were inside Leap To Fame, said Catch A Waves trainer Andy Gath. Well go forward, but we wont be burning out. Well just want to stay in front of Leap To Fame to give us options.

Captain Ravishings trainer Ahmed Taiba was pleased with the four-year-olds Menangle private trial win yesterday and the barrier draw.

Its been a good few days and we needed them, he said. His work was terrific and we feel back on track and now weve drawn quite well, certainly inside Leap To Fame and Catch A Wave. We feel like were in it with a chance now.

The lone mare in the race, the Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin-trained Encipher, will start from gate three after the emergencies come out because shes a preferential draw as a mare.

The biggest winner from the key part of the draw  where all the four-year-old boys drew  is emerging Queensland pacer Speak The Truth, who landed gate six and will start from four.

The Lost Storms owner Justin Baker, who was at the draw in Circular Quay, expects a huge showing from his young star.

We always knew we had to draw well under the preferential conditions and its a big reason were running, he said. Weve got a huge opinion of this horse and think well all see how good he is this weekend.

The Lost Storm firmed from $6 to $4.80 straight after the draw, while Catch A Wave ($4 into $3.60) was the other key mover.

Below is the complete field for the inaugural $2.1 million (AUD) TAB Eureka slot race for three and four-year-old Australian-born pacers, which will be contested over a distance of 2,400 m.

$2.1 million (AUD) TAB Eureka

1. Captain Hammerhead

2. Naturally Gifted (EMG)

3. Don Hugo (EMG)

4. The Lost Storm

5. Encipher

6. Speak The Truth

7. Magician

8. Ripp

9. Times a Trooper (EMG)

10. Heza Son Of Agun (EMG)

11. Captain Ravishing

12. Catch A Wave

13. Leap To Fame

14. My Ultimate Ronnie

(With files from TAB Eureka)
Andy Miller and Brett Miller are not related, but they were in a way connected last week when each driver got the 10,000th win of his career.

First was Andy, who notched his milestone triumph with Samwise The Brave on Aug. 20 at Lexingtons Red Mile. Five days later, Brett joined him in the 10,000-win club when he guided Flyin Bullets to victory at Eldorado Scioto Downs.

Andy ranks 21st among all drivers in North American history. Brett is No. 22.

Thats pretty neat, Andy said about the two Millers reaching 10,000 within days of each other. Its quite an accomplishment for anybody to get there. Its kind of an elite group.

Starting out, its not even a number you would think about. Youre looking to get a hundred wins. Then a thousand. To think you can get to 10,000 is amazing.

Brett agreed.

A lot of times you take things for granted, said Brett. But when I saw I was getting close to it, it meant a lot. When I first started driving horses, I remember living in a tack room above the barn at Raceway Park, at 21 years old, saying to myself that if I could win 2,000 races in my career it would be so awesome. Thats what I would think about. So, [10,000] definitely means a lot.

Andy, who will turn 55 next month, got his first win in 1986. He was one of the top drivers in Illinois, winning titles at Balmoral and Maywood, before moving with his wife, trainer Julie Miller, to New Jersey in 2006. That same year, Andy got his 5,000th win.

It all started at the Illinois fairs and just kept going, said Andy. When you have a passion for the business and you work hard, good things happen.

Andy got his most lucrative win two years after moving to the East Coast, guiding Creamy Mimi to victory for trainer Trond Smedshammer in the $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks.

He has captured five Breeders Crown trophies in his career, getting his first in 2004 with his brother, trainer Erv Miller, and filly pacer Restive Hanover. His other Crowns include one with Julie, in 2009 with trotter Lucky Jim. The gelding won 17 of 18 races that season and banked $1 million on his way to the Dan Patch Award for best older male trotter.

According to the U.S. Trotting Associations Research Department, Andy and Julie have teamed up for 1,634 victories in their careers. In addition to Lucky Jim, some of the stables notable horses have included Dan Patch Award and Mohawk Million winner Venerate, millionaires Devious Man and Mets Hall, Kentucky Filly Futurity champ Love A Good Story, and John Cashman Memorial winner Sevruga.

Victory No. 10,000 for Andy also came with a horse trained by Julie.

That made it even more special, said Andy. Weve had a lot of wins together with horses weve owned and trained, so it was pretty neat that it happened with a horse we train.

As for his career to date, Andy added, When you look back over the years and you think of all the horses and all the trainers and owners and drivers youve raced with, its a lot of good memories. Its been a great ride and I hope it continues. Im still passionate about it.

Brett Miller, who turned 50 earlier this month, got his first win in 1992. He averaged 520 victories a year from 2000 through 2006 while capturing titles at Scioto Downs and Northfield Park. In 2007, he equalled the record for most wins on a single pari-mutuel track card, collecting 10 at Northfield.

After moving to the East Coast, Brett enjoyed success at The Meadowlands, where he equalled the track record with eight wins on a single card in 2016 and was the leading driver in 2017. At the end of 2018, he returned to Ohio and continued his winning ways. Since the start of 2019, only Aaron Merriman has more victories in the Buckeye State than Brett, who has totalled more than 2,000 during that time.

I think one of the things Im proud of is being able to go pretty much anywhere and compete and do well, said Brett. When I went out East, I didnt know if I could make it out there, and things went pretty good. Things went really good, actually. But the lifestyle wasnt for me, living out there, the hustle and bustle and running around everywhere. I never really got to enjoy life. Being back here in Ohio, I can do that more.

Brett has won three Breeders Crown trophies, including one with multiple Dan Patch Award winner Pure Country. In 2016, he won the Ewart Memorial with Always B Miki (subbing in the sulky for cousin David Miller) in a world record-equalling 1:47 mile at Scioto Downs. Always B Miki outduelled defending U.S. Horse of the Year Wiggle It Jiggleit on his way to his own Horse of the Year honour at seasons end.

One of my favourite drives ever was getting to drive Always B Miki at Scioto Downs, the night he and Wiggle It Jiggleit went toe-to-toe, said Brett. That stands out. But Ive had the chance to drive a lot of great horses. Ive been lucky; very, very lucky.

Some other top horses for Brett have included millionaires Racing Hill and Charlie May, who happened to give Brett victory 9,998 the day prior to him reaching his milestone.

Interestingly, Brett went behind the gate with a chance to get his 10,000th win with a trotter trained by his wife, Stacey Van Huizen, which would have offered another parallel to Andys accomplishment. Alas, the horse made a break.

Thats the way it goes, Brett said with a laugh.

Two races later, Clair Umholtz-trained Flyin Bullets and Brett got the job done in a leg of the Ohio Sire Stakes for two-year-old filly pacers. It was their third OHSS win together, putting Flyin Bullets at the top of her divisions standings.

Shes a nice filly, said Brett. Ive got a few pretty good stakes horses and that definitely makes things more fun. But I look forward to going to race every night. That feeling is still there. I just want to keep doing what Im doing.

(USTA; Photos of Andy Miller [top] by Amanda Stephens and Brett Miller [bottom] by Conrad Photo)
Woodbine Mohawk Park would like to inform all racing participants of a change to its September training schedule.

There will be no training on Saturdays for the month of September. Training will be available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Qualifiers will remain on Fridays at 9:30 a.m.

Post time on Sept. 19 and 21 will be 5:35 p.m. as Mohawk will be hosting the RCMP Musical Ride on those evenings. 

(With files from Woodbine)
An inmate serving a life sentence for two counts of first-degree murder died Tuesday at the Nebraska prison in Tecumseh.

Decabooter Williams, 71, formerly of Omaha, began serving his sentence in June 2004. A spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Corrections said a cause of death has not been determined but Williams was being treated for a medical condition.

Williams was found guilty in Douglas County District Court for the deaths of Victoria Burgess, 52, and LaTisha Tolbert, 28, of Omaha. Prosecutors said Williams became enraged when Burgess accused him of stealing $200 from her.

Williams tried to borrow a gun from a neighbor. He then bought some gas, confronted Burgess and set her and her house ablaze, resulting in the deaths of the two women.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, in part because relatives of Burgess and Tolbert did not want it.

Under state law, a grand jury conducts an investigation whenever someone dies while in custody of law enforcement.

This day in history: The last State Fair in Lincoln Midway on the last day Getting ready Salute Picking prizes Color Guard Racing pigs Steer Last night Wii gaming Trains Serving food Snake handling Enjoying the rides Fire swalllowing At the fair At the fun house Waiting to show Waiting for a shirt
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  The driver in the viral road rage video who aimed a gun at an unarmed cyclist may face a number of charges including attempted homicide, a lawyer said on Wednesday.

There are quite a number of criminal cases that can be filed, attempted homicide, there is slander by deed, there is grave threat, the QCPD feels that it is alarm and scandal, lawyer Raymond Fortun, who is also moderator of the Pinoy Road Bikers, Inc., told CNN Philippines The Source.

READ: Raps should be filed vs. driver in viral road rage incident, says DILG chief

Fortun explained that this will depend on the elements that exist and which of these will prosecutors deem to have basis for a probable cause that can result in the filing of criminal cases against motorist Wilfredo Gonzales.

The Philippine National Police on Tuesday filed a complaint for alarms and scandals against Gonzales, but it is urging the victim to file a separate case of greater gravity.

Fortun said the cyclist continues to refuse to do so. If he does not come out, the case will have no basis and will become hearsay, the lawyer emphasized.

Gonzales gun permits were already revoked, and authorities confiscated three more guns in his possession this week.

Fortun has also sent a letter to lawmakers to investigate the matter and the alleged special treatment when the Quezon City Police District held a press conference with Gonzales.

In his letter, he also claimed that one of Gonzales sons assaulted a Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) traffic enforcer named Mimel Romualdo. The lawyer said a concerned citizen sent him a video of this incident, which was already forwarded to the agency.

An investigation on the matter will be conducted, and if proven, the traffic enforcer, who allegedly has a disability, will be asked to testify, Fortun said.

Lawmakers from the Senate and House of Representatives filed separate resolutions on Aug. 29 directing the appropriate committee to conduct a hearing in aid of legislation on the incident.

Senate Resolution no. 763 was filed by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Sen. Pia Cayetano, while House Resolution no. 1231 was filed by Representatives Bonifacio Laqui Bosita and Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez.
GREENSBORO  The Early College at Guilford was named as the best public high school in the United States in rankings released by U.S. News & World Report on Monday.

The selective, application-only school has about 200 students and is run by Guilford County Schools on the campus of Guilford College in Greensboro. The school had placed 35th in the nation in the 2022 rankings.

Students take Advanced Placement and honors courses led by high school teachers in ninth and 10th grade. For 11th and 12th grades, the students transition into Guilford College courses, studying alongside undergraduates on campus.

The rankings for 2023-24 are mostly based on the Early College at Guilford's data from the 2020-21 school year, which was the first full school year impacted by the pandemic.

U.S. News & World Report ranks schools across the country on a half-dozen factors. About 50% relates to the school's state standardized test scores, with 10 percent of that specific to how Black, Hispanic and low-income students performed. Another 40% of the score relates to 12th graders' participation and scores with Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams, and 10% relates to the graduation rate.

In an article analyzing this year's results, U.S. News & World Report journalist Sarah Wood noted that Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, which typically ranks first, dropped to No. 5 this year.

"Meanwhile, The Early College at Guilford in North Carolina jumped from No. 35 to claim the top spot," she wrote.

According to Wood, while the shifts with these schools rankings look big, there were only slight changes to their overall scores.

"... The Early College at Guilford  whose overall score increased from 99.8 to 100  showed gains in its assessment data, graduation rate, college readiness and college curriculum breadth outcomes," she wrote.

At the Early College at Guilford, 100 percent of students took and passed at least one AP exam, and 100 percent of ninth graders who entered graduated in four years. Reading proficiency was also 100 percent, according to the schools' U.S. News & World report score card.
I would bet you that AgriSompo does not want American farmers to know that their parent company is sponsoring this kind of thing. 

It would almost be like Apple donating to Trump.

Woah.

Not that  not that I ever worked there.
By Syune Arakelyan



Renowned Indian actor and producer Ravie Dubey, who has over 3 million followers on Instagram, has recently been in Yerevan. Together with his team, Ravie plans to shoot an Indian project in the Armenian capital, which will feature its historical and cultural heritage. NEWS.am STYLE met with the actor to get more details on his upcoming project.



The movie on which the actor is working is called Farradday and is inspired by famous English scientist Michael Faraday. Dubey is not only leading the actors' cast, but is also producing the movie, along with his wife Sargun Mehta. The director of the film is Ankur Pajni.

    Instagram   Ravie Dubey (@ravidubey2312)

"We felt that the character really energizes the cultural heritage and the history of Armenia. I've been reading a lot about it, and I particularly love the greys and the blacks in the architecture, the red stone that you have. It's beautiful. We can't wait to actually bring our shot here. This visit is to decide what locations we are shooting at," says Dubey. "Major part of our unit is going to be from Armenia, so the team is going to be from Armenia. We have a friend here, Aza, and she has been literally very helpful and I can't thank her enough."



Farradday is a metaphorical film, but there's a whole lot of subjects as well, says the actor. "You have beautiful churches, we saw the beautiful statue of Mother of Armenia. I'm absolutely certain about one thing: by the help and support that's coming from Armenia, it will look very good as the city is."

    Instagram   Ravie Dubey (@ravidubey2312)

According to Dubey, film shootings will be held in India, too, but the majority of the scenes will be concentrated in Yerevan. "Our intention now is to cover Yerevan completely. But we didn't just intend to show Yerevan as a beautiful and esthetic location; there is so much culture and heritage, so much history in this city and Armenia on the whole. And there will be a lot of it in the storytelling as well."



The actor plans to visit Yerevan 15 days later. As for the shootings, they will take place by the end of the year.

    Instagram   Ravie Dubey (@ravidubey2312)

Speaking about his impressions of Armenia, Dubey adds: "People of Armenia are exceptionally warm and supportive. Even though I'm here for a few days, it seems like I have a very personal relationship with all my friends who I met in Armenia. One major similarity that I've found between Armenians and Indians is that they have a tightly bonded unit with their families, they like to spend time with them. I also particularly like the fact that the languages also sound similar. I don't know Armenian, but when I'm listening to the talk of other people, I see similarities. Also, the fact that many Indians feel home here, speaks about the deep connection between these two nations."

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Oregon State Police have identified the victim in Monday's fatal crash on U.S. Highway 30 in Columbia County.

David Reeves, 21, of Clatskanie was the lone fatality in Monday's two-car collision that sent a Longview resident to the hospital, according to a news release.

On Aug. 28, troopers responded to the crash at about 4:45 a.m. on Highway 30, just east of of Clatskanie, near milepost 59.

The initial findings of the investigation reported that 22-year-old Alexander Jovani Diaz Hernandez of Longview, was heading west on Highway 30 when his gold Toyota Avalon drove into the eastbound lanes and collided head-on with a blue Subaru Impreza operated by Reeves.

Reeves was declared dead at the scene.

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It is unknown why Diaz Hernandez's vehicle veered into the oncoming lane, according to the news release.

Capt. Kyle Kennedy of the Oregon State Police told The Daily News that the investigation is ongoing and that "criminal charges related to fatal crashes are usually filed at the conclusion of the investigation in conjunction with the D.A.'s office."

The collision caused a six-hour road closure and the creation of a temporary alternate route.

The Clatskanie Fire Department, Columbia River Fire & Rescue, Columbia County Sheriff's Office, and Oregon Department of Transportation assisted the Oregon State Police.
State economists say Oregon appears poised for a boom in semiconductor investment in the latter half of this decade.

If you look on paper, were talking thousands of jobs, were talking tens of billions of dollars in investment, state economist Josh Lehner told a legislative committee Wednesday morning.

The economists partially based their forecasts on initial applications to a $250 million program for state assistance to chip manufacturers that lawmakers approved last spring. At least 15 companies have applied for those incentives already. Lehner said the state economists also consulted with industry experts and insiders.

At Wednesdays quarterly state revenue forecast, economists said they expect 3,000 new Oregon semiconductor jobs between 2025 and 2030. They expect new and expanded Oregon chip factories will add 1,000 net construction jobs for the next five years.

The potential for the state of Oregon is quite large, Lehner said.

Intel, already Oregons largest corporate employer, figures to anchor that new construction. Documents filed with Oregon environmental regulators suggest the company plans to spend billions of dollars upgrading and expanding factories at its campuses in Aloha and Hillsboro, beginning as soon as 2025.

Gov. Tina Kotek was due Wednesday to formally award Intel $90 million in incentives for a major new Oregon project. Intel has acknowledged plans for a multibillion-dollar Oregon expansion but hasnt said just what it will to build. The governors office hasnt said how much of Intels incentives are loans and how much are outright grants.

Two other chipmakers have publicly discussed Oregon expansion plans. HP Inc. is pursuing federal funding to bring manufacturing jobs back to its Corvallis factory from overseas, and Analog Devices says it will accelerate expansion of its factory near Beaverton if it lands state funding.

Many other companies appear to be contemplating new Oregon projects, too, though none have revealed their plans publicly.

Semiconductors are Oregons largest export and a pillar of the states economy. Oregon has one of the densest concentrations of chip manufacturing in the nation  the state accounts for 9% of all U.S. semiconductor jobs even though Oregon has just 1.2% of the nations total workforce.

The governors office said this week it is still evaluating chipmakers application for state funding but hasnt made any other awards yet. Press Secretary Anca Matica said lawmakers will receive updates late next month.

Currently, the focus is on understanding which projects would add geographic diversity, which are most ready to get started, and which projects are most prepared and financed for completion, Matica said.
As Lewis Countys Deputy Director of Emergency Management Ross McDowell phrased it on Sunday morning, wildfires were popping up left and right, across Lewis County over the weekend after lightning ignited already dry vegetation.

More than 30 wildfires started over the weekend from Pe Ell to Packwood. Efforts should be aided by cooler weather and some rain forecasted for the coming week. Residents should prepare for a lot of aircraft (fighting fires) in Lewis County for quite some time, according to a Monday post from Emergency Management.

North of Doty, the Chandler Road Fire was burning 46 acres of Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) land, as of Monday at noon.

DNR has air operations, including planes and helicopters, that are currently working the fire.

Fortunately, McDowell said, the Chandler Road Fire is currently in a no mans land where it is not threatening any structures or communities.

Two fires southwest of Morton are within not even miles of one another, according to McDowell, and have the potential to merge. The larger of the two is known as the Harmony Fire, at 2 acres. This is also being managed by DNR.

After a hot, dry summer, lightning storms in East Lewis County late last week started dozens of fires throughout the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and surrounding areas.

Were asking people to stay out of Forest Service land, McDowell said.

While lightning strikes have caused several visible fires, he said, there is also the potential for smoldering fires in forest underbrush, which could be worsened by windy conditions.

Anyone who doesnt have to go to the Gifford Pinchot, McDowell said, shouldnt.

The other big thing, he said of the current challenges, are drones. Drones near wildfires hinder responders. Air operations cannot continue when drones are flying nearby, he said, and helicopters have to ground and cease their work.

A type 3 incident management team formed on Sunday for the DNR-area fires, and a complex incident team was underway in Packwood and Randle.

McDowell categorized incident management teams on a scale of types 1-3, with type 1 being the most significant. Fire camps are set up for type 2 teams, he said, and type 1 is like, holy cow, call in the military.

Resources for firefighting in Lewis County are skinny at the moment, with many wildland firefighters having been assigned to a large fire in Northern Oregon, McDowell said. Though, none in Lewis County have yet caused road closures or evacuations.

There are currently no threats to the public from the fires, Emergency Managements post said on Monday, but residents should be prepared to welcome firefighters into communities in the west and east ends of the county.

Near the northern border of the county, a fire near the road to Paradise has the potential to close access to Mount Rainier and cause evacuations near Ashford, McDowell said. Near Lewiss southern border, in Skamania County, the Adams Fork Fire was last recorded at 11 acres just before noon on Sunday.
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Credit: AI-generated image

In a recent post, the owner of X, (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk, announced his plans for the social media platform to remove its blocking feature, except for in direct messages.

Users are concerned that this change in the platform's content moderation will lead to a rise in hostile and abusive content, leaving those on the platform unable to protect themselves from its consequences.

It is not only social media users who rely on X's blocking feature to control the content they see and interact with. Companies and brands with official social media accounts also depend on built-in moderation features. This ensures their fans and followers engage in positive and civil interactions.

Businesses need to be able to encourage constructive discussions on their social media accounts. This helps them build relationships with customers, increase word-of-mouth referrals and improve sales. Hostile online content directed at a company is not helpful to these business goals.

With the "block" feature significantly limited, companies and individual users seeking to control the spread of hostile online content will be forced to resort to other self-moderation. While individual users are sometimes used by companies to help moderate content, our recent research shows that official company accounts are much better placed to de-escalate hostile content.

The importance of blocking

Research shows that, when social media users are exposed to offensive or abusive content online, it can lead to an array of negative consequences. They may experience mental distress and anxiety similar to that resulting from harassment that happens in person.

According to the same work, when presented with hostile or offensive content on social media, users are also likely to experience negative emotions and refrain from interacting with others. For businesses, this can lead to negative attitudes towards the company, that could also spread, and loss of trust in the brand.

Mute, report and block are built in features on most social media platforms. These enable users to restrict content they are exposed to, as well as who can interact with their profile. These features allow users to enjoy the benefits of social media such as following trends, staying informed and interacting with others. They also allow users to avoid being targeted by offensive or unwanted content.

Mute and report are two features that can still be used to moderate hostile content. But these only partly address the issue, since they do not stop harassers from interacting with social media users or stalking their profiles. Blocking is arguably the most effective platform moderation feature. It gives users full control over who and what content they interact with on social media.

Blocking is not only a desirable moderation feature; it is a responsible business practice requirement. To prevent abusive and offensive content, both the App Store and Google Play Store policies state that the "ability to block abusive users from the service" and providing "an in-app system for blocking UGC (user generated content) and users" are necessary conditions for all of the applications they list.

In the UK, the current version of the Online Safety Bill will require social media platforms to offer adults appropriate tools to stop offensive or abusive content from reaching them. This is typically enabled by the blocking feature.

Content moderation going forward

Reporting and hiding hostile content could be viable moderation options for X going forward. It is, however, unlikely that these will be sufficient on their own. Removing the "block" feature could mean both companies and individual users have to take on increased responsibilities for content moderation.

Some research has already demonstrated that official business accounts employ diverse moderation communicationsbeyond just censorshipin the presence of hostile content. And this can be suitable for improving business followers' attitudes and its image.

Another way forward would be to rely on individual social media users for moderation, particularly prominent accounts that distinguish their status from others through digital badges such as the "blue check" on X and "top fan" on Facebook.

This is because research shows that digital badge accounts actively and positively participate in discussions and user-generated content on social media. As a result, these accounts could act as informal and occasional moderators.

Our research looked at whether official business accounts or prominent individual accounts were best at moderating hostile content on social media. In our first experiment, we presented participants with two scenarios. In one, an official business account moderated hostile content. In another, a digital badge user account intervened in a hostile interaction.

We found that companies are rated as the more credible moderators. They were best suited to de-escalate hostile content without the need to hide or remove it, or block the accounts involved.

On social media, it is common for moderation interventions to receive reactions and responses from observing users who support or disagree. The presence of reactions likely influences how the moderator is perceived. To this end, in our second experiment, we studied the appropriateness of the moderator depending on whether the account received positive or negative reactions from other users who had observed the interaction.

Participants were given four scenarios: two in which the moderation intervention by the official business account received positive or negative emojis and two where a digital badge user account moderated the hostile interaction and this received either positive or negative emojis.

Our findings again confirmed that company accounts were seen as most appropriate for hostile content moderation by other social media users. This is the case even when the moderation receives negative reactions from the business account followers. Digital badge user accounts, in contrast, are only seen as credible when their moderation receives positive reactions from those following the company's social media account.

Whether or not the "block" feature on X is removed, moderating offensive and abusive content should not be left to businesses and individual accounts alone.

Content moderation should be a collective effort between platforms, businesses and individual users. Social media companies have the responsibility to equip their users with design features and tools that allow them to enjoy their platforms.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, left, and FBI Asst. Director in Charge Don Alway announce in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023 the multinational take down operation of Qakbot malware which infected more than 700,000 computers including LAUSD and San Bernardino County Sheriff Department computer systems. Credit: Sarah Reingewirtz/The Orange County Register via AP

U.S. officials said Tuesday that the FBI and its European partners infiltrated and seized control of a major global malware network used for more than 15 years to commit a gamut of online crimes including crippling ransomware attacks.

They then remotely removed the malicious software agentknown as Qakbotfrom thousands of infected computers.

Cybersecurity experts said they were impressed by the deft dismantling of the network but cautioned that any setback to cybercrime would likely be temporary.

"Nearly ever sector of the economy has been victimized by Qakbot," Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said Tuesday in announcing the takedown. He said the criminal network had facilitated about 40 ransomware attacks alone over 18 months that investigators said netted Qakbot administrators about $58 million.

Qakbot's ransomware victims included an Illinois-based engineering firm, financial services organizations in Alabama and Kansas, along with a Maryland defense manufacturer and a Southern California food distribution company, Estrada said.

Officials said $8.6 million in cybercurrency was seized or frozen but no arrests were announced.

Estrada said the investigation is ongoing. He would not say where administrators of the malware, which marshaled infected machines into a botnet of zombie computers, were located. Cybersecurity researchers say they are believed to be in Russia and/or other former Soviet states.

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announces in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023 the multinational take down operation of Qakbot malware. In their latest disruption of global cybercrime, the FBI and partners in Europe infiltrated and seized control of a major malware network that was used for more than 15 years to commit a gamut of online crimes including crippling ransomware attacks. Credit: Sarah Reingewirtz/The Orange County Register via AP

Officials estimated the so-called malware loader, a digital Swiss knife for cybercrooks also known as Pinkslipbot and Qbot, was leveraged to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage since first appearing in 2008 as an information-stealing bank trojan. They said millions of people in nearly every country in the world have been affected.

Typically delivered via phishing email infections, Qakbot gave criminal hackers initial access to violated computers. They could then deploy additional payloads including ransomware, steal sensitive information or gather intelligence on victims to facilitate financial fraud and crimes such as tech support and romance scams.

The Qakbot network was "literally feeding the global cybercrime supply chain," said Donald Alway, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office, calling it "one of the most devastating cybercriminal tools in history." The most commonly detected malware in the first half of 2023, Qakbot impacted one in 10 corporate networks and accounted for about 30% of attacks globally, a pair of cybersecurity firms found. Such "initial access" tools allow extortionist ransomware gangs to skip the initial step of penetrating computer networks, making them major facilitators for the far-flung, mostly Russian-speaking criminals who have wreaked havoc by stealing data and disrupting schools, hospitals, local governments and businesses worldwide.

Beginning Friday in an operation officials dubbed "Duck Hunt," the FBI along with Europol and law enforcement and justice partners in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Latvia seized more than 50 Qakbot servers and identified more than 700,000 infected computers, more than 200,000 of them in the U.S.effectively cutting off criminals from their quarry.

FBI Asst. Director in Charge Don Alway announces in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023 the multinational take down operation of Qakbot malware which infected more than 700,000 computers including LAUSD and San Bernardino County Sheriff Department computer systems. Credit: Sarah Reingewirtz/The Orange County Register via AP

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announces in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023 the multinational take down operation of Qakbot malware which infected more than 700,000 computers including LAUSD and San Bernardino County Sheriff Department computer systems. Credit: Sarah Reingewirtz/The Orange County Register via AP

The FBI then used the seized Qakbot infrastructure to remotely dispatch updates that deleted the malware from thousands of infected computers. A senior FBI official, briefing reporters on condition he not be further identified, called that number "fluid" and cautioned that other malware may have remained on machines liberated from Qakbot.

It was the FBI's biggest success against cybercrooks since it "hacked the hackers" with the January takedown of the prolific Hive ransomware gang.

"It is an impressive takedown. Qakbot was the largest botnet" in number of victims, said Alex Holden, founder of Milwaukee-based Hold Security. But he said it may have been a casualty of its own success in its staggering growth over the past few years. "Large botnets today tend to implode as too many threat actors are mining this data for various types of abuse."

Cybersecurity expert Chester Wisniewski at Sophos agreed that while there could be a temporary drop in ransomware attacks, the criminals can be expected to either revive infrastructure elsewhere or move to other botnets.

"This will cause a lot of disruption to some gangs in the short term, but it will do nothing from it being rebooted," he said. "Albeit it takes a long time to recruit 700,000 PCs."

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Takashi Hosoda was in a Tokyo skyscraper when the 9.0 magnitude quake struck on March 11, 2011.

Takashi Hosoda was in a Tokyo skyscraper when the 9.0 magnitude quake struck on March 11, 2011, but the trained architect was "not particularly worried" as modern Japanese buildings are designed to protect their occupants.

A century after Tokyo was destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Japanese capital today bears no resemblance to the city leveled by that 7.9 tremor, which killed 105,000 people.

The low-rise, largely wooden city that was destroyed a second time by US firebombing during World War II has been replaced by a soaring megalopolis where reinforced concrete is king.

The September 1, 1923, disaster marked "the dawn of seismic design of structures in Japan", said Yoshiaki Nakano, an earthquake engineering expert from the National Research Institute for Earth Sciences and Disaster Resilience (NIED).

The following year Japan introduced its first building code for earthquake-resistant construction.

These standards have been constantly expanded since then, drawing on lessons from other major tremors in the archipelago, which accounts for around 10 percent of the world's earthquakes.

Japan's seismic building code is one of the most stringent in the world, Nakano told AFP.

"Basically, the Japanese building requires a relatively higher strength" than elsewhere, he said, stressing the importance of meticulous monitoring of compliance.

Japan's seismic building code is one of the most stringent in the world.

"The system to supervise and check the design and the construction on-site is a very key factor to ensure the quality of the structure, the performance of the building during earthquakes," he said.

The 2011 earthquake triggered a deadly tsunami along the northeast coast but in Tokyo the damage was limited: high-rise towers oscillated alarmingly for several minutes but did not topple.

Skyscraper shock absorbers

Early basic reinforced structures have been adapted with more sophisticated seismic safety measures found in modern towers.

Massive soft rubber cushions are installed under the foundations to isolate them from ground vibrations; shock absorbers are distributed throughout the floors; and some even have pendulums weighing several hundred tons installed at the top to counteract the movement of the building during a quake.

Kai Toyama, a structural engineering official at real estate giant Mori Building, discusses the buildings seismic anti-vibration systems.

Built in 2014 and rising 247 meters (810 feet) above the city, the Toranomon Hills Mori Tower is fitted with such seismic anti-vibration systems, including 516 oil dampers, each comprising a thick cylinder 1.7 meters long.

"It stretches and shrinks repeatedly in case of an earthquake. It then starts getting warm, which means the energy of the quake transforms into heat and gets released," Kai Toyama, a structural engineering official at real estate giant Mori Building, told AFP.

"As a result, the tremor of the whole building can be controlled."

After the Kobe earthquake in 1995 left more than 6,000 dead, emphasis was also placed on strengthening earthquake resistance standards for new wooden houses and upgrading older buildings dating from before the last major overhaul of the building code in 1981.

The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 was also "a wake-up call to Japan", Nakano noted. "Not only the engineers but also for people."

Since 1960, Japan has marked September 1 as national Disaster Prevention Day.

Every year on that day, countless schoolchildren, employees and civil servantsincluding the entire governmentcarry out simulation exercises in preparation for a major earthquake.

In Japan, many people stock emergency supplies at home, as do businesses and local governments. As of April 1, 2023, local authorities in Tokyo have stockpiled 9.5 million instant meals (comprising rice, noodles and biscuits) in about 400 warehouses.

Still vulnerable

These precautionary measures were intensified after the 2011 earthquake, which caused huge traffic jams in Tokyo and the suspension of public transport, preventing millions of people from returning home, said Hosoda, now head of disaster management at Mori Building.

Despite all these efforts, some experts say Tokyo remains vulnerable to earthquakes, and even more to other natural disasters such as floods.

A visitor walkis past images on display from the 1923 earthquake and resulting fire which killed over 100,000 residents of Tokyo.

This combination of photos shows (clockwise from top L) glass, coins, a typewriter and screws which melted or were badly damaged by the fire storm following the 1923 earthquake.

Experts say there is a 70 percent chance of a major earthquake hitting Tokyo within the next 30 years.

The eastern districts of the capital are built on unstable and flood-prone soils, and there are still concentrations of old wooden dwellings attached to each other.

Post-war rebuilding of Tokyo was "anarchic" and "prioritized economic development and not the construction of a resilient city", seismologist Masayuki Takemura lamented during a recent press conference.

He also pointed to an "excessive concentration of skyscrapers" and the construction of residential areas on artificial islands, increasing their risk of isolation in the event of a natural disaster.

And experts say there is a 70 percent chance of a major earthquake hitting Tokyo within the next 30 years.

 2023 AFP
Hungary hosts exhibition on Chinese Characters

Xinhua) 13:10, August 30, 2023

Judit Gerencser (C), deputy director general of National Szechenyi Library, receives a collection of books from Li Xikui (R), Vice President of Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, at the opening ceremony of an exhibition on "Chinese Characters and Civilization" at the National Library of Foreign Literature of Hungary in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 29, 2023. The exhibition was held here on Tuesday, showcasing the art and craft of Chinese script. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

BUDAPEST, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition on "Chinese Characters and Civilization" was held at the National Library of Foreign Literature of Hungary on Tuesday, showcasing the art and craft of Chinese script.

The exhibition opened with a recital of Hungarian and Chinese poetry by students from the Confucius Institute at the University of Miskolc, their peers from Debrecen and Szeged Universities, and young students from schools in Budapest.

Visitors to the exhibition also got to learn about the history and evolution of Chinese characters, which were carved into bones, wood, or bronze, before being crafted on silk and paper.

Some of these relics - the Chinese Oracle-Bone Inscriptions - were deemed precious enough to earn a spot in UNESCO's exclusive World Heritage catalog.

"We are very pleased that we can give a home to this event and exhibition (...) and that we have created a very fruitful relationship with China and the Chinese people," said Judit Gerencser, deputy director general of National Szechenyi Library.

"Characters are the carriers of civilization, while Chinese characters carry the essence of Chinese civilization," said Li Xikui, Vice President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

He highlighted the literary dialogue between Hungary and China, and how this event epitomized the spirit of cultural exchange that strengthens ties between nations.

"We wanted more Hungarians to understand Chinese culture and fall in love with it. This is our ultimate goal," Li told Xinhua.

The exhibition will last until Sept. 20.

A woman visits an exhibition on "Chinese Characters and Civilization" at the National Library of Foreign Literature of Hungary in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 29, 2023. The exhibition was held here on Tuesday, showcasing the art and craft of Chinese script. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

Judit Gerencser, deputy director general of National Szechenyi Library, speaks at the opening ceremony of an exhibition on "Chinese Characters and Civilization" at the National Library of Foreign Literature of Hungary in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 29, 2023. The exhibition was held here on Tuesday, showcasing the art and craft of Chinese script. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

A woman visits an exhibition on "Chinese Characters and Civilization" at the National Library of Foreign Literature of Hungary in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 29, 2023. The exhibition was held here on Tuesday, showcasing the art and craft of Chinese script. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

People visit an exhibition on "Chinese Characters and Civilization" at the National Library of Foreign Literature of Hungary in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 29, 2023. The exhibition was held here on Tuesday, showcasing the art and craft of Chinese script. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
(CNN)  Ukrainian officials have criticized Pope Francis recent address to Russian youth, calling his remarks imperialist propaganda.

The pontiff made a video address to the 10th All-Russian Catholic Youth Assembly in St. Petersburg on Friday, during which he urged them to view themselves as descendants of the Russian empire.

Never forget your heritage. You are the descendants of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire  educated, great culture and great humanity. Never give up on this heritage, the pope said.

You are descendants of the great Mother Russia, step forward with it. And thank you  thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian.

On Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko lambasted the popes speech.

This is the kind of imperialist propaganda, spiritual bonds and the need to save Great Mother Russia which the Kremlin uses to justify the murder of thousands of Ukrainians and the destruction of hundreds of Ukrainian towns and villages, Nikolenko said in a Facebook post.

The popes mission should be precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the devastating course of the current Russian leadership and instead he is promoting Russian great-power ideas, that are, in fact, the reason for Russias chronic aggression, Nikolenko said.

Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin compared himself to Peter the Great during an exhibition dedicated to the first Russian emperor, using the comparison to justify Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for 21 years, Putin said at the time. On the face of it, he was at war with Sweden taking something away from it  He was not taking away anything, he was returning. This is how it was. He added that it didnt matter that European countries didnt recognize Peter the Greats seizure of territory by force.

Those remarks were swiftly condemned by Ukrainians, who saw them as a naked admission of Putins imperial ambitions  and were highlighted again this week after the popes address.

Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said in a statement that Peter the Great and Catherine the Great are the worst examples of imperialism and extreme Russian nationalism, warning that the popes words could be perceived as support for the nationalism and imperialism that has caused the war in Ukraine today.

As a Church, we want to state that in the context of Russias aggression against Ukraine, such statements inspire the neocolonial ambitions of the aggressor country, Shevchuk said.

On Tuesday, the Vatican rejected the interpretation of the popes words as praise of imperialism.

The Pope intended to encourage young people to preserve and promote all that is positive in the great cultural and Russian spirituality, and certainly not to exalt imperialist logic and government personalities, cited to indicate some historical periods of reference, the Vatican statement said.

Controversial comments

The pope has previously been criticized for some of his comments about Russias war in Ukraine.

In remarks published by Italian newspaper La Stampa in June last year, Francis said the war was perhaps in some way either provoked or not prevented. He said that before Russia invaded Ukraine he met with a head of state who was very worried about how NATO was moving.

In August last year, the pope angered Kyiv by referring to Russian political commentator Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist philosopher, as being among the innocent victims of the war after she was killed by a car bomb on the outskirts of Moscow.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, to discuss Francis statement, saying that it unjustly equates the aggressor and the victim.

Ukrainian officials have previously said they have no knowledge of a Vatican peace mission to resolve the conflict with Russia, following the popes claim of involvement in the process.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with the pontiff in Rome in May, when Francis assured his constant prayer for peace and stressed the need for human gestures toward victims of the war, according to the Vatican.
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The United States military plans to start using thousands of autonomous weapons systems in the next two years in a bid to counter China's growing power, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks announced in a speech on Monday.

The so-called Replicator initiative aims to work with defense and other tech companies to produce high volumes of affordable systems for all branches of the military.

Military systems capable of various degrees of independent operation have become increasingly common over the past decade or so. But the scale and scope of the US announcement makes clear the future of conflict has changed: the age of warfighting robots is upon us.

An idea whose time has come

Over the past decade, there has been considerable development of advanced robotic systems for military purposes. Many of these have been based on modifying commercial technology, which itself has become more capable, cheaper and more widely available.

More recently, the focus has shifted onto experimenting with how to best use these in combat. Russia's war in Ukraine has demonstrated that the technology is ready for real-world deployment.

Loitering munitions, a form of robot air vehicle, have been widely used to find and attack armored vehicles and artillery. Ukrainian naval attack drones have paralyzed Russia's Black Sea fleet, forcing their crewed warships to stay in port.

Military robots are an idea whose time has come.

Robots everywhere

In her speech, Hicks talked of a perceived urgent need to change how wars are fought. She declared, in somewhat impenetrable Pentagon-speak, that the new Replicator program would be "field attritable autonomous systems at scale of multiple thousands, in multiple domains, within the next 18 to 24 months."

Decoding this, "autonomous" means a robot that can carry out complex military missions without human intervention.

"Attritable" means the robot is cheap enough that it can be placed at risk and lost if the mission is of high priority. Such a robot is not quite designed to be disposable, but it would be reasonably affordable so many can be bought and combat losses replaced.

Finally, "multiple domains" means robots on land, at sea, in the air and in space. In short, robots everywhere for all kinds of tasks.

The robot mission

For the US military, Russia is an "acute threat" but China is the "pacing challenge" against which to benchmark its military capabilities.

China's People's Liberation Army is seen as having a significant advantage in terms of "mass": it has more people, more tanks, more ships, more missiles and so on. The US may have better-quality equipment, but China wins on quantity.

By quickly building thousands of "attritable autonomous systems", the Replicator program will now give the US the numbers considered necessary to win future major wars.

The imagined future war of most concern is a hypothetical battle for Taiwan, which some postulate could soon begin. Recent tabletop wargames have suggested large swarms of robots could be the decisive element for the US in defeating any major Chinese invasion.

However, Replicator is also looking further ahead, and aims to institutionalize mass production of robots for the long term. Hicks argues, "We must ensure [China's] leadership wakes up every day, considers the risks of aggression, and concludes, 'today is not the day'and not just today, but every day, between now and 2027, now and 2035, now and 2049, and beyond."

A brave new world?

One great concern about autonomous systems is whether their use can conform to the laws of armed conflict.

Optimists argue robots can be carefully programmed to follow rules, and in the heat and confusion of combat they may even obey better than humans.

Pessimists counter by noting not all situations can be foreseen, and robots may well misunderstand and attack when they should not. They have a point.

Among earlier autonomous military systems, the Phalanx close-in point defense gun and the Patriot surface-to-air missile have both misperformed.

Used only once in combat, during the first Gulf War in 1991, the Phalanx fired at a chaff decoy cloud rather than countering the attacking anti-ship missile. The more modern Patriot has proven effective in shooting down attacking ballistic missiles, but also twice shot down friendly aircraft during the second Gulf War in 2003, killing their human crews.

Clever design may overcome such problems in future autonomous systems. However, Hicks promised a "responsible and ethical approach to AI and autonomous systems" in her speechwhich suggests any system able to kill targets will still need formal authorization from a human to do so.

A global change

The US may be the first nation to field large numbers of autonomous systems, but other countries will be close behind. China is an obvious candidate, with great strength in both artificial intelligence and combat drone production.

However, because much of the technology behind autonomous military drones has been developed for civilian purposes, it is widely available and relatively cheap. Autonomous military systems are not just for the great powers, but could also soon be fielded by many middle and smaller powers.

Libya and Israel, among others, have reportedly deployed autonomous weapons, and Turkish-made drones have proved important in the Ukraine war.

Australia is another country keenly interested in the possibilities of autonomous weapons. The Australian Defense Force is today building the MQ-28 Ghostbat autonomous fast jet air vehicle, robot mechanized armored vehicles, robot logistic trucks and robot submarines, and is already using the Bluebottle robot sailboat for maritime border surveillance in the Timor Sea.

And in a move that foreshadowed the Replicator initiative, the Australian government last month called for local companies to suggest how they might build very large numbers of military aerial drones in-country in the next few years.

At least one Australian company, SYPAQ, is already on the move, sending a number of its cheap, cardboard-bodied drones to bolster Ukraine's defenses.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

An EPFL study carried out in Vaud Canton has shed light on the factors that can prompt people to buy solar panels. It found that having neighbors with solar panels plays a significant role, alongside more well-known influences, such as our social circle.

If you're a homeowner, have a high-level job, and have friends or family members with solar panels, chances are that you've got them, too. The EPFL study found that the probability of an individual installing solar panels is 89% higher if that person knows someone who has already done so. This peer effect, also called social proximity, is already known to have an influence on consumers' purchasing decisions. But the study found that another factor also plays a major role: the neighborhood effect, also known as spatial proximity.

This means that if, in addition to the factors above, you also have a neighbor who has installed solar panels on their roof, you probably did too, (with a dependent variable which increases in a statistically significant way by 0.5 units), especially if you speak the same language and live within the same municipality, since that facilities information-sharing between you and your neighbor.

On the other hand, the study found that factors such as gender and stated environmental viewpoints don't have a significant influence. The research, published recently in Heliyon, was carried out through a survey of 1,125 people living in the Nyon and Jura-Nord Vaudois districts of Vaud.

Spatial and social proximity

The study's authors note that the circulation of information within a community can be an important driver of the energy transition, and that spatial proximity should be considered alongside social proximity. They go on to spell out concrete measures that policymakers can take, such as sponsoring local information campaigns run by neighborhood associations, businesses operating in the energy transition and people who already own solar panels.

"Solar-panel owners enjoy talking about their experiencedescribing how much power the panels generate per year and how much money they save," says Gloria Serra-Coch, an architect and Ph.D. student at EPFL's Laboratory for Human Environment Relations in Urban Systems (HERUS) and the study's lead author. For her Ph.D. thesis, Serra-Coch is investigating the mechanisms by which renewable-energy technology is adopted in Switzerland.

The survey asked questions to determine respondents' socioeconomic category, as well as questions about whether they have installed solar panels, whether they are homeowners or tenants, whether they know someone who has installed solar panels and, if so, where this person lives and if this person had suggested they buy solar panels too. The results showed that 17.6% of respondents owned solar panels, and 40.4% of these individuals knew someone else who had them.

Solar panels aren't just for the roof

The study also found that solar-panel installation was correlated with housing density and the extent of urbanization. In other words, most of the solar panels in the region covered by the study were found in urban areas. "Swiss legislation currently encourages solar-panel installation on the rooftops of single-family homes," says Serra-Coch. "As a result, only urban areas with a high degree of home ownership can take full advantage of this renewable energy."

She suggests introducing more flexible policies so that people who want to use clean power can do so, removing the obstacles for tenants and those living in buildings that don't meet the requisite criteria. Solar panels don't have to be installed on rooftops, for example: if they could be put elsewhere, that would encourage wider adoption.

"Our study shows that renewable energy should be promoted through trusted individuals who form part of a close circleincluding a close circle geographically," says Serra-Coch. She feels that creating networks of people who are actively involved in energy issues can be a good way to encourage citizens to adopt new habits. These networks would probably be effective in other sustainability-related areas too, according to the authors.

More information: Gloria Serra-Coch et al, Geographic network effects to engage people in the energy transition: The case of PV in Switzerland, Heliyon (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17800 Journal information: Heliyon
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:

The five categories of energy Credit: Imperial College London

Imperial energy experts have penned a new book exploring the fast-growing field of energy storage.

In today's world, the shift towards cleaner and sustainable energy sources is more important than ever. Effective and adaptable energy storage solutions have become increasingly crucial as renewable energy sources like solar and wind fluctuate. With clean energy solutions taking priority, it is urgent to understand the complex landscape of energy storage.

Dr. Oliver Schmidt, a visiting researcher, and Dr. Iain Staffell, a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Energy at Imperial's Center for Environmental Policy, are addressing the complexities of this fast-growing industry. They have authored a book titled "Monetizing Energy Storage: A Toolkit to Assess Future Cost and Value," which offers valuable perspectives, data and tools for businesses, policymakers and researchers to evaluate the economic potential of energy storage.

We interviewed the authors, delving into the significance of energy storage, the challenges confronted by the energy sector, and their mission to empower diverse audiences using their comprehensive toolkit.

What is energy storage, and why is it crucial?

Dr. Iain Staffell: Energy storage is one solution to integrate weather-dependent renewables like solar and wind into power systems. Storage is easy to deploy and can be built quickly. It is a small, modular technology with the potential for extraordinarily fast growth rates. If storage allows us to achieve a higher share of renewables, it will be a key factor in helping us reach net-zero emissions, not just in the U.K. but worldwide.

Dr. Oliver Schmidt: The world has an abundance of renewable energy sources that are currently being developed. However, we require a flexible energy system to integrate this variable renewable energy effectively. Energy storage is emerging as one of the most prominent forms of flexibility. Alternatives, like building more electric wires or making end-user appliances smarter, appear more challenging to implement, particularly at the pace and scale needed. What are the core principles of energy storage?

There are five main principles for storing electricity, involving converting it into another form of energy that can be stored. These include mechanical storage, electrical storage, electrochemical storage, chemical storage, and thermal storage. These principles have similar advantages and disadvantages and can be useful when considering new storage technologies.

How do energy storage technologies contribute to a low-carbon energy system and global net-zero aspirations?

Staffell: One example is transportation, which is a significant sector for reducing emissions, accounting for about one-quarter of U.K. emissions. Electric vehicles are the most viable option for reducing emissions in this sectormaking energy storage crucial for facilitating this transition.

Schmidt: In the energy sector, storage can also provide various services that ensure the "lights stay on." Our book helps to clearly differentiate these services by economic value, location in the power system, and relation to renewables. This is like a dictionary for readers to understand the markets for energy storage, which have different names and structures in each country, but fundamentally provide the same value and have the same requirements.

What were your motivations for writing the book?

Staffell: My motivation is to accelerate the transition to clean energy. As a parent, I want my children to inherit a biodiverse world. I want to help people understand the clean energy transition by making fundamental knowledge and tools widely available. This book serves as a vehicle for achieving this goal, reaching a wider audience than academic publications.

Schmidt: My motivation is to make academic research more accessible. Therefore, the digital version of this book is free. This allows anyone to read it and make fact-based decisions on investments needed for the energy transition. It is also the reason why the book is accompanied by the website www.EnergyStorage.ninja. Here, readers can interact with the models we have developed and conduct their custom analyses.

How does your book bridge knowledge gaps in energy storage?

Schmidt: One of the main challenges in energy storage is transparency. The various technologies, applications, and performance characteristics, coupled with rapidly falling technology cost can lead to uncertainties regarding the commercial viability of storage, which prevent policy and investment decisions. Besides insights, data and tools, we aim to create transparency by providing a clear structure and a common language for academics and industry professionals to communicate.

Staffell: There are many good books on the engineering and physics of energy storage but little on economics and business. These aspects are crucial for mainstreaming energy storage and impactful for the clean energy transition. The book covers how to go from a prototype to a mass-produced product that sells millions of units a year.

How did you navigate the challenge of balancing technical depth with accessibility?

Staffell: We have completed science communications training at Imperial, which helped us communicate complex ideas effectively. We also identified common areas of confusion from our experience supervising students. We sought feedback from numerous peer reviewers, including colleagues and experts in the field, to refine our book. Our goal was to make the terms and explanations clear and understandable.

Schmidt: We also structured the book to present general concepts in the beginning, economic insights in the middle and complex methods at the end. This lets readers decide to read the whole book, or go straight to economic insights or, if they choose, to access the methodological details. By going through the summary page at the beginning of each chapter, you can even grasp the book's key messages if you only have an hour to spare!

How does your book bridge the gap between theory and real-world implementation?

Schmidt: As touched upon by Iain, we conducted our own review process by asking more than 20 industry stakeholders to review a draft of the book. These investors, consultants, strategists, project developers and policymakers provided real-world feedback that helped us validate our methods and findings and provide real-world examples. The book also features a range of "Frequently Asked Questions" that relate our conceptual insights to real-world application. We also provided a common language and structure for discussing key concepts, such as revenue stacking.

What key insights do you aim to convey to readers, including future policymakers, investors, and researchers, through this book?

Schmidt: We want readers to learn how to analyze energy storage technologies in terms of their costs, applications, and revenues. This will help them decide which technologies are best for transitioning our energy systems. Our book provides knowledge and interactive tools, such as the Energy Storage Ninja, for readers to do these analyses, bridging knowledge gaps and advancing a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.
Thanks to a new discovery linked to shares of Tesla, regular folks can now target gains of 100% or more in six days or less. New research shows its happened 23 different times this year. The next trade is scheduled for this Thursday.
EOG Resources, Inc. is a leading independent exploration and production company focusing on the oil and gas industry. Based in Houston, Texas, EOG's mission is to provide energy solutions that power the world while adhering to the highest environmental and safety standards. With its robust portfolio of assets, talented management team, and commitment to technological advancements, EOG Resources has emerged as a key player in the energy sector.

EOG Resources operates in multiple locations across the globe, primarily focusing on North America, including the United States, Canada, and Trinidad. The company's primary products and services revolve around the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil and natural gas. EOG Resources serves a diverse range of customers, including industrial, residential, and commercial sectors, as well as other energy companies.

EOG Resources is committed to minimizing its environmental impact. The company employs advanced drilling techniques and utilizes cutting-edge technologies to maximize production efficiency while reducing emissions and water usage. EOG's sustainability efforts align with its mission to provide reliable energy solutions for a sustainable future.

EOG Resources boasts a highly experienced and accomplished management team led by key executives with industry knowledge and expertise. Ezra Y. Yacob, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, has driven the company's strategic growth initiatives. With a strong background in geoscience and leadership roles, Mr. Yacob has been with EOG Resources since 2005. He has served in various key positions, including President and Executive Vice President of Exploration and Production.

Lloyd W. "Billy" Helms, Jr., President and Chief Operating Officer, joined EOG Resources in 1995 and has held several significant leadership positions within the company. Mr. Helms has been pivotal in overseeing the company's operations, exploration activities, and production strategies.

Timothy K. Driggers, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has been integral to EOG Resources since 1995. Mr. Driggers' financial acumen and expertise have contributed to the company's financial stability and growth.

EOG Resources has consistently demonstrated strong financial performance, with steady revenue growth and healthy profit margins. EOG Resources has successfully navigated market fluctuations and achieved long-term financial stability.

When considering the company's valuation metrics, EOG Resources has been favorably positioned compared to its industry peers. The company's valuation metrics, such as price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratios, have reflected investor confidence in the company's future prospects and financial strength.

With significant price movements and trading volume, EOG Resources' stock performance has been notable. The company's stock has demonstrated resilience, responding to market conditions and reflecting investor sentiment. Recent news and events, including industry trends, regulatory changes, and geopolitical factors, have influenced EOG's share price.

EOG Resources operates in a dynamic and competitive industry highly influenced by global market conditions, regulatory policies, and technological advancements. The company competes with international and domestic players and strives to maintain a competitive edge through its operational excellence, technological innovation, and strong asset portfolio.

EOG Resources is well-positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities in the energy sector. The company continues to explore and develop new reserves, expand its operations and optimize production techniques. EOG's focus on technological advancements, such as utilizing data analytics and artificial intelligence, enhances its capabilities in identifying and extracting hydrocarbon resources efficiently.

Like any company operating in the energy sector, EOG Resources faces various risks and challenges that can impact its operations and financial performance. Investors and stakeholders must be aware of these factors when evaluating the company's prospects.

EOG Resources' revenue and profitability are closely tied to crude oil and natural gas prices. Fluctuations in commodity prices can significantly impact the company's financial results. Factors such as global supply and demand dynamics, geopolitical tensions, and economic conditions can lead to price volatility, posing a risk to EOG's revenue and profitability.

The energy industry is subject to extensive regulations related to drilling, production, emissions, and environmental impact. Regulation changes, especially those aimed at reducing carbon emissions and transitioning to renewable energy sources, can require significant investments and impact the company's operational costs. Non-compliance with regulations could result in penalties and reputational damage.

EOG Resources relies on advanced technologies and innovations to efficiently explore and produce hydrocarbon reserves. However, technological advancements also bring inherent risks, such as data security threats and potential operational disruptions. Additionally, adopting new technologies may require substantial investments and successful implementation to yield desired results.

The energy sector is highly competitive, with numerous players vying for market share. EOG Resources competes with both established energy companies and emerging players. Intense competition can lead to pricing pressures and reduced margins. Moreover, market conditions, such as supply and demand imbalances, can impact the company's ability to sell its products at favorable prices.

EOG Resources operates in a global industry influenced by geopolitical tensions, trade policies, and macroeconomic conditions. Political instability, conflicts, and economic downturns in key markets can disrupt operations, impact demand for energy products and create uncertainty in the business environment.

EOG Resources has implemented various risk management strategies to mitigate the potential impacts of these risks and challenges:

EOG maintains a diverse portfolio of assets across multiple regions, allowing it to mitigate risks associated with specific geographic areas or regulatory environments. This diversification strategy helps spread risk and minimize the impact of localized disruptions.

The company emphasizes operational efficiency, cost discipline, and continuous improvement. By optimizing its operations, EOG aims to enhance productivity, reduce costs and mitigate the effects of commodity price fluctuations.

EOG Resources is committed to responsible environmental practices and sustainability. By proactively managing ecological risks and adopting environmentally friendly technologies, the company aims to mitigate regulatory and reputational risks.

EOG maintains a solid financial position, enabling it to weather market volatility and fund strategic initiatives. The company's prudent financial management and capital allocation strategies provide a cushion against potential economic downturns and industry challenges.
Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation provides a secondary market for various loans made to borrowers in the United States. It operates through Corporate AgFinance, Farm & Ranch, Rural Utilities, and Renewable Energy segments. The company's Agricultural Finance line of business engages in purchasing and retaining eligible loans and securities; guaranteeing the payment of principal and interest on securities that represent interests in or obligations secured by pools of eligible loans; servicing eligible loans; and issuing LTSPCs for eligible loans. Its Rural Infrastructure Finance line of business is involved in the purchase of rural utilities loans and renewable energy loans and guarantees of securities backed by loans, as well as LTSPCs for pools of eligible rural utilities loans; by loans for electric or telecommunications facilities by lenders organized as cooperatives to borrowers; and other financial institutions that are secured by pools of eligible loans. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.
All the trading advice youve ever received boils down to one goal and one goal only: finding a reliable edge in the markets. If you can do that, grab hold of it and never let go. Because once you have that edge, and you can count on it, you never need to do anything else.
Phillips 66 operates as an energy manufacturing and logistics company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties (M&S). The Midstream segment transports crude oil and other feedstocks; delivers refined petroleum products to market; provides terminaling and storage services for crude oil and refined petroleum products; transports, stores, fractionates, exports, and markets natural gas liquids; provides other fee-based processing services; and gathers, processes, transports, and markets natural gas. The Chemicals segment produces and markets ethylene and other olefin products; aromatics and styrenics products, such as benzene, cyclohexane, styrene, and polystyrene; and various specialty chemical products, including organosulfur chemicals, solvents, catalysts, and chemicals used in drilling and mining. The Refining segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks into petroleum products, such as gasolines, distillates, aviation, and renewable. The M&S segment purchases for resale and markets refined petroleum products, including gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels. This segment also manufactures and markets specialty products, such as base oils and lubricants. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
RingCentral, Inc. provides cloud communications, video meetings, collaboration, and contact center software-as-a-service solutions worldwide. The company's products include RingCentral Message Video Phone (MVP) that provides a unified experience for communication and collaboration across multiple modes, including HD voice, video, SMS, messaging and collaboration, conferencing, online meetings, and fax; RingCentral Contact Center, a collaborative contact center solution that delivers AI powered omni-channel and workforce engagement solution with integrated RingCentral MVP; and RingCentral Engage Digital, a digital customer engagement platform that allows enterprises to interact with their customers. The company's products also comprise RingCentral Engage Voice, a cloud-based outbound/blended customer engagement platform for midsize and enterprise companies; RingCentral Video, a video meeting service which includes the company's RCV video and team messaging capabilities and offers video and audio conferencing, file sharing, contact, task, and calendar management. In addition, it offers RingCentral professional services. The company serves a range of industries, including financial services, education, healthcare, legal services, real estate, retail, technology, insurance, construction, hospitality, and state and local government, as well as others. It sells its products through a network of direct sales representatives, as well as sales agents, resellers, and channel partners. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Belmont, California.
(CNN)  Hurricane Idalia has been linked to at least two deaths in Florida as it thrashes northern parts of the state and south Georgia  whipping winds up to 90 mph, dumping heavy rain and hurling seawater into flooded cities.

Several major bridges connecting Florida islands to the mainland are now inaccessible as Idalias violent trek across the state now threatens coastal Georgia and South Carolina with intense flooding, ferocious winds and tornadoes.

The massive storm now lashes a 250-mile swath of the Southeast.

At least two men were killed in separate, weather-related car crashes Wednesday, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Gaskins said. Their deaths mark the first reported fatalities linked to Hurricane Idalia.

Idalia slammed Floridas Big Bend area  the nook between the panhandle and peninsula  near Keaton Beach Wednesday morning at a dangerous Category 3 strength.

That part of the Gulf Coast hasnt seen such deadly storm surge and wind gust for at least 125 years.

In the vulnerable island city of Cedar Key, a water level record was shattered amid 8 to 9 feet of storm surge. And the water was still rising fast  predicted to hurl seawater as high as halfway up the second floor of an average building.

Water levels on the Steinhatchee River in the Big Bend town of the same name rose more than 9 feet in about two hours Wednesday morning, reaching more than 8 feet higher than the normal highest tides and breaking  by a foot  the record set during Hurricane Hermine in 2016.

Swaths of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Fort Myers Beach also have been engulfed by wind-whipped seawater and torrential rain.

Then theres the looming threat of a massive king tide. Officials in western Florida warned residents not to get a false sense of security as the hurricane slowly pulls away.

We fear that residents will walk outside, see its sunny outside and think everythings fine. But theres more water coming, warned Rob Herrin, spokesperson for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. Theres still so many hazards after the winds and rains have cleared.

Were effectively cut off from the world now

Even before landfall, Cedar Key looked almost apocalyptic, resident Michael Bobbitt said early Wednesday. Hours later, the disastrous storm surge had overwhelmed it.

Were effectively cut off from the world now, Bobbit said. Its going to get a lot worse, and Im really fearful for what were going to find in some of the low-lying areas and some of our older, more infirm citizens today.

Storm surge accounts for about half of all hurricane-related deaths, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Meanwhile, a tornado watch is in place for nearly 12 million people across central and northern Florida and southeast Georgia until 3 p.m. Wednesday.

And destruction is possible far behind Idalias forecast cone, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday morning. At least 11 tornado warnings already had been issued, with more possible  even in places way outside the cone that you see on your TV screens, he said.

Here are other developments around the state:

 Air travel halted: Hundreds of flights have been canceled as Tampa International Airport suspended commercial operations and St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport Terminal building closed Tuesday.

 Bridges are shut down: Major bridges connecting St. Petersburg to mainland Florida have been closed, according to online data from the Florida Department of Transportation. Road access to smaller barrier islands also is closed, Pinellas County Emergency Management said on X, formerly Twitter.

 Flash flooding expected in Georgia: A flash flood emergency has been issued for Brooks and Lowndes counties  including the city of Valdosta  until 12:45 p.m. ET. Between 3 to 6 inches of rain have already fallen in the area due to Idalia, and another 1 to 2 inches are possible this afternoon and evening.

 Evacuations in at least 28 counties: Alachua, Baker, Citrus, Dixie, Franklin, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Nassau, Pasco, Pinellas, Putnam, Sarasota, Suwannee, Sumter, Taylor, Union, Volusia and Wakulla have all issued evacuation orders, some mandatory. An emergency declaration covers 49 of 67 Florida counties.

 Power knocked out: Nearly 270,000 homes, businesses and other power customers in Florida and nearly 40,000 in Georgia had no electricity around 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.com.

 Thousands in shelters: About 4,500 people are taking refuge in shelters in the impact area, Red Cross data Wednesday shows. The most people  442  were at a site in Largo, Florida, with more than 100 shelters open across the storms path, the aid group said.

 Officials prepare to respond: President Joe Biden will address the government response to the hurricane Wednesday afternoon, a White House official said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has supplies and teams on standby, including urban search and rescue teams, to assist with the response as soon as the storm passes, the official said. At least eight urban search-and-rescue teams, 33 ambulance strike teams and 5,500 National Guard members are ready, and the Coast Guard is on standby, officials said Wednesday morning.

 Hospitals suspend services: Patients were being transferred from at least three hospitals: HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital, HCA Florida Trinity West Hospital and HCA Florida West Tampa Hospital. Meanwhile, Tampa General Hospital was constructing a water-impermeable barrier to remain open for emergency care.

 Schools and universities close: 50 county school districts have issued closures, as did dozens of college and university systems across Florida.

 Thousands of inmates evacuated: Roughly 4,000 inmates were evacuated or relocated to facilities better equipped to handle the storm, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

Whats coming after landfall

Damaging winds and heavy rain now will spread far inland into Florida, parts of Georgia and even the Carolinas. Idalias center is forecast to move near or along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina late Wednesday and Thursday, the hurricane center said.

Idalia is likely to still be a hurricane while moving across southern Georgia, and possibly when it reaches the coast of Georgia or southern South Carolina late today, the hurricane center said Wednesday morning.

North Carolina and Georgia have also declared states of emergency as they prepare for floods and hurricane force winds.

In Florida, Tallahassee and Gainesville will likely continue to experience hurricane conditions through Wednesday, with heavy rain, flooding and winds gusting over 50 miles per hour. Gainesville could also see tornadoes.

In Georgia, Savannah is likely to see tropical storm conditions through Wednesday night, with flooding and storm surge between 3 and 5 feet and possible tornadoes. The storms outer bands could hit Atlanta with thunderstorms and winds up to 20 mph.

Charleston, South Carolina, into early Thursday could see tropical storm conditions, including heavy rain, flooding, tornadoes and storm surge of 3 to 5 feet.

And in Wilmington, North Carolina, tropical storm conditions are possible into Thursday, with heavy rain, flooding and storm surge of 1 to 3 feet.
The Toronto-Dominion Bank, also known as TD Bank, is a Canadian multinational bank that provides a wide range of financial services to customers in Canada, the United States, and worldwide. The bank was founded in 1855 in Toronto, Canada, and has since grown to become one of the largest banks in North America, with over 85,000 employees and more than 26 million customers. TD Bank is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and has additional offices in New York City and other major cities throughout the United States.

TD Bank's key highlights and achievements include its status as the sixth-largest bank in North America by assets, its recognition as one of Canada's Best Managed Companies for 20 consecutive years, and its commitment to sustainability and corporate responsibility.

The management team at TD Bank is led by Chief Executive Officer Bharat Masrani, who has been with the company for over 30 years and has held various senior leadership positions before being appointed CEO in 2014.

Regarding financial performance, TD Bank has delivered consistent results over the past few years, with revenue and net income increasing yearly for the past several years. The bank's profit margins have also remained robust, with an average net profit margin of 25%. However, TD Bank has also faced challenges related to debt levels and changes in ownership, with a recent decrease in ownership by TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation. Regarding valuation, TD Bank's price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratios align with industry peers. The company's market performance has also been relatively stable, with modest price movements and steady trading volume over the past few years.

TD Bank operates in a highly competitive and regulated industry, with other major players, including the Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The broader banking industry is also subject to regulatory and political issues, such as changes in interest rates and financial regulations.

Despite these challenges, TD Bank has identified growth opportunities in new markets and product areas. These include launching new digital banking services and expanding the bank's presence in key markets such as the United States and Asia. TD Bank has also made several acquisitions in recent years, including the addition of Scottrade Bank in 2017 and the purchase of Chrysler Financial in 2011.

However, TD Bank also faces several risks and challenges, such as changes in consumer preferences and increased competition from fintech startups. The bank's focus on sustainability and corporate responsibility also presents risks related to environmental and social factors, such as climate change and social inequality. There are also recession risks involved. TD Bank could face challenges if there is a downturn in the economy.
VMware, Inc. provides software solutions in the areas of modern applications, cloud management and infrastructure, networking, security, and workspaces in the United States and internationally. It offers VMware multi-cloud solutions, including VMware vSphere, a data center infrastructure that provides the fundamental compute layer; and vSAN and VxRail, which offers holistic data storage and protection options to applications running on vSphere; as well as VMware Cloud Foundation, a cloud platform that combines its vSphere, vSAN, and NSX with VMware Aria Cloud Management into an integrated stack that delivers ready cloud infrastructure for private and public clouds. The company also provides networking solutions, such as VMware NSX, NSX Distributed and Gateway Firewalls, NSX Network Detection and Response Engine, NSX Advanced Load Balancer, Tanzu Service Mesh, HCX, and VMware SASE; security solutions consisting of VMware Carbon Black Endpoint, Workload, and Container; and anywhere workspace solutions comprising Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management, Access, Intelligent Hub, Horizon, Mobile Threat Defence, and Digital Employee Experience Management. In addition, it offers application modernization solutions, such as Tanzu Application and Operations Platform, Tanzu Application Service, Tanzu Data Suite, and Tanzu Labs; and cloud management solutions, including VMware Aria Cloud Management, VMware Aria Suite, VMware Aria Universal Suite, and vCloud Suite. The company sells its products through distributors, resellers, system vendors, systems integrators, and contractors. VMware, Inc. has a strategic alliance with Amazon Web Services to build and deliver an integrated hybrid solution. VMware, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
STAUNTON  The videos of then two-year-old Khaleesi Cuthriell played to an Augusta County jury Monday were stark and brutal to watch.

Culled from social media and phone records of defendants in the case, the videos showed a once vivacious toddler with blonde hair reduced to a bruised, nearly bald and emaciated child, believed to have died only three months after being taken from her mothers custody. Estimates offered at Mondays trial indicate she died in January 2021. Her body was never recovered.

A video from January 2021 shows Khaleesi bruised, frail and unable to stand entirely up in the bathtub. Still photos of Khaleesi, also recovered through search warrants, show a bruised and cut face.

Augusta County resident Travis Brown, 31, one of two people charged in the case, went to trial Monday on charges of aggravated murder, felony murder and child abuse. Brown and his co-defendant and girlfriend, Candi Royer, were entrusted with Khaleesis care after her mother returned to prison for a parole violation in October 2020.

Augusta County Commonwealths Attorney Tim Martin said the evidence was developed in the case after the execution of 50 search warrants, including extensive work on Browns Cattle Scales Road home outside Waynesboro.

All of the police work shows horrific and mind-blowing facts about what happened, according to Martin. Blood taken from upstairs door frames at Browns home was Khaleesis blood.

Brown and Royer were caught in Pennsylvania in September 2021, soon after Khaleesi was reported missing by her imprisoned mother. The mother, Amanda Arey, testified Brown and Royer had failed to return her calls for months and said she had not talked to Khaleesi since January 2021.

Brown and Royer were found holed up in a Pennsylvania motel after traveling there in a stolen Toyota Camry.

Video from Browns interrogation in Pennsylvania by Augusta County Sheriffs investigators had him repeating that Khaleesi had been taken back into custody by child protective services a short time after she came to live with him and Royer.

Yet employees of Shenandoah Valley Social Services testified Monday they had no record of any follow-up contact with Brown and Royer, and never received any calls after Khaleesi went to live with them.

Brown told Augusta County Sheriffs investigators Khaleesi liked to be smacked and told them she fell and smacked her f. head all the time. He also said she was possessed.

When Augusta County Sheriffs investigator Mike Roane tells him his story and Royers about child protective services taking Khaleesi back are inconsistent, Brown is asked to tell what happened to the child. He says, Kill the camera.

Browns attorney, Dana Cormier, told jurors in his opening statement that they would see a lot of evidence during his clients trial, estimated to take a week.

But he pointed to Royer as the perpetrator of the abuse. Candi Royer physically, emotionally and psychologically abused Khaleesi, Cormier said. Cormier said by the trials end, the jury will not be able to determine anything other than Candi Royer abused her. Royer is set for trial in Augusta County in October.

Cormier said despite the prosecutions expected efforts, the jury wont know who, what or how or when Khaleesi died.

In completing his opening statement, Cormier told the jury, You will be outraged and heartbroken for Khaleesi, but it is your duty to follow the law.
A coordinated law enforcement effort codenamed Operation Duck Hunt has felled QakBot, a notorious Windows malware family that's estimated to have compromised over 700,000 computers globally and facilitated financial fraud as well as ransomware.

To that end, the U.S. Justice Department (DoJ) said the malware is "being deleted from victim computers, preventing it from doing any more harm," adding it seized more than $8.6 million in cryptocurrency in illicit profits.

The cross-border exercise involved the participation of France, Germany, Latvia, Romania, the Netherlands, the U.K., and the U.S., alongside technical assistance from cybersecurity company Zscaler.

The dismantling has been hailed as "the largest U.S.-led financial and technical disruption of a botnet infrastructure leveraged by cybercriminals." No arrests were announced.

QakBot, also known as QBot and Pinkslipbot, started its life as a banking trojan in 2007 before morphing into a general-purpose Swiss Army knife that acts as a distribution center for malicious code on infected machines, including ransomware, unbeknownst to the victims.

Some of the major ransomware families propagated through QakBot comprise Conti, ProLock, Egregor, REvil, MegaCortex, and Black Basta. QakBot administrators are said to have received fees corresponding to approximately $58 million in ransoms paid by victims between October 2021 and April 2023.

"QakBot was a key enabler within the cyber crime ecosystem, facilitating ransomware attacks and other serious threats," Will Lyne, head of cyber intelligence at the U.K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA), said in a statement.

The counteroffensive against QakBot follows a similar takedown of Emotet in October 2020, which has since resurfaced following a major disruption to its backend infrastructure.

Typically distributed via phishing emails, the modular malware also comes fitted with command execution and information harvesting capabilities. It has seen constant updates during its lifetime, with the actors (codenamed Gold Lagoon or Mallard Spider) known to take extended breaks each summer before resuming their spamming campaigns.

"The victim computers infected with QakBot malware are part of a botnet (a network of compromised computers), meaning the perpetrators can remotely control all the infected computers in a coordinated manner," the DoJ said.

The joint effort, according to court documents, enabled access to QakBot infrastructure, thereby making it possible to redirect the botnet traffic to and through servers controlled by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with the ultimate goal of neutralizing the "far-reaching criminal supply chain."

Specifically, the servers instructed the compromised endpoints to download an uninstaller file that's designed to untether the machines from the QakBot botnet, effectively preventing additional payloads from being delivered.

Image Source: CISA

Secureworks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) said it detected the botnet distributing shellcode to infected devices on August 25, 2023, which "unpacks a custom DLL (dynamic-link library) executable that contains code that can cleanly terminate the running QakBot process on the host" by means of a QPCMD_BOT_SHUTDOWN command.

"The victims [in the U.S.] ranged from financial institutions on the East Coast to a critical infrastructure government contractor in the Midwest to a medical device manufacturer on the West Coast," FBI Director Christopher Wray said.

QakBot has demonstrated a higher level of complexity over time, rapidly shifting its tactics in response to new security guardrails. For instance, after Microsoft disabled macros by default in all Office applications, it began abusing OneNote files as an infection vector earlier this year.

The sophistication and adaptability is also evident in the operators' ability to weaponize a wide range of file formats (e.g., PDF, HTML, and ZIP) in its attack chains. A majority of QakBot's command-and-control (C2) servers are concentrated in the U.S., the U.K., India, Canada, and France (FR). Its backend infrastructure is located in Russia.

QakBot, like Emotet and IcedID, employs a three-tiered system of servers to control and communicate with the malware installed on infected computers. The primary purpose of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 servers is to forward communications containing encrypted data between QakBot-infected computers and the Tier 3 server which controls the botnet.

As of mid-June 2023, 853 Tier 1 servers (aka supernodes) have been identified in 63 countries, with Tier 2 servers functioning as proxies to conceal the main C2 server. Data gathered by Abuse.ch shows that all QakBot servers are currently offline.

"QakBot is a highly sophisticated banking trojan malware, strategically targeting businesses across different countries," Zscaler researchers noted in an exhaustive analysis published in late July 2023.

"This elusive threat employs multiple file formats and obfuscation methods within its attack chain, enabling it to evade detection from conventional antivirus engines. Through its experimentation with diverse attack chains, it becomes evident that the threat actor behind QakBot is continuously refining its strategies."

QakBot has also been one of the most active malware families in the second quarter of 2023, per HP Wolf Security, leveraging as many as 18 unique attack chains and clocking 56 campaigns over the time period, underscoring the e-crime group's penchant for "quickly permuting their tradecraft to exploit gaps in network defenses."
The Richardson County Sheriff's Office said 60-year-old Joel Schutte of Holstein was westbound on Nebraska 8 just west of the intersection of Nebraska 105 about 2:45 Friday afternoon when his GMC Canyon entered the ditch on the north side of the highway, rolled and wound up in the ditch on the south side of the road.
The Battle of Eutaw Springs Chapter of the South Carolina Society of the Sons of the American Revolution will commemorate the 242nd anniversary of the Battle of Eutaw Springs on Sept. 89.

The events will begin on Friday, Sept. 8, with a narrated tour of the Eutaw Springs Battleground, located at 12933 Old Number Six Hwy. in Eutawville. A donation is requested for the tour.

Fridays events will end with a dinner program at Clarks Inn and Restaurant at 114 Bradford Blvd. in Santee. Those interested must register and submit payment of $48 per person by Sept. 1.

On Saturday, Sept. 9, a patriotic program will be held at the Historic Church of the Epiphany at 101 Porcher Ave. in Eutawville. The program will start at 10 a.m.

Following the program, a wreath-laying ceremony will begin at 11:15 a.m. at the Battle Monument Park in the Eutawville community. The Washington Light Infantry Color Guard and the S.C. Battleground Preservation Trust Cannon Team will be in attendance.

The events will end with the honor wreath ceremony at 2 p.m. The ceremony will take place at Gen. Francis Marions tomb at Belle Isle Plantation Cemetery in Pineville.

On Sept. 8, 1781, British Col. Alexander Stewart and about 2,000 British soldiers arrived at the freshwater spring of Eutaw Creek. They sought to gain control of South Carolinas interior areas.

Their efforts were ended by the Continental Army, led by Southern Commander Gen. Nathaniel Greene. Along with Greene, 2,400 patriots halted the British invasion.

During the battle, 882 British and loyalist troops and 579 Americans were killed, wounded or captured.

The battle caused the British battle strategy to unravel, experts say.
South Carolina State University will close offices and cancel all classes beginning at noon Wednesday, Aug. 30, and continuing through Thursday, Aug. 31, for safety during heavy rains, strong winds and possible power outages.

Only essential employees should report to campus.

Non-essential employees are instructed to work remotely if possible.

Residence halls and off-campus housing facilities will remain open. Student dining services will be available at the Washington Dining Hall, and shuttles to and from off-campus residences will be in operation until 9 each night.

Additional security personnel will be in place through this period. Students are encouraged to:

 Remain on campus and be inside their residence halls by 10 p.m. Wednesday.

 Shelter in place during the storms peak periods while staying away from windows.

 Notify their residence hall advisors if they elect to leave campus.

 Avoid the use of elevators due to the risk of power outages.

Students who see flooding or wind damage are encouraged to email workorders@scsu.edu or call 803-596-6030.

In the event of emergencies, students and employees are advised to call the Campus Police at 803-378-4754 or dial 911.

The administration expects to resume classes and normal operations on Friday, Sept. 1.

The administration has extended the deadline for adding or dropping classes to Tuesday, Sept. 5, and the deadline for resolving account balances to Friday, Sept. 8.

S.C. State is preparing facilities for the possibility of localized flooding resulting from heavy rain expected as Hurricane Idalia makes its way through the South Carolina Midlands.

University officials advise everyone to remain on alert by paying close attention to broadcast communications about the storm. Employees and students are urged not to attempt to drive or walk across creeks or flooded roads.
(CNN)  Russia and North Korea are actively advancing their negotiations over a potential arms deal that would provide significant ammunition for different types of weapons systems, including artillery, in the latest indication that the Kremlin is desperate to obtain further materiel for its faltering invasion of Ukraine, according to newly released US intelligence.

The news of the potential deal comes despite North Koreas public claims to the contrary.

The Biden administration said Wednesday that they remain concerned that the two pariah states are in the middle of arms negotiations and that, following Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigus trip to North Korea last month, a second delegation of Russian officials have visited Pyongyang for further discussions on a potential deal.

In addition to the second delegation, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have exchanged letters pledging to increase their bilateral cooperation, according to National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby.

We remain concerned that the DPRK continues to consider providing military support to Russias military forces in Ukraine and we have new information which we are able to share today that arms negotiations between Russia and the DPRK are actively advancing, Kirby said. Following these negotiations, high level discussion may continue in coming months.

The public disclosure of the new intelligence is the latest example of how the Biden administration plans to continue to publicize Russias efforts to avoid Western sanctions and source weapons for its war, as well as put North Korea on notice that the US is closely monitoring these efforts. It is also the most detailed evidence provided in recent months of Russias outreach to North Korea to help fuel its invasion of Ukraine.

Under these potential deals Russia would receive significant quantities and multiple types of munitions form the DPRK, which the Russian military plans to use in Ukraine. These potential deals could also include the provision of raw materials that would assist Russias defense industrial base, Kirby said, pledging that the US would take direct action to sanction any entities involved in a potential deal and urged Pyongyang to cease the negotiations.

Earlier this month, the US Treasury sanctioned a sanctions evasion network aimed at supporting arms deals between Russia and North Korea.

Kirby also said Russias attempts to source weapons from places like Iran and North Korea was a clear signal of Moscows distress.

There is no other way to look at that than desperation and weakness, quite frankly, Kirby said.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the United Nations, also accused Russia and North Korea of negotiating an arms deal during a Security Council Stakeout on Wednesday.

Greenfield called it shameful and a violation of Security Council resolutions approved by Russia.

At the end of last year Pyongyang delivered infantry rockets and missiles to Russian mercenary group Wagner for their troops in Ukraine and Western officials have said that Iran has supplied Russia with weapons for use in Ukraine. Iran and North Korea have both denied these claims.
BEIRUT  American envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Beirut on Wednesday morning as part of an official visit announced a few hours earlier by the US Embassy in Lebanon. During this visit, the official is expected to follow up on the agreement concerning the delineation of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, signed in October 2022.

Hochstein began his tour with a visit to Ain al-Tineh, where he was received by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. The American envoy made no statement after his meeting with Berri.

The US envoy's meeting with the Parliament speaker lasted an hour and took place in the presence of Ambassador Dorothy Shea, according to state-run National News Agency (NNA).

At the end of the meeting, Berri "thanked Hochstein for the efforts that made it possible to start drilling in Block 9," and "assured that Parliament's efforts will continue to be directed towards the election of a new president and the implementation of the requested legislation in the oil field."

Berri also "insisted on the need to put an end to Israeli violations of [UN] Resolution 1701." He referred to "deep-rooted relations," with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

"Lebanon is keen to preserve its stability and sovereignty", Berri added.

Hochstein made no comment, saying only that the meeting was "excellent and constructive," according to the NNA.

Hochstein then went to the Grand Serail, where he met with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Hochstein also shared a photo of himself at 12:37 p.m. on X (formerly Twitter) having breakfast at Lebanese restaurant Falamanki in Raouche, Beirut, along with US Ambassador Dorothy Shea.

Great to be back in #Beirut. Quick coffee & manoushe @ Falamanki with the beautiful iconic view overlooking Raouche with the talented #US Ambassador Dorothy Shea. @USembassybeirut pic.twitter.com/IQUxiZ4cIL  amos hochstein (@amoshochstein) August 30, 2023

The rest of his schedule has not yet been unveiled.

Earlier in the day, the US Embassy announced that "Amos Hochstein will travel to Lebanon August 30-31 to follow-up on the historic October 2022 Maritime Boundary Agreement."

"Senior Advisor Hochstein will also discuss areas of mutual and regional concern," the statement noted, without providing further details.

According to Lebanese media outlets, Hochstein, who was in charge of indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel regarding the demarcation of their shared maritime border, might this time address the delineation of the land border between Lebanon and the Israeli state. This is a topic that divides the Lebanese political class, as Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, opposes any negotiations on this matter.

Contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour on Wednesday morning to obtain more information about the American envoy's visit and his agenda, a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Lebanon declined to comment.

The visit of the American envoy comes just hours before the annual renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), stationed in southern Lebanon. Pushed by Hezbollah, Lebanese diplomacy is continuing its efforts with the UN to secure the removal of Article 16 introduced last year, which grants a degree of independence to the UN peacekeepers in carrying out their mission without prior authorization from the Lebanese Army.

The Lebanon-Israel border has experienced increased tensions this summer, prompting Israel to warn the UN on Monday about a potential escalation at the border with Lebanon. In July, Hezbollah set up tents near the contested village of Ghajar on the border between Lebanon and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, which Israel absorbed in July. During the same period, Israeli forces fired rockets towards Lebanon following mortar fire from the Lebanese side. In July as well, Israeli forces targeted a few Lebanese parliamentarians and journalists with tear gas along the border.
Two people were airlifted from Box Elder Canyon in Converse County inside of 24 hours, the Wyoming National Guard announced Tuesday.

The first, a "harrowing incident" happened when Ray Daugherty and DJ Gonzales "found themselves in a dangerous situation" on Aug. 14, the statement said.

They were ascending the canyon in the evening, the statement said. Daugherty lost his grip and plummeted about 12 feet.

He landed on a rock, the statement said. Daugherty was able to pull himself from a pool of water, but his arm was "severely damaged."

Gonzales left him there, so he could climb out of the canyon to get help, the statement said.

The Converse County Sheriff's Office and search and rescue, Glenrock Volunteer Fire Department, Glenrock EMS and the Wyoming Army National Guard were alerted.

Authorities located Daugherty "nearly eight hours after the ordeal began," the statement said.

His injuries were not life-threatening, but Guard members decided a helicopter lift was needed, the statement said. For safety, the evacuation was postponed until dawn.

As the sun rose, a team of guardsmen airlifted Daugherty to a designated staging area.

He was transferred to a Glenrock ambulance and taken to Banner Wyoming Medical Center in Casper, the statement said.

Daugherty's elbow was reconstructed during a six-hour surgery.

While a first responder was leaving from Daugherty's rescue, they found another person in distress, the statement said.

The Wyoming Army National Guard conducted a second expedited airlift of a person from the canyon, "ensuring timely access to medical care at a hospital in Casper," the statement said.

Your news on your smartphone Your story lives in Wyoming, and our new mobile app is designed to make sure you dont miss breaking news, the latest scores, the weather forecast and more. From easy navigation with the swipe of a finger to personalized content based on your preferences to customized text sizes, the Star-Tribune app is built for you and your life. Dont have the app? Download it today from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
A homeless man is believed to have been beaten so badly that he later died, the Laramie County Sheriff's Office announced.

The 50-year-old victim "went by the alias of" Jason Mullen, but his first name was Stacey, the statement said. Mullen's death is now being investigated as a homicide.

On Aug. 20, the Wyoming State Park rangers were dispatched to Curt Gowdy State Park in Cheyenne for a report of an unresponsive man, the statement said.

Mullen was transported to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center and later transferred to Swedish Medical Center in Colorado due to his life-threatening injuries, the statement said.

That same day, park rangers turned the investigation over to the sheriff's office.

"The investigation revealed the man had been badly beaten," the statement said.

It is believed Mullen was assaulted at an unknown location and left at Curt Gowdy State Park late on Aug. 19, the statement said. He was found shortly before 8 a.m. the following morning.

One week later, Mullen died from his injuries at the hospital.

He was "known to be homeless and frequent downtown Cheyenne," the statement said.

Anyone with information about Mullen's death is urged to contact Detective Delcamp at 307-633-4734 or Detective Sgt. Martinez at 307-633-4763.

Members of the public will remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.
Justice Joseph Story stands as a giant among those who have held a seat on the Supreme Court. Story was one of the greatest legal figures in the 19th Century, in the upper echelon of everyones list of outstanding judges in American history and the most scholarly of scholarly justices.

Justice Story remains the youngest person ever named to the Supreme Court. He was just 32 when President James Madison nominated him to the high bench in 1811. At that young age, he had already served in the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker of the Massachusetts House, authored two volumes on pleading and was a leader of the bar.

Madisons appointment of Story to the court was undertaken against the strong advice of his friend and mentor, Thomas Jefferson. Though Story was a Republican from Massachusetts, Jefferson warned that he would out-Marshall, John Marshall. For one of the few times in his life, Madison ignored Jeffersons advice, but it wasnt long before he realized that Jefferson was right.

In his long and distinguished career on the court (1811-1845), Justice Story, like Chief Justice Marshall, urged broad construction of national powers, at the expense of state powers. His masterful opinion in the landmark case of Martin v. Hunters Lessee (1816) rejected the claim of state sovereignty, a theory that would evolve, years later, into the doctrine of state secession from the union. Story reminded Americans that the people, not the states, are sovereign, that the people, not the states, ratified the Constitution. That fundamental principle, Story observed, could not have been more plainly stated than it was in the Preamble to the Constitution, which declares, We the people ordain and establish this Constitution.

In Hunters Lessee, Story upheld section 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which vested in the Supreme Court appellate review of state court decisions. The ruling angered Virginia, which contended that its high court should have final authority over cases brought in the state. Story demonstrated conclusively that the union could not endure if state courts were able to defy the U.S. Supreme Court.

Storys opinions reflected his life-long penchant for scholarship. They were studded with footnotes, reflected patient, laborious research and investigation, meticulous writing and, generally, were long and filled with numerous references to laws, cases and writers.

Story was devoted to historical scholarship and thought it was essential to the business of judging. Chief Justice Marshall, who admired Storys intellect and a love for scholarship, once said to his colleagues, Brother Story here . . . can give us the cases from the Twelve Tables down to the latest reports. Marshall was not exaggerating Storys knowledge of the foundation of Roman law.

Storys devotion to historical research reflected another interest: to provide lawyers with plenty of material from which they could derive arguments. judicial opinions shorn of citations to writers and cases lack the utility of those grounded in great learning.

Storys energy was the stuff of legend. He escaped the anxieties of life through constant work. He conceded that, My cheerfulness is the effect of labor and exertion to fly from melancholy recollections, and to catch at momentary joy. Story had suffered great personal loss, including the death of his first wife, six months after his wedding and, later, in his second marriage, the death of most of his children before adolescence.

Storys judicial career was just part of a broader career. He wrote nine books, including his celebrated three-volume work Commentaries on the Constitution (a widely admired treatise on the complicated field of admiralty law) and another on commercial law. During his tenure on the court, Story held a chaired professorship at the Harvard Law School, where he assumed a leadership role and transformed legal education in America, all while serving as a bank president. Energy, indeed.

In Storys time on the court, theories about conflicts of interest had yet to emerge. Thus, his extra-judicial activities included lobbying Congress for new legislation regarding the structure and powers of the judiciary and assisting Daniel Webster, one of the most influential attorneys in our nations history, with speeches and arguments that asserted broad national powers.

Storys integrity and commitment to the law and the protection of the courts created some personal challenges and professional dilemmas for him at the tail end of his career. He despaired for the future of the court and American Constitutionalism upon the death of John Marshall and the rise of Jacksonian democracy. Marshalls death, he said, meant the Constitution was gone.

Story despised slavery, on both moral and policy grounds, but convinced that the Constitution sanctioned it. When slavery cases presented some leeway, he struck a blow for freedom, but upheld the odious institution when given no choice. He failed to accommodate his morality with the law of the land in the tragic case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1841), His professional ethics compelled him to uphold the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which required the return of escaped slaves. The case pained him, but he reminded those who would listen that he was a judge, not a legislator. Still, he was excoriated by abolitionists, which contributed to his decision to retire from the bench in 1845, to focus on teaching and writing.
WHEN the rice finishes, we make dumplings.

Thats the reality for one family because they simply cannot afford to replenish food until the next pay cheque.

Living pay cheque to pay cheque is a dilemma many households are facing in Trinidad and Tobago.
A disabled grandfather is being hailed as a hero after he rescued his nine-year-old grandson from their house in San Fernando when it caught fire on Saturday.
Chief Justice Ivor Archies recent call for acceptance among judges suggests that at least some of them have not been dispensing justice impartially to all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.

Speaking at the Caribbean Judges Forum on HIV Health and Human Rights last Thursday, the Chief Justice asserted, As lawyers and judges, we must begin from the premise that it is possible to construct functional, moral or ethical codes of behaviour without adherence to any particular doctrine, regardless of how strongly we may hold our personal religious convictions.
The trial date for an Arizona rancher accused in the killing of an undocumented migrant on his property near Nogales has been pushed back until further notice, court records show.

George Alan Kelly, 74, was supposed to go to trial on Sept. 6 in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court after he was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Gabriel Cuen Buitimea, 48. According to the countys website, the trial has been vacated until further notice.

The decision to vacate the trial came after the Arizona Court of Appeals granted the prosecutors request for stay on Tuesday. A request for a stay stops legal proceedings temporarily.

The new trial date wont be scheduled until the court of appeals makes its final ruling.

Earlier this month, Kimberly Hunley, the prosecutor on the case, filed a motion asking Superior Court judge Thomas Fink to either grant sanctions against the defense or to delay the trial due to the late disclosure of an expert witness by the defense.

The court should not allow the state to be prejudiced by the defenses flagrant disclosure violations, Hunley states in the motion.

Allowing the experts in any fashion at this point while proceeding to trial on September 6, 2023, will prejudice the State because it will force the State to write five Daubert motions two weeks before the trial, instead of preparing for the trial, the motion said.

Fink denied the prosecutions motion because the defense said they would not be calling any of their experts as witnesses at trial, instead using them only as consulting experts.

Kelly was arrested after deputies found Buitimeas body on Jan. 30 on his property.

Prosecutors say Kelly shot the unarmed man in an unprovoked attack. Attorneys for Kelly say he fired a warning shot after he was approached by a group of armed men, the Arizona Daily Star previously reported.
From more than 1 million to almost 5 million miles of ephemeral streams nationally could be removed from federal protection and regulation by a new rule defining Waters of the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.

Such a reduction in regulatory scope over ephemeral streams, which carry water only after storms, will have a major impact in Arizona. Such streams represent the vast majority of river miles in the state.

The new rule represents a major reversal of federal authority over such streams  the first of its kind since the Clean Water Act was adopted in 1972.

It will also strip federal regulation of nearly two-thirds of all wetlands nationally, EPA says. That change will have far less effect in Arizona because wetlands are rare here.

The EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers imposed the new rule to bring regulations on enforcing the Clean Water Act in line with a May U.S. Supreme Court ruling. That ruling, known as Sackett v. EPA, sharply limited the agencies jurisdiction over development along and pollution in certain types of rivers, streams and wetlands.

The agencies new definition of federally protected waters under the Clean Water Act will make it much easier to build subdivisions, shopping centers and mines, among other projects, along the ephemeral streams.

A project that could benefit most quickly is the proposed Copper World mine, slated for the Santa Rita Mountains south and southeast of Tucson. It has been a source of legal disputes over Clean Water Act authority since Hudbay Minerals Inc. began clearing and grading its private land in the Santa Ritas for the project in April 2022.

By removing federal protection, the new rule also could make it harder for agencies to prosecute persons or companies for dumping toxic materials into such washes, although how much that will affect enforcement is a question that remains unsettled.

Environmental groups alarmed

The new rule drew alarm bells from environmental groups both locally and nationally, including those fighting the Copper World project and its smaller predecessor, the proposed Rosemont Mine. They  and the EPA  have long said that these normally dry ephemeral water courses provide clear connection for waters heading into other more important rivers such as the Santa Cruz, the Gila and the Colorado.

Ephemeral and intermittent streams provide the same ecological and hydrological functions as perennial streams by moving water, nutrients and sediment throughout the watershed, the EPA has said.

Its kind of the disastrous reality of the Sackett decision at this point, said Stu Gillespie, an attorney who represents tribes opposing the Copper World project, and environmental groups fighting the 28,000-home Villages at Vigneto project in Benson that they and some scientists fear would dry up the neighboring San Pedro River.

This is a clear call that Arizona needs to step in and protect its waterways, said Gillespie, who works for the nonprofit EarthJustice environmental law firm.

Business groups want it to go further

But while business interest groups were pleased the agencies scaled back their regulatory reach, they expressed disappointment that the new rule didnt go farther. They have long argued that regulation of development along washes and streams, in particular, should be handled by the states, not the federal government.

They have also complained for many years that getting a federal permit to build a project along washes covered by the Clean Water Act is time-consuming and very expensive.

It took Copper Worlds predecessor project, the Rosemont Mine on the Santa Ritas east slopes, nine years to get a Clean Water Act permit in 2019, for instance. Hudbay eventually relinquished that permit to focus on the Copper World Project, which covers lands on both the Santa Ritas east and west slopes.

A key element of the Sackett decision deals with the concept of relatively permanent waterbodies. Our interpretation of that decision is federal authority is limited only to those categories of water, said David Godlewski, president of the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association. The new rule does not provide a definition for relatively permanent waterbodies and as a result, we are concerned there will still be uncertainty about what is and what is not regulated.

The Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented the plaintiffs, the Sackett family, in the lawsuit that led to the high court ruling, said the new federal rule omitted some key language from the ruling. The EPA rule, for instance, didnt include language that said in ordinary parlance the water bodies that would now be regulated would include streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes.

1.8% of Arizona streams run year-round

Usually dry washes make up about 86% of all stream miles in Arizona, says the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. About 6.5% of the streams are intermittent, carrying water parts of the year, ADEQ has said.

Overall, the state has nearly 300,000 miles of streams. Only 1.8% are perennial, such as the Colorado River, running year-round.

Development along some of them in Arizona has been hotly contested at times, most notably for the proposed Rosemont and Copper World mining projects, along with the Villages at Vigneto, the still unbuilt subdivision planned for Benson near the San Pedro River.

In responding Wednesday to questions from the Star on the impacts of the new rule, the EPA confirmed figures reported Tuesday in the Washington Post that were based on comments from an unidentified EPA official.

Specifically, the new rule could leave 1.2 million to 4.9 million of miles of streams unprotected, EPA said.

The rule could also strip federal oversight over development and pollution of 63% of all the nations wetlands, the EPA said Wednesday, also confirming a figure first reported in the Post.

Wetlands are considered very important habitats for wildlife and buffers to protect urban areas and other residential areas from flooding and pollution.

But the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that less than 1% of Arizonas total land consists of wetlands.

EPA leader disappointed

While the agencies are still evaluating the impacts of the Sackett ruling on the legal reach of their authority, the EPA said the ruling will erode longstanding clean water protections.

While I am disappointed by the Supreme Courts decision in the Sackett case, EPA and Army have an obligation to apply this decision alongside our state co-regulators, tribes, and partners, said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan in announcing the new rule Tuesday. Weve moved quickly to finalize amendments to the definition of waters of the United States to provide a clear path forward that adheres to the Supreme Courts ruling.

EPA will never waver from our responsibility to ensure clean water for all. Moving forward, we will do everything we can with our existing authorities and resources to help communities, states, and tribes protect the clean water upon which we all depend, Regan said.

The relevant language in the new agency rule says tributaries and wetlands will only come under Clean Water Act regulation if they are relatively permanent, standing, or continuously flowing water bodies, connected to a traditionally navigable waterway.

The bottom line in my view is that the Corps and EPA will not be regulating discharges to ephemeral streams or wetlands that do not have a continuous surface connection to navigable waters, said Patrick Parenteau, a Vermont Law School environmental law professor and former EPA attorney.

Hudbay: No jurisdiction over its washes

Hudbay Minerals, which proposes to build Copper World, responded to a Star question about the new rule by pointing to comments it made earlier this year saying it didnt believe the Army Corps has jurisdiction over washes on its site, even under the previous waters of the U.S. rule that gave the feds authority over some intermittent streams.

The new EPA rule reinforces its previous view, the mining company said.

The National Mining Association said the new rule perpetuates prior government overreach, infringing on state authority, and disregarding the courts call for clarity, creating more regulatory confusion and uncertainty when just the opposite is needed.

Given the soaring demand for mined materials and the need for domestic production to both help meet that demand and secure the nations supply chains, this rule was an opportunity to advance a regulatory framework that would support the development of strong domestic supply chains; instead, it has created a new obstacle, the association said.

Earth Justices Gillespie responded, The agencies have thrown out huge portions of the rule because of the Supreme Court decision. They (mining companies and the mining association) should be pouring champagne and toasting themselves. They apparently are trying to achieve more than Sackett.

This ruling will aggravate damage to watersheds in the Santa Ritas that already are threatened by unregulated and unlimited groundwater pumping that Hudbay will do for its Copper World project, said Rob Peters, executive director of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, which has fought Rosemont and Copper World since 2005.

This new rule would greenlight Hudbays ongoing destruction of washes in the Santa Ritas, which they are filling in and putting roads across, interfering with the natural flow of water, Peters said. If some arsenic gets put in the water by a mine site, it will ultimately end up in the Santa Cruz River. Its all connected.

Hudbay has said its analysis of sediment and water quality in the washes on its property concluded water flowing from workings of historic, abandoned mines in the Copper World area havent affected the Santa Cruz.
MOSCOW  Russian officials accused Ukraine of targeting six Russian regions with drones early Wednesday in what appears to be the biggest drone attack on Russian soil since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine 18 months ago.

Drones hit an airport in the western Pskov region and started a massive fire there, the governor and local media reported. More drones were shot down over Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan, Kaluga and the Moscow region surrounding the Russian capital, according to the Defense Ministry.

The strike in Pskov hit an airport in the region's namesake capital and damaged four Il-76 transport aircraft, Russias state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

Pskov regional Gov. Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the airport canceled Wednesday so damage could be assessed during daylight.

Footage and images posted on social media showed smoke billowing over the city of Pskov and a large blaze. Vedernikov said there were no casualties, and the fire has been contained. Unconfirmed media reports said between 10 and 20 drones could have attacked the airport.

Pskov was the only region where officials reported damage. Three drones were shot down over the Bryansk region, according to the Russian military, and two over the Oryol region, its Gov. Andrei Klychkov said. Two were downed over the Ryazan region, one more over Kaluga, and one more over the Moscow region, officials said.

No damage or casualties were registered in those regions, although some Russian media cited residents of the Bryansk region as saying that they heard a loud explosion.

Also on early Wednesday, Russian-installed officials in the annexed Crimea reported repelling an attack of drones targeting the harbor of the port city of Sevastopol. Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozzhayev said it wasn't immediately clear how many of the drones have been destroyed. It wasn't immediately clear if the attack caused any damage.
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

Our healthcare system is incredibly difficult to navigate. Unexpected costs lurk around every corner. Most of us have received a seemingly random medical bill in the mail, had an insurance claim for a health service denied, paid an exorbitant amount for a prescription, or struggled to find a doctor in our area  and actually get an appointment.

In recent months, a large segment of the population has experienced a whole new set of challenges through Medicaid Unwinding, which has already resulted in more than 5 million people in the U.S. losing their Medicaid coverage. Locally, almost 250,000 Arizonans have been dropped from coverage by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, your state Medicaid agency. Its important for you to know that your state has several more months of unwinding that could affect you and your family.

Understanding Medicaid Unwinding

During the pandemic, the government declared a public health emergency. During this three-year period, Medicaid enrollees were guaranteed continuous coverage. This paused eligibility reviews and meant everyone who had Medicaid or got coverage, kept it. States could not drop people from Medicaid unless an individual made a request, moved to another state, or died. This ensured that while the pandemic remained a top public health concern, millions of people could continue to count on having access to care.

The result? During the public health emergency, Medicaid enrollment in Arizona hit 2 million for the first time and swelled to a record-setting 2.5 million by early 2023, according to AHCCCS.

However, the public health emergency has ended, Medicaid continuous coverage is over and eligibility reviews have resumed. This means that as many as 24 million people across the country could lose Medicaid coverage by next summer.

How is Medicaid Unwinding affecting Arizonans and Pima County specifically?

In Arizona, that process is happening even faster. By the end of the year, about 600,000 people are expected to lose coverage. Thats because state legislation requires Arizona to complete its Medicaid redeterminations by Dec. 31. Half of those who lose coverage will no longer qualify, but the other half will be dropped simply because they dont respond to renewal requests. Of the more than 2.5 million eligibility reviews planned by Arizona, close to 250,000 people have been dropped already  and most for procedural reasons.

Residents in southern Arizona have been greatly affected. As of August, more than 35,000 residents in Pima County alone had been disenrolled from Medicaid.

Tips on how to keep

coverage

Now is the time for Medicaid enrollees to stay informed. GoodRx provides a guide to Arizona Medicaid unwinding that includes specific details about your states program. Medicaid enrollees should review their information on the Health-e-Arizona self-service portal or by calling AHCCCS at 855-432-7587. Be sure to update your contact information  specifically your mailing address  so that you can be reached when its your turn to renew. The state will review whether you and your family members meet AHCCCS eligibility criteria, which can give you access to Arizona Medicaid and KidsCare (the Childrens Health Insurance Program).

What can I do if Im

disenrolled?

The first step is to visit GoodRx.com/covered, a free resource from healthcare experts you can trust that provides essential information to help you navigate a change in health insurance coverage. If someone loses coverage because they no longer qualify for Medicaid, there are other low-cost health insurance and healthcare options available  and some are even free. For instance, you may find a health plan for as little as $10 or less per month through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Be sure to consider all of your options. For example, your job may offer employer-sponsored insurance or your partner may be covered by an insurance plan you can join. Finally, consumers can always check for discounts on prescription medications through GoodRx.
WASHINGTON  With Donald Trump facing felony charges over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, the former president is flooding the airwaves and his social media platform with distortions, misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories about his defeat.

It's part of a multiyear effort to undermine public confidence in the American electoral process as he seeks to chart a return to the White House in 2024. There is evidence that his lies are resonating: New polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 57% of Republicans believe Democrat Joe Biden was not legitimately elected as president.

Here are the facts about Trump's loss in the last presidential election:

Reviews, recounts confirm Biden victory

Biden's victory over Trump in 2020 was not particularly close. He won the Electoral College with 306 votes to Trump's 232, and the popular vote by more than 7 million ballots.

Because the Electoral College ultimately determines the presidency, the race was decided by a few battleground states. Many of those states conducted recounts or thorough reviews of the results, all of which confirmed Biden's victory.

In Arizona, a six-month review of ballots in the state's largest county, Maricopa, that was commissioned by Republican state legislators not only affirmed Biden's victory but determined that he should have won by 306 more votes than the officially certified statewide margin of 10,457.

In Georgia, where Trump was recently indicted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 result there, state officials led by both a Republican governor and secretary of state recertified Biden's win after conducting three statewide counts. The final official recount narrowed Biden's victory in the state from just shy of 13,000 votes to just shy of 12,000 votes.

In Michigan, a committee led by Republican state senators concluded there was no widespread or systematic fraud in the state in 2020 after conducting a monthslong investigation.

In Nevada, the then-secretary of state, Republican Barbara Cegavske, and her office reviewed tens of thousands of allegations of possible voter fraud identified by the Nevada Republican Party but found that almost all were based on incomplete information and a lack of understanding of the state's voting and registration procedures.

In Pennsylvania, the final certified results had Biden with an 80,555-vote margin over Trump, or 1.2 percentage points.

In Wisconsin, a recount slightly improved Biden's victory over Trump by 87 votes, increasing Biden's statewide lead to 20,682, or 0.6 percentage points.

Minimal voter fraud in swing states

An exhaustive AP investigation in 2021 found fewer than 475 instances of confirmed voter fraud across six battleground states  nowhere near the magnitude required to sway the outcome of the presidential election.

The review of ballots and records from more than 300 local elections offices found that almost every instance of voter fraud was committed by individuals acting alone and not the result of a massive, coordinated conspiracy to rig the election. The cases involved both registered Democrats and Republicans, and the culprits were almost always caught before the fraudulent ballot was counted.

The AP review also produced no evidence to support Trump's claims that states tabulated more votes than there are registered voters.

Biden won Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and their 79 Electoral College votes by a combined 311,257 votes out of 25.5 million ballots cast. The disputed ballots represent just 0.15% of his victory margin in those states.

Trump's own probe found no evidence

Trump was repeatedly advised by members of his own administration that there was no evidence of widespread fraud.

Nine days after the 2020 election, the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a statement saying, "The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history." The statement was co-written by the groups representing the top elections officials in every state.

Less than three weeks later, then-Attorney General William Barr declared that a Justice Department investigation had not uncovered evidence of the widespread voter fraud that Trump had claimed was at the center of a massive conspiracy to steal the election. Barr, who had directed U.S. attorneys and FBI agents across the country to pursue "substantial allegations" of voting irregularities, said, "To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election."

The Jan. 6 House committee report details additional instances where administration officials and White House staff refuted Trump's various allegations of voter fraud.

The Trump campaign and its backers pursued numerous legal challenges to the election in court and alleged a variety of voter fraud and misconduct. The cases were heard and roundly rejected by dozens of courts at both state and federal levels, including by judges whom Trump appointed.

Voting machine conspiracy theories unfounded

Many of the claims Trump and his team advanced about a stolen election dealt with the equipment voters used to cast their ballots.

At various times, Trump and his legal team falsely alleged that voting machines were built in Venezuela at the direction of President Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013; that machines were designed to delete or flip votes cast for Trump; and that the U.S. Army had seized a computer server in Germany that held secrets to U.S. voting irregularities.

None of those claims was ever substantiated or corroborated.
James D. Watts Jr. Tulsa World Scene Writer Follow James D. Watts Jr. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Natv, the Broken Arrow restaurant where chef and owner Jacque Siegfried uses ingredients and techniques from Indigenous cuisines to craft her fine-dining dishes, was recently chosen by Southern Living magazine as one of its Best New Restaurants of 2023.

Natv, located at 1611 S. Main St. in Broken Arrow, is the only Oklahoma restaurant featured in the article, which uses an extremely inclusive idea of Southern restaurants, as it highlights eateries from Kansas City, Missouri, to Wilmington, Delaware, as well as Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The Southern Living article states: A descendant of the Shawnee Tribe and a member of the Cherokee Nation, veteran chef Jacque Siegfried learned how to cook from her father well before attending culinary school. Curious about her roots, she dug into Indigenous histories and recipes. In 2022, she opened a restaurant in Broken Arrow to bring Native American cuisine to the modern forefront. Natv serves as a partner to other Native-owned businesses, highlighting their produce and meats as often as possible. Blue corn tortillas are stuffed with shredded bison, and the gnocchi is prepared with pecan flour and sunchokes  new takes on Indigenous ingredients that have been true to the region for thousands of years.

Siegfried began her culinary training at Tulsas Nathan Hale High School and studied at Platt College. Her career has included working at such places as Montereau, Cedar Ridge Country Club, the Mayo Hotel and the Tulsa Club Hotel.

She began seriously to pursue the idea of Natv during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown; the Tulsa World got its first taste of her food when Siegfried operated a food stall at the 2021 Tulsa State Fair.

Natv earned a four-star review from the Tulsa World in 2022, and it made the list of the Worlds Best New Restaurants for 2022. Singled out for praise were such dishes as the pan-seared trout with wild onion chimichurri sauce; the bison poyha, a dish similar to meatloaf, but raised to a higher level; and the relish board, with a unique array of cured meats and pickled fruits.

In everything we do, Siegfried told the Tulsa World, were just trying to show off the true, natural flavors of the food we serve.

Earlier this year, Natv was featured on a Hulu series titled Searching for Soul Food, which featured Los Angeles-based celebrity chef Alisa Reynolds on an international quest to discover what soul food looks like around the world.

For more information on Natv, including its current menu: natvba.com.

918 Food Festival Saturday in SoBoThe second annual 918 Food Festival will take place 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2, in the South Boston neighborhood at 18th Street and Boston Avenue.

The festival will feature a number of local food vendors from food trucks to brick-and-mortar restaurants, activities that include a hot wing-eating challenge and a childrens play area, and a full slate of live music performances by area artists.

Select food vendors will be offering signature dishes that can be sampled only by those who purchase The 918 Plate, which is a $25 charge.

Among the food vendors for this years festival are Alpha Grill, Tunley BBQ, Stuff that Turkey, Mang Kitchen, Bobby Rays Southern BBQ, 918 Munchies, Anything Doggs, Primos Chicken, The Noodle Truck, The Red Tacos, MASA Food Truck, Calaveras Food Truck, Bondi Bowl, Frios Gourmet Pops, El Ranchero and Nothing Bundt Cakes.

Performers include Casii Stevens, Charlie Redd, Ausha LaCole, LT y Su Clave MX, A-Slade and the Vibe, Bobby Moffett Jr., Lincka and Ramal Brown.

For more information: 918foodfestival.com.

Flemings Labor Day special

As part of Labor Day weekend, Flemings Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, 1976 Utica Square, will offer that most typical of holiday fare  the burger  for a limited-time special.

Three variations of Flemings Signature Burger are available only at the restaurants bar for a special price. Choices include the Prime Burger ($15), the California ($17), topped with avocado and bacon; the vegetarian Crispy Chickpea and Eggplant Burger ($14); and a Filet Mignon sandwich ($27), with caramelized onions, Gruyere cheese, fresh arugula and a smoked jalapeno aioli on toasted potato baguette. All sandwiches are accompanied by an order of fries.

For more information go to flemingssteakhouse.com

Marcos offers free pizza for a year

Marcos Pizza is conducting a special sweepstakes for free pizza and more to encourage new diners to sample the companys wares at its most recent Tulsa area location, at 8103 S. Sheridan Road.

Every order placed at the new location will be entered in a sweepstakes, with prizes that include free pizza from Marcos for three months, six months or one year.

In addition, the new location is offering pizzas for half-price when ordered online restaurant for more details. Marcos Pizza Tulsa is also offering certain pizzas at 50% off menu-price, when ordered online from the Hot Deals section of the online menu.

The offers will be available through Sept. 10.

For more information go to marcos.com.



The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today.




Kevin Canfield Tulsa World Staff Writer Follow Kevin Canfield Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

A nearly five-year legal battle over whether the city could impose a 3% assessment on room stays in certain hotels to promote tourism ended Monday when all parties involved agreed to end the litigation.

In a one-sentence filing in Tulsa County District Court, the plaintiff in the case, TOCH LLC, which bought the former Tulsa City Hall building and developed it into an Aloft hotel; the defendant, the city of Tulsa; and an intervenor, the Hyatt Regency Downtown, jointly dismissed their claims in the lawsuit.

The joint dismissal was with prejudice, meaning the issues in the case cannot be relitigated by the parties.

The agreement marks the first time since 2018 that city leaders can proceed with confidence knowing that collection of the assessment will not be interrupted.

Getting to this point has been a passionate process, and we are excited to move forward in alignment with everyone involved, Renee McKenney, president of Tulsa Regional Tourism, said in a joint statement issued by the parties. We all know Tulsas popularity is growing in the tourism space  but being able to continue our community momentum as a team, with this TID (Tourism Improvement District) plan in full operation, is going to bring even more opportunity to our region.

Attorney Grant Thetford, representing TOCH LLC, told the Tulsa World that his client had reached an agreement with the city that will be mutually beneficial to all involved.

I think everyone should be excited, and this TIF is going to continue on, and it definitely will benefit the city of Tulsa, Thetford said.

City councilors approved in late 2018 the creation of a 30-year Tourism Improvement District and accompanying 3% assessment on stays at hotels of 110 rooms or more with the expectation that collections would begin in mid-2019.

But a Tulsa County District Court judge issued a temporary injunction halting collections after just one collection cycle, and the city returned the more than $300,000 it had collected from hotels.

Collections began again in August 2021 and have proceeded without interruption since, as have the legal wranglings.

The City Council resolution creating the Tourism Improvement District states that the funds can be used only for what could reasonably be calculated to increase occupancy and room rates for the assessed properties as a class, including convention and tourism facility expenses directly related to such marketing services.

From the start, the Tulsa Regional Chamber, city leaders and other advocates of the Tourism Improvement District  a type of assessment district that is common across the United States  argued that the assessment would help Tulsa better compete with comparable-size cities for events of all kinds, thereby improving business for hotels and boosting the citys overall economy.

TOCH LLC, which is made up of Brickhugger LLC, and investors Lee Levinson and Bruce Taylor, saw it differently. As recently as June, Thetford argued that the city could not have a TID.

We think it is unconstitutional, No. 1, and 2, we think 50% of the hotel owners showed up and objected to this thing, he said.

But on Tuesday, Thetford said the parties had reached a confidential agreement that provides a benefit to his client and to the city.

Our concerns when we first filed it (the lawsuit) were mainly transparency and openness, and our understanding is that those things will hopefully be resolved going forward, Thetford said.

Macy Snyder-Amatucci, president of Brickhugger LLC, said the company was excited to continue supporting the tourism momentum in the city and the region.

And this unprecedented level of collaboration is sure to provide long-term dividends for all, Snyder-Amatucci said.

The TID funding has helped secure 18 events the city would not otherwise have been able to attract, according to a statement issued by the Tulsa Regional Chamber.

The events had an estimated $74,032,499 direct economic impact on the region, with a total economic impact estimated at $129,040,048, according to the chamber.

Frederic Dorwart, whose firm Frederic Dorwart, Lawyers, represented the Hyatt Regency, said he was grateful to the Tulsa hotel community for its efforts to bolster tourism through the TID.

It has been an honor to support our regional success by working together with all involved to ensure the success of the TID for the benefit of all, Dorwart said.

The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today.
Curtis Killman Tulsa World Staff Writer Follow Curtis Killman Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

A Bartlesville man was sentenced to a three-year federal prison term Tuesday after he pleaded guilty earlier to cyberstalking and threatening to kidnap and assault U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern and his wife.

Keith Charles Eisenberger, 40, will also serve three years of post-custody supervision by the U.S. Probation Office under the terms of his plea agreement with prosecutors.

Eisenberger threatened a member of Congress and his family in an attempt to interfere with and undermine our democratic process and the duties of that official, said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. Online threats of violence meant to intimidate elected officials, or any member of our community, are criminal acts and will be investigated and prosecuted.

Eisenberger, who signed his plea agreement as The Hon. K.C. Eisenberger, reportedly was upset with Hern as part of what prosecutors said was an imagined personal vendetta, according to court records.

In his written guilty plea, Eisenberger admitted that from 2018 to 2022 he harassed Hern, his wife and immediate family. He also admitted to threatening to assault and kidnap both Hern and his spouse during the same time period.

Also, in the summer 2017, Eisenberger began showing up at political events where he would lie about his identity to be in close proximity to politicians and make requests or take photos of them, according to an affidavit filed in support of Eisenbergers arrest.

Eisenberger was arrested in May 2022 after he claimed to have purchased a one-way ticket to Washington, D.C., to confront Hern over what he believed to be his illegitimate 2018 election.

Hern won a five-person GOP primary and runoff in 2018 before going on to win the general election in November 2018. He replaced Jim Bridenstine after the latter was appointed NASA administrator.

Eisenberger told investigators that (former) Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin did not allow him to compete in the primary special election and that he wanted to speak with Congressman Hern face-to-face and tell him he was fraudulently appointed to that seat, according to the affidavit.

Herns staff members reported on Jan. 4, 2019, that Eisenberger showed up at his Washington, D.C., office yelling and angrily demanding to see Hern, the affidavit says.

Eisenberger allegedly told Capitol Police that he had bought a one-way ticket to D.C. and that he was broke and not leaving until Hern resigned.

The affidavit alleges that Eisenberger authored a Facebook post on the day of the November 2020 general election in which he claimed he would be attending a few watch parties, warning Tulsa police to keep Hern and his family out of his sight or Eisenberger himself might have to be shot to get me off them if he becomes upset.

Federal prosecutors said in support of the plea agreement that Eisenberger had a minimal criminal history and would be offered mental health and substance abuse treatment.

The plea agreement also was supported by Hern and his family.

Eisenberger pleaded guilty Aug. 10, 2022, to one count of cyberstalking, one count of threatening to kidnap and assault a member of Congress, and one count of threatening to kidnap and assault the spouse of a member of Congress.

Cyberstalking carries a maximum statutory sentence of five years imprisonment.

Threatening to kidnap and assault a member of Congress or their spouse both carry maximum statutory sentences of 10 years imprisonment.

The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today.
GUN VIOLENCE

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.  A shooter killed a faculty member in a science building at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday, police said after a lockdown paralyzed the campus community while authorities searched for a suspect.

Police arrested the suspect about an hour and a half after the initial reports of shots fired came in from Caudill Labs, officials said at a news conference. Charges were pending, and the suspect was not immediately identified.

University officials also did not immediately identify the staffer who was killed and said it was too soon to offer a possible motive.

"This loss is devastating, and the shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted in our campus community," Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said. Emergency sirens sounded about two minutes after a 911 caller reported gunfire at the lab oratory in the heart of the flagship campus, UNC Police Chief Brian James said. Students and faculty barricaded themselves in dorm rooms, offices and classrooms until the lock down was lifted more than three hours later. No other injuries were reported. Adrian Lanier, a sophomore computer science major, told The Associated Press that he and others sat against a wall in a gym, trying to stay as far away as possible from doors and windows as rumors spread.

"No one really felt safe enough to leave. I didn't," Lanier said.

Oliver Katz, an exchange student from Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, said some students crowded into gym locker rooms to get away from windows while others crouched in corners and sat on the floor, he said.

"This never happens where I'm from," Katz said. "It was intense. But I was a little surprised that other people weren't panicking that much."

During the news conference, Guskiewicz apologized to students who are "feeling uncertain about your safety right now."

James, the campus police chief, said it was unclear if the suspect knew the victim. He also said the weapon has not been found.

"We are looking for a firearm. It is too early to determine if the firearm was legally obtained," he said.

Classes started at the Chapel Hill campus a week ago. The university, with about 20,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 graduate students, canceled Tuesday classes.

The nearby Chapel Hill Carrboro City district also locked down its schools for several hours as a precaution.
CHICAGO  A judge on Monday refused to dismiss the case against a father who helped his son obtain a gun license three years before authorities say the younger man fatally shot seven people at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago.

Illinois prosecutors charged Robert Crimo Jr. under an unconstitutionally vague law, his lawyer argued at a hearing this month in Waukegan, north of Highland Park where the shooting took place.

Lake County Judge George Strickland rejected that argument. The court's rulings mean Crimo Jr.'s Nov. 6 trial will go head as scheduled.

Crimo Jr. pleaded not guilty this year to seven counts of reckless conduct  one count for each person killed. Each count carries a maximum three-year prison term.

Prosecutors say he helped his son, Robert Crimo III, obtain a gun license even though the then19-year-old threatened violence.

A grand jury indicted the son last year on 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery, representing the seven people killed and dozens wounded in the attack.
The construction of three Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIPs) in southern Can Tho City, northern Bac Ninh Province, and north-central Nghe An Province commenced during a conference to promote cooperation projects between Vietnam and Singapore in Hanoi on Tuesday.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong attended the conference, together with hundreds of leaders of ministries, agencies, localities, and enterprises from the two countries.

The two government leaders also witnessed the announcement of the construction approval for four VSIPs in northern Lang Son and Thai Binh Provinces, north-central Ha Tinh Province, and south-central Binh Thuan Province.

The conference also featured the announcement of memoranda of understanding on studying the feasibility of such industrial parks in many Vietnamese localities, including Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Thanh Hoa, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Hai Duong, and Hai Phong.

Unlike Bac Ninh and Nghe An, which have been home to a VSIP each, the VSIP Can Tho is the first one of its kind in the southern city and the Mekong Delta as a whole.

Secretary of the Can Tho Party Committee Nguyen Van Hieu told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the city considers the VSIP Can Tho a key project which will help the city boost industries, services, trade, and hi-tech agriculture.

The industrial park will help create jobs for local laborers and those in neighboring provinces, the municipal official noted.

Officials attend a conference in Hanoi on August 29, 2023 where many cooperation projects between Vietnam and Singapore were announced. Photo: Duy Linh / Tuoi Tre

Many other cooperation projects between the two countries were also launched at the conference, such as the Vietnam-Singapore Innovation Center in Binh Duong Province, located in southern Vietnam, and renewable energy projects.

Speaking at the conference, Singaporean PM Lee recalled that he attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the VSIP Quang Ngai, the fifth VSIP in Vietnam, 10 years ago.

VSIPs have since spread to many localities across Vietnam, attracting a total investment of US$18 billion and creating 300,000 jobs, Lee added.

The success of VSIPs over the past years could not have been achieved without the support of Vietnamese authorities, he said.

Vietnamese PM Chinh emphasized that Singapore is an important partner of Vietnam. The two countries have a good foundation to upgrade their ties to new heights.

The Vietnamese government chief affirmed that the VSIP model is a success and will achieve more success in the coming time.

Your success is our success. With the spirit of mutual benefits and risks, Singapore will get success when investing in Vietnam, PM Chinh asserted.

There are currently 14 VSIPs in 10 localities in Vietnam, Nhan Dan (People) newspaper reported.

Singapore ranks second among the 143 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with nearly 3,300 projects worth $73.5 billion.

Meanwhile, Vietnam is running 153 investment projects in Singapore with a total investment of more than $690 million, ranking 10th among the 80 foreign investors in the city-state.

The two countries reported trade amounting to $9.15 billion last year and $4.5 billion in the first half of 2023.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
The for-hire electric scooters that have become ubiquitous in Paris and other cities worldwide will be banned in the French capital on September 1.

It is the biggest metropolis to remove the app-based devices that first zoomed onto streets in 2018, but many other cities have taken action on the vehicles that can inspire love or loathing.

While users hail them as eco-friendly ways to avoid gridlock, detractors consider them as an unsightly menace with the power to maim and kill.

Here is a look at the state of play in other cities worldwide:

Paris: the pioneer

The French capital was an early adopter of e-scooters in 2018, when the pavements were soon strewn with discarded rental devices from the first operator, Lime.

After an uproar over the anarchy and a number of fatal accidents, the city clamped down, reducing the number of operators to three (Dott, Lime and Tier) and the number of scooters to 15,000.

For privately owned scooters, the minimum age for riders is 12 (the government wants to raise that to 14), but the Paris rental operators said last November they would step up enforcement of a minimum age of 18 -- after city officials warned their licenses were in jeopardy.

They also must be parked in designated spots and riders are not allowed to go over 10 kilometres per hour in most parts of Paris -- but many do anyway.

In April, residents voted in a referendum to ban rental scooters, a move that will not impact privately owned devices.

Barcelona and Montreal: outright bans

A few cities before Paris have taken the same drastic measures with an outright ban.

Barcelona outlawed rental scooters on public roads in 2018. When the German firm Wind launched an electric scooter sharing programme in the city that year, within hours police removed the vehicles from the streets.

Two years later Montreal outlawed all electric scooters, rental and private, from circulating on any public roads and cycle paths, complaining that four times out of five they were discarded on the street instead of being parked in designated spots.

But recently the city has allowed Bird Canada to deploy 200 of the vehicles in a park, as part of a new experiment with strict rules of use.

Copenhagen: banned then unbanned

Copenhagen also banned rental e-scooters in 2020 but brought them back a year later, albeit under strict conditions including an outright ban on parking in the city centre and the requirement for users to wear helmets.

London: treading carefully

Across the Channel, London has shown greater caution with regard to devices the city's police chief called "death traps".

Only rental e-scooters with specific safety features are allowed in the capital. Privately owned devices are illegal.

Riders must be 18 or over and have a full or provisional driving licence.

The scooters have a speed limit of 12.5 miles per hour (20 kph) and their lights remain on while in use.

Rome: clamping down

After a number of crashes and near-misses involving the two-wheelers, including one notorious attempt by two US tourists to ride down the famed Spanish Steps, Rome vowed to impose order on its booming e-scooter rental market.

On September 1 the city will introduce new rules to curb usage, notably in the historic centre where speed will be limited to 6 kph in pedestrian areas and no parking on pavements.

Singapore: stiff penalties

Singapore has some of the toughest penalties for reckless scooter riders, with those caught careening along sidewalks facing up to three months in jail and a fine of 2,000 Singapore dollars ($1,500).
The Hanoi Peoples Committee on Wednesday morning held a ceremony to inaugurate the second phase of the Vinh Tuy Bridge, which spans the Red River.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the inauguration ceremony of the second-phase bridge, which measures 3.5 kilometers in length and over 19 meters in width.

Duong Duc Tuan, vice-chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee, said the second-phase bridge is an important traffic infrastructure project which will help ease pressure on the existing first-phase Vinh Tuy Bridge, enhance the connectivity between two banks of the Red River, and meet the increasing transportation demands between the capitals downtown area and its northern and northeastern regions.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, PM Chinh lauded the efforts of the Hanoi authorities and relevant agencies to complete the second phase of the Vinh Tuy Bridge four months earlier than scheduled and incur no cost overrun.

Amid the difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, such achievements should be praised, the government leader noted.

He added that the inauguration of the second-phase Vinh Tuy Bridge is an important basis for Hanoi to kick-start the Hong Ha and Me So bridge projects next year.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R, 4th) and Hanoi leaders cut ribbons to inaugurate the second-phase Vinh Tuy Bridge in Hanoi, August 30, 2023. Photo: Pham Tuan / Tuoi Tre

He also required Hanoi to pay more attention to the design of new bridges to make sure that each bridge in the Vietnamese capital is a tourism product and features typical characteristics of the city, besides ensuring their progress and quality.

Construction of the second phase of the Vinh Tuy 2 Bridge began in January 2021 and was expected to last three years.

The four-lane bridge carries a price tag of over VND2.5 trillion (US$103.1 million). It runs parallel with the phase-one Vinh Tuy Bridge and stretches from the intersection of Tran Quang Khai, Nguyen Khoai, and Minh Khai Streets in Hai Ba Trung District to the intersection of Long Bien and Thach Ban Streets in Long Bien District.

The Hanoi Department of Transport indicated that the second-phase Vinh Tuy Bridge is a one-way bridge allowing vehicles and commuters to travel from Hai Ba Trung to Long Bien.

Following the completion of the second phase, the entire Vinh Tuy Bridge became the widest bridge in Hanoi with eight lanes for traffic.

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Read what is in the news in Vietnam today:

Society

-- A man jumped from an elevated station of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line in Dong Da District, Hanoi, landed on top of a car, and subsequently succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday afternoon.

-- A court in Thua Thien-Hue Province, central Vietnam on Tuesday handed capital punishment to a 51-year-old man for fatally stabbing his partner 31 times.

-- Around 100 people recently dedicated four days to clearing 400 metric tons of waste, contributing to the restoration of the Sa Huynh saltwater lagoon in Quang Ngai Province, central Vietnam.

-- Following heavy rainfall on Tuesday afternoon, Quang Ngai City in the namesake province witnessed widespread flooding, with numerous roads submerged and vehicles stalled.

-- Traffic police officers in Ho Chi Minh City addressed 10,929 instances of alcohol-related violations in August, according to the municipal Department of Public Security.

-- Ninety-two people, including homeless individuals, those with mental health issues, and orphans residing at the Social Support Center in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City received free health check-ups on Tuesday.

-- Phan Van Mai, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee, has tasked various departments with the study on beautifying the Saigon River bank alongside Thu Duc City to align with the vibrant atmosphere at Bach Dang Wharf in District 1.

Business

-- Japans Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to offer security aid of about 5 billion yen (US$34.1 million) to six 'like-minded' countries, including Vietnam and Indonesia, in fiscal 2024, according to Japanese publications.

-- Messe Frankfurt, one of the biggest exhibition organizers in the world, and the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency have announced the organization of the Vietnam International Trade Fair for Apparel, Textiles, and Textile Technologies in Ho Chi Minh City from February 28 to March 1, 2024. The event aims to attract over 500 exhibitors and around 35,000 visitors, positioning Vietnam as a key player in the global textile market.

-- The Petrovietnam Technical Services Corporation and its Singaporean partner Sembcorp Utilities Pte Ltd have been granted a survey license and a letter of intent to carry out a project to develop offshore renewable energy in Vietnam and export clean electricity to Singapore.

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The administration of Hanoi will send a delegation of officials to China, Japan, and South Korea to study the latters laws and their experience in developing the Law on Capital, according to a decision recently passed by the citys vice-chairman Le Hong Son.

The delegation, led by Pham Qui Tien, vice-chairman of the municipal Peoples Council, will include officials from the Governmental Office, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Justice, as well as Hanoi leaders in charge of finance and external affairs.

The learning trip is aimed at serving tasks to study and suggest policies for the amended Law on Capital in the Southeast Asian nation.

After the trip, the delegation members are expected to make theoretical and practical proposals to help build mechanisms and policies for Hanoi, paving the way for developing the amended Law on Capital.

The Vietnamese capital will tap its budget to back the trip, scheduled to last for nine days.

The Law on Capital was passed by the lawmaking National Assembly on November 21, 2012 and took effect on July 1, 2013.

This important legal document stipulates the positions, roles, responsibilities as well as policies to establish, develop, and protect the Vietnamese capital.

After nine years of enforcement, the implementation of some regulations in the law faced some inadequacies.

Hence, Hanoi underlined the need to amend the law.

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Quang Ngai Province in central Vietnam is home to many large industrial parks, but none of its healthcare facilities are eligible to provide health check-ups for foreigners due to the lack of certified medical interpreters.

A representative of a company employing foreign workers in the provinces Dung Quat Economic Zone said on Tuesday he was surprised to learn that none of the medical centers in the province are qualified to offer expats medical check-ups.

As a result, the company had to transport their foreign employees to neighboring Da Nang City.

This has affected our business, the representative said.

Quang Ngai should take action to address the issue so that businesses can quickly conduct health check-up procedures for their foreign employees, the representative suggested.

Some companies active in the provinces Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) said medical centers in Quang Ngai are completely qualified to offer health check-ups to everyone.

Difficulties in offering foreigners check-up services are associated with regulations, not with the expertise of healthcare workers, these companies added.

A leader of the VSIP Quang Ngai underlined the need to tackle the issue so that foreign employees can find it easier to access healthcare services in Quang Ngai, which houses lots of foreign experts and workers.

Sending foreign employees to Da Nang for getting health check-ups will cost their employers a lot and reduce revenues of Quang Ngai hospitals, according to the VSIP leader.

Commenting on the issue, Pham Minh Duc, director of the Quang Ngai Department of Health, confirmed the provinces ineligibility to offer expats the check-up services.

As per the prevailing regulations, medical centers must have healthcare interpreters certified by the Ministry of Health or its authorized agencies in order to provide check-ups for foreigners, Duc explained.

Healthcare workers and medical equipment in the province are completely qualified to offer medical services to foreign citizens, he affirmed.

The problem, also facing other neighboring provinces, lies in regulatory procedures, the local health official said.

The provincial health authority will send its healthcare workers to training programs or recruit certified medical interpreters to work for local hospitals, in an attempt to cope with the issue, Duc said.

Next month, the Quang Ngai Obstetrics and Children's Hospital is expected to have certified medical interpreters, making it the first medical facility in the province to provide medical check-ups to foreigners.

More hospitals will be added to the list by the end of this year, Duc said.

He added that all hospitals in the province are able to offer emergency and medical treatment services to everyone, including foreigners.

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A man jumped to his death from an elevated station of the Cat Linh  Ha Dong metro line in Hanoi on Tuesday afternoon.

At about 5:45 pm on Tuesday, a man fell off the Thai Ha metro station onto Hoang Cau Street, said an eyewitness.

The man hit a five-seater car before ending up on the ground.

Police in Dong Da District said that the victim was identified as H.V.Q., a 32-year-old resident of Ha Nam Province, over 54 kilometers from Hanoi.

After his fall, he died on the spot.

Footage from security cameras showed that the man committed suicide by jumping off the station, a representative of Metro Hanoi, the operator of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The man and his wife took an escalator up, and after that he rushed to the parapet and jumped down, said the representative.

His wife tried in vain to catch him, the representative added.

The Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project was officially put into operation in November 2021.

The metro line is 13 kilometers long and has 12 stations, starting at the Cat Linh Station in Ba Dinh District and ending at the Yen Nghia Station in Ha Dong District.

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Residents of Phuoc Long Ward in Nha Trang City have been struggling with the unpleasant odor of the wastewater released by a nearby seafood processing unit over the past few months.

Locals complained that Hong Phat Service Produce Co. Ltd., which specializes in processing seafood for export, regularly discharges wastewater into sewers, polluting the area in Khanh Hoa Province, south-central Vietnam .

Nguyen Thi Hue, a dweller on Dang Dung Street in Phuoc Long Ward, said the odor emitting from the sewers was foul-smelling on sunny days.

Many households in the neighborhood have jointly complained about the situation to local authorities, demanding immediate solutions to the issue.

The residential area is inhabited by many old people and children. Instead of enjoying the fresh air, we have to inhale the poisonous smell daily," Hue said.

It is necessary to ask the company to stop releasing wastewater [into the environment] or to relocate [its production] out of the residential area."

The foul-smelling wastewater runs to a sewer in Phuoc Long Ward, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, south-central Vietnam. Photo: Minh Chien / Tuoi Tre

Meanwhile, a representative of Hong Phat Service Produce Co. Ltd. said the wastewater discharging to the sewers was from the cleaning of the companys facilities, not from the fish processing.

The wastewater leaks outside on days when the company has production activities, not all days, the representative added.

The Phuoc Long Ward Peoples Committee has worked with the company, local residents, and relevant agencies, according to ward chairman Ngo Khac Thinh.

The ward concluded that the company violates the law when it discharges untreated wastewater and asked the company to block wastewater pipes leading to the sewers on Dang Dung Street before Thursday.

The headquarters of seafood processing firm Hong Phat Service Produce Co. Ltd., which discharges untreated wastewater to sewers in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, south-central Vietnam. Photo: Minh Chien / Tuoi Tre

Hong Phat Service Produce Co. Ltd. has to be committed to storing the wastewater in its septic tanks and having these tanks emptied every two days.

The ward authorities will keep a close watch on the companys fulfillment of its commitments and impose heavy sanctions if it repeats the violation.

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Travel agencies are promoting tours to attract locals and tourists for the coming National Day holiday in Vietnam.

Public workers in the country will enjoy four consecutive days off from September 1 to 4 for the National Day (September 2) celebration, according to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs.

According to travel businesses, people in Ho Chi Minh City tend to enjoy the four-day holiday within the city or neighboring localities as the new school year opening ceremony is approaching, discouraging them from taking their kids on trips far away from home.

As a result, inner-city and river tours are forecast to be busier.

Local tourists also tend to prefer self-planned trips to tours operated by travel agencies for their domestic travel during the holiday, according to tour operators.

Pham Phuong Anh, general director of Viet Media Travel, said her company has only reached more than 80 percent of its capacity for the National Day tours, with tourists mainly traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, the northwest region, and Phu Quoc, a touristic island off southern Vietnam, among others.

Meanwhile, a representative of Saigontourist Travel said that the firm has sold nearly 90 percent of its tours for the occasion, with departure dates from August 29 to September 3.

The company's domestic tours by air and those to Northeast Asian countries are still accepting guests until the end of this week.

Tourists sunbathe on a beach in Phan Thiet City under Binh Thuan Province, south-central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Saigontourist domestic road tours and Southeast Asian tours will receive guests until the departure date.

Preliminary statistics showed Saigontourist Travels domestic tourists this year increased nearly 24 percent while outbound tours rose more than 10 percent from the same period last year.

Tran Quoc Bao, deputy general director of Saigontourist Travel, said that the company has prepared a number of backup spots for guests who come to buy domestic road tours at the last minute.

Although this year's National Day tour market is not so 'hot' as expected, many businesses still believe that places such as Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, and Da Nang will be crowded with tourists, as they are suitable for self-planned travels.

Tran Anh Thi, general manager of Seahorse Resort & Spa in Phan Thiet City, said that his facility has been fully booked for the holiday.

"Since the Dau Giay - Phan Thiet Expressway has opened, [thus shortening the travel time], the number of visitors has been spread evenly during the week and is bigger than that on weekends, Thi said.

If the prices increase or there are signs of a rip-off, customers will leave.

According to Nguyen Minh Man, representative of TST Tourist, since mid-August, many families have already gone on summer tours so the market for the coming holiday will not be a boom.

According to a recent survey by Booking.com, the coastal city of Da Nang in central Vietnam is the most-searched destination by Vietnamese travelers looking to get away for the National Day holiday. The Booking.com Travel Confidence Index 2023 also showed that Vietnamese travelers have a strong preference for coastal locations, with 61 percent including islands and beaches amongst their primary travel interests, closely followed by cities at 60 percent. For the upcoming National Day weekend, we are seeing a surge in demand with Vietnamese travelers exploring staycations and drivecations to nearby places or indulging in short breaks at closer-to-home APAC destinations, said Varun Grover, country head for Vietnam at Booking.com.

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The dropping of Drama and Childrens sub-quotas in 2020 under the Morrison Government was a mistake according to NSW Senator Perin Davey, and Deputy Leader of the Nationals.

In 2020 when COVID hit production the government overhauled content quota points which has seen dramatic reductions in Childrens TV on commercial Free to Air networks.

Speaking at the Australian Childrens Content Summit today in Coffs Harbour, Senator Davey said, Talk about taking advantage of a bad situation. COVID (with) the Free to Air push all culminated together. I mean, governments dont always get it right. On removing the sub-content quotas I think we definitely got wrong.

Senator Davey said dropping of sub-quotas was sold to Senators as necessary to get the industry through COVID, but with Childrens content still going to be commissioned and with a Review to take place later. But she does not believe it worked as intended.

Free to Air didnt hold up their end of the bargain. They didnt keep commissioning. Were not seeing any new commissioning going from the Free to Air channels (in Childrens TV). I think we need to have that review that was built into the regulations. Because this is one egg that we can actually unscramble. We can bring back sub-content quotas, drama quotas so that we can give industry some certainty. Because it hasnt worked. Removing the quotas hasnt worked in the way it was intended or in the way it was sold to us. So we do need to have that review, she said.

Senator Davey also did not agree that quotas on Streaming platforms would be bad for Free to Air networks, who have argued against increased competition and rising costs.

Isnt competition good? Dont we want competition? Isnt this the problem weve got with Woolworths and Coles, she asked.

Then they say, We dont have enough staff so we cant do it. Im like Train them! Ive got two kids! You can have them!

I just think their arguments are a bit hollow and I really wish that they would get on board and see that there is opportunity in this too. They should be looking at this as a way to co-produce and co-invest so that they get better content and can actually reduce their costs.

Senator Davey also rejected suggestions that Streaming platforms were making sufficient content and therefore quotas were not necessary.

My view is, of course, theyre meeting the target because theyve got this big stick (which means) If you dont meet the target, will regulate. As soon as you say, Were not going to regulate, were taking away the stick, I can imagine that they will do exactly what the Free to Airs did when we took the sub content quotas off them, and go Everythings all good. Theyve forgotten about us and off we go. Lets get more Degrassi Junior High on telly instead of Heartbreak High.

Updated: Screen Producer Australia CEO Matthew Deaner stated, With two years of data showing a clear downward trend, the Australian Government needs to step in and conduct an urgent review of the Australian Content and Childrens Television Standards (ACCTS) and do something about the failure to ensure Australian children can freely and easily access stories that reflect their own culture and lives.

Its abundantly clear that commercial broadcasters have all but abandoned investing in new programs for Australian children. There are compelling social equity reasons for Australian families and children to have access to content that reflects shared experiences and life in Australia.
Speaking following a meeting of EU defence ministers in Toledo, Spain, Borrell said that the EU will plan sanctions similar to those imposed by West African bloc ECOWAS.

ECOWAS and the West African Monetary and Economic Union have introduced financial sanctions since coup leaders overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Bazoum in July, suspending financial transactions and freezing national assets. The members of the Presidential Guard responsible for the coup have also received travel bans.

On Wednesday, Borrell said he had proposed a new legislative framework to ministers that would allow the EU to impose its own sanctions on the putschists.

"It's up to ECOWAS to take decisions in order to counter this military coup and we will follow, trying to implement the same kind of sanctions that they have decided," Borrell said.

"We are moving forward for an autonomous sanctions regime to take actions against the putschists, work has already started and tomorrow the foreign affairs ministers will advance on that," he added.

When asked whether the EU would consider financing a standby military intervention by ECOWAS, Borrell did not disregard the possibility. "We are ready to consider any proposition," he said.

The President of ECOWAS and Niger's foreign affairs minister will join EU foreign ministers for further discussions in Toledo on Thursday.

The meeting took place hours after military officers in Gabon claimed on national TV that they were overturning the results of presidential elections and seizing power in the central African country.

"It's clear that the coup in Niger is opening up a new era of instability in a region which is already very fragile," Borrell said.

Niger was seen as the last bastion of democracy in the Sahel region when it became the latest domino in a row of states that have toppled into the hands of military juntas. The EU has called for the reinstatement of President Bazoum and has suspended its budget support and cooperation on security.

Story continues

It is estimated that around 40% of the countrys total budget was expected to come from external budget support and loans.

During the meeting, EU defence ministers also discussed long-term commitments to supporting security in Ukraine. Borrell revealed that the EU's military assistance mission is set to meet its target of training 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers by the end of October, proposing to increase the target to 40,000 by the end of this year.

The EU wants to train Ukrainian pilots to use F-16 fighter jets as part of their mission, he said.

Ministers also discussed the need to ramp up European investment in ammunition. Ammunition in the value of around 1.1 billion has been provided to Ukraine, but member states' ammunition stocks have been left bare, requiring new framework agreements with the European defense industry to fill procurement gaps.
FILE - President of Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022 at U.N. headquarters. Nearly a dozen soldiers took to state television and said they were overturning the presidential election and called for calm among the population Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  The president of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, knew well the threat of military coups in his part of the world. But he swore one wouldnt happen to him.

While our continent has been shaken in recent weeks by violent crises, rest assured that I will never allow you and our country Gabon to be hostages to attempts at destabilization. Never, Bongo declared this month as the central African nation marked 60 years of independence from France, almost all of that time with his family in power.

Now, according to a group of mutinous Gabonese security forces who spoke on state television early Wednesday, he is under house arrest, accused of unpredictable, irresponsible governance. The soldiers who claimed authority said people around Bongo had been arrested for high betrayal, embezzlement and corruption, though it was not clear whether the president himself faced those charges.

I dont know whats going on, Bongo said in a brief video shared with media outlets hours after the soldiers' predawn announcement. In the richly carpeted room where he sat, an image of former South African President Nelson Mandela sat on a bookshelf.

A longtime politician and one-time funk musician, the French-educated Bongo, 64, is a member of one of Africas political dynasties. He took office in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled oil-rich Gabon for 41 years, and continued security partnerships with France and the United States.

His family's longevity, perhaps, gave Bongo confidence in the face of the military coups shaking other parts of French-speaking Africa.

Still, there have been challenges. He won his second seven-year term by a narrow margin in 2016 amid violent protests. In late 2018, he had a stroke that kept him from his duties for months. Mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in early 2019 while Bongo was in Morocco recuperating. They were quickly seized.

It is not yet clear how the coup announced Wednesday, hours after Bongo was declared the winner of a weekend presidential election, will play out. The coup leaders said his family and his doctors were with him in his home. They did not give any details about his health.

Story continues

Bongo has held power in a corner of Africa where heads of state find ways to stay in office for decades. Gabons neighbors are ruled by a trio of the continent's longest-running leaders, including Teodoro Obiang in Equatorial Guinea, in office since 1979; Paul Biya in Cameroon, in office since 1982; and Denis Sassou Nguesso in the Republic of Congo, in office from 1979-92 and again since 1997.

While Gabons oil reserves have enriched its rulers, many linked by family ties, frustration has been growing among the population over the inequality on display. Gabons oil export revenue was $6 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

It is an oil emirate run like a family property for almost six decades, said Thomas Borrel, an analyst in France who studies Africa.

Bongo is one of Africas richest heads of state, and his wealth is likely to be scrutinized even more now, along with that of his family. Investigators in the U.S. and France have looked into millions of assets in both countries.

For most people in Gabon, economic pain is rising along with prices. In an Aug. 17 Independence Day speech, Bongo acknowledged the widespread frustration. I know there is impatience, he said, the sentiment that we could have done better.

He listed steps his government was taking to contain fuel prices, make education more affordable and to keep the cost of baguettes stable. In January, the Gabonese government created a ministry to combat the high cost of living, according to the World Bank.

Even as Bongo tried to appeal to citizens for votes, he continued what human rights groups and other observers have described as years of efforts to stifle the opposition. Gabon abolished presidential term limits two decades ago. Last weekends general election, for the first time, was said to have no international observers.

Bongo appeared intent on staying in office, like his father, until his death.

Relatively affectionate about former colonizer France even as anti-French sentiment has grown in parts of Africa, Gabon's president earlier this year played host to President Emmanuel Macron. Macron's declaration there that the age of Francafrique is well over was a response to critics who have long asserted that Paris props up authoritarian rulers on the continent.

Now Bongo, trapped at home, seeks help from all the friends we have.

In recent years, he has tried to present Gabon to the world as a global leader in environmental conservation instead of a case study in clinging to power.

The United Nations last year described the small nation as probably the most carbon-positive country in the world due to its strong environmental conservation and longstanding political commitment to preserving the countrys untouched natural environment.

In 2021, Gabon was the first country to receive payments for reducing forest emissions from deforestation. Bongo took pleasure in the progress and praise.

But such achievements are now overshadowed by the sight of hundreds of people dancing and cheering in the streets of the capital on Wednesday, declaring themselves free.

___

AP writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.
(Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan will discuss a proposal by Moscow for an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal when they meet this week, Lavrov's ministry said on Wednesday.

Under the plan, Russia would send a million tons of grain to Turkey at a discounted price, with financial support from Qatar, to be processed in Turkey and sent to countries most in need, the Foreign Ministry said.

"We consider this project as the optimal working alternative to the Black Sea deal," it said.

Russia pulled out last month from the year-old deal, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, that had enabled Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports despite the war.

Since then, Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian ports and grain stores, prompting Ukraine and the West to accuse it of using food as a weapon of war.

Russia says it quit the deal because too little of the grain was getting to the poorest countries, and because it still faces obstacles to the export of its own grain and fertiliser given that Western sanctions affect payments, insurance and port access.

Fidan is due in Moscow on Thursday and Friday to meet Lavrov, and the Kremlin said on Wednesday that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan would also visit Russia soon.

It was not clear what incentive Qatar would have to take part in the arrangement proposed by Russia, which since the collapse of the grain deal has also promised to supply quantities of free grain to six African countries.

The Russian statement said Lavrov would restate Moscow's position that following the collapse of the grain deal, it would consider all ships heading to Ukraine as potentially carrying military cargo.

(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Super Blue Moon: What is it, and where are the best places to see it in Europe?

Stargazers are in for a double treat this week: a rare "Super Blue Moon" and Saturn peeking from behind.

The cosmic curtain rises Wednesday night with the second full moon of the month, the reason its considered blue. Its dubbed a Super Moon because its closer to Earth than usual, appearing especially big and bright.

This will be the closest full moon of the year, just 357,344 km or so away. Thats more than 160 km closer than the last Super Moon on 1 August.

As a bonus, Saturn will be visible as a bright point 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon at sunset in the east-southeastern sky, according to NASA. The ringed planet will appear to circle clockwise around the moon as the night wears on.

There wont be another blue supermoon until 2037, according to Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project.

Gravitational pull can be dangerous

While a supermoon can make for a spectacular backdrop in photos of landmarks around the world, its intensified gravitational pull also makes tides higher.

That's because when the moon is full, the sun and the moon are pulling in the same direction, which has the effect of increasing tides above normal ranges.

The moon's gravitational pulls are even stronger when it's closer to Earth, so the tides are even higher.

Best places in Europe to watch the Super Blue Moon

If you're in the UK and hoping to see the Suber Blue Moon tonight then visibility depends where in the country you are.

"Tonight there is a band of cloud moving into the west and southwest. So the best chance of any good sightings will be in central, eastern, and northern parts of the UK where there will be good spells of clear skies," Oliver Claydon from the Met Office tells Euronews.

"Under those clear skies it will be quite chilly, so wrap up warm if you are heading out to catch a glimpse," he adds.

Story continues

Across the rest of Europe, there is a band of rain running from southwest to northeast France and into the Low Countries, northern Germany, and Denmark which brings cloud cover that could obscure the night sky.

There's cloud cover too across southern Norway, parts of central Sweden, and over much of Finland.

It's a similar story through much of Germany, in central Italy, and through the Balkans where there are storms in the forecast.

Spain and Portugal however remain almost cloud-free on Wednesday evening.
High Rise family adventure centre in Lisburn has been shortlisted for a major award in the annual Social Enterprise Northern Ireland Awards. Pic credit: High Rise

The inclusive and accessible climbing and soft play centre, which also has two interactive sensory rooms, has made the shortlist for the Northern Irelands Best Consumer Facing Social Enterprise Award.

The winner will be decided by a public vote so the team at local charity, Employers For Childcare, which owns and operates High Rise is appealing for your vote to help them win this prestigious award.

You can vote online now at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/6RJ5BKX.

Employers For Childcares Chief Executive Marie Marin commented: We are honoured that High Rise has been shortlisted for this important Award, just a year after we reopened.

Our staff team work so hard to ensure every single guest has a fantastic time when they visit High Rise and winning this Award would be such a brilliant recognition of their effort and dedication in going the extra mile to support our guests.

"When we opened High Rise we wanted it to be somewhere that all families could come to enjoy leisure time together.

READ MORE: Darcee shares the story of her illness with her friends in a new storybook

We are now asking everyone that has visited High Rise to take 30 seconds to vote online for us to win this Award.

"Youll find all the information on our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and on our website www.highriseni.org. But be quick as voting closes at midnight on Wednesday September 6.

The winner will be announced at a gala awards ceremony taking place on Friday October 27 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Belfast.
For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. Not only can it impact your investment portfolio, but it can also help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in MercadoLibre (MELI) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to MELI for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

MercadoLibre's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at MercadoLibre's main business drivers.

Buenos Aires, Argentina based MercadoLibre, Inc. is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in South America. The company is a market leader in e-commerce in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, and Uruguay based on unique visitors and page views.



The company also operates e-commerce platform in Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Portugal.



MercadoLibre reported revenues of $10.5 billion in 2022. The company offers a bunch of six integrated e-commerce services:



MercadoLibre Marketplace enables businesses and individuals to conduct sales, purchase online and list their merchandise.



MercadoLibre Classifieds offers online classified listing services for motor vehicles, real estate and services. These listing charge only optional placement fees and hence they are different from Marketplace listings.



MercadoPago FinTech platform allows users to send and receive payments seamlessly within MercadoLibres marketplace. Outside of this, merchants are allowed to process payments via websites, mobile apps and mobile point of sale.



MercadoLibre advertising program enables advertisers and seller to display their product ads on the companys webpages.



MercadoShops online webstores solution aids users in managing and promoting their online stores.



MercadoEnvios logistics service provides integration with third-party carriers and logistics service providers to the sellers on the companys platform.



MercadoLibre has four reportable geographic segments Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Other Countries. In 2022, Brazil generated 53.8% of the companys revenues. Argentina, Mexico and Other Countries generated 23.7%, 17.7% and 4.8% of revenues, respectively.



Effective Dec 1, 2017, MercadoLibre deconsolidated its Venezuelan subsidiaries. The company no longer includes the balances, results of operations and cash flows of the Venezuelan subsidiaries in its consolidated financial statements.

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Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio requires research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in MercadoLibre ten years ago, you're likely feeling pretty good about your investment today.

According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in August 2013 would be worth $10,766.30, or a 976.63% gain, as of August 30, 2023. Investors should keep in mind that this return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

The S&P 500 rose 174.55% and the price of gold increased 32.38% over the same time frame in comparison.

Analysts are anticipating more upside for MELI.

MercadoLibre reported impressive second-quarter 2023 results. Both earnings and revenues surged on a year-over-year basis. Revenues were driven by accelerating commerce and fintech revenues. Increasing total payments volume (TPV), courtesy of the robust Mercado Pago, aided the company. MercadoLibres rising gross merchandise volume (GMV) remained another positive. Strong shipment growth also contributed well to the reported results. MercadoLibre is benefiting from strength in its commerce and fintech businesses. Further, robust mobile-point-of-sale business and growing adoption of MercadoPago are driving the TPV. Also, rapid adoption of Mobile Wallet remains a positive. Shares have outperformed the industry year to date. However, mounting expenses related to warehousing, free shipping subsidies and mPOS discounts are major concerns.

Over the past four weeks, shares have rallied 7.79%, and there have been 4 higher earnings estimate revisions in the past two months for fiscal 2023 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI) : Free Stock Analysis Report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

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Belfast's Alan Mahon, founder and CEO of Glasgow-based Brewgooder, will give a talk at a special free event at Innovation Factory on Friday, September 15 about how his passion for beer and helping disadvantaged communities led to the creation of this impact brand, which is set to double its sales this year to 4million (Photo: ugc)

The young Belfast man behind one of the UKs fastest growing independent beer brands is coming home to inspire the citys future entrepreneurs.

Alan Mahon, the 33-year-old founder and CEO of Glasgow-based Brewgooder, will give a talk at a special free event at Innovation Factory on Friday, September 15 about how his passion for beer and helping disadvantaged communities led to the creation of this impact brand, which is set to double its sales this year to 4million.

At the Brewing Ideas and Crafting a Business seminar, sponsored by Belfast City Council, Innovation Factory and Pacem, Alan will explain how the companys ethical purpose is an integral part of its growth and is leading to it being one of the UKs fastest growing beer brands.

Belfast's Alan Mahon (right) with Brewgooder co-founder James Hughes. At the Brewing Ideas and Crafting a Business seminar, sponsored by Belfast City Council, Innovation Factory and Pacem, Alan will explain how the companys ethical purpose is an integral part of its growth and is leading to it being one of the UKs fastest growing beer brands

He explained: We dont see ourselves as a craft beer brand - we are an impact brand in beer. Because we brew beer to empower the lives of others, we have the support of a loyal community of customers who like our beer and the ethos behind the business. People want products with sustainability and ethics at their core. The more beer we sell, the more projects we can support, building a feel-good flywheel.

His journey started when he fell ill in Nepal from drinking contaminated water and that inspired him to create a business that would fund clean water projects with every beer sold. He teamed up with friend and business partner James Hughes, launching the company in 2016 on World Water Day.

The company has now impacted the lives of 170,000 people in 15 countries providing more than 200 million litres of clean water. In 2019, 2021, and 2022 the company was awarded 'Best for the World' by B Lab, as one of the highest rated B-Corp brands in the world.

A new collaboration with Brooklyn Brewery involves the use of the west African grain fonio, making this the UK's first ever 'at scale' fonio grain beer but also a product that gathers learnings for more sustainable brewing.

The company also formed The Brewgooder Foundation at the outset of its launch in 2016, which is supported by an independent board of Trustees and experts and grants funds to inspiring projects that help empower communities and aims to enable opportunities for one million people by 2030.

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On his visit to Belfast, Alan who is originally from the Glen Road, will provide inspiration and practical advice to people who want to start or grow their own business.

Alan added: Belfast is a very different city from when I left Northern Ireland to go to university in Glasgow in 2008. More opportunity exists for entrepreneurs now and we have a tremendous amount of human capital and potential in the city. Its a really good moment in time to encourage, support and enable entrepreneurship but with additional focus on scaling up exciting new ideas.

Innovation Factory, which is hosting the event, is owned by Belfast City Council and operated on its behalf by Oxford Innovation Space. The 9.1m business hub was funded by Belfast City Council and Invest NI with support from the European Regional Development Fund.

Innovation Factory Centre Director Neil Allen said: Belfast is a centre for innovation and creative new ideas and Alan will share his experiences of creating and scaling up a global brand with a clear message and a positive impact on society. As the home of entrepreneurship in West Belfast, Innovation Factory is the perfect place to tell this incredible story that will inspire young entrepreneurs to pursue their business dreams.

To book a place at this free event, go to here.
A man opens the back of his green camouflage van and triumphantly shows off the "25 pieces he hunted" earlier in the day.

His 'hunting trophies' are terrifed migrants.

The scene takes place in Evros, the border region with Turkey in north-eastern Greece, and as he speaks in the video he justifies his actions by blaming the migrants for the fires that have ravaged the region.

"They will burn us," he says, encouraging the Greeks to follow his example: "Organise to catch them! The mountains are full of them".

The migrants look into the camera without understanding what is happening, but the fear in their eyes is palpable. The post has thousands of reactions, with one anonymous user commenting: "Throw them in the fire".

Days later, the migrants told The Press Project that they had been beaten with metal bars. "They took off all our clothes and filmed us. We stayed there for a long time, sweating and unable to breathe".

With more than 73,000 hectares burned in six days, the wildfires around Alexandroupolis, the capital of Evros, have become the most devastating ever seen in the European Union.

The disaster has left the country searching for culprits, leading to a popular belief that migrants are responsible for the fires.

"There is a widespread rumour and local politicians are using it as a political tool because it's easy to blame migrants. They don't have a voice," Lefteris Papayannakis, director of the Greek Institute for Refugees, told Euronews.

"The authorities have received complaints about the way they have handled the fires. There's always a need for an enemy to justify the government's failure, so we find scapegoats to protect them. In Evros, it's the migrants," he adds.

A view of flames as a forest burns, in the village of Dikela, near Alexandroupolis town. - Achilleas Chiras/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved

Urban militias' hunting migrants

This has led to the emergence of civilian self-organised 'militias' that commit unlawful acts of violence against migrants, according to the UN refugee agency.

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Villagers dressed in black and heavy boots, resembling Greek special forces, form vigilante groups that now patrol the Evros border "looking for migrants", as stated in the Border Violence Monitoring Network report.

Although this is not a new phenomenon - NGOs have been denouncing their presence for several years - the summer wildfire situation in Greece has seen the re-emergence of these groups.

"The police and the military do not act against them. They tolerate them," says Papayannakis.

"The Greek government and media have been nurturing vigilante-style 'migrant hunters' since 2020, allowing them to commit racist crimes with complete impunity," says Alarm Phone, an NGO that helps refugees in need of rescue at sea.

In recent days, more and more videos encouraging the hunting of migrants have been published on social media, despite measures taken by the Greek judiciary to stop these actions.

The three people who forced the migrants into their truck have been arrested and the Alexandroupolis prosecutor's office has filed charges against all of them.

After they testified, they were placed under house arrest and had their passports revoked, their lawyer Vassilis Demiris said his clients were "fully remorseful".

Despite this, the Greek Supreme Court has ordered an investigation to find out more about the "alarming phenomena of violence" against migrants and whether there was an "organised plan" to provoke the fire, although authorities have suggested it was caused by lightning.

The Greek Council for Refugees has little hope that the investigation will change anything.

"This has happened before and nothing has changed. It's not the courts that will modify the general perception, it's the public narrative and the government's narrative. We need the authorities not to target and criminalise migrants," says Papayannakis.

The 13 migrants were also taken into custody. They were charged with attempted arson and illegal entry, but released after testifying on Monday.

The 13 migrants charged with illegal entry are escorted to the court house in Alexandroupoli - SAKIS MITROLIDIS/AFP or licensors

An inflammatory discourse

Gone are the days when Greece opened its arms to migrants from places like Syria. There has been a change in the discourse towards them and the climate is one of open hostility.

Public rhetoric has fuelled the politics of confrontation.

The latest controversy followed comments by Paraschos Christou Papadakis, a member of the Greek parliament for the ultra nationalist Solution party, who accused the migrants of "obstructing the work of the fire brigade" and starting wildfires.

"Although it was confirmed that the large wildfires raging in Evros have been started by a lightning strike, this has not stopped the racist and dangerous narratives being spread around the country," Adriana Tidona, Amnesty International's spokesperson, told Euronews.

In a post on his social media, the Greek Solution MP described the situation as a "war" and called on people to organise raids to "arrest illegal migrants in the same way as in March 2020.

That year, Turkey decided to open its borders, challenging the European Union, and thousands of migrants entered Greece via the Evros. It was the first time that vigilante groups appeared to defend the border.

"Papadakis' words seem to be inciting civilians to take action against migrants and refugees. There are other attempts to organise locals and civilians to commit illegal acts against these groups. It's a very worrying trend," Tidona says.

Evros has been for years an area where migrants are illegally pushed back, detained and tortured by Greek authorities in order to return them to Turkey. The impunity with which Greece has committed these acts has likely contributed to the ongoing escalation of violent, xenophobic tendencies in the region, she adds.

Euronews contacted the Greek Ministry of Citizens' Protection and the Greek police for comment.
Jessica O'Donnell

It's not every day you get the opportunity to fly to Bangkok to stay in one of their most renowned 5-star hotels to experience a wellness festival, is it?

The Peninsula Bangkok's Wellness Festival was a whirlwind of health, fitness, food and fun, and I've got all the intel for you if you're thinking about experiencing it yourself.

What is a Wellness Festival?

The Peninsula Bangkok's Wellness festival is a jam-packed three day health and wellbeing extravaganza that makes the most of the hotel's urban retreat setting.

Guests of the festival can expect to see a plethora of holistic activities, classes and workshops that have been carefully curated to enhance the mind, body and spirit.

What's the hotel like?

Combining luxury Thai style with refreshing comfort, the Peninsula Bangkok is a world-class 5-star experience. The hotel has a palatial spa, tip-top fitness facilities, four lavish restaurants, and magnificent rooms and suites to choose from.

Located on the bank of Chao Phraya River with an unbeatable view of Bangkok's skyline, this hotel combines the relaxation of a resort with the exuberant energy of an urban city so you can enjoy the best of both worlds during your stay.

Are the fitness facilities any good?

The gym had everything I needed to keep up with my fitness routine while I was away, and the facilities were so nice that I was genuinely looking forward to my workouts. There was a weightlifting area, a cardio space, and enough space for multiple people to be using it at once with no issues.

Another luxurious touch was the ability to do a rejuvenating cold plunge and sauna session after my workout which I took full advantage of during my stay.

As I was there for the Wellness Week, I was able to take my pick from a range of health and fitness classes such as sunrise yoga, spin classes, pilates, aqua fit, Muay Thai, and Zumba which helped to keep things interesting.

Ok enough about the workouts, what about the spa?

I could go on all day about my experience in the spa at the Peninsula, it was truly other-worldly.

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I had (and would highly, highly recommend) the Essential Mind Treatment. Taking place in a private room within the multi-level on-site spa, my private room had it's very own sauna and hot tub for me to enjoy after my treatment.

I'm one of those people who struggles to switch off during massages so when they're over I find I kick myself because I wasted the time stressed about not being relaxed enough. That was not a problem during this treatment.

The Essential Mind treatment combines massage, healing oil and vibrational sound therapy for a level of relaxation that is honestly quite hard to describe. The 90 minute treatment was made up of a 45-minute full body massage and 45-minute sound bath using seven singing bowls that target seven chakra points in the body.

After my treatment, I was given a fresh coconut water and told to enjoy the facilities for as long as I wanted. I spent half an hour going between the hot tub and the sauna, which helped me wake myself back up and feel ready to go back to the real world.

The feeling of relaxed euphoria lasted for a good few days after the treatment, and the sleep I had that night was gloriously deep. It was the perfect way to finish an already relaxing trip and made sure I went home feeling my best.

Now for the most important part: The food

I was spoiled for choice food-wise at The Peninsula. There are four main restaurants and we were lucky enough to try out all of them.

Mei Jiang

Mei Jiang is an authentic Chinese Cantonese restaurant that serves delicious dumplings made using local, organic ingredients along with premium tea pairings.

The restaurant also hosts a dinner called the Mei Jiang experience that I couldn't recommend more for a special occasion. Taking experiential dining to new heights, this exclusive dinner was immersive and unforgettable with each course taking the evening to the next level.

Each night there is only one dinner reservation for the experience for up to four guests to enjoy this nine-course culinary experience with five different wine pairings. The dinner takes place behind the scenes, so you can see your food being prepared right in front of you.

Thiptara

Set right on the bank of the Chao Phraya river and surrounded by luscious greenery, this authentic Thai restaurant is elegant and feels totally separate from the hotel, so although you're not travelling far for dinner it feels as though you've had a night out.

The menu prides itself on using locally sourced ingredients which means you get to enjoy an authentic Bangkok dining experience.

Jessica O'Donnell

River Cafe & Terrace

Hands down the best buffet I've ever visited in my life, the River Cafe and Terrace is truly in a league of it's own.

The abundant spread of Thai food as well as a wide array of international food to choose from means you're spoiled for choice as you walk through and try not to overload your plate. I'm not ashamed to say one evening I went up for a third serving, there was just so much I wanted to try.



The Lobby

Open for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, The Lobby is the perfect restaurant for working around your holiday schedule. Situated right in the lobby of the hotel with glass panel windows that give you a lovely view of outside the hotel and has an a la carte menu with light, tasty meals.

What can you do outside the hotel?

When you're staying at a hotel as luxurious as the Peninsula it's honestly pretty hard to leave, but Bangkok is such a cool, vibrant city I knew I'd kick myself if I didn't do some exploring.

Swing by River City

The Peninsula offers a shuttle boat service from 6am until midnight which makes sightseeing along the river super easy. During our stay we took the boat to nearby lifestyle centre River City to see some art collections from local artists and browse through the antique stores.

If you're not hugely into art the shuttle boat service also goes to the biggest shopping centre in Bangkok, Icon Siam, that houses hundreds of high-end shops and restaurants.

Visit Ratchaburi

One of the highlights of my trip to Bangkok was going to stunning Ratchaburi to meet with a community enterprise group of rice producers to see the expansive rice fields and learn about how rice is made.

The Peninsula Bangkok uses a lot of local produce in their restaurants and that night we had an eight-course Thai Rice banquet that showcased the local cuisine.

Jessica O'Donnell

Enjoy the 25th anniversary Cultural Walking Tour

The Peninsula Bangkok is located in the Thonburi district, which is home to many of the cities most historic landmarks.

In order to encourage guests to learn about and explore the ancient temples, shrines, and other nearby attractions the Peninsula hosts a complimentary guided cultural tour every Wednesday. Our host was an expert in local history and we came away with a deeper understanding and appreciation, along with an eagerness to learn more about the Peninsula's surrounding areas.

Click here for more information and to book a stay at the Peninsula Bangkok online.

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Thunderstorms and torrential rain have brought flash flooding to Austria as river levels reached 100-year highs, according to local media reports.

The western and southern regions of Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Salzburg and Carinthia had seen the biggest impact from the extreme conditions.

Some homes were evacuated and a number of rail routes and bridges were closed by the authorities amid fears over rising water levels.

Experts at GeoSphere - the country's meteorological service - warned of "mudflows and flooding" with up to 100 millimetres of rain expected across many areas.

Around 70 people had to be evacuated from 30 homes in Tumpen, a village in Tyrol, local media reported.

In the Pitztal valley in Tyrol, three houses were evacuated in Jerzens.

Austrian broadcaster ORF reported some rivers had risen to levels not seen in a century.

Video on social media showed the Ache river in Tyrol at the brink of breaking its banks, while waterways were also reported to be overflowing across the Otztal valley.

The Gasteiner waterfall in Bad Gastein, Salzburg - usually a popular spot for tourists - became part of a flash flood following 24 hours of heavy rain.

Dramatic footage on social media showed muddy water flowing at speed through the waterfall as it struggled to cope with the extreme conditions.

Read more on Sky News:

'Unprecedented' hurricane makes landfall in the US - latest updates

Climate denial is 'costly and dangerous', says John Kerry

Flood warnings were also in place along parts of the River Inn in Tyrol.

Forecasters said the conditions had been caused by a low pressure system across northern Italy which had been "sending moist air to Austria".

GeoSphere said Wednesday and Thursday should see the weather ease with some sunshine and isolated showers, before more settled and "sunny" conditions into the weekend.

The heavy rain and flash flooding follows a heatwave in Austria which saw prolonged temperatures of above 30C (86F).

At the beginning of August, torrential rains and heavy floods in southern Austria saw one person killed when they were swept away by a river in Carinthia.

Mudslides and rising rivers saw water surging into buildings and forced the evacuation of people from several villages.
A woman and her friend flew to Northern Ireland for a day trip - and it cost less than a train ticket to London. Rebecca Kellett, 37, surprised her pal Lauren Priest, 31, with the overseas trip, which included a picnic and a visit to the filming locations of Game of Thrones.

A woman and her friend flew to Northern Ireland for a day trip - and it cost less than the price of a train ticket to London. Rebecca Kellett, 37, surprised her pal Lauren Priest, 31, with the overseas trip, which included a fit to fly picnic and a visit to the filming locations of Game of Thrones .

The pair made the decision to stop buying each other gifts for their birthdays and plan day trips instead. Rebecca, whos the managing director of her own company, secured flights for 24 each and hired a car for 26.

She also spent 18 on parking, 15 for the picnic and 16 for fuel. In total, the trip cost 123 for the pair.

According to TrainPal , on August 29, the average price for a train ticket from Manchester to London is around 82 per person. Rebecca and Lauren flew from Manchester into Belfast at 8:45am and picked up their hire car at 10am.

A video shows the pair galivanting around the world-famous Giants Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge on the northern and eastern coast of the country. After seeing the sights they sat down for a picnic and caught a flight back home at 9pm.

Rebecca, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, said: Me and Lauren always find days out for each other instead of gifts for birthdays so this was her birthday day out. We did a tour of the filming locations of Games of Thrones.

We hired a car for one day and booked flights using Skyscanner. The flights were 24 each and car hire was 26 for the day and we took a fit to fly picnic.
Undated handout photo of Matthew Creed, a 26-year-old drama student from Harthill, Scotland, who has been stuck at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands (Image: PA)

A frustrated and tired Scottish drama student was left stranded in Amsterdam Airport overnight when an air traffic control glitch saw his flight cancelled, forcing him to sleep there.

Matthew Creed, a 26-year-old drama student from Harthill, became stuck at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport after his flight with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to Edinburgh was cancelled.

Tens of thousands more airline passengers suffered flight cancellations on Tuesday due to the knock-on impact of an ATC fault.

Analysis of flight data websites by the PA news agency shows at least 281 flights  including departures and arrivals  were cancelled on Tuesday at the UKs six busiest airports.

The former drama teacher, who worked in Hong Kong for three years, was initially flying from the former British city to Edinburgh with a stopover in Doha on Qatar Airways  he planned to see his family in Scotland before beginning his masters degree in drama in London.

When he arrived in Hong Kong, Qatar Airways informed him that his ticket was on standby.

Upon arrival in Doha, he was notified that he did not have a seat on the flight to Edinburgh, which was nerve-racking for him.

Qatar then transferred him on a KLM flight to Amsterdam  he arrived at 3am on Monday only to discover the Dutch airliner had cancelled his next flight to Edinburgh.

(I) got to Amsterdam about three oclock yesterday, waiting for the next flight about 4.50am, and then realised there was a massive queue in the middle of the airport, he told the PA news agency.

HeraldScotland:

People were heading towards the exit or towards desks for KLM, who were operating the flight that Qatar had put me on.

Then I looked at the board and realised my flight was cancelled.

KLM booked him a new flight to Edinburgh departing at 9.50pm on Tuesday, however, he had to spend the night at Amsterdam Airport waiting for the flight.

Mr Creed explained it was not ideal sleeping on a folding bed with pillows and blankets in the airport.

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He said: They were helping people for a long amount of time, there were long queues, and there were only four or five agents trying to help people.

Then they just kind of said were closing all of their desks and everybody needs to find their own accommodation or find out their own way to sort things out.

We heard that there was a gate at the end of the airport where they were putting out pillows and blankets and things, so thats where we had to sleep last night which wasnt ideal.

Mr Creed paid for access to KLMs Crown Lounges at Amsterdam Airport in order to have a shower and eat some food, with the hope of being reimbursed for the cost.

The 26-year-old was informed by KLM the next morning that it had booked a hotel for him.

He said: I was told, actually, we had a hotel booked for you last night, why didnt you stay there?

I said, nobody has emailed me and let me know I wasnt able to speak to someone because all the desks were closed.

So I stayed in the airport for no reason.

Another disrupted passenger, Michael McDonnell, a 28-year-old consultant from London, became stranded in Berlin with his partner Sarah, 28, for three nights after their British Airways flight was cancelled.

The consultant was meant to fly to Heathrow Airport from Berlin Brandenburg Airport at 9.20am on Monday before his flight was cancelled.

He said he received very little communication from the British airliner before being notified that he and his partner had been rebooked on a flight leaving on August 31, stranding them for three nights.

They told us we need to give them a call to change and rebook our flight online, but we couldnt get access online because the website wasnt working, Mr McDonnell told PA.

We couldnt call them as their line was too busy and then it would hang up.

We did end up getting through to someone and we got rebooked onto the next flight on Thursday morning.

The couple returned to the city centre of Berlin and rebooked at a hotel they had previously visited for their bank holiday weekend.

He explained: They (British Airways) didnt pay for the hotel, we paid for it.

We paid 150 per night for the hotel.

In a statement, British Airways said: Like other airlines operating in the UK, we are continuing to experience the knock-on effects of yesterdays NATS Air Traffic Control issue, which includes unavoidable delays and cancellations.

Customers travelling today or tomorrow on short-haul services can move their flight to a later date free of charge if they wish, subject to availability.

Weve apologised for the huge inconvenience caused, which was outside of our control and thank our customers for their patience as we work hard to get back on track.

PA has contacted Qatar Airways and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for comment.
People celebrated in the Gabonese capital of Libreville after a military coup saw President Ali Bongo removed from power. (Credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Military officers in Gabon have seized power of the country after annulling the recent election results which President Ali Bongo won in controversial circumstances.

Bongo, 64, has been placed under house arrest by the group, which seized power of the country on Wednesday 30 August. Almost a dozen officers naming themselves 'The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions' announced the move on television channel Gabon24, with members of the country's police force, republican guard and other security forces.

In a statement, those involved with the group's coup said: Today the country is undergoing a severe institutional, political, economic, and social crisis. In the name of the Gabonese people  we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime.

The election results saw President Bongo, whose family has been in power for more than 55 years, won a third term in office with 64% of the vote. However opposition politicians claimed that the result of the election, held on 26 August, was fraudulent.

Upon declaring the election result void, officers involved in the coup also closed the borders and dissolved state institutions. Supporters gathered in the streets of capital Libreville to celebrate Bongo's removal from office, while there were also unconfirmed reports of gunfire in the city

Bongo has since appeared on video pleading with his "friends all over the world" to "make noise" about the situation in Gabon, notably speaking in English as opposed to the Gabonese official language French. In the video, he said: "My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place. Nothing is happening. I don't know what is going on."

It comes amid a series of notable coups in Africa in the past few years. Only last month, military officers seized power in Niger. Coups have also taken place in Chad, Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.

Elisabeth Borne, Prime Minister of France, the former colonial ruler of Gabon, said that the country was monitoring the situation "with the greatest attention".
FILE PHOTO: A guest speaks on a mobile phone as she arrives for the French telecoms operator Iliad's media conference in Milan

By Stephanie Hamel and Victor Goury-Laffont

(Reuters) -French telecom provider Iliad reported a more than 4% rise in half-year core profit on Wednesday, supported by gains across markets and the expansion of its activities in Italy.

The unlisted company, which operates in France, Italy and Poland, posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and after leases (EBITDAal) of 1.64 billion euros ($1.78 billion) for the first half of 2023, up from 1.58 billion a year earlier.

Iliad's performance makes it an outlier among industry peers, after French rivals Orange and SFR, part of the Altice group, recorded weaker earnings growth for the half-year period.

In an economic context "full of uncertainties, caution is called for, but Iliad's development model is proving its robustness", Chief Executive Thomas Raynaud said in a statement.

Telecommunications companies across Europe have been hit by rising energy prices, infrastructure costs to deploy fibre and 5G coverage, and a slowdown in subscriber growth. This has led all Iliad's competitors on the French market to increase their rates.

Free Mobile, Iliad's French service provider and largest branch in terms of revenue, earlier this year set a five-year price cap on its plans, an anti-inflation measure that was criticised as the price of add-ons was nonetheless increased.

Asked about the cost of this measure during a press call, Raynaud described the price cap as an "opportunity to lead the race in terms of market share gains". He did not comment on the cost.

Regarding Italy's recent decision to join U.S. fund KKR's bid for Telecom Italia's grid, Raynaud said the move underlined a "strong political will" to deploy fibre across the country, to which Iliad contributes, adding the group was waiting for more details.

The group remains on the lookout for potential acquisitions in Italy after its 2022 Vodafone bid was rejected, he said.

($1 = 0.9204 euros)

(Reporting by Stephanie Hamel and Victor Goury-Laffont in Gdansk;Editing by Milla Nissi)
Madonna has shared a series of images from her huge end-of-summer party as she continues to fight back from her serious bacterial infection credit:Bang Showbiz

Madonna has shared a series of images from her huge end-of-summer party as she continues to fight back from her serious bacterial infection.

The Queen of Pop, 65, gave fans a glimpse into a bash she held with friends, family and tour dancers as she recovers at home from the health scare that left her hospitalised in June and prompted the postponement of her Celebration Tour.

She posted a carousel of images from a party including images of her adopted twins Estere and Stella, both 11, as well as her 17-year-old daughter Mercy.

In one image, Madonna is seen wore a dark blue button-up shirt and a matching pair of wide-legged pants as she chilled poolside.

Another snap showed the Grammy winner riding horseback during a getaway to an estate  and in other images she serenades partygoers before a group photo showed her pals sitting on her lap.

One more shows a man who appears to be one of her dancers flashing his bum on a lawn.

Mum-of-six Madonna  who also has sons Rocco, 23, and David, 17, as well as 26-year-old daughter Lourdes Leon  earlier this month paid tribute to twins Estere and Stella on their 11th birthday by posting a video documenting their lives together set to the Gary Jules version of the song Mad World.

She said: It is indeed a Mad world that we live in. And where would we be without the innocence and imagination of our children to remind us that Magic is all around us and anything is possible!

Happy birthday to Estere and Stella Mwale!! How could you be 11 years old already Because you are The Most magical Twins in The World!!

When I look at older videos of you Speaking Chichewa And having tea parties or dancing with a trance-like joy, I want to cry!! Time is a cruel mistress who leaves us with our memories never again to re-live them Only to try desperately to remember.

Madonna also reflected in the post on the past decade with the twins  who graduated from elementary school in June  and spoke of the first time she had the chance to meet the little girls, who she adopted in Machinji, Malawi.

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She added: I will never forget The first time we met you in Machinji.

Your eyes held the whole world in them. The same way we now hold you locked inside of our hearts.

In a way we are all displaced children, looking for connection. looking for love. Looking for a home which is ultimately ourselves!

She signed off the post with Zikomo  the Malawi word for Thank you.

Also earlier this month, Madonna announced her greatest hits tours rescheduled dates after having to postpone it following her illness.

The worldwide shows will launch on 14 October in London before the North American leg starts on 13 December.
Around 100 people have been arrested following an alleged same-sex wedding in Nigeria (Image: Delta State Command/Facebook)

Nigerian police have raided an alleged gay wedding ceremony, reportedly arresting 67 people on charges related to homosexuality.

The mass arrest occurred early Monday morning (28 August) in a hotel in the city of Ekpan in the southern Delta state, according to police statements. Initial reports indicated over 100 attendees were detained, though police confirmed 67 had been arrested.

Homosexuality is strictly illegal in Nigeria, with same-sex relations punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Attending, aiding, or abetting a gay wedding can also result in up to 10 years imprisonment.

A police spokesperson condemned the event during a news conference on Tuesday. He stated: We are in Africa and we are in Nigeria. We cannot copy the Western world, because we dont have the same culture.

He added that Delta state is no place for any sort of same-sex relationship.

Police also posted alleged video evidence of a wedding ceremony between two men. They also claim to have seized illegal drugs from the scene. Some attendees have denied it was a gay wedding, asserting it was a fashion show or modelling event.

Delta State Command have Arrested over hundred gay suspects in a hotel carrying out a gay wedding ceremony. We will be going Live Shortly on Facebook to parade the said Suspects.  Delta State Police Command (@DeltaPoliceNG) August 29, 2023

After detaining the group, police live-streamed a parade of the alleged attendees on Facebook, showing journalists interviewing several of them, seemingly under duress.

Witch-hunt against the LGBTQ+ community

Human rights organisations have denounced the mass arrest, with Amnesty International Nigeria calling it a witch-hunt against the LGBTQ+ community. Discrimination and violence against gay people remain common in Nigeria, despite efforts to promote equality.

In a society where corruption is rampant, the law banning same sex relationships is increasingly being used for harassment, extortion and blackmail of people by law enforcement officers and other members of the public. This is unacceptable.  Amnesty International Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) August 29, 2023

This police raid follows a similar 2018 incident in Lagos, where nearly 60 men were detained from a hotel party but later released. And this week, a man in Uganda was charged with aggravated homosexuality, an offence that could see him get the death penalty.

Story continues

While most African countries still ban homosexuality, a handful like South Africa and Angola have moved to decriminalise same-sex relationships. However, Nigeria maintains strict laws against any expression of LGBTQ+ identities.

As the investigation in Delta state continues, the detained individuals are expected to be formally charged this week.

We are still investigating and we want to assure Deltans and Nigerians that they will be charged to court soonest upon completion of the investigation, local police said during the Facebook live-stream.

The post Mass arrest in Nigeria over alleged same-sex wedding ceremony appeared first on Attitude.
FILE PHOTO: Men charged with public displays of same sex affection outside a Nigerian court (REUTERS)

Nigerian police raided an alleged gay wedding, which is illegal in the country, and arrested 67 people, officials said on Tuesday.

The arrests were made in southern Delta state's Ekpan town about 2am local time on Monday at a wedding, state police spokesman Bright Edafe claimed.

Africa's most populous nation's anti-gay laws includes a prison term of up to 14 years for those convicted, and bans gay marriage, same-sex relationships, and membership of gay rights groups.

The laws have frequently been condemned by the international community and human rights groups.

Police in Delta stormed a hotel in Ekpan where the alleged wedding was being held and initially arrested 200 people, Mr Edafe told reporters.

Later, 67 of them were detained after initial investigations, he said.

Speaking at a police station where those arrested were being paraded, he said: We saw two suspects, and there is a video recording where they were performing their wedding ceremony.

We are in Africa and we are in Nigeria. We cannot copy the Western world because we don't have the same culture."

Activists have accused Nigerian police of using anti-LGBT laws to carry out mass arrests that sometimes include straight people, including in 2017 when more than 40 people were arrested for allegedly being gay.

Amnesty International's Nigeria office condemned the arrests and called for an immediate end to this witch-hunt".

In a society where corruption is rampant, this law banning same sex relationships is increasingly being used for harassment, extortion and blackmail of people," Isa Sanusi, the organisation's director in Nigeria, told The Associated Press.

In a broadcast by police, one of those arrested said they had been at the hotel for another engagement, while another said he was arrested simply for how he was dressed.

On my way going to the event, police attacked me and took me to the police station," he said.

They said I have committed an offence while dressed like this but I don't know if cross-dressing is against the constitution of the land."

Nigeria is one of a growing list of African countries that have enacted laws criminalising same-sex relationships, the latest of which is Uganda, where a newly-signed law carries a death penalty in some instances.
Jordan Larcombe. Pic Hants police

Jordan Larcombe was jailed for 16 months for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

READ NOW: Married man kisses girl

The 27-year-old, of Landguard Road in Southampton, was initially handed the SHPO on 5 April 2017 after he was convicted of sexually abusing two teenage girls on the Isle of Wight.

Under the conditions of the SHPO, Larcombe was prohibited from using any phone or device capable of accessing the internet unless it can retain the internet history. He was also told to make the device available for inspection on request by police, and not delete any internet history or mobile phone use.

On 28 July this year, police officers conducted a visit to Larcombes home address where they examined his devices. He was found to have deleted his online search history  a breach of his SHPO.

He had also failed to register five new online usernames with police, which amounted to a failure to comply with his sex offender register (SOR) notification requirements. As a result, he was arrested and charged with breaching his SHPO, and five counts of failing to comply with his SOR requirements.

Larcombe admitted all of the offences, and was sentenced to 16 months in prison when he appeared at Southampton Crown Court.

PC Rob Thomas, from the Western Offender Management team, said: Larcombe is a prolific offender and is rightly back in prison for his blatant disregard for the conditions imposed on him.

We take the management of sex offenders incredibly seriously, and invest significant resources into doing everything we can to keep the public safe.

Officers will often make unannounced visits to offenders where they may be subject to an intrusive investigative interview process. This helps us understand an offenders routine, interests and behaviours so we can closely monitor them.

We can also examine their digital devices to ensure they are sticking to the legal requirements imposed on them. These orders are put in place to protect the public, and ensure that individuals do not re-offend.

Where sex offenders fail to comply, as can be seen in Larcombes case, they can and will be returned to jail.
After centuries of absence, wolves were first spotted back in Switzerland in 2012.

Since then their population has continued to grow. It was estimated that there were around two dozen packs at the start of this year, with some 250 individual wolves counted.

And while nature preservation groups hail it as a win for nature, farmers arent happy as attacks on their sheep herds have also risen.

In 2022, 1,480 farm animals were killed by wolves in Switzerland alone.

In response, Swiss authorities, who last year authorised the cull of 24 wolves and population control of a further four packs, last month relaxed the rules for hunting the protected species.

And with news of wolf attacks on livestock dominating the summer headlines, the Swiss Farmers' Union has urged more hunting permits to be issued to take advantage of the laxer ordinance.

Biologist Jeremie Moulin came up with an idea to protect the wolves, whilst appeasing the farmers.

How are volunteers protecting wolves and sheep?

The Organization for the Protection of Alpine Pastures (OPPAL) is a Swiss NGO which protects wolves by helping to chase them away from sheep.

Jeremie co-founded the organisation in a bid to help promote and improve cohabitation between wildlife and human activities, at a time when swelling wolf populations had emotions running high.

Protecting wolves in Switzerland

Aliki Buhayer-Mach and her husband, Francois Mach-Buhayer, are among the hundreds of volunteers working for OPPAL.

A biologist and a leading cardiologist by profession, they form an unlikely shepherd couple, spending the night watching over 480 sheep in remote Swiss mountains near the Italian border.

"Our goal is that by the end of the summer season, the livestock are still alive... and the wolves too," says OPPAL director Jeremie Moulin.

Story continues

Using a powerful torch, Aliki momentarily drenches a nearby mountain top in light, straining to see if wolves are lurking in the shadows.

If the predator were to get past the electric wires stretched around this high altitude pasture in the Swiss Alps, the 57-year-old biologist knows "it would be a massacre".

The volunteers use heat cameras to spot nearby wolves. - AFP

How to scare off wolves

The couple began volunteering right from the creation of OPPAL, and now do two five-day stints in various locations every summer.

"It's our vacation time," Francois said, looking around the desolate spot, reached after a four hour drive from Geneva and a nearly two hour hike up a steep, rocky path.

At 2,200 metres (7,200 feet) above sea level, temperatures quickly plunge as the sun sets.

Using a tarp, the couple have created a lookout shelter, equipped with camping chairs, thermal blankets and a propane coffee maker to get them through the night.

Francois explains that its best to work in pairs. One person uses binoculars from a vantage point to look out for danger whilst another patrols closer to the flock with a flashlight and whistle.

A bright light and a loud whistle is enough to scare off a wolf, according to Francois.

All through the freezing cold night, they take turns scanning the horizon with thermal, infrared binoculars every 15 minutes for signs of animals moving towards the flock of resting sheep, their bells chiming softly in the darkness.

"You have to look often, and you have to look well," Aliki said, "because the wolf can see us in the darkness and knows when to try its luck. And when it moves, it moves extremely fast."

Can you really protect sheep from wolves?

Up to 400 volunteers are taking part in OPPAL's monitoring programme this summer, spending nights camped out in mountain pastures, watching over grazing sheep and calves.

Shepherd Mathis von Siebenthal appreciates the effort.

"It is such a big help," he said after delivering the flock to Aliki and Francois for the night.

"If OPPAL were not here, I would be always... thinking if the wolf is coming or not. This way, I can go to sleep."

OPPAL director Jeremie Moulin said volunteers on average chase off wolves once every 20 nights, with 32 such events registered last year.

"We may not change the farmers' point of view, but we want to create collective knowledge, to get people to work together and foster dialogue, he added.

Watch the video above to learn more about wolves in Switzerland.
When Franz Rogowski tries to pinpoint the moment he went from being a struggling unknown to an in-demand art house star  the 37-year-old German actor is still basking in critical acclaim for his performances in Ira Sachs Passages alongside Ben Whishaw and Adele Exarchopoulos, as well

as Giacomo Abbruzzeses Berlin festival sleeper Disco Boy and will be walking the Lido red carpet with Giorgio Dirittis Venice competition title Lubo  he goes back to Berlin 2018.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

That was the year I had a double pack: Two films in competition, with [Christian Petzolds] Transit and [Thomas Stubers] In the Aisles, says Rogowski, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter via a shaky Zoom connection from France, where hes spending a few days after wrapping his latest, Bird from American Honey director Andrea Arnold.

I was also one of the European Shooting Stars that year. So it was a bit of a turning point.

Rogowski had been building a reputation in Germany for a few years before that point. He made his feature debut in Jakob Lass 2013 mumblecore drama Love Steaks, charming as an inarticulate masseur at a German luxury hotel. He shone in Sebastian Schippers one-shot thriller Victoria in 2015 as a nearly mute ex-con with a penchant for extreme violence. And he played Isabelle Hupperts angry, drunken son in Michael Hanekes Happy End in 2017, despite not speaking a word of French (he did his performance in German, with dialog dubbed in later, in post).

But it was 2018 that introduced the art house world to Franz Rogowski: Romantic lead. In Transit, he plays a man trying to escape occupied France who falls in love with the wife of the man whose identity he has stolen to wrangle a visa out. The chemistry between Rogowski and the female lead, Paula Beer, was so obvious that Petzold cast the pair as a mythical star-crossed couple in 2020s Undine. In Stubers In the Aisles, Rogowski plays a man with a dark past who finds the promise of romance in the most unlikely place: Between the shelves of a mega-market, where he works the forklift and flirts with the woman in charge of the candy corner (played by Sandra Huller).

Story continues

Both films were critical hits, and Rogowski started getting noticed (it may have helped that it was also the year THR named him the Next Big Thing out of Germany.)

That was the first time I had to do real press for a festival, where I got a feeling for what it was like to promote a film, to do interviews, to walk the red carpet in a nice suit, he says. You know, trying to always find something clever to say, which really isnt my strong suit.

He seems to be getting the hang of it. With Passages, Rogowski has (almost) gone mainstream. Hes the center of Sachs menage-a-trois drama, playing the charming, but chaotic and destructive Tomas, a German filmmaker living in Paris with his husband Martin (Ben Whishaw) who begins an affair with a young French woman, Agathe (Adele Exarchopoulos), triggering a crisis.

Ira called me and said he had a script for me, that he had written the part with me in mind, which was a great honor, he recalls. And then he said he didnt want to rehearse too much beforehand because he wanted me to be myself in the role. But my character is sort of a selfish asshole. So I thought: Is this what Ira Sachs thinks of me?

Rogowski took the role, regardless, and says he feels more attached to Thomas than Id like to admitAll the characters in the film are seeking closeness and connection, seeking relationships. But Thomas doesnt even have a relationship with himself. So its very difficult for him to have a relationship with another person, male or female.

Passages has drawn attention, in some quarters, for its explicit, and very steamy, sex scenes, including two separate extended encounters between Rogowski and Exarchopoulos and Rogowski and Whishaw, the latter done in an extended single shot that manages to by turns to be both erotic and raunchy as well as emotionally fraught and tender.

The scene [with Whishaw] in a way was very complicated, technically, but in another way very simple, says Rogowski. It was a bit like having real sex with someone you dont know. You dont know how it will be. Even if you dont work in this very specific profession of actor, this kind of high intimacy can happen to anyone: It can be overwhelming, but, if it goes well, you end up in bed with someone you can trust and like. So, in one sense, our sex wasnt real, because we didnt engage in penetration, but it was real in terms of the excitement before an unknown intimacy, which then happened. I have to admit I was a bit surprised by how much controversy the sex scenes generated. I dont watch that many films but for me, the sex in this film functions more like music. Its part of the psychological drama of the love story. At a point the words stop and the bodies continue to tell the story.

Franz Rogowski and Adele Exarchopoulos in Passages.

A former dancer, Rogowski is accustomed to letting his body do the talking for him. But hes becoming more comfortable with words as well. For Lubo, which premieres in Venice, he had to learn lines in three languages: Swiss German, Italian and Yenish, an almost extinct language spoken by just a few tens of thousands, the majority of whom live in the Swiss Alpine region. In Giorgio Dirittis 1939-set drama, he plays Lubo Moser, a Yenish nomadic street artist who is called up for military service in the Swiss army to protect the border. While on duty he learns the police have taken his children to be re-educated, as part of a national program of eugenics to cleanse the country of the Yenish culture. Lubo vows revenge.

When I read the screenplay I thought the story was so grand and violent and had so many different shades I thought it be incredible if I could manage to make it, says Rogowski. Its a terrible story and an almost forgotten one, at least in the collective consciousness. The government separated the Yenish people. The women were sent to the hospital to be forcibly sterilized and the children were taken to childrens homes and either left there or sold to farming families or childless couples to be raised outside their tradition. I think Switzerland tends to think of itself as very correct, one of the good nations, and in many ways they are. But Switzerland also has its dark chapters.

Franz Rogowski in Lubo

The role brought back memories for Rogowski, who spent a year in Italian Switzerland at a clown school. I had to re-train some of my juggling skills but I could still manage a bit of Italian, and Swiss German, he say, though for the Yenish, I had to learn it phonetically, like abstract music. But we shot in the same area where I went to clown school. And I remembered my first-ever film festival, which was in Locarno, maybe 19, 20 years ago.

Then still a struggling clown-to-be, Rogowski developed a routine with a fellow classmate to perform for the Locarno crowds.

I was a juggler and he was a street clown. In the routine hed go in front of a coffee shop and try to entertain everyone, then Id come in, as a competitor and wed start this big clown fight, about who had the best jokes, who was the best juggler, he recalls. In the end, we become good friends and do partner acrobatics together. That was my first festival, collecting coins from tourists. 15 years later, I had my first film at Locarno, as a grown-up, professional actor.

While he now knows the film promotion routine  how to find clever things to say to nosy journalists  he admits feeling odd to be working amid the ongoing US actors strike. (Rogowski is not a member of SAG-AFTRA and has never worked in the US.)

Its a strange situation because this strike is very important this situation, where these major streamers have forced through these aggressive contracts, is happening not only in America but also in Europe, where people also find themselves in poorly paid commitments for years, he says. So the strike is essential, but what shouldnt be forgotten is that theres also a European market that exists independently of all these. And asking European filmmakers that are not a part of the streamers or studios or the union to not support their own films just wouldnt be in anyones interest.

Despite his recent success  at 37, I feel like Ive finally found something that works Rogowski admits he still feels imposter syndrome the first day of every new shoot.

Every new role, every new film, I arrive and dont know if Ill be able to do it, if the role will turn out, he says. But the nice thing, what Ive learned, is that everyone, even the very famous people on set, are all the same in that regard. No one has a magic trick, were all just making it up as we go, trying to find something together.

Best of The Hollywood Reporter

Click here to read the full article.
Senior Chinese diplomat meets speaker of Arab Parliament

Xinhua) 15:18, August 30, 2023

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, met with the speaker of the Arab Parliament Adel Al Asoomi on Tuesday in Beijing.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that China is willing to work with Arab countries to firmly support each other, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and enhance exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. He extended congratulatory greetings to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on becoming full members of the BRICS group.

Wang stressed that the future and destiny of the Middle East should be in the hands of regional countries and people. China supports an early, fair and reasonable settlement of the Palestinian issue, he noted.

Adel Al Asoomi said the Arab side regards China as a reliable strategic partner, highly appreciates and supports the series of important initiatives put forward by China, and is willing to push bilateral relations to a new level.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
HA NOI  Despite mixed results in the first half of the year, investors still see appealing prospects for technology stocks in the long term.

In the first half of the year, the revenue of digital technology enterprises was more than VN1.44 quadrillion (US$59.6 billion), down 10.35 per cent year-on-year and reached 38.87 per cent of the 2023 plan, according to a report by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Export turnover of hardware and electronics is estimated at $51.51 billion, a decline of 9.56 per cent on-year and equal to 37.88 per cent of the yearly plan.

The fall in revenue is due to the economic recession in many countries leading to a decrease in the information technology (IT) consumer market and low growth prospects. This directly impacts the demand for IT services.

The software export segment, on the other hand, still maintained good growth thanks to strong investment trends in digital transformation, especially in Japan and Asia Pacific markets.

Mixed business results

In the second quarter's consolidated financial statement, FPT Corporation posted a net revenue of over VN12.4 trillion, a gain of 23.7 per cent over last year, while its profit after tax increased by 21 per cent to more than VN1.5 trillion.

For the first six months of the year, FPT's net revenue and profit after tax rose 21.9 per cent and 18.2 per cent year-on-year, respectively, to nearly VN24.2 trillion and VN3.7 trillion.

The company said that in the first half of the year, the technology segment recorded a revenue of VN14.2 trillion, a gain of 25.1 per cent year-on-year, with profit before tax up 26.3 per cent to over VN2 trillion.

The IT services for the foreign market, in particular, achieved a revenue of more than VN11.2 trillion, up 30.2 per cent, and profit before tax of VN1.8 trillion, a 34.6 per cent increase. The gains were driven by high demand for digital transformation.

Similarly, CMC Investment JSC also reported net revenue of the first quarter of 2023 (accounting period April 1 to June 30, 2023) increased by 3.6 per cent over last year to VN1.7 trillion. The group's profit before tax advanced by 3.3 per cent year-on-year to VN109.6 billion. Deducting expenses, the business earned VN96.7 billion in net profit, up 5.2 per cent.

In contrast, Elcom Technology Communications Corporation recorded a fall of 79 per cent year-on-year in net revenue in the second quarter to VN35.3 billion, with its gross profit down 63 per cent to VN14.7 billion. Excluding expenses, the company's profit after tax halved to over VN5 billion.

For the first six months of 2023, ELcom's net revenue dropped 67.7 per cent on-year to VN121.2 billion, while net profit fell 64.8 per cent to VN8.4 billion.

Elcom said that the declines in business results in the second quarter and the first half of 2023 were mainly due to a slow in site clearance of some large projects, in disbursement of capital, and in bidding procedures, which led to the slow implementation of these projects, causing sales revenue and profit after tax to decrease over last year.

Viet Nam Technology & Telecommunication JSC is another company witnessing poor performance in the second quarter, with a decline of 55.4 per cent in profit after tax to VN5.3 billion. For the six months of the year, its net profit reached VN11.1 billion, down 28.8 per cent.

Bright outlook

Although business results of the whole industry fluctuated, stock prices of the IT group experienced positive movements.

From the beginning of the year to August 28, shares of FPT Corporation (FPT), CMC Investment (CMC), Elcom Technology Communications Corporation (ELC) and Viet Nam Technology & Telecommunication (TTN) all ticked higher. Of which, FPT soared 37.2 per cent, CMC jumped 44.4 per cent, ELC gained 123.1 per cent, and TTN advanced 18 per cent.

BIDV Securities JSC (BSC) said that the IT group on the market would have positive business results in the second half of 2023 thanks to factors such as growth in software exports to Japan and Asia, offsetting the slowing down in the US market.

The group would also be supported by the trend of digital transformation and public investment in smart transportation, the revised Telecommunications Law (expected to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval in October 2023) with many new contents.

Meanwhile, KB Securities Vietnam JSC said that difficulties in the US and European markets would continue to affect Viet Nam's IT industry. However, the securities firm still had a positive view on the prospect of software export in the mid- and long-term.

KBSV believes that information technology businesses will continue to maintain double-digit growth in 2023.  VNS
HA NOI  The Petrovietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC) and its Singaporean partner Sembcorp Utilities Pte Ltd have been granted a survey licence and a letter of content to carry out the steps related to a project on developing offshore renewable energy in Viet Nam and exporting clean electricity to Singapore.

The granting ceremony, in the presence of Prime Ministers Pham Minh Chinh and Lee Hsien Loong, was part of a conference held in Ha Noi on August 29 to promote investment cooperation projects between the two countries.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) handed over a decision approving the monitoring, investigation, surveying, and assessment of marine resources to PTSC, a member of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam). Meanwhile, the Singaporean Ministry of Trade and Industry presented a letter of intent approving this project to Sembcorp.

The moves enabled the two enterprises to take the next steps in their offshore renewable energy project in Viet Nam to export clean electricity to Singapore.

With this licence, PTSC is currently the first and only investor in Viet Nam to have been permitted by the MoNRE to monitor, investigate, survey, and assess marine resources to develop offshore wind power.

In February 2023, PTSC and Sembcorp signed a joint development agreement on the cooperation in investing in and exporting renewable electricity produced offshore Viet Nam to the city state.

Accordingly, their project will turn out some 2.3GW of power and export to Singapore through a submarine cable system to meet the countrys clean electricity demand from 2030. VNA/VNS
HCM CITY Artists from the HCM City-based private drama troupe Hoang Thai Thanh are working on a new play about social issues based on a short story by famous female author Nguyen Ngoc Tu.

The play, Tra Lai Lia Thia (Returning Home), is a production that uses literary elements written by Tu, winner of the Southeast Asian Writers Award from the Thai Royal Family in 2008 and the Literaturpeis Prize 2018 from the Frankfurt Book Festival.

The 90-minute show depicts realistic images of southern farmers who are now working and facing challenges in a modern market economy.

Southern culture and lifestyle are also highlighted.

Our show, Tra Lai Lia Thia, is a story of southern farmers who have different difficulties and opportunities to be free to work, talk, share and love together for a better life here, said the plays producer Ai Nhu in her interview with local media. Our artists will offer drama in the style of the South. They will bring a lively taste of Vietnamese drama to audiences.

Nhu invited young talents Ky Thao and Ma Ran o to perform as lead characters. Meritorious Artist Thanh Hoi, Tri Quang and Kim Huyen are also featured.

Writer Tus works highlight the lives of farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta River region. I asked my actors to learn about Southern history and culture. This helped to breathe life into the play, said theatre producer-actress Nhu, owner of Hoang Thai Thanh Drama Troupe.

Begun in 2010, Hoang Thai Thanh Drama Troupe features 20 professional artists. The theatre offers shows staged especially for young people. Its performances have attracted more than 13,000 spectators.

The play Tra Lai Lia Thia is staged to celebrate the 78th anniversary of National Day (September 2, 1945-2023).

Its first show will start at 8pm on September 2 at 139 Bac Hai Street, District 10. It is scheduled to be staged on Saturday and Sunday in September and October.  VNS
HCM CITY  Mexican food lovers and those curious about its gastronomy are looking forward to joining the First Gastronomic Festival of Mexico in HCM City on September 15-22.

It is organised by the Embassy of Mexico in Viet Nam and local restaurants to mark the 213th anniversary of the Independence of Mexico and savour Mexicos gastronomy, declared an Intangible World Heritage by UNESCO in 2010.

Six selected Mexican restaurants representing authenticity and diversity, including District Federal, Agave Saigon, Xolo Tequila Bar, Tacos Fuego, Gringo Tacos y Cantina, and Tippys Mexican Food, will take diners through a unique gastronomic experience.

The festival is also for diners to learn about the country's rich cultural heritage by immersing themselves in a traditional Mexican atmosphere.

The Ambassador of Mexico in Viet Nam, Alejandro Negrin, introduced the unprecedented event as an initiative of the Embassy to strengthen bilateral relations through the passion for food.

"Since Mexican cuisine is a UNESCO World Heritage for its explosion of flavours and traditions, the event is hoped to offer a unique experience to the Vietnamese public," Negrin said, adding that it is also a testament to the strong friendship between the two nations.

Mexican gastronomy is an amalgamation of flavours, colours, and traditions that we are eager to share with the Vietnamese public. Thus, the event promises to delight the senses and create unforgettable culinary memories. said Vu Minh Anh, Honorary Consul of Mexico in HCM City.  VNS
HA NOI  The Vietnamese Consulate General in Sydney and the University of Sydney co-organised a symposium on Australia - Viet Nam innovation on August 29 in both in-person and online format, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties this year.

In his online speech, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son said sci-tech and innovation were highlights of bilateral strategic partnership and would become major pillars in their upcoming cooperation framework.

He added that one of the priorities in Viet Nam's development strategy was to build an economy based on sci-tech, innovation, digital transformation and green growth. Therefore, Viet Nam was expanding international cooperation in these fields, with Australia being a leading partner.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Bui The Duy said he hoped that the event would continue to explore topics of mutual interest, ranging from health care to clean energy, thereby fostering new connections and cooperation opportunities.

Concluding the event, Ambassador to Australia Nguyen Tat Thanh described Australia as Viet Nam's leading partner in sci-tech which constitutes one of the three pillars of cooperation between Viet Nam and Australia, alongside the economic and security pillars.

He stressed that innovation remained a crucial area of bilateral collaboration in the decades ahead, adding Viet Nam wishes to collaborate with Australia in such fields as digital transformation, energy transition, climate change response, health care, circular economy, and start-ups.

Speaking to the Viet Nam News Agency following the event, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology of New South Wales state and Australian Minister for Industry and Trade Anoulack Chanthivong said both countries shared numerous benefits, such as in joint efforts in decarbonisation and ensuring energy security, aimed at bringing about a brighter future for their respective people.

Round-table workshops were also held on the occasion, with topics on enhancing bilateral economic, trade, industry cooperation; and improving health care through studies and clinical trials and sustainable future coordination.  VNS
HA NOI  The eighth border defence friendship exchange between Viet Nam and China is scheduled to take place in Viet Nams northern province of Lao Cai and its neighbouring Chinese province of Yunnan on September 7 - 8.

The Vietnamese delegation will be led by Phan Van Giang, Politburo member, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Minister of National Defence. Meanwhile, Li Shangfu, a State Councillor and Minister of National Defence of China, will lead the Chinese side to the event, the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence told a press briefing in Ha Noi on Tuesday.

On September 7, activities will take place in Viet Nam, including a welcome ceremony for the Chinese delegation at the Lao Cai International Border Gate, a border marker saluting ceremony, the planting of commemorative trees, the launch of work on a friendship house of culture in Ban Phiet Commune of Bao Thang District, a visit to and presentation of gifts to the Kim ong Primary School in Lao Cai City, and the talks between the two delegations.

China will host others on September 8, including a welcome ceremony for the Vietnamese delegation at the Hekou International Border Gate, a border marker saluting ceremony, the planting of commemorative trees, a visit to a military unit/a school in the Hekou area, and a bilateral seminar.

Prior to the exchange, other activities will be organised, such as providing free health examinations and medicine for border residents, presenting scholarships to 50 students from poor families and heifers to disadvantaged households. The authorities will also review the twin relationship between border communities and the coordination between the border guard post of the Lao Cai International Border Gate and the Hekou border guard unit of Yunnans Mengzi region.

The ministry said the eighth border defence friendship exchange aims to help implement the Viet Nam - China joint statement on the continued promotion and intensification of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, issued during an official visit to China by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in November 2022, thereby helping strengthen mutual trust and cooperation between the two Parties, States, and defence ministries.

It is also one of the important diplomatic activities between the countries defence ministries this year, with a view to promoting friendship, solidarity, and substantive cooperation between their border defence forces, administrations of border localities, and local residents so as to build a joint border of peace, friendship, stability, cooperation, and development, the ministry added.

The first exchange was held in Quang Ninh Province of Viet Nam and Guangxi Province of China in 2014.  VNS
HA NOI  State President Vo Van Thuong hosted a reception for outgoing Kazakh Ambassador to Viet Nam Yerlan Baizhanov in Ha Noi on Wednesday.

During the meeting, the host thanked Baizhanov for his collaboration with Vietnamese authorities to successfully organise the official visit to Viet Nam by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, saying that Viet Nam highly values the success of the visit which opens a new chapter in the bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

President Thuong expressed the belief that with the sincerity and sense of responsibility of the two countries' authorities, the all-around cooperation between Viet Nam and Kazakhstan will be strengthened in the coming time.

He appreciated the significant and effective contributions made by the Kazakh diplomat to deepening the Viet Nam-Kazakhstan friendship and cooperation in recent times, stressing that the two countries share similarities in history and culture, and that they are good friends.

The host praised the ambassadors efforts to promote culture and art exchange and cooperation, contributing to promoting mutual understanding between the two peoples and the Viet NamKazakhstan traditional friendship.

For his part, Baizhanov stated that his country attaches great importance to its relations with Viet Nam. He noted that throughout his tenure, he received active support and coordination from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies of Viet Nam.

The Kazakh diplomat showed his pleasure at the fruitful economic cooperation between the two nations, suggesting the two sides further step up partnerships in areas that are strengths of each party.

Kazakhstan possesses strengths in information technology and digital transformation which meet state management and the demand of people, he stressed, stating that the Central Asian nation is keen to collaborate with Viet Nam in these areas.

Baizhanov expressed the hope that the Vietnamese President will visit Kazakhstan as soon as possible.  VNS
HA NOI  National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong inh Hue on Wednesday afternoon hosted a reception for Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) President Kenta Izumi in Ha Noi.

Hue said Viet Nam always attaches importance to the relations with Japan and expressed his hope the two countries will strengthen exchanges at all channels of the Party, the Government, the National Assembly as well as people-to-people exchanges and business and locality cooperation.

The NA Chairman highly appreciated Japan's political parties for always agreeing to further consolidate the extensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia with Viet Nam, adding that this is an important foundation for the two sides to continue building their relationship for the next 50 years.

CDP President Izumi Kenta said his Party, with about 130 parliamentarians, has contributed to improving a safe environment for foreign communities, including the Vietnamese community in Japan.

On this occasion, NA Chairman Hue thanked the Japanese Government and CDP for caring for the Vietnamese community in Japan.

He said despite many difficulties, the Communist Party of Viet Nam has set two strategic goals. By 2030, which will mark the 100th anniversary of the Party's founding, Viet Nam will be a developing country with modern industry and high average income. By 2045, when Viet Nam celebrates its 100th anniversary of the country's founding, the country will become a developed and high-income country.

Viet Nams goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 is an important and responsible commitment on the route to obtain sustainable development goals. To achieve these goals, in addition to Viet Nams efforts, the cooperation and solidarity of other countries, especially Japan, are significant, Hue said.

He wished the CDP would continue to support and consolidate all-round relations between the two countries.

The CDP President pledged to cooperate closely with Viet Nam as a leading partner to obtain the goals set by the Communist Party of Viet Nam.

Both leaders shared the view that the two countries need to promote cooperation in high technology, combating climate change, socio-economic development, defence and security.

They agreed that both countries will continue to cooperate and share experiences in institution building, technological and financial cooperation in digital transformation and energy transformation to achieve each country's goals and objectives as well as achieving the worlds common goals.

The two leaders vowed to increase the exchange of friendly parliamentary groups.

Hue hoped that more Japanese parliamentarians would visit Viet Nam, especially next month to attend the Global Young Parliamentarians Conference hosted by the Vietnamese NA.

Both sides affirmed that Viet Nam and Japan together make efforts and support their views and positions in maintaining peace, stability, and resolving disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means, in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. (UNCLOS).  VNS
HA NOI  President Vo Van Thuong on August 30 decided to reduce death penalties to life sentences for 11 prisoners.

The commutation is within the jurisdiction of the State President as stipulated in the Constitution and law, and at the proposals of the Chief Judge of the Supreme Peoples Court, Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuracy and Chairman of the Presidential Office.

This decision demonstrates the leniency and humanitarian policy of the Party and the State, creating conditions for prisoners to return to their families and the community. VNA/VNS
MOSCOW - Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu and First Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Vladimir Titov co-chaired the 12th Vietnam-Russia defence and security strategy dialogue in Moscow on August 29.

While in Moscow, Vu paid a courtesy visit to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and met former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

At the working sessions, the two sides expressed their delight at the positive developments of the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership over the past time, and affirmed the importance the two countries attach to forging all-round cooperation.

They agreed to make efforts to implement bilateral cooperation, making it match the comprehensive strategic partnership as well as the time-honoured friendship between the two nations, for mutual benefit.

In the spirit of high mutual trust and understanding, they held in-depth discussions on regional and international issues of shared concern, saying given regional and global uncertainties, multilateral mechanisms should be carried forward to deal with common challenges.

The two sides agreed to step up information exchange and maintain close coordination at international forums, particularly the United Nations, and within the ASEAN-Russia cooperation framework.

Vu suggested Russia strengthen its multi-faceted cooperation with ASEAN, and make more contributions to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

On this occasion, the Vietnamese official had a working session with leaders of the City of St. Petersburg and met Russian friends and representatives of the Vietnamese community in Russia. VNA/VNS
HA NOI  Liver cancer is responsible for the highest number of deaths among cancer patients in Viet Nam with the total number topping 26,000 each year.

The number accounts for 21 per cent of the deaths caused by cancer in the country. The data was revealed by the Viet Nam National Cancer Hospital at a recent event named Correct understanding of liver cancer.

The hospital said 90 per cent of liver cancer cases in Viet Nam were hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 77 per cent were men.

Lai Phu Thai Son, deputy head of the hospitals Tan Trieu Branch told Suc khoe & oi song (Health & Life) online newspaper that symptoms of liver cancer were often atypical and easily overlooked.

Most patients often came to see the doctor for disease detection and treatment when the disease was at a late stage, he said.

It caused treatment more difficult and costly, he said.

Experts recommend people pay more attention to the issue of early screening in the hope of detecting and treating early.

There are liver cancer patients extending their lives for a dozen years thanks to early detection and timely treatment.

Ha Hai Nam, deputy head of the hospitals Department of Abdominal Surgery 1, said there were some high-risk groups who need to be early screened for liver cancer.

People with hepatitis B and C viruses, cirrhosis, fatty liver, or having one of their family members contracted liver cancer need to be screened early, according to Nam.

If a person has contracted active hepatitis B and C viruses, he or she needs to be treated early to avoid the risk of complications into liver cancer because hepatitis B and C viruses are believed to be the leading causes of primary hepatocellular carcinoma.

People who have not been vaccinated against hepatitis B should be vaccinated as soon as possible to avoid the risk of infection later.

People, who are obese, has diabetes, and drank a lot of alcohol should also be early screened for liver cancer.

In recent years, the rate of people with diabetes, obesity and liver cancer in the world has increased significantly. High blood sugar and blood fat accumulated in the liver lead to degenerative damage to liver cells and causing cirrhosis, increasing the risk of liver cancer.

Nam also added that alcohol had the ability to promote oncogenes to develop rapidly, leading to early cancer. In addition, alcohol also damaged liver cells. When drinking too much alcohol, the liver's detoxification function would be overloaded, and liver cells were severely damaged, forming scar tissue, fibrosis, thereby forming cirrhotic liver rafts and liver cancer.

People who often use stimulants such as tobacco and coffee with large amounts for a long time could get liver diseases, including liver cancer, according to the doctor.

People who eat mouldy foods also have to be early screened for liver cancer.

Aflatoxins in mould are the most powerful liver cancer-causing toxin today. Aflatoxins cause liver cancer by causing mutations in the p53 gene. Mould often occurs in preserved foods, stored in a hot and humid environment such as rice, peanuts, soybeans, wheat and corn.

People who often eat meat contaminated with fluke also should be early screened for liver cancer.

Raw foods that are not carefully processed often contain many types of flukes, including some flukes when entering the body, would destroy the liver, cause liver cancer.

People who used or exposed to some drugs and chemicals, such as thorotrast and vinyl chloride, for a long time are advised to be screened for liver cancer because the drugs and chemicals could cause damage to the liver and lead to liver cancer.  VNS
HCM CITY  NGO Operation Smile Vietnam and the National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology- HCM City are providing free surgeries for 72 children with maxillofacial deformities from August 28 to 31.

They are funded by philanthropists using the MoMo online payment platform, Viet Nams leading super app.

Ninety one children were screened at the National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology -HCM City on August 28 for malformation and their ability to respond to surgery, and doctors decided to perform surgeries on 72 of them.

Children with more complicated medical conditions will have individual examination and surgery after the programme.

Since the launch of the Heo at MoMo charitable feature on its app in 2019, MoMo has become a partner of Operation Smile Vietnam.

Through the platform, donors can support the surgeries organised by Operation Smile Vietnam.

As of August this year the donations on the platform have helped provide surgeries to 1,233 children who were born with cleft lip or palate.

Nguyen Viet Phuong, chief representative of Operation Smile, said the organisation is honoured to accompany MoMo and make valuable contributions to the community.

It hopes to work with MoMo on projects with third parties to bring smiles back to more people and participate in projects and training courses to help the sustainable and long-term development of the healthcare system, he added.

Nguyen Hoanh Tien, senior vice president in charge of marketing and distribution services at MoMo, said even the smallest donation could make a difference to the lives of many children.

We believe that if we continue to join hands we will bring smiles to more children across Viet Nam.  VNS
The events, spanning six cities in five ASEAN countries, recognise the significant achievements and advancements made by banks in the region and bring together financial leaders from around the world to share insights and foster collaboration.

During these events, Citi senior leaders and guest speakers discussed several important topics in the banking sector, including navigating real-time banking, powering digital commerce through a seamless payment experience, managing risk and financial crime compliance, and navigating cross-border payment challenges, among others.

Citi also took the opportunity to share the results of its Future of Payments survey, which engaged more than 100 financial institution clients.

Citi also took the opportunity to share the results of its Future of Payments survey, which engaged more than 100 financial institution clients.

The survey highlighted that in the next three to five years, there will be an unprecedented level of change in payments and the growing cross-border payments revenue will be split between various players.

Two out of five Citi clients indicated that they have lost at least 5 per cent market share to fintech firms.

Nearly 90 per cent of respondents said they expect market share to drop anywhere from 5-10 per cent over the next decade. With disruptions from fintech companies and challenger banks, 'traditional' banks must respond to this evolving environment.

Aashish Mishra, Asia head of Financial Institutions and Fintech Sales at Citis Treasury and Trade Solutions, said, We believe that active collaboration will help deliver better solutions for our clients in this challenging environment. Citi remains steadfast in our commitment to being at the forefront of our clients' success journey."

Our focus on product innovation, digitalisation, balance sheet management, liquidity position, and a robust risk management framework has positioned us as a critical pillar of stability for the market and our clients, Mishra added.

Ramachandran A.S., Citi Vietnams country officer

Ramachandran A.S., Citi Vietnams country officer said, Citi presents the STP Award annually to banks that showcase exceptional quality and meet the highest global standards for automatic processing of international payments. We will continue to expand our payments network and offer new payment methods to our clients globally.

Citi announced the winners' list of Citi Excellent Straight Through Processing Award 2022 to recognise local banks for automatic processing of international payments earlier this year.

The 11 award-winning Vietnamese banks are Agribank, BIDV, Vietcombank, VietinBank, ACB, Eximbank, HDBank, MB, Sacombank, Techcombank, and VPBank.

The Citi Excellent Straight Through Processing Award has been ongoing for nearly 20 years and is one of the most prestigious award schemes in the banking industry, recognising financial institutions and banks that have state-of-the-art international payment services with highly qualified international transactions.

Local banks seek foreign funding On May 23, Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) announced the completion of the transfer of a 50 per cent stake in its consumer finance subsidiary SHB Finance to its Thai partner, Krungsri Bank. Over a year on from initially signing the contract to sell the stake, SHB has now received $78 million from its foreign partner.

Citi organises beach clean-up on Global Community Day On June 24, more than 120 employees and their families gathered at Phan Thiet beach in Binh Thuan to lend a hand in cleaning the beach. On June 17, about 70 Citi employees also came together to clean up plastic and other non-biodegradable waste at Do Son Beach in Haiphong.
In recent days, Vietnam's stock market has been buzzing with rumours regarding FPT Corporation's (HSX: FPT) alleged plans to issue shares to foreign investors at a price of VND140,000 ($5.91) per share.

This has led to various investor groups championing the purchase of FPT shares, aiming to attain prices near to the supposed foreign investor sale price.

During the August 28 trading session, FPT's stocks captured significant attention. A strong buying force enabled them to accelerate noticeably following a subtle rise over the morning session.

Specifically, by the close, FPT shares had risen by 3.8 per cent, with a trading volume surpassing 2.95 million units. This propelled FPT's market capitalisation to nearly $5.2 billion.

However, an industry insider told VIR that the information claiming FPT's intention to release up to 20 per cent of its shares exclusively to foreign investors might be inaccurate.

Firstly, its current foreign ownership limit is capped at 49 per cent, and there have been no plans publicised by the company to expand this figure.

Secondly, within FPT's shareholder structure, State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) currently holds over 5 per cent of the capital. SCIC cannot approve any plans that would indirectly lead to a state capital reduction in the business.

Lastly, FPT currently has a robust cash flow, raising questions as to why it would consider capital mobilisation at this juncture. FPT's mid-year financial report indicates a substantial increase in term deposits and a solid financial foundation.

Some investors speculate that FPT might be contemplating selling a 20 per cent stake of its software subsidiary, FSoft, to foreign investors.

Speaking to VIR, Nguyen The Phuong, deputy CEO of FPT said, "These speculations are baseless. At present, we have no plans for any capital mobilisation involving foreign investors for either FPT or FSoft."

Keppel Corporation acquires stake in a retail property in Hanoi Singaporean Keppel Corporation on July 6 announced that Keppel Land Ltd., through its wholly-owned subsidiary, VN Prime Vietnam Co., Ltd., is acquiring a 65 per cent stake in a company ProjectCo, which will hold a retail property in Hanoi.

FPT Smart Cloud partners with Home Credit Indonesia in financial services The all-encompassing partnership between FPT Smart Cloud and Home Credit Indonesia heralds a new era of innovation in the financial services industry, leveraging advanced capabilities of FPT.AI solutions to enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and drive business growth.
Despite a clearer direction since net-zero vows were made in 2021, Vietnam will continue to face challenges stemming from human resources that do not meet the requirements of such a transition.

Green transition placing pressure on labour market, illustration photo/ Source: freepik.com

At this moment, the demand for green skills is outpacing its availability. Around 60 per cent of young people may lack the necessary skills to thrive in the green economy by 2030, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, Pauline Tamesis, told a green skills education workshop earlier in August.

Nguyen Ngoc Duyen, a national skills development project coordinator at the International Labour Organization, said that the share of job postings requiring a worker to have at least one green skill jumped 22 per cent from 2022 to 2023. In addition to areas including renewable energy, environmental protection, logistics, and green jobs are also present in all traditional industries.

A green job is not only a production process that meets environmental protection standards. It is also a satisfactory job when employees have good income and higher working productivity, as defined by the ILO, she said.

The ILO estimates that there will be about 7 million jobs lost and 25 million new ones created from the green transition globally by 2030. Asia-Pacific is the region that stands to benefits the most.

The transformation of the employment system has posed the challenge of developing skills to meet new job requirements, especially training for workers in occupations that are at risk of disappearing due to the green transition.

Around 14 million new jobs will be created if regional countries continue to invest in the environment, and Vietnam is no exception, Duyen shared. Changing job opportunities require young workers to prepare basic knowledge and learn skills involving efficient use of resources, engineering, operation, supervision, and soft skills. These are the necessary preparations to meet the new requirements of the economy.

The results conducted by the World Bank in collaboration with the General Statistics Office show that green jobs account for nearly 4 per cent of total jobs in Vietnam and are present in nearly 40 occupations. However, 90 other occupations that currently hold more than 40 per cent of total employment have great potential to become green occupations in the future.

Each sector has green jobs, even though they do not directly provide environmental goods and services. For example, environmental engineers and conservationists are green careers in the mining industry, while agriculture has the highest concentration of potential green jobs, cited Abla Safir, senior economist at the World Bank.

According to the World Bank, Vietnams green employment rate is equivalent to that of the United States, Indonesia, and Cambodia. This rate will also increase as investment trends for the environment and sustainable development are top priorities in many countries, leading to an increase in the demand for labour in respective fields.

According to Deloittes 2023 CxO Sustainable Development Report, three-quarters of businesses globally have increased their investment in sustainability over the last year. Studies reveal that about 70 per cent of employees feel that a sustainability initiative makes an employer more appealing.

Recruitment adverts mentioning businesses environmental, social, and governance efforts often draw in a larger number of candidates, especially young ones, Nguyen Thanh Huong, country human resources manager at Manpower Group Vietnam shared.

ManpowerGroup is currently assisting many businesses to find candidates for hundreds of green job positions, including full-time work and labour outsourcing. The company says manufacturing, energy, agriculture, and technology industries have the highest demand for green personnel.

Agricultural enterprise GREENFEED Vietnam has also complained about the lack of qualified workers.

Chief people officer Nguyen Tam Trang said, The company seeks as many as 2,000 employees in addition to the 4,000 currently working at member companies of the group. However, it is not always possible to recruit enough personnel to meet such needs.

To be proactive in human resources for greening, the company has cooperated with more than 40 universities and colleges to implement programmes to award scholarships, sponsor scientific research activities, and create internship opportunities for more than 400 interns each year. The enterprise also organises factory tours, soft skills training, and sharing sessions between its leaders and students.

As of the first quarter of 2023, nearly one-fifth of graduates from the Grow Talents joint training programme, launched by the company in 2020, have become full-time employees at the groups business units.

We also implemented an in-house training system to develop global competencies for all positions. Last year, the group conducted over 86,000 hours of employee training, Trang said.

Le Thi Nhu Hang, business manager at Navigos Search for South Vietnam, said that the demand for human resources in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries is increasing, and most enterprises said that there is a serious shortage of highly qualified people.

She advised that businesses need to have good remuneration policies for employees in terms of income, working environment, and a transparent promotion roadmap to attract stronger workers.

Agricultural enterprises also need to focus on recruiting highly qualified, professional, and passionate personnel and understanding the nature of the industry to build resources for modern and sustainable development, she added.

Pauline Tamesis - Resident coordinator United Nations in Vietnam Green skills are the practical tools and knowledge that allow us to harness the power of eco-friendly technologies and to make environmentally conscious decisions in both our professional and personal lives. As the world embarks on a journey towards a more sustainable future, these green skills become the compass guiding us through the uncharted waters of a rapidly changing world. Currently, the demand for green skills is outpacing its availability. We must address this disparity and ensure that everyone, regardless of their background or gender, has equal access to these skills. In Vietnam, we are blessed with a vast pool of young talent, comprising 22.1 million individuals aged between 16 and 30. This incredible potential must not go untapped. By investing in quality education and fostering a supportive environment for youth engagement, we can equip our young generation to play a leading role in driving a just, equitable, and sustainable future for Vietnam. Tran Hong Van - Communications specialist Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition The topic of green jobs and skills was raised this year at a time when Vietnams economy is strongly moving towards being green and sustainable. Howerver, this concept for young workers is quite new. To realise the net-zero commitments by 2050, Vietnam needs to come up with a sustainable roadmap for human resources and green jobs with practical action, not a trend. With the green economy, there are many job opportunities that will focus on areas such as renewable energy. For every job lost in the traditional energy industry, four new jobs are created in the green energy industry. This is an opportunity for young workers to enter a career development roadmap. Through our research, we see that the industry and green energy in the next 5-10 years will create a lot of new job opportunities. We have launched the Greenjob app to access basic knowledge about the energy transition, connect candidates profiles with experts, and advise them on suitable training and employment programmes.

Changes in labour market since Vietnam's Law on Foreign Investment The official passage of the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam in 1987 is considered a historic turning point that contributed to attracting an increasing number of foreign-led enterprises to the nation. Nguyen Xuan Son, operations manager for Staffing and Outsourcing Services at ManpowerGroup Vietnam, discusses the laws effect on the labour market and employees in Vietnam, as well as the expected trends for the next few years.

The impressive changes in Vietnamese labour market The official passage of the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam in 1987 is considered a historic turning point that contributes to attracting an increasing number of foreign-led enterprises into Vietnam over the years. Multinational corporations opening new branches as well as newly established foreign-backed enterprises in many fields create great demand for domestic labour, generating jobs and improving livelihoods and quality of life for Vietnamese people.
In addition to two venue sponsors, Victoria Healthcare Clinic and New World Saigon Hotel, the event also received sponsorship from AmCham member companies Ly Gia Vien, Coca-Cola Vietnam, Dan-on Foods, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverages, HG Aviation, Tesla Education Group, and TRG.

Blood donors had the opportunity to win two round-trip flight tickets from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok from THAI Smile, sponsored by HG Aviation.

Members of companies that actively supported the initiative came from Victoria Healthcare Clinic, Bayer Company, Coats Phong Phu, and Techtronic Industries Vietnam.

The 2023 AmCham Summer Blood Donor Day was part of World Blood Donor Day, a global blood drive launched by the World Health Organisation to raise public awareness of the need for a safe blood source and to recognise the efforts of blood donors.

The campaign focuses on patients in need of lifelong blood transfusion support and highlights the role each person can play by giving the precious gift of blood or plasma. It also emphasises the importance of regularly giving blood or plasma to create a safe and sustainable supply of blood and blood products available worldwide so that all patients in need can be treated promptly.

AmCham Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City and Danangs long-standing mission is to promote trade and investment ties between the United States and Vietnam and serve as the voice of American business in Vietnam. Being one of the largest business associations in Vietnam, AmCham has more than 550 corporate and 2,000 individual members.

AmCham Hanoi to support Vietnam's insurance industry Approximately 850 non-life insurance products and 450 life insurance products are now available on Vietnams market, as estimated by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi (AmCham Hanoi) at the recent Vietnam Business Forum 2022.

Citi Vietnam receives 2022 Amcham CSR Award Citi Vietnam has been recognised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi at its eighth annual AmCham CSR Recognition Awards, honouring its members best corporate social responsibility programmes in Vietnam.
How serious are these new measures in terms of trade flows between the United States and China?

These measures are not yet implemented, as there is actually a rule-making process by the US Treasury Department. But those rules might be forthcoming.

The latest measures actually target investments in emerging advanced technologies, such as quantum computing and AI, which is complementary to previously announced export bans on things like high-tech manufacturing equipment and telecommunication equipment from Chinese providers like Huawei and ZTE.

As of now, its a narrow set of measures and the rules are not finalised, so it doesnt seem like trade flows will be severely affected. However, it definitely could affect the active cooperation between the two largest economies and will definitely affect investment. Therefore, the order is actually severe, particularly in the current context.

Impacts yet to come in US-China tech spat, illustration photo/ Source: freepik.com

What is the extent of Vietnams reliance on Chinese tech products and services affected by the US ban?

Vietnam has been relying on Chinese electronic imports, particularly at the height of the semiconductor cycle that came to an end in 2021.

Vietnam actually bought close to half of Chinese electronic imports. However, the proposed measures, at this time, dont seem to impact Vietnam that negatively because trade flows are yet to be extremely affected.

Additionally, a lot of whats specified in the order is emerging technologies. What is worth watching, though, is the final list of the products that will come out from the United States Treasury, particularly on the semiconductor side.

Once that is clear, it would give us a stronger sense of whether Vietnam will actually see a bigger impact with regard to its current reliance on Chinese electronic imports.

In the longer run, are there any economic consequences for Vietnam due to disruptions?

Yes, in the future, this is definitely something to be watched. One of the key things is how a lot of the electronics in Vietnam seem to be supplied by Chinese producers. In that sense, there could be the re-shaping of supply chains, should certain investment curves come true, and also how export then could evolve from the US.

All factors remain to be seen. But at this stage, what seems to happen increasingly is as cutting-edge technology becomes more mainstream, a lot of whats included in this ban, which could be in place for a long time to come, could affect mainstream electronic products.

Therefore, Vietnam may have to find other suppliers that are not affected by the export ban, such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. These could be the destinations where Vietnam could turn to with regard to its cheap equipment requirements.

What are your predictions for the evolving tech landscape, considering the ongoing tech ban and its potential ramifications?

Whats increasingly a buzzword in Vietnam is China+1, where companies are seeking to build robust supply chains. Vietnam is firmly in the midst of those discussions. Therefore, it seems Vietnam is increasingly attractive to foreign investors for offshore investments, particularly in semiconductors.

However, at this point, Vietnam is relatively at the low end of the semiconductor supply chain in East Asia. So what we could be seeing is the start of Vietnams climbing up of the value chain through the riding of the waves of where the current trends are going. And if there is the opportunity to do so, Vietnam could create various tech clusters, the likes of what we have seen in China, Japan, and South Korea.

This could create self-sustaining dynamics that could bring about good technology companies that actually come out of Vietnam.

AI chip giant Nvidia 'extremely likely' to invest in Europe The CEO of Nvidia on Friday said that the world's most valuable chipmaker is "extremely likely" to invest in Europe.

EU, UNESCO to help developing countries shape AI rules The European Union will help fund a UNESCO scheme supporting developing countries as they create laws regulating artificial intelligence, the UN cultural body said Tuesday.

'Godfather of AI' urges governments to stop machine takeover Geoffrey Hinton, one of the so-called godfathers of artificial intelligence, urged governments on Wednesday to step in and make sure that machines do not take control of society.

FPT Smart Cloud and Home Credit harness AI Innovation Lab Through the transformative power of the AI Innovation Lab, FPT Smart Cloud and Home Credit Vietnam have dramatically reshaped the financial sector's customer service landscape, achieving remarkable strides in operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and employee workload reduction by harnessing the potential of AI and cloud applications.

Ascend Vietnam Ventures leads $1 million funding for Singapore's AI edtech Cerebry Singapore-based AI-education startup, Cerebry, has announced a $1 million seed funding round to boost the reach of its AI-tutoring product for students and test-prep candidates in Vietnam and other Asian markets.
(Photo : Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

MIAMI, FLORIDA - JULY 20: An American Airlines plane prepares to land at the Miami International Airport on July 20, 2023 in Miami, Florida. The company reported a record quarterly revenue of $14.1 billion, a 4.7% increase from the prior year.

The Department of Transportation is fining American Airlines $4,1 million for illegally detaining passengers on delayed aircraft on the tarmac for longer than permitted.

The fine results from the airline's violation of tarmac delays rules, underscoring the need to protect passenger safety and the demand for increased responsibility in the aviation sector, as per USA Today.

American Airlines Fined $4.1 Million for Tarmac Delays

DOT regulations require airlines to let passengers off of delayed aircraft after three hours for domestic flights and four hours for international flights, with some exceptions made for safety and security reasons.

The DOT's probe turned up a concerning pattern of American Airlines detaining customers on delayed planes for periods longer than allowed.

Between 2018 and 2021, 43 domestic flights operated by American Airlines, most of which took off from the company's primary hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, exposed 5,821 passengers to lengthy tarmac delays.

Surprisingly, the DOT discovered that none of the exemptions-including those pertaining to safety and security-applied to these flights. An apparent infringement of passenger rights occurred once when passengers were not given the necessities of food and water.

The most tremendous civil penalties ever imposed for breaking the tarmac delay rule were imposed due to this incident, which represents a severe violation of the laws. The financial consequences highlight the seriousness of the problem and the DOT's dedication to upholding passengers' rights.

American Airlines responded to the penalty by saying it was willing to pay and regretted the inconvenience it caused travelers. Although emphasizing that the affected flights were a small portion of their broad operation, the airline blamed the delays on extraordinary weather conditions.

The airline also apologized for any inconvenience it may have caused to the affected passengers, according to CNN.

Read Also: LATAM Airlines Pilot Dies Mid-Flight From Miami to Chile; Another Rare Case of Incapacitation

Elevating Passenger Experiences in the Face of Challenge

American Airlines also provided information on its efforts to lessen the harmful effects of bad weather on its operations. As operational investments aimed at reducing disruption brought on by weather-related difficulties, the Hub Efficiency Analytics Tool (HEAT) was introduced to manage arrivals and departures during unfavorable weather conditions, along with the adoption of new technologies for effective gate assignments.

The DOT's decision to levy a $4.1 million fine marks a turning point in the industry's commitment to upholding passenger rights. The DOT's commitment to protecting customers and holding airlines responsible for their acts, whether they involve tarmac delays or problems with refunds, was reaffirmed by Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The inquiry also highlighted how crucial it is to guarantee that airlines have the tools and procedures needed to deal with problems that could occur after aircraft are diverted because of bad weather.

The Texas event involving a six-hour and three-minute tarmac delay serves as a reminder of the need for airlines to have the necessary tools to handle such circumstances and tend to the demands of customers in need.

The preemptive actions taken by American Airlines to improve operations during extreme weather occurrences demonstrate a dedication to ongoing development. The airline's investments in tools that improve efficiency, such as the HEAT system, show that the whole industry acknowledges the necessity to change with the times, Business Insider reported.

Related Article: FAA Takes Action to Protect Ground Workers from Injuries

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What infrastructure development improvements in Vietnam have you witnessed in recent times?

Nguyen Ba Hung, principal country economist from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Vietnam

Vietnam, with a rich history and vibrant culture, has experienced significant economic transformation over the past few decades. GDP per capita in 2010 constant price rose from around $600 in 1986 to over $3,600 in 2022, bringing the country from a less developed status to a middle income one.

Investment in infrastructure has been a prominent catalyst for the countrys development over the period, and the government put it among the strategic priorities to build an integrated and modern infrastructure system including transportation, focusing notably on roads, airports, and seaports, energy, and telecommunication. Vietnam has constructed a total length of primary, motorways, and highways around 25,000km, significantly improved connectivity within the country and with the neighbouring countries.

However, Vietnams infrastructure still lags behind other countries in the region. According to the most recent World Bank report, Vietnam is positioned 47th out of 160 countries in infrastructure rankings and 103rd in road quality as per the World Economic Forums ranking. Vietnams expansion and modernisation of roads, highways, railways, and ports have facilitated the movement of goods and people, reduced logistical bottlenecks and enhanced trade.

How has Vietnam ameliorated its infrastructures in energy, digitalisation, water, and waste treatment?

Access to energy nationwide has reached all of the population, while per capita energy consumption grew about three times. While power generation capacity, transmission and distribution networks continued to expand rapidly, the country has also diversified its energy sources, including a surge in renewable energy generation such as solar and wind power. These initiatives not only contribute to sustainable development but also enhance energy security.

Regarding digital infrastructure, as of the end of 2020, Vietnam had roughly 69 million internet users and 61 million smartphone users, with a penetration rate of 71 and 63 per cent respectively. The rapid development of the digital infrastructure enabled the fast growth of the digital economy.

Vietnams telecommunications service firms are expected to invest $2.5 billion to deploy and commercialise 5G technology from 2020-2025. The widespread adoption of mobile technology and internet services has not only connected people but also opened new avenues for business and innovation.

In the water and waste treatment sector, as of 2020, over 95 per cent of the population has access to at least basic water services, and about 90 per cent of the population has access to sanitation, albeit quality varies significantly. However, only over 70 per cent of solid waste is processed at dump sites, and most is discharged untreated. While certain progress has been made, with the fast urbanisation the need to upgrade urban infrastructure is becoming more urgent.

What is your take on Vietnams efforts to streamline procedures for infrastructure development?

In addition to overall economic infrastructure, Vietnam has established numerous investment-focused industrial and special economic zones have also been quickly developed with a strong focus on attracting foreign direct investment and promoting manufacturing both for exports.

These zones offer investors a range of incentives, including possible tax breaks and streamlined regulatory control and processing, leveraging on improved transport and energy infrastructure. They created large number of jobs to attract workers, thus driving rapid urbanisation.

Historically, total infrastructure investment was in the range of 8-10 per cent of GDP annually during most of the 2010s, but falling to around 5.7 per cent in recent years. Most infrastructure investment in Vietnam is currently financed from the central government budget, while official development assistance (ODA) from bilateral and multilateral partners used to be a significant source but diminishing as Vietnam reached the middle-income status.

Of the estimated $45 billion of cumulative ODA resources, about 53 per cent was used to finance infrastructure. Joining force with other partners, the ADBs cumulative commitment of financing for infrastructure in Vietnam exceeded $10 billion.

These achievements in infrastructure delivery were also a result of the continuous improvement in the necessary legal frameworks and regulations to strengthen public and private investment in infrastructure development.

The Vietnamese government in recent years has put in place several laws on public-private partnerships, investment, and enterprises, as well as a decree on investment in key infrastructure projects. At the same time, Vietnam also improved the business environment for infrastructure investors, including reduction of the number of required permits and licences, streamlined approval procedures, and improving the transparency of the investment processes.

What new initiatives can be undertaken for infrastructure development in the country to truly blossom?

The significant achievements put Vietnam in a good position to continue accelerating and expanding its infrastructure, which is critical to maintain high growth and improve quality of life for long-term social and economic development. As such, Vietnam needs to continue investing about 9 per cent of its GDP for infrastructure.

The latest ADB estimates also indicated that Vietnam needs $167 billion over 2015-2025 for infrastructure investment if the country wants to maintain high economic growth. It is therefore important that the government mobilise sufficient resources, including through increased collaboration with multilateral and bilateral development partners to leverage their resources and capacity and experience.

The government could also undertake strategic initiatives to catalyse private investment to supplement public resources and improve attractiveness to private investors. This can be done by diversifying financing modalities with innovative structures to maximise the impact of scarce public resources, or increasing delivery capacity through public-private partnerships to improve operational efficiency.

This will also require regulatory and policy enhancements both in the financial sector to deepen the capital markets, and in infrastructure sectors towards improving cost recovery ability and financial sustainability of infrastructure investments. These can be supplemented with targeting social policies to support underprivileged and vulnerable groups to enhance social safety nets.

That will help better attract private investment into infrastructure sectors while ensuring inclusiveness in development.

Together with the aforementioned steps, the government also needs to strengthen their capacity to expedite the implementation of infrastructure projects, ensuring resilience to climate change and alignment with the net-zero transition. Experience showed that by collaborating with development partners, in addition to financing, the government can leverage their capacity and experience to improve project design and implementation, especially in executing new types of infrastructure like urban rail or mass transit.

The government also needs to improve the value-for-money of investments by adopting a whole-of-life approach that considers the costs of operation and maintenance in addition to the upfront capital expenditure. This will ensure the quality of infrastructure assets to deliver desirable economic and social impact.

Vietnams infrastructure will still need to grow significantly and fast, that requires significant investment. The government can achieve that with the efforts of the whole political system, and the help of bilateral and multilateral partners.

With its proven track record in developing and implementing infrastructure projects in Vietnam and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the ADB has a full suite of solutions to support governments to achieve this. They range from sector planning and regulatory improvement to project preparation and financing for public, private investments and public-private partnerships, as well as capacity building for central and provincial agencies.

With a strong commitment to infrastructure investment, Vietnam can collaborate more closely with development partners and the private sector for efficient implementation to realise its vision of integrated and modern infrastructure that will benefit the country and its people for years to come.

PPP model needs more balancing, equality for private investors Vietnam's increased demand for infrastructure development in the coming years requires governmental policies that encourage the private sector's participation, said economists and policymakers.
Grab's chief product officer Philipp Kandal

As chief product officer at Grab, what are your key strategic priorities for 2023?

In Southeast Asia, one in 20 people are using our service every month to travel, order food, or deliver parcels. The question that we are asking ourselves is how to make our products accessible to more people.

The key to that is building affordable services that are also healthy for the bottom-line and ensuring reliability, especially during particular events such as adverse weather.

The challenging part in terms of affordability is balancing how we can drive innovations that make our products more affordable without hurting our drivers' incomes. Some of the features that we are working on are geared towards creating win-win scenarios by increasing utilisation and avoiding wasted time.

For example, with GrabFood, instead of taking one order, our driver partners can now deliver multiple food orders to the same area, which helps lower the cost per order. We also use high-definition mapping for indoor locations so that our delivery partners know exactly where to go to pick up the food.

We calculate how much time it takes to produce the order, so our partners don't have to sit outside and wait at a restaurant. That way, we've been able to improve productivity and pass on the savings to the consumers.

This is good for our drivers too. Every minute saved from waiting or travelling means another minute they can spend earning more income. Also, more demand encouraged by affordability should lead to more earning opportunities for them.

In terms of reliability, weve integrated weather data into our services. Rain is very difficult to mitigate, and we are still in the early stages of this. However, in the future, we will have systems that support better predictions for rain and appropriately encourage more driver partners to log on to meet the increasing demands. This will enable them to achieve higher earnings while enhancing the convenience and experience for our consumers.

Could you elaborate on the market traits and consumer behaviours that influence your approach to crafting new products?

Vietnam is quite different from other markets. For instance, most of the restaurants are roadside, easily accessible, and facilitate motorbike parking, so it is actually an excellent market for batching orders. We've changed our systems so that we can have higher batching density here, which again generates more orders for our driver partners.

This is very different from markets like Singapore or Indonesia, where we typically can't achieve the same level of efficiency that easily.

The other feature that we've rolled out specifically for Vietnam is location sharing. Now, as a consumer, you can choose to share your live location with a driver, which makes it easier for the two sides to meet. This is super helpful here, as the addresses are not particularly exact.

We have teams that focus on affordability, others that focus on reliability, and yet more to solve problems related to the accessibility of our app, including improvements in network quality.

During my trip to Haiphong, I realised that our customers and drivers sometimes have low-end phones which take longer to load. This is one of the market-specific problems we need to solve more effectively when designing our products.

Local expertise can be pivotal in successful product development. Can you shed light on the Vietnamese team's contribution to product design?

Vietnam is one of our four research and development centres in the region. We have both a country team and a tech team here. Market research can help us to understand the problem to some extent, but having a team that lives and breathes on the ground and knows the market best is much more important. These individuals are integral to our development process and contribute significantly to product building.

The other aspect involves problem-solving. Within Grab's empowered working model, we ask all the country teams to help us identify problems, come up with solutions, and conduct testing to see if they work in a specific market before a broader launch.

Basically, the local team is actively engaged in all phases of product development, including problem definition, solution assessment, evaluation, and eventual rollout.

Grab strives to maintain its position as a leading reliable ride-hailing and delivery platform in Southeast Asia

What are some tech trends Grab is planning to incorporate into its product portfolio?

As a company, we've been leveraging AI for a very long time, but at this stage, what we are passionate about is bringing more AI technology to offer better convenience for our partners and users.

For example, our search technology is AI-based. We also use LLM (large language models) for menu translation to support users who are foreign and may just be visiting.

So now, when I come here, I can have the menus translated into English because I don't speak Vietnamese. Similarly, in chat boxes, our drivers can communicate in their local tongue and the content will be automatically translated.

This is something that I'm really excited about, and there's a lot more AI technology that we'll be rolling out in the near future.

Among our trials in Vietnam for new driver partners, we've introduced a heat map highlighting high-demand areas for optimal positioning, and a new product named Ride Guide that offers precise directions to maximise earning opportunities.

Our commitment to technology and innovation remains steadfast as we strive to maintain our position as a leading reliable ride-hailing and delivery platform in Southeast Asia.

Sustainable development is becoming increasingly popular in the ride-hailing landscape in Vietnam. How important is this in Grabs strategic roadmap?

I'm a huge fan of electric vehicles, and we have committed as a company to go carbon-neutral by 2040.

This strongly aligns with our company vision to contribute to transitioning to a greener economy. Weve piloted electric mobility in Vietnam for our GrabExpress service, and we aim to be an active driver of the process of increasing EV adoption and building an inclusive EV ecosystem.

Grab integrates ZaloPay into its super app platform Grab has teamed up with Vietnamese e-wallet ZaloPay to expand the selection of payment options on its super app platform.

Grab Vietnam unveils the GrabUnlimited membership package Grab Vietnam has launched the GrabUnlimited membership package in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to ease customers' concerns amidst rising costs.
Only three months are left for Vietnam to submit its Resource Mobilisation Plan (RMP) for the outline to achieve the ambitious Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) energy transition targets and mobilise the finance for it.

The plan is to be submitted to the International Partners Group (IPG) and the JETP Secretariat under the direction of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE)

A draft RMP has been introduced this month, which the MoNRE said will continue being updated many times before being approved by the government and then presented for endorsement, with administrative and technical support provided by the secretariat, and with additional assistance from the IPG where necessary.

Related working groups led by the ministries of planning and investment, industry and trade, and finance will support the process.

Just energy transition plan approaches next stage, illustration photo/ Source: freepik.com

Vietnam has been required to develop and publish the RMP by November to identify new investment requirements and opportunities for the development and implementation of wind, solar, transmission, energy efficiency, storage, electric vehicles, training, retraining and vocational support for employment among others.

It must also identify measures to facilitate the deployment of support and overcome barriers to related investment.

The JETP Secretariat would like to receive proposals for projects to be included in the plan, said MoNRE Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh.

These projects need to be consistent with the set of framework criteria to help Vietnam carry out a good implementation the Power Development Plan VIII and the National Energy Master Plan, in line with the priorities of Vietnam and its partners, and to ensure feasibility in terms of technologies and resources which need deploying.

Projects which can generate spillover effects to promote the energy transition in Vietnam will be prioritised, Thanh added.

British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew said, The IPG is pleased to be entering the next phase of implementation, with preparation of the RMP now fully underway. This is an opportunity to set a path for realising Vietnams ambitions for a just energy transition in a way that boosts growth, supports national socioeconomic objectives, and strengthens energy security and competitiveness.

Thomas Wiersing, charge daffaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to Vietnam, added, The IPG stands ready to work in very close collaboration with all key ministries in Vietnam, as well as society at large including non-governmental organisations, state-owned enterprises, the private sector, research groups and more, so as to ensure a broad social consensus.

The $15.5 billion JETP deal for Vietnam was agreed last December with the IPG, which includes the EU, the UK, various European nations, the US,

Canada, and Japan.

The third country to launch a JETP, Vietnam will receive support via the partnership to reach its commitment net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 through accelerating the decarbonisation of its electricity system by reaching a peak of no more than 170 metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions from electricity generation by 2030; peaking coal-fired generation capacity at 30.2GW; and accelerating deployment of renewable energy to at least 47 per cent of electricity generation by 2030.

Over the next 3-5 years, the JETP will mobilise an initial $15.5 billion of finance to support Vietnams just energy transition, comprising $7.75 billion mobilised by the IPG and other public finance institutions and $7.75 billion from Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero members.

The IPG has recognised the opportunities presented by an ambitious energy transition to attract significant new foreign direct investment in support of Vietnams vision to become a major low carbon manufacturing hub. The group has also underlined the economic and social opportunities of Vietnams low carbon transition, including the creation of quality jobs, local value chains, and attracting large-scale domestic and international private investments.

The IPG welcomed Vietnams swift and significant actions to implement its commitments made at in 2021, including legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change, promulgation of the National Climate Change Strategy to 2050 and a methane reduction plan, and its second updated Nationally Determined Contribution, while expecting further updates in line with the Glasgow Climate Pact.

Energy transition will not come without challenges To avoid catastrophic climate change and establish a trajectory that is compatible with the Paris Agreement, transformative changes to energy systems are urgently needed.

Vietnam's 15 renewable energy transition projects generate 154 million kWh In a significant stride towards renewable energy adoption, 15 transitional renewable energy projects have contributed approximately 154 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity.
According to Dealstreetasia, this may pave the way for Heliconia Capital, which is wholly owned by Temasek Holdings, to divest its stake in MSG, having initially invested in 2019.

The source did not confirm if and when the transaction would be finalised, and it was mentioned that either KKR or Heliconia had not disclosed information about the ongoing negotiations and any proposed pricing.

Headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, MSG is one of the largest hospital chains in Vietnam, operating 14 hospitals across the country, including nine specialised eye hospitals and five general hospitals. Additionally, they manage an Eagle Eye Centre in Ho Chi Minh City together with its Singaporean namesake.

The hospitals are equipped with advanced ophthalmology facilities with 145 inpatient beds across the entire chain, and the company employs nearly 1,700 individuals with more than 500 medically trained staff.

MSG was founded in 2004 by ophthalmologist Dr. Thai Thanh Nam. It started with a facility on Le Thi Rieng street, touted as Vietnam's first non-public eye hospital to employ advanced techniques and offer international standard medical quality at that time. The Saigon Eye brand has since expanded to various locations, including Hanoi, Nha Trang, Ha Tinh, Can Tho, and Vinh.

In 2019, Temasek's Heliconia Capital acquired the company, though the value of the transaction was not disclosed. That same year, structural changes within the MSG system saw Dr. Nam leave the group and Huynh Le Duc, former CEO of the Hoan My Medical Group, became CEO of Saigon Eye.

KKR manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and through its strategic partners, hedge funds, and is currently one of the worlds largest private investment funds. From 2011 onwards, the fund has invested over $1 billion in prominent Vietnamese companies, including major transactions with Masan and Vingroup.

KKR has a team of over 2,500 employees, consultants, and advisors, including more than 720 investment professionals working across 20 industries around the world.

The private healthcare sector in Vietnam continues to allure foreign investors. In July, the Singapore-based Thomson Medical Group announced an agreement to acquire the French-backed FV Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City for a sum of over $380 million. This acquisition stands as the largest hospital takeover in Vietnam's history and represents the most significant healthcare acquisition in Southeast Asia since 2020.

Hoan My Medical Group drives breast cancer diagnostics and treatment Advancements in the prompt diagnosis of breast cancer and the accessibility of care topped the agenda of a workshop on August 23 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Dentons LuatViet advises on groundbreaking deal in healthcare sector Prestigious law firm, Dentons LuatViet, has provided expert counsel as the Vietnamese representative for Singapore-based Thomson Medical Group in its successful acquisition of Far East Medical Vietnam Limited. This landmark deal represents one of the largest healthcare mergers in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
Duong Thi Mai Hoa - Managing partner Indusviet Legal LLC

Such development has its roots in many factors, among which the drawing-in of domestic and big foreign players in medicine and pharma along with their willingness to invest in Vietnam via mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is considered one of the key elements in creating breakthrough in growth.

The M&A trends in the previous decade seemed to reflect the focus and attention of major foreign pharmaceutical corporations and enterprises to investing and collaborating with local enterprises to improve and further develop such enterprises manufacturing lines and establish research and development centres for higher-quality pharma products and generic drugs for the public.

M&A in healthcare has effectively served as a pathway for foreign investors to distribute their products to the Vietnamese market in the context of the limited drug distribution rights according to the law.

By 2019, Vietnam witnessed a shift of the investment direction from foreign pharmaceutical corporations to medical, healthcare services, and insurance with major deals. And in the upcoming year, FV Hospital is expected to be taken over by Thomson Medical Group in an attempt to create a strategic position for the latter in Vietnam as well as create new advantages for the development of both parties.

Such dealings in medical and healthcare services started strongly in 2019, which effectively created momentum for the growing number of deals in such aspects. As a result, several experts have speculated that in the upcoming years, M&A will turn its focus on medical technology with the instalment and enhancement of applications for online appointment booking, online, and video check-ups with doctors as well as increasing the number of private specialised clinics and high-quality healthcare facilities.

From our perspective, such predictions may be formed and impacted by three main factors. The first is the ageing of Vietnams population. According to the United Nations Population Fund, Vietnam is among nations with the highest population ageing rate on a worldwide basis, with its percentage of senior citizens ranging from 60 years old and above to take up 11.9 per cent of Vietnams total population number in 2019.

Such a rate is predicted to grow to 25 per cent by 2050. As such, the ageing of its population has catapulted Vietnam to make certain changes to its insurance and healthcare policies, correspondingly, the need to take care of ones health has, in general, risen significantly.

The second is overcrowded public hospitals. The emergence of private hospitals and clinics plays an important part in relieving the burden of public hospitals and simultaneously ensuring medical and healthcare services provided to the public are of high quality.

The third aspect is medical technology catching investors attention. With the growing popularity of online appointment booking and online doctor check-ups applications in developed countries, Vietnam has learned from such success stories to promote and encourage the digitalisation of healthcare services.

It is highly likely that in the coming years, M&A will place heavier emphasis on healthcare and medical services with an aim to satisfy the current need of the public.

From the perspective of corporate M&A rights, Vietnamese laws have recognised the right to conduct dealings of enterprises as well as the right to engage in transactions of investors in written legislation under various forms. Many forms have taken shape in practice, such as total acquisition, consolidation, and swap of shares. Such dealings are subjected to parallel legal procedures on registration at and/or the acceptance of competent authorities.

Nevertheless, Vietnam has yet to produce a specific legal framework for such activities in healthcare. This causes a great of confusion and hesitance for foreign investors executing their investment plans in Vietnam due to the complexity and ambiguity among Vietnams web of legal provisions and procedures.

Especially with medicine being a highly complex professional field, the implementation of the standard due diligence process in healthcare M&As can create invisible barriers to potential investors due to the uncertainty in the common legal framework in Vietnam coupled with the intricate, overlapping web of specialised legal provisions on medicine and pharmaceuticals, including limitations to market approach.

Illustrations of such limitations can be seen from foreign investors limited rights to drug distribution, drug processing, or technology transfer on drug manufacturing.

M&As play a crucial part in pushing for industry growth, and Vietnams medicine and pharmaceuticals in particular. Therefore, establishment of a comprehensive framework with specific legal instructions is needed for a strong foundation.

Viatris Vietnam expanding its vision for the good of the healthcare community Viatris Vietnam has become a strong extension of the companys global impact and strengthened its firm commitment to being a trusted partner of the Vietnamese healthcare community. We celebrated our second anniversary in Vietnam in May and currently boast two offices in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, as well as a warehouse in the Mekong Delta province of Long An.

Germany's STADA expands presence in Vietnam's healthcare market STADA and its Vietnamese affiliate Pymepharco have announced the establishment of its new head office in Ho Chi Minh City, paving the way for further expansion in Vietnam's healthcare market.
Exports from the sector are expected to recover well during the rest of this year also, leading to an expected higher export volume in the second half of the year compared to the first.

Thanh Cong Textile Garment Investment Trading JSC (TCM) believes that positive signs are appearing on the horizon as more foreign partners from the EU and across Asia have come to Vietnam recently to learn about the textile industry here.

With a more positive outlook, consumers are expected to loosen their purse strings in the upcoming festive year-end season.

In the first seven months of this year, TCM saw almost $80 million in revenue, down 27 per cent, and $5.2 million in post-tax profit, a 22 per cent drop on-year.

The companys revenue came from three major segments, from which garments accounted for 76 per cent, fabrics 16 per cent, and yarns filled up the remaining 6 per cent.

The company has received orders equivalent in value to 76 per cent of its revenue plan for Q3 and equivalent to 86 per cent of expected revenue for Q4.

TNG Investment and Trading JSC (TNG) suggested that the most challenging times have passed as the company posted an 11.5 per cent jump in revenue to $33 million for July compared to the previous month, and up 2 per cent on-year.

In the first seven months of this year, TNG saw $173.6 million in revenue, up 3 per cent on-year.

Currently, 98 per cent of the companys revenue comes from exports, with the United States holding the largest share at 47 per cent, France making up 15 per cent, with Canada taking 8 per cent.

Song Hong Garment JSC (MSH) saw its Q2 business perform better than other firms as it became the only trader in the sector to return positive on-year revenue growth, and the companys earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation grew over 10.5 per cent in the first half of the year.

According to a World Bank forecast for 2023, GDP growth in key export markets such as the US will expand 1.1 per cent, China by 5.6 per cent, with Japan inching up 0.8 per cent, leading to increased income and rebooted consumers confidence.

With a more positive outlook, consumers are expected to loosen their purse strings in the upcoming festive year-end season. The inventory of big fashion brands like Nike, H&M, GAP, and Inditex was far lower this year compared to mid-2022 and the need to replenish their stock could see brighter prospects for garments and textiles exporters in the coming period.

Amid a proposed 8-10 per cent drop in the global textile apparel total aggregate demand in 2023, Vietnams textile and apparel sector is estimated to reach $40 billion this year, down 9-10 per cent on-year.

Recently, the slow pace of recovery has seen firms struggle to find orders, exacerbating concerns about not hitting targets for the year. However, the sector's prospects have been upgraded by securities firms from neutral to positive, after taking into consideration the anticipated rosier future.

Vietnam, RoK firms look to boost trade in apparel, footwear The Republic of Korea (RoK) is the largest investor in the textile - garment and leather - footwear industries of Vietnam, which holds considerable chances to boost the export of these commodities to the Northeast Asian market, heard a recent teleconference.

Apparel groups under supply chain pressure Vietnams textiles, garments, and footwear are compelled to compete on the basis of quality, the environment, and the working conditions of its employees, since low-cost labour and cheap prices are no longer an advantage.
Simultaneously, Sembcorp received a Letter of Intent from Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry, endorsing this collaborative endeavour. This marks a significant step for the PTSC-Sembcorp alliance in their offshore renewable energy project with a focus on exporting clean energy to Singapore.

The partnership reflects the ongoing 50th-anniversary celebration of diplomatic ties and the 10-year strategic partnership milestone between Vietnam and Singapore.

With the procurement of this survey licence, PTSC stands as the first and sole investor in Vietnam to be green lit by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to execute marine resource observation, investigation, and evaluation activities for offshore wind power development.

The consortium intends to conduct wind measurements and marine surveys in areas off the coast of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, collecting essential data for project development and investment. In February this year, PTSC and Sembcorp signed a Joint Development Agreement in Singapore. The pact established their investment partnership to export energy from offshore renewables in Vietnam to Singapore.

Under the accord, the two entities will exclusively invest in producing approximately 2.3GW of power from offshore renewables in Vietnam. This electricity will then be exported to Singapore via underwater high-voltage cables to cater to Singapore's clean electricity demand from 2030.

The licensing for PTSC-Sembcorp dovetails with both countries' aspirations to forge a green-digital economic partnership. It aligns with the Vietnamese government's Power Development Plan VIII, targeting 6GW of offshore wind power by 2030. Moreover, it accentuates Vietnam's COP26 commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Vietnam eyes renewable energy exports to Singapore Vietnam has expressed keen interest in tapping into the potential of exporting renewable energy to Singapore, underscoring the growing cooperation between the two nations.
Component makers are setting foot in Vietnam to manufacture smartphone camera modules and more, photo Le Toan

Do Van Su, deputy director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, revealed that in a recent meeting upon their survey in Vietnam, the US Semiconductor Industry Association recognises Vietnam as the futures semiconductor powerhouse.

With its unparalleled strength as a manufacturing hub, producing sophisticated smartphones and electronic components, Vietnam stands poised to lead. US investors see more than just potential here. They see a thriving future, Su said at last weeks VIR conference on grasping opportunities from new capital inflows.

Due to surging foreign interest in Vietnams semiconductor sector, the potential for the countrys industrial parks is immense, he added.

US President Joe Biden on August 9 issued an executive order, restricting domestic corporations from investing in key tech sectors in China, requiring them to report any new investments there. Following this, the European Commission and the United Kingdom are considering similar restrictions. This intensifies US-China trade tensions, potentially impacting global investments.

The prevailing question, however, is whether this presents an opportunity for Vietnam. Decent prospects are possible, particularly if American and European businesses consider relocating their investments and production from China to third countries, including Vietnam, said Prof. Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Association of Foreign-Invested Enterprises.

A raft of movement has taken place in the last few months alone. In mid-July, solar power titan Runergy announced $293 million investment into a silicon and semiconductor manufacturing facility in Nghe An Economic Zone.

The new facilitys capacity, projected to yield an annual output of over 14,600 tonnes of silicon and almost one billion semiconductors, marks a significant step forward in Vietnams tech landscape.

A few weeks previously, South Korean component maker LG Innotek confirmed a $1 billion investment to build a manufacturing facility for advanced smartphone camera modules and other optical products in northern Haiphong city.

Meanwhile, South Koreas Amkor also announced plans for a $1.6 billion semiconductor plant in the northern province of Bac Ninh. The plant, which is slated to be Amkors largest facility worldwide, is scheduled for trial production by the end of October.

German global semiconductor solutions provider Infineon Technologies AG has also unveiled plans to expand its operations in Vietnam. By the end of 2023, Infineon expects to have assembled a team of around 25 technical experts within the chip development division.

In May, South Korean chip equipment giant Hanmi Semiconductor Company announced the introduction of its local arm, Hanmi Vietnam, confessing its confidence in Vietnam as a burgeoning production hub for global semiconductor behemoths.

More recently, Chinese tech company Victory Giant in August selected VSIP Bac Ninh industrial zone as the location for a $400 million project that anticipates annual production value of approximately $1 billion when operational.

Earlier in the same month, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh tasked some relevant ministries to develop a plan to train between 30,000 and 50,000 engineers and 100 experts in digital transformation and manufacturing semiconductors.

Among its advantages, Vietnam boasts significant reserves of rare earth materials (approximately 22 million tonnes), ranking second globally behind only China, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Do Cao Bao, a board member of FPT Group, highlighted that despite possessing vast reserves, Vietnam only exported 4,300 tonnes of rare earths in 2022, valued at around $200 million. Thus, collaborations with foreign investors, such as those from South Korea, could unlock massive opportunities for Vietnam.

Vietnam is swiftly becoming the worlds new rare earth supply hub. The intended establishment of the Vietnam-South Korea supply centre for rare earths and core minerals aims to reduce western countries and South Koreas reliance on China for global rare earth supplies, Bao said.

Exploiting these rare earths presents a golden opportunity for Vietnam to attract further foreign investments, especially from the US and Europe, in high-tech and the semiconductor industry. Nevertheless, as Prof. Mai asserted, the real challenge is how prepared and responsive Vietnam will be.

Without policies that align with global norms and are competitive internationally regarding the implementation of the global minimum tax, Vietnam will struggle to engage in investments in high-tech sectors and large-scale projects, Mai said.

Runergy pumps $293 million into silicon and semiconductor plant Solar power titan Runergy has announced a $293 million investment into a silicon and semiconductor manufacturing facility in Vietnam's Southeast Nghe An Economic Zone, a move set to bolster Vietnam's burgeoning tech sector.

Vietnam's rising role drives surge in US investment The growing importance of Vietnam in global supply chains, particularly in the semiconductor industry, is attracting significant investment from major US companies.

Vietnam to train up to 50,000 semiconductor engineers At the monthly government meeting on August 5, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh tasked the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Education and Training, and the Ministry of Science and Technology to develop a plan to train between 30,000 and 50,000 engineers and 100 experts in digital transformation and manufacturing semiconductors.
Why is the HKEX an optimal choice for Southeast Asian companies?

Christina Bao, co-head of Sales and Marketing at HKEX

Over the past three decades, the HKEX has gained prominence by welcoming a multitude of businesses, from global giants to emerging stars. As of now, the exchange boasts a vast portfolio with over 150 international companies and an impressive array of more than 2,000 Chinese firms. Such diversity ensures a robust ecosystem, promoting liquidity and offering a range of choices to potential listees.

This is not just about numbers. Financially, Hong Kong has solidified its reputation as a leader in initial public offering (IPO) fundraising, consistently securing a high global rank in the past decade.

The HKEX stands as Asias premier international IPO and biotech pre-revenue fundraising hub, with 65 per cent of its 2022 capital coming from new economy and biotech firms and about 100 ASEAN companies listed.

The strategic position of Hong Kong serves as a regional linchpin. Companies from Southeast Asia will find that the investor base here is finely attuned to the nuances of Asian business models and their growth prospects, providing a more informed and receptive audience.

How is the HKEXs engagement with Vietnamese companies shaping up?

Our engagement trajectory in Vietnam is on an upward curve, even though specifics on deals are still under wraps. What weve distinctly conveyed to our prospects is the strategic leverage they stand to gain with a Hong Kong listing.

Listing here not only offers Vietnamese companies a platform with both Asian and global prominence but also provides an avenue for Vietnamese investors aiming to diversify internationally.

Its clear that Vietnam is on a path of progressive economic development, and as they grapple with aligning local practices to global standards, our role is to offer the strategic advantages of Hong Kongs market. This isnt just about aligning with global benchmarks; its also about facilitating Vietnamese investors who, with time, might look outward.

Vietnam has showcased rapid GDP growth and plays a significant role in the global supply chain. The country is also transitioning from manufacturing to technology and innovation sectors. Both local and overseas capital markets will be vital in supporting this growth. Leveraging overseas markets can help Vietnamese firms optimise their capital structure, achieve cost efficiencies, and align with global practices.

The journey towards being recognised on a global stage involves consistent efforts in policymaking and. However, patience is key, as substantial economic transformations dont occur overnight.

Given Vietnams strict listing policies for companies with consecutive losses, how does the HKEX framework cater to innovative but not yet profitable companies?

Hong Kongs future-forward vision aligns well with sectors like biotech and healthcare. Our unique Chapter 18A, introduced around five years ago, addresses the specific needs of pre-revenue biotech firms.

We acknowledge the capital-intensive nature of drug development, and through this initiative, we have assisted almost 60 biotech firms in raising over $12.75 billion. This support not only propels research and development but also drives potential breakthroughs beneficial to global society. Our strategies have empowered over 110 healthcare companies in their fundraising endeavours.

In March, we launched a new listing chapter for Specialist Technology Companies, reaffirming our commitment to new economy businesses globally, including in ASEAN.

Comparatively, while Vietnam poses challenges for companies reporting losses over consecutive years, our approach in Hong Kong strikes a balance. We ensure that companies listing under Chapter 18A in the biotech sector meet certain criteria, such as having a drug ready for Phase 2 post a successful Phase 1 trial. This ensures we facilitate only those with tangible potential.

Our goal is not just about listings, but about building a vibrant marketplace that nurtures sectors across the spectrum, from traditional consumer goods to industries like e-commerce and AI. With this vision, we remain steadfast in championing growth while diligently upholding investor protection.

Could you shed some light on the post-IPO performance of ASEAN companies listed in Hong Kong?

While numerous ASEAN companies have chosen to list in Hong Kong, each company embarks on its own unique journey. Some flourish, while others inevitably face hurdles  a natural phenomenon in any market. An efficient market does not always ensure that every company gets the same valuation. Its determined by the companys merit, potential, and performance.

As for the ASEANs potential, I am forward-looking. A short while ago, the term unicorn was unheard of in this area, but now they are multiplying at an astonishing rate. The evolving landscape, marked burgeoning GDP, a youthful demographic, tech innovations, and an adaptable community, captures our attention. Achieving true greatness entails pioneering novel routes rather than merely echoing past achievements.
The new projects were inaugurated by Lee Hsien Loong and Pham Minh Chinh, prime ministers of Singapore and Vietnam respectively, and MoUs for 10 prospective VSIPs were also presented.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the announcement ceremony on August 29

A special state event were also joined by ministers and provincial leaders to support the VSIP projects, a symbol of Vietnam-Singapore relations.

Sembcorp Development (Sembcorp) and Becamex IDC Corporation (Becamex) received the investment licence to develop VSIP Lang Son, a 600-hectare industrial park (IP), and also received PM Chinhs in-principle approvals to develop new VSIPs in the provinces of Thai Binh, Binh Thuan, and Ha Tinh.

Including these four projects, there will be 17 VSIPs in the entire portfolio spanning 13 locations across Vietnam, establishing this as the largest Vietnam-Singapore collaboration to date.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaking at the ceremony

During the event, the leaders of 10 provinces reiterated their commitment to work with Sembcorp and Becamex to jointly engage in feasibility studies for more VSIPs.

The 10 provinces are located throughout the country, including Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh in the South, Khanh Hoa, Thua Thien Hue and Quang Ngai II in the central region, and Thanh Hoa, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Hai Duong II, and Haiphong II in the north.

At the end of the event, the prime ministers officiated virtual groundbreaking ceremonies for VSIPs in Can Tho city in the Mekong Delta, VSIP Bac Ninh II in the Red River Delta, and VSIP Nghe An II on the north-central coast, marking the commencement of land development ahead of the handover to customers from 2024 onwards.

Becamex and Sembcorp also announced the establishment of the Vietnam-Singapore Innovation Centre in Binh Duong, with the aim of implementing the provinces orientation for building a strong economy based on innovation, science, and technology.

Along with the Innovation Centre 4.0, the Smart Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, the Sembcorp Centre for Sustainable Solutions, and BLOCK71 Saigon, this new facility will be responsible for developing orientations and creating an environment for sci-tech research, facilitating technology transfer, and building production models that are in line with Industry 4.0 trends.

Vietnam Singapore Innovation Centre is the first step in the comprehensive transformation of Binh Duong province, an urgent aspect of its socioeconomic development strategy.

The VSIPs have been an important platform for bilateral cooperation since 1996. They serve a critical role in hosting foreign manufacturing investments that contribute to the sectoral transformation of local provinces from agriculture to industry, thereby promoting the overall development of Vietnam.

The addition of the new VSIPs will deepen collaboration in the areas of smart and sustainable IPs that are envisaged to become the future model of sustainable industrialisation.

With the inauguration of the new projects, VSIP is developing 17 integrated townships and IPs in Vietnam.

From the first IP in Binh Duong's Thuan An, VSIP Group's total land stock has increased to over 11,000 hectares. About 900 customers from 30 countries and territories have invested a total of more than $18 billion and employ 300,000 staff.

VSIP III to be developed into green, smart industrial park Chairman of the Peoples Committee of the southern province of Binh Duong Duong Vo Van Minh had a working session with CEO of Semncorp Development of Singapore Kelvin Teo on January 12 to discuss the firms investment in Vietnam  Singapore industrial park projects in the locality.

Sembcorp and Becamex join up develop smart and sustainable IPs An MoU was signed between Becamex IDC Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (Vietnam) and Sembcorp Development Ltd. (Singapore) on February 10 in Singapore to acknowledge the cooperation to develop five green, smart, and sustainable industrial parks (IPs) in Vietnam within the next three years with total investment capital of roughly $1 billion.

Smart industry slant to boost foreign capital attraction Localities throughout the country are striving to create a breakthrough for industrial infrastructure to increase its competitive capacity in attracting foreign capital.
(Photo : Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP) (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)

Uganda's new anti-homosexuality law is under fire after two men became the first to be charged with aggravated homosexuality, threatening them with the death penalty.

Uganda has charged two men separately with "aggravated homosexuality," the first cases in the country since the regulation was passed, which could result in death sentences.

On Aug. 18, a 20-year-old man from the district of Soroti, located in the eastern parts of Uganda, was charged after he allegedly performed unlawful sexual intercourse with another man who was 41 years old and had a disability.

Uganda's New Anti-Homosexuality Law

The spokesperson announced the office of the Director of Public Prosecutors, Jacqueline Okui. Under the widely criticized new law, "aggravated homosexuality" involves incest, sex with children, people with disabilities, or the elderly.

The act, which lawmakers signed into law in May, also criminalizes gay marriage in the country and punishes same-sex acts with life imprisonment. The development has been several decades since Uganda's last execution.

However, the country's longtime President, Yoweri Museveni, threatened in 2018 that he plans to resume state assent for capital punishment. On the other hand, attorney Justine Balya, representing the 20-year-old man charged with aggravated homosexuality, said that the punishments under the law are out of proportion, as per CNN.

Balya said that the fact that the new law was enforced in such a way makes it unconstitutional because it aims to criminalize what is often consensual conduct between adults. The attorney added that similar cases could go to trial after a long delay, saying she expects her client to be in pre-trial remand for quite some time.

She also noted that they represent several individuals arrested for lesser offenses under the country's new Anti-Homosexuality Act. But the man arrested in Soroti is only the second to be charged with capital offense since May.

The first man who was charged with aggravated homosexuality is from the Jinja district located in eastern Uganda. The charges came last month as he allegedly performed a sexual act with a child aged 12 years and was of the same sex.

Read Also: Pakistan Court Overturns Corruption Charge of Former PM Imran Khan

Death Penalty

The law, considered one of the harshest of its kind globally, has received criticism from the United Nations, foreign governments, including the United States, and global rights groups, according to The Guardian.

The situation comes after the World Bank announced that it was suspending new loans to Uganda, arguing that the homosexuality law "fundamentally contradicts" the values of the U.S.-based lender.

In May, United States President Joe Biden called for the immediate repeal of the new measures that he called a "tragic violation of universal human rights." He also threatened to cut aid and investment in Uganda if the problem is not addressed.

The recent cases of individuals charged with aggravated homosexuality highlight the threats that LGBTQ+ people in Uganda face since the passing of the new law in May. Human rights advocates have argued that the new law promotes a "witch hunt" of sexual minorities.

This includes people who are perceived to be sexual minorities and those who offer them support. The new law has already sent many people from the LGBTQ+ community into hiding, fearing for their well-being, said NPR.

Related Article: Taiwan Warns of Increased Tensions Due to Chinese Incursions

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The number of new oil contract signings has fallen in years, photo Le Toan

Bui Ngoc Duong, general director of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical JSC (BSR) said refineries and petrochemical companies are increasingly looking for crude oil supply sources outside the country to satisfy the rising domestic demand.

BSR would like to access long-term, quality crude oil sources through cooperation with crude oil suppliers such as Chevron, Novel, Freepoint, Meridian, and McQuilling, Duong said.

He added that Vietnams crude oil production has continuously decreased, making it difficult to supply to the Dung Quat oil refinery. The factorys demand has increased to 148,000 barrels per day, a figure that is predicted to reach 160,000-165,000 barrels per day in the 2024-2028 period and 171,000 barrels beyond 2028 after BSR completes an expansion.

PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PVOil), BSRs largest crude oil supplier, is purchasing the maximum amount of crude oil in Vietnam to supply BSR. The move not only reduces the dependence on imported materials but also eases the impact of input material costs on product prices.

PVOil has supplied 28.3 million barrels of crude oil of all kinds to BSR, equivalent to over 156,000 barrels per day.

Nguyen Duong Quang, director of the Crude Oil Division at PVOil, said, We have negotiated with oil owners to purchase the maximum amount of in Vietnam for BSR. The company also supports BSR in the negotiation of a long-term purchase agreement to purchase from White Rhino oil field. The company also offers flexible loading and unloading options based on the actual capacity of the Dung Quat refinery.

BSR will face some challenges for the crude oil supply during the next two years, including changes in export and import as well as other barriers in implementing the crude oil supply contracts.

Lim Meng Tong, a representative of Chevron, said, Oil companies and traders are dealing with issues in crude oil production due to the fierce competition in international trade and conflicts in some parts of the world.

Chevrons crude oil production capacity stands at 1.44 million barrels per day, mainly from the United States, Canada, and some African countries.

According to state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), crude oil reserves are depleting rapidly, and the company is studying the development of small and marginal fields that are suitable for Vietnams natural resources. The main reason is the reduction of investments in oil exploration. The number of newly-signed oil contracts has decreased significantly from 2015 to 2019, with one new contract each year. In the 2020-2021 period, no new contracts were signed.

Ta Vu Duy Hoa, deputy head of the Economic and Investment Department at PetroVietnam, said, It is a huge challenge to maintain oil production in 2023 and beyond. The main fields are in the natural decline stage, leading to a decrease in domestic oil production. As of July 26, there were 82.9 million tonnes of crude oil supplied to Dung Quat, but domestic crude oil output only met 60-70 per cent of the plants demand.

According to the International Energy Agency, global oil demand is forecast to rise gradually over the months and rise strongly in the second half of this year, reaching 103.2 million barrels per day and boosted by strong air travel and increased oil use in China. Oil demand in 2023 is higher than that of last year by around two million barrels per day.

Crude oil exports back up state budget Despite a likely deficit this year, the state budget picture is expected to enjoy wider-than-expected takings this year thanks to increases in revenue of almost all sectors in the economy.
Two witnesses to the killing of Aquarius Tyrone McPhaul testified Tuesday that Elijah Jamal Craven, 21, killed the teenager after Daezion Watkins handed Craven a pistol.

The witnesses in Cravens murder trial that started Monday in Wacos 54th State District Court said the group was driving around, chilling, smoking marijuana and listening to music before Craven attempted to rob McPhaul of a gold watch and killed him after the botched robbery.

McPhaul, 17, was found dead the afternoon of Sept. 10, 2019, in the road in the 2900 block of South Fourth Street, near Oakwood Cemetery. His clothes were covered in blood and his body was full of bullet holes. Near his body, investigators found seven spent .40 caliber shell casings, a gold watch and a camo balaclava.

Information gathered from witnesses, as well as surveillance footage and social media posts led police to arrest Craven, who was 17 at the time, on Oct. 29, 2019, and charge him with capital murder, which was later downgraded to murder. Watkins, 18 at the time, was arrested Nov. 19, 2019, and is charged with capital murder, according to jail records.

Search warrants tie Craven to a local gang and say McPhaul had been a member of the gang but was kicked out and was unable to pay gang members back for drugs he had been accused of using rather than selling.

In the opening statements Tuesday morning, McLennan County prosecutor Christi Hunting Horse told the jury Cravens DNA was found on the inside of the balaclava mask found at the scene. Instagram messages revealed McPhaul had been texting Craven prior to his death about meeting up at the New Road Inn, where surveillance footage showed McPhaul getting into a white truck driven by Craven about 20 minutes before the killing, Hunting Horse said. She is prosecuting the case along with First Assistant District Attorney Ryan Calvert.

Hunting Horse said Craven drove the truck to the cemetery and pulled a pistol on McPhaul, demanding his watch. When McPhaul refused, Craven pistol whipped him, she said. McPhaul then tried to run, but Craven shot him seven times with hollow point ammunition, killing him, she said.

Hunting Horse said Craven later bragged to others about the killing. Hunting Horse also said social media posts connect Craven to both the truck, which was stolen from Austin, and the murder weapon, a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson M&P Shield.

Every puzzle piece says this individual stood over Aquarius that day and shot him again, and again, and again, Hunting Horse said.

Ben Rothchild, one of Cravens defense attorneys, said in his opening statements there is not a concrete definition of reasonable doubt and that if there is any doubt in the jurys mind by the end of the trial, Craven must be acquitted.

Rothchild said there are issues with the credibility of the states witnesses, there are holes in the states theory about the killing and there are inconsistencies with the Waco police investigation. He said a mixture of four peoples DNA was discovered on the mask, and asked the jury to wait to hear both the states and the defenses evidence before settling on a verdict.

The states first witnesses were Waco Police Officer Blain Spann and Bellmead Police Officer Amber Richardson, who was a Waco crime scene technician at the time of the killing. Spann testified that he arrived on scene about 10 to 15 minutes after the killing and found McPhaul dead in the road. He said finding the mask was unusual, as the day of the killing was especially hot and the mask was insulated.

Richardson testified that she worked the scene of the killing, and described McPhauls injuries. She said he had been shot many times, in his neck, chin, arms, chest and abdomen with .40 caliber hollow point ammunition, designed to spread on impact and not exit the body.

Erin Casmus, a DNA analyst in the Texas Department of Public Safety, testified that she processed the DNA samples from the mask, and said a mixture of four individuals DNA was found on the inside of the mask. She said there was a very large probability that Craven was the main contributor of the DNA sample.

Abel Reyna, Cravens other attorney, questioned Casmus and said there was no way to know when the DNA could have gotten in the mask, as there was an almost four year gap between the killing and the testing of the DNA. He also said it was possible that someone other than Craven had dropped the mask at the scene.

Casmus said the DNA of Watkins and another individual, Sadarius Greer, was tested and determined not to be the contributor of the DNA. The two witnesses who testified Tuesday were not tested, she said.

Brogan Ezell, a 2020 Baylor University ROTC graduate who lived just up the street from where McPhaul was killed, testified that he was leaving for class the afternoon of the killing and heard several close gunshots as he was walking out his front door. Several seconds later, he saw a white four-door Toyota Tacoma speeding away toward La Salle Avenue.

Ezell said the truck he saw was similar to a truck captured on security footage at the New Road Inn, but said he was unable to determine how many people were in the vehicle or what they looked like.

Dr. Chester Gwin, a medical examiner in Dallas who performed McPhauls autopsy said McPhaul had 13 total wounds on his body, including 10 entrance wounds from bullets and wounds on his face consistent with being pistol whipped.

Gwin said the wounds indicated that several of the gunshots had entered McPhaul, exited, then entered his body again. He said the wounds indicated McPhauls arm was raised in front of his face when he was fatally shot, as there was an entrance and exit wound on his wrist, and bone and bullet fragments were found near a gunshot wound on his neck.

Two of the states witnesses testified that Craven had picked them up before the killing as they were walking to the store, with Watkins already in the vehicle. One said he was 15 or 16 at the time, and the other said he was 17. Both said they had no idea what would happen when they got in the truck that day.

One of the witnesses, a longtime family friend of McPhaul, said the group went to an area apartment complex to buy marijuana, then began smoking blunts while driving around, hanging out and listening to music. He said Craven drove the truck to the New Road Inn to pick up McPhaul. Both witnesses said they had no idea Craven intended to pick up McPhaul, who ended up sitting between them in the back seat.

Both witnesses said the truck slowed down as Watkins handed a pistol to Craven, who stopped the car and the music, turned around and pointed the gun at McPhauls face.

The younger witness said Craven told McPhaul Youre (going to) have to come up off the watch, and when McPhaul refused, Craven hit him in the face with the pistol. He said McPhaul told Craven Come on man, were friends, we went to school together, before Craven pistol whipped him again.

He said McPhaul then scrambled to get out of the truck.

The older witness said he opened the truck door, and McPhaul scrambled over him to escape. He said it seemed like Craven almost drove off before something came over him and he exited the truck to go after McPhaul.

Both witnesses said Craven fired several shots that struck McPhaul and sent him to the ground.

The younger witness said McPhaul begged for his life, telling Craven You dont have to do this, and repeating that they went to school together.

He said the gun jammed and Watkins handed Craven a fresh magazine. After reloading the weapon, Craven stood over McPhaul and shot him dead, he said. The other witness said Craven was laughing when he returned to the truck.

Both witnesses said they thought about running from the truck but were scared for their lives. They also said they were scared of possible retaliation against themselves or family members for snitching on Craven.

Shortly after the killing, the two witnesses were detained and questioned, and told detectives Craven had murdered McPhaul. Reyna questioned them about their initial testimony and said the two of them had initially lied about several aspects of the killing to detectives, including when McPhaul had been picked up, and that both men had later admitted to lying.

When asked why he is deciding to tell the truth now, the older witness said it was due to his belief in God, and said he became a believer in the years since the killing.

God sent me here for a reason, I aint trying to go to hell, he said. Ive got God on my side. I aint scared of nothing.
McLennan County public school districts showed moderate change, mostly positive, in their average scores in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness released earlier this month, with most districts scoring above the state average in math, reading and science.

A look at scores for third, fifth and eighth graders shows a majority of the 20 public school and charter districts in McLennan County topped the state average for passing in reading and math.

Students in grades three and up are tested in the STAAR exams, known as End of Course exams at the high school level. The Tribune-Herald is examining third, fifth and eighth grade scores for year-to-year comparisons.

Of 20 public school and public charter districts in the county, 14 met or exceeded the state average for third-grade reading, 12 for fifth-grade reading and 14 for eighth-grade reading. In math, 14 equaled or surpassed the state average for third graders, 12 for fifth graders and 11 for eighth graders. In Bruceville-Eddy, all fifth graders passed the state math test.

Compared with their scores from last year, 13 increased in third-grade reading, nine in fifth-grade reading and nine in eighth-grade reading. In math, 15 improved in their third grade average, nine in fifth grade and 12 in eighth grade.

Hallsburg ISD does not serve students past sixth grade, so only 19 school systems are counted for eighth grade, and Valley Mills ISD is not included in the count of McLennan County schools.

Educators contacted for this story caution about comparisons of this years results to last years due to the Texas Education Agencys major revision to the test, given last spring. The test given last spring, changed to better align with the state curriculum taught in classrooms, increased the number of correct questions needed to achieve approaches, meets and masters grade levels, the classifications considered passing. Reading skills tests had new writing components where students had to compose answers to questions rather than pick a multiple choice selection.

Last springs test also was the first administered solely online rather than by paper forms.

The TEA also has revised its criteria for school accountability ratings, where districts and campuses are given a letter grade based on student performance, graduation rates, post-secondary readiness and other metrics. The letter grades will be released Sept. 28 and some district leaders and trustees fear the combination of stiffer STAAR and accountability standards will mean more failing grades before districts can adjust.

WISD joins suit

Seven public school districts, from the Rio Grande Valley, West Texas, and Travis and Tarrant counties, filed suit against Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath on Aug. 24, claiming the new accountability standards, retroactively applied, will negatively impact their districts. The TEA earlier informed administrators that the new standards will likely lower many districts ratings a letter grade or more. Districts and schools receiving a failing grade could see their enrollment drop as a result, which would reduce their state funding, the suit claims.

Waco Independent School District trustees authorized Superintendent Susan Kincannon last week to add Waco ISD to the suit, and district officials expect more districts will take action regarding the states change.

When students and teachers take the STAAR test in the spring, they deserve to know how it will be graded, Kincannon said in a statement Tuesday. Its unfair, and quite frankly, it violates state law for TEA to change the accountability rules months later. Even today, TEA still has not given school districts the final rules explaining how the results of last springs tests will be measured for accountability ratings. I am encouraged that our school board decided to join with other school districts around the state to challenge TEAs decision to put politics ahead of student learning.

Despite the changes, some districts were pleased with how their students performed with this years STAAR. At China Spring ISD, passing rates in reading and math largely were above 80% with the fifth grade at 77% passing for math and science.

Kristen Dutschmann, China Springs executive director for curriculum and information assessment, attributed student success to broad collaboration.

It was a lot of hard work from students, teachers and campus administrators. To me, it took a lot of creative thinking to make sure students were prepared, Dutschmann said.

Part of that preparation involved exposing students through class warmups and testing to question formats, such as written answers or typing responses online, they might encounter on the STAAR test. To a great extent, it comes back to good teaching. At China Spring, weve always placed an emphasis on best teaching practices, she said.

Local improvements

Midway ISD saw small increases across the board compared to the past two years and passing percentage rates in the high 80s. District officials declined to comment on this years test scores and what they mean until they inform Midway ISD trustees at their next board meeting, spokesperson Traci Marlin said.

Sandra Hancock, Connally ISD assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said she is encouraged by improved reading and math scores across the district, but there is still concern at the elementary school and junior high, two campuses the TEA had rated improvement required.

I feel like we have some momentum moving forward, Hancock said.

The district will move to a hybrid schedule in the coming month that will allow half-day tutoring on Fridays for students needing additional academic help. Hancock said administrators also will be looking for ways to replicate the success found at some grade levels to other grades. One of the districts challenges has been filling teacher vacancies from a highly competitive candidate pool, with those hires seen as needed to increase teaching stability and continuity that aids student learning, she said.

West ISD students also improved their math and reading scores, with fifth-grade math barely missing that mark, and passing percentage rates in the 90s or high 80s. Superintendent David Truitt also said collaboration not only with students, teachers and staff members within the district, but the West community, has helped students. Students also are required to set academic growth goals for themselves with regular tracking of how they are progressing toward those goals, he said.

Theres a lot of communication and a lot of conversations, Truitt said.

In an effort to grow the number of students on the meets or masters levels, the higher of the passing classifications, the district is looking at ways to lower class sizes and has lengthened the time of reading and math classes for middle school students, he said.
Stalks of ragweed higher than a grown mans head now cover the former grounds of Kelleys Used Auto Parts, where hundreds of cars and thousands of tires once were strewn about.

It may not be pretty, but city of Bellmead officials say it is a picture of progress.

The city this month dismissed its September 2022 code enforcement case against owner William Loyd Kelly Jr. after he spent the summer cleaning up the remaining scrap and tires scattered over the property at 2401 Bellmead Drive.

The former junkyard of about 100 acres has been a source of citizen complaints since at least the 1980s, and the target of city and state enforcement actions since at least 2005.

City Manager Yost Zakhary said the city waived fees based on Kelleys compliance, which he said involved a cleanup contract of about $28,000. He said Kelley intends to put the tract on the market, and the city stands ready to help developers turn the eyesore into an asset.

The owners, theyve worked with us, Zakhary said. I mean, give them credit. I dont think they were happy to do it but they did comply. And our goal is always compliance rather than fining anybody. We dont want their money. We wanted them to clean the place up. And now it has a lot of potential, be it commercial or whatever they want to do with it. This is a good piece of land, and I hope that someone will come along and buy it.

Kelleys officials did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

Before the Bellmead enforcement case, Kelleys Used Auto Parts was the subject of numerous enforcement actions by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, resulting in some $141,750 in fines. The TCEQ closed its case in May of last year after determining more than 3,000 tires had been removed in addition to more than 137 tons of scrap metal.

The city of Bellmead followed up last September with an enforcement action in municipal court seeking to have the remaining tires, hubcaps and scrap metal removed.

The site fronts a five-lane road known as Bellmead Drive or State Spur 299, which connects the Interstate 35 frontage road to Highway 84. On the other side of the road are Sams Club, Collin Street Bakery, a hotel and Lynns La Vega Pharmacy.

By contrast, on Kelleys side there is little in the way of streets, infrastructure or businesses, other than Kelleys and the adjacent Pickens Auto Parts, which is up for sale.

The Kelleys site sits in a floodplain that catches much of Bellmeads drainage. But Zakhary said large developments often have engineering challenges to overcome, and the city of Bellmead will work with developers on drainage and other infrastructure at the site.

What we are looking for is someone to bring us a contract, he said. Our engineers would work with their engineers to come up with a plan thats a win-win for the developer and the city. I would take any feasible proposal to the city council for consideration.

Zakhary said he would be happy to see any combination of commercial or residential development on the site.

Real estate broker Hunter Harrell is marketing the Pickens site and several other parcels around it. He said a couple developers are seriously considering the properties for residential and commercial development.

Weve had some really good interest in that property, he said.

Harrell said environmental study will likely be needed on the property, and the city of Bellmead could help the project by abandoning some small streets.

Toby Monrrial, whose family owns property around Kelleys and who has fought for years to clean up the junkyard, said he welcomes development in the area.

Thats the last area of Bellmead, and I hope it gets developed, he said. It makes my property worth more.

Monrrial made headlines for his crusade to clean up the junkyard as far back as 1988, and his complaints spurred the TCEQ to enforce state environmental laws on the owners.

In an interview last week, Monrrial saluted Zakhary and Travis Gibson, the council member and outgoing mayor, for their role in finishing the job of ridding Bellmead of a persistent health and safety hazard.

But in follow-up communication, he said a pile of tires from Kelleys still sits on a city easement in the wooded back side of the property. He filed a new complaint Monday with the TCEQ regarding the tires.

In a follow-up interview, Zakhary said he was unaware of anything more than a few scattered tires on the property, but the city will ensure any remaining refuse is removed to make way for development.
(Photo : Rob Engelaar / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT (ROB ENGELAAR/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

The United States announced the takedown of the Qakbot malware platform in coordination with several other international parties.

The United States on Tuesday claimed that an international law enforcement operation successfully took down the notorious "Qakbot" malware platform that was extensively used by cybercriminals in various financial crimes.

The hacking network was first discovered over a decade ago, and the malware is spread through malicious, booby-trapped emails sent to unsuspecting victims. In a statement, the United States Department of Justice said that the international operation, Duck Hunt, involved Britain, France, Germany, Latvia, Romania, and the Netherlands.

Massive Cybercrime Network Takedown

Additionally, US attorney Martin Estrada said the attack on Qakbot is considered the most significant technological and financial operation ever led by the department against a botnet. This term refers to an interconnected network of infected computers that hackers use to spread viruses.

During a news conference, Estrada added that the combined effort from the countries involved made it possible to take down Qakbot and ensure the safety of countless victims who could become targets of future attacks, as per Reuters.

Security researchers also believe that Qakbot originated from Russia and has been used to target various organizations globally, from Germany to Argentina. Estrada also said that the malware platform had already infected over 700,000 victim computers, facilitated ransomware deployments, and caused damage to businesses, healthcare providers, and government agencies worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

International agencies seized 52 servers in the United States and abroad as part of the operation. Investigators also found that between October 2021 and April 2021, the malware network's administrators received fees worth roughly $58 million from ransoms that victims paid.

The FBI said that to damage the cybercrime network, it redirected the platform's internet traffic to bureau-controlled servers that uninstalled the corresponding malware from victim computers.

Read Also: Pakistan Court Overturns Corruption Charge of Former PM Imran Khan

Disruption of the Qakbot Platform

Authorities said that the takedown of Qakbot was one of the largest US-led disruptions of a botnet infrastructure. The FBI added that roughly $8.6 million in stolen cryptocurrency related to the malware platform's operations were seized and will later be returned to victims, according to the Washington Post.

In an announcement, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said that the FBI successfully neutralized the far-reaching criminal supply chain and "cut it off at the knees." The development comes as Qakbot enabled the operations of several high-profile ransomware groups, such as Conti and REvil.

These targeted organizations, including hospitals, schools, and municipal governments by holding their sensitive data hostage and demanding ransom payments. Victims of the botnet in the United States also include a power engineering firm based in Illinois, a financial services company in Alabama, and a food distribution company in California.

American officials have also accused the Kremlin of ignoring the situation despite a large percentage of global cybercrime and ransomware activity from Russia. They argued that Russian officials ignore the issue as long as the suspects' target is not local, which Moscow authorities have vehemently denied, said Politico.

Related Article: Taiwan Warns of Increased Tensions Due to Chinese Incursions

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
WATERLOO  The city of Waterloo is renaming a portion of San Marnan Drive in honor of Van G. Miller.

Effective Sept. 1, West San Marnan Drive between Ansborough Avenue and West Fourth Street will become Van Miller Way.

Miller, who died in 2015, founded VGM in 1986 with the help of James E. Walsh Jr. and John Deery Jr. He was well-known for his commitment to the Waterloo community and generous support of local causes. That commitment and support continue to this day through the organizations that bear his name.

Over the past 10 years, VGM Group has donated more than $1 million in total. The Van G. Miller Family Charitable Foundation has donated more than $5.4 million to the community since 2016. Most recently, this took the form of a $1.5 million gift to the city of Waterloo to aid in improvements to Gates and Byrnes parks.

Van was a firm believer in the power of community to transform peoples lives, Mile Mallaro, who serves as CEO of VGM Group and on the grant committee of the Van G. Miller Family Charitable Foundation, said in a news release. Were honored to carry on his vision and be part of a project that will mean so much to so many people. Were proud to call Waterloo home and thankful to the city for recognizing Van and his contributions to our great community.

VGM Group will honor Van G. Miller and celebrate the new street name with a special Founders' Day event at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at VGM's headquarters at 1111 San Marnan Drive in Waterloo.
DES MOINES  Franklin County sheriffs deputies were justified in the June fatal shooting of a man who pointed what turned out to be a pellet gun at them, then thanked them for shooting him.

The Iowa Attorney Generals Office found that Franklin County deputies Chase Weinandy and Ben Baskerville were justified in the shooting of Matthew T.J. Davis, 30, on June 20.

In a report issued Monday, the office concluded that the actions of the deputies, who shot Davis after he drunkenly aimed a gun at them, were legally justified and that no criminal charges are warranted.

The Attorney Generals conclusion was based on a review and investigation by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. The investigation found that on the evening of June 20, Franklin County dispatch received two 911 calls reporting that Davis, the callers former partner, was at her home, intoxicated, suicidal, and armed with a gun. At the time, the callers minor son was inside the home and alone. The 911 caller also reported that Davis said he wanted to be shot by police.

Two Franklin County deputies were dispatched to the residence and found Davis in the driveway with a gun. The deputies immediately instructed Davis to drop his weapon and pleaded with him to do so at least 17 times. Bodycam footage showed that Davis then approached the deputies and aimed his gun at them, at which point the deputies opened fire. After securing Davis weapon, the deputies rendered medical aid and called for an ambulance. During this time, the report states, Davis stated to the deputies, Thank you for shooting me. Davis died while enroute to the hospital.

The report is issued under the Attorney Generals independent authority under Iowa Code to investigate or prosecute conduct of law enforcement that results in death.
WATERLOO  A judge has declined to rescind a Waterloo mans plea to charges he fled after hitting a bicyclist in 2019.

L.A. Jefferson Jr., 46, entered an Alford plea to charges of homicide by vehicle by recklessness, leaving the scene of an injury accident and operating while intoxicated Aug. 16 in connection with the crash that claimed the life of Dilail Salkic, 22, of Waterloo.

Less than a day later, Jefferson filed a pro se motion seeking, among other things, to take back his plea.

During a Friday hearing in Black Hawk County District Court, Jefferson argued that he didnt want to accept the plea offer.

I was under duress, Jefferson said, explaining the plea came as jury selection was underway to begin his trial if the plea didnt go through, and weeks earlier he indicated he wanted to proceed representing himself instead of having an attorney.

I felt like I was at a dead end and that was the only option, Jefferson said.

Jefferson also noted that documents associated with the plea incorrectly included a charge of leaving the scene of a fatality accident  a more serious charge than what he had agree to. He also said he no longer wanted to represent himself.

Judge Joel Dalrymple noted the incorrect wording of the plea document was a typo and he said the issue will be remedied with a follow-up order to correct it with the proper wording.

Under the plea deal, Jefferson and prosecutors had agreed to a sentence of up to 14 years behind bars and the state reduced the charge from an offense that carries up to 25 years in prison.

During the Friday hearing, the court found the typo didnt rise to the level of overturning the plea.

The judge also assigned a new attorney to represent Jefferson for the duration of the case.

Sentencing is tentatively set for October.

PHOTOS: Fatal bicycle crash July 23, 2019 072319jr-bike-crash-4 072319jr-bike-crash-5 072319jr-bike-crash-6 072319jr-bike-crash-2 072319jr-bike-crash-3 072319jr-bike-crash-1
Lead Waterloo is an expansion to the original Teach Waterloo program, a program to diversify the district's teacher workforce in support of student success.

The Lead Waterloo program provides financial resources and resilience support for Waterloo schools' staff of color or historically marginalized populations seeking administrative certification. Through partnerships between the district, John Deere, McElroy Trust and the University of Northern Iowa, the goal is to help build tomorrow's leaders.
WATERLOO  Local veterans will be honored Labor Day weekend as part of an annual Quilts of Valor presentation.

On Saturday, Quilts of Valor will present quilts to 11 local veterans at 1 p.m. at the American Legion Becker-Chapman Post 138. Most of the quilts were crafted by Kathy Baldwin and her sister-in-law, Linda Osborn, in Newton. Three were contributed by the quilters group at First Christian Church Disciples of Christ after the National Quilts of Valor office was contacted.

According to Baldwin, the event is an emotional event for those involved.

Its not just a matter of, Oh, heres your quilt, Howard said. Theres quite a story and a presentation that goes with it. And we read back their military service and what theyve done since and what they did before. Youll see a lot of quivering lips and a few tears by the time were done.

Quilts of Valor was started in 2003 by Catherine Roberts, a Delaware mother whose son was serving in Iraq. Roberts said she had a dream about how quilts could help soldiers like her son to heal from the traumas they faced in the military.

The dream was as vivid as real life. I saw a young man sitting on the side of his bed in the middle of the night, hunched over. The permeating feeling was one of utter despair. I could see his war demons clustered around, dragging him down into an emotional gutter, Roberts said of her dream on the Quilts of Valor website. Then, as if viewing a movie, I saw him in the next scene wrapped in a quilt. His whole demeanor changed from one of despair to one of hope and well-being. The quilt had made this dramatic change.

People in the First Christian Church group have been Quilts of Valor members since 2016 and have been involved in presenting at least 58 quilts.

Baldwin explained an official quilt is nationally registered with the stamp of the organization. While she praised anyone willing to go through the effort of making a quilt for a veteran, she said theres an added level of distinction to the official presentation.

Theres just a little more meaning to it than handing someone a quilt, she said.

The Becker-Chapman post is located at 728 Commercial St. Baldwin and Osborn will both be in attendance for the presentation.

This story has been updated to reflect the First Christian Church quilters contribution.

What do Iowans want? An inside look at what 20 Iowans say about their lives, government What Iowans want - Ryan Globe
Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.

In Donetsk direction, the Yug Group of Forces units repelled the AFU 59th Mechanised Infantry Brigades attack near Nevelskoye (Donetsk Peoples Republic), and improved the situation on the front line.

The AFU military train with artillery ammunition was destroyed by a missile strike on the uploading station near Dorozhnoe (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

One ammunition depot of the AFU 93rd Mechanised Brigade has been destroyed near Druzhkovka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

The enemy losses were more than 340 AFU militants dead and wounded, 6 armoured fighting vehicles, 13 motor vehicles, as well as two howitzers D-20 and Msta-B.

In Zaporozhye direction, Russian Group of Forces units, supported by aviation and artillery, repelled two attacks of the AFU 46th Aeromobile Brigade close to Verbovoye (Zaporozhye region).

Over the past 24 hours, up to 90 AFU servicemen, 2 armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, three M777 artillery systems, two U.S.-manufactured M119 howitzers, as well as one U.K.-manufactured FH-70 howitzer.

In Kupyansk direction, units of the Zapad Group of Forces, supported by artillery and heavy flamethrower systems, repelled six attacks of AFU 43rd, 115th mechanisrd brigades, as well as thr 25th Airborne Brigade close to Sinkovka (Kharkov region) and Stelmakhovka (Lugansk Peoples Republic).

The enemy losses were up to 50 Ukrainian personnel, two armoured fighting vehicles, and three motor vehicles have been eliminated.

In Krasny Liman direction, the Tsentr Group of Forces units, aviation and artillery repelled three attacks of the AFU 12th Special Forces Brigade, and 21nd, 63rd mechanised brigades near Kremennaya, Chervonaya Dibrova, (Lugansk Peoples Republic), and Yampolovka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

Up to 80 personnel, two infantry fighting vehicles, three armoured fighting vehicles, and two pickups have been eliminated.

In South Donetsk Direction, the Vostok Group of Forces units, Army Aviation and artillery have destroyed up to 100 AFU servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, and two howitzers: Akatsiya and Giatsint-B.

One ammunition depot of the AFU 79th Air Assault Brigade has been destroyed near Novomikhaylovka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were up to 20 Ukrainian servicemen, three motor vehicles, and two D-30 howitzers.

Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised manpower and military hardware in 132 areas.

Two command and observation posts of the 67th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU have been destroyed near Serebryanka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

Air defence sastems intercepted two HIMARS MLRS, one Neptune anti-ship missile and two HARM anti-radar missiles.

Over the past 24 hours, 27 AFU UAVs have been destroyed close to Shipilovka, Kremennaya, Sofiyevka, Zhitlovka, Zaliman (Lugansk Peoples Republic), as well as Kirillovka, Zaytsevo (Donetsk Peoples Republic), and Nesteryanka (Zaporozhye region).

In total, 466 airplanes, 247 helicopters, 6,206 unmanned aerial vehicles, 433 air defence missile systems, 11,555 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,146 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 6,107 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 12,508 special military motor vehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation (30 August 2023)

On 30 August, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have launched a group strike with long-range air- and sea-based precision weapons against enemy command and reconnaissance posts.

The goals of the strike have been reached. All the assigned targets have been neutralised.

In Donetsk direction, units of the Yug Group of Forces, supported by aviation and artillery, have repelled five enemy attacks close to Belogorovka, Zaitsevo, and Krasnogorovka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

The enemy losses were up to 380 Ukrainian servicemen killed and wounded, four armoured fighting vehicles, seven motor vehicles, two D-20 howitzers, one Msta-B gun, and one Rapira anti-tank gun.

In addition, ammunition and fuel depots of the AFU 35th Marine Brigade have been hit near Prechistovka (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

In Zaporozhye direction, as a result of active actions by units of the Russian grouping of troops, aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems, nine attacks by assault units of 46th airmobile and 82nd airborne assault brigades of the AFU have been repelled close to Rabotino and Verbovoye (Zaporozhye region).

The enemy losses were up to 85 Ukrainian servicemen, one tank, three armoured fighting vehicles, two pickup trucks, three M777 artillery systems, and three U.S.-manufactured M119 howitzers, Gvozdika, Bogdana, as well as UK-manufactured AS-90 self-propelled artillery systems.

In Kupyansk direction, as a result of actions by units of the Zapad Group of Forces, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems, three attacks by 43rd, 115th mechanised and 68th jaeger brigades of the AFU have been repelled close to Sinkovka (Kharkov region), Sergeevka and Novoyeogorovka (Lugansk Peoples Republic).

The enemy losses were up to 100 Ukrainian servicemen, three armoured fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, two U.S.-manufactured M109 guns, one D-30 howitzer, Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems, and one Polish-manufactured Krab artillery system.

In Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces, in cooperation with aviation and artillery, have repelled an attack by an assault group of the 42nd Mechanised Brigade of the AFU near Serebryansky forestry.

The enemy losses were up to 60 Ukrainian servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, and two motor vehicles.

In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces have inflicted a comprehensive fire attack on an AFU manpower and hardware concentration area near Novodarovka (Zaporozhye region).

The enemy losses were up to 120 Ukrainian servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, as well as D-20 and D-30 howitzers.

In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were up to 15 Ukrainian servicemen, two motor vehicles, and one D-30 howitzer.

Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised manpower and military hardware in 138 areas.

In addition, the headquarters of the Donetsk Operational-Tactical Group and a signal node of the 24th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU have been destroyed near Rovnoye (Donetsk Peoples Republic).

One aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet naval aviation destroyed four high-speed military boats with landing groups of up to 50 servicemen of the Ukrainian Special Purpose Forces in the waters of the Black Sea.

Air defence facilities have destroyed one HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system projectile.

In addition, 28 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down close to Shipilovka (Lugansk Peoples Republic), Spornoye, Zeleny Gai, Verkhnetoretskoye, Vodyanoye (Donetsk Peoples Republic), Ocheretovatoye, Pyatikhatki, Tarasovka, and Berdyansk (Zaporozhye region).

In total, 466 airplanes, 247 helicopters, 6,234 unmanned aerial vehicles, 433 air defence missile systems, 11,570 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,146 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 6,128 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 12,528 special military motor vehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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BILL SCHUETTE

Sauk County Historical Society

The dial telephone is as alien to todays generation as the crank phone was to their parents. The evolution of landline phones has been a long and winding road.

Alexander Graham Bell was responsible for the invention of the two-way communication device which we take for granted today. In 1876, he improved upon previous unsuccessful methods of sending the human voice over wires. His new commercial telephone apparatus was first installed in businesses such as banks. Wires were strung on poles throughout larger cities to other businesses and eventually to private homes. Rural communities werent wired or hooked onto the networks until the 1930s.

The first phones required the caller to turn a small hand crank on the side of a box hung on the wall, which connected them to an operator, who routed their call to the recipient. Party lines were also common where callers could crank a certain number of turns to alert others on the line that someone was calling them.

The first patent for a rotary dial telephone was filed in 1892. By 1919, AT&T had installed the first dial telephones in Norfolk, Virginia. Over the next couple of years, this improved method of calling spread throughout the east coast, and then throughout the country. The conversion was done one exchange at a time, and it took many, many decades to be completed. The last rural crank telephones were finally eliminated in 1978.

The transition required replacing the manual switchboards in an exchange with an electromechanical switch, replacing every telephone connected to that exchange with a new dial telephone  and teaching every subscriber how to use the new dial phone, noted historian Sheldon Hocheiser. In the 1930s, dial telephone service was becoming available to the masses. A week before a city switched to the dial phones, short informational films were shown in movie theaters to familiarize customers on how to operate the new device. They had to learn what a dial tone and busy signal sounded like, and more importantly, how to use the little holes in the finger wheel to dial the number of the person they wished to call.

This method of calling existed until the 1960s, when it was supplanted by push-button telephones, which were introduced at the 1962 Worlds Fair under the name Touch-Tone. By the 1980s the Touch-Tone phone became the primary method of communication. Many landline phones continue to use this method today, however, there are still a few rotary phones in use across the country.

This year, the Sauk County Historical Society has a new exhibit at its museum in Baraboo. Two rotary telephones are set up so that visitors can dial a number on one and talk to someone on the other. It is interesting to watch the younger generation trying to figure out how to make this antique contraption work.

Bill Schuette has served on the board of directors at the Sauk County Historical Society since 1993. He lives in rural Loganville.
A fire destroyed a hay barn at a Wisconsin Dells stable Friday, but the owner plans to rebuild the structure.

The Wisconsin Dells Dispatch Center received a call just before 5:30 p.m. for a structure fire on Trout Road near its intersection with Highway 13 in the city, according to a joint release from the Wisconsin Dells Police and Kilbourn Fire departments. A hay storage barn over a century old, located at Beaver Springs Riding Stables, was reported to be engulfed in flames.

No people or animals were reported to be inside the barn at the time of the blaze. The fire was fully out just before 9 p.m. on Friday, Kilbourn Fire Department chief Steve Smith said.

One of the employees was near there and saw some smoke coming from the barn, Beaver Springs owner Brent Tollaksen said. A manager and him both ran back over about 5 oclock-ish and called me saying there was smoke coming from the barn. Nobody saw any flames, but then, all of a sudden, it didnt take long to be fully engulfed. Feels bad to lose such an old structure like that.

Over the next year, Tollaksen plans to replace the wooden barn with a red metal barn to be used for the same purpose. The hay that did not burn will not be used to feed the horses the stable uses for horseback rides because of its exposure to the smoke.

Were going to rebuild and make something that looks as close as possible to at least replicating the size and shape, Tollaksen said. Get a structure rebuilt and move on.

The totaled barn contained roughly 1,500 bales of hay, Tollaksen said. Beaver Springs began using that extra hay roughly two weeks prior to the fire. The hay that did not burn will be used as mulch or disposed, the owner said.

One of the neighboring buildings, the Dells Fish and Wildlife Museum, was damaged by the fire, as well as a few shipping containers.

Overhaul operations were performed after responding fire departments extinguished the blaze, and road closures on the two roads and Clara Avenue lasted for hours.

The cause of the fire was not known, according to the release. Three other area fire departments and the Lake Delton Police Department provided assistance, along with the Wisconsin Dells Department of Public Works and Springbrook Construction.

Tollaksen expressed gratitude for community support following the blaze.
(Photo : Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The White House welcomed Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles as he traveled to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden to discuss migration and trade.

The White House welcomed Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles as United States President Joe Biden is set to discuss migration and trade in the Western Hemisphere.

The talks come as officials struggle to address a record number of migrants heading into the American nation. Biden thanked Robles for signing the 2022 Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection.

US-Costa Rica Discussions on Migration, Trade

That particular agreement was inked at the Summit of the Americas, which saw participating governments pledging to commit to expanding temporary worker programs, bolstering legal pathways such as refugee resettlement and family reunification, providing support to nations that host large migrant populations, and cracking down on human smuggling networks.

In a statement, Biden said that he was grateful for Robles making the declaration possible and for the latter's leadership on the migration challenges the American government faces daily. The Democrat was also hopeful for deepening security operations, including on organized crime, as per CNN.

The Biden administration has been under immense pressure from the unprecedented movement of migrants in the Western Hemisphere. Despite issuing a series of measures to curb migration, the administration could still see potentially thousands more people arriving at the US southern border this fall.

The number of people crossing the dangerous Darien Gap, which bridges Panama and Colombia and most recently served as a barometer for movement in the region, surpassed its previous record. Authorities said that 248,901 people crossed the jungle this year, roughly 20% of whom were children and adolescents.

A senior administration official noted that they were closely monitoring the situation and were deeply concerned about it. They added that the issue has been a high priority for the US government and its regional partners.

Read Also: Taiwan Warns of Increased Tensions Due to Chinese Incursions

Joe Biden and Rodrigo Chaves Robles

During discussions with Robles, Biden said that the two are united by the vision they share, which is for greater opportunity for freedom and equality as well as dignity for both of their people in the future, according to the New York Times.

The US government's efforts to curb migration are done by cracking down on asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border while working with Central American nations, such as Costa Rica, to find ways for migrants to apply for protection closer to their home countries.

After Biden and Robles' meeting at the White House, officials announced that the State Department would send more than $12 million through international partners to Costa Rica to help the nation address migration. The US government also plans to provide $24 million to improve Costa Rica's policing and expand its crime prevention programs.

Costa Rica and the United States agreed in June to open potential legal pathways to the latter for some Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants who are part of the 240,000 asylum seekers in the Central American country. Nicaraguants accounted for roughly 90% of applicants last year, said the Associated Press.

Related Article: Uganda Charges Two With 'Aggravated Homosexuality,' Could be Sentenced to Death

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraine sent waves of drones deep into western Russia in more than four hours of nighttime attacks that struck military assets, Russian officials and media reports said Wednesday.

The drones hit an airport near Russia's border with Estonia and Latvia, causing a huge blaze and damaging four Il-76 military transport planes, the Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

With at least six regions targeted, the barrage appeared to be the most extensive Ukrainian drone attack on Russian soil since the war began 18 months ago, though no injuries were reported. The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Ukraine of cross-border incursions on the Belgorod region of Russia and of launching drones toward Moscow.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who usually don't claim attacks inside Russia.

The Kremlin's forces, meanwhile, hit Kyiv with drones and missiles during the night in what Ukrainian officials called a "massive, combined attack" that killed two people.

The attacks came as the White House on Wednesday said that it has new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for the war in Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the latest finding just weeks after the White House said it determined that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, during a recent visit to Pyongyang, called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow. Kirby said Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other basic materiel to shore up its defense industrial base.

Shortly before the White House unveiled that new information, North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters, according to South Koreas military. The missile test came just hours after the U.S. flew at least one long-range bomber to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against the North.

Aerial attacks on Russia escalated recently as Ukraine pursues a counteroffensive. Kyiv increasingly targets Russia's military assets behind the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine.

The airport in the Pskov region, about 400 miles north of the Ukrainian border and 400 miles west of Moscow, suffered the most damage in the overnight attacks.

Smoke from a massive fire billowed over the city of Pskov, the region's namesake capital, according to social media posts.

Pskov Gov. Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the airport canceled for the day to assess damage, which he later said was not major, adding that normal operations would resume Thursday.

Other regions hit were Oryol, 240 miles south of Moscow, as well as Ryazan and Kaluga, which are both 120 miles south of the capital. Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, also was hit, according to the Russia Defense Ministry.

Three main Moscow airports  Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo  temporarily halted incoming and outgoing flights.

The Associated Press was unable to confirm whether the drones were launched from Ukraine or inside Russia.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister of digital transformation, said his country has drones with a range of up to 300 miles, though he did not take responsibility for any attacks in Russia or Crimea, the peninsula Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine was relying on foreign help because the drones "simply would not be able to fly such a distance without carefully researched information from Western satellites."

Russian state TV largely ignored the strikes, aside from a brief mention of the Pskov fire. However, Russia 1's popular political talk show "60 Minutes" opened with the attacks. It showed videos of the Pskov fire and blasts in Bryansk that had flooded social media, along with a soundtrack of sinister music.

Russia, meanwhile, also used drones as well as missiles in its biggest bombardment of Kyiv in months, Ukrainian authorities said. Two security guards, aged 26 and 36, were killed and another person was injured by falling debris, Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on Telegram.

Russia launched Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones at the capital from various directions, followed by air-launched missiles, Popko said. It was unclear how many were fired, but Popko called it the biggest attack on the capital since spring.

Also on Wednesday, Russia-installed officials in Crimea reported repelling an attack of drones targeting Sevastopol's harbor.

Late that same day, the Kremlin-appointed leader of Crimea claimed that a Ukrainian cruise missile was downed over the peninsula's eastern part, with falling debris damaging a power line. Regional officials in Russia's Bryansk province also claimed nine drones were brought down on over its territory on Wednesday.

In Ukraine, explosions were reported in the city of Odesa and the Cherkasy region.

Ukraine's air defenses destroyed 28 cruise missiles and 15 of 16 Shahed drones targeting Kyiv and multiple regions across the country overnight, the air force said in its daily Telegram update.

Photos: Blind veterans beat challenges at Ukraine rehab camp
Moscow is tapping nan past of its well-trained reserves arsenic nan Ukrainian counteroffensive gains momentum. But its not each bully newsa celebrated Ukrainian combatant ace has conscionable been killed.

Russia is sinking its ain ships to protect a captious bridge from Ukraines oversea drones. Those drones are proving to beryllium very effectiveRussia claims that Ukrainian drone struck a railway station.

The US said that Ukraines counteroffensive is making progress.

So galore Russian mines person been placed successful Ukraine that nan state is desperately seeking help.

Russia has vowed retaliation aft Ukraine launched a caller assault connected nan Crimean bridge.

Ukraine has accused Russia of targeting rescue workers pinch missile strikes.

Russia attacked Ukrainian troops pinch chemic weapons, according to caller evidence.

A Ukrainian woman, allegedly moving pinch aliases for nan Russians, has been arrested successful a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Zelenksy. Moscow is trying to person Russians to move to war-torn Mariupol. Russia has bombed a Ukrainian humor transfusion center.

Russia has bombed much Ukrainian atom stores. Global atom prices rose1 17% arsenic Russia attacked different Ukrainian atom supply.

Russia has bombed a atom retention depot. Russian bombs person damaged a Ukrainian cathedral successful Odessa that is listed arsenic a Unesco world practice site. The US says cluster bombs are making a quality successful Ukraine. Ukraine intelligence has confirmed that Wagner troops person rejected nan action to subordinate nan regular Russian service and moves to Belarus.

The Wagner group rejected Putins connection to subordinate nan Russian army. The leader of nan Wagner group has returned to Russia and reclaimed confiscated weaponsalthough caller US intelligence suggests that he whitethorn ne'er person gone to Belarus successful nan first place. In fact, intelligence suggests he whitethorn person met pinch Putin aft nan mutiny. Putin is allegedly purging his subject of suspected traitors. Charges person been dropped against nan rebellious Wagner boss.

The Wagner mercenary leader tried to telephone Putin erstwhile he thought his rebellion had gone excessively far, but Putin allegedly ignored his call.

The UK is considering preparing for a script successful which nan Russian federation collapses. This follows the Wagner group halting its aggression against Moscow little than 24 hours aft declaring unfastened rebellion against nan Russian military. Intelligence suggests that nan rebellion was halted because Russian agents threatened nan chiefs family.

Last week, the Wagner mercenary group captured a Russian commander aft nan caput of nan Wagner mercenary group accused nan Russian subject of planting mines successful nan groups path.

Just a fewer weeks ago, the Wagner leader said his service isnt beardown capable to effort a coup. The leader of nan Wagner group has criticized nan Russian defense minister, whose children are allegedly surviving successful luxury while Russian soldiers die. According to nan main of nan Wagner group, 20,000 of his troops died successful nan conflict for Bakhmut.

After claiming triumph successful Bakhmut, nan Wagner main has vowed to time off Bakhmut. Zelenksy is denying Russias alleged triumph successful Bakhmut.

Russian forces are successful retreat adjacent Bakhmut, according to some Ukraine and Wagner.

Ukraine has defeated Russian forces adjacent Bakhmut, liberating immoderate of nan captured territory and capturing immoderate troops.

Ukraine said location has been no motion of nan Wagner group leaving Bakhmut. The caput of nan Wagner mercenary group says he will propulsion his troops retired of Bakhmut, blaming defense officials for deficiency of ammunition. Kyiv suffered its worst Russian attacks successful a year.

Several twelve Ukrainian civilians were wounded successful pre-dawn Russian rocket strikes.

Russian missiles killed 25 people successful a artifact of apartments. Two group are dormant and different 10 wounded successful a Russian onslaught connected a Ukrainian museum. Russia claims to beryllium saving children, not kidnapping them, contempt overwhelming evidence. Ukraine hopes to create an world conjugation to return its deported children.

More than 30 children person been returned to Ukraine pursuing deportation to Russia. The Russian subject whitethorn person committed much than 9,000 warfare crimes successful nan Bucha district. Putin has been charged pinch warfare crimes successful an International Court and a warrant for his apprehension has been issued. The International Criminal Court has opened war crimes cases against Russia. Ukraine has accused Russian soldiers of destroying 400 flat blocks to hide grounds of warfare crimes.

As nan warfare successful Ukraine continues, evidence of Russian-perpetrated warfare crimes is mounting. Zelensky has said that Ukraine has already uncovered grounds of 400 warfare crimes successful Kherson. Ukraine precocious regained nan only location superior taken by Moscow, Kherson. Volodymyr Zelensky will return portion successful nan G20 summit. Zelensky has besides been awarded nan Liberty Medal by nan National Constitution Center successful Philadelphia.

The United States is sending different $400 cardinal to Ukraine.

Canada is selling bonds to thief money Ukraine. Many nations are contributing to nan warfare nevertheless they can; for example, an Idaho man who volunteered to fight successful Ukraine has died.

UK intelligence suggests that Russians are getting tired of Putins war, pinch much saying that Putin made mistakes pinch nan war.

Russians are fleeing to Kazakhstan to debar Putins draft. There are now much Russians fleeing nan draft than location were successful nan original penetration force, UK intel suggests.

A Russian man has changeable a draught officer responsible for signing up conscripts for nan Ukraine war; successful a abstracted incident, a man group himself connected occurrence successful protest. Vladimir Putin is allegedly successful hiding arsenic anti-draft protests erupt astir Russia. More than 1,300 civilians person been arrested for protesting Putins conscription of civilians.

To dress up for frontline setbacks, Russia has accrued its attacks connected Ukrainian infrastructure. Ukrainian president Zelensky has visited reconquered territory, a motion of nan countrys strength.

Ukraine regained still much territory from nan Russians successful nan past week. The week before, Ukrainian forces reached nan Russian border successful nan Kharkiv region. Ukraines lightning counteroffensive drove Russian soldiers from nan Kharkiv region, and now Ukraine has tripled its reconquered territory. Ukraine began its long-awaited offensive successful nan countrys southbound past week. President Zelesnsky has besides promised to retake Crimea by immoderate intends necessary.

Western nations are aiding Ukraines ambitions. The United States is group to nonstop Ukraine different $3 billion successful aid. Turkey has sent 50 mine-resistant vehicles to Ukraine, and it will nonstop much successful nan future. Ukraine has received much rocket launchers from nan United States and Germany. President Zelensky has said that nan Ukrainian service is losing astir 30 soldiers per day, compared to nan 100-200 astatine nan opening of nan war. 3The UK authorities announced that it will nonstop some artillery and drones to Ukraine. Zelenskys agency has besides confirmed that nan United States will train F-15 and F-16 pilots.

The Ukrainian defense curate has announced nan country hopes to build a million-strong army to hit backmost nan Russians.

The Russian subject is opening to amass reserves connected nan Ukraine border. Two-hundred Russian soldiers person been killed and different 300 wounded pursuing a Ukrainian onslaught connected a Russian base.

A Canadian fighting for nan Ukrainian service has issued a plea for much weapons and money (to bargain weapons).

Two weeks ago, Australia sent ammunition to Ukraine, successful consequence to Zelenskys pleas. Ukraine was reporting a shortage of ammunition, threatening to halt their defense against Russia. International governments person truthful acold been generous pinch weapons. Poland has announced that it will waste $650m worthy of dense weapons, including self-propelled Howitzers, to Ukraine.

Sweden and nan UK person besides joined a increasing database of countries sending different information of precocious weapons to Ukraine. Spain is sending authorities of nan art, German-designed tanks to Ukraine to thief conflict nan Russian invaders. Germany has announced that it will nonstop modern anti-aircraft missiles and radar systems to Ukraine. The United States will besides beryllium sending Ukraine medium-range rockets, according to President Biden.

The Russians, by contrast, are opening to struggle successful position of weapons. The Ukrainian subject says it has destroyed an ammunition depot arsenic nan fighting successful Donbas intensifies. Such demolition has led Ukrainian subject analysts to reason that nan Russian subject has depleted its modern subject equipment. Russia has much woes than conscionable equipment. Over a 100 Russian nationalist defender soldiers person been fired for refusing to conflict successful Ukraine.

Russias parliament has eliminated nan property limit for subject work arsenic they scramble for much soldiers. The Russian subject is besides offering bonuses 4 times bigger than a soldiers monthly salary. British subject intelligence has estimated that Russia mislaid a 3rd of its penetration force.

Alexander Lukashenka, nan dictatorial leader of Belarus, has admitted that nan Ukraine warfare is not going according to plan. The German business elephantine Siemens is readying to time off Russia aft almost 170 years, arsenic a consequence of nan Ukraine war.

The Russian finance ministry has admitted that occidental sanctions are threatening nan state pinch economical collapse.

Vladimir Putins $989 cardinal megayacht has been seized successful Italy. In position of specified seizures, Chuck Schumer said that nan United States will waste seized Russian oligarchs assets to use nan Ukrainian warfare effort.

More news.

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Tornado warnings continued to popular up Wednesday successful Florida and nan Southeast arsenic Hurricane Idalia roared done nan area. Tornadoes are typically 1 of nan dangers that create some earlier and aft hurricanes make landfall, and Idalia is nary exception.

"A mates of tornadoes are imaginable coming crossed cardinal and northeast Florida into southeast Georgia," nan National Hurricane Center said Wednesday morning. "The tornado threat will summation done this day crossed coastal South Carolina and proceed into coming for coastal North Carolina."

The Storm Prediction Center has placed coastal portions of nan Carolinas nether an "enhanced risk" for terrible storms, including tornadoes. This is Level 3 connected nan 5-level consequence scale nan SPC uses. A tornado watch was besides successful effect crossed nan region, meaning conditions are ripe for tornadoes to form.

Overall, tornadoes aren't uncommon during tropical cyclones, (which is nan umbrella word for each hurricanes, typhoons, and tropical storms): In fact, almost each hurricanes and tropical storms that make landfall successful nan United States spawn astatine slightest 1 tornado, provided capable of nan storm's circulation moves complete land, according to nan National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

"These tornadoes astir often hap successful thunderstorms embedded successful rainfall bands good distant from nan halfway of nan hurricane," NOAA said. "However, they tin besides hap adjacent nan eyewall. Usually, tornadoes produced by tropical cyclones are comparatively anemic and short-lived, but they still airs a important threat."

Idalia matter connection updates: Sign up to person updates connected Hurricane Idalia and its aftermath from journalists crossed nan USA TODAY network

Why do hurricanes spawn tornadoes?

Hurricanes and tropical storms connection each nan basal upwind elements to spawn tornadoes: They transportation small, spinning supercells wrong their outer bands, which are thunderstorms that tin shape twisters, Live Science reported.

Fueled by warm, moist water air, hurricanes  pinch their beardown upwind shear adjacent nan crushed  tin create an unstable ambiance erstwhile they make landfall, and their swirling vortices tin flip vertically into funnels.

Tornadoes spawned by tropical cyclones are besides known to create very quickly and beryllium very transient successful nature, the Capital Weather Gang said. Theyre besides usually reliable to spot because of debased unreality bases successful hurricanes.

Indeed, tornadoes produced successful tropical systems tin beryllium particularly vulnerable arsenic they are speedy to rotation up and tin beryllium obscured by acheronian and rainfall, said AccuWeather.

More: 'Don't messiness astir pinch this': Historic Hurricane Idalia barrels toward Florida. Live updates

Gulf Coast states person nan astir tornadoes from hurricanes

Gulf Coast states thin to person nan astir predominant and important hurricane tornado events, NOAA said, partially because of their inclination to person astatine slightest 1 authorities afloat exposed to nan right-front quadrant of nan hurricane erstwhile landfall occurs there. The right-front quadrant of hurricanes incorporate nan ingredients for tornadoes to form.

On Wednesday, however, nan main threat area is on nan Atlantic seashore of nan Carolinas, successful nan northeast quadrant of weakening Hurricane Idalia, nan Storm Prediction Center said.

Most tornadoes hap connected nan time of landfall, aliases nan adjacent day

Although hurricanes tin spawn tornadoes up to astir 3 days aft landfall, statistic show that astir of nan tornadoes hap connected nan time of landfall aliases nan adjacent day, NOAA said.

The worst tornado outbreak occurred during 2004s Hurricane Ivan, which caused a multiday outbreak of 127 tornadoes. The deadliest hurricane-spawned tornado was successful October 1964, erstwhile 22 group died successful Larose, Louisiana, during a twister from Hurricane Hilda.

How do you enactment safe successful a tornado?

The National Weather Service provides a bully database of tips to support successful mind to enactment safe successful a tornado.

Move to an interior room connected nan lowest level of a sturdy building, a basement aliases safe room.

Avoid windows, skylights and solid doors.

If successful a mobile location aliases outdoors, move to nan closest important shelter and protect yourself from flying debris. Sheds and retention accommodation do not make safe shelter.

If youre astatine activity aliases school, travel your tornado drill and proceed to your tornado shelter location quickly and calmly. Do not spell to ample unfastened rooms specified arsenic cafeterias, gymnasiums aliases auditoriums.

If youre successful a vehicle, thrust to nan nearest shelter. If you dont deliberation you tin make it, get down successful your car and screen your head, aliases wantonness your car and activity shelter successful a low-lying area specified arsenic a ditch aliases ravine.

Contributing: Brandon Girod, Pensacola News Journal
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met with President Rodrigo Chaves Robles of Costa Rica at the White House today to expand the partnership between the United States and Costa Rica.



During the meeting, the leaders committed to drive inclusive, equitable, and sustainable growth in the region through the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity. Within this context, they reiterated their commitment to build a more resilient, diversified, secure, and sustainable global semiconductor value chain in the Americas, including with support from a recently announced partnership under the CHIPS Act. They also discussed ways to deepen our bilateral trade relationship, with a view to promoting sustainable and resilient supply chains.

READ ALSO: Readout of President Biden's Call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine



The two leaders reaffirmed our commitment to advance the goals outlined in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection. In support of these efforts and to stabilize flows and offer opportunities to migrants and refugees, the Department of State is contributing more than $12 million through international organization partners in Costa Rica. President Biden also recognized Costa Rica's continued cooperation in regional efforts to promote safe, orderly, and regular migration, including through the Safe Mobility Office, which aims to provide an alternative to migrants relying on smugglers by facilitating access to lawful pathways to the United States and other countries, reducing irregular migration. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security announced a Joint Statement of Cooperation establishing the framework to include Costa Rica among the Global Entry foreign country partners.



The Presidents also committed to deepen bilateral security cooperation to combat organized crime and the accompanying rise in violence and corruption. The United States, through the Department of State, will support new projects to strengthen Costa Rica's law enforcement and justice sector institutions and combat transnational organized crime, narcotics trafficking, and corruption. Key projects will include up to $24 million in programmatic support for enhanced police and Coast Guard stations; strengthening Costa Rica's National Police Academy; expanding the citizen security crime prevention program, Sembremos Seguridad; and increasing support to Costa Rica's Air Surveillance Service.



President Biden and President Chaves also discussed bilateral cybersecurity cooperation, including progress in Costa Rica's building of a national cybersecurity operations center, supported by U.S. cybersecurity assistance, as announced in March. President Biden also commended Costa Rica's commitment to using trusted providers in its upcoming 5G tender and auctions.



Both Presidents reaffirmed their commitment to continuing people-to-people ties. In support of these efforts, the State Department will fund new programs for women entrepreneurs and access to higher education for African-descendant and indigenous students in the province of Limon, as well as English language programs across Costa Rica.

READ MORE: Readout of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's Meeting with Francesco Talo, Diplomatic Advisor to the Prime Minister of Italy

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(Photo : R. Satish BABU / AFP) (R. SATISH BABU/AFP via Getty Images)

India is targeting the sun in its latest space mission following a historic moon landing that cost much cheaper than what other nations spent during their lunar landings.

India is setting its sights on the sun in a new mission to observe our star only days after the South Asian country became the first to land a spacecraft on the unexplored south pole of the moon.

The announcement was made on X, formerly known as Twitter, and involves the use of Aditya-L1, which is India's first space-based solar probe. It would be tasked with studying solar winds that could cause disturbance on our planet, which are commonly referred to as "auroras."

India's New Space Mission

The spacecraft was named after the Hindi word for the sun and is set to be launched from India's main spaceport located in Sriharikota using the heavy-duty launch vehicle, the PSLV. It would travel roughly 1.5 million kilometers, said the agency.

In a social media post, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said that the total estimated travel time from launch to L-1 (Lagrange point) would be roughly four months for the spacecraft, per Reuters.

The Indian government has sanctioned roughly $46 million for the mission in 2019. However, the ISRO has not provided an official update on the costs of the mission, and it did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment regarding the situation.

The announcement comes after India received praise and gained a reputation after successful space launches that cost significantly less than other nations' missions. The recent moon landing mission had a budget of roughly $75 million, less than what Hollywood spent to make the space thriller "Gravity."

The point where the spacecraft will end up after four months, the Lagrange point, is a position in space where the gravitational forces of two large masses produce what scientists call "enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion." The resulting force can be used to maintain position and reduce fuel consumption and is like a parking spot for spacecraft.

Read Also: India's Chandrayaan-3 Spacecraft Captures Stunning Images of Luna Surface

Observing the Sun

The ISRO's report noted that the launch of the new mission will mark the country's first space-based observatory to study our solar system's star. According to CNBC, officials added that it will provide a major advantage of continuously monitoring the sun without any occultation or eclipses.

While the latest mission is the first attempt for India, other nations have successfully placed orbiters in an attempt to study the sun. In 2021, NASA's Parker Solar Probe was sent to the star's corona to sample particles and magnetic fields. On the other hand, the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter was launched in 2020.

The spacecraft will also carry seven payloads to observe our star's outermost layers, known as the photosphere and chromosphere, including electromagnetic and particle field detectors.

Chandrayaan-3, the unmanned Indian spacecraft that landed on the moon's south pole, made the country the fourth to touch down on the lunar surface, following the United States, Russia, and China.

Experts believe India can keep space mission costs relatively low by copying and adapting existing technology. They also see the country as having an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of the salary of their international counterparts, said Aljazeera.

Related Article: Japan Suspends the Launch of its X-Ray Telescope, Experimental Moon Lander

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.


Appendix 4D & Half Yearly Report

Melbourne, Aug 29, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - During the June Quarter the Company announced (ASX Announcement 29 May 2023) that it had entered into five binding sale and purchase agreements ("Acquisition Agreements") for the acquisition of lithium and rare earth projects.



Under the terms of the Acquisition Agreements, upon satisfaction of various conditions precedent, the Company would acquire:



a. an 80% interest in the Apollo Lithium Project, Adina South Project, Adina West Project and Margot Lake Project (together, the Canadian Lithium Projects); and

b. an 80% interest in the Voyager Project and a 100% interest in the Lefroy Project (together, the Australian Projects), (collectively, the Proposed Acquisitions).



The Proposed Acquisitions would amount to a significant change to the nature and scale of the Company's activities and as such, the Company was required to obtain shareholder approval under ASX Listing Rule 11.1.2 at a general meeting and re-comply with Chapters 1 and 2 of the ASX Listing Rules in accordance with ASX Listing Rule 11.1.3 (Re-compliance).



On completion of the Transaction (Completion), the Company will be reinstated as a diversified explorer and developer with a focus on lithium and rare earths. In line with this new direction, the Company sought shareholder approval to change its name to 'Lithium Universe Limited'.



To assist the Company to re-comply with Chapters 1 and 2 of the ASX Listing Rules, the Company planned, subject to obtaining shareholder approval, to undertake a public offer of shares under a full form prospectus (Prospectus) for the issue of up to 225,000,000 fully paid ordinary shares in the capital of the Company (Shares) at an issue price of $0.02 per Share to raise up to $4,500,000 (Public Offer). The Public Offer will be undertaken on a post-Consolidation basis.



*To view The full report, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/SOX1FAS0





About Lithium Universe Ltd





Lithium Universe Ltd (ASX:LU7), headed by industry trail blazer, Iggy Tan, and the Lithium Galaxy team has a proven track record of fast-tracking lithium projects, demonstrated by the successful development of the Mt Cattlin spodumene project for Galaxy Resources Limited.

Instead of exploring for the sake of exploration, Lithium Universe's mission is to quickly obtain a resource and construct a spodumene-producing mine in Quebec, Canada. Unlike many other Lithium exploration companies, Lithium Universe possesses the essential expertise and skills to develop and construct profitable projects.

Related Companies


Baden Powell and Windanya Option and Sale Deed

Perth, Aug 30, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) is pleased to advise that it has entered into a binding option and sale deed ("Option") with Dundas Minerals Limited ( ASX:DUN ) ("Dundas" or "DUN") to purchase an interest in 19 tenements within the Company's Baden Powell and Windanya project areas ("Tenements").



The Option relates to all mineral rights over 16 Prospecting Licences, two Mining Leases and one Mining Lease Application covering an area of 3,230 hectares approximately 45 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie. The Option provides for the following:



Dundas paying Horizon a $500,000 non-refundable option fee which consists of:



- $375,000 within five days of signing the Option, comprising $125,000 in cash and $250,000 in DUN shares, with the number of shares determined by the 5-Day VWAP prior to execution; and



- $125,000 in cash payable on the first 12-month anniversary of the execution date.



- Dundas must incur at least $500,000 of on ground exploration expenditure on the Tenements prior to exercising the Option, which has a term of 24 months. Dundas may withdraw from the Option with 30 days' notice or allow the Option to lapse, only after incurring a minimum of $500,000 of exploration expenditure and paying the option fee, with all tenure remaining 100% owned by Horizon in those circumstance



- If Dundas exercises the Option, then Horizon will:



Sell 85% of its interests in the Tenements to Dundas for $1.0m completion consideration, with this consideration to be settled in either cash, shares or any combination of both at Dundas' election; and



Retain a 15% interest free carried to a decision to mine at which time a Joint Venture (JV) will be formed with Dundas



Have priority ore processing rights from the tenements to process ore through secure processing arrangements that are on equal or better terms than other processing alternatives of the JV



Dundas shall have a licence to explore for minerals on the Tenements during the Option period and must meet annual expenditure commitments and keep the Tenements in good standing



All Dundas Option fee shares, and completion consideration shares issued, shall be subject to voluntary escrow of six months



Commenting on the Option, Horizon Chief Executive Officer Mr Grant Haywood said:



"We are continuing to review our suite of assets including optimisation and rationalisation of our large tenement portfolio, both through acquisition and divestment opportunities. This option agreement with Dundas fits this strategy via monetising non-core assets to a very capable team to take the project forward. It will reduce our holding costs and bring additional cash and investments into the business, whilst still retaining an interest in the projects for any potential upside."



*To view tables and figures, please visit:

https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/Y0CG02LM





About Horizon Minerals Limited





Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.

Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.

Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.

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The Trump family are reportedly not worried about the prospect of the former 'Apprentice' judge going to prison despite the seriousness of his criminal charges.

Aug 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Donald Trump's family is certain "he's not going to jail." The 77-year-old billionaire has been charged for allegedly trying to overturn his electoral defeat in 2020 - but his family aren't worried at all about the prospect of him going to jail.

"Everyone knows he's not going to jail. No one is worried," a source told PEOPLE.

Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have largely remained silent amid the controversy. However, the married couple aren't hiding away from the drama, either, and they have been regularly spotted together in Miami in recent weeks.

The insider shared, "She's all over the place down here, always out and about. They're definitely not hiding. They live right on the beach. They seem like they don't have a care in the world."

Earlier this month, Trump claimed to be the victim of a political "witch hunt." The billionaire businessman - who served as the 45th US President between 2017 and 2021 - took to social media to rubbish the allegations and to also question the integrity of the legal process.

Trump - who still plans to run in the next US election - wrote on Truth Social at the time, "So, the Witch Hunt continues! 19 people Indicated tonight, including the former President of the United States, me, by an out of control and very corrupt District Attorney who campaigned and raised money on, 'I will get Trump.' "

"And what about those Indictment Documents put out today, long before the Grand Jury even voted, and then quickly withdrawn? Sounds Rigged to me! Why didn't they Indict 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my political campaign. Witch Hunt! (sic)"

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Instagram Celebrity

The busty model who rose to notoriety as a teen bride is planning to wrap up her twenties with 'boss moves only' as she celebrates her turning 29 years old.

Aug 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Courtney Stodden feels liberated after turning 29. The TV star marked their latest birthday on Tuesday, August 29 and Courtney has taken to social media to acknowledge the landmark.

"Feeling free. 28, I needed you [tears emoji]. You pushed me to become a stronger woman. Ringing in 29 with fierce independence in my own place, on my own - for the first time in my life. I have so much gratitude in my soul and immense excitement for what's to come," Courtney wrote on Instagram.

"I'm going to wrap up the decade of my twenties with boss moves only and additions that make ME happy [wink and celebration emojis] #29 #birthdaygirl #august29 #healing #chakras #meditation #healingjourney #prayer #mentalhealthawareness #virgo #zodiac #explorepage #reels (sic)."

Courtney actually split from Chris Sheng back in July. The TV star and the filmmaker ended their engagement, with a rep revealing that Courtney intended to discuss their break-up publicly. The rep told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column, "Courtney is now a single woman. She is looking forward to telling her story."

Courtney - who is non-binary - got engaged to Chris in 2021 when they announced the news via social media. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Courtney said at the time, "I said yes ... OH and the ring made me gag it's so beautiful (sic)."

Chris also deleted his engagement post from Instagram. The filmmaker wrote at the time, "We have both grown so much since we first met, and the fact that we have both been able to grow into better, stronger, more secure individuals while still being in a relationship together makes me have faith that this partnership will last a lifetime. For the first time we're both experiencing unconditional love."

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Seemingly inspired by her mother's teenage rebelliousness, the 17-year-old daughter of the actress and her ex-husband Brad Pitt is photographed rocking a pink buzz cut.

Aug 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Fall may be just around the corner, but Shiloh Jolie-Pitt has still got time for a fun new summer cut. The daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt has debuted a bold hair transformation while braving the heat in California.

The teen was rocking a pink buzz cut when she was photographed meeting up with a friend in Studio City, Los Angeles on Monday, August 28. She was catching up with her pal over lunch at Erewhon.

The two youngsters sat down at a table outside the trendy health food store where they shared a smile over bottled water and some delicious snacks. They exchanged goodbyes in the parking lot where they gave each other a hug before heading off.

Shiloh wore a moon print T-shirt, frayed jean shorts, stylish sneakers and a backpack slung over a single shoulder for the outing. Her friend opted for an equally casual look in a white T-shirt, gray sweatpants and slip-on shoes.

Angelina may not be too shocked at Shiloh's bold hair style. Fans may recall the Oscar-winning actress previously also sported a similar hair cut during her rebellious days. The "Maleficent" star stepped out in a buzz cut that was slightly longer than her 17-year-old daughter's and was dyed black back in 1998.

The 48-year-old actress has also acknowledged that all her kids are rebellious and she loves it. "I'm that mom that if I see your rebellious spirit, it warms me. And I think, 'Good for you, you got fire,' " she said in an interview with PEOPLE in 2021.

"I have six very individual human beings in my home," she continued. "I am so excited about all the different feelings and curiosities that they go through. Why wouldn't you be? We're supposed to help them figure out who they are. And you can't figure out who they are if you don't enthusiastically develop with them."

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Going on a tour for the 20th anniversary of 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' ', the 'In Da Club' rapper decides to put 'The Final Lap Tour' show in Phoenix on hold following 'excessive heat warning.'

Aug 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - 50 Cent has put one of his shows for "The Final Lap Tour" on hold. While going on a tour for the 20th anniversary of his album "Get Rich or Die Tryin' ", the "In Da Club" rapper was forced to delay a concert in Arizona due to "dangerous" weather.

On Monday night, August 28, the 48-year-old hip-hop star announced via Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter, simultaneously that he postponed his concert in Phoenix on Tuesday, August 29 because of "excessive heat warning." He began writing, "Due to extreme heat, the show tomorrow in Phoenix, AZ is being postponed."

"For anyone who would like a refund, please go to point of purchase for instructions," the "Just a Lil Bit" spitter went on to say. He later assured his fans, "I'll be back in Arizona soon! 116 degrees is dangerous for everyone [shrugging emoji] #bransoncognac #lecheminduroi @thefinallaptour." However, he did not offer any more details on the new date of the gig.

Along with the announcement, Fif released a number of photos. One of them displayed "Weather Alert - Arizona Warning" on a screen phone. The message read, "Excessive Heat Warning is going on. It will expire at 8:00 P.M. on 8/29." Meanwhile, other snaps captured him performing during his previous shows.

It did not take long for the "Power" star to receive mixed online responses from his fans. In the comments section, one devotee who appeared to be affected by the postponement complained, "We been waiting for this for a minute. Why would you have an outdoor show in August anyways."

Similarly, another joined in, "You telling me y'all didn't know this when booking for this date in AZ?!?! Come on!!! [Snoop Dogg] just performed at the same venue last week, no issues. Heat warning expires at 8pm too which means fifty wouldn't even be performing yet."

Despite the protests, 50 Cent still received support from a number of his devotees. One of them praised him for being aware of his fans' health by writing, "Hey at least 50 cent is thinking about his fans and is putting their health and safety before profits other rappers should take note having fans get injured or die at a concert is not worth it!!! Salute to 50."

The postponement of Fif's show came a few days after a number of Snoop's fans had to be hospitalized during his show in Houston. Earlier in August, 16 people who came to the concert had to be rushed to a hospital due to heat-related illnesses. At that time, the temperature hit 104 degrees during the day.

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A renowned Russian political analyst, Dr. Valery Solovey, has boldly asserted that the notorious warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin is alive and well despite official reports of his recent death in a plane accident.

The accident, which resulted in the deaths of several people, including Wagner military commander Dmitry Utkin and flight attendant Kristina Raspopova, has sparked a wave of controversy concerning Prigozhin's fate and the events leading up to the tragic incident, Newsbreak reported.

Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is Alive, Russian Analyst Claims

A former professor at Moscow's esteemed Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Dr. Solovey's insider knowledge of Kremlin affairs is well-known. His recent claims have sent shockwaves throughout Russia and beyond, challenging the official account of Prigozhin's fate presented by Russian authorities.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin has declined to attend Prigozhin's funeral, Dr. Solovey asserts that the warlord is still living and plotting vengeance against those who attempted to eliminate him.

Dr. Solovey said Prigozhin evaded an assassination attempt orchestrated by Putin's security council. Using a body double as a diversion, the alleged operation entailed bringing down the plane that Prigozhin was supposed to be on.

The analyst disputes the official explanation that the aircraft was destroyed by an explosion on board, arguing that it was shot down from the outside. In addition, he accuses Russian authorities of planting false evidence, including Prigozhin's DNA at the accident site, to mislead the public about his death.

"Prigozhin was not present on board. His double flew in place of him. In addition, Vladimir Putin is fully aware of this," Dr. Solovey stated, casting doubt on the Kremlin's official statements, as per Express.

Read Also: Readout of President Joe Biden's Meeting with President Rodrigo Chaves Robles of Costa Rica

Prigozhin's Alleged Exile Location

Dr. Solovey intends to reveal the country where Prigozhin is allegedly in exile, implying that the Wagner private army is not interested in Africa. He asserts that Prigozhin intends to disclose himself by the end of the year, casting doubt on the prevailing account of his demise.

Putin's spokesman responded to the allegations by stating, "The President's presence is not required... relatives and close friends make the decision."

According to Dr. Solovey, the enigmatic Prigozhin, known for his involvement in various global conflicts, has access to a substantial Bitcoin fund worth 1.6 billion, which will be used to pursue revenge against those who attempted to eliminate him.

Prigozhin has ample opportunity for retribution. As for ambition, vitality, and courage, he possesses an abundance of all three, according to Dr. Solovey. Conflicting narratives continue to escalate the controversy. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, Prigozhin's DNA was discovered on a body at the accident site, confirming his death.

Ekaterina Shulman, a political scientist, has suggested that the accident may have been a cover for Prigozhin to vanish permanently using one of his many spare passports. Former Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak has also expressed skepticism regarding the official account of events, stating, "My feeling is that we are burying [Prigozhin] too early."

Thirty-eight percent of respondents to a survey conducted by the Brief Telegram channel believe that Prigozhin may still be alive, reflecting the general skepticism and ambiguity surrounding the incident.

As the controversy continues, Dr. Solovey's allegations have cast doubt on the integrity of official statements and highlighted the complexity of power struggles and covert operations in the Russian political landscape. As the enigma surrounding Yevgeny Prigozhin deepens, it leaves more questions than answers behind, according to Daily Mail.

Related Article: Taiwan Warns of Increased Tensions Due to Chinese Incursions

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The 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star's attorney responds to a lawsuit by Christopher Psaila who claims that the reality TV star teamed up with Secret Service agents and American Express to extort money from the designer.

Aug 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Erika Jayne, through her attorney, has responded to a new lawsuit filed against her. After being accused of extorting money from a designer, the star of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" denied that she's at fault as her lawyer deemed the allegations "fantasy."

The 52-year-old's attorney Evan C. Borges responded to the claims on Tuesday, August 29. Speaking to Page Six, Evan stated, "The notion that Erika controlled the U.S. government, or for that matter a Fortune 100 company such as American Express, is fantasy."

The lawyer went on to say, "It seems calculated that [Christopher] timed this lawsuit to coincide with the rave reviews of Erika's Las Vegas residency opening. [Christopher's] claims against Erika are entirely without merit. Independent federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office made the decision to charge [Christopher] with crimes, no one else."

Erika is accused of extorting money by fashion house Marco Marco's co-owner and designer Christopher Psaila. Christopher, in court documents obtained by TMZ, claimed that Erika and her estranged husband Tom Girardi "weaponized the Secret Service to maliciously prosecute" the designer back in 2017. The couple allegedly did so to earn a refund of nearly $800,000 from American Express.

Christopher alleged that Erika and her two assistants lied to federal agents and the credit card company that he and Marco Marco charged her credit card without purchasing costumes or receiving services from him and the brand. However, Christopher claimed that she gave him and the brand her consent to charge her credit card for the clothes she ordered.

In addition, Christopher accused the Secret Service of conducting a "reckless investigation" of Erika and her staff members as well as "deliberately [ignoring]" facts of the incident. He also alleged that the agents, including former head of Secret Service's Los Angeles office Robert Savage, were bribed by her and her husband to charge the designer with crimes.

In response to the allegations, Robert has issued a statement to TMZ. "I am restricted by a non-disclosure when I retired from the U.S. Secret Service to discuss casework during my tenure without their approval, so I would respectfully redirect your questions pertaining to the lawsuit to the USSS Office of Chief Counsel and U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of California," he stated.

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Lionsgate Movie

Speaking to Empire Magazine which publishes the new look from the 'Hunger Games' prequel, director Francis Lawrence explains how Zegler's Lucy Gray Baird is the 'anti-Katniss.'

Aug 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Lionsgate Films has teased fans with a new look at "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes". Two months shy of the film's release, the studio has unveiled a never-before-seen image featuring the movie's two lead characters.

In the photo, Coriolanus "Coryo" Snow (Tom Blyth) and Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) walk hand-in-hand as they appear to enter the arena. Lucy Gray looks frightened as they are escorted by some armed soldiers, with other tributes and mentors following behind.

Speaking to Empire Magazine which published the image, director Francis Lawrence says that Zegler's character is the "anti-Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence)." He explains, "Katniss was an introvert and a survivor. She was quite quiet and stoic, you could almost say [she was] asexual. Lucy Gray is the opposite. She wears her sexuality on her sleeve, [and] she really is a performer."

Where Katniss was deadly with a bow, Lawrence adds that Lucy Gray uses her wiles as a weapon. "She loves crowds," he continues to spill. "She knows how to play crowds and manipulate people."

Meanwhile, a previously-released trailer for the film seemingly hinted at the complicated relationship of Lucy Gray and Snow. In the trailer, te two appear to form a romantic connection as teenagers. But Snow is soon faced with conflicted feelings when Lucy Gray is chosen as a tribute from District 12 for the 10th Annual Reaping Ceremony, with him assigned as her unwilling mentor.

"There have been some changes this year," Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage), the creator of the Hunger Games, tells Snow in the video. "Your role is to turn these children into spectacles, not survivors."

"The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" centers on young Coriolanus Snow, who is deemed the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem's attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy's race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird and a snake.

Viola Davis, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Burn Gorman, Fionnula Flanagan and Ashley Liao also star in the prequel to "The Hunger Games" film series. It is set to arrive in U.S. theaters on November 17.

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International producer, distributor and channel operator, Blue Ant Media is partnering with leading content data platform, IRIS.TV, to enable video-level contextual advertising across the companys portfolio of global free-streaming channels. As an IRIS-enabled partner, Blue Ant Media provides brands the ability to target audiences through relevant content at the right moment. It does so by allowing advertisers to activate campaigns with unparalleled content transparency through A.I.. The partnership signals Blue Ant Medias continued commitment to growing and enhancing its global FAST offering. It also complements the initiatives that Media Pulse, a Blue Ant Company, has made in contextual targeting across the Canadian marketplace.

IRIS.TVs technology not only enables us to offer better value to our advertisers, but also enriches the viewing experience for audiences by serving ads that are more relevant to them, says Jamie Schouela, President, Global Channels and Media. As more global viewers continue to discover our free streaming channels, this is the perfect time to be integrating with IRIS.TVs cutting edge data partner ecosystem and further optimize value for our brand partners.

Blue Ant Medias suite of FAST (free, ad-supported streaming TV) channels offer audiences curated programming that is easy and free to access on platforms like The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus,VIZIO WatchFree+, Tubi, Freevee, and LG. The companys growing global portfolio of FAST channels include Love Nature, NatureTime, HauntTV, Total Crime, Homeful, HistoryTime, Love Pets and Drag Race Universe.

Todays consumers are motivated by their mood and mindset when it comes to watching content and are sensitive to disruptive, irrelevant and unsuitable ad experiences, said Steve Reich, Head of Publisher Development at IRIS.TV. By partnering with Blue Ant Media, we are enabling publishers to get the most value from every video by utilizing video-level data to power better experiences for audiences and drive better advertising outcomes for brands.

Through IRIS.TVs content identifier, the IRIS_ID, Blue Ant Media provides access to video-level data as the path to precise targeting that is accurate and privacy-first. Using the IRIS_ID as a signal, Blue Ant Medias FAST channels allow advertisers to use their preferred brand suitability and contextual data partners to target their CTV inventory. These data partners use A.I., including computer vision and natural language processing, to analyze video frame-by-frame and assign segments from standard contextual taxonomies such as IAB, sentiment, emotion, object recognition, celebrities, logos, brand safety, etc., and GARM brand suitability. IRIS-enabled data partners include Captify, GumGum, IAS, Illuma, Kerv AI, Oracle Advertising, Pixability, Reticle AI, PreciseTV, Sightly, Silverpush, Sounder, 4D and others.
In the ever-evolving digital landscape, maintaining brand safety and suitability has become a cornerstone of successful advertising strategies. Advertisers strive to protect their brands from risky content while navigating the complexities of a dynamic advertising ecosystem. Rob Kay, VP - APAC, Customer Success Team at Integral Ad Science (IAS), sheds light on the significance of brand safety and suitability for Indian advertisers and discusses how IAS addresses challenges to help brands safeguard their reputation, optimise campaigns, and navigate the attention economy. Excerpts:

How important is brand safety and suitability for Indian advertisers in todays digital landscape?

Brand safety practices have long been essential to marketing strategies. Historically, advertisers have always sought to protect their brands from risky content  things like hate speech, terrorism, and misinformation are generally considered threats to brand reputations. Over time, however, brand safety has evolved. While most brands agree on what constitutes unsafe content, the ideal advertising environment will likely be unique to a given brand. In other words, an alcohol brand and a childrens brand might agree on what content to avoid, but they likely have different ideas about what content environments they prefer.

Brand safety and suitability are crucial to growing your brand with confidence. In todays content-heavy world, ensuring that ads are served adjacent to brand-safe and brand-suitable content is pivotal to executing a successful advertising campaign. Brands like Maruti, ITC, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Castrol, Nestle, etc., are embracing digital media quality solutions to safeguard their reputation, paving the way for other brands to follow suit.

What are the key challenges that Indian advertisers face when it comes to ensuring brand safety and suitability for their ad campaigns?

In the dynamic advertising landscape of 2023, the paramount challenge for advertisers is to establish the safety of their brand within the sea of content and ensure its alignment with suitable and relevant content.

Interestingly, the 18th edition of IAS Media Quality Report (MQR) found that the highest brand risk for ads appearing adjacent to offensive language was for mobile web display. The same report found that overall digital campaigns in India faced higher brand risk from illegal downloads, foul language, controversial content, and violence. Another challenge that advertisers will face is verifying brand safety within videos. This has historically been a problem, so working with vendors who can actually see within video content to validate that inventory is truly safe will need to be something Indian advertisers do.

The lack of awareness among Indian advertisers is something were trying to reduce with constant agency/ brand road shows, industry seminars, proof points, case studies, thought leadership, industry body partnerships such MMA, IAB, IAMAI, etc.

Its imperative that Indian advertisers protect their campaigns from appearing against these risk categories as this could lead to the loss of brand equity that they have paid millions to build. All our efforts are geared towards ensuring that Indian advertisers protect their brands from unwanted content and place them alongside relevant, desirable environments.

How does IAS address these challenges and help advertisers protect their brands while reaching their target audience?

Its important for advertisers to employ a multi-faceted approach to address brand safety challenges and assist advertisers in safeguarding their brands while effectively reaching their target audience in the digital advertising landscape.

Typically, the trajectory is Start with brand safety, in order to protect your brand from content thats generally recognised as unsafe. For example, topics like hate speech and terrorism tend to present threats to most advertisers. Once this is accomplished, advertisers can take the next step and Advance with brand suitability by aligning their brand with content that perfectly matches their brands values or campaign objectives.

The last step in the journey includes Going beyond with contextual targeting, developing consideration that goes deeper to assess emotions, sentiments and whether the content on the page is relevant to the ads alongside it.

Heres how IAS achieves this:

Employing inclusion lists that include trusted sites and other overrides.

Determining their risk tolerance for commonly evaluated content topics such as adult content, alcohol  and setting your brand safety settings to balance your campaign goals with their risk tolerance.

Providing real-time blocking mechanisms that prevent ads from being served on content that violates brand safety guidelines.

Offering pre-bid solutions that assess the safety of ad placements before an ad is served. This real-time analysis helps advertisers avoid bidding on impressions in potentially unsafe contexts, minimising the risk of brand misalignment.

Providing contextual targeting capabilities enable advertisers to ensure their ads appear in content that is contextually relevant and brand-safe. By analysing the content surrounding the ad placement advertisers can protect their brands from potential harm while effectively reaching their target audiences, ensuring a positive and impactful advertising experience.

The future of brand suitability involves contextual relevance, which is a developing consideration that goes deeper to assess whether the content on the page is relevant to the ads alongside it. For example, IAS helps advertisers develop innovative brand suitability strategies by enabling them with sentiment analysis  which uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to determine whether an article conveys a positive, neutral, or negative feeling to the person reading it. Advertisers can increase consumer engagement by targeting the environments that are contextually relevant to their brand or campaign.

IAS has expanded contextual technology to cover content beyond text, including images, video, and audio with our Multimedia Technology, powering Total Media Quality (TMQ). TMQ granularly measures for brand safety and suitability and addresses concerns of running ads adjacent to unsuitable content. Particularly on social platforms, technology needs to keep up with the user-generated feed at scale. With TMQ, marketers can invest in relevant, suitable content. IAS technology will power our next-gen targeting tools for advertising adjacencies to maximise campaign performance.

Programmatic advertising is gaining popularity in India. What are the specific challenges that advertisers encounter in implementing programmatic strategies, and how can these challenges be mitigated?

Programmatic advertising is growing exponentially, but the purchasing experience is getting more complex. IAS research found that industry experts cite media quality threats as the main challenge in programmatic advertising, with increased brand risk, ad fraud, and the lack of transparency topping the list. Ad spends in India are estimated to grow at 15.5% in 2023 to reach INR 1.46 lakh crores, as per GroupMs This year, Next Year (TYNY) 2023 report. As more budgets continue to flow to programmatic advertising, ad buyers are increasingly pushing for greater media quality and transparency. Having the right to access data is the best way to foster transparency, so your organisation having direct contracts with all primary supply chain partners - DSPs, SSPs and Ad Verification vendors - can be extremely useful. Marketers can also increase transparency by deploying quality path optimization solutions such as Total Visibility.

Education and awareness among Indian advertisers are key to improving the media quality and boost digital campaigns.

How does IAS support advertisers in achieving quality path optimization, and what benefits can they expect from adopting such an approach?

In our latest Industry pulse report, marketers have shared that the lack of trust and transparency in the programmatic is one of their biggest concerns as they do not have insights into what spends are driving media quality and what is wasted. Media experts use supply path optimisation (SPO) in their digital marketing strategies, making quality path optimisation (QPO) even more relevant for purchasing high-quality inventory at the most efficient cost. Quality Path Optimisation (QPO) puts the advertisers in control, allowing them to manage and measure the effectiveness of their digital campaign since it helps optimise the digital campaign to avoid ad spend wastage. An important observation amongst marketers who opt for QPO is improved cost efficiencies within their digital campaigns. QPO helps to identify secure inventory as well as evaluate supply path performance. This helps advertisers to identify which supply paths are getting them the best results versus the ones that arent.

Some of the main motivations behind SPO adoption are:

Increased media quality

Purchasing high-quality media at the best value

Increased ROI for ad spends

Reducing waste in ad spends

Cutting costs, that is, advertising budgets

Increased transparency into the supply path i.e. ability to identify and diagnose supply path inefficiencies related to media quality

Linking financial data to impression quality

With attention becoming an increasingly scarce resource, how can Indian advertisers effectively capture and retain audience attention amidst the abundance of content and ads?

The first step for Indian advertisers here would be to start measuring attention with the help of ad-tech tools.

To succeed in the attention economy, digital marketers must adapt their strategies to align with consumer behaviours and preferences. This includes creating captivating content, leveraging personalization and targeting, utilising engaging ad formats, optimising for mobile experiences, and exploring new channels and technologies that can effectively capture and retain attention. To help our Indian advertisers analyse how attention is impacting their digital campaigns, IAS has developed attention metrics that aim to measure the quality and effectiveness of digital advertising based on attention-based indicators.

Our recently released white paper on attention Taking Action on Attention: Volume I found that attention is a function of three key signals: Visibility, Situation, and Interaction. The combination of these signals can predict if an impression is likely to lead to a business result, thus improving campaign effectiveness.

Through a holistic media quality approach, marketers can drive results by simultaneously understanding and optimising toward consumer attention.

What role does IAS play in helping advertisers measure and improve their ad engagement metrics to thrive in the attention economy?

Attention-focused approaches are already shaping the evolution of digital advertising by driving trends such as native advertising, influencer marketing, and immersive experiences.

In early 2022, IAS media research team set out to test the hypothesis: Does media quality lead to greater attention? We began testing if core media quality metrics, like viewability and brand safety, lead to higher consumer attention  and we found that to be true. The team followed this finding by testing if contextual relevance has an impact on attention. Once that was proven to be accurate, our research team leveraged eye-tracking technology to understand how consumers interact with ads with varying degrees of media quality optimizations. While eye-tracking data verified that core quality metrics are instrumental in predicting results, holistic insights related to ad density, share of voice, context, and more can show marketers the full picture of media quality needed to maximise attention. These metrics provide advertisers with insights into the level of attention their ads receive and help optimise ad campaigns for better performance.

Marketers must take a holistic media quality approach in order to successfully harness attention to reach superior results. Comprehensive media quality measurement and optimisation solutions that leverage Visibility, Situation, and Interaction signals are core to driving attention.

How do you see the regulatory landscape evolving in India, and what steps can advertisers take to stay ahead in terms of brand safety and compliance?

For the modern-day marketer, evolving their digital strategies with one eye on the future is key to staying ahead of the competition. Keeping this in mind, digital media quality solutions play an essential part when it comes to getting the most from your digital advertising campaigns. With media professionals combating pressure to maximise their advertising spend and impact, its become critical to place QPO and media quality at the forefront of digital advertising strategies.

The Indian government recently passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, where consent continued to be the primary legal ground for the processing of personal data. As we face cookie depreciation, we will see wide scale adoption of advertising strategies that keep consumer-privacy at their forefront. Connecting with new consumers with the help of contextual-based advertising solutions in such an environment will help advertisers reach the new-age consumer efficiently.

In a market as large and dynamic as India, brands are becoming more conscious of the importance of quality impressions and safe brand environments. As a result, the role of verification partners is gaining prominence in creating a safe and transparent setting for brands. Marketers are realising that in an era of increased privacy regulation and greater demand for advertising ROI, working with IAS maximises their ad spend. IAS has become an essential partner for sophisticated advertisers looking to achieve more with less.

As audiences increasingly shift between different platforms and devices, how can Indian advertisers maintain consistent brand safety measures and message relevance across various digital channels?

Advertisers should work with independent third-party ad verification partners that have coverage and scale to activate its brand safety solutions across channels such as social, video, in-app, etc., giving advertisers more control over their digital campaigns.

Does IAS offer solutions for cross-platform brand safety and suitability, and how can advertisers leverage these tools effectively?

IAS does offer cross-platform brand safety and suitability measurement such as desktop, mobile web, mobile in-app, social, CTV, etc., so that advertisers can advertise across these platforms with confidence, ensuring that their ads are seen in brand-safe, suitable, and contextual settings. IAS is the global leader in digital media quality and our commitment to the digital advertising industry is evident from our data collection procedures and controls, which are MRC-accredited to meet the highest standards for validity, reliability, and effectiveness. An example of this is our recently earned MRC accreditation for CTV viewable impressions, an industry-first and a major milestone. We have expanded our partnerships with X, YouTube, Google Video Partners, and the Amazon Publisher Services Marketplace.

Accurately measuring ad campaign performance is crucial for advertisers. What metrics does IAS provide to help Indian advertisers assess the effectiveness of their ads, particularly in the context of brand safety and attention economy challenges?

We provide cross-platform support across leading social media platforms as well as Spotify, Microsoft Bing, and many more. Advertisers can analyse the performance of their digital campaigns on desktop, mobile web, mobile in-app, CTV, etc. IAS has developed attention metrics that aim to measure the quality and effectiveness of digital advertising based on attention-based indicators. Currently, we provide 15+ attention metrics like time-in-view, video quartile completions, volume up/ down/ mute, full screen plays, and many more that provide advertisers with insights into the level of attention their ads receive and help optimise ad campaigns for better performance.

Traditional brand safety techniques remain valuable tools for mitigating risk  when applied thoughtfully. For example, content categories are useful for assessing potentially dangerous environments. However, binary or rigid approaches to brand safety can limit scale and impact performance.

IAS provides a more granular, holistic approach instead of a simple binary (on-off) brand safety solution. Advertisers may generally agree on which categories are risky, but in practice exercise different levels of restraint. IAS Brand Safety features eight content categories, five customizable risk thresholds, and 250+ brand suitability segments that gives our advertisers more granular control of their risk tolerance for each major content category.

How can Indian advertisers use these metrics to optimise their ad strategies and achieve better results?

The adoption of programmatic-based solutions, involving a three-step approach: verification, optimization, and targeting are key to optimising ad strategies and achieving better results. We provide advertisers with actionable data to drive superior results. We help Indian advertisers minimise risk and improve performance by identifying overblocking or underblocking from legacy keyword lists, customising risk threshold parameters, and expanding with contextual segments. Using this approach, IAS has improved marketers brand safety and suitability strategies to make a significant impact across campaigns  protecting brands, improving ROAS, and increasing efficiencies.

For example, IAS brand safety and suitability has helped some of our global marketers by  decreasing block rates by 80% and increase scale using pre-bid suitability segments; identifying up to 61% of dangerous content that was missed by keyword list blocking; optimising suitability profiles in pre-bid to impact a 53% decrease in fail rates, resulting in an estimated total annual savings of nearly $800,000 for a brand. An analysis of IAS data showed a 73% decrease in fail rate when Context Control pre- and post-bid segments were utilised versus a similarly themed free solution.

We recently conducted a study in partnership in Catalina, a leader in shopper intelligence that personalises the shopper journey, to measure sales for a major CPG brand through the use of display advertisements in both mobile and desktop environments. We observed an 180% lift in incremental ROAS for ads that were placed in-view group versus not-in-view.

Since Brand Safety is focused on the avoidance of content that is risky to brands, and this requirement is different for each brand. Marketeers need to consider avoiding content categories such as: Adult, Alcohol, Gambling, Illegal Downloads, Illegal Drug, Violence, Hate Speech, Offensive Language, and Controversial. An added step here would be to avoid categories based on Advertiser Protection Bureau (APB) and Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) Brand Safety Floor and Brand Suitability Framework.

A tailored approach to brand safety means advertisers can exercise different levels of restraint, depending on which categories are risky but in practice. With more than 600+ industry vertical, seasonal, audience proxy, and topical segments available today for targeting and avoidance, IAS Brand Safety and Suitability solutions provide marketers precise control over unsuitable content avoidance. IAS provides a more granular, holistic approach instead of a simple binary (on-off) brand safety solution.
Dilen Gandhi, Regional Marketing Director for Health & Nutrition at Reckitt, has made the decision to step down from his role at the company after a tenure of 2.5 years. Gandhi shared his sentiments regarding this transition in a heartfelt LinkedIn post. In his post, he expressed, "Today marked the conclusion of my journey at Reckitt as the Regional Marketing Director for Health & Nutrition. This role has bestowed upon me the extraordinary privilege of leading some of the most iconic and revolutionary brands of our era. However, an even more remarkable privilege has been the opportunity to lead, collaborate with, and work alongside an exceptionally talented group of individuals."

Gandhi went on to acknowledge the indispensable contributions of his agency partners, McCann Worldgroup, Havas India, and Wavemaker India. He conveyed his enduring gratitude for their unwavering patience, partnership, and outstanding performance. Reflecting on his time at Reckitt, which he considered his home for the past 2.5 years, he shared that he carries with him an abundance of memories that will not only serve as a cherished recollection but also as a source of strength as he embarks on his future endeavors. He expressed his anticipation for Reckitt's ongoing transformation while eagerly looking forward to the transformation journey that lies ahead for himself. Gandhi concluded his post with the hashtag "#wearereckitt."

Before his tenure at Reckitt, Gandhi held the position of Senior Director and Category Head for Foods at PepsiCo India. His journey with PepsiCo began in 2016 when he assumed the role of Marketing Director within the snacks division. Gandhi's professional trajectory also encompassed a notable stint at Procter & Gamble. He initially joined the company in 2006 as Assistant Country Marketing Manager, overseeing Airtel & Tide brands in India. Over the years, he ascended the ranks and was eventually promoted to Senior Regional Innovation Brand Manager, responsible for India, Africa, and the Middle East. Additionally, Gandhi had previously served as Area Sales Manager at Gillette India.

As Dilen Gandhi bids adieu to Reckitt, his legacy of leadership, collaboration, and transformative marketing strategies continues to resonate within the industry. His journey stands as a testament to his dedication and impact across various renowned organisations.
Raksha Bandhan, a cherished Hindu festival, transcends the boundaries of religion to celebrate the deep and enduring bond shared between brothers and sisters. This time-honoured occasion, meaning "bond of protection," not only reflects the essence of familial love and care but also stands as a testament to the significance of relationships in our lives. As the auspicious day approaches, it brings with it a wave of nostalgia, joy, and an opportunity for brands to connect with their consumers through thoughtful campaigns. Let's delve into the heartwarming traditions and the modern-day resonance of Raksha Bandhan as brands embrace this festival to showcase their genuine affinity for this beautiful celebration of siblinghood.
Founded in the year 2018, Lokal is a platform revolutionising the hyperlocal content space and advertising for Tier 2+ users in India. Lokal is redefining how people in India engage with their surroundings by being a source of news in several Indian languages, including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, and Punjabi, serving 225+ districts, and 1,000+ towns and cities. The platform has managed to garner a loyal reader base of 4.5 crore users, with 45+ million app downloads. The personalisation aspect as well as the rapid dissemination of hyperlocal content are some of the key differentiators of Lokal, which provide updates about events, happenings in local regions, real estate listings, job postings, matrimonial services as well as serves as a platform for buying and selling commodities.

Lokal has an extensive advertiser base involving those from fintech, health, Agritech, real money games, Edutech, and has clients such as Khiladi, Stashfin, Amazon, Axis Bank, cashE, Bajaj EMI, Swiggy, Groww, Plantix, Fi Money, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Plantix, and others. It has overtaken the response rates of its competitors by 5-10x times.

In a conversation with Adgully, Jani Pasha, Founder and CEO, Lokal, speaks about the platforms journey since inception, leveraging next-generation technologies, growing the hyperlocal content on the platform, and much more.

Lokal is redening how Indian citizens engage with their surroundings by supporting multiple Indian languages. How did Lokals journey begin?

We started building a news app called TheSoup that gives news in the form of a timeline. We built this when Donald Trump won the Presidential elections in the US and there was a lot of discussion about social media echo chambers and fake news. We thought our product would solve it. We built the product, did several iterations based on user research conducted on different user bases based on age groups and locations. We nally came about the dearth of hyperlocal content and how local content and other use cases on newspapers can be digitised eventually. Since then, we have focused on being true to the user, which has proven to be the best direction to move in at any point in time.

Since its inception in 2018, Lokal has evolved itself into a single platform for all Tier 2+ needs and as a trusted source of accurate and reliable hyperlocal information, with a presence in over 250+ districts, 1,000+ towns and cities across 8 states in India. Lokals platform provides comprehensive solutions for local updates, classieds, information on jobs, real estate, matrimony, nancial services, and more, making it easier for people in Tier 2+ cities and towns to access the information and services they need.

What differentiates Lokal from other hyperlocal app brands?

Lokal is a robust use case-based platform. We host content that has many use cases like local jobs, matrimonial, normal buy & sell, classied business marketing, and local businesses can market their products on our application. To encapsulate, we are providing different services and simultaneously also bundling them on a single platform, hence we aim to become the one-stop destination for all things hyperlocal.

We are leveraging next-generation technologies like AI, ML, and data analytics to enhance our customer experience. However, two of our unique technology implications are given below:

Bringing technology and language together:

For a platform like Lokal, where we study and evaluate user demands and consumption habits and then assign appropriate material, content optimisation is critical. Due to the feature-rich corpus in English, a variety of features, models, pre-built sentences, tagging, post tagging, and other options are available, unlike in the local languages. This is one of the industrys most pressing issues right now.

Scaling as per location:

Our technology allows us to expand at the highest level while also personalising the feed so that each user receives content specic to their geo-location and district.

For example, because matrimony is not a location-based service, the radius for this service is signicantly broader than for a job search. However, it will be localised in terms of jobs. As a result, all these algorithms are tailored as per user preferences and vertical understanding.

Other approaches are listed below:

Vernacular: Provides access to information in the users regional language (Currently expanding from 8 different languages)

Hyperlocal: Catering to hyper local communities, providing them, with hyper local information

User Sourced updates: Content can be uploaded by the users (undergoes machine moderation and human moderation)

Integration: Integration of all needs of Tier 2+ users into a single platform - needs such as, local news, Jobs, Matrimony, Real estate, etc.

Multi-format: Availability of multi-format content that can be uploaded.

These are the innovative aspects of Lokal.

What is the strategy behind Lokal apps hyperlocal content and how is it inuencing user engagement?

We, at Lokal, have identied the specic content categories and verticals that resonate the most with our audience. We continually rene and expand those categories by:

Relying on data models of content consumption of user

Building a lot of feedback loops internally

Posting popular content that gets seen automatically, content creators also learn

Incentivising creators based on response

User research on what content they consume

What is Lokals marketing strategy?

Location targeting is at the core of our marketing efforts - district/ constituencies

Optimising D0 to D30 experience through deep links, simple onboarding and relevant content

Local language communication

Marketing collateral nuances keeping Tier 2, Tier 3 users in mind - visuals/ copies/ designs

100% digital campaigns - Facebook and Google, ad inventories, OEMs

What is the ad revenue model of Lokal? Which brands is it collaborating with?

Lokal offers ad space in the following forms:

Local Classieds

Local Business Ad Spend

Brand advertisements

We collaborate with brands dealing in the healthcare sector, ntech, Edutech, Agritech and real money games. For example, Amazon, Khiladi, cashE, Stashn, Bajaj EMI, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Fi Money, Groww, Swiggy, Plantix, etc.

What are the key metrics that Lokal is providing to advertisers for successful hyperlocal campaigns?

Presence: 250 Districts, 1,000+ towns & cities | 9 States

Reader Base: 4.5 crore

App Downloads: 45+ million

Businesses helped: 100,000+

Engagement Time: 10 minutes

DAU: 2.5 million

MAU: 10 million

Geo level and relevance level targeting

What are its extension plans into newer categories? What efforts is it taking to enhance user experience?

We are constantly on the lookout to expand to new categories for both content and other use cases apart from Jobs, matrimony, Buy & Sell and real estate. We discover new categories/ inclinations by conducting regular user research and being up to date with what is trending in the hyperlocal communities of the states we are operational in.

Apart from this, we also utilise our resources in enhancing our user experience by focusing on user research. We increase the discoverability of content on our platform by increasing popularity and personalisation.

How has Lokals protability journey been in 73 of the operational districts and becoming a one-stop solution for Tier 2 users needs in India?

It is more fullling than we imagined. We are helping new internet users to experience easy access to local information, relevant connections and convenience for the rst time. Interactions that used to take weeks and months, like hiring someone, buying property and nding a relevant match, are reduced to hours and days. If you build a valuable platform, monetisation is not that difcult. Our journey of protability started by building valuable products for the user.

How has Lokals performance been in the previous fiscal?

The year 2022 had been great for Lokal. Our density of user base in matured locations grew by 2x, classieds on our platform grew by 8x. We also started building sustainably at a location level.

What marketing strategies and activities did Lokal undertake during the rst of this year?

In the rst year, the entire focus went into growing in our initial 10 locations and building a playbook to launch more locations. We focussed on getting the creators and getting the right content on the platform. What we realised is that once we get a critical density of users on the platform, the platform self grew organically via our content share loops, where our users shared our content on Whatsapp/ social media with our watermark.

What are the future plans of Lokal?

We want to expand into new categories and product capabilities. We intend to address every concern of our user in a manner that aligns with our goals as a company. We are also building a content platform with a high frequency use case of local updates making users discover and adapt to new digital behaviours of discovering local jobs, matrimony and new products.

The key to growing in this sector is to understand what the user wants and needs in his/her daily life. As we keep increasing the range of services offered, we never cease our interaction with the users.
Sony Marathi has partnered with Posterscope to launch a campaign for its latest show, titled Rani Mi Honar. The campaign is aimed to create awareness around the show using unconventional methods.

The campaign, conceptualised and executed by Posterscope  the OOH (Out-of-Home) specialist agency from dentsu India, employed a captivating yet impactful strategy that leverages the iconic Kaali Peeli autos. These autos, painted in a vibrant Rani pink hue, took to the streets of Thane in Mumbai, marking the commencement of the shows launch. However, the true showstopper was not just the colour itself; the auto was adorned with a larger-than-life tiara. The campaign also saw the participation of female auto drivers from Thane, adding a unique twist to this transit-based promotion.

The pink autos offered complimentary rides to women across the city, tirelessly operating for 21 hours and traversing approximately 425 km. High-traffic areas in Thane and target-centric locations such as Viviana Mall, Lodha Paradise, Ram Maruti Road, Upvan Ganesh Mandir, Talao Paali, Majhiwada, Panch Pakhadi, and more, were skillfully covered, effectively generating buzz and piquing the curiosity of onlookers.

The campaign captivated the audience, encouraging them to actively engage and share images on their social media platforms. Participants who engaged were treated to complimentary nail art services, effectively promoting the shows theme and the role of the lead actor. Additionally, they were presented with branded bindi packs, an accessory that enhances a womans beauty. The shows cast members also joined the procession, taking rides in the pink autos, which further fueled online discussions. Moreover, numerous influencers and digital content creators in Thane enthusiastically contributed to the amplification of the campaigns impact.

Watch the campaign film:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xY_eyTW23aM

Commenting on the campaign, Sainath Pai, Marketing Head, Sony Marathi, said, Our fictional narratives are characterised by their uniqueness and progressiveness. Similarly, we are committed to conveying our messages to viewers through unforgettable and delightful methods in our launch marketing campaigns. The goal was to rekindle the aspirations of countless women commuters, making them feel exceptional and empowering them to reclaim their own lives. This sentiment deeply aligns with the essence of our show Rani Mi Honar.

Imtiyaz Vilatra, Managing Director, Posterscope, added here, In an era where grabbing attention is a challenge, embracing innovation becomes the key to breaking free from the ordinary and capturing the spotlight. At Posterscope, our objective is to infuse campaigns with remarkable innovative elements, ensuring they remain etched in the memory of both the brand and its audience. I firmly affirm that Sony Marathis Rikshaw Rani campaign painted the city with an aura of excitement.
Wild Stone, the renowned male grooming brand from McNROE, proudly announces the launch of the third edition of their immensely popular campaign, "BhaiZone Ka The End." The campaign, known for its innovative and engaging approach, aims to resonate with its audience while showcasing the brand's products in a lighthearted and relatable manner.

Last year the campaign won a bronze for its Meme Leg at the ET Brand Equity Trendies Awards 2021-22. Wild Stone strategically integrated memes, ensuring widespread visibility. Over 300 memes were thoughtfully crafted and disseminated across a vast network of 400+ meme pages, resulting in 20 million+ impressions. Building on it further, Wild Stone has taken a step forward by collaborating with popular couples/duos on Instagram such as Sakshi & Dheeraj, Aliya Hamidi & Aadil, Rohit & Aishwarya Tanishk & Aarzoo, and others. These influencers have skillfully woven the essence of Wild Stone Fragrances into their content, depicting amusing scenarios that revolve around how women shift their perspective from bro-zoning to a deeper connection, with a little help from Wild Stone's captivating fragrances. The YouTube video released as part of the campaign has garnered an astounding 5 million views, capturing the attention of audiences across the nation.

Speaking about the campaign, Abhishek Sharma, Head Digital for Wild Stone at McNROE, said: At Wild Stone, we believe in creating campaigns that not only entertain but also resonate with our audience on a personal level. 'BhaiZone Ka the End' is a testament to our commitment to showcase to young men in the country on how to hold their own confidently.

Wild Stone's ability to emotionally connect with consumers through relatable storytelling has fueled the triumph of the "BhaiZone Ka the End" campaign. Beyond engaging Instagram influencer videos, they have done vox-pop interviews with DU students, interactive outdoor selfie activity, and an innovative placard activity declaring colleges "bhai-Zone Free. Further expanding its reach, Wild Stone partnered with meme pages for witty and shareable content.
(Photo : hoto credit should read MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)

A boy enters in his classroom on the first day of the start of the school year, at the Chaptal elementary school in Paris, on September 2, 2019. - In France some 12.4 million students crossed the doors of elementary schools (6.7 million), secondary school (3.4 million) and high schools (2.3 million) on September 2, 2019

A Colorado student's proud display of a Gadsden Flag patch on his backpack has ignited a heated debate after he was expelled from The Vanguard School for wearing it.

The incident, captured on film, has sparked discussions regarding the historical context and interpretation of the Gadsden Flag, a symbol of the American Revolution, as per Daily Mail.

Colorado Student's Gadsden Flag Display Sparks Controversy

Twelve-year-old Jaiden became embroiled in controversy when school administrators deemed his Gadsden Flag patch disruptive and violating district policy. The patch with the words "Don't Tread on Me" and a rattlesnake spiral has long been regarded as a symbol of American independence and opposition to tyranny.

The administrator, however, argued that the flag's roots in slavery violated the school's environment. In the video, Jaiden's mother defended him vehemently, explaining that the origins of the flag lay in the American Revolution's fight against the British and did not promote slavery.

She emphasized that the Gadsden and Confederate Flag have distinct historical connotations. The controversy drew the attention of Jared Polis, the Democratic governor of Colorado, who weighed in on the matter. Governor Polis rejected claims that the Gadsden Flag was racist and regarded the controversy as a valuable "teaching moment."

He emphasized the significance of the flag as a symbol of the American Revolution and its historical importance in the struggle for freedom, according to Fox News via MSN.

Read Also: UNC-Chapel Hill Shooting: Shooter's Motive Puzzles Police; What We Know So Far About the Suspect

Graphic Design Expert: Gadsden Flag's Intolerance and Confederate Associations

The school's Director of Operations, Jeff Yocum, explained the decision to ban the flag by citing its racist connotations. He noted graphic design expert Paul Bruski from Iowa State University, who suggested that the Gadsden Flag may symbolize intolerance and hatred due to its association with the Confederate battle flag and "Trump 2020" flags.

Yocum also cited an article about a dispute involving a Postal Service employee who donned a Gadsden Flag hat to work. While the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) did not determine that the flag was a racist symbol, it acknowledged that it had been interpreted as conveying racially charged messages in some contexts.

Designed in the mid-1770s by South Carolina soldier Christopher Gadsden, the Gadsden Flag became a famous rallying cry during the American Revolution. The design by Colonel Gadsden, which featured a coiled rattlesnake and the words "Don't Tread On Me," represented the colonies' resolve to resist oppression.

The incident at The Vanguard School has sparked conversations regarding the ambiguity of historical symbols and their interpretations. Others raise concerns about the Gadsden Flag's potential associations with intolerance and hatred in contemporary contexts, while some see it as a symbol of American independence.

As debates continue, the school's decision to remove Jaiden from class for wearing a Gadsden Flag patch exemplifies the ongoing struggle to balance historical significance and changing perceptions in contemporary society. The incident serves as a reminder that symbols from the past can carry various meanings and interpretations in the present, prompting vital discussions about history, identity, and inclusiveness, Reason reported.

Related Article: Florida: Mother Allegedly Commits Murder-Suicide After Losing Custody Battle; 2 Kids Dead

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Federal Council

Bern, 30.08.2023 - At its meeting on 30 August 2023, the Federal Council launched the consultation procedure on a bill to strengthen the anti-money laundering framework. The aim is to reinforce the integrity and competitiveness of Switzerland as a financial and business location with a federal register of beneficial owners, due diligence for particularly risky activities in legal professions, as well as other provisions. The measures are in line with international standards.

An effective system for combating financial crime is essential for the good reputation and lasting success of an internationally important, safe and future-oriented financial centre and business location. Money laundering and terrorist financing pose a serious threat to financial system integrity. Around the world, legal entities are misused by criminals, including organised crime, to conceal assets for the purposes of money laundering, tax evasion and the circumvention of sanctions. As a major financial centre, Switzerland is also exposed to these risks. The Federal Council therefore proposes to strengthen the existing anti-money laundering framework. In particular, increased transparency should allow the prosecution authorities to identify who is really behind a legal structure with greater speed and certainty.

The key elements of the bill are:

A federal register will be introduced, in which companies and other legal entities in Switzerland will have to be entered, together with information on their beneficial owners. Simplified registration is provided for certain legal forms, such as limited liability companies, sole proprietorships, associations and foundations. This non-public register will be managed by the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP), in order to make use of the existing infrastructure and the know-how of the authorities running the commercial register. To ensure the quality of the register, an audit unit within the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) will carry out checks and, where necessary, issue penalties.





Anti-money laundering due diligence rules should henceforth also apply to certain consultancy activities (especially legal advice) which carry an elevated risk of money laundering. This move is in response to the proposal already discussed by Parliament in 2019. The structuring of companies or transactions with real estate are considered to be particularly risky. The position of the legal profession and lawyers' and notaries' duty of professional secrecy are respected.





There is also a series of additional measures to strengthen the anti-money laundering framework. These include measures to prevent sanctions under embargo legislation from being breached or circumvented. Moreover, the threshold for cash payments in precious metals trading will be lowered from CHF 100,000 to CHF 15,000. It will still be possible to make cash payments above this limit, but they will be subject to certain due diligence rules. All cash payments in real estate business are now subject to anti-money laundering due diligence rules, irrespective of the monetary amount involved.

The consultation on the bill will last until 29 November 2023. The Federal Council will submit the dispatch to Parliament in 2024. The reform should contribute significantly to protecting the financial centre from funds of criminal origin, and to strengthening Switzerland as a business location. The measures are in line with the international standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

What does the legislative amendment mean for SMEs?

In principle, all companies and legal entities in Switzerland are required to enter their beneficial owners in the federal transparency register. However, a simplified reporting procedure is provided for most companies, especially sole proprietorships, limited liability companies, foundations and associations. The simplified procedure also applies to all companies whose beneficial owners are already entered in the commercial register. According to an externally produced regulatory impact assessment, the new regulations will result in a slight additional burden, but this will have little impact at the level of individual companies. On average, for all companies this involves around 20 minutes' work (equivalent to about CHF 25) in the first year. In subsequent years, the effort falls to a quarter of that.



Address for enquiries

Communications

State Secretariat for International Finance SIF

Tel. +41 58 462 46 16, info@sif.admin.ch

Publisher

The Federal Council

https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html



State Secretariat for International Financial Matters

http://www.sif.admin.ch



Federal Office of Justice

http://www.bj.admin.ch




The Federal Council

Bern, 30.08.2023 - On 30 August, the Federal Council decided to adopt further sanctions against Belarus to bring Switzerland in line with the latest measures adopted by the European Union (EU) on 3 August. The changes will come into effect at 6pm on 30 August. More than 40 individuals and entities were added to the sanctions list on 15 August.

In view of Belarus's continued involvement in Russia's ongoing military aggression against Ukraine, the Federal Council adopted further sanctions against Belarus on 30 August. The Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), in its capacity as Switzerland's competent body, already imposed sanctions on 38 persons and 3 entities on 15 August.

The Federal Council will adopt with effect from 30 August the remaining measures adopted by the EU on 3 August. These measures bring the sanctions against Belarus more closely into line with the sanctions imposed against Russia. They include an export ban on goods and technology for use in the aviation and space industry. Besides aviation and space industry vehicles, the list of goods includes turbojets, turbopropellers and rubber tyres. For aviation and space industry items that are also frequently used in the medical sector, exemptions apply subject to authorisation.

The measures also extend the list of goods which contribute to Belarus's military and technological enhancement. For example, no semiconductor devices or electronic integrated circuits may now be exported to Belarus.

Finally, the existing export bans on dual-use goods and technologies, and on goods contributing to the military and technological enhancement of Belarus have been aligned with the export bans applicable to Russia. Specifically, where there was previously an exemption with regard to the prohibition of exports necessary to ensure the cyber and information security of persons and companies in Belarus, a licence will now be required. By adopting this measure, the Federal Council seeks to ensure that no strategic goods reach Belarus in circumvention of the rules.

Today's Federal Council decision reflects Switzerland's continued close partnership with the EU with regard to sanctions.

Address for enquiries

Enquiries from the media:

EAER Communications

info@gs-wbf.admin.ch

058 462 20 07



Enquiries from businesses:

sanctions@seco.admin.ch

058 464 08 12

Publisher

The Federal Council

https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html



Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

http://www.wbf.admin.ch




Indian politics is more ideological than many believe, but most parties have proven to be masters of practical politics in their quest for power. Many alliances have been forged as quickly as they have fallen apart. In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and Maharashtra assembly polls, the combined vote share of the undivided Shiv Sena and BJP was more than 45 per cent, giving them a clear edge over Congress and its allies. However, after the 2019 assembly elections, the alliance of Congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena tilted the reckoning towards MVA, achieving an almost 50 per cent vote share.

The BJP has already announced that it aims to gain more than 41 seats in Maharashtra. But it will have to convince both Shindes Sena as well as Ajits NCP to give it a major share of seats for contesting the general elections. The task will be cut out, as BJP leaders in the past stoked a controversy when they declared that it would give Sena a share only in the assembly seats. BJP poached other political party leaders to form a government in Maharashtra to take revenge against the sabotage of Uddhav Shiv Sena, and on the other hand, in 2019, Shiv Sena also switched sides and formed a government with Congress and NCP by sabotaging BJP. In the past year, the political landscape in Maharashtra has experienced enormous uncertainty. The seat-sharing formula will be really challenging for both alliances in the coming time.

INDIA is having its first nationwide meeting in Maharashtra, and a state-wise seat-sharing formula could be discussed during the meeting. A logo for the alliance would also be unveiled on August 31. A senior leader from the Opposition said, The logo will reflect the country and its unity, and those things that unify the country, adding that a few more political parties may also join the meeting. The NDA and the INDIA bloc are projected to get 43 per cent and 41 per cent of the vote share, respectively, a recent survey found.

Meanwhile, tomorrow, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge will be attending the meeting. The unveiling of the INDIA alliance logo, formation of the coordination committee, the appointment of convenors, a discussion on the possible seat-sharing formula between the INDIA constituents for the general elections, strategies for the general elections, and several others are on the agenda of the Opposition INDIA alliance. The Shiv Sena (UBT) also released the first video teaser of the Opposition INDIA alliance meeting in Mumbai.

Matching the dates of the Opposition INDIA blocs third meeting in Mumbai, the ruling grand alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar group in the state will be holding a meeting at Worli in south Mumbai to discuss Lok Sabha polls. After the 2022 Maharashtra political crisis, Eknath Shinde, along with 40 MLAs, formed a government with the BJP. Eknath Shinde became the new chief minister. After the 2023 Maharashtra political crisis, the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party also joined the government.

The BJP-Shiv Sena-led alliance government in Maharashtra has gained strength after the entry of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction, but it is likely that the seat-sharing exercise for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be much more difficult for the BJP, which aims to contest most of the 48 seats in the state. Eknath Shindes rebellion in June last year led to the downfall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, which comprised the Shiv Sena, Congress, and the NCP. Apart from this, Sharad Pawars nephew Ajit joined hands with the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government, triggering a split in the NCP.

Presently, the BJP and its alliance partnersEknath Shindes Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawars NCPare short of the 41 seats that the BJP had won in alliance with the Shiv Sena in 2019. As per the survey, the NDA is projected to get a 40 per cent vote share with 20 seats, while the INDIA bloc is expected to get a 45 per cent vote share with 28 seats. The MVA alliance parties are part of the INDIA bloc.

Considering the aggressive approach of Ajit, convincing the NCP faction led by him to settle for something less than what is due will be tough. Both Shinde and Ajit do not have a fallback option if BJP forces its demand for the maximum share of the 48 seats. The BJP has always dominated regional parties. It will not be so easy for the Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar to strike a hard bargain as their fallback options are limited now. The BJP will press for all 25 seats it contested in 2019 and will tell the Shinde and Pawar factions to divide amongst themselves the remaining seats. Notably, the survey shows that if Lok Sabha elections were to happen today, the BJP would secure only 15 seats, which is 9 fewer than its previous tally.

Yet, the biggest problem the BJP will face is to keep both Shinde and Pawar happy in the seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP will promise its partners that they will be compensated in the assembly elections. And this seat sharing will depend on the outcome of the Lok Sabha results. In contrast, Congress could improve its seat count to 10, a substantial increase from its single seat in 2019. Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar would contribute 18 seats to the INDIA bloc tally. The numbers favor MVA since 2019.
One of the Navys most technologically advanced and lethal ships will call Pascagoula, Miss., home for the next two years as Ingalls Shipbuilding modernizes the stealth-capable ship with upgrades including the installation of hypersonic missile tubes.

The shipyard welcomed the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) on Aug. 19 upon its arrival from its homeport of San Diego, Calif.

It is an honor to serve the sailors of Zumwalt and to welcome them to our community, said Ingalls DDG 1000 ship construction manager Bruce Knowles. The Ingalls team is ready to support you in completing this important work.

Ingalls was awarded a $154.8 million contract modification from the Navy to begin the upgrades after initially being given a $10.5 million contract in January to begin the planning phase.

USS Zumwalt is the lead ship in its class and has stealth capabilities, with a radar cross-section similar to a fishing boat despite being a 600-foot long, 16,000-ton guided missile destroyer. She was built by Bath Iron Works in Maine, christened in April 2014, and commissioned into the Navy in October 2016.

DDG 1000 is named for Adm. Elmo Zumwalt Jr., who served as Commander of Naval Forces Vietnam during the Vietnam War and then as the 19th Chief of Naval Operations. At 49 years of age, he was the youngest person elevated to the Navys top post.

The hypersonic tubes which will be installed on the Zumwalt will each old three Common Hypersonic Glide Bodies (C-HGB), which are being developed jointly between the Navy and the U.S. Army, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.

The upgrades will ensure Zumwalt remains one of the most technologically advanced and lethal ships in the U.S. Navy, the Navy said in a statement to USNI.

USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) is also slated for the same weapons system upgrades at Ingalls, while a third ship in the Zumwalt class, Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002), is already at the Pascagoula shipyard, having arrived in January of last year for combat systems activation.
Powerful Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Floridas Gulf Coast on Wednesday morning as a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph winds.

Idalia was still a Category 1 hurricane -- but barely -- on Wednesday afternoon as its center moved over south Georgia.

The National Hurricane Center said the eye of Idalia moved onshore about 6:45 a.m. CDT Wednesday near Keaton Beach, Fla.

7:45 AM EDT update: Extremely dangerous Category 3 Hurricane #Idalia makes landfall in the Florida Big Bend. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be 125 mph. Catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds ongoing. pic.twitter.com/umMdj8dD5d  National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 30, 2023

Idalia continued to move inland and into south Georgia on Wednesday afternoon. As of 1 p.m. CDT Wednesday, the center of Hurricane Idalia was located about 10 miles north-northwest of Waycross, Ga., and was moving north-northeast at 20 mph.

Idalias winds fell to 75 mph after hours over land, making it a Category 1 hurricane. Idalia peaked earlier this morning as a Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds but weakened slightly just before landfall, likely because of an eyewall replacement cycle, according to the hurricane center..

Hurricane warnings continued -- but along the Atlantic coast as Idalia tracked in that direction.

Idalia is not expected to bring major impacts to Alabama as the center pulls away to the northeast. There will, however, continue to be a high risk for rip currents along the coast, and beachgoers are encouraged to stay out of the water.

The hurricane center said that Idalia is forecast to turn toward the northeast and east-northeast, moving near or along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina late today and Thursday.

Idalia could also bring a few tornadoes from the coast of west-central Florida northward into the Florida Big Bend region, the hurricane center said. The tornado risk will move into Georgia and the coastal Carolinas later today.

Here is the surge forecast for Idalia as of Wednesday morning:

Storm surge will continue to be possible along parts of Florida's Gulf Coast.

Here are the watches and warnings for Idalia as of Wednesday morning:

* A Storm Surge Warning is in effect from Englewood northward to Aucilla River in Florida, including Tampa Bay, and from St. Catherines Sound, Ga., to South Santee River, S.C.

* A Hurricane Warning is in effect from Altamaha Sound, Ga., to Edisto Beach, S.C.

* A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from Bonita Beach northward to the Ochlockonee River in Florida, including Tampa Bay, from the Volusia/Brevard County Line in Florida to Altamaha Sound, Ga., from north of Edisto Beach, S.C., to the North Carolina/Virginia border and Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds.

* A Storm Surge Watch is in effect from Bonita Beach northward to Englewood, including Charlotte Harbor, from the mouth of the St. Marys River to St. Catherines Sound in Georgia, from Beaufort Inlet to Ocracoke Inlet, N.C., and the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers in North Carolina.

* A Hurricane Watch is in effect from the mouth of the St. Marys River to Altamaha Sound, and from Edisto Beach to South Santee River, S.C.
Hurricane Idalia was on a path for landfall on Floridas Big Bend.

The National Hurricane Center is expecting Idalia to become a Category 3 (or possibly stronger) storm by late tonight or early Wednesday -- just before it makes landfall on Floridas Gulf Coast on Wednesday morning.

No part of Alabama is in the forecast cone, and the center of the storm is expected to move to the east of the state, according to forecasters.

But the eastern part of the state -- especially southeast Alabama -- will be close enough to feel some of the effects.

Winds will definitely be breezy, and rain could be heavy at times, but the worst winds from Idalia are expected to be confined to Florida and Georgia and not Alabama, according to National Weather Service forecasts.

Heres the wind outlook:

Southeast Alabama is expected to avoid the worst of Idalia's winds as of Tuesday night.

This map shows that only extreme southeast Alabama has the potential to see winds of 39 mph to 57 mph. The rest of southeast Alabama is expected to have winds of less than 39 mph.

Southeast Alabama could see some heavy rain, however. This map shows that the southeast corner of the state, around the Dothan area, has the potential to see moderate flooding rain:

A look at the flood risk from Idalia.

Coastal Alabama -- or southwest Alabama -- will have to be on alert for rip currents and rough seas. There will be a high risk for rip currents through Thursday night, and there is also a high surf warning that will be in effect from 1 a.m. Wednesday until 1 a.m. Thursday. The weather service said seas could be 8 to 10 feet as Idalia draws closer.

The National Weather Service in Mobile said beachgoers should stay out of the water for the next few days until seas lower.

730pm TROPICAL UPDATE: Hurricane Idalia will soon become a MAJOR HURRICANE & is forecast to make landfall along the Big Bend Region of Florida on Weds morning. Deadly RIP currents thru Thurs night expected, with HIGH SURF quickly building to 8-10 feet thru Weds night. #mobwx pic.twitter.com/V4lfjRqKLs  NWS Mobile (@NWSMobile) August 30, 2023

The weather service in Birmingham was expecting areas in the southeast part of central Alabama to have increased rain chances tonight through Wednesday, and winds could be breezy at times. The highest gusts are expected to be lower than 30 mph, however.

Rain chances in central Alabama through Wednesday will remain highest in the southeastern counties. Idalia may bring a few gusts of wind up to 30 mph to areas south and east of I-85, but other impacts from the Hurricane will be minimal to non-existent in our area. #alwx pic.twitter.com/EMtGYw6G4P  NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) August 29, 2023

Alabama could also get some rain and storms from Idalia as it passes to the east, but the risk for tornadoes is expected to stay on the northern and eastern side of the center of circulation.
UK sends largest business delegation to CIFTIS in Beijing, deepening partnership

Global Times) 15:36, August 30, 2023

The UK is set to send the largest business delegation to China in four years to attend next month's China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), where about 60 British companies and organizations will engage in policy dialogues with their Chinese counterparts, the Global Times learned.

The UK, the Guest Country of Honor of CIFTIS, to be held from September 2 to 6 in Beijing, will hold more than 70 events to explore how the UK and China can work together to accelerate their trade partnership, read a statement sent from the UK Embassy in China to the Global Times on Tuesday.

The UK delegation will be led by an official from the Department for Business and Trade, and it will be the largest business delegation dispatched to China in the past four years, said the statement.

Business partners of the UK Pavilion at the 2023 CIFTIS will include AstraZeneca China, HSBC, BP China, Standard Chartered, Pearson, Thoughtworks, Clifford Chance, CIMA and Schroders.

"As China continues to develop, more and more people value the services in which the UK excels. Whether it is financial services, such as pensions and insurance, or healthcare and environmental services that improve the quality of life, we see great potential for UK-China business cooperation," Tom Duke, head of the Department for Business and Trade in China, was quoted as saying in the statement.

"The commercial relationship between the two nations continues to be strong. If you talk to business people, they want to have a good relationship with China and the politicians are not keeping pace with the sentiments of business," Keith Bennett, vice chairman of the 48 Group Club, a London-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting trade between China and the UK, told the Global Times.

In terms of business cooperation, Bennett said that China is not just a great power in manufacturing, but also a great power in research and development, in innovation, and in all sectors of the new economy, such as artificial intelligence, mobile internet and big data. At the same time, Britain has some advanced experiences too.

"I think there's great complementarity [between China and the UK] to have technical, scientific and R&D collaboration, and that means more cooperation in the education sector," said Bennett.

According to data from the British Office for National Statistics, in 2022, the UK's services exports to China rose 7.2 percent year-on-year to reach 670 million pounds ($845 million). The UK's services imports from China rose 34.6 percent to 800 million pounds.

From 1997 to 2020, China-UK trade in services has grown at an average annual rate of 12.2 percent.

"Being named Country of Honor for the 2023 CIFCIS is an honor we intend to make the most of. This summer, we want to showcase success and develop new opportunities for the UK's exceptional, innovative and sustainable services sector. Our offer goes beyond financial and professional services, hospitality and logistics," Geraldine McCafferty, deputy head of the British Embassy in Beijing, said in a statement sent to the Global Times in May.

Analysts said that China-UK cooperation is important as the world encounters multiple challenges.

The conditions for maintaining normal bilateral ties need to be improved, as some British politicians have tied themselves to the anti-China chariot of the US, analysts said.

"There is a divergence between political and commercial interests or views in the UK. But it's very important for both countries to keep up and intensify good commercial relationship," said Bennett.

UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly will pay an official visit to China from Wednesday, which is expected to help improve bilateral relations, analysts said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
(Photo : Photo by Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images)

KYIV, UKRAINE - MARCH 23: The site of a rocket explosion where a shopping mall used to be on March 23, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The rocket hit the shopping mall on March 20, 2022. As Russia's advance on Kyiv has largely stalled, the Ukrainian capital has continued to be hit by missiles and shellfire. More than three million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its large-scale invasion of the country on Feb. 24.

Following reports from Russian news media, a drone was used to launch an attack on an airfield in the city of Pskov, damaging two Ilyushin 76 military transport planes.

Pskov is located in the far northwestern region of Russia. Concerns have been raised regarding the increasing use of explosive drones to target Russian territory because the attack caused a fire to break out on one of the planes, as per BBC.

Explosive Drone Attack Damages Military Planes at Pskov Airfield

The incident, which resulted in widespread fires and explosions at the airport, was observed and recorded by Mikhail Vedernikov, the regional governor of Pskov, who was present at the time of the events.

Even though the early information indicates that there were no injuries as a result of the strike, which the governor confirmed, this attack signals a worrying development in the ongoing confrontation between Russia and Ukraine.

An unanticipated hit was felt in Pskov, which is located more than 600 kilometers (372 miles) from Ukraine and is close to the border with Estonia. There has been no official statement made by Ukraine claiming responsibility for the attack, and opinions of this nature are unusual in relation to attacks that take place within Russia.

On the other hand, allegations have surfaced in the past few weeks suggesting that Ukraine has increased its use of explosive drones to target a variety of areas within Russian territory.

This recent assault on the airport in Pskov is not a unique occurrence. The location had been targeted by drones in the past, most recently in late May, which hints at a continuing trend of strikes of this kind. A drone assault in the Belgorod region of Russia last week resulted in the deaths of several people.

The heart of Moscow was also the target of a drone assault. These incidents took place not long after an attack by a drone operated by the Ukrainian government brought down a notable Russian long-range aircraft close to St. Petersburg.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has claimed that strikes on Russian territory are a reasonable response to the ongoing confrontation with Russia.

However, no specific claims of guilt have been made. The increased use of crewless aerial vehicles (drones) in combat is becoming an increasingly important factor in the ongoing conflict, according to Daily Mail.

Read Also: Air Pollution Now Cutting More Than 2 Years Off Global Average Life Expectancy

Russia-Ukraine War

In a separate chain of occurrence, drone assaults destroyed Russian military aircraft, which in turn disrupted the operations of the country's commercial aviation.

According to reports, the regions of Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan, and Moscow and Russian-occupied Crimea were among the sites targeted.

The majority of the drones that were launched in the attacks were successfully intercepted by the Russian air defenses. However, one of the most important results was the attack that was carried out on the Pskov airport.

As a result of the attack on Pskov airport, two heavy military Ilyushin 76 cargo planes were destroyed, while two further aircraft sustained damage. The footage of the tremendous explosions that lighted the night sky over the airport was widespread on social media.

The airport's location close to other Baltic states, such as Estonia and Latvia, as well as its connections to NATO and the European Union, amplify the consequences of the attack. Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have continued to rise amid reports that Ukraine was subjected to the most potent missile barrage it has seen since the spring.

Officials from Russia have stated that they carried out an operation in the Black Sea around midnight, during which they allegedly sank four Ukrainian boats and caused injuries. The situation is still in flux, although both sides are employing increasingly complex strategies, such as drone attacks, in their continuous struggle, Washington Examiner reported.

Related Article: North Korea to Deploy Nuclear Weapons to Navy in Response to US-Led Drills

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Customers have a beef with Burger King. More specifically, there isnt enough beef on the Whopper.

U.S. District Judge Roy Altman in Miami said on Tuesday that Burger King must defend against the claims that its depiction of Whoppers on in-store menu boards mislead reasonable customers. In short, it constitutes a breach of contract.

The class-action lawsuit claims Burger King has been advertising its famous burger to make them appear approximately 35 percent larger in size, and contain more than double the meat, than the actual burger.

Attorneys Anthony J. Russo and James C. Kelly named four plaintiffs, but are representing at least 100 plaintiffs, the complaint said.

Burger King denied wrongdoing and said reasonable consumers do not expect every burger to look exactly like an advertising photo.

The plaintiffs claims are false, Burger King said in a statement on Tuesday, per Reuters. The flame-grilled beef patties portrayed in our advertising are the same patties used in the millions of Whopper sandwiches we serve to guests nationwide.

A Burger King spokesperson told Forbes the plaintiffs claims are false and that the patties shown in its ads are the same patties used in the Whopper sandwiches it serves.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on The Opening Kickoff on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.
Eleven people from a Delta Air Lines flight were taken to the hospital with injuries from severe turbulence while flying into Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Tuesday evening.

The injured include crew members and passengers on Delta flight 175 from Milan to Atlanta on an Airbus A350-900, according to the airline. The flight experienced severe turbulence before landing in Atlanta just before 7 p.m., as thunderstorms were coming into the Atlanta area. The Federal Aviation Administration said the crew reported turbulence about 40 miles northeast of the airport.

The injuries were not life-threatening, according to a Hartsfield-Jackson spokesman.

Our priority is taking care of our customers and crew who sustained injuries, Delta said in a written statement.

There were a total of 151 passengers, 10 flight attendants and four pilots on the plane. U.S. Customs and Border Protection cleared passengers who needed medical attention. Delta said it is providing accommodations, food and rebooking for customers who were not injured.

The FAA said it will investigate the incident.

Elsewhere on Tuesday evening, Atlanta-based Delta also had two emergency landings.

A flight from Memphis to Deltas Salt Lake City hub diverted to Wichita after an aircraft pressurization issue that required flying at a low altitude.

And a flight from Salt Lake City to New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport diverted to Denver after a suspected issue with the aircrafts hydraulic system, according to Delta.

2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Authorities have released the names of two teens killed in a crash on Interstate 85 last week.

Valley Police Chief Mike Reynolds on Wednesday identified the fatality victims as Ampmeko Zyquan Trammell and Quintavius Jamaal Harris. Both were 19 and lived in Lanett.

The wreck happened at 4:21 a.m. Friday on I-85 northbound near the 73-mile marker.

Trammell and Harris were pronounced dead on the scene.

A third occupant, also 19 and from Lanett, was ejected from the vehicle and found in the median. He was taken to Piedmont Hospital in Columbus.

The accident is still under investigation by the Valley Police Department and the Chambers County Coroners office.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state can prosecute people who help women travel out of state for abortions in response to a lawsuit filed by a pro-abortion rights group and owners of womens clinics.

Marshall filed a motion Monday in federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by providers, the ACLU and Yellowhammer Fund, which helped fund abortions in Alabama before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the right to an abortion with its Dobbs decision.

With that decision the high court left states in control of abortion access. Some states, including Alabama, have severely limited abortion access.

The lawsuit, filed July 31, alleged Marshall violated the right to free speech when he said that individuals could be charged with conspiracy for helping women get abortions in other states. A doctor and a clinic owner said the comments made it difficult to advise or treat pregnant women, even those with complications. It stemmed from comments made in July 2022 on the Jeff Poor Show, a talk radio program.

After the Dobbs decision, Alabama outlawed almost all abortions in the state. The Human Life Protection Act created a class A felony for performing abortions, which is punishable by up to life in prison.

Marshall said on the show the state would investigate potential conspiracy or accessory charges for groups that openly fund or promote out-of-state abortions.

If someone was promoting themselves out as a funder of abortions out of state, then that is potentially criminally actionable for us, Marshall said. One of the things we will do in working with local prosecutors is making sure that we fully implement this law. Theres nothing about that law that restricts any individual from driving across state lines and seeking an abortion in another place. However, I would say that if an individual held themselves out as an entity or a group that is using funds that they are able to raise to facilitate those visits, then thats something were going to look at closely.

In his in his motion to dismiss, Marshall further argued the state can pursue charges because it has outlawed abortion.

Though abortion may be legal elsewhere, it is plainly illegal pursuant to Ala. Code  13A-4-4 for Plaintiffs to conspire with others to procure abortions that would be illegal in Alabama, according to Marshalls motion. The criminal conduct is the agreement (the conspiracy) itself, which is conduct that occurs in Alabama that Alabama has every right to prosecute. Thus, the legality of abortion in other States is irrelevant to whether Alabama can prosecute a conspiracy formed in Alabama.

The First Amendment does not cover speech related to breaking the law, according to Marshalls motion.

While Plaintiffs clients may be allowed under Alabama law to obtain abortions outside Alabama, Plaintiffs are plainly [not] allow[ed] under Ala. Code  13A-4-4 to conspire in Alabama to help procure abortions.

Attorneys for the Yellowhammer Fund filed a motion for summary judgement Monday that said Marshalls language had chilled the speech and conduct of people at the organization. The organization stopped funding abortions after Marshalls comments on the radio show. Instead, they shifted their resources into providing services such as birth control and pregnancy support.

If the attorney general had not made those comments, staff at the Yellowhammer Fund would have continued to fund travel to states where abortion is legal, the motion said.

There can be no dispute that Defendants threats blatantly burden speech and expressive conduct on the basis of its content and viewpoint, infringe on the right to associate with others in pursuit of shared goals, and inhibit a wide range of expression about lawful out-of-state conduct, the motion said.

Attorneys for the Yellowhammer Fund argued that authorities in Alabama cannot prosecute someone for conspiracy in another state where abortion is legal.

As a matter of law, Alabamas abortion ban reaches only as far as its borders, the motion said. Yellowhammer Fund would not violate any law if it helped pregnant Alabamians access lawful abortion care in other states, and Defendants assertion that he can criminalize people who support such care offends the values of sovereignty and comity that are foundational to our constitutional structure.

A judge has scheduled a hearing Tuesday to consider Marshalls motion to dismiss.
An Alabama prison worker was arrested Wednesday morning after authorities say she tried to bring a cell phone into the facility.

Katoshia Brown, who works in the canteen at W.C. Holman Correctional Facility, was arrested as she arrived to work just before 8 a.m.

Brown was searched prior to reporting to her designated work area, according to Alabama Department of Corrections officials. She was found to be in possession of a contraband cell phone.

Brown is charged with prohibited activity and first-degree promoting prison contraband. She was taken to the Escambia County Detention Center for booking.

Authorities said the investigation is ongoing and more charges could be filed.

Brown has been employed with ADOC since Jan. 17, 2023, and submitted her resignation immediately following this mornings arrest.
Authorities are asking for the publics help in finding a man missing from Birmingham for more than two weeks.

Shive Jayendra Patel, 23, was last heard from on Aug. 15. Patel suffers from mental illness, according to Birmingham police.

He is known to drive a gray 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Patel is 5-feet, 11-inches tall and weighs about 230 to 240 pounds.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Birmingham Police Departments Special Victims Unit Detective. K. Finley at 205-297-8445 or 205-569-8325.

Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
Huntsville police are looking for a vehicle in connection with a Tuesday murder.

Major Crimes Unit investigators are seeking information on a 2017 silver Nissan Altima, with Alabama Tag 8784BD2.

The vehicle is missing the passenger side mirror and front passenger hubcap.

Police say it was stolen during the murder of Devin Tyler McDonald, 23.

Officers responded to the 300 block of Quality Circle shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The body of McDonald was discovered in a parking lot. McDonald was pronounced dead at the scene.

The death has been classified a homicide, but police say it is unrelated to the discovery of two gunshot victims later in the day.

Police say anyone who sees the vehicle should not approach it but contact (256) 722-7100. Anyone calling is asked to provide the location and the vehicles direction of travel.

Members of the public with any additional information about the case should contact Major Crimes Unit Investigators at (256) 746-4133.
Years later, amid the darkness of a lawsuit over secretly videoing children in a dressing room at a Huntsville dance studio, a ray of light emerged.

It emerged on a sunny Wednesday morning in a ceremony that took just three minutes. And it emerged with the intent of making life safer for abused children.

Huntsville attorney Eric Artrip of the Mastando & Artrip law firm presented a check to the National Childrens Advocacy Center for $50,000 that Artrip said was remaining from the settlement of a lawsuit against the janitor who installed the video cameras and the janitors company.

The incident occurred in 2014 at Anns Dance Studio. The janitor, Jeremy Joseph Nelson, was sentenced to 140 years in federal prison in 2015 after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. Nelson had placed hidden cameras in at least two other Huntsville businesses as well.

A 2016 class action lawsuit against Nelson along with the company that hired him, Sanitary Systems, and owner James Starkey ended with an out-of-court settlement in 2019, according to court records.

What happened is we were able to identify almost all of the children with their parents and get some of the money that resulted from that case to them, Artrip said. When we couldnt find some of them, we went back again and were able to find some more. But ultimately, there was some money left over. That money doesnt belong to us. But the people responsible shouldnt be allowed to keep it either.

So we were looking for a way to get that money to an organization that we felt would be in keeping with the spirit of the case. And that obviously was the National Childrens Advocacy Center.

The NCAC is a renowned worldwide program that began in Huntsville in 1985 that is the model program for more than 1,100 child advocacy centers operating across the country and in 41 countries. It offers a welcoming environment for children who are victims of abuse and shares information with prosecutors.

The NCAC was founded by then-Madison County District Attorney Bud Cramer, who went on to serve almost two decades in Congress.

NCAC Executive Director Chris Newlin said the money was especially welcomed given that funding for the center has been cut in recent years.

This is particularly timely because we have experienced some reductions in funding that support our direct services of child abuse victims -- therapy, medical exams, forensic interviews, victim advocacy, Newlin said. Over the last three years, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs has experienced federal funding cuts. Its led to more than 10 percent reductions in funding for those sorts of direct services that we provide. This funding will help supplement that and it will continue to support victims in this community who have experienced some type of child abuse. So were honored, were humbled to be able to receive this donation here and I promise you will put it to good use.
A 53-year-old Jefferson County man has pleaded guilty to abuse of corpse in connection with the 2019 disappearance and death of Paighton Houston, whose body was later found in a shallow grave.

Frederick Hampton entered his guilty plea before Jefferson County Circuit Judge Thomas Thrash in the Bessemer Cutoff. Hamptons plea came Monday, the day his trial on the felony charge was set to begin.

As part of the plea, Hampton was sentenced to 20 years in prison with three years to serve followed by five years of probation.

Hampton received credit for time served.

Hes just glad its over, said his attorney, Emory Anthony. He felt like it was his best option.

Hampton was not charged in Houstons death, only with actions authorities say he took following her death, which in this case would be burying her.

According to Alabama law, a person commits the crime of abuse of a corpse if he or she knowingly treats a human corpse in a way that would outrage ordinary family sensibilities. It is a Class C felony.

Paighton Laine Houston, 29, has been missing since Friday, Dec. 20, 2019 after leaving Tin Roof in Birmingham's Lakeview District. (Birmingham Police/Facebook)

Houston, 29, vanished Dec. 20, 2019. She was last seen at Tin Roof in the 2700 block of Seventh Avenue South in Birminghams Lakeview District.

According to Birmingham police, she left the bar about 10:45 p.m. with two males.

She had reportedly gone to the Birmingham bar with co-workers.

Friends on Facebook said Houston didnt know the men and that the last text message from her to a coworker  about two hours after she left Tin Roof - stated she didnt know where she was, and she felt she might be in trouble.

She had sent multiple messages to her co-worker, the last one reading, Idk who im with so if I call please answer. I feel in trouble. That text was sent at 12:15 a.m. Dec. 21 but not seen by her coworker until nearly two hours later.

We have evidence the victim and the offender were together the night of Dec. 20, 2019, said Sheriffs Office Deputy Chief David Agee in an earlier press conference. We have evidence the victim died the next day at a house on McClain Street in Brighton. We have evidence that after the victim died, her body was disposed of in a criminal manner by Fredrick Hampton.

This is the scene at Hueytown house where a woman's remains were found wrapped up and buried in a shallow grave on Jan. 3, 2020.

Her body was found Friday, Jan. 3, 2020, wrapped in sheets and buried in a shallow grave behind the house at 215 Chapel Drive. That house belongs to relatives of Hampton.

The Jefferson County Coroners Office listed the cause of death as morphine and methamphetamine toxicity. The manner of death was accidental.

This represents an overdose and is classified as a drug-opioid death, Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates previously said.

Houstons family filed a civil lawsuit in 2021. It is set for trial next year.

The lawsuit stated that Houston went to Hamptons home and then they, and at least one other person, left there and went to the Tin Roof.

While there, Houston, Hampton and others were continually served alcohol, despite being observed to be visibly and apparently intoxicated on the premises, and never cut off from buying more, the suit says.

Late that night or early the next morning, Houston, Hampton and unnamed defendants left the Tin Roof while visibly and apparently intoxicated. Family and friends were then unable to contact Houston.

While both Houston and Hampton were in a visibly and apparently intoxicated state, the suit states, Hampton proximately caused the death of Paighton Houston by providing and or/administering a lethal dose of morphine and methamphetamine, to Houston.
A group of women who said they would challenge books at the Mobile Public Library have since officially rescinded their initial recommendations, according to an official with the library system.

Robert Hyde, comptroller with the Mobile Public Library System, said the women emailed him last week indicating they were withdrawing four official recommendations for reconsideration. According to Hyde, the women had not yet seen nor read the books they were challenging.

He said other challenges may come in the future.

Gail Walton, a retired schoolteacher who was helping to lead the challenges, did not respond to a request for comment.

Walton told AL.com last week that a group of residents were concerned not just about books, but all materials offered to the children in the childrens section. She said up to 30 books could be under review for reconsideration.

She added, We want more parental control over what the children see. We ask the books we object to are moved to the adult section so parents can decide whats appropriate for their child. A lot of parents do not have a clue.

The four books that were officially filed for reconsideration included:

Walton said the effort in Mobile is inspired by a similar approach in Prattville this spring when a group of concerned parents led by Hannah Rees, called for the Autauga-Prattville Public Library and the Prattville City Council to begin removing books with LGBTQ+ content.

Cuts to library budgets are also occurring around the state. The latest is in Ozark, where the mayor says he and his wife are attempting to remove LGBTQ content from the childrens section at its public library.

Walton also said there were concerns with the Mobile Public Librarys continued affiliation with the American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library association in the world. Officials in states, such as Montana and Missouri, have left the association this year after its president described herself as a Marxist lesbian. Other states have like Arizona, Louisiana and South Carolina are also considering dropping from the association.

State Rep. Susan Dubose, R-Hoover, in an Op-ed piece, called on local libraries throughout Alabama to consider dropping its affiliation from the ALA.

The efforts to remove books from libraries or from children sections of libraries has increase over the last few years as parents and conservative advocacy groups have started asking for certain books to be removed completely from schools and public libraries.

The ALA noted that book ban requests were at an all-time high last year at schools and public libraries. More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the record from 2021 and the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago, according to reports.
(Photo : Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - MARCH 23: Customers queue at a McDonald's drive through restaurant shortly before closing on March 23, 2020 in Northampton, England. McDonald's, Nando's and Costa Coffee were among the businesses who closed their UK stores this week due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Last week, the British government ordered all restaurants to close but exempted those offering take-out.

In a horrifying event, according to authorities, a 16-year-old girl was fatally stabbed over a quarrel over sweet and sour sauce outside a McDonald's restaurant in Washington, DC.

The sad event has left a community in mourning and sparked concerns about the rise in youth violence, as per Independent.

Tragic Fatal Stabbing Over McDonalad's Sweet and Sour Sauce

The victim, Naima Liggon of Waldorf, Maryland, was assaulted early Sunday morning in a vehicle parked in front of the fast-food restaurant on 14th Street NW. Liggon was part of a group of four people who visited a recreation center before attending a house party and then going to McDonald's, according to police reports.

At approximately 2:00 a.m., Liggon was stabbed twice to death during an altercation. She was transported to Howard University Hospital, tragically declared deceased.

A suspect, a 16-year-old girl from Waldorf, Maryland, was swiftly apprehended by law enforcement when she was discovered one block from the crime scene. When the suspect was arrested, she reportedly possessed a knife.

According to court documents, the two females visited McDonald's together, placed their orders, and then entered a vehicle, a detective's testimony, a heated dispute over the sauces they had ordered escalated into a fatal stabbing.

The altercation resulted in the loss of one life and the potential loss of another. She claimed self-defense in court. She claimed that the victim and another individual had assaulted her, prompting her to retaliate.

The judge ordered that she be detained in juvenile detention until her trial. The suspect is now charged with second-degree murder while armed, assault with the intent to kill, aggravated assault, felony assault, and carrying a hazardous weapon.

Naima Liggon was a Thomas Stone High School student in Waldorf, and the news of her untimely passing has sent shockwaves throughout her community.

In a message to parents, staff, and pupils on the eve of the new school year, Principal Shanif Pearl expressed the school's sorrow.

This is a highly tragic and heartbreaking moment for our school community. This is never the news a principal wishes to share, much less the day before the start of a new school year," read Principal Pearl's message, according to Washington Times.

Read Also: Protesters Clash Outside New York City Mayor's Home Amid Worsening Migrants Surge

Family Mourns Naima Liggon's Death

The family of Liggon stated WUSA, conveying their profound sorrow and highlighting the impact of her death on both their immediate circle and the greater community. Due to the senseless calamity, the statement detailed the significant milestones Naima would never experience.

"Our family, our friends, and our community have been affected by this senseless tragedy... Naima will never attend her formal or her commencement. We will not see her graduate from college, marry, or have children."

The tragic event serves as a sobering reminder of the repercussions of escalating conflicts and the significance of conflict resolution among young people.

As the community mourns the loss of Naima Liggon, it also calls for self-reflection and discussion regarding the societal factors contributing to such catastrophic events and how they can be prevented, The Sun reported.

Related Article: University of North Carolina Shooting: Faculty Member Fatally Shot on Campus, Suspect Under Custody

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A pedestrian was killed when he was hit by an SUV in Cullman County.

The wreck happened at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday on U.S. 31 near Jochum Road, about one mile south of Hanceville, said Senior Alabama State Trooper Brandon Bailey.

Daniel L. Johnson, 48, of Virginia Beach, was struck by a Ford Explorer driven by 24-year-old Julie Phillips of Hanceville.

Johnson was pronounced dead on the scene.

The investigation is ongoing by troopers.
Authorities are searching for a suspect in the shooting death of a man in Montgomery more than a week ago.

Irvin Garcia Messino, 34, is charged with murder.

Central Alabama Crime Stoppers on Wednesday said the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force is actively searching for Messino, and Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward starting at $1,000 for information that leads to his capture.

He is sought in an Aug. 19 homicide. Authorities did not identify the victim in the case, but 45-year-old Dario Juarez was fatally shot in Montgomery on that date.

Messino is described as a Hispanic male, 5-feet, 4-inches tall and weighing about 165 pounds. He goes by the nicknames of Cheras Mont or Cheras Garcia.

Anyone with information is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP (7867) or 1-833-AL1-STOP. Tips can also be submitted through the P3-tips app.
Sign up for Alabamafication: Kyle Whitmires newsletter, Alabamafication examines the outsized influence of this very strange state, taking aim at corruption, cruelty, incompetence and hypocrisy while also seeking out those righteous folks making their state and country better places for all.

On Tuesday afternoon, Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter issued a press release sharing his  concern.

For now, well just call it concern. And well be coming back to that.

Earlier that day, state Rep. David Cole, R-Madison, had been arrested for voting in a place where he didnt live.

In recent years, the Alabama House has prioritized legislation that promotes election integrity, and we believe that any allegation of fraud must be addressed regardless of the party, public official, or candidate involved, Ledbetter said.

The thing is, it wasnt a big surprise when Cole was arrested. Alabama Political Reporters Josh Moon, citing unnamed sources, had reported last week that it was coming.

But just about everybody in Statehouse politics had known about Coles situation long before that. Only before handcuffs got involved, there wasnt so much concern.

Lets start at the beginning.

Cole had intended to run for District 10, to replace Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, who was retiring from state politics. However, the latest redistricting redrew the maps and just shifted the lines enough to put Coles house in west Madison inside District 4, where incumbent Rep. Parker Moore, R-Decatur, intended to run for re-election.

Rather than face a tough primary against Moore in District 4, Cole decided to run in District 10, anyway.

Only Cole had a primary opponent, Anson Knowles, who did live in District 10. Knowles alerted the party that Cole didnt seem to live in the district where he was running.

At the time, Cole produced a supposed lease. That document showed Cole had leased space from a friend about two miles away in District 10.

There should have been red flags.

First, Coles friend hadnt moved out of his house.

Second, Cole hadnt moved out of his house, either, and his place was now in District 4.

In sworn testimony later, Cole would say he never moved into the friends house, didnt spend the night in the house and couldnt say for sure how many bedrooms were in the house.

Despite all this, Cole not only ran for office in District 10, where he didnt live, he also registered to vote there.

So the Republican Party Executive Committee kicked him off the ballot.

Not Cole. No, not him.

They kicked Knowles off the ballot. The party said he had been an active Libertarian and not Republican enough to be in their party.

With Knowles off the ballot, Cole ran unopposed for the nomination, and in the general election, he won a close race against Democrat Marilyn Lands and Libertarian Elijah Boyd.

Boyd contested the election. He hired election lawyer Barry Ragsdale and sued.

Attorney General Steve Marshall will take credit for this, but it was the libertarian and his lawyer who dragged this case kicking and screaming into the light, fighting all the way to the Alabama Supreme Court  twice.

Coles lawyer, Al Agricola, argued that Alabama law says its up to the Legislature  not the courts  to determine whether someone is eligible to serve in the State House. And the states high court agreed  to a point. The court ruled that the Alabama House would decide if Cole could keep his seat, but it allowed the state court to manage depositions and the collection of evidence.

Ragsdale would get to put Cole under oath. Hed get to ask him questions. And Cole would have to tell the truth.

Which is how we know important facts  like Cole never moved into the new house.

When state investigators finally took up the case, they didnt really have to do a lot of work here.

But at the very least, the AGs office did more than the Alabama Legislature.

Remember, the Supreme Court said that it was up to the Alabama House to handle this and the Alabama House responded by doing a lot of  nothing.

Maybe nothing is not the right word?

State Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, did something. He tried to rig things to make Coles election legal. He introduced a sort of omnibus bill which did an assortment of things and embedded in it was language that would have struck the Legislatures power of election review from the law.

But people saw what they were doing. Moon asked Pringle what the heck he was up to, and this was Pringles response as reported in the Alabama Political Reporter.

If they were certified by the party and certified by the secretary or state, that should be the end of it, Pringle told him. The voters can fix it at the next election.

Pringle didnt get away with it and that part of the bill was pulled.

But the Legislature still had a lot of nothing up its sleeve.

Ragsdale completed his depositions and the court submitted its material to the Speakers office. Under Alabama law, the House is then supposed to decide what to do.

By that point, the Legislature had finished the 2023 regular session, but Kay Ivey had called a special session. It could have and should have been a first order of business for the Alabama House to determine whether they had a fake in their midst.

But they did nothing.

When I spoke with Ragsdale this week, he told me he thought that would be the end of it. He had taken things as far as he could and the Alabama Legislature had made clear it didnt care.

Only the Attorney Generals office didnt let it go. Perhaps because it couldnt have.

Alabama Republicans have shown that they dont care so much about enforcing laws they helped pass.

When Mike Hubbard broke ethics laws he helped pass, he was reelected House Speaker while under indictment.

When Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl voted with an ID he made himself, he got a poll worker fired for questioning whether it was legal.

And here we had yet another state lawmaker flouting the law, voting in a district where he didnt live  a felony under Alabama law.

The thing is, when you refuse to enforce the law against people who you like, pretty quickly it becomes impossible to enforce the law against people you dont like. The law becomes meaningless.

So Marshalls office picked up the case.

Give them a soft clap. They did their jobs.

But Ledbetter? The Alabama Legislature?

As this is an ongoing investigation, we are still waiting to learn more details as they become available, Ledbetter said in the press release.

Only, hes had the material, including sworn testimony for almost two months.

Now, it is up to the court of law to determine the validity of the allegations Cole is facing, Ledbetter said.

No, it was up to the Legislature. The Alabama Supreme Court already said so.

I anticipate Alabamas election laws will withstand their true intent, he said.

Yes, despite lawmakers efforts to change those laws.

The Alabama House has prioritized legislation that promotes election integrity, Ledbetter said.

That just isnt true.

Ledbetters statement  nearly every line of it  is full of 

Lets just call it concern.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for AL.com and the 2023 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Sign up for his weekly newsletter and get "Alabamafication" in your inbox every Wednesday.

Go deeper with previous columns from Kyle Whitmire

Alabama lawmaker lives in one district, represents another

Alabama GOP chairman made the photo ID he used to vote
A woman has been charged in the weekend shooting death of a 66-year-old man in Montgomery.

Jayln Greene, 24, is charged with two counts of capital murder in the Friday-night slaying Rickey Daniel.

Police and fire medics responded at 7:55 p.m. Friday to a report of a shooting in the 4200 block of Sussex Drive. Daniel was found wounded and pronounced dead on the scene.

Details surrounding the shooting have not yet been made public.

Police Maj. Saba Coleman said Daniel was killed during a robbery.

Central Alabama Crime Stoppers on Wednesday released photos of a woman in a convenience store to help identify her. Those photos were of Greene, who police said was quickly identified as a suspect.

Greene was taken into custody by Montgomery police Tuesday night and booked into the Montgomery County Detention Facility at 12:25 a.m. Wednesday.

She is being held without bond.
Birmingham police asked for the publics help Tuesday in locating a missing 12-year-old boy who ran away from a group home.

Forrell Lawson was last seen leaving the Childrens Village Group Home at 2001 18th St. SW, police said Tuesday evening.

It was not immediately clear the exact time Forrell was spotted, but he was seen leaving the home on foot in an unknown direction, police said.

The 12-year-old boy, who was described as 5-feet tall and 125 pounds, was last seen wearing a dark shirt, blue jeans and multi-colored shoes.

Anyone with information on Forrells whereabouts was asked to call Det. Z. Pitts, Jr. at 205-834-5899.

Anyone with additional information on the investigation was asked to call CrimeStoppers at 205-254-7777.
Alabama utilities began gathering up Tuesday and heading east to Gainesville, Savannah, and Green Coves and Newberry.

With Hurricane Idalia strengthening into a likely Category 3 storm and bearing down on the Florida Gulf Coast, utilities from the Tennessee Valley to the Gulf Coast are preparing to spend some time assisting with power restoration, trimming trees, and removing debris.

The crews are mostly adhering to mutual aid agreements that have long been established.

Related content: Hurricane Idalia: Will it affect Alabama?

Our job for mutual aid to is bring the crew members, and requested types of equipment, said Jonathan Hand, executive director with Electric Cities of Alabama, which represents 36 municipal-owned utilities in the state. Well be sending over there and work over there until their job is complete.

What is unknown is where some of these crews will ultimately end up. That all depends on Idalias path. The powerful storm was expected to bring storm surge that could reach once-in-a-lifetime levels along Floridas Big Bend region, or upwards of 10-15 feet, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The following plans are being hatched out:

Alabama Power is sending 350 crew members to assist Georgia Power. The storms path includes areas like Savannah, where the utilities crews could be assisting although nothing is confirmed yet. Utilities are anticipating widespread power outages in Southeast Georgia.

Riviera Utilities in Baldwin County, and the cities of Fairhope, Troy, Andalusia, Dothan, and Sheffield, are all sending crews to Florida. Overall, 350 mutual aid resources from nearly 50 public power utilities across 13 states including Alabama will be in Florida to assist the states public power crews.

The Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives, which oversees 21 co-ops throughout Alabama, said it was simply too early on Tuesday to assess where crews might be headed. Co-ops have been contacted and asked to consider making a commitment on sending a crew eastward after Idalia makes landfall.

At Riviera Utilities, 21 crew members gathered up outside a truck stop in Loxley early Tuesday and left for Gainesville, Florida. The crew will assist Gainesville Regional Utilities in restoration work. The crew included electric line workers, engineering coordinators, and a vegetation management crew, according to spokeswoman Lily Jackson.

Riviera has an ongoing mutual aid agreement with Gainesville Regional Utilities, and we are happy to lend a helping hand to another public utility, as they have assisted us in the past, she said.

Indeed, the agreements provide a guidance on where utilities or their oversight agencies will send work crews following a disaster. The agreements are also reciprocal: If a hurricane makes landfall in Alabama, the utility companies in Florida and Georgia will send crews to assist in re-establishing power.

After Hurricane Sally devastated Baldwin County in 2020, utilities from Gainesville assisted Fairhope in getting power restored.

Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan said that nine crew members with Fairhope Utilities  which includes a line, tree and mechanical crew  are going to Gainesville and are expected to be in the city for at least a week.

How long they will be there depends on the storm, Sullivan said. Gainesville came here during Sally. So we are happy to help them.

Related content: Hurricane Idalia latest track, warnings: What about Labor Day beach vacations?

Beth Thomas, spokeswoman with Alabama Power, said that utilities from across the country are park of a network of mutual assistance for recovery efforts following severe weather. She said that groups are assigned to potentially impacted areas and that Alabama Power  the Birmingham-based subsidiary of Southern Company  was assigned to assist Georgia this time.

The coordination is a national effort, coordinated among public power utilities by the Virginia-based American Public Power Association.

Hurricane Idalia

Everyone is in preparation mode, said Adrienne Lotto, APPA Senior Vice President, Grid Security, Technical & Operations Services. Right now, no one has an unmet need.

Lotto said the only concern is with the potential shortages of electric distribution transformers, which are in short supply in the U.S. The transformers, often found atop a power pole, are the mechanical devices that bring power to residential and commercial areas.

The utilities are sharing resources and its a concern going into hurricane season, she said. If (there are) multiple storms in a row, supplies might not be available and that could create longer restoration times.
The city of Bayou La Batre, the epicenter of the seafood industry in Alabama, is looking for the federal and state governments to provide relief to shrimpers in the area, following an influx of imported shrimp that has depressed the industry.

On August 17, Mayor Henry Barnes sent a letter to Gov. Kay Ivey, asking for assistance for the seafood industry in the city. The same day, the Bayou La Batre City Council passed a resolution declaring a disaster due to shrimp dumpingthe practice of foreign shrimp vendors flooding the market with farm-raised shrimp that sells for lower prices than the wild-caught Alabama Gulf Shrimp.

Any kind of help would do, Barnes said. Were not the kind of people that actually are used to asking for help. Bayou La Batre people are normally independent, and this is something new, us asking for help. Its a lot of hard-working people down there.

Its a dying industry

Tammy Hall, owner of SeaHarvest Fresh Shrimp in Bayou La Batre, says that the shrimpers are having trouble selling the shrimp they catch to processing factories. Hall and her family began selling directly to customers in 2020, in part because of the coronavirus pandemic and in part because of the lower prices due to imported shrimp.
Mobile County Circuit Judge Ben Brooks issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) Tuesday to prevent dock workers from striking at the Mobile Container Terminal, operated by APM Terminals. Next week, Circuit Judge Jill Phillips will hold hearing to determine if a preliminary injunction should be issued.

On Monday, APM Terminals filed a complaint against International Longshoremens Association (ILA) Local 1410, alleging that union workers had engaged in a work stoppage at the container terminals rail yard. Under their collective bargaining agreement signed in 2020, union workers are not allowed to engage in any kind of strike or lockout.

But according to Mark Bass, president of Local 1410, the workers did not engage in any kind of work stoppage. Bass says that the workers attempted to raise a safety issue to management on Monday. Management at the terminal threatened to retaliate against the workers for raising the issue and told those workers to leave  Bass says they were suspended by APM. The union workers went to work Tuesday and were told to leave again.

Theyre calling it a wildcat strike, but [the workers] went to work this morning, Bass said on Tuesday.

In a statement to the Lede, Kevin Doell, North American media relations manager for Maersk, APM Terminals parent company, said that APM Terminals Mobile can confirm that there have been unauthorized labor actions which have disrupted operations at its rail facility. APMT Mobile has taken action to ensure that operations return to normal and will remain in active discussions with the local ILA leadership to ensure that normal operations resume as soon as possible.
The Reckon Report is a weekly newsletter that goes deeper in todays most-discussed headlines. Subscribe today and stay ready for the proverbial water cooler.

During what has been described as one of our hottest summers on record, millions of Americans fled to the beaches, hoping to catch a breeze and maybe find a patch of cool water.

And while they might find those things in some places, many people are also finding heavily polluted beaches as well. So, National Beach Day seems like a good time to remind yall to keep those cuts covered, avoid swallowing water, and, honestly, avoid certain beaches altogether.

In 2022, 55% of American beaches were contaminated with fecal bacteria, up 2% from the year before, according to a study by Environment America, a Colorado-based advocacy coalition made up of environmental groups in 30 states.

Regionally, Gulf Coast beaches are the worst performing, with 84% unsafe for at least a day in 2022, according to the report. Thats followed by the West Coast and then the Great Lakes with 70% and 63% respectively.

The issue of dirty beach water has been known for years. And while some have improved, the general state of the nations beaches remains poor, according to a co-author of the report.

Even as we celebrate the last days of summer, too many of our beaches remain plagued with pollution from sewer systems and contaminated runoff, said Tony Dutzik, associate director and senior policy analyst with Frontier Group, a California-based environmental advocacy group. Thanks to the federal bipartisan infrastructure law, states and cities have new resources available to fix their aging water infrastructure and make the water at our beaches safe for swimming. But it is up to them to take the lead.The study surveyed 3,192 beaches across the U.S. Over half reported at least one day where fecal contamination exceeded the safety guidelines set by the EPAs Beach Action Value.

The value is a conservative benchmark states can employ to inform the public about beach conditions. Its worth noting that some beaches could have had unsafe contamination levels on days when no testing was conducted.

While some beaches may have only been monitored for less than a week throughout 2022, others were monitored for hundreds of consecutive days. Below is a list of the worst-performing U.S. beaches and the percentage of days they were deemed potentially unsafe, according to the 2022 report.

11. Tijuana National Wildlife Refuge, Cal.: 69%

Like many of San Diegos beaches, the wildlife sanctuary is similarly besieged by pollutants from Mexico. A mixture of untreated sewage, garbage, and muddy sediment flows freely from the Tijuana River. During the summer months, the currents of the Pacific help move contaminants from Tijuanas wastewater treatment facility to the sands of Southern San Diego County.

10. St. Clair Shores Memorial Park Beach, Mich.: 73%

The Michigan beach has a long history of sewage contamination. In 2018, 760 million gallons of partially treated sewage water was dumped in the water. Seven years before that, 2.6 billion gallons were dumped on the same beach.

9. Imperial Beach, Cal.: 73%

Just this June, The San Diego Board of Supervisors called a state of emergency at the beach because of ongoing sewage pollution flowing across the U.S.-Mexico border. So bad is the problem the state government has asked the Biden administration for federal assistance.

8. South Kenai Beach, Alaska: 75%

Rather than humans making humans sick, its birds at South Kenai River. Seasonally elevated levels of fecal coliform and enterococci bacteria are often found in the lower Kenai River during dipnetting season, which is basically fishing with a very large net. The high bacterial load is a result of large amounts of shorebirds that gather fish waste discarded by dipnetters.

7. Koloa Landing, Hawaii: 75%

The Kauai County-based beach is primarily polluted because of surface runoff, which can wash animal and chemical waste into nearby waters. Waste can also come from human and chemical waste belonging to the islands 14,000 cesspools. These contaminants can eventually become concentrated in rivers and streams, which then push them out into beaches and surf sites.

6. Sandy Beach, Mass.: 75%

This Massachusetts beach also has a long history of closing because of high levels of bacteria in the water. In 2021, a strong smell and high bacteria levels saw the beach closed in the middle of summer. Some thought it was a burst sewage pipe, while local leaders said that heavy rains and high temperatures had caused buried rotten seaweed to emerge from the sand.

5. Nye Beach, Ore.: 77%

The contamination at Nye Beach is particularly problematic. Theres an active health advisory in effect following the discharge of over a million gallons of untreated water this summer by the Newport City Water Treatment Plant.

4. Singing Bridge Beach, Mich.: 80%

The beach has a long history of contamination going back decades and has been closed due to a staggering E. coli outbreak over a dozen times. Its believed that E.coli stems from human and animal feces.

3. Myrtle Beach, S.C.: 82%

South Carolinas famous beach is often polluted after heavy rains fall on highly developed areas. Rather than being taken care of by nature, the rainwater runs off roadways, sidewalks and parking lots, spreading pollutants along the way. In some areas, large drain pipes dump stormwater runoff onto the beach and into the ocean.

2. Manzanita Beach, Ore.: 90%

Despite its natural beauty and seemingly environmentally conscious residents, Oregon has really dirty beaches. Manzanita Beach is the dirtiest of all.

1. Kings Cross Beach, Ga.: 100%

While the beach comes in at number 1 on the list, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources employee who oversees testing at the beach says more context is needed.

In 2022, we tested 777 times on our tier-one beaches, said Ed Zmarzly, who said nearby marshes, which are home to Georgias wildlife, are to blame for fecal matter. Our tier-one beaches are found on Jekyll, St. Simons and Tybee. Of those 777 tests, weve only had 23 advisories. Thats coming back at 97 percent of our tests are coming back fine, safe swimming water.

Zmarzlys department tests Kings Cross Beach for enterococcus, a bacteria found in feces.
The 3M earplugs lawsuit has been settled by the manufacturing company after agreeing to pay the $6 billion settlement.

The Minnesota-based chemical and consumer product manufacturer has been accused of selling faulty earplugs to U.S. service members.

However, despite paying billions of dollars, 3M still denied that its earplugs have faulty designs.

3M Agrees to Pay $6 Billion to Settle Earplugs Lawsuit

Lawsuits were filed by U.S. service members and veterans against 3M and Aearo Technologies, the company that 3M acquired.

They claim that 3M's Combat Arms Earplugs have a defective design, which caused hearing loss and other serious ear injuries, as reported by the Associated Press.

The plaintiffs explained that the Combat Arms Earplugs were supposed to protect them from close-range firearm sounds and other loud noises that can lead to hearing damage.

But, due to the flaws of 3M's earplugs, they tend to loosen slightly, which leads to serious ear injuries.

According to CNN Business, the lawsuits against 3M argued that the company supplied around 300,000 faulty combat earplugs to the U.S. military from 2003 to 2015.

These allegedly faulty earplugs were used during training and combat scenarios of servicemen and veterans.

To resolve the lawsuits, 3M decided to pay the $6 billion settlement.

Read Also: Minneapolis Mayor Vetoes Minimum Salary Bill After Threats from Uber, Lyft; Frey Says Ordinance Needs More Time

3M Says Settlement is Not an Admission of Liability

Although 3M agreed to pay $6 billion, the consumer product manufacturer clarified that the billion-dollar settlement is not an admission of liability.

This means that the company still rejects the idea that the ear injuries of U.S. military servicemen were caused by its earplugs.

"The products at issue in this litigation are safe and effective when used properly," said the American firm.

"3M is prepared to continue to defend itself in the litigation if certain agreed terms of the settlement agreement are not fulfilled," it added.

The $6 billion settlement will not be provided in one go. 3M explained that the payout will be released over several years; encompassing $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in stock.

The earplugs lawsuit is the second legal action faced by 3M this summer. Previously, the manufacturer was accused of contamination the U.S. water supplies with its forever chemicals.

In June, 3M said that it would pay over $10 billion to settle the water contamination lawsuit. You can click this link to learn more about it.

Related Article: UPS Strike Threat Avoided, Thanks to New Labor Agreement Benefiting 340,000 Workers

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We can all agree that the wildfire in Maui was terrible. What we cant agree on is the cause: Leftists say climate change. People rooted in facts say it was a combination of natural disasters and gross mismanagement driven by green zealotry.

The Maui wildfire, stoked by howling winds, was a raging inferno of 1,000-degree heat that raced along, creating a hellscape at lightning speed before devouring the tourist town of Lahaina. Due to heavy winds that morning, some local schools were closed, leaving children at home while their parents went to work. Currently, the death toll stands at 114, but over 1,000 people are still missing, an unknown number of whom are children.

The governments appearance on the scene was not propitious. When FEMA teams finally arrived, they checked in at three five-star hotels, the Fairmont Kea Lani, Four Seasons, and the Grand Wailea Astoria, where the prices at all three resorts start at $1,000 per night. Compare that to the one-time payment of $700 that Biden offered to the victims. FEMA justified this by saying, Due to the lack of available lodging, FEMA negotiated government rates, at the lowest possible cost, for staff temporarily staying in the available hotels.

Fox Newss Jesse Watters refuted this, noting that when his team checked at a nearby Days Inn, rooms were available, including some with an ocean-front view for a nightly $250. He also said that Expedia had listings for even less.

Image: Maui fire. YouTube screen grab.

How devastating was the carnage? Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich poignantly describes how children were burned to ashes in their homes:

I saw one report that firefighters are having a very hard time psychologically going from house to house because the scenes of these little children, the scenes families gathered in the bathtub and in the shower trying to find one last place where there was water.

According to a recent report, residents fleeing the inferno in their cars encountered a gridlock caused by Hawaiian Electric trucks that were replacing telephone poles along the road to Highway 30. Tragically some were incinerated in their cars. One resident explained that a police car deliberately blocked an escape route.

Looking at the disaster, Democrats immediately cried climate change. Appearing on Face The Nation, Hawaiis governor Josh Green wasted no time dealing the climate change card from the bottom of the deck, declaring, Well, lets be real world. Climate change is here. We are in the midst of it with a hotter planet and fiercer storms. The consequence of global warming and storm change is changing things. When asked, Did climate change amplify the cost of human error? he answered, Yes, it did.

Other politicians echoed this theme. Washingtons governor Jay Inslee announced, This is not your grandmothers climate change. This is a new beast. Illinoiss Senator Dick Durbin tweeted that The wildfires raging across Hawaii are a devastating view of our planet as we fail to adequately address the climate crisis. Oregons Senator Jeff Merkley had his own tweet: Heartbreaking fires in Hawaii! Scientists are clear that climate chaos wreaking havoc on ecosystems everywhere is the new norm. And Californias Rep. Ro Khanna tweeted that Again, its time for POTUS to declare a climate emergency. Each of them knows that, if the government completely controls carbon emissions, the government completely controls everything.

The problem for the climate alarmists is that the data show that there were factors of much greater significance than climate change.

First, fire hydrants reportedly ran dry while Lahaina was engulfed in flames, apparently due to a five-hour gap between a request to divert water from streams to the Maui Fire Department, with the gap resulting because of concern about adverse effects for a local farmer.

Second, winds normal to the island may have fanned the flames. The Washington Post, of course, blamed climate change. It described the winds, but it did so in an article entitled Climate Change Came for Maui. The rest of us are next. However, Jim Steele, writing at WattsUpWithThat, sees it differently, attributing the winds to local topography:

Being the furthest Hawaiian island to the north, Maui is affected by stronger northern trade winds that intensify as the normal high-pressure system strengthens each summer. Mauis topography further intensifies those winds through the mountain valleys. Strong downslope wind events reaching 80 to 100 mph every 8-12 years have demolished buildings, overturned large power transmission line towers, and uprooted trees. Once or twice a year strong but more moderate winds occur. During the fire, 30 to 40 mph winds with gusts up yo 67 mph fanned the flames. These winds got a special name, the Lahaina Winds. While strong winds exacerbated the fire, they primarily were local winds resulting from local land features which have nothing to do with climate change.

Clifford Mass a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington, agreed with Steele that the powerful winds were confined to a relatively small area, with local windows likely destroy[ing] power lines, creating a spark that ignited the grass And climate change had nothing to do with this.

Winds from Hurricane Dora (also blamed on climate change) were irrelevant. As Cliff Mass stated, It wasnt Hurricane Dora, a relatively small tropical storm that passed 700 miles to the south of Hawaii. Dr. Philippe Papin, from the National Hurricane Center, expressed a similar opinion:

Of course, youd never know that climate change winds were irrelevant if you listened to podcasts like Democracy Now! featuring the likes of Michael Mann. The whole interview was premised on the thesis that climate change drove hurricanes that, in turn, drove the fire. Climate change is also linked to stronger hurricanes.

In fact, there is no connection between alleged anthropogenic climate change and strong hurricanes, an assertion based on flawed data.

In 2005 Dr. Judith Curry, while Chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was one of the authors of an article in Science, a peer-reviewed, purporting to show that global warming caused more frequent and powerful cyclones. After publication, Curry learned that the data used in the article was inaccurate. She eventually acknowledged that the studys conclusion was wrong.

Third, Hawaii is not experiencing a major drought. NOAA does show that Hawaii has had a drought problem. However, its not caused by climate change. Instead, its just a normal cyclical phenomenon. Moreover, in May, NOAA announced that the drought had been over as of mid-February 2023 and, by May, Maui County [rainfall] totals mostly 90 to 120% of average.

Fourth, per an expert from the University of Hawaii, the region where the fire occurred had highly flammable invasive grasses. The state has known about these invasive grasseswhich cover about 25% of the statesince at least 2018. A Phys.org article explained that invasive grass species that have spread massively over the archipelago for decades, serving as the perfect fuel. Indeed, says the article, this is a problem across the Western U.S.

Over in the mainland United States, the deserts of the West and the conifer forests, and then the shrub lands in the coastal zone, invasive grasses are here to stay, theyre now part of the ecosystem, said [Carla] DAntonio [a professor of ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara] [snip] Most of the major fires of the Mojave and Great Basin have been fueled by invasive grasses

In other words, poor land management immensely contributed to the Maui fires intensity and duration.

If you're looking for blame, theres plenty to go around, including the fact that Hawaiian Electric was aware of the highly dangerous tinderbox conditions:

Zero carbon extremism diverted the islands main electrical producer, Hawaiian Electric, from insulating wires, clearing areas around vulnerable transmission sites and taking other precautions to prevent wildfires it knew were likely to occur.

Hawaiian Electric repeatedly asked for funds, only to be turned down just as often.

And so the piffle piddles on.

Professing to be wise, they became fools.
This week marks the sixtieth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther Kings eloquent I Have a Dream speech in which he envisioned a day when his children would live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Time and again, King spoke of an America where blacks and whites would live together in peace and harmony.

He referred to the promises of Democracy. There were no blacks in the 9th Congress that voted to outlaw American participation in the slave trade in 1808, and there were no blacks in the 38th Congress that approved the Thirteenth Amendment prohibiting slavery. The 88th Congress that passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act included five black legislatorsless than 1% of its membership.

Whites contributed to the civil rights struggle in many other ways. Roughly 90% of the more than 350,000 Union soldiers who died during the Civil War were white. Most of the protesters murdered by the Klan following the 1965 Selma marches were white. A 2014 poll on the effects of the 1964 Civil Rights Act found that 80% of Americans believed it had a positive effect, while only 1% thought the effect was negative.

Regardless of their color or creed, every American should embrace Dr. Kings inspiring vision. But, sadly, that dream conflicts with a very different and blatantly racist narrative today designed to persuade the nation that 21st-century whites are inherently evil and contemporary blacks are victims. The remedy, we are told, must be a reverse racism in which blacks are given special privileges (and perhaps vast sums of money) as compensation for the evils of American slavery and the tragic racist policies that followed.

Image: Martin Luther King by the National Park Service. CC BY 2.0.

Certainly, every American today should recognize the horrific realities of slavery and the profound evils of segregation and Jim Crow laws. But most of the perpetrators and their victims died generations ago, and punishing children (much less great-great-great-grandchildren) for the crimes of their ancestors is immoral. Corruption of blood is expressly prohibited by our Constitution.

The average black American today was born decades after the last Jim Crow laws were repealed, and government-mandated Affirmative Action programs had been around for more than 25 years. But even were that not the reality, racial discrimination is wrong on so many levels. It divides our people; punishes individuals for the crime of having a similar skin tone to strangers who long ago committed wrongful acts (in some cases centuries ago); encourages rational actors to draw logical (but erroneous) conclusions that blacks are intellectually inferior; and ignores the reality that black Africans played a greater role than white Americans in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. (Less than 4% of African slaves sent to the Western Hemisphere went to what is today the United States.)

Arbitrarily punishing white students or job seekers today because they share a skin color with historic wrongdoers is immoral. I am unaware of a single black American who has volunteered to stand trial before the International Criminal Court in Rome for the heinous war crimes of black Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, whose Lords Resistance Army is thought responsible for at least 100,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of displacements. (I would be angry if they did.) To suggest that sharing a similar skin tone establishes moral or legal culpability is as outrageous as it is racist.

African and South Asian tribal councils have occasionally sought to resolve intertribal rapes by authorizing the victims brothers to rape the offenders sisters. This may reduce intertribal vigilantism, but would any serious American call it justice?

America is a nation of individuals, not tribes, and anyone who regrets that should contemplate the 1994 Rwandan Genocide that slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsi in about 100 days. As Justice Thomas noted in his brilliant concurrence in the recent Harvard Affirmative Action case: [T]he Constitution continues to embody a simple truth: Two discriminatory wrongs cannot make a right.

Nor, as noted, can we blame only whites for American slavery. Virtually every African brought to America in chains was enslaved by other Africans and sold to European ship captains at slave markets near West African ports. Slavery existed in Africa centuries before the Atlantic slave trade began and continues to be practiced in parts of Africa today. Anyone who tries to blame 21st-century whites for slavery is either ignorant about the essential role blacks played in bringing slavery to Americaor perhaps simply hopes others will be unaware of this reality so they can seek special privileges for themselves.

Consider Affirmative Action. If it is known a university demands a lesser degree of competence by students of a preferred race, will their diplomas metaphorically contain an invisible asterisk alerting people that the recipient might be less competent than classmates?

This is particularly unfair to members of the favored race who did not require special treatment and excelled at the school. I have in mind a very talented black woman who earned the only A+ I gave in more than three decades of teaching at the University of Virginia Law School. I fear that, because of her dark skin color, her diploma may be undervalued by some.

The fact that blacks with bachelors degrees often earn significantly less than white counterparts with identical degrees may show Affirmative Action has led employers to view black credentials with suspicion. A 1998 study by the liberal Brookings Institution noted that when education was measured by years of school completed, blacks earned 19 percent less than comparably educated whites. When employers were able to look at actual abilities, though, the results flipped. [W]hen word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, arithmetical reasoning, and mathematical knowledge became the yardstick, the results were reversed. Black men earned 9 percent more than white men with the same educationthat is, the same performance on basic tests.

In denouncing slavery in his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson asked, [C]an the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? Replacing unalienable rights with the whims of a democratic majority is hardly prudent if our goal is to protect minority rights. This is particularly true when the minority represents less than 15% of the electorate.

As a groupdespite serious continuing inequitiesAmerican blacks have made considerable progress in some important areas. For example, in terms of education (which is critically important for success), 84.2% of blacks over 25 have a high school diploma (versus 89% of whites). Black Americans literacy rate in 2019 was 87.1% (versus 90.1% for whites). In 2020the year the U.S. Census reported blacks constituted 13.6% of the populationblacks made up just under 14% of U.S. college students. In 2018, 89% of black teenagers owned a computer (compared to 90% of white teens), and 94% of each group at least had access to a smartphone at home.

One of the greatest myths in this entire debate is the idea that, because of institutional racism, white Americans are economically better off than all people of color or others who have faced historic discrimination. But U.S. Census Bureau data disclose that groups of Americans with higher median family incomes than whites include (of 17 listed): Indians, Filipinos, Taiwanese, Indonesians, Pakistani, Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. In other words, American whites earned more than 8 categories of non-whites and less than 8 categories. That hardly supports the white privilege mantra.

Far more importantly, the evidence is overwhelming that most black Americans today are far better off than would likely be the case had their ancestors remained in Africa. On almost every metricfrom infant mortality and life expectancy to poverty, access to potable water and electricity, income (including income inequality), crime, disease, medical care, government corruption, happiness, and much moreAmerican blacks are measurably better off than their black African counterparts.

But they will do even better if all Americans can unite behind Dr. King's beautiful dream that no Americans will ever again be judged by the color of their skin.

UPDATE: This article has been updated to reinsert hyperlinks that were stripped during the publishing process. Additionally, even without hyperlinks, Prof. Turner has informed us that Facebook has refused to allow him to post this article to his Facebook page.

Professor Turner holds both professional and academic doctorates from the University of Virginia, where, before his 2020 retirement, he taught for more than three decades.
The left has romanticized and claimed guardianship over Native American peoples for years.

Anecdotally, most of us who know Native Americans know they can't stand it.

But now we are seeing a lot of instances of Native Americans pushing back at their cloying 'guardians' on the left who are starting to get overbearing.

Here's their latest outrage, according to Ethan Brown, writing at RealClearEnergy:

On June 2, the U.S. Department of the Interior blocked oil and gas leasing for the next twenty years within a ten-mile radius of Chaco Canyon  the site of a Puebloan civilization in now-northern New Mexico dating back over a millennium. Despite some support from people within the Pueblo tribes and Navajo Nation which surround the land, the vast majority of Navajo leaders have opposed these drilling restrictions.

It's their land. Why shouldn't they be able to develop it as they see fit? Why is it that Joe Biden and all his lackeys in government can't trust the Native Americans to keep the operation on reasonable environmental standards, conserve the Earth (people with ownership don't trash their own properties), and be able to earn money from it to serve their very large tribal family?

Maybe they don't want to be constantly in hock to the government for handouts because having their own money is better. Maybe they would like to raise their standard of living same as city people do. Maybe it's none of the government's business.

According to Brown, who apparently believes in global warming nonsense, but nevertheless has his heart in the right place, it is an economic matter:

Navajos are no stranger to climate change. The American Southwest is experiencing its worst drought in 1,200 years, and peer-reviewed research in Science found human-caused climate change accounted for 47% of 2000-2018 drought severity. Navajos have been hit especially hard  Navajos use 8-10 gallons of water per day (about a tenth of the average American), and 30% of Navajos have no running water. So when they express opposition to a drilling ban on their land, we can trust theyve weighed the pros and cons. Within the Navajo Nation, 35.8% of households have incomes below the federal poverty threshold, and about 10% live without electricity. The Chaco Canyon drilling ban would strip an energy source from the Navajo Nation, and could cost Navajos an estimated $194 million over the next two decades.

That's a lot of money for them to leave on the table so that white tourists can come to their lands and marvel at its natural beauty instead.

Brown goes into dreamy stuff about how climate activists are trying to co-opt them into win-win situations. Good luck with that. The bottom line here is that they own the land and can do with it what makes sense to them to do with it and if the United Nations doesn't like it, too bad. Autonomy means autonomy. The U.N. can go start its own tribe if it doesn't like it.

This is far from the first recent instance of the left stomping on Native American interests.

Most recently, Paiute tribal police in the West's high desert, known as the Nevada Rangers, took care of business when a bunch of pasty-skinned white environmentalists, the kind who glue their hands to art gallery floors, decided to mess with tribal land autonomy by blocking a highway.

Andrea Widburg wrote about what went down here.

That's another instance of Native American people having enough of these jackasses. The lefties were much surprised to find that tribal justice isn't quite the same as what they might find in a San Francisco courtroom.

Still another instance of Native Americans getting fed up with white liberals was in the recent case of Native Americans signing a massive petition, with some 300,000 names, calling for the restoration of the old-fashioned Washington Redskins team name. These Native Americans understand how team names go and that nobody names their teams after things they don't like. There are no teams with names like 'the skunks.' They name their teams after things they admire, things that are fierce, things that win, and that is why the Washington team ended up with the admittedly rough-sounding Redskins name that they understood the context of, something that is utterly opaque to snowflakes.

That's a lot of culture clashes around Native American peoples from Joe Biden and his army of lefties. When Native Americans complain about white supremacy, we all know who they are talking about because we don't like them any more than they do.

It rather suggests that Native American people may be coming over to the MAGA movement just as many Hispanics, blacks, and Asian-Americans have. It's noteworthy that Native Americans are traditionally Democrat voters, but it's been fairly interesting to see a few of the big Native American counties in Arizona going red in recent elections.

It would be nice to see a poll about how such things are going. They're starting to give MAGA vibes these days because Joe Biden and his white leftist army is just so odious.

Image: Twitter screen shot
Military officers of the oil-rich African nation of Gabon seized power Wednesday (August 30) to put an end to the regime of 64-year-old President Ali Bongo Ondimba and his family.

The coup leaders, who called themselves the Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions, appeared on national television announcing they had placed Bongo under house arrest and canceled the results of the country's August 26 election, which would have given him a third term in office.

Mutineers have also closed its borders and dissolved state institutions, such as the senate and parliament, the constitutional court, and the electoral commission, claiming they have the full support of Gabon's security and defense forces, as per Reuters.

The Committee added that Gabon was "undergoing a severe institutional, political, economic, and social crisis," which prompted them to act and nullify the election results.

In the hours prior to this report, Bongo called on the Gabonese people to "make noise" and protest the coup, the Associated Press reported. He also said he was in his residence but his wife and son were held elsewhere.

On the other hand, Gabonese coup leader, Presidential Guard commander Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema, told French newspaper Le Monde that Bongo would "enjoy all his rights" as a Gabonese citizen and head of state, but has neither confirmed nor denied whether he will declare himself the new president of the country.

Discontent Fueled by Oil Revenue

The latest coup attempt was the most successful act out of several against Bongo's regime.

Discontent against Bongo's rule had been growing as early as 2016 when violent unrest broke out upon his reelection as president for a second term. An earlier coup attempt was staged in 2019, months after the president suffered a stroke abroad, raising doubts about his ability to rule.

"We think the soldiers will want to hang onto power and set up a national dialogue of some sort to draw up a new constitution, while they rid the bureaucracy of (Bongo's) loyalists," Oxford Economics political economist Francois Conradie noted as the situation developed.

What exacerbated the situation was Gabon's oil production industry and how the revenue was being channeled. The country could produce about 200,000 barrels a day and is quickly depleting.

While Bongo's team and supporters rejected allegations of fraud in the latest general elections, the lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts, and the authorities' decision to cut internet service and impose a night-time curfew nationwide after the poll raised concerns about the transparency of vote.

Read Also: ECOWAS Prepares to Muster Troops to Counter Niger's Junta

Francophone Spring

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Gabon's capital, Libreville, shortly after the announcement to celebrate Bongo's downfall after over half a century of his family's rule. His father, Omar Bongo, ruled the country from 1967 to 2009.

Internet access was also restored for the first time since the vote.

Critics of the Bongo regime say the family has done little to share the state's oil and mining wealth with its 2.3 million people.

If successful, the coup would be the eighth in the West and Central African regions since 2020. The latest one prior to Gabon's was Niger back in July when President Mohamed Bazoum was deposed in a similar manner.

Military officers have also seized power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Chad, erasing democratic gains since the 1990s.

Meanwhile, London School of Economics senior visiting fellow Michaek Amoah told Al Jazeera people in former French colonies in Africa have had enough of leaders clinging to power, and called the multiple coups and revolutions in these nations a "Francophone Spring."

"If you look across the African continent at the moment, apart from Uganda and Equatorial Guinea, every single country where you find a presidential term extension, they are all Francophone," he added. "These heads of state can rule for a very long time. In Cameroon, for 41 years and counting."

Global Response

France, Gabon's former colonial ruler, was following the situation closely, according to French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. Because of the Gabonese coup, the nuclear-capable European country's African presence is further becoming uncertain because of the multiple coups from its former colonies, such as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

There are about 350 French military personnel in Gabon.

Meanwhile, China's foreign ministry called for the situation in Libreville to be resolved peacefully and said the personal safety of Bongo should be ensured. Bongo visited Beijing in April this year. Russia's foreign ministry also echoed Beijing's sentiments.

This is a developing story. Please follow HNGN for further updates.

Related Article: ECOWAS Announces 'D-Day': Set to Restore Niger to Democratic Rule

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Biden administration has shown repulsive indifference to the victims of the tragic Maui fires that have laid waste to Lahaina and taken the lives of more than 100 people, with hundreds more still missing. On two separate occasions, when President Biden was asked about the tragedy, he responded, "No comment." When he finally deigned to interrupt his most recent vacations and make an hours-long appearance in Lahaina, he told those who had lost everything that he could relate to them because he once had a small kitchen fire in his home.

The entire episode was yet another example of government ineptitude. Local officials made a series of almost incomprehensible errors. Federal aid officials were discovered staying in ritzy four- and five-star hotels far from Lahaina even as that city's survivors lacked basic aid.

But, fortunately, the government of Hungary has stepped up to provide shelter for 250 Maui families. Hungarian ambassador to the United States Szabolcs Takacs issued a statement to Newsmax proclaiming that the nation's armed forces would provide pop-up homes for 250 Maui families by the end of October, with the first shipment of 20 arriving within days. This despite the fact that Hungary was reportedly the only European Union member-state that was not invited to Biden's "Summit for Democracy" this year. Moreover, Biden deemed Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, one of "the thugs in the world" in 2020 while also attempting to assassinate the character of Donald Trump, who was friendly with Orban.

Perhaps the reason Hungary can devote more attention  and resources  to disaster victims on the Hawaiian island of Maui than the Biden administration has thus far done is because Orban's government is not entirely focused on pronoun etiquette, climate change...and locking up its political opponents.

It has never been clearer: Trump put America First; Biden puts America  and Americans  last.

Image: Viktor Orban. Credit: European Parliament via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Lets get two things straight. Yall are on the same side, so give it up already, and yall both have no clue what youre talking about when it comes to preventing terroristic shootings, or the bedrock of the American government; for elected officials who swore an oath to support and defend that bedrock, the Constitution, I find that reprehensible.

Back in April, Mike Pence spoke at the National Rifle Associations annual meeting, and made two propositions. The first, more institutions for the mentally ill and the second, an expedited appeal for those convicted of mass shootings so they can be put to death in months, not years. A few days back, Pence apparently repeated this position while speaking to Nancy Cordes on CBSs Face the Nation program.

Yesterday, Connecticut senator Chris Murphy spoke to Cordes, and she asked what he thought about Pences suggestion. To this Murphy replied:

Well it shows how little Mike Pence understands about the gun violence epidemic in this country. The fact of the matter is, most mass shooters are engaged in a suicide attempt, most mass shooters are intending to either kill themselves, or be killed by police, and so Mike Pence doesnt know what hes talking about when he says that he thinks mass shootings will go down if you threaten to kill the people who are carrying them out, they are in fact seeking to die.

First off, I will give it to Mr. Murphy, Pence certainly doesnt know what hes talking about because he too is a gun-grabber. Remember Pences 2019 visit to Indianapolis? From a local outlet:

Vice President Mike Pence believes Indianas red flag law could be used as a potential blueprint for similar laws across the country.  The Vice President touted Indianas red flag laws as a tool thats helped to prevent incidents of gun violence, specifically when it comes to those with mental health issues and instances of suicide. While we will always defend the rights of Americans to keep and bear arms, we dont want people who are a danger to themselves or others to have access to firearms, Pence said.

Red flag laws are a violation of due process, because one is guilty until proven innocent. An accusation of danger to self or others is all it takes, and members of law enforcement meet with a judge unbeknownst to a private citizen, before they promptly show up at the door to seize firearms. The citizen, whos guilty of no crime, must then petition the government to reclaim ownership.

In conjunction with Pences suggestion that a solution to gun violence is additional institutions for the mentally ill, we can only infer that he meant involuntary incarceration for those who are a danger to themselves or others and have access to firearms, because thats what the word institutions implies. If thats the case, we have to ask ourselves: when is a person mentally ill enough to warrant a violation of due process, or imprisonment in a state health facility?

When he or she is diagnosed mentally ill by the Marxist-indoctrinated intelligentsia?

When a leftist doctor spots an America-firster from afar, and surreptitiously treats the wrongthinker, like the 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts who assessed President Trump without ever meeting him, yet labeled him dangerous?

When someone abhors tyranny, and they get flagged as having the common Oppositional Defiant Disorder, defined as a disobedient attitude towards authority figures?

So if Pence understands little about how to stop evildoers with guns, then neither does Murphy, because he embraces the exact same policies, and then some, which means hes only more of a clown.

Image from X.
In a quick pivot, media attention is shifting from Maui to Florida as Hurricane Idalia churns its way towards the Sunshine State.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has suspended his presidential campaigning for the moment to manage hurricane emergency operations.

The media were quick to blame the Maui wildfires on climate change. Later, having to eat crow and back off those claims as it became apparent that nature, combined with government and utility ineptness and inaction, were to blame for the tragedy.

The media should avoid making similar false attributions for Idalia.

There is no evidence that Idalia or any other hurricane this year, or historically, has been caused by or would not have formed absent climate change.

Climate change is indicated by a long-term shift in atmospheric and weather patterns for particular areas, regions, and hemispheres. Although the global average temperature, a made-up metric if ever there was one, has increased modestly over the past 150 years, there has been no trend of increasing extreme weather events, including no trend in increasing numbers or severity of tropical cyclones.

Who says so? Real world data and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCCs most recent report says it has low confidence it can detect any changes in long-term trends for the frequency or intensity of tropical cyclones or hurricanes. The IPCC also admitted it has low confidence it can attribute any changes in hurricane activity to anthropogenic influences.

If there is one consistent trend or pattern that data show about hurricanes it is that there is no consistent trend, with hurricane frequency and severity varying from year to year and decade to decade. Over the past100 years, if anything, the data indicate there has been a modest decline in the yearly number of hurricanes and major hurricanes on average. Indeed, multiple studies suggest that over the past century, the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones have declined, with one report finding a 13 percent decrease in tropical cyclones between 1850 and 2012.

Recently, the United States experienced the fewest number of hurricane strikes in any eight-year period in recorded history (2009 through 2017). In 2016, Florida, Americas most vulnerable state for hurricanes (where Idalia is threatening), concluded an 11-year period without a landfalling hurricane, the longest such period in recorded history. And from 2013 to 2016, the Gulf of Mexico also recently benefited from its longest hurricane-free period in recorded history.

Which brings us to 2023 and Idalia. The official hurricane season runs from June 1 through the end of November. This year, until the past week, tropical storm numbers and accumulated energy or sustained wind speeds have been below normal. Moreover, the hurricane season typically peaks in late August through mid-September, meaning there is absolutely nothing unusual about multiple storms forming during this short time period.

Idalia forming and strengthening now is not only not outside of the norm, it fits the historic pattern perfectly.

If current weather forecasts are correct, Idalia will make landfall in Florida and cause damage as hurricanes typically do. The mainstream media should resist the urge to try and shoehorn Idalia into its increasingly shrill climate change causes everything narrative, because there is no evidence that Idalia is at all unusual. It is forming during the time of year when hurricane formation peaks on average, and its wind speeds are not outside the normal range.

H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., (hsburnett@heartland.org) is the Director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at the Heartland Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit research organization based in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Image: RawPixel
Its almost like the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie circular turn of events:

If you dont have much to offer and you know it, youve probably got a chip on your shoulder. If youve got a chip on your shoulder, youre probably angry at the world, because its full of people who do have something to offer. If youre angry at the world and its positive contributors, youre probably a Marxist. If youre a Marxist, you dont have much to offer, and of that, youre acutely aware.

Untalented and unoriginal  Look at me, Im a leftist who hates productive people!  Tim Hernandez seems to really despise white people. A sample of his posts on social media can be seen here:

In every space and at every opportunity I have, I will disrupt whiteness, white supremacy, and white power for the dignity of my BIPOC students.  TIM HERNANDEZ (@_timhernandez) March 11, 2021

Here:

If white people spent HALF of the time they spend trying to distance themselves from their whiteness and instead spent it actually deconstructing systems of white supremacy, where would we be?  TIM HERNANDEZ (@_timhernandez) January 25, 2021

Here:

Whiteness isn't a passive thing. It is a complicit benefit of white supremacy at the EXPENSE of those who are not white.



It is aggressive. It is assertive. Diminishing its weaponization by using the word "privilege" is not productive when discussing its real, hurtful outcomes.  TIM HERNANDEZ (@_timhernandez) March 10, 2021

And here:

Were talking about whiteness and white supremacy. And Im willing to advocate for any form of disruption to it and every manifestation it has.  TIM HERNANDEZ (@_timhernandez) January 25, 2021

(More still, here.)

But, apparently none of that matters, because Hernandez just secured a seat in the Colorado state legislature, thanks to a committee of Democrats tasked with filling a vacancy. Want a job as an American lawmaker? There are only two stipulations hostility to and hatred of American principles and law is required.

Across his social media accounts, Hernandez shares images and videos from his (current?) classroom; the walls are adorned with an array of different leftist revolutionary-themed flags, and there is an inordinate amount of BLM merch:

He is a leftist, so naturally, hes insulated from any FBI visits, despite his repeated calls for revolution  I thought that was an act of sedition?

As the New York Post reported:

Hernandezs classroom was filled with flags supportive of the Palestinian and far-left political causes, including one that suggested the United States of America belonged to the Aztecs.

Hold up  the Aztecs are victims now? Heres some sanitized information on the Aztec empire, from a modern woke university textbook:

Among the goods that the pochteca obtained were enslaved people, many of whom were destined for sacrifice in the bloody rituals so central to Aztec religious life.  In this cyclical understanding  the sun  identified with the Aztec patron deity Huitzilopochtli  tended to lose its energy in a constant battle against  darkness. Thus the Aztec world hovered always on the edge of catastrophe. To replenish its energy and thus postpone the descent into endless darkness, the sun required the life-giving force found in human blood. it was wholly proper for people to offer their own blood to nourish the gods in the present. The high calling of the Aztec state was to supply this blood. As the empire grew  human sacrifices were carried out in the service of politics. Massive sacrificial rituals  served to impress enemies, allies, and subjects alike.

Now, call me crazy, but its not a tragedy that the Aztec empire no longer rules.

One last social media post for good measure:

How long are we gonna have to wait for white people to grow and unlearn? Because tbh, having to wait for the group in our society that has the highest education levels, most economic power, and highest political capital to grow seems like bullshit to me.  TIM HERNANDEZ (@_timhernandez) November 21, 2021

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
Elon Musk is being sued by the Department of Justice for hiring too many Americans at his SpaceX spacecraft launch company in Texas.

It's an obvious harassment suit, given that Musk has other obligations based on government contracting structure to hire only American citizens and green card holders. He also has some pretty strong security concerns.

That didn't stop the Justice Department from pouring on the glurge, appealing to those tug-on-the-heartstrings emotions to whip up support against him:

Asylees and refugees have overcome many obstacles in their lives, and unlawful employment discrimination based on their citizenship status should not be one of them. Through this lawsuit we will hold SpaceX accountable for its illegal employment practices and seek relief that allows asylees and refugees to fairly compete for job opportunities and contribute their talents to SpaceXs workforce.

It was garbage, and always was. Now it comes to light that the U.S. has a rather big vetting problem with foreigners from terrorist nesting grounds it keeps letting in.

According to immigration expert Todd Bensman, writing for the New York Post:

A Pakistani doctor who got an H-1B temporary work visa to join the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., is going to federal prison for incubating a plot to kill fellow Hippocratic oath takers while behind enemy lines, as he wrote in an encrypted jihadist social-media channel.

Bensman went on to explain what the problem was:

The typically perfunctory media coverage of this latest Islamic-terror case evaded the civic obligation to explore broader homeland-security questions it naturally raises. Chief among these is whether US visa security vetting is sufficient to detect or at least reasonably anticipate hot threats among the doctors, software engineers and other skilled H-1B visa applicants before they depart their home countries of US terrorism concern like Pakistan, final home of Osama bin Laden. The government received more than 483,000 H-1B visa applications for 2023 and more than 780,000 for 2024.

So this guy was an H1-B visa holder, he had a lot of fancy education, Bensman noted that a lot of them do, and he proved to be a problem.

Apparently nobody vetted him. Yet the government insists that it vets these people.

H1-B is a fancy and rarified visa category in a way that "refugee" and "asylee" is not.

The DOJ insists that it vets all its refugees, so Musk has no excuse not to hire them:

Asylees and refugees are migrants to the United States who have fled persecution. To obtain their status, they undergo thorough vetting by the United States government.

Biden's DOJ considers them no different and outright equal to American citizens who are getting all these SpaceX jobs, which DOJ claims they have less right to than "refugees":

Moreover, asylees and refugees permission to live and work in the United States does not expire, and they stand on equal footing with U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents under export control laws. Under these laws, companies like SpaceX can hire asylees and refugees for the same positions they would hire U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. And once hired, asylees and refugees can access export-controlled information and materials without additional government approval, just like U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

But are refugees and asylees vetted any better than H1B visa holders?

Circumstantial evidence says 'no.'

Number one, they often come from hellhole countries where a public records request from a U.S. official is bound to be met with a horse laugh, if such records exist at all. Try vetting someone from a collapsed or failed state. Anybody checking their social media posts? Talking to their friends and relatives? These things can get expensive.

And there are hundreds of thousands of them being let in.

Two, we have experience. The tens of thousands of Afghan "refugees" admitted to the U.S. during the U.S.'s chaotic exit were largely migrant-aged young men who had pushed their way in front of women, the elderly, and children in order to get a spot on a U.S. evacuation plane out of that country during the U.S.'s chaotic pullout. On character grounds alone they should have been disqualified, but were any of the pushers sent back? No, they were released into the interior of the country, rewarded for trampling onto the bodies of those weaker. Many have been found now to be commiting crimes against U.S. nationals and should have never been let in. But ahh, they were "vetted." Who knows how many of them are terrorist sleepers?

Meanwhile, in more recent news, under Joe Biden's open borders with its catch-and-release, a group of ISIS-sponsored Uzbeks were reportedly let into the interior of the U.S. as "asylum seekrs" with all that vetting and the Biden administration has no idea what happened to them or where they are now.

All of these cases point to one thing: That U.S. government vetting, just like U.S. government mass money distribution, tends to be a failure, this is not something they are good at doing, and way too many bad guys getting in and getting away with something that should not be happening, all because the government lies that they were "vetted."

According to the DOJ, Musk is supposed to be hiring these people.

And not hiring them is "inhumane" even as doing that deprives an American of a job.

Maybe they should try to do their jobs first before insisting that Musk take on all the terrorists and criminals of the world's nastiest places at his elite spacecraft company.

Image: SpaceX, via Wikimedia Commons // CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
There are important developments coming out of in Ukraine this month. It appears their battle to push south to the Sea of Azov has reached culmination, as the Ukraine reserves are breaking past Robotyne and the main line of Russian resistance. Russia has committed its last reliable reserves, the already beaten-up 76 Guards Air Assault Division. Reports are that most of the soldiers still fighting for Russia in this sector, however, are just support units, not infantry.

For some reason though, many conservatives, Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk among them, continue to fall for the nonsense peddled by Douglas MacGregor, aka Col. Blowhard. He insists Vlad Putin is just a traditional Christian, and the war is dragging on because he wants to go easy on his Ukrainian cousins. Col. Blowhard predicted this month there would be a massive Russian offensive that would capture Odessa. When that did not happen, he claimed Ukraine had suffered 400,000 soldiers killed, effectively ending their armys chances. Another fairy tale he could not defend.

As I explained back in June, Ukraine has essentially one good punch left this year against the teetering Russian bear, and they would be careful not to squander it. They have spent the summer preparing the battlefield to cut off the exhausted Russians south of the Dnipro. If they do that, there might be a ceasefire on favorable terms and this bloody mess could come to an end, no thanks to Joe Biden & Co., who are still dithering over when and where to send every bullet. Joes team just said they would release F-16 fighters to Ukraine, but they wont join the fight until next year. And Biden will still not send the ATACMS missile system, the weapon that would knock out the Russian heavy artillery, their most effective battlefield weapon.

This is all so unfortunate, as the whole bloody war only began because Putin saw the incredible weakness of Joe Biden after the Afghanistan fiasco. It also greatly mattered that Biden was killing off American energy independence and driving up the price of oil. Putin knew the pain of international sanctions could be offset by selling more expensive oil to places like China and India.

Convinced he had another president as clueless as Obama, Putin decided to risk an all-out invasion. People make fun of Donald Trump and his tough guy posturing, but as the Iranians and Wagner mercenaries found out, he never hesitated to use deadly force. Dictators worry about such cold-blooded Western leaders.

Still, this just forced the Ukrainians to improvise. They have driven away the Russian Black Sea fleet and wrecked the Kerch bridge with innovative anti-ship air and sea drones. For the last year, they have been attacking Russian airbases and even Moscow targets with commando teams and long-range drones. The Russian naval blockade has been defeated, as grain ships are once again moving out of Odessa with wheat the worlds poor countries need.

Up until now, Ukraine has husbanded resources and kept casualties low. As the battle south for the coast continues in September, though, the Russians will throw in everything they have left, and Ukraine casualties will mount as they press forward.

If we had a competent President and State Department, one might expect both sides would eventually want a way out and welcome an American-brokered cease-fire. That obviously wont happen here, but perhaps the Germans, and other NATO members Putin might trust, can still work a deal.

The one bright spot in all this must at least involve China, which has the same sort of incompetent, Russian-style military. Xi Jinping has to be rethinking any attack on Taiwan at this point. Russia had the overwhelming advantages of force and an easy, overland route to the heart of Ukraine, yet was driven off by an amateur army with a hodgepodge of weapons.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) by contrast, is armed to the teeth, with modern airplanes, missiles, and ships, and literally millions of well trained and armed regular and reserve soldiers. There is virtually no good place on the Taiwan coast to conduct an amphibious landing, assuming an invasion fleet could even make it over a hundred miles across the open waters of the Taiwan Strait. Even some of the most China-favoring war games suggest they would not just be defeated, but ruined.

Ukraine may at least be the last truly big war the world has to endure for now.

Frank Friday is an attorney in Louisville, KY.

Image: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service
Ive been a Kaiser patient for over forty years and have invariably received superb care. Having said that, I wasnt the least surprised to learn from a Libs of TikTok expose that the nations oldest and largest HMO is entirely on board with so-called transgenderism, right down to bringing it to young children. Thats because its just one of many healthcare institutions being led by a young generation of doctors and administrators who fully embrace the madness.

Kaiser Permanente is headquartered in Oakland, California, the heart of todays hard leftism. However, when I became a member in 1991, all my caregivers were older than I was. They were people who attended college and medical school from the 1950s through the 1970s. Even in the San Francisco Bay Area, many (Id say one-third) were obviously Republicans. Given that this was the Bay Area, even the conservative ones were comfortable with (or pretended to be comfortable with) homosexuality.

However, transgenderism was a bridge too far. I know this because I distinctly remember that people I met were ruffled in the late 1990s when a male doctor came to work in San Francisco in a dress. Things had already gone far enough in the Bay Area that Kaiser management said to let him go ahead with that conduct, but the people to whom I spoke were shocked, and many were uncomfortable.

Forty years later, everyone with whom I interact at Kaiser is younger than I am. Most are leftists. Why do I say that? Because if Im ever at Kaiser in June, theyre all wearing rainbow paraphernalia, including the ones who I am reasonably sure are heterosexuals. (The pictures of opposite-sex spouses and children tend to be a giveaway.)

Image of a generic healthcare worker by luis-molinero (edited to add the flag background).

Also, during COVID, Kaiser was all-in on masks, lockdowns, and vaccinations. I know this because I kept getting emails from Kaiser promoting masks, lockdowns, and vaccinations. This time around, I doubt Kaiser will get on the lockdown bandwagon (that wagon has rolled on), but Im sure Ill start getting mask and vaccination emails.

Where does all this leftism come from? Im willing to bet that it comes from academia, which is Ground Zero for every damaging leftist idea thats becoming integrated into American society. Because Kaiser is a great place to work, while not all the doctors are Ivy League graduates, few come from small medical schools on only slightly larger islands somewhere in the Caribbean. They come from reputable places.

Having been the most assiduous students in their undergrad classes, and then having been equally attentive at medical school, Kaiser doctors were sponges for every bit of indoctrination that came along. Moreover, Kaiser has always been open to hiring minorities, from doctors on down. Statistically, minorities are more likely to be leftists, although thats changing as the Democrats economically destroy hard-working minorities.

Theres also the class thing. Once upon a time, youd start as a communist and, as you worked your way up the economic ladder, youd end as a Republican. Now, as I can attest by looking at my graduating class from law school, you start out a conservative and, as you work your way up the prestige ladder, you become a Democrat with nothing but disdain for people like Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, and everyone in flyover states and the South.

What all this means is that it came as no surprise to me to read a Libs of TikTok article revealing that Californias Kaiser staff are being trained in gender affirming care that includes giving small children toxic and sterilizing hormones, along with mutilating surgery:

An employee at Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest healthcare providers on the West Coast, reached out to us after she was mandated to take a new staff training on gender affirming care. The employee, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of losing her job, was horrified that a healthcare facility would be promoting the mutilation and castration of children. [snip] In the training video, a young boy who now identifies as a girl, discusses how he always knew he was a boy from age 4. Another individual, now an adult identifying as a man, says she knew she was trans at age 3. [snip] On their website, Kaiser has a chart on Culturally Responsive Care for transgender and gender-nonconforming people. They claim sex is assigned at birth and suggest there are many genders. Imagine going to a doctor who thinks a persons biological sex is assigned and that there are infinite genders! Kaiser also boasts on their site that they provide pediatric gender care, offering surgical procedures and irreversible hormone therapy which they offer to children.

Its not just Kaiser. All medical institutions in America behave the same way because theyre filled with young or youngish, upwardly mobile, college-educated physicians and staff. Theyre true believers, having been subject to transgender propaganda throughout their academic careers, swimming in it at the workplace and viewing it as a sign that they belong to the economic and intellectual elite.
Samsungs in-house Exynos chipsets are making a return to flagship Galaxy devices next year. The Galaxy S24 series is rumored to be powered by the Exynos 2400, at least in some markets. The rest of the world will get an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. However, this split may not work as it did for the Galaxy S22 series last year. A new rumor says Samsung will ship the Galaxy S24 Ultra with the Snapdragon chip globally. The Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ may follow the usual dual-chip strategy.

Galaxy S24 Ultra buyers may get a Snapdragon processor globally

Samsung made its fans happy earlier this year by shipping the Galaxy S23 series with a Snapdragon chip globally. The companys decision to ditch Exynos chipsets was appreciated by all. This came after a years-long dual-chip strategy where it used Snapdragon in some markets (primarily China and North America) and Exynos in the rest of the world. including Europe.

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The problem with this strategy was Exynos. Samsungs in-house processors had performance, power, and thermal issues. The Snapdragon versions of Galaxy flagships always outperformed their Exynos counterparts. This performance gap widened in recent years, making the Korean firm go all-in with Snapdragon this year. Buyers who previously got Exynos versions could immediately feel the difference.

However, to everyones surprise (and disappointment), Samsung is bringing back Exynos next year. The company has reportedly improved its chip fabrication tech and is confident that the Exynos 2400 can give the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 a run for its money. As usual, it was expected to ship the Snapdragon version in the US, China, and a few other markets, while Europe and the rest of the world get the Exynos version.

However, tipster @Tech_Reve claims that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will get a Snapdragon processor in all markets. The priciest 2024 Samsung flagship wont come in an Exynos version. The source doesnt say anything about the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+. That likely means the Korean behemoth will follow the usual dual-chip strategy for the two smaller models.

Interestingly, this comes just a day after another noted tipster Ice Universe suggested that the entire Galaxy S24 series will get the Exynos 2400 in Europe. So nothing seems to be set in stone yet. Samsung may still be figuring out what works best for its business. The confusion should settle in the coming months, once the company finalizes everything and the Galaxy S24 series enters the production stage.
Googles Pixel Pass service is dead. If youre not sure what Pixel Pass was, it was a subscription service Google offered that allowed people to split up the payments of their phone over a two-year period. Just like installment plans from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, the Pixel Pass portioned out your payments monthly.

This was an easy way for people to upgrade to the latest Pixel smartphone. But the opportunity to do so is no longer available. Google doesnt have an official announcement for this. Instead, the discontinuation of the service went under the radar and is only brought up on the support page (spotted by Droid Life) for it. Google says new subscribers wont be able to sign up for Pixel Pass going forward. However, those who already have an active Pixel Pass subscription will continue to use the service as normal. At least until the subscription ends two years from the purchase of the phone.

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Pixel Pass is dead as of August 29, 2023

The service is officially ending today. So as mentioned above, theres no way for people to sign up for a new membership and you cant renew an active one.

It is possible that Google chose to end Pixel Pass because it wasnt really being utilized. Or perhaps not to the extent Google was hoping. Google doesnt offer up much information as to the reasoning for the shutdown either. One might assume Google has a replacement in the works. It will after all be launching the Pixel 8 series phones later this year. And their unveiling would make for a good time to reveal an alternative to Pixel Pass.

For the time being though, there is no real alternative directly from Google. That doesnt mean theres no way to avoid paying for a new Pixel phone up front. As Google still offers its trade-in programs that could help bring the price of the phone down. At the end of the day, you can still get a new Pixel device. It just might cost you more up front.
Weve seen the chilling headlines: Another company laid off a huge chunk of its staff and started using AI instead. This is the sad reality that we have to face, but theres hope out there. Several news outlets and media companies are actually blocking OpenAIs ChatGPT from accessing the information on their sites.

This news comes from CNN, and CNNs Oliver Darcy described this accurately as a Cold War. It makes sense; theres a lot of tension hovering around AI and the potential future. AI companies are building up their arsenal of potentially deadly weapons, and those opposed are mounting their defense.

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Major news outlets are blocking ChatGPT

Its reassuring to know that not all companies are all in on this new AI revolution. Notable news outlets such as CNN, Insider, The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, ESPN, Axios, ABC News, The Gothamist, and The Atlantic have blocked ChatGPTs crawlers from accessing their content. This also includes publishers such as Vox Media, Conde Nast, and Hearst.

The list doesnt stop there. Disney is also opposed to ChatGPT accessing its content. This shows that theres a long list of companies that are on the offense against ChatGPT and the like.

Its a matter of morality and legality

Danielle Coffeey, President and chief executive of the News Media Alliance spoke about why these companies are resistant to forking over their content. Its not only because generative AI proves to be a threat to the news industry. Long-standing news outlets are on solid legal ground when it comes to copyright protections.

Of course, if youre a major news organization, and youve put out groundbreaking news stories, youd want to protect your content. Generative AI does threaten to put writers out of their jobs. Itd be a pretty sour blow to end up training the very AI thats threatening jobs for writers.

At this moment, were not sure about what will happen next as AI progresses. However, its nice to know that not everyone purchased a ticket to the AI hype train.
The sentencing of former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio was set to be sentenced Wednesday (August 30) in connection to the failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election, which developed into the attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

However, the federal judge presiding in the case has postponed the sentencing to a later date, the Washington Post reported.

According to a spokesperson for the Washington US attorney's office, the court was not proceeding with the sentencing "[d]ue to an emergency," with more information to be provided as it becomes available.

The Associated Press previously reported that prosecutors are seeking to imprison Tarrio for 33 years despite him having been arrested and ordered to leave Washington by the time his organization joined thousands of Trump supporters in storming the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify the electoral victory of Joe Biden.

His arrest was connected to his defacing a Black Lives Matter banner during an earlier rally in Washington.

However, prosecutors also said Tarrio organized and led the group's assault from afar, inspiring followers with his charisma and penchant for propaganda. Dozens of Proud Boys members were the first rioters to breach the Capitol.

Seditious Conspiracy

Tarrio, 33, and three of his lieutenants - Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl - were among the top targets in the Justice Department's manhunt for the ringleaders of the Capitol riot, having been charged with seditious conspiracy - a US Civil War-era crime the Attorney General's department gave to members of far-right groups playing a key role in the attack.

"Using his powerful platform, Tarrio has repeatedly and publicly indicated that he has no regrets about what he helped make happen on January 6," the prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

The 33-year sentence prosecutors recommended for Tarrio was nearly twice as long as the harshest punishment handed down so far by the Justice Department in relation to the Capitol riot. The longest prison sentence prior to date went to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who received 18 years imprisonment for seditious conspiracy, as well as his conviction on other charges.

A fifth Proud Boys leader, Dominic Pezzola, was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other serious charges.

Read Also: Former Proud Boys Leader Convicted of Seditious Conspiracy in Jan. 6 Capitol Incident

Tarrio's Defense: Client Has History of Cooperation with Authorities

However, Tarrio's lawyers denied the Proud Boys had any plan to attack the Capitol, arguing that prosecutors have used Tarrio as a scapegoat for Trump, who spoke at the "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House on Jan. 6 and urged his supporters to "fight like hell."

The Proud Boys leader's defense team also urged the court to provide him at least a lenient sentence, citing Tarrio's history of cooperating with law enforcement. It was revealed in 2021 that he previously worked undercover and cooperated with investigators after he was accused of fraud in 2012.

Trump's Involvement

The latest developments follow the Justice Department's recent lawsuit against Trump for conspiring to subvert American democracy, as well as accusing him of plotting in the days before the attack to overturn the election results.

Trump, on the other hand, has insisted he did nothing wrong even if he surrendered himself to authorities in Atlanta in relation to a Georgia election case. As for his involvement in the Capitol riots, his trial was scheduled for March 4, 2024.

It should also be noted that Trump remained to be an early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Related Article: Proud Boys Member Dominic Pezzola Found Not Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy After Conviction of Enrique Tarrio

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A new purple colorway for the Xbox wireless controller that shipped with the Xbox Series X|S may be on the way. Providing consumers with even more choice for customizing their gameplay experience through accessories. According to Dealabs Magazines Billbil-kun (via Video Games Chronicle), Microsoft is planning to launch an Astral Purple version of the Xbox Wireless controller soon.

Technically, this controller already exists. Just not in the form you might think. With controllers like Electric Volt or the more recently released Stormcloud Vapor, you buy the controller as is. No different from a standard black or white controller. Astral Purple however is currently available as an Xbox Design Lab color option only. But the rumor states that Microsoft plans to launch the color proper outside of the design lab. However, if you didnt want to wait you could always create an Astral Purple option yourself.

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The Astral Purple Xbox controller is set to launch in September

The controller isnt available outside of the design lab yet but it isnt far off if the rumor is correct. Based on the leak Microsoft will launch the controller on September 19. In the US itll retail for $64.99, which is $5 less than it would cost you to get this color through the design lab.

And it should come with fully Astral Purple face buttons. Something that you dont get to choose in the design lab customization. In the EU pricing will be the same at 64.99. UK customers will reportedly be able to pick up for 59.99. One thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft could announce and launch this controller before the rumored date, or after. But you might want to keep an eye out for it starting next month as it may arrive.

Other than the color, there wont be anything different from the other already available options. But if purple is your thing, theres no reason not to add this to the collection.
In case you havent noticed, AI (Artificial Intelligence) is kind of a big thing in tech. Its one of Googles main focuses, as just about every one of its services employs some next-level AI. One creation benefiting from Googles big generative AI push is Google Docs with its Help Me Write feature.

Whats this feature, how can it help you, and how do you use it? These are questions that were going to answer in this piece. Well go through setting it up, using it, and things you should keep in mind before and when you start using it.

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What is the Google Docs Help Me Write feature?

As stated before, this is a generative AI tool. Thus, it uses text thats created completely from artificial intelligence. So, if it types anything down for you, its all being developed from Googles LLM (Large Language Model). Think of it like having Bard helping you with your writing.

So, say you want to write a pitch for an idea. Well, Help Me Write will actually be able to generate a pitch for you. If that sounds familiar, then youve used Google Bard, ChatGPT, Bing AI, Snapchat AI, or any of the other AI chatbots saturating the internet. All you have to do is tell the feature what you want it to write, and it will be produced in a matter of seconds.

You can get as granular as you want. The experience shouldnt be too different from using Bard. However, theres no telling if Google specialized Help Me Write in any way.

So, this is the type of tool you could use if you need some inspiration for a written project. Also, if you just need to quickly jot something down, you could use this tool to do it for you. As always, its always recommended to write it yourself first before turning to AI.

Before you start

Now, Help Me Write sounds like an exciting and useful tool, and youre probably ready to start using it. But, hold your horses! There are a few things that youll want to know before you use this tool.

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This is in testing

Right now, the majority of Googles ambitious AI projects are still in testing. The company is giving its products a proper workout before making them publicly available. This makes sense, as AI is still rather shaky ground.

Since its in testing, youll need to sign up to be a tester. Google has its Labs program that will grant you access to new AI products that the company pops out. Youre able to try them out and give the company your feedback. You can sign up for the program here.

A few more things: While this is a Google Workspace program, you dont need a paid plan to use it. Also, this is only available for the desktop version of Docs. You cant use it in the mobile app just yet.

Dont give away personal details or company secrets

This is a useful tool that you could use for your work life. However, youll want to keep an eye on the stuff that you type down. Dont include sensitive company secrets, addresses, banking information, or anything you dont want to leave your grasp. AI is a huge data vacuum, as companies are scooping up a ton of data to train their models. When you sign up for this program, you give Google the right to use the data that you input.

Now, Google isnt going to use that information to hack your company or poke fun at you because of your medical history. However, you just dont want that information uploaded to Googles servers where it could be leaked.

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Remember, this is AI, and that comes with hallucinations

Generative AI is scary good at this point, but its not perfect. Theres a chance that the results you get back are littered with completely made-up information. Dont take all of the information you receive to heart.

How to use Help Me Write for Google Docs

Now, with all of the warnings and red flags out of the way, lets get into how to actually use this tool. When you sign up for the Labs program, go ahead and open a document.

Doing it the first time will bring up a little text bubble telling you about the feature. After you close it, youll notice a little icon on the far left of your document. Its a pencil icon. This is how youre going to access the tool.

After you click on it, youll see a blue text box appear in the text. This is where youre going to put in your prompt. Now, pretend that theres another human being on the other side of your screen whos going to write down everything you say. Type out what you want it to jot down for you.

Just like other chatbots, your answers will depend on how specific you are. If you give a vague prompt, then you will get a more general and generic response. However, if you go into the nitty-gritty with your prompt, then you should expect a much more specialized answer.

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If youre happy with what Docs gave you, then you can click on the insert button. This will paste the text into the doc where the cursor is.

Editing

Say, Docs generated a response that you didnt want. Well, you can make adjustments before you insert it. After you generate a response, youll see the pencil icon on the top of the box with your prompt right next to it. Click on that, and youll be able to edit your original prompt.

After you make the edits to your prompt, you can click the Update button on the right of the text field. Help Me Write will then regenerate the response to reflect your changes.

Making refinements

If you dont want to change your prompt, but you want to make some refinements, then look for the Refine button on the bottom of the box. This will summon a dropdown button with some options that you can adjust.

You can change the Tone to make it either casual or formal. Next, the Summarize button will give you a summary of the text that it just generated. The Bulletize button will add bullet points to your document where necessary.

If you have an issue with the length of the response, then you can adjust it. The Elaborate button will make the response longer with more details. The Shorten option will do the opposite.

The Retry button will have the bot regenerate the response. It will give you the same information, only it will be reworded.

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The final option is the Custom option. Here, youll be able to make some short suggestions. This is easier than rewriting the prompt. Say, you just want Docs to turn the response into a poem, you can just type make it a poem.

Dont forget to give feedback

An important part of using any AI tool is leaving useful feedback. Above the Refine button, youll see a thumbs-up and thumbs-down icon. If you feel particularly positive or negative about the response, dont be afraid to let the company know. Google is extremely open to feedback regarding its AI products. Use those buttons to let Google know where its doing great and where it needs to improve.

Now, youre ready to get going

With all that said, youre now ready to go and start writing with Help Me Write. Theres no telling what kind of things youll be able to do with Googles AI by your side.
(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 30 - The mother of one of two cousins allegedly raped by six youths last month in the town of Caivano, near Naples, said Wednesday that they have been subject to threats and acts of intimidation.

The case, and that of an alleged gang rape in Palermo, has reignited alarm about sexual violence in Italy and Premier Giorgia Meloni will visit Caivano, which is badly affected by crime and drug dealing, on Thursday.

"We are suffering threats from (people in) the neighbourhood," said the mother of a 12-year-old who was one of girls allegedly raped via the family's lawyer Angelo Pisani.

"They even robbed my son, the one who denounced the horrors," she added, referring to the theft of a scooter.

"I don't feel safe.

"I need to talk to President Meloni. I want to talk to her".

Meloni said Monday she would visit the town, saying there could no longer be any zones in Italy that were free for criminals to act in. (ANSA).


AirTags have reportedly saved the day in a related situation involving stolen headphones, as reported by Apple Insider. On a Delta flight that touched down at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), Raleigh resident Mat Krantz discovered he was missing a $100 pair of wireless headphones and their case.

He was denied access to the aircraft despite being able to confirm that the headphones and their AirTag were still there using Find My. Instead, he informed RDU and Delta officials before leaving for home.

According to Krantz, Find My showed that the headphones were at RDU for the following six hours. However, he discovered the headphones had relocated the following morning and were now in a Raleigh area.

Krantz made the decision to go to the residence where the AirTag was found, but his wife dissuaded him.

Krantz had the headphones returned after police visited the residence, where they informed him that it belonged to a Delta employee.

No further information has been provided, but according to WRAL-TV, Delta has stated "kind of generically" that a worker involved in the incident is no longer employed by them.

In another North Carolina criminal case, an AirTag was deployed, and it helped police identify a suspect who had a long history of stealing in the neighborhood.

Read also: New York City Gives Free Apple AirTags to Fight Rampant Car Thefts

AirTags Save the Day

In another recent event, Leone Pierce, a travel-related TikToker from Oakland, was already in a tight spot when she had to make a protracted stay in Singapore on her way home. To make matters worse, when she arrived at her layover, her luggage did not travel around the carousel like that of other passengers.

(Photo: by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

This photo illustration taken on February 13, 2023, shows an Apple Air Tag in Washington, DC. -

However, Pierce had hidden an AirTag, a tiny Find My tracker from Apple, in her bag. Her conclusion was that her luggage wasn't detained in Bali, where she had just left off, but rather at Singapore Changi Airport, where she had just arrived.

She needed to persuade a Singapore Airlines employee to assist her, and after an hour of pleading, she found someone who would listen. It wasn't enough for her to show Singapore Airlines staff that she had evidence that her luggage was on the tarmac.

An airport worker had discovered the suitcase and laid it out in the baggage claim area when she returned to check the luggage carousel once more, as reported by SFGate.

Why More People are Choosing AirTags

When it comes to luggage, Pierce is not the only traveler taking matters into her own hands. Social media is flooded with recommendations for AirTags from travel influencers, especially when business travel picks back up after the pandemic's peak.

According to the annual insights report from aviation data company SITA, the incidence of mishandled luggage events climbed from 5.6 per 1,000 passengers in 2019 (pre-pandemic) to 7.6 per 1,000 passengers in 2022. 19.3 baggage per 1,000 passengers was significantly higher for international flights in 2022.

The teeny tracking devices, according to at least one influencer, are the most crucial item you should include in your suitcase. Travelers may tuck one of the tiny gadgets into their luggage and monitor its progress from the check-in conveyor belt to the airplane on their phone.

Because the "precision finding" capability enables users to trace the tag within a foot, passengers can even use it to expedite sifting through luggage off the luggage conveyor belt once they have deplaned.

Related article: US Crime: More and More Criminals Are Using Apple AirTags for Car Theft, Stalking

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 30 - The parliamentary commission of inquiry into the phenomenon of femicide in Italy will be present at the Venice International Film Festival on September 8, the members said on Wednesday.

"I know that we will be going to Venice on the September 8, they have dedicated a red carpet to us precisely because of the femicide phenomenon and to show how important it is for Italy on an international level," said Rita Della Chiesa of centre-right majority party Forza Italia.

"Together with (Commission) President (Martina) Semenzato we will try to understand how to put an end to all this," she added.

Commission colleague Cecilia D'Elia of the centre-left opposition Democratic Party (Pd) said the members would be in Venice "to say political things".

"It's an initiative of the President that we have joined," she added.

In July the Italian parliament set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry into femicide, a chronic phenomenon in Italy in recent years.

The panel will assess all forms of gender violence and is bicameral for the first time. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 30 - An 'Ndrangheta cold-case murder has been solved after 23 years and three suspected members of the Calabria-based mafia, Italy's richest, most powerful and dangerous criminal organization, have now been arrested, authorities said Wednesday.

The three suspects, who were not named, were identified on new DNA analysis and have been charged with the homicide, aggravated by mafia methods, of 34-year-old Giuseppe Castiglione, a member of the Giglio-Levato-Valente clan, on January 29 2000 at Strongoli near Crotone.

As well as the DNA, police relied on testimony from informants, one of them one of the alleged killers who has since turned State's evidence.

The murder was part of a turf war between warring 'Ndrangteta clans, police said.

'Ndrangheta controls much of Europe's cocaine trade. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 30 - English actor and filmmaker Gary Oldman has joined the cast of an as yet unnamed new film by Paolo Sorrentino currently filming in Naples, Variety reported on Wednesday.

Details of the role played by the actor known for his portrayal of villains and whose performance of Winston Churchill in the 2017 film Darkest Hour won him an Academy Award for Best Actor have not be disclosed.

Sorrentino's tenth feature film is said to be about a woman named Parthenope, "who bears the name of her city but is neither a siren nor a myth," according to statement by the filmmaker whose The Great Beauty won Best Foreign Language Film at the 2013 Academy Awards, issued at the start of shooting.

In Greek mythology, Parthenope is the siren who, after failing to lure Ulysses with her songs, threw herself into the sea and drowned. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 30 - Premier Giorgia Meloni has received death threats ahead of her visit Thursday to a crime-ridden town near Naples that has hit the headlines again for an alleged gang rape, with social media posters unhappy at the government's phase-out of the citizenship wage (RdC) minimum income benefit saying she would be well advised not to visit an area that holds the record for RdC recipients.

Meloni is visiting Caivano to show solidarity and follow up on government pledges to clean up the drug-filled streets after two young cousins, variously reported to range in age from 11 to 13, were allegedly raped by six youths last month.

Among the social media messages for the premier Wednesday was from a woman in Naples who wrote: "I'd advise you stay at home, they're raring mad, 160,000 families without the RdC and without any money to spend. Are you sure you'll return home?".

Another poster said local residents should "greet the fishwife Meloni with rotten tomatoes for having stripped the RdC from that bracket of people that lives precariously in those areas".

Another said he hoped "you leave with a few dents so that you understand the trouble you've caused".

Politicians of all stripes voiced solidarity with the premier for the threats. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 30 - Labour Minister Marina Calderone said Wednesday that there is no danger that the government's phasing out of the citizenship wage (RdC) minimum-income benefit will set off a "social bomb".

Some 159,000 families in Italy were told by text message that their RdC was being cut last month, sparking concern about what will happen to the people losing their welfare cheques amid confusion about the benefits that will replace the citizenship wage.

The government, which says the RdC took away people's incentive to find work and was too susceptible to fraud, has since clarified the situation.

People considered fit for work will be able to present a claim to social-security agency INPS for the Labour Formation Support (SFL) benefit, which is dependent on them having enrolled on a training programme to help them re-enter the labour market.

Households in which there are minors, disabled people or people over 60 will be able to keep receiving the RdC until the end of the year and then claim a new benefit, the inclusion cheque (ADI), worth a maximum of 500 euros a month per individual.

The SFL benefit will be worth up to 350 euros a month, payable for a maximum of 12 months.

"Are we on the verge of a social bomb? Absolutely not," Calderone said at the presentation of the SIISL IT platform, which will be active from September 1 for former RdC claimants to apply for the SFL.

"The figures tell us that the situation is absolutely manageable". (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 30 - Migrant reception managed at local level is the best solution to resolving the current migrant crisis, but the government needs to help municipalities to receive the people it sends them, Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore said on Wednesday.

"Bologna is a city that welcomes (migrants) and wants to continue to welcome (them) in the best possible way, because we believe that this is the solution to the sea arrival emergency, and not sending people away with naval blockades that, as we have already seen this summer, are neither feasible nor effective," said Lepore. However, "if the state sends us migrants, it must also put us in the condition to receive them", he continued, announcing a meeting with the Special Commissioner on Migration Valerio Valenti on September 1 "because we want to work with the government. One possible solution, said Lepore, could be to "unblock the turnover of people in reception", referring to new arrivals who often remain in government-run first-line reception centres "for years".

Second-tier reception providing integration and inclusion services is instead managed by the municipalities, "allowing first-tier reception centres to be emptied and people to be included in integration programmes".

This, said Lepore, "has always worked in Bologna", despite the large number of people in second-tier reception in the city.

"I believe that the debate on immigration should be removed from ideological battles because it affects people's lives.

If we agree on that, we will find a solution," he concluded.

Photo: Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore confers honorary citizenship on freed Egyptian doctoral student Patrick Zaki. (ANSA).


Major flight disruption which has left many holidaymakers stranded overseas was caused by a problem with inbound data, air traffic control (ATC) bosses have said.

National Air Traffic Services (Nats) chief executive Martin Rolfe said initial investigations show the failure relates to some of the flight data we received.

Primary and back-up systems used by the company responded by suspending automatic processing, he added.

A departure board at Heathrow Airport as disruption from air traffic control issues continues (Lucy North/PA)

The impact continued on Wednesday with at least a further 42 flights to or from Heathrow cancelled.

Many affected travellers are being told to wait several days for flights home.

Some have been forced to sleep on airport floors or take long routes by land after their flights were cancelled.

Airlines were criticised for failing to book hotel rooms for many people who were delayed overnight.

Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: Were seeing worrying reports of passengers being left stranded without support, and airlines failing to properly communicate with their passengers or fulfil their legal obligations such as offering timely rerouting or providing overnight accommodation.

An update from our CEO, Martin Rolfe on yesterday's air traffic control outage that we know continues to impact passengers around the world. pic.twitter.com/GtLeNE6rKf  NATS (@NATS) August 29, 2023

In particular, travellers should be aware that their airline has a responsibility to reroute them as soon as possible, even if that means buying them a ticket with a rival carrier  a rule that some airlines appear to be ignoring.

Passengers should also be given food and refreshments and overnight accommodation if required.

EasyJet is operating five repatriation flights to Gatwick, with the first two setting off on Wednesday.

The airline said: During this traditionally very busy week for travel, options for returning to the UK are more limited on some routes and so easyJet will be operating five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days from Palma and Faro on August 30, and Tenerife and Enfidha on August 31, and from Rhodes on September 1.

We are also operating larger aircraft on key routes including Faro, Ibiza, Dalaman and Tenerife to provide some additional 700 seats this week.

Passengers stuck in the UK and abroad described their frustration, as some had no idea when or how they would get to their destination (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

There is speculation the ATC failure was caused by a French airline submitting a flight plan to Nats in the wrong format.

Downing Street did not rule out that possibility, while Nats declined to comment on whether that was what happened.

The problem resulted in flights to and from UK airports being restricted for several hours on Monday afternoon while flight plans were checked manually.

This caused the cancellation of around 1,500 flights on Monday, with a further 300 axed on Tuesday due to aircraft and crews being out of position.

Mr Rolfe said Nats is working closely with the Civil Aviation Authority to provide a preliminary report into what happened to Transport Secretary Mark Harper.

The conclusions of the inquiry will be made public, he added.

Passengers wait at a departure gate at Ferenc Liszt International Airport in Budapest, Hungary, after flights to the UK and Ireland were cancelled (Martin Rickett/PA)

Willie Walsh, director-general of global airline body the International Air Transport Association (Iata), described what happened as staggering.

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: This system should be designed to reject data thats incorrect, not to collapse the system.

Mr Rolfe said Nats has safety-critical systems and throwing data away needs to be very carefully considered.

Mr Walsh estimated that the chaos will cost airlines around 100 million.

He said: Its very unfair because the air traffic control system which was at the heart of this failure doesnt pay a single penny.
After three years and 300,000 planted trees, parts of a North Yorkshire estate are now growing into a young woodland that is already becoming a new home for insects, rodents and birds of prey.

The Broughton Sanctuary near Skipton is around halfway through its rewilding project through which it aims to restore over 400 hectares of bare hillside that have been grazed by sheep for centuries.

Professor Alastair Driver, director of Rewilding Britain and Broughtons special advisor, is overseeing the project, which will eventually have reintroduced beavers and cattle  the natural caretakers of the woodland.

Rewilding is the large-scale restoration of ecosystems to the point where nature can take care of itself the conservationist said, though in some areas, like the chilly hills of the Yorkshire Dales, it needs a kick-start.

Shoots of ash, beech, oak, aspen and willow emerge from the tops of plastic tubes guarding against hungry hares while a kestrel hovers above the brown, thistly scrub next to the emerald green neighbouring fields still occupied by sheep.

The billiard table landscape traditionally associated with the British countryside is an unnatural environment formed by grazing sheep (Danny Halpin/PA)

You can see the difference, said Prof Driver. Generations of little feet compacting the soil means water runs right off it.

Removing sheep is the first step towards growing a woodland that once matured, can absorb up to 60 times more water than open pasture, which reduces the chances of flooding for people living downstream.

Prof Driver wants to create wetlands and ponds on the estate and reintroduce beavers into a brook, all of which helps to store water on the hills while creating habitat for more species.

The team also plans on replacing an artificial wood of conifer with native trees and introducing short-horn cattle that will trample some of the vegetation and create space for seedlings.

They are also growing a wildflower meadow and allowing one field, previously used for growing animal feed, to regenerate of its own accord just to see what happens, and young ash trees have already began moving in.

As a result of all this, birds of prey are returning to feed on the increasingly bountiful supply of mice and voles scurrying through the bushes.

Trees are planted in plastic guards to save them from hungry hares (Danny Halpin/PA)

One night, eight barn owls were seen hunting in the same field.

Thats unheard of, Prof Driver said. That shows you how much prey there is that they dont have to compete with each other.

Seed-feeding birds such as linnets and goldfinches are also returning as are invertebrates, which are rocketing in abundance.

Prof Driver said: Im capturing 10 times the number of moths as before rewilding. This is going to become an oasis of bio-abundance.

Many farmers have reacted with hostility to the Rewilding Britain teams efforts, at Broughton Sanctuary and elsewhere, because they worry about wildlife taking over areas that could be used for food production, Prof Driver said.

Most controversial of all is talk of reintroducing apex predators such as lynxes and wolves, which have long been extinct in Britain but remain important for their ecosystems as they would keep other species like deer in check.

In their absence, land managers across the country routinely have to cull deer to stop them over-populating, with one National Trust estate in Derbyshire doing this to improve a woodland enough for the reintroduction of dormice.

Asked if wolves could ever return to the UK, Prof Driver said: Not in my lifetime. Lynx is definitely doable.

Im not a fan of compensation schemes but we could reward farmers for allowing these animals on their land.

He also said that when landowners come to him wanting to rewild he never advises them to take productive land out of use, adding: Most estates dont rewild the whole estate but only the most unproductive bits.

Broughton Sanctuarys owner Roger Tempest, whose family has run the land for 32 generations, described rewilding as inevitable and common sense.

He said restoring the billiard table of land is one function of his plan to help outer nature while his wellbeing centre and the retreats he offers at Broughton work to repair peoples inner nature.

Weve been walking into this darkness and its time to wake up, he said.
A private school has apologised for brutal and unrestrained historic abuse.

A total of 20 teaching staff at Edinburgh Academy were subject to allegations, including a child being beaten with a cricket bat, another pupil suffering a small bleed on the brain, a child being strangled, and boys being paid to swim naked.

On Wednesday, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry took closing submissions in its investigation into the school.

The majority of evidence has covered the years between 1954 and 1995, and nearly 50 witnesses have given evidence, including broadcaster Nicky Campbell who spoke publicly about the abuse he suffered.

Corporal punishment was banned in Scottish private schools in 2000, but the hearing was told disproportionate sadistic violence was rife in the school in the 1970s and a culture of fear prevailed  with one former teacher, Iain Wares, described by a lawyer for survivors as one of the most prolific abusers in Scottish criminal history.

Police Scotland confirmed they are investigating allegations relating to the school.

In an apology, Edinburgh Academy acknowledged the brutal and unrestrained violence and admitted serious sexual abuse was widespread  and expressed regret that police were not brought in to deal with Wares in the 1970s. He was instead recommended to Fettes College.

Nicky Campbell gave evidence to the inquiry about abuse at Edinburgh Academy (PA)

Wares and fellow teacher Hamish Dawson, who died in 2009, were publicly named during the inquiry. Wares now faces 74 charges.

Fettes College also issued an apology for allowing Wares to keep working despite allegations of abuse because of the intervention of a psychiatrist.

Both schools said they are implementing mandatory reporting, while the General Teaching Council for Scotland said it should be an opportunity for learning.

Andrew Brown KC said the Edinburgh Academy had a military mindset and the normalisation of deeply abnormal behaviour including beatings and voyeurism was aided by staff camaraderie.

Pupils were made to choose the implement of their punishment and sign it afterwards, the hearing was told.

Alan McLean KC, representing the Edinburgh Academy Survivors group, said nine former pupils took their own lives.

Mr McLean said: Other schools did not operate like this  corporal punishment was a threat. This was a characteristic of Edinburgh Academy.

In the mid-1990s efforts were made to introduce self-appraisals and policies, but child protection training was described as an irritant and depressing by some staff, the hearing was told.

The school became a co-education day school in 2008 and has promised to recognise child abuse in its bicentenary celebrations in 2024-25, and has created an online reporting portal for pupils.

Mr McLean added: Edinburgh Academy failed its pupils in terrible ways.

It was accepted from victims that disproportionate, sadistic corporal punishment was rife in the 1970s.

Punishment was for inability rather than breaking the rules.

He said Dawsons unusual methods of punishment were celebrated when he retired, and described Wares perpetrating sadistic violence of a sexual nature.

He also described how staff would watch or flick pupils in the showers.

Violence and homophobic bullying were also common among pupils, the hearing was told.

Mr McLean said: Pupil on pupil sexual abuse took place with multiple incidents of penetrative rape and forced masturbation.

Fettes College apologised for allowing Iain Wares to continue teaching (PA)

The long-term impact had left pupils with PTSD, depression, failed marriages and trust issues, he told the hearing.

Fettes College made an apology to pupils for allowing Wares to continue teaching after it considered sacking him in 1975, but was urged to allow him to continue to teach by a psychiatrist.

Wares was dismissed in 1979 and returned to South Africa.

Graeme Watson, speaking on behalf of the school, said: Fettes accepts it should have terminated his employment immediately.

The school is truly sorry and this is a full and unreserved apology for the abuse while at Fettes.

Representing Edinburgh Academy, Calum McNeill KC said: Physical abuse was brutal and unrestrained, it was not acceptable at the time, even though the use of corporal punishment was legal.

It is clear that beatings took place which were not punishment.

Abuse of power, belittling, calculating creation of a culture of fear  either for no apparent reason or for an obviously false pretext.

Serious sexual abuse was widespread and continued undetected.

Conduct was hidden in plain sight, with the perpetrators apparently getting gratification from that.

Some boys who were groomed adopted the attitude that sexual abuse was preferable.

It is accepted there will have been many more victims than we have heard first-hand evidence from.

The atmosphere of fear and constant vigilance against injustice is something the school is deeply ashamed.

It apologised for recommending Wares to Fettes College.

Mr McNeill added: He should have been facing criminal charges and having nothing to do with children.

In a statement, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC said she is acutely aware of the frustration at the length of time taken to extradite Wares back to Scotland to face charges.

Significant efforts have been made to bring Mr Wares to trial in Scotland, she said.

These have helped ensure that those acting on behalf of Scotland in the extradition proceedings are fully informed about the detail of this case.

This means they can effectively act on our behalf to secure the surrender of Mr Wares to face prosecution.

In 2020 we were told that the extradition had been ordered but that the accuseds surrender would be delayed due to pandemic travel restrictions. We were later told that he had exercised his right to appeal.

Appeal procedure in South Africa is different in timescale and approach to here.

It would not be appropriate for me to comment further on that process, which is currently, and properly, being dealt with by judicial authorities in South Africa.

The inquiry, before Lady Smith, continues.
Elon Musk's X can now process crypto trades and payments, thanks to the new license it received.

If this is true, then the new license is a huge improvement for the platform since the billionaire wants it to make an "everything app."

Elon Musk's X Can Now Process Crypto Trades, Payments

According to Interesting Engineering's latest report, X officially received a license for cryptocurrency transactions in the United States.

This was revealed by the data displayed on the NMLS, saying that the social media company received the "Rhode Island Currency Transmitter License."

The license, which X received on Aug. 28, allows the company to provide virtual asset-related services, as well as enable users to exchange digital coins on the platform itself.

Caroline Bowler, the chief executive of BTC Markets, was excited about X's new license for crypto transactions.

"The news of Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter), obtaining a license to facilitate U.S. crypto payments amplifies the ongoing transformation of the crypto landscape," she said via Forbes.

"Endorsements from prominent figures like Musk lend credibility to the sector and hold implications for international markets," she added.

Read Also: Binance Facing Another Setback as Mastercard, Visa End Card Tie-up With Crypto Exchange

When Can X Process Crypto Transactions?

As of writing, the license is considered by experts as merely another state money transmitter license.

But, this also means that the Rhode Island license brings the social media firm's overall state money transmitter licenses to seven.

Although sources stated that X's upcoming payments feature will initially support fiat currencies, Elon Musk is already instructing his developers to build payment systems for the app.

These payment systems are expected to have crypto functionality, which can be added in the future as X moves towards being the "everything app."

As of press time, it is still unclear when will X officially conduct cryptocurrency transactions. But, once X starts offering fiat currency transactions, experts said that it would be similar to how PayPal works.

If you want to know the status of X's ongoing efforts to bring crypto transactions into the platform, you can click here.

Related Article: New IRS Rule Takes Aim at Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency Tax Reporting, Drawing Ire From Industry Groups

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A family of six stuck in Turkey due to a UK air traffic control failure has been left 3,500 out of pocket to fly back home.

Shamila Kauser, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, who went to Antalya with her husband, her four children and her brother and his family, said she is stressed out after they were due to fly home on Monday but have ended up staying five days longer than expected.

Ms Kauser, 40, who works in catering, said booking one flight for her family of six was impossible and that she spent 3,500 with a travel provider different to her own in an attempt to arrange the next available flight home.

She said she has found the ordeal a nightmare.

Ms Kauser told the PA news agency: Im stressed out and very anxious.

Its been a nightmare.

The mother of four attempted to find a booking, setting her back more than 3,000, which she is unsure if she will be reimbursed for, after fearing she would not return to the UK until September 8 due to a lack of available flights.

However, her travel provider, On The Beach, was able to find a flight at 11.55pm on Friday night for all six family members with Jet2 airlines despite them initially flying with easyJet.

She explained: On The Beach had to book me with another airline because easyJet had no seats until September 8.

Ive got to go to work and the kids have to go to school, so I dont have time to be waiting that long.

Ms Kauser and her family originally flew from Manchester Airport to Turkey, but will now return home to Leeds Bradford Airport, which will add more travel time and expenses to get home to Rochdale.

She said: Leeds Bradford is a lot further from me than Manchester is to Rochdale, where I live.

Its another stress that Ill have to deal with at 4 oclock in the morning.

Ms Kauser also went on holiday with her brother, Imran Ahmed, and his family, who have been forced to stay in Turkey until Saturday after their flight was cancelled an hour before they were due to return to England.

Imran Ahmed and his family will spend an extra six days in Turkey after their flight was cancelled an hour before they were due to fly home (Imran Ahmed)

Mr Ahmed, 46, from Rochdale, travelled with his wife Nazia and his two daughters, Zahra, 12, and Amira, eight, and were due to fly home on Monday, but felt they were left totally in the dark after there were no airline representatives to help with their unexpected cancellation.

The housing officer, who flew to Turkey with easyJet, told PA: Ive never been in this situation before.

There was no rep from the airline.

Travel Republic  the travel operator that we went with  they had nobody there either. We were just left to our own devices.

Though Mr Ahmed had hoped to fly home on Wednesday, he considers himself lucky after finding an easyJet flight to Liverpool Airport on Saturday.

I was lucky I got flights with easyJet without having to pay extra, he said.

Despite their cancelled flight, Mr Ahmed remains positive about the situation.

Imran Ahmed (far left), with his daughters, Amira (left), Zahra, (right) and his wife, Nazia (far right) stuck in Turkey after their flight was cancelled (Imran Ahmed)

He said: Were trying to forget whats happened.

Weve got a date going back home now, so we just want to enjoy the rest of the extended holiday that we have.

Theres no point stressing about it because were here now and we might as well enjoy the days we have in the sun.
British actress Florence Pugh said people are scared of the fact that she is comfortable and happy in her own skin, because keeping women down by commenting on their bodies has worked for a very long time.

Pugh, 27, said she is not afraid to show cellulite on her thigh or squidge in between my arm and my boob and would instead prefer to lay it all out over hiding herself away.

Pugh, who stirred up controversy last year when she wore a sheer pink gown through which her nipples were visible, to a Valentino fashion show, told fellow actress Jodie Turner-Smith for the October issue of Elle UK: I think the scariest thing for me are the instances where people have been upset that Ive shown too much of myself.

Florence Pugh on the cover of Elle UK (Elle UK/Danny Kasirye/PA)

When everything went down with the Valentino pink dress a year ago, my nipples were on display through a piece of fabric, and it really wound people up.

Its the freedom that people are scared of, the fact Im comfortable and happy. Keeping women down by commenting on their bodies has worked for a very long time.

I think were in this swing now where lots of people are saying, I dont give a shit.

Unfortunately, weve become so terrified of the human body that we cant even look at my two little cute nipples behind fabric in a way that isnt sexual.

Pugh said society needs to be continually reminded that there is more than one reason for womens bodies (to exist).

Florence Pugh will receive the British Icon award at the Elle Style Awards on September 5 (Elle UK/Danny Kasirye/PA)

The film star, known for her roles in Midsommar, Little Women and Oppenheimer, said she always wanted to make a bit of a scene with her bold clothing choices.

When I was a teenager I would buy the most outrageous things and sew them together. Ive always loved colour, she said.

When I first started doing red carpets, it was really tough. It takes ages to feel comfortable with 50 men all shouting Picture, over here!

Ive become more confident in the last few years, and I think thats hugely linked to the clothes Ive been wearing.

The more you can enjoy it, the more (people) can see that youre enjoying it.

Florence Pugh arrives for the UK premiere of Oppenheimer (Ian West/PA)

It comes as Pugh is to receive the British Icon award at the Elle Style awards 2023 on September 5.

The actress also said she surrounds herself with those who mock her to avoid the slippery slope of constant approval in the industry.

Having people that can take the piss out of me around me keeps me very real, she added.

Knowing who I am, and who Ive been from the very beginning, has allowed me to feel safe. Theres no grand reveal  its just me. Even in my style, I never wanted there to be a filter.

The actress previously defended the 21-year age gap between her and former partner Zach Braff, a filmmaker and actor best known for playing JD in TV medical comedy Scrubs, after receiving criticism.
Police officers in England and Wales will face automatic dismissal if found guilty of gross misconduct under plans to overhaul the disciplinary process.

Chief constables or other senior officers will have greater powers to root out and sack rogue staff from their forces as part of reforms which will see them again preside over misconduct hearings.

Force bosses will also have the right to challenge decisions, the Home Office said, while law changes will make sure officers who fail vetting checks can be sacked.

The move is a bid to rebuild public trust and confidence in policing after it was shattered by a slew of scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens and the unmasking of former police constable David Carrick as a serial abuser and rapist.

The Home Office carried out a review of the police disciplinary system after the cases.

The Government wants to bring in the changes as soon as possible, with officials hoping they will be in place by next spring, it is understood.

Officials are also looking at creating a list of criminal offences that would automatically amount to gross misconduct on conviction, and are exploring the idea of expanding the rights of police and crime commissioners to challenge disciplinary decisions to make sure chief constables are held to account for their rulings.

Some chief constables welcomed the plans but the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank-and-file officers, said the shake-up was a huge retrograde step during a pivotal moment where we are looking to improve the service and restore public confidence and warned it could see a return to the dark days of kangaroo courts.

Sarah Everards killer Wayne Couzens (Metropolitan Police/PA)

The head of watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) previously warned against making chief constables judge and jury in disciplinary hearings.

Labours shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the reforms were long overdue while Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said it was a disgrace that its taken so long in the first place.

Gavin Stephens, one of Britains most senior officers as chairman of the National Police Chiefs Council, welcomed the sensible plans, telling the PA news agency they will put police chiefs back in control of being able to quickly remove corrupt staff.

Since he took on the role of Metropolitan Police Commissioner last year, Sir Mark Rowley has been pushing for change after estimating there were hundreds of rogue officers in his force, but the rules in place meant he was powerless to dismiss them.

He said: Im grateful to the Government for recognising the need for substantial change that will empower chief officers in our fight to uphold the highest standards and restore confidence in policing.

Disgraced former Pc David Carrick was jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years after carrying out a catalogue of violent and brutal sex attacks between 2003 and 2020 (Hertfordshire Police/PA)

Lawyers known as legally qualified chairs (LQCs) were brought in to oversee police disciplinary panels in 2016 as part of efforts to make the system more transparent, but critics say the system is too slow and senior officers are more likely to sack those found guilty of wrongdoing.

Under the plans unveiled on Thursday, a finding of gross misconduct will automatically result in a police officers dismissal unless exceptional circumstances apply.

The Home Office was unable to explain what would be classed as an exceptional circumstance but confirmed it would be down to the disciplinary panel in the case to decide whether this would exempt an officer from being immediately fired. Officials said work on how the measures would work in practice was still taking place.

Policing minister Chris Philp told Sky News exceptional circumstances is a fairly standard legal phrase and he could not imagine what those would be.

The changes mean rogue officers will have nowhere to hide and the reforms took so long to be announced because the Government had been looking at the matter very carefully, he added.

Independent lawyers will continue to sit on the panel to advise and maintain rigour, but now in a supporting role.

The outcome of the hearings will still be determined by a majority panel decision and they will continue to take place in public.

John Bassett, a barrister representing the National Association of Legally Qualified Chairs, speaking in a personal capacity, said he was disappointed by the proposals and branded them a fudge which do not address the issues.

Defending the current system as an open, transparent and fair process, he warned that without having independent lawyers leading a disciplinary panel, forces would effectively revert to the pre-2016 system or something similar under which police officers or police chiefs are marking their own homework.

But Mr Philp told BBC Breakfast the measures strike the right balance and make sure the process is fair, with officers having the right to appeal to the Police Appeals Tribunal.
The Duke of Sussex has described how returning from his final tour of Afghanistan triggered an unravelling but no-one around me really could help.

Harry, speaking in his new Heart of Invictus docuseries on Netflix, said he did not have a support structure to help him deal with his mental health struggles, which related back to the trauma of losing his mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

The duke, whose troubled relationship with the royal family has long been documented, said the impact of Dianas death when he was 12 was never discussed and he finally sought therapy after lying on the floor in the foetal position.

Heart of Invictus now streaming on @netflix!  Witness the indominable spirit of our wounded warriors yourself at the Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023, from 9-16 September. Feel the power, get your tickets now and stand with these true champions.  https://t.co/vkVSHsY8K3 pic.twitter.com/Bqi0PCaCSy  Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023 (@InvictusGamesDE) August 30, 2023

The five-part documentary, which was launched in the UK at 8am on Wednesday, follows a group of former military servicemen and women on their road to the paralympic-style sporting competition Invictus, which Harry set up in 2014 for injured and sick military personnel and veterans.

In the second episode, entitled Invisible Injuries, Harry tells how he suppressed the trauma of losing his mother in a car crash  the 26th anniversary of which is on Thursday  but his return to the UK from his second frontline tour to Afghanistan in 2012 brought it all back.

I can only speak from my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012, flying Apaches, he said.

Somewhere after that, there was an unravelling.

The trigger to me was actually returning from Afghanistan. But the stuff that was coming up was from the age of, from 1997, from the age of 12.

Harry serving in Afghanistan in 2012 (John Stillwell/PA)

Losing my mom at such a young age, the trauma that I had, I was never really aware of.

It was never discussed. I didnt really talk about it and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done, but then when it all came fizzing out, I was bouncing off the walls. I was like what is going on here? Im now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.

He added: The biggest struggle for me was  no-one around me really could help.

I didnt have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me.

Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you really consider therapy is when youre lying on the floor in the foetal position, probably wishing that youd dealt with some of the stuff previously, and thats what I really want to change.

Harry on the day of Dianas funeral in 1997 (PA)

In a 2017 interview, Harry described how his brother, the now-Prince of Wales, had been a huge support and that William, with whom he has since fallen out, encouraged him to seek help.

The duke made a surprise appearance at a special US preview screening in California of the new five-part Netflix show which has been more than two years in the making.

He emerged to introduce it, telling the audience about the sacrifices that veterans and their families make while serving their country.

The series also charts the story of the Ukrainian team preparing for the competition in The Hague in 2022 against the backdrop of the Russian invasion.

It tells the story of paramedic Yuliia Taira Paievska who was training for the tournament when she was captured and held prisoner by Russian troops.

She was eventually released in the wake of global publicity at The Hague games about her situation.

A poster for Yuliia Paievska at Zuiderpark, The Hague, Netherlands (Aaron Chown/PA)

In the first 45-minute episode, Harry discusses how he never wanted to serve in the armed forces as a father.

The duke, who has two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, is chatting during a hike in California with his friends, former Invictus competitors JJ Chalmers and David Wiseman, and says: Ive always had myself down as being the dad that I could never be serving while having kids. And you both did, right?

Its never the individual signing up  its the whole family signing up.

Interviewed sitting in a chair facing the camera, Harry is asked to describe what he does.

He replies: What do I do? Er on any given day, Im a dad of two under-three-year-olds.

Ive got a couple of dogs. (Im) A husband. Im founding patron of Invictus Games Foundation.

Theres lots of hats that one wears, but I believe today is all about Invictus.

Harry with former competitor JJ Chalmers at the Invictus Games 2016 (Chris Jackson/PA)

The Duchess of Sussex first appears in behind-the-scenes footage from November 2021 when the couple attended the Salute to Freedom gala honouring military veterans in New York.

Harry confides in his wife about his nerves as they walk hand in hand along a red carpet into the event, saying: We havent done this in a while.

Meghan, dressed in a red Carolina Herrera gown, replies: I know.

Harry adds: My heart  Im like (making a noise like a rapid heart beat)  Im nervous.

The duke is shown anxiously pacing around a room as he waits to take to the stage.

We are overwhelmed by the response to #HeartOfInvictus!  If you would like to support the work that the #InvictusGames Foundation does to support the wounded, injured and sick service community year-round then donate via the link below.  Invictus Games Foundation + (@WeAreInvictus) August 30, 2023

Meghan appears only briefly a few times, joining an outdoor group meeting with the couples Archewell staff, and taking to the stage to introduce Harry on the opening night in the Netherlands.

In one episode, Harry is seen with his eyes closed as he takes part in a breathing technique session with Invictus competitors, and, in a good luck video call, he tells Team UK to f****** cry if they feel like it during the tournament.

The duke also takes a night-time diving trip in Hawaii with US competitor Gabriel George where the pair are filmed watching the sea life underwater.

Harry is listed in the credits as an executive producer of the series, which was made in association with Harry and Meghans Archewell Productions.

It is directed by Orlando von Einsiedel and produced by Joanna Natasegara, who worked together on the Oscar-winning short The White Helmets.

Its release day! We could not be more proud of this series and the amazing people behind and in front of the camera. Stream Heart Of Invictus on Netflix now. #HeartOfInvictus @Netflix @GrainMedia https://t.co/YuOTxSpTbR  Violet Films (@VioletFilms) August 30, 2023

Heart of Invictus forms part of the Sussexes multimillion-pound deal with Netflix  with their main output so far being last years controversial Harry & Meghan documentary.

The six-part series last December saw the duke and duchess shed light on their troubled life within the royal family and accuse Kensington Palace of lying at the Megxit summit to protect Harrys brother William, and father Charles, now King.

Meanwhile, the couples other lucrative media deal  with Spotify  ended in June after one season of Meghans podcast Archetypes.

Heart of Invictus has been released in the run-up to next months Invictus Games which begins in Dusseldorf on September 9, with Harry set to travel to Germany for the start of the tournament, and Meghan joining later.
James Cleverly has met senior officials in Beijing in a visit aimed at easing tensions with China but which risks deepening divisions in the Conservative Party.

The Foreign Secretary said the UK was clear-eyed that China was not going to change overnight.

He also insisted the visit would allow him to have tough conversations with the Chinese on issues including repression in Hong Kong, and human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.

In a face-to-face meeting with Vice President Han Zheng, who played a leading role in the anti-democracy crackdown in Hong Kong, Mr Cleverly said regular meetings are important to enhance understanding and to avoid misunderstanding.

In the first visit by a UK foreign secretary to China for five years, Mr Cleverly told him they will address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries have in bilateral relations.

The meeting comes amid speculation that Rishi Sunak could hold talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next week in the latest sign of thawing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The Prime Minister refused to be drawn on whether he would meet his counterpart at the event, saying his schedule had not yet been finalised, but pointed to the Foreign Secretarys visit as an entirely sensible approach.

Its perfectly possible to engage with China at the same time as being very robust in standing up for our interests and our values, he told broadcasters during a visit to a police station in London on Wednesday.

But Mr Cleverlys visit has been criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches, who want a tougher line against a state which has sanctioned several British MPs and peers for speaking out about human rights violations.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith compared the Governments approach to the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Engaging with China doesnt mean that we shy away from the tough conversations. Its about voicing our concerns directly  face to face. Thats why Im here. pic.twitter.com/Ik5D3Jl5bw  James Cleverly (@JamesCleverly) August 30, 2023

The Foreign Secretary said that he had spoken to Chinese officials about human rights, amid concerns about the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang province.

Ive had a number of conversations with senior representatives of the Chinese government, and I have raised human rights in every single one of those meetings and I will continue to do so, he told broadcasters.

This will continue to be an area of discussion that I bring up alongside other areas, and Im not going to change my posture on that.

And I think the Chinese government understand the UK is consistent in our approach. I am consistent in my approach and I will keep raising these issues with the Chinese government.

He added: The UK, I, am clear-eyed  that we are not going to change China overnight.

Were certainly not going to do it in any one individual meeting.

But it is important that we maintain regular dialogue, regular lines of communication.

Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns said she had spoken to Mr Cleverly before his visit and urged him to pressure the Chinese on human rights concerns.

The Foreign Secretarys visit is an opportunity to bring to an end two decades of failed deterrence. To make clear defence is not an escalation, and we wont tolerate transnational intimidation. But the visit needs to achieve outcomes in Britains interests  we await them. https://t.co/Hi6evrHfzd  Alicia Kearns MP (@aliciakearns) August 30, 2023

Im very hopeful that he will land those points about transnational repression. We all know we are seeing increased espionage on British shores and we are also seeing appalling human rights abuses against the Uighur, the Tibetans and many more, the senior Tory said.

It is absolutely important that Britain has a role in the Pacific where we make clear that we will stand up for the rule of law, for human rights and for self-determination.

Ms Kearns told Sky News that Mr Sunak should absolutely meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping if the opportunity arises because that is how you prevent and deconflict potential issues.

She said Mr Cleverlys visit is an opportunity to bring to an end two decades of failed deterrence and to make clear defence is not an escalation, and we wont tolerate transnational intimidation.

Mr Cleverly, left, attends a meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, right, in Beijing (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)

But the visit needs to achieve outcomes in Britains interests  we await them.

Her committee has published a report which recognises the activities of the Chinese Communist Party as a threat to the UK and its interests and that the behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party is currently characterised by increased aggression towards the UK.

The cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee called on the Government to publish an unclassified version of its China strategy to ensure cross-Whitehall coherence on the approach to Beijing, and for all relevant ministers to be briefed on the classified version of the document.

The MPs said the Government should have had a policy of zero tolerance of transnational repression which has seen the Chinese authorities seek to carry out repression of dissidents in countries including the UK.

It should now announce a clear policy of zero tolerance of transnational repression and be prepared to expel any foreign diplomats who engage in intimidation of, or physical attacks on, British citizens or those who seek refuge on UK shore, the committee said.

 Weve released our new report  Tilting horizons: the Integrated Review and the Indo-Pacific.  Read it here: https://t.co/UHrD2W5SQz pic.twitter.com/0ILIOwkFep  Foreign Affairs Committee (@CommonsForeign) August 30, 2023

If the Government is unwilling to defend its own people at home, and those seeking safety, it will lose all credibility at claims or attempts to deter autocracies and aggression abroad.

The MPs also called for the Government to intensify efforts to discourage the use of Chinese technologies such as surveillance cameras which are capable of being used for remote data harvesting by Beijings security services.

The report also said the Government has failed to take adequate action to protect against the risk of Beijing using economic coercion by targeting strategically critical industries which rely on Chinese technology or investment.

On the disputed island of Taiwan, the committee said the UK should put in place an effective policy of deterrence diplomacy towards Beijing to protect the Taiwanese right to self-determination.
Violence at the Notting Hill Carnival shows the need for police and the courts to be given tougher powers to tackle so-called zombie knives and machetes, Rishi Sunak has said.

Eight people were stabbed at the event in west London on Monday and Mr Sunak said it was a good illustration of the need to act on knife crime.

There were 275 arrests across the two days of the carnival, with 165 arrests on Monday for a range of offences including possession of offensive weapons, assaults on police officers, possession of drugs and sexual offences.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described every life lost to knife crime as a tragedy (Justin Tallis/PA)

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he was worried about the use of weapons at the Notting Hill Carnival but stressed that the majority of people who attended had had a fantastic time.

The Government has announced plans to ban more zombie knives  which have fearsome-looking long blades  and machetes with no practical use, with police given more powers to seize and destroy them.

The maximum sentence for the importation, manufacturing, possession and sale of these newly proscribed weapons will be two years, the Home Office said.

A new offence will also be introduced for possessing bladed articles with the intention to endanger life or cause fear of violence.

 Cutting crime saves lives. pic.twitter.com/bVhdow3KVS  Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) August 30, 2023

The Government said the measures, first proposed in April, would be legislated when Parliament allows following a public consultation.

The Notting Hill Carnival was marred by violence on Monday, with images and footage of people brandishing weapons posted on social media.

Speaking to reporters at Kilburn police station in north-west London, Mr Sunak said: Im grateful to the police for all their efforts to ensure the safety of the carnival and its a good illustration of why we need to take action.

Thats why we consulted on these measures earlier in the year. Thats why weve spoken to the police to hear first-hand from them what do they need to keep reducing knife crime, and todays powers will help them do that.

That will build on the progress weve made. Knife crime is already down since pre-pandemic levels but every life lost to knife crime is a tragedy.

The Prime Minister inspected some of the weapons together with the commissioner during his visit in Kilburn.

The Scotland Yard chief said: About 60% of our murders in London are knife enabled, and probably two-thirds of those are zombie knives and machetes.

These are ghastly weapons doing awful damage on the streets of London.

Mr Sunak said he was grateful to police for their efforts to ensure the safety of the carnival (Justin Tallis/PA)

Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for 2024s London mayoral election, has called for the Notting Hill Carnival to be moved from its traditional home on the streets of west London to an area where it could be better policed.

But Sir Mark said that was not a decision for him, adding: Were not the organisers of the carnival. Its an amazing community event with over a million people attending and its got such a fantastic heritage.

We will be reviewing whats gone on with the organisers and looking at what more can be done to improve safety, and what more can be done to help keep away the small number of very dangerous people who turn up there.

But youve got a million people there turning up and having a fantastic time.

Weve got to be careful how we refer to it. But I am worried about the weapons and the incidents we saw.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the Tories had been slow to tackle the issue of zombie knives.

This is the sixth time in seven years that the Conservatives have promised to outlaw zombie knives, she said.

Time and again the Tories have been hopelessly weak and slow to tackle this serious and dangerous crime.
The chief constable of the PSNI has no option but to resign following a court judgment which said a decision to discipline junior police officers over an incident at a Troubles memorial event in Belfast was unlawful, a DUP Policing Board member has said.

Trevor Clarke said Simon Byrne has lost the confidence of officers, politicians and the public.

However, Sinn Fein has said the court judgment is a matter for the PSNI.

A special meeting of the Policing Board has been called for Thursday to discuss the latest crisis to hit the force.

High Court judge Mr Justice Scoffield ruled this week that the decision was made to discipline the officers to allay any threat of Sinn Fein abandoning its support for policing in Northern Ireland.

The incident happened on the Ormeau Road in February 2021 during a service marking the anniversary of the February 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers attack in which five people were murdered.

Mr Byrne said he accepted the findings of the court but added that neither officer has been disciplined to date.

The ruling has prompted further criticism of Mr Byrne, who is already under pressure following revelations of data breaches this month.

Mr Clarke, the DUPs lead representative on the Policing Board, said it is difficult to see what credibility the chief constable has left.

He told the BBC Good Morning Ulster programme: Where a judge has said a chief constable is prepared to sacrifice his young officers, how can the chief constable or anyone else expect anyones support after that?

I spoke to the chief executive of the Policing Board yesterday asking for a meeting with the chief constable, but we are at the stage now that it is difficult to see any credibility that the chief constable has left.

Trevor Clarke said Mr Byrne has lost the confidence of his officers, the public and politicians (Liam McBurney/PA)

I think if he was making that decision today, he would make that decision himself.

Asked if he is calling for Mr Byrne to resign, Mr Clarke said: It is clear the officers dont have confidence and now politicians dont have confidence, and clearly the public wont have confidence, so I think if you work out the consequences from that, the only option open to Simon is to resign at this stage.

The chief constable has said, and the counsel for the chief constable has said, he was guided by their (Sinn Fein) threat to leave the (Policing) Board.

There is nothing to prevent me or anyone else speaking to the officers of the police, but they shouldnt be held by threats by us or anyone else on the basis of our support for policing.

Clearly Sinn Fein has used conditional support and the chief constable has read into that and made a decision based on that.

A Sinn Fein spokesperson said: The arrest of a victim who was shot during the 1992 Sean Grahams Bookies massacre at a commemoration was appalling.

A small number of members from families of the victims gathered on the Ormeau Road in February 2021 to remember their loved ones and call for the publication of a delayed Police Ombudsmans report into their murders by a loyalist gang.

Sinn Fein very publicly raised our concerns with the Chief Constable and senior police officers on the treatment of victims and their families.

The courts ruling on the suspension of two police officers following this incident is a matter for the PSNI.

UUP leader Doug Beattie has called for an urgent meeting with the chief constable (Liam McBurney/PA)

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie has asked for an urgent meeting with Mr Byrne, while TUV leader Jim Allister said the chief constable should resign.

SDLP Policing Board member Mark H Durkan said serious issues with policing had been exposed.

He added: The chief constable, the Policing Board and all of us with an interest in securing the new beginning to policing must act urgently to address this situation.

The two officers faced action in 2021 following the arrest of Mark Sykes, a survivor of a loyalist gun attack on the Sean Graham bookmakers shop in south Belfast in 1992.

The controversial incident unfolded when police challenged those attending a memorial event amid suspicions the size of the public gathering breached coronavirus regulations.

Mr Sykes was handcuffed and arrested in chaotic exchanges captured on social media.

The incident triggered a major controversy at the time, and sparked criticism of Mr Byrne.

Mr Byrne apologised for the PSNIs handling of the event and it was announced that one officer was to be suspended and one repositioned.

Following a legal challenge by the Police Federation, Mr Justice Scoffield said: Both the deputy chief constable and the chief constable were acutely aware of the threat of Sinn Fein withdrawing support for policing and/or withdrawing from the Policing Board if immediate action was not taken in respect of the officers duty status.

Simon Byrne has accepted the findings of the court (Liam McBurney/PA)

It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the pressure so exerted was, in large measure, a result of a wholly separate and unrelated incident which was wrongly conflated with the actions of the applicants in the incident in which they were involved.

In a statement in response to the courts findings on Tuesday, Mr Byrne said the incident was difficult for everyone.

He added: Those paying their respects at a memorial event, the young officers who attended on behalf of the police service, and for the public who observed the footage of an incident which happened shortly afterwards which circulated across media platforms.

As chief constable, I accept the findings of the court.

In particular that there was a legal error in the way in which the public interest test was applied in deciding to suspend one officer and reposition another, rendering the action unlawful.

It is important however to clarify that neither officer has been disciplined to date.

This judgment relates to the decision to suspend one officer and reposition another whilst the Police Ombudsman conducted an investigation following a public complaint.

We will of course take time to carefully consider the full judgment to ensure any lessons are learnt to prevent any future recurrence.
A retired chief superintendent told the Sheku Bayoh inquiry that racism can manifest itself in Police Scotland and hate crime is often underreported in society.

Garry McEwan, who oversaw policing in Fife at the time of Mr Bayohs death on May 3, 2015, was asked by senior counsel Angela Grahame KC if he had witnessed racism while working for Police Scotland.

It followed extracts read by Ms Grahame from a letter sent to Mr McEwan by the Fife Islamic Centre.

The letter, sent shortly after Mr Bayohs death, cited concerns that police did not act responsibly while responding to the incident which resulted in his death.

The letter was sent at the request of the father of Zahid Saeed  a close friend of Mr Bayoh, whose property was one of five places investigated by police shortly after the latters death.

Sheku Bayohs sister Kadi Johnson takes part in the Resist Racism Scotland rally in George Square, Glasgow, in March 2023 (Lesley Martin/PA)

In the letter, the Islamic Centre sought a meeting with police to safeguard safety of our Muslim community as soon as possible.

Mr McEwan, 52, said he spent between 10 and 15 years investigating allegations of racism within Police Scotlands ranks and had to sack members of staff for racist behaviour.

He cited an example where an officer had shared or posted a racist meme on social media, which led to their dismissal.

Mr McEwan told the inquiry that the number of instances where action had to be taken against Police Scotland staff who displayed racist behaviour was low.

Asked by Ms Grahame if he had any concerns of racism within Police Scotland ranks being underreported, he said: I dont have any evidence of it.

I suspect there will be because what my experience has told me, not in the police but across society, is that there is underreporting of hate-related incidents and/or crime, so why would that not manifest itself in a huge organisation like Police Scotland?

Ms Grahame then asked him if the methods for reporting racism within the police may have hampered reporting of racially discriminatory behaviour.

He replied: I cant think of any technological or cultural issues that would hamper the reporting.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr McEwan said he felt it would have been wholly inappropriate if police officers had made statements shortly after Mr Bayohs death.

Officers were under legal advice not to give any initial statement, however a member of the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) had suggested officers involved in the case could have done so on the grounds that it is within their standards of professional behaviour.

The inquiry also heard that police looked into reports on social media concerning alleged police brutality.

Mr McEwan said that while he cant recall exactly, he was aware that there was certainly stuff ongoing on social media.

Lawyer Aamer Anwar, pictured earlier this year, with members of Sheku Bayohs family arriving at Capital House in Edinburgh for the public inquiry into his death (Dan Barker/PA)

Ms Grahame also cited Mr Bayohs familys concern that they had little contact with PIRC and received little information from them.

PIRC is responsible for investigating complaints by members of the public against Police Scotland.

Ms Grahame also spoke of a police officer who claimed he was quite upset after striking Mr Bayoh on the head with his baton a number of times.

Mr McEwan said: Im trying to deconflict what I knew a few months ago to what I knew eight years ago.

So Im not entirely clear to be honest with you.

The inquiry, before Lord Bracadale, continues.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said the UK is clear-eyed that China will not change overnight, as he finished meetings with senior officials in Beijing in a visit aimed at easing tensions with the Asian power.

The trip has faced criticism from some senior Conservatives, but Mr Cleverly insisted that a pragmatic relationship was necessary to tackle major global issues such as climate change.

He also insisted that the visit would allow tough conversations with the Chinese on issues including repression in Hong Kong, and human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.

Its an important country, its a large country and influential country, and a complicated country. And therefore our relationship with China will necessarily be just as complicated and sophisticated, the Foreign Secretary told broadcasters.

We are clear-eyed about the areas where we have fundamental disagreements with China. And I raise those issues when we meet.

But I think its important we also recognise that we have to have a pragmatic, sensible working relationship with China, because of the issues that affect us all around the globe.

In a face-to-face meeting with vice president Han Zheng, who played a leading role in the anti-democracy crackdown in Hong Kong, Mr Cleverly said regular meetings were important to enhance understanding and to avoid misunderstanding.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverlys visit was criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)

In the first visit by a UK foreign secretary to China for five years, Mr Cleverly told Mr Han they would address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries have in bilateral relations.

He also met his counterpart Wang Yi during the trip.

But Mr Cleverlys visit has been criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches, who want a tougher line against a state which has sanctioned several British MPs and peers for speaking out about human rights violations.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith compared the Governments approach to the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

The meeting comes amid speculation that Rishi Sunak could hold talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next week in the latest sign of thawing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The Prime Minister refused to be drawn on whether he would meet his counterpart at the event, saying his schedule had not yet been finalised, but pointed to the Foreign Secretarys visit as an entirely sensible approach.

Its perfectly possible to engage with China at the same time as being very robust in standing up for our interests and our values, he said on Wednesday.

Mr Cleverly said that he had spoken to Chinese officials about human rights, amid concerns about the treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang province.

Ive had a number of conversations with senior representatives of the Chinese government, and I have raised human rights in every single one of those meetings and I will continue to do so, he told broadcasters.

This will continue to be an area of discussion that I bring up alongside other areas, and Im not going to change my posture on that.

And I think the Chinese government understand the UK is consistent in our approach. I am consistent in my approach and I will keep raising these issues with the Chinese government.

In Beijing, I challenged China on Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Jimmy Lai and the treatment of UK Parliamentarians. But we cannot just ignore China on everything else. We have got to work with China on the issues that will impact us all. pic.twitter.com/h3y4xfob2s  James Cleverly (@JamesCleverly) August 30, 2023

He added: The UK, I, am clear-eyed  that we are not going to change China overnight.

Were certainly not going to do it in any one individual meeting.

But it is important that we maintain regular dialogue, regular lines of communication.

Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns said she had spoken to Mr Cleverly before his visit and urged him to pressure the Chinese on human rights concerns.

Im very hopeful that he will land those points about transnational repression. We all know we are seeing increased espionage on British shores and we are also seeing appalling human rights abuses against the Uighur, the Tibetans and many more, the senior Tory said.

It is absolutely important that Britain has a role in the Pacific where we make clear that we will stand up for the rule of law, for human rights and for self-determination.

Her committee, the cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee, has called on the Government to publish an unclassified version of its China strategy to ensure cross-Whitehall coherence on the approach to Beijing, and for all relevant ministers to be briefed on the classified version of the document.

 Today we published our report Tilting horizons: the Integrated Review and the Indo-Pacific The report calls for the Government to publish an unclassified version of its China Strategy. Read more https://t.co/O2XH1mQhNL pic.twitter.com/9JmtAp2RrQ  Foreign Affairs Committee (@CommonsForeign) August 30, 2023

The MPs also called for the Government to intensify efforts to discourage the use of Chinese technologies such as surveillance cameras which are capable of being used for remote data harvesting by Beijings security services.

The report also said the Government had failed to take adequate action to protect against the risk of Beijing using economic coercion by targeting strategically critical industries which rely on Chinese technology or investment.

On the disputed island of Taiwan, the committee said the UK should put in place an effective policy of deterrence diplomacy towards Beijing to protect the Taiwanese right to self-determination.

The Foreign Office said that Mr Cleverly had raised a range of issues, including concerns about Hong Kong and Xinjiang, as well as sanctions against UK MPs, during his meetings.

The Foreign Secretary also made clear the UK position on key geopolitical issues including the conflict in Ukraine, the situation in North Korea and nuclear non-proliferation.

They agreed on the potential of AI to unlock huge opportunities but stressed the need for global co-ordination to mitigate risks and put protections in place, the readout said.
The Las Vegas blind date stabber shared new details with the police about her unusual crime.

23-year-old Nika Nikoubin said that when she was stabbing her date, she thought she was Salma Hayek's character in "From Dusk Till Dawn."

Las Vegas Blind Date Stabber Shares New Details to Police

According to The New York Post's latest report, Nikoubin is a Texas student who has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

On Tuesday, Aug. 29, she decided to share what was on her mind when the stabbing incident happened, saying that she was in a very manic state of mind when she stabbed Daniel Trevino.

"I essentially looked in the mirror and I thought, 'This actress is hot,' thinking I'm Salma Hayek from the 'Dusk Till Dawn' movie, and I was hallucinating," said the college student.

She added that she was seeing a snake around her shoulders during that moment, which is a reference to the 1996 horror film.

For those who are not familiar with the character that Nika was talking about, she was referring to Salma Hayek's character, Santanico Pandemonium.

In the horror movie, Santanico was described as the most sinister woman to ever dance on the face of the planet, as explained by The People.

Read Also: UNC-Chapel Hill Shooting: Shooter's Motive Puzzles Police; What We Know So Far About the Suspect

Why Nikoubin Stabbed Her Las Vegas Date

The Daily Mail UK reported that Nikoubin stabbed her date because she wanted to avenge a top Iranian general who was killed by a U.S. drone strike.

The incident happened when Nika met her victim via the Plenty of Fish dating app. After that, they decided to meet for sexual intercourse at the Sunset Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Little did her date know that something horrible would happen to him on March 5, 2022. During their intimate moment, Nikoubin decided to blindfold her date then stab him in the neck.

However, Nika wasn't sent to jail after pleading for probation. She argued that she was traumatized after allegedly being raped at college.

"At the time, I did not fully realize the impact that this experience had on me and my mental health deteriorated," said Nikoubin.

As of writing, she is sentenced to a 3-year probation. You can click here to learn more about the unusual blind date stabbing case of the Texas college student.

Related Article: Maryland Teen Stabbed to Death by Another Teenager at Washington McDonald's Over Sauce Dispute

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The UK will launch a series of education initiatives in Rwanda during a three-day visit by a Foreign Office minister.

Andrew Mitchell will announce two measures aimed at strengthening education in Rwanda.

Under the UKs new Girls in Rwanda Learn (Girl) programme, he will sign a seven-year partnership with Unicef that focuses on keeping girls in school who are at risk of dropping out, and supporting children with disabilities.

He is also expected to launch the British Councils Digital Library, which is part of the UKs efforts to make educational resources available to all.

Access to the library will be free for 12 months and provides more than 80,000 resources.

Mr Mitchell said: During my visit to Rwanda, I will explore the depth and breadth of our relationship.

Our two countries continue to work together on a range of issues important to both nations and the region, including climate change and women and girls education.

The long-term partnership between the UK and Rwanda is underpinned by our support to help eradicate poverty, educate children, especially girls, and provide British expertise to improve the delivery of public services for all.

Mr Mitchell will see the impact of British Investment Partnerships in Rwanda, visiting a water treatment plant that is part of a joint venture between British International Investment (BII) and Metito.

High-level discussions will also take place with President Paul Kagame and minister of foreign affairs Vincent Biruta, focusing on bilateral relations and regional issues.

Mr Mitchell will also attend Rwandas annual gorilla naming ceremony, Kwita Izina, to highlight conservation efforts.

The Foreign Office says the UKs dedication to Rwandas development will be further highlighted at the UK-African Investment Summit in London in April 2024.

In April 2022, the UK and Rwanda agreed a Migration and Economic Development Partnership, which includes a five-year asylum partnership arrangement.

However, nobody has yet been sent to Rwanda amid ongoing legal challenges, although the High Court upheld the overall lawfulness of the policy in December 2022.
A composite image, right, of 1974 murder victim nicknamed the Lady of the Dunes was created as authorities attempted for years to ID her - before the FBI on Monay announced the victim as Ruth Marie Terry (Getty/FBI/Provincetown Police Dept)

There is a desolate beauty to the dunes near the very edge of Cape Cod, where the windswept shores are battered by the Atlantic and little more than scrub brush and trees can survive. It was here where an adolescent girl and a dog found a body, the head nearly severed and hands gone, on a July day in 1974.

The discovery by Provincetown, Massachusetts, set off a mystery that captivated investigators for decades, the victim earning the elegant moniker The Lady of The Dunes as her identity remained unknown  until last year. The FBI announced in October 2022 that shed been identified as Ruth Marie Terry, a 37-year-old woman from Tennessee, who until that moment had been the oldest unidentified homicide victim in Massachusetts.

Authorities held a press conference last year just hours after notifying Ms Terrys relatives, setting off a cascade of new revelations  first, the identification of her then-husband as a prime suspect, and now, this week, the confirmation that he was, in fact, her killer. With the announcement that Guy Rockwell Muldavin had taken the life of The Lady of the Dunes, the case was officially closed.

It marked the end of a macabre puzzle that has drawn the fascination of countless armchair sleuths for half a century, the case combining all the elements of a blockbuster murder mystery: A postcard-perfect location. A headless corpse. An avalanche of questions. And even, it turned out, possible Hollywood connections.

It all began on 26 July 1974, when 12-year-old Leslie Metcalfe and her family were visiting the Cape Cod National Seashore. A dog with the group caught a scent and Leslie followed it; the dog started barking. Thats when Leslie spotted what she initially thought was a dead dear. She soon realized it was a human. She raised the alert and the crime scene would turn out to be particularly gruesome.

Tennessee woman Ruth Marie Terry, 37, has been identified as the Lady of the Dunes, a Jane Doe found in 1974 in Cape Cod (FBI)

The decomposing body, which had been dead for up to several weeks, was that of a woman. Her reddish brown mane secured with a gold-flecked hair tie. Her head had nearly been severed. Both hands and one forearm were missing. The womans skull had been bashed in and she was naked but resting on a towel, her head placed on a pair of folded-up Wrangler jeans and a blue bandana.

Investigators determined that the woman was between about 20 and 40, 56 to 58, and weighed approximately 145 pounds. Her toenails were painted pink and she had expensive dental work that authorities valued at up to $10,000 and described as being in the New-York style of the time.

The fatal injury was her crushed skull, investigators found, and it was believed to be caused by a military-style entrenching tool. The removal of the victims hands was thought to be an attempt by the killer to hide the victims identity, their own or both.

There were no defensive wounds on the body, indicating that shed either known her killer or been asleep at the time of the fatal attack.

Warren Tobias, retired acting police chief in Provincetown, has said the victim was definitely posed in her dunes location.

She was lying out on a beach towel as if she was sunbathing, he told People in 2018.

Detectives combed missing persons records and appealed for information, but there were no fruitful leads or IDs. In October of 1974, the Jane Doe -- who would eventually come to be called The Lady of the Dunes -- was buried in St Peters Cemetery in Provincetown, where her headstone still reads: Unidentified Female Doe. Found Race Point Dunes. July 26, 1976.

Ruth Marie Terry was found on 26 July 1974 in the dunes of Provincetown at the edge of Cape Cod; her head had been nearly severed and she was missing both hands (FBI)

The complete inability to determine the Ladys identity frustrated investigators for years as law enforcement regimes changed and new detectives threw themselves at the case while those who initially worked it kept digging even after retirement.

The body was exhumed in 1980 so blood samples could be taken. It was exhumed again in 2000 to see if it matched that of a woman who came forward as possibly the mother of the victim, the Cape Cod Times reported.

A clay model has been made of the womans head, and age-regression drawings were completed in 2006, the publication noted.

In 2010, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created an even more advanced composite 3D image. None of that yielded answers.

In 2018, retired chief Tobias theorised that the victim could have been from a foreign country or had no family, given that decades had passed without her identification.

As last years FBI announcement would prove, the Lady of the Dunes turned out to be from the States.

She was born in Tennessee in 1936, FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph Bonavolonta said at the time. Ruth was a daughter, sister, aunt, wife, and mother. Investigators have also determined that in addition to Tennessee, she had ties to California, Massachusetts, and Michigan.

Investigators have described Ruth Marie Terry as a daughter, sister, aunt, wife and mother (FBI)

He said the FBI had only received notification one week earlier that her identity had been confirmed using forensic geneaology, which combines the use of DNA analysis with traditional genealogy research, and historical records, to generate investigative leads for unsolved violent crimes.

Her identification set investigators feverishly to work, delving into the life of Ms Terry and anyone who might have had reason to kill her. Their efforts were seemingly matched by the theorizing of armchair detectives and online sleuths.

One of the most high-profile threads of speculation actually stemmed from the son of King of Horror Stephen King himself. Author Joe Hill, one of Mr Kings three children, created a viral firestorm in 2015 when he spotted a woman in a scene from Jaws dressed almost exactly like the Lady of the Dunes.

The Steven Spielberg blockbuster, which hit theaters in 1975, was filming around a similar time about 100 miles away from Provincetown on Marthas Vineyard. It was the talk of the Cape and the Islands that whole summer.

It is impossible to say with complete precision when they filmed the July 4th - Crowd Arrives sequence, which is where this shot appears, Mr Hill wrote on his Tumblr. But we know it was almost certainly shot in June, because they filmed all the on island scenes they could early. The water was too cold for swimming, and the malfunctioning shark wasnt ready for the at sea material until late July.

Another picture of the #ladyofthedunes alongside the extra from #JAWS. Hair color is different. The rest? Well, see for yourself.



They might not be the same person... but I also think one has to admit they might be. pic.twitter.com/pLpBzNbAMP  Joe Hill (@joe_hill) November 1, 2022

We also know the Lady of the Dunes was alive in June and that the filming of JAWS was a big deal locally. Lots of folks turned up to try and get a peek at the stars, or the shark, or to see if they could sneak into a shot, he continued

The hypothesis took off online and even spurred one showbusiness journalist to hunt down records for Jaws extras, to no avail; the films casting director has passed away.

Following Ms Terrys identification, Mr Hill again raised the issue with denizens of the internet, tweeting out a screenshot of the woman in Jaws and the image of Ruth Marie Terry.

What do you think, Twitter? he asked, as users began scrutinizing everything from the pictured womens jawlines to hair.

Mr Hill himself remained on the fence.

My opinion: Maybe, he tweeted last year. Probably not? But maybe. The facial similarities are there -- so is the way she holds her shoulders. But the hair is really quite different, and I wonder if the woman in the #JAWS photo is too young.

Then he seemed to reconsider, tweeting out other side-by-side images and writing: Hair color is different. The rest? Well, see for yourself. They might not be the same person... but I also think one has to admit they might be.

This week, Mr Hill posted a link to the news that Muldavin had been confirmed as the killer, adding no further comment of his own on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.

As amateur detectives around the world pore over pictures and details, authorities threw themselves into learning about Ms Terrys life and connections  quickly identifying as a suspect the man shed married shortly before her death, Guy Rockwell Muldavin.

It turned out that, not only was Muldavin  who died in 2002  the prime suspect in Ms Terrys death, but he was also the main focus of investigations into the death of a previous wife and a stepdaughter in Seattle in the 1960s.

Ms Terry was found murdered in Provincetown during the same summer that Jaws was filming around the Cape and Islands (FBI)

And investigations into his married to Ms Terry raised more and more flags. Theyd married in either 1973 or 1974, then travelled after their wedding, stopping in Tennessee to see Ms Terrys family, Cape & Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois said Monday in a statement.

Through investigative efforts, the Massachusetts State Police learned that Ms Terry and Mr Muldavin travelled during the summer of 1974, he continued. When Mr. Muldavin returned from that trip, he was driving what was believed to be Ms. Terrys vehicle and indicated to witnesses that Ms. Terry had passed away. Ms. Terry was never seen by her family again.

Ms Terrys brother tried to find his sister with Mr Muldavin only stating that they had a fight during their honeymoon, and he had not heard from his wife again.

Marking the end of a haunting chapter in the Capes history, he said authorities had determined that Mr Muldavin was responsible for Ms Terrys death in 1974  going on to extend his condolences to The Lady of the Dunes family and to thank the law enforcement and forensic scientists who dedicated their efforts into the identification of Ms Terry and the identification of her killer.

He reaffirmed the Capes authorities to investigate any other unsolved cases, though perhaps its most famous Jane Doe can finally find peace.

The victims, he said, are never forgotten.
A driver who dozed off at the wheel was rescued after his car plunged into a canal in Thailand.

Wattana Lorkhemsap, 28, was headed to a temple in Chachoengsao province early on Monday (28 August) to pray when he fell asleep while driving.

His white Mitsubishi careened off the road and fell into the canal, shocking other road users who quickly called the police.

The driver was jammed in his seat due to the water pressure, so the rescue crew used an axe to smash open the windscreen and pull him to safety, according to authorities.

He has been taken to hospital for treatment.
Erika Jaynes Vegas showgirl dreams may get overshadowed by some legal drama.

The TV personality, who recently launched her Las Vegas residency Bet It All On Blonde, was sued by costume merchant Christopher Psaila for her alleged involvement in a fraud scheme against Psaila in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Tuesday, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.

In the multimillion-dollar lawsuit, Psaila  co-founder of costumer Marco Marco  alleges that Jayne, along with a group of Secret Service agents and credit card company American Express, conspired to maliciously prosecute him in April 2017 for alleged wire fraud and identity theft on the claim that Psaila defrauded Jayne by charging her American Express card with false charges for goods and services totaling $800,000 to $900,000.

Psaila claims "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star gave him and his business permission to charge her credit card for costumes and services Marco Marco provided for her performances dating back to 2014.

Jayne and estranged husband Tom Girardi allegedly weaponized the Secret Service, per Psailas filing, by soliciting and bribing agent Robert Savage to launch a federal criminal investigation against Psaila instead of scrutinizing his business dispute with Jayne.

The lawsuit also states that Jayne and Girardi enlisted American Express in their alleged fraud scheme, with Psaila alleging the company failed to investigate Jaynes claim of unauthorized charges and refunded the couple nearly $800,000.

Tom Girardi was going bankrupt and used client settlement funds from his law firm, Girardi Keese, to pay for his and Erika (Jaynes) extravagant lifestyle and personal bills, the complaint states. Thus, both Erika (Jayne) and Tom Girardi had a compelling reason to illegally claim that Chris Psaila and Marco Marco had defrauded them.

Erika Jayne: TV personality, Tom Girardi accused of 'sham' divorce announcement to hide from embezzlement lawsuit

Erika Jayne is being accused of having involvement in a fraud scheme with Secret Service agents and credit card company American Express.

USA TODAY has reached out to Jaynes representative for comment.

Although the charges against Psaila were dismissed in September 2021, Psaila claims the legal ordeal brought on by Jaynes fraud allegations caused him to suffer extreme emotional distress, financial harm to his business, Marco Marco, and extreme emotional, psychological, and physical injuries.

While facing false federal credit card fraud charges for nearly five years, Hollywood costume merchant Christopher Psailas business was nearly destroyed and his life was devastated, Psailas attorneys said in a press release. Mr. Psailas business lost clients, retailers, and employees, resulting in lost profits and goodwill totaling tens of millions of dollars.

Psaila is seeking a minimum of $18.2 million in damages and a jury trial.

Tom Girardi: Disgraced lawyer, ex of 'RHOBH' star Erika Jayne, indicted on fraud charges

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Erika Jayne accused of fraud scheme with Secret Service in new lawsuit
Kyle Sexton was 16 years old when he died on the back porch of his familys home in Fort Worth.

He had taken what he thought was a pain pill, given to him by a friend. Instead, he took a fake Percocet laced with fentanyl.

The teenagers death in 2020 devastated his family, but also left his mother, Stephanie Hellstern, feeling a potent lack of justice. Who would be held accountable for making the poisoned counterfeit pill? Did the person who sold Kyle the pill know it had fentanyl in it? Did they leave her son to die on the floor instead of helping him?

Since Kyles death, a staggering surge in fentanyl-related overdoses across Tarrant County has left hundreds more families asking the same painful questions. In 2019, only 15 people died from fentanyl intoxication in Tarrant and three neighboring counties. That number had skyrocketed nearly 1,400% by 2022, when fentanyl was cited in 224 deaths, according to a Star-Telegram analysis of medical examiner records.

In all, at least 672 people as young as 14 have accidentally died from fentanyl since 2019 in Tarrant, Denton, Parker and Johnson counties.







Flourish Studio

As Hellstern grieved her son, she talked with policy advocates and learned about laws in other states that allow drug-related deaths to be prosecuted as murders.

And I was like, why doesnt Texas have that? Hellstern said. Texas is an eye for an eye state.

Stephanie Hellstern speaks to Gov. Greg Abbott following a press conference to discuss the fentanyl crisis on Feb. 15, 2022. Hellsterns son, Kyle Sexton, 16, died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2020.

Dozens of other parents joined Hellstern in a campaign for Texas to adopt such legislation. Three years later, in June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a drug-induced homicide law, which goes into effect Sept. 1.

Texas law enforcement and district attorneys say they intend to use the new law to send a strong message to dealers. But some experts say the new law will do more harm than good. And families of the dead are grappling with mixed feelings.

We need to look at both sides of this. Yes, we want this to stop children from dying, Hellstern said. But on the other hand, nothing will bring our kids back.

What is drug-induced homicide in Texas?

Drug-induced homicide laws already exist in at least 25 states. The Texas law says someone who knowingly gives fentanyl to a person who overdosed could be charged with murder. It applies only to deaths after Sept. 1.

Texas Rep. Craig Goldman of Fort Worth, who sponsored the legislation under House Bill 6, said his family has been personally impacted by the fentanyl crisis. He had spoken with district attorneys and law enforcement across the state and asked them, What is the strongest law we could pass to benefit first and foremost law enforcement to punish these people who are bringing fentanyl into the state?

They told him current laws didnt have enough teeth to go after big distributors.

In June, Abbott also signed Senate Bill 645, which creates harsher penalties for fentanyl distribution and possession. The penalty for possessing or selling more than 4 grams of fentanyl will be a first-degree felony that carries a sentence of 10 years to life. Previously, a conviction for 4 grams of fentanyl carried a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Governor Abbott signs one of four bills aimed at curbing the growing fentanyl crisis during the Fighting the Fentanyl Crisis Bill Signing at the Texas Capitol, June 14, 2023. The laws , among other things, makes it clear that people who cause death by distributing fentanyl can be prosecuted for murder.

And possession of less than 1 gram will now be a third-degree felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Defendants convicted of murder under the new law would face an additional sentence of five years to life.

The new law also classifies deaths caused by fentanyl to be labeled as fentanyl toxicity or fentanyl poisoning on death certificates when appropriate. Parents like Hellstern pushed for the change because her son did not die from taking too much of a drug; he died because he unknowingly took a pill laced with a more deadly one.

Preliminary data on a dashboard that tracks Texas fentanyl deaths shows more than 2,100 people statewide died of accidental poisoning last year.

Will the new Texas law make a difference?

Tarrant County officials have been on the front line to push for the states homicide law.

Were just gonna get those people off the street, said Phil Sorrells, the countys criminal district attorney, and it helps us get them off the street if we have a bigger hammer that we can use against these drug dealers.

But others have concerns.

Drug policy experts say such laws rely on a tough-on-crime mindset that actually exacerbates the problem and fails to address the root of the crisis.

Criminal penalties are often the quick response and viewed as a one-stop shop instead of working on the deeper public health solutions that can make a difference, said Miriam Krinsky, founder and executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, a network of prosecutors from across the country who aim to promote a fairer justice system.

Experts and victims families worry that in practice, addicts or people who did not know a pill contained fentanyl will be easy targets of drug-induced homicide convictions.

While the intent of the law is typically to go after kingpins and high-level dealers, a 2022 report from Fair and Just Prosecution found that did not happen in practice. Nationally, half of drug-induced homicide prosecutions were of family or friends of victims, not dealers. The dealers who were charged were at the very bottom of the trafficking chain, the report said.

Different ideologies for law

Tarrant County officials also have different ideas of how the drug-induced homicide law should be implemented.

Goldman, the legislations sponsor, said the intent is to go after high-level dealers and the individuals doing this on a grand scale. Low-level dealers  like a teenager unintentionally selling a friend a counterfeit pill  are not the target, Goldman and Sorrells said.

What we would want to know is where did you buy it from, were looking for the dealer, Sorrells said. Thats where I see this law applied, is to the dealer.

Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, however, wants to use the updated fentanyl laws to send a message to anyone who conducts that kind of business in Texas.

The message is that if youre doing this as a part-time college student selling dope, it could cost you the rest of your life. And thats the message that we want to send, Waybourn said. And still go after the big guys, we want to do that too, and were certainly doing that.

He said the amount of drugs seized in Tarrant County has skyrocketed since 2020. That year, the narcotics unit seized $3.5 million worth of drugs, including meth, fentanyl, marijuana and heroin. That number jumped to $35 million in 2022, he said.

To Waybourn, anyone involved with selling fentanyl is fair game.

We know there are 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds that are the school pushers, he said. And they are going to be caught up in that We need to get that message out that it can ruin your life.

Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn.

As an example, he mentioned that an 18-year-old in Tarrant County currently faces 40 years in prison for selling fentanyl.

Critics like Krinsky say such cases show laws already exist to convict people of drug crimes, and harsher laws are not necessary.

There are pretty extensive drug laws on the books, she said. I dont think there is a dearth of tools to have criminal accountability.

When asked about existing federal drug laws, Waybourn said federal investigators already have heavy caseloads. The updated laws can help the state share the load.

Charging low-level dealers and people who have substance use disorders does not disrupt distribution, said Regina LaBelle, a former top drug policy official in the Obama and Biden administrations. Transnational criminal organizations are responsible for fentanyl distribution, she said, and those groups are somewhat oblivious to sending messages.

Experts also say prosecution-based policies actually cause more fentanyl-related deaths, because people in a position to call 911 for someone overdosing might not do so because they are afraid of prosecution. Drug-induced homicide laws have also been shown to be applied disproportionately to Black people, according to a 2017 Drug Policy Alliance report.

I think that the objective is a laudatory one, but how things play out in the real world are different than the objective one might have, Krinsky said. When these laws come about, its the individuals who are there when the overdose occurs or the person who is jointly using who end up getting targeted and caught in the net.

Good Samaritan laws, which grant legal protections for people who call for emergency assistance in the event of a drug overdose, can help reduce that risk, Krinsky said. Texas passed a Good Samaritan law in 2021 known as the Jessica Sosa Act.

So many people are getting away with murder

For many parents who lose a child to fentanyl, advocacy is a way to honor their childs memory and transform their grief into action.

Adolph Alvarez hopes the harsher penalties will hold distributors accountable, like the people he believes gave his daughter fentanyl in 2022.

Abigil Alvarez loved to travel and planned to spend her 19th birthday in Colorado. In 2021, she graduated high school in Saginaw, and hoped to become an esthetician. Her family described her as a creative soul who never met a stranger and put others before herself.

Adolph Alvarez advocates for his daughter Abigil, who died from fentanyl poisoning on May 14, 2022, at 18 years of age, at their apartment in Fort Worth on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Her parents, Adolph and Peggy, said Abigil was in a room full of people when she overdosed, but was left unconscious for around 11 hours before being found by authorities.

She was our baby girl, Alvarez said.

In May 2022, Abigil died in a Hurst apartment from fentanyl poisoning. Her father said there is no evidence she asked for or took any drugs willingly prior to her fatal overdose. The case is still under investigation.

Adolph Alvarez travels across the state speaking at events to raise awareness about fentanyl.

So many people are getting away with murder in Tarrant County, he said.

Adolph Alvarez looks at photos at an altar for his daughter Abigil, who died from fentanyl poisoning on May 14, 2022, at 18 years of age.

Christina Pena, who lives in Carrollton, is also a supporter of the drug-induced homicide law. Pena formed a Dallas-based advocacy group after her 21-year-old daughter, Angelina Rogers, died from fentanyl poisoning in 2020.

Rogers had endometriosis, a painful disease in which tissue grows outside of the uterus. She was usually bubbly, giggly and full of life, but often called her mom crying from the pain. When a friend of the family offered Rogers an oxycodone, she took half of it, not knowing the counterfeit pill contained fentanyl. Rogers, who had just graduated from cosmetology school, fell asleep and never woke up.

Our babies didnt want to die, they wanted to live, Pena told the Star-Telegram. But a lot of them suffered from pain or mental health issues.

Pena supports the law to its fullest extent. She hopes people think twice before selling. If she had the choice, she said, the woman who sold her daughter the counterfeit pill would be charged with murder.

Even if they give the pill and dont know it has fentanyl in it, it is illegal and they should be charged, she said. Our kids are being deceived. They didnt wake up and say, I want to be a drug addict.

Some parents have mixed feelings on the law.

Jacob Reyes, 21, was in his second year at the University of Oklahoma when he died in his sleep after taking a tramadol pain pill that was laced with fentanyl. Reyes was a talented saxophone player who was extremely smart and close with his family in Fort Worth. He had recently injured himself, his mother Margaret Reyes said, and one of his friends gave him the pills.

The case is still under investigation. In terms of a criminal sentence, Margaret Reyes said she mostly wants to make sure those who gave her son drugs do not hurt or kill anyone else.

Theyre going to have to take responsibility and answer when its time for them to talk to the Lord, she said. But like I said, theyre kids. I just want them to apologize and take responsibility that they did wrong and that they will never do it again. And then its up to the courts to decide how to punish them.

Andrea McCutcheons daughter, Valerie Vineyard, died after taking what she thought was a Percocet with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend survived after being resuscitated six times, but Valerie, 19, died from the fentanyl-laced pill in Saginaw.

Andrea McCutcheon becomes emotional talking about her daughter Valerie Vineyard, who died from fentanyl poisoning on May 27, 2021, at the age of 19. Vineyard and her boyfriend Harrison were both found unconscious the morning after they took a Percocet pill laced with fentanyl. Vineyards boyfriend survived, but she did not.

Vineyard had dabbled in drugs like Xanax and had asked her mother to go with her to Narcotics Anonymous so she could get treatment. One Saturday in 2021, they made plans to go the following week.

The next day, Valerie took the counterfeit pill that ended her life.

The person accused of selling Vineyard the drugs, Ariel Vargas, has been charged with negligent homicide, according to Tarrant County court records. He also faces multiple drug charges, each of which carries a potential sentence of five years to life.

McCutcheon focuses mostly on raising awareness that one pill can kill. She goes back and forth about what sentence she thinks Vargas should receive.

Im not one of those people that are just like let him go and do 50 years because to me, he lives with that every day, she said. But I do think he needs to have some type of punishment... . How many years is somebodys life worth?

Andrea McCutcheon holds a shirt made in memory of her daughter Valerie Vineyard, who died from a fentanyl overdose on May 27, 2021, at the age of 19.

Could cost you your life

As an increasing number of people are lost to fentanyl, theres a frustration that we need to do something, said LaBelle, the former top drug policy official under Presidents Obama and Biden.

But harm reduction policies, which focus on mental health and treatment options, are more effective solutions to the fentanyl crisis, said LaBelle, who is now the director of the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at Georgetown University.

For example, fentanyl test strips allow people to safely check if a pill or drug has fentanyl in it, reducing drug overdoses and poisonings. Fentanyl test strips are illegal in some states, including Texas, though Abbott recently expressed support for decriminalizing them. Many parents, including Alvarez, lobbied in the 2023 Texas legislative session to decriminalize the strips, but the Senate declined to pass the proposed law.

To address the fentanyl crisis, we need proven harm reduction approaches that will save lives today, Krinsky said. Drug-induced homicide statutes do the opposite, forcing people into unthinkable situations where they have to weigh whether to call for help and risk prosecution for homicide or allow a friend or loved one to die of an overdose.

Hellstern agrees with the need for a more comprehensive plan.

The root is mental health, Hellstern said. I wish I could have told Kyle or anybody that that pill, that one high, that one shoot-up is not going to make you feel better. And I would have told him that that could cost you your life. Its happening to everyday people who are fighting everyday life.

If you or someone you know has a substance use disorder, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations national helpline; a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders, at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Also available 24/7 for Texans, the Texas Addiction Hotline is free and anonymous for any resident to receive assistance with addiction at 866-210-1303.
Mr Thompson is widely expected to be appointed chief executive of the cable channel after its previous boss was fired just 16 months into the job - James Manning/PA

The former director general of the BBC is to take charge of CNN ahead of next years presidential election as the network grapples with collapsing ratings.

Mark Thompson, who led the British broadcaster between 2004 and 2012, has been to be appointed chief executive, chairman and editor-in-chief of the cable channel later today after its previous boss was fired just 16 months into the job.

David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive, said: There isnt a more experienced, respected or capable executive in the news business today than Mark, and we are thrilled to have him join our team.

Mr Thompson, 66, faces a challenge in rebuilding a newsroom that has been gutted by layoffs following cutbacks under owners Warner Bros. Discovery. The US media giant is attempting to right-size its $50bn (39.5bn) debt pile following last years merger between Warner Media and Discovery.

CNN is also struggling to adapt to the rise of streaming and has faced collapsing ratings and revenues.

Mr Thompsons most pressing challenge will be deciding how the network portrays Donald Trumps second tilt at the White House and his string of criminal charges.

CNN surged to its best ratings in 40 years during the Trump administration as the network went on the attack against the Presidents chaotic tenure.

However, the US network, which has typically attracted a left-leaning, liberal audience, has endured a collapse in viewer numbers since the election of President Joe Biden.

Under Mr Lichts tenure, CNNs viewer numbers were down 61pc compared to 2022, averaging just 473,000 in prime time - Kevin Mazur/Getty Images North America

In recent years Warner Bros. Discovery chief Mr Zaslav has sought to pull CNN back to the centre ground and away from its competitive stance towards the Republican Party.

In October 2022, Chris Licht was hired as CNN chief executive and began shifting the network towards the political centre. Mr Licht, a former executive producer of Stephen Colberts The Late Show, told staff that viewers had lost trust in the news media and criticised journalistic group-think.

Despite Mr Lichts efforts, CNNs audience figures and advertising revenues plummeted. By March, its viewer numbers were down 61pc compared to 2022, averaging just 473,000 in prime time, according to Nielsen.

While cable viewership has fallen across the board, CNNs decline has been far steeper than that of rival Fox News.

In May, the network gambled by offering an interview to Mr Trump in an effort to boost ratings and attract conservative viewers.

However, the Republican Presidential favourite bulldozed through CNNs attempt at a serious interview, repeating claims the US election was rigged and calling interviewer, Kaitlan Collins, a nasty person.

His remarks were met with cheers from the audience. The Atlantic reported in June that Mr Licht had told CNN staff ahead of the interview that the audience would be extra Trumpy.

The debate failed to recapture audiences and CNN fell to its worst week for daily viewers since 2015, with just 429,000 tuning in.

Mr Licht was forced out shortly after.

The newsletter Puck first reported Mr Thompsons appointment. CNN also considered former BBC journalist James Harding for the top job, according to Semafor.

Mr Thompson, who started working at the BBC in 1979, took charge of the corporation in 2004. He notably suspended comedian Jonathan Ross, its highest paid presenter at the time, in 2006 following a controversial prank call show with Russell Brand.

He joined the New York Times in 2012 where he spearheaded a resurgence at the paper, turning the liberal city broadsheet into an international media brand with millions of subscribers.

Mr Thompson said: I cant wait to roll up my sleeves and get down to work with my new colleagues to build a successful future for CNN.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.
Military officers in Gabon have declared they were seizing power from President Ali Bongo Ondimba in a stunning coup, threatening the familys half-century rule over the central African nation.

Men in army uniform appeared on national television Wednesday to announce the presidents house arrest during the military takeover, prompting celebrations and reports of gunfire on the streets of the capital  but condemnation overseas.

It is brought to the attention of the national and international community that Ali Bongo Ondimba is being kept under house arrest, an unnamed junta spokesperson said on state TV on Wednesday morning, adding that the ousted president is surrounded by his family and doctors.

The junta later announced that General Brice Oligui Nguema would act as a transitional leader. Speaking on national television surrounded by fellow soldiers on Wednesday evening, a spokesman for the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) said that Oligui had been unanimously designated as president of the transition.

The juntas spokesperson said authorities will investigate charges against the presidents son, Nourredin Bongo Valentin, who was arrested alongside six other individuals for high treason.

The Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency aired a video of the president asking his friends to make noise, following his house arrest.

My son is somewhere, my wife is another place, he said.

I am at the residence, Bongo added, seated in what looks like a library. Nothing is happening, I dont know whats going on.

It was not immediately clear under what circumstances the film had been made.

People celebrate in support of the military coup leaders in Libreville, Gabon on Wednesday. - Gerauds Wilfried Obangome/Reuters

Meanwhile, AFP showed video footage of soldiers in the capital Libreville celebrating in support of coup leader general Brice Oligui Nguema. He was seen on the shoulders of army personnel, who were shouting president.

Oligui told French newspaper Le Monde that military generals would meet on Wednesday to elect a leader for the transition of power, adding that he has not yet declared himself the new head of state in Gabon.

He said President Ali Bongo Ondimba, also known as Ali Bongo, has been retired and is enjoying all his rights as a normal Gabonese citizen. He refused to confirm if the president is under house arrest, following the announcement from the junta spokesperson. Ali Bongo, was earlier deemed the victor of a contested election.

The officers, claiming to represent defense and security forces in the country, made the announcement in a televised address on news channel Gabon24. It was viewed by CNN on X, formerly known as Twitter.

On behalf of the Gabonese people and guarantor of the protection of institutions, CTRI [the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions] has decided to defend peace by putting an end to the regime in place, a military officer said on the broadcast.

CNN cannot independently confirm the video, and has yet to reach Gabon government for comment.

In the broadcast, the military officer said the election results would be voided and the countrys borders would be shut. The officer added that all institutions in the country had been shut down, calling on Gabonese people to remain calm.

Loud sounds of gunfire could be heard in the capital Libreville, a Reuters reporter said, following the television appearance.

People in Gabon were seen dancing and celebrating on the streets of its capital, according to videos shared with CNN and posted on social media.

In one video obtained by CNN, people can be seen shouting liberated! and waving the Gabon flag in the Nzeng Ayong district of the capital, alongside military vehicles.

The chair of the African Unions Peace and Security Council, Willy Nyamitwe, convened an emergency meeting with representatives from Burundi, Cameroon and Senegal, following the coup.

In a statement on Wednesday, the African Union said the president of its commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat condemned the deposition and called on the coup actors to return to democratic constitutional order.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu is watching developments in Gabon very closely, according to his spokesman, and is speaking to other heads of state within the African Union to decide on the next steps forward.

Criticism started to come in from around the world. France condemned the military coup detat that is underway in Gabon, government spokesperson Olivier Veran told journalists Wednesday.

The US Embassy advised its citizens in the capital to shelter, while the French foreign ministry urged its citizens in Gabon to avoid or limit travel.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday also condemned the ongoing coup attempt as a means to resolve the post-electoral crisis in Gabon, according to his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

Guterres called on all actors involved to exercise restraint and urged the army and security forces to guarantee the physical integrity of Ondimba and his family.

There have been nine coups in the past three years in former French colonies  Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Tunisia and now Gabon  that have undermined democratic progress in recent years.

Bongos long rule

Earlier Wednesday, Gabons election body said Bongo had won the presidential election with 64.27% of the vote, Reuters reported, after a delay-plagued general election that the opposition denounced as fraudulent.

Bongos main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, came in second place with 30.77%, said the election body. Bongos team had rejected Ondo Ossas allegations of electoral irregularities.

Ali Bongo, 64, took over from his father, Omar Bongo, who died of cardiac arrest while receiving treatment for intestinal cancer in a Spanish clinic in 2009, following nearly 42 years in office.

The elder Bongo came into power in 1967, seven years after the countrys independence from France.

He ruled over the small nation with an iron fist, imposing a one-party system for years and only allowing multi-party rule in 1991, though his party retained its grip on government.

Ali Bongo began his political career in 1981, serving as foreign minister and congressman from 1989 to 1991, according to the Gabonese embassy website in the US. He was defense minister from 1999, before becoming president in 2009.

President Ali Bongo Ondimba appeared in a video in his residence in Libreville on Wednesday, calling on his "friends" to "make noise," following the coup. - BTP advisers on behalf of the President's Office/AP

Military officers announce the seizure of government from Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba in Libreville on Wednesday. - GABON 24/AP

Contested election

In this weeks election Ali Bongo had 18 challengers, six of whom had backed Ondo Ossa, a former minister and university professor, in an effort to narrow the race. Many in the opposition were pushing for change in the oil-rich but poverty-stricken nation of 2.3 million.

Tensions were running high amid fears of unrest after Saturdays vote, with international observers complaining of a lack of transparency.

Ahead of the election, the non-profit Reporters Without Borders condemned the Gabonese government for obstructing foreign press coverage of the event.

The EUs foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday that if (the situation in Gabon) is confirmed (that) its another military coup, it would increase instability in the whole region.

This is far from the first time Gabon has seen a power struggle or unrest over Bongos rule, which has frequently been disputed by critics.

In 2016, the parliament building was torched when violent street protests erupted against Bongos contested re-election for his second term. The government shut down internet access for several days at the time.

A coup attempt came in 2019, when a group of soldiers and military officers stormed the state radio and television headquarters, took staff hostage, and declared they had taken control of the nation.

They cited their dissatisfaction with Bongo as president, vowing to restore democracy in the country  before Gabonese defense and security forces moved in to end the takeover and rescue the hostages. Two soldiers were killed and eight military officers arrested as a result.

CNNs Joseph Ataman, Jake Kwon, Jennifer Hansler and Sugam Pokharel contributed to this report.

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Ukraine has many disadvantages against Russia, such as the number of land forces and more advanced warfare technologies.

This is why Ukrainians need to be creative in the ongoing war so that they will not lose their grip on the conflict.

The European country is doing just that. Now, Ukrainians are repurposing their earthquake sensors so they can be used in the war.

Ukraine Getting Creative in War Against Russia

According to NewScientist's latest report, Ukraine's existing earthquake sensors are being repurposed.

Thanks to this advancement, Ukrainians can now use their seismometers to detect the locations and times of thousands of explosions, especially in provinces near Kyiv.

Aside from this, the repurposed earthquake sensors can provide clues about the weapons and ammunition used to create those explosions.

"We're automatically processing data and seeing explosions almost as they happen," said NORSAR's Ben Dando.

The seismic expert added that the use of earthquake sensors to detect warfare explosions has never been done in real-time before.

The New York Times reported that seismic detections are more effective compared to the selective focus of traditional war reports.

This is because seismic detections can track blasts in real time; identifying hundreds of explosions that weren't previously detected.

Read Also: Ukrainian Drone Attack Hits Northwest Russia Airport, Damaging 4 Military Planes

Repurposing Ukraine's Seismometers

Dando and his colleagues said that they started picking up a wide variety of explosions after they started looking for them near Ukraine's nuclear power plants in February 2022.

They continued detecting these explosions as Russian airstrikes targeted cities in the European nation.

Because of this, they decided to use existing software and techniques to repurpose seismometers.

By setting detection algorithms, their repurposed earthquake sensors automatically provide alerts within 10 to 15 minutes after an explosion happens.

Their new technique was proven effective within around 200 kilometers of the Malin seismic station northwest of Kyiv.

Although seismic monitors can track the timing, number, and sizes of explosions, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Michael Pasyanos warned that these estimates may not be precise enough in some scenarios.

As of writing, Dando and his team are still improving their seismometer repurposing technique. If you want to learn more about their efforts in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, you can click this link.

Related Article: Nuclear Pigs! Researchers Say Nuke Tests Allowed Radioactive Contamination of Wild Boars

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
CROSS CITY, Fla. - Brothers Trey and Chris Athey plan to ride out Hurricane Idalia in a white Chevrolet pickup truck.

They're from Texas, and they're in the crosshairs of Hurricane Idalia as it marches toward the Florida Gulf Coast with projected storm surge and ferocity that weather officials strongly warn will bring deadly consequences. But like many resilient people hunkering down in Florida right now, the Athey brothers aren't running away.

As of 6 p.m., they were parked in a Cross City gas station, but theyll move if the hurricane projections do. They want to stay on the worst side of the storm.

Texas brothers Trey and Chris Athey plan to ride out Hurricane Idalia in a white Chevrolet pickup truck. As of 6 p.m., on Aug. 29, 2023, they were parked in a Cross City gas station, but they'll move if the hurricane projections do.

If we have to move, well move in the middle of the night, Chris said.

The more damage, the more work. Chris owns tree removal company Lonestar Arborists, and Trey owns construction company TKR Outdoor Services. Both are based near Houston.

As of 6 p.m., they were parked in a Cross City gas station, but theyll move if the hurricane projections do. They want to stay on the worst side of the storm.

If we can keep breaking even and helping, well be good to stay, Trey Athey said.

Nodding at his pickup, Chris Athey said this would be the sixth hurricane itd survived in three years. Hes been working hurricanes longer than that, though. He took a smaller truck out during 2018s Hurricane Michael.

It picked the truck up four feet off the ground and ripped the doors open, he said, shifting in his camouflage Crocs.

They ratchet-strapped the door shut to keep it going down the road, Trey added, crossing his cowboy boots.

Its fitting that he wore those boots. For him and his brother, hurricanes are like rodeos. Its like riding a bull, Trey said. Its a thrill.

The Atheys have plenty of company. Tens of thousands of locals and outsiders alike are sticking around as Idalia roars toward them.

With the hurricane forecast to make landfall early Wednesday, a dangerous storm surge and high winds are threatening vulnerable areas along the Florida coast. At least 28 counties in central and western Florida have issued evacuation orders with local officials strongly urging residents to leave - but many, citing previous encounters with hurricanes in the area, say they want to stay and protect their homes and belongings.

After all, they say, they survived before. Even when state leaders and national weather officials advised against sticking around.

Low-lying coastal areas are at the most risk, according to Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist at Florida-based WeatherTiger. Truchelut warned that Idalia will likely bring "catastrophic surge" to a majority of west-central Florida and the Big Bend coastline.

Truchelut called Idalia, which strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane early Tuesday evening, the "hurricane of a generation for the eastern Panhandle." Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a widespread state of emergency for the state's 46 counties, an area that extends across the northern half of the state from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast.

Hurricane Idalia map: Maps show Hurricane Idalia's path as powerful storm approaches Florida and Georgia

Local authorities say there is one word to follow: Leave

Cedar Key Commissioner Sue Colson, along with other city officials, spent the day storing documents and electronics at City Hall. The island of Cedar Key, which is near the coast of the Big Bend region and has a population of almost 900, was under a mandatory evacuation order.

One word: Leave, Colson said. Its not something to discuss.

The Gulf Coast of Florida prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Idalia on Aug 29, 2023 and in Cedar Key. The fast moving storm is forecast to make landfall on Wednesday, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

Despite more than a dozen state troopers going from door to door warning residents of the potentially dangerous impacts, including a storm surge that could reach up to 15 feet, some residents opted to hunker down.

Benjamin Iversen, 40, said he and his girlfriend are going to stay put in their house in downtown Cedar Key.

"It's high enough up the hill that hopefully it's out of the storm surge's range," he said, adding that they will seek refuge with friends staying nearby on a higher part of the island if the storm is much worse than they anticipated.

Visible within a few steps from his front door is the Gulf of Mexico. But Iversen is also within eye shot of his coffee shop, 1842 Daily Grind and Mercantile, which he does not want to be far from when the island begins to feel the affects of Hurricane Idalia.

Since Sunday, he has made fortifications to the shop, near the bottom of the hill he lives on. Iversen lifted the furniture and refrigerators off the ground with milk crates and put sandbags along the front and side doors.

But most people he knows who live on Cedar Key have left.

Riding out the storm - on deserted territory

By Tuesday afternoon, Cedar Key's quaint downtown and Dock Street areas, where streets are lined with restaurants and local shops on stilts firm in the Gulf of Mexico, were deserted. Metal and wood boards were nailed overtop windows and doors of beloved eateries. Many streets were empty of vehicles.

Jordan Keeton, 39, owns 83 West, the largest restaurant on the island. It juts out over the Gulf of Mexico and both floors are surrounded by windows. He along with his family and friends were moving out the last of the most valuable items, including a wooden bench shaped like a boat that has been with the restaurant over 50 years, he said.

Keeton, who is also the chef, has owned the restaurant since 2015. Soon after purchasing it, he renovated the place. The next year, however, Hurricane Hermine's storm surge caused about $750,000 in damages. He and his brother James were upstairs when the storm hit. The downstairs was destroyed, and he found pieces of the deck at a fire station miles away.

(from left) Chris Laite, Clay Brooks and Jordan Keeton, owner of the restaurant 83 West board up the building before the storm on Aug. 29, 2023. The Gulf Coast of Florida prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Idalia. The fast-moving storm is forecast to make landfall on Wednesday, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

Keeton is going to stay through the storm at his nearby Cedar Key home.

"We should be fine at a cat 3. Our house is rated at a 5. I'm not worried about it there," he said, placing his hand on the second-floor dock of his restaurant, looking at the overcast sky above the Gulf. "We'll see what happens."

Another danger Idalia will bring: Tornadoes. Here's what to know.

A giant schnauzer, miniature yorkies, and a lot of hope

Stephanie Walker is worried about her house and her dogs.

Beca, her giant schnauzer, and her miniature yorkies Marlow and Georgia are riding out the storm with her in a camper in Cross City.

Just to get further away from the water, because I live on the water, Walker said. I am completely terrified.

Her house is on the river in nearby Steinhatchee. Shes remodeling it, and shes worried about the classic car and construction materials beneath. While she doesnt think the waters will reach the house itself, theres also the winds to worry about.

Stephanie Walker sits in her Jeep Wrangler at a Cross City, Fl. gas station on Tuesday evening, August 29, 2023, as Hurricane Idalia approaches. She's staying in a camper down the road with her three dogs and worries about her house in Steinhatchee.

Its very emotionally stressful, she said, wiping away tears. She sat in her Jeep Wrangler at a gas station, rain pattering her windshield. She had can of gasoline in the back for her campers generator.

I put a camera out to watch it, but not being able to do anything, not being able to be there If my house had been done, I would have stayed, she said.

Then she has a Steinhatchee storage unit to worry about, too.

She only moved to Florida last year, after her son died.

I was looking for a place to start over, Walker said. Im devastated. It seems anything I love I keep losing.

Quiet scene around the water and marinas

Most of the only people outside in the small coastal town of Steinhatchee could be seen at marinas and boat ramps, removing watercraft from a river expected to rapidly rise in mere hours.

The town has a population of more than 500 people on Floridas Big Bend. But there were far less people in town Tuesday afternoon.

A little after 3 p.m., there was little indication of the storm to come.

The water around the docks of Steinhatchee River Inn and Marina reflected the fluffy, white clouds above. It rippled as Natalie Futch and her boyfriend Matt Alexander removed one of the docks last remaining vessels.

Futch works for the business, and it was her boyfriends boat. She had been busy over the last couple days, as workers removed other boats and cleared merchandise out of the store.

Only a few boats remained at the docks once Alexanders was safely hitched to a red pickup truck.

Natalie Futch and Matt Alexander prepare to remove their boat from the docks of Steinhatchee River Inn and Marina and bring it home with them to Cross City on Aug. 29, 2023. .

Those are our rental boats, Futch said. We dont have enough storage for them anywhere on land, so were just going to leave them in there, tie them up real tight and hope for the best.

Her boyfriends boat is going back home with them in nearby Cross City, where theyre hunkering down for the storm.

Why is she staying put?

Not wanting to get bothered in all the traffic, she said. Ive been through a lot of them. It happens pretty much every year. Kind of used to it by now.

'There's a handful of old people who refuse to leave'

Just after 6:30 p.m., as the first winds from Hurricane Idalia began to hit Cedar Key, a group of men four men were installing wood boards over the windows of a house that sits on stilts at tip of the island.

Overlooking the Gulf from the deck, the owner of the house, Jeff Oody, said after the boards were up, he's heading to his home in Starke, a small town between Gainesville and Jacksonville, to wait through the storm.

"I hope it doesn't all go down," Oody, 54, said. "I love this place."

Helping with install the boards was Michael Bobbitt, a local real estate appraiser, who has written serval plays and novels set in Florida and is the self-described "Clambassador" of Cedar Key.

Bobbitt, 47, said he is staying in Cedar Key through the night, at his house and at the Christ Episcopal Church, both of which are on the island.

His mother, who owns a home on Cedar Key and his girlfriend have left, Bobbitt said, adding, "Anybody that has any sense has left."

Bobbitt said he has a little skiff boat and a couple of kayaks staged at his home, which he plans to use in a rescue effort.

"There's a handful of old people who refuse to leave and at some point, they're going to need rescuing," he said. "To the extent that we can get to them, we're going to be out in it trying to help them."

Sarasota-Manatee communities look for a peace of mind

As dark clouds moved over Sarasota and Manatee counties, community members began to seek shelter ahead of Idalia's expected landfall. Several elementary schools were open as school administration, county volunteers, law enforcement, and medical personnel waited inside to care for those looking for shelter.

Jackie Serrano, 55, sought shelter in an upstairs classroom of Southside Elementary School in Sarasota with four other people. Serrano didnt evacuate or go to a shelter for Hurricane Ian last year, but felt the storm surge warnings ahead of Idalia warranted leaving her home off near downtown, a level A evacuation zone.

She said a background in the military gave her a prepared mindset for situations like hurricanes. But theres still anxiety surrounding how catastrophic Idalia could be.

Jackie Serrano, 55, was one of five people who evacuated to Southside Elementary School in Sarasota, Tuesday morning, August 29, 2023.

I think it's I think it's the thing about not knowing that scares everybody, Serrano said.

At Virgil Mills Elementary School in Palmetto, the hallways on the first floor had people lined along the walls  some sitting in lawn chairs; others sleeping on cots or air mattresses; and various dogs and cats either sitting in laps or in cages next to their owners.

About 50 people were already at the school Tuesday morning, with some 65 people registered on the shelter's list, said Principal Jim Mennes.

"What we are, we're a lifeboat, we are not a cruise ship," Mennes said, describing the shelter.

Contributing: Gabriela Szymanowska and Steven Walker, Sarasota Herald-Tribune; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Many Floridians are not fleeing Hurricane Idalia as it approaches coast
Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images

Kyle Rittenhouse, who as a teenager shot and killed two people at an anti-racism protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is being sued by the estate of one of the men who died, according to court documents.

Since the killings Rittenhouse has become a high-profile figure on the US right, feted at events by rightwingers, appearing on conservative media and lauded by gun rights activists.

But in a lawsuit filed in Wisconsin this week, lawyers representing the estate of Joseph Rosenbaum, who Rittenhouse shot with an assault rifle in August 2020, said Rittenhouse and a series of other defendants had intentionally and unjustifiably caused the death of Joseph Rosenbaum.

Rosenbaums estate is also suing several law enforcement departments, including the Kenosha police department and Kenosha county sheriffs department, along with the City of Kenosha. The lawsuit was submitted on Friday, and the estate is seeking unnamed damages.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Rittenhouse, who was cleared of homicide and attempted homicide, responded: Im being sued again for defending my life.

Rittenhouse was 17 years old when he traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, from his home in Illinois, armed with an assault-style rifle, in August 2020. Black Lives Matter protests had been taking place in the city after Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer, leaving Blake partially paralyzed.

On arriving in Kenosha, Rittenhouse joined other armed men acting as a self-described militia and roamed the city, before killing Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, 27.

In the Rosenbaum lawsuit, lawyers allege that police, who were seen to be handing out water to groups of armed men  despite them breaching a curfew  did not adequately respond. Newsweek first reported on the filing of the lawsuit.

The law enforcement defendants deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit, the lawsuit claims.

As a result, defendant Rittenhouse fired his assault rifle indiscriminately multiple times at citizens on the street. He shot and killed two men, seriously injured a third, and narrowly missed a fourth.

Law enforcement, Rosenbaums lawsuit claims, did nothing to stop Rittenhouses conduct.

They did not disarm him. They did not limit his movement in any way. They did not question him. They did not stop him from shooting individuals after he started. They did not arrest him, detain him, or question him even after he had killed two people.

Rittenhouse returned to Illinois after the killings, and was arrested at home in Antioch the next day. He was found not guilty on charges related to the shootings in November 2021, but is facing two other lawsuits, from the family of Huber and from Grosskreutz, who Rittenhouse shot in the arm.

Rittenhouse, Kenosha police department, the City of Kenosha and other parties named in the lawsuit did not respond to requests for comment.

Defendants intentionally and unjustifiably caused the death of Joseph Rosenbaum, the lawsuit alleges.

As a consequence, the estate have suffered and continue to suffer, significant emotion of distress and harm, including but not limited to the loss of society and companionship with Rosenbaum.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appeared to freeze up at the podium while taking questions in Kentucky on Wednesday, the second time in recent weeks that he paused while talking to reporters.

During a gaggle in Covington, Ky., a reporter asked McConnell, 81, for his thoughts about running for reelection in 2026.

The Senate GOP leader twice asked the reporter to repeat the question, then responded thats a, before freezing and looking ahead for roughly 30 seconds, according to a video posted on X by MSNBC.

At one point during the freeze-up, an aide walked up to McConnell and asked did you hear the question, senator, running for reelection in 2026? To which McConnell replied with a word that was inaudible.

Alright, Im sorry you all, were gonna need a minute, the aide said.

After the roughly 30 seconds of unresponsiveness passed, McConnell said OK, and his aide resumed the gaggle, asking reporters to please speak up.

A spokesperson for McConnell said the GOP leader felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today.

McConnell feels fine, an aide said, but as a prudential measure, the Leader will be consulting a physician prior to his next event.

Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.), Senate GOP Conference Vice Chair Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), all spoke to McConnell Wednesday afternoon, according to spokespeople for the three.

The Thune spokesperson said McConnell sounded like his usual self and was in good spirits, Capitos aide said the senator said the leader sounded fine and she looks forward to seeing him when the Senate is back on Tuesday, and the Daines spokesperson said the NRSC chair was glad to hear the Leader sounds like himself and is feeling fine.

President Biden also said he plans to call McConnell  who he called a good friend  Wednesday afternoon.

I just heard, literally, coming out. And Mitch is a friend, as you know, not a joke, Biden said during remarks at the White House regarding the Hurricane Idalia response. We have disagreements politically, but hes a good friend.

So, Im going to try to get in touch with him later this afternoon. I dont know enough to know, Biden added.

Wednesdays episode came just over one month after McConnell, during his weekly press conference in the Capitol, froze up while fielding questions from reporters. During that incident, he stared straight ahead without saying anything for nearly 20 seconds before being escorted away from the press conference.

He later returned and told reporters Im fine and said yeah when asked if he is fully able to do his job, before taking more questions on various topics. A McConnell aide at the time also said the GOP leader felt lightheaded and stepped away for a moment.

McConnell on Wednesday also fielded a question from a reporter on Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R), who is running for governor of the state. His aide was captured on camera reading the question, according to a separate video posted on X.

A reporter then asked the senator about supporting former President Trump as the GOP presidential nominee despite his latest indictments, a question that the aide repeated. McConnell said Im not gonna comment about the presidential race, either on the Republican side or the Democratic side, an answer he typically gives when asked about Trump.

The Senate GOP leader then walked away from the podium and left the room. According to NBC News, the press gaggle came after McConnell spoke for roughly 20 minutes.

McConnell was hospitalized earlier this year after he fell at a private dinner at the Waldorf Astoria on March 9. He suffered a concussion and a minor rib fracture. The GOP leader was discharged from the hospital days later and went to an in-patient rehabilitation facility. He returned home on March 25 and was back in the Capitol for work on April 17.

After McConnells freeze-up in July, news broke that the GOP leader had fallen two other times this year. One was in February in Finland, where McConnell and a U.S. delegation were visiting to meet with the Finnish president, according to CNN. The network said the GOP leader dusted himself off and continued on with the meeting with the Finnish president.

The other incident was in July when McConnell was getting off the plane at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., per NBC News. The senator was seen at the Capitol later that day and interacted with at least one reporter, according to the network.

Updated at 5:59 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and his daughter, former Fortune 500 CEO Heather Manchin, have pitched major donors on a $100 million project aimed at boosting centrist policies and politicians, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal.

Heather Manchin told the WSJ she registered the politically active nonprofit, called Americans Together, in late July and plans on hiring staff in the coming weeks. She said the group would not be linked to the West Virginia senators political future, which has been uncertain as he faces the end of his six-year term as senator in 2024.

What we both very much agree on is the system is very broken and actually in deep trouble, Heather Manchin told the WSJ. We have been thinking about what can be done to bring people together.

Manchin has left the door open to various avenues for his political career as he considers whether to run for reelection, potentially in a matchup against West Virginias popular Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who announced his Senate run in April.

In a May poll, Justice led Manchin 54 percent to 32 percent in a hypothetical matchup. The poll showed a closer hypothetical matchup against Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va), a candidate more closely aligned with former President Trump also running for Manchins seat.

Manchin has also suggested he may leave the Democratic party and become an independent, and he has even toyed with the possibility of running for the White House.

The Hill Elections 2024 coverage

The WSJ spoke with several major donors who said they discussed the proposal with the Manchins, but said the Manchins have not made any specific requests and that donor meetings have consisted of a vaguely defined future.

According to a memo to potential donors that the WSJ viewed, the project was described as a coalition that would mobilize the middle, and change the national narrative and garner support for those willing to prioritize policy and country over party and politics.

It was not immediately clear how Americans Together would distinguish itself from groups like No Labels, which also promotes centrist candidates and policies. The senator has appeared at events hosted by No Labels, but Heather Manchin said the two groups are not affiliated.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Two parents and two of their children were found dead Monday in what appeared to be a murder-suicide in Allen, Texas, weeks after their daughter drowned, police said.

Police on Tuesday said that father Farman Sherwani, mother Layla Sherwani and sons Mateen Sherwani, 2, and Shaheen Sherwani, 12, were found dead when officials responded to a welfare call at the home.

The Islamic Association of Allen, which initially identified the four family members, also said the family's 4-year-old daughter drowned three weeks ago in a swimming pool.

Allen Police Sgt. Jonathan Maness confirmed by email that detectives think the girl's drowning "is believed to be a factor."

Officers responding to a welfare call Monday morning discovered the four bodies in the home in Allen, a city about 30 miles north of Dallas, police said in a statement.

The home in Allen, Texas, where police say they found four people dead in what investigators say is an apparent murder-suicide. (NBC Dallas-Fort Worth)

Another resident had been locked out for two hours and couldn't reach those inside, police said.

"After other family members arrived at the house, police gained access and found four people dead," the police department said.

It said it is investigating.

On Tuesday, the Islamic Association of Allen held a prayer vigil for the family at a venue packed with worshippers.

"We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of four family members," the association said in a newsletter.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
Sometimes, a routine police-booking photograph of a criminal suspect gets pushed to the popular culture foreground on the crest of an accused offense  Jane Fonda with a raised-fist power salute mocking an arrest for a falsified drug charge, for example, or Charles Manson with a very real swastika carved into his forehead. Once the heated news cycle moves on, the photograph sinks back into relative obscurity, pulled out now and then for related updates.

Mug shots get filed, but their resonance bends toward fleeting. That changed last Friday.

Release of the Fulton County Sheriffs Office mugshot of the disgraced 45thpresident of the United States, indicted for an attempt to overturn the Georgia results of the 2020 election, instantly catapulted to iconic status. By virtue of 13 felony charges for racketeering and conspiracy, this picture will last.

The harshly lighted photograph of Donald John Trump was snapped by an unidentified county official. The mug shot shows the suspects head lowered as if to obscure a jowly double-chin, eyes narrowed into a glare, lips firmly pursed and yellow pompadour swirled into a cotton-candy crown. Missing a paired profile shot, which is common to the police-photograph genre, it bumps into second place virtually any of his other innumerable portraits, presidential and otherwise.

The pose was surely staged at least as carefully as the fake Time magazine covers that he once produced to con the gullible. Imagine him preening in front of a mirror in the days leading up to his scheduled arrest, trying out various grimaces, the better to determine which might best convey never surrender! to his supporters.

This mug shot shows former President Donald Trump on Aug. 24, after he surrendered and was booked at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. (Uncredited / Associated Press)

That declaration is what he quickly posted to 87 million followers on X (formerly Twitter) when the photo was released. The fact that his actual surrender to police custody prompted publication of a never-surrender visual is a splendid irony  albeit one apparently lost on the cult, given the $7.1 million his campaign says it raised within 48 hours.

Never surrender  unless you are doing exactly that?

Social media soon lit up with comparisons to Hollywoods so-called Stanley Kubrick stare, offered by deranged and violent characters in the vaunted directors filmography  like Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange and Jack Nicholson in The Shining. However, not only is the thought that this cruel and petty coward is some sort of unstoppable supervillain too absurd to take seriously, it is also belied by the pile-up of arrests for 91 criminal charges (so far) in multiple jurisdictions, plus his May 9 conviction for civil liability in what the judge described as the rape of E. Jean Carroll.

Whats more, the ridiculous mug shot made me laugh, not cringe. For me, a better analogy than Kubrick lies elsewhere.

Before last Friday, the most enduring mug shots in modern American culture were Andy Warhols 13 Most Wanted Men, born as a monumental mural for crowds at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. For incongruous mug shot photography, Warhol now has some real competition in the longevity sweepstakes.

More important, something resonates between Warhol and Trumps mug shots. More than just the coincidental number of 13 wanted men and 13 felonies, its the projection of their own alleged criminality.

Read more:Review: James Castle made thousands of resolute drawings with soot and spit

13 Most Wanted Men was later elaborated into a set of paintings on canvas. "No. 6," a two-panel work in black silkscreen ink on silvery gray ground, shows head-on and profile views of scowling Thomas Francis (Duke) Connelly, NYPD bank robbery suspect #202742. It hangs upstairs at the Broad museum, displayed along with Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy and a nifty diagram for a ruptured hernia truss. The Worlds Fair portraits live on not because of the particular people pictured, but because of the artists stature.

The mural was Warhols only public art project, and it was a fiasco.

Architect Philip Johnson, who designed the fairs New York State Pavilion, gave him the $6,000 commission for a big painting on a 20-square-footMasonite panel that would hang on the buildings facade. The mug shot idea came from artist Wynn Chamberlain, whose cop boyfriend often brought NYPD fliers home.

Warhol had also seen the Marcel Duchamp retrospective at the Pasadena Art Museum a few months earlier. The impish Dada artists design of a wanted poster featuring his own fabricated mug shot as a show promotion lent avant-garde pedigree.

When the mural was installed in April, fair officials blanched. Crime touted as a cultural highlight for a huge tourism event? Within 48 hours, it was censored by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, painted over with silver paint. Rockefeller, a Modern art collector then angling for a presidential run, also may have figured that alienating Italian and Irish American communities by showcasing members criminality was not a winning political idea.

And Warhols mural was most certainly political, which is what his mug shots share with Trumps.

Read more:How much is Trump's mug shot worth? Over $7 million, campaign says

Artistically, the unlucky number 13 played on the familiar trope of the avant-garde artist as cultural outlaw, while using crude mug shots gave imaginative sheen to one of the lowest forms of photography. In 1964, camera work was barely considered an art form, never mind a medium with credibility equal to painting. (Part of Warhols genius was to use silkscreens to dress up common snapshots in painting-drag.) But a sharp political punch came in the implication of official sanction for the the works homoerotic overtones. A swish artist was trumpeting 13 Most Wanted Men, complete with clear undertones of enthusiasm for illicit rough trade.

If that political meaning was hardly obscure, another has remained largely overlooked. Also in spring 1964, Congress was in a pitched battle over passage of the Civil Rights Act.

In support, the local New York branch of the Mattachine Society, a pioneering gay civil rights organization founded in L.A. by Harry Hay in 1950, compiled a comprehensive list of state penalties for sodomy. Sex between men was illegal everywhere but Illinois. New York imposed 90 days in jail for a first offense. Neighboring Connecticut, manifesting its separatist Puritan history, posted the nations most severe punishment, inflicting 30 years in prison. Pennsylvania, Warhols birth state, added a $5,000 fine to a mandated 10-year sentence.

Implemented or not, those malicious state penalties existed to suppress the freedom of its targets through fear. Warhol wasnt merely a successful Madison Avenue adman and an emerging fine artist; as an active homosexual, he was also a criminal. He had that in common with the most wanted men he chose to elevate.

And Trump? His visibly stage-managed photograph is pure political theater. Legal defense for the Georgia racketeering and conspiracy charges is a steep climb (weve all heard the wildly incriminating tapes) so politics is pretty much all hes got. For his first on-camera moment in a perilous case, he assumed the pose of a victimized tough guy to rally his aggrieved base.

As they say of difficult criminal trials, when you cant pound the facts and cant pound the law, pound the table instead. In his preposterous mug shot, Trump pounds away, looking just as fiercely enraged as he possibly can. Warhol, a master rather than an apprentice of celebrity, would surely understand. But I do wonder: Does Trump know its camp?

Sign up for L.A. Goes Out, a weekly newsletter about exploring and experiencing Los Angeles from the L.A. Times.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
By Allison Lampert and Gabriel Araujo

(Reuters) -Russia has informed Brazil's aircraft investigation authority that it will not probe the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet that killed mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin under international rules "at the moment", the Brazilian agency told Reuters on Tuesday.

Prigozhin, two top lieutenants of his Wagner Group and four bodyguards were among 10 people who died when the Embraer Legacy 600 crashed north of Moscow last week.

He died two months to the day after staging a brief mutiny against the Russian defense establishment that posed the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule since he rose to power in 1999.

Brazil's Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA), in the interests of improving aviation safety, had said it would join a Russian-led investigation if it were invited and the probe held under international rules.

Russias aviation authority was not obligated to say yes to CENIPA, but some former investigators said it should, as the U.S. and other Western governments suspect the Kremlin of being behind the Aug. 23 crash of the Embraer Legacy 600, which has a good safety record.

The Kremlin denies any involvement.

According to the Montreal-based United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the flight from Moscow with a destination of St Petersburg was domestic, so it is not subject to international rules known throughout the industry by their legal name "Annex 13."

"They are not obliged, only recommended to do that," CENIPA head Air Brigadier Marcelo Moreno told Reuters after the agency sent an email asking Russia whether it would open such a probe.

"But if they say theyll open the investigation and invite Brazil we will participate from afar."

Prigozhin was publicly critical of Moscow's prosecution of its invasion of Ukraine. The Wagner mercenaries fought battles there on Russia's side.

(Reporting By Allison Lampert and Gabriel Araujo; editing by Denny Thomas and Grant McCool)
By Karen Lema and Poppy McPherson

MANILA (Reuters) - The U.S. military is in talks to develop a civilian port in the remote northernmost islands of the Philippines, the local governor and two other officials told Reuters, a move that would boost American access to strategically located islands facing Taiwan.

U.S. military involvement in the proposed port in the Batanes islands, less than 200 km (125 miles) from Taiwan, could stoke tensions at a time of growing friction with China and a drive by Washington to intensify its longstanding defence treaty engagement with the Philippines.

The Bashi Channel between those islands and Taiwan is considered a choke point for vessels moving between the western Pacific and the contested South China Sea and a key waterway in the case of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The Chinese military regularly sends ships and aircraft through the channel, Taiwan's defence ministry has said.

Marilou Cayco, the provincial governor of the Batanes islands, told Reuters in a message she had sought funding from the U.S. for the building of an "an alternative port" there, which was intended to assist the unloading of cargo from the capital, Manila, during rough seas in the monsoon season.

She said the plans were to build a port on Basco island, where local authorities say high waves often make the existing port inaccessible, and that a decision could be made in October.

The Philippines has in the past year almost doubled the number of its military bases that U.S. forces can access, ostensibly for humanitarian assistance, and also has thousands of U.S. troops in the country at any given time, rotating in and out for joint training exercises. China has said these U.S. moves were "stoking the fire" of regional tensions.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposed port in Basco.

Two other Filipino officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media, said U.S troops had visited Batanes recently to discuss the port.

One, a senior military official, said the Filipino armed forces were interested in radar and improving monitoring capabilities in the area.

Cayco confirmed the visit, saying they came "one time to assess" the proposed alternative port.

The move comes as Washington pursues closer ties with Asian nations to counter China in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines, its former colony and treaty ally.

Kanishka Gangopadhyay, a spokesperson for the U.S embassy in Manila, said U.S. Embassy and U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) experts had been engaging the governor and local government, "at their request, to discuss ways USARPAC can support engineering, medical, and agricultural development projects in the province."

He did not mention the port specifically.

MARCOS INCREASES U.S. ACCESS

Previous President Rodrigo Duterte had threatened to scrap the U.S.-Philippines alliance and realign the country with Beijing but relations between China and the Philippines have grown tense under the current president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Marcos, the son and namesake of the disgraced late strongman president, has sought closer ties with Washington, granting it access to four more military bases, including several close to Taiwan, though not in Batanes, and announced joint patrols in the South China Sea.

Marcos has said the bases under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) could prove useful if China attacked Taiwan.

Security officials in Manila said they believed any military conflict in the Taiwan Strait would inevitably affect the Philippines, given its geographic proximity to Taiwan and the presence of over 150,000 Filipinos on the democratically-governed island.

Batanes also served as one of the training sites during this year's joint military exercises, known as Balikatan, which involved more than 17,000 Filipino and American troops, making it the biggest ever edition of the military drill.

At the time of the exercise, Cayco said she was seeking investment to build seaports and airports in the island province that is home to 18,000 people. The province could harbour Filipinos fleeing Taiwan if conflict breaks out there and residents have been worried about mounting tensions, according to local government officials.

The Philippines and China have also clashed in recent months over disputed waters in the South China Sea, with Chinese vessels firing water cannons on a Filipino vessel trying to send supplies to an outpost.

Cayco said she didn't have any conversation with the U.S. about EDCA or about radar installations.

She also said there had not yet been discussions about what access the U.S would have to the proposed port, but troops could use all ports in the area for regular military exercises like the Balikatan.

Jay Batongbacal, maritime affairs expert at the University of the Philippines, said the proposed port "would certainly be needed for the islands defence in a worst case scenario."

"If I were a Chinese strategist, I would want to take the Batanes at minimum in order to ensure control of the Luzon straits and use the island to prevent the approach of adversary naval forces," he said.

(Reporting by Poppy McPherson and Karen Lema; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
The judge handling the case of 93-year-old sex offender Theodore McCarrick, a disgraced former Roman Catholic cardinal, has ruled Wednesday (August 30) that the former Archbishop of Washington was not competent to stand trial after both prosecutors and defense barristers determined he suffered from dementia. The judge also dismissed charges he sexually assaulted a teenage boy in Massachusetts in the 1970s.

McCarrick was degraded and defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 following an internal Vatican investigation that determined he sexually molested both adults and children. McCarrick's case creates a credibility catastrophe for the church, as the Vatican government had reports from several cardinals and other church officials dating back to 1999 about McCarrick's problematic behavior, yet he rose to the ranks of the cardinalate and has since been geopolitically active in diplomacy, particularly with the Vatican's relations with China.

Read Also: Ukrainians Slam Pope Francis for Message to Russian Catholic Minority

Disgraced Man with Dementia

During the hearing Wednesday, prosecution psychologist Dr. Kerry Nelligan said she found significant deficits in McCarrick's memory during two interviews in June, and he was often unable to recall what they had discussed from one hour to the next. She added there were no medications that could improve the symptoms of dementia.

"It's not just that he currently has these deficits," Nelligan said. "There is no way they are going to get better."

Without being able to remember discussions, she added, McCarrick could not participate with his lawyers in his defense.

The finding concurred with McCarrick's defense team, who said their client was assessed by a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who diagnosed McCarrick with dementia.

Back when he was still allegedly lucid, McCarrick maintained he was innocent of all the charges laid against him, pleading not guilty in September 2021. In April this year, he was also charged with sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man in Wisconsin more than 45 years ago.

McCarrick, who lives in Dittmer, Missouri, was charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. He was not exempt from facing charges because the clock stopped on the statute of limitations the moment he left Massachusetts, the Associated Press reported.

Disappointed with Dismissal of McCarrick's Case

On the other hand, clergy sex abuse lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who represented the man accusing McCarrick, said in June his client was discouraged by the prosecution's expert findings and the subsequent dismissal of the case.

"In spite of the criminal court's decision today, many clergy sexual abuse victims feel as though former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is and will always be the permanent personification of evil within the Catholic Church," he said.

The accuser told authorities in a 2021 interview that McCarrick was close to the man's family when he was growing up. Prosecutors added the disgraced cleric would attend family gatherings and travel on vacations with them and that the victim referred to the priest as "Uncle Ted."

Prosecutors also said McCarrick committed the abuse over several years, including when the accuser, who was 16 at the time, was at his brother's wedding reception at Wellesley College, where he was sexually assaulted by McCarrick in a coat room after they returned to the reception, telling the boy to say some prayers before leaving the room.

"McCarrick walks a free man, and I am left with nothing," the accuser wrote.

Related Article: SC Ex-Priest Pleads Guilty to Sexual Misconduct, Child Exploitation

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
By Marco Bello and Maria Alejandra Cardona

PERRY, Florida (Reuters) - Hurricane Idalia plowed into Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday with howling winds, torrential rains and pounding surf, then weakened as it turned its fury on southeastern Georgia, where floodwaters trapped some residents in their homes.

Hours after Idalia slammed ashore as a powerful Category 3 hurricane at Keaton Beach in Florida's Big Bend region, packing winds of about 125 mph (201 kph), authorities were still trying to assess the full extent of damage in the hardest-hit areas.

Video footage and photographs from the region around Idalia's landfall showed ocean waters washing over highways and neighborhoods swamped by extensive flooding at midday. Power outages were widespread.

Fierce winds ripped down the roof of a gasoline station in Perry, a town of about 7,000 residents roughly 20 miles (32 km) inland and north of where Idalia came ashore, CNN video showed.

At a late afternoon news conference, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said no hurricane fatalities had been confirmed and that it seemed most residents in vulnerable, low-lying areas had heeded evacuation orders and warnings to move to higher ground.

But the Florida Highway Patrol reported earlier in the day that two motorists died in separate rain-related crashes on Wednesday morning. DeSantis later said state authorities were investigating one unconfirmed storm-related traffic death.

INSURED LOSSES ESTIMATED AT $9 BILLION-PLUS

Insured property losses in Florida were projected to run $9.36 billion, investment bank UBS said in a research note based on preliminary estimates.

Still, Idalia appeared from early reports to have been far less destructive than Hurricane Ian, a Category 5 storm that struck Florida last September, killing 150 people and causing $112 billion in damage.

The governor said that as many as 565,000 utility customers had lost electricity at some point during and after the storm.

DeSantis was speaking in Perry, which along with other parts of Taylor County bore some of the storm's worst damage. Electricity was out across the town, businesses were all shuttered and many homes were empty.

Florida Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue told the briefing that state National Guard teams were conducting water rescues from vehicles in Hernando and Taylor counties.

Here and there, residents were seen clearing fallen trees and limbs that littered yards and streets, making it difficult to drive through the town. Some homes and other buildings were left in shambles.

Thomas Demps, 80, a Taylor County commissioner, let out a long, stunned whistle and several exclamations of "Oh, my!" as he walked around Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Perry on Wednesday afternoon.

The church took a beating, Perry said, with missing shingles, portions of outside walls torn away and water standing on the floor.

"This is the worst storm I've ever seen here, never seen it this bad," said Demps, a retired industrial mechanic.

About 200 miles (322 km) to the south, at least 75 people were rescued from floodwaters in St. Petersburg, Florida, municipal officials said on social media, with video showing two emergency workers in a small boat plying submerged streets through heavy rains.

As predicted, Idalia crossed Florida's shoreline in the heart of its largely rural Big Bend region, where the state's northern Gulf Coast panhandle curves into the western side of the Florida Peninsula. The area is roughly bounded by the cities of Gainesville and Tallahassee, the state capital.

The same region, featuring a marshy coast and threaded with freshwater springs and rivers, was devastated by a major hurricane in 1896.

Feeding on the warm, open waters of the Gulf Mexico as it churned toward Florida, Idalia gained strength after skirting western Cuba on Monday as a tropical storm.

The hurricane unleashed destructive winds and torrential downpours that were forecast to cause flooding up to 16 feet (5 m) deep along Florida's Gulf Coast. Some 12 hours after landfall, the governor said no drowning victims had been found caught in the storm surge.

GEORGIA RESCUES

Florida's Gulf Coast, southeastern Georgia and eastern parts of North and South Carolina were forecast to receive 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm) of rain through Thursday, with as much as a foot of rain possible in isolated areas, the National Hurricane Center warned.

By early Wednesday afternoon, Idalia's center had left Florida and moved into Georgia. State officials said they expected the storm to clear Georgia by 8 p.m. EDT.

In Valdosta, Georgia, about 80 miles northeast of Tallahassee, emergency boat crews were carrying out rescues of residents trapped in homes, according to the city's Facebook page.

Cedric King, a businessman from coastal Brunswick, Georgia, just south of Savannah, was not going to take chances.

"I packed up the family and headed north," he said after a five-hour drive with his mother, wife and children. "We evacuated."

The storm's most dangerous feature, officials warned, was a powerful surge of wind-driven seawater that flooded low-lying areas.

By midmorning, a storm monitoring station in Steinhatchee, 20 miles (32 km) south of Keaton Beach, showed waters reaching 8 feet (2.4 meters), well above the 6-foot (1.8-meter) flood stage.

In Hillsborough County, an area of 1.5 million people south of the Big Bend region that includes Tampa, crews were dealing with widespread damage and flooded streets, officials said in a news briefing.

Idalia attained Category 4 intensity on the five-step Saffir-Simpson wind scale early Wednesday before landfall, but by 7 a.m. had weakened into Category 3, the NHC said.

As it entered southeastern Georgia, Idalia's wind speeds ebbed to 90 mph, reducing the tempest to a Category 1 storm. By 5 p.m. EDT, it weakened further into a tropical storm, the NHC said.

(This story has been refiled to add dropped words 'of' and 'strength' in paragraph 19)

(Reporting by Maria Alejandra Cardona in Steinhatchee, Florida, Marco Bello in Cedar Key, Florida, Joey Roulette in Tampa, Florida, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Brendan O'Brien in Chicago, Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado, Kanishka Singh, Jeff Mason and Nandita Bose in Washington; Writing by Brendan O'Brien, Julia Harte and Steve Gorman; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Cynthia Osterman)
By Nate Raymond

DEDHAM, Massachusetts (Reuters) -A Massachusetts judge on Wednesday dismissed a criminal case charging former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick with molesting a 16-year-old boy in 1974, saying the 93-year-old was not competent to stand trial after psychological experts found he had dementia.

McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington, D.C., who was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019, became the only current or former U.S. Catholic cardinal to ever face child sex abuse charges when prosecutors in Massachusetts first charged him in 2021.

He was charged in April in a separate, ongoing criminal sexual assault case in Wisconsin involving the same alleged victim, who prosecutors said was fondled by McCarrick when he was 18 years old while staying as a guest at a cabin in 1977.

Prosecutors in Dedham, Massachusetts, said that three years earlier, during a family wedding reception at Wellesley College, McCarrick groped the boy as they walked around campus before taking him into a small closet-like room and fondling him.

But on Wednesday, Judge Paul McCallum in Dedham granted prosecutors' request to dismiss three counts of indecent assault and battery over the 1974 incident, after a psychologist retained by the prosecution testified she believed McCarrick had dementia.

Kerry Nelligan, the psychologist, testified that when she met with McCarrick in June, he was often unable to recall what they discussed and that his condition rendered him unable to meaningfully participate in his own defense.

"There were significant deficits in his memory and ability to retain information," Nelligan said.

Her assessment was shared by a defense expert who earlier this year said McCarrick has dementia, likely due to Alzheimer's disease.

McCarrick, who lives in an assisted living facility in Missouri, appeared by video and said nothing during the proceedings. He had previously pleaded not guilty. His lawyers declined to comment.

McCarrick was expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood in 2019 after a Vatican investigation found him guilty of sexual crimes against minors and adults.

A Vatican report in November 2020 found that McCarrick rose through the church's ranks despite rumors of sexual misconduct and that Pope John Paul II promoted him despite knowing the allegations.

The Massachusetts and Wisconsin cases are the only two he has faced despite lawsuits by other men accusing him of sexual abuse decades ago. A legal quirk froze the statute of limitations in the Massachusetts case after McCarrick, a non-resident, left the state.

His alleged victim in a court filing on Wednesday said the case "was to have provided a modest level of payback" after he suffered years of abuse at McCarrick's hands.

"McCarrick walks a free man and I am left with nothing," the alleged victim wrote.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andy Sullivan, David Gregorio and Jonathan Oatis)
By Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani is liable for defaming two Georgia election workers who were the target of vote-rigging conspiracy accusations following the 2020 U.S. presidential election, a U.S. judge in Washington ruled on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell issued the order as a sanction against Giuliani for failing to turn over electronic records sought by the two Fulton County election workers, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, in the case.

Howell found that Giuliani refused to comply with a process for producing records, known as discovery, and rejected the former New York mayor's argument that the election workers used the lawsuit to harass him.

"Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case," Howell wrote in her order.

Giuliani argued in court filings that he had sought to turn over records, but faced several obstacles, including having his phone seized by federal agents in 2021.

Ted Goodman, a political adviser to Giuliani, called the ruling a "prime example of the weaponization of the justice system, where the process is the punishment."

Giuliani is also facing criminal charges in Georgia's Fulton County for allegedly aiding Republican then-President Trump's effort to overturn his election loss in the state, including by making false claims about Moss and Freeman. Giuliani has called that indictment a "travesty."

The judge's order means Giuliani will have to pay damages for spreading false claims that Moss and Freeman secretly processed and counted batches of illegal ballots at a Georgia arena used to tabulate votes following the 2020 election. The pair said they received death threats and harassment after Giuliani identified them by name and likened them to drug dealers.

Freeman and Moss said in a statement that the ruling confirms that "there was never any truth to any of the accusations about us."

Giuliani previously admitted that his statements were false and damaged Moss and Freeman's reputations, but left open the possibility of challenging the claims on appeal.

Giuliani will now face a civil trial in federal court in Washington to determine how much he will have to pay.

Moss and Freeman settled defamation claims against far-right news outlet One America News Network last year.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Andrew Goudsward in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)
After devastating wildfires scorched the Hawaiian town of Lahaina this month, state and federal officials have been calling on Congress to approve billions of dollars in disaster relief to help support the island. But some lawmakers are worried that the money may get tied up in the looming government shutdown fight, which could delay the funding for disaster victims.

Shutting down the government is not an option, Rep. Jill Tokuda, a Democrat who represents the Maui area in Congress, tells TIME. This is about sending a message to every citizen in this country about how we take care of people in times of crisis and disaster. A government shutdown will slow down our recovery efforts.

The push to approve supplemental funding for Hawaii intensified on Tuesday when FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell announced that the agencys Disaster Relief Fund has a balance of just $3.4 billion, setting up the risk of it running out of money by September. She said that immediate needs funding would ensure that FEMA can continue to respond to disasters, but called on Congress to provide a long-term solution by passing $12 billion in additional funds for FEMA.

But funding for FEMA may get caught in the battle over budget talks, complicating the likelihood of final passage. For months, Congress has been at an impasse on budget talks as far-right members of the party have pressured GOP leaders to further slash funding levels for various government agencies and include conservative policy provisions to restrict abortion and LGBTQ rights in the appropriations package. With budget disagreements unresolved, time is running out before a government shutdown takes effect on Sept. 30. House lawmakers, returning on Sept. 12, will have just 12 work days to pass 11 annual appropriations bills. If they dont, billions of dollars of federal relief money for Hawaii in the wake of the largest natural disaster in its history could sit unspent as long as the government is shut down.

To try to separate the relief funds from the potential shutdown, Tokuda says that Democrats are considering using a discharge petition to get money out the door to FEMAa process that enables a majority of the House to sidestep the speaker and committee chairs to push forward legislation on its own. But discharge petitions are a slow process: bills must sit in committee for 30 legislative days and then the petition needs to sit on a House calendar for seven legislative days before a vote can happen. Still, A discharge petition is definitely one of the ways that we can look to continue to move such aid forward and over to the Senate, Tokuda says. We have to consider every tool in our toolbox.

Thats not the only option to untangle Hawaii disaster relief from the spending package. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last week announced that he would support passing a short-term bill to fund the government until December, giving lawmakers on both sides of the aisle more time to pass spending bills for the upcoming fiscal year. Some lawmakers are also eyeing the possibility of passing a stopgap funding bill, also known as a continuing resolution, to keep federal agencies including FEMA running. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy acknowledged the likelihood of a continuing resolution during a conference call with House Republicans Monday night, though some members of his party are opposed to the current proposal, which ties FEMA funding with funding for Ukraine. I thought it was a good thing that [McCarthy] recognized that we need a CR in September. Im supportive of that, Schumer said on Aug. 14. A CR until early December provides time for consideration of these bipartisan bills.

The fires that devastated Lahaina, a town of 13,000 people on the island of Maui, spread rapidly in mid-August after powerful winds from a hurricane moved through dry grasslands. 115 people have been confirmed dead, with hundreds more missing. According to Criswell, FEMA has already distributed more than $8.5 million to Maui, including $3.6 million for direct rental assistance. FEMA has encouraged survivors to register with the government to receive assistance, including an immediate payment of $700 to cover food and water. More than 1,000 federal officials were on the ground in the days following the fires, and close to 2,000 victims had been moved into hotel rooms on the island. But with several hundred people in the area still unaccounted for, federal officials are also looking to continue funding search and rescue operations.

Tokuda says the additional $12 billion in disaster relief funds that Congress is considering giving FEMA may not be enough for rebuilding critical infrastructure like housing, schools, and health care facilities in Hawaiiespecially as Hurricane Idalia heads towards Florida and other natural disasters are expected to take a slice of the funding. A potential government shutdown would slow down recovery efforts across the U.S., harming all communities impacted by hurricanes, tropical storms, and wildfires. A disaster does not stop because the government shuts down, Tokuda says. The aid must not stop flowing into our community.

Write to Nik Popli at nik.popli@time.com.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) -A Palestinian was killed in a rare clash between Palestinian security forces and gunmen in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, amid uncertainty over the future of Palestinian leadership that has widened internal rifts.

Separately, Israeli police said a minor they suspected of carrying out a stabbing attack in Jerusalem was shot and killed in the latest episode in a months-long surge of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Israel has stepped up military raids in Palestinian self-ruled areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank where Palestinian fighters have become increasingly assertive, challenging the internationally backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Witnesses said a man was killed in the West Bank town of Tulkarm after Palestinian security forces arrived to free up roads to its refugee camp, which gunmen had blocked as a precaution against Israeli incursions. The PA said residents had complained that the obstacles endangered passersby and a school.

In the ensuing gunfight, a 25-year-old Palestinian man, described by locals as unaffiliated with the PA or militants, was shot dead. Further details on the circumstances were not immediately clear.

Several gunmen posted a video accusing the PA of his killing. "We will not keep silent about this act, which aids the occupation forces in arresting and chasing the youths and those (on Israel's) wanted list," one of the gunmen said.

The PA, contacted by Reuters, had no immediate response to the militants' accusations.

Talal Dweikat, spokesperson for the PA security services, said gunmen had opened fire at the forces, "prompting security forces to intervene, taking necessary measures to restore order".

PA security services launched an investigation into the incident and requested an autopsy, the official WAFA news agency reported. Palestinian human rights activists called for an independent inquiry.

The Islamist Hamas movement, which governs Israeli-blockaded Gaza and recently has stepped up its challenge to PA rule in the West Bank, condemned the Tulkarm killing and said accountability was needed "to preserve internal peace in the face of the occupation".

President Mahmoud Abbas has rebuffed repeated demands from the Palestinian public to step down during his two decades in power. The 87-year-old has named no favoured heir, with U.S.-sponsored statehood talks frozen since 2014.

The PA, set up following the 1990s Oslo interim peace accords, exercises limited governance over parts of the West Bank. Accused by Israel of being lax towards Palestinian militants, it says Israeli policies have weakened its sway.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids since the latest wave of violence erupted in early 2022.

In the same period, dozens of Israelis have been killed in shootings, stabbings, or car-ramming attacks by Palestinians. Violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank against Palestinians has also surged.

Earlier, the Israeli military said its troops had shot a Palestinian motorist who rammed into them near the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday, injuring a soldier. No details of the Palestinian's condition were immediately released.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta; additional reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Mark Heinrich)
After some Florida insurance companies were accused of shortchanging customers claims after Hurricane Ian last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis and state regulators are warning insurance companies to make whole homeowners who experience damage from Hurricane Idalia.

Were gonna be watching, DeSantis said Monday night. We want to make people whole who pay for this service. And I think that they deserve to have their claims honored.

On Monday, the states Office of Insurance Regulation sent a memo to the industry, reminding companies of a new law passed by the Legislature this spring to improve how insurers handle claims  and the increased penalties for violating them. The law required insurers to adopt best practices when handling claims, even after a hurricane.

Read More: Florida braces for Hurricane Idalia. 125 mph winds, 15-foot storm surge expected

Policyholders have the right to expect prompt, efficient, and fair claims adjustment service, especially after a catastrophic loss, the offices memo to insurers states. (The offices) primary concern is that consumers issues are properly and timely resolved.

After Hurricane Ian battered Southwest Florida last year, at least seven adjusters working for insurance companies came forward saying the insurers manipulated their reports to pay homeowners less than what the adjuster had estimated, which is illegal under Florida law. Four gave sworn testimony in civil cases, producing documents and copies of text messages from insurers ordering them to deny or reduce claims.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, whose office is investigating those claims after initially dismissing them, is advising homeowners to take a video of the inside and outside of their home before Idalia strikes.

If youre affected by this storm, its going to give you a cut and dry example of what your house looks like before the storm and now what it looks like after the storm, Patronis said in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. Youll have that to take to your insurance company in order to have a cut-and-dry claim process.

Idalia is expected to be a Category 3 storm when it makes landfall in Floridas Big Bend region Wednesday morning.

Floridians are already paying the highest homeowners insurance rates in the nation, and rates are expected to keep rising despite numerous laws passed by state lawmakers in recent years. Those reforms have largely focused on making it harder for consumers to sue their insurance companies.

There are some signs the market is stabilizing. Last week, state regulators approved two new insurance companies to be added to Floridas market.

The industry is in better shape than it was a year ago, thanks to lawmakers changes, said Mark Friedlander, Florida spokesperson for the industry-backed Insurance Information Institute.

Every company was able to buy reinsurance  insurance that insurers buy to pay storm claims  ahead of this years hurricane season. But a storm this early in the hurricane season will likely lead to higher reinsurance rates next year, which are passed on to customers.

A market that has been in such turmoil for so many years, this is another negative impact, Friedlander said Tuesday.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Two rescue operations were launched Wednesday for migrants crammed on board sailboats, one far off a western Greek island and the other off a Cycladic island near the Greek capital, the coast guard said.

A group of 76 people were rescued from a sailing boat in distress 64 nautical miles (74 miles, 118 kilometers) southwest of the Ionian Sea island of Zakynthos in western Greece, the coast guard said. All were taken on board a passing Egyptian-flagged cargo ship, and there were no reports of any missing people.

It was not immediately clear where the sailboat had set out from, but the area lies on the route often used by smuggling vessels carrying migrants from Turkey or northern Africa to Italy.

In the second incident, a rescue operation was launched for about 60 people on a sailboat near the northwestern coast of Kythnos island, one of the Cyclades to the southeast of Athens.

Two private boats and one coast guard patrol vehicle on land were in the area, while another three coast guard patrol boats were heading to the location, authorities said.

Also Wednesday, the Greek coast guard picked up 17 migrants from a boat off the island of Samos, near Turkey in the eastern Aegean Sea. On Tuesday, another 90 people were rescued in four separate incidents from small boats off Samos and the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos.

Greece has seen an increase in the arrival of smuggling boats bringing migrants into the country over the last two months, mainly small dinghies heading to eastern Aegean Sea islands from the nearby Turkish coast.

For decades, the country has been a preferred entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and hoping for a better life in Europe.

More than 17,300 people have reached Greece by land and sea so far this year, according to the latest United Nations figures. About 13,500 of them arrived by sea with 5,500 reaching Lesbos alone.

Arrivals make up more than a tenth of this years total successful Mediterranean crossings, most of which  about 113,000  were to Italy. Arrivals in Greece for the whole of 2022 totaled 19,000.

In June, a battered fishing trawler heading from Libya to Italy with an estimated 500-750 people on board sank in international waters off southwestern Greece. Only 104 survivors were found, and Greek authorities were heavily criticized for failing to evacuate the vessel in time.

The government has attributed the rise in migrant crossings since then to better summer weather, unrest in Africa and smugglers taking advantage of an increase in Aegean small boat traffic during the tourist season.

After nearly a million people entered Greece at the height of Europes 2015 migration crisis, the vast majority hoping to move north to wealthier European countries, Greece increased patrols along the sea and land border with Turkey to halt arrivals.

Human rights groups and migrants denounced the government for carrying out summary deportations of people arriving in the country without allowing them to apply for asylum, an accusation the government strongly denied.

___

Follow APs global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday rejected a request from Alberto Nunez Feijoo, leader of the conservatives, to support him in a vote to form a government and will instead seek a new term himself, his Socialist Party said.

Feijoo's People's Party won the most seats in the July 23 elections, but came short of a working majority and is trying to garner enough support in the lower house.

He had asked Sanchez, a Socialist, in a meeting earlier on Wednesday to back him for at least two years in exchange for policy pacts. In a document handed to Sanchez, Feijoo had said a two-year government pact could be extended if both parties agreed. Legislatures last four years in Spain.

"Unfortunately, what I have obtained, as far as I understood, is a no," Feijoo told reporters.

Sanchez did not speak to the media, but Socialist Party spokesperson Pilar Alegria ruled out support for Feijoo's premiership bid.

"What Mr. Feijoo has is a majority against his investiture," Alegria, who is also acting education minister, told reporters. "When he fails and we know he will, we'll work, propose and win the investiture."

A vote is scheduled for Sept. 27.

Sanchez said earlier this month he also intended to seek a vote in the lower house to remain as prime minister.

Last week, King Felipe handed Feijoo the mission of forming the government.

A candidate for premiership needs to secure an absolute majority of at least 176 in the 350-member assembly in a first vote, or a simple majority of more votes in favour than against in a second vote held within two days of the first.

Far-right group Vox and two small regional parties have said they will back Feijoo, giving him 172 votes.

Feijoo made his offer to Sanchez' socialists to avoid winning over support from separatist groups with concessions he is unwilling to grant, he said.

On Aug. 17, Sanchez managed to secure 178 votes, with support from left-wing and regionalist parties, to get its candidate elected as speaker.

The smaller parties have said their vote for the speaker didn't imply automatic support for a Socialist-led government.

(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Inti Landauro, editing by Andrei Khalip, Tomasz Janowski and Sharon Singleton)
By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) -China and Britain made tentative steps to repair relations on Wednesday, with Beijing promising better ties if both showed "mutual respect" and London saying it wants to keep lines of communication open, including between the countries' leaders.

Foreign minister James Cleverly is the first senior British minister in five years to visit China, a trip he hopes will reset ties between the two countries after years of tension over security, investment and human rights.

The foreign secretary has argued it would be a mistake to isolate the world's second-largest economy, but some Conservative lawmakers say the trip looks like an expression of British weakness.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed Cleverly and said both countries should move forward, rather than retreating, particularly in working together to boost the global economy.

"I believe that as long as both sides adhere to mutual respect, equal treatment, view each other's development objectively, and enhance mutual understanding and trust, Sino-British relations will be able to eliminate all unnecessary interference and obstacles," Wang said during the meeting's opening remarks in front of reporters.

Cleverly responded by saying he appreciated having the ability to raise points of disagreement, telling Wang he appreciated him listening to them "carefully and professionally", but he also wanted to raise opportunities.

"It is important for us to maintain these channels of communication at our level as minister-to-minister, ministers in upper government departments," he said. "And, of course ultimately, it is important for our prime minister and your president to have the opportunity to speak directly as well."

A possible meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could come at the G20 summit in India next month, but the British leader told broadcasters his schedule for the meeting had yet to be finalised.

SUNAK UNDER PRESSURE

Sunak, under pressure from lawmakers - including former Prime Minister Liz Truss - who want London to toughen its policy on China and to declare the country a threat to British national security, defended his approach.

"It's perfectly possible to engage with China at the same time as being very robust in standing up for our interests and our values," Sunak said.

The foreign ministry said in a statement that Cleverly had raised issues such as what he described as the damage caused by the Beijing-imposed National Security Law in Hong Kong, called for the lifting of sanctions on some British lawmakers, and emphasised the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

But one Conservative said on condition of anonymity it was unclear what the benefit of the trip was. "We should be robust towards China, but this looks the opposite," the lawmaker said.

The head of parliament's foreign affairs committee, Conservative Alicia Kearns, said she feared ministers had no coherent strategy on Beijing after her committee released a report critical of the government's China policy.

She said the strategy was buried, asking: "How can those implementing policy - and making laws - do so without an understanding of the overall strategy?"

The committee also referred to Taiwan as an "independent country" in a break with the British government's position. Beijing considers Taiwan part of China and strongly objects to perceived foreign interference with the island.

Britain's government does not recognise Taiwan and has no formal diplomatic relations with the island, but it maintains economic and trade ties and has a de facto embassy in Taipei.

Cleverly's visit to China comes as other countries in the West, including the United States, also try to improve their relations with the country.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen in Beijing and Sarah Young in London; writing by Elizabeth Piper and Kate Holton; Editing by Conor Humphries and Jonathan Oatis)
Joint archaeological work along ancient Silk Road fosters friendship, yields results

Xinhua) 16:18, August 30, 2023

XI'AN/ALMATY, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Ding Yan gives the pottery fragments a few swipes with his brush and examines them with his expert eye. They have been buried for thousands of years at the Rahat site in Kazakhstan, but now the dirt is being removed and the details revealed.

This site was home to an ancient civilization that thrived on the Silk Road at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. It is some 3,000 km from Ding's usual workplace in Xi'an, capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, but this has not impaired his enthusiasm for the work here.

Despite the language barrier and the differences in natural environment and living conditions, he feels at home among the brushes, hand shovels and pottery shards with their unique earthy smell.

Ding will be working at the site for the next three months. "We will carry out the excavation work together with our colleagues in Kazakhstan, to understand the distribution and changes of archaeological culture in the early Iron Age in the middle reaches of the Ili River," he said.

In Xi'an, Wang Jianxin, another scholar who has engaged in joint archaeological work under the Belt and Road Initiative for a long time, is busy preparing for an international academic conference. Wang, a 70-something chief scientist with the Collaborative Research Center for Archaeology of the Silk Roads, has a full schedule.

After the international academic conference, Wang will travel to Uzbekistan to participate in joint expedition and academic exchanges with archaeologists from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Xi'an, a city founded more than 3,100 years ago, served as the capital for 13 dynasties in Chinese history, including the Tang Dynasty (618-907), when the city was known as Chang'an.

This is also the place where Zhang Qian began his journey to the Western regions via Central Asia during the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) as an envoy. Zhang's pioneering expedition opened up a route that later became the Silk Road.

In recent years, a number of Chinese scholars have set out from Xi'an to explore the cultural relics of the ancient Silk Road, together with scholars from countries along the Belt and Road.

Wang began his archaeological and research work on the ancient Silk Road at the end of the 20th century. After 10 years of archaeological excavation and research on the Silk Road in China, he felt an urgent desire to do the same overseas.

"Only by mastering more comprehensive first-hand information can Chinese scholars bring a 'Chinese voice' to the international archaeology community," said Wang.

Zhang traveled to the Western regions in search of the ancient nomads called Greater Yuezhi, who had migrated west to Central Asia after being defeated by the Xiongnu people, an alliance of nomadic tribes also known as the Huns.

Since 2009, Wang has followed in Zhang's footsteps, leading an archaeological team from Northwest University to Uzbekistan to carry out joint archaeological work along the Silk Road.

For more than 10 years, Wang's team has been conducting explorations in Central Asia, and has formed a joint archaeological team with professionals from Uzbekistan. They have made a series of finds, including a batch of settlements of ancient nomadic and agricultural cultures in the western Tianshan Mountains.

At the Rahat site, the joint archaeological work carried out by Chinese and Kazakh scholars has also yielded fruitful results. Since 2017, the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology and the State Historical-Cultural Museum-Reserve "ISSYK" have formed a joint archaeological team to carry out archaeological investigations and excavations at the site and others nearby.

Archaeologists from China and Kazakhstan first conducted investigations and trial excavations at the Rahat site, and then cleaned up and excavated the remains of tombs, ash pits and ditches, unearthing a large number of relics, including ironware, stone tools and pottery pieces.

Gulmira Mukhtarova, director of the State Historical-Cultural Museum-Reserve "ISSYK," has also been participating in the work at the Rahat site. "From the unearthed relics, we can observe the traces of people's lives along the ancient Silk Road, which will help us study the site in depth and make an important contribution to the historical research in this area," said Mukhtarova.

The flow of expertise is not all in one direction, according to Mukhtarova. Eight Kazakh scholars have traveled to China to participate in archaeological excavations and exchange experiences there.

In April, the General Assembly of the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia was held in Xi'an. A joint declaration on cultural heritage protection in Asia was issued at the assembly. According to the declaration, the alliance members will carry out collaborative archaeological projects on themes such as the origins of civilizations and the Silk Road, and make a joint declaration on world heritage.

Also in Xi'an, China and five Central Asian countries reached a series of agreements on cooperation at the China-Central Asia Summit held in May, including cooperation in conducting joint archaeological and cultural heritage protection and restoration.

The cooperation has not only yielded fruitful results in terms of archaeology, but has also fostered goodwill and enthusiasm that have been appreciated by Chinese archaeologists working overseas. "Local people say 'Nihao' (hello in Chinese) and smile at us, and government officials give the thumbs-up sign to the archaeological experts from China," said Wang.

"The joint archaeological work carried out within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative is of great significance," said Mukhtarova. "We and the Chinese archaeologists have learned from each other in our excavation practice, bringing successful experience for Belt and Road people-to-people exchanges."

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Google DeepMind teamed up with Google Cloud to launch the beta version of SynthID, a tool capable of digitally watermarking AI-generated images.

Read Also: Google Rolls Out Duet AI Assistance for Workspace

SynthID Watermark and Identification Features

Google acknowledges how fast generative AI technologies are evolving. The advancements make it harder for simple tools to accurately identify which is AI or not. Moreover, photo grabbing is a sensitive issue for image creators as it could be easily grabbed online by cropping or editing the watermark out.

SynthID users has the ability to add watermark to their images that are imperceptible to human eye yet detectable if edited even with the simplest techniques. If the image was made by Imagen, SynthID can scan the digital watermark to double check.

"SynthID isn't foolproof against extreme image manipulations, but it does provide a promising technical approach for empowering people and organizations to work with AI-generated content responsibly," Google DeepMind wrote in a blog post.

Google DeepMind Promotes Responsible AI Use

Despite the intricate features of watermarking and identification of images, Google DeepMind assured that they will continuously work on creating AI-generated content responsibly.

SynthID is designed to work perfectly without compromising the original image quality. In the future, SynthID has the possibility of working beyond images such as audio, video, and text.

As of writing, SynthID is available to selected Vertex AI customers that are using Imagen.

Related Article: Google Explores Building an AI Assistant That Gives Life Advice
By Stephen Nellis and Max A. Cherney

(Reuters) -The U.S. expanded the restriction of exports of sophisticated Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices artificial-intelligence chips beyond China to other regions including some countries in the Middle East.

Nvidia said in a regulatory filing this week that the curbs, which affect its A100 and H100 chips designed to speed up machine-learning tasks, would not have an "immediate material impact" on its results.

Rival AMD also received an informed letter with similar restrictions, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the move has no material impact on its revenue.

U.S. officials usually impose export controls for national security reasons. A similar move announced last year signaled an escalation of the U.S. crackdown on China's technological capabilities, but it was not immediately clear what risks were posed by exports to the Middle East.

In a separate statement, Nvidia said the new licensing requirement "doesn't affect a meaningful portion of our revenue. We are working with the U.S. government to address this matter."

The U.S. Commerce Department, which normally administers new licensing requirements on exports, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Last September AMD said it had received new license requirements that would halt exports of its MI250 artificial-intelligence chips to China.

Nvidia, AMD and Intel have since then all disclosed plans to create less powerful AI chips that can be exported to the Chinese market.

Nvidia, which gave no reason for the new restrictions in the filing dated Aug. 28, last year said U.S. officials informed them the rule "will address the risk that products may be used in, or diverted to, a 'military end use' or 'military end user' in China."

Nvidia this week did not specify which countries in the Middle East were affected. The company derived most of its $13.5 billion in sales in its fiscal quarter ended July 30 from the United States, China and Taiwan. About 13.9% of sales came from all other countries combined, and Nvidia does not provide a revenue breakout from the Middle East.

"During the second quarter of fiscal year 2024, the USG (U.S. government) informed us of an additional licensing requirement for a subset of A100 and H100 products destined to certain customers and other regions, including some countries in the Middle East," Nvidia said in the Aug. 28 filing.

Last year's announcements came as tensions bubbled over the fate of Taiwan, where chips for Nvidia and almost every other major chip firm are manufactured.

In October 2022, the Biden administration went a step further when it published a sweeping set of export controls, including a measure to cut off China from certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with U.S. equipment. The move vastly expanded Washington's reach in its bid to slow Beijing's technological and military advances.

Japan and the Netherlands followed up with similar rules earlier this year.

Without American AI chips from companies like Nvidia and AMD, Chinese organizations will be unable to cost-effectively carry out the kind of advanced computing used for image and speech recognition, among many other tasks.

Image recognition and natural language processing are common in consumer applications like smartphones that can answer queries and tag photos. They also have military uses such as scouring satellite imagery for weapons or bases and filtering digital communications for intelligence-gathering purposes.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington, and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa and Stephen Nellis and Max Cherney in San Francisco; additional reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru Editing by Chris Sanders, Nick Zieminski, Matthew Lewis and Lincoln Feast.)
Macklowe Properties

As remote work remains popular, office buildings will become increasingly empty.

Goldman Sachs estimated vacant office space will jump by 267 million square feet over the next decade and beyond.

Office leases will see a big ramp-up in expirations starting in 2030, a note said.

As remote work becomes more entrenched, property markets should gear up for plummeting office demand as leases expire over the next decade.

That's according to a Goldman Sachs note, which found that the share of US workers who are at home has stabilized in the 20%-25% range, below pandemic peak of 47% but well above the pre-pandemic average of 2.6%.

As a result, the office space that's actually being used is about half of pre-pandemic levels. So far, that has yet to translate to big declines in office space that's rented out under a lease agreement. In the past three years, the occupancy rate has only dipped to 86% from 90%.

But that is about to change as the duration of commercial leases averages 4-7 years.

Goldman estimated that 17% of the office space under lease is due to expire by the end of 2024, with 11% expiring in 2025, and more than 35% after 2030.

Even after assuming that further rebalancing in the labor market will reduce companies' incentives to offer work-from-home options, Goldman projected a big spike in office vacancy.

Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

The analysis estimated that lease expirations will pressure office vacancies up by 0.8 percentage points in 2024, 2.3 percentage points in 2025-2029, and 1.8 percentage points in 2030 and the years that follow.

That means vacant office space will jump by 267 million square feet over the next decade and beyond, according to Goldman. By comparison, 49 million square feet of new office construction was completed last year.

All that available space will reduce future investment in office structures by $6.4 billion in 2024 and $6 billion in the year after, the note said.

The forecast comes as some high-profile companies start taking a harder line on remote work. Through August, firms such as Meta and Goldman Sachs have issued strict return-to-office mandates with threats to track performance or even terminate employees who don't turn up in the office often enough.

Even video-conferencing company Zoom, which is a key enabler of remote work, has asked some employees to come back to the office regularly.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Editors Note: Michael Fanone is a CNN law enforcement analyst who served for 20 years with the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department. The views expressed here are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

No weapon has been more in the public eye in America of late than the AR-15, in large part because of its tragic role in some of this countrys deadliest shootings.

The AR-15 has the dubious distinction of being Americas most popular semi-automatic rifle. Im more familiar with the gun than most people: I own one. And one thing I know for sure is that this weapon doesnt belong in the hands of the average civilian.

Officer Michael Fanone attends The 15th Annual CNN Heroes: All-Star Tribute at American Museum of Natural History on December 12, 2021, in New York. - Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Ive owned multiple firearms for most of my life. I spent two decades in the Washington Metropolitan Police Department in a number of different roles, as a street cop walking the beat and on various special mission units.

Im also a card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association. And when I wasnt at my job doing police work, I worked part-time for several years in firearm sales as well as training law enforcement officers, members of the military and civilians.

I purchased my different guns over the years for the same reason that you might purchase a flathead screwdriver along with a Phillips screwdriver: Each one serves a different purpose. As an avid hunter, Ive got a gun that I use for turkey hunting, one that I use for waterfowl and one I use to hunt deer and larger game like elk.

I purchased my AR-15 because I was assigned one as part of my police duties. But officers werent allowed to take our department-issued weapons home. I felt it was my responsibility to become proficient with any weapon Id been assigned, so I bought one. And Ive spent hundreds of hours training so that I could properly use it.

Ive sold guns at big box retailers and Ive also sold firearms at a small retail gun store. Some gun buyers have been misled into thinking that the AR-15 is somehow practical for self-defense. But frankly, its the last gun that I would recommend for that purpose.

Usually, the motivation for purchasing the AR-15 is simple: People want one because they want one. Most times, the person who buys an AR-15 comes into the store already knowing that they intend to purchase one.

Ive pressed some customers about why they want an AR-15, but no one could ever come up with a legitimate justification for needing that particular weapon.

Some members of the tinfoil hat brigade have come up with the reply, We need these weapons because we want to be effective against the government if it becomes tyrannical. Thats part of our Second Amendment right. Personally, I think thats ludicrous, but it has become an increasingly popular justification for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle.

The AR-15 was given to law enforcement because more and more frequently police officers were encountering these types of weapons on the street and finding that they were outgunned. One example that springs to mind is the famous 1997 North Hollywood, California, shootout at the Bank of America.

In that incident, two individuals clad in body armor held up a bank in the Los Angeles neighborhood. Police who responded at the scene literally had to run to a nearby gun store to purchase more powerful weapons, because they were using 9 mm pistols, while the bad guys were armed with semi-automatic rifles.

The standoff was one of the most infamous gun battles in American history, with 11 officers wounded  luckily, none fatally  and both robbery suspects shot dead. While its an extreme example, it is in many ways the situation encountered by officers all across this country: Police simply are outgunned against semi- and fully automatic firearms.

The bullet that comes out of the barrel of an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle can easily penetrate the target  the intruder or whatever person you are using deadly force to defend yourself or others from.

Pallbearers carry the casket of Nevaeh Bravo during a funeral service at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on June 2 in Uvalde, Texas. Bravo was killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School. - Eric Gay/AP

But it also will go through the wall behind that person, and potentially through that room and into the next wall. That power and accuracy are useful for military purposes, which is obviously what they were designed for. But its far more power than should ever be in the hands of the average civilian.

The bullet fired by the AR-15 is capable of defeating the average police officers body armor, like a knife slicing through butter. SWAT teams and some of the more specialized units typically are equipped with level IV Kevlar or steel-plated armor, which would stop maybe two or three direct hits, but eventually body armor breaks down after being hit with multiple rounds.

A person wielding an AR-15 has a range beyond 300 yards. For an officer armed with a 9 mm pistol, hitting a target beyond 50 yards is going to be difficult, even for the most accomplished marksman. A bullet fired by an AR-15 travels at three times the velocity as one fired by a 9 mm handgun. And magazines that can feed dozens of rounds into the weapon in the space of minutes clearly were meant for use only on the battlefield.

The prevalence of these weapons means police sometimes are overmatched, as we saw with the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last month. In a situation where you have small children near the shooter, you want to remove the threat as quickly as possible.

But we all saw the tragic consequences at that elementary school, where police waited for more than an hour before engaging with the teenage gunman armed with an AR-15 who killed 19 young children and two teachers.

I have no doubt that police in Uvalde wish they had had weapons as powerful as the one carried by the shooter who snuffed out the lives of the victims in that school. But a far better outcome would have been if the shooter didnt have an AR-15 in the first place.

Now that Im no longer on the police force, my AR-15 collects dust in my gun safe. Rifle ranges that permit the type of training required to use this weapon system effectively are few and far between and the cost of ammunition exceeding a dollar per round is more than this guy can afford. I no longer need it. But neither, to be honest, do most of the people flocking to guns stores to buy one.

Banning these powerful weapons from the civilian marketplace is a no-brainer, as are universal background checks. Neither move is going to solve all the gun problems that we have, but it would be a start.

And outlawing these AR-15s would not require confiscating them from people who already have them. Once youve made these weapons illegal, anyone found with one would be subject to arrest, since possession of these weapons would be a crime. I think its likely that you would see a lot of people opting to turn them in.

A makeshift memorial surrounds the Robb Elementary School sign following the mass shooting at the Uvalde, Texas, school on May 26. - Brandon Bell/Getty Images

If banning them outright seems like too extreme a solution to be politically palatable, heres another option: Reclassify semi-automatic rifles as Class 3 firearms.

That would mean that someone wanting to purchase an AR-15 would have to go through a background check, fingerprinting and review by an official from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives  a process that takes anywhere from 12 to 16 months. And since Class 3 weapons cant be purchased by anyone younger than 21, it would solve the issue of emotionally unstable 18-year-olds buying them.

A Class 3 firearm reclassification would also make those who are approved to purchase these weapons subject to an annual check that they are complying with federal regulations regarding secure storage of the firearm, and to confirm their licensing and other paperwork is up to date. All of these hoops and hurdles are sure to reduce the civilian demand for these weapons.

I cant overstate how dangerous it is to have semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 in the hands of civilians. Our public officials have it within their power to help make it harder for people who shouldnt have these weapons to get them.

A police officer should never have to worry about being outgunned by the bad guy theyre protecting the public against.

This essay has been updated to note that the assailants in the 1997 bank robbery in California were armed with automatic weapons.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
The suspect in the fatal shooting of a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday is a graduate student at the school, UNC police said in a news release Tuesday.

Tailei Qi, the grad student, was charged with first-degree murder and having a gun on education property in court Tuesday. He did not enter a plea and was ordered held without bond.

The victim was identified as Zijie Yan, an associate professor in the department of Applied Physical Sciences who had worked for UNC since 2019.

The two knew each other, UNC Police Chief Brian James said Tuesday.

Qi was a grad student in the same department and Yan was his faculty adviser, according to Qis UNC biographical page, which has been deleted but is available on the Internet Archives Wayback Machine. Qi entered the school in 2022 and listed his previous education as Louisiana State University and Wuhan University, the page said.

Tailei Qi, left, is accused of fatally shooting UNC associate professor Zijie Yan. - Orange County Sheriff's Office, UNC-Chapel Hill

Qi entered the courtroom Tuesday wearing an orange jail outfit with his hands cuffed in front of him. He used an interpreter and was assigned a public defender for his first appearance. He is a citizen of China and is in the United States on a visa, District Attorney Jeff Nieman said.

Nieman said the gun possession charge was related to a 9 mm handgun. The firearm used in the shooting still has not been recovered, James said.

If convicted, Qi faces a minimum of life in prison without parole for the murder charge and up to two years for the weapons charge. The maximum sentence for first-degree murder in North Carolina is the death penalty, but Nieman has said his office policy is to not seek the death penalty.

UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz expressed his condolences to Yans family and said the campus will ring the bell tower in his honor on Wednesday.

He was a beloved colleague, mentor and a friend to so many on our campus, and a father to two young children, he said.

Shooting took place just after 1 p.m.

Emergency responders gather on South Street near the Bell Tower on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus on Monday. - Kaitlin McKeown/The News & Observer/AP

The early afternoon shooting at the schools Caudill Laboratories, a chemistry studies building, sent the university into lockdown for hours.

The suspect was located on foot about a mile away and detained about 90 minutes afterward, James said. His car was found on campus, he said.

We want to ensure that we gather every piece of evidence to determine exactly what happened here today and why it happened, James said at a news conference Monday evening. It is too early in this investigation to know a motive for the shooting.

Classes and campus activities were canceled Monday and Tuesday, and will continue to be closed Wednesday, officials said. This is the second week of fall semester classes at the flagship university of the 17-member UNC system.

This loss is devastating and the shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted in our campus community. We will work to rebuild that sense of trust and safety within our community, Guskiewicz said on Monday.

After 911 calls about the shooting came in shortly after 1 p.m., university police issued an alert advising students to go inside immediately, close windows and doors and to wait until further notice, according to an email. A witness on campus told CNN they were locked down in their building and saw armed officers searching campus.

Video from CNN affiliate WRAL showed a large number of police vehicles at the campus with their emergency lights flashing. At times, people walked out of nearby buildings in a single-file line with their arms in the air.

Police detained one person before the suspects arrest but they determined very quickly it was not the gunman, James said.

The suspect was taken into custody shortly after 2:30 p.m., Guskiewicz said. The university continued in lockdown for a couple hours after the suspect was detained because authorities were working to confirm they had the right person and trying to find the firearm that was used, James told reporters.

The university has a student body of about 32,000, along with more than 4,000 faculty and 9,000 staff members.

The FBI is assisting in evidence gathering, officials said.

Forty-nine school shootings have happened in the US this year, including the UNC shooting  34 have been reported on K-12 campuses and 15 on university and college campuses  according to a CNN tally.

CNNs Steve Almasy and Sara Smart contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
A pregnant woman who travelled to Greece to celebrate her first wedding anniversary is among thousands of passengers left stranded abroad, as UK air travelcontinues to reel from a major air traffic control meltdown.

Around 200,000 people saw their flights cancelled on Monday after a technical fault with National Air Traffic Services systems led to 1,500 planes being grounded and many thousands more delayed.

Despite the issue being fixed on Monday, the major disruption to tightly-packed bank holiday schedules continues to cause chaos in UK flight schedules  with many passengers now facing the prospect of being stuck overseas for more than a week.

Lucy Chang, who is six months pregnant, and her husband Iain Hawthorn initially faced a 10-day wait to return from the Greek island of Rhodes, where they had been celebrating their first anniversary, after their flight to Gatwick on Monday was cancelled.

With no option to book a hotel through the EasyJet app, the couple, aged 35 and 37 respectively, had to arrange their own accommodation  with all of the airlines 29 flights from Rhodes to Gatwick between Tuesday and next Thursday showing on the app as having sold out.

After waiting in the EasyJet chat queue for seven hours on Tuesday, an adviser told them to book with an alternative carrier and submit claims for review. But they were unable to confirm whether their extra accommodation would be compensated.

The adviser then ended the chat on her own accord without asking if we needed any further assistance, Mr Hawthorn alleged.

The couple has since been able to secure flights on Thursday, but have been forced to pay well over 1,500 including the additional accommodation, Mr Hawthorn told The Independent. Ms Chang will have to miss a prenatal glucose test and a midwifery appointment, her husband said.

Iain Hawthorn and Lucy Chang pictured during happier times on a visit to Symi, near Rhodes (Lucy Chang)

The couple said it had been an extremely frustrating time, adding: Ultimately, we wasted a full day seeking clarification on next steps and were essentially told to find our own way home with no support or assurance that we would be reimbursed after being on hold all day.

EasyJet told The Independent it was reaching out to Ian and Lucy to ensure they are reimbursed promptly.

Meanwhile, Bart Somsen  whose flight from Alicante to Luton was cancelled  was among several to describe distressing scenes at airports on Monday.

With the first available EasyJet flight not for seven days  which was not an option, the 50-year-old marketing manager said he and his wife Sarah had finally been able to secure a new flight to Amsterdam on Wednesday, where they will have to stay overnight before flying home on Thursday.

Mr Somsen, who lives in Milton Keynes, calculated that the new flights, hotels and taxis had left them at least 1,000 out of pocket, but mused that all in all, a return home on Thursday is not too bad considering the thousands of UK-bound travellers at Spanish airports caught up in the disruption.

Bart Somsen and his wife Sarah are due to arrive home on Thursday after an unexpected stop in Amsterdam (Bart Somsen)

Some have been forced to abandon air travel altogether. Matteo Nicola and his wife had travelled to Albania to visit his dying grandfather, who died last week. But they found themselves stuck in the Netherlands as the air traffic chaos unfolded, during a stopover on their return from Tirana.

Offered the choice by Ryanair of either rebooking onto the first available flight  which was not until Friday  or receiving a refund for their original ticket, they had no alternative but to stay the night in Eindhoven and return to the UK by bus.

The whole trip, from Eindhoven to London Victoria by bus, and then a train to Preston, has cost 500 so far, not including their missed salaries.

I dont think I will get any compensation from Ryanair or anyone else. This was the last thing I wanted to experience after being emotionally broken from the loss of my grandfather, the 30-year-old data scientist told The Independent.

Other holidaymakers have been forced to resign themselves to an unexpected week away from home.

After Mondays 8:10pm flight from Faro to Belfast was cancelled, Martin Andrew Lavelle and his girlfriend were among the passengers to receive an email from EasyJet to say they had been put on a new plane.

However, the flight is not due until next Monday  seven days after their original ticket  and instead lands in Manchester, where they will have to stay overnight before finally flying home to Belfast on Tuesday morning.

Mr Lavelle, who is a self-employed floor layer and whose partner works for the NHS, said he had spent a soul-destroying 18 hours at Faro Airport on Monday and had still not slept by 4:30pm on Tuesday, having only just been checked into their accommodation provided by EasyJet  which the company has only booked until Thursday.

Passengers described chaotic scenes at airports on Monday as the UKs air traffic control systems went down (Reuters)

While they have looked at alternative flights home, there just doesnt seem to be much because of everything thats happening, Mr Lavelle told The Independent, with another group rebooked on the same journey finding that renting a car to drive home instead would cost them 4,200.

It was just a shock yesterday thinking we were going home and then [the flight] got delayed three times and then was cancelled, he said. We just didnt know what to do. The airport was madness, there was just people everywhere, at every angle.

I was on the phone to EasyJet all night long and just couldnt get through, nothing, he said. Every time we went to the [customer service] window, they were just useless, they werent giving us any help. They were more or less saying pick your own accommodation because its pointless sitting here waiting.

Its a terrible thing to go through, Mr Lavelle said of the ordeal, before adding that their new overnight journey home looks set to be even worse.

EasyJet told The Independent it was aware of Mr Lavelles circumstances, and are already reaching out to help extend his accommodation stay and return home as quickly as possible, and in the coming days would be flying larger aircraft and operating additional flights to repatriate customers.

The airline said in a statement: Due to the Air Traffic Control systems failure affecting UK airspace yesterday, some flights were unfortunately unable to operate.

We have been doing everything we can to minimise the impact of the disruption, providing customers with information on their options to transfer their flight for free or receive a refund, securing hotel accommodation where possible and advising any customers who book their own accommodation or alternative travel arrangements that they will be reimbursed.

While this is outside of our control, we apologise for the difficulty this has caused and we remain focused on doing all we can to assist and repatriate our customers as soon as possible at this very busy time of year.
A Massachusetts District Attorney whose office is prosecuting a woman for the murder of her Boston police officer boyfriend has come under fire for dismissing recent conspiracy theories surrounding the case.

Karen Read, 42, is accused of hitting John OKeefe with her SUV in January 2022 and leaving him to die in the snow. Her defence team claims someone else killed him at the house after she dropped him off and have accused local and state enforcement of a massive coverup.

The case has gained nationwide media coverage in recent weeks sparking a slew of conspiracy theories online and alleged harassment of the prosecutions witnesses.

The harassment of witnesses in the murder prosecution of Karen Read is absolutely baseless. It should be an outrage to any decent person, and it needs to stop, Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in a video statement on Friday.

Innuendo is not evidence. False narratives are not evidence, he continued.

Mr Morrissey defended several of the prosecution witnesses including police officer Brian Albert, who owns the home where OKeefe died.

These people were not part of a conspiracy and ... have not engaged in any cover up, Mr Morrissey said. To have them accused of murder is outrageous. To have them harassed and intimidated based on false narratives and accusations is wrong. They are witnesses doing what our justice system asks of them.

(Boston Globe via Getty)

He also came to the defense of Mr Alberts 18-year-old nephew, Colin Albert, who has been accused by some people online of attacking OKeefe when he reportedly entered the home that night.

But Mr Morrissey, however, claimed OKeefe never went inside the house.

But phone evidence shows OKeefe never entered the home at all, Morrissey claimed in the video.

Testimony from witnesses tell us that 18-year-old Colin Albert had left his uncles home before John OKeefe and Karen Read had arrived outside the residence. There was no fight inside that home. John OKeefe did not enter the home. Colin Albert, the young man being vilified, was not present when Reads vehicle and John OKeefe arrived on the street. This is a false narrative. Colin Albert didnt commit murder.

Michael Proctor, a state police trooper who has been accused of planting evidence outside the house, was another witness defended by Mr Morrissey.

He said Proctor was never at Fairview Road on the day of the incident and that the officer would have no motive to do so given that he had no close personal relationship with any of the parties involved in the investigation and had no conflict.

The video statement was issued following reported criticism online, though Mr Morrissey did not call out anyone in the video.

Just days before the statement was issued, an episode of the popular podcast "Turtleboy Live," hosted by Aidan Kearney, slammed a former FBI agent turned crime commentator for defending the Albert and McCabe families in posts on X, formerly Twitter.

#justiceforjohnokeefe



For those interested in the Officer #JohnOkeefe case who was murdered, allegedly, by #KarenRead, please see the statement below released by the District Attorney himself regarding the "conspiracy theory" alleged by KR supporters.



Researching one aspect of pic.twitter.com/ncY2YCKh3R  Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) August 28, 2023

Reads attorneys claim OKeefes injuries were consistent with a severe beating, rather than being struck by a car, and that Ms Read is being framed by the real killer or killers.

The case hit headlines again in late July 2023 as Ms Read appeared in a Dateline interview, where she insisted she and OKeefe were happy, having fun, laughing in the hours before he was killed and alleged she is being unfairly prosecuted in a cover-up.

The idea that multiple police department EMTs, fire personnel, medical examiner and prosecuting agencies have joined in and taken in a vast conspiracy should be seen for what it is  completely contrary to the evidence and a desperate attempt to reassign guilt, Mr Morrissey later said in the video statement.

He said the rare video statement was released instead of holding a press conference because his remarks need to be so narrowly tailored to the issue at hand while the prosecution is pending in superior court.

A grand jury of every day citizens heard the documented evidence and testimony before making a decision. The subject of that murder indictment enjoys the constitutional presumption of innocence. Why should the witnesses who have committed no crime be afforded less by members of the community? Mr Morrissey said.

They should not be harassed for telling the government what they heard or saw. Im asking the Canton community and everyone that feels invested in this case to hear all the actual evidence at trial before assigning guilt to people who have done nothing wrong. And certainly before taking it upon yourself to harass citizens who evidence shows have done nothing in this matter but come forward and be a witness.

What is happening to the witnesses, some with no actual involvement in the case, is wrong. It is contrary to the American value of fairness, and the Constitutional value of a fair trial," he added.

"What is happening to these innocent people, these witnesses, is wrong, and it needs to stop.

Mr Morrisseys video statement on Friday, which was an uncommon move by a DA, was scrutinized by many people online.

"I agree that statement Morrissey made is just made everything 10x worse for the Proctors, Lanks, and Alberts, one person commented, asking Whose terrible idea was that?

Another Twitter user pointed out the oddity of a DA making such a statement outside of court.

Can anyone remind me why the FBI is involved? Also, has a DA ever done this before?

Online commenters also slammed the DA for putting out information that appeared to differ from what has already been reported.

The DA either lied or was incorrect in multiple statements. We shall learn more, during trial.
This is the moment Ukraine drone strikes targeted a fleet of Russian warplanes after the country launched its biggest attack on Russian soil since the beginning of the invasion.

Thick plumes of smoke and fire rise into the air as at least four of Vladimir Putins aircraft were hit at Pskov Airfield, close to Russias NATO border with Estonia and Latvia.

This footage shows the moment the drones destroy two heavy military Il-76 transport planes, sparking a huge fireball.

Another two aircraft were damaged during the aerial assault at the airfield.
"The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne faces yet another legal battle after her former costume designer filed a lawsuit alleging she conspired with American Express and the Secret Service to have him falsely charged with credit card fraud.

Christopher Psaila accuses Jayne of intentionally filing for fraudulent refunds through American Express and then bribing a Secret Service agent through her husband to pursue false felony charges against him, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Central California. His allegations were first reported on by the Los Angeles Times in February.

Psaila was charged in 2017 with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft; federal prosecutors dismissed the case in September 2021.

Evan Borges, Jaynes attorney, denied the allegations and said the suit seemed calculated to coincide with the rave reviews of Jaynes Las Vegas residency, which opened at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay over the weekend.

Independent federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorneys Office made the decision to charge plaintiff with crimes, no one else, Borges said. The notion that Erika controlled the U.S. Government, or for that matter a Fortune 100 company such as American Express, is fantasy.

Image: Erika Jayne, Celebrities Visit Hallmark Channel's

Jayne began working with Psaila, who co-owns the design company Marco Marco, in 2014 to create costumes for her singing career, the suit says. He alleges that he created numerous outfits that Jayne wore during her performance and charged the credit card she provided after she declined to review invoices he tried to give her.

"As a customer of Marco Marco, Defendant Erika Girardi, through her agents, purchased, during 2015-2016, approximately $934,000 worth of goods and services pursuant to 132 separate transactions, all of which were charged to the AMEX card," the lawsuit says.

Psaila submitted text messages, emails, receipts, sketches and social media posts to prove Jayne did, in fact, wear his designs.

Their working relationship continued until December 2016, when Jayne questioned the charges and accused Psaila of overcharging her. At the same time, Psaila's suit alleges that her husband, Tom Girardi, paid a $7,500 bribe to a Secret Service agent, who was his friend and whom he represented in a civil case, to open an investigation into him.

Although he is accused of having facilitated the alleged bribe, Girardi is not named as a defendant in the suit. Girardi, who was disbarred in California in 2021, has been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease and is in a court-ordered conservatorship with his brother serving as his guardian.

The suit alleges Secret Service agents sent Jayne to wear a hidden recorder at a meeting on Dec. 14, 2016, with Psaila to review charges and invoices. Psaila did not admit fault in the meeting, according to the suit, but he promised to do what it takes to make things right.

Jayne and Girardi filed claims with American Express, which Psaila said refunded them $787,117.88 to which they were not entitled. Psaila accuses the credit card company of failing to do its due diligence in investigating the charges before it issued the refund.

The credit card refund, Psaila alleges, was a key part of the grand jury indictment.

"The AMEX refund resulted in the Secret Service Defendants obtaining an indictment because most reasonable people would assume such a reimbursement of that size would be persuasive evidence of wrongdoing," the suit says.

American Express said in a statement Wednesday that federal law enforcement contacted it in late 2016 about its investigation into Psaila and that it did not play a role in his criminal investigation.

"While it is our policy to not comment on the specific activity on an individual Card Members accounts, we followed our regular processes and procedures throughout this investigation as we dealt with law enforcement," the company said.

A representative for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit accuses the Secret Service of failing to "do the basics of any criminal business fraud investigation," including failing to review documents seized in the investigation or a forensic audit of Psaila's business records.

The Secret Service also declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing its policy about ongoing litigation.

Psaila seeks a jury trial and $18.2 million in damages.

Last year, Jayne was dismissed from a lawsuit that alleged that her husband embezzled $2 million from the families of victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash in Indonesia. The lawsuit alleged that Girardi kept the money to "support a never-ending spending spree by himself and Jayne."

Girardi was indicted in February in U.S. District Court in Chicago in connection with the Lion Air case. He was charged with 12 counts: Nine counts allege wire fraud, and three allege misconduct by court officers, stemming from allegations that the defendants failed to distribute money owed to their clients.

Jayne filed for divorce in November 2020, a month before the lawsuit was filed. A judge ordered Girardis assets frozen in a separate case the next month.
Record-breaking heat, flash droughts and a high-pressure heat dome stretching across the South have helped create an unprecedented series of wildfires in Louisiana.

More than 31,000 acres have burned in the Tiger Island Fire, the largest wildfire in recorded state history, which remains only 50% contained.

All told, more than 511 wildfires have burned in Louisiana in August, Dr. Mike Strain, the state agriculture and forestry commissioner, said in an interview Tuesday.

This is a firestorm, said Strain, a veterinarian who has helped lead the states response. When you think about looking out and seeing a wall of fire 8 miles long, thats what youre fighting.

Typically one of the wettest states in the country, Louisiana has been uncharacteristically dry this year. Authorities dont believe the largest of the fires will end until there is a heavy rainfall, which isnt expected for some time.

The Tiger Island Fire burning in Beauregard Parish, La., on Aug. 23, 2023. (Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry)

The state has worked quickly in recent days to limit the Tiger Island Fire's growth in a rural part of southern Louisiana, despite a lack of experience and resources among the small rural communities to address this type of natural disaster.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said at a news conference Tuesday, however, that the next few days could lead to larger flare-ups after meager rain over the weekend didn't "materially change the conditions."

Multiple towns were forced to evacuate last week because of the fire conditions, but many people have been allowed to return in the past 24 hours thanks to the small amount of rain. Edwards warned that the public should remain vigilant, even if the smoke and the flames aren't as visible now.

"These are still going to be red flag conditions," he said. "And we have the strongest drought that we've ever recorded in Louisiana already, and then compounding this is all the fuel that is down in our forests left from Hurricanes Laura and Delta. ... You put all that together and you have a very volatile situation."

That fuel is the trees that were felled during the hurricanes, which struck Louisiana in 2020, as well as the detritus and the plant debris left over from the storms. The drought has dried out the vegetation and turned the brushes, grasses and small trees of southern Louisiana's swampland into the perfect kindling.

Allison Coons, a fire behavior analyst for the National Interagency Fire Center who is at the scene, said the fire burned in a "mosaic" pattern, meaning it has left areas unburned or slightly burned within the greater affected area. That has meant that the fire continues to have fuel sources, even if it were fully contained, and that it could flare up relatively easily.

With water levels falling in the swampy area, exposing roots and other brush, embers can skulk underfoot until the right conditions allow the fire to grow again.

"You've got a lot of burnable material that is now available for that fire," said Coons, who emphasized a long rain would be necessary to extinguish the fire. "It can creep through that area, and then once it gets hit by a good amount of sun or the wind hits it just right, then it can get up and start making some movement."

The Tiger Island Fire burning in Beauregard Parish, La., on Aug. 23, 2023. (Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry)

Because the region so rarely burns, first responders, largely volunteer fire fighters in this rural part of Louisiana, struggled with a lack of resources in the early days of the blaze.

The area fire departments were aided by residents in the region before federal aid arrived, said Bonnie Strawser, the federal public information officer for the Tiger Island Fire. Lumber workers and farmers joined the effort with their bulldozers and whatever other machinery they could use to build containment lines.

"I wanted to go hug each one of those guys, because they looked worn down and beaten to death because they had been working 20-hour days and going home and sleeping four hours," she said. "They'd been doing that for four days and just going as hard as they could trying to get dozer lines around the fire."

Now, with the help of other states, more than 1,000 firefighters have come to the area to help. Strain said Louisiana has also coordinated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Agriculture Department, the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies.

Louisiana has needed the help because of its lack of experience with drought.

The Tiger Island Fire burning in Beauregard Parish, La., on Aug. 23, 2023. (Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry)

Barry Keim, a climatologist at Louisiana State University, called it "the summer from hell." He said a high-pressure system has lingered over the South for months, leading to the hot, dry conditions. The issue is worsened by the El Nino season, climate change and "just natural climate variability," he said.

"It's just like all these things came together, creating the worst summer conceivably possible in south Louisiana," Keim said.

The silver lining for Louisiana on the 18th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and as a major storm threatens Florida, he said, is that the pressure system that contributed to the wildfires appears to have kept hurricanes away.

"It's apocalyptic in many other ways," he said, "but at least we don't have that."
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is set to hold an AI Insight forum together with the CEOs of big tech companies like Google, OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and X.

Read Also: The White House Invites Hackers to Probe for Bias in AI

Schumer to Discuss AI Regulations

A closed-door forum to be held on September 13 will involved a discussion with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, and X CEO Elon Musk. Aside from top tech CEOs the forum will also be joined by society groups and unions.

The session will be the first of the nine forums that will discuss the progression with the AI technology. The forums will be used the groundwork for AI regulation. Since the popularization of AI, legal concerns have been raised due to its potential threat to workers, national security, and copyright.

Why AI Regulations Should be Placed

Every day various AI tools are being launched by tech companies. While its services are indeed promising and helpful, one can still be in doubt not with the technology's capability but the security of its users.

For instance, many AI tools have been receiving backlash for violating intellectual property rights of artists and writers. Some companies have come forward to compromise. Meanwhile, there are still companies who are battling head-to-head with the issue.

Hence, an AI regulation and policy should be in place to safeguard the people and to avoid abuse with the technology. AI in the wrong hands and in the wrong agenda could be detrimental to the future of the world. Through the forum the Schumer hopes that the legislation will come up with a solid framework and policies to keep AI in place.

Related Article: Americans Show Concern Over Continuous Development of AI, Study Shows
Sam Bankman-Fried. ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Sam Bankman-Fried is trying to build his legal defense with seven expert witnesses.

One of them, a former FEC commissioner, is charging $1,200 an hour.

But prosecutors are trying to exclude all of them from testifying.

Sam Bankman-Fried wants to pay seven expert witnesses up to $1,200 an hour as part of his upcoming trial.

That includes Bradley Smith, a law professor at Capital University Law School and former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, who wrote in a court filing that he's being compensated at an hourly rate of $1,200 an hour.

And Lawrence Akka, an English barrister with a specialty in digital assets, whose hourly rate is 800 or $1,009, per court filings seen by Insider.

Four of the other proposed expert witnesses are charging between $400 and $720 an hour, while one didn't specify their fee. All seven of the experts declared in their court filings that they have no financial interest in the outcome of the case, and their payment is not contingent on their opinions.

The FTX founder previously said he only had $100,000 in his bank account after his crypto exchange's collapse eradicated his billionaire status. Lawyers handling the FTX bankruptcy case say that Bankman-Fried is paying for his defense with $10 million of company funds that he previously gifted to his father.

The hefty fees aren't unusual for the legal industry, with FTX's own lawyers handling its bankruptcy charging the firm as much as $2,000 an hour.

Bankman-Fried is preparing his defense ahead of his trial at the start of October on seven charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty.

In his court filing, Smith said he would testify about US campaign finance laws by giving background on the history and purpose of these laws. US authorities allege that Bankman-Fried illegally ran a scheme using FTX customers' money to donate millions to politicians.

But prosecutors aren't happy with the choice of proposed witnesses and are trying to exclude all of them from testifying.

That's largely because prosecutors say some of the proposed witnesses "would offer legal conclusions that invade the purview of the Court and the jury, or serve no other purpose than to provide an expert patina to inadmissible hearsay testimony about the defendant's supposed lack of criminal knowledge or intent." The result of which, would be "confusing" and "misleading" for the jury, they said.

Prosecutors also say that Smith's testimony is irrelevant because there isn't a specific campaign finance charge being brought against Bankman-Fried  however, prosecutors are hoping to use comments about the political donations as evidence in fraud charges.

And because Akka's court filing outlining his opinion is based on English case law, prosecutors say this could confuse the jury as it's a different legal system.

A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Home crowd favorite Jessica Pegula made the perfect start to her US Open campaign, beating underdog Camila Giorgi in straight sets.

Pegula made light work of her Italian opponent, breezing to a 6-2 6-2 opening-round victory in just an hour and 22 minutes.

The 29-year-old American is considered by many to be one of the frontrunners in a wide-open womens field and this impressive victory would have done little to dissuade fans of her chances of going far at Flushing Meadows.

Pegula took the initiative early in the opening set when she broke Giorgis serve at the first time of asking, winning the very first game of the match. The world No. 3 didnt look back after this and continued to power on to take the first set.

Giorgi put up a more stubborn defense in the second set, but buoyed by the home crowd support Pegula was eventually able to overpower her opponent to take the final set by the same score.

Pegula impressed winning 6-2 6-2 in straight sets. - Sarah Stier/Getty Images

Its nice that even though I am the top American, I cant imagine carrying a ton of pressure if it was only me, Pegula said of the early success of the US women post-match.

Its nice that there is a lot of us that are doing well and that have chances to go deep here.

Its a good vibe right now. I hope we can have good success at this tournament for sure, Pegula added.

Elsewhere on the womens side of the draw, Pegulas compatriot Madison Keys was also able to make her way into the second round.

Keys came up against Dutch player Arantxa Rus in the opening round and like Pegula, was able to advance with a comfortable victory  winning the match 6-2 6-4.

Keys, ranked No. 17 in the world, seized control of the match early on, winning the first four games of the encounter while storming to take the first set 6-2.

Madison Keys celebrates after defeating Arantxa Rus during the first round of the U.S. Open. - Manu Fernandez/AP

The second set was more of a contest, but Keys class showed as she found a way to get past her 32-year-old opponent.

Pegula will face either Romanias Patricia Maria Tig or Canadas Rebecca Marino in the second round, while Keys will come up against Belgiums Yanina Wickmayer.

Wild card winner

On the mens side of the draw, American wild card Michael Mmoh delivered one of the biggest upsets of the US Open so far with a win against Karen Khachanov.

Khachanov is ranked No. 11 in the world but was returning to the court for the first time since losing in the quarterfinals of the French Open following injury troubles.

Buoyed by the home crowd, Mmoh stormed to a 6-2 6-2 6-4 victory to march onto round two  matching his best ever US Open result.

Michael Mmoh, left, produced a shock result after beating Karen Khachanov. - John Minchillo/AP

Mmoh will take on fellow US player John Isner in the next round after the veteran breezed to victory against Facundo Diaz Acosta in straight sets.

Playing in his last ever tournament, the 38-year-old Isner rolled back the years to take a 6-4 6-3 7-6 win against his Argentinian opponent.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Hurricane Idalia is expected to make landfall in several parts of Florida on Wednesday, with the potential for life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds  though exactly where the storm could make landfall remains uncertain.

Idalia strengthened to a hurricane Tuesday morning in the Gulf of Mexico as it made its way toward the Sunshine State. The National Hurricane Center said Idalia could bring sustained winds of up to 120 mph on its path to Floridas western coast, which would make it a Category 3 hurricane.

A Category 3 hurricane is defined as a major hurricane, meaning devastating damage will occur, according to the Hurricane Center. A hurricane is intensified into a Category 3 storm once it hits sustained winds of more than 111 mph.

Uncertainty remains over where Idalia could make landfall, with any small wobble bringing the possibility of altering the storms curve and increasing its storm surge.

Forecasters are predicting Idalia could come ashore early Wednesday as a Category 3 system along Floridas Big Bend region, which is loosely defined as south of where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula north of Tampa.

Storm surge in Floridas Big Bend Region, especially between the Aucilla River and Yankeetown, could reach up to 15 feet.

In Levy County  which includes Cedar Key, Yankeetown, Fowlers Bluff and Fanning Springs in Floridas Big Bend  officials ordered a mandatory evacuation by 4 p.m. Tuesday. Residents and visitors of Cedar Key were asked to be off the island before the storm surge arrives because the islands bridges cannot withstand the storm conditions.

The Big Bend region may also experience destructive life-threatening winds that are likely to spread to other portions of Floridas Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said. Those strong winds are predicted to spread inland across portions of northern Florida and southern Georgia.

The National Weather Center Service in Tallahassee called Idalia an unprecedented event as no other major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay adjacent to the Big Bend region.

Other parts of Floridas west coast, the Florida Panhandle and southern Georgia could also see areas of flash flooding Tuesday into Wednesday. Cities and areas along Floridas western coast, including Englewood, Indian Pass, Tampa Bay and Chokoloskee, are under storm surge warnings or watches.

At least 21 counties along the western coast of Florida were under evacuation notices, with eight of those counties under mandatory evacuation. The Hurricane Center urged residents to follow the advice or evacuation orders given by local officials.

If you are under an evacuation order, remember that you do NOT need to drive hundreds of miles, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Find higher ground and listen to your local officials.

DeSantis declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm in 46 counties. He said the state is activating 5,500 members of the Florida National Guard, staging 200,000 gallons of fuel, and preparing seven urban search-and-rescue teams.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it also has activated its Response Coordination Center and deployed two incident management assistance teams to Florida.

Forecasters said the flooding could spread into parts of the eastern Carolinas Wednesday into Thursday. Both Georgia and North Carolina have declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm.

Meanwhile, heavy rainfall, flash flooding and landslides from Idalia are also expected across portions of western Cuba.

The Associated Press contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The White House on Wednesday said that it has new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for the war in Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the latest finding just weeks after the White House said that it had determined that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent visit to Pyongyang called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow for its Ukraine war.

Kirby said that Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other basic materiel to shore up its defense industrial base.

He added that the letters were "more at the surface level but that Russian and North Korean talks on a weapons sale were advancing. The leaders exchanged the letters following Shoigu's visit, he said.

Following Shoigu's visit another group of Russian officials traveled to Pyongyang for follow-on discussions about potential arms deals between the DPRK and Russia, Kirby said, using the acronym for the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

Kirby declined to detail how U.S. officials had gathered the intelligence.

Shortly before the White House unveiled the new information about North Korea and Russia's weapon talks, North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters, according to South Koreas military. The missile test came just hours after the U.S. flew at least one long-range bomber to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against the North.

The Biden administration has repeatedly made the case that the Kremlin has become reliant on North Korea, as well as Iran, for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine. North Korea and Iran are largely isolated on the international stage for their nuclear programs and human rights records.

In March, the White House said it had gathered intelligence that showed that Russia was looking to broker a food-for-arms deal with North Korea, in which Moscow would provide the North with needed food and other commodities in return for munitions from Pyongyang.

Late last year, the White House said it had determined that the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company, had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces fighting in Ukraine on behalf of Russia.

Both North Korea and Russia have previously denied the U.S. allegations about weapons. North Korea, however, has sided with Russia over the war in Ukraine, insisting that the hegemonic policy of the U.S.-led West has forced Moscow to take military action to protect its security interests.

At the United Nations on Wednesday, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Japan urged North Korea to halt arms negotiations with Russia.

Any Russian-North Korean arms deals would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions, backed by Russia, that prohibit all countries from buying or obtaining any arms from the North, the four countries said in a joint statement.

This sends the wrong message to aspiring proliferators that if you sell Russia arms, Russia will even enable your pursuit of nuclear weapons, according to the statement that was read by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who was flanked by diplomats from the three other countries.

President Donald Trump traded letters with Kim during his administration in an unsuccessful bid to encourage the North Korean leader to abandon his nuclear weapons program.

___

Associated press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed reporting.


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EcoPro Materials' precursor materials manufacturing facility in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province / Courtesy of EcoPro



By Lee Min-hyung



A timely listing of EcoPro Materials, a cathode material precursors producer, appears unlikely, as authorities have yet to grant approval for the firm's bid to go public amid lingering owner risks after its group chief was recently convicted of insider trading.



EcoPro Materials submitted a preliminary application to be listed on the benchmark KOSPI in April, but the screening process  conducted by the Korea Exchange  has since shown little sign of progress.



It typically takes 45 days for the exchange operator to finalize the procedure, but it has been delayed due to a disagreement over whether the company met an eligibility requirement for its largest shareholder. EcoPro Materials' largest shareholder is EcoPro which holds a 52.78-percent stake in the affiliate. Lee Dong-chae, founder and chairman of EcoPro, is the largest shareholder with a stake of 18.84 percent in the group.



Back then, the company's listing plan was clouded by the risk factor associated with Lee's court ruling. However, after the Supreme Court upheld a two-year prison sentence on Lee in mid-August, concerns rekindled over the eligibility of the major shareholder.



The Korea Exchange is looking closely into whether EcoPro is ensuring management transparency and tightening its internal control system even after the court ruling.



EcoPro is in need of additional capital for its equipment investment, as it plans to quadruple production capacity with a focus on high-nickel precursors by 2027. Top management at EcoPro is urging its executives to refrain from selling their own shares, as this may send a negative signal to the market ahead of its planned listing.



"Executives are advised not to sell their own shares at this very sensitive period, and if they have to do so, please discuss it with the company before taking action," EcoPro CEO Song Ho-jun said in a recent e-mail sent to executives of EcoPro and its affiliates, including EcoPro BM and EcoPro HN.



Despite the owner risk, some argue that the firm's listing plan should be approved, as the company holds strong fundamentals to drive the nation's overall battery industry growth and helps local electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers reduce their overseas reliance on secondary battery materials. EcoPro Materials is considered the only Korean company that can mass-produce precursor materials for secondary batteries.



The global auto paradigm shift  driven by EVs  also adds to a more optimistic outlook on the firm's growth potential. Sales of EcoPro Materials are on the sharp rise each year. The firm's 2020 sales reached 216.7 billion won. Last year, the figure soared to more than 660 billion won.


YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan has met with a delegation from Indias National Defense College led by Commandant of the college, Lieutenant General Sukriti Singh Dahiya.

Indias Ambassador to Armenia Nilakshi Saha Sinha accompanied the delegation.

Suren Papikyan welcomed Lieutenant General Sukriti Singh Dahiya and the other members of the delegation representing other partner countries. He highly appreciated the initiative of visiting Armenia given the current course of development of the Armenian-Indian relations in the defense sector, the defense ministry said in a press release.

Minister Papikyan presented the ongoing military reforms and the course and prospects of the defense cooperation between Armenia and India, and answered the questions asked by members of the delegation.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has filed an application to the European Court of Human Rights with a request to indicate interim measures against the Government of Azerbaijan to protect the rights of the three civilians who were kidnapped in Lachin Corridor on August 28, the Office of the Representative of Armenia on International Legal Matters said in a statement.
Grand array of shows to celebrate 25th anniversary of the famous International Festival of Dance & Music; Zubin Mehta to perform at event

Bangkoks International Festival of Dance & Music, the countrys best-known cultural festival, celebrates its 25th anniversary with a bang, when none other than legendary music conductor Zubin Mehta opens the two-month festival, the coming weekend on September 2, Saturday.

The maestro has been the life conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Maggio Musicale Florentino, since 2006. The orchestra is considered as one of the finest in the world and has been led by many famous conductors.

According to the Italian ambassador to Thailand, Paolo Dionisi, Theres no better occasion to celebrate 155 years of bilateral relations between Italy and Thailand than with an event as important as the presence of the Maggio Fiorentino in Bangkok, conducted by the great Zubin Mehta. Bangkok returns to be capital of culture in southeast Asia!

Mehta has performed at the Bangkok festival earlier to sold-out shows, and its the same this time, with none other than the King and Queen of Thailand being the chief guests.

The remaining shows will be a huge variety of breath-taking performances from around the world, according to Rasina Uberoi, managing director of the organiser, International Cultural Promotions Limited. Rasina is the daughter of the founder of the festival, Indian-born publishing magnate J.S. Uberoi.

There are two totally diverse operas, at this years festival  the classical Aida, by the Helikon Opera group from Russia, and Dream of the Red Chamber by the Shanghai Yue Opera.

The former has a multimedia set, grand orchestra and choir, for the enactment of the Egyptian story of pharaohs and pyramids. The latter is a delicate love story, enacted by an all-woman cast who play the male roles too, with mellifluous music and lush Chinese landscapes.

Theres musical theatre from the US, and its none other than the popular West Side Story. It has a huge, diverse cast, but the music is played out by the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, making it a grand Thai-American collaboration, to celebrate 190 years of diplomatic relations between Thailand and the United States.

In fact, one of the new features of the festival is the student outreach programme providing master classes and workshops for Thai students by the visiting artistes. Theres a galaxy of ballet troupes this year.

The famed Stuttgart Ballet has performed at the festival before, and their medley of solos and pas de deux this year are from the classical gems like Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet. The company specialises in multinational artistes (22 countries) and many of them will be on view at their gala performance in Bangkok.

The other ballet troupes are led by brilliant, creative choreographers, and give exciting twists to the classics.

Thus, Tchaikovskys stark and stunning ballet Swan Lake is transformed to a powerful clash between good and evil, man and animal, black and white forms, performed by the new and dynamic Les Ballets De Monte Carlo group from Monaco.

Another world-famous classic, George Bizets Carmen, is performed by the highly innovative Granada Flamenco Ballet group, and becomes a thematic drama of many emotions, enunciated through an amalgam of superb footwork, mimetic acting and daring lighting.

Probably the most dynamic and daring, is the Eifman Ballet group from Russia, whose artistic director Boris Eifman describes dance as not physical but a psychic act. Thats why their enactment of Anna Karenina is wild, powerful, and raises the Tolstoy drama from the physical to the metaphysical level.

The modern dance group, at this years festival, is the Cie Accrorap troupe from France, whose show Roots has 11 hip-hop dancers combining varied dance moves, pulsating rhythms and gravity-defying positions. Interestingly, founder Kader Attou said he was influenced by many dance forms, including Indian dance.

The last show at the festival takes one to a magical realm, through six illusionists from six different countries. Whats special is that all the illusionists are female! The show, Magnificent Six, was specially created for the Bangkok Festival by the CEO of the International Magicians Society.

We want Bangkok to be a cultural capital not only in the Asean region, but to also put us on the world map. Consequently, great culture will draw in great investments for the country, stated managing director Rasina Uberoi.

Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, deputy governor for marketing communications, Tourism Authority of Thailand, one of the main sponsors of the festival, stated that the mega-cultural event was in keeping with its new tourism policy by which it promoted many Fs such as Festivals, Food, Fashion, Film.

Chattan was former director of the TAT office in New Delhi, and said, India is a very important market for us, and we want to offer them new experiences.

This writers opinion is that, if Indian tourists travel to Europe and America to attend international shows there, it would be good for TAT to promote Bangkoks International Festival of Dance and Music at their offices in India.

Meanwhile, if Indian tourists are planning to visit Bangkok in September-October, they should definitely check out some of the great shows at the citys best-known international cultural festival.

For details of the festival, check https://www.bangkokfestivals.com

For tickets: https://www.thaiticketmajor.com/bangkokfestivals/
Several leaders of various parties have said that their leader was the best suited to be the PM candidate of the alliance

NEW DELHI: Confusion prevailed in the Opposition camp ahead of the two-day meeting of the I.N.D.I.A bloc alliance in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1 as two Aam Aadmi Party leaders pitched for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the bloc, on Wednesday, stating that as the Chief Minister of Delhi, he had given a model that the whole country can benefit from.

However, Delhi minister Atishi clarified that Kejriwal does not have any aspirations for the Prime Ministers post but the alliance has come together to remove the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh agreed with Atishi, stating that Kejriwal had joined the alliance in order to save the country. Arvind Kejriwals aim, objective and intention to join the INDIA alliance is to save this country. His aim is not to become the PM. He is not in the race to become PM, Singh asserted.

Several leaders of various parties have said that their leader was the best suited to be the PM candidate of the alliance. However, the alliance leaders claimed that no one has been selected as the PM candidate yet. Addressing a joint press conference of the organising parties  Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar), Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Wednesday that the Opposition bloc has several choices to project as the Prime Ministerial candidate, while the BJP has only one. Pawar expressed confidence that the Opposition alliance will provide a formidable alternative to bring about political change. He further said there has been no discussion on seat-sharing within the I.N.D.I.A bloc yet.

Several senior leaders of the alliance have already arrived in Mumbai. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav arrived on Tuesday, while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived on Wednesday. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann are expected to arrive on Thursday. Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi will also arrive on Thursday.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has emerged as the likely front-runner as convenor of the alliance, but some other leaders are also in the fray. The meeting will come out with a name of the convenor. The meeting is also expected to take a hard look at the seat-sharing issues for the 2024 general election. During the meeting, the Opposition bloc will deliberate upon the general election due next year. Apart from the likely announcement of a coordination committee and the unveiling of the alliance logo, the leaders will also chalk out a joint campaign strategy to take on the BJP-NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and iron out all the differences among themselves. The leaders are also likely to announce a few panels to draft a common minimum programme of the alliance, to frame joint plans for holding agitations across the country and for seat-sharing.

The Mumbai meeting shall come out with a clear-cut roadmap for providing a progressive alternative to the regressive policies of the current regime, RJDs Manoj Jha said. The Opposition alliance is also likely to announce a secretariat for smooth coordination between its constituents, which is likely to be set up in the national capital.

The INDIA blocs first meeting was held in Patna in June, while the second one took place in Bengaluru in mid-July. The Bengaluru conclave had finalised the name of the alliance  Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
In a stinging retort, the BJP dared Mr Gandhi to disclose the details of the 2008 MoU signed between the Congress and the CPC

NEW DELHI: "The Prime Minister lied about Ladakh land China usurped," Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday, adding that the latest Chinese claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin is a "very serious issue" and the PM should speak on it. Hitting back, the BJP questioned if the Congress and Communist Party of China (CPC) MoU required Mr Gandhi to "spy" against India and break the morale of Indian forces.

In a stinging retort, the BJP dared Mr Gandhi to disclose the details of the 2008 MoU signed between the Congress and the CPC. The saffron party alleged that it has been claimed that the agreement requires the Congress leader to work against India's interests and to break the morale of Indian forces when they act decisively against the Chinese.

Targeting the Congress leader, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said China captured over 43,000 sq km of Indian land when Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister. He asked if Mr Gandhi believed the stalwart Congress leader and his great-grandfather was a traitor". Mr Gandhi had recently used the term "gaddar" (traitor) for those who "gave away a part of Bharat Mata" to China, the BJP leader noted.

"Does this MoU also require him to mock a Prime Minister, who is the protective shield for every citizen and has elevated India's global stature, as "surrender Modi?" Mr Bhatia asked, referring to Mr Gandhi's earlier barb at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Noting that China had also donated to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Mr Bhatia asked if this "bribe" is the reason behind his statements "against" India.

The BJP spokesperson asserted that no one can dare to capture even an inch of Indian land under Modi's leadership. "The people of India will bless him again in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the BJP will retain power with a bigger mandate," Mr Bhatia said.

Earlier in the day, Mr Gandhi termed the issue of China releasing a "standard map" that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as "very serious".

Speaking to the media before departing for Karnataka, Mr Gandhi said, "I have just returned from Ladakh and I have been saying for years that what the PM has said, that not one inch of land has been lost in Ladakh, is an absolute lie. The whole of Ladakh knows that China has usurped our land."

Reacting to Mr Gandhi's assertions, Union minister Pralhad Joshi flayed the Congress leader for claiming that China has usurped India's land and accused him of making "baseless allegations".

They (China) are doing some activities in the area that was grabbed during Nehru's tenure as Prime Minister. This is due to the sins committed by the Congress post-Independence that China has become our neighbour. From the time it was Tibet till today, these people pursued policies that led to this," Mr Joshi said.

The union minister charged that Mr Gandhi "does not have any understanding" of policies.

"Our external affairs ministry has already condemned China's action on the map issue and has also strongly protested it. But he (Mr Gandhi) does not trust our external affairs ministry. He believes in what China says," the Union minister said.

"Our external affairs ministry has already condemned China's action on the map issue and has also strongly protested it. But Mr Gandhi does not trust our external affairs ministry. He believes in what China says," the Union minister said.

On Monday, Beijing released the 2023 edition of the so-called "standard map of China" that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as regions within its borders.
From eminent senior bureaucrats to dedicated doctors on the frontlines, the impact spans sectors.

In Gujarat, a disconcerting phenomenon is taking root  the rapid proliferation of social media impersonations targeting notable figures, including IAS, IPS officials and medical professionals. These malevolent imposters exploit the easily accessible civil lists of IAS and IPS officers, ingeniously creating counterfeit profiles complete with genuine images. Stories abound of scam artistes using these fake profiles to solicit funds for fictional medical emergencies, tugging at the heartstrings of those genuinely wishing to help.

From eminent senior bureaucrats to dedicated doctors on the frontlines, the impact spans sectors. The state cybercrime unit has reportedly confirmed the thwarting of over 53 counterfeit accounts, underscoring the severity of the issue. Among those who have fallen victim to this ruse is former chief secretary and 1986-batch IAS officer Pankaj Kumar. Additionally, Rajiv Kumar Gupta of the Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation and Bhargavi Dave from the Gujarat state human rights commission have had their social media accounts duplicated. It is believed that since the civil lists of IAS and IPS officials are available online, scammers target popular accounts using original pictures to create fake ones.

Gujarats struggle echoes the fight against digital malfeasance in other states as well. The fortification of our virtual domain requires the collaborative efforts of bureaucrats, policymakers and citizens. Among the first things to do is the urgent need for widespread public awareness campaigns to educate individuals about the perils of online impersonation. In tandem, digital platforms must come up with innovative solutions to secure public data, stemming the misuse of available information.

Will a new oversight body supersede CBI and ED?

The idea of introducing a Chief Investigating Officer (CIO) akin to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and the National Security Adviser (NSA) has resurfaced, capturing the attention of Dillis elite echelons. The recent spotlight on the outgoing chief of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) S.K. Mishra has rejuvenated discussions around the concept of a CIO. This, no doubt, is fuelled by the Centres curious unwavering faith in Mr Mishras capabilities, transforming the discourse into a litmus test of the Centres authority and resilience, crucially, ahead of the impending Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

If actualised, Mr Mishras legacy will be etched as the nations first CIO, overseeing agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), paralleling the structure of the CDS and NSA. The recent scrutiny by the Supreme Court over Mr Mishras extensions signals the governments quest for comprehensive control over such appointments. Notably, the government perceives a CIO's role as instrumental in fostering synergies among key investigative agencies. This envisaged role would have the rank of a secretary.

Clearly, anticipated to be instituted prior to Mr Mishras departure on September 15, 2023, this new position is set to coexist with the ED operating within the department of revenue under the ministry of finance, and the CBI operating under the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions. However, this development could potentially dilute the position of the CBI director. Earlier, the procedure for the CBI directors appointment was instituted to prevent its misuse, but with the creation of the new post that would also become redundant.

Some senior officials believe that in such a situation, the matter may once again bring the Supreme Courts intervention. They also fear that the CBI may lose its status, while that of the ED and IT departments will rise. The issue, therefore, resonates far beyond the mere restructuring of bureaucratic roles.

Babus suspension underscores Manipurs complex realities

The unprecedented suspension of senior IAS officer Ng Roben Singh has sent ripples through the administrative circles, shedding light on the intricate challenges faced in Manipur. Mr Singh refused to assume the role of deputy commissioner of Jiribam district, citing safety concerns amid ethnic tensions in the state.,

Under the invocation of Rule 3 of the All India Service (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1969, Manipurs chief secretary Vineet Joshi suspended the IAS officer with immediate effect. Mr Singhs decision to challenge his transfer order brought to a head his apprehensions about working in areas dominated by the Kuki community, underlining the vulnerabilities faced by Meitei officers like himself. While pointing out the frequent transfers he had undergone in the past, he had also reportedly expressed willingness to serve as deputy commissioner in the districts most affected by communal violence in the valley.

This episode underscores the complex interplay of safety concerns, ethnic dynamics, and the state administration in Manipur, revealing a multi-faceted reality that demands careful consideration and nuanced solutions.
As India tries to retain its influence, China crowed over the bonus of new friends and proteges.

The first in-person Brics summit since 2019 may have been something of a defining moment for an organisation that has often seemed to be even more nebulous than the nonaligned movement. Indias bilateral gain of an assurance of expeditious disengagement and de-escalation in the Galwan Valley of eastern Ladakh has yet to be proved. But to Chinas glee, Goldman Sachs, whose then chief economist, Jim ONeill, invented the Bric acronym in 2001, may now have to coin a more inclusive term.

ONeills creation signifying the four initial members -- Brazil, Russia,

India and China -- became Brics when South Africas admission in 2010 added S to Bric. If Goldman wasnt going through a troubled patch, it might have found a new acronym to include Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, whose applications to join (out of some 20) that were accepted at the 15th summit in Johannesburg. As India tries to retain its influence, China -- with a stuttering economy, devastating floods, symptoms of youth disenchantment and property companies in distress -- crowed over the bonus of new friends and proteges.

While the revamped Brics may stridently demand a say in international decisions and in distributing global revenues, the fond desi belief is that the three-day event was another global jamboree especially convened to honour India, its Prime Minister and ruling party. Actually, the conference had to be rescued from one unforeseen development after another that overwhelmed the worlds attention.

First, Russias President Vladimir Putin dared not attend at all. Had he done so, the host country, South Africa, as a member of the International Criminal Court, would have had to arrest him which would have embarrassed everyone present even if it pleased Ukraines heroically beleaguered President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his (also absent) Western backers. Second, the Russian mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who recently mutinied against Mr Putin but whose Wagner armed group was supposed to be restoring order in Africa, was killed when his Embraer-135 aircraft crashed while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing everyone on board, no doubt to the Kremlins great relief.

The wonder, as a British observer commented, was not that Prigozhin was killed but that he survived so long.

Third, Chinas President Xi Jinping set tongues wagging by not turning up at the summits opening business forum. Speculation was not quietened when a Beijing official sidestepped a reporters question, saying only that Mr Xis speech had been delivered. He meant that Chinas commerce minister Wang Wentao read out a speech purporting to be by Mr Xi and (surprise! surprise!) attacking the United States, saying that some country, obsessed with maintaining its hegemony, has gone out of its way to cripple the emerging and developing countries. While delegates wondered if Mr Xi had been overthrown, the man himself appeared on the second day, suave as ever and pitching for more political and security cooperation within Brics. Middle Kingdom history buffs recalled that between 1881 and 1883, the formidable all-powerful Dowager Empress Cixi resorted to only written communications with her ministers.

Fourth, instead of rushing to the rescue with a low-key appearance to restore confidence in Brics as the focus of global attention, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stole its thunder when the Chandrayaan-3 made history by landing near the Moons south pole. Upstaged, Mr Xi warned that the Cold War mentality is still haunting our world, and the geopolitical situation is getting tense. The solution lay in enlarging Brics. I am glad to see the growing enthusiasm of developing countries about participating in Brics cooperation.  we need to accelerate the expansion process to bring more countries into the Brics family.

This was the first public interaction between the Indian and Chinese leaders since November 16, 2022, when they met briefly at a dinner hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the G-20 summit in Bali. Sitting on either side of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Johannesburg this time, they interacted for possibly a minute, before making their presentations and shaking hands. Apparently, they agreed in that twinkling of an eye to expedite a settlement of the Ladakh dispute that has been hanging fire for three years at least. However, China didnt categorically confirm the agreement.

There was some concern in Johannesburg as to whether a revitalised Brics might ruffle American feathers at a time when President Joe Biden is trying to mobilise Asian allies into an anti-China front. Although Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, condescendingly dismissed the notion of Brics evolving into some kind of geopolitical rival to the United States or anyone else, Brazil and South Africa sought to avoid alienating their European and North American partners. Claiming that Irans inclusion didnt mean any hostility to the West, South Africas representative, Anil Sooklal, told reporters that the times they are a-changing. This is what Brics is saying, lets be more inclusive. Brics is not anti-West. Putting the best face that he could on an enlargement which India did not actively seek but could not oppose too vigorously either, Mr Modi concurred with the Indian-origin Mr Sooklal. The groups expansion, he said, was a message that all institutions in the world need to mould themselves according to changing times.

The message was clear: Asia must walk an even more taut tightrope.

Backed by the powerful petrodollar, Saudi Arabia, Brics biggest West Asian trading partner, retains its independence despite cultivating China and serving American security interests. Egypt, too, has good relations with Russia, China and the US. Brazils mercurial President Lula da Silva, who faces yet another economic crisis and dwindling foreign reserves, was disappointed in his ambitious hopes of a Brics currency as an alternative trading unit to the US dollar but has already begun repaying some of his countrys loans in Chinese yuans. Iran, which holds the worlds second-largest gas reserves and 25 per cent of West Asias oil deposits, and sells discounted oil to China, applied to join Brics as part of its efforts to strengthen economic and political ties with non-Western powers and demonstrate that the Wests efforts to isolate it have failed. Another new entrant, the UAE, had already joined the Brics New Development Bank in June.

All this may be little more than smoke-and-mirror diplomacy. But if Mr Xi wants to really thumb his nose at Mr Biden, he will have to flesh out Mr Modis claim of a settlement in Ladakh and present the United States with the fait accompli of Asian solidarity.
Today's headlines: birthrates in South Korea drop again, below 250,000 for first time; Cantonese language targeted in Hong Kong over national security law; India grants Singapore exemption from its freeze on rice exports; More than one million Pakistanis have migrated to Gulf countries since April 2022.

AUSTRALIA

The Australian government has set a referendum for October 14 to decide whether to establish an indigenous voice in Parliament. If passed, the vote would recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the country's constitution and establish a permanent body to advise on laws. The proposal is creating a heated debate in the country, with objections also from those who fear that an institution of this kind could be counterproductive.

SOUTH KOREA

The drop in births in South Korea does not stop: according to data released today, only 249,000 children were born in the country in 2022, with a decrease of 11,000 compared to the previous year. It is the first time ever that the figure has dropped below 250,000 units. The fertility rate hit a new low of 0.78 in 2022, much lower than the 2.1 replacement level that would keep South Korea's population stable at 51 million.

HONG KONG-CHINA

Andrew Chan, founder and president of Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis, said he would close the group - created to uphold the status of the Cantonese language in Hong Kong - with immediate effect after the national security police showed up at his old home while he was absent, searching the property without a warrant. Cantonese, the lingua franca of Hong Kong, has long been seen as a channel of opposition to the Beijing government.

INDIA-SINGAPORE

India has agreed to grant Singapore an exemption from the rice export ban in view of the "very close strategic partnership" between the two countries. In July, India banned the export of non-basmati rice to try to contain rising prices. Around 40 countries around the world depend on India for at least half of their rice imports. The one in Singapore is the first exemption from the ban granted by the New Delhi government.

PAKISTAN-GULF

According to official data, from April 2022 to today - coinciding with the worsening of the political crisis in Islamabad - 700,000 Pakistanis have moved to Saudi Arabia, 229,000 to the United Arab Emirates, over 100,000 to Oman and about 90,000 to Qatar. The phenomenon is further accentuating: last week the Pakistani passport authority recorded a surge in the average number of applications received per day, from 24,000 to 40,000.

RUSSIA-CHINA

The Chinese language has been included in all programs of Russian higher education institutions, as "it is becoming one of the world's leading languages in science". According to the assistant to the Russian president for science and education, Andrei Fursenko, more than 30% of scientific literature is now published in Chinese, "and we cannot lag behind, even if Russian must itself remain one of the languages main".

TURKMENISTAN

In Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, concerns are growing about the increase of young people addicted to substances with narcotic effects, who use mixtures of medicines that, unlike in other countries, are sold without a prescription, such as Baralgin or Metamisol. They are taken orally directly on the street, creating dangers for the entire population
Chinas leader visited the region over the weekend extolling its "hard-won social stability. He called on local officials to more deeply promote the Sinicisation of Islam. Meanwhile, people continue to be arrested for their faith or reading the Quran. A delegation from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) praised Chinas policies during a visit to the region. Tomorrow the pope will fly over it on his way to Mongolia.

Beijing (AsiaNews)  Chinese President Xi Jinping has made a rare visit to Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, on his way back from the BRICS summit in South Africa. During his stopover, he urged local officials to preserve the regions hard-won social stability.

Such remarks are a clear indication that the authorities are still cracking down on the population, especially local Muslim Uyghurs who have been repeatedly subjected to harsh repression.

As the iron fist continues, more and more stories emerge about recent mysterious arrests and people going missing because of their religion.

Xis visit last week came amid a renewed push in Beijings campaign against what it calls "terrorism" and "extremism", namely the demand by Xinjiangs Uyghur minority for freedom and respect for their rights.

The United Nations has backed Uyghur claims on violence and repression in Chinas northwestern region. In a report released in September 2022, it found that Chinese actions may constitute crimes against humanity.

The world agency also renewed its appeal to the Chinese government to immediate release all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty" as well as clarify their status. Some Western countries, like France, have labelled Chinas policy vis-a-vis the Uyghurs as a "genocide".

In his speech, Xi Jinping stressed the need for a government strategy in the region that provides social stability and development as part of its national security policy.

It is necessary to combine the development of the anti-terrorism and anti-separatism struggle with the push for normalising social stability work and rule of law, Xi is quoted as saying.

The president reportedly also told officials to more deeply promote the Sinicisation of Islam and effectively control illegal religious activities.

As part of this, Beijing recently announced a 100-day strike hard campaign in Xinjiang, with police raids on Uyghur households, tighter restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on their culture and language.

Several people have been arrested. One man, an ethnic Kazakh, was guilty of performing hymns and songs inspired by the Quran during a Muslim wedding.

Another one, 56-year-old Kusman Rehim, ended up in jail in mid-July after police found a Quran in his home, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.

Unauthorised recitations of Islams holy book have been banned since 2017, when China began locking up Uyghurs and members of other ethnic groups en masse, shipping them to "re-education" camps across Xinjiang.

A Uyghur design director who worked for a Chinese locomotive manufacturer in Turkey for over a decade was also arrested. Qahar Eli, 39, was taken into custody in March, but his arrest was reported only recently.

Police picked him up a few days after he returned home for a family visit. Since then, nothing is known about his fate.

An elderly Uyghur, 71-year-old Abdurusul Memet, died in prison from hypertension, according to the official version. He was arrested in 2017 and sentenced to 13 years and 11 months for studying the Quran as a child (from November 1964 to March 1965) and for committing other religious offences.

Such cases are but a few examples of the impact of Chinas repression and abuse of religious freedom and human rights in one of its most sensitive regions, along with Tibet.

Tomorrow, Pope Francis will fly over Xinjiang on his way to Mongolia on the 43rd apostolic trip of his pontificate, until 4 September.

As is customary, the pontiff will send a telegram to all the heads of state of the territories he crosses, in this case, Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Meanwhile, Muslims elsewhere are careful not to speak out against Chinas abuses and violations, including some of their most important institutions.

In particular, the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the most important Islamic grouping in the world, seems to have embraced the Chinese narrative that Uyghurs are a happy bunch.

An OIC delegation recently visited Xinjiang, stopping in Urumqi, Kashgar, Changi and the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, where they were shown an exhibit on counterterrorism and deradicalisation, as well as met religious figures and prayed with local Muslims.

Dya-Eddine Bamakhrama, head of the delegation and Djiboutis permanent OIC representative, praised the prosperity and development of Chinas Xinjiang under [Beijings] good governance.

For a Pakistani delegate, Syed Mohammad Fawad Sher, the visit showed Xinjiangs "remarkable transformation.

Pro-Uyghur activist groups, including the World Uyghur Congress and the Campaign for Uyghurs, reacted immediately, slamming the visit; they urged the OIC to support moral values and principles, as well as jointly denounce the ongoing persecution of Uyghurs.

Unfortunately, many countries in the Muslim world, especially in the Middle East, are very willing and ready to believe in China's lies about this tragedy, this human rights crisis, because they see China as an anti-Western power, said Mustafa Akyol, senior fellow at the Catos Institutes Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity.
The story unfolded in the village of Dhok Syedan coming close to what happened in mid-August in Jaranwala, where 26 churches and over 200 houses were destroyed, when a convert to Islam tried to extort a Christian family. Strong "latent fears" and a widespread feeling of vulnerability prevail among Christians.

Rawalpindi (AsiaNews)  A bogus accusation of blasphemy made to hide an attempt to extort money almost triggered a new attack against Christians like the one that saw the destruction of over 200 houses and 26 churches in Jaranwala almost two weeks ago.

The unusually quick intervention by police averted another tragedy, but left unresolved the issue of the distorted use of the laws that punish those who desecrate the Quran or insult the Prophet Muhammad.

Such acts are legally punished with life imprisonment or the death penalty but, in several cases, they have led to extrajudicial killings (even in prison) as well as attacks by angry mobs against defenceless people and unprotected targets.

The latest story took place in Dhok Syedan, a village located near Sheikhpur and Mohra Hayat, Rawalpindi (Punjab).

Local sources say that an attempt by a convert to Islam to extort a local family created the conditions that might have led to the destruction of Christian homes.

In order to sow confusion and incite residents, the convert threatened local Christians and urged Muslims to attack properties owned by Christians, most of whom were completely unaware of the blackmail attempt.

In this case, the prompt intervention by police nipped in the bud the threat and prevented a tragedy, but it confirmed once again the urgency of politically and legislatively reforming the blasphemy legislation and addressing its abuse.

The incident also sparked outrage among religious and civil leaders, who slammed the terror in which Christians often live in and stressed the need to improve intercommunal coexistence and harmony.

In an interview, Rev Liaqat Masih, a local Protestant clergyman, said that, We had already alerted the city management, and their prompt response was vital. Residents are gripped by fear, and many have left their homes as a precautionary measure.

Federal Human Rights Minister Khalil George visited the village. Rumours of this nature are designed to incite tension between Muslims and Christians. We must remain vigilant and not succumb to unfounded rumours, he said.

Police Superintendent Muhammad Waqas Khan was also present; he met with residents stressing that the latter should refrain from reacting to baseless rumours, which can only sow unnecessary panic.

The harrowing incident in Jaranwala has sent shockwaves throughout the Christian community nationwide, said Juliet Chowdhry, a trustee with the British Asian Christian Association. This underscores the latent fears harboured by Christians, who often feel vulnerable.

The assertion that Christians should simply disregard baseless rumours is oversimplistic, especially given the existing evidence that underscores the perilous consequences such rumours can entail, she explained.

These falsehoods have been shown to inflame radicalised individuals, fanning the flames of intolerance within certain segments of the Muslim population and contributing to an already volatile atmosphere, she added.
Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), delivers a keynote speech for the opening ceremony of Korea Fintech Week 2023 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Anna J. Park



Annual global fintech event draws 107 domestic and foreign firms, organizations



By Anna J. Park



Korea's fintech sector will be strengthening partnerships with major financial groups, seeking win-win strategies in an accelerated digital transformation era. While fintech enterprises can spur the development of traditional financial giants by providing innovative business-to-business (B2B) models, fintech venture firms' ingenious services will also reach a wider number of customers, utilizing major financial groups' platforms.



The closer partnership between the fintech industry and the major financial groups is also one of the three main policy directions set by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the country's top financial regulator, to support the sustainable growth of the local fintech sector.





Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Kim So-young, left, and Woori Financial Group Chairman Yim Jong-yong pose in front of an NFT published by Woori Bank at Korea Fintech Week 2023 in Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Anna J. Park



During an opening speech at the Korea Fintech Week 2023 in Seoul on Wednesday, FSC Vice Chairman Kim So-young said the financial authority will support fintech firms' global expansion and cooperation with major financial groups, and ease regulations on the industry.



The vice chief of the FSC said infrastructures and business models set up at the early phase of digital transformation have stabilized while the fintech industry's diversity and innovation have somewhat slowed. To counter the situation, the FSC will facilitate fintech firms' global expansion by providing tangible support, such as linking overseas investors and sharing international human resources.



"Now is the time when domestic fintech companies need to scale themselves up by making the most of their excellent technologies and ideas to make forays into overseas markets to overcome the limitations of the local market size," FSC Vice Chairman said.



He further elaborated that that the collaboration of financial giants and fintech startups in the B2B areas, such as the development of alternative credit rating systems utilizing the information and technological capabilities of fintech companies, is expected to lead to new growth in both the fintech sector and major financial groups.



"The FSC also plans to streamline the scope of eligible outsourcing tasks in the financial businesses, in order to allow various forms of collaboration," he emphasized.





Heads of major financial groups and fintech firms vow to support the local fintech industry during the opening ceremony of the Korea Fintech Week 2023 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul, Wednesday. They are, from left, BNK Financial Group Chairman Bin Dae-in, DGB Financial Group Chairman Kim Tae-oh, KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, NH Financial Group Chairman Lee Suk-joon, Woori Financial Group Chairman Yim Jong-yong, Rep. Yun Chang-hyun of the ruling People Power Party, Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Kim So-young, Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, Naver Pay CEO Park Sang-jin, Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun, and K-Growth CEO Huh Sung-moo. Courtesy of FSC



An MOU signing ceremony among financial groups, big-tech companies and fintech firms was held during the opening ceremony of the annual fintech event. Titled "Agreement for enhanced collaboration and support in fintech investment ecosystem," the business agreement aimed at supporting the local fintech industry and discovering new innovators of the sector through a fintech innovation fund. The fund will inject a total of one trillion won ($750 million) until 2028.





Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim So-young, left, and Naver Pay CEO Park Sang-jin, center, listen to a presentation at the Naver Pay booth set up during Korea Fintech Week 2023 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Naver Pay



Under the theme of "The New Wave of Fintech," the Korea Fintech Week 2023, a three-day annual global expo for the fintech industry, will be held until Friday at Art Hall, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul. A total of 107 local and foreign companies and institutions, including financial groups, big tech and financial venture firms, have participated in the event to promote their services.



Twelve different seminars will examine the latest trends and global issues in the sector. Various programs, such as investor relationship (IR) open stages which allow fintech firms to showcase solutions, fintech professional mentorship and on-site fintech consulting are also being held to promote the industry's growth.





Toss founder and CEO Lee Seung-gun, top right, presents new security features of a financial app in front of participants at the Toss booth set up during Korea Fintech Week 2023 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Toss
by Mathias Hariyadi

The campaign to clean up political parties is a failure, empty words according to an anti-corruption activist. Dozens of people who spent time in prison for economic and financial offences are on party lists. This has sparked anger and protests among voters. For experts, the prospect of a low turnout is real.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  In Indonesia as much as in the rest of the world, fame, status, and money are the traits to run for office as parties pick candidates for next years presidential, parliamentary, and local elections.

These keys appear to be decisive in captivating voters, drawn to "charismatic" figures or "strong" characters. Yet, some choices have not gone down well with the public, resulting in protests after "scores of former inmates" might go from a bunk in prison to a seat in parliament.

At the heart of the controversy is the presence of dozens of former prisoners, usually convicted for corruption, running for the House of Representatives (lower house of parliament) as well as local councils (provinces, regencies, municipalities).

Recent reports suggest that 52 such candidates have registered for various tickets with the General Election Commission (KPU) in parliamentary elections while another 16 are running in local elections.

At least 15 former convicts involved in corruption scandals are on the KPU list," reads a statement released today by Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), in almost every political party, both nationalist and Islamist.

For the country, This represents a serious setback because, in the past, in 2019 for example, the KPU had made public the names of candidates convicted for economic and financial offences.

This year though, the KPU has not named any former convicts, which "will only reduce voter turnout further, the ICW bemoans.

Out of 18 parties running in next year's elections, only four will not present ex-convicts, namely the Indonesian People's Wave Party (GELORA), the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), the Nusantara Awakening Party (PKN), and the Crescent Star Party (PBB).

In contrast, the Party of Functional Groups (GOLKAR) has the most with nine, followed by the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the People's Conscience Party (HANURA) with six, while the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Democratic Party (PD) have four.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Lucius Karus, a former member of the Indonesian Parliament Community Watchdog Forum (FORMAPPI), said that the KPUs shocking decision means that the elections will not be "clean and credible, nor will the elected assemblies.

"It is really impossible to achieve this goal in the next elections" because too many parties have not taken any serious action against internal corruption.

This says a lot about the level of effectiveness and credibility of the anti-corruption campaign in political parties, which turns out to be just empty words.

In the 2019 elections, only the PSI (out of 16 parties) did not present a former convict for office. The result? The PSI was also the only party that failed to elect a single candidate.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

A staple of Russian national culture is also among the victims of the "special military operation" in Ukraine. With directors, actors and dancers forced to succumb to belligerent propaganda or lose the work to which they have dedicated their lives.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The journalist and commentator Valerij Panjuskin has launched a cry of alarm from the pages of the "Sistema" website for the sad end of the theater in Russia, a glory of national culture which is now forced to succumb to the belligerent propaganda of the regime putinian.

Many artists and directors opposed to the war in Ukraine have already left the country, the works of "unsafe" authors are removed from the repertoires, and the names of "unreliable" screenwriters are erased from billboards and theater programs.

The shows where there are actors who have expressed themselves in dissonant ways with respect to the special military operation are also closing, and those who remain in Russia prefer to remain silent, even if even this may not be enough: explicit support for the policy is often requested official.

The protagonists of the world of culture must find creative ways to affirm "traditional values", to tarnish enemies and unmask traitors; many do it with sincere enthusiasm, but most limit themselves to allusions.

Leading this "cultural mobilization" is not even the ministry of culture, but the armies of Telegram channels and other social media, which "play a role in Russian culture similar to the one entrusted to oracles in ancient Greece", observes Panjushkin .

The journalist recalls a series of episodes that have occurred since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, such as when on February 24, 2022, the premiere of the show Maskarad by the ballerina Anna was scheduled in the hall of the Perm academy "Teatre-Teatre" Abalikhina.

In the end, instead of applause and bows, everyone fell silent. Anna herself recalls that "no one felt like justifying the war, neither the artists nor the spectators, it is not normal to celebrate terror and tragedies".

The actors argue among themselves whether it is right to go on stage in these conditions, as a famous actress, Culpan Khamatova explains, "we discussed it at length with Zenja Mironov" (another star of the Russian theatre), "who was trying to convince me while we were about to come out with the 'Master and Margarita' that we cannot betray our audience, especially the younger one, let's at least try to convey values greater than war.

Khamatova decided to board a plane for Latvia, and only after getting off did she write to Mironov that she would not return, and now she works at the New Theater in Riga, where she has also managed to get the daughters of she.

Many others fled immediately after the start of the war, such as the director Dmitry Krymov, who flew to Philadelphia, where he immediately staged the Chekhovian "Cherry Orchard" at the Wilma Theater.

Abalikhina had stayed, but in September last year she phoned the sponsor of her dance shows, saying: "Sorry, I can't take it anymore!". A little later the director of the theater, Svetlana Guzij, intervened in support of the military operation, putting a large letter Z on the facade of the theater. The dancer thought "at least she won't be in my name", despite having lost her job and earnings.

For others she fared worse, having to pay heavy penalties for the suspension of the shows, or even ending up in jail. Mironov, one of the most representative figures of the whole Russian theatrical world, does not speak to non-state and non-Russian journalists, to try to save the Theater of Nations in Moscow; For him, that room is his whole life, assure his friends.

He had gotten the theater under management in 2006 when it was practically falling apart, looking for money for the restoration and purchase of modern theater machinery; the first shows, such as "Pushkin's Tales", were rehearsed by the artists in the bars of the area, due to lack of space.

The best actors have gathered there for years: Julia Peresild, Ksenja Rappoport, Andrej Smoljakov and others, with directors of the level of Andrej Mogucij, Timur Bekmambetov, Stefan Braunschweig, Robert Wilson, and precisely the Canadian version of the "Master and Margarita" Robert Lepage was considered an absolute masterpiece even by critics.

Until the arrests of leading stars such as that of Evgenija Berkovic, who was convicted of "instigating terrorism" for her "Finist, the White Crow". As Panjushkin concludes, "then almost all Russian directors and actors must be considered terrorists, and we are now very close to this final outcome". The Russian theater is disappearing from the scene in the cold of war.
by sr. Nirmala Rani

From the Mongolian capital the testimony of Sister Nirmala Rani, an Indian missionary for 21 years in the country. A visit was in the works in 2003, but Pope John Paul IIs health made it impossible. Mongolia is changing and the Church is trying to meet the challenge among young people. What do we expect from this visit? A powerful experience of encounter with God.

Ulaanbaatar (AsiaNews)  Mongolias small Catholic community is engaged in an historic vigil, preparing to welcome Pope Francis next Friday morning, 1 September. We publish a testimony by Sister Nirmala Rani, a missionary with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (ICM) from Tamil Nadu (India) who has spent 21 years in this frontier land for the mission.

I am Sister Nirmala Rani, an ICM missionary in Mongolia, serving the Catholic Church for the past 21 years with joy and commitment.

For sure, we must be hearing the name Mongolia often these days as the Holy Father, Pope Francis, is set to make an apostolic journey to this small, unknown country this year, from September 1 to 4.

Mongolia is a landlocked country, bordered by Russia in the north and China in the south. Mongolians, with their nomadic culture and Buddhist and Shamanist religious beliefs, are slowly being exposed to Christianity.

The Catholic Church started its missionary involvement with the arrival of CICM[*] Fathers in 1992. In 2003, our beloved late Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, CICM, planned the visit of His Holiness, the late Pope John Paul II, but it was cancelled with the decline of the latters health. Now, after 20 years, we are excitedly waiting for His Holiness Pope Francis.

What a joy for this small flock to celebrate the presence of His Holiness! Can you imagine it? The 266th bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic world decides to come and visit our little Church, which on paper counts barely 1,500 baptised people.

As a missionary working among young people, especially in passing on Catholic teachings in Sts Peter and Paul Cathedral parish, I could feel the positive vibes of excitement for the visit of His Holiness, the whispering along the corridors of our parish offices and in meetings with the faithful.

A young girl asked me in wonder: What can this Pontiff offer us? Without much delay, I said: a God experience. This is in fact what many of our faithful long for, what the apostolic journey of Pope Francis will bring to us, an experience of encounter with God.

It is a golden opportunity for us. It is a time of grace for the faithful in Mongolia. With deep gratitude we stand before God in prayer, asking the Lord to guide us in His ways for this important event. As His Eminence Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, IMC, invites the faithful to pray to our Heavenly Mother of Mongolia to intercede for us, we are looking forward to this ecclesial communion in faith and patience.

I arrived in Mongolia in 2002. Working with young people in the youth commission at the prefecture and Sts Peter and Paul Cathedral parish, I have experienced the joy and the youthfulness of working with young people.

Our world is changing at a rapid pace. Our society today is completely different from how it was when I arrived two decades ago. The major problems we see among young people today in Mongolia are poverty and unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse, single parents, nomadic nature in faith, divorce, and misuse of technology. The Church has organised many vocational programmes through its parishes and the youth commission to train our young people to set goals in life.

The popes coming creates a longing in their hearts to see him in person, to grow in ones spiritual journey. It is our young people who form Christian families now and raise their children in the Christian faith. It is a challenging journey because they originally come from the Buddhist faith.

During COVID-19, all our activities were halted because the churches were officially closed. Online masses helped the faithful keep up their faith but it was a challenge to administer the sacraments.

When I arrived the Church was very small in numbers. After 21 years I see a vast growth in the life of the Church and the faithful. Many have embraced faith in Jesus. I have been very much involved in teaching the catechesis, but it was not easy to make people understand dogmas and doctrines. Yet I see a living God among them and the God was present before I touched Mongolian soil.

In my missionary journey, one thing I treasure is my life's journey with the mentally challenged children at the ICM Rainbow Centre over the past 15 years. I have encountered a God who is suffering silently. The words of Jesus on the cross I thirst is a call for me that echoes every day in my heart to respond to their unspoken needs.

I am happy to serve people in Mongolia for God has sent me as a missionary to the land of blue sky to be his witness till the end of my life.

* missionary with the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Ulaanbaatar

(Nirmala Carvalho contributed to this article)

[*] Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Crista Worthy is a contributor to Writers on the Range (writersontherange.org), an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation in the West. She writes in Idaho.
Tesla is inching closer and closer to finally uncovering the redesigned Model 3. We've seen it in China. We've seen it in the US. But a place not visited by the 'Highland' prototypes is the Old Continent.

EV

Something to look forward to in October

Photo: @Jojje167 via Twitter

NHTSA

Tesla Model 3 Highland Spotted on German Autobahn near A4 Lichtenau pic.twitter.com/2k72oF8DvZ  mrx rx (@mrxrx2) August 28, 2023

The updated version of Tesla's Model 3, dubbed "Project Highland," has been spotted roaming around Germany and France in the last two days. Themight be in the last stages of development. Now, engineers fine-tune everything and iron out all the itsy-bitsy details.The all-electric sedan is an important car for Tesla. Alongside the Model Y crossover , these vehicles propelled the now-Texas-based automaker into a position of power on the automotive scene. Not only is it the world's most valuable carmaker, but it's also the company that transformed an EV into a global best-seller. So far, the Model Y is considered the most popular vehicle worldwide when accounting for new sales in the first half of 2023.The first Model 3 'Highland' under heavy wraps was spotted in Germany. Tesla might have wanted to see how the powertrain behaves when it's stressed on the country's high-speed roads known as the Autobahn. Similarly, it might have wanted to measure efficiency and figure out how the suspension system handles driving on various types of European asphalt.Some speculated that the all-new Model 3 could be introduced at the German International Automobile Exhibition (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung - IAA Mobility). Still, it's unlikely that Tesla will debut it there, despite it being one of the OEMs that confirmed to have a booth of its own during the event.The pictures showing the vehicle with German plates don't reveal much more than we already know, nor do they give us any other extra clues regarding the updated exterior.However, things change when we look at the camouflaged French unit. Someone managed to get up close and filmed the EV.That revealed a part of the new lighting signature and a headlight shape that doesn't look like it's straying too far from the current design. But that may be just the disguise tricking us.European legislation has allowed automakers to deploy lighting technologies that make life easier for drivers since 2012. LED headlights can be too powerful at times. But matrix headlamps have thousands of moving mirrors inside them. A computer can read the road ahead with the help of a camera. If it identifies oncoming vehicles, it can turn off or redirect parts of the beam of light to isolate them from being temporarily blinded.Sadly, theis delaying the factory implementation of this technology. Automakers, including Tesla, deliver cars with matrix functionalities turned off or without the software that enables them to work correctly. The government agency requires different testing procedures and added new requirements on top of those included in the SAE J3069 standard enforced in almost any other country where new cars are being sold.That tells us that Tesla might have wanted to test out its new headlights with matrix functionality in a place where that's possible. Even though China allows cars to come with this feature, road conditions are different, and the final setup may require some careful reprogramming before being approved for production.Europe-bound Teslas also come with the CCS Combo 2 charging port. The Model 3 'Highland' might have been through some Supercharging sessions at the automaker's high-power stations. As the pictures and the video below show, the housing might have been moved a bit forward to accommodate the new design. But it's worth noting that the CCS Combo 2 (which has two extra power pins over CCS Combo 1) is a bit larger than the NACS.Another Tesla Model 3 'Highland' was caught charging at a Supercharger in France. That image shows wheels that seem to have the same design we caught a glimpse of back when the first good leak uncovered the front of the refreshed EV.Lastly, rumors say that the next-generation Model 3 will be cheaper than the current version because Tesla implemented a bunch of cost-cutting measures. It remains to be seen if that will be true. We doubt it because other people with knowledge about the car said ventilated seats and ambient lighting will debut on the new car.But if it happens, it would mark an important premiere in the automotive industry. For over a century, updated models almost always introduced a slight price bump.
4WD

Ford Motor Company started investigating said problem on August 10 in light of a rising number of warranty claims for broken left rear axle shafts. Two failed parts were sent to a metallurgical lab for analysis. Not surprising in the least, said parts didn't meet the Dearborn-based automaker's torsional yield and case depth specifications in the fractured area. The fractured area is located 1.3 inches (44 mm) from the flange.This, in turn, prompted the Ford Motor Company to give the Cleveland, Ohio-based supplier a call. Mid-West Forge Corporation determined that incorrectly heat-treated axle shafts are limited to a single induction heat machine. Maintenance personnel entered an incorrect offset value, resulting in incomplete heat treatment.Ford is aware of a grand total of seven warranty reports for both the F-250 and F-350. All reports are for single rear wheels rather than dually trucks. In the event of a rear axle shaft failure, it's possible to regain mobility as long as  if equipped  the pickup goes into Ford claims that Mid-West Forge Corporation addressed this quality concern with a handful of preventive actions. As highlighted earlier, the affected population comprises 2023 models of the F-250 and F-350 varieties with single rear wheels. Production dates range between March 20, 2023 and August 21, 2023.Equipped with 10.5-inch shafts, these pickups will have their left rear axle shafts inspected by dealers nationwide. If the service technician identifies a suspect date code (stamped on the flange), the shaft will be replaced at no cost whatsoever to the customer. Dealers have been informed of this recall today, August 30. Owner notifications will be mailed in October.A grand total of 41,555 vehicles are called back. Of those, an estimated 50 percent are believed to have been equipped with suspect 10.5-inch rear axle shafts. 36,333 of the recalled vehicles are F-250s, and the remaining 5,222 pickup trucks are heavier-duty F-350s.Both variants come in six trim levels, ranging from the work-oriented XL to the surprisingly posh Limited. Prices for the F-250 start at $43,970 excluding the destination freight charge, whereas $45,015 gets you an F-350 XL with rear-wheel drive, single rear wheels, and a 6.8-liter gasser based on the optional 7.3er.The pushrod V8s are joined by two variants of the Power Stroke turbo diesel. Also a V8, this engine belts out an incredible 500 horsepower and 1,200 pound-feet (1,627 Nm) in high-output flavor. Said lump enables the F-450 Regular Cab with the Max Tow Package to tow a ludicrous 40,000 pounds (18,144 kilograms).
SUV

PHEV

Unless you are a diehard Toyota fan, you might feel fatigued at the sight of the tidal wave of new model introductions. If we only take the US market as a significant reference, since 2023 started they unleashed at dealerships or announced the 2023 Prius Prime plug-in hybrid version of the 'Hybrid Reborn,' the 2023 Corolla Cross Hybrid to make up for the loss of the smaller C-HR, a trio of 2024MY special editions from GR (2024 GR Corolla Circuit, GR86 Trueno, GR Supra 45th Anniversary), the family-oriented 2024 Grand Highlander, an entire family of Corolla Nightshade models, plus the 2024 Tacoma and 2024 Land Cruiser superstars.And this list is without counting on regular new model year updates; bear that in mind. Sure, diehard enthusiasts will say there's more work to be done, such as bringing out an all-new 4Runner off-roadto better fight the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco alongside the returning 2024 Land Cruiser. However, it seems that Toyota has other sport utility plans, judging by the most recent teaser. Tucked on the company's global press portal and its official Toyota Motor Corporation YouTube account, there's a "new car presentation" announcement scheduled to go live on September 6 at 13:30 JST.Well, that wouldn't be of utmost importance if the company didn't accompany the live YT stream with an online product page counting down the days to the same date. That's where all the rumors about the reveal of the long-rumored Toyota Century SUV are coming, as the company shared a cryptic picture of the rear of a vehicle featuring a chauffeur ready to open the rear door  with gloves on hands and a tuxedo, of course. That's an obvious hint toward the Century SUV being a limousine on stilts, just like the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, for example.And because the official press conference is scheduled in English with Simon Humphries (Chief Branding Officer, Head of Design at Toyota) in attendance, we have very high hopes the Toyota Century SUV will turn into a global ultra-luxury SUV affair, unlike its sedan sibling which rarely goes outside its home market of Japan. According to the rumors, Toyota is preparing its most luxurious vehicle to date and may very well attempt to bypass Lexus and attack the Cullinan on its own. However, the reports are a bit conflicting toward the potential underpinnings  the mill is discussing a possible Grand Highlander derivative with the plug-in hybrid mill from the Lexus TX 550h+ sibling, which is good for 'just' 406 horsepower.Frankly, a Grand Highlander derivative with aand around 200 ponies less than a Cullinan would surely make Toyota's Century SUV akin to a poor man's Rolls-Royce. But we are sure the Japanese automaker already thought of that, and we really expect a pleasant surprise from them on September 6.
Come 2023, the F40 is a million-dollar collectible. Low-mileage examples have been selling for more than $1 million for many years now, but the last couple of years have brought a dramatic increase in price at public auctions. In 2022, no fewer than six cars went under the hammer for more than $2 million, while two units exceeded the $3 million mark.In 2023, more than a dozen F40s changed hands at high-profile public auctions, and only one sold for less than $2 million. Four examples changed hands for more than $3 million , and it seems it won't be long until this "prancing horse" goes into $4 million territory.And it's not just the all-original, low-mileage examples that fetch the big bucks. Modified F40s are also going for six-figure sums. In early 2023, a one-off model finished in Nardo Gray and sporting a beefed-up engine good for over 700 horsepower sold for $2.75 million. This brings me to my affinity for F40s finished in colors that aren't Rosso Corsa.I know it's a strange fetish to have when it comes to Ferraris, but red is not among my favorite colors. I don't like it on muscle cars, either. I have a soft spot for yellow and green Ferraris , and I go a little nuts whenever I see a purple one.But it doesn't happen very often because most Ferrari enthusiasts like their supercars red. And unlike most modern vehicles from the Maranello-based company, the F40 was an exclusive Rosso Corsa affair.Ferrari is known to have very strict rules when it comes to its range-topping supercars. Having an entire batch of more than 1,000 painted red with no other option whatsoever is not the most ridiculous thing the Italian brand did. However, it must have been a bit unpleasant for some customers to pay over $400,000 for a car in the late 1980s and be unable to pick a different hue. Fortunately, at least for weird folks like me, some owners took matters into their own hands and repainted their F40s over the years.I don't have a complete statistic to run by, but more than a couple dozen have been refinished in colors like yellow, black, white, silver, grey, and green. And you'd better sit down because at least one is now sporting a very delicious shade of pink.But as much as I like pink cars, I'm not here to talk about the F40 that crashed in Seattle in August 2023 . I want to show you a one-off example wearing a light shade of metallic blue called Azzurro Hyperion. It was recently spotted in London, and it looks downright fantastic.And here's the cool thing: this hue is a historic Ferrari color. Not only does it grace modern models like the California, 812, or the 360, but it harkens back to the 1960s when it was offered on the 365 grand tourer and the entry-level Dino. And it suits the wedge-shaped design of the F40 rather well. Check it out in the video below.
gettyimagesbank



By Yi Whan-woo



Korean women are becoming mothers later in life as the country struggles with a shrinking population and a record-low fertility rate of 0.78, according to data, Wednesday.



Released by Statistics Korea, the updated stats on last year's births in Korea showed the average age of women giving birth to their first child was 33.5 in 2022, up by 0.2 from a year earlier.



Last year's figure was also an increase from 29.5 in 2002 and 31.6 in 2012.



Correspondingly, the number of babies born dropped by 4.4 percent or 11,000 to 249,000 between 2021 and 2022.






EV

The carmaker has detailed its collaboration with the search giant, explaining how it uses the power of Google Cloud to power its services, including OnStar's Interactive Virtual Assistant (IVA). The technology launched in 2022, using Google's AI systems to provide OnStar Members with capabilities like routing, navigation assistant, turn-by-turn directions, and answers to non-emergency situations.Thanks to Google's advanced AI technology, OnStar's IVA can also make a difference between a standard inquiry and an emergency request.As a result, it can quickly connect a driver to specially trained emergency advisors whenever the situation requires it.Now, GM is bringing the partnership with Google to a new level, adopting its chatbot technology for its corporate and brand websites. The new chatbots offer a conversational experience, allowing visitors to obtain more information about a vehicle just like they'd be talking to a human being.Chatbots can provide any information about a GM vehicle and offer advanced capabilities, including recommendations and comparisons with other models in the lineup. They play the role of a human employee who helps an interested customer find the right vehicle, being able to compare the mileage, share additional information about the standard equipment, and calculate financing based on criteria provided by the customer.General Motors seems to go all-in on Google's offering. The move to Android Automotive produced massive controversy in the automotive world, as the company dropped Android Auto and CarPlay for Google's full infotainment operating system. GM blocks Android Auto and CarPlay in its new EVs, planning to move to AAOS exclusively on all zero-emission vehicles launching in the coming years. The carmaker's long-term strategy is based on a complete switch to electric vehicles by 2035, so eventually, GM will block Android Auto and CarPlay in all its new models.The company says Android Automotive allows it to provide advanced functionality that wouldn't be otherwise available on Android Auto and CarPlay. However, customers believe switching to AAOS is a step towards subscriptions, as the carmaker could eventually charge drivers for access to specific infotainment capabilities.The 2024 Blazer EV is the firstthat replaces Android Auto and CarPlay with Android Automotive, and all the other zero-emission models to launch after it will follow in its footsteps with a similar strategy.Google's partnership with Google will likely expand in the coming years, especially as Android Automotive becomes the platform of choice for all its vehicles. Google Cloud's Next event in San Francisco will showcase GM's case study, showing the world how such a large automotive company went all-in on Google's platform to embrace AI across its offering.
They pitched the tents late on Tuesday near a Russian military checkpoint separating the conflicting sides and spent the following night there after two trucks carrying 40 tons of flour provided by the government-linked Azerbaijan Red Crescent reached Aghdam.

We dont want to get anything from our enemy, said Hamlet Apresian, the mayor of Askeran, a Karabakh town close to Aghdam, who joined the protesters at the blocked road section.

We will never accept any aid from them, Hasmik Andrian, a resident of the nearby village of Khramort, told RFE/RLs Armenian Service. She said Azerbaijani troops have regularly opened fire at local farmers trying to harvest wheat.

Karabakhs leaders reaffirmed support for this stance, saying that the proposed aid is part of Azerbaijani efforts to deflect international attention from the blockade and regain full control over the Armenian-populated region. They insisted that Baku comply instead with the Russian-brokered 2020 ceasefire that commits it to guaranteeing unfettered commercial and humanitarian traffic through the Lachin corridor.

There is a clear decision to keep that road [to Aghdam] closed, Davit Ishkhanian, the Karabakh parliament speaker, told reporters in Stepanakert. He visited the Karabakh protesters camped out on that road later in the day.

Baku pushed for an alternative, Azerbaijani-controlled supply line for Karabakh after tightening the blockade in mid-June. Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross have since been unable to ship any food, medicine or other basic necessities to Karabakh residents.

A senior aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told the BBC on Wednesday that renewed humanitarian traffic through Karabakhs blocked land link with Armenia is conditional on the opening of the Aghdam road. Aliyev reportedly underlined this condition on Tuesday in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron whose government is increasingly critical of the blockade.

The European Union, the United States and Russia have also repeatedly called for the immediate lifting of the blockade. The Azerbaijani side has dismissed their appeals. It has also ignored a February order by the International Court of Justice to take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles, and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.

The Karabakh Armenians remain adamant in rejecting the Aghdam route despite struggling with growing shortages of food. The Karabakh authorities admitted on Tuesday that the region is running out of flour. They said that from now on each family in Stepanakert and other Karabakh towns will be allowed to buy only one loaf of bread a day.
The ten trucks carried food and other essential items provided by the municipal administrations of several French cities and regions. Azerbaijan refused to let them proceed to Karabakh through a checkpoint which it controversially set up in the corridor in April.

Here, at the Lachin Corridor, we can testify that no humanitarian aid can enter Artsakh, a gross violation of human rights. Our 10 humanitarian aid trucks are blocked, Hidalgo tweeted from an Armenian border area adjacent to the corridors starting point.

The Armenian government also tried unsuccessfully to send 360 tons of flour, cooking oil, sugar and other basic foodstuffs to Karabakh in late July. Its aid convoy remains stuck at the entrance to the corridor.

Hidalgo likened the eight-month blockade to genocide when spoke to reporters in the nearby Armenian town of Goris.

What is happening in Nagorno-Karabakh is something that resembles genocide perpetrated by an authoritarian regime against people seeking to exercise their rights, the Socialist mayor told a joint news conference with other members of the French delegation headed by her.

Bruno Retailleau, a conservative French senator who also joined the delegation, accused Baku of turning Karabakh into an open-air concentration camp.

This attempted ethnic cleansing and genocide targets 120,000 people, including 30,000 children, Retailleau said.

Arayik Harutiunian, the Karabakh president, joined the news conference via video link from Stepanakert. He thanked the French municipalities for their initiative strongly encouraged by leaders of Frances influential Armenian community.

Harutiunian said the Azerbaijani leadership hopes that the severe food shortages resulting from the blockade will help it bring Artsakh to its knees. But it will not succeed, he said.

The visiting French officials called on French President Emmanuel Macron to urgently draft a resolution against the blockade and try to push it through the UN Security Council. Frances Le Figaro daily reported last week that Paris is preparing to submit such a resolution to the Security Council.

Macron pledged on Monday to seek stronger international pressure on Baku. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said the following day that the blockade is aimed at forcing the Karabakh Armenians to leave their homeland. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejected those statements as pro-Armenian and untrue.

Macron spoke with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by phone on Tuesday.
30 August 2023 19:42 (UTC+04:00)

Some foreign Civil Society Organisations registered abroad have appealed to the International Community to ramp up efforts to identify Azerbaijanis went missing as a result of the Armenian military aggression, Azernews reports.

The appeal reads:

We, the undersigned civil society organizations appeal to the international community with this statement as a wake-up call on the thousands of Azerbaijanis who went missing as a result of Armenia's military aggression against Azerbaijan.

The situation highlights the tragic human toll and the urgent need for international efforts to address the issue of missing persons and provide assistance to their families.

Due to Armenia's military aggression against Azerbaijan around 30 years, a total of 3,890 Azerbaijanis were officially registered as missing during the first Karabakh war. Among them, 3,171 were military personnel and 719 were civilians. Regrettably, among the civilians, 71 were children, 267 were women, and 326 were elderly. Among the overall number of missing persons, 872 people, including 29 children, 98 women, and 112 elderly people, were either taken hostage or unable to leave the area due to being elderly and unwell. Heartbreakingly, in some instances, entire families and generations vanished, disappearing alongside their relatives.

Furthermore, during the Second Karabakh War, six Azerbaijani individuals became unaccounted for, and to this day, there exists no information whatsoever regarding their whereabouts or fate.

International humanitarian law (IHL) addresses the issue of missing persons during armed conflicts, and the Geneva Conventions 1949 set out specific requirements and protections for such situations. According to the international humanitarian law requirements, parties to a conflict are obligated to search for and account for missing persons. This includes both combatants who have fallen out of contact during the conflict and civilians who may have been separated from their families. Parties are required to collect and provide information about the missing information and to facilitate communication between detainees and their families. They must also facilitate the identification of deceased individuals and provide information to their families.

Families of missing persons have the right to know the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones. However, Armenia avoids and persistently refuses to ensure the provision of information on the missing persons to their families to identify and contact with them. Armenia denies the identification of the fate of missing persons for 30 years up to date.

According to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Detaining Power shall ensure that information about prisoners of war who have died is recorded and transmitted to the Power on which these prisoners depend. The Detaining Power shall also inform the Power concerned about prisoners of war who are transferred, released, or escape.

In essence, the Geneva Conventions emphasize the human rights and dignity of individuals affected by armed conflicts, including those who have gone missing, and aim to alleviate the suffering experienced by their families. Concealing the information on missing Azerbaijanis, Armenia blatantly violates the international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions mentioned above, and the human rights, rights of missing persons and their families concerning the whereabouts of their loved ones.

For over three decades, families of missing persons in Azerbaijan have been denied this fundamental right by Armenia.

The investigation of "Karabakh Families of Missing Persons" Public Union (https://azertag.az/en/xeber/Karabakh_Missing_Families_Public_Union_sends_appeal_to_UN-2718076) reveal that during the First Karabakh War, 61 families experienced the disappearance of 2 to 7 members each, yet the fate of none of them is known. This grave circumstance not only deeply affects the families of the Azerbaijani missing people but also a shame for the humanity.

Recent years have witnessed significant efforts by relevant state institutions in the Republic of Azerbaijan to shed light on the fate of the missing individuals. These initiatives encompass collecting biological samples from families, extracting DNA profiles, and conducting excavations in the liberated territories, instilling the families with a sense of hope. Nonetheless, the revelation of 9 mass graves within a brief span fills our hearts with sorrow.

Among these mass graves, one was unearthed in the village of Bashlibel in the Kalbajar district, three in Edilli village in the Khojavand district, one in Farrukh village in the Khojaly district, two in Dashalti village in the Shusha district, one in Shusha city, and another in the village of Sarijali in the Aghdam district. Several more mass graves have been identified, with research efforts initiated in these directions.

The act of systematically killing and burying individuals in inhumane conditions, while obliterating their traces, signifies a disregard for all values of humanity and stands as a testament to brutality beyond measure.

The challenge of missing persons is a global issue. It is a concern that resonates on a universal scale, affecting various regions and countries across the world. The phenomenon of individuals going missing due to armed conflicts, and or other circumstances, underscores the shared responsibility of nations and international organizations to address this pressing concern. Efforts to address the missing persons problem encompass collaboration, legal frameworks, and humanitarian initiatives that aim to locate and identify missing individuals, provide support to their families, and uphold the principles of human rights and dignity.

We urge Armenia to furnish the geographical coordinates of the mass graves where the 4,000 Azerbaijanis were buried, who suffered torture, inhumane treatment, and death at Armenian torture camps during the First Karabakh War.

We urge ICRC to ramp up efforts to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing Azerbaijanis and to enter into dialogue with Armenia to this end.

We call upon the International Comission on Missing Persons (ICMP) to pay more attention to identify the missing Azerbaijanis during the 1st and 2nd Karabakh wars and to obtain information on their fate.

We call the international organizations to urge Armenia to reveal the information on the missing persons urgently, submit the locations of the mass graves. We appeal especially to UN, to establish a UN Special Rapporteur on missing persons to contribute to address this global issue and challenges on the unaccounted-for status persons.

Signatures:

1. Ajsa Hafizovic Hadzimesic, Assembly of Assotiation Mother of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves, Boosnia and Herzegovina;

2. Patsi Stillo, Partners in Health, United States;

3. Eliud Emeri, Consortium of Grassroots Organizations in Kenya, Kenya;

4. Adv Muhammad Bux, Sukaar Welfare Organization, Pakistan;

5. Peter Owiti, Wote Youth Development Projects CBO, Kenya;

6. Risikat Abimbola Akewula, Nigeria Environmental Society, Nigeria;

7. Mohmad Husain Lone, International Human Rights Commission, India;

8. Lindokuhle Sibiya, Youth and Women for Change, Eswatini;

9. Ridhiwani Sadiki, Citizen Network for Development Kenya, Kenya;

10. Gauthier Kasongo Ilunga, Biso People, Republique Democratique du Congo.

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30 August 2023 08:30 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

France, which has been pursuing a colonial policy for many centuries, is already experiencing the disintegration of its quasi-empire in modern era. This is especially noticeable among the African states that were once crushed under French rule.

It should be noted that France is the first country among several EU countries that formed the African colonial plan. And due to the colonial activity that it began in 1524, it kept under the wing of its empire more than 20 countries in the west and north of Africa. Thus, 35% of Africa remained under French control for 300 years. In addition to using people as slaves, the French exploited all the natural resources of the region. We will not be mistaken if we say that French colonialism is considered the largest genocide in the history of mankind. Because the name of France is in the first place among the countries in the West that cause the death of millions of people.

France is also one of the centers of such problems as racism, human rights violations, and religious intolerance. Even today, it continues to commit genocide against all Muslims on the basis of racism, in and out of its country.

For example, Ruhullah Mousavi Khomeini was brought to Iran by the hand of France. At present, in Iran, where there is arbitrariness, there is serious pressure on both the Turkish people and the Islamic religion.

In addition, Armenia puts pressure on Azerbaijan and Turkiye, as well as other Turkic states.

As for the countries of the West, a clear example of the disgusting actions of France are the anti-Islamic provocations committed in them (the burning of the Quran, the caricature of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.H), the murder of a Muslim migrant, etc.).

Talking on the above issue, Orientalist-Islamist, Doctor of Philosophy in Theology Mammadali Babashli told to AZERNEWS that the colonial policy implemented by France against the countries located in North Africa was indeed accompanied by great tragedies in human history.

"The first invaded country was Algeria in 1830. According to official figures, this colonialism in Algeria resulted in the murder of 1.5 million people. According to other sources, this number reached 2 million. This process of occupation later encountered resistance from the Algerian people until 1847. Abdul-Qadir, who at that time was a national hero of the Algerian people, led this uprising and fought against the French occupation. Unfortunately, this invasion was due to the weakening of the Ottoman state. France pursued a policy of assimilation with the aim of destroying the religious and national values of the people on the basis of racism and colonialism," the Professor said.

According to M.Babashli, Tunisia was the second country to be invaded by France in 1881. The same colonial policy was carried out there. 31 years later, Morocco became a protectorate under French control. During this period, the French pursued a policy of assimilation in both language and religion.

I want to note that France even issued a postage stamp depicting the massacre in Morocco. At the same time, the occupation policy pursued by Western countries against the Ottoman Empire after the First World War, and the participation of Senegalese soldiers in Istanbul was carried out by France. Unfortunately, France has not drawn and is not drawing any conclusions from all these tragedies. On the contrary, there is a phrase used by contemporary political scientists against Algerians: "You Algerians should be proud to be a colony of France," Babashli added.

The expert noted that, after England, France took second in terms of geographical area among the countries under its colonial rule. France controls a continent of 150 million people. Of course, the plans included the use of the French language in education.

I would like to emphasize that in 1984 when I went to Algeria as a translator, I encountered a strange moment like the concept of 5 years of Arabization. The implication was that under a law passed by France in the 1930s, Algerians who spoke Arabic were punished. Arabic was spoken almost at home or in mosques. For this reason, the population has reached the point that they have forgotten their native language. After Algeria gained independence in 1962, it had already adopted five-year Arabization plans and succeeded in bringing Arabic to the level of the official state language in the country. After the Second World War, during the time of Degol, these colonies began to be liberated. Unfortunately, America did not consider it desirable to completely withdraw France, fearing the strengthening of Soviet influence. It is no secret that France is involved in the state and military coups taking place on the African continent," the professor emphasized.

According to M.Babashli, in order to inform the whole world about these genocides committed by France, we need world historians. In this matter, they have a great responsibility. All these crimes should be investigated in the archives and made public.

"At the moment, work on this is underway. But it needs to be implemented faster and more accurately. On the basis of archival materials, the genocide and massacres organized by the French in these countries should be investigated and translated into different languages and brought to the world community. France should respond to the atrocities it has committed. France must recognize the genocides it has committed and pay compensation to these countries at least in the amount of the damage they have caused," the expert added.

In conclusion, speaking about the current collapse of the French quasi-empire, the expert noted that this is especially noticeable among the African states that were once crushed by French rule.

Undoubtedly, there are quite a lot of citizens in France from North African countries such as Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Instead of integrating them, they are being assembled. This, over time, causes legitimate objections from people. This is a serious problem for France itself, given that the wave of protests, swept in France, has engulfed mainly migrants of African origin. It is the bitter consequences of this colonial policy that France is facing today. To do this, these protests must lead to certain concessions from the state and government. France has no other choice. For the moment, the world community should not remain indifferent to this issue. The fate of these people, who came from former colonial countries, must remain in the spotlight," the expert concluded.

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Rena Murshud is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @RenaTagiyeva

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30 August 2023 16:25 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

Armenia's provocative actions and policy of disseminating false information is faltering. Despite Azerbaijan's humanitarian and peacekeeping position, Armenia and separatists are constantly trying to hinder the peace process and foment revanchist tendencies. Relying on their patrons around the world, and most importantly on France, to assist their vassals, creating pressure and spreading false information in the world Internet network, Armenians are trying to create the illusion of an innocent sheep.

The attempts were crowned by the fact that the Azerbaijani government on the world arena gives a humane and provable to all the fact of false propaganda about the alleged blockade of Khankendi and humanitarian crisis. It is not a secret that often the majority of mass media, using their influence, under the pressure of geopolitics and separatism pull the masses of society into the abyss of disinformation, and it becomes more and more difficult for the society to distinguish reality, when what can be relied on is corroded by words and fake news.

Despite the Armenian side's refusal to use the roads offered by Azerbaijan to provide humanitarian aid to the population of Garabagh of Armenian origin, the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society is sending the first humanitarian aid convoy of 40 tonnes of flour products to the town of Khankendi, via the Aghdam-Khankendi road, on 29 August 2023, to put an end to the propaganda coming from the Armenian side. Will the Armenian side, the separatist regime, let the humanitarian aid from Azerbaijan through, after so many manipulations coming from the regime in Khankendi?

"The fate of the policy, that Armenia has been pursuing for the last 30 years and the fate of the separatist regime is at stake now, if they accept this, it means that they agree to start the process of establishing some kind of relations with the Azerbaijani government, and for some it is tantamount to defeat, and I think they will try to reject it, as this rejection will be the beginning of a deeper split between the society and the ruling regime."

This was told by Azerbaijani political scientist Zardusht Alizade in a comment for AZERNEWS.

According to him, the expected manipulation by the Armenians in this case is taking place, and in the case of the blockade of the Aghdam-Khankendi road, and the failure to allow humanitarian aid from the Azerbaijani Red Crescent Society to reach the population of Armenian origin, could halt the negotiations.

"This is due to the fact, that they categorically refuse to do any business with the government of Azerbaijan, they are ready to talk to Azerbaijan only on the terms they have already voiced, that is, with the participation of international mediators, within the framework of some international mechanism, which will consistently mean that they admit to undermining the negotiations. The Azerbaijani government does not accept these conditions." Alizade said.

The support and provision of humanitarian aid once again proves that Azerbaijan is not indifferent to the fate of the population of Armenian minority living in Garabagh.

"This demonstrates the readiness of the Azerbaijani government to start caring about the residents of Armenian origin in Garabagh. Any streams of speculation that this population is suffering terrible misfortune, lack of food, and talking about separatists inhabiting this population, it loses its credibility."

The pro-Armenian diaspora in France has a strong influence on terrorising with disinformation to divert and direct the attention of the masses to a particular moment in world events. The Armenian authorities vying for power in Yerevan continue to sow their propaganda policies, and in this the Armenians are often helped by French patrons such as the media.

According to the expert, Azerbaijan is completely cold-blooded about the French factor in this issue, and Baku does not need such mediators, but it matters to France.

"Yes it is a powerful country, it takes part in the settlement of conflicts all over the world, including Garabagh, which is not indifferent for the population of Armenia, not indifferent for Armenians all over the world, but here France always swooped, and all these years the French government has done nothing to really help. However, as soon as the real process of conflict resolution began, France showed its true face; being indifferent to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, France wanted to be a decisionmaker in the region. Azerbaijan will not allow this, and there are opportunities to completely ignore the position of France," the expert concluded.

Abbas Ganbay is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @Noend33

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30 August 2023 15:00 (UTC+04:00)

A group of employees of Azerbaijani representative offices of foreign media arrived on the Aghdam-Khankendi road, where a humanitarian aid convoy sent by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society from Baku stopped to meet the needs of people of Armenian origin living in Garabagh.

According to Azernews, representatives of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society are currently providing information to foreign media employees (Bloomberg, BBC, Reuters), who are getting acquainted with the situation in the territory where humanitarian cargo trucks are stationed.

It should be noted that a convoy with humanitarian aid sent by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society to people of Armenian minority living in Garabagh drove onto the Aghdam-Khankendi road. At present, representatives of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society are negotiating with Russian peacekeepers regarding the passage of humanitarian cargo.

President of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society Novruz Aslan told reporters earlier that other necessary goods could be delivered to residents of Armenian origin in Garabagh in the future.

The remnants of the separatist regime in Azerbaijan's Garabagh have long been trying in various ways to convince the world community and international organizations that Azerbaijan, having established a border checkpoint on the Lachin road, allegedly "holds" the Armenian residents of Garabagh in a blockade, created a "humanitarian crisis situation" for them, and that supposedly the Armenians are "faced with food shortages." Armenia, which continues to manipulate the existence of an alleged "tense humanitarian situation" and "blockade" in the region, is slowing down the peace process instead of following the agreements reached on resolving issues related to the use of Lachin and other alternative roads to meet the needs of the Armenian residents of the Garabagh region .

Azerbaijan once again demonstrates a humanistic approach and sends humanitarian assistance to Armenian minority living in Garabagh.

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30 August 2023 10:35 (UTC+04:00)

A large number of Azerbaijanis from Armenia have gone missing during ethnic cleansing and as a result of Armenia's military aggression against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, Azernews reports, citing the community's statement.

The Western Azerbaijani Community noted that the enforced disappearances committed by Armenia are gross violations of human rights.

The right to protection from enforced disappearance is enshrined in various international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Armenia refuses to clarify the fate and whereabouts of these persons, to reveal the exact location of mass graves and other burial sites of Azerbaijanis it has killed, thus making the pain and suffering of uncertainty experienced by their families even more unbearable.

Addressing the issue of enforced disappearances is necessary to protect human rights, provide clarity to the families of victims about the fate of their loved ones, and ensure justice.

The Western Azerbaijan Community demands that the government of Armenia clarify the fate of Azerbaijanis who have been subjected to enforced disappearance, co-operate fully with Azerbaijan to search for and return the remains of those who have been forcibly disappeared, and extradite the perpetrators of enforced disappearances. to court.

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30 August 2023 11:21 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

The European Court of Human Rights rejected Armenia's application for a new provisional measure against Azerbaijan in connection with the case of Vagif Khachatryan.

According to Azernews, this was announced by the representative of the Republic of Armenia on international legal issues.

Note that V.Khachatryan has been found guilty in the massacre committed by Armenian terrorists in Meshaly village of Khojaly town. During that time, 25 Azerbaijanis were killed, 14 people were injured, and 358 Azerbaijanis were displaced. Due to the fact that sufficient reasonable suspicions arose regarding the criminal case, it was decided to involve Vagif Khachatryan as an accused person under articles 103 (massacre) and 107 (deportation or forced movement of the population) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. However, due to the fact that his whereabouts were unknown to the investigation, on November 12, 2013, an international arrest warrant was applied by the court's decision.

As a result of the conducted search measures, on July 29, 2023, Khachatryan was detained by the military personnel of the State Border Service at the Lachin border crossing point of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, while trying to go to the Republic of Armenia for treatment through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

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30 August 2023 12:08 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

A convoy with 40 tons of humanitarian aid sent from Baku by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society for the needs of the Armenians living in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan has been waiting on the Aghdam-Khankandi road throughout the day, Azernews reports, citing Society.

Since yesterday, a column of two trucks with 40 tons of flour products has been on the Aghdam-Khankandi road near the post of Russian peacekeepers temporarily stationed in Azerbaijan.

Employees of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, and volunteers spent the night and rested in tents set up on the territory.

In connection with the delivery of humanitarian aid to Khankandi, employees of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society held talks with Russian peacekeepers and are waiting for a response from them.

Jeyhun Mirzayev, general secretary of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, said that discussions with the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent are ongoing to create conditions for the delivery of the humanitarian cargo to Khankendi: "Discussions are underway now. We said that the issue would not be resolved this evening, and they asked us for time. We once again conveyed our humanitarian goal and mission to the command of the Russian peacekeepers. They said that if there is any change in the situation, we will be informed."

This once again proves that Armenia and the notorious regime created and supported by it in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan purposefully created artificial obstacles to the use of the Aghdam-Khankandi road.

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Vice Unification Minister Moon Seoung-hyun reads a keynote speech of Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho at the annual Korea Global Forum in Seoul, Aug. 30. Yonhap



South Korea's unification minister said Wednesday the government is willing to play the role of the most vocal "speaker" in efforts to make the international community aware of North Korea's dismal human rights situations.



At the annual Korea Global Forum hosted by Seoul's unification ministry, Minister Kim Yung-ho stressed the need to make perpetrators accountable for North Koreas' human rights violations.



"In the process, the South Korean government is ready to become the largest speaker and hub in efforts to raise awareness of the North's human rights situations," Kim said in a keynote speech read by the country's vice unification minister.



Kim said the unification ministry will issue reports on North Korea's economic and social situations and closely cooperate with the United Nations on a mission to help resolve Pyongyang's human rights abuse.



In regard to the North's provocations, the minister warned North Korea will pay the price for its "wrong choice," as South Korea, the United States and Japan are willing to immediately counter Pyongyang's provocations based on their stronger security cooperation.



"The North's 'wrong choice' will be immediately and sternly restrained by trilateral security cooperation of Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, and North Korea will face tighter and stronger sanctions," he said.



He added the international community will closely cooperate to track and block North Korea's illegal earnings of foreign currency, such as cyber crimes, arms transactions and the dispatch of its laborers abroad.



The leaders of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held a trilateral summit at Camp David earlier this month and agreed to closely cooperate to counter the North's nuclear and missile threats. (Yonhap)


30 August 2023 14:17 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

The Azerbaijan University of Languages has launched an international conference on the heritage and culture of Jews of the North and East Caucasus. More than 60 research scholars from Azerbaijan, Israel, Russia, the United States, France, and other countries are taking part in the event, Azernews reports.

The conference is organized by the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, which was founded in 1979 by psychologist Israel Charny, psychiatrist Shamai Davidson, and Holocaust survivor and public intellectual Elie Wiesel. The institute is devoted to the study of genocides against all peoples.

"The theme of this conference is very important.

"Despite the suffering that Jews have experienced over the centuries, they have been able to preserve their culture. The reason is that they do not forget their past. And they build their present and future on its basis," Rector of the Azerbaijan University of Languages (AUJ) Kamal Abdullayev said at the opening of the conference.

According to him, a new page has been opened in Azerbaijani-Israeli relations.

"Touching upon the theme of Jewish heritage, we also talk about Azerbaijani culture, as there are many Jews living in Azerbaijan, along with other nations and nationalities," he added.

The Jewish population in Azerbaijan dates back many centuries and is made up of three distinct groups: Mountain Jews, the most sizable and most ancient group; Ashkenazi Jews, who settled in the area during the late 19th-early 20th centuries, and during World War II; and Georgian Jews who settled mainly in Baku during the early part of the 20th century.

The survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2021 found that the size of the adult Jewish population in the United States has been fairly stable in percentage terms, while rising in absolute numbers, roughly in line with the growth of the U.S. population. An estimated 2.4% of U.S. adults are Jewish, with a total population of approximately 7.5 million, including 5.8 million adults and 1.8 million children.

Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel is very important.

President of the Academic Centre for Science and Law in Israel Aviad Hacohen told reporters.

He said they arrived with a delegation from Israel in Baku to participate in the international conference "Heritage and Culture of the Jews of the North and East Caucasus".

"I hope that through this conference bilateral relations will deepen further and we will learn a lot about our cultures," he said.

Aviad Hacohen emphasized that this conference is also important in terms of preserving active cultural exchange for future generations.

"Our countries are in excellent relations. Israel can learn a lot from Azerbaijan, as well as vice versa," the head of the Centre added.

The conference provides a platform for researchers to discuss the history, culture, and heritage of Jews in the North and East Caucasus, and to further the understanding and prevention of all genocides.

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30 August 2023 17:07 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

The Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) of the Azerbaijani Republic continues to visit institutions that people cannot leave on their own within the framework of the National Preventive Mechanism, Azernews reports, citing the Ombudsman office.

The purpose of the next visit conducted by the Ombudswoman Sabina Aliyeva and members of the National Preventive Group (MPG) was to investigate the conditions of detention of administratively arrested persons, their treatment, and the provision of their rights.

A total of three people detained at the Lachin border checkpoint and administratively detained for 10 days - Alen Sargsyan, Vahe Hovsepyan, and Levon Grigoryan - were also received during the visit, which was attended by members of MPQ.

During the confidential reception, the Ombudswoman studied the status of ensuring the rights of those persons according to international and national legislation and listened to their appeals. At the same time, the cell where they were kept and the picnic area were inspected, and it was determined that the conditions of storage were in accordance with the standards.

The detained persons expressed their satisfaction with the conditions of detention, their treatment, nutrition, as well as medical and psychological assistance. During the visit, telephone conversations with the family members of those persons were also ensured.

Administratively arrested persons were explained their rights, the powers of the Ombudswoman of Azerbaijan, informative publications on the possibilities of applying to the Ombudsman's 916 Call Center, legislative acts in the field of human rights and international documents in their own languages were presented.

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30 August 2023 15:43 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

TEKNOFEST festival dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Republic of Turkiye is being held in Ankara today, Azernews reports.

It should be noted that the contract signing ceremony for the Su-25 (Lachin) modernization project between the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkish company TUSAS was held on July 26 in Istanbul within the framework of the 16th International Defence Industry Exhibition IDEF-23.

The Republic of Turkiye is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and the Aviation, Space, and Technology Festival, TEKNOFEST, is joining in the festivities. TEKNOFEST is the largest aviation, aerospace, and technology festival of Turkiye, and it is being held in Ankara today.

TEKNOFEST is organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3) in collaboration with private companies, ministries, and academic institutions. The primary goals of the festival are to raise public awareness about technology in society and to draw attention to the importance of national production.

The festival is filled with seminars, technology competitions, exhibitions of domestic technology enterprises, Take Off International Startup Summit, and numerous attractions, such as aviation demonstrations including parachuting, air shows of "Solo Turk", "Turkish Stars", and many international aerobatic teams.

Technology competitions are organized in 12 different categories. People of all ages from primary school students to entrepreneurs can take part in the competitions with their projects and also benefit from the technical equipment support.

For the contest "The HackIstanbul 2018 Capture the Flag", organized in cooperation with the European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ECSO) and Romanian Government, computer hackers from all over the world competed. Winners were awarded money.

Another award-winning competition is the "World Drone Cup" race. The festival was planned to be held in Istanbul between September 21-26. The newest competition categories were added to the festival to be held this year in areas such as simulation, artificial intelligence, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Over 5 million TL of material support will be provided to teams who pass the pre-selection stage. Winner teams will receive a total of over 5 million TL in prizes.

The festival was held in 21 different technology categories in Gaziantep on September 17, 2020. This year, the festival provides for holding 41 main competitions in 102 subcategories. Among them, are "Design of flying cars", "Educational technologies", "Robotaxi", "Agricultural technologies" and "Robotics". Unlike the previous year, for the first time, there will be a competition in the field of technological applications in psychology. The prize fund in TEKNOFEST contests will be over 13 million Turkish liras.

TEKNOFEST is the largest technology competition with the largest prize pool in the history of Turkiye. They are conducted in all technical fields: from missiles to autonomous systems, from agriculture to submarines, from unmanned aerial vehicles to artificial intelligence. It is organized under the leadership of the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) and the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkiye in cooperation with public and media organizations and universities.

This year, TEKNOFEST will be held in Izmir from March 16 to 19, in Istanbul from April 27 to May 1, and from August 30 to September 3 in Ankara.

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30 August 2023 17:49 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

Garabagh Missing Families Public Union released the statement on the occasion of International Day of Missing Persons, Azernews reports, citing the release of the organisation.

The statement reads:

In the 90s of the 20th century, 20% of Azerbaijan's territory recognized by international law was invaded by the Armenian armed forces, as a result of which nearly four thousand Azerbaijani citizens went missing in the First Karabakh War. Unfortunately, as a result of the military aggression, more than seven hundred civilians, including children, women, and the elderly, have disappeared along with the soldiers.

Of the total number of missing persons, 872 people, including 29 children, 98 women, and 112 elderly people, were taken hostage or remained in the occupied territories, confirmed by witness statements.

In a number of cases, people disappeared along with their family members and relatives, and entire families and generations were destroyed. Research confirms that 2 to 7 members of 61 families went missing during the first Karabakh war and no information was given about them during these years. This situation is disrespectful not only to the families of the missing Azerbaijanis but to all humanity.

Facts and eyewitness accounts confirm that during the occupation of the sovereign territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the Armenian military in the first Karabakh War, the norms of international humanitarian law were grossly violated and civilians were targeted, elderly people who could not leave their homes were burned, beaten, severely tortured, hanged from trees or shot during unexpected attacks.

According to the requirements of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, which are its main source, the right of their families to receive information about persons missing during armed conflicts is unequivocally recognized. However, family members of missing Azerbaijanis have been deprived of this right for more than 30 years. Armenia's refusal to provide information about the missing Azerbaijanis condemned their families to suffer. As a result of the non-humanist position of Armenia, thousands of missing families have been forced to live with the pain of this terrible tragedy for 30 years and have not been able to get information about their loved ones.

It is known that the territories of Azerbaijan occupied in the First Karabakh War were under the control of the Armenian army for 30 years. For this reason, all missing persons, including detailed information about their burial places, are on the Armenian side. The interview given to Armenian mass media in December 2021 by Lieutenant General Gagik Melkonyan, deputy of the Armenian Parliament, and former Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia, confirms this once again.

In that interview, Gagik Melkonyan stated that the corpses of hundreds of servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army who died in 1994 remained on the battlefield and Armenians buried them. Although Azerbaijan made an official appeal to Armenia through the mediation of international organizations regarding the issue, no response was received.

In September 2020, the Azerbaijani Army, which carried out a counter-offensive operation related to the provocation of the Armenian armed forces, liberated the homeland from occupation and implemented the resolutions adopted by the UN in 1993. However, the excessive pollution of territories [with landmines] by Armenia during the occupation did not allow the people expelled from there, including their missing families, to go to their homelands. In addition, Armenia does not provide Azerbaijan with accurate mine maps or information about the mass graves of the missing. More than three hundred Azerbaijani citizens have become victims of mine explosions in the last three years due to the lack of mine maps.

In recent years, the steps taken by the relevant state institutions of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the field of clarifying the future fate of the missing, including taking biological samples from families, extracting DNA profiles, and conducting excavations in the territories freed from occupation, create great hopes in the families of the missing. However, the discovery of 10 mass graves in a short period of time and the fact that our loved ones were killed by torture and buried in an inhumane manner saddens our hearts.

Analyzes, including G. Melkonyan's information, show that new mass graves will be discovered. Killing people with torture and mass burial and losing their traces is a disrespect for all human values.

We, as a public organization uniting the family members of nearly 4,000 Azerbaijanis who went missing as a result of Armenia's military aggression against Azerbaijan, demand the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, to provide information about missing Azerbaijani citizens and mass graves to the Azerbaijani side.

G. Melkonyan belongs to the political party headed by the Prime Minister of Armenia, and therefore, N. Pashinyan can at least provide the information about the location of the mass grave, which G. Melkonyan stated in his interview, to the Azerbaijani side.

We, also call on the President of the Council of the European Union, Mr. Charles Michel, and the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to put pressure on Armenia to release information about the fate of missing ones and the mass graves to the Azerbaijani side.

We call on the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Commission on Missing Persons to increase their efforts in this area.

The problem of missing persons is not relevant only to Azerbaijan, it is of global issue. Therefore, we call on the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, to appoint a UN Special Rapporteur on missing persons.

We, the Azerbaijani families of the missing, wish that all the armed conflicts in the world will end soon, that peace and tranquility will be established in the world, and that no person, regardless of their national identity, will go missing.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
30 August 2023 17:28 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

Azerbaijani community activists operating in the Kingdom of the Netherlands held a peaceful protest in front of the Hague Palace of Justice, Azernews reports.

The action, organized with the support of the Coordination Council of the Netherlands-Belgium Azerbaijanis and the Organization of the European Union of Azerbaijani women Motherland, was carried out in order to protest against the attempts of Armenia, which has pursued an aggressive policy against our country for 30 years, to turn the world community into an instrument for a campaign.

During the action, the flags of Azerbaijan and Turkiye were waved, and mugham pieces and songs dedicated to the Garabagh region were performed.

With the slogans "Azerbaijan wants peace, Armenia wants war", "Armenia rejects peace, chooses war", "Armenia, sign the peace agreement!", "Armenia distorts the facts and deceives the world community", "There should be no Armenian soldiers on Azerbaijani lands!" "Armenia, stop the attack!", "Armenia, stop the mining of our lands!", "Armenian mines kill civilians!", "Armenia's mines = war crimes!", "Stop the perpetration of environmental terrorism in the territories of Azerbaijan!" "Armenia destroys the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan in Yerevan", "Stop the looting of Azerbaijan's natural resources!", "Stop the irreparable damage to the environment!" protesters drew the attention of the Dutch public.

The participants of the action demanded that the international community put an end to the military and environmental terror of Armenia in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan, ensure the security and human rights of Azerbaijani citizens in Garabagh, and support the peace efforts of the Azerbaijani state.

The action ended with the slogan "Garabagh is Azerbaijan!" chanted by the members of the community.

Booklets reflecting Armenia's military and environmental crimes were distributed to residents of The Hague who were interested in the action. The booklets show that landmines planted in Azerbaijani territories threaten human life, the number of mine victims in Azerbaijan since the 2020 war has reached 303 people, that official Yerevan's refusal to provide accurate mine maps grossly violates human rights, that the Armenian media disseminated retail evidence of ill-treatment of Azerbaijanis contradicts the III Geneva Convention, that several Azerbaijani soldiers were subjected, The fact that gold and copper-molybdenum deposits were illegally exploited in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, more than 60 thousand hectares of forest were destroyed, our rivers were polluted and other facts were taken into account.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
30 August 2023 17:36 (UTC+04:00)

Abbas Ganbay Read more

The Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society called ridiculous the allegations of some Armenians living in Garabagh that 40 tons of flour brought for them had been poisoned, Azernews reports.

The General Secretary of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, Jeyhun Mirzayev, told a group of reporters from Azerbaijani representative offices of foreign media organizations that anyone can see the goods:

Our goal is to provide humanitarian aid, to help, of course, our goal is not to poison people. Everyone can see those goods and record them freely.

A convoy with 40 tons of humanitarian aid sent from Baku by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society for the needs of the Armenians living in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan has been waiting on the Aghdam-Khankandi road throughout the day.

Since yesterday, a column of two trucks with 40 tons of flour products has been on the Aghdam-Khankandi road near the post of Russian peacekeepers temporarily stationed in Azerbaijan.

Employees of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, and volunteers spent the night and rested in tents set up on the territory.

In connection with the delivery of humanitarian aid to Khankandi, employees of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society held talks with Russian peacekeepers and are waiting for a response from them.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
30 August 2023 08:00 (UTC+04:00)

Russia's Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant (UAZ) is planning to start production of all types of cars at Chirchik Technopark, Azernews reports, citing Kun.uz news agency.

A start date has not yet been announced. It is said that representatives of UAZ have already arrived in Uzbekistan and held negotiations, discussed cooperation prospects.

Chirchik technology park with a developed engineering infrastructure is located on an area of 29 hectares. It is intended to localize the production of foreign and local companies in Uzbekistan.

For information, the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant was founded in 1941, it produces cars and trucks under the UAZ brand. Since 2000, Sollers has been part of the automobile concern.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
30 August 2023 20:35 (UTC+04:00)

The company is also entering into two deals to modernize its communications infrastructure for $222 million, Azernews reports, citing Kun.uz news agency.

Uzbektelecom is attracting a new foreign loan for a large amount, it follows from the data of the Unified Portal of Corporate Information.

The loan is provided by Deutsche Bank to increase the liquidity of the state-owned telecom operator and replenish its working capital. The corresponding decision was approved at the meeting of shareholders of the company, held on August 16.
30 August 2023 21:10 (UTC+04:00)

On the anniversary of the Great Offensive, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday hailed the country's victory in the military operation, which marks the resounding defeat of the occupying Greek troops at the hands of Turks in the Battle of Dumlupinar in 1922, Azernews reports, citing Anadolu Agency.

"The Battle of the Commander-in-Chief is one of the most crucial turning points in our nation's centuries-long struggle for perpetuity," Erdogan said in a message to mark the 101st anniversary of the Victory Day.

In the words of Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Erdogan said the August 30 Victory is a great achievement that once again proved the power and heroism of the Turkish army.

"With this victory, which is the 'immortal monument of the Turkish nation's idea of freedom and independence,' our nation declared to the whole world that it would not let its will be subjugated and that it would not let a shadow be cast on its independence and future," he added.

With the new steps to be taken in the coming period, Erdogan promised to strengthen the country's power and raise Turkiye above the level of contemporary civilizations.

"I commemorate Ghazi Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and his comrades with gratitude, and I wish Allah's mercy on all our martyrs and veterans," he added.

The Great Offensive  one of the greatest military victories in history  was launched by the Turkish Armed Forces on Aug. 26, 1922 under the leadership of Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkiye, and ended on Sept. 18 the same year.

From Aug. 26 to Aug. 30 of 1922, Turkish forces fought the Battle of Dumlupinar (considered part of the Greco-Turkish War) in Turkiyes western Kutahya province, where Greek forces were decisively defeated.

By the end of 1922, all foreign forces had left the territories which would collectively become the new Republic of Turkiye one year later.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.
This April 20, 2021, file photo shows the North Korean flag fluttering at the North Korea consular office in the Chinese border city of Dandong. Human rights groups call on the government to be step up efforts to resolve issues regarding South Korean abductees and prisoners of war in North Korea on Aug. 30, the International Day of the Disappeared, a day created to remember the victims of enforced disappearance. Reuters-Yonhap



Gov't vows to redouble efforts for victims on International Day of the Disappeared



By Jung Min-ho



When a North Korean agent hijacked a Korean Air flight carrying his father and forced the pilot to land in North Korea in December 1969, Hwang In-cheol was only two years old.



Despite 53 years passing, Hwang and his family remain undeterred in their quest to search for him.



"No matter how long it takes, we will not give up on him because we can't. We hope leaders in the government feel the same," Hwang told The Korea Times on Wednesday.



He spoke on the occasion rights advocates marked as the International Day of the Disappeared, a day created to remember the victims of enforced disappearance, including abductees and prisoners of war. The day reverberates, particularly in South Korea, a country that shares a hostile border with North Korea, where some 100,000 of its citizens have been detained or have died against their will since the Korean War (1950-53).



"Despite our calls for an explanation as to the whereabouts of our citizens and repatriation, North Korea has not shown a responsible attitude," Unification Vice Minister Moon Seung-hyun said in a statement. "That has caused their families indescribable pain."



He characterized what North Korea has done to the victims as "crimes against humanity," promising to intensify pressure, in cooperation with other countries, on the regime to send them all back.



Last week, the ministry announced that it will undergo a major reform, with a plan to launch a team dedicated to resolving the issue early next month.



One of the urgent tasks facing the team is fact-finding. Having been overlooked for decades, South Korea does not even have basic data. According to the last publicly available figures in August 2007, the national intelligence agency said that there were 560 confirmed prisoners of war (POW) alive in North Korea.



"These official figures have not been updated for the past 16 years ... But because of the ROK (South Korea) government's failure to release the updated figures, the 2014 report by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the DPRK (North Korea) recorded an estimated 560 POWs alive in North Korea," Transitional Justice Working Group and a dozen other groups said in a joint statement. "Though already 70 years too late, the government must take measures to investigate and document the grave human rights violations committed by North Korea against the POWs and their families."



According to the groups, there could be as many as 50,000 South Korean POWs and 100,000 civilian abductees in North Korea, which the regime largely denies.



South Korea acceded to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (U.N. Enforced Disappearance Convention) this January. The groups called on the National Assembly to examine two related bills  one for the protection of victims and their families and the other for the punishment of such crimes  as they have been temporarily put aside for months.



The National Human Rights Commission of Korea also joined the call for legislative action. The commission's chief, Song Doo-hwan, called for the speedy passing of the bills, saying it would strengthen monitoring and cooperation with the Assembly for the cause.


https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/walters-bonus-83023.html

B.A.S.S. News

Image

Patrick Walters drove his Yamaha-powered bass boat further each day across Lake Ontario than most folks drive on their morning commute to the office. He pushed his 250-horsepower V MAX SHO to the limits across Lake Ontario for four days to set an all-time B.A.S.S. record of 105-pounds of tournament winning smallmouth, to net a $100,000 victory, and a $4,000 bonus from the Yamaha Power Pay program.

I never had a mechanical issue this week, and I have never had an issue with my outboard this entire Elite Series season, said Walters, moments after winning the third coveted blue trophy of his young career.

The South Carolina pro says he once considered himself pretty weak at the northern smallmouth fishing game, but worked hard to improve, and subsequently, is most proud of the fact he claimed victory in a portion of the pro fishing world where he once struggled.

Every one of the bronzebacks that comprised his record-setting weight bit a drop shot rig, often times tipped with a Megabass Hazedong Shad. However, he jokes the new-look mustache he sported through three recent smallmouth derbies might have contained a bit of fish attracting magic of its own.

What an incredible week. A Bassmaster Century Belt, a blue trophy, a hundred-thousand bucks, and a Yamaha Power Pay bonus. The only bad thing is I gotta shave the mustache off for my wife Emily, he laughed.

Losing a bit of upper lip fuzz is surely a minor sacrifice for the amount of incredible prosperity he experienced at work this past week on Lake Ontario near Clayton, N.Y., and he provided proof that if you fish tournaments and run a Yamaha, its definitely worth taking a few minutes to sign up for Power Pay, by visiting https://yamahapowerpay.com/.
Uzbeks celebrate their Independence Day at the Independence Monument in the Yangi O'zbekiston Park, Tashkent in this Aug. 31, 2022 file photo. Courtesy of Embassy of Uzbekistan in Korea





By Vitaliy Fen







Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Korea Vitaliy Fen / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

These days, the people of Uzbekistan are approaching the celebration of the thirty-second anniversary of the state independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan  an unforgettable historical event that opened a completely new era in the socio-political, spiritual and educational life of our country.







In order to properly welcome and celebrate this glorious day of the independence of our Motherland, which serves as a factor of all our achievements, a source of strength, pride and inspiration, and at a high level on July 27 of this year, the decision of the head of our country was adopted "On preparing for and holding the thirty-second anniversary of the state independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan."







The document defines the task of conveying to the general public the importance of the work being carried out in our country to further strengthen the atmosphere of harmony between representatives of different nationalities and religious denominations, to ensure a peaceful and peaceful life in society, to provide in-depth analysis and specific life examples. It was also decided to implement the process of preparing and holding the holiday based on the main idea "For a new life, for a new Uzbekistan!"







Thirty-two years ago, on Sept. 1, 1991, a new independent state called the Republic of Uzbekistan appeared on the world map. In a short historical period, our national identity, ancient history, rich culture, noble values and traditions have been restored by the selfless work and determination of our country, the basic foundations of state and public life have changed, and our country has taken a worthy place in the world community.







Today, in the hearts of our people, especially the younger generation, such noble qualities as kindness, tolerance, solidarity, respect for national and universal values, a sense of belonging to the fate and future of the Motherland are growing.







In order to consistently continue our large-scale reforms along the path of independent development, bringing the development of all industries and industries to a new level, today a new society and state is being created in our country, where every citizen will live freely and comfortably, regardless of nationality, language and religion.







Important events in the political life of our country, in particular, the adoption of our Renewed Constitution, once again clearly confirmed that our country supports reforms aimed at creating a "New Uzbekistan," the basis of the "Third Renaissance."







During the years of independence, Uzbekistan paid special attention to cooperation with all developed countries of the world, in particular, with South Korea.







On Dec. 30, 1991, the Republic of Korea was the first among the countries of the Asia-Pacific region to recognize the independence of Uzbekistan. Diplomatic relations were established between our countries on Jan. 29, 1992.







Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries, 18 meetings have been held at the level of heads of state. As a result of these meetings, we have achieved mutual agreements in developing our relationships in political, economic, trade, cultural and humanitarian fields.







Until now, more than two hundred interstate, intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents have been adopted between our countries. This important legal framework serves as a solid foundation for mutual cooperation. As a result of mutually beneficial cooperation in recent years, Uzbek-Korean relations have been upgraded to the level of Special Strategic Partnership.







South Korea is one of the main trade and economic partners of Uzbekistan. In subsequent years, the volume of trade and the number of joint ventures almost doubled. Hundreds of priority investment projects in various sectors of our country's economy have been implemented by the leading South Korean companies.







Currently, about 900 enterprises with the participation of Korean investors operate in Uzbekistan. And overall, the volume of investments attracted from the Republic of Korea has exceeded $7.3 billion.







In 2022, the trade turnover between the two countries exceeded 2.3 billion dollars. In particular, it is important to note the long-term fruitful cooperation with Korea Eximbank and the Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (EDCF). The volume of financing within this fund has reached $1 billion. A fruitful partnership with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is also expanding.







At present, vast opportunities for businesses are opening up in Uzbekistan, which has long been a center of trade, science, and culture.











Vitaliy Fen is the ambassador of Uzbekistan to Korea.


Tom Campbell

I suspect conservatives have complained about liberalism on college campuses since UNC was founded in 1789.A few of us still remember the 1963hastily passed in the closing days of the North Carolina General Assembly. It listed three categories of persons thatbanned on UNC Campuses:communists, thoseto advocate the overthrow of the Constitution, and anyone who had pled the Fifth Amendment in an investigation concerning Communism or subversion.The reaction to this law was immediate and negative. Black and white television footages showed protests at UNC Chapel Hill, claiming it violated the First Amendment principles of free speech, but it took a federal court ruling in 1968 to finally end the Speaker Ban.For years we've heard that our universities areand pressures grew louder to ensure more conservative instructors were hired, more conservatives were invited to speak on campuses and have more of a voice in campus decisions.The effort to have more conservative voices in higher education does has some merit. Surveys have confirmed what most suspect, namely that large numbers professors and ranking educators are more liberally biased. It is assumed that the more education you have, the more open-minded you will be in probing new ideas and techniques.But the tables turned when Republican conservatives took control of our legislature in 2012 and systematically appointed members to the UNC Board of Governors who passed their conservative smell test. They fired UNC President Tom Ross, even after acknowledging he had done a good job. He was canned because he was a Democrat.Now a recent UNC Wilmington case demonstrates the bullying has gone too far. Each year the Watson College of Education gives a prestigious honor, The Razor Walker Award, to a person who has made a difference to the children and youth of this state.Van Dempsey, until last week the Dean of the Watson College of Education, says he was told by his Chancellor, Aswani Volety, that this year's award should be given to a Republican. Essentially the message wasReluctantly, Dempsey and the award committee complied and named Mike Lee, who represents Wilmington in the NC State Senate, to receive the award. The reaction on campus from students and faculty was prompt and outraged, with objectors walking out of the ceremony when the award was announced.In an interview following the ceremony, Dempsey acknowledged he had been so instructed by the Chancellor. Almost immediately, Dempsey was removed as Dean of the college. In an obvious damage control effort, the administration said Dempsey, a tenured professor, had not been fired but would no longer be the dean. His future remains unclear even now.I don't know UNCW Chancellor Aswani Volety, but I do know Van Dempsey. Dean Dempsey is a truth-teller, a person of integrity and an innovative and collaborative dean who has greatly elevated the reputation of his college and is well respected.This saga is revelatory for several reasons. First, it spotlights the great pressure conservatives are applying. Politics should not be a consideration in education and those involved in the administration and application of it must be non-biased and fair-handed. Neither, however, should it be punitive.There's truth in the old adage that two wrongs don't make a right. Strategies of bullying and intimidation won't correct any perceived liberal bias. In the case of the Razor Walker award conservatives have done far more damage than any good that might have been achieved.Additionally, we learned a lot about Chancellor Volety. There is no doubt Volety had been pressured to show more deference to Republicans and conservatives. Pure and simple: he caved, instead of standing for the integrity of the award, defending the selection process and his dean. Volety has lost the confidence of students, faculty and the public. At the least he should apologize publicly and acknowledge his mistake.Employees of UNCW now know not to expect leadership to have their backs if they make decisions that might be considered controversial. Don't do it. Just go along to get along. Is that any way to run a university?Dempsey, on the other hand, demonstrated why he is a valued and principled dean. It won't be long before an expected lawsuit will confirm that he was wrongly punished for speaking truth. State taxpayers will likely shell out many dollars in reparation.But the biggest damage is to the university itself. When you go onto the UNCW campus you cannot help but be impressed. There have been some notable leaders in its past, along with some not so outstanding.Founding UNC President Bill Friday often said our university system was theHe was right. But this episode has tarnished one of those jewels.
Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a Marine who survived the explosion in Kabul that killed 13 Americans, says that when Joe and Jill Biden came to his hospital room, the president reached out to shake his hand even though his arm was gone, immediately started talking about his son, and... pic.twitter.com/5axewScAPk  Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 8, 2023

Mother of Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola who died because of botched Afghanistan withdrawal: "When [Biden] approached me, his words to me were, 'My wife, Jill & I, know how you feel. We lost our son as well and brought him home in a flag draped coffin'' pic.twitter.com/jGbxEv20M8  The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 7, 2023

After one full year of the Biden /Harris Administration: Does Joe Biden have the intellectual capacity, and, or the energy to lead the United States of America through the mess that he predominately created ... in just one year? Yes No Unsure 1,212 total vote(s) What's your Opinion?



poll#169

Considering how abjectly corrupt and civilly abusive the Left has become regarding the corrosive effect of their elected leaders; their entrenched and ruling bureaucracy; employing their failed Education Industry as Indoctrinators; their collusive private sector operators, such as the terminally discredited Legacy Media and Big Tech censorship of Free Speech: What will be the best course forward for hardworking Middle Americans, including the Patriot Class? Withdraw from society, go underground and plan for a resurgence when it is feasible to do so. Work within the confines of better policy by the People's government, once good sense and sanity is restored in the electorate at large, to achieve such. Are you a crazy, nut-job Insurrectionist? Everything is perfect within our plan to achieve our intended goals for the Socialist Left. Secession to form a true Constitutional Republic. 421 total vote(s) What's your Opinion?



Gold Star mother Cheryl Rex and wounded Marine SGT Tyler Vargas-Andrews told very similar stories about President Joe Biden - and neither were impressed by his apparent need to make every conversation about himself and his late son Beau Biden.Vargas-Andrews was wounded in the suicide-bomb attack that rocked Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 16, 2021 - the same attack that killed Rex's son, LCPL Dylan Merola, and 12 other American service members - and he said that Biden came to visit him while he was recovering in the hospital.Vargas-Andrews described the situation, explaining that he had lost his right arm and his left was all but immobilized, with just the tips of his fingers sticking out of a massive cast - and he said that Biden did not really greet him when he entered the room, opting instead to grab his exposed fingers like he was shaking his hand.Vargas-Andrews said.Vargas-Andrews said that by then, his mother wasand told the president and his entourage that they needed to take care of her sonHe said that the exchange got even stranger after that, explaining that Biden bent over to talk to him and asked,Vargas-Andrews recalled, saying that his answer appeared to baffle Biden. The remainder of the conversation - which he said was brief - avoided any mention of the explosion that nearly ended his life.Rex, who spoke at Tuesday's forum in California for the families of those killed during the Biden administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, recounted a very similar experience with the Commander in Chief.WATCH:she recalled.she added.Rex went on to say that, after that moment, she received no further correspondence from President Biden - and no indication that he had ever honored her son's death or even spoken his name since he paid the ultimate price for what she believes was a failure of leadership in the final days in Afghanistan.
As School Choice is beginning to take shape in North Carolina: What is your position on what it should evolve into?

4.55% School Choice is only a distraction from the promise of real public education.90.91% School Choice, as it evolves into its best model to serve the public' s education needs, this benefit will provide choices outside of the historic construct supporting the public school monopoly.4.55% School Choice - I cannot see how it serves the Education Industry.
As Republican voters scratch their heads over why some of the major RINOs in the General Assembly are pushing non-Republican ideas like promoting casinos and marijuana, the answer is that too many RINOs are more interested in special interest cash than they are in what the voters back home want and don't want.

A group that tracks the legislature has just released a list of the top recipients of special interest money from casino and marijuana interests, many of those contributors from out of state, and many who never gave to NC legislators before. One of those at the top of the list of recipients of casino and marijuana money is our own RINO state senator Jim Perry, who is no stranger to corrupt pay-to-play politics.

RINO Perry took $25,100 from casino and marijuana interests, the third highest in the legislature. That is what Beaufort, Craven and Lenoir counties have representing us.

It was not just RINOs who took these corrupt payments. The Democrat leader in the NC House also got a wad from them.

https://dailyhaymaker.com/pot-pay-off-welcome-to-raleighs-republican-revolution/

This is not RINO Jim Perry's first rodeo in cashing in with special interest money to betray the interests of his constituents. Earlier this session, Perry took a huge payday from Big Medicine special interests to back the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, in spite of the Republican executive committee for the local congressional district passing a unanimous resolution asking him to vote against it. With Perry, money talks and the interests and positions of his constituents get ignored.

The same was true with the North Carolina Green New Deal, HB951, which will greatly increase electric bills for citizens but fits the ESG agenda of "woke" utility monopoly Duke Energy. Perry got a big payday from woke Duke Energy and from the wind and solar grifters, and was very active in pushing their agenda against the interests of electric consumers.

Jim Perry is little more than a prostitute for the special interests. He will keep turning tricks for them as long as the money keeps flowing.
While vice president, Joe Biden used at least three fake aliases to hide his identity in emails that appear connected to his family's influence pedalling business. The National Archives says it has over 5,000 emails from those three aliases, Robert L. Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware, but it has refused to turn them over. Republicans in Congress are now demanding that they be released, and the National Archives is also being sued by the Southeastern Legal Foundation to obtain copies.

JRB are Biden's initials - for Joseph Robinette Biden. The "Robin" is likely linked to his middle name.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/national-archives-discovers-5000-emails-that-contain-joe/

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/08/29/exclusive-sen-ron-johnson-obama-should-allow-archives-release-bidens-5k-alias-emails/

https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/30/biden-asserted-executive-privilege-to-block-release-of-hundreds-of-emails-involving-hunters-business-and-vps-office/

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/08/29/exclusive-gop-lawmakers-rip-joe-biden-for-using-email-alias-to-conduct-family-business/

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/revealed-national-archive-has-5400-biden-pseudonym-documents-time-veep

It has also been established that Joe Biden's vice presidential office exchanged over a thousand emails with Rosemont Seneca, Hunter Biden's company. Yet Biden has lied that he had no discussions with his son on business matters.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12465741/Hunter-Bidens-firm-Joes-VP-office-shared-1000-emails-Records-wide-access-White-House-channels-presidents-son-access-doing-deals-overseas.html

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/08/31/more-than-1000-emails-between-joes-vp-office-and-hunter-bidens-firm-some-still-being-hidden-n2163268

How much will the corrupt MSM propaganda media cover up this Biden scandal? The British media is reporting it, so why not the MSM here in America?
From declining patient volumes to cost reductions, here's why five ASCs have closed in 2023:

1. In August, The Belmont Eye Clinic in Liberty Township, Ohio, closed after operating for more than 50 years. Due to the passing of its former physician Sherif Hanna, MD, and the departure of James Cover, OD, and Julianne Matthews, MD, the practice did not have a provider as of Aug. 1.

The clinic attempted to sell the office as a way to continue to provide care at the same location, but was unsuccessful.

2. In April, Cabell Huntington (W.Va.) Hospital, part of Mountain Health Network, closed its CHH Surgery Center, and phased out its home health services to better align its resources and reduce costs amid financial headwinds.

The health system cited "lingering operational challenges" from the COVID-19 pandemic and declining patient volumes in a news release.

3. In March, Phoenix-based Banner Health closed its surgery center in Loveland, Colo. The decision to close the center's doors, "was made to better align outpatient surgery services for physicians and patients in Loveland, and Larimer and Weld counties," according to a statement issued by Banner and Atlas. The statement also said there was a "duplication of services" between the Skyline location and another ASC in Loveland.

4. In February, the Salem (Ore.) Outpatient Surgery Center closed its doors in response to low patient volumes. Salem Health purchased land for the ASC in 2016 for $6.5 million, starting construction on the 42,000-square-foot center in 2020. The ASC opened in mid-2021, with property assessment records showing that millions were spent on the project.

5. In March, Marble Falls, Texas-based Hill Country Memorial Surgery Center closed after the November announcement that Hill Country Memorial Hospital was acquired by San Antonio Methodist Hospital.

"We've determined that's the most appropriate service to provide in the community," Amanda Stevens, chief strategy officer for Hill Country Memorial Hospital, told DailyTrib.com. Ms. Stevens said the acquisition had nothing to do with the decision to close the center.
Sutton Dental in Bridgeport, Conn., supported by Benevis, reopened with the addition of a full-time dentist.

Nhuoc Lan Victoria Nguyen, DDS, joined the practice July 31 as a permanent dentist, according to an Aug. 16 news release from Benevis.

Sutton Dental has four other locations in Connecticut. Prior to Dr. Nguyen joining, dentists from the other offices rotated to provide care at the Bridgeport location.

Across its five locations, Sutton Dental provides care to more than 11,000 children on Medicaid each year.

Benevis has more than 100 affiliated practices across the country, delivering care to more than 1.2 million patient visits annually, the release said.
Michigan Medicine, based in Ann Arbor, signed a three-year agreement with Hc1 Insights to make its data analytics platform the single source system for its laboratory division.

Hc1 Insights provides hospitals and health systems with real-time insights and risk signals in complex laboratory data. MLabs, the full-service reference laboratory division of Michigan Medicine, will implement the Hc1 Performance Analytics solution, aiming to streamline analytic and reporting operations by leveraging large amounts of data, according to an Aug. 24 news release Hc1 shared with Becker's.

The solution combines data from laboratory, billing and hospital information systems into one HIPAA-compliant and HITRUST-certified platform. The dashboards and reports will be customized specifically for MLabs and provide information surrounding testing capacity, volume impact to cost per test, test utilization, market penetration, quarterly business insights and monthly quality reports.
Presbyterian Healthcare Services, based in Albuquerque, N.M., is implementing ShiftMed's platform that will act as an on-demand workforce marketplace for local nurses.

ShiftMed's platform will allow healthcare providers who are not currently employed by Presbyterian to fill scheduling gaps throughout its facilities. The partnership makes Presbyterian the state's only health system to offer local nurses on-demand work opportunities, according to an Aug. 29 press release from ShiftMed.

The platform is designed to be a cost-efficient solution by using targeted recruitment and retention incentives such as its Instant Pay and Guaranteed Shifts tools.

"Having fully staffed care teams is critical to providing quality, safe and accessible care for New Mexicans," Tim Johnsen, COO of Presbyterian Healthcare Services, said in the release. "We are optimistic that this partnership will help relieve scheduling challenges and support Presbyterian employees as they help our patients and members achieve their best health."
UC Davis Health's Digital CoLab, along with the CDC Foundation and the Boston Children's Hospital, launched a digital pilot program that allows public health officials to use a surveillance dashboard to track opioid overdoses nationwide.

The pilot program is called Smart Cumulus, and the digital platform aims to enhance the data exchange process across healthcare organizations, research institutions and public health sites. The opioid overdose surveillance dashboard is the program's first application, and it will be used for Sacramento County Public Health and the Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency, according to an Aug. 28 news release from Sacramento, Calif.-based UC Davis Health.

The new program will improve the efficiency of sharing large datasets from electronic health records and clinician notes across institutions in a secure privacy-preserving environment. Sharing this information more quickly is meant to allow for increased multisite studies for population health initiatives, according to the release.

"The United States is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic," Olivia Kasirye, Sacramento County health officer, said in the release. "The data and analytics we will be able to collect from the opioid overdose surveillance dashboard will help us to respond and address the health conditions of the communities that need it most."
Masks depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, private military company Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin, center, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin, left, are displayed at a souvenir shop in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday. AP-Yonhap



Favored tactic of dictators: 'Kill the chicken to scare the monkey'



By Kang Hyun-kyung



The tragic plane crash that killed Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who staged an abortive mutiny against Russia's military in July, is a chilling reminder of how autocratic leaders silence their opponents.



Russia flatly denied speculation that President Vladimir Putin might have been the mastermind behind the plane crash to remove Prigozhin.



Despite the denial, speculation mounted over the Russian leader's alleged involvement in the accident, which was reported to have been caused by an internal explosion. Earlier, Putin reacted furiously to Wagner Group's rebellion and called it "treason."



The mercenary group's boss is not the first Putin critic who faced a tragic end. Many other opponents of Putin were killed in accidents or sent to prison. Igor Girkin, for example, an ultranationalist blogger who had been critical of Putin, was jailed on charges of "inciting extremist activities." Boris Nemtsov, a liberal politician and outspoken critic of Putin, was shot dead in February 2015 while crossing a bridge near the Kremlin.



Fear politics has long been part of the playbook autocratic leaders refer to in order to stay in power.



Like autocrats in other countries, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has relied on the tactic to remove his political rivals, silence critics and show others the consequences of dissent.



On Dec. 12, 2013, the North Korean leader executed his uncle Jang Song-thaek, and his two deputies, Ri Ryong-ha and Jang Su-gil, for attempting to overthrow the regime. Their bodies were shredded by anti-aircraft guns used in the public execution that took place at Gang Gun Military Academy in front of hundreds of officials.



Through the gruesome display, Kim was trying to send a clear message: Don't even dream about a rebellion.



Four years later, Kim's paranoia grabbed international attention again.



His half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, was assassinated in February of 2017 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. The older Kim died after two Southeast Asian women__ one from Vietnam and the other from Indonesia__ smeared VX nerve agent on his face. He died before an ambulance brought him to a hospital. Rumors swirled about the North Korean leader being behind the assassination.





Jang Song-thaek, second from right, uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is last seen at a military court in North Korea on Dec. 12 before he was executed publicly in front of hundreds of officials at Gang Gun Military Academy near Pyongyang on Dec. 12, 2013. Korea Times file



Politics of fear



In a 2017 report, the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS) said the assassination was a premeditated terror attack sponsored by North Korea.



"North Korean leader Kim Jong-un either directly ordered it or he could have given his deputies the green light to proceed with the murder plan they proposed," it read.



The INSS reasoned that Kim's half-brother was targeted probably because he and his son, Han-sol, publicly criticized North Korea's third-generation leadership succession and its leader by labeling him as "a dictator."



"Their critical comments would have irked Kim Jong-un. He also would have felt threatened because his half-brother was regarded by people outside of North Korea as a leader-in-waiting in the event of a regime change in the North," the report read.



He is a tyrant and in North Korea, what he says is practically the law, which cannot be changed or challenged. Therefore, if there is anyone who he finds to be unacceptable, he could do anything to change that person's fate, the INSS report said.



James Gethyn Evans, a China expert and visiting faculty at George Washington University in Washington D.C., said autocrats live in fear as their tenures can be cut short by enemies from within.



"In general, autocratic leaders are much more likely to be deposed by a rival from within rather than a popular uprising," he said in a recent email interview with The Korea Times. "Autocrats therefore tend to prioritize keeping elites around them happy to stave off potential challenges to their authority."



Evans said Putin is similar to Mao Zedong, among other Chinese leaders, in terms of their way of handling opponents.



"As autocrats age and often have episodes of poor health, potential challenges start to circulate like vultures as they position themselves as potential successors. Autocratic leaders like Mao and it would seem Putin therefore tend to become increasingly paranoid as their position within the ruling party faces increasing threats," he said. "Mao and Putin certainly share a willingness to remove rivals, often brutally and very publicly, to, as the Chinese adage goes, 'kill the chicken to scare the monkey.'"





Ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai, center, is handcuffed after the announcement of his verdict by a court in Jinan, Shandong province in this September, 2013 file photo released by Jinan Intermediate People's Court. Korea Times file



Purge in guise of reform



Once they rise to power, autocratic leaders use purges to consolidate their power and remove political rivals. This usually takes the form of reforms to root out bad, corrupt practices.



Since taking office in 2012, Chinese leader Xi Jinping launched an anti-corruption campaign, vowing to tackle widespread corruption in the public and private sectors.



Xi had an unstated goal to achieve with the nationwide campaign: the removal of his political rivals to stabilize his power.



"Xi's targeting of Bo Xilai, the former party secretary of Chongqing and considered to be a key rival, highlighted the Chinese leader's willingness to remove potential rivals early on in a very public manner," said Evans.



At that time, Bo, a former party chief of Chongqing and a member of China's Politburo, was a rising star and became popular for his ruthless crackdown on organized crime during his years of service as mayor of Dalian and governor of Liaoning Province.



All of sudden, accolades about his charismatic leadership began to disappear as Xi took power and targeted him in the purge. Bo was convicted of bribery and embezzlement and disappeared from the public eye.



"As demonstrated by Bo Xilai's case, publicly detaining someone on corruption charges serves multiple ambitions: to demonstrate Xi's willingness to act on corruption compared to his predecessors; to shore up populist support for his leadership during the early years when he was still relatively unknown to many in China; and to remove political rivals from within China's elite," said Evans.





This combined image shows, from left, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, who ruled China from 1954 to 1976.



Putin vs. Xi



Although Xi and Putin share a willingness to remove political rivals, experts say they differ in the details.



Xi is subtler and more deliberate than Putin when pushing for reforms to oust his rivals, according to Joel Atkinson, a professor at the Graduate School of International and Area Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.



"Since he took power, it has been an ongoing process of removing or sidelining those who are not loyal to him or disagree with his policies and putting in place his allies," Atkinson said. "An anti-corruption campaign was used to remove some very senior people. But it has mostly not involved putting people in prison. It is a much quieter and subtle matter of putting or not putting individuals in positions of influence and power."



Atkinson said direct violence is somewhat more apparent in Russian politics.



"Like Stalin, Mao was responsible for a staggering amount of violence and death. But in terms of intra-elite politics, Mao would use more indirect humiliation and sidelining compared to Stalin, who was more ready to straight up murder his opponents," he said.



Their differentiated approaches to removing rivals appear to be associated with the influence they could exert inside the party, as well as over their nationals.



If leaders have a solid power base, they may not feel tempted to resort to politics of fear, such as assassinating opponents in the guise of accidents.



Experts agreed that Xi maintains a loyal group of followers, whereas Putin's domestic power base is not as strong.



"Putin's reliance on paramilitary actors like the Wagner Group suggests that Putin's grip on power is far weaker than Xi's, who mostly leverages state and party apparatuses to enact his plans," said Evans.



Atkinson concurred.



"Xi is hypervigilant about ensuring the situation never gets as bad as an armed convoy heading to Beijing, chiefly by maintaining a firm grip over the military," he said. "And if Xi did have someone he wanted out of the way, he doesn't kill them in 'accidents.' He removes them from the public view, pressures their families to stay quiet and discredits them."




Tim Reeves, CEO of Renevo, Pa.-based Bucktail Medical Center, is sounding the alarm on the hospital's rapidly deteriorating financial situation, The Express reported Aug. 28.

The CEO of the critical access hospital is concerned that it might not be able to meet payroll. According to Mr. Reeves, the facility lost $150,000 per month in 2022.

The hospital has $32,000 in the bank and will need $193,000 to meet the Sept. 8 payroll and tax deadline, according to Penn Live.

Mr. Reeves sent a letter to local government officials requesting their help in ensuring that the facility stays open. The CEO says that its critical access status, which is designed to increase federal reimbursement funds, is not enough to cover costs.

"Medicare claims to reimburse us, as a critical access hospital (CAH), at 101 percent of our cost for inpatient and some other services, except, Medicare Sequestration cuts Medicare payments 2 percent annually, soon to be 3 percent," Mr. Reeves said. "And our Medicaid Cost Report was cut nearly in half by $300,000. These do not cover our costs."
Two hospitals recently combined CFO and COO roles:

John Pohlman, CFO of Oceanside, N.Y.-based Mount Sinai South Nassau, is assuming the additional role of COO and will oversee day-to-day operations of the hospital. He will also oversee the development of Mount Sinai South Nassaus strategic planning process.

Mr. Pohlman joined the hospital in 2019, having previously served as COO of St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, N.Y., according to an Aug. 29 Mount Sinai South Nassau news release shared with Becker's.

He takes over the COO role from Bill Allison at Mount Sinai South Nassau, who retired.

Chelsea Reynolds Desrosiers assumed the combined role of CFO and COO at Cary Medical Center in Caribou, Maine, on Aug. 21. The promotion comes with the departure of COO Leslie Anderson. Ms. Desrosiers has served as CFO since 2018.

Kris Doody, RN, CEO of Cary Medical Center and Pines Health Services, said the hospital conducted a search for a new COO, but combining the roles felt like the right path.

"We have discussed this idea for a few weeks, and when we brought our chief medical officer and chief financial officer together, a clear vision developed that this was the way to move forward," Ms. Doody said in a news release. "We are so fortunate to have such strengths on both the fiscal and clinical side of operations, that we believe this unique model will serve us very well into the future."

Ms. Doody told Becker's that Ms. Desrosiers' experience and financial knowledge will be a "huge benefit for this consolidated position."
Dee Weber, former senior vice president and chief global human resources officer for Midland-based MyMichigan Health, has taken a new role at a smaller system in Ohio.

Ms. Weber will now serve as the CHRO for Marysville, Ohio-based Memorial Health, according to a news release from the health system. She brings more than 33 years of experience to the job and will begin Sept. 5.

Memorial Health has more than 1,100 employees across its enterprise, according to the release. MyMichigan Health employs more than 10,080.
CEO exits are at a 21-year high. Coupled with a substantial number of executive retirements, many hospitals and health systems are looking to select their next in line.

As weathered, tenured CEOs bow out of the industry  sometimes taking decades of experience with them  the most qualified candidate looks different to every health system. Some have temporarily put board members in charge as they search for the perfect successor. Others have passed the reins to financial or clinical leaders.

Of the CEO retirements reported by Becker's in 2023, one succession plan stood out: seven hospitals and health systems promoted their COO to the helm.

Here are six ways hospitals and health systems are selecting their next leader, according to our archives:

A designated second-in-command

1. When Gregg Olson retired as CEO of Rochelle (Ill.) Community Hospital in March, he left the lead to Karen Tracy, RN. Ms. Tracy has served on the hospital's administrative team for two decades, working on quality improvement and risk management functions; a news release described her most recent role as "second in command" to the hospital's CEO.

2. A similar situation unfolded in Corsicana, Texas, when Michael Ellis retired as CEO of Navarro Regional Hospital. The hospital's assistant CEO, John Manolakis, was named interim CEO.

A board member

1. When Steve Johnson retired as president and CEO of Rockledge, Fla.-based Health First, Kent Smith, chair of the system's board of trustees, was named interim chief exec.

2. Atlantic City, N.J.-based AtlantiCare tapped Michael Charlton, a member of the board of trustees since 2009, to serve as interim president and CEO following Lori Herndon, BSN, RN's retirement.

Clinical leadership

1. Gary Horan retired as president and CEO of Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, N.J., part of West Orange, N.J.-based RWJBarnabas Health. He was succeeded by Nancy DiLiegro, PhD, the hospital's chief clinical officer and vice president of clinical operations and physician services.

2. Richard Margulis retired as president and CEO of Patchogue, N.Y.-based Long Island Community Hospital. Marc Adler, MD, former chief medical officer of NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island in Mineola, N.Y., took his place.

Financial leadership

1. Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, tapped CFO John Hennessey to succeed its retiring CEO, Sheryl Rickard. Ms. Rickard also served as CFO before assuming the helm in 2004.

2. Brian Herwig retired as CEO of Tell City, Ind.-based Perry County Memorial Hospital, an affiliate of Evansville, Ind.-based Deaconess Health System. Jared Stimpson, formerly Deaconess' regional CFO and director of affiliated hospitals, succeeded him.

3. When the CEO of Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, Alaska, retired  after the CFO tendered his resignation the same week  the executive director of business development and strategy, Nathan Rumsey, was named acting CEO.

A leader familiar with the system or region

1. Dan Grolemund, former administrator of Warren (Pa.) General Hospital, took over as CEO of Corry (Pa.) Memorial Hospital upon Barbara Nichols, RN's retirement. The two facilities are about 30 miles apart.

2. Gary Honts retired as CEO of Indio-based JFK Memorial Hospital after 10 years in the role. Karen Faulis, MSN, CEO of Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree, became its new CEO in addition to her current responsibilities. Both hospitals belong to Palm Springs, Calif.-based Desert Care Network, operated by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare.

3. Jay Finnegan retired as CEO of HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital in Port St. Lucie, Fla., part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare. Corey Lovelace, former COO for HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, took over with more than six years of experience in the health system.

4. When Hank Milius retires from Muncie, Ind.-based Meridian Health Services at the end of 2023, Seth Warren will succeed him as president and CEO. Mr. Warren most recently helmed Noblesville, Ind.-based Riverview Health, about 40 miles from Meridian.

The COO: Most likely to take the lead

1. Anthony Guaccio is retiring as president and CEO of Evanston, Ill.-based Swedish Hospital, leaving the top job to COO Jonathan Lind.

2. Leslie Barnes retired as CEO of Pueblo-based Parkview Health System on May 31. Vice President and COO Darrin Smith succeeded her.

3. Deborah Wilson, CEO of Lawrence (Mass.) General Hospital, also retired in May. The hospital's executive vice president and COO, Robin Hynds, MSN, RN, was named interim CEO.

4. Keith Page retired as president and CEO of Maryville, Ill.-based Anderson Healthcare in February. His successor was Mike Marshall, the health system's COO.

5. Paul Clabuesch retired as president CEO of Harbor Beach (Mich.) Community Hospital. Jill Wehner, the hospital's COO and vice president of fiscal services, succeeded him.

6. Frank Calamari retired as president and CEO of New York City-based Calvary Hospital, leaving the top role to COO Christopher Comfort, MD.

7. Cookeville (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center promoted COO Buffy Key to the helm after CEO Paul Korth retired.
CEO exits at hospitals are up year over year, and CEOs' tenures are shrinking at S&P 500 companies. However, some of healthcare's longest-tenured CEOs told Becker's they remain at their organizations and focused on how their teams are helping to ensure long-term success.

Here, Peter Fine, CEO of Phoenix-based Banner Health since November 2000; Doug McMillan, CEO of Cody (Wyo.) Regional Health since June 1997; and Steven Packer, MD, CEO of Community Hospital of the Monterey (Calif.) Peninsula since January 1999, discuss what defines a healthcare leader's legacy.

Question: How do you reflect on your impact and contributions during your tenure as the leader of your organization?

Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Peter Fine: I came in following the merger of Samaritan Health System and Lutheran Health System, which created Banner Health. I was charged with taking the goals and objectives that the board had for that merger and guiding the organization into a future state, to serve and grow the number of people we serve, and do it in a way that we could be proud of what we've done. And the people we serve can be appreciative of the things that we have done for them. Fast forward, now, 23 years later, and the organization is quite large, with more than 50,000 employees, and much more complicated than it was then.

For me, guiding the organization through its developmental stages, to go from an organization that nobody knew anything about back in 2000 to one that has gained in reputation but also visibility around the country because of the things that we've been able to accomplish, has been something that allows me to look back and ask the question, "Has value been brought to the organization as a result of my coming to the organization?" And I feel strongly that this is a much stronger organization.

Ultimately, when you leave an organization, you want to feel good that you have left it better than you got it. And if you have, you can feel a sense of pride that you've accomplished a lot and that the organization can be viewed as an organization that has not only accomplished a lot but is stronger than it was when you first came to the organization. I feel really good about that at this stage of my career, which isn't going to be a lot longer.

Doug McMillan: When I think of my legacy, it's what I've left behind through my leadership characteristics and leadership style. And when I think of character, it's leading with high integrity. It's never about me because no one's going to remember me. They're going to remember the things I've done to assist the teams, physicians, trustees, staff that I've worked with. And so I hope the legacy I leave behind is how I've assisted others to become better leaders, better individuals. My goal over 40 years in healthcare has always been to leave organizations in better shape than when I started. And that can only happen by being a servant leader, which is my leadership style, being there for those I work with to ensure they have the tools and resources to carry out their job and to be there when they need support and assistance. I believe in what Good to Great author Jim Collins wrote about getting the "right people on the bus." I really focus on that, and I've been very blessed and successful to have great leaders who have supported me.

Dr. Steven Packer: I'm leading the organization in my hometown. I wasn't born here, but it's the community that I consider my home and the community that I raised my family in. And so it continues to be a real privilege to lead our organization. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about my legacy because, frankly, I'm still enjoying what I'm doing and still looking forward in terms of ongoing opportunities and challenges and needs that we can meet in our community. But when I do pause and think about it, I think about the opportunities I've had to impact the lives and the professional careers of many leaders in our organization. To mentor leaders and provide them with a path to advance their careers and do great things.

For me, an important period of leadership has been supporting our staff at a time of crisis and at a time of great uncertainty. I used the pandemic as an opportunity to express my gratitude for the work our staff was doing every single day. And when I think about legacy, I think about the number of services and ways that we've been able to grow and improve the care we provide to our community. We've been able to move outside the four walls of our hospital and think a lot more about population health. We've been able to develop a provider-owned health plan. We've been able to do a number of community outreach initiatives for diabetes prevention and to address the opioid crisis through our Prescribe Safe program. I always think of how we have been able to improve the collective health and well-being of the community we live in. And probably the thing that I'm proudest of is an initiative that my team and I are still very much working on. About five years ago, we secured a $105 million gift by Roberta "Bertie" Bialek Elliott, the sister of Warren Buffett, to launch a child and adolescent behavioral health program named "Ohana." So for the last five years, we've been on a journey of hiring an executive director and then continuing to build the clinical staff. And next month, we're opening up a 56,000-square-foot campus that's been purpose built and designed to create a healing environment and to be the epicenter of "Ohana."










U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, labeled the nation's loneliness and isolation issue as an epidemic in May, and the healthcare industry lacks immunity to it, hospital leaders told Becker's.

Camaraderie levels among hospital physicians are dipping for multiple reasons, including the surge of specialization and subspecialization in medicine, the changing employment model and high workforce attrition rates.

"Before, moving through the halls, there was a lot more familiarity within physician and nursing staff who had been at the hospital for a very long period of time," said Neil Gandhi, MD, emergency medicine regional medical director of Houston Methodist Hospital System.

"What we're seeing now is higher levels of change in new faces," Dr. Gandhi, who's also a practicing emergency medicine physician, said. "It's very welcome to have new physicians and staff members join our team and just care for patients, but, subtly, at times what might be lost there is there's something to be said for a 10, 15, 20-year relationship with another medical staff member."

It isn't just relations among hospital physicians that are weakening as turnover rises. Healthcare professionals at large are becoming more secluded as primary care physicians disappear from hospital rounds and COVID-19-era practices, such as virtual meetings, stay stuck on calendars.

Face-to-face collaboration is also less common because of the increased use of EMRs, according to Nkem Iroegbu, MD, president of Milwaukee-based Aurora Sinai Medical Center and interim president of Aurora Medical Center Grafton (Wis.).

One example is physician lounges, which have been called ghost towns for the past two decades and became more bare because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In some of them, it's a place for leaders to post performance metrics and rank each physician against one another, which can spur more discontentment.

"For a doctor to see their name or their number on a board, and to have to look at that board and contemplate what people must think about them, is really a very unfriendly experience," Ted Hamilton, MD, senior adviser of physician well-being at Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth and chair of the Coalition for Physician Well-Being, said. "They just don't go to the physician lounge anymore."

"Even though there's a sign on the door," he said, "it's not a welcoming sign in lots of places."

The dwindling camaraderie levels isn't a problem about physicians not being "warm and fuzzy," Gerald Hickson, MD, founding director of the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., said: It's about a culture that lacks respect.

Dr. Hickson defined strong teams as those that have common values, know and respect every individual's role, and are comfortable questioning others. The last factor is one of the hardest to achieve, he said, since between 3 percent to 5 percent of professionals per discipline have difficulty working with others.

"Sometimes, we find leadership that want to look the other way about those challenging individuals," Dr. Hickson said. There's a common reasoning that difficult physicians "bring  what is perceived to be special value to the organization, and everybody else can just accommodate. That's a major challenge we have in medicine that we don't like to deal with, but it's so important in creating the right environment."

Doctors are more susceptible to burnout when they have strained relationships with their co-workers, according to research. In 2007, a study evaluating burnout levels in physicians working in intensive care units found that negative relationships among colleagues were associated with higher burnout scores, but improved relationships between intensivists and nurses were associated with a lower burnout score.

Most of the leaders who spoke with Becker's mentioned positive strides in hospitals working to foster connection among staff, but to overcome this loss of harmony, Dr. Hickson said, "leaders need to quit blinking and address the issues that might be right in front of them."
Marietta, Ga.-based Wellstar Health System and Augusta (Ga.) University Health System are officially one, effective Aug. 30.

AU Health's three hospitals have joined Wellstar's nine to create a unified entity. Moving forward, AU Health will be known locally as Wellstar MCG Health  "MCG" coming from Augusta University's "Medical College of Georgia," according to a joint news release from the health systems and the University System of Georgia.

As part of the merger, Wellstar has committed to invest $797 million in Augusta facilities over the next 10 years and bring more clinicians through the state as it works closely with the Medical College of Georgia.

The inked deal comes after months of scrutiny from lawmakers and civil rights advocates. Some raised questions about Wellstar's commitment, considering the health system shuttered two hospitals in primarily Black neighborhoods last year  Atlanta Medical Center and Atlanta Medical Center South  citing financial hardship. Wellstar's investment in Augusta includes the construction of a new hospital in the primarily white Columbia County, Ga.

However, spirits were high at the Aug. 30 signing ceremony as Wellstar became the sole corporate member of AU Health, according to The Augusta Chronicle. Wellstar President and CEO Candice Saunders said she believes the partnership will strengthen both organizations.

"We are always trying to bring the most advanced clinical care to our communities, and through this partnership, will now be able to add that innovated academic teaching models and lifesaving research to all corners of the state," Ms. Saunders told the paper. "We also think that by working together, we can ensure the financial sustainability of both of our organizations, because we know that our communities depend on us today, as well as tomorrow and into the future."
Houston Methodist Hospital has opened its new Houston Methodist Tech Hub as it looks to create a place where innovators can come together to solve some of healthcare's most pressing issues, Innovation Outpost reported Aug. 29.

The new hub, located at Ion hub, will be a place where innovators across industries can promote innovations, collaborate with Houston Methodist staff and hold reverse pitch sessions.

The hub is also equipped with simulated environments for an inpatient hospital room, an outpatient physicians clinic, and a patient's home, according to the health system's website.

"Our new Tech Hub at Ion supports not only our commitment to the Houston innovation community but also to the rapidly shifting healthcare industry," Michelle Stansbury, vice president of innovation and IT applications at Houston Methodist, told the publication. "We know we can't solve the healthcare challenges of the future if we confine ourselves within our hospital walls or even within our own industry."
Bangor-based Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical is refuting patient safety claims made by a 15-year-old and his mother, once a physician at the facility, and has put the mother on notice for defamation.

In June 2022, the hospital fired Anne Yered, MD, a pediatric intensive care physician. Dr. Yered alleges she was wrongfully terminated for voicing patient safety concerns and tried to resolve the claims without litigation in January, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free-speech advocacy group defending the family. The hospital, meanwhile, denies the allegations.

"While EMMC cannot comment on the threatened suit [by Dr. Yered for wrongful termination] or the reasons for Dr. Yered's separation, we strongly deny any suggestion or allegation that Dr. Yered was terminated because she reported or raised safety-related concerns," Suzanne Spruce, chief marketing and communications officer at the hospital, told Becker's.

After Dr. Yered was fired, her then-14-year-old son, Samson Cournane, contacted hospital personnel "attempting to speak with them regarding topics that included issues germane to his mother's threatened claims, without disclosing his connection to his mother," Ms. Spruce said.

Mr. Cournane told Becker's he attempted to meet with hospital administrators about his concerns but the meeting was canceled.

In an Aug. 23 letter to the hospital sent on behalf of the mother and son, FIRE said her son was doing his own research and "found that news articles and watchdog reports showed a troubling pattern of safety issues at his local hospital."

The hospital refutes all the patient safety claims, citing its accreditation by The Joint commission and its "A" rating from The Leapfrog Group. Ms. Spruce said, "Patient safety is EMMC's first priority [and] understands that every day patients place their trust in EMMC. [The hospital] takes this responsibility very seriously."

In September, Samson created a change.org petition outlining some of the alleged patient safety concerns and calling for a state investigation, according to FIRE. The organization also said that Samson in October wrote a letter to the editor in the University of Maine campus newspaper that made more claims about the safety of the hospital and encouraged students to sign the petition. In response, EMMC threatened to sue Dr. Yered for defamation, saying the hospital "reasonably believed [the author of the petition and letter] to be Dr. Yered or acting at Dr. Yered's direction."

FIRE's letter demanded the hospital retract the litigation threat, claiming Samson's actions are protected by the First Amendment. The hospital disagrees and said the patient safety claims are unfounded and therefore not protected by the Constitution.

"EMMC supports individuals' rights to speak out in any forum about issues of public concern, including healthcare and patient safety," Ms. Spruce said. "That right is not without limit, however. Factually unsupported and demonstrably false assertions that are designed to unfairly undermine the public's trust and that cause actual harm, like those at issue here, may be challenged through legal means."
Saint Luke's Health System, a 14-hospital organization based in Kansas City, Mo., said it plans to go from four regions to three for greater collaboration and consistency of patient experience.

Under the new plan, Saint Luke's will consolidate hospitals and facilities in its North and Critical Access regions into a single region, according to a news release shared with Becker's. Saint Luke's will now operate as three regions: Central Region, South and East Region, and North and Critical Access Region.

Darren Bass, CEO of Saint Luke's North Region, will serve as CEO of Saint Luke's North and Critical Access Region.

Catherine Hamilton, MSN, RN, chief nursing officer of the Critical Access Region, will serve as interim administrator for Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe, Mo., and Wright Memorial Hospital in Trenton, Mo., Saint Luke's Missouri critical access hospitals. Jeremy Armstrong will continue to serve as administrator for Allen County Regional Hospital in Iola, Kan., and Anderson County Hospital in Garnett, Kan. Both will report to Mr. Bass.

Steve Sheiber, CEO of Hedrick Medical Center, is no longer at the hospital, according to radio station KCHI.

"Our goal is to work intentionally as an aligned Health System where patients, staff and visitors know they can expect a consistent, high-quality Saint Luke's experience regardless of where they seek care," Julie Quirin, Saint Luke's COO and senior vice president, said in the health system's release. "As we have implemented this model previously throughout Saint Luke's Health System, we have seen greater clinical and operational consistency, higher levels of employee engagement, and most notably greater patient satisfaction."
National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell is seen speaking at a seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Aug. 20, in this captured image. Yonhap



The outcome of the historic trilateral summit held at Camp David earlier this month represents the strong commitment of three equal and powerful countries that are focused on promoting peace and security throughout their shared region, a senior White House official said Tuesday.



Kurt Campbell, National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, also highlighted the countries' commitment to institutionalize their three-way cooperation.



"I thought what was on display in Camp David is a sense of three equal, powerful, committed, determined nations meeting on equal terms," Campbell said of the Aug. 18 Camp David summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.



"I have that sense ... more than I have ever had in the past that these are no longer lesser-weaker, stronger-older brother relationships. These are relationships in which each country takes responsibility for consultation," he added while speaking at a forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington.



The leaders had produced three key documents in their first standalone trilateral summit  'Spirit of Camp David,' 'Camp David Principles' and 'Commitment to Consult'  that call for trilateral cooperation in various areas, including security, technology and supply chains.



"I think what the statement and the meetings underscore is a general proposition that a challenge to the security of any one of the countries affects the security of all of them," said Campbell.



South Korean Ambassador to the United States Cho Hyun-dong highlighted the economic significance of the trilateral summit and its outcome, noting the three countries together accounted for 31 percent of the global gross domestic product in 2022.



"We three countries provide almost 80 percent of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to the world market. And Korea, Japan companies, companies from the two countries will supply, I think, almost 90 percent of batteries which will be used in the United States next year," Cho told the forum.



"So, deeper cooperation of the countries will facilitate more resilient and safer global supply chain, which is, I think, a benefit for all," added the South Korean diplomat.



Campbell said the most important outcome of the summit was an agreement to institutionalize three-way cooperation.



"The three leaders meeting every year, investing in a very high-tech hotline that we will utilize, the fact that we will have our national security advisers or secretaries of defense or secretaries of state meeting regularly, we believe, will help propel this relationship forward," he told the forum.





Figure South Korean Ambassador to the United States Cho Hyun-dong, second fron left, Kurt Campbell, U.S. National Security Council coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, center, and Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Tomita Koji, fourth from left, are seen taking part in a forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Aug. 29, in this captured image. Yonhap
Chicago-based Howard Brown Health has reinstated 24 employees after a National Labor Relations Board investigation spurred by layoffs that occurred in early 2023.

The LGBTQ+ healthcare provider told Becker's in a statement that it reinstated the employees on Aug. 28  25 accepted reinstatement and one person rescinded before onboarding. A total of 61 union-represented employees were offered reinstatement.

The reinstatement of employees is part of recommendations from the National Labor Relations Board that were provided following layoffs.

In January, Howard Brown Health laid off about 60 workers as part of its plan to close a fiscal year $12 million revenue shortfall.

The provider said it received preliminary findings from the labor board in July stating that Howard Brown Health "did not bargain in good faith because of the speed at which we implemented layoffs. We were surprised and disappointed by the findings  it was always our intention to bargain in good faith and protect the viability of our organization."

After receiving the preliminary findings, the provider received a settlement from the National Labor Relations Board.

"Prior to receiving the written settlement, we began negotiating reinstatement and back pay with our union partners at the Illinois Nurses' Association," Howard Brown Health said. "We are now complying with the settlement as quickly as we can because we want our community to be certain that our number one priority is the high-quality, affirming patient care for which we are known."



Howard Brown Health is a federally qualified health center with 11 clinics in Chicago. Additional background information is available here.
Jay Arthur, MD, will join Casper (Wyo.) Orthopedics in September.

Dr. Arthur will join the practice Sept. 25, and he specializes in joint replacements, according to an Aug. 28 news release shared with Becker's.

Dr. Arthur earned his medical degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, and he completed his residency at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Ben Mayo, MD, joined Mendelson Kornblum Orthopedics Spine and Pain Specialists in Troy, Mich., the practice said Aug. 30.

He focuses on complex shoulder and knee conditions, and he treats patients of all ages, according to a news release.

Dr. Mayo has more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and specializes in more than 30 complex shoulder, hip, knee and elbow procedures.

Dr. Mayo earned his medical degree at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago and completed his residency at the University of Illinois Chicago.
Here are two robotics milestones Becker's has reported on since Aug 2:

1. Frankfort (Ky.) Regional Medical Center completed its 100th robotic-assisted orthopedic procedure.

2. Four surgeons at Atlanta-based Resurgens Orthopaedics have collectively completed 500 total joint replacement surgeries using Stryker's Mako robotic system.
A whistleblower lawsuit from Hooman Melamed, MD, alleging Hoag Orthopedic Institute Surgery Center in Marina del Rey, Calif. compromised patient care will go to arbitration.

Irvine, Calif.-based HOI called the lawsuit "frivolous" and "without merit," in a statement sent to Becker's.

Dr. Melamed's lawsuit alleges that HOI, which is independent from Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, hired less experienced surgical staff who could be paid lower wages and scheduled complex surgeries in the late afternoon and early evening which "set the stage for mistakes due to staff exhaustion," according to a news release.

The lawsuit alleges multiple incidents, including an increase in revision surgeries due to postoperative complications, inexperienced nurses making multiple mistakes and lack of presurgery review.

A spokesperson for the surgery center said HOI plans to defend the allegations, according to a statement shared with Becker's Aug. 29:

"The allegations made against Hoag Orthopedic Institute Surgery Center in this frivolous lawsuit  are intentionally derogatory and without merit, and we will vigorously defend against each one of them with a large body of data and independent reporting showcasing our top-tier cinicians, high-quality care and industry-leading outcomes, we remain optimistic that the arbitrator will conclude the same."


Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arriving at the Fairmont Windsor Park hotel in Englefield Green, Windsor, in February. Pic: PA

A billionaire Tory donor has been told to tear down his five-star hotel where Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen signed the Windsor Framework.

Surinder Aroras Fairmont Windsor Park Hotel hosted the Prime Minister and European Commission president for the signing of the Brexit deal for Northern Ireland in February.

But the 64-year-old has been told to demolish all or part of the hotel after adding an extra wing and extending the building without planning permission.

Read more SDLP leader Colum Eastwood contacts Commons committee over concerns about BBC NI

The Arora Group founder and chairman has until October to appeal the decision by Runnymede Borough Council, reports say.

The council found the development had a harmful effect on the green belt and, if disputed, an appeal could end up with Housing Secretary Michael Gove, according to The Times.

Mr Arora was also denied planning permission for five luxury treehouses on a nearby site and may have to take them down.

The Indian-born businessman is a former baggage handler who started his empire with four derelict houses near Heathrow.

Surinder Arora

Mr Arora converted them into bed-and-breakfast accommodation for British Airways cabin crew in 1993. Today, he has a portfolio of 16 hotels with more than 6,000 rooms and a family net worth of 1.3bn, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.

The Fairmont Windsor Park also played host to a March away day for Tory MPs hosted by Mr Sunak.

Dozens of residents made submissions over the hotel, while a report by a local residents association found a number of large additions to the hotel did not appear to have planning permission, including an extra wing and two extensions.

It said that the hotel was around two-and-a-half metres taller than planned and that out of around 20 applications, there were none approved online that show these apparent additions.

Read more What would a Labour government under Keir Starmer mean for Northern Ireland?

Through Arora Management Services Ltd, Mr Arora has previously donated 5,000 to the Conservatives in Runnymede and Weybridge, plus another 1,450 in sponsorship, according to The Telegraph. Mr Arora said he is truly sorry for mistakes made during the construction of the Fairmont Windsor Park.

He added that he is engaging with Runnymede Council and other local stakeholders to find mutually acceptable solutions.

Mr Arora said: The hotel is a fantastic property which we want to ensure it continues serving the local area and bringing significant economic benefits to Runnymede.

We remain extremely proud of it but also accept the need to remedy our mistakes.

Runnymede Borough Council said it was disappointed that these works were undertaken on the site without planning permission.

The council said it would consider a retrospective planning application for the hotel.

 The Independent
Will and Allison Abernethy of Abernethy Butter in 2013

A Northern Ireland artisan butter company praised by celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has gone on the market following its owners retirement.

Abernethy Butter in Dromara, Co Down makes handmade butter supplied in top-end restaurants and exclusive grocers including Fortnum & Mason.

In a quote on the companys website, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson says its black garlic butter may be the best thing I have ever eaten or will ever eat.

The products have been heaped with accolades including UK food competition the Great Taste Awards and in the Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards.

Advertising the sale of the business, selling agent Tim Martin described the enterprise as a premier artisan business.

"Abernethy Butter needs no introduction, producing and supplying the highest quality, hand churned butter to many of the UK and Ireland's top restaurants and shops.

No asking price has been given for the business, which the agents said was being sold due to the owners retirement.

They added that the business enjoys the patronage of some of the most exclusive food retailers in the UK, and an extensive array of Michelin-starred restaurants throughout Ireland and the UK.

They added: The business is standalone or can be easily incorporated into a wide range of established artisan businesses to enhance their existing clientele and outlets.

Husband and wife Will and Allison Abernethy have been running the business for around 17 years.

Their butter is produced using traditional methods that are much slower than mass-production techniques.

The butter is hand-churned and patted into its distinctive lined rolls, then wrapped in greaseproof and brown paper with the distinctive Abernethy Butter brand label.

Read more: When it comes to enhancing flavours, its a case of butter together

Their journey into top-level restaurants began when a chef at Heston Blumenthal's famous Fat Duck restaurant in Bray in England appealed for a new butter supplier, and the pair stepped in.

In an interview with Belfast Telegraph in 2016, Allison described how the business came about.

"My father Norman Kerr had an interest in butter-churning as a hobby and he used to go around the agricultural and vintage shows to demonstrate it," she says.

"He was ill one year so Will and I went to do it instead.

"Someone looked at it and said, why don't you sell it instead? So it all started from there. No-one else was doing it so we just thought we'd give it a go, and we're still the only hand-made butter retailing across the UK."

The success the firm tasted with Heston prompted Allison to give up her day job as a nurse and join Will full-time in the dairy operation.

Other chefs followed Heston by also stocking the product, including MasterChef's Marcus Wareing, and closer to home, Michael Deane.

Mr Deane told the Belfast Telegraph he still used the product. It is an expensive product but thats because Will Abernethy himself has handmade it.

"Allison is a great woman for promoting Northern Ireland cuisine and we have to support those kinds of businesses.

He said that as it was a luxury product, Abernethy Butter was not used across all four of his venues. But we do use it and try and give all our local businesses as much support as we can.
The operators of The Bot have won planning permission for a new venture

The operators of popular student haunt The Botanic Inn in south Belfast have been given the green light for expansion plans.

Sinnott Property Services, a company in Belfast, won planning permission last week from Belfast City Councils planning committee.

The business submitted plans in May last year to transform two townhouses at 27 to 31 Malone Road beside The Bot into a new bar and restaurant.

While Sinnott Property Services operates the venue, it is owned by Mooney Hotel Group. The group is also owner of Wellington Park Hotel.

Mooney Hotel Group's bought the venue in 2016, bringing it back into the familys ownership after around 20 years.

The buildings at 27 to 31 Malone Road where the new venue will be located had previously been used as a club and offices.

The plans also include a two-storey extension at the back of the properties.

After a long period of ceding ground as a hospitality destination to the Cathedral Quarter, there has been a series of new openings on Malone Road in recent years.

Boutique hotel The Harrison Chambers of Distinction was launched in October 2020, with restaurant Blank throwing its doors open on Malone Road in 2021.

However, acclaimed restaurant The Barking Dog shut down in May after 15 years in business, pointing to rising costs.
I want victims to go to court over the Legacy Bill... that will decide its fate: Ex-Lord Chief Justice

Sir Declan Morgan says although he is leading body set up to oversee controversial legislation, its judges who will rule how compatible it is with UKs human rights obligations, not MPs

Sir Declan Morgan, chief commissioner-designate of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR). Pic: PA

Allison Morris Wed 30 Aug 2023 at 07:50

Former Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan says he would welcome legal action by the families of Troubles victims to try and challenge the Governments contentious Legacy Bill.
Cities in China offer diverse subsidies to support marriage, childbirth

Global Times) 16:29, August 30, 2023

Newlyweds hold a giant paper cutting shaped as the Chinese character xi or "double happiness," after getting their marriage certificate at the Haidian district civil affairs bureau in Beijing on the day of the Qixi Festival, the Chinese Valentine's day which fell this year on August 22, 2023. Photo: Li Hao/Global Times

Local authorities in Changshan county, East China's Zhejiang Province, announced on August 24 that in order to further improve the supporting measures for marriage and childbearing, the county will implement a policy by offering a one-time subsidy of 1,000 yuan ($137) for couples who have registered their marriage for the first time and the wife is under 25 years old.

In addition, local authorities in Changshan will also provide a range of subsidies of childbearing and education for couples with children, aiming to reduce the burden and young couples' financial strain of childbearing, read the statement.

The number of marriage registrations in China in the first quarter of this year reached 2.147 million, while the number of divorce registrations stood at 641,000, an increase of 40,000 and 127,000, respectively, compared with the first quarter of 2022, according to data released on the official website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Statistics show that the number of marriage registrations in the first quarter across China peaked in 2013 at 4.282 million, but since then, the figure has decreased year after year.

The continuous decline in marriage registrations and the number of newborns is directly related to the decline in the number of young people of marriage and childbearing age.

The country's top health body said that it has already removed the policy of encouraging people to get married and have children at a later age when revising population and family planning law in 2015 and that government of all levels also took the rule out when formulating population and family planning policies.

In 2021, China announced policy changes that allow each couple to have up to three children after the number of the country's newborns declined for four years straight, according to media reports.

The Changshan government has specifically explained the childcare subsidies and preferential policies in the newly issued statement, highlighting that family will receive corresponding subsidies and enjoy preferential policies according to the number of children.

For maternity subsidy, couples will be given the annual subsidy of 5,000 yuan for birth of two children, and the annual subsidy of 10,000 yuan for birth of three children until the child reaches the age of three.

For the childcare subsidy, families with one child will be given the annual subsidy of 500 yuan, families with two children will be given the annual subsidy of 1,000 yuan, while families with three children will be given the annual subsidy of 2,000 yuan.

Families with multiple children will also receive benefits such as medical subsidies, free after-school services, as well as public transportation subsidies, local government officials noted.

In addition to Changshan, the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province and Lijiang, a city in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, have introduced similar childcare subsidies to reduce the burden of childbearing, and two-child families account for the vast majority of the groups benefitting from the birth support policy.

Many motions and proposals submitted to China's annual two sessions in March focus on boosting the low birth rate, after the Chinese mainland recorded negative population growth in 2022, the first time in 61 years. Suggestions include scrapping the requirement to be legally married to register and give birth, and granting children born to unmarried parents equal rights.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is seen answering questions during a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, Aug. 29, in this captured image. Yonhap



The United States remains open to dialogue with North Korea, a White House spokesperson said Tuesday, after North Korea's reclusive leader called U.S. President Joe Biden and his South Korean, Japanese counterparts "gang bosses."



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accused Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of driving the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a "nuclear war" during his recent visit to the North's naval command.



"Obviously, we have said many times the lines of communication with the DPRK remain open," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked about Kim's remarks in a daily press briefing.



"That is something that we are certainly open and willing to have," added Jean-Pierre.



DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.



Kim's criticism of the leaders of South Korea, Japan and the U.S. follows the leaders' historic trilateral summit held at Camp David on Aug. 18, in which they agreed to boost their countries' trilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas, including security, economic and technology.



To this end, the countries have agreed to regularize their joint military exercises, and also start sharing real-time military information on North Korea's missile launches before the year's end.



"Recently, the gang bosses of the U.S., Japan and the "Republic of Korea" were closeted with each other, where they announced that they would conduct on a regular basis the tripartite joint military exercises under different code-names, and set about its implementation," Kim said, according to a report by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.



The White House spokesperson said she has yet to see the North Korean report when asked about Kim's comments, adding, "I just don't have anything to say specifically about those comments."



Sabrina Singh, deputy spokesperson for the Department of Defense, said the U.S., Japan and South Korea will continue to enhance their trilateral defense cooperation, also noting the countries recently conducted a tripartite joint exercise.





Department of Defense deputy spokesperson Sabrina Singh is seen answering questions during a daily press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Aug, 29, in this captured image. Yonhap
A man who turned a celebration of love at a top spa resort into the wedding from hell was hit with fines totalling 450 today.

Cathel Graham Devine was also ordered to pay 200 compensation to a police officer he injured during the incident.

A prosecutor told Limavady Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, how police were called to the Roe Park Resort on September 15 last year over the defendants behaviour.

As a result of his actions, staff had to restrain him and when police arrived and spoke to him, he started to struggle and resist the police, said the lawyer.

Devine (35) was put to the ground with the assistance of other guests and handcuffed by police.

But during the struggle, a constable suffered an injured knee after Devine pushed the officer into a table, the lawyer explained.

Taken into custody and interviewed, Devine, of St Marys Close in Limavady, told police he had no memory of the incident but did accept that he had resisted police.

He later entered guilty pleas to being disorderly at the hotel, as well as resisting and assaulting police.

Read more Man who had dog thrown at him as he slept in Belfast jailed for retaliatory bottle attack

Defence solicitor Paddy McGurk told the court Devine presented as absolutely contrite and remorseful about his conduct.

He conceded that while Devine had been before a court 15 years ago, he had turned his life around and now works every hour that God sends in order to provide for his family.

District Judge Peter King said the record suggests a man who has completely turned his life around, and given his income, would impose financial penalties.

Mr Devine turned this into the wedding from hell, the judge said.

He ordered the defendant to pay the fines and compensation within 16 weeks.
Nichaela Maxwell stood in the dock at Craigavon Crown Court today as defence counsel Peter Canavan asked for the first of three counts to be put to her again.

The 26-year-old then pleaded guilty to being knowingly concerned in the importation of cannabis between April 27 and May 1, 2021.

Following her admission, two other charges of possessing the class B drug and having cannabis with intent to supply were left on file.

Although none of the facts were opened today, when Maxwell, from Toberhewny Lodge in Lurgan, first appeared in court almost two years ago a police officer explained that on May 1, the Royal Mail seized a package containing just over a kilo of cannabis.

The package was addressed to the Maxwells at the defendants home address, the officer said.

Four days later at Belfast International Airport, a parcel containing 251 grams of methamphetamine was seized and the mobile phone number linked to the package belonged to Maxwell.

When police searched Maxwells home under a warrant, officers uncovered cannabis unwrapped in a low level kitchen cupboard said to be worth 170,000.

In court today, Judge Patrick Lynch KC said a pre-sentence report will be required.

He freed Maxwell on bail and adjourned the case for a probation report and scheduled the plea and sentence to be heard on October 3.
Family and friends at the funeral of Victor Hamilton in Carrickfergus

Forensic investigators at the scene in Orkney Drive in Ballymena

One of the men charged with a mistaken identity murder at a block of flats in Ballymena must remain in custody, a High Court judge ruled today.

Michael Hanrahan, 42, was refused bail over his alleged involvement in the fatal knife attack on 63-year-old Victor Hamilton.

Mr Hamiltion was found dead in a pool of blood outside his home at Orkney Drive in the Co Antrim towns Ballykeel 2 housing estate on July 27 last year.

He had recently moved to the Ballymena area from Carrickfergus.

Postmortem examinations established a stab wound to the back as the cause of death.

The court heard that three days earlier the resident of another flat in Orkney Drive had been contacted about a burglary incident.

A woman associated with a co-accused allegedly threatened that if items stolen from her property were not returned the person responsible wouldnt be walking for much longer.

Based on CCTV and number plate recognition evidence, prosecution barrister Adrian Higgins claimed Hanrahan was among four men who travelled together in a Range Rover from Portadown to the scene of the killing.

One of the co-defendants allegedly stated later that the group went looking for the person blamed for the burglary, but got the wrong guy.

Counsel submitted: The murder of Mr Hamilton appears to have (taken place) against a background of mistaken identity.

With the knife used in the attack still missing, the court was told police believe it was disposed of at some point in a circuitous return journey of up to 100 miles.

Hanrahan, of Thomas Street in Craigavon, is among three men charged with the murder as part of a joint enterprise.

A fourth man suspected of taking part in the killing is believed to have fled to Portugal.

There are moves to extradite him to this jurisdiction, but hes presently at liberty and hasnt been detained by the Portuguese authorities, Mr Higgins added.

Read more Kilrea stabbing victim named while murder investigation ongoing

Hanrahans barrister, Bobbie-Leigh Herdman, argued that the height of the case against him is that he was allegedly in the Range Rover with the other accused.

Questioning the evidence to charge her client with murder, she stressed that the prosecution has not claimed he got out of the vehicle at the scene of the stabbing.

Ms Herdman contended that Hanrahan should now be released from custody due to the level of delay.

Denying bail, however, Mr Justice Humphreys ruled there was not the required change of circumstances in what he described as a complex police investigation.

The judge added: I fully accept there may be distinctions between the four suspects in terms of the roles they are said to have played, but nonetheless there is clearly prima facie evidence of involvement of each of them in the general activities that evening.
A man is fighting for his life after sustaining horrendous injuries in a suspected drug-fuelled attack at a flat in south Belfast, a court heard today.

Police revealed that the victim, aged in his twenties, remains unresponsive in hospital with serious head wounds.

Detectives also believe a weight-lifting bar may have been used as a weapon during the incident at Bradbury Place in the early hours of August 24.

Details emerged as bail was refused to one of three men accused of involvement in the assault.

Nineteen-year-old Thomas Connolly, of no fixed abode, denies a count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

He claims to have slept through the whole incident after binging on ecstasy and cocaine.

Belfast Magistrates Court heard the three accused are believed to have spent a number of hours in a flat at Tollgate House with the victim and another man.

A security guard who went to the apartment claimed the injured party appeared at the door in a petrified state.

Referring to CCTV footage, an investigating detective said the three suspects were seen leaving at one point but returned later carrying drinks.

The other man also exited after he allegedly suffered more minor injuries.

District Judge Anne Marshall was told that the victim currently being treated in hospital is still in a critical condition.

He has horrendous injuries at this point in time, the detective said.

He still has footmarks on his arm and if he does wake up, it is going to be massively life-changing for him.

Based on the other injured partys account, forensic examinations are to be carried out on items to establish if they were wielded as weapons.

We believe a dumbbell bar has been used, and potentially a broken brush shaft, the detective added.

During cross-examination, he confirmed police suspect everyone in the flat had been binging on drugs for several hours.

Defence barrister Sean Mullan told the court Connolly denied taking part in the assault.

He said the other two co-accused were involved in a disagreement with (the two injured parties) over cocaine, counsel submitted.

He cant say what happened, but gave an account that he was asleep throughout the entire incident.

Connolly was refused bail on the grounds of risk of re-offending.

Remanding him in custody until September 27, District Judge Anne Marshall stated: A man sustained extremely serious injuries and his life is hanging in the balance.
A man who had a dog thrown at him as he slept in Belfast city centre has been jailed for launching a retaliatory bottle attack.

Stephen McManus struck another man on the head after the animal was used to target him first, a judge was told.

The 49-year-old, of no fixed abode, received a six-month sentence for possessing an offensive weapon in public and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Belfast Magistrates Court heard he was initially the victim during the incident at High Street on August 28 last year.

Read more Ballymena thug who bit cop sees jail sentence reduced to probation and community service

As McManus slept in the area someone threw a dog at him and kicked out at him.

He retaliated by using a bottle to inflict two blows to the head of a man suspected of targeting him.

Defence barrister Sean Doherty insisted McManus had been subjected to a degrading and sustained assault.

Counsel submitted: Thereafter he responded in an inappropriate manner.

I understand that the person who perpetrated the assault on him received a suspended sentence in relation to their actions.

With McManus in breach of a previous suspended jail term, Mr Doherty accepted that imprisonment was inevitable.

Imposing six months custody, District Judge Anne Marshall declared: He has a poor record for violence and this was a very serious assault, striking someone to the head twice with a bottle.
A sneering pervert pensioner who grinned after he sexually assaulted a nurse by grabbing her by the buttock was jailed for four months today.

Dismissing an appeal by convicted rapist Victor Hepburn at Antrim County Appeal Court, Judge Alistair Devlin said, had the 76-year-old shown a different attitude to the victim and his offences before his eleventh-hour admission of guilt, or if he had had a clear record, I might have been persuaded not to jail the creep.

Highlighting that until today Hepburn had shown no remorse whatsoever and had even continued in his disgraceful victim blaming when interviewed by a probation officer, the judge told the court: I am not persuaded there was anything inappropriate in the decision arrived at by the district judge.

I fully appreciate what he did and why he did it and the basis upon which he arrived at his decision, concluded Judge Devlin as he ordered Hepburn to be taken to the cells.

Following a two-hour contest last May, Hepburn, from the Cloyfin Road in Coleraine, was convicted of a single count of sexual assault of a female on December 4 last year.

Filled with drama from start to finish, with Hepburns defence counsel having to come off record because the defendant tried to surreptitiously record a legal consultation, the court heard that Hepburn was a patient at the Causeway Hospital, being treated for an aneurysm and an amputated toe, when the assault took place.

The nurse gave evidence, saying that shortly before she was assaulted she had been changing Hepburns IV line and he made an inappropriate comment to her.

He made a comment of: Is that line kinked? Do you like it kinky? said the experienced nurse.

I immediately told him that that is an inappropriate comment to make and why did he feel he could make a comment to that extent?

Later on, she said she was standing at Hepburns bedside locker sorting out his medication when I suddenly felt his hand on the top of my right thigh, on my crotch, and it lingered there.

I told him to get off, declared the nurse, explaining to the prosecuting lawyer that Hepburn had to physically roll right over reach up and through the cot bars to grab her.

Read more Co Antrim conman who smashed pensioners window has jail sentence doubled after appeal backfires

Giving evidence on his own behalf, claiming he did not know the meaning of the word kinky and declaring that he was telling the truth as he held the Bible aloft in both hands, Hepburn claimed he had been reaching for the handrail to manoeuvre himself in bed when she started screaming, Dont touch me, dont touch me, and the next thing I know there are two senior members of staff saying about zero tolerance and so on.

I totally and absolutely disagree with the nurses claims, Hepburn told the court, describing her account as a bit exaggerated.

Convicting Hepburn and jailing him for four months, District Judge Peter King told Hepburn that his testimony had been an example of victim blaming and victim shaming, adding that I do not believe a word that Mr Hepburn has told me. His account was unsteady on a series of stilts.

Hepburn, who was jailed for 11 years in 2014 for an historic rape attack, was due to appeal his conviction and sentence, with the nurse he groped set to have to testify again.

However, his defence counsel said, while its late in the day, the pensioner now accepts his conviction.

We say thats a very significant change in attitude, the barrister submitted, highlighting that the pensioner has significant and multiple health difficulties, so any jail time will be all the more difficult for him.

One thing that should be said was that his conduct was completely unacceptable, he told the court, urging the judge not to send Hepburn straight to jail.

During his sentencing remarks, Judge Devlin explained he was approaching the case on the basis of the level of culpability, the harm caused and the risk posed by the sex offender.

The judge said he had absolutely no hesitation in concluding that culpability was high given the fact that the victim is a nurse who was providing a professional level of care to the pensioner in a hospital setting.

As regards the harm, Judge Devlin said, while he was not going to fully open the victim impact statement, she had written how seeing Hepburns sneering and grinning face, along with having to testify and be cross-examined by the convicted rapist, was one of the most emotional and distressing days in my life and that she had come close to giving up her 30-plus-year nursing career as a result.

Hepburn himself, said the judge, had been assessed as posing a medium risk of harm and further offences, and he told the pensioner his attitude to the offence and the victim up until Wednesdays hearing had been quite disgraceful.

Although he commended the defence for the plea which had left no stone unturned, Judge Devlin dismissed the appeal and affirmed the four-month jail sentence which had been imposed by the lower court.

He also affirmed the sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) and protection from harassment order for five years and ordered that Hepburn will have to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.
Cornelius O'Neill (inset) was stabbed at his home in Kilrea (Main scene pic: Kevin Scott/Belfast Telegraph)

A 33-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Cornelius ONeill (56) in Co Londonderry.

Mr ONeill died after being stabbed on Tuesday night at Fallahogy Terrace in the Tamlaght OCrilly area, close to Kilrea on Tuesday August 29.

The man who has been charged is due to appear before Bishop Street courthouse in Derry on Thursday morning.

Mr ONeill has been described as a quiet and hard-working man whose death has shaken the whole community.

The 56-year-old had worked at FP McCann Limited, a quarrying company in Magherafelt, and was originally from the nearby area of Lavey.

Murder investigation launched after man (56) is stabbed at Co Londonderry home

Paying tribute to Mr ONeill, Lavey parish priest Father Eamon Graham said: People in the parish have spoken very highly about him and his employers have too. FP McCann Limited accommodated him and were very good to him.

He grew up here and its a very small, close-knit community. Things like that dont happen here. Its shaken the whole parish.

Everybodys thoughts are with his family; he was so well thought of.

Mr ONeills death marks a second tragedy for his partner, as it is understood that her former husband had been killed in a quarry accident in 2015.

Local Sinn Fein councillor Sean McPeake said he knew Mr ONeill personally and described him as hard-working, quiet and inoffensive.

The community is in shock, he told the Belfast Telegraph.

Id known the deceased to be a decent, hard-working man at the quarry and speaking to his colleagues today, they are absolutely devastated.

He grew up in Lavey and lived for most of his adult life there, which is around six miles from where he was killed. In recent years, he had moved to the Kilrea area.

The Mid Ulster representative said that local residents were finding it hard to come to terms with the news, particularly given Mr ONeills quiet, reserved nature.

East Derry MLA Cara Hunter has asked anyone with information to contact police.

She said: Very sad news coming from the wider Kilrea area that there has been a death of a man in his 50s. My thoughts are with the family of the deceased.

The PSNIs Detective Chief Inspector Neil McGuinness confirmed: On Tuesday afternoon, just before 4.50pm, police received a report that a man had been stabbed.

Officers, along with colleagues from the Ambulance Service, attended a property in the Fallahogy Terrace area of the village. Sadly, the man, whom we can now name as Cornelius ONeill, was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene.

Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.
Lyra McKees sister has thanked the people of Orlando for restoring a mural of the late journalist that had been daubed with racist and homophobic graffiti.

A swastika, anti-LGBT and anti-trans messages were painted on the memorial, which was erected in 2019 and bears an image of Ms McKee set against a rainbow-coloured heart.

Other LGBT murals alongside it were also defaced.

Ms McKee was shot dead by a New IRA gunman while observing rioting in the Creggan area of Derry in April 2019.

The Orlando LGBT organisation Zebra Youth said the graffiti was a work of a hate group.

It added volunteers had since removed the messages.

Read more Attack on Lyra McKee mural in Florida condemned

Ms McKee visited the city in 2017 as part of an international exchange programme in the wake of a mass shooting at an LGBT nightclub in the city in which 49 people were killed.

She dedicated a TED talk at Stormont to the victims of the shooting and all LGBT people who died by suicide.

The mural was erected after the City of Orlando passed a motion to honour her in the aftermath of her murder.

Lyras sister Nichola Corner said she was shocked the memorial had been targeted.

In this day and age, LGBT people should not have to put up with this, she added.

Lyra visited Orlando a year after the nightclub shooting, and it had a profound impact on her.

She said she felt freer in Orlando than she did here and would love to live there some day.

She also visited a mosque and spoke to those who helped people in the wake of the shooting.

This informed a big part of Lyras TED talk.

Read more Five Derry men plead not guilty to string of charges linked to riot which claimed Lyra McKee's life

After Lyra was murdered, the people of Orlando rallied around and a resolution was passed to make Lyras birthday an annual day of celebration in the city.

We were extremely honoured and touched by that.

We are also touched at how people came out after the murals were targeted and restored them so quickly. It means so much.

That says everything you need to know about the vast majority of the people of Orlando.

Those responsible for the graffiti have nothing to offer society. They would be better spending the time having difficult conversations with those they disagree with. They would realise that we are all the same.

Florida politician Anna Eskamani said: Lyra has a very special place in the hearts of Orlandoans.

Following the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, Lyra not only recognised the tragedy of what happened at Pulse, but she shared her personal experiences as a LGBTQ+ person, talking about Pulse during a 2017 TED Talk that inspired and comforted so many of us.

We are proud to have a mural dedicated to her in our city, and when it was vandalised this past weekend with Nazi graffiti, our community stepped up immediately to remove the hate speech and restore the mural.

Lyra serves as a reminder for us to love ourselves, care for our community and to find power in pain.
One man (33) has been arrested.

Police at the scene of a suspicious death on August 29th 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

Police at the scene of a suspicious death in the Fallahogey Road area on August 29th 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

Police at the scene of a suspicious death in the Fallahogey Road area on August 29th 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

Police at the scene of a suspicious death in the Fallahogey Road area on August 29th 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

Cornelius O'Neill (inset) was stabbed at his home in Kilrea (Main scene pic: Kevin Scott/Belfast Telegraph)

Police have named the man who died following a stabbing incident in Co Londonderry on Tuesday night as Cornelius ONeill (56).

Detectives from the PSNIs Major Investigation Team are continuing a murder investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr ONeill in the Tamlaght OCrilly area close to Kilrea on Tuesday August 29.

Murder investigation launched after man (56) is stabbed at Co Londonderry home

Detective Chief Inspector Neil McGuinness said: On Tuesday afternoon, just before 4.50pm, police received a report that a man had been stabbed.

Officers, along with colleagues from the Ambulance Service, attended a property in the Fallahogy Terrace area of the village. Sadly, the man, whom we can now name as Cornelius ONeill, was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr ONeill was 56 years old and was from the Kilrea area.

Police at the scene of a suspicious death in the Fallahogey Road area on August 29th 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

Detective Chief Inspector McGuinness continued: A 33-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody at this time. At this stage, we are not looking for any other suspects.

Our enquiries continue, and Im keen to reiterate our appeal for anyone with information to come forward. Please contact us on 101, quoting reference number 1304 of 29/08/23.

Information can also be provided to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

Mid Ulster District councillor Sean McPeake said the victims family and work colleagues had been left devastated by the incident.

"The local community is in shock at the news that a man has died in an incident in Fallahogy Terrace, the Sinn Fein representative said.

"My thoughts are with the mans family at this difficult time. I have spoken to a number of this mans work colleagues today who are absolutely devastated at this news.

A police murder investigation is underway, and I would call on anyone with any information which may help those inquiries to contact the PSNI.

East Derry MLA Cara Hunter has asked anyone with information to contact police.

She said: Very sad news coming from the wider Kilrea area tonight that there has been a death of a man in his 50s. My thoughts are with the family of the deceased.
Sinn Feins Gerry Kelly said they raised concerns with Mr Byrne but never suggested withdrawing support for the policeDUP MLA Trevor Clarke said the Chief Constables position is untenable

Gerry Kelly (inset) says Sinn Fein did not suggest they would withdraw their support for policing over the arrest of Mark Sykes

Sinn Feins Gerry Kelly has confirmed his party raised valid concerns with the Chief Constable following a commemoration event in south Belfast, but insisted both he and his party did not suggest they would withdraw their support for policing.

Earlier the party issued a statement saying a High Court ruling that two junior PSNI officers had been unlawfully disciplined for their actions during a commemoration event is a matter for the PSNI.

The officers were disciplined after arresting a man during a commemoration of the 1992 attack at Sean Grahams bookmakers on the Ormeau Road.

Five people were murdered and nine others injured when a loyalist gunman opened fire inside the bookmakers in south Belfast.

During the event attended by up to 30 people, one man  Mark Sykes, who had been shot and injured in the massacre  was detained on suspicion of disorderly behaviour and put in handcuffs. He was later released without charge.

On Tuesday, the High Court quashed the actions taken against the officers following the incident, a decision accepted by Chief Constable Simon Byrne.

In his ruling, Judge Scoffield said the Chief Constable was acutely aware of the threat of Sinn Fein withdrawing support for policing and/or withdrawing from the Policing Board if immediate action was not taken in respect of the officers duty status.

In a statement, Mr Kelly, who sits on the Policing Board, said: Sinn Fein supports and is fully committed to the new beginning to policing.

Its a matter of public record that we raised our valid concerns with the Chief Constable and senior police officers about the arrest of victims on the Ormeau Road where families were commemorating the murders of their loved ones by loyalists, he added.

I want to set the record straight.

At no stage during any calls to, or meetings with, senior PSNI officers did I suggest or insinuate that Sinn Fein would withdraw support for the rule of law or policing, or remove our members from the Policing Board.

Our focus is fully on continuing to play a role in helping to ensure that our policing service is fair, impartial, efficient, effective and accountable.

In a statement issued by the party, Sinn Fein has said the issues raised by the court judgment are a matter for the PSNI.

A spokesperson said: The arrest of a victim who was shot during the 1992 Sean Grahams Bookies massacre at a commemoration was appalling.

A small number of members from families of the victims gathered on the Ormeau Road in February 2021 to remember their loved ones and call for the publication of a delayed Police Ombudsmans report into their murders by a loyalist gang.

Sinn Fein very publicly raised our concerns with the Chief Constable and senior police officers on the treatment of victims and their families.

The courts ruling on the suspension of two police officers following this incident is a matter for the PSNI.

Meanwhile, DUP MLA Trevor Clark has said Chief Constable Simon Byrnes position is untenable following the ruling.

Mr Clarke  who sits on the Policing Board  has now called on Mr Byrne to resign after what he said was political interference in the Chief Constables operational integrity.

"When you get a judge suggesting there was political interference then we dont need anything further than that to come to a conclusion, he told BBC Radio Ulsters Good Morning Ulster programme.

Read more Sean Graham arrest row: PSNI officers expected to sue after High Court rules in their favour

"Judge Scoffield has said and the counsel on behalf of the Chief Constable made it clear that he was in dialogue with Sinn Fein and was concerned about their support.

"Whether that was perceived or otherwise, the Chief Constable was driven by the fact he was concerned that Sinn Fein would withdraw their support if he didnt come to the decision that he did.

"The only consequence for the Chief Constable is to leave, to resign. His position is untenable. He has lost the confidence and support of the unionist community and indeed the officers hes working with.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne. Pic: Jonathan Porter/Press Eye

Tuesdays hearing also revealed that Mr Byrne had spoken to the former Chair and Chief Executive of the Policing Board before disciplinary matters were taken against the officers.

As a member of the Policing Board, I was unaware of that until I read it in the papers yesterday. That is not the role of the Policing Board, Mr Clarke said.

"Its role is to scrutinise the effectiveness of the police, not to help him come to operational decisions. This was an operational decision, he made it and he has to live with the consequences of that.

"I spoke to the Chief Executive yesterday; it requires seven members to contact them. I would hope we are close to that number which should mean well see a meeting tomorrow and this item will be on the agenda.

"This has got serious ramifications; support for and confidence in policing is at an all-time low. How can the Chief Constable  who has taken a political decision  bring back that confidence?

"He cant, and for that reason we come to the conclusion that he must resign.

Trevor Clarke MLA

It comes after TUV leader Jim Allister also called for the Chief Constables resignation. The North Antrim MLA said yesterdays ruling should mark the end of Mr Byrnes tenure.

This is a staggering indictment of the Chief Constable and a sobering insight into the politics of keep Sinn Fein happy at all costs, even at the cost of sacrificing your own officers.

Due process, proportionality and lawfulness all were secondary to keeping IRA/Sinn Fein on board. What they demanded they got, courtesy of the spineless Chief Constable.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said the victims of the 1992 atrocity should not be forgotten amid the fallout from yesterdays ruling.

"My foremost thoughts and solidarity are with the families of the Sean Graham bookmakers massacre victims today, he said.

It is deeply regrettable that a commemoration for their loved ones is once again at the centre of a political and media storm. The fallout from the actions of the PSNI only serves to prolong their agony.

Clearly, the Chief Constable of PSNI still has questions to answer about the policing of the commemoration in question. More still, the PSNI has questions to answer over its separate attempts to frustrate the Sean Graham bookies massacre families in their pursuit of justice.

Families bereaved by state-backed loyalist death squads deserve truth, justice, and some modicum of closure. They have my utmost support in that fight.

Ulster Unionist Party Leader, Doug Beattie and UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt have also written to the Chief Constable calling for an urgent meeting in response to the ruling.

Mr Nesbitt said: It is unacceptable that a political party can influence policing and the duty status of any police officer, as has been made clear in Mr Justice Scoffields ruling.

Doug and I shall be making clear our view and seeking to establish how this happened, on what other occasions it may have happened and how the Chief Constable intends to reassure the public it can never happen again.

The Police Federation has said there are serious questions to answer following the ruling.

"There was a headlong rush by the Chief Constable to apologise for what took place when the officers, in fact, were simply doing their duty by enforcing Covid regulations, said Chair Liam Kelly.

"This High Court Judgement calls into question the decision-making of the Senior Executive Team right up to and including the Deputy Chief Constable and the Chief Constable himself.
President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during their summit at a hotel in Bali, Indonesia, in this Nov. 15, 2022 photo. Yonhap



Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo in talks to hold trilateral summit within this year: foreign ministry



By Lee Hyo-jin



South Korea seeks to stabilize diplomatic relations with China and Russia that have grown strained amid increasing geopolitical confrontations between Seoul, Washington, Tokyo on one side and Pyongyang, Beijing and Moscow on the other.



Maintaining stable relations with China and Russia is becoming an important task for South Korea as Pyongyang gears up to reopen its borders after a years-long COVID-19 lockdown and normalize relations with its two key allies.



Analysts viewed that China has been sending some positive signals in response to South Korea's move to improve bilateral relations, as it grows increasingly wary of the expansion of the U.S.-led order in Northeast Asia, as seen from the Seoul-Washington-Tokyo trilateral summit held at Camp David earlier this month.



"It is too early to say that there will be rapid progress, but we are seeing some improvements in South Korea-China relations which have been locked in a slump for quite a long time," said Kang Joon-young, a professor of Chinese studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.



He mentioned that several meetings between senior diplomats of the two countries took place in recent weeks.



Most recently, South Korea's Second Vice Foreign Minister Oh Young-ju traveled to Beijing where she met Li Fei, China's assistant minister of commerce, and held the 27th meeting of a bilateral joint economic committee on Tuesday.





South Korea's Second Vice Foreign Minister Oh Young-ju, left, shakes hands with Li Fei, China's assistant minister of commerce, during the 27th meeting of bilateral joint economic committee in Beijing, Tuesday. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Marie Anderson added that there was no evidence of collusive behaviours.

Gerard Lawlor (19) was shot dead by loyalist gunmen as he made his way home on July 21 2002

The father of Gerard Lawlor has said he is disappointed by a Police Ombudsmans report into his sons 2002 murder.

The Ombudsman ruled there were significant failings in the PSNI investigation into Gerard Lawlors murder in north Belfast.

But she said she found no evidence of collusive behaviours and no evidence that the murder could have been prevented.

John Lawlor said: "We're being let down, this should have been locked up years ago."

Mr Lawlor (19) was gunned down by the UDA as he walked along Floral Road, north Belfast, in July 2002 after a night out. He had a partner and an 18-month-old son.

No one has ever been charged with or prosecuted for the murder.

"If you or I had done anything, we'd be crucified but there seems to be a part of this society that can walk about with impunity, and that's the bit that is hard to swallow at times, his father said.

"I think the years have toned down the anger a bit. I still believe in a just and open society, police have to be held to account.

"I think they had a golden opportunity this morning to address that and they didn't do it. The core problem is still there, nobody is being held accountable, he added.

John Lawlor gives his response to the Police Ombudman report in to his son's murder

Niall Murphy, solicitor for the Lawlor family, said the Ombudsman's report is a "detailed analysis of a pathetic police investigation".

"The report correctly confirms a multitude of egregious failings," he said.

"Where we differ from the Ombudsman's conclusive analysis, we consider the facts sustain ours, whereas her analysis is that collusive behaviours were not an impediment to the investigation.

"The family considered that the facts found, the failings found, the failure to arrest suspects, the failure to erect a vehicle checkpoint at the Whitewell Road/Antrim Road junction, that those facts actually sustain their sincerely held belief that collusive behaviour was an impediment to successful prosecutions in respect of those who murdered Gerard."

An inquest into Mr Lawlor's death was delayed while the Ombudsman's investigation was ongoing. Mr Murphy said he expects a preliminary hearing in the inquest will be held in the coming weeks or months.

Marie Anderson also said however that there was no evidence that police could have prevented his murder nor of collusive behaviours.

Mr Lawlors family had raised concerns with the Police Ombudsman about the preventability of the murder, protection of informants and allegations of collusion, as well as how the PSNI investigation was conducted.

On the evening of July 21, there were five other gun attacks in north Belfast.

Mrs Anderson said: Sectarian tensions were high in north Belfast on the night of July 21-22 2002 and although police resources were undoubtedly stretched, police and military patrols continued in interface areas that evening and both police and military vehicle check points were also in place.

My investigation found no evidence that police had prior information that Gerard Lawlor was going to be targeted or that loyalist paramilitaries were planning an attack in the Floral Road area, and I do not believe that an opportunity existed for police to prevent the murder.

The Ombudsmans report found a total of nine investigative failures, including a failure to document and develop a targeted covert/sensitive strategy with defined objectives for the murder investigation.

There was a failure to conduct searches, arrests and interviews in a timely manner, which the report said resulted in the loss of potential forensic and other evidence.

Suspects known as Person H and Person I were only arrested under terrorist legislation in August 2003, more than a year after Mr Lawlors murder, before being released without charge.

Ms Anderson said the delay gave the suspects the chance to state they could not recall what they were doing a year beforehand.

"This failing significantly undermined the likelihood of obtaining evidential and forensic opportunities from the relevant arrests and suspect interviews. These may potentially have advanced the investigation, she said.

"I can identify no justification for the delay in the arrest and questioning of suspects and carrying out related searches.

Police also failed to obtain all relevant telecommunications data, most notably when responsibility for researching mobile phones belonging to one of the suspects was allocated to an officer who had already left the murder investigation team.

A delay in identifying the issue led to the call data no longer being available which may have led to the loss of important evidence.

A failure to ensure the continuation of a dedicated Family Liaison Officer occurred after the original officer moved to a different policing role and was not replaced.

There were failures also to maintain and complete policy files and decisions, with the report finding the last entry came on September 11 2002, though the Senior Investigating Officer continued to lead the investigation until October 2003.

John and Sharon Lawlor the parents of Gerard Lawlor, made the complaint to the Police Ombudsman (Paul Faith/PA)

Failure in maintaining CCTV viewing logs meant investigators were unable to locate a number of relevant logs, with others containing only limited information.

The report also found police failed to link the murder with a series of sectarian attacks, noting police were in possession of intelligence identifying two people who may have played a role in sanctioning attacks.

"A suitably experienced senior officer should have been appointed to oversee and coordinate the investigation into all of the attacks, said Ms Anderson.

"This would have allowed police to better utilise their limited investigative resources in a more focused and structured manner.

"This could have led to additional opportunities being identified, not only in relation to those directly involved, but also those responsible for sanctioning and/or directing the attacks.

The report identified that intelligence relevant to the murder investigation was not shared with the Senior Investigating Officer. Ms Anderson said careful management of this intelligence would have provided an opportunity to assess its value.

Regarding the allegation of collusion, Ms Anderson said there was no evidence to suggest Mr Lawlors murder was foreseeable or preventable, or that the PSNI sought to protect any informant.

"I have therefore concluded that there is nothing uncovered by this investigation that would support conclusions that there was collusion or collusive behaviour on the part of any police officer, she said.

Sinn Fein MP John Finucane commented, adding that a catalogue of failings included the failure to link the murder with a series of sectarian attacks; failure to conduct searches, arrests and interviews in a timely manner; failure to maintain CCTV viewing logs; failure to obtain all relevant telecommunications data; as well as a failure to fully consider the dissemination of all relevant intelligence to the Senior Investigating Officer.

Sinn Fein will continue to stand with the Lawlor family in their efforts to uncover the truth about Gerards murder.

The PSNI said they would take time to consider the contents of the report.

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Saunders, Head of Legacy and Disclosure said: I recognise the continued pain and suffering felt by the family of Gerard Lawlor. Their suffering does not fade and my thoughts are with them today.

We note the comments made by the Police Ombudsman and acknowledge her findings around the original investigation into Gerards murder on 22nd July 2002.

We will now take time to carefully consider this report and its findings.

Gerards murder currently sits within the caseload of Legacy Investigation Branch (LIB) for future review in accordance with LIBs Case Sequencing Model.
Two women recalled how male teachers in Irish schools had touched them under their shirts.

When she was 17, Emma was at a social event with her school. A male teacher asked her to dance. Hed been suggestive before, but I agreed, she said.

When dancing, he grabbed my ass and then tried to kiss me. I ran off to my friends, and we laughed about it. Later, he licked my neck when we were all drinking shots at a table. At the time I thought it was a joke, but I was 17. It was horrible, and I still think about it, and it makes my skin crawl.
Joshua Bowles cited the victim working at GCHQ as a motive for his attack (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

A former GCHQ worker has admitted attempting to murder a US spy with two knives at a leisure centre.

Joshua Bowles, 29, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on Wednesday to punching and stabbing the woman some three miles from the UK intelligence agencys Cheltenham base on March 9.

Bowles, of Welwyn Mews, Cheltenham, cited the victim working at GCHQ as a motive for his attack, Gloucestershire Police has said.

The court heard that the woman, who is referred to in charges only by the code number 99230, was employed by the United States Government and was stationed at GCHQ at the time of the incident.

Prosecutors told the court Bowles had also been an employee at GCHQ and he had researched the victim and other US nationals who worked at the site, but he was no longer working there at the time of the attack.

The woman who was stabbed by Joshua Bowles worked for the US Government and was stationed at GCHQ at the time of the incident (Jacob King/PA)

During Bowless first appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court, prosecutor Kathryn Selby said the case, which she said involved a planned attack, should be dealt with under the terrorism protocol.

She told the court: The defendant has selected the victim because he believed she is a worker for GCHQ and holds views on the work he believes they conduct.

He attacked the victim because, in his mind, she represents the state.

Bowles was charged with attempted murder, as well as assaulting a man, causing him actual bodily harm, following an investigation by counter-terror police.

He was armed with two knives when he launched the attack at about 9.15pm as the woman left the leisure centre, in Tommy Taylors Lane, with a friend.

The victim had been taking part in a netball game at the leisure centre and Bowles attempted to stab her in the car park, before she fled with her friend back into the building.

Bowles followed them and he attacked the victim again inside with one of the knives, before she escaped onto a netball court.

The victim was taken to hospital after suffering multiple stab injuries in the attack.

Bowles also punched a man named Alex Fuentes after being confronted in the car park, the court heard.

Following the hearing on Wednesday, Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: This extremely violent attack against two innocent people was completely unprovoked.

It is right that those who commit violent crimes like this should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law to protect the public and our thoughts continue to be with the victims and their families.

Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright, head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), said: This was a violent and unprovoked attack on two innocent victims.

Through our extensive and thorough investigation, it is clear that Bowles had selected his victim because of where she worked.

Mr Wright said Bowles pleading guilty will thankfully spare the victims from having to go through the traumatic process of reliving the events of that day through the trial process.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Bowles she hoped he will be sentenced before the end of October.

When questioned about the case, GCHQ said it would be inappropriate to comment on live legal proceedings.
James Cleverly has met senior officials in Beijing in a visit aimed at easing tensions with China but which risks deepening divisions in the Conservative Party.

The Foreign Secretary said the UK was clear-eyed that China was not going to change overnight.

He also insisted the visit would allow him to have tough conversations with the Chinese on issues including repression in Hong Kong, and human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.

In a face-to-face meeting with Vice President Han Zheng, who played a leading role in the anti-democracy crackdown in Hong Kong, Mr Cleverly said regular meetings are important to enhance understanding and to avoid misunderstanding.

In the first visit by a UK foreign secretary to China for five years, Mr Cleverly told him they will address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries have in bilateral relations.

The meeting comes amid speculation that Rishi Sunak could hold talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next week in the latest sign of thawing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The Prime Minister refused to be drawn on whether he would meet his counterpart at the event, saying his schedule had not yet been finalised, but pointed to the Foreign Secretarys visit as an entirely sensible approach.

Its perfectly possible to engage with China at the same time as being very robust in standing up for our interests and our values, he told broadcasters during a visit to a police station in London on Wednesday.

But Mr Cleverlys visit has been criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches, who want a tougher line against a state which has sanctioned several British MPs and peers for speaking out about human rights violations.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith compared the Governments approach to the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

The Foreign Secretary said that he had spoken to Chinese officials about human rights, amid concerns about the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang province.

Ive had a number of conversations with senior representatives of the Chinese government, and I have raised human rights in every single one of those meetings and I will continue to do so, he told broadcasters.

This will continue to be an area of discussion that I bring up alongside other areas, and Im not going to change my posture on that.

And I think the Chinese government understand the UK is consistent in our approach. I am consistent in my approach and I will keep raising these issues with the Chinese government.

He added: The UK, I, am clear-eyed  that we are not going to change China overnight.

Were certainly not going to do it in any one individual meeting.

But it is important that we maintain regular dialogue, regular lines of communication.

Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns said she had spoken to Mr Cleverly before his visit and urged him to pressure the Chinese on human rights concerns.

Im very hopeful that he will land those points about transnational repression. We all know we are seeing increased espionage on British shores and we are also seeing appalling human rights abuses against the Uighur, the Tibetans and many more, the senior Tory said.

It is absolutely important that Britain has a role in the Pacific where we make clear that we will stand up for the rule of law, for human rights and for self-determination.

Ms Kearns told Sky News that Mr Sunak should absolutely meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping if the opportunity arises because that is how you prevent and deconflict potential issues.

She said Mr Cleverlys visit is an opportunity to bring to an end two decades of failed deterrence and to make clear defence is not an escalation, and we wont tolerate transnational intimidation.

Mr Cleverly, left, attends a meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, right, in Beijing (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)

But the visit needs to achieve outcomes in Britains interests  we await them.

Her committee has published a report which recognises the activities of the Chinese Communist Party as a threat to the UK and its interests and that the behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party is currently characterised by increased aggression towards the UK.

The cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee called on the Government to publish an unclassified version of its China strategy to ensure cross-Whitehall coherence on the approach to Beijing, and for all relevant ministers to be briefed on the classified version of the document.

The MPs said the Government should have had a policy of zero tolerance of transnational repression which has seen the Chinese authorities seek to carry out repression of dissidents in countries including the UK.

It should now announce a clear policy of zero tolerance of transnational repression and be prepared to expel any foreign diplomats who engage in intimidation of, or physical attacks on, British citizens or those who seek refuge on UK shore, the committee said.

If the Government is unwilling to defend its own people at home, and those seeking safety, it will lose all credibility at claims or attempts to deter autocracies and aggression abroad.

The MPs also called for the Government to intensify efforts to discourage the use of Chinese technologies such as surveillance cameras which are capable of being used for remote data harvesting by Beijings security services.

The report also said the Government has failed to take adequate action to protect against the risk of Beijing using economic coercion by targeting strategically critical industries which rely on Chinese technology or investment.

On the disputed island of Taiwan, the committee said the UK should put in place an effective policy of deterrence diplomacy towards Beijing to protect the Taiwanese right to self-determination.
Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba in his residence in Libreville on Wednesday (BTP advisers on behalf of the Presidents Office/AP)

Mutinous soldiers claimed to have seized power in Gabon on Wednesday and put the president under house arrest, hours after he was declared the winner in an election extending his familys 55-year rule in the oil-rich Central African country.

In a video apparently from detention in his residence, President Ali Bongo Ondimba called on people to make noise to support him.

But the crowds who took to the streets of the capital instead celebrated the coup attempt against a dynasty accused of getting rich on the countrys resource wealth while many of its citizens struggle.

Thank you, army. Finally, weve been waiting a long time for this moment, said Yollande Okomo, standing near soldiers from Gabons elite republican guard, one of the units that staged the takeover.

Mr Bongo, 64, has served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years, and there has been widespread discontent with his reign.

Soldiers appeared on state television to announce they had seized power (Gabon 24/AP)

Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in 2019 but were quickly overpowered.

The former French colony is a member of Opec, but its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few  and nearly 40% of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank.

Its oil export revenue was six billion dollars (4.7 billion) in 2022, according to the US Energy Information Administration, or 2,720 dollars (2,139) per capita.

Nine members of the Bongo family, meanwhile, are under investigation in France, and some face preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering and other forms of corruption, according to Sherpa, a French NGO dedicated to accountability.

Investigators have linked the family to more than 92 million dollars (72 million) in properties in France, including two villas in Nice, the group says.

A spokesman for the soldiers who claimed power Wednesday said that Mr Bongos unpredictable, irresponsible governance risked leading the country into chaos.

In a later statement, the coup leaders said people around the president had been arrested for high betrayal of state institutions, massive embezzlement of public funds (and) international financial embezzlement.

Some analysts warned that the takeover risked bringing instability and could have more to do with divisions among the ruling elite than efforts to improve the lives of ordinary Gabonese.

Soldiers hold General Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema aloft in Libreville (Gabon24/AP)

Celebrating soldiers hoisted the head of the republican guard, who is a relative of Bongo, into the air.

It is unclear if the military intends to name him as their new leader.

The coup attempt came about one month after mutinous soldiers in Niger seized power from the democratically elected government, and is the latest in a series of coups across West and Central Africa in recent years.

The impunity those putschists enjoyed may have inspired the soldiers in Gabon, said Maja Bovcon, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm.

In weekend elections, Mr Bongo faced an opposition coalition led by Albert Ondo Ossa, an economics professor and former education minister whose surprise nomination came a week before the vote.

Every election held in Gabon since the countrys return to a multiparty system in 1990 has ended in violence, and there were fears this one would as well.

The vote was criticised by international observers, but a relative calm prevailed until the early hours of Wednesday, when Mr Bongo was declared the winner.

Minutes later, gunfire was heard in the centre of the capital, Libreville. Later, a dozen uniformed soldiers appeared on state television and announced that they had seized power.

President Ali Bongo Ondimba addressed the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in September last year (Mary Altaffer/AP)

Soon after, crowds poured into the streets. Shopkeeper Viviane Mbou offered the soldiers juice.

Long live our army, said Jordy Dikaba, a young man walking with his friends on a street lined with armoured policemen.

Libreville is a stronghold of support for the opposition, but it was unclear how the coup attempt was seen in the countryside, where more people traditionally back Mr Bongo.

The president pleaded for support in a video showing him sitting in a chair with a bookshelf behind him. He said he was detained in his residence and that his wife and son were elsewhere.

Im calling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really, he said in English.

The video was shared with The Associated Press by BTP Advisers, a communications firm that helped the president with polling for the election.

The coup leaders have said the president was under house arrest, surrounded by family and doctors.

Mr Ossa, the opposition leader, told The AP he was not ready to comment and was waiting for the situation to evolve.

Gabon was in a midst of another electoral coup, so a coup chased another coup and the latest one has more chances of being popular, but lets remain cautious, said Thomas Borrel, a spokesman for the Paris-based human rights group Survie, which advocates against Frances interventionist policies in Africa.

If a military dictatorship replaces Bongos dictatorship, the Gabonese population would lose again.

The mutinous officers vowed to respect Gabons commitments to the national and international community. But the coup attempt threatened to bring the economy to a halt.

A man who answered the phone at the airport said flights were cancelled on Wednesday, and the private intelligence firm Ambrey said all operations at the countrys main port in Libreville had been halted, with authorities refusing to grant permission for vessels to leave.

Several French companies said they were suspending operations and moving to ensure the safety of their staff.

France condemns the military coup that is under way in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments in the country, French government spokesman Olivier Veran said.

France has maintained close economic, diplomatic and military ties with Gabon, and has 400 soldiers stationed in the country leading a regional military training operation.

The US Africa Command said it has no forces stationed there other than at the US embassy.

Unlike Niger and two other West African countries run by military juntas, Gabon has not been wracked by jihadi violence and had been seen as relatively stable.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the events in Gabon were being followed with great concern.

He said it was too early to call it part of a trend or a domino effect in military takeovers on the continent.

Nigerias President Bola Tinubu, however, cited a contagion of autocracy we are seeing spread across our continent, in a statement issued by his office.

It said he was conferring with other heads of state and the African Union, whose commission condemned the coup and called for a return to democratic constitutional order.

The European Unions top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Gabon would be discussed by the blocs ministers this week, adding that another military coup. if confirmed, would increase instability in the whole region.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during his visit to the navy headquarters in North Korea on August 27 (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service/AP)

North Korea has launched two short-range ballistic missiles towards its eastern waters, South Koreas military has said.

South Koreas joint chiefs of staff said the launch took place on Wednesday but gave no further details, such as how far the missiles flew.

The launch came hours after the United States flew at least one long-range B1-B bomber to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against North Korea as part of its annual drills with South Korea.

The field training has been held on the sidelines of an ongoing annual US-South Korean computer-simulated command post exercise called Ulchi Freedom Shield.

The launch of what the North Korean government says is an intercontinental ballistic missile at Sunan international airport on March 16 this year (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service/AP)

North Korea views US-South Korean military drills as an invasion rehearsal.

Earlier this week, North Koreas state media said leader Kim Jong Un called for the military to be constantly ready for combat to thwart plans by its rivals to invade.

Mr Kim said in a speech marking the countrys navy day on Monday that the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been made unstable with the danger of a nuclear war because of US-led hostilities, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Since the beginning of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 weapons tests, many of them involving nuclear-capable missiles designed to strike the US, South Korea and Japan.

Many experts say North Korea ultimately wants to use its increased military capabilities to wrest greater concessions from the US.

North Koreas testing spree has caused the US and South Korea to expand their drills, resume trilateral training involving Japan, and enhance regular visibility of US strategic assets at the Korean Peninsula.

In July, the US deployed a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in four decades.
Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, center, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, left, and China's top diplomat Wang Yi attend a meeting with foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as from the three Northeast Asian countries, in Jakarta, July 13. Yonhap



Korea, China and Japan have been in discussions over holding a high-level meeting in the near future to arrange a trilateral summit within the year, according to sources Wednesday.



The three countries' diplomatic authorities have been discussing a plan to hold a senior officials' meeting next month in Korea, the current chair country of a tripartite consultative body, in order to resume their regular three-way summits within the year.



A Seoul foreign ministry official said on the condition of anonymity that Korea was "coordinating with relevant nations" to resume discussions among the three countries' consultative body "with a goal to hold a trilateral summit within the year."



The three sides were reportedly envisioning that the senior officials' meeting would be led by deputy foreign minister-level officials.



Japan's Mainichi Shimbun also reported that the three sides were discussing holding a senior-level meeting in Seoul in late September.



Three-way summits among the regional neighbors, first held in December 2008, were suspended after the eighth gathering in December 2019 following a dispute between Korea and Japan over forced labor compensation rulings and the pandemic.



Talks on the need to revive tripartite summit diplomacy have surfaced following a thawing of the frozen ties between Seoul and Japan since the launch of the current Korean administration under President Yoon Suk Yeol in May of last year. (Yonhap)


Indonesia will host its largest annual joint military drills with the United States, Australia and other countries that are set to kick off Thursday amid Sino-U.S. tensions in Asia.

The 2023 Super Garuda Shield exercise will run for two weeks in East Java province and consist of more than 5,000 Indonesian and U.S. troops, and 1,000 more from Australia, Japan and Singapore as well as new participants France and the United Kingdom. Another 12 nations will send observers.

This will be the largest. We can learn tactical methods of operation so that our soldiers become more professional, Rear Adm. Julius Widjojono, the Indonesian militarys spokesman, told BenarNews.

He said the exercises, which run through Sept. 13 in Surabaya and Banyuwangi, aim to enhance the national armys capabilities and strengthen regional security and cooperation.

This years iteration of Super Garuda Shield will involve about 2,000 more troops than last years exercise, which had been the largest ever.

The drills will include academic exchanges and professional development workshops, a command-and-control simulation, an amphibious exercise, airborne operations, an airfield seizure exercise and a combined joint field training that will culminate with a live-fire event, according to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.

This joint, multinational training exercise displays our collective commitment and like-minded unity, allowing for a stable, secure, and more peaceful, free and open Indo-Pacific, Gen. Charles Flynn, commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, said in the statement from the embassy.

Marines participate in an amphibious exercise on Singkep island, Indonesia, during the 2022 Super Garuda Shield involving U.S. and Indonesian troops, Aug. 3, 2022. [U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Andrew King]

The multi-nation drills will be taking place against the backdrop of tensions between the U.S. and rival super power China over Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.

While China claims nearly all of the strategic waterway, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have contending territorial claims.

Indonesia is not a claimant, but tensions have arisen between Jakarta and Beijing over fishing rights around the Natuna Islands. Jakarta has expressed concern over Beijings expansive maritime claims that overlap with its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Earlier this week, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman called on the U.S. to stop meddling in the region. He was responding to a reporters question about an apparent joint statement from Indonesian and U.S. officials regarding Beijings South China Sea claims. Spokesman Wang Wenbin said the Indonesian officials had denied making the statement.

Countries in the region share common aspirations and interests to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea and work together for development, Wang said on Monday.

The U.S. needs to earnestly respect regional countries effort to uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea, stop meddling in South China Sea issues, stop sowing discords and creating trouble, and refrain from disrupting peace and stability in the region, he said.

New Chinese map

Also on Monday, China issued a new map that adds portions of Malaysian waters near Sabah and Sarawak, as well as disputed regions in India, Taiwan and the South China Sea to territory that Beijing claims. The map also covers maritime areas within the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The release of the map, published on Chinas Ministry of Natural Resources, prompted a diplomatic protest from India, the Associated Press reported.

Then-Indonesian military chief Gen. Andika Perkasa (left) and U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino arrive to observe a 2022 Super Garuda Shield exercise in South Sumatra province, Aug. 12, 2022. [M. Risyal Hidayat /Antara Foto via Reuters]

Discussing Super Garuda Shield, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think-tank in Singapore, said the increase in troops indicated the importance of defense cooperation for the region, especially in the face of rising geopolitical tensions.

The joint exercise is also a show of force by INDOPACOM, which is the U.S. military command for the region, to China, besides improving cooperation, readiness and interoperability among the countries involved, said researcher Fitriani, who goes by one name.

Khairul Fahmi, a military analyst at the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies in Jakarta, said that Indonesia would gain from having more countries participate in Garuda Shield.

For Indonesia, this joint exercise is beneficial for building trust, reducing fear, Fahmi told BenarNews. In terms of military diplomacy, Garuda Shield can also be seen as one of the means to realize national interests in defense and security. Its role is strategic in dealing with existing problems.

The exercise begins as regional leaders, including those from the U.S. and China, are scheduled to meet in Jakarta next week for the East Asia Summit, a forum on strategic, political and economic issues in the region. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to attend the summit, while Beijing has not revealed who will represent China, according to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.
Indonesian migrant worker Ari Rohman loads bunches of oil palm fruit onto a wheelbarrow during harvest at a plantation in Banting, Selangor, Malaysia, June 10, 2022.

Illness and overwork have been blamed for the deaths this year of 100 migrants who ventured abroad from one eastern Indonesian province, the national workers protection agency said Wednesday.

Ninety-seven of them had died since Jan. 1 in neighboring Malaysia, while the rest died in Laos, Papua New Guinea and Gabon, according to Benny Rhamdani, who heads the governments Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency.

The workers who died in Malaysia were mostly employed in the palm oil industry, he said. They had to endure long hours of hard work including clearing fields, cutting grass and carrying heavy loads of palm fruits.

They work excessively beyond the normal limit. They work like slaves if they are illegal because it is akin to modern slavery, he told BenarNews.

The 100 who died were among nearly 600 undocumented migrants who had left their homes in impoverished East Nusa Tenggara province in 2023 to find jobs overseas.

They were all illegal workers, Benny said of those workers who had died.

Before leaving Indonesia most of them suffered from chronic diseases such as kidney, lung and heart problems as well as tuberculosis. But many did not know about their health conditions because they did not undergo medical exams before departing, Benny said.

He also suspected that some of the workers were victims of human trafficking, but he did not provide any evidence or details.

East Nusa Tenggara, with a poverty rate of nearly 20%, is one of the countrys poorest provinces, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The provincial office of the migrant workers agency said that 5,098 people had left East Nusa Tenggara to work in 20 countries from 2017 to 2023. Of that number, nearly 80% worked in Malaysia.

An estimated 9 million Indonesians who work in other countries have sent billions of U.S. dollars in remittances back home every year. Many are employed in low-skilled sectors such as domestic service, construction and agriculture in Malaysia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

The migrants often face exploitation, abuse and trafficking by unscrupulous brokers and employers who take advantage of their lack of legal protection and documentation. Many end up in debt bondage, forced labor or sexual exploitation.

The protection agency said that in the past three years, about 2,300 migrant workers from throughout the nation had died abroad.

Signed agreements

Indonesia has signed agreements with some destination countries to regulate the recruitment and placement of migrants, but some of the workers go abroad through illegal channels or overstay their visas.

Judha Nugraha, director of Indonesian Citizen Protection at the Foreign Ministry, said he did not know the number of migrant workers from East Nusa Tenggara in Malaysia.

Many Indonesian migrant workers do not report themselves to the Indonesian representative offices because of their undocumented status, he told BenarNews.

Not all undocumented workers were victims of human trafficking, he said.

Indonesian law defines human trafficking as an act of sending, transferring or receiving a person by means of threat of violence, use of violence, abduction, detention, forgery, fraud, abuse of power, debt bondage or giving payment or benefit so as to obtain consent from a person who has control over another person.

Hermono, the Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia who uses one name, said there must be a clear basis before the deceased workers could be classified as victims of human trafficking.

What is the basis for concluding that they are victims of human trafficking? Who determines that they are victims of human trafficking? he told BenarNews.

While officials had no information linking the dead to such crimes, the governments task force on human trafficking said it had arrested 962 suspects and rescued 2,549 victims since June.

Wahyu Susilo, director of Migrant Care, an NGO advocating for migrant workers rights, criticized Benny for branding the deceased migrants as illegal.

That is an excuse to evade responsibility, Susilo told BenarNews, adding that the law mandated that all migrant workers be protected regardless of their immigration status.

He said many migrants were undocumented because of the bureaucratic and costly placement process.

They cannot shirk responsibility by saying that all who died were undocumented and blame the victims, he said.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Periods of rain. High near 50F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Showers early, then partly cloudy overnight. Low 32F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, left, and his Polish counterpart, Mariusz Blaszczak, pose for a photo during a visit to a firing range in Torun, Poland, Feb. 23, to inspect a firing drill of K9 self-propelled howitzers, which Korea has exported to Poland, in this photo released by the Korean defense ministry. Yonhap



Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup is set to depart for Poland on Wednesday for talks on bilateral defense cooperation and an expansion of arms exports, the defense ministry said.



During the four-day visit, Lee will meet his Polish counterpart, Mariusz Blaszczak, to discuss ways to deepen their strategic partnership in the field of defense and boost arms cooperation, according to the ministry.



Lee is also set to examine ongoing preparations by Korean firms taking part in the 31st International Defense Industry Exhibition MSPO, set to kick off next week, and hold talks with businesses on expanding arms exports.



The ministry said Lee's visit would help expand defense and arms exports to Poland. (Yonhap)


Finn Wittrock says that much of the work of doing the play is to strip away centuries of scholarship. Scholars may debate if Hamlet is using "nunnery" literally or as a euphemism for a whorehouse, but "as an actor, you can't play both things. You have to just take it to its core, making it real and simple. The challenge is undoing the challenge."
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One of North Americas most ancient crops  make that 9,000 years plus  is making its seasonal appearance on farm stands right about now, and in Berkshire County cucurbits are of high quality, although they may be in slightly less abundance than in years past.
STOCKBRIDGE  The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, whose original homelands stretch through the Berkshires and beyond, is reclaiming several hundred acres of sacred land that Massachusetts is now giving back.

Quote We are trying to reclaim our ways of being, which was never based on money, Shannon Holsey, president, Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans.

With a $2.26 million state grant, the tribe is poised to purchase 351 acres at the northern tip of Monument Mountain  a move that will restore tribal ties to this land once again after nearly 200 years of separation from it.

Tribal leaders say they are grateful to again hold the land within their culture and spirituality. It is a stewardship they say will fortify and heal the landscape amid a changing climate.

Its sacred to us, and were so grateful for the opportunity to be able to return home and have a place to call our own, said Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans President Shannon Holsey.

Nearly 100 town and city officials, residents and members of the Stockbridge-Munsee attended Wednesday's official announcement of the purchase in the gym at Stockbridge Town Offices.

The grant is part of a total $31.5 million in Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Action Grants to 84 different towns and cities. The awards include about $3 million to 28 municipalities for pilot programs directed at struggling communities. The rest  $28.5 million  is for various projects in 56 cities in towns.

The Stockbridge Munsee grants fall into the latter and is the largest gift of all.

Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper were on hand and explained that Gov. Maura Healeys administration sees climate change and environmental justice interwoven.

Driscoll said the grants are also a way for towns and cities to get things like culverts in good order to future proof against any climate related flooding and other problems.

In the case of the Stockbridge-Munsee money to purchase what was known as Fenn Farm, Tepper said it celebrates indigenous land management as a key way to further climate resilience.

Tribal leaders say that is part of a larger Landback movement to reclaim land in a way that differs from the western colonial way of thinking about it.

We are trying to reclaim our ways of being, which was never based on money, said Holsey, the tribal leader. It [is] the reclamation of our kinship systems, our governance systems, our ceremony and spiritually, our language, our culture, and our food and medicinal systems. Those are all based on our relationship to the land.

The Peace Pagoda in Petersburgh, N.Y., also recently offered to deed the tribe 150 acres of territory ceded long ago, Holsey said, amounting to a combined total of 500 acres of homelands reclaimed across the two states.

Holsey said that at the Monument Mountain land the tribe would do an environmental assessment first to make sure shes healthy and make sure she gets what her needs are, what she needs from a land stewarding and climate change reduction endeavor.

The Stockbridge-Munsee will also resurrect its flag and return rocks to their original place, as messages to thank not only Massachusetts or the truth of our homeland, but also to remind future generations that we always were here  that this is a place we always occupied.

The undeveloped stretch went on the market last year for $3 million following the death of artist and author Clover Swann, also a longtime member of the Stockbridge Land Trust. Swanns home was carved out of the property offering.

The return of the tribe to such a large slice of this particular land is a historic turnaround following the legacy of colonial dynamics, indigenous dispossession and war in New England. European settlers pushed the Mohican Nation west in the 1700s and early 1800s. They eventually resettled in Wisconsin, where with an 1856 treaty they joined the recently established Munsee Nation.

In the early 1600s, more than 25,000 Mohicans lived in the Upper Hudson and Housatonic valleys.

The Stockbridge-Munsee community is still based on the Mohican Nation reservation in Shawano County, Wis. About half of its 1,500 members live on or near it, and in the last eight decades, the community is growing and the land shows signs of healing.

The forests have returned, and with the forests so have deer, bear, waterfowl, wild turkeys and other animals, according to a brief history on the tribes website. People have reported seeing a white deer and also a cougar.

Holsey said the Fenn Farm reclamation represents a paradigm shift in how society invests in tribal nations. It's an investment, she noted, in the indigenous systems that are attuned to the interconnectedness of all things and our responsibilities to our own lands and to each other.
Joe Durwin is a local historian specializing in research on residential and commercial properties for owners in Berkshire County. He can be reached at berkshirehomehistorian@gmail.com
Gov. Healey's budget cuts will be 'devastating' to Berkshire County's poorest residents, community program leaders say When Gov. Maura Healey signed her first budget earlier this month, she vetoed three line items that would have provided millions of dollars of funding to the states community action agencies and Head Start programs.

When Gov. Maura Healey signed the state budget earlier this month, her line-item veto pen struck a nerve with some nonprofits already operating on thin margins as they offer critical services to low-income and working-class Massachusetts families.

At issue are three particular cuts from the states fiscal year 2024 budget: $7.7 million in funding that was to go to community action agencies throughout the state, $35 million that was meant to cover salary rate funding for center-based early educators and $1 million in the support for grants to Head Start programs. These cuts would impact child care, early education and anti-poverty services throughout the commonwealth, but Berkshire nonprofit leaders flagged the specific impact they could have on our countys families.

Many Berkshire families unfortunately know the tall task of finding available and affordable child care services. Berkshire County Head Start Executive Director Brett Random said the organization is already struggling to provide its no-cost services to the low-income children and families who need them due to staffing shortages, leaving classrooms that we are unable to open causing less access and opportunity to families who need care.

Berkshire County Head Start currently serves around 200 children  which Ms. Random estimates is about 100 fewer than it could if it were staffed to capacity. The staffing problem partly stems from offered salaries not meeting the needs of quality potential applicants. A supplemental state grant that the Legislature put into the annual spending plan to help mitigate that issue was one of the vetoed spending items

Meanwhile, the governors veto of $7.7 million in funding for community action agencies comes at a time when those groups missions are expanding rapidly along with climbing food and housing insecurity. One such group in our neck of the woods, Berkshire Community Action Council, offers antipoverty services that reach about 12,000 families a year, from nutritional assistance and winter clothing provisions to home heating aid and school supplies for low-income families. BCAC Executive Director Deborah Leonczyk said news of the veto was not only disappointing but devastating to organizations budget. Ms. Leonczyk said the chunk of $7.7 million BCAC would have received was eyed for grants to several Berkshire community programs fighting regional food insecurity.

Now, Ms. Leonczyk says she had to cut about $287,000 from BCACs budget that would have gone toward (among other things) supporting the Berkshire County Jail and House of Corrections hydroponics program that grows fresh produce for BCACs food pantry, Multicultural Bridges food program, the Bright Morningstar Kitchen and Wheels for Wellness.

Gov. Healey justified these line-item vetoes by saying she didnt want to create inequity across different segments of the child care system by providing for increase for center-based child care programs and not family child care centers, as well as arguing that the community action agencies funding was specifically tied to the pandemic and therefore worth reevaluating after the COVID emergency has waned. But this justification understates the importance of center-based child care programs for rural, underserved regions like ours that, while less populous, still have families desperately seeking affordable child care options. Further, even if the funding bump for community action agencies was initiated amid COVID, its an increase those agencies began asking for years prior to the pandemic  and, as strapped food pantries and a worsening housing crisis unfortunately demonstrate, the needs these agencies are meeting within their communities are not evaporating just because the worst of COVID is in the rearview.

After considerable state revenue growth, tax revenues finally faltering a bit is a good reason for the governor to wield her line-item veto pen as a responsible fiscal scalpel. But responsible should be the key word. In the context of the states $56 billion spending plan, measures like $1 million to boost Head Start salaries or $7.7 million for local anti-poverty agencies barely amount to drops in the budgetary bucket. Were all for fiscal responsibility; its worth noting that taking these cuts off the table would still leave more than $150 million in line-item budget reductions intact. Why ax these relatively inexpensive but deeply impactful initiatives that will affect food security and child care options for thousands of Massachusetts households facing an affordability crisis that the governor campaigned on addressing?

Gov. Healey needs to come up with a stronger explanation for that question on the minds of community nonprofit leaders in Berkshire County and throughout the commonwealth. Otherwise, this approach appears pennywise and pound foolish, and it would be irresponsible for the Bay State to balance its budget on the backs of the children, the poor and the hungry. If no clearer justification is offered, the Legislature should overturn these specific line-item vetoes when it returns from recess.
This image taken from Gabon 24 shows Gabonese soldiers carrying General Brice Oligui Nguema, head of the presidential guard of ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Wednesday. AFP-Yonhap



One South Korean working as a secretary for Gabon's first lady has been arrested by the military that seized power in a recent coup, sources said Wednesday.



The source told Yonhap News Agency that there are three other South Koreans working as presidential security guards and they remain in their lodge inside the security service.



Further details were not immediately available.



A total of 44 South Korean nationals are currently in the African country, including 33 that reside there. Eleven others are embassy officials and their family members, the South Korean Embassy in Gabon said.



Besides the secretary, all others remain safe and sound, according to the source. (Yonhap)


In an exciting update for all agencies and companies eager to showcase their achievements in the realm of marketing and advertising, Assegai Awards 2023 has decided to extend the entry deadline to 8 September 2023. This extension offers a fresh opportunity for participants to submit their outstanding campaigns and initiatives.

Why the extended entry date matters:

The decision to extend the entry date for the Assegai Awards 2023 presents a golden opportunity for agencies and companies to refine their submissions and further showcase their talent. This extension allows participants additional time to polish their entries and make certain that they are submitting their best work.

At times, unforeseen circumstances or conflicting priorities can hinder the completion of an entry. However, the extended deadline grants participants a chance to overcome any obstacles and submit their work in its finest form. It allows sufficient time for agencies and companies to gather feedback, make necessary revisions, and iron out any remaining details before finalizing their submissions.

With the extended entry deadline for the Assegai Awards 2023, agencies and companies have been granted an exceptional opportunity to demonstrate their ingenuity, creativity, and effectiveness in the marketing and advertising sphere. By taking advantage of this extension, participants can ensure that they present their best work to the judging committee.

As industry professionals, we encourage all agencies and companies to seize this additional time and embrace the chance to shine at the Assegai Awards. Remember, the extended entry date is the gateway to showcasing your immense talents and achieving industry recognition. Good luck to all participants as they embark on this exciting journey of recognition and success!




This year's Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) South Africa conference will be held under the theme Global Thoughts, Local Leaders.

Image supplied. Irene Gregory, CEO at the IMM. This years IMM South Africa conference will be held under the theme Global Thoughts, Local Leaders

Important new technologies in marketing are on the agenda, including artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), voice search optimisation, and personalisation.

Classic marketing strategies are no longer enough to move businesses forward, and todays marketers must hone their technology skills to drive their own competitiveness and that of their clients.

To this end, the 2023 IMM Conference will venture into the realm of AI and explore its potential in marketing.

An evolving landscape

The evolving landscape of influencer marketing will also be explored, and we will redefine its impact. In addition, delegates will learn how to navigate the intricacies of user-generated content. Striking a balance between its vibrant energy and potential risks is critical, says Irene Gregory, CEO at the IMM.

Attendees will get to explore captivating narratives and innovative strategies at the conference.

The event offers a unique opportunity to delve into the art of creating compelling brand stories, to uncover global trends in marketing, and to understand the significance of partnerships in building a stronger South African brand, she adds.

The event will offer practical case studies, panel discussions, and insights from international and local industry experts who will share their insights on what it means to be a marketer in 2023.

Recognising bold marketers

The outstanding achievements of South African marketers will also be celebrated and recognised at the event.

Through the Marketing Excellence Awards, the IMM seeks to recognise contributions to the industry by bold brands and marketers who display thought leadership and commitment to excellence in the art of marketing.

A committee of South Africas top business and marketing executives, as well as marketing education specialists, will identify individuals, brands and businesses who will be honoured at the Marketing Excellence Awards gala dinner.

The 2023 IMM Conference takes place in Johannesburg on 8 and 9 November 2023, with the gala dinner on the 8th.

The IMM Conference is aimed at all levels of marketing professionals. Everyone from vice presidents of marketing, chief marketing officers and marketing directors to brand managers, advertising agencies, social media marketing specialists and marketing consultants are urged to attend.
The recent Brics discussions held in Johannesburg echoed sentiments of unity, collaboration, and mutual growth. For the local advertising and marketing community of South Africa, these deliberations should hold immense potential, setting the stage for lucrative opportunities.

Image supplied. Musa Kalenga, group CEO, The Brave Group, says the recent BRICS meeting sets the stage for lucrative opportunities for the creative industry...

Central to the Brics charter is fostering economic cooperation. As these countries build stronger ties, trade barriers are set to diminish.

As businesses expand across Brics nations, they will require sophisticated marketing insights to navigate unfamiliar terrains. Agencies equipped with local knowledge and global perspectives stand to benefit immensely.

Benefits

Cultural immersion An equally significant pillar of Brics is cultural exchange. This means marketers now have a unique chance to immerse themselves in the diverse cultures of the Brics nations. Such immersion provides rich insights into local tastes and preferences. Brands that adapt to these nuanced cultural nuances will have a competitive edge, ensuring their resonance across borders. Collaboration The spirit of Brics is rooted in collaboration. Reflecting this ethos, the advertising and marketing sectors should explore campaigns that cater to audiences across these countries. By leveraging the unique strengths of each nation and crafting unified messaging, campaigns can optimise resources and achieve a much broader impact. Redefining consumerism With their burgeoning middle classes and young demographics, Brics nations are also redefining consumerism. As their economies flourish, these nations will draw the attention of global brands eager to tap into their vast consumer bases. South African marketing experts who understand the pulse of these new markets will be in high demand, guiding global brands through uncharted territories. Technological cooperation In an era dominated by digitisation, Brics commitment to technological cooperation spells exciting prospects for South Africas digital marketing landscape. The integration of state-of-the-art technologies and innovative strategies from fellow BRICS nations can propel South Africa's marketing endeavours to new heights. #BRICS2023: Next wave of global economic growth will come from Africa 23 Aug 2023 Overcoming complex regulatory environments One of the perpetual challenges for international campaigns is navigating the complex regulatory environments of different countries. As Brics countries work towards policy alignment, the task of ensuring compliance across countries can become more straightforward, making South Africa an even more attractive hub for international advertising ventures. Aligning with global causes The combined voice of BRICS nations can also influence global dialogues. Brands today are conscious of aligning with larger global causes. For marketers, understanding and leveraging these global narratives can lead to campaigns that resonate on a deeper level with audiences. Global best practices Education and skill development are integral to Brics collaboration. South African advertising professionals now have a chance to learn from global best practices and bring their expertise to the table. Such exchanges can elevate the standards of the advertising industry, making South Africa a beacon of excellence in the domain.

The question, of course, is will the local industry rise to the challenge?
Col. Park Jung-hun, former chief of the Marine Corps' investigation unit, arrives at the Ministry of Ministry in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap



The military prosecution said Wednesday it filed for an arrest warrant for a senior Marine officer over allegations he disobeyed an order from the defense minister in relation to an internal probe into last month's death of a young soldier.



Col. Park Jung-hun is accused of handing over the probe findings on the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun, who died while on a search mission for missing people during downpours, to the civilian police despite Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup's order to hold it off for more legal deliberations.



"The military prosecution requested the arrest warrant given the gravity of the matter and risk of destruction of evidence, as the accused continues to refuse to be investigated," the defense ministry said.



"We express regret over the string of unilateral statements by the accused, and expect that he will make necessary arguments and express his opinion on the evidence within the investigative procedure," the ministry said.



Park spearheaded the preliminary probe into what contributed to the death of Chae, who was swept away by a torrent at a stream in Yecheon County, 161 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on July 19 while on a mission to search for victims of the downpours.



Park said his decision to hand over the case to the police was lawful. Park's lawyer claims he had been pressured by the ministry to omit allegations of criminal activity by individuals in the report.



The defense ministry viewed the transfer as an act of insubordination. Park has been relieved of his post as the Marines' chief investigator and is refusing to cooperate with the investigation.



The military police is to transfer a case, involving a troop fatality, to the police if there are signs of any criminal activity in the case.



The military has faced accusations that proper safety measures had not been taken for troops deployed in the search operations. (Yonhap)


Higher Education and Training Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, has underscored the need for additional industry involvement in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college curriculum review process.

What is also critical is the need for more substantial industry involvement in the TVET curriculum review process to enhance responsiveness to industry needs and requirements, the Minister said.

He was addressing the TVET Curriculum Transformation and Innovation Summit, currently underway at Vodaworld Dome in Midrand.

Nzimande said the (TVET) college curriculum reform has the potential to contribute in various ways to improving the employability, productivity and success rates of college graduates.

In order for us to be successful in bringing these changes, there is also a need for change in the management strategies to prepare for current and future TVET curriculum challenges. Furthermore, we need to develop leadership programmes to help leaders within the TVET sector to bring about the necessary curriculum change, Nzimande said on Monday, 28 August.

Highlighting some of the progress made in building a sustainable TVET sector, Nzimande said South Africa is producing on average 20,000 qualified artisans per year.

Ours is to ensure that the number increases significantly to meet our National Development Plan (NDP) target to produce 30,000 qualified artisans per year by 2030.

Nzimande also highlighted that the number of Centres for Specialisation has been expanded to 34 at 27 TVET colleges, to enhance workplace-linked training of artisans and related occupations.

A further investment of R68m has also been allocated to 16 colleges, which now have 33 trade test centres.

These trade test centres have trade tested over 600 apprentices of which over 500 have qualified as artisans. Currently, 26 of our colleges are engaged in entrepreneurial training through our entrepreneurship hubs.

The department is hard at work to ensure that all the colleges are involved in some form of entrepreneurship training and also plans to, through the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), introduce innovation hubs in TVET colleges.

The Minister said, the department has to date, opened up 14,954 TVET placement opportunities to the value of R726 million. It has also committed to achieving a target of 20,000 placements of TVET graduates in work placements, as per President Cyril Ramaphosas commitment at this years State of the Nation Address.

Establishment of 4IR centres

The importance of responsiveness of TVET colleges to 21st-century conditions, both locally and globally was also emphasised and various initiatives are underway to achieve this. These include the establishment of seven Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) centres.

These centres, with the support of stakeholders such as the ETDP SETA (Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority), aim to scale up digital skills among students and staff.

Leveraging the potential of the digital economy to reduce youth unemployment is a priority, and we are grateful to our partners such as HUAWEI, Cisco, GIZ, IYF, and others for their contributions to our digital skilling mission, Nzimande said.

The Minister also expresses his appreciation to the departments partners, including the Allan and Gill Gray Foundation, the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) for their support in assisting the department to produce young entrepreneurs.

The Vhembe TVET College in Limpopo has reported producing three millionaires through this development initiative, he said.

The three-day summit which started on Monday, is being held under the theme: TVET curriculum transformation: a key to unlock skills development for the modern economy.

The summit brings together various role players in the TVET sector under one roof to engage and take to higher levels the curriculum transformation and innovation challenges of the TVET sector.
The South African tertiary education system is currently the subject of significant scrutiny, with the future value proposition offered by its tertiary education providers taking centre stage in many household debates and family discussions.

Paresh Soni, director of the Mancosa School of Information and Digital Technology (SIDT).

Paresh Soni, the director of the Mancosa School of Information and Digital Technology (SIDT), points out that this debate started during the Covid pandemic and has continued as the world navigates one of the harshest economic environments in recent history.

"The South African tertiary education value system is being questioned. This debate includes but is not limited to, access to education, its associated costs, and the support offered to students enabling their success. Clearly, the current model is reaching its expiration date, and innovation needs to take centre stage when redefining value. Technology will be at the heart of these changes," says Soni.

A blessing or a curse

During the opening of the Mancosa AI for Higher Education Leaders Masterclass, which was held on 7 June, Soni pointed out that technology will open a Pandora's box for tertiary education providers, and the impacts of this will be felt over the next 18 to 24 months. In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a box containing the world's curses and blessings.

"One of the biggest factors influencing the debate regarding the future value of tertiary education is the impact of artificial intelligence (AI). Many education providers are struggling to ascertain the future impact of this technology on their operating model and whether AI will be a blessing or a curse. This is very common in the nascent stage of accepting a technological development," says Soni.

We need to find our place in a world governed by information in a way that has never been encountered in the past.

 Paresh Soni

Who is at the centre of your value discussion?

Generative AI opens a whole new world of information to students and those who need to use information for a specific purpose. This can shift the focus away from tertiary education providers if they are unprepared for its impact.

"We need to find our place in a world governed by information in a way that has never been encountered in the past. When addressing the changing nature of providing effective tertiary education programmes, tertiary education providers need to assess the type of information they are presented with; how they will assess this information; and why this information needs to be assessed," says Soni.

He adds that this exercise needs to be prefaced with a concerted shift towards enhancing the student journey, an issue which has always been an important component of the provision of tertiary education.

Moving towards an enhanced value model

One of the advantages associated with increased access to information is that risk assessment and risk planning become easier. AI can then provide insights into lessons and coping mechanisms that were adopted in the past to address similar challenges.

One of the dangers of tertiary education is that it can often become difficult to customise the student journey and provide tailored support that will enable success because of the sheer volume of students.

Enter Estrella, a project that the Mancosa SIDT has been developing over several years and was rolled out at the beginning of August.

"The Estrella project is something that Mancosa is very proud of and excited about. Estrella essentially enhances our previous operating model by focusing on skills associated with increasing the skills that will be in high demand in the future world of work. Additionally, Estrella has been built into the Mancosa academic programme so that academic providers can respond to student needs in real time," says Soni.

A different approach to education

A technological innovation introduced during Covid was the creation, entrenchment and growth of online platforms that make remote work and distance learning possible.

"The reaction to these online platforms is a classic case of Pandora's box being played out in the business environment," says Soni, "the global business environment was significantly sceptical about the possibility of running their business remotely. Ultimately, these platforms are proving to be a blessing."

One of the significant lessons learned through remote and hybrid working environments is that humans have become accustomed to the flexibility associated with this. There is a considerable shift from planning home life and personal responsibilities around work to planning work around home life and personal commitments while remaining productive.

"Additionally, Mancosa has noticed a need for increased flexibility in how tertiary learning is structured. In the current economic environment, many young people who would have been full-time students are expected to find a job and help financially contribute towards running a household. With this in mind, Mancosa has decided to drop the semester structure with Estrella. Instead, there will be an intake every six weeks as modules are completed," says Soni.

He adds that this is in line with the growing global trend of certain businesses looking for future employees with a specific skill set to fill a particular role over prospective employees with a degree and a multitude of post-graduate qualifications.

Shaping the future of education

Soni points out that the fact that there is a growing need for the realignment of the value proposition when it comes to the provision of tertiary education is positive as it will force education providers to try and find a way to offer enhanced support towards the student journey.

An ancient curse (often wrongly attributed to the Chinese) says: 'May you live in interesting times.' The end of that curse states: '... and may you always get what you want.' We live in interesting times where technology constantly influences global value models.

"Mancosa decided to integrate tech skills into its courses long before Covid so that students have the transferable skills to help them proposer in a tech-driven world. Will the AI Pandora's box provide the South African tertiary education landscape with blessings or curses? Mancosa feels that Estrella will be a game changer and hopefully redefine the tertiary education landscape. We are confident that the future of tertiary education looks very bright," concludes Soni.




Did you know that sign language is now recognised as South Africa's twelfth official language? President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the South African Sign Language Bill into law on 19 July 2023.

A press release from the Presidency states: The recognition of South African Sign Language (SASL) as the 12th official language is an important step towards the realisation of the rights of persons who are Deaf or hard of hearing.

As you are probably aware, September is Deaf Awareness Month and the Language School at Wits Plus is pleased to share more information.

The aim of Deaf awareness month

The World Federation of the Deaf first observed the International Day of the Deaf in 1958 and it has been observed every year since then.

The aim of Deaf awareness month is to encourage people to learn sign language, and to learn about Deaf culture.

In September every year, the focus is on awareness of the social exclusion that Deaf people may face and to encourage the inclusion of Deaf people in society. The month also raises awareness of sign language, which helps Deaf people communicate and makes society more accessible to everyone.

South African Sign Language

South African Sign Language (SASL) is the first language of Deaf children who are born to Deaf parents. Have a look at the timeline of the development of SASL, all the way back from 1863.

SASL plays several roles in the Deaf community. Deaf people use this language to interact with each other and to pass on cultural knowledge and is therefore a defining aspect of belonging to Deaf culture.

Its worth noting that while it is a first language for the Deaf community, many hearing people also communicate through sign language with children, friends and family and colleagues who are Deaf.

Interacting with a Deaf person

Here are some dos and donts when interacting with a Deaf person:

Do face the Deaf person directly and maintain eye contact when speaking to them.



Dont turn around, move away, or look elsewhere while speaking to a Deaf person.



Do speak clearly and make sure that your mouth movement is natural.



Dont speak if they are not looking at you or just speak at them as if they can hear you.

SASL courses available at the Language School

The Language School at Wits Plus offers a number of SASL courses, from level 1 to level 3.

The course facilitators are first language proficient and have also been trained to teach both hearing and non-hearing students. SASL courses are offered part-time and run over 10 weeks.

View more information about the courses and upcoming intakes.




KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has assured the residents of Nongoma that the provincial government remains committed to facilitate the speedy delivery of water, roads and houses, and to completing some unexpected project delays in the area. Dube-Ncube was speaking during the province's Operation Sukuma Sakhe (OSS) Cabinet Day, held recently, where the province's MECs addressed various service delivery concerns and unveiled projects throughout the Nongoma Local Municipality.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube speaking at the Operation Sukuma Sakhe Cabinet Day. Source: x.com

Dube-Ncube said the OSS gives the leaders an opportunity to listen without mediation, to the voices and concerns of the people of KwaZulu-Natal.

The premier unveiled the Bhuqwini Rural Housing Project, which will deliver 300 houses in Ward 17. The R49.4m project will also see the employment of at least 60 people, and 20 being trained as National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 2 builders.

Unveiling the project, Dube-Ncube said they have introduced the contractor to build houses and urge the community to take care of the project and to make sure that the houses are not vandalised.

When we deliver houses as the government of KwaZulu-Natal, we are implementing the Freedom Charter which says there shall be houses, security and comfort for all, Dube-Ncube said.

Royal maintenance

KZN provincial government also undertook to facilitate the repair and maintenance of royal palaces some of which are said to have fallen into disrepair due to lack of regular attention.

We value the institution of traditional leadership as the glue that holds our communities together as the custodian of our customs and traditions. The Palaces are an important part of our history and we will ensure that for years to come, this heritage is protected for generations to come, the Premier said.

Various MECs and senior government officials also visited other projects and centres to deliver dignified services to the community.

Economic Development Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC and government business leader, Siboniso Duma, visited the R19m Maphophoma Milling, which is owned by a co-operative and funded by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The MEC committed the provincial government support for the co-operative to access more land and to increase their maize production.

He said, the provincial state agencies, including Agri-Development Agency, ITHALA and the KZN Growth Fund, will also ensure access to funding for the co-operative.

Duma also visited the pedestrian bridges that are currently being constructed by Transport and Defence Departments.

Buy local

Finance MEC, Neliswa Peggy Nkonyeni, visited the Casukile Primary Cooperative run by a group of women who manufacture toilet papers. Nkonyeni committed the provincial government to fund the co-operative members training on business skills, branding of their products and sourcing new markets for their products.

Nkonyeni also encouraged the Nongoma Local Municipality to buy locally manufactured goods in order to grow the local economy.

Over 20 speed points were donated to Ward 19 businesswomen, in a bid to encourage them to grow their businesses and create more jobs for the locals.

GBV focus

Sport, Arts and Culture MEC, who is also Zululand Cabinet OSS Champion, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba, visited the Buxedene Clinic where the toilets are not in good working order and have no computers, forcing personnel to capture data manually.

Mahlaba announced that Road D1880 which runs from Bhekumthetho to Ncemaneni will undergo an upgrade to install blacktop, and that the contract has already been advertised with an award expected to be finalised soon.

In addition to the housing shortage, Nongoma faces other challenges, including water, taxi-related killings, revenge murders, unemployment, teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), which Provincial Cabinet promised to urgently attend to.

The Premier said the departments, working with local government will soon return to the Nongoma Local Municipality, in order to follow up on all the challenges identified during the OSS engagement.
A recent case has shed light on the intricate balance between employee rights, contractual obligations, and employer expectations in the ever-evolving landscape of labour law. Bitventure Consulting v Carina Smith addresses enforcing extended notice periods beyond the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) minimums and remedies for employees' insufficient notice.

Facts of the case

Bitventure Consulting provides consulting services to various clients, including government departments and public entities, and employed Carina Smit as a senior consultant since May 2023. Her employment contract stipulated that she had to give 60 calendar days notice if she wanted to resign.

In June 2023, Smit resigned from Bitventure and gave only seven days notice. She claimed to have found another job opportunity with a one-month urgency. Bitventure rejected her resignation, insisting she serves the 60 calendar days notice period per her contract. They also alleged that they would suffer damages if Smit left earlier, as they had already allocated her to various projects and clients.

Court judgment

The Labour Court ruled against Bitventure Consulting's application, and while the Labour Court accepted that there was a 60-day notice period applicable to the employee's resignation, it held that the court has a discretion regarding whether to grant an order of specific performance.

On the facts, it found that it would not be appropriate to order specific performance because the relationship between the parties was damaged, and the employee had taken up an offer of alternative employment in the Western Cape (and would be prejudiced by being forced to serve out her notice).

The Labour Court also reiterated its reluctance to force employees to continue providing their services during any notice period.

The court clarified that contractual notice periods are adaptable through agreement or conduct, aiming to facilitate smooth transitions. Alternative remedies for breach of contract include claiming damages or using a restraint of trade clause if valid. However, the court insisted on tangible evidence of actual damages caused by the breach, which Bitventure Consulting failed to provide, leading to the dismissal of its claim.

Navigating the legal terrain

Bringing an application for specific performance in labour law cases can prove costly. Urgent applications require expedited legal procedures, resulting in heightened legal fees. Legal representatives often charge premiums for urgent matters, potentially leading to costs ranging from R50,000 to R100,000 or more. If unsuccessful, the party initiating the application may be liable for the opposing party's costs.

The high costs associated with bringing an urgent application before the courts and possibly being unsuccessful is a testament to using the services of a professional when drafting and implementing clear and reasonable contractual terms between the employer and employee and ensuring that both parties understand and comply with them. Clear communication between employers and employees is essential to prevent disputes and breaches of notice periods.

Implications of the case

The case of Bitventure Consulting v Carina Smit has clarified the legal position on contractual notice periods in South Africa. The case confirms that it is unlikely that a court will order an employee to serve out their contractually agreed upon notice period, but they might, in certain circumstances, where the balance of convenience favours the employer.

It is more likely that the court will order that an employee pay damages to their former employer, however, the employer would need to satisfy all the usual elements in terms of damages to be successful and must prove that they suffered actual losses because of the employees short notice. The case further highlights the need for employers to plan and manage their human resources effectively, to minimise any disruption or damage caused by employees leaving their employment.
Sibanye-Stillwater stock suffered a decline after reporting a 37% slump in first half profits, with the metals producer only making R7.8bn so far in 2023. CEO Neal Froneman is looking towards the future and announced that a Chinese partner would come on board for the company's continued bid for Mopani's Zambian copper mines.

Mopani's Mufulira copper mine employs 5,000 people directly. Source: Mopani Copper Mines

"We are bringing in a partner we've already identified and are working with, but we didn't want to complicate the transaction by having two buyers negotiate with the government," Froneman told Reuters, without naming the investor or detailing the terms of the possible investment.

The Chinese company has a presence in copper mining and would be joining Sibanye as an investment partner, Froneman said.

"We will bring in the partner as soon as we've been successful and concluded the negotiations," he added.

Froneman has been bullish on Mopani for over a year now and was open about the work that would still need to be done.

Sibanye-Stillwater is keen to invest in Zambias Mopani Copper Mines, which supplies a metal critical to the clean energy transition - copper. We like Zambia, we like what the new president is doing there, Sibanye CEO Neil Froneman says. Zambia is on the rise.

 Nick Hedley (@nickhedley) October 5, 2022

"We prefer working with partners and prefer earning-in so don't factor into your thinking a large capital outlay for Mopani," he said on a conference call.

Switzerland-based commodities group Glencore sold a 73% stake in Mopani to ZCCM in 2021 for $1.5bn in a deal funded by debt, but retained offtake rights of Mopani's copper production until the debt had been repaid in full.

Sibanye-Stillwater is competing with China's Zijin Mining Group in the bid.

The miner is looking to capitalise on the opportunity to acquire Mopani assets to serve the needs of the clean energy economy and its appetite for copper. In 2020, demand from renewables totalled 5.8Mt or 24% of total copper demand. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects renewables demand to almost double by 2030, reaching 10.8Mt or 36% of total demand.

IEA forecasts predict a drastic increase in electric vehicle (EV) penetration  up to 145 million by 2030, 13 times the current fleet of EVs  which will also drive a surge in copper consumption. EVs use more than twice as much copper as cars with internal combustion engines, according to the Copper Alliance.

Froneman's positive outlook did little to soften the earnings disappointment, though. There are concerns about escalating costs in copper production. Copper mines are reaching their limits as the ore quality and reserves are decreasing. This means that the costs, emissions and waste of copper production are increasing.

Many of the mines are located in areas that have high risks of climate change and water scarcity, which could affect their operations and sustainability. Zambia is prone to drought and floods, which increases the investment risk.
South Africans' personal income tax could be hiked by a third, VAT from 15% to 21% and they could see a payroll tax added that is 10 times higher than their current UIF contribution.

Source: Supplied.

This is according to a joint statement by Business Unity SA (Busa) and Business for SA (B4SA) which highlights that the government will need to raise an extra R200bn in tax revenue to finance the National Health Insurance (NHI). It based its findings on a tax-impact analysis conducted by FTI Consulting.

This comes at a time when South African consumers are already under extreme financial pressure. It's a move, Treasury has warned, that could both raise the cost of employment for employers, and lower take-home pay for workers.

"This is obviously unworkable as any increases are bound to impact SA taxpayers materially, Busa and B4SA said.

Similar to UIF contributions, both employers and employees are set to contribute to the payroll tax. This payroll tax will be uniformly applicable to all formal sector employees, encompassing even the seven million individuals who fall below the personal income tax threshold.

DA member of provincial legislature (MPL), Gerrit Pretorius, expressed significant reservations regarding the NHI and its impact on healthcare accessibility in South Africa.

"While Universal Health Coverage is a noble goal, [... ] in its present form, the NHI Bill would force millions of South Africans to pay thousands more in additional taxes every month in exchange for a poorly conceived, dangerously flawed attempt at single-payer healthcare," he said.

Financial framework: The Money Bill

The National Health Insurance Bill (the Bill) was adopted by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and approved by National Assembly on 14 June 2023. It is now under consideration by the National Council of Provinces.

In due course, The Minister of Finance will table the Money Bill, which will sit alongside the NHI Bill. The Money Bill will outline the government's plans for collecting revenue (taxes and other income) and allocating funds for the NHI. This may involve changes in taxation, and the allocation of funds from various government departments to ensure that there is enough money to support it.

The NHI Bill aims to create a single fund which would provide essential healthcare services to all citizens, regardless of their income or employment status.

Many NGOs, medical schemes, and other institutions have strongly voiced their opposition to the proposed single-payer model, wherein the government would be responsible for purchasing all essential healthcare products, medicines and services.

Key features: Portable medical records

The UHC proposed in South Africa involves a mix of public and private providers, as long as the services are accessible and affordable to all. Under the NHI Bill, medical schemes will only be allowed to cover healthcare that is not offered by the government.

The bill envisages healthcare will be free at the point of service barring the cost of goods and services pertaining to cosmetic surgery, "unnecessary dentistry, and some costly medicines", a fact sheet, released by the Department of Health said.

Deputy director general for National Health Insurance, Nicholas Crisp said each user and the other 65.6 million people in the country will get one ID which will incorporate fingerprint authentication to be used on the country's national health information exchange where users will be able access their own medical record.

"That record will be portable," he said, "so that when an individual moves from the private sector to the public sector, from the GP to the hospital, back to the GP, and from there to the physiotherapist, it will all reflect on one record as will their patient history.

"As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), universal health coverage is a global programme. We report to the WHO. All countries report to the WHO on the indicators of universal health coverage."

The DA's Pretorius added that given the potential effect of NHI on the lives of South Africans, they would take their parliamentary duty to interrogate the Bill extremely seriously.

"The next few months will see public hearings on the matter held across the Western Cape, and our residents are urged to make their voices heard," he said.
Could the formula for a sustainable future lie in funding female businesses?

My name is Kutlwano Mabusela (she/her) and I am the co-founder of Brainbow Conscious Creatives. Chule Gobodo (she/her) and I have been co-founding sisters for over 13 years. We now have the privilege to laugh at, observe and praise our journey as female founders.

At Brainbow we have had a 13-year-old business that has had three major careers. A franchise owner, a production company and a creative agency. Our business journey started in 2010. In this journey we have never received capital investment from venture capitalists.

Women are one-half of the world's population but only contribute to 37% of the global GDP. An economy cannot operate at its full potential if half of its population cannot fully contribute to it

- Trade, Gender, Women - World Bank

As female founding partners we had and still have a voracious appetite for learning and development. We do admit that we had a lot to learn over the years to refine our offering.

Between Chule and myself we have applied and participated in over 10 business incubators between 2012-2021. The incubators were often directed towards female entrepreneurs and businesses run by people of colour.

Mostly we were expecting financial reward/investment over the years, cash money! Instead, we have some certificates to validate our offering.

I will never forget, one of the first business incubators we attended, we were shocked to hear that women-led businesses suffered higher levels of failure more than their male counterparts. Female founders lacked funding because they often concentrated on socio-economic problems in the market.

These female-run businesses wanted to serve communities and were advised to become non-profit entities instead. These businesses were not attractive to investors and where poorly researched. I had a bit of confusion, so it wasnt enough to fund businesses that are interested in inclusion and equality for mankind?

A recent interview with the co-founder and CEO of the Fearless Fund Arian Simone, the first VC Fund built by women of colour (WOC) for women of colour (WOC). She laments that we need to diversify investors in order to bridge the inequality gap that is widening.

She also sites that less the 0,39% of women of colour businesses are invested in, out of an overall billion-dollar investment potential in North America. This is jaw dropping, less then 1% of women-owned POC businesses receive funding in North America!

Advancing women equality can add $12tn to global growth - McKinsey & Company

There is an uncanny connection between female founders not being funded and proximity. If majority of investors are a certain gender and race, then female founders do not feel tangible to them or familiar. The interesting thing is that these female founders desire to scale in order to become future investors and funders. So, the more cash investment is not ushered to female founders the less diverse investors we will have in the future. And the toxic cycle continues.

2020 made the whole world aware that there are many socio-economic issues catapulted by the pandemic. Social issues are being tackled by technological, financial, civic and educational institutions. And yet, the females that are creating solutions to the above are not invested in? Could the formula for a sustainable future lie in funding female businesses?
The 12th #AbsaSmallBizFriday has arrived. This Friday, 1 September, is South Africa's biggest small business day of the year. This powerful and meaningful movement is about mobilising all South Africans to support and buy from their local small businesses.

South Africas biggest and most meaningful movement was created 12 years ago in response to small business owners most pressing need: getting more customers. The day is now a national tradition. A vast majority of consumers agree that shopping at small, independently owned businesses supports their commitment to making purchases that have a positive social, economic, and environmental impact.

This is a fantastic initiative and its wonderful to see the enthusiasm and dedication behind #AbsaSmallBizFriday and its mission to support and celebrate local small businesses in South Africa, says Mike Anderson, NSBC founder and CEO. Small businesses are the backbone of many economies and supporting them can have a significant positive impact on local communities and the overall economy.

#AbsaSmallBizFriday is a dedicated effort to encourage people to shop locally and help these small businesses thrive.

The movement is led by the NSBC and sponsored by Absa; demonstrating a collaborative effort to boost small businesses across the country. #AbsaSmallBizFriday is when we salute and celebrate the mainstay of our economy and the engine of our society, placing extra emphasis on mobilising the nation to go big by supporting the small, says Anderson.

There is nothing small about the impact small businesses have on our economy. South Africa has hundreds of thousands of small businesses  so many that they contribute over 40% of our countrys gross domestic product and employ two-thirds of all South African workers. This means that the more support they receive, the more people they can employ, and the more successful our country becomes.

Anderson says that the NSBC and Absa anticipates enormous, nationwide support again this year. Its a 365-day drive that elevates every Friday and peaks on #AbsaSmallBiz Friday  the biggest small business day of the year. It is always the first Friday of Spring every year and marks the pinnacle of the initiative.

This timing aligns with the new energy and optimism that Spring brings. Spring brings new energy and a feel-good time of the year, so it was decided that the frenzy would peak, and the national celebration event would always be on the 1st Friday of Spring every year. The very first Small Business Friday was on 7 September 2012.

If more can support local small businesses, these small businesses will be able to build their infrastructure and employ more from the local communities, therefore alleviating unemployment and driving job creation. This is meaningful nation building.

#AbsaSmallBizFriday continues to put small businesses across South Africa firmly in the spotlight, by encouraging consumers, business, and Government to support, visit and spend at a small business all year round, especially on Fridays, and particularly on #AbsaSmallBizFriday.

With more support, small businesses have the potential to breathe new life into the South African economy and play an even bigger role in economic growth and job creation. Small businesses represent countless hours of hard work, commitment, resilience, and thousands of jobs. When South Africans support the small, they make a big impact. Providing as much support to small businesses as possible is an investment in our communities and South Africas collective economic future.

What else can you do now to support this all-important movement?

Join us for the official #AbsaSmallBizFriday National Celebration

Small business owners, entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners are invited to join the Official #AbsaSmallBizFriday National Celebration hosted by Absa and NSBC Africa on 1 September 2023 at 9.30am. This live virtual event honours the impact of small businesses and dives deeper into this nation-building initiative. Be inspired and learn from like-minded business professionals and be part of the national movement mobilising South Africa to support small businesses. Register here.

Become an active participant in this nation-building movement

1. Think differently. Build the habit of supporting small businesses.

2. Act today by changing where you make your purchases.

3. Spread the word amongst friends, family, and colleagues.

To stay connected and engaged with the movement, individuals can follow on the official website and social media platforms. To show your support, join in on the fun and excitement and stay up to date with all the #AbsaSmallBizFriday happenings you can:

Follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram),



visit our website (www.smallbizfriday.co.za),



and spread the word by using the hashtag #AbsaSmallBizFriday.

Choose small business. Support the innovators, the job creators, the ones who dare to dream, the hard workers, the big thinkers who arent afraid of humble beginnings, the nation builders because your choice matters.
A police logo is seen in this undated file photo. Korea Times file



Police said Wednesday they are investigating the deaths of a man and a woman in their 40s whose bodies were found at an apartment in northern Seoul earlier this week.



The bodies were found by the woman's family at her apartment in the Mia-dong district at 8:55 p.m. Monday, police said.



Police said they suspect foul play as the woman's hands were tied with duct tape and her face showed signs of assault. Traces of charcoal burning were also found inside the house.



The woman called 112 for emergency police assistance at 3:40 a.m. on the same day but soon hung up without revealing the reason of her call or her location after only saying "why?" in a low voice, according to police.



Police said they were unsuccessful when they tried to find the woman's location because her mobile phone was turned off immediately after the 112 call. (Yonhap)


Joe and Hunter Biden

The National Archives and Records Administration acknowledged possessing potentially up to 5,400 emails connected to then-Vice President Joe Bidens pseudonym accounts that he used to forward government information and discuss business with his son, Hunter Biden, and others, and on Monday the Southeastern Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit to compel the agency to turn over the emails, reports Just The News.

Southeastern Legal Foundation said the archives confirmed that Biden used the pseudonyms of Robin Ware, Robert L. Peters, and JRB Ware during his time in the Obama administration.

Just The News notes that the archives admissions confirm years of reporting from Just the News about Bidens use of a personal email as vice president and the pseudonym accounts he used.

In October 2021, Southeastern Legal Foundation submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to NARA for Bidens emails. But NARA has failed to produce a single one of these emails, SLF says.

So on August 28, SLF filed a lawsuit against NARA to compel it to release the records.

All too often, public officials abuse their power by using it for their personal or political benefit. When they do, many seek to hide it, says Kim Hermann, SLFs general counsel. The only way to preserve governmental integrity is for NARA to release Bidens nearly 5,400 emails to SLF and thus the public. The American public deserves to know what is in them.

Congressional overseers are also trying to get their hands on Bidens pseudonymous emails. On August 17, Congressman James Comer asked the archives to turn over Bidens communications as vice president with his son and his business partners.

Laptop data shows Joe Biden used pseudonyms to pass inside information to Hunter Biden.

Influence peddling by the Bidens was revealed in photos and emails found on Hunters abandoned laptop. Hunter Bidens laptop contained copious evidence that Joe Biden was complicit in his sons influence peddling, noted the New York Post.

Hunter Biden also appears to have sold classified information to his foreign paymasters. In a New York Post column, Miranda Devine notes that there are several clues on on Hunter Bidens abandoned laptop that Hunter may have been selling classified information to his foreign paymasters. She points to uncharacteristically cogent email about Ukraine written by Hunter Biden in 2014, that likely reflects his cribbing classified information.

You would definitely go to prison if you were caught evading millions of dollars in taxes, the way Hunter Biden did. But he hasnt, and the Justice Department offered him a sweetheart deal, while deliberately allowing the statute of limitations to run on some of the millions in unpaid taxes, so that Hunter Biden will never have to pay what he owes in full. The former head of the Justice Departments Tax Division pointed out that it was unprecedented for the government to let the statute of limitations run on some of the money Biden owed, writing in the Wall Street Journal that For the government to permit the statute of limitations to expire is unheard of.

Biden has falsely claimed that his son earned no money from China. But as the Washington Post fact-checker notes, that is false  his own son admitted otherwise.

On March 17, Joe Biden falsely denied that members of his family received over $1 million from Hunter Bidens business associate  even as his son Hunter Biden confirmed it.

Republican Congressman James Comer of Kentucky disclosed the more than $1 million in payments in late June. Comer got them through a subpoena of Hunter Bidens business associate Rob Walkers bank records. Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, revealed that from 2015 through 2017, Biden family members and their companies received over $1.3 million in payments from accounts tied to Walker.

Comer found that more than $1 million was sent in a series of payments to Hunter Biden, Joe Bidens brother James, and Hallie Biden, the widow of Joe Bidens deceased son Beau. (Hunter had a sexual relationship with Hallie in 2017 following his brothers death, not long after Walker received a $3 million wire from a Chinese company).

In June, a reporter asked President Biden at the White House if he had any reaction to House GOPs new memo about your family dealings. The President replied, My family dealings? The reporter responded, Yes, revealing that Hunter Bidens business associate sent over a million dollars to three of your family members?

Thats not true, replied Joe Biden.

But it was true, as the Washington Examiner reported.
President Yoon Suk Yeol, third from left, speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, Aug. 29. Yonhap



The government is likely to designate Oct. 2 a temporary holiday during next week's Cabinet meeting, creating a six-day extended break starting with the Chuseok holiday, an official said Wednesday.



This year's Chuseok fall harvest holiday will run from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, which means the temporary holiday will be a bridge to Oct. 3 National Foundation Day, another public holiday.



Next week's Cabinet meeting will be held Tuesday, presided over by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. Once the designation passes, President Yoon Suk Yeol will likely approve it immediately.



"The ruling party has recommended the designation of a temporary holiday and we are actively considering it," a senior presidential official told Yonhap News Agency. "It looks appropriate to finalize it next week."



The ruling People Power Party reportedly made the recommendation based on political considerations, as the extended holiday could help boost domestic consumption and revive the economy.



It would be the first such designation under the current administration. (Yonhap)


Elementary freshmen pose during an entrance ceremony at an elementary school in Seoul, March 2. Korea Times file



The population of kindergarten to high-school students shrank by nearly 100,000 this year from a year earlier, extending its falling streak to the 18th year, the education ministry said Wednesday.



The number of students at the country's kindergartens and elementary, middle and high schools nationwide amounted to slightly over 5.78 million as of April 1, the education ministry said in its annual student population statistics, released jointly with the Korean Educational Development Institute.



The figure marks a fall of 1.6 percent, or nearly 96,156, from 2022, when the population of students below the higher education level reached nearly 5.88 million.



After peaking at slightly over 10.3 million in 1986, the student population has been on a steady decline to go below the 10 million level in 1990 and the 6 million level in 2021.



Since posting a turnaround increase of 270 students in 2005, the student population has shrunk for the next 18 years until 2023.



The statistics put the kindergarten student population at 521,794, down 5.6 percent from a year ago. It also put the number of elementary students at 2.6 million and middle-school students at 1.33 million, down 2.3 percent and 1.6 percent from last year, respectively. The number of high-school students posted a 1.3 percent growth to 1.28 million.



The combined number of kindergartens and elementary, middle and high schools across the nation stood at 20,605, down 91 from 2022.



The average number of students per teacher reached 9.4 for the kindergarten level, 13.3 for elementary schools, 11.6 for middle schools and 9.8 for high schools.



The number of multicultural students, defined as those with at least one parent who is a foreigner, reached 181,178 at elementary to high schools, up 7.4 percent from a year earlier.



Since the number of multicultural students was first incorporated into the statistics in 2012, their population has increased every year.



A total of 3.04 million students were enrolled in higher education institutions, including universities, graduate schools and vocational colleges, down 2.5 percent from last year.



The number of foreign students hit a record high of 181,842, up from 9 percent from the previous year, with Chinese and Vietnamese students representing the lion's share of 37.4 percent and 23.8 percent, respectively. (Yonhap)


NEW DELHI (PTI): The Goa Shipyard Ltd on Tuesday signed an agreement with the Kenya Shipyard Ltd for joint collaboration in ship design and construction, in reflection of growing defence cooperation between the two countries.



Separately, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh presented to Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence Aden Bare Duale 15 pairs of parachutes manufactured by the Gliders India Ltd for use by the Kenyan armed forces.



Singh gifted the parachutes to Duale after holding wide-ranging talks with him.



"The meeting was a testimony to the increasing depth in the India-Kenya defence partnership," the defence ministry said.



"Both the ministers agreed that the defence relationship between the two countries has evolved from being training-centric to include more strategic aspects," it said.

Duale is currently on a three-day visit to India.



On the talks, the ministry said Singh underscored the importance that India attaches to the ties with African nations and that two sides concurred on the need for deeper cooperation in maritime security of the Indian Ocean region.



It said capacity building and cooperation in defence industry and equipment was also discussed at length by the two sides.



"A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Goa Shipyard Ltd and Kenya Shipyard Ltd in the field of capacity building and for collaboration in ship design and construction," it said.



"As a token of friendship, Rajnath Singh presented 15 pairs of parachutes (main and reserve) manufactured by the Gliders India Ltd to the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence for use by the Kenyan forces," the ministry said.



It said India also extended support towards setting up of an advanced CT scan facility in Kenya.



On his part, Duale appreciated the growing prowess of the Indian defence industry, including the private sector, and highlighted the areas in which the Indian industry can support the requirements of the Kenyan Forces.



He also suggested 'training of trainers' of Kenyan forces by the instructors of Indian Armed Forces in order to maintain continuity and extract greater benefit out of such programmes.



"Both sides agreed for joint training in counter insurgency and UN peacekeeping domains. Other regional security issues of mutual interest were also discussed during the meeting," the ministry said.



Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan and Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane also attended the meeting along with senior officials of defence ministry, external affairs ministry and defence PSUs.


DHAKA (PTI): Bangladesh on Tuesday acknowledged India's continued support in training its armed forces, as the military services of the two countries held their third Tri-Service Staff Talks (TSST) here.



The TSST was co-chaired by Bangladesh Armed Forced Division's operations and planning directorate chief Brigadier General Hussain Muhammad Mashiur Rahman and Air Vice Marshal Ashish Vohra of India.



"The continued Indian support for training the armed forces of Bangladesh is very clear," Bangladesh's defence ministry said in a statement after the TSST.



The statement said many Bangladesh Army, Navy and Air Force personnel are trained in different Indian institutions and Bangladesh, as well, hosts training for India's armed forces personnel every year while both the armed forces work together at different levels in UN peacekeeping missions.



"In recent years (Bangladesh's) military and security-related links with India witnessed a notable progress, reaching the bilateral cooperation and friendship to a new height," it said.



The third TSST was held two days after the two countries held their fifth defence dialogue in Bangladesh's capital.



Dhaka hosted the first TSST in 2021 while the second one was held in India in 2022. Officials familiar with the TSST said the dialogue mainly focused on military cooperation, training and bilateral defence issues.



According to the statement after the talks Vohra called on Bangladesh Armed Forces' Division's Principal Staff Office Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman, who on August 27 led Dhaka in the fifth defence dialogue when the Indian side was led by Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane.



It said relations between the military, Navy and Air Forces of the two countries were very close and the foundation of the bond was created during Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War, crucially backed by India.


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Postal Code




The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Wednesday it ordered disciplinary measures for 95 parents who failed to pay child support expenses after divorcing their spouses.







The identities of four people were disclosed on the ministry website, while 57 others were banned from leaving the country and 34 people had their drivers' licenses suspended, a review committee under the ministry said.







The number of people under disciplinary measures has been increasing since the ministry began handing out sanctions in July 2021 to facilitate the repayment of the overdue expenses. While 27 people made it to the list in the second half of 2021, the number peaked in the first half of this year with 291 people disciplined for failing to make child support payments. (Yonhap)


Oti Mabuse has said she and her husband Marius Iepure had decided to stop trying to conceive before they fell pregnant because it just got too much.

The Dancing On Ice judge, 33, revealed on Saturday that she is expecting her first child.

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The former Strictly Come Dancing professional said in an Instagram post, that the prospect of having a baby is scarier than swimming with sharks, jumping off cliffs or even swinging from bridges but the best news we could have ever ask for.

Sharing a video of the moment she told her friend Nkateko Dinwiddy she was pregnant, Mabuse revealed the couple had recently stopped trying.

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She wrote: My friend @takkies7 asked me to test because I was drinking coffee and I dont drink coffee.

We had been trying for a while and decided to stop (it all just got too much) and just live life as us two as nothing was happening.

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We enjoyed each others company, dinners, concerts, parties, just simply removed all the pressure and here we are!

When Mabuse first shared the news she was expecting she said: We love our little bundle of joy so much already and cant wait to see what our future will now look like as family of 3 plus Leo. Leo is Mabuses dog.

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Its been a beautiful journey so far with close friends and family and nearly over but we have learnt a lot a long the way. Christmas is about to get even louder.

View this post on Instagram Advertisement A post shared by Oti Mabuse (@otimabuse)

Mabuse has also shared a video montage of the moment they shared the news with close friends and family, including her sister, the Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi Mabuse.

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Motsi, 42, had been a judge on the German version of Strictly, Lets Dance, before joining the BBC series as a judge in 2019, replacing Dame Darcey Bussell.
The family of a Catholic teenager killed by loyalist paramilitaries in north Belfast in 2002 have expressed disappointment in the findings of a Police Ombudsman report.

Gerard Lawlors father said he feels let down that more than 20 years on he is still having to pursue accountability for his sons murder.

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A report by Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson on Wednesday found significant failings in the Police Service of Northern Ireland investigation in 2002.

But she said she found no evidence of collusive behaviours and no evidence that the murder could have been prevented.

Mr Lawlors family maintain their belief that there was collusive behaviour in the police investigation which has not helped secured prosecutions.

No-one has ever been charged with or prosecuted for the murder of Mr Lawlor.

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Police ombudsman for Northern Ireland Marie Anderson (Liam McBurney/PA)

John Lawlor said he was disappointed by the report.

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I think the years have toned down the anger a bit, he said.

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I still believe in a just and open society, police have to be held to account. I think they had a golden opportunity this morning to address that and they didnt do it.

The core problem is still there, nobody is being held accountable.

If you or I had done anything, wed be crucified but there seems to be a part of this society that can walk about with impunity, and thats the bit that is hard to swallow at times.

Were being let down, this should have been locked up years ago.

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Gerard Lawlor's family's solicitor Niall Murphy (left) and Mr Lawlor's father John react to a Police Ombudsman's report. Photo: Rebecca Black/PA

Niall Murphy, solicitor for the Lawlor family, said the Ombudsmans report is a detailed analysis of a pathetic police investigation.

The report correctly confirms a multitude of egregious failings, he said.

Where we differ from the Ombudsmans conclusive analysis, we consider the facts sustain ours, whereas her analysis is that collusive behaviours were not an impediment to the investigation.

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The family considered that the facts found, the failings found, the failure to arrest suspects, the failure to erect a vehicle checkpoint at the Whitewell Road/Antrim Road junction, that those facts actually sustain their sincerely held belief that collusive behaviour was an impediment to successful prosecutions in respect of those who murdered Gerard.

An inquest into Mr Lawlors death was delayed while the Ombudsmans investigation was ongoing.

Mr Murphy said he expects a preliminary hearing in the inquest will be held in the coming weeks or months.
Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has called for a national debate on whether it is appropriate to continue tying the number of TDs in the Dail to the population.

Speaking to reporters at Government Buildings, Mr Harris asked: Are we really going to live in a country where were just going to increase the number of TDs ad nauseam?

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He said the current rules, which include having an average of 20,000 to 30,000 people per TD within constituencies limited to between three and five seats, can see people having difficulty when an electoral boundary moves across their hometown.

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He said: Im not talking about the politician, Im talking about where you actually fit in terms of your identity in the political system  and the numbers just continue to grow and grow.

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Mr Harris said if a national conversation brought the country to a point where it needed to be put the people, Government should be open to that.

He said: I do think we need an informed debate in this country about should the number of national legislators be entirely and exclusively linked to population, or actually is there a conversation to be had about what the appropriate number of TD is?

Asked if he has an opinion on what the maximum number of TDs should be, Mr Harris said he does not.

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He said: I dont think any one politician or political party  Government or opposition, should be answering that question and the factual position today is the Constitution is the word on the matter.

Chair of An Coimisiun Toghchain Ms Justice Marie Baker (PA)

He said the Electoral Commission could research best practice on the matter in other jurisdictions.

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Mr Harris added: I certainly wouldnt be buying into the populist narrative of reducing the number of politicians for the sake of it, Im more talking about a climate about where the number is increasing, what is the appropriate level, where does the increase stop?

I think we have a duty, in due course, to answer that question.

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At the publication of the Electoral Commission report, chair and Supreme Court judge Ms Justice Marie Baker said there should be immediate commencement of research on the rules around constituencies and representation.

This includes the seat limits for constituencies and the Constitutional provision for the need of one TD to represent every 20,000 to 30,000 people in Ireland.

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Asked about the proposed changed to his constituency, Mr Harris said: Im conscious there will be mixed feelings in Co Wicklow.

The decision was made to reduce the two five-seat constituencies of Wicklow and Wexford by one seat each and allocate an additional seat to create this new three-seat constituency.

He said: I think any time a constituency is split or theres any change, theres mixed feelings.

From an electoral point of view, Ive looked at the map, Ive looked at the numbers and Im happy enough with the lines on the map in terms of the next election.
While there will be 14 more TDs after the next general election following a highly-anticipated review into constituencies, some current and prospective public representatives may be facing an uphill battle at the polls after a redrawing of boundaries.

Politicians may have faced a sleepless night before the launch of the commissions report, on what was dubbed worry Wednesday, which also recommended that the number of constituencies increase from 39 to 43.

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More than 200 electoral divisions have been moved across constituencies to facilitate consistency of representation across the country in what Electoral Commission chief executive Art OLeary described as a battle between maths and geography.

These new constituency boundaries have caused celebration and consternation across the political divide as parties begin to weigh up their chances in an election rumoured for November next year.

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Chairperson of An Coimisiun Toghchain, Ms Justice Marie Baker, left, and chief executive Art OLeary. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA

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Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire Jennifer Carroll MacNeill was among the first politicians to lament a boundary change.

The area remains a four-seat constituency but has ceded an area around Foxrock which contains 12,407 people to Dublin Rathdown.

The Minister of State at the Department of Finance posted on Twitter: Very sorry to lose the Foxrock area as a TD after the election but I know my colleagues Josepha Madigan and Neale Richmond will be proud to have the opportunity to look for their support in the next election.

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Very sorry to lose the Foxrock area as a TD after the election but I know my colleagues Josepha Madigan and Neale Richmond will be proud to have the opportunity to look for their support in the next election. pic.twitter.com/tJOIVhVO9a  Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD (@CarrollJennifer) August 30, 2023

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There were other concerns about constituency boundaries with Dublin South-West TD Paul Murphy saying: Breaking up a major urban area like Tallaght between two constituencies makes no sense.

Mr Murphy, who has a constituency office in the south Dublin town, was reacting to the transfer of the Tallaght-Fettercairn electoral division, with a population of 11,335, from the Dublin South-West constituency to Dublin Mid-West.

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Labour TD for Cork East Sean Sherlock has also been tipped as having a difficult decision ahead.

The Mallow native will be concerned about the commissions recommendation to move the area of 14,408 people into Cork North Central.

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One of the most dramatic changes stems from the commissions decision to create a new constituency named Wicklow-Wexford.

Stephen Donnelly may be concerned about the decrease in seats in the new Wicklow constituency. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

It was decided to reduce the two five-seat constituencies of Wicklow and Wexford by one seat each and allocate an additional seat to create this new three-seat constituency.

Fine Gael TD for the current Wexford constituency Paul Kehoe is said to be disappointed by the boundary decision.

Areas containing almost 50,000 people around Gorey and Enniscorthy, where Mr Kehoe is based, will be transferred to the new constituency.

On the northern side of the carve-up, Green Party TD Steven Matthews and Fianna Fail Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly may be concerned about the decrease in seats in the new Wicklow constituency.

The two Government TDs did not meet the quota and will be facing Sinn Fein TD John Brady (who described the constituency change as a hatchet job), Social Democrat Jennifer Whitmore and Fine Gael Minister for Further Education Simon Harris who all fared much better in 2020. All five are based in the north of the county.

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An increase in the number of three-seat constituencies is seen as disadvantageous to independents and smaller political parties due to a higher quota threshold.

The new Wicklow-Wexford constituency

Elsewhere, the people of Clare may be looking green-eyed at the constituents of Kildare South.

The commission allowed for a variance in average constituency population per TD of plus or minus 8 per cent, the highest in decades.

Explained Ireland's new electoral map: See how your area is... Read More

An approximate maximum variance of 5 per cent has been used as a rule of thumb in the most recent reviews  but there is no set rule in the Constitution or legislation

The greatest variances are a plus 8.08 per cent in Clare and a minus 8.13 per cent in Kildare South.

This means each TD in Clare represents 31,985 people while each TD in Kildare South covers 27,186 people.
A medical inquiry has found a well-known Dublin GP not guilty of professional misconduct over allegations that he conducted an unauthorised medical assessment of a psychiatric patient while representing himself as acting for the Qatari embassy.

A fitness-to-practise committee of the Medical Council ruled that the case against Dr Bassam Naser, who operates a family practice in Sutton, was not proven.

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However, the committee found Dr Naser guilty of engaging in rude, aggressive and unprofessional conduct with staff while visiting the patient at the Drogheda Department of Psychiatry in Drogheda, Co Louth on May 20th, 2018, but said the finding did not constitute professional misconduct.

The GP had been accused of falsely claiming in a phone call to a social worker on April 30, 2018 that he was attached to the Qatari embassy and seeking details of the medical condition of a patient at the HSE-run mental healthcare facility when he was not the individuals family doctor and had no authority to access such information.

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The patient, a Qatari national, had been involuntarily detained the previous day after suffering a psychotic episode from suspected drug use.

The FTP committee also found Dr Naser not guilty of a separate charge that he had told a clinical nurse manager, Colum Butler, on May 20th, 2018, that he had been appointed by the Qatari Embassy to carry out the assessment when he knew such a claim was untrue.

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Qatari embassy

During a three-day inquiry held earlier this year, Dr Naser  who is commonly known as Dr Sam  denied misrepresenting himself to staff at the Drogheda Department of Psychiatry in relation to the patient.

In evidence, Dr Naser explained he had been contacted by the Palestinian ambassador to Ireland who had in turn been contacted by the Qatari embassy in London about the patient whose father was a Qatari national who was anxious to find out about what happened to his son.

He said he was asked by the Palestinian ambassador to intervene as he spoke Arabic and had been a doctor in Ireland for 40 years.

Dr Naser said he had acted out of compassion in helping the man who had cried repeatedly after arriving in Ireland.

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The inquiry heard the mans wife was receiving treatment for cancer at the same time in the US.

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Dr Naser said he was taken aback by the attitude of Mr Butler when he visited the facility with the patients father.

However, the inquirys chairperson, Paul Harkin, said the committee was satisfied that an angry exchange had taken place at a nurses station between Dr Naser and Mr Butler which had been precipitated by the GPs unprofessional and rude conduct towards the nurse.

Mr Harkin said Dr Nasers explanation that he did not want to create any trouble was simply not credible.

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He noted that the GP had made allegations about Mr Butler in evidence that he had not raised before or during cross-examination of the nurse.

The committee said it was satisfied that Dr Naser was prepared to make allegations about others as and when it suits him.

'Fine margin'

It criticised his conduct on the day as well as his evidence to the inquiry but said that by a fine margin, while unacceptable, it did not constitute professional misconduct.

Mr Harkin said the disagreement should not have happened but that Dr Naser was primarily to blame for it, although he acknowledged that the doctor was trying to be a good Samaritan by helping the patients father at the request of the Qatari embassy.

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He observed that the GP had become frustrated at the professional conduct of Mr Butler supporting the patients rights and had reacted unprofessionally.

Outlining the inquirys other findings, Mr Harkin said it was not proven beyond reasonable doubt that Dr Naser had misrepresented himself as being attached to the Qatari embassy in a phone call with a social worker.

It made a similar finding in relation to the allegation that Dr Naser had carried out a medical or psychiatric assessment of the patient on May 20, 2018.

Mr Harkin said the GP, who was the only person to give evidence about his meeting with the patient, had insisted that they only had a general conversation about the patients wish to return home and to fly aeroplanes.

He noted that Mr Butler had only observed the 15-minute conversation between the GP and the patient through a window.

The committee observed that there was no record in medical notes that Dr Naser had told staff that he had carried out an assessment of the patient as claimed by Mr Butler.

It also observed that Mr Butler had not seen Dr Naser take any notes during the meeting with the patient as might be expected with a medical assessment.

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In addition, the committee said there were no medical records of a request by Dr Naser to access the patients file as alleged by Mr Butler.

It noted that Mr Butler had also accepted during the inquiry that he might have been incorrect in stating that the GP had claimed that he had been appointed by the Qatari embassy.

Mr Harkin said such allegations were unproven as the GP was entitled to the benefit of the doubt.

Reacting to the findings, Dr Naser said he was grateful to the FTP committee.

Tax offences

Last year, Dr Naser was found guilty of professional misconduct over his failure to notify the Medical Council of a criminal conviction in relation to tax offences.

The GP was subsequently censured and fined 5,000 by the regulatory body.

The Palestinian-born married father of seven from Howth Road, Sutton was sentenced to 16 months in jail in June 2018 for filing incorrect tax returns for 2006 and 2007 which resulted in an underpayment of 100,000 in income tax.

Dr Naser was the subject of a high-profile public campaign following his conviction with a petition signed by over 6,000 people to have him released from prison on humanitarian grounds, while his case was also discussed on several editions of RTEs Liveline.
The Electoral Commission has released its constituencies review with a recommendation of four 14 extra TDs and four new constituencies.

It recommends that the next Dail would see 174 TDs representing 43 Dail constituencies, up from the current 160 TDs in 39 constituencies.

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This would see every TD represent an average of 29,593 people, down from the current 32,182.

Changes will include Dublin Fingal being split into two constituencies, Dublin Fingal East and Dublin Fingal West, with three seats each. This is an increase of two seats.

Dublin Mid West gains one seat to become a five-seater, Dublin West will also become a five seat constituency, while Dublin Rathdown becomes a four-seater, up from three.

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There are changes for Wexford and Wicklow. Both counties will remain as four seat constituencies, however, there will be a new Wexford-Wicklow constituency with three seats taking territory from the south and north of each county.

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This area will take up both the towns of Arklow and Gorey.

Galway East will be given an extra seat, taken from the Roscommon-Galway constituency. Mayo gains a seat while Galway West will remain as a five-seater.

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Cork North Central and Cork South Central will both become five seat constituencies. Laois-Offaly will become two constituencies with three seats each.

Tipperary will be changed to two three-seaters, Tipperary North and Tipperary South.

You can read the full review here.

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Chair of the Electoral Commission, Supreme Court Judge Ms Justice Marie Baker said: Our recommendation for 174 TDs across 43 constituencies is the product of detailed analysis of constitutional and statutory limits. It arrives at a solution which best fits the needs of the country as a whole, as our population expands

The Commission is pleased to be in a position to recommend the removal of seven of the 10 existing breaches of county boundaries, reductions in the size of two existing breaches and to propose just three new county boundary breaches in the recommended constituency composition.

Thanks to all those hundreds of people, parties and organisations who shared their ideas and proposals with us. Each was considered in making our final recommendations.

This Constituency Review is the first task of Irelands new Electoral Commission, An Coimisiun Toghchain. At barely 6 months old, we are proud to deliver this significant democratic review of Irelands constituencies, the building blocks of our democracy, on time and in line with our statutory mandate.
Broadcaster Pat Kenny is one of four Dalkey residents that has launched a High Court challenge against An Bord Pleanala's decision to grant planning permission for a new nursing home in the South Dublin suburb.

Mr Kenny, along with Christopher Herbert, Tom Palmer and Peter Cullen have brought judicial review action challenging An Bord Pleanala's decision of July 6th last to grant Bartra Property Ltd permission to construct a 104-bed nursing home on lands at Ulverton Rd and Harbour Rd, Dalkey.

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In their proceedings the plaintiffs, who live near the proposed five-storey development, seek various orders and declarations including an order setting aside the board's decision which it is argued is flawed.

Badgers

Among the grounds of their challenge is that the proposed nursing home will adversely impact on badgers living on the lands.

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It is claimed that conditions of the permission granted by the board contradicts each other.

One of the conditions requires the nursing to be built in accordance with the plans submitted.

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Another condition the developer to adhere to National Guidelines concerning the treatment of badgers and works being carried out near their setts.

It is claimed that the guidelines require that heavy machinery cannot be used within 30 metres of badger setts. The guidelines also prohibit works with lighter machinery within 20 metres, and no hand digging or clearing done within 10 metres of badger setts.

The applicant's claim that if the conditions of the permission are to be complied with it would be impossible to build 60 of the proposed nursing home units.

The challenge has been brought on other grounds including that the board failed to properly take account or determine issues including the volume of extra traffic generated, parking and the capacity of local sewers generated by the proposed development before it decided to grant permission.

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Environmental report

The board also failed to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in respect of the proposed development, the applicants also submit.

Other issues include the ability of the proposed nursing home's elderly residents to access to local services and shops in Dalkey villages which iis some 500 meters away, and the amount of light generated by the proposed development.

In its decision the board overturned Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Co Council's 2021 decision to refuse to grant planning permission to Bartra.

As well as that board, the residents' action is against the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Ireland and the Attorney General.

Bartra is a notice party to the proceedings.

The proceedings were briefly mentioned before Mr Justice Michael MacGrath during Wednesday's vacation sitting of the High Court.

The judge, following an application by the plaintiff's solicitor Mr Fred Logue, deemed that their application to have the board's decision judicially reviewed has been brought within the legal time limits allowed.

The matter was adjourned and will be mentioned before the court next month.
A Sinn Fein MLA has said that at no point did he suggest his party would withdraw support for the PSNI during discussions with senior officers about the policing of a Troubles memorial event in 2021.

Policing Board representative Gerry Kelly said he wanted to set the record straight following the latest controversy to hit the Norths police force after a Belfast High Court judge ruled that a decision to discipline two junior officers was unlawful.

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The row has led some unionist politicians to call for the resignation of chief constable Simon Byrne.

Mr Justice Scoffield said this week the decision was made to discipline the officers to allay any threat of Sinn Fein abandoning its support for policing in the North.

However, Sinn Fein denied there was any threat to withdraw support.

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Mr Kelly said: Its a matter of public record that we raised our valid concerns with the chief constable and senior police officers about the arrest of victims on the Ormeau Road where families were commemorating the murders of their loved ones by loyalists.

I want to set the record straight.

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At no stage during any calls to, or meetings with, senior PSNI officers did I suggest or insinuate that Sinn Fein would withdraw support for the rule of law or policing, or remove our members from the Policing Board.

A special meeting of the Policing Board has been called for Thursday to discuss the latest crisis to hit the force.

The incident happened on the Ormeau Road in February 2021 during a service marking the anniversary of the February 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers attack in which five people were murdered.

The court ruling has prompted further criticism of Mr Byrne, who is already under pressure following revelations of data breaches this month.

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Trevor Clarke, the DUPs lead representative on the Policing Board, said it is difficult to see what credibility the chief constable has left.

Trevor Clarke said Mr Byrne has lost the confidence of his officers, the public and politicians. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA

He told the BBC Good Morning Ulster programme: Where a judge has said a chief constable is prepared to sacrifice his young officers, how can the chief constable or anyone else expect anyones support after that?

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I spoke to the chief executive of the Policing Board yesterday asking for a meeting with the chief constable, but we are at the stage now that it is difficult to see any credibility that the chief constable has left.

I think if he was making that decision today, he would make that decision himself.

Asked if he is calling for Mr Byrne to resign, Mr Clarke said: It is clear the officers dont have confidence and now politicians dont have confidence, and clearly the public wont have confidence, so I think if you work out the consequences from that, the only option open to Simon is to resign at this stage.

The chief constable has said, and the counsel for the chief constable has said, he was guided by their [Sinn Fein] threat to leave the (Policing) Board.

There is nothing to prevent me or anyone else speaking to the officers of the police, but they shouldnt be held by threats by us or anyone else on the basis of our support for policing.

Clearly Sinn Fein has used conditional support and the chief constable has read into that and made a decision based on that.

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UUP leader Doug Beattie has called for an urgent meeting with the chief constable. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie has asked for an urgent meeting with Mr Byrne while TUV leader Jim Allister said the chief constable should resign.

SDLP Policing Board member Mark H Durkan said serious issues with policing had been exposed.

He added: The chief constable, the Policing Board and all of us with an interest in securing the new beginning to policing must act urgently to address this situation.

The two officers faced action in 2021 following the arrest of Mark Sykes, a survivor of a loyalist gun attack on the Sean Graham bookmakers shop in south Belfast in 1992.

The controversial incident unfolded when police challenged those attending a memorial event amid suspicions the size of the public gathering breached coronavirus regulations.

Mr Sykes was handcuffed and arrested in chaotic exchanges captured on social media.

The incident triggered a major controversy at the time and sparked criticism of Mr Byrne.

Simon Byrne has accepted the findings of the court. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA

Mr Byrne apologised for the PSNIs handling of the event and it was announced that one officer was to be suspended and one repositioned.

Following a legal challenge by the Police Federation, Mr Justice Scoffield said: Both the deputy chief constable and the chief constable were acutely aware of the threat of Sinn Fein withdrawing support for policing and/or withdrawing from the Policing Board if immediate action was not taken in respect of the officers duty status.

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In a statement in response to the courts findings on Tuesday, Mr Byrne said the incident was difficult for everyone.

He added: Those paying their respects at a memorial event, the young officers who attended on behalf of the police service, and for the public who observed the footage of an incident which happened shortly afterwards which circulated across media platforms.

As chief constable, I accept the findings of the court.

In particular that there was a legal error in the way in which the public interest test was applied in deciding to suspend one officer and reposition another, rendering the action unlawful.

It is important, however, to clarify that neither officer has been disciplined to date.
Updated: 2.45pm

Three members of a family in Cashel, Co Tipperary have died following a crash.

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The single-vehicle collision happened just before 9pm on Tuesday night in the Windmill Knockbulloge area just outside the town.

The couple who died along with their three-year-old grandson have been named locally as Thomas OReilly (45), his wife Bridget (46) and grandson Tom.

The driver of the car and the front seat passenger, a man and a woman (both 22) are understood to be Tom's parents.

An update from Gardai on Wednesday afternoon said the pair are continuing to receive treatment for their injuries at Tipperary University Hospital, Clonmel.

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The bodies of Thomas, Bridget and Tom have been removed from the scene and takenn to Waterford University Hospital where post-mortem examinations will be carried out.

The road in the Windmill-Knockbulloge area remains closed to traffic to facilitate a forensic examination, with local diversions in place.

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In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Superintendent Kieran Ruane expressed condolences on behalf of Gardai to the family.

Describing the scene as "traumatic and very difficult for everyone in attendance", Supt Ruane thanked gardai, HSE Paramedics, Cashel Fire Brigade, staff at Tipperary University Hospital and Tipperary County Council for their professionalism and compassion to the family.

Tom O'Reilly (three). Photo: Garda Press Office

"Our local community here in Cashel is shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic road traffic collision...I have spoken with the family of the deceased this morning, a family that is devastated by this terrible incident.

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"I assured the family and I want to assure the community that local Gardai here in South Tipperary are here to support them and the community, as we all come to terms with this tragedy over the coming days, weeks and months," Supt Ruane said, adding that the family have asked for privacy at this time.

Bridget (46) and Thomas O'Reilly (45). Photo: Garda Press Office

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also paid tribute to the victims: My sincere condolences to the friends and family of the people killed in the road incident in Cashel. May they rest in peace, the Taoiseach posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

My thoughts are with everyone in Tipperary with this awful news coming so soon after the tragic deaths in Clonmel.

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Mags Casey of the Tipperary Rural Travellers Project said that she has known the OReilly family for 23 years.

The Travelling community all over Ireland are shocked, devastated and numb, at this particular point, she told RTEs News At One.

Local councillor Declan Burgess expressed his sympathies to the family, who he said were well-known in the area, and thanked first responders who attended the scene.

He also thanked local residents near the crash who were at the scene on Tuesday night.

Particularly following the tragedy in Clonmel, its awful news, he told PA.

Our community is struck by another blow, its a very upsetting situation, especially with a child involved.

On behalf of the town, I want to express my deepest condolences to the families affected, Cashel is still trying to cope with this.

Our thoughts are also with the two people who are still in hospital.

I want to thank the brilliant first responders who attended the scene, and to thank the residents of the Windmill-Knockbulloge area who were first on the scene.

Cashel is numb tonight. Deeply shocking. Big thanks to the first responders for their work in difficult circumstances. https://t.co/80aAfwOCxc Advertisement  Declan Burgess Tipperary (@DeclanBurgess) August 29, 2023

Local councillor Roger Kennedy described it as a terribly sad situation.

My sympathies to the family involved, he said, adding it was tragic to lose three of the same family.

They are a large extended family, they have great support here and there will be great support for them from the community.

Sinn Fein TD for Tipperary Martin Browne has spoken of the impact of the news of the fatal car crash in Cashel.

He told RTE radios' Morning Ireland that it was devastating coming so soon after the deaths of four young people in Clonmel at the weekend.

Mr Browne said he knew the family, who would be well known in the town, adding that the incident was harrowing.

We send our condolences to the families, and I suppose it also needs to be said that the emergency services were brilliant and what they face on a daily basis as well needs to be recognised.

Mr Brown said that the stretch of road where the accident occurred was narrow and was well known for a field of sunflowers that had been planted to raise funds for cancer care.

An incident room has been established at Cahir Garda station and a Senior Investigating Officer has been appointed to lead the investigation.

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Gardai are appealing for any witnesses to this collision to contact the investigation team.

Any road users who may have camera or dash-cam footage and were travelling in the Windmill Knockbulloge area near Cashel between 8.30pm and 9.15pm on Tuesday are asked to make it available to gardai. - Additional reporting from Vivienne Clarke
Fans of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo will want to check out the latest addition to the saga

Fiction

1. The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright is published in hardback by Jonathan Cape

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A multigenerational novel that traces the inheritance of trauma and wonder . . . a testament to the glorious resilience of women and the fierce, painful, transcendent love between mother and daughter.



The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright



31 August https://t.co/Und98uZGRx pic.twitter.com/y2QcSQrnEO  Vintage Books (@vintagebooks) August 16, 2023

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Booker-prize-winning author Anne Enright returns with her latest tome, a rich, lyrical analysis of mother-daughter relationships. The Dublin-born writer is at her best when picking apart those familial connections that bind  and often separate us  and The Wren, The Wren builds on that tradition. Following Nell, a recent university graduate trying to find her place in the world while her independence pulls at mother Carmels heart. Both women grapple with the shadow cast over them by the memory of Carmels father, a famed Irish poet whose words pepper the novel. Captivating and thought-provoking, The Wren, The Wren is a slow-burning commentary on ancestry, love and longing, which leaves enough unsaid to truly captivate its reader.

9/10

(Review by Holly Cowell)

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2. The Girl In The Eagles Talons by Karin Smirnoff, translated by Sarah Death, is published in hardback by MacLehose Press

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Calling all thriller fans! Come along for an audience with Karin Smirnoff @TheWord_UK @SouthTyneLibs on 17th September for Afternoon coffee & cake, to talk about #TheGirlintheEaglesTalons and writing fiction. https://t.co/OF4UjENBQW @ForumBooks @QuercusBooks @Read_WIT pic.twitter.com/AckuzL2PtB  MacLehose Press & Arcadia Books (@maclehosepress) July 27, 2023

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Lisbeth Salander is alive and well, and embroiled in another thrilling adventure laced with danger, violence and enemies old and new. The new book in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series sees Salander reluctantly having to look after her niece Svala, whose mother has disappeared. The small town of Gasskas in northern Sweden is the setting for a series of shocks, as Lisbeth and her equally gifted niece are drawn into a web of corruption, conspiracy and cover-ups. Investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, struggling to cope with the demise of his Millennium magazine, enters the drama amid disturbing rumours about the man his daughter is about to marry  also in Swedens far north. Former journalist Smirnoff has thrown in issues such as climate change and environmental exploitation, to continue the hugely successful series first started by the late Stieg Larsson. Fans of the heroic hacker Salander and ageing hack Blomkvist will not be disappointed.

8/10

(Review by Alan Jones)

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3. A Bird In Winter by Louise Doughty is published in hardback by Faber & Faber

The tenth novel from number one Sunday Times bestselling author @DoughtyLouise, coming August 2023. Find out more about A Bird in Winter here https://t.co/AhFgxV2Xvf pic.twitter.com/65F9zLjdBb Advertisement  Faber Books (@FaberBooks) February 21, 2023

Heather  AKA Bird, although no one ever calls her that  is on the run, zigzagging her way north with the secret service and possible assassins on her trail. As her journey progresses through a series of brilliantly described landscapes, we gradually discover the reasons for her flight, as well as getting a picture of the life shes running from. The problem is, its not much of a life. Doughty has created a central character who has spent her entire existence avoiding any meaningful human connection, with the sole exception of an intense and rather unconvincing friendship many years previously. Although the writer is supremely skilled in building up tension, it becomes increasingly difficult to care about Bird. And while the deadpan narration cleverly reflects the characters arid inner life, it makes getting to the end of her flight a bit of a slog.

7/10

(Review by Jackie Kingsley)

Non-fiction

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4. Losing Young: How To Grieve When Your Life Is Just Beginning by Rachel Wilson is published in hardback by William Collins

This is a book for anyone who mourns a lost future, who is struggling to find themselves after grief, or hopes to feel less alone.



'Full of wisdom and compassion' @AnthonySeldon



LOSING YOUNG by Rachel Wilson is out now! pic.twitter.com/QUkkuijQw8  William Collins Books (@WmCollinsBooks) August 29, 2023

Rachel Wilson was 26 when her mother died  older than a child, but still not feeling like a full-grown adult. She found a curious lack of support for people in this in-between stage of life so she set up her own, called The Grief Network. Losing Young is a culmination of her personal experiences, stories from people shes met through The Grief Network, and expert-led commentary around key topics. Its well-researched and engagingly written, covering everything from sex after grief, how mourning is approached differently throughout the world and returning to work after loss. A must-read for anyone wanting to understand their own grief better, feel less alone  or even learn more about this important part of life more generally.

8/10

(Review by Prudence Wade)

Childrens book of the week

5. The Best Sleepover In The World by Jacqueline Wilson, illustrated by Rachael Dean, is published in hardback by Puffin

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Calling all Jacqueline Wilson fans, this is not a drill! 



The Alphabet Girls are back in THE BEST SLEEPOVER IN THE WORLD, the long awaited sequel to Jacqueline Wilson's best selling book SLEEPOVERS.



Illustrated by the brilliant @RachaelADean and out on 17th August 2023  pic.twitter.com/kYotOh7iWR  Jacqueline Wilson (@JackyWilsonHQ) March 13, 2023

This book is an absolute delight to read and will enthral any child. It follows the genuine love of two sisters Daisy and Lily, plus their lovely family. The sisters are extremely close and have a fantastic relationship  Lily is non-verbal, and teaches Daisy how to use Makaton, a special form of language using speech, signs and symbols. The book teaches inclusion and helps the reader be aware of disabilities in various forms. Daisy must overcome complications of school friendships, highlighting the highs and lows of emotions when tackling common situations at that age. However, as a family they pull together and have the best sleepover. The book has an eye-catching cover  its just a shame the colour illustrations are only on the cover and not carried throughout the book.

8/10

(Review by Joanne Brennan)

Book charts for the week ending August 26th

Hardback (Fiction)

1. The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

2. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

3. Masters Of Death by Olivie Blake

4. Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang

5. Normal Rules Dont Apply by Kate Atkinson

6. He Who Drowned The World by Shelley Parker-Chan

7. In Memoriam by Alice Winn

8. What You Are Looking For Is In The Library by Michiko Aoyama

9. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

10. The List by Yomi Adegoke

(Compiled by Waterstones)

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Hardback (Non-fiction)

1. Abroad In Japan by Chris Broad

2. BOSH! Meat by Henry Firth & Ian Theasby

3. Code Of Conduct by Chris Bryant

4. O Brother by John Niven

5. Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken

6. Janes Patisserie Everyday by Jane Dunn

7. Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own

8. The Wager by David Grann

9. Wifedom by Anna Funder

10. Pax by Tom Holland

(Compiled by Waterstones)

Audiobooks (Fiction & non-fiction)

1. None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

2. Atomic Habits by James Clear

3. Mythos by Stephen Fry

4. Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken

5. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

6. Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith

7. More Confessions Of A Forty-Something F**k Up by Alexandra Potter

8. The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman

8. Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection by Stephen Fry  introductions, Arthur Conan Doyle

10. Just Between Us by Adele Parks

(Compiled by Audible)
We Are China

Farmers harvest razor clams in Fuzhou, SE China's Fujian

People's Daily Online) 13:22, August 30, 2023

Farmers unload newly harvested razor clams from a vehicle in Meihua township in Changle district of Fuzhou city, southeast China's Fujian Province. (People's Daily Online/Ye Qingqing)

Meihua township in Changle district of Fuzhou city, southeast China's Fujian Province has entered the harvest season of razor clams.

Located at the estuary of Minjiang River, the township boasts high-quality mudflats, which are suitable for breeding of razor clams.

Local razor clam farmers said razor clams reach maturity in July, August and September. This year, the township's more than 50 breeding households are expected to harvest 2.5 million kg of razor clams from 700 mu (46.67 hectares) of mudflats, generating output worth more than 70 million yuan ($9.6 million).

Farmers return after collecting razor clams in Meihua township in Changle district of Fuzhou city, southeast China's Fujian Province. (People's Daily Online/Ye Qingqing)

A tracked vehicle is guided to a designated area where newly harvested razor clams will be unloaded from it. (People's Daily Online/Ye Qingqing)

Baskets of newly harvested razor clams are transferred to an agricultural tricycle. (People's Daily Online/Ye Qingqing)

A farmer drives an agricultural tricycle loaded with newly harvested razor clams, heading to a local market. (People's Daily Online/Ye Qingqing)

Photo shows a razor clam market in Meihua township in Changle district of Fuzhou city, southeast China's Fujian Province. (People's Daily Online/Ye Qingqing)

Farmers carry a basket of newly harvested razor clams at a razor clam market in Meihua township in Changle district of Fuzhou city, southeast China's Fujian Province. (People's Daily Online/Ye Qingqing)

Farmers wash away sand on newly harvested razor clams at a razor clam market in Meihua township in Changle district of Fuzhou city, southeast China's Fujian Province. (People's Daily Online/Ye Qingqing)

Photo shows newly harvested razor clams at a razor clam market in Meihua township in Changle district of Fuzhou city, southeast China's Fujian Province. (People's Daily Online/Ye Qingqing)

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Rep. Kim Nam-kuk attends a plenary session at the National Assembly in Seoul, Aug. 24. Yonhap



The parliamentary ethics subcommittee was set to meet Wednesday to determine what disciplinary measure to take against Rep. Kim Nam-kuk, accused of dubious cryptocurrency dealings.



Eyes are on whether rival party lawmakers on the ethics subcommittee will accept the recommendation from an advisory panel that Kim be expelled from the National Assembly.



The subcommittee had planned to make a decision last Tuesday but postponed the meeting after Kim declared he will not run in next year's general elections, a decision widely seen as aimed at seeking softer measures than expulsion.



The first-term lawmaker came under fire following revelations that he had owned around 800,000 Wemix coins in 2021, worth around 6 billion won ($4.5 million) at the time. Such a massive amount spurred suspicions about where the money came from and whether he used insider information.



Kim faced further criticism after he was found to have traded crypto coins multiple times while attending standing committee meetings. He left the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and became an independent following the revelations.



Currently, the ruling People Power Party and the DPK hold an equal number of seats on the ethics committee.



The parliamentary ethics committee runs a four-tier disciplinary system, which ranges from a warning to a maximum expulsion from parliament. Once the measure is decided, more than two-thirds of lawmakers need to vote in favor of approving a disciplinary measure at a parliamentary plenary session. (Yonhap)


Mutinous soldiers claimed to have seized power in Gabon on Wednesday and put the president under house arrest, hours after he was declared the winner in an election extending his familys 55-year rule in the oil-rich Central African country.

In a video apparently from detention in his residence, President Ali Bongo Ondimba called on people to make noise to support him.

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But the crowds who took to the streets of the capital instead celebrated the coup attempt against a dynasty accused of getting rich on the countrys resource wealth while many of its citizens struggle.

Thank you, army. Finally, weve been waiting a long time for this moment, said Yollande Okomo, standing near soldiers from Gabons elite republican guard, one of the units that staged the takeover.

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Mr Bongo, 64, has served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years, and there has been widespread discontent with his reign.



Soldiers appeared on state television to announce they had seized power (Gabon 24/AP)

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Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in 2019 but were quickly overpowered.

The former French colony is a member of Opec, but its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few  and nearly 40% of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank.

Its oil export revenue was six billion dollars (4.7 billion) in 2022, according to the US Energy Information Administration, or 2,720 dollars (2,139) per capita.

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Nine members of the Bongo family, meanwhile, are under investigation in France, and some face preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering and other forms of corruption, according to Sherpa, a French NGO dedicated to accountability.

Investigators have linked the family to more than 92 million dollars (72 million) in properties in France, including two villas in Nice, the group says.

A spokesman for the soldiers who claimed power Wednesday said that Mr Bongos unpredictable, irresponsible governance risked leading the country into chaos.

In a later statement, the coup leaders said people around the president had been arrested for high betrayal of state institutions, massive embezzlement of public funds (and) international financial embezzlement.

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Some analysts warned that the takeover risked bringing instability and could have more to do with divisions among the ruling elite than efforts to improve the lives of ordinary Gabonese.



Soldiers hold General Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema aloft in Libreville (Gabon24/AP)

Celebrating soldiers hoisted the head of the republican guard, who is a relative of Bongo, into the air.

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It is unclear if the military intends to name him as their new leader.

The coup attempt came about one month after mutinous soldiers in Niger seized power from the democratically elected government, and is the latest in a series of coups across West and Central Africa in recent years.

The impunity those putschists enjoyed may have inspired the soldiers in Gabon, said Maja Bovcon, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm.

In weekend elections, Mr Bongo faced an opposition coalition led by Albert Ondo Ossa, an economics professor and former education minister whose surprise nomination came a week before the vote.

Every election held in Gabon since the countrys return to a multiparty system in 1990 has ended in violence, and there were fears this one would as well.

The vote was criticised by international observers, but a relative calm prevailed until the early hours of Wednesday, when Mr Bongo was declared the winner.

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Minutes later, gunfire was heard in the centre of the capital, Libreville. Later, a dozen uniformed soldiers appeared on state television and announced that they had seized power.



President Ali Bongo Ondimba addressed the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in September last year (Mary Altaffer/AP)

Soon after, crowds poured into the streets. Shopkeeper Viviane Mbou offered the soldiers juice.

Long live our army, said Jordy Dikaba, a young man walking with his friends on a street lined with armoured policemen.

Libreville is a stronghold of support for the opposition, but it was unclear how the coup attempt was seen in the countryside, where more people traditionally back Mr Bongo.

The president pleaded for support in a video showing him sitting in a chair with a bookshelf behind him. He said he was detained in his residence and that his wife and son were elsewhere.

Im calling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really, he said in English.

The video was shared with The Associated Press by BTP Advisers, a communications firm that helped the president with polling for the election.

The coup leaders have said the president was under house arrest, surrounded by family and doctors.

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Mr Ossa, the opposition leader, told The AP he was not ready to comment and was waiting for the situation to evolve.





 [COMMUNIQUE]



"Au #Gabon, la France doit rester en retrait et ses militaires ne doivent pas intervenir"



Paris dispose en effet de 350 militaires sur place. Au Niger il y a mois, l'armee  a failli intervenir dans les premieres heures du putsch...https://t.co/IT5WLTvTK0 pic.twitter.com/eh4R3SkEdm  Survie (@Survie) August 30, 2023

Gabon was in a midst of another electoral coup, so a coup chased another coup and the latest one has more chances of being popular, but lets remain cautious, said Thomas Borrel, a spokesman for the Paris-based human rights group Survie, which advocates against Frances interventionist policies in Africa.

If a military dictatorship replaces Bongos dictatorship, the Gabonese population would lose again.

The mutinous officers vowed to respect Gabons commitments to the national and international community. But the coup attempt threatened to bring the economy to a halt.

A man who answered the phone at the airport said flights were cancelled on Wednesday, and the private intelligence firm Ambrey said all operations at the countrys main port in Libreville had been halted, with authorities refusing to grant permission for vessels to leave.

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Several French companies said they were suspending operations and moving to ensure the safety of their staff.

France condemns the military coup that is under way in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments in the country, French government spokesman Olivier Veran said.

France has maintained close economic, diplomatic and military ties with Gabon, and has 400 soldiers stationed in the country leading a regional military training operation.





The US Africa Command said it has no forces stationed there other than at the US embassy.

Unlike Niger and two other West African countries run by military juntas, Gabon has not been wracked by jihadi violence and had been seen as relatively stable.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the events in Gabon were being followed with great concern.

He said it was too early to call it part of a trend or a domino effect in military takeovers on the continent.

Nigerias President Bola Tinubu, however, cited a contagion of autocracy we are seeing spread across our continent, in a statement issued by his office.

It said he was conferring with other heads of state and the African Union, whose commission condemned the coup and called for a return to democratic constitutional order.

The European Unions top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Gabon would be discussed by the blocs ministers this week, adding that another military coup. if confirmed, would increase instability in the whole region.
Mutinous soldiers in Gabon announced on Wednesday that the head of the countrys elite republican guard would lead the Central African country, hours after saying they had placed the countrys newly re-elected president under house arrest.

The coup leaders said in an announcement on Gabons state TV that General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema had been unanimously designated president of a transitional committee to lead the country.

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He is the cousin of Gabon's president Ali Bongo Ondimba, who earlier on Wednesday had been declared the winner of the countrys presidential election in a victory that appeared to extend his familys 55-year rule in the oil-rich country.

Coup leaders said there would be a curfew from 6pm to 6am local time but that people would be allowed to move about freely during the day on Thursday.

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The president of the transition insists on the need to maintain calm and serenity in our beautiful country.

At the dawn of a new era, we will guarantee the peace, stability and dignity of our beloved Gabon, Lt Col Ulrich Manfoumbi said on state TV on Wednesday.

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Coup supporters cheer police in Libreville (Betiness Mackosso/AP)

General Oligui used to be the bodyguard of Mr Bongos father, the late president Omar Bongo, said Desire Ename a journalist with Echos du Nord, a local media outlet.

He also was head of the secret service in 2019 before becoming head of the republican guard.

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Thank you, army. Finally, weve been waiting a long time for this moment, said Yollande Okomo, standing near soldiers from the elite republican guard, one of the units that staged the takeover.

Mr Bongo, 64, has served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years, and there has been widespread discontent with his reign.

Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in 2019 but were quickly overpowered.

The former French colony is a member of Opec, but its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few  and nearly 40 per cent of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank.

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Its oil export revenue was $6 billion in 2022, according to the US Energy Information Administration, or $2,720 per capita.

Soldiers appeared on state television to announce they had seized power (Gabon 24/AP)

Nine members of the Bongo family, meanwhile, are under investigation in France, and some face preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering and other forms of corruption, according to Sherpa, a French NGO dedicated to accountability.

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Investigators have linked the family to more than $92 million in properties in France, including two villas in Nice, the group says.

A spokesman for the soldiers who claimed power Wednesday said that Mr Bongos unpredictable, irresponsible governance risked leading the country into chaos.

In a later statement, the coup leaders said people around the president had been arrested for high betrayal of state institutions, massive embezzlement of public funds (and) international financial embezzlement.

Some analysts warned that the takeover risked bringing instability and could have more to do with divisions among the ruling elite than efforts to improve the lives of ordinary Gabonese.

The coup attempt came about one month after mutinous soldiers in Niger seized power from the democratically elected government, and is the latest in a series of coups across West and Central Africa in recent years.

The impunity those putschists enjoyed may have inspired the soldiers in Gabon, said Maja Bovcon, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm.

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A defaced billboard of Gabon's president Ali Bongo Ondimba in Libreville (Yves Laurent/AP)

In weekend elections, Mr Bongo faced an opposition coalition led by Albert Ondo Ossa, an economics professor and former education minister whose surprise nomination came a week before the vote.

Every election held in Gabon since the countrys return to a multiparty system in 1990 has ended in violence, and there were fears this one would as well.

The vote was criticised by international observers, but a relative calm prevailed until the early hours of Wednesday, when Mr Bongo was declared the winner.

Minutes later, gunfire was heard in the centre of the capital, Libreville. Later, a dozen uniformed soldiers appeared on state television and announced that they had seized power.

Soon after, crowds poured into the streets. Shopkeeper Viviane Mbou offered the soldiers juice.

Long live our army, said Jordy Dikaba, a young man walking with his friends on a street lined with armoured policemen.

Libreville is a stronghold of support for the opposition, but it was unclear how the coup attempt was seen in the countryside, where more people traditionally back Mr Bongo.

 [COMMUNIQUE]



"Au #Gabon, la France doit rester en retrait et ses militaires ne doivent pas intervenir"



Paris dispose en effet de 350 militaires sur place. Au Niger il y a mois, l'armee  a failli intervenir dans les premieres heures du putsch...https://t.co/IT5WLTvTK0 pic.twitter.com/eh4R3SkEdm Advertisement  Survie (@Survie) August 30, 2023

The president pleaded for support in a video showing him sitting in a chair with a bookshelf behind him. He said he was detained in his residence and that his wife and son were elsewhere.

Im calling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really, he said in English.

The video was shared with The Associated Press by BTP Advisers, a communications firm that helped the president with polling for the election.

The coup leaders have said the president was under house arrest, surrounded by family and doctors.

Mr Ossa, the opposition leader, told The AP he was not ready to comment and was waiting for the situation to evolve.

Gabon was in a midst of another electoral coup, so a coup chased another coup and the latest one has more chances of being popular, but lets remain cautious, said Thomas Borrel, a spokesman for the Paris-based human rights group Survie, which advocates against Frances interventionist policies in Africa.

If a military dictatorship replaces Bongos dictatorship, the Gabonese population would lose again.

The mutinous officers vowed to respect Gabons commitments to the national and international community. But the coup attempt threatened to bring the economy to a halt.

Advertisement

A man who answered the phone at the airport said flights were cancelled on Wednesday, and the private intelligence firm Ambrey said all operations at the countrys main port in Libreville had been halted, with authorities refusing to grant permission for vessels to leave.

Several French companies said they were suspending operations and moving to ensure the safety of their staff.

France condemns the military coup that is under way in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments in the country, French government spokesman Olivier Veran said.

France has maintained close economic, diplomatic and military ties with Gabon, and has 400 soldiers stationed in the country leading a regional military training operation.

The US Africa Command said it has no forces stationed there other than at the US embassy.

Unlike Niger and two other West African countries run by military juntas, Gabon has not been wracked by jihadi violence and had been seen as relatively stable.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the events in Gabon were being followed with great concern.

He said it was too early to call it part of a trend or a domino effect in military takeovers on the continent.

Nigerias president Bola Tinubu, however, cited a contagion of autocracy we are seeing spread across our continent, in a statement issued by his office.

It said he was conferring with other heads of state and the African Union, whose commission condemned the coup and called for a return to democratic constitutional order.

The European Unions top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Gabon would be discussed by the blocs ministers this week, adding that another military coup. if confirmed, would increase instability in the whole region.
Peoples living in vulnerable coastal areas in Florida were ordered to pack up and leave as Hurricane Idalia gained steam on Tuesday and threatened to unleash life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.

Idalia pummelled Cuba with heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday, leaving the tobacco-growing province of Pinar del Rio underwater and many of its residents without power.

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The storm had strengthened to a Category 2 system on Tuesday afternoon with winds strengthening to 110mph by the evening.

Members of the Tampa Parks and Recreation Department help residents stock up on sandbags (Chris OMeara/PA)

The hurricane was projected to come ashore early on Wednesday as a Category 4 system with sustained winds of at least 130mph in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula.

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The result could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last years Hurricane Ian.

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The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia an unprecedented event since no major hurricanes on record have passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend.

On the island of Cedar Key, commissioner Sue Colson joined other city officials in packing up documents and electronics at City Hall.

She had a message for the almost 900 residents under mandatory orders to evacuate as more than a dozen state troopers went door to door warning people the storm surge could rise as high as 15 feet.

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One word: Leave, Ms Colson said. Its not something to discuss.

Governor Ron DeSantis repeated the warning at an afternoon news conference.

11PM EDT 29 Aug: #Idalia forecast to become an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane at landfall in Florida Big Bend region with catastrophic storm surge inundation. Residents should heed advice & evacuation orders by local officials in these areas.



https://t.co/y75tVkKVK7 pic.twitter.com/JqIpmLFayG Advertisement  National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 30, 2023

You really got to go now. Now is the time, said the governor, who earlier stressed residents did not necessarily need to leave the state, but should get to higher ground in a safe structure.

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You can ride the storm out there, then go back to your home, he said.

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Tolls were waived on highways out of the danger area, shelters were open and hotels prepared to take in evacuees.

More than 30,000 utility workers were gathering to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricanes wake. About 5,500 National Guard troops were activated.

In Tarpon Springs, a coastal community northwest of Tampa, 60 patients were evacuated from a hospital out of concern that the system could bring a seven-foot storm surge.

After landing in the Big Bend region, Idalia is forecast to cross the Florida peninsula and drench southern Georgia and the Carolinas on Thursday.

Both Georgia governor Brian Kemp and South Carolina governor Henry McMaster announced states of emergency, freeing up state resources and personnel, including hundreds of National Guard troops.

Motorists queue to collect sandbags in Tampa, Florida, ahead of Hurricane Idalias arrival (Ivy Ceballo/Tampa Bay Times/AP)

At 11pm on Tuesday, Idalia was about 125 miles west of Tampa, the National Hurricane Centre said. It was moving north at 18 mph.

In Cuba, Idalia left more than 60% of Pinar del Rios residents in the dark, state media reported.

The priority is to reestablish power and communications and keep an eye on the agriculture: Harvest whatever can be harvested and prepare for more rainfall, president Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a meeting with government officials on Tuesday.

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More than 10,000 people had been evacuated to shelters or stayed with friends and relatives as up to 4 inches of rain fell. More than half of the province was without electricity.

A Tybee Island resident helps his friend board up his house on the island ahead of Hurricane Idalia (Stephen B. Morton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

State media did not report any deaths or major damage.

Idalia will be the first storm to hit Florida this hurricane season, but it is only the latest in a summer of natural disasters, including wildfires in Hawaii, Canada and Greece, the first tropical storm to hit California in 84 years and devastating flooding in Vermont.

With a large stretch of Floridas western coast at risk for storm surges and floods, evacuation notices were issued in 22 counties with mandatory orders for some people in eight of those counties.

Many of the notices were for low-lying and coastal areas and for people living in mobile and manufactured homes, recreational vehicles or boats, and for people who would be vulnerable in a power outage.
The partner of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has been accused of victim blaming after comments he made about rape on his television talk show.

Andrea Giambruno, who hosts the "Diario del giorno" (Daily diary) programme on the Rete 4 commercial station, was commenting after a gang rape of a young woman in the Sicilian capital Palermo hit the headlines.

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"If you go dancing, you have every right to get drunk - there shouldn't be any kind of misunderstanding and any kind of problem - but if you avoid getting drunk and losing your senses, you might also avoid running into certain problems and coming across a wolf," he said in his programme on Monday evening.

Opposition politicians condemned the comments.

"I say to Giambruno that boys should be educated to show respect, rather than girls taught to be careful. Teach them (males) the value of consent, rather than girls to be wary," said Cecilia D'Elia, a senator with the opposition Partito Democratico.

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Giambruno, whose television career has taken off since Meloni became the head of a right-wing government last October, said his comments had been taken out of context to create a "surreal" controversy.

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"I didn't say that men are free to rape women who are drunk," he told Corriere della Sera in an interview on Wednesday.

"Some politicians are jumping on a false headline and calling for my suspension, but for what reason? For having told young people not to take drugs?" he added.

Meloni, who has a young daughter with Giambruno, has not commented on the situation.

It is not the first time that Giambruno's comments have caused controversy.

In July, he told German health minister Karl Lauterbach "to stay at home, stay in the Black Forest", after Lauterbach questioned the viability of tourism to southern Europe because of intense heat waves.
After mastering making iPhones, Taiwan's Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of major Apple Inc supplier Foxconn, now wants to turn his entrepreneurial skills elsewhere - to be the island's next president.

After at least two previous failed bids, Mr Gou, 72, is seeking to unite a fractured opposition amid rising tensions with China, which he blames on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) hostility to Beijing.

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"Over the past seven years, the DPP government has not only brought Taiwan dangerously close to war, but has also pursued flawed domestic policies that have failed to resolve the challenges facing Taiwan's industries and people's lives," he said on Monday, announcing his run to be "Taiwan's CEO" at the January election.

The DPP-led government has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing, but been rebuffed, and has blamed China for the tensions.

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Mr Gou faces the challenge of trying to get the two main opposition parties - the Kuomintang (KMT) which he had hoped to represent as its candidate and the Taiwan People's Party - to work together and "take down the DPP", as he said on Monday.

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Former US president Donald Trump (L) shakes hands with Foxconn CEO Terry Gou at the groundbreaking for the Foxconn Technology Group computer screen plant on June 28th, 2018 in Mt Pleasant, Wisconsin. Photo: Andy Manis/Getty Images

Before he announced his bid to run as an independent on Monday, Mr Gou had sought the KMT ticket for the presidency but failed.

But his direct language, along with his business acumen, has drawn crowds in pseudo-campaign events across Taiwan that Mr Gou held in the run-up to his announcement.

"He's a straight-talking political outsider," said Sung Wen-Ti, a political scientist at Australian National University's Taiwan Studies Program.

"He can attract market confidence-oriented voters. He can also attract the educated crowd who are into a more technocratic form of governance."

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From factory jobs at Apple

Mr Gou was not born wealthy. After graduating from university, he worked in a series of factory jobs, as Taiwan in the late 1960s and early 1970s began using its cheap labour force to churn out consumer goods for the rich Western world.

He founded Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, better known as Foxconn, in 1974 with a $7,500 loan from his mother and 11 elderly workers. He first made cheap plastic parts for black-and-white television sets for a Chicago TV manufacturer, before a major deal in 1980 making joystick connectors for Atari games consoles.

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In 2000, Foxconn won an order to make Apple's redesigned iMacs, leveraging experience making a variety of parts for the likes of US personal computer vendor Dell.

Mr Gou recalled how he had to be persistent with late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, saying he had to force Jobs to give him a business card.

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"He was extremely happy when I managed to help him develop the first-ever iPhone. He showed me how to use the touch screen on the spot," Mr Gou said in 2011 about his relationship with Jobs.

Foxconn eventually became one of the world's largest private-sector employers with at times over a million workers assembling devices for global brands such as Sony Corp, Nintendo Co Ltd and Microsoft Corp.

'I don't follow their instructions'

Mr Gou remains a lauded figure at Foxconn after stepping down as chairman in 2019, referred to reverentially as "the founder", though the company said on Monday he was no longer involved in day to day management after "handing over the baton" four years ago.

Having built the world's largest contract manufacturer from scratch, Mr Gou's connections reached as high as Chinese president Xi Jinping who he met in 2014 in Beijing, and who in 2017 he described as a great leader, Taiwan media reported.

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Mr Gou's parents were born in China and were of the generation that fled to Taiwan after the Communists won China's civil war in 1949, a year before Mr Gou's birth on the island.

In an interview with the Communist Party's official People's Daily in 2018 to mark China's 40th anniversary of landmark economic reform, Mr Gou said he was happy to have witnessed the changes.

He talked about how his father was from Shanxi province and mother from Guangdong, and that when he first visited China in 1987 to trace his family's roots, it was the "first time I had stepped foot on the soil of the motherland".

Earlier this year, Mr Gou vowed to start negotiations with China if he was elected president on the basis that both sides belong to one single China, but each can interpret what that means.

"The two sides can sit down together, and we can take all the time we need to talk about 'different interpretations."

Still, on Monday he struck a tougher tone when asked if his Foxconn shareholdings meant China could simply tell him what to do if he became president.

"I have never been under the control of the People's Republic of China," he said. "I don't follow their instructions."

Friends in high places have included former US president Donald Trump.

Mr Gou told Mr Trump he wanted to be a peacemaker between Taiwan, China and the US as Taiwan's president.

"Peace, stability, economy, the future, are my core values," he had said after announcing a bid to be the KMT candidate at the 2020 election, although he ultimately failed to get the nomination.

The KMT lost that election by a landslide.
Pope Francis has said he will release an update to his landmark 2015 environmental encyclical on October 4  the feast of his nature-loving namesake, St Francis of Assisi.

Francis has called for an end to the senseless war against our common home, having recently revealed he was writing a second part to the document to address current problems.

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The Vatican spokesperson said the update would take into account in particular recent climate crises.

On Wednesday, Francis told his weekly general audience that he intended to publish the update on October 4th, the feast of St Francis and also the start of Francis big Vatican meeting on the future of the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican (AP)

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The 2015 encyclical Laudato Si, or Praised Be, is perhaps Francis most well-known and important document.

In it, Francis cast care for the environment in stark moral terms, calling for a bold cultural revolution to correct what he said was a structurally perverse economic system in which the rich exploited the poor, turning Earth into a pile of filth in the process.

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Citing the deforestation of the Amazon, the melting of Arctic glaciers and the deaths of coral reefs, Francis rebuked obstructionist climate doubters and accused politicians of listening more to oil industry interests than Scripture, common sense or the cries of the poor.

The encyclical has inspired ecological movements around the world, been cited by presidents and patriarchs, and in many ways has formed the bedrock of Francis 10-year papacy, which has prioritised the poor and marginalised.

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The Pope will make the announcement on the feast of his namesake, St Francis of Assisi (AP)



It was initially released ahead of the Paris climate talks, and the update is being released ahead of the next UN climate conference later this year in Dubai.

Let us unite with our Christian brothers and sisters in the commitment to care for creation as a sacred gift of the creator, Francis said on Wednesday.

We must side with the victims of environmental and climate injustice, working to put an end to the senseless war against our common home.
The White House on Wednesday said that it has new intelligence that shows Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters, as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for the Ukraine war.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby detailed the latest finding just weeks after the White House said that it had determined that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, during a recent visit to Pyongyang, called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.

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Mr Kirby said that Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other military equipment to shore up Russias defence industrial base.

He added that the letters were more at the surface level but that Russian and North Korean talks on a weapons sale were advancing.

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The leaders exchanged the letters following Mr Shoigus visit, he said.

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Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea (Dmitry Astakhov, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo/AP)

The Biden administration has repeatedly made the case that the Kremlin has become reliant on North Korea, as well as Iran, for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine.

North Korea and Iran are largely isolated on the international stage for their nuclear programmes and human rights records.

In March, the White House said it had gathered intelligence that showed that Russia was looking to broker a food-for-arms deal with North Korea, in which Moscow would provide the North with food and other commodities in return for munitions.

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Late last year the White House said it had determined that the Wagner Group private Russian military company had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces fighting in Ukraine on behalf of Russia.

Both North Korea and Russia have previously denied the US allegations about weapons.

North Korea, however, has sided with Russia over the war in Ukraine, saying the hegemonic policy of the US-led West has forced Moscow to take military action to protect its security interests.

At the United Nations on Wednesday, the US, the UK, South Korea and Japan urged North Korea to halt arms negotiations with Russia.

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Any Russian-North Korean arms deals would violate UN Security Council resolutions, backed by Russia, that prohibit all countries from buying or obtaining any arms from the North, the four countries said in a joint statement.

This sends the wrong message to aspiring proliferators that if you sell Russia arms, Russia will even enable your pursuit of nuclear weapons, according to the statement that was read by US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who was flanked by diplomats from the three other countries.
The corporate regulator has warned the nations lenders they must meet their obligations to support borrowers facing financial hardship, pointing to signs of increasing financial hardship across the country.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed on Wednesday that the financial hardship processes at Australian banks will soon be under the microscope as part of a review of the practices of 10 large lenders.

ASIC commissioner Danielle Press. Credit: Eamon Gallagher

The regulator penned an open letter to the bosses 30 lending groups, including the big four banks, calling on them to ensure they meet their responsibilities to support customers facing financial distress.

ASIC is aware of increasing evidence suggesting that some consumer cohorts are experiencing financial distress and hardship due to increasing cost of living pressures, the letter from commissioner Danielle Press said.
Flight Centre boss Graham Turner says travellers should expect to pay less for travel in the future as international airfares continue to fall. But he doubled down on his criticism of the Albanese government for blocking Qatar Airways from adding flights to Australia.

One of the biggest travel booking companies in the world, Flight Centre recorded $301.6 million in underlying earnings in the year to June 30, an almost half-a-billion-dollar turnaround from its 2022 loss of $183.1 million.

About 70 per cent of this result was generated in the six months to December following increased corporate travel, bolstered domestic flight offers and the rampant return of international airlines to Australia when the borders reopened after the pandemic.

I dont blame Qantas for its lobbying, but I am concerned it was successful: Flight Centre boss Graham Turner. Credit: Dan Peled

Flight Centre recorded a full-year statutory profit of $70.5 million, swinging from a $377.8 million loss the year before. Its total transactions doubled to $22 billion.
Theres also a common disquiet at the demonstration the US and its G7 allies have provided of the power of the US dollar via the expanded nature and effectiveness of the financial sanctions imposed on Russia, and on certain types of third-party trading with Russia, in response to its invasion of Ukraine. There is no institutional framework or infrastructure supporting the BRICS grouping. The expansion makes it more heterogenous and unwieldy, and even less likely than the original BRICS to find consensus on contentious issues. Essentially, its an annual summit where the members can share their grievances and aspirations. The disparate nature of the expanded group and the countries motivations and ambitions for their membership make it unlikely that, in the near to medium-term at least, they will achieve much beyond some modest trade gains and a shared desire to have more influence over multinational institutions and discussions. The expansion does add to the potential international clout of the group if it can generate consensus on particular issues.

The original BRICS represent about 40 per cent of the worlds population, about 23 per cent of global GDP and 20 per cent of the worlds oil output. They produce about 23 per cent of global exports and 19 per cent of imports. BRICS-plus will account for about 46 per cent of the worlds population and about 30 per cent of global GDP. The addition of the Middle Eastern oil heavyweights  the Saudis, UAE and Iran  will lift their share of global oil production to nearly 42 per cent. By comparison, the G7 contains only about 10 per cent of the worlds population but nearly 31 per cent of global GDP. The inclusion of the oil producers, notably the Saudis, has swollen discussion about the prospects of de-dollarisation, given that oil has been priced in US dollars since the 1940s, when the Saudis agreed to price their exports in dollars in exchange for US aid and military protection. With the Saudis already exploring selling their oil to China in exchange for yuan, the prospect of a major shift away from the pricing of oil in US dollars to customers currencies would appear possible, although the fact that the Saudi riyal is pegged to the greenback would add some complexity to any significant shift.

Its also worth noting that oil represents only about 15 per cent of global trade, and therefore even a material move away from the US dollar in settling transactions would have only a limited impact on the currencys dominance. Loading Theres also issues of convertibility, security and access to financial markets. China and Russia have been trading in their own currencies since the Wests sanctions were imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine. The trade isnt, however, balanced. China has been buying more from Russia  mainly oil  than it sells to Russia, which means it has a mounting store of roubles that have limited appeal to the rest of the global financial system. An oil trade dominated, for example, by China would see massive volumes of yuan flowing to the Middle East. Would the Saudis or the UAE want to hold vast quantities of yuan, or would they prefer US dollars?

While the US dollars share of central bank reserves has been edging down, it is still the dominant currency. It is also still dominant in global trade and finance and in securities issuance. It dominates debt markets, with a global market share of foreign liabilities of about 53 per cent and nearly 60 per cent of the global market for debt securities, according to the Bank for International Settlements. If a developing economy needs to borrow, it needs to be able to access US dollar-denominated debt  and service that debt with US dollars. Loading While Chinas yuan has been making minor inroads into the US dollars dominance, the network effects of that dominance and the lack of the deep and highly liquid US Treasury and corporate debt markets (along with a trusted legal system and absence of restrictions on capital flows) means there is currently no competitive substitute for the US dollar in international trade and financial activity. China and Russia would obviously like to challenge that situation, and there has been a lot of discussion about how the BRICS-plus group might be able to develop a common currency backed by gold or something akin to the IMFs special drawing rights (a weighted basked of world currencies that can be held as a reserve asset).
Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik holds an interview with The Korea Times at the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office, Aug. 23. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



Minister tackles aging population, low birthrate challenges facing labor sector



By Jun Ji-hye



Reforming the labor sector means not only pursuing pro-business policies, but also promoting a worker-friendly environment, the labor minister said, refuting criticism from unions that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration has been leaning too heavily in favor of big businesses.



During a recent interview with The Korea Times, Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik said the government's labor reform agenda has emphasized laws and principles with the aim of improving outdated norms and practices and creating a sustainable labor market that can be a substantial help to both workers and managers.



"So, the government's labor reform policies are not pro-business and anti-labor, but pro-business and pro-labor," Lee said.



"The two umbrella labor organizations have resisted the government's emphasis on laws and principles, but those calls are aimed at establishing fair labor-management relations and protecting the vulnerable," he added.



Labor reforms are one of three areas of change President Yoon Suk Yeol is pursuing. The other two are education and pension reforms.



Since his inauguration in May 2022, the Yoon administration has attempted to restore market-oriented growth and root out what the president describes as the "deviant behaviors" of some labor unions.



Primarily concerned about the Yoon government's move to reverse pro-labor policies set by the former Moon Jae-in administration, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions have slammed Yoon for siding with businesses and demanded the president's resignation by holding general strikes and other rallies.



Citing English philosopher John Locke's famous quote, "Where there is no law there is no freedom," the minister claimed that the public would not support the unions' criticism of the government's labor reforms.



"The government will continue to sternly respond to any illegal and unfair activities, regardless of labor and management, in accordance with laws and principles," Lee said.



"The government will also focus on reforming bad practices and modernizing the labor sector to resolve uncertainties and irrationality and better protect the vulnerable," he added.





Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik, center, visits a manhole cover manufacturing factory in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 22, to listen to difficulties faced by laborers subject to high temperatures in their workplaces. Courtesy of Ministry of Employment and Labor



In that respect, Lee made it clear that the government opposes a move by opposition parties to pass the so-called "yellow envelope bill" at the National Assembly, saying the concept of the proposed legislation is far from something that the government intends to pursue.



The bill, aimed at revising the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, is designed to restrict claims on damage caused by labor strikes and other collective actions. It also calls for guaranteeing the collective bargaining rights of subcontracted workers.



The proposed legislation got its name after supporters of unionized SsangYong Motor workers at the time delivered yellow envelopes with cash following a 2013 court ruling ordering them to pay a combined 4.7 billion won ($3.6 million) to the automaker for causing losses due to their strike in 2009.



"The bill runs counter to the direction of the government's labor reforms that call for all parties  labor, management and the government  to obey the law," Lee said.



"The bill will further incite the practice of attempting to resolve all problems through strikes. This will intensify confusion and disrupt the stabilization of labor-management relations," the minister added.



Concerning the government's plan to reform the current 52-hour cap on the workweek, the minister maintained his ministry's position that there should be more options for working hours for both labor and management.



When announcing its plan to reform the workweek system on March 6, the ministry claimed it is seeking flexibility beyond the mandatory cap on the workweek introduced by the previous administration.



Under the plan, the maximum weekly work hours will be extended to 69 during busy periods, and subsequently, workers would be granted longer vacations instead.



However, the plan was criticized for benefiting employers, while forcing employees to work longer hours. That prompted the president to order the labor ministry to review the proposal.



Lee said the plan intended to make working hours more flexible, since the current cap, which applies to all industries, is based on a factory system that was prevalent 70 years ago.



"Such a cap is not in accordance with today's industrial environment," Lee said, stressing that the plan is not intended to indiscriminately allow longer working hours.



"We have surveyed 6,000 people to listen to more opinions from labor and management as well as the general public," he said. "We will draw up measures to improve the plan based on the survey results."





Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik, second from right, visits a stone mill in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 3, to check measures to protect workers from the heat. Courtesy of Ministry of Employment and Labor



Utilizing foreign workers



Another urgent task for the minister is dealing with a labor shortage caused by the country's aging population and low birthrate.



As part of efforts to ease the shortage, Lee recently announced a decision to fundamentally reform the Employment Permit System (EPS) system, in accordance with many economic and social changes that have taken place since the system was introduced 20 years ago.



The EPS is a migration labor program, under which workers from 16 Asian countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, are allowed to work here under special visas.



"This reform will be carried out aiming to improve the rights of workers and address challenges faced by employers," Lee said.





Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik delivers a congratulatory speech during the 2023 EPS Conference in Busan, Aug. 9. Courtesy of Ministry of Employment and Labor
The federal government has agreed to acknowledge that climate change is a systemic risk that may affect the value of government bonds in settling a class action over allegations it misled investors.

The class action was brought by a group of climate activists who alleged the government had misled investors by failing to mention climate costs when it issued bonds.

Recent heatwaves around the world are believed to have been accelerated by climate change. Credit: AP

In settling the case, the government agreed to publish a statement on the Treasury website acknowledging that as the impacts and costs of climate change on the Australian economy over the coming years are unknown, there was uncertainty about whether the fiscal impacts of climate change may affect (if at all) the value of Commonwealth Government Securities.

The economic and climatic changes brought about by climate change will have fiscal impacts. For example, the new industries and jobs emerging from the net zero transformation will impact the structure of the economy and, in turn, the tax base. Extreme weather events are also expected to occur with increased severity and frequency, which will increase demand for disaster relief payments and infrastructure repairs.
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 World experts tackle myths and misunderstandings about common health issues in our Explainers. See all 22 stories . The womans symptoms baffled doctors. When she first arrived at hospital in early 2021, she complained of three straight weeks of abdominal pain and diarrhoea, then a dry cough and night sweats. Her white-blood-cell count was elevated but there was no evidence of infection or autoimmune disease. Doctors diagnosed her with pneumonia and put her on a corticosteroid; her symptoms seemed to improve a little. A few weeks later, she came back, her fever running hot again. A CT scan revealed lesions in the lung, liver and spleen. Doctors went deeper this time, running more tests, but still couldnt find the cause; they guessed her immune system may have gone haywire and began treatment. Then, in 2022, the woman suddenly reported forgetfulness and worsening depression. MRI scans showed a pale lesion on the front of her brain. Surgeons went in, not sure what they would find. Under her scalpel, neurosurgeon Hari Priya Bandi detected a string-like lump that, when tugged at, revealed itself to be an eight-centimetre worm, still wriggling. The worm, later identified as Ophidascaris robertsi, has never been seen in humans before, let alone brains. The case is a more-than-one-in-a-million occurrence, say parasitologists. Yet human infection with worms is extremely common, with dozens of species specially adapted to getting into our guts; perhaps 1.5 billion people worldwide share their bodies with worms. How does this happen? Is there anything to be done about worms? And how does a roundworm live in a womans brain? An MRI of the patients brain revealed a lesion at the front  that turned out to be a worm. Credit: Emerging Infectious Diseases

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How did this worm get in there? Its not fully clear, but the team of doctors who pulled the wriggler from the womans brain suggest she accidentally ingested a worm egg. Ophidascaris robertsi, a native Australian worm, is not adapted to live in humans  it lives in the stomachs of Australian carpet pythons, shedding eggs in the snakes poo. Small animals such as rats or bandicoots eat the eggs when digging through soil; the worm hatches, penetrates the gut wall into the space around the organs, and sets up home. The growing worm absorbs nutrients from the host and tries very hard not to be noticed by the immune system. If it can manage that, it can live happily there for years, says Professor Jan Slapeta, one of the parasitologists who was first to examine the brain worm. The worm tried to escape, so it probably went through other organs, tried to hide. Imagine youre in a lounge room with a couch, and all the food you can imagine. You just sit and grow  thats all the worm does. The worm then waits for its host animal to be eaten by a python, at which point it can reproduce. The circle of life, says Slapeta.

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The worm that ended up in the woman had a far less enjoyable time of it. Ophidascaris robertsi eggs are triggered to hatch by stomach acid; this worm likely broke out and slithered through the gut wall. But rather than find a happy home, the worm soon came under attack from the womans immune system. The worm tried to escape, so it probably went through other organs, tried to hide, says Slapeta. And, unfortunately, it found its way to the brain. The womans symptoms were likely caused by a cat-and-mouse chase as her immune system chased the worm around her body; the scientists suspect worm larvae or juveniles were present in other organs. She was given anti-worming and anti-inflammatory drugs after surgery. The worm, after it had been removed from the womans brain. Credit: Canberra Health Services How common are worm infections in humans? Worm infections are rare in humans in Australia but very common in less developed countries, especially in the tropics. Worm eggs typically germinate in the soil, ready to be picked up by humans and animals. To do so, the soil needs to be warm and moist  meaning most of southern Australia is low risk. Worms are typically transmitted in human and animal faeces; adult worms living in a persons stomach pour out thousands of fresh eggs every day, which end up in stool. Australias high-quality sanitation systems mean worm infections are uncommon in urban areas, except pinworm, which typically infects children and causes an itchy bottom.

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Hookworms can hatch in the soil, and when someone walking barefoot picks up the larvae, they can penetrate the skin. From there, the hookworm can get into the bloodstream and then into the lungs, and then creeps up your windpipe till you swallow it, and then it stays in your gut, says Professor Alex Loukas, a James Cook University parasitologist. If it rains, there will be a washing effect on the faeces, and the worms can disseminate in the area. Our biggest worm risk comes from our companion animals: dogs. One study of the scat at Australian dog parks found more than 44 per cent of parks had at least one species of parasitic worm, mostly hookworms. Dr Vito Colella, parasitologist at the University of Melbourne and one of the studys co-authors, suspects dog parks may be a key transmission site. You dont need to step on an actual poo. If it rains, there will be a washing effect on the faeces, and the worms can disseminate in the area. In regional Indigenous communities, rates are much higher  up to 60 per cent of people in some communities have Strongyloides stercoralis, a parasitic worm that infects the stomach. For immunocompromised individuals, infection can be fatal. Loukas has a different perspective. He likens human-adapted worms to the bugs that inhabit our gut microbiome. Worms and humans are old friends, he argues, having lived and evolved together for hundreds of thousands of years. Our bodies have evolved to expect to have them on board. And now, our immune systems are deprived of signals weve evolved to expect from worms, he says.

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The worm is known to infect native carpet pythons. Credit: Allieca All these autoimmune diseases that are exploding, allergies, even things like diabetes  we know worms have various properties that protect against these sort of diseases. Loading Can you get this from foraging? How do you avoid getting a brain worm? The leading theory for the brain worm infection in the woman, who lives in south-eastern New South Wales, was that it happened after she went foraging for warrigal greens, a native plant with a texture similar to spinach. The odds of a worm egg from a python parasite being on a foraged vegetable, and then the worm surviving inside the body, are extremely low, experts say. This is one in a million  probably more than a million. Probably, this will never again be repeated. No one needs to worry, says Slapeta.

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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Australians will head to the polls in October to vote in the first referendum since 1999. This is what you need to know about the Voice to parliament. See all 7 stories . It is 1999. Britney Spears and Whitney Houston top the charts and rapper Eminem introduces us to Slim Shady. We swap Pokemon trading cards and pat our Furbies. Keanu Reeves takes the red pill in The Matrix. And in Australia, we hold our most-recent referendum  on the question of the republic. It fails. Even further back in our collective memory are the last referendums that were actually successful (about the retirement age of judges, among other issues). That was in 1977, the year the original Star Wars movie opened in cinemas, ABBA played the Sydney showgrounds in torrential rain and the late Queen celebrated her silver jubilee with a trip Down Under. Its no exaggeration, then, for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to describe this years referendum on a Voice to parliament as a once-in-a-generation opportunity: its certainly a rare one. Many first-time referendum voters werent even born the last time around. The idea behind the referendum took shape at the National Constitutional Convention at Uluru in 2017 and crystallised into plans to form an advisory body, known in full as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, that would advise both parliament and executive government (which covers the public service), on relevant matters. Critically, the government wants to enshrine the Voice in the Constitution. And since any constitutional change, amendment or addition necessitates that a referendum  a vote directly by the Australian people  be held, here we are. So, how do you vote in this referendum? What has happened in referendums so far? Why is it a big deal? Credit: Artwork: Jamie Brown

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First, do I have to vote? Voting is compulsory for adults  you must enrol to vote if you are an Australian citizen and aged 18 or over. You can check your enrolment status here or enrol here. If you are already on the electoral roll for federal elections, you do not need to enrol again to vote in a referendum. There are exemptions for Australians travelling abroad, although most travellers are able to vote and are encouraged to do so, either with a postal vote or in person at some Australian embassies and consulates. Different conditions apply depending on how long you are away from Australia and whether the move is permanent or not. Some British subjects (those who were already on the Commonwealth electoral roll before January 26, 1984) can also enrol to vote. Polling places will operate much as they do in federal elections: at local primary schools, community halls, childcare centres and the like, about 8000 in all. Many will no doubt be offering referendum sausages. You will be checked against the electoral roll in your electorate, but that is a technicality because your vote matters only on a state and national level, not locally (more on that later). You can vote early at a polling place if you meet certain criteria, for example if you wouldnt be able to leave your workplace on polling day. Postal votes are also an option if you cant get to a polling place on the day: applications for postal votes close at 6pm on the Wednesday before polling day. Apply online here. The Australian Electoral Commission will also collect early votes from residential care homes, prisons and remote communities in the weeks before, sometimes by light aircraft, helicopter, 4WD, boat and barge. A telephone voting service will be available for people with low or no vision and for Australians working in Antarctica; there will be a number to call to register on the AEC website. What will I be voting on, exactly? Unlike a federal or state election, where there are typically multiple candidates, on this polling day voters will be asked to simply write the word yes or no in a little box in response to a single question.

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The AEC has some discretion to decide whether a different kind of mark, such as a tick, could be valid, under what are called savings provisions, which allow it to count a vote when the voters intention is obvious. But the strong directive is to write the word in full to make your view as clear as possible. Your vote goes into a huge pot with everybody elses from your home state (although if you reside in the Northern Territory or the ACT, your vote is only counted in the national tally. More on that below). The question on the ballot paper will be this: This amendment, which would be added at the end of the constitutional document, is intended to formally recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia, to establish the Voice to represent their interests and to give parliament the power to pass legislation related to the Voice. All enrolled voters will be sent authorised pamphlets, as per referendum rules, outlining the No and Yes cases well ahead of time. These are already available on the AEC website here. The AEC also has a practice ballot paper here. And, in line with federal and state elections, all campaign materials must be appropriately authorised as required. If in doubt, check with the AEC here. How is the vote counted?

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Counting begins at 6pm on polling day, with a live tally fed to media outlets. If the count is close, it could be some time before a result is declared. Postal votes are given 13 days to turn up  which could be critical if the balance hangs on the result in one particular state. To succeed, a Yes case must achieve whats known as a double majority, endorsed by both a majority of voters nationally (including territories) and a majority of voters in a majority of states (but not including territories). This means if the results trickle in and there is no national majority, the referendum fails. If three states say no, the referendum fails. If the national Yes vote is above 50 per cent and four states say yes, it passes. This is an intentionally high bar. It should be made as difficult as possible to amend the Constitution, said Tasmanian premier Sir Edward Braddon at a constitutional convention in 1897 when the rules for referendums were being decided. Note that smaller states were deliberately given the same power as the larger states, to prevent NSW and Victoria acting together against the interests of the rest of the nation. Here is what the latest polling shows in each state and territory. In Australias history, only eight out of 44 national proposals to change the Constitution have succeeded. Confusingly, often several referendums on different issues have been bundled together on the same polling day (each question put to voters is technically a separate referendum and is processed as such by the AEC). In 1913, voters were asked to make six separate decisions in referendums on trade and commerce; trusts; monopolies; railway disputes; corporations; and industrial matters. More recently, the 1999 vote packaged together a referendum about the republic and a referendum about inserting a new preamble into the Constitution. The Voice referendum, unusually, stands alone. A Qantas DH86 in 1937, the year Australians voted no to the Commonwealth making laws on aviation. Credit: Fairfax Media

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Do referendums generally favour a Yes or No case? Australians can seem notoriously fickle when it comes to referendums, often voting against procedural amendments that, today at least, seem completely reasonable in hindsight. In 1937, for example, after an unlicensed pilot flew around, over and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, voters were asked to give the Commonwealth constitutional power to control aviation rather than leaving it with the states. Planes didnt exist when the Constitution was first written. The Wright brothers made their historic flight in 1903 . Opponents argued the amendment would somehow wreck state railway systems, bankrupt country towns and lead to higher costs for food and freight. Its insane to have completely different laws of regulating aviation in each state  we might end up with planes crashing into each other every time they cross the state border, says Anne Twomey, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Sydney. The arguments were absurd. Nonetheless, the referendum failed. We have also voted no to banning communists, changing the length of parliamentary terms and giving the Commonwealth control over the marketing of dried fruit. Generally, we have been loath to give the federal government more power over anything. Capriciously, however, we then voted yes to a mandatory retirement age for federal judges, Commonwealth control of social services and to amend the rules around filling casual vacancies in the Senate. Women MPs campaign in the republic referendum of 1999 watched by schoolchidlren visiting Parliament House in Canberra, Credit: Mike Bowers Constitutional experts say the electorate typically needs to be overwhelmingly convinced of the necessity of change. Because youve got a binary choice of yes or no, says Twomey, for people who are just not interested and dont care, the default choice is always no. That means youve got this layer of the people who are just not interested who are filling up the first 10 to 20 per cent of the No case before you actually get to people making a deliberative choice. It collects all the people who are just not interested and not prepared to turn their mind to it.

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The 400 supporters gathered at the Playford Civic Centre roared their approval throughout the prime ministers speech and gave him a standing ovation as he implored Australians to vote in recognition of 65,000 years of history. Top No leaders denounced the Voice following Albaneses announcement, with Coalition Indigenous Affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price claiming Albanese consistently ignored Indigenous voices, campaigner Warren Mundine holding Albanese responsible for horrible bigotry exposed in the Voice debate, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accusing the prime minister of dishonesty and evasion. It will be Canberra-based, it will not provide the panacea that the prime minister is promising, and it is without precedent that the prime minister would go to a constitutional referendum without providing the detail to Australians, Dutton said. In an interview on A Current Affair, Albanese said he disagreed when asked if a failed referendum would show Australia to be a racist nation. No, it doesnt. People will make their own decisions, Albanese said.

The No side has put its focus on the Voice as an allegedly elitist and out-of-touch concept that Dutton said was taking Albaneses attention away from the cost of living crisis. At Wednesdays event, Malinauskas said South Australia had taken big political leaps in the past, including when it became the first jurisdiction in the world to grant women the vote. Loading If our forefathers and mothers can say Yes to universal franchise, if our great-grandparents can say Yes to waves of migration, if our grandparents can say Yes in [the] 1967 [referendum], if our parents can say Yes to land rights, then this generation is capable of saying Yes to an advisory committee, he said. After the event, Malinauskas said he was optimistic but Im not naive about the challenge ahead for the Yes campaign, which is lagging in published polls.

To succeed, the referendum must win a majority of the votes in a majority of the states as well as the overall national vote. Just eight of 44 referendums have succeeded since Federation and none have been passed without the support of both major parties. South Australia, the launch site of the 1967 Indigenous referendum campaign, shapes as a key battleground state alongside Tasmania and NSW. After the event, senior figures in the Yes campaign, who asked not to be named so they could discuss internal polling, stressed many undecided voters had not yet turned their minds to the vote and said Yes would campaign strongly in Liberal-held marginal seats. Indigenous leader and AFL executive Tanya Hosch revealed she had part of her lower leg amputated two weeks ago and was released from hospital on Tuesday, just a day before her impassioned speech at the launch. I have type two diabetes and I contracted a related disease that I have battled for three years and across six surgeries, trying to avoid the loss of my limb, she said.

Im not without privilege and access to services, but still, the service design let me down. I know that if we already had a permanent Voice in place, there would be people around that table that understand my story, my experience and who could make things better and different for me and for people like me. Loading Megan Davis said the advisory body would allow Indigenous Australians to permanently influence policy. Aboriginal men and women, she said, should not have to move to Canberra to have a say in the laws and policies made about their lives. They should not have to be personal friends with bureaucrats or politicians, or have ministers on speed dial, she said.
Explainer

The Yes campaign for a Voice to parliament is gathering momentum. What do its critics say? What do its supporters hope it will achieve? What are the next steps?
West Australian Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis has voiced her support for abortion law changes in the state by sharing her own experience after she was raped in the early 1990s.

In an impassioned speech to parliament, Jarvis, 54, revealed she became pregnant after being date-raped in her 20s, and immediately sought an abortion.

WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis. Credit: Hamish Hastie

At the time, I did not report it for all the reasons women before me and women after me do not report these things, she said.

I did not report it because I had been out drinking. I did not report it because of what I was wearing; I had been at a nightclub. I did not report it because I had invited the perpetrator into my home.
London: Trade Minister Don Farrell said progress has been made during free trade deal negotiations with his EU counterpart on Thursday.

Farrell and EUs Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis resumed discussions via video link after having agreed to reconvene in August following the deadlocked talks in July.

Trade Minister Don Farrell (left) with European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis in Brussels in June. Credit: Twitter

Both sides agreed to meet in person for the next round of negotiations but it was not clear whether this would take place in Australia or Europe.

I thank my European counterpart for a productive meeting this week, Farrell said.
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ASIC has penned an open letter to lenders calling on them to support customers experiencing financial hardship.

The letter was sent to 30 banks, credit unions, buy now pay later businesses, and non-bank lenders, including major banks ANZ, CBA, NAB, and Westpac, as a warning of their obligations to borrowers.

The economic environment has shifted over the last year, placing significant financial pressure on everyday Australians, said ASIC commissioner Danielle Press (pictured above).

ASIC reminds lenders that they must have the right arrangements in place to respond to requests for assistance from customers experiencing financial hardship and to work constructively with them to find a sustainable solution.

The letter said the regulator is aware of increasing evidence suggesting that some consumer cohorts are experiencing financial distress and hardship due to increasing cost of living pressures.

For example, there has been a 28% increase in calls to the National Debt Hotline in 2023 compared to this time last year, and ASIC said surveys indicate that a growing number of consumers are reporting very high levels of financial stress.

This coincided with a Roy Morgan study that show 1.5 million Australians are now at risk of mortgage stress.

Delinquencies and hardship application volumes are also starting to increase, although from relatively low levels.

The letter said when viewed in this context, it is critically important that lenders have appropriate arrangements to respond to and support consumers experiencing financial hardship.

In the letter, ASIC sets out expectations of lenders to meet their obligations.

These included proactively communicating how and when customers can seek assistance, genuinely considering customer circumstances to develop sustainable solutions where possible and communicating regularly with customers throughout and at the end of the assistance period.

ASIC expects all lenders to seriously consider the expectations outlined in our letter, and to take the necessary action to ensure they fulfil their obligations in supporting their customers, added Press.

In an interview with ABC journalist Peter Ryan, Press indicated the letter was a shot across the bow for lenders.

This is really a warning to banks that they need to ensure that they are acting in the right way. What we have seen is some inconsistency within the banks and I think that is what is concerning us around some of these hardship arrangements Press said.

It needs to be consistent as to who you talk to at a bank and it shouldnt matter whether you ring a branch or the head office or the branch manager, you should get the same response.

Looking ahead, ASIC said financial hardship will be an area of increased focus over the next 12 months including data collection from 30 large lenders about hardship applications.

Additionally, ASIC is undertaking a review of 10 large home lenders to understand their approach to financial hardship. These home lenders were amongst the lenders ASIC has written to. ASIC expects to release findings from this review in early to mid-2024.
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Finsures lending panel has a new addition: an innovative new lender that offers socially responsible lending, Salt & Lime.

Finsure CEO Simon Bednar said Salt & Lime joining the aggregators expanding broker network will enhance the groups asset finance offering due to the lenders suite of secured vehicle finance and personal loan products.

What makes Salt & Lime so unique is they are all about helping their customers improve their financial literacy and wellbeing with a socially responsible approach to lending, Bednar said.

Damien Thompson (pictured above left), Finsures head of diversified partnerships, said Finsure was thrilled to be partnering with Salt & Lime.

Salt & Limes approach to lending is a game-changer in this space as they empower their customers to pay down their loans quicker through incentives for interest-rate reductions, Thompson said. They have also compiled short online modules that, once completed by the customers, will trigger a discount of their loan. This results in happy, better educated, and more engaged customers.

Mark Woolnough (pictured above right), Salt & Limes head of distribution, said the company was pleased to make its education-first, socially responsible lending platform, and fee-free offerings accessible to the Finsure Group broker network.

With such a transparent and customer-centric approach, were delighted to be welcomed onto the Finsure Group lender panel and become an option of confidence for more brokers, safe in the knowledge their customers will be supported with their financial wellbeing, Woolnough said.

We offer many useful tools, personal support, and informational blogs to help guide our customers on the path to a stronger financial standing.

Woolnough, a former CoreLogic sales executive with more than three decades of experience in sales strategy and leadership, including as chief sales officer at Plenti, joined Salt & Lime in May to spearhead its broker and distribution strategy. The company said then in a media release that Woolnoughs appointment marks a step forward in Salt&Limes commitment to the broker space.

Salt&Lime was founded in 2021 by Will Kiln, Woolnoughs former colleague at ING.

Use the comment section below to tell us how you felt about this.
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Fintech lender Shift has expanded its broker leadership team as it looks to help brokers tap into the SME space through education and digital offerings.

Andrew Wagg (pictured above left) has been appointed as head of broker sales, bringing with him over two decades of financial services experience, especially in the credit and intermediary relationship management space.

Andrews industry relationships and knowledge of the complexities of business finance are second to none, said Kristian McCausland (pictured above right), Shifts director of sales.

As our business continues to grow, Andrew will help guide the broker and business development teams, identify new partnership opportunities and continue growing our broker network while ensuring we maintain an exceptional level of service and support to our existing network.

Helping brokers diversify into the commercial space

A key initiative that Wagg and his team will work on is to help residential brokers diversify into the commercial space, while leading training and development strategies.

We hear a lot about diversification as an opportunity for the market, Wagg said. We need to help brokers understand how they can diversify and what is involved. We can come in as a provider to help make that happen.

It begins with a really strong focus on education. We're rolling out an education program with industry partners over the coming weeks and months, through a mix of in-person and online activities.

Wagg said this would cover the full breadth of cash flow finance options available for SMEs and how to determine the most suitable product for them.

Wagg joins Shift from Macquarie Bank where for over 20 years he grew a strong network while carrying out roles including strategic partnership manager - asset finance, national partnerships manager and business development manager, amongst others.

He said that Shifts growth into the broker channel while continually introducing innovative commercial products that focus on supporting Australian businesses had compelled him to make the move.

Shift led the way as a non-bank in offering an overdraft to the broker market, which really piqued my interest, Wagg said. We have a unique product set, that is focused on giving businesses a consistently clear view of how much capital is available to them, as well as control over when and how they access funds.

In particular, Shift's Equipment Line product, which has given brokers the capability to initiate transactions, has garnered significant attention by brokers and wider industry.

When we launch a product, we look at whats working for customers and brokers and look at how to expand it into other products, as well as iterating based on broker feedback, said McCausland.

McCausland said since Shift had introduced the feature, which was created on broker feedback, the lender had found the overwhelming majority of purchases were initiated by brokers.

We currently have a streamlined digital documentation experience in the works, that will enable brokers to review and issue contracts to customers in real time.

The well-established SME space

While the current economy isnt without its challenges, there still might be opportunity for brokers to add value in the established SME space.

McCausland said these businesses typically had several years of operating under their belt, had established a rhythm and had learnt how to navigate huge periods of change.

A key insight is that those businesses who continued to grow and stay healthy were able to manage operating cashflow effectively and pull the right financial levers to maintain a buffer, McCausland said.

Looking out for these businesses and focusing on matching them with the right revolving products for the long term is a huge opportunity for brokers, along with retaining and deepening customer relationships as the economy continues to change.

For Wagg, he said was looking forward to the challenge.

Broker relationships and success have been at the centre of my career for two decades and Im thrilled to bring this focus to a company like Shift that really is doing things differently, Wagg said.

Shift has established a strong base of brokers and support from the aggregator partners. Im looking forward to working with our sales team to find opportunities to grow our market share, especially within the established SME space.
Fish mongers are seen at a market in Daedeok District, Daejeon, Wednesday. Yonhap



Gov't considers calling wastewater 'treated water'



By Nam Hyun-woo



The ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the government are calling for industries to join their campaign to promote seafood consumption, despite lingering public fear over the impact of Japan's release of wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean.



The PPP held an agreement signing ceremony between domestic catering firms and the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives to promote domestic seafood consumption, Wednesday.



"The domestic fisheries industry is now facing a serious crisis of groundless concerns and worries that may result in weakening seafood consumption, due to the myth and rumors created by a certain group," PPP floor leader Yun Jae-ok said during the ceremony, referring to the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) campaign against Japan's wastewater release.



"Luckily enough, the seafood consumption in the first weekend after the release grew year-on-year, and the atmosphere at major fisheries markets is not bad. It has been revealed that the political trick of spreading false information and instigating a nationwide boycott was nothing more than empty threats."





Ruling People Power Party floor leader Yun Jae-ok speaks during an agreement signing ceremony between domestic catering firms and the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives to promote domestic seafood consumption at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap



Following the agreement, catering companies including Ourhome, Shinsegae Food, CJ Freshway, Samsung Welstory and Pulmuone Food & Culture promised to promote the use of Korean seafood in the menu of affiliated companies' cafeterias. Schools were excluded from the campaign because of the difficulty of convincing concerned parents.



Despite the agreement, however, industry officials are expressing difficulties stemming from the government and the ruling party's push.



"It could be possible to feature more seafood dishes at the cafeterias of our affiliates," an official at a conglomerate said. "But providing seafood dishes to customer cafeterias is a different matter because we cannot provide meals that customers refuse to eat."



In terms of an outsourced company running a company cafeteria, nutritionists plan menus based on the customer company's demand. For example, HD Hyundai, a shipbuilding conglomerate, announced on Aug. 22 that it will feature more seafood in its affiliates' cafeterias, but industry officials said this was possible because the customer company demanded this.



Against the backdrop, the PPP said it decided to call the wastewater "treated water" instead of using the Korean government's current expression of "contaminated water," because the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is calling it treated water and the party wants to dispel public fears.



The government said that it will be using the term "contaminated water" during a press briefing on Wednesday morning. But Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said in a National Assembly inquiry session hours later that the government will "consider using the term 'treated water' in the future."



"I believe the IAEA's term of Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS)-treated contaminated water is the scientifically correct term," Han said. "What is clear is that Japan is not discharging untreated contaminated water."





Ulsan Mayor Kim Doo-kyum, second from left, eats raw fish during a seafood consumption campaign at a traditional market in Nam District, Ulsan, Wednesday. Courtesy of Ulsan Metropolitan Government
By Preeti Singh and P R Sanjai

Reliance Industries Ltd. is in discussions with global and domestic executive head hunters to find a leader for Jio Financial Services Ltd.s newly created insurance business, according to people familiar with the matter.



Executives from Reliance have met several firms in recent weeks to help them map top talent across life, health and general insurance segments, according to the people, who asked not be identified because the discussions are private. Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart Inc. are among the firms that have held talks with representatives from the petrochemicals-to-consumer conglomerate, the people said.

Jio Financial will look to hire a chief executive for the insurance unit before early next year, the people said. Spokespeople for Korn Ferry and Reliance declined to comment. Spencer Stuart didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The leadership search comes as Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Asias richest man, said on Monday that Jio Financial would revolutionize insurance in India. Jio Financial was publicly listed last week as Ambani attempts to create a new non-banking finance titan that will tap Reliances wider reach across its digital and retail businesses.

Veteran banker K.V. Kamath, who serves as Jio Financials non-executive chairman, will closely monitor the executive hires, the people said. Jio Financial is in the process of developing the organizational structure for its insurance business, and the first chief executive would play an important role in shaping it, the people added.

A decision, though imminent, has not yet been made, the people said. While the mandate for the CEO search would most likely be awarded to a global firm, the domestic head hunters would be roped in for middle and mid-senior hires, the people said.

 2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Location



Bounded by Myanmar in the east and south and Bangladesh in the west, Mizoram is located in India's northeastern corner. The name Mizoram (Land of the Mizos) is derived from Mi (people), Zo (Belonging to the people of Mizoram/Lushai Hills) and Ram (land).



History



In 1947, the area that is now the state of Mizoram was known as the Lushai Hills District and it was part of Assam. The British created the administrative unit and designated it as an 'excluded area'. After Indias independence in 1947, the district remained a part of Assam and seven years later it was renamed as the Mizo Hills District.



Granting statehood



Seeking sovereign independence of Greater Mizoram, separatist leader Laldenga's Mizo National Front (MNF) resorted to insurrection and declared independence in 1966. The subsequent rebellion prompted the central government of India to assume Mizorams administration and to make it a union territory in 1972. However, the demand for a full-fledged statehood continued. In 1986, the central government and the MNF signed the Mizoram Peace Accord. Mizoram was granted statehood in 1987.



Also Read: ECI team to visit Mizoram to review assembly poll preparedness Seeking sovereign independence of Greater Mizoram, separatist leader Laldenga's Mizo National Front (MNF) resorted to insurrection and declared independence in 1966. The subsequent rebellion prompted the central government of India to assume Mizorams administration and to make it a union territory in 1972. However, the demand for a full-fledged statehood continued. In 1986, the central government and the MNF signed the Mizoram Peace Accord. Mizoram was granted statehood in 1987.



Religion



With the arrival of the Arthington Aborigines missionaries in Mizoram in 1894, Christian beliefs gradually replaced the animistic beliefs of the tribes inhabiting the hilly areas. Christianity is the religion of 87 per cent of Mizoram's population, with most people following the Presbyterian sect. Buddhists, who are mainly Chakma people, are the largest religious minority in Mizoram, followed by Hindus and Muslims.



Population



According to the 2011 census, Mizoram had approximately 1.09 million people, making it the second least populous state in India after Sikkim. Population projections by the Ministry of Family Welfare released in 2020, places Mizoram's population in 2021 at 1.21 million. Mizoram's population is expected to reach 1.36 million by 2036. With the arrival of the Arthington Aborigines missionaries in Mizoram in 1894, Christian beliefs gradually replaced the animistic beliefs of the tribes inhabiting the hilly areas. Christianity is the religion of 87 per cent of Mizoram's population, with most people following the Presbyterian sect. Buddhists, who are mainly Chakma people, are the largest religious minority in Mizoram, followed by Hindus and Muslims.



Population composition



Almost 95 per cent of the residents in Mizoram are classified as Scheduled Tribes, according to the 2011 census. The most prominent of the Mizo peoples are the Kuki, Pawi, and Lakher. They speak 'Mizo, a Tibeto-Burman language.



Also Read: Meet Mizoram CM Zoramthanga, a Guerrilla fighter in the political jungle



Economy



Agriculture is the predominant economic activity in Mizoram, employing over two-thirds of the workforce. Although the state receives a lot of rain, its soil is porous and the irrigation infrastructure is very inadequate. This has negatively affected the crop yield.



At present, the total area under horticulture crops is 110,000 ha, according to the states horticulture department. Mizoram is a major producer of Anthurium (over 7 million a year) and roses, supplying the domestic market as well as exporting it to the UAE, UK and Japan. Anthurium is a category encompassing about 1,000 species of foliage plants. The state supplies 14 per cent of India's commercial bamboo.

Also Read Mizoram elections 2023: ECI officials to visit state on August 29 MNF does not subscribe to NDA government's policies: Mizoram CM Zoramthanga Mizoram polls: Lone BJP legislator B Chakma to retire from active politics Mizoram polls 2023: Election Commission to start 3-day visit from Aug 29 Mizoram Congress president asks all parties, NGOs to unite against BJP ECI team to visit Mizoram to review assembly poll preparedness Mizoram polls 2023: Election Commission to start 3-day visit from Aug 29 Mizoram govt incurs Rs 4.88 cr wasteful expenditure due to negligence: CAG Mizoram polls: Former minister and Congress leader K S Thanga joins ZPM Mizoram Congress accuses MNF of misusing funds meant for road project



Mizoram has small-scale industries at the village level such as sericulture (silk production), handloom and handicraft workshops, ginger processing, and furniture manufacturing. Large-scale manufacturing industries have not been well-developed in Mizoram.



According to the 2011 national census, Mizoram's average literacy level is 92 per cent, compared to 74 per cent average for India.



Politics in Mizoram



The major political parties are the MNF, Zoram National Party (ZNP), and the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Mizo National Front (MNF)



In 1959, the Mizo hills were hit by a devastating famine. The famine resulted in a rise in rodent population, which caused plague and starvation among the masses. In 1955, the Mizo Cultural Society, with Laldenga as its secretary, was formed to protest against government inaction and demand relief. By 1960, The Mizo Cultural Society was renamed as the Mizo National Famine Front (MNFF).



The Mizo National Famine Front (MNFF) reorganised itself as an insurgent outfit in 1961. The new group, the Mizo National Front (MNF), was led by Laldenga. In 1966, the MNF launched an uprising against the Indian government, demanding autonomy for the Mizo hills. The secessionist movement led by MNF lasted for close to two decades.



The movement came to an end in June 1986 when the MNF and the government of India signed the Mizoram Peace Accord, which granted Mizoram statehood. The separate state of Mizoram was born in February 1987, and MNF chief Laldenga became the states first chief minister.



The MNF has been part of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) since 2014.



Zoram Peoples Movement



The Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM) is the main opposition party in Mizoram with seven legislators in the state legislative assembly. The Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM) was formed as an electoral alliance of six minor parties in 2017. Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), Mizoram Peoples Conference (MPC) and Zoram Exodus Movement (ZEM) were the initial members in August 2017. Mizoram Peoples Party (MPP), Zoram Reformation Front (ZRF) and Zoram Democratic Front (ZDF) joined the alliance later.



In July 2019, ZPM officially got registration from the Election Commission of India (ECI). Apart from the MPC, which decided to sever ties with the front, all the other parties have been dissolved to form a single political entity.



The ZPM had contested 35 seats in the 2018 assembly elections and won eight seats with its party chief Lalduhoma winning two seats: Serchhip and Aizawl West-I seat.

In a major jolt to the ruling MNF, ZPM won all 11 wards in the newly formed Lunglei Municipal Council in 2023.



Major political issues in 2018



Consumption of alcohol



The Congress party was in power in Mizoram from 2018 to 2023. During this time, the party decided to do away with complete prohibition in the state and allow the consumption of alcohol in moderation. This decision was unpopular with many people in Mizoram, who are predominantly Christian. The Mizo National Front (MNF) capitalised on this unpopular decision by promising complete prohibition if it came to power. The party won 28 seats in the 2018 assembly elections, with the Congress at 5.



Manipur violence and tussle with BJP



Since the Kuki-Zo of the Manipur hills and the Mizos are kindred tribes, the ongoing violence in Manipur has become a major issue in Mizoram. Zoramthanga and the MNF have vocally expressed support for the Kuki-Zo of Manipur on many occasions. The MNF has also openly criticised the Biren Singh-led BJP government in Manipur, despite being a part of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a political alliance formed by the BJP in 2016 to unite several regional political parties in the North East.



The Mizoram Assembly unanimously passed a resolution opposing the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act 2023, which was approved by Parliament during its monsoon session. The MNF has also expressed opposition to the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC).



MNFs Lok Sabha (LS) Member of Parliament (MP) C Lalrosanga supported the Oppositions no-confidence motion in the LS. Rajya Sabha MP K Vanlalvena stated that he was not allowed to speak on the Manipur issue even though he is the lone member representing the Mizo community in the Rajya Sabha.



State budget for 2023-24



Gross State Domestic Product: According to the budget presented for the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Mizoram for 2023-24 (at current prices) is estimated to be at Rs 35,904 crore, a rise of 19 per cent over 2022-23.



Per capita GSDP: The per capita GSDP of Mizoram in 2021-22 (at current prices) is estimated at Rs 1,75,896, a rise of 16 per cent over 2020-21.



Total expenditure: According to the FY24 budget, total expenditure in 2023-24 is estimated at Rs 12,767 crore. This is a decrease of 12.4 per cent from the revised estimate of 2022-23.
Former Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has once again hit the headlines after his post on X (formerly twitter) claiming that Bajrang Dal workers were installing Shivling on the premises of Shri Digambar Jain Siddha Kshetra Kundalpur in Damoh district was said to be misleading.

A case was registered against the X account holder following a complaint lodged by a convener of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in the district on Tuesday late evening.

The Congress leader on Sunday (August 27) wrote on X, "On the premises of one of the grand temples in the country, Shri Digambar Jain Siddha, which is flourished by Acharya Shri Vidya Sagar Maharaj, situated in Kundalpur, some alleged anti-social elements of Bajrangdal have started mischief by keeping Shivji's Pindi since last night. Situations anytime can take a serious turn. This is a serious matter. Administration should take immediate action. @CMMadhyaPradesh @DGP_MP"

After the post on X, district convener of VHP, Shambhu Vishwakarma lodged a police complaint in connection with the tweet and claimed that it was baseless.

City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Abhishek Tiwari said, "VHP district convener Shambhu Vishwakarma had filed a complaint regarding communal disharmony due to the tweet made by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh on the basis of wrong facts. The said tweet was properly investigated."

"It was said in the tweet that Bajrang Dal workers were installing Shivling on the Kundalpur temple premises and were recreating ruckus, which was not found correct during the investigation. The information in the said tweet was found to be misleading", he added.

"We have registered a case against this twitter handle account under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153, 505 and 171 and started investigation into the matter. Whatever facts will come forward, legal action will be taken against the person who operates this account," the officer said.

Also Read Congress won't ban Bajrang Dal in Madhya Pradesh, says Digvijaya Singh As Assembly polls near, debate over Bajrang Dal heats up in Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh election 2023: Shivraj Singh Chouhan to expand cabinet today Not so BIMARU now: Amit Shah says MP has shed the tag. What does it mean? Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Chouhan expands his cabinet ahead of elections Everything ready for 2-day opposition alliance meeting: Sanjay Raut Ashok Gehlot asks Bhupesh Baghel to give land in PEKB block in Chhattisgarh LPG price cut to cost government additional Rs 4,000 crore in FY24 Chandrayaan-3 mission: Here's a list of key findings made on moon's surface Over 38,000 conjunctivitis cases reported in Himachal Pradesh in August
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan will remain behind bars after a special court extended his judicial remand in a cypher case till September 13, Geo News reported citing sources.

Pakistan's special court established under the Official Secrets Act extended Khan's judicial remand in the cypher case, a hearing of which was held at the Attock District Jail on Wednesday.

The case was heard by Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnai. He issued the decision in the case of the missing cypher, a classified state document that Khan had waved during his political gathering ahead of his ouster from office last year.

Hearing of the case took place at the Attock District Jail following approval by the Law Ministry amid security concerns expressed by the Interior Ministry.

Khan has been in jail since August 5 in the Toshakhana case for failing to properly declare gifts he received while in office.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi who was arrested on August 19 in the cypher case will also be produced at the judicial complex in relation to the cypher case today. He completed two-day remand is completed today, the sources told Geo News.

PTI leader Babar Awan a lawyer is representing Qureshi in court.

A day earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had directed authorities to release Imran Khan on bail after it suspended his conviction and three-year jail term in the Toshakhana case, Dawn News reported. He, however, continues to be in jail for the cypher case.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri on the former prime minister's appeal against his prison term announced the much-anticipated order, that comes months ahead of the national elections in the country.

According to Dawn News, the trial court in Islamabad had convicted the PTI chief in the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that involved concealing details of state gifts and jailed him for three years. The verdict meant he was disqualified from contesting general elections for five years.

Also Read Imran Khan to get medical facilities at Attock jail, allowed meetings Pak ex-PM moved to Attock jail after 3-year sentence in corruption case Imran Khan apologises again for threatening Pakistani female judge Pakistan: Imran Khan booked under Official Secrets Act in Cipher case Imprisoned Imran Khan says ready for 1,000 yrs in jail if necessary: Report UK Foreign Secretary to visit China today, will raise human rights issues US-India relation critical in dealing with China, Russia: US Congressman Gabon Military officers announce seizing power days after prez election Palm oil futures edges up on supply concerns amid India festive demand Outlook of Europeans towards India has turned more negative: Pew Survey
ACAO SPA & RESORT is thrilled to announce the highly anticipated launch of the ACAO LUXURY LIVING & HOTELS complex website on July 27, 2023. Crafted by renowned architect Kengo Kuma, the project features THE JACARANDA VILLA and THE BLUESTAR VILLA, two extraordinary ultra-luxury villas, alongside a reception area, spa, clubhouse, and more.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230822609411/en/

ACAO LUXURY LIVING & HOTELS (Photo: Business Wire)

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Conveniently accessible from Tokyo by land, air, and sea, our resort beckons you to a world of indulgence and serenity. Every aspect of ACAO has been thoughtfully curated to pamper your senses, allowing you to embrace life's most extraordinary moments in an exquisite symphony of splendor.

Presenting the completed perspective images of THE BLUESTAR VILLA and its facilities, capturing breathtaking Atami blue sea and sky views. Our Ultra Luxury Concierge ensures unforgettable moments.

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Today Randstad, the worlds largest talent company, announced the launch of a new organization, Randstad Digital, which specializes in meeting the technology talent needs of multinational companies across a wide range of industries. In this dynamic business environment, Randstad Digital is uniquely positioned to help companies accelerate and enable enterprise-level transformations at scale, by providing access to premier talent, services, and solutions across four specialized domains: customer experience, cloud & infrastructure, data & analytics and digital & product engineering. Randstad Digital with its refreshed strategy and globally integrated organization will be led by Venu Lambu who was appointed in January 2023.

"The world of work is defined by three trends: talent scarcity, evolving client needs, and rapid digitization. That's why Randstad's ambition is to become the worlds most equitable and specialized talent company. Positioned to support organizations with specialized talent needs, we will be their preferred partner, offering diverse solutions and expert advice for business growth. A growing client need is digital transformation support, driving us to consolidate our digital talent services into one global offering. We're confident in expanding our technology for clients and becoming the preferred destination for digital talent through Randstad Digital, our new global organization," said Randstad CEO, Sander van t Noordende.

Randstad Digital is the consolidation of decades of digital experience and know-how bringing together existing global capabilities under one unified brand. This approach allows for an enhanced capabilities strategy and scaling of our nearshore and offshore capabilities to drive greater access to talent and increased flexibility.

Businesses trust Randstad with their toughest challenges, and now Im confident that Randstad Digitals agile model can constantly adapt to evolving client needs and business demands, said Venu Lambu, CEO of Randstad Digital. The organization is uniquely positioned to guide clients through the uncharted waters of transformation, leveraging its comprehensive toolkit of capabilities to steer projects toward success. At Randstad, we see talent first, digital-first as dual priority becoming a key differentiator as businesses enter the next phase of their transformation. And our ambition is to provide them with the talent-driven digital solutions and services they will need to succeed.

Randstad Digital's Offering for Business

Randstad Digital is not a one-size fits all approach to transformation, but a global enablement partner with customized solutions that will ensure future readiness. With deep capabilities across four service lines, Randstad Digital partners with clients on a local and global level, no matter the project complexity, whether augmenting your current workforce, leveraging Randstad Digitals global talent centers for specialized skills, or delivering managed solutions. Through its global talent centers, clients can quickly scale their operations up or down by tapping into a diverse pool of skilled professionals from different parts of the world when they need to expand their teams. This access to a broader talent base enables companies to find specialized expertise that might be scarce in their home country.

Randstad Digital is a hub for tech talent with specialized expertise and capabilities. For professionals in the technology space, the organization offers opportunities for skilling, upskilling and training through its Randstad Digital Academy as well as career progression as part of an agile, high-performing team of innovators and problem solvers, running leading-edge global projects.

Randstad Digital's promise is not confined to the present but extends to the future of business transformation. With a profound understanding of the nuanced challenges faced by modern enterprises, Randstad Digital offers a transformative partnership that equips businesses to thrive in the face of uncertainty and change, said Lambu.

About Randstad Digital

Randstad Digital is a trusted digital enablement partner that facilitates accelerated transformation for businesses by providing global talent, capacity, and solutions across specialized domains. Our talent solutions allow you to seamlessly scale your team while connecting you with skilled professionals around the world who align with your chosen technologies. Our focus lies in managed solutions, and we empower businesses to move at speed and achieve goals efficiently. We support four service lines including customer experience, cloud & infrastructure, data & analytics and digital & product engineering in addition to three engagement models including talent services, global talent centers, and managed solution capabilities.

Randstad Digital was announced on August 30, 2023, under the umbrella of Randstad, the worlds largest talent company and a partner of choice to clients. Randstad has a deep understanding of the labor market and helps clients to create the high-quality, diverse, and agile workforces they need to succeed. Our 46,000 employees around the world make a positive impact on society by helping people to realize their true potential throughout their working life.

Randstad was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Diemen, the Netherlands. In 2022, in our 39 markets, we helped more than 2 million people find a job that feels good and advised over 230,000 clients on their talent needs. We generated revenue of 27.6 billion. Randstad N.V. is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam. For more information, see www.randstad.com.

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Starr Insurance today announced that Sean Chen, a 14-year member of Starrs global team, has been named chief executive officer of Starr International Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (Starr Singapore), effective August 28.

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Sean Chen, CEO of Starr Singapore (Photo: Business Wire)

Sean most recently served as Starrs regional manager for Korea, Taiwan and Japan for property, energy and construction. He previously served as a senior property underwriter in Starrs Hong Kong office. Including his time at Starr, Sean has more than 25 years of underwriting and client relations experience on both the insurance carrier and broker sides of the business.

Were fortunate to have an executive of Seans caliber, with extensive underwriting experience, to help us grow our presence in Asia, said Maurice R. Greenberg, chairman and CEO of Starr Insurance. Seans advancement underscores Starrs strength as a place where people can thrive along with the company.

Sean succeeds Phil Finley as CEO of Starr Singapore. Phil recently moved to Thailand as CEO of Starr International Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, to oversee the expansion of that important new venture for Starr while continuing to lead Starrs Asia operations as president, Asia Pacific Region.

About Starr Insurance

Starr Insurance (or Starr) is a marketing name for the operating insurance and travel assistance companies and subsidiaries of Starr International Company, Inc. and for the investment business of C. V. Starr & Co., Inc. and its subsidiaries. Starr is a leading insurance and investment organization with a presence on six continents; through its operating insurance companies, Starr provides property, casualty, and accident and health insurance products as well as a range of specialty coverages including aviation, marine, energy and excess casualty insurance. Starrs insurance company subsidiaries domiciled in the U.S., Bermuda, China, Hong Kong, Malta, Singapore, Switzerland and U.K. each have an A.M. Best rating of A (Excellent). Starrs Lloyds syndicate has a Standard & Poors rating of A+ (Strong).

Visit us at www.starrcompanies.com or follow us LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Thales has been selected as the Google Cloud Technology Partner of the Year in the Security  Data Protection category. Thales was selected alongside a global field of top Google Cloud partners for excellence in developing and implementing customer solutions based on Google Clouds technology.

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Thales

The Thales and Google Cloud collaboration addresses the needs of organizations around the world that are facing ever-increasing security, sovereignty, and performance requirements for their cloud deployments. With many years of cybersecurity expertise, Thales provides the level of trust and security required for customers around the world to move to the cloud, while maintaining the necessary level of control. By combining Thales platform expertise with Google Clouds enterprise-grade solutions and cutting-edge infrastructure, the two companies work closely on a number of broad data security initiatives.

Thales, in its constant search of excellence in its security portfolio, recently announced a new collaboration to develop data security capabilities and bring additional AI-powered features to users of its CipherTrust Data Security platform. This is powered by Google Clouds Vertex AI machine learning capabilities, to discover, classify and protect sensitive data in the cloud. The machine learning functionality helps to automate fundamental tasks for customers and ensure their sensitive cloud-hosted data remains protected.

Since late 2022, Thales CipherTrust Cloud Key Manager has also supported Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) initiatives, including those for Google Cloud and Google Workspace. Thales and Google Cloud have also collaborated to operate a sovereign cloud joint venture (S3NS) for Google Cloud customers in France who seek to meet stringent data sovereignty requirements, such as those applicable to state and critical infrastructure organizations.

Thales has built a structured cloud offering for companies that want to meet the most demanding data protection standards. In France, S3NS, the joint venture between Thales and Google Cloud, aims to offer French companies and public institutions a solution providing the equivalent of Google Cloud , compliant with the SecNumCloud label, a certification from the French information systems security agency (ANSSI). To date, SecNumCloud has the highest level of protection in France, excluding the protection of national defense secrets, and in Europe. S3NS has a first offering already available that offers additional guarantees & controls, such as data location in Europe and external encryption managed by S3NS (based on Thales technology).

Google Clouds partner awards recognize the significant impact and customer success that our partners have driven over the past year," said Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate Vice President, Global Ecosystem and Channels at Google Cloud. "We're delighted to recognize Thales as a 2023 Google Cloud Partner Award winner, and look forward to a continued strong partnership in support of our mutual customers."

Sebastien Cano, Senior Vice President of Cloud Protection and Licensing activities at Thales, commented: We are very proud of our ongoing relationship with Google Cloud and this latest award recognises the brilliant work weve been doing with them across a range of projects. Together we are helping customers around the world discover, classify and protect their data more efficiently, and ensure their move to the cloud is as secure and compliant as possible.

Thales is also participating at Google Cloud Next, which is taking place from 29-31 August 2023. Some of the sessions include:

How global leaders are addressing digital sovereignty requirements, with Cyprien Falque, CEO of S3NS More details about the event, which will be available to watch both live and on-demand online, can be found here.

About Thales Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global leader in advanced technologies within three domains: Defence & Security, Aeronautics & Space, and Digital Identity & Security. It develops products and solutions that help make the world safer, greener and more inclusive. The Group invests close to 4 billion a year in Research & Development, particularly in key areas such as quantum technologies, Edge computing, 6G and cybersecurity. Thales has 77,000 employees in 68 countries. In 2022, the Group generated sales of 17.6 billion.

PLEASE VISIT

Thales Group

Cloud Protection & Licensing Solutions | Thales Group

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Travelshift, the leading online travel agency (OTA) in Iceland has raised $10 million USD of capital from existing shareholders, raising the total funding amount to $30 million USD.

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David Byron Stewart, the CEO of Travelshift and former Head of Global Private Equity at State Street Global Advisors (Photo: Business Wire)

The financing represents a vote of confidence from Travelshift's current investors in the company's growth trajectory and future potential. According to Harshal Chaudhari, President and Chief Investment Officer at GE Investment Management Co., We are proud to continue supporting Travelshifts remarkable journey. The companys unwavering commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction has been instrumental in its success, and we firmly believe in its potential to further disrupt the leisure travel industry.

The latest funding round follows Travelshift's recent launch of Guide to Europe, a travel platform that solves the Connected Trip for the European leisure travel market. This innovative service, which is powered by AI, allows travelers to book everything they need in one checkout and manage their entire journey in one app. It also gives travelers access to thousands of itineraries that have been optimized with AI, with what is now the worlds largest selection of vacation packages in Europe.

"We are thrilled to receive the continued support and trust from our existing shareholders," said David Stewart, CEO of Travelshift. "This financing round enables us to accelerate our growth initiatives and continue to build the next generation of travel through innovative use and application of AI to deliver personalized and seamless travel experiences."

Travelshift would like to express its sincere gratitude to its dedicated team, loyal customers, and steadfast shareholders for their continued support and belief in the company's vision.

About Travelshift:

Travelshift is an leading Icelandic online travel agency (OTA) that specializes in providing technology-driven travel solutions. With over a decade of experience in the industry, Travelshift is committed to revolutionizing how people travel, offering innovative services and exceptional customer experiences.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829071571/en/
Rep. Woo Won-shik of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, center, holds a press conference in front of the defense ministry headquarters in Seoul, Aug. 30. Yonhap



An opposition lawmaker on Wednesday demanded the dismissal of Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup for advocating the relocation of the bust of revered independence fighter Hong Beom-do, saying that the move amounts to a "historical coup."



The ministry has been considering relocating the busts of Hong from the Korea Military Academy in northern Seoul and the defense ministry headquarters to the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, 85 kilometers south of Seoul, citing his past record of collaborating with Soviet communist forces and associations with communism.



"It is aimed at building a country for pro-Japanese collaborators by removing independence fighters, who are the root of our soldiers," said Rep. Woo Won-shik of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea during a press conference held in front of the ministry headquarters in Seoul.



Woo serves as the head of a foundation commemorating Hong.



Regarding the ministry's assertion that Hong joined the Soviet Communist Party in 1927, Woo argued that this is an ideological interpretation when viewed from a modern perspective and "amounts to a historical coup."



Critics have said that the relocation move is a narrow-minded decision that slights one of the country's best-known independence fighters and could end up worsening deep social divisions.



Supporters of the relocation argue that Hong is undoubtedly a legendary independence fighter, but the Korea Military Academy and the defense ministry are not the right places for busts of Hong in a Soviet military uniform.



Hong is a historic and highly symbolic figure in Korea's fight against Japan's 1910-45 brutal colonial rule. As top commander of Korea's liberation army, he spearheaded victories in battles against Japanese forces. Especially well known is the Battle of Fengwudong in Manchuria, China, in 1920.



The following year, he moved to the Soviet Far East, seeking refuge from Japan's hunting operation.



Some historians have pointed out that Korean independence fighters at the time had no alternative but to seek support from communist countries to sustain their struggle against Japanese colonial rule.



Hong was forced to relocate to Kazakhstan in 1937 under then Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's policy, along with many other ethnic Koreans. He died at the age of 75 in the Kazakh region of Kyzylorda in 1943, two years before Korea's liberation. (Yonhap)


National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong responds to a question during a parliamentary session at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap



President Yoon Suk Yeol has suggested to "think about what is right" over the defense ministry's move to relocate the busts of revered Korean independence fighter Hong Beom-do, National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong said Wednesday.



Cho disclosed Yoon's remark from a closed-door Cabinet meeting held Tuesday, as the plan to remove Hong's busts from the Korea Military Academy and the defense ministry headquarters, both in Seoul, has sparked heated controversy over its legitimacy.



The opposition Democratic Party and advocates for independence fighters have strongly protested against the move.



"(The president said he) will not say what to do. But it will be good to raise the issue and think once about what is right," Cho quoted Yoon as saying during a parliamentary session.



Cho said the National Security Office does not have a policy over the relocation, repeating the presidential office's position that the defense minister will make the decision.



The defense ministry is pushing to relocate Hong's busts to the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, 85 kilometers south of Seoul, citing his past record of collaborating with Soviet communist forces and associations with communism. (Yonhap)


First lady Kim Keon Hee speaks during a press conference held by civic groups at the Press Center in central Seoul, Wednesday. The press conference was held to call for legislation to ban dog meat consumption. Korea Times photo by Yun Seo-young



By Jun Ji-hye



First lady Kim Keon Hee vowed to continue to make efforts and conduct a campaign to end the country's contentious culture of eating dog meat, during a surprise appearance at a news conference hosted by civic groups, Wednesday.



"I will become friends with these people (members of the civic groups), and campaign and make efforts to bring an end to dog meat consumption. I promise," Kim said during the press conference that was held to call on the National Assembly to legislate a law banning dog meat consumption.



"Humans and animals should coexist. Illegal dog meat activities should be put to an end."





First lady Kim Keon Hee shows a picture of a puppy on the back of her hand during a press conference held by civic groups at the Press Center in central Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Yun Seo-young
Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at 3:59AM

Googles Duet AI assistant is now available for all Workspace apps, the company announced. Duet is a virtual assistant that can help you with various tasks in Google apps, such as creating slides, charts, images, summaries, and more. It can also be a creative partner, generating email responses, grammar checks, and other content. Duet combines the helpfulness of Clippy and the creativity of ChatGPT.

Duet also offers app-specific features, such as AI-enhanced lighting and sound in Meet and automatic thread summaries in Chat. However, Duet is not cheap: Google charges USD 30 per user for large organizations, matching Microsofts Copilot AI system that works with Office apps. Both tools are new and expensive, and their AI models are not flawless.

Workspace users will see Duet in most of their apps, either as a menu or as an in-app helper. Google wants to promote its new features, even if they annoy some users. Duet is Googles direct challenge to Microsoft in the office suite market, where both companies see AI as a game-changer.

Source
France is renowned for its cuisine, fashion, and art. It is also a haven for pure sciences to a more intellectual group, but perhaps the country has yet to open up to be recognized as the go-to country for your business education. While it is appropriate to associate French with all things artistic and lovely, you should start considering France as a potential location for your MBA. We quickly look at what France has to offer as a study abroad location and its rising appeal among business houses throughout the world in light of its top business schools, such as HEC Paris and INSEAD, being accepted by business organizations all over the world.

Why MBA from France?

The study of management and business is the most popular course of study in France's higher education system, according to Campus France. An MBA from a renowned French university is respected across the world. France has more than 100 institutes of higher learning that have received official accreditation from other countries for their outstanding standards. It should be noted that France has 18 "triple crown" business schools, which represents less than 1% of all business schools worldwide. The benefits of earning an MBA in France are listed below.

World-Class Higher Education System

The French are quite serious about their schooling, if there is one thing. It is clear from the fact that the government spends more than 20% of its budget on education. The equality principle is the best aspect of French law as such. Any student in France has access to the same privileges as a French national, regardless of their nationality.

The fact that French higher education is research-based and that you may network with the brightest minds from a variety of industries adds value to this. For its quality and content, French higher education is ranked among the best in the world. Business schools like HEC Paris and INSEAD are listed among the top 20 universities in the world. Another example of a rising business school that has recently drawn many IT company placements from around the world is the Grenoble Graduate School of Business.

Furthermore, the courses at the Paris School of Business would help you select a course that is specifically designed for you if you want to pursue your MBA in a specialist area like Arts or Luxury and Fashion. And if money is an issue, these 10 inexpensive MBA programs in France offer exceptional quality.

Numerous Opportunities

You can appreciate the strength of French industries if you are familiar with Airbus, Alcatel, Pernod Ricard, Michelin, and Alstom. France, one of the best in the world, has established itself as a leader in a variety of fields, including agri-products, fashion, autos, electronics, and aerospace. Paris is also the world's #1 location for business travel and international trade shows, in addition to all of the above.

The level of education you received outside of the classroom, as a management graduate, is just as important to your career as the education you received inside of it. The nation brings the most prestigious names to you. You may enhance your resume and your personality to increase your chances of receiving job offers and internships.

The Best Global Experience

All people with refined tastes will find something to like in France. People who share your interests are certain to be found. You would not be alone if you were an international student because students from all around the world travel to France to pursue higher education. So, if you think your master's degree must have an international flair and should expose you to the world, French universities are the perfect combination.

With temperatures shifting as much as they do in India, the country has a lot to offer in terms of diversity aside from its student population. Friendly neighborhoods, a sizable influx of visitors, and a nation that feeds on cheese and wine all contribute to the adaptable culture there. In order to ensure you have an MBA experience unlike any other, you can visit Southern France, the Riviera, or simply enjoy Paris's long, beautiful streets.

French as an important Business Language

French, which is spoken by 68 million people globally and is the third most common language used in business, behind Mandarin and English, is still quite popular. Because so many leading companies in a variety of industries are of French origin, knowing the language will be useful and add significantly to the strength of your CV.

Even while many business schools provide the MBA or M.Sc. in Business in English, acquiring French while still living in the nation is not particularly challenging. You can stretch yourself and learn the language more easily thanks to the convenience and accessibility of the courses. This aids in your development as a true global leader.

All Things Innovative

The external environment is extremely important as the MBA market becomes more competitive. Universities of France can assist you. Today, managers are expected to have innovative and advanced thought processes, instill a sense of social responsibility in their actions, and focus on sustainability rather than profits.

France, which is already well-known around the world for having an active education system based on research, has produced numerous Nobel Laureates in recent years. The nation is a hub for research, and both its business and educational system aggressively seek out researchers from around the globe.

Immerse yourself in France's rich cultural diversity

When you consider studying in France, what is the first thing that springs to mind? The French economy and the best universities must immediately come to mind, but in addition to these, you might be prone to consider the greatest authors, thinkers, chefs, and vintners. One can consider the names of Voltaire, Marie Curie, and Raymond Blanc, a modern-day culinary maestro, when considering studying in France. Leading figures in literature, art, and fashion also call this nation home. The Louvre is the most well-known of France's big museums and galleries. Additionally, you can embark on a hike at one of the country's vineyards or go for a ski trip to the French Alps.

Best Business Schools in France for MBA

The following is a list of the top business schools in France for MBA programs, according to the Financial Times' most recent rankings of business schools .

Schools MBA 2021 European Rankings HEC Paris 4 INSEAD 1 Essec Business School 23 EDHEC Business School 20 Emlyon Business School 26

All in all, there are a range of cutting-edge courses, reputable institutions, and fascinating international organizations to intern at if you want to study MBA in France. You will thus have the opportunity to learn French, experience a new culture, or sample any exquisite and delectable meal while residing and studying in France.

In conclusion, France is well known for a variety of things. It is a calm and pleasantly diverse country that offers the ideal combination of elements to greatly enhance your management studies. In addition to the obvious benefits, it is strategically placed in Europe and gives you access to a variety of nations. Therefore, France is not only a highly desirable country for your MBA, but it also has the attributes that would ensure that your time abroad is a learning experience in itself.
Some of the best MBA programs in the world are offered at universities in the United States, including Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, and many others. The management programs at American colleges are well-known, making this country a popular place to study for an MBA. Choosing a college should not be difficult if you intend to get an MBA in the United States. Some helpful details on the top 10 MBA colleges in the US are provided below.

List of top 10 MBA colleges in US

Harvard University

Stanford University

The University of Chicago

University of Pennsylvania

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Northwestern University

Columbia University

University of California - Berkeley Campus

University of Michigan

New York University

1. Harvard Business School

Every student who wants to study for an MBA in the US has a dream of attending Harvard Business School. The school provides several executive education programs, a full-time MBA program, and PhD degrees. It routinely holds one of the top spots among business schools in the US and around the globe. It provides more than 80 executive education programs, a two-year residential MBA program, and eight full-time PhD programs.

2. Stanford Graduate School of Business

Stanford University was founded in 1925 with the goal of delivering quality and value-based management education. Stanford has established a global reputation for its cutting-edge programs. It offers a two-year MBA program that is intended to train business leaders, a one-year Stanford Sloan Master's program for executives in the middle of their careers, a Ph.D. program for aspiring scholars, Executive Education programs for seasoned managers, and Faculty research initiatives.

3. University of Chicago - Booth School of Business

The Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago is the second-oldest business school in the country, having opened its doors in 1898. It offers the oldest business doctoral program in the country as well as a comprehensive spectrum of full-time and part-time MBA degrees. Both full-time and executive MBA programs are available. The most popular course at the Chicago Booth School of Business is finance, followed by marketing and entrepreneurship.

4. University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School

The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School was the first collegiate business school in the world when it opened its doors in 1881. About 5000 undergraduate, MBA, Executive MBA, and doctorate students receive their education there, along with its ten academic departments and twenty research areas. Students are given management education using an international methodology.

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT Sloan School of Management

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was founded in 1914 with the intention of providing business training to engineers. Top students from more than 60 different nations have access to cutting-edge research opportunities and management education at MIT. Here, academic staff and students collaborate with business or nonprofit partners to address current issues.

6. Northwestern University

One of the top research universities in Illinois, USA, Northwestern University was founded in 1851. One of the top business and MBA programs is the Kellogg MBA, according to top ranking sources.

7. Columbia Business School

In order to give undergraduate and graduate students business training and professional preparation, Columbia Business School was founded in 1916. It has one of the most stringent admission policies among prestigious business schools and is one of the six Ivy League business schools. It offers MBA, Executive MBA, and Ph.D. degrees, and through its non-degree Executive Education programs, gives business managers and company executives a competitive advantage.

8. University of California at Berkeley - Haas School of Business

The Haas School of Business is the oldest business school of a public university in the US, having opened its doors in 1898. Through six degree programs, it provides management education to around 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students yearly. The institute is supported by exceptional and committed faculty who have been working to provide students with the greatest management education.

9. University of Michigan

One of the top research institutions in the world is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was founded in 1817. Business principles from the Ross School of Business are renowned for being applicable in real-world situations. Ross emphasizes innovation and leadership in its MBA program.

10. New York University

New York University (NYU), a private academic university founded in 1831, is home to the renowned Stern School of Business. The QS Global MBA Rankings for 2021 place it as 19th.
Lets recap what these two vehicles are again. The smaller of these two is the CX-60, while the bigger one is the CX-90. Both represent Mazd...
As summer turns to autumn, streaming platforms will be launching several new and returning animated series.

Netflix will say goodbye to Disenchantment, with the fifth and final part of the Matt Groening series set to debut on September 1. The streamer also hopes to capitalize on the Barbie hype by premiering its recent pickup, Barbie  A Touch of Magic. And Netflix will close out the month with the premiere of its new Castlevania series Castlevania: Nocturne.

Disney+s big arrival will be Pixars Elemental, splashing down on the platform on September 13 along with a making-of documentary titled Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental and the short film Carls Date. Other notable additions include season two of I am Groot and a collection of Doc McStuffins shorts. Disneys sister streaming service Hulu will stream three Lego features and debut its new series, Krapopolis, from creator Dan Harmon.

Max is launching Young Love, a new animated series spun off from the Oscar-winning short Hair Love. It will also bring back two fan-favorite IPs in September with The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart and Tiny Toons Looniversity. Paramount+ has planned a nostalgia bomb of its own planned with the arrival of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.

A few notes on the list: The list includes announcements for new seasons of existing shows. However, we do not list new episode releases of existing seasons, as some streamers roll out new episodes in monthly batches. Streamers also often announce new animation releases mid-month. Our guide only catalogs what the streamers have announced ahead of the new month, but when possible, we update the schedule if there are mid-month announcements. The list only includes content premiering on the U.S. versions of these services.

Heres a look at the streaming animation release calendar for September:

Netflix

Disenchantment: Part 5 (series, September 1)

Kung Fu Panda 2 (feature, September 1)

One Piece Adventure of Nebulandia (series, September 1)

One Piece Episode of East blue  Luffy and His Four Crewmates Great Adventure (series, September 1)

One Piece Episode of Skypiea (series, September 1)

One Piece Film: Gold (series, September 1)

One Piece Heart of Gold (series, September 1)

One Piece: 3D2Y  Overcome Aces Death! Luffys Vow to His Friends (series, September 1)

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (feature, September 1)

Woody Woodpecker (feature, September 1)

GAMERA  Rebirth (series, September 7)

Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight: S3 (series, September 7)

Pokemon: To be a Pokemon Master: Ultimate Journeys: The Series (series, September 8)

Barbie  A Touch of Magic (series, September 14)

My Little Pony: Make Your Mark: Chapter 5 (series, September 18)

Kengan Ashura: S2 (series, September 21)

Scissor Seven: S4 (series, September 21)

Little Baby Bum: Music Time (series, September 25)

Castlevania: Nocturne (series, September 28)

Disney+

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in All Wet (short, September 5)

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in Trolley Troubles (short, September 5)

I Am Groot: S2 (series, September 6)

Doc McStuffins: The Doc & Bella Are In! (series, September 6)

Bone Trouble (short, September 8)

Merbabies (short, September 8)

Mickeys Kangaroo (short, September 8)

Playful Pluto (short, September 8)

Pluto, Junior (short, September 8)

The Barn Dance (shorts, September 8)

Elemental (feature, September 13)

Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental (special, September 13)

Carls Date (short, September 13)

Hulu

One Piece: S9-10 (series, September 1)

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (feature, September 1)

The Lego Movie (feature, September 1)

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (feature, September 1)

The Lego Ninjago Movie (feature, September 1)

Dragons: The Nine Realms: S7 (series, September 14)

Sword Art Online: Alicization: S2 (series, September 20)

Krapopolis (series, September 25)

Max

The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (feature, September 2)

Tiny Toons Looniversity (series, September 8)

Blippi Wonders: S3 (series, September 21)

Young Love (series, September 21)

Prime Video/Freevee

Mfkz (feature, September 1)

Smurfs: The Lost Village (feature, September 1)

The Adventures Of The American Rabbit (feature, September 1)

The Little Vampire (feature, September 1)

StarDog and TurboCat (feature, September 18)

Paramount+

Sherlock Gnomes (feature, September 1)

Star Trek: Lower Decks: S4 (series, September 7)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) (series, September 19)

Its Pony: S2 (series, September 20)

ALVINNN!!! and The Chipmunks: S5 (series, September 27)

Peacock


By Michael Bergmann



Again, Liberation Day was a day of celebration, at least for the 2,176 convicted offenders who were pardoned by the President on this occasion.



As always, the media were quick to help assure the public that "only white-collar criminals" were released. They may have abused power, bypassed democratic processes, misallocated taxpayers' money, eroded trust in public institutions and undermined fair competition. But don't be afraid, the prison gates are not opened twice a year for those who might hit you in the streets.



Even The Korea Times dutifully quoted the Ministry of Justice claiming that "those who had committed corruption or violent crimes ... were not considered." Corruption? Well, if we restrict the use of this term to its narrowest and most hard-core sense of abusing political or administrative influence for private profit, one could insist on categorizing illegal business practices like breach of trust, embezzlement, fraud and forgery as "non-corrupt white-collar crimes." One could, then, argue that the latter "only" eliminate freedom, fairness and equality from the market economy.



But why did the presidential pardon include, to give just one vexing example, a political top-aide who, according to the Korea Times, "was sentenced to five years and two months in prison for abusing his authority to give his acquaintances government projects while working as an adviser to former President Lee Myung-bak?" Could the Justice Ministry, as well as the media uncritically referring to it, explain in which possible sense this would not be a case of corruption?



Even more disturbing is the officially declared  and widely tolerated  motivation behind the numerous pardons. There could be, of course, respectable reasons for undoing judicial procedures: a rehabilitation of politically convicted critics after democratization, for example, or sheer benevolence. Pardons have been used to identify the unlucky Jean Valjeans of our time. (Some pitiable people at least seem included in the current list.) But the usually floated justifications are far from mercifully letting someone resume a decent humble life:



"With their rights and freedom restored, the beneficiaries are now allowed to return to their top posts at public companies or run for political office." Congratulations!



So often have we been told that the pardons are "needed to revive the economy" that hardly anyone seems to reflect on the implication: Does Korea really not have enough honest people to fill leadership positions and to faithfully run the country? A remotely similar argument dates back to colonial times when convicts were sent to be productive, with hard labor however, in distant places, on condition of never coming back. Are Korea's white-collar convicts really just the unlucky ones singled out among "all doing the same" by partisan prosecutors? Do we really need, after each government change, partisan pardons to restore such corrupt "equality?"





Michael Bergmann (bergmann2473@yahoo.de) is a teacher in Seoul.


Photo: Photo Submitted. Dozens of unionized catering workers held a quick demonstration at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on July 27 and issued a 72-hour strike notice.

A caterer operating out of Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has lost its appeal against a cease and desist order after using scabs on Air Canada flights.

Workers at Gate Gourmet Canada went on strike through an overtime ban on its YVR operations for around 20 days last August to demand better pay.

Gate Gourmet is a Canadian subsidiary of Swiss company Gategroup with a head office in Ontario and operates out of YVR and international airports in Alberta and Ontario.

Workers, represented by UNITE Here Local 40, and the company ultimately reached an agreement for a 12 per cent wage increase in November 2022.

During the strike, Gate Gourmet was caught using illegal replacement workers for certain Air Canada flights and received a cease and desist from the Labour Relations Board (LRB) in October.

The company had double-catered said flights outside of B.C., which involved loading enough food and drinks for both outbound and return flights on the same aircraft.

Although double-catering was typical in the business, it took place on the relevant Air Canada flights in response to the strike and the work was performed by Gate Gourmet employees in Alberta and Ontario.

LRB found Gate Gourmet was responsible for organizing the scabs and took steps to reduce customer demand at YVR in response to the strike.

It also treated Air Canada differently from other customers by making arrangements to keep its business, which also involves outsourcing order control functions. Other customers were told instead to seek catering services from different companies.

The work done by employees in Alberta and Ontario, said LRB, was work that would have been done by YVR workers if not for the strike.

Gate Gourmet recently appealed the decision, arguing LRB does not have jurisdiction outside of B.C.

It also claimed the board made mistakes, including taking into account all of its Canadian operations in the decision when only its B.C. operations should be relevant to its capacity as an employer, and for finding it has used scabs when it was just actioning Air Canadas directions.

An LRB panel rejected Gate Gourmets claims in a decision issued earlier this month, finding the original decision did not make a mistake when considering Gate Gourmets scope as an employer and finding it used scabs.

The original cease and desist order only applied to Gate Gourmet, a B.C. employer, and not its employees in Ontario and Alberta, said LRB chair Jennifer Glougie.

The panel also found the original decision did not make the mistakes claimed by Gate Gourmet.

The fact the workers (Gate Gourmet) is using to perform the replacement work are located outside the province does not mean the Board is without jurisdiction to apply the (Labour Relations Code) to (Gate Gourmet) in respect of its use of those workers, Glougie wrote in the decision.
Siam Cement puts chemicals IPO on hold

30 August 2023

Thailand-based Siam Cement has announced that it is postponing the initial public offering (IPO) of its SCG Chemicals business. According to Reuters News, the decision is due to unfavourable market conditions but the company plans to proceed with the IPO once conditions improve.

The IPO approval date has been extended until 4 October 2023 but cannot be extended any further after that date.

The company has reported a seven per cent YoY decline in its shares this year. Thailand has also recently appointed a new prime minister after months of political uncertainty under a caretaker administration.

Published under


By Yoon Ja-young



Recently, statistics about Koreans' expenditure on private education made headlines. The top 20 percent income bracket of households spent around 1.14 million won ($860) per month on private education, which is similar to the combined amount spent on food and housing expenses. Even lower-income households are not significantly different; households in the bottom 40 percent income bracket spent more on private education than on food.



Private education spending in Korea is only increasing. Last year, the total private education expenses for elementary, middle and high school students reached 26 trillion won, a 10 percent increase compared to the previous year, despite a decreasing number of students.



In the country with the world's lowest birthrate, private education expenses are considered one of the major factors that discourage parents from having more children. And this is largely due to the collapse of the public education system.



A friend of mine sighed after meeting her kid's homeroom teacher at the beginning of the semester. During their conversation, the teacher advised her to send her daughter to a "hagwon"  a private tutoring institute  because she was weak in mathematics. Instead of pondering over ways to support a student struggling with math at school, the teacher suggested sending her to an external commercial education service.



This isn't surprising at all. I know many working moms who are school teachers and even they are sending their own children to hagwon, without a single exception. They share information about which hagwon provides better education. Some teachers even claim that schools are meant for developing social skills while studies should be done elsewhere, to which many parents agree (or maybe they just accept it as reality).



In the past, studying was primarily done at school. Schools used to provide extra classes for students needing further study, and even provided evening self-study sessions, taking responsibility for students' education. Many students from working-class families or from provincial backgrounds, who couldn't afford the benefits of private education represented by areas like Daechi-dong, entered prestigious universities. When admitted, they knew whom they should thank  their school teachers. However, this is no longer the case as schools pass their fundamental educational role to hagwon.



Students are doing their hagwon homework during school hours, and after staying up late attending hagwon the previous night, they fall asleep during regular school classes. Some parents see nothing wrong there and rather hope that schools won't interfere with their children's hagwon schedule.



Top-notch tutors  who also provide classes online  have become a kind of idol for students, while school teachers' value has diminished in the eyes of students and have lost their professional dignity.



It's not that teachers don't want to teach students. Teachers who send their own children to hagwon are also expressing dissatisfaction with the situation in which the education provided by schools alone isn't at all sufficient. In Korea, where one has to go through intense competition to become a teacher, teachers are a highly qualified group of people. I am sure that the homeroom teacher who advised sending the student with weak math skills to a hagwon gave sincere advice, taking into account the reality of the Korean education system.



While students and parents are struggling to survive this reality, education policies seem to be distorting it even more by adhering to idealistic rhetoric. The idea of so-called free semesters, during which students explore future careers without the burden of mid-term or final exams, sounds ideal, but this exploration is more hobby-focused than career-related. Parents become anxious during this "wasted time" and come to rely even more on hagwon education.



Some even consider these periods as an opportunity for their children to be intensively immersed in hagwon studies. Meanwhile, the academic level of those who can't afford such private education falls behind, only widening the gap between students.



High schools in Seoul's Gangnam District, known for high academic performances of students, see a dozen of their students dropping out of school each year. This is mostly because it is extremely difficult to get the GPA percentile they need to gain admission to prestigious universities. It's also because there's no need to be at school when the hagwon they attend guides them better to those universities. If students don't see any reason why they should be at school rather than at a hagwon, Korea's public education will never improve.





The writer is finance editor at The Korea Times.






'Find Your Seoul' can be alternative to banal slogan



By John Burton



In 2015, I wrote a column for the Korea Times that was headlined, "Seoul's terrible new slogan," which criticized the selection of "I.Seoul.U" as the city's new brand.



It was one of the most commented-upon columns I ever wrote and as I re-read it now, it repeats almost verbatim my thoughts about the new slogan and logo that Seoul has just launched: "Seoul, my soul."



My objection to "I.Seoul,U" was that it didn't make much sense to an international audience. It had traces of Konglish. The two final alternative slogans weren't any better: "SEOULing" and "Seoulmate."



This time around what I object to is that "Seoul, my soul" is banal and insipid in its appeal and is based on the rather tired premise of playing on the word "soul" and the city's name. The city government claims that it depicts Seoul as a city of warmth, freedom and passion that can fill the soul. As for the logo, it is at least colorful and eye-catching, although perhaps also a bit confusing.



The three runner-up slogans: "Seoul for you," "Amazing Seoul," and "Make it happen, Seoul" also lack excitement and energy and amount to cliches.



The new slogan's vagueness falls short of what Mayor Oh Se-hoon wanted to achieve when he launched the initiative last year, when he stated that "we need a slogan to convey that [Seoul] is globally significant."



It doesn't really capture the fact that Seoul has become a global cultural mecca or match Mayor Oh's quest to make it one of the world's top five cities. Seoul probably now has the most distinctive profile of any city in Asia, being a primary source of pop culture, including K-Pop bands, TV soap operas and films. I do not see a hint of Seoul's glamor and high-tech style in the new branding exercise.



While the slogans offered in 2015 may have been edgy, this time the preference was more conservative. It returns us to the days of the early 2000s when the city's slogan was "Hi! Seoul." Perhaps its successor, "Soul of Asia," came closest to conveying the city's dynamism and status, although it was soon replaced by the more awkward, "Infinitely yours, Seoul." Then came the somewhat baffling "SEOUL. MY [...]," where you were supposed to fill in your own description of the city. This set the stage for "I.SEOUL.U" which was also meant to suggest different meanings for those living and visiting the city.



Selecting a catchy slogan is difficult. The gold standards when it comes to branding for cities have been "I Love (heart) New York" and "Hong Kong: Asia's World City." Both summed up in a few words the essence of the city's appeal and were the products of advertising and public relations agencies that had long experience in these matters and subjected their ideas to focus group testing.



Seoul has taken a different approach, supposedly relying on crowd-sourcing to come up with new slogan ideas, which puts the concept of "the wisdom of crowds" to a severe test.



Relying less on the use of marketing agencies to produce branding slogans in favor of the public selecting them was partly a political ploy to win voter support by giving the people a sense of participation.



Part of the problem lies with the slogan selection process, which was similar to the one used in 2015. The public and local civil servants were asked to come up with keywords to describe Seoul, such as "dream" and "future." The keywords were then analyzed by "experts," who proposed the final slogans to be voted on by both Koreans and foreigners in an online survey. It would appear that in the end, it was the consultants who had the most say in determining the creation of the slogans, rather than the public.



It's too late to offer an alternative slogan, but my personal favorite is "Find Your Seoul," which was first suggested in 2015. It suggests a diversity of things to explore and do in the city, while it conveys a sense of personal gratification and satisfaction. It also plays on the word "soul" and the city's name, which seems to be a favorite trope. As an added bonus, it can incorporate the symbols of the heart (love), exclamation point (inspire) and smile (fun) used in the new logo.



Maybe next time.





John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant.


This service is a courtesy for our print subscribers to give them access to our online edition at no additional cost - if you haven't registered on the new site, you must do it now before you do anything else.
The logo of Kia Motors is seen in this Feb. 4, 2022 photo. Yonhap



Hyundai Motor, Kia, Mercedes-Benz Korea and Porsche Korea will recall more than 210,000 vehicles due to faulty components, the transport ministry said Wednesday.



The four companies are voluntarily recalling a total of 213,792 units of 24 different models, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.



The problems that prompted the recall include faulty turn signal lights in Hyundai's Tucson SUV, a faulty oil pump controlling system in Kia's K5 sedan, and software problems in the rear radar controlling system in Mercedes-Benz's E250 sedan, it said.



Vehicle owners can check the government's homepage at www.car.go.kr or call 080-357-2500 to see if their vehicles are subject to the recall, the ministry said. (Yonhap)


The thirteenth annual Dr. Richard Gruetzemacher Constitution Day Lecture Series At University of Tennessee Chattanooga, titled The First Amendment, the Academy and the Media: Restoring a Marketplace of Ideas, will be help on Wednesday, Sept. 13 from 7:30-9 p.m. at the Tennessee Room, University Center.The general public, the UTC community, and educators and students from a variety of schools and colleges in the region are invited to attend.The event may be streamed live at https://livestream.com/utc/constitutiondaylecture2023.Joshua Dunn, PhD, University of Virginia, is the primary speaker, but the event is also a symposium. John, Jack Zibluk, formerly an award-winning journalist, and now an accomplished academic, will respond to Professor Dunns comments, and members of the audience may address questions to one or both speakers.For more information, and to reserve seats, contact the Center for Reflective Citizenship at crc@utc.edu or 423-425-5603.About Joshua DunnProfessor Dunn is the executive director of the Institute of American Civics at the Howard H. Baker School for Public Policy and Public Affairs. His research and teaching interests are in constitutional law and history, education policy, federalism and freedom of speech and religion. Prof. Dunns columns on education reform appear regularly in the journal Education Next. Prof. Dunns research and commentary have also been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times. Previously, he was executive director of the Center for the Study of Government and the Individual at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Prof. Dunn was also a professor and chair of the UCCS department of political science. He began his teaching career at the College of William & Mary, where he was a fellow in contemporary history, public policy and American politics at the Miller Center of Public Affairs in Charlottesville, Va. Visit https://bakercenter.utk.edu/people-institute-for-american-civics/josh-dunn/ for more information about Professor Dunn.About John B. "Jack" ZiblukJohn B. Jack Zibluk, PhD, Bowling Green State University, is Masengill Professor of Communication, teaches media history (incorporating a unit on the First Amendment), environmental communication, mass media and society, publication design and other courses at UTC. His research interests are media literacy, narrative visual storytelling, media law and media ethics. A self-described "recovering journalist," he was a newspaper reporter and editor in Connecticut, and continues to balance an academic career with professional journalism endeavors. Prof. Zibluk was a photojournalist, columnist and editor for the Memphis Commercial Appeal, with columns appearing in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. As ethics columnist for News Photographer magazine, he won the National Press Photographers Association Garland "educator of the year" award in 2005. He also was chosen as the 2002 faculty fellow at National Geographic magazine, where he served as a scholar in residence. Prof. Zibluk is also president-elect of the UTC faculty senate. For more information about Prof. Zibluk, visit: https://www.utc.edu/sites/default/files/2020-11/zibluk.pdf.
The Georgia Northwestern Technical College Foundation announces the appointment of Terri Kirby to the GNTC Foundation Board of Trustees.Ms. Kirby is the strategic planning specialist at Emerald Carpets in Dalton. During her time at Emerald Carpets, she set-up facilities in Las Vegas for the companys west coast business and continues to help build and grow the company and its customer relationships.Before joining the Emerald team in 2017, she worked at Beaulieu of America for 28 years, where she managed the planning team for all manufacturing segments.She served as production planning manager for 20 years and director of planning for eight years. From 1985-88 she worked for Diamond Carpet Mills.During her time at Beaulieu, she served on multiple committees and teams. Ms. Kirby was instrumental in the development and design of the cross segments planning system and helped to maintain the training and updates for the system.Outside of her professional role, the Chatsworth resident served two separate terms on the Murray County School Board.Ms. Kirby has a passion for helping youth and improving the community.
10/30/2023

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County Commissioner David Sharpe on Wednesday defended "the good people of Red Bank" and said the school facilities plan unveiled by County Mayor Weston Wamp takes the city's last elementary school and "stuffs the students into a 1,500-pupil school" elsewhere.

He spoke after County Mayor Wamp on Monday at the Pachyderm Club, without naming him directly, said Commissioner Sharpe was a "single obstructionist with an agenda" who is poised to take over the County Commission with "fringe" conservative ideas that he said will block the Republican Party program.

"If you don't think it matters, look at Red Bank, Tennessee," he said. "They took over Red Bank and have run it completely into a ditch."

"We lost control in Red Bank," he said, quoting state Senator Bo Watson. "Red Bank is an unmitigated disaster."

Commissioner Sharpe said Red Bank has made the city more business friendly by lowering fees and cutting red tape and has given needed raises to employees, including police and firefighters.

He said the Red Bank tax rate remains lower than that of Lookout Mountain, Signal Mountain and the city of Chattanooga.

Commissioner Sharpe said there would be "an interesting meeting" tonight (Wednesday) at 6:30 p.m. at the Red Bank Community Center, 3653 Tom Weathers Road, to discuss the new facility's plan effect on Alpine Crest Elementary.
The Concurrent Grand Jury for May-August had high praise for the court system and strongly recommends a veterans' court.

Here is the Concurrent Grand Jury Report for Second Term, May-August

The Concurrent Grand Jury was sworn in on May 1 and met between May 2 and Aug. 29 every other Monday and Tuesday, with no hearings on July 4 or June 19. The other grand jury met on the same days in the intervening weeks. Hamilton County has two grand juries; one is called the Regular Grand Jury and one the Concurrent Grand Jury. Both have the same duties and responsibilities  basically, to hear evidence and determine if the person being investigated for a crime should be formally charged with that crime. This report is only from the Concurrent Grand Jury- the Regular Grand Jury has its separate report.

The CGA was a mixed group in terms of professions, expertise, life experiences, beliefs, ideologies, and age. There were 13 grand jurors with five alternates. We were an active group who listened and questioned the testifying officers, sought legal clarification from the district attorneys, and endeavored to consider as much information as needed to make crucial and independent decisions.

With every case, we considered the impact on the victims, the accused, and the public before rendering our decisions. Some decisions were vigorously discussed, but all were unanimous.



We heard 192 cases and returned 162 true bills (indictments) and 31 no bills (not indicted) out of those cases. The 192 cases contained 558 separate charges, on which we returned 472 true bills and 86 no bills. We considered 44 direct presentments of case facts for which returned 43 true bills and one no bill. The 44 presentments contained 116 separate charges, and we returned 115 true bills and one no bill.



Grand juries are sometimes criticized for rubber stamping cases and always indicting. This criticism is neither accurate nor valid. But it is accurate that when a case is presented to the CGJ, the officers have generally already spent countless hours on arrests, follow-up investigations, paperwork and reports to the District Attorneys office and the courts. The crimes and charges then presented to the CGJ are not frivolous. If there are minor or duplicative charges against an accused, those are often culled out before the cases are brought to us. At times, the DAs office even recommends that the CGJ return a no bill - for instance, if the charge is consumed by another charge against the same defendant, if there are duplicate charges, or if it believes that a charge is not viable and should not be pursued. So it is true that most cases are true billed. This CGJ makes no apology for that because the cases it hears have been well investigated and considered by law enforcement and the DAs office before they are heard by us.

Case Presentations and Issues; Information Provided by Law Enforcement

The facts of each case are presented by law enforcement officers from many surrounding jurisdictions, including Hamilton County, Chattanooga, East Ridge, Collegedale, Lookout Mountain, Signal Mountain, Soddy Daisy and Sale Creek. Officers from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and UTC also presented cases.

We heard details of many different crimes, including first-degree premeditated murder, second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, rape, child rape, child abuse, aggravated assault, theft, breaking and entering, domestic assault, fraud, false reports to police, criminal simulation, identity theft, and many variations of unlawful drug manufacture and sales (some resulting in death or serious injuries, some with children involved or present), driving under the influence, neighborhood and random shootings, and even some more serious traffic violations.

The cases occurred as long as three years ago, although most happened within the last 6-18 months. The older cases are often the result of backlogs in the system (partly a result of COVID), a problem the current District Attorney General Coty Wamp and her assistant district attorneys continue to unwind. We appreciate their efforts and understand there are a variety of reasons we might hear a case that is older  victims and witnesses die or leave the area (even the country), perpetrators flee the jurisdiction, and evidence sometimes is not available or discovered until considerable time has passed since the crime occurred.

DA Wamp, ADA Tom Landis, or another ADA are present for all cases presented to the CGJ. They assist in answering any legal or process questions the jurors have but are not present when we vote to true bill or no bill a case or a charge. No persons other than the grand jurors and the foreman are present for consideration, discussions, and voting on each case.



The staff that handles the order and presentation of witnesses to the CGJ does a very good job of coordinating many schedules and contingencies. We are seldom aware of all the scheduling challenges that the testifying officers and the liaison staff face. Don Klasing, CGJ Liaison on behalf of the Hamilton County Sheriffs office, and Sgts. April Bolton and Mike Russ of the Chattanooga Police Department are indispensable in their continuing efforts to assure law enforcement officers are available to explain their facts and cases. This is no easy task as officers have many duties, time constraints, and emergency situations that sometimes make it difficult to come before the grand jury at a time certain. The CGJ recommends that the staff and officers continue these efforts so there is minimal downtime during CGJ sessions. Despite everyones best efforts, we acknowledge that some officers are frustrated when they come to the CGJ to present and then must sit and wait  the CGJ is equally frustrated when it is ready to go and there are no officers to present cases. However, everyone involved generally shows grace and patience as we work on these timing issues, and the CGJ truly appreciates that.



Sgts. Bolton and Russ (as well as others in the various law enforcement departments) sometimes present case facts for officers who cannot be in attendance, and the CGJ believes this arrangement is often helpful in preventing lag time, but it does present its own challenges. If an officer testifies for one who cannot attend, the presenter is limited to the facts that are on the face of the affidavits of complaints or case reports. If these written materials are thorough and coherent, the presenter can properly outline the facts and answer any questions we might have. However, if the written reports are lacking or not well-written, then the CGJ might delay its decisions and ask the original officers to come before it to clarify. Almost always, the original officers can answer the questions.



The CGJ is impressed with the thoroughness of the testifying officers, not only in presenting but in answering follow-up questions. These answers provide both context for law enforcement procedures and clarification of specific case facts.



We recommend that all officers remain diligent and trained in what facts the CGJ needs to render its decisions, and that those facts are presented in clear and understandable language, whether written or verbal.



Some of the cases that come before the jury are difficult to hear. The CGJ understands that what is difficult for it to hear and consider, is even harder for the law enforcement women and men facing these situations. The CGJ recommends that informal and formal counseling continue to be made available to anyone in the system who requests or needs it. It knows some such procedures are in place and recommends those be extended and braced up where needed to make access easy and meaningful. This recommendation has been made by previous grand juries but remains an independent recommendation of this CGJ at this time.

Law enforcement officers also explained to us the structures, challenges, and internal workings of processing various crimes. Officer Terry Topping of the Chattanooga Police Department was hands-on excellent in teaching us about some of the drug issues  quantities of drugs, dosages, effects of certain drugs on the human body, Narcan and other methods of saving lives from overdoses, and what happens in the field to victims, the accused, and the officers.

Officer Ryan Lynn of the CPD provided us the same excellent type information for DUI issues in the field. And ADAs Parker Garrett and Jamie Pellido assisted in answering questions on these issues. We learned detailed information about the field sobriety testing process  how it works, when its used, and why it might not be used in some instances. We are very concerned about the recidivism rate of DUI offenders as well as the blood alcohol and illegal drug content of repeat offenders. Again, we recommend our legislature continue to explore this area of criminal law and help protect the populace from the terrible costs of human life and limb, as well as property damage.



Officer Brandon Watson shared information about the Crisis Co-Response Unit and how that unit has combined law enforcement officers, social workers, caseworkers, hospitals, first responders, and courts in assisting citizens in need of mental health care. His department works with many local, state, and nationwide mental health resource providers. He and his team work to assure outcomes of the least harm to victims, first responders including officers, and the citizens accused of crimes.

The CGJ was very impressed with Officer Watsons work and encourages continued and robust funding for the CCRU. We share the very serious concern that mental health issues of both perpetrators and victims of crimes permeate the day-to-day work of law enforcement and the criminal courts. We recommend ongoing training for officers and other necessary personnel facing the challenges that mental health problems create during responses, investigations, arrests, and victim assistance. And we strongly believe that the CCRU is exactly the type of program the departments should be developing and implementing.

The CGJ knows that Sheriff Austin Garrett and his staff are also working with inmates to assist them with their mental and emotional issues. We also learned from Judge Lila Statom the workings of her mental health court and how it and her staff assist certain defendants with mental health needs. Her court and work is crucial and impressive. And Judge Alex McVeigh talked with us about the drug court and its processes. The CGJ is impressed with the structure and success rate of that program as well. There is no doubt of the dedication and time that both Judges McVeigh and Statom put into these programs. But of course, more resources are needed  money for personnel, space, and expanded ability to serve those needing the programs.



The CGJ strongly recommends a veterans court and understands that such a court is being considered and investigated. We recognize that these specialized programs are not resourced or funded as much as everyone wishes they were or as they need to be. However, it appears that the steps for resources, grants, programs, and other assistance are moving in the right direction. Both the Trump and Biden administrations have funded mental health and drug court programs, and Governor Lee also supports these programs. We continue to recommend the efforts and their enhancement to the greatest extent possible.

Previous grand juries have recommended and we concur that illegal drugs are an obstacle to a well-functioning society. Illegal drugs are killing our citizens, adults and children. And the criminals who sell and buy them are clogging the legal system and using precious law enforcement resources. Illegal drugs raise problems on every level of societal structure, and some of those problems have their genesis in other countries and across borders when the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs is brought into the U.S. The law enforcement personnel who deal with drug offenses are most aware of the breadth, width, and depth of the problems.

The CGJ highly recommends that continuing and additional resources (money and staff) are provided for drug enforcement training, including additional cooperation among municipal, state, and federal agencies. We gave heard sad and horrific case facts, including murder, rape, and even child rape and abuse resulting from illegal drug crimes. Lives wasted and legal systems slowed down are goals to eliminate. We recognize that doesnt happen all at once but the work should never stop and must be well funded.

Officer Chris Bruce of the CPD explained the workings of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network to us in an informative and helpful manner. The NIBIN Program automates ballistics evaluations and provides actionable investigative leads in a timely manner. It allows localities to work together on firearm ballistics that cross jurisdictional lines and can be of great assistance in solving gun crimes and identifying if a certain gun has been used on other crimes or in other jurisdictions. Officer Bruce has cutting-edge knowledge of this area of the law and helps other officers learn about NIBIN and ballistics. We learned much from him.

We enjoyed hearing Officer Lucas Timmons, who came with his canine officer Bert, who is part of the CPD gun team. We learned more about how canine officers are trained and used in the field, and enjoyed observing Berts serious approach to chewing on his Kong while his handler answered our many questions.

Chief Celeste Murphy of the CPD spoke to us about the challenges of her administration and the various steps put into place to make Chattanooga safer. She has gained raises for her officers, has reorganized some nighttime officer resources where needed, and is providing training to help close more crimes of opportunity  for instance thefts and muggings during tourist seasons. She stated that the CPD has a 90percent clear rate on homicides, and that there had been nine homicides as of May 15 in 2023. She explained the drone system the CPD is developing and how it has aided in solving crimes. She emphasized that drone footage was not kept just because it was recorded but was destroyed right away if not used as evidence.

The CGJ recommends to Chief Murphy and to Sheriff Garrett that the departments hold or attend as many job fair-type programs as possible to explain the job opportunities for law enforcement work in our area. There is an obvious shortage of officers and although that may be alleviating somewhat, everything should be done to make law enforcement jobs viable  emphasizing better pay, excellent training, and exploring every way to win the support of the citizenry for law enforcement.



Other Recommendations:

This CGJ (and most other grand juries) have recommended an increase in jury pay and expenses. We believe that daily rates for grand juries in Tennessee are controlled largely by state law, and that our county, at $13 per day, may pay more than many. Our grand jurors also receive free parking while in session. However, we must bear the expense of our travel, meals, and other expenses (for instance, childcare). The CGJ strongly recommends an increased daily stipend. No grand juror of whom we are aware is looking to make money from this service, but also none should lose money in performing it.

The previous CGJ recommended that the grand jury room be updated  and we did receive a new TV screen and input system for officers to present demonstrative materials. We thank DA Wamps office for this contribution to the facility. It is a great beginning, but bringing the grand jury facilities into full electronic capability should be a goal of the county. We need current and better technology that would allow, for instance, the DA to list things such as the charges; officer, defendant and witness names; and setting of crimes in a way that all jurors could clearly see them. And systems that would allow officers, where needed, to present clear and readable demonstrative evidence and aids when explaining their cases.



Conclusion, Additional Speakers, Visit and Tours, and Further Thanks

The CGC was pleased to have the opportunity to visit the Hamilton County Jail and Detention Center correctional facilities (formerly known as Silverdale) and the Hamilton County Juvenile Court this term.



At the Juvenile Court, Judge Rob Philyaw and his staff gave us a tour of the facilities and explained many of the programs the court has available for young offenders. The programs include Youth and Recovery courts, mediation referral assistance, child support assistance programs, and volunteer organizations such as CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates program), as well as a Foster Care Review Board. The goal of all these juvenile programs is to prevent recidivism and assist minors and their families in steering their lives in a non-crime direction. We applaud these efforts and recommend continued and additional resources for Juvenile Court to continue its work with youthful offenders.



At Hamilton County Jail and Detention Center, we were able to see some of the new facilities and improvements to the older ones  for instance, when the Sheriffs Department took over the jail from its previous private contract, there were few working cameras and some of the doors didnt even lock. These and other similar problems have been and are being addressed and fixed. It appears that the housing and care of the inmates is being considered with the new facilities and improvements to the old, but of necessity the construction also hampered the areas we were able to visit. The CGJ recommends that for future grand jury tours, the CGJ request and be provided with upfront information about the facilities, old and new, and the organizational structure within the facility  this will allow us to better understand what we are seeing and what other areas we wish to see. Nobody has refused us any information, and the officers who took us through the facilities were knowledgeable and very helpful  we simply need a better idea up front what sort of tour we should coordinate with the department that will help us better understand the facilities and how the grand jury can make valuable recommendations for needed resources.



Sheriff Austin Garrett also came to us directly and provided valuable information about the facilities - past, current, and future. He also explained how school resource officers and our childrens safety are of paramount interest in his administration, and how the goal is an officer in each school, and two in some schools. He and his chief of staff Ron Bernard answered numerous questions about the facilities and the administrations plans for Hamilton County Jail and Detention Center as well as Hamilton County law enforcement endeavors. His communications team leader Matt Lea and in-house counsel Brian Bush also answered CGJ questions during their presentations.



It appears to the CGJ that the Sheriffs Department is working hard at stopping crime through viable and creative methods. We recommend it also continue whenever and wherever possible to educate the general public about the challenges of and improvements to the jail facilities. We also encourage continuance of and publicity about the programs available for high school graduates and others to obtain jobs that can lead to a meaningful law enforcement career.



We also had a most informative and delightful visit from Judge Tom Greenholtz of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Judge Greenholtz had served on the Hamilton County criminal bench for many years before the Governor placed him on the appeals court, so his perspectives were varied and pragmatic. His strong belief in the grand jury system made us even more proud of our responsibilities and enhanced our determination to serve well.



We thank Sgt. April Bolton for arranging for the various law enforcement members to talk with us and answer our questions about the specific topics described above. And we thank Sgt. Russ for his continued assistance in this and other liaison areas that make the CGJ more knowledgeable and better equipped to do our work.



All the DAs who worked with us were professional and helpful to our understanding of the law. None of them ever encouraged us to render any certain decision, but rather answered our questions patiently and fairly. We believe the leadership and ongoing work of the office is in solid hands. We would be remiss if we didnt specifically thank ADA Tom Landis (who spent the most time with us) for his wisdom, patience, and knowledge. His knowledge of the law and criminal procedures is matched only by his fine sense of humor  something that often helped through the harder cases.



Hamilton County Circuit Court Clerk Larry Henry and his staff  particularly Margo McConnell  are responsible for the grand jurors well-being and care. They are there from the first day the jury is picked to the last day of service. They provide whatever we need and are always quick responders when we make requests and suggestions. This system would fail without them.



In addition to everyone mentioned above, we further thank our criminal court judges Barry Steelman, Boyd Patterson, and Amanda Dunn for overseeing the grand juries. They are always there to answer questions and guide us. Judge Steelman spoke to us at the beginning and the end of our term and always demonstrates his continued support for a grand jury that is responsible, capable, and independent. And judges Patterson and Dunn handle the speciality drug and mental health courts on the criminal court level with intelligence, caring and grace.



If weve forgotten to thank others who assisted or spoke with us through these four months, it is our lack and not theirs and we apologize.






The Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center announced Wednesday they are working with Hamilton County, the city of Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Area Veterans Council to hold a special Patriot Day and Welcome Home Parade to honor Army Captain Larry L. Taylor, a native of the city and an American war hero. The parade will officially start at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 11, and will conclude with a public ceremony at 1 p.m. where local, state and national dignitaries will make comments honoring Larry Taylor and his heroic act of valor on June 18, 1968, during the Vietnam War.

Chattanooga is the birthplace of the Medal of Honor, and I encourage everyone to bring their children downtown on Sept. 11 and line Market Street to help celebrate this important heritage and honor Larry Taylor as a true American hero for his incredible act of valor on June 18, 1968, that saved four lives, said General BB Bell, chairman of the National Advisory Board at the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center.

Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly said, What a privilege to have in our midst one of Americas living heroes worthy of the highest award for military valor in action. Lets come together to celebrate and recognize one of our own and put Chattanoogas famous spirit of patriotism on full display as we honor Captain Larry Taylor on Sept. 11.

Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp continued, I am humbled to serve as county mayor as we welcome home the countys first recipient of the highest military of valor award in more than seven decades. There is no greater role model to represent the values of Hamilton County than legendary Vietnam veteran Larry Taylor, whose valor as a Cobra pilot is finally being appropriately recognized. All residents of Hamilton County should take great pride in sharing this once in-a-lifetime celebration with our hometown hero.

The parade will officially kick-off with a special flyover of multiple Vietnam-era Cobra and modern-day Apache Helicopters who will fly over the parade route in downtown Chattanooga. Captain Taylor will lead the parade as the grand marshal with the U.S. Armys 1st Infantry Division Mounted Color Guard and Band from Fort Riley, Ks.

The parade will start at the intersection of MLK Boulevard and Market Street. The public is invited to line Market Street, and continue from Market down to W. Aquarium Way, which is where the parade will make a left turn toward the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center at the Aquarium Plaza.

Brig. Gen. Niave Knell, the 1st Infantry Division Deputy Commanding General for Support, and Command Sgt. Maj. Clarence B. Raby, 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley Command Sergeant Major, will attend the parade to honor Captain Taylor with community and state leaders. In addition, Medal of Honor Recipient Leroy Petry  representing the Congressional Medal of Honor Society  will be attending the parade and speaking at the ceremony. Other dignitaries who will be speaking at the ceremony include Mayor Kelly, County Mayor Wamp and General Bell, who serves as the chairman of the National Advisory Board for the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center.

Leading the parade down Market Street will be the Commanding General's Mounted Color Guard that will represent Fort Riley and the U.S. Army in a highly professional and polished display of cavalry horsemanship and military tradition. These men and women portray the U.S. Cavalry as they appeared in the mid to late 19th century. Following the Mounted Color Guard will be the 1st Infantry Division Band, which is the musical ambassador for the United States' premier fighting force. The Big Red One Band represents the 1st Infantry Division for military ceremonies and the communities that support the American Soldier.

The parade will also feature a variety of high school bands and JROTC units from schools located throughout Hamilton County and the surrounding community. In addition, ROTC units from universities throughout the region will be marching in the parade alongside various veteran organizations representing all branches of the military and varying conflicts from the Vietnam War to the War on Terror. For additional information on submitting a parade entry, interested parties should contact Bill Norton by email at bill@metroservices.com.

At approximately 1 p.m., the parade will conclude with an official ceremony at the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center. The public is encouraged to attend the ceremony where local, state and national dignitaries will make remarks to honor Captain Taylor. The ceremony should conclude no later than 2 p.m.

The public is invited to visit the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center and learn more about Captain Larry L. Taylor and other Medal of Honor recipients associated with the region as well as explore why Chattanooga is known as the birthplace of the Medal of Honor.
Two of Elvis Presley's songs were jokes written for a 1960s R&B group. The co-writer of the songs revealed what the singer thought about the tunes.

TL;DR:

Two of Elvis Presleys songs from his movies were originally jokes meant for another band.

One of the tunes was overshadowed by a song on the same record.

The other tune appeared on a No. 1 hit album.

Two of Elvis Presleys songs were jokes written for a 1960s R&B group. During an interview, the co-writer of the songs revealed what the King of Rock n Roll thought about the tunes. Sadly, one of the tracks features some stereotypes.

The Coasters originally sang 2 of Elvis Presleys 1960s songs

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were a songwriting duo known for writing Elvis songs such as Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, and Shes Not You. They also penned tracks for the R&B group The Coasters. During a 2020 interview with Elvis Australia, Stoller discussed how two Elvis songs were originally by The Coasters.

Girls! Girls! Girls! and Little Egypt were both written for The Coasters, who were sort of our alter egos, he remembered. We wrote funny songs for them. Jerrys the lyricist and I write the music, but we work closely with each other on everything. The Coasters were really our voice. Girls! Girls! Girls! wasnt a big hit for The Coasters. So we said, Well, maybe Elvis could do it, and be obviously liked it.

What Mike Stoller thought about songs the King of Rock n Roll covered

Subsequently, Stoller discussed whether the King of Rock n Roll sang songs Leiber and Stoller wrote for him better than cover songs. Thats hard to say, he said. I think Elvis performance of the songs that we wrote for him were generally better than those that were written for someone else. Love Me is an exception. It was a great performance.

I like the original version of Bossa Nova Baby done by Tippie & the Clovers better than Elvis version, he added. Its got a Latin feel and it had certain elements of bossa nova, but it wasnt the real thing. The Clovers version was much cooler than Elvis version, which was in the film Fun in Acapulco.

How Elvis Presleys Girls! Girls! Girls! and Little Egypt performed on the charts

Girls! Girls! Girls! didnt chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The tune appeared on the soundtrack album for the film Girls! Girls! Girls!, which did not chart on the Billboard 200 either. The most famous song on the soundtrack isnt the title song. Its Return to Sender, which peaked at No. 2 in the United States.

Little Egypt did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Little Egypt became part of the soundtrack for the movie Roustabout. That soundtrack became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard 200 for a week, lasting on the chart for a total of 27 weeks. While Little Egypt gained some prominence due to its appearance on a famous soundtrack, its use of stereotypes has aged poorly. It fetishizes Egyptian culture in a way thats othering.

Girls! Girls! Girls! and Little Egypt arent famous anymore but they both have complex backstories.
The new BESPOKE AI Washer & Dryer Combo with Digital Inverter Heat Pump technology, set to unveiled at IFA 2023, is seen in this photo provided by Samsung. Yonhap



Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have been gearing up for IFA 2023, set to open in Berlin later this week, to showcase their high-tech consumer products with a focus on sustainability.



The annual IFA, which will open Friday and run until Tuesday, is Europe's oldest and biggest consumer appliance trade show. Since 1924, the tech fair has served as the platform for innovative product launches, including Europe's first car radio and color TV.



This year, the IFA is expected to bring more attention to environmentally friendly products that not only save energy but also make people's lives easier and more convenient, at a time when European countries have vied to secure sustainable and more affordable energy amid the protracted Russia-Ukraine war.



Samsung and LG, at the forefront of making home gadgets that use less energy and leave less of an environmental footprint, said they will present a variety of the latest home appliances with top-rated energy efficiency at the upcoming tech event.



LG will showcase its LG Smart Cottage, a prefabricated home that can be easily built at any desired location. The company said the home's replaceable module parts are made with low-carbon steel materials produced by Korean steel giant POSCO.



It comes with LG's household products that are connected with each other through the home automation LG ThinQ application, which has features to reduce energy consumption.



The two-story, studio-style house is also fitted with the company's smart heating, ventilation and air conditioning technologies, and solar panels on the roof.



"LG aims to redefine residential living by seamlessly integrating its energy solutions, appliances and services into a space that lets people live life their own way," said Lyu Jae-cheol, president of LG's appliance and air solution division.



The tech firm will also unveil a variety of the latest kitchen, laundry and living products, including a new washer and dryer pair with artificial-intelligence optimization and top-rated energy efficiency, which "reduce power consumption, running costs and environmental impact."



In 2021, the European Commission unveiled the "Fit for 55" plan, calling on its member states to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030.



Following the breakout of the Russia-Ukraine war, the commission announced the REPower Plan last year to transform Europe's energy system, end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels and tackle the climate crisis "through energy savings, diversification of energy supplies, and accelerated roll-out of renewable energy."





LG Smart Cottage, set to be unveiled at IFA 2023, is seen in this photo provided by LG Electronics. Yonhap
Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbes, Samantha Jones, and Charlotte York lived, worked, and loved in Manhattan, but they did take a break from the hustle and bustle of the city sometimes.

Manhattan served as something of a fifth main character in Sex and the City. The city provided the perfect backdrop for Carrie Bradshaw and her pals to shop, eat, and find eligible bachelors. For most of the shows six-season run, the girls rarely ventured off the island. Still, it did happen occasionally. Weve collected all the times the ladies of Sex and the City found themselves as fish out of water while away from Manhattan.

The group traveled to California more than once

Carrie and her pals were pretty attached to the East Coast, but that doesnt mean they never left. The group traveled to California in season 3 of Sex and the City. In a two-episode story arc, Carrie leaves New York to meet with a film executive to discuss potentially optioning her columns.

Carrie took a train to California with Samantha for a book reading again in season 5. The entire trip seemed like a disaster until she was able to hook up with Mr. Big for a one-night stand. The foursome never returned to the West Coast in Sex and the City again, although Samantha did move to Los Angeles between the end of the series and Sex and the City: The Movie.

They trekked to Philadelphia to support Miranda Hobbes

In season 4 of Sex and the City, Carrie, Charlotte, and Samantha leave New York for the funeral of Mirandas mother. Her mother died and was buried near Philadelphia, where Miranda was born and raised.

the Center City skyline as seen from the South Street Bridge, in Philadelphia | Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images

While Miranda had a few siblings and mentioned her family life occasionally, Sex and the City fans learned almost nothing about her life before she attended Harvard University for law school. Miranda never mentions traveling to Philadelphia again after her mothers death, despite its relatively close proximity to New York City.

Connecticut was featured twice in the series

Connecticut is home to several New York City bedroom communities, so it would make sense that the ladies of Sex and the City would have hopped off Manhattan for a visit now and again. Early on in the series, Samantha, Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda travel together to Connecticut for the baby shower of their old friend, Lainey.

Later in the show, Charlotte regularly returned to Connecticut to visit the MacDougal family compound. Although Charlotte never mentions exactly where in Connecticut she was visiting, the state has several wealthy enclaves. Charlotte was from one of those very communities. She grew up in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.

The ladies of Sex and the City were happy to leave Manhattan for the Hamptons

While they hesitantly left Manhattan to visit Connecticut a time or two, the ladies were always happy to leave the city behind for the beach. The group visited the Hamptons twice. During their season 2 visit, Carrie finds herself when she runs into her ex, with his new love, at a beach party. Charlotte is in just as much pain as Carrie during the beach stay when she contracts crabs from a 20-something she hooks up with.

Amagansett, NY | Astrid Riecken/Getty Images

Their visit to the Hamptons in season 6 turned out to be a much happier trip. The entire group ventures out onto Long Island for the wedding of Bobby Fine and Bitsy Von Muffling, despite their confusion about Bobbys sexuality. The wedding was beautiful, Carrie connected with Berger, and Charlotte finally settled into her relationship with Harry Goldenblatt.

Carrie begrudgingly trudged to upstate New York a few times, too

Carrie was the one from her group who seemed to leave Manhattan most often. Aside from her travels to the Hamptons, Connecticut, and California, Carrie also begrudgingly headed to upstate New York fairly regularly while dating Aidan Shaw.

Aidan owned a cabin in Suffern that he desperately wanted Carrie to see. Her first set of visits didnt go particularly well, but it seemed she later settled into the cabin. The upstate jaunts ended when Carrie and Aidan called off their engagement. Suffern is a small town in Rockland County. It sits close to the New Jersey border. Its about an hour north of Manhattan.
Noel Gallagher said DJs expected one Oasis song to be as good as The Beatles' "Hey Jude." "Hey Jude" lasted longer on the charts than every Beatles song except one.

Oasis Noel Gallagher said DJs and fans expected one of his songs to be as good as The Beatles Hey Jude. Despite this, he didnt think the song was good. Notably, Hey Jude lasted longer on the charts than every Beatles song except one.

Noel Gallagher felt Oasis DYou Know What I Mean? wasnt like The Beatles Hey Jude

In a 2009 interview in the book The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters, Gallagher discussed the initial reaction to one Oasis song. I remember being in this very room putting on DYou Know What I Mean?' he said. There must have been 20 people from all over the world: Sony representatives, radio pluggers saying, This is going to be the first single. It starts off with a minute of feedback and you could see people like this  It was kind of symptomatic of that whole record; it couldnt live up to the hype, the expectations.

The minute the song kicked in I was thinking, Im not sure this is any f****** good,' he said. It certainly didnt warrant all these people. People had flown in from Japan just to listen to it. I dont know if they were expecting Hey Jude or something. I was a f****** drug addict by that point, I couldnt be arsed being there.

Noel Gallagher revealed what he thought about Oasis album Be Here Now as a whole

Oasis DYou Know What I Mean? appeared on the album Be Here Now. Gallagher revealed what he thought of Be Here Now in retrospect. I listen to those words now and cringe, he said. I was heavily into drugs at that point and didnt give a f***.

Gallagher compared Be Here Now to urine. Gallagher said he wrote Oasis first two albums, Definitely Maybe and (Whats the Story) Morning Glory?, for himself. However, he wrote Be Here Now and several subsequent albums were written for fans when he had no musical inspiration. In Gallaghers opinion, his songs got better when Oasis released Dont Believe the Truth.

How Hey Jude and DYou Know What I Mean? performed in the United States

Hey Jude was The Beatles longest-running No. 1 single in the United States. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks, staying on the chart for 19 weeks. It spent more weeks on the chart than any Fab Four tune besides Twist and Shout. Hey Jude was originally a non-album single but it later appeared on the record Hey Jude. That album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 36 weeks.

On the other hand, Oasis DYou Know What I Mean? did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs parent, Be Here Now, became far more popular. That record climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 26 weeks. Be Here Now remains the bands highest-charting album in the U.S.

DYou Know What I Mean? wasnt as successful as Hey Jude in the U.S. but it is still one of Oasis most famous tunes.

How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
Prince Harry described Dodi Fayed, his mother's new 'friend' in the summer of 1997, as a 'nice enough bloke,' in 'Spare.'

Prince Harry reflected on all sorts of memories about his late mother, Princess Diana, in his 2023 Spare memoir. Between researching the car crash in which she died to their last phone conversation, the Duke of Sussex remembered what it was like meeting his mothers new friend, Dodi Fayed, in 1997. Ahead, what Harry remembered about meeting Fayed.

Harry met Dodi while having a grand time in St. Tropez with Diana and Prince William

Princess Diana and Prince Harry | Anwar Hussein/WireImage

The Duke of Sussex recalled meeting Fayed while on vacation in Spare. It was the summer of 1997 and Harry, alongside his brother Prince William, were in St. Tropez, France, with Diana. The trio stayed with Mohamed Al Fayed and his wife Heini Wathen-Feyed.

We were having a grand time, just the three of us, staying at some old gents villa, Harry wrote. There was much laughter, horseplay, the norm whenever Mummy and Willy and I were together, though even more so on that holiday.

Harry, Diana, and William, along with the younger Fayed, were all photographed on the Fayed familys yacht, then called the Jonikal.

Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven, Harry continued. The weather was sublime, the food was tasty, [and] Mummy was smiling.

Harry thought Dodi was a nice enough bloke when they met

Dodi Fayed; Prince Harry | Evan Agostini/Liaison; Karwai Tang/WireImage

Thinking back to the summer of 1997 and the days before Diana, Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, died in a car crash, Harry shared what he remembered about meeting his mothers new friend.

He recalled that he and his brother, the now-Prince of Wales, had just met Fayed not long before that fateful night in August 1997. So had Diana.

Wed been with Mummy weeks earlier when she met first met him, in St. Tropez, Harry said before sharing what Fayed told him.

Hello there, you must be Harry, he recalled Fayed, a man with raven hair, a leathery tan, and a bone-white smile, saying. How are you today? My name is  blah blah.

All in all, Harry deemed Fayed a nice enough bloke.

Dodis eyes became red hearts upon seeing Diana, according to Harry

Harry continued, sharing how Fayed reacted to meeting his mother. The Chariots of Fire movie producer Harry recalled chatted up not only him and William but Diana, too.

He chatted us up, chatted Mummy up. Specifically Mummy. Pointedly Mummy, Harry wrote, noting the 42-year-olds eyes were plumping into red hearts at the sight of Diana. He was cheeky, no doubt. But again, nice enough.

Harry also said Fayed gave Diana a diamond bracelet as a present, which the late royal seemed to like because she wore it a lot.

Then, Harry admitted, the man faded from his consciousness. Though not before he exchanged a quick word about it with William. As long as Mummys happy, I told Willy, who said he felt the same.

Diana and Dodi met briefly once before Harry, William introductions

A decade before Harry met the man hed later recall relatives referring to as his mothers friend, Diana and Fayed met at a 1987 polo match. In her book, The Diana Chronicles, royal author Tina Brown claimed that Fayeds father introduced the two, a scene depicted in The Crown Season 5.

Dodi was playing for the Harrods team, the author wrote. But Dianas knowledge of Dodi was based on his fathers glowing reports. Brown continued, quoting one of Dianas close friends, who told her: Diana saw Dodi through Mohamed Fayeds words. She never cared to find out anything more.

Aug. 31, 2023, marks the 26-year anniversary of Dianas death and that of Fayed and Paul.
The Netflix series will not show the crash that killed Princess Diana on Aug. 31, 1997 in Paris, France.

Fans of The Crown face one of the most difficult seasons of the Netflix series thus far. Not only is it the last installment of the series focused on the British monarchy, but this season will feature the death of one of its most beloved figures, Princess Diana. The moment will be delicately recreated, says the series producers.

How did The Crown producers deal with Princess Dianas death in season 6?

The Crown executive producers Andy Harries and Suzanne Mackie discussed season 6 during an Edinburgh TV Festival session celebrating the series. They pointed out how important it was for the series producers to handle Dianas fatal August 1997 accident.

The show might be big and noisy, but were not. Were thoughtful people, and were sensitive people. There were very careful, long conversations about how we were going to do it, Mackie said per Deadline.

The audience will judge it in the end, but I think its been delicately, thoughtfully recreated. Elizabeth Debicki is an extraordinary actor; she was so thoughtful and considerate, she continued.

She loved Diana. Theres a huge amount of respect from us all. I hope thats evident, she continued.

When were The Crown season 6 scenes surrounding Princess Dianas death filmed?

Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in a scene from The Crown season 5 | Netflix

The death will feature in the early episodes of the final season of The Crown, which is expected to premiere later this year. The scenes were shot over two weeks in October 2022.

While filming the scenes, the cast reportedly felt a sense of anxiety to ensure they were done tastefully. A production source told Deadline the cast and crew dreaded filming the scenes.

While were calmly carrying on, its fair to acknowledge that theres certain anxiety, a palpable sense of being slightly on edge. I mean, theres bombshell sensitivity surrounding this one, the source said.

Its the run-up. The car left The Ritz after midnight with paparazzi in pursuit. The British Ambassador to France swinging into action with the Foreign Office and the subsequent constitutional aftermath, the source continued.

The Crown will feature the events leading up to Princess Dianas death and its aftermath. Henri Paul, Diana, and Dodi Al Fayeds deaths are not featured. Passenger Trevor Rees-Jones was the only survivor of the impact.

What years will The Crown season 6 cover?

The final season of Netflixs The Crown will cover four years in the lives of the members of the monarchy. The period will span from Princess Dianas death in 1997 through 2001.

The endpoint of The Crown is significant as 2001 was when Prince William first met Kate Middleton as students at St. Andrews University in Scotland. But their romance sets the stage for the monarchys future, as they will one day be the United Kingdoms king and queen.

Most cast members from season 5 are expected to return, including Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II, Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, and Dominic West as Prince Charles. Elizabeth Debicki returns as Princess Diana and Olivia Williams will play Camilla Parker Bowles again.

Throughout five seasons, The Crown has featured content from 1947 through 1997. Each season has focused on a period of the royal family, encapsulating the key highlights of their history.

The Crown season 6 debuts on Netflix this fall. However, an official release date has yet to be announced.
Cherokee Nation At-large Tribal Councilor Julia Coates shakes hands with newly elected District 14 Tribal Councilor Kevin Easley Jr. during the Aug. 14 Inauguration Ceremony in Tahlequah. This is Coates second term in her current position. She previously served in the same capacity from 2007-15.
Do you know of jobs for people like me? D. asks, typing out the sentence in Spanish into the translating app on her phone.

People like her. D. is Venezuelan, one of the millions of migrants who has arrived at the United States southern border over the last few years. She came with her husband on a perilous journey, desperate for her children to have a chance at the sort of life I take for granted for my family: food each day, an education, electricity, and healthcare. And now shes sitting across from me at my kitchen table.

I met her a few months ago, not long after she arrived in town. A local friend of mine, Pastor E., was sheltering migrants at his church, a Spanish and English-speaking evangelical congregation here in Midland, Texas. The migrants at his church were granted permission by the United States to enter and pursue asylum claims, Pastor E. told me, but they typically have to wait six months or more for permission to work.

While they wait, Pastor E., his wife, and their congregation provide shelter and meals to some of the migrants who lack other connections in the US, and they also help them find cash-paying jobs with people who can be trusted to treat them fairly.

I type my next question for D. into the translation app on my phone, even though I know the answer: Do you have permission to work here? She shakes her head no. So far, all the migrants in Pastor E.s care are still waiting for work permits.

I ponder her question: Do you know of jobs for people like me? I would know how to help D. find a pediatrician and enroll her child in school. I could help her find a math tutor or a realtor. But though we live in the same town, we are in two different worlds. And I do not know how to help her find a regular, fair, safe job in the world she inhabits.

Im blessed, I start to type, my evangelical Christianese bubbling up reflexively. But the word looks dirty on my screen. Ive heard D. singing hymns in Spanish. Is it Gods blessing that has put each of us in our respective places? I backspace and try to be more precise.

Im fortunate, I say instead. Afortunada. Since I was born here, I do not have experience finding jobs that dont require legal permits, and Im not sure how to help.

As I tip the phone to show her my explanation in Spanish, my phone dings, and a text pops up. Its a political ad: Carrie, this is Amber with Texans for Strong Borders. Texas is facing an invasion due to the Biden Administrations refusal to secure the border. An invasion of people like D.

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Disputed territory. Thats where it sometimes feels like I live as a follower of Jesus in a place saturated with both cultural Christianity and deep faith in Jesus. In West Texas, like much of America, political persuasion is predictable by zip code, and policy preferences can come as a package deal with church membership. It can be easy to forget or ignore the tension of conflicting values, even when national allegiance slowly consumes kingdom loyalty.

Like me, Pastor E. was born and raised in West Texas, though his familys life has always meandered back and forth across the border with the languid ease of the Rio Grande itself. Politically conservative, E. is as red-blooded a Republican as your average West Texan. He can make a compelling case for why migration should be severely curtailed and the border made more secure.

And although E. doesnt like former president Donald Trumps abrasiveness, he appreciates his hardline stance on immigration, which he believes is more humane than Biden administration policies which extend an oblique welcome but leave it almost impossible to immigrate safely and legally.

At one point in each of our lives, E. and I shared a comfortable certainty in the common Republican refrain: I support immigration, but they need to enter legally. It seemed to draw a clear and even moral line of demarcation through the border crisis with the certainty of a topographer. Black and white. Right and wrong. Us and them.

But now that migrants sit at our kitchen tables, weve both learned its more complicated than that. Some migrants E. knows were granted permission to enter the United States more than two years ago and are still waiting for work permits.

They have to create a subculture in order to survive, he told me, describing the modern-day indentured servitude into which some migrants are ensnared. E.s words hang between us, because we both know wed take the same risks if thats what it took to feed our own families.

Immigration has never been addressed. Republicans and Democrats do not want to touch it, E. told me, sharing that his political frustrations cut both ways. In fact, the relief work hes doing brushes up against enough legal gray areas that attorneys counseled me and the editors at CT to keep E.s identity anonymous to protect him from possible legal repercussions.

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That this is even a concernabout a church ministry helping legal immigrantsreveals the cruel absurdity of the current asylum process, which many migrants pursue because its the only broadly available, licit immigration path for unskilled workers without family in the US: We allow migrants to enter the country, but dont simultaneously give them permission to work.

This legal limbo exposes migrants to real dangers, including potential trafficking and labor abuses. And at the same, it requires them to navigate an inefficient and often inexplicable immigration process, though they typically dont speak English, cant afford a lawyer, and may not even be literate.

Rather than address the systemic problems in our immigration policies, politicians on both sides of the aisle use migrants as political fodder, doing nothing to care for these fellow image-bearers. The hard reality is this: We are living in a system where we rely upon illegal labor, yet we demonize those who provide it. To assuage our consciences, we pretend not to see, passing by on the other side of the road (Luke 10:2537).

Pastor E. sees the migrants in our town now, and hes committed to helping them though this act of kingdom loyalty is also civil disobedience. Yet by his own admission, E. spent years mostly ignoring the migrants who come through West Texas, confident in his politics and busy in his ministry.

Then, last fall, E. was driving in Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican city across the Rio Grande from El Paso where he helps shepherd three other churches. Along the river, he came upon a large encampment of migrants. A few blocks from the end of the rail line many had ridden north, theyd staked claim to a narrow patch of gravel between the water and a busy Mexican highway. Visible across the river was El Pasos modern skyline, close yet impossibly far from the migrants makeshift tents of tarp and scavenged pieces of cardboard. Above the camp flew a Venezuelan flag.

Usually, he would have passed by. But this time, E. stopped and found himself asking God: What is our part in helping them? How did you call us to make a difference? He went home to Midland and, over the next two weeks, woke up nightly between 3 and 4 a.m. after dreaming of sheep and goats, migrants and the Shepherd who protects and sorts.

Each night, hed wake with the words from Matthew 25:3536 filling his mind: I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

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Each night, hed try to go back to sleep with one clarion instruction from God reverberating in the quiet: Dont ask me why they came; ask me what to do now that they are here.

E. grew more and more convicted that the church had taken its eyes off what was needed, he saidthat he had taken his eyes off what was needed. We had become so methodical in our way of doing things for God that we had lost his heart for those who really needed it.

His political opinions about immigration have mostly stayed the same. But E.s heart has changed. God told me, I want you to be my hands. My feet. My mouth. My eyes, E. said. I want you to love them. Embrace them. Make them feel that they have a refuge, a family, and a place to learn about me.

With his partner congregations in Mexico and their pastors, E. soon built that refuge in a vacant building near the camp. Some church members cleaned. Others cooked. They fed spaghetti to nearly 300 migrants the first day and have served a meal every day since.

Within a week, the church teams installed five sinks with fresh water outside the building, giving the migrants a place to bathe their babies, wash their hands, and brush their teeth. Within ten days, the churches built showers and bathrooms; though migrants still lived in tents, fewer of them had to defecate outside.

As the weather grew colder, church volunteers pushed the tables and chairs against the walls at night, bringing in around 20 people to sleep inside, out of the cold. When the Mexican government began cracking down on migrants sleeping outside, they renovated a part of the building where the roof had collapsed so that more could move indoors. They designated spaces for single women and children, families, and single men, and now the building doubles as a day center for hundreds of people each day and a dormitory for around 130 people each night.

In the first four months, Pastor E. estimates nearly 15,000 migrantsfrom Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and even African countriespassed through. And when some migrants were given permission to enter the US but had nowhere to go after crossing the border, E. converted his Midland church into a shelter, spreading inflatable mattresses on the Sunday school floors, adding on a shower room to the existing bathrooms, cooking meals in the church kitchen, and trying to help the migrants find work. Thats how I met D.

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I doubt if it is the duty of any private person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot help, C.S. Lewis once wrote. This may even become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know.

The political power available to American Christians makes this difficult advice to follow. Especially in positions of leadership or influence, its easy to fix our minds on ills we cannot help, to stamp political platforms with a divine seal of approval and let our politicking replacerather than complementour concrete Christian responsibilities. Ive mourned this many times, especially with issues, like immigration, that seem utterly intractable in the political sphere but can be tangibly addressed in our local communities.

But there is a different way, one Ive watched Pastor E. traverse this last year. Ive watched as hes gone down the ladder of power rather than up, trading his political certainty for repentant humility and loving his neighbors instead of wishing they werent here. Rather than fine-tuning his personal stance on US immigration policy, E. is wrestling with a more profound and complicated question: What does love require of me?

This doesnt mean hes happy with our immigration policyhes notor that he wants open bordershe doesnt. But E. has grown to understand that questions like that arent his primary concern. Neither are they mine, nor, most likely, should they be yours. Most of us will never be in a position to steer US immigration policy, but we will have opportunities to love our neighbors well.

In her farewell newsletter for The New York Times, CT contributor Tish Harrison Warren observed that we all have a tendency to prioritize the distant over the proximate and the big over the small. We can seek to have all the right political opinions and still not really love our actual neighbors, those right around us, in our homes, in our workplaces or on our blocks.

When we busy ourselves with political debates we cannot solve and shrink the flesh-and-blood call to love our neighbors into a mere philosophical exercise, we make our lives, as Warren wrote, into an abstractiona digitized, isolated, dehumanized existence. The incarnational way of Jesus is different. As Eugene Peterson puts it in his Message translation of John 1:14, The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.

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This is the way for us as well. We must embrace, as Warren concluded, the fleshy, complicated, touchable realities right around us in our neighborhoods, churches, friends, and families. Thats what Pastor E. did, and in the process, he opened the doors for those of us around him to wrestle with the same complicated reality, sometimes at our own kitchen tables.

Its easy to label D. an invader when youre sending a campaign robo-text. It isnt so easy when youre sitting across from her, watching as she wearily massages her temples and rests her eyes. In that moment, I dont know how to reform US immigration law. But I do know she looks more like a sister than a threat.

Carrie McKean is a West Texas-based writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Texas Monthly Magazine.

[ This article is also available in espanol. ]
Employees work at Samsung Electronics' TV plant in Kaluga, Russia, in this undated file photo. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



Hyundai Motor considers selling St. Petersburg factory



By Park Jae-hyuk



Heineken's recent sale of its Russian subsidiary almost for free appears to be creating a dilemma for Samsung, Hyundai Motor, LG and other Korean companies that have suspended the operations of their factories in Russia for more than a year in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to international trade experts, Wednesday.



The multinational brewer sold its Russian subsidiary to a local consumer goods firm for 1 euro ($1) last Friday, despite a significant loss, estimated at around 300 million euros. The deal came after Renault and Nissan were virtually forced to sell each of their Russian subsidiaries to a Russian state-owned company last year for 2 rubles ($0.02) and 1 euro, respectively.



In June, Russian authorities also threatened to ban parallel imports of Samsung and LG devices, as part of attempts to urge the Korean electronics makers to resume the operations of their Russian factories or sell their plants to local firms, such as Lex, Kuppersberg and Schaub Lorenz, according to Kommersant, a Russian economic daily. Parallel imports are branded products brought in from another country without the permission of the trademark owner.



Samsung and LG have reportedly remained reluctant to accept the requests, because Western countries have restricted the exports of components to their factories in Russia and the Russian firms intend to buy the factories at fire sale prices.



According to a Russian presidential decree, companies from "unfriendly countries" must cut the prices of their assets in Russia by more than 50 percent, if they want to sell them. They should also donate at least 10 percent of the value of their respective sales to the state.



As a result, global enterprises have sold their Russian operations almost for free, to avoid criticism that they are financially supporting the country's warfare.



"It has been more difficult for companies to decide whether to give up retrieving their investments in Russia or to endure the international community's criticism for doing business there," the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency's Saint Petersburg office said in a report.



Samsung and LG have been cautious about mentioning their business plans there.



"It will not be easy for Korean manufacturers to pull out of Russia, considering the fixed costs and sales networks they have built up there," said Jeong Min-hyeon, head of the Russia and Eurasia Team at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.





Hyundai Motor's plant in St. Petersburg, Russia / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor
Christianitys growth in China has stalled since 2010.

Thats according to a new Pew Research Center report measuring religion in China published today. In 2010, approximately 23.2 million adults in China self-identified as Christian. In 2018, 19.9 million adults did so, which Pew researchers say is not a statistically significant gap.

Among Chinese Christians, the percentages of zongjiao (Mandarin for organized religion) activity have also stagnated. Nearly 40 percent (38%) of Christians said they engaged in such activities once a week in 2010, but that figure dipped slightly to 35 percent in 2018.

Some scholars have relied on a mix of fieldwork studies, claims by religious organizations, journalists observations and government statistics to suggest that China is experiencing a surge of religion and is perhaps even on a path to having a Christian majority by 2050, the Pew report stated.

But more than a decades worth of data from surveys conducted in China provide no clear confirmation of rising levels of religious identity in China, at least not as embodied by formal zongjiao () affiliation and worship attendance.

Pew published its previous report on religion in China in May 2008 ahead of the Beijing Olympics. While that study did not touch on the rate of growth of the Christian faith in the country, it acknowledged the presence of indirect survey evidence that suggested a potentially large number of unaffiliated, independent Christians.

Its latest report highlighted statistics from the Chinese government that appeared promising at first glance as the number of Protestants in the country jumped from 700,000 to 38 million between 1949 and 2018. However, the two sets of data cannot be directly compared to one another as they utilized different sourcing and methodology and did not mention whether children were included in the count, Pew said.

Between 2016 and 2018, the number of Protestants increased by 10 million (from 28 to 38 million). However, the origins of this rise are uncertain, Pew said: It may be due to an influx of new converts or when Christians who previously worshiped in unregistered churches became recategorized and gained legal status.

While many Chinese people convert to Christianity, some Chinese Christians apparently also leave the faith, Pew researchers added.

One-third of the adults who identified as Christian in a 2016 survey by the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) did not do so in the 2012 analysis. This meant that the number of Christian Chinese adults grew by 1 percent during this period.

In the same surveys, one quarter of the adults who said they were Christian in 2012 no longer identified as such in 2016. One in 5 of them also said they did not believe in Jesus Christ or Tianzhu (the Mandarin words for God in Catholicism) in 2018.

The Pew report highlighted the difficulty in representing Christianity in China accurately due to factors like the lack of available data, Mandarin-to-English translation gaps, and how culture and politics have impacted religious activity in the country.

As Pew was not permitted to conduct surveys within China, researchers analyzed surveys conducted by academic groups based in the country: the CFPS, Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), and the World Values Survey (WVS). It also examined data from the Chinese government and state-run religious associations like the China Christian Council and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TPSM).

There are also subtle differences in the Chinese words used to connote English terms like religion and belief. Zongjiao () refers to organized religion and encapsulates five officially recognized faiths in the country: Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism, and Taoism. Xinyang (), which means believe, generally implies a formal commitment or serious conviction, while xiangxin (), which denotes belief in, does not always carry religious connotations.

Christian demographics and composition

An adult in China who says that Christianity is their zongjiao xinyanga formal commitment to an organized religion or belief systemis likely to be a woman (72%), more advanced in age, who possesses a lower educational attainment than the average Chinese adult according to the 2018 CGSS.

There is a range of estimates for the number of Christians in China because of differences in sources and methods used, and also because some analyses have made adjustments to the limitations imposed by survey and government data, noted the Pew report.

For instance, the extent of geographical sampling coverage may affect the accuracy of Christian estimates. Surveys may yield a slightly lower Protestant estimate if Wenzhou  said to be the most Christian city in China  is excluded from the sample, Pew stated.

The governments heightened scrutiny of Christian activities is another contributing factor that may add to the perception that Christianity is not growing in China, although this is a hypothetical notion as there is no available data to reflect it, said Pew. Nonetheless, researchers recognized that there are existing constraints in data collection, like how many Christians worship in underground churches (dixia jiaohui ) or house churches (jiating jiaohui ) and will likely refrain from revealing their religious associations. Christians in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which prohibits members from holding any religion, may also withhold this information in a survey, said Pew.

Just two percent of Chinese adults, or 20 million people, picked Christianity as their religious belief according to the 2018 CGSS. Protestants make up close to 90 percent (18 million) of this figure and the remainder are mostly Catholics.

Other surveys reflect similar findings: two percent of Chinese adults said they believe in (xinyang) Christianity in the 2018 WVS, while three percent said they belong to (shuyu ) Christianity in a 2016 CFPS survey.

About 1 percent of respondents identified with Christianity in the 2021 CGSS, although Pew noted that the survey had a smaller respondent pool of 19 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, compared to 28 in the earlier 2018 survey.

Adults who formally identified Christianity as their religion (zongjiao) are more likely to say that religion is very important in their lives, compared to those who believe in Jesus Christ and/or Tianzhu but do not necessarily identify as Christian (61% vs. 29%). The former are also more likely to say they attend worship services once a week or more (55% vs. 21%).

In its broadest measures of Christian affinity, close to eight percent of Chinese adults have connections to Christianity as they identify as a believer, believe in the Christian God, or participate in a type of worship attendance common to Christians, Pew said.

The more beliefs, the merrier

What may also affect estimates of Christianitys growth in China is that many Chinese adults hold multiple (albeit contradictory) religious beliefs and engage in various religious practices, even if only 1 in 10 formally identify with a particular religion like Christianity or Islam.

In East Asia, people may practice elements of multiple traditions without knowing or caring about the boundaries between those traditions, and often without considering themselves to have any formal religion, wrote Purdue Universitys sociology professor Fenggang Yang.

About 40 percent of adults in China believe in at least one of the following: Jesus Christ, Tianzhu, Buddha and/or a bodhisattva, Taoist deities, Allah, or ghosts. One in five (20 percent) believe in more than one of these religious concepts and figures.

Less than 10 percent (7%) say they believe in Jesus or Tianzhu and only two percent say they hold this belief while rejecting all other gods and supernatural elements.

Cultural practices that have spiritual undertones, like visiting the gravesites of family members, choosing an auspicious day for special events, and belief in feng shui, are commonplace. For example, 75 percent of adults in China say they go to a family members gravesite at least once a year, especially during Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day), to pay their respects by engaging in religious rituals like burning incense and joss paper money as a form of ancestor veneration.

Chinese Christians may do likewise as a means of honoring their loved ones, but will often refrain from engaging in ancestor worship.

Church landscape

Protestant churches in China are also not proliferating.

The number of registered Protestant venues, which includes churches (jiaotang ) and meeting points (juhuidian ) like apartments or office spaces, increased substantially between 1997 and 2008. But they have now roughly leveled off according to the Pew study.

There were approximately 60,000 legal Protestant venues in 2018, a slight increase from 58,000 venues in 2009, according to data from Chinas State Council Information Office.

These numbers do not capture Protestant house churches or unofficial meeting points, Pew acknowledged. Some scholars, Pew added, also believe that underreporting occurs frequently to appear compliant with the states goal to contain religion. In the Fengxian district of Shanghai, local officials referred to 24 registered Christian worship sites in 2019 even though they reported having accepted 73 (out of 86) unauthorized Christian sites into the official system in 2018.

Familial ties

A majority of Christians in China did not grow up with Christian parents. About one third (31%) of Christians had a Christian mother, while one fifth (21%) had a Christian father.

Christians are also the least likely religious group (38%) to marry or cohabitate with someone who shares a similar faith according to the 2018 CGSS. By comparison, Buddhists (45%), adults who identify with folk religion (78%), and Hui Muslims (96%) are more likely to do so.

Religious nones?

A majority of Chinese adults (90%) say they hold no religious beliefs (zongjiao xinyang) in the 2018 CGSS. Another study by the WVS shows that 9 in 10 adults do not have any religious beliefs as well. But only one-third of Chinese adults identify as atheist (wu shen lun zhe ) according to the 2018 WVS.

The disparity in recorded figures may arise because zongjiao typically refers to belonging to a religious organization or belief system. Survey results may not accurately reflect Chinese adults understanding of the term religion as they may still continue to hold to certain spiritual beliefs. For example, some may not consider their beliefs in Buddha a religion, Pew observed.

Consequently, the proportion of adults who say they are irreligious is far larger than the proportion of adults who reject any belief in gods or who never engage in spiritual activities. What this distinction looks like numerically: only 61 percent of Chinese adults say they do not believe in (xiangxin) any gods or deities in the 2018 CFPS survey. But when belief in supernatural forces or participation in Chinese customs is included, the rate of non-religion drops further, although Pew did not reveal what this figure was.

CT interviewed experts and scholars on Chinas religious landscape on what was surprising, concerning, and hopeful about the Pew report:

Fenggang Yang, founding director of the Center on Religion and the Global East at Purdue University

Im most surprised by the boldness of the Pew Research Center in releasing this report at this time. The report is primarily based on secondary analysis of surveys, instead of Pew's usual practice of conducting their own surveys. The analyzed surveys in this report are sponsored and supervised by the Chinese Communist authorities. The Communist authorities under Xi Jinping since 2012 have increased restrictions and repressions on religion, cracked down on Christians and Muslims, and campaigned for atheist education in schools and propaganda through mass media.

In an environment that is increasingly hostile to religion, who would want to answer survey questions on religion? What is the response rate in each of the surveys included in the report? I cant find any information about this. Moreover, it is very likely that many others declined to respond, refused to answer the religion-related questions, or selected options in the close-ended questions without taking it seriously.

The report admits some of the limits of these surveys. Nevertheless, it claims that these are the best surveys available for secondary data analysis. But, the word best here is not about the quality of the surveys, merely about the availability of some survey datasets. While the quality of the surveys is unknown or in serious doubt, the Pew Research Center is boldprobably too boldto put out their findings in this report. They may have done the best they can in terms of technical analysis and presentation, but the numbers and charts cannot be taken for granted as revealing the reality, and is not even close to approximating it.

In short, great caution is absolutely necessary in reading this report. When information is lacking, some information is not always better than no information, because there is the danger of misinformation or misleading information.

The most hopeful or positive finding is that despite the increased repression of religion, a significant proportion of religious believers are courageous in openly admitting their religious beliefs and practices to strangerssurvey interviewers who might be accompanied by local officials. In other words, the percentage of Christians here means that these are the most committed and open Christians who dare to be open about their religion in this increasingly hostile political environment.

Up to now, nobody has denied the rapid growth of the number of Christians in China in the last four decades or so. If so many ordinary believers have stood firm in the current political environment in response to surveys, Im hopeful that Christianity will continue to grow in the coming years.

Chloe Starr, professor of Asian Theology and Christianity at Yale Divinity School

I dont find much that is surprising. The Pew report is strong on the technical difficulties of accurately reporting religious adherence in Chinasuch as discrepancies in reporting between registered and authorized sites; regional sampling issues for Christianity; variable terminology for beliefbut is less focused on political or sociological speculation as to why there is a change in reported numbers.

For instance, the report reproduces data from the annual China General Social Survey reports showing the reported numbers of Protestant adults in sample years between 2010 and 2018. Theres a huge fluctuation in these numbers, with a 5 million loss from 2012 to 2013, then a 3 million gain by 2015, and a 9 million differential over this period, which is not credible. It is not at all surprising, however, that 2017 and 2018 should report lower numbers (16 and 18 million respectively) since this period saw new religious regulations and a changed political ethos, especially regarding unregistered churches. The data for these years is less likely to indicate fewer Christians than more cautious reporting on the part of believers.

It's concerning that we still cant get accurate data from one of the most surveilled countries in the world, and the degree of engineered obfuscation points to a climate where authorities still downplay and discourage religious adherence, and believers are inhibited from attending worship and from self-identifying as Christian.

The report is helpful in deflating some of the hype on potentially the greatest Christian nation on earth that was prevalent when statistics were showing a rapid upsurge in belief, and in challenging a (Western?) fixation on statistics as an indicator of church success or import, given the impossibility of determining their accuracy. The Pew report itself points to the need for a variety of means of surveys and the particular issues with reporting in China.

One of the limitations of the grand Pew surveys is that they are inevitably five years out of date when published. The latest data incorporated into this survey is 2018, which predates COVID-19, the shift to online worship, and the (ongoing) recovery of church congregations, all of which have had a significant effect. The entrenchment of Xi Jinpings policies is not yet fully reflected in this data, so we can probably expect a more marked decline in congregational worship and even greater fluctuations in adherence data in the next survey reporting on the present.

Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, director of the Global Asia Institute at Pace University

The findings indicate a rich and lively religious life, both formal and informal, in todays Chinese society. Even though Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism) remains a minority experience, its social and cultural influence is disproportionate to its small membership in the overall population. It is heartening to learn that at least before COVID, the number of people with some connection to Christian faith is greater than zongjiao measures reveal.

This has much to do with the extraordinary pastoral work and social service done by mainland Chinese Christians. Many registered and unregistered churches have developed charities, bookstores, cafes, private schools, and other social services to promote Christian values and practices among fellow citizens.

The survey also reveals a subset of Christians who are more religious and more well-organized than those who say they believe in Jesus Christ and/or Tianzhu. The Chinese Catholics and Protestants in both registered and unregistered churches are in a better position to respond to new and old challenges if they have developed their own networks of support and communication.

Pews report offers a helpful historical lens through which to evaluate the changing official policies towards organized and autonomous Christian communities, starting from Document 19 in 1982, through the less ideologically stringent rule under Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, to Xi Jinpings call for the sinicization of religions. Todays Chinese government is not turning the clock back to the Maoist era, but the overall trend is to enforce more regulatory restrictions on organized religious activities at the local level.

Although contemporary Western political discourse on China is characterized by decoupling and mistrust, the rich history of cross-cultural exchange since 1978 has provided a well of friendships and an extensive web of networks to sustain Chinese Christians. It is just difficult to collect information about the faith experience of these informal actors in the standard nation-based surveys.

Xi Lian, professor of World Christianity at Duke Divinity School

The most surprising finding in the report was the 7 percent who responded affirmatively to the question Do you believe in Jesus Christ, in contrast to the 2 or 3 percent who self-identified with Christianity (as a religious belonging) or believed in a religion in some surveys. The 7 percent figure may be more revealing and accurate because the survey question used the language of the believers.

Most Chinese Christians would say that what they believe in is not a religion, but a truth. After all, zongjiao (religion) is a term adopted by the secular elites in modern China and carries a stigmasomething at odds with modernity. Imagine asking Are you a religionist? 7 percent is surprising because it is higher than the mainstream estimates of the percentage of Chinese who are Christians. The 2022 CIA World Factbook puts it at 5.1%.

The various surveys contain some inconsistencies, but they do suggest that the era of Christianitys explosive growth since the 1980s is over. We need more time to find out if Christianity in China has peaked. There are regional differences, and the full implications of the recent, rapid urbanization for the Chinese church are yet to be seen. For instance, how much of the hemorrhage in the membership of rural churches has turned into new blood in urban churches?

What is concerning is seen indirectly in some surveys: the apparent leveling off of Christian identification suggests in part a hesitance to do so in view of increased hostilities of the Chinese state. The new restrictions, such as those directed at minors (under the age of 18) for church attendance, have indeed dented religious observance of both children and their parents. The rise of ultranationalism has also added to the chill facing Chinese Christians since Christianity is increasingly being identified with a hostile West.

Some of the new developments that I find most hopeful are not reflected in this report, such as the agility of many urban churches to adapt to the new political environment, breaking up into cell groups and moving worship services, Bible study, and pastoral training online. The 7 percent who self-identify as believing in Jesus Christ, even if it represents a larger-than-actual Christian following in China if stricter criteria are applied, still suggests a remarkable vitality and resilience of Christianity in China in the face of severe restrictions imposed in recent years, the intense competition from the new, state-sponsored religion of nationalism, as well as economic opportunities and pressures that make religious observance more difficult.

Jesse Sun, assistant professor of history of Christianity at Belmont University

Its intriguing that the survey distinguishes between believe in (xiangxin) and trust and uphold (xinyang) when estimating the number of Christians in China. The former will predictably yield more results than the latter, as xinyang suggests an ideological competition with the Chinese Communist Party, which demands exclusive ideological loyalty from its members. This nuance is indeed a significant methodological advancement. Additionally, the survey's attempt to cross check individuals who believe in Jesus Christ while also believing in other religious figures is a nod to the complex religious landscape of China.

Whats most concerning is that the survey seems to privilege state and official statistics, which serves more as a testament to the difficulty of obtaining independent, voluntary, and representative data than as reliable evidence for the trajectory of Christian population growth in China. In an environment where many unregistered house churches are being shut down and can't even maintain regular worship, they are unlikely to respond to a survey or identify as Christian. This underreporting is a significant concern, especially since most scholars agree that the number of Christians in unregistered churches is at least as many as, if not more than, those in state-approved three-self churches.

It's encouraging to see a nuanced approach when estimating the number of Christian houses of worship. The survey notes discrepancies between various reporting levels: government officials tend to report the smallest numbers, while three-self church leaders may be more willing to disclose newly incorporated meeting points. This reflects the nuanced understanding of the Chinese terms for register (dengji or zhuce), which could be manipulated for political reasons. It's a sign that the surveyors are aware of the complexities involved in obtaining accurate data in a politically sensitive environment.

Overall, the survey is a commendable effort to map China's complex religious landscape and it indeed broadens our understanding in many aspects. Meanwhile, given the tradition of state dominance, where the government from imperial China to the present has always sought to monitor and reduce the influence of religion in society, I won't be surprised if official statistics keep suggesting that the number of Christians in China has plateaued.

Brent Fulton, Founder of ChinaSource

Im surprised at the consistency across several surveys that found roughly 2-3 percent of respondents identified as Christians. At the same time, however, this figure must be treated with much caution. As the report points out, Protestant Christians tend to be concentrated in certain provinces and cities of China, and Catholic believers are even more geographically concentrated. We do not know the geographical distribution of the various survey respondents, but given the uneven distribution of Christians in China, they are likely underrepresented in the data.

What is concerning is that while it is impossible to know the true number of Christians in China or gauge the growth or decline of the church in a comprehensive manner, anecdotal evidence would seem to support the observation that the churchs growth has plateaued. Of particular concern is the state of the church among young adults and youth.

In the past fifty years, Chinas church experienced two significant growth spurts: the explosion of the rural church in the 1970s and 1980s and the emergence of a vibrant urban movement in the 2000s. Those who grew up during the rural revival are now in their fifties and sixties. Many in the urban congregations are now middle-aged. In the years since these surveys were conducted, youth and student ministry, along with Christian-run schools and activities such as summer camps, have been severely curtailed due to the pandemic and to government restrictions on religious activities for children under 18. The survey data showing that Christians were the least likely to have grown up in homes with parents of the same faith also seem to suggest that Christianity is not being passed on generationally. How the church will meet the needs of its next generation remains a critical question.

What I find positive has less to do with the data itself and more to do with Pews transparency in acknowledging the formidable barriers to accurately quantifying religious believers in China. While considerable attention has been given over the past several decades to the question of how many Christians are in China, there is no way to answer this question definitively. When asked in the 1990s about the size of Chinas church, veteran CIM missionary David Adeney responded, As I recall, our Lord did not say count my sheep, but feed my sheep. Rather than fixating on statistics (as we in the West are prone to do), those who care about the church in China would do well to heed Adeneys reminder.

Editors note: CT now offers hundreds of articles translated into Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese

[ This article is also available in  and . ]
They hoped the Tennessee legislature would listen to them. They hoped the elected representatives would do somethingsomethingto make their kids safer.

But at the end of the special session in Nashville on Tuesday, The Covenant School parents hopes were dashed. The legislature didnt even vote on the bills that the families of children who survived a Nashville school shooting in March wanted to see made into law.

Wearing matching black T-shirts with the words Get Used to Seeing These Faces, the cofounders of Covenant Families for Better Tomorrows wept at the Capitol. And at a press conference after, some of them spoke of how hard it was going to be to explain all this to their children.

We will go home and well look at our children in the eyes, said Mary Joyce, whose daughter was best friends with one of the girls murdered at the Presbyterian Church in America school. They will ask what our leaders have done over the past week and a half to protect them.

The parents vowed this defeat would not be the end of their activism. Melissa Alexander, whose fourth-grade son stood silently against a wall while a shooter killed three of his classmates, addressed elected officials directly.

The shooter confronted our children with guns, she said. Now you are stabbing our families and all Tennesseans in the back.

There have been 477 mass shootings in America so far in 2023. Gun violence is the leading cause of deaths for children over the age of one, surpassing automobile accidents and cancer. Tennessee has had 17 mass shootings this year, leaving 32 people dead and 59 wounded.

One of those shootings happened in March, when a person identified as a former student reportedly in the process of changing their name and pronouns broke into The Covenant School carrying three gunsan AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol-caliber carbine, and a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol.

The armed intruder fired 152 rounds in 14 minutes, killing six people before police fired back, killing the shooter.

The guns were purchased legally, even though the 28-year-old was under a doctors care for an undisclosed emotional disorder and the persons parents felt they should not have access to firearms. Tennessee law does not allow adults to be deprived of their Second Amendment right to bear arms unless they have been convicted of a felony involving drugs or violence, received a restraining order with a specific prohibition against firearm possession, or are under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of possession. People who are mentally ill and have expressed a desire to hurt themselves or others can still buy guns.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Gov. Bill Lee proposed a limited red flag law, which would allow a court to evaluate a persons mental health and temporarily deny them access to guns if re were deemed to be dangerous. Nineteen statesincluding conservative states like Florida and Indianahave similar laws on the books.

A Vanderbilt University poll found that 72 percent of registered Tennessee voters support red flag laws. That includes half of self-identified MAGA Republicans and about 70 percent of non-MAGA Republicans and independents.

There is broad agreement that this is the right approach, Lee said in April. Im not saying its easy, but it is possible when were talking about the safety of our children, our teachers and innocent lives.

Red flag laws are opposed, however, by the National Rifle Association and gun-rights advocates who say its just a sneaky way for governments to gain the power to take away a constitutional right. Lees proposal included additional protections for due process, but that didnt make a difference. Tennessee House Republicans said such measures are a nonstarter.

The legislature, which is dominated by a supermajority of Republicans in both the House and Senate, did not take up the Republican governors proposal in the regularly scheduled legislative sessions. They did not offer any alternatives, either. The session ended in April.

Lee, who was family friends with two of the adults killed at Covenant, called legislators back for a special session in August.

I think most lawmakers agree with that and agree that we should be continuously improving public safety, he said. We propose a framework but the General Assembly at the end of the day will decide what happens in that session.

The governor did not line up sponsors for a bill, though, and did not spend much time campaigning on the issue. In one scheduled Rotary Club event, the opening prayer touched on gun violence. Lee did not mention his proposal or the need to make Tennessee safer in his speech.

The Covenant parents, meanwhile, started lobbying legislators as hard as they could. Most of them had no experience in politics and certainly no history of opposition to guns.

Alexander, for example, told The Washington Post that she is a lifelong Republican, a conservative Christian, and a gun owner. She taught both her son and daughter to shoot when they were five years old. Her husband and son hunt ducks, doves, and pheasants. She and the other Covenant parents are not interested in overturning the Second Amendment or banning specific types of guns.

But in the aftermath of the shooting that could have taken their childrens lives, they believed something had to be done. Alexander felt like God told her to create purpose from the pain and pursue change.

As a native Tennessean and gun owner, I think its important to emphasize we are proponents of responsible gun ownership, Alexander said. However, I also think its important to intervene when there are clear signs that something is wrong.

The Covenant parents met with more than 20 legislators. Some seemed sympathetic to them in private but then publicly said they would never support the legislation the families were interested in. Others said they wanted to focus on small things that they believed could make a difference, like shortening police response times to schools, eliminating taxes on gun safes, and declaring the Bible the official state book of Tennessee.

When the special session began, legislators in both houses considered dozens of bills, but most of them were tabled without serious discussions. No red flag law was considered.

A House committee did vote on a proposal to arm more people at schools. Chris Todd, one of the bills Republican sponsors from West Tennessee, said restricting guns wouldnt have protected the children at Covenant.

If the shooter hadnt had a gun, Todd said, she probably wouldve had a carshe had a car. She probably would have driven over those kids when they went to recess.

Several Covenant parents left the room after he said that, according to The Tennessean. Republicans attempted to call for a vote on the legislation before Covenant parents could testify against it and then had to shut the committee meeting temporarily as tempers flared. The bill ultimately died in a tie vote.

The only legislation that the House and Senate agreed on during the special session was a bill that would require the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations to create a new report on human trafficking. Representatives from the state law enforcement agency said they already report that data. The bill will go to the governor to be signed into law.

I hoped for more, said David Teague, who has two children who survived the shooting at Covenant. A tremendous opportunity to make our children safer and create brighter tomorrows has been missed.

Teague, who quoted both the New Testament and The Lord of the Rings, said the Covenant parents learned a lot about the limits of lobbying. Going forward, he said, they would need to get more involved in primary elections. He urged more sane and reasonable people to get into politics.

As citizens of a representative democracy and as image-bearers of a just and merciful God, each and every one of us has a part to play that is ours and ours alone, he said.

The families are, as one of them said, still in the trenches of this trauma, but they also say their faith has compelled them to try to make a change and not just give in to the darkness.

We dont give up, said Sarah Shoop Neumann, whose kindergartener recently drew a picture of his school that included a coffin. Weve got faith unlike anything else. Weve literally lived through hell and were here and were still united in it, and were going to keep showing up every January for regular session.  We will be back in January.
'Jesus Calling' author Sarah Young in 'rapidly failing' health, publisher urges prayers

Sarah Young, author of the devotional Jesus Calling, is in rapidly failing health, her publisher, Thomas Nelson, revealed in a statement asking her supporters for prayers.

We received the hard news that Sarahs health is rapidly failing, Thomas Nelson Publishers wrote in a social media post last week.

We know that Sarah really believes in the power of prayer and prays for her readers every morning. Now, we have the precious privilege to lift up Sarah and her family. Please join us in prayer.

Originally published in 2004, Youngs 365-day devotional has sold over 35 million books worldwide and was named "Christian Book of the Year" in 2013 and 2018. Today, the Jesus Calling brand includes childrens devotionals, Bible storybooks, journals, seasonal books and the prayer devotional Jesus Listens, published in October 2021.

Publishing Jesus Calling was a long, prayer-filled journey, Young said in a recent statement. Ever since its publication, Ive prayed daily for people who are reading Jesus Calling or any of my subsequent books. I consider it an amazing privilege and a God-given responsibility to pray for readers.

Young, who graduated from Wellesley College in 1968 and earned a masters degree in biblical studies and counseling from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, is described in her official bio as biblically conservative in her faith and reformed in her doctrine.

She is married to Stephen Young, a Presbyterian missionary, and has two children and two grandchildren. The Youngs formerly served as missionaries in Japan and Australia and continue to be missionaries with Mission to the World, the PCA mission board.

According to a 2013 New York Times profile, Young has made few public appearances despite her commercial success due to Lyme disease and other health problems.

There are almost no public photographs of her, and she will not talk by telephone, the outlet noted.

Jesus Calling has been endorsed by celebrities, including Justin Bieber, who in 2016 shared a quote from the book on his social media. But Youngs work has also faced criticism in some Evangelical circles for being written in Jesus first-person voice.

In 2015, pastor and blogger Tim Challies called Jesus Calling "troubling, while author Randy Alcorn dubbed it an entire book built on falsehood."

"The biggest problem with Jesus Calling is very simple: Jesus did not speak these words. If these were His words, then Jesus Calling would be Scripture, which is by definition the words of God," the author explained in 2018.

"So if it's not (and it isn't) on an inspired and trustworthy level like Scripture itself, then it's making a false claim.

In a rare interview with Gloria Gaither and Phil Newman, Young said that before she writes, she spends time in prayer, including prayers for protection of my mind from distractions, distortions and deception.

I ask God to guide my mind as I focus on Him and His Word. Then I simply pray, Help me, Holy Spirit, and I wait. I have been strongly influenced by the Bible verse, Be still, and know that I am God, she said.

I want to make it clear that I do not have audible conversation with Jesus. Rather, its a quiet and personal time of praying, pondering Scripture, and seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In the introduction to Jesus Calling, Young also stressed that The Bible is, of course, the only inerrant Word of God; my writings must be consistent with that unchanging standard.

I have written from Jesus point of view; that is, the first person singular (I, Me, Mine) always refers to Christ. You refers to you, the reader, so the perspective is that of Jesus speaking to you, she wrote.

The Jesus Calling brand has also inspired the television show "Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith," which has featured guests including Amy Grant, Rev. Run & Justine Simmons, Tim Tebow, Tabitha Brown and Walker Hayes. The "Jesus Calling Podcast" has been downloaded nearly 15 million times since its 2016 launch.
Pastor Jonathan Laurie lists 6 features of Christ's 1,000-year reign on Earth

The son of Harvest Christian Fellowship Senior Pastor Greg Laurie recently laid out six attributes of the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ on Earth during the End Times.

Pastor Jonathan Laurie, who is part of the Harvest leadership, preached a sermon on Sunday about Revelation 20, which describes how, after the Second Coming, Jesus will reign on Earth for 1,000 years.

Its going to be amazing; its going to be beautiful, said Laurie. Its going to be like a brief layover in paradise before the real Paradise begins.

Regarding the aspects that will define this millennium described in Revelation, Laurie noted that the first key aspect will be that Jesus is King and will directly reign over all the Earth.

This is the moment weve all been waiting for. No more corrupt politicians, no more unjust rulings, no more backroom quid pro quo deals, Laurie said. Absolute righteousness will reign, and Jesus will be the King of the world.

The second defining aspect of the millennial reign of Christ, Laurie added, will be world peace, quoting Isaiah 2:4, which reads in part that nations will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.

There will be, finally, world peace. No more terrorism, no more bombs, Laurie explained. Over the course of human history, hundreds of millions have been killed in wars, maybe even up to a billion.

Theres no longer going to be need for weapons anymore, no need to lock doors or spy on each others countries  only God can bring true world peace.

Laurie explained that the third aspect will be that joy will abound, noting that "there will be no more depression, there will be no more disease, no more cancer, no more wheelchairs, no more deafness or blindness.

The fourth aspect of the millennial reign will be that life will abound, with Laurie quoting Isaiah 65:20, which reads in part, Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child.

Laurie clarified that the people described in this passage were not believers who were taken up to Heaven during the rapture, but rather are those who remained on Earth and survived End Times tribulations.

During this thousand-year reign, their lives, living in their mortal bodies, they will be the ones that get these amazing perks of life, he continued. They will be the ones that have abnormally long lives.

The fifth aspect of the millennial kingdom of Christ, according to Laurie, will be that the animal kingdom will be subdued, referencing Isaiah 11:6, which predicts that the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.

Theyre all going to be domesticated, he said. Youre going to be able to go and see them up close and personal. What an amazing idea.

Youre no longer going to have to go to the zoo or have to go on some wild safari to go and find these animals. Youre going to be able to call out to them, probably have them come to you.

The sixth aspect will be that the curse of sin is lifted, with Laurie explaining that Christians will be ruling and reigning with Christ and will be overseers on Earth.

Laurie then went on to explain how, after the thousand years has ended, Revelation records that the devil will be released from his prison for one final rebellion before he is defeated once and for all.

Lauries sermon was part of a multi-week series at Harvest centered on the End Times and various topics, such as the Second Coming of Jesus and the rapture.

Jonathan Lauries father, Pastor Greg Laurie, has preached the other parts of the series, including one message from late last month in which he said there are signs of the times in the modern day that indicate Jesus return is coming soon.

Examples Greg Laurie gave included "the emergence of China as a superpower," "the lessening of the United States as a superpower," "the repeated threats against Israel spoken of in the Bible," and "statements from our world leaders about a potential Armageddon" because of the war in Ukraine.

I would add to this the explosion of technology, especially artificial intelligence, increasing government overreach in our lives, where the government is seeking to gain more and more control of what happens to us, Greg Laurie said in his July sermon.

I would also add the dramatic increase of drug use decimating American cities, international financial instability, mass shootings, the disintegration of the family, the calculated attacks against the family. The Bible says, In the last days, there will be satanically energized times and things will go from bad to worse."
The King's College to lose accreditation by Aug. 31

The Kings College, a prominent Christian liberal arts college in New York City, is expected to lose its accreditation by the end of August.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) announced Friday that King's College, which had already opted to cancel its fall semester classes, had failed to fill out the "required substantive change request for institutional closure."

MSCHE went on to note that King's College had "failed to update public disclosures pursuant to Commission policy and procedures" and "failed to meet its membership responsibilities," and so as a result, "accreditation will cease on August 31, 2023."

The college, which severed its partnership with Primacorp, a Canadian investment company, in April, has been seeking a strategic alliance since January, according to Empire State Tribune.

In July, the college's board of trustees announced that, due to financial issues, they would not be holding classes in the fall semester, though they stressed that they were not planning to close the campus permanently.

"The Board of Trustees and senior administration will continue to navigate the College's next steps and continue to contend for King's future over the coming months," a statement from the board that was emailed to The Christian Post last month read. "The Board is committed to continuing our efforts to pursue strategic alliance opportunities."

"We are also moving forward in the appeal process regarding our accreditation status with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and are deeply grateful for the steadfast prayer and support of the King's community."

In late July, the MSCHE announced it considers the institution closed and no longer operational. The college plans to appeal the decision, which resulted in a ban on accepting or recruiting new students until the college regains its accredited status.

The college, which had relied on the generosity of billionaires such as Richard DeVos and Bill Hwang, had turned to another billionaire, Peter Chung, for help, Inside Higher Ed reported in March.

Chung provided a $2 million loan to the college and his for-profit education company, Primacorp Ventures, was hired by the college to launch an ambitious online program, noted IHE. However, employees believed the partnership with Chung had exacerbated the colleges financial troubles, with failed efforts including the online expansion.

The colleges online program, which was expected to bring in thousands of students and boost the bottom line, failed to materialize. The colleges deal with Primacorp, which would collect 95% of the online enrollment revenue, had been described as absolutely unheard-of in the OPM (online program management) world.

Despite the dissolution of the agreement with Primacorp, the company remained embedded in the college. Primacorp had the ability to nominate four of the nine trustees on the colleges board, and the college had incurred significant expenses related to the now-defunct online program.

Furthermore, Inside Higher Ed said, the colleges property was secured by a $10 million line of credit provided by Burnaby Investments, which is affiliated with Primacorp.

Michael Gryboski contributed to this article.
Pastor indicted with Trump in Georgia released on bail with help of conservative group

A pastor charged as part of an indictment that includes former President Donald Trump has been released from jail thanks to funds raised by a conservative advocacy organization and a prominent conservative influencer.

Pastor Stephen Lee of Living Word Lutheran Church in Orland Park, Illinois, is one of more than a dozen individuals indicted with Trump by a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, in connection with efforts to contest the results of the 2020 presidential election in the Peach State.

Lee is accused of going to the home of a Georgia election worker in an attempt to influence her testimony. He turned himself over to authorities in Georgia on Friday, about an hour before the deadline.

Although he didn't anticipate attending Sunday, the pastor indirectly addressed his legal situation from the pulpit after he was released on bail.

"I just have to say this. I am so proud of you folks," he began.

"We were planning on possibly my absence today but didn't skip a beat," he added.

The charges directed at Lee stem from his visits to the home of Fulton County elections worker Ruby Freeman in December 2020. According to the indictment, Lee committed the felony offense of "influencing witnesses" by "purporting to offer her help, and with intent to influence her testimony in an official proceeding in Fulton County, Georgia, concerning events at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia."

The indictment states that the defendants maintained that "Freeman, her daughter, and others were responsible for fraudulently awarding at least 18,000 ballots to Joseph R. Biden at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia." Additionally, they alleged that Freeman "stuffed the ballot boxes" with fraudulent votes for Biden.

Lee faces additional charges for sending Harrison Floyd to speak to Freeman after she reportedly refused to speak to the pastor because he was a white man and working with others to solicit false statements and writings from Freeman. The indictment characterized Lee's activities as "racketeering."

Lee's gratitude on Sunday likely stems from his inclusion on the Living Word prayer list for Aug. 27, which calls for "prayers of guidance and blessing" for the Lee family "as they work for their current struggles, and a prayer of thanksgiving for support."

In an appearance on "Diamond & Silk: The Podcast" Thursday, Lee's attorney, David Shestokas, told the conservative influencer known as Silk that his client was due to report to jail the following day. He noted that if convicted, Lee faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.

After detailing how Fulton County had set Lee's bond at $75,000, with the defendant expected to pay 10% upfront, Shestokas reported that the conservative advocacy organization Illinois Family Institute set up a defense fund for Lee that had raised almost $4,000.

Silk, whose name is Herneitha Richardson, offered to "make a contribution and pay that $3,500," instructing Shestokas to tell his client "don't worry" because "Diamond and Silk: Chit Chat Live is going to pay that $3,500 that he needs."

"Once he [pays] that and if he's found not guilty, will he get that money back?" Silk asked. After Shestokas responded in the affirmative, Silk urged Lee to donate the $3,500 to his church if/when he is found not guilty.

The Illinois Family Institute's efforts to raise money for Lee's legal defense continue as the organization partners with a honey company called MakeHoneyGreatAgain.com, which has committed to donating "a significant portion of the proceeds from their honey sales" to Lee's defense.

In his conversation with Silk, Shestokas said Lee served as a chaplain to the New York Police Department and New York firefighters after 9/11. He also ministered to Hurricanes Katrina and Irma victims, the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, and the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

Shestokas told The Daily Beast that the crimes Lee has been charged with carry a five-year mandatory minimum and a 20-year maximum. While the lawyer acknowledges that his client did travel to Freeman's home, he was only there to "be of some service to this woman that was under siege."

"The stuff that the rest of the world [sees] on the surface, if all they see is he knocked on the door, they think that he's involved in election interference," Shestokas continued. "OK, but if you look at his history, it's one of service, one of unification, if you want. That's what's in his mind."

Lee was a former police officer in California before becoming a pastor. Shestokas contends that Lee went to her home only after seeing her situation "go viral" and sought to help her during what he figured was a difficult period.

However, prosecutors contend that Lee's argument doesn't hold up and accused the pastor of later urging the Chicago-based leader of a group called Black Voices for Trump, Floyd, to travel to Freeman's home. Floyd, who is also indicted, then urged a former publicist for Kanye West, Trevian Kutti, to travel to Freeman's home on Jan. 4, 2021. Prosecutors allege Kutti proclaimed to be there on behalf of a "high-profile individual" and advised Freeman that if she didn't confess to voter fraud she could be thrown in jail.
Rock Church Pastor John Blanchard gets prostitution charge expunged; prays over baby for church dedication on Sunday

Despite a special prosecutor concluding that prostitution-related charges brought against him by local police nearly two years ago were "sound," a Virginia judge agreed last Wednesday to expunge the case from the record of Rock Church International Senior Pastor John Blanchard, who, while he did not preach on Sunday, was on stage to pray over a baby during a dedication on Sunday.

"It's kind of like it never happened," Virginia Beach attorney and legal analyst Ed Booth told 13NewsNow about what the expungement means.

"When that record is run later by an employer, by law enforcement, by whoever, the information is not there. That's what an expungement means, really," he added.

Blanchard was among 17 men accused of solicitation of prostitution after an online sting operation by police on Oct. 29, 2021. The married father of two was charged with solicitation of prostitution of a minor and use of a vehicle to promote prostitution, which are felonies. He was arrested at a hotel where he was supposed to meet a detective posing as a 17-year-old girl.

After almost a year of legal maneuvering, however, the charges against Blanchard were withdrawn or nolle prossed ahead of a criminal trial last October. A case that is nolle prossed means prosecutors could bring those charges again.

A report from the Chesterfield County Police Department said Chesterfield County Commonwealth's Attorney Stacey Davenport cited a "lack of evidence" in not moving forward with the case against Blanchard. Outspoken members of the public accused Davenport of giving Blanchard special treatment.

William Blaine, a special prosecutor who was appointed to review whether the case against Blanchard should be reopened, would later call the criminal charges against the pastor "sound" but chose not to refile the case because Blanchard was honoring the terms of a deal he struck with the Chesterfield County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

"Again without going into detail about what the new evidence is, the new evidence  in my respected opinion  does not affect the prosecution of what happened on that [offense] date in October of 2021," Blaine wrote in a June 2 letter to two Chesterfield judges. "The evidence, if admissible, might be found to bolster the government's case against Defendant."

Blaine did not object to the expungement request by Blanchard and his legal team to seal the records of his prostitution-related charges.

In granting the request, Circuit Judge Steven Novey noted that he had no other choice under the law.

Rock Church, which has a weekly attendance of more than 2,000, did not respond to calls for comment on the expungement from The Christian Post on Tuesday. The church has not made any additional public statements on Blanchard's status at the church beyond one published on its website last fall saying Blanchard would voluntarily step away from ministerial duties.

"Under the guidance of our legal counsel, we cannot make a statement or comment concerning the accusations against Rev. John Blanchard at this time. We are all committed to walking in integrity and truth at Rock Church International and will continue to take steps to do so," the church said. "Pastor Blanchard has voluntarily stepped back as lead pastor and from all his ministerial duties until this present situation is totally resolved."

While he might not have been preaching at the church at the time, CP reported that he was still ministering at other churches.
Do the math when searching for God

Imagine waking up one day to suddenly find yourself wanting to know the truth about God and religion. You have become surprisingly eager to search for any clues God may have provided that can help point you in the right direction.

For starters, you already believe that God exists because of the estimated two trillion galaxies in the observable universe. Since the creation of the world Gods invisible qualities  His eternal power and divine nature  have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made (Romans 1:20).

But who is God? Does He have a name? What is Gods purpose for my life? And has He communicated with us so that we can know Him and understand His ultimate plan?

As you ponder the meaning of it all, you reflect upon the fact that most religions claim to have been derived from divine revelation. In addition, religious people across the board assert that their particular religion improves their life.

You are also aware that religions contradict each other in their respective doctrines. Therefore, they cannot all be true. You wonder what differentiates true religion from false religion. And you are curious to find out if there is at least one religion that contains verifiable evidence confirming divine revelation.

You wonder if perhaps the Creator may have revealed Himself through prophecy. After all, God could have inspired messengers to write down specific details about future events, right? And if secular and religious historians agree on the historicity of the people, places and events in the fulfilled prophecies, then such historical evidence would provide a factual foundation in your search for God.

After all, only the Creator can correctly tell us what is going to happen hundreds of years in advance.

And so, you begin to search for one or more religions that are supported by prophetic accuracy. After much research, you struggle to come up with even one specific prophecy that has been fulfilled in most of the worlds religions. However, you discover that Judaism presents a plethora of prophecies in the Hebrew Bible (The Old Testament) with specific details. And many of these prophecies were fulfilled 2000 years ago by Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth.

What are the odds of this happening? I am glad you asked.

Professor Peter Stoner was chairman of the mathematics and astronomy departments at Pasadena City College until 1953. He then went to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, where he served as chairman of the science division. Professor Stoner calculated the odds of getting eight prophecies fulfilled in one person.

To illustrate those odds, imagine covering the entire state of Texas in silver dollars two feet deep. Then mark one coin and bury it anywhere amidst the trillions of coins. Next, blindfold a man and have him choose one coin. The odds that he would choose the marked coin are the same as the odds of getting eight prophecies fulfilled in one person. Those odds are one in one hundred quadrillion, or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.

Gods prophets recorded roughly 300 prophecies concerning the coming Messiah that were all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Here are eight of those fulfilled prophecies:

1. The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-6).

2. The Messiah will be a descendant of Jacob (Numbers 24:17; Matthew 1:2).

3. The Messiah will enter Jerusalem as a king riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; Mark 11:4-11).

4. The Messiah will be betrayed by a friend. (Psalm 41:9; Luke 22:47,48)

5. The Messiah's betrayal money will be used to purchase a potter's field (Zechariah 11:13;Matthew 27:9,10).

6. The Messiah will be spat upon and struck (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 26:67).

7. The Messiah's hands and feet will be pierced (Psalm 22:16; John 20:25-27).

8. Soldiers will gamble for the Messiah's garments (Psalm 22:18; Luke 23:34).

One religion (Judaism) provides specific prophecies which were fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Yeshua. When you combine the Old Testament prophecies with their New Testament fulfillment, you have overwhelming evidence that points directly to God. If you doubt the veracity of this claim, then do the math.

The mathematical precision points to a specific Person. Micah prophesied about the Jewish Messiahs birthplace 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).

God chose to authenticate His Word through these historically verifiable prophecies and events. He linked the two testaments together by having His only Son, Yeshua, fulfill the Messianic prophecies.

And dont forget to factor the resurrection of Christ into the equation. Fulfilled prophecies provide mathematical confirmation of divine revelation, and the resurrection of Jesus seals the deal for anyone who chooses to base their faith on empirical evidence. Blind faith, on the other hand, is what every other religion requires of you. Do you really want to stake your immortal soul on blind faith in a self-appointed prophets proclamations and religious theories?

Meanwhile, Jesus brings all who receive Him as Savior (John 1:12) to an everlasting kingdom in Heaven, far above the estimated two trillion observable galaxies God created.

You see, the stars tells us there is a God, and the math confirms Gods name and Yeshuas eternal Gospel (Revelation 14:6; John 3:16; John 14:6; Romans 1:16-17).
1 in 6 churchgoers have had, paid for or encouraged an abortion, survey finds

One out of every six regular churchgoers in the United States has had, paid for or encouraged an abortion, while one-fifth doesn't believe the Bible identifies when life begins, a new study suggests.

The Family Research Council's Center for Biblical Worldview released the "Survey on Adult Churchgoers on Social Issues and Worldview" last week. Based on 1,009 interviews of American adults who attend church services at least once a month, the study was conducted in June 2023 by Center for Biblical Worldview and prominent Evangelical pollster George Barna.

The survey examined respondents' views on abortion and found that 16% of respondents "admitted to having ever paid for, encouraged, or chosen to have an abortion."

While nearly two-thirds (65%) of those surveyed stated that the Bible identifies when human life begins, 21% disagreed, while 14% did not know.

Fifty-two percent of those who believe the Bible identifies when life begins pointed to the fertilization of the female egg as said point, followed by 7% who thought the Bible teaches that life begins when the unborn baby reaches viability and 6% who believed Scripture identifies six weeks into pregnancy as the point when life begins.

When asked what the Bible teaches about abortion, a plurality of respondents (35%) said that abortion is not acceptable under any circumstances. Nineteen percent contended that the Bible teaches that abortion is only acceptable when the mother's life is endangered, while 10% thought the Bible leaves decisions about abortion up to the couple involved. Seven percent believe it permits abortions if the baby is determined to have physical or mental disabilities, and 6% think it allows abortions under all circumstances.

David Closson, director of FRC's Center for Biblical Worldview, wrote in an op-ed this week that the survey's findings on churchgoers' views on abortion merit attention and show an "ongoing need for instruction in a biblical worldview, particularly on abortion and the value of human life."

"Christians might be surprised to learn that around 17% of female churchgoers have had an abortion, and 15% of male churchgoers have paid for or actively encouraged someone to get an abortion," Closson wrote. "However, Family Research Council's findings track with similar studies, including one by Lifeway Research in 2015 that showed 16% percent of all women who have had an abortion identified as evangelical Christian."

"To put these percentages into perspective, consider the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the nation's largest Protestant denomination. In 2023, the total membership across 47,198 SBC churches was 13.2 million. If we were to apply the 16% figure from the FRC and Lifeway surveys, approximately 2.1 million Southern Baptists have, at some point, actively participated in an abortion," he continued. "In other words, we can conclude that millions of theologically conservative Christians have a personal history with abortion, even if they do not talk about it."

A plurality of respondents (36%) described themselves as "pro-life, with some exceptions or limitations" on the issue of abortion while an additional 27% characterized themselves as "pro-life, without exceptions or limitations." The remaining churchgoers surveyed classified themselves as either "pro-choice, with some exceptions or limitations" (14%), "pro-choice, without exceptions or limitations" (8%), leaning pro-life "but could be convinced otherwise" (5%) and leaning pro-choice "but could be convinced otherwise" (5%).

"These figures help dispel the notion that churchgoers are monolithic when it comes to their views on abortion; the data clearly demonstrates that churchgoers hold a variety of views," Closson stated. "Although most regular church attendees identify as 'pro-life,' 37% do not hold firm pro-life commitments. Furthermore, among the 63% of respondents who identify as pro-life, there are differences in what they think the Bible teaches about abortion and whether their religious beliefs are the greatest influence on their opinions, as we will see in other survey findings."

The overwhelming majority of respondents (71%) cited their moral and religious beliefs as what informs their position on abortion, while 11% pointed to political and policy considerations, and 11% formed their position based on public preferences and opinions.

Overall, 44% of churchgoers surveyed recalled hearing a sermon or teaching about abortion at church in the previous 12 months, with a majority of Catholics (54%) reporting that abortion was addressed at church in the past year and much smaller percentages of Pentecostals (45%), Evangelicals (41%), mainline Protestants (36%) and those who attend independent churches (32%) saying the same. Roughly one-third of adults (31%) expressed a desire to hear about abortion at church more frequently while 14% wanted the topic addressed less frequently.

In addition to abortion, the survey examined churchgoers' views related to church teaching about seven other social issues.

Three-fourths (75%) of respondents insisted that the Bible "clearly and decisively" addressed the definition of a legitimate marriage. Sixty-nine percent maintained that the Bible had clear and decisive teachings about religious liberty, while 66% said the same about divorce.

Regarding whether the Bible has clear and decisive teachings about the moral acceptability of homosexuality, 63% answered in the affirmative. Smaller shares of respondents agreed that the Bible has clear and decisive teachings on how to know a person's gender (59%) and the moral acceptability of transgenderism (52%). Less than half of those surveyed (44%) thought that the Bible provided clear instructions to help Christians determine what candidates to vote for.

The survey also measured the degree to which respondents subscribe to seven cornerstones that Barna views as essential to forming a "consistently biblical life of thought and action."

Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed view God as "the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect and just creator of the universe who rules that universe today," a belief that aligns with "an orthodox, biblical understanding of God."

Much smaller shares of respondents agreed that "when you die, you will go to Heaven only because you have confessed your sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior" (47%) and that "people are born into sin and can only be saved from its consequences by Jesus" (41%).

When asked what they considered the "best indicator of a successful life," 39% responded with "constant obedience to God."

Churchgoers were much more divided on their view of the Bible, with 33% seeing it as "the actual, true word of God that should be taken literally, word for word" and another 33% thinking of it as "the inspired word of God that has no errors, although some verses are meant to be symbolic rather than literal." A plurality of those surveyed (48%) agreed that "there are no moral absolutes that apply to everyone, all the time; moral truth is up to each individual." This idea runs contrary to a biblical worldview.

A majority of respondents (53%) considered "knowing, loving, and serving God with all of your heart, mind, strength, and soul" as the "general purpose of life for all people, regardless of their culture."
70% of Women Who Get Abortions Identify as Christians, Survey Finds

Over 40 percent of women who have had an abortion say they were frequent churchgoers at the time they ended their pregnancies and about a half of them say they kept their abortions hidden from church members, new LifeWay Research shows.

In a survey released Monday that was sponsored by the pregnancy center support organization Care Net, researchers from the Christian research group LifeWay found that about 70 percent of women who had an abortion self-identified as Christians, while 43 percent say they attended a Christian church at least once per month or more at the time they aborted their child.

The survey, which interviewed 1,038 respondents who've all had abortions, found that 20 percent of the respondents attended church at least once a week at the time of their first pregnancy termination. Six percent said they attended church more than once per week, while about 54 percent said they rarely or never attended a church.

As a majority Christian churches do not support aborting a child, only 7 percent of women said they discussed their abortion decision with anyone at church, while 52 percent said no one at their church knew about their abortion. Additionally, 76 percent of them say that the church had no influence on their decision to go through with the abortion.

"I'm not surprised but I don't think that necessarily reflects anything bad about churches," Jeanne Mancini, the president of the March for Life organization that organizes an annual pro-life rally in Washington D.C., told The Christian Post Wednesday.

"That would be fantastic if she went to a church member but the reality is that they know often that they are not doing what's right, so they are not going to go [to someone] who is an expert in morality to find that out," Mancini added. "They want somebody to tell them that it's OK and they are not going to hear that from a church, at least not most churches."

The survey also found that 64 percent of respondents feel that members of the church are more likely to gossip about their pregnancy or abortion consideration rather than actually help them understand their pregnancy options.

While weighing their abortion decisions, 36 percent said they expected or experienced judgemental reaction from a church, while 26 percent said they expected or experienced condemnation from the congregation.

Only 16 percent said they expected or experienced a "caring" reaction from the church, while 14 percent said they expected or experienced a helpful reaction.
Former EcoPro Chairman Lee Dong-chae, fourth from left, poses with company executives and officials from Sony during a long-term agreement ceremony at EcoPro's headquarters in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province, March 9, 2015. Courtesy of EcoPro



By Kim Jae-heun



EcoPro celebrated the 10th anniversary of its partnership with Japanese battery cell companies Sony and Murata Manufacturing, the company said Wednesday.



It first supplied high-nickel cathode materials to Sony in August 2013 and has maintained the supply deal even after Murata Manufacturing acquired Sony's battery cell business in 2017.



"Murata has strong confidence in EcoPro battery anode materials and guarantees their quality. We will continue our relationship with Murata, a 10-year friendship, through the supply of high-quality cathode materials," an EcoPro official said.



EcoPro and Sony's cooperation started in 2012. The Japanese firm formed a task force, led by quality control personnel, and sent them to EcoPro's Ochang plant in North Chungcheong Province. The task force team stayed there for a month checking the product quality.



Since then, Sony has requested EcoPro to send their product's prototype to Japanese cell lines. In August 2013 the Korean firm supplied 6 tons of battery anode materials to Sony for testing.



In 2015 the two companies signed a long-term supply contract.



"It was an unconventional decision at the time that Sony opened itself to a Korean company, not a domestic one. It was a decision made after seeing that there was no quality problem (with our product) during their test process," an EcoPro official said.



In 2017, Sony sold its battery division to Murata Manufacturing. Despite Sony's sell-off, EcoPro continues to supply cathode materials for batteries to Murata Manufacturing. The company is steadily increasing its trading volume by supplying a thousand tons of its product to the Japanese firm, annually.


White House says Biden mistakenly said he convinced Strom Thurmond to vote for the Civil Rights Act

President Joe Biden mistakenly claimed that he convinced former U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond to vote for the 1965 Civil Rights Act, even though Biden was in college at the time and hadn't yet met the senator.

On Monday, Biden gave a speech in the East Room of the White House before the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on the 60th anniversary of the legal groups creation.

During his remarks, Biden talked about the need to combat white supremacy and claimed at one point that he had helped to convince Thurmond, a former proponent of segregation, to vote for the Civil Rights Act. Thurmond served in the Senate for 48 years, first as a Democrat before switching to the Republican Party in 1964.

I was able  literally, not figuratively  talk Strom Thurmond into voting for the  the Civil Rights Act before he died. And I thought, Well, maybe theres real progress, said Biden.

But hate never dies. It just hides. It hides under the rocks. And when someone breathes a little oxygen in it, it comes out  roaring out. And silence  silence is complicity. And were not going to remain silent.

However, as Fox News Digital and other news outlets noted after the speech, Biden was only 21 when the Civil Rights Act passed the Senate in 1964, eight years before he was elected to the Senate in 1972.

An unnamed spokesperson for the White House told Fox News that Biden had meant to say he was integral to getting Thurmond to support the Voting Rights Act in 1980, having previously opposed the Act in 1965.

Biden has occasionally garnered controversy for his past associations with politicians who supported racial segregation, including Thurmond and former Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

During a debate in 2019, then-2020 Democrat presidential Kamala Harris accused Biden of working with segregationist members of the Senate to actively oppose busing policies.

It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing, she said at the time.

Biden responded to Harris accusations, saying that her remarks were a mischaracterization of my position across the board and that I did not praise racists nor did he oppose busing when it was approved by local officials.

I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education. That's what I opposed, Biden stated during the 2019 debate.

Everything I have done in my career, I ran because of civil rights, I continue to think we have to make fundamental changes in civil rights, and those civil rights, by the way, include not just only African Americans, but the LGBT community.

Two weeks after that debate, The New York Times published comments Biden made in a 1975 interview that were entered into the Congressional Record in 1975 in which he said: I oppose busing. Its an asinine concept, the utility of which has never been proven to me.

During Judiciary Committee hearings on the bussing of school children in June and July of 1977, Biden said he wanted to "insure we do have orderly integration of society," adding that he was "not just talking about education but all of society."

Biden continued: "Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle with tensions having built so high that it is going to explode at some point. We have got to make some move on this."
ChatGPT generates fake Bible passage about 'Jesus accepting trans people'; Christians respond

A fake Bible passage reportedly generated by ChatGPT about how Jesus accepts trans-identified individuals has generated responses from Christian scholars as some media outlets have touted the passage as an example of "much needed" tolerance.

In July, one Reddit poster who was "feeling sad" shared a "fake biblical passage" that he asked ChatGPT to generate about "Jesus accepting trans people."

The quote posted in the "r/trans" channel by user Psychological_Dog527 sounded eerily like a legitimate Bible verse, even going so far as to echo the cadence of the Gospel writers.

"And a woman, whose heart was divided between spirit and body, came before him. In quiet despair, she asked, 'Lord, I come to you estranged, for my spirit and body are not one. How shall I hope to enter the kingdom of God?'" the fake passage states.

"Jesus looked upon her with kindness, replying, 'my child, blessed are those who strive for unity within themselves, for they shall know the deepest truths of my Father's creation. Be not afraid, for in the kingdom of God, there is no man nor woman, as all are one in spirit. The gates of my Father's kingdom will open for those who love and are loved, for God looks not upon the body, but the heart."

While the passage is nowhere in Scripture, the poster said, "I know it's not real but it gave me some comfort."

Pro-LGBT outlet The Advocate was among those outlets to hail the fabricated verse with a headline reading "ChatGPT Writes Trans-Affirming Bible Verse," calling it "an affirming example of tolerance."

Astrology columnist John Sundholm of YourTango went a step further, writing the AI-generated verse "is likely much needed given the all-out attacks being launched against transgender people by America's right-wing, nearly all of it in God's name."

He added, "This verse has special resonance in 2023 because of the virulent transphobia and anti-[LGBT] sentiment and legislation that continues to sweep the country  much of it supported and funded by Christians."

While it's not the first time a chatbot has generated theological controversy, the post raises questions about the role AI will play in offering interpretations of the Bible that may not conform to the authors' original intent.

Although the chatbot's response may have the "ring of truth" to it, Messianic Jewish author and radio host Michael Brown urged Christians to use discernment when considering the words of a chatbot in place of the Scriptures in a recent op-ed published by The Christian Post.

While conceding that Jesus would "absolutely" look upon a trans-identified person with kindness, Brown said the truth that "there is neither male nor female" in Christ Jesus "doesn't mean that gender distinctions should be blurred or transgressed."

"Instead, as expressed by Paul (see Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11), there is neither caste nor class in God's kingdom  not Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free. We are all equal in Jesus," Brown wrote.

"But that hardly means that there are no gender distinctions in terms of reality and in terms of implication. To the contrary, the whole Bible, including the New Testament, makes gender distinctions, giving specific instructions to husbands and wives, and recognizing only two sexes."

As for the line, "The gates of my Father's kingdom will open for those who love and are loved, for God looks not upon the body, but the heart," Brown said the choice of language is no mere coincidence.

"Obviously, the 'love and are loved' words are straight out of the 'love is love' and 'love wins' playbook, really telling us nothing at all," he said. "Or should we believe that 'Jesus' was saying, 'Hey, if you're in a polyamorous relationship, loving multiple partners at the same time, you are on the right track?'"

The phrase "God looks not upon the body, but the heart" does contain some "biblical truth," Brown added, namely found in 1 Samuel 16:7 when the Lord tells Samuel, "Yahweh does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart."

But, Brown said, rather than merely "affirming" a trans-identified person who is struggling with their identity, Jesus would bring healing and restoration.

"Jesus would not say to a woman who felt like she was a man, 'Be made whole, and then, miraculously and instantaneously, her healthy breasts would disappear, leaving her only with scars, after which He would then give her a lifetime subscription to hormone pills, free of charge," he said. "God forbid! That is monstrous rather than Messianic."

"Instead, He would say to her, 'Be made whole,' and, miraculously and instantaneously, she would be at home in the body she was created with. No surgeries. No pills. Just peace."

Creationist Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis, responded to the ChatGPT passage by stating in a blog post that just because God accepts anyone who comes to repentance in the faith doesn't mean that He "accepts us in the way that our culture (and the way this individual) accepts trans-identifying individuals."

"When someone today says 'accept,' they mean celebrate an identity that runs contrary to God's design," Ham wrote. "When God says you are 'accepted in the beloved' (Ephesians 1:6 KJV), it means that Christ has paid the penalty for your sin so you now have right standing before the Creator of the universe."

"And salvation means that God will not leave you in your sin and your false identity," he added. "If you are his child, he will sanctify you and call you to leave your life of sin (John 8:11), deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him (Luke 9:23)."
Churches, Christians respond as Hurricane Idalia batters Florida

Churches across Florida canceled services, offered help, and hunkered down as Hurricane Idalia made landfall as an extremely dangerous Category 3 storm Wednesday, and at least two people have already died in weather-related crashes across the state.

Hurricane Idalia has made landfall in Florida, bringing flooding and damage, and is now headed to Georgia and the Carolinas, announced the United Methodist Committee on Relief Wednesday morning. UMCOR is processing a grant for the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church for emergency supplies.  Please lift up all those affected by this storm, including first responders, with your prayers.

Hours before the hurricane hit on Tuesday, leaders of New Hope Baptist Church in Zephyrhills urged their members to stay safe and pray for those in the path of the storm.

Tonight, as we settle into our homes to ride out the storm, let us do the most important thing, beseech our Heavenly Father for His mercy. It was 11 months ago we faced Hurricane Ian and let us not forget Gods mercy to our congregation in that storm. Let us spend these precious hours together remembering such blessings as we ask God to protect us again, the church said in an announcement.

Just as Ian did tremendous damage in other places and took many lives, so also does Idalia appear to be posed to do great damage and potentially take lives in other parts of Florida. Many of you have loved ones in such other places or who have fled but have homes in such other places. Therefore, let us spend these hours together in our living rooms praying for all who are in Idalias path, the church added.

The National Hurricane Center said Idalia made landfall along the coast of the Florida Big Bend near Keaton Beach at approximately 7:45 a.m. and left a trail of devastation in its wake as it continued across Georgia as a Category 1 hurricane.

An 11 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center warned that significant impacts from storm surge will continue along the Gulf coast of Florida within the storm surge warning through Wednesday evening. It also forecast damaging hurricane-force winds across southern Georgia and Southern South Carolina.

In Cedar Key, a barrier island off the northwest coast of Florida, a hurricane and storm surge warning along with a mandatory evacuation order remain in effect.

We have multiple trees down, debris in the roads, do not come, the Cedar Key Fire Rescue wrote in a message on Facebook Wednesday morning.

Hours later, the first responders insisted that people should still stay away as the area remained dangerous.

We have propane tanks blowing off all over the island. Do not drive, do not come out. We cannot get to them at this time, they added.

In affected areas across the state, more than 263,000 residents are without power, according to The Associated Press.

Officials with the Florida Highway Patrol said at least two people have died in separate weather-related crashes. One crash involving a 59-year-old man from Gainesville occurred just before 6 a.m. when he swerved, drove through a ditch and crashed into a treeline in Gainesville, Fox 35 reported. A 40-year-old man also died in a separate crash at 6:15 a.m. in Pasco County. He was driving "too fast for conditions" and lost control and slammed into a tree, Florida Highway Patrol said.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said utility workers are working to restore power to the affected areas and search and rescue teams have been deployed. He added that state authorities have yet to confirm any fatalities directly caused by the hurricane.
Former minister, prison chaplain killed by man he was trying to help

A 59-year-old retired Air Force veteran and former minister, known for his charitable work, was found dead months after his disappearance. The suspect, a man the minister had been assisting, has been arrested and charged with murder in Maryland.

Shawn Hall of Hagerstown, Maryland, was last seen in late May and reported missing shortly after, WUSA9 reported. His car was found abandoned in Prince Georges County, and his phone was traced back to a trucking business on Old Marlboro Pike in Upper Marlboro, where he and the suspect were supposedly starting a company.

Halls skeletal remains were discovered near the same location last week. The suspect, 57-year-old Boisey Neal of Glen Burnie, whom Hall had met while working as a prison chaplain, was arrested the same day and charged with first- and second-degree murder, among other related charges, according to multiple reports.

Through various investigative techniques, Neal was identified as the suspect. He was located and arrested on August 23, Hagerstown Police Department said in a statement.

Shawn had a heart of gold. He helped the homeless in the community. He was always taking in people, getting them back on their feet, Shaun Porter, a longtime friend and neighbor of Hall, was quoted as saying.

Porter believes Neal was conning Hall. Basically, he was using Shawn to start a business that probably never would go anywhere, he said.

According to court documents, Neals phone was also traced back to the trucking business on the night Hall disappeared. Text messages from Neal to his girlfriend that night included statements like, He tried to tell on me before I caught him, and I am a very bad man.

An autopsy is being conducted to determine the exact cause of death, Daily Voice said.

Halls son, Wes Hall, expressed his familys grief and gratitude for the police work. Our family is devastated by the loss, but are grateful to have answers and some hope of justice, he was quoted as saying.

Neal is being held by the Department of Corrections after a court commissioner ordered that he be held without bail. The motive for the murder remains under investigation.

At the time of his disappearance, Hall may have traveled from Washington County to Upper Marlboro. The Hagerstown Police Department had contacted the Prince Georges County Police Department for assistance in tracking down Hall.
Less than half of US evangelicals identify as 'pro-life,' new poll suggests Only one quarter of evangelicals say abortion should be illegal in all cases

Only a quarter of evangelicals in the United States believe abortion should be illegal in all cases, according to a new poll showing that a majority of self-identified Christians in the U.S. identify as pro-choice and less than half of evangelicals identify as pro-life.

Save the Storks, a pro-life organization that partners with pregnancy centers to provide women with free ultrasounds, released a new survey this week that it sponsored through the research firm Magid.

The survey is based on online interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide ages 18 to 69 conducted in May to gauge Americans opinions and attitudes on abortion.

Theres a disconnect in our culture right now, said OB-GYN Dr. Karysse Trandem, a spokesperson for Save the Storks. The majority of Americans believe that life begins at or before the heartbeat, but the majority of evangelicals and Catholics identify as pro-choice.

While the research breaks down data by religious demographics, it should be noted that religious classification for the survey was done by self-identification. This means that evangelical respondents were self-identified and not determined by belief qualification.

The data shows that 25 percent of all respondents identify themselves as pro-life  a political term used typically to identify someone who opposes abortion  while 40 percent identified as pro-choice  a term typically used to identify someone who supports abortion rights.

Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they were neither or a mix of both, while 7 percent said they dont know.

When broken down by religious background, 47 percent of self-identified evangelicals, 33 percent of mainline Protestants and 27 percent of Catholics identified themselves as pro-life.

Meanwhile, 30 percent of evangelicals, 33 percent of Catholics and 26 percent of mainline Protestants said they were neither or a mix of both.

Less than two out of 10 (18 percent) of evangelical respondents identified themselves as pro-choice, while 34 percent of Catholics and 36 percent of mainline Protestants said the same thing.

As for respondents who identified themselves as non-religious, only 14 percent identified as pro-life and 53 percent identified as pro-choice.

Although the plurality of respondents that participated in the survey identified as pro-choice, only 27 percent said they think abortion should be legal in all cases, while 14 percent of all respondents said that abortion should be illegal in all cases.

Thirty-four percent of pro-life respondents said they think abortion should be illegal in all cases, while 52 percent said it should illegal in most cases. Ten percent of pro-life respondents said abortion should be legal in most cases and 4 percent of pro-life respondents said abortion should be legal in all cases.

Of the 40 percent of respondents who said they were pro-choice, 52 percent believe that abortion should be legal in all cases, while 36 percent said it should be legal in most cases. Seven percent of pro-choice respondents said abortion should be illegal in all cases and 5 percent said it should be illegal in most cases.

For respondents who said they were neither or a mix of pro-choice and pro-life, 30 percent believe that abortion should be illegal in most cases while 51 percent believe that abortion should be legal in most cases.

Only 25 percent of evangelicals believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases, while 33 percent of evangelicals said that abortion should be illegal in most cases. Fifteen percent of evangelicals believe that abortion should be legal in all cases and 27 percent of evangelicals believe it should be legal in most cases.

By comparison, 16 percent of Catholics and 18 percent of mainline Protestants believe that abortion should be illegal in most cases. Thirty-one percent of mainline Protestants said they think abortion should be illegal in most cases, while 28 percent of Catholics said the same thing.

Thirty-eight percent of Catholics said abortion should be legal in most cases, while 28 percent of mainline Protestants said the same thing. Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of mainline Protestants said abortion should be legal in most cases, while 18 percent of Catholics said the same.

Nearly one-quarter of respondents (23 percent) said that yes, they would consider abortion to be an option if they or their partners became pregnant. Meanwhile, 21 percent of respondents said maybe and 50 percent said No.

Twenty-percent of pro-choice respondents said they would not personally consider abortion an option while 6 percent of pro-life respondents said they would consider abortion to be an option.

Only 10 percent of evangelicals said that abortion would be an option for them personally, while 17 percent of Catholics and 15 percent of mainline Protestants said the same. Eleven percent of evangelicals said that abortion would maybe be an option while 72 percent of evangelicals surveyed said that abortion would not be an option.

One quarter (25 percent) of Catholics said that abortion would maybe be an option, while 54 percent said it would not be. As for mainline Protestant respondents, 57 percent said abortion would not be an option for them while 22 percent said abortion would maybe be an option.

The survey found that non-religious respondents (36 percent) were more than twice as likely than Christian respondents to say that abortion would be an option for them if they or their partners got pregnant. Still, the plurality of non-religious respondents (42 percent) says that abortion would not be an option for them personally.

Forty-two percent of evangelicals say a fetus is considered a living being at the point of conception, while 31 percent of Catholics, 34 percent of mainline Protestants and 21 percent of non-religious respondents expressed the same belief.

Thirty-eight percent of Catholics, 36 percent of evangelicals and 30 percent of mainline Protestants believe that a fetus is living at the time its heart beats.

This indicates that majorities for evangelicals, Catholics and mainline respondents believe that a fetus is living when a heartbeat can be detected or earlier in gestation.

Even among the non-religious respondents, 55 percent believe a fetus is living when the heartbeat can be detected or earlier.

We hope this research is the beginning of an honest dialogue among Christians, Save the Storks President Paul Isaacs said in a statement. We are going to have to work harder to equip the next generation of Christians to have a more life-affirming ethic on this issue.

The survey comes after a Gallup poll earlier this year found that 58 percent of respondents oppose legislation that would ban abortion once a babys heartbeat can be detected.

Over the past year, several states have enacted restrictions on abortion such as bills making abortion illegal once a heartbeat can be detected or as early as six weeks into gestation. Such bills have come under the scrutiny of abortion rights activists who claim such laws are too restrictive when it comes to womens access to abortion.

An Hill-Harris X survey of 1,000 respondents published earlier this year found that 55 percent of respondents say that bills banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy are either too lenient or just right. That same survey found that only 45 percent believed that a 6-week abortion ban legislation is too restrictive.
Maryland church that left UMC must raise $4 million in 2 months to keep property

A Maryland congregation that voted to leave the United Methodist Church has only a few weeks remaining to raise enough money to pay $4 million to keep their property or they will lose their church building.

Oakdale Church of Olney, a congregation that has existed for over 200 years and has around 250 in-person attendees every week, voted to disaffiliate from the UMC in March.

As part of the disaffiliation process, Oakdale Church has to pay the UMC mission shares for the current year plus one year in advance, any unfunded pension liability, and 50% of the property's assessed value.

Oakdale Pastor Kevin Baker told The Christian Post that because his churchs tax assessment is around $7.9, his congregation will have to pay approximately $4 million.

Baker denounced the 50% assessed value requirement, telling CP that the UMC Baltimore-Washington Conference is one of only three conferences in the denomination that mandate such a payment in order to leave.

Oakdale Church leaders and others have repeatedly requested a meeting with the board of trustees for the BWC to talk and seek some negotiations, but the trustees have been unwilling to meet, Baker said.

At present, according to their website, the church needs to have either $4 million cash in hand by Oct. 25 or $2 million in hand by Sept. 10 with commitments for the other $2 million over the next 3 years.

Baker also told CP that there is some doubt that his congregation will be able to raise sufficient funds in time, as no lending institution was willing to lend us the $4 million needed without some additional funds in hand and/or a strong capital campaign.

With Gods help, we will see this great goal achieved either using our current building or from some other place, said Baker. Oakdale Church would very much like to remain in our current building since the members of the church have faithfully and sacrificially constructed, paid for and made their home here for centuries.

Disaffiliation is not our mission; serving the vision of making disciples and catalyzing a disciple-making movement is what God has called us to. We do not yet know whether God will provide what is needed to stay in this building.

Baker added, God is going to once again show himself faithful to supply the needs of His people as we love and serve Him sacrificially.

However, Gods faithfulness takes many forms, and sometimes the best answer is the one we least expected. Perhaps God has an entirely different campus for Oakdale Church that will better serve the mission we have received from Him, Baker added.

Perhaps God wants us to be without a building and to meet from house to house. Whatever God has for us is better than what we could plan for ourselves, and so we are praying, giving, waiting and praising.

The Christian Post reached out to the UMC Baltimore-Washington Conference for this article, with a spokesperson directing CP to a link explaining the disaffiliation process.

The webpage led to an FAQ page on the BWCs website, which explains that the regional body was within its rights to add to the requirements for disaffiliation, which in their case include that half of the valuation of a churchs building be included in the cost of disaffiliation, and also creating an activity-based discernment process so that all those voting are fully aware of what they are undertaking.

The FAQ page also states that the ability of conference leadership to add unique guidelines to their disaffiliation process was upheld by the United Methodist Judicial Council, which is the highest court of the UMC.

The Judicial Councils ruling said the disaffiliation process established by General Conference constitutes minimum standards, which do not preclude additional procedures and standard terms created by annual conferences, provided that the latter do not negate or violate the former, explained the FAQ page.

The spokesperson also noted that comment could not be given at this time due to the subject being closely related to the issues at the center of litigation involving the Conference and several churches seeking disaffiliation.

Baker also pushed back against Baltimore-Washington Bishop LaTrelle Easterling's previous assertions that "racism" might be behind some of the desire to disaffiliate. Baker submitted a motion that the $10.8 million the conference receives in property payments should benefit African American-majority churches.

"In one of your statements as you addressed the conference, you said that you believed racism was behind some of this disaffiliation. We would like to make sure that no one thinks racism is at all involved in this," he said. "So, we think profiting to the African American, or historically African American churches, would show our goodwill, that we have no ill will towards anyone as we seek to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church."

Baker's motion was dismissed by Easterling, saying the UMC policy allows the conference board of trustees to set the conference's disaffiliation requirements and doesn't allow the annual conference to "try to prescribe how the trustees would go about that process."

In March, 38 congregations seeking to leave the UMC filed a lawsuit against the BWC, arguing that the conferences standards for disaffiliation involved holding their church buildings and property hostage.

Defendants claim Plaintiff Churches property is encumbered by an irrevocable trust for the benefit of the UMC and the only way for Plaintiff Churches to disaffiliate without surrendering the buildings and property that are central to their congregations is by the permission of the UMC and payment of a financial ransom, claimed the suit.

This position is inconsistent with the decades-long pattern and practice of the UMC to allow local churches to disaffiliate and retain their church property without paying a ransom.

In recent years, thousands of congregations have decided to leave the UMC due to concerns about the theological direction of the denomination, and its progressive leadership often refusing to enforce denominational rules against the blessing of same-sex marriage and the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals.

According to statistics compiled by UM News, more than 6,200 congregations have disaffiliated from the UMC since 2019, with more than 4,000 doing so this year alone.

Disclosure: CP's Deputy Managing Editor Samuel Smith attends Oakdale Church.
Historic Miami church needs $3M to save buildings from foreclosure

The historicSt. John's Institutional Missionary Baptist Church in Miami, Florida, could lose several of its buildings to foreclosure in less than two weeks after a former pastor allegedly mishandled the finances of the 117-year-old church and left the congregation drowning in debt.

A GoFundMe campaign for the church launched in May has only raised $13,573 of a $3 million goal it is seeking to cover the debt racked up by former pastor Bishop James D. Adams, 62, before Sept. 11, when Taylor Made Lending in Fort Lauderdale could auction the church's properties.

The fellowship hall, two other buildings the congregation owns and its parking lot could be auctioned to pay off debts amounting to about $2.5 million, according to a report by The Miami Herald. The church's historic building at 1328 NW Third Ave. is not affected, but the congregation hopes to invoke a miracle to solve their money woes.

"Scripture reminds us that what was meant for evil, God can turn around for good  we humbly ask for your help," the church states in the GoFundMe campaign.

"Parts of the historic church could close forever, unless we can raise enough money to pay off the mountain of debt incurred under our former pastor," the church continued.

"Please consider making a donation to pay off this enormous loan and restore our historic sanctuary. We know that with your support, we can help save one of Miami's oldest churches - and continue serving as a place of worship for future generations."

The congregation alleges that when Adams was hired in 2010 to serve as senior pastor, they were debt-free and had a membership of about 400. Under his leadership, however, the congregation dwindled to about 70 people.

"From what I understand, the church was in a debt-free posture when James Adams became the pastor," Marva Wiley, an attorney for St John's, told The Herald.

Much of the church's financial woes stem from two balloon mortgages Adams took out in the church's name  one for $845,000 in 2017 and another for $1.6 million in 2018.

Adams contends through his attorney, Robert Harris, the church was aware that he had taken out the mortgages to pay for things like a new roof, new windows and to pay new staff and musicians for Sunday services.

"They didn't have any money. The only thing that they had were assets," Harris told the newspaper. "We took out a loan on the assets to pay the bill. Everyone agreed to it."

Records cited by the publication show that the estimated repairs for the church amounted to less than $100,000 and much of the loan proceeds went toward the purchase of a luxury downtown Miami riverfront condo, which Adams used as a parsonage.

The church has since sold the condo to cover some of the debt incurred, but they still need to cover the $2.5 million bill.

"The population of the church was not sufficient to support this kind of debt," Wiley explained. "Generally, the only money that can be called income is the tithe, and if the population of the church dies off, aged out, leaves the church, then the income goes down. But the expenses that he was generating did not go down. They went up."
Pastor claims church members got killed by gang during Haiti protest because they lost faith

After at least seven of his members were executed when he led them into what local police have called an ill-advised protest against a powerful gang in Haiti on Saturday, Pastor Marcorel Zidor, leader of the Church of the Pool of Bethesda in Caradeux, said they only died because they lost their faith.

"Those who died are those who went to hide in the houses," Zidor, who is popularly known as Pastor Marco, said in an interview with Mega Radio on Monday, according to Reuters. "Ninety-five percent of my parishioners were being shot at, none of them got hit," he added.

In a press statement Monday, Haitis Police Chief Frantz Elbe said Zidor led several hundred of his followers, some of whom were armed with sticks and machetes, to overthrow the gang controlling a suburb of Port-au-Prince called Canaan.

Elbe said police tried to stop the protest by setting up security perimeters and warning church officials that confronting the gang members was not a good idea, but they ignored the warnings. In an earlier report, The Christian Post noted that Zidor had convinced his parishioners that they could not be harmed by the bullets from the gangsters, and they believed him.

They were determined because the pastor told them, They will not get shot, Elbe said during a subsequent press conference. There was a belief in this crowd; there was a determination.

The police did everything they could to prevent the crowd from arriving at its destination, he added.

A video posted on X, formerly known as the platform Twitter, shows the gang members opening fire on the church members with what appears to be the lifeless bodies of a man and woman from the protests at the end of a trail of blood in the unpaved streets of the squatter community. Other videos posted on YouTube show several members who were also kidnapped. Zidor allegedly abandoned his flock on a motorcycle, Haiti Libre reported.

Elbe said the execution of churchgoers, who were accompanied by armed men in olive green uniforms, happened after a confrontation, but he did not share any specifics on the confrontation.

On Monday police were still trying to recover an unconfirmed number of bodies but the neighborhood was inaccessible. A local human rights group, CARDH, told Reuters the number of dead churchgoers could be as high as 20.

The massacre of the church members comes as Haiti descends further into lawless gang rule just two years after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

On July 27, the State Department issued a travel advisory urging Americans not to travel to Haiti and ordered all U.S. citizens and non-emergency government employees to leave as soon as possible.

A Level 4 Travel advisory is the highest advisory level due to greater likelihood of life-threatening risks."

During an emergency, the U.S. government may have very limited ability to provide assistance. The Department of State advises that U.S. citizens not travel to the country or leave as soon as it is safe to do so," reads a Safety and Security Information document from the State Department. "The Department of State provides additional advice for travelers in these areas in the Travel Advisory. Conditions in any country may change at any time.

Haitian citizens frustrated by the lack of security in the country have increasingly turned to self-defense groups and programs but even those efforts are being resisted by the gangs.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement from Geneva earlier this month that conditions in Haiti highlight the extreme brutality of violence being inflicted on the population and the impact it is having on their human rights.

She noted that between Aug. 14-15, a local government representative and his wife were allegedly shot and killed at their house in Port-au-Prince.

The man was apparently targeted in retaliation for his reported support for a local self-defense group set up to confront the gangs, Shamdasani said.

Hours before they were killed, members of the Grand Ravine gang also reportedly murdered five men and two women from the same family on Aug. 14 by burning them alive inside their home in the Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood.

As the U.N. Security Council considers a proposal to allow Kenya to lead a 1,000-member multinational contingent of police officers that would help train and assist Haitian police in restoring order to the country, Zidor insists that he believes God will protect him and his congregants despite the massacre.

When asked if he would abandon the protest against the gang if he had a second chance, Zidor told Mega Radio, "I'll do it again."
Pro-life activists found guilty in federal court for DC abortion clinic blockade

A jury found five pro-life activists guilty of violating federal law in connection with a 2020 blockade of a Washington, D.C., abortion facility, and all of the defendants were taken into custody following the verdict.

The jury began deliberations on Friday and took a break on Monday before resuming deliberations on Tuesday, finding activists Lauren Handy, Heather Idoni, William Goodman, John Hinshaw and Herb Geraghty guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and conspiracy against "rights."

Another group of activists  Joan Andrews Bell, Jonathan Darnel and Jean Marshall  will be tried next for their involvement with the same blockade.

Handy is the director of activism and mutual aid for the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), an organization that has repeatedly called for the repeal of the FACE Act. The organization also made headlines in March 2022 for recovering the remains of five full-term babies alongside 110 other human remains from the facility at the center of the trial.

In a Tuesday statement provided to The Christian Post, the Thomas More Society, a non-profit law firm representing Handy, indicated that it intends to appeal the decision. Martin Cannon, senior counsel at TMS, stated that he was "disappointed" with the outcome.

"Ms. Handy has been condemned for her efforts to protect the lives of innocent preborn human beings," Cannon said. "We are preparing an appeal and will continue to defend those who fight for life against a Biden Department of Justice that seems intent on prosecuting those who decry abortion and present it as it is  the intentional killing of children in utero."

Steve Crampton, senior counsel at TMS, revealed in a separate statement that U.S. Marshals led the defendants out of the courtroom and immediately incarcerated them because a FACE Act violation is considered a crime of "violence." The attorney argued that the "real violence is what happens during the abortion procedure."

The FACE Act was signed into law in 1994, making it a federal crime for activists to obstruct people from receiving abortions or reproductive health services.

One of Handy's colleagues, PAAU Executive Director Caroline Taylor Smith, said in a separate statement to CP that the group is "devastated" but asserted that "rescue lives on."

"The unborn have a right to be rescued," Smith said. "Abortion is murder, and we are going to act like it, no matter the consequences, with solidarity and courage."

Prosecutors argued that Handy was the leader of the blockade at the Washington Surgi-Clinic in October 2022. According to a trial brief, the defendants communicated about the blockade, which they called a "rescue," by phone and social media, and some traveled from out of town to participate.

On the day of the blockade, Handy showed up for an appointment that she had made under the fake name "Hazel Jenkins." After a clinic employee opened the door, several of the activists pushed their way into the facility, resulting in a nurse injuring her ankle. A few members of the group began moving furniture to block the door leading into the clinic, and some used chains, ropes and locks to form a human blockade. Those who did not remain in the clinic area stood in the hallway outside of the clinic entrance.

One woman who arrived for an appointment that day testified during the trial under a pseudonym that she climbed through a window in the reception area to evade the activists. As WUSA-9 reported on Aug. 17, another patient who testified the following day said that English is not her and her husband's first language, and they didn't fully understand what was happening.

Last week, Handy took the stand, explaining that an undercover video released by the pro-life group Live Action in 2013 motivated her to become an activist. The video appears to show Cesare Santangelo, the abortionist at the Washington-Surgi Clinic, admitting that he wouldn't help an infant born alive after an abortion.

The PAAU activist testified that she believed the facility was engaged in criminal behavior, and that convinced her to take the actions she did in 2020. While Handy attempted to show the Live Action video in court, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly prohibited it, arguing that Santangelo's words on the video had been misinterpreted.

According to federal prosecutors, the blockade lasted around three hours before the police removed the activists from the scene.

The prosecution of the five activists has drawn the ire of pro-life movement leaders.

"The extreme pro-abortion bias on display throughout this trial  for instance, donors to abortion giant Planned Parenthood permitted to serve on the jury  shows that they were never going to get a fair hearing in Judge Kollar-Kotellys court," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, wrote in a statement. "Wherever one stands on abortion, we should all be able to agree this is wrong and un-American."

Penny Nance, president of the pro-life group Concerned Women for America, called the prosecution "malicious."

"This conviction is blatant abuse of political power meant to intimidate pro-life voices," Nance wrote. "It is an embarrassment to our judicial system. These five sincere pro-life protestors have been the target of a malicious prosecution by a U.S. Department of Justice who promotes a dangerous view of pro-life activists as criminals."
Winsome Sears: 5 facts about Virginia's first black female lieutenant governor

Voters in Virginia decided on Tuesday to elect Republican candidate Winsome Sears to be the next lieutenant governor of the state, making her the first African American female to be elected to the office.

According to the unofficial results posted by the Virginia Department of Elections, with 2,726 of 2,855 precincts reported, Sears won 50.97% of the vote, while Democrat opponent Hala Ayala won 48.93%.

Ayala conceded on Wednesday afternoon, taking to Twitter to congratulate Sears on making history and paving the way for future women leaders who look like us.

At a victory speech held early Wednesday morning in Chantilly, Sears told supporters that the business of the Commonwealth is the chief item on her agenda moving forward.

We have things to tend to. We are going to fully fund our historically black colleges and universities. Were going to have safer neighborhoods, safer communities, and our children are going to get a good education, declared Sears.

Here are five interesting facts about Winsome Sears, which include her immigrant background, her charitable work with the Salvation Army, and an earlier milestone election victory in 2001.

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A handout photo made available by the Governor of Russian Pskov region Mikhail Vedernikov Telegram channel shows smoke billowing and explosions light after Russian militaries destroyed drones in Pskov, Pskov region, Russia, Aug. 30. EPA-Yonhap



A Russian airport near the border with Estonia and Latvia was targeted by drones in a rare overnight attack, officials said Wednesday, confirming at least one military aircraft was damaged.



The attack on Pskov airport, roughly 700 kilometers (more than 400 miles) from the border with Ukraine, marks the latest strike deep inside Russian territory since Kyiv vowed to "return" the conflict to Russia in July.



Pskov governor Mikhail Vedernikov said on social media that a drone attack "had been repelled in Pskov airport," adding there were no casualties but that authorities were assessing the damage.



Vedernikov, who said he was at the scene of the attack in the small hours of Wednesday, posted a video showing a large fire and smoke on the skyline, as blasts and sirens could be heard in the background.



Later footage shared by the governor showed a barrage of outgoing fire from what appeared to be Russian air defenses.



There was no immediate comment from the defense ministry, which said in the early hours of the morning it had downed a wave of drones in several other regions.



State news agency TASS, citing emergency services, said that four Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transport planes were damaged in the attack in Pskov.



The emergencies ministry only said that at least one Il-76 military transport plane had caught fire at the airport.



All Wednesday flights at the airport were cancelled, Vedernikov said, "until the nature of the possible damage to the runway" was clarified.



The Kremlin said Wednesday that military experts were working to find out which routes the drones were taking in order "to prevent such situations in the future."



"Indeed, the terrorist activity of the Kyiv regime continues, with an overwhelming number of drones flying precisely at civilian targets," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.



The region of Pskov, which was also targeted by drones in late May, is surrounded by NATO members Estonia and Latvia to its west and Belarus to its south. (AFP)


Winsome Sears warns of 'dystopian society' if public schools are not reformed

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.  A prominent politician is warning of a dystopian society if the public education system is not reformed, insisting that she would rather lose her seat than abandon her goal of improving American education by embracing school choice.

The Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists and politicians, is being held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center this week for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.

One panel at the event, titled Parents with Pitchforks, addressed concerns about the state of public education in the United States.

Weve got to protect our children, weve got to defend our parents and not allow the leftist radical agenda to take over our school system, declared Mercedes Schlapp, co-host of CPAC Now, who moderated the panel.

One of the panelists, Virginia's Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, has seen the issue of education play a prominent role in her November 2021 election as well as her tenure as lieutenant governor.

Sears used her platform on the panel to advocate for school choice programs, which enable parents to send their children to the school of their choice regardless of where they live and, in some cases, parents receive vouchers so they can send their children to private schools. She responded to concerns of some politicians that supporting school choice, an idea not supported by the politically influential teachers unions, would come with an electoral backlash.

If I have to lose the next election so that the children can get an opportunity for a good education, Ill do it, she proclaimed. Its not about maintaining a seat. Its about our children and their future.

Sears characterized the issue of school choice as the new Brown v. Board of Education fight, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court decision determining that segregated schools were unconstitutional. She had previously noted that the rich people have already made a decision on school choice by sending their children to private school.

You sent your children to private school, so why cant everybody have that same option? Sears asked. Characterizing opponents of school choice who send their children to private school as hypocritical, Sears added: Weve got to make a change.

Sears was elected lieutenant governor in November 2021, three weeks after news broke that a sexual assault of a teenage girl had occurred in a bathroom in Loudoun County, Virginia, high school at the end of the previous school year. The assault, perpetrated by a boy wearing a skirt, took place as the school district was considering implementing a policy allowing trans-identified students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity instead of their biological sex.

The school district faced allegations of orchestrating a cover-up based on the fear that public knowledge of the sexual assault would derail efforts to implement its transgender bathroom policy to allow boys to enter girls' restrooms if they identify as female. The perpetrator of the assault was transferred to another school where he committed another sexual assault at the beginning of the following school year.

Responding to the efforts to advance LGBT ideology and expose children to other concerning content, Sears remarked that its 1984 in American society, referring to the dystopian novel forecasting a tyrannical government that declares war on reality. If we dont get a grip, were going to be living in some kind of dystopian society, she warned.

Schlapp asked Sears to react to the fact that several public schools in northern Virginia held merit awards from students out of a desire for equity. She described the situation as part of an effort to dumb down education where instead of trying to bring everybody up, were just going to bring everybody down.

Sears lamented the state of American education, asserting that by the time a child even goes to college now, 65% of them need remedial education. Were paying for it twice. Were paying for it in the public schools [where] theyre not getting [an education] and were paying for it when they do go to college or other post-high school ed.

America is a superpower, and the only way to maintain that superpower status is to ensure that everybody has a quality education because China is right behind, she added. And guess what? They dont care about that.

Ian Prior, senior advisor at America First Legal and executive director of the advocacy group Fight for Schools and Families, contrasted the rigor of education in China with American education and its embrace of LGBT ideology: In this country, unlike in China, where Chinese children are learning calculus and complicated numbers and complex numbers, in our country, they learn 72 genders.

Theyre laughing at us right now. And because of that, we have these bathroom policies all over the country where you can use a bathroom that does not correspond to your biological sex based on, I guess, how you feel that day.

Its taken the Left decades to really take control of the education system. Prior said, maintaining that we cannot expect that one election or two elections are going to allow us to fix this.

Its going to take decades to repair, he stressed. And you can sit on the sidelines and say, well, its not going to affect my kid or Im just going to mind my own business and you can watch all this happen or you can get in the fight, so get in the fight.
NYT Investigates Gender Clinic, Race-Driven Shooting In FL, Biden's $25M Abortion Ads, Dennis Prater On Our Freedoms

link to download the audio instead. link to download the audio instead. 06:32 06:32

Top headlines for Wednesday, August 30, 2023

In this week's episode, we delve into the recent controversy surrounding a Missouri-based gender clinic, scrutinized for alleged premature hormone treatment in minors. We also touch on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's response to a racially-motivated fatal shooting in Jacksonville, triggering mixed reactions. The debates around abortion heat up, as pro-life groups counter an ad from President Joe Biden's campaign painting democrats as extremists on this contentious issue. Lastly, we grapple with the disturbing link made by an NBC report between faith, criticism of Pride, and the brutal murder of an LGBT-supportive shopkeeper in California.

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Top headlines for Wednesday, August 30, 2023

In this week's episode, we delve into the recent controversy surrounding a Missouri-based gender clinic, scrutinized for alleged premature hormone treatment in minors. We also touch on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's response to a racially-motivated fatal shooting in Jacksonville, triggering mixed reactions. The debates around abortion heat up, as pro-life groups counter an ad from President Joe Biden's campaign painting democrats as extremists on this contentious issue. Lastly, we grapple with the disturbing link made by an NBC report between faith, criticism of Pride, and the brutal murder of an LGBT-supportive shopkeeper in California.
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida eats seafood from Fukushima Prefecture at a luncheon meeting in Tokyo, Aug. 30. Reuters-Yonhap



Japan's prime minister ate what he called "safe and delicious" fish from Fukushima on Wednesday, days after wastewater was released from the area's crippled nuclear plant into the Pacific.



A video clip showing Fumio Kishida eating Fukushima fish, published on social media by his office, comes after China banned all seafood imports from its neighbor following the discharge that began on August 24.



"This is very good," Kishida said as he chewed on a slice of flounder sashimi, calling on viewers to enjoy "safe and delicious" Japanese seafood to support the northeastern region.



The clip, overlaid by cheery music, showed the conservative leader joined by three other ministers at his office for sashimi, boiled pork, fruits, rice and vegetables from the Fukushima region.



It was designed to promote products from the area 12 years after Fukushima was devastated by a huge earthquake and tsunami that triggered one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.



Even before the wastewater release, many in Japan's fishing industry were worried about what it would do to the reputation of the country's seafood domestically and abroad.



The discharge, equivalent to more than 500 Olympic swimming pools, is expected to take decades and will allow engineers to start removing highly dangerous radioactive fuel from three wrecked reactors.



Bricks and eggs have been thrown at Japanese schools and consulates in China and Tokyo has advised its nationals there to keep a low profile.



Businesses in Japan have also been swamped with nuisance calls from Chinese numbers.



Kishida was expected to visit Tokyo's main Toyosu fish market on Thursday to sample more Fukushima fish.



Japan has demanded that China  its biggest market for fish  drop its ban on seafood imports while warning it will complain to the World Trade Organization (WTO).



Kishida's government is also reportedly planning a package of financial aid for the fishing industry while also helping it find new export markets.



Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reiterated on Wednesday that the water being released was safe according to the UN watchdog.



In a show of support for Japan, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, was due to visit the Fukushima area on Thursday and eat locally caught seafood. (AFP)


The Middle East is experiencing rapid technological changes, with investments in digital transformation expected to double in the coming years. PwC estimates that AI will contribute 320 billion dollars to the region and more than 15 trillion dollars to the global economy by 2030. These projections underscore the potential of AI to address pressing challenges, such as reducing fraud and increasing access to financial services.

In the UAE, the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 aims to position the UAE as a global leader in artificial intelligence by 2031 and to develop an integrated system that employs artificial intelligence in vital areas of the country.

To consolidate UAEs position as a leading hub for artificial intelligence, the Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications Office signed a MoU with Mastercard to combat financial crimes and improve the security of the digital ecosystem. Mr. Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications said that partnerships are critical in moving the nation toward its goals of prosperity and digital advancement. Mr. Al Olama also emphasised the crucial bilateral cooperation needed to achieve the goals outlined in the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, which aims to solidify the UAEs position as a global AI hub and promote AI-driven frameworks. technology in key sectors.

This partnership coincides with the opening of Mastercards state-of-the-art Global Center for Advanced AI and Cyber Technology in Dubai. This center will focus not only on developing AI-based solutions to combat financial crimes but also on strengthening the security of the digital ecosystem and driving inclusive growth. A core aspect of the centers mission is cultivating and employing local AI talent, including engineers and data scientists. This workforce will accelerate AI innovation around the world while serving customers around the world from the UAE.

AI plays a critical role in our operations, powering our products and fuelling our network intelligence to improve digital experiences, while reducing financial fraud and risk, said Ajay Bhalla, President of Cyber and Intelligence at Mastercard. The combination of this latest Advanced AI Centre and our partnership with the Government of the UAE will deliver greater value for our customers and ultimately reinforce trust in the digital ecosystem.
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Contractare si Achizitie Bunuri Anunturi de Angajare Granturi - Finantari Burse de studiu Stagii Profesionale Oportunitati de voluntariat Toate Articolele
In late July, Mohamed Bazoum, the president of Niger, was removed from power in a coup carried out by the commander of the presidential guard, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, and other senior military officials. The upheaval sent shockwaves through neighboring countries and international allies, including France and the United States, that had come to rely on Bazoum as their last reliable partner in the Sahel, the region in Africa that lies directly below the Sahara desert and has recently experienced multiple coups and been a prime breeding ground for Islamist extremist groups.

Bazoums diplomatic supporters imposed sanctions in the hope of bringing about his return to power. The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, entered into negotiations with the coup leaders, going so far as to threaten military intervention if the coup was not reversed. In response, the junta, known as the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, put the military on maximum alert, but no troops have yet been deployed. Efforts to find a broader diplomatic solution have ranged from the tense to the nonexistent; last week, the French ambassador was asked to leave the country. While Bazoum remains captive in his own home, support for the junta has grown, both from Nigeriens and the leaders of neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, who themselves came to power in coups. The US avoided using the word coup, presumably to safeguard its military operations in the country. Meanwhile, Russia has reportedly sought to exploit the chaos by using government-associated channels to push critiques and false information on social media.

Last week, I spoke with Nick Turse, a reporter who has long covered the Sahel and Niger through the lens of US diplomatic and military activity in the region, for outlets including The Intercept and The Guardian. We discussed how the events in Niger have been communicated in the media and what the coup says about the larger story of Western military partnerships in the Sahel. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.



FM: Its been a month since the coup took place. Where do things currently stand in Niger?

NT: The junta has been in charge for a month. The United Stateswhich has been a major military influence in the country, providing security assistancehas over a thousand troops based in the country and has conducted unilateral combat missions there over the years. The US wont outright call this a coup thats taking place; they only call it an attempted coup and seem to be trying to walk a fine line, keeping alive what seems to be the fiction of a possible reversal.

It doesnt look like the junta has any designs on giving up power, although they talked about a timetable for itI think as a way to forestall any sort of intervention by ECOWAS, the economic bloc that has threatened military intervention to return President Bazoum to power. The junta seems to be consolidating. Five of its members are US-trained officers and theyve now appointed governors around the country from their security forces, of which another five are US-trained officers. So theyre putting their own people in charge, and they seem to be strengthening their hold on the country despite what some of the region wants and what the US also seems to want.

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How are the coup leaders approaching the media a month in?

Theyve rebuffed all my efforts to speak with them. Ive tried several members, including a brigadier general, Moussa Barmou. Ive made the case that, if they want continued Western influence, they should talk to Western outlets, but so far, they havent been interested in talking with me. I think theyve been very selective about who theyve talked to, and what theyll say. Ive talked to a lot of people in the country, contacts of mine. Very few of them are willing to speak on the record about whats going on there because they fear an official backlash. Ive talked to some reporters; they say its become an even more challenging environment to report. Its never been an easy one for locals or foreign press. The government keeps a tight leash on the press, and people basically know what they can and cant report, so theres a lot of self-censorship already.

How are people getting their news and information?

The junta has taken to the airwaves quite a bit to make announcements on the national broadcaster. Theres been official media outreach by the generals who are in charge and theres been plenty of reporting on whats happened in the country, but I wouldnt say its been especially critical. A lot of information spreads via WhatsApp. A lot of rumors have been flying about contending interventions from France or ECOWAS. In some groups that Im part of, Ive seen this come up a few timesunverified reports about impending military action, which hasnt come to pass. Theres a lot of traffic in rumors out there.

Ali Lamine Zeine, the civilian leader who was appointed by the coup leaders as prime minister, is being featured in the media; he even gave an interview to the New York Times. What do you make of him giving interviews to Western outlets when other junta leaders arent doing so?

I dont know a lot about him and Ive never spoken with him, but he has a reputation as a technocrat and it looks to me like they want him to be the Western-media-facing voice. When the junta talks to the public, theyve had a military spokesperson in military fatigues speak. I think they wanted a kinder, gentler spokesperson for a Western audiencesomeone who would be more palatable and give a civilian face to the government; someone who is seen as a stabilizing force, a steady hand.

In much of your reporting, you focus on the fact that many of the coups that have happened in the Sahel region, for example in Mali and Burkina Faso, have been carried out by military figures with US training.

I feel like this is something that the US government tries to sweep under the rug: they dont want to talk about this penchant to overthrow the governments theyve been training these people to bolster, prop up, protect all these years. Now, the US has a really robust training effort; they train a lot of people, so its not all that shocking. And in my reporting, I really dont talk about it in terms of causation. Its a correlation that I bring up. Theres conflicting evidence out there as to whether theres any possible causation. Ive seen some compelling evidence by people who looked at this very closely, researched it, and Ive written a little bit about it. But I think this is something that more needs to be addressed as part of a broader look at US security assistance. The US has pumped billions of dollars into the Sahel as part of the War on Terror, and the results have been uniformly dismal from one country to the next. Coups by US-trained military officers are just a small part of it.

From 2000 to 2003, when the US assistance to Niger and its Sahelien neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso started, the State Department counted nine terrorist attacks in all of sub-Saharan Africa. Last year, in just those three countries, there were close to two thousand eight hundred attacks, so about a 30,000 percent increase over that time. The attacks have gone up, fatalities of civilians have gone up, and the number of terrorist groups operating in the region has proliferated over that time. Again, this is something where correlation doesnt equal causation, but the metrics have all gone in the wrong direction. It raises some real questions about the way that the United States uses its security assistance and a need to take a harder look at it. This is something that the State Department doesnt seem very interested in. But its something that I think they and the broader public should have a much stronger interest in.

Do you see other news outlets taking interest in this when reporting on the region?

I dont see a lot on it. There was recent New York Times coverage and it said something like, the US security assistance in the Sahel over the past twenty years has been no silver bullet. To me, that was the understatement of the year: when you have a 30,000 percent increase in terrorist attacks I think its more than: its been no silver bulletits been a dismal failure. And thats one of the rare times that its actually mentioned. If its in a report, its downplayed.

I dont think you can really look at the US counterterrorism campaign in the region or the results of it and not factor in that the US has invested a tremendous amount of time and money. And its not just treasureits blood and treasure. US troops have died there. and certainly, many of the local forces that weve trained have died and civilians have died in large numbers. But I dont think it makes a lot of stories. And the stories that do mention the rise in terror, they dont mention just how involved the US and other international partners have been, including France and a lot of European Union countries. I think it bears looking at whether all these security systems have exacerbated the problem.

Whenever theres coverage of the US training in the region, its divorced from the reality of the facts on the ground. Every year, Special Operations Command Africa and Africom invite a select handful of reportersoften the same reporters again and againto an exercise called Flintlock. Every year, its sort of the same story: it always begins, like, In the searing heat, under the pewter sun and talks about these, like, raw African troops who are having orders barked at them by Americans or other Western trainers. And it talks about a fraught security environment, but the US has sent in Green Berets, and theyre going to turn things around. Theres always some sort of caveat thrown into the piece that, you know, terrorism has gone up, but expectations are high that this is going to turn it around. This has been going on now for more than a decade, and the major outlets write the same story, thats mostly upbeat.



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: Prigozhin and the press

Feven Merid is CJRs staff writer and Senior Delacorte Fellow.
A massive wildfire was burning unabated in northeastern Greece for the 11th day Tuesday despite the efforts of hundreds of firefighters and a fleet of water-dropping aircraft.

After burning across vast tracts of land, the blaze in the Alexandroupolis and Evros region was mainly concentrated deep in a forest near the border with Turkey, in an area difficult to access. The wildfire has been blamed for 20 of the 21 wildfire-related deaths in Greece last week.

Six planes and four helicopters were assisting 475 firefighters on the ground, backed by 100 vehicles, the fire department said. Another 260 firefighters and one helicopter were tackling flare-ups of another major fire burning for days in a forest on the southern slopes of Mount Parnitha, on the fringes of the Greek capital.

Authorities are investigating the causes of the fires, which over the past week has destroyed vast tracts of forest, scorched homes and triggered the evacuation of thousands of people.

In Athens, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was holding a government meeting on how to rehabilitate the burnt forests in Evros and Parnitha.

With firefighting forces stretched to the limit, Greece has called for help from other European countries, receiving aircraft and hundreds of firefighters from across the continent.

France and Spain were sending additional aircraft to join those already sent from Germany, Sweden, Croatia, Cyprus and the Czech Republic under the European Unions emergency response mechanism.

In total, we have mobilized 12 aircraft stationed in seven member states. This is the biggest rescEU aerial firefighting operation to date since the emergency response mechanism was launched in 2019, the EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid authority said Monday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

More than 350 firefighters have also been sent to Greece from Romania, France, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Albania, Slovakia and Serbia.

Scorched Land

The Alexandroupolis and Evros wildfire, which broke out on Aug. 19, had scorched more than 80,000 hectares (197,000 acres) of land by Monday night, according to the European Unions Copernicus Emergency Management Service. Copernicus is the EU space programs Earth observation component and uses satellite imagery to provide mapping data.

EU officials have described it as the largest single blaze recorded in the block since the European Forest Fire Information System began recording data in 2000.

Across the country, firefighters were battling 74 wildfires on Monday, with 27 of them having broken out in the 24 hours between Sunday evening and Monday evening, the fire department said.

Arson has been suspected in some of the blazes, with several people arrested.

Greece imposes wildfire prevention regulations, typically from the start of May to the end of October, limiting activities such as the burning of dried vegetation and the use of outdoor barbecues.

By Friday, fire department officials had arrested 163 people on fire-related charges since the start of the fire prevention season, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said, including 118 for negligence and 24 for deliberate arson. The police had made a further 18 arrests, he said.

Photo: A firefighter walks past a scorched tree in Acharnes suburb, on Mount Parnitha, in northwestern Athens, Greece, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023. More than 600 firefighters, including reinforcements from several European countries, backed by a fleet of water-dropping planes and helicopters were battling three persistent major wildfires in Greece Sunday, two of which have been raging for days. (AP Photo/Michael Varaklas)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A federal appeals court has discarded its own long-time precedent and expanded the scope of discrimination claims that employees can bring against their employers under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

In so ruling, the Fifth Circuit of Appeals, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, departed from its previous holdings that limited the type of adverse employment actions that could be brought under Title VII to those involving so-called ultimate employment decisions, which has been followed even though the federal law contains no such language or limitation.

The appeals court has now acknowledged that nowhere does Title VII say, explicitly or implicitly, that employment discrimination is lawful if limited to non-ultimate employment decisions.

Rather, the court said, for almost 60 years, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act has made it unlawful for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his [or her] compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individuals race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The court stressed that the law makes it unlawful for an employer otherwise to discriminate against an employee.

In the case before it, the court ruled in favor of female county employees who challenged a sex-based scheduling policy used by the Dallas County Sheriffs Department. The department gives its detention service officers two days off each week. The department uses a sex-based policy to determine which two days an officer can pick. Only men can select full weekends offwomen cannot. Instead, female officers can pick either two weekdays off or one weekend day plus one weekday. Bottom line: Female officers never get a full weekend off.

Nine female detention service officers sued Dallas County, alleging that this sex-based scheduling policy violates Title VIIs prohibition against sex discrimination. They noted that weekend days are preferred days off for both men and women. Schedules are sex-based even though male and female employees perform the same tasks.

After exhausting their administrative remedies, the officers sued the county for sex discrimination under Title VII. They also asserted a parallel state-law discrimination claim under the Texas Employment Discrimination Act.

Policy Rationale

The officers supervisor explained that the rationale behind this policy was that it would be unsafe for all the men to be off during the week and that it was safer for the men to be off on the weekends. However, male and female employees perform the same tasks and the number of inmates during the week is the same as the number of inmates on the weekend.

The district court granted the countys motion to dismiss the officers sex bias complaint, noting that, under the precedent, an adverse employment action for Title VII discrimination claims consists of ultimate employment decisions such as hiring, granting leave, discharging, promoting, and compensating.' Applying that precedent, the district court reasoned that changes to an employees work schedule, such as the denial of weekends off, are not an ultimate employment decision.

A circuit appeals panel next took up the case. The panel upheld the district courts dismissal of the officers complaint, similarly ruling that the discriminatory scheduling policy did not amount to an ultimate employment decision. But the same panel noted that this case was the ideal vehicle for the full court to abandon that precedent and align its circuit with Title VIIs text. The panel concluded by urging the full court to reexamine the circuits ultimate-employment-decision requirement.

Challenge Accepted

The full appeals court accepted the challenge. It held that a plaintiff plausibly alleges a disparate-treatment claim under Title VII if she pleads discrimination in hiring, firing, compensation, or the terms, conditions, or privileges of her employment. The court said she need not also show an ultimate employment decision, a phrase that appears nowhere in the statute and that thwarts legitimate claims of workplace bias. Giving men full weekends off while denying the same to womena scheduling policy that the county admits is sex-basedstates a plausible claim of discrimination under Title VII, the court wrote in reversing and remanding.

The court noted that no other court of appeals applies so narrow a concept of an adverse employment action as the ultimate employment decision rule. Satisfied that its ultimate employment decision standard lies on fatally flawed foundations, we flatten it today, the court declared, vowing to apply the statute as it is written and as construed by the Supreme Court.

In considering application of Title VII to the sheriff department officers allegations, the court said it was mindful that the statutory phrase, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, is broad and that as the Supreme Court has repeatedly stated, this language, while contractual in nature, is not limited to economic or tangible discrimination, and it covers more than terms and conditions in the narrow contractual sense.

Turning to the female officers claims, the judges said they have little difficulty concluding that they have plausibly alleged discrimination with respect to [their] . . . terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. The days and hours that one works are quintessential terms or conditions of ones employment, the court concluded.

To adequately plead an adverse employment action, plaintiffs need not allege discrimination with respect to an ultimate employment decision. Instead, a plaintiff need only show that she was discriminated against, because of a protected characteristic, with respect to hiring, firing, compensation, or the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment just as the statute says. The officers here have done so, the court wrote.

State Claim

In finding the plaintiffs allegations about the sex-based scheduling policy were sufficient to state a claim under Title VII, the court also reversed and remanded the officers state-law claim for further proceedings as well.

The ruling moves the Fifth Circuit closer to its sister courts, including the Eleventh Circuit covering Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, as well as the Fourth Circuit, which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, and the Supreme Court, noted attorney Brandon O. Moulard, a partner in Parker Poe law firm, in his analysis of the decision.

Moulard advised employers to prepare for a higher scrutiny from plaintiffs attorneys and an increase in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges and federal litigation. He urged employers to carefully review their workplace policies governing work assignments, shift schedules, and days off in the wake of the ruling.
A second lawsuit that alleged widespread sexual, physical and mental abuse at a now-closed West Virginia boarding school for troubled youths has been settled for about $50 million, to be paid by insurance carriers.

Attorneys for 32 plaintiffs described what happened to children over decades at the former Miracle Meadows School in Salem as gruesome and unfathomable.

No one would believe it in a movie, Jesse Forbes, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

The lawsuit had named the school`s co-founder and its operating entities. Among the abuse alleged by the former students, who are now adults, included being chained and shackled to beds, being kept in tiny isolation rooms for long periods, routine beatings, sexual assault, starvation, and being forced to perform manual labor. The children at times were not given toilet paper, requiring them to remain in their own filth or use their clothing to clean themselves.

This institution actually had a handcuffing policy and issued handcuffs to the staff members for kids as young as 6 years old, Forbes said.

An earlier lawsuit filed on behalf of 29 students at the school was settled in 2020 for $52 million. After the first settlement, the Legislature changed a law increasing the statute of limitations for abuse claims to age 36, prompting the second lawsuit, Forbes said.

The latest settlement reached this month will be paid out by insurance companies that held liability policies, Forbes said. The insurers were not named. Some other claims remain pending.

Attorney Guy D`Andrea said the latest lawsuit included allegations that some children ages 7 to 12 contracted sexually transmitted diseases from staff members.

We actually had two clients who got pregnant by a staff member and were forced to have abortions, D`Andrea said. We thought it couldnt get any worse for these children. For some of them, it was.

Miracle Meadows was founded in 1988 and operated as a ministry of the Seventh- day Adventist Church. According to the lawsuit, the school was closed in 2014 after a student drank a cleaning product and was rushed to a hospital where she begged the medical staff for help, prompting authorities to investigate the claims. The school`s state-recognized education status was revoked in August 2014.

Susan Gayle Clark, the schools co-founder, was sentenced in 2016 to six months in jail and five years on probation after pleading guilty to child neglect charges.

In the five years leading up to the school`s closing, Miracle Meadows had been named in more than a dozen complaints of abuse and mistreatment. Such complaints to the state are typically forwarded to the local prosecutor.

But at the time, Harrison County assistant prosecutor Patricia Dettori said substantiating the complaints over the years had been difficult, in part because many students were from out of state. The children either were taken out of school or recanted the allegations, while many of the school staff members were from other countries on religious work visas and would abruptly leave if accused of wrongdoing, she said.

Photo: Sheriffs officers at the school in 2014. (Matt Harvey/The Exponent via AP, File)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A jury awarded $3.75 million in damages this week to a protester shot twice with hard-foam projectiles fired by Los Angeles police during demonstrations in 2020.

Jurors on Wednesday ruled that the LA Police Department was negligent when one or more of its officers fired the so-called less-lethal devices at Asim Jamal Shakir Jr., the Los Angeles Times reported.

Shakir had been filming a police skirmish line when he recognized his LAPD officer uncle among the formation and confronted him, shouting, Our ancestors are turning over in their grave right now! Shakir alleges that his uncle, Eric Anderson, then directed other officers to fire a hard-foam projectile at him.

Civil rights attorney Carl Douglas, who filed the suit on Shakir`s behalf, said he hopes the sizable damages awarded will signal that similar acts of police violence cannot be tolerated. The award must still be approved by the City Council.

Karen Richardson, a spokesperson for the city attorneys office, told the Times her office had no comment on the jurys decision. The police department did not respond to an email seeking comment Friday.

At trial, the defense team sought to reconstruct the events of that day with video from a body camera and an Instagram livestream.

Shakir was struck once, then a second time while he was bending down to pick up a phone that had been knocked out of his hand by the first projectile, according to the lawsuit.

Shakir had to go to physical therapy for a year because of the injury to his hand, and he still suffers pain, his attorney said.

An internal department investigation revealed that the less-lethal force that injured Shakir was never reported, Douglas said.

The incident occurred during mass protests that rocked the nation in the wake of George Floyds killing at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

The city is still facing a large class-action lawsuit by Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and other groups over its handling of the 2020 protests, according to the Times. Several other suits have already been settled.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Hawaiis electric utility acknowledged its power lines started a wildfire on Maui but faulted county firefighters for declaring the blaze contained and leaving the scene, only to have a second wildfire break out nearby and become the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.

Hawaiian Electric Company released a statement Sunday night in response to Maui County`s lawsuit blaming the utility for failing to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions. Hawaiian Electric called that complaint factually and legally irresponsible, and said its power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours when the second blaze started.

In its statement, the utility addressed the cause for the first time. It said the fire on the morning of Aug. 8 appears to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds. The Associated Press reported Saturday that bare electrical wire that could spark on contact and leaning poles on Maui were the possible cause.

But Hawaiian Electric appeared to blame Maui County for most of the devastation  the fact that the fire appeared to reignite that afternoon and tore through downtown Lahaina, killing at least 115 people and destroying 2,000 structures.

Property Offers

Richard Fried, a Honolulu attorney working as co-counsel on Maui Countys lawsuit, countered that if the power company`s lines hadnt caused the initial fire, this all would be moot.

Thats the biggest problem, Fried said Monday. They can dance around this all they want. But theres no explanation for that.

The wrestling over the cause could be crucial in determining who is liable for billions of dollars in damage beyond the loss of life.

On Monday, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez urged property owners in the burned areas to report any unsolicited offers to buy that property  an action that can be punished by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine under an emergency proclamation issued by Gov. Josh Green earlier this month. Green said he was concerned that real estate investors would swoop in and dispossess local residents.

Preying on people who suffered the most from the tragedy on Maui is despicable,  said Lopez.

John Fiske, an attorney at a California firm that`s also representing the county of Maui in the lawsuit, said the ultimate responsibility rests with Hawaiian Electric to properly keep up its equipment, and make sure lines are not live when they`re downed or could be downed. Fiske said that if the utility has information about a second ignition source, it should offer that evidence now.

Mike Morgan, an Orlando attorney whos currently on Maui to work on wildfire litigation for his firm, Morgan & Morgan, said he thinks Hawaiian Electric`s statement was an attempt to shift liability and total responsibility.

By taking responsibility for causing the first fire, then pointing the finger on a fire that started 75 yards away and saying, `That`s not our fault, we started it but they should`ve put it out,` I`m not sure how that will hold up, Morgan, who manages complex litigation, said Monday. It`s also so premature because there are ongoing investigations.

Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who are investigating the cause and origin of the fire, and lawyers involved in the litigation, were at a warehouse Monday to inspect electrical equipment taken from the neighborhood where the fire is thought to have originated. The utility took down the burnt poles and removed fallen wires from the site.

Power Lines

Videos and images analyzed by AP confirmed that the wires that started the morning fire were among miles of line that the utility left naked to the weather and often-thick foliage, despite a recent push by utilities in other wildfire- and hurricane-prone areas to cover up their lines or bury them.

Compounding the problem is that many of the utilitys 60,000, mostly wooden power poles, which its own documents described as built to an obsolete 1960s standard, were leaning and near the end of their projected lifespan. They were nowhere close to meeting a 2002 national standard that key components of Hawaiis electrical grid be able to withstand 105 mile per hour winds.

As Hurricane Dora passed roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers) south of Hawaii Aug. 8, Lahaina resident Shane Treu heard a utility pole snap next to Lahainaluna Road. He saw a downed power line ignite the grass and called 911 at 6:37 a.m. to report the fire. Small brush fires arent unusual for Lahaina, and a drought in the region had left plants, including invasive grasses, dangerously dry. The Maui County Fire Department declared that fire 100% contained by 9:55 a.m. Firefighters then left to attend to other calls.

Hawaiian Electric said its own crews then went to the scene that afternoon to make repairs and did not see fire, smoke or embers. The power to the area was off. Shortly before 3 p.m., those crews saw a small fire in a nearby field and called 911, the utility said.

Residents said the embers from the morning fire had reignited and the fire raced toward downtown Lahaina. Treus neighbor Robert Arconado recorded video of it spreading at 3:06 p.m., as large plumes of smoke rise near Lahainaluna Road and are carried downtown by the wind.

Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95% of Hawaiis electric customers. CEO Shelee Kimura said there are important lessons to be learned from this tragedy, and resolved to figure out what we need to do to keep our communities safe as climate issues rapidly intensify here and around the globe.

The utility faces a spate of new lawsuits that seek to hold it responsible. Wailuku attorney Paul Starita, lead counsel on three lawsuits by Singleton Schreiber, called it a preventable tragedy of epic proportions, and said the fire department`s response does not absolve Hawaiian Electric of liability.

___

McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

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.

Photo: Wildfire wreckage is shown Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Hawaii increasingly seems under siege from disasters, and what is increasing most is wildfire, according to an analysis of Federal Emergency Management Agency records by The Associated Press. There were as many federally-declared disaster wildfires this month in Hawaii, as in the 50 years between 1953 and 2003. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed lawsuits by 14 businesses seeking insurance coverage from Travelers Insurance for business losses stemming from COVID-19 and the related government shutdown orders.

The federal appeals court affirmed the denial of the claims because a virus exclusion clause clearly and unambiguously barred the plaintiffs claims for losses or damages.

The 14 California businesses were insured under identical provisions of Travelers policies covering direct physical loss of or damage to property caused by or resulting from a covered cause of loss.

The policies also contained a virus exclusion clause barring coverage for loss or damage caused by or resulting from any virus, bacterium or other microorganism that induces or is capable of inducing physical distress, illness or disease.

The businesses on appeal had argued that COVID-19 government shutdown ordersnot the COVID-19 virus itselfcaused their losses, so the virus exclusion did not apply.

But the appeals court affirmed its own previous rejection of these arguments, citing a 2021 ruing (Mudpie, Inc. v. Travelers):

Though Mudpie argues it was the government orders that most directly caused its injury, Mudpie does not plausibly allege that the efficient cause, i.e., the one that set others in motion, was anything other than the spread of the virus throughout California, or that the virus was merely a remote cause of its losses.

Accordingly, the court affirmed, the virus exclusion bars coverage for the claims.

The plaintiff businesses included an auto repair shop, a chiropractor, a nail spa, a wax salon, and several dentists.

The Ninth Circuit covers Alaska, Arizona, Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Eastern District of Washington and Western District of Washington.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  There is a heightened police presence at two Strongsville schools after the district received a threat.

Daniel Foust, communications coordinator for the district, said a high school student made the threat online Tuesday evening. That prompted police to increase the security at the high school and middle school.

The student who made the post is not in school, Foust said. Administration and police have and will continue to be involved with this student/family and the investigation into these threats.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to police for more information.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The new film, The Good Mother, is about flawed people with messy lives looking to get out of their socioeconomic situations.

Starring Hilary Swank, Olivia Cooke and Jack Reynor, the gritty crime thriller opens Friday in theaters.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado  An Amur tiger that was about to undergo a dental procedure at a zoo in Colorado Springs slipped off of a bench while under anesthesia, causing a fatal spinal injury.

The 2-year-old tiger, named Mila, had been transferred to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo from the Toronto Zoo in March, according to a statement from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The statement says staff members from both zoos are still emotionally processing the tigers death, which occurred on Friday.

She was making such great progress with us, Rebecca Zwicker, animal care manager in Asian Highlands at CMZoo, said in a statement. She was a feisty and intelligent tiger, and the team had been patiently and consistently training with her to help her settle in and feel comfortable in indoor and outdoor spaces behind the scenes.

She was getting so close to being out where guests could see her. We were excited to introduce her to our community and for people to fall in love with her here, just as they had in Toronto.

The statement says Mila was brought to the CMZoo because she was showing signs she was ready to be away from her mother, who lives at the Toronto Zoo. Amur tigers are solitary animals, the statement says.

CMZoo officials said they discovered a severe dental issue in Mila that, if left untreated, could cause an infection that eventually could be fatal.

The zoo says Mila on Friday voluntarily received an injection of initial anesthesia, then jumped on a waist-high bench and began to lay down to let the drugs take effect. Less than a minute later, she slipped off of the bench and suffered the spinal injury.

She could have slid off from that height a hundred times and landed in a variety of other positions and been unaffected, Dr. Eric Klaphake, CMZoo head veterinarian, said in the statement. The team quickly entered her den when it was safe and diligently tried for 40 minutes to give her lifesaving care.

Bob Chastain, CMZoo president and CEO, said the zoos staff was faced with impossible life-and-death decisions leading up to the procedure and the accident.

You can plan and plan and things still go wrong, Chastain said in the statement. Our team delivered exactly the right amount of drugs to a very calm tiger who had trained for this moment. We have successfully anesthetized countless tigers in this same den and have never experienced an accident like this. We never take decisions to anesthetize an animal for a procedure lightly and this is a tragic example of why.

This the second Amur tiger, which are critically endangered, to die at CMZoo in recent years. In 2021, Savelii died from complications during recovery from an artificial insemination procedure, the zoo says. Only about 500 remain in their natural habitats.

We feel a huge responsibility for all of the animals in our care and we especially feel for Mila, her current and past caretakers, and the people in Toronto who loved her from her birth as the only survivor in her litter, Chastain said. Not only was she an internationally beloved individual who defied the odds as a cub and survived to adulthood, but she was here on a mission to save her own species.
Theres an awful lot of talk about the end of movie stars considering Denzel Washington is right over here, walking around.

Antoine Fuquas Equalizer 3, a taut and textured sequel to Washingtons vigilante series, isnt one of the actors best films. It wouldnt crack his top 10. But it vividly encapsulates Washingtons formidable on-screen potency.

You might think this would be in the movies brutal action sequences, but no. Its the scenes of Washington fastidiously having a cup of tea at a sidewalk cafe or strolling the streets of a Sicilian town. This is a movie stitched together less by its plot mechanics than the pleasure of watching Denzel smirk, scowl and smile, in leisurely scenes mixed in with all the murder.

In that way, the Equalizer movies (the third of which is certainly the best of a so-so bunch), remind me of those great Walter Matthau thrillers like Charley Varrick and Hopscotch  movies about old men with expressive eyebrows who are set in their ways but have plenty of tricks left up their sleeve. (Washington, now 68, also took over Matthaus role in the remake of Pelham One Two Three. )

Theres no shortage these days of older stars plying their special sets of skills in action thrillers. Throw a stone in a movie theater and youre likely to hit (and risk drawing the lethal ire of) Liam Neeson, Harrison Ford or Tom Cruise. Equalizer 3, an all-in-all good entry in the genre, is on the bloodier end of the spectrum.

Yet curiously neither the fight sequences (rapid and grotesque) nor the films sense of suspense (perfunctory) are much of a selling point. The film, scripted by Richard Wenk, opens with a trail of bodies through the main house of an Sicily vineyard. In the wine cellar calmly sits Robert McCall (Washington), who shrugs, Wouldnt let me in, so...

The Equalizer is loosely based on an 1980s TV series about a former intelligence service agent who spends his retirement bringing the scales of justice back in balance for regular folks he happens to encounter. And theres a pleasantly episodic quality to the third film in the series.

A bullet in the back leaves McCall laid up in recovery after hes taken in by a kindly village doctor named Enzo (Remo Girone). Were in Southern Italy; most of the film was shot along the Amalfi coast, specifically the enchanting medieval fishing village of Atrani.

If theres one truly implausible thing about Equalizer 3, its the fact that there isnt a tourist in sight. McCall, who once out of bed strolls the villages cobbled steps with a cane, seems to be the only American in town. Hes quickly charmed by the people who warmly welcome the Americano.

And the same time, the Camorra mafia is pushing harder into the village, with intentions of driving out locals to make room for hotels and casinos. They make a small army of designer-dressed, tattoo-covered thugs, and they descend on the village, unaware of the lurking elite vigilante quietly sipping tea across the street from their shakedowns or eating pasta at the next table.

The well-traveled Fuqua, who helmed both prior Equalizer movies and first directed Washington in Training Day, is in his genre wheelhouse here. He trails McCall patiently and soaks up the local color, with a few touches of Christian imagery from the church above the town. Theres a sinister, ominous sense of evil scourges  a heinous drug from Syria, sold by the mafia is funding terrorists cells  seeping into a society of good people.

The clear dichotomy of good and bad is cozy, and so, too, is Washingtons savage, untroubled dispatching of the mafia ring. There are CIA officials in the mix, too, including Dakota Johnsons desk clerk turned operative. But they are mostly following McCalls lead. He  Washington really  is in a league of his own, and Equalizer 3, smartly, doesnt even try to suggest its a close race. No more movie stars? Cue the Denzel laugh.

Equalizer 3, a Sony Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for strong bloody violence and some language. Running time: 109 minutes. Three stars out of four.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  A 15-year-old boy died in the shooting Sunday at Easton Town Center, a crime in which a 13-year-old male is now facing a murder charge.

Police identified the victim as RaShawyn Carter Jr., the Columbus Dispatch reports. Family members tell the Dispatch that RaShawyn was a calming influence in their home.

He kept everyone strong. Whatever would happen, he was always the one who was like Heres the checklist, make sure theyre eating, Zarya Turner, 23, one of RaShawyns aunts, tells The Dispatch. It was insane. It made everyone just be like OK, we got this.

Carter was shot at about 6:14 p.m. Sunday near an ice cream shop in the popular shopping center, reports say. He was pronounced dead at Mount Carmel East Hospital at about 6:50 p.m.

The Dispatch reports this is not the first time the boys family has been a victim of gun violence. His stepfather died in a shooting in July 2021 and his uncle was killed in a home invasion in April. One of RaShawyns aunts also was wounded in the home invasion.

Police have not released additional details on what led up to the shooting, WBNS Channel 10 reports. Family members say RaShawyn had gone to the shopping center to see a movie, The Dispatch reports.

A 13-year-old boy is being held on a murder charge in connection to the shooting, while a second 13-year-old has been charge with obstruction of justice. Police tell WBNS the teen murder suspect tried to hide the handgun used in the shooting in a garbage can.

The teen charged with murder is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.
ANN ARBOR, Michigan  The University of Michigan has shut down access to its internet services after citing concerns about a technology issue.

The university initially announced Sunday it was shutting down its internet services, but had hoped to restore them the same day. But despite significant progress, online services remained shut down early Wednesday morning.

Students, faculty and staff can access their accounts using off-campus or cellular networks, the school said. Off-campus/cellular network access has also been restored to cloud-based services like Google products, Canvas, Adobe Creative Suite, Zoom, Wolverine Access, Dropbox, Slack, and Duo.

A significant security concern was detected Sunday afternoon, the school says, leading to the decision to shut down its online network. The first day of classes was Monday.

The loss of internet access across (at UM) cast an unfortunate cloud over an otherwise sunny start to the academic year, University President Santa Ono said in a statement on social media. Despite this setback, our campuses are alive with excited (students), faculty & staff! Thank you to our community for your patience.

Students have rolled with it, English professor Fritz Swanson tells mlive.com. Ive taught three classes so far, with one left to go. I was able to email everyone the class location, and barring a few stragglers, we got through the day fine. The kids can take care of themselves.

It remains unclear when the schools online services will return to normal activity. The university did not say what type of threat it had detected.
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The super blue moon on Wednesday could make for a spectacular backdrop in photos of landmarks around the world. But its intensified gravitational pull will also make tides higher  just as Hurricane Idalia lashes Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

The term super moon describes a full moon that is closer to Earth than usual. That happens because the moon moves around the Earth in an elliptical orbit.

The super moon on Wednesday is expected to be closer to the Earth than any other moon this year, coming on the same day Idalia made landfall as a high-end Category 3 hurricane near Keaton Beach in Floridas sparsely populated Big Bend region with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph.

I would say the timing is pretty bad for this one, said Brian Haines, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Charleston, South Carolina.

Haines office has been warning residents that parts of Charleston could be under water by Wednesday night, The Associated Press reported.

Previously: Rare super blue moon will light up sky this week: How to see it

Even after the hurricane has moved through, so-called king tides pose a risk. King tide is a non-scientific term to describe extremely high ocean tides, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Storm surge that can be taller than a person is a concern with any major hurricane. Tides are affected by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun and are usually higher when the moon is new or full.

In St. Petersburg, Mayor Ken Welch says parts of the city were hit with about 4 feet of storm surge on Wednesday, with more water expected at high tide Wednesday afternoon.

Theres a saying that you hide from the wind and run from the water, and hopefully people are heeding that advice, Brian Tang, associate professor of atmospheric science at University at Albany in New York, told Associated Press.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A Cleveland man died Tuesday following a shooting in the citys Cudell neighborhood.

The office of the Cuyahoga County medical examiner identified the victim as Eric Smith, 60. Smith was shot in the 2000 block of West 106th Street.
Rotunda Rumblings

Scheduling conflict: Last week, the two co-chairs of the Ohio Redistricting Commission scheduled the panels first meeting for Sept. 13 to begin the process of drawing new state legislative districts. But that dates now up in the air, as Attorney General Dave Yost says the co-chairs dont have the constitutional power to schedule the meeting. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, Gov. Mike DeWine  who is the only one who can call the meeting, according to Yost  hasnt yet decided whether to keep the meeting on Sept. 13 or move it to a different day.

Drug savings: Drugs for diabetes, arthritis, heart failure and blood cancer are among the first 10 medications for which Medicare will negotiate prices to lower health care costs for its beneficiaries, Sabrina Eaton reports. Negotiations for the first group of selected drugs will begin in 2023, with negotiated prices going into effect in 2026.

Arrested again: State Rep. Bob Young, a Summit County Republican, was arrested and accused of violating a protection order when he called and left voicemails on the line of a protected party on Saturday, John H. Tucker reports. This is the second arrest for Young in recent months. In early July, he was accused of domestic violence and assault after a woman was struck in the face.

Fugitive bill: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown wants to reauthorize a national Fugitive Safe Surrender program that began in Cleveland close to two decades ago, Eaton writes. The program brings together law enforcement and church groups so fugitives wanted on felony warrants can surrender in a safe setting. It began with a collaboration between the U.S. Marshalls Service in Cleveland and Clevelands Mount Sinai church as a way to solve the problem of apprehending fugitives without putting anyone at risk.

Voter fraud: A judge on Monday sentenced a Shaker Heights attorney to three years in prison for illegally casting ballots in both Florida and Ohio in the last two general elections, Cory Shaffer writes. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Andrew Santoli called 56-year-old James Saunders actions purposeful, intentional and cavalier in handing down the maximum sentence. Santoli also fined Saunders $10,000. According to federal campaign finance filings, Saunders made multiple small donations to former President Donald Trumps campaign and super PACs that back GOP candidates.

Bellwether no more: Ohios resounding rejection of the Republican proposal to make it harder to amend the state constitution and thwart an abortion rights amendment in the November election put some wind in Democrats sails. But Kyle Kondik, an Ohio native and managing editor of Sabatos Crystal Ball, says dont be fooled. Writing in Politico, Kondik makes the case that Democratic policies are more popular than Democrats in Ohio, and that the August special election doesnt necessarily foretell a shift back to bellwether status for the Buckeye State.

COVID fraud: U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a Cincinnati Republican, on Tuesday asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to provide the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus where Westrup is chair with documents and communications related to the Justice Departments investigation into international COVID-19 relief fraud. As of March 2022, the Department stated that it had taken criminal and civil enforcement actions in matters alleging over $8 billion in pandemic relief fraud, but it is unclear if this is limited to domestic fraud, said a letter Wenstrup wrote to Garland. It is highly concerning that possibly billions of taxpayer dollars intended to help Americans suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were stolen by organized criminal rings in foreign countries.

Drill baby, drill: U.S. Sen. JD Vance argues for expanding use of the Utica Shale oil and gas basin, in a Marietta Times opinion piece. It said right now is the time to double down on the Ohio energy industry, by giving oil and gas refiners new infrastructure so they can tap the vast, underground reserve of energy containing an estimated 38 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 940 million barrels of oil and 208 million barrels of natural gas liquids. We need less red tape and fewer restrictions from the federal government, Vance opined.

Joint effort: The Ohio Manufacturers Association, which represents Ohios largest economic sector, joined the no campaign against Issue 2, the proposed law that would legalize recreational marijuana that will be on Nov. 7 ballots. The association arrived at its decision out of concern for workplace safety, worker absenteeism, increased insurance costs and the rate of workforce participation, according to a statement.

Two step: The Ohio Board of Pharmacy issued certificates of operation to two medical marijuana dispensaries, which allows them to open to patients. With the Forest Cincinnati, 4412 Mount Carmel Tobasco Road, Cincinnati, and Shangri-La Dispensary, 4618 Saint Clair Ave., Cleveland, 103 of these businesses have certificates of operation.

Lobbying Lineup

The following are the top 10 state Senate bills on which employers lobbied in 2022, according to a recent state report.

1. Senate Bill 288, revise the criminal law: 112 employers

2. SB 343, the capital budget: 104 employers

3. SB 131, require occupational license if experienced in another state: 103 employers

4. SB 307, Regards electric vehicle incentives, transport electrification: 78 employers

5. SB 9, Reduce regulatory restrictions in administrative rules: 77 employers

6. SB 261, Revise the medical marijuana law: 73 employers

7. SB 178, Reform function, responsibilities of state education offices: 73 employers

8. SB 97, Modify municipal income tax rules - COVID work from home: 62 employers

9. SB 277: Temporarily reduce motor fuel excise tax; registration taxes; 61 employers

10. SB 135, Regards state institutions of higher education and free speech: 59 employers

Birthdays

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael Donnelly

McKenna Dugan, legislative aide to state Rep. Sean Brennan

Ex-state Rep. Stephen Hambley

Straight From The Source

What were seeing, at least in some counties preliminarily, is that quite a few provisional ballots were rejected because a voter presented an expired drivers license or an expired form of ID. Its really not even that were concerned about the ID law generally. Its this very specific issue that were just kind of now starting to discover after this last election.

- Aaron Ockerman of the Ohio Association of Elections Officials, explaining to Ohio Public Radios Karen Kasler that expired photo identification cards cannot be accepted as valid photo ID under a relatively new voter law. The expired IDs created confusion at the polls Aug. 8.

Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. Subscribe to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A New York judge has ordered the seizure of an ancient Roman bronze sculpture from the Cleveland Museum of Art in a search warrant issued earlier this month related to a criminal investigation into looting and trafficking of antiquities in Turkey.

The New York District Attorneys office provided a copy of the warrant to cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer Wednesday. Dated August 14 and signed by New York County Supreme Court Justice Ruth Pickholz, the warrant ordered the seizure of the sculpture within 10 days.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  State Rep. Bob Young was released from jail on Wednesday on the condition that he wear a GPS monitor tracking his whereabouts, according to Barberton city prosecutors.

Young, a Summit County Republican, was arrested earlier this week after police said he violated the terms of a protection order by calling someone he is barred from contacting following his July 7 arrest on domestic violence charges. During a court hearing Thursday morning, Young pleaded not guilty to a new charge of violating a protection order, a first-degree misdemeanor. A police record says Young called the person, who was not identified, three times between 10:35 p.m. and 11:01 p.m., leaving multiple voicemails, last Saturday.

Besides ordering the GPS monitoring, a judge released Young under his own recognizance, which means he was not required to post money as part of a promise to appear in court in the future.

Police say that Young assaulted two family members last month in two separate incidents. Initially, Young assaulted the first relative at Youngs home in Green following a political event, throwing her phone into a swimming pool when she tried to call 911. That relative then went to the second relatives home for safety, where Young later arrived, assaulting the second relative while attempting to force his way into the home and falling through a glass screen door in the process, police said.

Cleveland.com / The Plain Dealer generally does not identify victims of domestic violence, and is withholding identifying details from this story.

Young faces charges of domestic violence and assault, both first-degree misdemeanors, while a previous felony charge of disrupting public services has been dismissed.

House Speaker Jason Stephens, a Republican, has called on Young to resign over the arrest, which Young has declined to do. Aaron Mulvey, Stephens spokesman, said Wednesday that the speaker stands by that statement.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer has reached out to Young, leaving a message with John Greven, his lawyer. Ryan Stubenrauch, a spokesman for Young, declined to comment.

Meanwhile, two Democratic legislators from Summit County, state Reps. Tavia Galonski and Casey Weinstein, called on Stephens on Wednesday to remove Young from his position chairing the House Pension Committee. The Stephens spokesperson hasnt said whether Stephens plans to keep Young in his committee position, which includes a pay increase.

In an interview Thursday, Galonski, a former magistrate from Akron who oversaw domestic violence cases in Summit County, said she finds Youngs latest arrest to be especially troubling given her professional background.

When I saw the allegations of a violation of court order, it really pricked the hairs on the back of my neck and reminded me of too many cases where frankly people were hurt or killed, Galonski said. So, it just made me think I needed to do and say more, especially since Im here, in the area of his district.

The Ohio House currently is on summer recess, although its scheduled to resume session on Sept. 27.

Andrew Tobias covers state politics and government for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer
COLUMBUS, OhioThe Ohio Redistricting Commission might be under a much greater time crunch than previously thought to approve new state legislative districts, according to Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

On Wednesday, LaRose notified his six colleagues on the redistricting commission that, under his reading of various administrative deadlines tied to the upcoming primary election in March, they must approve a legislative redistricting plan within 23 days, by Sept. 22. Thats significantly earlier than when some members of the commission previously said they hoped to pass new maps.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukraine sent waves of drones deep into western Russia in nighttime attacks that lasted more than four hours and struck military assets, Russian officials and media reports said Wednesday.

The drones hit an airport near Russias border with Estonia and Latvia, causing a huge blaze and damaging four Il-76 military transport planes, which can carry heavy machinery and troops, Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

With at least six regions of Russia targeted, the barrage appeared to be the most extensive Ukrainian drone attack on Russian soil since the war began 18 months ago. The Kremlin has repeatedly accused the Ukrainian military of cross-border incursions on the Belgorod region of Russia and of launching drones toward Moscow.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who usually refuse to take responsibility for any attacks inside Russia. The Kremlins forces, meanwhile, hit Ukraines capital with drones and missiles during the night in what Ukrainian officials called a massive, combined attack that killed two people.

Aerial attacks on Russia have escalated in recent months as the Ukrainian military pursues a counteroffensive to drive Moscows forces out of its territory. Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russias military assets behind the front lines in the invaded countrys east and south.

Ukraine has also claimed to have used sea drones against Russian ships in the Black Sea. Ukrainian media have said that Kyiv saboteurs used drones last week to hit bomber aircraft parked at air bases deep inside Russia.

Russian authorities did not report any casualties from Wednesdays deluge. The airport in the Pskov region, which is located about 700 kilometers (400 miles) north of the Ukraine border and 700 kilometers (400 miles) west of Moscow, suffered the most damage. Unconfirmed media reports said up to 20 drones may have targeted the facility.

Smoke from a massive fire billowed over the city of Pskov, the regions namesake capital, images posted on social media showed. Videos of showed loud bangs and flashes punctuating the night, along with the crackle of air defense systems and tracers climbing into the dark sky.

Pskov Gov. Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the airport canceled for the day so the damage could be assessed during daylight. There were no casualties and the fire was put out, he said.

Other regions hit in the barrage were Oryol, 400 kilometers (240 miles) south of Moscow; Ryazan, which is 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Moscow; and Kaluga, lying 200 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Moscow; as well as Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, and the region surrounding the Russian capital, according to the Russia Defense Ministry. Minor damage was reported in those areas.

Three main Moscow region airports  Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo  temporarily halted incoming and outgoing flights.

The Associated Press is unable to confirm whether the drones were launched from Ukraine or from inside Russia.

Ukraines minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, said his country now has drones with a range of up to 500 kilometers (300 miles), though he did not take responsibility for any attacks inside Russia or on Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

If you look carefully at the news recently, in general, every day there are news about long-range drones that hit various targets both in (Russian-)occupied Crimea and in the territory of Russia, Fedorov told The Associated Press in a recent interview. So in this regard, lets say, that more or less a mass production of these drones has appeared.

Russia, meanwhile, also used drones as well as missiles in its biggest bombardment of Ukraines capital in months, Ukrainian authorities said.

Two security guards, ages 26 and 36, were killed and another person was injured by falling debris, Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, wrote on Telegram.

Russia launched Shahed exploding drones at the city from various directions and then followed with missiles from Tu-95MS strategic aircraft, Popko said. It was unclear how many were launched, but Popko called the attack the biggest on the capital since the spring.

In the aftermath, Kyiv resident Iryna Oblat pointed to debris in the street and shattered windows in surrounding buildings.

Look where it hit, look what happened to the house, she told The Associated Press. Garages are on fire. We dont know how many cars and garages were destroyed because firefighters and police wont let us in.

Also early Wednesday, Russian-installed officials in Crimea reported repelling an attack of drones targeting the harbor of the port city of Sevastopol. Russian officials blamed Ukraine for past drone attacks that hit fuel depots and airfields in Crimea or Russian-held areas of Ukraine.

Explosions in Ukraine were also reported in the southern city of Odesa and the Cherkasy region.

Ukraines air defenses destroyed 28 cruise missiles and 15 of 16 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones targeting the capital and multiple regions across the country overnight, the Ukrainian air force said in its daily Telegram update on Wednesday.

It said 43 weapons were downed in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in the south of the country. The statement did not say what happened to the other drone.

-

Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Emma Burrows contributed from London.
MENTOR, Ohio  A week after an Ohio school bus accident killed one child and injured 23 others, Gov. Mike DeWine announced the formation of a task force, charged with finding ways for the state to improve school bus safety  including the possibility of requiring seat belts on all public-school buses.

DeWine made the announcement while visiting Mentor Public Schools Wednesday to observe the states school bus inspection process.

The 13-person Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group includes members from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Nationwide Childrens Hospital, South Euclid Lyndhurst School District, and representatives from the state departments of public safety, education, insurance and transportation, as well as an Ohio parent.

The group will hold at least five public hearings and is expected to issue a report in December with its recommendations, DeWine said.

In addition to school bus seat belts, the report will include recommendations on topics such as:

School bus regulations

School bus design, maintenance, and inspections

Driver licensing, certification and training

School bus safety technology

Crash risk factors

Lessons learned from other school bus crashes

Alternative transportation and associated risks

Safety of special populations

Critical incident protocol

Theres nothing more important than our kids, and weve got to keep them safe, DeWine said Wednesday. Theyre safe now on these buses, statistically a lot safer than being in a car, but can we make them safer? Thats the question Im asking this working group, and we will listen to what their answer is.

Noting that the debate over seat belt usage on buses has been going on for decades, DeWine said the fact that some states require them, while others dont, is an indication that there are pros and cons to both sides.

Im not the expert, and I dont pretend to be, and thats why were putting this working group together, and thats why were asking them to bring in the best information they can, the best studies that have been done and to make the evaluation, DeWine said on mandating seat belts. Its like a lot of things in life; you have to weigh it. We have one goal, and that goal is to protect our children and to be as safe as we can.

The task force wont have the authority to impose mandates. But DeWine said the groups recommendations will carry a lot of weight, and that the state plans to take action based on them.

Currently, each school district decides for itself whether to install seat belts on buses. DeWine said its possible that the state ends up mandating the use of seat belts as a result of the working groups findings, but that would raise the question of how to pay for it.

On Wednesday, the State Highway Patrols inspection of the Mentor buses included checking headlights, mirrors, tire tread and the engine compartment. Every districts fleet is inspected in this manner twice a year. DeWine said that improving bus safety is an ongoing process, but he noted that the deadly bus crash has brought new weight to the issue.

A Clark County school bus was carrying 52 students to their first day of class on Aug. 22, when a 2010 Honda Odyssey driving the other direction crossed the center line. Although the Northwestern Local Schools bus driver tried to avoid a collision, the Honda hit the bus, causing it to flip on its side. One student was thrown from the bus and died, another 23 were injured and taken to a nearby hospital.

Theres no doubt that this horrible tragedy that occurred last week makes us think about this some more and reexamine it and ask the question, which is the question everyone has been asking me the last week  is there anything else we can do to make our buses safer? DeWine said. Thats the right question, and we need to go find out what that answer is.
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec)s false pronouncements before and after the elections have exposed the electoral body which now stands accused of misleading the nation.

On August 18, for example, Zec claimed to have respectively printed 7 126 600, 7 098 750 and 6 854 250 presidential, parliamentary and local authority ballot papers.

This information was released after the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) questioned in court Zecs transparency regarding the ballot paper printing process.

However, on election day, Zec announced that it was still printing ballot papers and blamed court cases for the delay in printing.

The head of the Southern African Development Community Observer Mission Nevers Mumba said Zec had assured them that there were enough voting materials.

However, the subsequent revelation that Zec did not have adequate ballot papers raised doubts about the credibility of the electoral process.

Mumba said: Based on these two considerations, the subsequent information from Zec that they did not have adequate ballot papers has the unfortunate effect of creating doubts about the credibility of this electoral process.

During a briefing with election observers on August 16, Zec chairperson Priscilla Chigumba also claimed that the electoral body was not influenced by the government or any other organisation.

She emphasised the independence of the commission as guaranteed by section 235 of the Constitution.

However, Zec chief elections officer Utloile Silaigwana contradicted this statement in court when human rights activists challenged the failure by Zec to accredit them.

Silaigwana acknowledged the significant role of the Executive in accrediting observers.

In yet another blunder, Zec dismissed reports on August 28 that polling agents and observers were being recalled to sign new V11 forms. The commission clarified that the V11 forms were part of election residue and were sealed in ballot boxes after the counting of ballots.

However, CCC claimed that several of its party agents received text messages from Zec, requesting them to return to polling stations to re-sign the V11 forms.

CCC lawyer Thabani Mpofu then urged polling agents to ignore such requests from Zec or Zanu PF. Newsday
While big cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago might appeal to some, that small-town charm can be a pretty big draw for others.

All Star Homes, a roofing, siding and gutter company, ranked the best hometowns in America, analyzing the cities with a population of less than 100,000. To determine the ranking, the cities were scored across four key metrics on a 100-point scale:

Community

Safety

Affordable living

Education

Sources for the ranking also included Zillow Home Values, the National Center for Education Statistics, FBI Crime Data Explorer, U.S. Census Bureau, the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Park Service.

Smaller cities in New York reigned supreme, taking five of the top 10 spots.
The Biden administration announced on Wednesday it would forgive $72 million in student debt for more than 2,300 borrowers who attended Ashford University.

The aid will go to students from the online for-profit school based in San Diego, who requested loan cancellation through the U.S. Department of Education's borrower defense process. That relief goes to borrowers who were misled or defrauded by their college.

The department said that Ashford University made substantial misrepresentations to students between 2009 and 2020. In their applications, former students of the school described an inability to complete their programs or obtain employment.

In 2020, the University of Arizona announced a plan for its affiliated foundation to acquire Ashford University and turn it into the University of Arizona Global Campus, according to the Department of Education. The University of Arizona took direct ownership of UAGC at the end of June 2023.

The University of Arizona and UAGC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (R) look on as President Joe Biden speaks about the government response and recovery efforts in Maui, Hawaii, and the ongoing response on Hurricane Idalia, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Aug. 30, 2023.

WASHINGTON  The federal government will provide $95 million to shore up Hawaii's electric grid in the wake of deadly wildfires, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday.

The money "means investments to make sure electricity can continue to reach homes, hospitals and water stations, even during intense storms," Biden said at a White House event on disaster recovery.

The funding will also enable the Pacific island state to bury more power lines, replace old electrical poles and clear overgrown brush around them, said Biden.

The news comes as Hawaii's main electric utility, Hawaiian Electric , is facing a dozen lawsuits alleging that the company's practices were partly responsible for the deadly fires, a claim the utility denies.

The fires on Maui earlier this month were the deadliest U.S. wildfires in over a century, killing at least 115 people with hundreds more still missing. The historic town of Lahaina was destroyed, and Moody's estimates the wildfires were responsible for up to $6 billion in economic losses.

Fitch, Moody's and S&P all recently downgraded Hawaiian Electric's credit rating to junk status, with Fitch warning that the company could face more than $3.8 billion in potential liability for the Maui wildfires.

Speaking at the White House, Biden sought to reassure residents of Maui that the federal government would be with them throughout the recovery process, noting that $400 million in federal funds had been allocated already to help pay for debris removal on the island.

Biden visited Hawaii with first lady Jill Biden last week to view the damage and meet with survivors.

"We saw the magnitude of the loss," Biden said of his recent trip, "and we're doing everything we can to move heaven and earth to help recover and return to your lives."

Biden spoke as Hurricane Idalia roared through Florida and into southern Georgia. Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning as a Category 3 storm but has since weakened to a Category 1 storm. As of Wednesday afternoon, at least two people had died and hundreds of thousands more were left without power.

Biden spoke to the governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and pledged the federal government's support for recovery efforts, the White House said.
South Africa and China have called on anyone aggrieved by the results of last weeks harmonised elections to follow available legal processes and not resort to violence.

In an interview with his countrys media yesterday, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa said the SADC region and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, detest violence in all its forms, and called for peace in Zimbabwe.

Violence is one of those reactions that we abhor and want to avoid. And the Secretary-General of the United Nations has made the same call and so do we, said President Ramaphosa.

Violence must be avoided at all costs.

Elections are processes that are always either disputed or accepted, and when they are disputed, there are always channels, in every country, to challenge the outcome of the elections and we want that to always be done on a peaceful basis.

President Ramaphosa said it was important to wait until all processes underway in Zimbabwe were completed before people made unnecessary remarks.

In Zimbabwe, High Court judges preside over Electoral Courts which deal with petitions for the Parliamentary elections, with very tight deadlines for submitting the petitions and deciding the issue, and the Constitutional Court, again with tight deadlines for submitting a petition and for making a decision, deals with the Presidential poll.

President Ramaphosa said he had sent his congratulations to President Mnangagwa following his re-election, on the basis of the declaration of results by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

In its congratulatory statement, Chinas deputy director of information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, Mr Wang Wenbin, said as a friend to Zimbabwe, they have been closely following the general elections in Harare.

He said at Zimbabwes invitation, China sent an observer mission there, which believes the elections were held in a peaceful and orderly fashion with active participation by the people.

We have noted the result released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and extend congratulations to President Mnangagwa, said Mr Wang. We stand ready to work with the new Government to bring our two countries comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to new heights.

Mr Wang called on all parties to put the peoples interests first and resolve any differences properly through legal means.

China adheres to the principle of non-interference in other countries internal affairs. We respect the Zimbabwe peoples choice, wish the country continued stability after the election and greater progress in pursuing national development and prosperity, he said.

South Africa and Chinas remarks come after CCC leader Mr Nelson Chamisa has promised to unleash violence so as to grab the leadership of the country.

Addressing the media this week, Mr Chamisa said he will not wait until 2028 to try to become Zimbabwes president.

But police have said they have adequate machinery to deal with any trouble-causers who may want to unseat a democratically elected Government.

Yesterday, CCC deputy spokesperson Mr Gift Siziba said they wanted fresh elections, despite the fact that all those who won in National Assembly and local authority elections have been celebrating their victories, achieved under similar electoral circumstances.

Some of the CCC winners such as Ms Fadzayi Mahere, who won the Mt Pleasant National Assembly seat, have since congratulated voters for voting for her. Herald
 This is the script of CNBC's daily news report for China's CCTV on August 30, 2023.

While many passengers complained about the airlines' delays, the airlines directed their criticism at the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) which manages two million flights in UK airspace every year.

Martin Rolfe, the Chief Executive Officer of Nats, expressed his apologies for the technical glitch on Tuesday and mentioned that preliminary inquiries into the issue indicate it is associated with a portion of the flight data they received. Nats' systems had taken action by "halting automatic processing" to ensure that "no incorrect safety-related information could be presented to an air traffic controller or impact the rest of the air traffic system". According to the Financial Times, the fault may be related to a French airline incorrectly submitting flight plans.

UK transport secretary Mark Harper said this is the first occurrence of such a situation in a decade and, given the scale of the problem, the Civil Aviation Authority would have to take "an independent look at it".

Harper also mentioned that although the fault was resolved within a few hours on Monday local time, and Nats indicated that the system had been restored, flight disruptions may still continue for several days.

According to the Financial Times, about 300 flights were canceled on Tuesday local time. The UK's major airports continued to be affected; London Heathrow Airport showed 23 flights delayed and 29 canceled on Tuesday.

Furthermore, major airlines were also experiencing a domino effect. British Airways and EasyJet advised passengers not to go to the airport without checking their flight status, as flights could be delayed or canceled.

The official websites of both airlines also indicated that they would offer free rebooking for flights on Monday and Tuesday, and EasyJet would also offer refunds. Europe's largest airline, Ryanair, said it would resume normal operations on Wednesday. CEO Michael O'Leary also criticized the way NATS handled the issue on social media.

The last Monday in August is a public holiday in the UK, and there are usually a large number of passengers returning from vacation. Now, many passengers are stranded at airports, and some are forced to spend more time in the cities they are visiting, which will also incur unexpected accommodation and meal expenses.

Although affected in many ways, it is expected that, apart from refunds and rebookings, passengers are unlikely to demand further compensation from the airlines. This is because compensation regulations exempt special situations, and this air traffic control system failure is one of those special situations.

The head of the International Air Transport Association stated that the passenger compensation system should be rebalanced to be fair for all. "Airlines will bear significant sums in care and assistance charges," said Iata director-general Willy Walsh. Additionally, he questioned the performance of the UK regulatory body, the Civil Aviation Authority, in this fiasco.

UK transport secretary Mark Harper chaired a meeting with Nats, the Civil Aviation Authority, airlines, airports, trade bodies, and Border Force on Tuesday local time. It is expected that the UK government will review the investigation report in the coming days. We will continue to follow the developments of this incident.
Larger-than-life roses are on display in Nanjing, Jiangsu province of China, on Aug. 21, 2023, one day before the Qixi Festival. Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images

BEIJING  Consumer spending bounced back in August after a tepid July, according to the China Beige Book's survey of Chinese businesses released Thursday. All five categories  apparel, automotive, food, furniture and appliances and luxury  saw a marked increase in sales this month, versus July, the report said. That's based on a survey conducted Aug. 17 to 25 of 1,300 businesses, the majority of which were not state owned. Retail sales rose by a muted 2.5% in July from a year ago, adding to concerns about China's future economic growth. The National Bureau of Statistics had also released retail sales from services on a year-to-date basis, which was up 20.3% from a year ago. In August, "the Services sector 'revenge spending' basket saw continued strength, with travel and chain restaurants maintaining their high growth momentum and sales jumping in hospitality," the China Beige Book report said.

watch now

Domestic travel has seen a surge of activity this summer. In a report Monday, Nomura analysts found the seven-day moving average of domestic flights remained more than two times greater than what it was in August 2019. The China Beige Book survey also found that corporate borrowing surged as cost of capital declined. That contrasts with July credit data that showed a slump in demand from households and businesses that month to borrow money for the future. Other data for July have depicted a dismal picture. In a report distributed on Aug. 15, JL Warren Capital estimated Louis Vuitton sales in mainland China fell by 5% to 10% in July  the first year-on-year decline so far his year. The month-to-date or August "decline has accelerated but could narrow as Chinese V-Day on August 22 approaches," the report said. The Chinese version of Valentine's Day, called the "Qixi Festival," is typically celebrated by giving gifts and going out for dinner.

In the last several weeks, the Chinese government has announced a slew of measures to support the economy. Their targeted nature has fallen short of many investors' hopes for larger-scale stimulus. Another business survey released in mid-August, the CKGSB Business Conditions Index, reported a 50.9 print for July, a touch above the 50.02 figure recorded for June. "Coming after months of downward trending figures, even this tiny upshoot of confidence is welcome," the CKGSB report said. Its read on employment was the same in July as it was in June: 54.2. Readings above 50 indicate expectations for an increase. China's official unemployment rate for people working in cities has remained just above 5% in recent months. The jobless rate for young people ages 16 to 24 has soared  the National Bureau of Statistics did not release a number for July and said it was suspending the data report.

Real estate
Election officials carry ballot boxes as people wait for the opening of a polling office during the presidential election in Libreville, Gabon August 26, 2023.

Military officers in oil-producing Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday, placing President Ali Bongo under house arrest and naming a new leader after the Central African state's election body announced Bongo had won a third term.

Saying they represented the armed forces, the officers declared on television that the election results were cancelled, borders closed and state institutions dissolved, after a tense vote that was set to extend the Bongo family's more than half century in power.

Within hours, generals met to discuss who would lead the transition and agreed by unanimous vote to appoint General Brice Oligui Nguema, former head of the presidential guard, according to another televised address.

Meanwhile, from detention in his residence, Bongo appealed in a video statement to foreign allies, imploring them to speak out on his and his family's behalf. He said he did not know what was happening.

Bongo's plight was a dramatic reversal from the early hours of Wednesday when the electoral commission declared him the winner of Saturday's disputed vote.

Hundreds of people celebrated the military's intervention in the streets of the Gabonese capital Libreville, while the United Nations, African Union and France, Gabon's former colonial ruler which has troops stationed there, condemned the coup.

The military takeover in Gabon is the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020, and the second - after Niger - in as many months. Military officers have also seized power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad, erasing democratic gains since the 1990s and raising fear among foreign powers that have strategic interests in the region.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo (L) and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng pose for photographs before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on August 29, 2023.

BEIJING  U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has left Beijing with a few deliverables: plans for formal discussions on export controls and tourism.

"Now it's more than just agreements to keep talking. It's a specific channel to address commercial issues," Raimondo told reporters late Tuesday as she was leaving the capital city for Shanghai.

"I hope that this becomes a moment where we start to see action."

In her two days in Beijing, Raimondo met with Premier Li Qiang, Vice Premier He Lifeng, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping.

Here's what they agreed to do, according to public announcements:

Establish a commercial issues working group between the commerce departments  meet twice a year at the vice minister level, and once at the minister level. The U.S. will host the first meeting in early 2024.

Launch export control enforcement information exchange  first in-person meeting held at the assistant secretary level at the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing on Tuesday.

Hold the 14th China-U.S. Tourism Leadership in China in the first half of 2024.

Convene experts from both sides for technical discussions about protecting trade secrets during administrative licensing proceedings.

Informal discussions as frequently as needed between Wang and Raimondo.

"This is a very important visit because we had no active senior commercial dialogue," U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns told reporters late Tuesday. He noted that in his first 15 months in China as ambassador, there were no U.S. discussions at a senior level with Chinese officials.
An aerial picture taken on October 1, 2022 shows a broken section of the Pine Island Road and destroyed houses in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Matlacha, Florida.

Frequent weather catastrophes, induced in part by climate change, are bearing down on homeowners and would-be buyers.

Some home insurers have opted to stop writing new business in heavily impacted states like Florida  currently under threat from Hurricane Idalia  and California, or in other pockets of the country. In other cases, insurers are raising prices, or reducing coverage, and there's likely to be a continued ripple effect across the country, as weather events tied to climate change proliferate, insurers tighten the reins on risk and reinsurance becomes harder to come by, according to industry experts.

Global insured losses from natural disasters topped $130 billion last year, according to Aon. That was driven by the second-costliest event on the books  Hurricane Ian  which caused catastrophic storm surges and damaging winds and flooding in Florida and Cuba, accounting for roughly $50 billion to $55 billion of the global insured loss, according to Aon.

"Consumers everywhere are going to be faced with tougher choices with respect to limits that are available, the coverages they can purchase and deductibles," said John Dickson, president and chief executive at Aon Edge, which offers private flood insurance and other insurance products.

Here's how consumers can navigate the home insurance market amid increasing climate-driven weather risks:

The home insurance market disruption is going to get worse

Things are likely to get worse for homeowners and would-be buyers. Between wildfires, thunderstorms, tornados, hail, floods and other natural disasters, "insurers are having to rethink their risk concentration in any one of those areas," said David A. Sampson, president and chief executive of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

Insurance companies have regulated pricing in most states  they can't just charge consumers whatever they want, said George Hosfield, senior director and general manager of home insurance solutions at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. But they can decide to pull out of a market if the economics no longer work, a tactic some insurers have exercised.

State Farm, for example, said in May it would stop accepting new home insurance applications in California. Allstate announced a similar move in November of last year. In June, Farmers Insurance became the latest insurer to pull out of Florida, a market that's been roiled with turmoil for many years.

Policyholders should expect to pay more

The average cost of homeowners insurance nationwide is $2,777 a year, with rates varying by state, according to Insurance.com, a consumer comparison service. Oklahoma is the most expensive state for home insurance at an average cost of $5,317 a year. Contrast that with Hawaii, the least expensive, which has rates averaging $582 a year, according to Insurance.com, though it just suffered a devastating wildfire estimated by Moody's to cost the state between $4 billion and $6 billion in economic losses.

Meanwhile, costs continue to tick up. From May 2021 to May 2022, 90% of homeowners saw their quoted annual premium increase compared to the previous year, according to Policygenius. The average increase was $134, Policygenius data show.

"In some cases, homeowners won't be able to get coverage, or they will have to pay more, or they will have less reliable coverage," said Rich Sorkin, chief executive of Jupiter Intelligence, a climate risk analytics company.

Already, some homeowners are choosing to roll the dice on ownership without insurance rather than pay increasing premiums.

Beyond California and Florida, states where consumers could see the most weather-related impact on coverage options or pricing include Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, said Stephen Bennett, chief climate officer at The Demex Group, which provides climate risk management solutions.
Mark Zuckerberg told the world in October 2021 that he was rebranding Facebook to Meta as the company pushes toward the metaverse.

Facebook users are now able to delete some personal information that can be used by the company in the training of generative artificial intelligence models.

Meta updated the Facebook help center resource section on its website this week to include a form titled "Generative AI Data Subject Rights," which allows users to "submit requests related to your third party information being used for generative AI model training."

The company is adding the opt-out tool as generative AI technology is taking off across tech, with companies creating more advanced chatbots and turning simple text into sophisticated answers and images. Meta is giving people the option to access, alter or delete any personal data that was included in the various third-party data sources the company uses to train its large language and related AI models.

On the form, Meta refers to third-party information as data "that is publicly available on the internet or licensed sources." This kind of information, the company says, can represent some of the "billions of pieces of data" used to train generative AI models that "use predictions and patterns to create new content."

In a related blog post on how it uses data for generative AI, Meta says it collects public information on the web in addition to licensing data from other providers. Blog posts, for example, can include personal information, such as someone's name and contact information, Meta said.

The form doesn't account for a user's activity on Meta-owned properties, whether it's Facebook comments or Instagram photos, so it's possible the company could potentially use such first-party data to train its generative AI models.

A Meta spokesperson said that the company's newest Llama 2 open-source large language model "wasn't trained on Meta user data, and we have not launched any Generative AI consumer features on our systems yet."

"Depending on where people live, they may be able to exercise their data subject rights and object to certain data being used to train our AI models," the spokesperson added, referring to various data privacy rules outside the U.S. that give consumers more control over how their personal data can be used by tech firms.

Like many tech peers, including Microsoft , OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet , Meta gathers enormous quantities of third-party data to train its models and related AI software.

"To train effective models to unlock these advancements, a significant amount of information is needed from publicly available and licensed sources," Meta said in the blog post. The company added that "use of public information and licensed data is in our interests, and we are committed to being transparent about the legal bases that we use for processing this information."

Recently, however, some data privacy advocates have questioned the practice of aggregating vast quantities of publicly available information to train AI models.

Last week, a consortium of data protection agencies from the U.K., Canada, Switzerland and other countries issued a joint statement to Meta, Alphabet, TikTok parent ByteDance, X (formerly known as Twitter), Microsoft and others about data scraping and protecting user privacy.

The letter was intended to remind social media and tech companies that they remain subject to various data protection and privacy laws around the world and "that they protect personal information accessible on their websites from data scraping, particularly so that they are compliant with data protection and privacy laws around the world."

"Individuals can also take steps to protect their personal information from data scraping, and social media companies have a role to play in enabling users to engage with their services in a privacy protective manner," the group said in the statement.

Here's how you can delete some of your Facebook data used for training generative AI models:

Go to the "Generative AI Data Subject Rights" form on Meta's privacy policy page about generative AI.

Click the link for "Learn more and submit requests here."

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WATCH: Meta says it has disrupted a massive disinformation campaign linked to Chinese law
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Hurricane Idalia barreled into southern Georgia after hitting Florida's Gulf Coast with life-threatening storm surges, leaving at least two people dead and hundreds of thousands without power. More than 275,000 people in Florida were without power as of late afternoon, according to PowerOutage.US. At least two people died in weather-related car crashes in Alachua and Pasco counties, police said. About 190,000 people were without power in Georgia. At least 30 of Florida's 67 counties issued some type of evacuation order prior to the storm. People who did not evacuate should shelter in place, according to the state's emergency management agency.



Idalia made landfall in the morning as a catastrophic Category 3 storm at Keaton Beach on the Big Bend coast, less than 90 miles away from the state capital of Tallahassee. The hurricane has since weakened to a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. Idalia is expected to weaken further as it moves inland but will remain a hurricane as the storm moves across southeastern Georgia and southern South Carolina this afternoon or evening, according to the latest forecast. Parts of Georgia were bracing for 40- to 50-mile-per-hour winds and floods, according to the National Weather Service in Atlanta.

Residents walk through floodwaters from Hurricane Idalia in Gulfport, Florida, on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Juan Manuel Barrero Bueno | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Idalia is expected to become a tropical storm by the time it heads toward the coast of North Carolina on Wednesday night and Thursday, according to the forecast. President Joe Biden on Wednesday spoke with the governors of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina to offer the federal government's full support for the emergency response. Biden approved an emergency declaration Monday for Florida in anticipation of the hurricane making landfall. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has deployed 1,500 federal responders and 540 search and rescue personnel to the affected area in Florida. Hurricane Idalia comes weeks after devastating wildfires tore through Maui, Hawaii, destroying the historic town of Lahaina and killing at least 115 people and causing billions of dollars in damages. Biden attributed the frequency of recent natural disasters to climate change. "I don't think anybody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore," the president said during remarks at the White House.

Workers clean up a blockade at Interstate 75 (I-75) highway after the arrival of Hurricane Idalia, near Gainesville, Florida, August 30, 2023. Marco Bello | Reuters

"Just look around  historic floods, more intense droughts, extreme heat, significant wildfires have caused significant damage like we've never seen before," Biden said. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said she will travel to Florida Wednesday, where she will meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis Thursday to see firsthand how much damage Idalia has left in its wake. Criswell told reporters during a separate briefing at the White House that it would take several days to get an initial assessment of how much damage Idalia has done. Idalia swamped coastal towns in western Florida. The river gauge at the small town of Steinhatchee on the Big Bend coast surged from 1 foot to 8 feet in an hour, according to the NWS in Tallahassee. Life-threatening storm surges will remain through the afternoon, according to the NWS.

An aerial view shows a police vehicle driving along a flooded street in New Port Richey, Florida, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall, Aug. 30, 2023. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | AFP | Getty Images
A federal judge on Wednesday issued a default judgment against former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and ordered him to pay sanctions of nearly $133,000 in a defamation and civil conspiracy lawsuit by two Georgia election workers whom he claimed mishandled ballots in the 2020 presidential contest.

Judge Beryl Howell imposed the default judgment and monetary punishment because Giuliani repeatedly failed to comply with her orders to turn over electronically stored documents and other evidence sought by lawyers for the election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

Howell blasted Giuliani for "willful ... misconduct," and "slippery" statements in failing to turn over the requested information as part of the legal process known as discovery.

"The bottom line is that Giuliani has refused to comply with his discovery obligations and thwarted plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Wandrea' ArShaye Moss's procedural rights to obtain any meaningful discovery in this case," Howell wrote in a 57-page opinion that nodded at Giuliani's recent criminal indictment with former President Donald Trump in Georgia.

The judge also ordered attorneys for Giuliani and the two women to propose three possible dates for trial in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on the question of how much money in compensatory and punitive damages he should be ordered to pay them as a result of the default judgment.

Ted Goodman, a political advisor to Giuliani, in a statement, said, "This 57 page opinion on discovery  which would usually be no more than two or three pages  is a prime example of the weaponization of the justice system, where the process is the punishment."

"This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI," Goodman said.

Lawyers for Freeman and Moss, who are mother and daughter, released a statement from the women.

"What we went through after the 2020 election was a living nightmare. Rudy Giuliani helped unleash a wave of hatred and threats we never could have imagined. It cost us our sense of security and our freedom to go about our lives," the woman said.

"Nothing can restore all we lost, but today's ruling is yet another neutral finding that has confirmed what we have known all along: that there was never any truth to any of the accusations about us and that we did nothing wrong," the woman said. " We were smeared for purely political reasons, and the people responsible can and should be held accountable."

"The fight to rebuild our reputations and to repair the damage to our lives is not over. But today we're one step closer, and for that we are grateful."

Freeman last year told a select House committee, "I've lost my name and I've lost my reputation" as the result of false claims Giuliani made about her handling of voters' ballots while he was representing Trump.

Trump himself had repeatedly mentioned Freeman by name in a January 2021 phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which the then-president pressured the official to "find" Trump enough votes to overturn his electoral loss in the state.

"Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?" Freeman asked during her testimony.
This story is part of CNBC Make It's Six-Figure Side Hustle series, where people with lucrative side hustles break down the routines and habits they've used to make money on top of their full-time jobs. Got a story to tell? Let us know! Email us at AskMakeIt@cnbc.com.

When Carter Osborne needed extra cash for graduate school tuition, he decided to monetize his strongest skill: writing.

It was 2017 and Osborne realized he could get paid to advise high school seniors on their college admissions essays. He himself met with a consultant before applying to Stanford University, where he was accepted in 2013.

He went back to that mentor for help getting the side hustle off the ground. Because the demand for admissions consultants was on the rise, she referred three of her clients to him.

Osborne had planned to shutter the side hustle after he finished his master's degree in public administration two years later, but at that point, he realized it fulfilled him to help kids with their essays. Plus, it was lucrative. By 2021, Osborne "snowballed" 40 clients, and made $113,550, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

He scaled down the operation to 33 clients last year, primarily because the expectations of his full-time jobs as a public relations account director were increasing. He still made $77,120, and Osborne says the average of the last two years is slightly more than he makes at his full-time job.

The upside: The side hustle costs almost nothing to start, he says. Osborne, who works with clients remotely, estimates he spent $50 to create Zoom and Squarespace accounts. The extra cash is helpful, Osborne says: He recently used his padded savings to buy a house with his girlfriend in Seattle, Washington.

The side hustle isn't totally cost-free, though. October through December, when application deadlines loom over high school seniors' heads, Osborne works a combined 70 hours per week between his two jobs.

"There's just no getting around it. When we get down to deadlines, you've got to push," Osborne, 28, tells CNBC Make It. "I often say to my friends, 'Hey, I will see you in January.'"

Here, Osborne details how he started and maintains his six-figure side hustle:

CNBC Make It: Do you think your side hustle is replicable?

Osborne: I think it's absolutely replicable for anyone who wants to spend some time learning how to break down the college essay writing process and engage in it.

But you need a couple of things to get started: You need a good mentor, someone who's been in the field and knows how all this works. It could be asking a private consultant like me, or school counselors who are trained in this.

Being on the admissions and counseling side is a different game than applying yourself. It takes knowledge of the specific ways admissions readers will approach these essays, and how schools look for things today versus 10 years ago.

The admissions process does seem to be constantly changing. Without giving away any trade secrets, how do you stay up to date on what schools expect from students?

You have to know what's changing in the world of college admissions. This year has been crazy, considering the Supreme Court decision [overturned affirmative action] and schools are talking about legacy admissions. If you're not on top of the news cycle, you're going to be behind when students ask you questions like, "Should I talk about race in my personal statement?"

I also subscribe to a lot of colleges' newsletters and I am working on getting some freelance articles published. Working on pieces forces you to engage critically and it requires me to do a lot of research on mental health and college admissions.

How do you help students improve their essays without making it yours?

There's an ethical line. My first meeting with students is an hour to 90-minute interview where we brainstorm as many ideas as possible. I record their answers, but just act as a sounding board and ask them questions to help them think critically about how their life experiences could fit into a personal statement.

When people start writing text for students or suggesting new content, that's where you could get into hairy territory. The initial rough drafts are never great, and I can't write their essays for them. If I need them to dig deeper into an idea, I only pull notes and make suggestions based on things that they've told me. I'm not going to create a brand new thought on the page here without running it by them. And it's certainly going to be woven from things they've already told me.

How do you set boundaries to maintain a work-life balance during the height of admissions season? Do those boundaries help you prevent burnout?

During admissions season, the one or two months when it gets really hot, I don't maintain a good work-life balance. In 2021, my busiest year, I never took a day off, and started to feel burnt out. My biggest symptom was I started to lose focus. I'd log onto the full-time job in the morning, and within 30 minutes, I'd feel distracted. I was a little more irritable, and forgetting things more easily. Friends would reach out, and I'd completely miss their texts.

But this year, I made an adjustment: I do my full-time job during the day, take a half-hour break, then start three meetings in a row, which takes me until about 9:30 p.m. It sounds counterintuitive, but the reason I do it is to keep my weekends open and give myself two days off, something I never used to do. Now, I can go on short trips with my girlfriend, visit family or just take a genuine break and recharge.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Check out more from Six-Figure Side Hustle:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Wednesday appeared briefly unable to respond to reporters' questions at a press event, marking the second time in weeks that the Republican leader has abruptly stopped speaking and required help from people around him.

McConnell, 81, initially seemed to struggle to hear when asked at an event in Covington, Kentucky, about his views on running for reelection.

But the senator then froze at the lectern and did not speak for about 30 seconds. He did not appear to immediately respond when a member of his staff approached him to ask if he had heard the question.

"All right, I'm sorry, you all. We're going to need a minute," the aide said during that interval.

McConnell then appeared to signal he was ready to receive another question. He was asked about Kentucky's Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, who is running for governor.

After his aide loudly repeated the question into his ear, McConnell said, "I think the governor's race is going to be very close," with his voice lowering in volume as he finished his reply.

He brushed off a final question about former President Donald Trump's latest indictment in Georgia before being led away from the lectern.
Local public schools are preparing for a record number of migrant students  many of whom do not speak English and faced traumatic experiences in their home countries and on their journeys to the United States  when classes resume next week.

Roughly 19,000 newly arrived children in need of language and mental health services, including 500 students who arrived over the summer, have enrolled so far in city schools. The number could be an undercount, as most shelter-based education staff work 10-month schedules that exclude the summer.

Last year, an estimated 1,400 asylum-seeking kids showed up for the first day of school. The city Education Department does not ask families their immigration status, and relies on the number of new students in temporary housing enrolling since last summer as a proxy.

Were going to do everything that we possibly can do to provide as great a level of support as we can, city Schools Chancellor David Banks said Wednesday at a briefing on migrants.

School placements are taking a week to process, with the first day of classes about the same time away. Some employees having the summer off poses a challenge to that abbreviated time frame.

New York City Department of Education Chancellor David Banks

That is something that we have to continue to solve for, said Melissa Aviles-Ramos, the chancellors chief of staff, who leads the departments work related to asylum seekers. So one of the things that were working on right now is paying overtime  who can support with enrolling students at the different Welcome Centers or at shelters and other locations.

We are very confident that the students will be enrolled and schools will be ready by September 7, she said.

It remains to be seen whether the public school system can recruit enough bilingual teachers and other staff, such as Spanish-speaking social workers, to meet a rapidly growing population of migrant students.

When school reopens, the city will have roughly 3,400 teachers licensed to teach English as a new language and 1,700 certified bilingual teachers in Spanish on payroll, officials said.

Those staffing levels are unlikely to move the needle for administrators who were already struggling to meet new language needs. Last fall, there were 3,606 English as a second language teachers and 1,640 Spanish bilingual teachers, according to an analysis by the Independent Budget Office.

At the time, fewer than half of schools with at least a handful of migrant students on their registers had one or more bilingual teachers of any language, the report showed.

Banks teased that plans to ramp up recruitment are underway, but not ready to be announced.

For the first time this year, the city is sending an additional $90 million through its primary education funding formula to schools that enroll students in temporary housing, including migrants, and high concentrations of children in poverty or learning English. Banks said the department will coordinate with principals and superintendents as the year progresses and disburse more funds if needed.

This [is] part of the challenge that we have: Students are continuing to come, said Banks. If we use last year as a baseline, were talking about thousands more young people, but I could not give you more of an estimate than that.
Members of the far-right Proud Boys, including leader Enrique Tarrio (C), rally in support of U.S. President Donald Trump to protest against the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, in Washington, November 14, 2020.

Sentencing hearings for Enrique Tarrio and another Proud Boys leader in the Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case were postponed Wednesday after the presiding judge called out sick, federal authorities told NBC News.

The abrupt cancellation of a sentencing hearing for Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right group who faces potential decades in prison, was initially chalked up to an unspecified "emergency" by the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C.

But a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service told NBC that the sentencing was canceled because presiding Judge Timothy Kelly was sick.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. District Court in D.C. confirmed to CNBC that there was no security emergency at the courthouse.

Tarrio's sentencing was rescheduled to next Tuesday, Sept. 5, court documents showed later Wednesday morning. Ethan Nordean, a Proud Boys chapter leader who was set to be sentenced Wednesday afternoon, had his hearing rescheduled for Friday.

Tarrio, 39, was set to be sentenced Wednesday morning following his conviction on charges he helped mastermind a seditious conspiracy to disrupt the 2020 presidential election certification on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Justice Department is seeking 33 years in prison for Tarrio  nearly twice as much time behind bars as the longest sentence that has yet come out of the sweeping prosecution of more than 1,100 defendants related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Tarrio and his four co-defendants in the case played a "central role" in "setting into motion the unlawful events of that day," Attorney General Merrick Garland said after they were found guilty in May.

Three of those co-defendants  Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola  have sentencing hearings scheduled for later in the week.

The DOJ is seeking 27 years in prison for Nordean; 33 years for Biggs; 30 years for Rehl; and 20 years for Pezzola. All five defendants were found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to impede Congress and federal authorities, civil disorder, and destruction of government property. Pezzola was the only one not found guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Fast-fashion juggernaut Shein is facing more scrutiny from elected officials in the U.S. who want the company to prove it doesn't use forced labor before it files for a widely rumored initial public offering.

Attorneys general from 16 states sent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler a letter last week asking the agency to ensure Shein and other foreign companies are following U.S. law before they're permitted to trade on American exchanges.

"It is apparent that SHEIN is attempting to launch an IPO before the end of this calendar year. An IPO of this magnitudeinvolving a foreign-owned company that is facing credible concerns about its core business practicescannot move forward on self-certification alone," the missive, written by Montana's Attorney General Austin Knudsen and signed by 15 other Republican attorney generals, stated.

"We urge you to require, as a condition of being listed on a U.S. based securities exchange, that any foreign-owned company certify via a truly independent process that it is compliant with Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which prohibits the import of any product manufactured wholly or in part by forced labor."

The letter was sent Thursday, the same day the company announced it was taking a stake in Forever 21's parent company Sparc Group.

Shein has faced accusations that it used forced labor from the Xinjiang region in China to fuel its meteoric rise as rumors swirl that it is preparing to go public. The company's supply chain has a large presence in China, where it was founded, but U.S. law prohibits imports from Xinjiang because of widespread human rights abuses against Uyghurs in the region.

The company is currently under investigation by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, which has also accused Shein of evading U.S. tariff law. The probe comes as U.S. lawmakers from both parties increasingly scrutinize companies from China or those with potential ties to its government.

The letter cited a Bloomberg story published last year that showed, via independent testing, that some Shein clothes were made with cotton from the Xinjiang region.

Shein has faced enormous blowback from the report. The accusations have become a major hurdle the retailer must overcome before it can grow its presence in the U.S. and go public.

At the time of the Bloomberg report, Shein and its executives rarely spoke publicly. But since then, it has become more open to press, and has acknowledged to CNBC that some of its cotton supply has been found to come from the Xinjiang region.

To test its cotton, it contracted the supply chain tracing firm Oritain, which says it's able to track the origin of cotton fibers down to specific farms. Between June 2022 and July 2023, it has conducted 2,111 tests, which resulted in 46 positive results, or a rate of 2.1%, from banned regions, Peter Pernot-Day, Shein's head of strategy and corporate affairs, told CNBC.

"These are in raw materials so when we have a raw material positive test, that means that raw material is removed from production," Pernot-Day said.

Oritain, which bills itself as an independent firm, previously confirmed those results to Politico and said Shein has fared better than the fashion industry on average.

Each year, the company tests more than 1,000 cotton samples. During a recent testing round across the industry, Oritain found 12% of samples came up positive for an "unapproved region," Politico previously reported.

Pernot-Day said one of Shein's primary objectives at the moment is to get its positive test results down to zero. To do that, it is conducting testing from all 40 of its mills each month, and stopped buying cotton from China altogether, Pernot-Day said.
An undated aerial view of Singapore's Marina Bay at night. Nikada | E+ | Getty Images

SINGAPORE  As Singaporeans prepare to head to the polls this Friday to elect their ninth president, the campaigning has so far tested the narrow confines of the presidential office  underscoring simmering disenchantment at the status quo. A largely ceremonial role with a six-year tenure, the Singapore presidency is conferred limited powers. One of its key roles is to guard the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state's reserves, which remain a state secret. Observers say some Singaporeans seem to believe the president's custodial powers over the reserves allows the person to weigh more muscularly on fiscal and monetary policy decisions. Other issues underscored on the campaign trail so far include underlying unhappiness about the high cost of living, unaffordable public housing and debate about heightened competition for jobs with foreigners. A lack of accountability among lawmakers also came to the fore as Singapore's reputation for incorruptibility was recently hit by a spate of political scandals. "The contest that has developed so far reflects the competing and even conflicting visions of the presidency," said Eugene Tan, an associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University who is a former parliamentarian. "It has taken on a partisan bent especially for Tan Kin Lian who has staked for himself as the standard bearer for anti-establishment sentiments." Tan Kin Lian, the former chief executive of local insurer NTUC Income, is again running for president more than a decade after garnering the lowest number of votes of four candidates at the 2011 presidential election. Two of his rivals from his first presidential bid are now leaders of opposition parties, and have declared their support for the 75-year-old after he came under fire for offensive social media posts.

Presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian (left) waves as he arrives at the nomination center for the presidential election in Singapore on August 22, 2023. Roslan Rahman | Afp | Getty Images

Tan is joined on the ballot by Ng Kok Song, 75, the former chief investment officer of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund  who famously introduced the late Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding prime minister, to the benefits of meditation. The third presidential candidate is Tharman Shanmugaratnam, 66, who was once deputy prime minister, finance minister, central bank chairman and briefly considered a possible International Monetary Fund head.

Without fear or favor

Much of the discourse on the campaign trail that started Aug. 22 centered around the candidates' real capacity for independent and non-partisan decision-making. The support of two of his former rivals though have undercut Tan's claims of political independence in a bid to distinguish himself  though he was once an active volunteer with a local chapter of the ruling People's Action Party. "There appears to be a growing trend of Singaporeans wanting a more outspoken President that will publicly question the government's stances and policies from a position of neutrality and authority," Nydia Ngiow, managing director at BowerGroupAsia, told CNBC in an email.

Ng Kok Song, a former GIC chief investment officer, pictured in Singapore July 13, 2023. Song is standing in the city-state's 2023 presidential election. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

"While this suggests that the desire for the President to force the government to provide more accountability is rooted in the belief that such a counterbalance of power would be good for society as a whole, there is also concern that this further contributes to the 'us against them' mentality which politicizes the role and adds a partisan element more typically tied to general elections," she added. Ng and Shanmugaratnam have touted their experience and expertise in qualifying them to expertly guard the country's past reserves, in consultation with a council of advisors. "Everyone knows from my background ... that I understand the system very well," Shanmugaratnam told reporters Aug. 26. "I will work with respect with the [Council of Presidential Advisors]. But, as you know, no one in the bureaucracy or anywhere else can fool me on any matter to do with government finances."

Presidential candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam waves to his supporters at the nomination center for the upcoming presidential election in Singapore on Aug. 22, 2023. Singapore will hold polls for the presidential election on Sept. 1, Returning Officer Tan Meng Dui announced on Tuesday after three candidates filed nomination documents. Xinhua News Agency | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

The full scale of Singapore's reserves is not publicly available, though public information of some institutions charged with investing its reserves offer a glimpse into its real size. State investor Temasek, for instance, reported a 382 billion Singapore dollars ($282.44 billion) portfolio at the end of March. The Monetary Authority of Singapore transferred in the 2022/23 financial year a total of S$191 billion to sovereign wealth fund GIC for management, and has S$441 billion of official reserves under its management end-May even after this transfer.

Not always directly elected

Singapore's presidency has been directly elected only since 1993, after the late Lee Kuan Yew proposed a constitutional amendment to guard against unfettered access to the government's reserves if a "freak election result" ousted the longstanding People's Action Party from power. Still, this election would only mark the third time the presidency is contested. This is largely due to stringent eligibility rules that require, among other criteria, candidates to have served at least three years as a government minister, senior public servant or chief executive of a government statutory board. Candidates from the private sector would need to have served as the most senior executive of a company with an average of S$500 million in shareholders' equity and the firm must have been profitable for the three preceding years. Local independent news outlet Jom estimated that only 0.044% of Singaporean adults qualify to run as Singapore president.

Whoever wins, Singapore's Presidential Election is destined to disappoint Kevin Tan and Cherian George National University of Singapore and Hong Kong Baptist University

The incumbent Halimah Yacob  a practicing Muslim and a former Speaker of Parliament  became Singapore's first female president without a contest in 2017. The presidential office was reserved for members of the Malay community that year to ensure representation from among Singapore's official four main races  if that community had not been represented for five presidential terms. "Whoever wins, Singapore's Presidential Election is destined to disappoint," Kevin Tan, an academic affiliated with the National University of Singapore and Cherian George, a professor at Hong Kong Baptist University's School of Communication, said in a recent commentary. "This has little to do with the quality of the men who want to run, and everything to do with the lack of consensus about the rules of the race and the nature of the prize," they added. "Many Singaporeans are unhappy that the field is so tightly managed by the establishment, undermining the Presidency's potential as an independent check on Government." If Shanmugaratnam wins Friday's vote, he would represent a fifth-straight candidate seen as the establishment choice who's been directly elected president.

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The logo of printer manufacturer HP is seen during an event.

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

HP  HP dropped 6.6% in midday trading after reporting a fiscal third-quarter revenue miss. Late Tuesday, the PC maker reported quarterly revenue of $13.20 billion, lower than the $13.37 billion estimated by analysts polled by Refinitiv. Otherwise, its third-quarter adjusted earnings of 86 cents per share came in line with estimates.

Box  The cloud storage stock tumbled 12.3%. On Tuesday, the company delivered weak guidance for the current quarter. Box anticipates third-quarter earnings of 37 cents to 38 cents per share, while analysts polled by FactSet called for 39 cents per share. Full-year revenue guidance was also softer than expected.

Ambarella  The semiconductor stock sank 20.4% on weak third-quarter guidance. Late Tuesday, Ambarella said it expects revenue of $50 million in the current quarter. That fell short of a Refinitiv estimate of $67.6 million in revenue. Despite the disappointing guidance, Ambarella topped second-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines, posting a smaller-than-expected loss per share.

PVH  Shares added 1.9% after the Calvin Klein parent reported an earnings beat late Tuesday. PVH's adjusted earnings per share for the second quarter was $1.98, versus the consensus estimate of $1.76, per Refinitiv. Revenue came in at $2.21 billion, versus the $2.19 billion expected. The company also raised its earnings outlook for the year and reaffirmed its full-year revenue guidance.

Brown-Forman  The Jack Daniel's parent slid 4% after missing Wall Street expectations for its first fiscal quarter of 2024. Brown-Forman posted 48 cents in earnings per share on $1.04 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by Refinitiv anticipated 53 cents in earnings per share and $1.05 billion in revenue.

Insulet  The insulin pump maker climbed 6.4% after CEO James Hollingshead reported buying 5,550 shares Tuesday. On Monday, the company announced the launch of an insulin delivery service called Omnipod 5 in Germany after previous rollouts in the U.S. and U.K.

Fluence Energy  Shares advanced 1.1% after Barclays initiated coverage of the energy storage stock with an overweight rating. Barclays said the company could grow revenue 40%.

Spotify  The music streamer added 3.4% after Wells Fargo reiterated its buy rating. The firm said it likes Spotify's positioning for the third-quarter and fourth-quarter guidance.

Apple  The Big Tech giant rose 1.9% after Citi reaffirmed its buy rating. The firm said it's bullish heading into the company's Sept. 12 event.

Rockwell Automation  The industrial automation stock retreated 2.4% following a downgrade to underweight from equal weight by Wells Fargo. The firm warned slowing sales growth could be ahead.

Netflix  The tech stock rose 1.1%, putting Netflix on track for its fourth-straight positive session. Wells Fargo said in a note to clients Wednesday that Netflix could have a "much longer tail" of subscriber growth as it cracks down on password sharing and builds up its advertising tier.

Sunrun  Shares of the residential solar energy company jumped about 1.8% after Citi upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. The Wall Street firm said Sunrun is "not getting due credit" for numerous catalysts set to drive the stock higher, including falling component costs and investment tax credit benefits.

Align Technology  The Invisalign maker's shares rose 0.9% after HSBC initiated coverage of the stock with a buy rating. The firm cited further market share opportunities for Align and its strong brand presence.

 CNBC's Samantha Subin, Hakyung Kim, Sarah Min, Yun Li, Michelle Fox and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is seen during a public safety announcement to prevent gun violence at City Hall, July 31, 2023.

New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a judge Wednesday for a partial summary judgment against Donald Trump in her $250 million lawsuit accusing the former president of widespread fraud, citing what she called a "mountain of undisputed evidence" of false and misleading financial statements.

In a court filing, James said evidence shows that if Trump's net worth were correctly calculated, it would be between 17% and 39% lower than what he claimed each year over the course of a decade, "which translates to the enormous sum of $1 billion or more in all but one year."

The allegedly false statements included years when Trump was in the White House, according to the filing.

James' filing comes two months before the trial is set to begin in the civil suit against the former president; the Trump Organization; and his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, at New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.

James is suing the Trumps for allegedly defrauding banks, insurance companies and others with the use of false financial statements.

That trial would still take place to address other claims, even if Judge Arthur Engoron grants James' request for partial summary judgment and finds Trump and the other defendants committed fraud under New York business law.

James, in her motion, says Engoron has to answer just "two simple and straightforward questions" to make that finding.
Residents stand outside their damaged buildings after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine overnight on August 30, 2023.

Russia and Ukraine accused each other of launching multiple drone attacks against each other's territory overnight Wednesday.

Russian officials accused Ukraine of launching several drone attacks against six regions in central and northwestern Russia, while Kyiv said it had repelled more than 20 drone and missile attacks on the capital. Russia later said the attacks would "not go unpunished."

One alleged Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an airfield in Pskov in the northwest of the country, setting two Ilyushin Il-76 military transport aircraft on fire and damaging several other aircraft, Russian news agency Tass reported.

In other news, the Kremlin said an investigation into mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin's death in a plane crash last week would not rule out the possibility that it was a "deliberate atrocity."
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo (C) talks to US Ambassador to China Nick Burns (L) as they head to a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on August 29, 2023. Andy Wong | Afp | Getty Images

BEIJING  U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has called on China to improve the predictability of the business environment for American companies in the country. "My message was there's a desire to do business, but we need predictability, due process and a level playing field," Raimondo said in an exclusive interview with CNBC's Eunice Yoon on Wednesday. "There's an appetite certainly for U.S. business to continue to do business in China," she said, adding however that "It's an unlevel playing field for U.S. business. It's unpredictable." Raimondo was in China this week and met government officials in both Beijing and Shanghai. She is the first U.S. Commerce secretary to travel to the country in five years  a period that's seen the bilateral relationship grow increasingly tense. Foreign companies in China have long complained about market access challenges including forced tech transfers and preferential treatment for local companies, especially state-owned enterprises.

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Those issues and China's longstanding trade surplus with the U.S. contributed to the Trump administration's decision to levy tariffs on China in 2018, followed by restricting certain Chinese companies' ability to buy from U.S. suppliers. Increasingly, the U.S. government has emphasized the goal is to ensure national security. Raimondo held firm on that point in her remarks. "We just cannot allow sophisticated emerging technology from America to advance China's military," she said. "I'll do whatever it takes to meet that mission." The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security last year announced export controls to limit Chinese access to advanced semiconductors. This month, the Biden administration revealed a proposal to restrict U.S. investment into high-end Chinese tech.

Calls for more action

Beijing also has national security in mind. The Chinese government this year updated its counterespionage law, alongside a few high-profile raids on international consulting firms  developments that rattled foreign businesses.

They said that China wants to embrace American business. So now, let's back that up with concrete actions to create a more predictable business environment. Gina Raimondo U.S. Commerce Secretary

The updated law is of "great concern" to U.S. companies, Raimondo said. She said clarifying the new parts of the counterespionage law would a helpful, concrete action Beijing could take. "Actions speak louder than words," Raimondo said. "In all of my meetings, speaking with the premier and the vice premier, they were gracious, they were open." "They said that China wants to embrace American business," she told CNBC. "So now, let's back that up with concrete actions to create a more predictable business environment. To, as you say, grow confidence." Foreign business organizations have noted improvements over the years in China's protection of intellectual property. The country is also trying to improve its court system. Recent high-level Chinese government statements have included general calls to create a more predictable environment, and encourage foreign investment.

"China and the U.S. agree to continue to maintain communication, and support practical cooperation between businesses from both countries," according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese-language readout of Raimondo's meeting with Vice Premier He Lifeng. He is also the Chinese leader on China-U.S. trade and economic affairs. This week, the U.S. and China agreed to establish regular communication channels on commerce, export controls and protecting trade secrets.

China will continue to believe that the U.S. is determined to block its rise, and the U.S. will continue to believe that China is determined to usurp the post-war global order. Stephen Olson Hinrich Foundation

Stephen Olson, senior research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation, cautioned against expecting real breakthroughs from increased communication alone. "The Raimondo trip highlights the fundamental contradiction at the heart of the Biden administration's China strategy," he said. "It is putting a stranglehold on China's access to critical technologies while at the same seeking to maintain if not expand trade and investment opportunities with China in those areas that suit U.S. interests." "China will continue to believe that the U.S. is determined to block its rise, and the U.S. will continue to believe that China is determined to usurp the post-war global order."

A Boeing deal?

Raimondo wrapped up her China trip with a visit with Boeing executives at a company facility in Shanghai. The U.S. aircraft giant is getting ready to resume 737 Max deliveries to China after a four-year hiatus, Bloomberg reported earlier this month, citing sources familiar with the situation.
Before turning 93 on Wednesday, Warren Buffett made a number of astute moves in the past 12 months that helped push his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway to an all-time high. Many Buffett watchers have been dazzled by the "Oracle of Omaha's" sharp mental acuity and astute investments he's able to pull off. His active engagement enabled Berkshire to climb to a new peak and enjoy record operating earnings. Here's a recap of Buffett's significant moves during the period. Buying T-bills Buffett's massive cash hoard swelled to nearly $150 billion at the end of the second quarter. Unlike previous years where a surplus of cash made him nothing, he's been earning a sizable return over the past year from buying short-term Treasury bills. The investing guru recently revealed that he's been buying $10 billion worth of 3-month and 6-month T-bills at the weekly government auctions every week. Presumably Berkshire rolls over its maturing T-bills by buying new ones. Earlier this month, Buffett shrugged off Fitch's U.S. credit rating downgrade , saying he continued to buy Treasuries every week. "Berkshire bought $10 billion in U.S. Treasurys last Monday. We bought $10 billion in Treasurys this Monday. And the only question for next Monday is whether we will buy $10 billion in 3-month or 6-month" T-bills, Buffett told CNBC. Ramping up Japan bet Buffett recently hiked his stakes in five Japanese trading houses  Itochu , Marubeni , Mitsubishi , Mitsui and Sumitomo  to more than 8.5%. Buffett even traveled to Japan, his first time in more than 11 years, to meet with the heads at these firms. Social Capital's Chamath Palihapitiya expressed his admiration after analyzing his latest bet on Japan , calling Buffett "the greatest of all time" The technology investor said the five Japanese trading houses Buffett invested in are good investments because they pay stable dividends and boost their earnings, at the same time as Buffett was able to hedge currency risk by selling Japanese debt. "It's inspiring to see folks act this intelligently at scale," said Palihapitiya. Occidental stake tops 25% Buffett also kept buying the dip in Occidental Petroleum , now owning a quarter of the oil giant. The buying spree came as Occidental shares pulled back after a stellar 2022. The stock is down 1% in 2023 after soaring 117% last year, becoming the best performer in the S & P 500 for 2022. Occidental, once known for being founded by legendary oilman Armand Hammer, is now Berkshire's sixth-biggest equity holding. Buffett has ruled out the possibility of taking full control of the energy company. The legendary investor previously revealed that he started buying the stock after reading through Occidental's annual report and gaining confidence in the company's growth and its leadership. Betting on homebuilders The conglomerate picked up shares of a few homebuilders in the last quarter - D.R. Horton , NVR and Lennar . These stakes are relatively small for Berkshire, so they could have been purchased by Buffett's two investing lieutenants, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who oversee about $15 billion each. The bet comes at an interesting time for the housing market where sales of newly-built homes have remained strong despite a surge in mortgage rates. Buffett's sprawling conglomerate is no stranger to the homebuilding industry. Berkshire bought Clayton Homes 20 years ago for $1.7 billion, and also owns paint company Benjamin Moore. Investing in LNG Buffett's big energy and utility division Berkshire Hathaway Energy has agreed to purchase a 50% stake in the Cove Point liquefied natural gas facility for $3.3 billion in cash. Some said the deal builds on a growing bet on energy infrastructure at the conglomerate as it gains control of one of the rare functional facilities in the U.S. that can export LNG.
India plans to unveil a G20 Digital Museum which will have at least one key artefact or its digital replica from all member nations and the nine guest countries. Sources told news agency PTI that the project  'Culture Corridor'  is likely to be unveiled during the Leaders Summit slated to take place on September 9-10.

According to sources, India's culture ministry is working on several other projects as part of G20 engagements, which include a 'G20 Digital Museum - Culture Corridor', and a 'G20 Anthology of Poems - Under the Same Sky'.

What is this G20 Digital Museum?

Replicas of some of the famous artefacts are likely to be part of the novel 'phygital' museum. A 'phygital' museum refers to the idea of having a museum that will have both physical and digital components.

These may include "digital replicas of Mona Lisa, the 16th-century masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci which is hung at the Louvre Museum in Paris, and also of 'Girl With a Pearl Earring', the famed oil painting by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, which is kept at a museum in the Netherlands".

To accomplish the plan, the G20 member countries have been asked to send their entries. They can participate by sending objects of cultural importance and masterpieces of art in physical or digital form.

An official was earlier quoted by PTI as saying that the G20 museum was in a "very early phase of the project, and we are trying to source at least one key artefact from all member nations and the nine guest countries."

"So, we have requested these 28 countries if they can share at least one artefact or antiquity from their side which represents the culture of those countries for the G20. And, if that cannot be shared, then at least a digital replica can be shared, which can be showcased in the 'digital corridor' where the cultural richness of the world can be portrayed," the official had said.

G20 Anthology of Poems project

"We are also seeking poems from G20 member nations as part of the G20 Anthology of Poems project," the official had said.

All this is part of the Ministry of Culture's plan to create a culture corridor to "showcase cultural exhibits such as sculptures and paintings". It is likely to encapsulate traditions and practices of G20 member countries and invitees, reports said.

The corridor is likely to be visited by the attendees during the visit to India, the Hindustan Times reported.

Among the expected attendees are US President Joe Biden, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and thousands of people invited as delegates, government representatives and other dignitaries.

The G20, or Group of 20, is an intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies. India currently holds the rotating presidency of the multinational group. G20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US, and the European Union (EU).
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will remain in jail after a special court extended his judicial remand till September 13 in the cipher case, Pakistan's Geo News reported citing sources. The court order on extension of the judicial remand came a day after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended Khans three-year sentence in the Toshakhana case.

A special court in Pakistan earlier directed authorities at Attock Jail  where the former premier is imprisoned to keep Khan in "judicial lockup" and produce him before the court on August 30 in connection with the cipher case. The hearing of the case took place at the Attock District Jail on Wednesday, GeoTV reported.

The case was filed earlier this month alleged that Khan and others were involved in the violation of the secret laws of the country. Imran Khan's deputy and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is already in custody in the same case.

Khan was imprisoned in the Attock District jail since his conviction in the Toshakhana case on August 5. In the Toshakhana case, it was alleged that Khan had deliberately concealed details of the gifts he retained from the Toshakhana.

Toshakhana is a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept - during his time as the prime minister from 2018 to 2022 and proceeds from their reported sales
New Yorks already slow legal cannabis rollout has been stopped cold by an upstate judge in a case with sweeping implications for the fledgling weed industry.

Albany Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant had initially given 23 cannabis shops the go-ahead to open in an exemption to an injunction that has placed a pause on the opening of new dispensaries. But Bryant reversed his decision after ruling that the states Office of Cannabis Management failed to comply with the court.

A person smokes a joint as he awaits to enter Smacked Dispensary NYC on January 24, 2023 in New York City.

It is clear to this Court upon review of the affidavits that OCM failed to comply with this Courts Order regarding exemptions to the injunction, Judge Bryant wrote in the decision, which was filed Monday.

This is the latest twist in the states sluggish rollout of legal dispensaries.

Lawyers and advocates worry it also marks the beginning of a potential death spiral for the program, which aims to prioritize social justice goals by doling out licenses first to those impacted by the war on drugs and their families. About two dozen legal dispensaries are currently open across the entire state, while several hundred licenses have been issued to diepsenaries waiting to open.

The Albany case threatens to change the legal weed rollout for good, opens the door even wider to the exploding gray market and will possibly create even more havoc in the legal world, with lawyers warning of more lawsuits to come.

People wait in line outside the Housing Works Cannabis Company during the opening of the first legal cannabis dispensary in New York City on December 29, 2022.

The lawsuit was filed earlier this month in Albany Supreme Court by a group of four service-disabled veterans who allege the rollout doesnt comply with the states cannabis law.

Its not the first lawsuit filed against the states cannabis regulators, or the first that has placed an injunction on opening dispensaries, but it has broad implications.

Late last year, a Michigan man filed a lawsuit targeting the Office of Cannabis Managements requirement that applicants have significant ties to New York. against the state and a judge issued an injunction blocking that licenses from being issued in five regions of the state, including Kings County. The state eventually settled the case by offering the man a license.

This veterans lawsuit, which was later joined by a coalition of commercial cannabis operators, alleges that OCM violated the state cannabis law, called the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), by issuing Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries licenses to those with cannabis-related convictions, instead of allowing all groups to apply.

The suit alleges that OCM overstepped its authority by creating a license that doesnt exist in the act, only opening licenses up to those with this kind of license, contrary to MRTAs express requirement that the adult-use retail dispensary license application period be opened to all applicants at the same time and protecting these applicants from competition.

So far, Judge Bryant has ruled favorably for the plaintiffs, writing in a previous decision that the plaintiffs have established a likelihood of success based on the merits of the case. The law lists service-disabled veterans, as well as minorities, women, and those with marijuana offenses as groups that could be prioritized for licenses.

The plaintiffs argue in court papers that they have been irreparably damaged by the states action by losing out economically, as they dont get first dibs on the new cannabis market.

They requested a restraining order of the rollout of dispensaries, and Judge Bryant granted it on Aug. 7  abruptly grinding to a halt the issuance of any new licenses and the opening of new dispensaries.

The OCM and the Cannabis Control Board appealed the courts decision on Aug. 24, and in a court hearing last Friday, Bryant ruled that 23 dispensaries could open after OCM officials said they met the judges requirements for an exemption.

But just days later, Bryant reversed that decision. He stated in a ruling that the OCM had seemingly admitted that not all of the businesses had met all the requirements to open.

The affidavit of Mr. Mckeage contains contradictory and confusing assertions that leave significant questions as to whether the licensees on the list have actually met all requirements, the judge wrote, referring to Patrick Mckeage, the First Deputy Director for OCM.

OCM did not respond to requests for comment.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  An opposition lawmaker's objection to the abrupt termination of the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) budget briefing Wednesday was cut short after the microphone was turned off in the middle of her speech.

The House appropriations committee's hearing on the OVP's proposed 2.3 billion budget for 2024 lasted for barely 20 minutes. Vice President Sara Duterte was present but she wasn't questioned by any lawmaker about the proposal.

In her brief opening remarks, Duterte said the OVP's proposed budget for 2024 will allow her office to continue its programs and extend various services throughout the country.

After the OVP's audio-visual presentation about its budget proposal ended, Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos moved to terminate the hearing as part of a long-standing tradition in the House and out of courtesy to Duterte.

His motion was seconded by other lawmakers present at the hearing except for the three-member Makabayan bloc.

The group's objection prompted the presiding officer, Davao de Oro Rep. Maria Carmen Zamora, to call for a show of hands. Twenty-one lawmakers voted in favor of ending the hearing. Lawmakers who had a dissenting vote were not counted and were not given time to explain their objections.

Despite the suspension of proceedings, ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro continued to speak until her microphone was turned off.

She was insisting on using her time for interpellation to seek an explanation from the OVP for its supposed spending of 125 million in confidential funds in 2022.

READ: Castro: OVP spent 125 million confidential funds in 19 days

In her statement on Aug. 25, Duterte said Castro's allegations will be answered during the budget hearing.

"All she did was wildly and masterfully arrange some allegations against me and the OVP, which will all be answered once the probe is done and during the budget hearing," the vice president earlier said.

She and her staff, however, started to leave after the lawmaker's microphone was turned off.

An hour later, the House panel continued its budget briefing but for the Department of Education, which Duterte also heads.

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel used his time for interpellation to share his manifestation that he condemned the earlier proceedings as it was "not democracy at work."

"I just want to put on record that as a youth representative, I am in a position to question a tradition that no longer works and serves as a barrier to a healthy discussion about allocation and use of public funds," he said, adding that the tradition stops lawmakers from doing their job.

"I do not want Congress to be complicit to illegal fund use by agencies in the executive branch, so allow me to put on record also my point of order sa proceedings kanina [in the earlier proceedings]," he said.

In a statement, Duterte urged the Makabayan bloc "to end its rabid vilification of OVP over the 2022 CF (confidential funds) if it doesn't have any substantive information to back up imputations of misuse."

She explained the OVP has already planned and identified events, activities, and projects to be covered by the confidential funds as early as August.

"There was nothing irregular or unauthorized about its spending and the required liquidation and accomplishment reports have been submitted to the oversight agencies," the vice president defended.

"These incessant malicious attacks betray the Makabayan bloc's lack of respect for the Filipinos being served by OVP and their inability to appreciate OVP's involvement in the fight against insurgency, terrorism, and social inequality," she added.

Here's how it played out:

"Marcos: In line with the long-standing tradition of giving the Office of the Vice President parliamentary courtesy, I move to terminate the briefing for the Office of the Vice President.

Manuel: I object.

Castro: We object.

Zamora calls for a show of hands on whether to approve the motion.

Zamora: We have 21 members of the Committee on Appropriations manifesting for the approval of the motion. The Chair declares for the motion to terminate the presentation of the budget approved.

Castro: Madam Chair, may we have a manifestation?

Zamora tells Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, senior committee vice chairperson: Madam Chair, we already have terminated the presentation and the

Castro: Point of order, Madam Chair, may I explain my vote why I do not like the hearing of the Office of the Vice President to be terminated? I know we have the right as a Minority bloc, Madam Chair. So may we explain why we vote no?

Zamora: With all due respect, this representation would like to request the honorable Castro to just please submit the manifestation to the Committee on Appropriations.

Castro: I objectHindi natin inaasahan ang ganitong proceedings. Meron tayong issue na dapat pakinggan at dapat masagot ng Office of the Vice President. Kailangang maipaliwanag ang 125 million. At sinabi naman sa statement ni Vice President Duterte na mag-e-explain. So I have the right to explain why I voted no. Kailangang malaman itong 125 million na not-confidential fund pero ginastos ng Office of the Vice President na kung saan [mic turned off]."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  The implementing rules for the law that created the Philippines first sovereign wealth fund are out, setting in motion the search for the top executives that will manage the fund.

The rules for the so-called Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) Act, or Republic Act 11954, take effect on Sept. 12.

It stated that the nomination and application period should be closed no longer than 15 days after the date of effectivity, setting an end-September deadline.

The Department of Finance was mum when asked if a roster of nominees or applicants has already been readied.

According to the rules, the names should be submitted to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in mid-October by an advisory board that consists of the heads of the Department of Budget and Management, the National Economic and Development Authority, and the Bureau of Treasury.

While the advisory board screens and vets the nominees or applicants, the president still has the final say on appointments.

The vacancies are for the president and CEO, two regular directors, and three independent directors. They join a nine-person board who will be deciding how to manage the fund through a company called the Maharlika Investment Corporation.

The board will have Finance Secretary Ben Diokno as the chairman, while the other board members are the CEOs of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the Philippines  two state-run lenders that have initial contributions to Maharlikas seed money.

DBP and Land Bank will put in an initial P25 billion and P50 billion, respectively, to the Maharlika Investment Corporation, which under the law has an authorized capital of P500 billion.

The rest of the capital will come from the national government through dividend contributions from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, a portion of the income of PAGCOR and other gaming operators, royalties and sale of state-owned assets.

Private funds and wealth managers can buy shares in Maharlika Investment Corporation as the rules provide that of the P500-billion authorized capital, P125 billion are preferred securities or non-voting shares through which these private institutions can subscribe.

The rules reiterated the laws provision that pension funds Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System, as well as the PhilHealth and other state-run pension funds, are banned from buying shares in the Maharlika corporation. They cannot invest in the Maharlika fund either.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 30)  Quezon City Police District (QCPD) chief PBGen. Nicolas Torre III has resigned from his post for holding a press conference with a former police officer who was involved in a viral road rage incident.

In a phone interview, Torre said he submitted his resignation on Wednesday and it will be effective on Aug. 31.

The QCPD on Sunday held a press conference with Wilfredo Gonzales, the former policeman who hit a cyclist in the head and drew a handgun after the biker accidentally bumped his vehicle.

Gonzales, who retired from the police force in July 2016, was issued a dismissal order in 2017 for a grave misconduct case filed in 2006. Before that, he was also ordered dismissed in 2006 for another case of grave misconduct, simple misconduct, and conduct unbecoming of a police officer, but was able to return to service after challenging the decision before the National Police Commission, which partially granted his appeal in 2012.

Gonzales filed a motion for reconsideration of his second dismissal order but it was denied in 2018, which meant his retirement benefits were withdrawn. His rank was Police Officer 1 when he was dismissed.

The public criticized the police for conducting the briefing and for giving Gonzales "VIP treatment." Torre has also apologized for holding the press conference.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson PCol Jean Fajardo told reporters that Torres decision to resign was personal.

Ang gusto niya lamang iparating ay hindi niya pinoprotektahan yung mga tao na kagaya ni Gonzales na nagba-violate ng laws. Subalit sabi niya, mas minarapat niyang siya ay bumaba sa puwesto para bigyang daan ang isang impartial investigation at also to spare the PNP organization of this sudden, at least this development nga po sa kaso ni Gonzales, she said.

[Translation: What he wants to say is that he's not protecting people like Gonzales who violate laws. But he said he chose to step down from his post to give way for an impartial investigation and to also spare the PNP organization of this sudden, at least this development in Gonzales case.]

Fajardo added that Torre's replacement may be announced on Thursday.

Speaking to CNN Philippines The Source, lawyer Raymond Fortun, who is also moderator of the Pinoy Road Bikers, Inc., said he agrees that Torre should step down out of delicadeza.

The public already has lost trust in Torre so I would think that you do the right thing, he added.

Fortun said the police failed to conduct proper investigation of the road incident. He noted the signed agreement was clearly one-sided in favor of Gonzales as it did not say anything about the aiming of the handgun and the cyclist being hit.

What the police should have done was to get the statements, make, execute written statements and then the desk personnel will now type your written statements, make you sign it and then what the police will do will be to combine your statements and submit it to the city prosecutor's office, he explained.

This will allow the city prosecutors to conduct further investigation and determine if there is probable cause to charge the victim and Gonzales, Fortun added.
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Rahul Gandhi targets Narendra Modi over China, says entire Ladakh knows China has usurped our land

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday attacked the Modi government over China's claim to have control over the Indian Union territory of Ladakh as suggested by a map released by the hostile neighbouring country.

Rahul Gandhi targets PM Modi over Beijing's new map. Photo Courtesy: Rahul Gandhi Facebook page

While leaving for Karnataka, the Congress MP said, "The Prime Minister had said, 'not an inch of land has been lost in Ladakh'. This is an absolute lie. Entire Ladakh knows that China has usurped our land."

The top Congress leader has also demanded a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government bifurcated erstwhile state Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, in 2019.

"The matter of the map is serious, but China has actually taken our land. The Prime Minister should say something on this," Rahul said.

India protests against China's new map

India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with Beijing over the issue of the 2023 standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory.

In response to media queries, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "India rejects these claims as they have no basis."

"Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," the MEA spokesperson said.

India's response came after China on Monday officially released the 2023 edition of its standard map where Arunachal Pradesh, the Aksai Chin region, Taiwan, and the disputed South China Sea were all included within the Chinese territory.

The development came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi-Jinping called for a "resolution" of the long-standing border issues between the two nations on the sidelines of the 15th edition of the BRICS Summit in South Africa.

The two leaders also agreed to intensify efforts at expeditious "disengagement and de-escalation" to restore normal relationships between the two countries.
Long Island ocean beaches closed to swimming Wednesday as Hurricane Franklin churned over the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of miles away, creating powerful waves that flooded sections of the New York shore and threatened to keep beachgoers out of the water into Thursday.

The closures, which arrived in the final gasps of summer season, hit Jones Beach, Robert Moses Beach on Fire Island and Hither Hills beach in Montauk, according to Gov. Hochuls office.

The closures were to remain in effect as long as challenging conditions persisted, Hochuls office said.

George Gorman, regional director for New York State Parks on Long Island, said decisions about reopening to swimmers would be made Thursday morning, based on surf conditions and flood levels.

Were worried about the high tide tonight, and what we think will be the last high tide tomorrow morning, Gorman said by phone Wednesday. We are going to wait and see what the conditions are like.

On Wednesday, sections of Robert Moses and Hither Hills were rendered impassable, officials said. Red flags rose on the shore.

Officials used a bulldozer to erect an 8-foot-tall wall of sand at Jones Beach in an attempt to prevent water from flooding into the central boardwalk and bathrooms, Gorman said.

So far, that wall has held, Gorman said Wednesday afternoon.

In New York City, a coastal flooding advisory and a rip current warning were in effect in Brooklyn and Queens.

Long Island Sound beaches at Sunken Meadow and Wildwood state parks remained open, according to Hochuls office.

Hurricane Franklin barreled into Bermuda as a Category 2 storm Wednesday afternoon. Separately, Hurricane Idalia crashed into Georgia as a Category 1 storm.

The twin tropical tempests wreaked havoc as the Atlantic hurricane season approaches its height.

New York is historically most likely to endure effects from hurricanes in September and October, Hochuls office said.

As peak hurricane season approaches, the safety of all New Yorkers remains my top priority, Hochul said in a statement. I urge everyone to remain vigilant.
After every horrible disaster, the most common questions are usually A) "How do we prevent a crisis like this from happening again?" and B) "How can I, a complete asshat with a shriveled gerbil turd for a human soul, accrue obscene gobs of money off of human suffering?"

Well, we may never fully answer the first question, but the following companies have got the second down pat ...

6 Some A-Holes Turned The Steel From The World Trade Center Into Tacky Souvenirs Once another random date in the calendar, 9/11 is now a time for reflection -- about the victims of the attack, the heroes who gave everything, and the fact that a not-insignificant portion of our readership is now simultaneously too young to remember 9/11 and old enough to freakin' drive. 9/11 also evokes spinning dollar signs in the beady little eyes of a certain stripe of greedy dingus. In January 2002, a Georgia company called International Agile Manufacturing announced they'd bought 500 tons of steel from the destroyed World Trade Center and turned them into commemorative medallions. "At $30 anybody can buy it," IAM's president Alfonzo Hall said, presumably in his best Billy Mays voice. Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images Advertisement

"Call 1-800-911!" IAM claimed they would donate 10 percent of the profits to the Fund for the City of New York, but the fund's spokeswoman said they never gave permission to use their name, nor did they agree to receive money from these ghouls. Hall explained to CBS News that they just wanted to "do something very tasteful where people all over the United States who have never been to New York could feel a part of the event." Finally: The perfect gift for that shitty person in your life who has to make every single thing about them! Even terrorist attacks. Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images Advertisement

They should have just slapped "FOMO" in the middle. The company also said they were willing to donate 5,000 to 10,000 of the six-million medallions to the families of the victims, but they weren't exactly thrilled by the offer ... for a very good reason. Fair warning: This is where this story veers dangerously into horror-movie backstory territory. As the head of a group of families explained, "There is going to be a large number of people never found because their bodies were pulverized. In all probability, their bodies could be with the steel in those medallions. Where would you display that?" By the way, a quick eBay search reveals that the $30 medallions now go for ... $29.99. That's quite the investment right there. Advertisement

5 Flint, Michigan Threatened To Kick People Out Of Their Homes If They Didn't Pay For Poison Water By now, you've probably heard about how the citizens of Flint, Michigan got served a shit sandwich, only in liquid form. To recap, residents experienced a multitude of horrible symptoms and sparked a series of investigations that led to the discovery of a catastrophic amount of lead in their water. That was in 2015, and the situation still isn't resolved. What have the authorities been doing this whole time? Oh, lots of things. Like, for instance, making sure residents pay for that water they can't drink. Mother Jones Advertisement

When you take a leak in Flint, the water in the toilet actually becomes clearer. On top of facing hair loss, diminished IQ scores, rashes from just taking a bath, and a multitude of other short- and long-term consequences, people were looking at possibly losing their homes for the crime of not paying for lead-water -- because, unless you're really into S&M, when someone spits into your mouth, you don't say "thanks" and offer them $10. Advertisement In late April of this year, over 8000 people unlucky enough to live in Flint received letters telling them to pay up by May 19 or "be declared a delinquent" and face a lien on their homes. Al Mooney of Flint's Treasury Department said, "We have to have revenue coming in, so we can't give people revenue, I mean excuse me, give people water at the tap and not get revenue coming in to pay those bills." He then went into sleep mode as technicians replaced a broken transistor in his verbal modulation chip. Mike Japowicz via NBC25 News Advertisement

He had personally printed the letters through his robo-butt earlier on. Exactly one day before the deadline, the city caved in to the public outrage (and the fact that only $400,000 out of $5.8 million had been paid) and put the brakes on their evil plan. To give them some credit, the city has also provided water filters for citizens to use on the water. And to take that credit right back, it turned out those things were like heart-shaped water beds and ceiling mirrors for dangerous bacteria -- 76 people got shigellosis last year last year from using the filters. But hey, getting the fever-shits for five to seven days is better than dying ... we guess? If you want to help Flint, check out the appropriately named Help For Flint. There's instructions for donations and in-person volunteering, if you're into being an actual superhero. Advertisement Advertisement

4 Comcast Billed Hurricane Ike Survivors For Destroyed Cable Equipment On September 2008, tropical storm Ike leveled up into a hurricane and tore through the Gulf Coast before eventually slapping the island city of Galveston, Texas. All in all, Hurricane Ike racked up 37.5 billion dollars in damages and caused 195 deaths. Oh, but those are not the real victims here, though. No, this is who you should be weeping for: aurorat/iStock Advertisement

"Near ... far ... whereeeever you are ..." After the hurricane, 81 residents in Galveston opened up their mail to find that Comcast was holding them responsible for damages done by the tempest of the gods. Not feeling particularly god-like, one resident called to clear up what was sure was a clear misunderstanding of her powers ... only for Comcast to confirm that they seriously expected her to dig through the detritus of her home to find their precious cable equipment. And if she didn't dig up the DVR and modem and whatever else, she would have to pay a thousand freakin' dollars. Again, this is what Galveston looked like a few weeks earlier: AP Advertisement Advertisement

There's shit luck, then there's "house somehow catches fire in the middle of a flood" shit luck. Another Galveston resident was charged $600 for the equipment. After the media reported on the story, Comcast had a sudden change of heart and said they would call the 81 people who received the letter to apologize, pledging to cover some of the costs. "Some" being the key word here. This applied only to residents who had no homeowner's or renter's insurance -- those who had either of those still had to foot the bill, whether said insurance covered "cable companies being unimaginable dicks" or not. Those people were given 90 days to pay up before "restitution needs to be made," at which time folks either had to share responsibility with an act of God or face the unholy wrath of debt collectors. In the end, Comcast learned a valuable lesson: They can just keep doing this evil shit without consequence. They pulled the same stunt on a couple whose house was almost destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and who knows how many others. So remember: If you see a vortex of death coming your way, forget about the family heirlooms, the dog, and Grandma. Just grab as much Comcast equipment as you can carry! Advertisement

3 Americans Might Get Overcharged For A Zika Vaccine (That The U.S. Army Invented) In 2015, the Zika virus spread from Brazil into the South and North Americas, and every 24-hour news channel from there. Babies who are infected in the womb may suffer from microcephaly, something we don't really recommend Googling unless you want to spend the rest of the day huddled in a cute-dog-pictures coma. CNN Advertisement Advertisement

CNN has since moved on to covering something even more depressing all day long. Obviously, we as a people have a strong desire to protect our future generations, so a vaccine was developed last year by the U.S. Army. Just as obviously, we as a people are greedy bastards, so now we have to fight to make sure this vaccine is actually affordable. You see, the Army is great at testing and mass-producing things that murder you, but apparently not so much at things that do the opposite. You see, they're giving sole reign over the manufacture and sale of the Zika vaccine to Sanofi Pasteur, a French pharmaceutical company. The problem is that, as Bernie Sanders points out, medications that Sanofi sells for $745 in France are sold in the U.S. for over $5,000. This happens all the time. A different Army-funded (that is: you-funded) prostate cancer drug that costs $30,000 a year in Canada balloons up to $129,000 a year below the border. In short: Start practicing those fake French accents, people. Advertisement We don't actually know how much the vaccine will cost in America, but according to negotiation reports, when the Army asked Sanofi for assurance that they won't go nuts with the price, they were basically met with a big "NAH." (A Sanofi executive has denied said "NAH.") But to be fair, we're only giving Sanofi a measly $173 million for their trials, in addition to the boost they got in their stock price just from being in the same neighborhood as the word "Zika." Google Finance Advertisement Advertisement

We cannot confirm or deny reports that Cracked is developing a vaccine for, uh, let's go with "dengue." This situation is especially problematic in states like Louisiana, where weather conditions make it an ideal spot for future Zika mosquito orgies. According to Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health Rebekah Gee, "We'd then be in a situation where we'd have to decide between funding for K-12 education and the Zika vaccine." Kids lose either way, it seems.

2 State Farm Rips Off Mississippi Taxpayers After Hurricane Katrina In the wake of the death and destruction brought on by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, some homeowners in Mississippi had a small comfort: It turns out their houses weren't destroyed by the hurricane after all! Nope, it was all just "water damage," you see. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Advertisement

"Just let it dry up for a few hours and it'll be as good as new." Or so declared insurance giant State Farm, which, what do you know, doesn't pay up for this type of damage. Since the company only covered wind insurance and the federal government covered flooding, the state ended up shelling out around half a billion buckaroos to homeowners left stranded after the disaster. To be exact, 6,810 policy holders received assistance from the state. Considering that the rebuilding process took years and some of the areas destroyed by the hurricane were never rebuilt, we're gonna go ahead and say Mississippi could have used that money. Advertisement In 2006, two sisters working for State Farm blew the whistle on the fact that their bosses had told adjusters to develop temporary dyslexia and write down "wind damage" instead of "flood damage." A clusterfuck of a court case ensued, with the insurance company trying to get the case thrown out on technicalities -- the mark of an innocent party. elenavolkova/iStock Advertisement

They hired Yoko Ono to testify that wind is nothing but "the water of the sky." It was only ten years after the hurricane, in 2015, that the courts finally ruled on Mississippi's favor, allowing the state to recover the massive losses suffered by basically doing State Farm's job for them. The company abided by the ruling and doesn't harbor any ill feelings, said a spokesman for the newly renamed Any-State-But-Mississippi Farm.
Okay, first of all, we want to get out ahead of the rumors  yes, our wicked uncle was raising this adorable and precocious pig for slaughter. But we had nothing to do with that  in fact, we saved its life! It was the runt of the litter, and papa said it was going to die anyway, so we took it in and cared for it until it grew big and strong.

Anyway, a few weeks go by and we start seeing these really long, insightful, honestly very funny bits of trivia intricately woven all around the pigsty. Stuff about Bob Barker and Betty White beefing for half a decade Italy secretly feeding everyone microchips Coolios final appearance on Futurama. Some truly mind-blowing stuff, written in a way thats informative, yet accessible. Not too verbose at all.

Naturally, we attributed these tidbits to said pig, fumigated the sty (overrun with spiders), and compiled them into this handy list for you all to enjoy!

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12 Rip Torn Once Broke Into a Bank and Confronted Cops With a Loaded Gun In 2010, Torn got so drunk that he broke into a bank, having mistook it for his apartment (which was over a mile away). He fell asleep there, with a pistol, and started yelling at cops to get out of his house when they inevitably showed up. (Source)

11 The Man Who Requested a Year-Long Moratorium on Sex Botanist John Hill had a beef with The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. Specifically, over its acceptance of the theory that sperm werent cells, but fully formed, tiny lil guys that just needed to hang out in a vagina for nine months. He wrote letters to the Society, under the pseudonym of a fake physician, describing a rash of immaculate conceptions caused by tiny sperm-sized men. He begged the king to declare a temporary ban on sex until they could figure out what was going on. (Source)

10 A Childs Skeleton Was Found in an Ancient Eagles Graveyard The skull of a young Australopithecus africanus (a human ancestor) was found among a bunch of other animal bones. They were thought to have all been the prey of some big cat, until they noticed talon marks on the skulls, likely left by some ancient gigantic eagle that we have yet to find the remains of. (Source)

9 Italy Is Microchipping Fancy Folks Like expensive cheese? You may swallow a microchip without knowing it. Italian cheesemongers are putting edible microchips in their cheese in order to verify authenticity and combat the insidious practice of fancy parmesan counterfeiting. Now, what does edible mean, exactly? The chips are about the size of a grain of sand, so theyre just kinda hoping you dont notice as they enter or exit you. (Source) Advertisement Advertisement

8 Tuskegee: One City, Two Racist Opuses People often get two distinct embarrassing chapters in American history confused: the Tuskegee Airmen and the Tuskegee Experiment. The former were a group of all-Black fighter and bomber pilots that were held to near-impossible standards in the hopes of disqualifying them from service  but they instead became an elite badass supergroup who left racists with no argument for keeping the U.S. military segregated. The latter was a 40-year study in which the CDC refused to treat Black people who had syphilis with penicillin, in order to study the long-term effects of the disease. (Source)

7 The Bald Eagle Doesnt Sound Like That The classic SKREEE you hear accompanying a bald eagle on TV and in movies is a far cry from the desperate seagull chirp they actually make. But Americans demand a more dignified yawp from their emblematic scavenger, so audio engineers have settled on that badass screech. Its like a patriotic Wilhelm scream. (Source) Advertisement Advertisement

6 The Malleus Maleficarum Is an Ancient, Evil Erectile Dysfunction Commercial A big part of this 1486 manual on the detection and management of witches was dedicated to reassuring dudes that if their dong didnt work  or somehow went missing  a witch had either cursed it, or stashed it in a birds nest. The cure usually involved the brutal murder of innocent women. (Source)

5 Bob Barker and Betty White Beefed Over an Elephant In 2009, an elephant at the L.A. Zoo was given the okay to be transferred to an elephant sanctuary. Barker was in favor of the move, but White thought the zoo was the best home for him. Barker called White his sworn enemy, but they found common ground a few years later when a rich dentist murdered Cecil the Lion. (Source) Advertisement Advertisement

4 Coolios Final Episode of Futurama Is Out When Coolio passed away suddenly in 2022, fans felt a tiny bit of solace when they found out he had recorded his parts for the revival of Kwanzaa-Bot shortly before he died. His Season 11 episode, I Know What You Did Next X-Mas, is out now on Hulu. (Source)

3 Solar Eclipses Are a Literal Miracle The odds that the moon should take up almost exactly as much space in our sky as the sun does, despite their near-unfathomable difference in size, are astronomically low. The fact that their sizes and distances from the Earth are just the right ratio is an incredible, unexplained coincidence. (Source) Advertisement Advertisement

2 The Caribbean Wormhole The Caribbean Sea has been found to emit a mysterious hum thats detectable from space. Its a subaquatic vibration too low for humans to hear, but scientists have decided our best chance of understanding this thing is to call it a whistle. It happens when westward-moving waves cause a vibration at the bottom of the basin that forms the sea. Whats especially odd is that the whistling will stop when the current hits the western boundary of the sea  but start back up again 120 days later on the eastern boundary, as if it were looping through a huge set of portals. (Source)
If youre lucky enough to live in a village thats situated entirely within one uninterrupted landmass, then more power to ya. The rest of us are out here dodging bridge trolls left and right on our way to market. Due to generations of exposure to humans, most trolls cant be shooed off with a bindle, and theyre mostly immune to bear spray. The only reliable way to ward off a troll attack is to answer their questions three.

And look, their riddles arent as hard as they used to be. Groundwater pollution, global warming and, if were being honest, a penchant for inbreeding have caused troll brains to atrophy over the centuries. But their bite remains as powerful as a pit bulls, and their saliva can carry all manner of disease. So you dont want to be caught with your pants down.

Thats why weve packed you this satchel of trivia tidbits. If one of these little twerps jumps out of the rushes grumbling something about Danny DeVito playing Stretch Armstrong, Obamas crocodile insurance or Napoleons wiener, youll be glad you took it.

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12 People Wont Stop Taking Nude Pictures in This One Sunflower Field Stoke Fruit Farms in the U.K. has had to field repeated complaints from families who are forced to bear witness to unauthorized nude photo shoots in and around its sunflower patches. After three incidents in one day, they resorted to putting up handmade signs. (Source)

11 Henry Ford Was a Soyboy Ford was obsessed with soy-based plastic. Lots of the components in his cars were made of the stuff, and he even designed an all-soybean plastic car that he claimed was lighter and more durable than his other models. He pushed to use more sustainable materials and fuels in general, including a car made of engineered wood, and corn-based fuels. (Source)

10 Some Hackers Are Heroes Anonymous hackers claim to have removed harmful spyware from the devices of 76,000 unwitting potential targets of either individual stalking or government surveillance. (Source)

9 70 Percent of People Cheat While at Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties In a study of 6,000 people, 70 percent of respondents who attended a bachelor or bachelorette party admitted to doing anything from flirting or downloading a dating app to sexting or sleeping with someone. (Source) Advertisement Advertisement

8 Danny DeVito Almost Starred in a Stretch Armstrong Movie The producers first choice, Tim Allen, turned down the roll, but DeVito showed strong interest. His dealbreaker, though, was that they couldnt make any jokes about his height in this movie about a man whose dimensions change played by a man with dimensions that have been successfully played for comedic effect previously. (Source)

7 Oil Companies Are Recruiting Influencers Apologies in advance for this sentence: A grandfluencer (grandmother influencer) has been posting about how low-key lit Shells rewards program is. Over 100 other accounts have been seen doing sponcon for the people who are actively killing our planet, from momfluencers to nailfluencers. (Source) Advertisement Advertisement

6 This Guy Is Suing the BBC Over His Viral Moment Guy Goma, just some guy who showed up to interview for a job at the BBC, was mistaken for Guy Kewney, a tech expert theyd invited to the studio for a live news segment. They put the job interview guy live on air to discuss some highly technical stuff he knew nothing about, and an instant internet classic was born. Goma is now suing the BBC for any royalties generated by the massively viral clip. (Source)

5 Napoleons Penis Is in New Jersey Teaneck, New Jersey urologist John K. Lattimer bought the famous chode for $3,000 in 1977 (that would be a $14k purchase today). He gifted it to his daughter before his death, and shes been offered as much as $100,000 for it. (Source) Advertisement Advertisement

4 Mosquitoes Evolved to Piss on You Generally speaking, bugs can only release their waste in one combined goop. But blood-sucking insects have evolved to be able to release liquid on command, to make room for your delicious blood. Some insecticides are designed to block them from peeing, so they fill up and explode. (Source)

3 Dumpster Is Patented by the Dempsters Dempster Brothers, Inc. invented and patented a bunch of waste-management technology, including the Dempster Dinosaur, the Dempster Dumpmaster, and their magnum opus, the Dempster Dumpster. (Source) Advertisement Advertisement

2 Owning a Baby Walker Could Land You in Jail Canada banned baby walkers in 2004, due to apparently high rates of injury. Penalties for owning or selling one can include six months in jail, or a $100,000 fine. (Source)
For 30 years, a group of friends and I, all of us big David Letterman fans, have invoked one particular phrase to differentiate ourselves from those who are merely fond of the venerable talk-show host. Nobody else catches the reference, which is fine with us. Its a code for the real diehards, the kind of utter absurdity that was Lettermans speciality. We even have his inflection just right.

Where the hell are the singing cats?

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That question was asked on August 30, 1993, the night of the very first episode of Late Show With David Letterman. For a lot of us, that was a pretty magical night  the evening that the King of Late Night would be officially crowned after being denied his rightful title for so long. It felt like a rare instance when one of our guys ended up on top  when the underdog, the class clown, the ordinary joe won the big prize. You didnt just love Letterman  you loved what he represented. And 30 years ago today, his ascension was cemented. At least we thought it was. A lot changed after that.

I havent gone back to watch Lettermans first Late Show since 1993, but I remember the details of that night vividly. I had just moved to college the week before, my new floormates and I bonding over our shared love for the gap-toothed Indiana funnyman. Eight days after I arrived on campus was his first show, which felt oddly perfect. I was in a new phase of my life, and so was Letterman. We watched the show, cheering on our smart-ass pal who had said goodbye to those NBC weasels  Lettermans favorite term for executives who dared cross him  and jumped ship to CBS, setting the stage for the infamous late-night wars of the 1990s. It was Letterman versus Leno, and what self-respecting person would root for shallow, smiley Jay? Letterman was cooler. He deserved to be the GOAT.

Even though its been 30 years since I watched that first CBS episode, I felt like I had a pretty good memory of the shows contents. Bill Murray was the first guest, and he proceeded to spray-paint Lettermans first name onto the front of the desk so that this larger new audience would know who Dave was. There was a Top 10 list, which was far from a certainty considering that NBC tangled with Letterman over which of his bits were the intellectual property of his old network.

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And, of course, there was a moment early on when, apropos of nothing, Paul Newman stood up in the audience, the rest of the crowd roaring with applause at his surprise appearance. When the ovation died down, Letterman thanked him for being there, which prompted the faux-puzzled Oscar-winner to ask a question: Where the hell are the singing cats? Sorry, Paul, Letterman responded, this wasnt Cats  this was his new show. Embarrassed, Newman realized he was in the wrong theater, quickly making a run for the exit.

Endlessly amused at the non-sequitur pointlessness of the bit, Letterman spent the rest of the show mocking/recalling Newmans question. Where the hell are the singing cats? It encapsulated what was so great about Letterman: The joke wasnt necessarily sharp, but its bizarreness nicely deflated the evenings pompous spectacle, the host snidely ridiculing the jokes (and, by his extension, his own) shrug-emoji futility. Letterman hated chummy showbiz phoniness, and he brought out a big Hollywood star to drive the point home. Newman didnt give a shit about Lettermans much-anticipated debut on CBS  he wanted to see Cats.

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If you look online, you can find that first Late Show on YouTube, so I decided to watch it for the first time in three decades, both curious and anxious. Like listening to live albums from shows you really loved or revisiting favorite childhood movies, there can be a jarring realization that comedy from the past just doesnt hold up. Times change, pop-culture references lose their potency, what was funny might just seem super-cringe now. So Im happy to report that Lettermans maiden CBS voyage is no embarrassment. Sure, its not a pantheon episode, but its got its funny moments. At the same time, though, in retrospect you can see why Lettermans late-night dominance wasnt going to last. America was never going to fully embrace a show this surly and odd. But it was fun while it lasted.

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For anyone who needs a refresher, before 1993, The Tonight Show was the preeminent late-night talk show, the one hosted by Johnny Carson, whose decades-long run ended when he announced his retirement in 1991. His last show was May of the following year, with his successor to be Jay Leno, whose peppy, polished guest-hosting gigs had endeared him to the NBC brass. Meanwhile, Letterman, whose Late Night aired right after The Tonight Show, was Carsons preferred replacement. But Letterman was denied the gig that seemed to be his birthright, angering journalists, TV critics and comedy fans who considered Late Night a groundbreaking and brilliantly, weirdly hilarious talk show. Hoping to compete in late night, CBS made Dave an offer. Soon, the forthcoming battle was the countrys biggest media story. Would Jay or Dave emerge victorious?

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We know that answer now, but we didnt on August 30, 1993. All that was clear in those first few minutes was, good lord, it looked like Letterman and his team got a much bigger budget than they did on the old NBC show. One of the charms of Late Night, which aired at 12:30 a.m. Eastern time, an hour after The Tonight Show, was that it exuded the vibe of a hip cable-access show with better celebrity guests. Watching that show, it always seemed like Letterman was getting away with something  hurling himself onto a wall wearing a velcro suit, marveling as Chris Elliott ate dog food with a straight face, harassing GE executives  and the fun came from wondering if anybody would ever stop him. There was nothing upscale or professional about Late Nights witty stupidity, which made it the polar opposite of the ingratiating, slightly sleepy Tonight Show. Letterman brought a snarl to late night, striking a chord with all the irony-drenched Gen-Xers in the viewing audience who saw in him an avatar for their own discontent with prepackaged Hollywood bullshit.

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Its hard to remember now, but Lettermans arrival on stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater that first Late Show felt like its own triumph. Sporting a spiffier suit than during the NBC years  and backed by a shiny, bigger new set  he wasnt the upstart anymore. He was on at 11:30, maybe not on NBC, but this was a whole new show  a smart alternative to The Tonight Show, which long felt like it had a monopoly on the late-night format. Yes, there was The Arsenio Hall Show, too, but Late Show felt grander and more confident. Lenos The Tonight Show was all neon L.A. glitz, while Late Show looked grownup and classy, hosted by a sarcastic wisecracker who loved to undercut the majesty of the famed theater where he now worked. (He joked on that first night that, when the construction team was refurbishing the place, they found some middle-aged lady accidentally buried in the walls whod been there ever since the Beatles historic 1964 performance  which had taken place nearly 30 years before Lettermans debut.)

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Watching it now, everything about Lettermans first CBS episode feels like a victory lap. The crowd immediately gives him a standing ovation, chanting, Dave! Dave!, which Letterman (in perfect Midwestern fashion) both seems to enjoy and is embarrassed about. (When the noise finally dies down, Letterman quips, If you think about it, all I did was take the summer off.) But the raucous response was understandable. This was like your favorite band going from club dates to playing arenas. Letterman is in this huge space! Hes big time now!

But despite the fanciness, Letterman seems determined to lower expectations and crack jokes about the extravagance. A running gag was his annoyance at how many promos CBS aired advertising his new show. (The Gulf War didnt get this kind of coverage, he quipped to Paul Shaffer.) When the producers ran a fancy new graphic in front of the Top 10 list, Dave deadpanned, Thats about a million bucks right there. (That the graphic now looks so incredibly cheap by modern TV standards only makes the joke funnier.) NBCs nightly news anchor Tom Brokaw comes on during the monologue, not to congratulate Letterman but to take two of Daves cue cards that contain jokes, Brokaw says, that belong to NBC. Who would have thought you would ever hear the words intellectual property and NBC in the same sentence? Letterman sneers after Brokaw walks off. Also making fun of CBS  theres a Murder, She Wrote joke in the monologue  Letterman wants to make it clear he hasnt changed. He hasnt go showbiz, even if his studio is now literally on Broadway.

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If you checked out an episode of a random talk show from 30 years ago  hell, 10 or 5 years ago  it would probably be a series of peaks and valleys. Its one of the great joys and limitations of late night, which is meant to be entertaining but disposable, ready to be discarded for the next evenings jokes and guests. These shows are a grind to write and make, and especially back then, before the internet changed how we digest such programs, they were mostly something to watch before you went to bed  or, if you were like a lot of young people who worshiped Dave, you taped it on your VCR in order to watch during more reasonable hours. Theyre not meant to be totems or time capsules. Theyre a collection of hastily-written topical jokes and flirty banter that you barely remember afterward.

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Letterman was 46 when he filmed that first Late Show, lacking the gravitas and faint whiffs of tenderness that would eventually surface later in his life once he embraced medication for depression and fatherhood for the restlessness he thought might be permanent. Theres little attempt to speak sincerely about the momentousness of the occasion  theres only the silliness of bringing out the entire construction crew to thank them, or a classic Letterman remote segment in which he asks unreceptive New Jersey residents for ideas for the CBS show. (Predictably, and quite amusingly, most people think this Letterman guy is a doofus  if they even know who he is.)

That said, it is a bit of a bummer that the first Late Show doesnt have a lot of incredible moments. Where the hell are the singing cats? is still wonderful. But Murrays appearance is mostly shtick, the Groundhog Day actor committing to bits that just arent that funny. (This, however, doesnt apply to him taking forever to come on stage after his name is called, finally running on and out of breath: He went to the old studio, he explains betweens gasps.) As for Lettermans first musical guest, I had completely forgotten who that was, then realized why I hadnt remembered: Billy Joel came out to perform the supernally anonymous rock song No Mans Land off River of Dreams, which was the No. 1 album at the time. (Fun fact: Joel hasnt released a new studio record of pop/rock music since.)

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After the song, theres a brief, awkward conversation between Joel and Letterman at the desk in which they seem to have absolutely nothing in common. At least Letterman could riff off Murrays dying bits. When Murray tries to spray-paint the desk, the malfunctioning spray can adds to the evenings principled half-assed approach  Murray can only get out a D and an A before basically giving up. Often, a joke on Letterman bombing was better than when it killed because it seemed to speak to the shows underlying ethos, which was that this was all a waste of time. We didnt mind that  we wouldnt want to waste time with anyone other than Dave. With him, time-wasting was practically a political stance, an admission that so much of life was strained attempts to be self-important. Dave encouraged us to find the value (and the humor) in just farting around. Before Seinfeld, Letterman mastered the art of making a show about nothing.

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Did I remember that first nights Loni Anderson joke? No, and I had to look up what it was in reference to. Was I thrilled to hear Letterman make cracks about Joey Buttafuoco? I was not, because it reminded me of the generally stupid, lewd jokes talk shows would make at the time about anything involving sex scandals. Even the programs old-fashioned boxy aspect ratio  long before HD widescreen became the preferred format  speaks to what it hopelessly bygone about that initial Late Show.

My 2023 mixed reaction to the episode was a huge disappointment to 1993 me  I could have sworn the CBS debut (and Late Show in general) was tremendous. And perhaps it was for the time. A lot of the epiodes appeal was just getting to see Dave enjoy his moment in the spotlight. Taken for granted, not yet hailed as one of his eras foundational comedy titans who inspired hundreds of comics and future talk-show hosts, Letterman seemed to be finally earning the props hed been deprived of to that point. For a guy known for his pessimism and perfectionist streak, he actually seemed somewhat happy that night.

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Maybe the young me was loving not so much that specific episode but the idea of what Late Show was going to be  a confirmation that we were right about our Dave all along. The older me watched it knowing what was to come: the incredible post-heart surgery episode, the unforgettable monologue after 9/11, the night he told us about being extorted because hed had affairs with female employees, the Warren Zevon episode, so many other highlights. But I also remembered how Late Show didnt ultimately beat The Tonight Show, Lenos ratings eventually overtaking Lettermans. And as years went by, Letterman seemed increasingly less engaged by the show  he looked bored, frankly. He had moved on, but he was still sitting behind that desk. Dave achieved so much on late night, but you cant do one of those programs without also delivering hour upon hour of episodes that just kinda stink. Its inevitable, its baked into the format  you fail more than you succeed, although Letterman succeeded more often than others. But with that first Late Show, he still seems perfect.

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At the same time, though, I see the Letterman who was never going to be Americas sweetheart. There was always something aloof about the man  he radiated folksy charm, but he also came across as a bit distant. When Murray brings him into the audience to shake peoples hands in order for them to get to know him, Letterman doesnt warm to the suggestion, seeming uncomfortable. (Although understandable, its even worse when Murray opens the side stage door and passersby quickly swarm Dave.) For all his strengths, Letterman never had Lenos effortless personal touch. He didnt have Carsons ability to be universal. He wasnt capable of fully connecting with the mainstream. Those who loved Letterman loved these supposed failings about him. He was always ours  he was never everyones, because the world was never smart enough to get how great he was.

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First nights of new talk shows are famously uneven. The first Late Show with Stephen Colbert was rocky as hell. (Plus, it almost didnt air because of near-disastrous technical glitches.) Whether its a series pilot or a Broadway show, you have to give performers a chance to figure out the damn thing theyre making. The same holds true for Lettermans first CBS episode  it would get better over time.

But watching that debut episode again after 30 years, I was also struck by how antiquated this type of talk show is now. From The Daily Show to The Colbert Report to The Eric Andre Show to Desus & Mero to Ziwe to Hot Ones, weve now had decades of reinvention of the format, a systematic stripping away of the conventions that Letterman was merely mildly subverting in his day. Plus, theres none of the viral-y, often gimmick-y moments on that first Late Show that were crucial to later hosts like James Corden. Ensuring people pass a clip around on YouTube  no matter how inane  has become far more important than goofing off and doing nothing.

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Its impossible to believe now, but 30 years ago, Late Show felt like the future of late-night television. And for a while, it was. But its a funny thing about the future  it keeps changing as new talents throw out the old and try something fresh. Thats what Letterman was doing back then. In that first CBS episode, he pays tribute to Ed Sullivans legacy while also joking about how outdated he was by then-modern standards. Its both blessing and curse that Letterman has lived long enough and amassed a formidable legacy himself that he now inevitably feels a bit like a relic himself. The greats are always passing the baton on to the next generation  what feels old-fashioned about that first Late Show is the direct result of Lettermans descendants determined to pay homage to their hero by topping him.
Midtown construction workers stiffed out of 1,800 hours pay recouped their hard-earned wages Wednesday at the Manhattan district attorneys office.

The seven workers made whole at the DAs first wage-repayment event were owed about $50,000 from Ampak Electrical Services for electrical work they performed at British billionaire Richard Bransons hotel on W. 30th St and Broadway in 2021.

They were repaid with cash from DA Alvin Braggs Stolen Wage Fund in an initiative with the state Department of Labor and the city Department of Investigation.

It is painful it ended this way, said one of the workers, Anthony Kodjo, 47. I felt like we just worked for free because we dont know who to ask [for] the money.

Midtown construction workers stiffed out of 1,800 hours pay recoup their stolen wages Wednesday at the Manhattan district attorneys Office.

The DA said an estimated $1 billion in wages is stolen from New Yorkers annually.

It comes down to power and power disparities. This is not happening to high-powered lawyers and captains of industry. This is happening in low-wage jobs, medium wage jobs as well, Bragg told the Daily News, noting a majority of victims are undocumented immigrants.

At its core is power disparity  employers who are just cheating the system, who might not go out and take $1,000 out of someones pocket but are literally taking it out of their pocket through their wages, he added. What were saying is, its the same, and it has to be treated as such and prosecuted as such.

Ampak Electrical Services is now defunct. Neither Branson nor his hotel were not accused of any wrongdoing.

The seven workers made whole at the DAs first wage-repayment event were owed about $50,000 from Ampak Electrical Services for electrical work they performed at British billionaire Richard Bransons hotel on W. 30th St and Broadway in 2021.

Manhattan workers still waiting to be paid within a year of the resolution of their employers criminal case are eligible for compensation from Braggs fund. Its also set up to help those employed by bankrupt businesses unable to cough up payment. The Labor Department vets and calculates the claims distributed by the DA.

The program is still in the pilot phase. If its determined to be successful after one year, the DA will inject another $500,000 in funds.

New Yorkers who believe they are a victim of wage theft can call the DAs Worker Protection Unit at (646) 712-0298.
If you use the MTAs OMNY payment system, your trip history is available to anyone who has your credit card number  and cybersecurity experts said Wednesday the setup might threaten your privacy.

The tap-to-pay systems recent trips feature allows anyone with an internet connection to find the last seven days worth of bus and subway trips for a given credit or debit card.

The feature displays the time and date of each recent fare payment, as well as which station was used.

The vulnerability, first reported by tech investigative outlet 404 Media, has been confirmed by the Daily News.

A screenshot showing some of the data available by entering one Daily News reporters credit card information into the OMNY systems Trip History feature.

The system is far from is far from secure, said Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist with the New York Civil Liberties Union.

From technologically facilitated means to eavesdropping, to reading a card across a table at a restaurant or handing a [credit] card over at a bar, theres many creative ways [to get someones information,] said Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist with the New York Civil Liberties Union.

This flies in the face of general cybersecurity practices, Schwarz added.

An MTA spokesman told The News that the feature exists as a courtesy to straphangers who dont want to set up online accounts to use OMNY.

The information is meant to help riders keep track of fare-capping, an MTA discount that only charges passengers for the first 12 rides taken in a 7-day period.

The trip history feature gives customers a way to check their paid and free trip history for the last 7 days without having to create an OMNY account, MTA spokesman Eugene Resnick told The News.

Were always looking to improve on privacy, and will consider input from safety experts as we evaluate possible further improvements, Resnick said. The MTA is committed to maintaining customer privacy.

Schwarz said the MTA needs to do better to protect customers privacy.

The [trip history function] really allows anyone to pull up travel records, he said. This can be very revealing and showcase specific patterns  when somebody goes to work, when they might go to meet with someone  it would really be a gold mine for stalkers or anyone with malicious intent.

Will Owen, a spokesman for the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, agreed.

This trip history feature shows how susceptible [OMNY is] to stalkers, abusers, or anyone who has access to your credit card information, he said.

The feature as it is clearly has no protection whatsoever  not a even a password or a PIN.

The tap-and-go system of paying fares at New York Citys subways and buses is seen on two turnstiles at the Fulton Center Station in 2019.

OMNY has been in the works as a successor to the aging MetroCard system since 2009, and it began operating as a pilot program in 2019.

The system allows riders to pay by tapping a tap-to-pay enabled credit card or smart phone on a reader at the turnstile.

According to MTA data, more than 40% of subway and bus rides are now paid for with the OMNY system

Resnick, the MTA spokesman, pointed out that any data will only show where a trip originated, since New York Citys transit system only requires a rider to swipe upon entry.

Users who do create an account on the MTAs OMNY page can review the past 12 months of their ridership data.

Resnick also noted that customers have the option of paying for pre-loaded OMNY cards in cash, which would not have identifying payment information.

Currently, those cards are only sold at third-party retailers including some CVS, Walgreens and independent pharmacies.

The MTA plans to put cash vending machines for OMNY cards in stations throughout the system by next month.
The suspect in a Cross Bronx Expressway killing of a father of four turned violent after the victim started recording him at the scene of an accident, according to the NYPD.

Fausto Rodriguez, 40, driving in his Honda Accord, was rear-ended by the driver of a stolen Ford Edge near the Jerome Ave. exit in Morris Heights just before 11 p.m. Friday night, cops said Tuesday.

The men in the purloined car fled the scene, some on foot, after both cars pulled to the shoulder of the highway.

Police secure a vehicle on the southbound lane of the Cross Bronx Expressway at the Jerome Ave exit, in which a person was fatally shot on Friday,

The driver of that car states to the victim, This is a stolen car  you deal with it, and gets in another car and drives off, NYPD Assistant Chief Joseph Kenny said.

The suspect, however, returned to where the crash happened, driven by another man in a Rav4.

The killer opened up the stolen vehicle to retrieve something and Rodriguez tried to stop him, Kenny said.

The victim says, No, youre not taking anything out of that car  Were waiting for the police and he starts to record them. An argument ensues, a firearm is produced. He is shot and killed, the assistant chief added.

The suspected murderer has been identified by police but he is yet to be arrested.
Eight years ago George Osborne, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, took a large delegation of business and cultural leaders to Shanghai to proclaim the start of a golden era in relations between Britain and China.

This declaration in a supine speech to the Stock Exchange, the centrepiece of the five-day visit, was among the most naive displays of kowtowing to the gruesome dictatorship performed by any Western government minister in recent years.

Lets stick together to make Britain Chinas best partner in the West, said Osborne, sucking up to the Communist Party chiefs in toe-curling style as he told his despotic hosts that they deserved an even stronger voice in global institutions.

After his speech, Osborne went to Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang province, home of Chinas persecuted Uighur minority. Incredibly, despite an outbreak of deadly ethnic violence at a nearby colliery that day, he stayed silent on genocidal atrocities being perpetrated on Muslim minorities in the region.

Little wonder this fawning British politician won praise from Chinas state-run media as the first Western official in recent years who focused on business potential rather than raising a magnifying glass to the human rights issue .

James Cleverly shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a meeting on Wednesday

David Cameron rolled out the red carpet for Chinas leader Xi Jinping on a state visit that included a 103-gun salute along with a lavish banquet hosted by the Queen and a convivial pint of IPA

The next month, his boss David Cameron rolled out the red carpet for Chinas leader Xi Jinping on a state visit that included a 103-gun salute along with a lavish banquet hosted by the Queen and a convivial pint of IPA with the PM in a pub near Chequers.

Since then, President Xi has shown the foolishness of such obsequiousness. Far from cosying up to the West in return, he stepped up his use of slave labour and forced sterilisations in Xinjiang, imposed a savage crackdown on Hong Kong, issued brazen threats to seize Taiwan and, when the Covid pandemic erupted, launched a self-serving cover-up.

While Osborne flattered Beijing by saying it should have a stronger voice in global bodies, the regime failed to even tell the World Health Organisation that a lethal new disease had emerged in Wuhan, then hid evidence of human-to-human transmission and frustrated all efforts to discover its origins.

Yet, shockingly, our leaders have not taken these lessons on board  quite the opposite. Which is why we now see the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visiting Beijing to pursue what he calls a pragmatic working relationship  diplomatic code for making another attempt to cuddle up to China after that golden era rapidly lost its sheen.

Once again, the so-called realism beloved of many mandarins and politicians is on display as they bid to collect a few crumbs from Chinas stumbling economy and suggest they can influence Beijing on issues such as climate change and the Ukraine war.

We now see the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly (pictured) visiting Beijing to pursue what he calls a pragmatic working relationship  diplomatic code for making another attempt to cuddle up to China after that golden era rapidly lost its sheen, writes IAN BIRRELL

Never mind all the evidence that Xi has ratcheted up repression, a dictator who stops at nothing  even the crippling of major companies if their bosses displease him  as he seeks to create a cult of personality that will put him on a par with Chairman Mao.

Nor the fact that this repulsive regime employs rigid censorship, facial recognition cameras and smart technology to control 1.4 billion citizens  almost one fifth of the people on our planet  in the most sinister Orwellian style imaginable.

Indeed, all the evidence is that China is seeking to create a new global order based on its brand of autocracy by ramping up its military machine, illegally extending its terrain, intimidating neighbours and spying on Western foes.

Cleverly claims his trip  the first by such a senior British figure in five years after months of intense lobbying by his civil servants  is intended to help avoid mistrust and errors.

Yet few nations are more guilty of spreading mistrust than the mendacious and bullying dictatorship run by the ultra-nationalist Xi, who  like his bloodsoaked soulmate in the Kremlin  relies heavily on deception and lies to further his aims.

This can be seen from its bogus territorial claims over democratic Taiwan through to the shameful cover-up of Covids origins, despite being the birthplace of a strange new disease that caused such carnage, chaos and disruption around the world.

Beijings officials even spread a ridiculous conspiracy theory that claimed the virus might have leaked from a military laboratory in the U.S. and suggested it could have been imported to China on food packaging to deflect attention from their culpability.

Britain should know better than most nations to be wary of Xi after he reneged on the one country, two systems deal for Hong Kong, which was intended to protect its freedoms and governing system post-handover until 2047, following pro-democracy demonstrations.

The key instrument for crushing the protesters demands was a draconian national security law introduced three years ago after months of massive demonstrations. It was used to jail activists, silence media, stop protests and stifle the slightest acts of dissent.

Xi Jinping with the late Queen Elizabeth II during his state visit to the UK in 2015

Only last month, this menacing edict  which allows Xis stooges to prosecute acts or comments made anywhere in the world  was used to issue arrest warrants for eight Hong Kong democracy activists, with huge bounties placed on their heads.

Some of those based abroad saw their relatives detained and questioned, one of the Chinese Communist Partys trademark tactics when it comes to silencing opposition activists on foreign territory.

Three of these targets are based in Britain.

Yet in the most appalling betrayal of those activists and their noble cause, our Foreign Secretarys first meeting in Beijing was with Han Zheng, the architect of Hong Kongs crackdown who was rewarded earlier this year with a promotion to vice-president.

Such actions  like the rapid abandonment of Afghanistan  only give credibility to claims made by autocrats such as Xi and Putin that Western democracies are both weak and fickle. Pragmatism can look a lot like capitulation.

This behaviour sends a clear message around the world: our belief in freedom is flexible, our backing for democracy is negotiable and our support for human rights can be bartered away for a few fat business contracts.

Cleverly is an affable fellow whom I first met before he became an MP  but any idea that his cosy cup of tea with Han will persuade the regime to switch course on Russia, stop threatening Taiwan or free all those Uighurs in barbaric camps is simply risible.

Even the Foreign Secretary admits: We are not going to change China overnight.

Meanwhile, his aides are angling for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to be granted a summit with Xi when both men attend the G20 meeting in India next month.

Yet Mr Sunak should bear in mind that the thuggish Chinese government has also sanctioned senior UK politicians who have spoken out against the regime, including a former leader of his own party, Iain Duncan Smith, and Tom Tugendhat, a ministerial colleague who sits with him around the Cabinet table.

Cleverly (pictured with Vice President Han Zheng) is an affable fellow whom I first met before he became an MP  but any idea that his cosy cup of tea with Han will persuade the regime to switch course on Russia or stop threatening Taiwan is simply risible

Beijing has also threatened Uighur refugees in Britain, monitored Chinese students here and uses secretive police stations on our soil to harass dissidents. One Hong Kong protester was even beaten up last year in their Manchester consulate.

Little wonder even the Tory-dominated Foreign Affairs Committee questions the coherence of Government policy towards China, pointing out that the growing aggressiveness of its Communist leadership is a threat to the UK and its interests.

As it rightly concluded this week, the Beijing dictatorship seeks to silence criticism of its human rights abuses and impose its foreign policy and Xi Jinpings thought beyond its own borders. This is a challenge to the functioning of democracies globally.

Their words should be heeded by Sunak and Cleverly. And they should reflect hard on how the supposed golden era of Sino-British relations in 2015 lost its lustre and tarnished their predecessors when Xis aggressive, brutal and secretive plans for global domination became only too grotesquely apparent.
Most businesses operate on the principle that the customer should always come first. In the airline industry, it appears the opposite is true.

Whenever crisis hits, the poor beleaguered passengers always seem to find themselves at the bottom of the list of priorities.

Following the collapse of the air traffic control system on Monday, millions of travellers are still struggling to fly out of British airports... or get back home from abroad. In the scramble, many will be left out of pocket through no fault of their own as the air travel industry struggles to cope.

Too often, the sector is painfully slow to find alternative flights or provide emergency accommodation and food for those families caught up in the mayhem.

It's now becoming clear why the National Air Traffic Services' computers crashed so dramatically.

A technical fault at National Air Traffic Services (NATS) on Monday has disrupted thousands of flights so far this week

A French carrier is reported to have incorrectly filed a flight plan. It beggars belief that the only back-up for inputting data was a manual system. After the worst breakdown in a decade, urgent action is needed to ensure it can't happen again.

Equally, when calamity strikes, the industry has a duty of care to its customers. Troublingly frequently, it looks to wriggle out of its responsibilities, knowing it is unlikely to face any real consequences.

True, this meltdown wasn't the airlines' fault. However, given the scale of disruption to so many of its clients, doesn't the sector have a moral responsibility to step up to the plate and pay compensation?

When will Khan listen?

London Mayor Sadiq Khan's hated Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion yesterday got off to a predictably chaotic start.

Vigilantes have already rendered hundreds of the scheme's cameras useless by spraying the lenses with paint, cutting the wires or even demolishing them entirely.

Let us be clear: The Mail does not condone such wanton acts of vandalism. But considering the way this 12.50-a-day charge has been imposed on long-suffering motorists, such anger is understandable.

Protesters gathered outside Downing Street on Tuesday, the first day of the ULEZ expansion

Not only has it been forced through undemocratically in the face of overwhelming opposition, but it has also been done on the back of spurious scientific evidence  similar to the Covid lockdown.

In fact, an independent study claims the impact Ulez will have on London's air quality will be negligible at best.

So far, Mr Khan's reaction to any criticism of this deeply flawed policy has been to simply cover his ears. But should this furious backlash continue, he may have little choice but to start listening.

Watery end to EU law

No one wants noxious chemicals fouling Britain's rivers and harming wildlife. So it's understandable if people are anxious about Government plans to loosen EU-era water pollution rules on new housebuilding.

But by committing extra millions to protecting our waterways and upgrading waste treatment works, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove should ensure this doesn't happen.

No one wants noxious chemicals fouling Britain's rivers and harming wildlife, but by committing extra millions to protecting our waterways and upgrading waste treatment works, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove should ensure this doesn't happen

His blueprint will enable the construction of thousands of desperately needed homes and give a vital boost to the economy.

This is not  as green activists claim  the wicked Tories destroying the countryside, but sensibly balancing economic and environmental wellbeing.

The NHS is already one of the largest employers in the world, with 1.4 million staff.

An ageing population and medical advances mean the strain on the system will be so great the workforce is expected to almost double by 2036. That would mean the organisation employing one in 11 workers in England.

Yet, without sweeping reforms, poor patient outcomes are unlikely to radically improve. We risk becoming a health service with an economy attached.
Britain was the pioneer of Parliamentary rule, but today our democratic system looks dangerously weak.

Despite winning a large majority at the last General Election, the ineffectual Tory Government is in office but not in power. Ministers pull policy levers and nothing happens. Instructions are ignored, new initiatives blocked.

The present crisis has occurred partly out of a new kind of officialdom ideologically opposed to the Conservatives agenda and determined to impose its own woke programme.

To critics, this unelected, unaccountable fiefdom is known as the Blob, taken from the 1958 U.S. science-fiction movie about an aggressive alien entity that absorbs and destroys all in its path.

Michael Gove gave the term its currency in modern British politics, when, as education secretary in the Coalition Government, he spoke of fierce opposition to his school reforms coming from an alliance of Left-wing campaigners, trade unionists, bureaucrats and activists determined to protect the status quo.

Emma Haddad (pictured), former director general for asylum and protection in the department, is to become a non-executive director of the charity Amnesty International

There has always been widespread cynicism towards the idea of the Blob.

Some see the concept as nothing more than a figment of the Tory Rights imagination. Others view it as an excuse for the Conservatives own failings and unpopularity.

But it is becoming harder to maintain such a dismissive attitude in the face of mounting evidence of the campaign within the state to thwart Government and the will of the British public.

This week, a spotlight was shone on the realities of the progressive ascendancy at the Home Office, when it was announced Emma Haddad, former director general for asylum and protection in the department, is to become a non-executive director of the charity Amnesty International, which has long been one of the Governments most ferocious opponents on immigration.

Indeed, with its habitual self-righteousness, Amnesty has described government attempts to tackle the people-smuggling racket in the English Channel as inhumane, racist and divisive.

It says everything about the values of the permanent bureaucracy at the Home Office and the stranglehold of the Blob on Whitehall that Britains former head of asylum should take up a position at Amnesty, an organisation that loathes the very concept of tough border controls.

To critics, this unelected, unaccountable fiefdom is known as the Blob, taken from the 1958 U.S. science-fiction movie about an aggressive alien entity that absorbs and destroys all in its path (pictured)

No asylum chief who actually believed in the rigorous maintenance of our national integrity would dream of joining an outfit like Amnesty.

But Ms Haddad, currently chief executive of St Mungos charity for the homeless, fits into Amnestys softly-softly culture where immigration is concerned, thereby confirming the view of many senior Tories that she was a key part of the resistance to the Government crackdown on border anarchy.

Her thinking was reflected in ridiculously lenient guidance  as revealed recently in The Mail on Sunday  that the Home Office gave to caseworkers assessing asylum claims. It included warnings not to be sceptical or to adopt any form of interrogation the applicant might find traumatic. No wonder under this feeble regime, three-quarters of claims are accepted in Britain, compared with barely a third in France.

With a Masters from the European Institute in Florence, a PhD from the London School of Economics in international relations and forced migration and a stint as a national expert in migration at the European Commission, Ms Haddad was never going to be an advocate of taking back control.

Her case perfectly exemplifies how the metropolitan liberal class has taken charge of our country without ever winning an electoral mandate.

At her old Home Office base, the Blobs defiance of government policy is stark.

When Home Secretary Suella Braverman announced her plan to use Rwanda as a base for illegal migrants, posters and stickers appeared around her department saying no to racist deportations.

Braverman also attacked Whitehalls obsession with training in diversity and inclusion, arguing it fostered divisions, wasted public money, promoted an ugly political ideology and fuelled a climate of grievance.

The result? The number of civil servants receiving diversity training at the Home Office has more than doubled.

One of the most fervent of diversity course enthusiasts is Sir Matthew Rycroft, the Home Offices Permanent Secretary  who boasts of being Whitehalls champion of race and of faith and belief in successive years. His credentials in this regard seem more impressive than his managerial competence.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman during a visit to Greater Manchester Police HQ

Home Office asylum caseworkers process just one a week on average, which helps to explain why the backlog is now 175,000, adding to a sense of Government impotence.

Administrative ineptitude has even been weaponised against Ministers, as happened with the barge Bibby Stockholm, meant to be used as emergency accommodation for asylum seekers.

After legionella bacteria were found in the water supply, the first residents had to be evacuated. Politicians were blamed. But why did officials not complete the tests before anyone boarded?

This pattern of obstruction is repeated across Whitehall and other parts of the public sector, where anti-Tory rebellion takes several forms. One is the spread of disruption through industrial action and absenteeism  far higher in Whitehall than in the private sector.

At the Ministry of Justice, which presides over the shambolic courts system, staff on average take 12 days sick leave a year. Thats the same Ministry of Justice where civil servants forced out lord chancellor and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab by painting him as a bully.

His real offence was not so much his managerial style as his demand for a tough approach to tackling criminality  against the progressive idea that offenders need support rather than punishment.

The strength of the Blob is also reflected in the close relationship between the Labour opposition and Whitehall, as laid bare by the recent decision of top civil servant Sue Gray to become Sir Keir Starmers chief of staff.

She had been presented as such a paragon of impartiality that she had the highly sensitive job of investigating lockdown breaches in Downing Street during the pandemic.

Effectively, the fate of Boris Johnson was in her hands, yet it now seems she was already looking ahead to a future role.

The strength of the Blob is also reflected in the close relationship between the Labour opposition and Whitehall

Equally striking is how the Blob presses ahead with its own social justice agenda, regardless of opinions of elected ministers. Public buildings are decked in rainbow colours, staff urged to use the right pronouns, wear Pride badges, and join networks of minority pressure groups.

Departments used to focus on delivering services to the public. Now they are citadels of social engineering, indoctrination and groupthink.

If not being instructed to celebrate diversity, they are being sent on training courses in Critical Race Theory and Unconscious Bias.

One official said of Antonia Romeo, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice: During my entire career, I have never seen anyone push the woke agenda harder.

Indeed, managers like her compete to win the official approval, not of ministers, but of self-appointed watchdogs of diversity such as the Stonewall transgender rights group which has created a climate of witch-hunting in Whitehall.

The Civil Service used to claim it was a Rolls-Royce. Today, it is a clapped-out campervan full of earnest radicals. Depressingly for the Tories, this decline has accelerated in the 13 years of their rule.
How is it possible that a solitary rogue piece of data could trigger the complete meltdown of the air traffic control system?

The UK's National Air Traffic Services is supposed to have sophisticated computers capable of handling high volumes of flights from across the globe. Its inept performance on Bank Holiday Monday would have shamed the operators of a sun-baked mud airstrip in remotest Africa.

If just one badly filed flight plan can, as reported, cause days of disruption  thousands of cancellations and holidaymakers stranded abroad  it shows the whole system is terrifyingly vulnerable.

This shambles will be studied by hostile nations who would relish crippling Britain by grounding our aviation sector.

Pressing questions remain. Didn't Nats have a proper electronic back-up? Has there been a failure to invest in the most robust and technologically advanced systems?

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: This shambles will be studied by hostile nations who would relish crippling Britain by grounding our aviation sector

Those who say bungling bosses should fall on their swords as a result of this humiliation certainly have a point.

Yet chief executive Martin Rolfe, who now insists measures are in place to prevent another such failure, trousered 1.3million in the year to March. To the casual observer, that looks like an obscene reward for failure.

As ever, the victims of this crisis are the ordinary, hard-working people who saved up for a summer holiday. In the scramble to get back home, many will be left out of pocket. Some are sleeping on airport floors, others are running out of medication.

It is to the aviation industry's enormous credit that air travel remains, statistically, one of the safest means ever devised of getting from one place to another.

But today, the sector stands accused of abdicating its responsibility to customers embroiled in this mayhem. If fair compensation is not paid, passengers will have been badly let down.

Carnival of violence

The Notting Hill Carnival is supposed to be a joyous celebration of Britain's Afro-Caribbean community. What a shame, then, that these days it has become more of a byword for knife crime and disorder.

Last weekend, eight men were stabbed, thugs brandished machetes in the streets and 75 police officers were attacked. If such wanton criminality occurred, say, at Glastonbury, there would rightly be uproar.

So why did the violence not warrant so much as a mention on the BBC's News at Ten  nor even its London bulletin  on Tuesday, once the grim tally had been collated? Presumably because the narrative didn't fit with the Corporation's achingly woke, diversity-championing agenda.

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: It is ludicrous that convicted serious criminals such as serial baby killer Lucy Letby can refuse to attend court to hear the judge pass their sentence

Scotland Yard has called for the carnival to be held in Hyde Park in future to make it easier to police. The latest violence makes that plea increasingly difficult to ignore.

No hiding place

It is ludicrous that convicted serious criminals such as serial baby killer Lucy Letby can refuse to attend court to hear the judge pass their sentence.

So we welcome the Government's promise of a new law that will compel murderers and other serious offenders to appear in the dock, including by force if necessary, rather than hiding in the cells.

These monsters have destroyed lives. Their victims' families deserve the justice of looking in their eyes as they learn their fate.
Given that the Invictus Games is the very best of Prince Harry, it is almost impossible to criticise his role in its inception and his appearances in Heart Of Invictus, the new five-part Netflix docu-series that focuses on the work and achievements of this very worthy organisation. But that is no reason not to try.

Let's start with some of the grandiose but essentially empty language Prince Harry uses in his Invictus speeches, in that familiar, self-righteous, hectoring tone that suggests no one is doing enough about anything except him.

'The world needs to be reminded of the power of the human spirit,' he booms in episode four, during his 2022 opening address to the Invictus Games in The Hague. What? Hold it right there, buster. Who on earth writes this guff for him?

Can I just press pause to say that no one is oblivious to the obvious? Millions are inspired by the power of the human spirit every day of the week. Indeed, few fail to be moved by its limitless capacity for resilience and beauty, for the endless bounty it gives to humanity.

JAN MOIR: Every time I want to warm to Harry, I am repelled by his huffy, unconscious entitlement and piercing sense of victimhood

From the recent plight of students stuck on a broken cable car in Pakistan, plucked from certain death by a daring rescue mission, to the four children who survived 40 days alone in the Amazon rainforest living on foraged fruit, the human spirit is among us, flourishing. Like being hurt, bereaved or misunderstood, it is not something upon which this embittered, exiled royal has a monopoly.

And that is the problem. Every time I want to warm to Harry, I am repelled by his huffy, unconscious entitlement and piercing sense of victimhood; as if he were the only one in the world ever to have suffered.

To his credit, he shines a spotlight on these soldiers, these men and women with life-changing injuries. They were maimed in the service of their own countries, for doing what was asked of them by their government.

What is compelling about Invictus is that it makes us look at them and the triumph of their truncated lives instead of looking away. It makes us think about the sacrifice they have made for freedom and for us.

Yet it takes a special kind of able-bodied person to bear witness to the limbless and the wounded, the 'double amps', the blind and the horribly maimed, and then talk about losing his mother at the age of 12.

Prince Harry is that person. 'I was unable to cry, unable to feel,' he says in one episode, a theme he returns to again and again.

'When it all came fizzing out, I was bouncing off the walls,' he says. Elsewhere he was 'lying on the floor in a foetal position' and takes the opportunity to complain about a lack of support from his family and how he should have been given therapy earlier.

JAN MOIR: Millions are inspired by the power of the human spirit every day of the week. Take the recent plight of students stuck on a broken cable car in Pakistan, plucked from certain death by a daring rescue mission

JAN MOIR: The four children who survived 40 days alone in the Amazon rainforest living on foraged fruit show the human spirit is among us, flourishing

Indeed, throughout all five parts of this glossy, well-produced series there are multiple trigger warnings about mental health issues and exhortations for those who are in torment to seek help.

Yet after all his years in therapy, is Harry really the best advert for its benefits? Sometimes he sounds as if he is still brined in the same old pickle.

'I found myself, I now need to get a glass jar and put myself in, leave the lid open and my therapist said, 'You choose what comes in and everything else bounces off',' he says, an explanation that is as clear as malt vinegar.

That is not to say the Invictus Games and those who take part in them are not truly inspiring, they are. We learn early on how the Prince was motivated to start Invictus by the sight of wounded soldiers sharing his repatriation flight back from Afghanistan in 2013.

How could he help ease their trauma and give new meaning to their shattered lives? Through sport, he thought, rather brilliantly. His inspiration is commendable, his energy in making this vision a reality is to be admired. Hugely.

Compare Prince Harry's Invictus contribution to humanity to any philanthropic impact made by Prince Andrew, his do-nothing dumpling of an uncle, and one sees with clarity who is by far the better man.

Yet like a blue vein of pain running through the cheese of peeve, Harry cannot stop himself from playing a misbegotten blame game.

His belief that the Afghan war and its military casualties were not covered by the UK Press is an unforgivable, lazy untruth; a slur on all those war correspondents who risked their lives covering the conflict  and indeed, some of whom never came home.

JAN MOIR: The Duchess of Sussex is a glamorous, supportive but wispy presence in the docu-series

Prince Harry's endless war against British newspapers is sometimes unfathomable, as his ongoing ignorance suggests he has never actually read one.

The Duchess of Sussex is a glamorous, supportive but wispy presence. She attends a few Invictus meetings, wears a scarlet ballgown to accompany Harry to a veterans' gala in New York in episode two and describes him as 'my incredible husband' in episode four.

And he is incredible, not just for allowing himself to be glutinously introduced, in the very first episode, as 'the humanitarian, environmentalist, mental wellness advocate and military veteran, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex'.

Sound the trumpets!

In the end, Heart Of Invictus is a search for validation and healing, as much for Prince Harry as anyone else.
A wedding guest has revealed how she landed herself in hot water after a fellow pal won 5,000 on a wedding favour scratch card, which she suggested she share with the bride.

Writing on Reddit, the woman, from the UK, explained that her friend won the cash prize at a mutual friend's wedding in Cyprus, but things soured after she asked how much she would be giving to the newlyweds.

She said her friend, who won the money with her partner after the scratch cards were handed out to guests, became upset and neither of them have spoken to her since.

Users online said the woman should have 'minded her own business' because the couple were under 'no obligation to share the winnings'.

A woman asked if she was in the wrong for suggesting her friends to share their wedding favour scratch card winnings with the bride and groom on Reddit (stock image)

The post read: 'Am I the a*****e for making my friend feel awkward for not sharing her lottery winnings?

'Last week I was a bridesmaid at my best friend's wedding - which was a destination wedding in Cyprus. Whole day was lovely, we had a wonderful time!

'For context I have a close friend group of ten, all couples and we all decided to make a big holiday of it and rented a villa for ten days, with the wedding on the 5th.

'As part of the wedding favours the bride and groom gave everyone a lottery scratch card in a cute little pouch. We all sat down to eat and while we were waiting, one of our friend group (call her Sarah) started jumping up and down shouting she had won 5,000 on the scratch card.

'The whole room erupted in applause, and the bride and groom ran over to congratulate them. It was already a very happy occasion but this just made it even better.

'The next day, we all sat down to breakfast in the villa and were chatting about the wedding and Paul and Sarahs win.'

She continued: 'They were saying what the planned to do with the winnings and everyone was asking questions and I casually asked how much of it they were going to give to the bride and groom.

'There was no agenda behind my question - I didnt ask because I was trying to hint that they should this, it just never occurred to me as a possibility that they wouldnt give at least a small amount as a belated wedding gift to the bride and groom, given they wouldnt have had the ticket without them.

'Sarah and Paul both went very quiet, and Paul said they werent going to give them anything. We sat in awkward silence for a bit, and Sarah got up and walked out.

'Later by the pool it was clear Sarah had been crying and Paul said I was the a****** for making them feel awkward and implying they were cheap.

Taking to Reddit, the woman from the UK explained that her friends won 5,000 at their other friends wedding in Cyprus

'I apologise and said thats not what I meant: I just said it because thats what I would do in their situation, but it is their money and their decision so they should do what they want with the money (I forget exactly how I worded it - but that was the gist). Pauls walked off and neither of them spoke to me for the rest of the holiday or since.

'Speaking with the rest of our friend group and my partner they have said they agree, they should give something to the bride and groom as a thank you, but also said that while it wasnt my intention my question did made the situation awkward.'

One person wrote: 'You have no idea what Paul and Sarah might need that money for (even if you think you know).

'The lotto ticket was a gift, so they have no obligation to share the winnings with anyone. But you just had to put them on the spot and implicitly pressured them to do what you think you would have done with the money if you had won instead.'

People rushed to the comments with many saying the woman should have 'minded her own business' as the couple were under 'no obligation to share the winnings'

Another said: 'Yikes. The scratch card was a gift to them. There was a lot of presumption and implied judgment in your question and your subsequent conversation with them (which made you look even worse), whether you meant it or not. Mind your own business in the future.'

Someone else wrote: '5,000 is a great win but its not so much they can share it without making their windfall pretty meaningless to them in the end and because of the way you phrased the question you stopped them from making a kind gesture themselves and turned it into an obligation where the amount they decided to share would then be an issue for people to question if it was enough or not.

'Its such a shame you turned something nice for them into something that made them sad.

'The bride and groom did a nice fun thing. Theyll have had wedding gifts and attention on their special day. Is that not enough?'

While a fourth wrote: 'They probably already got them a wedding present. Theyre under no obligation to give them more, especially from a gift that they were given by the hosts.'
The family of a five-year-old boy were shocked to discover he had cancer after he fell over in the park.

Reid Scanlon from Pontypridd was playing at Taff's Well Park in Cardiff on August 17, where he was being watched by his childminder.

The little boy had a fall and shortly afterwards began complaining of stomach pain, his mum Alison told WalesOnline.

He was taken to A&E where nurses said they were concerned he could have an issue with his spleen.

However, further tests revealed at Noahs Ark Childrens Hospital at University Hospital Wales, revealed that there was a Wilms' tumour in Reid's left kidney.

The little boy had a fall and shortly afterwards began complaining of stomach pain, Reid's mum Alison (right) told WalesOnline

Reid Scanlon from Pontrypridd was playing at Taff's Well Park in Cardiff on August 17, where he was being watched by his childminder

His mum was told the tumour, also known as nephroblastoma, was the size of a grapefruit.

Devastatingly, it was later found that Reid also had more smaller tumours in his right kidney.

Alison said while the news was a 'complete shock,' it's a 'blessing' that he fell over while he was playing, causing the tumour to be found.

The fall caused some minor internal bleeding from the nephroblastoma, which might not otherwise have been discovered until a later date,

The mother-of-four added: 'He seemed to be a very fit and healthy young boy. He loves playing and being outdoors. Hes often wrestling with his older brothers.

'Its been horrible. When you hear the word cancer you feel like its the end of the world and weve been very worried, and we are worried.

'But the consultant has told us treatment is available for Reid and were hopeful it will work.'

Reid will now start six weeks of chemotherapy in the hope that his tumours will shrink enough for his kidneys to be operated on.

Alison said while the news was a 'complete shock,' it's a 'blessing' that he fell over while he was playing, causing the tumour to be found

Reid will now start six weeks of chemotherapy, involving alternating treatment options, with the hope that his tumours will shrink enough for his kidney's to be able to be operated on

The deadly cancer that attacks children: What is nephroblastoma? Nephroblastoma, which is also referred to as Wilms tumor, is a rare cancer that starts in the kidneys and typically affects young children between the ages of three and four. It is the most common form of kidney cancer found in children and accounts for nine out of every ten kidney cancer cases in kids. Wilms tumor usually occurs in just one kidney, however in very rare cases it can affect both. Symptoms include abdominal swelling, abdominal pain, blood in the urine, fever, nausea or vomiting, loss of appetite and high blood pressure. Treatment varies on a case-to-case basis and is based largely on the stage of the cancer, however the majority of children have to have at least part of their kidney removed in order to prevent the disease from spreading. Many patients also undergo chemotherapy and/or radiation to kill off cancer cells in the body. Advertisement

The family were also told the condition could be genetic and the youngster could have been born with it.

There were 'no signs at all' and the mass had been growing for months.

Wilms' tumour is the most common pediatric renal cancer and is typically found in children under the age of five.

According to Cancer Research UK, around 80 children are diagnosed with it each year in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Wilms' tumours usually only affect one kidney.

However, in fewer than 10 out of every 100 children (less than 10%), it can affect both kidneys, which is sadly the case for Reid.

A fundraising page has been set up for the youngster in order to fund a holiday to give him something to look forward to.

In just five days it already has over 5,000 worth of donations and you can donate here.
A Bronx man surrendered Wednesday to police investigating the fatal shooting of a beloved auto shop worker after a late-night fender-bender last week, with his lawyer insisting the client had nothing to do with the killing.

Mohammad Al-Wazani, 21, turned himself in at the 46th Precinct stationhouse in the Bronx after arriving in a red tracksuit shortly after 10 a.m. as the probe into the homicide last Friday night continued.

It was unclear if he is facing criminal charges in the case where he drove the wanted killer back to the crash site. No arrests have yet been made in the death of Fausto Rodriguez, 40, a father of four, after a crash on the Cross Bronx Expressway.

Mr. Al-Wazani wanted to surrender as quickly as humanly possible, said defense attorney Nicholas Ramcharitar. My client had absolutely zero idea of what was going on  He wasnt aware of what was going to happen.

The lethal encounter occurred this past Friday after a Honda Accord was rear-ended by a Ford Edge just before 11 p.m., with the four riders inside the second vehicle initially bolting from the crash scene in Morris Heights.

Al-Wazani arrived later after getting a call from one of the quartet, with the lawyer describing the other person as just someone from the neighborhood. Al-Wazani believed the caller was possibly driving without his insurance card or registration and needed a ride to pick up the paperwork.

He had no idea (the man) was violent, what his tendencies were, said Ramcharitar. No idea of his record, just another kid he grew up with.

Police secure a vehicle on the southbound lane of the Cross Bronx Expressway at the Jerome Ave exit, in which a person was fatally shot on Friday.

Rodriguezs sister said her sibling was called to the scene by friends hopeful the mechanic could help with their damaged car. He was shot near the Jerome Ave. exit after a brief argument and died a short time later at St. Barnabas Hospital.

The victims sister believes Rodriguez was killed for recording cellphone video of the accidents aftermath.

Rodriguez, a native of the Dominican Republic, was known as a good-natured man with a kind word for all and a calm demeanor. Sister Emely recalled part of his daily routine was posting inspirational videos on Whats App shortly after waking up.
Prince Harry encouraged veterans gearing up for last year's Invictus Games to 'just f**king cry' if they get emotional as he gave Team UK athletes an inspirational speech, a new programme has revealed.

Speaking on a video call shown during the third episode of Netflix's Heart of Invictus, which aired today, the Duke of Sussex, 38, thanked former soldiers for their work and encouraged them to get caught up in the moment.

'You did it everyday wearing uniform and for one reason or another that uniform had to be hung up,' the royal told the huge group, led by Team UK captain Rachel Williamson, just weeks before last year's games in April 2022.

'That service service that runs in your blood, in our blood - that never leaves the body. It's there.

'So when you're out there, kicking a**, trying to win a medal or just having fun and making your family incredibly proud - when you feel that feeling in your throat and you feel like you might want to cry - then just f**king cry, all right? I mean that.

Prince Harry had encouraged veterans gearing up for last year's Invictus Games to 'just f**king cry' if they get emotional as he gave Team UK athletes an inspirational speech

'Take care, look after yourselves, look after each other as well.'

The third episode of the show saw veterans from national teams across the world lay bare the reality of living with their injuries, both physical and mental.

All five episodes of the docuseries were made available at 8am UK time (midnight California time), following prior speculation that Netflix had cancelled the show.

The limited series has been released ahead of next month's Invictus Games which will be in Dusseldorf from September 9 over eight days and attended by Harry and Meghan.

Harry is its executive producer and the show forms part of the Sussexes' deal with Netflix  with their main output so far being last year's controversial Harry & Meghan documentary which included a series of swipes at members of the Royal Family.

Pressure is on the Invictus documentary to be a ratings success, after the couple's other lucrative media deal with Spotify ended in June after one season of Meghan's podcast Archetypes. Netflix unveiled its first trailer for the series on August 16.

It comes after Netflix paid 3million for the film rights to Carley Fortune's romantic novel Meet Me At The Lake which Harry and Meghan will produce for the service.

During the new Invictus series, Harry talks in a segment about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma in warzones, giving insight into his own experiences.

Speaking on a video call as shown during the third episode of Netflix's Heart of Invictus, which aired today, the Duke of Sussex, 38, thanked former soldiers for their work

The third episode of the show saw veterans from national teams across the world lay bare the reality of living with their injuries, both physical and mental

He says: 'Look, I can only speak to me own experience but from my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unravelling.

'And the trigger for me was actually returning from Afghanistan but the stuff that was coming up was from 1997 from the age of 12. Losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma I had I was never aware of.

'It was never discussed and I didn't really talk about it and I supressed it like most other youngsters would have done When it all came fizzing out I was bouncing off the walls  what is going on here?  I am now feeling everything instead of being young.

'The biggest struggle for me was no one around me really could help. I didn't have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me.

'Unfortunately like most of us the first time you consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the foetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously. And that's what I really want to change.'
Queen Maxima looked stunning as she visited the UN in New York City yesterday

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attended a mental health programme in Rotterdam today.

The Dutch royal, 52, travelled to the second-largest city in the Netherlands as part of the Herstel Nearby  Together for Mental Health programme.

The program is a joint initiative set up by the Oranje Fonds and the MIND Foundation.

Maxima is a patron of The Oranje Fonds, an organisation which is committed to strengthening and connecting the community.

And she wowed as she attended the event dressed in a chic colourful patterned blouse.

Queen of style! Maxima of the Netherlands attended a mental health program in Rotterdam today

The mother-of-three defied the grey skies, pairing her strikingly bold shirt with vibrant peach-coloured flared trousers, and coordinating open-toed shoes and clutch bag.

And despite the rain in Rotterdam, Queen Maxima was snapped with a big smile on her face, as she made her way towards the event.

During the engagement, the royal spoke about the origins of the programme, and about the collaboration between the organisations running it.

Maxima also talked to both supporters and volunteers of the Zorgvrijstaat foundation about their advocacy, as they work to develop more caring and supportive neighbourhoods.

Today's appearance topped a busy few days for Queen Maxima, who spent August 28 and 29 in New York City.

Despite her busy schedule, Maxima again appeared in high spirits yesterday (Tuesday) as she met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

During their meeting, she handed him the UN Secretary-Generals Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA) 2022 Annual Report.

Titled Creating a Path Toward Resilience and Opportunity, the document outlined how accessible, affordable and secure digital financial services can enhance opportunities for development, especially for those on low incomes.

The Dutch royal, 52, travelled to the second-largest city in the Netherlands as part of the Herstel Nearby  Together for Mental Health programme

Queen Maxima wowed as she attended the event dressed in a chic colourful patterned blouse, despite the grey skies and rain

And despite Rotterdam's grim weather, Queen Maxima still had a big smile on her face as she entered the building for her engagement today, holding a stylish orange clutch

Maxima is a patron of The Oranje Fonds, an organisation which is committed to strengthening and connecting the community

For that engagement, Queen Maxima donned an elegant green long-sleeved maxi dress, which featured puffed sleeves.

Finishing the look, she wore her signature long blonde locks loose, and opted for natural makeup, finally pairing her frock with a pair of pearl earrings.

Guterres also looked smart, donning a navy blazer, grey trousers, a blue shirt and a purple patterned tie.

The pair smiled as they shook hands in front of the UN flags to show the unity between them.

Her return to the Big Apple this week kept the royal busy. Among her engagements, she also met with staff at the office of the UNSGSA for internal discussions.

She appeared to enjoy the visit, and was snapped beaming as she signed the guest book at the UN Headquarters.

The programme attended by the Dutch royal today is a joint initiative set up by the Oranje Fonds and the MIND Foundation

Queen Maxima, 52, looked in high spirits as she greeted the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York earlier this week

The Queen also beamed as she signed a guest book during her two-day visit to the popular American city

Queen Maxima donned an elegant green long-sleeved maxi dress, which featured puffed sleeves

Maxima has held the position of special advocate of the Secretary-General for 'Inclusive Finance for Development' at the UN since 2009.

The Dutch royal was appointed by former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

And the royal has the training for it - the Queen is a trained economist who has also previously worked in the industry of international finance.

She graduated with a degree in economics from, the Universidad Catolica Argentina in 1995.

Between 1996 and 1998, before she became Queen, Maxima worked for HSBC James Capel Inc. in New York, where she was Vice-President of Latin American Institutional Sales.

Maxima has held the position of special advocate of the Secretary-General for 'Inclusive Finance for Development' at the UN since 2009

The royal's trip to the Big Apple kept her busy, with a list of meetings and other engagements on her itinerary (here, she is pictured signing the guest book in the United Nations Headquarters)

The Queen is a trained economist who has previously worked in the industry of international finance

During her return to the Big Apple, Maxima met with staff at the office of the UNSGSA for internal discussions. Here, she signs a guest book during her visit to the UN Headquarters

She then moved on to Dresdner Kleinwort Benson as Vice-President of the Emerging Markets Division, until July 1999.

For the past 12 years, Maxima also has been honorary patron of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, taking up the role in 2011.

Before her transatlantic trip, Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander took their niece Countess Luana to the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday.

There, the King, Queen, Princess Amalia, 19, Princess Alexia, 18, and Countess Luana posed for photographs, putting their arms around each other and beaming.

No doubt they enjoyed the action, as Dutch driver Max Verstappen came in first place at his home circuit, Zandvoort.
A woman, who was told she had to change her pink hair color after she accepted a job offer came up with an ingenious way to deal with the problem.

Emily Benschoter, 29, from Georgia, has resorted to wearing a range of different dramatic wigs to work after being told that her hair color was against company policy.

When Emily secured a position in the hospitality industry, her new manager was unaware that her was pink becayse there was no face-to-face interview.

But when she turned up for her first shift, Emily soon found out that the company operates on a natural hair color only policy, according to Newsweek.

Now, Emily has shared her imaginative response on TikTok, and one viewer branded it her 'favorite video ever'.

Emily Benschoter (pictured), 29, from Georgia , has resorted to wearing a range of different dramatic wigs to work after being told that her pink hair was not allowed

Emily explained that she was unwilling to dye her hair a more natural color for a position that is 40 hours per week.

She told Newsweek: 'I am a self-expressive person and I feel very confident with pink hair so I came up with a solution to keep the job and my hair.'

The hospitality worker added that: 'It's dehumanizing that I can't be accepted at face value because my hair is a non-traditional color. It's so superficial that my hair color is an obstacle.'

Now, in a hilarious response, Emily opts for the tackiest wigs she can get her hands on to cover her hair.

In the TikTok video, Emily wrote: 'My reaction to finding out I can't have pink hair AFTER being hired?' while showcasing her long pink locks.

Emily's answer was: 'Bad wigs', as she blews a kiss towards the screen in an elaborate blonde mane.

Viewers on TikTok have been quick to share their thoughts on the video, and many have been left in stitches.

One user wrote: 'This might be my favorite video ever.'

When Emily (pictured) secured a position in the hospitality industry, her new manager was unaware of that her was pink as there was no face-to-face interview

Users on social media took the comments to share their thoughts on Emily's response, and one branded it their 'favorite video ever'

A second person related with Emily and said: 'I should have totally done this. Was hired for a job with blue hair, new chef came along and told me I couldn't have hair that color in a restaurant.'

A third wrote: 'Total power move. Youre an inspiration.'

A fourth said: 'I have no time for any job that considers my fashion sense over my abilities and work ethic.'

A fifth added: 'This is my plan if any job ever tells me I can't have whatever color hair. lol'
As Mock the Week comedian Mark Watson laments cheating on his pregnant wife because his career was not going well, he has also revealed the light at the end of the tunnel when his new girlfriend helped put him back together following his heartache.

The comic, who hails from Bristol, reveals in Mortification: Eight Deaths and Life After Them that he embarked upon the affair when his career went into freefall after he refused to take part in comedy panel shows like Mock the Week which had helped make his name.

As he describes the pain he felt at hurting his ex-wife Emily Howes, who discovered his infidelity shortly after giving birth to their second child, he explains how his life turned around when his new girlfriend, Lianne Coop, came into the picture and they built a 'happy, loving relationship'.

Lianne, whom he affectionately calls 'Coop' in the book, now runs a production company, Impatient Productions, with Watson after years in the production industry working for the BBC.

While loved-up Watson sings her praises in his memoir, Lianne is just as complimentary about the comedian and once claimed he has made her 'better, stronger [and] softer'.

Mark Watson has praised his new girlfriend Lianne Coop (pictured at Niagara Falls together) for helping him put his life back together after his marriage broke down following the breakdown of his marriage when he had an affair

In his memoir, which has been accompanied with Watson's appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this month, the comedian details how his life turned around when he met Lianne, while ex-wife Emily also found herself in a new, happy relationship.

He reveals of 'Coop': '[She] encouraged me - from an early stage - to try to do more of the things that would make me happy rather than merely the things I felt I ought to be doing.'

Lianne and Mark, who have been together for around five years, now work together on their joint production company, Impatient Productions.

The company's website lists Lianne's impressive CV during her time working at BBC Radio Comedy, including two projects which starred her now-boyfriend; Mark Watson's Live Address to the Nation and Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better. She also worked on shows with well-known comedians Rhod Gilbert and Sarah Millican.

The couple now work together on shows starring Sofie Hagen, Angela Barnes, Paapa Essiedu and Sara Pascoe.

In their home life, the couple enjoy holidays to destinations including Canada, where they visited Niagara Falls in the winter of 2021 to visit friends, as well as various locations around the UK, as shared by Lianne on Instagram.

Lianne and Mark have been together for several years and now run a production comapny together (pictured on NYE in 2021)

The comedian pictured with his ex wife Emily Howes at a film screening in 2013

When Watson turned 40 in 2020, Lianne posted a sweet tribute to him on Instagram as she shared a snap of him drinking champagne.

She wrote: 'This guy turns 40 today (finally the same age decade!) I couldnt adore him more.

'My life and myself are completely changed from being with him. Hes made me better, stronger, softer. He will absolutely do for another 40 years thanks.'

Watson's career soared when he burst onto the comedy scene in 2002 when he was in his early 20s, winning an open mic award at the Edinburgh Festival and winning an army of fans.

He proposed to ex-wife Emily Howes, who he met at Cambridge, in exuberant style, following a 24-hour comedy routine at the Fringe in 2004 - and the couple wed later that year.

However, he says a dose of FOMO at how his career was shaping up saw him struggle with his mental health. Despite doing reasonably well, he writes that he was left heavily affected if not many fans turned up to a book signing, or if he was heckled at gigs.

A nightmare turn in Maidstone saw the audience chant 'off' at him. When he finally exited the stage ten minutes later, Watson says his departure was greeted 'with the first and only cheer of the night'.

Watson shot to fame on comedy panel shows like Mock The Week, where he was a regular face for years

When his career began to falter, his manager showed him the door...and Watson, once a regular on panel shows, reveals in his new memoir how he ended up cheating on his wife to stop himself feeling like a failure

The funnyman began drinking heavily and his popularity appeared on the wane, leaving his manager showing him the door. His floundering stage life led him, he says, to pursue an affair that would shatter his marriage.

In a recent interview with The Times, he said: 'It gives me zero pleasure to admit it, but I just wanted to win at everything  but the reality was I was doing badly.

'It was humiliating having to accept the fact I wasnt special but just an average man suffering cliched failures and problems. Having an affair was a way of avoiding all that.'

He shares two children with Howes, and his affair with an unknown woman was discovered by her around the time she gave birth to their youngest child, he reveals.

Watson gained a reputation for his stage stamina, after performing 24-hour joke sessions. His new memoir, Mortification: Eight Deaths and Life After Them, reflects the times Watson says he's metaphorically died - including dreams not materialising, and dying on stage

Documenting how he spiralled into despair, the memoir also sees him talk about his mental health decline.

He told The Times that at one point in the last decade, he was 'a couple of text messages' from suicide.

He explained: 'I just didnt care about my life. Id massively hurt my wife and the person I had an affair with. And I hadnt achieved much in doing so.

'There was a moment when I thought, "My total contribution to the world has actually been mostly negative"'.

After his split with Emily in 2019, following attempts to patch up their relationship with marriage counselling, he embarked upon a new relationship with the comedy producer Lianne Coop.

The book documents the highs and lows of trying to make it as a comic, saying that young performers face a dicey 'snakes and ladders' path to getting booked at the start of their careers.

He writes: 'The better your gigs go, the better your odds of being booked for more, over the dozens of other comedians vying for the same opportunity. Slither down a snake and you've undone the work of the last ten ladders.'

The standup, who got a first from Cambridge, faces up to the disappointments experienced in his career in his memoir, which began life as an audiobook before going into print this summer

The author and novelist said he was left crushed when the promise of book deals or film opportunities didn't arise after early success.

The title of his memoir Mortification: Eight Deaths and Life After Them, reflects the times Watson says he's metaphorically died - including childhood dreams not materialising, and dying on stage.

The memoir originally started life as an audiobook but was published in print on August 17th.

Mortification: Eight Deaths and Life After Them by Mark Watson is published by Phoenix
From a luxury dog bed to telescope to a 'California anthem' poster, Prince Harry offered fans a rare glimpse into his life with Meghan Markle in his new documentary.

The Heart of Invictus, which dropped today on Netflix, features the 38-year-old prominently.

And fans have also got a glimpse into his home life, with a statement plant, giant jute rug and surprisingly a set of family photos on his desk.

Perhaps in the most obvious nod to the Californian lifestyle, Harry's desk featured a huge oversized water bottle as well as an Apple laptop, all on a rustic table..

1. California anthem poster

The bear's still there! Prince Harry was filmed in front of a framed print entitled 'I Love You, California' that was first spotted during a Zoom meeting the Duchess of Sussex took part in in 2020

Propped on the mantelpiece, the title of the work is the anthem of her home US state. Published in 1913, the tune was adopted by the sunshine state in 1951 and confirmed in 1987 as its official song

The California love-letter made its first appearance as the Duchess of Sussex joined a Zoom meeting to launch her sell-out Smart Set collection in September 2020

On the rustic fireplace behind Prince Harry is a portrait that fans of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have seen before.

In September 2020, just months after the couple had started their new lives in Montecito, the framed print entitled 'I Love You, California' made its first appearance as the Duchess of Sussex joined a Zoom meeting to launch her sell-out Smart Set collection.

Nearly three years on, the print - featuring a bear holding a California banner - still takes pride of place, propped on the mantelpiece. The title of the work is the anthem of her home US state. Published in 1913, the tune was adopted by the sunshine state in 1951 and confirmed in 1987 as its official song.

2. Antique telescope

Starry, starry night: A gold and dark wood telescope perches in the corner of the couple's office

The Sussex's gilded patch of California is blessed with beautiful night skies and a telescope in the study - seemingly a new addition to the couple's office - suggests that Harry and Meghan might engage in a spot of star-gazing.

The gold telescope, perched on dark wood legs, could be, of course, purely decorative, but it's position in the corner of the room, perfectly positioned close to a window suggests it's ready for use.

3. Over-sized water bottles

Thirsty? Too oversized water bottles are seen on Prince Harry's desk during the Heart of Invictus documentary

Given that one of Prince Harry's son Archie's first words was 'hydrate', it makes sense that the Duke of Sussex might have a large bottle of water on his desk.

Perched on the edge of the expansive desk are not one but two tall glass swing top bottles.

During a lighthearted moment in Meghan and Harry's explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, Meghan said their talkative son's new favourite thing to say was 'hydrate', a week after his doting dad told James Cordon's Late Late Show that Archie's first word had surprisingly been 'crocodile.

4. Statement houseplant

Adding to the natural decor of the room is a large houseplant, which is placed by two of the office's windows to take advantage of the light

With light flooding into the room where Harry and Meghan frequently take their Zoom calls, it's the perfect place for a houseplant.

Another new addition to their office seems to be a towering indoor plant that reaches the ceiling from its over-sized pot.

5. Rustic table

The long table, in a trendy distressed wood, has been seen several times on camera when the couple have filmed in their office

The centerpiece of the room, the large rustic table that Prince Harry perches his Apple laptop on has already featured frequently in the interviews recorded in the couple's home.

With stylish turned legs and a distressed look, the dining table is used as a desk byt the couple, and is long enough to seat both the Duke and Duchess comfortably should they wish to sit side by side while working.

6. Giant jute rug

A large natural fibre rug - likely jute or wheatgrass - sits underneath the table in the office

With wooden floors laid down in the study, the couple have added an over-sized natural fibre rug to add a little comfort - but stay in keeping with the natural materials and neutral colours favoured.

It likely has a practical use too - protecting the wooden floor from the legs of that statement table.

7. Family photos

The Duke of Sussex's trio of frames may well feature wife Meghan as well as his children Archie, four, and Lilibet, two

Although Harry has a tense relationship with his family - there appear to be some family photos on his desk.

The Duke of Sussex's trio of frames may well feature wife Meghan as well as his children Archie, four, and Lilibet, two.

8. House slippers

9. Luxury dog blanket

Behind Harry's bed is a luxury dog bed for their beloved pets. The couple share begales Mia and Guy, and black Labrador Pula

Luxury furnishes every inch of Harry and Meghan's California abode, and there's no exception for their pooches.

Behind Harry's bed is a luxury dog bed for their beloved pets.

The couple share begales Mia and Guy, and black Labrador Pula.

Speaking at the WellChild awards in 2022, Harry said: 'Between the three of them, they charge around chasing squirrels and causing all sorts of problems to us every single day. But they are also emotional, emotional support dogs 100% when they're behaving'.

The couple has also adopted chickens, which they claim were rescued from battery farms and now live with them at their new home.

10. Glasses cases

Perhaps perfect for California, Harry also had a sunglasses case on his desk

Perhaps perfect for California, Harry also had a sunglasses case on his desk.

The prince recently posed in women's sunglasses on a shopping trip for treats to take home to wife Meghan from his solo trip to Japan.

The Duke of Sussex was accompanied by his polo player friend Nacho Figueras, who posted on Instagram that they were 'shopping for our wives' in central Tokyo.
READ MORE: Prince Daniel denies royal couple are on brink of divorce

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden dressed for the Swedish late summer weather as she made a solo visit to two rural farms today.

The Swedish princess, 46, carried out the royal engagements without husband Prince Daniel, and helped harvest water reeds at the Rydboholms farm in Akersberga, in the country's north-east.

The mother-of-two appeared stoic in the face of recent rumours about her marriage as she greeted and fed animals - including a flock of sheep - while later visiting another farm in Vallentuna, in honour of Baltic Sea Day.

Her outing comes amid a difficult 24 hours for the Swedish royals, after her husband, 49, was forced to slam rumours of infidelity and divorce during a rare TV interview.

Showing it was very much business as usual, the down-to-earth princess got to work shovelling reeds into a tractor while meeting farm workers.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden (pictured) cut a sporty figure as she stepped out for a solo visit to Rydboholms farm in Akersberga, in Sweden's north-east on Wednesday

Her practical, casual get-up was perfect for a day on the farm, and featured a navy blue New York Yankees cap, which she teamed with a royal blue hooded raincoat.

She matched her outerwear with a pair of navy blue denim jeans, alongside a turquoise plaid shirt, and black leather chunky boots.

Continuing the subtle theme, she wore minimal make-up, a natural rose lip and tied her blonde hair in a neatly styled bun.

The action-packed day continued with a stop at the Aleris rehab clinic in Solna, located just north of the capital.

For her third event of the day it was strictly business, as she revamped her look with a stylish green Zara two-piece suit.

Keeping just a touch of her original sporty theme, she topped off the look with a white t shirt and green Adidas trainers. She also donned a grey suede Stella McCartney clutch bag to match.

While her hairstyle remained the same, she glammed up the look with a dewy base, natural lip and a smidgeon of mascara.

The chummy princess perked up at the sight of clinic staff and patients, as she was photographed engaging in crucial talks during the official visit.

On Tuesday, Crown Princess Victoria's husband Prince Daniel, 49, denied rumours of infidelity and divorce during a rare TV interview. (Pictured: Her husband Prince Daniel denies 'mean, false rumours' that the royal couple are on the brink of divorce because of infidelity in a rare TV interview with SVT)

The mother-of-two appeared stoic as she greeted and fed a flock of sheep at the Vallentuna 4H farm

Her sporty get-up was ideal for the occasion, and featured a navy blue New York Yankees cap which she teamed with a royal blue hooded raincoat

Earlier this week, husband Prince Daniel decided to address front and centre the rumours that have dogged the couple's personal circumstances in recent weeks.

In a television interview, the prince hit back at what he labelled a 'mean and false rumour' about his marriage to Sweden's heiress apparent and further denied the couple had ever been on the brink of divorce.

He lashed out at those circulating the suggestions on social media and in parts of the Swedish press, saying the claims had had 'serious consequences' for his family.

'Many friends from across Sweden and overseas have got in touch and things arrived at a certain point where we felt we could no longer accept it,' he revealed.

The Swedish heiress apparent is pictured at Vallentuna 4H farm with the organisation Race for the Baltic, to mark Baltic Sea Day

The princess appeared to enjoy getting back to nature while greeting farm staff and playing with the animals

A little kiss? She even made some time during her eventful day to blow kisses to the sheep

The down-to-earth royal got stuck in shovelling large amounts of reeds into a tractor

'I don't think there is any sane person who believes in this rumour.'

The comments were made in a sit-down with SVT ahead of the future King Consort's 50th birthday in September.

It is not the first time the royal Swedish household has had to deny divorce rumours in recent times.

The couple shared a picture on their official Instagram account in February last year, where they stood shoulder-to-shoulder denying yet another divorce rumour.

'It has come to our knowledge that there is an extensive negative rumor spread regarding our private relationship,' the post accompanying the snap said.

Busy day: Victoria is also photographed greeting farm staff and waving to adoring fans

She was spotted with her engagement and wedding rings firmly in place, further dampening rumours her and husband Prince Daniel are on the brink of divorce

The Crown Princess will take to the Swedish throne when her father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, dies

Victoria wore minimal make-up, a natural rose lip and tied her brunette locks in a neat bun

Defiance: Prince Daniel and Crown Princess Victoria have been forced to deny rumours of an imminent divorce in the past - but say they're very much happily married

'Allegations are spreading about betrayal in the relationship and an impending divorce.

'In normal cases, we do not comment on rumors and speculation. But in order to protect our family, we want to make it clear, once and for all, that the rumors that are now spreading are completely unfounded.'

Just a few weeks before that, the chief communication officer of the Swedish royal house, Margareta Thorgren, had already denied the rumours in a statement.

Speaking to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet on 19 February 2022, she said that normally, the palace would not comment on such matters, but that the rumours had been 'tenacious' enough to impact the royal family.

'This is exceptional, and we have not encountered this before,' Thorgren said.

The stylish princess stepped up the glam for a seperate visit to the Aleris rehabilitation ward in Frosundavik, Solna - Sweden

The chummy royal seems to have perked up during the official visit and appeared much happier than earlier in the day

For her third event of the day it was strictly business, as she revamped her look with a stylish green Zara two-piece suit

Here, she is pictured with clinic staff and patients, as the group engages in crucial talks during the official visit

For the latter part of her eventful day, the royal kept her hairstyle the same, but glammed up the look with a dewy base, natural lip and a smidgeon of mascara

Publication Expressen claimed they were tipped off that the couple would file for divorce at the Solna District Court, however, they said that information proved to be incorrect.

Margareta said the rumours were born from a 'frivolous' publication, thought to be the tabloid magazine Stoppa Pressarna (Stop the Press in English) and that the mainstream Swedish media fact-checked the claims after they were heavily circulated online.

Victoria and Daniel, who share two children, Princess Estelle, 11, and Prince Oscar, seven, celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary this year.

Previously a gym owner, Daniel, who was born Olof Daniel Westling, met Victoria at a training session before the pair began dating in 2002.

The couple announced their highly-anticipated engagement in 2009 and tied the knot a year later.
She gave a candid insight into her parenting style on Today With Hoda and Jenna

The mom-of-three doesn't care if her children are number one in their class

While many parents might be hellbent on making sure their children get into a good school, Jenna Bush Hager has revealed she's far more concerned that her three kids are instilled with a particular characteristic.

The 41-year-old presenter shares three children with her husband Henry Chase Hager, 45: daughters Mila, 10, and Poppy, eight, and son Hal, four.

Giving a candid insight into her parenting style on Wednesday's episode of Today With Hoda and Jenna, Bush Hager admitted that her main focus is ensuring that her kids are 'kind'.

'I spend almost all my time in parenting trying to raise kind kids,' she said, as she discussed the topic of 'cool women' with Hoda Kotb.

Jenna Bush Hager gave a candid insight into her parenting style on Wednesday's episode of Today With Hoda and Jenna

The presenter, who is mom to daughters Mila, 10, and Poppy, eight, and son Hal, four, wants to make sure her kids are 'kind'

'I don't care about any of the other stuff. I don't care about the... they are smart, great, but I don't care that they are number one in their class or go to good schools.

'I just want them to be the type of kids that are kind.'

Agreeing with her colleague, co-star Hoda remarked: 'Yes, that's the thing.'

'Coolness just comes too,' Bush Hager added.

In her formative years, Bush Hager and her twin sister Barbara attended Preston Hollow Elementary School and then The Hockaday School, a private girl's college-prep school, while living in Dallas.

In 1994, after her father, George W Bush was elected Governor of Texas and the family moved to Austin, Texas, she enrolled at the private St. Andrew's Episcopal School, which currently has tuition of $28,482 per year for kindergarten through fourth grade, and $32,298 per year for grades five through eight.

Jenna then moved to Austin High School, which she attended until her graduation, in 2000.

Following her school years and her dad's assent to President of the United States, Bush Hager attended the University of Texas, majoring in English, and took summer classes at New York University.

She graduated from the University of Texas in 2004.

Bush Hager, pictured with her dad, the former US President George W Bush in 2001, received a college education and graduated from the University of Texas in 2004

Bush Hager previously vowed that her little ones will 'never be invited' on the Today show again after her daughter Mila revealed live on air that she had once peed her pants.

Speaking on the program in June after she had brought her two daughters to the Today Plaza in Rockefeller Center so they could attend Ed Sheeran's outdoor concert, the mom-of-three said: 'They're not here because they'll never be invited on this show again.

'Because they just like to get secrets out of you. They're allowed to come and watch the concert, but they're nowhere close to microphones.'

In December, Bush Hager's oldest daughter was invited onto the show for a quick chat  but quickly began dropping truth bombs.

Bush Hager and her husband Henry Chase Hager aren't bothered by their kids' education

The mom-of-three did reveal that all three of her children are 'smart' - but doesn't care if they are top of the class or not

Bush Hager's oldest daughter Mila, pictured right, revealed live on air that Bush Hager had once peed her pants

'One time she was laughing in our living room and she peed her pants,' Mila announced to Bush Hager's embarrassment. 'You changed your pajamas!'

'Thank you, Mila,' Bush Hager replied sarcastically. 'Thank you so much.'

Mila then started talking about how her mom cries at the end of movies, saying there was 'a lot of crying' after they watched Charlotte's Web.

Despite being betrayed with a string of 'truth bombs' by her oldest, Bush Hager had a heartwarming reunion with Mila after her three-week stint away from home at sleepaway camp last month.

Mila spent her third summer at Camp Longhorn in the Texas Hill Country  the same camp that the former first daughter attended as a child  and leapt into her mom's arms as they reunited.

'It was so happy,' she said as she recalled the sweet moment on Today, joking that 'it's worth sending your kids to camp just so you can get them back.'

'She's probably one of the only kids from the Northeast. It's a lot of Texans. It's really hot, no air conditioning, but she loves it,' Bush Hager explained. 'It's so fun to go see her and feel that independence. Sleep away camp is a right of passage.'
To celebrate the occasion, the casino presented her with a cake - and extra cash

A centenarian hit the jackpot while celebrating her 106th birthday at her favorite local casino - with the business in turn doubling her $1,000 winnings in honor of the occasion.

Serafina 'Sarah' Papia Petersonk, a lifelong Milwaukee resident who currently lives in a retirement community in the surrounding suburbs, made her annual visit to the city's Potawatomi Casino for her birthday on August 23.

It was while playing the slot machine that Sarah had her lucky break.

'All of a sudden, we see "jackpot," and we looked down and she had pressed 400 by accident instead of the 50, and the jackpot was over $1,000,' Sarah's niece, Marge Larson, told local CBS affiliate WDJT.

Serafina 'Sarah' Papia Petersonk, 106, won big at Milwaukee's Potawatomi Casino during her annual birthday visit to the establishment on August 23

It was while playing the slot machine that Sarah had her lucky break, winning a $1,000 jackpot

Casino employees presented Sarah with a cake in the aftermath of her win - as well as extra cash to double her winnings

A casino employee counted out the extra grand and put the bills one by one in Sarah's hands

'I'm happy to win this money - I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I'm gonna make a good choice,' Sarah further explained to ABC's WISN.

'I was so happy about you coming over here and then seeing you winning that jackpot - and what I wanted to do was bring you your own birthday cake from Potawatomi,' casino CEO Dominic Ortiz can be seen telling Sarah in a clip as another employee appears at her side, cake in hand.

'And not only that, that $1,000 jackpot? I want to double that jackpot!' he continues, to which Sarah responds with an excited 'Oh!'

Moments later, a third employee begins counting out a stack of $100 bills and placing them one by one in her hand.

'We've welcomed Sarah every year for her birthday and are grateful that she and her family celebrate with us,' Ortiz told WISN.

'We were all elated when we heard about her big win and wanted to make her 106th birthday even more special,' he added.

Of her secret to longevity, Sarah told WISN: 'I lived a good life  I didn't drink, I didn't smoke, I didn't go to the tavern. I just lived a good life. I took good care of myself.'

She further elaborated to WDJT that her love of singing and cooking has kept her going.

Sarah emphasized her desire to keep living for her dog, who, she added, isn't just a dog to her: 'He's a person. He takes good care of me,' she said

Though, she added to the outlet with extra emphasis, 'I want to live for my dog. Hes not a dog - he's a person. He takes good care of me.'

As do her caregivers and family, about whom she continued, 'That's what means a lot. That they love me. Everybody loves me and I love them too.'

Sarah was born to Sicilian immigrants in the Milwaukee area and spent her whole life in the Wisconsin metropolis.

She's not the only centenarian to share her tips for a long life.

Back in 2019, then-104-year-old Virginia Leitner shared her lifelong credo in an essay she penned for STAT News: 'I always say: "Just don't tell me to be good, because I want to dance and have fun."'
It's a modern day romance that was a decade in the making.

There was no swiping needed for Tracie Brown and her now-wife Cheryl Parsa-Brown's modern day romance - making their relationship official a whole decade after they first became friends on Facebook.

Dallas-based Tracie, 50, and 62-year-old Cheryl spent years chatting online, slowly getting to know one another over the years - having initially formed a connection over Cheryl's business.

However, one day after years of chatting with one another, Cheryl noticed a rather surprising coincidence while looking at an image posted by Tracy: the pair had nearly identical views from their homes.

'In all these years we've been Facebook Friends we've lived blocks apart and never even met,' Cheryl exclaimed. 'It felt like fate.'

Tracie (left) and Cheryl (right) got married, a decade after meeting on Facebook

After years of online chats and messages, the couple are now married

It was Tracie who sent the initial friend request nine years ago, after first following Cheryl's business page.

'We just commented on each other posts until five years ago when I sent her a message saying I loved her energy and that was our first interaction,' Tracie said.

'It was social media that helped us get to know one another before we'd even met,' she added. 'So I felt familiar in a very intimate way with her.'

However the romance didn't heat up until Texas froze over; and Tracie was left shivering and starving in her own home after a brutal ice storm hit Dallas.

'I was just on Facebook and I all of a sudden Tracie's face comes across my news feed,' Cheryl recalled. 'But it wasn't the face I'd always known, it was an orange hoodie no makeup, just this pitiful look.'

Cheryl invited her over for food and warmth, leaving the pair in a situation that 'felt like fate.'

'She got out of the car, and she started walking towards me and immediately my arms went up because I wanted to hug her,' she said. 'I was finally meeting this person that I've admired for so long.'

The couple became official over a beautiful dinner six months after meeting, but a couple of days later, Cheryl hit pause on the budding relationship.

'I had all kinds of feelings and didn't know what to do with them,' she admitted. 'I was 60 at the time so it sounds ridiculous, but I was afraid to tell my mom.'

An ice-storm in Dallas resulted in the ultimate meet-up for the couple

Not long after meeting in person, the women decided to get married

The Dallas couple say if it wasn't for Facebook they'd never be together

But after catching up four months after pausing their fledging relationship, they decided to embark on a '21-day-cleanse' to see where it landed them, gushing it was: 'the best thing we could've done for our relationship.'

'It was day 18 and she kept saying we're just friends, but I said my friends don't look at me the way you're looking at me,' Cheryl said.

'She looked at me and said, "I've always been in love with you!'" So, the very next day the very next day in the morning I called my jeweler.'

Cheryl proposed to Tracie on Valentine's Day at her house.

'I went to her house and our favorite pianist was playing,' Tracie gushed. 'I just saw rose petals; the entire house was decorated like I can't even imagine this night being any better like this was like the perfect night. '

The pair got married three times. An official ceremony, a wedding in Las Vegas and the ceremony most important to them; alone at their house.

They'll also be renewing their vows this year in Mexico.

We wanted to get married in the house because we fell in love here, we got engaged, everything happened here, and we really wanted to experience that in our first home,' Cheryl explained.

'I had a very good idea of who she was before we'd even met," she added. 'I thought she was beautiful, the first photo I ever saw is still my screensaver, that's just how I saw her in my mind and it's the way I'll see her forever.'

Tracie said she's grateful for Facebook, unsure if she ever would have met the love of her life otherwise.

'There was no thought of ever meeting her in person so social media is a powerful way to just connect people who may have never otherwise met their entire lives but they have through this platform,' she explained. 'I'm eternally grateful to share our story which is unconventional for a lot of people.'
Aussies are shocked to discover cashews grow from a type of apple

Thousands of Australians have been left 'mind blown' after realising how cashews are grown.

Jackson Jansen, from the Gold Coast, shared his disbelief after learning cashews come from a type of 'apple' grown on tropical cashew trees.

The young Aussie shared his reaction in a TikTok video - and others admitted they too had 'no idea'.

'Where the f*** do cashews come from?' he asked before typing out the question into Google.

'That's not f***ing real,' Jackson said.

'What the f*** is that? You're telling me this grows in a tree, pushes out this f****** nut and it makes cashews? I feel like I've been lied to my whole life.'

@thejacksonjansen Replying to @Luke Mason THIS IS NOT REAL WHAT THE FUK!!!!  original sound - jackson

Jackson Jansen, from the Gold Coast, shared his disbelief when he discovered cashews come from a type of apple growing on tropical cashew trees. 'That's not f***ing real,' he said

According to Healthline cashews are 'botanically classified as seeds' because they grow inside a apple, called a 'drupe'.

However, cashews are often confused with legumes and are thought to be nuts.

While cashews are similar in structure to peanuts, due to the way the seed is grown they cannot be classified as either a nut or legume.

Jackson's video has since caught the attention of the masses and exceeded more than 831,000 views. Hundreds also shared their disbelief.

'What the f*** is that? You're telling me this grows in a tree, pushes out this f****** nut and it makes cashews? I feel like I've been lied to my whole life,' Jackson said

According to Healthline cashews are 'botanically classified as seeds' because they grow inside a apple, called a 'drupe'. However, cashews are often confused with legumes and are thought to be nuts

'I refuse to believe this. Cashews grow in the supermarket to me,' one person commented.

'Literally how did we decide which parts of things to eat,' another said, a third added: 'I have seen a cashew tree in real life! It's crazy!'

Another said: 'I don't know where I thought cashews come from but it's not that.'

'I'm from Brazil, I'm actually shocked people don't know this! Lol and it's my favourite fruit!' someone else added.

One person also revealed another fact about the popular seed.

'Wait until you learn the cashew shell is toxic and they have to steam them because you can't actually eat them raw,' the TikToker said.

'Wait 'til you find out how they make almond extract,' another added.

READ MORE: Shoppers in hysterics over 'bizarre' and 'trippy' ad for Aldi exercise bike - but admit they can't stop watching: 'Nothing about this makes sense'

Aldi fan favourite Di San returns to shelves after fears it was 'discontinued forever' - sparking shopping frenzy
A 15-year-old suspect has been nabbed in the fatal shooting of a man in the head during a clash at a Brooklyn deli, police said Wednesday.

The teen was arrested Tuesday for the murder of 24-year-old Abdolaye Ba outside the Best Food Mini Market on Aug. 21.

I hope whoever did this to him, they dont get to sleep, Bas older sister Maly Ba told the Daily News shortly after her siblings death.

Cops charged the teen with murder and weapons possession. His name was not released by cops because he is a juvenile.

Ba was inside the grocery on Blake Ave. near Pennsylvania Ave. in East New York about 3:30 p.m. when he got into an argument with his killer, who police sources say is affiliated with a local street gang.

The argument spilled outside and the slayer pulled a gun and opened fire, blasting Ba in the head.

Medics rushed Ba to Brookdale University Hospital, where he died Thursday  three days after he was shot.

He was just a good person with a good heart and hes just gone, just like that, Maly Ba, 35, said, wiping away tears. Hes a good brother. Even if Im sleeping in the room hell come in and put on the fan.

Were just going to miss him, she added.

Ba lives two blocks from deli and was not part of a gang, cops said.

Detectives quickly identified the shooter from surveillance footage recovered at the scene. Despite his young age, the teen suspect has several juvenile arrests, but not for anything violent, a police source said.

The teens arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court was pending Wednesday.
A doctor has revealed why she refuses to cook with non-stick pans - despite them being the most convenient option.

Dr Poonam Desai, a US-based GP, says she usually opts for cast iron and stainless steel pans when cooking because her family's health is her priority.

'Scratched or chipped, nonstick cooking pans, can leech millions of micro plastics into our food. Microplastics our endocrine disruptors,' she wrote alongside an explanatory video on Instagram.

'They can cause hormone imbalances, fertility issues and even increase our risk of cancer,' she said.

Dr Poonam Desai, a US-based GP, says she usually opts for cast iron and stainless steel pans when cooking because her family's health is her priority

She also avoids using scratched ceramic pans.

'Ceramic pans usually have a layer of aluminum underneath and it can leech into our foods,' she added.

The popular doctor, who is mother to a toddler, says if people have scratched non-stick or aluminum-based ceramic pans at home they should throw them out.

And people were quick to comment on the video, asking about copper pans, and ceramic pans marketed as 'non-toxic'.

While others thanked her for her advice.

'I threw out all these pans long ago. Please watch her and do the same! Cast iron for the win,' one woman wrote.

Some people appeared furious with the doctor for sharing her opinion.

'My god I'm so tired of seeing video after video that is basically telling every thing I'm doing in my life is just killing me or causing cancer or making me fertile... I literally might as well go die right now this is getting too annoying,' one man said.

'Don't just listen to someone just because they start by saying, I'm a doctor,' grilled another.

'Sounds like classic fearmongering to me,' added a third.

Dr Poonam is a former ER doctor who has 173k followers on Instagram.
Women shared their expectations for the price of engagement rings

A group of young Australian women have shared how much money they expect their partners to fork out for an engagement ring.

Men's lifestyle website Man of Many took to the streets to ask different women the question - and their eyewatering answers shocked thousands.

The majority of the women said they expect their partner to spend no less than $8,000 while others expect a quarter of their salary to go towards a ring. The most common answer was $10,000.

A video posted on TikTok quickly captured the attention of more than 1.4million people who weighed in on the responses.

In the clip, one woman wasn't too sure how to answer the question but then revealed she expects 'a quarter of his yearly salary to be spent - or around $20,000. Another woman told her boyfriend she would ideally like the ring to be worth between $8,000-$10,000

One woman wasn't too sure how to answer the question but then revealed she expects 'a quarter of his yearly salary' to be spent - or around $20,000.

Another woman told her boyfriend she would ideally like the ring to be worth between $8,000-$10,000.

'He was literally relieved because he thought I was going to say about $20,000,' she said.

A third wasn't too sure about the perfect price range but would ideally like a 'beautiful ring with a real diamond'.

A British woman was asked the lingering question and she said ideally around 5,000 ($10,000 AUD).

'Of course I expect too much from my boyfriend ... maybe $9,000,' another said.

Another woman wasn't too sure about the price range but would ideally like a 'beautiful ring with a real diamond'

However, the responses caused a stir and opinions were divided.

'Three months salary is the norm,' one woman wrote in the comments of the video.

'I'd say $3,000. $10-$20k is insane,' another said.

'I'd rather we spent the money on a holiday together and just get a nice simple ring,' another added.

One woman didn't want her partner spending so much money and wrote: 'If he spends over $1000 I'll be mad.'

'What if it was $60? Because that's what my partners was,' another asked in response, and she said: 'Even better!'

However, given the ongoing cost of living crisis sweeping across the nation, others said spending extravagant amounts of money on engagement rings is 'outdated'.

'This is so absurd in 2023. Wouldn't you rather your partners money go towards your shared life together rather than a blood diamond?' one wrote.

'No way I'm giving a ring to a chick who expects a certain value. Married 20 years, ring was $500 when we both made six figures,' another said.

Read more: Expat who moved from the UK to Australia lists the huge differences she faced in Melbourne - and says she turned into a 'snob'

My husband ruined our gender reveal and I acted like a brat and 'raged' in front of everyone - but here's why other mums say I'm not to blame

Aussie woman is 'mindblown' after only just learning the phonetic alphabet exists: 'How did I miss this?'
Taxpayers may have to stump up an extra 50billion a year under NHS plans to employ one in every 11 workers in England, a study suggests.

NHS England published its long-term workforce plan in June, which estimated it will need around 60 per cent more staff by 2036/37.

Bosses want its headcount to balloon from 1.5million in 2021/22 to 2.4million over this period.

This would account for almost half of the country's public sector workers, according to new analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and cement the NHS's place as the biggest employer in Europe. Funding the expansion is likely to cost around 50billion more per year in real terms by 2036/37.

The sum is equivalent to adding 6 percentage points to all income tax bands or increasing the standard rate of VAT from 20 per cent to 27 per cent, the IFS said.

NHS England published its long-term workforce plan in June, which estimated it will need around 60 per cent more staff by 2036/37 (stock image)

The plan includes 2.4billion of extra funding for the training of new staff but does not consider the cost of the larger wage bill nor the extra cost of buying the additional drugs and equipment for them to use.

Max Warner, an author of the research, said: 'The publication of the NHS workforce plan and its detailed workforce projections is an important and welcome milestone for the NHS.

'We estimate that the plan might imply average real-terms funding growth of around 3.6 per cent per year for the NHS in England.

'That is by no means outlandish by historical standards, but would nonetheless require difficult fiscal decisions in the current climate of sluggish growth.

'NHS modelling suggests that even these large staffing increases will only be "enough" to meet future demand if staff productivity can be increased by a highly ambitious 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent per year.

'The risk of having a workforce plan but no similarly high-profile plan for capital, technology or management is that higher spending on staffing squeezes out other vital inputs, and makes those productivity gains all but impossible to achieve.'

NHS staff numbers grew by around 1.1 per cent per year between 2009/10 and 2019/20 but will need to increase by between 3.1 per cent and 3.4 per cent per year to meet the plan.

If this increase in the workforce is delivered, the IFS estimates that 49 per cent of public sector workers in England will work for the NHS in 2036/37 (stock image)

If this increase in the workforce is delivered, the IFS estimates that 49 per cent of public sector workers in England will work for the NHS in 2036/37, compared with 38 per cent in 2021/22.

The NHS would also account for 9 per cent of all workers in England, compared with 6 per cent in 2021/22.

The plan implies annual NHS budget increases of around 3.6 per cent per year in real terms, higher than the 2.4 per cent seen since 2009/10 but in line with the average growth in health spending since 1949.

Danny Mortimer, of the NHS Confederation, which represents healthcare organisations, said: 'We know that the workforce plan will require long-term funding if it's to be rolled out successfully... this investment needs to not just expand numbers but also improve working conditions and reward and accelerate access to careers.

'It also needs to be matched by investment in technology and working environments to support healthcare staff to work effectively and efficiently.'

Jonathan Eida, researcher at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Taxpayers are happy to pay for quality health care so long as the spending bears fruit.'

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesman said the plan covers investment as well as reform, and 'sets out how we will deliver long-term productivity improvements'.

An NHS England spokesman said the plan 'provides a once in a generation opportunity to put staffing on sustainable footing and ensure the NHS can embrace the latest technologies and meet the changing and future needs of patients'.
Cases have now been logged in Portugal and Sweden taking the total to 24

The heavily-mutated Covid variant dubbed the 'real deal' has now been spotted in Sweden and Canada, with global cases doubling in a week.

BA.2.86, nicknamed Pirola, was first detected in Israel and Denmark earlier this month, unsettling a swathe of top scientists who are worried that its catalogue of mutations could see it spark another wave.

The strain, a spin-off of the Omicron variant, has already been spotted in the UK, US, Israel, Denmark, South Africa, Portugal, Thailand and Switzerland.

Now, officials in Sweden have confirmed the highly-evolved strain has been detected in separate areas of the country.

The strain was also logged in Canada yesterday, taking the total number of detections reported globally up to 24, doubling in just a week.

Some 875 cases were logged in England on August 11, according to the most recent Government statistics available, up from just 449 one month earlier. The uptick in cases coincides with the arrival of Eris, known scientifically as EG.5.1, a variant which already makes up one in four new cases. But experts are spooked by another strain, nicknamed Pirola, that is quickly spreading globally due to its catalogue of mutations

Pirola's arrival comes as Covid cases take off once again, sparking concerns that the UK is on the brink of another wave just as the country heads into the winter when the NHS is busiest. NHS hospital data shows daily Covid admissions in England have increased on average by almost a fifth in week, rising from a seven-day rolling average of 258 on August 4, to 308 on August 11

Health officials in Sweden yesterday alerted experts to its four new cases after uploading BA.2.86 sequences to official surveillance trackers.

The first positive sample was collected almost a month ago, on August 7 in Stockholm, with the second and third recorded in Vasternorrland, in the north of the country, on August 18 and 19.

Details surrounding the country's fourth case have not been disclosed.

Meanwhile, health officials in British Columbia confirmed they had detected Canada's first known BA.2.86 case, labelling the findings 'not unexpected'.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control said it was found in a person who had not travelled outside of the province.

The heavily-mutated Covid variant dubbed the 'real deal' has been detected in four new cases in Sweden, health experts have confirmed, amid fears it is rapidly spreading worldwide undetected. The strain has also been logged in Canada, officials in the country revealed, taking the total number of cases reported globally up to 24, doubling in just a week

In a joint statement, Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said the unnamed patient was not hospitalised and they were continuing to monitor the variant.

'It was not unexpected for BA.2.86 to show up in Canada and the province,' they added.

'Covid continues to spread globally, and the virus continues to adapt.

'So far, there does not seem to be increased severity with this strain of Covid and the individual is not hospitalized.'

Experts have warned that the true scale of Pirola's spread is unclear, as the scaling back of variant tracking capabilities across the globe mean it is difficult to spot new outbreaks early.

Earlier this month, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) advisers admitted the variant was a concern and revealed its 'rapid appearance' suggested 'established international transmission'.

The cases spotted so far have been a result of positive swabs being sent to laboratories and undergoing sequencing.

Wastewater samples in Thailand, Switzerland and the US have already tested positive for the strain, suggesting Pirola is also in local circulation within the countries.

Scientists can test community wastewater samples to monitor the prevalence of the virus in different communities.

Covid enters wastewater through the stools of infected people.

Virologists are unsettled by BA.2.86 because of the array of more than 30 mutations it carries on its spike protein, which is the part of the virus that vaccines were designed to target. Several have unknown functions but others are thought to help the virus evade the immune system.

Equally, just a fraction of tests tracking the prevalence of the virus are now carried out, heightening fears that Pirola may be spreading undetected.

One expert earlier this month labelled it the most 'striking' strain to have spawned since the highly transmissible Omicron strain emerged in winter 2021 and sent cases skyrocketing.

Others, however, have warned it is far too early to panic. No evidence shows Pirola is any more of a threat than the dozens of strains that have come before it.

UK Health Security Agency statistics show that 589 out of 6,500 neighbourhoods in England had detected at least three Covid cases in the week to August 12. For comparison, just 58 areas had reached this threshold  given to protect the anonymity of patients sickened in tiny clusters  at the start of July. MailOnline analysis shows the figure has gradually increased week-on-week since then, hitting 270 on July 29 and 448 on August 5

UK Health Security Agency statistics show that 589 out of 6,500 neighbourhoods in England had detected at least three Covid cases in the week to August 12. MailOnline analysis shows the figure has gradually increased week-on-week since then, hitting 270 on July 29 and 448 on August 5

A spokesperson for the UKHSA told MailOnline it is 'closely monitoring the situation and is analysing all available data relating to BA.2.86 in the UK and internationally'.

The strain however is 'not currently designated as a variant of concern', they added.

Meanwhile, waste water samples in New York also tested positive for the strain in New York yesterday, making it the fourth US state to detect Pirola after Virginia, Ohio and Michigan.

A statement from New York City health commissioner Dr Ashwin Vassan yesterday confirmed the variant has been 'seen in other parts of the US and was recently detected in New York City sewage'.

He added: 'While we have yet to find it in a specimen from a local resident, it is almost certainly circulating here.'

Immunity levels built-up through vaccine roll-outs and previous waves are high and over time the virus has evolved to become less deadly, allowing society to treat it in the same way as the flu without pandemic-era restrictions.

Experts believe Pirola is derived from BA.2 variant which stopped circulating around July 2022.

Overall, testing and the sequencing that detects new strains have decreased since the WHO removed its pandemic emergency declarations.

In the UK, officials no longer track the prevalence of the virus in the same way they used to, as part of the Government's ushering in of pre-pandemic normalities.

Brits no longer test en masse like they were earlier in the pandemic  with free community mass testing ending in May 2022.

However, testing levels have remained stable over the past few months.

Around 5,000 lateral flow test results and 2,700 PCR readings have been uploaded per day in the last week.

Positive test results are reported by the minority of the public still eligible for a free Covid test or have taken a PCR swab  such as health and social care workers, anyone with underlying health conditions.

Experts have warned it's far too early to panic. No evidence yet shows Pirola is any more of a threat than the dozens of strains that have come before it.

Other variants flagged as troublesome have fizzled out naturally.

Ministers have vowed they will never deploy the curbs wielded during the darkest days of the crisis in 2020 and 2021 unless a doomsday variant emerges.

Earlier this month, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist and lead for the Covid response at the WHO, cautioned there is very limited information available on the strain.

But she said it needs monitoring due to its large number of mutations.

Surveillance and sequencing is 'critical' to detect new variants and track known ones, she added.

Meanwhile, after Denmark confirmed its third case of the strain on Friday, its public health institute, the Statens Serum Institut, said it was testing the virus to assess whether it poses a threat.

But it stressed there is currently no evidence that Pirola causes more severe illness.

It comes as Covid cases in England have almost doubled in a month, with 875 cases logged in the country on August 11, according to the most recent Government statistics available, up from just 449 one month earlier.

Hospital admissions are also rising sharply  up by a fifth in a week  sparking concerns that the UK is on the brink of another wave just as the country heads into the autumn when the NHS gets busier.

The uptick in cases coincides with the arrival of Eris, known scientifically as EG.5.1, a variant which already makes up one in four new cases.

While the strain has experts less concerned, on August 9, the World Health Organization labelled it a 'variant of interest', upgrading it from a 'variant under monitoring'.

It has now been recorded in 51 countries, the UN health agency confirmed.

It has quickly become dominant in the US, accounting for one in five infections, while in Japan it is estimated to account for up to 46 per cent of all cases.

However, in a risk evaluation last week the WHO concluded: 'Collectively, available evidence does not suggest that EG.5 has additional public health risks relative to the other currently circulating Omicron descendent lineages.'
Brits are in 'touching distance' of having lost a total of 1million appointments, operations and procedures due to devastating NHS strikes, health bosses warn.

In the latest blow to patients, 45,827 hospital appointments in England were rescheduled due to a two-day walkout by British Medical Association (BMA) consultants last week.

A further 1,302 appointments in mental health, learning disability and community settings were estimated to have been also cancelled, NHS England figures show.

It means 885,154 appointments have been postponed since NHS industrial action  which has involved staff including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics  kicked-off in December.

If all community and mental health figures are included, the total rises to more than 940,000  though this will not reflect the overall number of actual cancellations, due to some duplication of data.

Almost 50,000 NHS appointments were cancelled in the latest bout of strike action by senior medics. Pictured: NHS consultants on a British Medical Association picket line outside University College Hospital on August 25

This falls short of the 1million cancelled appointments NHS bosses predicted ahead of the 48-hour walkout by senior medics.

But not all NHS trusts have supplied figures on cancelled appointments, meaning the true scale of the disruption is expected to be higher.

NHS leaders have also said the real impact of strikes is masked by the data, as many hospitals have stopped booking in surgeries and other appointments on announced strike days.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: 'Despite sterling work by health leaders and their teams, this latest round of industrial action has seen the cancellation of 47,129 operations and appointments, taking the total cancelled over the past nine months of strike action to within touching distance of one million.

'This must stop.

READ MORE: NHS workforce plan implies 1 in 11 of all workers will be employed in health by 2036 NHS England published its long-term workforce plan in June, which estimated it will need around 60 per cent more staff by 2036/37 (stock image) Advertisement

'The NHS cannot be expected to roll with the punches for much longer, and with junior doctors looking to extend their mandate for industrial action, health leaders are seriously worried that we are potentially sleep walking into the NHS's very own winter of discontent.

'All parties need to work together to end this for the sake of the health service.'

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive at NHS Providers, said: 'Trust leaders are alarmed by the snowballing impact of the strikes on patients.

'Nearly one million people across England have now had appointments for hospital, mental health and community care pushed back due to the walkouts since December.

'On top of that, there is the immeasurable impact of all the appointments that couldn't be booked on the day of a strike itself.

'No one can afford this dispute to continue. Talks between the government and unions must resume.'

NHS England's national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: 'Industrial action continues to have a huge impact on the NHS, and on the lives of patients and their families.

'This strike took place into a bank holiday weekend, when NHS activity is generally lighter, but many services have for some time avoided scheduling any planned appointments for strike days in order to prioritise emergencies.

'This means the true impact of this action will be even higher, and as we move into September, the extraordinary cumulative effect of more than nine months of disruption poses a huge challenge for the health service, as staff work tirelessly to tackle the backlog.'

The latest bout of strike action was launched by consultants, senior NHS medics who earn 134,000 in England, on average, and who can retire at 65 on a pension of 78,000 a year.

These figures are before lucrative private work, which NHS consultants can do in addition to their role in the health service, is taken into account.

Latest health service figures for 2022 show the average annual basic pay for full-time equivalent consultants now stands at 104,357 (top left graphic). However, the same data shows this extends to 126,125 per year, with their base wages topped up through overtime, medical awards and geographic allowances (bottom right chart)

Analysis by the Nuffield trust found NHS consultants in England were among the top earners in the profession globally

England's backlog, for procedures like hip and knee replacements, now stands at 7.6million. It means roughly one in seven people across the country are currently stuck in the system awaiting care. More than 380,000 patients have gone a year without being treated, often in agony

MailOnline revealed in June that some of the top earning senior medics in the NHS earn close to 500,000 a year, with one in 10 earning more than Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

And a recent analysis suggests consultants in England are among the best paid in the world. However, the BMA has disputed the finding, highlighting that it did not include pay levels in Australia and the US  two nations considered top poachers of British medics.

Ministers have insisted talks on pay are over after it said consultants would receive a 6 per cent rise.

But the BMA said the increase was 'insulting'.

The union claims consultants have experienced a '35 per cent pay erosion' over the last 14 years.

Strike pain in the NHS is far from over with consultants due to walk out again on September 19 and 20 and October 2, 3 and 4.

This means the grim 1million milestone of cancelled appointments is very likely to be breached.

As with previous consultant walkouts, doctors will still provide 'Christmas Day cover' meaning that emergency care, known as life and limb cover, will still be provided.

Meanwhile the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee is re-balloting members to see whether they want to continue with strike action. As it stands, they can stage no further strikes from September.

It comes as NHS care backlog in England, for procedures like hip and knee replacements, now stands at 7.6million, about one in seven people in the country.
More than 70 coronavirus deaths were recorded across England and Wales in just a week, official figures show.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 74 people died due to the virus in the seven days to August 11.

It marks a 57.4 per cent increase on the previous week when just 47 Covid deaths were logged  signalling the biggest surge in virus fatalities this year.

Scientists today warned that the uptick in deaths could signal that a new variant is spreading.

They also called for a return of pandemic mitigation measures, including mask wearing, and increased ventilation because of the virus' resurgence.

Office of National Statistics data released today shows there were 74 Covid deaths registered across the two countries in the week ending August 11. This was a 57 per cent rise on the 47 logged in the previous seven-day spell. But for comparison, this is just a fraction of January's toll, when cases soared to pandemic highs and deaths peaked at 654

While the weekly surge in deaths is the biggest logged this year, the number dying due to the virus is still a fraction of the death toll earlier in the year.

For comparison, weekly deaths caused by the virus spiked at 654 in January.

These ONS figures only include fatalities when Covid was the main cause of death.

In the most recent week, there were 108 deaths involving the virus up 58.8 per cent from 68 one week earlier.

However, this toll includes cases where Covid or suspected Covid was mentioned on a person's death certificate, including in combination with other health conditions.

Trends in Covid deaths lag two weeks behind infection levels, given how long it takes for the infected to become seriously ill.

Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University, told MailOnline today the increase in Covid-related deaths could be 'an early warning sign that new virus variants' may be spreading.

He said: 'This slight increase in Covid-related deaths is worrying. It may be an early warning sign that new virus variants could be spreading.

'Reduced surveillance means we can't be sure about the levels of infection.

'Perhaps the biggest concern is seeing this increase in deaths at this time of year.

'The hope is that this doesn't represent the start of a new wave of infection.'

Meanwhile, Professor Paul Hunter, a respected infectious disease specialist at the University of East Anglia told MailOnline the rise in deaths reported 'was expected, sadly, as it follows the rise in infections and hospitalisations that we have seen since the beginning of July'.

He added: 'Death reports tend to follow infections by about three or four weeks.

'There is no indication that people are more likely to die following an infection than previously, though we no longer have a good idea how many infections are actually occurring in the community.

'We will likely see reported deaths continuing to rise for another couple of weeks.'

Brits are no longer testing en masse like they were earlier in the pandemic  with free community mass testing ending in May 2022.

But while officials no longer track the prevalence of the virus in the same way they used to, as part of the Government's ushering in of pre-pandemic normalities, testing levels have remained stable over the past few months.

Around 5,000 lateral flow test results and 2,700 PCR readings have been uploaded per day in the last week.

Positive test results are reported by the minority of the public still eligible for a free Covid test or have taken a PCR swab  such as health and social care workers and some with underlying health conditions.

Pirola's arrival comes as Covid cases take off once again, sparking concerns that the UK is on the brink of another wave just as the country heads into the winter when the NHS is busiest. NHS hospital data shows daily Covid admissions in England have increased on average by almost a fifth in week, rising from a seven-day rolling average of 258 on August 4, to 308 on August 11

UK Health Security Agency statistics show that 589 out of 6,500 neighbourhoods in England had detected at least three Covid cases in the week to August 12. For comparison, just 58 areas had reached this threshold  given to protect the anonymity of patients sickened in tiny clusters  at the start of July. MailOnline analysis shows the figure has gradually increased week-on-week since then, hitting 270 on July 29 and 448 on August 5

Professor Young added: 'It stresses the need to keep an eye on Covid infections as we enter the autumn and winter.

'With people returning to work and schools reopening after the summer break, we need to raise awareness of the risks of infection particularly for the most vulnerable.

'The government should expedite the autumn vaccination campaign and extend this to people below the age of 65.

'There should also be more public information alerting folk to the fact that Covid has not gone away and that other mitigations  face masks, increased ventilation  will be necessary over the coming months.'

The uptick in virus fatalities coincides with the arrival of Eris, known scientifically as EG.5.1, a variant which already makes up one in four new cases.

The heavily-mutated Covid variant nicknamed Pirola was detected in Sweden and Canada yesterday, taking the total number of cases reported globally up to 24. The highly-evolved strain has already been spotted in Denmark, Israel, Portugal, South Africa and the USA, while wastewater samples in Thailand, Switzerland and the US have also tested positive for the strain, suggesting Pirola is in local circulation within those countries

Professor Stephen Griffin, an infectious disease expert at the University of Leeds, told MailOnline: 'It is sad, but not altogether unexpected to see an increase in certificated Covid deaths following the recent upward trends in cases, test positivity, and hospitalisations.

'As deaths lag behind these other indicators, it may be that further increases will be seen.'

He added: 'This underscores that Covid continues to remain a perennial pandemic driven predominantly by virus evolution, in stark contrast to other respiratory infections.

'It is difficult to attribute this increase to a particular subvariant, especially as genetic surveillance has diminished and the latest report is from nearly two weeks ago.

'However, at the time of reporting, the EG5.1 subvariant was increasing at a considerable rate.

'It is also the case that the vast majority of the population have not recently had a booster vaccination, making them more likely to succumb to infection given the complete absence of sensible mitigations.'

He said: 'It will be important to watch once schools, universities and workplaces return in coming weeks.

'However, we must also remember that the acute consequences of infection are not the only concern here.

'Long Covid continues to blight this country, amongst all ages, and the recent senseless presenteeism drive for school children is a total nonsense.

'Improved safety, vaccines and support to isolate will actually improve school attendance. The false dichotomy created on this is completely unproductive.'

Experts are also spooked by another Covid strain, nicknamed Pirola, that is quickly spreading globally due to its catalogue of mutations.

Alarm bells were raised in the UK on August 18 after genetic tests revealed a patient had the new strain, known scientifically as BA.2.86.

It concerned officials as the unidentified patient, who tested positive while being treated in a London hospital, had not left the country so would not have contracted it abroad.

In a risk assessment published on the same day, the UKHSA team designated the strain as a 'variant for the purposes of tracking and assessment'.

The heavily-mutated Covid variant dubbed the 'real deal' was detected in Sweden and Canada yesterday, taking the total number of cases reported globally up to 24.

The highly-evolved strain has already been spotted in Denmark, Israel, Portugal, South Africa and the USA, while wastewater samples in Thailand, Switzerland and the US have also tested positive for the strain, suggesting Pirola is in local circulation within those countries.

Experts have warned that the true scale of Pirola's spread is unclear, as the scaling back of variant tracking capabilities across the globe mean it is difficult to spot new outbreaks early.

However others have cautioned it is far too early to panic. No evidence yet shows Pirola is any more of a threat than the dozens of strains that have come before it.

Latest Government statistics show Covid cases in England have almost doubled in a month, with 875 cases logged in the country on August 11, up from just 449 one month earlier.

Its seven-day rolling average also jumped from 373 on July 8 to 879, as of August 8.

The most recent UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data also revealed 589 out of 6,500 neighbourhoods in England had detected at least three Covid cases in the week to August 12.

But the toll of affected neighbourhoods is still a fraction of levels seen at the height of the pandemic.

Trust bosses fear Britain's uptick, which shows no signs of slowing yet, could jeopardise NHS efforts to tackle the record backlogs that built-up during the pandemic.

Surging cases can trigger a rise in staff absences and pile pressure on hospitals because infected patients still need to be isolated.

NHS figures suggest only a fraction of these patients are primarily ill with Covid, however, in another sign of how vaccines have changed the course of the pandemic.

Hospital admissions have slowly risen in recent weeks  with a seven-day rolling average of 320 recorded on August 18, up on the 308 logged on August 11.

There has however yet to be any noticeable uptick in intensive care admissions  bolstering the argument that sky-high immunity rates from vaccines and repeated waves have drastically blunted the threat of the virus, rendering it into something that resembles the flu.
One in seven said they are still wearing a mask out the house 'some of the time'

Almost a third of Americans are still worried about the threat of Covid, a survey suggests.

When asked by YouGov, 'How worried are you about getting Covid-19?', 24 percent of adults said they were 'somewhat worried', while seven percent said they were 'very worried.'

The answers  given between August 17 and August 21  are down slightly from April 2022, when 45 percent said 'somewhat worried' and 13 percent said 'very worried'.

The poll was conducted amid a slight upswing in Covid rates and the rise of two highly mutated variants  EG.5, or Eris, and BA.2.86, or Pirola.

Meanwhile, one in seven said they are still wearing a mask 'some of the time', and the same proportion said they would 'think less of' someone wearing a mask in public.

Yahoo conducted the survey! and YouGov using a representative sample of 1,665 US adults who were interviewed online

Black Americans and Democrats were more likely than other groups to say they follow Covid news 'very closely' or 'somewhat closely'.

In general, a third of Americans said they had been closely following the current reports of the number of Covid infections.

When asked about booster shots, 34 percent said they would be willing to get another one and nine percent said they would not. The other 57 percent indicated they had not received an initial booster shot.

Booster shots are due to be ready imminently, and Biden has already signaled the White House will likely recommend everyone gets a top-up shot, including children.

The new vaccines, made by Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax, have been redesigned to target the dominant XBB variants and are expected to be rolled out in mid-September.

Survey participants were also asked if they had worn a face covering outside their home in the past seven days.

One in seven said they had done 'some of the time', while 74 percent said they never wear a mask.

Earlier this year, one of the most comprehensive meta-analyses of face coverings suggested that masks made 'little to no difference' to Covid infection or death rates.

Some 14 percent said they think less of people they now see wearing a mask in public, but 73 percent said they would not judge either way.

Nine percent said they would think more of them, and the remaining four percent were not sure.

Since the pandemic emerged four years ago, most Americans have been infected, vaccinated or both, meaning the majority will have antibodies against the virus.

Research by the University of Florida found that 96 percent of Americans over the age of 16 had antibodies for Covid as of September last year.

People should be aware of what is going on with the rise of the new variants, Dr Timothy Murphy, senior associate dean for clinical and translational research at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, told Yahoo Life.

He said: 'This should not be at the level of worry that it was when there were high levels of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

'But Covid is not going away, and it's wise for us to keep an eye on things.'

He added: 'It's OK not to worry about Covid every day. But it is important to be vigilant about it because things may change  and quickly.'

US hospitalizations are rising  up 21 percent in a week to 12,600 in the seven-day period to August 12  although this is an uptick from historic lows. It is also still below the levels this time last year.

Deaths remained static, however, with 497 recorded in the week to July 29  the latest available  barely a shift from 491 in the previous week.
Jabs were originally planned to be dished out to vulnerable people in October

England's annual flu and Covid vaccine drive is being brought forward due to fears the heavily-mutated Pirola variant will trigger a fresh wave and overwhelm the NHS.

The Department of Health and Social Care announced vaccinations for care home residents and vulnerable adults will now start earlier than scheduled.

GPs and pharmacies will begin dishing out the jabs from September 11, a full month earlier than originally planned.

The 'precautionary' move comes amid fears over the spread of the mutated Pirola variant of Covid, technically called BA.2.86. Health chiefs today confirmed a second Brit has been infected with the strain.

Ministers said they had made the decision to reduce pressure on the health service while scientists rush to learn more about Pirola, described as a 'real deal' and the 'most striking' that the world has seen since Omicron first emerged.

Office of National Statistics data released today shows there were 74 Covid deaths registered across the two countries in the week ending August 11. This was a 57 per cent rise on the 47 logged in the previous seven-day spell. But for comparison, this is just a fraction of January's toll, when cases soared to pandemic highs and deaths peaked at 654

Covid and flu vaccines will only be offered to over-65s this winter, health chiefs confirmed. In a bid to 'go back to normal', invites won't be dished out to millions aged 50-64 who were eligible during the pandemic

Announcing the move, Health Minister Maria Caulfield said: 'As our world-leading scientists gather more information on the BA.2.86 variant, it makes sense to bring forward the vaccination programme.

'It is absolutely vital the most vulnerable groups receive a vaccine to strengthen their immunity over winter to protect themselves and reduce pressure on the NHS.

'I encourage anyone invited for a vaccination  including those yet to have their first jab  to come forward as soon as possible.'

Bringing the jab rollout forward was based on advice from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) that speeding up the rollout would offer people greater protection from the becoming severely ill from virus.

This, the agency claimed, would have the added benefit of reducing pressure on the NHS.

UKHSA chief executive of the Dame Jenny Harries said: 'Thanks to the success of our vaccine programme, we have built strong, broad immune defences against new variants throughout the population.

'However, some people remain more vulnerable to severe illness from Covid.

'This precautionary measure to bring forward the autumn programme will ensure these people have protection against any potential wave this winter.'

Dame Jenny added that the agency was continuing to evaluate Pirola.

'There is limited information available at present on BA.2.86 so the potential impact of this particular variant is difficult to estimate.

'As with all emergent and circulating Covid-19 variants  both in the UK and internationally  we will continue to monitor BA.2.86 and to advise government and the public as we learn more.

'In the meantime, please come forward for the vaccine when you are called.'

Pirola's arrival comes as Covid cases take off once again, sparking concerns that the UK is on the brink of another wave just as the country heads into the winter when the NHS is busiest. NHS hospital data shows daily Covid admissions in England have increased on average by almost a fifth in week, rising from a seven-day rolling average of 258 on August 4, to 308 on August 11

Health authorities in the UK have encouraged people to take vaccines when they are called

NHS officials said they would work quickly 'to ensure as many eligible people as possible are vaccinated by the end of October' to prepare for a challenging winter.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England medical director, said: 'Vaccinations are our best defence against flu and Covid-19 ahead of what could be a very challenging winter, and with the potential for this new Covid variant to increase the risk of infection, we are following the latest expert guidance and bringing the Covid vaccination programme forward, with people able to get their flu vaccine at the same time to maximise protection.'

NHS director of vaccinations and screening, Steve Russell, said: 'While we know that flu and Covid usually hit hardest in December and January, the new Covid variant presents a greater risk now, which is why we will be ensuring as many people as possible are vaccinated against Covid sooner.'

While the Covid is the focus in the change of timeline for the jab rollout, officials will also dish out the flu jab early for 'operational expediency'.

Care home residents are being prioritised in the rollout but other groups, as well as the clinically vulnerable, those aged 65 and over, health and social care staff and carers are also expected to be called forward for jabs in September.

England is, so far, the only UK nation to announce a change in its autumn vaccination programme.

UK scientists were first alerted to Pirola on August 14, with concerns immediately triggered due to its large number of mutations.

The UKHSA officially classified it as a variant on August 18 after the first UK case was detected in a hospitalised patient in London and concern continued to grow across the globe about its spread.

Officials today confirmed that a second case had been confirmed as of August 28. No further details were provided about the person. It is unclear what part of the country they are in or whether they have been hospitalised.

However, experts believe many more are infected. Brits are no longer testing en masse like they were earlier in the pandemic  with free community mass testing ending in May 2022. It means fewer cases are being detected and sequenced  a process which reveals the variant behind an infection.

Fresh data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows there were 74 coronavirus deaths recorded across England and Wales in the week to August 11.

It marks a 57.4 per cent increase on the previous week when just 47 Covid deaths were logged  signalling the biggest surge in virus fatalities this year.

The heavily-mutated Covid variant dubbed the 'real deal' has been detected in four new cases in Sweden, health experts have confirmed, amid fears it is rapidly spreading worldwide undetected. The strain has also been logged in Canada, officials in the country revealed, taking the total number of cases reported globally up to 24, doubling in just a week

Scientists today warned that the uptick in deaths could signal that a new variant is spreading.

They also called for a return of pandemic mitigation measures, including mask wearing, and increased ventilation because of the virus' resurgence.

While the weekly surge in deaths is the biggest logged this year, the number dying due to the virus is still a fraction of the death toll earlier in the year.

For comparison, weekly deaths caused by the virus spiked at 654 in January.

These ONS figures only include fatalities when Covid was the main cause of death.

In the most recent week, there were 108 deaths involving the virus up 58.8 per cent from 68 one week earlier.

However, this toll includes cases where Covid or suspected Covid was mentioned on a person's death certificate, including in combination with other health conditions.

Trends in Covid deaths lag two weeks behind infection levels, given how long it takes for the infected to become seriously ill.

Global cases of Pirola have doubled in a week, having now been spotted in Sweden and Canada for the first time.

Pirola, a descendant of the Omicron variant, was first detected in Israel and Denmark earlier this month.

It has since been spotted in the UK, US, Israel, Denmark, South Africa, Portugal, Thailand and Switzerland.

The spread has unsettled a swathe of top scientists who are worried that its catalogue of mutations could see it spark another wave of cases.

Experts have also warned that the true scale of Pirola's spread is unclear, as the world has scaled back of variant tracking capabilities from the height of the pandemic.

Other scientists have cautioned that it is too early to panic about the new variant.

There is currently no evidence that Pirola is any more of a threat than the dozens of strains that have come before it.

Pirola has not yet been observed to make people more seriously ill than other Omicron-descendant variants or having any enhanced ability to dodge the immunity protection offered from current vaccines or prior infection.
Veteran Senator Mitch McConnell froze mid-sentence and stared blankly during a press conference today just weeks after a near-identical episode.

The 81-year-old's team has denied theories that the senator is unwell, saying only that he was 'lightheaded', but doctors told DailyMail.com the symptoms had all the hallmarks of a seizure.

Dr Keith Vossel, a neurologist from the University of California Los Angeles, said that while most think of seizures as being violent fits, 'absence seizures' cause sudden loss of awareness of ones surroundings and a lack of responsiveness.

This is due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain that knocks chemical processes between nerve cells out of balance.

McConnell suffered a severe fall in March in which he sustained some broken ribs and a concussion, which Dr Vossel said may have led to an accumulation of blood between the layers of tissue that surround the brain, called a subdural hematoma.

McConnell's vacant stare off to his right suggested to Dr Keith Vossel that he was experiencing a seizure on the left side of his brain

Loss of awareness is a hallmark sign of absence stroke. Sen McConnell did not seem able to acknowledge or was not aware of an aide repeating a reporter's question to him

He said: 'That's more common in older adults and down the road that can actually lead to increased risk of seizures because the blood clots that surround the brain can irritate the cortical structures and lead to excess brain activity.'

While he was quick to stress he is not the senator's treating physician, Dr Vossel's area of focus is brain disorders that primarily affect seniors.

McConnell had a hard time understanding a reporter at a Kentucky press gathering, went silent, and froze in place for a little over 30 seconds.

McConnell's office later said the Senator was 'lightheaded', and insisted he was 'fine', but he would consult a doctor as a precaution.

But after reviewing the video, Dr Vossel told DailyMail.com: His eyes flutter a little bit and his eyes are drifting off to the right. That means that a seizure can be happening in the left side of his brain, which pushes his eyes to the right.

'If somebody's right-handed, their left side of the brain is more important for language, so it did strike me that his eyes start drifting to the right as hes freezing.

And then he's smacking his lips a little bit and his eyes fluttered a little bit. So, to me, this looks like an absence seizure.

The mention of seizures typically conjures up visions of people convulsing wildly and frothing at the mouth, but a non-motor seizure like the one that Sen McConnell is believed to have suffered is more difficult to recognize and often misdiagnosed.

The absence seizure that appears to be a likely culprit does not manifest in the same way as motor seizures and typically lasts less than a minute.

An absence seizure, also known as a petit mal seizure, results from abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Dysfunctional flow of ions, or charged particles that help nerve cells in the brain communicate, cause erroneous surges of electrical impulses.

It typically impacts a persons awareness of the world around them and they become momentarily disconnected from external stimuli, including verbal cues or questions.

Age is a major risk factor for absence seizures, while concussions are less so. That is not to say that his March concussion was innocuous, though.

He was treated for a concussion earlier this year following a fall at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, DC, which was formerly the Trump International Hotel.

Speculation has been rife that the Senator suffered strokes linked to his concussion in March, though Dr Vossel is less than convinced.

He said: I think if he had had an actual stroke, he would have had some residual effects after he fell that would have been noticed, like drooping on the side of the face or not moving one side as well as the other or speech problems.

McConnell's eyelids fluttered and he smacked his lips, which are frequent signs of a transient seizure

Similar to the most recent episode, Mr McConnell did not appear aware of the lawmakers around him expressing concern

The first episode in which McConnell appeared to suffer an unknown neurological issue occurred just over a month ago during his regularly scheduled press conference on Capitol Hill.

In the middle of his remarks, the senator trailed off for about 30 seconds, frozen in place, until he was led away shortly after.

He said nothing for that half a minute despite being asked by fellow lawmakers who joined the briefing if he was okay or if he wanted to say anything else to the press.

He returned to the briefing a few minutes later and subsequently insisted that he was fine, but his assurances did not hold the public back from speculating that he had suffered a stroke mid-sentence.

Dr Vossel said: On the first episode, I was worried that he might be having an absence or petit mal seizure because with those types of spells, they are short lived.

'And when people are experiencing them, they may not realize that they're having the seizure, and when they come out of it, they might not realize that anything had happened.

Unlike during the first episode in which Mr McConnell said nothing, in the second incident on Wednesday, he elicited a faint yes when an aide asked closer to the senator if he had heard the reporters question regarding his 2026 re-election bid, though he seemed unable to answer further.

These types of spells can affect ones receptive language abilities, not just expressive language abilities.

'And so it wouldn't be surprising if, like a petit mal seizure could have been happening when he was not able to comprehend as well as others in the room, Dr Vossel said.
One hates to be a long playing record but Prudentials decision to maintain a City presence and to keep a London listing after former chairman Paul Manduca oversaw the split looks to have shown great foresight.

It follows Standard Chartered and HSBC, Asia-Pacific financial behemoths, which having once considered overseas listings decided to stay in London in spite of perceived drawbacks.

Prudential, for those who have forgotten, is the Far Eastern and emerging market arm of the most totemic brand in UK insurance. It lives on in the City as M&G, which manages the 114billion legacy Pru fund.

The Pru was among the first Western insurers to recognise the potential value of the Chinese market and along with AIA (an offshoot of American International Group) has been an enormous beneficiary of the opening up of China to overseas players.

All good things, however, come to an end. The heavy hand of autocracy together with the collapse of an over-extended property sector and fears of security breaches currently cast a huge shadow.

Growth target: Prudentials decision to maintain a City presence and to keep a London listing after former chairman Paul Manduca oversaw the split looks to have shown great foresight

The independence of Hong Kong and the post-colonial formula of one country, two systems, is being severely challenged.

The latest business data from Prudential shows Chinese buyers of insurance products much prefer to invest via Hong Kong than on the mainland. New business sales in Hong Kong surged, climbing by 218 per cent to $670million (490million).

In China itself sales fell 16 per cent to $171million (136million) amid a deteriorating outlook in Beijing after a couple of decades of supercharged output.

Chief executive Anil Wadhwani, an experienced Asia hand, recognises the golden goose will not keep laying at its past pace.

He is setting sights on India, a difficult market for overseas financial groups, and Africa where Pru has long-established roots.

The target of 15 per cent to 20 per cent growth between 2022 and 2027 may look over-ambitious.

But the Pru has done it before. It is fashionable to denigrate Britain, but when it comes to financial services (even those run out of Hong Kong) British brands and London listings still enjoy global status.

Safety first

It is axiomatic that the best stewards of the nations safety should build maximum robustness into their systems.

The very idea that when a system as critical to the countrys air safety, commerce and productivity breaks down that there is no reliable back-up and the operators have to revert to analogue data input is ridiculous. Why should we be surprised?

The ownership structure of National Air Traffic Services (Nats) ought to be a source of confidence.

After all, the main shareholders are the UKs flourishing air transport industry the Airline Group, which comprises most of Britains largest carriers, Nats staff, Heathrow and the Government itself, with a whopping 49 per cent stake.

Advocates of returning privatised utilities into public ownership might well contemplate why something as critical to the nations prosperity and safety is underinvested.

One suspects that the underwhelming regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, has big questions to answer.

It is also interesting to wonder what former BA boss Willie Walsh, who heads global airline body IATA, was thinking when he suggested carriers should not bear the estimated 100million cost of reparations.

After all, if Nats coughed up it would be a case of airlines (joint owners) paying themselves! Imagine the catastrophe which would occur if another critical system, the Airwave network, used by all Britains emergency services, were to fail.

Private sector operator Motorola has ploughed nearly 800million into systems and network investment since 2016, leading the National Audit Office to argue: Airwave continues to perform well.

The Home Office seems to think it is a good idea to slash the budget for Airwave and put BT in charge of the next generation network. Good luck with that.

Lost causes

The exodus of Britains most promising high-tech enterprises from listed markets continues, with life sciences software pioneer Instem Plc selling its soul to French private equity outfit Archimed for 203million.

Once again, the enterprise sacrificed to uncaring overseas ownership is in the most promising space for the UKs future  the intersection of software and health science skills.

Shameful!
Two parents were found dead alongside two of their children in a suspected murder-suicide, just weeks after their 4-year-old daughter drowned in a Texas swimming pool.

The family was identified on Tuesday as father Farman Sherwani, mother Layla Sherwani, and sons Mateen Sherwani, 2, and Shaheen Sherwani, 12, police said. Authorities discovered their bodies inside a residence in Allen during a welfare check on Monday. Police said another one of the homes residents requested the check, telling officers theyd been locked out and that no one had come to the door after hours of knocking.

Each of the victims suffered gunshot wounds and authorities are investigating the bloody incident as a murder-suicide, the Star-Telegram reported. Police did not provide further details, including which family member they believed to be behind the killings.

Allen Independent School District spokesman David Hicks confirmed one of the victims was a fifth grader at Olson Elementary School. He told the Dallas Morning-News that a note was sent home to families earlier this week and that counselors would be made available to students in need.

We are all shocked and saddened by this news, principal Susanne Miller said in the letter. I ask that you please keep the family and loved ones in your thoughts over the coming days and months.

The violence comes just less than a month after the family, members of the local Muslim community, buried their 4-year-old daughter, Lyian Sherwani, KXAS reported. While the exact details surrounding her death remained unclear Wednesday, Imam Abdul Rahman Bashir, the religious director for the Islamic Association of Allen, said she drowned in a swimming pool accident three weeks ago.

In an email to NBC News, Allen Police Sgt. Johnathan Maness noted that police suspect the girls death is definitely a factor that played into the deadly violence earlier this week.
Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng (pictured)is set to take up an advisory role with Fortescue

Kwasi Kwarteng is set to take an advisory role with Australian mining giant Fortescue from October.

The former chancellor (pictured), who lasted 28 days in the job, will provide advice to the companys burgeoning clean energy division.

Fortescues billionaire chairman Andrew Twiggy Forrest is ploughing money into green technology such as hydrogen.

Kwarteng asked permission from the advisory committee on business appointments about whether he could take a part-time position with the group.

The committee said he could start in October, 12 months after he was removed as chancellor, with certain conditions, such as not being allowed to lobby the UK Government in the role.

Fortescue has been going through a tumultuous period that has seen most of its executive team leave or shift roles since 2021.

On Monday, chief executive Fiona Hick left after just six months in the role.
The digital healthcare company behind the NHS GP at Hand app has placed two of its British businesses into administration.

Babylon Health, whose platforms have been used by 700,000 people in the UK, had been championed by former Health Secretary Matt Hancock as revolutionary and soared in popularity during the pandemic, providing digital health options for the public.

The companys GP at Hand app, which is funded by the NHS, became the first GP service in the UK to get a list of more than 100,000 patients in August 2021.

But the restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal said late last night it had been appointed administrator for its UK holding company, as well as Babylon Partners, its research and artificial intelligence division.

It also said Babylons clinical services business, which includes its GP at Hand app, was sold solvently to US digital health business Emed Healthcare.

Babylon, which was founded in 2013 by British-Iranian entrepreneur Ali Parsa, employs more than 650 people in Britain, according to Linkedin

Andrea Jakes, managing director, Alvarez & Marsal Europe, said: The appointment of administrators over Babylons UK business to facilitate a sale to Emed ensures the least possible disruption for Babylon users, which should continue to operate as normal.

Babylon, which was founded in 2013 by British-Iranian entrepreneur Ali Parsa, employs more than 650 people in Britain, according to Linkedin.

The company has had a bumpy ride in recent years despite initial investment from Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund, Swedish venture capital group Kinnevik and data company Palantir, and went public in 2021.

While at one stage valued more than 3.1billion, making Parsa a paper billionaire, Babylons value quickly collapsed.

It lost $221million (173.7million) last year amid efforts to expand into the US, while relations with doctors soured after it made bold claims about the AI behind its app, which was questioned by healthcare experts.

The share price collapsed by more than 99 per cent over the course of two years after going public.

In the face of its funding shortfall, it slashed jobs and cancelled NHS partnerships  ultimately leading to losses and dwindling shareholder confidence.

Some medical experts have also questioned the science behind the business, which included a controversial chatbot, which claimed it could diagnose illnesses.

Earlier this month, a merger deal that could have saved the business fell apart.

Parsa was granted asylum in the UK after fleeing his homeland in 1981 following the Islamic Revolution. He founded Babylon in 2014 as a telephone appointment service for GP surgeries.

In 2004 he launched Circle Health, a hospital operator which became Europes largest partnership of clinicians. It was bought by Toscafund in 2017 for 74million.
A former PwC partner whose name was brought up during the tax avoidance leaks scandal has hit back at 'falsities' which tie him to the saga.

Michael Bersten 'vehemently denies' allegations of wrongdoing, and left the firm in June 2018 of his own accord.

'The false reporting has damaged my reputation and also caused me and my family considerable hurt and stress,' he said.

'I do not feel I have done anything wrong.'

He was falsely accused of 'masterminding' the tax plot in some publications, but has since maintained he was not involved in the disclosure of any information to PwC clients.

The former tax and legal partner at PwC was once employed by the ATO. There, he served as both Deputy Chief Tax Counsel and head of the Office of Chief Tax Counsel.

Michael Bersten 'vehemently denies' allegations of wrongdoing, and left the firm in June 2018 of his own accord

He advised on tax administration, audits and disputes, but claimed 'international tax and multi-national tax planning was in a separate area'.

Mr Bersten said on LinkedIn he 'acted in many of the major tax controversies in Australia' and 'has a strong understanding of ATO policy and practice'.

He said he was not given any notice that PwC were making a statement.

In all, PwC handed a Senate committee investigating the matter the names of 67 current or former partners and staff who had received one or more of the emails containing confidential government information.

The firm claimed many of the names on the list had no idea that a breach had taken place.

PwC is one of the top consulting firms globally, providing tax advice to some of Australia's biggest businesses

PwC is one of the top consulting firms globally, providing tax advice to some of Australia's biggest businesses.

The firm's biggest Australian client is the federal government.

The government has awarded $537million worth of contracts - on the taxpayer dollar - to PwC.

Among these contracts are deals with the Australian Federal Police, Defence and Services Australia (the agency behind Centrelink).

PwC used sensitive, confidential information to lure in companies and drive tax policies which could have cost the Australian economy as much as $180million in lost revenue from big foreign companies.
My fellow Australians,

For many years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have advocated for Constitutional Recognition through a Voice.

Our Government  along with every single State and Territory Government - has committed to it.

Legal experts have endorsed it.

People on all sides of the Parliament have backed it.

Faith groups and sporting codes and local councils and businesses and unions have embraced it.

An army of volunteers from every part of this great nation are throwing all their energy behind it.

Now, my fellow Australians, you can vote for it.

The idea for a Voice came from the people  and it will be decided by the people.

Today, I announce that Referendum day will be the 14th of October.

On that day every Australian will have a once-in-a-generation chance to bring our country together and to change it for the better.

To vote for Recognition, Listening and Better Results.

And I ask all Australians to vote Yes.

Referendums come around much less often than elections  this will be the first one this century - and they are very different.

Because on October 14th, you are not being asked to vote for a political party or for a person.

Youre being asked to vote for an idea.

To say Yes to an idea whose time has come

To say Yes to an invitation that comes directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves.

A proposal thousands of elders and leaders and communities all over our country have worked on for over a decade.

A change supported by more than 80 per cent of Indigenous Australians: Constitutional Recognition through a Voice.

A way for all of us to recognise Indigenous Australians and their history in our Constitution and a form of recognition that will importantly make a positive difference to their lives and their futures.

A practical way of dealing with issues that, despite all the good intentions in this world, no Australian Government has been able to get right before.

The Voice will be a committee of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, local representatives from every state and territory, the regions, remote communities as well as the Torres Strait Islands.

A committee of Indigenous Australians, chosen by Indigenous Australians, giving advice to Government so that we can get better results for Indigenous Australians.

The Voice is about advice.

The Parliament and Government that Australians vote for in the normal way every three years will still be responsible for decisions and laws and funding

.Just as it always has been.

With a Voice though, well be able to hear directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities about the challenges they face in health and education, in jobs and housing, and well be able to learn about the things are working in local areas, so we can replicate them and make them work right around the country.

Learning from communities in Arnhem Land where the parents and teachers co-operate to make sure children are going to school and aiming high.

Or the health services employing Indigenous nurses to deliver health checks and immunisations in remote communities.

Or Indigenous Rangers caring for our environment, with knowledge built up over tens of thousands of years.

There are local success stories out there  just imagine the progress we could make with a Voice connecting the regions with the nation.

And giving locals a say, of course, means that we save money too.

Because well be making sure the funding actually reaches the people on the ground.

No more waste - better results where they are needed.

My fellow Australians, what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want for their children is what you want for yours.

Staying healthy, doing well at school, finding a job they love.

Being safe and leading fulfilling lives.

Thats what they are asking you to say Yes to at this referendum.

The same opportunity for their children to make a good life for themselves.

In the words of the Uluru Statement from the Heart: When we have power over our destiny, our children will flourish.

Thats the change that we, as Australians, can make happen.

Of course, voting Yes wont fix everything overnight.

Were talking about challenges built up over generations  and they will take time to address.

But Voting Yes means we will finally have the right approach in place, so we can start finding the solutions.

We can make this change together  and then we will make it work together.

With a Voice thats independent from day-to-day politics, so that it can plan for the long term.

And lets be very clear about the alternative.

Because Voting No leads nowhere. It means nothing changes.

Voting No closes the door on this opportunity to move forward.

I say today, dont close the door on Constitutional Recognition.

Dont close the door on listening to communities to get better results.

Dont close the door on an idea that came from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves.

And dont close the door on the next generation of Indigenous Australians.

Vote Yes.

Vote Yes for Recognition.

Vote Yes for Listening.

Vote Yes for Better Results.

Voting Yes is a change for the better that all of us can make together.

We all get one vote and we all get an equal say.

And if something is unclear to you, or you havent even had a chance to think about this yet, I encourage you, ask questions.

Because if youre unsure, its easy to find out more.

Have a listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and elders like Noel Pearson and Aunty Pat Anderson, Megan Davis and Marcia Langton and Tanya Hosch and Tom Calma - trailblazers working with the next generation like Evonne Goolagong or Eddie Betts or Johnathon Thurston, or respected Liberals like Premier Jeremy Rockcliff, Ken Wyatt, Kate Carnell, Sean Gordon, Bridget Archer, Julian Leeser and Fred Chaney.

Have a read of the Uluru Statement from the Heart  just one page, full of grace and generosity, inviting all Australians to walk together to a better future.

Have a chat to the Yes campaign volunteers at your train station or shopping centre. And have a look, importantly, at the words of the question  and the words to be added to the Constitution.

They are not long.

The Question is:

A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

Do you approve this proposed alteration?

Straightforward. Clear.

As are the provisions.

It's the advantage of working on it for so long.

First, the recognition.

It says this: In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:

That is what it says. Simple. Clear.

Straightforward.

Then the what.

Again, straightforward. Clear.

The second provision:

That is the what, what will it do. That is what it will do.

Straightforward. Clear. Unambiguous.

Then, the how, including a clear declaration of the primacy of our Parliament. It says this:

Again, pretty clear and pretty straightforward.

Recognition. Listening to advice. Parliament continuing as decision-maker.

That is the clear, positive and practical request from Indigenous Australians.

That is the hand out asking us, non-Indigenous Australia, to just grasp that hand of friendship.

And thats what we can vote Yes for.

My fellow Australians, our Australian story goes back 65,000 years. And what a privilege we have of sharing this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth.

But our story is not finished yet.

It's up to all of us to write the next chapter together.

And we can start by writing one word - Yes.

In the history of our great nation, the wonderful acts of national progress and the great advances in fairness have always required hard work.

There were arguments here, when South Australia, something they are very proud of and should be, led the world in giving women the right to vote.

There were arguments made against Federation and the minimum wage, Medicare and multiculturalism.

And before the 1967 referendum, before Vincent Lingiari, before Mabo, before the Apology.

But the great story of our country, through the generations, is that Australians come together to answer these calls for change.

We rise to the moment.

Like the Kangaroo and the Emu on our coat of arms.

They never go backwards  they just go forwards.

And so do we.

And when its done, when we see the joy and the celebration, when we see the difference it makes to peoples lives, the only question we ever ask ourselves when these changes occur is: Why didn't we do it earlier?

And it will be the same this time, when we come together and vote Yes.

Because we will have a way forward, together.

On October 14, there is nothing for us to lose.

And there is so much for Australia to gain. There is no downside here. Only upside.

Friends, many times when Ive spoken about this change, Ive asked: If not now, when?

This is it.

October 14 is our time.

Its our chance.

Its a moment calling-out to the best of our Australian character.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, this has been a marathon.

For all of us, it is now a sprint.

And across the finish line is a more unified, more reconciled Australia, with greater opportunity for all.

Thats why thousands of people have volunteered already, many of whom have never worked on any kind of campaign before.

This is a once-in-a-generation chance  and Australians from across the generations are working together to make it happen.

I say to all those volunteers, keep knocking on doors, making phone calls  and keep having those conversations.

With your colleagues in workplaces across the land. Because this change is supported by employers and unions alike.

With your teammates in every local sporting club. Because this is a cause backed by every single sporting code.

With your fellow worshippers in every faith, because all faiths have given their support to this proposal.

With multicultural communities, because they know what it means to celebrate and recognise tradition and culture.

Have those conversations with your family and friends, your parents and grandparents.

Because with your energy and enthusiasm, this referendum can be won.

And when Yes wins, all Australians will win.

So, in a spirit of generosity and optimism  Vote Yes.

In recognition of 65,000 years of history  Vote Yes.

With hope for a better future  Vote Yes.

Vote Yes on October 14.

Thank you.
Shapley's attorney Mark Lytle told DailyMail.com he spoke with Associate Deputy Attorney General Brad Weinsheimer who asked about the case in April

Top Justice Department officials meddled in the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden and showed favoritism to the First Son, lawyers for the key IRS whistleblower have claimed in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.

Attorneys for senior IRS investigator Gary Shapley revealed a top Justice official approached them in April saying he wanted to investigate Shapleys claims of slow-rolling and obstruction in Hunters case.

Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer immediately met with Hunters lawyers and his Delaware prosecutor, who days later struck a sweetheart deal with the presidents son for blanket immunity and no jail, while Shapley and his team were pulled off the case.

The lawyers said Weinsheimer at first appeared eager to get to the bottom of Shapleys allegations that Delaware prosecutor David Weisss team shut down lines of inquiry involving Joe Biden, leaked information to Hunters lawyers, and deliberately let the statute of limitations run out for Hunters alleged felony tax crimes over their five-year probe.

In just two short weeks, Weinsheimer went from expressing an interest in the claims of wrongdoing by the IRS whistleblower to dismissing the claims of retaliation when the IRS agents were pulled off the case, attorney Mark Lytle told DailyMail.com.

Lawyers for an IRS whistleblower in Hunter Biden's criminal investigation are accusing top Justice Department officials of meddling in the case and showing favoritism to the First Son

Emails show officials from DoJ contacted lawyers for IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley ahead of his July testimony to discuss his allegations about the Hunter Biden probe in April

Lytle said that after seeking information from him, Weinsheimer reportedly had a secret meeting the next day with Weiss and Hunters then-lead lawyer Chris Clark, then changed his tune with Lytle telling him everything would be handled by Weiss.

The string of events left Shapleys team feeling DoJ leaders were going behind their backs with the IRS Supervisory Special Agents sensitive information and showing favoritism to the presidents son.

In April the Wall Street Journal broke the news that senior IRS agent Gary Shapley was planning to come forward to Congress, alleging the five-year probe into the president's son was slow-rolled and even obstructed by Trump-appointed Delaware prosecutor David Weiss and his team.

Shapley's lawyers have pointed out that an official from the office of Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco 'granted an audience for Biden lawyers to appeal above Weiss's head'

Emails obtained by DailyMail.com and interviews with Shapley's legal team reveal how Justice Department leaders at first appeared concerned and eager to investigate the worrying allegations  then quickly dropped their inquiry.

Instead Shapley and his team were removed from the criminal case, and prosecutors struck a 'sweetheart' deal with Hunter's lawyers.

An April 24 email obtained this week by DailyMail.com shows an aide for Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco contacted Lytle asking for a call, following the WSJ article.

Lytle says he spoke the next day with Weinsheimer, giving him a general brief on Shapley's allegations about the suppression of Hunter's criminal investigation  though he was prevented from going into detail by tax privacy laws.

Lytle, who works at firm Nixon Peabody, said Weinsheimer seemed concerned and keen to investigate, and promised he would get Shapley's team legal permission to share all the details of his allegations, which include the slow-rolling of the Hunter probe and ignoring of potential crimes involving Joe Biden.

But the next day Weinsheimer went straight to Hunter's then-lead lawyer, Chris Clark, and Weiss  the subject of many of Shapley's allegations.

According to emails leaked to Politico, Weinsheimer had a meeting with Clark and Weiss on April 26, during which Clark asked for the department to reconsider imminent charges against Hunter for tax crimes.

A month earlier Attorney General Merrick Garland had sworn to Congress that Weiss had all the authority he needed to conduct his investigation, and that all decisions in the case were his.

And now, an April 24 email shows an aide for Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco contacted Shapley's lawyer Mark Lytle asking for a call, following the WSJ article about Shapley's concerns

A month earlier Attorney General Merrick Garland had sworn to Congress that Weiss had all the authority he needed to conduct his investigation, and that all decisions in the case were his

Delaware US Attorney David Weiss has been the lead prosecutor in the Hunter criminal case

So the involvement of a top Justice official in the April 26 meeting  the same one who Shapley's attorneys were briefing on sensitive allegations by their client about Weiss and Clark  shocked the IRS whistleblower's team when they read about it in Politico this month.

'On March 1, 2023, Garland swore to Congress that the buck stopped with Weiss alone in the Hunter Biden case. But the Justice Department's actions directly undercut his claims,' the lawyers said in a statement to DailyMail.com.

'Just weeks after Garland's testimony, an official from the office of Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco granted an audience for Biden lawyers to appeal above Weiss's head.'

On May 5, nine days after the meeting, Lytle and his colleagues met with both Democrat and Republican congressional staff for over two hours and briefed them in detail about Shapley's bombshell allegations.

Then they noticed a worrying U-turn by the Justice Department.

About two weeks later Senior Supervisory Agent Shapley, his subordinate and fellow whistleblower Joseph Ziegler, and their team of about a dozen agents were taken off the Biden case.

Shapley told Congress it was a move he had never seen in his 14-year career at the IRS.

On May 16, Lytle and his colleague Tristan Leavitt, had a call with Weinsheimer.

But they told DailyMail.com that this time the senior DoJ official was no longer interested in investigating, instead repeating Garland's line: that they wouldn't get involved, and Weiss would handle everything.

'I would say Weinsheimer wanted intel from Gary before his Hill testimony,' Leavitt, Shapley's lawyer and president of whistleblower organization Empower Oversight, told DailyMail.com.

'His lack of interest after he met with Weiss and Clark suggests the cake was baked at that time.'

Emails leaked to Politico show that in the following days, one of Weiss's lead prosecutors, Lesley Wolf, hashed out a deal with Hunter's lawyers that only charged two minor tax crimes and gave him blanket immunity for a host of other potential offenses, including illegal foreign lobbying and money laundering.

Early drafts of the deal did not even require the president's son to plead guilty to any offense, the emails reportedly show, and were only toughened up after Shapley went public with his claims in a TV interview with CBS News.

'This official's meeting with Weiss and Biden lawyers was shortly before SSA Shapley and his team were removed from the case, the same day prosecutors offered to end the case without any guilty plea at all, which raises serious questions about the role Main Justice's intervention played in those decisions,' Shapley's lawyers told DailyMail.com.

'Hunter Biden's attorneys received much more help from the Deputy Attorney General's office than SSA Shapley did in seeking help from his retaliatory removal from the case by DOJ.'

On May 16, Lytle and his colleague Tristan Leavitt, had a call with Weinsheimer, but they told DailyMail.com that this time the senior DoJ official was no longer interested in investigating

Weeks later, Senior Supervisory Agent Shapley, his subordinate and fellow whistleblower Joseph Ziegler and their team of about a dozen agents were taken off the Biden case

Conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation also obtained emails this week via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, showing officials at Main Justice offered to 'take the lead' from Weiss in writing responses to lawmakers about Hunter's case last year.

Officials at the DoJ's Office of Legal Affairs wrote back and forth with Weiss about his responses in June 2022, even involving then-deputy assistant attorney general Joe Gaeta at one point.

The emails show Weiss telling his team he would 'not respond' to Republicans until he got input from Main Justice.

Chairs of the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Ways and Means committees on Monday wrote to Garland demanding information about Weiss's role and the 'sweetheart' deal Hunter struck with prosecutors  which fell apart under scrutiny from a federal judge in a hearing on July 26.

The senior Republican congressmen said the DoJ's 'unusual' behavior 'suggests that the Department under [Garland's] leadership has been attempting to circumvent the rule of law in favor of Hunter Biden, President Biden, and the Biden family.'

They listed examples from Shapley's testimony, including Wolf allegedly leaking information about investigators' plans to Hunter's legal team, banning them from asking witnesses questions about Joe Biden, and Weiss's team allowing the statute of limitations to lapse on felony tax evasion charges, despite Hunter's lawyers' willingness for an extension.

They pointed out Garland had previously claimed Weiss had 'ultimate' authority in the case  but then inexplicably gave him Special Counsel powers on August 11.

IRS whistleblower attorney Mark Lytle

'On March 1, 2023, you told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Mr. Weiss 'has full authority... to bring cases in other jurisdictions if he feels it's necessary.'

'If that were truly the case, then there would be no reason to now appoint Mr. Weiss as a special counsel and authorize him to 'prosecute federal crimes in any federal judicial district arising from the investigation of these matters,' the letter said.

They highlighted Weiss's shifting story, at first telling the Judiciary Committee he had 'responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges', then on June 30 saying 'my charging authority is geographically limited to my home district'.

'Now you have appointed as special counsel an individual who oversaw all the investigation's irregularities, who spent the past two months claiming that he did not need special counsel status, and who was responsible for the plea agreement that collapsed in court and is widely viewed as an embarrassment for the Department,' the chairmen Jim Jordan, James Comer and Jason Smith wrote.
The government is in a heated legal battle to stop a planned private expedition to recover items of historical interest from the sunken Titanic.

The expedition is being pushed by RMS Titanic Inc., a Georgia-based firm that bought the salvage rights to the worlds most famous shipwreck more than 30 years ago, and hopes to send a submersible down to the wreck in 2024.

But the government said in court documents published in the District Court of Norfolk, Virginia, that RMST would be flagrantly disregarding federal law and an agreement with Great Britain if it entered the Titanic's severed hull.

Its lawyers also said that the government is worried that the company would disturb rare artifacts and even human remains that may still be onboard.

'RMST is not free to disregard this validly enacted federal law, yet that is its stated intent,' U.S. lawyers argued in court documents filed Friday. They added that the shipwreck 'will be deprived of the protections Congress granted it.'

The wreck has sat at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean since it sank in 1912

Stockton Rush, CEO of Oceangate, pictured right in the submersible that took his life two months ago, was criticized for how his company built the vessel

The Titanic is a hallowed grave that cannot be disturbed, lawyers for the US government have argued

The exploration company is known for showing off prized artifacts that have been recovered from the wreck site at the bottom of the North Atlantic, including silverware and a piece of the Titanic's hull.

It wants to send an exploration vehicle down to photograph the wreck and recover 'free-standing' sought-after items from less explored areas, including the legendary Marconi Room, which holds the wireless telegraph machine that sent out distress calls shortly before the Titanic sank.

But RMST said it does not intend to seek a permit from the US government.

The legal battle comes just two months after OceanGate's ill-fated Titan submersible imploded near the sunken ocean liner, killing five people.

Private companies, including OceanGate, were heavily criticized for trying to profit off the macabre incident in which around 1,500 people lost their lives.

Private companies were heavily criticized for trying to profit off the Titanic tragedy

Helen Richardson, the 40-year-old great-granddaughter of a fireman on the Titanic, previously told MailOnline: 'It should be left alone. It is a site where all those poor people lost their lives, and a tragic site even for those who survived.'

Meanwhile, Anna Roberts, the great-granddaughter of a bedroom steward on the vessel that was said to be 'unsinkable', said: 'I deplore the fact Titanic has become a tourist attraction. It is a graveyard and should be left in peace and respect.'

While RMST has not yet filed a response in court, it has previously claimed that the US has tried to 'infringe' its salvage rights to the wreck, which are in international waters.

RMST also wants to take pictures 'inside the wreck where deterioration has opened chasms sufficient to permit a remotely operated vehicle to penetrate the hull without interfering with the current structure.'

Rare artefacts reportedly still lie in the wreck of the Titanic, and RMST has the salvage rights to it

RMST says it wants to take free-standing artefacts from the wreck in a 2024 expedition

'At this time, the company does not intend to cut into the wreck or detach any part of the wreck,' RMST previously stated.

The company previously said it would 'work collaboratively' with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US agency that represents the public's interest in the wreck.

This isn't the first time the two parties have locked horns in court.

In 2020, the government and RMST engaged in a nearly identical legal battle over a proposed expedition that could have cut into the wreck.

But the proceedings were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.

The company's plan at the time was to retrieve the radio, which sits in a deck house near the grand staircase.

An unmanned submersible was set to either slip through a skylight or cut the heavily corroded roof, before a 'suction dredge' would remove loose silt, while manipulator arms could cut electrical cords.

The company said it would exhibit the radio along with stories of the men who tapped out distress calls 'until seawater was literally lapping at their feet.'

In May 2020, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith gave RMST permission, writing the radio is historically and culturally important and could soon be lost to decay.

Judge Smith wrote recovering the telegraph would 'contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic, those who survived, and those who gave their lives in the sinking.'

A few weeks later, the U.S. government filed an official legal challenge against the 2020 expedition, which never happened. The firm indefinitely delayed its plans in early 2021 because of complications wrought by the pandemic.
The lawmakers request records related to then-Vice President Bidens foreign travel with his family on Air Force Two and Marine Two

Republicans are ramping up their investigation into the Biden family's business dealings following bombshell reports that Hunter traveled to at least 15 countries with his dad then-Vice President Joe on Air Force Two.

They accuse then-VP Biden of having 'abused' his taxpayer-funded office 'to enrich his family' by flying Hunter all over the world to meet with his business associates, according to a letter to the National Archives obtained by DailyMail.com.

Hunter tagged along with his powerful father during official vice president trips between 2009 and 2017 to Asia, Europe, Africa, Mexico and Canada spanning at least 15 different countries, according to a recent report by Fox News.

During the trips, Hunter would reportedly meet with his international business associates and potential clients. He also apparently offered short 'handshake' meetings providing his partners direct access to his father on several occasions.

'Then-Vice President Bidens misuse of Air Force Two and Marine Two is indicative of yet another way in which the President has abused his various offices of public trust and wasted taxpayer money to benefit his familys enterprise, which consisted of nothing more than access to Joe Biden himself,' the Republicans accuse.

They are demanding all Air Force Two flight records and emails sent from the White House to Biden family members during the Obama-Biden administration.

Then-Vice President Joe Biden waves as he walks out of Air Force Two with his granddaughter Finnegan Biden and son Hunter Biden on December 4, 2013 in Beijing, China

Then-Vice President Joe Biden, left, accompanied by from second left, daughter Ashley Biden, and sons Beau Biden and Hunter Biden, walked down the steps of Air Force Two in 2012

They point to an instance recounted by Hunter's ex-business partner Devon Archer during sworn testimony in which he said then-VP Biden met with one of Hunter's Chinese associates in Beijing in December 2013 - on a trip the first son was also on.

Archer told Congress that Jonathan Li - a prominent Chinese businessman and CEO of investment fund BHR - met with then-VP Biden during that trip for a short coffee meeting.

'Jonathan Li and President Biden had coffee' when he was in Beijing, testified Archer earlier this month. So there was a level of 'familiarity' between the men, he said.

Republicans say that shortly after that meeting, BHRs business license was approved and Hunter became a board member.

Li had also separately had asked Hunter and his associates for assistance with getting his children accepted to prominent U.S. colleges.

Archer also testified that the 'Biden brand' helped keep Ukrainian firm Burisma from going bankrupt, and revealed Joe was on the phone or present in-person at least 20 times while his son, who called him 'my guy.'

Republicans claim Archer's testimony added to mounting evidence that the then-vice president was involved in Hunter's overseas deals that raked in millions from nations including China and Romania.

The House Oversight Committee Republicans reiterate their 'concerns' that foreign nationals 'sought access and influence by engaging in lucrative business relationships with high-profile political figures immediate family members,' including members of the Biden family.

The letter signed by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., was directed to Archivist of the Untied States Colleen Shogan because the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the 'custodian agency of Vice-Presidential records.'

The documents and communications requested extend to Hunter's associates Eric Schwerin, Devon Archer and Jeffrey Cooper between 2009 and 2017.

DailyMail.com reached out to NARA for a response to the Republican-led letter and a spokesperson said Comer's 'request' has been received.

'NARA has received the request from Chairman Comer, and will respond in accordance with the Presidential Records Act (PRA), NARAs implementing regulations, and the governing Executive Order.'
Young Australians struggling with the rising costs of rent have sent a brutal message to landlords.

Speaking on ABC's Q+A program, media professional Jessie Stephens expressed the frustration of a generation, talking about why rents are out of control.

'The rental prices are so beyond astronomical because you're paying for someone's mortgage,' she said.

'Someone who perhaps has multiple properties, and you know you'll never get in (to the housing market), so don't have any security, so you could be kicked out at any moment.'

Stephens also pointed out a huge, though rarely mentioned, problem for renters with school age children.

Media professional Jessie Stephens (pictured) expressed the frustration of a generation, talking about why rents are out of control

'I've got mates who are having their first or second children and are in places where they don't know (about the school) catchment area,' she said.

'How are you going to work out where you're going to send them to school if you don't know where you're going to live?'

She said rents are going up far faster than wages, which is making the problem even worse.

'These rental increases are just suffocating and they're not indexed on how much more we're earning,' she said.

'So there is an enormous amount of resentment, I think.'

Stephens said the federal government could ensure there are a lot more homes to rent by taxing empty properties.

'The thing that makes the most sense to me is reading a bit about vacancy tax and ... the fact that potentially we have one million houses that are empty,' she said.

'And then we have a whole load of people who can't find housing, (it) just seems that the maths isn't mathing for me.'

Jordie van den Berg, a lawyer and outspoken critic of how hard it is for young people to get onto the property ladder, has also slammed the alarming rate of rent hikes.

Before introducing Mr van den Berg, ABC News Breakfast host Lisa Millar read out an email from a landlord called Andrew.

'My mortgage payments on my investment property have more than doubled, insurance has gone up by 25 per cent this year,' Andrew wrote.

'The current call for rental increase caps and freezes will only add to the problem, with many landlords, including myself, saying they'll then sell their properties.'

But Mr van den Berg had no sympathy for Andrew. 'You made a speculative investment in something that is a human right, and you lost.

'No investment is without risk ... you shouldn't be able to invest in a human right. (But) our current system lets you. You lost out in your investment (so) you pay,' he said.

'In what other world - when your business loses a risky investment - do you get to pass that on to someone (else).'

Jordie van den Berg (pictured right), a lawyer and outspoken critic of how hard it is for young people to get onto the property ladder, has also slammed the alarming rate of rent hikes

Earlier this month, it was revealed as little as one in 100 rentals are affordable for essential workers.

Kasy Chambers, executive director of Anglicare Australia which conducted the snapshot, says the numbers help explain why essential industries are facing labour shortages, as workers cannot afford to live in areas where the shortfall is the worst.

'Virtually no part of Australia is affordable for aged care workers, early childhood educators, cleaners, nurses and many other essential workers we rely on,' she said.

'They cannot afford to live in their own communities.'

The survey, taken on March 17, looked at 45,895 rental listings across the country and calculated how many were available for less than 30 per cent of the award rate for 16 categories of essential workers.

It found early childhood educators, hospitality workers and meat packers could only afford 0.9 per cent of listings available across Australia that weekend.

Aged care workers could afford 1.1 per cent of rentals, nurses 1.5 per cent and ambulance drivers 2.4 per cent.

Even in regional Australia, where prices have historically been lower than in urban centres, homes were unaffordable on the whole unless they were so remote that jobs were not widely available there.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers acknowledged Australia had a huge housing challenge and people needed to be able to live close to their workplaces.

But he said the main issue was supply, which could be solved with the $10billion Housing Australia Future Fund.

The proposal stalled in the Senate but the Greens have promised to help pass the legislation if the government offered the states and territories money to cap rents and offer greater rights for tenants.

'The whole motivation of our broad and ambitious agenda for housing is about building more affordable housing,' he told reporters in Brisbane.

'We are rolling out billions of dollars in support to build more public housing and more affordable housing at the same time, as we take some of the edge off these high rents that we're seeing in the rental market.'

Renters have been doing it tough for years with very high rents and few properties available. People are pictured queueing to view a rental property

The Treasurer also slammed the Greens for failing to support the government's housing proposal.

Ms Chambers said the private housing market had failed those on low incomes, with rental vacancies at a record low 0.8 per cent despite a record high number of homes built over the last 10 years.

'The best way to make rentals more affordable is to build social and affordable homes,' she said.

'And we need tax reform to put people in need of homes, not investors, at the centre of our system.'
A Nine News reporter was left shocked after a bus driver launched into a foul-mouthed tirade at an elderly passenger.

Chief court reporter Tiffiny Genders called out the driver of Sydney's 333 eastern suburbs bus service on Tuesday morning.

The bus transports passengers from Bondi to Circular Quay, in Sydney's CBD, with Genders claiming the driver abused an elderly woman after she stepped on.

'Vile behaviour by a bus driver on 333 from Bondi to Bondi Junction this morning,' she wrote on Twitter.

'Humiliating an elderly passenger... all because she misunderstood an instruction.'

Nine's Chief Court Reporter Tiffiny Genders (above) called out the driver of Sydney's 333 bus route on Tuesday morning after he 'humiliated' an elderly passenger

Genders shared a tweet on Tuesday (above) slamming the driver's behaviour before talking about the exchange on 2GB

Genders shared the horror experience with 2GB radio host Ben Fordham on Wednesday.

'He asked her if she had her hearing aids in and she was in complete shock, asked "Beg your pardon what did you just say?",' she recalled.

'Then he said, "Have you not taken your medication today?".'

The driver then reportedly called the elderly woman a 'f***ing b***h'.

Genders said the woman was left 'absolutely furious' by the exchange.

A Transport NSW spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia it is investigating the incident.

'Transport for NSW has requested a formal response from the operator following a review of CCTV and an interview with the driver,' they said.

'Bus drivers should to be polite and respectful to passengers at all times.

'Transport for NSW expects operators to thoroughly train bus drivers to communicate with passengers in an appropriate way, especially for safety-related matters.'

The bus operator, Transdev John Holland Buses, also issued a statement.

Transport NSW and bus operator Transdev John Holland Buses both confirmed they are investigating the incident (pictured, bus 333)

'Transdev John Holland Buses acknowledges that there was a verbal incident on the 333 bus route yesterday between a bus operator and a female passenger,' a spokesperson said.

'A full investigation is taking place which will include discussions with the bus operator.

'At Transdev John Holland Buses, we take driver behaviour very seriously and apologise to any passengers affected.'
Former President Donald Trump's pollsters see rivals Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy as rising threats in the GOP primary while believing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has 'flatlined' in the race after last week's first Republican debate.

A confidential memo penned by GOP pollsters Tony Fabrizio, David Lee and Travis Tunis and sent out to Republican donors made the case that Trump 'still dominates BOTH contests' in Iowa and New Hampshire, but there's more of a battle for second place after Wednesday night's performances in Milwaukee.

The memo, a copy of which was obtained by DailyMail.com, argues that Haley 'appears to have gotten a bump' from her debate performance, while Ramaswamy was seen as the clear debate winner.

'The much hoped for DeSantis "bounce" was really a "dead cat bounce" in that it doesn't exist,' the trio of pollsters argued. 'Why? Because these voters didn't see a DeSantis debate win - far from it.

'With Haley's surge, DeSantis finds himself with another challenger for a distant second place besides Ramaswamy - Nikki Haley,' the memo goes on.

Donald Trump's pollsters see rivals Nikki Haley (left) and Vivek Ramaswamy (right) as rising threats in the GOP primary according to a confidential memo sent out to donors, a copy of which was obtained by DailyMail.com

Trump is still dominating the race in both Iowa and New Hampshire - the states with the first two contests next year - and was seemingly unhurt by skipping the first debate, held Wednesday in Milwaukee

The confidential memo was first reported by Axios.

In Iowa, which holds the country's first caucuses, the pollsters found that after the first GOP debate - which Trump skipped - the ex-president maintained the support of 44 percent of likely Republican caucus goers.

DeSantis remained in second place with 18 percent support, while Haley received 10 percent.

Ramaswamy was tied with Sen. Tim Scott - with each candidate getting 7 percent.

In New Hampshire, the state that will hold the first GOP primary, Trump received support from 48 percent of likely voters.

The pollsters then argue that DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy are polling at a statistical tie, with the Florida governor at 11 percent and Haley and Ramaswamy both at 9 percent.

The margin of error for the survey was a plus or minus 4.38 percent.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has 'flatlined' the pollsters said. 'The much hoped for DeSantis "bounce" was really a "dead cat bounce" in that it doesn't exist,' they said

'Despite the continued wishful thinking of some, Trump remains firmly in control in both states,' the pollsters wrote. 'His lead is unchanged and commitment to voting for him is rock-solid.'

In Iowa, 72 percent of Trump voters said they're committed to him, compared to 43 percent of DeSantis supporters saying they'll vote for the Florida governor no matter what and 17 percent of those currently backing Haley.

In New Hampshire, 81 percent of Trump supporters said they're committed to the ex-president, compared to 28 percent of DeSantis supporters who say they're sticking with him and just 9 percent of those who say they're currently backing Haley.

In both Iowa and New Hampshire, 80 percent of Republicans polled said they had at least heard some about Wednesday night's debate.

In both states, the 38-year-old Ramaswamy was the clear winner of the debate.

In Iowa, 28 percent of likely Republican voters held this view.

In New Hampshire, the number was 34 percent.

Haley barely beat out DeSantis for second place in Iowa, 19 to 18 percent, within the poll's margin of error.

In New Hampshire, Haley and DeSantis were tied at 16 percent for best debate performance.
A man was suffering life-threatening injuries Tuesday afternoon in a forklift accident at Bostons Logan International Airport.

The Massachusetts State Police said the incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. outside Terminal C when a forklift hit a stationary structure and fell on its operator.

The worker, a subcontractor for JetBlue, was rushed to Boston Medical Center, the state police said.

The name of the forklift operator was not released.

There were no planes nearby when the accident happened and the area has no public access.

Police said the investigation was ongoing.

The incident occurred roughly two months after a worker was ingested by a planes engine on the tarmac at San Antonio International Airport.
A 76-year-old man arrested in Texas earlier this month on charges of murdering a California teenager almost 40 years ago confessed to burying a body near Yosemite, according to reports.

Raymond Lewis Stafford was arrested on August 15 in Wills Point, 50 miles east of Dallas, where he had been living for around five years.

He has been charged with the murder of 15-year-old Susan Robin Bender, who was last seen getting into a green van at a Greyhound Bus Depot on April 25, 1986 in Modesto, California.

On Monday it emerged that Stafford allegedly told a woman he lived with in the 1980s that he had killed 'a female' and buried the body near Yosemite.

He said, according to court records obtained by SFGate.com, that he drove to a campground near the Big Oak Flat entrance to Yosemite National Park and dug the grave.

The name of the campground has not been made public.

Susan Robin Bender was 15 when she disappeared in 1985. On August 15, Raymond Lewis Stafford, 76, (right) was arrested and charged with her murder

Bender is believed to have known Stafford, who worked for her mother, SFGate reported.

The eyewitness who saw Bender getting into a green van said she appeared to go willingly.

Stafford was known to own a green van, and he was arrested on suspicion of an unrelated burglary a month after the teenager vanished.

Stafford appeared to be hiding in plain sight for decades.

Less than a year after Bender disappeared, Stafford, then 38, ran for Modesto City Council.

He was asked by Modesto Bee newspaper about his criminal record, but, according to SFGate, told the paper in July 1985 it was a result of his 'being in the wrong place at the wrong time.'

Bender was last seen getting into a green van at a Greyhound bus station in Modesto, California

Patricia Chupco, the mother of Susan Robin Bender, knew Stafford as he had worked for her

Stafford reportedly told a woman in the 1980s that he had buried a woman near a campground by the Big Oak Flat entrance to Yosemite (pictured)

His arrests were listed as soliciting an undercover officer for sex, operating an unlicensed private investigator business and carrying a badge saying he was a PI.

Stafford said that his campaign was focused on policies to protect children from sex offenders.

'We don't spend any time getting the people who are molesting our children,' he said.

Five months later, in December 1986, Stafford was convicted of setting a business on fire and pleaded guilty to making a false police report.

Stafford reportedly faked a kidnapping to avoid appearing in court, the paper said.

In 1994, he emerged once again on law enforcement's radar, and was put on the sex offenders register under the alias Gregg Tunningley for abusing a 13-year-old girl in California.

Patricia Chupco, Bender's mother, told the Bee that her daughter's clothes and diary had been found in the possession of a man, who she could not name as he was not publicly identified as a suspect.

New court records, accessed by SFGate.com, identify the man as Stafford.

He is expected to be extradited to California to face trial.
The Washington DC Smithsonian's iconic panda exhibit will be empty before the year is out, zoo officials have announced - as tensions between the US and China continue to heighten.

The three giant pandas currently being kept at the National Zoo will be returned to their home by December 7, the zoo said in statements released this week - putting an end to an arrangement that had lasted more than a half-century.

It began in 1972, when then-president Richard Nixon found himself captivated by the animals during a visit to the Beijing Zoo with his wife Patricia - an inkling he then imparted on then-Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.

The Mao successor responded by sending the Smithsonian its first pair of giant pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, which for decades were a fixture at the facility.

They died in the '90s, but their replacements, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, have lived at the National Zoo since 2000. Their son, Xiao Qi Ji, was born just three years ago - though visitors will now have now have just five months to see the furry family.

Scroll down for video:

Mei Xiang (left) and male companion Tian Tian, have lived at the National Zoo since 2000

Their son, Xiao Qi Ji, was born just three years ago - though visitors will now have now have just five months to see the furry family

The announcements came in a pair of birthday press releases for Xiao Qi Ji's third birthday - which came and went on August 21  and for his father Tian Tian's 26th, which was on Sunday.

Sharing video of Tian Tian enjoying his day with a special panda-friendly fruitsicle cake, Zoo officials wrote: 'This will be Tian Tians last birthday in Washington, D.C.

'He and the Zoos female giant panda, 25-year-old Mei Xiang, and their three-year-old son, Xiao Qi Ji, will leave the Zoo by December.'

The zoo added that they are planning an extravagant sendoff for the pandas in September, which will run for a week until the beginning of October.

Fittingly billed as 'Panda Palooza', the celebration will mark an end to more than 51 years of panda couples at the facility - which was forced to close Tuesday after receiving an unspecified bomb threat.

The three, the statement said, will remain at the zoo until December 7 - before being shipped back off to their homeland.

A reason for the rearrangement was not specified - though it has been in the cards for years because of time constrictions in the conservation and breeding agreement that brought them to the Zoo in the first place.

Originally slated for 10 years, the timeline that saw the two brought from their birthplace the China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in December 2000 has been extended several times, leading to their prolonged stay.

The pandemic also threw a wrench into those plans - along with the birth of Xiao Qi Ji, which officials at the time called a 'much-needed moment of pure joy,' at a time of global pandemic and social unrest.

Furthering the occasion's importance was the fact it would see the facility welcome its first panda cub in years, after a series of other cubs born to the two over the years were sent to China before the age of four - a stipulation in the original agreement.

The giant pandas will be returned to their home by December 7, the zoo said in statements released this and this past week - putting an end to an arrangement that had lasted more than a half-century. Mei Xiang, 25, and Tian Tian, 26, are seen here

Cub Xiao Qi Ji and mother 'Mei Xiang' are seen enjoy a specially made panda friendly cake in spring of last year celebrating 50 years of the countries' panda partnership

Mei Xiang - who weighs 230 pounds - celebrates her 25th birthday with a cake at Smithsonian's National Zoo in July

250lb Tian Tian is currently the oldest panda being kept in the United States

The two parent pandas were brought to the the DC zoo in December of 2020, and are seen here after the then brand new exhibit was opened

The announcements came in a pair of birthday press releases for Xiao Qi Ji's third birthday - which came and went on August 21  and for his father Tian Tian's 26th, which was on Sunday

It began in 1972, when then-president Richard Nixon found himself captivated by the animals during a visit to the Beijing Zoo with his wife Patricia - an inkling he imparted on then-Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai

The Mao successor responded by sending the Smithsonian its first pair of giant pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, which for decades were a fixture at the facility.

They were brought from their birthplace the China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda on December 6, 2000, initially for ten years, though a series of extensions and the pandemic saw that timeline extended

Complications arrived after birth stole the lives of three other newborns - leaving Xiao Qi Ji as the last of the six born since the agreement was signed.

His older brother, a male named Bei Bei, lived at the National Zoo until November 2019 - before he was forced to undergo the 16-hour flight from D.C. to Chengdu after turning four.

After spending four years captivating the hearts of millions, fans are forced to say bye bye to Bei Bei the giant panda as he prepares to leave the US capital to go to China.

At the time, The National Zoo organized a week of events to honor Bei Bei - including Q&A sessions with zoo personnel and writing postcards to accompany the 250-pound on his journey.

The heartbreaking news, aired just before the pandemic, said that Bei Beis bittersweet departure is in line with panda diplomacy' - the old Chinese initiative that involved gifting Panda bears to friendly countries across the globe that got his parents there in the first place.

Bei Bei is part of our family, the Zoo's statement read, as schoolchildren flocked to the parks with signs reading Bye bye Bei Bei and other similar sentiments.

The pandemic also threw a monkey wrench into those plans - along with the birth of Xiao Qi Ji, which officials at the time called a 'much-needed moment of pure joy,' at a time of global pandemic and social unrest. In this image from video provided by the Smithsonian National Zoo, Mei Xiang is seen after giving birth to Xiao in August 2020

Mei Xiang cradles the tiny cub in her arms after giving birth at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, in August 2020

Her first three offspring, Tai Shan (pictured in , Bao Bao and Bei Bei, were transported to China at age 4 under an agreement with the Chinese government

His older brother, a male named Bei Bei, lived at the National Zoo until November 2019 - before he was forced to undergo the 16-hour flight from D.C. to Chengdu after turning four.

Bei Bei (pictured as a baby in 2015) has amassed a fan base with admirers around the country as they watched him grow over the last four years

Our team has cared for him, learned from him and, along with millions, loved watching him grow.

'Were sad hes leaving, but excited for the contributions he will make to the global giant panda population.'

In December 2020 - despite then-deteriorating relationships between Washington and Beijing - the National Zoo announced that a three-year extension keeping parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian had been signed, meaning the pair would be staying through most of 2023.

That time limit is now set to expire, and unlike the also famous exhibit at not-so-nearby Memphis Zoo - which recently revealed it had extended its own arrangement with the Eastern nation to keep their two giant pandas for another ten years.

Aside from Memphis, the only other American zoo carrying the endangered animal is Georgia's Zoo Atlanta, which has four of the bamboo-chopping critters.

That said, at 25 and 26, respectively, Mei Xiang and Tian and Tian are the oldest pandas being housed in the country - and in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, were at the center of a controversy involving their containment.

At the time, users of Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, accused officials at the Smithsonian of 'abusing' elderly Mei Xiang, and urged authorities to 'save' the bear by bringing her back to the country.

The zoo responded by rejecting the online allegations, stressing that Mei Xiang is eating plenty every day and being looked after well by keepers.
A First Nations woman has explained she will be voting No in the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, claiming it has already created 'so much division.'

Noongar woman Janetia Knapp recently appeared in a video posted to conservative lobby group Fair Australia's social media.

Today Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the date for the referendum, to be held on October 14, that will ask Australians to enshrine an Indigenous advisory body to Parliament.

'We are not all the same and there are a lot of us Aboriginal people that are voting no,' Ms Knapp said.

'The Voice has created so much division that we are labelled which we weren't before... We are all one,' she added.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to announce the Voice referendum date today

For the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum to succeed, it needs a double majority, meaning the majority of Australians and the majority of states need to vote Yes, which polling shows is becoming an increasingly tough sell for Labor.

Ms Knapp previously stood for the WA seat of Rockingham at a by-election in July this year triggered by the resignation of Premier Mark McGowan.

Ms Knapp was aligned with the unregistered Western Australia Party, which promotes itself as neither left nor right-leaning, but insead Western Australia focused.

Noongar woman Janetia Knapp recently appeared in a video explaining why she is voting No on the Voice to Parliament referendum

Fair Australia is the anti-Voice to Parliament campaigning arm of the country's major conservative lobby group Advance.

Fair Australia's spokesperson is Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Peter Dutton's hand-picked shadow minister for Indigenous Australians.

Speaking to 2GB on Wednesday from The Voice swing state of Tasmania, Senator Price said a yes vote would be 'dangerous'.

'The Uluru Statement was done by 250 unelected individuals, who don't have the right to speak for 3 per cent of the country as if we are one homogenous group.'

'That process was flawed and undemocratic.'

Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price speaks during the WA Liberals for No Campaign Launch in Perth on Sunday

Senator Price said the Yes campaign has provided no information about how it will work or deliver better outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

She also said she was concerned it would become a lobby group rather than an advisory body.

'So far none of the proponents of the Voice have prioritised the needs of vulnerable Indigenous and children in remote communities, they've talked about reparations, about abolishing Australia Day and constructing treaties but nothing of substance,' she claimed.
Fox News's prime time host Jesse Watters has been slammed after saying former President Donald Trump's arrests made him more popular among Black Americans.

The political commentator had been speaking on his Monday night show when he said the Trump campaign have received a new found support base in Black Americans.

Watters, 45, said: 'The mug shot has breathed new life into the Trump campaign and broadened his appeal to black Americans.

'Over the weekend, with the help of mugshot merchandise, the Trump campaign raked in over $7 million.

'Today, my garbage man told me hes buying mugshot T-shirts for everyone he knows this Christmas.'

Watters had been speaking on his Monday night show when he said the Trump campaign have received a new found support base in Black Americans

Donald Trump has made history by becoming the first former president to pose for a mugshot after his arrest for trying to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia

Watters continued: 'The mugshot is up on the side of buildings in the inner city. The 2016 phenomenon is happening all over again.

'Trump won that election because of a laser-like Focus on the Forgotten Man. A bond was formed back then that can never be broken.

'And theres a new forgotten man, the Black man. Democrats have forgotten about them.'

Watters' monologue was shared on Twitter and heavily criticized, with one social media user branding the take that the mugshot will increase Black voters' support as 'insanely racist'.

An X user said: 'The idea that black Americans have a knee jerk fondness for anyone who has ever been arrested is profoundly racist.'

Another added: 'I'm sorry but the argument that The Mugshot will increasing Black voters support for Trump is so insanely racist that I cant believe people are saying it out loud.'

The former president shared the mugshot on X, having not posted on the platform since 2021

Donald Trump remains miles ahead of his Republican counterparts, a new national poll shows - despite four arrests, a historic mugshot, and not attending the this week's GOP debate where many of his rivals had a strong showing

One other commented: 'We knew they were going to try to spin this as a positive for Trump in 2024 but I'm not sure anyone predicted them going with 'Black people love mugshots.'

Another posted: 'Black people love mugshots is quite the take.'

Trump last week made history after becoming the first former President to pose for a mugshot following his arrest for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election results.

Former President Trump's team told Fox News that a substantial portion of the nearly $20 million, amounting to $7.1 million, was pledged subsequent to the release of the photo.

The Trump campaign received $4.18 million in funds on Friday, according to the outlet, marking it as the most financially successful day in the entire campaign.

Immediately after Trump was taken into custody, they started selling merchandise featuring the mug shot, including shirts, posters, and bumper stickers.

Organized by InsiderAdvantage , the survey of likely Republican voters showed the former president, despite his controversies, has a double digit-lead over the rest of the GOP

Donald Trump remains miles ahead of his Republican counterparts, a new national poll shows - despite four arrests, a historic mugshot, and not attending this week's GOP debate where many of his rivals had a strong showing.

Organized by InsiderAdvantage, the survey of likely Republican voters showed the former president, despite his controversies, has a full 27 percent lead over his closest second in Ron DeSantis, and 34 percent over South Carolina's Nikki Haley.

Next was the man many thought won the noticeably Trump-less debate, biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, who recently beat out DeSantis as the perceived winner in a poll organized by DailyMail.com. Here, he only scored fourth, with 7 percent.
Shane Drumgold has hit back at claims that he should have warned Lisa Wilkinson against giving her disastrous Logies speech, court papers reveal.

The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions is suing a Board of Inquiry over a 600-page report, by former judge Walter Sofronoff, which accused him of serious misconduct during Bruce Lehrmann's rape trial in the Supreme Court in October last year.

Brittany Higgins alleged in a television interview with Wilkinson on The Project in February 2021 that she was raped by Mr Lehrmann in Parliament House two years' prior. He strongly denies the allegations.

The Board of Inquiry in May examined the way the trial was handled by police and prosecutors - it was held at Mr Drumgold's request, but backfired dramatically with the findings against him so damning that he was forced to resign.

Despite being on paid medical leave since his bruising five-day cross-examination during the inquiry, his last day in office was set for September 1.

But the DPP won't go down without a fight - according to documents lodged to the ACT Supreme Court, Mr Drumgold will try to stop Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury from firing him.

He will also try for a judicial review to have Mr Sofronoff's findings against him quashed, including key findings about his failure to warn Wilkinson against delivering her Logies speech - which temporarily derailed the trial.

The judge found Mr Drumgold knowingly lied to Chief Justice Lucy McCallum about Wilkinson's infamous Logies speech (pictured)

The ACT DPP, Shane Drumgold SC, is pictured during the Board of Inquiry in Canberra

Mr Drumgold's lawyers say it was unreasonable for the inquiry to find that he had a duty to warn Wilkinson against giving her Logies speech, and that he 'knowingly lied' to the Chief Justice about a file note regarding a meeting with the former TV host.

Wilkinson was heavily criticised over her Logies acceptance speech in June 2022, during which she appeared to side with Ms Higgins - even though Mr Lehrmann's criminal trial was, at the time, just days away.

KEY FINDINGS ABOUT DRUMGOLD'S DISHONESTY - The DPP made false representations to the ACT Chief Justice that were 'untrue' and 'an invention of his own'. - He was guilty of a 'serious breach of duty' by failing to disclose documents. Mr Sofronoff said there was 'simply no doubt' that the Moller report should have been disclosed; - Mr Drumgold failed to adopt the rule of thumb used by wise and experienced prosecutors  'if in doubt, disclose'; - Prosecutor 'kept the defence in the dark about the steps he was taking to deny them the documents that meant they were in no position to mount a challenge'; - He 'constructed a false narrative to support a claim of legal professional privilege'. Advertisement

About two days prior, Mr Drumgold had a Microsoft Teams meeting with Wilkinson and a Channel 10 lawyer because the TV host was, at the time, a witness in the criminal trial.

At the end of the meeting, she mentioned that she had been nominated for a Logie award for her interview with Ms Higgins on The Project in February 2021.

Wilkinson told Mr Drumgold she didn't think she'd win, but had prepared a speech in case - and started reading it to him, before he stopped her and said 'we are not speech writers'.

Wilkinson, her Channel 10 lawyer, and Mr Drumgold's junior counsel Skye Jerome all recalled her reading a large chunk of the speech. The prosecutor only recalled her reading a few lines.

Mr Drumgold has long-maintained he believed Wilkinson knew she should not mention Ms Higgins in her Logies speech because he told her 'any publicity could impact the trial'.

He told the inquiry he formed the view that she knew not to mention the trial during her speech because, after he made that statement, Wilkinson and her lawyer put their Microsoft Teams meeting on mute and had a private conversation.

'I was confident they knew she couldn't make that speech,' Mr Drumgold said in May.

Wilkinson's defamation lawyer, Sue Chrysanthou, asked him under cross-examination during the inquiry: 'Did you read their lips?'

Mr Drumgold replied: 'No'.

Ms Chrysanthou asked: 'Then how could you have possibly made that conclusion?'

Mr Drumgold: 'Because an experienced journalist sitting next to a lawyer would have come to that conclusion.'

Ms Chrysanthou eventually said: 'The answer you just gave is illogical and irrational and contrary to human experience.'

Wilkinson was heavily criticised over her Logies acceptance speech in June 2022, during which she appeared to side with Ms Higgins (pictured together)

Wilkinson won the award and made her speech, which was then slammed for being potentially contemptuous and biasing a jury against Mr Lehrmann.

Mr Lehrmann's legal team made an application for a stay within the following days to get the trial moved for that very reason - that it may have ruined his chances of getting a fair trial.

Mr Drumgold then told the Supreme Court that a file note he wrote detailing discussions with Wilkinson and her lawyer was contemporaneous, meaning he made it immediately following the meeting.

The note said he gave Wilkinson sufficient warning not to deliver her prepared speech at the Logies, but that she did it anyway.

However, under cross-examination, Mr Drumgold admitted that the note was not contemporaneous - eventually conceding the note was penned five days after the meeting, and three hours before a hearing with all legal teams involved in the rape trial.

Mr Drumgold was then quizzed about why he didn't correct the Chief Justice's belief that his file note was contemporaneous.

'Do you accept that the manner you conducted yourself in court that day, in the manner of those conversations, was unacceptable?' Ms Chrysanthou said.

Mr Lehrmann (pictured) has always denied having any sexual interaction with Brittany Higgins

'No, I don't accept that,' Mr Drumgold responded.

'There was sufficient warning in both our minds [his and Ms Jerome's] that Ms Wilkinson had sufficient warning. There was ample warning provided to Ms Wilkinson that she should not have made the speech.'

Ms Chrysanthou: 'What you say now about that cannot be true.'

Mr Drumgold: 'It is true.'

Ms Chrysanthou: 'That you somehow telepathically thought my client - having read out the substance of her speech to you - would have left that meeting knowing she could not make that speech?

Mr Drumgold: 'I'm saying I thought she shouldn't give a speech about this matter.'

At the close of the cross-examination, Ms Chryanthou asked Mr Drumgold if he should have corrected the reports about Wilkinson. He replied: 'I should have corrected that, in hindsight.'

The matter of Drumgold v Board of Inquiry  Criminal Justice System & Ors is listed for hearing in the ACT Supreme Court on September 14.
A California mother who said her daughter was 'socially transitioned' into a trans boy by her middle school has won a landmark legal victory against the district - who settled the suit for $100,000.

Jessica Konen's daughter Alicia, 11, was allegedly told by Buena Vista Middle School in Spreckels that she was upset because she didn't know who she 'truly was inside.'

The school allowed the child to use the boys' bathroom and male pronouns in class without her mom's consent.

Single mom Konen accused teachers of encouraging her daughter to think she was a trans boy when she was at the school in 2019  only for the child to return to her female persona while learning remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite not admitting fault, the Spreckels Union School District's settlement marks an important moment in the debate across the US about how parental rights fit in with children's decisions in school settings.

Jessica Konen said her daughter Alicia, 11, was told by Buena Vista Middle School in Spreckels that she was upset because she didn't know who she 'truly was inside.' The school allowed the child to use the boys' bathroom and male pronouns in school

Jessica with her daughter, Alicia

Konen launched the legal claim against the school and two seventh-grade teachers in 2021  claiming they kept her daughters phony trans identity secret from her and hid that she had been having suicidal thoughts.

The child is now attending high school in another district - and has re-identified as a girl.

In her court papers, Konen says her daughter, identified by her initials, A.G., found distance learning difficult 'but there was a silver lining  because A.G. was at home throughout the school day, she was no longer in the clutches of Ms Caldiera (sic) and Ms Baraki. Freed from their influence A.G. began to return to her old self.'

Once Konen found out that her daughter was being identified as a male and socially transitioning without her knowledge, she sued the district.

Following the landmark settlement, she told Fox News Digital: 'They need to understand their place, and they need to stay in their place. And schools nowadays, they're awful.

'So, I'm going to fight this fight and keep fighting this fight. I am not going to allow this to keep happening to children. I feel that the fight, it has to continue.'

Speaking about her current relationship with her daughter, Konen said they're doing great and working together to be more open with one another.

Once Konen found out that her daughter was being identified as a male and socially transitioning without her knowledge, she sued the district

The mom added: 'I think it took a lot of guts for both of us to be able to open up publicly and explain what is happening.

'We definitely are going to be at peace and be able to try to move on from this. But parents, pay attention, ask the questions that are offered.

'Put yourself in uncomfortable situations because you don't know what someone's going through. You don't know what they're teaching in schools anymore.

'Just be active in your kid's lives and don't be scared to speak up.'

Mark Trammell, Executive Director of the Center for American Liberty, said: 'At its core, this case is about upholding the sacred bond between parents and their children.

'Parents have an inherent right to be involved in pivotal decisions concerning their children's lives.'

The victory for the mother comes just days after California's Attorney General sued a school district regarding a new policy that requires teachers to notify parents if their child changes their identity or pronouns.

Parent Jessica Konen speaks out against the two teachers during public comment at the school board meeting. Konen has filed a legal case against the school district

Jessica Konen, left, with her attorney, CEO of the conservative Center for American Liberty, Harmeet Dhillon, filed a legal claim against Spreckels Union School District alleging that two teachers 'planted a seed' in her 11-year-old daughter's head that she was bisexual, then tried to convince her that she was a transgender boy

Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the lawsuit on Monday against the Chino Valley Unified School District in southern California, alleging that its 'parental notification' policy (5020.1) is discriminatory and violates both civil rights and privacy laws.

He alleged that the policy puts transgender and gender-nonconforming students in 'danger of imminent, irreparable harm,' by risking they'll be outed in their household 'before they're ready.'

In July, the district school board held a public meeting on whether to adopt the policy, which requires in part school personnel to 'out' transgender and gender nonconforming students to their parents or guardians without their consent and even against their express wishes, as per the lawsuit.

More than 80 members of the community - holding up signs and flags - were in attendance and spoke out against the forced disclosure policy.
A man, woman and infant boy have been killed in a road crash in County Tipperary, days after four youngsters died in another crash in the area.

Police said they were called to a single vehicle collision shortly before 9pm on Tuesday when a car hit a wall in the Windmill Knockbulloge area near Cashel, 12 miles east of Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland.

Two adults, a man and a woman, who were in the rear of the vehicle, were pronounced dead at the scene.

An infant boy was fatally injured in the crash and was taken to Tipperary University Hospital, as were an adult male driver and adult female front seat passenger who are both said to be in a 'serious' condition.

The crash comes just days after four young people were killed in a car crash in Clonmel, also in Co Tipperary - 13 miles from Cashel as the crow flies.

The crash occurred in the Windmill Knockbulloge area of Cashel, Co. Tipperary

READ MORE: Huge crowd gathers at heartbreaking vigil honouring Irish youngsters killed in horror crash after celebrating their exam results Advertisement

In a statement, police said: 'An Garda Siochana and emergency services are currently at the scene of a fatal road traffic collision that occurred this evening, Tuesday 29th August 2023 outside Cashel, Co. Tipperary.

'The single vehicle collision occurred shortly before 9pm this evening when a car hit a wall in the Windmill Knockbulloge area of Cashel, Co. Tipperary.

Gardai can now confirm three fatalities as a result of this collision. The adult male and adult female rear seat passengers were pronounced deceased at the scene. Their bodies remain at the scene.

'An infant boy was also fatally injured during the collision; the body of the infant boy has been taken to Tipperary University Hospital, Clonmel.

'The adult male driver and adult female front seat passenger of the car have been taken to Tipperary University Hospital where their condition is described as serious.

'The road in Windmill Knockbulloge is currently closed to traffic with local diversions in place.

'The road will remain closed overnight and into tomorrow. An Garda Siochana, Cashel Fire Services and HSE Ambulance Service remain at the scene this evening.

'Garda Forensic Collision Investigators (FCI) have been requested to conduct an examination of the scene which will take place tomorrow, Wednesday 30th August 2023.'

Gardai said that they are continuing their work at the scene and in the process of 'informing families of this tragic incident'.

Appeals have been made to those travelling in the area between 8.30pm and 9.15pm to come forward with camera footage, including dash-cam footage, in order to help officers with their enquiries.

It is the second road tragedy to occur in County Tipperary in less than a week after four young people died in a crash on Friday.

Twenty four-year-old Luke McSweeney, his 18-year-old sister Grace McSweeney and Zoey Coffey and Nicole Murphy, both also 18, were killed on August 25 hours after the teenagers received their State exam results.

A young girl inspecting tributes left at the scene of a crash in Clonmel, also in County Tipperary, on Monday - the second tragedy in less than a week in the region

Grace McSweeney, 18, (left) was killed in County Tipperary, Ireland on Friday after the car she was travelling in struck a wall and overturned in Clonmel. Her brother Luke McSweeney, 24, (right) was driving Grace and two friends to a bus that would take them to Carlow to celebrate their Leaving Certificate results when the crash occurred

Grace's friends Nicole Murphy (left) and Zoey Coffey, both 18, were also killed in the crash. Aaron said he met Grace through Zoey (right)

Police at the scene of the Clonmel crash on Saturday. A local priest has branded the double tragedy 'just heartbreaking'

They were on their way to celebrate when the car they were travelling in overturned and hit a stone wall.

The funerals for the four young people will be held later this week, after thousands attended a vigil in Clonmel on Sunday to mourn the loss.

Fr Michael Toomey, a local priest in the Clonmel area who spoke at that vigil, said that the Cashel crash was 'just heartbreaking'.

'Our Tipperary county suffers again. Thoughts and prayers for those who have died in tonight's tragedy in Cashel,' he said on X, formerly Twitter.

He later added: 'Just heartbreaking.'
Aussies along the east coast are being warned to brace for the possibility of severe thunderstorms set to bring strong winds and large hail this afternoon.

A series of troughs moving across southeast Australia are forecast to bring showers and thunderstorms to the region on Wednesday and Thursday.

Sky News Meteorologist Rob Sharpe explained a cold change 'aggravated' thunderstorm conditions for Wednesday afternoon.

'They (thunderstorms) look to become fairly prolific from eastern Victoria right up to the eastern parts of Queensland,' Mr Sharpe said.

So a pretty dynamic day on Wednesday through the east.'

On Wednesday, showers are expected to develop in the afternoon and evening across southeast Queensland, eastern parts of New South Wales and eastern Victoria.

Severe thunderstorms are possible for the region, with the potential for large hail and damaging wind gusts.

The rain radar shows significant rainfall is lashing down across Sydney on Wednesday afternoon

Aussies along the country's south east are being warned to brace for thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday

Thunderstorms will move eastwards and are expected across south-east Qld, through eastern NSW, into eastern Victoria (pictured)

New South Wales

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for NSW's eastern districts - stretching from Eden to Lismore - with damaging winds of more than 90km/h and hail larger than 2cm possible.

Sydney is forecast to reach a warm 25C on Wednesday ahead of the afternoon's cold front which will bring up to 5mm of rainfall and a possible thunderstorm.

The wet weather will continue into Thursday for but will clear by Friday, with temperatures remaining in the high teens over the weekend.

Queensland

In the Sunshine State, Brisbane is forecast to reach a maximum of 25C on Wednesday before showers and a chance of a thunderstorm in the afternoon and evening.

Thunderstorms are also expected in Brisbane on Thursday morning and afternoon, with a maximum temperature of 27C and winds reaching up to 25km/h, before clearing for the weekend.

Victoria

Showers are expected across Melbourne on Wednesday and Thursday, with a possible 10mm of rain across both days.

On Friday, conditions for the east coast will ease as the trough moves offshore and will be followed by a high-pressure system bringing warm, dry and sunny weather to most of the country.

The thunderstorms are set to bring damaging winds of more than 90km/h and in hail larger than 2cm in some areas of NSW

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for NSW's eastern districts- stretching from Eden to Lismore (pictured)

Australian Capital Territory

Wet weather is expected in Canberra on Wednesday, with a possible thunderstorm expected to hit from the late morning.

There is only a slight chance of a shower for Canberra on Thursday as conditions ease.

From Friday, the nation's capital will see sunny conditions and temperatures in the late teens before warming up early next week.

Tasmania

Showers are forecast in Hobart on Wednesday and are expected to ease in the evening.

The wet weather will continue into Thursday, with up to 2mm of possible rainfall.

Conditions will then clear on Friday before warming up to 18C for a mostly sunny Sunday.

Warm, dry and sunny weather is forecast for the rest of the country (pictured, Sky News Meteorologist Rob Sharpe)

Northern Territory

Darwin will remain dry and sunny for the week with warm weather as maximum temperatures range between 33 and 35C.

South Australia

Adelaide could see a possible shower on Wednesday, with temperatures forecast to reach a maximum of 16C and winds of up to 30km/h.

A slight chance of rain is forecast for Thursday as conditions clear for a sunny weekend.

Adelaide residents can expect a clear weekend, with maximum temperatures reaching 21C and 25C on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Western Australia

Perth will have sunny conditions on Wednesday and will remain warm and dry on Thursday, with a top temperature of 28C.

A cold front moving through the state on Friday will see temperatures drop and showers well into the weekend.

Saturday is forecast to be the capital's wettest day, with up to 4mm of rain and winds reaching 35km/h.

Temperatures will remain around the high teens and early 20s over the weekend before conditions start to clear early next week.
Anthony Albanese's transport minister has come up with five feeble excuses why Qatar Airways was blocked from operating more flights in and out of Australia, which is making flying more expensive for everyone.

In July, Catherine King banned Qatar's expansion, defending the decision with a range of vague reasons including the additional flights are 'not in the national interest'.

This is despite the decision to stop the Qantas competitor adding an additional 28 flights in and out of Australia is contributing to a staggering 40 per cent premium on airfares, according to Virgin CEO Jayne Hrdlicka.

Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones on Tuesday admitted the ban was simply to protect Qantas, which just announced a record $2.5billion profit last Thursday.

He said letting Qatar fly additional jets into the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane would 'design our markets in a way which will make it unsustainable for the existing Australian-based carrier'.

Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chief Allan Fels slammed the move and said: 'There's no secret reason for it. It's just looking after Qantas.'

Labor has come up with five different reasons for PM Anthony Albanese's ban on more Qatar Airways flights coming into Australia but one minister admitted it's just to protect Qantas (pictured the PM with Qantas CEO Alan Joyce)

Transport minister Catherine King (left) has defended blocking Qatar's expansion with a range of various excuses, including that it was 'not in the national interest'. Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones (right) has now admitted the ban was simply to protect Qantas, which just announced a record $2.5billion profit last Thursday

The move means Australians are having to pay substantially more to travel as a result, said Flight Centre boss Graham Turner.

He said there was a lack of seats for travellers in and out of Australia and allowing Qatar to step up operations would open up the market and cause airfares to drop.

'Any extra capacity, for our industry, is very important,' he told the ABC. 'Every extra flight into Australia will help lower these fares.'

He refuted Ms King's claim that the Qatar ban was good for Australia: 'It was clearly not in the national interest as far as I can see,' he said.

'You could argue that it could have been in Qantas's interests, it certainly wasn't in Virgin's interest, because they have a codeshare relationship with Qatar.

'I just don't think it was an argument that held any water.'

,The transport minister claimed while in London in July that the decision to block Qatar was being taken on environmental grounds, saying that she wanted to 'decarbonise the transport sector'.

Qatar Airways wants to add 28 extra flights in and out of Australia in a move which it's said would slash air fares for travellers

Flight Centre boss Graham Turner (pictured) said allowing Qatar Airways to step up operations would open up the market and cause airfares to drop.

The decision to block the extra Qatar flights was slammed by former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chief Allan Fels who said it was 'just looking after Qantas'

'I want more capacity for people to be able to enjoy travel, but equally I want to be able to decarbonise the transport sector,' she said as the ban was announced.

'Aviation has a role to play in that as well, so theres a mix of things I look at.'

However critics insist Qantas's 116-strong fleet of ageing aircraft - 15 years old on average, with many planes 20 years old or more - is environmentally unsound.

Qatar's jets are on average five years younger and boast the latest in environmentally-sensitive and efficient engine design.

The decision to block the move was initially linked to the 2020 incident at Qatar's Doha Airport when 13 Australian women air passengers were among 18 travellers intimately examined by investigators after a newborn baby was dumped in a bin.

Labor's list of excuses to ban Qatar flights 1. The Doha Airport incident 2. For environmental reasons 3. To protect Qantas jobs 4. Qantas's investment in new planes 5. It's 'not in the national interest' Advertisement

Some of the women wrote to the government demanding they stop any more Qatar flights and Ms King sent a letter back on July 10 to confirm the ban was coming more than two weeks before it was officially announced on July 26.

However that Doha incident was later officially dismissed as having any played any part in the reasoning for the decision.

Ms King then insisted the ban would protect Qantas jobs.

At question time in parliament on August 9, she said: 'We will always consider the need to ensure that there are long-term well-paid secure jobs for Australians in the aviation sector when we are making this decision.'

But unions lashed that claim after the airline sacked 1700 ground staff during Covid and had previously axed 8000 other workers even before the pandemic.

She also said the ban was to safeguard Qantas's investment in the new fleet of planes it has on order, with 169 new aircraft set to come into service by 2030.

It includes three Boeing 787-9s to arrive by the end of 2023, 29 Airbus A220s and 20 Airbus A321-XLRs due to take off in 2024, and 12 Airbus A350s set to come in 2025.

'Qantas has just purchased brand new planes  thats at a significant cost,' she told a Cairns radio station two weeks ago.

'Theyre bigger planes, theyre quieter planes - better for the environment, so were going to start to see a lot of that.'

But critics say the government should not be protecting a private company and helping it to its record $2.5billion profit, after having just been given $2.7billion in government handouts during Covid.

The government officially dismissed Qatar's application as not being in the national interest when it was finalised last month.

Ms King reiterated that message on Monday - and refused to be drawn on the multiple different reasons she had previously given.

'We have not accepted the expansion of Qatar into Australia's aviation market for the national interest,' she said in Perth.

'I don't think it's helpful for me to pick any one particular factor that I took into consideration in deciding that.'

Outgoing Qantas CEO Alan Joyce - who quits the role in November - said he told the government that Qatar's extra flights would be unnecessary as other airlines were stepping up their operations to meet demand.

Mr Joyce has previously come under fire for giving the PM's son Nathan, 23, and girlfriend Jodie Haydon free membership of the prestigious Qantas Chairman's Lounge.

PM Anthony Albanese has faced outrage after his son Nathan, 23, and girlfriend Jodie Haydon (pictured with the PM and Alan Joyce) were given free membership of the Qantas Chairman's Lounge.

Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said there was 'no understandable reason' to stop Qatar Airways bringing in more flights to Australia

Mr Joyce revealed at Monday's Senate select committee hearing into the cost of living that the airline had written to ministers last October asking for Qatar's expansion to be blocked.

'We said to the government that capacity was coming back quite rapidly in all of these markets,' he said.

'Granting a carrier doubling their traffic rights in the short term would cause distortion.

'And then when the capacity was already coming back and the short-term needs will go on to be met anyway and that's proven to be the case.'

Joyce defended the ban and said it was standard practice globally.

Read more: Virgin boss reveals real reason for the high airfares Jayne Hrdlicka ran Qantas budget carrier Jetstar from 2012 to 2017 and answered to Alan Joyce (they are pictured together in 2013 during a trip to Seattle to pick up a new Boeing Dreamliner) Advertisement

He added: 'Various countries around the world protect the national interest.'

It's raised questions about why Qatar has been blocked from stepping up its operations when other foreign rivals like Emirates have been given the green light.

However that airline works as a flight partner with Qantas, sharing aircraft and passengers on the same routes.

Qatar Airways however partners directly with Virgin Australia, which is Qantas's main domestic rival in Australia.

Virgin Australia CEO Ms Hrdlicka dismissed the claim that adding more Qatar flights would 'distort the market'.

'You need to add seats where the demand exists, and the constraints are in these major capital cities,' she said.

'That's where the seats need to come and that's what Qatar has applied for.

'It's also a bit of a nonsense to say it's a market distortion when there's such little capacity that's recovered.'

She added: 'Airfares are about 50 per cent higher today than they were pre-Covid.

'The statistics say two-thirds of the seats that were flying in and out of Australia pre-Covid are back and one-third of those seats are not yet back.

'If we get those seats back, airfares will be as low as they possibly could be.'
The Scottish Government watered down its claims on the success of a controversial booze policy just days before it emerged the alcohol death toll has soared to its highest level in 14 years.

Critics have demanded the First Minister apologises over suggestions minimum unit pricing (MUP) has been effective in reducing deaths and hospitalisations  after a rebuke from the UK Statistics Authority.

The Scottish Government has been forced to change the wording of a press release after it emerged it based claims the policy was saving lives on just one study's estimate.

The latest figures show 1,276 people died from illnesses directly caused by alcohol in 2022  31 more than the previous year, and the highest number since 2008.

Conservative MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane, who wrote to the watchdog with his concerns over the claims, said: 'Any death related to alcohol is an individual tragedy with a devastating impact on many other lives.

The Scottish Government was forced to reword a press release saying that its minimum alcohol pricing policy was saving lives when it emerged that it was based on just one study

'Countless people have had to deal not just with the death of a family member, loved one or friend, but the distressing, painful and sometimes chaotic circumstances that often surround it.

'It is clear that the SNP wedding themselves to their flagship policy of minimum unit pricing is simply not working. It is increasingly proving to be a blunt instrument to tackle a complex problem.

'The UK Statistics Authority agreed with me, saying the SNP spin was misleading, and I am calling on Humza Yousaf to apologise to the public.'

The latest figures show the poorest in Scotland were more than four times more likely to die because of alcohol than those in the least deprived areas.

The majority of deaths  836 of the 1,276  were recorded in men.

This was the same figure as 2021, meaning the entirety of the increase was seen in women.

The NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area recorded the highest number of deaths at 326, followed by NHS Lanarkshire with 200 and NHS Lothian  which includes Edinburgh  seeing 153.

Some 778 cases logged alcoholic liver disease as an underlying cause of death.

Despite the rising death toll, ministers have insisted that the SNP's flagship MUP policy is saving lives. In June, following a review of 40 studies by Public Health Scotland (PHS), the Scottish Government claimed it 'has been effective in its main goal of reducing alcohol harm'.

But it has now changed the wording of that press release.

The claim about a fall in deaths being directly linked to MUP was based on a single study, which was produced by PHS and funded by the Scottish Government. The other 39 publications were either contradictory, inconclusive or unrelated to alcohol deaths.

The chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir Robert Chote, investigated after Dr Gulhane wrote with concerns.

Sir Robert said the wording of the press release 'might suggest to many readers that most or all of the studies referred to examined the health impact of MUP'.

In the single study that found a fall in deaths, Sir Robert said the figures were estimates based on statistical modelling and the reduction in hospital admissions 'was not found to be statistically significant'.

The Scottish Government has now amended the press release to 'make it clear the reductions in alcohol sales, deaths and hospital admissions are estimates'.

The Latest figures show that the poorest in Scotland were four times more likely to die of alcohol consumption than those in least deprived areas

Yesterday Elena Whitham, the drugs and alcohol policy minister, said the number of deaths would have been higher without MUP.

Announcing 113million for alcohol services, she added: 'While we will need to better understand the reasons for this increase in deaths, I will do all I can to reduce alcohol-related harm.'

A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Public Health Scotland's evaluation, published in June, estimated that minimum unit pricing has saved hundreds of lives, averted hundreds of alcohol-attributable hospital admissions and is having a positive effect in our most deprived areas.

'This news release was updated to make it clear that the reductions in alcohol sales, deaths and hospital admissions are estimates.

'PHS has emphasised there is no change to the findings or the interpretation of the findings.'
Customers who cant swallow Burger King menus showing Whoppers that are allegedly bigger than the real product will get their say in court, after a federal judge in Miami reportedly rejected the fast-food giants motion to dismiss the case.

Whoppers pack less wallop than suggested by photos in in-store menus  in which ingredients overflow the bun and patties are double the real size  the hangry plaintiffs say in the suit filed earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Roy Altman on Friday made public his decision to allow the case, in which customers accuse Burger King of negligence and unjust enrichment, to continue.

Burger King, owned by the holding company Restaurant Brands International, says it is not required to serve products which appear exactly like the picture.

The plaintiffs claims are false, the company said in a statement quoted by Reuters. The flame-grilled beef patties portrayed in our advertising are the same patties used in the millions of Whopper sandwiches we serve to guests nationwide.

Altman said a jury will have to tell us what reasonable people think.

The case is the latest in a string of false advertising lawsuits involving fast-food chains. Last month, a suit was filed against Taco Bell for over $5 million alleging a lack of beef in several of its products.

McDonalds and Wendys are facing a similar lawsuit in Brooklyn, where a man seeks $50 million for himself and other customers who were allegedly deceived by the chains burger sizes.

On Monday, the plaintiffs lawyers cited Altmans decision in the Burger King case to argue their case should continue.
Dozens of schools that could be at risk of collapsing have reportedly been told they could be forced to shut down at short notice if they are not made safe.

Hundreds of schools across the country were built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, known as RAAC, between the 1960s and 1990s, with the buildings having a life span of around 30 years.

The risk of the 'crumbly' concrete, that has previously been likened to a 'chocolate Aero bar', has been known for five years now, after a primary school in Kent partially collapsed but now chaos could be caused for thousands of more youngsters.

Pupils face serious injury - or even death - at the hands of such decaying buildings that are long past their shelf-life.

Documents from the Department of Education, seen by The Mirror, reveal that schools affected by the infrastructure need to prepare 'for the eventuality that they are taken out of use and vacated at short notice' until they are made safe.

This could see pupils, many of whom have already had their education interrupted by several Covid-19 lockdowns, shipped off to other schools, taught in alternative locations or forced to return to learning remotely online.

Pictured: A collapsed RAAC roof at a Kent primary school. Hundreds of schools across the country were built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, known as RAAC, between the 1960s and 1990s, with the buildings having a life span of around 30 years

Dozens of schools that could be at risk of collapsing have been told they could be forced to shut down at short notice if they are not made safe. Pictured: File photo of primary school class

Hundreds of schools across the country were built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, known as RAAC, between the 1960s and 1990s

Schools Week reported that the DfE had told four schools, in Essex and the north-east, to shut after RAAC was discovered in their ceilings. Hockley primary school in Essex (pictured) was named

In June, The Guardian reported that the total number of school buildings at risk was expected to increase significantly, referencing a Schools Week report that the DfE had told four schools, in Essex and the north-east, to shut after RAAC was discovered in their ceilings.

Mistley Norman Church of England primary school and Hockley primary school, both in Essex, were named, along with two schools in the north-east run by the Bishop Bewick Catholic education trust, the report stated.

School bosses are now being urged to come up with a plan, after being questioned 'what it would take to implement a plan ahead of the start of term'.

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) earlier this year revealed that 700,000 children in England attend schools requiring major repairs, with more than a third of buildings being beyond their lifespan.

The watchdog said it would be focusing on the 14,000 schools that were building during the period when RAAC was used in construction.

By May, 65 out of 196 schools inspected were confirmed to have used RAAC. A further 400 were due to be checked out of the 600 potentially affected.

For some schools, the safety warning could mean that some would be preparing for a complete shut down, the paper reports.

Less affected schools could see parts of their buildings, such as individual classrooms or blocks, closed off.

Internal briefings from the Department of Education said: 'DfE has serious concerns about the integrity of RAAC panels and is committed to supporting responsible bodies to address any safety issues that arise as a result.'

The schools have been ranked by engineers on a scale ranging from 'High Critical' - which would require immediate closure - to low.

Internal memos from the department highlight that schools need to have a 'clear contingency plan' ahead of the start of term - which starts next week.

In June, The Guardian reported that the total number of school buildings at risk was expected to increase significantly, referencing a Schools Week report that the DfE had told four schools, in Essex and the north-east, to shut after RAAC was discovered in their ceilings. Mistley Norman Church of England primary school (pictured) and Hockley primary school, both in Essex, were named, along with two schools in the north-east run by the Bishop Bewick Catholic education trust, the report stated

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) earlier this year revealed that 700,000 children in England attend schools requiring major repairs, with more than a third of buildings being beyond their lifespan

Less affected schools could see parts of their buildings, such as individual classrooms or blocks, closed off. Pictured: File photo of students in a lesson

Civil servants have been instructed to call round schools to make sure they have some form of plan in place, including 'preparations for the eventuality that [schools] are taken out of use and vacated at short notice'.

RAAC deteriorates over time and is prone to sudden failure. This happened at Singlewell Primary School in 2018.

The collapse happened over a weekend meaning no one was hurt, but the school remained closed for a week while repairs were carried out.

In June, the Department for Education, said four schools in Essex, Tyne and Wear and Newcastle, were closed because of the issue, seeing pupils being taught remotely or at an alternative site.

Mistley Norman CofE primary school in Essex was forced to rent an alternative space until the school was repaired. The school also had to provide the six-mile-round-trip for pupils to 'ensure learning can continue'.

Emma Wigmore, CEO of Vine Schools Trust which runs the school, told Schools Week in June that the repair bill could cost a total of 1.9 million.

She added that the trust did not have the 'necessary funds to pay for the extensive repair work required for the school building to remain in use'.

When Hockley Primary School in Essex was told to shut down temporarily as it was deemed 'not safe to open' youngsters were forced to return to remote learning. Pupils were then moved to two other schools nearby.

Extra funding was supplied to help reduce the immediate risk for schools, the Department of Education said.

In its submission ahead of the 2020 Spending Review, the Government department said it needed 5.3 billion a year of capital funding to maintain schools and mitigate the most serious risks of building failure.

Due to the time it would take the department to expand its school rebuilding programme, it requested an average of 4 billion a year between 2021 and 2025.

RAAC deteriorates over time and is prone to sudden failure. This happened at Singlewell Primary School in 2018. Pictured: File photo of concrete blocks

Teachers union bosses have previously described the scale of building safety issues in schools as 'shocking'. Pictured: File photo of primary school class

But the Treasury only allocated 3.1billion, meaning local authorities and trusts had limited funding on some of the most urgent problems, such as work to prevent future building failures.

Teachers union bosses have previously described the scale of building safety issues in schools as 'shocking'.

Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: 'It is perfectly clear that the government has made a conscious decision to de-prioritise education over the past 14 years and the deterioration of the school estate is one of the results of this mindset.

Meanwhile Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said safety in schools should be 'a given'.

He added: 'These shocking figures lay bare how far short the Government is falling in its efforts to ensure school buildings are safe and fit for purpose for children and staff.'

A Department for Education spokesperson told MailOnline last night: 'The safety of pupils and teachers is our utmost priority.

'We have been engaging with schools and responsible bodies about the potential risks of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) since 2018 and subsequently published guidance on identifying and managing it.

'As part of this work schools have been asked to inform the Department if they believe RAAC is present on their estate.

'Where we confirm it is present, we work with individual education settings on how to manage RAAC and develop contingency plans to minimise any disruption to education.'
In the case of an 'aggravated' offence, the death penalty may now apply

Uganda's new laws in May prescribe life in prison for same-sex intercourse

A Ugandan man has been charged with 'aggravated homosexuality' and now faces a possible death penalty under the country's new anti-LGBT laws.

The 20-year-old is the first to face the charge since Uganda enacted one of the world's harshest laws targeting the LGBT community in May.

It prescribes life in prison for same-sex intercourse. The death penalty can apply in cases deemed 'aggravated', which include repeat offences, gay sex that transmits terminal illness, or same-sex intercourse with a minor, an elderly person or a person with disabilities.

According to a charge sheet, the defendant was charged on August 18 with aggravated homosexuality after he 'performed unlawful sexual intercourse' with a 41-year-old man. It did not specify why the act was considered aggravated.

'Since it is a capital offence triable by the High Court, the charge was read out and explained to him in the Magistrates Court on (the) 18th and he was remanded,' Jacqueline Okui, spokesperson for the office of the director of public prosecutions said.

A Ugandan man has been charged with 'aggravated homosexuality' and now faces a possible death penalty under the country's new anti-LGBT laws (file image)

Okui did not provide additional details about the case. She said she was not aware of anyone else having been previously charged with aggravated homosexuality.

Justine Balya, an attorney for the defendant, said she believed the entire law was unconstitutional.

The law has been challenged in court, but the judges have not yet taken up the case.

Balya said four other people have been charged under the law since its enactment and that her client was the first to be prosecuted for aggravated homosexuality.

She declined to comment on the specifics of his case.

Uganda has not executed anyone in around two decades, but capital punishment has not been abolished and President Yoweri Museveni threatened in 2018 to resume executions to stop a wave of crime.

The law's enactment three months ago drew widespread condemnation and threats of sanctions.

The United States has also imposed visa restrictions on some Ugandan officials, and President Joe Biden ordered a review of US aid to Uganda.

Defying pressure from Western governments and rights organisations, Uganda in May enacted one of the world's harshest laws targeting the LGBT community (file image)

The World Bank earlier this month announced a decision not to consider new loans to Uganda because of the law, drawing an angry response from President Yoweri Museveni.

'The Ugandan president has today legalised state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia,' said Clare Byarugaba, a Ugandan rights activist when the law was introduced.

'It's a very dark and sad day for the LGBTIQ community, our allies and all of Uganda.'

Homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 of Africa's 54 countries. Some Africans see it as behavior imported from abroad and not a sexual orientation.

Police in Nigeria on Tuesday announced the detention of at least 67 people celebrating a gay wedding in one of the largest mass detentions targeting homosexuality, which is outlawed in the West African country.
German police have so far been unable to identify him or work out how he died

The boy, thought to be five or six years old, was found in Bavaria last year in May

International police organisation Interpol has appealed for help from the public over the case of a dead boy found in the Danube river that left German police baffled.

The boy, estimated to be five or six years old, was found in May last year in Bavaria, weighed down with a flagstone slab and wrapped in foil, Interpol said in a statement.

German police, unable to identify the body or the circumstances of his death, asked Interpol to issue a 'Black Notice', an international alert to gather information on unidentified bodies.

Interpol said it was not known how long the body had been in the water when it was found on May 19, 2022, near Grossmehring, a Bavarian municipality of 7,500 inhabitants.

He was approximately 110 cm (3 foot 7) tall, weighed 15 kilograms (33 pounds), and had brown hair and blood type 0.

Police in Germany have reconstructed the face of a boy, thought to be five or six, who was found in the Danube last year

Interpol said it was not known how long the body had been in the water when it was found on May 19, 2022. Picture: file image of the River Danube

German police released a 3D reconstruction of what the boy is thought to look like at the end of last year, offering 10,000 euros (8,600) reward for valuable information from the public.

Police think the boy spent time outside Germany, which is why Interpol's 195 member countries may be able to shed light on his death and 'whether he was victim of trafficking, abduction or violence', said Juergen Stock, the organisation's secretary general said.

'Someone, somewhere knows something about this boy,' he said in the statement.

Members of the public, 'particularly those who remember a missing child whose characteristics and disappearance indicate a potential link to the case', are invited to contact the German police, Interpol said.

It said the 'I-Familia' tool, which it started operating in 2021 to identify unknown bodies through international family DNA kinship matching, could become useful in the case.

The investigation falls under the 'Identify Me' programme framework, launched earlier this year and aimed at cold cases.

Identify Me, created to help identify 22 suspected female murder victims, has received more than 500 messages and tips from the public, Interpol said.
Thousands of Britons left stranded by the air traffic control system meltdown are being denied compensation in what has been branded as an 'international embarrassment'.

Passengers have been warned they face waiting ten days for a flight home - costing thousands of pounds in accommodation - while others have been forced to sleep on make-shift beds laid out on airport floors.

Travellers are running out of medication, missing hospital appointments and risk not being home in time to start back at school or work. Airlines have been accused of ignoring laws that require them to support passengers, including offering food, drink, accommodation and return flights.

At the same time, a loophole means there is no right to additional compensation because the disruption has been caused by so-called extraordinary circumstances.

It has led to industry leaders calling on the Government and industry watchdog, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), to step up to stop repeat offending airlines from 'wriggling out of their legal responsibilities' without consequence.

The chaos, which ensued for much of Bank Holiday Monday, one of the busiest travels days of the year, was caused by a 'technical glitch' sent by the UK's National Air Traffic Service - the boss of which has reportedly seen his pay double.

Around 790 departures and 785 arrivals were cancelled across all UK airports that day, plus around 300 more yesterday. As a result, the travel plans of more than 200,000 people have been disrupted.

The disarray comes as the boss of UK air traffic control, Martin Rolfe, has reportedly doubled his pay to 1.3 million, according to The Sun.

Meanwhile, travel consultant Paul Charles blasted the chaos. He told the Telegraph: 'One flight plan corrupted the whole system. It is an international embarrassment that our whole air traffic system collapsed because of it.'

Stranded passengers have been left to sleep on beds laid out on the floor at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Here is a view of the cot, pillow and blanket laid out for traveller Matthew Creed, 26, who became stuck at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport yesterday after his flight with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to Edinburgh was cancelled

Tens of thousands of airline passengers have been left stranded across Europe after suffering flight cancellations due to the knock-on impact of an ATC fault. Data shows at least 281 flights - including departures and arrivals - were cancelled today at the UK's six busiest airports

Matthew Creed paid for access to KLM's Crown Lounges at Amsterdam Airport in order to have a shower and eat some food, with the hope of being reimbursed for the cost. Pictured are travellers preparing to sleep in the airport yesterday

Are YOU stranded at an airport? Email: eirian.prosser@dailymail.co.uk

Last night it was confirmed that the failure stemmed from incorrect data being entered into the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) system.

The source of the issue has not been confirmed but last night Downing Street did not rule out a report that an inputting error by a French airline could have caused the chaos.

Consumer champions Which? demanded immediate action from industry watchdog the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to force the airlines to help passengers. Travellers have spoken of being abandoned, with some forced to sleep on cold airport floors surrounded by cockroaches and without food or water.

READ MORE - Terrifying footage from plane flying through Mallorca storm shows passengers screaming and crying as extreme turbulence causes some to vomit Advertisement

The editor of Which? Travel, Rory Boland, said: Were seeing worrying reports of passengers being left stranded without support, and airlines failing to properly communicate with their passengers or fulfil their legal obligations.

In particular, travellers should be aware that their airline has a responsibility to reroute them as soon as possible, even if that means buying them a ticket with a rival carrier  a rule that some airlines appear to be ignoring.

Passengers should also be given food and refreshments and overnight accommodation if required. He added: Passengers understand that this is not an issue caused by airlines, but are frustrated by the poor communication and lack of care they receive from carriers.

During travel crises we see repeat offending from airlines looking to wriggle out of their legal responsibilities knowing that theyre unlikely to face any real consequences for leaving passengers high and dry during periods of disruption. Mr Boland said the CAA should stand ready to take enforcement action against any airline found to be failing in its responsibilities to passengers.

Another disrupted passenger, Michael McDonnell, (pictured) a 28-year-old consultant from London, became stranded in Berlin with his partner Sarah, 28, for three nights after their British Airways flight was cancelled

Stranded travellers reported having to pay hundreds of pounds for last-minute hotels - if they were lucky enough to get a room, with thousands of families, including some with babies, being forced to sleep on airport floors

People at Palma de Mallorca airport waiting to board a flight, two days after dozens of flights were cancelled due to storm Betty

Tourists are stuck waiting at Palma de Mallorca airport just days after dozens of fights were cancelled due to storm Betty

He also called for Government action to give the CAA more power to hold carriers to account. Currently, travellers have no right to compensation beyond a refund if delays and cancellations occur due to extraordinary circumstances.

This is where the problems are outside the airlines control, such as air traffic control issues or bad weather.

However, carriers are still legally required to offer refunds or other forms of support. Importantly, this includes offering an alternative flight and support until it takes off. The airlines are also required to provide food and drink, together with hotel accommodation and transfers to and from the airport.

Despite this, many travellers have been told to make their own arrangements without any promise they can reclaim their costs, which can run to thousands of pounds.

Craig Carmichael, who saw his easyJet flight from Fuerteventura in the Canaries to Luton cancelled, was told the earliest alternative is not until September 8.

I have had to rehire a car and then book another apartment... We cant afford to stay here until next week or the week after, he said. The airlines dont seem to care... Its been a complete shambles. Mr Carmichael, who is on holiday with his wife and three children, added: I am going to have to beg, steal and borrow just to get the money.

TV presenter Ore Oduba, his wife Portia and their two young children were unable to get home from Greece. Mrs Oduba wrote on Instagram: Currently stranded in Greece with no flight home. No nappies and no clean knickers. EasyJet have cancelled all flights leaving till Sunday. But its OK. Theyve offered us a voucher for the next time we fly. Maybe we can fly home on that, magic carpet.

Kirstie Rowley, 52, a payroll and finance officer from Rochdale (pictured with Barbara and Chris Rowley), was also travelling to Corfu on the 7.30am flight

Builder Ashley Weaver, 35, waited three hours for his luggage at Birmingham Airport after he and his family flew home from a 12,000 holiday in Orlando, Florida

A screenshot shows the lack of flights available to passengers still stranded in Palma

In Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, passengers were left to sleep on pop-up camper beds in the middle of the airport.

Matthew Creed, 26, became stuck at the airport on Sunday after his flight with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to Edinburgh was cancelled.

KLM booked him a new flight to Edinburgh departing at 9.50pm yesterday, however, the drama student had to spend the night at the airport while waiting for the flight.

Mr Creed, noting how it was 'not ideal' sleeping on a folding bed with 'pillows and blankets' in the airport, later found out that KLM had booked him a hotel but claims the air carrier failed to inform him of this.

Another disrupted passenger, Michael McDonnell, a 28-year-old consultant from London, became stranded in Berlin with his partner Sarah, 28, for three nights after their British Airways flight was cancelled.

The consultant was meant to fly to Heathrow Airport from Berlin Brandenburg Airport at 9.20am on Monday before his flight was cancelled.

Passengers wait at Stansted Airport, north of London, on August 29, 2023 after UK flights were delayed over a technical issu

Mary Byrne, pictured with Alex Ogden and Eiisha Mullaney was told her flight to Corfu was cancelled at the last minute

Many passengers were forced to sleep on the floor due to a shortage of hotel rooms

Passengers queue up at 3.48am this morning at Manchester Airport's Terminal One

Passengers queue for check-in in the car park at Manchester Airport's Terminal One

He said he received 'very little communication' from the British airliner before being notified that he and his partner had been rebooked on a flight leaving on August 31, stranding them for three nights.

'They told us we need to give them a call to change and rebook our flight online, but we couldn't get access online because the website wasn't working,' Mr McDonnell said.

'We couldn't call them as their line was too busy and then it would hang up.

'We did end up getting through to someone and we got rebooked onto the next flight on Thursday morning.'

The couple returned to the city centre of Berlin and rebooked at a hotel they had previously visited for their bank holiday weekend.

He explained: 'They (British Airways) didn't pay for the hotel, we paid for it. We paid 150 per night for the hotel.'

Andy Bolton 42, Sandra Bolton 38, Lucie May Bolton, 7, and Jagger Bolton, 5, from Tarleton in Lancs give their experience the thumbs -down

Mike Pritchard, 40, a self-employed joiner from North Wales (pictured with his family), said: 'We arrived at the airport this morning but have been told our flight is going to be tomorrow. They said it was because of the air traffic problems. So I'm having to pay for a hotel for the night. I can't do anything about it, it is what it is.'

Passengers stranded overnight at London Gatwick Airport are pictured this morning

Scenes at Manchester Airport early this morning as queues build up at Terminal One

Passengers stranded overnight at London Gatwick Airport are pictured this morning

Passengers queue up at 4.20am this morning at Manchester Airport's Terminal Two

Passengers stranded overnight at London Gatwick Airport are pictured this morning

In a statement, British Airways said: 'Like other airlines operating in the UK, we are continuing to experience the knock-on effects of yesterday's NATS Air Traffic Control issue, which includes unavoidable delays and cancellations.

'Customers travelling today or tomorrow on short-haul services can move their flight to a later date free of charge if they wish, subject to availability.

'We've apologised for the huge inconvenience caused, which was outside of our control and thank our customers for their patience as we work hard to get back on track.'

Rishi Sunak said Transport Secretary Mark Harper would be talking to airlines about their responsibilities to passengers. EasyJet apologised but said it was abiding by the rules in terms of offering help and refunds.

Ryanair boss Michael OLeary denied letting down customers, saying: We are doing everything we possibly can to try and minimise the disruption to passengers and their families.'
A magnetic charger popular with iPhone users has been recalled from Officeworks over fears the device could catch alight.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued an urgent recall for all Comsol Pty Ltd 10000mAh 20W USB-A & USB-C magnetic wireless power bank on Wednesday morning.

The recall notification states that the product may 'short circuit, overheat, and catch fire', leading to 'a risk of a serious burn injury and/or property damage if the battery overheats and catches fire.

The battery pack is used to charge iPhones 12, 13 and 14 through the magnetic charging port on the back of the phone.

A magnetic phone charger that has been sold in Officeworks' across Australia has been recalled over fears the charger could short circuit and catch on fire (stock image)

The Comsol Pty Ltd 10000mAh 20W USB-A & USB-C magnetic wireless power bank (pictured) was recalled on Wednesday morning with those who own one urged to return it for a full refund

The charger was sold by Officeworks in stores and digitally nation-wide between March 7 and August 18.

The consumer watchdog urged those with the power bank to search the product for the part code 'WMPB10A' on the back of the product.

Those who own the product have been urged to stop using it immediately and to return it to the nearest available Officeworks for a full refund.
New details are emerging about the drunken date at the top European tourist spot which ended in an Australian couple falling 11m and suffering catastrophic injuries.

Dubrovnik police have confirmed that the woman, 26, and the man, 34, were kissing on the old town wall at Pile in Dubrovnik, between two of the Croatian port's famous 'Games of Thrones' filming locations at 2.35am last Saturday morning.

Dubrovnik is a tourist mecca in summer with its spectacular weather, cheap alcohol and vibrant party scene. The city attracts more than a million vistors every year, and has previously been named the most 'over touristed' city in Europe.

The local hospital confirmed the blood alcohol tests revealed the man had a 0.2 reading - four times the legal Australian driving limit - while the woman was 0.3, or a staggering six times the legal driving limit.

The wall from which the couple is believed to have fallen is a popular selfie spot, which frames the two fortresses, Lovrijenac and Bokar, in the background.

The spot from where they fell has panoramic views over the Adriatic Sea between the clifftop forts.

Dr Ivan Bencic, a trauma specialist at Dubrovnik General Hospital where the man is being treated for a broken leg, says the young Australian woman suffered cerebral damage and multiple fractures in her vertebrae in the fall.

She is in the intensive care unit in an induced coma while the man is stable and recovering.

Andrijana Biskup, from the Dubrovnik-Neretva police, confirmed the couple had been cuddling or kissing when the fall happened and said alcohol may have played a part.

The couple were kissing and cuddling on a ledge before they tumbled 11m to the ground below and the man broke his leg with the woman, 26, sustaining serious head, neck and spine injuries

The area where the couple were out enjoying a night before the tragic accident is above (left) at the seafront of the Croatian port of Dubrovnik which is a tourist mecca in summer, especially for Australians

The couple were believed to have been on a night out in Dubrovnik's old town area, which is packed with tourists every summer.

The area has millions of visitors every year and the couple was said to be out together between the upmarket Nautika restaurant and the Dubravka cafe and bistro restaurants.

Australian posters on social media who have been there said 'the walk around the wall has some very high spots. It was pretty scary.'

The pair slipped and fell, reportedly when the woman leaned against her partner, and they toppled over and dropped to the ground below.

The couple was between the Dubravka cafe and Nautika restaurants which overlook the Adriatic and the historic forts when they slipped and fell 11m to the ground below

One Croatian man complained about the number of 'pissed Aussies' attracted to his country by the lure of cheap beer, which he said costs just $AUD1.30

Tourists throng at the seaside Dubrovnik area at the wall or ledge from which the couple is believed to have fallen

Ambulances were called and both were transported the 3km to Dubrovnik General Hospital, where the woman was placed in the hospital's ICU and treated by trauma surgeons.

Both were breathalysed at the hospital.

The hospital's director Dr. Marija Bekic told the local media outlet Dubrovacki Vjesnik that the young woman is in a life-threatening condition with spinal and brain damage and had fractured several vertebrae and her neck.

Dr Bencic said she was in a 'bad state' due to her head injuries while the male patient was in better condition having already undergone surgery on his broken leg.

'We are constantly monitoring her and doing everything we can to fight for her life,' Dr Ivan Bencic, said, 'As far as the male is concerned he had a far better run than she did.'

On social media. people posted about the fact that Croatia had become the 'new Bali' for Australian tourists and one Croatian man grumbled that 'we are getting sick of pissed Aussies. Every summer the same troublemakers.

'We should increase the price of beer (I) reckon, still too cheap!' When asked how much beer costs in Croatia, he replied $AUD 1.30.

However sympathetic Croatians noted the danger of the spot where the accident took place, one posting online that authorities should 'urgently put an iron fence on the wall... The wall is up to the navel... The city needs to do this urgently. Hundreds of tourists are taking pictures and taking selfies here'.

Another suggested that a net should be put under the wall. Dubrovnik police have determined the fall was an accident.

DFAT Australia said it had no further information on the couple.
Do you know the owner of this home? Email emma.james@mailonline.com

A mansion along Florida's Big Bend has been marooned on its own tiny island as 'apocalyptic' Hurricane Idalia continues to sweep along the coast  with storm surges increasing 7ft in less than an hour.

The monster storm, which was downgraded to a Category 1 as it moved inland, engulfed much of the coastline at the top of the Panhandle on Wednesday morning.

At least two people have died in the hurricane so far, with Pasco County officials confirming one, 40, crashed his Ford Ranger while a second, 59, swerved into a ditch in Gainesville.

Officials say the 'apocalyptic' 16ft storm surge has caused catastrophic flooding, as water beaches homes across Steinhatchee with 110mph winds battering the state.

Idalia crossed onto Florida's Big Bend at Keaton Beach at 7.45am on Wednesday and is now entering southern Georgia with maximum sustained speeds of 90mph before battering the Carolinas.

The hurricane stretched from Central Florida to southern Georgia, covering around 250 miles, as of Wednesday morning.

It's the strongest storm to make landfall in the Big Bend region in 127 years, matching an unnamed hurricane in 1896.

Tens of thousands of people are under evacuation orders, and at least 260,000 are without power as flooding is battering the Big Bend coastline.

It is the latest hurricane to batter Florida, which has barely recovered from Hurricane Ian - which cost the state $113 billion to repair.

TARPON SPRINGS: Makatla Ritchter (L) and her mother, Keiphra Line wade through flood waters after having to evacuate their home on Wednesday morning

TAMPA: Boarded-up homes were flooded under the door as water continued to rise in Tampa Bay

CLEARWATER: Flooding and rainwater whipped the coast as Clearwater Harbor Marina was swallowed by the rising tide on Wednesday morning

CEDAR KEYS: Debris and broken trees littered the roads in Cedar Keys which was battered with 110mph winds

TARPON SPRINGS: Ken Kruse looks out at the flood waters from Hurricane Idalia surrounding his apartment complex on August 30

TARPON SPRINGS: A couple ride their ATV through the flooded streets as they flee their homes

TARPON SPRINGS: A truck attempts to make its way through the floodwater dragging a jet ski behind it

TARPON SPRINGS: Residents look on over the flood water as it continues to raise above one floor of their property

TARPON SPRINGS: Waist-high water has caused residents to be displaced from their homes after being battered by the wind

TAMPA BAY: A woman surveys the flooding on Bayshore Blvd after the area became completely engulfed

NAPLES: Construction equipment sits partially submerged after storm surge from Hurricane Idalia hit Naples

TAMPA BAY: A paddleboarder makes his way along the sea wall in Old Tampa Bay as the water levels continue to rise

GAINESVILLE: A 59-year-old man died in a road accident before Idalia hit landfall in Gainesville

The National Weather Service said: 'River gauge in Steinhatchee rapidly increased this morning as storm surge moved in with the river gauge increasing from 1 ft to 8 ft in only 1 hour.

'Last observation was at 830am ET. When we say the storm surge threat would increase rapidly, this is what we meant.'

Idalia is the second storm of a century to hit Keaton Beach, where the hurricane made landfall, in 30 years.

In March 1993, the region was struck by what has been called 'the storm of the century,' with wind gusts over 90 miles per hour, tornadoes and a devastating storm surge with at least seven killed in the county.

Idalia surged to a Category 4 storm in the early hours because of warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, reaching speeds of up to 156mph - before dropping to 125mph shortly after 7am and 110mph at 9am.

St Petersburg has been completely cut off from the mainland, with authorities closing major bridges because of the hurricane.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned of catastrophic storm surges of up to 12 to 16 feet in the worst affected areas.

Cedar Kay is being hit with almost 9 feet of storm surge, the worst in 109 years with waters still rising rapidly - eclipsing a record from Hurricane Hermine in 2016.

FLAGLER PIER: The structure si battered by huge waves as hurricane Idalia passes through the coast

TAMPA: A truck attempts to travel on a flooded road in Tampa, Florida, on August 30, 2023,

HORSESHOE BEACH: Footage shows Horseshoe Beach entirely underwater as debris washes through a structure on Wednesday

TARPON SPRINGS: Kyan Watson and her dog Brandon brace the floodwaters as they look at their area submerged from the hurricane

.@StPeteFR rescued one person this morning from the flooding at the Twin City Mobile Home Park. #stpetepd is urging you to stay out of flooded areas#idalia pic.twitter.com/i5ABH9c0gf  St. Pete Police (@StPetePD) August 30, 2023

TARPON SPRINGS: A man wades through his area with a canoe as he braces for the wind and flooding to hit harded

TAMPA BAY: Storm surges caused a house to be engulfed by water in Tampa Bay in the early hours of Wednesday morning

CLEARWATER: Heavy rain battered the marina shortly after Hurricane Idalia made landfall on Wednesday

TARPON SPRINGS: Cars sit in flood waters from Hurricane Idalia on Wednesday morning in Florida

TARPON SPRINGS: People wade through flood waters after their homes were battered by the once-in-a-lifetime storm

CLEARWATER: A marina in Clearwater has been flooded with debris and various items floating in the water

The NOAA tide station at Cedar Key is at 6' above normal high tide and rising as flooding is significantly higher than predicted

CLEARWATER: Areas more inland survived the worst of the flooding, as police blocked access to a damaged bridge in Clearwater on Wednesday morning

TREASURE ISLAND: Water seeps over the beach in Treasure Island as thousands are warned to take cover

TAMPA: A car struggles to make way through floodwater in Tampa as the srtrom moves on to Georgia

ST PETERSBURG: Floodwater submerged a marina in St Petersburg as flooding hit higher levels than predicted

Footage shows Horseshoe Beach entirely underwater as debris washes through a structure.

St Petersburg Police shared a video of the level of flooding which was sweeping away homes at a mobile trailer park, and confirmed they had already rescued one person by 6:50am.

What is the eye and eyewall of a hurricane? Described as the most devastating region of the storm, the eyewall surrounds the eye of the storm. The eye is the roughly circular area of comparatively light winds that encompasses the center of a severe tropical cyclone. It is either completely or partially surrounded by the eyewall cloud  which is an organized band or ring of cumulonimbus clouds that surround the eye, or light-wind center of a tropical cyclone. The convergence of winds here is so strong that the air rises faster, and with more force, than anywhere else in a hurricane, producing intense rain and damaging winds. Credit: NHC Advertisement

Hurricane Idalia has been branded 'an unprecedented event' by the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

It will be one of only three Category 3 hurricanes to make landfall within 60 miles of Cedar Key.

Hurricane Easy in 1950 and an unnamed hurricane in 1896 are the only others of that strength to make landfall in that area.

Idalia could spawn tornadoes as far south as Tampa and Sarasota, east to Jacksonville and north to the Georgia coast later today.

Hillsborough County Fire and Rescue Public Information Officer Rob Herrin said their concern remains about 'water and rising water'.

He said: 'I don't think we have seen anything of this nature for quite a while in the Tampa Bay area.

'Rescue units are fearing that residents will walk outside and see it's sunny outside and think that everything is fine but there is more water coming.'

During a press conference on Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis warned 'don't mess with this storm' as the power briefly went out from his headquarters.

He added that there have been 15 tornado warnings issued, saying: 'It's going to be a significant, significant impact.'

DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 49 Florida counties, as 5,500 National Guard members were mobilized to help with evacuations and building defenses.

Meanwhile, 30,000 to 40,000 electricity workers were on standby to help restore power quickly after the hurricane passes.

Footage from the worst affected areas shows flooding in Fort Myers beach - which was destroyed by Hurricane Ian last year - as Tampa Bay is almost completely underwater.

TAMPA: Interstate 275 in Tampa Bay is almost completely flooded on one side as the city braces to be hit with huge surge storms at 8am

TAMPA: A bridge is covered with water in Tampa, Florida, on August 30, 2023, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall

TAMPA: Residents use kayaks to travel on a flooded road as officials warn more water is coming

TAMPA: Streets are flooded across Tampa as rescue units battle to clear the destruction left in Idalia's wake

CROSS CITY: People move debris off a highway as the storm continues to travel towards Georgia

TARPON SPRINGS: Police man a roadblock to keep cars from driving through flood waters on Wednesday morning

The northern eyewall of Idalia is now onshore, with the center of the hurricane crossing onto Florida's Big Bend at 7.45am

Idalia surged to a Category 4 storm in the early hours because of warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, reaching speeds of up to 156mph - before dropping to 125mph shortly after 7am

Surge continues to pile into the Tampa Bay region, threatening homes nearest the coast. Lights are flickering around us. #Idalia @CNN pic.twitter.com/oqhFJCi8KV  Derek Van Dam (@VanDamCNN) August 30, 2023

CLEARWATER: Police start the clear up in Clearwater, Florida, as the hurricane starts to travel northeast towards Georgia and the Carolinas

MAYO: People work to free a vehicle stuck on the shoulder amid storm debris after high winds of 110mph

TARPON SPRINGS: Makatla Ritchter wades through flood waters after having to evacuate her home

The region is braced for another 'multibillion-dollar insurance industry event', with some firms restricting their business in Florida because of the common weather events.

State regulations prevent them from raising prices for customers, which they claim forces them to say no to new policies.

The Insurance Information Institute estimates that property and casualty insurers in the state have had cumulative underwriting losses of more than $1 billion for the last three years.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge has been closed to all traffic as sustained wind speeds hit an excess of 50mph.

Over 1,000 people in Sarasota were already without power overnight, and many other areas had the power cut off in advance as a precaution.

North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have all declared states of emergency, with assistance being provided from both California and New York.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is sending specialized search-and-rescue teams to Orlando and Atlanta.

New York's Task Force 1, made up of NYPD and fire department employees, has arrived in South Carolina in preparation for rescue efforts.

Craig Fugate, a former FEMA administrator, said that people who have not already left may find themselves cut off, telling CNN: 'Search and rescue will be the first priority.'

Teams will work on 'power restoration, damage assessments and getting people assistance as fast as they can.'

Cedar Key Commissioner Sue Colson told residents to 'leave', adding: 'It's not something to discuss.'

CLEARWATER: A bus stop in Clearwater, Florida, is seen submerged by water after landfall on Wednesday

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned of catastrophic storm surges of up to 12 to 16 feet in the worst affected areas

TREASURE ISLAND: Live webcams show the coastline being battered by huge waves as Idalai whips up the wind to 125mph

TAMPA: Members of the Tampa Fire Rescue Dept., remove a street pole after large awnings from an apartment building blew off

TAMPA: Zeke Pierce rides his paddle board down the middle of a flooded Bayshore Blvd in downtown in Tampa

TREASURE ISLAND: Images show water flooding the coastal area of Treasure Island as benches are submerged

ST PETERSBURG: DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 49 Florida counties, as 5,500 National Guard members were mobilized to help with evacuations and building defenses

It's the strongest storm to make landfall in the Big Bend region in more than 125 years

Idalia could spawn tornadoes as far south as Tampa and Sarasota, east to Jacksonville and north to the Georgia coast later today

Idalia is the third hurricane to make landfall in Florida in the last 12 months, following Hurricane Ian in September 2022 and Hurricane Nicole in October 2022.

DeSantis suspended tolls in several counties as he urged residents to finalize their storm and evacuation preparation.

The last hurricane to make landfall in the region was 2016's Hermine, which made landfall as a Category 1 storm.

More than 30,000 utility workers have been put on standby to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricane's wake.

Webcams in Cedar Key showed a significant rise in sea level, heavy rain and strong winds as of 1:45am ET.

Video captured from a US military plane evacuating the Tampa area also showed jaw-dropping footage of a rare St Elmo's Fire lightning strikes as Idalia crept closer.

The storm could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year's Hurricane Ian, which killed 150 people - more in Florida than any hurricane in almost 90 years.

A tornado watch is now in effect for more than seven million people across central and western Florida, including Tampa, until 6am ET on Wednesday.

More than a dozen state troopers went door to door warning residents that storm surge could rise as high as 15 feet.

TARPON SPRINGS: Fire is seen as flood waters inundate the area and high speed winds batter the town

CLEARWATER: Trees have begun to fall amid winds increasing across the Big Bend in Florida

TARPON SPRINGS: Floodwater hits downtown area of Tarpon Springs hours before Idalia made landfall

TAMPA: A video shows the rare St.Elmo fire weather phenomenon on Tuesday in Florida, as the state braces for Idalia

ST PETERSBURG: A wall of water started flooding St Petersburg in the early hours of the morning before landfall

Peak levels of the surge are expected to hit between Chassahowitzka and Aucilla River, with residents advised to follow advice from local officials.

If Tampa Bay is hit with anything above four feet of storm surge and if Cedar Key is battered by more than six feet, then it would set a new record.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell confirmed that the Biden administration made a supplemental request to Congress for $12billion to support the agency's disaster relief fund.

Hundreds of flights have been canceled or delayed in preparation for the hurricane, with all flights from Tampa International Airport banning flights from Tuesday.

The FAA confirmed that they were taking additional safety precautions, including backup power generators and protecting equipment inside of air traffic control towers to prevent damage from leaks or broken windows.

Some of the nation's largest airlines added that they would waive change fees for customers with plans to travel to or through parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina in the coming days.

Urban search and rescue teams are on standby from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while the Army Corps of Engineers is set to support power generation missions.

Amtrak announced that it was canceling several trains due to the hangover of Idalia, with 12 East Coast routes behind terminated on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The company has also shortened Palmetto routes for those two days, which usually run from New York to Savannah, in Georgia, and will instead stop at Washington DC.
A Chicago rapper has had former President Donald Trump's famous mugshot tattooed on his leg.

Bandman Kevo, whose real name is Kevin Ford, shared footage of himself getting Trump's mugshot along with the phrase 'Make America Great Again' inked on his body on Instagram on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old rapper had the work done by artist Gabriel Gonzalez at a studio in Hollywood, Florida, before uploading pictures and videos of it to his social media.

Ford captioned his post: 'Make America Great Again or Sleepy Joe' and another video shows him repeating the MAGA mantra to the camera.

It is the latest example of Trump mania that is sweeping the country after the former President made history by becoming the first to pose for a mugshot.

Bandman Kevo, pictured here, had the face of the former President with the slogan 'Make America Great Again' tattooed on his thigh

The 35-year-old rapper had the work done by artist Gabriel Gonzalez at a studio in Hollywood, Florida, before uploading pictures and videos of it to his social media

Donald Trump has made history by becoming the first former president to pose for a mugshot after his arrest for trying to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia

Since then, his own campaign team has started selling merchandise with his scowl plastered over it.

His website is currently selling T-shirts, beverage coolers, mugs and bumper stickers all with the photo captioned 'NEVER SURRENDER.'

Independent creators have also been attempting to cash in by selling their own merch both in favor and against the former President.

The mugshot has been printed on hats, t-shirts, mugs by opponents and supporters alike.

In Atlanta, visual artist Chris Veal, also known as Caveal, painted a mural of Trump with a bubble box reading 'M.A.G.A. My ass got arrested.'

On social media, supporters have been gleefully sharing images of themselves wearing t-shirts with the mugshot of the former President.

A bakery in Fulton County, Georgia, even decorated cookies with the mugshot of the former President, which owner Canita Allen said sold out fast.

Chris Veal painted the mural, seen here, shortly after the mugshot of the former President was released

Trump supporters have been sharing images of themselves wearing t-shirts with the mugshot of the former President

A tray of cookies decorated with former President Donald Trump's Fulton County mug shot are shown at I Canita Cake bakery

T-shirts and hats with an image depicting the mugshot of former President Donald Trump are pictured at the Y-Que printing store in Los Angeles, California, U.S., August 25

Store owner Bill Wyatt screen prints a t-shirt with an image depicting the mugshot of former U.S. President Donald Trump at the Y-Que printing store

Due to the high demand, the bakery has now taken to selling the cookies online for one week only.

Trump's team told Fox News that they raised $7.1 million in donations since the taking of the historic mugshot.

The Trump campaign received $4.18 million in funds last Friday, according to the outlet, marking it as the most financially successful day throughout the entire campaign.

The 77-year-old was arrested for the fourth time this year and fingerprinted by authorities at the Fulton County jail in Atlanta last Thursday.

Trump's height of 6ft 3in (190.5cm) and weight of 215lbs (97.5kg) were pre-recorded and entered on the booking forms and, as part of the process, he was given a prisoner identification number: P01135809.

Trucker hats with an image depicting the mug shot of former President Donald Trump

Both supporters and opponents of Trump have taken the chance to point score with merchandise showing the mugshot

He was then released on payment of 10 percent of his $200,000 bail, having spent just 20 minutes inside the facility.

Donald Trump remains miles ahead of his Republican counterparts, a new national poll shows - despite four arrests, a historic mugshot, and not attending this week's GOP debate where many of his rivals had a strong showing.

Organized by InsiderAdvantage, the survey of likely Republican voters showed the former president, despite his controversies, has a full 27 percent lead over his closest second in Ron DeSantis, and 34 percent over South Carolina's Nikki Haley.

Next was the man many thought won the noticeably Trump-less debate, biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, who recently beat out DeSantis as the perceived winner in a poll organized by DailyMail.com. Here, he only scored fourth, with 7 percent.
A former top Russian soldier has suggested dropping a nuclear bomb in southern Ukraine to eradicate any gains made by Kyiv's forces in the region.

Andrey Gurulev, a retired lieutenant general who is now an MP in the State Duma, Russia's lower parliament, says Robotyne, a village recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces, would be 'perfect' for the use of a devastating nuclear weapon.

Robotyne was successfully captured on Monday as part of a major counter-offensive being conducted against Putin's forces as Ukraine pushes towards the Sea of Azov.

Kyiv troops are thought to be heading south to cut off Russia's 'land bridge' in the region that connects Ukraine to Russia via occupied Crimea.

But Gurulev, speaking on pro-Putin talk show Solovyov Live, has suggested using a nuclear weapon on Robotyne while Ukrainian troops are gathered there ahead of the next big push.

Andrey Gurulev, a former Russian lieutenant general, said the use of a tactical nuclear weapon in southern Ukraine would be 'perfect'

Ukrainian armed forces have captured the village of Robotyne in the southern Zaporizhzhia region - considered a key victory in their push south towards Crimea

The Ukrainian counter-offensive has seen Kyiv forces push back against Russian occupiers in the Zaporizhzhia region. The end goal is believed to be the Sea of Azov - and the occupation of the 'land bridge' linking Crimea to Ukraine

A Ukrainian flag is planted in an unknown location in this image from a video released by Ukraine's ministry of defence

READ MORE: Ukraine's troops pick off Putin's soldiers one-by-one in brutal close-quarters combat footage as Kyiv's counter-offensive makes more gains into Russia's Zaporizhzhia defences Ukraine's forces have pushed deeper into Russian defensive lines in the country's south, as footage emerged of intense close-quarters combat between Kyiv and Moscow troops (pictured) Advertisement

He told fawning Putin supporter Vladimir Solovyov, in remarks reported by the Telegraph: 'The village of Rabotino is an ideal place for the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

'They [Ukrainians] have all gathered there in one place... It's just perfect.'

Following the successful recapture of Robotyne on Monday, Ukraine said on Tuesday that its troops had made further progress in Verbove, seven miles east.

Military spokesman Andriy Kovalyov said Ukrainian forces were edging further in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow claims is part of Russia.

'Ukrainian forces had successes in the direction of Novodanylivka to Verbove,' he told state media on Tuesday, naming two hamlets in the war-battered region.

He added that the troops were holding captured territory and attacking Russian artillery.

Despite the successes, ordinary Ukrainians continue to be caught in the crossfire of Putin's obsessive campaign to reclaim the country for Russia.

Oleksander Prokudin, governor of southern Kherson region in Ukraine, said three people were killed by explosions in fields caused by mines and other devices left behind by Russian troops who abandoned much of the region last November.

Russian shelling also killed a 45-year-old civilian man in the northeast town of Kupiansk, local officials said, as Moscow's forces try to advance in the area.

In the nearby Russian-controlled town of Gorlivka, its Moscow-aligned mayor said Ukrainian shelling had killed three civilians.

Mayor Ivan Prikhodko described the fatal shelling on a milk production facility as 'horrifying'.

Mandatory evacuations have been carried out in several villages close to the front lines in the south to order protect children.

Ukrainian troops firing several small rockets towards Russian troops on the Zaporizhzhia frontline earlier this month

Russian shelling - and its abandoned minefields - are continuing to hurt and kill ordinary Ukrainians. This house was destroyed in a Russian missile attack on August 27

A tank rolls through the countryside near Robotyne on August 25, days before Ukraine announced that it had seized the village back from Russian control

Yuri Malashko, head of the region's military administration, said: 'There are 54 children and 67 accompanying family members. That is 121 people that need to be evacuated.'

'There are on average of 90 to 120 attacks per day, and these are the settlements that are constantly under fire.'

Ukrainian troops have also been trying to surround the eastern town of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russian forces in May.

The Russian-installed head of the Donetsk region, where Bakhmut is located, on Tuesday played down the Ukrainian push, after Kyiv claimed successes.

'The flanks are being held. The situation there is already stabilising,' Denis Pushilin told Russian state media.

The use of nuclear weapons in warfare has only ever happened twice in history - when bombs Fat Man and Little Boy were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 in a move that brought about the end of the Second World War.

Ukraine, however, continues to contend with nuclear fallout of a different kind.

The Chernobyl nuclear power station sits at the centre of a 30km (18.6mi) 'exclusion zone' following the meltdown of the plant in 1986, which remains all but abandoned.

It is likely to be thousands of years until the levels of radioactivity are low enough for the area to be liveable again.
The body of a missing Virginia woman has been found after she disappeared and her mom received an odd text that 'didn't sound like her' - leading police to arrest her husband for murder.

Avriel Hooks, 20, was last seen at her home in Lynchburg on August 22 around 8pm - triggering a desperate multi-force search for her. The mother-of-one's deceased body was found in a wooded area off of a main road seven days later.

Michael L. Perry III, her 21-year-old husband, has now been arrested for second-degree murder and unlawful disposal of a dead body.

He's being held in Blue Ridge Regional Jail without bond.

Avriel's mother Ashely Pittman previously told investigators she received a text from her around 6am the morning after she was last seen - but Pittman didn't think her daughter sent it.

Avriel Hooks, 20, was last seen at her home in Lynchburg on August 22 around 8pm - triggering a desperate multi-force search for her. The mother-of-one's deceased body was found in a wooded area off of a main road seven days later

Michael L. Perry III, Avriel Hooks' 21-year-old husband, has now been arrested for second-degree murder and unlawful disposal of a dead body

The text said she wanted some 'me time' and that she was at a friend's house. It rung alarm bells for the family, who said this was not Hooks' way of writing or speaking.

Hooks also had a five-month-old son, and would never willingly leave him alone, according to her parents.

Her mom went to her house to check on her on August 23, and she found the door was unlocked and the lights were on. The 20-year-old was nowhere to be seen.

Avriel's sister Lydia Page told WSET that the 20-year-old loved being a mom: 'She would never let that baby out of her sight at all.

'She would hold that baby, she held that baby constantly. He had the stuff he needed, that's all that mattered to her. She could care less about herself.'

The woman's body was found on Tuesday, one week after her disappearance, in a wooded area off US 60 Lexington Turnpike in Amherst, police said.

The Lynchburg Police Department, Amherst County Sheriffs Office, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations worked together to find Hooks.

Police said in an update on Tuesday night: 'Your Lynchburg Police Department (LPD) arrested Michael L. Perry III (21) of Lynchburg, after he was detained earlier today in connection with the murder of Avriel Hooks.

The mother had a five-month-old son. Her body was found on Tuesday

Hooks also had a five-month-old son, and would never willingly leave him alone, according to her parents

An image handed out by police when the woman was reported missing

The Lynchburg Police Department, Amherst County Sheriffs Office, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations worked together to find Hooks

Search parties were set up to help find the mother-of-one

'LPD Detectives worked tirelessly over the past week, utilizing all available investigative resources and partnered with Hooks family, our community, local, state, and federal partners with hopes of locating Hooks safely.

'Following the extensive search earlier today in Amherst County in partnership with the Amherst County Sheriffs Office (ACSO), a body was located in a wooded area off U.S. 60 (Lexington Turnpike), Amherst, VA.

'Michael L. Perry III was transported to the Blue Ridge Regional Jail where he is being held without bond on the following charges:

'Murder in the 2nd Degree and Unlawful Disposal of a Dead Body.

'Our thoughts are with the family of Avriel Hooks during this difficult time.

'Your Lynchburg Police Department would like to thank Amherst County Sheriffs Office, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations for their assistance in this case.'
Nearly a dozen people were hospitalized after a Delta Airlines plane hit serious turbulence on a trip to Atlanta, officials said.

The Airbus A350 took off from Italys Milan Malpensa airport early Tuesday morning with 151 passengers and 14 crewmembers onboard, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It was about 40 miles northeast of its destination at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when travel conditions took a turn for the chaotic.

Despite the turbulence, the Delta flight eventually landed safely at the Georgia airport around 7 p.m., though hours behind schedule. Upon arrival, 11 people were taken to the hospital, among them both passengers and members of the crew, a spokesperson for the airline said.

It was not immediately clear how many of each were hurt nor how severe any of the injuries were. The Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate.

Delta Care Team members are mobilizing to connect with customers on Delta Flight 175 that experienced severe turbulence, a Delta spokesperson told CNN.

Our priority is taking care of our customers and crew who sustained injuries, it added. We are grateful for the first responders who met the aircraft to provide medical attention and who are transporting the injured to the hospital.

The airline said Delta agents were also providing food, lodging and re-booking for the uninjured customers.

It marked the latest turbulence incident in recent months. On March 3, a passenger died after a Bombardier CL30 jet flying from Dillant-Hopkins Airport in New Hampshire to Leesburg Executive Airport in Virginia encountered severe turbulence. And last month, a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu to Sydney hit severe turbulence leaving seven injured.

With News Wire Services
Ernie Dingo has seemingly hit out at Indigenous Australians planning on voting No in the upcoming Voice to Parliament referendum.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Wednesday the referendum will be held on October 14.

Dingo, an Indigenous actor and TV personality best known for hosting The Great Outdoors, said the money put towards the No campaign could've been used to close the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous Australians in health and life expectancy.

'It's funny how certain mobs pour biggest mob of money and use those 2 to say 'no' They could have closed the gap with all that money,' he tweeted on Wednesday.

'Just goes to show that greed, hate & fear is far more important than reconciliation, understanding & togetherness.'

Ernie Dingo has seemingly hit out at Indigenous Australians planning on voting No in the upcoming Voice to Parliament referendum

Dingo shared his thoughts on the Voice to his social media accounts

His tweet appears to be directed at high profile Indigenous Australians who have campaigned for the country to vote No.

Warren Mundine and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price have been leading the No campaign, and claim the Voice would divide Australia if made a permanent feature of the Constitution.

One Australian commented on Dingo's post saying they would be voting No, as they believed there was enough Indigenous representation in parliament already.

'If there was so much representation already in Parliament, how come they haven't closed the gap then, how come we have all this negativity?' Dingo responded.

Others said they'd be voting No due to the lack of transparency about what the Voice would mean.

Dingo, a Yes supporter, said all it meant was 'inclusion in the Constibloodytution'.

'They modified the National Anthem and no one got this upset,' he said.

Wednesday's referendum date announcement will spark six weeks of intense campaigning from the Yes and No camps.

Mr Albanese guaranteed a Voice would save money in the long run by streamlining services and directing help exactly where it is needed in the community.

'My fellow Australians, what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want for their children is what you want for yours,' Mr Albanese said.

'Staying healthy, doing well at school, finding a job they love, being safe and leading fulfilling lives. That's what they are asking you to say yes to at this referendum. The same opportunity for their children to make a good life for themselves.

'Let's be very clear about the alternative. Voting no means going nowhere. It closes the door on this opportunity to move forward.

'Don't close the door on constitutional recognition don't close the door on the next generation of Indigenous Australians. Vote yes.'
This is the powerful moment a tearful Yes campaigner opened up about recently losing her leg to diabetes - before claiming things might have been different had Indigenous Australians had a Voice to Parliament.

Tanya Hosch, an Indigenous activist and the second woman ever to be appointed an executed position in the AFL, addressed the audience at the official launch of the Yes campaign in Adelaide on Wednesday lunchtime.

Ms Hosch, 53, who was speaking directly after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had revealed the date of the Voice referendum will be October 14, approached the lectern on a wheelchair before slowly standing to rapturous applause from the crowd.

Tanya Hosch (pictured), an Indigenous social activist who was voted South Australian of the year in 2021, stunned the audience by revealing she had only just got out of hospital after losing her lower right leg to diabetes

A visibly emotional Ms Hosch spoke of the 'poisonous legacy of our voicelessness', before reeling off a list of areas, including child development, suicide and disease rates, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Australians lag far behind their non-Indigenous counterparts.

She then stunned the audience by sharing a 'deeply personal and real story about this data'.

'A little over two weeks ago, I had my lower right leg amputated and so having left hospital only yesterday, I'm standing here on one leg today,' said a visibly emotional Ms Hosch.

Once the applause died down, she told the audience she was 'not clapping because I don't know how much longer I can do it'.

Ending months of speculation, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has today confirmed when Aussies will head to polling booths across the nation - October 14

Yes supporters arrive at the venue in Elizabeth, SA ahead of the Prime Minister's speech

'I have type two diabetes and I contracted a related disease that I have battled for three years and across six surgeries trying to avoid the loss of my limb,' she explained.

'I'm not without privilege and access to services, but still the service design let me down.

'I know that if we already had a permanent Voice in place, there would be people around that table that understand my story, my experience and what could make things better and different for me and for people like me.'

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are almost four times more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to have diabetes, according to Diabetes Australia.

Ms Hosch, who was voted South Australian of the year in 2021, argued that the No campaign only offered the status quo which was 'not acceptable'.

Ms Hosch told the audience 'the service design let me down', leading to her losing her limb

We can close gaps and make better policies by giving communities a voice, by doing something simple, by listening to the voices of communities who know the problems they face and the solutions they need,' said Ms Hosch.

'It is common sense that has escaped generations of non-indigenous decision-makers.'

Moments before Ms Hosch took the stage, Mr Albanese ended months of speculation by confirming Aussies will head to polling booths across the nation on October 14.

'On that day, every Australian will have a once in a generation chance to bring our country together... And to change it for the better,' Mr Albanese told the audience.

The event started with a welcome to country from the dry forest clan of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains (pictured)

Uncle Major 'Moogy' Sumner (left) also gave a Welcome to Country before host introduced the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

On October 14 you are not being asked to vote for a political party or a person. Youre being asked to say yes to an idea whose time has come, he continued.

The Prime Minister warned that 'Voting No means going nowhere'.

'It closes the door on this opportunity to move forward. Dont close the door on constitutional recognition dont close the door on the next generation of Indigenous Australians. Vote yes,' Mr Albanese told the crowd, appearing almost tearful.

The question will be: 'A proposed law: to alter the constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?'
The Aboriginal tent embassy has hit out at the Indigenous voice on the day the prime minister announced when Australians will head to the polls for the referendum.

The longest-running Indigenous protest in the world said a constitutionally enshrined advisory body would only become 'another governing body to deal with the Aboriginal issue'.

Nioka Coe, the daughter of one of the four original protesters Billy Craigie, said people at the embassy had not been consulted on their voice.

'Our family connections, our nations, go back over 5000 generations in this country,' she told AAP.

'I don't think we need to be added to a constitution that oppresses our people.

'We've been here for 50 years, we still maintain the site, nobody's coming down here, no politician has come down here.'

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a makeshift embassy setup on the lawn of Old Parliament House in Canberra (pictured)

The Embassy is the longest continuously running Indigenous protest in the world (pictured)

Ms Coe said Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe - also a 'no' campaigner and Aboriginal sovereignty advocate - was the only politician to occasionally visit the site, which sits just over a kilometre from Parliament House in Canberra.

She called the constitutional change a 'tokenistic gesture' that would allow the government to say they were doing something to help Indigenous people.

'No discussion has happened with our people,' she said.

Ms Coe's comments came as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in Adelaide to announce the voice referendum would be held on October 14.

Anthony Albanese (pictured in Sydney last week) will need to convince at least 1.7million undecided voters for the Voice referendum to win, leaked documents have revealed

Representatives from the embassy said Lidia Thorpe (pictured) was the only politician to regularly visit the site

Mr Albanese countered the accusations of a lack of consultation, saying the proposal had come from the Indigenous community.

'An invitation that comes directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves,' he said of the body.

'A proposal that thousands of elders and leaders in communities all over our country have worked on for well over a decade.

'A change supported by more than 80 per cent of Indigenous Australians.'

It was setup in 1972 by (pictured left to right) Billy Craigie, Bert Williams, Michael Anderson and Tony Coorey.

The site has been a focal point for Indigenous protests and issues over the years

The prime minister said consultation would lead to real change.

'That's what they (Indigenous Australians) are asking you to say 'yes' to at this referendum: the same opportunity for their children to make a good life for themselves.'

The Aboriginal tent embassy was set up on January 26, 1972 when Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bertie Williams and Tony Coorey marched on Canberra to protest a land rights announcement by then-prime minister William McMahon.

Armed with a beach umbrella and three signs, the embassy was set up to pay homage to the Indigenous people never having ceded sovereignty.
A major change is coming to Woolworths stores across the country which has divided Aussie shoppers.

The supermarket giant plans to increase its footprint of Metro stores and transform a number of Woolworths outlets into the convenience style format.

The supermarket giant hopes to rebrand two Woolworths stores in Sydney's inner-west, another at Buderim on Queensland's Sunshine Coast and several in Victoria.

Since the first store opened in Melbourne in 2013, the Metro brand has grown to 92 stores across the country to make up nine per cent of Woolworths' footprint in Australia.

Woolworths plans to roll out between five and 15 Metro stores every year.

Woolworths has divided shoppers over plans to rebrand some of its stores to Metro outlets

Woolworths' Metro brand has grown to almost 100 stores in the last decade

They include small CBD stores designed for picking up groceries on the run and neighbourhood stores in suburban areas with a wider range of products for a full shop.

Woolworths has announced plans to convert its Balmain store in Sydney's inner-west into a Metro, along with a second store less than 8km away in Alexandria.

A new range of products tailored to the Balmain community will be launched in October.

READ MORE: Aldi Australia address online shopping rumours Aldi Australia has broken its silence over speculation it will launch an online shopping service Advertisement

The proposed Metro store will include a puppy parking area near the entrance  a designated zone where dog owners can leave their pets while they shop.

The move has sparked a divisive reaction among locals amid fears it will have a detrimental effect on the community, with residents in Sydney's inner-west up in arms.

'Bad move for Balmain,' one resident fumed in a community Facebook group.

Inner West Council mayor Darcy Byrne wrote: 'Any further reduction in a product range at a Woolworths Metro will have a further negative impact on the local Balmain/Rozelle local economy and local businesses.'

Shoppers north of the border in Buderim, in Queensland, raised similar concerns and have vowed to shop elsewhere.

'The older people too are finding it really difficult to find what they are looking for, everything that they normally know where to find has been moved,' one woman told the Courier Mail.

'There's just a few regular items that have just disappeared, so yeah it hasn't been for the better.'

Another customer added: 'The trade off seems to be they will stock more local produce.

'I cook from scratch so if Woolworths don't carry what I need I will definitely go elsewhere.'

While Woolworths remain tight-lipped on the timeframe on when the changes will happen, a spokesman assured the size of Woolworths outlets converting to Metro neighbourhood stores will remain.

'There is no change to the size or footprint of the stores converting to our neighbourhood store and in fact each store will be redesigned over time with a new layout to provide even more space for all the things people love to buy at Woolworths,' a spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

Woolworths has assured shoppers that the size of outlets converting to Metro neighbourhood stores will remain the same

Woolworths plans to rebrand several supermarkets into Metro stores, including Balmain in Sydney's inner-west

'Our neighbourhood stores will still have the same number of products, what is changing is the mix based on what is popular and also what the local community wants.'

The spokesman added shoppers will get more say on what will be stocked in-store as part of the retailer's 'Picked by You' program.

'It allows us to be more thoughtful in what we stock, so for example, in Alexandria we have reduced the number of products in what's called general merchandise, things like batteries, light globes and stationary where sales are lower. We'll still stock them, just not as many varieties,' the spokesman said.

'We've been then able to reuse this shelf space to put in more products that meet our customer needs, generally increasing the range in food. An example in Alexandria is a significant increase in our Asian food range which has been requested by the local customer base.'

Woolworths are yet to reveal which stores in Victoria will be rebranded.

But more changes are likely, regardless of where you shop.

Woolworths' biggest rival has followed suit with its Coles Local format while discount chain Aldi has launched several 'Corner Store' supermarkets in Sydney and Melbourne.
The Texas National Guard has reportedly disbanded its intelligence wing after members used a popular messaging app to spy on migrants, according to an investigation by Military Times and the Texas Tribune.

A Texas Military Department investigation reportedly uncovered the misdeeds - and found at least four officers working on Gov. Abbott's taskforce infiltrated migrants' WhatsApp logs and shared their findings with federal agents.

Wary Homeland Security officials, however, ultimately rejected their efforts, investigators reportedly found - on the basis that the two-year-old task force was not an intelligence agency.

The team, known as Operation Lone Star, served as Abbott's state-sponsored attempt at stopping illegal immigration, and had been presided over by both the Texas Military Department the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The state had already spent $4.5 billion over the past two years stationing the groups at the Southern border, and the disbandment of the intelligence directorate comes at a time where several have slammed Abbot's venture as a financial failure.

The probe and alleged disbandment was first reported Tuesday by The Texas Tribune and The Military Times, who spoke to servicemen who said leaders of the taskforce treated it like the army, and demanded military-level intelligence as a result.

The Texas National Guard has reportedly disbanded its intelligence wing after members used a popular messaging app to spy on migrants

At least four officers working on Gov. Abbott's taskforce infiltrated migrants' WhatsApp logs and shared their findings with federal agents, the state's military watchdog reportedly found

'Everyone [in charge] wanted to pretend it was like Iraq in 2003,' one servicemember told the publications, who cooperated on a piece about the new development.

'They wanted to do Army stuff, even though this is [legally] not Army stuff,' the anonymous official added.

According to the report, at least four intelligence officers faced disciplinary action because of their alleged behavior - which the publications said was actually uncovered nearly a year ago, in September 2022, but is only now being set out.

The Texas Military Department - the state's security watchdog - reportedly told the outlets it concluded its investigation in September 2022, but is still waiting to release its report and 'finalize' discipline until leaders receive it.

While only four were said have faced interim discipline from administrators in the meantime, six in total were claimed to have taken part in the debacle - turning over a list of names of prospective migrants at a February 2022 meeting.

Those names, investigators reportedly said, were compiled after the agents secretly infiltrated invite-only WhatsApp groups to spy on asylum seekers and track their movements.

Lt. Col. David Tyler, the leader the intelligence wing from December 2021 to fall 2022 and one of the four said to have already faced internal discipline, told the outlets that 'all the Generals wanted to know about the next mass migration.'

The pulled team, known as Operation Lone Star, served as Abbott's state-sponsored attempt at stopping illegal immigration, and had been presided over by both the Texas Military Department the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The state had already spent $4.5 billion over the past two years stationing the groups at the Southern border, and the disbandment of the intelligence directorate comes at a time where several have slammed Abbot's venture as a financial failure.

The probe and alleged disbandment was first reported by The Texas Tribune and The Military Times, who spoke to servicemen who said leaders of the taskforce treated it like the army, and demanded military-level intelligence as a result

The report suggests that leaders such as Tyler were pressured to violate intel rules by their seniors, who are said to have regularly demanded military-level intelligence from officers like himself who did not have the authority to provide it.

Maj. Dezi J. Rios, the intelligence wing's deputy director who was also reportedly disciplined, allegedly oversaw the WhatsApp collection operation, while Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric E. Hack led members of its El Paso faction on an alleged operation that shared classified FBI intelligence.

Also named in the report was then-1st Lt. Emmanuel L. Pierre, a military intelligence officer from a subordinate unit who allegedly began the WhatsApp surveillance about a month before Rios arrived at the border it early 2021.

It's unclear what the officers' exact punishment is, or whether other officials are set to face discipline as well. Also unclear is the prospective timeframe for when The Texas Military Department plans to release the potentially damning report.

In the meantime, leaders are said to have already reorganized and disbanded the intelligence unit, folding the remaining personnel into the mission's operations section.

The alleged spying, if true, would violate laws that bar state-run agencies from collecting intelligence themselves, and could leave egg on the face of the mastermind behind the operation - the state's outspoken governor.

The Texas Military Department - the state's security watchdog - reportedly told the outlets it concluded its investigation in 2022, but is still waiting to release its report and 'finalize' discipline. Major General Thomas Suelzer of the department is seen showing a picture of floating barriers after Abbott (not shown) signed several bills to strengthen border security

The alleged spying, if true, would violate laws that bar state-run agencies from collecting intelligence themselves, and could leave egg on the face of the mastermind behind the operation - the state's outspoken governor

Operation Lone Star was launched by Abbott in 2021, who at the time billed it as a necessity to battle 'this unparalleled catastrophe caused by President (Joe) Biden.'

Since its launch, there's been no evidence of a significant slowdown in illegal crossings, despite expensive measures like the installation of razor wire, empty shipping containers on the north side of the Rio Grande and recently deployed a 1,000-foot-long string of buoys just south of Eagle Pass.

Meanwhile, as billions of taxpayer dollars continue to be funneled into the controversial program, those at the helm have repeatedly found themselves embroiled in controversy.

Recently, claims surfaced from guardsman working for the task force that they were being ordered to push crossing migrants back into the notoriously tumultuous Rio Grande, and to deny water to those who made it across.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador recently slammed those alleged orders as inhumane.

'We called the shift officer in command, and we were given orders to push the people back into the water to go to Mexico,' a whistleblower told the Tribune.

'We decided that this was not the correct thing to do, with the very real potential of exhausted people drowning.'

At the moment, the operation is also facing a Department of Justice probe for possibly violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and one of its frontline officers is facing charges for selling pieces of protective gear he was issued for the initiative.

Slamming it as a financial failure and threat to the lives of migrants, a coalition of activist renewed their demands for Abbott to end the operation as recently as Tuesday, congregating at a section of the border by Eagle Pass to do so.

'It's wasted money,' said Juanita Martinez, a member of the board of directors of the Eagle Pass Border Coalition.

'What could they spend the money on besides this political stunt that Abbott is carrying out here?'

She continued: 'Eagle Pass is a beautiful town. We are not under attack by immigrants, we are not in danger. We are fine. We want Abbott out of here. We want the concertina wire to be gone.'

Abbott's office, meanwhile, has yet to issue a statement on the contents of the Tribune's and Time's joint report. DailyMail.com has reached out to the Texas National Guard for comment.
A single mum has died after she was allegedly hit by a truck while teaching her 17-year-old son to drive.

Leonia Picone, 55, was in her Ford Mondeo on Cowpasture Road North in Wetherill Park, in Sydney's west, with her son, who was on his L-plates, at about 6.25am on Wednesday.

They were just metres from his workplace at Smithfield-Wetherill Park Industrial Estate, when the truck allegedly bumped her vehicle multiple times.

She got out of the car to knock on the truck driver's window to ask him to stop, and called emergency workers to report the minor collision.

Leonia Picone, 55, was teaching her son to drive on Wednesday when she died

Emergency workers tried to save Ms Picone's life, but her injuries were too severe (car pictured)

While police were on their way, the truck allegedly moved forward and hit her.

Paramedics tried to save the mother's life, but she could not be revived.

Her son was treated at the scene for shock, but was otherwise uninjured.

Later on Wednesday, Ms Picone's family gathered at the scene to pay tribute.

Her sister Ronelle Cameron was too upset to comment, but her brother-in-law Kevin Cameron described her as a 'good mother' who was caring for her parents, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The truck driver, 51, who parked 150m down the road from the scene, was taken to hospital for mandatory testing.

Friends and family went to the scene on Wednesday to pay tribute to the single mum (pictured)

The truck (pictured) was parked about 150m from where the alleged accident took place

No charges have been laid.

A crime scene has been established which will be examined by specialist officers from the Crash Investigation Unit.

A report will be prepared for the information of the Coroner.

Police are calling for any witnesses to supply dashcam footage or call the Crash Investigation Unit or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
He is accused of acting inappropriately with students

A teacher who died after child safety concerns were levelled against him was accepted in a prestigious teaching program just months before his death.

Melbourne Girls' Grammar School's Head of Learning Enhancement, David Simpson, died on August 18 following accusations he inappropriately touched a child, held 'closed door meetings' with young girls and sent an obscene photo to a student.

On Wednesday it was revealed the school's principal, Dr Toni Meath, nominated Simpson to be part of the teacher excellence program at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and School Leadership.

The academy is run by the Victorian Department of Education, which confirmed Simpson's participation to the Herald Sun.

It's understood he was accepted on the basis of a written application, interview and school endorsement.

Melbourne Girls Grammar School's Head of Learning Enhancement, David Simpson (above), is accused of acting inappropriately with his students

Sources confirmed Dr Meath, who is also a chair at the academy, nominated Simpson for the program earlier this year.

It's believed the $40,000-a-year school received its first complaint about Simpson in February when he was accused of inappropriately touching a student.

Throughout June and July, Simpson is alleged to have held 'closed door meetings and [had] multiple girls in his office all the time'.

The disgraced teacher was also allegedly known for 'massaging' female students and frequently talking about orgasms.

One fed-up student claimed on Reddit they weren't shocked when allegations against Simpson arose.

'They didn't mention that he was being inappropriate even though we ALL knew,' she wrote.

'Our parents were worried about us but didn't know why we were all not that sad.

'Then this week the school got honest, the only reason they got honest was because of the media not because of the truth.

'We are all angry as we complained about him and we know other teachers did too, yet the school ignored all of that. They waited until it got this bad.'

Simpson died on August 18 and was part of the teacher excellence program at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and School Leadership (pictured, Melbourne Girls Grammar School)

Another student wrote: 'You think the amount the parents pay, the teachers would listen to the students first after MULTIPLE GIRLS complained about him.'

Some students claimed they left the school over concerns for their safety.

'I went to this school as well and left last year and all i can say is... best decision I ever made,' a girl stated.

'The school never protects their students or teachers.'

A previous statement from the school denied Dr Meath's position was at risk.

'We reiterate that the School followed its Child Safety and Mandatory Reporting Procedures, including notifying Victoria Police, and our priority remains on supporting students, staff, and families,' a school statement said.

Melbourne Girls Grammar School also said it 'followed its child safety and mandatory reporting procedures, including notifying Victoria Police'.

It's understood Simpson (above) was nominated for the program by principal Dr Toni Meath, it is not known if she knew about the accusations against him when she recommended him

Police inquiries into Simpson's alleged offences are continuing.

Dr Meath won an Nganakarrawa Australian Council of Educational Leaders national award for educational leadership excellence earlier this year and holds several esteemed positions in Victoria's education system.

She joined Melbourne Girls Grammar School in 2019, is on the board of Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and is the director of the Alliance of Girls Schools Australasia.

For confidential 24-hour support in Australia call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
A nurse who refused first aid to an unresponsive baby inside one of Australia's toughest female prisons has been exonerated over the infant's death.

Prison nurse Georgina Melody, a New Zealand national new to Melbourne, had refused 'Baby A' first aid upon finding her unresponsive within a dedicated unit within Victoria's Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in 2018.

Firefighters were instead forced to give CPR to the baby after finding a faint pulse on arriving at the scene.

Prison nurse Georgina Melody left CPR on a newborn baby to firefighters because she deemed it was already dead

Prison nurse Georgina Melody covers her face after leaving the Victorian Coroners Court last year

On Wednesday, Coroner John Olle ruled Ms Melody did not contribute to Baby As death through either her acts 'or omissions'.

'I make no criticism of her in what were very stressful and traumatic circumstances to all present,' he said.

Baby A was just 12 days old when she died inside the jail's dedicated 'Mothers and Children Units' in August 2018.

In handing down his recommendations, the coroner found no individual was responsible for Baby A's death.

Instead, Judge Olle suggested better communication between the doctors who discharged Baby A to the prison and health authorities might have avoided the tragedy.

Baby A, who had been born to her drug addled mother while in jail, had been even more vulnerable due to her addiction to methadone from within the womb.

The court heard doctors had no idea inmates were locked-up at night without access to a dedicated midwife.

'I have not criticised (the doctor's) clinical judgement that Baby A, though vulnerable, was medically well for discharge on 17 August,' Judge Olle said.

'However, (the doctor) did not have the critical information relating to the circumstances into which Baby A would be discharged.'

Judge Olle recommended the Victorian Department of Health implement a multi-disciplinary approach to discharge infants whereby if any healthcare practitioner held concerns about the discharge of a baby, having particular regard to the environment into which they would be discharged, the baby is not to be discharged.

MFB firefighters (stock image) were forced to perform CPR on Baby A after a prison nurse refused to help her. They found the newborn still had a pulse

A bird's eye view of Melbourne's notorious Dame Phyllis Frost Centre. It houses some of Australia's worst female prisoners

The practice is already well established in other states, such as New South Wales.

Judge Olle was also critical of the way women and babies are held within Dame Phyllis Frost.

'Children who reside in a correctional facility with their parent or guardian ought to have improved access to healthcare,' he said.

'I recommend that (the prison) consider having an attending neonatologist or midwife on-site every day whenever they have infants residing there.'

Barrister Julie Munster, who acted for Baby A's mother during last year's inquest, said while the child's mother accepted Ms Melody did not contribute to her baby's death, she was upset at how she had treated her.

'We've made the comment that it is unfortunate that nurse Melody did not provide information or assistance to Baby A's mother or to emergency services personnel,' she said during the inquest.

Prison guard Amir Gabalawi told the coronial inquest he saw Ms Melody use a stethoscope to check for Baby A's pulse before quickly announcing she could not be saved.

The inquest came almost three years after an investigation by Daily Mail Australia exposed the tragedy - which was denied at the time by Corrections Victoria.

'In my view, the nurse had already determined that the child was deceased prior to paramedics attending and I did not witness any first aid assistance being administered,' Mr Gabalawi told the inquest.

'As the nurse was checking the baby, it seemed to me that she was shocked by the situation herself.'

In making her closing submissions to the inquest, Ms Munster said it was clear those who witnessed Ms Melody's behaviour were distressed by it.

Georgina Melody (centre) left the inquest surrounded by supporters, one of whom hurled abuse at a Daily Mail Australia photographer

'Witnesses opined that they found the events that day and nurse Melody's lack of action or information distressing, which are consistent with the use of the adjective "unfortunate",' Ms Muster said.

'We note that there has been no challenge to that evidence of distress or concern.'

Ms Melody had been provided a certificate of indemnity to appear at the inquest by Judge Olle after she objected to voluntarily fronting it on the grounds she could face disciplinary or civil action.

The court heard an expert doctor found nurse Melody's opinion at the time 'ought be respected'.

'One has to respect the nurse's judgement that the baby had been dead for long enough that CPR wouldn't be helpful,' the doctor told the inquest.

Prison guards had called a 'code black' after receiving frantic calls from another inmate that Baby A was unresponsive.

Despite the inquest being told of the frantic situation within the mother's unit, Ms Melody claimed she was unaware she had been on her way to help a newborn until the very moment she saw Baby A's mother cradling her child's limp body.

'It wasn't immediately drawn to my attention who was the casualty,' she told the inquest last year.

Ms Melody claimed the situation in the unit did not even appear to be an emergency.

'When I walked in I didn't get a sense of emergency. I didn't hear any hysteria or panic,' she said.

Ms Melody further claimed no-one else within the unit was crying upon her arrival, nor did anyone advise her a baby was not breathing or needed help.

Dame Phyllis Frost Centre can hold 604 inmates and contains a dedicated unit for mothers and their children, from babies up to to pre-schoolers

Women live together in large groups inside the women's prison

The inquest heard an inmate referred to as 'Alice' claimed the prison nurse refused to even touch Baby A.

'The nurse just said "Oh I'm sorry". That was it... she did not touch the baby,' Alice said.

Alice had been the first inmate to hear Baby A's mother scream for help about 5.30am.

'Baby's not breathing,' the desperate mum shouted.

While other mother's caged within the unit flew into a panic, Alice tried desperately to get prison guards to open the door and provide help.

'They kept hanging up on me,' Alice said. 'They said they'd called a code and said we'd just have to wait... we didn't know what to do.'

Alice said when prison staff became frustrated with her repeated calls they cut the intercom to the room.

The court heard the prison guards stood by and watched as another inmate, referred to as 'Donna', performed CPR on the baby.

'They said they needed permission to open up,' Alice said.

When prison staff finally entered the unit, Alice claimed they treated the hysterical mother with cold disregard.

'There was no comforting,' she said. 'Someone asked her where the baby had been sleeping.'

Babies are made to wait for treatment inside Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne.

Ms Melody denied accusations she failed to even touch Baby A or that she immediately apologised to her mother.

The nurse claimed she carried out an examination on the baby and quickly determined she was dead.

The nurse told Ms Munster she was not at all distressed by the incident.

'Not necessarily. No,' she said. 'No. It was surprising.'

Ms Melody claimed Baby A's mother had been 'reluctant' to cooperate with her upon arriving at the unit.

'She was reluctant when I spoke to her in the first instance. She was quiet,' she said.

Ms Munster told Ms Melody her client had told her Baby A was not breathing.

'She was begging you to help her baby,' Ms Munster said.

'No,' Ms Melody replied.

Ms Munster accused the nurse of being 'uncompassionate and unkind' for failing to tell Baby A's mother the results of the assessment she had made that saw her refuse her baby CPR.

'No. I don't accept that,' she said. 'I am a kind person.'
A man was almost shot in the face after another person holding a gun swung a punch at him during a brawl outside a West Virginia University frat house.

The tense ordeal was caught on camera outside what is believed to be an off-campus property housing Lambda Chi Alpha students on Beverly Avenue.

One of the people standing near the person filming the terrifying incident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning, can be heard shouting: 'Not with the gun! Not with the gun!'

Another person watching the situation unfold shouts: 'Dude, dude, come on, it's not worth it.'

A man was almost shot in the face after another person holding a gun swung a punch at him outside a West Virginia University frat house

The gunman threw a punch at the man, shooting the bullet in the midst. According to the video, it seems as if the bullet is just inches away from the man's face. It's unclear if it was fired intentionally or not during the fight

Shouting in the direction of the three people involved in the altercation, another person says: 'Why you got a gun right now, yo.'

The man, holding the gun in his right hand, then squares up and tells the person he's fighting with: 'I'm going to f**k y'all up.'

He then uppercuts his opponent with his fist, but in the midst he also lets off a single gunshot which sparks into the air.

According to the video, it seems as if the bullet is just inches away from the man's face. It's unclear if it was fired intentionally or not during the fight.

Immediately, the bystanders watching from the adjacent porch shout 'get down' as they duck and hide - not knowing if more gunfire is on its way.

People scream in the background 'what the f**k' and 'call the cops' repeatedly.

Turning back to the scene with the three individuals on the grass, the gunman is seen hovering over the man he shot at on the ground and hammers punches at him.

They roll off one another and continue the physical fight while upright - with the third man desperately trying to break up the brawl and alert the bystanders to call 911.

People scream in the background 'what the f**k' and 'call the cops' repeatedly

They roll off one another and continue the physical fight while upright - with the third man desperately trying to break up the brawl and alert the bystanders to call 911

No one was injured in the early morning shooting - but there were multiple witnesses around at the time. Police were called and arrived at the scene.

According to the Morgantown Police Department, authorities responded to the call in the 400 block of Beverly Ave at around 3:40 am on August 27.

Officers spoke to several witnesses who provided descriptions of the suspect.

According to cops and the footage, a single gunshot was fired. The people involved had been in a physical altercation prior.

The suspect fled from the scene before police arrived on the scene.

When warrants are served, more information will be revealed, cops said.

They confirmed that the suspect who shot the bullet has been identified, but his name was not made public.

The early morning shooting resulted in West Virginia University issuing a Community Notice.
When Malcolm Turnbull was the prime minister, he lambasted the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, saying it went against 'all Australian citizens having equal civic rights'.

Six years later, with a referendum on the issue set for October 14, he's one of the Voice's biggest backers, campaigning for it with Labor's Tanya Plibersek and Allegra Spender, the Teal MP who holds his old eastern Sydney seat of Wentworth.

'A constitutionally enshrined additional representative assembly for which only Indigenous Australians could vote for or serve in is inconsistent with this fundamental principle (of equal rights),' Mr Turnbull said on October 26, 2017.

On Wednesday, Mr Turnbull appeared to change his tune when he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald that he would 'be voting Yes in the referendum'.

'Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is long overdue and has been a bipartisan policy objective for many years. It's time to get this done,' he wrote.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull takes a selfie with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, Wentworth MP Allegra Spender and his wife, Lucy Turnbull

Malcolm Turnbull (pictured left) hand his wife Lucy Turnbull (right) hand out Yes campaign material for the Voice in Kings Cross, Sydney, Wednesday, August 30, 2023

When he was prime minister, Mr Turnbull also thought the Voice did not have 'any realistic prospect of being supported by a majority of Australians'.

Now, having long left politics after being replaced in an internal Liberal Party coup by Scott Morrison in August 2018, Mr Turnbull said 'while the Voice amendment is not entirely consistent with my egalitarian, republican values, nonetheless we are better off supporting it'.

READ MORE: Indigenous Voice to Parliament - What Australians need to know before the October 14 referendum Australians have been warned they could be fined if they refuse to take part in the upcoming Voice referendum. Advertisement

He said in the intervening years, the arguments for a Voice have become 'obvious' to him, that governments and parliaments should consult with and be advised by Indigenous Australians on decisions that affect them.

When he was prime minister and had to appease the conservative wing of the Liberal Party, Mr Turnbull said a Voice to Parliament would 'undermine the universal principles of unity, equality and "one person one vote"'.

He no longer cares what the right wing of his party thinks of him, as they were the ones who replaced him with Scott Morrison five years ago.

Those same people seemed to be the ones he had in mind on Wednesday when he wrote that 'the scares and diversions whipped up over the Voice have been utterly predictable.'

He said if the Voice is passed there are suggestions it could offer advice on defence, and conceded that may well be the case.

'But why would the views of Indigenous Australians on AUKUS carry more weight than anyone else's,' he said.

Mr Turnbull said another scare campaign is building up over calls for a treaty with Indigenous Australians.

He said though the Uluru Statement from the Heart calls for a treaty, 'this is not what Australians are being asked to vote on at the referendum'.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is pictured handing out Yes campaign material for the Voice at Kings Cross Station in Sydney, Wednesday, August 30

Wentworth MP Allegra Spender (pictured) campaigned for the Voice in Sydney on Wednesday with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is also a former member for Wentworth

The former prime minister made it clear that a Voice will not deliver a treaty, though it may make it more achievable in the long run, especially as treaties are already being negotiated at state and territory levels.

Having led the Yes side in Australia's last referendum - the failed 1999 campaign to become a republic - Mr Turnbull has some advice to share over that experience.

'Do not allow perfect to be the enemy of the good,' he said. The Voice delivers recognition and respect to Indigenous Australians in the manner they have sought.

'On October 14, together we can bend the arc of history a little further towards justice by voting YES.'
Travel plans on both sides of the Atlantic were snarled this week as looming Hurricane Idalia prompted airport closures and flight cancellations in the U.S., while computer glitches in the U.K.s air traffic control system stranded thousands of travelers.

Tampa International Airport suspended all its commercial operations one minute into Tuesday as Idalia gathered hurricane force in the Gulf of Mexico and took aim at Florida.

Likewise, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport closed at 3 p.m. Tuesday, roughly two hours before the hurricane was upgraded to a Category 2 storm, with life-threatening surges expected Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

Other airports were monitoring the storm, with several airlines offering travel waivers to passengers booked for some parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Southwest Airlines had canceled 144 flights, while about 460 delays in total were set to hit United, Delta and American Airlines, in addition to more than 200 cancellations, CNN reported. United tacked on additional flights from Orlando and Sarasota to enable people to leave.

In addition, Amtrak canceled trains and altered routes in the state as a safety precaution for customers and employees.

Meanwhile, across the pond, an entirely different sort of chaos was unfolding. On Monday a computer glitch  not a cyberattack, officials emphasized  shut down automated flight-plan processing in the U.K., forcing the task to be done manually, which takes much longer and decreases the number of planes able to fly. The problem was caused by a technical fault at the National Air Traffic Services flight control center, U.K. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said Tuesday.

Britains Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will investigate. In this photo, passengers look at the departures board at Heathrow Airport in London on Aug. 28, 2023.

In all, 790 departures and 785 arrivals, 27% of each, were canceled across all U.K. airports on Monday, a late-summer holiday weekend in Britain. As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, 5% of flights both arriving to and departing the country had been canceled, BBC News reported.

Thousands of travelers were stranded, even after the problem was fixed, and the disruption was forecast to last for days as it rippled through the system. Passengers found themselves spending the night in an airport or shelling out for alternate travel plans.

Britains National Air Traffic Services agency apologized, while Britains Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it will investigate.

I would like to apologize again for our technical failure yesterday, NATS CEO Martin Rolfe said in a statement Tuesday. While we resolved the problem quickly, I am very conscious that the knock-on effects at such a busy time of year are still being felt by many people traveling in and out of the U.K. I would like to reassure everyone that since yesterday afternoon all of our systems have been running normally to support airline and airport operations as they recover from this incident.

With News Wire Services
A disgraced principal who resigned after being caught watching porn in his office has been helping schools and childcare centres hire new staff.

Andrew Barr is currently leading the efforts to find a new deputy principal for Melbourne Girls' Grammar School, among other roles at other schools.

Mr Barr is being employed by the Slade Group, who help in hiring in numerous such as education and technology.

The company's website states Mr Barr's experience include having 'taught and held principal positions at schools in Victoria, the UK and Tasmania'.

Mr Barr was forced to resign from his role as principal at Geelong College after a student snapped a picture of him watching porn on his office computer in 2015.

Disgraced former-principal, Andrew Barr (pictured), has been revealed to be a consultant to hire staff in schools and childcare centres across Melbourne

Melbourne Girls' Grammar School told the Herald Sun they use 'a variety of specialist recruitment firm.'

Mr Barr is also finding personnel to fill in the role of director at Wingate Avenue Children's Co-Operative childcare centre in Melbourne's Ascot Vale.

He is also helping to fill the role of a safety, risk and compliance officer for an unnamed yet 'prominent' school in South Yarra, and a special needs teacher in Lalor.

Despite Mr Barr's controversy, the Slade Group website advertises his numerous achievements during his time in education.

'Andrew understands that high quality educational leaders and staff are crucial for schools, higher educational and other learning institutions and businesses as they aspire towards achieving their vision,' the website reads.

'His knowledge of the needs of independent schools and universities in terms of quality education leaders is considerable.

'Representing the sector, he has worked closely with Government on initiatives in education and spoken at conferences in Australia and overseas.'

Daily Mail Australia contacted the Slade Group and MGGS for comment.

Mr Barr resigned from his role at Geelong College after a student snapped a picture of him watching porn on his office computer in 2015 (pictured)

He has since been found to have been hired through the Slade Group to help Melbourne Girls Grammar School (pictured) find a new deputy principal

Mr Barr spent two years as principal at Geelong College before a student took the image of him at his computer through the glass window of his office.

He resigned from his position following an investigation, which included a search of his computer, after the photograph appeared on Snapchat.

Chairman of the Geelong College council, Dr Hugh Seward, told the Geelong Advertiser at the time the matter was a serious breach of the school's standards, even if the investigation found Mr Barr not to have broken any law.

'The council immediately looked into the matter and when our concerns were confirmed, Andrew Barr tendered his resignation.'

In a statement, Dr Seward thanked Mr Barr for his contribution to the school since he joined the college in 2013.

In the two years since his appointment, Mr Barr has made an enduring contribution to the Colleges educational vision and future planning. The Council is grateful for Mr Barrs commitment and achievement,' he said.
In a heated moment, Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton, 52, and Dem Justin Pearson, 28, appeared to have a physical interaction as they exited

Tennessee lawmakers abruptly ended a special session initially touted to improve safety following a deadly Nashville elementary school shooting, after it descended into chaos when the GOP-dominant House refused to take up gun control measures.

In a particularly heated moment, Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton, 52, and Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson, 28, appeared to have a physical interaction as they exited, where both accused each other of shoving while being adjourned.

The altercation was caught on camera by reporters, and shows Sexton departing as Pearson - who was expelled by the supermajority earlier this year but has since been reappointed - approaches the speaker's stage with a sign calling for gun control.

The two made contact as Sexton stepped to avoid a photographer, sparking a brief scuffle and a chorus of yelling from both lawmakers on the floor and protesters in the gallery as House Republicans quickly filed out the chamber.

The spectacle followed a press conference during which lawmakers rejected a series of measures meant to quell gun violence, authored in the wake of March's Covenant School shooting, which left three students and three staff dead.

The measures were being argued following the deadly attack on March 27, by trans shooter Audrey Hale who opened fire inside the Nashville elementary school she attended as a child, killing six people, before being shot and killed by two officers.

Scroll down for video:

Tennessee lawmakers abruptly ended a special session initially touted to improve safety following a deadly elementary school shooting, after it descended into chaos when the GOP-dominant House refused to take up gun control measures

In a particularly heated moment, Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton, 52, and Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson, 28, appeared to have a physical interaction as they exited, where both accused each other of shoving while being adjourned

The GOP-controlled House subcommittee adopted rules earlier this month banning the public from holding signs in committees - but on Tuesday, many spectators and protesters still brought signs supporting gun control.

Hale fired 152 rounds from two assault rifles and a handgun, murdering Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney, Evelyn Dieckhaus, all 9, and headmistress Dr. Katherine Koonce, 60, substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, and custodian Mike Hill, 61.

Many grieving parents of the children affected by the shooting made their ire known as and after the measures were consecutively shot down.

Eventually, as principles spent most of the time ensnared in political infighting rather than addressing progress on gun safety laws, the call was made to bring an end to the meeting prematurely, after a vote by the Republican-heavy House.

Right before Speaker Sexton pounded the gavel, Representative Jones called for a vote of no confidence on the speaker.

When the speaker adjourned without allowing the vote, chaos erupted - both in the well and in the gallery.

Chants of 'vote him out' followed, as well as the now widely seen dustup between Sexton and Jones.

Meanwhile, other legislative members, staffers and security guards rushed to the front of the floor - many of them traversing outraged protesters along the way.

Jones, who had been holding a sign on the other side of Pearson as Sexton walked by, later grabbed the speaker's gavel and banged it, yelling, 'This house is out of order' - before slamming Sexton as a 'white supremacist' online.

The spectacle followed a press conference during which lawmakers rejected a series of measures meant to quell gun violence, authored in the wake of March's Covenant School shooting, which left three students and three staff dead

The GOP-controlled House subcommittee adopted rules earlier this month banning the public from holding signs in committees - but on Tuesday, many spectators and protesters still brought signs supporting gun control

Many were grieving parents of the children affected by shooting, and made their ire known as and after the measures were consecutively shot down

Eventually, as principles spent most of the time ensnared in political infighting rather than addressing progress on gun safety laws, the call was made to bring an end to the meeting prematurely, after a vote by the Republican-heavy House

Right before Speaker Sexton pounded the gavel, Representative Jones called for a vote of no confidence on the speaker

Eventually, as principles spent most of the time ensnared in political infighting rather than addressing progress on gun safety laws, the call was made to bring an end to the meeting prematurely, after a vote by the Republican-heavy House

'White supremacist speaker @CSexton25 violently shoved me today while I held my 'Protect Kids, Not Guns!' sign,' the the 86th district rep, presiding over parts of Memphis, wrote.

'I'm infuriated by his actions but more infuriated by the INACTION of @tnhousegop to pass a SINGLE bill to prevent gun violence. This is how democracy dies. We must rise!'

Sexton, meanwhile, said a security guard put his hand on his back and that's what knocked him forward into Pearson - who he and others voted to expel this past April for leading a protest from the House floor calling for gun reforms.

To do so, he employed a disciplinary tool little used since the 1800s, seeing both Pearson and fellow Democrat Justin Jones pulled before being unanimously reinstated just a few weeks later.

Notably, the vote was administered as six of the 13 members, including Republicans, were absent.

Then, Sexton, recalled of the chaos on the flor, Pearson 'comes in and pops me,' bumping his shoulder.

Sexton said he did not throw his shoulder into Pearson, as many suggested after seeing the footage.

Ultimately, lawmakers could only agree to pass four bills, which in part encourage but don't require using safe gun storage devices: like the requiring of an annual human trafficking report, an addition the governor's existing order on background checks into state law and increased funding for mental health and K-12 and higher education safety initiatives.

Only a few gun control measures fell within the session's narrow parameters - though those were rejected virtually without debate.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, podium in the House chamber as Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, left, and Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, right, with signs wait to confront him after a special session

The altercation involving Sexton (center) and Pearson (left) was caught on camera by reporters, and shows Sexton departing as Pearson - who was expelled by the supermajority earlier this year but has been reappointed - approaches the speaker's stage with a protest sign

Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, leaves the state Capitol after a special session of the state legislature on public safety was adjourned Tuesday

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, second from left, is seen leaving the House chamber after the altercation - which he later said was not intentional

Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, confronts Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, on the House floor after a special session of the state legislature

Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, left, and Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, hold signs on the House floor after a special session of the state legislature on public safety adjourned Tuesday

After their brief nixing by Sexton earlier in the year, both Pearson and Jones, also 28, have remained critical of the speaker's leadership.

Pearson told reporters that it was an 'act of aggression, an act of violence against me' by Sexton, saying he was not being aggressive with Sexton or pushing him.

Republican leaders countered that Pearson and others took attention away from the special session's purpose and lacked maturity.

Tuesday's tense standoff marked the latest turn in a session Republican Gov. Bill Lee initially organized in response to a shooter opening fire at The Covenant School in Nashville, killing three young children and three adults.

Lee had hoped to convince fellow Republicans to pass legislation to limit dangerous people from accessing guns , but the proposal never gained enough support. Some Republicans said they didn't think a session was even needed and tried to adjourn from the outset last Monday.

Lee attempted to tout the session as a positive step for hesitant lawmakers.

'We made progress in public safety, and we elevated a conversation about public safety that will continue into the future,' Lee told reporters. 'And thats important.'

As the special session neared, Lee largely stopped mentioning his 'extreme risk protection order' proposal and instead stressed that lawmakers would work to improve public safety and mental health services.

Yet in little more than a week, lawmakers advanced just a few bills and struggled to break through an icy stalemate between the House and Senate. Even as Lee worked with warring legislative leaders, both sides took turns blaming others for the inaction.

Further adding to public outrage: Republican leaders limited public access to the Capitol building and increased the presence of law enforcement.

In the House, Republicans banned the public from holding signs during floor and committee proceedings, but a Tennessee judge has since blocked that rule from being implemented.

In one hearing, a House subcommittee chairman had troopers kick the public out of the room after deeming the crowd too unruly. That included grieving parents closely connected to the school shooting, who cried after the decision.

Sexton also silenced Rep. Jones for the remainder of Monday's session after ruling his comments were out of order under new stricter decorum rules.

Covenant School parent Nick Hansen stands in the Senate gallery wearing a scarf with the names of victims of the March 27, school shoot during the special session of the state legislature on public safety

Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, left, and Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, right, hug Covenant School parent Sarah Shoop Neumann outside the House chamber after Republicans voted to end it prematurely

Covenant School parent Abby McLean leans against a wall outside the House chamber after the meeting was adjourned

Covenant School parent Mary Joyce is overcome with emotion as she speaks outside the House chamber Tuesday

Lawmakers wound up agreeing on minor changes to existing state programs. These add more money to advertise a state program offering free gun safes and codify the governor's executive order that set a 72-hour period for reporting new criminal activity to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Lawmakers also approved $30 million for higher education safety grants for public and private colleges and universities; $50 million for grants to community mental health agencies; $12.1 million for retention bonuses for behavioral health state employees; $10 million more for K-12 school safety grants; $4 million for the mental health safety net; and $3 million for behavioral health scholarships.

Republican Senate Speaker Randy McNally told reporters the session was a success. However, he he said he believed more work would be done when lawmakers return for their regular session in January.

House Majority Leader William Lamberth conceded that public safety had only improved a 'little bit but not enough' because of the session, pointing to the wide variety of bills passed by the House, but not the Senate.

'There's much more work that we have to do,' he told reporters.

After lawmakers adjourned, Pearson and other Democratic lawmakers consoled a sobbing Sarah Shoop Neumann, a member of a group of Covenant School parents who had pushed for gun control and other changes for months. Pearson also led a prayer with Neumann and other Covenant parents.

'It's difficult to find the words to say for such a time as this, that we held a special session following the extraordinary tragedy of a mass shooting that took place at The Covenant School, and yet we took no meaningful action,' said Neumann, whose son attends the Nashville school and survived the March shooting.

Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, holds a sign on the House floor after a special session of the state legislature on public safety adjourned Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Covenant School parents leave the state Capitol after a special session of the state legislature on public safety adjourned Tuesday

Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, speaks on the Senate floor during a special session of the state legislature on public safety Tuesday

Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, speaks from the House floor during a special session of the state legislature on public safety

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, stands in the dais of the House chamber during the special session

Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, raises his hand to be recognized to speak on the House floor Tuesday

Previously he House subcommittee adopted rules banning the public from holding signs in committees, but some of the spectators and protesters still brought signs supporting gun control

It comes months after transgender shooter Audrey Hale, 28, killed six people , including three nine-year-olds, at Nashville's The Covenant School

At a hearing last week, Shoop Neumann, said she was supposed to testify at the session before she was removed.

'The presence of firearms in schools is something I cannot speak against more strongly,' as reported by The Tennessean.

'Teachers in this state already lack support in the state in terms of funding, staffing and being overwhelmed. And you want to arm them?' she added.

She claimed having guns on campus during the school shooting would have made the tragedy even worse.

While the bill passed the House, it faces a tougher battle passing in the Senate.

The emotional and chaotic scene sparked widespread outrage from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
A family of four have been found dead in a Texas home in what investigators say is an apparent murder-suicide, after they lost a toddler just a few weeks ago.

Police had been called to Aberdeen Drive in Allen, Texas, on Monday morning in response to a welfare check.

A resident had called officers after they'd been locked out of the home for about two hours and couldn't get anyone to come to the door.

After police eventually made their way inside the property, they found the bodies of father Farman Sherwani, mother Layla Sherwani, 12-year-old son Shaheen Sherwani and 2-year-old son Mateen Sherwani.

Police also confirmed the family lost their 4-year-old daughter Lyian Sherwani to a drowning earlier this month.

Police had been called to the family property on Aberdeen Drive in Allen, Texas, on Monday morning in response to a welfare check

Imam Abdul Rahman Bashir, the religious director for the Islamic Association of Allen, pictured here, said the news had shattered the community

While the specifics of that incident are not clear, police say the drowning was a factor in Monday's murder-suicide.

The Islamic Association of Allen confirmed that the family members were part of the local Muslim community.

Imam Abdul Rahman Bashir, the religious director for the Islamic Association of Allen, told NBC: 'Waking up to the news of losing a four member family all of a sudden is not something that anyone can be prepared for, family members or let alone anyone in the community, so it's been a very heavy day for everyone in the community'

Bashir says the family was already going through a rough situation with the drowning of their daughter.

He continued: 'In this type of situation, it's not easy for any family. In spite of having many family members here, they were really broken.'

Neighbor Jacqueline Soto told NBC: 'It was just really sad and hard and all of us felt for the family as we were watching them mourn in the front yard.'

In a letter issued by Susanne Miller, the Principal of nearby Olson Elementary, she said: 'Today I was notified of the unexpected death of a 5th grade Olson Elementary Student.

Neighbor Jacqueline Soto, pictured here, said she had watched the family mourn their losses in their front yard

Bashir says the family was already going through a rough situation with the drowning of their daughter

'We are all shocked and saddened by this news. I ask that you please keep the family and loved ones in your thoughts over the coming days and months.'

A funeral was held for the family on Tuesday at 5pm, which is customary in Islamic tradition.

In a similar incident just a few years ago, a family of six who belonged to the same mosque were killed in a murder-suicide in Allen.

Allen, with a population of over 111,000 people, is about 25 miles north of Dallas.
The body of a man has been found inside a unit after it burst into flames in Sydney.

More than 30 firefighters were called to a three-storey apartment building on the corner of Abercrombie Street and Ivy Street in Darlington, near Redfern Station, after it caught alight just after 8am on Wednesday.

Ten fire and rescue crews worked to control the blaze which was sparked inside a unit on the third floor.

Firefighters had gone inside the building but were forced to evacuate when part of it collapsed and conditions became too dangerous.

NSW Police Detective Superintendent Rod Hart confirmed in a press conference later in the afternoon that human remains had been found in the unit.

A man aged in his 60s who is a resident of the unit block is unaccounted for. Mr Hart said an autopsy would need to be conducted to identify the remains.

As many as 40 firefighters were called to a multi-level building on Abercrombie Street, in Darlington, in Sydney's CBD after it caught alight just after 8am on Wednesday

Firefighters are seen at the scene of the blaze in Darlington

Two men had lived inside the unit where the body was found, with the second man not home at the time of the fire.

Some 16 people from the building have been evacuated, and it's expected to be a few days before residents can return home.

The power in the building has been switched off and NSW Fire and Rescue is working with the Red Cross to relocate residents and retrieve essential belongings and pets.

No other injuries were reported.

The fire was brought under control just before midday and firefighters were able to re-enter the building before they found the deceased man.

The cause and circumstances surrounding the fire will be investigated, and engineers are being brought in to assess the building's structural integrity.

Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry said it was a 'very intense fire', with more than 20 calls made from the community to emergency services.

'The unit has been destroyed, it has been gutted by the fire,' he told reporters.

Photos captured by Sydneysiders show huge plumes of smoke rising above the building

'Firefighters were starting work into the unit but were forced back by the intense flames, they tried to get in and conduct the search but it was too intense and they were forced out of the building.'

The ceiling started to collapse, prompting firefighters to evacuate. The fire did not spread to others units in the apartment complex.

NSW Police have declared a crime scene.

Road closures around the apartment block are expected to last late into the afternoon.

Anyone with information surrounding the circumstances of the fire is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
From the outside, it looks like a modern public toilet in a well-maintained suburban park. Clean for a communal amenities room, its only defect is a missing lock above the door handle.

But despite appearances, police will allege the toilet in Sydney's south was the sinister site where a local predator horrifically raped a cognitively impaired 14-year-old girl.

Tradesman Billy Smith, 46, allegedly lured the teenager to Pole Depot Park - which is right next to his Penshurst home - around 7.30am on Monday after meeting her online.

Once she arrived, Smith allegedly raped her for an hour inside the lavatory while filming the attack.

Pictured: The toilet block where a teenage girl was allegedly sexually assaulted on Monday

The modern toilet is situated in a lone building towards the back of the gated park

Police will allege Smith lured the girl to the park (pictured) which is right next to his Penshurst unit block

The girl immediately reported the alleged assault to police who launched a manhunt before swiftly arresting Smith at his Nelson Street unit block around 5pm.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday, locals said they were shocked by the arrest of their seemingly 'ordinary' neighbour.

While he was often seen lapping local streets on his pushbike, residents said the bricklayer mostly kept to himself.

'I'm a security guard, so I finish work late. I would see him riding around the streets at 2am, 3am, 5am. He always wore sunglasses and a cap,' one man, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

'He would wave to say hi as he passed, but he was cool. He never caused any issues.'

Residents said Smith had lived at the home - which is owned by his parents - since at least 2019, although he was noticeably absent for several months last year.

Billy Smith, 46, is pictured being taken into police custody on Monday after allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl

Smith lived in a unit block (pictured) which backs onto the kid's playground

The balcony of Smith's unit looks down into the park where he allegedly assaulted the teenage girl

One neighbour said he thought Smith was unemployed because he saw him riding around so frequently, however, another said he did some work as a brick layer.

'A friend would come around and pick him up in a ute in the mornings and they would go to work together,' he said.

A photo released by NSW Police on Tuesday shows Smith dressed in hi-vis work gear being escorted away from his home in handcuffs by officers.

He was taken to Kogarah Police Station where he was charged with aggravated sexual intercourse child aged under-16, using a child aged over-14 to make child abuse material and producing child abuse material.

He was also charged with breaching a prohibition order relating to the parole matter, which ordered that he 'not actively seek or remain in the company of children under 18'.

Smith spent the night in custody and appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday, where he was formally refused bail.

He will remain behind bars until his next court appearance in Downing Centre Local Court on October 26.

Smith's arrest has sparked outrage as the community demand answers to why he was allowed to live near areas frequented by children. Pictured: Pole Depot Park
Others say today was the first they heard of the Voice

It's a must-win suburb in the state set to decide the fate of the Voice referendum but despite all the fanfare that Anthony Albanese and the Yes23 campaign could muster, voters are largely indifferent to their message.

The Labor stronghold of Elizabeth in outer northern Adelaide hosted the Prime Minister and the luminaries backing the Indigenous Voice to Parliament on Wednesday for the Yes campaign's official launch.

READ MORE: PM gives damning verdict of what 'No' vote would mean Anthony Albanese at the Voice launch Advertisement

However, the razzamatazz of the big-name event failed to spread much father than the Playford Civic Centre where the event was held.

Many voters in the surrounding homes and streets were unaware what the Voice even is.

Some of the locals Daily Mail Australia spoke to didn't even know they would be required to vote in the referendum, while others weren't enrolled and had no desire to remedy that before October 14, when Australians will decide on whether to adopt the Voice.

Others refused to publicly state their views on the proposed constitutional change because they didn't want to be seen as 'racist'.

However, those willing to proudly state their opinions were overwhelmingly voting 'Yes'.

Meanwhile, voters who had made their minds up fell fairly evenly into the Yes and No camps.

This is a reflection of South Australia's status as a swing state, which both camps still feel confident they can win.

To pass, the referendum needs a majority of voters in a majority of states.

Politicians and key campaign figureheads descended on the small town to much fanfare from volunteers and supporters, who turned out by the busload to pack the auditorium

Pictured: A busload of Yes campaigners and supporters arrived at the official announcement of the Voice to Parliament referendum date

Chants of 'Yes!' reverberated through the room at the Playford Civic Centre, with hundreds of supporters decked out in Yes merchandise waving placards (above is Penny Wong)

Here's what voters had to say:

Rebekah, 20

Voting: Undecided

Rebekah told Daily Mail Australia she's never heard of the Voice to Parliament, and wasn't aware the Prime Minister would be in her neighbourhood trying to promote it.

'I don't even know what a referendum is,' she said.

The last referendum in Australia was held in 1999, before Rebekah was born.

She'll spend the next few weeks trying to research a better understanding of the proposal.

Yes23 campaign internal polling suggests there are still swathes of Australians who are yet to engage with the referendum.

A marketing blitz will be undertaken the next six weeks trying to target voters just like Rebekah.

Several other young people told Daily Mail Australia in passing they haven't registered to vote. One couple said they're not planning to.

Rebekah told Daily Mail Australia she's never heard of the Voice to Parliament, and wasn't aware the Prime Minister would be in her neighbourhood trying to promote it

A family divided: Phil and Trish Montgomery, 56

Truck driver and education support officer

Voting: No

Ryan Montgomery, 29

Student

Voting: Yes

While 29-year-old student Ryan Montgomery will be voting Yes come October 14, his parents aren't sold on the model.

Education support officer Trish Montgomery, 56, said she needed to know more.

'We all obviously want what is best for Indigenous people [but] we just don't know enough about it honestly.

'We're leaning toward a No. There's not enough information and we still have questions.'

This family isn't letting different opinions divide them. While 29-year-old student, Ryan Montgomery (right), will be voting Yes come October 14, his parents aren't sold on the model

Her husband, truck driver Phil, agreed.

He is concerned about division among Australians, and said he wants everyone - wherever they come from - to be treated with respect and equally.

Their son Ryan listened intently, later saying that he'd spent some time researching the proposal.

'I have a different opinion to them actually,' he said.

'I've done some research and worked with people and have different thoughts about it. I'll be voting Yes.'

Ian Glanville, 77

Retiree

Voting: Yes

Retiree Ian Glanville was thrilled the Prime Minister chose South Australia to launch the official campaign.

He told Daily Mail Australia 'there is no harm that could come of it, only good'.

'I'll be voting Yes,' he said.

'I hope South Australia will vote Yes. I think we will.'

Mr Glanville, 77, moved to SA in 1993 for work, and never looked back.

He said he'd come to know and respect many First Nations people over the years, and wanted to do his part in delivering constitutional recognition.

'I remember one fellow used to call me Uncle on the bus. I learned later it's a term of respect.'

Retiree Ian Glanville was thrilled the Prime Minister chose South Australia to launch the official campaign

Buddha Gurung

Voting: Undecided

Buddha Gurung said he is enrolled to vote in the referendum but doesn't know much about the Voice yet.

He said he's interested in learning more about it, but at this stage he's 'not sure' which way he'll be voting.

Buddha Gurung said he is enrolled to vote in the referendum but doesn't know much about the Voice yet

Monika Schwientek, 73

Voting: Yes

Monika Schwientek fought back tears as she explained what is motivating her to vote Yes.

'They deserve an opportunity to be equal and be counted in the Constitution,' she said, adding that non-Indigenous Australians are 'living life on their land'.

She hopes a Voice to Parliament will reduce the amount of money being wasted by the government - a message that Mr Albanese has repeatedly been trying to get across.

'The money they're wasting trying to fix things is not having any effect. They won't take medical help all the time because it's by white people, so I think if their people are doing it they'll use it. Things like that can really be sorted out [with a Voice].'

Monika Schwientek fought back tears as she explained what is motivating her to vote Yes

Luke, 36 and Jess, 31

Indigenous Youth workers

Voting: Yes

Couple Jess and Luke are hopeful the Prime Minister's appearance in their town will help to rouse a Yes vote out of South Australians.

As youth workers who have engaged closely with Indigenous children and teenagers, they consider themselves 'very strong Voice to Parliament advocates'.

They weren't in the area for the announcement, instead picking up a suitcase from the local shopping centre, but they were heartened to hear of the support.

'This is a pretty Labor-orientated area,' Luke said.

He's hopeful seeing Mr Albanese will help the local Yes vote, but knows 'we'll have to wait and see'.

'It's going to be a tight call. A very tight call. But I'm hopeful,' he said.

Jess added: 'We work in the same role and with kids who are Indigenous. It seems silly not to [have a Voice].

'I don't know why it's even a question,' she added.

'That's probably controversial to say, but it's true.'

Couple Jess and Luke are hopeful the Prime Minister's appearance in their town will help to rouse a Yes vote out of South Australians

Local reveals why he won't admit he's voting No publicly

One local, who did not want to be named out of fear of being branded 'a racist', said he'll absolutely be voting No come October 14.

He doesn't think he is in the minority, but worries that there are many who have been shamed into keeping their opinion to themselves.

'No voters are the only ones getting the backlash. That's why we're not going on camera,' he said.

'I actually think this Voice is racist. It's dividing the country.'

He is concerned about recent media reports that ticks will count as Yes votes but crosses won't count as No.

'I think Albo will get his way. I think there will be a Yes outcome, because it's all our Prime Minister cares about. That's it, just the Voice,' he said.

Noel Pearson reveals why South Australia is so important

The widespread hostility and indifference was a far cry from the excitement being generated at the official launch.

Mr Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, SA premier Peter Malinauskas and prominent 'Yes' figureheads such as AFL diversity manager Tanya Hosch were greeted with cheers and applause inside the auditorium.

Enthusiastic Yes volunteers and supporters arrived by busload.

Chants of 'Yes!' reverberated through the room with hundreds of supporters decked out in Yes merchandise and waving placards in support of the Voice.

Passionate advocate and campaigner Noel Pearson on Wednesday described Adelaide as 'the epicentre of our campaign'.

Noel Pearson was sitting front row as Mr Albanese confirmed the referendum date, celebrating after a lifetime of campaigning for constitutional recognition and change.

On Tuesday, he described Adelaide as 'the epicentre of this campaign' and elaborated on why the state is so significant for the referendum.

'South Australia is absolutely critical to this referendum, as it always has been to any progressive reform in this country,' he said.

Mr Pearson noted South Australia 'led the nation in women's suffrage' and 'led the country toward Federation'.

Noel Pearson was sitting front row as Anthony Albanese confirmed the referendum date, celebrating after a lifetime of campaigning for constitutional recognition and change

READ MORE: Anthony Albanese insists Australia will vote YES Advertisement

'As a boy on a mission in Cape York Peninsula, my childhood hero was pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls, the first Aboriginal governor of any state in this country. And I was bewildered what kind of state would appoint one of our people as the governor? Well, South Australia was the state,' he said.

'In this campaign, we're going to be calling on South Australians to once again lead the country.

Mr Pearson said he was both anxious and excited about the announcement, which would kick off 'six weeks of conversations with Australians about the importance of this real reform'.

'South Australia, I think, as I said, is the epicentre of this campaign.

'We win South Australia; we actually show the rest of the country a new direction for the relationship between original Australians and the Australian community.'
A man jailed for seven days through a gross miscarriage of justice will receive more than $300,000 in damages after successfully suing the judge who imprisoned him.

Judge Salvatore Vasta will be liable to personally pay part of the compensation offered to the Brisbane man, known only by the pseudonym Mr Stradford.

The father-of-two was jailed in December 2018 for a minimum of six months for not obeying orders to provide financial documents during divorce proceedings.

The sentence was overturned and the man was released after six nights after the decision to jail him was strongly criticised by an appeals court.

On Wednesday, a Federal Court judge also blasted Judge Vasta's serious errors in imprisoning Mr Stradford as he ordered the $309,500 in damages.

Judge Salvatore Vasta (pictured) will be liable to personally pay part of the $300,000 compensation offered to the Brisbane man, known only by the pseudonym Mr Stradford

'The applicant in this proceeding was the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice,' Justice Michael Wigney said in his ruling.

READ MORE: Family court judge is sued by father who was wrongly locked up in maximum security jail Advertisement

'He was detained and imprisoned for contempt following what could fairly be described as little more than a parody of a court hearing.'

Judge Vasta, a Federal Circuit Court judge, made 'a number of fundamental and egregious errors' in jailing the man for contempt without first finding that he had failed to comply with the court's orders.

'He erroneously believed that another judge had made that finding, though exactly how he could sensibly have arrived at that position in the circumstances somewhat beggars belief,' Justice Wigney said.

The court found Judge Vasta could not rely on judicial immunity to protect himself from paying damages because he had acted outside his jurisdiction in imprisoning Mr Stradford.

'His Honour acted without or in excess of jurisdiction in the requisite sense,' Justice Wigney said.

'There was no proper foundation in law for the making of the imprisonment order.'

The Commonwealth and Queensland were found to be vicariously liable for Mr Stradford's imprisonment and ordered to also pay part of the compensation for an ordeal that left the Brisbane man with PTSD and major depressive disorder.
Rishi Sunak today hinted he could meet Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next week as the Foreign Secretary visited China.

The PM refused to be drawn on his schedule for the gathering in India, but said it was 'sensible' to engage with other leaders even if they did not always agree.

The comments came as James Cleverly made the first visit to Beijing by a Foreign Secretary in five years.

He held talks with vice president Han Zheng in Beijing this morning, insisting regular dialogue was the way to avoid misunderstandings.

Diplomats hope the discussions could herald a thaw in the frosty relations that have developed with the Asian superpower. Any high-level meeting would depend on Xi deciding to attend the G20 - which has not yet been confirmed.

But Tories have voiced alarm about government 'appeasement' of Beijing, pointing to human rights abuses, sabre-rattling over Taiwan and the treatment of Hong Kong.

On a visit to a police station in London today, Rishi Sunak refused to be drawn on his schedule for the G20 gathering in India, but said it was 'sensible' to engage with other leaders even if they did not always agree

James Cleverly held talks with vice president Han Zheng in Beijing this morning, insisting regular dialogue was the way to avoid misunderstandings

The pair shared a warm handshake, but Mr Cleverly said he would have 'tough' conversations in private

Mr Sunak said it is 'perfectly possible' to engage with Beijing at the same time as standing up for UK interests and values.

Asked whether he would meet the Chinese leader at the summit next week, he said: '(China is) a country with fundamentally different values to ours and we should be robust in standing up for the things that matter to us, not just for our values but for our interests

'But alongside that, like all our allies, whether that's America or Canada or Australia and others, it's sensible to engage with people so that we can find a common ground on the issues where we can make progress together.

'Whether that's climate change, global health or macroeconomic stability.'

The PM added that Mr Cleverly's visit was 'entirely sensible' and reflected 'our approach' to the country.

As he sat down with the vice president this morning, Mr Cleverly said: 'It is important that countries like ours meet and speak face to face on regular occasions to enhance understanding, to avoid misunderstanding and to address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries have in bilateral relations.'

He also spoke of the need to 'take advantage of our shared endeavours' to address the issues facing the world.

Posting on X separately, Mr Cleverly said he would not 'shy away' from 'tough conversations' while in China - where he will also meet foreign affairs minister Wang Yi.

'Engaging with China doesn't mean that we shy away from the tough conversations,' he said.

'It's about voicing our concerns directly  face to face. That's why I'm here.'

The trip takes places as the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) calls for a more structured and comprehensive approach to dealing with China's assertiveness and its potential impact on the UK's interests and global stability.

In a new 87-page report focused on the 'Tilt to the Indo-Pacific' announced in the Integrated Review, MPs highlighted the urgency of an unclassified China strategy that encompasses not only trade and security but also diplomatic engagement, human rights, and technological cooperation.

The report concludes that there appears to be 'confusion across Whitehall about the Tilt to the Indo-Pacific, stemming from a failure to explain the policy' and urges that all relevant ministers are briefed on the higher classification version of the China strategy.

MPs on the committee also called for the Government to recognise that the repeated attacks on Hong Kong dissidents are part of a wider Chinese Communist Party policy of repression and to proactively communicate the unacceptability of such a policy directly with representatives of the Chinese government.

The Tory chair of the committee Alicia Kearns said: 'Today's report is a thorough assessment of the UK's policy on the Indo-Pacific; the result of two years of evidence gathering and research.

'The Indo-Pacific is a vast and varied geopolitical region, home to over half of the world's population and set to continue to grow as a major economic powerhouse. The era of the Indo-Pacific is here.

'In any conversation about the Indo-Pacific, China looms large. China's global ambitions and desire to rival the reach and influence of the West were made clear at the recent BRICS summit, but the writing has been on the wall for years. It's only by shoring up our networks in the Indo-Pacific that we can temper China's economic and political expansionism, offering a viable, democratic alternative to Indo-Pacific states.'

The meeting took place at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing this morning

There is speculation that Rishi Sunak could meet Chinese premier Xi Jinping (pictured in South Africa last week) at the G20 in India

She argued that for many years the Foreign Affairs Committee has advocated the need to balance economic cooperation with caution in the UK's dealings with China, adding: 'The confidential, elusive China strategy is buried deep in Whitehall, kept hidden even from senior ministers across Government. How can those implementing policy  and making laws  do so without an understanding of the overall strategy?

'The Intelligence and Security Committee's report highlighted the incoherence in the Government's approach to China. Our report goes even further and calls for Government to publish an unclassified China strategy.

'Strengthening our diplomatic, defensive and economic ties in the Indo-Pacific is critical  if the West leaves a vacuum, China will eagerly fill it.

'Resilience and deterrence must be at the core of our foreign policy. Concentrations of power can easily end up in the wrong hands. Diversifying our supply chains, particularly our supply of semiconductors, will protect us in the long term.'

On Taiwan, which she described as an 'important ally and partner of the UK', Ms Kearns said: 'The Government should stand shoulder to shoulder with Taiwan, making clear that attempts to undermine Taiwanese self-determination are unacceptable.'
Prince Harry has claimed the media 'did not cover' British soldiers being wounded in Afghanistan as he discussed Press coverage of his deployment in a new Netflix documentary.

Speaking on Heart Of Invictus, the Duke of Sussex, 38, described being evacuated home from the warzone after the American website Drudge Report broke a news blackout on his deployment.

In episode one of the new series, which was released today, he described a curtain on the aeroplane he was sitting in blowing open and showing three young wounded soldiers with their 'bodies in pieces'.

He said: 'I saw what only people had talked about. That was the real trigger to see the real cost of war. Not just those individuals but also their families and how their lives would change forever.

'Stepping off the plane I was angry at what happened to these guys, I was angry that the media weren't covering it. But at that point it wasn't clear to me what needed to be done.'

The Duke of Sussex, 38, described being evacuated home from the warzone after the American website Drudge Report broke a news blackout on his deployment

Harry said the moment was the trigger to him founding the Invictus Games, which is the main subject of the documentary.

Harry also complains about the media ruining his deployment to Afghanistan, saying: 'The whole reason I was allowed to go to Afghanistan in the first place was because it was kept a secret.

'While I was there for the ten weeks no one knew apart from the British press who said ''we'll keep quiet as long as we get access''.

'To suddenly be on the way home I was angry. But it was important for everyone around me  their safety  to remove me.'

Harry's cover was blown by the Drudge report in 2009 with a 'world exclusive' about 'Harry the Hero'.

Today's documentary also saw the Duke make another apparent swipe at his family as he claimed he did not have a support network after return from serving in Afghanistan and his trauma was 'never discussed'.

Harry in a Spartan armoured vehicle on February 18, 2008 in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan

The documentary included footage of Harry while he was on active service in Afghanistan in 2007/8

The Duke of Sussex also said that he was not aware of the trauma he still had from his mother Princess Diana dying in Paris in August 1997 when he was aged just 12.

He said that when he returned from war in 2009, the 'biggest struggle for me was no one around me really could help', adding: 'I didn't have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me.'

Harry also told the show: 'Unfortunately like most of us the first time you consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the foetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously. And that's what I really want to change.'

As the latest project in the Sussexes' 80million deal with Netflix was released this morning, Harry also described himself as a father-of-two, dog owner and husband.

At the start, the Duke of Sussex was asked by an interviewer: 'What's your name?', and replied: 'My name's Harry.' The interviewer then said: 'What do you do, Harry?'

Harry said: 'What do I do? On any given day? I'm a dad of two under three year olds, got a couple of dogs, husband, I'm founding patron of Invictus Games Foundation. There's lots of hats that one wears, but I believe today is all about Invictus.'

Also in the documentary, Harry and his wife Meghan Markle were seen in a private moment together before a speech at the Salute to Freedom Gala in New York City in November 2021, and the Duke was heard confiding in the Duchess about his nerves.

Harry in an earlier interview talking about the moment he was flown home

Harry describes how, as he was being evacuated back to Britain, a curtain on the aeroplane he was sitting in blowing open and showing three young wounded soldiers

Harry was heard saying: 'We haven't done this for a while.' Meghan added: 'I know.' Harry said: 'My heart like digidigadigadiga' and paces around nervously backstage.

All five episodes of the docuseries were made available at 8am UK time (midnight California time), following prior speculation that Netflix had cancelled the show.

The show has been released ahead of next month's Invictus Games which will be in Dusseldorf from September 9 over eight days and attended by Harry and Meghan.

Harry is its executive producer and the show forms part of the Sussexes' deal with Netflix  with their main output so far being last year's controversial Harry & Meghan documentary which included a series of swipes at members of the Royal Family.

The six-part series last December saw the couple accuse Kensington Palace of lying to protect Prince William.

Pressure is on the Invictus documentary to be a ratings success, after the couple's other lucrative media deal with Spotify ended in June after one season of Meghan's podcast Archetypes. Netflix unveiled its first trailer for the series on August 16.

It comes after Netflix paid 3million for the film rights to Carley Fortune's romantic novel Meet Me At The Lake which Harry and Meghan will produce for the service.
Zoe Luffman, 18, wrote about her struggles in her diary

Kiwi teen took her own life on first day back to university

A teenager's harrowing struggles with her mental health have been revealed in the diary she kept before ending her own life.

Zoe Louise Luffman, 18, was found dead in her dorm room at Lincoln University in the town of Lincoln, New Zealand, on July 18, 2022.

The first-year student, who was from Marlborough, died on the first day back from semester break. She was not found for several days.

Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale officially ruled her death a suicide and urged the community to seek help if they are struggling with their mental health.

Ms Luffman had been suffering in silence for years and keeping her battle secret from friends and family.

Zoe Louise Luffman (pictured), 18, tragically took her own life after returning from university break on July 15, 2022

She had suicidal thoughts during her time in high school, suffered from anxiety and had even self-harmed.

Her mental health seemingly improved after school as she was 'excited' about starting university.

Ms Luffman also had 'supports' in place after visiting a community mental health service. But in March of this year, her condition took a turn for the worse.

She only opened up about her struggles in her diary, where she regularly made entries.

Coroner Borrowdale reflected on how this documented Ms Luffman's actual mental state and heartbreaking decline.

'In late March Zoe diarised having become highly anxious, and that she felt besieged by 'demons',' she revealed, as reported in the New Zealand Herald.

'Zoe's diary records explicit suicidal ideation. She wrote of not wanting to be around anymore, of 'needing' to die, and of being on the precipice of dying.'

Ms Luffman regularly described having 'feelings of unworthiness and numbness'.

The young Kiwi kept her mental health struggles a secret from her friends and family and only opened up about her struggles through her diary

Ms Luffman was a passionate conservationist who dedicated her life to environmental causes

On the day of her death - July 15 - Ms Luffman wrote about what she did by starting each entry with 'on the morning of the day I died' or 'on the evening of the day I died', according to the coroner.

In her final entry, she said: 'I pray that I will find peace'.

'Zoe's diary, letters and other documents written in anticipation of her death, stand as witness to her episodic despair and her growing determination to end her life,' Coroner Borrowdale added.

Ms Luffman was enrolled in a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in ecology at the university.

She was a passionate conservationist who dedicated her life to environmental causes.

Ms Luffman organised beach clean-ups, met with former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern to speak about marine protection, and was awarded Keep New Zealand Beautiful Tidy Kiwi of the Month award last year.

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Two men shot a mother grizzly bear in Montana in a self-defense encounter over the weekend, officials announced Monday.

The incident occurred Saturday when the men were scouting for bear-hunting season in the Flathead National Forest near the Whitefish Mountain Resort recreation area, according to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The 25-year-old mother grizzly was with a cub in a thick section of woods when the men walked within 15 feet of them. The bear was surprised and charged the men, who both shot and killed it.

During the incident, one of the men was shot in the shoulder, but Montana FWP officials did not release how that happened. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Wildlife officials from the state and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement determined the bear was killed in self-defense.

The bear did not have a history of conflict and was previously tagged for population monitoring work in 2009, the department said in a statement.

FWP said it is unclear what happened to the cub in the aftermath.

Grizzly bears are protected under the Endangered Species Act, which has led to their population in Montana growing  increasing the likelihood of encounters between grizzly bears and humans.

Montana is bear country. Avoiding conflicts with bears is easier than dealing with conflicts, officials warned.

In 2020, a Montana man pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegal transport of grizzly bear claws after shooting a bear in self-defense and keeping the claws as a memento.
Anthony Albanese has hit out at social media critics over the backlash he copped after buying a pork roll for lunch.

The Prime Minister last week visited the Marrickville Pork Roll shop in his trendy inner west Sydney electorate, sharing two images of the excursion.

But some Aussies were angry that the man tasked with running the country could take time out of his busy schedule to spend between $5-10 on lunch.

Mr Albanese responded to the bizarre furore over the pork roll saga during an appearance on Triple M Perth's radio show Xav and Michelle for Breakfast on Wednesday.

'I'm just stunned,' Mr Albanese said. 'How dare someone have lunch and buy a roll with pork on it.'

The Prime Minister shared photos of himself visiting the Marrickville Pork Roll shop in his inner west Sydney electorate last Wednesday

'It amazes me that people will go to the trouble of logging on or setting up a fake account and making comments that are just extraordinary just in order to troll people.'

He described the criticism over the pork roll as 'tragic'.

'No one would come up to you and say, 'How dare you have a pork roll, and you added two dollars for the crackling!',' he said.

''How dare you do that in a few hundred metres from your office in Marrickville when you're doing local stuff, as a local MP'.'

The prime minister's distain for social media was highlighted earlier this month in a tongue-in-cheek radio interview with 3AW talkback king Neil Mitchell.

Responding to Mitchell's hypothetical about what he would do if he was running Australia as a dictator, Mr Albanese said banning social media 'would be handy'.

Nothing like the original Marrickville Pork Roll,' Mr Albanese captioned the seemingly innocuous post

Online critics took issue with the fact that the leader of the country had taken time out to post photos of himself buying lunch while Aussies struggled with the cost-of-living crisis

Mr Albanese was swamped with a a barrage of negative comments on social media after he uploaded the photos online with the caption: 'Nothing like the original Marrickville Pork Roll.'

Critics took issue with the fact that he could take time out to spend between $5-10 on lunch while Aussies struggled with the cost-of-living crisis.

'Wish I could afford to go out to eat, rent is getting insane and you choose to help landlords like yourself and your colleagues, and developers over us!', wrote one incensed woman.

Another asked: 'What about the people in this country not afford a pork roll or a roof over their head or electricity?'

'Thoughts go out to those struggling to put food on the table, those who can't afford the table, and those who can't afford the house to put the table in,' said a third.

Anthony Albanese (pictured with his girlfriend Jodie Haydon) has revealed his wish list if he was ever granted dictatorial powers during an interview with 3AW radio host Neil Mitchell

'Glad you can afford to buy a takeaway, not like the rest of us battling to make ends meet, higher rents, higher electricity, higher fuel, homeless people the list goes on and all Australians are getting poorer under your governmentwake up and start focusing on this country,' added another person.

But not everyone was as critical.

'Love these photos. He's in a queue. No ceremony here. Love Albo!', wrote one follower.

Other politicians got in on the fun too.

I'm sure it's good PM Anthony Albanese, but does it beat a Wallsend Bakery Bahn Mi??', wrote Sonia Hornery MP who represents Wallsend in the NSW Parliament.
The sisters later apologised, admitting they were wrong and it was inappropriate

The two sisters said their late father would have found the dancing video funny

Two sisters whose father was killed defending Ukraine against the Russian invasion are facing jail after filming themselves dancing and twerking by the graves of fallen soldiers.

Amid furious backlash over the footage, the twerking pair defended themselves, claiming their late father would have found their antics funny.

But the sisters eventually admitted they were wrong and that the video was inappropriate.

Police confirmed the two unnamed girls will be charged with desecrating a grave, and could now face up to five years in prison.

Phone footage showed the two young sisters - dressed in black crop tops and skin-tight shorts - doing a dance while standing between soldiers' graves adorned with flowers and the Ukrainian flag.

Dressed in a black crop-top and skin-tight shorts, one of the sisters is pictured dancing at the graves at the Forest Cemetery in Kyiv

Her sister, who appears to be talking on her phone, then joins in with the dancing and is seen twerking in front of the camera

One of the girls is first seen putting the phone down to record next to the soldiers' graves before she then begins swaying with her arms in the air.

Her sister, who appears to be talking on her phone, then joins and is seen twerking in front of the camera.

They performed the bizarre act while visiting their father's grave at the Forest Cemetery in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, on August 24.

Their father was reportedly a soldier of the 95th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who was killed near Izium, in the eastern Donetsk region.

Local law enforcement eventually saw the footage after the girls shared it on Instagram, where it generated widespread outrage.

Ukrainian Police then tracked them down in less than an hour and they were detained.

Following the strong reaction, one of the sisters took to social media to apologise, saying: 'My sister and I apologise. We honour every fallen soldier for our homeland.

'We visited the grave of our fallen father, who died near Izium. Unfortunately, it was not very correct to post this kind of video, although we did not intend to defame heroes.'

One of the girls is first seen putting the phone down to record next to the soldiers' graves before she then begins swaying with her arms in the air

A Ukrainian police officer is pictured with each of the detained sisters in Kyiv on Thursday last week. They could face up to five years in prison for being deemed to have insulted graves

The two sisters apologised for their ill-judged antics at the soldiers' grave side, but said their late father would have found it funny

She said she and her sister thought her dad would have found the video and dancing humorous.

'Our behaviour was connected to our understanding of our late father's perspective on burial customs,' she said, 'So we didn't see anything wrong at the time, but now we regret it.'

Ukrainian law enforcement are continuing to investigate the incident.
Notting Hill Carnival could be moved to a park after 'unsustainable' level of violence was seen over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Eight people were stabbed on Monday, the highest level since 2016, with more than 308 arrests including for sex attacks and assaults on police over the two-day event.

A 29-year-old man is in a critical condition after being stabbed at the carnival, and another 19-year-old man is in a 'serious but stable condition'.

Six other men, aged 18, 19, 20, 25, 28 and 40, were also stabbed over the weekend - they sustained non life-threatening injuries.

More than 50 officers were assaulted by being kicked, punched, spat on, bitten, head-butted and even urinated on from upper floor windows.

Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for 2024's London mayoral election, has called for the Notting Hill Carnival to be moved from its traditional home on the streets of west London to an area where it could be better policed.

Today Rishi Sunak said the bloodshed proved the need for police and the courts to be given tougher powers to tackle so-called 'zombie knives' and machetes.

This shocking photo shows the moment a young man waves around a machete at Notting Hill carnival

A man is seen to wield a large machete-type blade as another person tumbles to the floor in Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill, west London on Monday

A man is seen running across Ladbroke Grove holding a machete-type blade above his head on Monday. Police say eight people were stabbed in a number of incidents on the second day of the Notting Hill Carnival

The Government has announced plans to ban more zombie knives - which have fearsome-looking long blades - and machetes with no practical use, with police given more powers to seize and destroy them.

The maximum sentence for the importation, manufacturing, possession and sale of these newly proscribed weapons will be two years, the Home Office said.

A new offence will also be introduced for possessing bladed articles 'with the intention to endanger life or cause fear of violence'.

Number of Notting Hill Carnival arrests each year 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 308 209 N/A N/A 354 373 313 454 407 252 301 278 245 243 243 280 246 277 183 167 186 Advertisement

The Government said the measures, first proposed in April, would be legislated 'when Parliament allows' following a public consultation.

The Notting Hill Carnival was marred by violence on Monday, with images and footage of people brandishing weapons posted on social media.

One showed a young man appearing to approach a group of men while waving a large weapon in the air, as many watch on in shock.

Speaking to reporters at Kilburn police station in north-west London, Mr Sunak said: 'I'm grateful to the police for all their efforts to ensure the safety of the carnival and it's a good illustration of why we need to take action.

'That's why we consulted on these measures earlier in the year. That's why we've spoken to the police to hear first-hand from them what do they need to keep reducing knife crime, and today's powers will help them do that.

There were 308 arrests across the two days of the carnival, with 198 arrests on Monday for a range of offences including possession of offensive weapons, assaults on police officers, possession of drugs and sexual offences.

On Sunday, there were 110 arrests for offences including possession of offensive weapons, assaults including on police officers, possession of drugs and sexual offences.

With arrests at the carnival are up by a third on last year, Rick Prior, vice chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, has branded the level of violence as 'unsustainable'.

Mr Prior said he understood the significance of the carnival being held in Notting Hill but said a move should be considered.

A spokesman for London mayor Sadiq Khan said the event was 'born out of the Caribbean community in north Kensington and Notting Hill' and that this should 'remain its home'.

But Susan Hall, the Tory candidate for London mayor, told LBC: 'It's very upsetting and I'm afraid we have this every single year. It's an incredible thing, the Notting Hill Carnival. I would just say move it. Move it to where it can be policed much better than where it is now.

'Because it's so good and so successful, very, very many people go there, so it's very, very difficult to police, so I'd be urging people to look at somewhere else it could go.'

A man is seen holding his face in his hands as he is escorted away from the Notting Hill Carnival by a pair of Metropolitan Police officers

Two men can be seen urinating against the side of the wall in the 35-year-old's front garden

When asked where it should be moved to, Susan Hall said: 'Perhaps to a park. And let the organisers look and see where they would like it to be moved to.

'Of course, it is up to everybody else, it's not up to me at this specific point. I just comment that every year - all the accidents, all the stabbings, all the various things that go on that we would not want.

'And I talk to police officers daily, and they don't want to be there, quite frankly, because they know that they are in danger.'

READ MORE: Notting Hill Carnival's final day kicks off in a spectacle of costumes and performance as floats set off through the streets Advertisement

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he was worried about the use of weapons at the Notting Hill Carnival but stressed the majority of people who attended had a 'fantastic time'.

When asked whether the event should be moved away from the streets of west London in future, he told reporters: 'We're not the organisers of the carnival. It's an amazing community event with over a million people attending and it's got such a fantastic heritage.

'We will be reviewing what's gone on with the organisers and looking at what more can be done to improve safety, and what more can be done to help keep away the small number of very dangerous people who turn up there.

'But you've got a million people there turning up and having a fantastic time. 'We've got to be careful how we refer to it. But I am worried about the weapons and the incidents we saw.'

Ken Marsh, chairman of the federation which represents rank-and-file officers, said there are a small number of individuals who attend the festival to harm and cause 'disarray'.

'How is it that the police, every August bank holiday weekend, rock up and have dozens assaulted? Tell me anywhere in the world where that happens?

'Unfortunately we have a mayor [Sadiq Khan] who tells everyone it [the carnival] is amazing, is the footprint of London and everyone needs to accept it, full stop,' he told The Times.

The Metropolitan Police Federation says it is aware of 75 incidents of officers being attacked in total, branding the incidents 'absolutely disgusting'.

'No wonder our members dread policing this event,' a tweet from the federation said.

A man waves a machete-type weapon around in broad daylight in front of crowds of people at Notting Hill Carnival on Monday

A police officer puts down a forensic marker in the road at the scene of an incident in Notting Hill on Monday. The Metropolitan Police says it made over 300 arrests across two days

Chaotic scenes at Notting Hill carnival on Monday, pictured around the Ladbroke Grove area

A boy holding what appears to be a machete runs down the street with a group of youths

A look at one of the Notting Hill revellers who used the homeowner's front garden as a toilet

The photographer who captured the man holding a machete said he found himself 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' and claimed the 'joyful atmosphere turned unexpectedly as an altercation broke out nearby, between two gangs with knives and a machete'.

He said the most shocking part was that the altercation, which he said lasted about ten seconds, seemed 'bog standard' to the people around him.

'I knew something was kicking off. My immediate thought was, 'Keep taking pictures,' and then I saw a young guy running around with a machete,' he said

Video footage also emerged today of a gang of youths, one holding a suspected machete, running down a west London street dressed in black and wearing balaclavas amid a violent end to the annual festival.

Footage shows how police on horseback tried to chase after the group as they ran away, with a large crowd watching on. Some members in the group turn their heads to check behind them as they flee.

People commenting on the video have said 'that's why I don't go on Monday', which is known as adults' day.

Detectives had praised the 'positive' and 'good natured' atmosphere on Sunday, but officers were forced into action after the carnival descended into violence on bank holiday Monday.

Police keep watch in numbers at Notting Hill Carnival on Monday

Detectives had praised the 'positive' and 'good-natured' atmosphere across the weekend but officers were forced into action after the carnival descended into violence on bank holiday Monday. Pictured: Two ambulances arrive at the scene

Pictured: A Met Police officer holds an evidence bag with a seized weapon in it on the final day of carnival

Council workers were in attendance until the early hours cleaning an enormous amount of waste from the area

Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, which organises the two-day street party, has distanced itself from Monday's violent scenes, saying those responsible 'have nothing to do with Notting Hill Carnival or its values'.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the firm said: 'Notting Hill Carnival has once again been a spectacular weekend of colour and sound, the culmination of a year's long work, that results in this hugely important and unique cultural event.

'Carnival is about these communities and people, who dedicate so much time, love, incredible creativity and effort to the parade, sound systems, music, food, costumes and much more that makes up the event.

'We deplore all acts of violence, these people have nothing to do with Notting Hill Carnival and its values.'

Tragically, these incidents are all too common in our society. Last year the Office for National Statistics shows that 12,786 knife offences were carried out in the capital over the 12 months to the end of March, this sadly affects us as much as any community.

'We will continue to work hard with our partners to protect Notting Hill Carnival and the people who make it so special.'

The violence came at the end of two days of steel drums, barbecues and flamboyant headdresses, which drew to a close on Monday night.

The violence came after two days of steel drums, barbecues and flamboyant headdresses, Notting Hill Carnival drew to a close last night

Council crews are now tidying up mounds of rubbish after two million revellers took to the streets

Canisters of nitrious oxide abandoned amongst rubbish at the site of the 2023 Notting Hill carnival

The streets of the affluent west London area are now covered in huge piles of rubbish

A large pile of discarded take away boxes sits on the side of the stained pavement

Colourfully costumed revellers paraded through the streets of west London on Monday - the final day of the carnival

Hundreds of thousands of partygoers massed in Kensington for a sunny 'carnival climax' yesterday, which saw the adults' parade kick off in the morning before a feast of music took over the streets.

Celebrities including Lily Allen, Nick Grimshaw and Idris Elba, who hosted his own DJ set, were spotted enjoying the vibrant annual celebration of Caribbean culture and history.

Council teams are now descending on west London to sweep up and tidy mounds of rubbish after the two million revellers took part in this year's carnival.

Met Police deputy assistant commissioner Ade Adelekan, who oversaw the policing operation, said: 'It is regrettable that for a second year in a row, Monday night at carnival has been marred by serious violence.

'Nobody disputes the significance of carnival on London's cultural calendar and the overwhelming majority of those who came will have had a positive experience. However, we cannot overlook the stabbings, sexual assaults and attacks on police officers that we have seen.

A huge pile of detritus sits outside two boarded up businesses in Notting Hill

Graffiti adorns the makeshift barricades installed by businesses in the area

Rubbish and filth was strewn across the streets adjacent to the boarded up multi-million pound properties

'As we do following any major operation, we will be reviewing the events of the past two days and giving thorough consideration to what may need to change in future years.

'It is important to recognise the positives that we can take away from the event. I am pleased that by working in close partnership with the event organisers and the stewarding teams, we were able to closely monitor crowd density and intervene in an effective way to prevent any incidents of crushing at peak times.

'I would like to thank all the officers who have worked so hard over the weekend to keep people safe.

'Carnival is a challenging policing environment. Officers were asked to be vigilant and alert but to be approachable, respectful and sensitive at the same time. They did all of that and more and they deserve our recognition and our thanks.'
A family who ran an unscrupulous 'meet and greet' car park in a muddy field near Manchester Airport have been prosecuted after customers complained their cars were damaged and used without their permission while they were on holiday.

A judge at Manchester Crown Court jailed Mohammed Isaq, 62, for 17 months and gave 18 month community orders to his two children Sultan Khan, 28, and Amani Khan, 27, as he accused them of taking part in the 'exploitation of customers'.

Customers who used the rogue car park near Manchester Airport returned from their holidays to discover their vehicles had been damaged, with one man returning to find an extra 688 miles on the clock of his car.

The car park advertised itself on price comparison sites as offering 'safe and secure parking' but customers instead found their cars had been left parked in muddy fields and on residential streets, with one customers returning to find cannabis in his car.

In one case, a holidaymaker returned to discover their car had been in a collision with a bus, while another customer returned home to find their car had received two separate parking fines while being looked after by the firm.

Sultan Khan (left), Mohammed Isaq (centre) and Amani Khan (right) outside the Crown Court outside Manchester Minshull Street

Sultan Khan (left) was handed an 18 month community order and Mohammed Isaq (right) was jailed for 17 months

The car park's adverts, posted on their own website and on price comparison sites, claimed that cars would be left in a secure car park, covered with CCTV, floodlights and 24 hour staffing, prosecutor Adam Pearson said.

'Those advertisements did not accord with the reality of the situation,' Mr Pearson said.

'The reality was that cars were parked in a muddy field, or on residential streets. They were not covered by CCTV or security cameras, there was no floodlighting nor 24-hour staff coverage.

'Car keys and the cars themselves were kept insecure, resulting in thefts of keys and cars. Other cars suffered significant damage, or were used by employees of the company for their own or the company's purposes without the permission of the owners.'

He explained that the firm operated out of the Isaq family's home at Davenport Green Hall in Hale Barns, but used local fields and residential streets to store customer's cars.

The parking business first started operating under the name 'Eat, Meet and Greet Ltd,' with Sultan Khan as the sole director, before the company was dissolved in March 2017.

The business, however, continued to operate in the same way through a second company, called 'Manchester Meet and Greet Limited', with Sultan Khan as sole director and his father, Mohammed Khan, 'closely involved' in running the firm.

The prosecutor said Sultan was not the 'name above the shop', but dealt with representatives from the British Parking Association, and had provided comments to stories run by the Manchester Evening News in relation to poor service.

A third company, 'Manchester Airport Parking Services Limited', was later set up, with Amani Khan as the new firm's sole director.

Each company operated the same way, and advertised that customers cars would be parked in a secure location. But on the occasions customers sought to find out what had happened to their cars, they were met with the 'reality of the situation'.

Detailing over 30 customers affected, it was said that a number of people found their cars parked in a muddy field, with no CCTV, security staff or flood lights. Customers also found their keys missing and staff were unable to find their cars.

In August 2017, following a break in at the firm's office - the back of a broken down van - up to 130 sets of keys were stolen, along with a number of cars. It left a scene of 'utter confusion', Mr Pearson said.

Nina Khan (pictured), wife of Mohammed Isaq and mother to Sultan and Amani Khan, was discharged after the judge formally recorded not guilty verdicts

Sultan Khan (left), Mohammed Isaq (centre left), Nina Khan (centre right) and Amani Khan (right) were accused of exploiting customers

In one case, a customer used an app on her mobile phone while abroad to track her car as it was being driven around Manchester - as the firm insisted it was in a compound.

Another motorist received two car parking fines while his car was supposed to be parked up with the firm.

One BMW owner, who parked with the company, took a photo of his mileage before his trip  and discovered on his return his car had an additional 688 miles on the clock along with cigarette papers and cannabis inside, the court heard.

Another customer suffered 'substantial damage' to their car after the vehicle was involved in a collision with a bus, which was captured on a CCTV.

Mr Pearson added: 'Customers were paying for a service they did not receive and would never have agreed to if they knew the truth.'

The combined turnover was up to 200,000 but the extent of the fraudulent trading was between 30,000 and 100,000, the court heard.

The court noted Muhammad Isaq had previous convictions for breaching fire regulations, as well as for VAT fraud. Neither Sultan nor Amani Khan had convictions on their record.

Mitigating for Muhammad Isaq, barrister Abdul Iqbal KC said many customers were satisfied with the service provided by the small, family-run business, as he claimed Isaq had not set out to defraud motorists.

However, following the burglary, the company had to 'scramble' in order to find alternative car parks, and admitted the service was not what was advertised.

Both Sultan, represented by Richard Simons, and Amani Khan, represented by Mr Duffy, were descibed as having been young at the time they made sole directors of the business, and in turn unaware of the responsibilities the position involved.

Sentencing, Judge John Potter said: 'These proceedings reflect a period of time in which the three of you took part in the exploitation of customers by the adoption of unscrupulous business practices.

'On the evidence in this case, I find you, Mohammed Isaq, to be the main instigator behind this and the leading light in the business activities.'

He added that the business showed a 'disgraceful failing to take any responsibility to the customers seriously' and says they showed 'incompetence', a 'lack of planning' and 'wilful neglect'.

Nina Khan (left) was discharged and Amani Khan (right) was handed an 18 month community order

Of Isaq, Judge Potter added: 'You have lived for a significant period of your life with very little regard for regulatory matters.'

Isaq was jailed for 17 months and banned from becoming a company director for six years after pleading guilty to fraudulent trading between August 2017 and February 2018.

Sultan Khan was handed an 18 month community order, and ordered to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and 200 hours of unpaid work.

Amina Khan was also handed an 18 month community order, ordered to complete 10 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and 200 hours of unpaid work. Both pleaded guilty to breaking consumer protection laws by negligence.

Nina Khan, wife of Mohammed Isaq and mother to Sultan and Amani Khan, was discharged after the judge formally recorded not guilty verdicts.

A spokesperson for Trafford Council said: 'This is an appalling case in which customers were lied to and taken advantage of. They left their cars with this company on the understanding they would be kept in a safe location while they were away and this was simply not the case  their vehicles were misused and damaged.

'We are pleased with the outcome of this case and would like to say a huge thank you to our trading standards and planning teams for all their hard work in the investigation. We will not stand by and allow fraudulent companies to operate in our borough  we will investigate and have them prosecuted.'

A Proceeds of Crime Hearing is yet to take place to recover prosecution costs and compensation for motorists affected.
A mother-of-two in her 30s who was found dead in her Yorkshire home had been at the centre of a 'love triangle', according to neighbours.

Police were called to the home of Jessica Edmunds in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Monday after being alerted by the ambulance service that they had found a body.

A man and woman initially arrested on suspicion of murdering her have now been released without charge, cops said.

South Yorkshire Police said: 'The death of a woman in her 30s in Rotherham is no longer being treated by police as murder.

'Officers were called to The Bridleway, in Rawmarsh, shortly after 15:30 BST on Monday after reports a woman had been found dead inside a property.

Police are no longer treating Jessica Edmunds' death as murder

Police seen guarding the property in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, today

'Following a post-mortem examination, her death was no longer believed to be suspicious, a police spokesperson said.

'A man, 47, and a woman, 49, arrested on suspicion of murder, had been released with no further action, they added.

'A file would be prepared for the coroner, the South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said.'

The home of Jess Edmunds (bottom of picture with police outside) from Rawmarsh near Rotherham

Neighbours were still standing in the street in shock today as the police cordon was finally lifted around the home of Ms Edmunds.

They said it was a still a mystery what had happened inside the terraced house where Jessica, known as Jess, was found dead on bank holiday Monday.

'All we do know is that the man Jess was living with was the former partner of the woman arrested,' one local said.

'The woman used to run a local shop around here but doesn't any more. It was her ex that Jess was with. So may be there was some kind of love feud.'

Another mother said: 'All we can say is Jess's life was being made a misery by a bunny boiler and people are hurting about what what happened. I can't believe it.'

According to some residents on the street, the dispute between the two women had led to Ms Edmunds 'receiving death threats'.

Many residents had been out enjoying the bank holiday when they returned home in the afternoon to find their street had been sealed off.

The house Ms Edmunds shared with her two young children and partner remained under cordon until late Tuesday while a painstaking forensic examination was carried out.

There were angry scenes involving women standing in the street when a woman, believed to be the female arrested, was returned to her house by police.

Officers were seen apparently standing guard outside the property as bystanders shouted insults towards the house.

The area of Rotherham was closed off by police and ambulance after the body was found

Ms Edmunds's next door neighbour said she was also devastated.

She had only recently moved into the street - the Bridleway in the Rawmarsh area of Rotherham - and said Jess had been one of the first to welcome her.

The 28-year-old neighbour, who would only give her first name, Mel, said: 'She was really lovely. She was so sweet with me every time I knocked the door.

'Whenever I saw her she always found time to say hello and pat my dog. She always made a fuss over the dog and was really lovely.

'She made me feel really welcome in the neighbourhood. We were really friendly but not so she would open up to me so I must admit I did not know what was really going on with her.'

Ms Edmunds had two school age children, a girl believed to be ten or under and a slightly older brother. She appeared to be a full-time mother, locals said.

Another neighbour said: 'We were not in at all yesterday so we did not know anything about it. She has been here as long as we have been here so it is a real shock.

'We went out for the day and came back to find all the street was shut off.'
A prominent figure in the anti-Ulez group 'Blade Runners, who have filmed themselves destroying and removing traffic cameras in response to Sadiq Khan's controversial zone expansion have described their vandalism as 'unpaid voluntary work.'

Yesterday, the much-hated Ulez was expanded to all 32 boroughs of London seeing people having to pay a 12.50 daily charge to drive the most polluting vehicles around the capital - leading to violent scuffles between police and protesters outside Downing Street.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper has already urged the mayor to offer a Ulez grace period and said that it is 'not reasonable' to enforce fines on drivers who violated the new rules yesterday as the Transport for London website where drivers could check if their car was compliant crashed.

Speaking to TalkTV, the Blade Runners' campaign director, who refers to himself as 'Captain Gatso' defended the group's vandalism, saying: 'It's unpaid voluntary work for the community Julia, let's be under no illusions.

'When you are under constant attack from this Government and all the other governments previously you have to take defensive offensive action. They're not standing up for us.

A Ulez camera is covered in cream in Feltham

The Ulez expansion got off to a bad start after dozens of cameras around Greater London were vandalised

Anti-Ulez group Blade Runners have snapped the wires on several Ulez cameras including this one

Other monitors have been completely removed amid the fury at the 12.50 charge, which now applies to the whole of Greater London

Pictured: A Ulez camera remover poses with cameras they have taken down illegally

Khan's Ulez dream got off to a troubled start yesterday with violence in the streets

The activist from the covert group then casually walked to another ULEZ camera nearby and used the gardening tool to snip the cable - the group's leader has called it 'voluntary comunity service'

'They're all liars. People are using their imagination, they're doing all sort of things to circumnavigate this thing.

'It's high time motorists fought back.'

In response to the campaign of destruction orchestrated by the Blade Runners and other groups, the Metropolitan Police stressed they were still actively hunting down vandals.

A spokesman said: 'The Met has and continues to treat criminal activity in relation to Ulez seriously and has deployed considerable resources to our operation.

'Where there are possible lines of enquiry, local investigators will follow up using a range of investigative approaches including CCTV trawls, witness searches and an assessment of forensic opportunities.'

Yesterday saw turbulence outside Downing Street, where there was violence at an anti-Ulez protest - with shocking scenes showing police scuffling with some of the protesters as tempers flared over the controversial expansion which is set to bring an extra 2.5 million a day to City Hall and raise billions in the coming years.

As a result of the Transport for London website's technical difficulties, drivers checking if their vehicles were compliant were forced to wait several minutes before they received clarity, causing 'confusion'.

How the Ultra Low Emission Zone has expanded across London throughout the years

Earlier this month, a Blade Runner was captured on video walking up to a ULEZ camera and snipping the cable

Transport Secretary Mark Harper has urged Sadiq Khan to offer a Ulez grace period

Police officers restrain a protest outside Downing Street during a Ulez demonstration yesterday

Demonstrators hold signs saying 'Stop the toxic air lie' and 'stop the Ulez' outside Downing Street

Speaking to the Telegraph, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: 'The Labour Mayor of London is responsible for administrating the rollout of his new charge on the poorest motorists.

'With the Transport for London [TfL] website crashing and causing confusion on the ground, it's not reasonable for Sadiq Khan to punish people by fining them for being caught up in that confusion, and he at least should be considering grace periods.'

In this instance, the 'grace period' would mean no fines were issued in Ulez zones on the first day of the expansion.

Prior to the crash, the Transport for London (TfL) number plate checker website slowed to a crawl under the sheer number of people trying to see if their cars are non-compliant.

Those wanting to check if they would have to pay the Ulez fee were put in an online 'waiting room' where they had to wait for their chance to get onto the website.

Khan's Ulez dream had got off to a troubled start before yesterday as dozens of cameras designed to catch non-compliant vehicles were vandalised.

Protesters against the scheme have damaged and destroyed cameras across London by spraying them with paint, covering the lenses, cutting wires and even demolishing the poles they stand on.

In Bromley more than a dozen cameras were vandalised before the expansion came into effect at midnight, while residents living in Chessington welcomed the CCTV installed on their street being taken out of action by vigilantes.

The Metropolitan Police said it had recorded 288 crimes relating to the cameras as of August 1

Ulez camera electrics have been sprayed and destroyed in South London

Nearly nine out of 10 Ulez cameras have been vandalised in southeast London , according to an analysis of crowd-sourced data

The Mayor of London has insisted he is not 'anti-car' for implementing the expansion, which means people will have to pay 12.50 a day to drive certain vehicles into the city.

These include diesel vehicles from 2014 or earlier, petrol vehicles from 2006 or earlier and motorcycles from 2001 or earlier, although vehicles from 1973 or earlier are exempt.

The move, which Mr Khan says will help battle pollution in the capital, will bring an extra 2.5million a day into City Hall and is set to raise billions in the coming years.

Tories have branded the policy a 'money-raising exercise' with Transport Secretary Mark Harper saying he would have blocked it if he had the power.

The expansion it has been vociferously fought against by charities, Tory councils and residents in outer London.

The mayor has even resisted pressure from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to delay it amid the cost of living crisis.

Speaking earlier this month, Sir Keir stressed there are 'other ways' of cutting pollution as he was grilled about the controversial policy on a visit to Scotland.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer put pressure on Sadiq Khan to delay Ulez amid the cost of living crisis

Local resistance to the scheme has been fierce in some areas of London with signs installed beneath cameras to warn drivers

The controversial scheme now covers all London boroughs and will force drivers of non-compliant vehicles to shell out 12.50 a day

New Ulez signs have been put up on the M4 near Heathrow Airport to warn drivers they're about to enter the zone

Commenting on the policy, Sir Keir said: 'Let me tell you what I want to change: I want clean air.

'I don't think anybody in this country should be breathing dirty air, any more than I think they should be drinking dirty water.

'What I don't want is schemes that disproportionately impact on people in the middle of the cost-of-living crisis, so we need to look at options for achieving what we all need to achieve, which is clean air.

'There are other ways of achieving this, so my driving principle is clean air, absolutely yes, but a proportionate way of getting there and looking at what the options are for other cities, other places doing it in different ways.'

The policy has also faced opposition from areas close to the capital with six out of the seven local authorities immediately bordering London have refused to sign a legal agreement with Transport for London (TfL) to allow Ulez signs within their borders.

The act of protest has been mounted by Surrey County Council, Kent County Council, Essex County Council, Hertfordshire Council, Buckinghamshire Council and Thurrock Council, which are Tory-led and have been vocal about the financial impact Ulez will have on its residents.

The only council that signed an agreement was Slough Borough Council, which shares the smallest border with London and only has two signs installed, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Man, named locally as Morris N, is being held at remand prison in Mexico City

A British man has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to kill his girlfriend during a row at an apartment on the outskirts of Mexico City.

Police investigating the violent incident held him in Cuernavaca just over an hour's drive south of Mexico City.

He has been named locally - only by his first name and the first initial of his surname - as Morris N.

Detectives are said to have sought an arrest warrant from a judge after discovering his whereabouts.

He is now being held at a remand prison in Mexico City named as Varonil Norte.

The man has been named locally - only by his first name and the first initial of his surname - as Morris N

Morris N is now being held at a remand prison in Mexico City named as Varonil Norte (Stock Image)

The incident leading up to his arrest is said to have occurred on August 18 at a property in Extremadura Insurgentes, a neighbourhood located in southwest Mexico City which is known for an urban park called Parque Hundido.

Several Mexican papers are claiming the woman allegedly assaulted died as a result of her injuries, although prosecutors revealed in a statement yesterday the suspect had been arrested for a 'possible crime of attempted femicide' and the reports of her death do not yet appear to have been confirmed locally by officials.

The Mexico City State Prosecution Service said alongside a photo of the mugshot of the man arrested: 'A foreigner has been arrested in the state of Morelos who possibly committed the crime of attempted homicide.

'Investigations show that after a probable row, the individual possibly physically assaulted a woman inside a residential property in Extremadura Insurgentes in the borough of Benito Juarez.

'It was discovered the suspect had fled to the municipality of Cuernavaca in Morelos with the aim of evading justice and prosecution investigators applied for an arrest warrant from a judge.

'The man arrested was taken to the remand prison Varonil Norte.'
A Japanese driving school is handing motorists beers and then getting them to navigate a course under the influence of alcohol to highlight the dangers of drink-driving.

Video shows one of the willing participants driving round the course with ease while sober.

Yuichiro Kodama, a reporter from the Fukuoka Broadcasting Corporation, one of the local media outlets expressing an interest in the scheme, managed to ease through S-turns and weave between cones on the school's private course in the initial stages.

But during a 90-minute break, he drank five whiskies with soda and a can of beer, before taking a breathaliser to make sure he was drunk enough.

Video then shows him entering the car visibly intoxicated and proceeding to potter round the course while sat beside an instructor, crashing into poles at the side of the road and running over a cone, at points looking like he is about to doze off.

After successfully completing the first part of the text, reporter Yuichiro Kodama drank five whiskies with soda and a can of beer during a 90-minute break

Video then shows him entering the car visibly intoxicated and proceeding to potter round the course while sat beside an instructor, running over one of the cones

He is then shown staggering out of the car to give an update.

Chikushino Driving School has teamed up with the local police in the Fukuoka prefecture to implement the bizarre scheme.

Motorists are required to negotiate a series of tests while sober and then again when over the legal limit.

The limit in Japan is 15 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres, as compared to 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres in the UK.

Hyelim Ha, a reporter with the Mainichi newspaper, also tried her luck on the course, accompanied by Shojiro Kubota, the deputy head of the school.

After consuming a can of beer, a glass of plum liqueur and a shot of the traditional liquor 'shochu', Ha had reached double the legal limit.

'My hands are cold and my heart is beating fast,' she said, adding that she felt capable of driving.

But Ha had trouble on the circuit, continuing to accelerate and slow down intermittently on a straight section of road with no cones.

Kodama appeared close to falling asleep at times after his boozy break

He can be seen crashing into poles at the side of the road

Kodama is later shown staggering out of the car to give an update

While she finished the slalom section with no issues, Kubota gave Ha a word of warning as she approached the S-turns.

'You were entering the curve at a faster speed than before drinking,' he said.

'You also turned too widely and the vehicle strayed into the opposite lane.'

He added: 'Even though it slows the skills people need for driving, such as cognitive capacity and judgment, the driver assumes they are driving safely - and that is the danger of drunken driving.'

The police are trying to raise awareness of drink-driving through the campaign, seven years after a crash killed three children.

Akio Ogami had been driving his car across a bridge over Hakata Bay when a car driven by city government worker Futoshi Imabayashi slammed into it from behind.

The vehicle fell nearly 50 feet off the bridge and into the water before it swiftly sank.

Imabayashi was handed a 20-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of causing the deaths of the three children, who were aged one, three and four, while driving under the influence of alcohol.
Welsh nationalists have demanded the British Museum return the nearly 4,000-year-Mold Gold Cape following thefts at the institution - arguing that the idea treasures are 'more secure in London no longer holds water.'

The demands follow the revelations that thousands of objects may have been stolen from the museum over the years in a scandal that has already seen director Hartwig Fischer resign.

The museum believes 'around 2,000' items were stolen including jewellery, gold and semi-precious gems with Fischer conceding that responsibility for failing to act on earlier alerts by whistleblowers rests with him.

The Welsh request comes after Greece also asked for the return of the Elgin Marbles and the Chinese government's mouthpiece tabloid demanding the 'immediate return of all Chinese cultural relics.'

Leading the charge for Welsh reclamation of the fabled Mold Gold Cape is Plaid Cymru leader Liz Saville-Roberts who said security is no longer a good enough argument for keeping the treasures in London.

A member of staff observes the Mold Gold Cape dating from 1900-1600 BC which Welsh nationalists want returned

Welsh nationalists have also demanded the return of the Moel Hebog shield which dates back to 1300-1000BC

Plaid Cymru leader Liz Saville-Roberts said security is no longer a good enough argument for keeping the treasures in London

Museum director Hartwig Fischer has resigned conceding that responsibility for failing to act on earlier alerts by whistleblowers rests with him

She said: 'Close to 2,000 artefacts worth millions have been stolen from the British Museum.

'The argument that the Parthenon Marbles, the Mold Gold Cape or the Moel Hebog Shield are more secure in London no longer holds water.

'The Moel Hebog Shield is not even on display despite the treasure being over 3,000 years old. The argument used by the British Museum is that it is the most secure location for them.

'For Wales, for Greece and for many countries that were under the control of the British Empire, that argument has been severely undermined by this saga.

'It is high time we faced that the British Museum does not hold the right to these treasures and a grown-up discussion is required about their repatriation.'

The MP#s calls for repatriation echo the demands from foreign dignitaries like Greece's culture minister Dr Lina Mendoni who said on record that the scandal engulfing the museum 'reinforces the permanent and just demand of our country for the definitive return' of the Elgin Marbles.

Meanwhile Chinese tabloid Global Times, which is a mouthpiece of the communist government of the country, published an editorial blasting the UK's 'ugly, shameful colonial history.'

The British Museum has been rocked by scandal in recent weeks following the theft of objects

Grece has demanded the return of the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum

It read: 'As a Chinese media, we formally request the British Museum to return all Chinese cultural relics acquired through improper channels to China free of charge.

'The UK, which has a bloody, ugly, and shameful colonial history, has always had a strong sense of moral superiority over others.'

Despite the protestations, the British Museum Act 1936 legally prevents the museum from acquiescing to any request for repatriation of relics.

A British Museum spokesman said: 'The Mold Gold cape has been on loan to both Wrexham Museum and National Museum Wales in Cardiff in the past ten years, and it has been loaned internationally, as recently as 2021 to Halle in Germany.

'Six million people visit the museum each year to experience this world-class collection, and the Mold Gold cape is on display to them all, for free, where it is a star piece in our Europe and Middle East Gallery.

'The collection empowers visitors to navigate and understand the complex relationships between empires, nations and peoples whether through trade, conquest, conflict or peaceful exchange.'
Police are hunting for an 'acclaimed' poet who is missing and was last seen at a festival where he was due to perform.

Gboyega Odubanjo, 27, was spotted at Shambala Festival in Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire at around 4am on Saturday.

Mr Odubanjo, from Bromley, southeast London, was wearing a red and white striped gilet with black clothing underneath, cream-coloured bucket hat, black trousers and dark coloured shoes.

Police described the award-winning poet as 5ft 6in, wears glasses, with short black dreadlocks and a full-face beard.

Officers are urging members of the public to contact the force if they have seen him or have information about his whereabouts.

Pictured: Gboyega Odubanjo, 27, who is missing after not turning up to his performance at Shambala Festival

Mr Odubanjo's family have 'profound concern' for their son's safety and wellbeing and said his disappearance is 'entirely out of character'.

In their appeal, they said: 'He has a warm and infectious personality, a contagious smile and a heart full of kindness.'

'We are reaching out to the community, friends and all compassionate individuals who may have any information that could lead to his safe return. No piece of information is too small, and your help could be the key to bringing him back to us.

'Thank you for taking the time to read our appeal. We pray for Gboyega's safe return and for the strength to endure this challenging time,' they added.

Mr Odubanjo's best friend Tice Cin, 28, said it was 'totally unlike him to not get in touch' due to having a 'close knit family'. She said the poet would typically ring his mum every day when he was away at a festival and was due to celebrate his dad's birthday today.

She described him as an 'acclaimed poet' and 'highly anticipated novelist'.

Novelist Ms Cin, who met Mr Odubanjo on a poetry course ten years ago, said she became aware something was wrong when he failed to get in touch with her about her own reading.

She said: 'He's a very reliable and present friend - he's never missed any of my events.

Last sighting of Mr Odubanjo who went missing at around 4am on Saturday. His family and Northamptonshire police are appealing for information on his whereabouts

'I knew that things were unusual when I had an event on Sunday, and he hadn't messaged me about it.

'He's the type of person you can ring at any time, and he will be there for you.'

In 2020, Mr Odubanjo won the Poetry Business New Poets prize - for his pamphlet Aunty Uncle Poems - and an Eric Gregory award from the Society of Authors.

He is currently studying for his PhD in creative writing at the University of Hertfordshire. He is an editor for Bad Betty Press and the poetry magazine Bath Magg.

His second collection of work, titled 'Adam', is set to be published with Faber in the coming months.

His friend Ms Cin said: 'His future is so, so bright. As well as being a poet, he's an editor at a well-respected literary magazine and he's got an upcoming novel.

'His ambitions and what he is going to do in society are so promising.

'He's also a wonderful uncle and a fantastic cook.'

Organisers of Shambala Festival (pictured) which hosts performances by poets, musicians, comedians and speakers, asked anyone with information about Mr Odubanjo to contact the police

Mr Odubanjo is understood to have been with a group of friends at the four-day long Shambala music festival before he disappeared.

Organisers of the festival which hosts performances by poets, musicians, comedians and speakers, asked anyone with information about Mr Odubanjo to contact the police.

Northamptonshire Police said: 'If you see Gboyega, please call Northamptonshire Police on 999. Information and previous sightings can also be reported by calling 101, quoting reference number MPD1/2619/23.

'Gboyega if you see this appeal, please contact us or your loved ones - we need to make sure you are safe and OK.'
A convicted rapist who escaped an Arkansas prison on a jet ski last year was recaptured in West Virginia.

Samuel Paul Hartman, 39, was arrested Tuesday at a hotel in Lewisburg along with his wife, 39-year-old Misty Hartman; his mother, Linda Annette White, 61; and his mothers boyfriend, Rodney Trent, 52, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Hartman was convicted of rape and sentenced to life in prison in 2013.

The women are accused of plotting and carrying out Hartmans escape from an Arkansas prison in August 2022. While on work detail in a field near the East Arkansas Regional Unit detention facility in Brickeys, the women drove up in a pickup truck and started shooting at corrections officers.

Hartman got into the truck and drove to a pair of jet skis that were waiting on the Mississippi River.

The watercraft were found abandoned on the Mississippi side of the river and a witness reported seeing a man and two women riding them.

Investigators later tracked them to West Virginia.

Trent faces charges for harboring a sex offender and for assisting the trio while they were on the lam.

Todays capture was the result of deliberate and determined law enforcement work, Joe Profiri, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, said in a statement.

The United States Marshals Service, Arkansas State Police, and the Arkansas Department of Corrections have kept this case on the forefront and followed hundreds of leads over the course of the last year. We appreciate the support and assistance from all agencies involved, the Arkansas Governors office, and the State of West Virginia in bringing this case to a successful conclusion.

The four are expected to be extradited to Arkansas.
An air traffic control boss said today it 'wasn't an entire system failure' that led to more than 1,000 flights being cancelled this week - as passengers continue to sleep on airport floors, with some facing a 10-day wait to get home.

The widespread disruption which started on Monday is believed to have been caused by a single rogue flight plan.

It comes as it emerged that Martin Rolfe, chief executive of National Air Traffic Services, saw his pay double last year to more than 1.3m, after receiving pensions benefits, a 281,000 annual bonus, and a backdated 555,000 long-term incentive plan.

Aviation analytics company Cirium said 64 flights due to serve UK airports today were cancelled as of 9am - after some 1,585 flights were axed on Monday and a further 345 on Tuesday.

Former British Airways boss Willie Walsh said it was 'staggering' that the system was allowed to collapse by a piece of incorrect data.

Martin Rolfe, chief executive of National Air Traffic Services, said the widespread disruption which started on Monday 'relates to some of the flight data we received'

Passengers stranded overnight at Gatwick Airport because of NATS failure sleep on the seats

Mr Willie, director-general of global airline body the International Air Transport Association (Iata), told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I find it staggering, I really do.

'This system should be designed to reject data that's incorrect, not to collapse the system.

'If that is true, it demonstrates a considerable weakness that must have been there for some time and I'm amazed if that is the cause of this.

'Clearly we'll wait for the full evaluation of the problem but that explanation doesn't stand up from what I know of the system.'

READ MORE: Beds are laid out for passengers stranded in Europe for a second night as air traffic control misery continues Advertisement

Meanwhile, Mr Rolfe was asked on the programme why the problematic flight data was not rejected by Nats 'like a piece of spam'.

He replied: 'Our systems are safety-critical systems, they are dealing with the lives of passengers and the travelling public.

'So even things like just throwing data away needs to be very carefully considered.

'If you throw away a critical piece of data you may end up in the next 30 seconds, a minute or an hour with something that then is not right on the screens in front of the controller. So it is nothing like throwing away spam.'

Mr Rolfe declined to answer on whether NATS - or he himself following his personal windfall - should pay as a result of the disruption.

'At this point, my focus has been entirely on making sure we have recovered the system, which we did on Monday, we were running as normal by 2.30pm,' he said.

'We have been supporting and working very closely with the airline CEOs many of whom I've spoken to directly to make sure we absolutely get everyone to their destinations as quick as we possibly can, but most importantly, as safely as we possibly can.'

Mr Walsh estimated that the chaos will cost airlines around 100million.

He said: 'It's very unfair because the air traffic control system which was at the heart of this failure doesn't pay a single penny.'

Passengers are pictured at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 as the air traffic chaos continues

The impact continued today with at least a further 42 flights to or from Heathrow cancelled.

Many affected travellers are being told to wait several days for flights home.

READ MORE: Family of eight are stuck in Gran Canaria for a third day and running out of insulin for their young niece after catastrophic IT failure Advertisement

Some have been forced to sleep on airport floors or take long routes by land after their flights were cancelled.

Airlines were criticised for failing to book hotel rooms for many people who were delayed overnight.

Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: 'We're seeing worrying reports of passengers being left stranded without support, and airlines failing to properly communicate with their passengers or fulfil their legal obligations such as offering timely rerouting or providing overnight accommodation.

'In particular, travellers should be aware that their airline has a responsibility to reroute them as soon as possible, even if that means buying them a ticket with a rival carrier - a rule that some airlines appear to be ignoring.

'Passengers should also be given food and refreshments and overnight accommodation if required.'

EasyJet is operating five repatriation flights to Gatwick, with the first two setting off today.

The airline said: 'During this traditionally very busy week for travel, options for returning to the UK are more limited on some routes and so easyJet will be operating five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days from Palma and Faro on August 30, and Tenerife and Enfidha on August 31, and from Rhodes on September 1.

'We are also operating larger aircraft on key routes including Faro, Ibiza, Dalaman and Tenerife to provide some additional 700 seats this week.'

There is speculation the ATC failure was caused by a French airline submitting a flight plan to Nats in the wrong format.

Downing Street did not rule out that possibility, while Nats declined to comment on whether that was what happened.

The problem resulted in flights to and from UK airports being restricted for several hours on Monday afternoon while flight plans were checked manually.

This caused the cancellation of around 1,500 flights on Monday, with a further 300 axed on Tuesday due to aircraft and crews being out of position.

Mr Rolfe said Nats is working closely with the Civil Aviation Authority to provide a preliminary report into what happened to Transport Secretary Mark Harper.

The conclusions of the inquiry will be made public, he added.
Hurricane Idalia strengthened to a 'catastrophic and dangerous' Category 4 storm Wednesday morning as it steamed toward Florida's Big Bend region, threatening to unleash lethal storm surges and torrential rainfall on helpless citizens.

Idalia was projected to come ashore early Wednesday as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of up to 156 mph in the Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula.

Huge swathes of communities on the Florida coastline are already underwater, with several major roads closed and some 50,000 left without power amid the deluge.

Now, as dawn breaks on this fateful day, the haunting echoes of last year's Hurricane Ian are still fresh, a painful reminder of the vulnerability that Florida's residents face.

But the bay-hugging Big Bend area hasn't seen the likes of such a ferocious hurricane in living memory, leading the National Weather Service in Tallahassee to call Idalia 'an unprecedented event'.

Hurricanes are measured on a five category scale, with a Category 5 being the strongest. A Category 3 storm is the first on the scale considered a major hurricane.

The National Hurricane Center warns that 'catastrophic damage will occur' when a Category 4 hurricane unleashes its fury.

As the clock ticks and the storm draws closer, the gravity of the situation becomes more apparent.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis solemnly told residents yesterday evening: 'You really gotta go now. Now is the time.'

And on the island of Cedar Key, Commissioner Sue Colson delivered a chillingly short and direct message.

'One word: Leave,' Colson said. 'It's not something to discuss.'

This is frightening sight of Hurricane Idalia from Space which has been just upgraded to Category 4 storm!



Brace yourself florida, Cat 4 incoming!#HurricaneIdalia #Florida pic.twitter.com/Vfyr79dlG5  Vishal Verma (@VishalVerma_9) August 30, 2023

NEW: Storm surge already invading the roads of Cedar Key, Florida well ahead of Hurricane Idalia. 12-16 feet of storm surge expected @accuweather pic.twitter.com/jXIeluVGXK  Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerAccu) August 30, 2023

Hurricane Idalia is expected to make landfallthis morning in the Big Bend area of Florida, north of Tampa. The storm is expected to strengthen further, possibly becoming a major Category 4 hurricanepic.twitter.com/gOwkCu31FW  Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 30, 2023

3 am advisory, Hurricane #Idalia with a pressure of 944 mb. and winds of 120 mph. Storm surge now coming onshore in multiple locations. Delayed landfall now approximately aimed for 8-9 am eastern time. A sudden, last minute jog to the NE is occurring right now this is what pic.twitter.com/LMAcwyG3Nk  Backpirch Weather (@BackpirchCrew) August 30, 2023
The huge amount of detritus left behind was branded 'apocalyptic' by some

Festival-goers who abandoned their tents and rubbish leaving 'apocalyptic scenes' after Leeds Festival have been blasted as 'utterly appalling' by those tasked with the clean-up.

Jack Lowe entered the site to salvage tents for a refugee charity and said he had never seen litter on such an enormous scale with many tents abandoned and slashed rendering them useless for reuse.

Posting a horrifying video of rubbish littering once serene Bramham Park outside the city, he Tweeted: 'It's going to take us a while to digest what we saw when we went to help salvage tents and equipment for a refugee charity at the end of Leeds Festival yesterday.

'This is just a fraction of it - littering on the grandest scale we've ever witnessed. Utterly appalling.'

One follower simply replied 'Unbelievable' to which Jack responded: 'Literally that, George. We were truly overwhelmed.

Rubbish and discarded tents cover the landscape at Leeds Festival following the three day festival

Some tents had been slashed and abandoned following the festivities

The huge surplus of mess left behind led to some to blast the revellers as 'utterly appalling'

In a video clip, Mr Lowe showed how hundreds of tents had just been abandoned at the site

In the rush to get home many revellers had decided to leave everything they came with

'The sheer scale is hard to convey or comprehend. Even after being there for a few hours, we were still aghast as we drove away.'

Jack is one of a team who go onto the festival site after revellers have left to try and bag any unbroken tents.

They are given to refugees in France for shelter.

But Jack said he saw many of the left-behind tents had been slashed - meaning they are only fit for the bin.

The festival, which ended on Sunday, attracted around 90,000 festivalgoers and featured acts including Billie Eilish, The Killers, Foals, Sam Fender and Lewis Capaldi.

'Surely the organisers conduct a clean up operation after the event, the cost if which will be included in ticket prices of those who attended,' one responder asked.

But Jack replied: 'The financial cost maybe, but not the cost to the planet.'

It is likely that the full clan up operation for the festival will take days

Thousands of pieces of litter has been discarded across the site

Before they left, festivalgoers were pictured enjoying the music and a few drinks at the Leeds Festival

The sun was only out for portions of the weekend with revellers battling the elements throughout

Many festival-goers were forced to wear panchos during periods of heavy downpour in Leeds

Festival Republic's Managing Director Melvin Benn had previously said that the organiser's factor in people leaving their tents into their clean up.

He said: 'We work really hard on making sure that people recycle and take their belongings home with them.

'Most people do, some people don't. Some people are untidy and we have to tidy up after them.'

Yesterday there were similar scenes at Reading Festival where 105,000 people had spent the weekend.

Aerial shots showed the huge extent of the litter left behind by music fans following the culmination of the three-day festival.

A mass clean-up of the site was initiated as campers packed up their bags and set off for the home comforts of a warm shower and a proper toilet.

Reading Festival fans leave the site early on an overcast Bank Holiday Monday morning
A six-times married black widower' has been convicted for a second time of murdering his sixth wife and the hitman he hired to murder her, after the state's Supreme Court ruled a retrial was needed.

Thomas Randolph, the 68-year-old killer who was the subject of the 2021 Dateline miniseries 'The Widower', stared straight ahead without emotion as jurors in Nevada read out the guilty verdict last week.

It was his second time being convicted of the crime, as a previous case was overturned on appeal.

At both his most recent and 2017 trial, prosecutors accused him of arranging for his friend and handyman Michael Miller to kill his sixth wife, Sharon Causse, in what would've appeared to have been a home invasion, in order to collect more than $300,000 in life insurance payouts.

Sharon died in May 2008 after Miller, masked and armed, broke into Randolph's house in Nevada and shot her dead.

But in a shocking twist, Randolph, who sat on death row for several years after his first conviction, betrayed his former friend and shot him dead.

Prosecutors say they aren't going for the death penalty given how old Thomas Randolph (pictured in a Nevada court house in 2017) is

Becky Gault (left) was found with a bullet lodged in her head, through Randolph was never convicted of her murder. Gayna Allmon (right) told Nevada jurors that she believes he tried to kill her in an attempted shooting while they were married

Several of Randolph's ex-wives, including Kathryn Thomas (right), testified in his trials, painting a picture of a manipulative and violent man. Sharon Causse is pictured left

Family members of his victims were overjoyed to hear that Randolph was re-convicted for the murder.

Colleen Beyer, the daughter of Sharon Causse, clasped her hands to her mouth when the verdict was read out.

She told the Las Vegan Review-Journal: 'I'm so relieved, it's unbelievable. It's been 15 years, and it's been a twisted nightmare.

'I'm absolutely ecstatic and thrilled and relieved that he's off the streets  that he cannot do this to another woman again. Because he's a predator, he's a serious predator,' she said through tears.

Randolph maintained his innocence ever since prosecutors began investigating him in connection with Sharon's murder.

While the 2017 Nevada jury convicted him of both Causse's and Miller's murders, the state's Supreme Court overturned the case in 2020, arguing that local prosecutors shouldn't have used 'prior bad-act evidence.'

Juries in both the 2017 and 2023 trials heard evidence from and about several of his ex-wives, which painted a picture of a violent, abusive and manipulative man who had a pattern of marrying, then abusing women.

Randolph, pictured here in the 2021 Dateline miniseries called 'The Widower', will be sentenced in October

Randolph hired Michael Miller (pictured) to kill his then-wife Sharon and make it look like a botched home invasion

Kathryn Thomas

Thomas married his first wife in 1975 when she was just 18 years old and he was 20.

During Randolph's first trial, Kathryn, who divorced him in 1983, told jurors that he was a controlling, manipulative and psychologically abusive person.

She revealed an incident when he threw a bowl of oatmeal at the wall because it didn't have sugar on it.

After remarrying, she and her new husband reportedly moved several states away to Washington to get some distance between themselves and Randolph.

Becky Gault

Prosecutors told jurors Becky was found dead with a bullet in her skull in the home she shared with Randolph just three years after she married him.

The couple got married on the same day in 1983 when his divorce with Kathryn Thomas was finalized.

Randolph received a $500,000 life insurance payout after her death was initially ruled a suicide.

He was later charged, and acquitted, for her murder after cops discovered the sick killer used to sing songs about murdering her.

He also hired a hitman to kill her, who ended up being a police officer.

While Randolph pleaded guilty to witness tampering, he was never convicted of her murder.

Gayna Allmon

Randolph's third wife, Gayna told jurors at his first trial she believes that Randolph tried to kill her in an attempted shooting.

She revealed when they were married, Randolph shot at her while cleaning his gun.

The bullet left a hole in their kitchen, and she believed her life was in danger after that.

Randolph did not allow Francis Thomas' daughter to see her while she was hospitalized

Francis Thomas

While Francis died in the hospital in 2004 following botched heart surgery, a witness, Glen Morrison, told jurors he was asked by Randolph to kill her and to stage the crime scene as a robbery, in an eerily similar way to how his then-future wife Sharon Causse died.

Francis' daughter was allegedly not allowed to visit her mother while she was sick.

On top of this, Randolph reportedly cremated Francis' body less than 24 hours after she died.

While he was married to Leona Stapleton, his fifth wife, there is little public knowledge about her. Her family told the court during his first trial that she had died of cancer.

District Judge Tierra Jones has scheduled Randolph's sentencing for October 12.

Prosecutors previously said that given Randolph's age, they are not seeking the death penalty.
Lucy Letby's former boss claims he was 'persuaded' to take another top job by a senior NHS chief after the neonatal nurse was arrested for murdering babies.

Tony Chambers, who was chief executive of the Countess of Chester NHS Trust at the time the killer struck, said in a now-deleted blog post that he was urged to take another role in London as police probed the deaths.

Letby, 33, was given a whole-life order earlier this month after being convicted of seven murders and six attempted murders of babies at the hospital in Cheshire.

Mr Chambers, accused of attempting to clamp down on whistleblowers who had concerns about Letby, resigned from his 160,000-a-year role there just weeks after the nurse was detained in September 2018.

A source told the Mail he stepped down following a vote of no confidence in him at an 'extraordinary' meeting of the medical staff committee, which included consultants, that same month.

Lucy Letby's former boss claims he was 'persuaded' to take another top job by a senior NHS chief after the neonatal nurse was arrested for murdering babies

Tony Chambers (pictured right, alongside Camilla), who was chief executive of the Countess of Chester NHS Trust at the time the killer struck, said in a now-deleted blog post that he was urged to take another role in London as police probed the deaths

But in January 2020, as detectives stepped up their investigation into the tragedies, Mr Chambers was appointed interim CEO of the Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust, in east London.

He explained the move in a blog post on the trust's website shortly after the appointment, which has since been deleted but was seen by BBC News before being removed.

It read: 'Having had a long and varied career in the NHS I've made lots of friends, including Sir David Sloman, the NHS Regional Director for London.

'He's been trying to persuade me to come and work in London for a number of years, and I saw this as an opportunity to do something different.'

Sources claimed Mr Chambers was appointed to lead the London trust after being effectively blocked from getting similar jobs in the north-west of England.

It comes after Dr Stephen Brearey, senior paediatrician at the Countess of Chester Hospital, revealed how Mr Chambers warned consultants there would be 'consequences' if they raised concerns about Letby.

Dr Brearey also claimed that the hospital chief insisted they apologise to the nurse.

At the time of Mr Chambers' departure, the hospital trust's chairman Sir Duncan Nichol said he accepted his resignation 'with great regret'.

However, a senior source said that Sir Duncan made sure Mr Chambers did not receive other parting benefits.

NHS executives may be eligible for perks including pension contributions, reimbursements for legal fees or tax advice, and even a company car when they leave office - but Mr Chambers was given none of these.

He has not been found guilty of any misconduct.

Letby, 33, was given a whole-life order earlier this month after being convicted of seven murders and six attempted murders of babies at the hospital in Cheshire

Mr Chambers said he was 'persuaded' to take a top job in the capital by Sir David Sloman, the NHS Regional Director for London

The 57-year-old served as interim chief executive at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust for five months from August 2021 to January 2022, when he was informed by a phone call that he would not be appointed permanently.

Last week, it was reported Mr Chambers' attempt to become permanent chief executive of Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust was halted by ex-staff who were 'outraged and distressed' following his handling of Letby's case.

He most recently held a senior position at Queen Victoria Hospital in West Sussex, where he earned 60,000 for four months' work before stepping down in May - shortly after Letby began testifying in her trial.

Mr Chambers, himself a former nurse, is believed to have earned over 500,000 between January 2020 and June 2022 and had amassed a 1.08million pension pot when he left the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2018.

He told BBC's Panorama his comments to consultants had been taken out of context, denied telling colleagues that Letby had 'done nothing wrong' and says he was paraphrasing a comment made by her father.

In a statement after Letby's conviction, he said: 'All my thoughts are with the children at the heart of this case and their families and loved ones at this incredibly difficult time.

'I am truly sorry for what all the families have gone through. The crimes are appalling and I am deeply saddened by what has come to light. As chief executive, my focus was on the safety of the baby unit and the wellbeing of patients and staff.

'I was open and inclusive as I responded to information and guidance. There are always lessons to be learned and the best place for this to be achieved would be through an independent inquiry. I will cooperate fully and openly.'
The supposed wife of Wagner's notorious warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin seen at his funeral on Tuesday was actually the spouse of his body double, it has been claimed.

A sad looking woman who was seen at the Porokhovskoye graveyard was earlier identified as the warlord's reclusive wife Lyubov Prigozhina, 52.

But later Russian media outlets made the extraordinary claim that it was in fact Irina Krasavina, the spouse of his main body double Leonid Krasavin, who actually attended the St Petersburg necropolis.

A funeral was held yesterday for Prigozhin, shrouded in secrecy and under tight security a week after the Russian warlord was reportedly killed in a plane crash that the Kremlin said today could have been caused by 'deliberate wrongdoing'.

Despite Russia officially declaring Prigozhin had died in the crash, speculation remains rife over who was behind it - and whether he was on the aircraft at all, with some suggesting the funeral and official statements are all part of an elaborate ruse.

A week after he was killed in a plane crash over Russia, a funeral was held yesterday for Wagner's notorious chief Yevgeny Prigozhin - under tight security and secrecy

A woman attending Prigozhin's funeral on Tuesday (circled) who was first identified as his widow Irina Krasavina has been claimed to actually be the wife of his body double

According to Proekt, an independent Russian news outlet, Leonid Krasavin (left) is at least one of Prigozhin's known body doubles he used as a means of protection

Pictured: A passport bearing Prigozhin's name but with a picture of Leonid Krasavin

Left: Irina Krasavina, wife of Yevgeny Prigozhin's main body double Leonid Krasavin. Right: Lyubov Prigozhina, widow of Yevgeny Prigozhin

No body was displayed during the ceremony, and a ring of armed guards were stationed around the cemetery to prevent well wishers or supporters from getting close to the grave, which bore a religious 'dead or alive' message on its headstone.

Only a select few guest attended, with Prigozhin's widow and daughter initially understood to be among them.

Today, however, suspicions of a cover up have been fuelled further with claims from the Telegram channel Baza - which has known ties to Russian security services - that the woman first said to be Prigozhin's widow was actually the wife of his double.

Billionaire Progozhin was known to use body doubles, and famously had multiple disguises himself.

'The wife of Yevgeny Prigozhin's double visited his grave the day after the funeral,' reported the Baza channel.

'Journalists [initially] confused the wife of Prigozhin's double [Irina Krasavina] with the real widow of the owner of Wagner PMC [Lyubov].' She was evidently accompanied at the grave by Polina Prigozhina, 31, Prigozhin's eldest daughter.

According to Proekt, an independent Russian news outlet, Leonid Krasavin is at least one of Prigozhin's known body doubles he used as a means of protection.

This was established when three passports in Prigozhin's name but bearing Krasavin's photographs were found during searches of his home, which also uncovered pictures of Prigozhin wearing a variety of disguises.

Proekt has reported that Krasavin is a former convict from St Petersburg who changed his full name to become the Wagner leader's namesake.

The surprise appearance of the Krasavin's 'wife' comes as the Kremlin said 'deliberate wrongdoing' is among the possible causes of the plane crash.

Speaking to reporters during his daily conference call, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that 'different versions' of what happened exist and 'are being considered', including 'let's put this way, deliberate wrongdoing'.

He urged reporters to wait until the probe by the Russian Investigative Committee is concluded, and said there cannot be an international investigation into the events.

The committee said last week it has opened a criminal case on charges of flight safety violations, a standard charge used in plane crash investigations in Russia when there is no immediate reason to suspect foul play.

Earlier today it was reported that Moscow is acting to cover-up the circumstances of the crash by refusing to probe it under international rules, with Brazil revealing Moscow is refusing to probe the crash under international rules.

Brazilian officials said Moscow had informed its aviation investigation authority that it would not investigate the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet, which plummeted from the sky on August 23 en route to St Petersburg.

Speculation remains rife over whether Prigozhin was truly on the aircraft, with some suggesting the funeral and public statements are all part of an elaborate ruse involving a body double. Pictured: A man wearing a shirt with the logo of Wagner group stands next to the grave of Prigozhin at the Pokrovskoye cemetery in Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 30

A woman reporte dto be Yevgeny Prigozhin's widow Lyubov Prigozhina (third from left) and his daughter Polina, (fourth from left) are seen leaving the cemetery in St Petersburg on Tuesday after attending a funeral service for the Wagner warlord. However, a claim has been made that it is not Prigozhina seen in this photo, but actually the wife of Prigozhin's body double

In this image taken from video, smoke and flames rise from a crashed private jet - belonging to Yevgeny Prigozhin - near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region, Russia, August 23

The Kremlin has denied it had any involvement in the crash which killed - according to official accounts - ten people. The dead included Prigozhin, two top lieutenants of his Wagner Group and four bodyguards.

READ MORE: Putin suffers his worst night of bombardment since invading Ukraine Advertisement

But analysts say the suspicious crash was retribution meted out by Vladimir Putin.

The crash came two months to the day after Prigozhin and his mercenaries staged a brief mutiny against the Russian military that posed the biggest challenge to the Russian president's rule since he rose to power in 1999.

For many, it was a surprise that the man known as 'Putin's Chef' lasted as long as he did after humiliating the Russian tyrant so publicly. But others have suggested Prigozhin is not dead at all, and was not buried in the ceremony on Tuesday.

The Wagner warlord was buried at a cemetery held on the outskirts of his hometown of St Petersburg at around 1pm local time with just a small group in attendance.

Red, white and yellow flowers were laid on the grave while a wooden cross towered above, bearing a message written in Russian. 'Mother says to Christ: Are you my son or my God? You're nailed to the cross, how will I go home?' it read.

'How will I step on the threshold, not understanding, not deciding: Are you my son or God? That is, dead or alive.

'He says in response: Dead or alive, no difference, woman. Son or God, I am yours,'

But extraordinary claims persist that Prigozhin had not boarded the plane and thus had cheated death in the crash.

Prigozhin is 'alive, well, and free' in an unnamed country, according to political analysts Dr Valery Solovey, a former professor at Moscow's prestigious Institute of International Relations, a training school for spies and diplomats.

Dr Solovey claims that Prigozhin put his body double on the plane, and is now plotting his revenge against those that targeted him.

He also claims that the Russian authorities lied about finding his DNA on a corpse, and that Prigozhin is in hiding in an unnamed country.

'First, the plane in which Prigozhin was supposed to fly was downed by a Russian air defence system,' he said, challenging US intelligence claims that the plane was destroyed by a blast on board.

'There was no explosion on board. It was downed from the outside.'

The secret operation to carry out this strike 'was developed in [Russia's] Security Council, and was sanctioned personally by the Russian president.'

The warlord is now 'alive, well, and free', Solovey claims.

'Prigozhin himself was not on board. His double was flying instead of him. By the way, Vladimir Putin is perfectly aware of that.

'If you believe official statements of the Russian authorities, then what can I say?'

Dr Solovey said he would reveal Prigozhin's supposed country of exile early next month but denied it was in Africa where Wagner has multiple interests.

Suspicions that Russia is not telling the full truth about Prigozhin's fate were also raised by the huge security presence at the ceremony on Tuesday.

Scores of police and security personnel formed a ring around the cemetery.

People were banned from entering even through metal detectors hastily erected at the site and officers carried anti-drone guns.

Some commented that it was 'the most protected cemetery in the world'. It was also noted that Prigozhin's body was not seen at any point during the funeral.

Prigozhin was known to use an elaborate array of disguises (pictured), raising suspicions that there could be more than meets the eye to reports of his death last week

A view shows the grave of Wagner private mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who Russia says was killed in a private jet crash in the Tver region last week, at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in Saint Petersburg on August 30

Police guard at the entrance of the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia, August 29, where metal detectors were hastily erected

Heavy security is seen around the cemetery during the funeral ceremony of Yevgeny Prigozhin

Russian policemen scan the skies during the funeral of Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Porokhovskoye cemetery in St Petersburg, August 29

Meanwhile Brazil's Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA), in the interests of improving aviation safety, had said it would join a Russian-led investigation if it were invited and the probe held under international rules.

Russia's aviation authority was not obligated to work with the CENIPA, but some former investigators said it should, as the US and other Western governments suspect the Kremlin of being behind the crash of a plane that had a good safety record.

On Monday, a picture from the plane's crash site showed all the soil has been mysteriously removed by bulldozers. The reason for this is not clear.

Prigozhin was publicly critical of the way Moscow was carrying out its invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Montreal-based United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the flight from Moscow with a destination of St Petersburg was domestic, so it is not subject to international rules known throughout the industry by their legal name 'Annex 13.'

'They are not obliged, only recommended to do that,' CENIPA head Air Brigadier Marcelo Moreno said after the agency sent an email last week asking Russia whether it would open such a probe. 'But if they say they'll open the investigation and invite Brazil we will participate from afar.

The secrecy and confusion surrounding the decision, as well as the funeral of Prigozhin and his top lieutenants, reflected a dilemma faced by the Kremlin amid swirling speculation that the crash was likely a vendetta for his June 23-24 uprising.

While it tried to avoid any pomp-filled ceremony, the Kremlin could not afford to denigrate Prigozhin, who reportedly received Russia's highest award for leading Wagner forces in Ukraine and was idolised by many of the country's hawks.

Putin's comments on Prigozhin's death reflected that careful stand. He noted last week that Wagner leaders 'made a significant contribution' to the fighting in Ukraine and described Prigozhin as a 'talented businessman' and 'a man of difficult fate' who had 'made serious mistakes in life'.

On Monday, a picture showed all the soil has been mysteriously removed by bulldozers at the plane's main crash site. The reason for this is not clear

A view shows a portrait of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin at a makeshift memorial in Moscow, Russia August 24, 2023

A young woman lights a candle as others stand at an informal street memorial with flowers and lit candles for Wagner Group's members who were reportedly killed last week

Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, noted that Prigozhin has become a legendary figure for his supporters who are increasingly critical of the authorities.

'Prigozhin's funeral raises an issue of communication between the bureaucratic Russian government system that doesn't have much political potential and politically active patriotic segment of the Russian public,' Mr Markov said.

The country's top criminal investigation agency, the Investigative Committee, officially confirmed Prigozhin's death on Sunday.

The committee did not say what might have caused Prigozhin's business jet to plummet from the sky on August 23, minutes after taking off from Moscow for St Petersburg.

Just before the crash, Prigozhin had reportedly returned from a trip to Africa, where he sought to expand Wagner Group's activities.

A preliminary US intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused the plane to crash, and Western officials have pointed to a long list of Putin's foes who have been assassinated. The Kremlin rejected Western allegations the president was behind the crash as an 'absolute lie.'

Although both were from St Petersburg, Prigozhin and Putin were not known to be particularly close.

Prigozhin, an ex-convict who earned millions - and his nickname 'Putin's chef' - from lucrative government catering contracts, served Kremlin political interests and helped expand Russia's clout by sending his mercenaries to Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic and other countries.

Wagner, one of the most capable elements of Moscow's forces, played a key role in Ukraine where it captured the Ukrainian eastern stronghold of Bakhmut in late May.

The crash came exactly two months after the brutal and profane mercenary boss launched a rebellion against the Russian military leadership.

Prigozhin ordered his mercenaries to take over the military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and then began a march on Moscow. They downed several military aircraft, killing more than a dozen pilots.

Putin had vowed to punish the participants but hours later struck a deal that saw Prigozhin ending the mutiny in exchange for amnesty and permission for him and his troops to move to Belarus.

The fate of Wagner is uncertain.

Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) servicemen stand guard at the Porokhovskoye cemetery where a funeral was held for Wagner private mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin

Putin said Wagner fighters could sign a contract with the Russian military, move to Belarus or retire from service. Several thousand went to Belarus, where they are in a camp south-east of the capital, Minsk.

Russian state television, which for decades has served as the main source of information for the vast majority of Russians, barely covered the funeral at all.

One major channel, Russia 1, dedicated less than one minute of air time to it in its evening news bulletin, only to say that the funeral ceremony took place 'without outsiders and the press at the request of the family' and that Prigozhin's grave is right next to that of his father, who died in 1978.

Another popular station, Channel One, ignored it completely in its evening news.
An Australian who described the Christchurch massacre shooter as a 'hero' was allegedly planning a terrorist attack on home soil, a court has heard.

Joshua Lucas, 25, is standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court at Parramatta where he is battling allegations he was researching targets, bombs and weapons and planning for a terrorist event.

He was arrested during a raid on his home in Sanctuary Point, near Jervis Bay on the NSW South Coast, in March 2020 and has pleaded not guilty to doing acts in preparation for or planning a terrorist act.

The Crown prosecution has alleged he was motivated by white supremacist, anti-immigration and far right wing ideology.

The court heard on Wednesday that in online forums he had expressed support for Brenton Tarrant, the Australian-born terrorist who killed 51 people during the Christchurch attacks in 2019.

An Australian who described Christchurch massacre shooter Brenton Tarrant (pictured) as a 'hero' was allegedly planning a terrorist attack on home soil, a court has heard

He had posted copies of the terrorist's manifesto as well as footage of the attacks online.

He on one occasion posted on social media platform Telegram 'hell yeah race war now' in response to news stories reporting ISIS had called for revenge attacks for the Christchurch shooting, the court was told.

The court heard he also described Tarrant as an 'Australian hero' and 'freedom fighter' and had spray-painted a car with far right slogans and 'I heart Brenton'.

Crown prosecutor Robert Ranken told the jury during his opening address that Mr Lucas had allegedly scouted and carried out reconnaissance on potential targets including defence force facilities and places of religious worship.

The Crown has further alleged Mr Lucas had conducted internet searches and captured screenshots of mosques and synagogues in the Wollongong and South Coast region.

'The crown alleges the screenshot images were a part of research for potential targets for a terrorist act,' Mr Ranken told the court on Wednesday.

Joshua Lucas is standing trial in the Supreme Court at Parramatta

He also conducted reconnaissance at the HMAS Albatross navy station at Nowra and the West Tomerong electrical substation, according to the prosecution.

The prosecution has also alleged that he exploded several crude improvised explosive devices, made out of sparklers taped together, and had researched recipes for explosives and their precursor materials.

He posted in one Telegram chat that he was going to make the Oklahoma City bombing look like 'child's play', the court was told.

As well, he asked a friend to acquire a gun licence so he could obtain ammunition, the prosecution says.

He also bought military-style clothing and a so-called 'Boogaloo' survival kit.

'Boogaloo' is a term used by far right extremists for civil war.

'The accused took steps to acquire military-style clothing and items for use in the violent collapse of society,' Mr Ranken said.

The trial will continue on Tuesday with the opening address from Mr Lucas' defence.
A married police sergeant who used work computers 178 times to stalk and harass a junior colleague after she called off their affair has been jailed for 21 months.

Disgraced Justin Fraser, 51, used confidential police systems to check on the woman's whereabouts and gather 'evidence' she was having an affair with another colleague - an allegation which had no basis.

Fraser's campaign of harassment left her anxious and upset. He also reported the officer to her supervisor in an attempt to cause trouble for her.

Honorary Recorder at Preston Crown Court, Judge Robert Altham, said his actions were 'malicious' and so serious only an immediate prison sentence was justified.

The former response sergeant had previously received two commendations for bravery, including one for saving the life of a suicidal man. He retired from Lancashire Police before the investigation concluded.

Disgraced police sergeant Justin Fraser (pictured), 51, used confidential police systems to check on the woman's whereabouts

Honorary Recorder at Preston Crown Court (pictured), Judge Robert Altham, said Fraser's actions were 'malicious' and so serious only an immediate prison sentence was justified

Fraser, of Holliers Close, Liverpool, met the woman in 2015 when he was assigned as her tutor, the court heard. In December 2017, when they were working on the same team at Skelmersdale Police Station, they began a six-month affair, with Fraser saying he would leave his wife for her.

READ MORE: British Transport Police officer and her boyfriend who sold sick and dying kittens to customers in 280,000 scam are jailed for total of seven years Advertisement

However, when the woman ended the relationship, he continued to message her asking for another chance.

In February 2020, he visited her at home while she was recovering from surgery but became jealous when a friend's name popped up on her phone screen. He shouted at the woman causing her to cry and ask him to leave.

By June 2022, the woman had moved teams, but Fraser also took a job as acting sergeant, and later full time sergeant on the same team. During a work night out in Blackpool, Fraser messaged her, asking if she would give him another chance. The woman said she did not want a scene at a work event, but the messages continued into the night.

On June 26 last year, the woman blocked Fraser on WhatsApp after he accused her of having an affair with another colleague.

The following day he sent her a message on Instagram, saying he was going to speak to the other officer and told the woman to 'warn him'. The victim phoned Fraser in tears, begging him to leave her alone but the harassment continued.

Three days later, on June 30 she received a voicemail recording in which Fraser could be heard speaking to her sergeant.

Fraser claimed he had bodycam footage which proved she was having an affair. 'They are clearly sh******,' Fraser told the sergeant. In the hour that followed the woman received 12 blocked calls from Fraser.

Former Lancashire Police sergeant Justin Fraser (pictured) launched a campaign of harassment which left his victim feeling anxious and upset

'This incident with the voicemail was a sophisticated form of stalking, making a false report to her immediate supervisor using unlawfully obtained material, and ensuring it was transmitted to her voicemail,' Judge Altham said.

'Clearly a good deal of thought had gone into it to make sure it caused maximum distress.'

The junior officer's sergeant did not accept the footage showed any evidence of an affair - however he was concerned at how Fraser had obtained the footage from police computer systems.

The following month, Fraser was tasked to work at the same Lancashire police station as the colleague, and repeatedly stared at the officer as she was working in the parade room.

The woman moved seats to avoid him, but Fraser also moved seats to get a clearer view.

When the woman went to make drinks for her colleagues, Fraser approached her in the kitchen.

'It wasn't me who dobbed you in with the bodycam', he told her.

In September 2022, Fraser was arrested on suspicion of stalking and misuse of police computer systems.

An investigation showed he had unlawfully accessed the system where body worn camera footage was stored in order to check on the woman. He had also used other computer systems to check the location of her and her colleague, who he accused her of having an affair with.

Fraser checked on the woman 178 times and her male colleague 71 times - all of which were unlawful.

He pleaded guilty to stalking and misuse of police computer systems and appeared at Preston Crown Court to be sentenced.

In a victim statement, the woman said her mental health had suffered and she had taken additional time off work.

Her work had been affected and she felt marginalised by colleagues as a result of Fraser's treatment of her, she said.

The court heard Fraser, who served in the army, had PTSD, depression and anxiety, however Judge Altham said he did not see how that would have led to the offending.

The judge said: 'You accessed police systems to try and get your victim into trouble for having an affair, when you yourself had an affair with her.

'It was plainly a malicious thing to do. You say you never appreciated that your use of the computer systems was a criminal matter. That simply cannot be true.

'You seek to paint a wholly unrealistic picture of yourself. Your stalking is aggravated by you being in a position of trust with a junior colleague.

'You are a senior police officer, expected to use your position to uphold, rather than to break the law.'

He sentenced Fraser to 21 months for stalking, with a month to run concurrently for misuse of the police computer systems.

Judge Altham said: 'A person in your position, misusing computer systems to harass a junior colleague over a period of time is too serious to be met with anything other than immediate custody.

'I doubt that rehabilitation would be effective as you do not seem to appreciate what you have done.'

Judge Altham also made a restraining order, preventing Fraser from contacting his victim directly or indirectly for seven years.

Fraser retired from Lancashire Police before the investigation into his offending had concluded, and no longer works as a police officer.
An Australian tourist has died after plunging from the sixth floor of a car park at an airport in Thailand.

The body of Justin Beasly, 50, was discovered in a parking bay for motorcycles at the Phuket International Airport complex on Tuesday night.

Authorities arrived at the scene after a security guard reported the man's death to local police about 8.30pm.

'The deceased was found face-down in the motorcycle parking area of the airport,' Police Captain Suport Muangkhai from Sakhu Police station said.

Mr Beasly's (pictured right) niece Kia Tai O'Connor (pictured left) expressed concerns over her uncle's welfare after he was last seen on Sunday making his way towards Nanai road in Patong

Mr Beasly was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, black shorts and a pair of leather shoes at the time of his death.

According to the Bangkok Post, CCTV footage captured the man arriving at the airport alone.

He was then seen walking along a road to the car park before he entered the building and took a lift up to the sixth floor.

Police said the man was seen tearing up bank notes before he fell.

Mr Beasly had arrived in Thailand on August 24 but then left a few days later.

He came back on August 28 and booked himself into a hotel in Patong, a resort on west coast of Phuket in southern Thailand.

Police said Mr Beasly tore up bank notes before he died

According to police, Mr Beasly did not have a ticket to fly out of the country.

He had previously been to Phuket on April 11 before he left on April 23.

His niece Kia Tai O'Connor reported her uncle missing on Monday night after she posted an alert on the Phuket Expats Facebook group.

'Has anyone seen my uncle?' she wrote. 'We are concerned about him'.

According to Ms O'Connor, a staff member of the hotel where Mr Beasly was staying at, saw him making his way towards Nanai road in Patong on Sunday.

Police Captain Suporn said officials are investigating the incident.

'The police are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the Australian's death and [we] have also been in contact with the Australian Embassy in Thailand to inform his relatives,' he said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade declined to provide further details to Daily Mail due to privacy concerns.

'The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian man who died in Phuket,' a spokesperson said.

'We send our deepest condolences to the family during this difficult time,'.

For free mental health support call Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14
The turf war between Labour and the Lib Dems over the Mid Beds by-election could save the Tories, according to a polling guru.

Professor Sir John Curtice said the squabbling between the opposition parties could see the Conservatives cling on even if their vote 'collapses'.

Unlike other recent by-elections, neither Labour nor the Lib Dems are willing to step aside to give the other a clear run at the contest - triggered by the resignation of former culture secretary Nadine Dorries.

Ed Davey's party has reportedly been circulating material criticising Labour's choice of candidate and insisting there is a 'ceiling' to its support.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey eating cake with by-election candidate Emma Holland-Lindsay on a visit to Mid Beds yesterday

Keir Starmer's allies have been talking up Labour's chances of victory in Mid Beds. He is pictured visiting the seat last month

Sir John told PoliticsHome that splitting the anti-Tory vote could be decisive in what has traditionally been an ultra true-blue constituency.

'If there is any by-election where the Tories can hold on to the seat amid difficult circumstances, it's probably Mid Bedfordshire, because both parties (Labour and the Lib Dems) are determined to fight the seat,' he said.

'The Tory vote could collapse but they could still hang on to it. So, perhaps the thing we should be looking at is not who wins, but by how much the Tory vote goes down.'

Tory gloom about their prospects in Mid Beds has been heightened by polls consistently showing Labour with a double-digit lead nationally.

The by-election is expected to happen in October, as the 'writ' can only be moved when Parliament returns on September 4. The contest then happens between 21 and 27 working days later.

Ms Dorries formally resigned yesterday, having penned a damning letter over the weekend demanding Mr Sunak returns to vote-winning Conservative policies.

She predicted he would lead the party to defeat at the next general election - and refused to say whether she would vote Tory herself.

Polling guru Sir John Curtice said Rishi Sunak (pictured) could have a lifeline in the by-election if Labour and the Lib Dems split the anti-Tory vote

Tory gloom about their prospects of holding on in what is typically an ultra-safe constituency have been heightened by polls consistently showing Labour with a double-digit lead nationally

Downing Street has maintained a careful silence on Ms Dorries' critique as the PM desperately tries not to fuel infighting.

Speaking on a visit to a new-build housing estate near Norwich yesterday, Mr Sunak told broadcasters: 'I'm grateful to Nadine for her service both as an MP and a minister.

'We are looking forward, and delighted to support our fantastic candidate in Mid Beds, Festus Akinbusoye, who is the local candidate, the only local candidate in this election; also the local police and crime commissioner.'

Held by the Tories for almost a century, Mid Beds has become a safe seat under Ms Dorries, with her majority increasing from 11,355 in 2005 to 24,664 in 2019.
An active blaze known as the Tiger Island Fire, the largest wildfire in Louisianas recorded history, continues to wreak havoc on the southwestern part of the state and is still growing, officials say.

Over 33,000 acres have already burned in southwestern Louisiana, fed by unusual levels of drought and heat, and the blaze was only 50% contained as of Tuesday morning.

In the past month, roughly 600 wildfires in the state were detected, and officials say they expect the number to grow in the upcoming weeks.

This is not done. We expect a dry September. So we got to be prepared for this and all work together until the rain comes  and then we can get back to life, Mike Strain, the commissioner for Louisianas Department of Agriculture and Forestry, said Tuesday.

The fire reportedly doubled in size over the weekend and continues to plague rural communities.

The entire town of Merryville, located just east of the Texas border with a population of 1,200, was forced to evacuate. So far, 20 buildings in the town including barns and homes have been either damaged or destroyed.

Officials claim that much of the damage could have been avoided had Louisiana residents followed the statewide burn ban which was put into place back in August.

In the region where the Tiger Island Fire continues to rage, over 20 citations were handed out Monday to those who violated the ban, according to Gov. John Bel Edwards.

There simply is not an excuse to be burning anything outside right now, he said Tuesday.

Edwards added that the wildfires might be the new normal in Louisiana, due to climate change fueled by the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and other agricultural practices.

About half of the state has experienced extreme or exceptional drought this year in addition to triple-digit temperatures this summer, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Edwards declared a state of emergency for Louisiana earlier this month, saying that he would invest more funds, effort and personnel to combat the rising problem of wildfires in the future.

With News Wire Services
Prince Harry's Invictus Games documentary will not be enough to pull off a 'rebrand' for the Duke and his wife Meghan Markle because 'the damage has already been done', a commentator said today.

Imarn Ayton, an anti-racism activist, praised new Netflix documentary Heart Of Invictus as 'inspirational' but said it did not change her view of the Sussexes - who were now associated with 'insincerity, betrayal and fuelling the culture wars'.

She told Good Morning Britain: 'It reminds me of why I used to like him in the first place - it was very inspirational. But in terms of the rebrand, I don't actually think it's going to work. The damage has already been done.'

Journalist and Sussex supporter Tiwa Adebayo denied her suggestion that the Sussexes were in need of 'rehabilitating' their image because they had been 'incredibly successful'.

She cited Spare as an example as well as Meghan's podcast, Archetypes, noting that it was 'number one in six countries' before later being dropped by Spotify. 'Look how respected they are by their peers  just this week Meghan's mum was pictured with Kim Kardashian,' Ms Adebayo said.

Imarn Ayton, an anti-racism activist, praised new Netflix documentary Heart Of Invictus as 'inspirational' but said it did not change her negative view of the Sussexes

Prince Harry appearing alongside his wife Meghan Markle on the documentary, which was released today

Explaining why she believes the Sussexes' brand has been irreparably damaged, Ms Ayton said: 'The biggest issue is the fact they've done this weird transition from full-blown celebrity to full-blown royalty.

READ MORE Meghan Markle makes brief cameos in Prince's Harry's Netflix series about Invictus Games Advertisement

'And so as much as this documentary is helpful it doesn't negate the fact that the damage has been done. There will forever be a cohort within the UK and abroad that will associate this couple with insincerity, betrayal and fuelling the culture wars.'

Today's documentary also saw the Duke make another apparent swipe at his family as he claimed he did not have a support network after he returned from serving in Afghanistan and his trauma was 'never discussed'.

But Sky News royal correspondent Laura Bundock said Heart of Invictus was 'very very different' from Netflix's earlier bombshell series, Harry & Meghan.

She said: 'He talks about his own experience really being the reason that Invictus Games came about, it's where it stemmed from, his own personal experience serving in the military and then of course his tour in Afghanistan which we now learnt did trigger the trauma of losing his mother aged 12.

'Before you think ''Harry on Netflix, here we go again'', this is a very, very different series to what we've heard before.'

She continued: 'There have been a lot of sides to Harry, we've heard a lot of Harry, he's exposed a lot of himself. But this is Harry on much more comfortable territory. Invictus Games is something that is very personal to him. It's a cause he clearly cares about a lot and one he is keen to promote.

'And after I think a year in which there has been a lot of negativity around things Harry has done, things Harry has said, this does feel perhaps like a positive step forward.

'Even those who might have been critics of Harry in the past would certainly agree that the Invictus Games is a positive project from him, something that has achieved a huge amount - it is seen widely as a success story.'

Ms Bundock added: 'As for the Royal Family, who are on holiday in Balmoral, this will be one Harry show they probably won't mind watching.'

Journalist Tiwa Adebayo (right) denied her suggestion that the Sussexes were in need of 'rehabilitating' their image because they had been 'incredibly successful'

Meanwhile, GB News royal correspondent Cameron Walker said watching the series felt like 'having the old Prince Harry back'.

'It takes the focus off him, his problems and trauma, and puts the focus back on veterans,' he said.

'It's perhaps why we see the Prince and Princess of Wales being quite so popular with the British public - they shine the spotlight off themselves and onto their charity work.

'And that's what we're seeing with Prince Harry now within this documentary.'

He added: 'There is a very little bit of Meghan. She's very much in the background in a supporting role. It's Harry giving the interviews.

'Prince Harry avoids the fact that he is a member of the Royal Family within this documentary. And the question for Netflix is, well, is this going to rate?'

Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, posing with Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian. Today on Good Morning Britain, a commentator said the image was proof Meghan Markle was 'respected by her peers'

The Duke of Sussex is at the forefront of the five-part documentary, with his wife Meghan Markle appearing only briefly in several scenes where she supports him.

Harry also told the programme that he was not aware of the trauma he still had from his mother Princess Diana dying in Paris in August 1997 when he was aged just 12.

Harry said that when he returned from war in 2008, the 'biggest struggle for me was no one around me really could help', adding: 'I didn't have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me.'

He also told the show: 'Unfortunately like most of us the first time you consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the foetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously. And that's what I really want to change.'

As the Sussexes' latest project in their 80million deal with Netflix was released this morning, Harry also described himself as a father-of-two, dog owner and husband.

At the start, the Duke of Sussex was asked by an interviewer: 'What's your name?', and replied: 'My name's Harry.' The interviewer then said: 'What do you do, Harry?'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are seen at the Invictus Games in The Hague in April last year

Harry said: 'What do I do? On any given day? I'm a dad of two under three year olds, got a couple of dogs, husband, I'm founding patron of Invictus Games Foundation. There's lots of hats that one wears, but I believe today is all about Invictus.'

Also in the documentary, Harry and Meghan were seen in a private moment together before a speech at the Salute to Freedom Gala for military veterans in New York in November 2021, and the Duke was heard confiding in the Duchess about his nerves.

Harry was heard saying: 'We haven't done this for a while.' Meghan added: 'I know.' Harry said: 'My heart like digidigadigadiga' and paced around nervously backstage.

All five episodes of the docuseries were made available at 8am UK time (midnight California time), following prior speculation that it had been cancelled by Netflix.

The show has been released ahead of next month's Invictus Games which will be in Dusseldorf from September 9 over eight days and attended by Harry and Meghan.

Harry is its executive producer and the show forms part of the Sussexes' deal with Netflix  with their main output so far being last year's controversial Harry & Meghan documentary which included a series of swipes at members of the Royal Family.

The six-part series last December saw the couple accuse Kensington Palace of lying to protect Prince William.

Pressure is on the Invictus documentary to be a ratings success, after the couple's other lucrative media deal with Spotify ended in June after one season of Meghan's podcast Archetypes. Netflix unveiled its first trailer for the series on August 16.

It comes after Netflix paid 3million for the film rights to Carley Fortune's romantic novel Meet Me At The Lake which Harry and Meghan will produce for the service.
A black PE teacher sacked after accusing her white head master of discrimination has won her case of unfair dismissal and victimisation.

Louise Lewis suggested to Andrew Fell that he may have breached equality laws after he launched disciplinary proceedings against her, an employment tribunal heard.

As the leader of a multicultural school, the new head - who was inexperienced and had yet to develop a 'rhinoceros skin' - was floored by the accusation.

At one point the tribunal heard claims, he denied, that he told Lewis he 'could do what he wanted'.

She also alleged Mr Fell had used 'racial connotations' to characterise her as aggressive. Ms Lewis alleged 'It was his perception of how black people and particularly black women are'.

He pushed to have Ms Lewis - who was also a trade union representative - suspended, a move that led to disruptive protests outside the school and a social media campaign against Mr Fell.

The PE teacher was then sacked after the chair of governors concluded that her relationship with the school's leadership team was irreparably broken.

She sued the school for race discrimination, claiming that Mr Fell had portrayed her as an 'angry black woman'.

Louise Lewis, 40, sued her former school for unfair dismissal and has accused the headteacher, Andrew Fell, of racial discrimination

Louise Lewis suggested to head teacher Andrew Fell that he may have breached equality laws

And while that claim was dismissed, the tribunal did conclude she had been unfairly treated through her suspension and dismissal.

Ms Lewis will now be awarded compensation. However, any damages she receives will be cut in half after the tribunal found she had played a part in the campaign against the school.

The Leeds hearing was told Ms Lewis, 40, worked at North Huddersfield Trust School in Yorkshire, 'one of the most diverse schools in the north of England'. Mr Fell joined as head teacher at the start of the 2019 summer term.

In November that year the National Education Union (NEU) representative accidentally sent an email to all staff about part-time staff hours that Mr Fell felt was inaccurate.

Without Ms Lewis present, he told staff to disregard the message, a move that the tribunal heard led to a heated meeting between the pair the following week.

'(Ms Lewis) had written up some notes of points she wished to make to him, which included a definition of harassment in the workplace,' the tribunal said. 'She accepted that, when she went to see Mr Fell, she was already upset.'

At the hearing the PE teacher claimed that when she complained, Mr Fell told her he was the head teacher and 'could do as he wanted', an accusation the head denied.

'(She) thus considered that her concerns were being dismissed,' the tribunal said. '(She) said it was then that she gave examples of harassment and went on to explain how he had made her feel.

Ms Lewis was fired from North Huddersfield Trust School after being suspended on October 2020 (file image)

'Massively affronted' Mr Fell told the tribunal that Ms Lewis had accused him of bullying her and also raised "harassment".

'He was shocked, he said, seeing her reaction as disproportionate and extreme,' the panel said. 'He saw there to be some difference between being upset about the announcement and claiming that he was bullying and harassing her.'

Mr Fell then emailed his PA with an account of the meeting in which he described Ms Lewis's attitude as 'rather aggressive and accusatory'.

At the tribunal Ms Lewis claimed there were 'racial connotations' in his characterisation of her as aggressive.

'It was his perception of how black people and particularly black women are,' she said. 'They are accused of being aggressive when they try to be assertive.'

His reference to black women as aggressive was stereotyping on his part, she claimed.

Mr Fell defended his reaction.

'I was being accused of something which goes to the core of my character,' he said. He added that he was unaware of any racial stereotype when he referred to Ms Lewis's demeanour.

Ms Lewis claimed at the tribunal that following this meeting Mr Fell tried to 'engineer' her being disciplined.

The tribunal was told that in the first few months of 2020, a number of concerns were raised at the school that the PE teacher was not supervising pupils properly, that she had missed a parent's evening and that she had failed to teach one of her classes.

Following these complaints, Mr Fell checked the school CCTV system for the dates concerned, the hearing was told.

The head teacher wrote to Ms Lewis on April 20 informing her that she would be required to attend a formal management meeting to discuss 'concerns about her professional conduct'.

However, the closure of the school due to the Covid 19 pandemic meant the meeting was postponed until September.

During that time, the tribunal heard Mr Fell claimed her professional conduct had continued to cause 'significant concerns throughout the period of lockdown and over the summer holiday'.

Among the accusations against her was a claim that she had ahead of the start of the new academic year she had warned that covid risk assessments at the school were not being followed.

She wrote back, claiming that he was refusing to give her evidence in advance to allow her to defend herself.

'I believe that this is preventing a fair process and is also a misuse of your position of power as Head Teacher,' she wrote.

'I am concerned that these accusations/allegations regarding my conduct are baseless and that this may be the reason that you are unwilling to substantiate each of them with any supporting evidence.

'As such, I vehemently disagree with the concerns raised and will be challenging them appropriately. I will also be seeking advice from an NEU Equality Officer.'

Mr Fell told the local council's HR department that this letter meant Ms Lewis needed to be suspended and a full disciplinary process launched as there had been a 'complete breakdown' in her relationship with the school.

She was suspended in October and launched a grievance the same month. However, most of her complaints were rejected.

In December a protest took place outside the school claiming she had been suspended for carrying out legitimate trade union duties and victimised for standing up for health and safety.

A social media campaign also targeted Mr Fell and the school, the hearing was told, which the head described as a 'character assassination'.

After being suspended for seven months, Ms Lewis's disciplinary hearing took place in May 2021 and concluded that she should receive a written warning.

Mr Fell- who felt she should have been sanctioned more harshly - argued that she could not come back to work and that he would consider resigning if she did.

'Before the tribunal, Mr Fell referred to being accused of certain things going to the core of his character,' the tribunal said.

'He had been presented in the media as a racist and the school being institutionally racist in circumstances where the diversity of the school and community was incredibly important to him.

'As the head teacher of a diverse school, it was very damaging when those kinds of links were presented, he said.'

Subsequently, Philip Weston, chair of governors, agreed that Ms Lewis's employment could not continue and in December 2021 she was fired.

The tribunal - chaired by Employment Judge Neil Maidment - rejected her argument that she had been the victim of race discrimination.

'There is no finding of individual or institutional racism or racial prejudice,' it said.

Of the 'angry black woman' claim, the panel said Mr Fell was not consciously or unconsciously stereotyping Ms Lewis.

'Perhaps close to the root of the difficulties in (Ms Lewis) and Mr Fell's relationship was (her) at times naive and unsubtle approach as a relatively newly appointed union representative when met with Mr Fell's inexperience and sensitivity of being challenged in his relatively new head teacher role,' it said.

'In truth, both had a tendency to escalate and over formalise matters. Certainly, there is ample evidence of Mr Fell reacting badly to criticism.'

However, the tribunal did agree that she had been victimised and unfairly dismissed, concluding that Ms Lewis's suggestion of discrimination had motivated him to argue for her suspension.

It said: 'Mr Fell's reaction was not permissible, but it arose out of him being indignant at being accused of discrimination in circumstances where he understood that to be a most serious allegation which caused him great personal hurt and in circumstances where he did not believe that there was any substance to the allegations.'

Ms Lewis was equally to blame for what happened to her, the tribunal found.

Ordering that her future compensation should be reduced by 50 per cent, the panel rejected her denial that she had nothing to do with the campaign to have her re-instated, concluding she had a 'direct and active involvement'.
Debbie Willcock, 62, was on holiday in Jamaica when nightmare unfolded

A British grandmother-of-five on a dream holiday to Jamaica is facing a race against time to fund 60,000 for a heart operation - after an insurance company refused to cover the cost.

Debbie Willcock, 62, is currently in an Intensive Care Unit in Montego Bay after suffering a cardiac arrest on Thursday.

Social and community support worker Mrs Willcock, who is from Bolton, had flown out with her family last Wednesday.

She had been enjoying a day out on the beach in the sun when she was suddenly struck down without warning.

When the ambulance was called relatives say the medics immediately asked for $300 to take her to Accident and Emergency.

Then after medics stabilised her with treatment costing the equivalent to some 16,000, they were hit by a bombshell new bill for over five times that amount for a stent operation to save her.

To make matters worse MailOnline has been told her insurance with AXA Partners has refused to pay out, claiming she did not mention she had diabetes on the policy.

Debbie Willcock, 62, pictured here with husband Mike, is seriously ill in a Jamaican hospital

The family had set off last Wednesday from Manchester Airport the day before she fell ill

Now her family have been forced to launch a crowdfunder online to try and recoup the money and raise 60,000 so she can undergo an emergency heart operation and be moved to a hospital in Kingston.

Travel insurance difficulties explained Most travel insurance provides a level of medical cover. It is important to get the correct level for where you are going, as some places charge a lot for any treatment. But most insurers say that you have to declare if you have a pre-existing condition. These conditions can add an extra amount onto the price you have to pay for the insurance. If they are not declared but the insurer discovers them, it may make the policy invalid. However, some insurers can use their discretion to allow policies to stand if there has been an oversight. Advertisement

Her children Ashleigh and Aaron as well as husband Mike are by her side hoping the crucial medical treatment can take place and paid for.

Mrs Willcock's five grandchildren are also in Jamaica with them during the worrying time.

Friend Sophie Rhone, who is representing the family, told MailOnline: 'Debbie would give her last pound to help you.

'She has been a support and community care worker and has given everything her whole life to help other people.

'The situation is a real race against time. Watching her family go through this nightmare is unbearable.

'Debbie had taken out premium insurance but forgot to put on she had diabetes.

'When this all happened the family spoke to the insurers, who had received the medical notes, and were told they wouldn't pay because of this being missed off.

'The family have put 16,000 down with the hospital as a kind of deposit, which has been made up from Mike's pension as well as cash from family and friends.

'But Debbie desperately needs heart surgery and a stent fitted fast.'

The fundraising appeal has already reached over 6,000 mostly from well-wishers who know the popular community figure.

Expensive costs for medical treatment in Jamaica has hit British holidaymakers before.

In 2018 three of them same family ended up in hospital for completely different reasons racking up medical bills of 21,000.

Debbie is seen here with daughter Ashley and son Aaron enjoying the beach in happier times

Dominic Pitter, 36, and his wife Emily, 42, paid 9,000 for their five-star holiday to a resort on Jamaica's west coast.

But on the second day disaster struck and Mr Pitter suffered a perforated bowel and was rushed to hospital. His treatment ended up costing 16,000.

While he was recovering his daughter Amelia, 12, was also hospitalised with acute gastroenteritis.

Her drip and re-hydration treatment cost the family, from Derby, another 920.

Meanwhile, Mr Pitter's father Len, 66, decided to fly out to Jamaica to be by his bedside. But catastrophe struck again when he had a heart attack.

His three-day hospital stay cost 4,600. He also had to extend his stay by a month until he was well enough to fly back to the UK. They were eventually refunded by their insurers.

For Mrs Willcock and her family at the moment it appears they will not be able to recoup their costs.

Mr Rhone added: 'Debbie is awake but very confused and has lost a lot of her memory of what happened.

'Her family are just distraught and fell a bit helpless.

'It seems to be that the hospital will not do anything else without knowing the funding - which keeps changing - is there. It's a terrible situation.'

An AXA Partners spokesperson said: 'We sympathise with Ms Willcock's situation.

'When purchasing travel insurance it is crucial that previous medical history and any pre-existing conditions are declared for all those named on the policy.

'Not doing so can invalidate a policy and we make this clear at multiple stages when customers buy their travel insurance with us.'

Fundraiser for Deborah Willcock for medical treatment
A man who filmed himself digging up and damaging an ancient stone artwork up to 4,500-years-old has been ordered to pay for its restoration in a landmark prosecution.

Julian Baker, 52, admitted deliberately exposing and damaging the Bronze Age monument believed to date back as far as 2500BC - but despite questioning from court officials and media refused to say why he had done it.

Heritage officials said Baker - who filmed himself and uploaded footage to Facebook - ruined part of the artwork beyond repair and it is now 'lost forever'.

Baker was ordered to pay more than 4,000 compensation for disturbing the ancient cairn field and damaging the rock art - the first ever prosecution in Wales under the section of Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Act

The buried monument at Eglwysilan Mountain in Caerphilly, South Wales, is two large sandstones with 'cup marks' cut into their upper surfaces dating back to the Bronze Age.

Julian Baker, 52 admitted deliberately exposing and damaging the Bronze Age monument

Heritage officials said Baker ruined part of the artwork beyond repair and it is now 'lost forever'

Baker filmed himself excavating the monument and separated the rock art panel from its stone

Experts were puzzled at the 'enigmatic' meaning of the cup-mark but believe the stones 'may have acted as route markers or demarcated territorial boundaries.'

Baker, who lives near the site, filmed himself excavating the monument and separated the rock art panel from its stone.

The charges state Baker 'executed unauthorised work affecting a scheduled monument' in January of this year.

It added that he 'executed works, namely disturbed the ground exposing an ancient monument.'

The second charge said Baker acted to 'destroy or damage an ancient protected monument,' on the same date.

It said: 'Without lawful excuse destroyed or damaged a protected monument, namely rockart panel knowing that it was a protected monument and intending to destroy or damage the monument or being reckless as to whether the monument would be destroyed or damaged.'

Baker, of Abertridwr, appeared at Newport Magistrates Court where he was ordered to pay 4,400 compensation and given a suspended sentence. He declined to comment after the case.

Gwent Police's rural crime team said: 'The defendant in this case damaged legally protected pre-historic rock art in Caerphilly, and was given a four month custodial sentence suspended for two years.

'They were also ordered to pay compensation of 4,400 for restoration.

'The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Act protects the archaeological heritage of Wales, England, and Scotland - making damage to and metal detecting on scheduled monuments a criminal offence.

'A scheduled monument is an important archaeological site or historic building that is protected against unauthorised change.'

Baker was the subject of the first ever prosecution in Wales under the section of Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Act

At Newport Magistrates Court (pictured), Baker was ordered to pay 4,400 compensation and given a suspended sentence

A spokesperson for Welsh Government heritage body Cadw said: 'This damage is a serious incident at a rare class of prehistoric monument in Wales.

'Significant archaeological information has been lost forever, and although some evidence may remain, the significance and value of the part of the monument damaged has been significantly diminished.

'We welcome the court's decision in this case, the first we have submitted under section 28 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, as amended by the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2016.

'The custodial sentence and fine imposed reflect the seriousness of this offence.

'Our scheduled monuments and the archaeological structures, deposits and artefacts they contain are very fragile and vulnerable. They are a finite resource that are sensitive to change.

'Once damaged or destroyed, they and the archaeological data within have been lost forever and cannot be replaced.

'Heritage crime, particularly reckless damage, is a serious matter which can cause irreparable damage.

'We would like to thank our partners at Gwent Police for their assistance in this case, and we will continue to work closely with them through their Operation Heritage Cymru and Heritage Watch schemes to investigate and pursue offenders to preserve and protect Wales' historic environment for the benefit of this and future generations.'
Ally Langdon shut down Anthony Albanese as he made an emotional pitch for the Voice on A Current Affair.

The Prime Minister was making an impassioned plea for Australians to vote Yes to an Indigenous Voice to Parliament when the TV host pointed out a glaring issue with his referendum campaign: 'People do not get it.'

Mr Albanese said a pamphlet would soon drop through every Australian's front door explaining how the proposed advisory body would work

'The wording will be there for everyone to read, to see themselves. That is what it is about,' the PM said.

Langdon replied: 'I am not sure all of that is simple and straightforward for people.'

Mr Albanese responded: 'Well, I think it is pretty straightforward as an idea that has come from indigenous Australians themselves.'

Langdon hit back: 'Saying it is clear and simple and straightforward does not simply make it so. People do not get it and that is a fact.'

Ally Langdon shut down Anthony Albanese as he made an emotional pitch for the Voice on A Current Affair

READ MORE: Aboriginal No campaigner Warren Mundine loses it at the PM Advertisement

Mr Albanese also said he was 'asking Australians to trust themselves and their own judgement'.

'But their judgement is "we dont get this",' Langdon replied. '"We dont know what it is." Its wishy washy.

'Theres this Voice, but I dont know it doesnt have any real power. It doesnt have any real legs. It can change over time and might look different in a decade to what it is now and that scares people.

'I mean, my parents dont understand it. Theyve looked at it, their group of friends who have looked at it and dont understand it, that is a massive problem.'

But Mr Albanese said the referendum was about 'faith, hope and love and indeed it is about bringing Australia together. It is positive'.

'It is just an advisory group. It is no more complicated than that it is an advisory group on matters that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.'

He added that it was 'aimed at closing the gap in health and education and housing'.

'This is a proposition that has come from the people, it's come from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves,' the prime minister said.

'This will not impact most Australians directly, but it might just make life better for the three per cent of Australians who happen to be the most disadvantaged group - the First Nations people.

'I think it will be a moment where we can show respect to them; where we can feel better about ourselves as well as a nation and where the world can look at us and say "Australia is a mature, grown-up nation".'

He added that the Voice was an opportunity for Australia to close the gap for indigenous people.

'[The Voice] is aimed at closing the gap on health and education and housing,' Mr Albanese said.

'We know at the moment there is still an eight-year life expectancy gap.

'If you are a young Indigenous male, you're more likely to go to jail than university.

'If you are a young Indigenous woman, you're more likely to die in childbirth than if you are a non-Indigenous woman.'

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Albanese announced the referendum would be held on October 14

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Albanese announced the referendum would be held on October 14.

In an emotional speech, Mr Albanese urged Australians not to close the door on constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, saying that a No vote 'leads nowhere'.

'On that day, every Australian will have a once in a generation chance to bring our country together... And to change it for the better,' Mr Albanese told the audience.

'On October 14 you are not being asked to vote for a political party or a person. You're being asked to say yes to an idea whose time has come,' he continued, appearing almost tearful.

The Prime Minister was greeted with a standing ovation and raucous applause as he arrived in the packed auditorium in Adelaide.

Supporters packed every inch of the room, many holding placards and wearing Yes merchandise.

Mr Albanese guaranteed a Voice would save money in the long run by streamlining services and directing help exactly where it is needed in the community.

Heads were nodding in amongst the crowd throughout his speech as South Australians murmured words of encouragement and support.

The PM assured the public the question is 'straightforward, unambiguous, clear' in a rousing, passionately delivered speech to officially launch the campaign.

'My fellow Australians, what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want for their children is what you want for yours,' Mr Albanese said.

'Staying healthy, doing well at school, finding a job they love, being safe and leading fulfilling lives. That's what they are asking you to say yes to at this referendum. The same opportunity for their children to make a good life for themselves.'

'Let's be very clear about the alternative. Voting no means going nowhere. It closes the door on this opportunity to move forward. Don't close the door on constitutional recognition don't close the door on the next generation of Indigenous Australians. Vote yes.'
A former GCHQ worker who stabbed a US National Security Agency (NSA) employee outside a leisure centre as she left netball practice.

Joshua Bowles, 29, conducted 'reconnaissance' on his female victim including researching her timetable before he stabbed her on the evening of March 9.

He appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Prosecutors claimed the offence should be treated as a terror attack because Bowles targeted the woman - who is referred to in charges only by the code number '99230' - over her work.

The victim was a US government employee and at the time of the attack she was on secondment at GCHQ.

Bowles, who left GCHQ in 2022, was armed with two knives when he attacked the woman as she was leaving the leisure centre on Tommy Taylors Lane in Cheltenham, three miles from the UK intelligence agency base.

He also punched another man, Alex Fuentes, who tried to intervene to stop the attack.

Joshua Bowles, 29, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey after stabbing a woman outside a leisure centre in Cheltenham

Pictured: Police vehicles outside Cheltenham leisure centre in March

Tim Forte, defending, said this would be disputed and reports have been provided showing Bowles had depression and autism spectrum disorder.

Bowles knew the woman would be leaving the leisure centre at the time due to the research he had gathered on her personal life.

He conducted numerous dummy runs and turned up at the leisure centre on February 9 after finding the victim's netball games timetable online.

Appearing via videlink from HMP Belmarsh, Bowles, of Welwyn Mews, Cheltenham, wore a grey tracksuit as he entered his pleas.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Bowles she hoped he would be sentenced before the end of October.

Nick Price, Head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: 'This extremely violent attack against two innocent people was completely unprovoked.

Pictured is GCHQ, the headquarters of the intelligence and security agency whose staff work to identify and disrupt terror plots across the UK

'It is right that those who commit violent crimes like this should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law to protect the public, and our thoughts continue to be with the victims and their families.'

Prosecutor Emma Gargitter said: 'The prosecution evidence indicates that from the very early part of 2023 he began to conduct reconnaissance and research on the victim - that he researched her personal life using the internet and discovered the leisure centre where the attack ultimately occurred hosted netball games where she participates.

'The reconnaissance included dummy runs or research visits to the leisure centre on February 9, 2023 and then on March 9, 2023 when she was in attendance playing a netball game the fact and timing of which had been available to the defendant through the internet.

'He attended the leisure centre with two knives in a rucksack and waited in a carpark for her to exit. She was with a friend and he attempted to stab her in a car park while he was behind her.

'He was fended off by the victim and her friend and the intervention of Mr Fuentes who was punched.

'The victim and her friend escaped and entered the leisure centre. Mr Bowles entered with a second knife - the first knife had broken in the car park - and he attacked her again in reception stabbing her.

'The attack came to an end on the intervention of people around and the victim was able to escape the reception back into the netball court assisted by first aiders until the arrival of police and ambulance.

The identity of the victim has not been revealed. The US national works for the National Security Agency of the USA - at the time of the attack, she was working at GCHQ. [Stock Image]

'During this period the defendant remained in the reception area speaking to an individual who had intervened.

'The victim of the attempted murder was herself working at GCHQ contemporaneously with the defendant. She was however although working at GCHQ an employee of the US government there.

'He had researched not only the victim but two of her predecessors who had worked in the same role for the US government - so three in succession had been researched by Mr Bowles in the lead up to the attack.'

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said Bowles would remain in custody until sentencing in mid-October at the Old Bailey. She ordered a pre-sentence report to assess dangerousness.
This is the heart-stopping moment a great white shark crashes into a kayaker, almost capsizing the vessel as the animal powers through the water to hunt a seal off the coast of New Zealand.

Greg Potter was sitting back in his pedal kayak admiring nature from a distance as he watched a young great white shark shooting through the ocean surface to try and catch a seal off New Zealand's Eastern Cape.

But as the young shark sought to land the prey in its jaws, the spectacle got a little too close for comfort, almost plunging the kayaker himself into the action.

The shark twice fired into the bottom of Greg's kayak, nearly knocking over the vessel on the second time of trying.

The knock nearly knocked Greg clean into the water, potentially leaving him with a similar destiny to that of the ill-fated seal.

As Greg saw the great white shark chasing the seal, he stopped pedaling and filmed the incredible scenes to upload to his GP Fishing Adventures social media channels

A seal is seen up close as it nears Greg's kayak off the coast of New Zealand's Eastern Cape, with a great white shark following closely behind

A seal and shark plummet through the water off the coast of New Zealand just metres away from Greg's kayak

Greg has previously assumed the disturbance was a school of tuna fish flapping around and had ventured over on his kayak to have a look.

He quickly realised however that it was a young shark chasing a seal. He stopped pedaling around 200 metres away and filmed the incredible scenes to upload to his GP Fishing Adventures social media channels.

The seal can be seen repeatedly shooting up into the water to try and scramble away from the shark, which follows closely behind.

In awe of what he's seeing - at this point even closer at around 100 metres away - Greg says on the footage: 'I've got a juvenile great white shark chasing a seal out here.

'It's unreal,' he adds, despite the chase getting for what many would consider more than close enough.

After the experience, Greg told the New Zealand Herald: 'They were moving fast man ... like just flying through the water.'

Greg then made the quick decision to hit the pedals as the seal and shark started to circle him - but it was too late.

He said he thought the seal may have been using his kayak as shelter from the predator, causing the shark to leap up near him and strike the boat twice.

Greg Potter filmed the incredible scenes for his social media channels, GP Fishing Adventures

A seal and a shark are seen shooting out of the ocean as the hunter attempts to catch its prey

The shark twice fired into the bottom of Greg's kayak, nearly knocking over the vessel on the second time of trying

The seal can be seen repeatedly shooting up into the water to try and scramble away from the shark, which follows closely behind

The second strike nearly knocked Greg out of the kayak and straight into the water, even closer to the jaws of the shark.

But the experienced fisherman managed to regain his balance and continued his swift exit out of the danger zone.

He said he still remained in awe, comparing the real life action to something one would only normally see in a David Attenborough documentary.

He told the New Zealand Herald that the experience was 'breathtaking' and that he was able to remain fairly calm despite the shark being an arm's reach away at one point.

However, the adventurer said the potential consequences of what could have happened had he not maintained his balance still gives him 'chills'.

'If it had managed to get me out of the kayak, that that could have been a pretty disastrous ending,' he told the New Zealand publication.

The juvenile great white shark is seen leaping out of the water as it attempts to catch a seal

As the young shark sought to land the prey in its jaws, the spectacle got a little too close for comfort, almost plunging the kayaker himself into the action

A young great white shark shots through the ocean surface to try and catch a seal off New Zealand's Eastern Cape

The experienced fisherman managed to regain his balance and continued his swift exit out of the danger zone

He noted that he had almost been covered head to toe in back at the time - making him almost indistinguishable from a seal in the shark's perspective.

But this was not the first time that Greg has been thrown in at the deep end with his escapades around New Zealand.

He said he has previously caught a 100kg marlin from his kayak, and even seen orcas and giant sunfish up close.
An 11-year-old girl was saved from being snatched off the street by a Good Samaritan who sensed what was happening and intervened.

The child was walking on the High Street in West Wickham, Bromley, south east London at 11.45am on June 24 when she was approached by a man.

He tried to convince her to leave with him but a passer-by saw she looked uncomfortable and took her into a nearby shop.

Police have released photos of two men they would like to speak to after the attempted abduction in broad daylight.

The Met Police said: 'Detectives investigating an attempted abduction have released images of two men they want to identify and speak with.

Detectives investigating an attempted abduction have released images of two men they want to identify and speak with - one of the men pictured

One of the men police would like to track down and speak to as they investigate an attempted abduction

'At 11:45hrs on Saturday, 24 June, an 11-year-old girl was approached by a man on High Street, West Wickham who tried to convince her to leave with him.

'A member of the public, seeing the child looked nervous, intervened and took her into a shop.

'Officers are keen to hear from anyone who can name the men in the images.

'If you can name them or have any information that could assist this investigation please call 101 or Tweet @MetCC quoting 3430/24JUN23.'

One of the men seen on CCTV was wearing a grey long sleeved top.

The other man police wish to speak to was caught on CCTV in a white Tshirt.

The young girl was walking on the High Street in West Wickham, Bromley, south east London (file image)

Read more: My ex snatched our four-year-old girl and took her to her native Poland five years ago Advertisement

To remain anonymous call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit Crimestoppers-uk.org.

MailOnline has contacted the Met Police for further information.

The incident happened just days after another attempted abduction in South London, where a man tried to encourage a child to get into his silver Ford Transit van during the school run.

A parent reported that someone tried to abduct their child on Purneys Road in Greenwich, attempting to entice them into the back, but the parent intervened in the nick of time.

Police confirmed they were called just after 9am on Thursday, June 15, after a man in a van reportedly spoke to a child who was on route to school.

A Met Police spokesperson added that the child was safe and well, and that enquiries were underway to establish the circumstances of the incident.
The uninsured driver was jailed for 16 months after admitting four charges

Adam Clark, 37, led police on a four-mile chase with his children in the car

This is the moment a disqualified driver led police on a four-mile chase that saw him drive the wrong way round a roundabout with his two children in the back of the car.

Adam Clark, 37, from Dornie Drive in Birmingham, sped at 90mph in 40mph zones, after failing to stop for police while leaving Alvechurch village on May 26.

The uninsured driver was then filmed driving into oncoming traffic before puncturing three of his tyres by driving over a stinger set up in the road.

Clark was later arrested in a cul-de-sac after trying to flee the vehicle, which had been stolen from the Merry Hill shopping complex earlier in the month.

He has now been jailed for 16 months and banned for driving for four years and 11 months after pleading guilty to four separate charges at Redditch Magistrates Court.

Adam Clark, 37, from Dornie Drive in Birmingham, was jailed for 16 months after leading police on a four-mile chase through a built-up area

Adam Clark was filmed driving the wrong way around a roundabout in a police chase

Adam Clark was filmed by police driving into oncoming traffic in the stolen Ford Fiesta

The chase saw him overtake across white lines, drive into oncoming traffic, and go the wrong way around a roundabout.

The blue Ford Fiesta had been stolen from the Merry Hill shopping centre, near Dudley, earlier in the month and was displaying false number plates.

Clark failed to stop for police while leaving Alvechurch, in Worcestershire, after being followed by police.

He was subsequently caught and arrested after abandoning the stolen vehicle in the road.

In a police interview, Clark denied having been in the vehicle denied having any connection to the car's three passengers, including his own two children.

However, Clark later pleaded guilty to four charges including dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen, using a vehicle without motor insurance, and driving while disqualified on July 18 at Redditch Magistrates Court.

The uninsured driver made multiple dangerous overtakes before driving the wrong way around a roundabout

Adam Clark was arrested in a cul-de-sac after abandoning the stolen vehicle in a road

Sentencing was subsequently referred to Worcester Crown Court due to the seriousness of the offences.

The driver was sentenced on August 18 to 12 months in prison for dangerous driving, alongside one month concurrent for failing to provide a specimen.

He was also jailed for a further four months in prison consecutively for driving while disqualified, meaning his total sentence is 16 months imprisonment.

Clark was also disqualified from driving for four years and 11 months, with an extension period of eight months.
An incorrect flight plan inputted in to an ageing system may be to blame for the air traffic control meltdown, an expert has claimed.

The widespread disruption which started on Monday is understood to have been caused by a single rogue flight plan and continues to affect dozens of services two days on.

Controllers need basic information on each flight to populate their display, such as the flight number, aircraft type, destination and route.

If these details are not spaced and formatted in a certain way, and the computer does not recognise the data, it can cause a system collapse - a failure described this morning as 'staggering' by former British Airways boss Willie Walsh.

Many affected travellers are being told to wait as long as 10 days for flights home, with some forced to sleep on airport floors or take long routes by land after their flights were cancelled.

Airlines have been criticised for failing to book hotel rooms for many people who were delayed overnight.

Michele Robson, who has worked in air traffic control for more than 20 years, told the Sky News Daily podcast: 'When there have been failures in the past, it's normally something to do with a bad information that's been input in the incorrect format.

A passenger sleeps on the floor at Stansted Airport today as the ongoing flight chaos continues

Families, including those with young babies, have been forced to sleep on the floor in airports

Frustrated flyers wait at Heathrow as the ongoing air traffic chaos continues today

Families patiently wait for their flight at Heathrow follow Monday's air traffic control meltdown

'It's a very old system, it's been running for many years and generally we've been very lucky and we don't often have failures, or if we do, we get it back during that backup time, which is what it's there for.

'There have been other instances where something has been incorrectly formatted and the flight plan computer behaves in a way they're not expecting and effectively causes it to a fail, so that could be enough to potentially crash the system in effect if it was formatted incorrectly.

'You have to space things in a certain way using a certain number of dots, as an example. They do it in a very unique way that's never been done before, otherwise it would happen every day.

'So it has to be something pretty unusual that they've input for it to happen, but it's an old system and perhaps something was input yesterday that it's never seen before and that's what caused it to have this reaction where it's failed.'

Ms Robson, who now runs the Turning Left For Less site, told MailOnline: 'It could be something like a small operator - not a name like British Airways - doing something unusual.

'That can be something like where an aircraft is crossing boundaries between UK and French air space several times. Also, if it is a small operator, they may not be as used to filing plans. It's unlikely to be one dot in the wrong place.

'I describe it as the Swiss Cheese model, lots of things added together causing the system to accept that message. For some reason, because it's never been seen before, it accepted it, and caused the system to fail.

'I've been through failures and had to go to a manual system and I think people assume it's like in a film where there are people running around and shouting on the phone, but these people are used to working in a high pressured job.

'They have emergency training at least once a year, so they know exactly what to do, and take it in their stride.

Martin Rolfe, chief executive of National Air Traffic Services told BBC Radio Four's Today programme, was asked this morning why the problematic flight data was not rejected by Nats 'like a piece of spam'.

He replied: 'Our systems are safety-critical systems, they are dealing with the lives of passengers and the travelling public.

'So even things like just throwing data away needs to be very carefully considered.

'If you throw away a critical piece of data you may end up in the next 30 seconds, a minute or an hour with something that then is not right on the screens in front of the controller. So it is nothing like throwing away spam.'

Quizzed on the age of the system and how frequently it needs to be updated, Mr Rolfe added: 'We have a full programme and we invest 100m a year in new systems and we are constantly evaluating which systems need to be replaced and when.

'This is an obviously complex system with safety at the heart of it and the piece of the system we are discussing was replaced quite recently, about five years ago.'

Michele Robson has worked in air traffic control for more than 20 years

Martin Rolfe, chief executive of National Air Traffic Services, said the widespread disruption which started on Monday 'relates to some of the flight data we received'

Passengers stranded overnight at Gatwick Airport because of NATS failure sleep on the seats

When the failure was first flagged on Monday morning, the system went into its back-up mode - which stores up to four hours of data - rather than risk air-traffic controllers being presented with false information.

As bosses quickly realised the problem wouldn't be fixed within that four-hour period, they decided to switch to a manual system, where all flight plans have to be entered individually.

This time-consuming process meant that controllers were unable to handle even a percentage of the usual number of aircraft moving in and out of UK airports.

The system was fully restored by 2.30pm on Monday, Mr Rolfe said, but the knock-on effect continues to be felt by passengers, who have been condemned to sleeping on airport floors while desperately waiting for their rescheduled flights.

Aviation analytics company Cirium said 64 flights due to serve UK airports today were cancelled as of 9am - after some 1,585 flights were axed on Monday and a further 345 on Tuesday.

Former British Airways boss Willie Walsh said it was 'staggering' that the system was allowed to collapse by a piece of incorrect data.

READ MORE: Beds are laid out for passengers stranded in Europe for a second night as air traffic control misery continues Advertisement

Mr Willie, director-general of global airline body the International Air Transport Association (Iata), told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I find it staggering, I really do.

'This system should be designed to reject data that's incorrect, not to collapse the system.

'If that is true, it demonstrates a considerable weakness that must have been there for some time and I'm amazed if that is the cause of this.

'Clearly we'll wait for the full evaluation of the problem but that explanation doesn't stand up from what I know of the system.'

It comes as it emerged that Martin Rolfe, chief executive of National Air Traffic Services, saw his pay double last year to more than 1.3m, after receiving pensions benefits, a 281,000 annual bonus, and a backdated 555,000 long-term incentive plan.

Mr Rolfe declined to answer on whether NATS - or he himself following his personal windfall - should pay as a result of the disruption.

'At this point, my focus has been entirely on making sure we have recovered the system, which we did on Monday, we were running as normal by 2.30pm,' he said.

'We have been supporting and working very closely with the airline CEOs many of whom I've spoken to directly to make sure we absolutely get everyone to their destinations as quick as we possibly can, but most importantly, as safely as we possibly can.'

Mr Walsh estimated that the chaos will cost airlines around 100million.

He said: 'It's very unfair because the air traffic control system which was at the heart of this failure doesn't pay a single penny.'

Passengers are pictured at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 as the air traffic chaos continues

The impact continued today with at least a further 42 flights to or from Heathrow cancelled.

Many affected travellers are being told to wait several days for flights home.

Some have been forced to sleep on airport floors or take long routes by land after their flights were cancelled.

Airlines were criticised for failing to book hotel rooms for many people who were delayed overnight.

Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: 'We're seeing worrying reports of passengers being left stranded without support, and airlines failing to properly communicate with their passengers or fulfil their legal obligations such as offering timely rerouting or providing overnight accommodation.

READ MORE: Family of eight are stuck in Gran Canaria for a third day and running out of insulin for their young niece after catastrophic IT failure Advertisement

'In particular, travellers should be aware that their airline has a responsibility to reroute them as soon as possible, even if that means buying them a ticket with a rival carrier - a rule that some airlines appear to be ignoring.

'Passengers should also be given food and refreshments and overnight accommodation if required.'

EasyJet is operating five repatriation flights to Gatwick, with the first two setting off today.

The airline said: 'During this traditionally very busy week for travel, options for returning to the UK are more limited on some routes and so easyJet will be operating five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days from Palma and Faro on August 30, and Tenerife and Enfidha on August 31, and from Rhodes on September 1.

'We are also operating larger aircraft on key routes including Faro, Ibiza, Dalaman and Tenerife to provide some additional 700 seats this week.'

There is speculation the ATC failure was caused by a French airline submitting a flight plan to Nats in the wrong format.

Downing Street did not rule out that possibility, while Nats declined to comment on whether that was what happened.

The problem resulted in flights to and from UK airports being restricted for several hours on Monday afternoon while flight plans were checked manually.

This caused the cancellation of around 1,500 flights on Monday, with a further 300 axed on Tuesday due to aircraft and crews being out of position.

Mr Rolfe said Nats is working closely with the Civil Aviation Authority to provide a preliminary report into what happened to Transport Secretary Mark Harper.

The conclusions of the inquiry will be made public, he added.
A planned expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic is facing opposition from the U.S. government, which cites a federal law and international agreement that designates the vessel as a sacred gravesite.

The governments objection is reportedly unrelated to the tragedy involving the deadly Titan submersible implosion back in June, but is connected to a Georgia-based company that owns the salvage rights to the wreckage.

RMS Titanic Inc.  a company which puts on exhibitions of various artifacts from the famed shipwreck, including silverware and fragments of the Titanics hull  has had an expedition planned for May 2024.

RMST is not free to disregard this validly enacted federal law, yet that is its stated intent, U.S. lawyers said in court documents from Friday.

Attorneys also claim the shipwreck will be deprived of the protections Congress granted it.

Lawyers pointed to legislation enacted in 2020, in tandem with the U.K. government, which restricts people from entering the hull sections and removing artifacts from outside the hull of the Titanic.

The proceedings unfolded in the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, where officials reiterated the idea that the 1912 wreck, in which over 1,500 people died, should be kept as a memorial to their memory.

Among the governments key concerns are potential disruptions to historical artifacts and disturbances to human remains which could still exist.

According to RMST, the company only wants to recover artifacts which are free-standing objects inside the wreck  but only if such objects are not affixed to the wreck itself.

RMST also has plans to take images of the entire wreck using remote technology, and claims that at this time, the company does not intend to cut into the wreck or detach any part of the wreck, they elaborated.

The company was engaged with the U.S. government in a similar legal battle in 2020, regarding a proposed expedition, but the proceedings were cut short due to the pandemic.

With News Wire Services
A Russian officer has been killed while mowing his lawn on his day off in a settlement near the Ukrainian border, local reports have said.

Alexei Chernykh, deputy chief of a local branch of the anti-corruption police, was blown up by a drone at his home in the village of Schetinovka, they claimed.

The village is found just one mile from Russia's border with Ukraine in the Belgorod Oblast, which has come under frequent drone strikes in recent months as Ukraine has stepped up its cross-border attacks.

Telegram channel Baza, which has known ties to Russian security services, said a drone dropped a bomb onto Chernykh's property on Sunday.

'A Ukrainian drone dropped ammunition on his site in Shchetynovka,' the Telegram channel reported. 'At that moment, Alexey was on his day off and was mowing [his] lawn,' it added, saying that he was killed in the incident.

Alexei Chernykh (pictured right), deputy chief of a local branch of the anti-corruption police, was blown up by a drone at his home in the village of Schetinovka, they said

The police lieutenant colonel would have turned 40 today, according to information on his social media account.

READ MORE: Putin suffers his worst night of bombardment since invading Ukraine Advertisement

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov accused Ukraine of being behind a drone strike in the region on the same day, saying that it had killed a 'civilian'.

He accused Ukraine of dropping 'an explosive device from a drone' which hit a civilian who was 'at his summer cottage mowing the grass' at the time.

Gladkov said the man died from shrapnel wounds.

He did not name the person killed in the attack.

Ukraine, which has yet to achieve a major success in its summer ground counteroffensive, has struck deep into Russia in recent months, including an attack on the Kremlin in May and numerous drone attacks on civilian targets in Moscow.

Ukraine typically does not comment on who is behind attacks on Russian territory, although officials have publicly expressed satisfaction over them.

If Chernykh's death is confirmed, he would become the latest high-ranking Russian official to meet his end since Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine.

At least six generals have been confirmed by Russian sources to have been killed since February 2022 (including four which held the rank of Major General and two Lieutenant Generals), with Ukraine claiming the true figure to be 15.

Either way, the number of Russian generals killed in the conflict is unprecedented since the Second World War.

The tally has been attributed to senior commanders personally going into the field to address command difficulties, the faltering performances of Russian forces on the frontlines, insecure communications and US intelligence gathering.

Just last month, Lieutenant-General Oleg Tsokov, 51, was killed in a strike believed to have been carried out using a British-supplied storm shadow missile.

Tsokov was personally known to Putin and had been sanctioned by Britain and the EU for his role in the war against Ukraine.

News of Chernykh's reported death came as Ukraine said Wednesday it had downed more than two dozen cruise missiles and a swarm of attack drones across the country in the 'most powerful' aerial attack on Kyiv in weeks that left two dead.

The assault came as Russia said Pskov airport near the border with NATO member Estonia had been targeted by drones, and state news agencies reported several transport planes were damaged.

Russian officials also described attacks on targets in the Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions.

The Russian foreign ministry said the attacks would 'not go unpunished' and could not have reached so far into Russian territory without Western help.

The attack on Pskov airport, more than 400 miles from the border with Ukraine, marks the latest strike deep inside Russian territory since Kyiv vowed to 'return' the conflict to Russia in July.
Canadian 'poison' chef Kenneth Law, 57, has been charged with 12 more counts of aiding suicide among victims as young as 16 as he is linked to 88 deaths in the UK.

The so-called merchant of death was previously charged with two counts of counselling and aiding suicide after allegedly selling 1,200 packages to 40 countries through disguised websites.

Law, a former aerospace engineer who ended up working in the kitchen of a high-end hotel, now faces a dozen more charges in connection with several more deaths across Ontario, the York regional police inspector Simon James said.

'We will not tolerate criminal actions by those who prey on vulnerable individuals in our communities and we will hold those responsible accountable,' he told reporters at a press conference.

Cops said that Law's 12 charges related to four deaths in Toronto, three in York region, one in Durham region, one in London, Ontario, one in Thunder Bay, one in Waterloo region and one in Peel region.

But they added that they believed that more than a tenth of the packages he sent were to Canadian addresses, though were quick to say this was an 'approximate' figure.

A Canadian chef has appeared in court after allegedly selling lethal substances to assist people across the world with taking their own lives

While he is currently in police custody, Canadian cops warned members of the public to look out for packages or transactions that bear the names of Imtime Cuisine, AmbuCA, Academic/ACademic, Escape Mode/escMode and ICemac.

The UK's National Crime Agency also launched a probe into the deaths of 88 people who bought products from Canada-based websites selling substances to assist with suicide.

The agency said that 272 people are believed to have bought substances to assist suicide from Law's websites, but it could not confirm the chemical allegedly sold by Law was the direct cause of the 88 deaths.

The NCA's deputy director Craig Turner said on Friday: 'Our deepest sympathies are with the loved ones of those who have died. They are being supported by specially trained officers from police forces.'

That same day, Law appeared briefly in court in Brampton, Ontario, before the hearing was adjourned to September 8.

Kenneth Law leaves the post office in the town of Mississauga in Ontario, Canada. International police are now investigating a string of suicides around the world for links to him

Kenneth Law previously appeared in court in Brampton, Ontario on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, an artist's sketch

Law is also being investigated by forces across the world including in the United States, Italy and Australia, though Canadian police said that they would only focus on cases within Canadian borders.

British police have also been making welfare visits to hundreds of addresses to trace buyers across the country.

The NCA said that 'at this early stage there are no confirmed links between the items purchased from the websites and cause of death in any of these cases'.

'In consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, the NCA has taken the decision to conduct an investigation into potential criminal offences committed in the UK. This operation is under way.'

It is not currently known exactly why Law ran his sick business, and speculation has arisen as a result.

Criminology professor Michael Arntfield told the Toronto Sun that Law acted more like a serial killer than a merciful saviour.

'Kenneth Law seems like an angel of death by proxy. He appears to be a strange alloy of an angel of death and set-and-run mass murder.'

'Did he do it out of misguided empathy or delirium? More likely it is someone exploiting the suicide ideations of people who need help,' the professor added.

Law came onto law enforcement's radar after telling an undercover reporter for The Times newspaper that 'many, many, many, many' of his customers had died over a period of two years.

The Times reported Law also claimed he had sent the substance to 'hundreds' of people in dozens of countries.

17-year-old Anthony Jones Westland from Michigan, an American who ran to his mother shouting 'I want to live' after ingesting the substance which eventually killed him

Michael Dunham from London, UK died after buying products from the Law's company

Tom Parfett, from Maidenhead, Berkshire in the UK, died aged 22 after buying the substance

Neha Raju, from Surrey, UK, who died after buying products from Law's company

Peel Regional Police released images of the chemical allegedly sold

He was said to have boasted that some buyers had told him he was doing 'God's work'.

Law told the reporter that he had started selling the poison after seeing his mother suffering from a stroke.

'We're not advanced enough as a civilization to accept death openly. I hope I'm just being a little bit more enlightened,' he said.

Anthony Jones, a 17-year-old from Michigan, was one of Law's alleged victims.

'It was 3 a.m. and he went running into his mom's room, screaming and begging to call emergency responders,' New York lawyer Carrie Goldberg told CTV News Toronto.

He ran to his mother shouting 'I want to live' after ingesting the substance, which eventually killed him, The Times investigation said.

In the UK, retailers by law must alert authorities if they believe the substance may have been bought to cause harm.

It is also illegal to assist suicide in the UK and Canada, punishable by up to 14 years in prison in both.

Law's websites have since been taken down by its domain owners.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741, and for confidential support you can call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255

In the UK, Samaritans' is helpline available round the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, whatever you are going through.

It's free to call them on 116 123 and you don't have to be suicidal to call them.
Joe Biden, 80, admits that he often feels 'tired' as a main concern of his 2024 reelection campaign remains his age and fitness for office.

The President often keeps his morning schedule clear, which, according to an excerpt from the first memoir on Biden's presidency obtained by The Guardian, is a symptom of his advanced age.

It comes as a poll released this week by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that a whopping 77 percent feel Biden is too old to be effective for four more years.

Author Franklin Foer writes in The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future, 'His advanced years were a hindrance, depriving him of the energy to cast a robust public presence or the ability to easily conjure a name.'

'In private, [Biden] would occasionally admit that he felt tired,' Foer added.

President Joe Biden, 80, admits he is often 'tired,' according to a new book on his first 100 days in office

It comes amid a series of falls and verbal gaffes that add to concerns over Biden's age and whether he is fit for another four years in office

Along with a series of physical tumbles over the last few years, Biden's verbal gaffes, mumbles and fumbles are on the rise and increasingly on full display.

According to publisher Penguin Random House, Foer's book is based on 'unparalleled access to the tight inner circle of advisers who have surrounded Biden for decades.'

Biden's age has been central to both his first term in office and the viability of a second term.

If he won four more years, Biden would be 82 at the time of his second inauguration  again breaking a record as the oldest inaugurated President in U.S. history.

'It was striking that he took so few morning meetings or presided over so few public events before 10am,' Foer writes. 'His public persona reflected physical decline and time's dulling of mental faculties that no pill or exercise regime can resist.'

Even Democrats are concerned about Biden's advancing age, with the latest AP-NORC poll finding that 69 percent of the President's own party aren't sure he could be effective for an additional four years after his first term. Eighty-nine percent of Republicans feel this way.

The view in the survey is held across age groups.

Foer describes in other parts of his book that Biden's age and experience is a vital asset to his presidency, but in the same passage on with the 'tired' admission, writes that he is able to draw on 'weather instincts and his robust self-confidence' when dealing with complex issues.

Author Franklin Foer's book The Last Politician, which will be available to the public next week, is based on 'unparalleled access to the tight inner circle of advisers who have surrounded Biden for decades,' according to publisher Penguin Random House

A whopping 77% of Americans think Biden is took old for a second term in office  including 69% of Democrats and 89% of Republicans

In the same passage in which he reports Biden's admission to being tired, meanwhile, Foer says the president's 'wartime leadership', regarding supporting Ukraine in its fight against the invading Russian army, 'drew on his weathered instincts and his robust self-confidence'.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, Foer writes that 'the advantages of having an older president were on display.'

'He wasn't just a leader of the coalition, he was the West's father figure, whom foreign leaders could call for advice and look to for assurance. It was his calming presence and his strategic clarity that helped lead the alliance to such an aggressive stance, which stymied authoritarianism on its front lines.'

'He was a man for his age,' Foer concludes.

The Last Politician will hit shelves for public consumption next week, but multiple media outlets obtained a password protected PDF copy of the book and are publishing excerpts ahead of its release.
He miraculously survived certain death when the car failed to make the leap

This is the amazing moment a hapless Russian daredevil cheats death after his stunt attempting to jump a small car between two tower block rooftops goes horribly wrong.

The calamitous stunt, performed by Evgeny Chebotarev, 32, saw the daredevil miraculously survive certain death when the car failed to make the leap across the buildings in the Russian Republic of North OssetiaAlania.

Chebotarev had lined up his white Lada Niva with the intention to drive up a ramp, dive through the air, and safely land on the other side.

But the Russian had made a disastrous miscalculation and he failed to accelerate sufficiently on the special ramp to make it across.

The Russian-made car plummeted to the ground, first crashing with full force into the wall of the opposite building before falling a further 50ft straight down to the ground.

The calamitous stunt, performed by Evgeny Chebotarev, 32, saw the daredevil miraculously survive certain death when the car failed to make the leap

The Russian-made car plummeted to the ground, first crashing with full force into the wall of the opposite building

The car crashed with full force into the wall of the opposite building before falling a further 50ft straight down to the ground

The main impact in the initial crash was to the front roof and windscreen.

Somehow, Chebotarev managed to survive and was fortunate not to suffer appalling head injuries.

Miraculously, the stuntman was seen moving and then climbing out of the wreck on his two feet.

An aide shouted down to Chebotarev as the hapless Russian escaped the crash: 'Are you in one piece?'

Another replied: 'I cannot be sure.'

But Chebotarev was soon on his two feet, although still severely injured albeit not fatally.

Eventually he posted on social media: 'I almost survived. I'm going to hospital.'

He asked his fans: 'You must have buried me, right?'

But Chebotarev, who has cheated death many times with various stunts, told his followers: 'You knew I wouldn't stop.'

The calamitous stunt, performed by Evgeny Chebotarev, 32, (pictured) saw the daredevil miraculously survive certain death

The white Lada Nava crashed in a heap to the ground after Russian daredevil Evgeny Chebotarev failed to make the jump

The destroyed Lada Nava is pictured being lifted from the crash site following the failed jump

He was later treated for injuries to his legs and feet.

'I do not deny, I won't be able to walk. I could barely get up,' the hapless stuntman said.

The stunt was in the Russian Republic of North OssetiaAlania close to the Georgian border.

Two years earlier, Chebotarev broke his spine flying a car 131ft over a river.

'Friends always called me a psycho,' he said. As far as I remember, I've always loved extremes.'

Somehow, Chebotarev managed to survive and was fortunate not to suffer appalling head injuries
Kyle Rittenhouse, the young man who as a teenager shot and killed two people amid Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has found himself facing yet another legal challenge.

Despite being acquitted on homicide and attempted homicide charges in 2021, Rittenhouse, 20, is now being sued by the estate of one of the men he killed during the chaos in Kenosha.

The estate of Joseph Rosenbaum has launched a lawsuit against Rittenhouse, as well as a number of law enforcement officers and personnel.

These claims, totaling 13 accusations including negligence and wrongful death, seek 'compensatory and punitive damages' for Rosenbaum's family, according to Texas Scorecard.

'I stood my ground, and I won't back down. I did what was necessary to protect myself, and it's clear the truth prevailed,' declared Rittenhouse, who has become a symbol for defenders of the Second Amendment.

'Every step forward is an uphill battle. I face unwarranted scrutiny and threats due to the false narratives spread by these lawsuits. No one should ever have to continually prove their innocence in a clear case of self-defense.'

Kyle Rittenhouse enters the courtroom to hear the verdicts in his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Nov. 19, 2021

Kyle Rittenhouse, left, with backwards cap, walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wis., Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, with another armed civilian

Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, was shot and killed by Rittenhouse on August 25, 2020

Rosenbaum, a 36-year-old man grappling with mental health problems, confronted Rittenhouse amid the civil unrest during a Black Lives Matter protest on that fateful night in Kenosha on August 25, 2020 - two days after police shot Black man Jacob Blake in the back as he attempted to get into a car with his children.

During the riots, Rosenbaum aggressively pursued Rittenhouse, threw items at him and ultimately attempted to reach for his gun, according to eyewitness testimony, before a 17-year-old Rittenhouse shot and killed him.

After being acquitted of all charges, Rittenhouse became a poster boy for Second Amendment rights advocates and right-wing political commentators.

The lawsuit alleges: 'Joseph Rosenbaum met his unfortunate demise due to the actions of Defendant Rittenhouse,' while demanding compensatory damages.

Lawyers for the Rosenbaum estate say that police did not enforce curfews and made no attempts to prevent armed individuals from getting involved in the protests.

'The law enforcement defendants deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit,' the lawsuit claims.

'As a result, defendant Rittenhouse fired his assault rifle indiscriminately multiple times at citizens on the street. He shot and killed two men, seriously injured a third, and narrowly missed a fourth.

'They did not disarm him. They did not limit his movement in any way. They did not question him. They did not stop him from shooting individuals after he started. They did not arrest him, detain him, or question him even after he had killed two people.'

Kyle Rittenhouse waves to cheering fans as he appears at a panel discussion at a Turning Point USA America Fest 2021 event, Monday, Dec. 20, 2021, in Phoenix. The 20-year-old has become a poster boy for Second Amendment rights

This undated photo shows Anthony Huber who died in Kenosha, Wis., Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020

The violence in Kenosha erupted after Jacob Blake was gunned down by police officers

Besides Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse fired at two more assailants.

One of them, Anthony Huber, lost his life, while Gaige Grosskreutz sustained injuries.

Grosskreutz, who testified that he had pointed a pistol at Rittenhouse and was then shot during the 2020 riots, in February this year also decided to sue Rittenhouse for 'damages for emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and other pain and suffering on all claims'.

Grosskreutz 'must live with the physical and emotional wounds inflicted by Defendant Rittenhouse and the Defendants who deputized and enabled him,' the lawsuit says.

Rittenhouse told Fox News Digital in response to Grosskreutz's suit: 'I guess it came as a shock to why he's filing a lawsuit because he admitted that he pointed a gun in my face and that he chased me down.'

He said that it would come with a hefty price tag, but said he was ready to prove his innocence 'again'.
Judges will finally be given powers to order offenders to attend sentencing following outrage that Lucy Letby dodged her reckoning.

The authorities will also be able to use 'reasonable force' to make those convicted appear in court - demonstrating to victims and relatives that justice has been done.

The announcement comes after neo-natal nurse Letby refused to attend her own sentencing for murdering multiple babies. Many other criminals have also shunned key hearings.

Rishi Sunak, who met Olivia Pratt-Korbel's mother in Downing Street earlier to pass on the news personally, said offenders will no longer be allowed to to take the 'coward's way out'.

The Ministry of Justice will introduce the legislation this Autumn, although it is not yet clear when it will take effect.

Judges will be given the powers to order offender to attend sentencing, under reforms in the wake of the Lucy Letby case

Rishi Sunak tweeted to confirm that the law is being changed so offenders can be forced to attend sentencings

Mr Sunak met Cheryl Korbel, whose her nine-year-old daughter Olivia was shot by killer Thomas Cashman on August 22 last year, in Downing Street today to tell her about the plans

The killer of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel (pictured) Thomas Cashman, 34, was absent from court in April

Speaking on a visit to a police station in London this afternoon, Mr Sunak said: 'Like many, I was appalled that people who have committed awful crimes somehow are able to take the coward's way out and not appear in court for their sentencing and to hear the impact that their crimes have had on the victim's families.

'I don't think that's right. There shouldn't be an easy way out.

'That's why we're going to change the law so that courts could compel these offenders to be present for their sentencing and to hear the impact that their actions have had, but also, if necessary, to use reasonable force to bring those people to court, and also to add time on to their sentence if they don't appear.

'I think that's the right thing to do. People rightly expect criminals to face up to the consequences of their actions.'

The promised reforms - which the Mail has pushed for - will give custody officers the power to use 'reasonable force' to ensure those awaiting sentencing appear in the dock or via video link.

Those convicted could also face an extra two years in jail if they ignore a judge's order and continue to refuse to attend court, with such penalties applying in cases where the maximum sentence is life imprisonment.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said earlier this year that ministers were committed to changing the law to force criminals to be sentenced in person after the killers of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa refused to stand in the dock.

Letby, 33, did not appear in court as she was handed a whole-life order for murdering seven babies and harming six others, prompting widespread anger over how callous killers are denying victims' families the opportunity to tell them how their crimes have affected them.

Cheryl Korbel, 47, had her nine-year-old child taken from her forever in an horrific shooting in Liverpool by killer Thomas Cashman on August 22 last year.

Earlier this month she described his absence from court as a 'kick in the teeth'.

She joined the families of Elle Edwards, Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa in demanding a law change to stop 'cowardly' offenders from 'hiding' when they are sentenced, as ministers have also said Letby 'should be there'.

Ms Korbel said she hoped that Olivia was 'proud of what we've done'.

'Because at the end of the day, it's in her name, it's why we've done this. And not only in her name, it's for every other family out there that has gone through it.

'We just hope it gets changed so no-one else has to go through it,' she told ITV.

Killers who refused to face justice Calls for offenders to be forced to face sentencing have been fueled by a series of high-profile cases. Nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot in Liverpool by killer Thomas Cashman on August 22 last year. Her mother Cheryl Korbel described his absence from court as a 'kick in the teeth'. Thomas Cashman, 34, who murdered nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, refused to attend his sentencing after complaining that the case was being turned 'into a circus' Jordan McSweeney, 29, was handed a life sentence for Zara Aleena's murder in June last year - but refused to come to court. An aunt of Ms Aleena suggested putting a camera on criminals and live-streaming their sentencing into their cells if they refuse to attend court. Speaking on Times Radio, Farah Naz said reading victim impact statements at the sentencing of her niece's killer, Jordan McSweeney, without him present 'felt farcical'. She said they 'still want to face him'. Jordan McSweeney, 29, was handed a life sentence for Zara Aleena's murder Albanian national Koci Selamaj, 36, used 'extreme violence' to kill teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, whose body was uncovered underneath a pile of leaves in Cator Park, London. At a hearing, Selamaj refused to face Ms Nessa's family. Addressing him in absentia, Ms Nessa's parents, Abdur and Aziban, told him he 'had no right to touch our daughter or take her away from us in such a cruel way'. Ms Nessa's sister Jabina Islam called school dropout Selamaj a 'coward' for not facing up to his crime in court. Albanian national Koci Selamaj, 36, (left) used 'extreme violence' to kill teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, (right) whose body was uncovered underneath a pile of leaves in Cator Park, London Advertisement

The Mail had pushed for the law to be changed so offenders cannot dodge attending sentencing

Zara Aleena's (pictured) killer Jordan McSweeney, 29, was handed a life sentence but refused to leave his cell for sentencing

Koci Selamaj, who strangled Ms Nessa (pictured) in undergrowth in what was suspected to be a sexually motivated attack, was also absent from court for sentencing

The aunt of Zara Aleena whose killer also refused to leave his cell to attend his sentencing hearing and avoided facing his victim's family said in February they wanted him to know he 'completely destroyed' them.

McSweeney was handed a life sentence and jailed for at least 38 years after admitting sexually assaulting and murdering 35-year-old law graduate Zara Aleena in Ilford, east London, in June last year.

Ms Aleena's aunt Farah Naz said the sentencing would have been McSweeney's opportunity to be 'human' and that she wanted him to hear he had 'completely destroyed us as a family' and it will take 'years and years' to accept what happened.

Ms Naz told BBC Breakfast at the time: 'He needed to look at our faces and see how he hadn't just killed Zara, he had killed a whole family.'

Ms Naz also told the news programme: 'My mother and myself, Zara's grandmother, we both made victim impact statements.

'And we wanted him to hear that, and human to human we wanted him to know the impact that he, his actions, his atrocious, horrendous, horrific actions have left, the mark that he's left on us, that he's completely destroyed us as a family and we have years and years of finding a way through accepting what's happened.

'And we needed that. And the other side to this is that we also feel that he needed it too, as he needed to face his actions.'

Labour accused ministers of being too slow to introduce reforms to force offenders to attend sentencing hearings.

'It is disrespectful and grossly offensive to victims that brutal murderers, terrorists and rapists can refuse to face the consequences of their crimes in court,' shadow justice secretary Steve Reed said.

'If the defendant doesn't come and face justice, it's beyond cowardly and can have a devastating impact on victims and their families. This can be a vital part of seeing justice done.

'We called for new laws on this back in April last year  but the Conservatives have dragged their feet.
Former President Donald Trump is a fan of Vivek Ramaswamy, and thinks the 38-year-old could be a 'very good' VP pick if he dials it back with the controversial remarks.

An unknown name only months ago, the entrepreneur and 'anti-woke' author has risen to fame as the youthful and boisterous anti-establishment candidate in the GOP primary.

'He's a very, very, very intelligent person. He's got good energy, and he could be some form of something,' Trump told Glenn Beck of a potential 'Vice President Ramaswamy' on his BlazeTV show.

'I tell you, I think he'd be very good.'

Still, the former president warned Ramaswamy to 'be a little bit careful' with his words.

Former President Donald Trump is a fan of Vivek Ramaswamy, and thinks the 38-year-old could be a 'very good' VP pick if he dials it back with the controversial remarks

'He's starting to get out there a little bit. He's getting a little bit controversial,' Trump said. 'I got to tell him, "Be a little bit careful. Some things you have to hold in just a little bit, right?"'

Ramaswamy aligns with Trump on matters like abolishing the Department of Education and launching military strikes on Mexico to take out drug cartels.

He's also proposed ideas like freezing the current battle lines in Ukraine - which would allow Russia control of the Donbas region as long as Ukraine stops trying to be a part of NATO and Russia cuts ties with China.

In a campaign stop in Iowa he said the U.S. should defend Taiwan from China's advances 'at least until we have achieved semiconductor independence in this country, at which point we will reevaluate.'

He's also griped about U.S. aid to Israel.

In the GOP debate last week, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley accused Ramaswamy of wanting to 'go and stop funding Israel.'

He shot back: 'Our relationship with Israel will never be stronger than by the end of my first term. But it's not a client relationship, it is a friendship. And you know what friends do? Friends help each other stand on their own two feet.'

Ramaswamy was accused of racism for calling out Haley by her birth name on his website to hit back on her claims about his Israel views.

'WRONG. Keep lying, Nimarata Randhawa,' the website reads.

He had said on Russell Brand's Rumble channel that come 2028, the year the U.S.'s $38 billion aid package to Israel expires, the Middle Eastern ally would no longer need aid.

'He's a very, very, very intelligent person. He's got good energy, and he could be some form of something,' Trump told radio host Glenn Beck of a potential 'Vice President Ramaswamy'

'You have no foreign policy and it shows!' Haley shouted at Ramaswamy when he indicated he would defund the Ukraine war effort during the debate. 'You don't do that to friends. You are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country.'

Ramaswamy introduced himself to the crowd at the debate as the 'skinny guy with a funny last name' and got into heated exchanges with former Vice President Mike Pence, Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

His standout performance was immediately recognized by voters, with a DailyMail.com poll finding that he and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were tied for best.

'We're just gonna have some fun tonight,' Ramaswamy told the crowd at one point, pushing off an attack.

'The real choice we face in this primary is this: Do you want a Super PAC puppet?' he asked. 'Or do you want a patriot who speaks the truth? Do you want incremental reform, which is what you're hearing about, or do you want revolution?'
This is the moment Florida governor Ron DeSantis was left in darkness during a power outage as he shared updates on Hurricane Idalia's landfall in the state.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach on Wednesday morning after weakening to a Category 3 storm.

The blackout during DeSantis' press conference in Tallahassee lasted only about 10 seconds, before generators kicked in.

'There we go with our power here,' the governor and presidential candidate said as the lights went out.

More than 200,000 Floridians have been left without power as of 9am EST, according to poweroutage.us.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis was left in darkness during a power outage as he shared updates on Hurricane Idalia's landfall in the state.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach on Wednesday morning after weakening to a Category 3 storm

DeSantis warned 'don't mess with this storm' from his headquarters.

He added that there have been 11 tornado warnings issued, saying: 'It's going to be a significant, significant impact.'

The governor declared a state of emergency for 49 Florida counties, as 5,500 National Guard members were mobilized to help with evacuations and building defenses.

'Storm surge of this magnitude is not something we've ever seen in this part of Florida in any of our lifetimes,' DeSantis said on Tuesday afternoon. 'So, please, please take the appropriate precautions.'

Authorities have warned that the decrease from a Category 4 to a 3 'does not diminish' the threat to life, adding that the event is a once-in-a-lifetime event for Florida's northwest coast.

It's the strongest storm to make landfall in the Big Bend region in 127 years, matching an unnamed hurricane in 1896.

And it is the latest hurricane to batter Florida, which has barely recovered from 2022 storm Hurricane Ian - which cost the state $113 billion to repair.

Floodwater hits downtown area of Tarpon Springs hours before Idalia made landfall

Footage from the worst affected areas shows flooding in Fort Myers beach - which was destroyed by Hurricane Ian last year - as Tampa Bay is almost completely underwater

St Petersburg Police shared a video of the level of flooding which was sweeping away homes at a mobile trailer park

CLEARWATER: Flooding and rainwater whipped the coast as Clearwater Harbor Marina was swallowed by the rising tide on Wednesday morning

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned of catastrophic storm surges of up to 12 to 16 feet in the worst affected areas.

Footage from the worst affected areas shows flooding in Fort Myers beach - which was destroyed by Hurricane Ian last year - as Tampa Bay is almost completely underwater.

Meanwhile images show Horseshoe Beach entirely underwater as debris washes through a structure.

And St Petersburg Police shared a video of the level of flooding which was sweeping away homes at a mobile trailer park, and confirmed they had already rescued one person by 6:50am.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge has been closed to all traffic as sustained wind speeds hit an excess of 50mph.

Over 1,000 people in Sarasota were already without power overnight, and many other areas had the power cut off in advance as a precaution.

North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have all declared states of emergency, with assistance being provided from both California and New York.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is sending specialized search-and-rescue teams to Orlando and Atlanta.

New York's Task Force 1, made up of NYPD and fire department employees, has arrived in South Carolina in preparation for rescue efforts.
Retiring to a place in the sun will cost thousands of seniors their lives, experts have warned, as soaring temperatures leave them at the mercy of failing power grids.

Record numbers of retirees are heading for the Sun Belt states of the south, attracted by lower living costs and the prospect of warmer winters.

But temperatures are soaring dangerously in the most popular destinations with 110F in Phoenix for 31 days straight this summer and 116F recorded in Nevada, condemning many to months indoors and leaving them one power cut away from peril.

Brian Stone Jr. of Georgia Tech has calculated that a 48-hour blackout in Phoenix could cost 13,000 lives, most of them elderly, if it combined with high summer temperatures - as older Americans are more susceptible to heat-related illness.

Extreme heat is the deadliest form of weather in the United States, he told the New York Times, much more than hurricanes or tornadoes or wildfires.

A hiker finished her hike early to beat high temperatures on July 10 in Phoenix

EMT personnel assisted a man who collapsed in 110F near downtown Phoenix in July

Diana and Charles Cox moved from San Jose, California, to the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear in 2016 attracted by its lower costs, international airport and many health care providers.

I was having more and more trouble paying the mortgage, said Diana, 69.

This summer they have endured more than 60 miserable days of 100F temperatures in an RV while their home is refurbished.

You really cant go out and do things. We havent been as sociable as Id like, Diana told the New York Times.

A couple of days ago it got up to 92 in here, the cats were prostrate under the ceiling fan.

If we could afford it, Id move back to the California coast.

I prefer being able to open the windows.

Jean Swain Horton, 67, moved from Sacramento, California to Frisco, Texas, two years ago to be near her son and baby grandson, Theo.

Jean Swain Horton moved to be near her grandson

Now she stays largely indoors for five months of the year, living in an apartment with shades pulled to block the sun.

I would go anywhere to be near my grandson, she said.

Electrical grid failures affecting more than 50,000 residents have more than doubled in six years. Loss of electricity can lead to more exposure to the elements for the elderly and the possible loss of electric medical devices.

Seniors are vulnerable to extreme temperatures because they have more trouble with thermoregulation, the bodys ability to retain its temperature, and the problem is particularly acute for those with chronic illnesses like heart disease or diabetes,

Older bodies are less efficient at pumping blood to the skin and less efficient at sweating, said Dr. Neelu Tummala of the Climate Health Institute at George Washington University.

That makes it harder for the heart to pump.

Heat-associated deaths rose 25 percent to 425 last year in Pheonix, two-thirds in the over 50s.

More than 110million people were under heat advisories at one point this summer. But the dangers have not deterred the wave of seniors looking to see out their sunset years in the sunshine states.

More than 600,000 seniors move state every year with the greatest number heading to Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

Diana and Charles Cox say they would return home to California if they could

A digital thermometer stationed in Death Valley on July 15 revealed temperatures to top a staggering 129F - five degrees short of the hottest temperature ever recorded in history.

California's appropriately named Death Valley came close to recording the hottest temperature in history

Ector County resident Jose Hernandez resorted to a fire hydrant that was opened to reduce pressure on the system in Texas this summer

The places that are hot now are precisely the places getting older, said sociologist Deborah Carr of Boston University.

The places that are already older  the Midwest, the Northeast, New England  are having heat exposure increase at the most rapid clip, and were less prepared for it.

Older adults want to move where the cost of living and housing costs are lower, and they may prioritize family over the possibility of heat waves.

As hot weather puts strains on the electric grid from increased power consumption, the issue was thrust to the forefront of headlines in 2021 when the elderly in Texas struggled with prolonged power outages.

More than 700 people were killed when Texas' historic winter storm cut power to 3.5million people for an average of 42 hours in February 2021.

Winter Storm Uri brought historically low temperatures to Texas, and left two-thirds of the state's residents without power for days

Temperatures dropped below zero in some parts of the state. Studies show that the cold mixed with power outages can lead to increased instances of heart failure in people with pre-existing conditions

Neighbors push a car out of a snowy driveway in Austin on February 15. Winter storm Uri caused an estimated 702 deaths - almost five times the official figure, an analysis claimed

Many of those who died suffered fatal health emergencies as a result of the freezing weather, with others fatally weakened after vital medical equipment went dark during power cuts, which lasted for days for many Texans.

One, an 89-year-old woman, was initially believed to have died from heart failure, but after it was discovered that the oxygen machine she needed to breathe had gone offline for 18 hours, her death was reclassified as being the result of the storm.

In another case, a 68-year-old woman collapsed in her home, but even after EMTs restarted her heart, she was admitted to the hospital with a body temperature indicative of hypothermia.

The event highlighted the dependence of millions on reliable power supply for crucial life-saving equipment.
Prince Harry still has a right to privacy in regards to his US immigration files despite publicly disclosing intimate and personal details about his life, the Department of Homeland Security says.

The Duke of Sussex had no qualms when it came to sharing private information in his memoir Spare  in which he even includes an anecdote about his frostbitten penis  as well as his six-part Netflix series with wife Meghan Markle late last year.

But the DHS has argued that such previous public disclosures do not mean his visa records should be released, in a new legal filing which sought to dismiss an appeal by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation to obtain the documents.

Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, told DailyMail.com that the response by DHS was a 'disgrace'.

Harry (left with Meghan Markle and right leaving a London nightclub in 2006) has a right to privacy over his US immigration files, the Department of Homeland Security says

He said: 'The Biden administration should come clean over what's contained in the immigration application.

'So far they are refusing to release the records which suggests that clearly there is something to hide'.

Gardiner added: 'Prince Harry himself should support the release of his immigration records  if he has nothing to hide'.

The Heritage Foundation is seeking the release of the documents as part of a Freedom of Information request it filed in March.

The think tank claimed that Harry could have lied about taking drugs in his immigration paperwork despite admitting doing them in his memoir and in the Netflix show.

Prince Harry got very candid about his private life in his memoir Spare, released in January

If the prince did not tell the truth on his entry forms then he could be removed from the US or barred by a border agent.

DHS initially rejected the application and the Heritage Foundation filed a lawsuit in a court in Washington after its administrative appeal stalled.

Both sides were asked by a judge to try to work out differences on key points, but after that failed DHS filed a request for summary judgment, or to dismiss the case.

In the document, DHS went further than arguing that Harry still had a 'right to privacy' as it has done from the start.

Now it claimed that even his disclosures made in his memoir and TV series did not mean it should have to hand the documents over.

Jarrod Panter, Acting Associate Center Director for Freedom of Information at DHS, wrote: 'Prince Harry has not consented to the release of records related to or reflecting information about him.

'Despite the public role that Prince Harry has played in the UK and despite information that he has disclosed regarding his personal life, he still maintains a strong privacy interest in his immigration status and information about him reflected in (immigration) records.

'Prince Harry has not publicly or officially disclosed his status in the United States and has not surrendered all rights to personal privacy.'

In his memoir, Spare, which came out in January, and the Netflix show 'Harry & Meghan', Harry was frank about his past drug use.

The Duke of Sussex openly discussed how he experimented with drugs in his youth, including cocaine, magic mushrooms, and marijuana, in his new memoir and in interviews after his memoir was released

He also shared personal information about his life on his Netflix show alongside wife Meghan Markle

This is the section of the visa application that Prince Harry would have had to fill out in order to get into the United States

He has admitted to using cocaine and marijuana, once saying that cannabis helped heal the trauma of his mother's death.

The Duke said that through using ayahuasca, the psychedelic drug, he realized that his mother wanted him to be 'happy'.

Despite this, Harry's US visa application in March 2020 could show he ticked the 'no' box on questions about his drug use, The Heritage Foundation claims.

In its legal filing, DHS said that the records at issue are 'particularly sensitive' because they would 'reveal Harry's (immigration) status in the United States'.

DHS wrote: 'Even though he is a public figure, Prince Harry still maintains a privacy interest in these types of records and in his immigration or visa status generally.

'Even if public figures may have a diminished expectation of privacy, they do not surrender their privacy interests entirely',

The filing added that 'were this not the case, a requester could go on a fishing expedition for (government) records for any celebrity at all'.

The original request sought to reveal whether Harry, who moved to the US after quitting being a working member of the British royal family, was getting 'preferential treatment'.

But the Heritage Foundation has merely 'recounted a litany of allegedly suspicious circumstances (that) lacked any substantiation', DHS said.

The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, filed a complaint and request for injunctive relief in May after their FOIA request was denied

Nile Gardiner, a former aide to ex-British PM Margaret Thatcher, lashed out at the Biden administration for its 'zero transparency' stance

DHS dismissed the Heritage Foundation's claims as a 'bare suspicion of government misconduct' and making Harry's paperwork public would not shed any 'meaningful light' on how it operates.

The filing requests that the case be dismissed and a judge will decide whether to do so at a later date.

Gardiner told DailyMail.com: 'The argument that DHS are putting forward here is preposterous.

'Prince Harry is one of the most public figures in the world today and he has extensively detailed his drug use in his memoir and interviews.

'He's made this public and the American people have a right to know what he put on his immigration application.

'The Biden administration is desperately trying to stonewall the FOIA request and they are acting completely without transparency and accountability and that's unacceptable.

'I think their statements are disgraceful.

'The issue is that everyone should be treated equally and there should be no prejudice in favor of celebrity applicants to the US.

The Heritage Foundation had requested access to Prince Harry's records from DHS through the Freedom of Information Act earlier this year

Earlier this month Rep. Greg Steube introduced the SPARE Act which would lead to deportation for non-citizens who are found to lie about drug use on their visa application.

The act would require the Homeland Security secretary to begin an investigation within 60 days if information came to light about a non-citizen's drug use.

Gardiner predicted that when Congress is back in session there will be 'growing calls' for DHS to release Harry's visa records.

He said: 'It's only a matter of time before US Senators as well ask for accountability

'The Biden administration's response so far has been appalling. This is an issue that goes to the heart of enforcement of immigration and the principle that everyone should be treated equally.'

Harry has declined to comment on the case.
Hong Kong: Chris Sun starts GBA visit

Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun today, leading a delegation of the Labour & Welfare Bureau, began his visit to three Mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), together with a delegation of the Legislative Council Panel on Welfare Services.



The Social Welfare Department (SWD) implements various portable cash assistance schemes to enable Hong Kong elderly people staying in the Mainland cities of the GBA to receive Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, Old Age Allowance or Old Age Living Allowance.



As of end-July, about 24,000 Hong Kong elderly people retiring in Guangdong benefitted from the relevant schemes.



In addition, the SWD will relax the absence limit under the pre-application one-year continuous residence requirement of the Social Security Allowance (SSA) Scheme from 56 to 90 days starting from September.



Applicants are required to reside in Hong Kong for a minimum of 275 days within one year before making an application to be eligible to apply for the SSA Scheme, in addition to other eligibility criteria.



Mr Sun met retired Hong Kong people in Clifford Estates in Guangzhou to learn more about their retirement life and needs on the Mainland this morning.



The delegations toured the Clifford Care Center and visited Hong Kong residents in the afternoon to take a closer look at the medical, elderly, rehabilitation and care services provided by its multidisciplinary team and how they assist the elderly to remain living in the community.



Mr Sun said that with ample land supply and manpower in the Mainland cities of the bay area, the experience of medical and elderly care integration is of valuable reference to Hong Kong, thereby providing more choices for Hong Kong elderly people.



The welfare chief and the delegations then paid a courtesy call on Party Secretary of Guangdong Department of Civil Affairs Ding Hongdu.



Both sides held a joint seminar to exchange updates on the latest situation of elderly care in the two places and explored the better use of technology to enhance service quality.



Mr Sun emphasised that this visit further deepened mutual understanding on the development and experience of elderly services, ushering in a new phase of co-operation.



The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government looks forward to seizing opportunities arising from the development of the GBA with Hong Kongs social welfare sector under the principle of complementarity and deepening the implementation of cross-boundary elderly care, with a view to improving the quality of life of elderly people in both places.



The delegations will continue their visit in Guangzhou tomorrow morning and depart for Zhaoqing in the afternoon.

This story has been published on: 2023-08-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Mitch McConnell once again had trouble speaking and hearing while addressing the media Wednesday in Kentucky.

The 81-year-old Senate Minority Leader was asked about running for re-election while attending an event in Covington, a Cincinnati suburb. Instead of answering, he stood vacantly for several seconds. After the reporter repeated the question, McConnell again stared straight ahead for 10 seconds.

Another reporter then asked about Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron running for governor, to which McConnell did not immediately react. After an assistant restated the question, McConnell mumbled a response.

McConnell did not substantially respond to a final question about Donald Trumps latest indictment, and his handlers then escorted him away from the podium.

An eerily similar incident occurred July 26 in Washington. In that case, McConnell froze mid-sentence before he was ushered away by aides. On that day, he later reappeared to answer more questions. However, he took no further inquiries on Wednesday.

Two days after the first freeze, the longest-serving Senate leader in U.S. history insisted he would finish out his term despite the apparent health issues.

Leader McConnell appreciates the continued support of his colleagues, and plans to serve his full term in the job they overwhelmingly elected him to do, a spokesperson said.

McConnells team again brushed off Wednesdays incident, saying the senator felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today.

Political observers have closely tracked McConnells health ever since he fell while climbing stairs in his home and broke his shoulder in 2019. In March 2023, McConnell fell again while attending a group dinner at a hotel in Washington.

McConnell suffered a concussion in that fall, and his injuries kept him away from Congress for six weeks. However, he has insisted the fall had no effect on his ability to govern and did not contribute to the random freezes.

When asked about Wednesdays incident, President Biden called McConnell a good friend and said he would reach out to the longtime senator.

With News Wire Services
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky 'bombed' his first meeting with Joe Biden and left the president 'p***ed off' with his list of demands, according to a new book.

'Even Zelensky's most ardent sympathizers in the [Biden] administration agreed that he had bombed,' Franklin Foer, author of The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future, writes, per excerpts in the Guardian.

In that September 2021 meeting Biden was annoyed by Zelensky's demand to join NATO and the Ukrainian president's 'absurd analysis' of the alliance's dynamics.

For his part, Zelensky saw Biden as weak, particularly over his decision earlier that year to waive sanctions against a Russian company building Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office in September of 2021 but that sit down didn't go well, a new book reveals

Zelensky saw that decision as undermining Ukrainian economic and security interests, afraid Russia would use the pipeline - which would take Russian gas from the Arctic to Germany - as a geopolitical weapon.

The Biden administration argued it was in the US's national interest to waive the sanctions. The White House was looking to rebuild ties to Germany, which became frayed under Biden's predecessor in the Oval Office, Donald Trump.

Franklin Foer's book will be out Sept. 5

The meeting was Biden's second at the White House with a European leader, meant to showcase the importance the administration placed on Ukraine. At the time, there were fears Russia would invade its neighbor but no formal strike had yet happened.

Five months after that first Biden-Zelensky sitdown, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin would invade the Ukraine.

Zelensky had struggled to get a White House meeting since he was elected as president of the Ukraine in 2019.

But when he finally made it to the Oval Office, he had 'lingering resentments' against Trump, Foer notes in his book, that he carried over.

Trump had pushed Zelensky to investigate Ukraine's involvement in the 2016 presidential election and the business dealings of Biden and his son, Hunter.

The then-president had called the Ukrainian leader and said: 'I would like you to do us a favor.' When a whistleblower leaked details of the call, it triggered Trump's first impeachment in the House before the Senate acquitted the then-President.

Zelensky 'at least subconsciously  seemed to blame' Biden 'for the humiliation he suffered, for the political awkwardness he endured,' Foer writes.

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September 2019

Biden and Zelensky would become close after Russia invaded - in February 2023 Biden visited Kyiv to meet with the Ukrainian president

In comments to the media during the Oval Office meeting, Zelensky pushed for Biden to support the Ukraine in joining NATO, to have the US play a role in reaching a settlement in the Donbas region of Ukraine, and requesting American assistance in freeing hundreds of individuals imprisoned in Donbas.

'I would like to discuss with President Biden here his vision, his government's vision of Ukraine's chances to join NATO and the timeframe for this accession, if it is possible; and the role the United States can play being involved in a peaceful settlement in Donbas that we would like to reach,' he said.

Biden simply responded: 'Much to talk about.'

He also said the United States was 'firmly committed' to Ukraine's territorial integrity and offered Kyiv $60 million in new security aid.

But Biden had gone into the meeting expecting expressions of gratitude for US support, Foer notes.

And, in their private conversation, he told Zelensky there was not enough support among the NATO members for Ukraine to join.

At the time, Russia was thought to be preparing for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which would come in February 2022.

Foer writes: 'Zelenskiy's frustration occluded his capacity for logic. After begging to join Nato, he began to lecture that the organization is, in fact, a historic relic, with waning significance. He told Biden that France and Germany were going to exit Nato.

'It was an absurd analysis  and a blatant contradiction. And it p***ed Biden off.'

But relations ultimately improved with the United States becoming one of Ukraine's biggest supporters during Russia's invasion.
She was Britain's best loved TV presenter who was shot dead in cold blood on her doorstep.

Jill Dando's murder on April 26, 1999, shocked the nation and became one of the most high profile and complex police investigations in British history.

Now, a newly released trailer for an upcoming Netflix documentary series about the unsolved case reveals the fury of Barry George, the man who spent eight years in prison for Ms Dando's murder before his conviction was quashed in 2008.

'It makes me angry that they have taken eight years of my life,' he says in the trailer.

The presenter was found by neighbours slumped against her front door in Fulham, West London, in a pool of blood after suffering a single gunshot wound to the head.

At the time of her death, she was best known for co-presenting the BBC One programme Crimewatch with Nick Ross.

She was Britain's best loved TV presenter who was shot dead in cold blood on her doorstep. Jill Dando's murder on April 26, 1999, shocked the nation and became one of the most high profile and complex police investigations in British history

The multi-part series will blend archive, new research and revelatory interviews, to revisit Dando's life, career, legacy and her murder.

The documentary, which will launch globally on Netflix on September 26, is directed by Marcus Plowright (Fred and Rose West: Reopened) and executive produced by Emma Cooper (The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes).

Ms Dando's murder prompted a huge investigation led by the Metropolitan Police and resulted in Mr George - a local loner and fantasist who had already served a prison sentence for attempted rape - being convicted of her murder in July 2001.

However, he was granted a retrial on appeal and was unanimously acquitted by a jury in August 2008.

It has long been suspected that Ms Dando was shot by a professional assassin.

A blue Range Rover that was parked illegally on the street where she lived, Gowan Avenue, was caught on CCTV driving away at speed from the area.

Speaking in 2019, Ms Dando's neighbour Vida Saunders recalled the moment she discovered the presenter's body.

She told the Daily Mail: 'Jill's body was lying at such an odd angle.

'She looked like she had collapsed on the spot. The back of her head was against the front door and her chest was facing towards the pavement.

'She was in a pool of blood, and I noticed her lips were blue and there were some small drips of blood running from her nose. I think we knew immediately that she was critically injured.

A newly released trailer for an upcoming Netflix documentary series about the unsolved case reveals the fury of Barry George, the man who spent eight years in prison for Ms Dando's murder before his conviction was quashed in 2008. Above: Mr George in the documentary, and right, before his original court appearance in 2001

Jill (pictured on holiday in the Seychelles) first got her big break in broadcasting in 1988 when she started presenting the BBC's hourly national bulletins

'She was still clutching a set of keys in one hand, probably her door keys or possibly her car keys.

'The handles of her handbag were over the other arm and her mobile phone was inside, ringing constantly.

'Normally, I think, if you saw someone collapsed like that, your instinct would be to reach out and touch them, to try to help them and see if they are all right.

'But it was clear Jill wasn't [all right].'

She added: 'That image of Jill lying there. . . I would have visions, snapshots of it in my dreams and even when I was doing my laps when I went swimming. I couldn't get it out of my head.

'It has given me many sleepless nights. Of course, time moves on and memories start to fade.

'But talking about it again now brings it all back so vividly. It was, it is, awful.'

At the time of her death, she was best known for co-presenting the BBC One programme Crimewatch with Nick Ross

Tragic: BBC Crimewatch presenter Jill was tragically shot in the head outside her west London home in 1999, prompting Britain's biggest police investigation since the Yorkshire Ripper

Ms Dando is pictured with her fiance Alan Farthing in 1999, months before she was shot dead on the doorstep of her home in Fulham

One line of inquiry looked into by police was that Ms Dando had been murdered on the orders of the Serbian warlord and underworld boss Zeljko Raznatovic, aka Arkan.

Earlier in April 1999, Ms Dando fronted a BBC1 broadcast appealing for funds to help refugees fleeing the ethnic cleansing of Albanians by Serbian forces in the province of Kosovo.

British warplanes were taking part in the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia to try to halt the massacre when Ms Dando was killed.

Despite her grave injuries and the fact she appeared to be dead, extensive efforts were made to resuscitate her both at the scene and at Charing Cross Hospital, where she was declared dead.

These are the haunting last images of Ms Dando, pictured just 40 minutes before she was assassinated outside her home

She was also spotted outside on the main High Street where she had been out shopping for the day

Another image shows her walking through the shopping centre with her raincoat and bag

Police pictured outside the home of Ms Dando in 1999 following her murder

Six distinctive marks were found on the cartridge case used by the gunman who killed Jill Dando

Police forensic officers at Gowan Avenue, Fulham, where TV presenter Jill Dando was murdered

One of the leaflets that was handed out in an effort to trace Ms Dando's killer

Police search Gowan Avenue in Fulham after Ms Dando's murder on her doorstep

The Daily Mail's coverage of Ms Dando's shocking murder, which gripped the nation

The Mail revealed that an official police report blamed resuscitation efforts for potentially destroying vital evidence that could have led officers to her killer.

Her clothes were ripped off to perform cardiac massage and the ground was 'trampled' by those who tried to save her.

In June last year, it emerged that Ms Dando's killer may have mistaken her for another BBC journalist who was the real target of an assassination plot.

Prosecutors in a French court accused fashion boss Gerald Marie, 73, of using the Russian Mafia to try and kill Lisa Brinkworth after she exposed him as a sex abuser.

But their gunman may have assassinated Ms Dando by mistake.

Ms Brinkworth claimed Marie, former boss of the Elite agency, wanted her dead because she claimed he sexually assaulted her in 1998 while she was working undercover to expose crimes in the fashion industry.

She told the Mirror: 'Even if there was a tiny possibility, I don't know if I could live with that, so I'm hoping there's nothing in that. I try not to think about it. I really, really don't want it to be true.'
A homeless drug addict who bound and strangled a man then stole his television worth 15 has been found guilty of murder.

Salieu Seray-Wurie, 26, killed 47-year-old Darren Ammon at his flat in Shoreditch, east London, last October 15 in a killing said to be motivated by his need to fund his habit.

Seray-Wurie denied intending to seriously hurt Mr Ammon but was found guilty of murder having already admitted manslaughter and stealing the victim's TV.

Prosecutor Jacqueline Carey KC had told jurors: 'The killing appears to have been motivated by the fact that the defendant believed Mr Ammon had possession of his bank card and because he needed money to fund his drugs habit.

'The defendant assaulted Mr Ammon and ultimately strangled him to death.

'After killing Mr Ammon, the defendant stole Mr Ammon's TV and wallet - subsequently pawning the TV within 60-90 minutes of the murder.'

Salieu Seray-Wurie was found guilty of murder having already admitted manslaughter and stealing the victim's TV

Salieu Seray-Wurie, 26, killed 47-year-old Darren Ammon (pictured) at his flat in Shoreditch, east London

Mr Ammon, who was addicted to class A drugs, was described as a 'much loved father and son'.

He had let the defendant stay at his flat while living a chaotic 'hand to mouth' existence, jurors were told.

Earlier on the day of the murder, Mr Ammon had called police for help to remove someone who was refusing to leave his flat.

In the background, someone was heard demanding to be given his money back with the victim saying: 'What money, I don't owe you no money.'

When police arrived at the flat the defendant was asked to leave, but he soon returned.

Three days later, a neighbour raised the alarm and officers forced entry to the flat where they found Mr Ammon's body in the living room under a duvet with his wrists and knees tied up and a cord around his neck.

Ms Carey said: 'Whether Mr Ammon was tied up before, during or after the fatal attack is not known, but it is clear that ensuring that Mr Ammon either could not defend himself or could not summon assistance would have taken some time, some strength and some thought.

'The prosecution say it took all those three things and it was the defendant who strangled Darren Ammon that afternoon.'

Mr Ammon, who was addicted to class A drugs, was described as a 'much loved father and son'

Seray-Wurie killed Ammon at his flat in Shoreditch, east London, last October 15 (file image)

The defendant was caught on CCTV walking away from the scene carrying a large television which he sold at a shop in Bethnal Green before going to Slough.

He was arrested last October 22 and claimed in a police interview not to have been present at the time of Mr Ammon's death.

When he was being escorted to a cell, the defendant told an officer that he needed to cancel his Barclaycard because he had lost it.

Even though he lost it a long time ago, there was no money in his account so he was not worried, he added.

The defendant went on to accept being responsible for Mr Ammon's death and pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the second day of his trial.

It took a jury an hour and 25 minutes to reach a guilty verdict and Seray-Wurie will be sentenced on Thursday at the Old Bailey.
The sentencing of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio for his leading role in the January 6 riot has been postponed after the judge fell ill.

Tarrio, who faces up to 33 years in prison, had been due to hear his fate in a much-anticipated hearing at Washington's federal courthouse on Wednesday morning.

He was set to be sentenced alongside four Proud Boys lieutenants convicted in the same case over their part orchestrating the 2021 Capitol riot.

But less than an hour before it began, the US Marshals Service said District Judge Timothy Kelly had fallen sick and was unable to preside over the hearing.

Their case has been postponed until September 5.

The sentencing of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio for his part in the January 6 riot has reportedly been cancelled

Tarrio, 39, from Miami was convicted of seditious conspiracy in one of the most serious cases to emerge from the attack on the US Capitol in 2021 (pictured)

Tarrio, 39, from Miami, was convicted of seditious conspiracy in one of the most serious cases to emerge from the attack on the US Capitol in 2021.

The far-right propagandist faced a jury trial alongside his accomplices Ethan Nordean, 32, of Auburn, Washington; Joseph Biggs, 39, of Ormond Beach, Florida; and Zachary Rehl, 37, of Philadelphia.

In May, jurors convicted them of conspiring to block the transfer of presidential power in the hopes of keeping Republican Donald Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 election.

All four were found guilty of seditious conspiracy, a rarely brought Civil War-era offense where prosecutors must prove that two or more people conspired to 'overthrow' the US government or otherwise 'destroy (it) by force'.

Tarrio wasn't actually in Washington on January 6 because he had been arrested in a separate case two days earlier - but authorities say the far-right propagandist masterminded the violence and encouraged people to take part.

He became the top target of what has become the largest Justice Department investigation in American history.

Tarrio led the neo-fascist group - known for street fights with left-wing activists - when Trump infamously told the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' during his first debate with Joe Biden.

During the month long trial, prosecutors argued that the Proud Boys viewed themselves as foot soldiers fighting for Trump as the Republican spread lies that Democrats stole the election from him.

Attorneys argued that members of the group were prepared to go to war to keep their preferred leader in power.

Tarrio was convicted in May of conspiring to block the transfer of presidential power in the hopes of keeping Republican Donald Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 election

They unleashed a force on the Capitol that was calculated to exert their political will on elected officials by force and to undo the results of a democratic election,' prosecutors wrote in their filing.

'The foot soldiers of the right aimed to keep their leader in power. They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals.'

The four defendants and co-defendant Dominic Pezzola, 45, of Rochester, New York, were also found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent Members of Congress and federal law enforcement officers from discharging their duties, civil disorder, and destruction of government property.

Pezzola was also found guilty of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and robbery involving government property.
Eleven people on a Delta Air Lines flight were hospitalized yesterday after the plane hit turbulence while heading to Atlanta, Georgia, officials said.

Shocking footage snapped by dismayed passengers showed how several victims were stretchered out of the plane held aloft on paramedics' shoulders, while others clasped ice packs against their heads to reduce the swelling of painful impacts.

Flight 175 had left Milan, Italy, on Tuesday and was about 40 miles north-east of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when the crew reported severe turbulence, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration, which said it will investigate.

A couple who were passengers on the flight told Fox5: 'Looked to be about 12 people with serious head injuries. Several flight attendants, too. Bunch of blood and awfulness.

'My fiancee and I are so freaked out, we are renting a car and driving to our final destination instead.'

The couple said all passengers were kept onboard for an additional two hours while those who were injured were triaged.

Eleven people on a Delta Air Lines flight were hospitalized yesterday after the plane hit turbulence while heading to Atlanta, Georgia, officials said.

Shocking footage snapped by dismayed passengers showed how several victims were stretchered out of the plane held aloft on paramedics' shoulders

Some passengers clasped ice packs against their heads to reduce the swelling of painful impacts

A passenger wearing a neck brace is escorted off the plane

The Airbus A350 landed safely at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Tuesday evening.

Delta later confirmed that 11 passengers were hospitalized, but provided no further details on the injuries or the condition of the people involved.

The plane was carrying 151 passengers, 10 flight attendants and four pilots, Delta said.

'Delta Care Team members are mobilizing to connect with customers,' the airline said in a statement.

A spokesperson later added that Delta agents were providing food, lodging and re-booking for the uninjured customers.

'Our priority is taking care of our customers and crew who sustained injuries. We are grateful for the first responders who met the aircraft to provide medical attention and who are transporting the injured to [the] hospital.'
A Metropolitan Police chief inspector killed himself on the day he was set to be charged with sharing more than 5,000 child sex abuse images with two retired colleagues, an inquest has heard.

Richard Watkinson, 49, who worked in neighbourhood policing in west London, was found dead at his home in Buckinghamshire on January 12 this year.

The chief inspector was previously suspended from duty following his arrest in July 2021 and was due to answer bail to be charged with conspiring to share indecent images of children with retired colleagues Jack Addis and Jeremy Laxton.

Watkinson was also set to be charged with three counts of making indecent photos of a child, one count of voyeurism, and two counts of misconduct in public office.

Police officers later found Watkinson hanged in his home Saunderton, Princes Risborough, alongside a handwritten note, after he failed to answer bail at Aylesbury police station on January 12.

Met Police chief inspector Richard Watkinson, 49, (pictured) was found dead at his home in Buckinghamshire on the day he was set to be charged with sharing more than 5,000 child abuse images with two retired colleagues

In July, retired officers Jeremy Laxton (left) and Jack Addis (right) were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court for conspiring with Watkinson to distribute or show indecent images of children

At an inquest at Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court on Wednesday, Assistant Coroner Alison McCormick concluded that Watkinson's death occurred 'against the background context' of the police investigation.

Ms McCormick said she was satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Watkinson intended to take his own life.

She added that both a police and toxicology report concluded that there was no evidence of third party involvement.

In July, retired officers Jack Addis and Jeremy Laxton, both 63, were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court for conspiring with Watkinson to distribute or show indecent images of children. Both men admitted the charge at an earlier hearing.

Addis was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison, while Laxton was sentenced to five years and nine months.

A forfeiture and destruction order was made in relation to the devices and equipment they used and both will be subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order to control and monitor their access to the internet.

The images and videos had been shared 'for their own sexual pleasure' via a hard drive that the men added to when they met up, the court heard.

Court artist sketch of Jack Addis (right) and Jeremy Laxton, appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in February

Laxton (arriving at Southwark Crown Court today), from Grantham, Lincolnshire, joined the Met Police in 1980, initially serving in Ealing borough. He retired in 2011

Laxton's additional charges of possession of indecent, prohibited and extreme images came after police found devices hidden in a wall at his home in Corby Glen, Lincolnshire. Above: Laxton arriving at Westminster Magistrates Court in February

According to the charge, the three men conspired to 'distribute or show indecent images of children to each other' between January 1 2018 and July 10 2021.

The images, which were found on a computer hard drive, included 2,516 in Category A - the worst kind - 1,032 in Category B and 1,701 in Category C.

Watkinson joined the Metropolitan Police in 1995 and served in the west London borough of Ealing.

Addis, from Perthshire, Scotland, joined the Met in 1978 in Harrow when he was 18 years old, before becoming a firearms officer in the Specialised Firearms Unit.

He later

Laxton, from Grantham, Lincolnshire, joined the Met Police in 1980, initially serving in the borough of Ealing, before leaving the force in 2011.
Rudy Giuliani Wednesday was found liable by a federal judge for defaming two Atlanta election workers whom he and President Donald Trump falsely accused of acting to rig the 2020 election in Georgia for President Biden.

A federal judge issued a withering so-called default judgment against Giuliani, ruling that he brazenly refused to produce evidence to Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, the workers who gained nationwide attention from their testimony before the congressional Jan. 6 committee.

The ex-New York City mayor now faces a trial to determine the amount of damages he must pay Freeman and Moss.

Rudy Giuliani helped unleash a wave of hatred and threats we never could have imagined, the mother and daughter wrote in a statement. The fight to rebuild our lives and reputations isone step closer. And for that, were grateful.

U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell mocked Giuliani for a last-ditch claim last month that he could avoid providing evidence as ordered by the court, without also admitting guilt.

Wandrea ArShaye Shaye Moss, former Georgia election worker, becomes emotional while testifying as her mother Ruby Freeman watches during the fourth hearing held by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol on June 21, 2022 in the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, DC.

Giulianis stipulation has more holes than Swiss cheese, Howell wrote.

Giuliani was also ordered to pay more than $130,000 in legal fees and other costs to Freeman and Moss.

Howell excoriated Giuliani for donning a cloak of victimization while avoiding even the most basic legal responsibilities.

This performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention, Howell wrote.

Ted Goodman, a spokesman for Giuliani, predicted the ruling would be reversed on appeal.

(It) is a prime example of the weaponization of our justice system, where the process is the punishment, Goodman said.

Freeman and Moss sued Giuliani over his repeated false claims that they had been caught trying to illegally tip the vote count to Bidens favor while working as Fulton County election workers during the 2020 vote count.

Fulton County, Georgia, election workers, Ruby Freeman (L) and daughter Shaye Moss attend an event on the second anniversary of the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2023.

Giuliani and Trump accused the mother and daughter of being criminals and compared them to drug dealers for handing one another what they claimed were fake votes loaded onto a USB stick.

It turned out they were passing a mint candy.

The women grabbed the nations sympathy when they testified on national TV about how the false claims turned their lives upside down forever.

It changed my life in every way, Moss said, wiping away tears.

Giuliani, who is selling his Manhattan co-op, faces more that financial penalties for his smears of Freeman and Moss. He is also charged along with Trump and 17 co-defendants in the sprawling Georgia racketeering election interference case.

In this Nov. 20, 2016, file photo, then-President-elect Donald Trump calls out to media as he and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani pose for photographs as Giuliani arrives at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster, N.J..

The campaign of lies against the election workers is mentioned in an indictment as one the so-called overt acts that helped Trump allegedly try to overturn his loss in the 2020 vote.

Along with Giuliani, three other co-defendants are charged with harassing the election workers in an effort to get them to falsely confess to cheating for Biden.

Like others, Giuliani faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison if convicted under Georgias tough RICO law.

He is seeking to get his part of the racketeering case moved to federal court by arguing that he was acting as a federal agent at Trumps behest. Legal analysts give Giuliani long odds of success, although Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has a stronger claim, they say.
New rules rolled out in January 2021 to crack down on unusual animals being passed off as trained service animals has faced a backlash

The Department of Transportation's new rules to crack down on the use of unusual emotional support animals have instead made flying inaccessible to some blind passengers.

The new rules, rolled out in January 2021 were designed to stem the rise of untrained pets being used as service or emotional support animals on flights by requiring passengers to complete forms about their pets training in advance.

Recent years have seen passengers attempt to bring peacocks, pigs, miniature horses and even turkeys on their flights.

However, blind passengers have claimed they are now encountering more pushback around taking their much-needed service animals aboard flights since the regulations came into force.

Elizabeth Schoen, 21, who is blind told the Washington Post that her guide dog Eva was barred from a flight to Boston last March.

Elizabeth Schoen, 21, who is blind told the Washington Post that her guide dog Eva was barred from a flight to Boston last March

Recent years have seen passengers attempt to bring peacocks , pigs , miniature horses and even turkeys on their flights

Schoen claims she attempted to submit the necessary form online four days before her JetBlue flight but the portal rejected it.

Advised by customer service to bring the paperwork to the airport instead she did.

However, airline staffers told her she had not submitted the form online and her dog was turned away.

'If youre denying my dog, youre denying me,' she told The Post.

Schoen missed her flight and spent about $400 to fly the next day with a different airline.

'Its made me more scared. Every time I go to the airport, its like, "Are they going to stop me?' Schoen said.

'Even if I know Im approved, I still feel this pressure, like Im under a microscope.'

A spokesperson for JetBlue told The Post that roughly 80 percent of applications are approved but that 'customers who do not submit in advance may not be able to travel.'

Schoen missed her flight and spent about $400 to fly the next day with a different airline

Brooklyn-based artist Ventiko tried to take her peacock onboard a United Airlines flight at Newark airport in January 2018

In 2014, a woman was escorted off a US Airways flight when her pig, named Hobie, defecated and squealed before the plane took off

Despite these incidents experts and campaigners say the new regulations are not helpful

Jodie Smalley, from Seattle, took her turkey on a pre-Christmas flight home in 2015, even wearing a special bird nappy

Schoen is not alone, Department of Transportation data shows that the number of service-animal-related complaints from people with disabilities have more than doubled since the new regulations took effect.

In 2018, the agency received 116 complaints, by 2022, the number had soared to 451.

The Department of Transportation said it does not have data on whether the new rules have reduced incidents involving untrained animals on flights.

The issue of untrained animals being used to pass as emotional support pets came to prominence when Brooklyn-based artist Ventiko tried to take her peacock onboard a United Airlines flight at Newark airport in January 2018.

The peacock, Dexter, was not allowed to board the plane and a spokesperson for the airline told dailyMail.com at the time that the traveler had been repeatedly told in advance that she would not be able to have the bird accompany her on the plane.

Prior to Dexter Jodie Smalley, from Seattle, took her turkey on a pre-Christmas flight home in 2015, even wearing a special bird nappy.

In 2014, a woman was escorted off a US Airways flight when her pig, named Hobie, defecated and squealed before the plane took off.

Despite these incidents experts and campaigners say the new regulations are not helpful.

Michael Stein, the executive director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, told The Post they are 'poorly designed' because they introduce additional barriers for people with disabilities.

'This seems to be bending over backward to create some kind of formal requirement,' he said. 'I dont see the logic or the benefit.'

However, others including Donald Overton Jr., executive director of the Blinded Veterans Association said change was needed.

Overton's highly trained German Shephard Pierce was attacked multiple times by untrained pets on planes and in airports until ultimately he had to be retired from service.

'In the blink of an eye, somebody who has just casually and carelessly decided that their pet should be out there can take all of that and destroy it,' he said.
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Horrifying drone footage shows Tampa submerged by floodwater after Hurricane Idalia wreaked havoc on Florida and continued to barrel through Georgia.

The monster storm was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it moved inland with 75mph winds, with it aimed directly at the historic city of Savannah.

At least two people have died during the hurricane so far, with Pasco County officials confirming one, 40, crashed his Ford Ranger while a second, 59, swerved into a ditch in Gainesville.

Tampa Bay's water levels surpassed 4.5ft on Wednesday morning, exceeding the previous high water mark of 3.79ft from Tropical Storm Eta in 2020.

Video footage shows the levels of flooding covering the streets, leaving large swathes of the west of the Sunshine State underwater.

Idalia made landfall on Florida's Big Bend at Keaton Beach at 7.45am on Wednesday  and is barreling its way across Georgia and towards South Carolina.

Some Floridians residents who chose to ride out the hurricane at home were forced to 'swim out of their windows' to avoid the wall of water.

Brenda and Phil Henley, who live in Crystal River, saw residents and neighbors fleeing from their homes by the window because of the rapidly rising water.

KEATON BEACH: One property was left looking like a doll's house with the walls partially ripped down with furniture surviving the worst of the winds

STEINHATCHEE: Rescue workers with Tidewater Disaster Response wade through a tidal surge on SW 358 Highway while looking for people in need

PERRY: One resident explained that he was 'terrified' he wouldn't have a home to go back to after the storm

ORLANDO: A family braves the rain as bands of rain from Hurricane Idalia move through the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World

ORLANDO: Walt Disney World remained open despite the hurricane, with many families bracing the adverse weather

MAYO: Members of the National Guard prepare their equipment in Mayo, Florida, as they wait for orders on where to assist

ST PETERSBURG: People wade through flood waters after Hurricane Idalia passed to the north, with cars partially submerged

KEATON BEACH: Video also captured the moment a storm surge swept up to a window of a one-story property, as debris swept from the roof and trees were battered by the winds

KEATON BEACH: One property was almost entirely destroyed as the neighboring home stood intact at the landfall site

STEINHATCHEE: Zach Bunkley, left, and Oscar Garcia, inspect damage to a rental cottage at the Sea Hag Marina

CEDAR KEYS: A cargo vehicle passes through Cedar Keys which was badly hit by storm surges and floodwater along the coast

MAYO: The remains of four old chicken houses, now used for storage, sit collapsed after the passage of Hurricane Idalia,on a private farm near

TALLAHASSEE: Casey DeSantis shared the shocking image of a 100-year-old oak tree that fell on the Florida's governor's mansion while she and the kids were at home

KEATON BEACH: A bed was secured in place while a television miraculously remained attached to the wall despite the battering by high winds

They told MSNBC: 'Swimming out of their windows, literally, from their homes. I said we got to get out of here because we're fixing to get flooded out.'

One man in Perry, Florida, told CNN: 'I don't know if I have a house to go back to. This right here, it's horrible. We have never seen this before. Category one has scared us. Usually we ride it out. This right here is bad.'

Video also captured the moment a storm surge swept up to a window of a one-story property, as debris swept from the roof and trees were battered by the winds.

One property was left looking like a doll's house with the walls partially ripped down with furniture surviving the worst of the winds.

A bed was secured in place while a television miraculously remained attached to the wall despite the battering by the gale-force winds.

Officials say the 'apocalyptic' 16ft storm surge has caused catastrophic flooding, as water beaches homes across Steinhatchee with 110mph winds battering the state.

Florida's First Lady Casey DeSantis posted online showing that a tree had fallen on the Governor's mansion, adding that while they were home at the time of the incident, no one was injured.

Crews are still searching for a passenger who toppled overboard of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Wonder of the Seas, on Tuesday, as it was passing off the coast of Cuba.

A curfew for Madison County in Florida, which borders Georgia, will go into effect starting at 8pm until 8am on Thursday.

Officials confirmed that more than 75 people have been rescued from the flood waters in St. Petersburg, as rescue efforts are still in place.

The hurricane stretched from Central Florida to southern Georgia, covering around 250 miles, as of Wednesday morning.

It's the strongest storm to make landfall in the Big Bend region in 127 years, matching an unnamed hurricane in 1896.

PERRY: A first responder clears debris off the street in Perry, Florida, on August 30, 2023, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall

The White House said President Joe Biden is receiving updates on the hurricanes path, along with regular briefings from his team. He spoke with DeSantis on Wednesday afternoon

STEINHATCHEE: Daniel Dickert wades through water in front of his home where the Steinhatchee River overflowed

The hurricane stretched from Central Florida to southern Georgia, covering around 250 miles, as of Wednesday morning

KEATON BEACH: Cans of paint and insulation from the walls of a property were scattered all over the home in the wake of the havoc caused by the hurricane

KEATON BEACH: A family checks their belongings in the town of Jena after Hurricane Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach

TAMPA: Rescue workers with Tidewater Disaster Response, from left, Zack Hoeth, Zack McCue, and Mike Foster

HUDSON: In an aerial view, a home smolders after burning as Idalia continues to wreak havoc, with firefighters struggling to access properties

JACKSONVILLE: A large number of the balustrades along the seawall in Jacksonville, Florida's Memorial Park have been damaged by the storm fueled waves

KEATON BEACH: Officials say the 'apocalyptic' 16ft storm surge has caused catastrophic flooding, as water beaches homes across Florida

KEATON BEACH: The eye of Hurricane Idalia came ashore around Keaton Beach and the winds in the front side of the eyewall caused damage

MARION COUNTY: Marion County EMT Jacob Knobbe, left carries a chain saw as Lt. Daniel Smith, center and Driver Engineer Matt Kimerling, right, clear out brush after responding to a single vehicle accident that involved a Sheriff's Deputy

MARION COUNTY: Marion County Sheriff Deputy Jonathan Coleman crashed his emergency vehicle on Wednesday morning following the hurricane, and was taken to hospital with a possible broken ankle

SAVANNAH: Kevin Ayala lifts a sandbag into the back of his pickup truck in preparation for Hurricane Idalia

The White House said President Joe Biden is receiving updates on the hurricanes path, along with regular briefings from his team. He spoke with DeSantis on Wednesday afternoon.

Deanne Criswell, the FEMA administrator, said: 'The president reiterated that if anything is needed from the federal government.

'We will be able to support. We have over 1,000 personnel currently deployed, prepared to support not just Florida but all of our states that are in the path as needed.'

Nearly 1,000 bridges in Florida will need to be inspected for storm damage, as well as several major roadways that cross the Steinhatchee River and the Swanee River on the Big Bend coast, according to authorities.

In an address from the White House on Wednesday afternoon, President Biden said: 'I don't think anybody can deny the impact of the climate crisis now. The impacts of this storm are being felt throughout the Southeast.

'When I took office, I directed my team to raise our game in how we lead and coordinate our responses to natural disasters.'

He added that he has spoken to DeSantis multiple times, and has mobilized more than 1,500 federal personnel and more than 540 urban search and rescue team personnel who are on the ground

Tens of thousands of people are under evacuation orders, and at least 260,000 are without power as flooding is battering the Big Bend coastline.

Tornado watches have been issued across Florida as well as in parts of North and South Carolina until at least 10pm on Wednesday.

SAVANNAH:Trenton Spencer fills sandbags for his neighbors in preparation for Hurricane Idalia's arrival on Wednesday evening

SAVANNAH: A young boy runs past his sister, who is huddled under an umbrella as the outer weather bands of Hurricane Idalia hit Tybee Island

SAVANNAH: Tricia Bart Catalano lifts sandbags into the back of her car as Georgia prepares to be hit by the storm

VALDOSTA: The city of Valdosta braces to be swept away by Category 1 storm Idalia on Wednesday

ST PETERSBURG: Lily Gumos, 11, of St. Pete Beach, kayaks with her French bulldog along Blind Pass Road and 86th Avenue

ST PETERSBURG: People kayak past an abandon vehicle in the intersection of Boca Ciega Drive and Pasadena Avenue on Wednesday

#DEVELOPING: A fire amid the flood in #HernandoBeach. @HernandoCoFire putting out hot spots at a home that burned down as storm surge from #HurricaneIdalia made roads impassible for firefighters. Neighbors sprayed it w hose for hours to keep embers from blowing to other homes. pic.twitter.com/kmZ5NkcSw2  Aaron Mesmer FOX 13 (@AaronMesmer) August 30, 2023

TAMPA BAY: A woman surveys the flooding on Bayshore Blvd after the area became completely engulfed

TAMPA: Residents use kayaks to travel on a flooded road as officials warn more water is coming

TAMPA: Boarded-up homes were flooded under the door as water continued to rise in Tampa Bay

TAMPA: Zeke Pierce rides his paddle board down the middle of a flooded Bayshore Blvd in downtown in Tampa

TAMPA: Members of the Tampa Fire Rescue Dept., remove a street pole after large awnings from an apartment building blew off

TAMPA: Water from the Hillsborough River rises onto Plant park at University of Tampa in downtown

Hurricane Idalia has so far claimed two lives after making landfall onto Florida 's Big Bend at Keaton Beach at 7.45am on Wednesday  and is barrelling its way towards North and South Carolina

TAMPA: A car struggles to make way through floodwater in Tampa as the storm moves on to Georgia

TAMPA: A bridge is covered with water in Tampa, Florida, on August 30, 2023, after Hurricane Idalia made landfall

VIRGINIA: All flights to Florida have been canceled from Ronald Reagan Airport in Virginia, as Tampa Airport announced flights will resume from 4pm

The National Weather Service confirmed that Lowndes County in Georgia had been hit by between 3 to 5 inches of rain in less than an hour. More than 100,000 customers in Georgia were without power as of noon.

Authorities are warning that there will be 'life-threatening' storm surges to Tybee Island and Hilton Head Island off the coast of Savannah, Georgia.

Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia said there had already been a 'heavy impact' in the southern part of the state, including flash flooding, downed trees and the possibility of nine to 10 inches of rain in places.

He added: 'Thankfully it's nothing to the scale that Michael was,',referring to a powerful 2018 hurricane.

Charleston County authorities, in South Carolina, are advising residents to stay inside for the next 24 hours to reduce their risk of coming to harm.

Tallahassee avoided much of the punch from the storm, according to Governor DeSantis, with the NWS adding: 'We were fortunately spared from the worst.'

It is the latest hurricane to batter Florida, which has barely recovered from Hurricane Ian - which cost the state $113 billion to repair.

Idalia is the second storm of a century to hit Keaton Beach, where the hurricane made landfall, in 30 years.

MAYO: Army members patrol outside Lafayette High School after the arrival of Hurricane Idalia

TARPON SPRINGS: A truck attempts to make its way through the floodwater dragging a jet ski behind it

TARPON SPRINGS: A couple ride their ATV through the flooded streets as they flee their homes

TARPON SPRINGS: Ken Kruse looks out at the flood waters from Hurricane Idalia surrounding his apartment complex on August 30

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned of catastrophic storm surges of up to 12 to 16 feet in the worst affected areas

TARPON SPRINGS: Makatla Ritchter (L) and her mother, Keiphra Line wade through flood waters after having to evacuate their home on Wednesday morning

The northern eyewall of Idalia is now onshore, with the center of the hurricane crossing onto Florida's Big Bend at 7.45am

TARPON SPRINGS: Residents look on over the flood water as it continues to raise above one floor of their property

TARPON SPRINGS: People wade through flood waters after their homes were battered by the once-in-a-lifetime storm

TARPON SPRINGS: Cars sit in flood waters from Hurricane Idalia on Wednesday morning in Florida

What is the eye and eyewall of a hurricane? Described as the most devastating region of the storm, the eyewall surrounds the eye of the storm. The eye is the roughly circular area of comparatively light winds that encompasses the center of a severe tropical cyclone. It is either completely or partially surrounded by the eyewall cloud  which is an organized band or ring of cumulonimbus clouds that surround the eye, or light-wind center of a tropical cyclone. The convergence of winds here is so strong that the air rises faster, and with more force, than anywhere else in a hurricane, producing intense rain and damaging winds. Credit: NHC Advertisement

In March 1993, the region was struck by what has been called 'the storm of the century,' with wind gusts over 90 miles per hour, tornadoes and a devastating storm surge with at least seven killed in the county.

Tampa's airport confirmed that it would be reopening at 4pm after sustaining 'minimal damage' from the storm.

Idalia surged to a Category 4 storm in the early hours because of warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, reaching speeds of up to 156mph - before dropping to 125mph shortly after 7am and 110mph at 9am.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned of catastrophic storm surges of up to 12 to 16 feet in the worst affected areas.

Cedar Kay is being hit with almost 9 feet of storm surge, the worst in 109 years with waters still rising rapidly - eclipsing a record from Hurricane Hermine in 2016.

The entire downtown commercial area in Cedar Keys, Florida is underwater after Hurricane Idalia battered the area.

Clearwater Beach set a new record-high water level at 4.05 feet, surpassing the previous record of 4.02 feet from the 1993 Storm of the Century.

Hurricane Idalia has been branded 'an unprecedented event' by the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

It will be one of only three Category 3 hurricanes to make landfall within 60 miles of Cedar Keys.

Hurricane Easy in 1950 and an unnamed hurricane in 1896 are the only others of that strength to make landfall in that area.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis warned 'don't mess with this storm' as the power briefly went out from his headquarters.

He added that there have been 15 tornado warnings issued, saying: 'It's going to be a significant, significant impact.'

DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 49 Florida counties, as 5,500 National Guard members were mobilized to help with evacuations and building defenses.

The region is braced for another 'multibillion-dollar insurance industry event', with some firms restricting their business in Florida because of the common weather events.

State regulations prevent them from raising prices for customers, which they claim forces them to say no to new policies.

CLEARWATER: A boardwalk at the Clearwater Harbor Marina in Clearwater, Florida, is flooded by the rising tide

NAPLES: Construction equipment sits partially submerged after storm surge from Hurricane Idalia hit Naples

GAINESVILLE: A 59-year-old man died in a road accident before Idalia hit landfall in Gainesville

FLAGLER PIER: The structure is battered by huge waves as hurricane Idalia passes through the coast

MAYO: Tree's were uprooted following the high wind destruction of the Category 1 hurricane

MAYO: People work to free a vehicle stuck on the shoulder amid storm debris after high winds of 110mph

CEDAR KEYS: Debris and broken trees littered the roads in Cedar Keys which was battered with 110mph winds

PINELLAS COUNTY: Don Hawthorne walks across his flooded yard in unincorporated Pinellas County, following the storm surge

The Insurance Information Institute estimates that property and casualty insurers in the state have had cumulative underwriting losses of more than $1 billion for the last three years.

North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have all declared states of emergency, with assistance being provided from both California and New York.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is sending specialized search-and-rescue teams to Orlando and Atlanta.

New York's Task Force 1, made up of NYPD and fire department employees, has arrived in South Carolina in preparation for rescue efforts.

Idalia is the third hurricane to make landfall in Florida in the last 12 months, following Hurricane Ian in September 2022 and Hurricane Nicole in October 2022.

DeSantis suspended tolls in several counties as he urged residents to finalize their storm and evacuation preparation.

The last hurricane to make landfall in the region was 2016's Hermine, which made landfall as a Category 1 storm.

More than 30,000 utility workers have been put on standby to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricane's wake.

The storm could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year's Hurricane Ian, which killed 150 people - more in Florida than any hurricane in almost 90 years.

A tornado watch is now in effect for more than seven million people across central and western Florida, including Tampa, until 6am ET on Wednesday.

Peak levels of the surge are expected to hit between Chassahowitzka and Aucilla River, with residents advised to follow advice from local officials.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell confirmed that the Biden administration made a supplemental request to Congress for $12billion to support the agency's disaster relief fund.
Nikki Haley is enjoying a surge in support after a strong performance in last weeks Republican presidential debate even though many viewers thought rival Vivek Ramaswamy won the clash.

A pollster who works for former President Donald Trumps campaign says the former UN envoys support rose significantly in surveys done after the debate in early voting states of New Hampshire and Iowa.

Haley appears to have gotten a bump from the debate, surging into double digits in Iowa and into a three-way tie for 2nd place in New Hampshire, pollster Tony Fabrizio wrote in a memo to Trumps campaign and donors.

Haley scored 10% support in Iowa, putting her within striking distance of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in second place at 18%.

She registered 9% in New Hampshire, tied with Ramaswamy and within the margin of error of DeSantis at 11%.

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speak during a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee.

Haley grabbed attention at the debate by landing verbal jabs on Ramaswamy and several other rivals. The only woman in the race took what some analysts called a less-extreme position on abortion than others and took a rare swing at Trump by calling him the most unliked politician in the country.

Fabrizio stressed that Trump suffered no erosion in support and remains the dominant frontrunner with close to 50% support in both states, a finding that could vindicate the ex-presidents decision to skip the debate.

More than 70% of Trump supporters say there is no chance they could change their minds in their support for the former president.

The commitment of President Trumps vote  remains rock-solid, Fabrizio said. Those looking to peel votes from President Trump face an extreme uphill battle.

FILE  U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley before a meeting during the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Sept. 18, 2017.

The poll showed DeSantis failed to pick up any ground in the debate despite what some voters thought was a serviceable performance.

DeSantis escaped what was expected to be a pile-on by other candidates but often appeared to be a bystander as verbal jousts erupted between Ramaswamy and others.

The much hoped for DeSantis bounce was really a dead cat bounce in that it doesnt exist, the memo said. With Haleys surge, DeSantis finds himself with another challenger for a distant 2nd place.

So what about Ramaswamy, who grabbed most of the attention with volcanic attacks on virtually all the other candidates?

GOP voters who watched the debate or heard about it declared him the winner by a fairly wide margin.

He also rose a bit in the polls, moving up to a virtual dead heat with Haley for third place in Iowa and for second place with both Haley and DeSantis in New Hampshire.

Ramaswamy also appeared to be angling the most for the approval of Trump voters, spewing bombastic hard right positions on Russias war in Ukraine and climate change.

It could help him appeal to Trump himself as a potential vice presidential candidate or even a Trump-endorsed replacement if the former president is forced out of the race by his legal woes.
Overnight workers face paying the 12.50 Ulez charge twice if their shift goes past midnight, nighttime industry bosses have warned.

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), which represents businesses that operate between 6pm and 6am, called on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to 'rectify this assault on night time workers'.

The union estimated that nearly 40,000 workers who work past midnight may have to pay the Ulez charge to get both to and from work.

Non-compliant cars will be charged daily from midnight to midnight, so if a workers shift crosses over two days, they could be forced to pay a 25 to commute to work by car.

It comes as the controversial traffic calming scheme has been rolled out to all 32 London boroughs, meaning that those driving the most-polluting vehicles will have to pay a fee.

Overnight workers face paying the 12.50 Ulez charge twice if their shift goes past midnight, nighttime industry bosses have warned London Mayor Sadiq Khan

Michael Kill, the chief executive of NTIA, warned that nighttime industry workers face 'a double whammy of charges' when travelling to and from work

The controversial traffic calming scheme has been rolled out to all 32 London boroughs this week, meaning that those driving the most-polluting vehicles will have to pay a fee

Nighttime workers are more likely to need their cars to travel to and from work, as there is a reduction in public transport, such as tube connections, after midnight.

Michael Kill, the chief executive of NTIA, told the Telegraph: 'The midnight threshold unfairly condemns countless night workers who are unable to afford compliant vehicles to a double whammy of charges as they diligently fulfil their duties during unconventional hours.

'It also brings into question how many night workers are paying double when public transport is limited due to industrial action.'

A spokesperson for the NTIA also told the paper: 'As a relentless advocate for the interests of businesses and communities, the NTIA demands an immediate and thorough reevaluation of these draconian measures. Collaboration with stakeholders across sectors is imperative to rectify this assault on workers, residents, and visitors alike.'

To comply with Ulez standards, petrol cars must generally have been first registered after 2005, while most diesel cars registered after September 2015 are also exempt from the charge.

It comes as the London Mayor has dropped his plans for a zero-emission vehicle zone in the centre of the capital.

The Labour mayor had etched out plans in his Transport Strategy in March 2018 to 'deliver a zero-emission zone in central London from 2025'.

This would be expanded to inner London by 2040 and cover the whole city 'by 2050 at the latest'.

The document also set out an ambition for 'zero-emission zones in town centres from 2020' but these plans have stalled.

A Transport for London spokeswoman said: 'We have no plans at present to progress the introduction of new zero-emission zones.

To comply with Ulez standards, petrol cars must generally have been first registered after 2005, while most diesel cars registered after September 2015 are also exempt from the charge

Non-compliant cars will be charged daily from midnight to midnight, so if a workers shift crosses over two days, they could be forced to pay 25 on their commute

'We remain focused on delivering plans to support the mayor's target of a carbon neutral London by 2030, most recently celebrating the milestone of over 1,100 zero-emission buses operating in the capital, as well as the landmark Ulez (ultra-low emission zone) expansion to all London boroughs.

'We continue to support boroughs who wish to implement local zero-emission zones in their local areas too.'

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: 'London has made significant progress in recent years in improving air quality, but it sadly remains the case that around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year due to toxic air.

'The Mayor recognises the importance of London's night-time workers. Many will not drive to work and for those who do, nine out of ten cars seen driving in outer London on an average day meet the ULEZ standards meaning their drivers will not have to pay the charge.

'To help those affected, mitigations including night bus and Tube services are in place and every Londoner with an eligible non-compliant car or motorcycle can now apply for the scrappage scheme, including shift workers who were previously ineligible for financial support.

'The impact of the London-wide ULEZ on shift workers was covered in the independent Integrated Impact Assessment which the Mayor considered before making his decision.'
Britain's Air Traffic Control body and its boss are under pressure to pay for the flight cancellation chaos that is set to cost 100 million.

Tens of thousands of British families remain stranded across the globe as a result of the 'staggering' systems failure on Bank Holiday Monday.

Airlines are demanding a change in the rules  made possible by Brexit - to make the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) pay for the disruption that is its fault.

And there is pressure to strip its chief executive, Martin Rolfe, of windfall bonuses as a result of its role in the crisis.

His total pay and bonuses doubled to 1.3m in the financial year ending March 2023, while he also holds shares worth more than 2.4m.

Britain's Air Traffic Control body and its boss are under pressure to pay for the flight cancellation chaos that is set to cost 100 million. Pictured: Travellers at Heathrow Airport today amid flight disruptions

Airlines are demanding a change in the rules  made possible by Brexit - to make the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) pay for the disruption that is its fault. Pictured: British Airways aircrafts at Heathrow Airport today

NATS allows executives to work from home on some days under an 'agile working' regime, however it refused to say if Mr Rolfe takes advantage of this.

The NATS chief blamed the meltdown on the fact computer systems could not cope with a single piece of faulty incoming data - rumoured to be a flight plan inputted by a French airline.

A leading industry figure has cast doubt on the explanation, saying 'it doesn't stand up'.

Willie Walsh, who is a former boss of British Airways and now runs the airline industry body IATA, said: 'I find it staggering, I really do.

'This system should be designed to reject data that's incorrect, not to collapse the system.

'If that is true, it demonstrates a considerable weakness that must have been there for some time and I'm amazed if that is the cause of this.'

Mr Walsh said it is necessary to wait for full evaluation, but he said: 'That explanation doesn't stand up from what I know of the system.'

The crisis has triggered calls for NATS to be fined and for the introduction of a new compensation regime to make it responsible for covering the cost of its failures.

Mr Walsh said it is wrong that the estimated 100m bill for cleaning up the mess, which includes refunds, laying on emergency flights and covering the expenses of marooned travellers, will fall on airlines.

'This was completely outside the control of the airlines and yet airlines are subject to paying customers for delays, for cancellations, for looking after them, which is very considerable,' he said.

'It's very unfair because the air traffic control system that was at the heart of this failure doesn't pay a single penny.

'This is what really frustrates and angers airlines.'

Tens of thousands of British families remain stranded across the globe as a result of the 'staggering' systems failure on Bank Holiday Monday. Pictured: Holidaymakers at Stansted Airport today

Around 1,800 flights have been cancelled due to the crisis, disrupting the travel plans of more than 250,000 people. Pictured: Passengers queue at Heathrow Airport in London today

He said Brexit means the UK is free to set its own compensation rules, adding: 'In this case the problem was very clearly caused by NATS and they should pay.'

Asked what the crisis should mean for Mr Rolfe's pay and bonuses, he said: 'I have no doubt the board of NATS will be looking to hold the management of the organisation accountable for this failure.'

NATS is 49 per cent owned by the UK Government via a golden share, which gives it a major say in executive pay. A group of airlines, including BA, Virgin Atlantic and easyJet, own 42 per cent, while staff hold 5 per cent.

Around 1,800 flights have been cancelled due to the crisis, disrupting the travel plans of more than 250,000 people.

Many face long delays in getting home, missing deadlines to get back to work or school, coupled with punishing costs.

Mr Rolfe, who lives in a 2m home in Hampshire, apologised for the systems outage. An independent inquiry into what went wrong is due to report to ministers on Monday.

He dodged whether NATS should cover the huge costs, saying only that there are well established processes for working out who pays.

He also refused to respond to questions on his pay and bonus, saying: 'At this point my focus is making sure we have recovered the system We have been supporting and working very close with the airlines to make sure we get everyone to their destinations.'

The executive, who joined the organisation in 2012, told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: 'I would like to apologise again for our technical failure.

'NATS exists to allow everyone flying in UK airspace to do so safely. Our systems enable our air traffic controllers to deliver this service all year round.'

Stranded travellers have accused airlines of failing to offer them support.

In response, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said it is important for airlines to carry out their responsibilities to air passengers stranded abroad.

'I know how frustrating the situation is for families where they are ... It is important that airlines honour their obligations to passengers with regards to accommodation and flights to bring them back home,' he said.

The crisis has triggered calls for NATS to be fined and for the introduction of a new compensation regime to make it responsible for covering the cost of its failures. Pictured: People gather at Heathrow Airport today

Rob Bishton, joint interim chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority, said airlines have 'a responsibility to look after' passengers waiting to come home, which includes providing them with meals, refreshments and hotel accommodation.

He told affected travellers: 'If airlines cannot do this, you can organise your own meals and accommodation, then claim costs back.

'We are engaging with airlines and know that more flights are being provided, but in circumstances where this has not been possible due to the volume of passengers, consumers can book their own alternative air travel and claim the cost back from their airline.'

Mr Rolfe received a total pay and bonus package of 1.39m for the year ending March 2023, which was up 96 per cent on the year before.

It included an annual bonus of 281,000 plus a second bonus of 555,000 under a long-term incentive plan.

NATS said: 'Martin earned 1.3m; this is made up of a salary, annual incentive and long-term incentive.

'In total, his earnings were broadly double that of the previous year, during which the company paid a reduced annual incentive and no long-term incentive. Martin also took a voluntary pay reduction during the Covid period.'
The mum of murdered schoolgirl Olivia Pratt-Korbel says that new legislation forcing killers to attend court for sentencing has been done 'in her name' - as the sister of a woman beaten to death by a cowardly murderer who refused to appear said it was 'about time' for the change.

Cheryl Korbel, who met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to hear the news on Wednesday, has hailed the government's pledge to introduce new laws requiring offenders to appear in court to be sentenced - after Olivia's killer, Thomas Cashman, refused to come up to the dock to be jailed for at least 42 years.

Baby killer Lucy Letby, who was given 14 separate whole-life sentences for the murders and attempted murders of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital, also refused to come to court earlier this month to hear the victim impact statements from the families she deprived of children.

Letby is the latest in a growing line of cowardly killers who have refused to face their victims: that list also includes Cashman; Koci Selamaj, who killed Sabina Nessa in 2021; and Jordan McSweeney, jailed for life for murdering Zara Aleena in June 2022.

Sabina's sister, Jebina Islam, said it was 'about time' killers were compelled to face up to what they have done.

Rishi Sunak tweeted a photo of himself with Cheryl Korbel to confirm that the law is being changed so offenders can be forced to attend sentencings

Mr Sunak hugged Olivia's mother as he told her the news that the law would be changed to compel killers like Thomas Cashman to appear in court in future

Olivia Pratt-Korbel was killed by Thomas Cashman, 34 - but he refused to appear in court to be sent down for life

Thomas Cashman refused to appear in the dock for sentencing after complaining that the case was being turned 'into a circus'

Lucy Letby refused to come to court to hear the final guilty verdicts being handed down - or to be sentenced to 14 whole-life terms

Ms Korbel said she hoped that Olivia would be 'proud of what we've done'.

She told ITV: 'Because at the end of the day, it's in her name, it's why we've done this.

'And not only in her name, it's for every other family out there that has gone through it.

'We just hope it gets changed so no-one else has to go through it.'

Killers who refused to face justice Calls for offenders to be forced to face sentencing have been fueled by a series of high-profile cases. Nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot in Liverpool by killer Thomas Cashman on August 22 last year. Her mother Cheryl Korbel described his absence from court as a 'kick in the teeth'. Jordan McSweeney, 29, was handed a life sentence for Zara Aleena's murder in June last year - but refused to come to court. An aunt of Ms Aleena suggested putting a camera on criminals and live-streaming their sentencing into their cells if they refuse to attend court. Jordan McSweeney, 29, was handed a life sentence for Zara Aleena's murder Speaking on Times Radio, Farah Naz said reading victim impact statements at the sentencing of her niece's killer, Jordan McSweeney, without him present 'felt farcical'. She said they 'still want to face him'. Albanian national Koci Selamaj, 36, used 'extreme violence' to kill teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, whose body was uncovered underneath a pile of leaves in Cator Park, London. At a hearing, Selamaj refused to face Ms Nessa's family. Addressing him in absentia, Ms Nessa's parents, Abdur and Aziban, told him he 'had no right to touch our daughter or take her away from us in such a cruel way'. Ms Nessa's sister Jabina Islam called school dropout Selamaj a 'coward' for not facing up to his crime in court. Albanian national Koci Selamaj, 36, (left) used 'extreme violence' to kill teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, (right) whose body was uncovered underneath a pile of leaves in Cator Park, London Advertisement

Jebina Islam, sister of Sabina Nessa, said she was 'delighted' with the change, adding that it was 'about time' killers were compelled to face up to what they have done.

She told The Mirror: 'Victims and their families should be at the forefront and their feelings and opinions taken into consideration.

'We have seen from my sister's case that there has been a pattern that these animals are not coming to court [for sentencing] and now we have put a stop to this.

'I hope now that this will bring some sort of comfort to victims and their families that these animals will be made to come to court whether they like it or not.'

Tamlin Bolton, a solicitor representing families of Letbys victims, said: We hope this change will ensure those who are convicted of crimes are made to face their punishment.

'The impact on the families of not seeing Letby sentenced...is both cruel and disrespectful.

'The families spent time preparing impact statements in the hope they would be able to have their say and, importantly, be listened to.

'They pored over every word, and yet Letby was not there to hear them.

The legislation will be introduced when MPs return to the House of Commons in the autumn, and is expected to be passed with ease with support from Labour, which said it had proposed similar plans 18 months ago.

The promised reforms will give custody officers the power to use 'reasonable force' to ensure those awaiting sentencing appear in the dock or by video link - with up to an extra two years in jail for those who refuse to attend.

However, the father of murdered police officer PC Nicola Hughes has warned against a 'knee-jerk, headline-grabbing' response to high-profile sentencing cases such as those of Cashman and Letby.

Bryn Hughes, a former prison officer, said that criminals could not always be trusted to behave themselves in court - and compelling them to attend for sentencing could in fact upset families of victims more.

PC Hughes was killed in 2012 alongside fellow police officer Fiona Bone in an ambush attack in Tameside, Greater Manchester.

Mr Hughes told the PA news agency: 'I have seen it from both sides of the courtroom.

'On being the father of someone who was murdered and being in court, and a former prison officer who has actually restrained someone into court, it is difficult.

He said he had seen criminals '[shout] foul abuse towards the family, abused the court, turned their back, kicked off, fought, spat, bitten people.

'They are beyond being told to sit down and be quiet, aren't they?

'If you are going to restrain them in court, is it going to involve a Hollywood-style Hannibal Lecter outfit?' he said, referencing a scene from 1991 film Silence Of The Lambs in which Anthony Hopkins' iconic serial killer is transported while wearing a metal mask covering his mouth.

Mr Hughes warned it was often very difficult to force people up the often narrow steps from the cells into courtrooms.

He added: 'In reality it is complex and operationally it is fraught with danger.

'I wouldn't want to see them dragged up into the dock shouting abuse about the final moments of your loved one.'

Judges will be able to use their own discretion to decide whether it is 'in the interests of justice' to order criminals to attend court.

Chair of the Bar, Nick Vineall KC, said: 'We welcome the Ministry of Justice's decision to leave it to judges to decide how to deal with individual cases in the interests of justice.

'Judges will use their discretion to guard against the danger of allowing a convicted defendant to disrupt sentencing hearings.'

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Sunak, who met with Ms Korbel on Wednesday to give her the news personally, said it was 'unacceptable' that some criminals refused to face their victims.

Cheryl Korbel has welcomed the legislation that could compel killers to face the families of their victims in court

Lucy Letby will never be released from jail after killing seven babies and attempting to kill six others

Zara Aleena, who was killed by Jordan McSweeney, 29. McSweeney was handed a life sentence but refused to leave his cell for sentencing

Sabina Nessa was strangled by Koci Selamaj in what was suspected to be a sexually motivated attack. Selamaj was also absent from court for sentencing

Speaking on a visit to a police station in London this afternoon, Mr Sunak said: 'Like many, I was appalled that people who have committed awful crimes somehow are able to take the coward's way out and not appear in court for their sentencing and to hear the impact that their crimes have had on the victim's families.

'I don't think that's right. There shouldn't be an easy way out.

'That's why we're going to change the law so that courts could compel these offenders to be present for their sentencing and to hear the impact that their actions have had, but also, if necessary, to use reasonable force to bring those people to court, and also to add time on to their sentence if they don't appear.

'I think that's the right thing to do. People rightly expect criminals to face up to the consequences of their actions.'

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said earlier this year that ministers were committed to changing the law to force criminals to be sentenced in person after the killers of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa refused to stand in the dock.

The aunt of Zara Aleena, whose killer also refused to leave his cell to attend his sentencing hearing and avoided facing his victim's family, said in February they wanted him to know he 'completely destroyed' them.

McSweeney was handed a life sentence and jailed for at least 38 years after admitting sexually assaulting and murdering 35-year-old law graduate Zara Aleena in Ilford, east London, in June last year.

Zara Aleena's aunt Farah Naz speaking at a vigil marking a year since she was killed by Jordan McSweeney. She has backed the proposals to compel criminals to appear in court

The Mail had pushed for the law to be changed so offenders cannot dodge attending sentencing

Ms Aleena's aunt Farah Naz said the sentencing would have been McSweeney's opportunity to be 'human' and that she wanted him to hear he had 'completely destroyed us as a family' and it will take 'years and years' to accept what happened.

Ms Naz told BBC Breakfast at the time: 'He needed to look at our faces and see how he hadn't just killed Zara, he had killed a whole family.'

Ms Naz also told the news programme: 'My mother and myself, Zara's grandmother, we both made victim impact statements.

'And we wanted him to hear that, and human to human we wanted him to know the impact that he, his actions, his atrocious, horrendous, horrific actions have left, the mark that he's left on us, that he's completely destroyed us as a family and we have years and years of finding a way through accepting what's happened.

'And we needed that. And the other side to this is that we also feel that he needed it too, as he needed to face his actions.'

Labour accused ministers of being too slow to introduce reforms to force offenders to attend sentencing hearings.

'It is disrespectful and grossly offensive to victims that brutal murderers, terrorists and rapists can refuse to face the consequences of their crimes in court,' shadow justice secretary Steve Reed said.

'If the defendant doesn't come and face justice, it's beyond cowardly and can have a devastating impact on victims and their families. This can be a vital part of seeing justice done.

'We called for new laws on this back in April last year  but the Conservatives have dragged their feet.
How did you end up on your career path? Was it through careful planning? Education or training? Or just happenstance, falling into a field you barely even knew existed?

Weve been thinking a great deal about these questions, as our organizations continue to strategize ideas promoting equity and opportunity. Both of us ended up in community development  essentially, investing in the social and economic well-being of underserved people and communities  mostly by coincidence, thanks to a few distinct experiences in our early careers, as well as good mentors.

Along the way, weve had the chance to test and deploy solutions related to affordable housing, economic development, health, and jobs  eventually leading multi-market organizations deeply committed to this work.

Of late, though, we have also been troubled about the future  not just the ongoing challenges facing families and communities, which have worsened over the past few years, but about who will lead ambitious new community investment strategies in the coming years.

Today, the people who experience social and economic challenges most acutely  people of color and those with low incomes  may not see a clear path to jobs that draw upon their lived experience. Their prospects are hampered by worsening gaps in family income and wealth, with Black and Hispanic households earning about half the average of white households; difficult gaps in education that limit advancement opportunities; and/or persistent gaps in health and wellness, including exposure to violence and high rates of chronic disease.

Not every employer would view such socio-economic circumstances as valuable. But in community development, we recognize that they underpin creativity and success. When we tap into the authentic expertise of people who live in and look like the communities we serve, we strengthen the ecosystem that builds economic opportunity and create a ripple effect that extends beyond any one organization or neighborhood.

Weve seen the benefits first-hand. It is why our organizations  the Citi Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC)  are joining others to lead programs that expand the talent pool in the community development field. We are part of a growing cadre of foundations, impact investors, housing organizations, community-based nonprofits and public officials that have experienced the real value of a more inclusive community development workforce. It isnt just that it is the right thing to do. From a practical perspective, it makes our programs more successful.

For example, last year the Citi Foundation provided grant support enabling LISC to launch a pilot program connecting students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to paid internships at community development financial institutions (CDFIs) offering financial products and services to underserved communities.

The program addresses a persistent racial gap in internships, with Black students less likely to find paid positions than their white counterparts, as well as prepares young people for community development opportunities. The internships pay $25 hourly and are focused on supporting people and places struggling to overcome years of disinvestment.

The first cohort included young people like Marsi, who just graduated from Howard University and plans to pursue a graduate degree in urban planning, with a focus on affordable housing. Even being aware of community development as a career paththat opened up a lot of ideas and opportunities for me, she said.

The first participants in the federal Economic Mobility Corps, which places AmeriCorps members with CDFIs, have similar reflections. With Citi Foundation funding, LISCs EMC program has attracted both young people and older, nontraditional participants who often spend their years of service in the same communities where they have long resided.

Rebecca spent her time at Cooperativa de Ahorro y Credito Lajas (the Lajas Savings and Credit Cooperative) in her hometown of Lajas, Puerto Rico. There, she helped more than 600 residents address concerns about affordable housing and financial stability. She also built skills for a return to the workforce, having left her job as a bank teller when her now-teenaged daughter was born. She even made her service a family affair  bringing her daughter to events so she could learn about the work of the cooperativa  and she recently signed on for another year.

Programs and experiences like these can help spearhead a movement within community development that is intentional about how and where we invest, and about who is participating and leading those efforts.

If we can break down long-standing obstacles based on where people live or where they come from, we can support gains that uplift whole communities and drive economic growth for the entire country.

McHale is president of the Citi Foundation. Scott is president of LISC.
President Joe Biden raged that he was treated like a 'toddler' after aides had to walk back the president saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin 'cannot remain in power' - a quip he made as he addressed a crowd in Warsaw in March 2022.

Axios published an excerpt Wednesday from The Atlantic's Franklin Foer's forthcoming book, The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future.

Foer chronicled the aftermath of Biden's prominent gaffe, which 'sounded as if he were calling for regime change in Russia,' the author wrote.

'Rather than owning his failure, he fumed to his friends about how he was treated like a toddler. Was John Kennedy ever babied like that?' Foer wrote, channeling Biden.

The speech was the first of two dramatic addresses Biden has given in the Polish capital since Putin's invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

President Joe Biden raged that he was treated like a 'toddler' after aides had to walk back the president saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin 'cannot remain in power' - a quip he made as he addressed a crowd in Warsaw in March 2022

On the day of the speech, Biden had met with Ukrainian refugees at PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw.

Afterward he spoke about 'the depth and strength of the human spirit.'

The Atlantic's Franklin Foer's forthcoming Biden book will be released on September 5

When asked what he thought about Putin after meeting the Ukrainian refugees, the president responded, 'He's a butcher. That's what it makes me think.'

Biden then spoke to the masses outside Warsaw's Royal Palace.

'For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power,' he told the crowd.

Foer wrote that, 'After delivering the speech that might have earned him the credit he deserved and craved, his improvisation became the headline.

'Biden instantly knew that the White House would have to clarify his mistake. By the time Biden piled into the motorcade ... his aides had released a statement walking back his sentence,' Foer wrote.

Through the White House pool, an official had said, 'The President's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region.

'He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change,' the White House official added.

Sources told Foer that despite Biden knowing his statement needed to be clarified, he didn't like how his staffers looked like the more competent people in the room.

A whopping 77% of Americans think Biden is took old for a second term in office  including 69% of Democrats and 89% of Republicans

'He knew that he had erred, but then resented his aides for creating the impression that they had cleaned up his mess,' Foer wrote.

Foer's book will be released September 5.

In another excerpt, published by the Guardian, the president, 80, confessed to feeling 'tired.'

'His advanced years were a hindrance, depriving him of the energy to cast a robust public presence or the ability to easily conjure a name,' Foer wrote. 'In private, he would occasionally admit that he felt tired.'

As Biden runs for reelection, Americans are increasingly wary of putting him in office for four more years, in part because of his age and his proclivity for physical stumbles and verbal gaffes.

An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 77 percent felt Biden is too old to be effective in a second term.
A Brazilian mother allegedly browsed the internet to learn how to dismember a body before she killed her nine-year-old daughter, keeping the hacked remains in a refrigerator for almost three weeks.

Ruth Floriano, 30, was arrested Saturday in the southeastern city of Sao Paulo after the mother of her boyfriend made the gruesome discovery at the home where she had moved into.

A judge ordered the mother-of-three held in pre-trial detention as part of the investigation. Her two other children were placed with a city agency.

Floriano researched the internet because she was looking for the 'easier way' to cut her daughter Alany Silva into pieces, according to the Civil Police.

She revealed that she killed her daughter for declining to accept the end of a relationship with her ex-boyfriend, who loved Silva as if she was his own child.

Ruth Floriano (right) was arrested Saturday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after police found the dismembered body of her nine-year-old daughter Alany Silva (left) in a refrigerator at the family's new home

Ruth Floriano kept the remains of her daughter Alany Silva inside the refrigerator. The mother of the 30-year-old's boyfriend visited the home Saturday and discovered the nine-year-old girl's body inside

Floriano was questioned on the scene by Military Police agents and told them she had met a man on a dating app and invited him to her home in the east side of Sao Paulo about 'approximately a month ago.' She said that they took drugs and slept together. She claimed that Silva was already dead when she woke up and denied she had killed her.

While she did not say who murdered Silva, she did acknowledge to placing the body parts in the refrigerator.

Once at the police station, Floriano said that she consumed drugs and made the decision to kill her daughter between August 8 and 9. She said that she stabbed Silva while she was brushing her teeth and stuffed the remains in the refrigerator and then disposed of them in a nearby sewer.

Police said that Floriano stabbed Silva in the chest and admitted to cooking a part of it.

Authorities are looking into whether the Silva was killed before August 6  her birthdate.

Ruth Floriano was charged with the murder of her nine-year-old daughter. Her two other children are under the care of a city agency

Ruth Floriano is escorted to a police precinct in the east side of Sao Paulo, following her arrest Saturday

Floriano and her children moved to a new home in the west side of Sao Paulo on August 15 and had the refrigerator wrapped with a sheet and ribbons, according to a mover who spoke to the police.

She left the home between last Friday and Saturday morning when her boyfriend's mother visited the home and said she was going find her former husband, with whom Silva had been staying.

For reasons unknown, the woman believed that Floriano had kept drugs or a weapon in the refrigerator and unearthed Silva's dismembered body.

Silva was Floriano's daughter from a prior relationship with a man who lives in the interior region of Sao Paulo. She lived with her dad and his family for an unknown period before she rejoined her mother.

Floriano's ex-boyfriend, who she stabbed about three months ago, also cared for Alany, according to her sister, Aline Floriano.

'He had a love for Alany, it was something inexplicable, you saw pictures of them together and thought they were father and daughter, there's no way,' Aline Floriano told Brazilian news outlet Band. 'She said it was, from what I hear, it was to hit hurt and she did.'

She said that Silva frequently stayed at her home and always told her that she preferred to live with her and her children because her mother would hit her. On one occasion Ruth Floriano banged her daughter's head against a wall.

'She spoke directly at the police station and all the family heard that she wanted to kill him and the other children, finish the job and kill herself,' Aline Floriano said.
She argued that the courts threatened 'the fragile ecosystem' of the community

Peterson, the wife of a San Francisco venture capitalist, initiated a petition against the installation of courts in her Presidio Heights neighborhood

Holly Peterson is being called a hypocrite after campaigning against pickleball courts in her neighborhood only for her to have her own court in her backyard

An uber wealthy San Francisco woman is being called a hypocrite after launching a petition to shut down pickleball courts in her neighborhood only for it to be revealed she had one in her own backyard.

Holly Peterson - wife of Hotwire.com co-founder Karl Peterson - recently started a Change.org petition to block 12 courts in her upscale Presidio Heights area.

Peterson claimed noise pollution from the 24 hour courts is affecting homeowners and wildlife and urged city leaders to shut them down immediately.

Just days after starting the petition, the woman's hypocrisy was called out online as photos of her property show a pickleball court outside her $36 million mansion.

Reddit users under 'r/pickleball' also pointed out that the family has been attempting to sell their eight-bedroom, 12,000 sq. foot home for two months.

Holly Peterson (left) - wife of Hotwire.com co-founder Karl Peterson (right) - recently started a Change.org petition to block 12 courts in her upscale Presidio Heights area

This is the Peterson's home in Presidio Hills, seen with a pickleball court in the backyard

The private pickleball court is outside the $36 million home's disco and karaoke room

Presidio Heights backs up to the Presidio of San Francisco and has homes overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and the Golden Gate Bay.

The Peterson's home, located in the 3600 block of Jackson Street, is located just on the opposite side of the Presidio Wall and is adjacent to the new pickleball courts.

In her petition, she argued that the noise 'isn't just grating it's altering our way of life and the wildlife of our cherished Presidio.'

She went on to mention that home values within the area are also 'sinking.'

Despite that claim, Peterson and her husband listed their 106-year-old home on Jackson Street for $36 million in May.

Property records show the couple bought the home in 2007 for $16.65 million and made an estimated $10 million in renovations.

If the home sells at asking price, the couple stands to make nearly $10 million.

As her petition continued, Peterson said she and other residents believe the pickleball courts represent a danger to public safety.

'The flood of pickleball fanatics is choking Presidio Trust Slow Street, a space designed for pedestrians and cyclists,' she added.

She is asking that local officials immediately stop the use of the courts and conduct an Environmental Impact Report.

As of August 30, her petition has received just 90 signatures.

Holly and Karl Petersons with their twins, Kennedy and Karter

Just three days after the petition went live online, eagle-eyed Reddit users upset that she was trying to deprive a community of pickleball called her out.

'The best part is her house has a pickleball court,' the user posted on the page.

'So, I guess the noise from her own pickleball court affects the neighbors differently than the ones in the nearby park,' the person wrote.

The post was upvoted more than 100 times and attracted dozens of comments.

'I bought a house next to a massive park and I don't like that people are using that park,' one commenter wrote.

'Pickle for me and not for thee?' added another.

'I would think there are lots of other more important issues to take care of in San Francisco that are bringing down property values and quality of life for residents,' one person joked, referencing San Francisco's rising crime and drug rates.

Local pickleball proponent Hans Carter told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was shocked to hear of the petition and then of the woman's own court.

'We were just rolling on the floor,' he said. 'Talk about the hypocrisy of the rich.'

Recreation and Parks Director Phil Ginsburg echoed Carter's sentiments.

'Not everyone can afford a pickleball court in their backyard,' he said. 'That's why it's nice to have them in public parks.'

A personal pickleball court in their own backyard is not the only major perk that the Peterson's multi-million dollar home offers either.

The nine-bathroom Tudor-style home has views of the Golden Gate Bridge, along with massive molded ceilings and fireplaces throughout.

There is also a karaoke room with disco balls and a wet bar and an upper patio overlooking the private pickleball court.

It also appears that the home is currently not viewable from the front on Google Maps and that the couple may have had Google remove it from street view.
The Met said it would apologise to those wrongly arrested during coronation

36 out of 64 of those arrested in May have not faced charges or received a fine

The Metropolitan Police has defended its tactics during King Charles III's coronation despite more than half of those arrested facing no further action.

Officers arrested 64 people during the massive security operation in May this year - with 36 of them not facing charges or receiving fines.

On Wednesday, the force announced 18 suspects were told they would face no further action, and a further 18 people were informed there was insufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction.

Those released without charge included six anti-monarchy protesters and three charity volunteers.

The Met previously said it would apologise to those wrongly arrested during the coronation if it is found officers made mistakes.

Police officers make an arrest close to the 'King's Procession' in central London on May 6

Police arrest an anti-monarchy demonstrators ahead of the procession of Britain's King Charles III to Westminster Abbey for his coronation

In a statement issued on Wednesday, assistant commissioner Matt Twist said among those facing no further action were people seen in 'possession of glue, allen keys and other paraphernalia'.

The force also said 21 people had been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service - 20 who were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance and one on a racially aggravated public order offence.

READ MORE: Met Police make 52 Coronation arrests including man convicted for throwing eggs at King Charles Advertisement

Five people have already been charged with offences, one person has been issued a penalty notice for disorder and another suspect was sent to court having been arrested for being wanted on a warrant unrelated to the event, police added.

Despite a high number of suspects not facing any further action, Mr Twist defended the police's actions - saying their efforts were 'consistent with the Met's long history both of overseeing significant public events and also policing peaceful protest across London'.

He said: 'Every day officers have to make decisions based on the information they have available to them at the time.

'Arrests do not always lead to charges and it is important to remember that the threshold for obtaining a charge is higher than that for making an arrest where an officer need only have suspicion of an offence.

'For example, three of those whose arrest did not lead to charge were found near the coronation route in the early hours of the day of the event in possession of glue, a banner from a known activist group, allen keys and other paraphernalia that could have been used to commit criminal damage or other disruption.'

Mr Twist continued: 'I am confident the public would recognise why officers chose to make arrests in those circumstances, even though it was ultimately determined that a conviction at court would have been unlikely.

'In the hours before the coronation, we had intelligence that indicated activists were plotting to target the procession.

The Metropolitan Police has defended its tactics during King Charles III's coronation despite more than half of those arrested facing no further action

In a statement issued on Wednesday, assistant commissioner Matt Twist (pictured) said among those facing no further action were people seen in 'possession of glue, allen keys and other paraphernalia'

A Just Stop Oil protester is arrested on The Mall during the Coronation of King Charles

A Just Stop Oil activist is arrested on The Mall during the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6

'We had real concerns that such efforts would not only disrupt an event of enormous national significance, but that they could also compromise the security and safety of participants and the public, including posing a risk of serious injury.

'Officers were briefed on these concerns and were directed to act appropriately in light of the emerging intelligence picture, which they did.

'Their efforts were consistent with the Met's long history both of overseeing significant public events and also policing peaceful protest across London. Every year there are thousands of planned and spontaneous protest events that take place without incident.'

Mr Twist said any suggestion protest was prohibited during the coronation was 'not supported by the evidence'.

He said: 'We have previously expressed our regret that a number of people who were arrested and released later the same day with no further action taken against them were unable to participate in their planned protest.

'However any suggestion that protest was prohibited at the coronation is not supported by the evidence. There was significant protest activity at points along the procession route, notably in Trafalgar Square.

'I am proud of the efforts of all those involved in policing this historic event. It is thanks to their hard work and dedication that it was able to take place safely and without disruption or disorder.'
An Arkansas child rapist who jet-skied out of prison a year ago and was on the lam was captured hiding out with family members at a West Virginia motel.

Samuel Paul Hartman, 39, was nabbed at the Quality Inn in Lewisburg, West Virginia, on Tuesday along with his wife, Misty Hartman, 39, his mother, Linda Annette White, 61, and his mother's boyfriend, Rodney Trent, 52, according to the US Marshals office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Hartman was serving a life sentence at the East Arkansas Regional Unit Prison for the rape of his 14-year-old stepdaughter since his conviction in December 2013.

The fugitive was working in a field near the prison on August 12, 2022, when he broke free. Hartman's wife and mother aided in his escape by driving the getaway car.

The pair reportedly opened fire toward the work crew as Hartman ran into the vehicle before driving to the Mississippi River and jumping on two jet skis that had been set up as part of their escape plan.

The skis were later found abandoned along the bank, sparking the year-long hunt.

Samuel Paul Hartman, 38, was serving a life sentence at the East Arkansas Regional Unit Prison for the rape of his 14-year-old stepdaughter since his conviction in December 2013

Hartman was caught after a year on the run by police in Virginia. It is unclear how he was bloodied in the arrest

Pictured: The four people captured on Tuesday include the child rapist, Samuel Hartman, Hartman's wife Misty Hartman, mother Linda White and mother's boyfriend Rodney Trent

The fugitive was nabbed on Tuesday at the Quality Inn located in Lewisburg, West Virginia

A witness reported seeing a man and two women riding the skis across the river.

A farmer later found jet skis, a cell phone and a set of keys at a boat ramp in Tunica County, according to Mississippi investigators, WREG reported.

In March, the US Marshals said they teamed up with Arkansas investigators to establish Whites connection to West Virginia.

Investigators discovered Hartman's mother, Linda, had ties to West Virginia and contacted the Southern District of West Virginia for assistance in the case.

The four suspects were arrested at a Quality Inn & Suites. Police released photos of all four suspects in handcuffs. Hartman had a bloodied face in his photo - it's unclear how he sustained the injuries.

'Today's capture was the result of deliberate and determined law enforcement work,' said Joe Profiri, Secretary of the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

'The United States Marshals Service, Arkansas State Police, and the Arkansas Department of Corrections have kept this case on the forefront and followed hundreds of leads over the course of the last year.'

He added: 'We appreciate the support and assistance from all agencies involved, the Arkansas Governor's office, and the State of West Virginia in bringing this case to a successful conclusion.'

Arkansas Department of Corrections issued a flyer of an 'Escaped Inmate' that was distributed

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement about the capture.

'Today's announcement is the culmination of a year of outstanding, dedicated work by our heroic law enforcement officers,' Sanders said.

'Now that they have brought this dangerous fugitive to justice, all Arkansans can sleep safer at night,' said

All are expected to be extradited to Arkansas as soon as possible, an Arkansas Department of Corrections spokeswoman said, The New York Post reported.

Both women were accused of assisting Hartman's escape using a pickup truck and jet skis. It is unclear the newest charges the duo will face.

Trent faces felony charges for allegedly harboring a sex offender and for assisting the trio while on the run.
More than half a century ago, in 1966, the outcome of Miranda vs. Arizona codified into law that criminal suspects must be informed of their legal rights when placed under arrest.

If youve seen any crime drama, you can probably recite them by heart: You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. This is naturally meant to protect suspects against police intimidation, but its also a warning against incriminating oneself unnecessarily.

Former President Donald Trump has presumably been read his Miranda rights at least four times this year, once for every indictment hes facing:

First, in March for charges related to a hush-money payment to a porn star; next in June on charges related to keeping classified documents at his home-office Mar-a-Lago; then on Aug. 1 for charges relating to the Jan. 6 insurrection; and finally on Aug. 14 for charges relating to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump denies all wrong-doing.

But if you know Trump like I do, you know that remaining silent is not one of his strong-suits. In fact, it may just be his demise.

Trump has a preternatural, almost sociopathic inability to control himself  for years weve witnessed the former leader of the free world embark on deranged and unhinged rants on Twitter, now X, and his own social media site Truth Social.

But his lack of discipline is also what his supporters love about him  his free-wheeling, pull-no-punches smackdowns have endeared him to millions of followers who dont see this impolitic blurting as problematic, alarming, and even self-destructive, but as just the kind of tough talk and honesty Americuh needs to own the libs, destroy the deep state, and restore manhood to the monarchy  er, Republic.

Trumps big mouth has undoubtedly helped him politically  hes still the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. But its inarguably hurt everyone around him, including the dozens of other defendants in his cases, the convicted Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol under his direction, the RNC which had been paying his legal bills, and the GOP which lost the House, the Senate and the White House in no small part to Trumps lack of self-control.

But especially as his legal cases mount, it seems Trump is even less willing to help himself by simply shutting the eff up. Despite warning after warning by judges and lawyers not to make inflammatory statements or talk to witnesses involved in his myriad cases, he keeps ignoring them, because, well, Trumps gotta Trump.

Earlier this month, Trump vowed to continue talking about his criminal cases, even as prosecutors tried to stop him, lobbing insults at Special Counsel Jack Smith and insisting, I will talk about it. Theyre not taking away my First Amendment.

His lawyers won at least one battle  but barely  after Trump pulled out of a planned press conference to unveil what he said was Irrefutable & Overwhelming evidence of Election Fraud & Irregularities, the day before he was set to be arraigned on charges in Georgia.

But theres little doubt hell be able to resist talking  especially as his campaign for president moves through the election calendar, and too many opportunities to blab, bitch, and boast unfold in front of him.

Hes scheduled to appear at a rally with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in just over a week, in fact.

And the 2024 calendar is full of important and intersecting events  various GOP primaries come up against numerous proposed trial dates.

The collision of legal and political  Trumps indictments and Trumps campaign  will be tricky if not impossible for him to navigate. Talking about his legal woes has become his entire platform, and insisting hes a victim of the corrupt Justice Department, the judges, the Democrats, the RINOs, the media, the deep state and everyone else has been very profitable. Hes raised millions off of his indictments and mug shot, money hes needed to pay his growing legal bills.

But talking about his legal woes is also the last thing his lawyers want him to do, lest he keep roiling judges and making incriminating statements. So how is he supposed to campaign for president if he cant do the one thing he wants to, the one thing thats raking in the cash, the one thing his supporters want to hear?

So the question is, will Trump-the-Candidate imperil Trump-the-Defendant? Or will Trump-the-Defendant save Trump-the-Candidate? Were about to find out.

secuppdailynews@gmail.com
Donald Trump, the four times indicted former president of the United States, promised Tuesday to lock up his political enemies if he returns to the White House.

He made the extraordinary claim during an interview with Glenn Beck when the rightwing broadcaster asked him about his 2016 campaign promise to lock up Hillary Clinton.

'Do you regret not locking her up? And if youre president again, will you lock people up? Beck asked Trump.

The former president met the question head on.

'Well, Ill give you an example ... the answer is you have no choice because theyre doing it to us,' he replied.

Donald Trump, the four times indicted former president of the United States, promised Tuesday to lock up his political enemies if he returns to the White House after being asked whether he regretted not making good on his campaign promise to go after Hillary Clinton

Trump faces four indictments, including 91 criminal charges and potential punishments that run up to hundreds of years in prison.

They cover alleged crimes linked to hush money payments to a porn star, classified documents recovered from his home and his efforts to hold on to power after losing the 2020 election.

He denies all the allegations and claims to be the victim of political persecution.

Those cries have been taken up by Republican allies who say the Department of Justice and the FBI have been politicised and weaponized against the 77-year-old president.

'I always had such great respect for the office of the president, the presidency ... continued Trump.

'And I never hit Biden as hard as I could have. And then I heard he was trying to indict me and it was him that was doing it. you know.

'I don't think he's sharp enough to think about much but he was there, and he was probably the one giving the order.'

In fact the four cases are being brought by independent prosecutors. Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith heads two federal cases; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is leading the case involving business documents in New York; and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis leads a probe investigating attempts to reverse the election result in Georgia.

But Trump insisted that Biden or his party were pulling the strings, without offering evidence.

In this handout provided by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, former U.S. President Donald Trump poses for his booking photo at the Fulton County Jail on August 24

'I don't know if you know this, he put his top person into the office of the Manhattan district attorney,' he said. 'Theyve been in total coordination with Fani Willis.

'The woman that I never met, that they accused me of rape, that's being run by a Democrat, a Democrat operative, and paid for by the Democrat party.

'You know, so many of these days, I have a couple of other lawsuits all funded against me by the Democrats. But these are sick people. These are evil people.'

The woman he says he never met is writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a New York department story in the 1990s.

A jury found Trump liable for defamation and sexual abuse earlier this year.
Two people have been arrested after swastikas were found carved into the chests of two dead pigeons.

The birds were found with the offensive, anti-Semitic symbol, which is synonymous with the Nazi Party, on St Neots' High Street in Cambridgeshire.

It is unclear whether the birds were already dead when the horrific symbol was carved into them or if they died from the carving.

Police were called out to the incident last Tuesday and have since arrested a 21-year-old woman from Baldock and a 23-year-old man from Chatteris.

Both were arrested by Huntingdonshire neighbourhood police on suspicion of racist/religious public order offences today and remain in custody.

Two people have been arrested after swastikas were found carved into the chests of two dead pigeons on St Neats High Street in Cambridgeshire

Police were called out to the incident last Tuesday and have since arrested a 21-year-old woman from Baldock and a 23-year-old man from Chatteris

In a separate incident in June 2023, two men who had drawn a swastika on a black housemate's door, and perpetrated a number of other forms of vile and racist abuse in The Whaddons, Huntingdon, were jailed.

In another incident in June 2022, a dog walker came across a huge swastika emblazoned on the grass in Cherry Hill, Ely.

The same symbol, was found sprayed more recently near the Guru Har Rai Gurdwara Sahib temple in High Street in West Bromwich, on signs for a Sikh event running from August 26.

A statement from Huntingdonshire police posted on social media said today: 'A man and a woman have been arrested in connection with the death of two pigeons in St Neots.

'Police were called on 22 August with reports dead pigeons with swastikas carved into their chests had been found in the High Street.

'Today officers, from the Huntingdonshire neighbourhood team, arrested a 21-year-old woman from Baldock and a 23-year-old man from Chatteris on suspicion of racial/religious public order.

'They remain in custody.'

MailOnline has contacted Cambridgeshire Police for more information.
Tucker Carlson has claimed Barack Obama was smoking crack and having sex with men - but the media failed to report it ahead of the 2008 presidential election.

The former Fox News host repeated the accusation of Larry Sinclair who alleged that Obama bought and smoked cocaine before they had sex in 1999.

The allegation, which emerged while then-Senator Obama was gearing up for the presidential election, was roundly condemned as an attempted political hatchet-job.

But Carlson claimed Wednesday that it was 'really clear' that Obama had been having a gay affair. He claimed the media didn't run the story because the Obama campaign team threatened to refuse access to the Democratic candidate.

Carlson, 54, speaking on the popular Adam Carolla Show, said: 'In 2008, it became really clear that Barack Obama had been having sex with men and smoking crack.'

DailyMail.com has contacted Obama's representatives for comment.

Tucker Carlson has claimed Barack Obama was smoking crack and having sex with men ahead of the 2008 presidential election

The former Fox News host insisted it was 'really clear' that Obama (pictured with his wife Michelle) had gay relations but that the media chose not to report on it

'A guy came forward, Larry Sinclair, and said "I'll sign an affidavit" and he did, "I'll do a lie detector" and he did,' he added.

'I smoked crack with Barack Obama and had sex with him", that was obviously true.'

Carlson was referencing the claims made by convicted felon Sinclair at the National Press Club in 2008 while Obama was running for president.

He said nobody reported on it due to threats from the Obama campaign.

'Nobody reported it not because they were squeamish about sex or drugs but because the Obama campaign said anyone who reports on this gets no access to the Obama campaign,' he said. 'So, they didn't report on it.'

'The amount of lying in the media about it was unbelievable.

'This happens all the time up and down government.'

Sinclair, who has spent time in prison for forgery, fraud and larceny, alleged that Obama, who was then a Senator, bought and smoked cocaine before having sex with him.

He also made another claim that the former president had another male lover and was connected to his death. These were detailed in Sinclair's self-published 2009 book 'Barack Obama & Larry Sinclair: Cocaine, Sex, Lies & Murder?'.

Sinclair, who served time in prison Arizona, Florida and Colorado, ran to become mayor of Florida town Cocoa in 2018.

He defended his allegations again during his failed campaign and said: 'I dont need to say anything more.

'My book speaks for itself, and I do not backtrack anything that I said at that press conference.'

Carlson, 54, pointed to the accusation of Larry Sinclair (pictured) who alleged that Obama bought and smoked cocaine before they had sex in 1999

Carlson accused the former president's team of threatening to ban anyone who reported on it from access to the campaign

Sinclair, who has spent time in prison for forgery, fraud and larceny, alleged that Obama, who was then a Senator, bought and smoked cocaine before having sex with him

At the time, Sinclair was dismissed by the media as a man with an extensive criminal record 'with a specialty in crimes involving deceit'.

But Carlson insisted the allegations were true. He said: 'The Larry Sinclair thing, that definitely happened.

'I talked to Larry Sinclair about it. Definitely it happened.

'Larry Sinclair has been in and out of prison 40 years ago, he's got a criminal record by definition and he's poor, he's got a disordered life, he's missing a tooth.

'I think he has a record of deception but this story if you listen to it in detail, is clearly true.'

He added: 'It's not going to change the world that Barack Obama likes dudes, I think this was well-known.'

Carlson also pointed to a redacted 1982 letter Obama sent to his ex girlfriend in which he detailed his gay sex fantasy.

'Barack Obama said so himself in a letter to his girlfriend. That's Barack Obama's business. I am not attacking him for liking dudes,' the former Fox News host said.

Obama, then 21, wrote to Alex McNear in November 1982, with whom he had been in a relationship during his time at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

He delved into the topic of homosexuality and confessed that he 'loves making love to men daily, but in the imagination,' according to the previously-redacted portion of the letter, which was obtained by the New York Post.

Obama described homosexuality as a way to detach from the present and potentially evade the recurring theatrics of earthly existence.

'In regard to homosexuality, I must say that I believe this is an attempt to remove oneself from the present, a refusal perhaps to perpetuate the endless farce of earthly life.'

Former President Barack Obama's gay sex fantasy was revealed in a newly obtained 1982 letter to his ex girlfriend

Obama, then 21, wrote to Alex McNear in November 1982, with whom he had been in a relationship during his time at Occidental College in Los Angeles

He delved into the topic of homosexuality and confessed that he 'loves making love to men daily, but in the imagination,' according to the redacted portion of the letter

He admitted to a daily intellectual connection with men, but claims it was solely within the realms of imagination.

'You see, I make love to men daily, but in the imagination,' he said in the letter reported by the Post.

The letter, over 40 years old, was addressed to a former girlfriend and has resurfaced due to the extensive interview conducted by biographer David Garrow.

Obama explored the concept of an androgynous mindset, expressing his desire for a perspective that encompasses people as a whole, rather than segregating them into gender categories.

'My mind is androgynous to a great extent and I hope to make it more so until I can think in terms of people, not women as opposed to men,' he said.

Despite these confessions, Obama admitted in the letter that he has accepted his identity as a male and chooses to live by it.

'But, in returning to the body, I see that I have been made a man, and physically in life, I choose to accept that contingency,' he added.

Obama has been married to his wife Michelle, 59, since 1992 and share daughters Malia, 25, and Sasha, 22.

Obama has also come out in the past against homosexual marriage. He changed his view while in the White House, and helped celebrate the federal legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015

Obama has been married to his wife Michelle, 59, since 1992 and share daughters Malia, 25, and Sasha, 22

He has also come out in the past against homosexual marriage.

In 2004, Obama declared: 'I don't think marriage is a civil right,' and said he believed that homosexuality is 'not a choice.'

He changed his view while in the White House, and helped celebrate the federal legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015.

Carlson also hit out at the Biden Administration on The Adam Carolla Show and said they would do anything to win the election, including go to war with Russia.

'They are going to go to war with Russia, thats what they are going to do,' he claimed.

'There will be a hot war between the United States and Russia in the next year.

'Its a political matter, they need to declare war footing in order to assume war powers, in order to win.'

He added: 'I think we could Tonkin Gulf our way into it where all of a sudden missiles land in Poland and the Russians did it, our NATO ally has been attacked. Were going to war.

'If you are worried about that you have to put as much pressure as you can on the Republican House senate to force a peace which can be done.'
Donald Trump attorney John Lauro says it was both appropriate and required for the president's team to cite the infamous 1931 Scottsboro Boys case when urging a federal judge to put off Trump's Washington, D.C. trial on January 6 charges.

Lauro, who appeared in federal court on Trump's behalf Monday, called the case a 'foundational element' of a defendant's right to representation  and said Trump's team was 'ethically required' to bring it up.

'We did not cite it for the proposition that there was any factual similarity [between the cases]  just what the state of the law was,' he told DailyMailcom, calling it something a lawyer was 'duty-bound' to do.

Lauro and other lawyers on Trump's team quoted from a Supreme Court ruling on the case in the first paragraph of their filing this month, where they argued that it would be nearly impossible to adequately process the millions of documents the government has turned over in time for trial.

Attorney for former President Donald Trump John Lauro said lawyers were 'duty-bound' to bring up the Powell v. Alabama case, which dealt with the infamous trial of the Scottsboro Boys. A federal judge said Trump's own case doesn't move with the 'haste of the mob.' She set a trial day of March 4, the day before Super Tuesday

'We weren't citing for the factual basis. We were just citing what was the state of the law. And the state of the law is that everybody is entitled to effective assistance of counsel,' Lauro said. 'Now, in that case (the Scottsboro Boys), certainly there was no effective assistance of counsel. But we were arguing by analogy that in the case of 12 million pages of documents that counsel needs time to prepare. But we had to cite that case.'

The comparison didn't pass muster with the judge and drew criticism from commentators in the high-profile case, which is already being touted as among the most important criminal cases in U.S. history.

'We are required to cite leading Supreme Court authority on the issue of the right to counsel and the leading case on the right to counsel is Powell v. Alabama, which is constitutionally compelling to a court, and we were ethically required to cite that case as the leading Supreme Court case on the foundational element of the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment. So we had an ethical obligation to cite leading case law,' Lauro said.

'So to suggest that we did something quote stupid is just plainly ridiculous,' he said, brushing back a judge who blasted the decision in a TV interview.

He was referencing a comment by retired California Superior Court Judge Judge LaDoris Cordell, who called the decision a 'stunningly stupid thing to do.' She labeled the move 'absurd' in an appearance on CNN following the judge's decision.

Lauro rejected the notion that 'somehow this was racially motivated or this was a diss on the Scottsboro case in some way, which is simply not true.'

A judge rejected an analogy put forward by Donald Trump lawyers comparing his trial to the 'haste of the mob' in the infamous Scottsboro Boys case. Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Andy Wright, Willie Roberson, Ozie Powell, Eugene Williams, Charlie Weems, Roy Wright, and Haywood Patterson were accused of raping two white women. The Supreme Court overturned their convictions in 1932, after they were tried just days after indictment

'This is something we had to do,' he said.

Chutkan, herself a former public defender who was appointed by President Barack Obama, in court Monday called Trump's situation 'profoundly different' from the Scottsboro Boys case for 'any number of reasons.'

The boys were 'met at Scottsboro by a large crowd and that the attitude of the community was one of great hostility,' she noted.

'This trial does not move the case forward with the haste of the mob,' Chutkan said, rejecting the analogy as she announced her decision, after hearing from Trump's lawyers and the government.

Their trials 'began six days after indictments,' she intoned, observing that Trump was being represented by 'a team of zealous and experienced attorneys,' and said they had been given adequate time to prepare.

The judge gets the last word in court, although Lauro did stand up at the end of Monday's hearing and say he did not believe he could provide his client adequate representation with a May 4 trial date  which comes the day before Super Tuesday.

Judge Tanya Chutkn picked a trial date two months later than prosecutors asked for. Team Trump proposed a trial in 2026

He told DailyMail.com that Chutkan 'disagreed' Trump was being denied effective assistance of counsel, 'but she did not take offense in any way to us citing a leading case on on the right to counsel.'

He continues to argue the task of pouring over what he has called an 'avalanche' of material is herculean, with the number of documents prosecutors have shared in the discovery process now rising to more than 12 million.

The lawyers referenced the Scottsboro Boys case in the same filing where they sought to convey the magnitude of the information in the case.

'Even assuming we could begin reviewing the documents today, we would need to proceed at a pace of 99,762 pages per day to finish the governments initial production by its proposed date for jury selection (in January). That is the entirety of Tolstoys War and Peace, cover to cover, 78 times a day, every day, from now until jury selection,' according to the filing.

Prosecutors said that argument didn't hold water, and pointed to other complex cases voluminous material.

In the Scottsboro case that got renewed attention in one of Trump's multiple criminal trials, nine African American boys were accused of raping two white teens on an Alabama freight train.

They were tried just six days after indictment, and didn't have time to select their own lawyers. They were indicted only five days after their arrest. National guardsmen had to remove them after a lynch mob formed. The first convictions came on the second trial day, and death sentences quickly followed, in a brutal illustration of Jim Crow era justice.

The Supreme Court overturned their conviction, ruling they were denied a right to counsel in violation of their Due Process rights.
Despite being a critic of former President Donald Trump, New Hampshire's Republican Gov. Chris Sununu won't aid an effort to keep him off the ballot in the Granite State.

The plot was hatched by Bryant 'Corky' Messner, the Republicans' 2020 Senate nominee in the state, who pointed to the increasing number of legal scholars who believe Trump is ineligible to serve as president due to the 14th Amendment.

Messner is mulling a lawsuit that points to the amendment's disqualification clause, which forbids any candidate who swore an oath to the Constitution but then 'engaged in insurrection or rebellion' from taking office again.

Trump would be disqualified, some experts believe, for his role in January 6 and attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

'The governor first heard about this effort over the weekend. The governor is not making any attempt or assisting any effort to keep anyone off the ballot,' Sununu's spokesperson Ben Vihstadt told Fox News Digital Wednesday. 'He has not spoken to and has nothing to do with Mr. Messner's actions.'

Former President Donald Trump (left) likely won't be tossed from the New Hampshire ballot, according to the spokesperson for New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (right), despite the GOP governor being a critic of the ex-president

The plot was hatched by Bryant 'Corky' Messner (pictured), the Republicans' 2020 Senate nominee in the state - who was endorsed by Trump. Messner pointed to legal scholars who believe Trump is ineligible to serve as president due to his role in January 6

Vihstadt added that 'providing he follows the same rules as all other candidates, the governor doesn't expect ballot access will be a problem for the former president.'

New Hampshire plays an important role in both the primary and general elections.

After the Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire holds the country's first presidential primary. In the general election, it's also considered a swing state.

In 2016, New Hampshire was the first state then businessman and reality TV star Trump won - putting him on the path to win the GOP nomination.

Trump lost the state narrowly in 2016 to Hillary Clinton and by wider margins in 2020 to President Joe Biden.

Sununu, part of a political dynasty in the state, had mulled his own presidential run but is now courting anybody but Trump, arguing that the ex-president won't be able to win a general election.

Still he won't go as far as to try to push Trump from the ballot.

Neither will the state GOP.

'Corky is a friend and I respect his opinions and judgment, but I totally disagree with him on this issue,' State party chairman Chris Ager told Fox.

Messner, who ran for Senate in 2020 on Trump's endorsement, told the network he believed the argument laid out by two members of the conservative Federalist Society, William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen, in a forthcoming University of Pennsylvania Law Review edition.

'This article presented a very, very, compelling analysis that in fact Donald Trump is disqualified from being on the ballot,' Messner said.

Conservative J. Michael Luttig, a retired former federal judge, and liberal Laurence Tribe, a former Harvard Law School professor, wrote in The Atlantic that they also believed Trump is disqualified from serving again.

Luttig and Tribe also argued that 'conviction would be beside the point,' as the former president has been indicted four times, with two of the cases revolving around his efforts to overturn Biden's 2020 win.

So far Messner has approached New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan, meeting with him Friday.

Scanlan has asked the New Hampshire attorney general's office for input on the matter.

'Neither the Secretary of State's Office nor the Attorney General's Office has taken any position regarding the potential applicability of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to the upcoming presidential election cycle,' a statement read.
Sweeping powers to kick out corrupt and criminal police officers have been unveiled in the wake of a series of scandals.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman will toughen up disciplinary procedures against crooked officers, including 'automatic dismissal' for any found guilty of gross misconduct.

Chief constables will be handed a crucial role in the process  15 years after they were stripped of the power to sack their own staff.

It comes after Scotland Yard commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said it was 'nonsensical' that he was unable to remove those who conduct themselves inappropriately at work.

He is under intense pressure to restore confidence after Sarah Everard was murdered by serving PC Wayne Couzens, and firearms officer David Carrick was unmasked as a serial rapist.

A bombshell report by Baroness Casey found earlier this year the Met's ranks are riven with racism, misogyny and homophobia, and warned it may be harbouring many more predatory officers.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman will toughen up disciplinary procedures against crooked officers

The police are under pressure to restore confidence after Sarah Everard was murdered by serving PC Wayne Couzens (left), and firearms officer David Carrick (right) was unmasked as a serial rapist

Mrs Braverman said: 'For too long our police chiefs have not had the powers they need to root out those who have no place wearing the uniform. Now they can take swift and robust action. The public must have confidence that their officers are the best of the best, like the vast majority of brave men and women wearing the badge.'

Writing exclusively for the Daily Mail today, policing minister Chris Philp says: 'Every officer who is not fit to wear the uniform must be booted out. The damage that can be done by the wicked and the inept is incalculable.'

Under the new measures, chief constables will chair misconduct panels instead of an independent lawyer. The force's top officer will also get a new right of appeal if a panel allows someone accused of wrongdoing to keep their job.

In the future, police and crime commissioners could get a similar right of appeal. Because PCCs answer to voters, it would mean the public would have influence over police discipline for the first time.

Under today's package, police found guilty of gross misconduct  for example, if they are convicted of a crime  will be automatically kicked out, apart from in a small number of 'exceptional circumstances'.

The Home Office and police leaders will draw up a list of criminal convictions which will amount to gross misconduct. Vetting processes will be improved and serving officers who fail re-vetting will be sacked. The changes reverse Labour reforms in 2008 which removed chief officers' ability to hear serious misconduct cases.

Sir Mark said: 'I'm grateful to the Government for recognising the need for substantial change that will empower chief officers in our fight to uphold the highest standards.'

Chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, said: 'We welcome the change that will ensure any officer guilty of gross misconduct is automatically dismissed, and that any officer who fails vetting can be sacked. It is also right that chief constables take the lead on the misconduct process.'

Excellence and honour must come as standard

By Chris Philp Policing Minister

The vast majority of our police officers are extraordinary, often putting themselves in the path of danger to keep us all safe.

This week saw the tragic death of Sergeant Graham Saville who intervened to save a member of the public on a train line  a devastating reminder of the sacrifices our brave police make every day.

Unfortunately, shocking cases like the murder of Sarah Everard at the hands of a serving officer have cast a shadow over the profession and shaken public confidence.

Such wickedness is plainly incompatible with being a police officer. The huge power we invest in them demands they demonstrate the highest levels of probity and decency.

I want good people to continue to choose this career and help win back public trust  without which the police cannot function.

Chris Philp, Policing Minister (pictured) says excellence and honour in the police force must come as standard

Every officer who is not fit to wear the uniform must be booted out.

It is why this government is taking action following a review of the dismissals process.

Other than in exceptional circumstances, a finding of gross misconduct will now automatically result in an officers dismissal. Well also change the law to ensure all officers are appropriately vetted and to enable the sacking of officers who fail re-vetting tests whilst in post.

Police chiefs will be given greater responsibilities to decide whos fit to serve in their force and will chair independent misconduct panels.

Senior officers will also be able to hear cases of former officers and special constables under fast-track procedures and police chiefs will also be given a right of appeal.

And well explore with police and crime commissioners, and other stakeholders, extending rights of challenge to those democratically-elected commissioners.

Procedures for things such as unsatisfactory performance and hearings for former officers will be sped up and simplified  cutting red tape and saving taxpayers money.

Officers who have not transgressed deserve to be cleared as quickly as possible, and those who have should be kicked out without delay.

We will work with policing to create a list of criminal offences that automatically amount to gross misconduct. The system for removing officers and probationers who demonstrate a serious inability or failure to perform their duties will be improved.

Not being corruptible is far from good enough  there can be no place for the incompetent in the police. The damage that can be done by the wicked and the inept is incalculable.

There have been too many tragedies and transgressions in the police, where excellence and honour must come as standard. These changes to the way the police hire, train and fire staff are a major movement in the right direction.
CNN on Wednesday officially brought on Mark Thompson as its latest CEO, making the former BBC and New York Times Co. leader the fifth to hold the top job this year.

Thompson, 66, whose more than 30 years at the BBC included eight as director-general, will start his new gig on Oct. 9, according to a news release from CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.

There isnt a more experienced, respected or capable executive in the news business today than Mark, and we are thrilled to have him join our team and lead CNN Worldwide into the future, said David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO.

Pointing to Thompsons track record in transformational leadership and sheer passion for news, Zaslav said the incoming leader has transformed for the digital age two of the worlds most respected news organizations.

The world needs accurate trustworthy news now more than ever and weve never had more ways of meeting that need at home and abroad. Where others see disruption, I see opportunity, said Thompson, who served at Times Co. from 2012 to 2020. I cant wait to roll up my sleeves and get down to work with my new colleagues to build a successful future for CNN.

Thompsons pivot to CNN comes on the heels of his June 2023 knighting for services to media.

The past year has proved tumultuous for the news network. Amid a deficit in ratings and profits alike, former top boss Chris Licht was axed in June. This followed a tenure made infamous by, among other controversial moves, mass layoffs and moving Don Lemon from primetime to a morning slot.

The aftermath of Licht saw a team of network veterans heading up CNN until a more permanent single leader was appointed.

That foursome included head of talent and content development Amy Entelis, head of editorial Virginia Moseley, head of U.S. programming Eric Sherling, and long-running Zaslav sidekick David Leavy, who was named COO in June. They will all report to Thompson once he officially comes aboard.
A dozen Labour candidates at the next general election are current or former councillors at London town halls which backed anti-car measures such as low-traffic neighbourhoods and Ulez.

The candidates, many of whom have spoken out in support of the schemes, are being put up by Labour in seats across Britain.

It will raise fears the party will export its hated 'green' measures across the country if it wins the next election. This week London mayor Sadiq Khan pressed ahead with his expansion of the ultra-low emission zone to cover all of London, despite huge protests over the daily 12.50 driving charge.

Now analysis by the Daily Mail shows a number of candidates being fielded by Labour have been supportive of the schemes or played a part in their roll-out.

One may win a seat even before the election. Alistair Strathern, a councillor for Waltham Forest Council in east London which has embraced low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), will stand for Labour this autumn in the Mid Bedfordshire byelection sparked by Tory MP Nadine Dorries's resignation at the weekend.

This week London mayor Sadiq Khan pressed ahead with his expansion of the ultra-low emission zone to cover all of London

He played a key role in the roll-out of the schemes across roughly half of the borough as the cabinet member for '15 Minute Neighbourhoods'.

And in March he tweeted: 'Ulez will play a vital role in tackling shocking levels of pollution in outer London.'

Meanwhile, Steve Race, Labour's candidate for Exeter, has been a councillor for neighbouring Hackney Council while it has rolled out 17 LTNs.

Polly Billington, standing in South Thanet in Kent, is also a councillor for Hackney and has defended the expansion of Ulez.

Jessica Toale, candidate for Bournemouth West, is a councillor on Labour-led City of Westminster Council, which backs Ulez and hiking fines for non-compliance.

Damien Egan, Bristol North East candidate, is the mayor of Lewisham, south east London, and backed one of its many LTNs on the grounds that 'the world is facing a climate emergency and we urgently need to do more'.

Juliet Campbell, candidate for Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, was also a Lewisham councillor while it rolled out its LTNs, as were Joani Reid, who will stand in East Kilbride and Strathaven, and Kevin Bonavia, in Stevenage.

Helena Dollimore, standing in Hastings and Rye, is a councillor on Merton Council and green-lighted its introduction of LTNs, while Adam Jogee, candidate for Newcastle-under-Lyme and Haringey councillor, did the same.

Luke Charters, candidate for York Outer, was a councillor for Newham Council while it rolled out LTNs, and Alice MacDonald, in Norwich North, sat on Southwark Council while it expanded its LTNs.

Alistair Strathern, a councillor for Waltham Forest Council in east London which has embraced low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), will stand for Labour this autumn in the Mid Bedfordshire byelection

David Simmonds, Tory MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, said: 'The Uxbridge by-election showed just how unpopular Labour policies are.

'Selecting pro-LTN and Ulez candidates everywhere shows Labour are putting metropolitan, inner-city policies ahead of the needs of diverse communities. Rural and suburban voters beware.'
A Democrat is calling for term limits for politicians to restore 'human decency' after Mitch McConnell suffered another bizarre freezing moment and following Dianne Feinstein's string of hospitalizations.

The 81-year-old Senate minority leader didn't respond for 30 seconds when he suddenly stopped speaking in the middle of a press event in Kentucky on Wednesday.

It strangely mirrored a similar episode that occurred last month at the press conference in the Capitol and comes just months after McConnell suffered a concussion and broken rib when he tripped and hit his head at the D.C. Waldorf Astoria and was admitted to hospital for treatment.

'For goodness sake, the family, friends, and staff of Senators Feinstein and McConnell are doing them and our country a tremendous disservice,' Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

'It's time for term limits for Congress and the Supreme Court, and some basic human decency.'

For goodness sake, the family, friends, and staff of Senators Feinstein and McConnell are doing them and our country a tremendous disservice. Its time for term limits for Congress and the Supreme Court, and some basic human decency.  Rep. Dean Phillips  (@RepDeanPhillips) August 30, 2023

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell froze again today in public, this time when asked by a reporter in Kentucky if he planned to run for re-election in 2026.



Re-election? Hes 81. This feels like elder abuse to keep him in office. Let him retire.pic.twitter.com/IWIXHRPKqF  Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) August 30, 2023

The Democrat from Minnesota added that although the 'huge majority' of Americans favor term limits, it would require an amendment to the Constitution, which is unlikely to happen.

His criticism of Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein comes after the 90-year-old was hospitalized earlier this month following a trip and fall at her home in San Francisco.

She was released after tests showed she was fine, but the latest health incident raised more questions about her ability to carry out her duties as a senator. Her many absences since the start of the year have hampered the majority Democrats' ability to move nominations through the Judiciary Committee.

Phillips has also publicly urged President Biden, 80, to reconsider running for re-election.

It would be 'disastrous' if he ran unopposed, Phillips has said, earning the wrath of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who planned to have a talk with him regarding his vocal criticisms of Biden.

McConnell's episode sparked a flurry of responses on X calling for his retirement after his latest bizarre freezing episode.

A former aide to President Bill Clinton said in a post on X that the minority leader should retire because it is close to 'elder abuse' to keep him in office at 81 years old.

'Re-election? He's 81. This feels like elder abuse to keep him in office. Let him retire,' sayd Keith Boykin

President Biden is 80 years old and is already the oldest-ever president in history.

Republicans have been quick to point out his age and 'cognitive decline' as reasons why he shouldn't run for re-election in 2024.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is running for the GOP nomination, has proposed cognitive tests for all politicians in Washington, D.C.

Colin Rugg, who writes for the conservative outlet 'Trending Politics' added that it is time for McConnell to resign.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein was hospitalized earlier this month after tripping and falling at her home in San Francisco

Phillips, 54, cited the president's age and low poll numbers and said it's time for him to step aside

'I speak for most Americans when I say it's time for McConnell to resign. Just last month, McConnell had a separate freezing episode where he went completely mute while giving a press conference. We deserve better, America.'

Conservative commentator Joe Concha typed out a list of recent politicians with health issues who should step down.

'Mitch McConnell, Joe Biden, John Fetterman, Diane Feinstein should all be home on a permanent vacation at this point,' he wrote on X.

'Painful to watch and the jobs are too important.'

Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA added: 'Retire.'

'Our nation is led by geriatrics in both parties who are out of touch with their voters and won't live to see the damage they're ravaging on the nation. Many, like Mitch McConnell, are physically unable to do their jobs.'

A spokesperson for McConnell said Wednesday in a statement: 'Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today.'

An aide added that the Senate minority leader 'feels fine' and 'as a prudential measure, the leader will be consulting a physician prior to his next event.'
A seriously ill teenage girl is fighting an NHS trust's attempt to withdraw her life-saving treatment in court.

The 19-year-old suffers from the rare genetic condition mitochondrial depletion syndrome and requires constant hospital attention  but she is conscious and able to communicate.

The student, referred to as ST, now wants to travel to Canada for experimental treatment which she believes could help her.

'This is my wish,' she told doctors. 'I want to die trying to live.'

But the trust says the girl is 'actively dying' as a result of the progressively degenerative disease and her future care should be decided by the courts.

The teen, described as a 'fighter' by those who know her, had been studying for A-levels when her condition deteriorated after contracting Covid last August

Hospital doctors argue that the girl's refusal to accept imminent death is a sign of 'delusion'

The teen, described as a 'fighter' by those who know her, had been studying for A-levels when her condition deteriorated after contracting Covid last August.

She has spent the past year in intensive care where she has regular dialysis treatment, is fed through a gastrostomy tube and is using a ventilator to breathe.

The trust wants to move her to palliative treatment  in which dialysis would be withdrawn and there would be no attempt to resuscitate her if she needed to be.

But the teen and her family are desperate to do everything they can to extend her life, including joining clinical trials for nucleoside therapy. They say her condition causes muscle weakness, loss of hearing and kidney damage making her dependant on the dialysis and intensive care  but it does not affect her brain.

Hospital doctors argue that her refusal to accept imminent death is a sign of 'delusion'.

Mrs Justice Roberts acknowledged that ST, who watched proceedings from hospital, communicates reasonably well and displays an 'overwhelming desire to live'.

But she has now ruled that the decision over her treatment should be made by a court.

She said: 'ST is unable to make a decision for herself in relation to her future medical treatment, including the proposed move to palliative care, because she does not believe the information she has been given by her doctors.

'Absent that belief, she cannot use or weigh that information as part of the process of making the decision.' The young woman's fate will now be decided at the Court of Protection.

Andrea Williams, from the Christian Legal Centre, said: 'This frightening case highlights everything that is wrong with the practice of end-of-life decision-making in the NHS and the courts'

High Court judge Mrs Justice Roberts acknowledged that ST, who watched proceedings from hospital, communicates reasonably well and displays an 'overwhelming desire to live'

At an earlier hearing, the trust argued that a power of attorney authorising ST's parents to make decisions on her behalf if she becomes too ill should be dismissed as she did not have the capacity to sign it.

Her tightly-knit Christian family, who have spent their life savings on lawyers to fight the trust, say they will appeal the decision.

They believe it is a grave 'injustice'  not least because two psychiatrists testified that she had no signs of a mental impairment and suggested 'she had capacity to make choices for herself'.

The family told the Mail: 'This has been a year of continuous torture for the family...

'We are shocked to be told by the judge that our daughter does not have the capacity to make decisions for herself after all the experts have said that she does.' Andrea Williams, from the Christian Legal Centre, said: 'This frightening case highlights everything that is wrong with the practice of end-of-life decision-making in the NHS and the courts.

'It shows profound disrespect for the wishes and beliefs of the patients and their families. What can be more natural or rational for a seriously ill 19-year-old than to leave no stone unturned and to take every chance of survival?'

The trust said: 'Our focus remains on providing the very best of care and support to the patient, their family and our clinical teams in these very distressing circumstances.'
Federal investigators are probing claims that Tesla company funds were improperly used on secret plans to build a giant glass house for CEO Elon Musk, according to a new report.

Prosecutors with the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan have sought information about personal benefits paid to Musk, and how much Tesla spent on the project, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has also opened a civil investigation into the construction project and is seeking similar information from the company, one of the officials said.

Dubbed 'Project 42' and described inside the company as a mansion for Musk, the plans involved a dramatic glass-walled building near Tesla's gigafactory in Austin, the Journal previously reported.

Following an order for millions of dollars worth of specialized glass, Tesla board members quietly investigated whether company resources had been misused for the project, and whether Musk himself had a role.

Federal investigators are probing claims that Tesla company funds were improperly used on secret plans to build a glass house for CEO Elon Musk, according to a new report

According to the Journal, the DOJ and SEC probes are in early stages, and may not lead to formal allegations of wrongdoing.

The Journal said prosecutors were also looking into a lower-than-expected driving range on Tesla's electric vehicles.

Reuters reported in July that the cars often fail to achieve their advertised range estimates and projections reported by the cars' own equipment, citing experts who tested or studied them.

An SEC spokesperson told DailMail.com: 'The SEC does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation.'

Spokespersons for Tesla and the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

SEC rules require public companies to disclose any perks or other personal benefits worth more than $10,000 paid to the top officers, including the CEO.

The regulatory agency has recently brought a number of civil enforcement actions against publicly traded companies for failing to disclose executive perks, including Hilton Worldwide and Stanley Black & Decker.

The SEC also requires public companies to tell investors about any transactions above $120,000 in which a related party, such as an executive officer, has a material interest.

For example, the agency last year charged a Maryland bank with failing to properly disclose loans the bank extended to the CEO's family trusts.

At Tesla, information about the purported glass mansion has dribbled out intermittently for more than a year.

Plans for the glass building in Austin evolved over time, but at least some of the renderings reportedly seemed to show a residential area with bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen, the Journal reported last year.

Dubbed 'Project 42' and described inside the company as a mansion for Musk, the plans involved a dramatic glass-walled building near Tesla's gigafactory in Austin, seen above

One rendering depicted the building as a glass cube similar to the Apple Store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue (seen above), while another showed it as a 'twisted hexagon'

One rendering depicted the building as a glass cube similar to the Apple Store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, while another showed it as a 'twisted hexagon' next to a body of water with the Tesla factory in the background, the report said.

Other renderings depicted a waterfall as part of the landscaping, and some Tesla employees speculated the project could include some kind of a museum.

The building in question has not been constructed, and Telsa insiders said they were uncertain of the project's status or the outcome of the board investigation.

The mystery project appears to date back at least one year ago, when Bloomberg reported the Tesla board was investigating a large purchase of expensive, specialized glass.

The internal investigation began after the glass purchase order was flagged to Tesla's finance and internal audit groups, according to Bloomberg.

A global supply chain crisis had made the glass difficult to obtain, but the company's 'global manufacturing powerhouse' status made it easier to obtain high-demand construction materials.

The board probe reportedly focused on whether Tesla executives in Musk's inner circle had used the company's clout to obtain the glass for a project that was ultimately for his personal use.

Previously, the Justice Department and SEC each also opened an investigation into whether Tesla misled customers and investors about the performance of its advanced driver-assistance system known as Autopilot.

Last week, the DOJ also sued SpaceX, the rocket company founded and run by Musk, for alleged hiring discrimination against refugees and people granted asylum.

Musk has long clashed with regulators, including the SEC, dating back to his infamous 2018 tweet claiming that he had 'funding secured' to take Tesla private.

Tesla and Musk both paid $20 million fines to settle fraud charges over the tweet, but Musk has since unsuccessfully attempted to vacate the settlement.

Musk has also feuded with President Joe Biden for years, a dispute that apparently began with Biden's backing for autoworkers' unions. Tesla factories are non-union.

Last summer, Biden dismissed Musk in a barbed remark at a news conference, saying: 'Lots of luck on his trip to the moon.'
Mining magnate Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest has broken his silence about his shock marriage split with wife Nicola, insisting it was best for everyone involved and that the pair remain friends.

Australia's richest couple rocked the corporate world in July when they announced that their 31-year marriage had ended and that the pair were living separate lives.

The Fortescue Metals Group executive chairman opened up about the split for the first time at a trade forum in Perth on Wednesday.

It comes days after he threw a star-studded bash for 700 guests in Western Australia's Pilbara desert to celebrate his mining company's 20th anniversary.

His estranged wife didn't attend the lavish event but sent a video message in her first public statement since the split.

Mr Forrest has finally publicly addressed the marriage breakdown.

Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest says he's still 'good mates' with estranged wife Nicola (pictured in happier times in New York)

'Nic and I are good mates, we speak all the time she's a fantastic lady,' Mr Forrest told Nine News.

'We made the call that it was better for everyone if we didn't live right on top of each other but we still absolutely support each other.'

READ MORE: The tell-tale signs that Andrew and Nicola Forrest were breaking up Advertisement

The couple insist it won't affect the direction of their mining empire or philanthropic interests.

Mr Forrest was asked what assurances he could give to shareholders that the former couple's new arrangement wouldn't impact the business.

His estranged wife is now Fortescue's largest shareholder.

'I give them complete reassurance- Nic and I are lockstep on that,' Mr Forrest added.

'We are completely committed to Fortescue, to Tattarang, all the objectives of Mindaroo, we are completely united.'

Mr Forrest also opened up about the shock departure of Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Fiona Hick just six months into the job.

Ms Hick announced the 'joint decision' with the company's board to leave the business on Monday.

'Fiona was given a choice to make and she chose, so I'd say she wasn't pushed, Mr Forrest said.

Andrew Forrest (second right) and his wife Nicola (right) were married for 31 years

The mining magnate insists he and his estranged wife still support each other

The mining magnate and his wife confirmed their separation in July after they were approached by a transaction that moved more than $1.1 billion worth of Fortescue shares into a new company Coaxial Ventures wholly owned by Mrs Forrest.

The former couple have three adult daughters.

'After 31 years of marriage, we have made the decision to live apart. Our friendship and commitment to our family remains strong,' the couple said in a joint statement.

The couple's wealth has largely been amassed through their 36 per cent stake in iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group, which they founded in 2003.

They jointly oversee their private investment arm, Tattarang and they also co-founded, and continue to co-chair, their philanthropic venture Minderoo Foundation, which works to tackle a range of issues from modern slavery to plastic pollution.

'We will continue our shared mission to create and gift our wealth to tackle community and global challenges, as recently shown by last month's donation of one-fifth of our Fortescue shareholding to Minderoo Foundation.'

It was revealed days later that Mr Forrest's company investigated allegations he had a secret relationship with an employee.

The investigation concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated.
A pregnant black woman was shot and killed by police after allegedly stealing liquor from a store and driving her car towards an officer.

Ta'Kiya Young, 21, from Columbus, Ohio, and her unborn baby daughter died during the altercation on Thursday evening in Blendon. She was six months pregnant.

A Kroger supermarket employee told officers - who were at the store for an unrelated matter - that multiple people were fleeing with stolen items, Blendon Police Chief John Belford said.

That included mother-of-two Young - who had allegedly taken multiple bottles of alcohol from the Kroger store.

One officer went to the driver's side of the expectant mother's car and told her to stop, Belford said, while the other officer moved in front of her four-door sedan.

Ta'Kiya Young, 21, from Columbus, Ohio, and her unborn baby daughter died during the altercation on Thursday evening in Blendon

Blendon Police Chief John Belford said mother-of-two Young had allegedly taken multiple bottles of alcohol from the Kroger store

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation into the fatal shooting

More than two dozen family and friends gathered Friday night at Young's grandmother's home in memory of the young mother and her unborn child

Young then put the car in gear and accelerated forward and the officer directly in the vehicle's path fired one shot through the front windshield, the police chief claims.

The pregnant woman's car then traveled about 50 feet before coming to a stop on the sidewalk outside the supermarket.

Her car was locked - so officers broke the driver's window to to get Young out of the vehicle. She was transported to Mount Carmel St. Ann's hospital.

She was pronounced dead a short time later. Young was due to give birth in November, her family told The Columbus Dispatch.

Her unborn daughter did not survive the shooting. Young was the mother of two sons, ages 6 and 3.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation into the fatal shooting.

The names of the two officers and further information about them  including their ages and race  have not been released.

Young was pronounced dead a short time after being shot by the police. Young was due to give birth to her third child in November

Friends comfort each other at a private candlelight vigil Friday, August 25

The family of 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young, sit out side their home including her grandmother, Nadine Young, 61, right and her two boys, Ja'Kobie Young, 6, left and Ja'Kenli Young, 3

A Kroger supermarket employee told officers who were at the store on an unrelated matter that multiple people were fleeing with stolen items, Blendon Police Chief John Belford said

They are on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, which is standard procedure in such incidents, Belford said.

The shooting was captured on police body cam video, and officers said it will be released later in the week.

Young's family told The Columbus Dispatch they have many questions about the shooting, mainly why she was deemed a lethal threat.

'She stole something from the store,' her grandmother, Nadine Young, told the newspaper.

'You didn't have to shoot the woman; she would have eventually gotten out of the  car. You didn't have to kill her and the baby.'

An image from the scene after the mother was shot by police officers in the parking lot

More than two dozen family and friends gathered Friday night at Young's grandmother's home in memory of the young mother and her unborn child.

Her grandmother said Young 'had a knack' for bringing family together and that the police shooting has them scrambling into action.

She said: 'We're all going to be rallying around (her sons), and be the village for them.

'Taking care of them, getting them into school, and keeping them focused and not having them hate the police. I don't want them growing up like that.'

In his statement on Friday, Belford said that body camera footage will be available - but is taking time to process.
A British conservation expert was last night feared to have been caught up in a coup in Gabon.

Lee White, 58, posted photos from the capital of the African nation hours before the military said it had seized power.

He was a senior minister in the cabinet of deposed president Ali Bongo and had campaigned for him in recent elections.

The army seized power early yesterday, within minutes of Mr Bongo being declared winner in the election.

He was placed under house arrest and the military said it had arrested one of his sons for treason.

Lee White, 58, posted photos from the capital of the African nation hours before the military said it had seized power

Soldiers said others in the president's circle had been arrested for 'high betrayal of state institutions, massive embezzlement of public funds and international financial embezzlement'.

READ MORE: Gabon coup: Army officers announce they have taken power Advertisement

It was not clear if those detained included ministers from the president's cabinet but a spokesman said the military had stepped in because 'unpredictable, irresponsible governance' had risked leading the country into chaos.

Professor White, who was awarded a CBE in 2010 for services to conservation, tweeted on Tuesday that he was in Libreville and waiting for the election results to be announced.

'All is calm but the government has cut internet as a precaution following some provocative statements by opposition politicians,' he said.

Professor White, a married father-of-three, was minister of forests, oceans, environment and climate change in Mr Bongo's regime.

His wife Kate, a biology and environmental science professor at Stirling University in Scotland, has also worked in Gabon for many years, but it is not known if she was in the country at the time of the coup.

Mr Bongo's family has ruled Gabon since 1967 and he attended King Charles's coronation in May.

In September 2021 the then Prince of Wales hosted him at Kew for a visit focusing on biodiversity.

The army seized power early yesterday, within minutes of Mr Bongo being declared winner in the election

Professor White, originally from Manchester, was appointed environment minister in 2019 after working in Gabon for 30 years.

He had led a campaign for the country to create 13 national parks, covering 11 per cent of the rainforest nation, to protect its wildlife and forests, and helped crack down on illegal poaching and logging.

Speaking after his appointment, he conceded that his activities had made him some enemies, saying: 'We dealt with a lot of corruption and it is fair to say that not everybody likes me.' He described himself as 'incorruptible'.

The official election results declared Mr Bongo the winner with 64 per cent of the vote.

The opposition denounced the result as fraudulent and within minutes of the announcement gunfire was heard in the centre of Libreville.

Uniformed officers then appeared on state television and announced they had seized power.

Flights out of the country  which was admitted to the Commonwealth as the 55th member last year  were cancelled and all operations at its main port were halted, with authorities refusing to let vessels leave.

Gabon is an oil-rich nation and a member of OPEC, but its population faces poverty, high unemployment and rising prices.

Ali Bongo's family has ruled Gabon since 1967 and he attended King Charles's coronation in May

Mr Bongo came to power in 2009 after the death of his father Omar, who ruled for 41 years.

A video was released last night showing the president in his home appealing for help from the international community.

He said: 'The people here have arrested me and my family I don't know what's going on.

'I [want] to send a message to all the friends we have all over the world to tell them to make noise.'

The Foreign Office and Stirling University declined to comment on whether they had heard from Professor White since the coup.
Britons are stranded as a result of the systems failure on Bank Holiday Monday

Britain's Air Traffic Control body and its boss are under pressure to pay for the flight cancellation chaos that is set to cost 100million.

Tens of thousands of British families remain stranded across the globe as a result of the 'staggering' systems failure on Bank Holiday Monday.

Airlines are demanding a change in the rules  made possible by Brexit  to make the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) pay for the disruption that is its fault.

And there is pressure to strip its chief executive, Martin Rolfe, of windfall bonuses as a result of its role in the crisis.

His pay and bonuses doubled to 1.3million in the financial year ending March 2023, while he also holds shares worth more than 2.4million.

Calls are mounting for Air Traffic Control boss Martin Rolfe to admit his failings and be stripped of bonus

Misery on Majorca: The ONeills and their children, from left, James, five, Sam, eight and Tilly, seven, were among hundreds of Britons still waiting to get home from Palma Airport yesterday

This included an annual bonus of 281,000 plus a second of 555,000. Mr Rolfe blamed the meltdown on the fact computer systems could not cope with a single piece of faulty data  rumoured to be a flight plan from a French airline.

READ MORE: Stranded Britons are being denied compensation despite having to sleep on beds laid out on airport floors Advertisement

But a top industry figure has cast doubt on the explanation. Willie Walsh, a former boss of British Airways who now runs the industry body IATA, said: 'I find it staggering, I really do. This system should be designed to reject data that's incorrect, not to collapse the system.

'If that is true, it demonstrates a considerable weakness that must have been there for some time and I'm amazed if that is the cause of this.'

Mr Walsh said a full evaluation is needed, but added: 'That explanation doesn't stand up from what I know of the system.'

The crisis has triggered calls for NATS to be fined and for the introduction of a new compensation regime to make it responsible for covering the cost of its failures.

Mr Walsh said it is wrong that the estimated 100million bill for cleaning up the mess, which includes refunds, laying on emergency flights and covering the expenses of marooned travellers, will fall on airlines.

'This was completely outside the control of the airlines and yet airlines are subject to paying customers for delays, for cancellations, for looking after them, which is very considerable,' he said.

'It's very unfair because the air traffic control system that was at the heart of this failure doesn't pay a single penny.

'This is what really frustrates and angers airlines. In this case the problem was very clearly caused by NATS and they should pay.'

Asked what the crisis should mean for Mr Rolfe's pay and bonuses, he said: 'I have no doubt the board of NATS will be looking to hold management accountable for this failure.'

Other holidaymakers joined the long queues in the hope of getting checked in

One or two holidaymakers opted to sleep through the chaos

NATS is 49 per cent owned by the Government via a golden share, which gives it a major say in executive pay.

A group of airlines, including BA, Virgin Atlantic and easyJet, own 42 per cent, while staff hold 5 per cent. Around 1,800 flights have been cancelled due to the crisis, disrupting the travel plans of more than 250,000 people.

Holidaymakers hoping to get away also faced lengthy queues yesterday, as airports struggled to cope with the backlog of travellers disrupted by Monday's outage.

An independent inquiry is due to report to ministers on Monday. Mr Rolfe, who lives in a 2million home in Hampshire, apologised for the chaos.

He dodged the question of whether NATS should cover the costs, saying only that there are well-established processes for working out who pays.

He also refused to respond to questions on his pay and bonus, saying: 'At this point my focus is making sure we have recovered the system We have been supporting and working very closely with the airlines to make sure we get everyone to their destinations.'

Stranded travellers have accused airlines of failing to offer support. In response, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: 'It is important that airlines honour their obligations to passengers with regards to accommodation and flights to bring them back home.'

Rob Bishton, from the Civil Aviation Authority, said airlines have 'a responsibility to look after' passengers, and that passengers can claim many alternative accommodation and travel costs back.

NATS said Mr Rolfe's bumper payday was due to 'a reduced annual incentive' the previous year, and a voluntary pay cut during Covid.
A hospital chief accused of ignoring concerns about Lucy Letby allegedly boasted about being persuaded to take up a 215,000 top job by an NHS England boss after the killer nurse was arrested.

Tony Chambers resigned from his 160,000-a-year position at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire in September 2018 just two months after Letby was held for murdering and attempting to murder babies.

The 57-year-old, who lives in a 750,000 Grade II-listed house in Bolton, Greater Manchester, was said to have been forced out after six years in charge following a vote of no confidence.

But the former nurse then took up a number of interim but lucrative NHS jobs, moving first to the Northern Care Alliance in Greater Manchester.

In January 2020, while police were still investigating Letby, he is said to have bragged about being talked into taking up the 215,000 role  as CEO of Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust in east London  by his friend Sir David Sloman, the NHS regional director for London at the time.

Tony Chambers resigned from his 160,000-a-year position at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire in September 2018 just two months after Lucy Letby was held for murdering and attempting to murder babies. He is pictured alongside Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, in 2014

In January 2020, while police were still investigating Lucy Letby, Tony Chambers is said to have bragged about being talked into taking up the 215,000 role  as CEO of Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust in east London. Pictured: Lucy Letby in custody

In a now-deleted blog post, he said: Having had a long and varied career in the NHS, Ive made lots of friends, including Sir David Sloman.

Hes been trying to persuade me to come and work in London for a number of years and I saw this as an opportunity to do something different.

NHS England is said to have had a representative on the interview panel for the job and a reference was provided by the Countess of Chester NHS Trust, according to the BBC.

Mr Chambers left the Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust in August 2021 and joined the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, where he worked as interim CEO until January last year.

Months into Letbys trial earlier this year, Mr Chambers was appointed interim CEO of Queen Victoria Hospital in West Sussex.

Mr Chambers started work at QVH in February but left his nine-month term earlier than expected in June. The BBC reported that all his appointments were approved by NHS England with a representative on each interview panel.

Letby was jailed for life this month for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others at the Countess of Chester Hospitals neonatal unit.

Mr Chambers has come under fire after paediatric consultants said their warnings about the serial killer were ignored by bosses.

Months into Letbys trial earlier this year, Mr Chambers was appointed interim CEO of Queen Victoria Hospital in West Sussex. Lucy Letby is pictured while working as a nurse at the Countess of Chester NHS Trust

NHS England insisted all interim CEO posts were made through a competitive process run by the relevant trusts.

It told the BBC that Mr Chambers had also been offered the job in London following a competitive process.

But it added: Sir David Sloman was not aware of the events at the Countess of Chester when Tony Chambers was appointed.

Mr Chambers has previously told the Mail that serious concerns about Letby were not flagged to him until June 2016  after the unexplained collapses of two babies.

He insisted he was focused on working with the senior doctors and the hospital board of directors to establish what had happened from the outset.
A defiant Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday's legal setback in a defamation case is no surprise because the judge has been tough on January 6 defendants - and laughed off questions about drinking on the job.

Judge Beryl Howell said that the former New York City mayor will have to fork out tens of thousands in fines as a penalty for refusing to turn over electronic records in his defamation case filed by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

'It's very simple. You shouldn't be surprised at the result of that case. I knew at the minute the judge was alive,' Giuliani told a photographer for DailyMail.com. 'This is the judge, I don't know if she's first or second in the most January 6 people put in jail for the longest period of time.

'She doesn't have a fair bone in her body,' he added.

The former New York City mayor also denied being intoxicated as he was giving advice to Trump around Election Day 2020 - something Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigators have been probing.

'First of all when I represented Trump on the election case, when I represented Trump on the election case, 24 hours a day, I was in the presence of four, five, six people,' Giuliani argued. 'They can tell you how often I was drunk.'

A defiant Rudy Giuliani spoke to a photographer for DailyMail.com Wednesday, saying he wasn't surprised by the legal setback in a defamation case against him filed by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss

Wednesday's ruling enables the defamation case to move forward to a trial in federal court in Washington, D.C.

It's unclear how much Giuliani will have to pay, but the fines could reach nearly $90,000.

In the meantime, Judge Howell said, Giuliani and his business entities will need to pay more than $130,000 in attorneys' fees and other costs.

Wandrea 'Shaye' Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, both Georgia election workers in the 2020 cycle, demanded records in their defamation case against Giuliani. He refused to hand them over.

Giuliani claimed he was unable to turn over the evidence for the defamation case because it was evidence in the federal investigation into Trump and his allies' efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

'The reason I didn't comply with discovery is the FBI had all my material,' Giuliani said.

'I couldn't give them the material the FBI had. When the FBI gave it back to me, I gave it to them and the FBI in the process of spying on me for three years actually compromised some of my material,' the lawyer also claimed.

The former New York City mayor also denied being intoxicated as he was giving advice to Trump around Election Day 2020 - something Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigators have been probing

The case stems from the mother-daughter duo's allegations against Giuliani for spreading false vote-rigging claims about them following the 2020 presidential election.

Giuliani admitted previously that his statements against Moss and Freeman were false. They claim their reputations were damaged by the remarks.

Howell says Giuliani will have one 'final opportunity' to produce the requested information for the case's discovery or else face additional sanctions.

The former New York Mayor is facing a civil trial in Washington, D.C. federal court to determine how much he will need to hand over in the defamation case.

Giuliani is facing a barrage of other legal costs, including a $20,000 monthly fee to a company hosting his electronic records.

Trump's former attorney is also one of the 18 co-defendants charged with the ex-President in Fulton County for the scheme to illegally overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

He turned himself over to authorities at Fulton County Jail last week and was booked.

His mug shot was released along with his 17 co-defendants and Trump.

Moss and Freeman's complaint from December 2021 accused Giuliani, one of Trump's top confidants, of defaming them by falsely claiming they engaged in fraud while counting ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia following the 2020 election.
Jay-Z has quietly rejoined Instagram after deactivating it two years following a single day on the platform.

The internet-averse hip-hop mogul returned to the Meta-powered platform on Tuesday to promote the trailer for the upcoming theatrical release of The Book of Clarence, which he co-produced.

Per the official synopsis, the film is a bold new take on the timeless Biblical-era epic. It stars Oscar-nominated actor LaKeith Stanfield as the titular character, who describes himself in the trailer as a man without faults who played the cards [he] was dealt.

The Book of Clarence is directed by Jeymes Samuel, who helmed 2021s all-Black Netflix western The Harder They Fall, which Jay-Z also co-produced. Jay and Samuel are both contributing new music to the movies soundtrack as well.

Alongside Stanfield, the film features Omar Sy, David Oyelowo, Alfre Woodard, Teyana Taylor and Academy Award nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste, with James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch. Its set to arrive exclusively in theaters on Jan. 12, 2024.

Just as when he first joined Instagram, Jay-Z  currently the subject of an expansive Brooklyn Public Library exhibit titled The Book of HOV  is following just one person on social media: his wife, Beyonce.

At the time of publication, his re-activated Instagram had racked up nearly 74,000 followers in its few hours.
The Queen's phrase 'recollections may vary' came to mark Prince Harry's previous claims, and now scrutiny is being applied to his latest utterances on Netflix.

CLAIM: There was no 'support' and 'no one could help' when Harry was suffering post-traumatic stress. He said: 'I didn't have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me.'

REALITY: In 2017, Harry revealed in an interview how his brother had helped him following their mother's death. He told the Telegraph's Bryony Gordon in her podcast, Mad World, that Prince William had encouraged him to get therapy. Harry said: 'For me personally, my brother bless him, he was a huge support to me. He kept saying this is not right, this is not normal, you need to talk to [someone] about stuff, it's OK.'

In his biography Spare, Harry also gushes about his former private secretaries Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton  a no-nonsense ex-SAS officer who helped organise his second Afghanistan tour and whom he 'trusted right from the start'  and Ed Lane Fox, a onetime captain in the Household Cavalry, who had a 'knack for seeing to the heart of things'.

Sources claimed this showed Harry had been surrounded by people who had the right experience and tried to help him.

In 2017, Harry revealed in an interview how his brother had helped him following their mother's death

Harry said the UK media ignored stories about British soldiers wounded in Afghanistan. (Pictured: the coffins of six soldiers driven through Royal Wootton Basset in 2009, as crowds of mourners pay their respects)

Prince Harry complained the British Press ruined his deployment to Afghanistan (Pictured: Harry sits in his position on a Spartan armoured vehicle in the Helmand province)

In his book 'Spare', the Duke of Sussex openly discussed how he experimented with drugs in his youth, including cocaine, magic mushrooms, and marijuana

Harry shared personal information about his life in his Netflix show alongside wife Meghan Markle last winter

CLAIM: Harry said the UK media ignored stories about British soldiers wounded in Afghanistan. Talking about seeing injured soldiers in 2008, he said: 'I was angry that the media weren't covering it.'

REALITY: British military deaths and injuries in Afghanistan were extensively reported on, and made front page news. Reports were compiled from official announcements published by the Ministry of Defence which provided photographs and tributes from commanding officers. To this day, the BBC website still lists all 450 UK troops who lost their lives there.

Many war correspondents came as close, if not closer, to the action than Harry, paying for it with their lives.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 79 have been killed covering events in Afghanistan since 1992, with many more wounded.

CLAIM: He complained the British Press ruined his deployment to Afghanistan.

REALITY: In fact, the UK media diligently kept his 2008 tour a secret. His cover was blown by US website the Drudge Report with a 'world exclusive' about 'Harry the Hero' and by Australian women's magazine New Idea. Harry tells the Netflix documentary how angry he was to have to be was evacuated for the safety of himself and other soldiers after his deployment was revealed.

Harry reopens his war wounds: He's been quiet for months, but now the Duke's back on Netflix and moaning there was no 'support structure' to help him after Afghan tour

By Sam Greenhill, Mary O'Connor and Rebecca English

After a period of relative calm, Prince Harry reopened old wounds with fresh swipes at the Royal Family today, claiming no one helped him as his life unravelled after returning from Afghanistan.

The Duke of Sussex used a new Netflix documentary series to air his gripes following months where the once-regular blasts at the royals from the California-based prince had seemingly subsided.

In his Heart of Invictus documentary series, focusing on his sporting tournament for injured veterans, Harry said he felt no emotion and was unable to cry when he came home from war and finally confronted the trauma of losing his mother.

The duke said his biggest struggle was that no one around me could really help  despite the fact that in 2017 he credited his brother Prince William with being a huge support.

Tonight several sources with knowledge of the situation over the years raised eyebrows at Harrys claims. While stressing they would not belittle his personal experiences, one suggested he had an ongoing selective memory.

The Duke of Sussex used a new Netflix documentary series to air his gripes following months where the once-regular blasts at the royals from the California-based prince had seemingly subsided

Warrior prince: Prince Harry pictured in Helmand province in 2007 during his tour of Afghanistan

Harry served two Army tours in Afghanistan, writing in his biography Spare how he had killed 25 Taliban insurgents in his Apache helicopter. He said mental health was a dirty word in 2008 when he served his first tour, and it was only when he returned from his second in 2013 that he became aware of the trauma he had kept bottled up since Princess Dianas fatal car crash 16 years earlier.

He told the documentary: I didnt have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me. Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the foetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously.

His claim, however, appears at odds with an interview he gave in 2017, in which he said: My brother, you know, bless him, he was a huge support to me. He kept saying this is not right, this is not normal, you need to talk to [someone] about stuff, its OK.

The five-part Netflix series charts the Invictus Games, the tournament for wounded service personnel regarded by many as Harrys greatest achievement.

He set up the games to help rehabilitate injured soldiers, by giving them fresh purpose. He spoke proudly of how wives, girlfriends, parents, grandparents, kids had told him, thank you for bringing my dad back or thank you for putting a smile back on my husbands face.

The Duchess of Sussex plays only a cameo role in the series, the latest project in the couples 80million deal with Netflix, making just a fleeting appearance in four of the five episodes.

In one episode, the duke is seen confiding to her about how nervous he is for his imminent speech at the Salute to Freedom gala in New York, in November 2021.

As they walk hand in hand into the gala, Harry tells her: We havent done this in a while, to which she replies I know and Harry adds: My heart... Im like (mimics the noise of a rapid heartbeat) Im nervous.

In one episode of the Netflix series, Harry is seen confiding to Meghan about how nervous he is for his imminent speech at the Salute to Freedom gala in New York, in November 2021

Prince Harry pictured in comfy slippers in his new documentary series 'Heart of Invictus'

The duke said he launched the Invictus Games in 2014 after seeing wounded soldiers when he flew home from Afghanistan in 2013

Other scenes show Meghan taking part in meetings and helping him prepare for a speech in The Hague. She is seen introducing her incredible husband at the opening ceremony of last years games.

Harry starts episode one by answering the question What do you do, Harry? by replying: What do I do? Er, on any given day, Im a dad of two under-three-year-olds; got a couple of dogs. A husband. Im founding patron of Invictus Games Foundation. Filmed speaking to servicemen who suffered life-changing injuries, Harry shares his own insights.

He says: Look, I can only speak to my own experience but from my tour of Afghanistan in 2012, flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unravelling.

Talking to Canadian indoor rower Darrell Ling, the duke says: I cant pretend to know what youve been through, but I had that moment in my life where I didnt know about it but because of the trauma of losing my mum when I was 12, for all those years, I had no emotion, I was unable to cry, I was unable to feel. I didnt know it at the time.

And it wasnt until later in my life, aged 28, there was a circumstance that happened that the first few bubbles started coming out and then suddenly it was like someone shook and it went poof  and then it was chaos. My emotions were sprayed all over the wall everywhere.

The duke said he launched the Invictus Games in 2014 after seeing wounded soldiers when he flew home from Afghanistan in 2013.

His Netflix series follows veterans from the UK, US, Ukraine and Canada training and competing in the 2022 games in the Netherlands, telling how the tournament turned their lives around.

The Heart of Invictus series is being seen as part of the Sussexes attempt to rebrand themselves following a series of PR setbacks. Pressure is on the documentary to be a ratings success, after the couples lucrative media deal with Spotify ended in June following just one season of Meghans podcast Archetypes.

The release of Harrys passion project comes as he and Meghan prepare to make their first public appearance together since May. She will join her husband part way through next months Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, a spokesman for the Sussexes confirmed.

Before the games, Harry will travel solo to the UK to attend an awards ceremony for WellChild, a charity of which he is patron, on September 7, the eve of the first anniversary of the Queens death.
North Korea has said it fired two missiles as part of a 'tactical nuclear strike drill' to 'send a clear message to its enemies'.

The country's state media confirmed Pyongyang fire the short-range ballistic missiles late Wednesday following US-South Korean military exercises.

The Korean Central News Agency said the launch was a 'tactical nuclear strike drill simulating scorched earth strikes at major command centers and operational airfields'.

The army added in a statement that 'the drill is aimed to send a clear message to the enemies' in what they deemed as a 'warning' against the United States deployment of strategic bombers to the region.

South Korea's military had flagged the missile launch yesterday, which took place hours after the US had deployed B-1B bombers part of an allied air drill.

North Korea has said it fired two missiles as part of a 'tactical nuclear strike drill' to 'send a clear message to its enemies' following US-South Korean military exercises

The country's state media confirmed Pyongyang fire the short-range ballistic missiles late Wednesday following US-South Korean military exercises

The missiles traveled at a distance of 400km (250 miles) at the maximum altitude of 50km (30 mile) before falling outside Japan's exclusive economic zone

The missiles traveled at a distance of 400km (250 miles) at the maximum altitude of 50km (30 mile) before falling outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

'Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for additional provocations, and is maintaining full readiness through close cooperation between Korea and the United States,' South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

They went on to call the launch a 'grave provocation' that threatens international peace and violates UN Security Council resolutions.

Japan's defence ministry also confirmed that at least one missile had been launched.

The launch came a day before the US and South Korea were due to end 11 days of combined military drills which have been denounced by Pyongyang.

The White House said on it had said earlier that new intelligence that showed Russian President Vladimir Putin had exchanged notes with Kim Jong Un, as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for his war in Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the findings weeks after the White House revealed Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu had visted Pyongyang.

Mr Kirby said that Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other military equipment to shore up Russia's defence industrial base.

The provocation came a day before the US and South Korea were due to end 11 days of combined military drills which have been denounced by Pyongyang

It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin had exchanged notes with Kim Jong Un, as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for his war in Ukraine

Any Russian-North Korean arms deals would violate UN Security Council resolutions

The letters exchanged were said to be 'more at the surface level' but showed that Russian and North Korean talks on a weapons sale were advancing.

The Biden administration has repeatedly made the case that the Kremlin has become reliant on North Korea, as well as Iran, for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine.

North Korea and Iran are largely isolated on the international stage for their nuclear programmes and human rights records.

In March, the White House said it had gathered intelligence that showed that Russia was looking to broker a food-for-arms deal with North Korea, in which Moscow would provide the North with food and other commodities in return for munitions.

Late last year the White House said it had determined that the Wagner Group private Russian military company had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces fighting in Ukraine on behalf of Russia.

Both North Korea and Russia have previously denied the US allegations about weapons.

North Korea, however, has sided with Russia over the war in Ukraine, saying the 'hegemonic policy' of the US-led West has forced Moscow to take military action to protect its security interests.

At the United Nations on Wednesday, the US, the UK, South Korea and Japan urged North Korea to halt arms negotiations with Russia.

Any Russian-North Korean arms deals would violate UN Security Council resolutions, backed by Russia, that prohibit all countries from buying or obtaining any arms from the North, the four countries said in a joint statement.

'This sends the wrong message to aspiring proliferators that if you sell Russia arms, Russia will even enable your pursuit of nuclear weapons,' according to the statement that was read by US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who was flanked by diplomats from the three other countries.

Kim has been pushing to enlarge and modernise his weapons arsenals, as experts say he wants to force the US to make concessions when diplomacy resumes.

Since 2022, his military has conducted more than 100 weapons tests - some using nuclear-capable missiles.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly today vowed to rebuild relations with China despite being warned by senior Tories over 'appeasement' of the 'autocratic' superpower.

Mr Cleverly has ended a five-year freeze in relations by travelling to Beijing for talks with senior officials from the ruling communist party.

But some Conservatives have warned that cosying up to China will send out the wrong message to a country notorious for its record on human rights and its efforts to subvert democracy.

Following face-to-face talks with vice president Han Zheng, Mr Cleverly said: 'Some people think I shouldn't be here, but it is more important than ever that we engage.'

The Foreign Secretary said he had had 'tough conversations' with the Chinese leadership and insisted he was 'clear-eyed' about Beijing's agenda. 'We are not going to change China overnight', Mr Cleverly said.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, left, and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng attend a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday

Mr Cleverly has ended a five-year freeze in relations by travelling to Beijing for talks with senior officials from the ruling communist party

READ MORE: James Cleverly faces growing Tory backlash over plans to visit China with warnings some ministers could RESIGN if Beijing trip goes ahead Advertisement

The Foreign Office said tonight that Mr Cleverly had tackled Mr Han and foreign affairs minister Wang Yi over a range of contentious issues, including human rights, Taiwan, the sanctioning of British MPs and China's 'malign cyber activity'.

The one-day trip was the first visit to Beijing by a senior British minister for five years.

A decade ago, David Cameron and George Osborne pioneered a new 'Golden Era' in relations which turned a blind eye to some of China's excesses in return for enhanced trade co-operation.

But relations have been in the deep freeze following Beijing's crackdown on Hong Kong and its conduct during the pandemic.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith warned that Mr Cleverly's visit 'smells terribly' of 1930s-style 'appeasement' and questioned the value of it.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith warned that Mr Cleverly's visit 'smells terribly' of 1930s-style 'appeasement' and questioned the value of it

Sir Iain, one of a number of MPs sanctioned by Beijing for speaking out against its human rights abuses, said: 'I don't understand why he's there.

This is a country that has committed genocide in Xinxiang, they are threatening Taiwan, they have locked up British citizen Jimmy Lai on trumped-up charges in Hong Kong, they are spying on us and stealing our secrets.'

Alicia Kearns, Tory chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said Mr Cleverly should balance the visit with a trip to Taiwan to show that the UK had not abandoned the island state which is under threat of invasion.

She said: 'It is imperative [he] steadfastly and vocally stand by Taiwan and make clear we will uphold its right to self-determination.

'This commitment aligns not only with British values but also serves as a poignant message to autocratic regimes worldwide that sovereignty cannot be attained through violence or coercion.'
Human remains found in rural grassland have finally been identified and belong to a woman who was killed by her ex-boyfriend in a jealous rage four years ago.

The remains were first discovered off the Hume Highway, around 100m south of the Windellama Road overpass, outside of Goulburn, NSW, at 9am on July 28.

NSW Police confirmed on Thursday the remains belonged to 30-year-old Samah Baker.

Ms Baker was murdered by her ex-partner James Hachem, 37, on January 4, 2019 after she decided to not spend New Years Eve with him.

The 30-year-old's family released a heartbreaking statement following news the remains of their loved one had been found.

The human remains of Samah Baker (pictured), who was killed by her ex-boyfriend in a jealous rage in 2019, have been found off the Hume Highway outside Goulburn.

Police confirmed the remains were determined to be Ms Baker's after an examination by NSW Health Pathology.

A crime scene was established in the area surrounding where Ms Baker's remains were found shortly after police were notified.

'Specialist officers including Police Rescue and the Public Order and Riot Squad conducted extensive further searches of the area,' a statement from NSW Police reads.

Police will continue to work alongside the NSW Coroner to determine how Ms Baker died.

Hachem had attempted to defend his charges by proffering a theory that Ms Baker had killed herself.

The jury did not buy the theory after hearing that he had waited outside her apartment in his car and spied on Ms Baker while she was on a date, falling into a jealous rage after he saw the pair kissing in the early hours of January 4.

The couple had broken up and gotten back together numerous times, however Ms Baker had finally moved on, entering a new relationship the month prior to her death.

The court was told the 37-year-old killed Ms Baker inside her apartment at Parramatta, in western Sydney, at about 7am on January 4, 2019.

He had been able to gain entry to her flat after calling her to lie that his parents had been in a car accident.

Ms Baker's ex-boyfriend, James Hachem, was found guilty of murdering Ms Baker and handed a sentence of 24 years' imprisonment - backdated to his arrest in 2019 - on May 20

Ms Baker's body was found along the Hume Highway just outside of Goulburn, a drive away from her apartment where she was last seen in Parramatta, Western Sydney

He would then buy numerous items at hardware store, Bunnings, including a double sheet, gloves, cleaning products and a digging trowel before driving to remote areas NSW.

'Her murder has caused a great loss, the extent and impact of which cannot be conveyed in words,' Justice Robertson Wright said in the NSW Supreme Court during Hachem's sentencing on May 20.

'Ms Baker's death was a great human tragedy, she was a captivating person who made those around her feel whole.

'The qualities of a particular victim may serve as a powerful reminder of the quality of human life itself, and all that is involved in taking it away.'

Hachem will be eligible for parole in March 2037.
Australia's best-selling car manufacturer, Toyota, will test a prototype electric ute in the country as part of plans to become carbon neutral by 2050.

But the local launch of the company's first fully electric vehicle will be delayed by months and is not expected to arrive until February next year.

Toyota showed off both vehicles at an event in Melbourne this week, also revealing a new generation of hybrid cars and utes with battery assistance technology.

The showcase came days after the federal government revealed it had received 'overwhelming' support for the introduction of a fuel-efficiency standard that could encourage the import of more low-emission vehicles to Australia.

Toyota Australia sales vice-president Sean Hanley said despite criticism of the brand for its failure to launch electric cars, Toyota was working on a range of technologies to reduce vehicle pollution.

Australia's best-selling car manufacturer, Toyota , will test a prototype electric ute (pictured) in the country as part of plans to become carbon neutral by 2050

The HiLux Revo concept vehicle, he said, was a two-wheel drive ute designed for short journeys that would be tested and evaluated in Australia, though its release was unclear.

READ MORE: The incredible new Toyota that Australians will not be allowed to buy Toyota is drawing flak for its decision not to sell the latest sleek upgrade of Prius hybrid cars in Australia for vague reasons. Advertisement

'What I can't tell you is when or even if this car will make it to Australia as a production model,' he said.

'But what I can tell you is that we're optimistic and we will definitely pursue the opportunity to bring such a vehicle to our market in future, should it become available.'

Mr Hanley said many Australian drivers would continue to wait for a zero-emission, 'load-carrying, trailer-towing, remote area, off-road, HiLux 4x4,' but it was not yet possible with electric vehicle technology and could require hydrogen fuel-cells.

The Australian launch of Toyota's first electric vehicle, the bZ4X SUV, will also be delayed by several months while its local arm waits for a larger share of vehicles with upgraded specifications.

Toyota's electric car - the first of three due to launch over the next three years - had been due to arrive this year.

'Rather than rush to market this year with a handful of cars, we decided to ensure our dealers have a reasonable level of stock, with the first cars rolling out of showrooms in February 2024,' Mr Hanley said.

'We expect to be able to deliver several thousand cars in 2024.'

Other Toyota vehicles on show in Melbourne included second-generation C-HR SUV hybrids expected to launch next year, and early versions of a HiLux ute and LandCruiser Prado with 48-Volt Technology that uses a battery and small generator to reduce fuel consumption.

The local launch of Toyota's first fully electric vehicle will be delayed by months and is not expected to arrive until February next year. A woman is pictured driving a Toyota

The vehicles went on show after the federal government publicly released submissions to its fuel-efficiency standard consultation that showed widespread support for the change.

The standard, as recommended in the government's National Electric Vehicle Strategy, would set a pollution cap on the vehicles car makers released in Australia in a bid to encourage the import of more low-emission models.
Alex Murdaugh has been convicted of two internal disciplinary charges in prison after conducting a news interview and using another inmate's PIN number to make a phone call.

The convicted killer, 55, is serving two consecutive life sentences for murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul at their hunting estate Moselle in South Carolina in 2021.

The interview and information he gave to his lawyer on August 9 was for a Fox Nation docuseries called The Fall of the House of Murdaugh that is set to air on August 31.

The incident report filed in the prison said: 'Murdaugh willingly and knowingly abused his telephone privileges to communicate with the news and media for his own gain.'

Murdaugh had a disciplinary hearing for the new charges on August 28, and he lost his telephone, tablet, and canteen privileges for 30 days as a result.

The convicted killer, 55, is serving two consecutive life sentences for murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul at their hunting estate Moselle in 2021

Alex Murdaugh is pictured leaving the Colleton County Court March 3, 2023

The South Carolina Department of Corrections said in a statement: 'Inmates in the custody of the S.C. Department of Corrections are not allowed to do interviews.

'SCDC's interview policy is rooted in victims' rights and is longstanding. The department believes that victims of crime should not have to see or hear the person who victimized them or their family member on the news.

'Inmates lose the privilege of speaking to the news media when they enter SCDC.'

The department will determine when and if inmate Murdaugh will earn the opportunity to be issued a tablet again.

It added: 'The charges involve providing information to be delivered to the news media for an interview and also using a fellow inmate's PIN number to make a telephone call.

'These charges violate SCDC's inmate interview policy and our policy against inmates sharing PIN numbers. They are not a violation of law.

In the Fox Nation documentary, Alex's surviving son Buster Murdaugh broke his silence to say he does not believe his father Alex killed his brother and mother  and denied having a gay relationship with murdered schoolfriend Stephen Smith or any involvement in his death

'Murdaugh provided the interview information to his attorney through a legal call.

'Legal calls are not recorded or monitored on the inmate phone system per attorney/client privilege.

'Attorney Jim Griffin recorded Murdaugh reading the information and provided it to the media.'

Murdaugh's attorney Jim Griffin was also sent a letter by SCDC warning that his actions may jeopardize this phone calls with his client in the future.

The letter read: 'Your actions, whether you intended or not, assisted Mr. Murdaugh in violating our policy and could jeopardize your telephonic communications with him in the future.

'Attorney calls are provided to assist with legal claims, not for other unrelated purposes.'

Murdaugh is currently in protective custody at an undisclosed state prison after being convicted in March of the shooting deaths of his 22-year-old son, Paul, and 52-year-old wife, Maggie.

In the Fox Nation documentary, Alex's surviving son Buster Murdaugh broke his silence to say he does not believe his father Alex killed his brother and mother  and denied having a gay relationship with murdered schoolfriend Stephen Smith or any involvement in his death.

Alex Murdaugh speaks with his legal team before he is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences

Murdaugh killed his 22-year-old son, Paul, and 52-year-old wife, Maggie (together center), at their Colleton County hunting lodge. Surviving son Buster is seen left

The eldest son of the disgraced South Carolina attorney said he doesn't think it's possible his dad, 55, killed Maggie and Paul at their hunting estate in 2021.

He said: 'I think that I hold a very unique perspective that nobody else in that courtroom ever held. And I know the love that I have witnessed.

'I was there for six weeks studying it, and I think it was a tilted table from the beginning.'

Buster, 26, also had the finger pointed at him over the death of his schoolmate Stephen Smith, 19, in 2015  as well as claims the pair had a gay relationship.

But in the interview he denied any links to it, adding: 'I never had anything to do with his murder and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level of any regard.'

He took aim at the police and judge, claiming they had a 'crappy motive' and he does not 'believe it was fair' that all 12 jurors found him guilty.

'I was there for six weeks studying it, and I think it was a tilted table from the beginning,' Buster said.

'And I think, unfortunately, a lot of the jurors felt that way prior to when they had to deliberate.

'It was predetermined in their minds prior to when they ever heard any shred of evidence that was given in that room.'

He believes that the jury ultimately found his father guilty of the shootings because of 'everything they had the ability to read prior to the trial.'
Sordid encounters in bars, tracked mobile phones and bugs in hotel rooms are all the stuff of spy novels.

But James Cleverlys visit to China brought warnings of them all as the focus of one of the most intense security and counter-surveillance operations undertaken by the UK government.

The Foreign Secretary and his officials underwent weeks of training before heading for Beijing so as not to leave themselves open to nefarious intentions.

According to security experts, the visit was likely to be seen as a golden opportunity to cause embarrassment to Britain or to obtain valuable information.

A Whitehall source said: Civil servants should expect their accommodation to be wired for sound and video. Your hotel room is not a private space.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng shake hands before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing

Cleverly (left) attends a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing

Officials have also been warned against the risk of honeytraps, the classic spy trick of glamorous women sidling up to unsuspecting targets, which could expose them to theft or blackmail.

All those who accompanied the Foreign Secretary were ordered not to bring their own smartphones and laptops.

Any UK government computers will have their hard drives removed and erased on their return to Britain. So-called burner phones have been purchased to be used then destroyed due to the threat of malware.

MPs on the Intelligence and Security parliamentary committee suggested last month China maintains the worlds largest state intelligence apparatus. The British Embassys secure satellite phone system will almost certainly have been used to relay any sensitive messages.

These best practices were recommended by the National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, to prevent any interception of UK communications.

Cyber security expert Jamie MacColl, from the Royal United Services Institute, said: Any computers brought to China will likely be rebuilt on their return.

The working assumption has to be they will hack everything.

When officials travel to China, the biggest risk is human error. You can have all the guidance and best practices you want but, if someone makes a mistake, there is the risk of exposure.

The timing of Mr Cleverlys Beijing visit could not be more delicate  as it emerged this month Chinese hackers had successfully targeted the Foreign Office.

All Chinese citizens, whether they are government officials or just ordinary citizens, are involuntarily co-opted into a framework of espionage and interference operations.

A foreign office spokesman said: As you would expect, extensive security measures are factored into these visits.
The son of mushroom victims Don and Gail Patterson is expected to pay tribute to them during a public memorial on Thursday.

Civil engineer Simon Patterson has remained in hiding since news of the tragedy broke earlier this month, hiring a publicist to fend off journalists.

On Thursday, a memorial service will be held for the Pattersons, both aged 70, and Mr Patterson's aunt Heather WIlkinson, who all who died after being fed a meal of beef wellington that police believe contained highly toxic death cap mushrooms.

Simon Patterson was supposed to join his parents for the lunch that killed them

Don and Gail Patterson died after consuming what is believed to be toxic mushrooms served up by Erin Patterson

Pastor Ian Wilkinson was the only one of four guests to survive the poisonous lunch dished up by Erin Patterson on July 29 in Leongatha, Victoria.

The Pattersons were farewelled during a private funeral last week, with the funeral for Mrs Wilkinson yet to happen.

Sources close to Mr Patterson have told Daily Mail Australia he is keen to pay tribute to his parents at the scheduled public gathering in their honour.

'It will be a wait and see thing if he goes through with it,' a source said.

Mr Patterson, through his publicist, advised last week there would be a chance for the close-knit community to attend a memorial service at the Korumburra Recreation Centre on Thursday.

The Pattersons had been active members in the community and once ran the local newsletter.

'Both were cherished members of the community, known for their humility and the positive impact they had on those around them,' a media release announcing the memorial stated.

'The Patterson family has expressed their deep gratitude for the outpouring of love, support, and understanding during this challenging time.

'They have been touched by the many memories and stories shared by friends, acquaintances, and even strangers who were touched by Don and Gail's kindness and generosity.'

The burial plots of Gail and Don Patterson at the Korumburra General Cemetery

Erin Patterson makes her way past reporters alongside her lawyer Bill Doogue on Tuesday

Those that died were all heavily involved with the Korumburra Baptist Church

Media attending Thursday's memorial have been warned to keep their distance from those attending.

Mr Patterson's publicist advised the media would be accommodated at the service but will be 'controlled'.

A central microphone and camera will be set up to record the memorial service and a designated area for media outlets will be established on the day.

'This area will be positioned to ensure that it does not impede or disrupt attendees' movements or the solemnity of the event,' it was advised.

The controlled event gives rise to expectations that Mr Patterson will indeed address the friends and family of his parents.

Little has been seen of him since reporters from across the country descended upon the country towns in Victoria's east.

He had been living in a Korumburra home owned by his estranged wife when reporters approached him for comment.

Mr Patterson has continued to direct all inquiries to his media representative.

On Tuesday, Erin Patterson refused to say whether she intended to attend the memorial.

She has previously professed her love for the deceased, especially her former in-laws.

'I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones. I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved,' she said after the incident.

Simon Patterson avoids the media shortly after news of the tragedy broke

Erin Patterson is approached by media outside her home on August 8

Mystery continues to surround the recovery of the only survivor of the deadly lunch.

Last week, the family spokesperson advised Mr Wilkinson was 'showing signs of improvement'.

What he says when well enough will likely assist detectives in how the case progresses.

Ms Patterson said she made the killer lunch with a mixture of button mushrooms from a major supermarket chain and dried mushrooms from an Asian grocery store in Melbourne.

In her statement, leaked to the media by an unknown source, Ms Patterson said she portioned the meal onto plates and let her guests pick their own.

She said she took the last remaining plate and ate a serving, later handing the leftovers to hospital toxicologists for examination.

A dehydrator she had was later dumped at the local tip amid concern her estranged husband would blame her for his parents' death and gain custody of their two children, she said.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Erin Patterson is responsible for their deaths.

On Wednesday, it was reported Ms Patterson lost her licence for 30 months in 2004 after crashing her vehicle in Melbournes eastern suburbs while heavily intoxicated and then failed to stop after hitting 95km/h in a 60km/h zone.
Analysis of fragments found in Pacific suggests they have an interstellar origin

'Extraterrestrial' fragments recovered from the Pacific Ocean floor could have come from an alien planet outside our solar system, an astronomer has claimed.

Planetary scientist Humberto Campins said he agreed with the sensational claims by controversial Harvard physicist Professor Avi Loeb that 'alien' material from interstellar space has been found on Earth for the first time ever.

'It's enough to be excited about. My hat's off to these people,' the University of Central Florida astronomer told Cosmos.

'I think this was a meteorite that came from outside the solar system.'

A huge row has erupted among the scientific community over Professor Loeb's discovery, with some experts lending support to the research and others disputing it.

Small round fragments (known as spherules, pictured) recovered from the waters have a composition of elements from 'outside the solar system, never seen before', Professor Avi Loeb said

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb announced Tuesday that the hundreds of tiny metal fragments recovered from the Pacific Ocean originated outside our solar system

READ MORE First 'alien' object recovered on Earth by Harvard team The remnants came from an object that crashed into the Pacific in 2014 Advertisement

The physicist claims that the tiny metallic spheres have a composition of 'never seen before' elements that do not match any natural or man-made alloys.

He even says the material could be proof that a meteorite which splashed down off the coast of Papua New Guinea in 2014 was actually an alien spacecraft.

Professor Campins, however, believes that the elemental composition points to the material being a chip off a distant exoplanet or large interstellar asteroid.

Loeb acknowledges that this is the most likely explanation, but he isn't ruling out the idea that the spheres are proof of higher intelligence.

'This is a historic discovery because it represents the first time that humans put their hand on materials from a large object that arrived to Earth from outside the solar system,' he said.

However, some of his peers are not so sure.

Professor Michael Garrett, of the University of Manchester, told MailOnline: 'I really admire Avi's enthusiasm in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence but I'd be surprised if this recent effort is going to produce conclusive evidence that extraterrestrial spacecraft re-entering or crashing on Earth are responsible for these spheroids.

'I think its unlikely any extraterrestrial spacecraft have crashed here or indeed elsewhere in the solar system.

'I think it's more likely these spheroids have a more natural explanation which is what scientists in the field are saying.'

Dr Matthew Genge, of Imperial College London, said he was 'very sceptical' about the alleged discovery.

'The seafloor is littered with spherules, some natural and some artificial, from satellite debris, rocket exhaust, windblown material from industry, or even nuclear tests. You can find all sorts of odd particles in the deep,' he told MailOnline.

According to NASA, the meteor lit up skies near Manus Island, Papua New Guinea on January 8, 2014 whilst travelling at more than 100,000 miles per hour. It may have showered the ocean with interstellar debris, according to scientists

Along with Harvard astrophysics student Amir Siraj, Professor Loeb recovered the fragments off the coast of Papua New Guinea as part of a $ 1.5 million underwater search mission

'There are tens of thousands of different alloys and I'd suspect they haven't compared them all, particularly when some, for example in military hardware, are classified.

'Furthermore, these are spherules, thus formed by melting and mixing of materials, making new, odd compositions.'

However, Dr Genge did caution that it was not possible to 'entirely dismiss' the findings because Professor Loeb's results have not been published in their entirety.

'I would be delighted if this was all evidence of aliens, it would be one of the most profound discoveries in human history,' he said.

'[But] the team has to convince me with conclusive evidence published in a reputable journal.

READ MORE 2014 meteor 'was indeed an interstellar object' US Space Command says According to NASA, the meteor soared through skies near Papua New Guinea at more than 100,000 miles per hour and impacted near Manus Island on January 8, 2014 (concept image) Advertisement

'I hope I am wrong and ET was here...I await the convincing evidence.'

Dr Peter Brown, an astronomer at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, also poured water on Professor Loeb's claims that the remnants came from a meteorite that smashed into the Pacific Ocean almost a decade ago.

He doesn't believe that fragments from the space rock, which was estimated to be travelling at over 100,000 mph (160,000 km/h) when it hit Earth, could have survived the impact.

'There has never been a meteorite recovered from any object that hits the atmosphere moving at more than 28 kilometers a second [62,600 mph],' Dr Brown told Space.com.

'Any solids that would remain would be essentially aerosol-size.'

He also called into question the claim that the meteor originated from outside the solar system  suggesting this conclusion had been drawn from the speed at which Interstellar Meteor 1 (IM1) smashed into our atmosphere.

'Particularly at higher speeds, the U.S. government sensors tend to overestimate speeds,' Dr Brown said.

If its speed was lower than calculated, this would also explain why the space rock's brightness profile did not match what would be expected for a metallic meteor moving at over 100,000 mph (160,000 km/h).

This doesn't mean the meteorite wasn't from interstellar space, just that it isn't that clear cut.

On top of this, Dr Brown also previously told Live Science that spherules are all over the ocean floor  and that they can't necessarily pinpointed to a specific meteor impact.

'It's been known for a century that if you take a magnetic rake and run it over the ocean floor, you will pull up extraterrestrial spherules,' he said.

'It essentially would be impossible to say that this particular spherule comes from a particular event.'

The discovery has been detailed in a pre-print paper, meaning it is yet to be peer reviewed, but some members of the scientific community are refusing to engage with Professor Loeb's work.

'People are sick of hearing about Avi Loeb's wild claims,' Steve Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University, told the New York Times.

'It's polluting good science  conflating the good science we do with this ridiculous sensationalism and sucking all the oxygen out of the room.'

A memo from March 2022 signs off findings from US Space Command chief scientist Dr Joel Mozer. It agrees the object is of an interstellar origin - with '99.999 per cent confidence'

Astrophysicist Steven Tingay, of Curtin University, told MailOnline: 'Generally scientists would go through that peer review process first, before making massive claims.

'Avi does things differently and that clearly annoys a lot of people.

'It is interesting that both Avi and his opponents each claim that the other is ignoring proper scientific process.

'My view is that Avi's approach is not inherently terrible, because at the end of the day all the evidence has to be presented, tested, independently reviewed and, at some point, the scientific community will come to a majority view on the claims.

'That's how science works. The loud minority can still exist, if it wants to, at that point.'

Dr Genge added: 'I suspect we will never see this published in a reputable journal. There are many pay for publication journals that don't have a proper review process.'

The origins of the whole saga date back nearly a decade ago when a meteor  also known as a shooting star  slammed into Earth's atmosphere.

According to NASA, the meteor, known as IM1, lit up skies near Manus Island, Papua New Guinea on January 8, 2014 whilst travelling at more than 100,000 miles per hour.

Scientists thought at the time it may have left interstellar debris in the South Pacific Ocean, which, if recovered, would reveal more about the rocky object's origin.

In an official memo last year, it confirmed by US Space Command as the first known interstellar object, with '99.999 per cent confidence', based on velocity measurements by US government satellites.

The memo referred to a 2019 study by Professor Loeb and colleagues that acknowledged the meteor's existence and argued it had come from outside our solar system.

Throughout their two-week Pacific voyage, the Galileo team scoured the seabed for signs of IM1 debris, dragging a deep-sea magnetic sled along the fireball's last known trajectory. Pictured is Loeb (right)

Determined to find the debris, Professor Loeb recruited a team  and the help of expeditions company EYOS  to venture out into the Pacific to find the meteor in June.

The mission  funded by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Charles Hoskinson to the tune of $1.5 million  involved dragging a deep-sea magnetic sled along the fireball's last known trajectory and completing 26 runs of the sea floor.

To their delight, they found about 700 tiny metallic spheres during the expedition, and the 57 that have been analysed as yet contain compositions that do not match any natural or man-made alloys.

The sperules represent 'a new class' because they're unusually rich in three elements  beryllium, lanthanum and uranium.

While the elements are found on Earth, Professor Loeb explained the patterns do not match the alloys found on our planet, moon, Mars or other natural meteorites in the solar system.

The lanthanum and uranium were 500 times more plentiful than in earthly rocks and beryllium hundreds of times so.

The latter is significant because beryllium, which is the second-lightest solid material on the periodic table, is produced by a violent reaction called spallation which involves high-energy cosmic rays.

'That is a flag of interstellar travel,' Professor Loeb says, because it cannot occur at such a high level in our solar system as the solar wind protects us from the bulk of the radiation that causes it.

He added that the discovery 'opens a new frontier in astronomy, where what lay outside the solar system is studied through a microscope rather than a telescope'.

The findings do not yet answer whether the spheres are artificial or natural in origin  but this is the next question Professor Loeb aims to answer.

Interstellar objects are exciting to astronomers because they may provide an insight into other solar systems that we cannot reach.

Only three such objects have been observed, including the first (IM1 in 2014), the second, 'Oumuamua, discovered in October 2017, and the third, Comet Borisov, discovered in August 2019.

Originally classified as a comet, 'Oumuamua was later reclassified as an asteroid as it lacked a coma (the cloud of gases that surrounds the nucleus of a comet).

Professor Loeb got himself a reputation for adventurous theories when he suggested Oumuamua could have been artificially constructed by aliens.

2I/Borisov, meanwhile, is one of the most 'pristine comets' ever observed, scientists announced in 2021, meaning it has not been altered or degraded by heat and radiation from stars like our sun.
Tonight, skygazers around the world will be treated to a rare astronomical phenonmenon in the form of a Super Blue Moon.

The event will mark the point at which the moon is the biggest and brightest it's been all year.

However, experts have warned that it could have dangerous repercussions here on Earth.

The supermoon could raise tides above normal - just as Hurricane Idalia takes aim at Florida's west coast.

'I would say the timing is pretty bad for this one,' said Brian Haines, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Charleston, South Carolina.

Tonight, skygazers around the world will be treated to a rare astronomical phenonmenon in the form of a Super Blue Moon. The event will mark the point at which the moon is the biggest and brightest it's been all year. However, experts have warned that it could have dangerous repercussions here on Earth

The supermoon could raise tides above normal - just as Hurricane Idalia takes aim at Florida's west coast

The moon will be closest to the Earth at 21:35pm ET tonight - the same day Idalia is expected to make landfall in Florida.

While a supermoon can make for a spectacular backdrop in photos of landmarks around the world, its intensified gravitational pull also makes tides higher.

It's expected to make tidal flooding worse not only in Florida, but in states such as Georgia and South Carolina, where Haines' office has been warning residents that parts of Charleston could be underwater by Wednesday night.

When the moon is full, the sun and the moon are pulling in the same direction, which has the effect of increasing tides above normal ranges, according to Kerry Emanuel, professor emeritus of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The moon's gravitational pulls are even stronger when it's closer to Earth, so the tides are even higher.

The storm surge is often the greatest killer when hurricanes strike.

When the moon is full, the sun and the moon are pulling in the same direction, which has the effect of increasing tides above normal ranges. The moon's gravitational pulls are even stronger when it's closer to Earth, so the tides are even higher

The part of northwest Florida that could be hit by Idalia is especially vulnerable to storm surge because of the region's geography. Pictured: Water coming onshore in Madeira Beach, Florida

How does the moon affect the tides? High and low tides are caused by the moon. The moon's gravitational pull generates something called the tidal force. The tidal force causes Earth - and its water - to bulge out on the side closest to the moon and the side farthest from the moon. These bulges of water are high tides. Source: NOAA Advertisement

The ocean water pouring onto land could be up to 15 feet (4.6 metres) along parts of Florida's west coast, the National Hurricane Centre projected in its latest briefings yesterday.

Further south, up to seven feet (2.1 metres) of storm surge is expected in the Tampa Bay area.

Storm surge that can be taller than a person is a concern with any major hurricane.

The tides and the influence of a supermoon can increase that somewhat.

'There's a saying that you hide from the wind and run from the water, and hopefully people are heeding that advice,' said Brian Tang, associate professor of atmospheric science at University at Albany in New York.

The part of northwest Florida that could be hit by Idalia is especially vulnerable to storm surge because of the region's geography.

The continental shelf extends so far out from the coast and has a gradual slope, allowing the ocean to grow higher as hurricane winds drive the water onto land, Tang said.

The shape of the coast in that region - known as Florida's Big Bend area - is also curved inward, which can focus the storm surge to make it even more dangerous, he said.

In South Carolina, there's concern that Idalia's path will take it near the historic city of Charleston and the surrounding area known as the Low Country.

That would add water to the high tide thats in the forecast, Haines said.

'Wednesday evening looks really nasty for coastal flooding here,' he said.

The weather service is forecasting an 8.2-foot (2.5 metre) tide in Charleston Wednesday evening, which could produce widespread flooding in downtown Charleston, Haines said.

Even with a 7.5 foot tide (2.3 metres), some roads in the city flood and become impassible, he said.
Travis Scotts Utopia tour wont include a stop in Houston, the rappers hometown where his Astroworld festival took a deadly turn in 2021.

The goosebumps rapper, 32, took to Instagram Tuesday night to announce the dates and stops for Utopia Presents Circus Maximus, tickets for which go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. local time.

Initially, the 28-stop tour was meant to include a stop at H-Towns Toyota Center on Oct. 19, which would have been his first in Houston show since Astroworld. City authorities wasted no time in condemning the move.

Travis Scott performs at the Astroworld Music Festival in Houston, Nov. 5, 2021.

Like most, we were in complete disbelief that anyone would approve of Travis Scott or the production company having another concert, Houston Police Officers Union president Douglas Griffith began a statement sent to KPRC, citing the recently released 1,200-page report of the catastrophe.

We believe that it is unreasonable to allow this concert to go forward and call upon elected officials to stand up and say, not in our city, not again!

Two people who knew an unidentified victim of a fatal incident at the Houston Astroworld concert embrace at a memorial on Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021.

Kicking off October 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina, the tour will now include just two stops in Texas  one in Dallas on Nov. 17 and another in Austin on Nov. 21  before wrapping up on Dec. 29 in Toronto.

The Astroworld tragedy occurred on Nov. 5, 2021, the first night of the festival, when a crowd crush killed 10 attendees, including a 9-year-old boy, and injured thousands.

A Texas grand jury decided in June that it would not indict Scott or five others in connection with the disaster. Houston Police said at the time that theyd only completed their very complex 19-month criminal investigation days prior.

As long as there was a pending criminal investigation, it makes it extremely difficult to get insured, lawyer Kent Schaffer previously told ABC News. Now hes going to be able to pick back up where he left off, which is great because, you know, in this country everybodys presumed innocent.
As the saying goes, if something happens 'once in a blue moon' it is pretty rare.

And that's exactly what stargazers will experience tonight as a lunar spectacle that won't be seen again for 14 years lights up skies across the world.

In astronomical terms, so-called 'blue moons' are actually fairly common  usually occurring every two or three years.

But 'super blue moons', which is what will appear in the sky this evening, are very much not.

Tonight's will be the first in half a decade and the next one won't appear until 2037.

Rare spectacle: A super blue moon will light up skies around the world tonight. The rare phenomenon won't be seen again for 14 years

Misleading: Despite its name, the moon won't actually appear blue. The phenomenon gets its name because it is the second supermoon to appear in the same month

TIPS FOR VIEWING A SUPERMOON Get up high! The further up you are, the better your chance of a clear sky to see the stars, plus you'll be able to see low down to the horizon to watch the moon rise. Being at higher altitude also helps get a clear view of the spectacle, because you'll be above the dense air at low altitudes that contains haze, fog and smoke that mask your view of the sky. So even if you're in an urban region such as London you could get a better glimpse by heading up the likes of Primrose Hill or Hampstead Heath. Avoid towns and cities Astronomers recommend steering clear of towns and cities because of their light pollution. Good examples include the Snowdonia National Park in South Wales, Exmoor National Park in Devon, and South Downs National Park in Sussex and Hampshire. Turn off the lights For those stargazing from the comfort of their homes, turning off the lights indoors can improve the visibility of the night sky. Go to areas with clear skies Britain should largely be free of cloud cover at 02:35 BST on Thursday, although those in the south west of England and large parts of Wales might struggle according to the latest forecast. Advertisement

What is a 'super blue moon'?

Well for a start, it is not actually blue.

The phenomenon gets its name because it is the second supermoon to appear in the same month. The first lit up the night sky on August 1.

More commonly seen blue moons occur when there are two full moons in the same month.

This happens because the phases of the moon take 29.5 days to complete, meaning 354 days total for 12 full cycles.

Therefore, roughly every two-and-a-half years a 13th full moon is seen, which is called the blue moon.

Super moons are slightly different to full moons and happen when our lunar satellite is at its closest approach to the Earth.

They can appear up to 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than when the moon is further away from us.

This super blue moon will be even closer to Earth than the 'Sturgeon super moon' at the start of August, making it appear bigger in the sky because it is just 222,043 miles away.

This compares with a distance of about 252,088 miles when the moon is at its furthest point from our planet.

Despite being called a super blue moon, the lunar spectacle still remains the same colour as any other, except on two rare occasions.

Firstly, during a lunar eclipse the moon can turn blood red, while in very rare circumstances you might actually see it with a blueish hue.

This would only happen if you glanced at the moon through a haze of dust particles in our atmosphere, perhaps from a recent volcanic eruption.

How can I see it?

To get a good view of the super blue moon, astronomers recommend steering clear of towns and cities because of their light pollution.

Instead, try to find an area with clear skies if you want an unobscured look.

Clear skies: Britain should largely be free of cloud cover at 02:35 BST, although those in the south west of England and large parts of Wales might struggle according to the latest forecast

Good examples include the Snowdonia National Park in South Wales, Exmoor National Park in Devon, and South Downs National Park in Sussex and Hampshire.

Turning off the lights in your home can also improve visibility, although your chances are largely dependent on the weather.

Britain should largely be free of cloud cover during the peak at 02:35 BST, although those in the south west of England and large parts of Wales might struggle.

Being at higher altitude also helps get a clear view of the spectacle, because you'll be above the dense air at low altitudes that contains haze, fog and smoke that mask your view of the sky.

So even if you're in an urban region such as London you could get a better glimpse by heading up the likes of Primrose Hill or Hampstead Heath.

Professor Don Pollacco, of the University of Warwick, said: 'To see the full moon, look east after sunset. If you have a clear horizon it should be obvious.

A supermoon occurs when a full moon nearly coincides with its perigee  the point in the orbit of the moon at which it is nearest to the Earth

'The moon is so bright that we can see it when it's not particularly dark or even if the weather isn't particularly clear.

'It will be visible all night and set in the West around sunrise.'

When is the best time to look?

In Britain, the super blue moon will peak at around 02:35 BST on Thursday, so you'll have to set your alarm if you want to get the best view.

US observers, meanwhile, will get the best look at 21:36 ET today (Wednesday), while for European skywatchers the phenomenon will peak at 01:35 WET, 03:35 CEST and 04:35 EEST tomorrow, respectively.

What's even better is that unlike with shooting stars or comets, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich says anyone should be able to see the 'unmistakable white orb in the sky'.

Binoculars or a telescope will get you an even more detailed view of the lunar surface, while photographers will also be keen to capture the spectacle.

Astronomers say visibility should be good for around a day either side of the super blue moon's peak, so you might be able to get a good look at it on Friday if you miss it tomorrow.

Early risers alert: In Britain, the super blue moon will peak at around 02:35 BST on Thursday, so you'll have to set your alarm clock if you want to get the best view

Unusual: The last time there were two supermoons in one month was back in January 2018

Meanwhile, the Virtual Telescope Project will provide a webcast as the supermoon rises over Rome in Italy.

'This one will be the largest of the year,' he said. 'Our satellite will be at its minimum distance from the Earth about 10 hours earlier.

'The resulting full moon will be the closest and brightest of the year.'

What if I miss it?

The last time there were two supermoons in one month was back in January 2018  and it won't happen again until January 31, 2037, according to NASA, so you'll have a long time to wait.

It won't be as long until the next ordinary blue moon, however.

That will take place on May 31, 2026, followed by another one on December 31, 2028.

The next supermoon will be on September 29 this year.
A faux-rap song that features the AI-generated voice of Donald Trump defending himself against the criminal indictment out of Georgia has jumped to the No. 2 spot on the iTunes rap chart.

Hi-Rez the Rapper, who describes himself as a radical freedom extremist, released the song on August 25, one day after Trump posted his August 24th mugshot to X (formerly Twitter).

The song has been viewed nearly 3million times on X, and has shot to the top of the Hip-Hop charts since its release.

The digital imitation of the former president's voice is nearly identical to the real-life 2024 candidate's.

In the song, Hi-Rez imagines how Trump responded to being booked and released on bond on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

'Out on bail, out on bail. I wont see inside a cell,' the AI-produced 'Trump the Don' sings.

Donald Trump released a "First Day Out" rap song HAHAH! pic.twitter.com/yW6bgwodX6  Hi-Rez The Rapper (@HiRezTheRapper) August 25, 2023

Donald Trump has made history by becoming the first former president to pose for a mugshot after his arrest for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia

'Imma beat them RICO charges. And if I go to prison. You cant do me like the Clintons. Ill be laid up, eating steak with Secret Service chillin,' the song continues.

'These DAs acting silly. My mugshot is worth a billi. Sold some merch and made a milli,' AI Trump raps, making reference to the media frenzy surrounding his mugshot and the inevitable merchandise that will be made out of it.

The roughly 90-second song hits on many of Trump's favorite topics, which he is often heard discussing with crowds at MAGA rallies and during other public speaking appearances.

'Screaming "orange man bad!" The whole world mad. Thug life, shout out all of my Maga-based Chads,' raps 'Trump the Don.'

'Coming for the deep state. I will stop the New World Order. But before that Ill finish walls at the border.'

Hi-Rez said he came up with the catchy song after Trump's booking last week, and the whole creative process took him just about 30 minutes.

Right-wing pundits and members of the online Trump universe began circulating and praising the song, driving up its viewership in the last several days.

Donald Trump Jr. called the song 'hilarious,' and commentator Candace Owens called it 'absolutely genius,' as she danced along to the video earlier this week on her YouTube show.

The roughly 90-second song hits on many of Trump's favorite topics, which he is often heard discussing with crowds at MAGA rallies and during other public speaking appearances

On several occasions in the past, Trump has met with famous rappers, including - now infamously - Kanye 'Ye' West at Trump Tower, Snoop Dogg, Lil' John - who did stints on the Celebrity Apprentice in 2011 and 2013 - and Lil' Wayne, who endorsed Trump's criminal justice reform efforts ahead of the 2020 election.

Last week, Trump made history after becoming the first former president to pose for a mugshot following his arrest for trying to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

The 77-year-old was booked in to jail following his fourth indictment at the Fulton County jail in Atlanta on Thursday - and afterwards shared his mugshot on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He did not have his booking photo taken during his previous arrests in New York City, Miami and Washington, D.C.

Trump's arrival at the Fulton County jail on Rice Street in downtown Atlanta was greeted with loud cheers by his supporters, and boos from detractors.

He spent around 20 minutes inside the decrepit facility, where seven people have died in custody since the start of this year, and was processed far more quickly than other accused criminals.

Trump's height and weight were recorded, as well as his hair and eye color. His fingerprints and booking photo were taken, and his bond money was paid.

Hi-Rez the Rapper, who describes himself as a radical freedom extremist, released the song on August 25, one day after Trump posted his August 24th mugshot to X

Kayne West and Trump became close during the Trump's first term

Trump with Snoop Dogg in 2011 at the Comedy Central Roast of the would-be president

Trump meets with Lil Wayne in 2020. The rapper endorsed the former president and toured his criminal justice reform efforts

Trump with Lil' Jon, who competed twice on Celebrity Apprentice

After the booking, Trump declared on the Tarmac that it was 'a very sad day for America'.

He said it was 'a travesty of justice' and added: 'We did nothing wrong, I did nothing wrong.'

'This is election interference. So I want to thank you for being here. We did nothing wrong,' Trump said. 'We had every right, every single right, to challenge an election we think was dishonest.'

He then boarded his plane and flew back to New Jersey.

Ahead of his surrender, Trump criticized Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis, calling her a 'Radical Left, Lowlife District Attorney'.

His surrender came hours after Willis set a date for the trial.

She requested that Trump's trial begin on October 23 - a date widely viewed as being impossibly soon.

It comes after a handful of other Trump allies and 'co-conspirators' who turned themselves in to the Georgia prison this week had their mugshots released by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office on Thursday.

They are accused of joining a 'conspiracy' led by Trump to unlawfully change the outcome of the election.

Among them was 'America's Mayor', Rudy Giuliani, who also faced the humiliation of having his mugshot taken after getting booked at the Atlanta jail on Wednesday.

In the image, Giuliani can be seen frowning with industrial lighting shining on his forehead and a sheriff's badge on the wall to his right.

Trump speaks with reporters before departure from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Atlanta. Trump has called for the impeachment and removal of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis

Mugshots of nine of Trump's co-defendants who turned themselves in in Fulton County last week

The former Trump lawyer is facing 13 felony counts, including RICO charges - the same number as Trump.

It was a stunning and symbolic fall from grace for Giuliani, a former mob boss prosecutor, who famously used the RICO - the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act - to take down the Mafia in the 1980s during his time as a Manhattan prosecutor.

Trump slammed the arrest of Giuliani in a Truth Social post after the release of the 79-year-old's mugshot.

'The greatest Mayor in the history of New York City was just ARRESTED in Atlanta, Georgia, because he fought for Election Integrity. THE ELECTION WAS RIGGED & STOLLEN. HOW SAD FOR OUR COUNTRY. MAGA!' Trump wrote.
Advertisement

Liverpool John Lennon Airport has been rated the UK's best airport  with travellers praising their experience at the airport as first class.

London City Airport sits in second place, while Southampton Airport ranks third. Manchester Airport's Terminal 3, meanwhile, flounders at the bottom of the heap - the same position it held last year.

The rankings have been produced by a new survey by Which? that asked nearly 4,000 travellers to rate their experiences at 24 UK airports and terminals over the past year. Respondents ranked airports based on eleven categories, including seating, staff, toilets, queues at check in, bag drop, passport control and security.

A customer score was then calculated based on a combination of travellers' overall satisfaction and their likeliness to recommend the airport. On top of that, the consumer champion asked travellers to report how long they spent queueing at security.

First-place Liverpool John Lennon Airport snapped up a score of 82 per cent. Customers gave the airport five stars for check-in and security queues, indicating an uncommonly hassle-free experience, Which? reveals.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport has been rated the UK's best airport. The ranking has been produced by a new survey by Which? that asked nearly 4,000 travellers to rate their experiences at 24 UK airports and terminals over the past year

It scored four stars for staff, with multiple respondents praising the airport's employees as both friendly and helpful. The airport also achieved four stars for baggage reclaim and queues at bag drop and passport control.

One traveller said it was a well run, efficient airport while another lauded it as their preferred airport, Which? says, adding that the airport has earned the coveted Which? Recommended Provider status for the second consecutive year.

Second-place London City, meanwhile, is close behind with a score of 78 per cent. Well served by transport links, the airport is a popular option for business travellers in and out of the capital, Which? says.

Respondents praised the airports relaxed atmosphere, Which? notes.

It scored an impressive five stars for queues at check-in and security, where new scanners have recently been installed, meaning passengers no longer need to observe the 100ml (3.5oz) limit on liquids or remove electronics from their bags.

In fact, Which? reveals that the airport had some of the lowest security waiting times of any in the survey, with an average estimated queue of just 10 minutes, beaten only by Aberdeen (joint 10th, 55 per cent) and third-place Southampton (77 per cent), which both had average waits of nine minutes.

Survey respondents ranked airports based on eleven categories, including toilets and queues at check in

London City Airport ranks second. Well served by transport links, the airport is a popular option for business travellers in and out of the capital, Which? says

One passenger said London City's new security system is quick and so much less hassle, while another lauded the scanners as a game-changer.

However, the watchdog notes that London City missed out on a Which? Recommended Provider badge owing to a low rating of just two stars for toilet facilities.

After third-place Southampton, the rest of the top five is made up of Bournemouth (75 per cent), which ranks in fourth place, and East Midlands and Newcastle, which tie for fifth with scores of 72 per cent.

Looking to the bottom of the table, Manchester Airport has the unwelcome distinction of taking the lowest two spots in the rankings, with a dismal customer score of just 38 per cent for last-place Terminal 3 (17th) and 44 per cent for Terminal 1 (16th), Which? reveals.

Manchesters Terminal 2 (14th) fares marginally better, but still finds itself in the bottom five with a score of 50 per cent.

Terminal 3 scored a 'lamentable' one star for seating, prices in shops, and queues at check-in, bag drop and security, Which? reveals. It scored no higher than two stars in any of the remaining categories.

Southampton Airport is third in the ranking with a score of 77 per cent. It has bagged five stars for its queue times at check in and security

Birmingham Airport was the worst-performing airport when it came to security queue times, with an average reported wait time of 29 minutes

One traveller complained of huge queues at check-in, branding the situation a joke, while others dubbed the airport experience as crowded, noisy, generally stressful and dispiriting from start to finish.

Multiple respondents reported long queues at various points through the airport experience, and noted the airport was overcrowded.

Terminal 1 also received a clutch of one and two-star ratings but secured three stars for the range of shops on offer. Terminal 2, meanwhile, scored no lower than two stars in any category and managed a good score of four stars for queues at the check-in desk, Which? reveals.

The watchdog says that the airport was among the worst performing in the survey for security queues, with an average wait time of 28 minutes reported at Terminal 3, 26 minutes at Terminal 2 and 25 minutes at Terminal 1.

Manchester Terminal 3 flounders at the bottom of the table. Some travellers dubbed the airport experience as dispiriting from start to finish

AT A GLANCE: WHICH? REVEALS THE UK'S BEST AND WORST AIRPORTS 1. Liverpool John Lennon - 82 per cent 2. London City - 78 per cent 3. Southampton - 77 per cent 4. Bournemouth - 75 per cent 5 = East Midlands - 72 per cent 5 = Newcastle - 72 per cent 6. Glasgow International - 62 per cent 7. Leeds Bradford - 58 per cent 8 = London Gatwick North - 57 per cent 8 = London Heathrow T4 - 57 per cent 8 = London Heathrow T5 - 57 per cent 9. Bristol - 56 per cent 10 = Aberdeen - 55 per cent 10 = Edinburgh - 55 per cent 11 = London Gatwick South - 54 per cent 11 = London Heathrow T2 - 54 per cent 11 = London Heathrow T3 - 54 per cent 12. Birmingham - 53 per cent 13. London Stansted - 51 per cent 14. Manchester T2 - 50 per cent 15 = Belfast International - 49 per cent 15 = London Luton - 49 per cent 16. Manchester T1 - 44 per cent 17. Manchester T3 - 38 per cent Source: Which? Advertisement

Only Birmingham Airport (12th, 53 per cent) performed worse, with an average reported wait time of 29 minutes.

Also in the bottom five are London Luton and Belfast International - both have tied for 15th with a score of 49 per cent.

The worst-rated London airport in the survey, Luton received a dismal rating of just one star for queues at check-in and bag drop and received just two stars in the majority of remaining categories, with more than one customer asserting theyd never fly from Luton again.

Which? notes its highest score of three stars was for the range of shops on offer, though one customer complained they had no time to go near the shops because of all the queues.

It was among the five worst airports for security queues, with an average reported waiting time of 22 minutes, Which? reveals.

Belfast International, meanwhile, scored just two stars for seating, staff, range of shops and toilets, and scored three stars for queues through security, which respondents reported lasting 21 minutes on average. One passenger commented that at every level service or quality is poor.

However, others seemed more satisfied, noting everything seemed to go smoothly and another said, its facilities and services are easy to use, Which? says.

Commenting on the surveys findings, Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said: Choosing the right airport isnt often high on travellers holiday checklists, but taking the time to think about where youre flying from can really pay dividends.

Wed recommend opting for a smaller airport, as our survey shows they generally tend to perform better on queue times and customer service, giving holidaymakers the positive start to their holidays they should expect.

In addition to performing badly in the Which? ranking, Manchester and Luton airports have very low average scores on Trustpilot, the former averages 1.5 from 26,749 reviews and the latter 1.3 from 513 reviews.

Despite the combined results, both airports issued statements claiming they're actually much loved by the majority of travellers.

A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: We are committed to providing a great experience to all passengers. Our customer service is driven by investment in our people  we have recruited more than 3,000 colleagues since April 2022 and established a new 100-strong resilience team, trained in a variety of roles so they can respond at short notice to ensure passengers get a good level of service. It is also driven by investment in our facilities, especially the 1.3billion transformation of Terminal 2, through which more than 80 per cent of our passengers will fly by 2025.'

The statement commented that the survey, which was conducted in June 2023, is 'based on a tiny and unrepresentative sample of the 25million passengers who travel through Manchester airport every year'.

It continued: We surveyed 840 passengers in July and August this year, and 94 per cent rated their overall satisfaction with the service they received as either good, very good or excellent. Since April this year, we have welcomed more than 10.4million people through Manchester Airport and 95.6 per cent of them have got through security in under 15 minutes. Almost three-quarters got through security in under five minutes and 99.8 per cent in under 30 minutes.

A spokesperson from London Luton Airport said: 'Which? surveyed just 183 people out of the 15million who had used London Luton Airport in a 12-month period. Whilst all feedback is important to us, we do not believe the findings accurately represent the views of the majority of our passengers. Our teams work hard to provide a simple and friendly passenger experience, and this is reflected in the ASQ global airport benchmarking scheme, which shows that four out of five of our passengers rate their experience as "very good or excellent". In addition, official passenger tracking data shows the average security wait time at LLA during the survey period was just nine minutes.'
Gangland widow Roberta Williams has revealed she is struggling to make bank from OnlyFans, despite having thousands of subscribers.

The former wife of slain underworld king and drug lord Carl Williams told Daily Mail Australia she hasn't been able to access her earnings from the adult subscription-based platform because the police keep shutting down her bank accounts.

Williams, 53, is charging $30 a month to subscribe to her page, which is about double the rate of most Married At First Sight stars.

'I can't really be bothered working out the financials,' Roberta explained.

'I had trouble accessing the finances from there... every time I open a bank account, the police would close it down.'

Gangland widow Roberta Williams has revealed she is struggling to make bank from OnlyFans , despite having thousands of subscribers

The former wife of slain underworld king and drug lord Carl Williams told Daily Mail Australia she hasn't been able to access her earnings from the adult subscription-based platform because the police keep shutting down her bank accounts

For those in the shadows of the criminal underworld, these kinds of complications aren't uncommon.

But for the vast majority of creators, accessing their earnings is a straightforward process.

'The bank account would last a couple of months, and then the the police just close it,' Roberta added, insisting she had no idea why police were still on her tail.

'I've still my OnlyFans account open and still regularly posting, but it's not for financial because I can't access the money at this point.

'I can't really be bothered working out the financials,' Roberta explained. 'I had trouble accessing the finances from there... every time I open a bank account, the police would close it down'

Williams recently said she and her daughter Dhakota Williams both signed up for OnlyFans because their reputation 'makes it hard for them to get normal jobs'

Since joining the platform exactly a year ago, Williams has been sharing tantalising and racy selfies to her Instagram account in a bid to attract more paying viewers to her OnlyFans account.

She shared the surprising news on Instagram alongside a provocative picture.

'Who's ready to see another side of me?' she wrote, before directing her followers to her newly created OnlyFans page.

Williams recently said she and her daughter Dhakota Williams both signed up for OnlyFans because their reputation 'makes it hard for them to get normal jobs'.

Williams is charging $30 a month to subscribe to her page, which is about double the rate of most Married At First Sight stars

The duo recently starred in a live show where they delved into their life with infamous underworld figure Carl - her late husband and Dhakota's father.

The show, titled My Life Our Life, is described on the Eventbrite website as 'Roberta and Dhakota Williams talking about Life Before Carl, with Carl, and Now.'

The pair will next speak at the Golden City Hotel in Ballarat on September 23, and in Canberra on October 7.

Dhakota was nine-years-old when her father, drug kingpin Carl, was bludgeoned to death at Barwon Prison by fellow inmate Matthew Charles Johnson in 2010.

The hitman, whose life was made famous by the TV series Underbelly, had been jailed for 35 years in 2007 for ordering the murders of three rivals, and more time for conspiring to kill a fourth.

Carl wrote several long letters to his wife and others from jail in the months before he was murdered, that have since been made into the book Life Sentence.

The couple married in 2001 and were still husband and wife at the time of his death in 2010.
Florence Pugh is known for her stylish red carpet gowns and being unafraid to change up her look.

And the critically acclaimed actor, 27, has opened up about why she chooses to embrace her body and isn't afraid to show her skin.

Speaking to her friend and fellow actress Jodie Turner-Smith in an interview for October's edition of ELLE magazine, the star confessed: 'I'm not trying to hide the cellulite on my thigh.'

Florence, who recently starred in the blockbuster hit Oppenheimer alongside Cillian Murphy, opened up about how she accepts her body and is comfortable and happy in her own skin.

She said 'I speak the way I do about my body because Im not trying to hide the cellulite on my thigh or the squidge in between my arm and my boob: I would much rather lay it all out.

Confident: Florence Pugh, 27, has opened up about showing her skin and embracing her body in an interview for the October edition of ELLE Magazine

Speaking to her friend and fellow actress Jodie Turner-Smith, the star confessed: 'I'm not trying to hide the cellulite on my thigh' as she spoke on the controversy over her Valentino gown back in July 2022

'I think the scariest thing for me are the instances where people have been upset that Ive shown too much of myself.'

Last July, Florence faced criticism after she wore a nipple-baring, hot pink gown to the Valentino Haute Couture show in Rome.

Despite wowing in the show-stopping look, the star was faced with a backlash of comments from 'vulgar' men who took to social media to point out her 'flaws' and 'tiny t**s'.

The Black Widow star hit back at the trolls at the time with an impassioned post on Instagram.

She wrote: 'What's been interesting to watch and witness is just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman's body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see.

'So many of you wanted to aggressively let me know how disappointed you were by my 'tiny t**s', or how I should be embarrassed by being so 'flat chested'.

'I've lived in my body for a long time. I'm fully aware of my breast size and am not scared of it.'

Continuing to discuss the Valentino gown controversy in her interview with ELLE she explained why she thinks people reacted in such a disgusted way.

Wow: Florence looked incredible for the shoot as she opened up about how she accepts her body and is comfortable and happy in her own skin

Hitting out: Last July Florence addressed criticism of her decision to rock a nipple-baring, hot pink gown to the Valentino Haute Couture show in Rome

Speaking out: 'So many of you wanted to aggressively let me know how disappointed you were by my 'tiny t**s', or how I should be embarrassed by being so 'flat chested'

Not staying quiet: The Black Widow star defended her dress - hitting out at those who chose to 'publicly destroy a woman's body'

'When everything went down with the Valentino pink dress a year ago, my nipples were on display through a piece of fabric, and it really wound people up.

Its the freedom that people are scared of; the fact Im comfortable and happy. Keeping women down by commenting on their bodies has worked for a very long time.

'I think were in this swing now where lots of people are saying, I dont give a sh*t. Unfortunately, weve become so terrified of the human body that we cant even look at my two little cute nipples behind fabric in a way that isnt sexual.

'We need to keep reminding everybody that there is more than one reason for womens bodies [to exist].

Florence is due to receive the British Icon Award at the ELLE Style Awards 2023 and she spoke about her style evolution and why she isn't afraid of changing up her look.

The star debuted her newly-shaved head back in May, after previously styling long blonde locks.

Discussing her style she said: 'I think Ive always been interested in wearing loud clothing. When I was a teenager, I would buy the most outrageous things and sew them together. Ive always loved colour. Ive always wanted to be bold and make a bit of a scene  I dont think thats gone away.

Bold: Florence made a dramatic entrance on the red carpet at the 2023 Met Gala in New York City in May as she debuted her newly shaved head

Surprise! Florence arrived at the Met Gala with a shaved head - which she covered in a dramatic feathered hat

'When I first started doing red carpets, it was really tough. It takes ages to feel comfortable with 50 men all shouting, Picture, over here! Ive become more confident in the last few years, and I think thats hugely linked to the clothes Ive been wearing.

'The more you can enjoy it, the more [people] can see that youre enjoying it.

The star also explained how she uses clothes to express the different facets of her personality.

She joked: 'My friends always laugh when Im getting ready and I say, "I dont know what to wear. I dont have any clothes," because I have so many clothes. I think what Im actually saying is, "Who do I want to be today?" I have so many versions of myself that I want to show.
The View's Ana Navarro has hit back at trolls who accused her of showing off her 'pricey vacation' on social media over the past few weeks.

Ana, 51, and her husband Al Cardenas have spent the last three weeks soaking up the sun in Europe and visited various parts of Turkey and Greece as the TV star made the most of her summer break from the ABC daytime show.

The Nicaraguan-American political strategist has been sharing snaps from their holiday non-stop on Instagram, but not everyone has been positive in the comments section.

One critic told Ana that she goes on 'vacation a lot', while another said they were 'disappointed' in her for not using her large platform for 'good'.

Others slammed Ana for sharing images of Al's 'crooked' feet and someone else accused her of 'disrespecting' Muslim culture when she shared photos taken inside a mosque in Istanbul.

The View's Ana Navarro has hit back at trolls who accused her of showing off her 'pricey vacation' on social media

Ana and her husband Al Cardenas have been in Europe for almost three weeks

The TV star confirmed they had been on a cruise and paid 'full fare' for their cabin

As the couple prepared to fly back to America on Tuesday, Ana decided to share one more post and she certainly didn't shy away from addressing the trolls.

The brunette star was keen to let everyone know that she and Al paid 'full fare' for their cabin on the Azamara cruise ship - and even made friends with the staff onboard.

Posting a couple of photos of her posing with two men who work on the ship, Ana wrote: 'Alston and Robert are from India. They work on the ship and were assigned to us and our room.

'Like almost everyone who works on a cruise, they are far from their loved ones, working hard to save money and afford their families a better life. They wake up with a smile every day put effort, pride and positive energy into everything they do. Azamara cruises have a very high crew to passengers ratio.

'I think I knew the names of half the crew by the end of the trip.

'And before you start giving me s**t about extravagant travel, you should know on most voyages, cabins start at under $2,000 and you can eat and drink and dance til you drop. Im not a cruiser. This was my 2nd cruise.

'Al [loves] cruising. Its how he traveled with his kids when they were small because it was an easy way to see the world and spend time as a family.

'I tacked on days in the countries before and after the cruise, so I could get to experience more. Azamara is not a cruise for kids. Bigger ships are probably better. Azamara is relaxing.'

Ana continued: 'Once youre on there, you can do as little or as much as you want. You can be sociable or anti-social, play all day or read all day. Nobody cares.'

Some trolls criticized Ana for posting photos of her and Al's bare feet on social media

Ana posed for pics and praised two members of staff on the cruise named Alston and Robert

Al and Ana spent time visiting different parts of Turkey and then moved on to Greece

She then added: 'This is not a paid partnership. We paid full fare for our cabin and it was a wonderful 101 on Turkey & Greece, which would have been very hard for me to plan and coordinate on my own.'

Ana also shared a video of a fellow holiday-goer sitting in a wheelchair as a woman danced beside him.

She wrote in the caption: 'One of the most wonderful things that happened to me on this @azamaravoyages cruise, was meeting people that made an impact on me.'

Referring to the couple in the video, she continued: 'Peter & Naomi are a couple who live in Hawaii. He was a competitive skier. He broke his back and became paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 24.

'Peter does not let being in a wheelchair stop him from doing anything he wants. He travels. Sails. And dances up a storm. Too often we let smaller things bring us down. Peter inspired me to stop obsessing about the small stuff and grab everything life has to offer with both hands,' Ana added.

Her fans were quick to comment on the post, and were keen to reassure Ana that she doesn't need to 'defend' herself when it comes to going on vacation.

'Really WHO CARES about your extravagant lifestyle Its YOUR LIFE to enjoy we all have our lives and we all deserve to live our lives HOWEVER TF we want to. Dont ever apologize for anything you do,' one person commented.

'Im glad you had a great trip YOU DESERVE IT!dont worry about others! its all about you with your life! Not anyone elses..' they added.

Ana has shared plenty of photos of her and Al during their European getaway

Ana shared a video of a fellow cruise passenger in a wheelchair and said he had inspired her to 'stop obsessing'

Someone else wrote: 'Ana, you don't have to defend yourself to the trolls on here. You have every right to take and enjoy a vacation!'

And a third person said: 'Dont apologize for being able to do this amazing trip. You work hard for what you have achieved.'

Last week, Ana decided to respond to certain negative comments - but ignored the ones asking her if she was using Ozempic to lose weight.

'Thank for pushing your pricey vacation on all of us who can't even afford healthcare or decent groceries. So happy for you,' one person fumed.

Another wrote: 'Ana, you have the life of Riley!...i admire your journalism but you seem to vacation alot. Enjoy,' to which she sarcastically replied: 'Well, I have to make up for the 4 years of Trump stress and the two years of Covid lock-down. Lifes short. Travel and experience as much as you can.'
A costume designer has accused Erika Jayne and her estranged husband Tom Girardi of conspiring with Secret Service agents and American Express to 'maliciously prosecute' him after he was falsely accused of making unauthorized transactions on her credit card.

Designer Christopher Psaila has accused Erika and her estranged husband Tom Girardi, 84, of having 'weaponized the Secret Service to maliciously prosecute' him in 2017 with the intention of receiving a massive $787k refund during a time of 'desperate' financial hardship for the former couple, according to a new lawsuit obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

In 2017, Psaila was indicted on nine counts over Erika's charges. The counts included wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He proclaimed his innocence, and in 2021 the case against him was dismissed by federal prosecutors.

Psaila, who co-owns the costume merchant Marco Marco, is suing Erika, current and former U.S. Secret Service agents, two assistants for the Bravo star, and American Express.

The costume designer first started working with Erika in 2014, but trouble didn't begin until a year later when he was accused of making unauthorized charges on her credit card, according to TMZ.

A costume designer has accused Erika Jayne and her estranged husband Tom Girardi of conspiring with Secret Service agents and American Express to 'maliciously prosecute' him after he was accused with making unauthorized transactions onto her credit card

Psaila claims Erika, 52, and her two assistants were aware she had received the clothing and services he had done for her, yet they falsely claimed to American Express and federal agents that credit card charges made by Psaila were unauthorized, the lawsuit claims.

TMZ reports that Erika was an authorized user on the card and her estranged husband was named as the account holder.

The designer asserts American Express sided with Erica and provided her and her estranged husband with the $787k refund. He claims he was not provided with the opportunity to dispute her allegations, according to TMZ.

Psaila alleges Secret Service were told by American Express that Jayne was a victim of fraud.

Erika and Tom are accused of bribing Robert Savage, the former head of Secret Service offices in Los Angeles, to conduct a criminal investigation into Psaila and bring forward the charges. Savage is among the federal agents listed as a defendant.

According to the LA Times, the lawsuit alleges a 'reckless investigation' was done by the Secret Service into the claims made by Erika and her team. Psaila alleges information that would have proven his innocence was 'deliberately ignored.'

According to Psaila, evidence that would have stopped charges from being filed against him or acquitted him in a trial was hidden by Secret Service agents.

It was previously reported by the LA Times that Savage and Tom Girardi maintained a friendship, and Savage had received free legal services from the now disgraced attorney.

According to the outlet, Girardi directly paid Savage 'at least $7,500 when his legal efforts on behalf of the official fizzled,' writes the LA Times.

Psaila is suing Erika, current and former U.S. Secret Service Agents, two assistants for Ms. Girardi, and American Express, according to the Los Angeles Times

The designer asserts American Express sided with Erica and provided her and her estranged husband with the $787k refund. He claims he was not provided the opportunity to dispute her allegations, according to TMZ

Savage had been investigating the costume designer when the payment was made.

The legal services Girardi provided Savage have been described as 'bribe and quid pro quo' in the lawsuit.

'This case reflects the corruption of the federal judicial system,' the lawsuit states. 'The Secret Service and United States should have never presented the case to the grand jury for indictment, and never proceeded with the prosecution.'

Tom allegedly bribed Savage into investigating Psaila by offering to represent him in a case against Volkswagen, according to the lawsuit obtained by TMZ. Tom also allegedly promised to make an $100K payment to Savage when the inquiry into Psaila began.

Tom and Savage's friendship was not disclosed at the time the criminal case against Psaila began, the costume designer claims. The case ended up being dismissed five years later, but Psaila claims he endured 'extreme emotional distress, financial harm to his business, plus extreme emotional, psychological, and physical injuries' due to the case.

Erika and Tom are accused of bribing Robert Savage (pictured), the former head of Secret Service offices in Los Angeles, to conduct a criminal investigation into Psaila and bring forward the charges. Savage is among the federal agents listed as a defendant

Psaila is seeking at least $18.2 million in his lawsuit against Erika, American Express, Savage, and the other defendants. He provided evidence - including text messages and billing records - which Psaila claims proves 'beyond all doubt' that services were actually rendered, according to the LA Times.

The LA Times have sought comment from reps for Erika and have not yet heard back, while a rep for the Secret Service refrained from commenting due to a policy regarding pending litigation.

Erika did previously claim to the Times that she was falsely billed by Psaila: 'In no way did I pull a scam to get $760,000 to help anybody get this money,' she told the outlet in February.

A representative for American Express claimed they did not commence the criminal probe into Psaila. 'We followed our regular processes and procedures throughout this investigation as we dealt with law enforcement...We did not play any role in the criminal investigation of Mr. Psaila or his business other than responding to inquiries from law enforcement.'

In his statement, Savage told TMZ: 'I am restricted by a non-disclosure when I retired from the U.S. Secret Service to discuss casework during my tenure without their approval, so I would respectfully redirect your questions pertaining to the lawsuit to the USSS Office of Chief Counsel and U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of California.'
Love Island star Gabby Jeffrey looked stylish as she was spotted returning to her old job at PrettyLittleThing on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old was keeping it casual in an all khaki outfit as she beamed while heading back to the clothing brands HQ in Manchester.

The reality star donned a pair of camouflage print trousers which she paired with a khaki green top and matching cropped padded jacket.

Gabby looked fresh-faced as she smiled with her glasses on and her hair swept back in a ponytail.

The star was heading back to work as a Creative Assistant for the company, the role she left to take part in the ITV hit summer series earlier in July.

Stylish: Love Island star Gabby Jeffrey, 24, kept it casual as she returned to her old job at PrettyLittleThing on Tuesday just weeks after leaving the villa

Keeping it casual: The 24-year-old donned a pair of camouflage print trousers which she paired with a khaki green top and matching cropped padded jacket

Originally from Newcastle, the bombshell moved to Manchester after graduating from Liverpool John Moores university where she studied fashion.

Gabby joined this year's cast during the famous Casa Amor challenge which sees the original islanders split up as the boys and girls head to different villas where they are introduced to a new set of potential partners.

The star's time on the show was sadly short lived, as she failed to find a connection with any of her fellow islanders, and despite a smooch with Love Island winner Sammy Root, she left the villa single.

Yet she appeared to be in good spirits over a month later as she headed back to the day job.

Discussing her return to work over on her Instagram Stories, Gabby expressed her gratitude for the crazy summer and seemed excited for the future.

She wrote: 'Today officially marks the end of th emost amazing summer for me as today is my first day back at PLT!

'It's been such a rollercoaster of a summer and I wouldn't change it for the world. More exciting things to come.'

Already repping her company, the star carried a PLT bag and gripped her work ID lanyard.

Natural: Gabby looked fresh-faced as she smiled with her glasses on and her hair swept back in a ponytail

Back to work: The star was heading back to work as a Creative Assistant for the company, the role she left to take part in the ITV hit summer series earlier in July

Excited: Gabby took to Instagram to express her delight at returning to PLT

Bombshell: Gabby joined this year's cast during the famous Casa Amor challenge as a bombshell

No happy ending: The star's time on the show was sadly short lived, as she failed to find a connection with any of her fellow islanders, and despite a smooch with Love Island winner Sammy Root (pictured)

And she isn't the only star to head back to work, after winner Jess Harding also returned to her profession just one day after returning from Mallorca.

The 22-year-old shared an Instagram clip earlier in August as she visited her beauty salon, admitting she had really 'missed it'.

Jess owns and runs Candy Aesthetics, a London-based beauty clinic which provides a range of treatments including fillers and Botox.

Alongside a video of her visiting the spot, Jess wrote: 'Missed the clinic and work.'

Ahead of her entrance into the Love Island villa, Jess revealed she had big plans for her salon.

She shared: 'As I have my own business I'd really like to work on that side of stuff.

'After the show I'd like to set up more clinics. That's definitely my goal.'
Playwright Tina Howe died Monday at 85 at New York Presbyterian Allen Hospital from natural causes, after she suffered complications after falling ill, after falling and fracturing her hip.

Howe, who was twice a finalist for Pulitzer Prizes, was best known for her works Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Howe's agent Patrick Herold confirmed the sad news, according to Deadline.

The New York City native was educated at a number of colleges, including Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University's Teachers College and Chicago Teachers College.

She also was a philosophy student at Paris' Sorbonne University prior to achieving success in plays when Painting Churches began at Second Stage Off Broadway.

Details: Playwright Tina Howe died Monday at 85 from natural causes after she suffered complications after falling ill after falling and fracturing her hip. Pictured in NYC in 2012

Painting Churches - which told the story of a Boston-based artist and her older parents - eventually arrived in 1983 on Broadway and captured Howe an Obie Award.

The production was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the Drama category.

Howe's work traced back to the early 1970s, when her play The Nest was performed at an Off Broadway theater.

In 1986, Howe's play Coastal Disturbances was put on at New York City's Second Stage, and the next year, began running on Broadway.

The play, a romantic drama set on a Massachusetts coastline, was feted with a number of honors, including Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play.

It garnered Tony Award nominations for Howe, director Carole Rothman and actress Annette Bening.

Howe had another successful play with Prides Crossing, which ran at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in 1997 in a Lincoln Center Theater production, after initial runs at The Old Globe in San Diego.

Prides Crossing was a critical success, winning the Best Play award at the New York Drama Critics Circle Awards while achieving finalist status for a Pulitzer Prize in the Drama category.

The accomplished playwright was pictured in NYC in 1983, the year her play Painting Churches found widespread success

The New York City native was educated at a number of colleges, including Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University's Teachers College and Chicago Teachers College

The venerated scribe was pictured in February of 2015 in NYC at The Harvard Club

Other prominent plays she penned that have been produced multiple times over the years are Approaching Zanzibar, Birth and After Birth, Museum, and The Art of Dining.

Howe's work had been debuted at a number of prominent venues nationwide, including the Kennedy Center, the Public Theater, The Old Globe, Second Stage, the Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Atlantic Theater Company and Lincoln Center Theater, among others.

Howe was also honored with multiple accolades for her work throughout her life, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Rockefeller Grant, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, a Lilly Award for Lifetime Achievement and the William Inge Award for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre, according to the outlet.

In 2015, she was awarded with PENs Master American Playwright award.

Howe, who was twice a finalist for Pulitzer Prizes, was best known for her works Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances. Pictured in 2011 in NYC

Howe was also involved with a number of academic institutions, as she had been a teacher at Carnegie Mellon, Columbia University, New York University and UCLA. Pictured in 2012 in NYC

Her final work was published this past April: Where Women Go, a compilation of one-act plays.

She was also involved with a number of academic institutions, as she had been a teacher at Carnegie Mellon, Columbia University, New York University and UCLA. She was on the council of the Dramatists Guild for more than three decades.

She was wed to husband Norman Levy for 61 years, who died in 2022. She is survived by children Eben Levy (and wife Cate Latting) and Dara Rebell (and husband Joshua Rebell), and three grandkids.
Kyle Richards appeared on Instagram this week and shared a correctly edited photo of herself after deleting the original when she was called out for a sloppy editing job.

Taking to the app's Stories feature, the 54-year-old reality television star re-shared the photo of her and Hermes executive Michael Coste, who also posted it on his Insta account.

'Always love seeing you and laughing together @michaelcostefr,' she wrote beneath the image.

Kyle's now-deleted picture displayed a blurred area on her arm, prompting her social media followers to call out the bizarrely botched snap.

She later defended herself in a comment left on Page Six's Instagram page, writing, 'This picture was sent to me by Michael and I didnt look before I posted it. He admittedly does this to all of his photos. This isnt newsworthy. Pretty sure people are as bored by this as I am.'

Fixed: Kyle Richards appeared on Instagram this week and shared a correctly edited photo of herself after deleting the original when she was called out for a sloppy editing job

Her excuse: She later defended herself in a comment left on Page Six's Instagram page

Earlier this week Kyle quickly deleted the image from her Instagram grid after sharing it with her 4.2 million followers on Sunday.

Her fans were quick to name the 'ridiculous' failed modification.

The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star had taken the picture with Coste during a visit to Paris.

Although Richards removed the image from her Instagram, as of Tuesday she still had the photo on her Facebook page.

She wrote in the caption, 'When in Paris my first stop is always to @michaelcostefr. Until next time.'

The petite socialite added, 'And I am on my tippy toes thinking an inch and half may make the world of difference in this photo. At 52 you do what you gotta do.'

She wore a cropped white top with short, ruffled sleeves, baring her toned and vascular arms.

It's unclear what the Bravo TV veteran was trying to conceal in the outtake, but it may have been her veins, which were out of sight in the alternate picture.

The original: Kyle's now-deleted picture displayed a blurred area on her arm, prompting her social media followers to call out the bizarrely botched snap

On her bottom half, Kyle wore light-colored trousers with a subtle flare and she carried a baby pink Hermes Kelly bag.

Michael shared the same photo with the caption, '#KyleRichards is back to #Paris! Its so good to see her again.'

The blurred spot on her arm was nonexistent in the image that he uploaded.

On Facebook, social media users jumped to the comments section to point out the unsightly error.

One person wrote, 'The filter gone wrong,' while someone else added, 'You don't even look like yourself.'

Another critic noted, 'Photoshop fail! Just be you. Stop this ridiculous photoshop madness!'

Someone else simply asked: 'Why the photoshop Kyle? Youre beautiful just the way you are!'

And one user pondered, 'Why would she post this...it's so obvious how did she not realize lol.'

Difference: Her close pal, Michael, notably shared the same photo to his own Instagram page, but in the image that he uploaded, the blurred spot on her arm was nonexistent

Before the photo mishap, Kyle enjoyed an Italian holiday with husband Mauricio Umansky and their daughters.

Richards and Umansky  who shocked fans by separating last month in July  are parents to daughters Alexia, 27; Sophia, 23; and Portia, 15. Kyle also shares daughter Farrah, 34, with her ex-husband Guraish Aldjufrie.

The clan enjoyed the last days of summer traveling scenic destinations along the Amalfi Coast.

The mother-of-four took to Instagram to share a selection of outtakes from the getaway.
Paris Jackson is speaking out after online bullying concerning her late fathers birthday, the legendary Michael Jackson.

After experiencing online trolling by users questioning her love and affection for her dad, she responded in an Instagram video.

There have been times when I dont post anything for my dads birthday and people lose their fing minds. They tell me to kill myself.

Theyre basically measuring my love for my own father based on what I post on Instagram.

The King of Pops daughter went on to reveal that, when her legendary father was alive, he really didnt like birthday celebrations.

He used to hate anyone acknowledging his birthday. He actually didnt even want us to know when his birthday was because he didnt want us to throw a party or anything.

She continued: Social media is apparently how people show their love and affection these days. And if you dont wish someone a happy birthday via social media it apparently means that you dont love them, you dont care about them.

Michael Jackson (3rd R) poses with real estate developer Mohamed Hadid (3rd L), Hadids children and Jacksons children Michael Joseph Jr. (L), Paris Michael Katherine (C) and Prince Michael II (2nd R) on Nov. 27, 2008 at the Jackson Holmby Hills residence in Westwood, Calif.

The post didnt go unnoticed, as celebrities chimed in to show their support for the 25-year-old songstress. The Roots Questlove commented, Thats whats up.

Meanwhile, fellow Hollywood children including Evan Ross (son of Diana Ross) added, Love you sis, and Diddys son Quincy expressed his agreement: Felt this! Love you Paris.

While Jackson addressed social media, her brothers  Prince Jackson, 26, and Blanket Jackson, 21  were seen in Las Vegas together honoring their father. In a rare appearance, the two were spotted attending the Cirque du Soleil Michael Jackson ONE show, where they interacted with MJ fans.

Rather than outwardly celebrating what would have been Michael Jacksons 65th birthday, Paris Jackson offered alternative ways to honor his life and legacy.

If you are an MJ super fan and you want to do something that he would have loved, which is not celebrate his birthday, my suggestion would be theres always ways to get involved with raising awareness for climate change, doing stuff for the environment, animal rights activism. These are things that he loved and was really interested in.

She added: I cant speak for him because Im a different person, but Im sure he would have loved that.
Princess Mary's nephew Count Nikolai of Denmark has celebrated his 24th birthday in Australia after relocating Down Under to study on exchange for one semester.

The Count marked the special occasion by enjoying a getaway to Byron Bay with his friends and glamorous designer girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup.

Nikolai posted several images to Instagram from the trip, including one photo of him sitting outside and holding a T-shirt with the map of Australia.

Popular Aussie staple Vegemite and several muffins with candles were also visible on the table.

Nikolai also shared photos as he visited popular beaches including Boomerang Point Reserve with his friends.

Princess Mary's nephew Count Nikolai of Monpezat has celebrated his 24th birthday in Byron Bay after starting new chapter in Australia following royal title drama

Benedikte also posted one photo of Nikolai enjoying a cocktail decorated with a sparkler.

The Count has travelled Down Under to study on exchange at the University of Technology Sydney for a semester, accompanied by his girlfriend.

The pair live together in Copenhagen, but have moved to Sydney to study from August 1 to November 30.

Nikolai, whose father is Prince Joachim of Denmark, is seventh in line to the Danish throne.

In March, Count Nikolai of Denmark launched a new Instagram account to promote his modelling career after being stripped of his 'HRH' status by his grandmother, Queen Margrethe.

Nikolai posted several photos to Instagram from his birthday trip as he visited popular beaches including Boomerang Point Reserve with his friends

It was a tumultuous year for the Danish Royal Family after the monarch controversially took the title from Prince Joachim's eldest son, as well as also taking the prince and princess titles from his younger children Athena, 11, Prince Felix, 20, and Prince Henrik, 13.

They are now Counts and Countess and referred to as Their Excellencies - and in January this year the Danish Royal Family updated their website to show the new status.

The Queen insisted the move will be 'good for them in their future' and allow the children - who have maintained their positions in the line of succession - to 'shape their own lives without being limited by the special considerations and duties' that a formal affiliation with the Danish Royal Family involves.

Following his grandmother's move to strip him and his siblings of their titles 'for their own good', Count Nikolai said that he was sad, shocked and confused.

Nikolai's designer girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup also posted a photo of the Count enjoying a cocktail decorated with a sparkler

'My whole family and I are of course very sad. We are, as my parents have also stated, in shock at this decision and at how quickly it has actually gone,' he told Danish newspaper Extrabladet.

'I am very confused as to why it has to happen like this,' he told reporters from outside the Copenhagen apartment where he lives with his girlfriend.

Countess Alexandra, mother to Count Nikolai and Count Felix, was also 'very sad' and 'shocked' about the decision.

'She can't believe why and why now, because there's no good reason,' Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen, press secretary to Countess Alexandra told CNN.

The Count has travelled Down Under to study on exchange at the University of Technology Sydney for a semester, accompanied by his girlfriend Benedikte (pictured)

'They would lose their titles anyway when they get married one day.

'Her sons are young men so maybe they might get married in the near future so why shouldn't it wait until that day so that the titles would disappear on a happy day?'

Prince Joachim told Ekstra Bladet that his children had been 'hurt' by the decision - and claimed he had only been given a few days to break the news to them before the announcement was made publicly.

Prince Joachim, the brother of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, is now married to Princess Marie of Denmark.
Former Bond girl Caterina Murino looked the picture of glam as she posed for photoshoot at Venice Film Festival on Tuesday.

The Italian actress wowed in a dark navy silk dress as she took a range of shots across different settings.

Dressed to impress, the star's dress was made up of two layers, as a shimmery, beaded netted layer hung over the navy silk.

Embracing the coast, the 45-year-old posed in the sea, unafraid to let the bottom of her gown get wet as she beamed in the shallows.

Caterina shot to fame in 2006 when she starred as a Bond girl alongside Daniel Craig in Casino Royale.

Wow: Former Bond girl Caterina Murino, 45, looked stunning in a shimmery blue gown at Venice Film Festival on Tuesday

Gorgeous: The Italian actress wowed in a dark navy floor-length silk dress

Smiles: Caterina lay on the wet sand as she beamed for the cameras

The star played Solange who Bond seduces before she is tortured to death later in the film.

Posing for the snaps, the brunette wore her hair in loose waves as she showed a glimpse of her ample cleavage through the sheer material over her chest.

In other snaps, Caterina lay on the wet sand as she beamed for the cameras before running in the waves.

The actress is currently in at the Venice Film Festival as she is the master of ceremonies or 'godmother' for this years event.

The festival runs from August 30 to September 9 and as godmother, Caterina must attend to red carpet, award ceremonies and event.

She is also responsible for declaring the festival open at the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema on Wednesday, and closed 10 days later.

Venices choice of Caterina reportedly signals a desire to project a more international image onto the festival this year, according to Variety Magazine.

The 2023 Venice Film Festival is set to be a far more low-key affair than years past, as much of Hollywood opts to stay away for fear of breaching the SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Throwback: Caterina and Daniel Craig pictured mid scene for Casino Royale

Confident: The 45-year-old posed with her hand on her hip

Stunning: Dressed to impress, the star's dress was made up of two layers, as a shimmery, beaded netted layer hung over the navy silk

Wow: Caterina showed a glimpse of her ample cleavage through the sheer material over her chest

BTS: The crew gathered around her for the shoot

It takes a village: Caterina stood in the sea as the photographers gathered around her

Embracing the coast: She posed in the sea, unafraid to let the bottom of her gown get wet as she beamed in the shallows

Beach waves: The star let her brunette hair fall in loose waves

Bond girl: Caterina shot to fame in 2006 when she starred as a Bond girl alongside Daniel Craig in Casino Royale

The glitzy Italian event usually sees some of Hollywood's biggest stars grace the red carpet to promote their work.

However, this year only a handful of independent productions have permission to be promoted by their stars, with Venice confirming on Monday that Adam Driver and Jessica Chastain will still make appearances at the festival.

Since July 17, Hollywood has ground to a halt as members of the SAG-AFTRA union joined the Writers Guild Of America in going on strike over growing concerns of the use of artificial intelligence and streaming residuals.

According to Variety, a select list of films premiering at Venice have obtained SAG-AFTRA interim waivers since they are independent productions that have not been produced by AMPTP members.

Adam is expected to appear at the Lido to promote his role in Micheal Mann's Ferrari, where he plays the titular race car icon.

The Daily Mail's Alison Boshoff previously revealed last week that Adam would follow Florence Pugh last year and make a fleeting appearance at the festival.

Jessica is also set to attend following her role in Mexican director Michael Franco's film Memory, her first performance since her Oscar-winning turn in The Eyes Of Tammy Faye.

Also set to attend is Mads Mikkelson to promote his performance in Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel's The Promised Land.

Casino Royale The star played Solange who Bond seduces before she is tortured to death later in the film

Effortless: The star dazzled for the shoot as her dress was adorned with glittering beads

Beautiful: She donned a smoky eye makeup look for the shoot

All smiles: Caterina appeared to be enjoying the photocall

Special role: The actress is currently in at the Venice Film Festival as she is the master of ceremonies or 'godmother' for this years event

Happy: The star threw her head back as she laughed mid shot

At one with the elements: Caterina looked comfortable to be lying on the wet sand

Waving: She appeared to wave to fans mid shoot

Playing in the waves: Caterina was unafraid to get her gown wet

Responsibility: The festival runs from August 30 to September 9 and as godmother, Caterina must attend to red carpet, award ceremonies and event

Splash: The star seemed at home in the water as she splashed around

Film Festival: She is also responsible for declaring the festival open at the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema on Wednesday, and closed 10 days later

Change: Venices choice of Caterina reportedly signals a desire to project a more international image onto the festival this year, according to Variety Magazine

Posing: Caterina posed with her arms outstretched for the cameras

Caleb Landry Jones is also heading to Venice for his appearance in the Luc Besson film Dogman.

Sofia Coppola's biopic Priscilla will also see much of its cast attend the premiere, including Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, as well as Priscilla Presley herself.

While many Hollywood stars aren't expected to grace the red carpet, so far only one party has been cancelled, an Armani event in honour of Cate Blanchett.

Bradley Cooper, who wrote, produced stars in and directed Maestro, about the conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, will not be in Venice to see possibly the defining film of his career premiere. It is by Netflix, who are a struck company.

A festival spokesman confirmed last month that he would not attend in solidarity with the strike by the actors union SAG-AFTRA.

Strikes: The 2023 Venice Film Festival is set to be a far more low-key affair than years past, as much of Hollywood opts to stay away for fear of breaching the SAG-AFTRA strikes

Arms up: In one shot she turned her back to the cameras as she looked across the sea

Stars: The glitzy Italian event usually sees some of Hollywood's biggest stars grace the red carpet to promote their work
Kanye West's 'wife' Bianca Censori has made headlines for wearing a number of outrageous outfits during the couple's highly-publiclised Italian getaway.

But it is a pair of familiar white shoes which really has onlookers talking this week.

While the Aussie architect, 28, seemingly boasts an endless supply of see-through bodysuits, many have noticed she's worn the same distinctive footwear throughout her entire trip.

The leather stilettos are believed to be Ferragamo 'Eva' pumps worth $1,490, and feature a pointy closed toe and unusual 'spool' heels that make them appear almost unstable.

Censori was first spotted wearing her favourite footwear on August 5th, when she and West, 46, took a romantic stroll in Tuscany.

She may have an endless supply of sheer bodysuits, but Kanye West's new 'wife' Bianca Censori, 28, has been wearing the same pair of white stiletto pumps on multiple occasions throughout their Italian holiday. (Censori is pictured wearing the heels on August 27)

The model left little to the imagination in a diaphanous cream-toned leotard and leggings, completing her look with a brown toque and silver rings.

Her quirky stilettos made an appearance again on August 20th, when Censori and the American rapper made a pit-stop at a vending machine on the side of the road in Tuscany.

She went braless for the occasion, sporting another skintight catsuit that made her appear naked while covering her nipples with a black cross-body bag.

Her quirky stilettos made an appearance on August 20th, when Censori and the American rapper (left) made a pit-stop at a vending machine on the side of the road in Tuscany

Censori wore the heels again on August 23 and then on August 27, both while dressed in see-through outfits as she walked the streets of Italy with West.

The heels even featured in social media photos of the couple cuddling during a night out.

'Does she only have one pair of shoes?' one online critic wrote of Censori's ubiquitous footwear.

The heels even featured in social media photos of the couple cuddling during a night out in Italy

'Hideous. Despite all that money [she has] just the one pair of ugly white shoes that she does not appear able to walk in (apart from the thousands of pairs of tights she owns that she wears as every conceivable item of clothing - including as a hat),' another added.

'Are those the only shoes she has packed? someone else asked.

Others expressed concern that Censori may fall over, given the concave angle of her heels.

'Does she only have one pair of shoes?' one online critic wrote of Censori's ubiquitous footwear

'Her shoes all look as if she does not walk in them correctly or something. The heels all look like they are going to collapse at any given moment,' one user wrote.

'Are the heels supposed to be bent, or are they broken? Weird. But then that's par for the course,' a second critic commented.

'Her shoes look like they are about to fall apart,' another agreed, while someone else simply wrote: 'She needs to burn those shoes.'

Others expressed concern that Censori may fall over, given the concave angle of her heels

The couple have made headlines over the past month for their odd wardrobe choices, with critics especially taking aim at Censori for 'going around virtually naked' in the conservative Catholic country.

Fashion designer West is widely believed to be behind all of Censori's recent and controversial looks.

The brunette has stepped out on several occasions with her bare breasts clearly visible beneath see-through mesh outfits.

West and Censori wed in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills in January, about two months after the rapper's divorce to Kim Kardashian was finalised

Among them was the outrageous nude catsuit - which saw her forced to cover her nipples with a black cross-body bag.

According to major tourism website CIU Travel, locals find it 'offensive' to see visitors 'wandering the streets in varying states of undress.'

The website reads: 'Walking around in beach attire or, worse, shirtless, is a huge no-no in Italy, unless you have your feet buried deep in the sand.'

However, the legality of the union is in question, as they did not file a marriage certificate. (The couple are pictured in Los Angeles in May)

It remains to be seen whether West or Censori will face any form of official punishment for their latest over-the-top display.

Meanwhile, calls are being made for West and Censori to be arrested over their latest outrageous display in Italy.

The couple sparked controversy yet again on Monday during a trip to Venice after they were spotted enjoying an amorous moment on a boat, with West exposing his bare buttocks in front of gawking tourists.

Images of the couple showed the American rapper, 46, seated at the back of the river taxi while his Australian so-called bride, 28, placed her head in his lap.

Prior to boarding the boat, West was covered from head-to-toe in an all-black ensemble while Censori wore a knee-length trench coat which she teamed with a pair of nude heels.

Bianca has a degree in architecture and worked Kanye's design company Yeezy prior to their getting together

However both shed their layers once getting on board, with Censori ditching her coat in favour of a a strapless nude-coloured number as West pulled down his pants which exposed his bare behind.

It appeared that things were getting very steamy as Censori rested her elbows on his knees while he was then seen cradling her head as they sailed along the river.

Many have argued that the flesh-baring display constituted 'public indecency,' a charge which comes with a fine of up to 309 (AU$520), according to the Italian Constitutional Court.

Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from West in February 2021 after six years of marriage. (Pictured together at the Met Gala in 2019)

West and Censori were first romantically linked in January 2023 just months after his divorce was finalised.

The couple wed in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills in January, about two months after the rapper's divorce to Kim Kardashian was finalised.

However, the legality of the union is in question, as they did not file a marriage certificate.

Previously, Kardashian filed for divorce in February 2021 after six years of marriage.

Throughout their longtime romance, West often called her his 'muse' and heavily influenced her fashion choices.

The former couple share four children together  North, 10, Saint, seven, Chicago, five, and Psalm, four.
Mrs Brown's Boys actor Brendan O'Carroll has revealed why he would never dress up as his famous character when the camera's stop rolling.

The actor, 67, who is returning with a long-awaited fourth series next week for the first time since 2013, said he hasn't missed transforming into Mrs Brown.

Brendan insisted he has never appeared on a chat show or interview as Mrs Brown because he doesn't think she would 'have anything to say'.

He also revealed he can't stand the taste of lipstick and doesn't understand how women can wear tights, but has a 'huge admiration' for them'.

He told the Mirror: 'Jesus, no, I don't miss her at all,' laughs Brendan his his thick Dublin accent. I don't know how women wear tights, or survive with mammaries. I have a huge admiration for women, honest to God the stuff they have to go through.

Opinion: Mrs Brown's Boys actor Brendan O'Carroll has revealed why he would never dress up as his famous character when the camera's stop rolling

Pictured: The actor, 67, who is returning with a long-awaited fourth series next week for the first time since 2013, said he hasn't missed transforming into Mrs Brown

'And here's the thing  I can't stand the taste of lipstick. I hate it, it tastes of soap. If you watch the show you'll see that I never lick my lips, never. So as soon as the show's over it all comes off straight away and I put her back in her box.'

'Mrs Brown doesn't leave the theatre ever. I've never done a talk show as Mrs Brown, or an interview as her. She has nothing to say. What would you ask her? How's the family? I have no inkling to take her onto the street. Everyone will recognise her, Jesus I'd be battered. It's hard enough being Brendan O'Carroll. If it wasn't for me doing Jonathan Ross no-one would know me. And I'd have no problem with that.'

The hit sitcom has been a fixture of the Christmas TV schedules for over a decade but the upcoming episodes will mark the first new series since 2013.

And now the return date for the series has been revealed, with Mrs Browns Boys hitting screens again next month.

The BBC have confirmed that the series will return for four more episodes on Friday September 8 at 9.30pm.

The episodes of the popular show will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

It's back! The series is set to make a comeback to screens for the first new series in 10 years

Back on screens: Now the return date for the series has been revealed, with Mrs Browns Boys hitting screens again next month

Earlier this year, show creator Brendan - who also leads the cast as matriarch Agnes Brown - admitted the show has been 'thwarted twice' due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as it was originally scheduled to hit screens in 2021.

Speaking of the new series, the 67-year-old comic said: 'This mini-series was actually planned for 2021.

'Having been thwarted twice, firstly by Covid-19 and then by a post-Covid shortage of studios, it's fantastic to, at last, have the chance to make it happen.

'Fasten your seatbelts and hold on to your hats!'

BBC bosses are delighted to have the show back, with Josh Cole, head of comedy at BBC Studios, and Steven Canny, executive producer, said: 'There's no one quite like Mrs Brown.

'An absolute force of outrageous wit and slapstick that has audiences hooked and belly laughing. It's great to be back.'

Jon Petrie, director of comedy, added: 'BBC Comedy are pleased to announce that after a decade since the last full series of Mrs Brown's Boys, millions of viewers around the UK will be thrilled to hear that Brendan is bringing Agnes and the family back together for a brand-new mini-series of his award-winning show.'

It comes after Mrs Brown's Boys has left BBC viewers fuming as they claim the show's Christmas special has once again ruined the festive period.

Confirmation: The BBC have confirmed that the series will return for four more episodes on Friday September 8 at 9.30pm

Popular show: Mrs Brown's Boys is returning to TV for a new four-part series, the BBC has confirmed

Yay! The hit sitcom has been a fixture of the Christmas TV schedules for over a decade but the upcoming episodes will mark the first new series since 2013

Only 2.4million tuned in to BBC One to watch the Christmas episode, titled Shining Mammy, with viewers claiming it's now 'unwatchable'.

The last full series of Mrs Brown's Boys aired in 2013 but since then it has returned for a number of festive specials.

The show follows the life of Dublin matriarch Agnes Brown (played by O'Carroll), her family and friends.

The special episode featured daughter Cathy and her creepy boyfriend, who Agnes' friend thinks might be a vampire.

'It's unwatchable': Mrs Brown's Boys left BBC viewers fuming as they claimed the show's Christmas special has once again ruined the festive period

Trailing behind: Only 2.4million tuned in to BBC One to watch the Christmas episode, titled Shining Mammy, with viewers claiming it's now 'unwatchable'

It was slammed by viewers, with many taking to Twitter to voice their opinion on the show.

One user wrote: 'Mrs Brown's Boys has gone beyond being stupid, it's now unwatchable not funny in the slightest, turned off after 13 minutes'

Another penned: 'Mrs Brown's Boys has arrived to ruin Christmas again'

While a third said: 'Christmas has just been ruined as I caught a bit of Mrs Brown's Boys because the batteries in my TV remote died'
Amy Dowden has revealed that she wants to return to the dance floor amid her cancer battle and contracting sepsis earlier this month.

The Strictly Come Dancing star, 33, told the Daily Star that the BBC show are 'getting her wigs ready', as she plans to return to the stage this autumn.

The professional dancer said: 'I've been on the phone to the Strictly team. They said they're getting me some fabulous wigs ready.'

Following her wish to get back to the stage as soon as possible, Amy revealed she was rushed to hospital earlier this month after contracting sepsis her first round of chemotherapy.

She also added: 'I began feeling sick and not quite right. I felt freezing cold but I was all clammy and shaking.

Fighting: Amy Dowden has revealed that she wants to return to the dance floor amid her cancer battle and contracting sepsis earlier this month

Brave: The Strictly Come Dancing star, 33, told the Daily Star that the BBC show are 'getting her wigs ready', as she plans to return to the stage this autumn

'I got very unlucky. I'm prone to infections because my Crohn's means I have a lower immune system'.

The Strictly star also revealed doctors discovered she has 'another type of cancer' following her initial breast cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

She began chemo on August 3 and shared the experience on her Instagram Stories for her followers.

Amy admitted that she was 'wishing this wasn't happening to me', after being fitted for a port and a cold cap for the treatment, and added that she had burst into tears.

But she later put on a brave face and said the experience 'wasn't as bad' as she thought and quipped that she was 'one step closer to being back on the dance floor'.

However, two days later Amy started feeling sick and got a temperature of 37.7 degrees Celsius, which she explained 'could be fatal for a chemo patient.'

The professional dancer assumed that she was just reacting to the chemo but soon began getting worse, with her mum Gillian saying she went from ok to ill in 'an instant'.

She became breathless and complained of a pain in her chest before she 'crumpled back onto the settee'.

Strong: The Strictly star also recently revealed doctors discovered she has 'another type of cancer ' following her initial breast cancer diagnosis earlier this year

Tough: She began chemo on August 3 and shared the experience on her Instagram Stories admitting that she was 'wishing this wasn't happening to me', after being fitted for a port and a cold cap for the treatment, and added that she had burst into tears

Strong: But she later put on a brave face and said the experience 'wasn't as bad' as she thought and quipped that she was 'one step closer to being back on the dance floor'

Support system: She revealed her Strictly co-stars have been in touch, saying: 'The pros have been sending videos, flowers and presents. I speak to Dianne [Buswell] every single day'

Speaking to Hello! Magazine, Amy recalled once the paramedics arrived they advised her to rush to hospital, but she was reluctant to go.

She said: 'I didn't want to go into hospital; at the time I didnt realise how ill I was. I knew it was a Saturday night, so A&E would probably be crowded, and it was dangerous being around people as its more likely youll pick up an infection. On chemo, you don't have your white blood cells to fight infection.'

However, the paramedics reassured her and she was rushed to Walsall Manor Hospital and treated for a viral infection with an antibiotic drip.

But it was later revealed that she had contracted sepsis and was brought to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as her blood pressure was dangerously low.

Her parents Richard and Gillian said they were in 'panic mode' and Gillian said: 'We didnt know what to do with ourselves, everything was looking very serious. What I couldnt believe is how quick the situation can change and how little time you have to respond.'

Luckily Amy began responding to treatment and began to improve, able to return home on August 8.

Speaking about the scary ordeal Amy said: 'I just got very, very unlucky. Im also more prone to infections because my Crohns means I have a lower immune system.'

She voiced her gratitude towards the paramedics that saved her life and revealed her Strictly co-stars have been in touch.

Dangerous: However, two days later Amy started feeling sick and got a temperature of 37.7 degrees Celsius, which she explained 'could be fatal for a chemo patient'

Terrifying: The professional dancer assumed that she was just reacting to the chemo but soon began getting worse, with her mum Gillian saying she went from ok to ill in 'an instant'

Candid: It comes after Amy admitted she 'isn't ready' to shave her head after she started to lose her hair due to the chemo

She said: 'The pros have been sending videos, flowers and presents. I speak to Dianne [Buswell] every single day. This is impacting on them as well because were a team. Im grateful they are including me because Strictly will help me get through the next few months, mentally. Its just the tonic that I need.'

It comes after Amy admitted she 'isn't ready' to shave her head after she started to lose her hair due to the chemo.

She penned on her Story: 'So my scalp/head the last few days been quite sore and painful with the hair loss. Any tips of what may help this out there? Really appreciate, will share to help others too.'

One fan replied that she should shave it off, but Amy replied: 'I'm personally not ready for this. Everyone is different and how they cope or go about their journey is up to them and need to be what's right for them.

'I've had lots telling me just shave it. It's only hair. I've already gone through body changes for life, emotions, pain and right now I want to try save what I can with the cooling cap.

'Absolutely to those who brave the shave, you are strong! But please all remember everyone of us have different emotions, battles and deals with everything with what's best for them and how they cope best! All journeys are personal!'

She revealed that she was 'heartbroken' as her hair started to fall out, and showed off a clump that she had lost, writing: 'So much everyday! So hard! One day at a time!'

Opening up to her followers, Amy said: 'What I've found harder this time round and the last few days is hair shedding [sic].'

Brave: She revealed that she was 'heartbroken' as her hair started to fall out , and showed off a clump that she had lost, writing: 'So much everyday! So hard! One day at a time!'

She continued: 'Even though I'm cold capping you hope to keep 50 per cent of your hair and there are also many benefits to the hair growing back quicker too.

'But as much as I prepared myself waking up everyday gently combing my hair with a wide comb and seeing what comes out, it is just heartbreaking personally for me. I'm only washing my hair once, max twice, this week, not using any heat on my hair or styling it so I just don't feel like me.

'So it's time to bring out the wig I say and get used to this and help me feel like me. I'm still Amy! Some days last week I'd wake and for the first few seconds you forget and then suddenly it all hits you, the day and challenges ahead and your new reality and it's tough - had a few morning cries and learning that's OK too.'

Amy was first diagnosed with aggressive stage three breast cancer in May after she found a lump while preparing for her honeymoon with husband Ben Jones in April.

The professional dancer has since had an operation, a mastectomy and has had fertility treatment.

However, during an Instagram Live chat with breast cancer survivor and Paralympic gold medalist Erin Kennedy for the charity CoppaFeel! on Friday, Amy revealed the devastating news cancer had been found elsewhere in her body.
Neighbours is back and promising more changes than fans could ever imagine.

As the long-running soap shrugs off the constraints of a network, after it was axed by Channel 5 in the UK, things are set to get steamy on Ramsay Street.

For the first time in 38 years executives have called in intimacy coordinators to mediate sex scenes as the soap transitions to Amazon Freevee, reported The Sun.

With the Aussie favourite now being streamed to the US and Canada, Neighbours will see a big X-rated shake-up in a bid to attract new audiences.

Actor Xavier Molyneux revealed on Tuesday he and fellow star Mischa Barton are the first to film their 'hot and heavy' scenes as their characters start a lusty romance.

Neighbours is back and promising more changes than fans could ever imagine. As the long-running soap shrugs off the constraints of a network, after it was axed by Channel 5 in the UK, things will get steamy on Ramsay Street, reported The Sun. Pictured actor Xavier Molyneux

He said his character Byron Stone, the son of Jane Harris and great-grandson of Nell Mangel, has 'a bit of a spark' with Mischa's newbie Reece Sinclair.

'It was great working with Mischa, we both came into it together so a lot of the time we were leaning on each other. We had a lot of two-handers,' Xavier, 26, said.

'We were just trying to figure out exactly how we fit together, and what chemistry we do have, because there's "faking it" acting, but what we can actually use... and that came with the intimacy team we worked with.'

For the first time in 38 years, executives have called in intimacy coordinators to mediate sex scenes as the soap transitions to Amazon Freevee

It comes after the hotly anticipated Australian soap dropped its first teaser trailer earlier this month for the upcoming season.

The new chapter of the hit drama will launch on Prime Video Australia and New Zealand on Monday, September 25.

This will follow the series premiere on Amazon Freevee and Network 10 on Monday, September 18.

With the Aussie favourite now being streamed to the US and Canada, Neighbours will see a big X-rated shake-up in a bid to attract new audiences. Pictured: actor Mischa Barton

In the teaser, all our favourites return to Ramsay Street, with Karl Kennedy (Alan Fletcher) seen greeting a new family as they arrive in the enclave.

Elsewhere, Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) is seen mourning lost love, Terese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou).

In Australia, Network 10 will retain first-run rights for the series, and episodes will be available ad-free on Prime Video seven days later.

Internationally, Neighbours will be available on Amazon Freevee in the UK and the U.S, and Prime Video in Canada, Ireland and South Africa.
Some of Australia's most-loved celebrities are ready to take the country on an adventure in a new travel program.

Actor Cameron Daddo and chef Miguel Maestre have paired up as travel buddies in the first episode of BINGE and Foxtel's new program Luxury Escapes: The World's Best Holidays.

The Tracks of Glory and actor and his television cook friend take viewers on an exciting adventure in the picturesque Italian countryside of Tuscany.

Each episode will see a different Australian celebrity travel to a new destination and show viewers the best of its beautiful landscapes, fantastic food and exciting activities.

Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Rebecca Gibney, Neale Whitaker and Jane Hall will all feature in the 12-episode series, as they will travel to popular holiday destinations such as Vienna, South Africa, Santorini and the Maldives.

Actor Cameron Daddo and chef Miguel Maestre have paired up as travel buddies in the first episode of BINGE and Foxtel's new program Luxury Escapes: The World's Best Holidays (both pictured)

In the premiere episode, which is now available on BINGE and Foxtel, viewers will see Cameron and Miguel's friendship flourish as they ride mopeds down cobbled streets, taste the regions best wine, and explore its beautiful heritage sites.

Speaking to news.com.au, Cameron said Miguel was the best travel buddy and fun to explore new locales with.

'The award for the most enthusiastic travel partner goes to Miguel Maestre, his energy is contagious and his general passion for life makes him so fun to be around,' he said.

The Tracks of Glory and actor and his television cook friend take viewers on an exciting adventure in the picturesque Italian countryside of Tuscany (both pictured)

Viewers will see Cameron and Miguel's friendship flourish as they ride mopeds down cobbled streets, taste the regions best wine, and explore its beautiful heritage sites

Miguel was always up for trying something new on the trip, and he event conducted an orchestra in Vienna

The chef was always up for trying something new on the luxurious trip, and he even conducted an orchestra in Vienna.

Proud of his friends adventurous nature, Cameron added: 'Watching Miguel conduct an orchestra in Vienna was magic at work.'

It was the actor's first time visiting Tuscany, and he is very keen to go back with his wife Alison Brahe and their three children.

'Ever since we got back from filming Ive been trying to figure out a way to get back there with Ali and our family as soon as we can,' he said.
Leonardo DiCaprio showcased a striking demeanor on new posters for his upcoming film Killers Of The Flower Moon.

On Tuesday, Apple Original Films unveiled a pair of never-before-seen posters featuring the 48-year-old actor, who will star opposite Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone in the Western crime drama.

The film production giant also made the exciting announcement that the movie  which garnered critical acclaim and received a nine-minute standing ovation at its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May  will officially be released on October 20, and it has expanded from a limited release to a nationwide release, indicating faith in its commercial fortunes.

In one of the posters of the film, which was originally slated for October 6, the main focus was DiCaprio's candlelit visage with a furrowed brow and intense expression plastered across his face.

To his side, De Niro and Gladstone could be seen standing in front of a ravenous fire and looking off into the distance.

New posters: Leonardo DiCaprio dominated on new posters for Killers Of The Flower Moon. On Tuesday, Apple Films unveiled a pair of posters featuring the 48-year-old actor  who will star opposite Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone

Highly-anticipated: The film production giant also made the exciting announcement that the movie  which garnered critical acclaim and received a nine-minute standing ovation at its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May  will officially be released on October 20

Another poster showed Gladstone with her eyes closed as she rested her head against DiCaprio's chest as he stared off into a distant view with a stern mien.

The critically-acclaimed epic is an adaptation of David Grann's nonfiction best seller of the same name, which exposed early American history born from greed and exploitation.

The official trailer for the opus was released on July 5.

According to the official synopsis, Killers of the Flower Moon  which is co-written and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese  is set in Osage County, Oklahoma, in the 1920s.

The story follows a string of murders and sheds light on systemic discrimination towards members of the Osage Native American tribe after oil is found on their reservation.

Scorsese and his co-writer, Eric Roth, centered the story on Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), a WWI veteran who falls for Mollie Brown (Gladstone), a member of a wealthy Osage family.

Killers of the Flower Moon also marks DiCaprio's return to the big screen since he starred in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

In 2021, he also starred in the 2021 Netflix film, Don't Look Up.

The movie is DiCaprio's seventh collaboration with the director and in it, he stars opposite Scorsese's earlier muse, De Niro.

In the flick, De Niro plays irredeemable villain William Hale  an American cattleman, who ordered the murder of his nephew's wife's entire family to steal their oil rights.

Based on a true story: The critically-acclaimed epic was an adaptation of David Grann's nonfiction best seller of the same name, which exposed early American history born from greed and exploitation. The official trailer was released on July 5

Dedicated and determined: Scorsese and his co-writer Eric Roth centered the story on Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) as a WWI veteran who falls for Mollie Brown (Gladstone), a member of a wealthy Osage family

Harrowing true crimes: In the flick, De Niro plays irredeemable villain William Hale, an American cattleman, who ordered the murder of his nephew's wife's entire family to steal their oil rights

Uncovering the truth: The story also sees the birth of the FBI as investigations begin into the grizzly slaughters and true crime

Coming soon: Killers of the Flower Moon will premiere in theaters worldwide on October 20 and will be available to stream on Apple TV+ following its theatrical release at a later date

The story also sees the birth of the FBI as investigations begin into the grizzly slaughters and true crime.

The star-studded cast also includes Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, Jillian Dion, Tantoo Cardinal and many more.

The film runs nearly three and a half hours and cost around $200 million for Apple to make.

Killers of the Flower Moon will premiere in theaters worldwide on October 20 and will be available to stream on Apple TV+ following its theatrical release at a later date.
OnlyFans sensation Mikaela Testa has revealed her European summer is 'not all it's cracked up to be.'

The 23-year-old, who is one of Australia's biggest influencers, took to TikTok to complain about the realities of holidaying in Italy to her 2.4 million followers.

The influencer shared a montage of her day on the Italian island of Capri, detailing the stark realities she and her friends experienced.

Testa did not hold back about her frustrations, candidly saying in the video 'If you're not in Europe this summer and you're really sad about it, don't be, please. It is not all it's cracked up to be.'

She then gave her followers a list of downsides to the picturesque locale, from stumbling upon a dead cat, taking a long walk down the wrong path for over 15 minutes, and dealing with the oppressive Mediterranean heat of high summer.

'It takes the entire day to walk to a location you want to go,' Testa moaned.

'I feel like there's a lot of things...influencers come to these locations and make them look so amazing, and so pretty and so photogenic, but half of it is edited and filtered and not real.'

Over footage of her and her friends aboard a yacht off the coast of Capri, she continued.

OnlyFans sensation Mikaela Testa (pictured) has revealed her European summer is 'not all it's cracked up to be'

The 23-year-old, who is one of Australia's biggest influencers, took to TikTok to complain about the realities of holidaying in Italy to her 2.4 million followers

'I hardly see anyone mentioning any negatives, I don't even want to mention them because I dont want to be that bitch.'

'It's been three months, we're just dying to go home at this point, we're just hating, we're being negative, you get to a point in life where you start to hate everything around you and you just need something stable. Like my own bed my own TV and my cats,' she said.

It comes after Mikaela debuted her new boyfriend, 18-year-old bodybuilder and porn actor Emmanouel, earlier this month.

'It takes the entire day to walk to a location you want to go,' Testa moaned. 'Influencers come to these locations and make them look so amazing, and so pretty and so photogenic, but half of it is edited and filtered and not real'

Over footage of her and her friends aboard a yacht off the coast of Capri, Mikaela continued. 'I hardly see anyone mentioning any negatives'

'You get to a point in life where you start to hate everything around you and you just need something stable. Like my own bed my own TV and my cats,' she said

She shared a racy leaked text exchange between the pair to Instagram.

The raunchy chit-chat also included an X-rated photo of Emmanouel's muscular chest.

'My BF at home,' Mikaela wrote, adding a red love heart.

The Instagram star later shared a photo of Emmanouel wearing a compression top after hitting the gym.

Emmanouel also looks to be building a career on OnlyFans and other social media channels.

Before showing off her new beau, Mikaela broke her silence about her breakup with Atis Paul earlier this year, describing the split as 'hell' for her.

'It was seriously hell  like I had never been through something so bad ever.'
Another week brings even more star-studded picket lines as the writers and actors continue to strike, leading to reunion for Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul cast and writers.

Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston (Walter White) and Aaron Paul were joined by co-stars Betsy Brandt (Marie Schrader), Charles Baker (Skinny Pete), Matt Jones (Badger), Norma Maldonado (Delores), Jesse Plemons (Todd).

They were joined by writer Peter Gould, who also co-created Better Call Saul with Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan.

Also joining in on the picket line festivities were Better Call Saul stars Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler), Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlin), Juan Carlos Cantu (Manuel Varga), Javier Grajeda (Juan Bolsa).

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike is about to enter its fourth month, while the SAG-AFTRA strike is nearing its second month.

Reunited: Another week brings even more star-studded picket lines as the writers and actors continue to strike, leading to reunion for Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul cast and writers

Picket reunion: Also joining in on the picket line festivities were Better Call Saul stars Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler), Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlin), Juan Carlos Cantu (Manuel Varga), Javier Grajeda (Juan Bolsa)

Cranston, who starred as teacher-turned-drug-kingpin Walter White on Breaking Bad, stepped out in a white SAG-AFTRA t-shirt, black shorts, black sunglasses and sneakers.

He was also holding a black sign that read 'SAG-AFTRA On Strike!' with his co-star Aaron Paul also holding an identical sign.

Paul, who played Walter's former student turned drug-making business partner Jesse Pinkman, opted for a black and white striped shirt, black sunglasses, khaki pants and white sneakers for his picket line look.

The hit series debuted in January 2008, just the second original series ever to debut on AMC, behind the critically-acclaimed Mad Men.

Breaking Bad followed Walter White as a 50-year-old science teacher who gets sucked into the world of drugs.

The critically-acclaimed series ran for five seasons, and spawned the equally-beloved spin-off Better Call Saul, starring Bob Odenkirk as the shady lawyer Saul Goodman.

Better Call Saul aired for another six seasons on AMC, between 2015 and 2022, which showed how a mild-mannered lawyer named Jimmy McGill transformed himself into Saul Goodman.

Breaking Bad won 16 Emmy Awards including back-to-back Outstanding Drama Series wins for its final two seasons in 2013 and 2014.

Bryan's look: Cranston, who starred as teacher-turned-drug-kingpin Walter White on Breaking Bad, stepped out in a white SAG-AFTRA t-shirt, black shorts, black sunglasses and sneakers

Signs: He was also holding a black sign that read 'SAG-AFTRA On Strike!' with his co-star Aaron Paul also holding an identical sign

Aaron's look: Paul, who played Walter's former student turned drug-making business partner Jesse Pinkman, opted for a black and white striped shirt, black sunglasses, khaki pants and white sneakers for his picket line look

Show debut: The hit series debuted in January 2008, just the second original series ever to debut on AMC, behind the critically-acclaimed Mad Men

Hit show: The critically-acclaimed series ran for five seasons, and spawned the equally-beloved spin-off Better Call Saul, starring Bob Odenkirk as the shady lawyer Saul Goodman

Cranston most recently starred in director Wes Anderson's new star-studded film Asteroid City, which was released earlier this year.

He also played himself in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and starred in the Showtime series Your Honor.

He'll next be seen in the spy thriller Argylle and Everything's Going to be Great, both in post-production.

Paul is also coming off Always Sunny and an episode of Black Mirror, and he'll next be seen in the film Ash.
BNN, August 29, 2023

A young student was killed by Taliban gunfire in Laghman province on August 27, after he attended a wedding party where music was played. The incident occurred in the Qarghayi district of the eastern province, where the Taliban have a strong presence.

The victim was identified as Samiullah, a resident of the Chapa Daria area of Qarghayi district. He was a first-year student at the Faculty of Agriculture of Nangarhar University, one of the largest and oldest universities in Afghanistan. According to local sources, Samiullah was returning from the wedding party with his friends when their cars were attacked by Taliban fighters. He was shot in the head and died on the spot, while his friends managed to escape.

The Taliban consider music as forbidden and sinful in Islam and have banned it in public and private spaces. During their previous rule from 1996 to 2001, they destroyed musical instruments, cassettes, and radios, and punished those who listened or played music. They also prohibited celebrating weddings with dancing and music. After their recent takeover of Afghanistan, they have resumed their crackdown on music and musicians, who fear for their lives and livelihoods. Some radio and TV stations have stopped playing music to avoid confrontation with the Taliban.

Laghman province is located in the eastern part of Afghanistan, bordering the provinces of Panjshir, Nuristan, Kunar, Nangarhar, Kabul and Kapisa. It has a population of about 502,148 people, who are mostly Pashtuns, Tajiks and Pashai tribes. The province has a rich history and culture, and hosts many historical landmarks, minarets, monuments and relics. The province is also known for its agriculture, especially rice, wheat, cotton and fruits.

The province has been under the control of the Taliban since August 15, when they captured the capital city of Mihtarlam after a brief fight with the Afghan security forces. The Taliban have appointed Zain-Ul-Abideen as the governor of Laghman. The situation in the province is tense and uncertain, as many people fear the return of the harsh rule of the Taliban. The killing of Samiullah is a tragic example of the violence and repression that the people of Laghman face under the Taliban regime.
Love Island Australia star Natasha Webster has shared her bridal-themed engagement photos alongside husband-to-be Dan Bulley.

The former reality star, who appeared on season one of the show, donned a wedding dress for the couple's engagement shoot.

Natasha looked spectacular in the in the bridal gown which a statement tulle skirt along with a fitted bodice and spaghetti straps.

Dan looked equally handsome wearing a black, three-piece tuxedo along with a bow-tie and pocket square for their occasion.

The couple's child wore a mini-tux with an adorable white blazer and black pants for the carousel of photos celebrating the special moment.

Love Island Australia star Natasha Webster shared her elegant wedding-inspired engagement photos to Instagram on Tuesday, ahead of tying the knot to fiance Dan Bulley. Pictured

Other photos showed Dan dipping Natasha while holding up her legs. The pair are shared a romantic shoot from behind for them.

'Our engagement photos,' she wrote.

The couple were flooded with well wishers who took time out to praise the shoot.

'Stunning. Congratulations to you both,' one fan wrote. 'This is so beautiful,' another added.

Natasha opted for a wedding inspired shoot with her clad in a bridal gown and Dan in a three-piece tuxedo complete with bow tie. The couple's adorable son Atlas was in the photos, too

The couple shared a romantic back view with fans gushing over the shoot. 'Oh wow!!! Beyond magical!' one fan wrote. Pictured

'Oh wow!!! Beyond magical!' another wrote.

Natasha celebrated her bridal shower at the weekend with an upscale lunch with friends and family.

'My bridal shower. The best day celebrating with my friends and family. Thank you so much to my gorgeous mum for arranging it all and all of the decorations.

'I can't wait for this next chapter. I'm soon to be Mrs Bulley.'

The pair got engaged in November last year following a luxurious trip to Singapore together to the W Hotel.

'14/11/22 We are engaged. The most special day that I will remember forever - my best friend asked me to marry him. I'm on cloud 9,' she wrote.

The couple's son Atlas was born in October, 2021.

Natasha announced the pair were expecting their first child together earlier that year.

Natasha opted for a wedding dress for her bridal shower at the weekend, when friends enjoyed an upscale lunch. Pictured

'My bridal shower. The best day celebrating with my friends and family. Thank you so much to my gorgeous mum for arranging it all and all of the decorations," she wrote

The star was radiant ahead of her wedding, saying she couldn't wait to be Mrs Bulley. Pictured

She shared the exciting news to Instagram, by posting a photo of a grey plush toy and balloons.

'We are so excited to announce that I'm PREGNANT. Our little bundle of joy is arriving in spring,' she wrote.

Natasha was eliminated from Love Island Australia early on in the first season, after failing to form a connection with any of the male contestants.

Natasha announced the pair were expecting their first child together in early 2021. Pictured

At the start of the series, Natasha had openly expressed her desire to find a man who owns a boat, and also hinted at 'spending two nights' with pop star Justin Bieber.

'I was lucky enough to party with Justin. I'm not allowed to say anything. A girl doesn't kiss or tell,' she said in her introductory video.

Natasha added that she prefers dating 'doctors, surgeons and millionaires' because they can afford the finer things in life.
Rapper ArrDee has landed a huge six-figure deal with fashion brand boohooMAN.

The musician, 20, whose real name is Riley Davies, signed the deal after a controversial alcohol advert he featured in was banned.

After a string of successful radio hits, including Oliver Twist and Body, ArrDee appears to be widening his career opportunities.

A source told The Sun: 'Ardee's had a meteoric year and is only going to get bigger. Both parties are delighted to get the deal done and can't wait to get to work on some exciting campaigns.'

Earlier this year two adverts for booze brand Litty Liquor that featured him were pulled from social media for failing to comply with strict rules.

New deal: Rapper ArrDee has landed a huge six-figure deal with fashion brand boohooMAN

Struggle: The musician, 20, whose real name is Riley Davies, signed the deal after a controversial alcohol advert he featured in was banned

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) received a complaint that the three Litty Liquor adverts, which were made up of two pictures and a video, broke the rules because they featured ArrDee who 'appeared to be under 25'.

The complaint also said the adverts encouraged excessive and irresponsible drinking.

Two pictures featured ArrDee in a distillery surrounded by bottles of spiced rum, while a third was of him in a nightclub.

The adverts have since been removed and Litty Liquor said they will review their advertising policies.

The ASA said at the time: 'We understood that the word 'lit' had a long history of being used as a slang term for being drunk, and that it had also become popular within the rap music scene to indicate being intoxicated.

'We noted that in recent years the term 'lit' had also been used in rap music to mean that something was exciting, or of an excellent quality.

'However, because the ad was focused on the creation and consumption of an alcoholic drink, and was set in a nightclub and a distillery, we considered that consumers would likely associate the phrase '#GETLIT'... to relate to the consumption of alcohol, and becoming intoxicated.'

Impressive: After a string of successful radio hits, including Oliver Twist and Body, ArrDee appears to be widening his career opportunities

A source told The Sun : 'Ardee's had a meteoric year and is only going to get bigger. Both parties are delighted to get the deal done and can't wait to get to work on some exciting campaigns.'

Talented: The rapper initially gained traction with his songs '6AM in Brighton', his Plugged In freestyle on PressPlay and his BlackBox freestyles

'We therefore considered that the ad was likely to encourage excessive consumption of alcohol.

'While we welcomed Litty Liquor's removal of the ad, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible because it encouraged excessive drinking, and breached the code.'

The rapper initially gained traction with his songs '6AM in Brighton', his Plugged In freestyle on PressPlay and his BlackBox freestyles.

He has since gone on to release a slew of successful singles such as 'Oliver Twist' which reached Number 6 on the UK Singles Chart, and 'War' with Aitch.
Selena Gomez shared a heartwarming Instagram picture of her little sister Gracie, 10, shaving their friend Brooklyn Beckham's head.

Brooklyn's wife Nicola Peltz, an actress who is also close pals with Selena, could also be glimpsed joining in on the fun.

Nicola, 28, the daughter of billionaire Nelson Peltz, beamed at the camera as her husband sat in front of her, at the mercy of the electric razor in her hand.

The son of David and Victoria Beckham went shirtless for his haircut, allowing him to show off his formidable sprawl of tattoos.

Posting the head-shaving pictures to her Insta Stories, Selena fondly wrote that her little sister and Brooklyn were 'My babies.'

Doting sister: Selena Gomez shared a heartwarming Instagram picture of her little sister Gracie, 10, shaving their friend Brooklyn Beckham's head

Having a ball: Brooklyn's wife Nicola Peltz , an actress who is also close pals with Selena, could also be glimpsed joining in on the fun

Her social media that day also served up a couple of cryptic messages, including a meme that read: 'Acting like you don't care is not letting it go.'

She also posted a snap of herself holding up a sticky note from her cosmetics brand Rare Beauty, with: 'Speak your Mind, Even If Your Voice Shakes,' written on it.

Selena's latest Instagram posts comes after she shot down a persistent stream of rumors that her new song Single Soon is about her ex The Weeknd.

When Hollywood Life posted about the speculation on their Instagram page, Selena leapt into the comments to clarify: 'Couldn't be more false.'

The Weeknd and Selena dated for a few months in 2017, during a gap in their respective on-off relationships with Bella Hadid and Justin Bieber.

Gracie is the daughter of Selena's mother Mandy Teefey and stepfather Brian Teefey, who welcomed their little girl when Selena was 20.

A few months ago, Selena gave a sweet magazine interview shedding light on her close-knit bond with her younger sister.

She dished to Vogue near the end of last year that Gracie had begun going through Selena's wardrobe and taking her pick.

Wise words: Her social media that day also served up a couple of cryptic messages, including a meme that read: 'Acting like you don't care is not letting it go'

Courage of conviction: She also posted a snap of herself holding up a sticky note from her cosmetics brand Rare Beauty, with: 'Speak your Mind, Even If Your Voice Shakes,' written on it

'I thought I'd have a little more time with my clothes, but that's just not the case,' the former Disney Channel star dished to the magazine.

A couple of years ago Selena brought her younger sister to the Los Angeles premiere of Frozen 2 - marking Gracie's red carpet debut.

On the BBC Radio 1 show Sounds, Selena, revealed the helpful advice she gave little Gracie 'before we stepped on' the carpet.

Selena assured Gracie: 'If you get nervous, if you get overwhelmed, just you know, pull my hand and Ill take you off immediately.'

She recalled that Gracie replied: 'K,' and then 'just walked straight on the carpet and has her like full moment with the feathers.'

'Couldn't be more false': Selena's latest Instagram posts comes after she shot down a persistent stream of rumors that her new song Single Soon is about her ex The Weeknd

The Selena + Chef hostess warmly remembered: 'And I'm like standing there, Im like: Gracie, why  get me in the picture too! She was just living her life.'

Selena told host Nick Grimshaw, affectionately known to fans as 'Grimmy,' that 'Its, honestly, it was the coolest feeling' to take Gracie to the red carpet.

'I said to her, I was like: "This is my favorite carpet I have ever done." Because shes never done any of them and we didnt force her to do that.'

She shared: 'Its everything we do to keep her safe. But my sisters become very dramatic now, so shes all about the dresses and the glitter.'

The ex-girlfriend of Justin Bieber said on the UK radio show: 'Oh, she had the best time. It was like Disneyland.'
Jackie O Henderson was recently forced to deny speculation she had landed herself a toy boy.

And the radio queen, 48, has now yet again confirmed she is indeed single following rumours she's dating 29-year-old tradie Jack Tyerman.

Jackie told her co-host Kyle Sandilands on KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O show on Wednesday, she isn't dating anyone.

'Jackie you are single aren't you?' Kyle asked.

'Absolutely, yes I'm single,' she confirmed.

Jackie O Henderson has confirmed she is single after a brief fling with 'toy boy tradie' Jack Tyerman, 29 as he flees to Europe

It comes just one week after she broke her silence on her rumoured relationship with Jack, who moonlights as a model.

'No, Jack is not my boyfriend. We're not in a relationship. He is not my boy toy,' Jackie told Kyle.

'Jack is a good friend of mine. I know him through a friend of ours. We didn't meet on a dating app or anything like that.'

The media personality went on to say she was ultimately 'to blame' for the romance rumours after she told Daily Mail Australia she was dating someone during a Logies interview.

'In my mind, I'm dating and I've been on a few dates, so I said "maybe" [I'm dating], but I probably should have said, "Maybe, we'll see what happens,"' she confessed.

Meanwhile, Jack is enjoying a holiday in Europe with his friends.

On Tuesday, the hunk posted a series of photos to Instagram as he explored Italy with a group of friends.

Jackie has confirmed she is indeed single following rumours she's dating 29-year-old tradie Jack (pictured)

It comes just one week after she broke her silence on her rumoured relationship with Jack, who moonlights as a model

The romance rumours started after Jackie exclusively revealed to Daily Mail Australia that she was seeing a new man during a red carpet interview at the TV Week Logie Awards last month.

'I'll just say maybe,' she said when asked if she was seeing anyone new.

After being quizzed on whether her new love would be joining her at the Logies, Jackie was quick to insist, 'No, no!'

Not long after that Jackie and Jack were seen enjoying what appeared to be a romantic moonlit date on the balcony of her Clovelly mansion.
Vanderpump Rules stars Ariana Madix and Katie Maloney were spotted meeting up in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The reality TV personalities shared a hug after meeting up with restauranteur Lisa Vanderpump, 62, to film the upcoming 11th season of their Bravo series.

For their mid-day outing, Madix, 38  who has been carefully avoiding any awkward run-ins with her ex Tom Sandoval while filming  put on a casual display in a cropped, white graphic T-shirt and figure-hugging, distressed jeans.

She also sported a pair of low-top sneakers with a black-and-white patterned canvas design.

She shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of orange-framed, retro shades and was seen toting around a black, leather backpack purse.

Meeting up: Vanderpump Rules stars Ariana Madix and Katie Maloney were spotted meeting up in Los Angeles on Tuesday. After filming for the upcoming season together, the pair were seen sharing a smile and waving goodbye to each other

Filming with the boss: The reality TV personalities were spotted sharing a hug after meeting up with restauranteur Lisa Vanderpump , 62, to film the 11th season of their Bravo series

For their apparent coffee date, she threw up her blonde tresses into an effortlessly stylish updo.

In contrast, Maloney, 36, opted for a black shirt dress with a low-cut neckline and flared sleeves.

She also sported a pair of pink satin ballet flats to go with her edgy ensemble and topped it all off with a metallic silver, studded shoulder bag.

For accessories, she donned all-black wayfarer sunglasses and layers of silver chains around her neck.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum looked casual yet chic in a white T-shirt and dark wash bootcut jeans.

She jazzed up her look with a black blazer decorated with embroidered flowers.

She also donned a pair of black, suede booties and a chunky leather belt.

Finally, she finished off her outfit with a white, leather tote as well as various long, silver pendant necklaces and statement rings.

Sharing a hug: Maloney, 36, modeled a black shirt dress with a low-cut neckline and flared sleeves. She also sported a pair of pink satin ballet flats to go with her edgy ensemble. The pair shared a sweet hug before going their separate ways

Casual yet chic style: For their mid-day outing, Madix, 38  who has been carefully avoiding any awkward run-ins with her ex, Tom Sandoval, while filming  put on a casual display in a cropped, white graphic T-shirt and figure-hugging, distressed jeans

She looked glamorous with her brunette tresses styled in voluminous, bouncy curls and in a vibrant makeup look featuring a bubblegum pink lip.

Recently, the reality TV stars have been busy filming the forthcoming 11th season of Vanderpump Rules.

The following run of episodes follows the group of friends in the wake of the infamous Scandoval drama.

A release date for the upcoming season has not yet been released but the 11th season of Vanderpump Rules is expected to premiere sometime in 2024.

All episodes of Vanderpump Rules are available on Hayu.
The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies

Rating:

So Help Me Todd

Rating:

Good luck making sense of this one, Morse. We're in Oxford, and a crime has been committed... but whatever's going on, it's more confusing than a cryptic crossword in Chinese.

For the first ten minutes, The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies (BBC1) made me feel as though I was flicking through cable channels and finding nothing that caught my attention.

Multiple TV screens showed us a man in a black polo neck spouting about karma. A wannabe dress designer psyched herself up for an haute couture sales event. A beer-sodden redneck American sat grouching outside his caravan.

Gradually, the focus settled on Alice (Rebekah Staton), the dressmaker, who spotted a man she recognised as they both talked on their phones in the street. At first they appeared to be calling each other  but that was misdirection, like almost everything else in this first of five episodes.

To cut a long and exasperating story short: Alice used to be married to this man, Rob (Alistair Petrie). He conned her and her parents out of all their money, and vanished. Now he claims to be a climate scientist, running a foundation to save the melting polar ice caps.

Alice used to be married to this man, Rob (Alistair Petrie, pictured). He conned her and her parents out of all their money, and vanished. Now he claims to be a climate scientist...

...In reality, Rob is still preying on gullible women, and has local author Cheryl (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) in his sights

In reality, he's still preying on gullible women, and has local author Cheryl (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) in his sights. She seems to be falling for his self-deprecating charm and spiritual waffle, but abruptly drops him.

Pick of today's TV Ballroom to building site DIY SOS Strictly Special, 9pm, BBC1 Nick Knowles and the team  plus an army of volunteers  get busy transforming a derelict building for a performing arts charity in North Tyneside. Strictly judge Anton Du Beke brings along pro dancers Katya Jones (pictured), Luba Mushtuk, Graziano Di Prima and Nancy Xu to add some sparkle to the building site as they get to know the young people who will reap the benefits when the new dance school opens its doors. Film Choice Secret Headquarters, 6.55pm, Film4 The lovable Owen Wilson is Jack, the dad whose son and friends find his hidden headquarters and discover that Jack is a superhero known as The Guard. With an evil weapons company after The Guards alien technology, the kids end up on save-the-world duties, and zany high jinks ensue. Advertisement

The reason for this reversal isn't clear, but nor is so much else. Why is conservationist Sir Ralph Unwin (Derek Jacobi) so smitten with Rob, when his 'foundation' is obviously a sham? And how does Rob stage a lavish lecture, with his face projected across an Oxford mansion, when he's so penniless that he has to pedal round the city to promote the event, handing out flyers to students?

The setting, the criss-crossing secrets and the sense that Rob is making fresh enemies at every turn make all this feel like the set-up for an Endeavour mystery. But, so far, the only violence has involved a poodle called Goblin, kidnapped and then rescued after an implausible car chase.

The pity is that a well-told tale about a con artist, breaking his victims' hearts as he empties their bank accounts, would be welcome. It's a crime that has become shockingly common, as social media makes it easier for swindlers to invent new identities.

But this attempt by sisters Penelope and Ginny Skinner is too muddled, too arty and too clever for its own good. DCI Thursday used to say much the same, of course, about his protege, young Sergeant Morse. This concoction falls far short of that standard.

The formulaic So Help Me Todd (Alibi) also crams a complex set-up into its opening episode, introducing us to deadbeat private detective Todd (Skylar Astin) and his mother, high-powered lawyer Margaret (Marcia Gay Harden). Huge amounts of family background are shovelled into the dialogue. When there's no one else around, Todd has to talk out loud to himself as he explains the plot.

Marcia Gay Harden (right) plays high-powered lawyer Margaret in So Help Me Todd

Todd, played by Skylar Astin (left), is the deadbeat private detective at the centre of the show

It doesn't help that Todd's sleuthing talent is his ability to understand smartphone apps. He can spot clues hidden in TikTok videos and use burner phones as CCTV cameras  with the unlucky side-effect that this U.S. comedy-drama from last year is going to date very quickly.

The main problem is that Todd isn't nearly as likeable as the writers think he is. Sulky, dishonest and lazy, he blames his mother for the fact he is, as the Americans say, a total loser. I'm, like, totally dumping him.

Impeccable taste of the night: Picking out props to furnish a 1920s art deco property on Selling Super Houses (Ch4), estate agents Colin and Mairead were treading a very fine line between tacky and classy. They chose a giant cocktail glass and a nude statue. So classy.
She's usually seen presenting the weather in Melbourne on Channel Seven news.

But everyone's favourite weather presenter Jane Bunn has been enjoying a romantic getaway with her rarely-seen husband.

On Tuesday, the bombshell meteorologist, 43, took to Instagram to share a series of photos of her recent trip to the Maldives.

'Photo dump as I wait for my flight home,' she captioned a picture of palm trees overlooking a pristine blue sea.

She posted another snap of a white sand beach, with a large umbrella and inflatable bed alongside a caption reading 'private island for the day.'

Channel Seven weather presenter Jane Bunn (pictured) has been enjoying a romantic getaway with her rarely-seen husband, Michael Bunn

On Tuesday, the bombshell meteorologist, 43, took to Instagram and shared a series of pictures of her recent trip to the Maldives

Jane also shared a rare glimpse of IT consultant husband Michael Bunn, though followers would have had to squint to see him as he was a tiny speck at the end of a jetty.

'Hubby,' she wrote with an arrow pointing to a dark shape that appeared to be his head.

Over another photo of an exquisite white sand beach with azure water, she wrote 'I will really miss how beautiful and warm this water is' alongside a heart emoji.

Jane has been married to Michael for over 15 years, and they live together in Melbourne, where she presents the nightly weather for Channel Seven.

The weather presenter has something of a cult following in Victoria.

'Hubby,' she wrote with an arrow pointing to a dark shape that appeared to be his head

Jane, who has been with Seven since 2014, has even been dubbed as Australia's most popular weather presenter.

In March, Jane had a tribute rap song written about her by ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot tool.

Consisting of four verses and a chorus, the song is written as a 'rap' that describes Jane as a 'Queen of meteorology' before listing her talents as a weather presenter.

Jane has been married to IT consultant Michael Bunn (pictured right) for over 15 years, and they live together in Melbourne, where she presents the nightly weather for Channel Seven

Meanwhile, the song's chorus includes the lyrics: 'Jane Bunn she's the one, she knows the forecast before its begun, she's got the radar, the maps, and the sun, Jane Bunn, she's second to none'.

Jane posted the hilarious 'rap' lyrics to her official Instagram on Monday and appeared to approve the tribute.

'Apparently ChatGPT wrote this rap about me,' Jane captioned the shared.

'That's pretty awesome and hilarious at the same time,' she added.

Jane, who has been with Seven since 2014, has even been dubbed as Australia's most popular weather presenter
They met on The Bachelorette in 2016 and got married at an intimate ceremony in Tasmania two years later.

And while Lee Elliott and Georgia Love still appear to have a fun-loving romance, he was in the dog house on Wednesday over an unforgiveable error.

The gaffe in question saw Lee post a very unflattering photo of Georgia to his Instagram page to wish her a happy birthday.

He captioned the snap: 'Whose birthday is it? Yes darling its yours!'

However, she didn't appear to be happy with his choice of photograph, as she commented: 'Joke's on you mate, you married me!'

They met on The Bachelorette in 2016 and got married at an intimate ceremony in Tasmania two years later. And while Lee Elliott and Georgia Love still appear to have a fun-loving romance, he was recently in the dog house (both pictured)

In the photo, Georgia had one eye closed and the other opened as she frowned and pointed at the camera.

She was wearing a brown-and-white patterned shirt, matching bottoms and a headband.

Despite Georgia being unhappy with her husband's picture choice, many of her friends and family found it funny.

Steven Gelagotis commented: 'No birthday treats for you @leeroyelliott'.

On Wednesday, Lee posted an unflattering photo of Georgia to his Instagram page to wish her a happy birthday

Despite Georgia being unhappy with her husband's picture choice, many of her friends and family also found it funny

Influencer Nathan Tito wrote: 'Hahaha HAPPY BIRTHDAY @georgialove XX'.

While another person joked that Georgia is going to 'push Lee down the stairs' for posting the unflattering picture.

Lee, a plumber from Sydney, shot to fame after appearing on the second season of The Bachelorette in 2016.

He won the show with TV news reporter Georgia Love, and they later got married in 2021.
Travis Scott will not play his native Houston in support of his new album Utopia, less than two years since 10 people died on November 5, 2021 amid a crowd surge at his Astroworld music festival at NRG Park in Houston.

The Grammy-nominated artist, 32, announced a series of 28 dates and locations for his upcoming trek - with 26 in the U.S. and two in Canada - but omitted his hometown from the slate in the wake of the deadly disaster.

The tour has multiple stops in Texas, including October 17 in Dallas at the American Airlines Center, and November 21 in Austin at the Moody Center ATX.

A number of Scott's 51.3 million Instagram followers expressed their discontent at the omission of Houston on the tour.

'No Houston show is crazy gang,' one user said, while another said, 'No Houston is a crime;' one user referenced the city's tragic past involving Scott's shows, writing, '"No Houston" bro wants to make it through the tour alive.'

The latest: Travis Scott, 32, will not play his native Houston in support of his new album Utopia, less than two years since 10 people died amid a crowd surge at his Astroworld music festival. Pictured at Minute Maid Park November 2, 2021, three days before the deadly incident

The Astroworld main stage, located in a parking lot at Houston's NRG Center, was pictured three days after the tragedy on November 8, 2021

Scott on Tuesday posted art promoting the forthcoming concert tour, writing, 'Utopia tour ... On sale ... Thursday 10am local time ... Travisscott.com.'

The new tour dates released span from October 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina and wrap up December 29 in Toronto.

Scott earlier this month shared art on his Instagram account in support of the trek.

'UTOPIA TOUR SOON,' Scott captioned the August 8 post. 'US AND EURO DATES SOON TO BE ANNOUNCE. I MISS THE ROAD I MISSS YALLLL.'

Scott's last extended tour came with the Astroworld: Wish You Were Here Tour in 2018.

Scott's latest album Utopia debuted in the top spot on the Billboard 200 last month.

A planned release party in Egypt was scuttled amid objections from local labor officials and relocated to Rome.

He performed in Rome earlier this month, welcoming onstage Kanye West, which marked West's first major public outing since he came under fire for making a series of anti-Semitic remarks late last year.

A number of Scott's 51.3 million Instagram followers expressed their discontent at the omission of Houston on the tour

The Houston native shared art on his Instagram account on in support of the trek earlier this month

Scott and West performed West's tracks Can't Tell Me Nothing and Praise God.

The album is Scott's first since the 2018 release of his record Astroworld, and the forthcoming tour will be his first since the deadly tragedy in the fall of 2021.

In the tragic incident, 10 victims ranging from the ages of nine to 27 died from compression asphyxia amid the crowd surge, which left almost 2,400 people in need of medical help.

Earlier this summer, a grand jury announced that the rapper had no criminal responsibility in the deadly incident, as a 19-month probe came to an end.

Scott's attorney Kent Schaffer told Billboard said that the ruling handed down by the grand jury signified that Scott was 'not responsible for the Astroworld tragedy.'

Schaffer said, 'This is consistent with investigative reporting by numerous media outlets and federal and state government reports that have squarely placed the onus for event safety crises on organizers, operators and contractors - not performers.'

The rapper 'has been inaccurately and wrongly singled out, despite stopping the show three separate times and being unaware of the events as they were unfolding,' his lawyer said.

Schaffer said Scott and his camp were 'hoping for the government efforts to focus on what is most important - stopping future heartbreaking tragedies like Astroworld from ever occurring again.'

Scott was seen onstage on the tragic evening of November 5, 2021, when a crowd surge led to the deaths of 10 fans

Visitors were seen weeping at a memorial outside of NRG park November 7

Mourners left pictures, flowers, candles and other mementoes to honor the victims outside of NRG park on November 7

Scott has settled a third lawsuit connected to the 2021 Astroworld Festival tragedy in Houston. Pictured in Miami last month

Earlier this month, one of the families of one of the 10 people who perished settled their case out of court.

The family of 14-year-old John Hilgert reached a settlement with the rapper, Live Nation and other festival organizers, according to Rolling Stone. The family withdrew their lawsuit in February.

The families of 21-year-old Axel Acosta and 16-year-old Brianna Rodriguez have also settled for undisclosed amounts.

Scott and one of his attorneys were slammed as tone deaf for alleging the Houston Police Department report was released on the same day as his new Utopia album to hurt record sales.

'For an artist making his living with music, these are stunningly tone-deaf comments about this preventable tragedy that took so many lives and injured so many,' said Bob Hilliard, the lawyer for the family of nine-year-old victim Ezra Blount.

Lawsuit: The family of 14-year-old John Hilgert reached a settlement with Travis, Live Nation and other festival organizers, according to Rolling Stone . The family withdrew their lawsuit in February

Settlements: The families of 21-year-old Axel Acosta and 16-year-old Brianna Rodriguez have also settled for undisclosed amounts. Travis, Live Nation and several other companies involved in the tragedy still face dozens of lawsuits from victims and their families

Astroworld: 10 people were killed at the Astroworld concert in November 2021 in Houston. More than a dozen people were hospitalized, and some 300 were treated for injuries at the scene

Last month, a 1,266-page police report was released revealed in-depth detail about the tragedy in which the victims were crushed in the crowd of 50,000 at the concert at NRG stadium November 5, 2021.

More than a dozen people were hospitalized, and some 300 were treated for injuries at the scene.

Scott, Live Nation and several other companies involved in the tragedy still face lawsuits from the families of those who died, as well as dozens of others from people who were injured.
Whitney Port weighed in on concerns about her recent weight loss in more depth than ever before in a recent episode of her podcast With Whit.

The 38-year-old former star of The Hills was joined by her husband Tim Rosenman, who explained his feelings about her significantly slimmed-down figure.

He explained that her original statement that he had expressed concern about her weight and had encouraged her to eat more had been 'blown out of proportion.'

Tim explained that when he said he was 'concerned' about her weight, he really meant that he thought she was 'too thin' in an aesthetic sense, as he prefers her with a more full-figured look.

Whitney and her husband's attempts to tone down the concerns from fans about her weight comes after she announced plans to see a nutritionist about her weight loss.

Addressing it: Whitney Port weighted in on recent concerns about her weight loss on her podcast With Whit. She said she does not have an eating disorder and said her husband's concerns about her weight were 'blown out of proportion'

Setting the record straight: Her husband Tim Rosenman explained that when he said he was 'concerned' about her weight, he meant he thought she was 'too thin' in an aesthetic sense, as he prefers her with a more full-figured look; pictured recently

Whitney's husband said he preferred her with 'another 10 to 15 pounds,' even though he admitted that saying so could open him up to criticism from fans who thought he shouldn't express any opinion about how his wife's body should look.

'I am not worried about your health,' he continued, adding that he knew the results of blood tests, including her triglyceride and cholesterol levels, and therefore he was certain that she was in fine health.

I was concerned if you had some kind of strained relationship with food, with appearance from being in the public eye, he said.

However, Whitney admitted that she also wasn't a fan of how she currently looks.

However, she blamed her ripped-up esophagus for her drastic weight loss and said that she just never put [the weight] back on after being sick.

She added that she planned to see a doctor to work on her 'pickiness' and to make sure that she was getting all the nutrients she needed.

Tim then added that it was not acceptable for total strangers to make rude comments on her social media posts, such as telling her to 'eat a hamburger.'

'You are probably healthier than 99 percent of the population,' he said confidently.

He also noted that there was a double standard, and that it would be considered unacceptable to criticize an overweight person for their weight, but commenters didn't feel the same hesitancy about remarking about someone's weight when they appeared to be too thin.

However, when he mentioned the word 'concerned' again, he clarified that he did think it's acceptable for someone to approach a person if they are concerned about their health.

Nothing to fear: 'I am not worried about your health,' he continued, adding that he knew the results of blood tests, including her triglyceride and cholesterol levels, and therefore he was certain that she was in fine health; pictured in January in West Hollywood

On the same page: However, he said he prefers her with 1015 more pounds on her frame, and Whitney said she agrees that she looks better when she's more curvaceous. Whitney blamed her 'ripped-up esophagus' and recent illness for her significant weight loss

Nevertheless, most of the followers who commented on Whitney's health knew nothing about her life or eating habits.

'I didn't think it was going to taken so out of context,' Whitney added.

She said she thought that she was probably somewhat 'underweight,' but she was adamant that she did not have an eating disorder, and she hoped her upcoming visit with a nutritionist would help her get back to a weight that both she and her husband found aesthetically pleasing, since they seemed to be on the same page about an ideal weight.

Whitney previously explained in an Insta Stories post that she thought her current weight was due to excessive pickiness when it came to food, though she thought her appetite was plenty strong.

'I always feel hungry but I just don't know what to eat. It's not how I want to look or feel though,' she wrote. 'My excuses are that I'm too lazy to make feeding myself a priority or I'm too picky when it comes to taste and quality.

'Both are unacceptable and I don't want to set an unhealthy example so I promised Timmy and I'll promise you that my health will be a priority,' she added.

Later on Tuesday, Whitney shared a sweet Instagram post that showed her and Tim in New York City.

They appeared to be spending some time with the adorable child of her friend, the model Melizanne Bergeron.

Whitney was dressed casually in baggy black sweat pants, and she rocked a fuzzy cropped white halter top that showcased her washboard abs.

Tim sat next to her in a gray T-shirt and loose-fitting jeans as he tried to get the baby's attention.

Speaking her truth: She added that fans took her concerns 'out of context.' She previously said she was too picky of an eater, which contributed to her weight loss

Cutie pie! Later on Tuesday, Whitney shared a sweet Instagram post that showed her and Tim in New York City. They appeared to be spending some time with the adorable child of her friend, the model Melizanne Bergeron

No fuss: Whitney was dressed casually in baggy black sweat pants, and she rocked a fuzzy cropped white halter top that showcased her washboard abs. They posed for a sweet selfie

Family: Another photo showed them with their son Sonny, six (L), as well as another child

Too cute! Whitney was seen amusing a friend's baby in another photo

Update: She took to her Insta Stories to announce that a new 'date night' episode of With Whit was out now

The lovebirds beamed in another selfie she snapped when they were back outdoors in the piercing sun.

Another photo showed them with their son Sonny, six, and Whitney was seen amusing a friend's baby in another photo.

She took to her Insta Stories to announce that a new 'date night' episode of With Whit was out now.

'Timmy and I discuss how I'm taking care of myself + T shares updates on his heart health,' she wrote, adding that they would also have a lighter discussion about the 'new RHONY'
Kanye West's 'wife' Bianca Censori has raised plenty of eyebrows with her outrageous wardrobe choices while holidaying with the rapper in Italy.

And it seems the Aussie architect, 28, has never been shy to showcase her figure, if photos from her days as a glamour model are anything to go by.

Before meeting the 46-year-old rapper, Censori posed topless in a raunchy photo shoot for swimwear brand Sasha in 2021.

The brunette was pictured at the beach wearing nothing but skimpy G-string bottoms while barely hiding her nipples beneath a strand of seaweed.

She allowed her wet hair to fall loosely in natural waves while staring wistfully away from the camera.

Resurfaced photos of Kanye West's 'wife' Bianca Censori, 28, (pictured) show her posing topless for swimwear brand Sasha in 2021

In a second image from the same photo shoot, Censori was pictured kneeling in the shallows topless wearing an extremely revealing pair of G-string bottoms.

Other photos from the brand's Instagram page taken in 2021 feature Censori showing off her curves in more skimpy swimwear.

It seems old habits die hard, as Censori has spent the past month flashing her flesh while holidaying in Italy with West.

In one image, Censori was pictured kneeling in the shallows topless wearing an extremely revealing pair of G-string bottoms

The Melbourne-born beauty has stepped out on several occasions with her bare breasts clearly visible beneath see-through mesh outfits.

Among them was the outrageous nude catsuit - which saw her forced to cover her nipples with a black cross-body bag.

Fashion designer West is widely believed to be behind all of Censori's recent and controversial looks.

Other photos from the brand's Instagram page taken in 2021 feature Censori showing off her curves in more skimpy swimwear

Censori left little to the imagination in the risque swimwear shoot

The couple have made headlines over the past month for their odd wardrobe choices while holidaying in Italy, with critics especially taking aim at Censori for 'going around virtually naked ' in the conservative Catholic country

According to major tourism website CIU Travel, locals find it 'offensive' to see visitors 'wandering the streets in varying states of undress.'

The website reads: 'Walking around in beach attire or, worse, shirtless, is a huge no-no in Italy, unless you have your feet buried deep in the sand.'

It remains to be seen whether West or Censori will face any form of official punishment for their latest over-the-top display.

West and Censori wed in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills in January, about two months after the rapper's divorce to Kim Kardashian was finalised

Meanwhile, calls are being made for West and Censori to be arrested over their latest outrageous display in Venice.

The couple sparked controversy yet again on Monday after they were spotted enjoying an amorous moment on a boat, with West exposing his bare buttocks in front of gawking tourists.

Images of the couple showed the American rapper, 46, seated at the back of the river taxi while his Australian so-called bride, 28, placed her head in his lap.

However, the legality of the union is in question, as they did not file a marriage certificate. (The couple are pictured in Los Angeles in May)

Prior to boarding the boat, West was covered from head-to-toe in an all-black ensemble while Censori wore a knee-length trench coat which she teamed with a pair of nude heels.

However both shed their layers once getting on board, with Censori ditching her coat in favour of a a strapless nude-coloured number as West pulled down his pants which exposed his bare behind.

It appeared that things were getting very steamy as Censori rested her elbows on his knees while he was then seen cradling her head as they sailed along the river.

Bianca has a degree in architecture and worked Kanye's design company Yeezy prior to their getting together

Many have argued that the flesh-baring display constituted 'public indecency,' a charge which comes with a fine of up to 309 (AU$520), according to the Italian Constitutional Court.

West and Censori were first romantically linked in January 2023 just months after his divorce was finalised.

The couple wed in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills in January, about two months after the rapper's divorce to Kim Kardashian was finalised.

Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from West in February 2021 after six years of marriage. (Pictured together at the Met Gala in 2019)

However, the legality of the union is in question, as they did not file a marriage certificate.

Previously, Kardashian filed for divorce in February 2021 after six years of marriage.

Throughout their longtime romance, West often called her his 'muse' and heavily influenced her fashion choices.

The former couple share four children together  North, 10, Saint, seven, Chicago, five, and Psalm, four.
With the summer winding down, awards season is heating up with key festivals starting in the coming days and weeks in Venice, Telluride and Toronto.

This year, though, the red carpet will certainly look a lot different, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes still going strong, with both guilds' strike rules prohibit promoting any films from the companies represented by the AMPTP.

However, many of the films debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) are independent, with a number of actors and actresses recently landing interim agreements that would allow them to walk he red carpet at TIFF and promote their films.

Among these A-listers expected to walk the red carpet at TIFF are Sean Penn, Dakota Johnson, Finn Wolfhard, Viggo Mortensen, Maya Hawke, Laura Linney and Nicolas Cage, under interim agreements from SAG-AFTRA, via Deadline.

While the red carpet lineup is far from complete, Penn, Johnson, Wolfhard, Mortensen, Hawke and Linney are said to have secured the agreements, with Cage said to be finalizing an agreement to promote his A24 film Dream Scenario.

TIFF: However, many of the films debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) are independent, with a number of actors and actresses recently landing interim agreements that would allow them to walk he red carpet at TIFF and promote their films

Sean to Toronto: Among these A-listers expected to walk the red carpet at TIFF are Sean Penn, Dakota Johnson, Finn Wolfhard, Viggo Mortensen, Maya Hawke, Laura Linney and Nicolas Cage, under interim agreements from SAG-AFTRA, via Deadline

Nic finalizing: While the red carpet lineup is far from complete, Penn, Johnson, Wolfhard, Mortensen, Hawke and Linney are said to have secured the agreements, with Cage said to be finalizing an agreement to promote his A24 film Dream Scenario .

Penn and Johnson will be in town to promote their film Daddio, with star-co-director Wolfhard arriving for Hell of a Summer, with a few of his co-stars.

Star-director-producer Mortensen will be present for The Dead Don't Hurt screening, while Hawke and Linney will be in town for Wildcat.

Jessica Chastain also 'quietly' secured an interim agreement for Memory, which has its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival before TIFF, with Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard both expected to appear in both Venice and Toronto.

Kristin Scott Thomas is said to be a 'maybe' to promote her film North Star, which she writes, directs and stars in, though Scarlett Johansson won't be at TIFF.

Michael Keaton, who directs and stars in Knox Goes Away, is said to be 'unlikely' to put in an appearance, though it's still not a definitive 'no' quite yet.

Lee's Kate Winslet and Ezra's Bobby Cannavale are also non-committal at this time, while several other stars have already declined to attend.

Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Annette Bening, Glen Powell, and Chris Pine, who also directs his movie Poolman, have declined.

Cate Blanchett, who is involved with multiple projects at TIFF as a star and a producer, will not be in attendance.

Dakota's film: Penn and Johnson will be in town to promote their film Daddio

Viggo: Star-director-producer Mortensen will be present for The Dead Don't Hurt screening

Finn promotes: Star-co-director Wolfhard arriving for Hell of a Summer, with a few of his co-stars

Maya: Maya Hawke and Laura Linney will be in town for Wildcat

Anna Kendrick, who stars in and directs Woman of the Hour, will also not be in attendance at the fest.

SAG-AFTRA has been adamant as of late to have their actors promote indie projects, if they receive an interim agreement.

There will also be several directors promoting their studio films through the DGA's deal with AMPTP, though none of their cast members are expected to attend.

Taika Waititi (Next Goal Wins), Craig Gillespie (Dumb Money), George C. Wolfe (Rustin), Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Nyad) and Christos Nikou (Fingernails) are all expected to attend along with Richard Linklater (Hitman), John Carney (Flora and Son) and Ethan Hawke as director of Wildcat.
Kim Kardashian took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a number of chic snaps from her recent trip to Japan.

The reality TV star, 42  who is 'desperately embarrassed and worried' by ex Kanye West, following his recent indecent exposure in Italy  looked stunning in a silky white kimono with a silver-patterned section of fabric wrapped around her torso.

The striking outfit covered her up fully and featured intricate, eye-catching embroidery.

Kim was joined by daughter North, 10, and her niece Penelope Disick, 11, who were visible in a few of the shots, along with a friend.

The SKIMS founder kept her dark hair in a bun with kanzashi, which are often mistaken for chop sticks.

Memories from Japan: Kim Kardashian took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a number of chic snaps from her recent trip to Japan

The raven-haired beauty wore bronze glam and nude lipstick as she posed in what appeared to be her hotel room.

While she showed off her best pout for the camera North and Penelope flashed their phones in the background as if they were paparazzi catching the perfect shot of her.

Another shot saw Kim laying down on the bed next to a pair of traditional Japanese 'Geta' sandals, which resemble flip flops.

The mother-of-four was also pictured reaching out with her hand toward the camera in yet another picture.

In the snap, white socks were visible on her feet.

She also struck a number of poses standing up and blowing kisses as the girls happily photographed her.

Earlier in the day it was revealed that Kim is 'desperately embarrassed and worried' about ex Kanye, following his recent outings in Italy with new 'wife' Bianca Censori.

Kim, who shares a total of four kids with the rapper, 46, believes 'something clearly isn't right' and doesn't know how she will 'explain it all to the kids' according to a source who spoke with The Sun.

This week the rapper was seen baring his naked buttocks during an amorous boat ride with Bianca, 28, in Venice, with calls for the couple to be 'arrested for indecent exposure.' Bianca has also drawn the ire of the locals, who have reportedly complained about her very revealing outfits.

Like a Geisha: The reality TV star, 42, looked stunning in a silky white kimono with a silver-patterned section of fabric wrapped around her torso

Traditional: Another shot saw Kim laying down on the bed next to a pair of traditional Japanese 'Geta' sandals, which resemble flip flops

Family trip: Kim was joined by daughter North, 10, and her niece Penelope Disick, 11, who were visible in a few of the shots, along with a friend

Little photographers: While she showed off her best pout for the camera North and Penelope flashed their phones in the background, catching the perfect shot of her

Stylish: The SKIMS founder kept her dark hair in a bun with kanzashi, which are often mistaken for chop sticks

'Kim's been so worried about the new pics that have come out with Bianca - like how will she explain it all to the kids?' the insider revealed.

'She's embarrassed and worried for him - he's wandering around barefoot with champagne in the street, something clearly isn't right.'

The source appeared to be referencing recent snaps of Kanye walking barefoot through the streets with a bottle in hand, while Bianca left little to the imagination in a racy nude catsuit.

'It's hard for her because as soon as she thinks she can move on, something like this happens and she's pulled back into it.'

'It's like every time Kanye and Bianca pull these nearly-naked stunts, it reminds everyone that Kim dressed up in skintight nude outfits during the marriage.'

'She'd rather put it behind her and forget about it.'

Throughout their longtime romance, West often called Kim his 'muse' and heavily influenced her fashion choices.

The Kardashians star filed for divorce from the musician in February of 2021. The pair share four children together - North, Psalm, four, Saint, seven, and Chicago, five.

Meanwhile Kanye and Bianca have been causing a stir during their recent trip to Venice.

In their most recent outing, the Donda rapper took things even further by exposing his naked buttocks in front of gawking tourists during a boat ride with his so-called bride.

'Embarrassed': Earlier in the day it was revealed that Kim is 'desperately embarrassed and worried' about ex Kanye, following his recent outings in Italy with new 'wife' Bianca Censori

Just like Kim? 'It's like every time Kanye and Bianca pull these nearly-naked stunts, it reminds everyone that Kim dressed up in skintight nude outfits during the marriage'

Twinning? Throughout their longtime romance, West often called her his 'muse' and heavily influenced her fashion choices

Ex: The Kardashians star filed for divorce from the musician in February of 2021; They are pictured in New York City in 2019

Family: The pair share four children together. Aside from North they are also parents to Psalm, four, Saint, seven, and Chicago, five

Images of the couple show the rapper seated at the back of the river taxi while Censori appears to be nestled with her head in his lap.

The couple appeared to be blissfully unaware of the groups of tourists sailing past them with their phones held aloft as they put on their amorous display - the latest in a line of boundary-breaking public outings that have caused scandal among Italian locals.

Australian architect Censori has already come under fire for the risque outfits she has donned during the trip.

The fashion designer  who is widely believed to be behind all of Censori's recent and controversial looks  and his new muse were first romantically linked in January 2023 just months after his divorce was finalized.

The couple wed in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills in January. However, the legality of the union is in question, as they did not file a marriage certificate.
Alessandra Ambrosio showed her fit figure in denim shorts and a crop top on Tuesday while meeting friends for lunch in West Hollywood, California.

The 42-year-old Brazilian beauty wore a white, short-sleeved V-neck crop top that displayed her flat stomach for a casual meal at Cecconi's restaurant on trendy Melrose Avenue.

The former Victoria's Secret Angel completed her look with blue Daisy Duke denim cut-off shorts that showcased her lean legs along with red trainers.

Alessandra had her long brown hair up in a knot and accessorized with earrings and necklace.

She let her natural beauty shine with just a hint of makeup.

Cut-off shorts: Alessandra Ambrosio showed her fit figure in denim shorts and a crop top on Tuesday while meeting friends for lunch in West Hollywood, California

Alessandra also carried a large tan purse.

She also was spotted in West Hollywood wearing tan compression shorts as she left a private gym.

Alessandra accessorized with sunglasses while squeezing in some exercise on a warm, sunny day in the Los Angeles area.

She recently celebrated her mini-me daughter Anja with a sweet birthday tribute on Instagram.

Alessandra shared a series of throwback snaps showcasing her baby girl as she turned 15.

'Happy 15th birthday my forever baby girl @anjaambrosiom,' the Brazilian beauty began in the caption, before adding a line in Portuguese: '!!! Mamae teama infinitame!!!' which translates in English to 'Mommy loves you endlessly.'

'And so I wish for you, my love. I want you feel loved, want you to be free. 'Want you to be anything you dream you can be. Want you to have pride, and be humble,' it read.

Across one of the photographs, Alessandra penned: 'Anja...since you were born you've been...cute, curious, funny, smart and full of personality!!!' 'Happy 15th my sunshine.'

Working out: The 42-year-old Brazilian beauty also was spotted in West Hollywood wearing tan compression shorts as she left a private gym

Hair up: Alessandra had her long brown hair up in a knot and accessorized with earrings and necklace

Brazilian beauty: The former Victoria's Secret Angel is shown last month in France as she attended a fashion show as part of Paris Fashion Week

Look-alike daughter: Alessandra recently celebrated her mini-me daughter Anja with a sweet birthday tribute on Instagram

Alessandra also has 11-year-old son Noah with her ex-fiance Jamie Mazur, 42.

Jamie and Alessandra got engaged in 2008 and split in 2018.

Alessandra started her own swimwear brand GAL Floripa in 2019 in partnership with her sister, Aline, and her childhood friend, Gisele Coria.

She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2004 to 2017 and walked the runway multiple times at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
Pregnant Clelia Theodorou has revealed she has broken both her legs and feet after a horror car crash at the end of May which left her hospitalised.

The former TOWIE star, 28, who is currently 35 weeks pregnant with her first baby with boyfriend Tommy Cole, detailed her 'painful' injuries as she provided a health updated via Instagram on Wednesday.

The TV personality, whose mother was tragically killed in the terrifying accident, revealed she has undergone 'three surgeries' and 'still has another to get through'.

Clelia said she is 'taking each day as it comes' and gushed that their little bundle of joy is 'keeping her going' everyday and 'making her more determined' to get better.

She wrote: 'My reality - 35 weeks pregnant, two broken legs and two broken feet. Broke more bones than I even knew you had in your feet and I'll forever be setting off metal detectors at airports.

'The worst day of my life': Pregnant Clelia Theodorou has revealed she has broken both her legs and feet after a horror car crash at the end of May which left her hospitalised

Painful: The former TOWIE star, 28, who is currently 35 weeks pregnant with her first baby, detailed her 'painful' injuries as she provided a health updated via Instagram on Wednesday

'Three surgeries later, the healing process is going well. It's a long, slow process but I'm getting there.

'I still have another surgery to get through and there have been hard some pushbacks, unforeseen delays and a lot of pain along the way but the main thing is our little baby is battling through it with me, keeping me going each day, making me more determined and giving me so much strength, more than I ever I thought I would have in a situation as difficult as this.

'It would be a dream to be standing, up on my feet before our bundle of joy arrives but I just have to take each day as it comes.

Clelia thanked partner Tommy for being 'supportive' and for becoming her 'full time carer' after 'the worst day of her life'.'

She continued: 'Having never broke a bone in my body or experienced anything even close to the pain and discomfort I've been through, I'm truly proud of myself and my body for how far I've come since that day, the worst day of my life.

'@tommy.cole has not only been the most supportive, loving and understanding partner but he's also had to turn into being my full time carer and I couldn't get through a single day without him.

'I can't thank you enough my love @tommy.cole for your unconditional care & love.'

Alongside the message, the reality star shared a gallery of snaps including one of herself in a wheelchair with two black cast boots as she cradled her baby bump in front of the mirror.

Tragic: The TV personality, whose mother was tragically killed in the terrifying accident , revealed she has undergone 'three surgeries' and 'still has another to get through'

Statement: Clelia said she is 'taking each day as it comes' and gushed that their little bundle of joy is 'keeping her going' every day and 'making her more determined' to get better

'You'll be back on your feet before you know it!' Taking to the comments of the post, Tommy gushed that he is 'so proud' of his girlfriend and that she has been 'very brave'

In another shot, Clelia snapped a selfie as she lay in a hospital bed while hooked up to an oxygen tube.

Taking to the comments of the post, Tommy gushed that he is 'so proud' of his girlfriend and praised her for her bravery in the wake of the traumatic event.

He wrote: 'Every day that passes is better than the day before and you'll be back on your feet before you know it!

'Very brave to post this, you're stronger than you know and I'm so proud of how far you've come.

'Plus I got some serious credit in the bank. You'll be making the teas again soon don't worry'.

Several fans and famous friends rushed to the comments to send well wishes to the TV personality, including a number of her ex TOWIE co-stars - Jess Wright, Ferne McCann and Frankie Sims.

Last month Clelia revealed that her mother passed away in a horror car crash which took place at the end of May.

Taking to Instagram, the pregnant The Only Way Is Essex star revealed that she too had been involved in the crash, which left her in hospital with 'terrible injuries' for weeks.

Although she is 'continuing to heal', she revealed her 'beautiful' mum tragically 'couldn't heal' from hers.

Clelia wrote: 'At the end of May myself and my Mum were unfortunately involved in an accident, we both suffered terrible injuries.

'I am continuing to heal from mine after weeks in hospital but it's with the biggest regret to say that my beautiful Mum couldn't heal from hers.

'The person I never, ever wanted to say goodbye to. Who loved me unconditionally, the pure definition of a mother's love.'

Heartbroken Clelia described the pain as 'paralysing' and said that the loss was beyond words.

She added: 'My heart will never heal from this, life will never ever be the same. It just doesn't feel real and it never will, I just want my mum back.'

'There is light at the end of the tunnel': Several famous faces rushed to the comments to send well wishes to the TV personality including a number of her ex TOWIE co-stars

Heartbroken: Last month Clelia revealed that her mother passed away in the horror car crash which took place at the end of May

Statement: She told followers that whilst she is 'continuing to heal', she admitted that her 'beautiful' mum 'couldn't heal' from hers

Clelia went on to say that her 'precious miracle baby' is doing well and 'powering throughout it all.'

Paying tribute to her mum, she added: 'I will always make sure they know how much you already loved them and I promise they will always know they had the strongest, most caring, hilarious, giving and loving Nan they could ever have dreamt of.'

'I go through multiple emotions on a daily basis and the road to my recovery physically is a long one, but our miracle baby gives me so much hope and I will do everything I can to be even half the mum to my baby that my mum was to me,' she said.

Along with the statement, the star shared a slew of throwback pictures of her and her mother.

At the time, Tommy also shared a statement explaining that he was 'away in Marbella' when he got the 'call you never want to receive in your entire lifetime'.

He wrote: 'Where do I start? To say the last 2 months of our life has been traumatic would be an understatement.

'At the end of May, I received a call whilst I was away in Marbella, to say that Cle and her Mum had been involved in a tragic accident and had both sustained very serious injuries.

'A call that you never expect to receive and one you never want to receive in your entire lifetime.

'I flew home immediately and went straight to the hospital, a place in which we would stay day & night for the next 8 weeks. A place where we would receive the best and very worst news imaginable.

'The good news was that although Cle had suffered terrible injuries, after surgery she would slowly recover and our brave little one was ok, is ok and is going to be ok. Our baby had come away unscathed, which under the circumstances is nothing short of a miracle.

'Something we are both eternally grateful for. I am immensely proud of how strong Cle has had to be throughout all of this too.'

He continued: 'It became impossible to enjoy that happiness as 2 weeks later, we lost Cle's Mum, Gill.

She fought hard, as we knew she would, but she could not recover from the injuries she had sustained. This is an extreme loss of an irreplaceable part of the family.

'An extremely special person to me, the whole family and practically anyone who she met. Gill was a tough nut with a brilliant sense of humour.

'She never took herself too seriously and was happiest around other people laughing, someone who I would wind up at every possible opportunity and vice versa.

'This whole situation still doesn't feel real to me or Cle... Sometimes I'm sure you've just popped out to that nightclub, the one you used to go every night in your dressing gown with your handbag over your shoulder. I never did get an invite!

'The world can feel cruel at times, that she will never get to meet her first grandchild or that Cle won't get the opportunity to have her mothers guidance throughout this life changing journey, but I know you'll be watching over us and your memory will live on through us and our baby.

'It goes without saying that we are all hurting but genuinely touched with all the love and support we have received during this difficult time from our family and friends, who have gone over and above. We couldn't do it without you all.'

'The world can feel cruel': At the time, Tommy also shared a statement explaining that he was 'away in Marbella' when he got the 'call you never want to receive in your entire lifetime'

Expecting: The couple announced they were expecting their first child together in March, as Clelia took to Instagram to share a sweet montage video with fans

Clelia and Tommy announced they were expecting their first child together in March, as Clelia took to Instagram to share a sweet montage video with fans.

In the clip she revealed her pregnancy test and baby scans, and showed off her blossoming bump.

She also shared an image of a baby grow in the video, which had the Canadian flag and Union Jack, along with the words: 'Made in Canada... Coming to Essex... October 2023.'

The reality star captioned her post: 'It's been too hard keeping this one to ourselves, but we are beyond excited to tell you all that our little one is on the way! We cannot wait to meet you baby Cole.'

Clelia revealed she was dating Tommy in June 2021 when a fan quizzed her over the nature of their relationship.

Former Miss Great Britain Clelia first appeared on TOWIE in 2018 as Dan Edgar's love interest, but she was given the axe in 2021.

The mass cull saw 10 cast members given the chop including the likes of Courtney Green and best friend Chloe Meadows, Kelsey Stratford and Harry Lee.
Helen Skelton slipped into a leopard print bikini for a spot of wild swimming while Dan Walker admitted that 'he might be in love' on Tuesday.

The old friends are travelling up the 'Backbone of Britain', on their very own Pennine Adventure, for the new Channel 5 show, Helen And Dan's Pennine Adventure.

The series will see them explore the epic mountain range on their doorstep, travelling from Dan's home in Sheffield up to Helen's home in Cumbria, having some great adventures along the way.

Helen, 40, and Dan, 46, explored one of the Yorkshire Dale's deepest caves before they made their way to Pendragon Castle for a picnic.

Enjoying the grounds of the castle, they took a plunge in to the freezing cold river, with Helen exclaiming: 'It's freezing!'

Taking a dip: Helen Skelton, 40, slipped into a leopard print bikini as she joined Dan Walker, 46, for a spot of wild swimming on Tuesday

'I have to hand it to Helen, I think there might be something to this wild swimming lark,' Dan admitted.

Later on in the show, viewers saw the pair go horse riding, where Dan jokingly added that he should carry on the show with his horse Roger, for 'Dan and Roger's Pennine Adventure.'

Setting off on their travels again the duo headed to Malham where they stopped off at The Tan Hill Inn - the highest pub by altitude in Britain.

'I didn't think I'd feel this way about Roger. I might actually be in love with him,' Dan admitted to Helen while they enjoyed dinner.

Throwing away the guidebooks, they discover the 'real' Pennines, as they ask the people who call the area home, for their suggestions of where to visit.

The first episode, which aired two weeks ago, is already a hit with fans - with one writing: 'Loved the first episode of Pennine Adventure. Beautiful views and so enjoyed the banter between the two of you. Great show!'

Putting themselves outside their comfort zones the series will also seem them try some adventure sports, learn about the rich history of the places they visit and meet the proud men and women who safeguard this breath-taking landscape.

The adventure begins in The Peak District, Britains first national park. From the stunning Bamford Edge, Dan and Helen survey The Pennine Way, stretching all the way to Scotland, and discuss The Kinder Trespass, in which defiant protesters won the right to roam.

Swim: Enjoying the grounds of Pendragon Castle, they took a plunge in to the freezing cold river, with Helen exclaiming: 'It's freezing!'

Cute: Later on in the show, viewers saw the pair go horse riding, where Dan jokingly added that he should carry on the show with his horse Roger - who he 'loved'

In the village of Edale, the official gateway to The Pennines, Dan and Helen shear a sheep with third-generation farmer James Metcalfe.

While setting up camp one night, Dan gets the outdoor cooker going, while Helen strips down to her bikini to jump in the hot tub.

'I think this is what Pennine life is all about,' Dan says.

'I'm cooking tea, and Helen is in the hot tub'.

Showing the natural chemistry with the pair, Helen ask Dan to 'keep it down' and 'not make hers too burned' - with Dan quipping back at her to 'shut up'.
Geordie Shore star Elettra Lamborghini has bagged a new TV role - six years after starring in the reality show.

Elettra, 29, - who made a fleeting appearance on Geordie Shore in 2017 - has signed up to be a judge on the Italian version of Britain's Got Talent - Italia's Got Talent.

The TV personality will appear alongside social media star Khaby Lame, comedian Frank Matano and TV personality Mara Maionchi on the judging panel for the 12th series of the show.

The series is set to hit the screens on September 1 and will air on Disney +.

And Elettra, the granddaughter of motoring company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, certainly made an impression with her new colleagues as she put on a glamorous display as she attended a photocall for the show at Milan's Stazione Centrale on Tuesday.

TV star: Geordie Shore star Elettra Lamborghini has bagged a new TV role - six years after starring in the reality show

The way she was: Elettra, 29, - who made a fleeting appearance on Geordie Shore in 2017 (pictured) - has signed up to be a judge on the Italian version of Britain's Got Talent - Italia's Got Talent

The influencer showcased her figure in a skintight navy polka dot catsuit which she teamed with matching opera gloves.

She boosted her height with sparkling pink heels and finished off her look with silver hooped earrings.

Speaking about joining Italia's Got Talent, Elettra said: 'This is a fun programme, it makes you relax.

'You come home in the evening and enjoy a programme that makes you disconnect.'

Elettra's new role comes three years after she tied the knot with superstar DJ Afrojack at a lavish villa in Italy.

The heiress and the Dutch DJ, 35 - real name Nick van de Wall - exchanged vows in a stunning ceremony at the luxurious Villa Balbiano in Lake Como, Italy.

The newlyweds married exactly two years after they first starting dating, and 10 months after announcing their engagement in December 2019.

Among the guests in attendance at the ceremony were the DJ David Guetta, who shared a glimpse of the wedding and the event's vast fireworks display on Instagram.

Exciting: The TV personality will appear alongside social media star Khaby Lame (R), comedian Frank Matano (second left) and TV personality Mara Maionchi (L) on the judging panel for the 12th series of the show

Wow: Elettra, the granddaughter of motoring company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, certainly made an impression with her new colleagues as she put on a glamorous display as she attended a photocall for the show

Husband: Elettra's new role comes three years after she tied the knot with superstar DJ Afrojack at a lavish villa in Italy

F=un times: She joined the cast of Geordie Shore's Spanish counterpart Super Shore in 2016, and eventually appeared as part of the original series' Newcastle cast for one series in 2017 (pictured with Gaz Beadle)

As well as descending from the founder of one of the world's biggest car companies, Elettra rose to prominence as a social media star in her native Italy, and was even dubbed the country's 'Paris Hilton'.

She joined the cast of Geordie Shore's Spanish counterpart Super Shore in 2016, and eventually appeared as part of the original series' Newcastle cast for one series in 2017.

No stranger to clashing with her co-stars, Elettra previously admitted she has no interest in joining the family business, telling Quien: 'I don't work, but with respect to everyone who works.

'I have things I need to do, things that have to do with my figure and something in fashion.'
NRL star Sam Burgess announced his engagement to his stunning Welsh girlfriend Lucy Graham earlier this year.

And on Wednesday, it was revealed that Lucy, 33, used to be a member of British girl group The Ultra Girls, who were featured heavily on The X Factor UK in 2009.

Graham sang and danced with three other young women in the girl power group that took inspiration from The Spice Girls.

One of their career highlights was supporting Kylie Minogue when she performed her Aphrodite World Tour in London in 2011.

Unfortunately, despite heavy publicity their debut single Girls Will Be Girls failed to chart, ending Graham's dreams of making it as a pop star.

NRL star Sam Burgess announced his engagement to his stunning Welsh girlfriend Lucy Graham earlier this year. Both pictured

On Wednesday, it was revealed Lucy (second from right) used to be a member of British girl group The Ultra Girls, who were featured heavily on The X Factor UK in 2009

Lucy is heavily pregnant with her first child with Sam, and is due in September.

The former Rabbitohs player proposed to Lucy in June, just nine months after they went public with their relationship.

Burgess previously revealed he was extremely nervous when he asked the Leeds hairdresser to marry him.

Appearing on Channel 7's Sunrise shortly after arriving back in Australia, Sam was asked how he proposed to Lucy.

While he kept the details private, he said: 'I was very nervous actually, I dropped the ball so to speak, it was a great day, a great time away, we are both very happy.'

Lucy appeared extremely happy with her engagement ring, as she shared photos flaunting it on Instagram.

Graham sang and danced with three other young women in a girl power group that took inspiration for The Spice Girls

Sam already shares two older children - Poppy, four, and Billy, three - with his ex-wife Phoebe Burgess (nee Hooke).

Lucy recently made the decision to move Down Under from the UK permanently and it's believed her pregnancy was the reason.

Meanwhile, Sam looked to be in good spirits on Wednesday when he was spotted at Bondi Beach after a fun day out with his baby nephew.

He rocked an all-black casual look in a jumper and shorts and accessorised with stylish sunglasses.

Meanwhile, Sam looked to be in good spirits on Wednesday when he was spotted at Bondi Beach after a fun day out with his baby nephew.

He rocked an all-black smart casual look in a jumper and shorts and accessorised with stylish sunglasses
Duran Duran have announced their 16th studio album: Danse Macabre, in time for this years Halloween and is set for release on October 27.

Title track Danse Macabre was released on Wednesday as the first of three brand new songs and has been produced by Mr Hudson.

The release comes days after Andy Taylor revealed he's 'asymptomatic' after previously being classed as needing 'palliative, end-of-life care' amid prostate cancer battle as he shared a dramatic health U-turn

Keyboardist Nick Rhodes said: 'The song Danse Macabre celebrates the joy and madness of Halloween. It is the title track of our forthcoming album, which gathers together an unusual mix of cover versions, reworked Duran Duran songs and several new compositions.

'The idea was born out of a show we played in Las Vegas on October 31st, 2022. We had decided to seize the moment to create a unique, special eventthe temptation of using glorious gothic visuals set to a dark soundtrack of horror and humour was simply irresistible.

Spooky! Duran Duran have announced a new album called Danse Macabre to 'celebrate the joy and madness of Halloween' after Andy Taylor detailed his dramatic health U-turn

Keyboardist Nick Rhodes said: 'The song Danse Macabre celebrates the joy and madness of Halloween. It is the title track of our forthcoming album, which gathers together an unusual mix of cover versions, reworked Duran Duran songs and several new compositions'

Simon Le Bon elaborated: 'Its about a crazy Halloween party. Its supposed to be fun!'

'That evening inspired us to explore further and to make an album, using Halloween as the key theme. The record metamorphosed through a pure, organic process, and not only was it made faster than anything since our debut album, it has also resulted in something none of us could have ever predicted.

'Emotion, mood, style and attitude have always been at the heart of Duran Durans DNA, we search for light in the darkness and darkness in the light, and I feel we have somehow managed to capture the essence of all of that in this project.'

Simon Le Bon elaborated: 'Its about a crazy Halloween party. Its supposed to be fun!'

Fans can also look forward to Duran Durans Halloween covers of Billie Eilishs Bury A Friend, Talking Heads Psycho Killer (feat. Victoria De Angelis of Maneskin), The Rolling Stones Paint It Black, the Rick James-inspired Super Lonely Freak, Siouxsie and the Banshees Spellbound, Cerrones Supernature and The Specials Ghost Town.'

Guitarist Andy 62, had been diagnosed with incurable stage four metastatic prostate cancer in 2018, publicly revealing the shock news in November last year.

However, in a new interview, Andy shared a dramatic health U-turn after undergoing pioneering treatment, which came about after a doctor told him of a different treatment option specifically targets cancer cells.

Detailing his experience with The Times, Andy told how he underwent a round of this medical intervention, which sees radioactive chemicals administered intravenously, which was identified and recommended by scientist Christopher Evans - whom he referred to as the 'Elon Musk of cancer'.

The publication reports that the rocker was 'radioactive for several days' and is unable to sleep in the same room as anybody else or use public transport.

Update: Earlier this week, Andy Taylor told how he's now 'asymptomatic' amid his prostate cancer battle after previously being classed as needing 'palliative, end of life care' - pictured on Wednesday

Happy days: He happily signed autographs for fans waiting outide BBC Broadcasting House on the same day the album release news was announced

Danse Macabre track-listing... 1. 'Nightboat' 2. 'Black Moonlight' 3.'Love Voudou' 4. 'Bury A Friend' 5. 'Supernature' 6. 'Danse Macabre' 7. 'Secret Oktober 31st' 8. 'Ghost Town' 9. 'Paint It Black' 10. 'Super Lonely Freak' 11. 'Spellbound' 12. 'Psycho Killer' (feat. Victoria De Angelis) 13. 'Confession in the Afterlife' Advertisement

And giving an update following the treatment, Andy said: 'I was classified as palliative, end-of-life care  and now Im not; Im asymptomatic.'

Andy has so far had one round of the treatment and will have five round to follow, each six weeks apart.

Despite the now positive outlook, Andy recalled being at a very low moment after being initially diagnosed, which at the time he had limited options with 'nothing to keep you alive'.

He shared: 'The lowest point is maybe six weeks after the diagnosis, when it really sinks in. Youre gonna have to say goodbye to your family. Youre not going to see your grandsons tenth birthday. Psychologically its mind-blowing - you cant have therapy to remove the certainty of death.'

Andy also told how he refused chemotherapy as he didn't want to damage the nerves in his hands due to him being a guitarist.

While he kept his illness a secret for years for the sake of his grown-up children , explaining he wanted them 'to be able to go about life without anyone persistently asking about my health'.

Andy's frightening diagnosis was finally revealed publicly (and to his bandmates) in a letter read out by Simon Le Bon at Duran Duran's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction in November, with Andy being too ill to attend.
Ariana Madix left little to the imagination as she slipped into a racy sheer beige maxi dress while partying at a nightclub in West Hollywood on Tuesday.

The Vanderpump Rules star, 38, showed off her incredible figure as she went braless and flashed her thong underwear through the revealing number.

She added height to her frame in a pair of beige heels and toted her belongings in a matching bag.

The blonde beauty  who has been carefully avoiding any awkward run-ins with her ex Tom Sandoval while filming  styled her long tresses in beach waves and accessorised with a simple long silver pendant necklace.

Ariana was joined for the fun night out by co-star Katie Maloney, 36, who looked stunning in a navy mini dress.

Turning heads: Ariana Madix left little to the imagination as she slipped into a racy sheer beige maxi dress while partying at a nightclub in West Hollywood on Tuesday

Bringing sexy back: The Vanderpump Rules star, 38, showed off her incredible figure as she went braless and flashed her thong underwear through the revealing number

The outing comes after the duo were spotted meeting up earlier in the day with restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump, 62, to film the upcoming 11th season of their Bravo series.

The reality stars have been busy filming the forthcoming 11th season of Vanderpump Rules, which will follow the group of friends in the wake of the infamous Scandoval drama.

A release date for the upcoming season has not yet been released but the 11th season of Vanderpump Rules is expected to premiere sometime in 2024.

Despite the fact that Tom and Ariana are very much broken up, the couple still live together, much to the chagrin of Vanderpump Rules fans who watched the dramatic Scandoval play out in real time.

The blonde beauty defended her decision not to move just yet, explaining to a follower: 'I live in my home that I own while working with my lawyer and financial advisors to navigate the best path forward before uprooting my dog and my elderly cat and causing more trauma for the three of us.'

Ariana recently Bethenny Frankel's recent bombshell interview with her ex-BFF Raquel Leviss.

During the interview, the Skinnygirl founder downplayed Ariana's relationship with her cheating ex-boyfriend, noting that they weren't married and didn't have any kids together.

Ariana clapped back on the Scheananigans With Scheana Shay podcast, saying: 'In many states, [he was my common law spouse].

'I find that hurtful in regards to other women in relationships who don't have children. Maybe they can't have children or don't want children or don't want to get married.'

In spite of the recent fresh drama, the Florida-born bombshell has found love again.

The reality television star is currently in a relationship with her new boyfriend, Daniel Wai, who she describes as having 'a very grounding, calming, positive energy.'

Looking glam: She added height to her frame in a pair of beige heels and toted her belongings in a matching bag

Trying to stay cordial: Ariana recently defended not moving out of the home that she shares with cheating ex Tom Sandoval after he had an affair (pictured in June 2022)

It's showtime! Later on Wednesday, Tom was seen arriving at a venue in Hollywood for a show with his band Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras. He looked fit in a black tank top that showcased his bulging biceps

Man in black: He paired his shirt with matching slim jeans and white sneakers. He wore a black baseball cap and carried a can of soda while holding a black bag and pulling suitcases of gear

'He's very like, always trying to help with things,' she gushed to Shay.

'He is someone who does bring a whole lot of happiness,' she continued, which prompted Shay, 38, to say she is 'obsessed' with Wai.

Shay went on to say how unlike her pal's 'past relationships' that this one brings out 'the best' in Arianna.

'You're with someone for the first time  that I've personally ever seen  who supports you, who's happy to help you and empower you and also take a backseat and just f**king let you shine,' Shay praised.
A returning EastEnders star has broken his silence after he made a surprise return to TV screens this week.

Ricky Norwood, 40, shared his delight after arriving back in Albert Square, eight years after this character was murdered.

Fatboy Chubb met his 'demise' in grisly circumstances in the Christmas 2015 storyline, with the character getting killed in a car in a case of mistaken identity.

He died off-screen after Ronnie Mitchell arranged for her enemy Vincent Hubbard to be sent to the car crusher, but Fatboy was accidentally trapped in the car boot and killed instead.

Sharing the news to Twitter on Tuesday, Ricky wrote: 'Guess who back..!?!? Even for a brief moment What an episode and what an epic storyline to be apart of @missmcollins'

He's back! Ricky Norwood, 40, shared his delight after arriving back in Albert Square, eight years after this character was murdered

He continued: 'Big Thanks to Chris Clenshaw for making it happen! The @bbceastenders team for keeping it super secret. Just wish Mrs. B could of been there.'

Ricky was suspended from EastEnders in 2014 after a video was leaked of the star allegedly smoking marijuana and performing a sex act on Skype.

BBC bosses decided to suspend Ricky from filming for two months when the pictures of him first came to light, while the actor apologised for his actions.

Ricky had starred in online spin-off show E20 before finding fame on the long-running soap.

During Tuesday night's episode, Ricky reprised his role as the much-loved Fatboy Chubb.

In the latest EastEnders episode, Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) came face-to-face with her ex George Knight (Colin Salom).

Cindy finally told George the truth and viewers were treated to flashback scenes set in Marbella in Spain in 2014.

The flashback showed her leaving him and her daughters after learning Lucy, her daughter, had died.

RIP? Fatboy Chubb met his 'demise' in grisly circumstances in the Christmas 2015 storyline, with the character getting killed in a car in a case of mistaken identity (pictured this week)

News: Sharing the news to Twitter on Tuesday, Ricky wrote: 'Guess who back..!?!? Even for a brief moment What an episode and what an epic storyline to be apart of @missmcollins'

During a secret visit back to the square, Cindy was seen watching Ian (Adam Woodyatt) from afar, as he grieved the horrific loss.

Cindy was then approached by DCI Mary Nicholls, her witness protection handler, who forced her to get in her car.

While chatting in the car, they were briefly interrupted by Arthur 'Fatboy' Chubb.

He asked for the time and began speaking about meeting his friends and getting a kebab.

He also mentioned his 'pensioner' friend and landlady Dorothy 'Dot' Branning (the late June Brown).

Fans were thrilled with the characters return, with one penning on Twitter: 'This flashback story is so good!'

Another said: 'I miss Fatboy!'

A third added: 'Absolutely jaw dropping ending tonight. Oh and Fatboy, he ain't dead trust me'

After his exit from the soap, Ricky revealed that he suffered from depression and addressed his struggles on Celebrity Big Brother back in 2016.

Throwback: Ricky was suspended from EastEnders in 2014 after a video was leaked of the star allegedly smoking marijuana and performing a sex act on Skype (pictured in 2012)

Revealing that he didn't know at the time he was suffering from depression, he confessed that his anxiety was so high that he didn't want to leave the house.

'I went into deep depression,' he explained. 'I didn't know it was depression. I didn't want to leave my house, I had all the blinds drawn.'

He added that despite leaving the soap after the scandal, he was pleased with the work he had achieved and what could come in the future.

'I was happy. I was only supposed to be there for three months, I was there just under six years,' he said.
Sian Welby has opened up on her 'romantic' engagement after returning from holiday in Greece on Tuesday.

The TV and radio presenter, 36, revealed her radio producer beau Jake Beckett had popped the question last week as she took to Instagram with a slew of loved-up snaps.

Returning to work at the Capital Breakfast studios, Sian sat down with her co-host Roman Kemp, who was quick to congratulate her on the milestone moment.

Keen to hear all the details, Roman, 30, immediately pointed out her sparkly new engagement ring.

He said: 'Now, Sian, youve come in today and theres something on your finger.

Happy news: Sian Welby has opened up on her 'romantic' engagement to radio producer Jake Beckett after returning from holiday in Greece on Tuesday

'Now, there's usually something on mine and we don't discuss it, but for some reason we need to do it on yours, so would you like to tell everyone what happened?

Amused, Sian responded: 'I got engaged! I just like that all morning you've been teasing it like I've done disgusting stuff to my hand.

'But anyway, I got engaged, I did not see it coming, you know, we all have little discussions in the room like "Would you ever get engaged, or do you want to get married?"

'I sort of didn't mind either way, I've never really had it planned in my head and so I didn't see this coming at all. It was day two of the holiday week, we went to Crete...'

'What happened?' Roman asked, prodding for details.

Sian continued: 'We always like to do a boat day where we hire a little boat and take it out on the water for few hours, and so again, that wasn't suspicious because I expected us to do that.

'It turned out that he had put the ring, because he didn't have a bag or anything, he put it up his top but the back.

'Sorry, I said that a little bit slow, up his top, nowhere else, he put it up the back of his T-shirt and then use the shorts and sort of tucked.

Supportive: Returning to work at the Capital Breakfast studios, Sian sat down with her co-host Roman Kemp, who was quick to congratulate her on the milestone moment

'Then suddenly, he starts saying some really nice things, how we've been together it clicked when he said, "So if I asked you to marry me, would you?" and I went "what?!".

'He gave himself a buffer!' Roman joked.

Sian said: 'He didn't go on one knee because we're on the back of a boat, so there wasn't a lot of room but he was sat on the back and it was it was romantic, it was really nice.

'He'd said a load of nice things and then at that point I looked up because I was lying down sunbathing, and then he had the ring in his hand and then I didn't know what to say I was all awkward then said "Oh my god yes!"'

After enquiring as to whether the ring fit or not, Sian confirmed: 'It fit perfectly! Its the most embarrassing reason how he got that right.

'Hed gone to the place where he got the ring and he was sort of taking to this woman and she was really good at judging.

'She can judge the size of the ring finger based on your other fingers. So he found this picture of me, Ive got a raptor hat on and my arms are going "Raaaa".'

The This Morning star revealed she was engaged in a sweet Instagram post last week, showing off her ring as she posed in snaps with her radio producer beau Jake.

The pair looked delighted as they beamed for the camera as Sian wowed in a green bikini.

Talent: Sian's new fiance Jake works for Heart Breakfast as a creative producer alongside hosts including Kelly Brook, Rochelle Humes, Vogue Williams and Emma Bunton

Sian wrote: 'On Tuesday I thought we were just going on a boat trip!! Genuinely didn't see this coming. For once I am totally speechless.

'I didn't think it mattered until he asked me, and then suddenly it meant everything. Love you Jakey x 15.8.23.'

Sian, who often presents This Morning's competitions, shared loved-up snaps with Jake as they shared the special moment with their followers.

Sian replaced Strictly star Vick Hope on Capital to host alongside Roman and Sonny Jay in 2020.

Her new fiance Jake works for Heart Breakfast as a creative producer alongside hosts including Kelly Brook, Rochelle Humes, Vogue Williams and Emma Bunton.

Sian, who comes from Nottingham, began presenting at the age of 19.

She was still working part-time as a shop assistant for New Look when a starring role in an advert for New! Magazine led to her being spotted by former Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond.

Sian was unveiled as the new face of Channel 5 News in 2010 and has previously described how she would work as a retail assistant by day, and record online videos in the fitting room after the shop had closed.
EastEnders have shared a first look clip of the aftermath of Cindy Beale's shock return to Albert Square.

Tuesday's episode of the BBC soap ended with Cindy (Michelle Collins) coming face-to-face with her long-lost daughters Gina (Francesca Henry) and Anna (Molly Rainford) amid Anna's birthday celebrations.

While Gina and Anna, as well as their father George Knight (Colin Salmon) were shocked to see 'Rose' in the pub, other long-term Albert Square residents were left completely floored, seeing as Cindy has been presumed dead for the past 25 years.

And in a teaser video ahead of Wednesday night's episode, feisty Gina can be seen confronting her mum, who at one point went by 'Rose', while the likes of Phil Mitchell, Sharon Watts and Sonia Fowler struggle to get their heads around her jaw-dropping return.

Bursting into the packed pub following her run-in with estranged husband George, Cindy encounters faces old and new, as she remarks: 'I know this is a lot to take in'.

Drama! EastEnders have shared a first look clip of the aftermath of Cindy Beale's shock return to Albert Square

Shock: Tuesday's episode of the BBC soap ended with Cindy (Michelle Collins) coming face-to-face with her long-lost daughters Gina (Francesca Henry) and Anna (Molly Rainford) amid Anna's birthday celebrations

While George reveals to his family that 'this is Rose', Gina remarks: 'That ain't her real name', while a dumbfounded Sonia chimes in: 'No it blimmin' well ain't!'

Shocked to see her old neighbour alive and well, Sharon turns to Phil and asks: 'It's Cindy, how?', with Phil - who previously orchestrated Kathy's return from the dead - just as baffled, replying: 'I don't know!'

While Ben Mitchell tells husband Callum Highway: 'She's meant to be dead!'

As Cindy turns to her daughters, saying: 'You must have a lot of questions', an angry Gina fumes: 'Like who the hell are you for starters?'

'I'm your mum, you know that', implores Cindy, while Gina fires back: 'Our mum was called Rose Knight and Rose Knight she don't exist!'

The clip then sees Cindy begging for five minutes upstairs to talk to her daughters, with George's fiancee Elaine, Gina and George refusing.

However Anna, who had been trying to track down her mother of late, begs to hear what Cindy has to say about herself.

The clip sets the pace for the upcoming episode as Cindy's comeback continues to send shockwaves through the square.

No way! While Gina and Anna, as well as their father George Knight (Colin Salmon) were shocked to see 'Rose' in the pub, other long-term Albert Square residents were left completely floored, seeing as Cindy has been presumed dead for the past 25 years

Dramatic: In a teaser video ahead of Wednesday night's episode, feisty Gina can be seen confronting her mum, who at one point went by 'Rose'

Tension: While George reveals to his family that 'this is Rose', Gina remarks: 'That ain't her real name', while a dumbfounded Sonia chimes in: 'No it blimmin' well ain't!'

Confused: Shocked to see her old neighbour alive and well, Sharon turns to Phil and asks: 'It's Cindy, how?', with Phil just as baffled, replying: 'I don't know!'

It comes after EastEnders legend Cindy first returned with a bang on Monday after a 25-year hiatus from the BBC soap.

As Cindy finally made her dramatic return to the square, she paid a visit to her mother-in-law Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth).

Cindy explained she has been in France with her son Ian and grandson Peter, leaving Kathy fuming as she believed Cindy was dead.

After Cindy called Kathy's son Ben Mitchell 'a right psycho', Kathy lashed out by slapping her across the face.

The pair continued to slap each other and throw insults at each other until Kathy pushed Cindy to the ground as she called her 'a bi**h'.

Emotional: 'I'm your mum, you know that', implores Cindy, while Gina fires back: 'Our mum was called Rose Knight and Rose Knight she don't exist!'

Not having it: The clip then sees Cindy begging for five minutes upstairs to talk to her daughters, with George's fiancee Elaine, Gina and George refusing

Sensitive: However Anna, who had been trying to track down her mother of late, begs to hear what Cindy has to say about herself

Showdown: The clip sets the pace for the upcoming episode as Cindy's comeback continues to send shockwaves through the square

BBC viewers praised the explosive scene, with one penning: 'Those scenes between Cindy and Kathy was EastEnders at its absolute best'

Another said: 'Not even reunited minutes and the slaps are flying between Cindy and Kathy. The EastEnders we know and love'

While a third added: 'That was iconic'.

Meanwhile, another legendary EastEnders character has made a surprise return in flashback scenes from 2014.

During Tuesday night's episode, Ricky Norwood reprised his role as the much-loved Arthur 'Fatboy' Chubb after getting murdered eight years ago.

Iconic: It comes after EastEnders legend Cindy returned with a bang on Monday after a 25-year hiatus from the BBC soap

Return: As Cindy finally made her dramatic return to the square, she paid a visit to her mother-in-law Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth)

Fatboy is back! Another legendary EastEnders character has made a surprise return in flashback scenes from 2014

Fatboy died in grisly circumstances in the Christmas 2015 storyline, with the character getting killed in a car in a case of mistaken identity.

He died off-screen after Ronnie Mitchell arranged for her enemy Vincent Hubbard to be sent to the car crusher, but Fatboy was accidentally trapped in the car boot and killed instead.

But the character reappeared on the soap in flashback scenes from 2014 depicting the moment Cindy made a secret visit to Albert Square with her witness protection handler after learning daughter Lucy was murdered.

EastEnders airs Wednesday at 7.30pm on BBC One.
Debbie McGee has recalled the horror of being held hostage in Iran for three months while she was working as a dancer with the Iranian National Ballet.

The TV star, 64, appeared on Wednesday's Good Morning Britain where she suprised hosts Kate Garraway and Richard Madelay with her story.

Debbie told how she and several other dancers were held captive for three months after being 'herded into a block of flats'.

She said: 'I have led a fairytale life but I've also dealt with a lot of stuff. They all said, we didn't know you were a hostage in Iran.

Surprised, Kate replied: 'Well I didn't know that.'

Ordeal: Debbie McGee has recalled the horror of being held hostage in Iran for three months while she was working as a dancer with the Iranian National Ballet

Terrifying: Debbie told how she and several other dancers were held captive for three months after being 'herded into a block of flats'

Debbie said: 'That's how I met Paul [Daniels]. I came back to England and needed a job.'

Richard asked: 'How long were you a hostage for?'

Debbie said: 'About three months. I worked for a ballet company and we were all, who were Western, were herded into a block of flats.

'The boys had to go out at six in the morning and the only food we could get were from the bakers on the streets which were like flat pizzas, no butter or anything, and maybe some cans of things and maybe a few eggs.'

Debbie previously discussed her Iranian ordeal during an appearance on Pointless Celebrities in 2018.

She said:'Well I'd planned to stay for three years but if you've seen the movie Argo with Ben Affleck that was what I went through.

'I was hidden in a house, I got stopped at the airport, I chatted up one of the customs guys who stamped my passport and I ran across the tarmac and escaped.'

Asked why she joined the Iranian Ballet in the first place, Debbie said: 'They were paying five times more than the National Ballet. It was the money.'

Debbie said: 'The boys had to go out at six in the morning and the only food we could get were from the bakers on the streets'

It comes after Debbie revealed she is open to finding love again following the death of her magician husband Paul Daniels in 2016.

Paul and Debbie married in 1988 after the pair had reached notoriety as a magician and magician's assistant on the BBC 1 series Paul Daniels Magic Show. He died from brain cancer in 2016, aged 77.

Debbie revealed that while she is not actively 'looking' for another relationship, she would be open to the prospect if it happened to come along.

She said: 'Well, I've never said I'm ready for it. I've just said that if it happens it happens.

'Because I think if you go looking for it, a, you look desperate and, b, you never find it.

'All the people I know who go "I wish I could find somebody", men or women, don't seem to find it or find the right person.' The Strictly Come Dancing finalist also shed light onto her life without Paul, revealing how she has stayed positive in the wake of his loss.

Future: It comes after Debbie revealed she is open to finding love again following the death of her magician husband Paul Daniels in 2016 (pictured together in 2007)

She continued: Life is never the same when you lose somebody. There is that hole. You cant fill that gap just take every day as it comes.

'But what you can do is accept they've gone is the biggest thing and then just take every day as it comes.

'I'm so lucky that I have fantastic family, wonderful friends, everywhere I go people are lovely to me.

I would say that I just embrace every minute of my life now and accept its different to when I was with Paul but it doesnt mean it cant be as good.

'I'm just lucky that I had this amazing life and now I've still got an amazing life.
EastEnders fans have conjured up theories that Fatboy's death was a hoax, after he made a surprise return to Albert Square in flashback scenes from 2014.

During Tuesday night's episode, Ricky Norwood reprised his role as the much-loved Fatboy Chubb after getting murdered eight years ago.

Fatboy died in grisly circumstances in the Christmas 2015 storyline, with the character killed in a car in a case of mistaken identity.

He died off-screen after Ronnie Mitchell arranged for her enemy Vincent Hubbard to be sent to the car crusher, but Fatboy was accidentally trapped in the car boot and killed instead.

But after the latest EastEnders episode, fans are convinced he may have still been alive all along, and have speculated he may have been in witness protection.

Still alive? EastEnders fans have conjured up theories that Fatboy's death was a hoax, after he made a surprise return to Albert Square in flashback scenes from 2014

Comeback: During Tuesday night's episode, Ricky Norwood reprised his role as the much-loved Fatboy Chubb after getting murdered eight years ago

With viewers never seeing a body nor his death being confirmed on the show, fans are now wondering if his return to Walford via the cameo means he is still alive.

In the latest EastEnders episode, Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) came face-to-face with her ex George Knight (Colin Salom).

Cindy finally told George the truth and viewers were treated to flashback scenes set in Marbella in Spain in 2014.

The flashback showed her leaving him and her daughters after learning Lucy, her daughter, had died.

During a secret visit back to the square, Cindy was seen watching Ian (Adam Woodyatt) from afar, as he grieved the horrific loss.

Cindy was then approached by DCI Mary Nicholls, her witness protection handler, who forced her to get in her car.

While chatting in the car, they were briefly interrupted by Arthur 'Fatboy' Chubb.

He asked for the time and began speaking about meeting his friends and getting a kebab.

The flashback confirmed Cindy, who came back from the dead herself earlier this year, actually returned to Walford in 2014 - years on from her apparent death in 1998.

Fans are now wondering, for Fatboy to cross paths with a resurrected Cindy and someone who works for witness protection, Mary, could it allude to him having been saved?

There has been past speculation that he might have been placed in witness protection to protect him from Vincent or the group that were after Vincent.

Now viewers think the scenes with Mary are no coincidence - and for Fatboy to feature in the cameo - could it be a hint that their paths crossed again a year later?

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, fans shared their theories.

One wrote: 'The thing is we did not see a body or blood just the car. I still think that he is on a witness protection thing as well and his comeback is going to be emotional.

'Filled with love, grief and turmoil to integrate after being away so long. What you saying @BBC? You going to take up the challenge?'

Another agreed: 'Fatboy needs to come back permanently. We never saw the body. If Cindy can return so can Fatboy.'

A third said: 'Why else would they show Fatboy specifically if he wasn't going to meet Mary later for his own witness protection... he's alive, trust me.'

Another fan agreed: 'Fatboy back in Eastenders for a cameo! Did he really die in the car crushing? A possible return???'

A fifth added: 'Sorry but #EastEnders bringing Fatboy back for a cameo must mean something????'

A sixth said: 'A fatboy return is defo on the cards.. he's in witness protection.'

Throwback: Ricky was suspended from EastEnders in 2014 after a video was leaked of the star allegedly smoking marijuana and performing a sex act on Skype (pictured in 2012)

Following the episode, Ricky, 40, shared his delight after arriving back in Albert Square, eight years after this character was murdered.

Sharing the news to Twitter on Tuesday, Ricky wrote: 'Guess who back..!?!? Even for a brief moment What an episode and what an epic storyline to be apart of @missmcollins'

He continued: 'Big Thanks to Chris Clenshaw for making it happen! The @bbceastenders team for keeping it super secret. Just wish Mrs. B could of been there.'

Ricky was suspended from EastEnders in 2014 after a video was leaked of the star allegedly smoking marijuana and performing a sex act on Skype.

BBC bosses decided to suspend Ricky from filming for two months when the pictures of him first came to light, while the actor apologised for his actions.

Ricky had starred in online spin-off show E20 before finding fame on the long-running soap.
Danniella Westbrook has revealed that her wedding to her jailbird fiance David is back on as she went dress shopping this week.

The EastEnders star, 49, was left devastated when her toyboy lover ex David, 29, called time on their union after a seven-year on-off relationship last month.

But she took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a video in a bridal boutique, captioning it: 'It's back on'.

She panned around the shop to show a number of stunning white gowns and a beaded headdress.

The clip was set to Ellie Goulding's How Long Will I Love You and included a black-and-white snap of Daniella embracing David.

Rekindled romance: Danniella Westbrook has revealed that her wedding to her jailbird fiance David is back on as she went dress shopping this week

Heartbroken: The EastEnders star, 49, was left devastated when her toyboy lover ex David, 29, called time on their union after a seven-year on-off relationship last month

Reunited: But she took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a video in a bridal boutique, captioning it: 'It's back on'

The actress announced last year that she was waiting on David to be released from prison so that he could propose in style.

It has been reported that David is serving time in prison for counterfeit goods and engaging in various physical altercations but will be released in September, just before her 50th birthday.

However, in July a friend of the star reportedly told The Sun the couple had split, saying: 'Danniella was heartbroken last night. Both Danniella and David have decided to cancel their wedding plans and, it seems, their whole relationship.

'She has spent nearly seven years travelling all over the country to visit him but it seems the closer he is to coming home, the more the cracks are showing.

'They have both just changed so much since they first got together.'

But this month it appeared the couple had patched things up, with Danniella taking to her Instagram to wish David a happy birthday and call him her 'ride or die'.

She wrote: 'Happy birthday to my ride or die my world and the only one who's never ever wanted anything but the best for me.

'This is the last birthday we will ever spend Apart again. I love you and can't wait do see u next week.'

Here comes the bride! She panned around the shop to show a number of stunning white gowns and a beaded headdress

Romantic: The clip was set to Ellie Goulding's How Long Will I Love You and included a black-and-white snap of Daniella embracing David

Reconciliation: It was reported in July the couple had split, but this month they appeared to have patched things up, with Danniella taking to her Instagram to wish David a happy birthday and call him her 'ride or die'

Danniella was previously pictured trying on wedding dresses last month, slipping into a princess style gown with an embellished bodice and voluminous tulle skirt.

She added to the glamorous ensemble with a floor length veil that was secured in place with a glittering silver tiara.



Last year, Danniella spoke about her wedding plans with David, who at 29 is 20 years her junior.

She said: 'I've got a big ring that was made for me, and I wore it into the jail and David said, "It was lovely but it's not big enough", so there is a bigger one coming.

'He has asked me to marry him but I told him to wait until he gets home. He asks me all the time, he even asked me at the jail.

'He didn't get down on one knee or anything but he's like, "We are getting married you know."'

The pair were previously in a 'tumultuous' relationship after meeting each other other in Spain five years ago.

Yet despite their 'up-and-down' romance, Danniella explained to the Daily Star: 'We just stayed in touch and he went to jail early 2019 and he got 9 years 9 months. He's home next year though, he's got 11 months to go.'

Having her say: Danniella denied last year that she and David had split as she showed off her engagement ring

Nuptials: Later on her social media she also hinted she had found her perfect wedding dress as she shared a snap of a lace gown and wrote 'everything' in the caption

Danniella has been married twice before - her first marriage was to van driver Ben Morgan in 1998, but they divorced nine months later.

In 2001, the star married businessman Kevin Jenkins, almost four months after the birth of their daughter Jodie. They divorced in 2020.

Danniella is also focusing on her appearance after her nightmare surgery at a clinic in Turkey which she had in a desperate bid to save her collapsing face.

The television personality - whose wounds have been stitched up with non-dissolvable fishing wire - previously detailed the horrifying procedure as she revealed she will 'go back' to her original doctor in the UK to have corrective surgery.

She claimed the painful operation she has waited years for was performed without anaesthesia.

Danniella alleged the surgeon even slapped her during the op, and her phone was confiscated by an assistant as she begged for him to stop.

She said: 'He was going to me, "Stop crying, stop crying." I said, "I'm in a lot of pain. Please, please. I'm frightened. I'm in a lot of pain. I didn't know this was going to happen." It was really frightening.'

She then began to panic, and continued to tell the doctor she was in serious pain, but she said he told her to 'Stop f*****g moving, I tell you, stop moving.'

Past: In 2001, she married businessman Kevin Jenkins, almost four months after the birth of their daughter Jodie, but they divorced in 2020 (pictured together in 2002)

Despite undergoing another procedure in Turkey in a bid to save her collapsing face, Danniella has since admitted she hates her new look.

Danniella had a thread lift, liposuction in her cheeks and lips, fat grafting on her chin and her jawline etched after her septum collapsed from excessive drug use in 2002.

Taking to Instagram, the actress shared a photo of herself taken before the surgery and said she couldn't believe what had been done to her.

She wrote: 'Three months ago I looked like this and thought I looked awful. I'd give my world to look like this again... I can't believe what's been done to me with this surgery.'
Helen Baxendale has been branded 'nice but not funny' by the legendary US television director who shot her in Friends.

James Burrows, who has directed more than 1,000 episodes of sitcoms, including Cheers and Will & Grace, revealed that it was a struggle to work with Helen because the other actors couldn't feed off any comedic energy.

As a result the attempted comedy 'was like clapping with one hand', said the director, who noted that David Schwimmer - who played Ross Gellar - had 'no one to bounce off.'

Helen joined the show in series four, playing Ross' English girlfriend and then fiancee Emily Waltham in 14 episodes of the sitcom.

Their relationship was short lived, with the romance imploding after Ross said his ex Rachel Green's [Jennifer Aniston] name instead of hers at the altar.

Ouch: Helen Baxendale has been branded 'nice but not funny' by the legendary US television director who shot her in Friends (pictured with L-R Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc)

Cute couple: Helen joined the show in series four, playing Ross' English girlfriend and then fiancee Emily Waltham in 14 episodes of the sitcom

James reflected on working with Helen when he directed the episode, The One with All the Rugby, where Ross plays the sport with her British friends for the first time.

'She was nice but not particularly funny,' he recalled in his new memoir, Directed by James Burrows. 'Schwimmer had no one to bounce off. It was like clapping with one hand.

'In sitcoms and any type of romantic comedy, the funny is just as important as the chemistry. We discovered that any new girlfriend for Ross needed to be as funny as Rachel.

'Often, you can't recast, because of tight shooting deadlines or other logistical considerations. You don't cast anyone to be a straw man, unless it's for one episode.

'You need someone who gets laughs. Sometimes you start an arc and it ain't working out, so you have to get rid of that person. If it's a day player, it's a quick goodbye.

'The reverse is also true. If there's chemistry, the writers go to work to figure out some way of keeping the actor.'

Speaking about her experience on Friends previously, Cold Feet star Helen said of the cast: 'They were all very nice and professional. We were never great mates though.

'People expect because it is called Friends that everyone was great friends, but they were real professionals. They'd been doing it for years and I was one of many guest stars to appear.

'I am very proud and delighted to have been in such an amazingly successful and international show.'

'It's always a talking point and it was a very clever set up - even now young people especially seem to love it.

'But it doesn't feel like part of my life at all now. I look upon it as a strange surreal little blip in my life almost like a dream.'

Speaking out: Director James Burrows revealed it was a struggle to work with Helen because the other actors couldn't feed off any comedic energy (pictured with Jennifer Aniston)

Helen was written out of the sitcom earlier than the producers had intended because she and her partner, film director, producer and writer David L. Williams, were expecting their first child.

She told The Daily Mail in 2012 that she has no regrets about leaving the show, noting: I had a little glimpse of what fame holds, and I decided it held a load of nothing. It contained nothing that mattered.

Some people can deal with that well; it sits on their shoulders fine. But it wasnt for me.'

Friends was great fun, but I was just there so they could make some funny jokes about England. And I was also expecting, and you have to be thin out in America.'

She said of her newfound fame: You couldnt walk down the street to buy a pint of milk. In fact, you couldnt go anywhere. It was impossible to mix with the crowd, and do what ordinary people do.

I saw it as a gilded prison. It was something I wasnt prepared for. But it was quickly forgotten. I dont get the same attention now.

Fame just didnt fit in with my life. I dont know how much would have come from staying in the States anyway. I didnt want to live in America, when all my circumstances were leading me back to Britain. I dont regret it for a minute.

To me there are many aspects of being ambitious. Yes there is your career, but there are also many other ambitions. There is this perception that TV is glamorous and it is the pinnacle of your existence  I dont think it is.

Helen last hit the headlines in 2021 when The Mail On Sunday revealed she had left four sisters 'high and dry' when she offered an extra 200,000 for a 1.7million, eight-bedroom home, only to then 'stop replying', meaning the sale fell through.

The actress even wrote a personal note to say she loved the eight-bedroom Queen Anne home, and how much her three children would enjoy living there.

The siblings expressed their frustration and anger about the couple's behaviour after they were left 'high and dry', and forced to accept a 'significantly lower' offer after putting it back up for sale.
Maya Jama and Stormzy seem to be continuing their summer of love by jetting off on another romantic break together.

The Love Island host, 29, and the rapper, 30, have been holidaying in Greece in recent days and confirmed their rekindled romance by holding hands on the trip.

Now Maya has revealed she has flown to Amsterdam, and in her slew of Instagram snaps from the new destination she hints Stormzy is with her.

The TV star posted a since-deleted photo of two designer bags next to each other in the back of a taxi on Tuesday.

Next to her 2,450 Christian Dior tote bag was a men's black Louis Vuitton backpack, which retails for 2,480.

Clues: Maya Jama and Stormzy seem to be continuing their summer of love by jetting off on another romantic break together

Back on: The Love Island host, 29, and the rapper, 30, have been holidaying in Greece in recent days and confirmed their rekindled romance by holding hands on the trip (pictured in 2018)

While Maya has now deleted the bag snap, she has kept up a selfie of herself as she touched down in Amsterdam, alongside photos of her flight on a private jet with a glass of wine and snacks laid out on the table.

Maya's trip to Greece with Stormzy to celebrate her recent 29th birthday, came to a chaotic end as their private jet was reportedly grounded amid the air traffic control issues.

They were said to be amongst thousands of stranded Brits after 80 per cent of flights leaving the UK have been delayed, with disruptions continuing into the week.

The pair were believed to have been soaking up the sun in a 2,700-a-night Greek villa as a 'late birthday gift' to Maya.

During the holiday, the pair delighted fans as they were spotted walking hand-in-hand, after rumours of a romantic reconciliation surfaced more than a week ago.

Insiders told The Sun that their relationship was secretly rekindled a year ago as they were reportedly seen kissing.

It has also been claimed that Stormzy's mum, Abigail Owuo, was the matchmaker who 'motivated him to make amends with Maya'.

A source told The Sun: 'Stormzy is really open about wanting to settle down and have kids one day and he knows Maya is "The One".'

Travelling together? The TV star posted a since-deleted photo of two designer bags next to each other in the back of a taxi on Tuesday

Another destination: While Maya has now deleted the bag snap, she has kept up a selfie of herself as she touched down in Amsterdam

Meal for two? She also shared photos of her flight on a private jet with a glass of wine and snacks laid out on the table

Speculation had been rife about whether Maya and Stormzy had reunited, after she was spotted at his All Points East show last weekend.

The couple dated for four years before parting ways in 2019, with the rapper, publicly declaring he has 'never loved anyone how I've loved her'.

He has always denied any infidelity in the relationship but admitted he had to learn some hard lessons about his behaviour, describing it as 'disrespectful'.

Speaking to Louis Theroux on his interview series, the rapper admitted to making mistakes during their four-year relationship but revealed he has since grown.

He explained: 'My break-up, that was probably the biggest catalyst for growth as a man. It was like, OK, you made a mistake and you lose someone you loved, someone you cared for, someone who is special to you.

'Thats probably the biggest loss a man can have, isnt it? Away from someone passing away, thats the biggest loss you can have.'
Christine McGuinness struggled to contain her ample assets as she shared pictures of herself wearing a tiny blue bikini on Instagram on Wednesday.

The model, 35, is currently away at an unknown location with her three children and has been forced to extend her time away due to air traffic control chaos.

But looking at the bright side of things, Christine looked incredible in her new images which she posted to Stories while keeping in the shade with a visor.

She previously said she was grateful to be sharing more quality time with her children, given that they were lucky enough to find somewhere to stay.

Christine is among the thousands of stranded Brits who are stuck after 80 per cent of flights leaving the UK have been delayed, with disruptions continuing into the week.

Living it up! Christine McGuinness stuggled to contain her assets in a blue bikini on Instagram on Wednesday after being forced to extend her holiday due to air traffic control chaos

Looking on the bright side: The model, 35, is currently away at an unknown location with her three children and says she's lucky she has been able to find somewhere to stay

Looking good: Christine also shared this stunning image of herself topping up her tan while wearing a pink bikini the day before

Britain's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said it experienced 'technical issues' that forced controllers to switch from an automatic system for landing and dispatching flights to a manual one, on one of the busiest days of the year.

The day before, she shared more stunning photos of herself looking incredible in a pink bikini.

Updating her fans on the issue, Christine embraced the problem and recalled that everything happens for a reason.

She took to Instagram on Monday and wrote: 'Stranded due to network failures across the UK airports.

'No idea when we can get a flight home but I feel very lucky we found a place to stay.

'I get extra time to make more memories with my babies.'

She later added another post and penned: 'I trust the universe. I had jobs booked all week, a million things to do at home getting ready to prep for 'back to school' but...

'We were meant to stay longer, we have more memories to make, time with my babies is priceless, I actually feel very grateful, we're not home, but we have everything we need'.

Nightmare: Meanwhile, Montana Brown, 27, was also left stranded in the UK after 80 per cent of flights leaving the UK have been delayed, with disruptions continuing into the week

Stuck: Elsewhere, Jordan North, 33, was left stranded at Malaga airport due to the air traffic chaos

Fuming: The Radio host, 33, took to Twitter to share that his flight disaster got from bad to worse since the airport 'ran out of beer'

Elsewhere, Love Island's Montana Brown revealed her flight abroad had been cancelled because she was left stranded in the UK.

The star, 27, took to Instagram Stories to reveal she and her fiance Mark O'Connor didn't even make it onto the plane before being told of the cancellation.

Montana, who welcomed her son Jude with Mark in July, revealed they were taken to collect their suitcases, throwing their planned getaway into doubt.

Posting a snap of baby Jude in the car, she wrote: 'We're going on a summer holiday supposedly... but flight is seriously delayed because of air traffic control. Do not do this to me universe, also how cute is Jude?'

Four hours later, she posted an update, writing: 'Ok maybe we're not going away as our flight has been delayed until 1am...

'Although I just had a guzzle of breast milk to pass the time as I was thirsty and seeing as I can't have dairy, I'm sure it's actually v good for me so may continue to drink it lol.'

After two more hours passed, Montana revealed: 'OK so flight has been cancelled.

'Also as we were ushered back into arrivals to grab our suitcases I realised I will never be able to go through passport control through the e-gates until I'm near 40... as kids aren't allowed.'

And Maya Jama and Stormzy reportedly got stuck on the tarmac at an airport in Greece after their private jet was grounded amid the air traffic control delays.

Delayed: Maya Jama and Stormzy reportedly got stuck on the tarmac at an airport in Greece after their private jet was grounded amid the air traffic control delays

Relaxing at last! However, after they managed to get another flight back home, Maya took to her Instagram Stories to share a snap of herself enjoying a glass of wine on the jet

The Love Island host, 29, and the rapper, 30, have been holidaying in Greece in recent days and confirmed their rekindled romance by holding hands on the trip.

But their getaway - which came soon after Maya's 29th birthday - came to a chaotic end as their private jet was reportedly grounded amid the air traffic control issues.

A source told The Sun: 'Stormzy and Maya flew to Athens by helicopter then got in his private jet - but ended up being stuck on the tarmac for hours because of the flight chaos.

'Eventually they took off but on another jet and got back late last night.'

However, after they managed to get another flight back home, Maya took to her Instagram Stories to share a snap of herself enjoying a glass of wine on the jet.

Elsewhere, Jordan North was left stranded at Malaga airport due to the air traffic chaos.

The Radio host, 33, took to Twitter to share that his flight disaster got from bad to worse since the airport 'ran out of beer'.

Stranded: Christine has been keeping in high spirits despite being stranded

Captioning his post with a picture of the bar, he wrote: 'Delayed at Malaga airpot for possibly 'many hours', and they've ran out of beer at the terminal!'

Davina Taylor shared her thoughts ahead of her flight home as she shared a video to Instagram.

'Who else has been caught up in this site traffic sh*t show?? @DrMilliRaizada re you a in Blighty yet ?????' she questioned.

'Whats happening to people with kids who are in hotels ???? Who pays for the accommodation??? Omg this is a next level nightmare for families. Ffs'

Meanwhile, Ore Oduba and his wife Portia said they were down to the 'last three nappies' for their children after being stranded in Greece.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, mum-of-two Portia explained the situation, saying that they were due to fly back to London yesterday, but their flight was cancelled.

The Strictly Come Dancing star, 37, and his wife, share Roman, four, and one-year-old Genie.

Danni Menzies revealed she's been left stranded in Spain after her flight home was cancelled due to the chaos.

What's going on? Davina Taylor shared her thoughts ahead of her flight home as she shared a video to Instagram

Thoughts: 'Whats happening to people with kids who are in hotels ???? Who pays for the accommodation??? Omg this is a next level nightmare for families. Ffs,' she questioned

Awful: Meanwhile, Ore Oduba and his wife Portia said they were down to the 'last three nappies' for their children after being stranded in Greece

The Place In The Sun star, 34, took to social media to voice her annoyance at the 'carnage' and 'madness' of the situation on Monday.

She also took to Twitter to vent her frustrations and explain that one of her friends was pregnant and that she was due to attend her best friend's wedding on Friday.

On Tuesday, Danni gave her fans another update, revealing the extreme measures that her and her friends had had to take to try and get home.

Almost 1,000 flights were grounded and cancelled with several more delayed after Britain's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said it experienced 'technical issues'. The mayhem happened on one of the busiest days of the year, when more than a million people were due to fly out of or land in the UK.

In an extraordinary twist to the fiasco, sources have told The Times that the fault may have been caused by an incorrectly filed plan by a French airline. MailOnline has contacted NATS for comment.

Passengers have been warned that they could face 'days of disruptions', which could last until Friday. An easyJet pilot told passengers he had never seen a failure on this scale in 20 years of flying.

It's understood officials are aware of what caused the outage but not how it disabled the system. A cyber attack was also ruled out by NATS.

Cirium reported that more than 500 flights were cancelled by mid-afternoon, with hundreds more also aborted from knock-on effects.

Oh dear! Danni Menzies revealed she's been left stranded in Spain after her flight home was cancelled due to the chaos

Frustrated: The Place In The Sun star, 34, took to social media to voice her annoyance at the 'carnage' and 'madness' of the situation on Monday

Annoyed: She also took to Twitter to vent her frustrations and explain that one of her friends was pregnant and that she was due to attend her best friend's wedding on Friday

Joking: Trying to make light of the situation, Danni then asked: 'Anyone with a super yacht in Palma fancy giving us a lift across the pond? @British_Airways are paying.'

Fed up: On Tuesday, Danni gave her fans another update, revealing the extreme measures that her and her friends had had to take to try and get home

It follows a 'huge failure' of the national air traffic control system which caused chaos on the August Bank Holiday Monday.

Britain's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said it experienced 'technical issues' that forced controllers to switch from an automatic system for landing and dispatching flights to a manual one.

'Flight plans are being input manually which means we cannot process them at the same volume, hence we have applied traffic flow restrictions,' NATS said. A spokesman told MailOnline there was 'nothing to suggest a cyber attack'.

NATS said at 3.15pm it had 'identified and remedied' the technical issue affecting air traffic control systems and is working with airlines and airports to support the flights affected.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said that despite the technical issue being resolved 'flights are still unfortunately affected'.

He tweeted that he would 'encourage all passengers to read the UK Civil Aviation Authority's guidance & be aware of their rights when flights are delayed or cancelled'.
Molly-Mae Hague shared sweet pictures of herself with Tommy Fury and baby Bambi on social media on Wednesday.

She told her fans she had taken her little girl, seven months, to baby gymnastics before jetting off to a mystery location, presumably for work.

Molly-Mae, 24, shared a picture from inside a private jet and it looks like she was able to take off, despite 80% of flights being leaving the UK being affected by air traffic control chaos.

She looked lovely in the pictures wearing a cream cardigan over a white T-shirt as she cuddled up to Tommy and their first-born.

A second black-and-white image showed Tommy, also 24, picking up their daughter, who was wearing little Ugg boots, while looking at her with love.

Molly-Mae Hague shared sweet pictures of herself with Tommy Fury and baby Bambi on Instagram on Wednesday as she flew off on private jet amid air traffic control chaos

Sweet moment: A second black-and-white image showed Tommy, also 24, picking up their daughter, who was wearing little Ugg boots, while looking at her with love

And a third showed Molly looking comfortable on the jet with a couple of other people whose faces could not be seen.

She had given her Goyard bag its own seat on the plane ahead of taking off.

Almost 1,000 flights were grounded and cancelled with several more delayed after Britain's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said it experienced 'technical issues'. The mayhem happened on one of the busiest days of the year, when more than a million people were due to fly out of or land in the UK.

In an extraordinary twist to the fiasco, sources have told The Times that the fault may have been caused by an incorrectly filed plan by a French airline. MailOnline has contacted NATS for comment.

Passengers have been warned that they could face 'days of disruptions', which could last until Friday. An easyJet pilot told passengers he had never seen a failure on this scale in 20 years of flying.

It's understood officials are aware of what caused the outage but not how it disabled the system. A cyber attack was also ruled out by NATS.

Cirium reported that more than 500 flights were cancelled by mid-afternoon, with hundreds more also aborted from knock-on effects.

It follows a 'huge failure' of the national air traffic control system which caused chaos on the August Bank Holiday Monday.

And she's off! Molly looked comfortable as she headed off to an unknown location with a group of people via private jet - it looks like she was able to fly despite 80% of flights from the UK being grounded

Britain's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said it experienced 'technical issues' that forced controllers to switch from an automatic system for landing and dispatching flights to a manual one.

'Flight plans are being input manually which means we cannot process them at the same volume, hence we have applied traffic flow restrictions,' NATS said. A spokesman told MailOnline there was 'nothing to suggest a cyber attack'.

NATS said at 3.15pm it had 'identified and remedied' the technical issue affecting air traffic control systems and is working with airlines and airports to support the flights affected.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said that despite the technical issue being resolved 'flights are still unfortunately affected'.

He tweeted that he would 'encourage all passengers to read the UK Civil Aviation Authority's guidance & be aware of their rights when flights are delayed or cancelled'.

Meanwhile, Molly-Mae admitted she 'wasn't sure if she was ever going to feel happy again' after the birth of her daughter.

In an emotional chat posted on YouTube on Thursday, the former Love Island star said she broke down in tears watching a clip of herself struggling to comfort her screaming daughter.

Molly-Mae explained prior to setting up her vlogging equipment, to film an everyday make up tutorial, she had stumbled across some old footage from when Bambi was a newborn.

The reality TV star said: 'I came across a video which literally nearly made me cry.'

Tough: Molly-Mae recently admitted she 'wasn't sure if she was ever going to feel happy again' after the birth of her daughter Bambi

On the edge: The 24-year-old spoke very candidly about her emotions during the first few weeks of her daughter's life, she said: 'I wasn't sure if I was ever going to feel happy again'

Molly-Mae quickly added a light touch of humour to the conversation by blaming her emotions on the fact her period was due soon.

'I was home alone with Bambi and she was only a couple weeks old.

'She was literally screaming and crying, she had colic.

'I was trying to start vlogging again and I was really trying to rush myself back to chatting to you guys and being back present for you guys.

'I was just desperate to not fall off.'

Molly shared on reflection she was trying to rush back into everything too quickly and wasn't giving herself the time to understand the changes to her life.

'I think seeing that little video clip made me really reflect on how ridiculously far I've come and how genuinely as weird as it sounds I wasn't sure I was ever going to feel happy again. That's how hard I found the first few weeks.'

The influencer also revealed that it has taken seven months for her vision of motherhood to become a reality and encouraged other mothers to keep going.

The curse: Molly-Mae quickly added a light touch of humour to the conversation by blaming her emotions on the fact her period was due soon

Smiles all round: The happy couple met on Love Island in 2019 and became engaged in July of this year

'I'd say only now am I really experiencing what I believed motherhood would look like and Bambi's nearly seven months old.

'I don't want to sound like a broken record as you know I have spoken about motherhood a lot and how I found it a lot harder than I thought I would but I just want to say to those others mums out there that have that young, newborn screaming baby and you're finding it really, really hard.

'I know I've said it so many times but I just want to reiterate it, I promise you it gets so much easier.'

Molly-Mae took to Instagram on Friday to share some sweet snaps of fiance Tommy with herself and Bambi.

The couple cuddled on the sofa for one snap, whilst in another photo Bambi and Tommy had some father daughter bonding time.

These posts come after Tommy praising Molly-Mae for being 'a good support system' and 'holding down the fort' while he prepares for his next fight against KSI

Speaking to Capitals Jimmy Hill, Tommy said Molly-Mae was 'a star'.

When asked if he struggles with his work / life balance, he explained: 'Not when youve got a good missus.

'Anybody else, youre engaged to them and they're like oh you're running away for 10, 12 weeks or whatever. You're not going to do that, you've got to stay at home with me and the baby"...and this and that.'

The happy couple met on Love Island in 2019 and became engaged in July of this year.

Bling: Throughout Molly-Mae's YouTube video viewers could see her giant engagement ring shimmering away

Family time: The couple cuddled on the sofa for one snap, whilst in another photo Bambi and Tommy had some father daughter bonding time.
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Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa discussed the importance of representation and inclusivity as he posed for a striking ELLE cover spread.

The actor, who is set to make history as the first black male Time Lord, looked sensational for the photoshoot, showing off his muscular thighs by posing in an array of hotpants and a dress.

Speaking about his hopes for more diversity in the acting industry, he explained: 'People need to be f***ing seen. What are you going to do, tell the same stories? Have the same people fronting things for all of eternity?

'Representation and inclusivity and branching out... it enriches us all.'

Ncuti - who is set to receive the Modern Pioneer award at the ELLE Style Awards 2023 - also spoke about his experience dealing with racism and battling his internalised hate.

Wow: Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa discussed the importance of representation and inclusivity as he posed for a striking ELLE cover spread

Striking: The actor, who is set to make history as the first black male Time Lord, looked sensational for the photoshoot, showing off his muscular thighs

The Rwandan-Scottish star, 30, became a household name when he starred as gay teenager Eric Effiong in the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education.

Speaking about his work on the show, Ncuti explained: 'It undid a lot of the internalised hate I had.

'I've experienced racism my whole life, and while I always believed in myself, always knew [racists] were stupid and uneducated, I guess it did misinform my view of how the world works.

'It makes you think everyone has that opinion and you'll constantly have to fight through life  then you learn that you don't: you can find a tribe, you can find your people.'

He also praised the role itself, noting: 'Shout out to [screenwriter] Laurie Nunn for giving nuance to this gay, black character and gifting him to the world. He's so fierce and unashamed.

'It was healing for me, and great for people to see themselves represented. It taught me the importance of representation: it's so powerful and necessary.'

Reflecting on his own insecurities, the actor continued: 'I have so much impostor syndrome. I have so many insecurities. I like to make other people feel happy so there's less focus on me.

'I become this loud figure that's cracking jokes all the time. It comes across as confidence, but at the heart of it, it's not. Real confidence is something I have to work on daily.'

Speaking out: Speaking about his hopes for more diversity in the acting industry, he explained, 'People need to be f***ing seen. What are you going to do, tell the same stories?'

Candid: Ncuti - who is set to receive the Modern Pioneer award at the ELLE Style Awards 2023 - also spoke about his experience dealing with racism and battling his internalised hate

Read all about it: Appearing on one of a suite of covers for ELLE UK's October issue, Ncuti talks about the power of representation and navigating inner confidence

Most recently Ncuti starred as one of the Kens in the Barbie move and admitted 'I was so nervous I hardly spoke for the first month [on set].

'There was a time when I was talking to Greta and I turned around and Ryan Gosling was looking at me, and his eyes were so blue that I just... fell over. I just drowned in his eyes.'

As for his experience working on the set of the Greta Gerwig movie, he explained: 'I noticed that it was also the most kind, empathetic set I've ever been on.'

'We played So Solid Crew and all these old-school garage tunes, then we got to Magic Mike and all screamed our faces off at the incredible dancers.

'Then we all went to [London nightclub] The Box... The group chat the next day was lit.'

While Ncuti has yet to make his debut as a Dalek-battling Time Lord he has already raked in almost 1million from his acting career.

The actor was announced as the next Doctor by the show's screenwriter Russell T Davies last year and has been busy filming for the 2024 series.

He will be the 15th actor to take on the full-time role of the Time Lord in the BBC series when he makes his debut later this year.
Alessandra Ambrosio's mini-me daughter Anja has turned 15-years-old.

And on Tuesday the cute teen shared several images to Instagram from her big birthday party.

The London Fog model enjoyed a pool party with her high school friends at her mother's Beverly Hills mansion.

The budding star was also seen hugging her Vogue cover girl mother in one image, proving how much they look alike.

Also at the teen bash was Anja's father, photographer and designer Jamie Mazur, who is not seen often on social media.

They look so much alike: Alessandra Ambrosio's mini-me daughter Anja has turned 15-years-old. And on Tuesday the cute teen shared several images to Instagram from her birthday party

Pool time: The London Fog model enjoyed a pool party with her high school friends at her mother's Beverly Hills mansion.

Splish splash: She was seen in a bouncy with tons of bubbles as she raised an arm

'Thank u to everyone who came and made it such a special time,' wrote Anja in her caption on Instagram.

Her mom Ambrosio also wrote a post on her Instagram page where she gushed over her child.

'A very happy 15th birthday!!! May all your dreams come true and Im so proud of the woman you are becoming @anjaambrosiom - te amo infinitamente,' wrote her mom Alessandra on Instagram.

Anja responded by adding red heart emojis.

There was no sign of Alessandra's boyfriend Richard Lee at the pool party.

Anja - full name Anja Louise Ambrosio Mazur - is one of two children from the model and her ex, Mazur. Anja also has a 10-year-old brother named Noah Phoenix.

Alessandra and Jamie split in 2018.

Teen spirit: 'Thank u to everyone who came and made it such a special time,' wrote Anja in her caption on Instagram

From mommy: .Her mom Ambrosio also wrote a post on her Instagram page where she gushed over her child

HBD: 'A very happy 15th birthday!!! May all your dreams come true and Im so proud of the woman you are becoming @anjaambrosiom - te amo infinitamente,' wrote her mom Alessandra on Instagram

Pink cake: Anja - full name Anja Louise Ambrosio Mazur - is one of two children from the model and her ex, Mazur. Anja also has a 10-year-old brother named Noah Phoenix. Alessandra and Jamie split in 2018

Dad: Also at the teen bash was Anja's father, photographer and designer Jamie Mazur, who is not seen often on social media

With family: There were several members of Alessandra's family at the event

Anja is a teenager going to high school in Los Angeles, but lately she has fired up her Instagram page with images from her travels with mom.

This summer they have been on a fun beach vacation with friends like in Ibiza, Spain.

Anja and her mom Alessandra also posed together often, which highlights their similarities.

In July the ladies looked like carbon copies of each other as they had the same high cheekbones and almond eyes as well as light brown hair as they posed side by side for a selfie.

The parties keep coming: There was another party earlier this month

Anja has already worked! It looks like she may follow in her mother's footsteps one day by becoming a top model as she often poses in high-end fashion - Anja has already appeared in a London Fog ad with her mom

Anja is very active on Instagram, often sharing selfies and photos from family vacations.

The family lives in Los Angeles and Anja is attending high school in the Santa Monica/Brentwood neighborhood.

This comes after Alessandra showed off her incredible assets once again as she plugged her popular swimwear line GAL Floripa - which she launched with her sister and best friend in 2019.

The international lingerie model made the most of a tiny mint green bikini that put her abs and trim waistline on display.

Fun together: Anja seen with her mother on a 2023 beach vacation

Alessandra has had an enduring career.

Last year she told Harper's Bazaar that 'I didn't think modelling would last.'

But fame has not changed her much: 'In my personal life, I keep things simple. Im a Brazilian girl, even though I now live in LA, so swimsuits and simple beachwear is my style. I love fashion but I dont have to go crazy with buying items. Im happy with what makes me comfortable.'

And she named her top style icons: 'Brigitte Bardot, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, because they carried themselves with confidence and a sense of fun.

'They also embraced a timeless look.'

She rocked it: Alessandra put her stunning curves on display in Ibiza as the bikini designer showed off her dress

And the leggy lady shared some style advice.

'I think the best advice would be to remain authentic,' said the star who loves to wear athleisure.

'You can be playful and follow your instincts. You cant abandon yourself entirely; you have to stay true to who you are, even when youre wearing something that you wouldnt normally choose.'

And she said she wants her kids to dress how they like.

'I want them to feel happy and comfortable in their own skin, so I would gently guide them if I felt they were trying to be someone theyre not. But Im happy for them to take their own journey. Its the only way.'
Former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is once again the victim of a short-lived death hoax that began trending on Twitter on August 30.

Social media was in a frenzy after a string of tweets were posted claiming the 65-year-old television personality had died.

Luckily for fans, Ellen is very much alive and well - but has since not commented on the recent death hoax.

'I just realized Ellen Degeneres isn't dead' one user said on Twitter.

Another person tweeted: 'Why did I think Ellen was dead?'

Users on Twitter re-ignited the #RIPEllen hashtag on August 30. The hoax first went viral in July 2020 after a controversial video made during one of her talk show episodes

The comedian has not commented on the recent death hoax, but has been busy on social media sharing photos of herself taking care of chickens - and celebrating her wedding anniversary

Ellen and Portia de Rossi celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary on August 16. The two have been spotted at several recent public events, including award shows

This has been one of several death hoaxes Ellen has dealt with over the years on social media.

The hashtag #RIPEllen was trending back in July 2020 - with several users tweeting their 'condolences.'

'Is Ellen dead or not?! Yall confusing tf out of me #ripellen' wrote one confused Twitter user.

The tweets began after a rumor that the then 62-year-old comedian died after she jumped off the roof of a house.

However, that was proven to be false, and the hashtag eventually became a way for Twitter users to mock her 'death' with fake obituaries and photos of celebrities who look like her.

People on Twitter fueled the rumors again in 2022 with more premature tributes.

Users on Twitter have fueled the Ellen DeGeneres death hoaxes in 2022 and 2023 - leading to fans questioning if the more recent hoaxes are true

'I cannot believe it what happened,' tweeted one user.

Another user said: 'I know everyone hated her during her last years but Ellen DeGeneres did so much for the queer community in her life it's kinda sad how she passed away #ripellen.'

A recent tweet stated: 'RIP to my dear friend Ellen DeGeneres - All my friends are dead...'

The 2020 death hoax began three months after she shared words of encouragement from her living room that social media didn't find funny.

'One thing I've learned from being in quarantine is that people  this is like being in jail, is what this is,' said DeGeneres.

'It's mostly because I've been wearing the same clothes for 10 days, and everyone in here is gay.'

One user tweeted: 'Oh the jokes that you have.... my son is in prison facing a charge of Coronavirus infecting him. Yep it's such a joke... haha.'

DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi recently celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary on August 16, to which Ellen posted a lovely tribute to Portia on her Instagram.

She's also been acting as a 'chicken influencer,' and she answered questions involving the care for her chickens in an Instagram video on August 26.
Sam Faiers' skincare brand has raked in a staggering 13.2 million since it launched just three years ago.

The reality star, 32, shot to fame as an original cast member on ITV's The Only Way Is Essex in 2010, which she starred in until 2014 when she quit to appear in her own series, The Mummy Diaries, which ran until 2021.

Since bowing out of the TV limelight, Sam has turned her fame into fortune by starting up multiple businesses and her brand Revive Collagen has certainly proved a hit by achieving a whopping 13.2 million turnover in just three years.

The star's beauty company specialises in award-winning ready to drink collagen and has been endorsed by celebrities such as Oti Mabuse, Paloma Faith and Amanda Holden, who is an ambassador for the brand.

A source exclusively told MailOnline: 'Sam is one savvy businesswoman. She risked it all by starting the business, especially during the uncertain times of the lockdown.

Savvy businesswoman: Sam Faiers' skincare brand has raked in a staggering 13.2 million since it launched just three years ago

What an achievement: The star's beauty company specialises in award-winning ready to drink collagen and has been endorsed by celebrities

'She took no external investment and built the business from the ground up with her business partner.

'With the business being profitable from day one and set to launch across the US next month, she firmly has her eyes set on becoming the global market leader in ingestible collagen.

'Whilst she's had a couple of business failures along the way, she's definitely struck gold with Revive Collagen.'

Sam, 32, the co-founder of the brand, recently jetted across the pond in the hopes of expanding the business further.

She took to Instagram in July to reveal that taking her business to America was 'a big dream come true'.

Revive Collagen now claims to sell one box every 90 seconds and is stocked in over 2,000 stores across the UK, including high-profile retail locations like Harrods, Boots, and Holland & Barrett and is also stocked at Saks Fifth Avenue in the US.

Her business partner, John Bailey, has transformed Sam's brands into a great success, which has generated more than 20 million across her various sponsorships and ventures, include Revive.

Sam is also mum-of-three to baby Paul, seven, Rosie, five, and Edward, one, who she shares with her boyfriend Paul Knightley, 35.

Success story: Since bowing out of the TV limelight, Sam has turned her fame into fortune by starting up multiple businesses and her brand Revive Collagen has certainly proved a hit

Family: Sam is also mum-of-three to baby Paul, seven, Rosie, five and Edward, one, who she shares with her boyfriend Paul Knightley, 35

Wedding bells? It comes after Sam sparked engagement rumours with her long-term boyfriend and the father of her three children, Paul

The reality star turned businesswoman recently sparked engagement rumours after sharing a picture of herself wearing a diamond on her ring finger last month.

At the time she had been enjoying a lavish trip to Dubai with her long-term boyfriend and the father of her three children, Paul.

And cosying up to her beau in a lift, Sam beamed from ear to ear as she showed off her new jewellery piece.

Sharing the snap to her Instagram, Sam flashed her new diamond ring whilst taking a selfie.

While Sam was seen sporting a gorgeous summer midi, Paul threw over a light grey shirt top and black jeans, which he matched up with a classic pair of suede loafers.

They both smiled as Paul cuddled Sam from behind. She captioned the photo saying, 'That's my best friend.'
Kevin Costner allegedly kept his estranged wife Christine Baumgartner in the dark about whether or not he would be returning to Yellowstone for a sixth season.

Baumgartner, 49, accused her husband of 'refusing' to discuss his options for season six in a brief filed by her attorneys before their upcoming child support hearing, according to Us Weekly.

Her attorneys alleged that Costner 'refused to answer questions about whether he was offered the opportunity' to star in the upcoming season 'or if he simply chose to quit.'

Costner is currently hashing out a child support arrangement with Baumgartner and his Yellowstone role came into question as lawyers for his estranged wife attempted to calculate his earnings for their future agreement.

The estranged couple, who were married for 19 years before their split earlier this year, have sons Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and daughter Grace, 13.

'Refused to answer questions': Kevin Costner allegedly kept his estranged wife Christine Baumgartner in the dark about his decision to remain on Yellowstone during their marriage; pictured 2014

The brief also claimed that Costner will continue to receive financial compensation from Yellowstone following his departure as he is 'entitled to a percentage of profit participation' from the program 'irrespective of his 13 participation in Season 6 or beyond.'

The brief alleged that Costner earned $11 million for the fourth season of Yellowstone, or $1.1 million for each episode. Season five saw him receive $10 million, meaning he made $1.25M per episode.

For a while, Baumgartner wasn't the only person wondering about Costner's future on the hit Paramount show.

Speculation swirled for months whether or not Costner would remain on the show amid an alleged rift with Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, and it was all unclear until only recently after ET Online reported that the current fifth season would be his last.

In July, Costner said he expected his income to drop 'dramatically' now that he was no longer on the show.

The actor is reportedly the highest-paid actor on TV, rumoured to have earned $1.3 million per episode of the award-winning show.

His ex claimed that in 2022, when he appeared in eight episodes, he earned $24.5 million from Yellowstone and other sources.

But the actor said he is expecting his income to drop 'dramatically' now that he has left the programme, in order to make his four-film Western epic, Horizon.

'I will earn substantially less in 2023 than I did in 2022,' he predicted. 'This is because I am no longer under contract for Yellowstone, the principal source of my income last year.

Hit series: For five years, Costner played rancher John Dutton in Yellowstone

Making that dough: The actor is reportedly the highest-paid actor on TV, rumoured to have earned $1.3 million per episode of the award-winning show

'The fixed amount, 'pay or play' and episodic compensation I received has ceased.

'Now, any compensation I earn from Yellowstone will derive only from my back-end contractual participation rights.' [A star's percentage of the proceeds, once the show is in profit.]

'The most recent report from the producer for Yellowstone shows I am not now owed any participation money (although I have disputed this).

'So far in 2023 I have yet to receive any participation compensation from Yellowstone.'

Following furious speculation about the end of the hit Western series - and reports of a sensational feud between himself and the show's creator Taylor Sheridan - the actor stated in court documents that he 'doesn't anticipate being on location for at least the rest of 2023', despite the show being slated to start filming on the second half of season five in August.

Bitter split: The estranged couple, pictured 2022, are currently hashing out the details of their child support agreement

Earlier this year, it was confirmed that Yellowstone will end after the second half of the fifth season, with Kevin finishing his run as rancher John Dutton in the hit Paramount series to focus on other projects.

However, while production on the second half of season five was due to start in a matter of months at the time, according to Deadline, court documents submitted as part of Costner's divorce proceedings against former spouse Christine suggest he wouldn't take part in filming.

In court papers seen by DailyMail.com: 'I do not anticipate that I will be on location for at least the rest of 2023.'

The documents - which contained explosive claims as Costner and his wife of 18 years, Christine, engage in a bitter divorce - revealed that he would be returning to California that month to be with his children.

At the time, doubt had already been cast over whether the show would be able to begin filming again as a result of the writer's strike. At the time, the SAG-AFTRA strike had not yet begun.

Real life drama? There have been reports of a sensational feud between Costner and the show's creator Taylor Sheridan; pictured 2018

In June, Sheridan hinted that Costner's iconic character John Dutton was never going to be around until the end of the show.

'My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasnt altered,' Sheridan said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful  and Ive never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldnt work out on the phone,' Sheridan said.

'But once lawyers get involved, then people dont get to talk to each other and start saying things that arent true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting.

'He took a lot of this on the chin and I dont know that anyone deserves it. His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope [the movie is] worth it  and that its a good one.'

The creator added: 'Im disappointed. It truncates the closure of his character. It doesnt alter it, but it truncates it.'
Justin Theroux shared a passionate kiss with actress Nicole Brydon Bloom in NYC on Tuesday.

The actor, 52, looked smitten with the beauty, 29, as they locked lips after a night at Altro Paradiso restaurant.

The hunk wore a black tee and jeans for his night out with Nicole, who put on a leggy display in a mini skirt paired with a backless black top.

The pair, who were first seen together in February, embraced and shared a passionate kiss in a doorway.

They were previously seen chatting over the dinner table and kissing and visited Ray's Bar, which Theroux co-owns with Succession star Nicholas Braun.

Wow: Justin Theroux shared a passionate kiss with actress Nicole Brydon Bloom in NYC on Tuesday

PDA: The actor, 52, looked smitten with the beauty, 29, as they locked lips after a night at Altro Paradiso restaurant

Past love: The actor was previously married to Jennifer Aniston from 2015-2017 (seen 2014)

Nicole has appeared in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The Affair, as well as starring roles in the 2019 movies 1BR and Here on Out

The actor was previously married to Jennifer Aniston from 2015-2017 and the pair have remained on great terms since their split.

Theroux and Jennifer met on the set of their film Wanderlust and fell in love.

But their marriage was short lived as they divorced in 2017 after just two years of being wed.

In a rare, candid interview earlier this year, Theroux himself revealed that the exes still keep in touch through text, Facetime, and phone calls.

And a few months earlier in November, Jennifer in an interview also alluded to their close friendly relationship by revealing Theroux had recently dropped by her home at the time.

The Hollywood star first lost her mother, Nancy Dow, with whom she had a strained relationship throughout her career, in 2016.

Smitten: The hunk wore a black tee and jeans for his night out with Nicole, who put on a leggy display in a black top and mini skirt

Embrace: The pair put on an amorous display as they kissed in a doorway

Smile: Justin looked happier than ever as he cracked a joke with his new love

Backless: Justin cozied up to Nicole who wowed in a backless top

Hug: The pair embraced as they walked off from dinner

Shades: Justin showed off some fun shades at dinner

Leggy: Nicole showed off her honed legs as the pair departed

Laughter: The pair cracked up at a joke during their meal

Look of love? Justin looked smitten as he gazed into Nicole's eyes

Fun night: The pair looked delighted to be enjoying a night out together

She was also estranged from her father for years, but had been on good terms with him at the time of his death.

Sources say Jennifer has had a particularly hard time coping with his loss and has even reached out to his former co-stars and hosted them at her home.

'Jennifer has sent his friends gifts and called them and remember their birthdays and been a real sweetie,' an insider told DailyMail.com.

'She has been incredibly generous and has had his friends up to her house for parties to talk about the good old days with John.'

Aniston had appeared on the soap opera on and off as Victor Kiriakis from 1985 until his death, however, the show is yet to address his character's absence.
The Rwandan-Scottish actor reveals he is having to graft to build up confidence

He is in the biggest film of the summer and is set to step into the Tardis as the next Doctor.

But rising star Ncuti Gatwa, 30, admits his staggering career trajectory has left him with 'imposter syndrome' and 'so many insecurities'.

The Rwandan-Scottish actor, an unknown before he landed a leading role in hit Netflix comedy drama Sex Education in 2018, reveals he is having to graft to build up confidence.

Thanks to that breakout role, which earned him BAFTA nominations, Gatwa was chosen to play the lead in the new series of Doctor Who, with his first scenes airing next year.

He was also cast in a supporting role opposite Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in this summer's movie hit Barbie.

Actor Ncuti Gatwa, who is set to be the next Doctor, posing in Elle magazine in a leather dress

Gatwa was also cast in a supporting role in this summer's hit movie Barbie

Gatwa has admitted he has impostor syndrome and says that confidence is something he has to work on daily

But he told Elle magazine  for which he posed in various outfits, including a leather dress: 'I have so much impostor syndrome, I have so many insecurities.

I like to make other people feel happy so there is less focus on me.

It comes across as confidence but it is not. Real confidence something I have to work on daily.'

Gatwa was so 'nervous' shooting Barbie he barely spoke for the first month.

His casting in Doctor Who has been hailed as a step forward for diversity being the first non-white in the role.

He said: 'People need to be f****** seen. What are you going to do, have the same people fronting things for eternity? Representation and inclusivity and branching out, it enriches us all.'

Gatwa said his role in Sex Education 'undid' a lot of his 'internalised hate'.

He added that 'giving nuance to this gay, black character and gifting him to the world' has taught him the 'importance of representation  it's so powerful'.
As the UK's most celebrated supermodel, Naomi Campbell, 53, is used to fronting campaigns for the world's most prestigious fashion houses  Prada, Burberry and Saint Laurent among them.

Now, in a move which is baffling the fashion world, comes her latest collaboration  with Pretty Little Thing, the British fast-fashion label famous for mass-producing low-cost, low-quality clothes for 16 to 24-year-olds.

Indeed, many of the fashion crowd heading to New York Fashion Week, where the model's collection 'Pretty Little Thing, Designed by Naomi Campbell' launches next Tuesday, September 5, with a catwalk show at the iconic restaurant Cipriani in Manhattan, are asking: 'Why on earth has either party done this?'

Naomi has been the face of elite fashion ever since she became the first black model to grace the cover of Vogue in 1988. This is long before the typical Pretty Little Thing customer was born. World-famous as she is to a middle-aged audience, most teens have simply never heard of her.

Naomi says this presents no barrier. 'It's [a matter of] getting to know a whole different audience that I didn't know before or I thought I didn't know, or I thought they didn't know me,' she told the US fashion title Women's Wear Daily yesterday.

Naomi Campbell has partnered with PrettyLittleThing in a move that is baffling to the fashion world. Pictured: A white cut-out creation for 28

The sheer bronze chainmail backless minidress, for example, one of the range's key pieces, is just 35

Yet it's undeniable that she could be the mother  or grandmother  of the Pretty Little Thing customer base. Perhaps the point is to broaden the target age range, but the designs simply don't reflect that. You'd need the flawless confidence of a mid-teen to step out in any of the 15 looks.

They must mostly be made from viscose and polyester, are unlined, and favour styles  spaghetti straps, cut-away details and extreme necklines that are aggressively youth-focused.

It's impossible, for example, to wear a normal bra or anything other than a thong with any of the styles, ruling out anyone over 30 for whom gravity has inevitably taken its toll.

Apart from 53-year-old Campbell, it would seem, though it's hard to be sure since some of the promotional images do appear to have been airbrushed.

The prices will have universal appeal. The sheer bronze chainmail backless minidress, for example, one of the range's key pieces, is just 35, while the belted faux leather (aka plastic) trench is the most expensive item at 100.

But this reflects just how disposable the clothes are and that's a big reputational risk for Naomi at a time when the smartest in fashion are embracing quality and longevity over cheap and throwaway pieces.

By far the nicest piece in the collection  even if the neckline does plunge below the belly button  is an elegant satin-lapelled jumpsuit, 70. But you have to wonder how many washes it will survive.

Pretty Little Thing is unapologetically fast-fashion at a time when the industry is at least trying to appear concerned about plastic pollution, landfill and the environmental damage it causes.

The belted faux leather (aka plastic) trench is the most expensive item at 100

Last month Campbell did try to address criticism on this topic by arguing that partnering with a mass producer allowed her to promote two of the collection's designers to a far wider audience  Victor Anate, a 20-year-old Nigerian designer, and Edvin Thompson, the Jamaican- born creative director of New York label Theophilio.

Anate collaborated with Campbell to create the dramatic white bodycon dress with cut-outs, priced at just 28.

Thompson's creation is an off-white satin (read viscose) spaghetti strap slip dress, cut on the bias, and also an affordable 28  the only style anyone over 35 could wear provided they had the right strapless bra.

'I know that it's fast fashion, and that people have their criticism,' Naomi told Women's Wear Daily. 'I'm not denying them. But as a changemaker, I felt this was a great way to effect change in the industry in getting my emerging designers recognised and seeing them on a global platform.'

But this is Naomi Campbell. If anyone could create opportunities in sustainable and high fashion for young, emerging designers, surely it's her!

For all that, it's certainly the most inclusive range Campbell been involved in: prices range from 28 to 100 and sizes from a British size 4 to a very un-supermodel-esque 30.

In the short term, I can only assume that this is a big payday for Campbell and the oddity of the pairing has generated more headlines than something more predictable would have done.

Yet for an industry supposedly trying to move away from throwaway culture, it can't help but feel like a huge step back, enabled by someone who could have been a 'changemaker' on the unresolved problem of fashion and the environment.

The collection goes live on prettylittlething.com at 11pm on September 5.
Lisa Rinna continued to look as if she drank from the fountain of youth in a new photoshoot for her makeup line Rinna Beauty on Wednesday.

The 60-year-old soap opera icon flaunted her curves in a figure-hugging black bodysuit, with a vibrant red bodysuit underneath and matching red, elbow-length gloves.

Rocking her signature short cut with her sun-kissed brunette locks, the former model posed confidently for the camera.

The Melrose Place star posted a reel from the shoot on her Instagram page for her millions of followers showing her posing effortlessly in the sizzling hot look.

Captioning it with a simple, 'RINNABEAUTY.COM,' the ageless actress added a smooch and red lipstick emoji, tagging the Instagram page for Rinna Beauty at the end.

Red lady: Lisa Rinna, 60, flaunted her curves in black bodysuit for new Rinna Beauty photoshoot; seen Wednesday

Seeing red: The Rinna Wines founder has made steps towards making her beauty line more accessible this year

The business mogul nearly spilled out of her leathery bodysuit, with her ample cleavage stealing the show.

The multi-hyphenate woman founded Rinna Beauty back in 2020, and the makeup line is still going strong three years later.

Rivaling Kylie Jenner's famous lip kits, the Rinna Beauty brand started off strong with the company's own spin on lipsticks  the Icon Collection Lip Kits.

In July 2023, Rinna Beauty announced that it had overhauled its website where women across the world could customize their own shopping experience, according to BusinessWire.

The move allowed users to view product prices in their own currency, in addition to having value-added taxes and freight shipping costs automatically included.

In a statement, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills echoed her company's original intent which was to serve up, 'beauty without borders.'

'Im excited that Rinna Beauty is now more easily available to anyone nearly anywhere in the world,' the svelte starlet added.

Business life aside, the California-born beauty celebrated her sixtieth birthday with her friends and family in Mexico in July.

She also flaunted it all to her Instagram followers on her actual birthday, posing nude to show her fans she's still got it at 60.

Leather lady: The Days Of Our Lives star served looks in a sizzling hot behind-the-scenes look for her latest Rinna Beauty photoshoot

Age is just a number: The reality television personality made posing look effortless as she modeled for her beauty line

Strike a pose: The youthful actress looked incredible striking poses for Rinna Beauty

Business minded beauty: The founder of multiple business posted how thrilled she was that her Dry Tease beauty oil had become of the #1 products in the Rinna Beauty line

The hard working woman also announced on Tuesday that Rinna Beauty products would be available for purchase at macys.com.

Other bestselling products on Rinna Beauty's website include the lip plumping oils and the Lash Out mascara.

A rep for Rinna Beauty also denied rumors that the RHOBH star had fired her entire Rinna Beauty team in May of this year.

They told RadarOnline that the rumors were, 'completely factually incorrect,' and that the team that was let go were simply there on a month-by-month contract basis anyway, with Lisa herself having no part in the team's termination from Rinna Beauty.
Jada Pinkett Smith dropped in on Instagram this week to share a new addition to her family with her 11.4 million followers.

The 51-year-old former Red Table Talk host uploaded an adorable photo of a brown and white puppy laying in grass and said in the caption, 'Say hi to Lucco  my new rescue.'

Then on Wednesday she shared a video clip discussing the creative process behind writing her new memoir, titled Worthy.

She turned the camera on herself, letting sunlight pour in on her clear and smooth protection as she wrote in the caption, 'And the process begins. Hopefully youll find some tips along the way for your own story telling.'

The literary work is due out October 17, nearly two years after Jada first began pitching the idea to publishers.

New posts: Jada Pinkett Smith dropped in on Instagram this week to share a new addition to her family with her 11.4 million followers and discuss her book Worthy

Addition: Smith uploaded an adorable photo of a brown and white puppy laying in grass and said in the caption, 'Say hi to Lucco  my new rescue'

In the footage, the Baltimore native rocked a short and wavy haircut that was bleached at the top and dark at the sides.

She showed viewers a black box filled with her writings, drafts, and notes organized in folders.

The longtime Hollywood fixture said at the beginning of the outtake, 'This was my original outline,' as she held up white papers with black print.

Jada noted that she 'started shopping the book in December 2021.'

'I had this box just full of notes and full of writings that I had been collecting,' she told her audience.

The mother-of-two added the prose documents her 'journey from unlovable to lovable.'

'Anything I was thinking about, I was like, "I just need one space to just put everything,"' she detailed while flipping through the contents.

Giving advice to fellow creators, Smith emphasized that the procedure 'doesn't have to be neat, organized - just one place to put everything.'

Behind the scenes: On Wednesday Jada shared a video clip discussing the creative process behind writing her new memoir, titled Worthy

Family time: The actress recently shared a photo of her husband Will Smith and their brood

Coming soon: Jada's memoir is due out October 17

Jada then turned the camera on her other dog, Bandit, who was heard struggling to breathe in the background.

'If you hear Bandit in the video, it's because he's right here with me,' she explained, adding, 'My poor baby is suffering allergies.'

Days ago, the superstar shared photos with her family - husband Will Smith, their two kids Jaden, 25, and Willow, 22, plus Will's 30-year-old son Trey from his previous marriage.

She wrote in the caption, 'A heart filling Saturday night with the fam. AND  I got to celebrate the fact that I finished recording my audiobook of Worthy that afternoon with the fam as well. Joy is all too real.'
EastEnders star Lucy Benjamin has reportedly separated from her businessman husband of 17 years of Richard Taggart.

The soap actress, 53, and her partner, who share two children, have split with insiders citing that their relationship had ultimately 'run its course'.

The couple share two daughters Bessie, 16, and Rosie, 12, and are apparently making their children their number one priority in the break-up.

A source told The Sun: 'Lucy and Richard tried to make it work but ultimately decided it was best they split up.

'It's been rough for them both in recent months but hopefully they can now start looking forward to the future.

Separated: EastEnders star Lucy Benjamin has reportedly separated from her businessman husband of 17 years of Richard Taggart

Split: The soap actress, 53, and her partner, who share two children, have split with insiders citing that their relationship had ultimately 'run its course' (pictured in EastEnders in 2023)

'Their children will always be their number one priority.'

MailOnline have reached out to representatives for comment.

Lucy and Richard met on a flight to Dubai and they sparked a conversation when he introduced himself to her, after recognising her from television.

Detailing their first meeting, Lucy previously said: 'He was sat next to me and while I was reading a book, he tapped me on the shoulder and said, "This must be strange for you because I know a lot about you and you don't know anything about me, but my name's Richard and I'm going to Dubai".

'Fortunately, I found it very funny and we didn't stop chatting. We were engaged within six weeks  and married within nine months.'

Lucy was seven weeks pregnant with their first child when they tied the knot, saying: 'I was a bit pushy but you've got to get on with it.'

Lucy's ex-boyfriend's include her former co-star Steve McFadden, whose character she shot during her soap exit in 2003 after playing the character for four years.

Lucy returned to EastEnders as Lisa Fowler more than 20 years after her character shot Phil.

Married: The couple share two daughters Bessie, 16, and Rosie, 12, and are apparently making their children their number one priority in the break-up

Soap star Lisa was last on the BBC soap for a short time four years ago when she fell pregnant by Keanu, with Lisa's ex Phil discovering Keanu was also having an affair with his wife Sharon (Letitia Dean) at the time.

In 2019, during Lisa's brief return, her character Lisa helped her daughter flee Albert Square for Portugal after she became convinced she was responsible for Keanu's murder.

However, while Keanu did not die, it was actually Phil to tried to see him off after Keanu got both his wife and daughter pregnant.

Lisa and Louise had since been living with Phil's granddaughter Peggy in the Portuguese sun and Louise has remained unaware Keanu is actually alive.

During a break from the show, Lucy appeared in the 2009 series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, but was the first to be voted out.

She has also had roles in Casualty, Holby City and New Tricks.
Lori Harvey was all muscle and curves in her latest post promoting a new look from her recently launched bathing suit line, Yevrah Swim.

The 26-year-old stunner posed under a shower head with running water as she teased the Ibiza wrap bikini from her latest business venture.

She kept her short, brunette locks loose around her shoulders, flaunting the wet hair look literally as water ran from the shower head in the first image of Lori's Ibiza wrap bikini photo dump.

'Lost files from Ibiza in the 'Ibiza' wrap bikini,' the socialite captioned the post, tagging Yevrah Swim's Instagram at the end.

Embodying the idea of a thirst trap, Lori included two close up snaps of herself with water dripping down her enviable abs, as she modeled the Ibiza wrap bikini from her collection.

Bathing beauty: Lori Harvey flaunted her enviable curves in a figure-hugging tiny orange bikini from her line Yevrah Swim; seen Wednesday

Thirst trap: The model's photodump of the Ibiza wrap bikini included close up shots of Lori posing under the shower head

The daughter of Steve Harvey debuted her Yevrah Swim Collection, in partnership with Revolve earlier this month.

Her boyfriend of seven months, 31-year-old British actor Damson Idris, posted how proud he was of her when Lori shared a behind-the-scenes look on Instagram of her modeling looks from her own collection.

The couple have been going strong ever since Lori soft launched the Snowfall star back in a birthday-themed photo dump in January, which featured a snap of her sitting on Damson's lap.

She was there to support her actor beau on the red carpet for the premiere of Snowfall's final season back in February.

The Outside The Wire star returned the favor, attending the official launch party for Yevrah Swim in Hollywood in early August.

Romance aside, the budding business mogul recently revealed to Vogue the source of her inspiration for her first line of Yevrah looks, explaining that, 'Swimwear has always been an avenue I wanted to explore.'

She added, 'I felt like the timing was just perfect right now for me to dive into it.'

''For my first drop, I really wanted it to be elevated staple pieces that can be worn anywhere, anytime,' the Tennessee born beauty observed.

The petite bombshell concluded that she wanted Yevhrah Swim to have pieces that would, 'never go out of style.'

Bronzed beauty: The Yevrah Swim designer also rocked gold jewelry with her Ibiza wrap bikini

Hourglass goddess: The SKN by LH founder also flaunted the Ibiza wrap bikini top on a boating trip earlier this month, choosing to contrast the orange top with a white string bikini bottom

Green with envy: The business mogul frequently flaunts her curves in Yevrah Swim pieces, recently showing off the Positano one piece from her line

Versatile and voluptuous: The talented model revealed that her Yevrah Swim line pieces could be mixed and matched and still look just as flirty and feminine

The curvy entrepreneur also made it clear during the Vogue interview that she wanted her Euro Collection Yevrah Swimwear line to be inclusive as well, for all body types.

'While I was creating my swimwear line I wanted it to feel very elevated and luxe in the same way that I wanted my skin care to feel as well,' the SKN by LH founder said.

Adding, 'I also wanted them both to be inclusive, like theres something for everyone,' Lori ended on a hopeful, confident note.

'I think I achieved that,' she declared.
The former Bachelorette contestant Josh Seiter revealed why he remained silent for 18 hours after his death was announced on his official Instagram on Monday.

When asked why he didn't correct the hoax earlier, the reality star explained that the experience was 'overwhelming' and his 'priority was getting back into' his Instagram.

The 36-year-old added that his time was mostly monopolized by 'long conversations with close family members' and friends as he rushed to tell them he was alive first.

As media outlets broke the news and tributes poured in from RuPaul's Drag Race star Monica Beverly Hillz and 90 Day Fiance star Karine Staehle, he told TMZ he was at home 'working desperately' to get back into his account to let the world know he was okay.

Stressful: The former Bachelorette contestant Josh Seiter revealed why he remained silent for 18 hours after his death was announced on his official Instagram on Monday

'I'm not a celebrity, at least, in my mind. I'm not famous. I don't have a team that puts out statements,' he explained.

In response to criticism that he or one of his loved ones could have handled the situation more efficiently, Seiter reminded fans that he is the 'victim' of an alleged hacking.

'I'm sorry, I'm not perfect. I guess I could've done something, beside getting on Instagram to try to prove that I was alive. But, I haven't had experience with this,' the TV personality continued.

Seiter went on to say: 'I did the best I could. And, I'm sorry for everyone that was hurt by this person. I'm a victim. And there victims also.'

'It's sad, there were tributes going up, but I'm not to blame for that.' he concluded.

During the interview, Harvey Levin and Charles Latibeaudiere called out Seiter and his family for hanging up and ignoring their calls.

'My family is fractured. We're estranged,' he said of some of his relatives 'puzzling' decision not to confirm or deny reports of his death.

A false statement was posted to his account, which read: 'It is with an extremely heavy heart that we share the tragic news of Joshua's unexpected passing. As all who knew him can attest, Joshua was an incredibly bright light in an increasingly dim world.'

Explaining himself: When asked why he didn't correct the hoax earlier, the reality star explained that the experience was 'overwhelming' and his 'priority was getting back into' his Instagram

A hoax: The 36-year-old added that his time was also monopolized by 'long conversations with close family members' and friends as he rushed to tell them he was alive first

Seiter's family said that 'his fearless voice and indomitable spirit helped thousands of people in their darkest moments feel just a little less alone.

'Although our heartache at Joshua's passing pains us beyond measure, we find comfort knowing that he is finally at peace.'

Seiter, who has been open about his mental health struggles over the years, appeared on Kaitlyn Bristowe's season of The Bachelorette in 2015.

He was eliminated in the show's first week.

Seiter was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 14, 1987.

Reality fame: Seiter, who has been mental health struggles, appeared on Kaitlyn Bristowe's season of The Bachelorette in 2015 (seen above on the show)

He earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and followed up in getting his Juris Doctor degree at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Seiter had been candid about living with mental health issues to his 456K followers on Instagram.

'Surviving depression and anxiety one day at a time with a smile,' he said in his last post on Thursday.

In a July 2021 post he had pinned at the top of his page, Seiter wrote, 'Im Josh Seiter, and Im a suicide attempt survivor. I battle OCD, Bipolar Depression, and GAD (generalized anxiety disorder), but I refuse to give up. What did you survive?'

Seiter was introspective in a July 22 post on the social media site in which he said that he'd battled 'feelings of worthlessness on a daily basis,' going into detail about the issues that troubled him.

'Some of my biggest insecurities revolve around gaining the approval of others,' he said. 'You see, at heart I am a people pleaser. I am constantly trying to win the approval of others.'

Seiter was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 14, 1987

He speculated about the root causes of why he felt the way he did, referencing his upbringing and homeschooling, noting he 'didnt have many friends' growing up.

He said: 'The Why? doesnt matter so much as the How? How are we going to stop conditioning our self-worth on the acceptance of others?'

'The answer to that question only came after I was open and honest with the world about my mental health struggles. It does get better.'

Two days earlier, Seiter had penned a kind and uplifting message to people struggling with their mental health.

'I want to tell anyone out there struggling right now that Im proud of you. Im proud of you for putting on your socks,' he wrote. 'Im proud of you for tying your shoes. Im proud of you for getting out of the house when it feels like an insurmountable task in a Sisyphean struggle that has no end.

'I want you to know it does get better. I know because Ive been there. I want you to know that you matter. Your life matters.'

Recently came out: Seiter made headlines two months ago when he revealed to Instinct Magazine that he was bisexual

As news of his passing spread, a number of his friends, fans and followers posted condolences to his Instagram posts.

'This is tragic,' one said. 'Thanks josh for being open and honest. I hope youre at peace. Condolences to his family and friends.'

Another said, 'R.I.P. handsome man,' while another chimed in, 'Beautiful man. May he rest in peace.'

His former girlfriend, Monica Beverly Hillz, posted to Instagram, 'RIP My honey.'

Seiter made headlines two months ago when he revealed to Instinct Magazine that he was bisexual.

'I guess the timing of me coming out as bisexual is pretty providential, since Im making this announcement during Pride Month,' Seiter told the outlet, noting that he had a religious upbringing. 'Unlike some people, my awareness of my bisexuality manifested later in life.'

He added: 'Now, with hindsight, I can see clearly that Ive been starkly aware of my bisexuality and attraction to men and women since at least college.'

Last month, he told Pride that he was going to be 'starring in a series of adult films' after starting an Only Fans account.

He added: 'Coming out was the most liberating experience of my life, and it has opened up so many great opportunities for growth. This is just one rung in the ladder of the bisexual experience I intend to climb, and I couldn't be more excited for the future!'

If you or someone close to you is in need of mental health assistance, please text 'STRENGTH' to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741. To reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, dial 988.
Americans earning over $75,000 should generally be maxing out their 401(K) contributions every year, according to a retirement expert.

Certified financial planner Rachael Burns says that although circumstances vary, anyone without dependents over that income threshold should be contributing the full amount to guarantee a good quality of life in retirement.

'If you're earning $75,000 and you don't have children but you do have somebody to share your living expenses with, it's probably a realistic goal to max out your 401(K),' she told DailyMail.com.

A 401(K) is a private plan into which an individual and their employer both contribute - and it is usually responsible for the bulk of a retiree's income.

The current contribution limit is $22,500 per year - and consultancy firm Mercer predicts the limit will increase to $23,000 in 2024 in line with living costs.

Certified financial planner Rachael Burns says anybody earning over $75,000 a year should be maxing out their 401(K) contributions

Burns said: 'It's hard to put a specific income figure on it as if you're looking after a family of four on $75,000, you're going to have nowhere near enough money to max out your 401(K).'

It also depends on where you live, she added, as expenses in some states and cities are significantly higher than in others.

'But the key thing is that you prioritize 401(K) savings,' she said. 'If you're looking at a nice new car or a house renovation, it's important to make sure you're saving enough for retirement first. That should always be the priority.'

Maximizing contributions into retirement pots lets workers take advantage of tax-deferred growth.

With a traditional 401(K) plan, employees do not have to pay taxes on their retirement savings - but they will have to pay income tax during retirement.

But in the intermittent years, savers can benefit from compound growth on their pot. This is the interest that accrues on your savings - allowing your money to effectively snowball over time.

For example, if a worker put an extra $500 into their 401(K) next year and this went on to generate a 10 percent investment return, they would end the year with $550.

The next year, interest would then accrue on the $550 figure.

'The difference can be shocking because the compound growth of those increases over ten, twenty, thirty years can make a huge difference,' Burns previously told DailyMail.com

'You have to keep on inflating your savings so you're prepared because the cost of living will continue to go up by the time you retire.'

Consultancy firm Mercer projects that the contribution limit for next year will be $23,000 - up from $22,500 this year

The IRS puts limits on what workers can contribute to their retirement plan to balance the tax advantages of these pots. In effect, it prevents excessive tax-deferred savings from growing in individual accounts.

Other retirement plans such as Roth IRAs place similar caps on contributions.

Workers have to be careful not to breach these limits as doing so can cause the IRS to demand you immediately pay taxes on the excess funds.

It comes as separate analysis showed that a 25-year-old worker could earn $218,000 by saving an extra $100 a month into their 401(K).

The figure is almost quadruple what the same person would make if they put the money into a standard savings account, according to personal finance experts at GoBankingRates.

Personal finance experts at GoBankingRates calculated how much each age-group stand to make if they invested $100 each month into their 401(K) from now until they turn 65

Currently the national average savings rate is around 0.42 percent, meaning a 25-year-old who added $100 in their account would make $52,36 by the time they retire, aged 65.

But estimates show they could expect an annual investment return of 6.5 percent in a 401(K) - allowing their saving to snowball.

What's more, GoBankingRates points out that the earner could add as much as $436,000 if their employer matched their 401(K) contributions at 3 percent.

A 30-year-old who started investing the same $100 a month into their 401(K) would end up with 154,032 by the time they are 65, according to the analysis.

A 35-year-old meanwhile would end up with $107,264 while a 40-year-old would save $73,129.

A 60-year-old who started stashing away $100 a month would earn $7,071 - or $14,141 if their employer matched the contributions.
Sudan's top military officer paid a one-day visit to Egypt on Tuesday (August 29th) for talks with the Egyptian president, making his first trip abroad since his country plunged into bitter conflict This year. General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhane, chairman of the Sovereign Council, arrived in the Mediterranean city of El-Alamein and was received at the airport by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, the council said.

The two leaders discussed efforts to end the conflict in Sudan in a way that preserves "the sovereignty and integrity of the Sudanese state", according to an Egyptian statement. This press release contained only general information on the war. Sudan descended into chaos in mid-April, when simmering tensions between the army, led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhane, and the powerful paramilitary rapid support forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, known as "Hemetti", led to open fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere.

The conflict has turned the capital into an urban battleground, with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) controlling large swaths of the city. The military command, where Abdel Fattah Al-Burhane has reportedly been stationed since April, has been one of the epicenters of the conflict. In televised comments to Egyptian media, the latter accused the RSF of starting the war to seize power in Sudan. We are facing a destructive war launched by rebel groups () who have committed heinous crimes amounting to war crimes, he said.

Nearly 5 million displaced people

The military has sought to end the conflict and establish a transition period until "free and fair elections" are held, he added. Mr. Al-Burhane was accompanied by the acting foreign minister, Ali Al-Sadiq, General Ahmed Ibrahim Mufadel, head of the General Intelligence Authority, and other army officers. In a statement late Tuesday, Al-Sadiq said that among the "urgent issues" discussed was the movement of people and goods across the Sudan-Egypt border.

More than 4.6 million people have been displaced, according to the UN migration agency. Of these, more than 3.6 million have fled to safer areas inside Sudan and more than a million others have crossed into neighboring countries. More than 285,300 people fled to Egypt.

The FSR did not immediately comment on Abdel Fattah Al-Burhanes trip. In a statement, the Sovereign Council announced late Tuesday that Mr. Al-Burhane had returned to Port Sudan, the country's largest coastal city controlled by the army. The general had left the Red Sea city for Egypt earlier in the day. Last week, Mr. Al-Burhane managed to leave the Sudanese army headquarters in Khartoum. He visited military installations in Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city to the north of the capital.

In several months of fighting, neither side has succeeded in taking control of Khartoum or other key areas of the country. Last week, loud explosions and plumes of black smoke were seen over key areas of the capital, including near its airport.

Worst violence of the conflict in Darfur

Egypt has long-standing ties with the Sudanese military and its top generals. In July, Mr. al-Sisi hosted a meeting of Sudan's neighbors and announced a ceasefire plan. A series of fragile truces, negotiated by the United States and Saudi Arabia, did not hold. Many residents of Khartoum live without water or electricity, and the country's health system has nearly collapsed.

The sprawling Darfur region has seen some of the worst violence of the conflict and fighting there has turned into ethnic clashes, with the RSF and allied Arab militias attacking ethnic African communities. Clashes intensified earlier this month in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province, with both sides using heavy weapons in densely populated areas, according to activists and local media.

On August 22, shellfire hit the Al-Sekka Al-Hadeid neighborhood of Nyala, killing at least 39 civilians, including women and children, according to activist Adam Mousa, media officer for the Bar Association of Darfur, which called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the attack and hold its perpetrators to account. Clashes were also reported in the provinces of South Kordofan and West Kordofan, according to the United Nations.

The fighting has claimed at least 4,000 lives, according to the UN human rights office, but activists and doctors on the ground say the toll is likely much higher. Martin Griffiths, the UN's head of humanitarian affairs, said on Tuesday the organization had added an additional $20 million to its emergency funding to help meet Sudan's growing humanitarian needs. This year, a total of $60 million of the fund has been allocated to Sudan, Griffiths said on X (formerly Twitter).
Tokyo again severely condemned on Tuesday the anti-Japanese acts attributed to China since the beginning of the discharge into the sea of the waters of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, including a brick throw against the Japanese embassy in Beijing. These facts, including a wave of phone harassment against Japanese companies and stone throwing at Japanese schools in China, are "extremely regrettable and disturbing", Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

He also confirmed that a brick was thrown at the Japanese Embassy in China. The latter, questioned on Tuesday by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on this information, confirmed that it was "generally accurate".

"So far, there have been no demonstrations or violence [] But there are a few people, alone, who have, in front of our door [] done what you have just mentioned," said an embassy spokesman said. These individuals were "arrested" by Chinese security forces stationed outside the embassy, the spokesperson said.

Asked what action Beijing would take following the incidents, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday that China "always protects the safety and legitimate rights and interests of foreigners in China, in accordance with the law ".

"We urge the Japanese side to address the legitimate concerns of all parties, immediately stop the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, fully consult with neighbors and other stakeholders, and seriously dispose of nuclear contaminated water responsibly, the spokesperson added.

At a press conference, Yoshimasa Hayashi for his part urged the Chinese government on Tuesday "to immediately take appropriate measures, including calling on its citizens to act calmly to prevent the situation from escalating, and to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals" in China.

Japan had already summoned the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo on Monday to protest against the wave of telephone harassment from China that Japanese companies apparently chosen at random have been suffering for the past few days.

The Japanese minister also called on Beijing to "provide accurate information on the treated water" from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, whose discharge into the sea began last Thursday, "rather than causing unnecessary concern to the public by providing information devoid of any scientific basis".

China has suspended all its imports of seafood products from Japan since last week, in response to the start of the discharge of water, notably from the injections necessary to cool damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant since the 2011 tsunami in northeast Japan.

The discharge into the Pacific Ocean of water from Fukushima has been validated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Tokyo assures that it will be safe for the environment and human health. The water was treated to rid it of its radioactive substances, with the exception of tritium, then diluted with seawater before discharge into the ocean, so that its level of radioactivity did not exceed the targeted ceiling. 1,500 becquerels per litre. This is 40 times lower than the Japanese standard for this type of operation, which is common practice in the nuclear industry around the world.

Seawater tests carried out since the start of the discharge have confirmed that the level of radioactivity was in line with forecasts and did not exceed the ceiling set, according to Tepco, the plant operator, and the Japanese authorities.

Based on its own analysis, the IAEA also assured last Thursday that the level of radioactivity in the tritiated water that Japan began to evacuate was "well below" the set operational limit of 1,500 Bq/L. . In total, Japan plans to discharge more than 1.3 million m3 of tritiated water from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean until the early 2050s, according to the current schedule.
The opposition in Zimbabwe on Tuesday (August 29) demanded a new presidential election and reserved the right to take legal action after a vote deemed "chaotic and void", which officially gave a second term to President Emmerson Mnangagwa .

"The whole process was chaotic and sucked" and the results "do not reflect the true will of the people of Zimbabwe", said at a press conference in Harare Ostallos Siziba, spokesman for the first opposition party. , the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). "There is no choice but to organize a new, fair election," he said. Asked about a possible legal action, Mr. Siziba clarified that the necessary procedures will be implemented at the appropriate time.

Zimbabweans went to the polls last week to choose their president and MPs. The battle was mainly between the Zanu-PF in power since independence in 1980 and the "Triple C" of Nelson Chamisa, a 45-year-old lawyer and pastor.

Emmerson Mnangagwa was re-elected with 52.6% of the votes cast, against 44% in favor of Mr. Chamisa, according to the results announced on Saturday by the electoral commission. The opposition did not endorse this count, which was deemed "distorted", and Mr. Chamisa said on Sunday that he had "won the election" and had "the real results".

"Serious problems" affecting the "transparency" of the ballot

Failures, such as the lack of ballots in certain offices, have multiplied, particularly in the capital Harare, an opposition stronghold. International observers highlighted serious problems affecting the transparency of the vote: voters could not be found on the lists, others were the target of intimidation in this country already burdened by a long history of polls tainted by irregularities.

Washington on Monday condemned "the systematic bias against the opposition during the campaign", marked by banned rallies and arrested opponents. President Mnangagwa warned on Sunday against criticism of the conduct of the poll, congratulating himself on having been re-elected by a "mature democracy" at the head of an "independent and sovereign nation". In 2018, Robert Mugabe's successor was narrowly elected (50.8%). Mr. Chamisa, already his rival, had challenged the results but had been dismissed. The army fired on demonstrators two days after the election, killing six.
The Justice for the Civil Guard (JUCIL) association has requested, through a statement, that the Interior and Foreign Affairs commissions in the Congress of Deputies investigate "immediately" the responsibilities "of mismanagement and the migratory disaster" caused in the Rio Tajo patrol boat, an "old tugboat" belonging to the Armed Institute.

On board her are traveling, in "deplorable hygienic conditions" according to JUCIL, the 168 immigrants rescued from a canoe off Mauritania controlled by thirty civil guards and five crew members. "The progress is very slow because this old boat sails at a maximum speed of 11 knots (about 20 km/h)", said the Secretary of Communication, Agustin Leal.

Beyond the "mismanagement that has been observed for the resolution of the problem by Frontex (European Border and Coast Guard Agency)", the association has indicated that it awaits explanations from the Spanish authorities through the parliamentary commissions to clarify "how and who has given the equivocal orders" that have allowed migrants to remain for more than a week on board a ship without conditions to support them. "In addition to the riot, controlled by the comrades through the use of shots into the air from long weapons, we are concerned about the hygiene and health situation of these workers, although no ministry seems to be interested in their situation," Leal argued.

In addition, JUCIL trusts that the mission of this crew, which has lasted much longer than expected "and takes place in deplorable conditions of lack of food and hygienic and sanitary conditions", will culminate after the disembarkation of the migrants in Senegal. "We hope that the comrades can control any new attempt at mutiny and that there are no difficulties on the part of Senegal for the reception of these people," said the communication secretary.

The association also hopes that the members of this crew, "who have been subjected to strong pressure" during these days "will be adequately cared for" when the vessel returns to the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
A feat that moves the whole of Italy. As reported by Sky 24 in an article spotted by Ouest-France, an Italian banker managed to catch a 4-year-old girl who had just fallen from the balcony of the family apartment, located on the fifth floor of a building in Turin , Saturday, August 26. Erected as a hero, this 37-year-old man could soon be decorated after his gesture of bravery.

The incident took place around 11 a.m. While on his way to a bakery in central Turin with his girlfriend, Mattia Aguzzi was alerted by shouts coming from a street window. It was then that he saw on the top floor of the building, a little girl playing on the balcony of her parents' apartment. "The little girl kept leaning more and more and climbing over the ledge, she was only holding on with two arms and her legs were in the air," testified the banker.

"I started yelling at her to stay still and go back inside, but she didn't hear," he continued. Mattia Aguzzi therefore decides to position herself below her to receive her, seeing that she was about to fall. "I closed my eyes and hoped for the best, I blocked her, cushioning the blow and we both fell to the ground," he told Sky 24. if the girl was "well", she was transported to the hospital to be examined, while the parents looked on "in shock".

This miraculous rescue was widely praised on social media by the Italian population of political figures. "The action of [...] our fellow citizen who, this morning [...] saved the life of the little girl who fell from the fifth floor, is a heroic and extraordinary gesture", particularly congratulated the mayor of the city, Stefano Lo Russo , in a press release. He further requested that the "hero" be "honored".

The story of a little girl who fell from the 5th floor of a balcony of a building in Turin could have turned into a tragedy. But thanks to the promptness of Mattia Aguzzi, who saw her fall and caught her in flight, she was saved. Honor and recognition to this young hero, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The story of a little girl who fell from the 5th floor of a balcony in a building in Turin could have turned into tragedy. But thanks to the promptness of Mattia Aguzzi, who saw her fall and grabbed her in the air, her life is saved. Much honor and gratitude to this young hero. pic.twitter.com/B6yzkEYZan

Monday, two days after the events, Mattia Aguzzi went to the hospital to meet the little girl's family, reports the Italian daily La Repubblica. "I'm happy to know that she is well," said the new national hero.
Former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who led the country for nearly forty years before handing over power to his son Hun Manet in mid-August, will be able to keep his Facebook and Instagram accounts. A decision by Meta, the parent company of the two social networks, which contravenes the recommendations issued by the Oversight Board, an independent authority funded by Meta, which the company has set up to arbitrate complex or particularly sensitive moderation decisions.

On January 8, Hun Sen posted a long speech on his Facebook page in which he threatened to take legal action against people critical of him, saying he was ready to use violence. There are only two options, use the legal procedures, or use the sticks. What do you prefer ? (). Either you will have a trial, or I will ask the [Cambodian People's Party] activists to organize a demonstration and beat you up.  The video had been reported by several Internet users to Facebook's moderation teams, but it remained online. A choice contested by users of the platform with the Oversight Board.

Decisions too slow

In June, the latter had issued his conclusions, believing that the video should have been deleted, and also recommended the outright suspension of Hun Sen's accounts. The decisions of this "supreme court" are binding with regard to deletions or restorations of content, but the company is not, however, obliged to follow its "recommendations" about deletions of accounts. On Monday, Meta therefore announced that the video had been deleted, but said that the deletion of Hun Sen's accounts was not justified.

"We have determined that suspending Hun Sen's accounts is not appropriate," Meta wrote. The company provides that the accounts of prominent political figures can only be deleted in the event of a serious crisis, and believes that when Hun Sen posted this video "the situation in Cambodia did not meet the criteria defining a crisis [with imminent risk of violence]". The decision revived recurring criticisms of the limits on the power of the Oversight Board, whose procedures are long and sometimes perceived as insufficiently binding, knowing that Meta has sixty days to implement the requests of this board.

In early June, after the announcement of the Oversight Board's decision, Hun Sen himself temporarily closed his Facebook and Instagram accounts and threatened to block Facebook across the country. He had finally reactivated his accounts just before the July legislative election, in which his Cambodian People's Party won 120 of the 125 seats in parliament, after the main opposition party was banned.
Ukraine will evacuate children from five localities located on the southern front, in the region of Zaporizhia, announced on Tuesday August 29, the Ministry of Reintegration, in the face of "a difficult security situation and bombardments" Russian. In total, "54 children and 67 people accompanying them will be evacuated," the ministry said in a statement posted on Telegram.

The five localities concerned are those of "Guuliaipole, Stepnogirsk, Preobrajenka, Egorivka and Novopavlivka", specified the Ukrainian ministry, according to which the decision was taken "unanimously" during a meeting of local officials. According to the same source, "in addition to children, the mandatory evacuation will also apply to people with reduced mobility who live in the mentioned localities".

The announcement comes as Ukraine said on Tuesday it had advanced near Robotyne, a village about 50 km southeast of the localities affected by the evacuations.

Its counter-offensive, launched at the beginning of June in this southern zone, as well as in the East, is however difficult to recover and has only allowed at this stage to retake a few villages. On the spot, the Russians had several months to fortify their positions, in particular with trenches and large minefields, spread over several lines extending hundreds of kilometers.
As many as 32 companies, including global biggies like HP, Dell and Lenovo, have applied under the Production Linked Incentive scheme for IT hardware, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.The expected incremental production under the scheme is pegged at Rs 3.35 lakh crore, said Vaishnaw, Minister for Electronics and IT. "India is emerging as a trusted supply chain partner and value added partner ... Companies are happy to come to India for manufacturing and design," Vaishnaw said at a media briefing.

Overall, 32 applications have been received under PLI for IT hardware scheme so far, Vaishnaw said describing it as a good response. The response is more than anticipated, he said.
After the Jan Vishwas law comes into force, businessmen will be able to act without fear of imprisonment for minor, technical or procedural lapses

On August 12, the President of India, Droupadi Murmu gave assent to Jan Vishwas Bill 2023, to become a law, which was passed in Parliament on August 2. The purpose of this law is to promote the ease of doing business by decriminalising several offences into penalties and eliminating imprisonment for many offences but on its own, the number of provisions this law addresses is statistically insignificant. And yet, this is one of the most awaited reforms and a possible game-changer for Indias entrepreneurs.

Since the British era in India, 69,233 compliances regulate doing business under 26,134 imprisonment clauses across the Centre and State governments to put an entrepreneur in jail as a penalty for non-compliance. It plagues India's business compliance regulation framework, and has been haunting entrepreneurs since pre-independence! The compliances criminalization hasnt created honesty but has painful consequences like breeding corruption, sabotaging job creation, and diluting justice. In 76 years of independence, can an entrepreneur hope that The Jan Vishwas Law could envisage redefining the regulatory landscape of the country under the Ease of Doing Business Reforms?

A significant level of decriminalisation missing

The Jan Vishwas law decriminalises only 113 clauses out of 26,134 total (less than half per cent) imprisonment clauses dealing with the regulation of economic activities and business at an aggregate. According to the Observer Research Foundation's report,  There are 534 imprisonment clauses in Union labour laws, which will change once the Labour Codes are notified, leaving 4,705 imprisonment clauses awaiting rationalisation.

The compliances related to 42 central acts administered by 19 Ministries/Departments in major ten categories- labour and employment, power, chemical and fertilisers, secretarial, environmental health, and safety, finance, and taxation, industry-specific, commercial and general and regulators such as RBI, SEBI and CBIC resulted in 105 recommendations, of which only six have been accepted; and the balance 98 being specific provisions. Of the hundreds of business laws with imprisonment clauses that could be compoundable, excluded in the Jan Vishwas law-2023, very few of these are mentioned here.

Industrial Disputes Act, 1947: Under section 29, any person who commits a breach of any term of any settlement or award, which is binding on him under this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with a fine of Rs 1000 or with both. Labour Laws: Section 54 -b of The Code on Wages specifies penalties for offences committed by an employer, such as paying less than the due wages or contravening any provision of the Code. A maximum penalty is imprisonment for three months along with a fine of up to Rs one lakh or both.

Maternity Benefit Act, 1961: Under section 6, the violation shall be punishable with imprisonment of three months but may extend to one year and with a fine. Employee State Insurance Corporation Act, 1948: Section 85 is prescribed for different types of offences in terms of imprisonment of up to one year and a fine of up to Rs 5000. Section 85-A prescribed 3 years imprisonment and not less than 6 months, where an employer deducts contributions from the wages of his employees but does not pay the same to the corporation which amounts to a criminal breach of trust. Goods and Services Tax Act of 2017: Under section 132, where the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years. Companies Act, 2013: Section 447 prescribes punishment for a false entry in any document concerning the company or body corporate, furnishing false statements, mutilation, and destruction of documents, and section 449 for false evidence. The jail terms range from three months to as high as 10 years.

The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981: Under section 39D, Offences for failure to comply and for failure to pay a penalty are to be punishable with imprisonment for a term of two years but which may extend to seven years and with a fine. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986: Under section 15F, where any person fails to pay the penalty or additional penalty within ninety days of such imposition, he shall be liable for imprisonment that may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to twice the amount of the penalty or with both.

The Trade Marks Act, 1999: Under section 112 A, Where the person fails to comply with the order made within a period of ninety days from the date of the receipt of the order, shall be punishable with a fine of Rs one lakh or imprisonment for a term may extend to one year or with both. Hence, there is a pressing need to decriminalise numerous penal offences, such as sedition (Section 124A of the IPC), offences under the UAPA and the NDPS Act, anti-conversion laws, and more. It is crucial to assess these and similar offences based on principles and evaluate the need for decriminalization. As a result, the law cannot achieve a significant level of decriminalisation. It is important because decriminalising frivolous compliances is an important policy action of reducing, if not ending.

The Way Forward

For 76 years since Independence, we have heard the expression Inspector Raj. Our job creators and job seekers deserve better. Imagine a US$10 trillion GDP aspiration, our lawmakers need to up the entrepreneurs' aspirations. Hopefully, the Jan Vishwas Law will speed up to accomplish and simplify business operations throughout the nation to ensure that businesses can operate without fear of imprisonment for minor, technical or procedural lapses by bringing all business reforms under this single overarching legislation, infusing dignity to an entrepreneur.
The perennial water scarcity issue in Tamil Nadu can be resolved only if the politicians have the will to do so. But does it suit their interests?

Marudveidhe maanya jala pravahe

Kaverakanye namataam sharanye

Maanye vidhe mani suputri soumye

Kaaveri Kaaveri mama prasiida 

(Your copious flow swelled by cloud bearing Maruts Daughter of Kavera, I bow at your feet Divine mind-born daughter of the creator O Kaveri, shower your blessings on me)

This is from the hymn Kaveri Ashtakam sung in praise of river Kaveri, that reverberates from the banks along Ganga of the South, as Kaveri is addressed in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The 805-km-long river originates from Brahmagiri Hills (known as Thalakaveri) and meanders through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu before joining her husband Sagara Raja (Hind Mahasagar), irrigates and makes prosper the 72,000 sq km basin that falls in her path. The picturesque landscape along its route and the serene and peaceful atmosphere felt on both banks are visual splendours.

But not any more! The mention of Kaveri makes the Dravidian politicians see red. The river, flowing peacefully till 1967, has became a bone of contention between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Despite being an inter-state river, the political leadership of both States had displayed statesmanship and maturity in resolving the issues that had cropped up during drought years caused by deficient rainfall.

Old-timers like the late N Kalyanasundaram, the chronicler of Tamil Nadus political history, used to tell how K Kamaraj, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, rang up his Karnataka counterpart and requested for more water whenever the farmers complained to him of water shortage. The other side obliged and that too with a sense of pride. Gone are those good old days. MK Stalin and Siddaramaiah are brothers-in-arms fighting together to establish socialism, secularism and communal harmony across India. But they do not see eye to eye on the Kaveri issue.

Though there were issues between the States of Karnataka (then Mysore) and Tamil Nadu (previously Madras) long back, the agreements made in 1892 and 1924 to share the waters had resolved the dispute to a great extent. Over the years, the South Monsoon that feeds Kaveris catchment area became erratic due to the destruction of forests in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The farmers of Tamil Nadu under the banner of Kaveri Delta Farmers Welfare Association had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking a directive to the Centre to refer the dispute relating to the utilization of Kaveri Water to the Inter-State Water Dispute Act, 1956. Subsequently, the Kaveri River Water Dispute Tribunal was set up for an amicable settlement.

The Tribunals award was that Karnataka should release 177.25 Thousand Million Cubic feet (TMC ft) of water to Tamil Nadu in a normal-water year (JuneMay). Of this, 123.14 TMC ft is to be released from June to September when farming operations are at their peak. But when rains fail, Tamil Nadu politicians get cold and start sneezing. The Tribunal has also fixed the quantity of water to be released by Karnataka every month.

Tamil Nadu claims that Kaveri is the lifeline of its five districts, which are known as the Delta Districts and the Rice Bowl. The Dravidian politicians blame Karnataka for its failure to release the monthly quota. Many times, the States have seen riots breaking out in Tamil Nadu against the people of Karnataka, and those in Karnataka return the compliment. Karnatakas plan to build Mekadatu reservoir across the Kaveri to meet the drinking water requirements of Bangalore has met with strong resistance from the Dravidians because they fear that it is an attempt by Karnataka to rob Tamil Nadu of its due.

Tamil Nadus woe is that it does not have any major river and is fully dependent on Karnataka and Kerala (Mullaperiyar dam). However, the State has done nothing to resolve the issue with the help of modern technology. Surplus water from Kaveri is wasted into the Arabian Sea every year. All the engineers need to do is to divert a portion of the west-flowing surplus water to the Godavari/Krishna rivers through a network of canals. Tamil Nadu Government, which built the Chennai Metro through tunnels, can deploy boring machines to construct a series of tunnels to facilitate the flow of surplus water from Kaveri to Mettur dam.

The UPA government will make a comprehensive assessment of the feasibility of linking the nations rivers . The UPA will take all steps to ensure that long-pending inter-state disputes on rivers and water-sharing like the Cauvery waters dispute are settled amicably at the earliest, said its Common Minimum Programme before it came to power in 2004. Now, there is no CMP or UPA!

Tamil Nadu should have built a series of desalination plants along its 1076-km coastline. Though there are two Central institutions in Chennai (Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, and National Institute of Ocean Technology) with expertise in setting up desalination plants, no one from the State has made any attempt to bring these organizations into the loop. For politicians in Tamil Nadu, water should remain a burning issue for their survival. May God save the Dravidians and Tamil Nadu!

(The writer is a Special Correspondent with The Pioneer. The views expressed are personal)
With the possibility of the Narendra Modi Government clubbing the Lok Sabha polls with the forthcoming Assembly elections in five States later this year, the Oppositions Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will concentrate on crucial issues like seat-sharing, setting up of a co-ordination committee and also committees to speed up its activities at various levels and the formation of a team to draft a common minimum programme for the General Elections, at the two-day meeting beginning here on Thursday. Prominent among the leaders attending the meeting will be Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, all from the Congress, Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee (TMC), MK Stalin (DMK), Arvind Kejriwal (AAP), Hemant Soren (JMM), RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti of the PDF, Sitaram Yechuri (CPM) and D Raja (CPI).

Though there has been speculation in the media that INDIA may announce its Prime Ministerial face at the two-day meet to be held at Grand Hyatt hotel in north-west Mumbai, such a thing is unlikely to cross the minds of 63 leaders from 28 political parties attending the conclave, which is the third such meet being held among the leaders after talks in Patna and Bengaluru. The leaders may ponder over issues like a logo for the Opposition grouping and a strategy to keep the flock together in the face of out-of-turn statements being made by certain leaders against their counterparts from other constituents of the INDIA grouping at the State-level. NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who is among the hosts of the Mumbai meet, set the tone for the conclave by declaring that the people of the country want a change and that INDIA would provide a viable alternative to bring about the change.

Indicating that there might be seat-sharing talks, Pawar said, INDIA alliance has so far not initiated talks on seat-sharing. Beginning tomorrow, we will discuss common minimum programme and delegate responsibilities. We will explore the possibility of bringing more Opposition parties into INDIAs fold.

Sources in the alliance said that at the meeting, INDIA would chalk out a broad-based formula for seat-sharing, set up State-wise committees to identify the seats to be contested by each of the constituents in the alliance and also finalise a logo for the front.

Keen on roping in BSP supremo Mayawati as a constituent of the alliance, the Opposition leaders may appoint a senior leader to hold talks with her and convince her to join the joint Opposition front. However, when asked about Mayawati, Pawar chose to remain non-committal. It is not known on whose side she is. Earlier, we had heard she had a dialogue with the BJP

On a day when the Peasants and Workers party, the number of the political parties went up to 28 as against the tally of 26 parties that attended the second INDIA meet in Bengaluru.

Interacting with the media, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said: Today we have 28 parties with us. Our strength has increased from 26 at Bengaluru meet was 26.

Describing the NDA as an amoeba that had no shape and size, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray said: Our agenda is to protect the Constitution and throw out dictatorship from the country.. We pledge not to allow any dictator to come to power again. We will do everything to ensure that the federal structure is destroyed in the country.

On who is going to be INDIA'S Prime Ministerial candidate, Uddhav said: We have several choices for PM's post, does the BJP has a choice?

While espousing the cause of women, Uddhav said: We will provide a government that will protect the rights of women.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav indicated that the joint Opposition leaders would discuss matters relating to seat-sharing at the meeting : "Elections are approaching. If candidates have to be decided, we need to sit together."

Replying to a question, Yadav said that the INDIA alliance would decide on the choice of its convenor during the meeting.

Eleven sitting Chief Ministers are part of the INDIA alliance. INDIA will take ahead the ideology of Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar and ideals of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj... the challenge before us is to prevent the fascist forces from ruining the country. On Rakshabandhan day, we pledge to protect India, former chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan said.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday denounced BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Saroj Pandey for calling PCC chief Deepak Baij a "child".

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Baghel said how can Pandey call Baij a child when he is married and a father.

Baij is also two times MLA and now an MP. How can such a mature person be called a child, Baghel asked.

Instead, Pandey was unmarried and hence she should answer as who was a child, the chief minister said.

It is unfair that a tribal leader like Baij should be mocked in such a way and is objectionable too to underestimate him, he added.

Pandey on Tuesday called Baij an "immature" leader and a "child". Baij, an MP from Bastar, was recently assigned the job of PCC chief of Chhattisgarh replacing Mohan Markam.
Sitharaman to launch 'Mera Bill Mera Adhikar' invoice incentive scheme from Gurugram



Chandigarh: From September 1, GST taxpayers are set to receive a bonanza under Mera Bill-Mera Adhikar Scheme as Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman will launch the Mera Bill-Mera Adhikar Scheme from Gurugram to encourage taxpayers. Haryana Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala said that under this scheme, the consumer will have to upload the receipt of the purchase of the goods on the portal and consumers will get rewards through the corpus fund of Rs. 30 crores, through a draw system. He said that this scheme will play an important role for GST collection as more and more people will be motivated to collect GST bills.



PUNJAB VB ARRESTS PUNGRAIN INSPECTOR FOR CAUSING LOSSES OF OVER RS 1.24 CRORE



Chandigarh: Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Wednesday arrested Pungrain Inspector (Grade-1), Bikramjit Singh for committing embezzlement in wheat and having caused losses to state exchequer amounting to over Rs 1.24 crore during his posting as an In-charge of Pungrain godowns at Khadoor Sahib in Tarn Taran district. Now, the accused Inspector has been posted at Gurdaspur and placed under suspension. An official spokesperson said that the VB unit of Tarn Taran along with technical team had conducted surprise inspection at Pungrain storage godowns at Khadoor Sahib and found 760 quintals and 229 quintals of wheat worth Rs 1,24,93,709 missing from the stock stored in the godowns during 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 respectively. After the checking, an FIR was registered against Inspector Bikramjit Singh at Police Station VB, Amritsar Range. The spokesperson said that an investigation has also been launched to dig out moveable and immovable properties of the accused Inspector.



15-yr-old girl shot dead by stalker in Punjab



Amritsar: A teenage girl has been shot dead in Punjab's Ajnala village allegedly by a youth who was stalking her for the past few months, police on Wednesday. One of the two accomplices of the main accused Dalbir Singh has been arrested, they said. On Tuesday evening, the three accused forcibly entered the house of the 15-year-old girl's aunt and started asking her whereabouts, a police official said. The girl, who was inside the house, came out and a heated argument ensued during which Dalbir Singh shot her and fled, the official said, adding the girl was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared her dead. According to the police, the accused had been harassing the girl for the past many months and pressuring her to marry him. The girl's parents had sent her to her aunt's residence as the accused was constantly harassing her. A case has been registered under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act while a hunt is on to nab the other two accused.
In view of upcoming assembly elections and festivals, combing patrolling done by Bhopal police to control crimes and arrest absconding accused who have been issued warrants.

A total of 446 accused including 307 permanent warrants and 139 arrest warrants were arrested during combing patrolling.

Action taken during combing patrol by more than 400 officers and employees of Zone-1, Zone-2 area. Combing patrolling has been done 9 times so far in Bhopal Commissionerate and 4564 permanent and arrest warrants have been served in 9 combing patrols

In view of upcoming assembly elections and festivals, combing patrolling was done in Zone-01 and Zone-02 area on the intervening night of August 29 and 30, 2023 to control crimes and arrest absconding prize accused and warrantees under the guidance of senior officers.

About 400 officers and employees including the force of Zone-1 and Zone 2 and Reserve Center were sent to the police station areas by working with sensitivity and alertness in teamwork in their respective areas, giving proper guidelines for warranties and arrest of miscreants.

During patrolling, the police station team under the leadership of DCP and ADDL DCL and ACP of Zone 1 and Zone 1 remained active throughout the night and arrested the accused and absconding warrantees.

Patrolling was started by about 400 policemen from around 10 pm and was done till around 5 in the morning. A total of 446 warrants including 307 standing warrants and 139 arrest warrants were served in only 7 hours of patrolling. Also, goons, scoundrels and history-sheeters were checked.

A total of 213 warrants including 56 arrests, 157 permanent warrants were served in Zone 2 area, in which maximum 46 warrants including 32 permanent warrants and 14 arrest warrants were served by Piplani police station.

Action was taken on 233 warrants including 83 arrests, 150 permanent warrants in Zone 1 area, in which a total of 44 warrants including maximum 30 permanent warrants and 14 arrest warrants were executed by Police Station Shahpura.

Due to increase in the pendency of permanent/arrest warrants in all the police stations of the city, cases were pending in the court due to the absconding of the accused and the warrant being served. With the serving of warrants, the cases will be solved and the victims will get justice. There are serious and economic related crimes including murder, rape, robbery, check bounce, fraud in the warrants executed. This campaign will definitely have a positive effect on the people and increase the fear of police and law among criminals. Combing patrolling will also be done in the coming time.

A total of 4564 permanent/arrest warrants have been served in 9 combing patrols in Bhopal Commissionerate so far.
A delegation of leaders of Uttarakhand Congress led by its vice president Mathura Dutt Joshi met the chief electoral officer (CEO) Uttarakhand on Wednesday and submitted a complaint that the Congress workers are selectively being harassed by the district administration of Bageshwar. The delegation told the CEO that the cases of violation of model code of conduct (MCC) are being registered only on the Congress workers. The chief spokesperson of the Uttarakhand Congress, Garima Dasauni said that Congress workers are being constantly harassed in Bageshwar by the administration. She said that the banners and posters of Congress candidates are being torn and the vehicles of Congress party supporters are being penalised. The Congress leader said that notices under section 107/116 have been given to the district vice president of Youth Congress Bhim Kumar and Bhuwan Pharswan. Dasauni added that the journalists coming to Bageshwar from outside are not being allowed to cover the by-election. She said that the cases registered on the Congress workers should be taken back. The delegation submitted a memorandum to the election commission.
The Uttarakhand Congress has condemned the vigilance raids on the institutions owned by the son of former cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat. The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara said that raids were made at the behest of BJP. He said on one hand the businessmen and politicians connected to BJP are enjoying patronage of the government and on the other the senior leaders of Congress party are being harassed. Mahara said that when Rawat was in BJP there was no charge against him but when he left the party he became an eye sore for the government.  The BJP government has crossed all limits of political vendetta. The Modi government and the Dhami government of Uttarakhand are misusing the agencies such as CBI, ED and vigilance to target political opponents, he said.

The PCC president added that the Congress party has faith in judiciary and is against corruption but misuse of power to raid on the opposition leaders cannot be justified.
Accusing the opposition Congress of spreading confusion in the public about the ongoing anti encroachment drive, the president of Uttarakhand BJP Mahendra Bhatt has said the local population will not get affected by the drive.

He said that the drive is undertaken on the orders of the High Court and assured that loss of not even a single inch of land will occur to the local population in the drive while respecting all the legal issues.

Interacting with the media persons on Wednesday, Bhatt said that since the issue is related to compliance of order of HC, the government is moving forward after careful consideration of all the legal issues and taking steps in public interest. He said that some political parties are creating legal tangles while remaining in the background. The State BJP president said that the person who took the issue to HC has no relationship with Uttarakhand. Bhatt said that similar attempts were made in the issue of reservation to the women of State in government jobs.

He said that the BJP government is determined for the public's concerns and will not allow loss to the local population, their employment and business. He said that the Congress leaders should understand the seriousness of the situation and they should refrain from politics in the interest of the State on the issue.
The State health department has blacklisted the Engineering Project India Limited (EPIL) from all its construction related works. The punitive action on the company was taken after the quality of construction of the building of the Government Medical College Rudrapur was found to be of inferior quality. The foundation of this building will now be dismantled and a new building will be constructed in its place. The secretary health, R Rajesh Kumar told The Pioneer that following complaints in the construction of 14 buildings of the medical college Rudrapur, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee was asked to undertake an analysis of quality of construction. A professor of the civil engineering department of IIT Roorkee conducted an inspection of the construction site and advised that the under construction structures should be dismantled. Apart from this a third party agency ( Quality Austria Central Asia) was also roped in by the medical education department for the purpose. This agency also recommended dismantling of the buildings and their reconstruction. Kumar said that EPIL was given a contract for construction of the building of the medical college and the directorate of medical education released a sum of Rs 50 crore for the company. The company has surrendered a sum of Rs 18.22 crore to the department and the State administration has now directed the company to return the remaining amount. The secretary said that the EPIL will not be given any work by the department and the company concerned and the State government has been informed about the decision.
Girl students of Sacred Heart School Koderma will tie rakhi to President Draupadi Murmu. On Tuesday, everyone left for Delhi by the Jansampark Kranti Express. Teacher Praveen Kumar and teacher Kamini Sahay accompanied the students. The children going to Delhi include the names of Nayantara Gupta, Saumya Kumari, Jahnavi Ojha, Kaushambi Malwa and Pulkit Soni. Apart from the director of the school, Pramod Kumar, the parents of the children had also reached to drop the children at the station. After tying rakhi to the President, the children will visit prominent places in Delhi and will return on September 1.

On the other hand, another team of children from Sacred Heart School will tie rakhi to Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan. The names of Archie Kumari, Vandana Kumari, Anupriya Kumari, Megha Singh and Tanisha Sharma are included in the students going to Governor's House. Along with this, Academic Director Pramod Kumar Sharma, teachers Kuntal Jethwa and Manoj Pandey will also go to Ranchi. After tying Rakhi, children will return to their homes by evening. School Director Pramod Kumar, Academic Director Pramod Sharma and Principal Naveen Kumar along with other teachers have congratulated the children. The children here had tied rakhi to Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan last year as well.

Meanwhile, President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday greeted citizens on the eve of Raksha Bandhan and hoped that this festival of love, affection and faith would nurture the spirit of harmony in society besides enhancing the respect for women.

In her message, Murmu said the festival of Raksha Bandhan is a symbol of love between brothers and sisters. "On this day, sisters tie Rakhi to their brothers and pray for their happiness, prosperity and good health. This festival gives us the message of protecting our sisters and daughters as well as protecting the glory of our country," the president said.

This year Rakhsa bandhan assumes importance as on the eve of Raksha bandhan, the Union Cabinet has announced a subsidy of Rs 200 on all domestic LPG cylinders. The Centre has called the decision a gift for women from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

Prime Minister Modi said the reduction in prices will increase the comfort of women and make their lives easier.

"The festival of Raksha Bandhan is a day to increase happiness in our family. The reduction in gas prices will increase the comfort of the sisters in my family and make their lives easier. May every sister of mine be happy, be healthy, be happy, this is my wish from God," the PM posted in Hindi on X, formerly Twitter.
A lawyer was shot dead at his office in Ghaziabad on Wednesday in his chambers inside the district court complex. As per initial reports, advocate Manoj Chaudhary alias Monu Jaat was having lunch, when two attackers entered chamber 95 and started firing indiscriminately. Chaudharys blood-covered body was found slumped in the chair. After the incident, there was ruckus in the entire tehsil.

On receiving information about the incident, police reached the spot and investigating the incident is pon. The miscreants entered the chamber and shot a lawyer named Monu Chaudhary, due to which the lawyer died on the spot. The body has been sent for postmortem.

Police said the two attackers have been identified in the CCTV footage who entered the tehsil at around 1:38 pm and had hid faces with handerchief. Preliminary information said Chaudhary was shot dead at 2 pm. The attackers reportedly arrived on foot and fled after committing the crime.

A case was filed with the Sihani Gate Police Station and the investigation is ongoing, as part of which a forensic team gathered evidence and the body has been sent for post-mortem. Chaudhary had contested election for the Tehsil Bar Association.

In addition, security footage from CCTV cameras installed across the court premises are being secured, police said.

Officials from the Singhni Gate police station have launched an investigation and are examining the footage to identify the murderers. A team of forensic experts was also called to the site for further investigation.

The killing comes as legal practitioners across western UP went on a 24-hour strike on Wednesday to protest the clash between lawyers and police in the states Hapur region.

In anticipation of further clashes police had been deployed at all court and tehsil complexes in the State.
A man who had threatened authorities of serial bomb blasts in Nainital district twice since last year in the name of Hizbul Mujahideen was finally arrested from Andhra Pradeshs Vijayawada. The accused identified as Nitin Sharma alias Khalid was reportedly very clever and had almost no digital presence which made it extremely difficult for authorities to nab him. The officials of Cyber Cell Police Station of Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) spent about 20 days in Andhra Pradesh besides doing technical and cyber policing to gather evidence and arrest him, said the additional superintendent of police, STF Chandra Mohan Singh. He said that the accused sent a message on the official Facebook page of Nainital police on October 4 last year stating We will blast bombs in different parts of Nainital district within 24 hours and Hizbul Mujahideen takes the responsibility. A case was registered against him at Tallital police station. On July 27, 2023, the police received a similar message on Facebook after which the case was transferred to STFs cyber police in Dehradun. The deputy superintendent of cyber police Ankush Mishra started the investigation and finally nabbed him on August 28. Singh said that though the accused is only Class X pass, he has been very clever in hiding his identity and digital footprint. The STF had nothing but a photo that was retrieved from CCTV. He has not been talking much during the interrogation but has revealed that he has converted to Islam and is now called Khalid. However, all his IDs show Nitin Sharma as his real name. He has also not stated clearly why he sent those texts to the police. It appears that he did those texts for amusement, said ASP. He said that though it does not appear that he has any psychological problem so far, it is an ongoing investigation and police will gather more information about the case.


In what is being termed as a Rakhi (Raksha Bandhan) bonanza to the women, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday handed over appointment letters to 5714 Anganwadi workers in the Social Security, Women and Child Development Department of the state.



Addressing the gathering in a state-level function organized at the Guru Nanak Dev University campus, the Chief Minister said that to channelize the energy of the youth of the state, the Punjab government has given jobs to more than 35,000 youth. He said that the entire recruitment process has been carried in a transparent manner and jobs have been given to youth completely on merit.



Mann said that the record number of jobs given to youth has empowered them by making them partners in the socio-economic development of the state. He said that the role of Anganwadi workers is vital as they play a crucial role in grooming and overall development of children at a tender age.



Striking a personal chord with the Anganwadi workers on the occasion of Rakhri festival, he said that it is a matter of immense pride and satisfaction that now daughters are outshining the boys in every field and parents are proud to raise a daughter. Mann said that girls have proved their mettle in every sphere of life and all of us should encourage them to follow their dreams for the betterment of society and the country.



On the occasion, an Anganwadi worker also tied rakhi to the Chief Minister on the stage.
BJP State President and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi on Wednesday addressed the booth level workers conference of Sasarkho Mandal in Dumri. Targeting the state government, he questioned why people should vote for the JMM/Congress alliance government in State which has done nothing for the people of Jharkhand in the last three and a half years?

He said that in the last three and a half years there has been only looting in the state. The head of the alliance government has become the patron of the robbers. Brokers and middlemen are running this state.

He said that along with mines, minerals, iron, coal, sand and stones, the land of the poor and tribals is being looted. Instead of acting strictly against these robbers and sending them to jail, the government is hiring expensive lawyers to save these robbers. And those who went to jail were also advocating for their release.

He said that when BJP and NDA governments are formed, development takes place, whereas if Congress, JMM and RJD governments are formed, corruption and loot take place.

Today the law and order situation of the state is in disarray. Sisters and daughters are not safe. They are being burnt with petrol, cut into pieces and hanged from trees. And till date not a single criminal has been punished. Police are engaged in recovery. If Hemant is there then criminals and robbers have courage, said Soren.

He said that Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government created a separate state. Provided roads to villages through Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Created Tribal Ministry, included Santhali language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. And today Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji launched many welfare schemes for villages, poor farmers, laborers and women. Many welfare works like Jan Dhan Account, Kisan Samman Nidhi, Ujjwala Gas Scheme, Prime Minister's Housing, Toilet, Tap Water Scheme, 5 kg free grains per month, treatment through Ayushman Scheme were brought to the ground.

Marandi said that apart from these the Modi government also gave respect to the tribals. For the first time in independent India, 8 tribals became ministers. Birsa Munda's birth anniversary has been declared as Tribal Pride Day. And above all a tribal woman, daughter of Santhal community, has been made President of the country, said Marandi.

Marandi said that in the past 9 years, the Modi government gave 5 medical colleges in the state, built AIIMS hospital and airport in Deoghar, and gave two free doses of vaccine and booster dose in Corona. Gave money to the poor in Jan Dhan accounts among others.

He said that today by reducing the prices of gas cylinders by Rs 200, the Modi government has given a big gift to the sisters of the country on Raksha Bandhan.

The bypoll, which is scheduled for September 5, was necessitated due to the death of JMM leader and former education minister Jagrnath Mahato earlier this year. His wife Bebi Devi is now contesting the bypoll as the JMMs candidate backed by the party-led ruling coalition. She is pitted against the All Jharkhand Student Union Party (AJSUP)s Yasodha Devi, who is the Opposition BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)s joint candidate.
The meeting of Madhya Pradesh Muslim Vikas Parishad, which aims to protect the Muslims across the state, was held in Bhopal on Wednesday.

It has been decided that instead of giving importance to any party, they would give preference to the concerned candidate. The vote will go towards the one who knows, understands and accepts the basic needs and facilities of the Muslim community. With this intention, the council officials will talk to both the major political parties BJP and Congress.

Apart from the council officials, the intellectuals of the city were also included in the meeting.

Council President Mohammad Mahir said, at one time there used to be presence of Muslim MLAs in 20 to 22 assembly seats in the state. With time, this figure has now reduced to just 2 seats. No Muslim candidate has been given a chance in the first list of BJP, while the party has been fielding Muslim leaders from the capital for two consecutive elections. More or less, the situation of Congress also appears to be similar, which does not seem to have any intention of moving beyond the two seats it won in the capital.

Mahir said, the percentage of votes of the Muslim community is more than 10 percent in about 33 assembly seats in the state. This vote is considered decisive for these seats. These include Narela assembly of the capital where despite Muslim majority, no party wants to field a Muslim candidate.

He said that now the Muslim community will not remain attached to any party's blindness or opposition to any party, but will vote only for those who will assure the betterment of the community.

He said that a 13-point demand letter was prepared regarding the educational, economic and social development of the society. This demand letter will be given to all political parties before the elections. The society will adopt a positive attitude towards the party which will give adequate representation to the society and pay attention to their problems, otherwise it will vote for such a candidate as an alternative in its assembly constituency, who can reassure them about their problems and the necessary development in their assembly constituency.

Muslim Development Council will conduct awareness campaign by holding elections in the society at the state level. In which people will be motivated to participate in voting as much as possible. So that the society is able to secure its constitutional rights.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on August 25 directed the Union Home Secretary for taking action to trace and ensure justice in the case of a missing Indian Army Jawan since 1965 India Pakistan war.

Supreme Court lawyer and rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy stated before the NHRC that Ananda Patri, a native of Bhadrak district, while was serving as sepoy in the Bengal Defence Regiment of the Indian Army, went missing during Indo-Pakistan War of 1965.

As per recent media reports, Patri is alive and languishing in jail in Pakistan. It is averred that his family members have made several requests to various authorities for his release from jail and reunion with family but to no avail, Tripathy alleged.

Earlier in 2021, acting on a petition filed by Tripathy the NHRC vide order dated January 25, 2021, had directed the Ministry of External Affairs to take appropriate action in the matter. However, the Ministry stated in its reply that it was the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence as Patri was working in the Indian Army.

Waiting two years and getting no response from any authorities, Tripathy again filed a case in the NHRC seeking intervention to ensure justice to Patri and his family. He categorically mentioned that the Government must ensure his release from the Pakistan jail and if dead he must be given martyr status.

The petitioner also pointed out the family of Jawan Patri has not yet received a single penny as per Army Rules as he has been declared missing.

The NHRC directed the Home Secretary to resolve the issue by associating the complainant, and the family members of Patri and to inform them of the action taken in the matter.


Terming China's new map that includes Arunachal Pradesh, a "very serious" issue, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak on it. He was interacting with the media at the airport while leaving for Karnataka's Mandya to launch the party's Gruha Lakshami scheme. "I have come from Ladakh and our Prime Minister has said that not a single inch of our land has been taken. It is false," he said.



"Everyone knows that China has usurped our land," the former Congress president asserted.



When asked about China's new map including Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, the Congress leader said, "The issue of map is a very serious topic, as they have intruded on our land and the Prime Minister should speak on that too."



His remarks came a day after in what could lead to yet another diplomatic flare-up, China on August 28 released what it called the "2023 edition of the standard map of China" showing Aksai Chin and the whole of Arunachal Pradesh within its territory, according to reports quoting local Chinese

media.



The map was released by China's ministry of natural resources, they said.



The latest development has come four months after Beijing had announced in April that it will "standardise" names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh.



Also, the release of the map has come at a time when the New Delhi G20 summit is less than a fortnight away, which the Chinese president Xi Jinping is also expected to attend.



The G20 summit is scheduled to be held between September 9 and 10.



India has always asserted that Arunachal Pradesh has "always been" and will "always be" an integral part of the country.



On Tuesday, India lodged a strong protest with China over the release of a so-called "standard map" by it, which showed Indian territory under its jurisdiction.



"We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 "standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory," External Affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Tuesday.



"We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," he added.



The protest lodged by New Delhi on the development came just hours after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar while speaking to a television channel dismissed the "standard map" released by China on August 28, showing parts of Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh within its territory.






AIMIM chief and MP Asaduddin Owaisi today attacked BJP, Congress and JMM supporting party candidate Mohd Abdul Mobin Rizvi for Dumri bypoll. The MP said that for the last 19 years the voters here have been expressing their trust in only one candidate. And, despite that neither the MLA nor the government of the state could set up a factory in the area. The result is that the youth here are helpless to migrate for employment.

Referring to the incidents of mob lynching even during the Hemant government, he said that despite there being a Muslim minister in this government, Shamshad Ansari and Aflakh Khan were murdered. Owaisi said that when people go to vote on September 05, they should protect themselves and their children. Make Rizvi victorious for the sake of secure future of the party. State President of the party Mohd Shakir Saheb and others were also present on the occasion.

Owaisi said that Hemant Soren led government is not honest in the matter of protection and development of Muslims; it only wants to take votes from them. During 2020-21, Jharkhand received Rs 155 crore from the Center for the development of minority society. Schools, colleges and hospitals could have been built with this money, but this could not happen. The State Government spent only Rs 5 crore. He said that JMM MLA Sudivya Kumar Sonu calls a person with a beard on his face and cap on his head, a wolf. With this excuse he has definitely given proof of his tongue being poisoned, now at the time of voting the voters will tell how the wolf hunts.

Owaisi further said that a government minister distributed sweets in the name of demolition of Babri Masjid on 6th December. After all, is this secularism in this government? In the period of 2019-20, this state got Rs 5165 crore from minerals but even this did nothing in the name of welfare of minorities, on the contrary JMM and the state government will blame Owaisi and his party that BJP will benefit because of us, he added.

Opposing the UCC (Uniform Civil Code), Owaisi said that this country is decorated with the bouquet of tribals, minorities and Dalits. In such a situation, how will the Modi government be able to implement UCC across the country, ignoring their beliefs? Fundamental rights in the Constitution are also there for them, it is not possible to side-line it by bringing UCC, in a BJP ruled state under Chowkidar Modi, a Muslim child is beaten up by a teacher, the one who talks about running a love shop is Hemant Sarkar in Jharkhand. Despite this, lynching occurs in villages of minorities. In such a situation, this state needs a third option, for political power, the people of Dumri should elect an MLA who can raise voice for the education of their children and the safety of their lives.
Molestation charges levelled against Retired CMPDI GM, Alok Kumar and his son Anurag Kumar have proved fake and baseless. Police closed the case through the court by filing a final report.



Police said that no evidence related to the charge has been found. The Women alleged that she used to work at the residence of retired GM Alok Kumar and his son molested her at the residence. Both threatened to kill her by showing weapons.

After some days of the incidence the women had filed an FIR against retired CMPDI GM Alok Kumar and his son Anurag Prasad alias Annu alleging rape in Ranchi's Gonda police station.

The maid is married and is a resident of Dhurwa police station area. She alleged that the accused have also threatened her with weapons and if he complains about this to anyone, they will kill him and throw him in the forest. The accused have been accused of not paying wages for nine months. An FIR has been registered at Gonda police station based on the statement of the victim.



After the police investigation, the truth surfaced that the women never worked at the GMs residence. Mobile locations and an Air ticket helped to bring the truth to fore. The police informed that the Mobile location of Alok Kumar showed the location of Bihar on the incident date and the police recovered the air ticket of Anurag Kumar from Ranchi to Delhi. On the other hand, the Womens mobile location showed the location of Chandwa.



There was a dispute between Alok Kumar and a person named Ambuj Kumar for Rs 10, 000. The GM worked in real estate also. During this he met Ambuj Kumar. In a case a dispute took place between them. Ambuj told the GM that Rs 10,000 commission was to be given to him. The GM replied that there is no such commission for Ambuj. After some days Ambuj with women filed a case against the GM AT Gonda Police station.



On the date of incidence on July 16, 2021, Ambuj Kumar was repeatedly calling Alok Kumar. Ambujs mobile location also showed the location of Chandwa on the date of incidence. Police are saying that Ambuj and the women were together on the date. On the written complaint of the GM, the police will act against Ambuj.



According to the victim, she is a poor woman. Alok Kumar was introduced to one of his acquaintances Ambuj Kumar. After the death of Alok Kumar's wife, there was a need for a maid in his house, who could do all the household chores. At the behest of Ambuj, the victim started working as a domestic maid at his place from October 17, 2021 last year at Rs 10,000 per month.



The victim had stated in the application that Alok Kumar's son Anurag alias Annu, who works in Delhi, had come to Ranchi with his wife on October 27, 2021. On November 5, 2021, he took his wife to her maternal home in Kadru. The same day at around 6 pm, after finding her alone at home, he raped the victim and threatened her not to inform anyone about it. On November 7, Anurag went to Delhi, when the victim informed her father Alok Kumar about this, he scolded Anurag on the phone and also apologized to the victim.



After this, when the victim demanded her wages, Alok Kumar would say that she would take it only once, if she took the money every month, it would be spent. He used to give only Rs hundred- two hundred for expenses. The victim further said that on the night of December 17, 2021, Alok Kumar, under the influence of alcohol, raped her and beat her when she refused. After this the harassment started. Whenever Alok Kumar went out, he used to lock her in the house.
Political parties have joined forces to ensure the victory of INDIA candidate Baby Devi in Dumri assembly elections. Several leaders of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), including lone MLA and Minister, Satyanand Bhokta have taken command of the campaign.



Jharkhand RJD General Secretary cum Spokesperson, Dr Manoj Kumar said that the RJD committee formed by the State President for the Dumri assembly by-election has taken command of the campaign in Dumri.



Many leaders including Bhokta, former MLA from Godda and RJD Chief General Secretary, Sanjay Prasad Yadav, Youth State President, Ranjan Yadav, Shivnath Yadav, Arshad Ansari are campaigning for the victory of Baby Devi in Dumri.



Bhokta addressed public meetings and street meetings in many different panchayats and villages on Wednesday. He said that seeing the work done by the Jharkhand Government and Jagannath Mahato, vote for Baby Devi. Sanjay Prasad Yadav said that looking at the condition of the Country and the State, make Baby Devi victorious with huge votes for the development of the State. Ranjan Yadav said that Jagannath Mahato, the Tiger of Dumri assembly, had affection for the people here. His work is incomplete so that ensure the victory of baby goddess to complete the unfinished business, he added. Manoj Kumar while addressing the public meeting said that the by-election that is being held here is due to the untimely death of late Jagannath Mahato. Give your valuable vote to the Grand Alliance supported candidate and make him victorious with huge votes, he added.



Meanwhile, Jharkhand JDU State president cum Rajya Sabha, MP Kheeru Mahato and other party leaders will hold a press conference in support of INDIA candidate and the State Government Minister, Baby Devi in Dumri assembly constituency from Friday.



JDU Spokesperson Sagar Kumar said that on Friday, Khiru Mahato will be staying in Dumri assembly constituency. Along with him, JDU State Vice President, Dr Aftab Jamil, State General Secretary Upendra Singh, Shravan Kumar, State Spokesperson Sagar Kumar, State Secretary Baidyanath Paswan along with Bokaro, Giridih and Dhanbad district presidents and block presidents will also be present, he added.

Khiru Mahato and JDU leaders will hold a press conference in support of INDIA's candidate Baby Devi. The state spokesperson of the party said that Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has sent a letter to the party requesting for the support of Baby Devi in the Dumri by-election.
In a pioneering move to streamline land consolidation processes, Uttar Pradesh has embarked on a significant transformation in 515 villages across 25 districts.

What sets this initiative apart is the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, drone and rover survey methods into the consolidation process.

Consolidation Commissioner GS Naveen Kumar announced this groundbreaking development, highlighting that the Uttar Pradesh Holdings Consolidation Act of 1953 has set the stage for ongoing consolidation efforts and the creation of updated land rights records.

The commissioner emphasised the rising demand for the re-consolidation of newly-acquired lands. To date, notifications for consolidation have been issued for 141 villages, with an additional 374 villages in 25 districts being brought under the consolidation umbrella. This translates to a total of 515 villages now undergoing the consolidation process.

One of the most notable aspects of this initiative is the utilisation of advanced technology. The state has initiated the tender process for integrating AI, blockchain, drone and rover surveys into the consolidation process. These technologies are expected to significantly expedite and enhance the efficiency of land consolidation, benefiting both the government and the local populace, Kumar said.

In response to concerns raised by the public, an inquiry committee has been formed to investigate alleged irregularities in the consolidation process in Ishwarpur village of Azamgarh.

Kumar disclosed that a three-member inquiry committee, chaired by additional director of consolidation, will scrutinise the complaints made by local resident Ramesh Yadav and other villagers. The committee will submit its report on September 1.

This technological overhaul in land consolidation represents a major step forward for Uttar Pradesh in ensuring efficient land management and transparent processes. As the integration of AI, blockchain, drones, and rover surveys progresses, it is expected to set a precedent for more streamlined and accountable land consolidation efforts throughout the state, Kumar said.
Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) arrested three persons including two ex-army personnel, who impersonated as Vigilance officials and took cheques of Rs 25 lakhs from a resident of Bhaini Salu village in Ludhiana district.



The arrested accused persons have been identified as Manjeet Singh resident of village Bhaini Salu, Paramjeet Singh of village Mehlon (Ludhiana) and Parminder Singh resident of Akash Colony, Hoshiarpur. Manjeet Singh and Parminder Singh are ex-army personnel. Parminder Singh is in charge of the World Human Rights Corporation of Punjab.



An official spokesperson of the VB said that Palwinder Singh resident of village Bhaini Salu lodged a complaint that he had sold 18 acres of his ancestral land a few months ago. Thereafter, he received a Government notice regarding selling a Panchayat land, following which, three unknown persons came to his house on August 12, 2023, and introduced themselves as officials from Vigilance Department at Sector-17, Chandigarh.



The complainant alleged that they demanded Rs 50 Lakh from him to sort out the matter of selling panchayat land as they cited that the inquiry is pending at the Chandigarh office and a case will be registered against him in this regard. In fear, the complainant agreed to pay Rs 25 Lakh and the accused persons convinced him to sign two cheques Rs 15 Lakh and 10 Lakh with a guarantee to return them back once receiving the amount of Rs 25 Lakh in cash. One of the accused persons also took Rs 27000 from his pocket and went away after getting his phone number.



Thereafter, the complainant has been receiving threatening calls on WhatsApp for registration of a criminal case against him in case the former fails to give the promised Rs 25 Lakh cash.



The spokesperson said that following the complaint, an FIR was registered and Manjeet Singh and Paramjeet Singh were arrested on Monday, and now they both are on police remand till August 31. Parminder Singh, a resident of Akash Colony Hoshiarpur was also arrested on Tuesday. The VB has also nominated four more persons in the case and a manhunt has been launched to arrest the remaining accused.
(): Pakistani human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari was handed over to the Islamabad police on three-day physical remand on Tuesday, a day after she was arrested in a terrorism case.

The Islamabad terrorism court (ATC) on Monday granted post-arrest bail to Mazari and former lawmaker Ali Wazir in a sedition case against surety bonds of Rs 30,000 each. However, hours after the ATC order, Pakistan police re-arrested Mazari outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

The Islamabad police in a post on X said Imaan was arrested in a terrorism case registered at the Bara Kahu police station.

On Tuesday, the additional district and sessions judge, Abual Hasnat, approved Mazaris physical remand on prosecutor Raja Naveeds request, after which the police took her into custody and left the judicial complex premises, the Geo News reported.

Imaan, the daughter of former human rights minister Shireen Mazari, and Wazir were arrested on August 20 by Islamabad police, two days after they participated in a protest rally organised by the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), a group of ethnic Pashtun who is highly critical of the Pakistan Army, and also criticised the military.

Imaan addressed in Islamabad a rally of the PTM, a group of ethnic Pushtu-speaking activists highly critical of the Pakistan Army, and criticised the powerful military establishment.

According to the first information report (FIR) filed against Imaan and Wazir, the two were arrested for staging a sit-in, resistance and interference in state affairs.

The authorities wanted both of them as part of an ongoing investigation. It alleged that the two were involved in unlawful gathering, resistance and interference in state affairs.

On August 21, the ATC sent Imaan and Wazir to a three-day police remand in the sedition case.
Indian American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has called for stronger relationships with India, South Korea and Japan to reduce US economic dependence on China and Taiwan.

Ramaswamy, 38, whose poll numbers have surged following the maiden Republican presidential primary debate last week, spelt out his plans and foreign policy views on Tuesday.

He attacked another Indian American Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who had slammed him for his inexperience on foreign policy issues.

We will enter a stronger partnership with India that involves an Indian commitment to close the Malacca Strait in the event of a near-term conflict with Taiwan, and enter stronger partnerships with other allies including South Korea and Japan to reduce our economic dependence on China and Taiwan, Ramaswamy said.

The entrepreneur-turned-politician said he favours strategic clarity and advocated that the US must defend Taiwan vigorously until America achieves semiconductor independence, then resume the posture of strategic ambiguity when the stakes are lower for the US.

The American way of life depends on leading-edge semiconductors manufactured in Taiwan, and we cant risk China gaining near-total leverage over the entire US economy, he said.

By saying that we will defend Taiwan, the US can strongly deter China from blockading or invading the island in the near term. Meantime, Taiwan should more than double its own military expenditures to a more rational level of 4 to 5 per cent of its gross domestic product, he said.

He said the US should rapidly arm and train Taiwan with Anti-Access/Area Denial weapons while running at least one Destroyer warship through the Taiwan Strait each week.

The US should also fortify its own homeland defence, which is at present dangerously vulnerable to major conflicts with China, he said, adding this includes improving nuclear, super electromagnetic pulse, cyber and space defence capabilities.

His campaign said that Ramaswamy is the only US Presidential candidate to date who has clearly stated that the US will defend Taiwan.

I am the only Presidential candidate willing to state what is necessary: we will defend Taiwan. The US currently doesnt even recognise Taiwan as a nation. Democrats and Republicans both unquestioningly endorse the one China policy and embrace strategic ambiguity toward the island, Ramaswamy said.

Hitting out at Haley, Ramaswamys campaign in a statement said that in a desperate attempt to raise funds for her languishing establishment campaign, the former US ambassador to the UN was intentionally lying about Ramaswamy.

Haley has blasted Ramaswamy for not backing US allies.

According to his campaign, Haley flatly lied on Fox News that Ramaswamy said he would abandon Israel, those were his words and that he wants to go and stop funding Israel.

This is false, his campaign asserted in a late-night statement.

We challenge the failing Haley campaign and any media outlet to find a single instance where Ramaswamy utters that he would not support Israel. They will not  because Ramaswamy never said it. Instead, they continue to recycle blatantly false headlines that they manufactured, the statement said.

Ramaswamy said that if Israel ever gets to the point that it no longer needs US financial support, that would be a mark of achievement  but that the US will never cut off aid to Israel until Israel says they are ready for it, his campaign said.

It all started about a week ago when Haley at the debate stage accused Ramaswamy of not having any foreign policy experience.

Since then the Ohio-based Indian American has been attacked both by the media and his political opponents for his inexperience on foreign policy.

On Tuesday, Ramaswamy used the Namrata Randhawa name of Nikki Haley on his website.

Im not going to get involved in these childish name games. Its pretty pathetic. First of all, I was born with Nikki on my birth certificate. I was raised as Nikki. I married a Haley. And so that is what my name is.

So he can say or misspell or do whatever he wants, but he cant step away from the fact that, hes the one that said he was going to abandon Israel, Haley told Fox News in response.

Those were his words. Now hes wanting to walk it back. And the reality is, you have to understand the importance of our allies and those relationships. We can never be so narcissistic to think that we dont need friends, she said.

It is not that Israel needs America. America needs Israel too, Haley said.

Israel faces genocidal threats from Hamas, from Hezbollah, from Iran, from Syria. You need a president that understands that that understands that Israel is the front line of defence when it comes to us dealing with Islamic terrorism in Iran, she claimed.

And he just doesnt get it. So, look, I mean, I think you can tell a lot about the kind of leader someone will be based on how they run their campaign. And hes doing that all on his own, Haley said.

Later in the night, Ramaswamys campaign issued a statement against Haley.

We wish Ambassador Haley and her family well in their future careers in the private sector, noting that they rapidly generated an impressive fortune as military contractors following her short-lived stint as US Ambassador to the United Nations, the campaign said.

Ramaswamy said the US relationship with Israel is a model example of how international relationships should work.

Israel spends a greater percentage of its own GDP on defense than any major nation. Seventy per cent of the aid the US provides to Israel must be spent in the US, and by 2028 the mandate is 100 per cent. This is consistent with America-First foreign policy objectives, he said.

By the end of my first term, our relationship with Israel will be stronger than it has ever been. I will consummate Abraham Accords 2.0 by the end of 2025, adding Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Indonesia to the pact. We will work with Israel to ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon that advances US interests, Ramaswamy said.

I wont end our aid to Israel until the day when Israel tells the US they are ready for it. Thats what true friends do: they speak honestly and openly to one another. I will speak to Bibi and invite him to the White House, something that President Biden is shamefully frightened to do, he said.
Britains Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, is in Beijing on Wednesday to manage the countrys relationship with China and raise human rights concerns as well as the countrys support for Russian President Vladimir Putins actions in the conflict with Ukraine.

The first high-level visit in over five years comes amid strained UK-China relations but the British government stressed that the visit aligns its goals of cooperation with allies in the Indo-Pacific and that global issues of concern such as climate change cannot be tackled without engaging with Beijing.

Cleverly is scheduled for bilateral meetings with Chinas Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi, and Vice President Han Zheng.

It is important we manage our relationship with China across a range of issues, said Cleverly.

No significant global problem  from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic instability to nuclear proliferation  can be solved without China. Chinas size, history and global significance means they cannot be ignored, but that comes with a responsibility on the global stage. That responsibility means China fulfilling its international commitments and obligations, he said.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said Cleverlys trip to Beijing is aimed at strengthening channels of communication to further and protect British interests.

The Foreign Secretary will say that Chinas global significance comes with a responsibility on international security  helping to end Putins invasion of Ukraine, diffusing tensions in the South China Sea and ceasing malign activity in cyberspace, FCDO said.

During his visit, the Foreign Secretary will raise Beijings human rights obligations, including in relation to communities in Xinjiang and Tibet. He will also challenge China on the erosion of autonomy, rights and freedoms in Hong Kong under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, as well as other UK interests including the sanctions placed on UK MPs, it said.

Speaking to the BBC in Beijing, Cleverly said his visit was an opportunity to speak directly and unambiguously on areas of disagreement and work together where it is in our mutual interest to do so.

Im realistic that one phone call, one visit, one meeting isnt going to fundamentally change the direction of travel... (but) patient, consistent and reliable communication could have an effect. That is why I bring up issues around human rights, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and indeed individual cases every time I have meetings with representatives of the Chinese government, he said.

The British government has criticised China for its treatment of Uyghur Muslims living in the country and in 2021 it banned the Chinese company Huawei from UKs 5G infrastructure citing security concerns. The same year, China banned five British MPs  including former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith  accusing them of spreading lies and disinformation.
The European Unions largest wildfire since the bloc started keeping records more than two decades ago showed no signs of abating Wednesday in northeastern Greece despite the efforts of a multinational firefighting force on the ground and a fleet of water-dropping aircraft.

Now in its 12th day, the blaze that began near the port city of Alexandroupolis on August 19 joined with smaller fires to form an inferno that has decimated homes and vast tracts of land near the border with Turkiye.

The blaze led to the evacuations of thousands of people and was blamed for 20 of Greeces 21 fire-related deaths last week.

The 475 firefighters on the ground, backed by 11 planes and five helicopters, were trying to tame the flames now concentrated deep in the forest of the Dadia National Park.

With around 81,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of land burned, according to the European Unions Copernicus Emergency Management Service, the blaze is the largest single wildfire any member nation has experienced since the European Forest Fire Information System started keeping records in 2000.

Copernicus is the EU space programs Earth observation component and uses satellite imagery to provide mapping data.

Dozens of new wildfires have broken out each day in Greece in recent weeks, with the vast majority extinguished in their early stages, But several grew into major fires that have burned for days, triggering the precautionary evacuations of thousands of people.

Hundreds of firefighters from Romania, France, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Albania, Slovakia and Serbia have helped battle the blazes, along with 12 aircraft from Germany, Sweden, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France and Spain.

A major fire on the outskirts of Athens raged for at least a week on the slopes of Mount Parnitha but was limited Wednesday to occasional flare-ups inside a forest that is one of the last sizable green areas near the Greek capital, the fire department said.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a diversified financial institution, provides various financial products and services to personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Canadian Personal and Business Banking; Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; U.S. Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; and Capital Markets. The company offers checking, savings, and business accounts; mortgages; business, car, and other loans; lines of credit, student lines of credit, and agriculture loans; investment and insurance services; and credit cards, as well as mobile, online, and overdraft protection services. It also provides day-to-day banking, borrowing and credit, specialty, investing and private wealth, and international banking services; foreign exchange services; and cash management services. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
NEW ZEALAND OIL & GAS YEAR END RESULT REVENUE UP 18%

 Revenue of NZ$98.8 million up 18%, strong gas prices realised for contracted and uncontracted gas

 Production up 7% year-on-year

 Increase in Mahato oil production from development drilling

 Palm Valley gas production up 49% for the year after successful tie-in of PV-12 well

 Operating cashflows of NZ$32.5 million, up NZ$1.0 million year-on-year

 Continued growth expected from Mahato, Kupe and Amadeus developments

New Zealand Oil & Gas is delivering on its growth strategy, with revenue of NZ$98.8 million for the year ended 30 June 2023, up 18% compared to the year before of NZ$83.8 million.

The result is the second consecutive year of increasing revenue since the acquisition of Amadeus Basin assets in Australias Northern Territory. Revenue from onshore Australian assets was up 47% compared to a year ago, which only included 9 months of Amadeus. Revenue from Indonesia is up 15%.

Operating cashflows were up by 3% on the prior year to NZ$32.5 million. Increased operating cashflows were driven by the Amadeus assets and development of the Cue portfolio in Indonesia.

Operating costs were up NZ$10.9 million to NZ$35.1 million from NZ$24.2 million a year ago. This year the Amadeus Basin includes 12 months of costs compared to 9 months in the prior year. In addition, increased activity included NZ$2.0 million of workovers at Mereenie and investment in new Perth Basin permits.

Exploration expense of NZ$9.1 million primarily relates to the previously announced drilling at Palm Valley.

Strong production with higher commodity prices, offset by higher costs contributed to the net profit after tax (NPAT) of NZ$19.1 million, down from the previous year of NZ$25.7 million; however net profit before income tax and royalties was up 2.4% to NZ$27.2 million.

NPAT attributable to New Zealand Oil & Gas shareholders was NZ$10.8 million, or NZ$4.7 cents per share.

The Group had NZ$36.4 million of cash at 30 June 2023, down NZ$28.2 million from a year ago. During the year, NZ$22.2 million of deferred consideration was paid relating to the Amadeus acquisition, with only NZ$0.8 million remaining at 30 June 2023.

Chief executive Andrew Jefferies says the cash balance and ongoing operating cashflows will fund the Group through its busy program of development and exploration activity.

Revenues are growing quickly due to acquisition and development successes. The performance of our production assets is especially pleasing. The cash generated from operations is being put to work, with the pace picking up further in the new financial year (see planned activities chart below).

We are witnessing unprecedented opportunities in the east coast of Australia gas market, where increasing prices have improved the profitability of additional activity. New Zealand Oil & Gas is positioned to harness this momentum with great acreage that will drive growth, create value, and ensure we deliver: warm homes for families; reliable energy for industry; and eggs over easy for breakfast. Gas is a three-letter word for transition.

SUCCESSFUL DRILLING

"Activity throughout the year paid off in announcements of reserves upgrades," Andrew Jefferies says.

"A reserves upgrade of 0.7 mmboe net to the Group was announced on 27 July 2023.

"The year has been exceptionally busy, featuring a new well at Palm Valley, workovers at Mereenie, and drilling success at Mahato.

"The Palm Valley drilling program was completed in November 2022, providing success from a second sidetrack into the Pacoota (P1) sandstone, which is the current producing zone. The well has now been tied in and gas production is up 49% on the prior year.

"At Mahato PSC (Production Sharing Contract), development drilling continued with seven wells completed as part of the field development optimisation announced in June 2022. Sixteen wells were in production at year end. Additionally, there was one well drilled and suspended and one water injection well drilled.

"Oil production from the Maari field, offshore Taranaki, New Zealand, continued strongly. Gross production from the Maari fields was 4,700 barrels of oil per day (bopd) at the end of the year, a 16% increase from the start of the year."

PLANNED ACTIVITIES IN FY2024

 A new well to be drilled at Kupe

 Infill wells at Mereenie

 Exploration drilling in the Perth basin

 On-going development wells in the Mahato PSC

CUE ENERGY

Cue Energy Resources (ASX:CUE), contributed NZ$56.4 million to Group revenue . In the Mahato PSC in Sumatra, Indonesia, increased production from ongoing drilling delivered the largest share of Group's revenue, NZ$20.4 million. Gross oil production from the field increased to 6,300 bopd at year end, up from 4,700 from last year. More development wells are planned for the PB field in this calendar year.

Also in Indonesia, the Oyong and Wortel gas fields in East Java contributed revenue of NZ$12.5 million.

Andrew Jefferies says Cue continues to contribute.

Cue reported its highest annual revenue since 2010, demonstrating success from the companys growth strategy boosted by our collaboration in the Amadeus Basin. The leveraging of New Zealand Oil & Gas's technical capability across the assets minimises costs and enhances profitability. Its a win win.

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SAN - Annual Results, Annual Meeting, Director Nominations Dates


Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund, Inc. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Cornerstone Advisors, LLC. The fund invests in public equity markets across the globe. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. The fund primarily invests in value and growth stocks of companies. It also invests through other closed-end investment companies and ETF's. Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund, Inc. was formed on May 1, 1987 and is domiciled in the United States.
Dell Technologies Inc., founded in 1984, is a multinational computer technology company headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. The company designs, develops, sells, and supports personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and other related technologies. Consumers, small businesses, and large enterprises worldwide use Dell Technologies Inc.'s products and services.

Dell Technologies Inc. has achieved many key highlights and achievements throughout its history. In 2016, the company completed the most significant tech merger in history by acquiring EMC Corporation for $67 billion. Additionally, Dell has been recognized for its sustainability efforts, including being named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for several consecutive years.

Michael Dell is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dell Technologies Inc. He has been with the company since its inception in 1984, leading it through many changes and challenges. Jeff Clarke is the Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, responsible for global operations, customer support, and supply chain management.

Dell Technologies Inc. has reported healthy financial results in recent years. With average revenue in the billions of dollars and a 1 - 3% increase yearly for several years. The company's average gross profit margin stays between 25 to 35%. Depending on the year, Dell Technologies Inc. maintains debt levels either slightly below or above its current assets. Dell Technologies Inc.'s price-to-earnings ratio and price-to-book ratios are slightly below the industry average, indicating that Dell Technologies Inc.'s stock is undervalued compared to its peers. Dell Technologies Inc.'s stock performance has been strong recently but became volatile in Q1 of 2022 amid investor fears of a recession. Despite these issues, Dell Technologies Inc.'s stock price is still positive, over 80% in a five-year timeframe. Dell Technologies Inc.'s stock has also outperformed the broader market, with the S&P 500 increasing by approximately 60% over the same period.

Dell Technologies Inc. operates in the highly competitive computer technology industry. The industry is characterized by rapid technological advancements, changing consumer preferences, and intense competition. Dell Technologies Inc.'s main competitors include HP Inc., Lenovo Group Limited, and Apple Inc.

One trend that is impacting the industry is the shift toward mobile computing. Consumers are increasingly using smartphones and tablets instead of traditional personal computers. This trend has led to declining sales of personal computers and increased competition in the mobile computing space.

Another trend impacting the industry is the increasing importance of data privacy and security. Consumers are becoming more aware of the risks associated with data breaches and are demanding more secure devices and services. This trend has led to increased investment in cybersecurity by companies in the industry.

Dell Technologies Inc. has several potential growth opportunities. One area of focus is the Internet of Things (IoT). Dell Technologies Inc. has developed a suite of IoT solutions and services that help customers manage and analyze the data generated by connected devices. This market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years.

Another growth opportunity for Dell Technologies Inc. is the expanding market for cloud computing. The company has invested heavily in cloud infrastructure and services and has partnered with major cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. As more businesses move their computing infrastructure to the cloud, Dell Technologies Inc. is well-positioned to benefit from this trend.

Despite its many strengths, Dell Technologies Inc. faces several potential risks and challenges. One key challenge for the company is the ongoing decline in the personal computer market. As consumers shift towards mobile devices, sales of personal computers are likely to continue to decline. Dell Technologies Inc. will need to adapt to this changing market to remain competitive.

Another risk for Dell Technologies Inc. is the intense competition in the computer technology industry. The company faces competition from established players like HP and Lenovo and newer entrants like Google and Apple. To remain competitive, Dell Technologies Inc. must continue to invest in research and development and develop new products and services.

Dell Technologies Inc. faces potential risks from changing regulatory and political environments. The company operates in many countries worldwide, and changes in regulations or political instability in key markets could impact its operations. Dell Technologies Inc. may also face increased regulatory scrutiny regarding data privacy and cybersecurity issues.
Elastic N.V., a data analytics company, delivers solutions designed to run in public or private clouds in multi-cloud environments. It primarily offers Elastic Stack, a set of software products that ingest and store data from various sources and formats, as well as performs search, analysis, and visualization on that data. The company's Elastic Stack product portfolio comprises Elasticsearch, a distributed, real-time search and analytics engine, and data store for various types of data, including textual, numerical, geospatial, structured, and unstructured; Kibana, a user interface, management, and configuration interface for the Elastic Stack; Elastic Agent that offers integrated host protection and central management services; Beats, a single-purpose data shippers for sending data from edge machines to Elasticsearch or Logstash; and Logstash, a data processing pipeline for ingesting data into Elasticsearch or other storage systems from a multitude of sources simultaneously. It also provides software solutions on the Elastic Stack that address cases, including search applications, workplace search, logs, metrics, application performance monitoring, synthetic monitoring, security information and event management (SIEM), endpoint security, extended detection and response, and cloud security. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Laurentian Bank of Canada, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial services to personal, business, and institutional customers in Canada and the United States. It operates through three segments: Personal Banking, Commercial Banking, and Capital Markets. The Personal Banking segment offers financial services, such as financial advisory services to financial intermediaries; and operates digital direct-to-customer platform to retail clients. The Commercial Banking segment provides financial services, including commercial banking, real estate financing, and equipment and inventory financing to business clients. The Capital Markets segment offers a range of services, such as research, market analysis, and advisory services; corporate underwriting services for debt and equity; and administrative services. The company was founded in 1846 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk provides various banking products and services to individuals and businesses in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Timor Leste, Shanghai, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and the Cayman Islands. It offers savings and current accounts, time deposits, demand deposits, and foreign currency savings and current accounts; motorcycle loans, mortgage loan, and housing loans, as well as loans for various purposes, such as education, home renovation, marriage, health, and other needs for individuals; and working capital loans, investment loans, people's business loans, syndicated loans, and micro business loans for businesses. The company also provides investment products comprising mutual funds, stocks, and bond trading; life, health, and general insurance products; credit, debit, and corporate cards; e-banking services; digital lending; cash management services; trade finance services, value chain, supply chain management, global and domestic trade, export and import, standby letter of credit, and bank guarantee, as well as spot and forex services; custodial services; treasury services, including cash transaction/liquidity, hedging, and investment products; trust services comprising trustee, paying agent, security agent, escrow agent, monitoring agent, and receiving bank services; and money transfer, remittance services, and venture capital financing. It operates branch offices, sub-branch offices, and overseas branch offices; and ATM facilities. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Pure Storage, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides data storage technologies, products, and services in the United States and internationally. The company's Purity software is shared across its products and provides enterprise-class data services, such as data reduction, data protection, and encryption, as well as storage protocols, including block, file, and object. Its products portfolio includes FlashArray for block-oriented storage, addressing databases, applications, virtual machines, and other traditional workloads; FlashArray//XL; and FlashArray//C, an all-QLC flash array. The company also provides FlashBlade, a solution for unstructured data workloads of various types; FlashStack that combines compute, network, and storage to provide an infrastructure platform; FlashRecover, an all-flash modern data protection solution; and AIRI, a full-stack AI-ready infrastructure. In addition, it offers evergreen storage subscription and Cloud Block Store, as well as Portworx a cloud-native Kubernetes data management solution It also offers technical and professional, training and education, and certification services. The company sells its products and subscription services through direct sales force and channel partners. The company was formerly known as OS76, Inc. and changed its name to Pure Storage, Inc. in January 2010. Pure Storage, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Quanex Building Products Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides components for the fenestration industry in the United States, Europe, Canada, Asia, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North American Fenestration, European Fenestration, and North American Cabinet Components. It offers flexible insulating glass spacers, extruded vinyl profiles, window and door screens, and precision-formed metal and wood products, as well as cabinet doors and other components for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the kitchen and bathroom cabinet industry. In addition, the company provides various non-fenestration components and products, including solar panel sealants, trim moldings, vinyl decking, fencing, water retention barriers, and conservatory roof components. It sells its products to OEMs in the building products industry through sales representatives, direct sales force, distributors, and independent sales agents. Quanex Building Products Corporation was founded in 1927 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Belden Inc. provides portfolio of signal transmission solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates in two segments, Enterprise Solutions and Industrial Automation Solutions. The Enterprise Solutions segment offers copper cable and connectivity solutions, fiber cable and connectivity solutions, interconnect panels, racks and enclosures, and signal extension and matrix switching systems for use in applications, such as local area networks, data centers, access control, 5G, fiber, and home and building automation. It also provides power, cooling, and airflow management products for mission-critical data center operations; and end-to-end fiber and copper network systems. This segment serves commercial real estate, hospitality, healthcare, education, financial, government, and broadband and wireless service providers, as well as end-markets, including sport venues, stadiums, data centers, military installations, and academia. The Industrial Automation Solutions segment offers infrastructure components and on-machine connectivity systems; and industrial Ethernet switches, network management software, routers, firewalls, gateways, input/output (I/O) connectors/systems, industrial Ethernet cables, optical fiber industrial Ethernet cables, Fieldbus cables, IP and networking cables, I/O modules, distribution boxes, and customer specific wiring solutions. This segment provides its products for use in applications comprising network and fieldbus infrastructure; sensor and actuator connectivity; and power, control, and data transmission; and supplies heat-shrinkable tubing and wire management products to protect and organize wire and cable assemblies. It serves distributors, original equipment manufacturers, installers, and end-users. The company was formerly known as Belden CDT Inc. and changed its name to Belden Inc. in May 2007. Belden Inc. was founded in 1902 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.
Cable One, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides data, video, and voice services in the United States. The company offers residential data services, a service to enhance Wi-Fi signal throughout the home. It also provides various residential video services from basic video service to digital services with access to hundreds of channels; and provides a cloud-based DVR feature that does not require the use of a set-top boxes. In addition, the company offers Sparklight TV, an IPTV video service that allows customers to stream its video channels from the cloud through an app on supported devices, such as the Amazon Firestick, Apple TV, and Android-based smart televisions. Further, it provides data, voice, and video products to business customers, including small to mid-markets, enterprises, and wholesale and carrier customers. As of December 31, 2022, the company served approximately 1.1 million residential and business customers, comprising approximately 1,060,000 subscribed to data services, 182,000 subscribed to video services, and 132,000 subscribed to voice services. Cable One, Inc. was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
by Reynard Loki

In early August 2023, a succession of wildfires ignited within the state of Hawaii, primarily affecting the island of Maui. It is considered one of the worst natural disasters in Hawaiis history, and the nations deadliest wildfires since 1918. Driven by powerful winds, these fires sparked urgent evacuations, inflicted extensive devastation, and tragically claimed the lives of at least 115 individualsthough the final confirmed death toll may never be known due to the severity of the fires and the lack of DNA evidence to identify the victims. In the town of L?hain?, as many as 850 people were reported missing by Hawaii officials as of August 21. The rapid spread of these wildfires was linked to the arid, gusty weather conditions generated by a robust high-pressure system located north of Hawaii, combined with the influence of Hurricane Dora from the southern region. This nightmare scenario in Hawaii is not unique.





This photo was taken on the day the calwood fire in 2020 started from the peak to peak highway. Showing the smoke plume created from the fire after growing to 8000 acres within the first 5 hours. [ Photo: Malachi Brooks/ Unsplash]

In 2020, the catastrophic wildfires that raged across California, Oregon, and Washington state consumed around 5 million acres of dry forest. I drove 600 miles up and down the state, and I never escaped the smoke, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Or) said on the ABC News television show This Week on September 13, 2020. We have thousands of people who have lost their homes. I could have never envisioned this.





The firefighters on Americas West Coast were battling the deadly blazes as the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly convened in September 2020 at the UN headquarters in New York. One of the high-level meetings as part of the session was the Summit on Biodiversity. Strikingly, the hot-button issue of wildfires was not mentioned in the event program, even though wildfires continue to pose a direct threat to biodiversity across the planet. According to the Living Planet Report 2020 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), populations of monitored mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians have collectively dwindled by nearly 70 percent worldwide from 1970 to 2016. The underlying cause: humanity.





Wildfires Impact on Biodiversity





The Hawaiian rainforests of Kauai once teemed with akikiki, small songbirds cloaked in gray plumage. But when humans came to the island, they inadvertently introduced mosquitoes carrying avian malaria. With no immunity to the disease, akikiki and other native songbirds began to die off. The species population crashed in the early 2000s, and today, the situation is so dire that scientists estimate just five akikiki exist in the wild in Kauai, stated an August 2023 article in the Smithsonian Magazine.





The species survival is in the hands of scientists on a nearby island, at the Maui Bird Conservation Center, which houses approximately 40 akikiki and actively encourages them to breed in captivity, according to the article. This facility also provides shelter to around 40 alal?, the Hawaiian crow, which has vanished from its natural habitat. Thankfully, the centers avian residents were rescued from the August wildfires. Still, the episode highlights the increasing risk wildfires pose to the survival of wildlife, particularly the danger they cause to species already on the brink of extinction.





Cataclysmic wildfiresthe intensity and frequency of which have increased due to human-caused climate changeare not just an American phenomenon. In the summer of 2023, catastrophic wildfires swept through Maui, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia, and Canada. And wildfires impact far more than human life, trees, and the built environment; Countless wild animals have perished in the flames. [A]s many as 1.25 billion animalsincluding iconic Australian species such as koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, and glidershave been killed or displaced by the fires, Earth | Food | Life (EFL) reporter Robin Scher wrote on Truthout in April 2020 about Australias Black Summer, the colloquial name of the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season, which was unusually intense. In some instances, certain species may have even gone extinct, Scher reported.





Writing about the Amazon wildfires for Truthout, EFL reporter Daniel Ross noted in June 2020 that the illegal logging, encroachment from agribusinesses, and profit-driven government policies, that underpin Brazils wildfires, impacted wildlife, threatened Indigenous communities, and created an air pollution-related health crisis in the nations urban areas. The fires even spread into virgin forests in the country.





Wildfires Linked to Cattle Farming





In addition, the firesmany of which are illegally started to create pasture for cows that supply Brazils multibillion-dollar beef industryhave created a dangerous situation for the global climate. [R]esearch suggests that some deforested regions of the rainforest are exhaling more carbon dioxide than theyre taking in, Ross reported.





And make no mistake, a rapidly and unnaturally changing climate is a direct threat to the planets biodiversity, and to the variety of life on Earth that provides the foundation for a host of life-supporting ecological servicessuch as clean air, clean water, healthy soil, and crops, plant pollination, pest control, wastewater treatment, and outdoor recreation.





A Vicious Cycle





There is a vicious cycle at work: While wildfires are destroying biodiversity, biodiversity loss may contribute to increased susceptibility to wildfires. According to a 2016 study published in the journal Animal Conservation, the extinction of medium-sized, ground-dwelling mammals in Australia could be a factor that primes the bush to burn more easily.





Australia has seen the extinction of 29 of 315 terrestrial mammal species in the last 200 years and several of these species were ecosystem engineers whose fossorial actions may increase the rate of leaf litter breakdown, wrote Matt Hayward, the lead author of the report, and his co-authors, in the reports abstract. Thus, their extinction may have altered the rate of litter accumulation and therefore fire ignition potential and rate of spread.





Hayward argued that restoring biodiversity could help reduce the likelihood of wildfires starting and spreading rapidly.





Advocacy Groups Call for Action





Some organizations are fighting against the indiscriminate deforestation resulting from cattle farming activities that have fueled the wildfires in the Amazon forest. Amnesty International reported that 63 percent of the [Brazilian Amazon] deforested from 1988 to 2014 has become pasture for cattlea land area five times the size of Portugal. The group has called for ending illegal cattle farming in the Amazon. Illegal cattle ranching is the main driver of Amazon deforestation. It poses a very real threat, not only to the human rights of Indigenous and traditional peoples who live there but also to the entire planets ecosystem, said Richard Pearshouse in 2019, when he was the head of crisis and environment at Amnesty International.





Care2 launched a public petition in 2020 urging the Brazilian government to stop allowing these human-created fires destroying the Amazon rainforest. As of July 2023, the petition has garnered more than 122,000 signatures.





In 2020, Brazilian meat giant JBS pledged it would introduce, by 2025, a new system to monitor both its direct and indirect cattle suppliers. However, Amnesty criticized the announcement, saying the timeline [was] too far removed. The group pointed out that JBS has been aware of the risks that cattle illegally grazed in protected areas may enter its supply chain since at least 2009, and previously pledged to monitor its indirect suppliers by 2011.





Sustainable Environment Named a Human Right





In October 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) recognized for the first time that having a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right. The proposed text, put forth by Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia, and Switzerland, was approved with 43 votes in favor and four abstentions. The abstaining countries were Russia, India, China, and Japan.





Michelle Bachelet, who was at the time the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, had long supported the move. After the vote, she said that she was gratified that the decision clearly recognizes environmental degradation and climate change as interconnected human rights crises, adding that Bold action is now required to ensure this resolution on the right to a healthy environment serves as a springboard to push for transformative economic, social and environmental policies that will protect people and nature.





BirdLife International, a global partnership of non-governmental organizations working to conserve birds and their habitats, while seeking a resolution by the UN General Assembly reaffirming the rights recognized by the UNHRC, said that to emerge from [the climate and biodiversity] crises, to ensure our future and that of the planet, we need to entirely transform humanitys relationship with nature. This human right helps make that happen.





Wildfires Predicted to Increase





The choking smoke cast a dark pall over the skies and created a vision of climate-change disaster that made worst-case scenarios for the future a terrifying reality for the present, reported the New York Times about the wildfires that blazed across the Western United States in 2020. That terrifying reality could go on for generations if we dont get a handle on the climate crisis.





In September 2022, climate journalist and native Oregonian Emma Pattee wrote in the New York Times that [c]limate scientists estimate that the frequency of large wildfires could increase by over 30 percent in the next 30 years and over 50 percent in the next 80 years, thanks in large part to drought and extreme heat caused by climate change. That is a frightening prospect not just for humans but for the countless nonhuman animals with whom we share this planet.





Reynard Loki is a co-founder of the Observatory, where he is the environment and animal rights editor. He is also a writing fellow at the Independent Media Institute, where he serves as the editor and chief correspondent for Earth | Food | Life. He previously served as the environment, food, and animal rights editor at AlterNet and as a reporter for Justmeans/3BL Media covering sustainability and corporate social responsibility. He was named one of FilterBuys Top 50 Health and Environmental Journalists to Follow in 2016. His work has been published by Yes! Magazine, Salon, Truthout, BillMoyers.com, Asia Times, Pressenza, and EcoWatch, among others. He volunteers with New York City Pigeon Rescue Central.
Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) pays an annual dividend of $0.49 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 5.66%. AMCR has a dividend yield higher than 75% of all dividend-paying stocks, making it a leading dividend payer. The company has been increasing its dividend for 3 consecutive year(s), indicating that it does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio is 69.01%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, AMCR will have a dividend payout ratio of 67.12% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Read our dividend analysis for AMCR.
Virgin Money UK PLC provides banking products and services for consumers, and small and medium sized businesses under the Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank, and Virgin Money brands in the United Kingdom. The company offers savings and current accounts, mortgages, credit cards, and home loans; business loans, overdraft facilities, treasury solutions, and corporate and structured finance; asset and invoice finance services; risk management; international trade services; and home, car, and life and critical illness insurance products. It also offers online and mobile banking, and telephone banking services. The company was formerly known as CYBG PLC and changed its name to Virgin Money UK PLC in October 2019. Virgin Money UK PLC was founded in 1838 and is headquartered in Glasgow, the United Kingdom.
The following companies are subsidiares of HP: 3Com, 3PAR, ABB CADE, AOME Holdings Ltd., Albacore Holdings Jersey Ltd, Alpha Holding One B.V., Alpha Holding Two B.V., Anatolus Holding B.V., Apogee, Apogee Corp, Apogee Corporation Ireland Limited, Apogee Corporation Jersey Limited, Apogee Corporation Limited, Apogee Europe Limited, Apogee France Holdings SAS, Apogee France SAS, Apogee Germany Holding UG, Apogee Group Limited, Apogee Rentals Limited, Apollo Computer, AppIQ, Applied Optoelectronic Tech, ArcSight, Arnon Holding B.V., Arteis, Artivision Technologies, Aruba Networks, Atos Origin, Atos Origin Middle East group, Autonomy Corporation, Avantek, BAS - Burosysteme GmbH, BT & D Technologies, Balreed Digitec Group Limited, Balreed Digitec North Limited, Balreed Digitec SE Limited, Balreed Digitec UK Limited, Bamberga Holding B.V., Bitfone Corporation, Bluestone Software, Boonton Radio, Bristol Technology Inc., Bromium, Bromium UK Limited, CEC Europe Service Management, CGNZ, CaLan, China HP Co. Ltd Hangzhou Branch, China HP Co. Ltd., China HP Co. Ltd. Chengdu Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Guangzhou Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Jiangan Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Nanjing Branch, China HP Co. Ltd. Shanghai Branch, Choose Packaging, City Docs Limited, City Docs Solutions Limited, Colorado Memory Systems, Colubris Networks, Colubris Networks, Compaq Cayman Holdings Company, Compaq Cayman Holdings General Partnership II, Compaq Information Technologies, Compaq Information Technologies LLC, Computing and Printing Global Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Computing and Printing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Consera Software, ConteXtream Inc, Convex Computer, David Vision Systems GmbH, Dazzle, Digipro Limited, Division, EDS (Electronic Data Systems), EEsof, EYP Mission Critical Facilities, ElseWare, Eon Systems, Eucalyptus Systems, Eunomia Holding B.V., ExcellerateHRO, Exstream Software, Extreme Logic, F&M Scientific Corporation, F. Smith & Co Office Equipment Limited, F.L. Moseley Company, Flame Holding B.V., Fortify Software, Four Pi Systems, GNA Biosolutions GmbH, HP Austria GmbH, HP Belgium BV, HP Bilgisayar ve Baski Teknolojileri Limited Sirketi, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda. - Branch 01 Tambore, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda. - Branch 2 Sorocaba, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda. - Branch 3 Porto Alegre, HP Canada Co. HP Canada Cie, HP Canada Licensing L.P., HP China Holding B.V., HP Chongqing Co. Ltd, HP Chongqing Manufacturing Export Procurement and Settlement Co. Ltd, HP Colombia SAS, HP Computing and Printing Middle East FZ-LLC, HP Computing and Printing Nigeria Ltd, HP Computing and Printing Systems India Private Limited, HP Computing and Printing d.o.o., HP Deutschland GmbH, HP Deutschland Holding GmbH, HP Europe B.V., HP Europe B.V. - Abu Dhabi Branch, HP Europe B.V. Regional Dubai Branch, HP Europe BV Amsterdam Meyrin Branch, HP Finland Oy, HP France Holding SAS, HP France SAS, HP Global Trading B.V., HP Global Trading B.V. Kazakhstan Branch, HP Health Solutions Inc., HP Health Solutions Spain Sociedad Limitada, HP Hewlett Packard Group LLC, HP Inc AP Hong Kong Limited, HP Inc Argentina S.R.L., HP Inc Bulgaria EOOD, HP Inc Chile Comercial Limitada, HP Inc Costa Rica Limitada, HP Inc Czech Republic s.r.o., HP Inc Danmark ApS, HP Inc Gulf, HP Inc Hong Kong Limited, HP Inc Magyarorszag Kft., HP Inc Peru S.R.L., HP Inc Polska sp. z o.o., HP Inc Romania SRL, HP Inc Slovakia s.r.o., HP Inc Thailand Ltd., HP Inc Tunisie SARL, HP Inc UK Limited, HP India Sales Private Limited, HP Indigo B.V., HP Indigo Ltd, HP Information Technology R&D Shanghai Co. Ltd, HP International Pte. Ltd., HP International Pte. Ltd. Taiwan Branch, HP International Sarl, HP International Trading B.V., HP International Trading B.V. Puerto Rico Branch LLC, HP Israel Ltd, HP Italy S.r.l., HP Jade Holding LLC, HP Japan Inc., HP KSA Ltd., HP Korea Inc., HP Licensing Holding LLC, HP Luxembourg S.C.A., HP Malaysia Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd., HP Nederland B.V., HP New Zealand, HP Norge AS, HP Onyx Holding L.P., HP PPS Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., HP PPS Australia Pty Ltd, HP PPS Costa Rica Limitada, HP PPS India Operations Private Limited, HP PPS Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., HP PPS Maroc, HP PPS Philippines Inc., HP PPS Sales Sdn. Bhd., HP PPS Services India Private Limited, HP PPS Singapore Sales Pte. Ltd., HP PPS Sverige AB, HP Pakistan Private Limited, HP Panama Sales and Distribution S. de R.L., HP Print Services Ireland Limited, HP Printing Korea Co. Ltd., HP Printing Shandong Co. Ltd., HP Printing and Computing Solutions S.L.U., HP Printing and Personal Systems Hellas EPE, HP Production Company Limited, HP Puerto Rico LLC, HP R&D Holding LLC, HP R&D Singapore Pte. Ltd., HP Schweiz GmbH, HP Scitex Ltd, HP Singapore Private Limited, HP Solutions Creation and Development Services S.L.U., HP South Africa Proprietary Limited, HP South Africa Trust, HP Taiwan Information Technology Ltd., HP Technology Holdings LLC, HP Technology Ireland Limited, HP Technology Israel Ltd, HP Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd, HP Technology Vietnam Company Ltd, HP Trading Kunshan Co. Ltd., HP Trading Shanghai Co. Ltd., HP Trading Shanghai Co. Ltd. Dalian Branch, HP Trading Shanghai Co. Ltd. Zhangjiang Branch, HP UK Development Limited, HP US Digital LLC, HP USA Manufacturing LLC, HPCP  Computing and Printing Portugal Unipessoal Lda., HPI Bermuda Holdings LLC, HPI Brazil Holdings LLC, HPI Federal LLC, HPI J1 Holdings LLC, HPI Luxembourg LLC, HPQ Holdings LLC, Heartstream, Hewlett-Packard A.O., Hewlett-Packard Angola Lda., Hewlett-Packard Company Archives LLC, Hewlett-Packard Copenhagen B.V., Hewlett-Packard Development Company L.P., Hewlett-Packard Enterprises LLC, Hewlett-Packard G.K., Hewlett-Packard Global Holdings B.V., Hewlett-Packard Global Investments B.V., Hewlett-Packard Industrial Printing Solutions Europe BV, Hewlett-Packard Ireland 1 Limited, Hewlett-Packard Ireland Holdings Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Japan Holding B.V., Hewlett-Packard Japan NK Holdings C.V., Hewlett-Packard KSA Ltd. Qatar Branch, Hewlett-Packard Lisbon B.V., Hewlett-Packard MENA FZ-LLC Libya Branch, Hewlett-Packard Mercator B.V., Hewlett-Packard Sunnyvale B.V., Hewlett-Packard West Indies Limited, Hewlett-Packard World Trade LLC, Hiflex Software, HyperX, IBRIX, IndiGo, Indigo America Inc., Iseo Holding B.V., Kale Holding B.V., Kale Holding B.V. Puerto Rico Branch LLC, Knightsbridge Solutions, Kopiervertrieb Rhein-Ruhr GmbH, Lefthand Networks, Limited Liability Company HP Inc, Logoworks, Lyra Holding B.V., MacDermid ColorSpan, ManageOne, Manzana Bidco Limited, Manzana Holdings Limited, Melodeo, Mercury Interactive, Metrix Network Systems, NUR Macroprinters, Neoware, Nihon HP Nin-I Kumiai, Novadigm, NuView ManageX, OOO Hewlett-Packard RUS, Office Perfection Limited, OneFlow Systems Limited, Opelin, Opelin, Open Skies, Opsware, Opsware, Optimization Systems, Optotech, OuterBay Technologies, OuterBay Technologies, PERSIST Technologies, PIXACO, PROLIN, PT Hewlett-Packard Indonesia, Palm, Palm, Peregrine Systems, Perigee Holdco UK Limited, Perigee Midco UK Limited, Perseus Holding B.V., PipeBeach, Poly, PolyServe, PrinterOn America Corporation, Printware Limited, Qosnetics, RLX Technologies, Regor Holding B.V., SPI Dynamics, Samsung Printing Solutions, Scitex, Scitex Vision, Scope Communications, Security Force Software, Shunra Software, Shunra Software, Silverwire Holding, Simpress Comercio Locacao e Servicos Ltda, Snapfish, StorageApps, Stratavia, Synstar, Tabblo, Talking Blocks, Tall Tree Insurance Company, Technology Partners, Telegra, Teradici Corporation, Teradici Inc., Teradici UK Limited, The Danwood Group Limited, The Technology Partners, Tower Software, Tower Software Engineering Pty Ltd, Transoft Networks, Trellis Software & Controls, Triaton, Trinagy, TruLogica, Trustgenix, VeriFone, Verifone, Versatest, Vertica Systems, Vital Technology Pte Ltd, Voltage Security, VoodooPC, Xact Document Solutions Limited, and Xera-Logic Group Limited.

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Best Buy Co., Inc. engages in the retail of technology products in the United States and Canada. The company operates in two segments, Domestic and International. Its stores provide computing and mobile phone products, such as desktops, notebooks, and peripherals; mobile phones comprising related mobile network carrier commissions; networking products; tablets covering e-readers; smartwatches; and consumer electronics consisting of digital imaging, health and fitness products, home theater, portable audio comprising headphones and portable speakers, and smart home products. The company's stores also offer appliances, such as dishwashers, laundry, ovens, refrigerators, blenders, coffee makers, and vacuums; entertainment products consisting of drones, peripherals, movies, music, and toys, as well as gaming hardware and software, and virtual reality and other software products; and other products, such as baby, food and beverage, luggage, outdoor living, and sporting goods. In addition, it provides consultation, delivery, design, installation, memberships, repair, set-up, technical support, health-related, and warranty-related services. The company offers its products through stores and websites under the Best Buy, Best Buy Ads, Best Buy Business, Best Buy Health, Buy Mobile, CST, Current Health, Geek Squad, Lively, Magnolia, Pacific Kitchen, Home, TechLiquidators, and Yardbird brands, as well as domain names comprising bestbuy.com, currenthealth.com, lively.com, techliquidators.com, yardbird.com, and bestbuy.ca. The company was formerly known as Sound of Music, Inc. Best Buy Co., Inc. was incorporated in 1966 and is headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota.
Capital One Financial Corporation was founded in 1988 with the goal of revolutionizing the credit card industry. The companys ground-breaking services were data-driven, opened the doors of credit to millions of people, and today Capital One is one of the worlds largest banks.

The companys commitment to connecting people with responsible credit helped to rank it 10th in the US in regard to total assets and 72nd globally. The company has nearly $400 billion in assets in late 2022 and operated a network of subsidiary institutions including Capital One bank. Capital One Financial Corporation is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, and operates a network of branches and offices throughout the US, Canada, and the UK.

Capital One Financial Corporation is the holding company for Capital One Bank (USA), National Association; and Capital One, National Association, which provides various financial products and services in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Capital One Financial Corporation operates in three segments: Credit Card, Consumer Banking, and Commercial Banking. The Credit Card segment operates a wide range of revolving consumer credit cards while the Consumer Banking segment offers a range of traditional banking and investment products including auto and home loans, savings, and certificates of deposit. The Commercial segment offers business accounts, financing, commercial and multifamily real estate, and commercial and industrial loans.

In the US, the company serves its clients through digital channels, branches, cafes, and other distribution channels located in New York, Louisiana, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and California. Digital services include online accounts, account services, loan applications, and investments. Among the many features of banking with Capital One are fee-free checking accounts, cloud-based financial tracking services, and Capital One Cafes. The company operates more than 40 cafes across the US where anyone, not just account holders, can get a coffee or snack as well as improve their financial education. The cafes are equipped with ample public space, nooks for private work, and even event space for meetings.

Capital One continues to advance the digital financial industry to this day. The company was among the first to move its operations to the cloud, doing so in 2012, and it is now developing machine learning, open source, and cloud technology applications to help detect and prevent fraud, secure accounts, and improve banking services.

Capital One is committed to aiding the worlds fight against climate change. To that end, it is pursuing several avenues that include influencing its value chain, fostering a sustainable office culture that is in sync with its surroundings, promoting and financing sustainable energy projects, and transparency in regard to its climate goals.
The following companies are subsidiares of Iron Mountain: AB Archyvu Centras, AB Archyvu Sistemos, AB Archyvu Sistemos Estonia Branch, AS Archivu Serviss, Accutrac Software Inc, ArchivesOne, Archyvu sistemos, Arhiv-Trezor d.o.o., Ausdoc Group Pty Limited, Ausdoc Holdings Pty Limited, Bonded Services (International) B.V., Bonded Services Acquisition Ltd., Bonded Services Group, Bonded Services Group Limited, Bonded Services International Limited, Bonded Services Limited, Box Butler, Britannia Data Management Limited, Capital Vision Holdings SAS, Capital Vision SAS, Connected Corporation, Cornerstone Records Management, Crozier Fine Arts, Crozier Schweiz Ag, Custodia S.O.S. SA, DBJ Limited, DMS Storage s.r.o., DigiGuard, Disaster Recovery Services Limited, Docscan Cape Town Proprietary Limited, Docscan Proprietary Limited, Docu-File JHB Proprietary Limited, DocuTar Iratrendezo es Tarolo Szolgaltato Kft., DocuVault, Docufile (Pty) Ltd, EAC Invest, Eurospags Investments ApS, EvoSwitch, F.T.S. (Freight Forwarders) Limited, F.T.S. (Great Britain) Limited, F.T.S. (Road Transport) Limited, FTS Bonded Limited, Fairfield Fine Art, File Express Limited, Film Media Services Limited, First International Records Management AG, First International Records Management LLC, Fleet Freight Limited, Fontis International GmbH, Fortrust, G4S Secure Data Solutions Colombia, Glenbeign Records Mangement (GRM) DWC-LLC, Global Logistics Worldwide Limited, Haworth Group Holdings (UK) Limited, Haworth Group Limited, Hays IMS, Helcom Limited, IG2 Data Security, IM Mortgage Solutions LLC, IMI Investments Two Ltd, IMSA Peru SRL, IO.com, Information Storage Consolidation Co, Iron Mountain (Deutschland) Service GmbH, Iron Mountain (Espana) Services S.L, Iron Mountain (Gibraltar) Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain (Ireland) Services Limited, Iron Mountain (Nederland) Data Centre B.V., Iron Mountain (Nederland) Data Centre Holdings B.V., Iron Mountain (Nederland) Data Centre Services B.V., Iron Mountain (Nederland) Services BV, Iron Mountain (Schweiz) AG, Iron Mountain (UK) Data Centre Limited, Iron Mountain (UK) EES Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain (UK) PLC, Iron Mountain (UK) Services Limited, Iron Mountain A/S, Iron Mountain Acquisition Holdings Pty. Ltd., Iron Mountain Argentina S.A., Iron Mountain Arsivleme Hizmetleri A.S., Iron Mountain Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd, Iron Mountain Asia Pte Limited, Iron Mountain Australia Group Pty. Ltd., Iron Mountain Australia Group Services Pty. Ltd., Iron Mountain Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd, Iron Mountain Austria Archivierung Gmbh, Iron Mountain BPM SPRL, Iron Mountain Belgium NV, Iron Mountain Bulgaria, Iron Mountain Canada Operations ULC, Iron Mountain Ceska Republika S.R.O., Iron Mountain Chile S.A., Iron Mountain Chile Servicios S.A., Iron Mountain Cloud LLC, Iron Mountain Colombia S.A.S., Iron Mountain Cyprus Limited, Iron Mountain DIMS Limited, Iron Mountain Data Centers LLC, Iron Mountain Data Centers Services LLC, Iron Mountain Data Centre Pte. Limited, Iron Mountain Data Management (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Iron Mountain Data Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Iron Mountain Deutschland GmbH, Iron Mountain Do Brasil Ltda, Iron Mountain Document Holdings Sweden AB, Iron Mountain Document Storage Services LLC, Iron Mountain EES Holdings Ltd., Iron Mountain Enterprises Sdn. Bhd., Iron Mountain Espana SA, Iron Mountain Eswatini (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain Europe (Group) Limited, Iron Mountain Europe Ltd., Iron Mountain FZ-LLC, Iron Mountain Finland OY, Iron Mountain France S.A.S., Iron Mountain Fulfillment Services Inc., Iron Mountain Global Holdings Inc., Iron Mountain Global LLC, Iron Mountain Group (Europe) Limited, Iron Mountain Hellas SA, Iron Mountain Holdings (Europe) Limited, Iron Mountain Holdings (France) SNC, Iron Mountain Holdings Sweden AB, Iron Mountain Hong Kong Ltd., Iron Mountain Incorporated, Iron Mountain India Private Ltd, Iron Mountain Information Management LLC, Iron Mountain Information Management Services Canada Inc., Iron Mountain Information Management Services Inc., Iron Mountain Intellectual Property Management Inc., Iron Mountain International (Holdings) Ltd, Iron Mountain International Holdings BV, Iron Mountain Ireland Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain Ireland Limited, Iron Mountain Korea Limited, Iron Mountain Latin America Holdings Sociedad Limitada, Iron Mountain Lesotho (Proprietry) Limited, Iron Mountain Luxembourg Sarl, Iron Mountain Luxembourg Services S.a.r.l., Iron Mountain MDM Limited, Iron Mountain Macau Limited, Iron Mountain Magyarorszag Kereskedelmi es Szolgaltato Kft., Iron Mountain Management Services GmbH, Iron Mountain Mayflower Limited, Iron Mountain Mexico Holding S. de RL de CV, Iron Mountain Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Iron Mountain Mexico Servicios S. de RL de CV, Iron Mountain Mortgage Finance Holdings LLC, Iron Mountain Mortgage Finance I LLC, Iron Mountain Nederland B.V., Iron Mountain Nederland Holdings B.V., Iron Mountain New Zealand Limited, Iron Mountain Norge AS, Iron Mountain Participations SA, Iron Mountain Peru S.A., Iron Mountain Philippines Inc., Iron Mountain Poland Holdings Ltd, Iron Mountain Polska Services Sp z.o.o., Iron Mountain Polska Sp. z.o.o., Iron Mountain Receivables QRS LLC, Iron Mountain Receivables TRS LLC, Iron Mountain Records Management (Puerto Rico) Inc, Iron Mountain Records Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Iron Mountain SRL, Iron Mountain Sdn. Bhd., Iron Mountain Secure Shredding (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain Secure Shredding Canada Inc., Iron Mountain Secure Shredding Inc., Iron Mountain Services Private Ltd, Iron Mountain Services S.A.S., Iron Mountain Shanghai Co Ltd, Iron Mountain Singapore Pte. Ltd., Iron Mountain Slovakia s.r.o., Iron Mountain South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South Africa Information Management (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South Africa Records Management (Pty) Ltd, Iron Mountain South America Sarl, Iron Mountain Southeast Asia Holdings Limited, Iron Mountain Sweden AB, Iron Mountain Taiwan Ltd., Iron Mountain UK Services (Holdings) Ltd, Iron Mountain US Holdings Inc, Iron Mountain Vietnam Company Limited, Iron Mountain d.o.o. Novi Banovci, Jigsaw Freight Limited, Jigsaw Pieces Limited, Jin Shan Limited, KDM Spectrumdata Pty Ltd, KH Data Capital Development Land LLC, Lane Archives Technologies Corporation, Livevault, Marshgate Morangis Sarl, Mimosa Systems, Nettlebed Acquisition Corp., Novo Group Limited, Novo Holdings Limited, Novo Overseas Limited, NxtGen Data Center & Cloud Services, OEC Records Management Company Private Limited, OSG Records Management (Europe) Limited, OSG Records Management Center LLC, OSG Records Management Centre LLC, OSG Records Management Crypto LLC, OSG Records Management Foreign LLC, OSG Records Management LLC, OSG Records Management LLC (Ukraine), OSG Records Management LLP, OSG Services sp. zoo, Oda International Management Corporation NV, Osrecki d.o.o., PT Iron Mountain Indonesia, Preferred Media Ltd, Prism Integrated Sdn Bhd, Recall, Recall (London) Limited, Recall (Shanghai) Ltd., Recall Europe Finance Ltd., Recall Europe Limited, Recall GQ Ltd, Recall Holdings, Recall Holdings Limited, Recall India Information Management Pvt. Ltd., Recall International Pty Limited, Recall Italy SRL, Recall Limited, Recall Overseas Holdings Pty Limited, Recall Shredding Limited, Recall Technology Pty. Ltd., Recall Total Information Management India Pvt. Ltd., Record Data Limited, Royal Seal S.R.O., SIA RIATech, Saracen Datastore Limited, Shanghai Iron Mountain Data Storage Co. Ltd., Shuttle SRL, Startify, Superior Storage Limited, UAB Confidento, and Xepa Digital.

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On July 26th the central African nation of Niger experienced a military takeover of the government. This was condemned by just about every government in Africa and beyond. The only American military presence in Niger are two UAV bases, one in central Niger called Base 201, and a smaller Base 101 in the southwest outside the Niger capital of Niamey. The two bases are operated by about a thousand American military, mainly air force, personnel. Base 201 has been operational since 2019 and is mainly used for long-range surveillance UAVs or similar UAVs armed with guided missiles. Those UAVs have been essential to monitoring the growing Islamic terrorism in Africa.

There are a lot of corrupt elected governments in Africa and the local military leaders often try to deal with the corruption by taking over the government, purportedly trying to reduce the corruption and then allow democracy to return. That rarely works as the corruption is extensive, persistent, resistant to reform and that includes the occasional military coup. Experience has shown that a military coup is rarely effective at fixing anything and usually makes matters worse because most African nations oppose military governments and refuse to support or cooperate with them when they occur in a nearby country. There is a similar response by foreign aid donors, who halt aid until democracy is restored.

Foreign aid is crucial in Africa because corruption limits the amount of money governments can spend on essential infrastructure, health or food aid programs. That means, when a coup takes place, the new military government finds itself isolated, criticized and denied most forms of foreign aid or cooperation. In Niger that meant the air space over Niger was closed and surrounding nations closed their borders with Niger. The coup leaders are isolated, criticized and left with few options other than abandoning their effort to make their version of local government work. Some military governments last for years by creating a plausible, to most of the locals, external threat. Their neighbors and foreign aid donors usually quickly denounce this fiction.

During the Cold War unelected governments could keep the aid coming by playing off the Western and communist donors against each other. After the Cold War ended in 1991, the only donors left were Western democracies. Dictatorships tend to be much less affluent and unable to provide much aid to anyone. Such an environment is common throughout Africa, especially where there are valuable raw materials that generate even more corruption. Niger does not have any valuable natural resources and must import more than it exports. This imbalance is made possible by lots of foreign aid. When there is a coup, the food, medical and similar aid generally continues unless the new government tries to steal the aid.

The current Niger coup has shut down American military operations because air space has been closed by neighboring countries that do not permit legal aircraft operations into or out of Niger. This is what has put the two American air bases at risk of being shut down permanently. Before the coup, Niger was considered one of the more stable African countries foreign air forces could operate out of. There are about 2,000 American and French military personnel in Niger and the longer the coup continues the more likely those troops will be withdrawn.

American UAV bases in Niger have been operational since 2019. The Niger government gave American and French UAVs operating in or over Niger permission to carry Hellfire missiles and other guided weapons inside Niger. For the most part this means U.S. and French MQ-9 Reaper UAVs operating from existing bases in Niger, Mali and Djibouti. France also operates manned combat aircraft from bases in Mali. EU peacekeepers also operate armed UAVs and helicopters in northern Mali. Initially there were only about 800 U.S. troops in Niger, most of them maintaining the aerial surveillance UAVs and other aircraft and helping train Niger troops. Then there was an incident where four American Special Forces soldiers were killed when the training exercise (a large patrol) they were supervising clashed with Islamic terrorists operating near the Mali border. Four of the Niger troops were killed as well and even more American and Niger troops were wounded. This led Niger to allow armed UAVs to operate in Niger. In the past there had not been many situations calling for rapid response by armed aircraft. The early Special Forces incident made it clear the situation had changed. Before that it was possible to get foreign aircraft to come and carry out an air strike but the process took time. The Niger and American troops were not expecting to encounter such a large force of Islamic terrorists and having armed UAVs on call would have made a big difference.

This problem is largely the result of the success of French counter-terror operations in Mali and the defeat of Boko Haram in Nigeria. In both cases many of the surviving Islamic terrorists fled to Niger. This has been going on for some time and Niger has responded by allowing in more and more foreign assistance.

In 2016 construction began on a new U.S. AFRICOM (Africa Command) base in Agadez, Niger, 730 kilometers northeast of the capital (Niamey). The U.S. had received permission for such a base in 2014, a year after American UAVs began operating from a Niger base next to the Niamey airport. The new Agadez base was built largely from scratch because, unlike Niamey, Agadez does not have a large airport or much in the way of support for lots of aircraft operations. Agadez is closer to Chad, southern Libya and Nigeria, where American aerial surveillance is more in demand by the local governments. The U.S. shares intelligence obtained by the Niger-based UAVs with Niger and other nations in the area that have intelligence sharing agreements as well as with France, which leads the counter-terrorism effort in the region.

Since 2013 France has operated a counter-terrorism operation throughout the Sahel (the semi-desert area south of the desert that stretches across northern Africa) using about 4,000 French troops based mainly in Mali. About the same time work began on the Agadez base, France and other European nations helped form the G5 Sahel Joint Force consisting of 5,000 troops from Sahel nations Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. The G5 force is mainly concerned with Islamic terror groups in the Sahel.

Agadez is the second American airbase in Africa and, like the first one, shared with France and other allies. The first U.S. base was established in 2002 when the United States began sharing an old French base in Djibouti (the northwestern neighbor of Somalia). Since then, Djibouti has hosted the one official U.S. military base (Camp Lemonnier) in Africa. France and the United States SOCOM (Special Operations Command) have had special operations forces (commandos and special aircraft) outside the Djibouti capital since 2002. In 2014 the U.S. signed another ten year lease for that base. At that point U.S. forces in Djibouti were monitoring what was going on in the region (mainly Somalia and Yemen but also Eritrea, Nigeria, Mali, Libya, Kenya, and Ethiopia) but not interfering with the local terrorists. Not much, anyway. The Djibouti base also supported operations throughout the Sahel and did this with a dozen or so MQ-9s plus manned aircraft like the U-28, F-15Es and various maritime surveillance aircraft in addition to a growing number of other foreign aircraft.

Since 2007 the United States has created and expanded AFRICOM to manage all the increasingly numerous American military operations in Africa. Since most of these operations involved special operations forces rather than conventional military forces AFRICOM released little detail on what was where. But in the last few years more of these details have emerged. As suspected most of the fifty or so AFRICOM bases' ' are temporary agreements to use existing civilian or military air bases or other facilities in African nations, usually ones where AFRICOM is providing assistance in dealing with Islamic terrorist activity or other security threats. Most of these facilities are considered temporary or contingent (just arrangements to use an airbase or port facility if needed and on short notice). The permanent operations are bases or FOS (Forward Operating Sites) while the temporary sites are CSLs (cooperative security locations) where American and local forces operate together or CLs (contingency locations) where arrangements have been made for use if needed. About half the AFRICOM sites are CLs and not used by Americans on a regular basis.

AFRICOM is similar in organization to other commands (CENTCOM, for the Middle East, and SOUTHCOM, for Latin America, etc). Before AFRICOM was created those operations were coordinated between two other commands (the one covering Europe and the one covering Latin America). The establishment of AFRICOM means more money for counter-terror operations in Africa and more long range projects. No country in Africa had sufficient infrastructure for AFRICOM headquarters and few wanted to risk the political blowback from hosting a major American military headquarters.
Equitrans Midstream Co. (NYSE:ETRN) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August, 1st. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.09. The firm had revenue of $318.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $311.21 million. Equitrans Midstream had a negative net margin of 18.60% and a positive trailing twelve-month return on equity of 20.49%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 EPS.
Unum Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial protection benefit solutions primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, and internationally. It operates through Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, and Closed Block and Corporate segments. The company offers group long-term and short-term disability, group life, and accidental death and dismemberment products; supplemental and voluntary products, such as individual disability, voluntary benefits, and dental and vision products; and accident, sickness, disability, life, and cancer and critical illness products. It also provides group pension, individual life and corporate-owned life insurance, reinsurance pools and management operations, and other miscellaneous products. The company sells its products primarily to employers for the benefit of employees. Unum Group sells its products through field sales personnel, independent brokers, consultants, and independent contractor agency sales force. Unum Group was founded in 1848 and is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Hersha Hospitality Trust (NYSE:HT) pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.02%. The dividend payout ratio is 6.45%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, HT will have a dividend payout ratio of 21.98% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Read our dividend analysis for HT.
Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. is a prominent player in the cannabis industry, operating as a real estate investment trust (REIT). The company primarily focuses on acquiring and managing specialized properties used for cultivating and processing medical-use cannabis. With a mission to be the leading real estate capital provider for the medical-use cannabis industry, the company has established itself as a key player in this rapidly growing sector.

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. operates across the United States. The company strategically acquires properties in states where medical-use cannabis is legal, leasing them to licensed operators in the cannabis industry. By specializing in real estate, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. provides an essential service to cannabis operators, allowing them to focus on their core business while relying on Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. for their facility needs.

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. offers a range of products and services tailored to the unique requirements of the cannabis industry. The company provides state-of-the-art cultivation facilities, processing and distribution centers, and other cannabis-related infrastructure. These properties are equipped with advanced lighting, irrigation, climate control, and security systems, ensuring optimal conditions for cannabis cultivation and production.

In recent years, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. has achieved notable milestones and received recognition for its contributions to the cannabis industry. The company has been recognized as the first and only NYSE-listed cannabis REIT and has experienced significant growth since its inception. Its ability to generate substantial revenue and deliver consistent returns to investors has positioned it as a trusted player in the cannabis real estate sector.

Under the leadership of an experienced management team, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. has thrived in the complex and evolving cannabis industry. The team is composed of individuals with diverse backgrounds and expertise, ensuring a comprehensive approach to the company's operations. Chief Executive Officer Paul Smithers brings extensive experience in real estate, finance, and legal matters, while Chief Financial Officer Catherine Hastings oversees the company's financial strategy and performance.

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. has demonstrated impressive growth in recent years. The company has experienced a steady increase in revenue, driven by the expansion of its property portfolio and long-term lease agreements with cannabis operators. Additionally, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. has maintained solid earnings and profit margins, reflecting the efficiency of its operations and the demand for specialized real estate services.

Examining market performance, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. has experienced significant stock price movements and changes in trading volume in recent times. The company's share price has been influenced by a variety of factors, including market sentiment toward the cannabis industry, regulatory developments, and company-specific news. Notably, positive news related to the expansion of cannabis legalization and the companys acquisition of new properties has often resulted in upward movements in the stock price.

The cannabis industry has been subject to various trends, challenges, and regulatory changes. In this context, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. operates within a competitive landscape. The broader industry analysis reveals that the cannabis market is experiencing significant growth driven by increasing acceptance of medical-use cannabis and the legalization of recreational cannabis in some jurisdictions. However, the industry also faces regulatory and political uncertainties as laws and regulations surrounding cannabis continue to evolve.

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. has a distinct advantage as a specialized cannabis REIT. The company's focus on providing tailored real estate solutions for cannabis operators sets it apart from traditional REITs. By understanding the unique needs and compliance requirements of the cannabis industry, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. can offer properties and services that cater specifically to the cultivation and processing of medical-use cannabis.

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. is well-positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities in the cannabis industry. As more states and countries legalize medical and recreational cannabis, the demand for specialized real estate solutions is expected to increase. The company can seize these opportunities by expanding its property portfolio, forging new partnerships, and diversifying into emerging markets.

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. faces certain risks and challenges along with growth opportunities. One significant risk is the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding cannabis. Changes in legislation or new regulations could impact the company's ability to lease properties or operate within specific jurisdictions. Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. must actively monitor and adapt to regulatory changes to mitigate potential disruptions to its operations.

Additionally, competition within the cannabis real estate market is intensifying as more players recognize the industry's potential. Increased competition may lead to pricing pressures and a potential decline in profit margins. To address this, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. must continue to differentiate itself by providing exceptional service, maintaining strong relationships with tenants, and leveraging its industry expertise.

Regarding risk management strategies, Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. maintains a rigorous due diligence process when evaluating potential tenants. The company thoroughly assesses the financial stability and compliance track record of cannabis operators to mitigate the risk of tenant defaults or regulatory non-compliance. Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. also maintains a balanced and diversified property portfolio to minimize concentration risks.
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; Virginia Tech's under-construction $1 billion Innovation Campus; the submarket's proximity to the Pentagon; and JBG SMITH's deployment of next-generation public and private 5G digital infrastructure. JBG SMITH's dynamic portfolio currently comprises 15.0 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 9.8 million square feet of mixed-use, primarily multifamily, development opportunities. JBG SMITH is committed to the operation and development of green, smart, and healthy buildings and plans to maintain carbon neutral operations annually.
National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) pays an annual dividend of $2.24 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 7.89%. NSA has a dividend yield higher than 75% of all dividend-paying stocks, making it a leading dividend payer. The company has been increasing its dividend for 9 consecutive years, indicating the company has a new, but growing committment to grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio is 215.39%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable. Based on EPS estimates, NSA will have a dividend payout ratio of 84.53% in the coming year. This indicates that the company may not be able to sustain their current dividend.

Read our dividend analysis for NSA.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for MUFG Bank, Ltd. that provides various financial services in Japan, the United States, Europe, Asia/Oceania, and internationally. It operates through Digital Service Business Group; Retail & Commercial Banking Business Group; Japanese Corporate & Investment Banking Business Group; Asset Management & Investor Services Business Group; Global Corporate & Investment Banking Business Group; Global Commercial Banking Business Group; and Global Markets Business Group segments. The company offers commercial banking, trust banking, and securities products and services to retail, and small and medium-sized enterprise customers. It also provides M&As and real estate-related services; digital-based financial services; credit cards; and trust banking and securities products and services, as well as engages in the lending, fund settlement, and foreign exchange businesses. In addition, it offers corporate, investment, and transaction banking services for large corporate and financial institutions; asset management and administration services for corporations and pension funds; loans, deposits, fund transfers, and investments services for retail, small and medium-sized enterprise, as well as corporate customers; fixed income instruments, currencies, equities, and other investment products; originates and distributes of financial products; and provides treasury services. The company was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
Oracle Corporation is a leading technology company developing software solutions for businesses worldwide. Founded in 1977 by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates, the company is headquartered in Austin, Texas and has a presence in over 175 countries. Oracle's primary focus is on providing cloud-based software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to its customers, helping them to streamline their operations and reduce costs.

The current management team at Oracle is led by Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz, who has been with the company since 1999 and served in several senior leadership positions before assuming her current role. Other key management team members include Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison, who co-founded the company, and Executive Vice President of Product Development, Steve Miranda.

Oracle has reported slight growth in recent years, with its revenue around $40 billion in the last several years. Its net income has also been relatively stable over the past several years. The company's debt levels have remained relatively unchanged over the past few years. Oracle's current valuation metrics show that it trades at a price-to-earnings ratio and price-to-book ratio below the industry average. These valuation metrics suggest that the stock may be undervalued compared to its peers in the technology industry.



Regarding market performance, Oracle's stock has shown some volatility in recent years but has performed well. Its stock price has increased from around $44 in 2017 to $102 in 2022, although it has experienced some dips and spikes during that time. The company has also seen an increase in trading volume in recent years, indicating that it is attracting more investor interest.

Oracle operates in the highly competitive technology industry, competing with other software giants like Microsoft and Salesforce. The industry is constantly evolving, with new trends and innovations emerging regularly. One direction that has gained prominence in recent years is adopting cloud-based solutions, which have been a key focus for Oracle. The industry is also subject to regulatory and political pressures, which can impact the operations of companies operating in the space.

Oracle has identified several growth opportunities, including developing new products and services, expanding into new markets, and making strategic acquisitions. The company has recently announced plans to expand its cloud infrastructure footprint by adding new data centers in several countries. Additionally, Oracle has made several acquisitions in recent years, including its acquisition of NetSuite in 2016 and TikTok's US operations in 2020.

Like any company, Oracle faces risks and challenges that could impact its future growth and profitability. One significant risk is the changing preferences of consumers and businesses, which could affect the demand for its products and services. Additionally, increased regulatory scrutiny and competitive pressures could impact the company's operations.
Nevro Corp., a medical device company, provides products for patients suffering from chronic pain in the United States and internationally. The company develops and commercializes the Senza spinal cord stimulation (SCS) system, an evidence-based neuromodulation system for the treatment of chronic pain, as well as Senza II and Senza Omnia SCS systems. It also provides 10 kHz Therapy, which delivers neuromodulation solutions for treating chronic pain based on available clinical evidence. The company's Senza HFX iQ IPG system includes HFX iQ implantable pulse generator, HFX trial stimulator, and HFX iQ patient remote, as well as HFX App, a patient remote control and the wireless trialing system. In addition, it offers surpass surgical and percutaneous leads. The company sells its products through its direct sales force, and a network of sales agents and independent distributors. Nevro Corp. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.
President Xi Jinping has called for championing the joint right to development, said an expert from the United States, citing Xi's speech at the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. "If that is protected within the international system, at the level of the Global South and the Global North and within UN multilateralism, I think we will all be more secure, more peaceful, and happier," said Sourabh Gupta, senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for China-America Studies. There are many civilizations and development paths in the world, and this is how the world should be, said Gupta, citing Xi. "No other country should stand in its way to try to stop that development," he said in an interview with China Daily. Xi wants every country to have a right to development, which is jointly defended, said Gupta. The secondary message attached to that, he said, was that "if the Global South gets together, comes together, and champions their right to development at the high table of global multilateralism with the Global North, maybe fairer bargains can be reached which could be beneficial to all parties concerned, both the Global North and the Global South". Besides calling for deepening of business and financial cooperation to boost economic growth, Xi said: "We should expand political and security cooperation to uphold peace and tranquility". According to Gupta, the message here is part of Xi's proposed Global Security Initiative and Global Development Initiative. "Even from a security standpoint, every country has a right to its own security and the right to its own self-defense," Gupta said. "Security is best achieved when all parties are thoughtful and not too self-regarding, but also regard other countries' security and rights. And this is best done under the banner of global multilateralism and not done in the context of small groups and exclusive blocs and small cliques which set their own rules and then consider that those rules are international norms which they are not," Gupta said. President Xi's speech has highlighted the difference between UN-centered multilateralism and peace and security, and Western alliance-led peace and security, and how, sometimes, the latter could create these "us versus them formulations, which actually lead to greater division and conflict rather than peace and security". On BRICS mechanism, Gupta said its most important contribution to the world is helping emerging markets and developing countries fight jointly for their right to development. Comparatively, the West, the US typically, always dictates the model in which things must happen, he said. "And developing countries must then work within that model and try to develop themselves better." Gupta cited the example of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen being active on issues such as recapitalizing the multilateral development banks to tackle debt distress situations, and calling upon them to change investment strategies to better respond to global challenges. However, she did not say anything in terms of expanding emerging market quotas at international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, he said. Landmark summit Gupta said the BRICS summit was a "landmark" one. First, it has been almost four years since they met in person for the summit, after the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, no BRICS summit has ever had "such a large attendance of developing country leaders". "It has been held in Africa, and the South African chair invited many African governments and a number of other governments." And the most unique point, Gupta said, is the issue of expansion of BRICS has been handled very seriously. "What we are seeing now is a possibility of a number of other countries, a number of emerging markets and developing countries joining the BRICS." Gupta pointed out that the West, or the Global North, should not see BRICS and its expansion as "a real challenge". "It is about rebalancing the stakes at the negotiating table so that better bargains, which are viable and productive for both the North and the South, can be achieved," he said.
The IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) government is still not recognized by any other nations. Thats fine with the IEA, which continues to tolerate the presence of al Qaeda personnel as well as TTP (the Pakistani Taliban). TTP support was expected and IEA tolerates the presence of any Islamic terror groups that do not attack IEA rule in Afghanistan.

The previous Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (IRA) government still has many supporters inside and outside Afghanistan, still operates forty diplomatic missions worldwide and has the support of millions of expatriate Afghans.

UN officials supervising aid deliveries noticed al Qaeda training camps in several as well as Islamic terrorists moving about openly in many parts of the country. Suicide bombers are being trained and indoctrinated for use outside Afghanistan. Some are being sent to Western countries where they can hide among the many Afghan refugees fleeing IEA rule. The IEA continues to impose more and more lifestyle restrictions similar to those they enforced in the 1990s. This includes a ban on listening to live or recorded music. The IEA also censored what could be shown by Afghan TV stations. This meant no shows that had women with uncovered faces as well as no music. The IEA wants women appearing in public to wear the burqa (covers everything except the hands and eyes.) Many rural Afghans support some of these urban ideas, especially education for girls and more education in general. Beyond that these rural Afghans tend to be more conservative than those living in urban areas. The IEA is having a hard time coping with the current Afghanistan, which is quite different from the one they ruled before September 11, 2001.

August 28, 2023: India is a major participant in United Nations World Food Program efforts to distribute food aid in Afghanistan. India recently contributed 37,500 tons of wheat and 200 tons of medical aid to Afghanistan via the UN. The Indian aid is delivered via the port of Chabahar port near the Pakistan border and a road that goes from the port to the Afghan border in the north.

August 27, 2023: The IEA continues to impose more and more lifestyle restrictions similar to those they enforced in the 1990s and, in some cases, more severe than in the past. The most recent restriction was to ban women from visiting national parks because too many of the women reveal their faces. This is something the lifestyle regulators do not approve of. This attitude toward women is similar to what the religious dictatorship in Iran seeks to impose on women. The big issue in Iran is women refusing to cover their hair with a hijab (scarf). The governments in both Iran and Afghanistan are losing support among women, which is not a good thing if you want to run a country without creating more problems.

August 25, 2023: In the east (Nangarhar Province) WHO (World Health Organization) polio monitoring teams have detected five more cases of polio. That makes 32 so far this year. All but two turned up in Nangarhar Province. There were also at least two cases in Pakistan. These are the only cases detected worldwide. Pakistan expects to have no cases in 2024, unless the number of refugees from Afghanistan increases substantially. Despite years of strenuous efforts, Afghanistan has been unable to eliminate polio via vaccinations. For a long time, the main opposition were Islamic conservative clerics who called the vaccinations an attempt by Western nations to poison Moslem children. While few of those clerics remain, there are now more Afghans agreeing with Western anti-vaccination groups and insisting there are harmful side effects. Numerous controlled studies have not demonstrated any evidence of this but it has become popular. In 2016 there were 20 cases of polio in Pakistan, 13 in Afghanistan and four in Nigeria, a country declared free of polio in 2020. In Pakistan and Afghanistan there are still religious problems with vaccination. The Afghan Taliban have openly supported the vaccination program but there are still some rural areas where local Moslem clerics or teachers still denounce the vaccinations. There is a similar situation in Pakistan, where some fringe Islamic groups will still try and kill members of the vaccination teams. Since 2008 over a hundred vaccinators and police escorts have been killed.

August 24, 2023: Afghanistan is rebuilding its healthcare system after it collapsed when the IEA took control of the country in late 2021 and expelled most foreign aid workers. The medical personnel were most missed, especially since many Afghan medical specialists also fled the country.

August 23, 2023: A hundred Afghan women were prevented from boarding an airline flight from Kabul to the UAE (United Arab Emirates) where they were to attend the University of Dubai. The women had scholarships provided by Dubai businessman and philanthropist Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor. Three of the Afghan scholarship students made it to Dubai anyway and others may follow. The IEA believes that women should not receive more than six years of education and should not work outside the home or travel long distances without a male family member as an escort. The Dubai scholarships violate most of these rules. Dubai is a center for commerce throughout the region and the pre-IEA Taliban had often visited Dubai to conduct business, diplomacy or less savory activities.

August 22, 2023: UN aid personnel in Afghanistan report that the IEA continues to violate the amnesty they declared for all members of the IRA military and police. Few formally accepted that amnesty offer and most just walked away and went back to civilian life. Over a hundred of these former troops and police were killed by vengeful Taliban gunmen and it took the IEA months to bring that under control. Apparently IEA never really stopped its vengeance operations. The IRA continues to hunt for those who worked for the IRA government. Those captured are often tortured and almost always killed. The UN aid personnel believe over 200 former IRA employees have been killed so far.

August 21, 2023: The IEA continues to shut down poppy production. Poppies are used to produce opium which, in turn, can be converted to heroin. Over 90 percent of Afghan poppies are produced in one Afghan province; Helmand. Then as now, neighboring Pakistan cooperates to make this work because essential chemicals must be imported to refine the opium into heroin. Pakistan is also the most effective route to worldwide drug markets via Pakistani airports and its seaport in Karachi. Afghanistans other neighbors (Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) are very hostile to the drug smugglers. Afghanistans northern neighbors, all former Soviet republics, have long received armed assistance from Russia to combat the drug smugglers. The IEA has closed its border to any Pakistanis seeking to support or benefit from Afghan drug production.

The IEA also told Pakistan that the TTP is a Pakistani problem and there is nothing the IEA can do about it.

August 18, 2023: Iran reports that at least 10,000 Afghan refugees are arriving in Iran each day. There are nearly ten million Afghan refugees in Iran and about 18 percent have some military or combat experience. The Afghan refugees take care of each other and new arrivals, providing assistance to find work and advising them what not to do in order to avoid problems with their Iranian hosts. The refugees fled Afghanistan to get away from the violence, lack of jobs and IEA persecution. Many move on from Iran to other nations in the region while those who can afford it head for Europe or North America.

August 17, 2023: Foreign aid organizations estimate that nearly six percent of the Afghan population are in danger of starvation because of a lack of foreign food getting in to Afghanistan, a collapse of the economy and three years of drought in many parts of the country. The IEA takes care of its supporters, who are a small minority of the population and do little for the majority of Afghans. The IEA appears unwilling to do anything to revive the economy. There is no more foreign economic aid since the IEA took over two years ago and the IEA does not consider reviving the economy a high priority goal. Afghanistan has become a dangerous place for foreign aid workers, with about 30 of them killed since the IEA took over. The IEA is living in the past and that means most Afghans are worse off and a growing number are dying from lack of food or medical care. Neighboring nations see no benefit in trying to overthrow and replace the IEA and are willing to just let the IEA self-destruct. Too many of the religious radicals running the IEA are content to believe whatever is happening is God's Will and therefore acceptable.

August 16, 2023: IEA has banned political parties in Afghanistan, declaring them un-Islamic and responsible for many of the economic, social and political problems in Afghanistan.

August 14, 2023: In the east (Khost province) there was an explosion in a hotel near the Pakistan border. Three people were killed and seven wounded.

August 1, 2023: The 2022 invasion of Ukraine has been a disaster for Russia, because Russian troops ran into unexpected and very effective Ukrainian resistance. Russia lost more troops in less than a year of fighting in Ukraine than they did during eight years of fighting in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) is a multinational food processing and commodities trading company with a mission to unlock the potential of nature to improve the quality of life. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, ADM operates across six continents and offers a diverse range of products and services in the agricultural industry. The company's primary operations include oilseed processing, corn processing, agricultural services, and wheat milling. ADM's products are essential ingredients used in various consumer goods, including food, beverages, animal feed, and industrial products.

ADM serves many customers, including food manufacturers, livestock producers, energy companies, and traders. With a global network of over 450 crop procurement locations, ADM has established strong relationships with farmers and suppliers worldwide. The company's commitment to sustainability is evident through its efforts to promote responsible sourcing, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the efficiency of its operations.

ADM's leadership team comprises seasoned professionals with extensive industry experience. Juan R. Luciano serves as ADM's Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. Luciano has been with the company since 2011 and has been pivotal in driving ADM's growth and diversification. His background in agricultural commodities and his strategic vision has been instrumental in shaping the company's success.

ADM has consistently demonstrated strong financial performance over the past few years. The company reported revenues growing yearly, and net earnings for the same period also increased, indicating a stable net profit margin of approximately 3%. ADM's ability to generate solid revenues has been supported by its efficient operations, diversified product portfolio, and strong market presence.

ADM's valuation metrics indicate a reasonable valuation compared to industry peers. The company's price-to-earnings is below the industry average. This suggests that the market is pricing ADM's shares at a relatively attractive level based on its earnings. Factors driving the company's valuation include its diversified revenue streams, global footprint, and focus on sustainable practices. Recent investor sentiment has been positive, driven by ADM's solid financial performance and growth prospects.

In addition to positive market performance, ADM has experienced notable price movements and changes in trading volume due to various news and events. For instance, announcing strategic acquisitions or partnerships often generates investor enthusiasm and can lead to significant stock price increases. Conversely, adverse weather conditions affecting crop yields or changes in government policies related to trade and agriculture can impact ADM's stock negatively.

ADM operates in the global agricultural industry, which is crucial in feeding the world's population and meeting the growing demand for food, feed, and biofuels. Weather patterns, commodity prices, and global trade policies influence the industry.

ADM enjoys a competitive advantage through its integrated supply chain, an extensive network of processing facilities, and strong relationships with farmers and suppliers. The company's global reach enables it to access diverse sources of raw materials, manage risk effectively and provide customers with a reliable supply of high-quality products. Additionally, ADM's focus on sustainability and commitment to responsible sourcing aligns with changing consumer preferences and regulatory trends, positioning the company well for future growth.

ADM has identified several growth opportunities to drive future success. One such opportunity lies in expanding its specialty ingredients and nutrition business. The increasing consumer demand for healthy and sustainable food products presents an avenue for ADM to leverage its expertise in plant-based proteins, natural flavors, and functional ingredients. The company's recent investments in research and development have resulted in innovative product offerings that cater to evolving consumer preferences.

ADM aims to capitalize on the growing demand for renewable energy by expanding its biofuels and bio-based products portfolio. As governments worldwide implement policies to reduce carbon emissions, ADM's expertise in biofuel production positions it favorably to benefit from this transition.

Acquisitions and partnerships also represent growth avenues for ADM. By strategically acquiring complementary businesses or forming alliances with technology-driven startups, ADM can enhance its capabilities, expand its product offerings and access new markets.

Despite ADM's strong market position, several risks and challenges must be considered. One significant risk is the volatility of commodity prices, which can impact the company's profitability and earnings. Fluctuations in crop yields due to weather conditions, changes in global trade policies, and geopolitical tensions can influence agricultural commodities' supply-demand dynamics and pricing.

Regulatory and political factors also pose risks to ADM's operations. Changes in trade, food safety, and environmental standards and regulations can impact the company's ability to conduct business in certain regions. ADM must navigate these complexities while maintaining compliance and managing associated costs.

ADM faces competition from traditional agricultural players and emerging technologies in the plant-based protein and alternative ingredients space. The rapid pace of technological advancements and shifting consumer preferences require ADM to remain innovative and agile to stay ahead of the competition.
Apartment Income REIT (NYSE:AIRC) pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 6.27%. AIRC has a dividend yield higher than 75% of all dividend-paying stocks, making it a leading dividend payer. The company does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio is 86.12%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable. Based on earnings estimates, AIRC will have a dividend payout ratio of 69.77% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Read our dividend analysis for AIRC.
TELUS Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of telecommunications and information technology products and services in Canada. It operates through Technology Solutions and Digitally-Led Customer Experiences segments. The Technology Solutions segment offers a range of telecommunications products and services; network services; mobile technologies equipment; data services, such as internet protocol; television; hosting, managed information technology, and cloud-based services; software, data management, and data analytics-driven smart food-chain and consumer goods technologies; home and business security; healthcare software and technology solutions; and voice and other telecommunications services. The Digitally-Led Customer Experiences segment provides digital customer experience and digital-enablement transformation solutions, including artificial intelligence and content management solutions. The company was formerly known as TELUS Communications Inc. and changed its name to TELUS Corporation in February 2005. TELUS Corporation was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.
Local resident of Notting Hill, John Smith, 32, a Labour counsellor, recounted his experience at this years Notting Hill Carnival after being stabbed eight times and left for dead.

As a champagne socialist and bleeding heart liberal slash Marxist, I actually enjoyed being stabbed multiple times. I usually virtue-signal at any opportunity, and this was a good time to champion the thug who plunged the zombie knife deep into my intestines and liver. I was revelling in the meaningful cultural exchange as copious amounts of my blood spurted out of the stab wounds.

Mr. Smith added that he was totally in tune with the poverty and debasement of the Jamaican born individual who butchered him.

Its not their fault, many cannot even read or write. I totally blame the Tory education systems because they do not take these people by the hand and give them things for doing nothing, they expect pupils to actually make an effort. At one point, my liver was hanging out of the stab wound, so I calmly pushed it back in so that no one would trip on it. After the stabbing stopped, I thanked the man for coming to our country and integrating into British culture. He then stabbed me in the groin for good measure. I thanked him for that as well.

Mr. Smith is lucky to be alive, and will never walk again. His wounds were so severe that he will have to use a catheter to urinate for the rest of his life because his genitals were severed from his body. Despite this set back, Mr. Smith praised his attacker.

If we were living in a socialist Labour utopia where money somehow grows on trees, and everyone is magically equal and happy, this young man would not be so angry. I really see his point because people tell him he has to work for a living and study for a good education, but because he cant be bothered to work or study and is into drug dealing and part of a gang of murderous thugs he only knows violence as a way of communication. I have petitioned the council to give him more benefits, so he can buy more drugs and continue just being who he is. Its not his fault, *cough* it.is.eurgh!

At that point, unfortunately, Mr. Smith suffered from multiple organ failure and died gurgling about how great socialism and wokism is for society.

This year at the Notting Hill Carnival, only 87 people were stabbed, and only 35 people died, compared to previous years, it was a picnic.
For more than a decade Japan has been moving away from its post-World War II military policy of concentrating on self-defense policies. While the Japanese economy flourished after World War II, the military remained relatively small. Japan depended on the United States to provide sufficient military capabilities to keep Japan safe from increasing military threats from China and North Korea. Over the last few years Japan has adopted a more aggressive defense policy and spent a lot more on weapons and military equipment. Before that Japan used foreign weapons (under license) and Japanese designed ones solely for Japanese forces. None could be exported and this drove up production costs. All that has changed. Japan changed its laws to allow it to export weapons and Japanese defense firms were encouraged to innovate while maintaining the high-quality Japanese weapons they were known for. Japanese defense manufacturers were only able to produce weapons profitably if they could export them and charge competitive prices.

This was made possible by steep increases in defense spending. This began in the 1980s as the Chinese military was modernized and Chinese defense manufacturers were increasing production and quality. Japanese defense spending went from $11 billion in 1982 to $50 billion in 1996. Peak spending was $61 billion in 2011 followed by years of declines or only small increases. Since 2015 the increases have occurred every year and are now going to sharply increase from $52 billion a year to over $300 billion by the end of the decade.

Most of the increased spending will go to missile defense, military aircraft and the navy. Currently the Japanese military forces have about a quarter million personnel. There is no conscription and all personnel are volunteers. There are only 50,000 military reserve personnel. The birth rate has declined to the point where the population is declining. For example, the Japanese population went from 126 million in 2020 to about 125 million now. Japan still has a large economy, the third largest in the world. Now the government plans to spend enough to make potential aggressors think twice before taking on the Japanese military. Equally important is the unprecedented military alliance with South Korea. Together with the United States, these three countries are creating a military alliance to block any Chinese efforts to expand into the Pacific. Cooperation with South Korea is something new because South Korean resentment over Japanese behavior against Koreans during a military occupation during the first half of the 20th century was only recently acknowledged and apologized for by Japan. Now Japan and South Korea face a common enemy, the more powerful and aggressive Chinese forces.

Japan depends on its long military relationship with the United States to make the large Japanese investment in defense work against China. The American Pacific Fleet has most of its ships committed to the assisting allies Japan South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia from any Chinese threats. The Japanese fleet is the largest in the region and the South Korea fleet is growing. Japan also has naval and air bases American ships and military aircraft use, especially in wartime. The combination of Japanese, American and South Korea naval and air forces match whatever the Chinese can deploy against them. The large increase in Japanese defense spending is meant to maintain that superiority.
Incense smoke wafts through the air. A hushed congregation waits reverently for a lone voice to rise from the front of the cathedral, their plaintive song filling the space with Latin verse that attempts to convey the enormity of spiritual life.

Its a scene from the Middle Ages that seems distinctly at odds with our current digital world. But the texts that underpin this scene  plainchants  are central to a new data-driven research project led by Dalhousie musicologist Dr. Jennifer Bain.

Over the next seven years, Dr. Bain will create an online platform that links and synergizes plainchant databases around the world. The new digital tool will provide scholars with a vast electronic resource to deepen their understanding of the a cappella chants and those who created and recited them.

To help the researcher take her program from solo performance to orchestral symphony, Canadas Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council is providing a $2.5-million Partnership Grant. The funding will support the work of 23 co-investigators, 24 collaborators and 20 partner organizations in Canada and around the world who have committed more than $3.5 million in in-kind contributions.

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Discovery in difference



A core component of traditional Catholic liturgy, plainchant, often referred to as Gregorian chant, began as a central part of Catholic religious life in the medieval era and continues in some traditions today.

At first blush, the study of these chants may seem like a niche academic endeavor. But Dr. Bain is quick to correct the impression, noting that there are thousands of scholars, early music performers, and church musicians the world over studying and performing the liturgical expression to gain insights into how people lived and worshiped over time.

It is a big, amorphous field, where there's a lot of data, she says. It involves tens of thousands of manuscripts and within each of them, thousands of individual pieces, which can change from one manuscript to another. Because the manuscripts are handwritten, no two are identical.



A miniature of King David and plainchant notation.

Its the differences between these manuscripts and musical compositions, and the decisions made in their production, that open new avenues for discovery. Dr. Bain explains that plainchant developed and changed with religious reforms and the influence of international missionary activity that accompanied European colonial expansion.

As Catholicism spread, so did the plainchants that comprised religious services. As they were performed for increasingly diverse congregations in all corners of the world they began to evolve  changing to suit their new environs.

The glorification of God can look different depending on who is penning the text, composing the melody, or interpreting either, where or when. So, the ability to compare liturgical materials across place and time is fundamental to advancing the field.

Piecing together the puzzle



At the heart of Dr. Bains project lies an abundance of data, derived from thousands of handwritten manuscripts that have preserved the melodies and texts of chants throughout history. Computing advancements have allowed numerous libraries and research groups to digitize their collections, but they arent linked, and some have fallen into disuse or disrepair as funding lapses or projects end.

Going beyond digitization and cataloging, the researchers project will foster an interactive research community, actively involved in shaping the development of databases and creating interoperability between online archives. The concerted effort will bring together a fragmented landscape and provide scholars with the tools to navigate the vast world of medieval chant across time and geography.

The most important thing is that we're trying to think about sustainability, says Dr. Bain. The more that we can do to come up with shared protocols and procedures for how to connect and run these things, the better able we're going to be to be able to sustain them. That's the big picture.

How ideas travel



Historically, when a liturgical scholar wanted to study a plainchant manuscript, they had to travel to Spain, or Germany, or Argentina, or Japan, or wherever liturgical books found themselves throughout history. Then, if they wanted to contrast it with another plainchant manuscript, they had to travel to another destination.

With Dr. Bains new digital platform, researchers will travel digitally to access far-flung collections at a click. They will be able to access multiple databases and repositories simultaneously for search and analysis from the comfort of their own homes. She also notes that the new technology will empower a more expansive approach to plainchant research, by including countries and communities that have not typically been the subject of study.

The work has customarily been focused on Western European traditions, she says. One of the things that my project is doing that is new, is looking at not just how things traveled within Europe, but also how they traveled beyond Europe, and beyond the Middle Ages.

From global to local



She explains that missionaries took liturgies around the world and translated them from Latin into local languages as part of their mission to bring Catholicism to Indigenous populations. This includes plainchant that was translated into the Mi'kmaq language when priests first arrived in Nova Scotia 400 years ago.

Dr. Bain is working with a team of Mikmaq scholars, including colleagues and students at Dalhousie, at McGill University and the University of Cape Bretons Unama'ki College to study the Mikmaq liturgy. She says that while the research reveals interesting details about how Mikmaq people adopted Catholicism, it also provides insight into Mikmaq culture and language.

Thinking about what vocabulary they used to describe these Christian ideas can tell us a lot about the Mikmaq worldview. The way that they describe God, and Jesus and St. Anne, and all of these things tells us something about how they understood these spiritual concepts that were being introduced.

Similar work is taking place in Taiwan as part of the project, where a scholar is studying how Latin plainchants were translated into Mandarin and adopted in that culture. But Dr. Bain cautions that it was not a one-way relationship. Local cultures were also influencing the liturgy and the people who were delivering it.

Understanding our shared cultural histories and the ways in which our contemporary culture has been shaped by this religious history is important to understand who we are today, says Dr. Bain. Its one more window, or lens we can use to understand the impact of colonialism.
Looking for an authentic paranormal experience this Fall? Don't wait to reserve your spot - these events tend to fill up quickly!

Haunted Objects Live!

Are you ready to uncover the chilling true stories behind the worlds most haunted objects? Join paranormal investigators Greg and Dana Newkirk for "Haunted Objects Live!", an interactive presentation that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Thursday, September 21 at the historic Victoria Theatre in downtown Dayton.

Ghostly History Tours in Waynesville

Fascinating legends & lore to delight visitors of all ages await you, reserve your space on one of our several Ghostly History Tours this October at Museum at the Friends Home.

Spirits by Starlight: Into the Unknown

For half a century, strange stories have swirled around Heritage Village, a living history museum depicting life in the 19th Century. Join a paranormal historian for an immersive in their brand new "Spirits by Starlight" tour. Heritage Village is just a half-hour drive south of Dayton in Sharonville. Various dates in September & October.

South Main Haunted Walking Tour

Discover some of Middletowns history makers on the South Main Haunted Walking Tour September 23 & October 20.

Ghost Hunting Class

No experience necessary! Participants will learn the art of using ghost hunting tools, experience a ghost walk, and seek to contact spirits at this popular paranormal Ghost Hunting Class in Waynesville, Ohio. September 30.

History Mystery, Mayhem & Murder Lantern Tour

Inventors, bank robbers, counterfeiting and murder - the History Mystery, Mayhem & Murder Lantern Tour takes you off the beaten path at Woodland Cemetery in Dayton. Several dates in October are offered, but like all the events listed on this page, you'd better reserve your place early.

Lantern Light Cemetery Tour in Lebanon

By lantern light, visit the graves of notable and historic Lebanon citizens & meet the spirits of the departed through historic character reenactments. The Historical Lantern Light Cemetery Tour this year is on October 6.

Ghost Walk on Main

Gather your friends (if you dare) and join us for a spooktacular Ghost Walk through historic Centerville on October 10.

Dayton Ghosts and Legends

ll towns have their legends and Dayton is no exception. Author Sara Kaushal will share facts surrounding the long-told ghost stories and legends during Dayton Ghosts and Legends. This event on October 15 has limited seating, but you can also register to watch online.

Haunted Heritage Village

Walk through the spooky cemetery and haunted woods at Haunted VillageFridays & Saturdays Oct13-28. Meet ghosts, witches, a fortune teller, and a monster at this family-friendly, slight-fright event!

Halloween Paranormal Investigation

The annual Halloween Weekend Paranormal Investigation at Caesar's Creek Pioneer Village will be on October 28.
The division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Tadakamalla Vinod Kumar opined that Rule 3(III)(B) of 2017 Rules was violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Therefore, the High Court, felt that the rule shall not apply to permanent residents of Telangana. (Representational Image)

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday made it clear that Rule 3(III)(B) of the Telangana Medical & Dental Colleges Admissions 2017 cannot be applied to permanent residents, who are aspiring for MBBS or BDS seats from the local quota in Telangana colleges.

By reading down the validity of the rule, the Telangana High Court said that it shall not apply to permanent residents of Telangana state.

Under Rule 3(III)(B), a candidate is considered a local if he/she has studied in a local educational institution or resided in the state for four consecutive academic years before appearing for the qualifying examination.

So far, the Kaloji Narayana Rao University for Health Sciences (KNRUHS) and the medical and health departments have been denying admission on the grounds that aspirants had done their Intermediate or studied Classes 9 and 10 in other states, despite doing the rest of their studies in the state.

Challenging the rule, many students, including wards of All India Service officials and Central government employees filed petitions in the High Court.

The state maintained that being on transfer, children of the said employees studied in other states and after qualifying in NEET, the university declared them non-local candidates.

Eighty-five per cent of the seats are reserved for locals in medical and dental colleges, whereas 15 per cent is for non-locals.

After a series of hearing contentions of the petitioner students and KNRUHS, the division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Tadakamalla Vinod Kumar opined that Rule 3(III)(B) of 2017 Rules was violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

The bench said that in case the rule is struck down, students from all over the country shall be entitled to admission to medical colleges in the state. Therefore, the High Court, instead of striking it down felt that the rule needed to be read down. It held that the rule shall not apply to permanent residents of Telangana.

Issuing its verdict, the High Court directed petitioners to produce their residence certificates, issued by a competent authority of the Telangana government, to the university within a week. "Then the petitioners shall be treated as local candidates for admission to MBBS/BDS courses for the academic year 2023-2024," the court said.
Icon star Allu Arjun

Icon star Allu Arjun has scripted history by emerging as the very first Telugu actor to have won the national award. Allu Arjun was catapulted into the national spotlight thanks to Pushpa: The Rise, a film that transcended regional boundaries and captivated audiences all over the country. Throughout Telugu-speaking states and beyond, he continues to attract fans with his magnetic charisma, exceptional acting skills, and remarkable journey.

His epic cinematic journey from Gangotri to Pushpa was written by Allu Arjun himself with his own blood and sweat. His outstanding performances earned him several awards, including five Filmfare Awards, two Nandi Awards, and a Special Jury Award. This journey from a large number of people criticising to a whole nation appreciating was not easy.

Allu Arjun may come from a family of superstars, but it is only through his hard work and dedication every day that he has become a national superstar. Now, the actor has achieved yet another unique feat in his career. Instagram's official channel will post about an actor for the first time in India. Coming to specifics, an Instagram official crew from the United States recently flew down to Hyderabad and shot few clips of Allu Arjun. The video was uploaded around 9:00 a.m. today.

Instagram's team captures Allu Arjun's daily routine and behind-the-scenes videos of Pushpa 2 The Rule. The actor talked about his daily routine, family, fans and shares a common thing between him and Pushpa Raj, never give up attitude.

Allu Arjun continues to astound people around the country with his exceptional feats. He is all set to rule Indian cinema with many more Iconic performances. Having gained national recognition, fans are eager to see what magic he will weave within the cinematic realm.
Always verify if it is a genuine site before paying traffic fines, warn police

Cyber criminals who are on the prowl to loot the public have come up ith yet another new way to loot people. This time it is by sending alerts from 'transport department', informing the public of pending traffic challans and directing them to click on a link and clearing pending challans. Experts have warned the public to be cautious of such links.

"If you receive links for traffic challans, dont click on them. On clicking the links for paying pending challans, it might give the fraudsters access to your bank accounts and credentials, resulting in transferring funds from your accounts," they said.

DCP Traffic I, Hyderabad City Rahul Hegde says it is usually the traffic wing that sends reminders to people to clear pending challans on their vehicles. Even if they receive reminders from other sources, they can always verify by first going to the official website to clear traffic challans. "There you can check your pending challans and also make payment securely," he said.

Cybercrime police said this could be another way to loot the public and only being cautious can save people from losing their money. They can be identified easily as they come from unknown sources. While confirming that there are no complaints related to this type of fraud so far in Telangana, cops opined that it could also be due to the less amount lost in the fraud in the form of clearing pending traffic challans.

"However smaller the amount is, people can report the loss. Even if there is no loss also, people can report such malicious messages and links, so that others can be saved from the fraud," they opined.
Conceived by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government in August 2020, the RLIS is designed to provide assured water to approximately 19 lakh acres of land in four districts of Rayalaseema Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur, and Chittoor. (File Image: Twitter)

Kurnool: The Andhra Pradesh government has started the process for obtaining environmental clearance for the 3,829 crore Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS), which will be constructed on backwaters of Krishna River.

Conceived by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government in August 2020, the RLIS is designed to provide assured water to approximately 19 lakh acres of land in four districts of Rayalaseema  Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur, and Chittoor.

However, in December 2021, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the AP government to halt all work on the lift scheme in the absence of a mandatory environmental clearance. Officials have now started laying the groundwork for obtaining the environmental clearance. Their primary focus will be to emphasise that the scheme is to meet drinking water needs of people.

NGT had issued orders halting work on RLIS after a person from Telangana filed a petition alleging violation of rules by the AP government while taking up the scheme. The tribunal then halted work and set up a committee to examine whether the detailed project report prepared by the state is strictly in accordance with the norms prescribed by the Central Water Commission and the Geological Survey of India.

"The aim of the scheme is to address drought conditions in Rayalaseema region. It will draw 3 TMC of water per day at Sangameswaram using pumps during the flood days, to utilise the rightful share of 114 TMC of water allotted to AP. However, the Telangana government has objected to this project, asserting that it would be detrimental to its interests," said an official from the water resources wing.

Post the NGT order, the RLIS remained at standstill since then. Now, officials are devising a strategic approach to obtain the environmental clearance by emphasising that the key reason for the project is to provide drinking water to the backward Rayalaseema region.

"Our priority is to obtain clearance for the project based on 800 feet level of the Srisailam Reservoir during flood days. Once we secure this clearance, we can proceed with the remaining aspects of the project," explained water resources chief engineer Kabir Basha.

The Muchumarri Lift Irrigation Scheme, a crucial component of Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanthi project, has the potential to provide irrigation facilities to only 6 lakh acres of land in the drought prone Rayalaseema districts. Its current capacity stands at 4,850 cusecs. Local farmers and associations are now urging the government for the swift completion of RLIS.

"We are demanding a stable water supply in the region because local farmers are encountering difficulties in cultivation. Without it, there could be severe problems even for drinking water during drought conditions. We urge the YSRC government to commence work on it promptly by resolving any outstanding issues as soon as possible," said district secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham.
Officials and the staff of the housing department were on their toes to achieve the target with the coordination of other government departments. (File Image: Twitter@AndhraPradeshCM)

Vijayawada: Around 5 lakh houses, of the total 15 lakh in the first phase of the Navaratnalu-Pedalandariki Illu scheme of the state government are ready for occupation, with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy set to conduct a mass house-warming event in September second week.

Sources said that the Chief Minister has called for top priority to be given to the project, as the houses will be registered in womens names to boost their family status and provide security. The mass inaugural in Jagananna colonies will be a record, they said.

A total of 30 lakh houses, 15 lakh each in two phases, will be distributed as part of the event.

Jagan Mohan Reddy said that Rs 15,810 crore would be spent this year on YSRC governments flagship housing programme, refuting allegations of Telugu Desam. Apart from providing immovable property to 31 lakh families, houses were also being built for them by the government, he pointed out.

Infrastructure, such as wide roads, underground drainage, underground power cables, drinking water and Internet, were being provided, he said.

Ajay Jain, special chief secretary (housing), said that against a target to complete 5 lakh houses by August-end, the AP state housing department completed 5,00,653 houses. He said that officials and the staff of the housing department were on their toes to achieve the target with the coordination of other government departments.

Explaining the process behind completing the houses across 26 districts, Ajay Jain said he guided and motivated officials from time to time to achieve targets. He appointed senior officers and special officers to make regular ground visits, and resolve any issue, to ensure timely completion. He also reviewed the progress with district-level officials.

Lakshmisha, managing director of AP Housing Corporation, organised the review meetings with district officials, giving instructions to reach the targets.

Other officials involved in the works were special secretary (housing) Diwan Mydeen and joint MD of housing corporation M. Shiva Prasad, both of whom visited layouts and instructed officials in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Nellore and Bapatla districts.

Housing minister Jogi Ramesh congratulated all the officials and staff on achieving the target of completing 5 lakh houses. He also appealed to the officials and staff to work hard and complete the remaining houses at the earliest. Ajay Jain also congratulated the officials and staff and praised their performances.

According to the housing department, the highest number of houses were completed in Chittoor district, at 42,478, followed by 36,090 in Vizianagaram district, 32,413 in Srikakulam and 28,483 in YSR Kadapa district.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi (PTI file image)

New Delhi: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday reiterated his claims about China "invading" Indian territory in Ladakh.

The Congress leader termed the matter of China including Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China as a part of its territory in its latest edition of the 'Standard Map" as a "serious issue".

Speaking to the media at the Delhi Airport, Gandhi said, "I have been saying this for many years... What the prime minister has said, I have just returned from Ladakh... What the prime minister has said...That not an inch of land has been invaded..it is totally false".

The Congress leader claimed that all the people of Ladakh know that China has "intruded upon" Indian land.

Answering a question from ANI on China incorporating Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China in its new map, Rahul Gandhi said," The question of the map is a very serious one. But they (China) have captured our land. The prime minister should also speak on this issue".

The former Congress president was on his way to Mysuru in Karnataka where he along with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will attend the launch event of the State Government's Gruha Lakshmi scheme. This scheme will be rolled out at a public function in Mysuru in the presence state Chief Minister Siddaramiah and senior leaders of the party.

Under the scheme, one among five poll promises made by the Congress during its election campaign, the state government will provide Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of the family of BPL families.

China on Monday released the 2023 edition of its "standard map," which shows the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory.

Earlier this month, during his visit to Ladakh, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Centre, saying that its claim that not an inch of Indian land was taken by China's People Liberation Army (PLA) troops "is not true".

The Congress MP claimed the locals, too, contend that Indian territory was intruded upon and taken by the Chinese troops, adding that it was a matter of concern.

"The locals here are concerned about China taking our land. They have said that the Chinese troops took away their grazing land. However, the PM says not an inch of land was taken away. This is not true, you can ask anyone here," Rahul had said.
CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka said, The promises made by us in the presence of AICC leaders recently, as part of various declarations, will be implemented. KCR never stands by his words or promises. He thinks the Congress is like him. His promises to make a Dalit CM, double-bedrooms, implementing KG to PG, etc, were not implemented. (Image: DC)

Hyderabad: Dismissing doubts raised by the BRS over the implementation of promises made by the Congress in Karnataka, TPCC leaders on Wednesday hailed the launch of the Gruha Lakshmi scheme in Karnataka and reiterated that the party would keep its promises.

CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka said, "The promises made by us in the presence of AICC leaders recently, as part of various declarations, will be implemented. KCR never stands by his words or promises. He thinks the Congress is like him. His promises to make a Dalit CM, double-bedrooms, implementing KG to PG, etc, were not implemented."

Senior Congress leader and Manthani MLA D. Sridhar Babu, who was AICC secretary incharge of Karnataka, said, "We have been scheduling our promises and are delivering them to the people. The BRS is panicking and wants to just divert the people of Telangana. We will stick to promises made in the state and have enough resources to implement them. Unlike under the BRS, the fruits of development will be shared with all and not only the rich."

TPCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud, said, "We have implemented our promises of 200 units of power to poor households, free buses, giving rice to the poor etc. We are not making false promises which we didnt keep like BRS. The Dalit Bandhu and BC Bandhu were implemented in a piecemeal manner for a few. Our Farmers Declaration, Youth Declaration and SC/ST Declaration were all made after thorough study."

Addressing the press in Hyderabad, Nalgonda MP and former TPCC President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the women of Karnataka will get Rs 24,000 per annum. "The Karnataka government is spending Rs 22,000 crores on the scheme. This is the third promise made during polls that is being implemented from this month," he said.

Listing out failed promises of BRS, the Congress MP said: "CM KCR cheated the people on the promise of making a Dalit CM, 2 BHK houses for poor, KG to PG free education, 12 per cent quota for Muslims and STs, 3 acres of land for poor Dalit and ST families, unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016, etc."

"Overall, KCR government made 99 major promises in 2014 and 2018 elections. However, it did not fulfil even nine major promises. While in Karnataka and other Congress-ruled states, every promise made with the people has been fulfilled," he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the BRS leaders of spreading falsehood regarding the Congress government in Karnataka and other states, saying the party also implemented the old pension scheme in Himachal Pradesh, as promised.

On the hype around the distribution of rice for the poor by the BRS government, he said, "The state government was giving only 1 kg of rice per person; the remaining 5 kg was being adjusted from a Central scheme launched during the Covid pandemic."

Uttam Kumar Reddy said BRS MLAs have harassed people and looted public wealth through sand, land, wine and mining mafias. "They are still living in a world of arrogance with no service motto," he said.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. (DC Image)

VIJAYAWADA: The state government will release Rs 109.74 crore in aid to tenant farmers under the YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme on August 31, official sources said. They said that under the scheme, running for a fifth consecutive year, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy wants to extend aid to the maximum number of beneficiaries.

The aid for SC, ST and minority community tenant farmers will be done through direct account transfer from the Chief Ministers Tadepalli camp office. According to agriculture department officials, 1,46,324 farmers are expected to benefit from the scheme. Further, they said a total of Rs 31,005.04 crore has been disbursed to farmers under multiple schemes.

Listing out various schemes for farmers, officials said the government has been providing financial assistance to farmers since October 15, 2019, under the Rythu Bharosa-PM Kisan scheme. Under the scheme, the first instalment of Rs 7,500, including Rs 2,000 of PM Kisan, is released in May, the second instalment of Rs 4,000 in October and the third instalment of Rs 2,000 (PM Kisan only) in January, bringing the total to Rs 13,500.

They said that similarly, tenant farmers of SCs, STs, backward casts and minority communities cultivating endowment and forest lands also get Rs 13,500 in three instalments.

Minister for agriculture Kakani Govardhan Reddy said that a record number of Crop Right Cultivation Certificates (CCRCs) have already been issued by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. He explained that for the fifth year in a row, YSR Rythu Bharosa is ready to provide farmer assurance to tenant farmers, as well as those who cultivate endowment lands.

He said that among the eligible CCRCs, 1,42,693 SC, ST, BC and minority tenants and 3,631 cultivators of endowment lands will get Rs 109.74 crore, at the rate of Rs 7,500 per farmer, in the first instalment of YSR Rythu Bharosa.

Minister Govardhan Reddy stated that the Chief Minister will directly deposit cash into the accounts of eligible farmers from the Tadepalli camp office by pressing a button. He said the previous governments did not provide any welfare to tenant farmers and only Jagan Mohan Reddy has done so, "as he is working for the welfare of tenant farmers also, who were involved in farming largely in AP state."
Addressing a rally in Dumri of Jharkhand on Wednesday, Owaisi namechecked the `1 lakh financial assistance scheme to minority beneficiaries, under which applications can be filed online. (Image: Twitter)

Hyderabad: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday lauded Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao at a rally in Jharkhand, urging Rao to undertake the formation of a third alternative. He criticised BJP and Congress, terming them Chaukidar and Dukandar parties, who either spread hatred or consider Muslims as vote banks.

Addressing a rally in Dumri of Jharkhand on Wednesday, Owaisi namechecked the `1 lakh financial assistance scheme to minority beneficiaries in Telangana, under which applications can be filed online.

He also lauded Rao for rebuilding mosques that were demolished. "He is secular. In Telangana, he knows that the BJPs communalism and Congress are not liked by the people. I told CM KCR to come forward as people are not happy with Chaukidar and Dukandar parties."

Referring to Telangana, he said, "The state from which I come has less than 50 lakh population and Jharkhand has 60 lakh population. The minority departments budget in Telangana is `2,000 crore and in Jharkhand, it is a mere `500 crore. We have seven MLAs in Telangana but we dont have a minister. You are 60 lakh and have four MLAs and two ministers, but the budget is `500 crore. If talking about injustice to people is instigating people, then I would do that."

Criticising Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, he said, "The CM has been flaying me and saying if you vote for me, it would result in BJP gaining electorally. You have been voting for him for ages; has it made any difference to your lives? Were you born to only vote for them? Your forefathers did not have an alternative, unlike you."

Despite not having a minister in the Telangana government, he said, "Nearly one lakh students of minority community are studying in 204 government residential schools opened in Telangana by us. I got a junior college opened in my area and five students from the college were selected in the NEET and are studying in government colleges."

Owaisi also challenged the Centre to implement the Uniform Civil Code in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, saying it should not be implemented at all. "Modi cannot tell me how to live my life," he said.

He said: "We told the Telangana CM there shouldnt be a UCC, he agreed. When we asked for burial grounds, he gave us 125 acres of land and we allocated it between shias, sunnis and others."
Congress party president of Maharashtra Nana Patole, Shivsena(UBT) chairman Uddhav Thackeray,NCP president Sharad Pawar during the MVA press conference on the eve of I.N.D.I.A alliance meeting in Mumbai. (Photo by Debasish Dey)

NEW DELHI: Confusion prevailed in the Opposition camp ahead of the two-day meeting of the "I.N.D.I.A" bloc alliance in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1 as two Aam Aadmi Party leaders pitched for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the bloc, on Wednesday, stating that as the Chief Minister of Delhi, he had given a model that the whole country can benefit from.

However, Delhi minister Atishi clarified that Kejriwal does not have any aspirations for the Prime Ministers post but the alliance has come together to remove the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh agreed with Atishi, stating that Kejriwal had joined the alliance in order to save the country. "Arvind Kejriwals aim, objective and intention to join the INDIA alliance is to save this country. His aim is not to become the PM. He is not in the race to become PM," Singh asserted.

Several leaders of various parties have said that their leader was the best suited to be the PM candidate of the alliance. However, the alliance leaders claimed that no one has been selected as the PM candidate yet. Addressing a joint press conference of the organising parties  Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar), Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Wednesday that the Opposition bloc has several choices to project as the Prime Ministerial candidate, while the BJP has only one. Pawar expressed confidence that the Opposition alliance will "provide a formidable alternative to bring about political change". He further said there has been no discussion on seat-sharing within the I.N.D.I.A bloc yet.

Several senior leaders of the alliance have already arrived in Mumbai. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav arrived on Tuesday, while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived on Wednesday. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann are expected to arrive on Thursday. Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi will also arrive on Thursday.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has emerged as the likely front-runner as convenor of the alliance, but some other leaders are also in the fray. The meeting will come out with a name of the convenor. The meeting is also expected to take a hard look at the seat-sharing issues for the 2024 general election. During the meeting, the Opposition bloc will deliberate upon the general election due next year. Apart from the likely announcement of a coordination committee and the unveiling of the alliance logo, the leaders will also chalk out a joint campaign strategy to take on the BJP-NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and iron out all the differences among themselves. The leaders are also likely to announce a few panels to draft a common minimum programme of the alliance, to frame joint plans for holding agitations across the country and for seat-sharing.

"The Mumbai meeting shall come out with a clear-cut roadmap for providing a progressive alternative to the regressive policies of the current regime," RJDs Manoj Jha said. The Opposition alliance is also likely to announce a secretariat for smooth coordination between its constituents, which is likely to be set up in the national capital.

The INDIA blocs first meeting was held in Patna in June, while the second one took place in Bengaluru in mid-July. The Bengaluru conclave had finalised the name of the alliance  Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
TPCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud. (Image Source: Twitter)

HYDERABAD: The TPCC election committee has decided to focus on giving tickets to candidates from the BC, SC and ST community candidates. It also decided to announce their names early to allow them more time to campaign.

The meeting also decided to write to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge to hold the first meeting of the Congress Working Committee in Hyderabad.

The committee met at Gandhi Bhavan on Tuesday to vet the list of Congress aspirants who had applied for an Assembly poll nomination, said TPCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud.

The party has received 1,006 applications for the 119 constituencies. The highest number of applications were received in Yellandu, while in Kodangal and Jagtial it received only one application.

The committee examined the association of the candidate with the party, joining date, the date when the application was made, programmes and anti-government programmes in which they participated. The details will again be discussed on September 2 in the political affairs committee, he said.

Screening committee chairman K. Muraleedharan, MP from Kerala, and members Baba Siddique, a former MLA in Maharashtra, and Jignesh Mevani, party MLA from Vadgam in Gujarat, will come to Hyderabad on September 4 for three days to hold discussions with stakeholders and prepare a report.

Later in the night, TPCC vice-president Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy said that a purported list of Congress candidates doing the rounds in some media circles was fake.
Chief Minister and BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao. (Photo: Twitter/@BRSparty)

Hyderabad: Chief Minister and BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao on Wednesday deputed ministers T. Harish Rao and Mohd Mahmood Ali to Solapur of Maharashtra to scout for a 50-acre plot to hold a rally, indicating Raos special focus on Maharashtra politics even as the Telangana Assembly polls are fast approaching.

Sources said the BRS is planning a huge public meeting in Solapur in September, with the slogan Ab Ki Baar, Kisan Sarkar (This time, its farmers rule), in which lakhs of farmers are expected to participate.

Accompanied by former Lok Sabha member B. Vinod Kumar, the BRS delegation identified Bolkote Ground and Idgah Ground in Solapur for the meeting. They said a report will be submitted to the Chief Minister, who will finalise the venue in a week.

During their trip, Harish Rao visited the famous Sri Markandeya Mandir at Solapur, took part in the annual rath yatra and announced Chandrashekar Raos decision to donate Rs 1 crore, on behalf of the BRS, for the development of the temple.

Addressing media personnel, Harish Rao said that BRS has been getting overwhelming responses from the people of Maharashtra and expressed confidence that the party will come to power in Maharashtra in the 2024 Assembly elections. He said that the BRS will implement the Telangana model of welfare schemes and development programmes if voted to power in Maharashtra.

Referring to criticism of NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress leaders of Maharashtra that BRS was BJPs B-team and entered Maharashtra politics to benefit the BJP, Harish Rao said: "BRS is neither A-team nor B-team of any party; but BRS is the political party of farmers. NCP and Shiv Sena, which accused BRS of being B-team to BJP, have already snuck into the BJP's fold and such parties have no moral right to criticise the BRS."

Expressing concern over rising farmer suicides, he said that if the ruling parties in Maharashtra fail to address this issue, the BRS will certainly come to power and rescue the farmers.

While renaming the TRS as BRS in October 2023 to expand his party to other states and play a key role in national politics in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Rao has, so far, laid a special focus only on Maharashtra. He has yet to launch BRS activities in other states on a full scale.

Rao has already visited Maharashtra four times since February, on February 5, March 14, May 19 and June 26, addressing four public meetings, in Nanded, Kandhar-Loha, Nanded, again, and Sarkoli, respectively.

Among the activities undertaken in the neighbouring state by Rao include the launch of a BRS membership drive, training classes for party leaders and workers for undertaking membership drive, announcement of a one-month action plan to expand BRS and spreading BRS ideology in Maharashtra from the village level by forming nine committees in every village for farmers, SCs, STs, OBCs, women, youth and students, among other groups.

The Chief Minister asked party functionaries to cover five villages every day, meet the people, explain the Telangana model, seek their support for BRS and undertake membership drives. He also distributed tablets to party functionaries for undertaking online membership drives in Maharashtra and distributed the party's publicity material.
McEwen Mining Inc. engages in the exploration, development, production, and sale of gold and silver. It also explores for copper deposits. The company owns 100% interests in the El Gallo and Fenix projects located in Mexico; and the Black Fox Mine and Stock Mill, Grey Fox, and Froome and Tamarack properties in Canada. It also owns interests in the Fuller, Davidson-Tisdale, Buffalo Ankerite, and Paymaster exploration properties located in Canada; and a 49% interest in the San Jose mine located in Argentina. In addition, the company owns 100% interests in the Gold Bar and Tonkin properties located in Eureka County, Nevada; and interests in the Los Azules copper project located in the cordilleran region in the province of San Juan, Argentina. The company was formerly known as US Gold Corporation and changed its name to McEwen Mining Inc. in January 2012. McEwen Mining Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Robert Half Inc. provides talent solutions and business consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through three segments: Contract Talent Solutions, Permanent Placement Talent Solutions, and Protiviti. The Contract Talent Solutions segment provides contract engagement professionals in the fields of finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal and administrative, and customer support. This segment markets its services to clients and employment candidates through both national and local advertising activities, including radio, digital advertising, job boards, alliance partners, and events. The Permanent Placement Talent Solutions segment engages in the placement of full-time accounting, finance, and tax and accounting operations personnel. The Protiviti segment offers consulting services in the areas of internal audit, technology consulting, risk and compliance consulting, digital transformation, legal consulting, and business performance improvement. The company offers it services under the Robert Half brand name. The company was formerly known as Robert Half International Inc. and changed its name to Robert Half Inc. in July 2023. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.
Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. explores and develops of gold deposits in Canada. The company produces gold in the form of dore bars, as well as silver as a by-product. It holds interest in the Eagle River Mine and the Mishi Mine in Ontario; and the Kiena Mine in Quebec. The company was formerly known as River Gold Mines Ltd. and changed its name to Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. was incorporated in 1945 and is headquarters in Toronto, Canada.
A 17-year-old Somali national who is currently on bail in connection with assault and criminal damage charges 'simply does not want to be in the country' Derry Magistrate's Court heard today.

The youth, who cannot be named due to his age, appeared charged with breaching his bail by not residing at his designated address.

A police officer said that the defendant had handed himself in to Strand Road PSNI Station stating his address was unsuitable.

The court heard that the address had been supplied to him by Social Services.

The officer said that the youth wanted to go to London and was 'trying to force the issue' by objecting to his address and that no address here would be suitable.

Defence solicitor Shannon Doherty said that the police were objecting to the youth going to London while the criminal matter was still outstanding.

District Judge Barney McElholm said that all he could do was release the youth on bail to an address approved by both the PSNI and Social Services.

The youth will appear again on September 5.
A County Derry man who took on a mammoth challenge earlier this summer  a 1,000 mile charity motorcycle ride around Ireland in a day  has raised 3,510 for a local mental health charity.

Darren McKinney began his journey, in aid of Draperstown-based STEPS, in Limavady on June 17.

His solo trip took him through the likes of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Naas, Cork, Killarney, Galway and Sligo before returning back to his starting point, all within 24 hours

Gortnaghey man Darren initially set a fundraising target of 1,000 - 1 for every mile he travelled  however he soon surpassed that amount.

Explaining his motivation for the fundraising trip, the 35 year-old said: It all began when I started thinking about mental health issues which so many people suffer with, including myself, and how we deal with them.

I myself think there is nothing like getting out on the motorbike and putting the helmet on and almost being in your own little world where your stresses all seem to disappear. This got me to thinking what if I could use my passion for motorbikes to help other people struggling too and so I discovered STEPS in Draperstown after searching for a charity to support.

It's great how all their work is completely done by volunteers and they are completely non-profit.

After some research, Darren came up with a challenge worthy of peoples' support - the 1000 miles in 24 hour challenge.

Anyone into their bikes knows this is no easy feat and it took a lot of planning to even get a route around Ireland to complete the challenge as we don't have a massive amount of motorways, continued the dad-of-two.

Darren says he believes the challenge really pushed his own mental strength 'to the limit' as he faced extremely bad weather from the outset.

The weather was fantastic every day for almost four weeks and when I got up at 1.30am to get ready to start, the wind and rain were pounding the windows of the house. I had to push through and luckily the weather calmed down a little until after I met my mum and dad at the starting filling station in Limavady which I left at around 3.20am. After reaching Belfast it started raining again and got progressively worse and worse. After my second fuel stop in Wexford, at only around 265 miles in, the rain was so bad I noticed my GoPro had failed and so did my charging port for my phone. This was a major problem as I needed the phone to guide me along the route as time was tight and I couldn't miss my fuel stops either.

Despite being under pressure, Darren managed to find a solution to his problem.

After a bit of panicking and searching filling stations for a solution I realised the USB port couldn't be fixed and had to resort to taping the phone around a wireless charging battery bank to slowly keep the phone charging. I had tried to dry out the now water soaked phone under the hand drier in toilets but that didn't work and because of this I couldn't mount the phone to the dash of the bike to see where I was going but had to resort to listening to commands instead through my helmet. You can imagine how I was worrying whether or not the phone still working as you could be riding for over an hour on the motorway without hearing a single command!.

Having travelled almost 400 miles, when Darren reached Naas he admitted feeling 'completely broken'.

My electronics had almost all failed and I was soaked right through. I thought to myself most people would call it quits at this point and save it for another day but I said to myself 'no, I have set myself a challenge and made everyone a promise that I would get the job done no matter what'. This is where I'm proud of myself for overcoming this major mental milestone and just taking the bull by the horns, and thinking back, I certainly did, he said.

For the next eight hours, Darren pushed through the rain which was so heavy it sounded like stones hitting his helmet. He battled poor visibility and two bad thunderstorms however the weather improved slightly when he met up with his wife Danielle, two brothers and friend in Sligo for the final leg of his journey.

Thankfully I was miraculously in good spirits considering I hadn't eaten, drank or even had a toilet break for over 12 hours, I only stopped for fuel and headed straight off again, he said.

The last leg was completed with ease, being able chat to someone after spending all day in silence. We were joined by another friend Gabriel, who we met in Strabane, and he came with us the whole way to the finish line in Limavady, 1,030 miles later. What a relief it was to get that last fill of fuel and finish the challenge. It was made even more special as my mum and dad, my godmother and aunt met us at the finish line to give us a cheer and a well deserved hug. I didn't realise to the next day how it affected my hands but I couldn't turn a key in a lock for four days with my hands being almost locked up.

Despite being a tough challenge, Darren says it is one he will never forget.

I want to thank each and every person who donated or supported or helped me in any way. I especially want to thank my mum and dad for meeting me at three o'clock in the morning to see me off and my wife Danielle and friend Colin Rogers for helping with the donations, he said.

Thanks also to the guys who came with me from Sligo on home to the finish line and thank you to STEPS for doing the great work that you do. If anyone ever needs them they are there for you on the phone, or in person. They are a great bunch of people who need all the help we can give them. In the end I raised 3,510 which I am very proud of.

If I have learned anything from this experience it would be to find something you love doing and nurture it and grow your passion for it. It can be your escape from the norm which can be the cause of people feeling like they are stuck in a vicious cycle of work and bills and other things in life which can bring you down. Also, look after the ones around you as seeing all the help I received shows me how much we can all do for each other. I look forward to the next challenge I can overcome in the name of good causes. Be kind to others and be kind to yourself, he added.

A spokesperson for STEPS praised Darren on his fundraising efforts.

Darren took on this challenge which was massive in itself, but then on the day faced horrendous weather conditions, I don't know how he kept going, said the spokesperson.

Darren had amazing support from his wife Danielle, family, friends and the wider community. STEPS could not offer the counselling support we do without such fantastic people like Darren and everyone who contributed, donated and supported in any way so a massive thank you. To date we have seen over 720 people through our counselling service ranging in age from four to 88 and because STEPS is run by volunteers every penny goes to the work on the ground.
MBABANE  Despite claiming that documents insinuating that government signed a loan deal with an Austria financier might have been forged, no action has been taken.

Last week, our sister publication published documents, which Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg described as suspicious, purporting that government signed a loan deal of US$200 million (approximately E3.8 billion) with one of the largest private companies in Europe for the construction of the strategic oil reserve facility at Phuzumoya in the Lubombo Region.

The alleged fake documents have in them a name and signature purported to be that of Finance Principal Secretary Sizakele Dlamini who, however, said the documents were fake.

Contracts

She also pointed out that she was not mandated to sign government loan contracts as that responsibility was for the minister. However, despite that both the minister and the PS have boldly said the documents were fake and that the signature of the latter was forged, there has not been an effort made to have investigations conducted in order to ascertain as to who could be behind such an act. When this publication enquired on whether any action had been taken, the ministrys Communications Officer Setsabile Dlamini said it was difficult to pursue the matter without information regarding the source of the letters. We need to know where the letters came from, she said.

Meanwhile, following the publishing of the fake documents, the Eswatini National Petroleum Company (ENPC) issued a press statement stating that it was yet to sign a loan agreement for the construction of the oil reserve facility at Phuzumoya. Through its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nhlanhla Dlamini, the parastatal said it was incognisant of the said loan and that to the best of its knowledge, government had not signed a E3 billion loan agreement for the construction of the strategic fuel reserve facility. The ENPC is yet to sign a loan agreement for the construction of the oil reserve facility as negotiations with financiers are underway. As stated by the ministry of Finance, the letters purporting to acknowledge the E3.8 billion loan l fake and malicious in nature, such conduct is frowned upon by the ENPC, the CEO said. He also clarified reports that a private company, Kantey & Templer Eswatini had reportedly not stopped working on the project behind the scenes and that a foreign entity pledged to secure the project funding against the sovereign guarantee of about E900 million issued by the Government of Eswatini. Kantey & Templer is the company that was initially contracted by the Government of Eswatini for the construction of the facility but left the site when the works were already underway in 2017.

Elaborating on the clarity, the CEO said it was of paramount importance that stakeholders understood and were aligned with respect to the establishment and mandate of the ENPC which he said was mandated by the Petroleum Act No.18 of 2020 to identify, build, own and manage petroleum logistics investments including storage and handling terminals. As such, he said, no other company had a similar mandate in the country. He said central to the ENPCs mandate was the construction of the strategic fuel reserve facility as a means to ensure the security of fuel supply. The target, the CEO said, was to commence construction of the 80 million litre fuel storage facility (60-day storage capacity) by the end of the current financial year. He said to the parastatals knowledge, the Government of Eswatini did not have any existing contract with Kantey Templer Eswatini for the project in question as same was terminated.

Directors

When the directors of Kantey & Templer were contacted by the Times SUNDAY on Wednesday, they stated that they had resolved not to respond to the press statement issued by the ENPC. This is because this issue is being dealt with by the appropriate structures. Further be advised that the decision not to respond at this stage does not constitute a waiver of our rights to do so in due course, the directors said. The ENPC is a Category A public enterprise whose mandate is to ensure fuel supply and security in the country, with the strategic oil reserve being the flagship project.
A man who stuck up the middle fingers to his neighbour on three separate occasions, has been convicted of harassment by a local court.

Colin Doherty, of Riverside Cottages in Ballykelly, appeared before Limavady Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with harassment.

The court heard that on dates between July 14 2022 and September 2 2022, the 40 year-old pursued a course of conduct which amounted to the harassment of his neighbour.

The injured party in the case contacted police and claimed that he was being harassed by Doherty, who lived in the same housing development as him.

The man said he had known Doherty for ten years however he claimed that there had been ongoing issues for the last four years.

The man stated that in mid-July Doherty had made a V gesture to him.

The neighbour said several days later Doherty stuck the middle finger up to him as he drove past. The court heard that this incident was captured on dash cam.

On a third occasion, the man alleged that Doherty had shouted 'pervert' to him as he passed him on the street. This was recorded on CCTV, the court heard.

The complainant also said as he was driving along Main Street in Ballykelly, he observed Doherty driving past him and sticking up the middle fingers. The victim was accompanied by his young daughter at the time.

A solicitor told the court that Doherty accepts that his behaviour was 'childish'.

She said all the incidents were 'chance encounters' and added that Doherty is currently in the process of moving to a new house eight miles away.

District Judge Peter King told Doherty that he was 'delighted' he was moving away and 'putting some distance between yourself and the injured party'.

Judge King fined Doherty 450 for the offence and imposed a restraining order for two years.

In addition, he re-suspended a suspended sentence, which Doherty had breached, for a further two years.
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HIGHLIGHTS Google could start providing five years of OS updates starting with its Pixel 8 series of smartphones

By doing so, it will beat out Samsung which currently gives the most Android OS updates  up to four years

Pixel phones will also finally compete with Apple phones which are known for having the longest software support

Google could finally begin providing five years of OS updates for their upcoming Pixel 8 series of smartphones. The folks over at 9to5Google have reported that Google could take the crown from Samsung for giving the most years of OS updates on the Android side of things. Software support usually comes down to the hands of smartphone OEMs, so even though Google owns Android, they were left behind in the software update race.

Previous Pixel smartphones delivered three years of major OS updates and five years of security updates. This policy started in the Pixel 6 era in 2021. However, Samsung remained at the forefront since it was the only brand that committed to four years of software support for its phones.

Also read: Google Pixel 8 may have revamped Google Camera UI, only eSIMs in some regions

Apple, on the other hand, was the overall leader offering six or more years of software updates for its iPhones! However, if the report is true, Google will finally beat out Samsung and get close to what Apple offers.

The Pixel 8 series to get more than three major OS updates; could even be five

The report by 9to5Google doesnt mention five years of OS updates, so take this news with a pinch of salt. It does mention that the Pixel 8 series could beat out Samsung phones with its software support  which implies five years since Samsung phones already provide 4 years of OS updates. The company is planning to deliver extended software support for its devices with a Tensor processor. The news comes from one of 9to5Googles sources, so theres still no guarantee that this could actually pan out.

Also read: Google Pixel 8 hardware leak suggests it will excel at night photography

If Google does go ahead with this, it will definitely make Pixel devices more appealing for purchase. Especially in India where even the budget Samsung phones are offering four major OS updates. More years of security updates mean the longevity of these new Pixel devices will be extended, which is always appreciated by users
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MBABANE  An SABC News virtual interview featuring Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo, SWALIMO President Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane and PUDEMO leader Mlungisi Makhanya, was nothing short of a stand-off.

The interview of the trio was featured in a programme called Ekhaya Jikelele, which was aired on August 25, a day before the primary elections. The Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO) and Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) leaders were asked to share their views on the ongoing general elections, which are now heading to the secondary level on September 29, 2023.

Elections

When given the floor, Makhanya made it known that it had always been the stance of PUDEMO not to participate in the general elections, because it did not want to conform to the norm that the government was for the people, but for the authority. He said this was not an election where emaSwati were given the chance to formulate their own government because the appointing authority was selecting favoured people for the Executive seats, an exercise which Makhanya said should be the responsibility of the masses. PUDEMO is a movement that is fighting for the liberation of the people of Eswatini. Our policy does not allow us to permit our members to be part of the persons available for selection into the countrys executive because we dont believe in that criterion, he said. He alleged that the elections were held at a time when the electorate was threatened that if they did not participate in the elections, they would not be beneficiaries of such things as scholarships, among other social benefits.

Responding to Makhanyas remarks, Nxumalo said the democracy defined by Makhanya was synonymous with political parties yet the origins of democracy, according to Nxumalo, was a government chosen by the people for the people. PUDEMO has always wanted to dislodge the people from the right to elect their government from the various tinkhundla centres, so that the government can be imposed by political parties and their executives in some offices within the corridors of Mbabane, Ezulwini and Manzini, something that emaSwati frowned upon as back as 1991 and they declared that they wanted to elect a government from their constituencies, he said.

Ideology

Nxumalo said it was PUDEMOs choice to fight for the political ideology that they believed in, but the time for that ideology had not yet come because emaSwati were embracing the Tinkhundla System of Government and that was evident by the number of voters who registered to participate in the elections. Prior to the introduction of the local interviewees, the programmes presenter shared that there were over 580 000 people who had registered to participate in the elections. Given the floor, Simelane said he was astonished to hear Nxumalo saying all was well in the Kingdom of Eswatini and calm was prevailing. He shared that the soil of Eswatini was blemished from the blood that was spilt at the height of the political unrest. He said even government concurred that over 40 people were killed during the political unrest in 2021.

He stated that the position of SWALIMO in the ongoing general elections was that they were not endorsing it because they were an organisation that was making decisions based on consultations with its membership; hence they had come to the conclusion that they would fight the regime from within Parliament. I must mention that it is not true that emaSwati choose their own government but they choose a Parliament that is not free. We choose not to be absent when our people are fighting the regime but we choose to be with them and stand by them, he said. Simelane emphasised on Makhanyas point that the Government of Eswatini was not elected, but it was appointed, hence it was not for the people. While Simelane was making his submissions, Nxumalo laughed hysterically, so much that the presenter asked him to share what he found amusing in Simelanes remarks. Nxumalo said it was funny for Simelane to say they would fight the current status quo from within because no undemocratic government would give one a platform to fight it from within.

Opinion

When requested to share his comment on Simelanes opinion that the government of Eswatini was appointed by the authority, not elected by the people, Nxumalo said: I cant teach a grown man the fundamentals of what is a government. Members of Parliament are the government, which is formed by the three arms of the State, which are Parliament, Legislature and the Executive. There is nowhere in the world where an executive is elected, whether its democracy of political parties, western government or anywhere, said Nxumalo. He said the executive would always be appointed or selected and one was part of government by the virtue of being in Parliament.
MBABANE - A senior official in the Ministry of Home Affairs and three other civil servants have been suspended for six months without pay, following the theft of a government rented kombi in South Africa.

The kombi had been rented on behalf of government, by an international organisation and was to be used by the ministry in executing its duties in the Lubombo Region. The senior official is said to have recalled the kombi to Mbabane, as it was required for other duties. The civil servants allegedly facilitated that it be used for a trip to Durban, South Africa (SA). In facilitating the trip, one of the suspended officers is said to have approached the car rental company for a cross-border document, without the knowledge of the international organisation.

Two of the suspended officers are drivers. The fourth employee, who is a witness, had accompanied those who travelled to South Africa.

Implicated

This was reportedly done without the authorisation of the principal secretary (PS) in the ministry. It is alleged that the implicated officers, who eventually travelled to South Africa, purportedly claimed that they had gone to the neighbouring country to make accommodation arrangements for the Eswatini delegation that was to attend King Misuzulus coronation.

The senior official who heads one of the departments within the ministry is said to have not been part of the trip to SA. The kombi, which belongs to the car rental company, is still being sought by the police in the Republic of South Africa. When reached for comment, Executive Secretary of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Nhlanhla Mnisi, confirmed that the commission was aware of the matter and was working on it jointly with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Meanwhile, suspension without pay may only be imposed as a disciplinary sanction, and then usually as an alternative to dismissal, but only with a written consent or agreement of the employee. In all cases, the notice of suspension must be in writing, and the reason for the suspension must be stated.

Identity

The ministry is custodian, protector and verifier of the identity and status of citizens and other persons resident in the kingdom. This makes it possible for people to realise their rights and access benefits and opportunities in both the public and private domains. It should also be noted that the ministry controls, regulates and facilitates immigration and the movement of persons through the kingdoms formal ports of entry. Currently, government is working towards achieving the provision of civics and immigration services at foreign missions; and determines the status of asylum seekers and refugees in accordance with international obligations. While in the quest of achieving the above, the ministry is also making a significant contribution to ensuring national security, enabling economic development and promoting good international relations. Efforts to get a comment from the PS, Nhlanhla Nxumalo, were unsuccessful as he referred further questions the communication officer. When the Communications Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mlandvo Dlamini, was reached, he promised to give responses regarding the suspension of the civil servants today.
1

The Indian income tax department is currently investigating potential tax evasion allegations involving Supam Maheshwari, the founder of three prominent Indian unicorns: FirstCry.com, Globalbees Brands Ltd., and Xpressbees, as reported by individuals with knowledge of the situation.

A unicorn is a privately held start-up firm with a valuation of over $1 billion.

According to anonymous sources, the tax department has issued notices to Maheshwari, inquiring about the reasons for not paying over $50 million in taxes related to transactions in FirstCry equity.

Several investors in FirstCry, including ChrysCapital Management Co., a private equity firm, and Sunil Bharti Mittal's family office, have reportedly been contacted for inquiries regarding this issue, as per sources. It has been suggested that Maheshwari is currently engaged in discussions with the tax department to resolve the investigation.

FirstCry is an Indian e-commerce company headquartered in Pune. Established in 2010, the companys initial emphasis was on the retailing of baby products.

As of January 2020, FirstCry boasted a network of more than 380 stores throughout India. Notably, the company inaugurated its inaugural store in Srinagar in May 2019 and is currently in the midst of its Series E round of financing.

In 2016, FirstCry acquired BabyOye, a subsidiary of the Mahindra Group, for ?362 crore (equivalent to ?518 crore or US$65 million in 2023). Following this merger, the combined entity operates under the name FirstCry.com as a joint venture between FirstCry and Mahindra.

FirstCry, supported by SoftBank, launched its foray into education with the acquisition of Oi Playschool, marking a new trend in a rapidly consolidating industry.

FirstCry secured a funding round of ?95 crore in equity investment from pi Ventures.

FirstCry achieved profitability for the fiscal year concluding on March 31, 2021, following a period of sustained losses. As per a previous Bloomberg report, it stands out as one of the few Indian startups aiming to enter the IPO market with a track record of operational profitability.

As far as the income tax enquiry is concerned, no comments or clarifications were forthcoming from Maheshwari, ChrysCapital, the tax department, ort and Mittal.
1

Senior officials from the United States and China held a series of economic policy meetings in Beijing on Tuesday, 29 August 2023, underscoring efforts to halt the decline in their bilateral relationship and to reestablish channels of communication.

On Tuesday afternoon, Gina Raimondo, the US secretary of commerce, convened a meeting at the Great Hall of the People, situated in the central heart of Beijing near Tiananmen Square. She was accompanied by other high-ranking officials from her department.

The American delegation met with Vice Premier He Lifeng, a key official in China, with extensive responsibilities in economic policy and a longstanding association with Chinas president, Xi Jinping.

Raimondo emphasized the global importance of the US-China commercial relationship and stressed the responsibility of both nations to manage this relationship effectively, not only for their own interests but for the world as a whole. While asserting US commitment to safeguard its national security, she clarified that the goal was not to disengage or hinder Chinas economic progress.

Raimondo also held discussions with Premier Li Qiang, China's second-ranking official. Prior to this meeting, she expressed the American desire for commercial relations to serve as a stabilizing force in the broader bilateral relationship.

The American secretary of commerce emphasized that there are global issues, including climate change, artificial intelligence, and the fentanyl crisis, where the international community expects both nations to collaborate in addressing these challenges.

The US delegations China trip is also drawing attention to the future of TikTok in the United States. This comes as criticism of the app and its connections to Beijing reached a peak this year.

Raimondo made a memorable statement to Bloomberg News this year, suggesting that if the administration were to ban TikTok, it could risk losing the support of an entire generation of voters under the age of 35.

On Monday, Ms. Raimondo and Chinas commerce minister, Wang Wentao, reached an agreement to establish routine dialogues between the two nations on matters of commerce. These discussions will involve both business leaders and government representatives.

Additionally, the two governments have committed to exchanging information, starting with a meeting between their senior aides in Beijing on Tuesday morning focused on the enforcement of US export controls.

On the same day, Raimondo held a meeting with Chinas minister of culture and tourism, Hu Heping. This encounter took place within three weeks of Beijing's decision to lift the ban on group tours to the US, a restriction that had been imposed during the pandemic, when China had largely closed its borders for nearly three years.

During the meeting, the two ministers agreed on organizing an event in China early next year to boost the travel industry as part of an ongoing series of business promotion initiatives spearheaded by Ms. Raimondo.
Ryanair boss Michael OLeary has slammed air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats for the unacceptable disruption caused over the past two days.

In a video message, the chief executive described Monday as a very difficult day with 250 flights cancelled, while a further 70 were axed on Tuesday.

He said: We have been in contact with UK Nats.

Michael O'Leary, CEO of the Ryanair Group gives an update on delays/cancellations due to UK ATC failure on Aug 28 pic.twitter.com/HoebuSNqBy  Ryanair (@Ryanair) August 29, 2023

We still havent had an explanation from them (about) what exactly caused this failure yesterday and where were their back-up systems.

Its not acceptable that UK Nats simply allow their computer systems to be taken down and everybodys flights get cancelled.

Speaking from the airlines operations centre at Dublin Airport, Mr OLeary went on: Weve had a very difficult day yesterday due to the UK Nats ATC failure.

Im sad to report that we had to cancel about 250 flights affecting the flights of about 40,000 passengers because of long delays to flight plans, crews running out of hours.

Last night we had 20 aircraft that couldnt get back to their home bases so theyre out of place for today.

Today, unfortunately, it looks like were going to cancel about another 70 flights.

Thats a very small number out of the 3,200 flights were planning but that doesnt mean were not doing everything we possibly can to try to minimise the disruption for our passengers and their families.

He added: We hope by the end of today, Tuesday, that from tomorrow well be running a normal operation.

There is speculation the fault was caused by a French airline submitting a flight plan to Nats in the wrong format.

Nats would not comment on whether that was accurate.

It said on Monday the problem was the result of a technical issue affecting our flight planning system.

Former Nats controller Doug Maclean said he did not know whether the actions of a French carrier were to blame, but believed an operational glitch was likely to have happened.

Asked if the problem could reoccur, he replied: I wouldnt think that theres much likelihood of a failure but as long as Nats dont say anything its a perfectly legitimate question.

He added: What was the problem? I dont understand why theyre so closed mouth about it.

Downing Street did not rule out the possibility that an inputting error by a French airline could have caused the disruption.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman said: Theres going to be, think youll know that theres going to be an investigation by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority), and a report shared with Government.

I think (Transport Secretary) Mark Harper confirmed this morning hell be getting that in days.

Im not going to pre-empt that. Ive seen, obviously, various bits of speculation, but Im not going to pre-empt the work that needs to be done.

But he added that experts had confirmed it was a technical issue, not a cyber security incident.

Asked if officials would speak to counterparts across the English Channel, the spokesman said you would expect them to be speaking regularly with other countries, but Im not aware of any specific conversations with French counterparts.
While there will be 14 more TDs after the next general election following a highly-anticipated review into constituencies, some current and prospective public representatives may be facing an uphill battle at the polls after a redrawing of boundaries.

Politicians may have faced a sleepless night before the launch of the commissions report, on what was dubbed worry Wednesday, which also recommended that the number of constituencies increase from 39 to 43.

More than 200 electoral divisions have been moved across constituencies to facilitate consistency of representation across the country in what Electoral Commission CEO Art OLeary described as a battle between maths and geography.

These new constituency boundaries have caused celebration and consternation across the political divide as parties begin to weigh up their chances in an election rumoured for November next year.

Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire Jennifer Carroll MacNeill was among the first politicians to lament a boundary change.

The area remains a four-seat constituency but has ceded an area around Foxrock which contains 12,407 people to Dublin Rathdown.

The Minister of State at the Department of Finance posted on Twitter: Very sorry to lose the Foxrock area as a TD after the election but I know my colleagues Josepha Madigan and Neale Richmond will be proud to have the opportunity to look for their support in the next election.

Very sorry to lose the Foxrock area as a TD after the election but I know my colleagues Josepha Madigan and Neale Richmond will be proud to have the opportunity to look for their support in the next election. pic.twitter.com/tJOIVhVO9a  Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD (@CarrollJennifer) August 30, 2023

There were other concerns about constituency boundaries with Dublin South-West TD Paul Murphy saying: Breaking up a major urban area like Tallaght between two constituencies makes no sense.

Mr Murphy, who has a constituency office in the south Dublin town, was reacting to the transfer of the Tallaght-Fettercairn electoral division, with a population of 11,335, from the Dublin South-West constituency to Dublin Mid-West.

Labour TD for Cork East Sean Sherlock has also been tipped as having a difficult decision ahead.

The Mallow native will be concerned about the commissions recommendation to move the area of 14,408 people into Cork North Central.

One of the most dramatic changes stems from the commissions decision to create a new constituency named Wicklow-Wexford.

It was decided to reduce the two five-seat constituencies of Wicklow and Wexford by one seat each and allocate an additional seat to create this new three-seat constituency.

Fine Gael TD for the current Wexford constituency Paul Kehoe is said to be disappointed by the boundary decision.

Areas containing almost 50,000 people around Gorey and Enniscorthy, where Mr Kehoe is based, will be transferred to the new constituency.

On the northern side of the carve-up, Green Party TD Steven Matthews and Fianna Fail Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly may be concerned about the decrease in seats in the new Wicklow constituency.

The two Government TDs did not meet the quota and will be facing Sinn Fein TD John Brady (who described the constituency change as a hatchet job), Social Democrat Jennifer Whitmore and Fine Gael Minister for Further Education Simon Harris who all fared much better in 2020. All five are based in the north of the county.

An increase in the number of three-seat constituencies is seen as disadvantageous to independents and smaller political parties due to a higher quota threshold.

Elsewhere, the people of Clare may be looking green-eyed at the constituents of Kildare South.

The commission allowed for a variance in average constituency population per TD of plus or minus 8%, the highest in decades.

An approximate maximum variance of 5% has been used as a rule of thumb in the most recent reviews  but there is no set rule in the Constitution or legislation

The greatest variances are a plus 8.08% in Clare and a minus 8.13% in Kildare South.

This means each TD in Clare represents 31,985 people while each TD in Kildare South covers 27,186 people.
MBABANE - His Majesty King Mswati III has urged widowed women to remove mourning gowns before the double celebration next week.

Speaking through Acting Ludzidzini Governor Themba Ginindza, the King said the removal of the mourning gowns was in respect of the upcoming celebration of the 55 years of independence, which will be celebrated together with the Kings Birthday. Ginindza stated that the removal of the gowns was effective immediately after the announcement, which was made at 3pm. The removal of the mourning gowns (tinzilo) does not mean widowed women should do as they please. They should keep mourning in heart until their allotted time for cleansing (kubeka phasi). Widowed women are not expected to move up and down as if the mourning period is over, Ginindza said.

Practice

Worth noting is that, it is common practice that widowed women are allowed to remove their mourning gowns ahead of the celebration of independence, as Eswatini culture provides that no one should be seen mourning during celebrations. The wearing of the mourning gowns, which normally last for two years, depending on the agreement of the two families, is a means by which women express their grief after the death of their husbands. Apart from the removal of the mourning gowns, some prisoners have their sentences reduced. Umhluma Foundation, which looks after the welfare of widowed women in the country, expressed their gratitude to His Majesty.

Gowns

In an interview yesterday, the foundations Executive Director, Lungelo Zulu, said, the removal of the mourning gowns meant that their members would be able to join other emaSwati in the celebration of the 55 years of independence and the Kings Birthday. Zulu said the removal of the mourning gowns meant that their members would not be restricted during the course of the ongoing general elections in the country. Kulesimemetelo, sibulala emabhodlela eNgwenyameni yelive. Sibonga kakhulu, Zulu said, loosely translated to mean: We are grateful to the Ingwenyama following the announcement.
Bus Eireann, Irelands national bus company, says it is pleased to announce a new service Route 170 from Dundalk to Cavan which came into effect on Sunday 27 August.

The new route is part of the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan, which is a major national public transport initiative developed and funded by the National Transport Authority (NTA) as part of the Transport for Ireland (TFI) Network.

Route 170 will provide six daily return services between Dundalk and Cavan, via Carrickmacross, Kingscourt and Bailieboro. The new service features an enhanced timetable with a later departure from Cavan at 19.45pm and Dundalk at 19.45pm. It is the first service to include a Sunday and Public Holiday timetable between Dundalk and Cavan.

Route 170 is the second of two routes, in conjunction with the Local Link Route 171, in a planned phased roll out of new TFI Local Link and Bus Eireann bus services in Cavan, Monaghan and Louth.

The existing Bus Eireann 166 service was replaced by the new TFI Local Link 171 service and the new regional Bus Eireann 170 service.

The new Local Link Route 171 will serve Shercock and Inishkeen, these stops are no longer served by Bus Eireann. Passengers travelling between Shercock and Cavan can transfer between Local Link Route 171 and Bus Eireann Route 170 at Carrickmacross.

Following the withdrawal of the existing 166 service, there will be no direct bus services between Shercock and Cavan on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. However, the NTA working with TFI Local Link Cavan Monaghan, are currently preparing plans to provide a new service between Virginia, Bailieboro, Shercock and Cootehill which will be implemented later this year.

Bus Eireann is delighted to introduce these new and improved services between Dundalk and Cavan, significantly increasing the daily services, particularly for those passengers travelling at the weekend, said Adrian OLoughlin, Bus Eireann, Senior Operations Manager, East.

Thanks to the National Transport Authority, through the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan we have added over 2 million kilometres to our network and have created over 62 new jobs.

"Demand for our services in the East is higher now than pre-pandemic, passenger numbers nationally are 20-30% higher than they were in 2019. This enhanced service will enable us to connect our growing number of customers with who and what matters to them.

Updated service details and timetables are available at buseireann.ie.
The Louth Dail constituency could see its population reduced by 11,501 should the recommendations the Electoral Commission has made in its independent recommendations to the Oireachtas on the make-up of Irelands electoral constituencies for the next Dail and European Parliament elections be adopted.

The Electoral Commission has recommended that the number of TDs for the next Dail be increased to 174, up from 160. With the increase in population since the last census, it is necessary for the number of TDs to be increased to meet the requirements in Article 16.2 of the Constitution, that each of Ireland's TDs should represent, on average, 20,000 to 30,000 people.

With regards the Louth constituency, it is currently a five seat constituency with a population of 167,607, an increase

of 16,683 (11.05%) since 2016. The Louth constituency is currently made up of Co Louth and two Co Meath EDs south of Drogheda.

The main consideration for the Commission, it says, was the current breach of the Meath county boundary and how best to accommodate the increase in the constituencys population.

The two EDs in the Co Meath part of the constituency have a combined population of 27,904. A large part of one of these EDs St Marys (Part) (population of 16,403) is in the town of Drogheda. The other ED of Julianstown has a population of 11,501.

Above: The Louth Dail constituency

The Commission says that there were a large number of submissions relating to the Louth constituency (over 10% of all submissions received during the consultation period). The majority of submissions called for the breach of the Co. Meath

boundary to be either continued, or increased with the transfer of more Co. Meath EDs to the Louth constituency or a new Drogheda constituency created which would take in further EDs from Co Meath.

According to the Commission, many of the submissions stated that they were part of a campaign promoting city status for Drogheda. The Commission also noted that many submissions received called for all of the Co Meath EDs to be located in Co. Meath constituencies.

The Commission recommends that it should remain as a five seat constituency. The Julianstown ED with a population of 11,501 is recommended for transfer to the Meath East constituency, while the St Marys (Part) ED would stay in the Louth constituency.

This reduces the breach of the county boundary of Meath from two EDs to one ED. The Louth constituency would have a population of 156,106.

The final determination of the constituencies for Dail Eireann will in due course be decided by the Houses of the Oireachtas in legislation.
A total of 9,865 parking fines issued in Dundalk over the past five years remain unpaid, the Dundalk Democrat can reveal.

Over 1.37 million worth of parking fines have been paid out to Louth County Council in the last five years, with just under 45% of valid tickets issued in Dundalk remaining unpaid.

In total, the local authority collected 1.370,857 in parking fines between 2018 and 2022, according to figures provided to the Democrat under Freedom of Information.

Overall, there were 27,568 fines issued by Louth County Council in Dundalk in the past five years.

A further 5,923 were cancelled, appealed or written off and 11,780 were paid.

The Covid years of 2020 and 2021 saw a sharp decrease in the number of fines issued compared with other years, however last year saw 5484 fines issued which was over double the figure for 2021.

In 2018, 7,832 fines were issued in Dundalk ; 7,451 in 2019 and 4,081 in 2020.

Dundalk councillors voted last December to increase the hourly rate for pay parking in Dundalk to 1.30, a move which came into effect on 7th January this year.

Louth County Council received the most money from fines in 2018, with 445,811 worth of fines being paid across both Dundalk and Drogheda.

Last year, 2022, saw 245,050 collected from fines.

2019 saw 328,826 collected, 199,170 was collected in 2020 and 152,000 was collected in 2021..

When it comes to Drogheda, figures show that a total of 30,641 tickets were issued from 2018 to 2022.

Overall 17,191 of these were paid, 8,552 were unpaid while 4,898 were cancelled, appealed or written off.

Fines issued in Drogheda have also seen an overall decrease, with 10,194 issued in 2018 and just 4,477 issued last year.

Taken as a whole 58,209 parking fines were issued in the county from the years 2018-2022, with 10,821 cancelled, appealed or written off, 28,971 paid and 18,417 left unpaid.

These figures are a sum total of three types of parking fines, including fines for not displaying tickets and parking in a disabled parking spot. Fixed charge fines for parking offences can range from 40 to 150.

From February last year Louth County Council increased the fine for parking on pavements from 40 to 80 in line with new government legislation.
It would be entirely appropriate if Well Met were to win next Saturday nights final of the BoyleSports Greyhound Derby, Irelands premier classic carrying a first prize of 125,000 and going ahead at Dublins Shelbourne Park.

The home-bred is owned by John Jones, one of the younger members of a Corduff, Carrickmacross family, whose involvement in the greyhound game goes back to the very start.

Back in the early 1970s, Johns grandfather, Pete, trained Jemmy John to win the Carrolls 525 International at the old Dundalk track on The Ramparts. The hugely popular lightweight fawn won other competitions, as well as breaking the national record for the standard 525 distance.

Theres been no loss of know-how in the generations that followed. Four years ago there was a chance that even the great Jemmy Johns would be eclipsed.

Our Surprise, a very fast inmate of the Jones kennel, had made it to the Derby final having raced consistently throughout the competition before dead-heating in the semi-finals. The early betting had him among the top fancies.

With expectations around these parts at its height in anticipation of a local dog bidding for the biggest prize of all, word came that Our Surprise had sustained an injury and would not be taking part in the race of the year. In his absence, the win went to Lensons Bocko

It was a devastating blow for owners, Brian and Laurence Jones (Johns father), who, a few years earlier, had seen their Heisman score a thrilling short-head victory in the final of another classic, the Bar One Irish Sprint Cup at Dundalk Stadium.

Now comes Well Mets chance to more than emulate his kennel companion and compensate connections for their 2019 set-back.

Bred on the same lines as Our Surprise  being also a son of Corduff Flame  the 77-pound brindle will run from trap one, the same berth as he had last Saturday night when finishing second to surprise winner, Music Glideaway.

Prior to the semi-finals, Well Met had won twice in the preliminaries, one of his victories coming when he was placed along the rails. That augurs well, but its not going to be easy.

The Jones dogs conqueror in the semis once again goes from six, while the other Saturday night winner, The Other Kobe, bidding to give Tipperary trainer Jennifer ODonnell a second successive Derby triumph, has the blue sheet once again.

Three of the countrys top trainers, Pat Buckley, Patrick Guilfoyle and Graham Holland, have trained a winner of the race in the past, and they are represented on Saturday.

But its what happens on the track that counts. If Well Met gets his usual fast start, he can take a lead around the first bend, and thats always important.

Slippery Robert was a Derby winner for Jenkinstowns Larry Dunne, in 2013. The odds on another local owner making in on to Shelbourne Parks podium on the biggest night of the year are good. Best of luck to the Jones.

The race will be televised on Virgin Media 3, the hour-long programme hosted by Ivan Yates commencing at 9 oclock.
MBABANE  The consolidated list of votes that were obtained during the 2023 Primary Elections has been issued by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC).

However, these results show that some of the candidates actually scored lower votes than what was shared on Saturday or Sunday morning, after the counting at the polling stations.

It should be noted that in some polling stations, votes from His Majestys Correctional Services (HMCS) for inmates and those in the diaspora were not included at the conclusion of the voting exercise, hence the consolidation of the votes by the EBC. What has brought confusion among some candidates and the electorate is that some of those vying for the political seats now have less votes than those obtained during the primary elections on Saturday.

Expectation

This is contrary to expectation that the numbers would increase, as some polling stations had not added votes that were obtained from the HMCS and diaspora. Some polling stations had added the special voting numbers, especially those that were collected at Manzini Central High School, Divine Healing Ministries Auditorium as well as Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre last Tuesday. The only votes missing were those from the diaspora and HMCS, where inmates had voted. For that reason, the assumption was that in some polling stations, after the EBC had issued out the votes, they would be slightly higher than the preliminary figures, as changes in terms of winners per polling division were highly likely to occur. On Monday, the EBC, in a press conference, announced a consolidated list of the votes across all the royal kraals in the country. EBC Chairperson Prince Mhlabuhlangene highlighted that there was a huge possibility that the consolidated votes might have changes due to human error.

One of the glaring changes on the list was that of Phondo Inkhundla, Mgazini Royal Kraal. The list had the least votes compared to the ones that were collected on the day. According to the list that was pinned at Mgazini, outgoing Phondo MP Xolani Vilakati had 292 votes and 21 from special voting. Overall, the MP had emerged the winner with 313 votes. Nkosinathi Vilakati, another nominee, had 119 votes, while Mbongiseni Ngcamphalala was listed as having scored 130 votes. However, the list that was issued by EBC yesterday indicated that the outgoing MP actually lost to Eric Dlamini, who obtained 168 votes and was followed by Celani Ginindza with 120 votes, while the outgoing MP, according to the list, was in the third position with 111 votes.

The second confusion that was created by the list, in terms of votes, was under Siphocosini Inkhundla, Luhlendlweni Polling Station. According to the votes that were counted on Saturday, outgoing Siphocosini MP, Mduduzi Matsebula, recorded 339 votes. The consolidated list by EBC, however, indicted that the Matsebula actually had 333 votes. Another notable change was at Kwaluseni Umphakatsi. Inasmuch as that change did not tamper with the overall winning candidate, the changes in the results were extremely noticeable. The polling division stated that Sifiso Shongwe was the overall winner. On the counting day on Saturday, Shongwe had 1 060 votes. On Monday evening, the EBC announced that he had 1 103 votes. Yesterday, the consolidated list indicated that Shongwe had 1 062 votes.

Meanwhile, prior to the list that was uploaded on the website, some candidates under MP category learnt from the grapevine that they were unsuccessful, yet they knew they were overall winners under their royal kraals. One of those was Mbabane East MP candidate Majojo Mamba, who joined the race under Mdzimba Umphakatsi. Mamba said he was told by his electorate on Monday evening and yesterday morning that he actually lost the race. He said he learnt from the EBC offices that he was successful. He had 173 votes and his runner-up, Thoba Dlamini, had 170 votes.

Another MP candidate who was confused was Thulani Nsengwane from Mashobeni Royal Kraal, under Timphisini Inkhundla. Nsengwane mentioned that he also learnt that his runner-up was celebrating, following that the EBC had consolidated all the votes from the polling stations and those from special voting. He said on the day, he had 452 votes. He was relieved after the EBC issued the final list, which showed that he had 554 votes. Under KaMkhweli Royal Kraal, there were also changes but the overall winner remained Nomalungelo LaZwide Simelane with 998 votes. However, changes were noted in other candidates, as Gcina Dlamini, who the preliminary results indicated to had bagged over 500 votes, while on the consolidated list he was announced to have obtained 341 votes. According to the consolidated list, Simelanes runner-up was Busisiwe Matsenjwa with 394 votes and was followed by Dlamini with 341 votes.

Confusion

Following the confusion that was caused by the announcement of the consolidated list, EBC Communication Officer Mbonisi Bhembe mentioned that the list, more especially the one that was announced on Monday evening, was bound to have human error. He went on to explain that those who heard through the grapevine that they were no longer winners ought to have contacted the commission instead of taking things they heard from the streets as gospel truth. People should learn to use the right channels in order to access the correct information. In terms of figures that might have changes between Monday evening and today (meaning yesterday), we addressed that there might be slight changes, he said.
The Egyptian government is planning to attract $5 billion from the initial public offerings (IPOs) of power plants and state-owned companies from October 2023 until the end of June 2024.

According to a report on the Government IPO Programme by the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) carried by Ahram Online, Egypt plans to offer stakes in the Siemens Beni Suef power plant, Gabal El-Zeit wind power plant, and Zafarana wind farm, in addition to Safi and Watanya, companies owned by the military, a WAM report said.

The Egyptian government announced that it had collected $5 billion from offering stakes in 13 companies between March 2022 and July 2023.

The government plans to offer stakes in 35 state-owned companies to strategic investors by the end of June 2024, under the State Ownership Policy Document. A list of 32 companies was released in February 2023 and three companies were added to it later this year; Eastern Company, Al Ezz Dekhila, and Telecom Egypt.-- TradeArabia News Service
Advice for Small Businesses programme helps to redesign old building into a boutique hotel

In Osh, Kyrgyzstan, we met Meergul, owner of Art Hotel, a cosy boutique hotel in the town centre, with 10 guest rooms, a conference room, and a coffee shop. The hotel has a distinct style and concept. Each room has a different design, and guests can enjoy pieces of art produced by local artists, such as ethnic interpretations of works by famous artists such as Klimt and Picasso.

Meergul is a very social young woman, participating in conferences and master classes and speaking easily to any audience. She personally promotes her hotel on social media. All of this is particularly impressive as Meergul is hard of hearing.

I created a boutique hotel and hope to turn it into a conceptual space for artists and creative people, Meergul says. We collaborated with several artists who helped us to design the rooms and some spaces around the hotel. I like every corner of my hotel, as we did everything with love.

Designs on new business opportunities

Meergul has quite extensive experience in the hotel business. Before opening Art Hotel, she managed a hostel. In late 2020, she decided to rent a space for a hotel and approached the EBRDs Advice for Small Businesses programme. With the support of the European Union, the Bank got one of the leading hotel and restaurant business consultants in Kyrgyzstan on board. The consultant conducted a full diagnostic of the building and developed a detailed reconstruction plan. He also helped Meergul to develop a pricing policy for the hotel and a breakfast menu to meet expectations of tourists.

I am very grateful for this great experience, Meergul says. We considered all of the minor details during reconstruction  lighting, furniture, bed linen and mattresses  to ensure a comfortably stay at our hotel. I am a very communicative person and try to get feedback from our guests. We are still in touch with our consultant, and he is always very helpful.

Meergul is planning to acquire her own land and broaden her hotel business. She hopes to build a new hotel and attract more tourists to her native town, which is full of ancient history.

I am a cautious person, she says. Therefore, it took me many years to develop my business. Nowadays, we are working hard and occupying a niche in the hotel business. We are sure our professionalism, love and passion will help us to achieve all our goals.
CALLS have been made for the HSE to consider retaining routine ophthalmology check-ups for children in St Marys Primary Care Centre.

Sinn Fein TD for Cork North Central Thomas Goulds comments come as the HSE confirmed that these services have now been moved to Ballincollig Primary Care Centre.

Head of Service of Primary Care at Cork Kerry Community Healthcare (CKCH) Priscilla Lynch confirmed in correspondence with Mr Gould that CKCH, South/South West Hospital Group and the South Infirmary Victoria Hospital are currently working collaboratively to develop a Regional Eye Care Service based in the new Primary Community Care Centre located in Ballincollig.

She confirmed the initial team from Community Ophthalmology Services has transferred to Ballincollig Primary Care Centre and is operational, with acute teams to be confirmed for their move to Ballincollig Primary Care Centre.

This new service will provide a designated specialised infrastructure where all community procedures related to ophthalmology will be performed and incorporate multidisciplinary team working between multiple grades of ophthalmology staff to deliver the best outcomes for both children and adults, she said.

She said that the move is in alignment with the strategic direction and recommendations of the Primary Care Eye Services Review Group report and the Model of Eye Care under the National Clinical Programme (NCP) for ophthalmology.

The NCP for ophthalmology recommends the integration of hospital and community care, with clinicians and care providers working in teams, as the best approach to deliver care for patients and to address the structural deficits in the current system, she said.

Speaking about the move of service from the northside of Cork city, Mr Gould said: While we support the establishment of a regional community centre of excellence in ophthalmology, this is yet another service loss for the northside. There are over 11,000 people on waiting lists in Cork for ophthalmology services. 172 of these have been waiting over two years. Many of these are for simple procedures that do not require the use of complex equipment.

Retaining services in communities to catch up on these lists and ensure that nobody is left waiting years for basic services makes sense. This is in line with Slaintecare which promotes easy access to community-based services.

Mr Gould also raised concerns about the lack of a direct bus from St Marys PCC to Ballincollig PCC.

That is simply too long for many people to travel, particularly those who are elderly or have small children, he said.
The number of TDs should increase from 160 to 174, it has been recommended in a much-anticipated review of Irelands constituency boundaries.

The Electoral Commission has recommended the number of constituencies increase from 39 to 43.

The constituency review has been prompted by a boom in the population to 5.15 million, as shown in Census 2022  an increase of 8% in four years.

As the Irish constitution says there needs to be one TD to represent every 20,000 to 30,000 people in Ireland, the constituency boundaries need to shift.

Ms. Justice Marie Baker, Chair, An Coimisiun Toghchain/The Electoral Commission, introduces the recommendations of the Constituency Review Report. #ConstituencyReview23 pic.twitter.com/SUafzqTPvD  An Coimisiun Toghchain, The Electoral Commission (@ElecCommIRL) August 30, 2023

Of Irelands 39 constituencies  nine three-seaters, 17 four-seaters and 13 five-seaters  all but one have seen population increases that put them at more than 30,000 people per TD, with Limerick County being the exception.

According to Irish electoral laws, each constituency should have between three and five elected members, with three-seaters seen as advantageous to large political parties and five-seaters an easier job for smaller parties and independents to get over the quota threshold.

Constituency reviews are meant to avoid breaching county boundaries where possible, to follow geographical features and to maintain the continuity of electoral areas as much as they can.

Upon the establishment of the Electoral Commission in February this year, it asked for submissions on how the boundaries should be redrawn, and received 556 submissions from elected representatives, political parties and academics.

Recommendations published on Wednesday morning include that there should be 13 three-seat constituencies (+4), 15 four-seat areas (-2), and 15 five-seat constituencies (+2).

This would mean that, on average, 29,593 people would be represented by each of the 174 TDs.

Seven constituencies remained entirely unchanged since the last review: Clare, Cork South-West, Donegal, Dublin Central, Kerry, Limerick County and Waterford.

Seven of the 10 existing county boundary breaches have been removed across Laois, Mayo, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary and Westmeath.

There are four extra seats in the Dublin area, with several changes to electoral divisions.

An Coimisiun Toghchain recommends that 174 TDs should be elected from 43 constituencies at the next General Election. https://t.co/CpgiruDyBl #ConstituencyReview23 https://t.co/4ioBTshEOY pic.twitter.com/qGvgKMST9J  An Coimisiun Toghchain, The Electoral Commission (@ElecCommIRL) August 30, 2023

The five-seat Dublin Fingal constituency has gained a TD after being split into Dublin Fingal East and Dublin Fingal West, with three seats each.

The constituency of Dublin Rathdown has been allocated an additional TD to become a four-seat area.

Dublin West has gained a seat and will now have five TDs.

Dublin Mid-West has also become a five-seat constituency with an extra TD allocated there.

There is an additional seat in both the Cork North Central and Cork South Central constituencies.

The remaining eight seats are spread throughout the rest of the country.

The chairwoman of An Coimisiun Toghchain, the Electoral Commission, said the recommendation is the product of detailed analysis of constitutional and statutory limits.

Supreme Court Judge Ms Justice Marie Baker said: It arrives at a solution which best fits the needs of the country as a whole, as our population expands.

The commission is pleased to be in a position to recommend the removal of seven of the 10 existing breaches of county boundaries, reductions in the size of two existing breaches and to propose just three new county boundary breaches in the recommended constituency composition.

Thanks to all those hundreds of people, parties and organisations who shared their ideas and proposals with us. Each was considered in making our final recommendations.

This constituency review is the first task of Irelands new Electoral Commission, An Coimisiun Toghchain.

At barely six months old, we are proud to deliver this significant democratic review of Irelands constituencies, the building blocks of our democracy, on time and in line with our statutory mandate. Ireland is due to hold local council elections and a European Parliament election next summer.

A general election is heavily rumoured to be planned for November next year, after the final Budget of the three-party coalition government is officially confirmed.
FASTWAY, Ireland's largest independent delivery network has strengthened its presence in Cork with a substantial multi-million Euro investment in its Cork operation.

Fastway which is part of the recently formed Nuvion group, has reinforced their commitment to Cork with a substantial investment of over 5 million in a new facility in Little Island.

This investment underscores Fastway's commitment to enhancing its services and capabilities while fostering economic growth in the region.

Situated within the dynamic Nova Business Park in Little Island, the facility is a testament to Fastway's ambitions for the region.

The new location commands an impressive operational expanse of 44,000 sq. ft., making it the second-largest courier base in the country.

This amplified operational space, coupled with the capacity of a round-the-clock sortation system, not only accommodates Fastway's expanding operations seamlessly but enables local courier franchisees to better accommodate customer needs.

Commenting on the opening of the new Cork facility, Mark van Niekerk, Fastway Managing Director said the investment solidified their footprint in Cork.

Were delighted to officially open our new facility in Cork."

"With the significant increase in operational capacity, and enhanced sortation capabilities, Fastway is well equipped to efficiently handle larger volumes, enhance order accuracy, and drastically reduce processing times  all crucial components for staying ahead in the dynamic logistics landscape.

In that regard, the combined effect of these developments not only solidifies Fastway's footprint in Cork but also sets the stage for heightened growth and expanded horizons, and in doing so, further improves our service offering to our local customer base, he added.

This milestone investment represents a clear testament to Fastway's dedication to continuous improvement, technological advancement, and exceptional service.

As Fastway continues to champion innovation, invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure, and optimise its operations, the company remains committed to exceeding the expectations of its clients and parcel receivers alike.

The facility in Cork is the latest addition to Fastways growing position in the parcel delivery sector in Ireland. In January this year, Fastways head office and South Dublin operations transitioned to a new state-of-the-art 120,000 sq. ft facility, in Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, Co Dublin.
Cork city politicians gave a broad initial welcome, with some reservations, to the constituency changes recommended by the Electoral Commission today, as the two Leeside constituencies gain a TD each.

Under the commission reports recommendations, the Dail would gain an additional 14 TDs nationally, and both Cork North-Central and South-Central would become five-seat constituencies.

Among the changes recommended by the commission, the city centre would become part of Cork South Central, as would a reunified Bishopstown, and Cork North Central would expand to take in Ballincollig and Mallow town.

South-Central-based Finance Minister Michael McGrath said he warmly welcomed the decision of the Electoral Commission to reinstate the River Lee as the boundary between Cork South Central and North Central.

I believe this is a more natural boundary and will result in less confusion about which constituency people in the area belong to.

I look forward to working hard for the 22,000 people that have transferred to South Central, the Fianna Fail minister said.

Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney said the recommendation of two new TDs for Cork was both necessary and welcome, in order to be consistent with constitutional requirements.

As the population grows, we have to add more TDs, because you have to have at least a TD for every 30,000 people, he said.

Welcoming the return of Cork South Central back to a very familiar look, he echoed Mr McGraths comments about the river providing a clear dividing line between Cork North Central and Cork South Central.

I think this is a very competitive constituency, with Micheal Martin, Michael McGrath, myself and Donnchadh O Laoghaire, as well as a number of others who will be standing, I think it will still be very competitive, but certainly from our perspective, I think it being a five-seater is very welcome, the Fine Gael minister said.

Donnchadh O Laoghaire, Sinn Fein TD for Cork South Central, welcomed the return of Bishopstown as a single area under one constituency.

It was an unnatural situation, and I am glad the commission has brought it back together, he said.

Likewise, bringing Noonans Road and Gilabbey Street back with the Greenmount area.

We will compete to win as much seats as possible in this and all constituencies.

Councillor Lorna Bogue of An Rabhartas Glas, who ran in South Central in the 2020 general election and was eliminated on the eighth count, finishing just behind Fianna Fails Michael McGrath, said the constituency review appeared to be a missed opportunity to more fully democratise Dail representation, but she welcomed the recommendation of a fifth seat.

I am especially happy to see the city centre in Cork South Central, where I have been based for most of my working life.

Cork city centre should and could be a much better place to live but has been failed by succesive governments, especially by the present coalition, Ms Bogue said.

I am very proud to represent workers and carers in my ward in Cork City South East and look forward to contesting the larger constituency in a forthcoming election.

Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer said that gaining an extra seat in both city constituencies was to be welcomed, and he said he intended to run.

I do think its a missed opportunity by the electoral commission, in that it could have had a complete reimagining of the map of Cork, but theyve chosen not to do that.

On the northside, with Cork North Central subsuming Ballincollig and Mallow, Fine Gael TD Colm Burke said he would welcome some of the changes.

I dont understand the logic of saying the river is the dividing line and then adding Ballincollig as a totally separate entity, but I very much welcome Ballincollig, he said.

I have been working very much on the northern part of Mallow over the years, Rahan, Burnfort and Mourneabbey, so I would welcome Mallow in.

Im sad to see the Bishopstown area, my old local electoral area, around the college, all of that area, going into South Central, so Im sorry to see that, Mr Burke said.

Socialist TD Mick Barry was philosophical about the commissions recommendations.

Cork North Central was always going to be a battle royale with four seats and at first glance it looks like it's still going to be a battle royale with five.

I look forward to campaigning on socialist policies in Ballincollig and Mallow, he said.

Sinn Fein TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, welcomed the report.

Ballincollig will be a huge addition to Cork North Central, theyve had no Sinn Fein TD in this term so Im excited to see the potential work we could do there.

The additional seat in the constituency is positive but our focus now is on the communities we represent and getting that message for change out there, Mr Gould said.

Fianna Fails Padraig OSullivan TD said he would welcome areas like Ballincollig and Mallow into North Central.

I think that in the case of Ballincollig, it would make sense that North Central would become more urban and take in that urban area of North-West, and in terms of Mallow, I look forward to dealing with the people there.

Ultimately, elections are won in terms of policy and records, and I think we need to do the best for all of the people in our constituencies, Mr OSullivan said.

Councillor Kenneth OFlynn, who was eliminated on the 14th count at the last general election, finishing just behind Mick Barry TD, welcomed the commissions recommendations.

I can confirm that I am currently considering the possibility of running as an independent candidate.

In the upcoming weeks, I will be engaging with constituents, listening to their concerns, and building a platform that focuses on practicality, integrity, and connecting with the electorate.

In Cork East, Labour Party TD Sean Sherlock, was processing the news that his Mallow base would, under the recommendations of the commission report, become part of Cork North Central.

Im still assessing what is a seismic shift in the political landscape. Its too early to make a detailed comment. I need some time to analyse this, Mr Sherlock said.
A 29-year-old man has been further remanded in custody as gardai await the directions of the DPP in relation to an incident where a man died after he sustained serious injuries following an alleged bottle attack in Cork.

Jason Butler (32) of Castleredmond in Midleton, Cork passed away on June 16 last at Cork University Hospital.

He had been transferred to hospital two days earlier after he was allegedly slashed in the throat during an incident on Grand Parade in the city.

Aaron Babbington, of Churchfield Avenue in Cork, appeared before Cork District Court on the morning of June 16 last where he was charged with assault causing harm to Mr Butler on the evening of June 14. Mr Butler died in hospital just hours after Mr Babbington was charged.

Mr Babbington appeared before Cork District Court by video link today.

Sgt Gearoid Davis applied for a further remand in custody in the case to allow for the obtaining of DPP directions. No objection was made to this application.

Judge Joanne Carroll remanded Mr Babbington in continuing custody until his next court appearance on September 13 next.

Meanwhile, when Mr Babbington was charged in connection with the offence in June gardai indicated that they they were objecting to bail on the grounds of the gravity of the charge and possible witness interference.

Det Garda Pat Russell gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.

He said that Mr Babbington made no reply to the charge which was put to him under caution.

Det Garda Russell alleged that Mr Babbington had been seen by several people:

I believe there is strong evidence that on June 14, 2023, at 7.38pm the injured party was in the company of the accused and his (Babbingtons) partner and that he was approached by the accused and stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle.

He said that the incident happened in broad daylight in an area with a large number of pedestrians present, including children.

Det Garda Russell said that Babbington had a serious alcohol addiction and was a danger to himself and other members of the public.

He expressed concerns about possible witness interference in the case if the accused was granted bail.

He also stated that Babbington would be incapable of attending court if granted bail arising out of the severity of his alcoholism.

Bail was denied in the case.

Jason Butler was living at SVP Deerpark House Hotel in Friars Walk in Cork in the period leading up to his death.

This is a support service which assists people as they attempt to move on from homelessness.
ALMOST 60% of Leaving Certificate students who applied for a Level 8 course or an honours bachelor degree received an offer for their first choice following their publication by the Central Applications Office (CAO) yesterday afternoon.

Almost 58,000 CAO candidates nationally received 87,075 Round One offers of a college place.

This includes offers of 52,949 Level 8 course offers and 34,126 Level 7/6 course offers.

Data from the CAO indicated that points increased for roughly a third of Level 8 courses, while they remained the same for a further 11%.

Further data from the CAO showed that points dropped in more than half of the Level 8 college courses which included nursing, primary school teaching and medicine Nationally 85% of students received an offer for one of their top three preferences, while nine out of ten students applying for Level 6/7 courses were offered a place on their first preference course.

Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris congratulated students receiving their CAO offers.

I want to congratulate every Leaving Cert student who has made it this far," he said.

This is a landmark day in every students life after what has been an incredibly challenging few years for them.

"I truly hope the news they received today aligns with their hopes and ambitions.

Its a major milestone for those taking the next step on their educational journey.

Students are 'thrilled'

Kinsale Community School guidance counsellor Diarmaid Fahy said their Leaving Cert class of 2023 were very happy with their CAO offers. From talking to our students everyone seemed to get their first-choice course which is positive. Our students worked hard, and they are thrilled. They are looking forward to starting third level, he said.

Mr Fahy advised any student who is unsure about their next steps to contact him and the school. If any student is unsure, our door is always open to them. They are always welcome back in for meetings or for a chat. It is important to offer a support service.

"Students must always remember there is a backdoor to every course.

"The post Leaving Cert college route is great. It opens up opportunities for students and it gives them the opportunity to enhance their skills. Mr Fahy said more students this year opted to pursue apprenticeships, but he said more needs to be done to accelerate these numbers. We had a few students go through the apprenticeship route, certainly more than previous years. There are still probably not enough going down this route. We should be looking at encouraging more students to go down this pathway.

'New Chapter'

They are about to embark on a new chapter, and it is fantastic, said the principal of Kinsale Community School Fergal McCarthy. The reaction from our students has been very position. Our Leaving Cert results were exceptional, and it brings a conclusion to their second level schooling. It opens new opportunities for them in their lives. It has allowed the students the opportunity to access the course of their choice and to move on to the next stage in their lives.
NOT many of us like to admit to being lonely because it conjures up a sad, socially inept and generally unattractive person.

But there should be no shame in disclosing that you feel isolated  and would like to do something about it.

Recently, on the BBCs Womans Hour, loneliness was explored. After holding forth on the topic, psychiatrist Dr Farhanna Mann, from University College London, said it needs to be a public health priority. (Theres a Minister for Loneliness in the UK.)

Here (and over the water too) there are bar counters propped up by loners who find solace not just in the gargle but also from being among people.

Were supposed to be a country of welcomes, but urban life is not always like rural life, where people know their far-flung neighbours. City life and suburban life, despite teeming with people, is not always conducive to a sense of community.

We are all so caught up in our busy and sometimes empty lives that we forget the benefits of small talk at the bus stop.

It can brighten up a day to actually communicate with someone beyond the purely transactional type of communication we engage in at our local supermarket.

Loneliness is a powerful emotion, according to Dr Mann, and it has strong links with mental health and also with physical health.

Just as we can feel anxiety in the pit of our stomach, so too can loneliness manifest itself physically.

Its a subjective experience, best described as distressing, where theres essentially a mismatch between the level of social connectedness a person has in their life and what they would actually like. That varies from person to person.

Some of us live alone quite well. For others, its a depressing scenario that makes them miserable. It can lead to risky health behaviour such as smoking  or lone drinking, nearly always a bad idea unless you are disciplined and can cork the wine after one or two glasses.

If you have an existing mental health problem, you are at risk of becoming lonely.

Depression is isolating. It can be hard to relate to people when youre depressed.

Numerous studies show that loneliness increases with age. People aged over 80 are at risk of social isolation, which is why its important to look out for the elderly.

Italy has the highest proportion of people aged over 65, some 23.3% of them are in that category. Japan is the worlds frontrunner with 29.1% of people over 65. In Ireland, as of December, 2022, 15% of the population was over retirement age.

We cant help growing old, but there is a way to mitigate the lone-liness that often accompanies it. Here, we have a housing crisis. Perhaps, with apartment complexes being built to deal with the problem, we could emulate multigenerational housing projects in Germany to alleviate loneliness.

This initiative sees young and old living under one roof, improving lives, especially with an ageing population. (In Germany, 21.8% of the population is over 65.)

Theres a communal living group on Mendelstrasse, Berlin. The 11 members of the association range in age from 13 to 90 and have at least one thing in common  they are sick of living alone in an anonymous city.

This group, according to media outlet Deutsche Welle (DW), has staked out a communal building in a large modern housing complex of 351 apartments. Each member maintains his or her own self-contained apartment, but the members co-finance a common room with TV and a kitchenette. They can dine together at breakfast, part of their daily ritual. Its a residential community with privacy. Whats not to like?

As one 80-year-old resident of the community says: We live together despite our differences. That, says Heidemarie Mehlau is a good feeling. If she is sick or needs help, she doesnt have to go very far.

The initiator of the project is 65-year old Comelia Apel. He had already committed to such a project more than ten years ago but found it difficult to find a developer willing to support a multigenerational housing project.

In Germany, this type of habitation is still the exception. However Comelia Apel reached a co-operation agreement in 2014 with a Berlin housing company. The association members were able to move into the new building complex in 2019.

At the time, there were 13 members who found a new and friendly home in the community-based housing project. Two association members have since died.

One of the many benefits of multigenerational living is that working parents can get help with childcare. Later in life, it is more cost-effective than being housed in a nursing home. Not to mention a lot more liberating. With one in five people over 75 feeling lonely, its time we considered multi-generational housing.
GLOBALink | Arab, Middle Eastern countries benefit from BRI: Palestinian expert Pub Date:23-08-30 09:12 Source:Xinhua "Arab and Middle Eastern countries have benefited greatly from the Belt and Road Initiative," says a Palestinian expert. The China-proposed initiative marks its 10th anniversary this year. Produced by Xinhua Global Service Editor:Zheng Chen

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Malaysia will allocate 2 billion ringgit ($430 million) to a National Energy Transition Facility to enable catalytic blended finance, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced, reported Emirates News Agency (WAM).

Speaking at an event to launch the second phase of the National Energy Transition Roadmap, Ibrahim said the facility will enable catalytic blended finance to ensure a seamless flow of financial resources towards energy transition projects that are marginally bankable or yielding below-market returns.

Considering Malaysia's current state of immature decarbonisation technologies, the country's progress will significantly depend on alternative energy sources and robust regional and international collaboration, he stated.

As the paramount challenge in energy transition is financing, it is estimated that an investment of at least 1.2 trillion ringgit between 2023 and 2050 is needed to enable responsible energy transition, Anwar said.

He added that 60 billion-90 billion ringgit is needed to be allocated for crucial projects, including expanding public transportation, strengthening grid infrastructure, and reskilling human capital, in this decade alone.

The government will launch a major retrofit programme to enhance energy efficiency in government buildings, he added.
LEESIDE will be buzzing with activity and the beat of the drums on September 2 at 11am when Dragons from all over the country set the quays alight.

The Cork Rebel Regatta is a fun event where we invite dragonboat paddlers from all over Ireland to compete on the River Lee and show off our beautiful city, says Caroline Warren, from Bandon, who overcame both breast cancer and leukaemia.

The Cork Dragons was set up to support those going through cancer treatment and their family and friends, where we sit shoulder to shoulder in the dragon boats, supporting each other and showing that there is fun, health and happiness after a cancer diagnosis.

Members of the one of the Cork Dragons paddling teams in training for the upcoming Rebel Regatta. Picture: David Keane

Caroline, who is a mother of two, doesnt believe in wasting precious time.

You can waste your whole life thinking about cancer, she says. Then you waste your whole life.

I cant find a cure for cancer, but I can fight back and give cancer two fingers.

For us dragons, it is all about positivity, camaraderie and having fun.

The Cork Dragons taking part in the Rebel Regatta are also celebrating their 10th birthday.

Having spent over a decade paddling on the River Lee, we have been through a lot together and are proud to support each other in good times and bad, and show that new friends, great adventures and a healthier lifestyle are all possible after a cancer diagnosis.

Members of the Cork Dragons paddling team, Tracey Nugent, Mary O'Callaghan and Janet Mullins.

Fellow Cork Dragon, Fiona Sandes, joined the Dragons in 2020.

I am originally from Dublin but have been living in Cork for about 25 years, (although Ill always be the Dub on the Rebels Boat), says Fiona.

I joined Cork Dragons just before lockdown in 2020. I heard about the Dragons, a team for breast cancer survivors, through ARC House for Cancer Support and my amazing oncologist, Professor Seamus OReilly in the CUH.

Fiona, like every one of the approximate 3,000 women in Ireland diagnosed with breast cancer annually, was devastated when she received the diagnosis.

I was diagnosed in May, 2018, and it literally both devastated and changed my life as I knew it.

Fionas life was never the same again.

This was now my new normal, a phrase I came to hate. Cork Dragons were to be my support group following on from treatment; three surgeries, 16 sessions of aggressive chemotherapy, and 20 sessions of daily radiotherapy. Little did I know that I would find a fellowship in a club no one wanted to meet the criteria to be a part of. But now I dont want to leave!

One of the Cork Dragons paddling teams in training for the upcoming Rebel Regatta. Picture: David Keane

There is no quick fix after a cancer journey.

Everyone expects you to be fixed after your medical treatment, says Fiona.

But the emotional and life-altering changes are only kicking in.

Cancer does serious damage.

It steals your confidence, your strength, the old you, says Fiona.

Having been wrapped up in a roller-coaster of medical services, when they are finished it is like the safety net is taken away from you and you are on your own.

Aftercare is greatly under-resourced, and without the camaraderie of the Cork Dragons, I would not have found such tremendous support and advice in the nightmare that a breast cancer diagnosis brings.

Fiona has reaped the benefits of being a Dragon.

I find the exercise involved in paddling is both invigorating and calming, she says.

Its a sign of wellness and strength for me, and if youre not well enough to paddle on a day, thats OK too -you always have the company of someone else to chat to you over a cup of tea.

The Cork Dragons are Fionas lifeline - they offered her a new, positive way of life.

Adele Flynn, Lucia Fitzell and Yvonne Williamson.

Cork Dragons - what a unique way this support group is run; on the water paddling, chatting travelling, meeting new friends in other clubs where you slot right in! It is like having a support group wherever you go! says Fiona. You can literally stick a pin in a map, rock up to a club, and be welcomed like youve met before, and go out for a paddle on new waters. I feel I am part of the coolest support group ever. It is pretty amazing given the criteria for becoming involved in the first place!

How does Fiona feel now?

It sounds like a cliche, but I feel like a survivor now, says Fiona.

I am proud to have gotten through what I have been through and am still going through with permanent on-going health issues, and still manage to be an active member of the club.

What does the club stand for?

The club stands for support, adventure, physical activity, friendship and fun; the list is ongoing.

There is always a positive out of a negative.

Something so good has come out of something so horrible, says Fiona, who is looking forward to the Rebel Regatta.

The upcoming Rebel Regatta is about standing proud and united as a club, says Fiona.

Being proud to show off our club, our members, our river.

Even as a Dub?

Mark O'Connor and Caroline Warren.

Fiona laughs.

Even as a Dub! Our support network is fantastic. This is my first Rebel Regatta, and I am so looking forward to welcoming all the other dragon boat clubs from different counties all over Ireland to Cork. To catch up with friends I have met through other regattas, for a day of some competitive paddling and lots of laughter!

It promises to be a great day.

A day where everyone will cheer the other teams and genuinely mean it.

The spoils are waiting to be had.

Participation in the Regatta is our medal, says Fiona. It is our badge of honour. I am also honoured to be part of the Remembrance Ceremony, remembering both old club members who have passed away and family and friends who have passed away from cancer.

There is more to celebrate.

I am proud to show off our club house, to other Dragon clubs, says Fiona.

Without Tequila Jacks, we would literally have nowhere to meet, to chat, to store equipment, to be what we are today. Sean, Ryan and all the staff are always so kind and welcoming to us, and their generosity to us as a club cannot be under-estimated or truly ever repaid.

There are more people on-board supporting Cork Dragons.

We also rock up in trendy dry robes sponsored by Cully and Sully, and unless Cork weather obliges on the day with some sun, we will all be wearing these on the day!

Cork Dragons breathed fire into Marie OSheas life. She became one of the crew.

They helped me get my life back, says Marie, who is a founder member, from Turners Cross.

Life was tough after my breast cancer diagnosis in 2010. I had fabulous support from my husband, sons and friends. ARC House was amazing and Cunamh in the Bons.

ARC House told me about the Dragon boat, I always liked the water and found it exhilarating. I thought Id try it.

I loved it the minute I stepped into the boat. I found myself laughing out loud with people I didnt really know. I didnt think Id make new friends for life. I got my mojo back.

Members Lydia Forde and Mark O'Connor.

The Cork Dragons provided a new beginning for Marie, aged 65.

My mother died of cancer. I looked at cancer as the end, not as a beginning. I wouldnt have what I have today without cancer. It is the silver lining, and the shining light is the Cork Dragons.

Is Marie looking forward to the Rebel Regatta?

It is like the Olympics for breast cancer survivors!

Dragon Boating is a team paddling sport open to both men and women where the normal crew is 20 paddlers in pairs facing the bow of the boat, one helm steering and one drummer at the bow facing the paddlers. Paddlers follow the beat of the drum.

Cork Dragons was established in 2012. The Dragons welcome male and female members, no experience necessary. They train every Tuesday night on the River Lee in Cork city centre from April to October.
I HAVE always been fascinated by the lives of those who live on the offshore islands of Ireland. As a child, I witnessed the haunting beauty of the Aran islands in Galway and visited the deserted village on Achill island in Co. Mayo, and these places left an indelible impression on my young mind.

As a Leaving cert student, I devoured the autobiography of Peig Sayers from the Great Blasket island off the coast of Kerry, which was compulsory reading on the Irish syllabus until 1995. It was a poignant memoir in which Peig recalled how life was once lived on the island before emigration took its toll and the population was decimated. In 1954, living there became unsustainable and the island was completely abandoned, and the sound of human talk and laughter was replaced by the cries of the seabirds.

These days, visitors to the island come to marvel at the natural beauty of the location and to walk among the lonely ruins, including what was once the home of Peig herself.

I recently spoke to some of the women who are happily living their lives full time on some of the islands off the coast of West Cork, on Cape Clear, Sherkin, Heir island and Bere island.

These Cork islands, although small in population, continue to be vibrant communities and the women I spoke to all contribute in different ways to ensuring that they thrive.

According to the recent census results from 2022, there are 100 females living on Bere island, 60 on Sherkin, 55 on Cape Clear, and eight on Heir island.

The word multitasking could have been invented for the women I spoke to, whose day to day lives take place situated at the very edge of Europe along the furthermost reaches of the Southwestern coast. They are resourceful, creative, talented and hardworking, and each of them carries the aspiration and fervent hope for a future which will see their island communities grow and thrive.

They wish for resources such as adequate accommodation for families who wish to live on the islands all year round, and not just more holiday homes.

Some of the women I spoke to were born into island families and have lived there all their lives, others moved there on the wave of a spirit of adventure, some by choice, some by chance.

They live their lives in locations of incredible beauty, often described as idyllic, but although these locations are indeed places of indescribable beauty, no life is one hundred per cent idyllic, and the lives of some of these women have also been marked by terrible tragedy.

It has been my honour and privilege that these women have willingly shared stories of their lives with me, stories of their work, their relationships, their inspirations and the process of raising their children on the islands.

Its remarkable when one considers that the women of West Cork already have to travel a distance, in some cases two hours, from the furthest south-west of the county in order to access the services of the nearest maternity hospital in Cork city, then factor in having to navigate a stretch of water by boat, maybe already in labour, in all weathers, to get to Cork city to have their babies safely delivered.

Living on an island means you cannot just hop into the car or get on a bus to go to the shops, to the hairdresser, get your nails done, get a takeaway, go to the cinema or see the doctor.

There is no resident doctor on the islands. Everything has to revolve around much more forward planning, but life is considerably easier than it used to be in former times before internet access, and before many of the women had their cars parked on the mainland.

Cape Clear Ferries, travelling away from Cape Clear Island. Picture: Miki Barlok

The women I spoke to take it all in their stride, and despite the lack of instant access to some amenities, they would not live anywhere else.

They cherish the sound of the ocean waves, the sighting of a passing whale, a rambling walk close to the remains of Bronze Age settlements, standing stones, altar wedge tombs and ring forts.

The barking of the seals off the nearby rocks, the plethora of wildflowers, rare birds and the big open sky all replenish their senses, but above all it is the sense of community for which they are so grateful.

They all stated that the island communities pull together in any crisis and they are communities where you can depend on your neighbours to help in times of need.

Life is easier now in 2023 then it was in former times when there was neither running water nor electricity in the homes of many of the island residents.

It was only in the 1930s that Heir Island got its first public pump. Previous to that, fetching water was a task carried out by the women, who had to rise early and walk to the well, which sometimes risked running to a trickle in a spell of dry weather.

It was only in 1983 that access to piped water finally came to the island, and only in 1976 that they got electricity when underwater cables connected nearby Cunnamore on the mainland to the island.

Internet access has bridged the gap between island life and the rest of the world and now there is no such thing as being remote anymore.

However, boxes of grocery shopping securely tied up with string still have to be offloaded to the pier from the boats, and the owner of each box still has to identify which one is theirs from the label marked with their name tied securely around it.

Every single thing that is needed, from a knitting needle to a cow, from a brick to a rolling pin has to be brought by boat to the island.

Trips to the mainland are dominated by rushing to catch the last boat home, and watching the weather is the way of life even more than usual for those who live on the islands.

Some of the women have their own boats and are grateful for outboard engines instead of just paddles, like in times gone by when brave women battled the Atlantic waves to cross the distance to their island homes.

These days, trips to the mainland are much more frequent and the days of needing to have powdered milk at all times in your store cupboard are diminishing.

Cape Clear Island. Picture: Luke O' Regan

However, most of the women still keep extra supplies in their freezers. The mindset is that you never know when the weather might prove inclement, and the boat wont be able to make a run to the mainland.

I hope you will enjoy reading about these inspirational women as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

Next week: Aisling talks to Mary K Sullivan, who lives on Bere Island.
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.

Scientists are managing the critically endangered kakapo population in New Zealand using population sequencing. In addition to helping with kakapo conservation, the project could also provide more information for similar projects to protect other threatened species.

Using technology created by Google, we have achieved what is likely the highest quality variant dataset for any endangered species in the world, Joseph Guhlin, post-doctoral fellow at the University of Otago, said in a statement. This dataset is made available, through DOC and Ngai Tahu, for future researchers working with Kakapo.

The researchers created whole-genome sequence data for almost the entire remaining kakapo population, or about 169 individuals as of 2018. The study led to the creation of a reusable code and other tools for experts in conservation genomics to use to protect other vulnerable species. It also created a deeper understanding of kakapo biology, exploring susceptibility to diseases, egg fertility, growth and other biological factors. The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Kakapo suffer from disease and low reproductive output, so by understanding the genetic reasons for these problems, we can now help mitigate them, explained Andrew Digby, the universitys Science Advisor for Kakapo Recovery at the Department of Conservation. It gives us the ability to predict things like kakapo chick growth and susceptibility to disease, which changes our on-the-ground management practices and will help improve survival rates.

Kakapo, a nocturnal type of large, flightless parrot, is endemic to New Zealand and faces threats from disease, predators and infertility, according to the New Zealand Department of Conservation. These birds rely on fruiting rimu trees for breeding, so they breed only every few years, Reuters reported. Because they dont fly, kakapo are especially vulnerable to non-native predators who have been introduced to New Zealand over the years.

Conservation efforts are helping the population recover, though. There were only 86 individuals in 2002, Deidre Vercoe, the operational manager for governments Kakapo Recovery program, told Reuters. From 2021 to 2022, the population increased 25% to 252 individuals.

The authors of the study on kakapo sequencing hope that their research will help inform kakapo conservation decisions and further conservation efforts for other species.

The Kakapo125+ project is a great example of how genetic data can assist population growth, Digby said. The novel genetic and machine learning tools developed can be applied to improve the productivity and survival of other taonga under conservation management.

The sequencing project was funded by Genomics Aotearoa, a group of research institutions and universities focused on genomics and bioinformatics in New Zealand.




EU official urges Russia to reinstate safe Ukrainian grain export deal via Black Sea ports



Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission Executive Vice President, has called on Russia to reinstate the agreement allowing secure export of Ukrainian grain through Black Sea ports, Euractiv reported.

The European Union (EU) senior official emphasised the disruptive consequences of Russia's withdrawal from the agreement last month, asserting that the restrictive measures imposed on shipping Ukrainian grains via the Black Sea are not only affecting Kyiv but also impacting various developing nations.

Dombrovskis conveyed the EU's endorsement of initiatives by the United Nations and Turkey regarding the Black Sea grain accord. He informed reporters that the bloc has been actively implementing alternative trading pathways, known as solidarity lanes, to facilitate Ukraine's grain and other exports.

Turkey has diligently engaged in efforts to encourage Moscow to re-join the agreement, which was brokered by Ankara and the United Nations a year ago and concluded its term last month. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, conveyed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Russia would consider returning to the accord only upon the fulfilment of Western obligations to Moscow.

Dombrovskis said that approximately 45 million tonnes of grain, oil seeds, and related products have been successfully exported via alternative routes encompassing Poland and Romania.

According to the official EU Commission website, the bloc has been leveraging these alternative routes, known as Solidarity Lanes, since May 2022. The Commission initiated the Solidarity Lanes Action Plan to facilitate alternative shipping routes through rail, road, and inland waterways.

- Euractiv




Irish Farmers' Association urges prompt update of factory prices in line with rising beef market



The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has called for factory prices in Ireland to accurately reflect current market trends, which show an upsurge in beef prices, Agriland reported.

Brendan Golden, chairman of the IFA Livestock Committee, said that while beef prices have shown signs of improvement this week, the prime Irish composite price lags behind the prime export benchmark price by EUR 0.34/kg (~US$0.37; EUR 1 = US$1.09)

Golden underlined the necessity of promptly narrowing this price differential and stressed that the strengthening of prices in key export markets is creating favourable conditions for the Irish beef sector.

In the present landscape, most market outlets are quoting prices ranging from EUR 4.65  EUR 4.70/kg (US$5.06  US$5.12) on the grid for heifers, while bullocks (steers) are being quoted at EUR 4.60  EUR 4.65/kg (~US$5.01  US$5.06) on the grid.

For under-24-month R-grade bulls, the quotes stand at EUR 4.70  EUR 4.80/kg (~US$5.12  US$5.23), with a EUR 0.10/kg (~US$0.11) premium for bulls grading a U above this.

The cow trade remains resilient, with prices spanning from EUR 3.80/kg to EUR 4.90/kg (~US$4.14  US$5.33).

Golden provided insight into the varying market dynamics, noting that conversations with beef industry experts reveal that markets for premium beef cuts, such as steak meat, have stabilised. However, the manufacturing beef cuts utilised for products like meatballs, mince, and burgers present ongoing challenges.

He further pointed out the competitiveness of mart outlets, where prices for forward store and finished cattle align closely with factory quotes.

As the weather conditions negatively impact grass cattle supplies in the coming weeks, Golden highlighted indications of a subsequent increase in demand from buyers in Northern Ireland for finished cattle as the year progresses.

- Agriland




Involving farmers organisation can help ensure Malaysia's broiler supply, according to ministry

Malaysia's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (KPKM) is confident that the involvement of the National Farmers' Organisation (NAFAS) in the chicken value chain, through its subsidiary Medan Juara Sdn Bhd (MJSB), can help to guarantee the country's food security in broiler supply.

KPKM minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said that although the amount is not large, it is seen to be helpful for small entrepreneurs in the sector.

"NAFAS continues to be involved in the broiler chicken industry. The price of chicken has now started to stabilise and even if it rises, it does not reach the ceiling price," Sabu said. "So, I am grateful to all parties involved, the large breeders and small breeders, who have brought the price of chicken and eggs under control.

"We want NAFAS, the Board of Farmers' Organisations (LPP) and the Federal Agricultural Marketing Board (FAMA) to work hand in hand to ensure food security in the future."

Earlier, Sabu had handed over an allocation of RM2.35 million (US$506,251) from LPP to NAFAS for the project to upgrade the Hatchery Complex building operated by MJSB.

MJSB, which breeds broiler day-old chicks (DOC), is the main joint venture company of NAFAS, the Johor State Farmers' Association and several other state farmers' associations.



- Bernama




African swine fever hits Cocoro Island, Philippines



African swine fever (ASF) has been detected on Cocoro Island, in Palawan's Magsaysay municipality in the Philippines, with 300 swine killed due to the disease, Farm Journal's Pork reported.

ASF was confirmed by Darius Mangcucang, the officer-in-charge of the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) in Palawan. Mangcucang said that out of the six blood samples obtained from domestic swine on Cocoro Island, five have tested positive for ASF.

The situation has prompted a swift response from the PVO, which is collaborating diligently to contain the outbreak within the affected areas, preventing its escalation to other towns within Palawan.

Mangcucang said that there's no need for culling as the swine have been killed. Instead, the officers will conduct a disinfection to contain the virus.

To further combat the spread of the virus, stringent measures have been implemented, including the establishment of checkpoints at entry points to Magsaysay. Comprehensive monitoring, blood sample collection, and quarantine assessments will be conducted as part of the containment protocol.

Mangcucang has urged residents' cooperation by refraining from purchasing meat products online and avoiding the feeding of swine with potentially contaminated swill or uncooked food. Residents are encouraged to promptly report any unusual swine deaths or symptoms to the veterinary office.

Victorino Dennis Socrates, Governor of Palawan, has assured the public of the government's proactive response. He said the incident is being closely monitored, and appropriate measures are being taken in collaboration with other government agencies.

- Farm Journal's Pork




Grieg Seafood's Q2 earnings witness decline due to ongoing biological challenges





International aquaculture company Grieg Seafood has announced a significant decline in its second quarter operating profit (EBIT) for 2023, citing persistent biological health challenges, Fish Farmer reported.

The company's Q2 EBIT plummeted from NOK 986 million (~US$93 million; NOK 10 = US$0.94) in the previous year to NOK 547 million (~US$51.6 million) this quarter. Despite this setback, Grieg continues its operations in Norway, Newfoundland, and British Columbia, Canada, following the divestment of its Scottish business over the past two years.

Although the second quarter maintained a robust income of NOK 2.372 billion (~US$223 million), compared to NOK 2.351 million (~US$221 million) the previous year, profits were hampered by ongoing biological issues. The most pronounced impact was observed in Norway's Finnmark region, where the harvest declined by 4,270 tonnes to 5,573 tonnes. In contrast, the situation in Rogaland demonstrated marked improvement, with the harvest more than doubling to 11,536 tonnes.

Challenges such as infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) and the parasite Spironucleus salmonicida persisted into the second quarter, afecting the projected annual harvest total.

Andreas Kvame, chief executive officer of Grieg Seafood, acknowledged the overall strength of the salmon industry during Q2, attributed to robust demand and elevated prices, resulting in heightened revenues. Kvame acknowledged the challenging biological conditions, particularly in the Finnmark region.

He said that despite the challenges, Grieg Seafood has implemented a comprehensive array of measures in Q2 to address these issues, and they are witnessing encouraging outcomes in their Norwegian operations.

Kvame said that enhanced biological control, combined with the strategic transfer of larger smolt and reduced ocean production time, lays the foundation for improved fish welfare, performance, and growth in forthcoming quarters.

In addition to tackling biological challenges, Grieg Seafood is navigating regulatory and market dynamics. Kvame commented on the resource (ground rent) tax in Norway, expressing a commitment to comprehending its implications while identifying opportunities in Canada.

Progress is evident in the Newfoundland greenfield project, which aligns with established plans, with the inaugural harvest projected for Q4 2023. In British Columbia, the company collaborates with governmental initiatives to advance industry practices, focusing on sustainable solutions through constructive dialogue.

- Fish Farmer
Islamabad, Aug 30 (UNI) A special court, recently established to hear cases filed under the Official Secrets Act, extended the judicial remand of Pakistan former prime minister Imran Khan till September 13 on Wednesday, his lawyer confirmed.

It comes a day after the Islamabad High Court suspended the former premiers three-year jail sentence in the Toshakhana case, in which he was convicted on August 5, according to Dawn.

However, on the heels of verdict suspension, the special court had directed the authorities of Attock District Jail where the Imran Khan is currently incarcerated to keep him in judicial lockup and produce him today in connection with the cipher case.
Judith Finell at the LARB:

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (18741951) was a pivotal figure in the development of 20th-century music. Of the thousands of composers who came before and after him, he stood alone both as the embodiment of the high Romanticism of the 19th and early 20th centuries led by Gustav Mahler, Richard Wagner, and Richard Strauss, and as a rebel who broke down the gates of traditions that had ruled music composition for three centuries. After he spent his childhood in preWorld War I Vienna in a Jewish ghetto, Nazi antisemitism drove him from Europe, eventually to land in Los Angeles, where he stayed to the end of his life, teaching first at USC and then UCLA.

A generational original, Schoenberg forged an entirely new path and language for musical expression. He called it the 12-tone or dodecaphonic system, built on all 12 pitches in the Western scale, rather than the traditional hierarchical seven. Ironically, his impact even on his most ardent disciples, Anton Webern and Alban Berg, was so provocative that they built on his techniques in divergent directions.

more here.
Cabinet Office appoints a Chief Operating Officer

Dr Megan Mathias MBE has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Cabinet Office, following a review of the role of the Chief Secretary.

The new role which will commence in November, will support the delivery of Government programmes and cross-departmental initiatives whilst also heading up central operational functions.

Dr Mathias, who received an MBE in 2020 for her role in Jerseys Covid-19 response, joins the Isle of Man Government following a series of senior public service roles. She was Director of Delivery and Improvement in the Cabinet Office of the Government of Jersey, and holds a PhD in Leadership in Government.

Im very much looking forward to taking up my new post and to supporting the delivery of Government programmes. I am excited to be working with new colleagues on our delivery of public services to the Isle of Man community," Dr Mathias said.
Royal Mail no longer required to deliver next day between the UK and the IOM

Royal Mail implemented changes to its UK Postal Scheme from August 6, so it is no longer required to deliver next day mail between the UK and the Isle of Man.

These modifications were accompanied by Royal Mail's intention to cease operations of their dedicated mail aircraft, in favour of extending ferry and road freight services.

Since Royal Mails announcement, Isle of Man Post Office (IOMPO) has held surveys for both residential and business customers. Feedback from over 3,700 residential respondents indicated that a delivery window of two-plus days for UK standard mail was deemed reasonable.

The data suggests that 79% of the businesses that responded considered a delivery time of two days or more for UK standard mail as reasonable.

These surveys also highlighted the importance of tracked and guaranteed mail, with 88% of businesses viewing tracked mail as essential or important, and 68% emphasising the significance of guaranteed next day delivery for their business mail.

However, after an online survey with 102 responses, 73% of people deemed maintaining a UK next-day guarantee service as critical.

Simon Kneen, Chief Executive of IOMPO said: Our research demonstrates that the vast majority of our customers would not be affected by the transition from aircraft to ferry, and therefore our primary focus has been to find solutions for those who might be more impacted by the change.

In response to the expressed demand from commercial customers, IOMPO will introduce Royal Mail's 'Tracked 48' product. This offering will provide business account customers with a competitive product equipped with tracking to the point of delivery and insurance coverage of 150.

Additionally, in collaboration with Royal Mail, IOMPO will initiate a trial to maintain a UK guaranteed next day service. This service will be managed through a scheduled airline, when Royal Mail discontinue their dedicated aircraft operation in mid-October.

It will be available to IOMPO business account customers, with an option for other customers to utilise this service for personal mail via the customer counter at Postal Headquarters in Braddan.

"This trial phase will allow IOMPO to assess customer demand and gauge commercial viability. All other mail to/from the UK will be efficiently transferred using established ferry and road services.
Another ChatGPT rival is out in the wild. Baidu has made ERNIE Bot, its generative AI product and large language model, generally available to the public through various app stores and its website. Alongside ERNIE (Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration), the company plans to release a string of AI apps it says will allow folks "to fully experience the four core abilities of generative AI: understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory."

Opening up ERNIE Bot (which is focused on the Chinese market) to the public will enable Baidu to obtain much more human feedback, according to CEO Robin Li. The company notes that this will help it iterate on ERNIE Bot more quickly and improve the user experience.

Baidu announced the chatbot back in March, demonstrating capabilities such as summarizing a sci-fi novel and offering suggestions on how to continue the story in an expanded universe. It can generate images and videos based on text inputs too. Earlier this month, Baidu said ERNIE Bot's training throughput had increased three-fold since March and that it's now capable of data analysis and visualization, generating results more quickly and handling image inputs.

As of August 15th, Chinese companies need to obtain approval from authorities before they can release generative AI experiences to the public, and Baidu was one of the first to get the green light, according to Bloomberg. The report suggests officials see AI as a "business and political imperative given the transformative nature of the technology." Beijing is said to want guardrails in place to keep a tight lid on content while still enabling Chinese companies to compete with overseas rivals.
Its been years and years since the bleeding edge of the smartphone world was truly exciting. The industry may want us to salivate over its latest 5G, 108-megapixel, folding-screen masterpiece, but my mouth remains bone dry. To me, its because the ceiling of whats possible hasnt actually risen much in the last four or five years; it's more that the floor has maintained its slow creep northward. On paper, the just-announced Fairphone 5 has the specs youd expect from a mid-range handset. But now thats not really a penalty since youre also getting a modular, sustainably-made and potentially upgradeable handset built by people paid a fair(er) wage for doing so. Its just a smartphone, like any other. On one hand, that makes the new Fairphone 5 boring, but from this perspective, boring can be good.

Ten years into its mission to build a better smartphone, its not clear if Fairphone still needs a full introduction. For the unaware, the Dutch social enterprise makes devices that are fairer than the competition. That means paying factory workers a living wage, sourcing ethical raw materials, using recycled materials and keeping the hardware out of the trash for as long as possible. To that end, each device is modular, easy-to-repair, sometimes upgradeable and often far longer lasting than its competition. Its less fancy than, say, Googles long-mourned Project Ara, but its a damn sight more real than that imagined dream of a modular, upgradeable phone. Here, its not just possible, but easy, to pick up a Philips 00-head screwdriver and fit a new component in a matter of minutes.

The Fairphone 5 doesnt stray far from the template laid down by its immediate predecessor in size and style. It has the same hefty chassis intercut with antenna lines, the same camera housing, the same fingerprint-sensing power button and the same easily removable backplate. Like a lot of phones released in 2023, the changes are nips and tucks to reflect where the industry is at. So, the battery is more capacious, the display a little bigger, and the cameras are a hair more powerful now than they were a generation ago. Fairphone has also made it possible to swap out each camera separately, making it easier and cheaper to fix or upgrade one down the line.

Youll be able to grab plenty of spare parts, with only the main chassis frame not being available separately. The product list includes the 90Hz, 6.46-inch LG-made POLED display, 4,200mAh battery and all three cameras. You can also get a spare earpiece, loudspeaker, USB-C port and a top unit containing the Time of Flight sensor, as well as the SIM and SD-card slots. If a part on this phone breaks, youll be able to pick up almost everything you could need for not that much cash. The priciest component is the display, priced at 99.95 (around $108), which is about half what Samsung charges, and almost a third of what Apple asks for.

To make good on its promises of sustainability and longevity, Fairphone 5 uses Qualcomms octa-core QCM6490 SoC. Its an industrial-grade IoT chipset that, far as I can tell, is used in only one other phone: AGMs thermal-camera equipped G2 Guardian. Theres only one SKU here, with the Fairphone 5 coming with 8GB RAM and a very generous 256GB storage, expandable to 2TB with the right microSD card. Fairphone says the choice was dictated by the chipsets blend of premium features like 6G, WiFi 6E and on-chip AI processing. Not to mention, Qualcomm promises to support its industrial grade silicon for longer than it does its mobile chips.

To that end, Fairphone is committing to support the (almost) stock install of Android 13 and at least five operating system upgrades after. (Given Android 14s forthcoming launch, you should expect that to be heading to your phone in the near future.) The company says it expects to offer software support until 2028 at the very least, but hopes itll keep things running until 2033.

And Fairphone has now established a track record of being able to keep its phones going for a fair old while. The Fairphone 2 was launched in 2015 with Android 5.1 and got its final security patch in March 2023 with an Android 10 update. Seven or so years of software support is a good reason to switch, especially when Samsung pledges four years of software and five years of security updates for select handsets.

Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

In my limited time playing with the new model, Ive found the performance to be a lot snappier than on older Fairphones. Animations and transitions in the OS itself dont appear at this early stage to be laggy, and Fortnite on Epic mode played perfectly at 30fps. I certainly noticed how much faster it is to unlock this phone compared to the last one, both using my face and my fingerprint. At first blush, this appears to be more than capable of meeting your expectations for normal phone use. Well, if your idea of normal phone use is texting, emails, social media, YouTube, TikTok and the odd deathmatch.

Id describe the Fairphone 5s imaging as solid, although Im worried that to do so is to damn it with faint praise. The primary 50-megapixel, f/1.88, OIS-equipped camera backed by Sonys IMX800 sensor is more than enough for most peoples photography needs. It may not have the software smarts of some devices in its class, but its no slouch, especially with video. Glance at the Fairphone 5s back and youll spot a circle the same size as the camera lenses, which is the ToF sensor. Its this phones secret weapon, especially when it comes to the lightning-fast autofocus when youre shooting video.

Its not all good: The phone gets a little warmer than Id like when running heavy load, but that feels par for the course in the 5G era. The built-in speakers, meanwhile, are so tinny Id never recommend using this for audio if you have headphones to hand. I also think the solid black cover will be far better at resisting smears than the transparent edition in my loan unit. And I wish, as well as the black, transparent and sky blue colorways, the company had offered the same green and orange paint job that is so wonderful on the Fairbuds XL.

Its also a shame were not yet seeing a wide release for the Fairphone 5 in the US, at least not at the same time as it comes to Europe. The Fairphone 4 is available to buy in the States with a deGoogled OS courtesy of privacy-focused startup Murena. Im sure the 5 will make a similar journey in future, but itd be nice to see a simultaneous release so people arent left waiting for a year or more to get the updated hardware.

Ive said before that Fairphone has always carried the whiff of a compromise choice, the cork and hemp sneaker you buy to assuage your guilt over all the sweatshop-made kicks you own. But, both thanks to Fairphones efforts to improve its product, and the general stagnation in the mobile industry more generally, the delta between whats hot and whats not has closed by a lot. If youre looking to pick up a mid-range handset that you can keep going for twice as long as any other phone on the market, and you want to do a bit of good in the process, this is probably the phone for you. Its not often the view from the moral high ground is this comfortable.

The Fairphone 5 is available to pre-order today, August 30, from the companys website and a number of major European carriers. It is priced at 699 (around $750), with shipping expected to commence September 14 from Fairphone and the majority of its carriers.
The fall season of major tech events is ramping up and now we know when Google will host its big Pixel showcase. The next Made by Google event is set for October 4th at 1PM, and there's little doubt as to what the company plans to show off. "You're invited to an in-person Made by Google event where we'll introduce the latest additions to our Pixel portfolio of devices," reads an invitation that Engadget received.

The company announced the date soon after leaking an image of what seemed to be the Pixel 8 Pro on its storefront  coincidentally on the same day that Apple confirmed its iPhone event will take place on September 12th. Google may have a new Pixel Watch to blab about, along with some other hardware.

As with Microsoft's (likely Surface-related) event, this one will take place in New York City. Of course, we'll have full coverage of all the major Made by Google announcements right here on Engadget.
From Time Magazine:

As Borat, the first fake news journalist, I interviewed some college studentsthree young white men in their ballcaps and polo shirts. It only took a few drinks, and soon they were telling me what they really believed. They asked if, in my country, women are slaves. They talked about how, here in the U.S., the Jews have the upper hand. When I asked, do you have slaves in America?, they replied, we wish! We should have slaves, one said, it would be a better country. Those young men made a choice. They chose to believe some of the oldest and most vile lies that are at the root of all hate. And so it pains me that we have to say it yet again. The idea that people of color are inferior is a lie. The idea that Jews are dangerous and all-powerful is a lie. The idea that women are not equal to men is a lie. The idea that queer people are a threat to our children is a lie.

At other times, Ive seen people make a different choice. As Borat, I once got an entire bar in Arizona to sing, Throw the Jew down the wellwhich revealed peoples indifference to anti-Semitism. But when I tried to film that same exact scene at a bar in Nashville, something different happened. People started to boo. And then they chased me right out of that bar. Those people made the choice that brings us all here todaythey chose to belief the truth: the truth that we are all deserving of respect, dignity, and equality, no matter who we are, what we look like, how we pray, or who we love.

We always have a choice.

More here.
A wildfire burning in northeastern Greece for 11 days has destroyed an area larger than New York City, the European Union-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service said, as firefighters from five countries battled to contain the flames.
Foreign exchange strategists at Bank of America (BoA) expect the Pound Sterling (GBP) will lose ground in global currency markets with increased concerns over the economic outlook.

It also expects a firm Swiss franc trend and recommends selling the Pound to Swiss franc exchange rate (GBP/CHF) at 1.1137. It sees the first significant support level at 1.1046.

GBP/CHF traded at 1.115 on Wednesday.

Last week, the UK released the latest PMI business confidence data.

The PMI manufacturing index declined to a 39-month low of 42.5 for August from 45.3 previously and below consensus forecasts of 45.1.

The services-sector index also dipped to a 7-month low of 48.7 from 51.5. The overall composite output index slipped to 31-month low of 47.9 from 50.8.

BoA maintains a bearish stance on the Pound after the data. It notes; Our signals turned broadly bearish for GBP after this disappointing data print.

It sees room for further Pound losses, especially as UK yields dipped sharply. UK yields also declined in relative terms across the G10 currencies.

According to the bank; The GBP sell-off has more room to run, in our view, as US-based investors have not materially chased the GBP downtrend yet.

BoA adds that the technical signals point to further Pound losses against the US dollar and Swiss franc.

It also notes that there is a bias towards Sterling puts in derivatives markets.

At this stage, the bank is wary over immediate dollar trends, especially with a US market holiday on Monday and weaker jobs data on Tuesday.

In this context, it adds; We prefer to chase lower GBP/CHF more than GBP/USD this week as the USD could face some post-Jackson Hole consolidation ahead of the US Labor Day weekend.

It still sees scope for a GBP/USD slide to support at 1.2403.
Los Angeles, CAVonda Pelto, Ph.D., co-author of Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Who Escaped Justice, was interviewed on the Gary Nolan Radio on the USA Radio Network. Her first book, Without Remorse, was about her total time spent working at Los Angeles Men's Central, as a Clinical Psychologist, dealing with 12 major serial killers and other high-profile inmates. Her job was to keep them emotionally stable before, during and after their trials until they shipped out to state prisons.

Without Redemption has grabbed fans all over Europe, in New Zealand and Australia along with Canada and the United States. Paul Cheston, UK Crime Writer and author of The Babes in the Woods Murders wrote this about the book, "I would unreservedly recommend 'Without Redemption' as the most profound analysis of a serial killer I have read. It is based on unprecedented access to probation, medical, psychiatric reports, police statements and court documents, and, as an author and journalist, I know how difficult, nay impossible, it is to gain access to such a treasure trove of detail and insight."

Listen to the entire interview of Vonda Pelto, Ph.D. on the Gary Nolan Show at https://soundcloud.com/vonda-pelto-phd/vonda-pelto-co-author-of-without-redemption-featured-on-the-gary-nolan-radio-show

Vonda Pelto, Ph.D., Author of 'Without Redemption'  Vonda Pelto, co-author of 'Without Redemption,' Featured on the Gary Nolan Radio Show

Vonda Pelto Radio Show Video from Gary Nolan Radio Show





Without Redemption Book Trailer





Other Reviews of Without Redemption from Amazon

Unique & Amazing Serial Killer Biography

I would unreservedly recommend 'Without Redemption' as the most profound analysis of a serial killer I have read.

It is based on unprecedented access to probation, medical, psychiatric reports, police statements and court documents, and, as an author and journalist, I know how difficult, nay impossible, it is to gain access to such a treasure trove of detail and insight.

But most importantly it has the unique perspective of Vonda Pelto's own interviews with Bonin and his accomplices and the mass killer's own handwritten diaries.

The authors spare no one in exposing how Bonin was allowed to game the system and names of those professionals and institutions which put their own vested interests ahead of their duty to have him locked up long before he even started his killing spree.

Michael Butler has a light writing style which keeps the pace moving briskly and never loses the balance between explaining why Bonin killed and the devastating impact of this need to kill on the victims and their families.

Paul Cheston, Author of The Babes in the Woods Murders

My LA Sheriff Homicide Detective Husband Would've Loved This Book

My husband was a homicide detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's for decades, starting up with the force shortly before Bonin started killing. He knew many of the detectives in this book and would have really liked reading it, so right up his alley I wish he could be here to check it out. Not only that we lived in Downey, a few short miles away from Bill Bonin, when all these murders happened.

He used to tell me about the bureaucratic fights between LA Sheriff and LAPD, and that comes through loud and clear in 'Without Redemption.' And all those scenes at LA Men's Central Jail would have been so familiar because he served in that madhouse for years, pretty wild stuff. Actually, it gave me a small window into the world he existed in for so long, something he always tried to shield me from.

Well written and really tells the whole story of Bill Bonin.

KG

Title Says it All, 'Creation & Deeds' of a Serial Killer

Some book titles give a false impression of what they are really about, but that is not the case for 'Without Redemption.' The subtitle is 'Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin,' well that is exactly what is delivered in every way, shape and form. I was actually shocked at how the authors laid out Bonin's whole life, especially how the nine years he spent in state mental hospitals were related in such detail. Those types of government reports and documents are impossible to acquire, but they had a whole bunch of them covering many different scenarios.

Many factors went into the 'Creation' of serial killer Bill Bonin, and all those are explored in way or another in this book. The murders, as told through Bonin's diaries and interviews, are about 25% of the total story, but one told in a manner unlike few other serial killer stories, especially about Bonin because no had his diaries before.

One of the most interesting sections is after Bonin's final arrestthe months when evidence was being gathered, other suspects pursued, friends and family getting questioned, deals being cut and, most importantly, when the public found out about Bonin and his crimes. Really a fascinating section which employs Bonin's diaries and news articles to tell the story.

Be prepared to pay attention, this book is chocked full of good stuff, like the authors figuring out how one day changed everything when paths of four people crossed in total coincidence. Great detective work. The murders, as told through Bonin's diaries and interviews, are about 25% of the total story, but one told in a manner unlike few other serial killer stories, especially about Bonin because no had his diaries before.

Terrific book!!

LT

Media Contact: For interviews or to request review copies contact Flotsam PR at 319-504-3788 or writerb@pm.me.

Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds of Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Escaped Justice, ISBN: 979-8841931249,

For more info go to www.WithoutRedemption.com or purchase the book at Amazon, Kobo or Google Books
The Biden administration is fraying relations with some allies and generating pushback from Congress by spending millions of taxpayer dollars to promote the woke ideology abroad that has stirred controversy at home since President Biden took office.

In a "national security memorandum" shortly after his swearing-in, Biden ordered all federal agencies with dealings abroad not only to protect LGBT rights in the face of discrimination and violence but to actively advance them. His State Department has said one of its goals is to embed intersectional equity principles into diversifying public diplomacy and communications strategies in relations with other nations.

U.S. ambassadors around the world have translated those words into action, championing LGTB rights in countries that oppose them; funding performances that feature drag queens; and holding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) seminars.

The State Department would not provide a list of initiatives and programs connected to these goals or how much money it is spending. Recent reports estimate nearly $5 million has been spent abroad on LGBT programs alone, and U.S. senators including Republican J.D. Vance of Ohio are holding up appointments of new ambassadors over concerns about exporting woke ideology.

Vance criticized what he called the injecting of personal politics into the U.S. foreign service, saying: You can call it extreme left, woke. To me its leaning toward cultural progressivism in a way that alienates half of our country and, frankly, it probably alienates about 80 percent of the countries these guys are going to represent us in front of.

American LGBT and black advocacy groups concerned with foreign policy and diplomacy declined to respond to RealClearInvestigations inquiries about the State Department programs. The groups are Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA) and the Thursday Luncheon Group, which was founded to increase the participation of African Americans in the formulation, articulation, and implementation of United States foreign policy.

Among the State Department initiatives are a $10,000 grant to a Portuguese LGBT activist group to finance a film festival featuring drag performances, incest, and pederasty. It also provided $20,000 to support a series of drag shows in Ecuador.

A $300,000 State Department grant to Botswana aimed to promote greater social acceptance of LGBTQI+ persons, including among influential religious groups and traditional groups who preach or teach that homosexuality is immoral: Roman Catholics, most evangelical Christians, Muslims, and Orthodox Jews. Earlier this year, Republican scrutiny pressured the State Department to cancel drag shows it had been hosting on U.S. military bases.

Conservative governments, including those of predominantly Muslim nations, are similarly negative. Kuwait, for example, sharply criticized the acting charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy for promoting Pride month in June via official channels on Twitter. In an official statement, Kuwaits Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed to the U.S. the need for the embassy to respect the laws and regulations in force in the State of Kuwait, where public morality laws ban same-sex sexual activity.

In Hungary, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto clashed with U.S. Ambassador David Pressman, who is openly gay and publicly criticized the Hungarian government over LGBT issues. [I]f he wishes to use his stay in Hungary to criticize the actions of a government elected by a clear majority of the Hungarian people and legitimized by the Hungarian people, the foreign minister said, he will have a very difficult job in working effectively to improve cooperation between the two countries.

Elsewhere, the U.S. ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski, and some 30 staffers participated in Warsaws Pride parade, despite Polands constitutional ban on both same-sex marriage and civil unions. In South Korea, where same-sex marriage is illegal, the U.S. Ambassador, Philip S. Goldberg, promoted Pride month and spoke at a Queer Culture event in Seoul.

The U.S. embassy to the Holy See posted its Pride flag on social media, disregarding the Catholic Churchs longstanding position against homosexuality. Criticized for, in the words of Republican Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, flying flags that are hostile to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the State Departments top DEI officer, defended the decision, saying the embassy did not need to coordinate with or seek the Vaticans permission: We are a sovereign nation and we make our own decisions.

According to a tally by RealClearInvestigations, 118 U.S. embassies tweeted or retweeted posts celebrating Pride Month in June.



But the promotion of LGBT ideology is only one part of the State Departments broader push for DEI abroad. When State Department DEI officers managed a Pride event at the U.S. embassy in Trinidad and Tobago, Ambassador Candace Bond said one of the conferences goals was to establish an inclusive DEI framework within their [Trinidads] organizations. To that end, the State Department funded a three-day DEI training program.

In Kuwait, the American Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. embassy hosted a Diversity & Inclusion Diwaniya, a Middle Eastern term for a business gathering. The U.S. embassy to the Netherlands signed a charter formalizing a DEI council. Ambassador Razdan Duggal said, The U.S. State Department officially supports the creation of DEIA Councils at its diplomatic posts abroad.

The State Departments DEI emphasis extends far beyond just events hosted and charters signed. Last year, the department announced it was completely reorganizing its hiring process for foreign service officers, deemphasizing a key test on written and language skills as well as world history and U.S. history. Eric Rubin, president of the American Foreign Service Association, blasted the decision, saying it would politicize the hiring process and risks being seen as excessively subjective and subject to partisan influence.
Fairfield, MT (59436)

Today

Cloudy early, becoming mostly sunny this afternoon. High 36F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 24F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
Twenty-five teams have raised nearly 50,000 for farming charity RSABI as part of the annual Great Glen Challenge, with donations still being accepted.

The fundraiser, consisting of a 49km mountain bike, 6km kayak, 18km walk, and 17km run, took place between Fort Augustus and Fort William on 25 August.

The teams, from a wide range of roles in Scottish agriculture, were raising funds for RSABI, a charity which provides support to people in farming.

The annual challenge is designed to raise awareness of the work of the charity as well as the importance of teamwork and physical fitness for mental and physical wellness.

This year's overall team winner was Scottish Woodlands, with last years winners Shannoch, taking second team place, followed by the Royal Bank of Scotland at third.

Carol McLaren, chief executive of RSABI, said the Great Glen Challenge 2023 'really was an exceptional event'.

"We are so grateful to our sponsors and to everyone who took part, helped teams to train or came along to support on the day, she said.

We are also very grateful to our trustees and volunteers who got their sleeves rolled up and helped us set the event up and derig afterwards in a range of weathers."

Individual awards were made to Edward Fletcher (mountain biking) of Galbraith Giants, Mark Donald (kayaking) of NFU Team 2, and David Michie (running) of NFU Team 1.

Walking (joint first place) was awarded to Rebecca Drummond of Team Shannoch, Neil White of Scottish Woodlands and Andy Glasgow of Royal Bank of Scotland.

Participating teams included Bank of Scotland, Bell Ingram, Bidwells LLP, the Crofting Commission, Davidson & Robertson, Galbraith, Gillespie Macandrew, James Hutton Institute and NFU Scotland, among others.

RSABIs freephone Helpline  0808 1234 555  is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The government has unveiled new advice aimed at making it easier to divert a public right of way where there are concerns over privacy, security, and safety.

The Defra guidance, effective from 1 August, could prove helpful for farmers and landowners hoping to divert or extinguish a footpath.

It states that when an application is made to divert a path, an authority should consider the impact of the existing path on the property owner and/or occupier against the benefit that having the right of way through the land brings to the public.

The local authority must also be able to show that they have considered the benefits to privacy, security, and safety of diverting or extinguishing the right of way.

Diverting a footpath is a notoriously long and complicated process and one which can come with significant costs if there is opposition.

NFU environment forum chair, Richard Bramley, said the amendment was something the union had been working with Defra on for several years.

Farmers recognise the importance of the rights of way network in England and Wales, with millions of people visiting the countryside to improve their mental health and physical wellbeing," he said.

"However, when a path crosses through a private residence or a working farmyard it can pose a serious privacy, safety and security risk.

The government instigated the reform process with Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and since then the NFU has been part of the Defra SWG (Stakeholder Working Group) which oversees the finer details.

The SWG involves a range of interested parties including landowner representatives, countryside recreation groups and local authorities negotiating with Defra on the intricacies of the new reforms.

This can involve sensitive negotiation, and it has taken extensive talks to finally agree the new guidance, popularly known as the presumptions guidance.

The SWG are currently negotiating on further sets of reforms, which the government intends to table as legislation in the coming months.

Used alongside the new laws, the guidance will likely give invaluable assistance to local authorities in developing a footpath network fit for the future.

Mr Bramley concluded: The NFU welcomes the address of this issue and looks forward to hearing updates from Defras Stakeholder Working Group on the remaining reforms over the next few months."
Northern Irish farmers located in zone two of the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme have just one day left to apply to it or risk losing out on future payments.

The objective of the scheme is to test all, or the vast majority, of the 700,000 fields used for farming in Northern Ireland, in order to help farmers manage their nutrient applications.

If farmers in zone two do not register, they will fall short of the eligibility criteria which must be met to receive future agriculture support payments.

These include the Farm Sustainability Payment, Beef Sustainability Scheme and Farming With Nature Scheme.

The three new payments will be significant income streams for farmers going forward, replacing the majority of support currently offered by the BPS.

This year, zone two of the scheme invites registrations from farm businesses across Fermanagh, the west of County Armagh and South Tyrone. The deadline is tomorrow (31 August).

To date over 6,000 farmers in zone one have received soil analysis results for their farms, including pH, phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg) and sulphur (S), together with crop specific lime and fertilizer recommendations.

Katrina Godfrey, DAERA permanent secretary, has encouraged farmers to register: We have seen good interest in the scheme so far, however the deadline will not be extended beyond 31 August.

"I urge all farm businesses within zone 2 to register at their earliest opportunity and not miss out on participation in this important scheme which aims to improve sustainability and efficiency in the farming sector.

"It is also important for farmers to note that participation in the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme will be a condition for future Farm Sustainability Payments, which will replace the Basic Payment Scheme.

The scheme, delivered by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), is being rolled out in stages using a zonal approach over the next four years and farmers from other zones will be contacted to apply at a later date.

It will see NI setting a high standard as the first region to establish an extensive baseline of all farms on soil nutrients, below and above ground carbon stocks, helping to improve water quality and the progression towards climate change targets.

However, data released by the Department of Agriculture (DAERA) shows that just over 60% of farmers in these areas have not yet applied.

The Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) said this was 'extremely worrying': I do not want any of our members to lose this essential support because they missed the deadline for the soil scheme," said president David Brown.

"If farmers in zone two do not apply, it will also put them a step behind those who do. This new scheme will have massive benefits for farm businesses as well as delivering for the environment."

Farmers in zone two can register to the scheme by logging on to DAERA's online services website.
Drinking alcohol does not give men 'beer goggles'.

Boozing does not give men 'beer goggles'

A new study has revealed that boozing makes men more likely to approach someone they consider to be attractive but does not make others seem more alluring.

Researchers at Stanford University in California asked 36 men in their 20s to assess photos of potential partners and choose how many they would like to meet.

The men rated them the same before and after drinking beer but were willing to meet more of them after they had consumed alcohol.

The experts suggest that drink might not alter perceptions but does give men a confidence boost and think that it could have implications for therapists and patients.

Dr. Molly Bowdring, who led the study, said: "People who drink alcohol may benefit by recognising that valued social motivations and intentions change when drinking in ways that may be appealing in the short term, but possibly harmful in the long term."
Donald Trump fears that "mad" Joe Biden will lead the United States into World War III.

Donald Trump worries that Joe Biden could lead the US into World War III

The former US president has launched another vitriolic attack on his White House successor as he branded Biden as "dumb", a "lunatic" and a "mental catastrophe".

In a video shared on his Truth Social website, Trump is heard saying: "Crooked Joe Biden is not only dumb and incompetent. I believe that he has gone mad - a stark raving lunatic - with his horrible country threatening environmental open borders and DOJ, FBI weaponisation policies.

"He is a mental catastrophe that is leading our country to hell that will end up in World War III because of this man and for no reason whatsoever."

Trump is seeking re-election in 2024 despite being embroiled in a number of court cases and recently questioned if Biden would be physically capable of running in next year's poll.

The billionaire businessman mocked the president's physical stature and suggested that Biden "can't put two sentences together".

In an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Trump said: "I don't think he gets to the starting gate, but these people do miracles.

"I think he's worse mentally than he is physically, and physically, he's not exactly a triathlete, or any kind of athlete.

"You look at him and he can't walk to the helicopter. He can't lift his feet out of the grass. It's only two inches at the White House (but) it looks like he's walking on toothpicks."
Donald Trump has the moral compass of an axe murderer according to Georgias former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.

Donald Trump has the moral compass of an axe murderer according to Georgias former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan

The politician also said the 77-year-old former Apprentice judge, who is facing trial on 91 counts linked to the allegation he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election, had been on a two-plus year crime spread from coast to coast.

Mr Duncan, who left office in January, was on CNN to discuss Trumps legal woes and used the appearance to beg members of his own party not to choose Trump as the partys nominee.

He said: As a Republican, the dashboard is going off with lights and bells and whistles telling us all the warning things we need to know.

Ninety-one indictments, fake Republican, $8 trillion worth of debt  everything we need to see to not choose him as our nominee, including the fact he's got the moral compass of more like an axe murderer than a president.

He warned if the Republican party didnt distance itself from Trump: We need to do something right here right now. This is either our pivot point or our last gasp as Republicans.

He hit out after it was confirmed Trump will face trial for allegedly plotting to overturn the 2020 US election results on the eve of Super Tuesday.

Trump, whose mug-shot was released after he turned himself in over the charges, as well as 18 of his allies were indicted by a grand jury in Fulton County, and a judge said on Tuesday (29.08.23) his court proceedings will start on 4 March.

It puts the start date one day before Super Tuesday, a potentially decisive point in the race, when more than a dozen US states hold their presidential primaries.

Judge Tanya Chutkan denied Trumps request to postpone the trial until 2026 and instead chose to place one of the biggest criminal cases in American history in the peak of the 2024 campaign.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to four charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, and which relate to the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021 and other alleged efforts to overturn the result.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The trail date adds to a crowded schedule for the former US president as he campaigns to retake the White House from Joe Biden, 80, in 2024.

Trump already faces trials in New York related to hush money payments on 25 March and in Florida on 20 May over his handling of classified documents.

He has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all charges, which total more than 91 counts.
Kim Cattrall has credited her late mum with teaching her to stand up for herself and to never "allow others to control my narrative".

Kim Cattrall has credited her mum with teaching her to stand up for herself

The former 'Sex and The City 'star has opened up about her relationship with her mother Shane - who died in December 2022 at the age of 93 - and revealed her mum was her "idol" who helped her daughter grow up to be a strong, independent woman.

In an interview with Vogue Greece, the 67-year-old actress explained: "For me, a woman in her 60s, I think that the biggest challenge is to keep being relevant, to keep working, to have something to say. My idol was always my mother.

"Even though she could never connect to a job that made her happy, and she was depressed and alone for long periods of time, she never lost her spirit.

"Thats something she passed on to me. I am thankful to her for teaching me to defend myself and not allow others to control my narrative. That is a very important lesson for young women."

It comes after Kim made her long-awaited return to the world of 'Sex and The City' by making a cameo appearance in spin-off series 'And Just Like That ...'

Her character Samantha Jones had been absent from the reboot following a fall-out with fellow SATC castmember Sarah Jessica Parker.

While the pair played best friends on-screen, Kim refused to return to the show after a spectacular falling out with Sarah Jessica, 58.

Back in 2018, after Parker offered her public condolences to Cattrall following the suicide of her brother, Kim took to Instagram to blast her. She wrote: "My Mom asked me today When will that @sarahjessicaparker, that hypocrite, leave you alone? Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now. Let me make this VERY clear. (If I havent already). You are not my family. You are not my friend. So Im writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your nice girl persona." The next year, Sarah Jessica told PEOPLE : "We had this experience and it was amazing, and nothing will ever be like it. There was no fight; it was completely fabricated, because I actually never responded. And I wont, because she needed to say what she needed to say, and that is her privilege."
In today's digital age, businesses need a strong online presence to thrive. However, with fierce competition, it can be challenging to stand out and attract the right audience. That's where RUYA Media comes in, this full-stack agency is a catalyst for women-owned businesses in the information and education sector, providing a transformative ad management service that extends their reach and engages a wider audience effectively.

Allee Cyrus

The visionary behind RUYA Media is Allee Cyrus, a resilient entrepreneur. Her journey began after graduating from the University of Kentucky and landing a job at Coca-Cola. Her viral marketing campaign inspired Cyrus to venture into entrepreneurship by enrolling in Draper University in San Francisco. There, she honed her skills in technology, coding, and networked with successful entrepreneurs.

After exiting her first venture, Cyrus discovered her true passion: helping other businesses succeed in their marketing efforts. Thus, RUYA Media was born. Cyrus chose the name "RUYA" as it means "vision" in Arabic, aligning perfectly with the agency's mission of helping businesses achieve clarity in their brand and goals. Focusing on women-owned businesses in the education sector, RUYA Media offers tailored services to meet their specific needs as they scale.

RUYA Media's ad management service is a cornerstone of their offerings, propelling businesses' marketing efforts to new heights. With their innovative strategies, RUYA Media enables clients to expand their reach and drive meaningful engagement. Leveraging their deep expertise, the agency ensures that businesses make the most of their advertising budget by precisely targeting the right platforms and audiences.

By doing so, RUYA Media helps businesses achieve optimal results, maximizing the impact of their ad campaigns. With a keen understanding of the ever-evolving digital landscape, RUYA Media stays ahead of the curve, constantly adapting their strategies to leverage emerging trends and technologies. Through their ad management service, RUYA Media empowers businesses to unlock their full marketing potential and connect with a broader audience in a compelling and impactful way.

Additionally, RUYA Media excels in their launch service, assisting businesses in creating compelling sales cycles that generate hype and translate it into actual sales. Another critical service RUYA Media provides is their evergreen funnels. Through organic and paid marketing, they engage both existing and new customers. By employing a comprehensive approach, RUYA Media ensures that businesses stay connected with their audience, building loyalty and driving long-term growth.

RUYA Media distinguishes itself by assembling a team of experts covering all facets of marketing. Skilled copywriters create compelling messaging, while graphic designers produce visually appealing content. Developers and integrators build and implement complex campaigns across multiple channels. The agency's media buyers negotiate favorable deals and identify the most effective advertising channels for specific audiences. By providing a full range of creative services, RUYA Media becomes an invaluable partner, saving businesses time and resources while enhancing their marketing strategy.

Thanks to RUYA Media's transformative ad management service, businesses have seen their reach extend and their audience engagement soar. Their innovative strategies, coupled with their comprehensive team of professionals, have propelled many businesses to new heights. RUYA Media is truly a game-changer in the industry, empowering women-owned businesses and guiding them toward success.
France is gearing up to welcome 30,000 students from India by 2030 with a five-year, short-stay visa





At a time when students are finding it increasingly difficult to study abroad, France has come out with a five-year visa that will help. The country has long been recognised as a premier destination for international students, and now Indian students will find it easier to study there.



The five-year short stay-Schengen visa is available to Indian students with a Masters degree or above and who have spent at least a semester studying in France. This means that Indian alumni will be able to continue keeping close links with the country and their French counterparts.



This measure is one of the major initiatives that were announced on the occasion of the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Paris as Chief Guest on French National Day on July 14.





As part of the strategic partnership, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Frances goal to welcome 30,000 students from India by 2030, underscoring Frances commitment to foster academic excellence, cultural understanding and long-standing friendship with India.







How Can Students Avail Of The Five-Year Short-Stay Visa?

You are eligible to apply for this visa if you have a Masters degree from a recognised university in India, France or a third country or above, have spent the minimum of a semester studying in France, and can submit an application that meets the usual requirements for a Schengen visa.





France is also offering specialised programmes to help Indian students learn French and other academic disciplines, which will help them easily adapt to the French education system and excel in their studies.





Images: Shutterstock



Also Read: Why Doha Should Be On Your Travel List  And In Your Shopping Bag
Vietnam's total import-export turnover of goods for the first eight months of 2023 fell by 13.1 per cent year-over-year (YoY) to $435.23 billion, according to data released by the General Statistics Office (GSO). Specifically, export value experienced a 10 per cent fall YoY, recording $227.7 billion, while import value declined by 16.2 per cent to $207.52 billion.

Despite the overall downturn, Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of $20.19 billion during the same period. The month of August alone saw a 6.7 per cent increase in total trade compared to July, amounting to $60.92 billion, although this still represented a 7.9 per cent decline compared to August last year.

The data also revealed that in the first eight months, 30 items posted export turnover exceeding $1 billion each, collectively accounting for 91.8 per cent of Vietnam's total export turnover.

Vietnam's import-export turnover dropped 13.1 per cent year-over-year to $435.23 billion in the first eight months of 2023, according to the General Statistics Office. Despite a 10 per cent decline in exports and 16.2 per cent decrease in imports, the country had a $20.19 billion trade surplus. The US and China remained key trading partners.

The US remained Vietnam's largest export market, with an estimated turnover of $62.3 billion. Conversely, China was the largest import market for Vietnam, with imports totalling $68.1 billion, as per Vietnamese media reports.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)
Friday Night Plan

Goldfish

Jawan

Sri

View this post on Instagram A post shared by RajKummar Rao (@rajkummar_rao)

Jaane Jaan

The Great Indian Family

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vicky Kaushal (@vickykaushal09)

Sukhee

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shilpa Shetty Kundra (@theshilpashetty)

The month of September 2023 will see the release of several highly anticipated films that have been generating excitement among both audiences and the film industry for quite some time. We have compiled a comprehensive list of these films, providing all the necessary details you need to know before purchasing your tickets or starting to watch on OTT. Take a look at the list and mark your calendars for the film that interests you the most.Juhi Chawla, Babil Khan, Aadhya Anand, Ninad Kamat, Ria Chaudhary, Aditya Jain and Medha RanaTwo brothers who often argue decide to team up and attend the year's most awaited party before their mother returns from her business trip. They hatch a secret plan to make it happen.OTTSeptember 1Deepti Naval, Kalki KoechlinGoldfish, featuring Deepti Naval and Kalki Koechlin in lead roles and produced by Anurag Kashyap, is helmed by director Pushan Kripalani. The story revolves around a mother and daughter as they confront challenges tied to memory and identity.CinemasSeptember 1Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Sanya Malhotra, Priyamani and moreShah Rukh Khan, after the success of Pathaan, is preparing to deliver another major hit in 2023. The eagerly awaited movie Jawan is scheduled to hit theatres on September 7. Atlee, the director, has enlisted renowned action directors for this thrilling action film. Alongside Shah Rukh Khan, the leading cast includes Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Sanya Malhotra, and Priyamani. The film is said to be about 'women'.CinemasSeptember 7Rajkummar Rao, Alaya f, and Sharad KelkarThe biographical movie Sri features Rajkummar Rao, Alaya f, and Sharad Kelkar, and tells the inspiring story of Shrikanth Bolla, a successful industrialist who overcame his visual impairment to establish Bollant Industries. Directed by Tushar Hiranandani, the film is scheduled to release on September 15, 2023.CinemasSeptember 15Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay VarmaBased on the famous Japanese novel The Devotion of Suspect X by Higashino Keigo, the film is directed by Sujoy Ghosh. Jaane Jaan marks Kareena Kapoor Khan's OTT debut. The film is about a divorced mother whose life turns upside down when her estranged husband makes a comeback.OTTSeptember 21Vicky Kaushal and Manushi ChillarVicky Kaushal and Manushi Chillar will be seen in the upcoming family entertainer film, which is scheduled to release on September 22. The movie takes place in rural India and focuses on the chaos that erupts in Vicky's family as a result of unexpected events that are out of their control. The film is directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya.CinemasSeptember 22Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Amit SadhSukhee is a light-hearted, slice-of-life film that follows Sukhpreet 'Sukhee' Kalra, a 38-year-old Punjabi housewife. Tired of her monotonous daily routine, she embarks on a journey to Delhi for her school reunion. Over the course of seven days, Sukhee immerses herself in a whirlwind of experiences, rediscovering the vibrant spirit of her 17-year-old self. Through this transformative week, she emerges with a renewed sense of self, transitioning from the roles of wife and mother back to the essence of being a woman.CinemasSeptember 22
The Freelancer takes its inspiration from the book A Ticket to Syria, penned by Shirish Thorat. The show is under the skilled direction of Bhav Dhulia and is brought to life by the collaborative efforts of Friday Storytellers as the production company, with Neeraj Pandey serving as the creator and showrunner. Scheduled for its debut on September 1 on OTT, the series also boasts the talents of Anupam Kher and Kashmira Pardeshi among its cast.In an exclusive interview with Filmfare, Mohit Raina talks about what inspired him with his portrayal of Avinash Kamath and what it was like working with renowned filmmaker Neeraj Pandey.I think the most important reason for me to be a part of this series is the world of Mr. Neeraj Pandey. You know Neeraj Pandey is a maker who has been on my wish list for a very long time. I've been a fan of his work since A Wednesday, followed by his great work in all the movies as well as thrillers that he has done: Baby, Naam Shabana, Special 26, MS Dhoni, all of it. When he approached me for this opportunity I just grabbed it with both hands without wasting any time.When I got the opportunity to work with him, I realised the amount of clarity, ease, and space that he gives to his actors. He won't really push you to do a lot of homework; he will guide you. He would show you what you should be doing and what you should not be doing, but he wouldn't really force you to overdo things. He would want you to prepare but not over prepare. I still remember on day one there was a scene that I was working with sir on, and I usually, till now, all the directors have said they have okayed the 4, 5, or maximum 6 takes, but on day one, it went up to some 15 or 16 takes. And I was literally sweating, and it was late in the day and everybody had to go back home. It was 9:30. It was pack-up time, and everybody was staring at me, and I was thinking, What am I not understanding or what am I doing? What am I not doing correctly? But then I realised that he is someone who is a perfectionist. He is someone who wants things done in a certain way, and when his vision is achieved, when you come true to his vision, that's when he will say, OK. He is not somebody who will compromise on anything.Avinash Kamath is a Mumbai police sub inspector, and unfortunately, due to some professional and personal setbacks, loses everything in his life and goes into this dark zone and his dark phase of life. Thats where the character of Doctor Khan (played by Anupam Kher) comes in, and he guides him, holds him, takes him under his own wings, and transforms him into a different Avinash Kamath 2.0, if I can call it that. So, then he becomes a freelancer; he becomes a ruthless mercenary who goes to any extent to achieve what he wants to achieve; he works for money; that's his livelihood. He works on a global platform. He works closely with CI and different operations personnel on the international format. Then he comes to know that the promise that he had made to his brother (played by Sushant Singh) has been broken, and he comes back to India. He comes back to Mumbai to make sure that the girl is safe and gets to meet her family as soon as possible.I learned everything from TV. I have learned the craft. I'm not somebody who's been, like, really professionally trained. I have learned on the job, so I think I feel fortunate enough. And if yes, if God gives me an opportunity, make us give me an opportunity where there's a limited episode series or a limited story that will help me diverge into those aspects of creativity and acting skills that I haven't explored. I will definitely go and grab it, but until then, I am happy satisfying my creative hunger and needs on OTT platforms.Well, I guess everybody faces different challenges, which I think are post-pandemic. Everybody's life took a different turn altogether professionally. Yes, because of the digital revolution, things have changed a lot. I think people are more passionate about working now because there was a long gap where they were not. Working too much is obvious, so I think people value their work a little more. People respect their interpersonal relationships more. They want to spend time with family as well. I think there are different factors that help you become the human being that you want to become, and different factors help you become the actor that you want to become. A lot has changed for the better.There's this movie called Taken, which I had seen long ago, and it stayed with me. There's this mercenary, a man who goes out there to save his daughter. I primarily don't exactly do the same here, but I save somebody else's daughter, so I really subconsciously knew that was something that was going on in my head all the time. Because I was really, really inspired by that movie. I really liked the entire movie. I think it's a three-part movie. So, I think I enjoyed all three parts. So yeah, I think that's something that subconsciously stayed with me.Oh yes, with the kind of reach that the streaming platform has, it definitely will. And because it's been short in Morocco and there are different actors who have been involved, if I'm not mistaken, there are people who have come from the United Kingdom. There are people who come from the US. They are people who have come from actors, especially those who have come from Saudi Arabia or Iran. The Gulf countries, so I think the team took actors from different countries because the story needed to stay true to the story. So, I think yes, their fan base will definitely add to the series, and we will get an international audience as well, for sure.
Varun Mitra On Kangana Ranaut: Varun Mitra, who got his breakthrough in Bollywood with Jalebi in 2018 opposite Rhea Chakraborty, has evolved not only as a skilled actor but also ventured into the digital space, delivering some hard-hitting and edgy performances.

He was recently seen in Amazon Mini TV's movie Rakshak - India's Brave, which was based on the life of army personnel Lieutenant Triveni Singh, who saved the lives of more than 300 civilians during a terrorist attack at the Jammu Tawi railway station.

While Varun has been garnering immense praise from all corners for his commendable performance, he will next be seen opposite Kangana Ranaut in her upcoming ambitious project, Tejas, in which he will play the role of her love interest.

Recently, in a chat with Filmibeat, the actor opened up about working with the 'Queen' actress and about his role.

EXCLUSIVE | Varun Mitra On Playing An Army Officer In Rakshak - India's Brave, Says, Ek Responsibility Thi..

Varun Mitra on working with Kangana Ranaut in Tejas

Talking about his experience working with Kangana, Varun said, "She was extremely warm, and we broke the ice very, very quickly. And I think, personally, that our scenes have turned out quite well."

He further pointed out that "She is like any other actor on set who is hungry to do the take well. And when she's not satisfied, she goes back, does it again, and tries something else. To sum it up, it was a really professional and warm experience."

Varun Mitra speaks about his role in Tejas

Revealing a little detail about his character in Tejas, Varun told us, "I play the character of a musician, and it was a special experience to have Arijit Singh's voice paired to my visual after Jalebi."

"Other than that, the set was very chilled out. Sarvesh, the director, is a lovely guy. We got along really well, and we were pretty much on the same page as far as my character was concerned," he added.

Kangana Ranaut-Starrer Tejas To Release In Cinemas Next Dussehra On October 5, 2022

Billed as 'India's first aerial action movie,' Tejas is directed by Sarvesh Mewara and is set to hit theatres this Durga Puja on October 20, 2023.
Scam 2023: In a much-anticipated release, the trailer for Scam 2003: The Telgi Story has been unveiled, featuring theater actor Gagan Dev Riar in the role of the mastermind, Abdul Karim Telgi. This forthcoming thriller series is a successor to the highly successful 2020 show Scam 1992, directed by Hansal Mehta.

The infamous Stamp Paper Scam, commonly referred to as the Telgi Scam, unfolded as a financial scandal that originated in 1992, ultimately coming to light in 2003. This elaborate scheme involved a meticulously orchestrated counterfeit stamp paper racket that operated across multiple Indian states, amounting to an estimated worth of Rs 30,000 crore.

Following the success of the 2020 web series Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, Sony LIV unveiled the trailer for Scam 2003: The Telgi Story on August 4. This new installment delves into the high-profile financial fraud perpetrated by Abdul Karim Telgi.

Who Is Abdul Karim Telgi

Born on July 29, 1961, in Belgaum, Karnataka, Abdul Karim Telgi faced early adversity with the demise of his father, an Indian railways employee. To support his education, Telgi sold fruits and vegetables on trains before moving to Saudi Arabia. Upon returning to India after a seven-year hiatus, he started a counterfeiting career.

His initial endeavors revolved around forging passports and documents and facilitating the export of labor from India to Saudi Arabia through his venture, Arabian Metro Travels. Eventually, Telgi shifted his focus to the counterfeit of stamp papers.

Stamp Paper

Stamp papers, legally validated under the Indian Stamp Act of 1899, are pre-printed documents carrying stamp revenue. These papers come in two categories: Judicial and Non-Judicial stamps. While judicial stamps serve to fulfill court fees in civil cases, non-judicial stamps are utilized when crafting various agreements such as rent agreements and gift deeds. Issued by the government, these stamp papers bear different denominations - Rs 10, Rs 100, and Rs 500 - with corresponding fees channeled to state governments.

Stamp Paper Scam

The Stamp Paper Scam set into motion by Telgi in 1992 unfolded on dual fronts. One aspect involved fabricating counterfeit stamp documents, while the other aimed at at shortage of legitimate stamp paper, thereby providing an opportunity for Telgi's counterfeit supply.

Investigations revealed Telgi's collaboration with Indian Security Press officials in Maharashtra through bribery. This alliance aimed to artificially create a scarcity of genuine documents while obtaining machinery and materials crucial for forging fake papers. The extensive range of counterfeit documents encompassed stamp papers, judicial court fee stamps, revenue stamps, adhesive stamps, foreign bills, insurance policies, share transfer certificates, and various other legal instruments, collectively amassing an estimated value of over Rs 30,000 crore.

How Did The Conspiracy Unveil

The scam first came to light in August 2000, when two individuals transporting counterfeit stamp papers were caught in Bengaluru's Cottonpet area. Subsequent interrogations by law enforcement led to the unearthing of the scam, triggering raids that exposed counterfeit stamp papers and legal documents exceeding Rs 9 crore in value. During this period, Abdul Karim Telgi remained a suspect.

Telgi's Arrest

Between 1992 and 2002, multiple cases related to counterfeit stamps were registered against Telgi in Maharashtra alone, with additional cases spanning various states. However, no serious action against Telgi was taken.

In November 2001, Telgi was finally arrested after a tip that revealed his pilgrimage journey to Ajmer, Rajasthan. Subsequent investigations unveiled the complete scam. Telgi initially hinted at his role as a minor figure within a more extensive network involving high-ranking officials, including politicians and law enforcement personnel. In response, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) established "STAMPIT," a dedicated unit led by IPS Officer Sri Kumar, to delve into the conspiracy.

With a charge sheet filed against Telgi by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2004, he was imprisoned, hindering SIT's interrogation. Notably, reports emerged suggesting that Telgi continued orchestrating operations from within the prison. In 2017, revelations surfaced that two prison officials were convicted for supplying mobile phones to Telgi.

Telgi's Death & Acquittal

Abdul Karim Telgi passed away on October 23, 2017, due to multiple organ failures at Bengaluru's Victoria Hospital. Battling with prolonged health issues, including hypertension, diabetes, and meningitis, his demise marked the conclusion of a controversial chapter.

A year following Telgi's death, on December 31, 2018, the Nashik session court in Maharashtra acquitted Telgi and seven others implicated in the Stamp Paper Scam case. The presiding judge, P R Deshmukh, ruled that the evidence against them was insufficient.

About Scam 2003

While Hansal Mehta serves as the creative director of the series, Tushar Hiranandani has directed Scam 2003. Produced by Sameer Nair's Applause Entertainment, the series is set to premiere on SonyLIV on September 1. The show promises to unravel the intricate web woven by Abdul Karim Telgi and provide audiences with a captivating narrative of one of India's most notorious financial scandals.
Shah Rukh Khan Starrer 'Jawan' Pre-Release Event Lights Up Chennai: The anticipation for Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film 'Jawan' reached a fever pitch as the film's makers hosted a vibrant pre-release event in the heart of Chennai.

Paramporul First Review: Sarathkumar's Intriguing Thriller With Compelling Twists And Turns

Commencing at 3 PM today, the event attracted a throng of enthusiastic fans who eagerly awaited the presence of their beloved Bollywood King.

The event grounds transformed into a festival-like ambiance, with fans flocking in large numbers to catch a glimpse of the iconic star. Notably, the celebrity guests graced the event an hour behind schedule, but this did little to dampen the spirits of the devoted crowd.

The highlight of the evening was Shah Rukh Khan's grand entrance, characterized by his signature style. Adorned in a sleek black blazer, he captured hearts by reciprocating his fans' affection with a charming blown kiss, affirming his endearing connection with them.

'Leo' Chants Dominate Jawan Event, Just Like At 'Jailer' Audio Launch

According to industry tracker Karthik D P, during the Audio launch of 'Jailer,' all attention shifted seamlessly to Thalapathy Vijay. The fervent discussions among both the crowd and celebrities resonated with Vijay's name. The fervor remains unabated as today's Jawan event unfolds, drawing fervent cheers and chants from the spirited students in attendance. The atmosphere is charged with 'Leo' chants and roars, painting a vivid picture of the vibrant energy surrounding the anticipation for Thalapathy Vijay's upcoming movie 'Leo.'

Karthik D P notes that Thalapathy Vijay's undeniable stardom has transformed the occasion into a spectacle that showcases his immense popularity. In his tweet, Karthik also highlights that 'this is Thalapathy's fort,' where he reigns supreme.

Star-Studded 'Jawan': Trailer To Debut On Burj Khalifa

Helmed by acclaimed director Atlee, 'Jawan' boasts an impressive ensemble cast featuring Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role alongside esteemed talents like Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Yogi Babu, Priyamani, and Hindi actress Sanya Malhotra, each contributing their prowess to pivotal roles. The film's music composed by the renowned Anirudh Ravichander.

As excitement mounts, the trailer of 'Jawan' is slated to be unveiled on August 31, captivating audiences with a glimpse of the cinematic brilliance to come. Adding a unique touch to the promotion, the trailer will be displayed on the towering Burj Khalifa in Dubai, adding a touch of grandeur to the film's unveiling. With 'Jawan' aiming for a simultaneous release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada, the trailer will resonate in multiple languages, sparking anticipation across diverse audiences.

Actor Lalu Alex's Daughter Ciya And Toby Wedding: Catch A Glimpse In This Heartwarming Wedding Video!

Mark your calendars for September 7, as 'Jawan' gears up to enthrall the audience with its charismatic lead and a captivating narrative, promising a cinematic experience like no other.
Yogi Babu Speaks About His Call Sheet Problem: Actor Yogi Babu has spoken anxiously at the Lucky Man press event as many are complaining that he is not coming to shoot regularly.

Hero Yogi Babu's Next Film

Yogibabu played the lead role in Lucky Man after acting as a hero in a series of films such as Mandela, Bommai Nayagi and Yaanai Mugathaan. Lucky Man stars Veera, Rachel Rebecca, RS Sivaji and many others.

What happens to a man who has never seen any luck in life gets a lot of luck suddenly, the film has a heartwarming background score composed by Sean Roldon. The film is directed by Balaji Venugopal.

Give Me The Right Date

The press conference of the film was held in Chennai. Participating in this, actor Yogi Babu said, "Thank you to the director and producer for giving me the opportunity to act in this film, Lucky Man is a story like looking back at my life. They say that I will not come to the shoot properly. If you give me the right date I will come on that date without fail. But what if you change the date due to money problems and say that Yogi Babu is not coming.

Similarly, in some film, where I hardly acted in four or five scenes, they put up my face on the poster and doing business. Is that not like cheating fans and distributors? All the news about me is false. Rather than listening to the story and making the film, I will act in the film by listening to their hardships. Due to this, many directors are emerging then. I will continue to do this. Lucky Man has come out well and I am thankful to all the actors and technical crew of the film."
Bigg Boss 17 Exclusive: Bigg Boss 16, hosted by Salman Khan, premiered on Colors TV last year with popular names like Priyanka Chahar Choudhary, Shiv Thakare, and Ankit Gupta among others as contestants and turned out to be a humongous success. As the show ended in February this year with MC Stan winning the trophy, the crazy fans of Bigg Boss have been waiting for its seventeenth season.

Well, their wait is about to end as the makers are planning to launch Bigg Boss 17 in the next two months and this year's theme is going to be Singles VS Couples. As reported earlier, popular names like Kanwar Dhillon, Alice Kaushik, Aishwarya Sharma, Neil Bhatt, Ankita Lokhande with husband Vicky Jain are said to be in talks with the makers. While the official list of BB 17 contestants is not yet out, Filmibeat has exclusively revealed that Bigg Boss 15 finalists Karan Kundrra and Tejasswi Prakash too are going to be a part of the upcoming season but as mentors.

ELVISH YADAV WITH KARAN KUNDRRA & TEJASSWI PRAKASH IN BIGG BOSS 17?

As the Bigg Boss 17 house will be divided into two teams - Singles and Couples, TejRan will be seen mentoring couples and are going to stay for two weeks. Well, we've got another exclusive piece of information related the the much-awaited season. Well, there are constant rumours about Bigg Boss OTT 2 winner Elvish Yadav being a part of BB 17.

Imlie TWIST: Megha Chakraborty, Karan Vohra's EXIT Has A Sumbul Touqeer-Fahmaan Khan Connection; DEETS Out

Fahmaan Khan On His Upcoming Projects Amid Dharampatnii OFF-AIR News: Shoot Karke Aaya...

Talking about Elvish, a source exclusively told Filmibeat that the hugely popular YouTuber will be seen joining Karan Kundrra and Tejasswi Prakash in the Bigg Boss house this year but not as a contestant. Yes, you read that right!

Sharing details about the same, the source informed us, "Elvish Yadav earned huge appreciation for his stint in the OTT house and the makers are keen to have him on board for Bigg Boss 17. As of now, he's in talks with the makers and is likely to be seen as the mentor of singles. Just like TejRan, even he's expected to stay for two weeks."

Well, the whole format sounds interesting! Don't you agree? However, an official announcement from the makers regarding the same is still awaited.

BIGG BOSS 17: WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH THE UPCOMING SEASON?

While Bigg Boss 17 was initially scheduled to premiere on Colors TV next month, it has now been postponed and will now be launched on October 20. As mentioned earlier, the makers haven't yet announced it.

Keep watching this space for more updates!
Raksha Bandhan 2023: From childhood arguments over the remote control to playful pranks and hidden belongings, the relationship between a brother and sister is infused with drama.

It forms a bond that encompasses laughter, tears, countless adventures, and a myriad of ups and downs. This bond captures the essence of an extraordinary connection that deserves everlasting celebration in life.

On this Raksha Bandhan, check out your favourite celebrities talking about their bond with their siblings.

Navin Prabhakar

In my perspective, the festival of Rakshabandhan holds significance not only for sisters and brothers but also for the special connection between sisters and sisters, or brothers and brothers. What I've observed is a gradual erosion of trust within these relationships. The dislike for sharing personal belongings that often arises in childhood seems to persist into adulthood. The paramount importance of loving one another in this lifetime appears to be slipping away, sometimes unnoticed.

This relationship's love and connection, exemplified by sending rakhis to sisters residing in different states or countries, is worth cherishing. Thanks to WhatsApp and similar technologies, we can now bridge distances, enabling us to see and talk to each other with ease, which wasn't the case five or six years ago. I hold deep affection for my sisters, and I'm consistently grateful to them for their prayers that contribute to the happiness of our families. Their prayers provide us with strength during challenging times. On this occasion, my siblings and I have planned a wonderful surprise-a visit to the families of two sisters. We will also bring cherished gifts for their younger siblings and the children within their families.

Aradhana Sharma

My bond with my sister is profoundly special and resilient. Despite conflicts, our unbreakable connection showcases our deep relationship, marked by a willingness to do anything for each other. She's a maternal presence, emphasising our nurturing tie. While sibling disagreements arise, our inability to stay apart underscores our genuine love.

After moving to Pune for studies, my loneliness led to a matured reconnection marked by deep conversations about life. Our unique tradition involves exchanging orange-flavoured chocolate and Coca-Cola every Rakhi. This year, my busy schedule prevents a visit, so I'll send a Rakhi with Coca-Cola.

From KKBKKJ To Tripling, 7 Films & Series That Celebrate the Unbreakable Bond Between Siblings

Rohit Choudhary

I'm the youngest of three sisters. Our connection is wonderful, especially with the eldest, who's been like a mother since our real mother was absent. Our bond remains unaltered despite their marriages. Raksha Bandhan confirms our enduring sibling love. Regardless of distance, sisters' care persists, sustaining familial connections.

My relationship with them stands strong, sharing happiness and sorrow. Day or night, the bond holds. Though close to all sisters, my connection with the eldest is precious-a sister, friend, maternal figure, and family link. No grand plans, just fulfilling their wishes. Gifts embody our bond. Raksha Bandhan's value lies in uniting, despite geographical separation.

Charrul Malik

From childhood, we yearned for a brother. Our wish came true, as he was born just before Rakshabandhan, leading to dual birthday celebrations. Though I am now in the USA, my sister still ties me a Rakhi. As twins, she affixes two, while Charul and Parul also tie Gaurav Rakhis, continuing tradition. We'll make this Rakhi special through a phone call. This year, his decision might elevate its significance. Our prayers are with him as he navigates pivotal life choices, including marriage.

Gaurav's happiness at finding a partner resonates. Gifts will come with his visit or ours to the USA. We're the gifts across borders. I'll visit for his engagement. Time has shifted, and though distance separates us, our bond endures. Time zones and schedules play a role. Parul, Gaurav, and I share conversations, filling them with joy. Physical meetings are scarce, yet our support strengthens our enduring bond.

Anupama Solanki

We're two siblings-me, the elder sister, and my younger brother. Once, I was the one in charge, but now he's taken on the elder role, which is amusing. Our bond has changed over the years; he's focused on his career, and I on mine. Time together has become scarce, a change I never expected. Yet, I value dedication for success.

Despite not meeting on Rakshabandhan for four years, I continue sending Rakhi. Work keeps me from visiting, but I'll send Rakhi this year. Material gifts aren't my focus; his offerings always bring joy. I'm content, unlike demanding sisters-although I did jokingly ask for an iPhone 14 Pro Max once!

Raksha Bandhan 2023: Rashami Desai's Special Plans For Rakhi Revealed, Check Out Here

Amal Sehrawat

Within the realm of our friendly and warm relationship lies an emotional bond that has grown not only more mature but also deeper over time. My sister and I are two souls who have learned to be together and celebrate the extraordinary bond of love that unites us. It's going to be a secret what I am gifting her this year.
Raksha Bandhan 2023: Happu Ki Ultan Paltan famed actor Inderjeet Modi has taken a break from all his work commitments to celebrate the Raksha Bandhan festivities along with his sister Muskan.

Inderjeet said, "Me and my sister are each other's support system here in Mumbai. Our family is in Silvassa and we both are shifted here to pursue our career. I'm into acting and she's studying event management. As she stays with her college friends and I'm also mostly busy with my shoots for my show, Aashiqana 4, so we hardly get time to see each other every day. To celebrate the festival of Raksha Bandhan I'm taking break from all my work commitments and will spend time along with her and celebrate."

Inderjeet shares a very strong bond with his sister Muskan.

He added, "I love her transparency, honesty, clarity of thought, taking a stand for herself. And be real all the time. She has all the good qualities that inspire me. We are each other's support system. I share a very good bond with her. We guide and motivate each other. We use to fight a lot as siblings during our childhood but now we are more respectful and try to understand each other's perspective. It's a ever-evolving bond which is getting stronger by every passing day."

Inderjeet has acted in shows like Rang Jau Tere Rang Mein and also in the movie Ardh.
The actor Shalin Bhanot, known for his charismatic presence on the reality show Bigg Boss 16, recently celebrated Raksha Bandhan in a unique way with the girls from the Amcha Ghar NGO. Shalin's bond with these girls was rekindled as they reunited for the first time since his stint on Bigg Boss 16.

The NGO girls extended a warm reception to Shalin by singing a welcome song, and, doing an aarti. Around 29 girls enthusiastically tied rakhis on Shalin's wrist. Later, these children shared heartwarming stories of how they had fervently prayed for his success as a finalist during his time on Bigg Boss 16.

The celebration further blossomed as the girls presented an array of fun activities including dance performances, and, singing songs. Shalin also engaged in playful games and was delighted as the girls unveiled their library to him.

Shalin not only cherished the moments spent and the wholesome love given by these young souls, but this celebration signified the unique bond they'd cultivated.

Apart from being an actor, Shalin is also known for his philanthropic work. The very outfits he had worn during Bigg Boss 16's Weekend Ka Vaar found a new purpose through his initiative, #Let'sSHAre. He launched this initiative to customize the outfits worn by him only once on the show, for the benefit of orphaned children associated with the NGO.
BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2023 / Stavis Seafoods announces a transition in leadership as David Lancaster steps down from his role as CEO. Soren Dalsager, CEO of Profand USA, will expand his current role to assume leadership of Stavis. This mutually agreed upon change in leadership comes as the company embraces an exciting future.

Stavis Seafoods' significant investment in the 75,000-square-foot facility located at 1 Seafood Way in Boston's Seaport district, as well as a new ERP system, are investments to accommodate growth as well as improve customer service. This facility represents a significant milestone for Stavis to consolidate all Boston activities under one roof.

"Our decision to appoint Soren Dalsager as Stavis CEO reflects our commitment to a seamless transition and our enthusiasm for the bright future ahead for Stavis Seafoods," said Moises Rodriguez, General Manager, Profand Group. "We are grateful to David Lancaster for his valuable contributions and are confident that Soren's leadership will build upon our strong foundation, taking our company to new heights."

About Stavis Seafoods:

Stavis Seafoods is a premier provider of seafood products in the New England seafood industry since 1929. Stavis' rich heritage and global reach has positioned the company as a leader in the seafood industry, offering an extensive range of fresh and frozen seafood products sourced from the world's finest fisheries. The company's dedication to reliability, innovation, and environmental responsibility has established Stavis Seafoods as a trusted leader and preferred partner worldwide.

Stavis Seafoods LLC is owned by Profand Group, a multinational fishing and seafood company based in Spain with more than 3,000 employees and business operations in Europe, USA, Asia, South America, and Africa. Profand markets around 120,000 tons of fish per year, owns 13 processing plants, 11 aquaculture facilities and 24 fishing vessels operating globally.

Committed to quality and innovation, Profand Group takes care of the entire value chain from the origin, from integrating fishing and aquaculture to the processing and distribution of fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans. This relationship provides Stavis with a direct connection to harvesters throughout the world, giving the company true vertical integration and a simple, traceable sourcing solution.

Profand also has a strong commitment to sustainability. Through its strategy Profand 4 Future, Profand develops its green visions for a blue future: contributions to community development, conservation and ecosystems, protection and respect of human labor rights, compliance, and good governance.

Profand Group's North America branch Profand USA manages all U.S.-based subsidiary companies including Stavis Seafoods LLC, Seafreeze Ltd., and Worldwide Perishables Enterprises, LLC.

Contact Information

Martha Williams

Marketing Director

mwilliams@stavis.com

617-897-1234

SOURCE: Stavis Seafoods LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778368/David-Lancaster-Steps-Down-as-CEO-of-Stavis-Seafoods-Soren-Dalsager-Assumes-Role
Members of USPA Nationwide Security's Nonprofit Wing are Assisting in the Search for Caitlyn Case, Missing for More Than a Year

PARIS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2023 / USPA Nationwide Security has formally joined the investigation into the whereabouts of Caitlyn Case, a 33-year-old Louisiana woman who has been missing since Aug. 5, 2022.





Caitlyn Case

At the time of her disappearance, Caitlyn Case was working as a technical mechanic and living in Colorado. She had returned to her family home in Houma, Louisiana, to purchase a vehicle. Case was in the process of driving that vehicle back to Colorado when her parents lost contact with her on Aug. 5.

Gordon Case, Caitlyn's father, was in touch with his daughter until about 5 p.m. on Aug. 5 when their call dropped.

"The setting of the case is simply harrowing: a woman traveling alone, lost on very remote stretches of highway, coming in and out of cell phone reception," said USPA's founder and investigative team lead Mike Evans. "This is any parent's worst nightmare. We believe that someone in the vicinity of Paris, Texas, knows what happened to Caitlyn."

By Aug. 8, 2022, Caitlyn's parents Peg and Gordon Case, were able to obtain cell records placing Caitlyn's phone just north of Paris, Texas, in the vicinity of Hugo, Oklahoma. By Aug. 12, they were able to find the phone's precise location on the edge of a large private property in Hugo, along the Kiamichi River.

Caitlyn's father, Gordon, was the first to arrive at the gated property and locate Caitlyn's vehicle. The vehicle had been driven down the private road toward the Kiamichi River and pushed over an approximately 75-foot embankment.

The vehicle flipped and was stuck on two trees, never entering the water. Inside were all the clothes Caitlyn was wearing the day she left her parents, including her shoes, cell phone and other belongings. Only two of Caitlyn's fingerprints (in total) were found in the vehicle, suggesting that the vehicle had been wiped down.

Following the discovery of the vehicle, witnesses came forward who saw two vehicles enter the gated, private property at approximately 11 p.m. on Aug. 5, 2022, with only one vehicle exiting at a high rate of speed.

Nationally known crime reporter and analyst Nancy Grace is set to feature Caitlyn's story on her nationwide series "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace." The episode is anticipated to air in the coming days and includes USPA's Brian Fitzgibbons as a guest.

According to Nic Huber at The Paris News, the local law enforcement agencies assisting OSBI include the Paris Police Department, Lamar County Sheriff's Office and the Lamar County District Attorney's Office.

In its efforts to locate victims of human trafficking, Kingsman, USPA's nonprofit wing, employs security contractors, licensed private investigators, former detectives, special agents, and experienced military operators. It is primarily funded by donations derived from a profit share with its parent organization USPA Nationwide Security.

Contact Information

Albina Beici

Customer Support

albina@uspasecurity.com

800-214-1448

SOURCE: USPA Nationwide Security

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778378/USPA-Investigators-Join-the-Search-for-Caitlyn-Case
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.




DA NANG, VIETNAM, Aug 30, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - The 15th Annual Global CSR & ESG Summit & Awards ended on a high note before a full house in Da Nang, Vietnam, on August 28. Organized at the Novotel Danang Premier Han River, this years conference was held under the theme "Driving Transformational Change Beyond Greenwashing", and focused on inspiring participants to discuss and discover transformational ESG & CSR strategies, beyond conventional thinking. The conference also addressed the challenges and need for climate-friendly solutions and technologies, including electric vehicles, high tech farming, sustainable supply chains, and nature-based solutions.Among the notable speakers, Prof. Dr. Richard Hames, Founder & Executive Director, Centre for the Future and Fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science, gave a powerful speech on "Beyond ESG: From The Impossible To The Inevitable", encouraging the move from the degenerative practices of the industrial era, through the many delusions of sustainability and lies about 'green growth', to regenerative systems globally.In view of 20 Years of Building, Implementing and Supporting ESG in Vietnam, Ms. Kim Francois, Executive Director of BeLuxCham Vietnam presented "Localising and Creating Positive Impact for Foreign Businesses in Vietnam - Successful ESG stories of BeluxCham Blending Eastern and Western Cultures." She shared how BeLuxCham provides an eco-system that shares expertise in ESG and provides a platform to which companies can learn from each other and be part of each other's circular system. She believed that more work is needed to ensure that SMEs are learning and implementing ESG, to contribute together to the goals set by Vietnam, but mainly to be sure we are living in a healthy environment and protecting our people.Prof. Dr. Martin Blake, the Conference Chairman announced that the Organisers are planning to hold The 16th Annual Global CSR & ESG Summit & Awards in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. The summit ended with the The Global CSR & ESG Awards, graced by Guest of Honour, Mr Nguyen Anh Phong, Deputy-Director-General of Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD), and Ms. Kim Francois, Executive Director of BeLuxCham Vietnam. The evening award ceremony was marked with a stunning audio and light display show.The Award Categories for 2023:- Best Environmental Excellence Award- Best Community Programme Award- Excellence In Provision Of Literacy & Education Award- Empowerment Of Women Award- Best Workplace Practises Award- CSR & ESG Leadership Award- Product Excellence Award- Best Chief Executive Officer (CEO)- Best Corporate Comms & Investors Relations TeamAnd Award Categories 2023 recognizing companies at the forefront of their countries:- Best In Singapore- Best In Thailand- Best In Indonesia- Best In Cambodia- Best In Viet Nam- Best In PhilippinesTHE WINNERSBest Environmental Excellence Awardo Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Bronze: SM Investments Crk Softex Indonesia, PT Astra International TBK-- Gold: PT Adaro Indonorporation-- Silver: Kimberly-Claesia, PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical TBK, Central Department Store Limited (Head Office)-- Platinum: PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakamo USD 500 Million To USD 1 Billion Market Capitalization-- Platinum: Manila Watero Less Than USD 500 Million Market Capitalization-- Bronze: PT Diageo Indonesia-- Silver: Schneider Electric Indonesia-- Gold: GeoComply Viet Nam-- Platinum: PT Kilang Pertamina InternationalBest Community Programme Awardo Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Bronze: BHG Retail Trust Management Pte Ltd-- Silver: PT Asmin Bara Bronang-- Gold: PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Regional Jawzation-- Bronze: PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure TBK, FPT Corporation,--- PT Pertamina - Patra Niaga Fuel Terminal Rewulu-- Silver: Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad, Badak LNG, RHB Bank Berhad--- PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Fuel Terminal Boyolali-- Gold: Sarawak Energy Berhad, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchinson PTTEP Indonesia,--- PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk,-- Platinum: PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakamo USD 500 Million To USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Bronze: Bagian Tengah DPPU Ahmad Yani-- Platinum: PT Meares Soputan Miningo Less Than USD 500 Million Market Capitalization-- Bronze: Price Waterhouse Coopers, IDP Education (Cambodia) Limited-- Silver: Diageo Viet Nam, Prince Holding Group-- Gold: PT Diageo Indonesia, GeoComply Viet Nam,--- PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Integrated Terminal Semarang-- Platinum: PT Kilang Pertamina InternationalExcellence In Provision Of Literacy & Education Awardo Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Bronze: Adaro Energy Indonesia-- Silver: Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad-- Gold: PT Samsung Electronics Indonesia-- Platinum: Tata Consultancy Services Limitedo USD 500 Million To USD 1 Billion Market Capitalization-- Silver: Samsung Electronics Viet Nam Co. Ltd-- Gold: PT Asmin Bara Bronang-- Platinum: Manila Watero Less Than USD 500 Million Market Capitalization-- Gold: MegaWorld Foundation-- Platinum: IDP Education (Cambodia) LimitedEmpowerment Of Women Awardo Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Platinum: PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy Tbk Ulubeluo Less Than USD 500 Million Market Capitalization-- Gold: GeoComply Viet Nam-- Platinum: Thanh Thanh Cong - Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company (TTC AgriS)Best Workplace Practises Awardo Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Platinum: PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure TBKo USD 500 Million To USD 1 Billion Market Capitalization-- Platinum: Manila Watero Less Than USD 500 Million Market Capitalization-- Gold: GeoComply Viet Nam-- Platinum: Diageo IndonesiaCSR & ESG Leadership Awardo Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Bronze: PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure TBK-- Silver: Tata Consultancy Services Limited, Bridgestone Asia Pacific Pte Ltd-- Gold: PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited, ACEN Corporation-- Platinum: KLCC Property Holdings Berhado USD 500 Million To USD 1 Billion Market Capitalization-- Bronze: BHG Retail Trust Management Pte Ltd-- Silver: Home Credit Vietnam Finance Company Limited-- Gold: Samsung Electronics Vietnam Co. Ltd-- Platinum: PT Asmin Bara Bronango Less Than USD 500 Million Market Capitalization-- Bronze: Diageo Indonesia-- Silver: Thanh Thanh Cong - Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company (TTC AgriS)-- Gold: GeoComply Viet Nam-- Platinum: DEEP C Industrial ZonesProduct Excellence Awardo Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Bridgestone Asia Pacific Pte LtdBest CEO Awardo Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Gold: Indosat Ooredoo Hutchinson-- Platinum: PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical TbkBest Corporate Comms & Investor Relations Team Awardo USD 500 Million To USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Platinum: BHG Retail Trust Management Pte Ltdo Less Than USD 500 Million Market Cap-- Platinum: Viettel Construction Joint Stock CorporationBest Country Award - Best In Indonesiao Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Gold: PT Pertamina Hulu Energi Offshore North West Java-- Platinum: PT Astra International TBo Less Than USD 500 Million Market Cap-- Silver: PT Kilang Pertamina International-- Gold: Diageo Indonesia-- Platinum: Schneider Electric IndonesiaBest Country Excellence - Best In Cambodiao Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Platinum: NagaWorld Limitedo Less Than USD 500 Million Market Cap-- Platinum: Prince Holding GroupBest Country Excellence - Best In Thailando Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Platinum: Krungthai-AXA Life Insurance Public Company LimitedBest Country Excellence - Best In Philippineso Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Platinum: ACEN CorporationBest Country Excellence - Best In Singaporeo Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Platinum: Tata Consultancy Services LimitedBest Country Excellence - Best In Vietnamo Above USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Platinum: FPT Corporationo USD 500 Million to USD 1 Billion Market Cap-- Platinum: Samsung Electronics Viet Nam Co. Ltd,o Less than USD 500 Million Market Cap-- Platinum: Diageo Viet NamFor media enquiries please contact:Cyan Lee, Pinnacle GroupE: marketing@pinnaclegroup.globalT: +65 8222 2344Source: 15th GLOBAL CSR & ESG SUMMIT AND AWARDSCopyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
LONDON and VISBY, Sweden, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TopGear will host its first low-carbon Speed Week at Sweden's GotlandRing, the world's most sustainable race circuit, from August 31 - September 3, 2023.

The event is the first of its kind and will feature test drives of the latest and greatest performance cars launched in the last 12 months - including petrol, hybrid and pure-electric models - culminating in the crowning of a 2023 performance car of the year. All tests will be conducted by teams from TopGear Magazine and TopGear.com, who are also the organizers of Speed Week.

Jack Rix, Editor-in-chief TopGear, said: "We had the idea to create an event with embedded sustainability throughout, that lost none of the drama and excitement associated with TopGear's world famous Speed Week. All the fun, a lot less carbon. We couldn't think of a venue that is more suitable than GotlandRing, which, for the past twenty years, has been a sustainability forerunner in its field and beyond."



Located on the historic, Swedish island of Gotland and within an official eco-region, GotlandRing is a 4.53 mile (7.29 km) eco-friendly race and test circuit that utilises 100 percent renewable energy. It is also praised for pioneering sustainability and e-mobility initiatives such as SmartRoad Gotland, the world's first electric road system with dynamic charging, and various supercharging solutions, launched in cooperation with its Nordic partners Kempower, Nimbnet and Virta.

TopGear's Speed Week will run parallel with GotlandRing's 20-year anniversary, which will be celebrated on September 2 and 3.

Alec Arho-Havren, Founder and Chief Circuit Architect, GotlandRing, said: "We are pleased and honoured to work with TopGear on this trailblazing event, and the timing of the production and GotlandRing's anniversary makes it even more special. The enabling driving environment will provide versatile activities and a creative ambiance."

To ensure that TopGear's Speed Week is as sustainable as possible, electric and bio-fuel trucks will be used for transportation, EVs will be charged on 100 per cent renewable energy produced on-site, and combustion engines will be powered by biofuel. Locally sourced partners will also be enlisted for accommodation and food.

About GotlandRing

GotlandRing, built in 2003, is the world's most sustainable race circuit as well as the longest circuit of modern standard. The 4.53 mile (7.29 km) island-based race and test circuit is located within the Eco-Region of Gotland, which is the most popular tourist destination in Sweden. As of August 2023, the complex also offers EV supercharging with 100 percent renewable energy. GotlandRing and its strategic partner World Ecological Forum are also the initiators behind the SmartRoad Gotland project, the world's first electric road system with dynamic charging on a public road. The project was realized in cooperation with Electreon and the Swedish Transport Administration between 2019 and 2023. For more information, go to gotlandring.com.

Press Contact:

Jenny Harler

+46 (0)73-904 85 85

jenny.harler@scencia.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/topgear-low-carbon-speed-week-to-be-held-at-gotlandring-301912918.html
CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vacuum Contactor Market is projected to reach USD 5.5 billion in 2028 from USD 4.1 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 6.1% according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The Vacuum Contactor Market has promising growth potential due to the rising production of electric vehicles, initiatives by government, growing R & D investment in lithium-ion batteries.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Vacuum Contactor Market"

297 - Tables

55 - Figures

200 - Pages

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=122809245

Vacuum Contactor Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Size USD 5.5 billion in 2028 Growth Rate 6.1% of CAGR Largest Market Asia Pacific Market Dynamics Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities & Challenges Forecast Period 2023-2028 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered Configuration, application, voltage rating, end-user, and region Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa. Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Harnessing the Potential of Vacuum Contactors in Smart Grids, IoT, and Emerging Markets Key Market Drivers Empowering Electrical Control

By configuration, the contactor fuse combination is anticipated to rule the Vacuum Contactor Market during the forecast period.

The Vacuum Contactor Market is dominated by the contactor fuse combination. Contactor-fuse combinations are pivotal for circuit protection and control. Contactors act as switches for current flow, while fuses prevent damage from overcurrent and short circuits. Integrating these in the Vacuum Contactor Market provides benefits like equipment protection, reduced downtime, and extended component lifespan by maintaining proper operation.

By application, the Vacuum Contactor Market for motors is anticipated to have the highest market share.

Motors make up the largest portion of the Vacuum Contactor Market. Vacuum contactors control electrical current to motors, ensuring seamless start-up, operation, and shutdown of motor-driven systems. They provide precise motor control, optimizing energy usage and minimizing electrical issues. Vital for managing circuits in machinery and equipment, vacuum contactors enable controlled activation and deactivation.

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The Asia-Pacific region holds the dominant position in the Vacuum Contactor Industry.

North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East & Africa, and South America are the five geographic areas in which the Vacuum Contactor Market has been examined in this report. The Asia-Pacific region's economic growth has spiked demand for energy and electrical equipment, including vacuum contactors, vital for expanding manufacturing and infrastructure. Urbanization fuels projects like commercial buildings, homes, and infrastructure, necessitating dependable electrical systems where vacuum contactors excel in motor control and circuit safety. The region's thriving industrial sectors - manufacturing, mining, and construction - rely on motor-driven machinery, relying on vacuum contactors for accurate control and protection. The Vacuum Contactor Market in Asia-Pacific is also stimulated by both local and foreign investments across various sectors.

Key Market Players:

The report includes profiles of some of the leading players in the Vacuum Contactor Companies to help readers gain a thorough understanding of the market's competitive environment.

ABB (Switzerland), Siemens (Germany), Eaton (Ireland), Schneider Electric (France), GE (US), and Mitsubishi Electric (Japan) are a few of the major players. The market's top players are using a variety of tactics to gain market share for vacuum contactor.

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Recent Developments

In July 2022, TDK collaborates with students across diverse universities to cultivate innovative and sustainable mobility visions for the future. Through its sponsorship initiatives, TDK is championing the advancement of concepts encompassing Hyperloop technology, solar-powered solutions, and electric vehicles. TDK's involvement extends beyond mere support, encompassing the provision of components, expertise, and financial backing. Presently, teams at prestigious institutions like ETH Zurich in Switzerland, Leuven University of Technology in Belgium, and Aalen University of Applied Sciences in Germany are reaping the benefits of this comprehensive engagement.

In January 2023, TDK has revealed its acquisition of Qeexo, Co., a notable pioneer in the realm of automated machine learning (ML) platforms, particularly focusing on tinyML models tailored for low-power, persistent intelligent devices. This strategic acquisition underscores TDK's ambition to fortify its ML prowess and optimize the process of ML application development, positioning the company as a front-runner in furnishing intelligent edge solution.

In May 2023, Ampcontrol, now under full ownership of investment firm Washington H. Soul Pattinson since 2022, has marked its inaugural acquisition by procuring Androck Engineering & Mining Pty Limited, a Hunter-based enterprise. This deliberate acquisition harmonizes seamlessly with Ampcontrol's strategic trajectory for amplifying its presence and influence in the renewable energy manufacturing arena. It serves as a tangible manifestation of Ampcontrol's dedication to facilitating the worldwide shift toward a low-carbon economy.

Browse Adjacent Markets: Energy and Power Market Research Reports & Consulting

Related Reports:

Switchgear Market - Global Forecast to 2027

Portable Power Station Market - Global Forecast to 2028

Vacuum Interrupter Market - Global Forecast to 2025

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LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Industrial technology company Smiths Group plc (SMIN.L) Wednesday said it has acquired Heating & Cooling Products (HCP), a US-based Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) solutions provider, for $82 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis. HCP, that had generated revenue of 69 million for the year ended July 31, 2023, will be integrated into Smith's Flex-Tek division. 'Smiths has now posted eight straight quarters of growth, and the addition of HCP allows us to further build on this momentum by adding synergistic capabilities, through an accretive transaction, in a market we know well,' said Paul Keel, CEO of Smiths Group. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
On September 1, the world exhibition of household appliances IFA will be opened in Berlin, where new products and developments in household electronics are presented every year. This year at IFA, the Gazer brand will present to the general public a new television product - METASMART TV.

Berlin, Germany--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - In 2023, the Gezer brand presented METASMART TV based on web.3.0 technology. The Gazer METASMART TV is one of the world's first TVs with access to the metaverse while also providing access to NFTs and digital artworks. Users can access thousands of works by modern artists through the Multiart application. Exhibitions of digital art held in Hamburg, Lisbon, and Dubai were held using Gazer TVs.





IFA TV News: Gazer Presents a New Product METASMART TV



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8871/178507_metasmart1en.jpg

"We create next-generation electronics - with people and for people. Our products are state-of-the-art technology that do more. They change the user experience and give new impressions. First of all, we focus on people, turning complex technologies into simple and accessible ones. Therefore, even those who considered NFT-art to be too complicated, now may easily visit digital galleries just from the TV screen through the multiart application. In a couple of clicks you get NFT-pictures from around the world on the screen of your favorite TV. And this is only the beginning," said CEO of the brand Sergey Boyar, commenting on the previous developments of Gezer.

Gazer is an international consumer electronics brand specializing in the development and production of televisions and automotive electronics. The company has been producing TVs since 2017. The brand positions itself as one that creates electronics of a new generation - "next-step electronics." "As we see it" is another slogan of the company's, emphasizing the shared views of the manufacturer and the customer on electronics.

Contacts:

Lena Yavtushenko | CMO at Gazer

Tel: +44 7445 179889

E-mail: l.yavtushenko@gazer.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178507
HONG KONG, Aug 30, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Earlier this month, Apple announced its 2023FY third quarter results. Despite the slight decline in total revenue, combined with latest industry analysis, there are still three highlights worth noting: the strong demand in the Chinese market, the huge potential of iPhone 15 and the boost from wearable devices.



Strong demand in the Chinese market

Currently, the top five markets for the iPhone are China, the US, Japan, the UK and India. iPhone sales in emerging markets rose year-over-year, with double-digit growth overall, while Apple's Chinese market has changed from a 3% decline to an 8% growth year-over-year.



In addition, many third-party institutions released relevant research reports followed by Apple's results. According to TechInsights' latest research report, China surpassed the US being the largest single market for iPhone for the first time, indicating the strong consumer demand in the Greater China region.



The huge potential of iPhone 15

Apple's average selling price (ASP) hit a record high in the quarter, driven by higher sales of the iPhone 14 series of Pro models. This lays a good foundation for future iPhone 15 sales. The iPhone 15 is expected to be equipped with a new 3nm chip and type-c interface, which may cause a wave of replacements. According to The Elec citing industry sources, Apple plans to increase iPhone production by 3.2 million units this year.



iPhone 15 will also be manufactured by Foxconn, Luxshare and Pegatron. According to Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, recent assessments of the supply chain in Asia indicate results that future iPhone revenue may exceed current expectations. Ives attributes this positive outlook to a "clear uptick" increase in demand in Greater China, coupled with higher average selling prices. With abundant supply and the highly anticipated release of the iPhone 15 in September, Apple is poised for a favorable outlook that instils investor confidence.



In addition, according to the analysis of well-known electronics analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple's 2024 iPhone shipment target is 250 million, which is greater than Samsung's 220 million shipment target, which means that Apple is expected to earn the world's largest smartphone shipment in 2024.



R&D expenses have witnessed an almost 10% year-on-year increase, as revealed in a Reuters interview with Apple's CEO Tim Cook. The majority of increased investment has been allocated towards the development of AI technology. Anticipated to have a profound impact across Apple's product line, the technological advancement could serve as a compelling reason for consumers to consider purchasing the new iPhone 15, set to be released later this year.



Wearable devices could give its revenue an additional boost

This time, Apple's wearable business and service business have both achieved growth, becoming a bright spot in performance. In terms of new products, Apple may dig into the potential of health monitoring on the follow-up model of AirPods. Equipped with new sensors, the next-gen AirPods may not only support body temperature measurement, but also is expected to bring hearing aids.



At the same time, rumors said that Apple is developing a special edition watch for the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Apple Watch next year. It might include a thin and light body and a new magnetic suction strap buckle, etc., which are expected to bring continuous high-speed growth to wearable devices. The foundries of Apple Watch are mainly Luxshare Precision and Foxconn. Regarding the headset supply chain, it is currently known that Luxshare Precision, Yangming Optical, and Foxconn's GIS have been selected, and Luxshare Precision will be responsible for the final assembly.



During the conference call after the results, Tim Cook mentioned that the revolutionary Apple Vision Pro is the most advanced personal electronic device ever created and is expected to be sent to customers' hands early next year.



Earlier market reports indicate that Luxshare Precision has successfully secured contract manufacturing orders for three models of the iPhone 15 series. This marks the first time that Luxshare Precision has obtained contract manufacturing orders for three models ahead of the annual release of the new iPhone, notably including the iPhone 15 Ultra. The iPhone 15 Ultra is a new high-end model to be introduced this year, and securing the iPhone 15 Ultra order further confirms Luxshare Precision's manufacturing capabilities being well recognized by Apple.



It is worth mentioning that it is said the iPhone 15 series will be equipped with a rear camera lens featuring a 48-megapixel resolution. Cowell, a subsidiary of Luxshare Precision, is one of the major suppliers providing camera modules.



2023 has been a rewarding year for Apple investors as the stock has soared over 40% during the past seven months, driven by the resilience of the company's iPhone sales. It is rare to see a company still appear to be non-affected by the poor global economic conditions and even grow stronger and stronger. The comprehensive upgrades of the iPhone 15 are also expected to bring certain benefits to the manufacturers involved in the iPhone supply chain.









Copyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.





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Commerzbank AG (London Branch) - Pre-Stabilisation Amprion GmbH Dual EUR 5 and 11 year

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, August 30

Pre-Stabilisation Notice

August 30, 2023

Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

Amprion GmbH

EUR 500mil (expected) Fixed Rate Notes due 07 September 2028

EUR 500mil (expected) Fixed Rate Notes due 07 September 2034

Launched pursuant to the Issuer's Debt Instrument Programme

Commerzbank AG (contact: Ian Turner; telephone: +44-207-7475-1817) hereby announces, as Stabilisation Coordinator, that the Stabilising Managers named below may stabilise the offer of the following securities in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU Regulation 596/2014).

The security to be stabilised: Issuer: Amprion GmbH Guarantor (if any): none Aggregate nominal amount: EUR 500mil(expected) 2028 Notes EUR 500mil(expected) 2034 Notes Description: EUR 500mil(exp) Fixed Rate Notes due 2028 EUR 500mil(exp) Fixed Rate Notes due 2034 Offer price: tbc Other offer terms: DIP, denoms 100k/100k, listing Euro MTF Luxembourg Exchange Stabilisation: Stabilisation Coordinator: Stabilising Managers: Commerzbank AG Bayerische Landesbank DZ Bank Helaba ING LBBW SEB UniCredit Stabilisation period expected to start on: August 30, 2023 Stabilisation period expected to end on: no later than 30 days after the proposed issue date of the securities Existence, maximum size and conditions of use of over-allotment facility. The Stabilising Managers may over-allot the securities to the extent permitted in accordance with applicable law. Stabilisation trading venue: Euro MTF Luxembourg Exchange

In connection with the offer of the above securities, the Stabilising Manager(s) may over-allot the securities or effect transactions with a view to supporting the market price of the securities during the stabilisation period at a level higher than that which might otherwise prevail. However, stabilisation may not necessarily occur and any stabilisation action, if begun, may cease at any time Any stabilisation action or over-allotment shall be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and rules.

This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction.

This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

END
Osino has successfully dual-listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange.



TSX Venture Exchange remains primary listing.

Namibian listing facilitates trading of shares by Namibians and Namibian funds, while also accessing empowerment opportunities and local capital market participation.



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Osino Resources Corp. (TSXV:OSI)(NSX:OSN)(FSE:RSR1) (OTCQX:OSIIF) ("Osino" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has successfully dual-listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange ("NSX") under the symbol "OSN". There will be no change to Osino's listing on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) which will remain the primary listing for Osino's common shares.

Heye Daun, Osino's Co-Founder and CEO, and Namibian-born mining engineer, commented: "The Twin Hills Gold Project is expected to provide significant economic and social benefits for Namibians. Listing on the NSX is another opportunity for Osino to engage with Namibian stakeholders and provides access to the Namibian capital markets for project development at Twin Hills."

The announcement of the successful listing falls during a regional roadshow introducing investors to Osino's exploration and development activities in Namibia. Osino commenced operations in Namibia in 2016 and listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in 2018. The Company's flagship Twin Hills Gold Project (the "Project") is comprised of 11 exclusive prospecting licenses ("EPLs") granted by the government of Namibia, which are held over a combined area of 153,206 ha in and around the regional towns and settlements of Usakos, Karibib, Omaruru, and Wilhelmstal in the Erongo Region of Namibia.

Osino was founded by Namibians and the company is led by many of the individuals who were instrumental in the development of the Otjikoto mine in Namibia prior to its acquisition in 2011 by B2Gold Corp. Osino's Twin Hills Gold Project, which is anticipated to become the next gold mine in Namibia, is expected to be larger than the Otjikoto mine. The Project has been substantially de-risked with the recent release of a Definitive Feasibility Study in July 2023.

Cirrus Capital (Namibia) advised on the NSX listing and anticipates increased exposure and awareness for Osino in Namibian capital markets. Rowland Brown, Co-Founder at Cirrus Capital commented: "This is the first real opportunity for Namibian investors to purchase NSX-listed shares in one of Namibia's largest mines at a relatively early, but highly de-risked stage. This rare opportunity should be converted into a precedent for future mine development in the country, linking Namibians to ownership of local extractive industry opportunities."

About Osino Resources

Osino is a Canadian gold exploration and development company focused on the fast-tracked development of our wholly owned, Twin Hills Gold Project in central Namibia. Since its grassroots discovery by Osino in August 2019 the Company has completed more than 225,000m of drilling and has completed a suite of specialist technical studies culminating in the recently published Twin Hills Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") dated effective June 12, 2023. The DFS describes a technically simple and economically robust open-pit gold operation with a 13-year mine life and average annual gold production of over 169koz per annum.

Osino has a commanding ground position of approximately 8,000km2 located within Namibia's prospective Damara sedimentary mineral belt, mostly in proximity to and along strike of the producing Navachab and Otjikoto Gold Mines. The Company is actively exploring a range of gold prospects and targets along the belt by utilizing a portfolio approach geared towards discovery, targeting gold mineralization that fits the broad orogenic gold model.

Our core projects are favourably located north and north-west of Namibia's capital city Windhoek. By virtue of their location, the projects benefit significantly from Namibia's well-established infrastructure with paved highways, railway, power and water in close proximity. Namibia is mining-friendly and lauded as one of the continent's most politically and socially stable jurisdictions. Osino continues to evaluate new ground with a view to expanding our Namibian portfolio.

Further details are available on the Company's website at https://osinoresources.com/ and under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Further details are available on the Company's website at https://osinoresources.com/

On Behalf of The Board of Directors

Heye Daun, President & CEO

CONTACT INFORMATION

Osino Resources Corp.

Yaron Conforti, Corporate Development

yconforti@osinoresources.com

+1-604-687-2038

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the use of proceeds from the Company's future plans or prospects of the Company, including prospects for economic recoverability of mineral resources. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company's most recent annual management's discussion and analysis which is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The Company does not undertake to update any forward- looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Randel Freeman has 35 years of investment and operational experience in the hedge fund and asset management industry

Geneva, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The investor group comprised of NewGAMe SA and Bruellan SA, which controls approximately 9.6% of the issued share capital of GAM Holding AG [GAM:SWX] ("GAM"), has named Randel ("Randy") Freeman as its candidate for Chief Executive Officer of GAM.

Subject to the necessary regulatory approvals, Mr Freeman is expected to be appointed shortly after GAM's EGM, expected to be held on or around 27 September 2023.

From 2017 to 2023, Mr Freeman was a member of the Investment Committee at Sterling Strategic Value, one of the oldest activist investors in Europe, and remains an adviser to the firm.

Mr Freeman began his career in Europe in 1995 co-managing an internal hedge fund group at Banque Paribas. In 2000, he and his partner spun it out to create Centaurus Capital, one of the first hedge funds in Europe. As CIO and CEO, Mr Freeman helped to grow Centaurus to AuM of over $5 billion, making it one of the largest non-US based hedge funds. In 2014, he sold Centaurus Capital to Fortress Investment Group, where Mr Freeman became CIO of Fortress Centaurus Strategies and a Director of Fortress' London business.

Throughout his career Mr Freeman has established three asset management businesses, managed numerous alternative investment funds, and invested in over 60 countries. In addition to long-standing experience as CEO and CIO, he has been deeply involved in all aspects of asset management throughout his career, including risk management, compliance, human resources, marketing, and investor relations.

Prior to moving to Europe in 1995, he held roles in wealth management and asset management at Goldman Sachs in New York and Chicago.

Mr Freeman is a US, British and Swiss national. He holds a BBA in finance and accounting from Loyola University and an MBA from the University of Chicago, as well as CFA and CAIA qualifications.

Antoine Spillmann, CEO and Partner at Bruellan and the investor group's proposed candidate for chairman of GAM's board, said:

"We are delighted Randy Freeman has agreed to be our candidate for CEO of GAM. He is an outstanding investor with significant management, client and marketing experience. His deep understanding of the core fund management business is complemented by his hedge fund and alternatives experience, making him the perfect candidate to lead GAM, return the business to growth and create long-term value for all of GAM's clients and other stakeholders."




DUBLIN, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Confused by the everchanging global chemical regulatory landscape? Do you want to meet industry experts to understand more about your obligations globally and share your experiences? Then join the CIRS Global Regulatory Conference in London on October 5.

The one-day event is open to all professionals in the chemicals industry, including manufacturers, distributors, regulatory affairs managers, and especially those looking to move into new markets.

The nine presentations will cover updates and challenges from the EU, UK, Turkey, South Korea, and China. Featuring speakers such as:

Marko Susnik, senior advisor at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO);

Alastair Gardner, trade specialist - chemicals export and investment team, Department for Business and Trade, UK; and

Ian Cranshaw, head of international trade and regions - Chemical Industries Association (CIA).

There will also be two panel discussions focused on sustainable development and supply chain challenges for the global chemical industry, which will include panelists such as:

Greta Waissi, vice president and head of regulatory affairs at NordShield, chair of the Finnish Society of Toxicology (FST); and

Pierre Germain, technical and regulatory affairs manager at the European Association of Chemical Distributors (Fecc).

There will be plenty of time to network and raise your questions with our amazing roster of speakers and panelists.

You will also have the opportunity to meet representatives from government authorities and several industry associations including the British Adhesives and Sealant Association (BASA), Chemical Business Association (CBA), Chemical Hazard Communication Society (CHCS), Chemicals Northwest, European Association of Chemical Distributors (Fecc), Irish Association of Chemicals & Ingredients (IACI), and British Coatings Federation (BCF).

Date: Thursday, October 5, 2023. Click here to find out more. For further information please contact conference@cirs-group.com

The CIRS Group is a leading product safety and regulatory consulting firm that uses its technical expertise, resources, and international network to provide comprehensive compliance services globally. This includes global chemical and cosmetic notifications and registrations, global GHS compliance, laboratory testing, R&D, and data services across multiple industries.

Established in 2007, the CIRS Group was the first company in China to offer support with EU REACH registrations and now accounts for 70% of the Chinese chemical consulting market. Making it a major representative of the Chinese manufacturing industry. It is headquartered in Hangzhou, China, and has subsidiaries in Ireland, South Korea, the UK, and the USA.

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LONDON, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PA Consulting (PA), the company that's bringing ingenuity to life, names Christian Norris as CEO, effective today.

An economist by training, Christian joined PA in 2018 as a Partner. At PA, he has led the firm's health and life sciences sector, and its economics and strategy offering, partnering with clients to deeply understand their organisational strategy and achieve growth and high performance. Christian has been instrumental in shaping PA's business strategy over the last five years, which has seen the firm secure exciting client work across its geographies, and growth through acquisitions.

PA is the only company to deliver end-to-end innovation, driving significant value for clients who are seeking opportunities in the face of constant change and increased complexity. PA partners with clients to accelerate new growth ideas, from concept, through design, development, and to commercial success. And to revitalise organisations, building the leadership, culture, systems, and processes to make innovation a reality.

John Alexander, Chairman at PA Consulting, said: "In Christian, we have a very strong leader. Christian is purposeful, strategic, authentic, thoughtful, and perhaps most importantly in a partnership model, collaborative. Working closely with the board, and under Christian's leadership, we will continue to create new growth opportunities for our clients, our people, and our communities."

Christian Norris, CEO at PA Consulting, said: "It is a great honour to be chosen to lead PA. We are uniquely placed in the market as the only company to bring ingenuity to life, driving significant value for our clients. Guided by our commitment to innovation and creating a culture that nurtures creativity and gives back to our communities, as CEO I will lead our diverse teams of experts as we build a positive human future."

Bob Pragada, PA Board member, and CEO of Jacobs, commented: "I'm delighted that Christian will lead the next exciting stage of PA's growth journey. I look forward to continuing to work together to tackle the world's most complex and challenging agendas, create new opportunities for our teams, and leverage the significant power of our collaboration for clients and the communities we serve. Congratulations Christian!"

PA recently announced another year of strong growth for the year ending December 2022 with a 14 percent increase in fee income YOY (to 785 million) and 96 percent over five years. Other highlights include:

Launched The PA Foundation , committing to disbursing 10 million over five years, with over 1.2 million donated to 20 charities.

, 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.

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.

About Jacobs.

Jacobs holds a 65 percent stake in PA Consulting.

At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good. With approximately $15 billion in annual revenue and a talent force of more than 60,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of professional services including consulting, technical, scientific and project delivery for the government and private sector. Visit jacobs.com and connect with Jacobs on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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SHENYANG, China, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from CRI Online:

Amidst the prime season for indulging in the splendor of picturesque rice paddies, Tanbo Art Kingdom played host to a distinguished group of visitors. On the 28th of August, the event titled "Hello, Shenyang - 2023 'Together on Belt and Road' Overseas Journalists' Trip to Shenyang" graced the grounds of Tanbo Art Kingdom in Shenyang. Here, amidst undulating waves of rice stalks, the very essence of rural revitalization was savored.

Nestled within the heart of Shanjia Village in Shenyang's Shenbei New District, Tanbo Art Kingdom stands as a pastoral haven with a distinct emphasis on the art of rice paddies. Seamlessly intertwining the finesse of rice paddy artistry with the rich heritage of the Xibe ethnic group, this sanctuary proudly holds the nation's foremost expertise in rice paddy art design and cultivation techniques. It has been the nurturing ground for the growth of China's largest single-piece rice paddy artwork.

"The air here carries a refreshing purity, and the landscape is nothing short of breathtaking. To gaze downward from a height onto the splendid tapestry of the rice paddies evokes profound surprise-an emotion that eludes simple description," enthused Guvanch Soyunov, Director of the TV Broadcasting Channel at the State Committee of Turkmenistan for Television, Radio Broadcasting, and Cinematography, revealing his deep admiration for Tanbo Art Kingdom.

Within the rice fields of the neighboring villages, a harmonious blend of artistic craftsmanship and the marvels of nature unfurls, unveiling to overseas media officials the profound reservoir of Chinese wisdom and creativity. Reflecting on the visit, ?vangelia Papazi, Foreign Correspondent for the Greek Ministry of China Media Group (CMG), mused, "In the midst of this verdant and pragmatic urban landscape, steeped in a reverence for local history and culture, the city progresses harmoniously."

Across the expansive tapestry of Chinese terrain, lie idyllic villages. Recent years have seen Tanbo Art Kingdom in the Shenbei New District exemplify a novel approach to rural rejuvenation. This endeavor has paved the way for an innovative synergy between agriculture and tourism, elevating Tanbo Art Kingdom to the status of a "Shenyang model" for rural revitalization.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197674/image_5003628_28083878.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/discovering-chinas-rural-revitalization-overseas-media-officials-explore-shenyangs-tanbo-art-kingdom-301913574.html
Leveraging eSIM Technology to Deliver Reliable Connectivity for Global Drone Operations

SEATTLE, WA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Teal, a global connectivity platform and pioneering force in eSIM technology, is excited to announce its strategic partnership with Botlink, a leading innovator in the drone industry. This collaboration will leverage Teal's wholly owned, GSMA-certified eSIM technology to enable Botlink's mission-critical drone command-and-control technology by creating reliable and efficient connectivity for drone operators.

Connected by TEAL

Botlink XRD2 is a leading cellular drone connectivity hardware solution enabling beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations around the world. The XRD2's utilization of Teal's eSIM platform marks a significant feature upgrade for XRD2 users, instantly unlocking cellular networks worldwide. Botlink's objective is to empower drone operators focused on the integration of drones into our daily lives. With Teal's eSIM technology, the Botlink XRD2 enables users to quickly and easily overcome challenging hurdles when it comes to ensuring "always-on" connectivity for their BVLOS operations.

BVLOS drone operations face many connectivity challenges and maintaining constant connectivity is "permission-to-play" for mission-critical drone operations. The lack of network redundancy, roaming restrictions, and the management of multiple vendors and contracts often result in significant time and money lost for businesses - not to mention the constant worry about 3G network sunsets, 5G upgrades, and network outages.

Enter Teal. The company's patented, GSMA-certified eSIM technology is addressing these issues head-on, providing a secure, global connectivity platform that is flexible and scalable for businesses.

"Through our partnership with Botlink, we're not just solving their connectivity challenges - we're revolutionizing the drone industry," said Robert Hamblet, CEO of Teal. "Our eSIM technology eliminates the traditional limitations of cellular network providers, offering unparalleled flexibility and reliability, so that Botlink can seamlessly deploy their technology worldwide ensuring the highest level of service and availability for their customers."

For customers deploying Botlink technology, cellular connectivity is paramount. The partnership between Teal and Botlink is proving to be a game-changer and this strategic alliance is designed to tackle the industry's most pressing connectivity challenges - from redundancy issues to the concerns surrounding network sunsets and ultimately making roaming a thing of the past for Botlink.

"After years of shipping the XRD around the world to customers, we knew that the final piece of the puzzle was to find the right SIM and data provider," said Matt Sather, General Manager at Botlink. "Teal was the perfect partner for us and our customers, as it delivers a single SIM and APN while letting the customer utilize different cellular networks around the world, including direct access to the major telecom providers in the U.S.," continued Sather.

This partnership is more than a collaboration; it's a step forward in bringing unparalleled connectivity to Botlink's customers. With Teal's eSIM technology, Botlink can continue to push the boundaries of drone technology, free from the constraints of traditional connectivity challenges.

It's a win-win situation for both companies and for drone operators who ultimately benefit from this alliance.

About TEAL

Teal's wholly owned and patented eSIM technology connects any device onto any data network worldwide. With more network operator agreements than any other connectivity provider, Teal gives businesses everywhere the flexibility and control to remotely switch between networks, ensuring the highest level of reliability and performance for any internet of things (IoT) deployment. Teal's eSIM technology is GSMA-certified and supports applications across many industries including mobility, robotics, drones, industrial IoT, healthcare, and private LTE/5G. Learn more at teal.io.

About Botlink

Botlink was founded in Fargo, North Dakota, by military pilots and engineers with the intent to share the benefits of drones safely. Botlink is a drone software and hardware development company leading the LTE communication technology market with the XRD2 hardware and software platform. Botlink also provides automated drone control and safety features allowing operators to remain safe and compliant with complex flight regulations. For more information, visit https://botlink.com/.

For more information, please visit www.teal.io and www.botlink.com.

Press Contact:

Robb Monkman, VP of Marketing at Teal

rmonkman@tealcommunications.com

425.753.9993

Contact Information

Robb Monkman

VP of Marketing

rmonkman@tealcommunications.com

+14257539993

SOURCE: TEAL

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/777935/TEAL-Joins-Forces-With-Botlink-to-Advance-the-Adoption-of-BVLOS-Drone-Technology
Not for release to US wire services or distribution in the United States

ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE AND AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE

SUBIACO, WESTERN AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / The Board of RTG Mining Inc. ("RTG", or the "Company") (TSX Code:RTG), (ASX Code:RTG) is pleased to provide this update on progress with respect to the development of the high grade copper-gold Mabilo Project located in Camarines Norte Province, Eastern Luzon, Philippines.

As reported earlier this year, RTG agreed terms under a binding Memorandum of Agreement with the Villar Family's TVI Resource Development (Phils.) Inc. ("TVIRD") where RTG will continue to hold a 40% interest in the Mabilo Project and TVIRD will hold the remaining 60%. In addition to this, RTG will have a 2% net smelter royalty ("NSR") on the project and have US$27M of debt repaid from the proceeds of planned Stage 1 production.

RTG is pleased to confirm that it has recently held its first project development meeting with TVIRD executives to undertake a detailed review of operational plans for the Mabilo Project, including a central focus on the start-up of the potentially highly profitable Direct Shipping phase. These latest discussions are considered a significant step forward for RTG and signal TVIRD's commitment to helping shift the focus for the Mabilo Project from corporate to operational matters.

Given the Mabilo Project has been on care and maintenance for over two years, the initial meeting focused on important near-term initiatives including discussions on local issues such as the necessary Social Development and Management Programs and the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programs together with reviewing tree clearing permits as well as the port facility and the land acquisition program.

A key outcome of the meeting was the agreement that the Management Committee, which has representatives of both project partners, will hold meetings every two weeks to work closely to advance development plans towards a targeted operational start-up as soon as possible.

RTG is also particularly pleased to welcome the appointment of Mr Edsel Abrasaldo to manage the technical aspects of the Mabilo Project on the ground in the Philippines. Mr Abrasaldo is a highly experienced mining executive with extensive regional experience operating in the Philippines.

Commentary:

Commenting on these positive discussions held in the Philippines, RTG's CEO Justine Magee said: "This first project development meeting with TVIRD should be regarded as a key turning point for the Company and marks a profound shift in focus as we move past legal and corporate matters to now focus on activities which move Mabilo firmly forward into the project development phase. RTG has engaged in good and extensive discussions with TVIRD's executive team, which now includes the newly appointed technical executive, representing a clear focus on operational start-up as we work together to unlock the value of the high-grade Mabilo copper/gold project. TVIRD's shareholders share the same view as RTG's Board in that Mabilo is a hugely valuable high grade cooper-gold project, a significant mining project for the Philippines, and together we are intent on unlocking this value. RTG looks forward to providing further updates on operational strategy over the coming months."

ABOUT RTG MINING INC

RTG Mining Inc. is a mining and exploration company listed on the main board of the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange. RTG is currently focused primarily on progressing the Mabilo Project to start-up having now received a mining permit for the Project, with a view to moving quickly and safely to a producing gold and copper company.

RTG also has a number of exciting new opportunities including the Panguna Project in Bougainville, which it remains committed to while also considering further new business development opportunities.

RTG has an experienced management team which has to date developed seven mines in five different countries, including being responsible for the development of the Masbate Gold Mine in the Philippines through CGA Mining Limited. RTG has some of the most respected international institutional investors as shareholders including Franklin Templeton, Equinox Partners and Sun Valley.

ENQUIRIES

President & CEO - Justine Magee

Tel: +61 8 6489 2900

Email: jmagee@rtgmining.com

US Investor Relations Contact

Jaime Wells: +1 970 640 0611

jwells@rtgmining.com

Australia Investor and Media Contact

Sam Burns: +61 400 164 067

sam.burns@sdir.com.au

COMPLIANCE STATEMENT

Date: 30 August 2023

Authorised for release by: By the Board of Directors

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed nor does it accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.

This announcement includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation including, among others, statements made or implied relating to the interpretation of exploration results, accuracy of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, parameters and assumptions used to estimate mineral reserves and mineral resources, realization of mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, estimated economic results of the Mabilo Project, future operational and financial results, including estimated cashflow and the timing thereof, estimated expenditures, expansion, exploration and development activities and the timing thereof, including expectations regarding the DSO, plans for progressing Stage 2 development, completion of a debt funding package, the negotiation of contracts for start up works and offtake arrangements and the completion of merged documentation, RTG's objectives, strategies to achieve those objectives, RTG's beliefs, plans, estimates and intentions, and similar statements concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, are forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements generally can be identified by words such as "objective", "may", "will", "expected", "likely", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "should", "plans", or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties and are based on certain factors and assumptions. 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 RTG's expectations include uncertainties related to fluctuations in gold and other commodity prices and currency exchange rates; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology, continuity and grade of mineral deposits; uncertainty of estimates of capital and operating costs, recovery rates, production estimates and estimated economic return; the need for cooperation of government agencies in the development of RTG's mineral projects; the need to obtain additional financing to develop RTG's mineral projects; the possibility of delay in development programs or in construction projects and uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones for RTG's mineral projects and other risks and uncertainties as discussed in RTG's annual report for the year ended December 31, 2022 and detailed from time to time in our other filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities available at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements made in this announcement relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. RTG will not release publicly any revisions or updates to these forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances or unanticipated events occurring after the date of this announcement except as required by law or by any appropriate regulatory authority.

NOT FOR RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES

This announcement has been prepared for publication in Canada and Australia and may not be released to US wire services or distributed in the United States. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction. Any securities described in this announcement have not been, and will not be, registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States except in transactions exempt from, or not subject to, registration under the US Securities Act and applicable US state securities laws.

SOURCE: RTG Mining Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778398/Mabilo-Project-Moves-From-Corporate-to-Operational-Focus
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Copper Fox Metals Inc. (TSXV: CUU) (OTCQX: CPFXF) ("Copper Fox" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of an updated mineral resource estimate ("MRE") on its 100% owned Eaglehead copper-gold-molybdenum-silver porphyry copper project located in northwestern British Columbia. The MRE was prepared by Moose Mountain Technical Services ("MMTS") in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") standards (May 9, 2016), CIM Definition Standards (May 19, 2014) with guidance from CIM Best Practice Guidelines (November 29, 2019). For reporting purposes, a C$5.50 net smelter return ("NSR") is considered the base case for the MRE.

Elmer B. Stewart, President and CEO of Copper Fox stated, "This mineral resource estimate is a key milestone for Eaglehead as it is the first time an indicated mineral resource has been reported on the project. The current pit constrained resource estimate resulted from the geological modelling and compilation completed over the past year and shows a significant increase in project resources when compared to previous historical resource estimates. The spatial distribution of the alteration, mineral zonation, and style of mineralization indicates that the current mineral resource represents the upper level of a potentially much larger, open ended porphyry copper deposit. The zones of porphyry style mineralization are open at depth and along strike and indicates potential to significantly expand the project resource base. The Company is currently evaluating the MRE and plans to use these results to develop a program to continue testing the resource potential of the project."

Resource Estimate

The MRE for the Eaglehead project, as prepared by MMTS, is summarized in Table 1 below. The effective date of the MRE is August 21, 2023. Parameters used to define the "reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction" pit are summarized in the Notes to Table 1. The NI 43-101 Technical Report disclosing the MRE will be filed on SEDAR+ within 45 days.

Table 1: Pit Constrained Mineral Resources for the Eaglehead Project with an effective date of August 21, 2023.



In situ Grade In situ Metal Class NSR Cutoff Tonnage NSR CuEq Cu Mo Au Ag NSR CuEq Cu Mo Au Ag (C$ /tonne) (kt) (C$ /tonne) % % % gpt gpt M$ Mlb Mlb Mlb koz koz Indicated 5.00 71,971 24.42 0.322 0.219 0.0107 0.060 0.9 1,758 510 347 17.0 139.8 2,159 5.50 70,810 24.74 0.326 0.221 0.0108 0.061 0.9 1,752 509 345 16.9 139.6 2,151 8.00 64,395 26.52 0.349 0.236 0.0118 0.066 1.0 1,708 496 335 16.8 137.5 2,093 10.00 58,210 28.38 0.374 0.251 0.0128 0.072 1.1 1,652 480 322 16.4 134.6 2,021 15.00 43,415 33.83 0.446 0.293 0.0161 0.089 1.3 1,469 427 280 15.4 123.8 1,798 20.00 30,454 40.82 0.538 0.344 0.0207 0.112 1.6 1,243 361 231 13.9 109.2 1,530 Inferred 5.00 250,820 18.19 0.240 0.187 0.0035 0.042 0.6 4,562 1,325 1,036 19.4 339.5 5,024 5.50 242,331 18.64 0.246 0.192 0.0035 0.043 0.6 4,517 1,312 1,025 18.7 335.8 4,971 8.00 202,996 20.95 0.276 0.215 0.0040 0.049 0.7 4,253 1,235 964 17.9 318.5 4,660 10.00 175,071 22.86 0.301 0.234 0.0044 0.054 0.8 4,002 1,163 905 17.0 302.8 4,379 15.00 118,277 27.91 0.368 0.283 0.0056 0.068 0.9 3,301 959 739 14.6 260.1 3,590 20.00 78,227 33.32 0.439 0.334 0.0069 0.086 1.1 2,607 757 576 11.9 215.5 2,814 20.00 108,681 35.42 0.467 0.337 0.0108 0.093 1.2 3,850 1,118 807 25.9 325.0 4,347

NSR=net smelter return, CuEq=copper equivalent, Cu=copper, Mo=molybdenum, Au=gold, Ag=silver.

kt=thousands of tonnes, gpt=grams per tonne, Mlb=millions of pounds, koz=thousands of ounces.

Notes to the Resources Table

The Mineral Resource Estimate has been prepared by Sue Bird, P.Eng., an independent Qualified Person. Resources are reported using the 2014 CIM Definition Standards and were estimated in accordance with the CIM 2019 Best Practices Guidelines. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The Mineral Resource has been confined by a "reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction" pit using the following assumptions: Cu price of US$3.50/lb, Mo price of US$20.00/lb, Au price of US$1,750/oz, Ag price of US$20/oz at an exchange rate of 0.77 US$ per C$. 97% for Cu and Au, 90.0% payable for Ag, 99.0% payable for Mo, 1% Unit deduction for Cu and Mo, Cu concentrate smelting of US$120/wmt, US$0.10/lb Cu refining and transport of US$100/t. For Mo smelting costs of US$2.5/wmt con, US$1.52/lb Mo refining, and US$154.05/wmt transport, Au refining of US$8.00/oz with Ag refining of US$0.50/oz with transportation costs included in the Cu con. Recoveries for Cu, Mo, Au, and Ag of 89.9%, 71.1%, 78.6% and 78.1% respectively. Resulting NSR equation is: NSR = 22.0462*(Cu% * C$3.83/lb *89.9% + Mo%*C$ 23.58 * 71.1%) +Au gpt *C$70.55/g * 78.6% + Ag gpt * C$ 0.74/g * 78.1% Mining costs of C$1.50/t. Processing, G&A, and tailings management costs of C$5.50/t. Pit slopes of 50 degrees. Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

Geological Model

Eaglehead is an early Jurassic calc-alkaline Cu-Mo-Au-Ag porphyry deposit located approximately 50 kilometers ("km") east of Dease Lake hosted in the prolific Quesnel terrane in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The deposit consists of four distinct mineralized zones as described below.

The East and Bornite zones are underlain by porphyritic biotite granodiorite intruding quartz porphyry and hornblende quartz diorite. The mineralization outcrops below the glacial overburden and is open at depth and both across and along strike. The copper mineralization is associated with potassic and texturally destructive sericite-chlorite alteration hosted in crosscutting, multi-phase quartz-sulphide veins and quartz vein stockworks that contain significant concentrations of gold-molybdenum-silver. The most intense alteration and highest copper grades are related to zones of increased vein and fracture density and late-stage magmatic breccia. Chalcopyrite, bornite, and pyrite also occurs as disseminations in the host rock.

The Pass and Camp zones are underlain by porphyritic biotite granodiorite and quartz porphyry intruded by generally thin, 2-5 meter ('m'), crowded quartz feldspar and quartz feldspar porphyry dikes. In general, these zones were drill tested by shallow drilling (+/-150m vertical) with only two drill holes located on the south side of the Pass zone extending to significant depth (+/- 500m). Near surface, the dominant copper sulphide is chalcopyrite. The mineralization is primarily copper-silver with sporadic gold-molybdenum concentrations increasing at depth. The copper mineralization is associated with texturally destructive sericite-chlorite and lesser amounts of potassic alteration. Propylitic alteration is dominant outward of the sericite-chlorite and potassic alteration. Chalcopyrite occurs primarily in crosscutting, multi-phase quartz-sulphide veins and quartz vein stockworks. At depth in the two deep drill holes in the Pass zone the chalcopyrite bearing veins contain increasing concentrations of bornite and molybdenite. The most intense alteration and highest copper grades are related to zones of increased vein and fracture density. Chalcopyrite, pyrite, and trace bornite also occurs as disseminations in the host rock.

Resource Estimate Methodology

Exploration Data Analysis

The exploration data and analytical database was verified by preparation and review of histograms, scatter plots, mean grades, coefficients of variation (CVs) and spatial review of mineralization patterns.

Domains

Interpolations domains have been created using the geologic model as a guideline and producing four main mineralized domains with an additional domain of an overall strike length of approximately 4.5 km, as illustrated in the figure below. For clarity Figure 1 does not show the "halo" domain, instead illustrating the Cu in the drillholes which the "halo" domain encompasses. "Firm" boundaries allowing sample sharing during the first pass of the interpolation (between 15m-60m depending on domain) have been used for the "halo" domain with the four main mineralized zones.





Figure 1: Location of the four main mineralized zones, Eaglehead project.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2177/178936_a6c00f82d4c80a69_001full.jpg

Bulk Density

Bulk density has been assigned based on 2,484 measurements by lithology as between 2.66 and 2.72.

Capping and Outlier Restriction

Capping of the high-grade assays has been done prior to compositing to reduce the influence of very high grades. Outlier restriction during interpolation was applied to the composites to further reduce the influence of anomalously high grades and to ensure that the modelled grades and metal content validate with the data. The values of capping and outlier restriction are provided in the table below. At distance beyond 5m the composites are essentially capped at the outlier value.

Table 2: Eaglehead Capping and Outlier Restrictions

Metal Parameter Domain 1 2 3 4 5 Cu Cap (%) 999 10 2 0.7 999 Outlier (%) 2.5 1.4 1.0 0.6 1.2 Mo Cap (%) 1 0.3 0.03 0.01 0.1 Outlier (%) --- --- --- --- --- Au Cap (gpt) 10 8 0.2 0.1 2 Outlier (gpt) 5 2 0.1 0.1 0.5 Ag Cap (gpt) 50 50 10 4 10 Outlier (gpt) 15 15 2 3 6

Composites

The data has been composited to 5m intervals, honoring the domain boundaries. Samples less than 2.5m were merged with the composite sample above to homogenize sample support. Weighted mean grades of the assays and composites data have been compared to ensure no bias was introduced by the compositing process.

Variography

Variograms for each domain have been modelled for copper in order to aid in the determination of Classification parameters for the resource.

Estimation Interpolation Methods

Copper, molybdenum, gold, and silver have been estimated using inverse distance squared (ID2) with nearest neighbour (NN) estimates generated for validation. Interpolation has been done in five passes for each domain with search orientation based on variography and geologic modelling and search distances increasing with each pass up to 1.5 times the ranges found for the Cu variograms. Blocks were estimated using a minimum of four and a maximum of 12 composites with a maximum of 2 composites per drill hole for the first 4 passes. The final pass uses a minimum of 2, a maximum of 8 and minimum of 2 composites per drillhole.

Block Model Validation

Several validation techniques have been utilised to ensure that the estimates are reasonable. The global grades of the model with the de-clustered composites have been compared to ensure no bias was introduced. In addition, the total metal content for each metal at various cutoff have been compared to ensure that the total metal compares well to that of data. Grade-tonnage curves have ben created to ensure that the appropriate smoothing of modelled grades has been accomplished with no over-prediction of metal throughout the grade distributions. Swath plots comparing the de-clustered composite grade to the ID2 modelled estimate in Easing, Northing and Elevation were completed to ensure the model is spatially predicting grade correctly. Visual comparisons on section and plan were also done to ensure the model compares well to the assay grades.

Resource Estimate Uncertainty

Areas of uncertainty that may materially impact the mineral resource estimate include changes to: long-term metal price assumptions; interpretations of mineralization geometry, fault geometry and continuity of mineralized zones; NSR used to constrain the estimates; the regression equation used to fill in missing gold and silver values; metallurgical recovery assumptions; input assumptions used to derive the conceptual open pit outlines used to constrain the estimate; variations in geotechnical, hydrogeological and mining assumptions and environmental, permitting and social license assumptions.

There are no other known environmental, legal, title, taxation, socioeconomic, marketing, political or other relevant factors that would materially affect the estimation of mineral resources that are not discussed in this news release.

Cautionary Note to Investors

While the terms "indicated (mineral) resource" and "inferred (mineral) resource" are recognized and required by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, investors are cautioned that except for that portion of mineral resources classified as mineral reserves, mineral resources do not have demonstrated economic viability. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of measured or indicated mineral resources will ever be upgraded into mineral reserves. Additionally, investors are cautioned that inferred mineral resources have a high degree of uncertainty as to their existence, as to whether they can be economically or legally mined, or will ever be upgraded to a higher category.

United States investors are advised that current Mineral Resources are not current Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

Qualified Persons

Ms. Sue Bird - P.Eng., of MMTS is the Qualified Person ("QP") who prepared the mineral resource estimate, and compiled and reviewed the mineral resource estimate disclosed in this news release. Ms. Bird, as the QP, has approved the scientific and technical content of this news release. Elmer B. Stewart, MSc. P.Geo., President of Copper Fox, is the Company's nominated QP pursuant to NI 43-101, Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed the scientific and technical information disclosed in this news release. Mr. Stewart is not independent of Copper Fox.

About Copper Fox

Copper Fox is a Tier 1 Canadian resource company focused on copper exploration and development in Canada and the United States. The principal assets of Copper Fox and its wholly owned subsidiaries, being Northern Fox Copper Inc. and Desert Fox Copper Inc., are the 100% ownership of the Van Dyke oxide copper project located in Miami, AZ, the 100% interest in the Mineral Mountain and Sombrero Butte porphyry copper exploration projects located in Arizona, the 25% interest in the Schaft Creek Joint Venture with Teck Resources Limited on the Schaft Creek copper-gold-molybdenum-silver project and the 100% owned Eaglehead polymetallic porphyry copper project, each located in northwestern British Columbia. For more information on Copper Fox's mineral properties and investments visit the Company's website at copperfoxmetals.com.

For additional information contact: Jason Shepherd at 1-844-464-2820; investor@copperfoxmetals.com

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Elmer B. Stewart

President and Chief Executive Officer

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.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is generally identifiable by use of the words "believes", "may", "plans", "will", "anticipates", "intends", "budgets", "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "projects" and similar expressions, and the negative of such expressions. Forward-looking information in this news release include statements about the mineral resource estimate for the Eaglehead project; the completion and filing of a National Instrument 43-101 technical report related to the Eaglehead mineral resource estimate; potential existence and size of mineralization within the Eaglehead project; and geological interpretations and potential mineral recovery processes. Information concerning mineral resource estimates also may be deemed to be forward-looking information in that it reflects a prediction of the mineralization that would be encountered if a mineral deposit were developed and mined.

In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Copper Fox and its subsidiaries have made numerous assumptions, regarding, among other things: the geological, metallurgical, engineering, financial and economic advice that Copper Fox has received is reliable and is based upon practices and methodologies which are consistent with industry standards. While Copper Fox considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies.

Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause Copper Fox's actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. Known risk factors include, among others: the actual mineralization in the Eaglehead deposit may not be as favorable as suggested by the resource estimate; the NI 43-101 technical report that includes the resource estimate may not be filed within the anticipated timeframe, or at all; fluctuations in copper and other commodity prices and currency exchange rates; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology, continuity and grade of mineral deposits; uncertainty of estimates of capital and operating costs, and recovery rates; the need to obtain additional financing to develop properties and uncertainty as to the availability and terms of future financing; the possibility of delay in exploration or development programs or in construction projects and uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones; uncertainty as to timely availability of permits and other governmental approvals.

A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing Copper Fox is disclosed in Copper Fox's continuous disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedarplus.ca All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and Copper Fox disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events, or developments, except as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178936
Further Enhance XCMG's Service Capacity on After-Sale, Buyback Options, Maintenance and Repair, and Spare Parts Warehousing in the Middle East

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading construction machinery manufacturer XCMG Machinery ("XCMG", SHE:000425) has officially launched its Saudi Arabia subsidiary company in Riyadh, to anchor the establishment of a more comprehensive sales and service network locally and further boost the integration into Saudi Arabia's development.

The Saudi subsidiary offers a range of services including after-sales support, spare parts warehousing, buyback options, and maintenance and repair services to local customers.

Saleh Ali Khabti, Deputy Minister for Investment Transaction, Ministry of Investment, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, noted at the opening ceremony that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Saudi Arabia in the last century, China-Saudi Arabia relations have advanced steadily with fruitful cooperation across various fields, in particular, with the launch of 'Vision 2030,' Saudi Arabia has accelerated its socio-economic reforms with new policies and initiatives coming into effect and the society becoming more open up, the business environment is improving continually and diversified economic programs are being implemented steadily.

"In recent years, Chinese enterprises like XCMG have actively participated in the economic development and construction of Saudi Arabia and Middle East countries, and XCMG has also become a bridge and link to deepen the friendship between the two peoples," remarked Saleh Ali Khabti.

Lu Chuan, President of XCMG, noted that XCMG has evolved from trade export to cultivating localized operations to carry out an international development roadmap integrating product export, overseas factories, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and global R&D collaboration.

"XCMG is firmly committed to internationalization, the main strategy of the group, and upholding the industrial transformation and upgrading to achieve high-end, intelligent, green, service-oriented, and international development, continuing to strengthen our marketing and sales network and comprehensively elevate our services to create greater values for our customers in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa regions," said Lu.

With the opening of the Saudi Arabia subsidiary, XCMG will further expand its regional operation layout and promote the green, low-carbon transformation of product development to take full advantage of the integrated industrial chain, joining hands with local partners to achieve win-win development, while taking part in opening new chapter of China-Saudi Arabia cooperation.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197722/XCMG_Machinery_Officially_Launches_Its_Saudi_Arabia_Subsidiary_Company.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/xcmg-machinery-officially-launches-its-saudi-arabia-subsidiary-company-301913609.html
Babcock Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (B&W) (NYSE: BW) announced today that its B&W Environmental business segment has been awarded a contract for approximately $9 million to design and supply an air-cooled condenser system for a waste-to-energy facility in the U.K.

B&W Environmental will supply a SPIG S.p.A. air-cooled condenser system, which provides significant environmental benefits by eliminating cooling water. SPIG air-cooled condensers can be used in nearly any climate and are well-suited for renewable energy applications such as waste-to-energy and biomass-fueled power plants.

"We continue to see a strong market for B&W Environmental's cooling technologies in Europe, particularly for renewable energy projects," said Joe Buckler, B&W Senior Vice President, Clean Energy. "We look forward to delivering this cooling system for our customer and contributing to the development of this clean energy facility."

SPIG high efficiency air-cooled condensers are flexible and customizable to a plant's layout, and offer low-noise operation and corrosion resistance, and can operate in extreme temperature conditions. Customers also benefit from the equipment's long operating life, minimized downtime and maximized plant performance and availability.

About Babcock Wilcox

Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, Babcock Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. is a leader in energy and environmental products and services for power and industrial markets worldwide. Follow us on LinkedIn and learn more at babcock.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

B&W cautions that this release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements relating to a contract to supply an air-cooled condenser system for a U.K. waste-to-energy plant. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For a more complete discussion of these risk factors, see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K. If one or more of these risks or other risks materialize, actual results may vary materially from those expressed. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, except to the extent required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830020532/en/

Contacts:

Investor Contact:

Investor Relations

Babcock Wilcox

704.625.4944

investors@babcock.com



Media Contact:

Ryan Cornell

Public Relations

Babcock Wilcox

330.860.1345

rscornell@babcock.com
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:SGQ)(HK:1878) ("SouthGobi" or the "Company") announces that reference is made to the Management Proxy Circular of the Company dated July 20, 2023 (Vancouver time) (the "Circular") and the announcement of the Company dated August 22, 2023 (Vancouver time) (the "Announcement"). Unless the context otherwise requires, capitalized terms used herein shall have the same meanings as those defined in the Circular and the Announcement.

The Company is pleased to announce that the postponed Special Meeting of the shareholders of the Company (the "Shareholders") which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, August 23, 2023, was held on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. (Vancouver time), which is Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. (Hong Kong time) (the "Postponed Meeting") at the office of Dentons Canada LLP, 20th floor - 250 Howe Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The following sets forth a brief description of the matter which was voted upon at the Postponed Meeting and the outcome of the vote:

The following ordinary resolution was passed by a majority of the votes cast by ballot. The result of the vote by ballot with respect to the above matter is shown below:

ORDINARY RESOLUTION FOR AGAINST 1. Approval of March 2023 Deferral Agreement The disinterested Shareholders passed an ordinary resolution authorizing and approving the deferral agreement dated March 24, 2023 (the "March 2023 Deferral Agreement") between JD Zhixing Fund L.P. (the "Deferral Interested Shareholder"), the Company and certain of its subsidiaries as more fully described in the Circular. 48,226,185 (99.99%) 4,200 (0.01%)

Notes:

As more than 50% of votes cast were in favor of resolution number 1, the resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution at the Postponed Meeting. As at the date of the Postponed Meeting, the total number of issued shares of the Company was 295,277,779 Common Shares, and the total number of Common Shares entitling the holders to attend and vote on the resolution proposed at the Postponed Meeting was 209,563,585. The full text of the aforesaid resolution was set out in the Circular. Given that the Deferral Interested Shareholder is involved in and interested in the March 2023 Deferral Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereunder, the Deferral Interested Shareholder has abstained from voting at the Postponed Meeting on the resolutions approving them. Accordingly, the 85,714,194 votes attached to the Common Shares beneficially owned, or over which control or direction is exercised by the Deferral Interested Shareholder, were excluded from the vote to approve the March 2023 Deferral Agreement. Save as disclosed herein, there were (i) no Common Shares entitling the holders to attend and abstain from voting in favor of any resolution at the Postponed Meeting as set out in Rule 13.40 of the Hong Kong Listing Rules at the Postponed Meeting; and (ii) no Shareholder was required under the Hong Kong Listing Rules to abstain from voting on the resolutions at the Postponed Meeting and there were no restrictions on any Shareholder casting vote on the resolutions proposed at the Postponed Meeting. None of the disinterested Shareholders have stated their intention in the Circular to vote against or to abstain from voting on any of the resolutions proposed at the Postponed Meeting. The Company's share registrar, TSX Trust Company, acted as the scrutineer for the vote-taking at the Postponed Meeting. The executive Directors, Messrs. Ruibin Xu, Chen Shen and Ms. Chonglin Zhu attended the Postponed Meeting through the telecommunication facilities. The non-executive Directors, Messrs. Zhu Gao and Zaixiang Wen, attended the Postponed Meeting through the telecommunication facilities. The independent non-executive Directors, Mr. Mao Sun, attended the Postponed Meeting in person and Mr. Yingbin Ian He and Ms. Jin Lan Quan attended the Postponed Meeting through the telecommunication facilities.

There were no further items brought before the Postponed Meeting and no amendments or variations were proposed at the Postponed Meeting.

About SouthGobi

SouthGobi, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange, owns and operates its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia. It also holds the mining licences of its other metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in South Gobi region of Mongolia. SouthGobi produces and sells coal to customers in China.

Contact: Investor Relations Email: info@southgobi.com Mr. Ruibin Xu Chief Executive Officer Office: +1 604 762 6783 (Canada) +852 2156 1438 (Hong Kong) Website: www.southgobi.com

SOURCE: SouthGobi Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778457/SouthGobi-Announces-Voting-Results-of-The-Special-Meeting
Dieppe, New Brunswick--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Colibri Resource Corporation (TSXV: CBI) ("Colibri" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has been granted an extension by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") to complete its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") by September 13, 2023 (see the Company's news release dated June 30, 2023).

The Company is offering up to 1,000 units, each unit being comprised of: (i) a US$1,000 principal amount of 10% unsecured convertible debenture (a "Debenture") with a maturity date ("Maturity Date") of 2 years from the date of issuance; and (ii) 5,416 common share purchase warrants of the Company (each, a "Warrant").

Each Debenture will bear interest at 10% per annum, calculated in US dollars, from the date of issuance, payable in arrears quarterly and upon maturity or redemption. The Debentures will mature on the date that is two (2) years from the date of issuance. All interest accrued on the Debentures will be payable in cash only.

The principal amount of the Debentures are convertible into Common Shares, at the holder's option, at a price of (i) C$0.08 per Common Share upon issuance and 12 months; and (ii) at C$0.10 per Common Share between 12 months and one day to the Maturity Date (the "Conversion Price"), at any time prior to the Maturity Date. The Debentures carry a fixed foreign exchange rate of C$1.30 for each US$1 of principal for conversion purposes only.

Each Warrant is exercisable to acquire one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.12 per share for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance.

The Company has already closed a first tranche of the Offering on August 1, 2023 (see the Company's news release dated August 4, 2023) for gross proceeds of US$487,000 and anticipates closing a second and final tranche shortly.

The Offering, including the terms of the Offering, received the conditional approval of the Exchange prior to closing but is subject to the final approval of the Exchange. The Debentures, Warrants and any Common Shares resulting from the conversion of the Debentures, or the exercise of the Warrants will be subject to a hold period of four months and one day after the date of issuance thereof. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Offering for general working capital purposes and exploration expenses including drilling on the Evelyn/Plomo and Diamante/El Mezquite/Jackie projects.

About Colibri Resource Corporation:

Colibri is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company listed on the TSX-V (CBI) and is focused on acquiring and exploring prospective gold & silver properties in Mexico. The Company holds six high potential precious metal projects, all of which have planned exploration programs for calendar 2023.

For more information about all Company projects please visit: www.colibriresource.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.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release may contain certain "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

For further information, please contact:

Ronald J. Goguen, President, CEO and Director

Tel: (506) 383-4274

rongoguen@colibriresource.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178986
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Danavation Technologies Corp. (CSE: DVN) (OTCQB: DVNCF) ("Danavation" or the "Company"), the only North American-founded and headquartered technology company providing micro e-paper displays, is pleased to provide a corporate update highlighting some recent notable events and progress with installations that will help set the stage for 2024.

"Danavation has continued to make progress and secure new installation contracts as the hard work our team has put in over the last few years has really helped build momentum and propel the Company forward," said John Ricci, CEO of Danavation. "With multiple retailers recognizing the benefits of deploying our solution, we see the opportunity to continue securing full rollouts of our Digital Smart LabelsTM and feel we are well positioned with a low-risk, service-first value proposition driven by management's 25-plus year relationships with large retail and grocery brands across Canada and the US."

Since our go public event in early 2021, Danavation has continued to expand our presence across various markets, geographies and industries with the offering of our innovative Digital Smart Labels. Our sales team has been actively marketing the Company's platform-as-a-service ("PaaS") solution to prospective new clients and brands, and we have been successful in capturing additional market share across North America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Today, more than 35 retailers, brands and other businesses leverage Danavation's Digital Smart Labels and PaaS technology to enhance their efficiencies, streamline logistics and control costs.

Setting the Stage for Incremental Growth

Danavation has continued to gain traction in new markets across North America and Mexico, and we have onboarded retailers that span in size from local family-owned businesses to large, multi-national corporations. The Company looks forward to further building on this momentum through 2024 as we drive towards the ultimate goal of positive cash flow and profitability.

We are pleased to provide updates on previously announced installations as outlined below.

Rabba Fine Foods - With 35 local markets across the GTA and a track record of serving over 100,000 verified customers daily, Rabba Fine Foods offers everything you'd expect and more within their 24-hour locations including fresh produce, deli counters, hot & ready foods, dairy, bakery and other essential supplies for home or work. Since late 2022, Rabba Fine Foods has benefitted from an initial partial installation of Danavation's technology solution within one of their 35 locations. Given the success and return on investment realized from only a partial installation of our automated and sustainable price label solution, Rabba has confirmed their intention to outfit the full store with our Digital Smart Labels and PaaS technology. Based on the experience to be gained from this full store installation, Rabba will then determine the future rollout plan for the remaining locations in its portfolio.

Impulsora (Mexico) - We are pleased to confirm that the full roll-out of our technology solution continues across all Impulsora locations, as announced on November 30, 2022. Facilitated by our partnership with Unoretail, a marketing and distribution provider of networking and Point-of-Sale systems to retailers in Mexico, we anticipate finalizing the full roll-out within the first half of 2024. Impulsora is Mexico's largest distributor of electrical and lighting equipment and have a large and fast-moving inventory with more than 100,000 square metres of warehouse space located throughout Mexico. Impulsora has realized tangible benefits from using our Digital Smart Labels, which drove their decision to complete a full rollout to all stores across Mexico.

Nature's Emporium - Following our announcement on May 17, 2023 that confirmed Nature's Emporium was advancing the first of up to seven locations across southwestern Ontario, we are pleased to confirm installation is expected to be completed in early September, with Danavation's solution going live immediately thereafter. Predicated on success with this initial launch, we see potential for a full rollout to the six additional locations in the future. Nature's Emporium is a leading health food market with four locations in Ontario, Canada and two more opening before the end of 2023. As part of its mission to offer customers a wide variety of natural health foods, products and essentials, Nature's Emporium stocks a vast array of SKUs (stock keeping units) including natural and organic foods, vitamins, supplements, gluten-free offerings, traditionally raised grass-fed meats, natural skin care, cosmetics, home supplies and sustainable, eco friendly clothing.

Additional Notable Achievements

During our most recent fiscal year ended July 31, 2023 and through the first quarter of 2024 to date, we have successfully expanded our geographic reach to include new jurisdictions that include Mexico, Nova Scotia, the Yukon, Ohio, Texas, Arkansas, North Dakota and Missouri, among others, and Danavation plans to continue expanding our market presence across North America and around the world as part of our strategy execution. We are in the process of opening a new sales office in Chicago, Illinois which is designed to support further expansion into the US market, and we have continued to enhance our sales and marketing team with the addition of sales resources and more targeted campaigns.

Danavation intends to continue executing on growth opportunities that can help drive long-term value and remains focused on securing high-quality clients that offer access to multiple locations, which can enhance exposure and underpin our pursuit of long-term profitability. We will also continue to evaluate compelling new hardware and software solutions which can further contribute to Danavation's long-term portfolio value and help fuel our growth, sustainability and shareholder value creation into future years.

About Danavation

Danavation Technologies Corp. is the only North American-founded and headquartered technology company providing Digital Smart Labels and a software Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution that enables companies across various sectors to automate labelling, price, product, and promotions in real-time. Danavation's Digital Smart Labels enhance data accuracy and improve performance by removing high labour costs and low productivity typically associated with traditional labour-intensive workflows. Our goal is to create a sustainable and profitable business for shareholders while advancing sound environmental, social and governance practices, including by significantly reducing paper usage. Danavation has introduced its solution to retailers across North America, including big box and boutique grocers, while also targeting new markets including healthcare providers, manufacturing, and logistics companies. Learn more about the background of Danavation and our vision for the future on our website. As well, follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for more updates on how we are transforming the retail landscape.

For further information, please contact:

John Ricci

President & Chief Executive Officer

hello@danavation.com

Kyle Nazareth

Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 905-605-6702 | investors@danavation.com

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating, the future business of the Company, potential roll outs of the Company's products and services, further business from the Company's clients, industry outlook and potential and other matters. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by management of the Company. Although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information since no assurance can be given that they will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178935
Highlights 2023 First Half-Year

The Group company Plasticos Flome recorded a notable increase in year-on-year sales for the first half of 2023.

The outlook for Plasticos Flome, based on the development in the first half of the year, indicates an increase in year-on-year sales of more than 25% for 2023.

In the second half of 2023, first sales of Hydroponic Gutter, a product invented and developed in oceansix, are expected.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / oceansix future paths Ltd. ("the Company" or "oceansix") is a publicly-traded Company on the TSX Venture Exchange in Toronto (TSXV: CUSIP 001194828, OSIX), in New York (OTCQB:AKMYF), and Frankfurt Stock Exchange (WKN: A3EFB0, ISIN: IL0011948283, 5FC0). oceansix is a technology and manufacturing company on an environmental mission, using plastic waste to create innovative products and build transformative businesses. The Company is headquartered in Israel and operates a research and development center as well as a production facility in Valencia, Spain.

Financial Statements and MD&A for QII/2023

The Company announces the release of its consolidated financial statements for QII/2023 ended June 30, 2023 and related management discussion and analysis ("MD&A"). These documents, among others, are posted under the Company's profile on SEDAR www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.oceansix.com. All values in this news release and the Company's financial disclosures are in United States dollars unless otherwise stated.

Invitation: The Company welcomes your participation in a Teams-Meeting, where the Company's financial results will be explained in more detail and questions will also be gladly answered.

The Teams-Call will take place on

Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 8:00AM EST (Toronto) / 14:00 CEST (Berlin),

please dial in at this link: Click here to join

You are invited to be a part of oceansix' impact, business, and future to build better tomorrows.

For more information, please visit oceansix.com, and connect on LinkedIn and Twitter.

For Investor Relations information, please contact:

maximilian@oceansix.com | phone +49 89 139 28 890

oceansix future paths Ltd. | Elad Hameiri, CEO | phone +34 673 435 571

Derech Menachem Begin 11 | Ramat Gan | Israel

About oceansix

oceansix is a global source of radical, sustainable solutions and waste-to-product inventions. Powered by a vision of creating meaningful solutions, oceansix constantly invents ways of combining advanced technology with sustainable production and products from plastic waste. oceansix builds successful businesses in global industries while resolving some of Earth's burning challenges. The Company is propelled by its circular model, where products are manufactured from waste, and revenue is funneled to imagine revolutionary ideas for new products with huge market potential and impact.

Disclaimer

This release may contain forward-looking statements and information which may be identified by formulations using terms such as "expects", "aims", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates" or "will". Such forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and certain assumptions, which may be subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties. The results actually achieved by oceansix future paths Ltd. may substantially differ from these forward-looking statements. oceansix future paths Ltd. assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements or to correct them in case of developments, which differ from those, anticipated.

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: oceansix future paths Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778470/oceansix-future-paths-Ltd-Publishes-QII2023-Results
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Q2 Metals Corp. (TSXV: QTWO) (OTCQB: QUEXF) (FSE: 458) ("Q2" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the resumption of its exploration activities at the Mia Lithium Property (the "Property") located in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory of Quebec. The Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests has lifted its restrictions on forest access that has remained in place in the western James Bay region due to wildfires on and near the Property.

With the restrictions lifted, the Q2 geology team has mobilized and will immediately continue surface mapping/prospecting and rock sampling. The primary objective of the upcoming program is to explore and confirm drill targets along the approximately 8-km long Mia trend which is located within a greenstone belt. The secondary objective will be to assess the potential of the broader trends on the Property (see Figure 1).

"We are excited to get back to the Mia Property to continue our field work," said Q2 President and Chief Executive Officer, Alicia Milne. "We have a short window to conduct meaningful work before the culturally significant moose hunting season begins, which runs from September 15 to October 15, after which time we will return to the Property to continue our work. We will be assessing the Property, camp, and surrounding area given the forest fires, community evacuations, and restrictions that have been in place over the past 3 months and we look forward to updating the market as we progress."

"We have a plan in place to rapidly advance the known spodumene-bearing pegmatites and assess the high-priority trends," commented Q2 VP Exploration, Neil McCallum. "I have confidence that our experienced geological team at Dahrouge Geological Consulting will be able to maximize our time in the field prior to drilling. With our time cut short this summer, we have modified our drill plan to test the targets this fall as much as the weather will allow, and then return in the winter with a larger program."

Summary of June Exploration Work

In June 2023, Q2 completed a two-day mapping and sampling program of the historically known lithium pegmatites at the Property that resulted in the collection of 28 pegmatite samples. Six (6) samples were collected from spodumene-mineralized pegmatite and the remaining twenty-two (22) from non-mineralized pegmatite to broaden the understanding of the source-rock relationships, geochronology, and/or zonation of the pegmatite. A summary of the spodumene-mineralized samples is provided in Table 1.

Table 1 - Spodumene-mineralized samples from the June, 2023 site visit

Sample Li2O (%) Ta2O5 (ppm) Zone B00293504 0.55 72.3 Mia B00293505 2.05 101.7 Mia B00293501 2.73 61.9 Mia B00293510 1.57 167.3 Carte B00293511 2.01 93.9 Carte B00293512 1.04 72.9 Carte B00293507 0.02 160 Carte

Mia Zone

At the Mia Zone, the historically mapped spodumene-pegmatite was sampled and returned 2.73, 2.05 and 0.55% Li2O. This successfully verified the 2021 and 2022 work by the Property vendors of 18 grab samples averaging 2.65% Li2O.

The Mia Zone now measures a mapped extent of approximately 370 metres and is up to 140 metres wide. This represents an extension of approximately 130 metres to the north of the previously mapped extent. There are some inclusions of the host rock within these dimensions and there are unclear contacts in all directions leading to the inability to precisely report the true size of the pegmatite.

Figure 1. Mia Property Exploration Target Trends

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1454/178971_0c2221b6a456093b_002full.jpg

Carte Zone

At the Carte Zone, the historically mapped spodumene-pegmatite was sampled and returned three spodumene-mineralized samples of 2.01, 1.57 and 1.04% Li2O. This successfully verified the 2022 work by the Property vendors of 3 grab samples averaging 1.65% Li2O.

The Carte Zone measures a mapped extent of approximately 110 metres and is up to 30 metres wide. Like the Mia Zone, the contact relationship between the host rock and the pegmatite is unclear and additional work is needed to determine the true dimensions of the pegmatite. Additionally, the next pegmatite located approximately 250 metres to the west was sampled and returned 160 ppm Ta2O5.

Qualified Person

Neil McCallum, B.Sc., P.Geol, is a registered permit holder with the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and has reviewed the technical information in this news release. Mr. McCallum is a director and VP Exploration of Q2.

About Q2 Metals Corp

Q2 Metals Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company currently advancing exploration of its 8,668-ha flagship Mia Lithium Property in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay Territory of Quebec, Canada which is host to the Mia Li-1 and Mia Li-2 lithium occurrences. The Company also owns the Stellar Lithium Property with 77 claims totaling 3,972-ha, located approximately six kilometres north of its Mia Lithium Property.

Q2 is also exploring the highly prospective Big Hill and Titan gold projects covering approximately 110 km in the Talgai Goldfields of the broader Warwick-Texas District of Queensland, Australia, hosting 54 high-grade historical gold mines.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Alicia Milne

President & CEO

Alicia@Q2metals.com

Jason McBride

Corporate Communications

Jason@Q2metals.com

Telephone: 1 (800) 482-7560

E-mail: info@Q2metals.com

Follow the Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian legislation. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "may", "should", "would", "will", "potential", "scheduled" or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Accordingly, all statements in this news release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations and orientations regarding the future including, without limitation, any statements or plans regard the geological prospects of the Company's properties and the future exploration endeavors of the Company. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. 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. Readers are cautioned that mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business and accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors are discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for its recently completed fiscal period, which is available under Company's profile at www.sedarplus.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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178971
CHICAGO, IL and VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / The Planting Hope Company Inc. (TSXV:MYLK)(OTCQB:MYLKF)(FRA:J94) ("Planting Hope" or the "Company"), a foodtech company focused on leveraging cutting-edge ingredient, formulation, and packaging technology to develop breakthrough sustainable and nutritious food and beverage solutions, is pleased to report financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2023. All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated.

"For seven consecutive quarters we have focused on driving topline revenue growth; in the first half of 2023, we realigned our strategy to increase bottom line profitability," said Julia Stamberger, CEO and Co-Founder, Planting Hope. "We have embarked on a strategic journey to achieve EBITDA profitability over the next seven quarters, while we continue to growth and strengthen our revenue base in key channels, from Grocery Retail to Foodservice to Ecommerce to Alternate channels."

"Q2 2023 saw the results of the strategic re-alignment of our Grocery Retail business, where we cut excessive promotional programming with retailers and distributors to improve profitability. Most of the layered trade spend and distributor incentives that were eliminated had been inherited through the RightRice acquisition. On a net basis, these incentives were eroding the profitability of the Grocery Retail channel while not driving enough meaningful sales lift to absorb the costs of the spend," continued Ms. Stamberger. "As anticipated, the near-term impacts of removing programs like periodic distributor promotions that incented distributor forward-buying inventory at a discount are reflected in this quarter's financial results in lower gross revenue. Longer term we believe these changes will result in greater overall net profitability from the Grocery Retail channel as more inventory is sold to retailers at higher margins. As we develop our products further in Grocery Retail, we are prioritizing partnerships with strong retailers in their markets, with low or no slotting requirements and low required promotional spend, and where possible are seeking out alternate lower cost distribution options to reach these retailers."

"In addition to driving greater profitability in the Grocery Retail channel, in the second half of 2023 we are focusing attention across the Company on developing the enormous opportunities ahead for our products in Foodservice and diving deep into the development of this channel," said Ms. Stamberger. "We already have a great start on this with distribution of RightRice by name on the menu at CAVA Restaurants, through securing distribution of Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk in regional cafe distributors across North America, and by achieving availability of all Planting Hope products through DOT Foods, reaching more than 4,500 warehouses and 200,000 foodservice outlets."

"We have augmented our Sales team with Foodservice experts, and the recent strategic acquisition of Argo Tea, which included the Argo Tea cafe licensor program, eight active cafes on college campuses, and contracts with top managed foodservice operators," continued Ms. Stamberger. "In addition to building our products with the Gen Z audience, Argo Tea cafes provide Planting Hope with effective 'test labs' to trial beverage LTO recipes and build data stories to enhance our Foodservice sales strategy, and also opens the door for our products with the top global managed foodservice operators who administer tens of billions of dollars in annual food and beverage spend."

In the balance of 2023, the Company is placing emphasis on faster sales growth and acceleration in the channels with the largest and most scalable transactionally profitable opportunities, like Foodservice. In parallel with scaling currently profitable business and channels, the Company is focused on ensuring profitability across both current and new Grocery Retail and Alternate channel distribution, with manageable levels of retailer trade spend and distributor incentives. Goals include:

Establishing the Company as a profitable entity, targeting resources to build a strong foothold and customer following in Foodservice channels, while maintaining current profitable Grocery Retail distribution and continuing to scale profitable Ecommerce and Alternative channels; Focusing Grocery Retail growth on incrementally accretive opportunities in meaningful development markets with strong retail partners who have low-cost distribution and minimal trade spend requirements, and finding opportunities to improve distribution costs to retailers (and collectively expand channel profitability); Returning to investment in broader expansion across Grocery Retail (with targeted channel development budgets) once the Company's products are further established with consumers through Foodservice, Ecommerce, Alternative, and other transactionally profitable channels, resulting in built-in velocity and customer recognition and reducing the need for deep investments in in-store marketing to drive initial trial.

Q2 2023 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

During Q2 2023, the Company reported the following results versus Q2 2022:

Earned USD $2.7million (CAD $3.7 million) of gross revenues, a decrease of 19% in comparison to $3.3 million (CAD $4.5 million) earned in Q2 2022.

Earned USD $1.6million (CAD $2.1 million) of net revenues, a decrease of 37% in comparison to $2.5 million (CAD $3.4 million) earned in Q2 2022.

Reduced SG&A expenses by 16% (approximately USD $0.5 million | CAD $0.7 million).

SG&A expenses as a % of revenue increased by 3%.

Reduced interest and accretion expenses by 15%.

Adjusted EBITDA of USD ($2.4) million compared to USD ($2.2) million in Q2 2022, an increase of 11%.

During the 6 months June 2023 the Company reported the following results versus the 6 months June 2022:

Earned USD $6.0million (CAD $8.1 million) of gross revenues, an increase of 1% in comparison to USD $5.9 million (CAD $8.0 million) earned in the 6 months June 2022.

Earned USD $4.0 million (CAD $5.4 million) of net revenues, a decrease of 11% compared to USD $4.4 million (CAD $6.1 million) of net revenues earned in the 6 months June 2022.

Reduced SG&A expenses by 19% (approximately USD $1.2 million | CAD $1.7 million).

SG&A expenses as a % of revenue decreased by 21%.

Reduced interest and accretion expenses by 32%.

Adjusted EBITDA of USD ($4.3) million compared to USD ($4.6) million in the 6 months June 2022, an improvement of 6% USD ($0.3M).

Results of the strategic shifts implemented by the Company will be seen throughout 2023 and the stage is set to strive to realize quarterly profitability by early 2025. Q2 2023 is the first quarter to markedly reflect the strategic shift to higher profitability customers and channels and the concurrent elimination of promotional and trade spend programs that in certain instances drove sales revenue but not net profitability.

As anticipated, the implemented strategic changes resulted in lower quarterly topline sales revenue as the Company pulled back on trade spend in Grocery Retail, including removing the standard quarterly promotions that typically resulted in distributors and retailers forward-buying at a discount and loading up distribution warehouses. However, the expected long-term net result will be higher profitability on future sales revenue from the Grocery Retail channel, with less revenue subject to dilution from aggressive promotions.

Given that demand for the Company's products continued to rise in Foodservice, Ecommerce, and Alternative Retail during the first half of 2023, gross revenues still grew year-over-year concurrent with the realignments as anticipated.

The Company also continued to focus on reductions within Selling, General and Administrative ("SG&A") expenses resulting in USD $0.5 million of savings in Q2 2023 and USD $1.2 million of savings for the six months ended June 2023. Q2 2023 SG&A reductions were realized in payroll, sales and marketing spend, and in general expenditures. These expenditure reductions are not expected to have negative long-term impacts on the Company.

SELECT Q2 2023 ACHIEVEMENTS INCLUDE:

Expanded distribution of Hope and Sesame Barista Blend Sesamemilk into key distributors, influential partners, and leading independent and chain cafes across the U.S. and Canada that service Gen Z consumers, including:

Regional Distributors:

Distribution Bloom (Montreal, QB) - reaches 150 coffee shop customers across Quebec (potential Hope and Sesame customers).

The Roasters Pack (Toronto, ON) - reaches 60 coffee shop customers across Ontario (potential Hope and Sesame customers).

Examples of leading trend-setting cafes and coffeeshops adding Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk to their menus:

Pop Up Grocer ( Exclusive Alt Milk ; New York City, NY)

; New York City, NY) The Green Line Cafe coffee chain ( all locations ; Philadelphia, PA)

; Philadelphia, PA) JinJin Matcha's Matcha + Tea Room (Tacoma, WA)

Two Sparrows Cupcakes & Coffee Bar (Nanaimo, BC)

Hideout Coffee (Boise, IA)

10 Dean Cafe (Toronto, ON)



Continued to serve and expand RightRice High Protein Veggie Rice in Foodservice and CAVA Restaurants (NYSE: CAVA) nationwide. It should be noted that CAVA Restaurants had a successful IPO listing on the NYSE on June 15, 2023, raising expansion capital to more than triple their current store footprint of 270 stores by the end of the decade.



A primary ideal application of RightRice in Foodservice that has the potential to drive significant volume is in 'Bowls', a top menu trend from restaurants to corporate and college campuses. More nutritious and easier to handle operationally than cauliflower rice (which requires frozen supply and has a shorter shelf life), with a stronger supply chain and typically competitive or lower-priced than quinoa, RightRice also supplies a complete protein. With 11g of complete protein per serving, ounce-for-ounce RightRice has comparable complete protein to salmon, 3 times the protein in tofu, and 25% more protein than most alternative meats, like Beyond Meat or Impossible Burger.



A primary ideal application of RightRice in Foodservice that has the potential to drive significant volume is in 'Bowls', a top menu trend from restaurants to corporate and college campuses. More nutritious and easier to handle operationally than cauliflower rice (which requires frozen supply and has a shorter shelf life), with a stronger supply chain and typically competitive or lower-priced than quinoa, RightRice also supplies a complete protein. With 11g of complete protein per serving, ounce-for-ounce RightRice has comparable complete protein to salmon, 3 times the protein in tofu, and 25% more protein than most alternative meats, like Beyond Meat or Impossible Burger. Expanded Retail distribution of Mozaics Real Veggie Chips with the addition of H-E-B grocery stores, which have the highest foot traffic in the state of Texas, adding three flavors across 243 doors for a total of 729 new TDP. The premiere grocery chain in the state of Texas, H-E-B is an excellent example of a great Grocery Retailer to partner with as an emerging brand, as H-E-B has low-cost distribution and does not charge onerous program fees for promotions. This is the type of accretive, positive, retailer partnership that the Company is prioritizing to build going forward. H-E-B also carries RightRice in its stores, and the addition of Mozaics further deepens the Company's relationship with H-E-B stores, as well as increases Mozaics' presence in the Texas market, a 'Top 10' target geography for the Company's products.



Achieved 7% topline growth in Direct-to-Consumer Ecommerce sales on PlantingHopeBrands.com from Q1 2023 to Q2 2023 through increased focus on content planning, promotions, and user experience. Notably, the Company grew its average order value by 6% and its conversion rate by over 100%. Additionally, the Company is continuing to see strong (~5%) Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) on Amazon.com with demonstrated customer loyalty and repeat purchase rates of 39%. Company products sold online have achieved an average customer rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars. Ecommerce is a profitable area for the Company and has multiple operational and customer development benefits; this is a potential area to scale more aggressively in the future with incremental marketing investment, to date the above accomplishments have been achieved with no spend on online advertising and customer acquisition has been organic.



Showcased menu solutions featuring RightRice High Protein Veggie Rice, Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk, and Mozaics Real Veggie Chips to hundreds of Foodservice channel decision makers during the 2023 DOT Foods Innovations Show. DOT Foods is the linchpin to reaching the entire Foodservice channel in North America, a major focus for the Company's expanded growth and profitability, providing direct access to more than 4,500 distributors and 200,000 Foodservice end user locations.



Showcased multiple brands and products at the KeHE Foods Summer Show where Hope and Sesame Chocolate Sesamemilk received the acclaimed 2023 KeHE Holiday Show On Trend Award for the Dairy & Refrigerated category, marking the 12 th major industry award for Hope and Sesame since 2021. KeHE is one of the leading food and beverage distributors in North America, servicing more than 30,000 retail doors across the United States, from major grocery retail and specialty chains to natural retailers and independent grocery stores.



major industry award for Hope and Sesame since 2021. KeHE is one of the leading food and beverage distributors in North America, servicing more than 30,000 retail doors across the United States, from major grocery retail and specialty chains to natural retailers and independent grocery stores. Continued pioneering marketing program focused on getting products onto shopping lists outside of the store environment through targeting fitness, health, parent, and nutritionist influencers. The Company is not paying for coverage by these influencers: the influencers are receiving samples and opting to cover the products through posts, stories, reels, and placements. The Company partnered with and provided samples to 42 influencers in Q2 2023, with individual audiences ranging between 16,000-500,000 followers (more than 50% of these influencers are 'macro influencers' with more than 100,000 followers). These partnerships collectively earned Planting Hope brands well over 6 million social media impressions, at a total cost of $2,280 in product costs + shipping. The resulting cost per thousand impressions (CPM) was less than $0.38, an extraordinarily efficient and effective marketing spend. The Company's influencer reach in Q2 2023 included influencers like @cafecitocondaisyg whose Hope and Sesame reel was so successful that it secured over 1.5 million views and grew her follower base by more than 10% (from ~90,000 followers to ~100,000 followers).



Received articles and press mentions from notable publications including Redbook, Parade, Food & Beverage Magazine, Daily Mom, Good Housekeeping, and FoodNavigator-USA, resulting in over 1 billion total potential impressions. Good Housekeeping named Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk as one of their "45 Best Gifts for Coffee and Espresso Lovers", while Parade named RightRice Veggie Rice a "Healthy & Low-Carb Rice Alternative to Buy During the 2023 Shortage," and RedBook called Mozaics Real Veggie Chips a "Hiking Snack for All of Those Happy Trails."



Successful implementation of the NetSuite ERP system across its operations. Started in September 2022, the implementation was rolled out in stages until fully complete in Q2 2023, and functions include Financial Reporting, Inventory Management, Sales Reporting, and Order Processing and Management. This successful implementation is providing the Company with more and timely Customer Sales performance and Operations data to support management decision-making.

Team Hires & Role Changes:

To complement the strategic shift to Foodservice, in the first half of 2023 the Company reorganized its Sales and Marketing divisions to direct resources to building out the Foodservice channel and to focus internal expertise on managing profitability in the Grocery Retail channel (targeting transactionally profitable business and increased velocity). The Planting Hope Company Organizational Chart and Management Biographies are available HERE. The Company also realigned its brokerage partners to strategically fit its business objectives, and added key Foodservice representation, as reflected below:

Changed Role: James Curley, Co-founder / EVP Sales

Mr. Curley has returned to leading the Grocery Retail channel for Planting Hope, which he did prior to the hiring of the former Chief Sales Officer (departed Q2 2023). Mr. Curley has 45 years of Sales and Business Development expertise in Natural and Specialty packaged food brands distributed across Grocery Retail and related channels.

Mr Curley's focus in this role includes : 1) eliminating transactionally unprofitable retail business; 2) realigning retail sales to focus on customers delivering profitability; 3) realigning distributor relationships and strategy to improve profitability; 4) strategically adding new transactionally profitable Grocery Retail distribution in key markets; 5) overseeing the profitability picture and strategic growth for the full Sales function at Planting Hope.

Promoted/Expanded Role: Jeannie Andolena - SVP of Marketing + Ecommerce

Ms. Andolena joined Planting Hope in March 2022 as the Company's Vice President of Ecommerce and her background includes extensive training in the Consumer-Packaged Goods industry and senior leadership roles at Jet.com, Walmart.com, and online food distributor VEDGEco.

Ms. Andolena's focus in this role includes: 1) building an effective consumer marketing function leveraging low-cost, guerilla tactics including social media to drive brand awareness; 2) building brand partnerships; 3) driving E-tail revenue, with a twin focus on brand exposure and profitability, in channels from Ecommerce to QVC.

Added: Becky Harrison, VP of Foodservice Operations

Ms. Harrison joined Planting Hope from Good Catch and Wicked Kitchen where she led the Foodservice initiatives for both brands. Prior to that, she developed the full Foodservice channel for Coconut Bliss (now owned by HumanCo).

Ms. Harrison's focus in this role includes: 1) building out Planting Hope's brands across Foodservice channels; 2) adding and developing distributors and brokers; 3) developing scalable relationships with Fast Casual chains.

Q3 2023 - Added: Candace Pappas, VP of Foodservice Business Development

Ms. Pappas joined the Planting Hope team in August 2023 in tandem with the Company's acquisition of Argo Tea assets, and brings 16 years of experience at Argo Tea. Ms. Pappas developed the current licensee relationships and has extensive experience developing managed Foodservice relationships and securing related contracts, working through Aramark, Compass, Sodexo and their distributors, including Sodexo, Performance Food Group, and myriad others.

Ms. Pappas' focus in this role includes: 1) managing the administration of the licenses for the current eight Argo Tea locations on college campuses, including supporting the execution of the cafes by the managed Foodservice operators with marketing materials, menus, Limited-Time Offer (LTO) seasonal beverage recipes, supplies, and operational guidance; 2) expanding the Argo Tea footprint by adding additional cafe licenses in colleges and universities and institutions; 3) expanding the relationships with the managed Foodservice operators to extend Planting Hope products into other applications and uses

New Sales Partners and Brokerage Relationships:

Navigate CPG - Industry leaders in developing strategic alliances with Costco.

- Industry leaders in developing strategic alliances with Costco. Allied Resources - A strategic broker to the cafe Foodservice channel, including independent cafes, espresso bars, and tea shops.

- A strategic broker to the cafe Foodservice channel, including independent cafes, espresso bars, and tea shops. Focus Foodservice Associates, LLC - A leading independent Foodservice sales agency in the Intermountain region of the US (UT, NV, ID, MT).

- A leading independent Foodservice sales agency in the Intermountain region of the US (UT, NV, ID, MT). Lichtman and Associates Inc. - A prominent sales agency to the vending, micro market and 'grab & go' Foodservice channels in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and portions of Indiana, Iowa and Ohio.

OUTLOOK AND GROWTH

Throughout the balance of 2023, the Company's continued focus is on realigning its business for profitable scaling ahead, in particular on laying strong groundwork to scale Hope and Sesame, RightRice, and Mozaics in Foodservice, and growing Grocery Retail with a focus on transactionally profitable accounts and improving overall retail channel profitability. Strong focus is being paid to constructing a solid platform under the brands and the Company in order to scale the business rapidly and profitably after the achievement of ongoing break-even operations.

Foodservice Channel Focus:

Today, more than 56% of meals in the U.S. are eaten outside of the home1. The Foodservice channel, identified as a core priority by Management, encompasses outlets from quick-service and fast-casual restaurants to coffee shops and cafes to 'grab & go' to managed and institutional Foodservice (colleges, institutions, corporations).

The Foodservice channel is a priority for the Company for reasons that include:

The Company's products were designed to be ideal fits for the channel, with significant opportunities to scale with unique, breakthrough, relevant, on-trend items;

Higher realized net margins;

Faster adoption (in single locations/small chains);

Faster scaling and velocities by customer (as an example: one average cafe could sell through the same weekly velocity of Hope and Sesame Barista Sesamemilk as 20 retail stores);

Large single customer development opportunities;

SKU concentration leading to supply side efficiencies and near-term margin improvements;

Lower channel development costs;

Limited/no charge backs or promotional programs required outside of sampling;

Provides exposure ('free marketing') to consumers through the integration of products on menus;

Fast payment terms and limited deductions; and

Opportunities to partner with distributors to develop the channel, from regional coffee distributors to DOT Foods (redistributor) and broadline distributors.

Argo Tea Acquisition Strategically Accelerates Foodservice Channel Development

Adding to the accelerated Foodservice development strategy, the Company announced in August 2023 that it had successfully closed an acquisition of the assets of Argo Tea, a tea cafe company with a 20-year multinational brand and taken over its master agreements with managed Foodservice providers. This opportunity opens up immediate active relationships with the top managed Foodservice operators (Aramark, Sodexo) and Foodservice distributors (Sysco, Performance Food Group), as well as previous agreements and relationships with Delaware North, Compass, and other managed Foodservice providers which became dormant due to COVID. In addition to a large North American footprint, each of these large managed Foodservice providers operates across multiple countries and geographies outside of the U.S., and each generates more than $10 billion in annual revenues, controlling multi-billions in annual food and beverage spend.

Key Priorities For The Balance Of 2023

Business building:

Key Priority: Hope and Sesame Barista Blend in Foodservice - Partnering directly with distributors and brokers to open up new cafes and restaurants for Hope and Sesame Barista Blend Sesamemilk, including a heavy focus on driving cafe sampling, trial, and development and launch of Limited Time Offer (LTO) specialty beverages featuring sesame milk to drive consumer awareness and adoption. The Company is continuing to build out its network of regional cafe distributors, and in August 2023 announced the addition of leading regional distributors Pete's Dairy (Pacific Northwest) and DWC (Midwest).

Associated Program: The 'Barista 1000' - In Q3 2023, the Company launched their 'Barista 1000' marketing program, with a goal of getting 1,000 new independent cafe customers to adopt Hope and Sesame Barista Sesamemilk on their menus by the end of Q2 2024. In addition to initial samples, the cafes are receiving a trial offer that enables them to receive free cases to test an LTO with their customers at no cost. It should be noted that the average cafe uses 5-10 cases per type of barista milk per week (oat, soy, almond). Extrapolated to sesame milk, the incremental revenue projected from each additional 1,000 cafes is estimated to add a minimum of ~$1M/quarter. The Company sees the goal of 1,000 incremental leading independent cafes as a tipping point number to kick off accelerated adoption across the channel given the number of customers served by each cafe and the geography covered by the footprint. Early adopter cafes are powerful influencers and overall tend to reach a discriminating and engaged audience.

- In Q3 2023, the Company launched their 'Barista 1000' marketing program, with a goal of getting 1,000 new independent cafe customers to adopt Hope and Sesame Barista Sesamemilk on their menus by the end of Q2 2024. In addition to initial samples, the cafes are receiving a trial offer that enables them to receive free cases to test an LTO with their customers at no cost. It should be noted that the average cafe uses 5-10 cases per type of barista milk per week (oat, soy, almond). Extrapolated to sesame milk, the incremental revenue projected from each additional 1,000 cafes is estimated to add a minimum of ~$1M/quarter. The Company sees the goal of 1,000 incremental leading independent cafes as a tipping point number to kick off accelerated adoption across the channel given the number of customers served by each cafe and the geography covered by the footprint. Early adopter cafes are powerful influencers and overall tend to reach a discriminating and engaged audience. Key Priority: RightRice High Protein Veggie Rice in Foodservice - Partnering directly with distributors and brokers to open up opportunities for RightRice High Protein Veggie Rice in restaurants and managed Foodservice, including Fast Casual chains, building on the demonstrated success of RightRice on both operational and consumer adoption levels in CAVA Restaurants and others. This includes the expansion of RightRice as an ingredient in prepared foods sold in Foodservice and at retail locations.

- Partnering directly with distributors and brokers to open up opportunities for RightRice High Protein Veggie Rice in restaurants and managed Foodservice, including Fast Casual chains, building on the demonstrated success of RightRice on both operational and consumer adoption levels in CAVA Restaurants and others. This includes the expansion of RightRice as an ingredient in prepared foods sold in Foodservice and at retail locations. Additional Priority: Hope and Sesame Unsweetened Original Sesamemilk - In the second half of 2023, the Company will focus on building distribution into Foodservice behind Hope and Sesame Unsweetened Original Sesamemilk, with potential applications in smoothie bars, juice bars, and cooking applications, delivering 8g of complete protein per serving in a Whole30 compliant, keto-friendly sugar-free format that meets sustainability goals.

- In the second half of 2023, the Company will focus on building distribution into Foodservice behind Hope and Sesame Unsweetened Original Sesamemilk, with potential applications in smoothie bars, juice bars, and cooking applications, delivering 8g of complete protein per serving in a Whole30 compliant, keto-friendly sugar-free format that meets sustainability goals. Additional Priority: Mozaics Real Veggie Chips - Mozaics continue to succeed with consumers (for the second year in the row, voted top Customer Favorite by QVC customers), and the Company will continue to develop distribution in Foodservice channels as well as targeted Retail where it makes sense. Foodservice in particular has long been in search of a 'healthy chip' that succeeds with consumers and can fit into grab & go sections adjacent to fried chips; Mozaics fill this gap. Currently Mozaics are distributed into corporate campuses with trials underway at multiple university campuses this Fall.

- Mozaics continue to succeed with consumers (for the second year in the row, voted top Customer Favorite by QVC customers), and the Company will continue to develop distribution in Foodservice channels as well as targeted Retail where it makes sense. Foodservice in particular has long been in search of a 'healthy chip' that succeeds with consumers and can fit into grab & go sections adjacent to fried chips; Mozaics fill this gap. Currently Mozaics are distributed into corporate campuses with trials underway at multiple university campuses this Fall. Expand ecommerce and e-tail business; levering cost-effective social media marketing and influencer sampling to increase sales.

Continue to build on success in social media marketing and influencer coverage through sampling to build awareness of all products. Goal: drive awareness of the products to increase online sales and to draw attention to the products outside of the crowded store environment where the consumer is focused on shopping their list, not on new item awareness.

Target transactionally profitable retail opportunities, including clients like Warehouse/Club Retailers (i.e. Costco, Sam's, BJs), which do not require substantial initial upfront investment or support to deliver profitable sales.

Continue accelerating consumer awareness of Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk, driving trial, adoption, and usage though cafes with the aim of heightening future demand in grocery retail stores.

Continue to expand e-tail and ecommerce distribution, including the Company's digital footprint and scaling the direct- to-consumer (D2C) business, Amazon.com presence and revenue, and expanding presence and sales on third party e-commerce marketplaces, both B2C (consumer) and B2B (wholesale).

Implement internal infrastructure solutions to further build the Company's operational base to support effective and rapid scaling, including continued implementation of NetSuite ERP modules, continuing the installation initiated in late Q3 2022.

Focus Product Development and innovation on new items or rollouts of new items acquired through strategic acquisitions on products with potential for significant scale within in Foodservice and direct application to the same customers and distributors already opened for current product lines.

Improved Profitability Through Strategic Cost Reduction:

Continue to evaluate Grocery Retail and associated distributor programs for profitability, culling promotional programs without net positive return (i.e. associated increased retailer purchasing to support a visible and effective promotion), and cutting distribution that does not have a profitable near-term horizon.

Renegotiate with Grocery Retail distribution partners and other vendors to cut costs where possible.

Work with vendors and comanufacturers to identify areas to increase margin and reduce COGS on the production side.

Identify lower cost distribution opportunities to reach retailers, including regional distributors.

Cull unprofitable channels and/or products; focus inventory dollars on high-velocity, profitability-driving SKUs over developmental SKUs.

Consolidate SKUs and production to a tailored combination of best-selling SKUs, allowing for more efficient production runs and lower COGS. It should be noted that the products with the most potential for significant scale in the Foodservice channel, including Hope and Sesame Barista Blend Sesamemilk and Original RightRice, are also the lower-cost SKUs within their product lines.

Continue to evaluate ways to slim SG&A and variable expenses without impacting opportunity to grow profitability and long-term scaling.

Intellectual Property Valuation:

The Company has engaged global intellectual property (IP) valuation firm Metis Partners to conduct an in-depth third-party valuation of the Company's deep bench of IP (Planting Hope Recognized for Food Technology Leadership, IP Valuation Underway).

Metis Partners' process includes identifying both an IP Score reflecting IP quality, as well as an IP valuation range. Depending on the strength of its IP Score, the Company could earn a coveted spot on the Metis Partners IP100 list. The Metis Partners IP100 is an annual ranking of companies based on a rating of their IP asset strength and track record in exploiting IP and is recognized as the leading global intellectual property league table. Per Metis Partners, businesses featured on the IP100 are considered to be the most effective at commercializing their IP assets. The Metis Partners IP scoring process involves an assessment of IP-specific data linked to the following IP asset classes: brands, software, patents, trade secrets, and critical databases. The IP100 research team uses its proprietary process to calculate an IP Score and subsequent ranking for each company.

Today the Company's deep IP bench is an unrecognized and unleveraged asset that it believes will be of significant size and value and be able to be used to secure additional non-dilutive debt financing. The Company expects to receive the results of the valuation in September 2023, and plans to host a webinar in September to review the Company's IP strategy and the outcome of the Metis valuation.

To receive an invitation to the IP Strategy webinar, please email webinar@plantinghopecompany.com.

Financial Statements & Management's Discussion and Analysis

This earnings press release should be read in conjunction with Planting Hope's consolidated annual and interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis thereto, which have been posted on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and the Company's website at www.plantinghopecompany.com.

About The Planting Hope Company Inc.

Planting Hope is a foodtech company focused on leveraging cutting-edge ingredient, formulation, and packaging technology to develop breakthrough sustainable food and beverage solutions. Planting Hope's IP strategy and culture is centered on unlocking the nutrition in the world's most sustainable crops to create on-trend products that are delicious, nutritious, and planet-friendly. Planting Hope brands and products fill key needs for consumers and deliver better operational solutions for Foodservice partners. These are the products that Generation Z is demanding and Generation Alpha will grow up with.

The Planting Hope brand family includes Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk, RightRice High Protein Veggie Rice, Mozaics Real Veggie Chips, Veggicopia Veggie Snacks, and Argo Tea Cafes. Planting Hope products are currently found in more than 15,000 retail doors and 70,000 total distribution points across North America, and are scaling rapidly across Foodservice channels and distributors, spanning cafes, fast-casual restaurants, and managed foodservice operations, as well as ecommerce and alternate channels. Founded by experienced food industry entrepreneurs, Planting Hope is a women-led company.

For more information about Planting Hope please visit plantinghopecompany.com, sign up for Planting Hope news emails HERE and follow on LinkedIn.



An informational webinar on The Planting Hope Company from CEO and Co-Founder Julia Stamberger is available HERE.



To follow the brands on Instagram and Facebook, please visit: @hopeandsesameco, @rightrice, @mozaicschips, @veggicopia.



Planting Hope products are available at leading retailers and foodservice establishments across the US and Canada, including CAVA Restaurant Chain, H-E-B, Kroger, Meijer, Publix, Sprouts, Walmart Canada, and Whole Foods Market. Planting Hope products are also available at plantinghopebrands.com and ecommerce retailers including Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

The 2023 Planting Hope Product Catalog is available here. The Planting Hope Foodservice Catalog, including item codes to order Planting Hope products through DOT Foods, is available here.

All dollar amounts are in USD unless otherwise stated. An exchange rate of $0.7372 was applied to the USD to CAD FX conversions, the rate as of market close August 29, 2023.

Contacts

Company Contact:

Julia Stamberger

CEO and Co-Founder

(773) 492-2243

julia@plantinghopecompany.com

Investor Relations Contact:

Glen Akselrod, Bristol Capital

(905) 326-1888 ext. 1

glen@bristolir.com

Media Contact:

Alex Jessup, Jessup PR

(323) 529-3541

alex.jessup@jessuppr.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.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively referred to hereafter as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements that address activities, events, or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will, or may, occur in the future, including, but not limited to, statements about the Company's ability to execute on its goals, the timing pertaining to these goals the potential demand for the Company's products, the timing and success of anticipated product launches and distribution of the Company's products, the Company's business prospects, future trends, plans, scalability and strategies, that the Company will achieve profitability in the next few years, the timing of the Company's implementation of NetSuite, and the Company's key growth priorities for 2023 . In some cases, forward looking statements are preceded by, followed by, or include words such as "may", "will," "would", "could", "should", "believes", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "continues", or the negative of those words or other similar or comparable words. In preparing the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, the assumption that demand for the Company's product will be sustained or increase in accordance with management's projections, that the Company's internal research and analysis is indicative of broader market trends and the Company's anticipated future demand for its products, that changes in consumer preferences in the plant-based food industry will continue in accordance with the Company's expectations, that the Company's current business objectives can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected, and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner. Although the management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking statement herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company, as well as trends identified by the Company affecting its industry can be found in the Company's annual information form dated January 6, 2022 and the Company's continuous disclosure record available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Such cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements made in this news release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

1 USDA Economic Research Service: 2022 U.S. Food-Away-From-Home Spending

SOURCE: The Planting Hope Company Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778553/CORRECTION-BY-SOURCE-Planting-Hope-Continues-Sales-Momentum-in-Q2-2023-Focuses-on-Foodservice-Channel-Development-and-Executing-Strategic-Path-to-Profitability
EQS-News: 4finance S.A. / Key word(s): Half Year Report

4finance Holding S.A. reports results for the six months ending 30 June 2023



30.08.2023 / 13:53 CET/CEST

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





4FINANCE HOLDING S.A. REPORTS RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDING 30 JUNE 2023 Solid first half of 2023 with net profit of 16.9 million and Adjusted EBITDA of 58.8 million Robust balance sheet with good cash levels 30 August 2023. 4finance Holding S.A. (the 'Group' or '4finance'), one of Europe's largest digital consumer lending groups, today announces unaudited consolidated results for the six months ending 30 June 2023 (the 'Period'). Operational Highlights In July, the Group's online loan issuance since inception surpassed the 10 billion milestone. Online loan issuance volume of 275.9 million in the Period compared with 218.9 million in H1 2022, up 26% year-on-year. Demand for credit remains strong in most markets, with yearly issuance growth driven by Czech Republic, Latvia and Philippines. Near-prime portfolio development aligned with ability to sell those loans to TBI Bank. Over 19.5 million of Lithuanian near-prime loan principal was sold to TBI Bank from January to August 2023. TBI Bank loan issuance volume during the Period grew by 35% year-on-year to 427.9 million from 315.8 million in the prior year period, with increased issuance in all products. Financial Highlights Interest income from continuing operations up 30% year-on-year to 187.9 million in the Period compared with 145.1 million in the prior year period. For the prior period figures, the Polish business is reflected separately in the income statement as a 'discontinued operation'. Cost to income ratio for H1 2023 was 44.7%, a significant improvement from 50.3% in H1 2022 (excluding Poland), despite the increase in total operating costs year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA was 58.8 million for the Period, up 6% year-on-year (compared to the proforma EBITDA excluding Poland and including Philippines) delivering a 31% adjusted EBITDA margin. The interest coverage ratio as of the date of this report, including proforma effect of acquisitions and disposals, is 2.2x, impacted by the increased interest expense at TBI Bank in recent quarters. Post-provision operating profit from continuing operations for the Period was 29.9 million, benefiting from the 29% year-on-year increase in operating income (revenue), with profit after tax of 16.9 million. Fundamental asset quality indicators at product level remain broadly stable. Net impairment charges of 69.6 million reflect the larger portfolio, different product mix in online and reduced debt sales activity. Cost of risk at 13.7%, stable in Q2 compared with Q1, vs 9.5% in the prior year period. Net receivables up 15% to 972.1 million as of 30 June 2023 compared with 846.4 million as of 31 December 2022. Overall gross NPL ratio at 9.6% as of 30 June 2023 (12.0% for online), compared with 8.8% as of 31 December 2022 (9.0% for online). TBI NPL ratio at 9.1% as of 30 June 2023, compared with 8.7% as of 31 December 2022. Liquidity and funding Strong liquidity position, with 47.0 million of cash in the online business at the end of the Period. Solid capital position at TBI Bank (21.5% capital adequacy ratio) despite continued growth in risk weighted assets. Further MREL debt security issue of 10 million in Q2. The Group sold nominal 8 million of 2025 bonds that were held in treasury to its subsidiary TBI Bank EAD in June at market price. The Group is reviewing alternatives regarding its February 2025 bond maturity. Kieran Donnelly, CEO of 4finance, commented: "Last month we surpassed 10bn in online loan issuance since inception, a testament to the business's adaptability and resilience, and a reminder of how our customers value access to responsible, regulated lending. We continue to grow our loan issuance across both our online and banking arms to meet the rebounding demand for credit. Our ongoing focus on running an efficient and focused business has further improved our cost/income ratio, while we grow online in new markets and TBI continues to grow across all areas." Contacts Contact: James Etherington, Group Chief Financial Officer Email: james.etherington@4finance.com / investor_relations@4finance.com Website: www.4finance.com





30.08.2023 CET/CEST Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.eqs-news.com


TRAVERSE CITY, MI / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Verts Neighborhood, an early leader in the cannabis industry, is excited to announce the grand opening of its new dispensary in Traverse City, MI, on Sept. 1, 2023. Located at 117 S Union St. Suite B, (second floor), Traverse City, MI 49684, this marks another significant milestone in the company's continued expansion into new markets.

Traverse City, Michigan, location

Prepping for the grand opening of the Traverse City, MI, location.

A grand opening celebration will be held on Sept. 1, 2023, featuring a ribbon cutting with the Traverse City Chamber of Commerce at 10 am. Attendees at the event will enjoy free coffee and donuts, local fruit, door prizes, goodie bags, giveaways, local vendors, amazing deals on high-quality products, and live music from Willy J Peso & DJ Cool Breeze.

The Traverse City location is designed to offer a welcoming, inclusive environment for both experienced and first-time cannabis consumers. Verts is known for its commitment to education, ensuring customers have the information they need to make informed decisions about their cannabis consumption.

In addition to offering a wide variety of cannabis products, the new location will also host vendor popups and demonstrations, fostering a stronger sense of community in the area. The dispensary's convenient location on S. Union Street makes it easily accessible for customers, further enhancing its appeal.

"We're thrilled to bring our unique blend of quality, selection, and customer service to the Traverse City community," says Alex Close, Verts' CEO. "We believe our commitment to excellence and innovation will resonate deeply with the people here, creating a long-lasting 'neighborly' relationship."

The new Traverse City Cannabis Retailer joins Verts' growing network, which includes four locations in Missouri and two locations in Colorado. The company prides itself on its knowledgeable staff, ready to assist customers in navigating the diverse range of flower, edibles, concentrates, and other cannabis products.

The grand opening signifies Verts' continued growth and dedication to enriching the cannabis experience for all. It promises to be a game-changer for cannabis connoisseurs in the area, offering a one-stop destination for cannabis products and culture. With this new Traverse City dispensary, Verts continues its commitment to providing exceptional customer service and a vast selection of quality products.

About Verts Neighborhood Cannabis Retailer:

Verts Neighborhood Cannabis Retailer is a leading cannabis retailer with dispensaries in multiple states. The company is committed to providing high-quality cannabis products and exceptional customer service. Verts believes in the transformative power of cannabis to enhance lifestyles and is dedicated to helping customers have the best cannabis experience possible. For more information, please visit www.vertscannabisretailer.com

Contact Information

Charlie Hernandez

CEO | Abstrax Web

ch@abstrax.io

SOURCE: Verts Neighborhood Retailer

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/777698/Verts-Neighborhood-Cannabis-Retailer-Opens-in-Traverse-City-Michigan
BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Delivery Hero SE (DHER.DE, DLVHF.OB), a German online food delivery firm, on Wednesday posted a narrower loss for the first-half of 2023, amidst a rise in revenue, supported by the contribution of acquisition of Glovo. For the six-month period to June 30, the company posted a net loss of 832.3 million euros, compared with restated 1.495 billion euros loss reported for the same period of 2022. Pre-tax loss stood at 820.5 million euros as against previous year's restated 1.445 billion euros in loss. Operating loss was at 461.2 million euros, compared with restated 1.041 billion euros in loss a year ago. On adjusted basis, EBITDA was 9.2 million euros compared with previous year's loss of 323 million euros. Revenue moved up by 26.8 percent to 4.839 billion euros from last year's restated 3.815 billion euros. Excluding the Glovo acquisition, revenue increase would have been 11.6 percent. Looking ahead, for full year 2023, Delivery Hero, said:'We continue expecting adjusted EBITDA of the Segments to break even in 2023 and become positive for the entire year for the first time in the Group's history. As a result, we still expect an adjusted EBITDA/GMV margin of more than 0.5% for the full year 2023 and more than 1.0% in H2 2023.' Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon, an RTX business, has been awarded $7 million to advance development and assessment of the company's GhostEye MR radar, an advanced medium-range sensor for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS.

These are the first government contracts for GhostEye MR, a multi-mission radar designed and developed by Raytheon via internal research and development investments. Funding will support continued radar development and then an operational assessment at White Sands Missile Range later this year.

"This government support confirms the growing relevance and demand for the capabilities of GhostEye MR, as nations around the globe look to bolster their air defense," said Tom Laliberty, president of Land & Air Defense Systems at Raytheon. "Partnering with DoD, Air Force, and Kongsberg, we will showcase the sensor's range of capabilities against a multitude of emerging threats."

The experiment at White Sands will assess the operational performance of GhostEye MR, with the radar providing effective surveillance cues and integrating with the combat-proven NASAMS air defense system. This follows the Strategic Developmental Planning & Experimentation (SDPE) office's successful air base air defense experiment in Andya, Norway, last September, which showcased NASAMS' ability to engage and intercept various advanced aerial threats using multiple Raytheon missile types and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace's Fire Distribution Center, or FDC. The operational assessment in September will build upon the capabilities demonstrated in Andya by utilizing the U.S. Air Force's relevant command and control to link GhostEye MR with NASAMS' FDC.

Funding consists of a contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Lab's SDPE office and the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Rapid Prototyping Program (RPP).

A member of Raytheon's GhostEye family of sensors, GhostEye MR is an advanced medium-range multi-mission radar for NASAMS. The radar, introduced in 2021, provides increased range and altitude coverage to expand the defended-area capabilities of NASAMS. Additionally, GhostEye MR leverages commonality with the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) that Raytheon is building for the U.S. Army.

About RTX

RTX is the world's largest aerospace and defense company. With more than 180,000 global employees, we push the limits of technology and science to redefine how we connect and protect our world. Through industry-leading businesses - Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon - we are advancing aviation, engineering integrated defense systems for operational success, and developing next-generation technology solutions and manufacturing to help global customers address their most critical challenges. The company, with 2022 sales of $67 billion, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

For questions or to schedule an interview, please contact:

Nick Garrison

corporatepr@rtx.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2194059/GhostEye___clean_1600_900.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/rtx-receives-dod-funding-for-ghosteye-mr-radar-development-and-experimentation-301909756.html
AMSTERDAM, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest study indicates that adding TCM Qili Qiangxin Capsules (developed and produced by Yiling Pharmaceutical) to the standard of care for heart failure can significantly reduce the risk of re-hospitalization due to worsening heart failure and cardiovascular death in patients with chronic heart failure.

On Aug. 26, Prof. Xinli Li, an expert in cardiovascular diseases, unveiled the study results during the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress, a leading global academic conference in the domain of cardiovascular medicine, held in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Prof. Xinli Li pointed out that the results of the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter clinical trial involving 3119 patients with chronic heart failure, conducted in 133 hospitals across mainland China and the Hong Kong SAR, over a treatment period of 12 to 36 months, revealed that Qili Qiangxin Capsules could reduce the risk of the primary composite endpoint event, which includes re-hospitalization due to worsening heart failure and cardiovascular death, by 22%.

The relevant study was published in the esteemed international cardiovascular journal "Journal of the American College of Cardiology" (JACC) in 2013. It was recognized by JACC as a highlight of academic achievements for that year: "The study affirmed the reliable efficacy of Qili Qiangxin Capsules and their synergistic effects when combined with Western medical treatments. This has provided substantial benefits to heart failure patients."

This study is recognized as the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that targets the tangible outcomes of employing traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of chronic heart failure. During the Congress, Prof. Carolyn Sp Lam, a Senior Consultant at the National Heart Centre Singapore and the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and an invited participant in the discussion, highlighted that this study offers robust scientific evidence for Qili Qiangxin Capsules-a traditional remedy extensively used by millions of heart failure patients in China. The evidence substantiates the drug can significantly reduce cardiovascular event incidence among patients with chronic heart failure, and diminish the risks associated with re-hospitalization due to worsening heart failure and cardiovascular death, all while reaffirming its long-term safety profile. This study raises the clinical evidence level for traditional Chinese medicine and establishes a novel yardstick for clinical evidence within the realm of traditional medicine.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197713/On_August_26_local_time_Prof_Xinli_Li_delivered_academic.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197714/On_August_26_local_time_Prof_Carolyn_Sp_Lam_a.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/european-society-of-cardiology-congress-traditional-chinese-medicine-qili-qiangxin-significantly-reduces-the-risk-of-cardiovascular-death-and-re-hospitalization-due-to-heart-failure-301913725.html
STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - Sweden's economic confidence weakened in August to the lowest level in just over three years, mainly due to weaker signals from the services sector, survey results published by the National Institute of Economic Research showed on Wednesday. The economic tendency index dropped to 85.2 in August from 87.5 in the previous month. Further, this was the lowest score since July 2020, when it was 84.5. The service sector's confidence decreased to 87.2 from 91.3. Expectations of the next three months' demand for the company's services contributed most to the decline. Meanwhile, the manufacturing confidence indicator declined slightly to 96.6 from 97.5. Further, this was the weakest score since August 2020. Data showed that the index measuring confidence in the construction sector strengthened to 97.3 in August from 95.9 a month ago. The consumer confidence indicator weakened to a 4-month low of 70.4 in August from 72.5 in July. Economists had expected the index to increase to 75.1. The decline was explained by the fact that households' expectations of both their own economy and Sweden's economy over the next year became more pessimistic, the agency said. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
TAMPA, FL / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / As part of the commitments laid out in its Twentyby30 sustainability program to help advance responsible supply chains, Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) (Crown) (www.crowncork.com) has expanded its Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certifications into the Asia Pacific region. The Company's Nong Khae and Crown TCP beverage packaging plants in Thailand were recently awarded the ASI Performance Standard certification, bringing the total facilities in Crown's network with the designation to 12. Crown's operations in Brazil and Mexico have also achieved ASI Performance Standard certification.

The ASI Performance Standard addresses environmental, social and governance principles for the aluminum value chain, confirming the recipient's production practices are responsible. Beyond meeting the required criteria as part of an independent, third-party audit, the recent certifications in Thailand can be linked to advancing employee training around biodiversity, safety and human rights.

"Achieving this ASI certification is another proof point of our dedication to maintaining reputable supply chain relationships and meeting the evolving needs of brands in the Asia Pacific market," said Carlos Baila, President, Asia Pacific at Crown. "We are committed to operating ethically and remaining accountable to our own standards, as well as those of our partners, as we continue to serve customers around the world."

"We are proud to have two of our facilities in Thailand join their peers in Brazil and Mexico to achieve this certification," commented Martyn Goodchild, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing, Asia Pacific at Crown. "It reflects strong collaboration among our employees and proves how activities taking place on a regional level can help accomplish the Company's larger sustainability goals."

To further expand its responsible and ethical sourcing program, Crown is pursuing ASI certification in other locations in its Asia, Europe and Middle Eastern operations.

"We warmly congratulate Crown Holdings, Inc. for achieving Performance Standard Certification at two of its plants in Thailand," said Fiona Solomon, Chief Executive Officer at ASI. "By training employees around vital sustainability areas such as biodiversity, safety, and human rights, Crown is driving positive change within its operations. Through this latest Certification in Thailand, Crown is extending its commitment to responsible practices and we look forward to the Company's continued pursuit of ASI Certification across its global operations."

ASI is a global, multi-stakeholder, non-profit standards and certification organization which works to maximize the contribution of aluminum to a sustainable society. The independent, third-party audit of Crown's Thailand facilities was carried out by LiberoAssurance.

To learn more about Crown's efforts around responsible material sourcing and its comprehensive Twentyby30 sustainability program, visit crowncork.com/sustainability.

About Crown Holdings, Inc.

Crown Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading global supplier of rigid packaging products to consumer marketing companies, as well as transit and protective packaging products, equipment and services to a broad range of end markets. World headquarters are located in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit www.crowncork.com.

For editorial inquiries: Emily Hogan, Senior Account Executive, FINN Partners; Tel: (630) 248-5232; Email: emily.hogan@finnpartners.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information, all other information in this press release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities law. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause the statements made in this release or the actual results of operations or financial condition of the Company to differ are discussed under the caption "Forward Looking Statements" in the Company's Form 10-K Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2022 and in subsequent filings. The Company does not intend to review or revise any particular forward-looking statement in light of future events.

View original content here.





View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Crown Holdings, Inc. on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Crown Holdings, Inc.

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/crown-holdings-inc

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Crown Holdings, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778486/Crown-Holdings-Expands-Aluminium-Stewardship-Initiative-ASI-Certifications-to-Asia-Pacific-Region
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Nova Mentis Life Science Corp. (CSE: NOVA) (FSE: HN3Q) (OTCQB: NMLSF) ("NOVA" or the "Company"), a biotechnology company and global leader in first-in-class psilocybin-based therapeutics and complementary diagnostics for neuroinflammatory disorders is pleased to provide an update on its Phase IIA clinical trial testing psilocybin for the treatment of fragile X syndrome (FXS), the leading genetic cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The research team is continuing its recruitment efforts and has now begun prescreening a number of potential participants with a FXS diagnosis to determine if they are eligible to join the clinical trial. Through advertising efforts across Ontario, Canada and connecting with ASD and FXS support groups, work is underway to create a registry of trial participants.

"A tremendous amount of groundwork has taken place since NOVA received Health Canada approval to conduct a human trial testing the efficacy of psilocybin on adults diagnosed with fragile X. We are very eager to enroll our first participants in this groundbreaking study, which we anticipate will happen later in September," stated Will Rascan, NOVA's President & CEO.

The 28-day study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of NOVA's proprietary microdose psilocybin formulation on adult patients diagnosed with FXS, and is one of the first Health Canada approved studies allowing participants to take home psilocybin for dosing every other day. NOVA has completed production of pharmaceutical grade cGMP synthetic psilocybin 1.5 mg microdose capsules that will be used in the study.

NOVA and KGK Science have partnered to conduct the Phase IIA clinical trial, which is being carried out at the KGK facility in London, Ontario, Canada. This 10-person, open-label study will assess repetitive, oral low-dose psilocybin therapy for FXS. The Company intends to confirm changes in behavioural symptoms with state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic mRNA and serotonin biomarker technology, combined with machine learning artificial intelligence (AI).

The Company anticipates treating the 10 participants in Q3/Q4 2023 and having preliminary results ready early in 2024.

For more information, please click here.

To express your interest in participating in this study, please complete this eligibility questionnaire.

If you have questions, email participate@kgkscience.com or call 1-833-858-8359.

About Nova Mentis Life Science Corp.

Nova Mentis Life Science Corp. is a Canadian-based biotechnology company and global leader in developing diagnostics and psilocybin-based therapeutics for neuroinflammatory disorders. Nova is the first biotech company to achieve orphan drug designation in both the United States and European Union for the use of psilocybin in the treatment of fragile X syndrome (FXS).

NOVA's goal is to diagnose and treat debilitating chronic conditions that have unmet medical needs, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and FXS.

For further information on the Company, please visit www.novamentis.ca or email info@novamentis.ca.

About KGK Science

KGK Science is a leading North American contract research organization based in London, Ontario that primarily provides high-quality clinical research trials with a focus on nutraceutical and emerging health care products. Founded in 1997, the business has successfully helped hundreds of companies with custom designed clinical trials and claim substantiation strategies to move products into global markets. KGK's other existing service lines include expert regulatory support and compliance solutions, participant recruitment, research support services and consulting services. Furthermore, the company has produced over 150 publications, executed over 400 clinical trials across more than 40 indications, amassed 25,000 participants in its database, and collected 10 million data points. For additional information, please visit www.kgkscience.com.

On Behalf of the Board

Will Rascan, President & CEO

Nova Mentis Life Science Corp.

Phone: 778-819-0244

Toll Free: 1-833-542-5323

Twitter: @novamentislsc

Instagram: @novamentislsc

Facebook: @novamentislsc

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Nova Mentis Life Science's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178975
Merger will form $1.1 billion bank with ten full-service offices, all in North Carolina.

ROCKY MOUNT, NC and JACKSONVILLE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / PB Financial Corporation ("PB Financial") (OTCQX:PBNC), the holding company for Providence Bank ("Providence"), and Coastal Bank & Trust ("Coastal") jointly announce the signing of a definitive strategic merger agreement. In the 75% stock and 25% cash transaction, Coastal will merge into Providence, expanding PB Financial to approximately $1.1 billion in assets, $874 million in loans, and $893 million in deposits based on publicly reported consolidated financial information as of June 30, 2023.

Coastal shareholders may elect to receive either $10.00 in cash or 0.2222 shares of PB Financial common stock for each share of Coastal common stock that is exchanged in the merger, subject to a proration if either election is oversubscribed. The aggregate combined stock and cash merger consideration Coastal shareholders will receive in the merger is valued at approximately $25.8 million. The merger agreement was unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors for both companies, and the merger is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2024, subject to required shareholder and regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions.

The combined bank will operate under the Providence name, be headquartered in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and include ten full-service offices serving North Carolina communities from the capital to the coast: Holly Ridge, Jacksonville, Morehead City, Nashville, Raleigh, Richlands, Rocky Mount (2 locations), Tarboro and Wilson, with a loan production office in New Bern. The merger will create a strong community bank with a higher lending limit and expanded product offerings. Both management teams anticipate the resulting bank will create meaningful opportunities for further growth and profitability, as well as long-term value, benefiting customers, employees, shareholders, and the communities served.

PB Financial President and Chief Executive Officer Ted E. Whitehurst said, "We look forward to welcoming Coastal Bank & Trust team members, customers, and shareholders to PB Financial. This merger unites two community banks that have a shared vision for personal service, where customers and bankers know and appreciate each other. Businesses and individuals alike value the speed and efficiency of having their banking decisions made locally by people who know and love the communities they serve. Each Coastal Bank & Trust team member will be offered a position at Providence, as we value their professional experience as well as their market and customer knowledge."

Coastal President and Chief Executive Officer Richard G. Jefferson commented, "I believe our team, customers, communities, and shareholders will benefit from this strategic merger. Providence Bank's performance is built on a strong foundation, similar to the culture and philosophy Coastal has nurtured since opening our doors in 2009. I look forward to joining Providence and being part of the team as we take the company forward."

Following the completion of the transaction, Ted E. Whitehurst will continue to serve as president and chief executive officer of Providence, as well as president and chief executive officer of PB Financial Corporation. Richard G. Jefferson will remain in a senior-level position with the combined Bank. A member of the Coastal Bank & Trust Board of Directors will join the PB Financial Board of Directors, and the remaining local Coastal board members will serve on a newly-formed Coastal Advisory Board of Providence Bank.

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC served as PB Financial's financial advisor and Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP served as legal counsel. The Burke Group served as Coastal's financial advisor and Ward and Smith, P.A. served as legal counsel.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities.

About PB Financial Corporation.

PB Financial Corporation is the holding company for Providence Bank, a state-chartered community bank headquartered at 450 N. Winstead Avenue in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, with branches in Nashville, Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Tarboro, and Wilson. The bank opened its doors to customers in 2006 and has since been dedicated to serving its communities by offering a full suite of banking services to individuals and businesses. For more information and additional financial data, please visit pbknc.com

About Coastal Bank & Trust.

Coastal Bank & Trust was founded in April of 2009 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, North Carolina. The bank offers financial products and services primarily focused on retail customers and small- to medium-sized businesses in Onslow and Carteret counties, as well as surrounding areas. Coastal Bank & Trust has offices in Holly Ridge, Jacksonville, Morehead City, and Richlands, North Carolina, as well as a loan production office in New Bern. For more information and additional financial data, please visit coastalbanknc.com.

Additional Information About the Merger and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed merger, a proxy statement/offering circular will be delivered to Coastal shareholders seeking approval of the merger and related matters. Coastal shareholders are urged to read the proxy statement/offering circular when it becomes available, because it will contain important information about PB Financial, Providence, Coastal, and the proposed transaction. When available, free copies of the proxy statement/offering circular may be obtained by directing a request by telephone or email to Richard G. Jefferson, president and chief executive officer of Coastal at the contact information listed above. Information on Providence's and Coastal's websites are not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this press release.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding PB Financial Corporation, Providence Bank and Coastal Bank & Trust. Such statements may include but are not limited to statements regarding plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements identified by words such as "believes," "considers," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects," "would be," and similar expressions.

Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, such as the businesses of Providence Bank and Coastal Bank & Trust may not be integrated successfully or such integration may take longer to accomplish than expected, the expected cost savings and any revenue synergies from the merger may not be fully realized within the expected timeframes, disruption from the merger may make it more difficult to maintain relationships with customers, associates, or suppliers, the required governmental approvals of the merger may not be obtained on the proposed terms and schedule, or Coastal Bank & Trust shareholders may not approve the merger, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Although we believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove to be inaccurate. Therefore, we can give no assurance that the results contemplated in the forward-looking statements will be realized. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be construed as a representation by the companies or any person that the future events, plans, or expectations contemplated will be achieved. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning PB Financial Corporation, Providence Bank, Coastal Bank & Trust or any person acting on their behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by the cautionary statements above. None of PB Financial Corporation, Providence Bank or Coastal Bank & Trust undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made. Historical and pro forma combined financial information, as presented in this press release, is unaudited.

For more information, contact:

PB Financial Corporation

Ted E. Whitehurst

President and Chief Executive Officer

252.467.2990

TWhitehurst@pbknc.com

Coastal Bank & Trust

Richard G. Jefferson

President and Chief Executive Officer

910.577.3200

RJefferson@coastalbanknc.com

SOURCE: PB Financial Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778478/PB-Financial-Corporation-and-Coastal-Bank-Trust-Announce-Signing-of-Strategic-Merger-Agreement
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Walgreens Boots Alliance



Originally published by Walgreens Boots Alliance

By Elyse Russo, Walgreens Stories

Retiring was not Melba Russell's idea, but her hip had other plans. It kept bothering her, and Russell's doctor said the only way to heal it would be to stay off her feet. At 88 years old, it probably didn't help that her favorite thing to do at Walgreens was to help unload the trucks.

She proudly admits that she helped unload her last truck the month before she officially retired in May 2023, 67 years after she started working for the company. That makes her the longest-serving employee in Walgreens history.

Russell spent the last 25 years of her career at Walgreens store #3013, located on Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, Tennessee. Her title at retirement was inventory specialist, but Russell worked at many stores and held various positions throughout her career. She even served as a store assistant manager in Huntsville, Alabama. Russell says it was the people that kept her coming into work each day for 67 years-customers, team members, everyone.

"I saw one of my customers at the grocery store the other day and she said, 'Where have you been?'" Russell says through laughter. "And I said, 'Well, I don't work there anymore. I retired!"

Jan. 30, 1956, was Russell's first day of employment at Walgreens. At the time, many Walgreens stores had cafeterias inside them, and her first job was taking customer orders at the cafeteria counter in a Memphis-area Walgreens. She remembers that first role fondly and especially enjoyed the crowds that came in when conventions were in the area.

"We sold slices of strawberry pie for 35 cents," she says. She even has a photo of herself next to the sign advertising that affordable treat.Russell also says she's liked watching-and being a part of-the company grow to its nearly 9,000 store footprint nationwide.

"There weren't too many Walgreens when I started, but then they started this program of building 12 stores a year. And that's when we got stores on every corner," she says, recalling that she and her colleagues would help stock those stores' shelves to prepare them for opening.

Working at Walgreens became a family affair when Russell's son and daughter both applied for jobs to make extra money while attending college. Russell also has two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Married for 64 years, her husband Robert died about a decade ago.

"That'll make you get out and work more," Russell says. "That's the reason I hated to give up work but there comes a time when you have to make other plans."

And right now, Russell's immediate plans include well-deserved rest and relaxation.

"I'm just gonna take it easy the rest of this year and see what comes next year. Hopefully a new body," she says with a laugh.

Russell will celebrate her 89th birthday on Aug. 9, but she says the secret to longevity is no secret at all.

"Take care of yourself. Money can't buy health," she says.

And in taking care of herself, she took care of so many others during her 67 years at Walgreens. A special thanks to you, Melba Russell.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Walgreens Boots Alliance on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Walgreens Boots Alliance

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/walgreens-boots-alliance

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Walgreens Boots Alliance

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778489/Meet-Melba-Russell-the-Longest-Serving-Employee-in-Walgreens-History
Cognetivity's Landmark ADePT Study, Funded by the UK Innovation Agency and Published in Leading Neuroscience Journal Demonstrates Unprecedented Sensitivity in Detecting Cognitive Impairment in Early Stage Alzheimer's Disease, Essential for Treatment With New Drugs

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd. (CSE: CGN) (OTCQB: CGNSF) (FSE.1UB) ("the Company" or "Cognetivity") a leading artificial intelligence (AI) healthcare technology company is pleased to announce the peer-reviewed publication of its groundbreaking Accelerating Dementia Pathway Technologies (ADePT) Study in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience - a leading academic journal on brain aging and associated diseases. The successful project, funded by the UK government innovation agency Innovate UK, was designed to validate the efficacy of Cognetivity's Integrated Cognitive Assessment (CognICA) as a cost-effective and highly accurate tool for early detection of cognitive impairment in real-world settings.

In this study, conducted in collaboration with Alzheimer's Research UK and Sussex Partnership NHS Trust in England, CognICA displayed outstanding capabilities in early detection of cognitive impairment. The test demonstrated far superior performance to existing standard of care tests, showing a remarkable 93% sensitivity for Cognetivity's five minute test in detecting cognitive impairment in dementia patients. These results are particularly significant when compared to the lower average sensitivity of 73% (60% for MCI) and the far longer administration time for current standard of care tests in clinical use. This shows that CognICA's ability to reliably detect cognitive issues associated with the early stage of disease when treatment is effective can drive a massive improvement in the detection, treatment and management of disease.

Furthermore, CognICA's ease of use, speed and the fact it does not require clinician time to administer enables its wide scale deployment for routine assessment in primary care, presenting CognICA as an ideal population-wide screening tool. According to the Alzheimer's Association, more than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's today, and by 2050, this number is projected to rise to nearly 13 million. However, the significant challenge remains in identifying the appropriate patients for treatment at an early stage and demonstrating the evidence of cognitive improvement in real-world settings required for CMS reimbursement.

This breakthrough comes at a pivotal moment, following recent advancements like the US and Japanese approval of Eisai's (TYO: 4523) Leqembi for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and other disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) anticipated to achieve approval in the near future. The necessity for patients to be diagnosed at the early stage of the disease for these drugs to be effective highlights the urgent need for CognICA to be deployed at scale in primary care, as its higher sensitivity levels are especially vital for detecting patients at the right time for treatment, establishing an efficient referral pathway and giving the best clinical outcomes for patients the world over.

Already in use in clinical practice in the USA, UK and Middle East, and to monitor at-risk populations in Japan and Singapore, these results further drive the evidence for CognICA's unique ability to solve the issue of reliable early detection and monitoring at this critical time in the global battle against Alzheimer's disease.

The full article is available here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1243316/abstract

Cognetivity Neurosciences' mission is to utilize its AI platform technology to transform the landscape of brain health globally, enhance the quality of care provided to patients and to reduce the burden and cost to providers and payers, delivering the company's vision of A Brighter Mind for a Fuller Life.

-------

About Cognetivity Neurosciences

Cognetivity is a technology company that has developed a cognitive testing platform for use in medical, commercial, and consumer environments. Cognetivity's CognICATM uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to test the performance of large areas of the brain to help detect early signs of cognitive dysfunction. CognICA is currently available for clinical use in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Canada and the Middle East, with regulatory approval in other regions expected later in 2023.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Sina Habibi"

Sina Habibi

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Forward-looking statements:

Certain statements contained in this news release, including those identified by the words "anticipate," "assume," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should" and similar expressions, to the extent they relate to the Company or its management, constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, the "Forward-Looking Statements"). These forward-looking statements are not historical facts and 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 that 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 a number of assumptions regarding our current and future business strategies and the environment in which we operate. We assume no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.

The Canadian Securities Exchange is not responsible for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For more information, please visit: website:www.cognetivity.com or contact: info@cognetivity.com; media inquiries can be sent to pr@cognetivity.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178982
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On the afternoon of 28th August, the opening ceremony of "Wondrous Chinese Paintings, A Flourishing Golden Age, The Exhibition on China's Song Dynasty Paintings in Denmark", directed by Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, hosted by Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Zhejiang University, and China Cultural Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, was held at China Cultural Center in Copenhagen. This is the fourth stop of the Exhibition after Barcelona in Spain, Palais des Nations in Geneva and Berlin in Germany.

Mr. Liang Bin, Cultural Counselor of Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Kingdom of Denmark, Mr. Lars Bent Petersen, President of the Royal Danish Academy, Mr. Klaus Mygind, Deputy Chairman of the City Council of Copenhagen, and Mr. Zheng Wen, Director of China Cultural Center in Copenhagen were invited to the ceremony.

In "Wondrous Chinese Paintings, A Flourishing Golden Age, The Exhibition on China's Song Dynasty Paintings in Denmark", the paintings on display are from A Collection of Song Dynasty Paintings in the project A Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Chinese Paintings, published and compiled by Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage. In a course of 17 years, the project incorporated 12,405 pieces (sets) of Chinese paintings from 263 museums and other cultural institutions at home and abroad, covering most of the extant national treasures throughout history. Such a large-scale challenging global project, a remarkable achievement of the cooperation between Zhejiang and the world, is an expression of humanity's determination to preserve, inherit and popularize civilization. The exhibition highlights the exquisite and majestic cultural charm of Song Dynasty paintings in three sections of Vivid Figures in High Spirits, Exotic Flora and Rare Fauna, Cloudy Mountains in Ink.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197573/1.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/the-exhibition-on-chinas-song-dynasty-paintings-held-successfully-in-denmark-301913760.html
Kingston, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Delta Resources Limited (TSXV: DLTA) ("Delta" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has been selected to receive up to $200,000 from the Ontario Junior Exploration Program ("OJEP") to further advance its exploration efforts at the Delta-1 property in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Delta is in the midst of an extensive exploration program at its newly expanded Delta-1 project, including up to 20,000 metres of drilling, a surface geological mapping program, further prospecting and sampling. Assay results are now pending for over 40 drill holes totalling nearly 14,000 metres.

"We are thrilled to receive the OJEP grant this year again. The funds go a long way to advance and expand our exploration program on a non dilutive basis at the Delta-1 project, enhancing value for all stakeholders," says Andre Tessier, President and CEO of Delta.

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 approximately 107 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.

For Further Information:

Contact Delta Resources Limited

Frank Candido, Chairman

Tel: 514-969-5530

fcandido@deltaresources.ca

or

Andre Tessier, President and CEO

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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179001
Evidence-Based Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Software Achieves a Significant 70% Decrease in Kidney Injury Rates among Oncology Patients

DoseMe, a leading provider of precision dosing software for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and creators of DoseMeRx and DoseMe Analytics, today announced AC Camargo Cancer Center continues to recognize improved patient care with real world data dosing results.

A.C. Camargo is an integrated Cancer Center for diagnosis, treatment, education and research. Since its inception in 1953, A.C. Camargo has made significant and ongoing contributions to the fight against cancer and it is recognized internationally as a reference institution.

"Oncologists rely on our infectious disease experts that integrate the therapeutic drug monitoring team to interpret the antimicrobials serum concentrations results and ensure we are complying with numerous international guidelines," stated Dr. Joao Telles, A.C. Camargo Infectious Disease Specialist. "DoseMe is critical to our team's ability to access real-time data and continue to deliver on our promise of customized care for every single patient." During the 33th ECCMID at Denmark, Telles shared the results of its dosing initiative which included a 70% decrease in the rate of kidney injury from patients that used vancomycin.

Dr. Telles holds a PhD in Infectious Diseases from University of Sao Paulo (FMUSP) and is a professor at the Post Graduate Program at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein. He is currently the infectious diseases specialist responsible for the therapeutic drug monitoring of antimicrobials at the AC Camargo Cancer Center where he is in charge of the Infection Control Department at Hospital Universitario Evangelico Mackenzie (Curitiba- PR).

At the upcoming International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Clinical Toxicology (IATDMCT) event in Oslo, he will share his expertise during the Anti-infectives TDM Studies and Endpoints session on Monday, September 25, 2023, 4:00 PM 5:30 PM.

Presentation title: TDM in Countries with Other Resources, Focus on Costs

At A.C. Camargo Cancer Center, the patient is initially evaluated by a multidisciplinary group of specialists and then passes through an integrated process of care, from diagnosis to rehabilitation. The protocols of these procedures are based on scientific evidence. Doctors and scientists work together to develop research that will be applied in oncology in the future. This results in the utilization of the best therapeutic alternatives and, consequently, increases cure rates and patient survival.

Precision dosing is imperative for cancer patients and the flexible sample collection improved the dynamics between all teams involved from lab, nurses, clinical pharmacists, and infectious disease specialists," added Telles.

"DoseMe's mission is to support our clinicians in delivering high-quality evidence-based medicine and the results recognized by A.C. Camargo are phenomenal," stated Dr. Sharmeen Roy, PharmD, BCPS, Chief Strategy and Science Officer. "With our team of bioinformaticians, scientists, and clinical pharmacists, we offer clinically-validated models for adult and pediatric patients in a range of therapeutic areas, including oncology."

About DoseMe

DoseMe combines smart technology with science, leveraging clinically-validated PK/PD models, patient characteristics, drug concentrations, and genotype to accurately individualize a dose in seconds. The platform is HIPAA, ISO FDA compliant and the only Bayesian dosing platform to be HITRUST CSF certified. For more information on successful applications of its products, DoseMeRx and DoseMe Analytics, visit https://doseme-rx.com/success-stories

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830772875/en/

Contacts:

Alison Guzzio

aburnsguzzio@gmail.com

484-459-3243
IMG reviewed the travel itineraries of nearly 40,000 of its members with upcoming September, October, and November travel plans to determine fall's emerging travel trends.

INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- IMG (International Medical Group), an award-winning global insurance benefits and assistance services company, has conducted a review of fall 2023 customer travel plans and predicts the top 5 international destinations for travelers this fall will be:

Mexico Aruba Italy Bahamas Dominican Republic

"Mexico is an incredibly popular destination for travelers throughout the entire year, and it's no surprise that many people are wanting to escape somewhere warm and tropical like Aruba and the Bahamas as fall and winter approach," said Grant Hayes, IMG Director of International Sales - Travel. "With hurricane season being in the fall, this is a top reason for travelers to purchase travel insurance for their trips."

As travelers embark on their tropical getaways this fall, most will have trips of 9 days in length, which is a day longer than the average for fall 2022 travelers. Not only are travelers increasing the length of their stays in 2023, but they are also increasing the amount they are spending on their trips. Among IMG travelers, there is a 47% increase in the average insured trip cost for fall 2023 travelers compared to 2022.

With more money invested in their travels, more travelers this fall want to make sure their trip investment is protected. IMG has seen a 34% increase in travel protection plan purchases for trips departing Sept. 1 - Nov. 30, 2023 compared to the same date range in 2022.

"A combination of longer trips and increased trip costs has led to more travelers seeking out travel insurance to protect their trip and investment," said Amanda Winkle, IMG Chief Operating Officer. "Travel insurance is the best way to protect yourself from financial losses should something unexpected happen before or during your trip, and our market-leading series of iTravelInsured travel protection plans are here to meet the varying needs of travelers this fall."

To learn more about IMG's award-winning travel and health safety solutions, please visit www.imglobal.com .

Top 5 Fall Travel Destinations 2022 2023 1. Italy 2. Mexico 3. Canada 4. Brazil 5. Spain 1. Mexico 2. Aruba 3. Italy 4. Bahamas 5. Dominican Republic

About IMG (International Medical Group)

IMG (International Medical Group), a SiriusPoint company, is an award-winning global insurance benefits and assistance services company that has served millions of members worldwide since its founding in 1990. The preeminent provider of travel and health safety solutions, IMG offers a wide range of insurance programs, including international private medical insurance, travel medical insurance, and travel insurance, as well as enterprise services, including insurance administrative services and 24/7 emergency medical, security, and travel assistance. IMG's world-class services, combined with an extensive product portfolio, provide Global Peace of Mind for travelers, students, missionaries, marine crews, and other individuals or groups traveling, working, or living away from home. For more information, please visit www.imglobal.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/456500/International_Medical_Group_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/img-shares-fall-2023-top-destinations-traveler-spending-habits-and-more-301912960.html
Innokin meets soaring demand for e-cigarettes in the Middle East

MANAMA, Bahrain, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Innokin, a leading vape brand since 2011, has announced its strategic partnership with Bahrain Duty Free, a prestigious retailer in the Middle East. This collaboration will see the introduction of Innokin's popular INNOBAR vaping products to Bahrain Duty Free's premium stores, catering to the increasing demand for e-cigarettes in the region.

The partnership between Innokin and Bahrain Duty Free began with a pilot project launched in April 2023. Within two weeks, the entirety of the trial stock had sold out. Building on this remarkable success, the collaboration has now expanded to provide customers with greater access to Innokin's award-winning vaping solutions. Innokin's INNOBAR devices, in particular, have garnered significant interest for their exceptional performance and flavours which are tailored to suit the preferences of the Bahrain market.

Currently INNOBAR 3500, 6000 and V7000 models are available at Bahrain Duty Free locations, allowing customers to find a device that meets their needs in terms of longevity, nicotine delivery and vaping style. Flavours such as Dragonfruit and Strawberry Watermelon have resonated strongly with Bahraini consumers in particular. Innokin has committed to developing more flavours that cater specifically to local demand.

A key element of the partnership has been the knowledge-sharing and training provided by Innokin's experts to the management of Bahrain Duty Free. This equips their staff with the expertise needed to offer informed guidance and advice to customers, ensuring a personalized and engaging shopping experience.

Commenting on the partnership, George Xia, Co-founder of Innokin said: "We are thrilled about our partnership with Bahrain Duty Free. This collaboration signifies not only our dedication to the growing Middle East market but also our commitment to fostering responsible practices in the industry. With our decade-plus experience and the shared values of both organizations, we are confident that this partnership will set new standards of excellence for vaping."

Bahrain Duty Free has gone the extra mile to showcase their confidence in Innokin's products. Starting in July 2023, they dedicated an entire display section to Innokin's products. The immediate success and positive customer response to this has highlighted the synergy between the two brands and potential for future expansion. The combination of Innokin's expertise and Bahrain Duty Free's market leadership is well placed to serve the evolving needs of discerning customers in the Middle East.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197740/Vaping_Industry_Leader_Innokin_Announces_Strategic_Partnership_With_Bahrain_Duty_Free.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/vaping-industry-leader-innokin-announces-strategic-partnership-with-bahrain-duty-free-301913747.html
CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / A collaboration between the Met Office, FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. (TSX-V:FLY)(OTCQX:FLYLF) and Loganair, aims to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and the prediction of localised severe weather in the UK,with expected benefits for the aviation industry such as more efficient route planning and supporting aims to reduce CO2 emissions.

The partnership provides the Met Office with FLYHT-WVSS-II atmospheric water vapour sensors to be installed on Loganair Embraer 145 aircraft flying across the UK. The sensors will continuously monitor environmental conditions around the aircraft during flight.

The Met Office is particularly interested in data collected during the ascent and descent phases of flight as this will provide a view of humidity, temperature, and wind measurements throughout the atmosphere. The use of this increase in observational data, is only possible because of the new Met Office supercomputer, which is coming online early in 2024. It will ultimately improve the forecasting of local scale weather. The relative humidity sensors will be fully integrated with FLYHT's Certus SatCom and AFIRS Edge multi-channel WQAR for real-time data transmission of aircraft-based observations.

These readings will help to better predict extreme weather such as the Cumbrian storms of 2015, as well as improve local forecasting of, conditions such as thunderstorms, fog, and showers. Adverse weather presents one of the biggest risks and safety factors for aircraft operations and can impact flights as well as ground-crew operations and maintenance tasks, further affecting scheduling and planning issues and adding to flight safety risks. Across Europe, weather is one of the largest contributing factors to aviation delays. It exacerbates the volatility of an already disrupted network at capacity. Better weather observations will greatly improve weather-based flight planning and real-time updates, thereby enabling more efficient avoidance of severe weather and turbulence. This initiative will also help airlines understand the formation of contrails, and potentially enable a reduction in contrail formation, which has been identified as a sustainability goal within the airline industry.

Met Office Associate Director of Technical Services, Bruce Truscott, said: "I am delighted to be working with FLYHT and Loganair to further improve our ability to observe and forecast the weather. Humidity measurements from aircraft will provide a much-valued addition to our observations capability, helping us to better define the 3-dimensional structure of the atmosphere which in turn is expected to support improvements in forecast accuracy."

Jonathan Hinkles, CEO at Loganair, said: "This collaboration recognizes the important, positive role that airlines can play in understanding weather and the environment, and as a strategic partner, we are honoured to do our part."

"We are confident that real-time aircraft data from FLYHT's sensors will contribute to reduced delays and cancellations, resulting in net benefits to our customers and the financial performance of our airline. Additionally, we see this collaboration as a major step towards helping us achieve our sustainability goals."

"It's a privilege to support two forward thinking organizations like the Met Office and Loganair to help address our shared interest in weather and the environment," said Kent Jacobs, President & Interim CEO at FLYHT. "FLYHT is pleased to be incorporating relative humidity data from our FLYHT-WVSS-II sensors into our aircraft-based observations knowing this will have a significant, positive effect on weather modelling."

Murray Skelton, FLYHT's VP Business Development and Weather, added, "Having these two leaders as partners validates our weather technology and our growing suite of actionable intelligence solutions. We look forward to installing our FLYHT-WVSS-ll hardware on Loganair's aircraft over the coming months and to providing end-to-end program project maintenance and support for this innovative program."

The contract is valued at approximately USD$6.9 million provided that all goods and services are delivered over the eight year term of the agreement, which could extend to 2037 that would bring the value to 7 million. Installations on Loganair's fleet of Embraer aircraft are expected to commence during the first half of 2024.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical 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. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to projected revenues and related matters. Although FLYHT believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. FLYHT 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 information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are founded on the basis of expectations, assumptions and hypotheses made by the Company, including, but not limited to projected revenues. Such forward-looking information is 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 information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include but are not limited to global economic conditions; industry conditions, and supply chain delays. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. FLYHT undertakes no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in our expectations except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

About the Met Office

The Met Office is the UK's National Weather Service, providing 24x7 world-renowned scientific excellence in weather, climate and environmental forecasts and severe weather warnings for the protection of life and property. www.metoffice.gov.uk

As the national meteorological s ervice for the UK the Met Office provides critical weather services that help the public, businesses and policymakers make better decisions and stay safe and thrive. We integrate our expert weather and climate knowledge with your industry expertise, supporting safe efficient operations, while planning for extreme weather impacts and climate change adaptation. Follow us on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn.

About Loganair

Loganair is a Scottish airline based at Glasgow Airport near Paisley, Scotland. It is the largest regional airline in the UK by passenger numbers and fleet size. In addition to its main base at Glasgow, it has hubs at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness and Newcastle airports.

About FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.

FLYHT provides airlines with Actionable Intelligence to transform operational insight into immediate, quantifiable action, and delivers industry leading solutions to improve aviation safety, efficiency, and profitability. This unique capability is driven by a suite of patented aircraft certified hardware products. These include AFIRS, an aircraft satcom/interface device, which enables cockpit voice communications, real-time aircraft state analysis, and the transmission of aircraft data while inflight. The AFIRS Edge is a state-of-the-art 5G Wireless Quick Access Recorder (WQAR), Aircraft Interface Device (AID), and Aircraft Condition and Monitoring System (ACMS). The Edge can be interfaced with FLYHT's TAMDAR probe or the FLYHT-WVSS-II relative humidity sensor to deliver airborne weather and humidity data in real-time.

CrossConsense, FLYHT's wholly owned subsidiary, offers highly skilled services to the commercial aviation industry and provides preventative maintenance solutions. These include Aircraft Fleet View, a native application that gives a real-time view of airline fleet status; AviationDW, a managed data warehouse for enhanced business intelligence; and ACSIS, a visualization and predictive maintenance alerting tool.

FLYHT is headquartered in Calgary, Canada, and is an AS9100 Quality registered company. CrossConsense, located in Frankfurt, Germany, is an ISO9001 certified operation. For more information, visit www.flyht.com.

Contact Information:

FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. FNK IR LLC Satichi Consulting Inc. Alana Forbes Matt Chesler, CFA Daniel Kim Chief Financial Officer Investor Relations Corporate Development 403.291.7437 646.809.2183 416.728.5630 investors@flyht.com flyht@fnkir.com dkim@flyht.com

Met Office Press Office 0330 135 0005 or email pressoffice@metoffice.gov.uk

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: FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778494/New-Met-Office-Partnership-with-FLYHT-and-Loganair-to-Improve-Forecasts-of-High-Impact-Weather
KAOHSIUNG, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- E&R Engineering Corp is a pioneering force in the semiconductor industry, known for its nearly three-decade journey from ink markers to laser markers. Since 1994, it has been the exclusive Ethnic-Chinese provider of advanced laser and plasma equipment for semiconductor, LED, and passive component industries. This company is celebrated not only for its technological prowess but also its commitment to customer satisfaction, sustainability, and community development.

Pioneering Excellence

E&R is renowned for its self-integrated optical modules with Nano, Pico, and Femto-second laser systems, alongside decades of expertise in plasma technology. Their radio frequency and micro-wave plasma technology offer superior plasma cleaning, high uniformity, low etching rates, and ESD protection. Since 1997, E&R has ventured into customized carrier tape production, operating two manufacturing facilities in Wuxi and Dongguan.

Leading-Edge Solutions

E&R commits to delivering cutting-edge semiconductor solutions. Recent innovations include active involvement in 2.5D and 3D packaging, achieving remarkable accuracy levels of up to 3um, with 1um well within reach. Their integration of laser systems with multi-beam technology enhances throughput and maintains exceptional quality standards. Beyond semiconductor solutions, E&R offers a panel-level solution measuring 700 mm * 700 mm tailored for the automotive industry.

Additionally, E&R specializes in providing plasma and laser solutions for third-generation materials like Silicon Carbide (SiC). Their unique laser processes ensure flawless cutting and marking solutions for SiC materials, ensuring defect-free surfaces and sidewalls.

Excellent and Reliable

E&R's global service network is pivotal to its success, featuring a team of skilled service engineers strategically positioned across Asia, Europe, and the USA. This approach transcends linguistic barriers to offer immediate, hands-on assistance, swift issue resolution, and support.

In the rapidly evolving semiconductor industry, E&R Engineering Corp continues to set new standards. Their steadfast commitment to innovation, sustainability, and customer satisfaction makes them the preferred partner for those seeking excellence in machine experience.

Visit E&R at SEMICON Taiwan 2023

E&R Engineering Corp invites you to explore their exhibition booth at L0610 on the 4th floor of Hall 1 in the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center from September 6th to 8th.

For more information, visit https://www.enr.com.tw/ .

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197765/02__002.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/er-engineering-corp-advanced-laser--plasma-innovation-provider-from-taiwan-301913795.html
Tel Aviv, Israel--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Exberry, a leading provider of exchange technology, is pleased to announce that Abaxx Technologies Inc. ("Abaxx Tech" or the "Company"), a financial software and market infrastructure company and majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte. Ltd. ("Abaxx Singapore'), the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, "Abaxx Exchange" and "Abaxx Clearing"), and producer of the SmarterMarketsTM Podcast, has selected Exberry's cloud-native trading technology platform to power their initial suite of LNG, Carbon and Nickel Sulphate futures contracts and subsequent futures contracts post-launch.





Exberry Co-Founder & CEO Guy Melamed Abaxx Exchange President, Dan McElduff



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9219/178943_untitled_design.jpg

Exberry's cloud-native SaaS trading engine enables unrivaled price discovery capabilities and has delivered to Abaxx a flexible, scalable and accessible solution to empower market participants to streamline and optimize their futures positions within the Exchange and Clearinghouse. Exberry's technical and development expertise enables Abaxx Exchange to bring innovative, first-of-their-kind centrally-cleared, physically-delivered futures contracts and derivatives to market.

"Solving fundamental problems in today's global commodity and energy markets requires a technology platform capable of producing cloud-based solutions with precision at an expeditious pace; we have found that in Exberry," remarked Dan McElduff, President of Strategy and Development at Abaxx Exchange.

"Working with Abaxx marks a significant step forward in our mission to provide cutting-edge technology solutions to empower innovative financial platforms," said Guy Melamed, Co-Founder and CEO of Exberry. "Abaxx's commitment to creating smarter markets and their focus on energy transition commodities trading aligns seamlessly with Exberry's values. We're excited to see our trading solutions contribute to their success, driving efficiency and growth in the evolving landscape of commodity exchanges."

About Exberry

Exberry helps exchange pioneers launch, pivot, break ground, and scale. Unlike any other technology provider, Exberry delivers a blend of exchange and trading technology expertise for secondary market models, combining entrepreneurial pedigree and corporate strength. Their technology helps transform price discovery in alternative markets.

Their technology and software engineering heritage combined with their strategic business counsel for growth enables them to deliver MTF and ATS grade exchange technology designed to scale and a purpose-built, end-to-end exchange infrastructure regardless of the asset class or opportunity. The core technology is deployed to enhance existing exchanges' limited capabilities or to serve as the base for trading new digital assets.

Media Inquiries:

Omri@omrihurwitz.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178943
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Cisco Systems Inc.



This blog was written by Andre Heller, Program Director of Signpost. Signpost, is an International Rescue Committee (IRC)-led consortium project that creates digital information hubs to equip and empower clients in times of crisis.

This year's World Humanitarian Day theme is "No Matter What" - a recognition that the humanitarian community strives to reach people in crisis with lifesaving assistance, regardless of the dangers or difficulties in making that happen. That tenacious spirit is both fitting and necessary this year. Since last August, long-standing humanitarian crises in places like Syria and Venezuela have not abated. At the same time, new crises have emerged or conditions have deteriorated to alarming extents in countries as far-flung as Afghanistan, Haiti, Niger and Sudan.

In the face of these mounting challenges, it is understandable to feel despair. But there are reasons to hope. People facing unimaginable difficulty constantly find new ways to persist, recover, and eventually thrive. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) sees their courage and resilience firsthand every day. And the humanitarian community that serves them, in partnership with donors and grassroots communities around the world, are developing new and more powerful ways to move humanity to a better place.

A powerful example of this is Signpost, an IRC-led consortium project that creates digital information hubs to equip and empower clients in times of crisis. Signpost platforms deliver critical information through local teams equipped with cutting-edge digital tools - providing communities with timely and actionable information. That information is vital for people to solve difficult and complex problems and make pivotal decisions on their course of action in times of crisis.

The correct information at the right time helps people understand big questions like: is it safe to flee the country? Am I eligible for a food program to support my family? Where can I find employment? Where to find the hospital that can help with a chronic illness? How do I enroll my children in a new school in a new city? Where can my family find shelter in a place that is safe from violence?

Signpost helps people approach these questions with up-to-date, accurate information. It is now active in 22 countries across five continents and plans to expand in the months and years ahead.

From the beginning, partnership has been a key element of Signpost's power and success. Cisco's support empowered the Signpost technology team to innovate and remove years of backlog. In just one year Signpost built the following technologies that helped exponentially grow the reach and impact of the program:

Service Map Rebuild

A low-code data management system for Service Mapping Officers across the globe to map service locations so our clients can better access the places they need. This tool can connect to chatbots, geospatial data, and manage real-time incoming information.

Universal Analytics Stack

A central hub where all Signpost data is securely stored to facilitate better targeting of humanitarian information and aid in humanitarian advocacy.

New Front End

A quick-deploy and centrally administered web-application deployed to over 10 countries. This template can function online and offline, and store critical information with a utilitarian approach.

In the past year of Cisco's support, Signpost reached 32 million people, served 5.74 million users, with 131,830 unique two-way communications with clients, nearly doubling our impact numbers from all years (2015-2022) preceding. This support led to a 188% increase in reach, 187% increase in users, and 393% increase in two-way communications over last year's annual count.

In recognition of Signpost's success in connecting people in crisis with vital and vetted information, the United Nations recently awarded the project with a prestigious Sustainable Development Goal Action Award. There is no question that bold and innovative partnerships like Signpost have a huge role to play in helping the international community both reach the United Nations' Sustainable Development goals and in helping the humanitarian community serve its clients more broadly.

To learn more about the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and its partnership with Cisco, as well as how you can support and donate, visit the Cisco Crisis Response page and IRC's website.

View original content here

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Cisco Systems Inc. on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Cisco Systems Inc.

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cisco-systems-inc

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Cisco Systems Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778501/Cisco-Signpost-Reminds-Us-That-Great-Things-Are-Possible-Through-Collaboration
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - AJN Resources Inc. (CSE: AJN) (FSE: 5AT) (AJN or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding term sheet (Term Sheet) with Future Mining Company SARL (Future), which is a limited liability company with its registered office in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for an option to acquire up to a 70% indirect interest in exploration permit PR 14537 located in the Manono Territory, Tanganyika Province of the DRC. The town of Manono, located about 20km via dirt road from PR 14537, is roughly 500km north of Lubumbashi and can be accessed by road from Lubumbashi or by a one-and-a-half-hour flight.

Exploration permit PR 14537 borders the Company's recently optioned PR 15282 exploration property to the west and potentially covers 4km of a second pegmatite interpreted to crosscut the central licence area as shown in Figure 1. Although PR 14537 is under extensive soil cover, a second zone of pegmatites is interpreted to branch from the Manono pegmatites having a more northerly trend as suggested in Figure 1. The interpreted pegmatites to the east are interpreted to parallel the granite contact on PR 15282.





Figure 1: Mined Pegmatites over 13km at Manono and Potential Extension of these Pegmatites onto PR 14537



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5922/178944_23eb01a054ad2928_001full.jpg

The Manono pegmatites lie within a broader pegmatite bearing belt which covers roughly 500km within the mid-Proterozoic Kibaran litholgies in the eastern DRC. The belt is strongly associated with lithium, tin, tungsten, tantalum, niobium and beryllium mineralisation and was exploited historically for tin up to early 1980's at Manono. AVZ Minerals Limited has defined a measured, indicated and inferred mineral resource totalling 401M tonnes at 1.65% Li2O as reported in their ASX announcement dated 24 May 2021 at their Roche Dure Prospect located within the Kitolo pegmatites shown in Figure 1. Trenching programmes announced by AVZ Minerals on 12 September 2017 identified highly weathered pegmatites in the northernmost trench covering the Manono pegmatites suggesting pegmatites continue to the northeast.

Mr. Klaus Eckhof, CEO and President of AJN, commented, "We are extremely excited about this latest acquisition as we have now covered the extension of the Manono pegmatites to the northeast. Early indications are that the licence area is covered by thick alluvial sand cover which is one of the main reasons why there has been little exploration in the area. We are confident that by conducting shallow drilling programmes we will be able to identify any extension of the Manono pegmatites onto both licences under agreement."

The Term Sheet states that AJN will pay US$100,000 to Future within 10 days of the date on which the Term Sheet was fully signed, upon which AJN will have up to six months to conduct legal, financial and technical due diligence, which will include soil sampling, trenching and, if warranted, a short drilling programme. Field work is expected to commence within the coming weeks.

At the conclusion of the due diligence programme, AJN will notify Future if it intends to exercise its option to acquire up to a 70% indirect interest in PR 14537. AJN has the right to acquire a 60% indirect interest by paying an additional US$1,000,000 to Future and by issuing 7,000,000 common shares in the capital of AJN to Future.

After AJN has acquired a 60% indirect interest in PR 14537, AJN can acquire a further 10% indirect interest in PR 14537 (for a total 70% indirect interest) by paying an additional US$5,000,000 to Future.

AJN will be responsible for funding exploration of PR 14537 to conclusion of a definitive feasibility study, which funding is to be treated as a loan. At completion of the definitive feasibility study and should AJN wish to continue, each party will contribute on a pro-rata basis or dilute according to an industry standard formula. AJN will arrange all project finance which will be recovered as a priority from production.

QP Statement

Mr. Stephen Alan Mawson is a consultant of AJN Resources Inc. and qualified geologist and is a registered Professional Natural Scientist (Geological Science) with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP Reg. No. 400074/03) and a member of the Geological Society of South Africa. Mr. Mawson is a qualified person (QP) under NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.

About AJN Resources Inc.

AJN is a junior exploration company. AJN's management and directors possess over 75 years of collective industry experience and have been very successful in the areas of exploration, financing and developing major mines throughout the world, with a focus on Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

For further information, please contact Investor Relations:

Sheena Eckhof

Director, Investor Relations

sheena@eckhofconsulting.com

Visit us at www.ajnresources.com.

Tel: +44 7496 291547

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Klaus Eckhof

CEO and President

klauseckhof@monaco.mc

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 AJN Resources Inc. 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, AJN Resources Inc. 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.

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/178944
MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - The United States has announced a new package of security assistance for Ukraine to meet its critical security and defense needs on the battlefield against Russia. This package, worth $250 million, contains important capabilities to help Ukraine. The highilght of the latest tanche of U.S. military aid is AIM-9M missiles, which is crucial for Ukrainian territory's air defense. This package of weapons and equipment includes munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, mine-clearing equipment, Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets, more than 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition, ambulances, demolition munitions for obstacle clearing, as well as spare parts, services, training, and transportation. The capabilities in this package includeAIM-9M missiles for air defense; Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS); 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds; Mine clearing equipment; Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles; Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets; Hydra-70 Rockets; Over 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition; Armored medical treatment vehicles and High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) ambulances; Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing; and Spare parts, maintenance, and other field equipment. This announcement is the Biden Administration's forty-fifth tranche of equipment to be provided from the Department of Defense inventories for Ukraine since August 2021. 'This package will help Ukrainian forces on the battlefield and support its air defenses as Russia continues to launch brutal strikes against the people of Ukraine, including attacks this past week that have taken the lives of innocent Ukrainian civilians, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a news conference. The United States is the biggest donor of military aid to Ukraine in its more than a year-old fight against Russian invasion. Russia continues to wage a brutal war of conquest that has killed thousands of Ukraine's civilians and displaced millions of others. Their attacks on Ukraine's ports and grain infrastructure have caused price volatility in food and grain markets and worsened hunger and global food insecurity. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Green Mountain Energy customers prioritized protecting the environment in 2022 by choosing renewable energy and carbon offset products to prevent more than 8.7 billion pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) from entering the atmosphere.

To illustrate the impact, that's the equivalent of planting 1 million trees, taking 1.1 million cars off the road, or 25 million households turning their lights off for a year. Since 1997, Green Mountain Energy customers have collectively avoided 107 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of planting more than 12.8 million trees.

"Green Mountain Energy customers use the power of customer choice to change the way power is made and reduce their carbon footprint," said Mark Parsons, vice president and general manager of Green Mountain Energy. "We are confident our customers will continue to light the path to a brighter future as they seek to live sustainably across all parts of their lives."

Green Mountain Energy also advances sustainability through its charitable program, Sun Club. Sun Club collaborates with nonprofit organizations on projects that focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency, resource conservation, and environmental stewardship.

Since its founding in 2002, Sun Club has donated more than $13 million to 156 nonprofit organizations across Texas and the Northeast. In 2022 alone, Sun Club donated $1.4 million to fund 13 projects. These projects are estimated to have generated 21 million kWh of solar electricity; avoided more than 4 million pounds carbon dioxide; captured 15 million gallons of rainwater; and grew 264,000 pounds of produce. To learn more about supporting Green Mountain Energy and Sun Club or to apply for a Sun Club grant, visit greenmountain.com/sunclub.

Green Mountain offers a variety of options for customers to harness the power of the sun to sustainably meet their energy needs. For example, the Renewable Rewards Solar Credit plan allows residents to get the most out of their solar panel system. Excess electricity generated by the panels flows into the grid, and in exchange, customers receive a Green Mountain Energy bill credit for 100% of the excess energy produced by the solar system.

Customers who sign up for the Solar All Nighter for EVs Plus plan can fuel their electric vehicles with 100% renewable energy, powering their electric vehicles at home during low-cost hours of the day to reduce their carbon footprint using emissions-free electricity.

Green Mountain Energy has helped communities light up with hope for a greener future since 1997. This commitment to clean energy is reflected in our new brand campaign "Light the Future." Watch the campaign video here, and meet the new firefly brand ambassador Lucy as she will continue to glow across the company's website, social media channels, and more.

To learn more about how to take the next step toward sustainability with renewable energy plans, visit greenmountainenergy.com.

###

About Green Mountain Energy Company

Green Mountain Energy is the nation's longest serving renewable energy retailer, on a mission to change the way power is made since 1997. Green Mountain offers consumers and businesses the choice of cleaner electricity products from renewable sources, as well as a variety of carbon offset products and sustainable solutions for businesses. Collectively, Green Mountain customers have helped avoid more than 107 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions to date. Green Mountain is lighting the path to a brighter future by supporting the sustainable projects of nonprofits through our charitable program, Green Mountain Energy Sun Club. To learn more about Green Mountain, visit greenmountainenergy.com.

Media Contact:

Estefania Joy

713-537-5735

media@greenmountain.com

Twitter: @GreenMtnEnergy

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Green Mountain Energy on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Green Mountain Energy

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/green-mountain-energy

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Green Mountain Energy

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778523/Green-Mountain-Energy-Customers-Avoid-87-Billion-Pounds-of-Carbon-Dioxide-in-2022
West Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Millennial Potash Corp. (TSXV: MLP) (OTCQB: MLPNF) (FSE: X0D) ("MLP", "Millennial" or the "Company") is pleased to report that the drilling of the extension to BA-002 is in progress and has intersected potash mineralization beyond the bottom of the historic drillhole. In addition, Millennial is providing an update on the political situation in Gabon following elections on Aug. 26 and the status of the private placement announced on Aug. 28th.

Farhad Abasov, Millennial's Chair, commented, "Millennial is pleased to have intersected potash mineralization in the form of beds of carnallite in the extension drilling below BA-002. The preliminary interpretation indicates this mineralization is part of evaporite Cycle IV and adds potential expansion of the potash zone as this Cycle has not been intersected previously. Sampling results are expected in 4-6 weeks and upon completion of this extension the drill rig will continue with the extension of BA-001. Our operations are not affected by the current political situation in the country."

Millennial's Phase 2a drill programme is in progress with the extension of historic drillhole BA-002 now coring beyond the bottom of the old hole at a depth of 1approx. 519m (see photo below). Potash mineralization, in the form of bright red nodular carnallite bedding was intersected and is interpreted as part of Cycle IV evaporite sequence. Core is currently being logged and sampled and will be expedited to SRC Potash Laboratory in Saskatchewan for analysis.

Potash-rich drill core from BA-002 Extension showing red carnallite mineralization at a depth of approx. 519m.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4674/179005_40e00b5124ec3aa9_001full.jpg

Gabon conducted presidential elections on Aug. 26th and the incumbent president was declared the winner. However, some opposition groups have contested the results and there is some uncertainty as to the current political situation within the country.

We have received no reports of unrest or any other disturbance around our operations in the southern part of the country. Reports from Millennial staff on the ground indicate the situation on the ground is quiet. To date the camp area and drilling operations remain unaffected but the Company will closely monitor the situation to ensure the safety of all MLP's staff.

The Company also wishes to provide an update on the private placement announced on Aug. 28th. Due to the developing events in Gabon after the elections, the PP announced on Aug 28th has been cancelled pending further news on the situation in the country.

This news release has been reviewed by Peter J. MacLean, Ph.D., P. Geo, Director of the Company, and both are Qualified Persons as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101.

To find out more about Millennial Potash Corp. please contact Investor Relations at (604) 662-8184 or email at info@millennialpotashcorp.com.

MILLENNIAL POTASH CORP.

"Farhad Abasov"

Chair of the Board of Directors

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 document may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan" or "planned", "forecast", "intend", "may", "schedule" and similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals including approvals of title and mining rights or licenses and environmental (including land or water use), local community or indigenous community approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, changes in laws, rules and regulations in Gabon or any other jurisdiction which may impact upon the Company or its properties or the commercial exploitation of those properties, currency risks including the exchange rate of USD$ for Cdn$ or CFA or other currencies, fluctuations in the market for potash or potash related products, changes in exploration costs and government royalties, export policies or taxes in Gabon or any other jurisdiction and other factors or information. The Company's current plans, expectations and intentions with respect to development of its business and of the Banio Potash Project may be impacted by economic uncertainties arising out of any pandemic or by the impact of current financial and other market conditions on its ability to secure further financing or funding of the Banio Potash Project. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political, environmental and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179005


NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended marketing authorization for Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and BioNTech's (BNTX) Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted monovalent COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty Omicron XBB.1.5) administered as a single dose for individuals 5 years of age and older, regardless of prior COVID-19 vaccination history, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday.



The companies said that the Committee has also recommended the updated vaccine for children 6 months through 4 years of age as part or all of the primary three-dose vaccination series, depending on how many prior doses they received, or as single dose for those with a history of completion of a COVID-19 primary vaccination course or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.



The recommendation is based on pre-clinical data showing that the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted monovalent COVID-19 vaccine generates an improved response against multiple XBB-related sublineages, including XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, XBB.2.3, and EG.5.1 (Eris), which continue to dominate globally.



The European Commission will review the CHMP's recommendation and is expected to make a final decision soon. Following a decision from the Commission, the updated vaccine will be ready to ship to applicable EU member states immediately, the companies said.



Pfizer and BioNTech stated that they have also filed an application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting approval of their Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted monovalent COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 6 months of age and older. A decision is expected in the coming days. The companies have submitted data for the updated COVID-19 vaccine to other regulatory authorities around the world.



For More Such Health News, visit rttnews.com



Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Mega-Chance: Der Indien Report Ihre Chancen im groten Wachstumsmarkt: 3 indische Top-Aktien. Die Highlights dieses Spezialreports: 1. Indien als Wachstumsriese, 2. Indiens Wirtschaft boomt!, 3. 3 Top-Performance-Aktien. Jetzt kostenlos downloaden. Hier klicken
Oscillate Plc - Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 31 May 2023

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, August 30

30 August 2023

Oscillate PLC

("Oscillate" or the "Company")

Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 31 May 2023

I am pleased to present the unaudited interim results for Oscillate plc (AQSE: MUSH) for the period ending 31 May 2023.

Director's Statement

During the period the Company made a loss of 508,310 compared with a loss of 348,033 for the same period last year. The loss is mainly due to revaluations of investments. The Board has been working diligently to reduce the administrative costs of the Company and these were 71,482 compared to 104,040 for the comparable period. As at 31 May 2023, the Company's cash position was 1,168,956 (2022: 1,908,336).

During the period end, the Company signed a conditional Heads of Term Agreement to acquire Hi55 Ventures Limited, a UK FinTech platform. Although the Board was excited about the prospect of delivering a reverse takeover transaction, following our internal diligence process, the Board identified fundamental reasons why we believed it was not in the best interests of the Company to proceed with the transaction. As a result, the proposed transaction was discontinued on 23 March 2023. No material costs were incurred in the evaluation of the terminated transaction.

Post period events

Since the end of the reported period, the Company announced that, in line with its strategic options, it had disposed of 21,312,460 ordinary shares in Igraine Plc for gross cash consideration of 66,068.

On 14 August 2023, LaunchMyCareer Holdings Plc ("LMCH"), informed its shareholders of its decision to present a winding-up petition to the court. Furthermore, LMCH's wholly owned subsidiary, LaunchMyCareeer Limited ("LMC") has also commenced a voluntary winding-up process. In July 2022, Oscillate announced that it had purchased 2,500,000 warrants to subscribe for shares in LMCH, with an exercise price of 1p per share.

On 29 August 2023 the Company's AGM was held. As well as the ordinary business of the meeting, it included resolutions which would allow shareholders to consider a members' voluntary liquidation which would return cash and other assets to shareholders. Shareholders voted against these resolutions, reflecting their preference for the Company to continue to pursue the implementation of its investment strategy.

The interim results to 31 May 2023 have not been reviewed by the Company's auditors.

Fungai Ndoro

Director, Oscillate plc

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the content of this announcement.

Enquiries:

Company

Oscillate PLC

John Treacy

ir@oscillateplc.com

https://oscillateplc.com

Corporate Advisor

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Guy Miller & Heena Karani

Telephone: 020 7220 9796





Statement of Comprehensive Income for the 6 months ended 31 May 2023

6 months to 31 May 2023

Unaudited Year ended 30 November 2022

Audited 6 months to 31 May 2022

Unaudited    Administrative expenses (71,482) (380,386) (104,040) Gains / (Losses) on investments at fair value through profit and loss (442,400) 942,463 (243,993) Profit on sale of investment - 8,437 - Operating Profit / (Loss) (513,882) 570,514 (348,033) Interest income 5,572 1,852 - (508,310) 572,366 (348,033) Taxation - (235,616) - Profit / (Loss) for the period (508,310) 336,750 (348,033) Basic earnings per share (0.5) 0.15 (0.3) Diluted earnings per share (0.5) 0.15 (0.3)





Statement of Financial Position for the 6 months ended 31 May 2023

6 months to 31 May 2023

Unaudited Year ended 30 November 2022

Audited 6 months to 31 May 2022

Unaudited    Assets Non-current assets Investments 14,700 264,700 319,700 264,700 319,700 Current assets Investments 2,032,051 2,221,952 380,896 Trade and other receivables 6,867 9,780 228,377 Cash and cash equivalents 1,168,956 1,230,961 1,908,336 3,207,874 3,462,693 2,517,609 Total assets 3,222,574 3,727,393 2,837,309 Current liabilities Trade and other payables (35,575) (32,084) (62,399) (35,575) (32,084) (62,399) Deferred tax liability (235,616) (235,616) - Net current assets 2,936,683 3,194,993 2,455,210 Net assets 2,951,383 3,459,693 2,774,910 Capital and reserves Share capital 1,228,309 1,228,309 1,228,309 Share premium 4,705,050 4,705,050 4,705,050 Other reserves 29,753 29,753 29,753 Retained earnings (3,011,729) (2,503,419) (3,188,202) Total equity 2,951,383 3,459,693 2,774,910





Statement of Changes in Equity for the 6 months ended 31 May 2023
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Enbridge

Asking for help can be the most difficult step. A retired army Veteran living in the rural community of Suwannee Valley in northern Florida had been self-sufficient, managing a mortgage and living expenses without any support from Veterans programs.

Then, the unexpected happened: he fell ill. Medical bills added up, then mortgage payments and utility bills. He struggled to care for his health and home, and was ultimately taking care of neither-he didn't have the resources.

When he heard about MISSION UNITED, a new Veterans' program through the United Way of Suwannee Valley, he still didn't believe he was the kind of person who should accept help.

"He wanted the assistance to go to someone else who was more in need," says Jennifer Anchors, UWSV's executive director. "It was just this spiral that was going on for him."

A caseworker was assigned to the gentleman, and he was connected with medical assistance through the Veterans Affairs hospital. MISSION UNITED helped him pay two months of his mortgage and one month of his electric bill. He also joined a local seniors' group for socialization and volunteering.

"He was able to get back on his feet," Anchors says. "And he just felt so good about himself."

Although other programs for Veterans exist in the small community, people were falling through the cracks, Anchors explains, noting the region is home to approximately 11,000 Veterans.

"A lot of times people just don't know where to go when they need help. We serve as the hub that supports them . . . to help them navigate resources," she says.

MISSION UNITED isn't funded by the workplace fundraising campaigns United Way organizations are known for; the program receives funding only through private foundations and grants.

Enbridge was proud to be MISSION UNITED's first funder, awarding UWSV a Fueling Futures grant of $7,500 to help establish the program in 2021, as part of our commitment to build sustainable communities. We followed that initial funding with $7,500 in 2022 and $5,000 in 2023 to continue the work to support and empower Veterans and their families, and ensure they receive assistance when times are tough.

Frequently, these Veterans offer to pay back the financial support they've received.

"For a lot of people, it's very difficult and embarrassing to ask for help, especially for Veterans," Anchors says. "We try to reassure them: 'No, this is not a loan. We're here to help you.' "

It's just as the program's motto states: MISSION UNITED is proudly serving those who have served.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Enbridge on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Enbridge

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/enbridge

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Enbridge

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778533/Proudly-Serving-Those-Who-Have-Served
Domestically produced non-flammable 18650s will be available in early 2024

GREENVILLE, S.C., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- E-bike battery safety concerns could soon begin to fade after Nanotech Energy, Soteria Battery Innovation Group, and Voltaplex Energy agreed to a new partnership to commercialize safe, American-made non-flammable lithium-ion battery packs in early 2024.

As part of the production process, Soteria metallized polymer current collectors will be combined with Nanotech's electrolyte and proprietary electrodes to create high energy, ultra-safe 18650 cells. Nanotech Energy is a global leader in graphene-powered lithium-ion batteries and the cells will be manufactured initially at Nanotech's Chico, CA facility, before later expanding to Gwh capacity in the US and Europe.

Voltaplex will then use the cells to create battery packs designed specifically for the e-bike, robotics, medical, and military markets. Expansion into other small device markets is expected to quickly follow.

Curtis Collar, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Nanotech Energy, said: "The scourge of cheap, low quality e-bike batteries have been endangering Americans for too long. In the first six months of 2023, New York City alone recorded1 at least 108 lithium-battery-related fires and 13 lives lost. But today, this agreement marks a significant moment of progress in the battle to keep our homes and streets safe. We are proud that Nanotech's new manufacturing facility, beginning production late 2023, will make these safe cells available to like minded partners like Voltaplex."

Voltaplex will be first to bring these cells to market, and these cells will also be available available from Nanotech in volume for other pack and device manufacturers to use. Small quantities of cells will be distributed by BatteryBro, Voltaplex's sister company, and consumers will be able to purchase the packs from several major e-commerce platforms.

Brian Morin, CEO of Soteria Battery Innovation Group, said: "We're pleased with how the strength of this technology and manufacturing partnership will enable us to serve the needs of the most critical applications in the industry better."

Access to these non-flammable graphene-powered cells will enable Voltaplex to serve the needs of demanding, highly complex applications without compromising safety.

For more information about Nanotech's Safe, American Made Cells, please contact Michael Lang at mlang@nanotechenergy.com. For more information on packs containing these cells, please contact Rebekah Weaver at Rebekah.Weaver@Soteriabig.com or Haley Thompson at Haley.Thompson@SoteriaBIG.com.

About Nanotech Energy

Nanotech Energy is on a mission to bring transformative, graphene-based, energy storage products from the research lab to the mass market. Its very high surface area, single layer graphene material is already being used in multiple applications, including non-flammable lithium-ion batteries, transparent conducting electrodes, conductive inks, printed electronics, conductive epoxy, antistatic coatings and EMI (electromagnetic interference) shielding.

Founded in 2014 by Dr. Jack Kavanaugh and noted UCLA scientists, Dr. Richard Kaner and Dr. Maher El-Kady, Nanotech Energy is headquartered in Los Angeles and is a privately held company backed by Multiverse Investment Fund, Fubon Financial Group, and other strategic investors. Learn more at https://nanotechenergy.com.

About Soteria Battery Innovation Group, Inc.

Soteria Battery Innovation Group Inc is an advanced technology development and licensing company that formed a consortium to promote battery safety technologies. Soteria's patented technology addresses the root cause of thermal runaway, while the consortium enables broad access to innovative technologies. Soteria was founded in 2017 by Brian Morin and is headquartered in Greenville, SC. For more information, please visit www.soteriabig.com.

About Voltaplex

Voltaplex Energy provides cutting-edge total lithium-ion energy solutions. Voltaplex's mission is to foster the clean energy revolution by creating the most efficient marketplace in the world for lithium-ion cells and packs. Voltaplex enables the simplistic integration of new and existing devices with low-cost lithium-ion technology.

1Four more people just died in an e-bike fire. If nothing changes, they won't be the last. The Guardian. 22 June 2023.

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/nanotech-energy-soteria-battery-innovation-group-and-voltaplex-energy-announce-plans-to-commercialize-safe-american-made-battery-packs-for-e-bikes-301913920.html
The Combined Company Supports Food Manufacturing and Distributors Across Their Entire Manufacturing Lifecycle from Raw Materials to Accounting

SMITHFIELD, RI / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / CAI Software, LLC ("CAI" or CAI Software"), a leader in integrated software and technology solutions for mission-critical, production-oriented enterprise resource planning (ERP), manufacturing execution systems (MES), eCommerce EDI (electronic data interchange) and warehouse management software (WMS), today announced that they have purchased Minotaur Software, Ltd.

The addition of Minotaur to the CAI portfolio adds robust food manufacturing and distribution functionality, enhancing capabilities across the entire manufacturing lifecycle from raw material purchasing, through receiving, warehouse movement, manufacturing, quality assurance (QA) and traceability, inventory control and handheld warehouse management, to order entry/invoicing, EDI, and accounting.

Minotaur connects office, plant, warehouse, and mobile workers so that data is available at the fingertips of food manufacturers. Together, CAI Software and Minotaur will serve the food industry, including food and beverage processing, meat and seafood processing to commercial bakeries, nutraceutical, and chemical manufacturing, and even distributors.

"Combining CAI Software and Minotaur brings key granular information for food manufacturers of all sizes to make more informed and timely business decisions in this ever-changing business environment," said Brian Rigney, CEO of CAI Software. "As we bring the companies together, we will continue to collaborate with our customers to develop solutions purpose-built to serve the unique requirements of this industry. I look forward to working with the entire Minotaur team as we enter our next chapter of growth."

Judith Kirkness, Vice President of Minotaur and now the Vice President of CAI Minotaur, said, "We are excited to join forces with CAI to continue building reliable and relevant software and offering intelligent service to help support our customer's growth and success. Our solution combined with CAI's larger solution offering and depth of experience serves as a foundation for growing food manufacturers around the globe."

William Chisholm, Managing Partner of STG, the majority investor in CAI, said, "Combining the strengths of CAI Software with Minotaur software will continue to strengthen our offerings to the food and beverage global industry. We look forward to working with our combined team to drive success for our employees, customers, and partners."

About Minotaur Software

Minotaur Software is a privately owned Canadian company specializing in traceability ERP software to support the unique requirements of food manufacturers and distributors.

About STG

STG is a private equity partner to market-leading companies in data, software, and analytics. The firm brings experience, flexibility, and resources to build strategic value and unlock the potential of innovative companies. Partnering to build customer-centric, market-winning portfolio companies, STG creates sustainable foundations for growth that bring value to existing and future stakeholders. The firm is dedicated to transforming and building outstanding technology companies in partnership with world-class management teams. STG's expansive portfolio has consisted of more than 50 global companies. For more information, please visit http://www.stg.com/.

Contact Information

Drea Toretti

CMO

info@caisoft.com

800.422.4782

SOURCE: CAI Software, LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/777273/CAI-Software-LLC-Acquires-Minotaur-Software-the-Provider-of-Specialty-ERP-for-Food-and-Meat-Processors
The Haunted Attraction Network's Annual Hauntathon series returns, showcasing Haunted Houses daily from Sept. 1 - Oct. 31, 2023.

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Prepare for a spine-tingling Halloween season with the Haunted Attraction Network's "Hauntathon," a 61-day celebration of haunted attractions from Sept. 1 - Oct. 31. Tune in for the largest celebration of haunted houses anywhere, featuring videos, podcasts, and VIP in-person experiences.

Hauntathon 2023

The Haunted Attraction Network's Annual Hauntathon series returns, showcasing Haunted Houses daily from Sept. 1 - Oct. 31, 2023.

The Haunted Attraction Network has gathered 13 ghoulish partners to bring viewers to 61+ haunted attractions worldwide. Hauntathon will explore some of the world's best and most mysterious haunted attractions, from the classic to the cutting-edge.

What does it take to scare people? You'll find out. Haunters, those people who create haunted attractions, work year-round to hone their craft. However, few guests get to see more than a handful. In this year's Hauntathon, viewers will get an inside look at the creative process behind some of the world's most famous haunted attractions.

"We're excited to bring viewers to some of the most unique and creative haunted attractions in the world," said Haunted Attraction Network founder Philip Hernandez. "We have a real balance of theme park, independent, and home haunts this year."

This year's title sponsor is Gantom Lighting & Controls, which manufactures the world's smallest intelligent spotlights for theme parks. Additional support is from Hauntpay and Froggy's Fog.

Content Partners:

Attractions Magazine, Creepy Kingdom, Freaks of HHN, HaunTopic Radio, Kevin Heimbach, Muse TV, OMNI Adventures, Scare Track, Sharp Productions, That Halloween Podcast, The Horror of Being Emily, The Scare Factor, Nick Pagliochini.

Details

Visit www.hauntedattractionnetwork.com

Featured Theme Parks

Dark Nights at Hersheypark

Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood

Halloween Horror Nights Japan

Halloween Horror Nights Orlando

Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort

Hong Kong Disneyland

Howl-O-Scream Tampa

Howl-O-Scream Orlando

Howl-O-Scream San Diego

Oogie Boogie Bash at Disney's California Adventure

Six Flags Fright Fest

Featured Haunted Houses include:

Bayville Scream Park (Long Island, NY)

DARK at Fort Edmonton Park (Edmonton, Canada)

Dark Hour Haunted House (Plano, TX)

Deadmonton (Edmonton, Canada)

Doncaster Fear Factory (Doncaster, UK)

Doom Haunted Attraction (Idaho Falls, ID)

Evil Intentions (Elgin, IL)

Fear Factory (Salt Lake City, UT)

Field of Screams (Mountville, PA)

Hanna Haunted Acres (Indianapolis, IN)

Haunted Overload (Lee, NH)

Hundred Acres Manor (Pittsburgh, PA)

Hush Haunted Attraction (Westland, MI)

Lake Hickory Haunts (Hickory, NC)

Markoff's Haunted Forest (Dickerson, MD)

Mortem Manor (Kissimmee, FL)

Nightmares on the Rogue (Medford, OR)

Reaper's Revenge (Scranton, PA)

Sacramento Scream Park (Sacramento, CA)

Scarehouse (Pittsburgh, PA)

Shaqtoberfest (Long Beach, CA)

Sir Henry's Haunted Trail (Plant City, FL)

Stanley Haus (Aliso Viejo, CA)

Spooky World (Warrington, UK)

Terror in the Corn (Denver, CO)

Terror Isle (Lee, NH)

Terror Roulette (South Barrington, IL)

Terror Vault (San Francisco, CA)

The Vault of Souls (Tampa, FL)

Wicker Manor (Denver, CO)

Woods of Terror (Greensboro, NC)

Contact Information

Philip Hernandez

Founder, Haunted Attraction Network

philip@hauntedattractionnetwork.com

Related Files

Hauntathon 2023 Full Press Release.pdf

SOURCE: Haunted Attraction Network

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778042/The-Haunted-Attraction-Network-Celebrates-61-Days-of-Haunted-Houses-With-New-Season-of-Its-Annual-Hauntathon
After enrolling more than 2 million students to date in the Americas, Open English has successfully expanded to the Middle East, following its acquisition of Turkey-based learning platform English Ninjas.

MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Open English, the leading English-learning platform in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market, has demonstrated quick business success in the Turkish market following its 2021 acquisition of Turkey-based learning platform English Ninjas. To date, the company has enrolled more than 20,000 students in Turkey and has more than 300 enterprise clients, including multinational food-product corporation Danone, American technology company Corning, and tire manufacturer Prometeon.

Open English expanded its business to the Middle East after more than 15 years of primarily serving clients in Latin America and the US Hispanic Market. Its launch in Turkey highlighted a need for the service. The company is disrupting the brick-and-mortar language-learning market with a proprietary technology platform that offers unlimited, 24/7 access to live classes with native English-speaking teachers. Open English demonstrated an ability to scale quickly in the region, reporting an almost 7x increase in revenue in the region, from the first half of 2022 to the same period in 2023, and a 100% growth in enrollments from 2022 to 2023.

"We have achieved significant growth in a short time in Turkey. This shows that there is a clear need in Turkey's population to learn English and Open English is helping to meet this need. Given the success we've had and what we have learned doing business in the region, we plan to expand our services to other Middle Eastern countries in the near future," explains Ali Servet Eyuboglu, Vice President EMEA and APAC.

The demand is clear: there is a need to learn English in this region. Within the European Union, foreign language fluency is perceived to be considerably important for employability. According to a Europe-wide survey, almost 50 percent of employers with an international business consider multilingualism to be the most important skill for the future*.

About Open English

Open English is the leading English-learning platform in the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic markets, providing live, online instruction to more than 2 million students that have enrolled to date. The company is disrupting the brick-and-mortar language-learning market with a proprietary technology platform that offers unlimited, 24/7 access to live classes with native-speaking teachers.

Open English offers customized learning solutions for businesses (Open English for Business), children (Open English Junior), and digital skills development (NextU). Open English has also expanded their business with Open Mundo, a new online language learning platform that offers French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish live classes. The company is headquartered in Miami, FL, with offices in Mexico City, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Bangalore and Sao Paulo. To learn more about Open English, visit OpenEnglish.com.

*Employers' perception of graduate employability, 2010, European Commission, p. 13

Contact Information

Thais Oliveira

VP, Brand Marketing

press@openenglish.com

SOURCE: Open Education

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778198/Leading-Global-English-Learning-Platform-Open-English-Successfully-Grows-Its-Revenue-7x-YoY-in-the-Middle-East
TWYMEEG sales in Japan for the last quarter (April-June) grew 23% over the prior quarter, in line with Sumitomo Pharma's FY 2023 forecast 1 , which would represent a 90% increase over the prior year sales

Company actively pursuing additional financing to initiate ALD Phase 2 Proof-of-Concept (POC) studies and execute its rare diseases strategy

As of June 30, 2023, cash and cash equivalents were EUR 7.6 million (USD 8.2 million)2; cash runway through Q2 2025, assuming full drawdown of the existing equity-linked financing facility with IRIS

Regulatory News:

POXEL SA (Euronext: POXEL FR0012432516) (Paris:POXEL), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative treatments for chronic serious diseases with metabolic pathophysiology, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and rare metabolic disorders, today provided a corporate update and announced its cash position and revenue for the second quarter and first half of 2023.

Thomas Kuhn, Chief Executive Officer of Poxel, stated: "During this past semester, we have diligently worked to improve our financial flexibility, and this has been a success through the combination of the restructuring of our existing debt obligations and the setup of a new equity-linked financing with IRIS. Now that our financial visibility extends through Q2 2025, we can concentrate on our strategy, which includes the launch of Phase 2 proof-of-concept studies in rare diseases, starting with adrenoleukodystrophy, subject to additional financing. The recent trajectory of TWYMEEG sales has also been key in the restructuring of our debt. Sumitomo Pharma, our partner commercializing TWYMEEG in Japan, recently reported gross sales for its Q1 2023, which shows a 23% increase over the prior quarter, and gives us confidence in the ability to meet Sumitomo Pharma's FY 2023 forecast."

Commercial Update

TWYMEEG (Imeglimin)

For the quarter ended June 2023, TWYMEEG gross sales in Japan increased 23% to JPY 1.16 billion (EUR 7.4 million) 2 over the prior quarter sales of JPY 0.9 billion (EUR 6.2 million) 2 as reported by Sumitomo Pharma (Sumitomo).

over the prior quarter sales of JPY 0.9 billion (EUR 6.2 million) as reported by Sumitomo Pharma (Sumitomo). The sales in recent quarters have accelerated due to the end of initial launch year restrictions for TWYMEEG in September 2022, which limited new products to two weeks prescriptions, and Sumitomo's commercial efforts to leverage TWYMEEG's potential. Thanks to its unique mechanism of action and safety profile, TWYMEEG can be used both as a monotherapy and in combination with other treatments, such as DPP4 inhibitors, the most prescribed treatment for Japanese Type-2-Diabetes patients, and SGLT2 inhibitors, which are growing strongly in Japan, and contributes to the increase in sales. These factors have resulted in a much higher increase in demand for TWYMEEG than expected by Sumitomo, and thus inventories are temporarily tight. Sumitomo is working diligently to increase the production and secure inventory capacity to meet this increasing demand.

For its FY 2023, Sumitomo announced a forecast for TWYMEEG of JPY 4.2 billion 1 (EUR 28.9 million) 3 which would represent a 90% increase over FY 2022 TWYMEEG gross sales.

(EUR 28.9 million) which would represent a 90% increase over FY 2022 TWYMEEG gross sales. For the Sumitomo FY 2023, as a conservative assumption in line with Sumitomo's forecast, Poxel expects to receive 8% royalties on TWYMEEG net sales. As part of the Merck Serono licensing agreement, Poxel will pay Merck Serono a fixed 8% royalty based on the net sales of TWYMEEG, independent of the level of sales.

During Sumitomo FY 2024 (ending March 31, 2025), Poxel expects TWYMEEG net sales in Japan to reach at least JPY 5 billion (EUR 34.4 million) 3 entitling Poxel to receive 10% royalties on all TWYMEEG net sales (on which the first 8% will still be paid to Merck Serono) and a sales-based payment of JPY 500 million (EUR 3.4 million) 3 . Beyond Sumitomo FY 2024, Poxel expects to receive escalating double-digit royalties as well as additional sales-based payments upon achievement of contractually based sales thresholds. As per the debt restructuring agreements established with its lenders in March, positive net royalties and sales-based payments will be directed to Poxel debt reimbursement until the loans are fully repaid (which Poxel expects in Q2 2029, at the latest). After this time, subsequent net royalties and sales-based payments will revert back to Poxel.

entitling Poxel to receive 10% royalties on all TWYMEEG net sales (on which the first 8% will still be paid to Merck Serono) and a sales-based payment of JPY 500 million (EUR 3.4 million) . Beyond Sumitomo FY 2024, Poxel expects to receive escalating double-digit royalties as well as additional sales-based payments upon achievement of contractually based sales thresholds. As per the debt restructuring agreements established with its lenders in March, positive net royalties and sales-based payments will be directed to Poxel debt reimbursement until the loans are fully repaid (which Poxel expects in Q2 2029, at the latest). After this time, subsequent net royalties and sales-based payments will revert back to Poxel. As part of the Sumitomo's ongoing efforts to communicate TWYMEEG's unique mechanism of action and safety profile, 9 abstracts based on Imeglimin Phase 2b and Phase 3 clinical trials were accepted for oral presentations at the 66 th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Diabetes Society (JDS), held in Kagoshima, Japan, May 11-13, 2023.

Annual Meeting of the Japanese Diabetes Society (JDS), held in Kagoshima, Japan, May 11-13, 2023. A Phase 4, 52-week, Open-label, Long-Term Study of Imeglimin in Japanese Type 2 Diabetic Patients with Renal Impairment is currently ongoing in Japan to strengthen TWYMEEG profile in this key subpopulation, and top line results are expected in 2024.

is currently ongoing in Japan to strengthen TWYMEEG profile in this key subpopulation, and top line results are expected in 2024. For territories not covered by its agreement with Sumitomo, Poxel is in ongoing discussions with various potential partners for Imeglimin, including in India, where local companies have recently received approval and have launched Imeglimin. At the date of this press release, no agreement has been established, and Poxel continues to be committed to asserting its rights in connection with its assets.

Rare metabolic diseases

In adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), PXL770 and PXL065 are prepared to advance, subject to additional financing, into two Phase 2 biomarker proof-of-concept (POC) clinical trials in male patients with adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), the most common ALD subtype. The 12-week studies will evaluate pharmacokinetics, safety and potential for efficacy based on relevant disease biomarkers, such as the effect on very long chain fatty acids (VLCFA), the characteristic plasma marker of the disease.

In line with its mission, Poxel aims to bring therapeutic options to treat ALD, and supported the Alex Leukodystrophy Charity during their Community Weekend, which took place from April 28 th to May 1 st in Birmingham, England. This event brings together leukodystrophy sufferers and their families, alongside doctors, researchers and scientists from around the world to discuss leukodystrophies.

to May 1 in Birmingham, England. This event brings together leukodystrophy sufferers and their families, alongside doctors, researchers and scientists from around the world to discuss leukodystrophies. On June 23rd and 24th, Poxel participated virtually at the ULF (United Leukodystrophy Foundation) Scientific Symposium and Family Conference in Itasca, Illinois, USA. Sophie Bozec, Poxel Senior Vice President, R&D Pharmacology and Scientific Communication presented Poxel's status and plans for PXL770 and for the deuterium-modified TZD platform, using PXL065, based on robust scientific rationale and a complete preclinical package.

Corporate Update

On June 21 st , the Company held its ordinary annual and extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. The shareholders approved all the resolutions that were recommended by the Board of Directors, including the renewal of Mr. Khoso Baluch, Mr. Thomas Kuhn et Ms. Pascale Boissel as Board members.

, the Company held its ordinary annual and extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. The shareholders approved all the resolutions that were recommended by the Board of Directors, including the renewal of Mr. Khoso Baluch, Mr. Thomas Kuhn et Ms. Pascale Boissel as Board members. During the first semester, the Company pursued its corporate savings plan initiated in 2022 aiming at adapting the Company's resources to the current clinical development plan while preserving critical resources and competencies. At the date of this press release, there are 16 employees at Poxel compared to 37 at the end of December 2022.

At the end of June, Elizabeth Woo, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations Communication, left the Company to pursue other endeavours.

Significant Events after the Period

On July 5th, Poxel was chosen as the winner of the 2023 edition of the I-nov contest for its program in ALD. Financed by the French State via the France 2030 plan, the prize of this contest includes a grant which will contribute in part4 in the financing of the two phase IIa proof-of-concept clinical studies for PXL770 and PXL065, which are ready to be launched, subject to additional funding, which the Company is actively working on.

In July 2023, the European Patent Office (EPO) granted Poxel a new patent for PXL065, a novel, proprietary deuterium-stabilized R-stereoisomer of pioglitazone, which describes a specific form of PXL065 with unique properties. This recently issued patent provides additional protection through 2041, with the potential for an additional 5 years through patent term extension. In 2022, Poxel had been granted the same patent for PXL065 from the US Patent Office.

Second Quarter and First Half 2023 Cash and Cash equivalents

As of June 30, 2023, cash and cash equivalents were EUR 7.6 million (USD 8.2 million), as compared to EUR 13.1 million (USD 14.0 million) as of December 31, 2022.

Net financial debt (excluding IFRS16 impacts and derivative debts) was EUR 37.7 million as of June 30, 2023, as compared to EUR 29.5 million as of December 31, 2022.

EUR (in thousands) Q2 2023 Q4 2022 Cash 7,599 13,058 Cash equivalents Total cash and cash equivalents 7,599 13,058 Unaudited data

On March 23, 2023, the Company finalized agreements with its lenders to restructure its existing debt facility and established a new equity-linked financing with IRIS, including an initial drawdown of EUR 3.5 million.

Based on:

this cash position on June 30, 2023, the full drawdown of the tranches available under the equity-linked financing with IRIS, the current research and development plan, excluding the initiation of Phase 2 clinical POC biomarker studies for PXL065 and PXL770 in AMN, and a strict control of its operating expenses,

Poxel expects that its resources will be sufficient to fund its operations and capital expenditure requirements through Q2 2025.

The full drawdown of the IRIS equity linked facility can be made subject to certain conditions described in the Company's Universal Registration Document. At the date of this press release and only based on the tranches already drawn5 or fully available6, the Company expects that its resources will be sufficient to fund its operations and capital expenditure requirements until January 2024.

Second Quarter and First Half 2023 Revenue

Poxel reported revenue of EUR 955 thousand for the six months ended June 30, 2023, as compared to EUR 83 thousand revenue during the corresponding period in 2022.

Revenue for the first half of 2023 reflects JPY 148 million (EUR 955 thousand) of royalty revenue from Sumitomo Pharma which represents 8% of TWYMEEG net sales in Japan. Based on the current forecast, Poxel expects to receive 8% royalties on TWYMEEG net sales in Japan through the Sumitomo fiscal year 2023 (April 2023 to March 2024). As part of the Merck Serono licensing agreement, Poxel will pay Merck Serono a fixed 8% royalty based on the net sales of Imeglimin, independent of the level of sales.

EUR (in thousands) Q1 2023 Q2 2023 H1 2023 Q1 2022 Q2 2022 H1

2022 3 months 3 months 6 months 3 months 3 months 6 months Sumitomo Pharma Agreement 449 506 955 32 51 83 Other Total revenues 449 506 955 32 51 83 Unaudited data

Planned Presentation and Participation at the Following Upcoming Event

23rd edition of the European MidCap Event, Paris, September 21-22

Next Financial Press Release: 2023 First Half Results, on September 26, 2023

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.

Glossary

You will find below a list of words and/or expressions that are used in this press release or in Poxel's communication, with the aim to bring clarification and transparency:

Sumitomo Pharma fiscal year runs April to March. As an example, Fiscal Year 2022 is April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2023.

runs April to March. As an example, Fiscal Year 2022 is April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2023. TWYMEEG royalties: As per the Sumitomo's agreement, Poxel is entitled to receive royalties from the sales of TWYMEEG (Imeglimin) in Japan TWYMEEG royalties are calculated on net sales, while Sumitomo Pharma communicates only TWYMEEG gross sales. Poxel entitled to receive escalating royalties of 8-18% on TWYMEEG net sales from Sumitomo Pharma.

As per the Sumitomo's agreement, Poxel is entitled to receive royalties from the sales of TWYMEEG (Imeglimin) in Japan Positive net royalties: refers to royalties Poxel receives from TWYMEEG net sales after paying Merck Serono the first 8%, once Poxel starts to receive 10% royalties upon TWYMEEG net sales exceeding JPY 5 billion in a fiscal year.

1 As per Sumitomo Pharma FY23 forecast of JPY 4.2 billion published on May 15, 2023.

2 Converted at the exchange rate as of June 30, 2023.

3 Converted at the exchange rate as of March 31, 2023.

4 Up to 45% of the estimated eligible costs.

5 Since March 31, 2023, 2 additional tranches of EUR 600,000 each have been drawn in May and July.

6 At the date of this press release, the amount of redeemable bonds owned by IRIS is EUR 5,980,000, and the Group has the ability to drawdown EUR 1 020 000 under the additional tranches.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830205409/en/

Contacts:

Investor relations Media

Aurelie Bozza

Investor Relations Communication Senior Director

aurelie.bozza@poxelpharma.com

+33 6 99 81 08 36

NewCap

Nicolas Fossiez, Aurelie Manavarere Arthur Rouille

poxel@newcap.eu

+33 1 44 71 94 94
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Regions Bank



By Candace Higginbotham

For Connie Payne, it all started with a hammer. And a husband with a passion for helping people.

Payne serves on the board of Hearts in Hands, a faith-based organization in Birmingham, Alabama, that provides home repairs for low-income community members. But her connection to the nonprofit started with a simple desire to help people in need.

Payne, a product team manager for Regions Treasury Management, has always been involved in the community through programs associated with her church. After she married 11 years ago, she and her husband, Carl, wanted to find a cause they could work on together.

I love talking to people and hearing their stories. It can be difficult because so many people are in need, and you just wish you could help everyone, but it's a good feeling to know you're making a difference. Connie Payne, product team manager for Regions Treasury Management

Through friends they found Hearts in Hands. Payne started out as a volunteer, helping to build wheelchair ramps, install handrails and doing minor plumbing and other repairs, but gradually began taking on more leadership and administrative roles with the organization.

"I just wanted to use my gifts to do more," Payne said. With an accounting degree and an MBA, along with more than 39 years of banking experience, she has many financial and organizational skills to share. In addition to serving as secretary/treasurer of the board, she still finds time to work directly with clients, by taking the initial repair requests from homeowners.

"I love talking to people and hearing their stories," she said. "It can be difficult because so many people are in need, and you just wish you could help everyone, but it's a good feeling to know you're making a difference."

Many of their clients are elderly or people with disabilities and most do not have homeowners' insurance. Hearts in Hands performed 300 home repair projects last year and installed 50 wheelchair ramps.

"Being a part of a nonprofit board is a different kind of community service," said Wendi Boyen, head of Community Advocacy and Financial Wellness at Regions. "It's not like making a financial gift or participating in a volunteer project. It's a long-term commitment to make a difference in the community and support a cause you're passionate about."

Board members provide oversight, financial guidance and strategic planning to ensure the success of nonprofits, which strengthens our communities.

Board service is also a good way to enhance personal and professional development. Individuals who serve on a board have the opportunity to cultivate new skill sets and expand their network of peers, professionals, community leaders, and thought leaders, which provides new avenues for development, outreach, influence, and mentorship.

At Regions, board service is an important component of the Making Life Better Institute, the bank's community engagement strategy that also includes volunteerism, financial education and CDFI and MDI support.

It's not like making a financial gift or participating in a volunteer project - it's a long-term commitment to make a difference in the community and support a cause you're passionate about. Wendi Boyen, head of Community Advocacy and Financial Wellness at Regions

Currently around 534 Regions associates serve on boards in communities throughout the bank's footprint. Some associates' board service is related to their work at the bank and many other associates provide leadership to organizations they care about personally.

Dennise Berger, branch manager of the Manatee Avenue Branch in Bradenton, Florida, also has a heart for service and a passion to lead.

"I grew up in the community I live in, and as a youth was instilled with the value of community service and giving back," Berger said. And that drive to serve stayed with her as she began her banking career.

"I believe that we as bankers have a responsibility to give back to the communities that we serve to help them grow and thrive. If they are growing and thriving, so will we. And organizations and boards love to have bankers supporting their organizations," she adds.

Berger has served on boards of several civic and nonprofit organizations, including Bradenton Rotary Foundation, Manatee Chamber of Commerce, Manatee Technical College and DeMolay Florida, an organization committed to developing and inspiring leadership, team building, and networking for young men.

Like Payne, Berger enjoys applying her specific skills and talents to provide leadership to these organizations and is gratified by their impact to the community.

"I am a member and past president of the Rotary Club. Every year we raise money to award grants to local organizations. We fund youth programs that help youth, the homeless population and also seniors. I'm really proud to lend my talents to help create positive outcomes for my community."

Boyen has some advice for anyone interested in serving on a board. "First, think about the types of organizations that appeal to you and do some research on the nonprofits and their board structure," she said.

If it's in your heart to help people, I'd advise anyone to take a leadership role in an organization. Find your niche or your passion - or just do what I did and let your passion find you. Connie Payne, product team manager for Regions Treasury Management

Boyen also suggests volunteering with the organization to get some hands-on experience with the work they do, and then connecting with a board member to let them know you're interested in a leadership position.

To help associates learn more about serving on a nonprofit board, Regions recently launched a training course to provide information and insight on board service, as part of its Degreed learning platform.

"If it's in your heart to help people, I'd advise anyone to take a leadership role in an organization," Payne said. "Find your niche or your passion - or just do what I did and let your passion find you."

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Regions Bank on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Regions Bank

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/regions-bank

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Regions Bank

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778555/Regions-Associates-Get-On-Board-With-a-Community-Leadership-Role
Regulatory News:

This summer, ORPEA (Paris:ORP) signed an agreement with Amvest Living Care Fund for the sale of a portfolio of 22 facilities under development, located in the Netherlands, which will eventually provide care to 480 residents. This new sale and leaseback agreement, worth 85 million, will bring to 75 the number of homes owned by Amvest and operated by its subsidiary Dagelijks Leven.

For several years now, Dagelijks Leven has been developing an innovative concept in the Netherlands for specialised care and accommodation for elderly people with cognitive disorders, characterized by an affordable price positioning within a low-scale setting (accommodating a maximum of 22 residents).

These homes, which construction will be achieved over 2023, 2024 and the first half of 2025, will be spread throughout the Netherlands. The first two facilities in this portfolio, located in the towns of Culemborg and Hardenberg, were handed over on the 10th of August 2023.

Following on from the disposals completed in July 2023, these transactions are fully in line with the targeted property asset ownership strategy set out in the ORPEA Group's Refoundation Plan, which aims at achieving a 20% to 25% ownership rate of operated assets in the medium term. They also illustrate the Group's ability, via its subsidiary Dagelijks Leven, to meet the expectations of a long-term investor committed to developing an innovative range of care and hospitality services in local areas.

About ORPEA

ORPEA is a leading global player, expert in providing care for all types of frailty. The Group operates in 21 countries and covers three core businesses: care for the elderly (nursing homes, assisted living facilities, homecare and services), post-acute and rehabilitation care and mental health care (specialized clinics). It has more than 76,000 employees and welcomes more than 267,000 patients and residents each year.

https://www.orpea-group.com/en

ORPEA is listed on Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0000184798) and is a member of the SBF 120, MSCI Small Cap Europe and CAC Mid 60 indices.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830048681/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations

ORPEA

Benoit Lesieur

Investor Relations Director

b.lesieur@orpea.net

Toll-free number for shareholders:

0 805 480 480

Investor Relations

NewCap

Dusan Oresansky

Tel: 01 44 71 94 94

ORPEA@newcap.eu

Press Relations

ORPEA

Isabelle Herrier-Naufle

Press Relations Director

Tel: 07 70 29 53 74

i.herrier-naufle@orpea.net

Image7

Charlotte Le Barbier // Laurence Heilbronn

06 78 37 27 60 06 89 87 61 37

clebarbier@image7.fr

lheilbronn@image7.fr
Regulatory News:

The Maurel Prom Group (Paris:MAU) informs that the current situation in Gabon does not affect the safety of the employees of its Gabonese subsidiary.

On-site activities are proceeding normally, with no impact on production.

In addition, the process of acquisition of Assala Energy by the M&P Group, whose share purchase agreement was signed on August 15, 2023, is continuing. The Transaction still remains subject to various approvals, including from the Republic of Gabon and CEMAC (Communaute Economique et Monetaire de l'Afrique Centrale) merger control clearance.

For information, Assala Energy's activities and production are also unaffected by recent events.

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 d'huile 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

CAC All-Tradable CAC Small CAC Mid Small Eligible PEA-PME and SRD

Isin FR0000051070 Bloomberg MAU.FP Reuters MAUP.PA

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830682009/en/

Contacts:

Maurel Prom

Press, shareholder and investor relations

Tel: +33 (0)1 53 83 16 45

ir@maureletprom.fr

NewCap

Financial communications and investor relations/Media relations

Louis-Victor Delouvrier/Nicolas Merigeau

Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 98 53/+33 (0)1 44 71 94 98

maureletprom@newcap.eu
Continuing to Serve Customers and Deliver High-Quality Therapies to Patients Without Interruption; Vendors and Suppliers to be Paid in Full in the Ordinary Course

DUBLIN, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc (OTCMKTS: MNKTQ) ("Mallinckrodt" or the "Company"), a global specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that it has received approvals from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware for its "First Day" motions related to the Company's voluntary Chapter 11 petitions filed on August 28, 2023.

As expected, the Court granted Mallinckrodt approval to access $150 million of the $250 million of commitments for new financing it received from certain of its creditors, as well as new borrowing availability from lenders under its asset-based loans. The approvals granted by the Court also enable the Company to continue paying employee wages, salaries and benefits without interruption and to continue paying vendors and suppliers in the ordinary course, including for any pre-petition amounts owed at the time of filing.

Siggi Olafsson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mallinckrodt, said, "We are pleased to have received prompt approval of these First Day motions, which will enable us to continue operating normally, supporting patients with high-quality therapies, serving customers and working with our business partners. I would also like to thank our customers, vendors, suppliers and other stakeholders for their continued partnership as well as the entire Mallinckrodt team for their continued commitment."

Mr. Olafsson continued, "With the overwhelming support of our key stakeholders, we expect Mallinckrodt will emerge from this process on an expedited basis with additional financial flexibility and well-positioned to advance our business priorities and deliver high-quality therapies to our customers and patients."

As previously announced, Mallinckrodt entered into a Restructuring Support Agreement with holders of approximately 90% of each of the Company's first and second lien debt and the Opioid Master Disbursement Trust II on the terms of a comprehensive financial restructuring plan. Implementing the financial restructuring contemplated by the RSA will reduce the Company's total funded debt by approximately $1.9 billion, increase free cash flow generation, extend maturity runway and better position the business for long-term success.

Additional Information

Additional information is available on Mallinckrodt's restructuring website at www.MNKrestructuring.com.

Important information about the Chapter 11 Cases, including court filings and other information related to the proceedings, are available on a separate website administrated by the Company's claims agent, Kroll, at https://restructuring.ra.kroll.com/mallinckrodt2023; by calling Kroll representatives toll-free at +1-844-245-7926, or +1-646-440-4855 for calls originating outside of the U.S. or Canada; or by emailing Kroll at mallinckrodt2023info@ra.kroll.com.

Vendors, suppliers and trade partners should direct any inquiries to the Company at +1-908-238-5650 or Supplier.Inquiry@mnk.com.

Latham & Watkins LLP, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Arthur Cox LLP, Richards, Layton & Finger PA, and Hogan Lovells US LLP are serving as Mallinckrodt's counsel. Guggenheim Securities, LLC is serving as investment banker, and AlixPartners LLP is serving as restructuring advisor.

About Mallinckrodt

Mallinckrodt is a global business consisting of multiple wholly owned subsidiaries that develop, manufacture, market and distribute specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. The Company's Specialty Brands reportable segment's areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, hepatology, nephrology, pulmonology, ophthalmology and oncology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics; cultured skin substitutes and gastrointestinal products. Its Specialty Generics reportable segment includes specialty generic drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com.

Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the Company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS RELATED TO FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements in this document that are not strictly historical, including statements regarding future financial condition and operating results, expected product launches, legal, economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Mallinckrodt's businesses, and any other statements regarding events or developments Mallinckrodt believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, may be "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. These factors include risks and uncertainties related to, among other things: the bankruptcy process, including the possibility that certain parties, such as creditors that are not party to the Restructuring Support Agreement ("RSA") or the Company's equity holders, may object to the plan of reorganization contemplated by the RSA; changes to the Chapter 11 proceedings, whether as a result of amendments or supplements to the plan of reorganization, the disclosure statement or other documents, third-party actions, or otherwise; the ability of Mallinckrodt and its subsidiaries to obtain approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the "Court") with respect to motions or other requests made to the Court throughout the course of the Chapter 11 proceedings and to negotiate, develop, obtain Court approval of, confirm and consummate the plan of reorganization contemplated by the RSA or any other plan that may be proposed within the Company's currently expected timeline or at all; the effects of the Chapter 11 proceedings, including increased professional costs, on the liquidity, results of operations and businesses of Mallinckrodt and its subsidiaries, including the Company's ability to operate normally, support patients, serve customers, work with business partners and abide by previously agreed upon compliance and monitoring measures; the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the RSA, including the ability of the parties to negotiate definitive agreements with respect to the matters covered by the term sheets included in the RSA, the occurrence of events that may give rise to a right of any of the parties to terminate the RSA and the ability of the parties thereto to receive the required approval by the Court and to satisfy the other conditions of the RSA; the effects of Chapter 11 on the interests of various constituents; the ability to maintain relationships with Mallinckrodt's suppliers, customers, employees and other third parties as a result of, and following, any emergence upon completion of its current Chapter 11 proceedings, as well as perceptions of the Company's increased performance and credit risks associated with its constrained liquidity position and capital structure; Mallinckrodt's substantial indebtedness, its ability to generate sufficient cash to reduce its indebtedness and its potential need and ability to incur further indebtedness; Mallinckrodt's ability to generate sufficient cash to service indebtedness in light of the restructuring plan contemplated by the RSA; developing, funding and executing Mallinckrodt's business plan and ability to continue as a going concern; Mallinckrodt's capital structure upon completion of the Chapter 11 proceedings; the comparability of Mallinckrodt's post-emergence financial results to its historical results and the projections filed with the Court in the current Chapter 11 proceedings; changes in Mallinckrodt's business strategy and performance; Mallinckrodt's tax treatment by the Internal Revenue Service under Section 7874 and Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; governmental investigations and inquiries, regulatory actions and lawsuits, in each case related to Mallinckrodt or its officers; matters related to the historical commercialization of opioids, including compliance with and restrictions under the global settlement to resolve all opioid-related claims; matters related to Acthar Gel, including settlement with governmental parties to resolve certain disputes and compliance with and restrictions under the corporate integrity agreement; scrutiny from governments, legislative bodies and enforcement agencies related to sales, marketing and pricing practices; pricing pressure on certain of Mallinckrodt's products due to legal changes or changes in insurers' reimbursement practices resulting from recent increased public scrutiny of healthcare and pharmaceutical costs; the reimbursement practices of governmental health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third-party payers; complex reporting and payment obligations under the Medicare and Medicaid rebate programs and other governmental purchasing and rebate programs; cost containment efforts of customers, purchasing groups, third-party payers and governmental organizations; changes in or failure to comply with relevant laws and regulations; Mallinckrodt's and its partners' ability to successfully develop or commercialize new products or expand commercial opportunities; Mallinckrodt's ability to navigate price fluctuations; competition; Mallinckrodt's and its partners' ability to protect intellectual property rights, including in relation to ongoing litigation; limited clinical trial data for Acthar Gel; clinical studies and related regulatory processes; product liability losses and other litigation liability; material health, safety and environmental liabilities; business development activities; attraction and retention of key personnel; the effectiveness of information technology infrastructure including cybersecurity and data leakage risks; customer concentration; Mallinckrodt's reliance on certain individual products that are material to its financial performance; Mallinckrodt's ability to receive procurement and production quotas granted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; complex manufacturing processes; reliance on third-party manufacturers and supply chain providers; conducting business internationally; Mallinckrodt's ability to achieve expected benefits from prior restructuring activities or those contemplated by the RSA; Mallinckrodt's significant levels of intangible assets and related impairment testing; labor and employment laws and regulations; natural disasters or other catastrophic events; restrictions on Mallinckrodt's operations contained in the agreements governing Mallinckrodt's indebtedness; Mallinckrodt's variable rate indebtedness; future changes to U.S. and foreign tax laws or the impact of disputes with governmental tax authorities; and the impact of Irish laws.

CONTACTS

Investor Relations

Daniel Speciale

Senior Vice President, Finance and CFO, Specialty Generics

+1-314-654-3638

daniel.speciale@mnk.com

Derek Belz

Vice President, Investor Relations

+1-314-654-3950

derek.belz@mnk.com

Media

Michael Freitag / Aaron Palash / Aura Reinhard / Catherine Simon

Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher

+1-212-355-4449

Government Affairs

Derek Naten

Vice President, Government Affairs

+1-202-459-4143

derek.naten@mnk.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/167103/mallinckrodt_plc_logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/mallinckrodt-receives-court-approval-for-first-day-motions-to-support-ongoing-operations-301913986.html
EQS Post-admission Duties announcement: Haier Smart Home Co.,Ltd. / Third country release according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act]

Announcement on Resolutions of the 6th Meeting of the 11th Session of the Board of Directors



30.08.2023 / 18:19 CET/CEST

Dissemination of a Post-admission Duties announcement according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 WpHG transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Third country release according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 of the WpHG

Announcement on Resolutions of the 6th Meeting of the 11th Session of the Board of Directors

Qingdao / Shanghai / Frankfurt / Hongkong, 30 August 2023 - Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. (the "Company" or "Haier Smart Home", D-share 690D.DE, A-share 600690.SH, H-share 06690.HK) today published a mandatory announcement in accordance with applicable trading rules of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and applicable PRC laws in relation to the Resolutions of the 6nd Meeting of the 11th Session of the Board of Directors.

The announcement is fully available at:

https://smart-home.haier.com/en/dggg/P020230830727023570766.pdf?appdesc=Announcement%20on%20Resolutions%20of%20the%206th%20Meeting%20of%20the%2011th%20Session%20of%20the%20Board%20of%20Directors

IR Contact:

Haier Smart Home Hong Kong

T: +852 2169 0000

Email: ir@haier.hk

Press Contact:

CROSS ALLIANCE communication GmbH

Sara Pinto

Sven Pauly

pi@crossalliance.de

T: +49 (0) 89 1250903 35

About Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd.:

Haier is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household appliances with a focus on smart home solutions and customized production. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. develops, produces and distributes a wide range of household appliances. These include refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters, kitchen appliances as well as small household appliances and an extensive range of intelligent household appliances. The Company distributes its products through leading household brands such as Haier, Casarte, Leader, Candy, GE Appliances, AQUA and Fisher & Paykel. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. has launched Smart Home Experiential Cloud, which connects homes, users, enterprises and ecosystem partners, and facilitates the integration of Haier's online, offline and micro-store businesses and supports user interaction to further optimize the user experience.

30.08.2023 CET/CEST The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.eqs-news.com


NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Sidoti Events, LLC, an affiliate of Sidoti & Company, LLC, has opened registration for its three remaining 2023 investor conferences:

September Virtual Small-Cap Conference - Wednesday and Thursday, September 20-21

November Virtual Micro-Cap Conference - Wednesday and Thursday, November 15-16 (Changed from October 25-26)

December Virtual Small-Cap Conference - Wednesday and Thursday, December 6-7

"Events" hosts eight virtual investor conferences each year. Almost 90 companies have registered for the September 20-21 conference and spots are filling fast (www.sidoti.com/events). About 120 presenters are expected. Presenters will have the opportunity to interact with nearly 1,000 anticipated investor attendees through group presentations and private one-on-one meetings.

Issuer and investor interaction is the hallmark of Sidoti conferences. Sidoti's five previous 2023 conferences alternated focus between small-cap ($994 million average cap) and micro-cap ($250 million average cap) and drew nearly 400 companies and 2,000 investors where Sidoti facilitated more than 3,000 one-on-one meetings.

Events' success in promoting issuer/investor interaction reflects its strong bond with broker-dealer affiliate Sidoti & Company, LLC, whose in-house sales team regularly interfaces with 1,500 institutional investors. Standing apart from others in the industry, Sidoti provides all presenters the opportunity to share their stories with Sidoti's sales force via a proprietary "teach-in" before each conference. This unique and popular engagement tool allows Sidoti's salespeople to get up to speed on each presenter's unique story before arranging the highest-quality investor meetings at each conference. Companies are encouraged to participate, though availability is limited.

The company presentation fee is $6,000. Registration is free for all investors and extends beyond Sidoti & Company, LLC's institutional client base. To register for the September, November, or December conferences, please visit www.sidoti.com/events. To inquire about a teach-in, please email conference@sidoti.com or call (212) 453-7031.

About Sidoti Events, LLC ("Events") and Sidoti & Company, LLC ("Sidoti")

In 2023, Sidoti & Company, LLC (www.sidoti.com) formed a sister company, Sidoti Events, LLC in order to focus exclusively on its rapidly growing conference business and to more directly serve the needs of presenters and attendees. The relationship allows Events to draw on Sidoti's nearly 25 years of experience as a premier provider of independent securities research focused on small and microcap companies and the institutions that invest in their securities, with most coverage in the $200 million-$5 billion market cap range. Sidoti covers more than 150 equities, of which about 40 percent participate in the firm's rapidly growing Company Sponsored Research ("CSR") program. Events is a leading provider of corporate access through the eight investor conferences it hosts each year. By virtue of its direct ties to Sidoti, Events benefits from Sidoti's nationwide sales force, which has connections with approximately 1,500 institutional relationships in North America. This enables Events to provide multiple forums for meaningful interaction for small-cap and micro-cap issuers and investors specifically interested in companies in the sector.

SOURCE: Sidoti Events, LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778536/Sidoti-Events-LLC-Opens-Registration-For-Remaining-2023-Conferences
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, August 30

For immediate release

30 August 2023

FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOMETRUST PLC

(the "Company")

MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES

The Company announces that it has today purchased 50,000 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 875.40 pence per Ordinary Share. Such shares will be held in treasury by the Company.

The transaction was made pursuant to the authority granted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 17 January 2023.

Following this transaction, the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury is 18,895,544; the total number of Ordinary Shares that the Company has in issue, less the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury following such purchase, and therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 206,095,759.

The figure of 206,095,759 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

For and on behalf of

Frostrow Capital LLP

Company Secretary

For further information, please contact:

Victoria Hale

Frostrow Capital LLP

Tel: 020 3 170 8732
30 August 2023, Limassol, Cyprus / Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

EPH European Property Holdings PLC (the 'Company') announces the Results of the Annual General Meeting



held on 30 August 2023 at 11:00 AM

at Four Seasons Hotel Limassol, 67-69 Amathountos Avenue, Ag. Tychonas, 4532 Limassol, Cyprus

EPH European Property Holdings PLC held its Annual General Meeting ('AGM') on 30 August 2023. Gustav Stenbolt was elected by the Board of Directors to be the Chairman of the General Meeting and declared the meeting open at 11am (Cyprus Time). In accordance with the provisions of the Company's Articles of Association, a quorum was present. The Chairman requested that the Notice and the Agenda be considered as read and the General Meeting consented.

Following the above, the General Meeting proceeded with the following ordinary businesses:

The Annual Report.

The Management Reports, the Audited Annual Financial Statements of the Company and the Audited Consolidated Financial Statements of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2022 and the Auditors' Reports (by Deloitte AG, Switzerland and by Primus Audit & Tax, Cyprus) were considered as submitted and read.

Election of the Board.

Vera Christodoulou and Gerrit Straub were appointed as director of the Company for a term of two years from and including the date of the Annual General Meeting, in accordance with the Company's Articles of Association.

Appointment of Auditors.

After consideration of the recommendations of the Board of Directors, Deloitte AG, Zurich, Switzerland together with Primus Audit & Tax, Cyprus were appointed as auditors of the Company. The Board of Directors of the Company shall were authorised to determine the exact terms of engagement of the auditors of the Company and to fix their remuneration.





EPH European Property Holdings PLC is an investment company listed on SIX Swiss Exchange. Additional information on EPH European Property Holdings PLC is available by contacting Anna Bernhart Tel: +41 44 503 5400 or at contact@europeanpropertyholdings.com .



Attachment
New Educational Program to Build and Nurture the Next Generation of Podcasting Innovators

PITTSBURGH, PA and NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Today, Liberated Syndication Inc. ("Libsyn"), the leading all-in-one podcasting platform for creators and advertisers, is proud to announce the launch of LibsynEDU, an innovative podcast educational program aimed at fostering excellence in podcasting and nurturing the next generation of podcasting talent.

"At Libsyn, we deeply value the educators' and institutions' crucial roles in shaping the minds of future generations. We recognize the significance of education and how it transforms lives. With this appreciation, we are proud to introduce LibsynEDU, our newest podcast educational program designed to support and empower educators and students in the podcasting space," John W. Gibbons, Interim CEO and Chief Product Officer, Libsyn.

Revolutionizing Podcasting Education

LibsynEDU is set to redefine the educational landscape for aspiring podcasters, equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and connections required to thrive in the ever-evolving podcasting industry. As part of the program, Libsyn will equip academic institutions with discounted access* to its suite of industry-leading hosting and monetization tools and offerings. Students will also enjoy supplemental coursework developed by industry experts. This coursework will cover various aspects of podcasting, including production techniques, storytelling, marketing strategies, audience engagement, measurement, and monetization.

In addition, LibsynEDU partners and participants will have the privilege of engaging with thought-leaders and influential figures in the podcasting realm through guest speaker sessions and on-campus events. These interactions will provide invaluable insights and foster connections with professionals at the forefront of the podcasting industry. Additionally, Libsyn will provide essential tutorials and recommendations for studio and recording equipment, ensuring that students have the necessary tools to create high-quality podcasts. Furthermore, participants will have access to industry research, empowering them to stay informed about emerging trends and best practices.

As part of this transformative program, students will gain access to a wide array of resources, including a thoughtfully crafted supplemental coursework, industry-leading hosting and monetization tools, guest speaker sessions, and access to a vibrant community of podcasting enthusiasts.

Creation of Libsyn Fellowship for NYU Graduate Journalism Podcasting Student

Libsyn is also announcing the creation of the Libsyn Fellowship, supported by a grant from Libsyn, for a student enrolled in the Podcasting and Audio Reportage master's concentration at NYU's Journalism Institute at the Graduate School of Arts & Science. The Libsyn Fellow will be chosen by a panel of NYU Arts & Science faculty, and conduct original research focused on podcasting in consultation with faculty. Libsyn selected NYU's Journalism Institute for its Libsyn Fellowship as it offers the first graduate-level journalism program specializing in audio podcasting.

"LibsynEDU provides educators with the supplemental tools and resources they need to help empower students to discover their voice and path in podcasting," said Andy Rogers, Senior Director of Partnerships at Libsyn. "The development of LibsynEDU and the Libsyn Fellowship exemplify our commitment to nurturing the growth of podcasting, supporting the visionary minds in podcast academia, and empowering the next generation of podcast creators."

Sarah Morio, Director of Marketing Operations at Libsyn, added, "We look forward to building on our NYU relationship for years to come, while also providing students worldwide with invaluable resources and opportunities to succeed in their podcasting journey."

LibsynEDU hosting plans are priced as low as 75% discount off regularly priced plans. The plan includes access to both Libsyn Connect, a comprehensive, feature-rich recording solution that provides creators with everything they need to remotely record the highest quality interviews, and Libsyn Studio, an all-in-one podcast creation platform for new creators to plan, launch, and distribute their content. Additional hosting plans like LibsynEDU+ and LibsynPro are also available at the enterprise and institutional level.

For more information about LibsynEDU, podcast programs, and courses available from our partners and various student resources, academic institutions, educators, and students can visit https://libsyn.com/education/ or email us at education@libsyn.com .

About Liberated Syndication

Founded in 2004, Liberated Syndication Inc. ("Libsyn") is the leading all-in-one podcasting platform for creators and advertisers to host, distribute, monetize, amplify, and measure their audio content. In 2022, the Company hosted over 75,000 shows and delivered over 8 billion downloads to listeners globally. Libsyn's AdvertiseCast marketplace combines an industry-leading ad buying and management platform with full-service capabilities that make it easy for podcast advertisers to initiate and manage highly targeted and measurable campaigns on over 3,000 shows. Based in Munich, Germany, Libsyn's Julep Media platform is the leading podcasting hosting platform and advertising marketplace in Europe. Libsyn also powers podcast membership platform,Glow, and web hosting platform, Pair Networks. Visit libsyn.com or investor. libsyn.com for more Company information.

#? #? #

Media Contacts: Ray Yeung + Nancy Zakhary | ray@relev8.co + nancy@relev8.co

Investor Contact: investor@libsyn.com

SOURCE: Liberated Syndication, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778725/Libsyn-Unveils-LibsynEDU-to-Empower-Educators-and-Students-in-Podcasting
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Optimal Dynamics, the pioneer in artificial decision intelligence for truckload operations, announced today the release of Bid by Optimal Dynamics, an RFP response solution that recommends the optimal lanes and volumes for truckload carriers to bid on during the bidding process. The company is making the solution generally available after testing with select customers over the past year.

Unlike traditional bidding solutions, Bid by Optimal Dynamics uses artificial decision intelligence to simulate a carrier's network after the impact of the bid, thereby highlighting the optimal lanes and volumes that best fit the carrier's unique network and business objectives. With customizable lane scoring and deep insights driving each recommendation, carriers are armed with the knowledge they need to confidently bid on lanes that are the most impactful to their business.

"Understanding how additional lanes and volume will fit within your current capacity constraints and commitments is critical to bidding most effectively," said Gillan Hawkes, Chief Product Officer of Optimal Dynamics. "What we saw missing in the market was a need to go beyond simply pricing and procedural solutions, and move toward a holistic bid response solution that can recommend the best bids based on the impact that new business will have on your overall network. And a fully digitized platform to streamline and accelerate the overall bid response process."

Through its proprietary Lane Scoring system, Optimal Dynamics' customers are able to tune the underlying optimization algorithms to weigh new bids according to the business objectives that they prioritize.

"Being able to identify the lanes that you should bid most aggressively on, quickly, at scale and across an unlimited number of customers and bids, truly democratizes the procurement of contracted freight in an intelligent, repeatable fashion," said Daniel Powell, CEO and Co-Founder of Optimal Dynamics. "Our Bid solution allows any carrier, trying to build or improve their contracted freight business, to streamline a highly cumbersome process, strategically fill gaps in their freight network, and transform their businesses through contracted freight. We are in the early innings of deploying AI to the truckload market and are super excited to see where we can take Bid by Optimal Dynamics in the future."

Bid by Optimal Dynamics is available as a standalone SaaS solution or as part of the complete Optimal Dynamics platform. For more information, visit http://www.optimaldynamics.com/product/bid.

Contact Information:

Kenzi Klein

Director of Operations

kklein@optimaldynamics.com

917-382-4431

Related Video

https://vimeo.com/799945945/071e0079e1

SOURCE: Optimal Dynamics, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778568/Optimal-Dynamics-Releases-Bid-Solution-to-Recommend-the-Best-Contracted-Lanes-and-Volumes-for-Truckload-Carriers
Portable and uninterruptible backup power for indoor use

CLEVELAND,OH / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Dory Power, a leading innovator in portable power solutions, is excited to announce its new trade-in program, allowing customers who previously purchased Dory-branded portable battery generators to upgrade to the latest models. This program is designed to provide existing customers with the opportunity to experience the advanced technology and enhanced features of Dory's latest offerings.

Dory Sentry Portable Solar Generator

Clean and portable power for indoor use

The trade-in program will initially be available for the Dory B2700 model. Customers who own the B2700 can now trade in their old model to acquire the new and improved Sentry model. The Sentry is a cutting-edge 3-in-1 system that seamlessly integrates solar generator capabilities, portable power station functionality, and uninterruptible power supply features. This upgrade represents a significant advancement in portable power technology and offers customers greater flexibility and reliability in various situations.

Dory Power introduces the trade-in program as part of its commitment to delivering the best possible portable power solutions to its valued customers. The upgraded models in the trade-in program correspond to the old models as follows:

Dory B2700 model corresponds to Dory Sentry model

Dory B5000 model corresponds to Dory Sentry Pro model

Dory B7000 model corresponds to Dory Sentry Pro Max model

While the trade-in program is currently available for the B2700 model, Dory Power plans to extend this offer to the B5000 and B7000 models in the near future, allowing customers to upgrade to the Sentry Pro and Sentry Pro Max models respectively. This phased approach ensures that customers can choose the right upgrade option that aligns with their specific power needs.

Customers interested in participating in the trade-in program can visit the Dory Power website for more information on the products and contact Dory sales via sales@dorypower.com on how to initiate the trade-in process.

Dory Power, founded in 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, is a leading US technology company focusing on the design and manufacture of advanced lithium-ion battery power systems for energy storage and backup power supply.

Contact Information

Dory Power Company

Solar generator manufacturer

service@dorypower.com

2163863953

SOURCE: Dory Power

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/778728/Dory-Power-Introduces-Trade-in-Program-for-Portable-Solar-Generators
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - ION Energy Limited (TSXV: ION) (OTCQB: IONGF) (FSE: 5YB) ("ION" or the "Company") is pleased to announce exciting leadership changes, as the Company continues on its rapid growth trajectory.

Robert Payment will be joining the ION Energy team as Chief Financial Officer, as a seasoned CPA with 16 years of comprehensive experience spanning finance, reporting, regulatory compliance, public company administration, equity markets, and the financing of publicly traded companies. His career commenced in public practice focusing on the audit of public resource issuers, and since 2014 he has served as a CFO and consultant to a portfolio of companies listed on both the TSX Venture Exchange and the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE).

Robert succeeds John McVicar, who is retiring after 3 years with the Company. John served ION Energy through its foundational phase as a junior mining company. With his 30 years of international business experience in management consulting and finance at a Big 4 firm, John was instrumental in shepherding the Company through multiple rounds of pivotal financings, annual financial reporting cycles and several strategic acquisitions. ION Energy's management is grateful for Mr. McVicar's leadership over the last 3 years and wishes him well in retirement.

Governance Addition

As part of its ongoing commitment to governance best practices, and diversity of perspectives and professional experience, ION Energy is delighted to welcome an addition to its Board. Joseph Gallucci will be joining the team, in the capacity of Director. Mr. Gallucci is a senior capital markets executive and corporate director with over 20 years of experience in investment banking and equity research. His career has focused on mining, base metals, precious metals, critical metals and bulk commodities on a global scale, and has spanned across various firms including BMO Capital Markets, GMP Securities and Dundee Securities. Joseph is currently the Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking at Laurentian Bank Securities Inc. where he oversees the investment banking practice in entirety. Mr Gallucci holds the ICD.D designation.

Ali Haji, CEO & Director of ION Energy has remarked, "Our Company continues to attract support from highly-credible and talented leaders from the mining and capital markets sectors. To have had this calibre of talent through the early years, and to now welcome new perspectives is the natural progression of a successful and growing mining entity like ION Energy. Our team is delighted to welcome Mr. Payment and Mr. Gallucci. Joseph's appointment to ION's Board reinforces our commitment for value creation for stakeholders. We eagerly anticipate his contributions in propelling our company towards a prosperous future."

Joseph Gallucci, the newly-appointed ION Energy Director comments, "I am excited to join the board of directors of ION Energy. The Urgakh Naran Lithium Brine project in Mongolia presents a remarkable opportunity to advance sustainable energy solutions in proximity to the world's largest lithium battery manufacturer, China. I am committed to leveraging my expertise to contribute to the company's growth and success to create sustainable value for all stakeholders."

TSXV Acceptance of Bliss Lake Application

Pursuant to the Company's August 16, 2023 press release, and the TSXV's acceptance for filing documentation relating to the Bliss Lake agreement, ION Energy Ltd would like to clarify that the 571,428 shares issued includes the finders fees. The Company will also further issue up to 1,250,000 common shares of the Company (with a floor price per share of $0.20) one year from Closing if an assay result of a sample from the Property during the 12 months after the Closing Date yields a grade of at least 0.5% Li2O, and further issue up to 1,250,000 common shares of the Company (with a floor price per share of $0.20) two years from Closing if an assay result of a sample from the Property during the 24 months after the Closing Date yields a grade of at least 0.5% Li2O. In the event that the Company announces a mineral resource estimate of at least 5 million tonnes of measured, indicated and inferred resources containing Lithium Oxide (Li2O) grading of at least 1.00% on the mining claims on the Property, the Company will pay an additional $300,000 cash payment within five days of the announcement to certain Vendors.

For additional information about Bliss Lake, see ION's press releases dated May 11, 2023 and June 28, 2023.

ION Energy Name Change

ION Energy has made an application to the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") to change the Company's name to "Lithium ION Energy Ltd." (the "Name Change"). Pursuant to the Name Change, the Company's securities will continue to trade on the TSXV under the ticker 'ION'. The new CUSIP assigned to the Company's common shares following the Name Change will be 53680X103 (ISIN: CA53680X1033).

The Name Change was authorized by ION Energy's shareholders at the Company's Annual General and Special meeting held on July 5, 2023. Common shares owned by shareholders of the Company will be automatically adjusted as a result of the Name Change and no further action is required to be taken by shareholders. The TSXV will publish a bulletin announcing the effective date of the Name Change.

The Name Change remains subject to final approval by the TSXV. It is anticipated that the common shares will commence trading under the Company's new name of Lithium ION Energy Ltd., on or about September 1, 2023.

About ION Energy Ltd.

ION Energy Ltd. (TSXV: ION) (OTCQB: IONGF) (FSE: 5YB) is committed to exploring and developing high quality lithium resources in strategic jurisdictions. ION's flagship, 81,000+ hectare Baavhai Uul lithium brine project represents the largest and first lithium brine exploration licence award in Mongolia. ION also holds the 29,000+ hectare Urgakh Naran highly prospective lithium brine licence in Dorngovi Province in Mongolia. With the acquisition of the Bliss Lake and Little Nahani projects in NWT, Canada, ION will have significantly enhanced its lithium asset and jurisdiction profile. ION is well-poised to be a key player in the clean energy revolution, positioned well to service the world's increased demand for lithium. Information about the Company is available on its website, www.ionenergy.ca, or under its profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

For further information:

COMPANY CONTACT: Ali Haji, ali@ionenergy.ca, 647-871-4571

MEDIA CONTACT: Siloni Waraich, siloni@ionenergy.ca, 416-432-4920

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Company's objectives, goals or future plans, and statements, and the prospectivity of its exploration property portfolio for lithium mineralization. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from ION Energy's expectations include, among others, uncertainties relating to availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, risks related to international operations, the actual results of current exploration activities, and delays in the development of projects. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and 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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179097
The live webcast and accompanying presentation slides will be available at the time of the event and can be accessed at the Investor Relations website. An audio replay of the webcast for the presentation will be available on this website for 180 days.

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.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Skylight Health Group Inc. (TSXV: SLHG) (OTC Pink: SLHGF) ("Skylight Health" or the "Company") and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Skylight Group") announces today: (i) updates on the Company's strategy following the completion of the previously announced enforcement and settlement transactions; and (ii) the resignation of certain officers of the Company.

As previously announced, in July 2023 the Company and its affiliates completed transactions (the "Enforcement and Settlement Transactions") with their secured lenders, Families-Backing-Families Credit Fund I, LP ("FLC") and Walleye Opportunities Master Fund Ltd. ("Walleye") involving a foreclosure upon certain US operations and assets and the orderly wind down of remaining US operations.

As a result of the Enforcement and Settlement Transactions, Skylight and its affiliates have no remaining material operations and intend to take steps to formally dissolve their remaining US Subsidiaries. In addition, efforts will be undertaken to maximize the remaining value of Skylight's corporate assets. This process will be overseen by the board of directors of the Company.

Skylight's process to determine if any opportunities exist to maximize the remaining value of its corporate assets must be expedited due to the limited remaining liquidity of the Company, and will be implemented over the upcoming 90 days. Any parties interested in engaging in discussions regarding such opportunities are encouraged to contact the Company at corporate@skylighthealthgroup.com. The Company is not forecasted to have sufficient liquidity to continue past this 90 day period.

In connection with the cessation of operations, the Company also announces the resignation of Prad Sekar from the position of Chief Executive Officer, Kash Qureshi from the position of President and Farooq Akhter from the position of Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Sekar, Mr. Qureshi and Mr. Akhter will continue to assist the Company in a consulting capacity through the remaining wind down process.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may include predictions, estimates or other information that might be considered forward-looking within the meaning of applicable securities laws. While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgments, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect our opinions only as of the date of this release. Please keep in mind that we are not obligating ourselves to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. When used herein, words such as "look forward," "believe," "continue," "building," "may be", or variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in any forward-looking statements made by us herein are often discussed in filings we make with the Canadian and securities regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at: www.sec.gov, and Canadian Securities Administrators, available at www.sedar.com, and on our website, at skylighthealthgroup.com.

For more information, please visit our website or contact:

Investor Relations:

investors@skylighthealthgroup.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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179103
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Allied Merger Corporation ("AMC"), Allied (as defined below) and Mondavi (as defined below) are pleased to announce: (a) the closing of AMC's previously announced private placement financing (the "Financing") of Subscription Receipts (as defined below) for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately US$267 million, including the partial exercise of the Agents' (as defined below) option; (b) the execution of a business combination agreement (the "Business Combination Agreement") with Allied Gold Corp Limited ("Allied"), a Jersey-based private company which owns or controls three producing mines and several development and exploration projects in Africa, and Mondavi Ventures Ltd. ("Mondavi"), a British Columbia-based unlisted reporting issuer in the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, in connection with the previously announced business combination and reverse take-over transaction involving such parties (the "Transaction"); and (c) the receipt of conditional approval by the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") for the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares (as defined below) and the Resulting Issuer Debentures (as defined below).

Pursuant to the Financing, AMC issued 81,219,000 common share subscription receipts (the "CS Subscriptions Receipts") at a price of US$1.97 per CS Subscription Receipt and 107,279 convertible debenture subscription receipts (the "CD Subscriptions Receipts", and together with the CS Subscription Receipts, the "Subscription Receipts") at a price of US$1,000 per CD Subscription Receipt. The Financing was led by National Bank Financial Inc., Stifel GMP and Canaccord Genuity Corp., on behalf of a syndicate of investment dealers, including BMO Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, Cormark Securities Inc. and SCP Resource Finance LP (collectively, the "Agents").

The net proceeds of the Financing have been deposited into escrow or are being held in trust pending the satisfaction of certain escrow release conditions in connection with the Transaction (the "Escrow Release Conditions"), and, following the completion of the Transaction, will be used to carry out Allied's planned growth strategy, including its ongoing optimization and development work, as well as other general corporate purposes. Certain members of Allied management participated in the Financing and agreed to apply accrued bonus and other payments, including change of control payments, toward their respective subscriptions.

Each CS Subscription Receipt entitles the holder thereof to receive one common share of AMC (each, an "AMC Share"), which, after a consolidation of the AMC Shares on a 1:2.2585 basis, will be exchanged for one common share of the Resulting Issuer (as defined below) (each, a "Resulting Issuer Share") upon the satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions. Each CD Subscription Receipt entitles the holder thereof to receive one unsecured convertible debenture of AMC, which will be exchanged for one unsecured convertible debenture of the Resulting Issuer (each, a "Resulting Issuer Debenture") on an economically equivalent basis upon satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions. The Resulting Issuer Debentures will be convertible at the holder's option into Resulting Issuer Shares at any time following the issuance thereof during their five (5) year tenure at a price of US$5.79 per Resulting Issuer Share.

Concurrent with the completion of the Financing, AMC, Allied, Mondavi (as well as certain related entities of such parties) executed the Business Combination Agreement, pursuant to which, among other things, such parties agreed to consummate a series of transactions which will result in the reverse take-over of Mondavi by the shareholders of AMC and Allied, culminating in the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares and the Resulting Issuer Debentures on the TSX and a name change of Mondavi to "Allied Gold Corporation" (the "Resulting Issuer"), which will thereafter carry on the business of Allied. Subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions precedent set out in the Business Combination Agreement, the Transaction is expected to close during the first week of September 2023.

In addition, AMC, Allied and Mondavi are pleased to announce that the TSX has conditionally approved the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares (including those underlying the Resulting Issuer Debentures) and the Resulting Issuer Debentures, subject to the satisfaction of certain customary TSX listing conditions.

Following the completion of the Transaction, it is expected that the Resulting Issuer Shares will trade on the TSX in Canadian dollars under the symbol "AAUC" and the Resulting Issuer Debentures will trade on the TSX in U.S. dollars under the symbol "AAUC.DB.U". Trading is expected to commence on or around September 8, 2023, shortly following the anticipated closing of the Transaction.

In addition, AMC has received credit approvals from a group of prospective lenders for a three-year revolving credit facility totaling US$100 million that is subject to the completion of definitive documentation and conditions precedent. In addition to the Financing, the revolving credit facility will add to the financial flexibility of the Resulting Issuer. With cash flows, AMC expects that the Resulting Issuer's development stage projects will be fully financed, although the Resulting Issuer will continue to advance other forms of low-cost financings to increase its cash balances.

Advisors

Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP are acting as legal counsel to AMC. Allen & Overy LLP and McCarthy Tetrault LLP are acting as legal counsel to Allied. Borden Ladner Gervais LLP is acting as legal counsel to the Agents. Prest Law Corporation is acting as legal counsel to Mondavi.

About Allied Gold Corp Limited

Allied is a private company focused on gold mining asset transformation in Africa. Allied has three mines and several development and exploration projects in Africa where it has significant operating experience. Operations are located in Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Ethiopia and Egypt. Led by a team of mine developers with proven success in adding value to tier one assets, Allied aspires to become a mid-tier next generation gold producer in Africa and ultimately a leading senior global gold producer.

About Allied Merger Corporation

AMC is a company formed and capitalized by the former principals of Yamana Gold Inc., being Peter Marrone, Daniel Racine, Jason LeBlanc, Gerardo Fernandez and Sofia Tsakos, for the purposes of financing and assisting the development of high-quality mining opportunities.

About Mondavi Ventures Ltd.

Mondavi is an unlisted public company organized under the laws of the Province of British Columbia. The business of Mondavi is the investigation and evaluation of business opportunities.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Allied Gold Corp Limited

Stephan Theron

Email: IR@alliedgold.com

Allied Merger Corporation

Gerardo Fernandez

Tel: +1 (647) 526-4258

Email: investor@alliedgoldmc.com

Mondavi Ventures Ltd.

Scott Ackerman

Tel: +1 (778) 331-8505

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in Canada, the United States or any other jurisdiction, nor may there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. The securities referred to in this news release have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States without registration under the U.S. Securities Act and all applicable state securities laws or compliance with the requirements of an applicable exemption therefrom.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking information is not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represents only Allied's, AMC's or Mondavi's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Allied's, AMC's and Mondavi's control. Generally, such 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 the negative or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information contained herein includes, but is not limited to, information concerning the Transaction, the Financing and the Business Combination Agreement, including the structure, timing, completion, and terms and conditions thereof; expectations relating to the satisfaction of Escrow Release Conditions and timing thereof; expectations relating to the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares and Resulting Issuer Debentures on the TSX and the satisfaction of the TSX listing conditions; the use of proceeds of the Financing; expectations for the effects of the Financing and the Transaction; and the business of Allied and the Resulting Issuer.

By identifying such information and statements in this manner, Allied, AMC and Mondavi are alerting the reader that such information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Allied, AMC or Mondavi to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information and statements. In addition, in connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Allied, AMC and Mondavi have made certain assumptions. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: the ability to consummate the Transaction on the proposed terms and on the proposed timeline anticipated, or at all; the ability to obtain all requisite regulatory, corporate, shareholder, and third-party approvals and consents, and the satisfaction of other conditions to the consummation of the Transaction on the proposed terms and schedule; the ability to satisfy TSX listing conditions; the potential impact of the announcement or consummation of the Financing and the Transaction on relationships, including with regulatory bodies, employees, suppliers, contractors and competitors; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; changes in applicable laws; and compliance with extensive government regulation. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

Although Allied, AMC and Mondavi believe that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is provided as of the date of this news release, and none of Allied, AMC or Mondavi undertakes to update any forward-looking information that is contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION DIRECTLY, OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179050
Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) ("Benton" or the "Company") announced on August 17, 2023 that it entered into a binding letter of intent ("LOI") with Spruce Ridge Resources Ltd. (TSXV: SHL) ("Spruce"), whereby Benton can earn an undivided 70% interest in Spruce's Newfoundland properties (the "Property") including the Great Burnt Copper deposit and South Pond Gold and Copper zones (the "Option"). The Company has received conditional approval by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") for the Option, pending this disclosure of the Net Smelter Return ("NSR") from previous operators/owners of the Property. Under previous agreements, there exists a 2% NSR royalty in favour of Glencore (as a successor to Noranda) on mining lease ML211 and part of Exploration Licence 21732M that was part of former Exploration Licence 10210M, which covers the area of the Great Burnt Copper Deposit. In addition, if commercial production commences from this lease, then a cash payment of $1,000,000 or the issuance of common shares representing equivalent value must be made to Glencore.

Under the agreement between Pavey Ark and Spruce, Pavey Ark will retain a 0.5% NSR royalty on any production from Mining Lease ML211 and that part of Exploration Licence 21732M that was part of former Exploration Licence 10210M. Pavey Ark will retain a 2% NSR royalty on any production from the Mineral Exploration Licenses numbered 6682M, 6683M, 9881M, 20961M and that part of 21732M that was not part of former Exploration Licence 10210M.

Highlights of the Option

Under the terms of the Option, Benton can earn a 70% undivided interest in the Property by:

making a $40,000 cash payment to Spruce upon receipt of final Exchange approval;

issuing to Spruce 15 million common shares in the capital of Benton ("Benton Shares") as follows: 5,000,000 Benton Shares subject to a four-month regulatory trading restriction; 5,000,000 Benton Shares subject to a four-month regulatory trading restriction plus an additional eight-month trading restriction; 5,000,000 Benton Shares subject to a four-month regulatory trading restriction plus an additional twenty-month trading restriction; and

completing $2.5 million in exploration expenditures on the Property within 36 months of the date of the LOI, of which $1.0 million must be expended by the first anniversary of the LOI, subject to the right of Benton to accelerate the completion of such expenditures and share issuances at its election.

Once a 70% interest in the Property is earned by Benton, the Property will be operated as a participating joint venture.

Company President and CEO Stephen Stares, stated, "This project provides Benton with another prospective opportunity in central Newfoundland, which is ranked one of the best mining jurisdictions worldwide. We're excited to be building off a great land position with many known zones that are open for expansion and the potential for new discoveries provides confidence for future exploration success. Benton will plan an aggressive exploration program that will commence as soon as possible."

Commenting on the Option, interim Spruce President and CEO, Steve Balch, explained that, "Spruce is very pleased to be partnering with Benton, a well-known exploration company with deep roots in Newfoundland. This agreement forms part of our plan to diversify our property obligations while acquiring additional critical mineral resources through a combination of expertise and leverage of our security portfolio, including our 5.5 million common shares of Canada Nickel Company Inc. We see this as a good time to expand and diversify our asset base."

Great Burnt Copper-Gold Project

The Great Burnt Main Zone has an NI 43-101 compliant resource prepared in 2022 for Spruce by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. of 667,000 Tonnes (47.2 Mlb) Cu at 3.21% (indicated) and 482,000 Tonnes (25.0 Mlb) Cu at 2.35% (inferred) contained within mining lease 211(10210M). The Copper resource remains open to the south and at depth. Highlights of the drill programs to date include:

GB20-05: 27.20 m of 8.06% Cu, including 7.75 m of 16.88% Cu

GB20-20: 22.75 m of 6.89% Cu, including 12.55 m of 10.59% Cu

GB18-05: 20.94 m of 6.21% Cu, including 6.98 m of 10.71% Cu

GB18-06: 9.97 m of 7.45% Cu, including 5.03 m of 11.42% Cu

GB16-08: 7.50 m of 9.45% Cu, including 3.00 m of 19.30% Cu

GB16-09: 5.75 m of 6.68% Cu, including 1.50 m of 11.70% Cu

Exploration at the South Pond Zone has identified potential for both copper and gold along several kilometers of strike. Highlights of the 2021 drill program include:

SP21-01: 1.69g/t Au over 51.00 m, including 3.19g/t Au over 11.00 m, within 10 m of surface

SP21-03: 2.36g/t Au over 15.00 m, including 11.33g/t Au over 1.00 m

SP21-08: 1.75g/t Au over 21.20 m, including 2.82g/t Au over 10.20 m

SP21-11: 1.34g/t Au over 17.60 m, including 2.48g/t Au over 4.20 m

SP21-14: 2.06g/t Au over 21.00 m

SP21-16: 1.72g/t Au over 10.00 m

Note: Widths quoted are true core length, true widths are estimated at approximately 70% of core lengths

QP

Stephen House (P.Geo.), Vice President of Exploration for Benton Resources Inc., the 'Qualified Person' under National Instrument 43-101, has approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release and prepared or supervised its preparation.

About Benton Resources Inc.

Benton Resources is a well-financed mineral exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol BEX. Following a project generation business model, Benton has a diversified, highly prospective property portfolio of gold, silver, nickel, copper, platinum group elements and, most recently, lithium and cesium assets. In addition, it currently holds large equity positions in other mining companies that are advancing high-quality assets. Whenever possible, BEX retains net smelter return (NSR) royalties with potential long-term cash flow.

Benton is also a 50/50 partner in a strategic alliance with Sokoman Minerals Corp. through three large-scale joint-venture properties, including Grey River Gold, Golden Hope, and Kepenkeck in Newfoundland.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Inc.,

"Stephen Stares"

Stephen Stares, President

Parties interested in seeking more information about properties available for option can contact Mr. Stares at the number below.

For further information, please contact:

Stephen Stares, President & CEO

Phone: 807-475-7474

Email: sstares@bentonresources.ca

CHF Capital Markets

Cathy Hume, CEO

Phone: 416-868-1079 x 251

Email: cathy@chfir.com

Website: www.bentonresources.ca

Twitter: @BentonResources

Facebook: @BentonResourcesBEX

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements."

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179148
Dubai, United Arab Emirates--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - ICEBERG Financial, a globally recognized investment consultancy firm, is thrilled to announce its recent expansion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. As a part of the company's strategic decision in late 2022 to broaden its reach, an administrative office was inaugurated on 04 April 2023 in the bustling district of Barsha One, Dubai. The move saw a significant portion of ICEBERG Financial's administrative team relocate Singapore administrative office to this prime location, further deepening the firm's commitment to the region.

Today, just three months post-establishment of the Dubai office, ICEBERG Financial is marking another significant milestone. Having successfully onboarded its HR Manager as part of the first round of its hiring initiative in the MENA region, the firm stands poised to serve interested parties from September 9th. Those enthusiastic about joining hands with ICEBERG Financial are invited to partake in this transformative journey, as the company charts an unprecedented course in the regional investment landscape.



Furthermore, as a part of this ambitious expansion, selected participants will help growing our clientele at our concierge desks and management offices throughout the MENA region. This initiative reaffirms ICEBERG Financial's dedication to providing top-tier, localized service to its partners and clients.

ICEBERG Financial's expansion is not simply a testament to the company's growth trajectory, but also a reflection of the burgeoning economic opportunities observed in the MENA region. The decision to grow the team in this part of the world is underpinned by several factors:

Economic Resilience: Despite global economic volatilities, the MENA region has demonstrated a resilient economic landscape. Particularly, the UAE, with its investor-friendly environment, has emerged as a hub for international businesses and is projected to experience sustainable economic growth.

Diversification Agenda: Many countries in the MENA region, especially the Gulf nations, are accelerating their diversification plans away from oil-reliance. This transition is opening avenues for investments in sectors such as technology, renewable energy, and tourism, areas where ICEBERG Financial sees immense potential.

Growing Investment Appetite: The region's high net-worth individuals, sovereign wealth funds, and institutional investors are progressively looking for lucrative investment avenues, both within the region and internationally. ICEBERG Financial, with its global expertise, is uniquely positioned to cater to this growing demand.

Interested parties are encouraged to connect with ICEBERG Financial's Dubai office from September 9th onwards. Together, let's navigate the intricate maze of investments, capitalizing on the unmatched potential that the MENA region has to offer.

Established as a beacon of financial advisory excellence, ICEBERG Financial is a premier investment consultancy firm with a global footprint. Headquartered in Dubai, the firm specializes in offering bespoke investment solutions, keeping clients' aspirations at the heart of every decision.

For further information, press inquiries, or to schedule interviews, please contact:

Media Contacts:

Name: Public Relation (Sarah Travis)

Website: https://iceberg.financial/

Business Email: pr@iceberg.financial

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178938
CCM Biosciences, a Mount Laurel, NJ-based diversified biotechnology company, raised over $25M in Series A1 and A2 financings at a multi-hundred million dollar valuation.

Co-Founded by Dr. Raj Chakrabarti, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, and Dr. Anisha Ghosh, Professor of Finance at McGill University, CCM Biosciences is a biotechnology company dedicated to discovering and developing novel drugs, including small molecules, gene therapies, biologics, and nanomedicines. Novel therapeutic candidates and companion diagnostic tests are intended to treat various indications across precision oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune diseases, and age-related disorders.

CCM Biosciences possesses an expansive portfolio of novel product candidates including disruptive KRAS therapeutics that target the oncogene responsible for 25% of all cancers, selective first-in-class degraders of oncogenic kinases for lung cancer and leukemia, inhibitors of the master immune regulator cGAS for autoimmune disorders, therapies for nonsense mutations that account for 10% of all genetically inherited diseases, and disruptive drug candidates for mitochondrial upregulation relevant to a host of age-related disorders such as Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and infertility

Several of its novel drug candidates have already reached significant development milestones. Investigational New Drug applications are expected to be filed with the FDA in the near future, based on clinical trial plans developed with medical experts from institutions including Cleveland Clinic and Ohio State University.

Its platforms were developed at Chakrabarti Advanced Technology, a privately funded R&D institute founded in 2010 with scientists in the US, France and India.

The company is partnered with PMC Group for the Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) of its drug programs. The CCM-PMC partnership offers a fully integrated ecosystem for the discovery, development, and manufacturing of drug candidates addressing some of the most significant unmet medical needs.

FinSMEs

30/08/2023
Mercury Bios new Finance Director, John Tomes (top left), meeting with members of the lab team at the companys Santa Fe, NM facility. SOURCE: Mercury Bio Inc.

Mercury Bio, a Santa Fe, NM-based biotech company working in the area of targeted molecular drug delivery, raised $2M in Seed funding.

The backers were not disclosed.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach.

Led by CEO Bruce McCormick, Mercury Bio is developing a biomolecular drug delivery platform. Using a novel system for drug encapsulation in natural vesicles, their technology enhances drug efficacy while reducing side effects by employing cell-specific targeting. The result is a drug delivery system in a scalable, low-cost production platform that will use RNA therapeutics and small molecule drugs.

The company also added John Tomes as Finance Director. He brings experience in capital markets and company building. Tomes most recently served as a Senior Partner with Hawthorn Equity Partners (Toronto & Chicago), and has more than 25 years of private equity and early-stage investment experience across four funds managing in excess of $450M of capital. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director at GE Capital and responsible for sourcing and managing over 70 leveraged lending and equity investments totaling $5.5 BN of capital and managing offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Tomes also has served on more than 15 boards, and been involved in multiple company sale events, IPOs, restructurings, and mergers. He holds a BA from Kenyon College in Biology, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

FinSMEs

30/08/2023
In todays fast-paced e-commerce environment, the dynamic flow of money in and out is a constant.

Traditional banking structures, with their procedural lags and tedious protocols, often fail to keep up with this urgency. Thats where Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) comes in. BaaS platforms, especially notable names like Payoro, present a significant shift in the way e-commerce entities manage their financial operations.

Understanding the intricacies of the e-commerce business model, Payoro, founded in 2020, has developed a Banking-as-a-Service solution that cuts through the bureaucratic delays. Providing hassle-free IBAN account opening for private individuals in the EU/EEA after rigorous KYC and AML checks, they ensure that e-commerce operators can quickly facilitate their money inflows and outflows.

The Distinctive Edge of BaaS for E-Commerce

BaaS platforms prioritize real-time transaction processing. This means e-commerce businesses can access their funds almost instantaneously. The absence of a physical infrastructure in BaaS operations translates to a significant reduction in transaction fees. Cost-effectiveness is thus a massive selling point for these platforms.

BaaS solutions, designed with adaptability in mind, can be molded to fit the specific needs of e-commerce platforms. For example, Payoros streamlined IBAN account opening process directly addresses a pain point many e-commerce operators face with traditional banks.

Automation is another cornerstone of BaaS platforms. By automating numerous financial processes, they significantly reduce manual workload and potential error margins. This brings about an operational efficiency that e-commerce businesses treasure.

For those e-commerce platforms with a global customer base or aspirations to be international, the multi-currency support that most BaaS platforms provide becomes invaluable. The ease with which these platforms can manage cross-border transactions can serve as a catalyst for global expansion.

Metrics Shift with BaaS Integration

When e-commerce platforms adopt BaaS solutions, a pronounced positive shift in their operational metrics often follows. Enhanced cash flow is among the primary benefits. The speed and efficiency of transactions mean businesses can achieve better liquidity, enabling them to handle their financial obligations with ease.

The versatility of BaaS solutions in handling multiple payment methods and currencies can lead to a broader customer reach. This expansion often correlates with a rise in sales figures.

Customer experience is also enriched. When payment processes are seamless, customers are more likely to be satisfied and become repeat buyers. Additionally, the inherent cost-saving structures of BaaS can help e-commerce platforms shave off significant operational costs.

While BaaS platforms offer many perks, the road isnt without its bumps. Security concerns top the list, especially given the online nature of operations. Furthermore, navigating the diverse regulatory landscapes can be a challenge. Yet, by associating with reputable BaaS providers like Payoro, e-commerce businesses can be more assured, minimizing potential risks.

Spotlight on Payoro

Payoro, amidst this BaaS revolution, is establishing itself as a beacon of efficiency and innovation. By addressing the specific pain points of e-commerce entities and offering streamlined banking solutions, its setting new standards in the industry. Their approach to simplifying account opening processes and catering to high transaction volumes makes them a preferred choice for many in the e-commerce realm.

The e-commerce landscape, already in a state of continuous evolution, finds a compelling ally in BaaS platforms. With attributes like swift transactions, adaptability, automation, and a keen sense of global operations, BaaS is positioning itself as a game-changer for e-commerce businesses. As more and more e-commerce platforms gravitate towards such solutions, the industrys trajectory promises more efficiency, agility, and growth. Payoro, with its tailored BaaS solution, is undoubtedly at the forefront of this transformative journey.
Disney Hostar is coming up with a new show called The Freelancer thats based on the book A Ticket To Syria. As the name suggests, its a show thats set against the backdrop of the war-torn country, a former cop turned mercenary, and a newly married girl trapped amid the growing ISIS terrorism. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Manjari Fadnnis, who plays a crucial role, opened up about her prep for the series, completing nearly two decades in the film industry, and much more.

Edited excerpts from the interview

How did you prepare for your role in the show?

I went through my normal routine that I go through while Im preparing for any of my characters. I created a backstory for my character which essentially wasnt a part of the script. The main work I had to do was to work on her inner mind and the emotional turmoil shes going through. Shes Avinash Kamaths wife, and shes his emotional anchor. She has gone through very traumatic events in her life because of which she has been dealing with mental illness. Shes trying to find herself but has been emotionally volatile and her moods are unpredictable. You have to be careful around dealing with her. I had to do a lot of readings on what people have to through during dissociative disorder.

What can we expect from your character and the shows overall narrative?

From my character, you can expect a beautiful bond between two individuals, a couple that has been through some intensely traumatic events. Despite all odds, this couple stands against all odds. The Freelancer is a very edge-of-the-seat, adrenaline pumping show people will binge watch in one go. Its a Neeraj Pandey created show thats in the same space as a Special Ops, hes a master storyteller. When it comes to thrillers, hes the best.

How do you see your journey in the industry so far?

Its been a journey Ive learned a lot from. I chose this profession because of my love for performing. Im grateful that Ive been able to stand tall and still get good work ; Im getting much better work now. I would call this a new beginning in the industry. Im excited by the work coming my way.

Whats your take on the content being made on the OTT platform?

Its a great phase for the entire industry because of the audiences having changed, they are now exposed to off-beat and international series and films and their tastes have changed. Because of the OTT, everyone is getting an opportunity to try something out of the box and not worrying about the box-office. Good projects always find their audiences and this platform is a blessing for us.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are teaming up once again to bring an upcoming nonfiction book to the big screen. The project in question is the adaptation of journalist David Granns book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder, which has been secured by Apple Original Films. The announcement follows their recent work on the adaptation of Granns true-crime book Killers of the Flower Moon, due for release in October.

According to the Movieweb report, news of The Wager first emerged last year, but Grann has now confirmed while speaking with the French outlet Telerama that Scorsese and DiCaprio will reunite on the project, and that the pair will begin work on this shipwreck tale after Killers of the Flower Moon, marking their seventh feature film collaboration.

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprios Killers of the Flower Moon is also an adaptation of David Granns work. The best-selling novel Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI is set in 1920s Oklahoma and chronicles the serial murder of members of the oil wealthy Osage Nation. Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, Lily Gladstone, and Brendan Fraser also star in the film, which will premiere sometime in 2023.
Pakistani actress Mahira Khan has opened up about battling manic depression over the years. In a conversation with FWhy Podcast, the 38-year-old revealed how her mental health went downhill after she worked opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Rahul Dholakias Raees. The same year, she faced a lot of backlash after a photo featuring her smoking with Ranbir Kapoor went viral. Mahira further described how the two events, in conjunction with Pakistani actors getting banned from working in India after the Uri attack, took a substantial toll on her health.

Based on the podcast conversation, the Raees star said, That (backlash) brought out the anxiety and depression hidden inside me. That was a hard time for me. I felt attacked. She further continued how all the mean tweets and constant criticism on the Indian channels triggered severe anxiety in her, to the point that once she fainted after a panic attack. Elaborating further on the tough year, she added, Even therapies didnt work out. I couldnt sleep, my hands used to shake.

A very, very dark space

Mahira Khan further described her experience about how she was diagnosed with manic depression. While giving an account of her personal state the Legend of Maula Jatt star said, This is the first time Im saying that, I dont know if I should but its been six-seven years Ive been on anti-depressants. I tried leaving them in the middle, and I was drawn into a very, very dark space, she added.

Mahira Khan on faith and hope

During the interview, Mahira Khan acknowledged that she prayed to Allah for the smallest glimpses of hope and light during her lowest phase. Later, she got back onto medication and felt lighter.

Mahira Khan was married to her childhood sweetheart Ali Askari. The couple had a son named Azlaan. But, the two divorced in 2015. Khan is reportedly set to tie the knot again in September with businessman Salim Karim, whom she has been dating for a while.

Mahira to make Netflix debut

Mahira Khan became a household name after her show Humsafar opposite Fawad Khan. She also appeared in Raees as Shah Rukh Khans love interest. Mahira is set to star opposite Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed in the first Pakistani Netflix original, Jo Bachay Hain Sang Samait Lo. The web series, an adaptation of Farhat Ishtiaqs Urdu novel of the same name, was published in 2013.
Sushmita Sen recently returned to acting after an eight-year break with the thriller series Aarya in 2020 and now Taali, where her character portrays transgender activist Shreegauri Sawant. The former Miss Universe has gathered several accolades for performances in the past alongside actors Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. Now, in a recent interview with the The Indian Express, the 47-year-old got candid about whom she shares a better chemistry with between the two Khans.

Not just that, she also shed light on her long break from work while answering some fun questions related to her life and professional career.

Better chemistry

Based on the interview, when asked whom she shares a better chemistry with between Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen replied with Very different chemistries, accompanied with a loud laugh, while adding I taught one [of them] chemistry. Sens funny comment refers to her role as a chemistry teacher in Main Hoon Na opposite Shah Rukh Khan. On the other hand, she starred opposite Salman Khan in Biwi No 1.

The Taali star further added that she had a more-friendly chemistry with Salman because of his gunda and friend-type personality. However, with Shah Rukh, it was romance.

On being asked about whom she would like to work with again, to this she replied with a grin saying, Both, darling. Lets never come down to either of them. Both always.

Comeback

In an earlier chat with the newspaper, Sushmita Sen shared how her thriller series Aarya had been a manifestation of what she had been waiting for during the eight-year hiatus she took. She disclosed how she chose the show over the other two Bafta-winning remakes offered to her by other platforms. I wanted something like this and I got very lucky with Aarya. I approached three major platforms and they returned with amazing shows. With Aarya, it was a win. The script and Ram Madhvani coming in were killer combinations, she shared.

Sushmita Sen hit the headlines recently after her talk with host Siddharth Kannan on his show. In this talk, she shared how her daughters, Renee and Alisah, whom she adopted at a young age, reacted when Sen asked if she should get married. Sharing their reply, she added, What? For what? We dont want a father.

Work Front

Sushmita Sen is known for commercial hits like Biwi No. 1, Main Hoon Na and Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya. She has also won praise for acting in movies like Filhaal, Samay and Aankhen. Her role as transgender activist Shreegauri Sawant in Taali, too,has earned her wide acclaim.
Chinas doublespeak has once again been revealed. While its leader Xi Jinping at the sidelines of the recently-held BRICS Summit in Johannesburg agreed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expeditiously disengage and de-escalate troops on the ground along the borders, satellite data reveals that Beijing is doing the exact opposite and instead digging down, making tunnels.

The news comes after China reverted to old ways and claimed the area of Aksai Chin region in Ladakh and the state of Arunachal Pradesh as its own in their standard maps. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has dismissed the move, telling NDTV, China has put out maps with territories (that are) not theirs. (It is an) old habit. Just by putting out maps with parts of India this doesnt change in anything. Our government is very clear about what our territory. Making absurd claims does not make other peoples territories yours.

What do we know about Chinas new activity in Aksai Chin? Should India be worried?

Chinas underground activity

New satellite imagery obtained from Maxar Technologies, a US-based space company, reveals that between 6 December 2021 and 18 August 2023, China has aggressively imposed its presence in the Aksai Chin region about 70 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The images reveal that Chinese troops have been carving tunnels and shafts into a hillside along a narrow river valley to construct multiple reinforced shelters and bunkers for soldiers and weaponry. Experts, after studying the satellite images, told NDTV that there are at least 11 portals or shafts bored into the rockface on both banks of the river valley. Hindustan Times has reported that the Chinese side has built reinforced bunkers and underground facilities at six locations in the same region.

It is evident that the construction has come up post 2020  the year India and China faced off at the Line of Actual Control and set off the military standoff. A comparison with older images from the same area reveals considerable activity, including the presence of earth-moving machinery, new roads and multiple entrances for underground facilities.

Some defence experts commenting on the constructions said that it is an attempt by the Chinese to protect their heavy weaponry and soldiers from Indian airstrikes and extended-range artillery.

Moreover, a closer look at the satellite imagery shows that the earth has been raised, indicating underground bunkers. Also, entry and exit areas have a distinctive fork design meant to dissipate the impact of pressure from bombardment.

Expert speak

The new construction activity is a clear indicator that China has no clear intentions of disengaging at the LAC or resolve border issues amicably.

Damien Symon, a leading satellite imagery expert with The Intel Lab, analysing the imagery, is of the opinion that Chinas underground move is looking to offset the advantage the Indian Air Force brings to the playing field.

On rebranded X, he also wrote, This shift in strategy unfortunately also means, they are digging in for the long haul.

China appears to be going underground in Aksai Chin, likely as it looks to offset the advantage the Indian Air Force brings to the playing field, this shift in strategy unfortunately also means, they are digging in for the long haul https://t.co/PcOdMbNUJ0  Damien Symon (@detresfa_) August 29, 2023

Sameer Joshi, the CEO of NewSpace Research & Technologies, a leading Indian drone start-up shared same views, telling NDTV, The Chinese decision to carve into hillsides is directly linked to greater Indian offensive capability. The massive construction activity, including hardened shelters, bunkers, tunnels, and the widening of roads is being done to mitigate this clear and present danger which the Indian Army has imposed on the Chinese deployment doctrine in Tibet.

Brahma Chellaney, known to be one of Indias most known and prominent voices on China, also told NDTV, Chinas creation of permanent bunkers and other fortifications in Aksai Chin meshes with its broader intransigence, with no sign that it is willing to climb down to some extent to end the extended military standoff with India.

Earlier reacting to the standard maps that Beijing had released, Tibetan parliament-in-exile MPs had also stated that China can never be trusted. Dawa Tsering MP said China is nobodys friend. China always says that it wants friendship with you but Chinas malice is concealed behind its sweet talk. Never trust China and its leaders, because they can never be anybodys friends, Tsering told ANI. All South Asian countries to stand against the Chinese expansionist policy. It has to be condemned.

India-Chinas military standoff

Since 2020, India and China have had strained ties following the Galwan clash when troops of both sides engaged in hand-to-hand clashes. In an effort to ensure its borders are peaceful and to send a message to China, New Delhi has ramped up road and tunnel construction in the Ladakh region and modernising its high-altitude airfields.

China, too, has been ramping up construction activity along the LAC; it has built border defence villages, equipped with all the facilities. The PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) has also constructed new helipads, roads, bridges and last-mile connectivity in the area to establish their presence in the region.

China has also massively upgraded all its air bases facing India like Hotan, Kashgar, Gargunsa, Shigatse, Hoping, Lingzhi and Lhasa-Gonggar with new and extended runways, hardened shelters and fuel storage facilities for additional fighters, bombers, AWACS, drones and reconnaissance aircraft.

Also read: Why Chinas plans of a new railway line through Aksai Chin is worrying news for India

And despite numerous rounds of commander-level talks, China has refused to disengage from the Depsang and Demchok regions.

As Jeff Smith, director of the Asian Study Centre, told NDTV, Beijing seems determined to double down on a more aggressive LAC strategy, despite the considerable, perhaps irreversible, damage it has done to its relationship with India and despite facing considerable headwinds with a cratering economy.

So, those hoping that the border issue with China would be soon resolved, can keep waiting.

With inputs from agencies
From bolstering security to the beautification of New Delhi, India is making elaborate arrangements ahead of the G20 Summit next week. As more than 40 heads of state and leaders of global organisations converge in the National Capital for the high-profile meeting scheduled for 9 and 10 September, the authorities in Delhi have another problem at their hands  monkeys.

Rhesus macaque species has been a cause of headaches for Delhi for decades. Now, before foreign dignitaries arrive, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has started installing life-size cut-outs of grey langurs  the macaques natural nemesis  to scare away the smaller monkeys from the routes of G20 venues.

Lets take a look at this in detail and how Delhis monkey problem remains unresolved even now.

Will langur cut-outs keep monkeys away?

There are concerns that monkeys may disrupt the convoys of heads of state arriving in New Delhi for the G20 summit. Thus, the NDMC is coordinating with the Delhi forest department to ensure that monkeys stay within the forest region.

The langur cut-outs are being placed at Sardar Patel Marg and the Central Ridge area, reported India Today. A senior forest department official told Times of India (TOI) that these cut-outs will be moved regularly so that the monkeys believe they are real langurs.

Moreover, around 30-40 trained people who can mimic the sounds of langurs will be stationed at hotels where foreign dignitaries will be staying, along with places where monkeys are sighted.

We cant remove the monkeys from their natural habitat, so we have deployed a team of 30-40 men who are trained to scare away monkeys, Satish Upadhyay, the vice-chairman of the NDMC, told the AFP news agency.

The langur cut-outs have been put up on an experimental basis, and we will have to see how much actual impact they have on the monkey density, he was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times (HT).

As per BBC, authorities are also planning to provide food for monkeys in certain sites, so that they do not wander in search of food.

However, experts have voiced doubts about these plans. Speaking to HT, Faiyaz Khudsar, the scientist in-charge of Delhi Development Authoritys biodiversity parks programme, said stationery langur cut-outs may not prove effective.

Even if such an experiment is being undertaken, movement is a critical factor, and stationary cut-outs may not help. They should put up these cut-outs in large numbers as multiple replications will be needed to ascertain the impact, Khudsar added.

During the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Delhi had adopted similar measures to deal with the problem.

ALSO READ: G20 Summit 2023: How NSG commandos will keep Delhi safe

Delhis monkey menace is old

It was in 2007 when Delhi started taking its monkey problem seriously. In October of that year, the then-deputy mayor, Surinder Singh Bajwa, fell from his terrace and died after being attacked by the simians at his home.

The Delhi High Court passed an order that year banning the feeding of monkeys and allowing the municipal corporations to fine violators, as per ThePrint report.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) also started catching the monkeys to relocate them to the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary as per the High Courts orders. So far, more than 21,000 monkeys have been shifted to the sanctuary, HT reported citing an official.

In 2014, months after the Narendra Modi-led government came to power at the Centre, the then housing and urban development minister, Venkaiah Naidu, told Parliamentarians that 40 professional monkey impersonators would be deployed around government buildings to tackle the menace, reported The Guardian.

An NDMC official had said at the time these trained persons mimic the sound of langurs to scare the monkeys.

However, even 16 years after the Delhi High Courts order, the monkey menace continues to haunt Delhi.

Gurjeet Singh Aujla, a Congress MP from Punjabs Amritsar, had told Mongabay in 2019, For the last two years, I am living in the Meena Bagh area, which is next to the Parliament House. We face a terrible problem with monkeys. Though we have covered our houses completely the monkeys run wild and destroy whatever comes their way. We cant even dry our clothes on the terrace outside.

Previously, men with trained langurs used to patrol Delhis streets. But, the Delhi government stopped the practice in 2012 after complaints of animal cruelty by activists. Now, security guards use slingshots and sticks to ward off the monkeys in several parts of the city.

Why has the problem persisted?

Rhesus macaques have adapted to the urban environment in the National Capital. Their reign of terror continues in many parts, even causing harm to children. As per TOI, Delhi reports 1,000 cases of monkey bites every year.

According to Mongabay, the destruction of the natural habitat of wild animals and monoculture forests are the major reasons monkeys are moving to Delhi.

Monkeys are not domesticated animals. The monkeys see a human and they see food. Their initial shyness of human beings is gone. When they dont get food, they snatch. They have changed their way of living. We have changed them, Iqbal Malik, one of Indias first primatologists, told ThePrint.

Asola sanctuary, the only place where monkeys caught from Delhi can be relocated, has also failed to retain the animal, noted the digital news outlet.

Despite plans, Delhi has not carried out any monkey census. In May, rhesus macaque species were removed from schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), meaning the animal can be treated like street cats or dogs, as per HT.

What can be done?

Wildlife experts told ThePrint that reviving the natural habitat of the monkeys and relocating them as a whole group is the only viable solution. Although, it is an unenviable task.

Another solution is to dissuade humans from feeding these animals.

In November 2021, Delhi said it does not plan to sterilise the simians but will train monkey catchers. However, it does not seem that the National Capital will be rid of the monkey business anytime soon unless concrete measures are taken.

With inputs from agencies
India is making extensive security arrangements as the Group of 20 (G20) leaders descend upon New Delhi next week. Over 40 heads of state and leaders of global organisations are expected to attend the G20 Leaders Summit scheduled for 9-10 September in the National Capitals Pragati Maidan.

The National Security Guard (NSG), Indias elite counter-terror force, is part of the security contingent tasked with ensuring the safety of these foreign dignitaries and preventing any untoward incidents.

What role will NSGs famous Black Cat commandos play in the G20 summit? Lets take a closer look.

Tackling CBRN attacks

The premier counter-terror force will be deployed in a number of operations during the G20 summit. NSG teams are capable of dealing with any potential Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) attacks.

The entire spectrum of the expertise of NSG will be employed by the MHA [Ministry of Home Affairs] for security during the G20 summit, a senior security establishment officer told Indian Express. The NSG, in coordination with Delhi Police and other security forces, will be deployed for anti-terror, anti-sabotage and anti-drone tasks, as well as to meet any CBRN contingencies.

In July, the NSG and Indian Army personnel conducted a joint training exercise with US Special Operation Force (USOF) for detecting and neutralising CBRN and explosive threats. As per Times of India (TOI), a senior NSG officer had said at the time that the joint training session would contribute significantly to the enhancement of operational readiness and outlook of the troops.

ALSO READ: Paramilitary troops, sniffer dogs, anti-drone units: Delhis security prep for G20 summit

HIT teams at hotels

As per News18, the NSGs house intervention teams (HITs) and snipers will be on standby to deal with any terror contingency, as per News18.

Hotels, where foreign dignitaries will be staying, will have HIT squads, comprising Delhi Police officers and NSG commandos, in order to tackle any hostage crisis, according to a TOI report. In case of any emergency, snipers  who will have a view of the hotel galleries  will provide backup to the HIT teams.

The NSG House Intervention Teams (HITs) and sniper detachments will be ready for action to neutralise any terror contingency in such locations, an MHA official was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

Equipped with arms such as Israeli Tavor TAR-21 assault rifles and American Glock 17 pistols, HIT teams are trained in urban warfare in closed spaces, reported TOI.

As per an India Today report, NSG commandos and Army snipers will also be deployed at high-rise buildings for additional protection during the G20 summit.

ALSO READ: G20 summit: Which world leaders are attending Delhi meet? Who is giving it a miss?

Bomb disposal squad and more

NSG bomb squads will be equipped with Remotely Operated Vehicles and Total Containment Vehicles to intercept any bomb threats, reported Indian Express.

The bomb disposal squad will carry out anti-sabotage checks at all G20 venues.

The NSG personnel will collaborate with the Indian Air Force (IAF), Air Traffic Control (ATC) and others to counter any potential drone threats during the summit.

Aerial insertion teams of NSG are also being stationed during the summit for all important events to swiftly deal with any contingency and help top-down entry of NSG teams to high-rise buildings in the event of a terror threat, an MHA official told Indian Express.

IAF and NSG are slated to conduct slithering drills at designated hotels this week to check if commandos can land via choppers in case of emergencies.

In early July, personnel from the NSG, Delhi Police and other security agencies had carried out a counter-terror mock exercise at important venues to bolster the security arrangements for the two-day high-profile G20 summit.

Former NSG officials, along with ex-Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel, will handle the security of 43 foreign dignitaries arriving in India next week. These officers will also be a part of the cavalcade and provide security cover to the VVIPs.

A refresher course in VIP security has been given to those who have handled high-profile VIPs in their previous stints with SPG or NSG. It is almost like the 10-week training that is given to commandos. Soft skills have also been imparted about cultural sensibilities of the 18 countries whose delegates are expected to visit, an officer told CNN-News18.

Teams from foreign intelligence agencies, including the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United Kingdoms MI6 and Chinas Ministry of State Security (MSS), have already arrived in Delhi to ensure the safety of their respective leaders, reported India Today.

Besides the black cats, the Indian Army, IAF, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Delhi Police, sniffer dogs, and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel will turn New Delhi into a fortress during the G20 summit.

With inputs from agencies
A controversial Harvard professor has claimed to have found the first-ever alien objects on Earth.

Avi Loeb, a theoretical physicist and professor at Harvard, has claimed to have found particles on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean made of an alloy not seen on Earth.

This is a historic discovery because it represents the first time that humans put their hand on materials from a large object that arrived on Earth from outside the solar system, Loeb wrote on Tuesday on Medium.

The success of the expedition illustrates the value of taking risks in science despite all odds as an opportunity for discovering new knowledge.

But has Loeb, who was the longest-serving chair of astronomy at Harvard University, actually found discovered objects?

Lets take a closer look:

What happened?

As per USA Today, a meteor burned up the Earths atmosphere in January 2014.

The meteor, which exploded into fragments, went down around 100 kilometers off the coast of Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

US government sensors captured information from the object later designated IM1.

But no one took note of it for the next few years  until Loeb and an undergraduate at Harvard drew attention to it in 2019 and published research on it.

Then, in 2022, US Space Command dropped a bombshell in a letter to NASA  the meteor was likely from another solar system.

As per Moneycontrol, Loeb and his team then determined that IM1 was tougher than all the meteors in NASAs Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) catalogue.

Loeb then declared that he would attempt to retrieve the fragments of the meteor from the ocean floor.

Intrigued by this conclusion, I established a team that designed a two-week expedition to search for the meteor fragments at a depth of 1.7 kilometers on the ocean floor, Loeb said.

Loeb and his team secured $1.5 million of funds for the expedition from entrepreneur Charles Hoskinson.

Loeb and his team in June employed EYOS Expeditions and set off in a boat named the Silver Star bound for Papa New Guinea.

As per BBC, Loeb used a device he claimed to have invented called the interstellar hook to collect potential samples off the ocean floor.

As per The New York Times, the team dragged this interstellar hook across the seafloor for weeks.

They found glimmering beads which were under a millimetre in diameter.

Loeb and his team claimed to have found 700 spherules at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, as per Jerusalem Post.

Thus far, 57 of them have been analysed.

What is Loeb claiming?

Loeb is claiming that early examination shows that some of the spherules have extremely high abundances of a composition of heavy elements never been seen before, as per USA Today.

Researchers claim that the composition of Beryllium, Lanthanum and Uranium  which they have named BeLaU  does not match either terrestrial alloys found on the Earth or fallout from nuclear explosions.

The composition has not been discovered in the magma oceans of Earth, on the Moon, on Mars or any other natural meteorites in this solar system.

Researchers say four laboratories  Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, the Bruker Corporation, and the University of Technology in Papua New Guinea  continue to study the objects and their origins.

Hoskinson, meanwhile, also touted the findings.

This is a historic discovery, marking the first time that humans hold materials from a large interstellar object, Hoskinson said in a statement as per USA Today. I am extremely pleased with these results from this rigorous scientific analysis.

According to The Independent, Loeb has argued that IM1 isnt one of a kind.

There could be a few million such objects reside within the orbit of the Earth around the Sun at any given time and that some of them may represent technological space trash from other civilizations, Loeb has claimed.

This isnt the first time Loeb has made such big claims.

Loeb in 2018 claimed the comet Oumuamua  the first interstellar immigrant found in our solar system  may have been an alien probe sent to investigate Earth.

Loeb said that the elongated dark-red object, which is 10 times as long as it is wide and travelling at speeds of 315,364 km per hour (kmh), might have an artificial origin.

Oumuamua may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization, Loeb wrote.

Oumuamua showed unusual features since its discovery. These features make Oumuamua weird, belonging to a class of objects that we had never seen before. Oumuamua deviates from a trajectory that is solely dictated by the Suns gravity. This could have been the result of cometary outgassing, but there is no evidence for a cometary tail around it.

Loebs claims were rejecting by many scientists.

Which is perhaps why some within the scientific community remain sceptical about Loebs recent proclamations.

Scepticism abounds

Karl Gebhardt, one of the astrophysicists who discovered the M-sigma relation, told The New York Times he wanted the media to stop indulging Loebs over-the-top ideas.

People are sick of hearing about Avi Loebs wild claims, Steve Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University, told the newspaper in July.

Its polluting good science  conflating the good science we do with this ridiculous sensationalism and sucking all the oxygen out of the room.

Desch told the newspaper many of his colleagues were now refusing to peer-review Loebs work  the gold standard for researchers.

Its a real breakdown of the peer review process and the scientific method, Desch added. And its so demoralizing and tiring.

But regardless of what the critics say, Loeb remains defiant.

Its not a matter of science fiction, Loeb told CNN. Its not a matter of people talking about it in talk shows or politicians discussing it in the Congress. Its something that scientists can get to the bottom of.

As per The Independent, Loeb has also slammed his peers, saying that he is running away from colleagues who have strong opinions without seeking evidence, and I am running towards a higher intelligence in interstellar space.

Loeb says he wishes happiness and prosperity for his critics.

With inputs from agencies
They say love will keep us alive. And isnt kissing the good part? Its harmless, we believe. But turns out a liplock can be fatal. Heres proof.

A man in China ruptured an eardrum after he passionately kissed his girlfriend for 10 minutes. He suffered loss of hearing, according to a report by South China Moring Post (SCMP).

How did the man lose his hearing?

On 22 August, Chinese Valentines Day, the man and his partner went on a date to the picturesque West Lake in the countrys eastern Zhejiang province. They were having a moment of passion. While kissing, he heard a bubbling sound followed by pain in his left ear. Soon after, he could not hear properly.

The man was rushed to a hospital, where doctors told him that his eardrum was perforated. It will take him two months to recover.

If you think, this is an isolated freak incident, you are mistaken. A similar incident was reported last month when a couple were kissing at their house in the Guangdong province, southern China, SCMP reports.

In 2008, a young woman in her 20s from the same province partially lost her hearing after her boyfriend ruptured her eardrum during an excessively passionate kiss, according to a Reuters article. She went to a hospital completely deaf in her left ear.

Can kissing make you go deaf?

Intense kissing can lead to a rapid change in air pressure inside the ear, say doctors. This along with the heavy breathing of the partner in the throes of passion can lead to an imbalance leading to a puncture in the ear, the SCMP report says.

When a partner reduces the pressure in the mouth by sucking, the pressure in the middle of the ear is lowered via the Eustachian tube. This would mean that the normal atmospheric pressure on the outside of the eardrum would no longer be matched by equal pressure on the other side, the BBC reports.

A healthy eardrum would not be impacted because of the change in pressure. However, someone with ear problems might face the risk of perforation.

Some people suffer from a rare condition called patulous Eustachian tube, a disorder of the passage that opens to equalise the pressure between the inside of the ear and the outside world.

Also read: Kiss and Tell: Did lip-locking begin in 2500 BC?

The BBC report from 2008 on the woman from China who lost her hearing quotes Dr Rudrapathy Palaniappan, an audiological physician, as saying, The Eustachian tube doesnt open and close as it normally does. Instead, its open most of the time If you apply negative pressure to its extreme like aggressive kissing then its possible that the ear drum can be sucked inwards.

According to Andrew McCombe, an ENT surgeon from the UK, if you have a previous perforation of your eardrum, if you have a scar, that would burst more easily.

But its not just liplocks that are harmful. Doctors have warned against kissing on the ear.

Also read: Creepy or Not? What is Chinas remote-kissing device for long-distance lovers?

Why kissing on the ear is dangerous?

The ear is the one place you should not plant a kiss. It might seem harmless but can create strong suction that tugs on the eardrum, resulting in a condition called cochlear ear-kiss injury. Such a kiss can lead to permanent hearing loss and other symptoms like ringing, sensitivity to sound, distortion and aural fullness, according to a report by NBC.

Dr Levi Reiter, a professor of audiology, studied his phenomenon after a woman came to him about going deaf in one ear when her five-year-old kissed her there. The childs kiss created considerable suction which applied negative pressure to the eardrum. The mother suffered total hearing loss, a very intense, screeching tinnitus, along with facial tics and pain. While her hearing returned, she was left with a permanent hearing loss in lower frequencies.

Reiter who started researching the subject found a case of ear-kiss injury reported in the 1950s in the United States. He said that ear-kiss patients exhibit a characteristic pattern of hearing loss, with hearing most diminished in the frequency range of unvoiced consonants, such as ch and sh.

Doctors have cautioned time and again to go easy on the ears of your loved ones. Most recently, in 2019, a young woman from Hunan in China burst her boyfriends eardrum by kissing him too hard on the ear.

Babies and children are the most vulnerable to hearing damage because of a kiss because of their smaller ear canals.

So yes, kissing can be dangerous. Steer clear of the ears. And of course, rein in the passion.

With inputs from agencies
Russias Vladimir Putin is among the few major world leaders who will be skipping the upcoming G20 meet in India.

However, it is being reported that the Russian president will be embarking on a visit to China for the Belt and Road Forum in October  his first trip abroad in a year and a half.

So why is Putin travelling to China?

Lets take a closer look:

What do we know?

People familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Bloomberg that Xi Jinping extended the invite to Putin.

The Kremlin is currently working on Putins trip.

Bloomberg quoted sources as saying that Putin only wants to visit those countries where his security services can completely guarantee his safety.

Putin hasnt travelled abroad since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for his arrest in March over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

A warrant was also arrested for top Russian official Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.

The Hague-based court, issuing the warrant, said Putin is responsible for alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

The ICC said Putin is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of the population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Moscow dismissed the arrest warrant as meaningless and it pointing out that Russia withdrew from the ICC in 2016.

Russia is not a member of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it. Russia does not cooperate with this body, and possible [pretences] for arrest coming from the International Court of Justice will be legally null and void for us.

But Putin has played it safe since the warrant was issued  visiting only parts of Ukraine taken over by Russia.

As per Washington Post, Putin now risks being arrested in any of the 123 nations that are party to the charter of the ICC  which is currently investigating the alleged crimes in Ukraine.

China, a staunch ally of Russia, is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, as per Bloomberg.

It is thus one of the few places the Russian leader can still travel freely.

Interestingly, India is also not a signatory to the Rome Statute  so Putin need not have feared arrest if he chose to attend the G20 Summit in Delhi.

According to NDTV, Putin informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he would be unable to make the G20 on Monday.

Modi in turn said he understood and thanked Putin for for Moscows support of Indias G20 presidency.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president is unable to attend the G20 due to his focus on the special military operation in Ukraine.

Putin skips BRICS in August, previous G20s

In August, Putin did not attend the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) meet in South Africa.

Putin, who was replaced by foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, instead delivered an address via video-conference.

Officials at the time said that while Putin wanted to attend, he was persuaded to stay away in order to not create an awkward situation for the South African government.

South Africa, as a member of the ICC, was under a legal obligation to arrest Putin if he turned up.

While South Africas biggest political Opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, attempted to corner the government over the matter, President Cyril Ramaphosa such a move would be tantamount to declaring war.

I must highlight, for the sake of transparency, that South Africa has obvious problems with executing a request to arrest and surrender President Putin, he said. Russia has made it clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war.

It would be inconsistent with our Constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia, Ramaphosa added.

Ramaphosas office said Putin had decided not to attend the event by mutual agreement.

As per Yahoo News, Putin was also slated to visit Turkey, but now Reccep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Sochi.

Turkey is yet another nation that is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.

Regardless of the warrant for his arrest, Putin has shown a propensity for skipping big summits these past few years.

The Russian leader skipped the G20 in Bali last July, as well as the 2021 G20 in Italy.

Lavrov, Putins trusted foreign minister, stood in for his boss at all these summits.

An October visit would take Putin to China seven months after Chinese President Xi Jinping came to Moscow on a three-day visit.

The two also met in person in September 2022 on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan.

Before that, Putin met with Xi while attending the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, weeks before he sent troops into Ukraine.

China has sought to project itself as neutral in the Ukraine conflict, even while it has refused to condemn Moscows actions and declared last year that it had a no-limits friendship with Russia.

Beijing has denounced Western sanctions against Moscow, and accused NATO and the United States of provoking Putins military action.

China has also proposed a peace plan that was largely dismissed by Ukraines allies, who insisted that Moscow must withdraw its forces from the neighboring country as a condition for peace.

With inputs from agencies
Five workers have died after inhaling poisonous gas emanating from a tank at a food factory in Jarerua area of Madhya Pradeshs Morena district on Wednesday. Officials have immediately begun rescue operation and evacuated the facility.

As per officials, the factory named Sakshi Food Product was operating with a reduced workforce when the incident took place.

Authorities and fire brigade arrived at the accident spot following the incident to take control of the situation. The bodies of all the five labourers who died in the incident were sent for post-mortem examination.

According to reports, the poisonous gas started emanating from a tank at the factory around 11 am.

There were two labourers who entered it to check it, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Bhupendra Singh Kushwaha told PTI. They took ill after inhaling the gas. They complained suffocation due to toxic gas leak.

To rescue them, three more labourers jumped inside and they too were affected.

#WATCH | Morena ASP Arvind Singh Thakur says, There is a food factory where they used to regularly clean the tank One man had gone into the tank to clean it and he fell into it. To save him others went down the tank and they fell into it too. Probably there was a toxic gas pic.twitter.com/1HzyKhkU6R  ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) August 30, 2023

All the affected labourers were immediately rushed to the district hospital but were declared dead by a doctor.

VIDEO | Five workers killed allegedly after inhaling suspected poisonous gas at a factory in MP's Morena earlier today. More details are awaited. pic.twitter.com/w5NhFoLDvP  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 30, 2023

As a precautionary measure, the factory premises were evacuated and cleared.
As the pace for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections gathers steam, the Congress on Wednesday claimed that that Union Minister Smriti Irani won the last election against Rahul Gandhi because of freebies and dared her to fight against the Congress leader from Amethi again.

Smriti Irani won the last election against Rahul Gandhi because of freebies, Congress UP chief Ajay Rai was quoted as saying by a news channel.

His comments came after Irani had said in an interview to Times Now that she was all set for the third electoral battle with the Congress scion.

Irani had dismissed the Rahul Gandhi challenge by presenting the BJPs Amethi report card and asserting that the constituency will vote for their future and not for the political future of the Gandhis.

Rai had on 18 August announced that Rahul Gandhi will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Amethi.

On speculations that Priyanka Gandhi will contest the 2024 elections, Rai had said that she will contest from wherever she wants to.

If Priyanka Gandhi wishes to contest from Varanasi, every worker will strive to make her win, he had said.

Earlier on 17 August, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge appointed Rai as the chief of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect.

Congress president has appointed Ajay Rai, ex-MLA as the president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect, the release of All India Congress Committee stated.

Ajay Rai was the Congress candidate from Varanasi in 2014 and 2019. He lost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi both times.

With inputs from agencies
The government of Bihar under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has reduced the holiday period of major festivals for government schools from 23 to 11 days during the festive season.

According to a notification released by Bihar government, students will only get two holidays in September, four in October, four in November, and one in December.

Bihar Education Department reduces the number of festive holidays in government schools from 23 to 11 between September to December. pic.twitter.com/Qe6BlAXqh8  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023

Incidentally, a holiday for Raksha Bandhan, which will be celebrated over two days  30 and 31 August  is most likely cancelled in the state as the dates have not been included in the list.

Students will get only one day holiday on 31 August to celebrate Raksha Bandhan.

Changes in Bihar school holiday list

There is a norm in the Bihar Education Department that there should be 220 working days in school. As per reports, to ensure the same, the state education department-led by KK Pathak has canceled the Raksha Bandhan, Haritalika Vrat Teej, Jiutiya, Vishwakarma Puja, Krishna Janmashtami, Bhai Dooj, Guru Nanak Jayanti holidays.

According to the previous holiday list, schools in Bihar were given six days holiday for Durga Puja which has now been reduced to three days including a Sunday.

Also, this year a single day holiday has been declared for Diwali (12 November), Chitragupta Puja (15 November).

Chhath Puja holiday will be on 19 and 20 November.

Check Bihar education department new holiday list here

Bihar Education Department reduces the number of festive holidays in government schools from 23 to 11 between September to December. pic.twitter.com/Qe6BlAXqh8  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023

'Sign of anti-Hindu mindset': Sushil Modi

Slamming the Bihar government for its new list of holidays for schools in the state, Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Sushil Modi said: "This is the sign of anti-Hindu mindset. In Bihar 'Chhath' is celebrated in every household... If the schools will open which child will go to school on these festivals? The government should take back its decision without any delay."

#WATCH | Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Sushil Modi on Bihar Education Department reducing the number of festive holidays in government schools says, "This is the sign of anti-Hindu mindset. In Bihar 'Chath' is celebrated in every household... If the schools will open which pic.twitter.com/cXvrRfD4xN  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023

Bihar teachers protest over new school holidays list

Teachers in Bihar's Kishanganj held a protest on Wednesday against the state government's decision to cut festive holidays for government schools.

VIDEO | Teachers stage a protest in Bihar's Kishanganj against the state government's decision to cut festive holidays for government schools. "Holidays were not cancelled in any other district of Bihar except here (Kishanganj). We have come here to hand a memorandum to the pic.twitter.com/uSvFTnyorY  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 30, 2023

"Holidays were not cancelled in any other district of Bihar except here (Kishanganj). We have come here to hand a memorandum to the District Education Officer and demand to show us the written directive that led to the cancellation of Raksha Bandhan holiday," said Raghibur Rahman, District President of Bihar State Teachers' Association.

With inputs from agencies
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday flayed Rahul Gandhi for claiming that China has usurped Indias land and accused him of making baseless allegations.

China grabbed Indias land during the Jawaharlal Nehrus tenure as prime minister, he said.

Joshis reaction came after Gandhi termed as very serious the issue of China releasing a standard map that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, and claimed the neighbouring country has already taken Indias land in Ladakh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak on the issue.

Rahul Gandhis allegations are baseless, Joshi said.

He said Gandhi should understand that whatever land that China has grabbed was during the tenure of Jawaharlal Nehru.

They are doing some activities in the area that was grabbed during Nehrus tenure as prime minister. This is due to the sins committed by the Congress post-Independence that China has become our neighbour. From the time it was Tibet till today, these people pursued policies which led to this, Joshi said.

Rahul Gandhi does not have any understanding of the policies, he charged.

On Monday, Beijing released the 2023 edition of the so-called standard map of China that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as regions within its borders.

Our External Affairs Ministry has already condemned Chinas action on the map issue and has also strongly protested it. But he (Rahul Gandhi) does not trust our External Affairs Ministry. He believes in what China says, the Union minister said.

India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with China over its so-called standard map laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin, and asserted that such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

The External Affairs Ministry also rejected these claims as having no basis.

Just making absurd claims does not make other peoples territories yours, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar told NDTV while reacting to the Chinese move.
Ahead of the I.N.D.I.A alliance meeting in Mumbai tomorrow, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday said that the agenda of the mega meeting will be to make preparations for the times ahead including deciding on the convener of the bloc.

#WATCH | Mumbai | Ahead of the meeting of the INDIA alliance, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav says, The agenda will be to make preparations for the times ahead. Elections are approaching. If candidates have to be decided, we need to sit together. When asked about the Convener for pic.twitter.com/39TbR5ZUah  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023

Addressing the reporters on Wednesday, Yadav said, The agenda will be to make preparations for the times ahead. Elections are approaching. If candidates have to be decided, we need to sit together.

When asked about the convener for the I.N.D.I.A alliance, he said, It will be decided tomorrow.

Earlier, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah had also said that the meeting will deliberate over the decision on the convener.

The most important agenda of the meeting would be to strategise a plan to win the (Lok Sabha) elections. In the meeting, everyone will deliberate over the decision on the convenor (of the opposition bloc), said Abdullah as he arrived in Mumbai.

VIDEO | The most important agenda of the meeting would be to strategise a plan to win the (Lok Sabha) elections. In the meeting, everyone will deliberate over the decision on the convenor (of the opposition bloc), says National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah as he arrives in pic.twitter.com/BqciG4gBFK  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 30, 2023

A total of 26 to 27 parties are likely to participate in the third meeting of the newly-formed opposition alliance in Mumbai.

The I.N.D.I.A partners are scheduled to hold a two-day joint meeting on 31 August and 1 September in Mumbai.

The meeting will see discussions on the blocs strategies ahead of the upcoming state elections and the all-important general elections next year. The logo of the Opposition alliance is also likely to be unveiled during the two-day meeting.

A total of 26 parties, including the Congress, came together against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre.

The inaugural meeting of the alliance was convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on 23 June.

The second meeting of the group was hosted at Bengaluru in Congress-ruled Karnataka on 17-18 July.

With inputs from agencies
Following Chinas release of a standard map that incorporated Indias Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh, Congress MLA Ninong Ering has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to address the matter of the Peoples Republic of Chinas assertiveness during the upcoming G20 Summit scheduled in Delhi on September 9-10.

In his letter to the Prime Minister on Tuesday, the Congress leader said that the deliberate action taken by the Peoples Republic of China has invoked deep resentment among the people of Arunachal Pradesh.

Watch: Far from Over? China Makes Fresh Claims through New Map | Vantage with Palki Sharma

This unforeseen, unfortunate yet deliberate incident on the part of the PRC has invoked deep resentment among the people of Arunachal Pradesh, it is in common knowledge that the PRC has earlier too tried to assert its claim over Arunachal Pradesh by renaming 11 locations in April 2023, 15 locations in 2021 and 6 places in 2017, Ering said.

The Congress MLA who represents the Pashighat-west seat, a constituency bordering the Chinese-controlled Tibet Autonomous Region, in the Arunachal Pradesh legislative assembly, said that the recent release of the PRC Standard Map is a culmination of their nefarious plans and a matter of importance since Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and has scarred memories of the 1962 Sino-Indian war.

In his letter, he also mentioned the Galwan Valley clash between the troops of India and China.As you know, India is engaged in combat with an aggressive PRC along the Indo-Tibetan border in the Himalayas and 20 Indian Army personnel gave their lives while defending Indias frontiers against the PLA in Galwan Valley in 2020.

Prior to this, you have emphasized that no one can seize an inch of Indias land. Referring to the India-PRC standoff in the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh in December 2022, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah earlier stated that the government is committed to ensuring that not a single inch of Indias soil is compromised, the Congress MLA wrote.

Asserting that he has full faith in the wisdom and the might of the Indian Army in defending the Line of Control and Line of Actual Control, the Congress leader said that this release of the map was an attack on Indias sovereignty and integrity.

Being an elected representative of Arunachal Pradeshs Pashighat-West seat, I appeal to you to discuss this matter of PRC unilaterally making changes in its map with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the upcoming G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10, Ering said.

I would like to emphasize that this matter should be highlighted and condemned globally by relevant state-run media in order to appraise the world of the PRCs aggression. This is extremely important since any more silence on this issue will be considered and even advertised by the PRC as a tacit approval of the Indian side on Chinese claims, he added.

On August 28 China released the 2023 edition of its standard map showing Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea are also included within the Chinese territory in the new map.

India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest against China rejecting claims made by Beijing and said they have no basis to claim Indias territory. The Ministry of External Affairs said that such steps from the Chinese side would only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

In response to media queries, the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi said: We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory.

We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question, he added.
A man was killed and another injured after five youths on two-wheelers opened unprovoked firing at them before fleeing the spot in North Delhis Bhajanpura area, the police said on Wednesday.

Police said the victim has been identified as 36-year-old Harpreet Gill, adding that he was rushed to the Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital where he was declared dead.

The incident took place at around 11.37 pm on Tuesday, they added.

The injured, identified as Govind Singh, is currently undergoing treatment at the LNJP hospital, the police said.

According to an India TV report, citing police, the two were travelling on a bike near Subhash Vihar in the Bhajanpura area when the assailants on scooty and bike intercepted them. They opened fire at them before fleeing the spot, the police added.

Police said a case has been registered in connection with the incident and an investigation is underway.

CCTV footage in the area is being scanned by police, they added.

Meanwhile, expressing shock at the incident, Harpreets uncle Akshay said that he had no enmity with anyone.

He was shot in his head. I dont know why this happened. He had no enmity with anyone. I have requested the police to check the CCTV visuals, said Akshay.

With inputs from agencies
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the investigation into 27 First Information Reports (FIRs) filed in relation to the series of ethnic clashes in Manipur that have resulted in the loss of over 160 lives within a span of approximately four months, officials said.

According to the latest data, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has so far registered 27 cases handed over to it by the state. Among these cases, 19 pertain to crimes against women, three involve an incident of mob-driven armoury theft, two are related to instances of murder, while one case each pertains to charges of rioting, murder, kidnapping, and general criminal conspiracy., sources aware of the developments told PTI.

The agency has re-registered these cases but has not made the details public because of the sensitive nature of the situation prevailing in the northeastern state, they said. CBI teams have started questioning the suspects and victims after visiting the crime sites, the sources added.

The investigation gained momentum after the CBI top brass mobilised a team of 53 officers, including 29 women, drawn from various units of the federal agency across the country to probe the cases, they said.

With the society in Manipur divided into ethnic lines, the CBI is facing the critical task of avoiding allegations of bias during the operation as any involvement of people from one community will result in fingers pointed from the other side, the sources said.

They said several of these cases being probed by the CBI may attract provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which can be probed by an officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police.

Since the deputy SPs cannot be supervisory officers in such cases, the agency has mobilised one of its SP-ranked officers to supervise and monitor the investigation, they said.

The team also includes three DIGs  Lovely Katiyar, Nirmala Devi and Mohit Gupta  and Superintendent of Police Rajveer will report to a joint director who is supervising the overall probe, the sources said.

It is understood to be a first-of-its-kind mobilisation where such a large number of women officers have been simultaneously pressed into service, they added.

Two additional superintendents of police and six deputy superintendents of police  all women  are also part of the 53-member force, they said.

Besides, 16 inspectors and 10 sub-inspectors will also be part of the team, the sources said. More than 160 people have been killed and several hundred injured since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, when a Tribal Solidarity March was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei communitys demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipurs population and live mostly in the Imphal valley, while tribals, including Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.

With inputs from PTI.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday ruled out alliance with both the NDA and I.N.D.I.A, saying that both the blocs mostly comprise parties that are anti-poor, casteist, communal and pro-rich.

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, the BSP chief said, NDA and I.N.D.I.A alliances mostly comprise parties that are anti-poor, casteist, communal, pro-rich against whose policies BSP has always fought. So, there is no question of contesting the election by forging an alliance with them

BSP chief Mayawati tweets, NDA and INDIA alliances comprises mostly of parties that are anti-poor, casteist, communal, pro-rich against whose policies BSP has always fought. So, there is no question of contesting the election by forging an alliance with them pic.twitter.com/xV3i9W2XY0  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023

She said that BSP, like in 2007, will single-handedly contest the upcoming Lok Sabha and four state Assembly elections.

The BSP will fight elections uniting crores of neglected society on the basis of mutual brotherhood rather than the manipulation of the opponents. Media should not spread misconceptions again and again, said the BSP chief.

Although everyone here is eager for an alliance with the BSP, but if not done so then the opposition alleges collusion with the BJP.

If you join them then you are secular, if you dont then you are BJP. This is grossly unfair, she said.

Talking about former Saharanpur MLA who has been expelled from BSP, she said that he is busy praising the Congress and the top leaders of that party.

it is natural for people to question why he left this party and then went to another party? How can people trust such people? Mayawati asked.

With inputs from agencies
The Madhya Pradesh Police have registered a case against Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh following an alleged misleading post on his X social media account over a Jain temple in Damoh district, an official said on Wednesday.

Singh later deleted the post.

Rajya Sabha member Singh, in a post on August 27 on his official X account, claimed that some alleged anti-social elements of Bajrang Dal ransacked the Jain temple complex at Kundalpur (in Damoh) on August 26 night and kept a Shiv Pindi there.

Singh tagged the post to the MP chief minister and director general of police. He, however, later deleted the post.

Damoh Superintendent of Police Sunil Tiwari said following a complaint, the Kotwali police have registered a case against Singh under Indian Penal Code sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 177 (furnishing false information) and 505(2) (statements conducing to public mischief) for the post on Kundalpur Jain temple.

He said after a spot investigation of the Kundalpur Jain temple by the sub-divisional magistrate and sub-divisional officer of police, the news about the incident was found to be without facts and misleading.

Kundalpur Trust Committee chairman Chandrakumar Bajaj also denied such an incident in the temple.

Bajrang Dals city convener Shambhu Vishwakarma said his outfits workers had submitted a memorandum to the police against Singhs misleading post about the Kundalpur temple complex, following which the police registered an FIR against the Congress leader.

Singh should be arrested immediately for disturbing communal harmony, he said.
Confusion prevailed after Akali Dal said that the party had not received a formal invitation to attend the scheduled opposition meeting in Mumbai on Thursday. However, top sources in the party revealed that it has received an invitation from the INDIA Alliance to join them.

The two-day meeting of the opposition alliance will all be set to begin tomorrow in Mumbai. The logo of the alliance will be unveiled on 1st September.

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray will host a dinner meeting for the delegates on 31st August.

The primary agenda of these discussions will involve the formulation of a unified campaign strategy aimed at countering the NDA in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The announcement of various panels responsible for drafting a common minimum programme for the alliance will also be expected to be taken off. These panels will play a crucial role in shaping collective plans for organizing nationwide protests and will also contribute to the decision-making process regarding seat sharing among the member parties.

The INDIA bloc is also likely to announce a secretariat for smooth coordination between the constituents and it is likely to be set up in the national capital. Besides, the members will also discuss the issue of having a coordinator or a chairperson to head the alliance.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the frontrunner for the convenors post. There are also talks of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi being considered to head the alliance.

According to sources, while Kumar has already announced that he is not in the race for the convernors post, Gandhi has privately expressed that she was against the proposal.

The leaders, some of whom have started arriving here for the two-day conclave, will take forward deliberations on contentious issues such as seat sharing. RJD president Lalu Prasad and his son Bihars Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav are already in Mumbai.

There are speculations of some more regional outfits joining the 26-party opposition alliance at its Mumbai conclave which is the third in a series of meetings held in Patna and Bengaluru.

The INDIA blocs first meeting was held in Patna in June, while the second one took place in Bengaluru in mid-July. The Bengaluru conclave had finalised the name of the alliance  Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

Ahead of the Mumbai meeting, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has reiterated that his drive to forge the opposition unity was not prompted by any personal ambitions and he would like someone else to be made convener of the opposition coalition.

I have been maintaining since the beginning that I have no desire for myself I have no personal ambitions I dont want anything. Somebody else could be given the responsibility (convener post). My only wish is to unite the maximum number of parties (opposed to BJP) before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. I am working in this direction only, Kumar said.

He had on Sunday said that a few more political parties were likely to join the INDIA alliance during its Mumbai meeting. Kumar, however, did not reveal the names of the likely entrants to the bloc.

We will discuss issues related to seat sharing and will also finalise several other agenda in the Mumbai meeting. A few more political parties will join the INDIA coalition and it will be announced in the next meeting, Kumar had said.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole has said that the INDIA bloc will coin the slogan BJP Chale Jao (BJP Go Away) at the meeting.

He said the grouping has many capable candidates for the prime ministers post and claimed that some parties which are currently constituents of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) may switch over to the INDIA bloc.

Ahead of the conclave, Congress leader Milind Deora said that seat sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls among alliance partners is more or less finalised in most states barring a few that require more time.

Deora, who is closely involved in organising the meeting, also hailed the evolving chemistry between the INDIA bloc partners and said the best example of that was in Maharashtra.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress has formed several committees to plan various aspects of the meeting of the opposition bloc.

This is the first meeting of the opposition INDIA alliance in a state where none of the bloc members are in power. Unity would be the key focus of the meeting.

INDIA bloc constituent the RLDs chief Jayant Chaudhary has dismissed as conjecture the talks about the possibility of his party switching over to the NDA and said parties would not be comfortable in joining hands with the BJP which is very effective at steam-rolling dissenting voices.

In an interview with PTI ahead of the conclave, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader also said the Congress has a big role going forward as it is a well-understood brand with many people across the country voting for the party for a long time.

At the conclave held in the Karnataka capital last month, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had said the opposition will fight the 2024 elections unitedly and succeed. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said their fight was against BJPs ideology.
Seven police personnel have been suspended for allegedly providing special treatment to DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, arrested in connection with a multi-crore bank loan scam, during medical check-ups at hospitals in Mumbai, an official said on Wednesday.

The Wadhawan brothers are currently in judicial custody and lodged at the Taloja prison in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.

A TV channel recently showed clips of the Wadhawan brothers enjoying various privileges in the guise of medical check-ups at government hospitals in Mumbai, while being in judicial custody.

Both the accused persons were escorted by a team of Navi Mumbai police to hospitals from the Taloja prison.

During the review, senior police officers found there was negligence by the police personnel who escorted the Wadhawan brothers.

Accordingly, a sub-inspector and six constables have been suspended, a senior police official said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) issued the suspension orders on Tuesday evening, he said.

The Wadhawan brothers are facing various cases of alleged cheating and fraud.

A special CBI court here last month denied medical bail to Dheeraj Wadhawan, promoter of the now non-existent Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), arrested in a case pertaining to alleged fraud at Yes Bank.

The court, however, allowed him to undergo treatment at a private hospital for a heart-related ailment.

The court asked the businessman not to prolong his hospital stay and bear the cost of prison staff escorting him.
A man from Gujarat has been arrested by the Surat Crime Branch of Police for posing as a scientist with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and giving interviews to media in Surat in which he claimed that he has designed the lander module (Vikram) for Chandrayaan-3 the space agencys third moon mission.

The man, Mitul Trivedi, was arrested from Surat on Tuesday.

Trivedi, who is in his late 30s, also impersonated as an ISRO scientists to get more students to his tuition class in Surat city, police said.

In a statement, Surat Police said that after a thorough investigation, it was revealed that Trivedi was in no way connected to ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission.

"He had made false claims of being an ISRO employee, the police statement read.

Trivedi also allegedly produced a fake letter about being the space research member for ISRO's next project called mercury force in space.

ISRO's fake scientist arrested from Surat

A complaint against Trivedi was filed after he was seen giving interviews to the local media following the successful soft landing of the Vikram lander on the lunar surface on 23 August. He even allegedly claimed that he had designed the module of Chandrayaan-3, police said.

Trivedi allegedly posed as the assistant chairman of ISRO's Ancient Science Application department and even produced a fake appointment letter dated 26 February, 2022, to support his credentials.

Became ISRO scientist to get students for his tuition

Briefing media about the incident, Surat Additional Commissioner of Police, Sharad Singhal said, "Crime Branch contacted ISRO and a primary response was received from ISRO that the letter is forged and no such letter has been issued by them. They also said that they would give us a detailed reply within a few days."

Singhal further said that the Crime Branch, on Tuesday, called Mitul Trivedi to its Chowk Bazar office and conducted a detailed interrogation.

"Today (Wednesday), it has been established and he has made a confession as well that the letter is forged. He said that he drafted the letter because he runs tuition classes and he felt that if he showed such a letter to the parents of students, he would have more students coming in," the Additional Commissioner of Police, Surat said.

The Surat city crime branch lodged an FIR (first information report) against the accused under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (using forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), it stated.

"He claimed to possess B.Com and M.Com degrees," the police said.

An FIR against Trivedi has been lodged by the Surat city crime branch under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (using forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"The investigation has been done by SOG..." Singhal said.

With inputs from agencies
A lawyer was shot dead by an unknown assailant in a broad daylight on Wednesday when he was sitting in his chamber in Uttar Pradeshs Ghaziabad.

As per police, the lawyer, Monu Chaudhary, was attacked when he was having his food in his chamber in Sihanigate area of Ghaziabad.

VIDEO | A lawyer was allegedly shot dead by unknown assailants inside his chamber at a court in UPs Ghaziabad. More details are awaited. pic.twitter.com/RcxfI5ndTN  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 30, 2023

When the police reached the lawyer's chamber, his body was on the chair in sitting position and there was enough of blood from the part where the bullet had hit him.

Investigation into the matter has been initiated and police is collecting footages from the CCTV cameras positioned around the lawyer's chamber.
As many as 63 representatives of 28 political parties will be attending the two-day Opposition alliance, I.N.D.I.A, meet in Mumbai, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday.

The third meeting of the I.N.D.I.A will be held on 31 August and 1 September during which they are likely to announce a coordination committee and a logo for the alliance.

Addressing the media on Wednesday together with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, Pawar said, 63 representatives of 28 political parties to attend I.N.D.I.A alliance meet in Mumbai.

Pawar also exuded confidence that the Opposition alliance will provide a formidable alternative to bring about political change.

Talking about the alliance, Thackeray said, Our ideologies may be different but objective is to protect democracy.

VIDEO | Our ideologies may be different, but our objective is same i.e. to save the country and its Constitution, says Shiv Sena (UBT) leader @uddhavthackeray at a press conference of INDIA alliance in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/bXGPuBdIqv  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 30, 2023

Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA alliance, he said the party has no other choice for Prime Minister apart from PM Modi.

"We (INDIA alliance) have a lot of choices for the prime ministerial face. However, the BJP now needs to make a choice (for the PM face) as people have seen what he (PM Modi) has done in the past 10 years," the Shiv Sena leader said.

VIDEO | "We (INDIA alliance) have a lot of choices for the prime ministerial face. However, the BJP now needs to make a choice (for the PM face) as people have seen what he (PM Modi) has done in the past 10 years," says Shiv Sena (UBT) leader @uddhavthackeray at a press pic.twitter.com/ig2m5IpMaM  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 30, 2023

Comparing the BJP's rule to the British Raj, Thackeray said: "The British did development work too, but if we did not chase them away with full force, we would not have achieved freedom. We want development but we want freedom too."

Further parsing I.N.D.I.A, Thackeray said: "Those (opposition parties) who consider the whole country as their family have joined hands to save 'Bharat Mata'."

Addressing the media, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, "We're very happy that INDIA alliance meeting is going to take place in Maharashtra...in Bengaluru, we were 26 (parties), here it has become 28 (parties)...jaise INDIA badhega, waise hi China peeche hatega."

#WATCH | "We're very happy that INDIA alliance meeting is going to take place in Maharashtra...in Bengaluru, we were 26 (parties), here it has become 28 (parties)...jaise INDIA badhega, waise hi China peeche hatega", says Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole pic.twitter.com/U7xVHyH4CW  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023

With inputs from agencies
After numerous rounds of speculation, Apple has at last officially unveiled the much-awaited launch date for its upcoming iPhone 15 series. Mark your calendars for September 12, as the company will be hosting the anticipated Wonderlust event.

To ensure widespread access, the event will be live-streamed across Apples official platforms, including YouTube and its own official website. For those tuning in from India, the event is set to kick off at 10:30 PM.

As has become an annual tradition, Apple consistently uses its September event as a platform to unveil its latest iPhone iterations. This year appears to be no exception. Enthusiasts can look forward to the grand revelation of the cutting-edge iPhone 15 series, accompanied by the introduction of the newest Apple Watch lineup.

iPhone 15 series

Out of all the products slated for launch on the notable date of September 12, its quite likely that the iPhone 15 non-pro models will garner the highest sales, judging by the companys consistent performance history.

Surprisingly, even the non-pro iterations of the iPhone are set to receive substantial enhancements this year. Apples commitment to diversity is apparent as they persist in offering two size alternatives: the iPhone 15 featuring a 6.1-inch screen, and the larger iPhone 15 Plus with a 6.7-inch display.

The most significant departure anticipated in these phones is the elimination of the familiar notch. This marks a significant shift since the introduction of the iPhone X series, representing the first line-up to eschew this design element.

Instead, Apple plans to introduce the dynamic island, its pill-shaped cutout in the more affordable iPhone models. Furthermore, Apple enthusiasts can anticipate a fresh array of color choices for the iPhone 15.

In terms of processing power, Apple is poised to introduce the 4nm A16 Bionic chipset to the non-pro models of the iPhone 15, promising noteworthy improvements in performance.

Maintaining consistency, the iPhone 15 Pro variants are also set to adhere to the two size choices strategy. The iPhone 15 Pro is scheduled to boast a 6.1-inch screen, while its counterpart, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, will offer a more expansive 6.7-inch display. There are rumours of an iPhone 15 Ultra as well. Now, this will either replace the iPhone 15 Pro Max, or will be launched as a standalone, true flagship device this time around.

The captivating dynamic island design will remain a hallmark feature of the 15 Pro models. However, its worth noting that the bezels surrounding the display are anticipated to be sleeker in comparison to those of the iPhone 14 Pro models.

A noteworthy alteration lies in the material used for the frame of the forthcoming Apple iPhone 15 Pro models. Titanium is poised to replace conventional materials, reflecting a significant shift in the devices construction.

On the photography front, theres substantial excitement brewing around the potential enhancement of the iPhone 15 Pro Max model. This may come in the form of a periscope lens, a feature capable of enabling optical zoom ranging between 5x to 6x.

Apple Watch Series 9

As per insights shared by Bloombergs Mark Gruman, Apple is gearing up to unveil a trio of novel smartwatches on the forthcoming September 12 event, having been codenamed N207, N208, and N210. These new additions will flesh out the Apple Watch Series 9 lineup, encompassing two distinct models distinguished by their varying sizes.

Additionally, the event will also mark the arrival of a revised iteration of the Apple Watch Ultra, a variant that was launched just last year. While the finer details remain veiled in secrecy, its worth mentioning that the Apple Watch Series 9 might introduce incremental modifications, implying subtle improvements rather than groundbreaking changes.

In the case of the Ultra variant, its exact upgrades are still shrouded in mystery; however, certain sources propose the possibility of an expanded display for the Watch Ultra, which would certainly pique the interest of enthusiasts.

iOS 17 and iPadOS 17

Finally, we will also get to see the final version of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. The upcoming mobile operating systems are bringing some massive and equally impressive changes. Although the design language looks the same, the UI has been given some pretty subtle tweaks here and there that just lift the experience up.

Furthermore, there are a lot of upgrades to security as well. Apple has already showcased the beta version of iOS 17 at WWDC 2023 and its most notable features include Contact Posters, Live Voicemail, upgrades to AirDrop, and more.
ISRO is all but set to launch the PSLV-C57 rocket that will carry the Aditya-L1 solar observatory on September 2, and has shared images of the rocket, as engineers proceed with their final round of inspections.

ISRO also tweeted that the preparations for the launch are progressing as per schedule and that the first phase of the launch rehearsals, which basically involves the internal checks of the PSLV have been completed.



ISRO also shared images of the Aditya L1 Observatory, as well as the propulsion module that will take it to Lagrange Point 1 or L1.

What are Lagrange Points

Lagrange Points denote specific positions in space where the gravitational forces exerted by celestial bodies, in this case, the Sun and the Earth, result in concentrated areas of both attraction and repulsion. This interplay enables smaller objects like satellites or orbiters to effectively maintain their position while orbiting around a particular undefined point.

These strategic points have practical applications for spacecraft, enabling them to conserve fuel and effectively hold their position.

In the context of the Earth-Sun system, Lagrange Point 1 (L1) is positioned between the Earth and the Sun, approximately 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth, directly in line with the Sun. This precise point aligns with the imaginary line connecting these two celestial bodies and falls along Earths orbital path around the Sun.

Aditya-L1s objectives

The Aditya-L1 mission is equipped with seven distinct scientific instruments designed to meticulously examine various layers of the Sun, including the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layer known as the corona. These instruments utilize electromagnetic particle and magnetic field sensors to conduct their observations.

Among these instruments, four have an unobstructed view of the Sun, while the remaining three focus on conducting on-site investigations of particles and fields within Lagrange Point L1. Consequently, this mission assumes a pivotal role in advancing our comprehension of diverse solar phenomena and their impacts on the interplanetary environment and Earth.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) further elucidated that the instrumentation carried by the Aditya L1 payloads holds the potential to provide crucial insights into critical areas such as coronal heating, coronal mass ejections, pre-flare and flare activities, along with their distinct characteristics. Additionally, these investigations will enhance our understanding of space weather dynamics and the behavior of particles and fields as they propagate through space.
As impressive as ISROs space missions are, none of them would have been possible had it not been for the PSLV, the rocket system that Indias space agency uses. The PSLV is perhaps the most important piece of aeronautic engineering that we have developed over the years.

Dr RC Kapoor, who has been a crucial part of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and has been involved with astronomy for over 50 years, believes that the PSLV rocket is a trusted workhorse.

#WATCH | Bengaluru: Astronomer and Professor Dr. RC Kapoor on the PSLV launch vehicle that will take Aditya L1, Indias first solar mission into space says, PSLV is a trusted workhorse of ISROPSLV rocket has been used for most of the launches by ISRO. PSLV can take about 3200 pic.twitter.com/u9Z2BC081P  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023



The PSLV PSLV is a trusted workhorse of ISROPSLV rocket has been used for most of the launches by ISRO.

How the PSLV came into being

Dr Kapoor, further explains what makes Indias PSLV special. Its design goes back to 1968, when Incospar wanted to develop its own satellite launch vehicle. Six designs were prepared and Dr Sarabhai liked the third design, which was called SLV-3.

The final touches to the design were given by none other than former president of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, much before he assumed office. Dr Abdul was roped in to develop it further, he explains. Thats how SLV-3 came to be, and it played a vital role in Indias space Journey. The SLV-3 was used for the launch of the Rohini satellites, the first Indian satellites that were launched from India. But it had its limitations, he said. The SLV-3 could carry only a payload with a mass of 40-50kg.

The SLV was then developed more, over multiple iterations. The SLV-3 was put under further development. First, it became the ASLV or Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle, and then into the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. With each generation, the payload capacity was increased, among other things.

The PSLV which will be used to launch the upcoming Aditya-L1 solar observatory, can take about 3200 kg in low-earth orbit and about 1400 kg in geostationary orbits, explained Dr Kapoor, while speaking to ANI.

On the Aditya-L1 mission

Dr Kapoor also explained what the Aditya-L1 mission entails. Aditya L1 eventually has to find a place at L1 or Lagrange Point 1. This is a point in the Earth-Sun line in space towards the direction of the Sun, about 15 lakh km away from the Sun. At this point, the Earth and Suns gravity balance each other, he explained.

The Aditya L1 will be in orbit around a specific point, that does not have mass. From here, it will always be facing the Sun. It will make observations, collect data and then pass it on to ground stations of ISRO,
Japans National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity or NISC, the agency tasked with safeguarding Japans national defenses against cyber threats has itself fallen victim to hackers, potentially exposing sensitive information for a period of up to nine months, a report by the Financial Times has revealed.

According to reliable sources from both governmental and private sectors, the intrusion into J NISC is believed to have been orchestrated by state-backed hackers from China. This attack started in the autumn of 2022, but it was only in June 2023 that the Japanese got to know that their systems were compromised.

Can Japan defend itself against cyberattacks?

This revelation holds significant gravity due to the nature of the target and the current atmosphere of intense scrutiny surrounding Japans susceptibility to cyber-attacks. Tokyo is in the process of enhancing its military collaboration with the United States and regional partners. This includes exercises such as a joint fighter project alongside the United Kingdom and Italy, which involved the exchange of top-secret technological data.

The capability of Japan to securely manage sensitive data has raised concerns among cyber security experts in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Recent reports have unveiled a major cyber attack on Japans defence networks in late 2020, attributed to Chinese military hackers. Additionally, in July, the port of Nagoya experienced a temporary shutdown following what was believed to be a ransomware attack linked to Russian origins.

These incidents have sparked apprehensions at the highest levels of the Japanese government regarding the possibility of state actors, such as China, probing Japans defence capabilities.

How the breach was discovered

In early August, NISC revealed that certain personal data associated with email exchanges between October of the previous year and June of the current year might have been exposed to bad actors after an intrusion into its email system.

The breach seemed to have exploited an individual staff members email account, according to NISC.

To address the potential compromise, NISC issued a series of email notifications to both domestic and international private and governmental partners, warning them about the situation.

The agencys public statement explained that an external investigation had recently uncovered the possibility of leaked email data and that those involved in the affected email correspondences had been duly informed.

Operating within Japans highest government circles as part of the Cabinet Office, NISCs breach has reportedly prompted an inquiry into whether the hackers access extended to other highly sensitive servers situated in the same government building in central Tokyo.

An official from NISC confirmed that their investigation had determined that only the email system had been compromised. The official declined to comment on whether the intrusion was attributed to Chinese state-sponsored hackers.

Japan blames China, China blames the US

According to sources, the incident is believed to have been orchestrated with Chinese involvement. One individual familiar with the situation noted, There is always a small element of doubt, but given the style of attack and the nature of the target itself, we can say with almost complete certainty that this originated with a state actor and that the actor was most probably China. Another source asserted that they were without doubt certain that China was responsible for the attack.

Chinas foreign affairs ministry dismissed these claims and pointed the finger at the United States, suggesting that Japan should scrutinize US activities, given the latters history of spying on allies. The ministry referred to previous WikiLeaks disclosures revealing US cyber espionage against Japanese cabinet officials, financial institutions, and companies.

Japans efforts to bolster its cybersecurity capabilities have been hindered by a shortage of personnel and expertise in the digital domain. The governments initiatives have primarily focused on expanding and enhancing training facilities for the cyber unit within the Self-Defense Forces. As of the end of March, this unit comprised just under 900 members, a stark contrast to the estimated 6,200 in its US equivalent and at least 30,000 in Chinas cyber forces.
British judges will be given new powers to force criminals to attend sentencing, the UK government said on Wednesday, following outrage over several high-profile cases where killers refused to appear in the dock to hear their punishment.

The reforms will enable judges to order an offender to attend, or face an extra two years in prison in some cases, and also give custody officers the legal power to use reasonable force, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said.

The move comes after nurse Lucy Letby last week refused to leave the cell to hear she would spend the rest of her life in jail for killing seven newborn babies. The mother of one of the victims described it as a final act of wickedness.

It is unacceptable that some of the countrys most horrendous criminals have refused to face their victims in court. They cannot and should not be allowed to take the cowards way out, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement.

We are giving judges the power to order vile offenders to attend their sentencing hearings, with those who refuse facing being forced into the dock or spending longer behind bars, he said.

The British government said the legislation to introduce the changes would be set out in due course.

The MoJ said a criminal could face an extra two years in prison if they continue to resist attending their sentencing after being ordered to by a judge. This would apply in cases where the maximum sentence is life imprisonment, including serious sexual or violent crimes.
Canada, citing the risk of potential dangers, is advising LGBTQ travellers planning trips to the United States to check how they might be affected by recently passed laws in some states, Ottawa said on Tuesday.

Anti-LGBTQ demonstrations in the United States last year rocketed 30-fold compared with 2017 and legal moves to restrict LGBTQ rights are on the rise.

Canadas travel advisory for the United States now includes a cautionary message for those who consider themselves two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning or intersex  or 2SLGBTQI+ for short.

Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons, the advisory says. Check relevant state and local laws.

The advisory did not specify which states it was referring to.

The US State Department said the United States was committed to promoting tolerance, inclusion, justice, and dignity while advancing the rights of the LGBTQ community and was prepared to work with like-minded partners from across the world in doing so.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, asked why the advice had been updated, said the Canadian government employed experts to look carefully around the world and to monitor whether there are particular dangers to particular groups of Canadians.

Speaking to reporters in Atlantic Canada, she added: Every Canadian government  needs to put at the centre of everything we do the interest and the safety of every single Canadian and every single group of Canadians. Thats what were doing now.

She declined to say whether any talks had been held with the Biden administration before making the change. The overall risk profile for the United States remains at green, indicating a normal security precautions requirement.

The United States is Canadians top travel destination, and in June residents returned from about 2.8 million trips south of the border. About 1 million people, 4% of the Canadian population aged 15 years and older, are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or of another sexual orientation than heterosexual, according to official data released last year.

The largest LGBTQ advocacy organization in the United States, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), has declared a national state of emergency, citing the proliferation of legislation in state capitols aimed at regulating the lives of queer people.
Over 15,000 Indian tech workers have moved to Canada in the span of just 12 months, from April 2022 to March 2023, indicating that the country has emerged as a global magnet for tech industry talent, according to Khalsa Vox.

This surge in migration positions India as the largest contributor to Canadas expanding tech workforce, as highlighted by a recent joint report from The Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) and Canadas Tech Network (CTN).

Of the more than 32,000 tech professionals who sought greener pastures, 15,097 chose Canada as their new home, underscoring the nations allure in the tech industry.

Following India on the list of contributors was Nigeria, with 1,808 tech workers making their journey to Canada. Experts attribute this phenomenon to Canadas immigration-friendly policies and its competitive edge in terms of labour costs, as per Khalsa Vox.

Khalsa Vox is an online digest that brings the latest in Punjab politics, history, culture, heritage and more.

Mississauga and Montreal are the two Canadian cities that stand out as the prime beneficiaries of this influx of global tech talent.

Mississauga which boasts a robust community of nearly 1,000 IT firms and an impressive workforce of over 300,000 tech experts, has become a hub for tech innovation. Meanwhile, Montreal has witnessed a remarkable 31 per cent growth in its tech ecosystem between 2015 and 2020.

The report, titled Tech Workforce Trends: The Migration of Tech Workers and Tech Jobs Since the Pandemic, sheds light on the significance of this surge in tech migration. It posits that the substantial migration of tech workers fulfils the critical demand for skilled professionals, a need that has become even more pronounced amid the ongoing global talent scarcity. This influx of tech talent is seen as a promising indicator of a prosperous future for Canadas tech industry, according to Khalsa Vox.

The migration data further reveals intriguing details about the tech worker flow. Mississauga welcomed 1,900 tech professionals from across the world, while Montreal witnessed the arrival of 959 tech experts during the specified period from April 2022 to March 2023.

Although the majority of the influx is attributed to India, Nigeria, and Brazil, the report also highlights the growing attraction of Canadian tech opportunities for American talent. Notably, Canada is drawing tech professionals from major US cities such as Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
Mutinous soldiers in Gabon said Wednesday they were overturning the results of a presidential election that was to extend the Bongo familys 55-year hold on power.

The central African countrys election committee announced that President Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, had won the election with 64 per cent of the vote early Wednesday morning. Within minutes, gunfire was heard in the center of the capital, Libreville.

A dozen uniformed soldiers appeared on state television later the same morning and announced that they had seized power.

We reaffirm our commitment to respecting Gabons commitments to the national and international community, said a spokesperson for the group, whose members were drawn from the gendarme, the republican guard and other factions of the security forces, reported The Associated Press.

Bongo was seeking a third term in elections this weekend. He served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who ruled the country for 41 years. Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in January 2019, while Bongo was in Morocco recovering from a stroke, but they were quickly overpowered.

In the election, Bongo faced an opposition coalition led by economics professor and former education minister Albert Ondo Ossa, whose surprise nomination came a week before the vote.

There were concerns about post-election violence, due to deep-seated grievances among the population of some 2.5 million. Nearly 40 per cent of Gabonese ages 15-24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank.

After last weeks vote, the Central African nations Communications Minister, Rodrigue Mboumba Bissawou, said on state television that there would be a nightly curfew from 7 pm to 6 am. He said internet access was being restricted indefinitely as there had been calls for violence and efforts to spread disinformation.

Every vote held in Gabon since the countrys return to a multi-party system in 1990 has ended in violence. Clashes between government forces and protesters following the 2016 election killed four people, according to official figures.

The opposition said the death toll was far higher.

Fearing violence, many people in the capital went to visit family in other parts of the country before the election or left Gabon altogether. Others stockpiled food or bolstered security in their homes.
China continues to remain adamant in claiming Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as its own territory even after being slammed by India. Beijing has termed their standard maps as normal exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law.

This time too, China has officially released the 2023 edition of its standard map including the disputed areas and continued to claim over Indias Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin region.

After India strongly protested Chinas move of including Arunachal, Beijing responded on Wednesday, saying: The release of the 2023 edition of the standard map of China is the countrys normal exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law.

Its hoped that relevant parties will treat it objectively and not over-interpret it, Chinas foreign ministry spokesperson said.

The release of the 2023 edition of the standard map of China is the countrys normal exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law. Its hoped that relevant parties will treat it objectively and not over-interpret it, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday, pic.twitter.com/ipyRm9FpDk  Global Times (@globaltimesnews) August 30, 2023

On Monday, China released its 'standard map' showing Arunachal Pradesh which Beijing claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory.

In the new map, Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea are also included within the Chinese territory.

On Tuesday, India's External Affairs Ministry said it strongly opposed the move by China and asserted that such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

"We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so called 2023 standard map" of China that lays claim to Indias territory. We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," MEA said in a statetment.

In a interview to NDTV on Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated that it is an "old habit" of China to stake claim on territories that do not belong to them. He also dismissed Beijings absurd claims" and said putting out a map does not mean anything."

Not the first time

It appears to be habit of China, as in April this year, it had unilaterally renamed" as many as 11 Indian locations, which included names of mountain peaks, rivers and residential areas.

In 2017 and in 2021 too, China's Civil Affair Ministry had renamed other Indian locations triggering another political confrontation. New Delhi called out China's expansionist plans then.

On the sidelines of the 15th BRICS summit in Johannesburg last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping were seen engaging a brief interaction. Before the conference started, PM Modi and Xi were pictured having a brief conversation before taking their designated seats.

Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra did not call it a bilateral meeting but said the conversation captured the sense of the relationship as PM Modi highlighted Indias concerns over the "unresolved issues" along the LAC and both leaders agreed to work towards early disengagement and de-escalation.

India and China have been in a stand-off situation for the last three years and relations at all levels have deteriorated due to tensions on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The two sides have held 19 rounds of talks so far to address the boundary issues in eastern Ladakh since 2020.

With inputs from agencies
North Korea fired at least two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Wednesday, South Koreas military said, hours after the US separately deployed B-1B bombers for allied air drills.

Japans defence ministry also reported that at least one suspected ballistic missile was launched, while Japanese media reported that two missiles were fired and landed outside Japans exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for additional provocations, and is maintaining full readiness through close cooperation with the United States, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The launch comes a day before South Korea and the US wrap up 11 days of combined military drills, which Pyongyang has denounced.

The B-1B bombers conducted separate air drills with warplanes from South Korea and Japan earlier on Wednesday.

North Koreas ballistic missiles are banned by the United Nations Security Council resolutions that have imposed strict sanctions on the nuclear-armed country.

The United States is concerned that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are actively advancing, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told a briefing on Wednesday, noting that any arms deal would violate sanctions.

Kirby said Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had recently travelled to North Korea to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia.

The US and South Korean militaries want to more closely integrate their systems for tracking North Korean missile launches, an effort that may soon include more cooperation with Japan as well, US Space Force officials said on Wednesday.

US President Joe Biden agreed with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at an August 18 summit that by the end of this year the three countries would share North Korea missile warning data in real time.
The Kremlin on Wednesday said that the investigation into the plane crash which killed mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin included the possibility that it was caused deliberately, its first explicit acknowledgement that he may have been assassinated.

It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including the version  you know what we are talking about  lets say, a deliberate atrocity, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Lets wait for the results of our Russian investigation, he added.

The private Embraer jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of the Russian capital killing all 10 people on board on August 23, including two other top Wagner figures, his four bodyguards and a crew of three.

The cause of the crash is still unclear, but villagers near the scene told Reuters they heard a bang and then saw the jet plummet to the ground.

The plane crashed exactly two months since Prigozhin took control of the southern city of Rostov in late June, the opening salvo of a mutiny which shook the foundations of President Vladimir Putins Russia.

Russia has informed Brazils aircraft investigation authority that it will not probe the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer (EMBR3.SA) jet under international rules at the moment, the Brazilian agency told Reuters.

On being asked about that report, Peskov said: First of all, the investigation is under way, the Investigative Committee is engaged in this.

In this case there can be no talk of any international aspect, Peskov said.
The UKs air traffic control chief has said that incorrect flight data was the reason for the massive disruption that affected thousands of passengers stuck in planes and at airports as hundreds of flights to and from the United Kingdom were cancelled, with knock-on effects continuing till Wednesday.

Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of National Air Traffic Services (NATS) which had faced the technical issue that triggered the chaos on Monday, said an initial investigation had found the failure was caused by flight data which its system could not interpret.

He also reiterated the UK governments previous statement that it was not caused by a cyber-attack. Initial investigations into the crisis show it relates to some of the flight data we received, said Rolfe.

Our systems, both primary and the back-ups, responded by suspending automatic processing to ensure that no incorrect safety-related information could be presented to an air traffic controller or impact the rest of the air traffic system. There are no indications that this was a cyber-attack, he said.

The NATS chief reassured passengers that since Monday afternoon all NATS systems have been running normally but acknowledged that the knock-on effects continue to be felt at a particularly busy travel time of the year over the summer holidays.

Some reports have suggested the chaos may have been caused after a French airline misfiled its flight plan. Without confirming or denying the reports, Rolfe told broadcasters in interviews that the issue could be related to a single flight plan.

We know it is something in the flight data and we will get to the bottom of it and understand why. We are conducting an investigation, we will conduct it incredibly thoroughly, he added.

NATS which is in charge of handling 2 million flights a year to and from the UK said it has identified the issue around the way the system and several levels of backups reacted to the incorrect data, which should prevent similar delays in future.

It is, meanwhile, working with the UKs Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on the investigation and said the conclusions of that report will be made public.

As a result of the incorrect data, flight plans had to be uploaded to systems manually, slowing or cancelling air traffic across the UK. Thousands of passengers were affected, with many forced to spend the night at airports around the world and several still waiting for rescheduled flights.

Analysis of flight data found around 281 flights, including departures and arrivals, were cancelled on Tuesday at the UKs six busiest airports 75 at Gatwick, 74 at Heathrow, 63 at Manchester, 28 at Stansted, 23 at Luton and 18 at Edinburgh.

The UKs Department of Transport said it had approved night flying, usually restricted, to all UK airports it regulates to help clear the backlog.

The system failure is estimated to cost airlines GBP 100 million, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
A Russian airport near the border with Estonia came under drone attack, the local governor said on Wednesday, with reports that planes were damaged.

Regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov, who said he was at the scene of the attack, posted a video on Telegram of a massive fire, with the sounds of explosions and sirens in the background.

A drone attack has been repelled in Pskov airport, Vedernikov wrote, adding authorities were assessing the damage but there were no casualties.

Pskov is located roughly 800 kilometres (nearly 500 miles) from Ukraines border and the surrounding region borders EU member states Latvia and Estonia.

There was no immediate comment from the defence ministry but four heavy transport planes were reportedly damaged.

All Wednesday flights at the airport were cancelled, Vedernikov wrote, until the nature of the possible damage to the runway is clarified.

State news agency TASS, citing emergency services, said that four Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transport planes had been damaged.

Citing air traffic services, TASS also reported that airspace above Moscows Vnukovo airport had been closed.

The region of Pskov was previously targeted by drones in May.

Moscow and other Russian regions have been targeted in recent weeks by a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks after Kyiv vowed this summer to return the conflict to Russia.

Black Sea ships

Moscow later said forces had destroyed four Ukrainian boats carrying up to 50 troops in the Black Sea.

An aircraft destroyed four high-speed military boats around midnight Moscow time (2100 GMT), the Russian defence ministry wrote on Telegram.

The ministry said the boats had been carrying landing groups of Ukrainian special operations forces with a total number of up to 50 people.

It did not give details on exactly where in the Black Sea the incident took place.

Both Ukraine and Russia have ramped up activity in the area after a United Nations-brokered deal to ensure safe navigation for grain ships in the Black Sea collapsed last month.

Russia has since pounded Ukraines port infrastructure on the sea and on the Danube River.

Kyiv has attacked Russian ships in its waters and the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Last week, Moscows defence ministry said one of its jets destroyed a Ukrainian reconnaissance boat near Russian gas production facilities in the Black Sea.

It later said it also destroyed a US-made speedboat carrying Ukrainian troops east of Snake Island, without providing further detail.
Ever since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to make his first foreign visit to China in October.

According to Bloomberg, the Kremlin is preparing for the Russian presidents China visit for the Belt and Road Forum after he accepted Chinese President Xi Jinpings invitation to attend the conclave later this year.

Putins trip to China will come months after Jinping made visit to Moscow in March.

Putin has remained primarily within Russia or countries formerly held by the Soviet Union since the court issued its warrant in March. Putin risks arrest if he steps into territory which is a signatory to the Rome statute on war crimes.

Earlier this month, Putin skipped the BRICS summit in South Africa after the local government in Copenhagen stated it would comply with the ICC order to arrest him as a signatory to the international court.

Putin has also excused himself from the upcoming G20 summit in New Delhi in September, although India is not a signatory to the ICC.

The court has issued arrest warrants for the Russian president and Russias commissioner for childrens rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, in relation to the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia, where many have been adopted by Russian families.

Forced deportation of populations is recognised as a crime under the Rome statute that established the court. Russia was a signatory to the Rome statute, but withdrew in 2016, saying it did not recognise the jurisdiction of the court.

Although Ukraine is itself not a signatory to the court in The Hague, it granted the ICC jurisdiction to investigate war crimes committed on its territory.

With inputs from agencies
The foreign ministers of the Quad member countries are likely to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September with a focus on expanding overall cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The Quad, comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia, has been focusing on practical cooperation to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of Chinas increasing military muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Quad foreign ministers are expected to deliberate on ways to further boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific under the framework of the coalition, the people cited above said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi last held talks in India in March.

In the meeting, they reaffirmed the groupings commitment for a free and open Indo-Pacific and said it strongly supports the rule of law, sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful settlement of disputes.

The ministers also vowed to work closely to align and complement Quads agenda with Japans presidency of the G7, Indias presidency of the G20 and the United States APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) host year in 2023.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican presidential candidate has advocated for stronger partnerships with India, South Korea, and Japan as a strategic approach to decrease the United States economic reliance on China and Taiwan.

Ramaswamy has experienced a surge in his poll numbers subsequent to his participation in the initial Republican presidential primary debate last week. On Tuesday, he articulated his proposed initiatives and perspectives concerning foreign policy.

In his statements, Ramaswamy criticized another Indian American Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley. She had previously criticized him for his perceived lack of expertise in matters of foreign policy.

We will enter a stronger partnership with India that involves an Indian commitment to close the Malacca Strait in the event of a near-term conflict with Taiwan, and enter stronger partnerships with other allies including South Korea and Japan to reduce our economic dependence on China and Taiwan, Ramaswamy said.

The entrepreneur-turned-politician Ramaswamy said he favours strategic clarity and advocated that the US must defend Taiwan vigorously until America achieves semiconductor independence, then resume the posture of strategic ambiguity when the stakes are lower for the US.

The American way of life depends on leading-edge semiconductors manufactured in Taiwan, and we cant risk China gaining near-total leverage over the entire US economy, he said.

By saying that we will defend Taiwan, the US can strongly deter China from blockading or invading the island in the near term. Meantime, Taiwan should more than double its own military expenditures to a more rational level of 4 to 5 per cent of its gross domestic product, he said.

He said the US should rapidly arm and train Taiwan with Anti-Access/Area Denial weapons while running at least one Destroyer warship through the Taiwan Strait each week.

The US should also fortify its own homeland defence, which is at present dangerously vulnerable to major conflicts with China, he said, adding this includes improving nuclear, super electromagnetic pulse, cyber and space defence capabilities.

His campaign said that Ramaswamy is the only US Presidential candidate to date who has clearly stated that the US will defend Taiwan.

I am the only Presidential candidate willing to state what is necessary: we will defend Taiwan. The US currently doesnt even recognise Taiwan as a nation. Democrats and Republicans both unquestioningly endorse the one China policy and embrace strategic ambiguity toward the island, Ramaswamy said.

Hitting out at Haley, Ramaswamys campaign in a statement said that in a desperate attempt to raise funds for her languishing establishment campaign, the former US ambassador to the UN was intentionally lying about Ramaswamy.

Haley has blasted Ramaswamy for not backing US allies. According to his campaign, Haley flatly lied on Fox News that Ramaswamy said he would abandon Israel, those were his words and that he wants to go and stop funding Israel.

This is false, his campaign asserted in a late-night statement. We challenge the failing Haley campaign and any media outlet to find a single instance where Ramaswamy utters that he would not support Israel. They will not  because Ramaswamy never said it. Instead, they continue to recycle blatantly false headlines that they manufactured, the statement said.

Ramaswamy said that if Israel ever gets to the point that it no longer needs US financial support, that would be a mark of achievement  but that the US will never cut off aid to Israel until Israel says they are ready for it, his campaign said.

It all started about a week ago when Haley at the debate stage accused Ramaswamy of not having any foreign policy experience.

Since then, the Ohio-based Indian American has been attacked both by the media and his political opponents for his inexperience on foreign policy.

On Tuesday, Ramaswamy used the Namrata Randhawa name of Nikki Haley on his website.

Im not going to get involved in these childish name games. Its pretty pathetic. First of all, I was born with Nikki on my birth certificate. I was raised as Nikki. I married a Haley. And so that is what my name is.

So, he can say or misspell or do whatever he wants, but he cant step away from the fact that, hes the one that said he was going to abandon Israel, Haley told Fox News in response.

Those were his words. Now hes wanting to walk it back. And the reality is, you have to understand the importance of our allies and those relationships. We can never be so narcissistic to think that we dont need friends, she said.

It is not that Israel needs America. America needs Israel too, Haley said. Israel faces genocidal threats from Hamas, from Hezbollah, from Iran, from Syria. You need a president that understands that that understands that Israel is the front line of defence when it comes to us dealing with Islamic terrorism in Iran, she claimed.

And he just doesnt get it. So, look, I mean, I think you can tell a lot about the kind of leader someone will be based on how they run their campaign. And hes doing that all on his own, Haley said.

Later in the night, Ramaswamys campaign issued a statement against Haley.

We wish Ambassador Haley and her family well in their future careers in the private sector, noting that they rapidly generated an impressive fortune as military contractors following her short-lived stint as US Ambassador to the United Nations, the campaign said.

Ramaswamy said the US relationship with Israel is a model example of how international relationships should work.

Israel spends a greater percentage of its own GDP on defence than any major nation. Seventy per cent of the aid the US provides to Israel must be spent in the US, and by 2028 the mandate is 100 per cent. This is consistent with America-First foreign policy objectives, he said.

By the end of my first term, our relationship with Israel will be stronger than it has ever been. I will consummate Abraham Accords 2.0 by the end of 2025, adding Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Indonesia to the pact. We will work with Israel to ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon that advances US interests, Ramaswamy said.

I wont end our aid to Israel until the day when Israel tells the US they are ready for it. Thats what true friends do: they speak honestly and openly to one another. I will speak to Bibi and invite him to the White House, something that President Biden is shamefully frightened to do, he said.

With inputs from PTI.
A dispute has arisen as the US government contests an upcoming mission aimed at recovering historical items from the ill-fated Titanic.

RMS Titanic Inc (RMST), a company based in Georgia, is orchestrating the expedition and holds the legal rights for salvaging artifacts from the worlds most renowned shipwreck.

The firm showcases various objects recovered from the ocean floor of the North Atlantic, ranging from tableware to a segment of the Titanics hull.

The legal battle between the US government and RMST is unfolding in the US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which has jurisdiction over Titanic salvage affairs.

The central issues revolve around federal law and an agreement with the UK to treat the shipwreck site as a sacred resting place.

This disagreement emerges a couple of months after the Titan submersible tragically collapsed near the sunken liner, resulting in the loss of five lives.

The Titanic famously struck an iceberg and sank during its inaugural voyage from Southampton to New York in 1912, leading to the deaths of over 1,500 out of the 2,208 individuals on board.

One of the primary concerns of the US government pertains to the potential disturbance of any remaining human remains within the wreckage.

Legal documents submitted by US attorneys on Friday assert, RMST is obliged to adhere to this legally enacted federal statute, despite their stated intention to the contrary.

The lawyers argue that the shipwrecks safeguarding will be compromised, as Congress bestowed specific protections upon it.

RMST tentatively plans to launch its expedition in May of the following year, as indicated in a report submitted to the court in June.

The company aims to capture images of the entire wreck, encompassing the deteriorated sections where gaps have formed, allowing a remotely operated vehicle to enter the hull without affecting its current structure.

The expedition aims to retrieve artifacts from the debris field, with the possibility of recovering standalone objects within the wreck. RMST suggests that items from the Marconi room might be retrieved, as long as they are not affixed to the wreck itself.

The Marconi room housed the ships radio equipment, which transmitted distress signals as the vessel encountered the iceberg. These Morse code messages were received by other ships and onshore stations, contributing to the rescue of around 700 individuals who escaped on lifeboats.

RMST emphasizes that it does not intend to cut into the wreck or detach any part of it. The company affirms its commitment to collaborative efforts with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US agency representing the publics stake in the shipwreck.

While RMST intends to proceed without seeking a permit, US government lawyers contend that the company cannot do so without obtaining one. They argue that RMST requires approval from the US Secretary of Commerce, who oversees NOAA.

Although RMST has not yet presented a response in court, it has previously contested the constitutionality of US attempts to infringe upon its salvage rights in international waters. The company argues that only the Norfolk court holds jurisdiction, citing centuries of maritime law precedent.

A parallel legal conflict between the US government and RMST occurred in 2020 regarding a proposed expedition that could have involved cutting into the wreck to recover the radio. However, the proceedings were curtailed by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and never came to fruition.
In an attempt to stabilize ties that have frayed badly in recent years, Britains top diplomat, James Cleverly, started a long-awaited visit to China on Wednesday.

This marks the first trip by a U.K. foreign secretary to China in over half a decade, highlighting the deterioration of ties due to Beijings restrictions on civil liberties in Hong Kong  a former British colony, human rights violations against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, Chinas alignment with Russia, and the robust security partnership between Britain and the United States.

Cleverlys initial meeting was with Vice President Han Zheng, who remarked that the visit holds the potential to further enhance the positive and stable advancement of bilateral relations.

The British representative emphasized the significance of preventing misconceptions in the interactions between the United Kingdom and China.

It is important that countries like ours meet and speak face to face on regular occasions to enhance understanding, to avoid misunderstanding and to address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries have in bilateral relations, Cleverly said after his meeting with Zheng.

He said he had a number of conversations with senior representatives of the Chinese government and I have raised human rights in every single one of those meetings, and I will continue to do so.

Cleverly will meet later Wednesday his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, who is both the ruling Communist Partys top official for foreign affairs and recently resumed his former post as foreign minister after the still-unexplained disappearance of his predecessor, Qin Gang.

Cleverly has said he would raise issues such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and is expected to stress that Chinese influence comes with responsibility on the global stage  including helping end Russias invasion of Ukraine and diffusing geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is aiming to pursue a nuanced, non-confrontational approach to relations with Beijing. He has described China as a growing systemic challenge to Britains values and interests, but he has also stressed the need to maintain a relationship with the Asian superpower.

Asked about Cleverlys agenda at a daily briefing Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that, as two of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and major economies, China and Britain should shoulder the common responsibility of promoting world peace, stability and development.

He added, however, that issues related to Hong Kong and Xinjiang are purely Chinas internal affairs, and no country should interfere.

The visit is not expected to yield any major tangible results due in part to the countries conflicting objectives, said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London.

The fact that they are talking is a positive, Tsang said. We need to engage in conversation with China, we need to have effective communication channels with China  even if we dont agree on anything  because China does matter.
The United States announced a new package of military support measures for Ukraine. These measures includes extra provisions for air defence and artillery munitions, tools for mine clearing, and medical vehicles.

The recently unveiled package involves supplementary mine clearing equipment, surface-to-air missiles, ammunition for artillery usage, as well as HIMAR (High Mobility Artillery Rocket) systems.

Additionally, more than three million rounds of small-arms ammunition are part of the package. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken conveyed in an official statement that the United States, along with its allies and partners, stands firmly by Ukraines side for however long the situation requires, reported Reuters.

The funding for this equipment is drawn from previously approved allocations by Congress. This move builds upon the extensive history of US military aid to Ukraine, which has totaled over $43 billion since the commencement of Russias invasion in February 2022.

Recently, US President Joe Biden called upon Congress to authorise an extra $24 billion in assistance.

While support for Ukraine aid garners backing from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, a subset of far-right Republicans, particularly those aligned with former President Donald Trump, seek to scale down this assistance.

With inputs from agencies
The United States on Wednesday separately deployed B-1B bombers for joint drills with South Korea and Japan, as the three allies have beefed up responses to threats emanating from North Korea.

A US B-1B flew alongside South Korean FA-50 jets and US Air Force F-16 fighters as part of the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, South Koreas defence ministry said. It marked the 10th such flight by an American bomber this year.

North Korea routinely denounces the annual military drills as a rehearsal for war. The allies have stressed that the exercises are defensive. The US-led bomber drills came days after North Korea attempted a satellite launch that ended in failure.

Separately, two U.S. Air Force B-1Bs joined joint drills with 12 Japanese fighters, including four F-15 jets, according to Japans defence ministry.

The US and South Korea began Ulchi Freedom Shield last week  a joint large-scale military exercise designed to enhance their response to Pyongyangs nuclear and missile threats, with the second part kicking off on Monday.

Wednesdays exercise was a demonstration of what the allies have called extended deterrence in the face of North Koreas recent space launch vehicle flights and a show of strong united defence posture, South Koreas defence ministry said in a statement.

Tokyos defence ministry said the US-Japan joint air drills over the Sea of Japan on Wednesday confirmed the two militaries readiness to respond to any situation amid North Koreas ballistic missile launches.

Japan also participated in a trilateral naval missile defence exercise with the US and South Korea on Tuesday.

On Tuesday in a speech marking Navy Day, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accused the United States and its allies of increasing the risk of nuclear war, referring to an August 18 summit at Camp David between the United States, South Korea and Japan.

Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the US and other hostile forces, the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been reduced to the worlds biggest war hardware concentration spot, the most unstable waters with the danger of a nuclear war, Kim was quoted as saying by state media KCNA.
A father was arrested after an extensive inquiry spanning over two years revealed that he stuffed a baby wipe inside mouth of his two-month-old daughter resulting in her tragic death.

The incident initially took place on May 28, 2021, when the Indian River County Sheriffs Office received an emergency call regarding an unresponsive two-month-old infant in Vero Beach, Florida.

According to an official statement from the Indian River County Sheriffs Office released on Monday, dispatchers immediately provided instructions on administering CPR to the child to the father, Joseph Napier.

Simultaneously, they alerted police deputies and fire rescue personnel to rush to the location.

Upon reaching the residence in Vero Beach, law enforcement made contact with Napier and his two-month-old daughter.

Regrettably, the child was found to be unresponsive and turning blue, as reported by the police statement. A responding deputy promptly took over the CPR efforts, and the infant was swiftly transported to the hospital. Tragically, the young girl could not be saved.

The preliminary investigation revealed that Napier informed deputies that the infant had choked, describing a small white object visible at the back of her mouth.

He provided a sequence of events, asserting that he had left the child alone on a couch with his 18-month-old daughter for approximately 10 minutes.

Upon returning to the room, he claimed to have noticed the child in distress due to choking. Surprisingly, he waited around 5 minutes before dialing 911 for assistance.

Subsequently, a baby wipe was extracted from deep within the infants throat, identified as the root cause of the airway blockage that led to her tragic demise.

Detectives, during their investigation, ascertained that Napier had spent roughly 30 minutes on his mobile phone, leading to inconsistencies in his provided timeline of events for the day of May 28, 2021.

The police disclosed, Based on all the amassed evidence and consultation with medical experts, it was deduced that the sole individual present at the time of the incident, capable of inserting the wipe so profoundly into the childs throat, was Joseph Napier.

Following the comprehensive two-year investigation, the Indian River County Sheriffs Office declared the arrest of Joseph Napier on Monday.

He has been charged with manslaughter and is presently in custody at the Indian River County Jail, with bail set at 750,000.

The Indian River County Sheriffs Office conveyed, While this investigation has involved an immensely sorrowful loss of life, we hope that this arrest can offer some solace to the friends and family affected.
In an apparent message to China, Japans prime minister Fumio Kishida ate safe and delicious fish from Fukushima on Wednesday, days after the country released wastewater from the areas crippled nuclear plant into the Pacific, inviting criticism from Beijing.

In a video clip that was posted by his office, Kishida can be seen eating Fukushima fish to prove its purity after China banned all seafood imports from its neighbour following the discharge that began on August 24.

This is very good, Kishida said as he chewed on a slice of flounder sashimi, calling on viewers to enjoy safe and delicious Japanese seafood to support the northeastern region.

In the clip, the Japanese prime minister was seen enjoying sashimi, boiled pork, fruits, rice and vegetables from the Fukushima region along with three other ministers.

The purpose of the video was to promote food products from the area 12 years after Fukushima was devastated by a huge earthquake and tsunami that triggered one of the worlds worst nuclear disasters.

Even before the wastewater release, many in Japans fishing industry were worried about what it would do to the reputation of the countrys seafood domestically and abroad.

The discharge, equivalent to more than 500 Olympic swimming pools, is expected to take decades and will allow engineers to start removing highly dangerous radioactive fuel from three wrecked reactors.

Bricks and eggs have been thrown at Japanese schools and consulates in China and Tokyo has advised its nationals there to keep a low profile. Businesses in Japan have also been swamped with nuisance calls from Chinese numbers.

Kishida was expected to visit Tokyos main Toyosu fish market on Thursday to sample more Fukushima fish.

Japan has demanded that China  its biggest market for fish  drop its ban on seafood imports while warning it will complain to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Kishidas government is also reportedly planning a package of financial aid for the fishing industry while also helping it find new export markets.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reiterated on Wednesday that the water being released was safe according to the UN watchdog.

In a show of support for Japan, the US ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, was due to visit the Fukushima area on Thursday and eat locally caught seafood.
Consistent Infosystems has introduced two models in their monitor collection  CTM2200 and CTM2400 in India. These monitors have modern, slim designs with no frames and are encased in a stylish white body, aiming to enhance the user experience.

The CTM2200 features a 54.6cm wide screen with a maximum resolution of 19201080 Full HD. It focuses on being eco-friendly, using little power at just 21W without sacrificing performance. Additionally, it includes built-in speakers for audio.

On the other hand, the CTM2400 offers a broad 60.5cm display. It delivers rich colors with a maximum resolution of 19201080 Full HD, suitable for demanding tasks.

Its designed to be environmentally conscious, consuming less than 24W of power, showing a dedication to energy efficiency. Like the CTM2200, this model also comes with built-in speakers.

Quick specifications: Consistent CTM2200

Design: Frameless

Form Factor: Wide

Configuration: FHD 4K

Display: 21.4 (54.6cm), 19201080 resolution

Connectivity: VGA HDMI

Power consumption: 21W

Weight: 2.75Kg

Speaker: x2 In-built

Warranty: 3 years

Color: White/Black

Quick specifications: Consistent CTM2400

Design: Frameless

Form Factor: Wide

Configuration: FHD 4K

Display: 23.8 (60.5cm), 19201080 resolution

Connectivity: VGA HDMI

Power consumption: 24W

Weight: 3Kg

Speaker: x2 In-built

Warranty: 3 years

Color: White/Black

Price and Availability

The new CTM2200 and CTM2400 LED monitors are priced at Rs. 10,499 and Rs. 12,999, respectively.

These monitors are covered by a 3-year warranty and are available for purchase at all Consistent branches, starting from today.

Speaking at the launch, Yogesh Agrawal, CEO & Co-Founder, and Mr. Nitin Bansal, Founder & MD, Consistent Infosystems Pvt. Ltd., said:
The disruptive potential of generative AI systems became evident at the latest with the release of ChatGPT. The expected economic and societal impact is enormous. Fast and secure access to existing systems is therefore essential for large research organizations to be able to gain comprehensive first-hand experience, drive technological developments and maintain innovative strength.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has now released the AI chatbot FhGenie for its employees. It is based on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, which enables organizations to use OpenAIs latest generative AI technologies such as GPT-3.5 or GPT-4, Codex, ChatGPT and DALL-E 2 from the Microsoft Azure Cloud.

I am very pleased that, together with Microsoft, we have succeeded in developing an AI chat system tailored to the requirements of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft  and we did so in a very short time, says Prof. Ingo Weber, director of Digital Transformation and ICT Infrastructure at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. We have found that many colleagues wish to use chat-based AI applications for their work and for research. However, public solutions available so far are problematic for work-related purposes, especially when it comes to data protection, confidentiality and information security.

FhGenie provides Fraunhofer employees in research, management and administration the chance to gain experience with these systems: Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service on which FhGenie is based enables Fraunhofer employees to harness the potential of generative AI systems for their own work. Against the backdrop of rapid technological developments, it is important to become familiar with the solutions already available and to take advantage of their benefits, says Alexander Britz, Public Sector Lead at Microsoft Germany.

GDPR-compliant internal chatbot

The generative text AI solution FhGenie is based on the OpenAI language model GPT-3.5-turbo and will be upgraded as quickly as possible with the more powerful and multimodal GPT-4.0, which can also process images. Currently, FhGenie comprises a web application with a Python-based framework and the JavaScript runtime environment node.js. Employees can easily access it in their browser with SSO authentication using their smartcard. To ensure data security, the instance was configured in a European, Fraunhofer-owned Azure subscription, a closed section within Microsoft's cloud platform.

Requests via Azure OpenAI Service, which is also a dedicated part of the Fraunhofer subscription, use an API prompt. This is a customized interface that passes commands to the AI system. Users receive their results from a completion endpoint (autocomplete functionality). All data entered remains within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and is not used to train the AI. Apart from an automated filter program that checks for improper use, content entered is not monitored or saved.

The works council has approved the use of the GDPR-compliant Azure OpenAI Service application throughout the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, access authorizations are assigned locally by the IT managers at the individual Fraunhofer institutes and entities. Current usage figures show that the new tool is well received by Fraunhofers workforce: As of today, 19,200 of Fraunhofer's more than 30,000 employees have already registered for the service, of these about 6,500 can be considered active users.

From reporting to knowledge management: a wide range of possible applications

There are numerous possible applications for the AI chatbot, the full range of which will probably only become clear in the future. FhGenie already offers Fraunhofer employees not only support in creating and improving texts and presentations, such as for internal reports, but can also help develop software, prototypes or data analysis scripts faster. There are also potential use cases for further developing internal knowledge management systems, such as in the form of an interoperable intranet. Researchers at the Fraunhofer institutes can use the experimental space to quickly expand their expertise and test AI models together with customers.

How they use the solution, however, is up to the users themselves. Personal data is the only thing that may not be processed with FhGenie  for legal reasons. We are currently in a transitional and experimental phase in which it was important for us to quickly offer a practicable solution to be among those at the forefront of the rapid technological developments currently taking place, explains Prof. Weber. "Of course, there are still many uncertainties, such as copyright or liability for incorrect results. We therefore asked those responsible at the institutes and departments to make sure that all users are aware that they are responsible for and must verify the quality of AI-generated results themselves.

AI language models and Fraunhofer: access, adapt, advance

Numerous Fraunhofer institutes are already actively involved in initiatives and projects for the research and application of generative AI and foundation models. One example is the OpenGPT-X consortium created for the development of large European AI language models. This is another reason why a task force from the Fraunhofer ICT Group drew up guidelines for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on how to deal with AI language models when ChatGPT was launched. The release of FhGenie is part of the first of three steps (access, adapt and advance) required for large-scale AI models. At the same time, Fraunhofer aims at winning over more cooperation partners from industry.

Large language models and generative AI make new products possible and our world of work more productive. As an applied research organization with an interdisciplinary approach and strong links with the industrial sector, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is in an excellent position to put these innovations effectively into practice. Similar technology is already in daily use at companies, for example, in the financial and health care sectors, resulting in efficiency gains of up to 50%. FhGenie helps us ensure that everyone at Fraunhofer can immediately and securely leverage this potential and tap into it for our customers and partners, says Prof. Stefan Wrobel, deputy chair of the Fraunhofer ICT Group and director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland indicts former Algerian defence minister

Swiss Government

Bern, 29.08.2023 -- The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland on 28.08.2023 filed an indictment in the Federal Criminal Court against Khaled NEZZAR, the former Algerian defence minister and member of the High Council of State (Haut Comite d'Etat, HCE). According to the indictment, NEZZAR is accused of violating the laws of armed conflicts in accordance with the Geneva Conventions between 1992 and 1994 in connection with the civil war in Algeria and of committing crimes against humanity. In particular, it is alleged that at the very least he knowingly and willingly condoned, coordinated and encouraged the torture and other cruel, inhumane or humiliating acts, physical and psychological assaults, arbitrary detentions and convictions and extra-judicial executions.

In the indictment submitted to the Federal Criminal Court (FCC) following complex investigations which involved questioning 24 persons, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) sets out the following facts of the case:

Historical background

Following a period of social unrest, a multi-party system was introduced in Algeria in February 1989 under a new Constitution. Subsequently, the political party known as the 'Front Islamique du Salut' (FIS) was established. In 1990, after the incumbent president stood down as defence minister - an office that had previously been tied to the presidency - the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Khaled NEZZAR, was appointed defence minister. He thereby took charge of the security forces and, a few months later, the secret services as well. In December 1990 the People's Army, led by NEZZAR, published a memorandum setting out a plan of action for an armed campaign against the Islamist opposition. After the FIS won a majority in the first ballot of the parliamentary elections, there was further unrest, to which the Algerian government responded by stopping the elections and postponing them for an unlimited period. Subsequently, the opposition formed itself into armed groups. In response to the events and following the dissolution of the parliament and the resignation of the president, Chadli BENJEDID, the 'Haut comite d'Etat' (HCE) was established, with NEZZAR as a member, with the aim of guaranteeing the continuity of the state, ensuring that its institutions functioned, and preserving constitutional order. On 9 February 1992 the HCE imposed a state of emergency and the policy for eliminating Islamist movements that NEZZAR had been instrumental in planning in 1990 was implemented. According to various public sources, during the civil war between 1992 and 1999, known as the 'decennie noire' (the Black Decade), up to 200,000 people were killed and around 1.5 million people were driven from their homes. A further 20,000 persons are believed to have disappeared.

Opening the criminal investigation against NEZZAR

In 2011, following a criminal complaint from the non-governmental organisation TRIAL International, the OAG opened criminal proceedings against Khaled NEZZAR, who at the time was resident in Switzerland, on suspicion of war crimes in accordance with Articles 108 and 109 of the Military Criminal Code of 13 June 1927 (the former MCC) committed during the civil war in Algeria. In 2017, the OAG abandoned the proceedings on the grounds that the Algerian Civil War had not been an internal armed conflict as defined by law, with the result that Switzerland did not have jurisdiction to assess any alleged war crimes. On appeal, however, the Federal Criminal Court decided that the clashes were of such violent intensity that they could be considered to be an armed conflict as defined in the common Article 3 of the four Geneva Conventions and in the related international case law. Furthermore, the Appeals Chamber regarded the opposition as sufficiently organised to be recognised as an armed group in terms of the Conventions. Subsequently, the OAG resumed the criminal proceedings. After questioning a total of 24 persons, it has now filed an indictment.

The offences charged

In the indictment, the OAG alleges that Khaled NEZZAR as a person of influence in Algeria in his capacity and function as the defence minister and as an HCE member appointed trusted associates to key positions and knowingly and willingly created structures in order to eliminate the Islamist opposition according to his plan of action. This led to the commission of war crimes and widespread and systematic attacks on civilians suspected of sympathising with the opposition.

In particular the OAG has documented eleven incidents each with several allegations that took place between 1992 and 1994. The suspected victims are alleged to have been subjected to torture using water and/or electric shocks and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatments, as well as assaults on their physical and psychological integrity. In addition, arbitrary detentions and convictions as well as extra-judicial executions took place. According to the indictment, in each of these cases, NEZZAR knowingly and willingly condoned, coordinated or ordered what was done. He is therefore accused of violating the laws of armed conflicts in accordance with common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 in conjunction with Articles 4 and 6 of the Second Additional Protocol of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions, which, in accordance with Article 109 paragraph 1 of the Military Criminal Code in the version that applied at the time of the offences (the former MCC) in conjunction with Article 108 paragraph 2 of the former MCC, is a criminal offence; he is further accused of committing crimes against humanity (Art. 264a Swiss Criminal Code (SCC)).

The OAG will make its final submissions at the hearing before the FCC in Bellinzona. The presumption of innocence applies to the accused until the final judgment has been pronounced. With the filing of the indictment, the FCC has sole responsibility for providing further information.

The prosecution of crimes under international criminal law in Switzerland before 2011:

Under the former MCC, a war crime has been a criminal offence in Switzerland since 1968, regardless of where it takes place and of the nationality of the offender or the victim. Article 109 of the former MCC expressly makes an offence of violating the provisions of international agreements on warfare, the protection of persons and property, and other recognised laws and customs of war. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions provides that in the event of an armed conflict that is not of an international character that occurs on the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each party to the conflict is bound to apply certain provisions; accordingly, violence to life or person, and the cruel treatment and torture of persons who are not directly involved in the hostilities are prohibited. Switzerland ratified the Geneva Conventions on 31 March 1950, Algeria on 20 June 1960.

Original text in German

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Taiwan rejects Vietnam protest over South China Sea island live-fire drill

ROC Central News Agency

08/29/2023 09:32 PM

Taipei, Aug. 29 (CNA) Taiwan's government on Tuesday reaffirmed the nation's right to conduct military exercises in and around a Taipei-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea after the Vietnamese government issued a protest over a drill held earlier this month.

In a press statement, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) rejected Vietnam's accusation that live-fire drills conducted by Taiwan in waters around Taiping Island on Aug. 23 were a "serious violation of Vietnam's sovereignty over the islands."

"Vietnam resolutely opposes this act and asks Taiwan not to repeat similar violations," Vietnamese foreign ministry spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang said during a Monday press event.

In response, MOFA said in its statement that Vietnam's accusation is "totally unacceptable."

The government of the Republic of China, the official name of Taiwan, retains all rights over the South China Sea island and surrounding waters, in accordance with international law and the law of the sea, MOFA noted.

"Taiping Island is indisputably the territory of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) has the authority to exercise all the rights of a sovereign state over Taiping Island and its relevant waters," the statement said.

Citing President Tsai Ing-wen's () 2016 principles concerning the South China Sea disputes, MOFA said Tsai called for peaceful resolution of the issues to facilitate peace and stability in the region while upholding equality and shared prosperity.

Taiping, also known as Itu Aba or Ba Binh in Vietnamese, the largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands), lies 1,600 kilometers southwest of Kaohsiung and is administered as part of the special municipality's Cijin District.

The island is also claimed by Vietnam, China and the Philippines.

Taiwan has control over the island, which is occupied by Taiwanese coast guard personnel trained by the Marine Corps and drills are held regularly.

(By Joseph Yeh)

Enditem/AW

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August 29, 2023

Transcript

Sabrina Singh, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary, Holds a Press Briefing

DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY SABRINA SINGH: Hello. Good afternoon, everyone. Just a few items here at the top to pass along and then happy to take your questions.

So first, a Hawaii update. As of this morning, approximately 580 National Guardsmen, 133 additional DOD personnel, and 119 Coast Guardsmen are actively engaged in the coordinated response to the western Maui wildfire.

U.S. Army Pacific is executing nine approved mission assignments from FEMA. The most recent mission assignment addition is portable water distribution support. Navy mobile diving salvage unit teams from Pacific Fleet concluded their dive operations yesterday and JTF 5-0 continues search and rescue activities with the Hawaii National Guard teams, FBI, and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Hawaii National Guard continues 24 hour support to local law enforcement, while the U.S. Army 25th Infantry Division's fueling trucks distributed about 470 gallons of fuel over the past 48 hours, in support of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' temporary power operations.

Pacific Forces delivered two trucks, two large water tanks, and six operators from the 25th Infantry Division to Maui, in support of the water distribution mission. Pacific Fleet's Navy Environmental Preventative Medicine Unit 6 will deploy two sailors to Maui later today in support of potable water testing for the JTF water distribution mission.

The department and the JTF 5-0 continue to work closely with state officials, FEMA, and other supporting agencies to support the people of Hawaii in response to this terrible disaster.

On the hurricane that's making its way towards Florida, as you've probably seen, the Florida National Guard have been fully activated under state active duty, with a mobilization of over 3,000 Guardsmen in position across the state for preparedness and response efforts.

An additional 1,800 Guardsmen are on their way, bringing the total to 5,500 prior to the storm landing. The department stands ready to assist the state of Florida, FEMA, and state and local officials in any recovery efforts that are needed.

Today, the department also announced an additional security assistance to meet Ukraine's critical security and defense needs. This announcement is the Biden administration's 45th drawdown of equipment to be provided from DOD inventories to Ukraine since August 2021. It includes additional air defense and artillery munitions, mine clearing equipment, medical vehicles, and other equipment to help Ukraine counter Russia's ongoing war of aggression.

The U.S. will continue to work with its allies and partners to provide Ukraine with the capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements. Additional details of this security assistance package will be available on Defense.gov.

And finally, the Secretary spoke by phone today with Qatar Deputy Prime Minister of State for Defense Affairs, His Excellency Dr. Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, to discuss the importance of the U.S.-Qatar defense partnership and the U.S. commitment to a strong bilateral relationship built on common interests and mutual respect.

And with that, I'd be happy to take your questions. I'm going to go to the phones first because I believe we have Tara joining us by phone today. So Tara, I'll turn it over to you.

Q: Hey, thanks for doing this. In the National Guard buildup for this storm, it seems like a really high number to have, about 5,000 assembled, ready. Is there a sense that this storm will be more serious than anticipated?

And then you've seen MacDill evacuate. Are there any plans for any other base evacuations?

MS. SINGH: Thanks, Tara. So in terms of any other additional base evacuations, as you know, there are well over 20 bases across the state of Florida. So I would refer you to the services to further comment on how they plan to prepare for this storm and evacuate their bases or installations as appropriate.

As I mentioned, I believe in the top, this is the Florida National Guard that's been activated under state duty. I just saw that the FEMA Administrator was briefing the press earlier today. I think this is a storm that we are certainly taking seriously, the state of Florida is taking seriously, in terms of not only making sure that we have the appropriate number of people in the state of Florida to help with any response that's needed but also pre-positioning any assets or -- or any forces that might be needed in the aftermath of this storm.

In terms of the storm and how, you know, quickly it's moving, how much damage we can expect, I would really direct you to FEMA for that, but the department stands ready to assist the state of Florida and FEMA in what it might need.

I'll come back into the room. Yeah, Janne?

Q: Thank you. I have two questions.

MS. SINGH: Sure.

Q: Regarding the North Korea's satellite launch, experts pointed out that recent failure of North Korea's satellite launch could be a self- destruction. Has the U.S. analyzed anything about this?

MS. SINGH: About the failed test?

Q: Yeah.

MS. SINGH: Nothing that we've analyzed, other than we certainly monitored that there was a space launch or an attempted space launch, but nothing further than what we've said previously.

I'm sorry, maybe I'm not understanding the question fully.

Q: Yeah, maybe, Is the U.S. still analyzing this or why they failed this satellite launch?

MS. SINGH: We continue to monitor the actions that the DPRK takes whenever it comes to a missile or a space launch or a missile launch like this one. You know, we're aware that the DPRK is using ballistic missile technology, which is a violation of multiple UN security resolutions. The behavior that we've seen continues to destabilize and undermine security in the region. But other than that, I just don't have more at this time.

Q: Thank you. One more.

MS. SINGH: Sure.

Q: When will the missile warning information system for North Korea, between the United States and South Korea, Japan, begin to operate under the recent Camp David, you know, agreement? Do you have anything on that? When they're going to be, you know, working this system?

MS. SINGH: Well, you mean following the Camp David meeting? We just conducted a trilateral exercise that followed the historic Camp David summit. It brought together, of course, even closer the leaders of the United States, Japan, and the ROK.

We are committed to peace and prosperity in the region and we'll continue to engage with our partners and allies in the region but I don't have more, in terms of any further response from the United States. Great.

Hey, Lara. Yeah?

Q: Thank you. Senator Kaine recently called for an investigation into the accident in Australia that killed three Marines the other day. Is DOD going to be doing an investigation into this specific incident, and not just this specific incident but a broader investigation of these aviation mishaps that have been happening?

MS. SINGH: Sure. Well, first, as you probably saw, the Secretary over the weekend issued a statement just offering our condolences. And of course, I'd like to offer that here from the podium. Our deepest condolences go out to the Marines that were killed in that exercise.

As with any training accident, there is an investigation underway to determine exactly what happened. And you've heard from myself and others that the safety and security of any of our service members is a priority. So of course we would take any lessons learned from that investigation and apply it forward.

I'm sorry -- and your second question?

Q: Is there a broader investigation of the aviation mishaps?

MS. SINGH: So each mishap that happens or each incident, there is always an investigation that happens, but I would view these as separate ones, not one that needs to be a holistic view of any aircraft or any operation.

So there is an investigation into this incident, as there have been investigations in the past to individual mishaps or incidents.

Yeah?

Q: Thanks, Sabrina. Just a follow-up on the Osprey line of question here...

MS. SINGH: Sure.

Q: Last year, both the Air Force and the Marine Corps acknowledged that the Osprey has this rare but persistent issue with its clutch. Is the DOD concerned about this engineering fault, which the Marines admit doesn't have a permanent solution yet as far as just the platform itself is concerned, broadly?

MS. SINGH: Well, in terms of the incident that happened over this past weekend, again, that's still under investigation, so I don't want to jump ahead or jump to any conclusions that haven't been reached yet. As I mentioned to Lara, each incident undergoes its own investigation. I wouldn't right now apply a sweeping broad stroke across every incident linking them together. They're all very unfortunate. Every time this happens, of course, we always think about the servicemembers who are putting their lives at risk. But I wouldn't say that they're all connected in one way or the other.

Q: Does the Pentagon have confidence in the Osprey as an airplane?

MS. SINGH: I think we do certainly have confidence in the Osprey. If anything changes, if these investigations lead to something that would cause us or a service to adjust anything about how we believe the Osprey should be used, we would do that. But at this time, we have confidence in that.

Q: OK.

MS. SINGH: Hey, Dan.

Q: Is there a point in looking at a broader issue of aviation safety? And there was a GAO report, as you know, that did say there was a broader problem in the Army, the National Guard, for the whole period of years where they found that there was a problem with maintenance and a problem with pilots being able to get enough hours in the air because the aircraft weren't ready to fly. Is that something you're at least considering, a broader look at safety?

MS. SINGH: At the moment, right now, no. We are focused on what happened in this particular incident and what has happened in previous incidents, but I would steer away from linking them together right now because they're still being investigated, and until we have a proper conclusion, I don't want to get ahead of the investigation or ahead of any recommendation that the secretary, or a service might have for the secretary.

Q: Could you just clarify in terms of the storm...

MS. SINGH: Sure.

Q: What are the precautions being taken?



MS. SINGH: So in terms of each base, there are, I think, approximately 20 in the state of Florida, and each one will conduct its own evacuation procedures, depending on where they are. So I'd refer you to each installation in terms of how they're handling the incoming hurricane. We have had MacDill evacuate non-essential personnel, as I believe the storm is coming up right along the coast there, but in terms of other individual bases, I would just refer you to the service for more questions. Great.

Yeah, right here.

Q: Thanks. On Turkey, the U.S. Embassy in Turkey announced that USS Gerald Ford was docked over the weekend. Turkish leaders say that there was a joint exercise, and they called it the largest ever between the two militaries. Can you, provide any details on those joint military exercises?

MS. SINGH: Sure. I'd to actually take that question for you. I just don't have more details to provide from here at this time, so I'd be happy to take that one.

Q: And one more...

MS. SINGH: Sure.

Q: I believe it was April, the Turkish joint strike that targeted a convoy that had a Kurdish military official and three U.S. servicemembers in it. There was an investigation launched, the Pentagon, you know, told us at the time, and repeated questions asking about that investigation. The response that we've gotten multiple times now is that there's no comment. Is this investigation closed? Is there a reason? Could you provide any updates on that?

MS. SINGH: I believe you asked me about this just a few months ago. I don't have any updates for you at this time. I'm happy to take a look and come back to you, but at the moment from this podium right now, I just don't have any updates.

Q: Thanks.

MS. SINGH: I'm going to go to the phones really quickly. Jim LaPorta at The Messenger?

Q: Hi. Thank you for doing this. On the security assistance to Ukraine that was announced today, I had two questions. The 155 mm artillery shells, does that include DPICMs? And then also, is this the first time the U.S. have sent Sidewinders, the AIM-9Ms? Thank you.

MS. SINGH: In terms of the Sidewinders, I do not believe so, but I'd be happy to check that. In terms of were there any DPICMs included in this 45th drawdown, there were not.

With that, we'll go to Heather, USNI.

Q: Hey, thank you so much. I was wondering, just to go back to the Osprey questions, what is the breakdown between the U.S. and Australia in terms of investigations going on into what happened with the crash?

MS. SINGH: Well, the Marine Corps will be conducting its own investigation, but of course, this was a joint exercise, so there will be collaboration and partnership there. But for more details on the investigation, I would refer you to the -- to the Marine Corps to answer those questions.

OK, great, I'll come back in the room. Oren, and then Carla.

Q: There's a hearing going on right now with Gold Star families from the Abbey Gate bombing, and at the beginning of the hearing, Congressman McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that "Two years later, we're still here seeking answers. How did this happen? What went wrong? Why couldn't this tragedy have been prevented? These questions remain unanswered because this administration wants to sweep what happened under the rug. They know they bear the brunt of the blame, and they want to escape any kind accountability." Do you care to respond to that?

MS. SINGH: Well, I haven't seen the comments that were made as I think you mentioned, this is ongoing right now. But first, let me say that the secretary and others in this department have expressed they're incredibly grateful for the service and sacrifice that our servicemembers have made in Afghanistan and those who were committed to the evacuation operations.

In terms of responding to some of the comments that were made, I think you know that CENTCOM conducted a very comprehensive, credible and definitive investigation into the Abbey Gate bombing following the attack. Our U.S. military commanders on the ground made the best decisions that they could. I'm sorry.

Let me just take a step back, because I realize I'm sort of jumbling my words here. U.S. military commanders on the ground in Afghanistan made decisions that they could with the information that they had at the time. They were given the decision-making capability and were responding to threats on the ground in real time, and so we are very proud of the work that our commanders and our servicemembers did not during just the evacuation in those few weeks, but over the 20-year war. And I think as you probably know, we also did a very deep investigative AAR that we submitted to Congress that also provided members of the SASC and House committee with our findings of not just the evacuation, but just our larger takeaways from Afghanistan, and I'll leave it at that.

Q: One follow-up question.

MS. SINGH: Sure.

Congressman McCaul has been working on his own investigation of the withdrawal itself and the circumstances around it. You talk about the CENTCOM investigation, the AAR as well, that looked over all of that. Is it your position that there is nothing more to learn, that everything that has been learned about it could be learned, or is there more information out there that could be made public that we haven't heard about yet?

MS. SINGH: Well, I think from the investigations and from the investigation that CENTCOM did in particular around Abbey Gate, it was incredibly exhaustive interviewing over 100 members that were on the ground and in this department to figure out what exactly happened.

We of course welcome transparency, we welcome accountability. We are accountable to Congress, and that is why we submitted the AAR when we did. That's also why CENTCOM led the investigation and interviewed the many people that were involved in the evacuation.

And so we feel confident in our efforts to get to the truth, to get to the facts. And of course what we think about as we are coming up on the two year anniversary is the service members, the civilians who dedicated their lives in Afghanistan. And so that's something that we're thinking about around the two year anniversary, as we close out the month of August.

I think I said Carla next. Yeah?

Q: I think that Chairman Milley had said that he would welcome additional investigations in the past. Does the Pentagon support additional investigations? I know you said you welcomed transparency, but is that a yes that you are welcoming McCaul's investigation as well?

MS. SINGH: If there is an investigation led in Congress, of course we will cooperate, but again, we feel very confident in the efforts that were led by CENTCOM and by the SIGAR report that was submitted to Congress on our efforts in Afghanistan.

Q: And then on Niger, has the U.S. flown any drone missions out of any bases in Niger since the President of Niger was forcibly removed from office?

MS. SINGH: So I'm not going to comment on any ISR capabilities or flights out of Niger but what I can tell you is that we continue to maintain and protect our interests in the region and we'll continue to work to protect our allies and partners in the region, and we have other means of doing that but I just don't have anything more to say.

Q: Can you say whether or not it's ...

MS. SINGH: We don't comment on ISR operations so I'm just not going to go into that.

Q: OK. I mean, is the counter-terror mission in West Africa is that on pause, as a hold? Because, I mean, not just in Niger but those drone bases are responsible for areas outside of Niger as well.

MS. SINGH: We have redundancies around the world and in the region that allow for us to continue to protect our interests of our allies and the United States, but I'm just not going to get into any further intelligence.

Q: OK. And so finally, would you say that the counter-terrorism mission in West Africa, is it being hindered by this situation, this coup, or are things able to go as business as usual?

MS. SINGH: Well, it's certainly not business as usual as we're not conducting operations or conducting any other exercises with our Nigerian counterparts at this moment. What we're focused on, what this building and other agencies remain focused on is seeing a resolve to this diplomatically. And so I'll just leave it at that.

Yeah? Hey, Chris.

Q: Thank you.

MS. SINGH: You're welcome.

Q: On the forces the U.S. sent to the Gulf in response to the Iranian actions that you yourself announced and said didn't want to put a timeline on, has the Pentagon seen a decrease in that Iranian threat? How are you going to judge when those forces can come back and when they need to stay?

MS. SINGH: Well, I can't predict the future. So I will say that, you know, as long as there remains a need for these forces to be in the region, they're going to stay there. They are there to deter any threats or unprofessional or unsafe behavior from IRGC-backed groups, and I'll just have to leave it at that.

Q: But when you stage forces...

MS. SINGH: I'm sorry, can ...

Q: these forces remain in the region, is that a force posture or could we see rotational of similar assets if this becomes an ongoing issue?

MS. SINGH: I don't have anything to announce today. I have no updates or changes to announce, in terms of the forces that were moved to the region at this time. If that does change, I'd be happy to read that out, but at this moment, I just don't have anything. Great.

Do we have time for anyone else? Sure. David?

Q: The drawdown, how much is left now in the Ukraine funding? And does that authority expire at the end of September or does it carry over to the next fiscal year?

MS. SINGH: Good question. So in terms of how much is left, I would have to take that question and get back to you. I just don't have that on hand, in terms of the funds that are left. You might remember that this was a recalculation done of previous PDAs. So because it was a recalculation, this would not expire at the end of the fiscal year.

We're confident that we will have enough money to meet Ukraine's need through the fiscal year, but as you know, there's been a request for a supplemental. And we're hopeful that the Congress will approve a supplemental package for Ukraine.

Q: That part is a taken question?

MS. SINGH: For how much is left? Yes, absolutely. Yep.

Liz? And then I'll come back to you.

Q: Thanks. Can you explain the announcement from Secretary Hicks a little bit from yesterday on the Replicator drone program?

MS. SINGH: Sure. So the Replicator initiative is another tool for us to innovate and to modernize and to keep a pace with the PRC. The Replicator is basically a way to accelerate innovation by the warfighter, by delivering low cost autonomous systems at a scale of multiple thousands across warfighting domains, and that should be in a timeline between 18 to 24 months.

The Secretary and the Deputy have been focused on this urgency to innovate and the Replicator is that next step. Great.

Sure, Fadi? Hi.

Q: On Niger, has there been any effort to evacuate personnel from American personnel from Niger involving U.S. assets from Europe?

MS. SINGH: There's been no change to our force posture at this moment. So in terms of any evacuations, I would say no. If that changes, I'd be happy to keep you updated.

I will take one more question from the phone. Howard Altman?

Q: Hey, thanks, Sabrina. I've got two questions actually. One is DPICMs. David Ignatius over the weekend talked about the rocket-launched DPICMs, probably the M26, the U.S. being closer to providing those. Can you give us an update? Is that on the table?

And then I have a question about Ukraine claims, and its satellite imagery seems to back that up, that Russia is sinking ferries along the Kerch Bridge to protect against sea drones and I wanted to get a Pentagon assessment on that.

MS. SINGH: Hey, thanks, Howard, for the question. I just don't have, on both of those questions, I just don't have more of an update to provide.

On your second part, just in terms of what I think you were asking on where Russians are amassing forces along a bridge. I'm just not going to get into any intelligence assessments that we have here. I would refer you to the Ukrainians to speak to their operations.

In terms of what the Ukrainians are doing in their counter-offensive, we're seeing that they continue to make slow progress and are continuing in this fight as the months continue. And so I would just leave it at that and direct you to the Ukrainians for further comment. Great.

Anyone else in the room? Dan. OK, last question to Dan and then I'll wrap it up.

Q: Presumably, ATACMS are still not something that the administration's considering providing Ukraine?

MS. SINGH: I don't have any update for you on anything that we're providing regarding ATACMS.

Q: Is it still under consideration?

MS. SINGH: I have no updates for you, when it comes to ATACMS. I think the Ukrainians, as you've seen, have been using, whether it's the HIMARS or the Storm Shadow, in quite incredible effect on the battlefield, but I just don't have anything to announce when it comes to ATACMS.

Q: Just going back to the question about the Gulf, and over the past several months, has the threat reduced, in terms of U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria from Iranian-backed militia or in the Strait of Hormuz, in terms of commercial shipping? Is there an assessment that the temperature has dropped slightly in that whole situation?

MS. SINGH: I wouldn't know that I'd make an assessment on temperature dropping. We continue to see harassment. Over the past few weeks, we've seen harassment from IRGC-backed groups over commercial ships. And so as that continues, that's why we moved our forces into the region as we did.

We have not seen that threat drop, I would say, so we haven't seen a reason to move our forces out. So until there is a change, you know, I'm just going to leave it at that.

Q: And then the final thing -- this has got some attention. Is the U.S. considering reestablishing the nuclear weapons mission in United Kingdom?

MS. SINGH: I think I saw the report that you're referencing. So consistent with our longstanding practice, we just do not disclose the specifics of U.S. nuclear posture or basing. It is U.S. policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence or absence of nuclear weapons at any general or specific location. I'll leave it at that.

Thank you.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3509665/

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August 29, 2023

Release

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Phone Call With Qatar Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs, His Excellency Dr. Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder provided the following readout:

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke by phone today with Qatar Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs, His Excellency Dr. Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, to discuss the importance of the U.S.-Qatar defense partnership and the U.S. commitment to a strong bilateral relationship built on common interests and mutual respect.

Secretary Austin thanked the Minister for Qatar's commitment to regional security and stability, and for Qatar's continued hosting of U.S. forces at Al-Udeid Air Base.



https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3508647/

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Guatemala: Statement by the High Representative Josep Borrell on developments after the Presidential elections

European External Action Service (EEAS)

29.08.2023

EEAS Press Team

The European Union welcomes the Supreme Electoral Tribunal's officialisation of the results of the Presidential election in Guatemala that took place on 20 August. This announcement by the country's highest electoral authorities confirms the clear victory of President-elect Mr Bernardo Arevalo.

At the same time, the EU is deeply concerned over persistent attempts to undermine the election results through selective and arbitrary legal and procedural actions that are not in line with international and regional standards Guatemala has subscribed to, most recently the provisional suspension of political party Semilla ordered on 28 August.

The EU calls on all Guatemalan political parties, branches of government and institutions to fully respect the integrity of the electoral process and its outcome as clearly expressed by Guatemalan citizens at the ballot box.

The EU remains fully committed to support democracy in Guatemala, as reflected in the deployment of the EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) following an invitation by the Guatemalan authorities. The EU EOM concluded that despite judicial actions attempting to disrupt the electoral process, election day on 20 August was peaceful and well-organised and the results are clear.

Beyond the electoral process, the EU is also troubled by the apparent instrumentalisation of Guatemalan judicial and prosecutorial institutions, as seen also in continuing actions that seek to criminalise independent judicial operators. In this regard, we condemn the arrest on 28 August of Ms Claudia Gonzalez as well as the raids carried out targeting justice defenders and their relatives.

The pursuit of efforts to overturn the outcome of the elections and continued instrumentalisation of judicial and prosecutorial institutions to undermine the rule of law will inevitably have an impact on Guatemala's international relations, including with the EU.







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Commander of NATO's Allied Air Command visits Iceland

Government of Iceland

Ministry for Foreign Affairs

August 29, 2023

General James B. Hecker commander of NATO's Allied Air Command (AIRCOM) and the US Air Force Europe (USAFE) is visiting Iceland. Hecker met with Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir, Minister for Foreign Affairs, where they discussed the war in Ukraine, NATOs enhanced deterrence and defence in the importance of Iceland for maintaining situational awareness in the North-Atlantic.

"We discussed the evolving security situation and how NATO is adapting, particularly air defence and air surveillance. Iceland contributes to the security of the Alliance by operating the Radar and Communications sites that play an important role for maintaining situational awareness in the skies above the North-Atlantic," said Minister Gylfadottir.

General Hecker visited the Kefavik Air Base, the NATO Radar and Communications sites on Bolafjall and met with the US Bomber Task Force operating out of Keflavik.

"This has been a fruitful visit to Iceland, a founding member of NATO a long-standing Ally of the United States," said General Hecker. "It has been valuable to see the extent of NATO infrastructure that is operated by the Iceland, such as the remote NATO Radar and Communication Sites, which form an important contribution to air domain situational awareness in a strategically important region. I have also had the pleasure of visiting the B2 Bomber. We are grateful to our Icelandic partners for enabling this deployment, and to the professional Icelandic Coast Guard that provides host nation support in Keflavik."



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Papua New Guinea opposition seeks Supreme Court review of US defense pact

The agreement has been criticized by some groups as overly accommodative to Washington's interests.

By Harlyne Joku and Stephen Wright for BenarNews 2023.08.29 -- Papua New Guinea's opposition leader has sought a Supreme Court review of the legality of a recently signed defense cooperation agreement with the United States, highlighting continuing unhappiness about the pact in the Pacific island country.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Papua New Guinea's Defense Minister Win Bakri Daki signed the agreement in May, which once ratified would give the U.S. military unrestricted access to six air and sea ports in the island nation. The U.S. would also have criminal jurisdiction over American military personnel in Papua New Guinea.

The agreement "has sparked unprecedented protests and opposition all over the country," opposition leader Joseph Lelang told BenarNews on Monday. "The issue of sovereignty and constitutionality of that agreement is now being tested."

The agreement has been criticized by some analysts and groups such as the PNG Trade Union Congress as overly accommodative to Washington and entangling Papua New Guinea in the intensifying rivalry between China and the United States. Its signing sparked student protests at campuses in Papua New Guinea.

The U.S. has sought to bolster its already significant military presence in the Pacific and East Asia in response to China's claims to the South China Sea that impinge on several Southeast Asian countries' waters, its belligerence towards Taiwan - which Beijing considers a rebel province - and other activity.

Aside from Papua New Guinea, the U.S. has strengthened its defense ties with the Philippines, which is embroiled in territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea.

The U.S. and the United Kingdom are also working to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines by next decade, under the AUKUS pact - another source of concern for some Pacific island nations that fear being dragged into superpower competition.

China's military spending has grown rapidly for the past two decades but remains much smaller than that of the U.S. and its allies.

Lelang said the defense agreement case was submitted to Papua New Guinea's top court on Thursday and a date for hearings to begin has yet to be decided.

A statement from Lelang said the government has the right to enter into agreements with other countries, but must do so without breaching the constitution or any other laws.

"As leader of the opposition it is my duty to ensure that all lawful checks and balances are strengthened or are available and that at all times, PNG's sovereignty is not unnecessarily compromised," he said.

Lelang said the opposition's lawyers are also preparing a challenge to the shiprider agreement signed with the U.S. in May.

The agreement provides the basis for personnel from the Pacific island country to work on U.S. coast guard and naval vessels, and vice versa, in targeting economic and security challenges such as illegal fishing.

The Pacific island country's courts are independent and are empowered to shape society rather than be judicial bystanders, according to constitutional law expert Bal Kama. The Supreme Court, which is the final judicial word on interpretations of the constitution, in 2016 ordered the closure of an Australian detention center on Papua New Guinea soil that was used to hold refugees and asylum seekers.

Papua New Guinea is among the poorest nations in the Pacific and its central government struggles to exert control over vast tracts of remote mountainous territory that frequently erupt in fatal tribal violence.

Prime Minister James Marape has previously said the defense agreement would help Papua New Guinea develop a robust economy, without giving details of how that would be achieved.

Mihai Sora, a Pacific analyst at the Lowy Institute, a Canberra-based think tank, said Marape probably has enough influence to ensure political support for the defense agreement.

However, the window of stability for his administration is closing, Sora said. A grace period that prevents no confidence motions in the first 18 months of a government will end in February.

"I think fundamentally the benefits of the defense cooperation agreement for Papua New Guinea are yet to be realized or even satisfactorily explained," Sora said.

"This is the U.S.'s problem more than Marape's problem. It should be their main priority in PNG right now," he said.

The U.S.-PNG agreement and the AUKUS security pact are part of the new regional security architecture of the so-called Indo-Pacific, a U.S. strategic concept that combines the Indian and Pacific oceans and which analysts say aims to contain China.

Samoa's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa said in March that it was disconcerting to be lumped into a new super region without any consultation.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

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In visit to Gansu, Chinese security chief stresses stability in and around Tibet

Tibetans view the comments as part of further clampdown on the ethnic minority.

By Lobe Socktsang for RFA Tibetan 2023.08.29 -- China's security chief emphasized the importance of national security and the need to confront separatist elements during a visit last week to central Gansu province in what some Tibetans see as an indication of a further clampdown on the ethnic minority.

Speaking to a group of provincial security heads, Chen Wenqing, the former head of China's Ministry of State Security, said they must "take a clear stand" to safeguard the unity of China, oppose ethnic separatism and ensure national security, the South China Morning Post reported.

The Chinese government has long accused Tibetans and their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of wanting to separate the autonomous region from China, and has restricted Tibetans' political activities and peaceful expression of their culture and religion.

Tibetans frequently complain of discrimination and human rights abuses by Chinese authorities and policies they say are aimed at eradicating their national and cultural identity.

Chen, a member of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's Politburo and chief of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, made the comments during a three-day visit last week to Gansu.

There are 10 Tibetan autonomous prefectures in Chinese provinces bordering Tibet, including Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan, where many ethnic Tibetans live.

Chen's visit to Gansu and his focus on the importance of national security and the need to confront separatist elements are an indication of a further clampdown not only in the Tibet Autonomous Region but across the two traditional Tibetan provinces of Kham and Amdo, said Dawa Tsering, director of the Tibet Policy Institute.

The institute is the official think tank of the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India.

"China's policy of Sinicizing Tibetan Buddhism to control the Tibetan people's religious beliefs has been going on since the time of Jiang Zemin; however, it has only gotten worse now," he said, referring to the former president of China from 1993 to 2003.

Commenting on Chen's visit, columnist and analyst Adil Brar said the ultimate goal of the Chinese government is to "somehow bring Tibet and Xinjiang into the Chinese state by Sinicizing religion and culture, and that push continues."

He noted that Wang Huning, a Chinese political theorist and one of the top leaders of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, visited the Tibet Autonomous Region, in late July, and said the purpose of such trips was to send a message that the process of ethnic unity and Sinicization must be advanced because Tibet still has significant cultural autonomy.

"And the central Beijing government is not happy about that," Brar said.

Jayadeva Ranade, president of India's Centre for China Analysis & Strategy, said China's apprehensions about stability in places like Tibet come amid increased concern that Beijing is becoming isolated and its relationship with the United States is deteriorating.

"So, I think these factors have raised their concern about what they apprehend is foreign forces trying to stoke internal unrest," he said. "And they have always looked at Tibet as a sensitive point, a place where such trouble can be stirred by countries like the U.S. and India."

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin 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 August 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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UN: Hundreds of thousands of people forced to scam

Cambodia and Myanmar are the epicenters of a new human trafficking scourge in Southeast Asia, report says.

By Alex Willemyns for RFA 2023.08.29 -- Hundreds of thousands of people across Southeast Asia have been enslaved and forced to carry out online scams worth billions of dollars, a new U.N. report says, with Cambodia and wartorn Myanmar the worst affected and Thailand serving as a major trafficking hub.

The report from the U.N. human rights office notes the latest scourge of human trafficking to hit Southeast Asia is markedly different from the type that historically impacted the region: outflows of uneducated and poor citizens for forced sex work and manual labor elsewhere.

Instead, the new multi-billion dollar trafficking industry that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic has been marked by inflows of foreign citizens - some even with higher educations - for scamming.

The report says "many of the victims are well-educated, sometimes coming from professional jobs or with graduate or even postgraduate degrees, computer-literate and multi-lingual" and are being recruited by traffickers "under the pretence of offering them real jobs."

Many come from other Southeast Asian countries, but there are also many victims from China, South Asia, East Africa and the Middle East, it says. They often arrive in one country, such as Thailand, expecting to work there, but are then surreptitiously ferried into a second country, such as Myanmar or Cambodia, where their passports are taken.

There, the U.N. says, they are kept under the watch of armed guards and forced to work in industrial-scale online scam operations, using elaborate scripts - and posing as romantic flames or investors - to trick people in wealthy countries to send money back to their captors via trusted cryptocurrency platforms like Binance or Coinbase.

"The scams are often sophisticated; fake websites are built to showcase fraudulent data in order to convince the target that there are significant profits to be made," the report says. "People who are targeted can also receive small amounts of money to convince them of the legitimacy of the platform. The scam is usually a long process in which targets are approached for weeks or months to build trusted relationships."

The carefully prepared scripts are used to target people on popular services including Facebook, Grindr, Hinge, Instagram, Line, LinkedIn, Meet Me, Muslima, OkCupid, TikTok, Tinder, WeChat and WhatsApp, among other online-dating and social-networking platforms.

Victims who don't comply, or don't meet revenue targets, are tortured, it says. Many are told they are working off a debt incurred to transport them to the country in the first place. The debt increases when they are "sold" to new captors, and their families often extorted to free them.

Cambodia and Myanmar

Online-scam slave compounds are believed to have generated at least $7.8 billion in revenue globally in 2021, the U.N. says, with "billions" of that arriving in Southeast Asia, thanks to the region's many casinos and "special economic zones," where law enforcement can be lax.

Exact figures about such trafficking are "difficult to estimate because of its clandestine nature and gaps in the official response," it notes. But "credible estimates" indicate at least 120,000 people have been held in scam compounds in Myanmar and 100,000 more in Cambodia, where the problem is centered on the coastal casino town of Sihanoukville.

A combination of weak government institutions, rampant corruption and visa-free travel across the region have all conspired to make the region vulnerable to scam slavery, the U.N. report says, with traffickers also becoming adept at seamlessly shifting operations across borders.

"States may not have the necessary capacity in, or experience with, the types of investigative techniques required for the investigation and prosecution of allegations of human rights abuses in the context of organised crime and cross-border operations," the report says.

At best, many officials may not be trained to recognize when foreigners are being trafficked into the country, and many victims furthermore have rights to visa-free entry into the countries, either under each country's own immigration laws or under the ASEAN visa-free travel program, which waives visa requirements for citizens of the bloc.

But the report also notes the role that corruption plays, and the widespread pattern of officials either turning a blind-eye to - or even actively protecting - the scam compounds for a cut of proceeds.

That has made Myanmar, torn apart by conflict since the February 2021 military coup d'etat, particularly impacted by such trafficking.

"The military coup, ongoing violence and armed conflicts in Myanmar, and the resultant breakdown in the rule of law, have provided fertile ground for an exponential rise in criminal activity," the report says.

"Following the coup, transnational organised criminal actors were able to widen their existing activities within the country by working with factions within the armed forces and various militia groups," it says.

"Many of the scam centres in Myanmar are located in weakly regulated - and often porous - border areas which are characterised by a lack of formal law enforcement structures, oversight and accountability."

Fixing the problem

The emergence of scam compounds since the COVID-19 pandemic has become an increasing focus of world governments, given the transnational nature of its impacts, with victims on both ends of the scam coming from an increasing array of countries worldwide.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June awarded Cambodian journalist Mech Dara with a Hero Award for his groundbreaking work uncovering scam compounds in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.

But the problem keeps popping up in new places. This week, the mother of a teenage Laotian girl trapped in a scam compound in Myanmar told Radio Free Asia that her daughter said she would be beaten with a metal bar 50 times if found using a cellphone.

To help end the problem, the U.N. report recommends that Southeast Asian governments focus on training immigration officials to better recognize trafficking of foreigners into their countries, and continuing to combat official corruption that has protected many scam compounds.

But it also says those who come forward about their time trapped in the scam compounds should not be punished for carrying out scams, or for being in the country "illegally" and for working without a labor permit.

"A human rights-based approach to trafficking in persons works to avoid re-victimisation and thus recognises that punishing a victim of trafficking for unlawful acts committed as a consequence of their being trafficked is unjust and hinders the possibility of their recovery," it says.

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 August 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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UN's Otunbaeva Says Afghanistan Should Be Included In Global Climate Talks

By RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service August 29, 2023

A top UN official expressed concerns that Afghanistan has been excluded from global discussions on climate change, despite being among the top 10 countries worldwide facing climate-related issues.

Afghanistan has been excluded from the UN's global climate summit talks since the Taliban takeover in 2021.

Roza Otunbaeva, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), highlighted the impact of climate change and drought conditions on the poverty level of the country and pointed to the importance of Taliban-driven initiatives, such as the Amu Darya River water project.

The comments came in an interview published on August 29 by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service.

One issue of concern, Otunbaeva said, is the massive canal project begun by the Taliban to divert water from a key river to help the farming sector of northern Afghanistan. But some Central Asian nations worry over how the project could reduce water supply to their regions.

"[Taliban rulers] are digging a hundred kilometers of the channel aiming to deliver water from Amu Darya River. They are going to farm new places and want to have independence on food security," she noted.

"However, this is a very dangerous point for our neighborhood (Central Asian countries) because of [resulting] water issues," said Otunbaeva, who served as the interim president of Kyrgyzstan in 2010-11.

The Taliban administration has prioritized the Qosh-Tepe canal project, begun in early 2022, with the aim of allocating Amu Darya waters among the Central Asian states -- Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan -- a plan that originated during the Soviet era.

In November, independent Afghan climate activist Abdulhadi Achakzai attended as the only representative of his nation at the UN Conference of Parties (COP27) in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The 2021 Global Climate Risk Index positioned Afghanistan as the sixth most vulnerable country to climate-related threats.

Afghanistan faces frequent natural disasters that are endangering life, livelihoods, homes, and infrastructure.

Hundreds of Afghans die every year in torrential rains, landslides, and floods, particularly in rural areas where poorly built homes are often at risk of collapse.

The UN has said that decades of war, environmental degradation, and climate change have made a growing number of Afghans vulnerable to natural disasters.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-climate-change- unama-otunbaeva/32570117.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 Court Again Rules That Bosnia's Constitution Violates Human Rights

By RFE/RL's Balkan Service August 29, 2023

The European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) on August 29 ruled in favor of a complaint by a Bosnian dignitary against Bosnia-Herzegovina and reiterated that the Balkan country's constitution violates human rights.

Following the 1995 Dayton agreement that put an end to the 1992-95 Bosnian War, Bosnia is divided into a Bosniak-Croat federation and the mainly Serb entity of Republika Srpska. It has a tripartite presidency made up of a representative of each of the three groups -- Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs.

Slaven Kovacevic, an adviser to Zeljko Komsic, the Croat member of the tripartite presidency, complained to the EHCR about being constitutionally barred from taking part in the vote for Serb members of the presidency.

According to the Bosnian Constitution, a Bosniak and a Croat should be elected presidents in the Bosniak-Croat federation and a Serb should be voted in as president in Republika Srpska, a provision that prevents members of any other ethnic or religious groups from running for office for those positions.

Furthermore, Bosniaks and Croats residing in Republika Srpska or Serbs residing in the Bosniak-Croat federation cannot run for office or vote in their respective place of residence.

Kovacevic complained at the ECHR that Bosnia's constitution and the election law do not allow him to vote for candidates running for president of Republika Srpska, confining him to cast a vote only for the Croat and Bosniak members of the tripartite presidency.

In its latest ruling issued on August 29, the ECHR found that the combination of territorial and ethnic restrictions outlined in the constitution amounted to discrimination.

The Strasbourg-based court said ethnicity cannot and must not prevail over political representation.

It also stated that members of the House of Peoples -- one of Bosnia's two parliament chambers -- must be elected from the entire territory of Bosnia, not just from its separate entities.

"No one should be forced to vote only according to prescribed ethnic lines, irrespective of their political views," read the court's verdict.

The ruling marks the sixth time since 2009 that the ECHR has declared that the Bosnian Constitution and its election law violate the European Convention on Human Rights.

In all previous judgments, the ECHR stated that Bosnia is obliged to abolish provisions in the constitution and the election law that discriminate against national minorities, citizens, but also constituent peoples in one of the entities, by preventing them from participating in elections for members of the presidency and the House of Peoples.

All the ECHR verdicts have yet to be implemented.

Implementation would require constitutional amendments to be adopted with a two-thirds majority of the vote in parliament.

However, the ruling political parties have not been able to agree on such amendments and their political programs are often ethnically centered.

The European Court of Human Rights has jurisdiction to rule on cases brought forward by individuals, groups, or states concerning violations of civil and political rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bosnia-constitution- european-court-human-rights/32569688.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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China Conducting Military Drills in Yellow, South China Seas This Week

Sputnik News

20230829

BEIJING (Sputnik) - The Chinese navy is carrying out military drills in several areas of the Yellow and South China Seas on August 29-31, the Maritime Safety Administration said on Tuesday.

The first drill took place in the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. local time (from 02:00 to 06:00 GMT) on Tuesday, with two others in the South China Sea scheduled to take place from 12:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. local time on August 30 and from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m on August 31, the administration stated.

The drills with practical use of weapons in the Yellow Sea will take place from 12:00 p.m. August 30 to 6:00 p.m. August 31.

The administration provided locations where the training will be conducted without disclosing any further details.

 Sputnik

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AFCENT, coalition partners integrate during Agile Spartan

Published Aug. 29, 2023

Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) Public Affairs

AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar (AFNS) -- U.S. Air Forces Central successfully concluded Operation Agile Spartan 23.2 Aug. 26, showcasing the power of collective military efforts and a proactive approach to combat readiness. The multinational operation highlighted the transformative nature of decentralized airpower deployment with Agile Combat Employment at the forefront.

Through ACE, airpower generation shifted from traditional large, centralized bases to a dynamic network of smaller, dispersed bases.

This pioneering approach not only amplified the U.S. Air Force's operational flexibility but also sent a clear message about its ability to respond swiftly to evolving situations anywhere, anytime.

AFCENT worked jointly with regional partners and flew nine different aircraft during the operation, including F-16 Fighting Falcons, A-10C Thunderbolt IIs, HC-130J Combat King IIs, HH-60G Pave Hawks, KC-135 Stratotankers, RC-135V/W Rivet Joints, C-130 Hercules, C-17 Globemaster IIIs and MQ-9 Reapers.

"Operation Agile Spartan 23.2 was not just an exercise; it was a statement," said Brig. Gen. David Mineau, Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) deputy commander and deputy combined forces air component commander for U.S. Central Command. "Through ACE, in collaboration with our coalition partners, we showcased a paradigm shift in U.S. Air Force combat operations. Our combined forces demonstrated that together, we can adapt, innovate, and overcome any challenge. This operation is a testament to our shared dedication to ensuring peace and stability in this critical region."

It was evident throughout the operation that each of AFCENT's five expeditionary wings played a critical role, with seamless coordination and efficiency in both launching and recovering aircraft from various locations.

The agility and adaptability displayed are set to influence future military strategies and training modules.

"It is extremely important to continue to do exercises like this with partner nations so we can fine-tune our processes and procedures," said Senior Master Sgt. Ilona Goggins, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing ground exercise lead. "We must work together with our partner nations to be successful; it's what makes us truly agile and capable."

This year's second iteration of the Agile Spartan emphasized the deepening ties between coalition forces and U.S. troops. The bonds forged, strategies shared and mutual respect deepened will serve as a foundation for future collaborations and operations.

The unwavering commitment of the U.S. to its regional partners in the Middle East was reaffirmed as the operation went beyond military might, emphasizing diplomacy, trust-building and the importance of international partnerships.

"These exercises build trust and respect between squadrons that don't train together on a regular basis," said Capt. Timothy Maresch, 555th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron F-16 instructor pilot. "I personally didn't know what to expect but was blown away with the professionalism, as well as the immense hospitality offered by our partners."

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USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) Completes Exercise Atlas Handshake with the Royal Moroccan Navy

US Navy

29 August 2023

From Courtesy Story

ATLANTIC OCEAN -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) wrapped up participation in the bilateral exercise Atlas Handshake with the Royal Moroccan Navy, Aug. 27, 2023.

The exercise, which kicked off Aug. 25, entailed a bilateral naval surface fire support training evolution between Paul Ignatius and Royal Moroccan Navy Sigma-class frigate Sultan Moulay Ismael at Morocco's Tan-Tan Range.

"The opportunity to work alongside our Moroccan partners is key to improving our tactical readiness and responsiveness in today's dynamic security environment," said Cmdr. Corry Lougee, commanding officer, USS Paul Ignatius. "Exercises like Atlas Handshake demonstrate our collective ability to train and operate in a joint, high-intensity security environment, demonstrating our commitment to regional stability and maritime security."

Multinational training with allies and partners enhances the level of interoperability between forces. The U.S. Navy and Royal Moroccan Navy are committed to working together to promote a secure and peaceful region, and exercise like Atlas Handshake bolster their combined capabilities.

"The most important objective of this exercise is the development of joint operations between our naval units, as they carried out together a series of maritime activities off the coast, between Agadir and Tan-Tan," said Capitaine de Vaisseau El Ghazi Aberghaz, commander of frigate Sultan Moulay Ismail. "This exercise constitutes an excellent opportunity to exchange experiences with our American colleagues, thus increasing our readiness to effectively address the growing challenges facing the maritime field."

Atlas Handshake 23-1 is a bilateral naval exercise sponsored by the U.S. and Moroccan navies aimed at strengthening and enhancing the combat readiness of participating forces in maritime operations and security.

Paul Ignatius, forward deployed to Rota, Spain, is on its ## patrol in the U.S. 6th fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe and Africa.

Headquartered in Naples, Italy, NAVEUR-NAVAF operates U.S. naval forces in the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) areas of responsibility. U.S. Sixth Fleet is permanently assigned to NAVEUR-NAVAF, and employs maritime forces through the full spectrum of joint and naval operations.

U.S. Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.

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Multinational Defense Leaders Meet in Manila, Talk 'Free, Open' Indo-Pacific

US Navy

29 August 2023

From Lt. Carlos Gomez, U.S. 7th Fleet Public Affairs

MANILA, Philippines -- Military leaders from Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and United States joined in Manila to further grow the cooperation that exists between the four nations, August 26-27.

Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet Vice Adm. Karl Thomas met with Australian Defence Force Chief of Joint Operations Lt. Gen. Greg Bilton; Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Commander-in-Chief Self-Defense Fleet Vice Adm. SAITO Akira; Philippine Navy Flag Officer in Command Vice Adm. Toribio Adaci; Philippine Fleet Commander Rear Adm. Renato David; Naval Air Wing Commander of the Philippine Navy Commodore Juario Marayag; and Commander of the Philippine Air Force's Tactical Operations Wing West Brig. Gen. Erick Quijada Escarcha.

The meeting coincides with port visits by three of the partner navies to Manila: the landing helicopter dock ship HMAS Canberra (L02); the helicopter-carrying destroyer JS Izumo (DDH-183); and the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6).

Over the weekend, the leaders from the four militaries also embarked on a U.S. Navy P-8A maritime patrol aircraft for a flight over the South China Sea. During the flight, they were able to observe the maritime environment and discuss ways to increase interoperability, preserve regional stability, and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific.

"Our relationship with the Philippines is one of our most enduring," Thomas said. "There's no country more aware of the threats being posed in the South China Sea. Every nation benefits from a free and open Indo-Pacific. We will continue to strengthen our partnerships and look for more creative ways to operate together."

During the meeting, Thomas emphasized the importance of like-minded nations working together in the air and on the sea to support a peaceful, secure and prosperous region. Further, he opened the engagement explaining he was, "honored to sail and operate side-by-side each of you here today."

"Australia, Japan, the Philippines, United States, and the rest of the Pacific partner nations are committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region while adhering to the Law of the Sea," Thomas said. "When we operate together, we demonstrate the importance of the freedom of navigation and reinforce the prosperity of all nations who rely on these critical waterways."

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VCNO Delivers Remarks at SENEDIA's Defense Innovation Days

US Navy

Speech by Adm. Lisa Franchetti

Presented on 29 August 2023

Date Published 29 August 2023

Newport, Rhode Island

Well, good afternoon, Kim. Thank you very much for that kind introduction. I really do want to take a minute to thank Chairman Reed, who originally encouraged me and gave me this invitation to be part of this year's conference, and for his leadership in helping to bring together this community of experts, policy makers, and business leaders.



It was a pleasure to meet so many of you last night, and I really learned a lot and enjoyed speaking with you and seeing some of the challenges that you're facing as well as many opportunities that are out there for us all. I think events like SENEDIA Defense Innovation Days, help ensure that in a time of heightened geopolitical and technological competition, our country retains its competitive advantage. And New England is really a region that helps provide this advantage.



You all have a significant and leading role to play in our nation's security. As Under Secretary LaPlante has said, our industrial base and our innovation base are themselves a deterrent, and key leverage of our national power. Navy and industry are really one team, and I am proud to partner with you in the work of defending our nation. As we gather today, our country stands at an inflection point in history. Our national security strategy makes it clear that we face tremendous challenges, as well as unprecedented opportunities.



It's our response to decisions that we make in this decisive decade that will not only impact the security and prosperity of the American people, but will really determine the direction of our world. The United States Navy embraces this moment. America is a maritime nation, and your Navy recognizes that American sea power plays a unique role in achieving our security objectives. Your Navy also recognizes that what is at stake in this decisive decade is nothing less than the global maritime balance of power.



To ensure that we maintain that favorable balance of power, I believe we really must look backwards to see forward. And as I think about our Navy's history, I view the 1930s as another decisive decade that rhymes in some key ways with our own. In the early 1930s, constrained budgets following the Great Depression resulted in reduced construction and a widening gap between the capability and capacity of our Navy and that of Imperial Japan. America possessed a fleet that was too small and insufficiently resourced for total war.



Furthermore, the fleet of the '30s lacked balance in its force design, with a heavy concentration on those two types of platforms, battleships and submarines. And due to a lack of funding, the shipbuilding industry really suffered. By 1933, America had lost 20 of its 27 private shipyards, as many of them made other projects just to stay afloat. CNO William Pratt warned that the Navy could not execute its basic war plan due to, "failure to initiate and carry on a well-balanced program of new construction."



The situation was alarming, but in that decisive pre-war decade, the nation made critical decisions that would help prepare us for war when it came to our shores in 1941. I would suggest that the great rearmament of our fleet in the 1930s offers some key lessons for us today. So let me just offer three.

First, how we fight determines what we fight with. Warfighting concepts describe the design of our warfighting platforms. In the '30s, wargaming and conflict development produced Warplan Orange, which informed warship design.

Similarly, the Navy recognized that it had to develop a balanced fleet that included not just battleships and submarines, but also aircraft carriers, logistic ships, and many other smaller vessels. This conceptual framework provided a plan for rebuilding our naval forces. Today, the U.S. Navy is taking a similar approach. We have energized our wargaming enterprise at the Naval War College and at our war fighting development centers. In fact, right now this morning and tomorrow, I'm leading a force design wargame, just up the road at the War College.



We are methodically experimenting with new tactics, new capabilities, and a series of fleet exercises and battle problems. We're using live, virtual, constructive training environments, not only to help crews certify for combat, but to test out these operational concepts. And through our force design initiatives, we are reinvigorating our long-range planning process, identifying the capabilities we must invest in now to maintain our advantage in the maritime environment of the future.



These efforts, and many others, inform our planning for the size and composition of our future fleet, which we estimate must be larger, more capable, and include a mix of manned and unmanned platforms. Additionally, I can't overstate the importance of our submarine fleet, both for today and for tomorrow. It's imperative that we maintain the undersea advantage that our submarine forces provide. And we can't do that without those of you that are here today who develop, build, and maintain and repair those submarines.

Your work is critically important, both for our nation, for our allies, and for our nation. We must be able to deter, fight, and win with these submarines. And we are depending on you to deliver in this no-fail mission. Second, the rearmament of the 1930s reminds us that we must think long-term, increasing our capacity in peacetime so that we can surge effectively in war. In the mid-to-late '30s, private shipyards expanded their infrastructure, increased their manpower, and ramped up production.

Historians tell us that the peacetime rearmament efforts of the '30s contributed 95% of the modern ships that were available to fight in the War. Many of the ships had fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Guadalcanal Campaign, and the Battle of Niue, including three aircraft carriers, Yorktown, Enterprise, and Hornet, were all built as part of the peacetime Navy in the pre-war decade. Today, our shipbuilding industry faces many similar challenges to those of the early '30s.



However, thanks to the support of Congress, we have begun to make much-needed investments in our shipbuilding infrastructure. We've begun recapitalizing our strategic nuclear deterrent, our century-old dry dock facilities, and our public shipyards. We're also working very closely with the private sector to strengthen the submarine and surface ship industrial bases. And our Navy is supporting efforts to build more ships annually.

And, for our part, we owe industry headlines, and that's why we're pursuing multiyear contracts, large-lot procurements, and things like munitions and supply chain investments.



But this audience knows better than most that we all have much work to do. Strategic investments in our Navy will require years of stable and predictable funding. This will require us to leverage the creative talents of our robust science and technology communities, and it will require us to incentivize industry partners so that they invest in the infrastructure and capacity that we need to support a growing fleet. We must all exercise strategic discipline and remain committed to the long term, because the work done in our shipyards - by the most skilled and talented workers in the world - is essential to our nation.



The third lesson I see from the '30s is that only a concerted effort across the executive branch, Congress, and Navy industry can provide and maintain the fleet America needs to deter, fight, and win wars at sea. It took the vision of President Roosevelt, the leadership of Representative Carl Vinson, the support of the Congress, the planning of the Navy, the innovation of our research institutions, the adaptability of industry, and the determination of American workers, all striving together in common cause to build the foundations on which we will win the war.



Our decisive decade demands that same unity of effort, that same sense of urgency, and the same resolve. The stakes are too high, and the time is too short, to act otherwise. General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that we are in the middle of a fundamental change in the character of war. From artificial intelligence to cyber weapons, unmanned platforms, directed energy, hypersonic missiles, and much more, we are on the cusp of technological breakthroughs that will define future conflict.



We must develop and fuel these disruptive technologies at speed and at scale. We must leverage the traditional strengths of the industrial base, as well as the untapped potential of our research institutions and our innovation base. As we operationalize these game-changing capabilities, this will strengthen our warfighting edge. The Navy is clear-eyed about the need for action, and we are determined to tackle tomorrow's challenges just like we have in the past.



Let me just provide a few examples. With Task Force 59 in the Arabian Gulf, and in the Gulf of Oman, we've tested hardware and software against real-world problems, such as maritime domain awareness. And we're now starting to operationalize these capabilities at scale around Central and South America - I know you'll hear more about that and the great work of Task Force 59 later today.

We're employing integrated unmanned platforms to create mesh networks that provide our warfighters with resilient communications, resilient command and control, even in a comms-degraded, or communications-denied, environment.



We're developing and testing conventional strike capabilities that will mark a significant leap forward in our ability to deliver munitions with range and speed. We're working with the Joint Force to develop cyber capabilities that can be used across the entire spectrum of conflict. These are just a few examples of the many efforts the Navy is undertaking right now to adapt to changing character and reform.

So, in closing, let me just say that it's very clear to me that the 2020s will require that same unity of purpose that our nation demonstrated in the 1930s.



Only with a long-term commitment by government, academia, and industry, can we modernize and build the fleet America needs. Only with this commitment will we develop, design, and deploy the weapons and tools to compete and win, both now and in the years to come. Events like these here at SENEDIA should inspire confidence in all Americans that such unity of purpose is possible.

Ladies and gentlemen, a decisive decade requires a decisive naval force. I ask for your continued support. I ask for your ideas, your skills, and your talent, to help ensure that our Navy is ready to fulfill our mission in this decade and beyond.

Thank you very much.

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Why Biden is Going to Hanoi but Not Jakarta

By Patsy Widakuswara August 29, 2023

President Joe Biden is set to visit Vietnam on Sept. 10 following his summit with G20 leaders in New Delhi, India.

"As the United States looks to deepen our ties with the region, Vietnam is a key partner in doing that," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told VOA during her briefing for reporters on Tuesday.

Biden is skipping two key regional meetings that Jakarta is hosting just days earlier: the U.S.-ASEAN summit and the East Asia Summit, which brings the ASEAN countries together with partners including the United States, China and Russia. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend those meetings in his place.

Indonesia is this year's chair of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the group's country coordinator of U.S.-ASEAN relations. Diplomatic sources who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations told VOA that Jakarta had taken steps to align ASEAN's meeting calendar with Biden's travel to India in the hopes of securing his attendance.

U.S. officials insist the decision to skip is not a sign of disrespect for Jakarta.

"The president actually was in Indonesia less than a year ago for the G20 and for a substantial bilateral program with [President] Joko Widodo," national security adviser Jake Sullivan told VOA in a recent press briefing.

Still, a visit by an American president signals the strategic value Washington attaches to a country and the level to which it wants to elevate bilateral ties.

Both Vietnam and Indonesia are key players in the U.S.-led bid to counter China in the region, so why is Biden is favoring one over the other?

Vietnam agreeing to upgrade ties with US

While Indonesia has been a U.S. strategic partner since 2015, Hanoi only now appears ready to upgrade ties to such levels after 10 years of comprehensive partnership.

Harris offered to upgrade relations when she visited Hanoi in August 2021, but Vietnam had been hesitant to accept, mainly due to concerns of potential backlash from China.

Ideologically aligned and with similar systems of government, Hanoi and Beijing have closer ties, having established a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2008. Vietnam has comprehensive strategic partnership agreements with three other countries  India, Russia and South Korea.

The strategic partnership would bolster Vietnam's efforts to develop its high-technology sector in areas including semiconductor production and artificial intelligence  both key industries in the U.S.-China strategic rivalry.

Beijing more assertive in South China Sea

Despite being ideologically aligned, Vietnam's relationship with China has been undercut by maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Beijing says it has sovereignty over almost all the waters, overlapping claims by Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

As Beijing grows more assertive, Hanoi is protecting its territorial rights by diversifying diplomatic partnerships and strengthening capabilities. It's planning its own military buildup in the waters after satellite images showed China reportedly building a runway on a disputed island.

Biden spelled out the reason for the visit during a campaign reception earlier this month.

"They want relationships because they want China to know that they're not alone," he said.

Washington is happy to oblige. In the past few years, under its Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy, the administration has supported Vietnam's maritime security and monitoring capabilities by providing two former U.S. Coast Guard cutters  the most significant major defense transfer between the two countries.

Jakarta drifting to Beijing?

Constitutionally, Indonesia is bound by its "independent and active" foreign policy, under which it seeks to play a role in regional affairs but avoid great power rivalries. But under its "4 + 1 priorities" doctrine for the 2019-2024 period, the country places "economic diplomacy" above all other foreign policy goals.

Because of his national development agenda, Widodo is pragmatic in his engagement with Beijing and is inviting more Chinese investment, said Yeremia Lalisang, who teaches Chinese foreign policy at the University of Indonesia.

"This is all happening at the expense of Indonesia's traditionally close engagement with the United States," he told VOA.

The region in general has expressed a growing preference to align with Washington rather than Beijing, according to the latest survey by the ASEAN Studies Centre at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. However, Indonesians were among the outliers, together with citizens of Malaysia and Brunei.

When forced to choose, more Indonesians believe ASEAN should choose Beijing over Washington. The percentage of Indonesians choosing the U.S. fell from 64.3% in 2021 to 46.3% in 2023, while those choosing China rose from 35.7% to 53.7%.

The "biggest homework" for the Widodo government is finding balance between the superpowers, said Rangga Aditya Elias, head of the international relations department at Binus University in Indonesia.

"Otherwise, Jakarta to some extent will become a second-tier partner compared to Vietnam," he told VOA.

One way for Jakarta to maintain balance is to look to Washington to provide arms. Last week, Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto met his American counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in Washington. The pair announced their mutual intention to increase Indonesia's defense capabilities.

Not much ASEAN progress

Under Jakarta's chairmanship there has not been much progress on ASEAN's two key regional security issues  human rights atrocities in Myanmar since its 2021 military coup and South China Sea disputes, said Idil Syawfi, director of the Parahyangan Centre for International Studies at Parahyangan Catholic University, Indonesia.

As chair, Indonesia is focused on economic growth and not investing much on geopolitical and security issues, Syawfi told VOA. So, for Biden, "There's nothing to do in Indonesia in September."

Compared to its chairmanship at the 2022 G20, observers say Jakarta is spending considerably fewer diplomatic resources on ASEAN this year, partly because it's domestically focused on its 2024 presidential elections. While Widodo cannot run for a third term, he is consolidating his legacy as a champion of infrastructure projects, including the massive move of the Indonesian capital from crowded Java to Borneo.

Anita Powell, Thuc Pham (Vietnamese Service) and Nova Poerwadi (Indonesian Service) contributed to this report.

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Somalia Military Offensive Suffers Setback as Troops Retreat

By Harun Maruf August 29, 2023

Somali government forces Monday retreated from towns and villages captured in recent months after the al-Shabab militant group carried out a deadly attack on a newly captured base in the village of Cowsweyne.

Two Somali government officials who did not want to be identified because they are not allowed to comment on sensitive military operations told VOA Somali that government troops retreated from El Dheer, Masagaway, Gal'ad and Budbud.

Without naming towns, Somali government commander Major Ismail Abdimalik said troops pulled back from some previously captured areas.

"There are small strategic retreats," he said while defending the strategy.

The retreat followed what appears to be one of the deadliest attacks by al-Shabab on Somali government forces Saturday in Cowsweyne, where troops had initially dislodged al-Shabab on Aug. 22.

Somali government officials have avoided giving details of the attack, but multiple security sources who did not want to be identified said the two brigades that captured Cowsweyne suffered heavy losses. A local official described the attack in Cowsweyne as "painful."

Al-Shabab released a statement claiming to have "overrun" the base, killing 178 soldiers, and capturing prisoners. That claim has not been independently verified.

An al-Shabab official in central Somalia, Yusuf Isse Kabakutukade, Monday claimed the attack on Cowsweyne was a "historic victory."

He said Somali government leaders had underestimated the militants saying, "it's a small group, we are going to round them up."

He boasted that al-Shabab fighters seized a large quantity of weapons in Cowsweyne that the group can use them fight for years to come.

Somali officials said the militants attacked Cowsweyne using explosions from vehicle-borne explosive devices, or car bombs, followed by an attack by armed militants who engaged in heavy gun battles with government forces.

The state-run Somali National News Agency said government forces repelled the attack and destroyed the car bombs. But a purported al-Shabab video of the attack published Monday shows multiple dead bodies scattered in the base.

The capture of Cowsweyne, 60 kilometers northwest of El Dheer town, was part of a Somali government effort to remove the group from central Somalia and push the militants to the south.

Despite the retreat, brigades from Somali government forces are still holding the town of Elbur, which they captured on Aug. 25.

Elbur is deep inside al-Shabab territory and was one of two main targets for the government forces. The troops that were preparing to capture the second main target, Galhareri were the same two brigades attacked in Cowsweyne.

"Elbur is calm, the army is clearing it, they are ready to defend themselves," says Abdimalik who was one of the government commanders leading the capture of Elbur.

"They are a reliable force capable of defeating against any force that attacks them. Reports suggesting they are besieged are fake," he added.

A foreign diplomat based in Mogadishu, commenting on the attack on Cowsweyne, said he believes the military offensive will not stop.

"I think that there are some lessons to be learned, but the operations will continue," he said. "The determination is there."

The President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has been spearheading the latest military push into al-Shabab territory. Mohamud has been in Dhusamareb, the central Galmudug state regional capital to encourage the troops and military offensive.

During a town hall meeting on Aug. 17, he said the plan is to remove al-Shabaab within five months.

He also said it will be unacceptable and disrespectful of the soldiers who shed their blood if al-Shabab were to return to towns recaptured from the group.

Al-Shabab militants have been withdrawing from towns and villages and retreating into the bush with the intention of a prolonged guerrilla war.

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India Protests Chinese Map Claiming Disputed Territories

By Shaikh Azizur Rahman August 30, 2023

India said on Tuesday that it had lodged a "strong protest" with China a day after Beijing released the 2023 edition of its standard map showing Aksai Chin  an area of Kashmir mostly controlled by China  and the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh within Chinese territory.

The map was released Monday on the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources standard map service website, just days after the two nations agreed to work to ease tensions at their disputed border.

The map also includes Taiwan and the South China Sea as Chinese territory.

On Tuesday evening, India's Ministry of External Affairs announced it had contacted its Chinese counterpart to object.

"We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 'standard map' of China that lays claim to India's territory," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

Just last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met at a BRICS summit in South Africa and agreed to "intensify efforts" to reduce tensions along the border. Both countries announced the agreement as a major step toward improved relations.

The release of the map also comes ahead of the multinational G20 or Group of 20 nations' summit, which is being hosted by India in New Delhi on Sept. 9 and 10 and is scheduled to be attended by Xi and other global leaders.

Manish Tewari, a member of parliament from the opposition Congress party, said Tuesday that the Modi government should seriously consider whether to host Xi at the summit.

Ill-defined border

Nuclear-armed India and China lay competing claims to vast swathes of territory along their ill-defined border  called the Line of Actual Control or LAC  which runs for more than 3,500 kilometers from Ladakh in the northwest to Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast.

The border, running through remote, rugged and snow-covered Himalayan ranges, was never clearly demarcated by India's former British colonial rulers. After independence in 1947, India and China failed to agree on a common frontier, and the border dispute has continued.

The dispute escalated into a full-fledged war in 1962 when, according to India, China occupied 38,000 square kilometers of Aksai Chin. India still claims the China-occupied region as part of its Ladakh territory while China insists that Aksai Chin was long part of the ancient Chinese empire.

China claims that India occupies some 90,000 square kilometers of its territory in India's northeast, including Arunachal Pradesh, which it views as southern Tibet. But New Delhi, which controls Arunachal Pradesh, insists it is part of India.

In April, China issued a statement declaring that it had "standardized" the names of 11 places in the region, also called "Zangnan" by China. India rejected the Chinese claim and MEA's Bagchi asserted: "Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral part of India."

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in April at a regular news briefing in Beijing that the southern Tibet region was indeed a part of Chinese territory.

Dialogues fail to resolve dispute

Diplomatic ties between the two nations have remained frosty since their soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat in the Himalayan region of Ladakh in 2020. India reported 20 of its soldiers had been killed, and China later acknowledged the deaths of four Chinese soldiers.

Since then, the countries have held more than a dozen diplomatic and military-level dialogues trying to resolve the border dispute but with limited success.

On Tuesday, spokesperson Bagchi said that China's claims to Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh have "no basis" and that steps like the release of the map "only complicate the resolution of the boundary question."

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told Indian television channel NDTV that claiming parts of Indian territory was an "old habit" of China.

"These [territories] are very much part of India. This government is very clear [about] what our territories are. Making absurd claims doesn't make others' territories yours," he said.

Congress leader Tewari said that China must end its occupation of Indian territory.

"Today, the real issue between India and China is that they have transgressed along the Line of Actual Control at multiple points on a theater level. Analysts believe that the Chinese are currently in occupation of 2,000 square kilometersof Indian territory. This is the territory that the [Indian] government needs to get vacated," Tewari said.

"Under those circumstances, the government should seriously introspect  though the G20 is a multinational forum  whether it would be in accordance with India's self-respect to be feting a person in Delhi, Xi Jinping, who is in illegal occupation of 2,000 square kilometers of Indian territory."

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The democratic island of Taiwan has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), nor formed part of the People's Republic of China. The United States cannot desire to defend Taiwan more fervently than Taiwan desires to defend Taiwan. For Taiwan, the Mainland Communist regime surely poses an existential threat, both to the sovereignty and independence of the Taiwan government, as well as to the way of life of the Taiwan people. For China, Taiwan seems increasingly to pose an existential threat, as the liberties enjoyed on Taiwan are increasingly in short supply on the Mainland. In a cross-Strait war, Taiwan cannot afford to lose. Whether the government in Beijing can afford to fail in its next attempt to Liberate Taiwan is an unexplored question, since it can always make further attempts, sooner or later. While the defense of Taiwan might pose an existential threat to the United States, in the form of Chinese nuclear escalation, the loss of Taiwan would not pose an existential threat to the United States. The United States provided treaty-bound security guarantees to Ukraine in the 1990s in order to trick Kiev into giving up its Soviet nuclear legacy, but almost no one seems to have noticed these paper guarantees when Russia grabbed Crimea. The formal American security commitment to Taiwan is even more tenuous. Washington is required by treaty to provide Taiwan with the means for Taiwan to defend itself, but not itself to defense Taiwan. More than 50 percent of the American public would support U.S. military intervention to defend Taiwan against invasion by China, according to an August 2021 opinion survey in the US. "When asked about a range of potential scenarios, just over half of Americans (52 percent) favor using U.S. troops to defend if China were to invade the island," the Chicago Council Survey said. "This is the highest level ever recorded in the Councils surveys dating back to 1982, when the question was first asked." Survey data showed that a majority of Americans supported a range of U.S. policies towards Taiwan including official recognition as an independent country, inclusion in international organizations, and a U.S.-Taiwan free trade agreement, it said. "Chinese intimidation of Taiwan has increased since 2016, demonstrated by naval drills in the Taiwan Strait, incursions into Taiwanese airspace, and economic coercion targeted at Taiwanese industries," the report said. However, 47 percent believed the U.S. shouldn't sell arms or military equipment to Taiwan, compared with 50 percent who believed it should. Sixty percent of Republicans polled supported military intervention over Taiwan, compared with 50 percent of Democrats. Sixty percent of poll respondents saw Taiwan either as an ally or a necessary partner, while 61 percent saw China as a rival or an adversary. The American policy community needs to weigh very carefully American interests in the defense of Taiwan, which might be great [the defense of a fellow democracy yearning to be free against a brutal dictatorship], or might be quite significant [maintaining the credibility of security guarantees to South Korea and Japan], or might not be so great [delaying the inevitable South Korean and Japanese acquisition of nuclear weapons after the American withdrawal from the East Asian periphery]. American need not win to win - the American withdrawal from Vietnam had remarkably little impact on American alliance relations, coming after the sacrifice in blood and treasure to sustain alliance credibility. Possibly all that would be required of America would be to put up a good fight, though withdrawing in the face of Chinese threats which would tarnish Beijing's standing in the world for many decades. On May 26, 2006, William M. Arkin reported that the 5077 plan to defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack dates back from the Reagan administration, and has been successively updated and expanded over the years. Until 2001, the plan was what was called a "CONPLAN," which is an operations plan in concept only. This means that the general American courses of action were identified but the plan itself was only kept in abbreviated form, lacking either the assignment of forces or much of the details of logistics and transport needed for implementation. In August 2001, "Change 1" to the previous CONPLAN 5077 upgraded the contingency to a full OPLAN, with assigned forces and more detailed annexes and appendices. Taiwanese-independence advocates accused former president Ma Ying-jeou of breaking national security laws and called on the judiciary to investigate after his statement that China will wage a battle, which will be quick and will be the last battle for Taiwan. Ma showed his true colors as a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party in his speech on Monday when he said the first battle will be the last, Taiwan Republic Office director Chilly Chen said. Ma is threatening Taiwanese by claiming that Beijing will launch a quick invasion of Taiwan, but that the US military will have no time and no chance to come to Taiwans aid, Chen said.
Barbados

About 90% of Barbados' population of 291,000 (July 2015 estimate) is of African descent, 4% European descent, and 6% Asian or mixed. About 40% of Barbadians are Anglican, and the rest mostly Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and Moravian. Barbados' population growth rate has been very low, less than 1% since the 1960s, largely due to family planning efforts and a high emigration rate. Barbados has acquired the nickname "Little England" because, through the centuries, it has remained the most British of the Caribbean islands.

The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and the government generally implemented these laws effectively. Corruption is generally not a major problem in Barbados. The government has one of the lowest rates of corruption in the world meaning engagement with all levels is possible and that the government will likely be receptive to outside aid.

The small island state of Barbados is one of the safest countries in the region. Its homicide rate has fluctuated over the past decade, but it has managed to bring it under control in recent years with the total number of murders falling for three consecutive years. Though there are estimated to be a number of gang members active in the country, they are typically not involved in organised crime, like their counterparts in Jamaica, for example.

In the 2010 Human Development Report, Barbados was ranked 42nd out of 169 countries and classified as having a very high level of human development. It is the only country in the English-speaking Caribbean to have received that designation.

As is well known, Barbados was one of England's oldest colonies in the New World and its wealthiest during the last half of the seventeenth century. The sun is truly a "scorcher" in Bridgetown, and rules the day throughout. But in the early 20th century there was the "ice house," a combination of boarding-house, hotel, and cafe, where things to eat may be had, but more especially things to drink. And it was at the ice house that bibulous man quenched his raging thirst, perhaps for the first time imbibed the seductive cocktail, which is concocted by experienced "druggists" after a recipe handed down from past generations. It was then stirred with a "swizzle," a pronged stick that fits into the bottom of a large tumbler, and is rotated rapidly between one's two hands. It was not solely the rotation of the stick that gave the renowned "swizzle" effect, but some saponaceous quality in the cambium layer of the wood. Whatever, it seemed to "fill the bill" with the majority of experimenters, and generally one may find, among the effects of the returning voyager to the Antilles, a bunch of swizzle-sticks.

Barbadians, locally refered to as "Bajans", are slightly different in comparison to other Caribbean islands. Bajans have a deep-rooted spiritual and religious consciousness. Various values and rules of etiquette that have been passed down through the generations, which have lead to our people being courteous, thoughtful and generous.

Barbados inherited from the British a stratified society with a strong sense of class consciousness; Barbadian aspirations to reach the next rung of the social and economic ladder partially explain the industriousness of the population.

Drawing on its English, African and West Indian roots, Barbados has established its own distinctive identity, evidenced in its customs, traditions and value, and passionately expressed through the rich history, exceptional cuisine and artistic talents of its people. Drivers in Barbados are extremely courteous to pedestrians and will usually stop anywhere for anyone attempting to cross a road. A stopped vehicle, whether travelling in the same or the opposite direction, might indicate that pedestrians are crossing and drivers should exercise caution.

Registered taxis and large public buses are generally safe. Private vans and small buses are often crowded and tend to travel at excessive speeds. Travelers are cautioned against riding in private mini-buses, known as Z buses, as the owners frequently drive erratically.

The main medical facility in Barbados is Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Medical care is good for the region, but medical transport can take hours to respond and ambulance attendants are prohibited from applying lifesaving techniques during transport.

Crime in Barbados is characterized primarily by petty theft and street crime. Incidents of violent crime, including rape and armed robbery, do occur.

Its an offence for anyone, including children, to dress in camouflage clothing.







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The Bahamas

The Caribbean Sea looks blue because the sunlight is scattered by the water molecules. Near the Bahama Islands, the lighter aqua colors are shallow water where the sunlight is reflecting off of the sand and reefs near the surface. The Bahamas is a major tourist destination with cruise ship ports of call for Nassau and Freeport and an assortment of luxury resorts including the world renowned Atlantis resort. Over six million U.S. citizens visit each year. Approximately 80 percent of the tourists visiting The Bahamas are US citizens.

CIA World Factbook reports "Royal Bahamas Defense Force: Land Force, Navy, Air Wing (2011)" But the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) is unique in the Caribbean - it is an all naval formation with an attached air wing and a Commando unit. The Bahamas does not have a separate army or air force, as the navy composes the entirety of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) maintains internal security. The small RBDF is primarily responsible for external security but also provides security at the CRDC and performs some domestic security functions such as guarding foreign embassies. The Ministry of National Security oversees both the RBPF and the RBDF. The RBDF augments the RBPF in administrative and support roles.

The Bahamas stands out among the Commonwealth Caribbean nations because of its relative wealth and prosperity, political stability, and close proximity to the United States. The Bahamas also bears the distinction of being the first of the Caribbean islands discovered by Columbus in 1492 on his first transatlantic voyage in search of a new route to India. Several islands in the Bahamas have been named as Columbus's first landing site in the Caribbean, but until very recently, Watling Island was the most widely accepted location; in 1926 it was renamed San Salvador, the name bestowed by Columbus himself. In 1986, however, after an extensive five-year investigation, a National Geographic Society team announced that Samana Cay, a small isolated island in the far eastern Bahamas, was the most probable location of Columbus's first landfall. Because of its location, the country is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, particularly shipments to the US and Europe, and its territory is used for smuggling illegal migrants into the US.

Authorities automatically placed under investigation police officers involved in shooting or killing a suspect. Police investigated all cases of police shootings and deaths in police custody and referred them to a coroners court for further evaluation. The Police Complaints and Corruption Branch, which reports directly to the deputy commissioner, is responsible for investigating allegations of police brutality or other abuse. In addition to the Complaints and Corruption Branch, the independent Police Complaints Inspectorate Office investigated complaints against police, but the government did not provide updated statistics in 2016.

Public protests and demonstrations are infrequent and do not tend to be violent in nature. However, limited law enforcement resources make rapid response to public disorder difficult, particularly on islands other than New Providence. Visitors should protect themselves by avoiding demonstrations. Strikes are generally limited to industrial actions or work-to-rule actions and slowdowns. The airports have also seen instances of Go Slow non-protest actions resulting in considerable delays by incoming and outgoing flights.

Some major streets do not have adequate shoulders or even passable sidewalks, compelling pedestrians to walk in the right-of-way. Motorcyclists frequently swerve through slow traffic and drive between lanes of moving vehicles. It is not uncommon to see poorly maintained or excessively loaded vehicles on roadways. Passengers regularly ride in the bed of trucks without any safety restraints. Roads on the outer Family Islands can be narrow, winding, and in poor condition.

The 2015 was the most deadly year in Bahamian history. The Bahamas sustained remarkably high levels of violent armed crimes in 2015. The Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) continued administering policing methods, which included indiscriminate armed-checkpoints and a robust crime reduction plan in tourist areas. The preponderance of violent crimes reported were perpetrated against local Bahamians, and these occurred in areas of saturated criminality and not typically frequented by tourists.

Nevertheless, despite strenuous anti-crime incentives sanctioned by the government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas during the past year, New Providence witnessed a substantial increase of violent armed crimes in locations that are also heavily frequented by US citizen tourists. In many instances, these incidents resulted in fatalities. Armed robberies, property theft, purse snatchings, general theft of personal property, and sexual assaults remain the most common crimes perpetrated against tourists.

Although forced entry of residences is a concern, the combination of a residential alarm, anti-burglar grill-work, neighborhood watches and roving security patrols have proven an effective deterrent. Home invasions, theft, and robbery are not confined to any specific part of the island.

Much of the violent crime on New Providence Island happens in non-tourist areas referred to locally as Over the Hill. These areas are generally south of the downtown Nassau area south of Shirley Street. These areas are not clearly defined but encompass the lower income areas on New Providence.

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Dominica

Dominica's (pronounced DOM-in-EE-ka) mountainous terrain and periodic devastation by hurricanes make it one of the least developed nations in the Eastern Caribbean. Dominica is a small (275 sq. mile) island located in the Eastern Caribbean, between the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. With a population of about 70,000, its main industries are tourism and agriculture. Dominica's economic dependence is shifting to a greater reliance on service oriented small and medium enterprises. Hence, tourism is now the greater contributor to foreign exchange earnings.

The military was disbanded in 1981 and has not since been reinstated. The Ministry of Justice, Immigration, and National Security oversees the Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force, the countrys only security force. The police have a formal complaint procedure to handle allegations of excessive force or abuse by police officers. Police officials did not refer any police abuse cases to the DPP for criminal prosecution during the year. The Financial Intelligence Unit, some of whose officers have arrest authority, reports to the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

Like many of its Caribbean neighbors, the island is volcanic and it boasts many waterfalls, springs and rivers, lush vegetation, and a variety of rare flora and fauna. Being largest and most mountainous of the Windward Islands, it is no surprise that Dominica has as many hidden treasures of the natural world to match. Dominica is famous for its tropical rainforest, wildlife, and the many rivers and waterfalls which result from the high rainfall in the interior.

Dominica is one of the filming locations used in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3: Dead Mans Chest & At Worlds End as well as Mark Burnetts Pirate Master! This is especially fitting since the island is not just the most unspoiled island in the eastern Caribbean, but in reality it was home to many pirates and their legendary treasure.

Dominica is the only island in the Eastern Caribbean to retain some of its pre-Colombian population - the Carib Indians - about 3,000 of whom live on the island's East Coast. The population growth rate is very low, due primarily to emigration to more prosperous Caribbean Islands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. The official language is English. However, because of historic connections with France, the most widely spoken dialect is the French patois, Creole.

By virtue of Dominicas geographic circumstance it is highly vulnerable to disasters both natural and anthropogenic. The economic, social and environmental costs are of colossal proportions. The frequency and intensity of these phenomena are constant impediments to the growth of the economy.

Dominicas homicide rate more than tripled from 2006-2010, rising from 7.3 murders per 100,000 inhabitants to 22.1 per 100,000. The 2010 figure marked an even greater increase compared to that registered in 2000: 2.9 homicides per 100,000. According to police figures, there are approximately 10 gangs in the country with a total membership of a bit more than 10, all of whom are from Dominica. These groups are not highly organised and engage primarily in the local drug trade, petty crime and protecting territory, or turf.

Visitors are warned to be extremely careful when driving, riding in a vehicle, or crossing roads on foot. Major roads are in average to poor condition, and drivers may encounter wandering animals and slow moving heavy equipment. Drivers often stop in the middle of the roadway without warning, so drivers should always maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you and watch for signs of sudden braking. Automobiles may lack working safety and signaling devices. Crimes, including murder, rape, armed robbery, petty street crime, automobile break-ins and burglary, do occur.







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Grenada

Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique is a tri-island state often referred to as the Island of Spice. It is the worlds second largest nutmeg producer. Grenada is a lovely dot of real estate. Natives like to say it is "just south of paradise, just north of frustration."

Grenada does not have a military. The Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF), led by the police commissioner, maintains internal security. The 800 members of the Royal Grenada Police Force includes an 80-member paramilitary special services unit (SSU) and a 30-member coast guard. The Departments of State and Treasury provide support to the Financial Investigative Unit (FIU) within the Ministry of National Security.

The RGPF encompasses the coast guard, a special service unit, a fire-fighting unit, immigration and border control, and other specialized units. The RGPF is supplemented by 193 rural constables. The police force reports to the minister for national security, a portfolio held by the prime minister. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the RGPF, and the government has effective mechanisms to investigate and punish abuse and corruption. There were no recent reports of impunity involving security forces. The US provides periodic training and material support for the SSU, the coast guard, and other units of the police as needed.

The island's present name is not that given to it by Columbus. That name, which it bore but briefly, was Concepcion. Assigned in 1498, it had given way by 1523 on maps and charts of the region to the Spanish variant of its current designation, Granada. Speculation has it that Spanish explorers, struck by the resemblance of Grenada's mountains to those of the Sierra Nevada in Spain, applied the familiar name of a great city to this strange place so far from home.

Grenada is a liberal, parliamentary democracy, has a functioning court system, low rates of crime, and is devoid of political violence. The country's legal framework for business is strong. The strategic agenda of the Government of Grenada demonstrates its belief that investment is directly related to growth and development. As a result, the Government of Grenada identified additional foreign investment opportunities related to the countrys resource endowment of sand, sun, sea and rich fertile soil. The Government of Grenadas accession to international trade and development agreements opened a greater number of sectors to foreign investment opportunities.

Crime in Grenada is mostly opportunistic. Tourists have been the victims of robbery, especially in isolated areas. Thieves frequently steal credit cards, jewelry, cameras, U.S. passports, and money. Muggings, purse snatchings, and other robberies may occur in areas near hotels, beaches and restaurants, particularly after dark.

Travel from Grenada to the sister isles Carriacou and Petite Martinique is possible by sea and by air. Petite Martinique can only be reached by sea. The Osprey ferry service, with two boats, travels every day between the three islands and is reliable with a good safety record. The trip takes about 1 hours in the large boat and 2 hours in the smaller one. SVG Airline flies a small propeller plane (4-6 passengers) to and from Carriacou daily.

Traffic moves on the left in Grenada; the majority of vehicles are right-hand drive. Grenadas roads, paved and unpaved, are mostly narrow and winding, with many blind corners, narrow or no shoulders, and steep drops into the sea on Grenadas three islands. There are few sidewalks, and vehicles vie with pedestrians for road space. Road lighting varies on all three islands, which compounds the dangers at night. Driving conditions in Grenada, including road conditions, increased numbers of vehicles, and sometimes aggressive minibus drivers all require caution and reduced speed for safety.

Bottled water is available for purchase and tap water is said to be "very safe" to drink. Medical care in Grenada is below U.S. standards. Citizens requiring medical treatment may contact the U.S Embassy in St. Georges for a list of local doctors, dentists, pharmacies and hospitals. Serious medical problems requiring hospitalization and/or medical evacuation to the U.S. can cost thousands of dollars. Doctors and hospitals often expect immediate cash payment for health services. Ambulance service is available but response times vary greatly.







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Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia [loo-sha] has no army but maintains a coast guard and a paramilitary Special Services Unit within its police force. Castries, the capital city, is situated on the northwest coast and is known for its magnificent harbor. St. Lucia has an uncommon heritage of mixed cultural and historical influences, including Amerindian, European, and African.

St. Lucia was named by Christopher Columbus, who sighted the island on St Lucys day 1502. Saint Lucia, one of the islands comprising the Windward Islands, is washed by both the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is located northeast of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, northwest of Barbados, and south of Martinique. It has a land area of 620 km2 and is divided into 11 parishes.

Saint Lucia is very mountainous, the highest point being Mount Gimie, at 950 m above sea level. The two Pitons peaks, located between Soufriere and Choiseul on the western side of the island, are the country's most famous landmark. The island boasts two Nobel laureates: Sir Arthur Lewis (Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, 1979) and Sir Derek Walcott (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1992).

Saint Lucia is a parliamentary democracy modeled on the Westminster system. Political power rests with the prime minister and the cabinet, who usually represent the majority party in parliament. Members of the bicameral parliament are elected for fiveyear terms.

The Royal St. Lucia Police Force has responsibility for law enforcement and maintenance of order within the country and reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Justice, and National Security. The Criminal Investigations Division investigates internal affairs and allegations against officers and refers cases to the DPP for review and, if authorities file charges, prosecution.

Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the police, but there were continued reports of impunity. Although there are government mechanisms to investigate and punish abuse and corruption, these mechanisms were not effective in practice. For instance, although authorities referred many cases for investigation and inquests, prosecutions rarely resulted, and cases remained nominally under investigation for years.

There was limited progress in the inquests and other investigations into the multiple killings during 2010 and 2011 allegedly by officers associated with an ad hoc task force as part of Operation Restore Confidence. The Caribbean Communitys Implementing Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) concluded an investigation into the killings in 2014, but their report was not released publicly.

In 2015 former prime minister Kenny Anthony revealed that the report concluded that the blacklist or death lists referenced by media, human rights organizations, victims families, and citizens did exist; that all the shootings reviewed were fake encounters staged by the police to legitimize their actions; that weapons were planted on the scene of the shootings; and that a number of the shootings were done by police officers but were listed in murder statistics as attributable to unknown assailants. He said the task force operated in an environment of impunity and permissiveness designed to achieve the desired results.

The then prime minister added, The investigators also reported that in the course of the investigation, some senior officers did not cooperate with them. In response to the IMPACS report, the government established a use of force policy for the Royal St. Lucia Police Force and conducted human rights training for them.

Saint Lucias economy depends primarily on revenue from tourism and banana production. Although banana revenues have helped fund the countrys development since the 1960s, the industry is now in a terminal decline, due to competition from lower-cost Latin American banana producers and reduced European Union trade preferences. The country is encouraging farmers to plant crops such as cocoa, mangos, and avocados to diversify its agricultural production and provide jobs for displaced banana workers.

Access to buildings, pedestrian paths and transportation is extremely difficult for persons with disabilities. Sidewalks (if they exist) are very uneven and will only occasionally have ramps at intersections. Pedestrian crossings are also very infrequent and can be poorly marked. Buses and taxis do not have special accommodations for disabled persons.

Most visits are trouble-free, but there have been incidents of crime including murder, armed robbery and sexual assault. Visitors are warned to be extremely careful when driving, riding in a vehicle, or crossing roads on foot. Major roads are in average to poor condition, and drivers may encounter wandering animals and slow moving heavy equipment. Drivers often stop in the middle of the roadway without warning, so drivers should always maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front and watch for signs of sudden braking. Automobiles may lack working safety and signaling devices. There is relatively little police enforcement of traffic regulations.

Medical facilities in Saint Lucia do not meet U.S. standards. Doctors and hospitals often expect immediate cash payment for health services.

It is an offence for anyone, including children, to dress in camouflage clothing.







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Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Like many of the other small island nations in the Caribbean, the country did not maintain a standing army. In case of external threat or insurgency from within, it relied upon the Regional Security System (RSS), of which it was a member. Disturbances of a more limited nature were handled by a weaponless police force, under whose jurisdiction fell the armed paramilitary SSU and a small coast guard.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) economy is dependent on the tourism and offshore banking industries. Agriculture is also an important sector of St. Vincent and the Grenadines economy. There is a high unemployment rate on the islands. SVG is the leading marijuana producer in the region and a transit point for other types of illicit drugs.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a West Indian island nation whose most conspicuous feature may well be its diminutive geographic and demographic size, was a stable, democratic state whose cultural, linguistic, and religious traditions had been influenced by constant political turnover in the first 300 years of its existence as a colonial territory.

The Royal Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police is the only security force in the country and is responsible for maintaining national security. Its forces include the Coast Guard, Special Services Unit, Rapid Response Unit, Drug Squad, and the Anti-Trafficking Unit. The police force reports to the minister of national security, a portfolio held by the prime minister. The Criminal Investigations Department investigated all police killings and referred them to coroners inquests. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the police, and the government has effective mechanisms to investigate and punish abuse and corruption.

Although extremists and Black Power movement partisans were active in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the 1970s, and although terrorists assassinated the attorney general in 1973, there was comparatively little preoccupation with security-related issues until 1979. In that year, the prime minister of neighboring Grenada was overthrown and the Grenadines' Union Island temporarily fell to local insurgents. Following these incidents the nation's vulnerability became increasingly apparent, and more emphasis was placed on security-related matters. Nevertheless, the civil defense capabilities of the Vincentian security forces remained very limited.

One of the most important issues debated in the late 1980s was the extent to which St. Vincent and the Grenadines should participate in the Regional Security System [RSS]. Mitchell, along with Barbadian prime minister Errol Barrow, prevented the upgrading of the 1982 Memorandum of Understanding into a treaty. During the 1984 elections, Mitchell campaigned against expensive defense commitments, stating numerous times that he opposed the establishment of a separate military institution. Mitchell also campaigned against what he termed the "excessive militarization" of the region because he feared that a strong military could endanger the democratic process in times of economic hardship. Although he recognized that the Eastern Caribbean states had to defend themselves, Mitchell believed that economic assistance would do more to secure the region than a military buildup. Ironically, St. Vincent and the Grenadines was one of only two countries in 1986 whose contribution to the RSS budget was not in arrears.

The internal security of the nation was the responsibility of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force. Headquartered in Kingstown and headed by a commissioner, the force numbered about 500 members in the late 1980s. The organizational structure of the Police Force included the Criminal Investigation Department, the Fire Brigade, and branches for immigration, traffic, and transport. Although the Police Force had a good record with respect to human rights, there were four news media allegations between 1983 and 1987 of police brutality, two of them related, resulting in the deaths of detainees.

The most serious internal disturbance that the police were called upon to control was the uprising on Union Island in December 1979, which resulted when a group of young Rastafarians seized the local airport, police station, and revenue office. The perceived neglect of the small Grenadine island by the incumbent SVLP government was a factor in the Rastafarians' decision to take such drastic action. The situation was brought under control when the prime minister called upon Barbadian troops to keep order on St. Vincent while the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force was dispatched to Union Island to subdue the mini-rebellion.

Also under the jurisdiction of the Police Force was the small Kingstown-based Coast Guard, which began operating in 1981. Its primary function was to participate in search-and-rescue missions, fisheries protection, smuggling prevention, and narcotics interdiction. As of 1984, the coast guard possessed one Singapore-built 22.9-meter patrol craft and two locally constructed 8.2-meter launches. One 15.3-meter Swiftship patrol craft reportedly was delivered to the country by the United States in 1986. The small number of vessels hindered the ability of the coast guard to police the vast expanses of the Grenadine Islands and surrounding territorial waters.

Police Force members operated unarmed unless an emergency occurred, in which case they were provided with the equipment needed to resolve the situation. In response to the Grenada crisis in 1983, a Vincentian SSU was created in early 1984 under the auspices of the RSS to arm some of the police permanently. Functioning as a paramilitary unit, the SSU had eighty members, all under the direction of the local police comnissioner. Under a United States security assistance program, the SSU received British and United States weapons and equipment.

To ensure that the SSU would not become an elitist group unaccountable to civilians, Mitchell took the unit out of the official camouflage military uniform and returned it to the local police uniform.

Medical facilities in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines do not meet U.S. standards. Major roads are in average to poor condition, and drivers may encounter wandering animals and slow moving heavy equipment. Drivers often stop in the middle of the roadway without warning, so drivers should always maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front and watch for signs of sudden braking. Automobiles may lack working safety and signaling devices. Crimes, including murder, rape, armed robbery, petty street crime, automobile break-ins and burglary, do occur.







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Principality of Andorra

Some 80,000 people live in this mountainous micro-state wedged between France and Spain, but only third are Andorran nations with the right to vote. Despite a number of historical and political changes, Andorra is a co-principality under the shared rule of the Bishop of Urgell and the President of the French Republic. From feudal lords to constitutional heads of State, from the creation of the Land Council in 1419 as the first 'parliament', where parish representatives could meet to discuss the problems of their communities, to the constitutional heads of State of the present day, the Andorrans have never ceased to look forward, modernising and updating their institutions continuously.

The mainstay of the highly-prosperous economy is tourism, accounting for about 80% of GDP. An estimated 10 million people visit each year, drawn by winter sports, a warm summer climate and duty-free goods. The country's banking sector enjoys partial tax-haven status.

Andorra has no regular military forces. Andorra is a full member of the United Nations (UN), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Conference for Commerce and Development (UNCCD), International Center of Studies for Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (ICCROM), Telecommunications International Union (UIT), International Red Cross, Universal Copyright Convention, European Council, EUTELSAT, World Tourism Organization, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Customs Cooperation Council (CCC), Interpol, and International Monetary Fund among others. Since 1991, Andorra has had a special agreement with the European Union. In 2008, Andorra announced its endorsement of the Proliferation Security Initiative, designed to combat illegal trafficking in weapons of mass destruction.

Since the establishment of sovereignty with the ratification of the constitution in 1993, Andorra has moved to become an active member of the international community. In July 1993, Andorra established its first diplomatic mission in the world, to the United Nations. In early 1995, the United States and Andorra established formal diplomatic relations. Andorra has also expanded relations with other nations.

Andorra has 84,484 inhabitants (Source: Servei d'Estudis del Ministeri de Finances. Data for 2008). Catalan is the sole official language for administrative purposes. However, Spanish is commonly spoken, as are French and Portuguese, albeit to a much lesser extent. Most of the population lives in the Principality's two main cities, Andorra la Vella and Escaldes, which, together with Pas de la Casa, are also the main commercial centres of the Andorra. Major towns include Encamp and Sant Julia de Loria, which have relatively large populations but are less commercially-orientated than the capital and its surrounding area.

Andorra is the last independent survivor of the March states, a number of buffer states created by Charlemagne to keep the Muslim Moors from advancing into Christian France. Tradition holds that Charlemagne granted a charter to the Andorran people in 805 in return for their fighting the Moors. Legend tells that Charlemagne founded Andorra in recognition of aid given by its inhabitants against the Saracens. In the 800s, Charlemagne's grandson, Charles the Bald, made Count of Urgell overlord of Andorra. The earliest known document to mention Andorra is the act of consecration of the cathedral of Santa Maria of Urgell in 839, which names the parishes (administrative and territorial divisions) of Andorra as the fief of the Counts of Urgell.

Between the 9th and 10th centuries, the Andorran valleys belonged to the Counts of Urgell, who ceded them to the See of Urgell in 988 in exchange for other possessions in the Cerdanya, although it was not until the 12th century that Andorrans recognised the sovereignty of the See of Urgell in an agreement signed with the bishop Bernat Sanc in 1176. A period of struggle for the sovereignty over the Andorran valleys ensued, particularly with the Counts of Urgell, which caused the bishops to call on the closest nobles for aid and protection. For its cooperation with the bishop, the House of Caboet was given the valleys of Andorra in fief.

During the 15th century the Counts of Foix assumed sovereignty of Navarre. When, in 1589, Henry, King of Navarre and Count of Foix, Viscount of Bearn and Lord of Andorra, ascended to the French throne, his co-rule over Andorra as Count of Foix became fused with the French crown. In 1793, due to the feudal origin of the bonds linking Andorra to France, the French Republicans refused to recognise their relationships with Andorra and to receive tributes from the territory. In 1806, Napoleon restored the feudal tradition and the French claim to co-lordship over the Principality of Andorra.

Until recently, Andorra's political system had no clear division of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. A constitution was ratified and approved in 1993. The constitution establishes Andorra as a sovereign parliamentary democracy that retains as its heads of state two co-princes. The fundamental impetus for this political transformation was a recommendation by the Council of Europe in 1990 that, if Andorra wished to attain full integration into the European Union (EU), it should adopt a modern constitution, which guarantees the rights of those living and working there.

Andorra is a co-principality, under the joint suzerainty of France and Spain. In June 1990, the General Council established a special commission to draft a Constitution, which was to promulgate popular sovereignty and constitutionals the countrys co-princes. Following the latters formal approval of the plan in April 1991, the draft Constitution was approved by popular referendum in March 1993 and was promulgated two months later; it set the elections for early December.

On polling day, none of the five contending parties secured an outright majority. The National Democratic Grouping (AND) of outgoing President of the Executive Council (head of government) Oscar Ribas Reig won the most seats. On 19 January 1994, Mr. Reig was once again elected President by the General Council. He then declared that his Government would give priority to fiscal and tax reforms as well as to developments of tourism. This nine-member Executive Council (Cabinet), composed of AND members and independents, was sworn in on 3 February 1993.

Antoni Marti took over as head of government after his Democrats for Andorra coalition heavily defeated the incumbent Social Democratic Party (PS) in an early parliamentary election in May 2011. Marti campaigned on a platform of opposing the introduction of an income tax proposed by Mr Cassany, but in June 2013 he bowed to European Union pressure and announced that Andorra would bring in personal income tax.

In elections on 01 March 2015 Prime Minister Antoni Marti's Democrats for Andorra (DA) lost five seats but retained the majority in the 28-member General Council. The Liberal Party of Andorra (PLA), from which the DA had split in 2011, returned to parliament with eight seats, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Josep Pintat. Following amendments to the Electoral Law in 2014, Andorrans living abroad were allowed to cast a postal vote for the first time. On 31 March, the General Council re-elected Marti (DA) as Prime Minister. During the election campaign, the major parties focused on Andorra's cooperation agreement with the European Union, tax reform and pensions.

Josep Pintat has been a candidate for head of Government of what he has called a third way. Pintat reaffirms the intention of organizing a Lauredian Union political project independent of Massana, to which he could add other forces and has no plans to negotiate in the elections. This ensures that for a long time no longer deal with the Democrats.

Andorra's ruling party lost its majority in a general election 07 April 2019 and must seek out a coalition partner after eight years in power in the tiny Pyrenees principality. The center-right Democrates per Andorra still won the largest single share in the 28-member General Council, taking 11 seats with 35 percent of the vote. An alliance between socialists and liberals, which had hoped to seize power, were only able to win four seats. The second largest party, the Social Democrats, took five seats. The elections were carried out against a backdrop of unprecedented demonstrations, first launched in March 2018, over the high cost of housing and a reform of the civil service. The finance sector also faced a shake-up, with Andorra attempting to overhaul its reputation as a tax haven by criminalising tax evasion and moving towards full banking transparency.

The principality is facing criticism. Its institutions date back to the Middle Ages and have evolved little since, especially when it comes to women's rights and abortion, which is illegal in Andorra. Most Andorran woman in need of an abortion head to Barcelona, a three-hour drive away, where a termination costs between 300 and 2,000.





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Albania

Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe. Since 1990, the economy has struggled to recover from the distortions of the communist regime, the impact of the move to a market economy and the 1997 Pyramid Crisis. Growth is strong albeit from a very low base. The maintenance of law and order remains a problem in Albania. There are high levels of organised crime and corruption. When Albania started the transition from central planning to a market economy, it was the poorest and most isolated and backward country in Europe. For centuries, Albania had been largely unknown and inaccessible, and, from 1945 to 1985, its isolation was compounded by the rigid communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha.

The reform of the Albanian Armed Forces began in 1991, together with the transformation of Albanian society from a centralized planned economy to a market-oriented one with respect for rule of law and democratic values. The reform of the armed forces is a complex process that is complicated even more by the ways that national interests are defined in the post-Cold War era.

Two idiosyncratic features that can be said to define the state of civil-military relations in Albania. First, historically there have been no tendencies in the Albanian army to seize controlover politics and civic affairs. This is an attribute of the Albanian army that find its explanations in the national tradition rather than in the establishment and functioning of democratic institutions, since Albania - as is the case in most of the states of the region - is lacking in democratic experience and tradition. Second, while there is little evidence of the tendency of military structures to intervene in the civic affairs, the opposite tendency is discernible. The (mis)use of the military by civilians is a dimension of civil-military relations in Albania, and politicized and partisan reforms have negatively influenced the process of professionalization of the armed forces and its establishment. The military has often been the target of political purges in the event of drastic changes in the governance of the country.

The year 1997 was a momentous year for Albania. A general violent outburst spread all over the country due to the frustration caused by the loss of life savings by hundred of thousands of Albanians in a large number of "pyramid" investment schemes. The event was followed by a total disintegration of the nation's military structures and capabilities. As a result, conscripts abandoned military units and their officers, military installations became prey to criminal elements, and arms and ammunition were stolen. This situation led to new elections and the establishment of a new socialist government.

After the 1997 crisis that saw the dismantling of the Albanian armed forces, the Partnership for Peace (PfP) took the main role in developing a program of assistance to rebuild the armed forces through the Individual Partnership Program. One of the most urgent tasks for Albania was the restoration of civil order and the creation of a viable security structure consistent with a democratic society. The task included the reconstruction of the Albanian armed forces and the training of a non-partisan professional police force.

Preparing seriously for membership in NATO, the National Membership ActionPlan (MAP) was issued by the Albanian Ministry of Defense in October 2001. In April of 2000, Albania accepted a very demanding Partnership Goal package, comprising fifty-three Partnership goals, of which thirty-one were MAP-related. This package aimed primarily at improving the interoperability of the Albanian armed forces

Since the fall of communism in Albania in 1991, the country has played a constructive role in resolving several of the interethnic conflicts in south central Europe, promoting peaceful dispute resolution and discouraging ethnic Albanian extremists. Albania sheltered many thousands of Kosovar refugees during the 1999 conflict. Albania is part of the international force serving in Bosnia (EUFOR), and Albanian peacekeepers are part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and previously contributed to the international stabilization force in Iraq prior to its mandate expiring in December 2008. While in Iraq, Albania was one of only four nations to contribute troops to the combat phase of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Albania and the U.S. enjoy a military partnership and are signatories to treaties including the 2003 Prevention of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Promotion of Defense and Military Relations and the 2004 Supplementary Agreement to the Partnership for Peace Status of Forces Agreement, which defined the status of American military troops in Albania, further enabling military cooperation. In May 2003, Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, and the U.S. created the Adriatic Charter, modeled on the Baltic Charter, as a mechanism for promoting regional cooperation to advance each country's NATO candidacy. In spite of strong EU objections, Albania also signed in May 2003 a bilateral agreement with the United States on non-surrender of persons, based on Article 98 of the statute of International Criminal Court.

In 2004 President George W. Bush authorized the use of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program funds for projects in Albania, marking the first time such funds were used outside the former Soviet Union. With this funding the United States has assisted the Government of Albania with the destruction of a stockpile of chemical agents left over from the communist regime. Under this program, Albania became the first nation in the world to complete destruction of declared chemical weapons holdings under the Chemical Weapons Convention in July 2007. Albania received an invitation to become a NATO member at the April 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest. The U.S. Senate unanimously ratified Albania's Protocols of Accession to NATO on September 25, 2008, and President Bush signed the Accession Protocols on October 24, 2008. Albania became a member of NATO on April 1, 2009.





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Austria

The Austrian armed forces consist of only one branch, the Bundesheer (Federal Army), of which the air force (Fliegerdivision) is a component. There is no navy. With the State Treaty of 1955 Austria re-gained sovereignty and independence after World War II. The strategic options for a small country, which was situated along the Iron Curtain, seemed to be very limited. Austria's status as neutral country, following the paradigm of Switzerland, was not legally connected with the State Treaty of 1955, but was a logical step given agreements with the Allies. On October 26, 1955, the Austrian parliament agreed unanimously to the federal constitutional act, a Neutrality Act.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the territory occupied by present-day Austria had been ruled by the Habsburg Dynasty for more than 600 years. This territory was the core of an empire that at its height in the sixteenth century included Spain and its colonies in the New World, and much of Italy and the Low Countries. Although a military defeat at the hands of Prussia in 1866 had weakened Emperor Franz Joseph I (r. 1848-1916) and had obliged him to make such significant concessions to his Hungarian subjects the following year that the lands he ruled came to be known as Austria-Hungary (also seen as the Austro- Hungarian Empire), his empire remained one of Europe's great powers. The new Austrian state was only one-fourth as large as the empire. In the eyes of many of its citizens, it was a mere "rump state" and was neither economically nor socially viable. Many argued that it logically should be part of Germany.

For centuries Austria stood at the center of European traffic between east and west along the great Danubian trade route and between north and south through the Alpine passes. The Austria of today is a relatively small nation, slightly smaller than the state of Maine, with a population of about 7.5 million. Although modern Austria is only a small remnant of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, it still occupies a strategic position in central and eastern Europe.

Austria hastened ahead of Europe at almost dizzying speed. While Russia, Great Britain, France, and Germany left the world stage only slowly and under diverse conditions, Austria - the fifth great power in the 19th century - beat its comrades in fate in 1918, exiting the stage of world history to sink into small-state insignificance. Austria resurfaced from the rubble of the second 30-year war (1914-1945). It was not only a question of maintaining continuity but also of reestablishing republican structures.

Weapons of mass destruction and guided missiles were prohibited under the State Treaty of 1955. Also in 1955, parliament enacted a constitutional law prohibiting participation in any military alliance and specifying that the armed forces were to be used only for the defense of the country. However, neutrality, according to the Austrian interpretation, did not preclude contributing to peacekeeping operations under United Nations (UN) auspices. As of 1993, Austria had battalion units serving the UN in Cyprus and on the Golan Heights in Syria. Austria did not, however, participate in the UN-supported coalition against Iraq after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The withdrawal of the Allied forces as a result of the State Treaty of 1955 dramatically affected the general strategic situation in Central Europe. The presence of two neutral countries--Switzerland and Austria--in effect split the defenses of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into northern and southern tiers. Links between NATO forces in southern Germany and northern Italy had to be routed through France. Moreover, if Warsaw Pact forces had chosen to violate Austrian neutrality by driving westward through the Danube Basin, they would have been able to outflank strong NATO defenses on the central front and avoid a contested Danube River crossing in Bavaria. A second line of potential Warsaw Pact attack ran along the southern flanks of the main Alpine range from the Hungarian Plain leading into northern Italy.

The early years of the Bundesheer were directed by military leaders whose experience reflected their service as mid-level officers in the German army, the Wehrmacht. The army's structure resembled that of European NATO powers but on a smaller scale. Its combat units were filled with permanent cadre and nine-month conscripts. It lacked sufficient manpower and air cover.

In 1956 the Bundesheer was called on to handle the first of two border crises. It was in that year that the Hungarian uprising was crushed by the Soviet Union, and 170,000 Hungarians fled into Austria. The second was in 1968 when Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia. Austria's experiences during the Hungarian and Czechoslovak crises helped clarify the nature of the potential threat to the nation's neutrality and led to a reorientation of defense policy and a revised definition of the military's mission.

After 1970, under the influence of a majority of the Socialist Party of Austria (Sozialistische Partei Osterreichs-- SPO) in parliament, military service was deemphasized and conscription reduced to six months. However, with the system of refresher training for former conscripts, the basis for a large militia program was established, and there was more total manpower available. The example of Switzerland's reliance on mobilization units to uphold its neutrality provided a useful lesson. However, strict budgetary limits continued to delay the acquisition of modern supersonic combat aircraft until the late 1980s.

The Austrian Armed Forces and neutrality stood side by side at the cradle of Austrias freedom and independence. But since neither of the two factors could guarantee Austrias security directly, Austria decided to pursue a passive military niche-neutrality during the time of the Cold War. This phase lasted roughly until 1975 and was replaced by the active political intervention neutrality during the detente era until 1995. Austria acted very sensitively to its security-political environment which was marked by detente, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, todays OSCE, and the Charta 77. During this second phase of the period in question Austria reacted by transforming its military from a territorial defense force into an at least structurally intervention capable force ("Blue Helmet missions). Also with that phase Austria was ahead of Europe, as for the Austrian Armed Forces Petersberg only represented a structural and mental continuation of the 1970s and 1980s with different means, while other Central-European armies are experiencing severe transformation difficulties.

The ensuing third phase Austria entered into with its accession to the EU in 1995 is marked by non-alignment within the framework of European political integration. Thereby the tracks were switched from nation-state neutrality (20th century model) to European solidarity (21st century model). Also the latest concepts of the Austrian Armed Forces Reform Commission (AAF 2010) have to be seen under this aspect - possibly the last nationally necessary reform of the Austrian Armed Forces.

In the early 1990s the Austrian military was restructured, from a force intended to defend Austria's territory against threats arising from hostilities between North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Warsaw Pact countries to a force that could react rapidly to local crises. Under the restructuring plan, both the standing army and reserves were scaled back but maintained individual units in a rapid-response status, enabling the army to intervene quickly with appropriate forces to prevent instability in Austria's border areas. In view of the civil warfare in the former Yugoslavia and the breakup of Czechoslovakia into two states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as the possibility of overwhelming movements of refugees fleeing violence in nearby states, Austria considered itself to be in a highly exposed position in spite of the end of East-West confrontation in Europe. The intervention of the Yugoslav army in Slovenia and Croatia in 1991 prompted the largest mobilization of the Austrian army since it was reconstituted in 1956.

Driven by a desire to win domestic political standing and to keep Austria engaged in the development of European security structures (other than NATO proper), by 2008 Austrian Defense Minister Norbert Darabos both supported and compelled a re-orientation of his Ministry's mission. This reorientation started from two premises. Austrian Defense Minister Norbert Darabos both supported and compelled a re-orientation of his Ministry's mission. This reorientation starts from two premises. One is that territorial military defense is not now relevant for Austria or western Europe. Thus, heavy and costly structures for territorial defense can be substantially reduced. Second, Austria should, in a multilateral context, be an active participant in European security structures and international missions. In a November 2007 speech to the Attache Corps, Darabos said, "the new orientation of Austrian security policy undoubtedly and above all means Europeanisation. As a middle-sized EU member state we have, in view of the changed security landscape, no alternative to putting our entire security structure in a European context."

In the current transformation phase, the Reform Commission Report is orientation frame for Austrias future positioning within the framework of a European security architecture. The Armed Forces Reform Commission recommended giving the Forces a new, more modern and highly professional shape in order to increase their capabilities for international cooperation, including rapid deployment and operational readiness, but still with a reservist component. This is a luxury that can probably only be afforded at a certain level of power-political marginality.



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Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)

In December 1995, NATO deployed a 60,000-troop Implementation Force (IFOR) to oversee implementation of the military aspects of the peace agreement. IFOR transitioned into a smaller Stabilization Force (SFOR) in 1996. With the end of the SFOR mission in December 2004, the European Union (EU) assumed primary responsibility for military stabilization operations. Approximately 2,000 EU troops remain deployed in Bosnia. NATO maintains a small headquarters operation with responsibility to assist with defense reform and efforts against persons indicted for war crimes and counterterrorism.

The international community retains an extraordinary civilian and military presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) stemming from the Dayton Peace Accords. The Dayton Accords created the position of High Representative, an international official charged with overseeing implementation of the civilian aspects of the agreement.

When the war ended in 1995, the Dayton Peace Accord stipulated that foreign policy would be a prerogative of the state, as opposed to Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities. Powers to appoint ambassadors and outline foreign policy strategy were, therefore, awarded to the tripartite Presidency, composed of one Serb, one Muslim and one Croat. The law extends significant overlapping law enforcement competencies to the state-level government, to each entity, and the Brcko District, each of which has its own police force. A 2,000-person EU force continued to implement the military aspects of the Dayton Accords. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization oversees defense reform, counterterrorism, and cooperation with the ICTY. The EU Police Mission remained in the country, tasked with the mission to monitor aspects of the work of the local police.

In July 2001, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina formally expressed Bosnia and Herzegovina's readiness to accept its obligations and rights in the family of Euro-Atlantic nations, and to contribute actively to collective security. The Presidency also expressed Bosnia and Herzegovina's commitment to integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, to the Partnership for Peace programme, and to the implementation of defence reforms including restructuring of the Armed Forces. Over the past three years, working in the context of these objectives, we have striven to create a suitable environment for defence reform, to achieve internal stability, and to become a credible candidate for the Partnership for Peace program.

The defence reform process began in 2003 with the establishment of the Defence Reform Commission, proceeding through the work of the Commission and culminating with the publication of the Commission's report. The aim was to establish a common defence system, taking into account the security environment and economic realities. As a result of this process, significant changes have been made to the structure and the functioning of the Bosnia and Herzegovina defence system.

The primary objective of the defence reform process was the establishment and strengthening of State-level institutions which could function as the supreme authority in defence-related issues. Consequently, activities have focused on increasing the authority of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the supreme commander of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, expanding the role the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to exercise effective democratic control over the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establishing State-level defence institutions capable of supporting the Presidency in exercising command and control over the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The country's basic foreign policy guidelines are governed by the Foreign Policy General Guidelines and Priorities, a document that the three-member Presidency adopted in March 2003. According to this platform, the country's top foreign policy priority is defined as Euro-Atlantic integration.

Amendments to the entity constitutions and the adoption of new laws during 2003 and 2004 made possible the creation of a common defence establishment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with an appropriate division of responsibilities between the State and the entities, mechanisms that will provide for efficient command and control of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and improvements in military interoperability, democratic oversight and transparency. The establishment of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Defence, Joint Staff and Operational Command is the most evident result of defence reform, as these institutions shall contribute directly to the operational capability and functioning of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and enable Bosnia and Herzegovina's participation in programmes such as the Partnership for Peace.





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Bulgaria

Bulgaria is the European Union's poorest country. Bulgaria has been plagued by instability in recent years, with sluggish economic growth, a loss of investment, persistent deflation and rising unemployment.

Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 but still remains outside the eurozone and the passport-free travel Schengen area. Bulgaria's population of 7.4 million people has the lowest living standards across the 27-member bloc. Membership for Bulgaria and Romania in the visa-free Schengen zone has been postponed under the threat of a German veto. Berlin has expressed concerns about the strength of the rule of law in the two EU member states.

Bulgaria shares a border with Turkey and Greece to the south, Macedonia and Serbia to the west, Romania to the north, and the Black Sea to the east. The capital, Sofia, lies in the western region of the country. Ethnic groups include Bulgarian, Turkish, Roma, and others. The official language is Bulgarian.

The Bulgarian army enjoys higher trust than any other institution ever since the change after 1989. The Bulgarian Army represents the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. Operational elements of the Bulgarian Army include: Bulgarian Land Forces (army), Bulgarian Navy (navy), and the Bulgarian Air Forces (air force). The term Armed Forces, under the Law on Defense and the Armed Forces (Art. 50(1)), includes the Bulgarian Army plus the Military Police Service, the Military Information Service, the military education institutions, the Military Medical Academy, the Ceremonial Guard Unit, the Military History Museum and the Reserve. The MoD military personnel is also part of the Armed Forces under the Law. Under the same law (Art. 60a(2)) the term Bulgarian Army includes the Joint Operations Command, the three Services as well as training, maintenance and logistics formations.

Bulgaria became a member of NATO on March 29, 2004. Bulgaria's military is currently undergoing an ambitious restructuring program which aims to bring the army up to NATO standards, modernize equipment, and bring about full integration of the civilian and armed components. In 2008, Bulgaria made the transition to an all-volunteer force. Through FY 2010, the US Government had provided approximately $143 million in foreign military financing assistance to support training and procurement of military equipment.

Bulgaria had over 700 troops serving abroad in support of NATO, EU, and UN missions as of 2010. It currently has around 600 troops in Afghanistan and has maintained small contingents in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. It has several military observers serving in support of United Nations missions in Liberia and Kosovo, as well as the EU's Operation Atalanta to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia. Bulgaria deployed a frigate to help enforce the UN arms embargo against Libya in 2011.

There are three Bulgarian bases identified as joint-use facilities (meaning the U.S. has the right to station troops and conduct training in them) in the U.S.-Bulgarian Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) signed April 28, 2006 by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: Novo Selo Training Area (including the Aytos Storage Facility), Bezmer Air Base, and Graf Ignatievo Air Base.

By achieving membership in both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU), post-communist Bulgaria achieved two major political objectives as well as accomplished long sought - after strategic goals. These memberships placed new demands and requirements upon the development of the Bulgarian Armed Forces. Bulgarian accession into these organizations came as a consequence of the efforts made by both the government and its people. It emblemized everything that Bulgarians stand for.

Bulgaria is a comparatively small European country in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula with a population of 7.1 million inhabitants in 2016. The country is a parliamentary representative democratic republic with a multiparty system and free elections. Bulgaria has been undergoing a dramatic demographic crisis fuelled by negative population growth and negative net international migration, leading to a steady and continuous population decline and steep drop of the working-age population. In parallel, the country has undergone a profound transformation from a centrally planned to an open market economy. The whole process has been protracted and uneven, marked by recessions and booms.

Regardless of the comparatively stronger economic performance in 20152016, Bulgaria is still facing serious economic and social challenges, with worryingly high levels of poverty and significant regional variances in all related indicators. The lack of political stability (as indicated by the frequent changes in government in the period 20132017) has greatly undermined reform efforts in a number of fields, including health care.

The weakening of the EU gravitational pull left a power vacuum in South-east Europe that was readily filled in by authoritarian powers such as Russia. The Kremlin took advantage of the democratic backsliding and the widespread state capture among dysfunctional institutions to enhance its economic and political influence in the region. Bulgaria withdraws from the EU far more funds than what it pays to the EU budget, which implies that it lives on the account of tax payers of developed EU members. Never the less, the Bulgarians still have stronger emotional connections towards Russia than the EU, including Germany.











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Germany

The government in Berlin is seeking to reinvent Germany's international approach to military affairs, gradually moving away from the overwhelmingly pacifist stance adopted in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Critics at home argue however, the government should concentrate on solving the Bundeswehr's equipment problems, before adopting a more active international military footing.

For the first time in her history, Germany is surrounded by only friends and partners. The reform of the German military is the most radical overhaul of the Bundeswehr in its history. New challenges such as international terrorism and global cooperation require a smaller, more flexible troop structure.

The time of planning, guidelines and draft projects is over. That's the conclusion that a report on a reform of the Bundeswehr, the German military, arrived at. The findings were presented by Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere on 16 May 2013. Germany was surrounded by friendly nations and had become a "normal European" power. Instead of conflicts between states, terrorist networks, failed states, weapons of mass destruction and civil wars will become the new threats to safety and stability.

In the age of globalization, foreign policy is, more than ever before, the world's domestic policy. States, societies and economic zones are all becoming networked. The end of the East-West conflict has opened up new opportunities for German foreign policy - both within Europe and worldwide. Germany has accepted the international responsibility that has evolved for the country in the wake of dramatic changes with regard to world politics, and, together with its European and transatlantic partners, is deeply committed to the causes of democracy, human rights and the dialog between cultures. The prime objective of Germany's foreign policy is to maintain peace and safety in the world.

Germany is one of the advocates of appropriate reform to the international organizations, for which there are good reasons: First, no other comparable country is so embedded in multilateral political, economic and military cooperation. Second, German foreign policy takes into account the far greater international responsibility which Germany now has at the request of the world community: In this context Germany is pushing for a comprehensive reform of the UN's organizational structures, including a wish for a permanent seat in the Security Council.

Moreover, for German foreign policy the formation of an independent identity for European security constitutes a key side to strengthening the European pillar of NATO. When in December 2004 NATO transferred leadership of the troops (which have since operated as EUFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina to the ESDP (European Security and Defense Policy ) and the Europeans thus for the first time endeavored to control a flashpoint using their own financing and resources, this marked a new stage in the transformation of the transatlantic alliance. The responsibility that the European Union is willing to assume in the Balkans can also be gauged from the fact that its has committed a 1,800-strong international civil EULEX mission to Kosovo, designed to contribute to establishing rule-of-law structures there.

German foreign policy also promotes introducing civil society structures; it is committed to helping overcome natural disasters, asserting democratic and human rights, and to the war on terror. In fact, Germany also uses its new role to secure human rights, peace, and dialog - both in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The fact that Germany can live this role stems from the trust carefully nurtured over the decades. German politics is measured not against the yardstick of the destructive apparatus of the Third Reich, but against its achievements in development and integration. And here Germany has demonstrated that it knows how to assume such responsibilities.

Since the development of European political cooperation one of Germany's wishes for the European Union is that the role the latter plays in world politics be strengthened. From a German point of view the security of EU members in the face of new types of threat is a joint task. In the global political arena the voice of Europe carries more weight than that of its individual member states. Like hardly any other state, Germany's foreign policy has made use of the EU as the basis for representation of its own interests and to promote these. For many years now a steady majority in German public opinion has supported the idea that it is better to approach foreign and security policy questions as part of an alliance. For this reason German European policy has championed the strengthening of the European ability to act, which involves strengthening the common foreign, security and defense policy. This is being implemented with the creation of the office of a "High Representative of Foreign and Security Policy" who will be responsible for the EU's foreign affairs.

The Bundeswehr's existence is the success story of an army in a democratic society which, in addition, has played an important part in bringing the reunified Germany closer together. Security-policy developments are a major factor in determining the Bundeswehr's future spectrum of tasks and the structural consequences. Accordingly, the Bundeswehr serves the objectives of international conflict prevention and crisis management, support for Alliance partners, national defence, rescue and evacuation operations, partnership and cooperation, as well as national disaster relief. Germany gears its security-policy structures towards these tasks, and is willing to make a contribution to strengthening international security commensurate with its size and importance.

The EU's security-policy capabilities must be consistently strengthened within the framework of a credible European Security and Defence Policy. Germany will therefore continue in future to participate, within its means, in further developing and making available necessary capabilities. The Federal Government will make every effort to advance European defence cooperation while maintaining the core capabilities of the German defence technology industry and its international competitiveness.

The Bundeswehr is an operational army. Its structures must ensure that Germany has the ability to act in the field of foreign and security policy, and that the Bundeswehr can be deployed to secure the borders of the Alliance area, is capable of fulfilling commitments to the UN, NATO and the EU, and can continue in future to protect Germany and its population.

Since the early 1990s, German leaders have been challenged to exercise a foreign policy grounded in a long-standing commitment to multilateralism and an aversion to military force while simultaneously seeking to assume the more proactive global role many argue is necessary to confront emerging security threats. Until 1994, Germany was constitutionally barred from deploying its armed forces abroad. The Federal Government is willing to continue to take on responsibility within the multinational framework in future. The Federal Government can decide to deploy the Bundeswehr abroad, subject to the German Bundestag's consent, in so far as this is necessary in terms of security policy and is in the national interest. It will ensure that the Bundeswehr receives the necessary resources for this.

By the end of 2006, the Federal Government produced a white paper on Germany's security policy and the future of the Bundeswehr, under the direction of the Federal Minister of Defence. This white paper also set out the tasks and procedures for cooperation of the institutions responsible for security within a comprehensive national system of preventive security. On this basis, the constant further development of the Bundeswehr since German reunification will be continued in a way which will enable the armed forces to successfully carry out their tasks in the security-policy environment of the 21st century.

The Defence Policy Guidelines of May 2011 set the strategic framework for the mission and the tasks of the Bundeswehr as an element of the whole-of-government approach to security. They describe the security objectives and security interests of the Federal Republic of Germany. They are based on an assessment of the current situation and also include current and likely future developments. The Guidelines are reviewed at regular intervals. They form the binding basis for the conceptual framework of the Bundeswehr and all related subsequent work in the portfolio of the German Ministry of Defence.





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Denmark

The Kingdom of Denmark consists of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, Denmark's only remaining colonial possessions. Iceland in 1918 was granted independence, but until 1944 retained as sovereign the King of Denmark and conducted its foreign relations through the Danish diplomatic service. During the Viking period (9th-11th centuries), Denmark was a great power based on the Jutland Peninsula, the Island of Zealand, and the southern part of what is now Sweden. In the early 11th century, King Canute united Denmark and England for almost 30 years.

Denmark is a constitutional monarchy with a democratic form of government and is amember of the Council of Europe, the EU, the OECD (Organization of Economic and Commercial Development), NATO and the UN, playing a very large peacekeeping role in the latter organizations in relation to the size of the defense forces of the nation, contributing over 50,000 soldiers to UN peacekeeping activities since 1948. Denmark generally has excellent economic (and political) relations with the US. The US is Denmark's largest trading partner outside the EU and is ranked fourth overall in terms of trading partners with Denmark.

Denmark is situated between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, between Continental Europe and the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Capital is Copenhagen on the island of Zealand. The Jutland peninsula is connected to the rest of continental Europe, bordering Germany to the south. The length of the border is 68 km. To the east, the international waterway of the Sound provides the border to Sweden, only minutes away by tunnel and bridge or ferry. Denmark consists of Jutland and 406 islands connected by numerous bridges and ferries. No Dane lives more than 52 km. from the sea. The total length of the coastline is 7,314 km. Each year more than 125,000 ships pass through the Danish straits. Denmark's total area of 43,075km (16,625 sq. miles) is comparable to that of Maine and Massachusetts combined, yet its population is only 5.2 million approximately.

Although Denmark remained neutral during the First World War, its rapid occupation by Nazi Germany in 1940 persuaded most Danes that neutrality was no longer a reliable guarantee of Danish security. Danish security policy is founded on its membership in NATO. Since 1988, Danish budgets and security policy have been set by multi-year agreements supported by a wide parliamentary majority, including government and opposition parties. In 2008, Danish defense expenditures were 2.6% of GDP.

Denmark is a small nation that lived in the shadow of powerful and unfriendly powers. It has a long tradition of neutralism and has not, in recent history, maintained substantial armed forces. In 1949, the Danish people supported the courageous decision of their government to enter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and join together with the other western democracies in common defense against the threat of Soviet aggression. The Danish Government has collaborated consistently with the United States and other free nations in the common effort to eliminate from their trade with the Soviet bloc those items that would contribute significantly to the armed potential of the Soviet Union and its satellites.

By virtue of its geography, Denmark occupied an important position in the strategic plans formulated by SHAPE during the Cold War for the defense of western Europe and therefore of the United States. It commands the exit from the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and its participation is thus essential to the success of any plan to keep the Soviet submarine fleet from operating from the Baltic in the event of war. In addition, Denmark exercised political jurisdiction over Greenland, an important bridge between North America and the European continent on which the United States Air force maintains strategic bases, important to the air and naval defense of North America.

Denmark contributed directly to the defense build-up of the NATO powers in the 1950s. A substantial part of the ground forces assigned by SHAPE to the northern flank of the European defense system is being provided by Denmark, in addition to air and naval units being contributed to the NATO forces. Danish contributions to the common defense could not have been met without American assistance. The dependence of the Danes on imports from the Soviet bloc is reduced substantially by American aid. Without the aid, Denmark would be forced to seek more of its imports from the Soviet bloc and, in return, would have to make greater exports.

The Danish Armed Forces have undergone a dramatic restructuring. Where previously almost the entire emphasis lay on defending Danish territory, international tasks are now playing a significant role in determining the focus of Danish defence. This has given Denmark an opportunity to pursue a proactive foreign policy over the twenty years that have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. At the same time, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and on the Pentagon in Washington D.C. on 11 September 2001 have led to far greater focus on efforts to combat terrorism, extremism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. As a result, the nature of the international engagement has changed - from Cyprus, Bosnia and Kosovo to Iraq and Afghanistan.











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Spain

Following the collapse of its American empire in the early 19th Century, and particularly following the resounding defeat at the hends of the Americans in 1898, Spain turned inward. Spain remained neutral during the Great War, the only large European country to do so. The Spanish Civil War lasted from 1936 to 1939. In what has been called "a prelude to World War II," it is estimated that 600,000 people lost their lives, some of whom were Americans fighting in "International Brigades" on the Republican side. Spain also remained neutral during World War II, but abandoned its long-standing posture of neutrality in 1982 when it joined NATO. And in the 21st Century Spain is poised to return to the world stages as its military forces transition from a posture of Territorial Defence to a Force Projection posture.

Spain's long-established policy of neutrality ended with its conditional accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1982. Spain's membership, subject to conditions that circumscribed the Spanish role, remained in doubt, however, until it was ratified by a public referendum in 1986. Spain abstained from participating in the NATO integrated command structure, continued to ban nuclear weapons from Spanish soil, and excluded the use of Spanish forces outside its own territory. The Spanish government also insisted on the removal of a wing of United States fighter planes based near Madrid, which had formed a part of NATO's South European defenses.

During the Sixteenth Century, when Spain was the most powerful nation in Europe, the Spanish armed forces enjoyed a formidable reputation. The military decline that set in during the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) brought an end to Spain's ascendancy. During the nineteenth century, the ineffectiveness of the Spanish armed forces was demonstrated repeatedly by humiliating defeats abroad. A decadent monarchy and the weak and corrupt civil governments of the time cemented the military's involvement in domestic politics; interventions by an inflated and underemployed officer corps became a recurrent feature of Spanish political life.

From the creation of the national army in 1808 through the end of the Franco era, the Spanish military and political system was dominated by the army. As a consequence, the military became a kind of "palace guard" and generally performed gendarmerie functions. The result was that the armed forces became marginal organizations incapable of performing the mission of protecting the country and its interests from outside harm. Diplomacy and other countries with like interests were expected to fill that role.

At the conclusion of the 1936-39 Civil War, the victorious Nationalist army of General Francisco Franco y Bahamonde (dictator of Spain, 1939-75) was a large and hardened fighting force. Franco maintained direct command over the army, which he employed as an instrument for suppressing opposition to his regime. The country, however, exhausted economically after the Civil War, could not afford a large military establishment. Its size was steadily reduced, and it lacked the means to fight a modern conflict. Beginning in 1953, military assistance furnished by the United States in conjunction with the base agreement between the two countries helped to reverse the deterioration of the armed forces.

The constitutional monarchy that emerged on Franco's death in 1975 was threatened by the rebelliousness of many senior officers who had failed to come to terms with the new democratic climate. Nevertheless, under the 1978 Constitution and subsequent enactments, the mission and the structure of the armed forces were gradually transformed. Funds were allotted for new equipment and for improved training. The career system was rationalized and pay increases were granted. The three individual service ministries were replaced by a single Ministry of Defense with a civilian at its head. The Chief of the Defense Staff (Jefe del Estado Mayor de la Defensa--JEMAD), the highest military officer, acted in a supportive role to the minister of defense in carrying out military policies.

Further reforms were introduced by the Socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez Marquez, who came to power in 1982. The army was reconstituted as five divisions comprising eleven brigades, plus four independent brigades. The distinction between forces earmarked to protect against external threats, and regional defense units, organized to maintain internal order, was abandoned. The navy and the air force, less burdened by personnel costs, were farther along in their modernization programs than the army by the end of the Cold War.

In spite of the modernization program, by the end of the Cold War Spanish armed forces, especially the army, were still deficient in relation to other NATO nations. Defense spending remained well below the average for the alliance. Nevertheless, Spain was potentially capable of making a significant contribution to NATO's defenses. Moreover, its accession to the treaty was expected to invigorate the Spanish military establishment and to contribute to its emergence as a modern force with a well-defined mission as part of Europe's collective security.







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Estonia

Estonia is a nation of 1.3 million people with a $19 billion economy. The Minister of Defense is the Commander in Chief of the Estonian Defense Forces. Estonia officially became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on March 29, 2004 after depositing its instruments of treaty ratification in Washington, DC. The United States and Estonia cooperate intensively in the defense and security field.

Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Estonia had to overcome many challenges to become a democracy with effective supporting institutions. Nowhere was this more evident than in Estonian efforts to create the armed forces necessary to protect its newly regained independence. In recreating a military, Estonia had to start literally from scratch. With no institutional memory, little in the way of residual military infrastructure and equipment, and few trusted (at least initially) individuals with professional military education, training and experience, Estonia was faced with overwhelming challenges to create anational military structures from all but nothing.

The goal of Estonian security policy is to retain Estonias independence and sovereignty, territorial integrity, constitutional order and public safety. Estonian membership in NATO and the EU helps to fulfil these goals. Since international security is indivisible from Estonia's, the guiding principle of Estonian security and defence policy is to be an active provider of security on its own and to participate in crisis management and peace support operations led by different international organisations. These principles have also been set out in the National Security Concept of the Republic of Estonia, passed in the Riigikogu in 2004.

On 22 January 2009 the government gave its nod to the development plan of national defense for 2009-2018 that among other things calls for the purchase of transport helicopters and the creation of armored units, along with preservation of the present model of conscript service. The plan sets out the main directions of development of military national defense, key development projects and the main investments for the next decade.

Drawn up in collaboration between the Defense Ministry and the General Staff, the development plan is in conformity with the strategic threat assessment and addresses the gaps in capabilities that have been identified. The areas to be developed as priority areas are participation in foreign missions and interoperability with NATO, along with the development of corresponding units; development of command, communications, reconnaissance and surveillance systems; developing of the Amari air base; creating of mobile medium-range air defense to a limited extent, and further developing of short-range air defense.

The development plan also calls for the further development of an infantry brigade kept in high readiness, including the creation of armored units using tanks or armored personnel carriers. It envisages the acquisition of fast boats for the defense of territorial waters and of transport helicopters, further developing of anti-tank capabilities, of the Kaitseliit volunteer corps, and increasing financing for the latter. The number of professional military would be raised by about 125 people annually and the present model of conscript service preserved.

The Estonian military is composed of an Army, a Navy, and an Air Force, which together make up the Eesti Kaitsevagi, or Estonian Defense Force. Additionally, there is an organized militia called the Eesti Kaitseliit, or Estonian Defense League. Estonia's regular armed forces in peacetime number about 3,800 persons (Army 3,300, Navy 300, Air Force 200), of whom about 1,500 are conscripts. The Voluntary Defence League has also about 8,000 members. The planned size of the operational (wartime) structure is 16,000 personnel.

The armed forces in 1994 numbered about 3,000, including a 2,500-member army and a 500-member navy. There were also a 6,000-member reserve militia, known as the Defense League (Kaitseliit); a 2,000-member paramilitary border guard under the command of the Ministry of Interior; and a maritime border guard, which also functioned as a coast guard. The army's equipment included eight Mi-8 transport helicopters. The navy possessed two former Soviet and four former Swedish patrol craft, as well as two small transport vessels.

By 1998 Estonias active military, the Estonian Defense Force (EDF), stood at slightly less than 4,000 members  3,000 conscripts who served a mandatory year of service and about 400 of?cers and 400 noncommissioned of?cers. The EDF was comprised of land forces, a navy of seven small ships, and an air force of four antiquated aircraft. In addition to the EDF. there was an 8,000-man home guard force called the Kaitseliit (defense league). The attempt to build a reserve force had begun and 1998 projections called for this force to stand at 22,000 reservists within the next ?ve years and over 40,000 within a decade. The Estonian Border Guard, which had ground, air, and maritime branches, fell under the command of the Estonian Defense Forces in time of war. In peace-time, the Border Guard performed the traditional missions of border surveillance, search and rescue, and coastal patrol. The Border Guard had a personnel strength of 2,900 and was relatively well equipped with 11 boats and small ships, four Mi-8 helicopters, and four fixed wing aircraft

By the end of the 2009-2018 period the size of the war-time operational structure of the defense forces would increase from 16,000 personnel to around 25,000 personnel, to which units formed on the basis of Kaitseliit will be added. Fulfilment of the development plan presumes increasing the share of military spending to two percent of GDP by 2010 and keeping it there after that. The development plan would be reviewed every four years.

The Government of Estonia has expressed a firm commitment to meet the NATO goal of spending 2% of GDP; its current defense budget is 1.86% of GDP. In 2010, Estonia had over 300 military personnel deployed to support UN, NATO, and coalition military operations around the world. That number represents 9% of Estonia's military, a good indication of Estonia's willingness and ability to contribute to global security. In 2011 Estonia had troops in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, off the coast of Somalia, and in Lebanon, and participates in the NATO training mission in Iraq (NTM-I).

The Baltic Peacekeeping Battalion (BALTBAT) is a 750-man peacekeeping battalion headquartered in Adazi, Latvia, and comprised of personnel from the Baltic countries. Each of the three Baltic countries maintain and train their peacekeeping companies at national training centers, with the Latvian company being collocated with the BALTBAT Headquarters. Elements of all three nations companies have deployed on peacekeeping missions, including Bosnia and Lebanon. US support to BALTBAT has come almost exclusively through equipment; training and advising has been run by a committee of other donor nations.









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Finland

Geographically, Finland is an island nation located in the far north, isolated by the Baltic. Sea. About 80 percent of the Finnish foreign trade takes place by sea. All of its ports freeze over during a normal winter. Logistics and transportation costs are higher for Finnish companies than their international competitors. Finland is a small, distant country of sparsely populated areas spread far apart.

Finland published its first Arctic Strategy in 2010, a historic event above all on account of the fact that the country was declared by its government for the first time to be an Arctic country in its entirety. The strategy was elaborated further in 2013 and in 2016. The 2013 version had already drawn attention to the environment, the sustainable exploitation of natural resources, the economic potential of the northern regions and the need to develop transportation and infrastructure and to ensure a good life for the indigenous peoples and northern communities. This version had already given a clear signal as to the fact that Finlands interests in the north were primarily of an economic nature, although relations with other Arctic countries and international bodies also formed an important part of the strategy.

Finland is a neutral democratic state located between the northern regions of Russia and the strategic areas of Norway and neutral Sweden. With a coastline of 700 miles and land boundaries of 1,575 miles, Finland is about the combined size of New England, New Jersey, and New York, but has a population of just under five million. The capital city of Helsinki is the northernmost capital on the European continent. By the end of the Cold War, Finland's trade was mostly with the West, principally West Germany, Sweden, Britain, the United States, and Norway. About 25 percent of her trade with the Soviet Union, though 70 percent of her energy supplies came from the Soviet Union.

Fialand is a country whose women were the first in the world to be granted full political rights, where literary freedom by all metrics stands at a world-leading level, whose educational system is renowned throughout the world for producing results, and whose competitiveness is of the highest order. It is a country where the javelin is thrown further than anywhere else, and where modesty is a virtue. We put the world to rights just as easily in a sauna, whacking each other on the back with a birch whisk, as in a city cafe, browsing the social media while we sip our cup of latte. Finnish literature sizzles intellectually and comforts emotionally. A symphony of tension-charged language and narrative, sweeping from melancholia to ecstasy, from despair to omnipotence, and from solitary tears to communal roars of laughter. Finns are a nation of readers. Around 80 per cent will read at least one book a year, while a third will read one book a month.

As of 2012 Finland's defense forces consisted of 22,000 persons in uniform (16,000 army; 3,500 navy; and 2,600 air force). As recently as 2007 Finland's defense forces consisted of 35,000 persons in uniform (26,000 army; 5,000 navy; and 4,000 air force). The country's defense budget equals about 1.3% of GDP. There is universal male conscription under which all men serve from six to 12 months. As of 1995, women were permitted to serve as volunteers. A reserve force ensures that Finland can field 300,000 [as of 2012] trained military personnel in case of need.

From the Middle Ages until the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, Finland was part of Sweden. In 1809 she was conquered by Russia's Czar Alexander I and became an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, one of the early promotors of the Finnish cause, gave the following definition: We are no longer Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, so let us be Finns. In 1917, in the midst of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, Finland declared her independence.

In November 1939, after the Finnish government refused to make territorial concessions to the Soviet Union related to strengthening the defense of Leningrad, the Soviets attacked Finland along the entire 800 mile frontier separating the two countries. Over 600,000 well-armed Soviet troops, supported by hundreds of tanks and aircraft assaulted Finland, wearing their summer uniforms in what was expected to be a short campaign. Even as the Soviets struck Finland, however, the harshest winter in many years began to carpet the country with fresh snow. In the north the Russians faced a mobile army on skis, virtually invisible in snow-white parkas, and perfectly suited for hit-and-run tactics against the unwieldy Russian columns. The Finns knew every inch of the terrain and were quite at home in temperatures of 50 degrees below zero. The Soviets had a manpower superiority ranging to over 40 to 1, but the Finns made their invasion very costly. Even after suffering the loss of a million lives and 2,300 tanks, as well as 1,000 aircraft, the Soviets prevailed through sheer numbers. Finland was left with 25,000 dead and 55,000 wounded, but in proportion to her population, it would have been like the United States in 1940 losing 2.6 million dead in 105 days.

On March 13, 1940, Finland had to make peace with her gigantic, aggressive neighbor. Russia took Finland's second largest city, Viipuri (now Vyborg), her largest Arctic Oceanport, Petsamo (now Pechenga), and the entire Karelian Isthmus, home for 12 percent of Finland's population. Finland was forced to relinquish 22,000 square miles of territory to the Soviet Union, and about 400,000 Finns became refugees, leaving their homes rather than remaining behind to be absorbed into the expanding borders of the workers' paradise. The Finns took up arms again during World War II in which as an ally of Germany, they fought the Russians to regain their lost territory, but this effort gained them nothing. Karelia and Petsamo were lost forever. The Russians seized most of the Finnish merchant fleet and imposed $300 million in war reparations on Finland. Finland faithfully paid it all, with the last train load of reparations leaving Finland in the autumn of 1952.

A treaty of peace with the Soviet Union was signed in 1947, which limited the size of Finland's active duty forces to 41,900 troops (Army: 34,400; Navy: 4,500; and Air Force:3,000). Then, in 1948 Finland signed an Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation, and MutualAssistance with the Soviet Union, under which Finland was obligated to resist armed attacks by Germany or its allies against Finland or against the Soviet Union through Finland. Both the United States and Britain encouraged Finland to sign the 1948 treaty, viewing it as away to remove at least one potential source of tension from the rapidly growing cold war. Two years earlier Moscow had abrogated the Yalta Agreement, which called for the establishment of a democratic government in Poland, and in February 1948 there had been a communist coup in Czechoslovakia. The naval and air base on Finland's Porkkala Peninsula, 12 miles from Helsinki, was under "long term lease" to the Soviet Union, and there were Soviet troops poised outsideHelsinki. Nikita Khrushchev later wrote: "The Finns knew perfectly well that our troops stationed right outside their capital weren't there to make shashlik and go fishing."

By statesmanship and prudence, the Finnish leaders were able to convince Moscow that a neutral, Western-oriented Finland would not be used as a corridor or staging area for an attack onthe Soviet Union. At last, in 1955, the Soviet Union withdrew its forces from the Porkkala Peninsula, one of the rare instances in which the Soviet Union ever withdrew forces from occupied territory. Some observers attribute this move not so much to reasonableness and good faith on thepart of the Soviet Union as to a ploy to influence Sweden, the major Scandinavian power, and persuade her not to move closer to NATO.

In order to maintain the necessary military forces to meet her defense requirements, Finland requires conscription of all males. Annually, 90% of all eligible males are found fit for military service. While adhering to the limits imposed on its active duty forces, Finland has been able to train a military reserve force of 700,000. An additional 400,000 people are committed to civildefense operations in an emergency. Finland spends about seven percent of its annual government budget on defense. Beside some military purchases from abroad, Finland manufactures much of its own militaryequipment, such as assault rifles, anti-tank weapons, mortars, transport equipment, gunboats,mine sweepers, army radio equipment, and some of its artillery. The Finnish Air Force has madeuse of both Soviet MIGs and Swedish Drakens (some of which have been assembled in Finland). Finland also maintains stockpiles of fuel, food, fodder, and civil defense equipment, with shelters for at least two million people. Although Finland is culturally, socially, and politically western, the Finns realize they must live in peace with their giant eastern neighbor and not take any action that the Soviet Union might have interpreted as a threat to its security. It has long been United States policy to express sympathy and understanding for the particular conditions of Finnish neutrality and to encourage the Finns to be as balanced as possible in their neutrality. The US also favored maintaining and reinforcing Finland's historic cultural and economic ties with the West.





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France

The Defense Ministry's white paper, released 30 April 2013, sets out French defence policy and military spending between 2014 and 2019. Military spending would be frozen at 31.4 billion euros over the next two to three years, and total military spending from 2014 and 2019 would be 179.2 billion euros, maintaining France's position as the country with the second-largest defence budget in the European Union after the United Kingdom. By 2015, military spending would represent 1.5% of France's GDP, down from 1.56% today, and nearly 2% a decade ago.

A total of 24,000 posts will be cut between 2016 and 2019, on top of 10,000 posts already set to go over the next to years as part of a process to cut 54,000 military jobs by 2015 started by the previous president, Nicholas Sarkozy, in 2008. The number of posts lost in individual army departments was not initially decided. However, one of the army's eight brigades was set to go, meaning 7,000 soldiers would lose their jobs. It also called for a reduction in the number of soldiers able to be rapidly deployed abroad, from the current 30,000 to 15,000-20,000.

In the years since the end of World War II, appeals to national grandeur have had greater resonance with the public in France than with the publics in either the Federal Republic of Germany or the United Kingdom. The French strategic style can be characterized by a preoccupation with considerations of Great Power status. Possessing an independent nuclear deterrent capability since the early 1960s, France is perhaps second only to the United Kingdom (UK) as West Europe's most powerful military force. France is also one of only three European countries, including the UK and Greece, that spend more that 2 percent of gross domestic product on the military.

As of 2006, France's army had 14 brigades, including two armored, two mechanized infantry, and two light armored, and one each of artillery, mountain infantry, airborne, air mobile, engineering, signal, international/electronic warfare, and French/German brigades. The army also includes regiments of the Foreign Legion, Marines, and Special Operations Forces. The land army's task is to control physical and human assets in complex environments on a durable and permanent basis, primarily through ground-based action. Its missions include a projection requirement, meaning it must be capable of deploying a force of 50,000 troops at a distance to take part in a major engagement as part of the Atlantic Alliance.

The air force participates in the full range of defence tasks, at every stage and in all places. As part of its defence tasks, the air force is responsible for the airborne component of France's nuclear force, the protection and security of the national airspace, the projection of armed forces and the projection of power for immediate intervention far beyond France's national borders. The air force has two permanent operational commands: the Strategic Air Force Command (CFAS) and the Air Defence and Operations Command (CDAOA).

The French Navy, as part of the joint armed forces, has four main strategic functions, which form the core of the armed forces' action: deterrence, prevention, projection and protection. The Navy's role in deterrence has been confirmed with the continuation of the Strategic Submarine Force (FOST), which is responsible for a critical component of national defence, missile-launching nuclear submarines. Deterrence is also based on the deployment of airborne nuclear weapons.

In addition to the regular armed forces, France maintains its paramilitary Gendarmerie Nationale, one of the police system's two branches. The gendarmerie is an integrated part of the national military organization and supported by the defense budget. The gendarmerie exercises police authority in rural and small urban areas, while the non-military branch of the police, the National Police, has jurisdiction over urban areas with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The Gendarmerie ensures public safety, order and law enforcement. It also carries out judicial and administrative police tasks. At the European level, the Gendarmerie plays an active part in police cooperation, including participation in Europol and a contribution to the operational management of the Schengen information system. At the international level, the Gendarmerie advises governments on implementing new structures and helps to train officers in areas where its know-how is sought after, including law and order, technical and scientific police work and Gendarmerie nationale intervention unit (GIGN).

France has traditionally had a large military presence abroad. As of 2007, about 34,000 troops were assigned outside of metropolitan France. Somewhat more than half of these troops were deployed to meet prepositioning requirements, maintaining garrisons and naval bases around the world, notably in sub-Saharan Africa. France maintains permanent military bases in Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, and Senegal. The remaining 13,000 to 16,000 troops deployed overseas take part - often in leading roles - in peacekeeping/coalition operations under international or defense agreements. As one of five permanent members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, France is a frequent volunteer for peacekeeping operations. French troops participate as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or of coalitions in stabilization efforts mandated by UN resolutions, or, on occasion, operate under the Eurocorps flag. Such actions took place in Africa, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, with some addressing humanitarian crises, such as in Darfur. To address crises, France deployed military forces to Cote d'Ivoire in 2002, to the Central African Republic in 2003, and, with European Union (EU) partners, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2003. In 2004 it deployed military forces to monitor the Chad-Sudan border The French have been among the strongest supporters of NATO and EU policy in the Balkans. France was the largest contributor of troops in Kosovo, with 2,380 troops, or almost 14 percent of Kosovo Forces (KFOR). France has been the second largest partner of the United States in Afghanistan after Germany. French contributions included its Charles de Gaulle carrier battle group and 1,800 troops.

Despite foreign policy disagreements over Iraq, France and the United States remain strong partners in advancing security throughout the world. For example, 10,000 French forces in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific monitor sea-lanes. In another example, 7,000 French troops in the Caribbean area and French Guiana work closely with the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South to counter drug trafficking. France is also a full partner in the U.S.-initiated Proliferation Security Initiative and offers numerous training exercises.





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Greece / Hellenic Republic

Greece is the Roman name for this country. The Greeks call themselves Hellenes, and their own country Hellas. Greece is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Economic Community. Greece and the US are defense partners, and the US provides Greece with considerable military assistance.

Greek society as a whole suffers tremendously from the inefficiencies related to corruption, which appear to be endemic, and unlikely to be reduced significantly any time soon. Efforts to reform and rebuild Greeces economy in the future will be undermined because the countrys government, businesses and civil servants not only fail to stop corruption but actively participate in it. Many attribute the unusually high level of corruption in Greece, at least by Western European norms, largely to cultural causes. Because of its deeply ingrained nature, it was difficult to convince Greeks that corruption could be changed: Greeks are raised to believe Greece is the "poor relative" of the EU where Western European modes of behavior don't fit. "Ti na kanoume, Ellada einai" (What can you do, this is Greece) is a pervasive attitude resulting from Greece being cut off physically and historically from the rest of Western Europe.

Of particular note is the lack of trust within Greek society, which even characterized relations between close family members. This tendency leads Greeks to assume others are trying to outwit them, leading everyone to try to outwit others first. One of the greatest compliments a Greek can pay another Greek is to praise their "poniria", or ability to outwit others. Most politicians, once they've been in power for a while, begin to accept the system as it is. This doesn't mean they're corrupt, just human. Although corruption in Greece was rampant at all levels, it is especially bad at the day-to-day level involving activities such as obtaining building permits and dealing with customs officials. The average Greek politician is great at formulating complex laws that regulate things that don't need regulating, and doing so in the most complicated manner possible.

Greece's allocation of gross domestic product (GDP) for defense is the highest in the European Union (EU). A partner in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Greece is continuing to modernize the Hellenic Armed Forces and shift its force structure toward smaller, more flexible formations. To achieve this, the government has announced plans to spend more than $3 billion by 2011, in addition to the $8 billion it has spent in recent years on defense equipment.

Greece provides U.S. defense firms with excellent opportunities as it pursues a number of high-priority programs, including new frigates, helicopters, missiles, fighters and "new generation" trainer aircraft. It is estimated that U.S. firms could capture up to $2 billion in business under this modernization program. To take full advantage of these opportunities, U.S. firms must understand the complexities of the Greek market, including its often-unpredictable tendering process, as well as the competition from the EU and other areas. In this regard, a local consultant or partner is essential.

The terrorist attacks in New York, Madrid and London, increasing attacks on businesses, and the recent attack on the U.S. Embassy in Athens, led to an important change in Greece's - and other countries' - attitudes towards security and counter-terrorism. The necessity for more and better security has resulted in increased market potential associated with the upgrading of Greek airport and port security, to be funded from the Greek national budget, EU funds, the Interregional Plan, and public-private partnerships.

Greece has contributed approximately 150 engineers and headquarters staff to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, though it is currently adjusting its contribution to meet new mission requirements. Greece assumed command of Kabul airport for a six-month rotation starting in April 2010. Greece provided over 67 million euros in development and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan between 2002-2008.

Greece's special political and economic relationships with countries in the Balkans play an important role in reinforcing democratic development there. The country has made positive contributions to Balkans reconciliation through its involvement in the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR), NATO's long-running SFOR mission in Bosnia, and SFOR's follow-on mission, the EU's operation "Althea." There are presently 44 staff members in Althea and 366 Greek troops supporting KFOR.

Greece has been an active participant in NATO's Ocean Shield counter-piracy operation providing protection for World Food Program chartered and merchant vessels off the coast of Somalia, and routinely contributes to NATO maritime operations. Greece previously led, and it continues to participate in, the European Union's "Atalanta" counter-piracy missions. The U.S. Navy's naval support base at Souda Bay on the island of Crete provides operational and logistical support to European Command (EUCOM), Central Command (CENTCOM), the Fifth and Sixth fleets, and NATO forces engaged in missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and the Middle East.





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Croatia / Hrvatska

The EU signed an Accession Treaty with Croatia on December 9, 2011, and Croatian voters approved with a 66 percent majority Croatias accession to the EU on January 22, 2012. Croatia is slated to formally enter the EU on July 1, 2013, as long as the parliaments of the current 27 EU member states ratify Croatias Accession Treaty by then. EU accession negotiations provided an additional impetus for the Croatian Government to undertake measures in recent years to address corruption and bureaucratic and judicial inefficiency.

Croatia is about the size of West Virginia, but its geography divides it into two distinct markets -- the more affluent and tourism-oriented Dalmatian costal region along the beautiful Adriatic Sea, and the rural inland Slavonian region, dominated by agricultural and industrial activities. The countrys population of roughly 4.5 million is largely homogenous in religion, language and ethnicity [most of the country's Serbs fled in 1995 at the end of the Homeland War]. In the summer months its numbers are doubled by tourists from throughout Europe and the world, making it a cosmopolitan market for products and services.

The Croats are believed to be a Slavic people who migrated from Ukraine and settled in present-day Croatia during the 6th century. Croatia is situated between central and eastern Europe. Its terrain is diverse, containing rocky coastlines, densely wooded mountains, plains, lakes, and rolling hills. Croatia serves as a gateway to eastern Europe. It lies along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea and shares a border with Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, and Slovenia. The republic has a distinct boomerang shape, arching from the Pannonian Plains of Slavonia between the Sava, Drava, and Danube Rivers, across hilly, central Croatia to the Istrian Peninsula, then south through Dalmatia along the rugged Adriatic coast. Croatia is made up of 20 counties plus the city of Zagreb and controls 1,185 islands in the Adriatic Sea, 67 of which are inhabited.

Croatia was one of the six republics constituting Yugoslavia until 1991 when the country declared independence. The parliamentary elections in May 1990 became a cornerstone of Croatias future status in Yugoslavia. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Franjo Tudjman gained a clear majority in the legislature. The party had grown into a broad-based political movement whose main plank was the achievement of national sovereignty. Tudjman was elected Croatian President and he appointed Stipe Mesic as the first non-communist Prime Minister. Croatia held a referendum for independence on 18 May 1990, which showed that 93 percent of the population favored Croatias statehood.

The separation of Croatia proved problematic for Belgrade, which supported political and military insurrection of Serbs in Krajina. Gradually, Croatia was dragged into a Serbian-Croatian conflict at the republican level, which escalated after the Serbian National Council in Knin declared the independence of Krajina from Croatia. At the end of June 1991, Croatia declared its independence and disassociation from Yugoslavia.

Initially, the Yugoslav Peoples Army (YPA) focused its attention on crushing the Slovenian rebellion, but it also moved troops and equipment to saturate Croatia. The YPA aimed either to ensure that Zagreb remained in a centralized Yugoslavia controlled by Belgrade, or to carve away about a third of Croatias territory and establish a Greater Serbia stretching to the Adriatic coast. Failing this, Serbia would be dependent on Montenegro for access to the Adriatic.

Croatia found itself in a full-scale war, which ended in 1995 with the exodus of 250,000 Serbs from Krajina after the Croatian army retook the area from the Serbian paramilitary forces. The war left a legacy of war crimes committed by both sides, thousands of displaced Muslims, Croats and Serbs, and 20,000 dead.

In December 1995, President Tudjman joined President Milosevic and Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic in the signing of the Dayton peace accord, which ended the war in Bosnia. President Tudjman came out from the war a victor and a national hero, despite his alleged complicity in the war crimes committed by Croatian paramilitaries in Bosnia. Tudjman exploited Croatias post-war insecurities, and his image as the savior of the nation, to establish a quasi-authoritarian regime. He was repeatedly criticized by theinternational community for refusing to cooperate with the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, support for Bosnian Croatian nationalists in Bosnia, and violations of human rights and press freedom at home.

After the Dayton Accords were signed in 1995, Croatia began restructuring its Army, Navy, and Air Force/Air Defense to meet peacetime needs. Croatia had four clearly articulated goals. First, Croatia wanted to develop a civil-military system that gives the military an appropriate role in a civil society. Second, Croatia wanted a professionally trainedmilitary capable of sustaining its own training process. Third, Croatia wanted to have a resource management system that is efficient and effective. Finally, Croatia wanted all systems to be interoperable with NATO systems.

The government conducted a steady policy of cooperation with international institutions and achieved two significant foreign policy goals. In May 2000, Croatia became a member of NATOs Partnership for Peace, and in May 2001, the country signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union. This government also demonstrated a consistent and constructive policy toward Bosnia and Herzegovina by condemning the illegal activities of Bosnian Croats, who wanted tocreate a separate state. The governments determination to cut off political and financial links to Croatian nationalists in BiH provided credible evidence of Zagrebs intention to play a more constructive role in the region. Croatia also remained adamant in its support for the International War Crimes Tribunals investigations and arrests of suspected war criminals in the former Yugoslavia.

In April 2002, the Croatian government began the reorganization process of their armed forces, which should reduce the current active duty force of over 40,000 personnel to 21,000 over the next five years. Simultaneously, the MoD started a modernization process. Croatia's ambitious military reform program was designed to make the armed forces "NATO-ready" by 2007, a difficult task under the best circumstances thanks to a defense budget burdened by excess personnel and obligatory pension payments to war veterans. The government had minimal resources for much-needed equipment procurement.

Despite the current financial challenges faced by the country, Croatia is broadly continuing on a path of military modernisation. The Croatian armed forces are continuing the reform process that began in 2006. As of 2012, they were beyond the halfway point of this initiative, and have enacted some important reforms, not least of which is the professionalisation of the countrys armed forces. The Army remains Croatias dominant means of power projection; with the navy performing a coastal defence and logistics role, and the air force assisting in the logistics mission, alongside its traditional mission of defending the countrys airspace. Croatias deployment to Afghanistan was the countrys largest overseas mission, occupying up to 300 personnel to this end. Zagreb was expected to retain its deployment in Afghanistan until NATO began to reduce its troop numbers. Beyond Afghanistan, Croatia remained committed to a number of other NATO operations, notably in the Balkans; and UN peacekeeping deployments around the world, deploying small numbers of personnel to this end. The state is functioning well, but the people are not prospering. Many factors contribute to this including an obsolete education system, the lack of a defined political culture, and little entrepreneurial spirit. These are all legacies of a communist state.











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Hungary

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has proclaimed himself a champion of illiberal government of the kind practiced in China and Russia. Since coming to power in 2010, the FideszChristian Democratic Peoples Party (KDNP) government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban systematically dismantled the liberal democracy built in Hungary following the collapse of communism and established in its place an illiberal democracy. On July 26, 2014, Prime Minister Viktor Orban proclaimed that the new state that we are building in Hungary is an illiberal state, not a liberal state. He cited China, Russia, India, Turkey and Singapore as examples of systems which are not western, not liberal, not liberal democracies, perhaps not even democracies at all, and nevertheless make nations successful in the post-2008 world.

Hungary has not won a single war in 500 years. It is completely isolated linguistically and culturally. Most of Hungary's history revolves around being conquered and occupied by other nations, from the Romans to the Austrians. As with any country, Hungarian security attitudes are shaped largely by history and geography. For Hungary, this is a history of more than 400 years of domination by great powers -- the Ottomans, the Habsburgs, the Germans during World War II, and the Soviets during the Cold War -- and a geography of regional instability and separation from Hungarian minorities living in neighboring countries. Hungary's foreign policy priorities, largely consistent since 1990, represent a direct response to these factors.

Hungarians feel history had dealt them a bitter hand. The Hungarian armed forces, hampered by vulnerable geography, had almost never been successful on the field of battle. Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after defeat in the Great War, the new government was forced to sign the Trianon Peace Treaty in 1920, divesting the country of 70-percent of its former territory, one-third if its population, and all of its raw materials. The Hungarian government initially sided with Hitler during the Second World War in hopes of regaining lost territory. This endeavor ultimately failed entirely.

Hungary had a glorious military tradition in the Middle Ages. However, long resistance to the Ottoman Turks left Hungary weak, and the country was eventually partitioned by the Turks and the Habsburgs in 1541. Thereafter -- except for the period between World War I and World War II -- Hungary's armed forces have been subject to those of an outside power, first the Habsburg imperial army and then, after World War II, the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact.

Except for the short-lived neutrality declared by Imre Nagy in November 1956, Hungary's foreign policy generally followed the Soviet lead from 1947 to 1989. During the communist period, Hungary maintained treaties of friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance with the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Romania, and Bulgaria. It was one of the founding members of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact and Comecon, and it was the first central European country to withdraw from those now defunct organizations.

Since 1990, Hungary's top foreign policy goal has been achieving integration into Western economic and security organizations. To this end, Hungary joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in May of 2004. Hungary also has improved its often-chilled neighborly relations by signing basic treaties with Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. These renounce all outstanding territorial claims and lay the foundation for constructive relations. However, the issue of ethnic Hungarian minority rights in Slovakia and Romania periodically causes bilateral tensions to flare. Hungary was a signatory to the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, has signed all of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE)/ Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) follow-on documents since 1989, and served as the OSCE's Chairman-in-Office in 1997. Hungary's record of implementing CSCE Helsinki Final Act provisions, including those on reunification of divided families, remains among the best in eastern Europe. Hungary has been a member of the United Nations since December 1955.

Hungary's key national security focus since joining NATO in 1999 has been contributing to the stability of the region while integrating its armed forces into NATO's force structure. Hungary takes a keen interest in NATO expansion and in the transatlantic link. It shares a more acute sense of the threat than many other European countries and is watching events in the Balkans, Ukraine, and Russia with great interest. Hungarians believe that Hungary's own security and that of its ethnic minorities in neighboring countries will be best served by a peaceful, unified region, which will be achieved when EU and NATO membership is extended to the entire region.

Hungary was especially helpful during the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords in the Balkans from 1995-2004, when its airbase at Taszar was used by coalition forces transiting the region. Hungary currently leads a Provisional Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Afghanistan, and has an Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT), as well as Special Forces personnel, without caveat, in Afghanistan in 2009. A second OMLT deployed in 2010. The Hungarian military took over command of a joint battalion in the Balkans in 2008. Hungary's Papa Airbase is the home base of the Strategic Airlift Consortium's C-17 operations, expanding its contribution to NATO and other European partners. Hungary's military still faces numerous challenges to its modernization program, as reflected in the 2008 Hungarian defense budget, set at 1.17% of GDP, well below the NATO target of two percent.

Hungary was initially the most disappointing new member of NATO, given allegations of anti-Semitism, extra-territorial claims against neighbors, a reactionary view of military reform, and a failure to play a constructive role in Balkan security. In the introduction to the new Defense Review, published 11 August 2003, Defense Minister Ferenc Juhasz was candid about the state of the Hungarian military. Juhasz stated, "The constant reforms and reorganizations of the HDF of the past twenty years have caused a downward spiral of serial failures by the armed forces.". He also stated that Hungary was so far from meeting its commitments to NATO that it "would have been expelled if there were a mechanism for expulsion in place."





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Ireland

Ireland is neutral, but the Army of Ireland is very active in peacekeeping operations around the world, and at any given time upwards of one-fifth of Irelands soldiers are deployed, or predeployed or postdeployed. But Ireland has neither a navy nor an air force. The Irish Naval Service is focused on fisheries enforcement, a task is shares with the Irish Air Corps, a formation which is also responsible for other tasks, such as VIP transport and providing overwatch escort for trucks hauling cash or prisoners, or other such things as might attract the interest of criminal gangs.

The geographical island of Ireland contains two separate legal jurisdictions comprising the sovereign independent state of Ireland comprising 26 counties located to the south, east, west and north-west of the island, while Northern Ireland comprises the remaining six counties to the north-east of the island, under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.

The Irish Constitution provides that the name of the State is Eire or in the English language, Ireland. The Republic of Ireland Act of 1948 provides for the description of the State as the Republic of Ireland but this provision has not changed the use of 'Ireland' as the name of the State in the English language. The harp has been regarded as the official symbol or coat of arms of Ireland since medieval times. The heraldic harp is used by the Government, its agencies and its representatives at home and abroad. It is engraved on the seal matrix of the Office of the President as well as on the obverse of all coinage. It features on the Irish euro coins.

Ireland is a parliamentary democracy. Its law is based on common law and legislation enacted by the Irish Parliament under the Constitution. In addition, regulations and directives enacted by the European Union have the force of law in Ireland. EU regulations become part of national law and are enforceable in national courts immediately once they come into force. They do not need to be brought in by any national legislation. EU Directives require Member States to implement national legislation to achieve a specific result and must, therefore be transposed into Irish legislation.

The Constitution of Ireland sets out the form of government and defines the powers and functions of the President, both Houses of the Oireachtas (National Parliament) and the Government. It also defines the structure and powers of the Courts and outlines the fundamental rights of citizens. The definition of rights covers five broad headings: Personal Rights, The Family, Education, Private Property and Religion. The people elect the President by direct vote. A President may only serve for two terms.

There are fifteen Government Departments each headed by a Minister who collectively form the Government. Executive power is exercised by or on the authority of the Government, which is responsible to the Dail (House of Representatives). The Head of the Government is the Taoiseach (Prime Minister - pronounced "TEE-shuck") while the Tanaiste is the Deputy Prime Minister. There are two Houses of Parliament, known as Dail Eireann (House of Representatives) and Seanad Eireann (Senate). The political parties represented in the Dail are Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Labour Party, the Green Party, Sinn Fein and the Progressive Democrats.

The Permanent Defence Forces, which include the regular Army, Naval Service and Air Corps, operate under the auspices of the Department of Defence. The Department is also responsible for the general planning, organisation and co-ordination of Civil Defence measures. Recruitment to the Permanent Defence Forces is voluntary. The Defence Forces have extensive peacekeeping experience and have served with the UN all over the world since 1958. The longest-running mission is with UNIFIL in Lebanon where the Army committed in excess of 30,000 tours of duty since 1978. Defence Forces personnel have served, and continue to serve, in a number of other UN and UN led missions in areas such as Cyprus, the Middle East, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Afghanistan and, most recently, Chad.

The Irish Defense Forces have conducted peacekeeping operations since 1958. Many of these have had a humanitarian aspect. Since 1994, however, the Defense Forces have become involved in dedicated humanitarian operations, notably in Africa, Central America, and the Balkans. These operations have been unorthodox in that they have deployed unarmed troops, who are on special leave, in civilian attire and under the auspices of international organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), or Irish governmental organizations such as the Agency for Personal Service Overseas (APSO).

A high level of operational commitments has been a feature of Irish military life for many years, because of the so-called "Troubles" in Northern Ireland. It continued despite the declaration of a cease-fire by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1997. The main reason for the high tempo of military operations was that the Irish Police force -- the Garda Siochana -- is a predominantly unarmed force, the members of which require armed protection in carrying out of many of their duties. This applied particularly during the escorting of large amounts of cash between banks, of explosives to building sites and quarries, and of IRA and other subversive prisoners between courts and prisons.











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Iceland

Iceland is a Nordic European island country in the North Atlantic; with an area of 103,000 km2, and a population of 315,000 in 2008. Population density is extremely low, but increased from 1.7 to 3.0 cap/km2 between 1961 and 2008. Because of the cold climate, Iceland is barely suitable for agriculture. Iceland's vast inland glaciers are the origin of large glacial rivers, and Iceland is geologically highly active. As a consequence, Iceland is highly endowed with hydropower and geothermal heat. Iceland has developed from one of the poorest countries in Europe to one of the highest-income countries. It had a per capita GDP of US$33,200 PPP in 2008.

Iceland has no military forces. The country has never had an army and military maneuvers are alien to most Icelandic citizens. However, unknown military aircraft have been known to fly through Icelandic airspace, and people still want to know who is coming to visit. So how does a country without an army defend itself?

The US and Iceland signed a bilateral agreement in 1951 stipulating that the US would make arrangements for Iceland's defense on behalf of NATO and provide for basing rights for US forces in Iceland. In March 2006 the US announced it would continue to provide for Iceland's defense but without permanently basing forces in the country; Naval Air Station Keflavik closed in September 2006 after half a century. The Government of Iceland expressed disappointment, and even opposition politicians opposed to the US military presence criticized the manner of the closing, but bilateral discussions ensued to explore new ways of ensuring the country's security, with an emphasis on a "visible defense."

Negotiations concluded with a technical agreement on base closure issues (e.g., facilities return, environmental cleanup, residual value) signed on September 29, 2006, and a "Joint Understanding" on future bilateral security cooperation (focusing on defending Iceland and the North Atlantic region against emerging threats such as terrorism and trafficking) signed by the Secretary of State and Icelandic Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in Washington on October 11, 2006. The United States also cooperated with local officials to mitigate the impact of job losses at the Air Station, notably by encouraging US investment in industry and tourism development in the Keflavik area. The Government of Iceland formed a public corporation to oversee redevelopment of the former base site. In fall 2007 the university-level "Keilir Atlantic Center of Excellence" began its operations with a focus on aviation, science and energy technology, and innovation. Former base housing is now rented by roughly 1,100 university students (at Keilir as well as institutions in Reykjavik) and commercial redevelopment of other areas of the former base is proceeding.

Cooperative activities in the context of the new agreements began almost immediately after the closure of the base, with the arrival of the amphibious ship USS Wasp in October 2006 as the first US Navy port visit since 2002. Subsequent activities have included joint search and rescue, disaster surveillance, and maritime interdiction training with US Navy and US Coast Guard units, a port call by the US-led NATO Standing Maritime Group 1, and US deployments to support the NATO air surveillance mission in Iceland. The US and Iceland jointly led planning and execution of Northern Viking air defense exercises in 2007 and 2008, and planning for subsequent joint endeavors is underway. Additionally, the US Coast Guard's First District (Boston) and the Icelandic Coast Guard signed an agreement in 2008 to develop a joint training and exchange program, with the first activity--a joint search and rescue exercise--taking place in August 2008.

In 2008, the Government of Iceland passed its first defense budget ($20 million) and on June 1, 2008 established the Icelandic Defense Agency (IDA), under the direction of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The IDA oversees support of cooperative defense activities, military exercises in Iceland, and maintenance of defense-related facilities, including the operation of the Iceland Air Defense System radar sites, which the United States handed over to Iceland on August 15, 2007. Defense spending in the 2009 budget was reduced to roughly $13 million, due to government-wide budget cuts as well as considerable devaluation of the krona. The Government of Iceland announced that the short lived IDA would be closing in 2010. It offered assurances, however, that all of the IDA's functions and responsibilities would continue.

The Government of Iceland contributes financially to NATO's international overhead costs and recently has taken a more active role in NATO deliberations, planning, and peacekeeping. Iceland hosted the NATO Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Reykjavik in June 1987 and again in May 2002. Iceland hosted the NATO Military Committee in April 2007 and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in October 2007.

Notwithstanding its status as an unarmed nation, Iceland has been eager to do its part to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security. One of the niches it is helping to fill is in civilian peacekeeping and crisis management. It took a significant step forward in this area in 2001 by launching its Icelandic Crisis Response Unit (ICRU). In setting up the ICRU, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs established a roster of over 100 experts in various occupations (police officers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, engineers, journalists, etc.) who will be specially trained and prepared to deploy to trouble spots abroad on short notice. Iceland, due to financial constraints, has had to dramatically reduce the number of deployed peacekeepers serving worldwide.











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Republic of Italy

Italy views itself as a medium sized power participating in the grand security alliance of NATO and in the European process of integration. At the same time, Italy intends to assume a higher profile and greater responsibilities in the geographic areas in which it has immediate security interests. The region including the Mediterranean as far as the Persian Gulf, Central/Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Turkey with a push in the direction of the Caspian Sea area and Central Asia is seen to be the nerve center of future European stability and of Italy's interests. The Italians do not see themselves acting alone in any regional confrontation but rather as part of a community of European nations acting together to resolve issues and differences that will disrupt the political and economic stability of Europe.

In the absence of any direct threat to its national security, Italy has chosen to declare a series of issues that are significant to its national interests. Italy has a strong geostrategic interest in bringing Russia back into the international community through a stronger bilateral partnership. Italy is also committed to stabilization in the Balkans to prevent further fragmentation. Italy's strategy in the Persian Gulf is based on containment of Saddam's threatening ambitions by constant surveillance on Iraqi programs and by maintaining Italian military capabilities in a state of readiness for possible intervention. Italy has also embarked on a strategy of normalizing relations with Iraq's neighboring countries such as Iraq and Turkey. Italy regards the Middle East as an area filled with dangers and uncertainties.

Italy is an important economic and political partner of the United States. Italy's proximity to areas of tension in the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean, and North Africa underscores its strategic significance. A founding member of NATO, Italy has worked with the United States in efforts to promote reconstruction, democratization and stability in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Central and Eastern Europe, implementation of the Dayton accords in Bosnia, and the success of the Middle East Peace Process. Italy played a crucial role in NATO's action in Kosovo and in managing the refugee crisis, as well as in efforts toward economic and political stabilization in Albania. Italy has played a central role in the growth of the European Union, supporting European economic and political integration and advocating a stronger European security and defense identity within NATO.

The armed forces are under the control of the Ministry of Defense. Control over the Carabinieri, a military security force, was transferred in March from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Defense; however, the Ministry of Interior retains authority over this force in matters of internal security. Four separate police forces report to different ministerial or local authorities. Under exceptional circumstances, the Government may call on the army to provide security in the form of police duty in certain local areas, thereby freeing the Carabinieri and local police to focus on other duties. For several years, the army supported the police in Sicily and in the province of Naples, areas with high levels of organized crime. The army left Naples at the end of 1997 and Sicily in 1998 but was redeployed back to both locations for a short period in 1999, during which time special actions were in progress against organized crime. In September 2000 the Government sent an augmented force to Naples of 500 police and Carabinieri, some of whom wore military-style camouflage battle dress uniforms, to combat criminal violence in the city. Amnesty International (AI) reported numerous allegations that the police used excessive force against individuals, often Roma, refugees, and, increasingly, women, at the time of arrest and initial detention.

Italy has embarked on a major defense reform to create a "New Defense Model." The objective is a well-balanced military force that is small in size but high in quality, to include adequate strategic mobility and logistics autonomy for out of area operations and appropriate capabilities to permit easy integration with allied or coalition forces. Because of Italy's geo-strategic position in the Mediterranean, the threat from possible attacks by ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction (especially from the Middle East) is an important concern. Since Italy is not a nuclear power that can invoke deterrence to forestall attacks, effective air and missile defense is viewed to be an essential element of Italy's future military force posture.

In addition to general modernization of its land combat and naval systems, Italy also needs to provide greater sustainability and force protection for its forces in out-of-area operations. Italy's naval strategists have further argued that, with the Cold War over, it is necessary to focus on naval projection in the Mediterranean. Since Italy's naval forces are becoming obsolete, a major modernization program is required. This program should include a second light carrier with amphibious capabilities, two anti-air warfare frigates, a new generation of multi-role frigates, eight additional coastal ships, and modernization of the helicopter fleet.

The Defense white paper "Investing In Security - Transforming the Italian Military" notes : "Based on experience and considering the high volatility and unpredictability of future scenarios, there is a preliminary requirement to develop a military tool able to respond to a wide and diversified range of contingencies and, as such, balanced in its capabilities. A second consolidated requirement is to create a deployable force, or one equipped with significant expeditionary capabilities. During the Cold War the Military was essentially static, out of the need to face a known threat on national territory, coming from a clearly-defined direction. Today the opposite is true. Whether we oppose a threat, prevent a crisis, enforce or maintain the peace, or lend relief to populations, operations will take place outside of the national territory, thus compelling military forces to be intrinsically expeditionary."





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Principality of Lichtenstein

Lichtenstein is a small country in Europe, situated on the foothills of the Alps in the Rhine valley. Its immediate neighbors are Switzerland (common border of 41.2 km) with whom Lichtenstein is narrowly linked economically and politically and Austria (common border of 36.7 km). Liechtenstein is a principality, not a duchy. With a population of 34,761 (July 2009 est.), Liechtenstein is the smallest German-speaking country in the world.

Lichtensteins constitution from 1921 designates Lichtenstein as a hereditary monarchy based on democratic and parliamentary fundaments. The present Duke is Hans Adam II, reigning from 1989. The Lichtensteins had lived primarily in Moravia (the Czech Republic) and in Vienna Austria, which they left ahead of the Nazis in 1938, when the duchy became their permanent home.

Liechtenstein abolished its military in 1868 and stayed neutral in the First and Second World Wars. While Liechtenstein has no military forces, it is interested in European security policy and is an active member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Liechtenstein pursues an independent and active foreign policy. The country maintains close bilateral relations with many States and engages in multilateral cooperation at the regional and global levels, especially through its membership in international organizations.

The main responsibilities of Liechtenstein foreign policy are the defense of the independence and security of the country and the conduct of its relations under international law. The focus is on the cultivation of bilateral relations with other States and multilateral cooperation in international organizations. The guideposts of international cooperation are the representation of the countrys own interests, the protection of Liechtenstein citizens, and solidarity with the international community. Liechtenstein is therefore particularly engaged in human rights policy, the progressive development of international law, development cooperation, international humanitarian assistance including disaster assistance and assistance, and specific areas of international environmental policy.

The GDP in market values is (2005) 80800  per resident which is among the highest in the world. The GDP is generated by industry and product manufacturing (39%), services, (25%), financial services (29%) and agriculture (7%). Overall, Lichtensteins economy employs total of 30,170 persons, of which 20,035 are foreigners who came to work in Lichtenstein, principally from Austria and Switzerland. Lichtensteins economy is export oriented for the European economic area (44%), Switzerland (12%), USA / Canada (18%) Asia (24%), and others (2%).

Lichtensteins foreign trade balance is strongly active. The often mentioned banking represents more than a quarter of its GDP and consists of banking houses, employing more than 1700 employees. The banks manage clients assets exceeding 155 billion Euros. Further, there are 163 investment companies with assets of approx. 21 billion Swiss Francs and 31 insurance companies.

The history of Liechtenstein as the Principality of Liechtenstein began in 1719, when Emperor Charles VI unified the Lordship of Schellenberg and the County of Vaduz and elevated them to an Imperial Principality by the name of Liechtenstein. In 1806, Liechtenstein became a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and obtained sovereignty, which it has maintained until today. In 2006, Liechtenstein celebrated 200 Years of Sovereignty of the Principality of Liechtenstein. The history of the House of Liechtenstein extends far back into the Middle Ages. The Family of Liechtenstein is one of the oldest Austrian noble families. In 1136, Hugo of Liechtenstein was the first bearer of the name to be mentioned in documents.

The country has a strong financial sector and has been identified as a tax haven. It is a member of the European Free Trade Agreement. Liechtenstein is not part of the European Union and has shown no interest in joining.

According to the Constitution, the Principality of Liechtenstein is a constitutional, hereditary monarchy on a democratic and parliamentary basis with power shared between the Reigning Prince (hereafter the Prince) and the people. The Prince is the Head of State and is vested with extensive powers. The Prince has the authority to appoint and dismiss the Government, dissolve the parliament, appoint judges, and sanction all laws and acts adopted by referenda.

Voters enjoy broad democratic rights and can launch popular initiatives and initiate referenda to amend laws and the Constitution. They can also submit a motion of no confidence in the Prince, to abolish the monarchy, to convene the parliament, and to elect judges in cases of disagreement between the parliament and the Prince. Executive powers are vested in the government, a collegial body consisting of a head of government and four ministers. The members of the government are appointed by the Prince on the proposal of the parliament and with its concurrence.

Legislative powers are exercised by the parliament (Landtag) elected by popular vote for a four year term. The parliament is elected under a proportional representation system from 2 multi-mandate constituencies; 15 members are elected from the Upper Country (Oberland) and 10 from the Lower Country (Unterland). The current distribution of seats per constituency was introduced in 1988 and sought to protect the interests of the smaller Lower Country by assigning it more seats than it qualified for based on its population.

The parliament has 25 seats and its members serve on a part-time basis. In the last several decades, the political landscape has been dominated by two parties, the PCP and the PU, usually ruling in a coalition. Since 1930 there have been only few instances in which one party obtained an absolute majority. The FL and Independents appeared on the political scene in 1985 and 2013, respectively.

Following the 2013 elections, 10 seats in the parliament were held by the Progressive Citizens Party (PCP), 8 by the Patriotic Union (PU), 4 by the Independents (DU) and 3 by the Free List (FL). Women held only six seats in the outgoing parliament.

In the country of fewer than 38,000 inhabitants, ballots are open for only 90 minutes on Sunday. However, most people vote by mail. On 5 February 2017, voters elected 25 members of parliament for a 4-year term. The parliament is elected under a proportional representation system from two multi-mandate constituencies. The law assigns more seats to one of the constituencies than it qualifies for in proportion to the number of voters there, which potentially affects the equality of the vote. Seats are allocated to contestants that obtain at least eight per cent of valid votes countrywide, which is one of the highest thresholds in the OSCE region.

For decades, the Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP) and the Patriotic Union (VU) have formed governments in the wealthy principality, which is wedged between Austria and Switzerland. The election of Liechtenstein's 25 MPs on was also expected to decide on the political fate of Prime Minister Adrian Hasler, the FBP leader. According to the results, he might have to cede the post to his current deputy, Thomas Zwiefelhofer of the VU.

The conservative party of Liechtenstein's Premier Adrian Hasler may have come out on top in the European microstate's parliamentary vote on Sunday, but exit polls showed it suffered a blow to its mandate. Hasler's Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP) received 35.2 percent of the vote, losing nearly five percentage points. The party now had nine seats in the 25-member legislature, down from 10 seats. Support for FBP's conservative coalition partner, the Patriotic Union (VU) rose slightly to 33.7 percent, granting it an unchanged eight seats in parliament.

The Liechtenstein royal family continued to wield ultimate authority. The regent, Prince Alois, has the power to suspend parliament and dismiss the government, and he can veto bills. The royal family's political power is backed by financial muscle. They own the LGT, the world's largest family-held private bank, which manages assets totalling 143bn Swiss francs ($144bn).





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Lithuania

Lithuania, a former Soviet republic, is one of the poorest countries in the European Union. Lithuania has been an EU and NATO member only since 2004 and is still in the midst of a profound social and cultural transition. It has not fully completed the transformation from a half-century of Soviet occupation to mature Western-style democracy. Weak governmental and judicial institutions, a media manipulated by business interests, ambivalence about foreign investment, and corruption remain challenges.

The largest and most populous of the three Baltic states, Lithuania is situated on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, in northeastern Europe. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland to the southwest, and Kaliningrad, a territory of Russia, to the west. It has 60 miles of sandy coastline, of which only 24 miles face the open Baltic Sea. Lithuania's major warm-water port of Klaipeda lies at the narrow mouth of Kursiu Gulf, a shallow lagoon extending south to Kaliningrad. The Nemunas River and some of its tributaries are used for internal shipping. Situated between the 54th and 56th latitudes and the 20th and 27th longitudes, Lithuania is glacially flat, except for the hills (of no more than 300 meters) in the western and eastern highlands. The terrain is marked by numerous small lakes and swamps, and a mixed forest zone covers 30% of the country. According to some geographers, Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, lies at the geographical center of Europe.

Lithuania became a member of the United Nations (UN) on September 17, 1991 and is a signatory to a number of UN organizations and other international agreements. It is also a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the North Atlantic Coordinating Council, and the Council of Europe. Lithuania gained membership in the World Trade Organization on May 31, 2001. In November 2002, Lithuania was invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and officially became a member on March 29, 2004. On May 1 of that same year, Lithuania joined the European Union.

Lithuania's foreign policy is based primarily on protecting itself and the Eastern European region from what it perceives as an expansionist Russia. Lithuania uses its membership in both NATO and the EU to promote security and democracy in Eastern Europe. It strongly advocates NATO membership for both Georgia and Ukraine and increased EU political and economic engagement to the region as a whole, including its neighbor Belarus. Lithuania maintains foreign relations with 98 countries through a network of 42 embassies and 35 honorary consuls. It has seven diplomatic missions to international organizations and one special mission to Afghanistan.

Lithuania, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 2004, fully endorses the concept of "collective defense." National policy recognizes the primacy of NATO as the guarantor of security in Europe. The goal of Lithuania's defense policy is to create a military that can contribute to international missions through the NATO alliance, the UN, and other groups, and to continue to integrate Lithuania into Western defense structures. The Defense Ministry is responsible for combat forces, search and rescue operations, and intelligence. The government has committed to but never reached the goal of dedicating 2% of GDP to defense spending, but current funding levels sit below 1%.

As of 2011 Lithuania maintained approximately 8,000 active duty troops and 5,000 reserve troops. Previously, Lithuania had maintained approximately 10,000 active duty troops and 8,000 reserve troops. The core of the Lithuanian force structure is the Iron Wolf Motorized Infantry Brigade, which consists of five battalions and appropriate support elements. The Lithuanian Air Force operates 17 fixed wing aircraft and nine helicopters. The Home Guard is organized into five districts. The Border Police, with 5,400 guards, fall under the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry; they are responsible for border protection, passport and customs duties, and the interdiction of smuggling and trafficking activities.

Lithuania cooperates with Estonia and Latvia in the joint naval squadron BALTRON, and plans to contribute to a trilateral Baltic land forces element for future NATO Response Force rotations. Lithuania deployed troops to Iraq until 2008. Since the summer of 2005, Lithuania was also part of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, leading a 190-member Provincial Reconstruction Team in Ghor province. Lithuanian Special Operation Forces also serve in Afghanistan under NATO command.

Relations with Poland are now among the closest enjoyed by Lithuania. Although a similar bilateral friendship agreement was signed with Belarus in 1995, Lithuania has joined the United States and other European nations in strongly urging the Government of Belarus to adopt much-needed democratic and economic reforms. President Adamkus was instrumental in brokering a peaceful resolution to the electoral challenges in Ukraine in 2004, and Lithuania plays an important leadership role in promoting democracy throughout the region. The United States established diplomatic relations with Lithuania on July 28, 1922. The Soviet invasion forced the closure of the Legation to Lithuania on September 5, 1940, but Lithuanian representation in the United States continued uninterrupted. The United States never recognized the forcible incorporation of Lithuania into the USSR and views the present Government of Lithuania as a legal continuation of the interwar republic. In 2007, the United States and Lithuania celebrated 85 years of continuous diplomatic relations. Lithuania has enjoyed most-favored-nation treatment with the United States since December 1991. Since 1992, the United States has committed more than $100 million in Lithuania to economic and political transformation and to humanitarian needs.

The disadvantages of a centrally planned economy became evident after the collapse of the USSR. in 1991, when Lithuania began its transition to a market economy. Owing to the availability of inexpensive natural resources, the industrial sector had become excessively energy intensive, inefficient in its utilization of resources, and incapable of manufacturing internationally competitive products. More than 90% of Lithuania's trade was with the rest of the USSR, which supplied Lithuanian industry with raw materials for production and a market for its outputs. The need to sever these trading links and to reduce the inefficient industrial sector led to serious economic difficulties. The process of privatization and the development of new companies slowly moved Lithuania from a command economy toward a free market. By 1998, the economy had survived the early years of uncertainty and several setbacks, including a banking crisis, and seemed poised for solid growth. In 1997, exports to former Soviet states were 45% of total Lithuanian exports. In 2006, exports to the East (the Commonwealth of Independent States--CIS) were only 21% of the total, while exports to the EU-25 were 63%, and to the United States, 4.3%. After joining the EU in 2004, Lithuania saw its economy boom, reaching a record 8.9% GDP growth in 2007.

Economic inequality in Lithuania may be much greater than reported by official figures, which do not include the income of the large percentage of Lithuanians who work "off-the-books." For younger, better-educated urban residents, the transition from a command to a free-market economy had been beneficial. This well-educated segment of the population derives additional income from unreported work. The other segment of Lithuanian society suffered from the old economy's collapse. These less-educated people rely upon their low wages and meager pensions to meet basic needs. They labor in the countryside or in Soviet-style industries and subsist at or below the poverty line. About one-third of the Lithuanian population is poor, and discontented. There is also a sizable group of discontented people who held prestigious professional positions in Soviet Lithuania, and whose fortunes plummeted with the collapse of the Soviet Union.





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Luxembourg

Luxembourg long occupied an important strategic position on the European chessboard. From the 16th century onwards, the country was drawn into the numerous wars fought for the hegemony in Europe by the Spanish Habsburgs and the Valois, and finally the Bourbons of France. The city of Luxembourg was progressively transformed into one of the most renowned fortresses of Europe, a true "Gibraltar of the North".

In 1815 Luxembourg became a separate political entity, with the aim of erecting a barrier against France. The Congress of Vienna brought about an additional complication regarding the international status of the Grand Duchy. The latter became a member of the German Confederation, an association of 39 German states essentially pledging mutual defence. The fortified town of Luxembourg thus became a federal fortress. Integration into the German Confederation enabled a Prussian garrison to be stationed at the fortress, an efficient protection to contain a French attack.

Today the Luxembourg Army has a strength of approximately 430 professional soldiers, about 340 enlisted recruits, and 110 civilians. The country has no navy or air force. A 1967 law made the army an all-volunteer force under civilian control A 2002 law allows EU citizens, under certain conditions, to join the Luxembourg Army.

In 2005 Luxembourg spent approximately $310 million on defense, or about 0.85% of GDP. Luxembourg has participated in the European Corps (EUROCORPS) since 1994 and has contributed troops to UNPROFOR, IFOR, SFOR, and KFOR missions in the former Yugoslavia. Luxembourg has one officer serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the European Union's ALTHEA mission and, as of February 2008, had a 23-person contingent in Kosovo as its contribution to KFOR. The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg participated in the Balkans peacekeeping effort since 1992, deploying 528 personnel as of February 9, 2001.

Luxembourg participates in the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan; it had nine soldiers integrated into the Belgian forces deployed there. Luxembourg takes part in EU- and NATO-sponsored missions in Africa. It committed to sending a team of de-mining experts to participate in UNIFIL in Lebanon. Luxembourg financially supported international peacekeeping missions during the 1991 Gulf War and in Rwanda and Albania and provided humanitarian aid to Iraq. The army also participated in humanitarian relief missions such as setting up refugee camps for Kurds and providing emergency supplies to Albania.

Tucked away in the smallest nation of the North Atlantic Alliance is an organization whose services are used by all member nations with the exception of Iceland. The NATO Maintenance and Supply Organization (NAMSO), the largest logistics organization of NATO, is headquartered in the City of Luxembourg. Conceived through an initiative of the United States, NAMSO was created by the North Atlantic Council on 2 April 1958. The Organization consists of a Board of Directors and an executive arm, the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA), the principal logistics support management agency for the alliance. Its responsibilities include procuring goods and services as well as arranging maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for the various weapon systems used collaboratively by NATO members.

The US Defense Department said 17 March 2006 that it planned to cease operations at the Army Prepositioned Site at Bettembourg, Luxembourg, by the end of September 2006. The facility was no longer needed "due to U.S. European Command force-structure realignment" which resulted in the need for less storage space for military materiel.

The Sanem, Luxembourg Warehouses Service Agency celebrated its 30th Anniversary 08 January 2009,. The event included speeches from U.S. Ambassador Ann Wagner, Luxembourg Defense Minister Jean-Louis Schiltz and a tour of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Central Region Storage Facility here. "The importance of Sanem as a logistics hub has been recognized for many years by the U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense," Ambassador Wagner said. "The superb reputation of WSA and its highly skilled workers is widely appreciated."

The facility is home to 85 perent of USAFE's War Reserve Materiel which includes vehicles, aerospace ground equipment, aircraft tanks, tacks, adaptors, and pylons, Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resources and other airfield support equipment items valued at over $350 million, according to Maj. Adrian Crowley, 435th Materiel Maintenance Squadron commander. WSA maintains, reconstitutes, and stores WRM in a posture to rapidly deploy worldwide within 24 hours for any contingency.

The WSA was established and designated by the government of Luxembourg to perform all the services set forth in a memorandum of understanding between Luxembourg and the United States dating back to December 1978. The U.S. Air Force established the CRSF in 1994 and oversees WSA site operations.

The city of Luxembourg served as headquarters for General George S. Patton's U.S. Third Army. General Patton is buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery.











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Latvia

Latvian national security, economic welfare and development opportunities are determined by its geographical position, historic relations with neighbouring countries and nations, status of national economy, culture traditions and defence capabilities. There are several reasons related to the Latvian history, why the Latvian security should be viewed within the context of becoming a member of the international security and economic systems  European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

At the end of World War I Latvia managed to win the battle for its independence. Latvian soldiers were known for a great experience and praised for their courage and military skills. Despite the successful establishment of the Latvian state, the further history of Latvia proved that the policy of neutrality and abdication from the military resistance to the occupation powers did not ensure the existence of the state and preservation of the nations physical strength and self-respect.

Insufficient armament and lack of military cooperation agreements signed between the Baltic States together with the international political situation were the causes of extermination of the Latvian armed forces of almost 20,000 men who were forcefully exploited to serve the interests of the Soviet and fascistic occupation powers. In addition, these powers have illegally conscripted over 200,000 Latvian residents of Latvian and other ethnical backgrounds to their occupation forces. A large part of them were killed in the battles, a part emigrated to the West and a part were deported to the death camps in Siberia. This is how the Latvian military potential and traditions accumulated during the first half of the 20th century were lost.

After the Latvian independence was reestablished in the early 1990s, it was necessary to substantially reform all the state administration institutions. Establishing of the national defence system was particularly complicated due to the lack of the defence concept, armament and relevant infrastructure, and what was of the greatest importance  lack of the experienced military personnel. These were the consequences of the Soviet occupation, which halted the national military system for half a century.

Latvia's defense concept is based upon four basic pillars: collective defense as a member of NATO, professionalization of the armed forces, support and coordination with civil society, and international military cooperation.

In 1994 the armed forces totaled 6,600, including 1,650 in the army, 630 in the navy, 180 in the air force, and 4,140 in the border guard. Plans called for 9,000 active members in the armed forces. Latvia also had the security service of the Ministry of Interior and the reserve Home Guard (Zemessardze). In addition to serving as a national guard, the Home Guard, with an estimated 17,000 members, assists the border guard and the police.

Latvia abolished conscription in 2006. Previously, when they reached the age of nineteen, men served a mandatory one-year period of active military duty, but men and women at least eighteen years of age might volunteer for military service. Alternative service for conscientious objectors was available.

Presently, the armed forces consist of the regular forces, a home guard called "Zemessardze", and the Reserve. The regular forces are composed of the land forces, an air force focused on air surveillance and search and rescue, and naval forces focused on coastal surveillance, assertion of sovereignty, mine countermeasures, search and rescue, and environmental protection. There are some other minor units adding to the total armed forces personnel of 4,500-5,000. the Zemessardze is an autonomous 8,500-10,600-man-strong volunteer reserve organization which performs traditional national-guard duties such as crisis response and support for military operations.

Orbat.com further reports 27,000 Mobile Reserve Battalion troops and 17,000 Territorial Reserve Battalion troops, with five Territorial Defense Military Regions of 5 brigades, each with 2-7 battalions. But official Latvian sources make no mention of such massive reserve formations, which might have been envisioned as territorial defense units when Latvia based its defense on the Finnish [and Swedish / Austiran / Swiss] integrated total defense model, but they would seem to have no place within the conext of a military oriented towards token-scale participation in NATO peacekeeping operaations.

Latvian Defense Minister Raimond Veionis said in March 2014 that Latvia was planning to increase the size of its professional armed forces, and the voluntary home guard, Zemessardze. The professional army will increase by 1,000 soldiers to 6,000. Veionis said the move comes in light of the changing security situation. Zemessardze numbers are expected to increase to 8,000, from the current 5,000.

Defense spending had risen following joining NATO in 2004, and the government had committed 2% of its GDP to defense spending through 2013. However, in view of current economic problems, spending in the military sector is unlikely to reach that goal, and in fact has been slashed more severely than almost any other country. Latvia and Lithuania spent in the neighborhood of 1.4 percent in recent years.

The Latvian National Armed Forces became fully professional in November 2006. The goals stated in the Chapter on National Defence and Security of the Governments Declaration, adopted on 9 March 2004, included a decision that by the end of 2006, Latvia will only maintain a professional army. Provision of enhancement of professionalism of the National Armed Forces (NAF) and cancellation of the compulsory military service. Creation of an efficient system for selection and training of personnel, as well as ensuring a competitive salary system and a social guarantees programme for soldiers of the professional military service. The year 2006 saw the end of conscription and a relatively smooth transfer of the NAF to a professional army. However, a few individual cases which raised public concern about leadership and professionalism in the NAF in 2006 (among them the death of two parachutists due to lack of training and co-ordination) probably contributed to some negative evaluation. General statistical data on poor health conditions and short life expectancy of Latvian men explain the poor health conditions of young men as one of the biggest problems in recruiting. In 2006, almost 30 percent of applicants failed physical tests.

Participation of the Latvian National Armed Forces (NAF) in international operations has both political and military significance. By joining international operations, Latvia strengthens the internal security of the country and demonstrates that it is an active member of the international community. Significance of international operations has increased after Latvia has joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union (EU), which makes our country jointly responsible for consolidation of the global security processes.

International operations are considered to be the following:

international peacekeeping operations, the purpose of which is to re-establish and maintain peace in conflict zones and in which the personnel engaged have the right to participate in hostilities;

international peacekeeping operations, the purpose of which is to re-establish and maintain peace in conflict zones and in which the personnel engaged does not have the right to participate in hostilities, except in cases when it is necessary for the purposes of self-defence;

international rescue operations, the purpose of which is to eliminate the consequences of natural disasters, evacuate civilians from dangerous locations or perform activities of similar nature;

international humanitarian operations, the purpose of which is to render assistance to civilians who have suffered as a result of hostilities or other extreme circumstances;

international military operations, which aim is to exercise the inherent rights of the United Nations member states to collective self-defence which are fixed in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. The National Armed Forces units participate in international operations on the basis of: a resolution, recommendation or request of such international organisations of which the Republic of Latvia is a member state or with which the Republic of Latvia co-operates; a request of a NATO or EU member state.

Decision on participation of the Latvian NAF units in international operations is taken by the Parliament. The length of international operation term is 6 months; and only soldiers of professional military service are entitled to participate in them. Soldiers' suitability for international operations is assessed on the basis of their physical condition, health condition, professional skills and experiences, characteristics from their place of service and knowledge of foreign languages. Before their deployment to international operations, soldiers must complete a special training course, where they learn skills required for co-operation with soldiers of other countries, enhance their professional skills, as well as learn more about the country and residents of the respective international operation. During international operations, the Latvian soldiers obtain valuable experiences, which cannot be obtained otherwise. Preparation of soldiers for deployment to international operations is also one of the ways to prepare able soldiers and test efficiency of their training programs.

An annual opinion poll commissioned by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) in December 2006/January 2007 confirmed the tendency shown by previous polls commissioned by the MoD since 2000: the majority of Latvian residents consider Latvia a safe country and in general support the government's policies in the area of security. Contrary to the poll commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September 2006, the poll commissioned by the Ministry of Defense shows rather small support for participation of Latvian soldiers in international peace-keeping missions. The discrepancy might be explained by death of two Latvian soldiers in Iraq at the time the MoD's poll was carried out. The data is very difficult to compare as the questions on Latvia's involvement in peacekeeping operations were phrased differently in each poll, with the MOD asking a positive "do you support" and MFA asking the negative "do you oppose." In addition, the availability of only excerpts of both polls hampers deeper analysis of the contradictory results. Though the poll shows low public support for Latvia's involvement in international stability operations, there is no evidence that the poll's result has changed the generally strong political support for international deployments.

The deaths of two Latvian soldiers in Iraq 27 December 2006 topped all news in Latvia in the aftermath. Despite nearly 80 percent public opposition to the mission, senior officials have clearly stated that Latvia will remain in Iraq. Opposition political leaders, and even some members of the coalition, have suggested that parliament should review Latvia's deployment in Iraq and consider an exit strategy, but appear to favor a deliberate and considered approach over an immediate withdrawal. Press coverage of the incident has been factual and editorial writing has been predictable. Those who supported the deployment wanted it to continue, those who always opposed it, wanted to see it ended.

In 2011, there was 15th anniversary since Latvian soldiers participating in international peace-keeping operations. During these years, the participation of the NAF in international operations has become a significant development task of the Latvian armed forces. The Latvian NAF soldiers have been participating in the peace-keeping operations in the Balkan region since 1996; the participation in the international monitoring mission to Georgia was commenced in 2000, but in 2003, soldiers have commenced their participation in the international operations in the Persian Gulf region.











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Principality of Monaco

Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco is an independent and sovereign country located on the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is surrounded on land by its neighbor France, and Italys borders are just 10 miles away (about 16km).

Its area is 0.76mi (1.98 km) with a population of almost 36,000 inhabitants among which 8,300 Monegasques and including residents from 125 nationalities. Monaco is the second smallest country in the world and the smallest member of the United Nations. Furthermore The City-State of Monaco is the worlds most densely populated country: 23.800 inhabitants/mi.

The house of Grimaldi has ruled over Monaco since 1297. Monacos sovereignty was officially and permanently recognized by the Franco/Monegasque Treaty of 1861. Furthermore, Monaco is one of 5 European micro-States (the others being: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, and the Vatican City). The Principality of Monaco is the second-smallest independent state in the world, after the Holy See (Vatican City).

Monaco is divided into four sections: Monaco-Ville, the old city on a rocky promontory extending into the Mediterranean; La Condamine, the section along the port; Monte-Carlo, the principal residential and resort area; and Fontvieille, a newly constructed area reclaimed from the sea.

Monaco has no regular military forces; the Palace Guard performs ceremonial duties. Monaco actively participates in the United Nations, which it joined in 1993. Monaco joined the Council of Europe on October 4, 2004. Monaco also is a member of many international and intergovernmental organizations, including Interpol, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the World Health Organization (WHO). The International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB) is headquartered in Monaco.

The Principality of Monaco is a sovereign and independent state, linked closely to France by the Treaty of July 1918, which was formally noted in Article 436 of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919. The foreign policy of Monaco is one illustration of this accord: France has agreed to defend the independence and sovereignty of Monaco, while the Monegasque Government has agreed to exercise its sovereign rights in conformity with French interests. Since then, the relations between the sovereign states of France and Monaco have been further defined in the Treaty of 1945 and the Agreement of 1963.

Although not a member of the European Union (EU), Monaco is closely associated with the economic apparatus of the EU through its customs union with France and its reliance upon the euro as its official currency. Monaco has 10 diplomatic missions in Western Europe and permanent representation at the United Nations and the Council of Europe. It maintains honorary consulates in 106 cities in 45 countries. Seventy-six countries have ambassadors, consulates general, consulates, or honorary consulates in or accredited to Monaco. The principality is noted for its beautiful natural scenery and mild, sunny climate. The average minimum temperature in January and February is 8oC (47oF); in July and August the average maximum temperature is 26oC (78oF). In July 2009, Monaco's population was estimated at 32,965, with an estimated average growth rate for 2009 of 0.394%. French is the official language; English, Italian, and Monegasque (a blend of French and Italian) also are spoken. The literacy rate is 99%. Roman Catholicism is the official religion, with freedom of other religions guaranteed by the constitution.

In 1997, the Principality of Monaco celebrated the 700 year reign of the Grimaldi dynasty. It all began on January 8, 1297 when the Guelf Francois Grimaldi dressed as a Franciscan monk, seized the fortress protecting the famous rock of Monaco and the port of Hercules. Surmounting the trials and tribulations of history and throughout the dark periods of foreign domination, the Principality has managed to affirm its identity and preserve its independence throughout the centuries due to the wise guidance of its Princes.

The Grimaldi dynasty has bequeathed Lords and then Princes to the Principality, illustrious in their many domains, who wrote the most enticing pages in the history of Monaco. To cite but a few: Rainier I, General Admiral of France; Honore II, the first Prince of Monaco at the origins of the most important treaties with France; Louis I, Ambassador to the Holy See under Louis XIV; Antoine I, grand patron of the arts; Charles III, founder of Monte-Carlo; Albert I, renowned as the father of oceanography; Louis II, the soldier Prince.

Founded in 1215 as a colony of Genoa, Monaco has been ruled by the House of Grimaldi since 1297, except when under French control from 1789 to 1814. Designated as a protectorate of Sardinia from 1815 until 1860 by the Treaty of Vienna, Monaco's sovereignty was recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861. The Prince of Monaco was an absolute ruler until a constitution was promulgated in 1911. In July 1918, a treaty was signed providing for limited French protection over Monaco. The treaty, formally noted in the Treaty of Versailles, established that Monegasque policy would be aligned with French political, military, and economic interests.

A new constitution, proclaimed in 1962, abolished capital punishment, provided for female suffrage, and established a Supreme Court to guarantee fundamental liberties. In 1993, Monaco became an official member of the United Nations with full voting rights. It joined the Council of Europe in 2004. Three months after the death of his father, Prince Rainier III, on April 6, Prince Albert II formally acceded to the throne on July 12, 2005.





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Moldova

Moldova, situated between Romania and Ukraine, formally has all the modern rule-of-law institutions. Nonetheless, it's a country with extreme problems. It's among the three poorest nations in Europe, plagued by corruption and organized crime and pretty much unable to offer its citizens acceptable socioeconomic perspectives. At least one-third of the country's estimated 3.5 million residents work beyond Moldova's borders. In other words, Moldova is a country that badly needs reforms. The EU has invested a lot of attention and energy in supporting reforms in Moldova. For the most part, this has met with little success. The thieves in charge are afraid of reforms.

Moldovans are ethnic Romanians, with distinct regional character, an accented version of the Romanian language. The absence of a credible military capability is a specific concern in countries with under-developed or immature economic systems, such as Moldova. Wedged between Romania and Ukraine, it achieved its independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991. Moldova's economic outlook is clouded by a lack of manufacturing and energy resources, and the existence of Russian forces on Moldovan territory east of the Dniester River, the self-proclaimed "Transnistria" republic.

The Republic of Moldova occupies most of what has been known as Bessarabia. The very existence of Bessarabia was, until the 20th Century, unknown except to a few specialists. The same good people who used to believe that the Ukraine was a musical instrument imported from Hawaii, and that both Gallipoli and Galicia were in Spain, thought, when they saw the name Bessarabia in print, that it was part of Arabia.

These economic and political realities resulted in Moldova's Parliament debating in late 2007 the necessity for the continued existence of a Moldovan Army. Nearly two decades after the Republic of Moldova proclaimed its sovereignty, there were plenty of politicians of different political colour, from one end of the political spectrum to another, claiming that Moldova did not need an army, given its tendency to be a neutral state.

The military security of the Republic of Moldova is ensured by the Armed Forces of the country comprising: 1) the National Army; 2) Border Guard Troops; and 3) Carabineer Troops. Only the first of these formations have significant combat potential, the later two have only a handful of armored personnel carriers. Forces of the national defence system are based on the principle of defensive sufficiency. According to the Law on national defence, during the times of peace and war, the command of Armed Forces is performed by the Supreme Command of Armed Forces chaired by the President of the Republic of Moldova, who is the chief-commander. The Supreme Command includes also the Minister of Defence, Chief of Command of the National Army, Commander of the Border Guard Troops and Commander of the Carabineer Troops.

The absence of a sound economic base impacts heavily on any transformation efforts undertaken by the Moldovan Armed Forces. In assessing their vulnerable security situation the Moldovan Ministry of Defense (MOD) is focused on establishing closer relationships with the EU and NATO. A boost in this effort would be the transformation of the National Army into a lighter, deployable force capable of NATO support operations.

Moldova's image in the world has not yet been well defined, but the Republic of Moldova is placed among other mediocre countries, without big perspectives. Compared to the majority of neighboring countries from the region, Moldova is in the position of a stagnant, obscure and irresolute country. A specially important role on the country image is played by the Transnistrian conflict. This partially frozen conflict creates an image of Moldova, as a weak, vulnerable and uncertain state.

Moldovans view the development of their country with mixed emotions. Poverty, corruption and emigration are widespread. The pro-European political elite cannot manage to provide political stability. In the year 2015-2016, five prime ministers had been replaced; the country is at risk of suffocating in the oligarchs' stranglehold. To add to it all, there is the frozen conflict in the pro-Russian, separatist region of Transnistria, which seems insoluble despite OSCE negotiations.

One consequence was a new wave of emigration by young and well-educated workers who no longer saw a future in their country. At the end of the 1980s, around 4.5 million people lived in the Republic of Moldova. By mid-2016, according to the national statistical office, there are less than 3.5 million people living in the country. Moldova has one of the world's fastest shrinking populations.





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Montenegro

On May 21, 2006, Montenegro renewed its statehood at the referendum that was administered in a democratic manner, with full observance of the recommendations of the international community. By that democratic act, it regained its international status recognized in 1878 at the Congress of Berlin. The Parliament of Montenegro at its session on June 3, 2006 adopted the Declaration of Independent Montenegro after which the Government assumed responsibilities for pursuing and developing its foreign policy.

The Montenegrin Government has established a military and a Ministry of Defense. Further reform and transformation of both institutions is underway. The Montenegrin military operates under the joint authority of the Security and Defense Council, which consists of the president, prime minister, and the speaker of parliament. Parliament also maintains oversight through its Security and Defense Committee. Montenegro officially entered NATO's Partnership for Peace in November 2006 and in April 2008 was invited to join an Intensified Political Dialogue with the Alliance.

In its first years of existence Montenegro overcame or avoided many of the self-destructive tendencies of its neighbors. It maximized the attraction of its Adriatic coast with a thriving tourist trade and the infrastructure to support it. If the Montenegrin government manages to keep its economy on track, the Armed Forces of Montenegro should achieve its modernization and professionalization goals. Qualifying for NATO integration is attainable, providing national sovereignty guarantees not achievable by a standalone Montenegrin Army.

NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs decided 04 December 2009 to grant Montenegro's request to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP), a NATO program of assistance and practical support tailored to the individual needs of the aspiring members of the Alliance. The Allies agreed that Bosnia and Herzegovina would join MAP as soon as they achieve progress in reform. "I congratulate Montenegro on their success. It's the result of hard work. And with a sustained effort at further reform, today's invitation to join the MAP will be a stepping stone to the ultimate goal: full membership in the Atlantic Alliance," said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The Allies agreed that Bosnia and Herzegovina will also find its home in NATO adding that it was only a question of time.

NATO membership is one of the strategic foreign policy and security priorities of Montenegro. Montenegro sees the NATO as a guarantor of Euro-Atlantic security and as a key partner in strengthening regional and national security. Montenegro actively participates and contributes to the stability and security of the region and in Euro-Atlantic community through active engagement in regional initiatives and processes, as well as through its bilateral and multilateral cooperation with partners and allies.

Since the June 3, 2006 declaration of independence, the European Union, Serbia, and all permanent members of the UN Security Council have recognized Montenegro. The UN General Assembly voted on June 28, 2006 to admit Montenegro as a new member state. Montenegro joined the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on June 22, 2006, and the Council of Europe on May 11, 2007.

The United States recognized Montenegro on June 12, 2006 and formally established diplomatic relations on August 15 of that year. The U.S. maintains an Embassy in Podgorica. There are a variety of U.S. assistance programs in place in Montenegro to help improve the economic climate and strengthen democracy. These include initiatives to promote local economic growth and business development and strengthen rule of law and democratic institutions.

In order to further develop commercial ties between the U.S. and Montenegro, the first American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham Montenegro) was launched on November 19, 2008, and as part of the strategic partnership between Montenegro and State of Maryland, the U.S.-Montenegro Business Council was formally opened in Podgorica on December 16, 2008. President Vujanovic met U.S. Secretary of State Rice on May 1, 2007 during his visit to Washington, DC. Speaker of the Parliament Ranko Krivokapic visited Washington in November 2007 and met with Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Montenegrin military also established a partnership with the Maine Army National Guard, and efforts are underway to broaden this relationship to include cooperation in the civilian sector.

Montenegro signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU in October 2007, concluded a World Trade Organization (WTO) bilateral agreement with the EU in April 2008, and was invited to join an Intensified Political Dialogue with NATO at the April 2008 Summit in Bucharest. On December 15, 2008, Prime Minister Djukanovic formally submitted Montenegro's application for EU membership to French President Sarkozy, whose country held the rotating EU presidency. On December 9, 2009 in Brussels, Prime Minister Djukanovic submitted Montenegro's answers to the European Commission (EC) questionnaire, which will be reviewed by the EC before it recommends to member states whether to grant Montenegro candidate status in 2010. As of December 19, 2009 Montenegrin citizens were permitted to travel without visa to the Schengen area for up to 90 days per six-month period.

Sanitation varies with location but is generally well below US standards, particularly outside major urban areas. Diarrheal diseases can be expected to temporarily incapacitate a high percentage of personnel within days if local food, water, or ice is consumed. A small number of cases of hepatitis A could occur among unvaccinated personnel consuming local food, water, or ice. Additionally, viral gastroenteritis (e.g. norovirus) may cause significant outbreaks. Widespread outbreaks of food poisoning (e.g., Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus) may also compromise mission effectiveness.

Montenegro is wedged between the East and the West, it belongs both to the Balkan and the Mediterranean region and represents a part of the region that was subject to dynamic changes in the previous period. Apart from being the youngest state, Montenegro is also one of the smallest European states in terms of its geographic size and population.









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North Macedonia

North Macedonia has not much in the way of an army and its annual GDP is closer to an underdeveloped German city than to an advanced western nation, but both the US and the leading European states recognized long ago that having this country aligned with the West is worth much more than risking another Balkan turmoil. For North Macedonia there is no alternative to the membership on NATO and EU and this position has the political consensus of all major political factors and the general support of the citizens. NATO is the only efficient political, defence andsecurity organization that over the past 50 years has protected the values of democracy, the market economy and human rights, values which are shared by North Macedonia and its citizens.

North Macedonia established its armed forces following independence and the complete withdrawal of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) in March 1992. The North Macedonia Armed Forces consist of an army, navy, air and air defense force, and a police force (under the Ministry of Interior). Under its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Membership Action Plan, Macedonia has made strong strides on major reforms and reconstruction of its armed forces toward the goal of building and sustaining a modern, professional defense force of about 12,000 troops.

Successive Macedonian governments have viewed integration into Euro-Atlantic political, economic, and security institutions as the country's primary foreign policy goal. In pursuit of these goals, Macedonia restructured its military to be smaller, more affordable, defensively oriented, and interoperable with NATO. The Macedonian Government has welcomed close cooperation with the US military and seeks to deepen this relationship as it restructures its forces.

North Macedonia played an indispensable role as the Kosovo Force's (KFOR) rear area, hosting the logistical supply line for KFOR troops in Kosovo. As part of these efforts, North Macedonia hosts NATO troops, including U.S. troops, in support of NATO operations in Kosovo and to assist North Macedonia's efforts to reform its military to meet NATO standards. Close U.S.-Macedonian bilateral defense cooperation continues. Macedonia has contributed troops to international coalition operations in Iraq, and continues to have troops in Afghanistan and in the EU peace support operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with four percent of its military.

Within Macedonia itself, in 2001 an ethnic Albanian insurgency under the rubric of the National Liberation Army (NLA) came perilously close to paralyzing the country in a state of political and civil gridlock; equally, the leaders of NATO, the European Union, and the United States seemed unclear about whatif anycourse of action was best to take. Ultimately, even the ethnic governing coalition within Macedonia, formed in May 2001 and proclaimed a "national unity government," appeared incapable of agreement on central, critical issues. The expanded coalition of ruling ethnic Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political leaders, with facilitation by U.S. and European Union (EU) diplomats, negotiated and then signed the Ohrid Framework Agreement in August 2001, which brought an end to the fighting.

After the military conflict in 2001, the Ministry of Defense started a process of serious reforms in the defense sector. In that direction, Macedonia conducted a Strategic Defense Review and began implementing its recommendations. Furthermore, special emphasis was put on the restructuring of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia (ARM) and the reorganization of the Ministry of defense. According to the current restructuring process of ARM, the army is consisted of General Staff including the standard G-1 to G-7 divisions, command of the land forces, air force and defense command, logistics and training1. The Ministry of defense is in charge of policy-making and the General Staff of ARM for operational planning.

The new model of structure of ARM would be comprised of a Joint Operational Command (land forces commend and the air force command), Logistic Support Command, Training Command, Forces for Special Operations, Electronic Surveillance Centre and Air Surveillance Centre. ARM scheduled a decrease of its total active strength from 9000 (end of 2004) to 8700 in 2007, including a decrease of the number of generals. Additionally, the government gradually increased the share for defense in the budget from 14% in 2004 to 18% in 2006 with the sole purpose of modernizing of the army's equipment. Fundamental efforts have been undertaken in order to eliminate conscription and to introduce a completely professional army.

ARM's special units ("Wolves" and "Scorpions") have been participating with a great success in the operations for maintenance of peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. Starting from August 2006, the Macedonian army joined the EUALTEA mission in Bosnia.

The general legislative framework for the creation of the National Security Strategy of Macedonia is consisted of the following documents: the Constitution ofthe Republic of Macedonia, the Law on Defence, Army Service Regulation Law, National Concept, Strategic Defence Review, Annual National Program, Strategy for Transformation of the Army etc. A General National Security Strategy still has not been adopted, but many elements could be found in the aforementioned documents. It should be mentioned that Annual National Program 2006 - 07 has not been adopted.However, the last Annual National Program has been prepared in close cooperation with all the relevant ministries and institutions competent for the realization of the tasks and goals related to NATO membership. This was achieved through theWorking Committee for the Integration of the Republic of Macedonia in CollectiveDefence Systems chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and co-chaired by the Minister of Defence.

Road conditions differ significantly from those in the U.S. High speeds, unpredictable drivers/pedestrians, poor vehicle maintenance, uneven road surfaces/widths, and poor lighting all contribute to precarious driving conditions. Most major highways are in good repair, but secondary urban and rural roads vary widely in condition and lighting. Horse-drawn carts, livestock, rocks, or other objects can be found in roadways. Many vehicles are quite old by Western standards. Mountain roads can be narrow, poorly marked, lacking guardrails, and become dangerous in inclement weather.





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Republic of Malta

Geographic location, history, culture and economic relations are principal elements which determined Malta's geopolitical relevance as a European and Mediterranean island State over the ages. Malta's membership of the European Union has strengthened its geopolitical relevance providing it with the opportunity to exploit this newly found strength to maximise political and economic benefits. With European Union membership, Malta's cultural versatility acquires greater meaning and value in bettering dialogue and cooperation in the Mediterranean Region.

The Republic of Malta is a small, but strategically located island country 60 miles south of Sicily and 180 miles north of Libya, astride some of the worlds busiest shipping lanes. Malta, a politically stable parliamentary republic with a free press, is considered a safe, secure, and welcoming environment for investors to do business.

As a small country and a historic meeting place for reconciliation and dialogue, Malta seeks to project the European Union's friendly face towards its neighbours to the South of the Mediterranean. Inversely, as a country with a closeness and understanding of its southern neighbours and the Arab World, Malta seeks to be a trusted interlocutor, and a voice sensitive to their realities within the European Union. In the context of the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy Malta's characteristics are particularly valuable to enhance understanding and stability in a region that remains potentially turbulent. Malta's membership of the European Union not only further strengthens its relevance in international affairs, but also adds significant value to Malta's bilateral relations in general. Its participation in the decision-making process in the European Union is of significant importance in this context, particularly with regard to the opportunity to add value to Malta's bilateral relations with those states which have a political and economic relationship with the European Union.

Strength and relevance in a multilateral and/or regional context feeds strength and relevance in bilateral relations and vice versa. Furthermore, Malta's strategic position in the Mediterranean and its close and friendly relations with its immediate neighbouring countries continue to provide it with opportunities for trade and investment in both directions. Membership of the European Union also places Malta firmly inside the single European market. It also gives Malta guaranteed participation in a plethora of trade agreements including agreements giving greater access to North African and Middle Eastern markets.

With a population of about 420,000, Malta is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with about 3,423 inhabitants per square mile (1,322 per square kilometer). The archipelago consists of three islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino with a total population of 400,000 inhabitants over an area of 316sq km and a coastline of 196.8km (not including 56.01 km for the island of Gozo). Malta is the largest island and the cultural, commercial and administrative centre. Gozo is the second largest island and is more rural, characterised by fishing, tourism, crafts and agriculture while Comino is largely uninhabited.

Inhabited since prehistoric times, Malta was first colonized by the Phoenicians. Subsequently, Romans, Arabs, Normans, the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, and the British have influenced Maltese life and culture to varying degrees. The Maltese Islands have been described as one big open-air museum. What makes them unique is that so much of their past is visible today. Delve into the Islands' mysterious prehistory, retrace the footsteps of St. Paul or see where the Knights of St. John defended Christendom.

There are over 16,000 foreigners residing in Malta. The last decade saw an influx of Europe-bound migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, with some 4,000 in the country as of 2010. There was also a growing North African community of about 4,000 as of 2007. The constitution establishes Roman Catholicism as the religion of Malta; however, it also guarantees full liberty of conscience and freedom of worship and a number of faiths have places of worship on the island. Malta has two official languages--Maltese (a Semitic language with much vocabulary of Arabic origin and borrowed from Sicilian Italian) and English. The literacy rate has reached 93%, compared to 63% in 1946. Schooling is compulsory until age 16.

The Maltese Islands are situated in the center of the Mediterranean - 93 km south of Italy and 290 km north of North Africa. Gozo, which in Maltese is called Ghawdex (pronounced: Awdesh), is a derivation of other older names such as Gaulos. It has an area of 67 square kms, is 14 kms long and 7 kms wide. With a coastline of 43 km, it is the second largest island of the Maltese Archipelago that, together with the smaller isle of Comino and the main island of Malta form the Republic of Malta. Gozo is popularly called The Island of Calypso, that is a nickname originating from the Greek mythological location of Ogygia referred to in Homer's Odyssey. In this epic poem, the fabled island was controlled by the nymph Calypso, who had detained the Greek hero Odysseus for seven long years as prisoner of love.

In comparison with mainland Malta, one finds a more varied geology and larger relief contrasts, with typical flat-topped hills. Over 31000 people inhabit the island and this amounts to one-twelfth of the overall population of Malta. When compared to the overall area of the Maltese Islands, Gozo covers approximately one-third of that area. This means that the island of Gozo is not overpopulated, and therefore greener and quite more peaceful.

With superbly sunny weather, expansive beaches, a thriving nightlife and 7,000 years of intriguing history, there is a great deal to see and do. With a little help from any guidebook, captivating places of interest are immediately identified  the world famous Hypogeum selected as a place of World Heritage by UNESCO, prehistoric temples and grand palaces are but a few. The long relationship between the Islanders and the various nationalities that occupied Malta over the centuries has created a marriage of styles and traditions, giving the Islands a fascinating eclectic culture.

Italy and Malta appealed 14 October 2013 for more assistance from other European states to help manage the sharp increase of arrivals of boat loads of refugees from sub-Saharan and northern Africa and the Middle East on their shores. The United Nations refugee agency estimates 32,000 migrants had arrived in Malta and Italy. Malta's prime minister, Joseph Muscat, made an unannounced visit to Tripoli to discuss the refugee flow with Libya's prime minister, Ali Zidan. It was not immediately clear what was accomplished in the meeting. Many migrants make their way by land to Libya where they pay smugglers to ferry them to Europe's nearest shores -- Italy's Lampedusa or the island nation of Malta.

In December 2015, the government transposed into its national legislation the provisions of the EU council directive that established standards for the reception of applicants for international protection. In December 2015, the government also published a Strategy for the Reception of Asylum Seekers and Irregular Migrants to comply with standards within the Common European Asylum System. The publication outlines a comprehensive approach to the reception of asylum seekers and irregular migrants that addresses their basic needs while establishing procedures to safeguard their rights. The strategy in particular stipulates that the government will no longer detain asylum seekers automatically upon arrival.

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Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Netherlands abandoned a long-standing policy of neutrality after World War II. The Dutch are engaged participants in international affairs. Dutch foreign policy is geared to promoting a wide variety of goals: the rule of law, human rights, and democracy. Priority is given to enhancing European integration, ensuring European security and stability (mainly through the mechanism of NATO and by emphasizing the important role the United States plays in the security of Europe), and participating in conflict management and peacekeeping missions.

Dutch foreign policy aims to guarantee Dutch interests and is inspired by the wish to promote peace, freedom, prosperity and the international legal order. Development cooperation is an important part of foreign policy. The Netherlands pursues its foreign policy largely within the framework of multilateral organisations, such as the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). It takes part regularly in the peace operations of these organisations. The Netherlands also seeks to maintain good bilateral relations with its neighbouring countries, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the Scandinavian countries, the Benelux partners Belgium and Luxembourg, and the other EU and NATO member states. In addition, the Netherlands has strong ties with the USA and is helping the countries of central and eastern Europe make the transition to democracy and the market economy.

The Netherlands was a founding member of the UN, NATO, the European Communities (now the European Union), the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the West European Union. As a relatively small country with a globally-oriented economy, the Netherlands attaches great importance to a well-structured world order.

The Netherlands is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the military alliance that comprises the USA, Canada and many European countries. NATO, the cornerstone of Dutch security policy, has been working for peace, security and stability since 1949. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has adapted to the changes in international relations by concluding partnership agreements with countries in central and eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. NATO also cooperates more closely with Russia in the NATO-Russia Council, which was established in 2002, and has a special relationship with Ukraine via the NATO-Ukraine Commission.

Dutch foreign policy mainly focuses on the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the United Nations (UN). The core objective of that policy, of which development cooperation forms an integral part, is the promotion of peace, freedom and prosperity throughout the world. The European Union is essential to both Europe and the Netherlands. To Europe it means the promotion of peace, security stability and prosperity. For the Netherlands the importance lies in the fact that cooperation and common policy in the European Union are becoming elementary conditions for the adequate steering and resolving of internal issues in an increasing number of areas. The future of the Netherlands is interwoven with that of the European Union.

With regard to defence matters, the Netherlands aims for strengthening of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. NATO, incidentally, is the cornerstone of the policy. The enlargement of both the European Union and NATO contributes to the realisation of stable economic and democratic relations in Europe.

The Netherlands maintains an active peace and security policy. It attaches great value to the promotion of the international rule of law and has long demonstrated wide concern for human suffering and a strong commitment to combating human rights violations. The Netherlands strives towards a stable and peaceful international environment, with good international relations and effective security institutions. In addition, free world trade is important to the economy. For these reasons the Netherlands wants to contribute actively to resolving security problems both within Europe and beyond.

An active security policy also includes a willingness to intervene at an early stage in crisis situations in other parts of the world, obviously within an international context. The aim is to resolve conflicts without resorting to military force. If the use of diplomatic, economic, financial and humanitarian means fails, however, sufficient military resources must be available to be able to carry out both peacekeeping and peace enforcement tasks. Foreign policy, development cooperation (i.e. international development issues) and defence issues are to an increasing extent in line with one another. The country makes great efforts in the field of international development. Dutch security policy is geared towards preventing large-scale conflicts by means of crisis management. The Netherlands belongs to the group of nations that is constantly active in the promotion of peace and security.
Norway / Norge

Finally independent of Sweden from 26 October 1905, Norway supported its neutrality with minimal armed forces, which were defeated by the Germans on 8 June 1940 after two months' fighting. Some Norwegians escaped to Great Britain to continue the war from there; but by 1945 North Norway lay devastated as Soviet forces pursued the Germans southwards. Abandoning a now-discredited neutrality, Norway expanded its forces with US aid and joined NATO. It has also supported the United Nations in Korea, Kashmir, Congo, Lebanon, Yemen and Egypt.

Norwegian territory comprised one-third of NATO's eastern frontage during the Cold War, and so there were massive defensive difficulties. The under-populated north, including the strategically vital Finnmark border county, isolated inside the Arctic Circle and sharing a 123-mile frontier with the Soviet Union, was linked to the south by a 1,200-mile road skirting a coastline pitted with deep fjords, vulnerable to landings by Soviet North Sea Fleet marines, or to an armored thrust from Murmansk across neutral Swedish Lapland.

In order to carry out the primary task of the Armed Forces, namely the defense of political sovereignty and territorial integrity, Norway is developing a series of new military capabilities and upgrading others, not least those which are of particular importance in safeguarding our interests in the northern areas. There is thus a close linkage between the Government's Northern Area strategy and the development of the Armed Forces. The Long-Term Plan for the Norwegian Armed Forces for the period 2009-2012 remained in place and the work of strengthening defense forces continued.

The Norwegian Defense is divided into defense branches: The Army, the Navy and the Air Force. The Home Guard is organised in the same manner. Peacetime strength is approximately 23,000 (including officers, civilian employees and conscripts), while the strength after mobilisation is approximately 83,000. As of 2002 peacetime strength was approximately 30,800 including officers, conscripts and civilian personnel, while strength after mobilisation was approximagely 214,000. Around 9000 of the Armed Forces' personnel each year consist of conscripts. In 2009 the Norwegian Parliament adopted a new national service act which states that women have to meet for the conscription board, examination and classification for military service just like men.

Following a decade of comprehensive reforms, Norway is putting into place a modern defense organisation based on mission-oriented forces of high quality. The Armed Forces are going through a period of renewal with a level of investment which is without equal in recent times. Norway is phasing in new frigates and missile torpedo boats and have procured new Coast Guard vessels. New transport aircraft meet the requirements for strategic lift capacity and the first new maritime helicopters were delivered in 2010.

Norwegian army units will have increased firepower, mobility, protection and, not least, an enhanced capability for working with other forces in a joint operational environment. Among other equipment an entirely new artillery system, ARCHER, is being procured. Norway is updating our CV 90 armoured assault vehicles and will be acquiring new combat reconnaissance systems. Soldiers are getting new equipment including new hand weapons and communications equipment. This means a lot for the soldiers' safety and combat capability. The Home Guard has undergone a far-reaching quality reform. Two new vessels for the Naval Home Guard in 2010 constitute a further step towards a more flexible and modern Home Guard.

This defense organisation is substantially smaller in terms of manpower than the organisation in place during the Cold War period. But the quality of the units, their combat capability and their availability have been raised to a level that represents a quantum leap when compared to the old mobilisation defense forces. It is interesting, too, to note how some of the criticism of this restructuring sounds a few years on. The reduction in numbers began towards the middle of this decade. Since 2005 the Armed Forces have in fact grown in size. Year on year.

The acquisition of a combat aircraft capability is by far the largest investment that Norway will be making over the coming years. The combat aircraft forms the cornerstone of a modern defense structure. These aircraft provide a flexible capability which can carry out a broad spectrum of missions associated with fire support, information gathering and the long range delivery of precision weapons. As well as possessing the obvious capability to carry out missions independently, combat aircraft are essential to the ability to utilise sea and land forces to the full. These aircraft therefore represent a component of central importance to the overall ability of the Armed Forces to carry out fully integrated combined operations, or network-based defense. When the new F-35 aircraft are in place, this will constitute an essential enhancement of our defense capability. In the intervening period Norway will be maintaining our inventory of F-16s in good shape through a continuing program of upgrading.











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Poland

The Polish national character in all ages has displayed a number of brilliant qualities in a remarkable state of development  impetuous bravery, restless ambition, and intense national pride. But upon a closer view no less distinctly an excitability and inconstancy of passion becomes apparent, and a great susceptibility alike of sensual and intellectual pleasures, with a highly winning amiability in personal intercourse. In all these points there seems a certain resemblance between the Poles and the French.

Polish history and Polish national character are an outcome of geographical conditions. Poland is a country which represents an open door between Western and Eastern Europethat is to say, it is a passage-land. It is a country in which the characteristics of Western Europe gradually mingle with those of Eastern Europe. It is in Poland that are found the western or eastern boundaries, where they meet, struggle, and combine. It is the reciprocal action of these different influences which gives a distinct color to all life, considered from the point of view both of history and geography. The position of Poland is precisely a central one. It lies in the center, between the most northerly and most southerly points of Europe, midway between the North Cape and Crete and nearly midway between the westerly point of Ireland and the most easterly point of the Ural Mountains.

The history of Poland is given its tragic color by the circumstance of being caught in an indefensible plain between Germany and Russia, forced either to ally itself with one or the other or to try to chart an independent course that has often ended in partition.

Poland is one of the most successful post-communist transition countries, in both a political and an economic sense. The sweeping economic and political changes that have transformed Poland since the collapse of communism in 1989 have had significant effects on the Polish defense sector, as it applies to both government and industry. From the ashes of a centrally planned economy, a vibrant free-market has emerged, and the defense industry has had to both change its client base and reorganize itself.

Changes since 1989 have redrawn the map of Central Europe, and Poland has had to forge relationships with seven new neighbors. Poland has actively pursued good relations, signing friendship treaties replacing links severed by the collapse of the Warsaw Pact. The Poles have forged special relationships with Lithuania and particularly Ukraine in an effort to firmly anchor these states to the West.

Poland is a founding member of the United Nations, belongs to most international organizations and maintains diplomatic relations with 182 countries. In 1967, Poland joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, and is a member of the World Trade Organization, or WTO, the successor to GATT. In 1986, Poland rejoined the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, known as the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, having withdrawn its original memberships in 1950. Poland is also a member of the International Finance Corporation and was a founding member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or EBRD. In 1996, Poland was accepted for full membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD. Poland is also a member of the International Development Association, or IDA, the Council of Europe Development Bank, or CEB, and the European Investment Bank, or EIB.

In November 1992, Poland signed an agreement on free trade with the member countries of the European Free Trade Association, or EFTA. By 2001, in accordance with the terms of this agreement, Poland had removed tariff barriers for almost all industrial goods from EFTA countries.

Integrating Poland into the European Union is a top government priority. Since Poland became a member of the EU on May 1, 2004, all external security matters must comply with the "Common European Security and Defense Policy", which defines external action through the development of military management capability. Poland is the sixth largest country in the EU with a population of nearly 38 million people. Its 1,100-kilometer eastern border is now the longest external border in the European Union.

Poland's military is essentially changing everything at once: force structure, staff organizations, training programs, doctrine, security procedures, etc. This makes for a very dynamic as well as a very unsettling situation for its officers. The changes in Poland's military and the reorganization/privatization plan for the defense industry must compete with other reforms that the state budget must also finance.

Poland continues to be a regional leader in support and participation in the NATO Partnership for Peace Program and has actively engaged most of its neighbors and other regional actors to build stable foundations for future European security arrangements. Poland continues its long record of strong support for UN peacekeeping operations by maintaining a unit in southern Lebanon, a battalion in NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR), and by providing and actually deploying the KFOR strategic reserve to Kosovo. Poland is a leading contributor to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Polish military forces also served in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Government of Poland has identified full and active participation in NATO as one of its top foreign policy goals. With its entry into NATO in 1999, Poland's enemies of forty years are now its allies. The military activities of Poland have aimed at meeting NATO goals. The Polish army is moving away from a draft-based army towards a smaller professional unit better suited to the NATO mission. NATO force goal requirements are driving equipment-related decisions, ranging from aircraft and helicopter to air navigation and communications equipment, to tank turrets and computers, to name just a few.

Nearly 70% of modernization spending is allocated for implementation of NATO force goals. The majority of these projects include improvement of command, communications and reconnaissance systems, development of air defense systems, improvement of troops capacity and mobility. The Ministry of Defense estimated the total cost of technical modernization of the Polish army in 2003-2008 at about 3.6 billion EURO.

Poland's military numbers have decreased from 450,000 in 1989 to 160,000 in 2003. By 2006, Poland planned to reduce its forces to 150,000. As of 2003, the Polish military consisted of 34,080 personnel in airforce, 86,970 in land forces, and 14,770 in the navy. Poland maintains a sizable armed force, numbering as of 2012 about 141,000 troops divided among an army of 87,900, an air and defense force of 31,100, and a navy of 21,500. Poland relies on military conscription for the majority of its personnel strength. All males (with some exceptions) are subject to a 12-month term of military service.

Poland's military is traditionally land force heavy. Two thirds of the force was army, 23% is air force, and 7% is navy. Poland's military is undergoing changes - all designed to restructure itself into a more capable and mobile force compatible with NATO. The Polish Land Forces, after restructuring and downsizing is complete, will have six divisions. The Polish Air Force is grappling with rapidly aging aircraft. The Polish Navy has mainly coastal, minesweeping and ASW capabilities, although the acquisition by grant transfer of the U.S. frigates "Clarke" and "Wadsworth" provide a blue water capability.

The Polish military continues to restructure and to modernize its equipment. The Polish Defense Ministry General Staff and the Land Forces staff have reorganized the latter into a NATO-compatible J/G-1 through J/G-6 structure. Although budget constraints remain a drag on modernization, Poland has been able to move forward with U.S. assistance on acquiring 48 F-16 multi-role fighters, C-130 cargo planes, HMMWVs, and other items key to the military's restructuring.

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Portugal

French look silly but are clever.Spaniards look clever but are silly.Portuguese look silly and they are.Emperor Charles V

Portugal suffers from an inferiority complex and a sense of being economically, politically, and militarily weaker than its European and transatlantic partners. These are all true facts. For this reason, the Portuguese tend to focus on qualitative factors rather than quantitative; i.e., how soldiers performed rather than the number deployed.

The Portuguese are steeped in their seafaring history and feel an almost visceral pride in their maritime tradition and their past glory as a global empire. Portugal has a long and proud history  one that is uniquely influenced by its geography. Daniel J. Boorstin wrote that the Portuguese were propelled by geography to their place in history. Portugal is on the western part of the Iberian Peninsula. Its closest European neighbor is Spain to the East. The country faces the Atlantic to the West with its major cities from north to south located on the coast. The majority of the Portuguese live along the Atlantic coastline. Hemmed in by mountains and a strong and often not friendly neighbor on the east and ready access to the seas gives Portugal its oceanic orientation.

Portugal has a glorious past. It is the oldest European nation-state, having attained its present extent by about 1200, centuries before neighboring Spain or France became unified states. In the early decades of the fourteenth century, Portugal began a period of exploration that within a hundred years gave it an empire that literally spanned the globe.

The wealth the empire brought mainland Portugal had woeful long-term consequences, however. The country's leaders turned away from Europe and its political and technological advances. Portugal's economy battened on the colonies, rather than developing through competition with other European countries. Because Portugal was too small a country to defend its extensive possessions, much of the empire was soon lost. Even into the second half of the twentieth century, however, enough of the empire remained that Portugal continued to exist somewhat outside the world economy. The colonies provided the mainland with foodstuffs and raw materials and were a captive market for low-quality Portuguese manufactures.

Between 1936 and 1974 Portugal lived under a right wing dictatorial regime characterized by suppression of dissent and local government growth, isolated from the European mainstream and drawing on natural resources of African colonies. Since Salazar's time a group of perhaps 40 families who control most of the country's wealth had played a decisive role in the exercise of political power. Their position derived from their control of the economy, ownership of news media, representation in the legislative bodies, and their close connection with top government officials. Consequently, government policy reflected the conservative political, economic, and social views of this group.

Helena Sousa observed that "Due to its recent political history and economic/social underdevelopment, Portugal has not been properly studied in the Western European context. Portugal could not be understood within the general framework of the less developed countries (LDCs) neither within the framework of the modern industrialised societies. Portugal was a colonial power until 1974 and its politics and institutions were fundamentally different from those of the LDCs. At the same time, Portugal was not an industrial society and, in this sense, it could not be integrated in the so-called advanced industrial societies.... Indeed, Portugal was simultaneously the centre of its colonial empire and the periphery of Europe."

A greater threat to the long-term well-being of the Portuguese people than the country's backward economy, however, was the state of its social and political institutions. Long ruled by a tiny oligarchy supported by the military and a rigid authoritarian church untouched by the Reformation, the mass of the Portuguese population was passive and ignorant. The nation's wealth was reserved for a few, most of whom lived in Lisbon. The small middle class was docile and without experience in government.

The new government that came to power after the Carnation Revolution of 1974 began a wave of nationalizations of banks and large businesses. Because the banks were often holding companies, the government came after a time to own almost all the country's newspapers, insurance companies, hotels, construction companies and many other kinds of businesses, so that its share of the country's gross national product (GNP) amounted to 70 percent. Political instability dominated the late 1970s and early 1980s as successive governments unsuccessfully tried to tackle Portugal's economic woes.

Portugal needed a well-trained work force in order to fare well in an increasingly competitive world economy. More Portuguese were being educated than ever before, even at the university level, which long had been reserved for a tiny elite. It was estimated, however, that in the early 1990s up to 20 percent of Portuguese over the age of fifteen were illiterate. This illiteracy rate represented a striking improvement over the 1930 rate of 68 percent but was still much higher than the European average. Even at the beginning of the 1990s, most Portuguese had had only five or six years of schooling, and the percentage of children attending school beyond the sixth grade was below the EC average by a wide margin. Morale in the teaching profession was also very low because teachers, like most state employees, were very poorly paid. EC financial transfers to Portugal to raise the standards of the country's education were significant, but much remained to be done before Portuguese schooling corresponded to that of other West European countries.

The severity of the education system's problems was matched by the serious problems found throughout Portugal's social welfare and health systems. A comprehensive social welfare system had been established by law in the second half of the 1970s but never fully realized, and benefit payments and pensions were set at a very low level. Significant progress had been made in reducing infant mortality and dealing with some other health problems, but public health care was not generally up to West European standards. The country's backwardness when measured against the rest of the EC, with the exception of Greece, was striking and could be seen as a legacy of Portugal's long isolation from Europe and the repression of the Salazar regime.

Given the advance made in the two decades after 1974, however, Portuguese had reasons to rejoice. Poverty remained, especially in rural areas, and housing was frequently inadequate, but the population as a whole lived better than ever before. The traditional necessity to emigrate to find employment that had forced millions of Portuguese to leave their country, especially in the 1960s when Paris became the second largest Portuguese city, had lessened greatly. Many Portuguese could now find employment at home, if not in rural regions where emigration was still the rule, then along the coasts where most Portuguese had come to live. The improved economy also gave young Portuguese a greater choice in occupations and a chance for social mobility.

A modernizing society also presented Portuguese with opportunities for a better life. Portuguese society was more varied than it had been during the Salazar period. The free media brought the outside world to the Portuguese and engendered a greater liberality in how people lived. Divorce was permitted in the old regime, but abortion not legalized until 1984, despite the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church, which had become less influential. More Portuguese women worked outside the home. If professional opportunities were not yet as great as those enjoyed by women in Northern Europe, Portuguese women were freer than their mothers. Until 1969, for example, Portuguese women who were not heads of households had to have the permission of their husbands or male relatives to obtain passports. In the new Portugal, in contrast, a government agency existed with the purpose of preventing discrimination against women.

By 2009 Portugal's population of 11 million had a literacy rate of 93% (eight points higher than in 1990); Portuguese GDP had climbed from 42% of the EU average in 1960 to 77%; but only about one-third to one-half of Portuguese were internet users (in most EU countries this figure was over 50%), and one survey put "digital illiteracy" rate at 54%. The Portuguese were becoming better educated, wealthier, and more interested in and linked to the world around them. The greatest achievement of the Portuguese people since 1974, however, and the one which had allowed and encouraged other positive developments and permitted confidence about the future, was the consolidation of a system of parliamentary democracy, the first successful such system in the country's history. It was hoped that a modern political system responsive to the people's needs would allow the Portuguese to prepare for the new century in a united Europe.











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Romania

Twenty years after the end of communist rule, the country of 22 million is one of the poorest and most graft-prone corners of the European Union. No one has ever accused Romania of being a tidy place politically. This is a rough-and-tumble political environment. So far, the current political instability has stayed within legal and constitutional bounds, however torrid the rhetoric and vivid the theatrics. The legacy of its communist past still lingers in some elements, though it is receding since the 1989 termination of Nicolae Ceaucescu's erratic dictatorship. Romania generally punches above its weight when it comes to security issues. Most view EU accession, together with 2004 NATO membership, as solidifying Romania's Western orientation after decades of communist rule. Underinvestment in infrastructure, the lack of transparency in governmental decision making, and corruption all continue to have a negative impact on the overall business environment.

With one of the fastest growing economies in Europe, a talented workforce, and a strategic location on the Eastern rim of both NATO and the EU, Romania had a lot of positives with which to work, if only its political class can overcome its reliance on selfish, zero-sum politics. Ideology counts for little on the Romanian political scene. One observer suggests that Romanian parties are "pragmatic." A more jaundiced observer would describe them as "wholly opportunistic." Largely because of consistently poor government performance over the decade since 2000, Romania arguably suffered more than any other Eastern European country from the global economic recession that began in 2008.

Political parties represent a broad range of views and interests, and elected officials and other public figures freely express their views. Civil society watchdog groups remain relatively small but have grown in influence. The press is free and outspoken, although there have been incidents of politically motivated intimidation and even violence against journalists and media management, particularly prior to 2004 national elections. Independent radio networks have proliferated, and several private television networks now operate nationwide. In addition, a large number of local private television networks have emerged.

Responsible political leadership needs to sit down together and talk about their future and consider the consequences of a political implosion and the unintended results that could follow. Romania needs political stability in order to continue to make progress. The problem was exacerbated by Romania,s improving business environment; politics was no longer as attractive a career option for smart, ambitious youths as it was in the post-Ceaucescu era.

Though rumors are a major part of Romanian political life, and Romanians frequently link unrelated events in their propensity for conspiracy-think, just because they are paranoid does not mean they lack real adversaries. Romania's Balkan-like tendencies can lead others to try to see a strategy in what might just be unfortunately timed coincidences.

When Americans read or hear about Transylvania [in Romania], they immediately think of vampires, cemeteries, a mysterious, gloomy, and fog- covered countryside, lonely and terrorized people overawed and overshadowed by the castle. Many Romanians are superstitious and believe some really wacky things. Romanians are among the most religious and superstitious in the whole of Europe. Most Romanians find it strange not to have religious artifacts in ones home. Romanians have one of the highest levels of religious belief and practice, and of trust in pseudo- and para-sciences, in horoscopes and superstitions. The Romanian public has one of the largest deficits of scientific knowledge in Europe. Just one in ten Romanians has a consolidated and active scientific culture. Over 40 percent of Romanians believe the Sun revolves around the Earth.

Romanian folklore is full of superstitions and mystical beliefs. There are many superstitions regarding items of clothing and household objects: Taking out garbage at night, placing cups upside down, dropping knives and forks, etc. The prevention of evil eye effect using a red item and the saying an itchy left palm means one will be getting money are the most widely spread superstitions among Romanians.Many of these superstitions surround the protection of children from bad omens and the evil eye, which are believed to cause disastrous results, up to and including death. An envious person can cast an evil eye on an innocent, defenseless child. In fact, according to folklore, people can cast the evil eye without even meaning to. It is a tendency that people have, and nothing can be done about it. Even the most modern parents still use amulets to protect their children, in the belief that it cant hurt!

Since the 1989 fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, Romania, arguably the most regimented of states in the Soviet bloc, has struggled with the transition from totalitarian state to democratic nation. Romania offers a unique mix: A rich and complex culture; a long history that is often reflected in daily life; a forward-looking society that is quickly becoming one of the most cosmopolitan countries in Europe.

In accordance with the December 1991 Romanian constitution, the Romanian armed forces have the defensive mission of ensuring the territorial integrity of the country. The military enjoys popular support, partly because of its role in supporting the December 1989 revolution. The army is the largest service. Romania has an all-volunteer military force; conscription ended in 2007.

The Romanian armed forces have about 75,000 military personnel and 15,000 civilians, for a total of 90,000 men and women. Out of these 75,000, about 45,800 are in the Land Forces. In 1993, the U.S. military began training of Romanian military and civilian officials through International Military Education and Training (IMET) and other exchange programs, emphasizing civilian democratic control over the military.

A defense access agreement with Romania represents the first time US military forces, albeit in small numbers, will be stationed in a new NATO ally that is also a former member of the Warsaw Pact.

Throughout history, periods of occupation of any territory have always been recorded as difficult times, times of abuse and requisitions. Despite the efforts and dedication of many military leaders, subordinates often bring disgrace to their uniform. In recent history, after 1945, the Soviet Army has been the most disgraced army of all, due to its alarmingly large number of soldiers who brought shame to their country by perpetrating heinous crimes in the occupied territories. This image of the Red Army can't be changed in the eyes of many past and future generations.

Romanian citizens of the time witnessed unforgettable misdeeds by Soviet soldiers, from robberies to rapes and murders. Rapes were a disgraceful chapter written by Soviet troops. Russian soldiers would rape seventy year old women. The criminal acts perpetrated by many soldiers of the Red Army during their stay in Romania, from the end of World War Two until 1958, brought irreparable physical and mental damage to their victims.





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Kingdom of Sweden

Owing to a fortunate mix of politics, defence and geography, Sweden has been at peace for close on 200 years now. Few countries in Europe have been spared war for such a long period. For two centuries, or since the end of the Napoleonic wars, Sweden pursued a policy of neutrality, that is, non-involvement in armed interstate conflicts. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, the accession of Central European countries to the EU and NATO, and Swedens own accession to the EU in 1995  the country gradually started to transform its defense policy.

By 2013, from Swedens point of view, the post-Cold War strategic timeout in Europe was coming to an end. The international environment was reverting to a condition in which the use of force among states, including countries in the Baltic Sea region, was no longer an improbable scenario. Sweden believed that crises or conflicts that could directly or indirectly affect the country might potentially occur in Northern Europe in the future. This perception stemmed from: (1) rising uncertainty in Northern Europe (the Baltic Sea and High North regions) where new possibilities were emerging for extraction and transportation of energy resources, maritime transport and fishing; (2) the reforms and modernisation of Russias Armed Forces, and the lowering of the countrys threshold for the use of force in its immediate neighborhood.

Sweden is a relatively large European country, about the size of California, with a coastline of 1,245 miles, land boundaries of 1,360 miles, and a population of 8.3 million. It is bordered by Norway to the West, Finland to the northeast, and the Baltic Sea to the south. Extending almost 1,000 miles from north to south, Sweden occupies a critical region on NATO's northern flank that is longer in extent than the Central Front in Europe.

Parliament and Government have reduced the demands on the Swedish Armed Forces capability to complete tasks from a medium-term, i.e. five to ten year, perspective. This is because the Swedish Armed Forces, Parliament and Government all assess the risks of armed attack against Sweden as very small in the foreseeable future. However crises or incidents, that calls for the use of military resources can also arise in the region, and in the longer terms the threat of a military attack can never be discounted.

The Swedish Armed Forces face a large number of challenges. One of the most important was to continue restructuring and to maintain increasing international ambitions despite financial cutbacks. The demands placed on the Swedish Armed Forces by the Swedish parliament and government are largely met, but at a cost of lower goals in training activities. A number of units are not able to perform large-scale exercises, with the exception of the Nordic Battlegroup rapid response force that was on standby the first six months of 2008. There was a strong focus on developing the Nordic Battlegroup at several units. This force was also highly significant in the Swedish Armed Forces transformation towards a more mission-based approach.

The Swedish Armed Forces have made a high quality contribution to international missions in line with parliamentary resolutions. Swedish units deployed in Afghanistan, Chad and Kosovo. During the course of 2008, the Swedish Armed Forces also started planning a new naval mission off the coast of Somalia. The Swedish Armed Forces continued development on the system for personnel provision. In line with the defence committee and national service committee thinking, this included planning for an all voluntary force. The Swedish Armed Forces also worked intensively on developing and strengthening financial management and control. These changes, together with the proposals the Swedish Armed Forces presented to the government on 30 January 2009, enable the creation of an organisation and strike capability in line with the increasing demands of the state authorities.

A usable and accessible defence force will only need a limited number of soldiers in continuous service in the Army forces. This will make it possible for most of the soldiers in the Army to be employed on a contract basis. However, the Navy and Air Force will be largely made up of permanent units comprising regularly employed soldiers, sailors, airmen and officers.

In March 2010 the Swedish Armed Forces (Forsvarsmakten) proposed scaling down the country's defences, closing at least one air force base, eliminating one troop regiment and halving training resources for home defences. The reductions will lead to 800 million kronor ($112 million) in savings, which will be invested in the military's transition to a professional army.

In July 2010 Sweden's compulsory military service scheme came to an end, replaced by a voluntary system, which was expected not to require the same training resources. The government had been criticized for plans to close air force bases and regiments, which opponents said will leave the country vulnerable to attack. A freeze on closures was ordered until after the general election in September 2010. The most likely candidates for closure would be troop regiments in southern and western regions as well as the F17 air force base at Ronneby in southern Sweden. Northern Sweden was expected to keep the F21 base in Lulea.





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Slovak Republic

Since 1998, Slovakia has gone from being what Madeleine Albright termed "the black hole of Europe" to the "Tatra Tiger." [The Tatra name comes from the Tatra High Mountains, some of the higher peaks of the Carpathian mountain range] The year 1998 was the turning point in the history of independent Slovakia. By the parliamentary revolution, opposition parties made possible the change in government. This is event is believed as the starting point of color revolutions in post-communist area. After the "OK 98" campaign, a coalition government came to power and democratization started. NATO and EU membership were the focal points of the Slovak government and people and the locomotive of reform, and they engaged in a remarkable sprint (with U.S. and other donor support) that reached both those goals in the spring of 2004.

In the realm of defense, Slovakia faced difficulties not encountered by any of the other former Warsaw Pact states, since it had to set up its military almost from scratch. During the Warsaw Pact era, Czechoslovak armed forces were stationed almost exclusively in the Czech lands. The deployment made sense from the Soviet point of view. The deployment meant no major problems for the Czech armed forces after the breakup of Czechoslovakia. However, the limited military infrastructure in Slovakia caused substantial difficulties for the Slovak armed forces. The viability of Slovak air defense was especially questionable.

The armed forces are among the most respected national institutions according to national opinion polls. The armed forces of the Slovak Republic number about 14,000 uniformed personnel and are made up of Ground Forces, Air Forces (which includes air defense forces), and a Joint Training and Doctrine Command. Slovakia is land-locked, and has no Navy.

The Slovak military is moving from the concept of large armed forces capable of conducting operations in a global conflict between world powers to smaller ones, which are more effective, ready to defend the country, its citizens and its interests, also beyond the boundaries of Slovakia. In the same manner as the reform of the Slovak Armed Forces and Model 2015 are implemented, the military is making changes in the scope of service activities. The Defence Ministry and the Slovak Armed Forces will only address those areas of activity that are, pursuant to current legislation, directly connected to the main tasks of the Armed Forces.

Land forces consist of two mechanized infantry brigades, one with two mechanized battalions (BMP-1), a tank battalion (T-72), and a combined artillery battalion. The other brigade has three mechanized battalions (BMP-2). Each maneuver brigade is or is planned to be task organized with combat support units, such as an artillery battalion, an engineer battalion, a logistics support battalion, and an air defense battery. Other land forces include a separate NBC battalion, engineer battalion, ISTAR company, signal battalion, and command support battalion.

Air and Air Defense Forces are comprised of a fighter wing of MiG-29s, a wing of Mi-24 attack and Mi-17 utility helicopters, and a SAM brigade. Military police are under the command of the Ministry of Defense and a special operations regiment falls under the Land Forces Command.

The Slovak Republic, from the political and security perspective, constitutes an integral part of the North Atlantic space. Individually or with the allies and international organisations, it will protect and defend the security and human rights, sovereignty, freedom, democracy, and law and order.

By joining NATO, the Slovak Republic became part of collective defence but also a joint guarantor of allies' security. Being admitted as a member of the EU, it obtained further guarantees of political and economic stability and the possibility of active participation in the formation and implementation of the European security and defence policy. The defence and enforcement of Slovak Republic's security interests continues to be implemented in a broader geopolitical context.

Thanks largely to its feasible defence budget, the MoD has extended its offer of units to be earmarked for NATO and EU crisis management operations from three to eight, while reassuring that its previously declared commitments will be honored. As of January 1, 2008 the Slovak Armed Forces had available a mechanized battalion group, a chemical, biological and radiological protection battalion, a transfer control team, an Mi 17 helicopter flight, a military police platoon, and an EOD team. In 2009 they added a transport company and, after 2010, a rapidly deployable preventive medicine team. These units will be deployed within NATOs NRF and EU battle groups in compliance with the requirements, and their deployment will be subject to a prior national decision. By the end of 2010, Slovakias commitment is to prepare a mechanized brigade with complete combat support and combat service support, plus two units at company level.





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Republic of San Marino

San Marino has no regular military forces; Voluntary Military Force (Corpi Militari Voluntar) performs ceremonial duties and limited police support functions. San Marino is an active player in the international community. Currently, the Republic has diplomatic relations with over 70 countries. Italy is the only country represented by an ambassador resident in San Marino. The Papal Nuncio, based in Rome, is the dean of San Marino's diplomatic corps.

San Marino is a full member of the United Nations (UN), International Court of Justice (ICJ), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Health Organization (WHO), World Tourism Organization (WTO), Council of Europe, International Red Cross Organization, the International Institution for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIIT), and Interpol, among others. It also cooperates with UNICEF and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and has official relations with the European Union (EU). From May-November 1990 and from November 2006-May 2007, San Marino held the semi-annual presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, headquartered in Strasbourg, France.

The 31,242 population (December 2008) of San Marino is comprised of native Sammarinese and Italian citizens. Crop farming, sheep farming, and the working of stone from the quarries formed the early backbone of San Marino's economy. It has no mineral resources, and today most of the land is cultivated or covered by woods.

According to tradition, San Marino was founded in AD 301 when a Christian stonemason named Marinus the Dalmatian fled to the island of Arbe to escape the anti-Christian Roman Emperor Diocletian. Marinus hid on the peak of Mount Titano and founded a small community of people following their Christian beliefs. It is certain that the area had been inhabited since prehistoric times, although evidence of existence on Mount Titano only dates back to the Middle Ages. In memory of the stonecutter, the land was renamed "Land of San Marino" and was finally changed to its present-day name, "Republic of San Marino."

The land area of San Marino consisted only of Mount Titano until 1463, at which time the republic entered into an alliance against Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, who was later defeated. As a result, Pope Pius II Piccolomini gave San Marino the towns of Fiorentino, Montegiardino, and Serravalle. Later that year, the town of Faetano joined the republic on its own accord. Since then, the size of San Marino has remained unchanged.

San Marino has been occupied by foreign militaries twice in its history, both for only short periods of time. In 1503, Cesare Borgia, known as Valentino, occupied the republic until his death several months later. In 1739, Cardinal Alberoni used military force to occupy the country. Civil disobedience was used to protest his occupation, and clandestine notes sent to the Pope to obtain justice were answered by the Pope's recognition of San Marino's rights and restoration of San Marino's independence.

By 2018 the negotiating process was leading the Republic towards the adoption of an Association Agreement, in close agreement with Monaco and Andorra; a path that is demanding a change of pace also at a cultural level, for the necessary opening to reorganize already consolidated structures at a juridical, regulatory, economic and social level, and which will require a renewed commitment by the Institutions, the services involved and the entire community. The Regency encouraged the parties involved to energetic action, pursuing the exclusive objective of offering all the people of San Marino the opportunity to access the Single European Market, in which to express the potential available in equivalent conditions to the members.

San Marino won its first-ever Olympic medal on 29 July 2021 when shooter Alessandra Perilli took bronze in the women's trap event. The tiny European country, which is landlocked by Italy, has a population of about 34,000. It's the smallest to win an Olympic medal. The 33-year-old Perilli hit 29 of 40 to finish third in the final. She came second in the two-day preliminary sessions. Perilli also competed in the previous two Olympics. San Marino first participated in 1960. The country's Olympic Committee quoted Perilli as saying she wants to tell young people never to give up.





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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The Soviet Union was said to have a glorious future and no past, while the United Kingdom was said to have a glorious past and no future. But the UK remains the sixth-largest economy on the planet [tied with California, after the US, China, Japan, India and Germany]. Second only to the United States, it is the only other country on this list with a meaningful military power projection capability. Of the six top economies, only the US and China are also nuclear weapons states and members of the UN Security Council.

As the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the earth's surface. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted in two World Wars and the Irish republic withdraw from the union. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous European nation.

As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, a founding member of NATO, and of the Commonwealth, the UK pursues a global approach to foreign policy; it currently is weighing the degree of its integration with continental Europe. A member of the EU, it chose to remain outside the Economic and Monetary Union for the time being. Constitutional reform is also a significant issue in the UK. The Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly were established in 1999, but the latter was suspended until May 2007 due to wrangling over the peace process.

The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is one of the quintet of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. Over the past two decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial nation. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP while industry continues to decline in importance. Since emerging from recession in 1992, Britain's economy has enjoyed the longest period of expansion on record; growth has remained in the 2-3% range since 2004, outpacing most of Europe. The economy's strength has complicated the Labor government's efforts to make a case for Britain to join the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Critics point out that the economy is doing well outside of EMU, and public opinion polls show a majority of Britons are opposed to the euro. The BROWN government has been speeding up the improvement of education, health services, and affordable housing at a cost in higher taxes and a widening public deficit.

The United Kingdom's population in 2004 surpassed 60 million--the third-largest in the European Union. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world. Almost one-third of the population lives in England's prosperous and fertile southeast and is predominantly urban and suburban--with about 7.2 million in the capital of London, which remains the largest city in Europe. The United Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public education introduced for the primary level in 1870 and secondary level in 1900. Education is mandatory from ages 5 through 16. About one-fifth of British students go on to post-secondary education. The Church of England and the Church of Scotland are the official churches in their respective parts of the country, but most religions found in the world are represented in the United Kingdom.

A group of islands close to continental Europe, the British Isles have been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent, including Roman occupation for several centuries. Contemporary Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the 11th century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended in Britain under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in Northern France. Although Celtic languages persist in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, the predominant language is English, which is primarily a blend of Anglo-Saxon and Norman French.

The Roman invasion of Britain in 55 BC and most of Britain's subsequent incorporation into the Roman Empire stimulated development and brought more active contacts with the rest of Europe. As Rome's strength declined, the country again was exposed to invasion--including the pivotal incursions of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes in the fifth and sixth centuries AD--up to the Norman conquest in 1066. Norman rule effectively ensured Britain's safety from further intrusions; certain institutions, which remain characteristic of Britain, could develop. Among these are a political, administrative, cultural, and economic center in London; a separate but established church; a system of common law; distinctive and distinguished university education; and representative government.

Both Wales and Scotland were independent kingdoms that resisted English rule. The English conquest of Wales succeeded in 1282 under Edward I, and the Statute of Rhuddlan established English rule 2 years later. To appease the Welsh, Edward's son (later Edward II), who had been born in Wales, was made Prince of Wales in 1301. The tradition of bestowing this title on the eldest son of the British Monarch continues today. An act of 1536 completed the political and administrative union of England and Wales. While maintaining separate parliaments, England and Scotland were ruled under one crown beginning in 1603, when James VI of Scotland succeeded his cousin Elizabeth I as James I of England. In the ensuing 100 years, strong religious and political differences divided the kingdoms. Finally, in 1707, England and Scotland were unified as Great Britain, sharing a single Parliament at Westminster.

Ireland's invasion by the Anglo-Normans in 1170 led to centuries of strife. Successive English kings sought to conquer Ireland. In the early 17th century, large-scale settlement of the north from Scotland and England began. After its defeat, Ireland was subjected, with varying degrees of success, to control and regulation by Britain. The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was completed on January 1, 1801, under the name of the United Kingdom. However, armed struggle for independence continued sporadically into the 20th century. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 established the Irish Free State, which subsequently left the Commonwealth and became a republic after World War II. Six northern, predominantly Protestant, Irish counties have remained part of the United Kingdom.

Begun initially to support William the Conqueror's (c. 1029-1087) holdings in France, Britain's policy of active involvement in continental European affairs endured for several hundred years. By the end of the 14th century, foreign trade, originally based on wool exports to Europe, had emerged as a cornerstone of national policy.

The foundations of sea power were gradually laid to protect English trade and open up new routes. Defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 firmly established England as a major sea power. Thereafter, its interests outside Europe grew steadily. Attracted by the spice trade, English mercantile interests spread first to the Far East. In search of an alternate route to the Spice Islands, John Cabot reached the North American continent in 1498. Sir Walter Raleigh organized the first, short-lived colony in Virginia in 1584, and permanent English settlement began in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia. During the next two centuries, Britain extended its influence abroad and consolidated its political development at home.

Great Britain's industrial revolution greatly strengthened its ability to oppose Napoleonic France. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the United Kingdom was the foremost European power, and its navy ruled the seas. Peace in Europe allowed the British to focus their interests on more remote parts of the world, and, during this period, the British Empire reached its zenith. British colonial expansion reached its height largely during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). Queen Victoria's reign witnessed the spread of British technology, commerce, language, and government throughout the British Empire, which, at its greatest extent, encompassed roughly one-fifth to one-quarter of the world's area and population. British colonies contributed to the United Kingdom's extraordinary economic growth and strengthened its voice in world affairs. Even as the United Kingdom extended its imperial reach overseas, it continued to develop and broaden its democratic institutions at home.

By the time of Queen Victoria's death in 1901, other nations, including the United States and Germany, had developed their own industries; the United Kingdom's comparative economic advantage had lessened, and the ambitions of its rivals had grown. The losses and destruction of World War I, the depression of the 1930s, and decades of relatively slow growth eroded the United Kingdom's preeminent international position of the previous century. Britain's control over its empire loosened during the interwar period. Ireland, with the exception of six northern counties, gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1921. Nationalism became stronger in other parts of the empire, particularly in India and Egypt.

In 1926, the United Kingdom, completing a process begun a century earlier, granted Australia, Canada, and New Zealand complete autonomy within the empire. They became charter members of the British Commonwealth of Nations (now known as the Commonwealth), an informal but closely-knit association that succeeded the empire. Beginning with the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the remainder of the British Empire was almost completely dismantled. Today, most of Britain's former colonies belong to the Commonwealth, almost all of them as independent members. There are, however, 13 former British colonies--including Bermuda, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, and others--which have elected to continue their political links with London and are known as United Kingdom Overseas Territories.

Although often marked by economic and political nationalism, the Commonwealth offers the United Kingdom a voice in matters concerning many developing countries. In addition, the Commonwealth helps preserve many institutions deriving from British experience and models, such as parliamentary democracy, in those countries.





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Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros

Union of the Comoros

The Union of the Comores, mostly simply described as The Comoros, is a state consisting of three volcanic islands situated east of Mozambique of 750 000 inhabitants. A string of post-independence coups and secession attempts made the country notoriously unstable.

The archipelago of Comoros comprises four islands: Grande Comore, Anjouan, Moheli and Mayotte, at the northern mouth of the Mozambique Channel, about two-thirds of the way between northern Madagascar and northern Mozambique. In spite of the countrys access to independence in 1975, Mayotte remained under French administration. Little known and isolated in the Indian Ocean, the archipelago of Comoros is a small treasure still authentic out of the way. There are few tourist agencies, few guided tours, and no direct flights from Europe or America.

Anjouan is nicknamed the island of perfume because of its many cultures. Moheli has one of the most beautiful underwater sites in the Indian Ocean, protected since 2001 by the creation of a marine park. And finally, Grande Comore, the largest and most developed of the 4 islands.

At least 150,000 to 200,000 people of Comoran citizenship or descent live abroad, mainly in France, where they have gone seeking a better quality of life, job opportunities, higher education (Comoros has no universities), advanced health care, and to finance elaborate traditional wedding ceremonies (aada). Remittances from the diaspora are an economic mainstay, in 2013 representing approximately 25% of Comoros GDP and significantly more than the value of its exports of goods and services (only 15% of GDP).

Since visas to enter Mayotte were introduced in 1995, thousands of islanders from Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli have drowned trying to get there. They largely travel in small boats known as kwasa-kwasa, which are prone to capsizing on the 70-kilometre journey from Anjouan to Mayotte. Reliable casualty figures are hard to come by. They are also disputed, with the governor of Anjouan once claiming that more than 50,000 had drowned since 1995.

The French government estimates that as many as 40 percent of Mayotte's population is made up of what it calls illegal residents, referring to them as being in "une situation irreguliere". Grand Comore, Comoros most populous island, is both the primary source of emigrants and the main recipient of remittances. Most remittances are spent on private consumption, but this often goes toward luxury goods and does not contribute to economic development or poverty reduction. Although the majority of the diaspora is now French-born with more distant ties to Comoros, it is unclear whether they will sustain the current level of remittances.

One of the world's poorest countries, continuous population growth has serious consequences on both the state of the environment and the standard of living. As a small-island developing state, rapid urbanisation is a threat to peace in the Comoros, where there are few job opportunities for young people. The Comoros are facing very serious environmental problems with the disappearance of its forests. The situation is alarming in all the islands, while the majority live in precarious material conditions. Uncontrolled urbanization and the growth of slum areas are particularly visible along the coasts and main roads in the immediate vicinity of towns and villages.

Six separate security forces report to five different authorities. Union government forces include the Army of National Development and the gendarmerie, both of which normally report to the presidents cabinet director for defense. The National Directorate of Territorial Safety, which oversees police, immigration, and customs, reports to the minister of interior, information, and decentralization. When the gendarmerie serves as the judicial police, it reports to the minister of justice.

The military resources of the Comoros consist of small standing armies from each island and a 500-member police force, as well as a 600-member national defense force [wtih a budget of about $13,000,000]. A defense treaty with France provides naval resources for protection of territorial waters, training of Comoran military personnel, and air surveillance. France maintains a small maritime base and a Foreign Legion contingent on neighboring Mayotte - the Forces Armees dans la Zone Sud de lOcean Indien (FAZSOI) assists the lArmee nationale de developpement (AND).

Military branches are the National Army for Development (l'Armee Nationale de Developpement, AND): Comoran Security Force (also called Comoran Defense Force (Force Comorienne de Defense, FCD), includes Gendarmerie), Comoran Coast Guard, Comoran Federal Police.

Comoros claims French-administered Mayotte and challenges France's and Madagascar's claims to Banc du Geyser, a drying reef in the Mozambique Channel. In May 2008, African Union forces assisted the Comoros military recapture Anjouan Island from rebels who seized it in 2001.

Comoros has experienced occasional strikes and civil unrest, resulting in violent clashes between police and demonstrators. The Comorian Franc (KMF) is the official currency. This is a cash society; credit cards are not widely accepted. There is one bank on the island to exchange currency.

Some urban roads are paved, but most including rural roads are not and are poorly maintained. Roads are very narrow, poorly lit, full of potholes, and have dangerous curves. Visitors should not drive more than 30 miles an hour. Pedestrians and drivers should exercise extreme caution after dark. Professional roadside assistance service is not available. Travel between the islands by boat is common but is poorly regulated. Boats may be overcrowded and lacking safety equipment resulting is capsized vessels and fatalities. Death by drowning is common.

Visitors should not take photos of Comorians without permission. It is illegal to take pictures of government buildings, military installations, and other key infrastructure such as ports, train stations, and airports. Visitors could be fined, have photographic equipment confiscated, and risk detention and arrest.







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Maldives - Introduction

The US Central Intelligence Agency notes that "the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), with its small size and with little serviceable equipment, is inadequate to prevent external aggression and is primarily tasked to reinforce the Maldives Police Service (MPS) and ensure security in the exclusive economic zone." The authoritative Military Balance is the IISS annual assessment of the military capabilities and defence economics of 171 countries worldwide. Maldives did not make the list.

There had been a growing trend in Islamic conservatism since the advent of democracy and free speech. Opposition sources claim that over 350 Maldivian citizens have joined the ranks of the so-called Islamic State terror group. In per capita terms, no other country in the world had so many of its citizens affiliated with the outfit. In 2016 the government stated that of a population of about 350,000, the number of fighters was in the range of 40 to 50. Even after taking into account the number of family members who had accompanied these fighters, the total figure remains below 100. A report published in 2015 by the Kellogg Institute at the Northwestern University in the US concluded that the Maldives ranked second worldwide - behind Tunisia - in the number of IS foreign fighters to overall population.

Historically, the Maldives was an important crossroad in the Indian Ocean, hence Maldivian culture is a melting pot of various influences gathered from visitors who set foot there over the centuries. Influences of India, Sri Lanka, Arabia, Persia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Africa are evident in the unique culture of the Maldives. Maldivians have assimilated these influences over the years and created their own cultural identity like no other.

A proud history and rich culture evolved from the first settlers in the Maldives, who were seafarers from various parts of the world, traversing the oceans in ancient times. Since people from different parts of the world settled in the Maldives over the centuries, some of the traditions they brought with them remain in Maldivian culture. Some of the traditional drumming and dancing (known as boduberu) shows African influences, with rhythmic beating of drums and some songs in a language resembling that of East African countries.

As one would expect, there is a great South Asian influence in some of the music and dancing and particularly in the traditional food of the Maldives. This includes spicy curries using coconut milk and fish as the main staples and roshi (a thin flatbread) as a popular accompaniment. Those who arent fans of curries will also find a range of world cuisine available including pasta, burgers, noodles and other home comforts. The resorts boast a wide variety of international cuisine, much of which is serious competition for the worlds top restaurants. Fresh ingredients are flown in daily or grown on the islands.

However, some of the South Asian customs especially with regard to women such as the Sub Continents tradition of secluding women from public view are not tenets of life here. In fact, women play a major role in society - not surprising considering the fact many Maldivian men spend the whole day out at sea fishing. Many of the countrys traditions are strongly related to the sea and the fact that life is dependent on the sea.

Traditional handicrafts include matt-weaving and beautiful lacquer-work, usually painted in black, red and yellow. Although these traditions are less commonplace today, there are still some talented craftsmen and women who make these (matts are weaved exclusively by women).







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Seychelles

With a population of over 96,000, Seychelles is an island nation located off the eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. Seychelles gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1976, at which time the population lived at near subsistence level. It certainly does look like an oasis in a desert of sea ; for the archipelagos of the Indian Ocean cannot compare in number with those of the Pacific. Today, Seychelles main economic activities are tourism and fishing, and the country aspires to be a financial center.

The political domination by whites seemed unyielding, since by the 1990s the elected leadership of the majority party, and that of most of the several opposition parties, was white. Creole is the native language of 94% of the people; however, English remains the language of government and commerce.

The Seychelles comprises 115 small islands, many of them uninhabited, to the east of Kenya. The US government estimates the total population at 92,000 (July 2015 estimate). The bulk of the population (88%) lives on the main island Mahe (148 sq km), and most of the rest on Praslin (70 sq km) and smaller La Digue about 40km from Mahe. The total area is 455 sq km of land scattered over 650,000 sq km of ocean. . Independent from Great Britain since 1975, the country nevertheless is far more French after years of early French settlement and influence. Since independence, tourism has grown dramatically to become the primary industry of Seychelles, overtaking plantation agriculture. The Seychellois are descended from French planters and African or Malagasy slaves, with British, Chinese, and Indian infusions.

Seychelles has not experienced large-scale political violence since the late 1970s. Seychelles became a Republic within the Commonwealth in June 1976. Initially a coalition government led by President Mancham ruled the country. He was overthrown in a socialist coup on 5 June 1977 and was replaced by Albert Rene, his former Prime Minister. Seychelles had a centrally planned economy and, in the short term, rapid economic development. However, serious imbalances such as large deficits and mounting debts contributed to persistent foreign exchange shortages and slow growth that plagued Seychelles through the first decade of the 21st century.

President Rene ran the country as a one party state for 14 years, surviving three unsuccessful coup plots by exiled opponents involving foreign mercenaries (April 1978, November 1979 and November 1981), and a suppressed mutiny (August 1982). However stability improved during the 1980s and in December 1991, President Rene announced a surprise transition to multi-party democracy. This followed pressure for change from foreign governments and discreet contacts with exiles overseas.

The president controls the security apparatus [detials of which are a bit hazy], which includes the Seychelles Peoples Defense Forces (SPDF) of just 500, a National Guard Force, the Army, the Presidential Protection Unit, the 150-person strong Coast Guard, 35 Marines, and police with 575 police officers.

The police commissioner, who reports directly to the minister for home affairs, commands the unarmed police, the armed paramilitary Police Special Support Wing, and the Marine Police Unit, which together have primary responsibility for internal security. When necessary the SPDF assisted police on matters of internal security. Security forces were effective, although impunity was a problem. Police brutality and corruption occurred, particularly the solicitation of bribes.

Military expenditures have fluctuated between 0.82% of GDP (2011) and 2.42% of GDP (2014). Military service age is 18 years of age for voluntary military service (younger with parental consent), though there is no conscription.

Medical facilities are limited, especially on the isolated islands where doctors are often unavailable. There is one main government-run hospital and several localized district clinics on the three main islands.

Bus services are infrequent on some routes, tend to be crowded during rush hours, and may require a transfer. On the islands of Mahe and Praslin, buses operate from early morning to early evening. Driving is only practical on the islands of Mahe and Praslin. Roads on both islands are narrow and wind steeply over mountains, often with sheer drops and hairpin bends. Many roads are not well-maintained.. Traffic safety is hazardous due to a lack of safety barriers and inadequate street lighting.











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Once, as the British fleet closed on the American fleet,

the Americans signalled to the British fleet,

"How's the world's second largest navy?"

The Royal Navy replied,

"Fine. How's the second best?"

Country Tonnage

(,000 tons) Number of

Vessels United States 6,243 949 China 2,115 1,045 Russia 1,968 956 UK 792 141 India 517 223 Japan 467 137 France 411 298 Indonesia 248 159 Turkey 223 212 Germany 213 140 Italy 212 184 Taiwan 201 409 Australia 200 97 ROK 197 209 Spain 191 224 Brazil 175 112 includes auxiliaries and craft "No naval challenger now threatens the U.S. Navy; even after its substantial decline in numbers the U.S. battle fleet remains unchallenged atop the global naval pecking order. Although the battle fleet numbers fewer ships than at any time since 1931, the Navy likely enjoys a wider margin of naval superiority than at any point since the late 1940s. ... "A simple comparison of aggregate fleet warship tonnages helps to highlight the great disparity between the U.S. Navy and foreign navies in terms of combat capability and capacity. As naval analyst Geoffrey Till explains, [t]here is a rough correlation between the ambitions of a navy and the size and individual fighting capacity of its main units, provided they are properly maintained and manned. Aggregate fleet warship tonnage can therefore be used as a simple proxy for a navys overall fighting capabilities and to help identify the key competitors now in the global naval competition. "The comparisons of fleet aggregate tonnages are quite stunning. The U.S. battle fleet alone, composed of modern, large, and commodious warships, comes in at an aggregate displacement of 2.85 million tons. In contrast, only seven other countries operate war fleets that displace more than 100,000 aggregate tons, and 10 more operate fleets that displace between 50,000 and 100,000 tons. ... Together, the navies of these 17 countries account for 2.66 million tons of the entire rest of the worlds (ROW) aggregate warship displacement of 3.03 million tons (88 percent).... at 94 percent of the total aggregate ROW tonnage, the U.S. war fleet displaces nearly as much as all other warships in the worlds navies, combined." Economics and Established Maritime Powers

Robert O. Work, 2005







Rank 1: Major Global Force Projection Navy (Complete) - This is a navy capable of carrying out all the military roles of naval forces on a global scale. It possesses the full range of carrier and amphibious capabilities, sea control forces, and nuclear attack and ballistic missile submarines, and all in sufficient numbers to undertake major operations independently. E.g., United States. Rank 2: Major Global Force Projection Navy (Partial) - These are navies that possess most if not all of the force projection capabilities of a "complete" global navy, but only in sufficient numbers to undertake one major "out of area" operation. E.g., Britain, France. Rank 3: Medium Global Force Projection Navy - These are navies that may not possess the full range of capabilities, but have a credible capacity in certain of them and consistently demonstrate a determination to exercise them at some distance from home waters, in cooperation with other Force Projection Navies. E.g., Canada, Netherlands, Australia. Rank 4: Medium Regional Force Projection Navy - These are navies possessing the ability to project force into the adjoining ocean basin. While they may have the capacity to exercise these further afield, for whatever reason, they do not do so on a regular basis. Rank 5: Adjacent Force Projection Navies - These are navies that have some ability to project force well offshore, but are not capable of carrying out high-level naval operations over oceanic distances. Rank 6: Offshore Territorial Defence Navies - These are navies that have relatively high levels of capability in defensive (and constabulary) operations up to about 200 miles from their shores, having the sustainability offered by frigate or large corvette vessels and (or) a capable submarine force. Rank 7: Inshore Territorial Defence Navies - These are navies that have primarily inshore territorial defence capabilities, making them capable of coastal combat rather than constabulary duties alone. This implies a force comprising missile-armed fast-attack craft, short-range aviation and a limited submarine force. Rank 8: Constabulary Navies - These are significant fleets that are not intended to fight, but to act purely in a constabulary role. Rank 9: Token Navies - These are navies that have some minimal capability, but this often consists of little more than a formal organisational structure and a few coastal craft. These states, the world's smallest and weakest, cannot aspire to anything but the most limited constabulary functions.
Fiji

Fiji is by far the most populous and economically powerful of the South Pacific island nations and seen as a regional hub for business and diplomacy. Fiji, with a population of 915,000 (July 2016 est.), endowed with forest, mineral, and fish resources, is one of the most developed and connected of the Pacific island economies. Earnings from the tourism industry, with nearly 800,000 tourists visiting in 2016, and remittances from Fijians working abroad are the countrys largest foreign exchange earners.

The importance of warfare and cannibalism in early Fijian history should not detract from the accomplishments of the early culture. Ethnicity plays a major role in Fiji's politics, economy, and society. Although characterized by cannibalistic ritual, warfare nonetheless brought about the integration of dissimilar cultural and linguistic groups into larger political entities.

Fiji's multiracial society is divided between indigenous Fijians [about 60%] and ethnic Indians [about 40%]. Indo-Fijians dominate the economy and professions and are well represented in the lower and middle levels of the public service, while ethnic Fijians make up the bulk of the nation's military forces and control the political structures.

Fiji became independent in 1970 after nearly a century as a British colony. Democratic rule was interrupted by two military coups in 1987 caused by concern over a government perceived as dominated by the Indian community (descendants of contract laborers brought to the islands by the British in the 19th century). The coups and a 1990 constitution that cemented native Melanesian control of Fiji led to heavy Indian emigration; the population loss resulted in economic difficulties, but ensured that Melanesians became the majority. A new constitution enacted in 1997 was more equitable. Free and peaceful elections in 1999 resulted in a government led by an Indo-Fijian, but a civilian-led coup in 2000 ushered in a prolonged period of political turmoil.

Parliamentary elections held in 2001 provided Fiji with a democratically elected government led by Prime Minister Laisenia QARASE. Reelected in May 2006, QARASE was ousted in a December 2006 military coup led by Commodore Voreqe BAINIMARAMA, who initially appointed himself acting president but in January 2007 became interim prime minister. Following years of political turmoil, long-delayed legislative elections were held in September 2014 that were deemed "credible" by international observers and that resulted in BAINIMARAMA being reelected.

The crimes decree includes criticism of the government in its definition of the crime of sedition. This includes statements made in other countries by any person, who authorities may prosecute on their return to the country. The courts set the trial for more than 60 defendants in an August 2015 sedition case for 2017. The government charged the defendants for seditious acts in 2015 following claims of military-style training and an attempt to establish a breakaway state on the main island of Viti Levu.

Health-care facilities in Fiji's urban areas are adequate for most routine medical problems. In rural areas, staff training is limited and there are often shortages of supplies and medications. Doctors and hospitals expect immediate cash payment for health services. Travelers should carry adequate supplies of any needed prescription medicines, along with copies of their prescriptions, the generic name of the drugs, and a supply of preferred over-the-counter medications.

Emergency response is extremely limited. Ambulance availability is minimal, and ambulances are often poorly equipped and not staffed with medical personnel. Although a private hospital in Suva provides a Western-style medical medical facility, the standards of care are below normal United States care. Persons with medical emergencies may be evacuated to Australia, New Zealand, or the United States, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars and will be considered only if the patient has adequate insurance or pays upfront.

There are dangerous rip tides along reefs and river estuaries. Always comply with warning signs, especially red flags, and only swim from approved beaches. Vistors planning to go out to the reefs or engage in any water activities should satisfy themselves that the company they are using has the most up-to-date equipment, including all of the necessary safety features and that they are fully licensed and insured.

While most roads in urban areas are paved, they are poorly maintained. Roads outside the city are usually not paved. In the city, be especially attentive when driving after dark. Outside of the city, it is best to avoid driving after dark except in emergency or exceptional circumstances. Insufficient lighting, stray animals, unwary pedestrians, and potholes make driving dangerous and particularly hazardous at night. Take extra care when driving at night particularly in rural areas as roads are mainly in a poor condition and can be dangerous due to a lack of street lighting, the presence of pedestrians and stray animals on roads.

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Kiribati

Kiribati (pronounced "keer-ah-bhass") consists of 32 low-lying atolls and one raised island scattered over an expanse of ocean equivalent in size to the continental United States. Britain offered Kiribati an army; founding President Iremia Tabai said no thanks.

Kiribati, geographically huge but dramatically under-resourced, straddling the equator for 3000 miles with a total population of 100,000, cannot sustain itself. By 2008 President Tong was already talking with New Zealand about finding a new homeland for his people when atolls become inundated. Kiribati was the scene of a strange power struggle between China and Taiwan.

The islands, with a population (2011 est.) of 102,697, straddle the Equator and lie roughly halfway between Hawaii and Australia. The three main groupings are the Gilbert Islands, Phoenix Islands, and Line Islands. In 1995 Kiribati unilaterally moved its date line to include its easternmost islands, putting the country in the same date and time zone.

Kiribati includes Kiritimati (Christmas Island), the largest coral atoll in the world, and Banaba (Ocean Island), one of the three great phosphate islands in the Pacific. Except on Banaba, very little land is more than three meters above sea level.

This republic may rightfully be called "the most oceanic state" in Oceania  one of the largest collection of islands in the world, scattered over the huge expance of the planet's largest ocean. The 33 atolls which comprise Kiribati extend from west to east for almost 4,000 kilometers, and from north to south  for over 2,000. Yet their total area comprises only 823 square kilometers. As most of the other countries in the South Pacific region, Kiribati is among the smallest states in the world.

The Republic of Kiribati is located on an archipelago formed by three groups of coral islands: Gilbert, Line and Phoenix. Its name comes from the toponym adopted for the most populated group of islands by the Russian scientist and traveller, the honored academician I. F. Kruzenshtern in the 20's of the last century. Kiribati is the closest variant of the word "Gilbert" in the pronunciation of the local micronesian dialect. (T. Gilbert was one of the English researchers studying the archipelago).

The largest in population is Tarawa atoll (18,000 residents). The capital, Bairiki, is located here. The largest in size is Kiritimati atoll (364 square kilometers. Its former name was Christmas Island (Kirimati  the Micronesian variant of pronunciation for the English word "Christmas"). The state is still very young. Its independence was declared on 12 July 1979. Prior to 1975 it had been the British colony of Gilbert and Ellis Islands, and from 1975 through 1979, after the residents of the Ellis Islands  Polynesians - expressed the desire to create their own political formation (the state of Tuvalu), it was called Gilbert Island. The area of the populated islands is 719 square kilometers.

The original inhabitants of Kiribati are Gilbertese, a Micronesian people. Approximately 90% of the population of Kiribati lives on the atolls of the Gilbert Islands. Although the Line Islands are about 2,000 miles east of the Gilbert Islands, most inhabitants of the Line Islands are also Gilbertese. Owing to severe overcrowding in the capital on South Tarawa, in the 1990s a program of directed migration moved nearly 5,000 inhabitants to outlying atolls, mainly in the Line Islands. The Phoenix Islands have never had any significant permanent population. A British effort to settle Gilbertese there in the 1930s lasted until the 1960s when it was determined the inhabitants could not be self-sustaining.

Pronounced Ki-ris-mas, Kiritimati Island has a large infilled lagoon that gives it the largest land area (125 square miles, 321 square km) of any atoll in the world. Captain Cook named the atoll Christmas Island when he arrived on Christmas Eve in 1777. Used for nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s, the island is now valued for its marine and wildlife resources. It is particularly important as a seabird nesting sitewith an estimated 6 million birds using or breeding on the island, including several million Sooty Terns. Rainfall on Kiritimati is linked to El Nino patterns, with long droughts experienced between the wetter El Nino years.

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Palau

The 1994 Compact of Free Association with the USA made Palau a democratic republic, and guarantees not only a diplomatic and economic relationship (they use the U.S. dollar) but also its defense by American troops. The Republic of Palau is among the youngest and smallest nations in the world, it is located in the vast, strategic region of the Pacific, and remains committed to keeping its borders secure. The Republic of Palau has flourished as a thriving democracy that respects human rights, upholds the rule of law, and takes a leadership role on many environmental issues.

Palau is the same size as the State of Texas in terms of their EEZs. Palau had only 20,000 population, but the EEZ is one reason why these islands are so important. Palau holds a strategic position in the western Pacific as part of the so-called Second Island Chain. The Compact of Free Association provides the United States the critical right of strategic denial foreclosing access to Palau by military forces and personnel of any nation except the United States.

The first island chain is the island chain closest to mainland Asia. Second island chain is the one moving eastward, further out in the Pacific. Palau is part of that second island chain. Today China is securing resources around the globe. But the physical characteristics of the Pacific Ocean have not changed. It will be used by China the same way that the Japanese used it 60 years ago, as a way to bring resources back to the homeland. And China is very concerned about that. The Chinese look at those lines as ways of stopping them from getting the resources around the world that they are purchasing back to mainland China. And they are very, very concerned about that. Palau is one of just four remaining Pacific nations that recognise Taiwan, after Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 2019.

Tourism accounts for more than 40% of the countrys GDP, and since November 2017, the Chinese government has banned tour operators in that country selling package tours to Palau, with the stroke of a pen knocking out a huge and growing proportion of the tourist market.

General MacArthur's address to a joint session of Congress in April 1951, said, "A vast moat to protect us as long as we hold it . . . [a] protective shield for all of the Americas and all of the free lands of the Pacific Ocean area, a chain of islands extending in an arc from the Aleutians to the Marianas held by us and our free allies, from this island chain, we can . . . prevent any hostile movement into the Pacific."

Health facilities in Palau are adequate for routine medical care, but the availability and quality of services are limited. Doctors and hospitals may request cash payment at the time of service. Serious medical conditions requiring hospitalizations or evacuation to the United States or elsewhere may cost tens of thousands of dollars. The Belau National Hospital will accept payment by cash, credit or debit card, while private clinics may require cash payment.

Palau is vulnerable to tropical cyclones and floods. Although the crime rate in Palau is relatively low, visitors might be the target of petty and sometimes violent crime as well as other random acts against individuals and property.

Many roads in Koror, where the vast majority of the population lives, are in fair condition but have no sidewalks and little or no shoulder on the side of the road. The roadway known as the Compact Road that loops around the large island of Babeldaob is in fairly good condition. Secondary roads connecting villages to the Compact Road vary in quality from good to rough. Drunken drivers are a late-night hazard in Palau.

Palau gained its independence and established diplomatic relations with the United States in 1994, with the entry into force of the Compact, under which the U.S. remains responsible for Palau's defense until 2044. Palau is a sovereign nation and conducts its own foreign relations. The United States and Palau cooperate on a broad range of issues, including strengthening regional security, promoting sustainable development and addressing climate change, and protecting fisheries and the environment. Approximately 500 Palauans serve as volunteers in the U.S. armed forces, and Palau also has one of the highest levels of voting coincidence with the United States at the United Nations.

The United States and Palau signed the Compact Review Agreement in 2010, with a wide range of federal programs to continue until 2024. The United States also worked with Palau to establish the Compact Trust Fund to assist Palau in achieving healthy economic growth. As of July 2018, the value of the Compact Trust Fund was approximately $226,362,000.

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Republic of the Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands, with a population of 73,376 (July 2016 est.), has no regular military forces, apart from the Marshall Islands Police. Defense is the responsibility of the USA.

After almost four decades under US administration as the easternmost part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Marshall Islands attained independence in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association. Compensation claims continue as a result of US nuclear testing on some of the atolls between 1947 and 1962. The Marshall Islands hosts the US Army Kwajalein Atoll Reagan Missile Test Site, a key installation in the US missile defense network. Kwajalein also hosts one of four dedicated ground antennas (the others are on Ascension (Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha), Diego Garcia (British Indian Ocean Territory), and at Cape Canaveral, Florida (US)) that assist in the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation system.

Between 1946 and 1958, while the Marshall Islands were part of the U.S. administered, United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the United States used two atolls in the northern Marshal Islands-Bikini and Enewetak - as nuclear test sites. During the testing period, 66 nuclear bombs were detonated on or above the two atolls, destroying some of the land and leaving them contaminated with radioactivity.

In March 1954, the United States conducted one of the first hydrogen bomb tests, code-named Bravo, on Bikini. Bravo was the largest nuclear device ever detonated in the atmosphere by the United States, producing a much more powerful explosion than expected. Because of a shift in wind conditions, radioactive fallout spread to two inhabited atolls-Rongelap and Utrik-where 239 people were living.

The Marshall Islands is comprised of 29 atolls and five single islands, which form two parallel groups--the "Ratak" (sunrise) chain and the "Ralik" (sunset) chain. Two-thirds of the nations population lives in Majuro and Ebeye. The outer islands are sparsely populated due to lack of employment opportunities and economic development. The islands of Bikini and Enewetak are former US nuclear test sites; Kwajalein atoll, famous as a World War II battleground, surrounds the world's largest lagoon and is used as a US missile test range; the island city of Ebeye is the second largest settlement in the Marshall Islands, after the capital of Majuro, and one of the most densely populated locations in the Pacific.

As a coral atoll nation, one of only four in the world, the Marshall Islands offers a very unique environment and landscape, consisting of saltwater lagoons encircled by white beaches and small, lush islands. In all, the Marshall Islands contain over 1,200 individual islands, 870 reef systems, 800 species of fish, and 160 species of coral.

With dozens of WWII ship and plane wrecks, including the worlds only diveable aircraft carrier (the USS Saratoga), the flagship of the Japanese World War II fleet (the Nagato), and a German Cruiser launched by Adolf Hitler (the Prinz Eugen), the Marshall Islands offer unparalleled wreck scuba diving.

The total land area is about 70 square miles (181 square kilometers). The mean height of the land is about 7 feet above sea level (2 meters).

The Marshall Islands has a low crime rate. The most common crimes are break-ins and thefts from homes, hotel rooms, and vehicles, as well as occasional random acts of vandalism. Alcohol plays a role in most crimes, especially assaults. The risk of being involved in an incident increases at night and in isolated locations such as beaches.

Majuro atoll has only one main road and there are no street addresses or house numbers. The road is paved, but there are few traffic signs and no traffic lights. Drivers should be alert for dogs, chickens, and pigs roaming the streets, and children darting into the road, especially after dark. Children frequently play dangerous games with vehicles, running in front of or behind vehicles. Drinking and driving is common, especially on the weekends, so use caution. Walking beside the street can be dangerous due to poor lighting, the absence of sidewalks, and drivers who may have been drinking. On outer atolls, there is no transportation for evacuation to the rudimentary medical facilities on the two atolls with hospitals (Majuro and Kwajalein).

Vehicle traffic proceeds slowly, rarely more than 25 miles per hour. Roads experience temporary flooding after heavy rains and during especially high tides. Because there are few streetlights, visibility is poor, and night driving requires special caution.

Marshallese citizens typically dress very modestly with tops that cover their shoulders and pants, dresses, or shorts that fall below their knees.

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Federated States of Samoa

Samoa, with a population of 200,000, does not maintain a formal military. Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa) consists of two large islands, Upolu and Savai'i, and several small ones. It is a separate country from the US-administered American Samoa. In 1997 'Western' was dropped from the nation's name, and it became known as Samoa. It has a tropical climate with a rainy season from November to April.

The political and security environment in Samoa is peaceful, with instances of political violence rare. The risk of civil disorder is low. There is no civil strife or insurrection. There are no significant border disputes at risk of military escalation.

Samoa is a Constitutional Monarchy with a UK-style cabinet government modified to take account of Samoan customs. The constitution provides for a Head of State, a Prime Minister and a Cabinet of Ministers, who comprise the Executive Council, and a Legislative Assembly. Malietoa Tanumafili II held office for life, but the current and future Heads of State are elected by Parliament for a five-year term.

The Samoa Police Department, under the Ministry of Police and Prison Services, maintains internal security. Local councils enforce rules and security within individual villages. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over police, and the government has effective mechanisms to investigate and punish abuse and corruption. There were no reports of impunity involving police. Insufficient capacity limited police effectiveness.

Samoa is a geographically compact country in the South Pacific with a population of about 200,000, a recorded gross domestic product per capita of $4,212 in 2013, and a land area of 2,820 square kilometers. The two main islandsSavaii and Upoluaccount for almost all the land area. Samoas small size makes it difficult to achieve economies of scale and production, although its compactness facilitates internal freight distribution and public service delivery. Samoa faces challenges typical of small island economies, including geographic isolation, limited human and financial resources, a narrow economic base, and underdeveloped markets. The economy is heavily dependent on agricultural exports and fisheries, and imports of fuel and basic commodities. Samoa is isolated from major centers of trade and commerce, resulting in high international transport costs. In the Doing Business 2015 report, Samoa ranked 80th out of 189 economies in the ease of trading across borders.

Samoa's economy has traditionally been dependent on development assistance, family remittances from overseas, agriculture, and fishing. The service sector accounts for around 60% of GDP with tourism the largest single activity. Only 12% of the total population in Samoa is engaged in formal paid employment. Two thirds of the labor force is absorbed by "subsistence" village agriculture. A determined program of economic reforms initiated during the 1990s helped earn Samoa the reputation as the Pacific's model economy and placed the Samoan economy among the fastest growing of the Pacific Islands. Economic growth over the period of 2000-2005 averaged 4%, driven by increased public investment, enhanced tourism earnings, and an increase in agricultural production.

There are no international, non-governmental "watchdog" organizations represented locally, and the country was ranked 50th out of 175 on Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Index 2014, the latest year for which information is available.

There is a high level of religious observance and continued strong societal pressure at village and local levels to participate in church services and other activities, and to support church leaders and projects financially. In some denominations, financial contributions often totaled more than 30 percent of family income.

In the past, disputes between villages and the central government have led to protests, road blocks, and hostility between the police and villagers. Travelers should be aware of their surroundings as demonstrations can sometimes escalate into violence.

Buses are slow, crowded, uncomfortable, undependable, and rarely used by visitors. Buses in the main city of Apia are reasonably priced and readily available. Most run from 6 a.m.6 p.m. Buses to rural villages are often crowded and generally uncomfortable but usually reliable. Taxis are plentiful and the fare can be split between riders. Buses in rural areas follow a timetable, unless there is a falavelave (special function or event).

Samoa previously drove on the right-hand side of the road, but in September 2009 switched to driving on the left (British) side. All cars now imported are right-hand drive.

Urban roads in Apia and the main roads circumnavigating and crossing the island are all generally kept in fair condition, although bumps and potholes are common. Side streets tend to be gravel or dirt and their condition varies considerably, particularly during the rainy season when ruts and bumps develop.

Roads outside Apia are often narrow, winding, relatively steep, with narrow or no shoulders, and poorly lighted. Pedestrians as well as vehicles and livestock regularly travel these roads. Due to poor and deteriorating road conditions, night driving on unlit rural roads can be dangerous and should be avoided if possible.

Roads in Samoa often traverse small streams. These streams can become swollen and dangerous with little warning. Vehicles should never enter a stream if the roadbed is not visible or if the waters depth is more than the vehicles clearance.

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Tuvalu

Tuvalu is one of the world's smallest sovereign states, with a population of about 10,500, slightly more than the approximately 9,500 attributed to Nauru, and a land area of 26 sq km, compared to 21 sq km for Nauru. It is well behind Nuaru in GDP [$35,000,000 vs $60,000,000] and in military spending [$15,000,000 vs $60,000,000]. Tuvalu has no regular military forces; security is managed by the Tuvalu Police Force.

Every year, the island of Funafuti sinks 6.6 millimeters into the Pacific. As Tuvalu sits no more than 5 meters above mean sea-level, this suggests the country has little future. The political leadership is looking to move to Fiji or New Zealand. If decisions are left too long, the New Zealand Navy might have to rescue the whole population in the wake of a typhoon.

Nauru and Tuvalu are two of six Pacific countries to have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which is a major source of tension with China.

Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is situated 4,000 kilometer (2,486 mi.) northeast of Australia in the Western Pacific. It is half-way from Hawaii to Australia. Tuvalu consists of four reef islands and five true atolls, with poor soil and a total land area of only about 26 sq. km. (10 sq. mi.). Tuvalu has westerly gales and heavy rain from November to March and tropical temperatures moderated by easterly winds from March-November. The land is very low lying with narrow coral atolls. The highest elevation is five meters above sea level.

Over 96% of Tuvaluans are ethnic Polynesians, closely related to the people of Samoa and Tonga. The vast majority belong to the Church of Tuvalu, a Protestant denomination. Conversion began in the 1860s with the arrival of a Congregationalist missionary from the Cook Islands.

HISTORY

The Spanish were the first Europeans to see the islands in the 1500s. However, in 1819, Captain De Peyster, an American in command of the British merchant ship Rebecca named the main island in the group Ellice's Island after a British politician who owned the cargo aboard his ship. In 1841, the U.S. Exploring Expedition commanded by Charles Wilkes visited three of Tuvalu's islands and welcomed visitors to his ships. Other early interactions with the outside world were far less benign. In 1863, hundreds of people from the southern islands were kidnapped when they were lured aboard slave ships with promises that they would be taught about Christianity. Those islanders were forced to work under horrific conditions in the guano mines of Peru.

Eventually, the islands came under British influence in the late 19th century. The Ellice Islands were administered by Britain as part of a protectorate (1892-1916) and later as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony (1916-74). During World War II, several thousand American troops were in the islands. Beginning in October 1942, U.S. forces built airbases on the islands of Funafuti, Nanumea, and Nukufetau. Friendly cooperation was the hallmark of relations between the local people and the troops, mainly U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy SeaBees. The airstrip in the capital of Funafuti, originally built by the U.S. during the war, is still in use, as is the "American Passage" that was blasted through Nanumea's reef by SeaBees assisted by local divers.

In 1974 the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency status as Tuvalu, separating from the Gilbert Islands, which became Kiribati upon independence. Tuvalu became fully independent in 1978 and in 1979 signed a treaty of friendship with the United States, which recognized Tuvalu's possession of four islets formerly claimed by the United States.

GOVERNMENT

Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state, represented by the governor general, who is appointed by the Queen on advice of the prime minister. Members of the Parliament elect the prime minister. The cabinet is appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister. The legislative branch is a unicameral Parliament, also called House of Assembly (15 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve 4-year terms). Tuvalu maintains an independent judiciary consisting of a High Court and eight island courts. The rulings of the High Court can be appealed to the Tuvalu Court of Appeal.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS

Tuvalu has been politically stable over many decades. Democratic values in Tuvalu are strong, with free elections every 4 years by universal adult suffrage. There are no formal political parties; election campaigns are largely on the basis of home island/personal/family ties and reputation. Members of Parliament have very close ties to the islands they represent. Often the northern islands in the country compete against the southern islands, with the capital isle of Funafuti holding the balance of power. Traditional chiefs and island councils also still play significant roles in influencing island affairs, particularly on the outer islands. A long-held distinction between chiefs and commoners is slowly disappearing, and chiefs are now more often selected on merit rather than by birth.

Tuvalu has had a number of prime ministers. This in part reflects the pressures affecting the small nation, including the transition from an exchange economy to a money economy, an adopted system of government with only limited regard for Tuvaluan traditions of decision making, and the lack of a clear national path to implement Tuvalu's vision for the future. After elections in September 2010, Maatia Toafa became Prime Minister, replacing Apisai Ielemia. Toafa previously was leader of the opposition; he also had been prime minister from 2004 to 2006. In December 2010, after a vote of no confidence, Toafa was replaced by Willy Telavi, the Minister of Home Affairs. Telavi is the 13th Prime Minister of Tuvalu.

Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga's supporters won 11 seats in the 15 member Parliament. The elections involved only independent candidates, as there are no political parties in Tuvalu. 12 outgoing members were returned, including two candidates who were re-elected unopposed (Sopoaga and Natural Resources Minister Elisala Pita). Two first-time members and one former MP won the remaining seats. Ms. Puakena Boreham became the third woman ever to enter Parliament. Sopoaga's new Cabinet was sworn in on 10 April, with former Prime Minister Maatia Toafa as his Deputy.

The 2015 elections were initially called for 19 Marchbut were postponed due to Cyclone Pam which affected outer islands in Tuvalu. During the election campaign, Prime Minister Sopoaga promised to revise the Constitution, to address chronic political instability in the country. Since the previous elections held in September 2010, the country has had three Prime Ministers and three Speakers. Prime Minister Maatia Toafa lost a motion of no-confidence on 15 December 2010 after only three months in office and was succeeded by Willy Telavi. In August 2013, the new government led by Sopoaga took office. In March 2014, he moved a motion to remove Speaker Kamuta Latasi, who was succeeded as President by Mr. Otinielu Tauteleimalae Tausi.

In the 2015 General Election, a total of 29 candidates stood for elections of which three were women, making up only 10% of the ballot. Dr Puakena Boreham. was the only woman who won her seat following the 2015 General Elections and is the lone woman MP in the 15-member Parliament. Tuvalu is reviving plans to add two dedicated seats for women in its parliament in time for the 2019 elections, as part of wider constitutional reform. The Tuvalu Constitutional Review Project was funded by the governments of Australia and Tuvalu for $US800,000.

Article 118 (1) of the Constitution stipulates that "Parliament is automatically dissolved at the end of the period of four years after the date of its first sitting after a general election". And article 88 (1) of the Constitution states "There shall be a general election as soon as practicable after every dissolution of Parliament", without indicating the period during which general elections need to be held. Although the legislature elected in March 2015 convened for the first time on 10 April 2015, in accordance with the High Court ruling of July 2014, the four-year term of Parliament started on 17 June 2015, when the first parliamentary session is due to start.

The next elections seemed to be anticipated in mid-2019, but as of mid-June 2019 there was not sign of it. On 17 May 2019 Non-government MP Isaia Taape confirmed that he had lodged a no-confidence motion against PM Sopoaga with the office of the clerk to parliament.

ECONOMY

The economy suffers from Tuvalu's remoteness and lack of natural resources. Virtually the only jobs in the islands that pay a steady wage or salary are with the government, and nearly 39% of the formal work force is employed in the public sector. Subsistence farming and fishing remain the primary economic activities, particularly away from the capital island of Funafuti. There is relatively little disparity between rich and poor in the country. The Australian dollar (A$) is the currency of Tuvalu. Tuvalu's GDP per capita was about U.S. $3,400 in 2010. Only about one-quarter of the labor force participates in the formal wage economy. The remaining 75% work primarily in rural subsistence and livelihood activities. There is growing youth unemployment and few new jobs are being created.

Some 900-1,000 Tuvaluan men are trained, certified, and active as seafarers. The Asian Development Bank estimates that, at any one time, about 15% of the adult male population works abroad as seafarers. Remittances from seafarers (estimated at U.S. $1.5 million to $3 million per annum) are a major source of income for families in the country, and there is a steady annual uptake of young Tuvaluan men to the Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute. However, employment opportunities for seafarers and annual remittances declined following the world economic crisis.

The Tuvalu Trust Fund (TTF), a prudently managed overseas investment fund, has contributed roughly 11% of the annual government budget each year since 1990. The TTF was created from donations by Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (along with Tuvalu's own contribution) at independence. The TTF has grown from about A$27 million to some A$100 million (est. 2008). Sales of national stamps and coins provide another minor source of income for the government. Tuvalu is a safe country of unspoiled natural beauty and friendly people, but remoteness and lack of infrastructure have constricted Tuvalu's ability to develop its tourism potential.

Upon gaining independence from Britain in 1978, the tiny Polynesian island-country of Tuvalu, with a population slightly higher than that of the Vatican, found itself isolated from most of the Worlds markets. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (or IANA) was established with the purpose of assigning top-level domains for countries. Canada got .ca, France received .fr and Tuvalu, by pure luck owing to its name, was assigned the top level domain .tv. Earnings from the TTF provide an important cushion against Tuvalu's volatile income from fishing license fees and royalties from the sale of the dot-TV Internet domain. Initial windfall income from the domain name paid most of the costs of paving the streets of Funafuti and installing street lighting in mid-2002. All in all, Tuvalu receives more than 10 percent of its GDP from the leasing of its top-level domain name.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Tuvalu maintains an independent but generally pro-Western foreign policy. It maintains close relations with Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. It has diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which maintains the only resident embassy in Tuvalu and has a large assistance program in the islands. There is no U.S. embassy in Tuvalu, but U.S. diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Fiji are accredited to Tuvalu and visit there regularly. Tuvalu became a member of United Nations in 2000 and maintains a mission at the UN in New York. Tuvalu's only other diplomatic office is its High Commission in Suva, Fiji. Tuvalu is an active member of the Pacific Islands Forum and a member of the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.

Tuvalu rejected a former Australian prime minister's proposal to offer Pacific Islanders citizenship, describing it as "imperial thinking." In an essay published on his website in February 2019, Kevin Rudd, who served as Australia's prime minister between 2007 and 2010 and again for three months in 2013, proposed offering Australian citizenship to residents of Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru in exchange for control of the seas and fisheries of their Exclusive Exonomic Zones. "Under this arrangement, Australia would also become responsible for the relocation over time of the exposed populations of these countries to Australia where they would enjoy the full rights of Australian citizens," Rudd wrote. Under Rudd's proposal, the citizens of those Pacific nations would be re-located to Australia once rising sea levels made their native homes uninhabitable. Responding to the suggestion, Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that it amounts to a form of neo-colonialism.

The Te Mataili II, a Guardian Class patrol boat, was officially handed over at a ceremony in Western Australia 10 April 2019, attended by Tuvalu's prime minister, Enele Sopoaga and members of his government. The vessel will be operated by the maritime surveillance unit of the Tuvalu Police Force. It's the second patrol boat to be given to a Pacific Island nation under Australia's Pacific Maritime Security Program's Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement project. In November 2018, another patrol boat, the HMPNGS Ted Diro, was handed over to the government of Papua New Guinea. Australia's Defence Minister Christopher Pyne said the country would give 19 more patrol boats to 12 Pacific Island countries over the next few years.

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Federated States of Vanuatu

The Republic of Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides) is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago is located some 1,750 km east of Australia, 500 km north-east of New Caledonia, west of Fiji and south of the Solomon Islands. It was named New Hebrides during its colonial period.

As the Pacific's prime tax haven, Vanuatu has attracted a colorful cast of characters. Vanuatu has an active off-shore finance center in which a number of Australian lawyers and accountants participate, taking advantage of the countrys status as a tax haven.

Vanuatu is an archipelago of 83 islands. Of all the 83 islands, 14 have surface areas of more than 100 square kilometers, from largest to smallest: Espiritu Santo (3956 km), Malakula (2041 km), Efate (900 km), Erromango (888 km), Ambrym (678 km), Tanna (555 km), Pentecote (491 km), Epi (445 km), Ambae or Aoba (402 km), Vanua Lava (334 km), Santa Maria (328 km), Maewo (304 km), Malo (180 km) and Anatom or Aneityum (159 km). The total land area is approximately 12,200 square kilometers and the territorial waters cover 450,000 square kilometers.

A bewildering array of political wannabes - the deeply suspicious Barak Sope, francophone Sege Vohor and Maxime Carlot Kormon - swap among themselves as president and prime minister. With high unemployment, a growing squatter population around Port Vila is seen as a long-term security threat. Occasional riots and disturbances break out in Vila. Volcanoes regularly go off and shark attacks are common.

Paramilitary Vanuatu Police Force and its mobile wing are known to have caused more trouble for the government than criminals. The national police (VPF) maintain internal security, and its 300-strong paramilitary Vanuatu Mobile Force (VMF) makes up the countrys externally focused military force. The commissioner of police heads the police force, including a police maritime wing, the VMF, Immigration Department, National Disaster Management Office, and National Fire Service. A lack of resources hampered civilian authorities in maintaining effective control over security forces, and authorities did not have effective mechanisms to punish abuse or corruption. There were allegations of police impunity, particularly with regard to the VMF.

Besides corruption in high places in Vanuatu, the Mobile Security and Police Force has made its uncalled for intrusion into stability and security. In October 1996, the President of the Republic and the Acting Prime Minister were abducted and held hostage at gunpoint by the Vanuatu Mobile Force (VMF). Anxious shuttle diplomacy helped to end this crisis. The reason behind this extreme action was frustration over the failure of the government to meet demands for a pay increase.

In September 2002 Vanuatu's Army, the VMF, sparked a constitutional crisis when it tried to arrest the senior ranks of the police force for mutiny. It was a dangerous stand-off, as both sides were heavily armed. The army's action was in turn a response to the arrest by police of government officials some weeks before. The police had arrested the Attorney-General and 14 other officials over what they saw as a conspiracy of foreigners to control government appointments and policies.

The Magistrate Court on September 19 2002 heard the case of mutiny or inciting of mutiny against 27 police officers following the arrest of 15 senior police officers, and other government officers, under Operation Procedure 2002. As the result also, Prime Minister Edward Natapei suspended eight senior police officers facing charges of mutiny and inciting of mutiny.

In November 2002, there was a joint agreement signed between the Government the Police and the Vanuatu Mobile Force (VMF) and island chiefs in Port Vila, for a peace and a customary reconciliation, in order to settle the situation, after the Operation Procedure activities. Between February and March 2004, four ex-senior police officers, including Api Jack Marikembo, appeared in court and were sentenced to two years imprisonment for mutiny by the Vanuatu Supreme Court Justice Roger Coventry. Those former senior high ranking officers were later released by the then outgoing President of the Republic John Bennett Bani.

In September 2004, the then Commissioner of Police (COMPOL), Robert Diniro and the then VMF Commander, Joshua Bong had been also suspended from their duties, following an attempt to order of arrest on Prime Minister Serge Vohor, who was then returning from an official trip from China. At the end, the two hierarchies had their case dismissed.

Public hospital and medical facilities in Vanuatu are limited. There are private medical facilities in Port Vila. Costs for treatment, including for pharmaceuticals, can be expensive. Doctors and hospitals often expect immediate cash payment for their services.

Travel can be hazardous. Roads are generally narrow and in poor repair. Only the capital city of Port Vila and the town of Luganville have consistently paved roads, which have a maximum speed limit of 30 miles per hour (50 kilometers per hour). On all roads, give way to traffic coming from the right, and to traffic coming from the left at round-abouts. To avoid trespassing, seek permission from local landowners before accessing non-public areas, including beaches. Some landowners may charge a fee for access.

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The United Nations defines genocide as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part... According to the International Criminal Court, crimes against humanity are defined as any of the following acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack knowingly directed against any civilian population: murder; extermination; enslavement; deportation or forcible transfer of population... In 2005, all member states of the United Nations came together to endorse and accept a shared Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The principle of protection anchored in three pillars: the essential responsibility of States to protect their own citizens, a shared responsibility to take appropriate steps to assist States in exercising that solemn duty, and preparedness to take timely and decisive action where national authorities manifestly failed to do so.

Rohingya

Following the forced displacement of more than 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh in 2017, up to 600,000 Rohingya were estimated to remain in Rakhine State. The US Secretary of State determined on 22 November 2017 that the situation in northern Rakhine state in Burma constituted ethnic cleansing. Rohingya refugees settled in squalid camps in neighboring Bangladesh. Although both countries have signed a repatriation deal, they refugees say they have a well founded fear of returning to Myanmar. Many refugees say they will not return without a basic guarantee of protection.

Rights groups on 21 Marach 2022 welcomed the U.S.s declaration that the Myanmar military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya in 2017, but some advocates said the alleged perpetrators must actually be punished to deter more atrocities in the country. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the genocide determination was based on reviewing a factual assessment and legal analysis prepared by the State Department, including documentation from groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and his departments own rigorous fact-finding.

Rohingya leaders taken to evaluate conditions on a Bay of Bengal island developed to house refugees reported the site is safe and well managed. The 40 Rohingya leaders, representing 34 refugee camps in Coxs Bazar, were taken to Bhashan Char by members of Bangladeshs armed forces. Bangladesh officials want to relocate 100,000 refugees to the Bhashan Char site while international humanitarian organizations have questioned the suitability of the flood-prone islet for housing refugees. Bangladesh has spent about U.S. $280 million to construct housing, a large embankment, and other infrastructure on the island. An additional $92 million was allocated in December 2019 for raising the height of the embankment and to build an administrative building, a jetty and residential facilities for U.N. officials.

Authorities said the facilities on the island are better than in the refugee camps where more than 740,000 Rohingya who fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar three years ago, have been living. In all, about 1 million Rohingya live in the camps in and around Coxs Bazar.

Myanmar's military said 25 June 2018 it sacked a top general who was named in fresh European Union sanctions against security officials accused of serious rights violations in the Rohingya crisis. The military said that Major General Maung Maung Soe, the former head of the Western Command in Rakhine, had been "purged" for poor performance. The announcement came after the EU said he was among seven security officials hit with travel bans and asset freezes, but Myanmar did not link his sacking to the new sanctions.

Major General Maung Maung Soe was the Commander of the Western Command of the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw) from October 2016 to 10 November 2017 and oversaw the military operations in Rakhine State. In that context, he was responsible for the atrocities and serious human rights violations committed against Rohingya population in Rakhine State by the Western Command during that period. These include unlawful killings, sexual violence and systematic burning of Rohingya houses and buildings.

Maung Maung Soe oversaw the military operation in Burmas Rakhine State responsible for widespread human rights abuse against Rohingya civilians in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. The United States Government examined credible evidence of Maung Maung Soes activities, including allegations against Burmese security forces of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, and arbitrary arrest as well as the widespread burning of villages.

The Myanmar governments announcement that it had reached a framework agreement with two United Nations agencies to help with the repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh prompted mixed reactions from political observers inside the country. On 31 May 2018, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyis office said the government agreed to but had not signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to assist with the voluntary, safe dignified and sustainable return of displaced persons verified as eligible for repatriation.

A survey release in late May 2018 by Xchange Foundation, a migration research group, found that nearly all Rohingya are pleased to be in Bangladesh. It found 98.65 percent of 1,700 Rohingya surveyed said they felt welcome. Even more respondents, 99.41 percent, said they felt safe during the day  a figure that dropped to 95.89 percent at night. Of those, 80 percent were women whose concerns included wild animals, potential robbery, murderers and human traffickers.

Background

The law defines national ethnic group only as a racial and ethnic group that can prove origins in the country dating back to 1823, the year prior to British colonization. In practice the government has granted or withdrawn national ethnic group status from ethnic groups throughout the country on various occasions. Because the Rohingya are not on the list, and due to other government action, they are stateless.

In Rakhine State local authorities prohibited Rohingya families from having more than two children, although this prohibition was inconsistently enforced. Also in Rakhine State, local authorities required members of the Rohingya minority to obtain a permit to marry officially, a step not required of other ethnicities. Waiting times for the permit could exceed one year, and bribes usually were required. According to human rights organizations, in April 2016 Border Guard Police in Buthidaung Township issued new instructions to village administrators outlining additional requirements for members of the Rohingya community to obtain a permit to marry. The new required documents included: a letter from the district immigration authorities verifying the couple were of legal age to marry; a letter from a station commander showing the couple was free of criminal offenses; a letter from a health assistant assuring the couple was free of communicable diseases; and a letter from village administrators confirming the individuals were single, unmarried, and that any previous marriage was dissolved at least three years prior. Unauthorized marriages could result in prosecution of Rohingya men under the penal code, which prohibits a man from deceitfully marrying a woman, and could result in a prison sentence or fine.

The Annan commissions final report issued in August 2017 called for a review of the countrys 1982 Citizenship Law, which prevents the Rohingya from becoming citizens, an end to restrictions on the Muslim minority in order to prevent further violence in the region, and the closure of internally displaced persons camps in Rakhine state.

A day after the report was publicly released, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a Muslim militant group, carried out deadly attacks on 30 police outposts in northern Rakhine, sparking the violent campaign against the Rohingya, which included indiscriminate killings, rape, torture, and arson.

During the year 2017 there were multiple reports of alleged ARSA members killing civilians in northern Rakhine State for collaborating with the government; however, it appeared two of these reports were not credible. On August 1, the government reported extremists killed six ethnic Mro villagers in northern Rakhine State. Civil society organizations reported ARSA was not likely active in that village and suspected the deaths were related to methamphetamine trafficking. In September the government organized a trip for journalists to see the alleged mass graves of 45 Hindus whom the government said ARSA killed in northern Maungdaw Township on August 25, but civil society organizations and some local villagers were unable to corroborate the claim of the government, and other local villagers suggested instead they were killed by security forces or vigilante groups that were not associated with Rohingya. Four human rights organizations on 08 May 2018 called on the U.N. Security Council to refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court over a military campaign that drove 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh, saying the violence amounted to crimes against humanity. The four rights groups  Fortify Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Global Center for Responsibility to Protect  made the appeal a week after the Security Council visited Myanmar and Bangladesh to investigate the plight of the Rohingyas.

Impunity is entrenched in Myanmar, said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Fortify Rights. Domestic remedies have been exhaustedthe government failed to properly investigate the heinous crimes that have taken place, and thats precisely why a referral is warranted.

In early 2017 there were "only" 400,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, but by late 2017 there were over 1,000,000 refugees - out of a total population of 1,200,000. In Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, an estimated 180,000 Rohingya remained, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on 13 December 2017. Almost all Rohingya now reside in Bangladesh, not their native Myanmar. The UN has called the mass displacement of Rohingya ethnic cleansing".

Frustration over Myanmar's handling of the Rohingya crisis boiled over into an argument between Aung San Suu Kyi and her former friend, now critic, Bill Richardson. The former US ambassador to the UN resigned 25 January 2018 from an advisory panel set-up by the government after accusing members of trying to "whitewash" the crisis. And in his resignation letter, Richardson accused members of being a "cheerleading squad" for the government. Officials reacted by accusing Richardson of having his own agenda. His criticisms raised further doubts about a deal to repatriate the Rohingya refugees stuck in Bangladesh.

Richardson said he got into an argument with Aung San Suu Kyi during a meeting on Monday with other members of the board, when he brought up the case of two Reuters reporters who are on trial accused of breaching the country's Officials Secrets Act. He said Aung San Suu Kyi's response was "furious", saying the case of the reporters "was not part of the work of the advisory board". The Advisory Board for the Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State was set up by Myanmar in 2017, to advise on enacting the findings of an earlier commission headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Richardson said he was also "taken aback by the vigour with which the media, the UN, human rights groups and in general the international community were disparaged" during the last three days of meetings the board held with Myanmar officials. "She's not getting good advice from her team," Richardson said of Aung San Suu Kyi, whom he said he has known since the 1980s. "I like her enormously and respect her. But she has not shown moral leadership on the Rakhine issue and the allegations made, and I regret that."

Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed 16 January 2018 on a Rohingya repatriation plan. Two countries have agreed to complete process of returning Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh to Myanmar within two years after repatriation began. A statement by the Bangladesh foreign ministry did not say when the process would begin. But it said the return effort envisaged "considering the family as a unit," with Myanmar to provide temporary shelter for those returning before rebuilding houses for them.

The statement said Bangladesh would set up five transit camps which would send Rohingyas to two reception centres on the Myanmar side of the border. "Myanmar has reiterated its commitment to stop outflow of Myanmar residents to Bangladesh." it said.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay said that returnees would be able to apply for citizenship "after they pass the verification process." A Myanmar agency set up to oversee repatriation said in a statement that two temporary "repatriation and assessment camps" and one other site to accommodate returnees had been set up. Myint Kyaing, permanent secretary at Myanmar's Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, said Myanmar would be ready to begin processing least 150 people a day through each of the two camps by 23 January 2018. [That would be a bit fewer than 5,000 per month - at which rate about 200 months, or 17 years, would be needed to repatriate all one million refugees].

In all likelihood, returning Rohingya will face the same miserable, apartheid conditions that they so recently fled. Specific parts of the deal seem to confirm this. For example, it states that the Rohingya's freedom of movement will be based on "existing legislation and regulations" - in other words, a return to a status quo which discriminates against the Rohingya, segregates them in poverty-stricken townships and forbids them from travelling. The conditions Rohingya want met before the repatriation process begins include demands that they are granted citizenship and given back the land they used to occupy, and that the military is held accountable for the violations committed against them.

China has blocked most efforts to internationalize the Rohingya refugee crisis, instead positioning itself as a mediator between the two countries involved. China wnats to protect its US$7.3 billion investment in the Kyaukpyu deep sea port project in Rakhine State. The port is expected to advance Chinas One Belt One Road initiative, offering a link to the Bay of Bengal.

China called for a ceasefire in Myanmars Rakhine State so that Rohingya Muslim refugees can return from Bangladesh, proposing a three-stage approach to the crisis as diplomats from 51 mostly Asian and European countries gathered in Myanmar 20 November 2017 at the long-scheduled thirteenth Asia-Europe Meeting of foreign ministers. Once a ceasefire is seen to be working, Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi said talks between Myanmar and Bangladesh should find a workable solution for the return of refugees, and the final phase should be to work toward a long-term solution based on poverty alleviation.

But human rights campaigners were sceptical about the durability of any repatriation effort that fails to resolve the issue of citizen rights, as Myanmars government and many in the country consider the Rohingya to be illegal Bengali immigrants. Otherwise the repatriation game is essentially a replay of previous repatriation programs dating from the 1990s. The plan is very vague, and its pretty much what the government of Burma itself had been proposing.





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Russo-Ukraine War - 29 August 2023 - Day 552

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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 military service in the Russian Armed Forces has become increasingly lucrative since the invasion. On 4 February 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that a lieutenant received 81,200 rubles per month. By October 2022, he announced that even mobilised private soldiers would receive 195,000 rubles per month.

Many junior ranks serving in Ukraine are now on over 200,000 rubles per month. This is over 2.7 times the Russian national average salary of 72,851 rubles. By way of comparison, 2.7 times the average UK salary would equate to over 90,000 a year.

It is highly likely that the salary and additional benefits are a strong incentive for personnel to join up, especially to those from the poorer areas of Russia. However, Russia is still unlikely to meet its targets for recruiting volunteers to the ranks.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day of August 29, Russian forces launched 5x missile and 47x air strikes, 48x MLRS attacks at the positions of Ukrainian troops and various settlements. Unfortunately, the Russian attacks have killed and wounded civilians. Residential buildings, schools, and other civilian infrastructure were damaged.

The likelihood of missile and air strikes across Ukraine remains high.

During the day of August 29, there were more than 30x combat engagements.

Volyn and Polissya axes: no significant changes.

Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna axes: the Russian adversary launched air strikes in the vicinities of Udy and Zybyne (Kharkiv oblast). Russian forces fired mortars and artillery at more than 20x settlements, including Seredyna-Buda, Popivka, Kindrativka, Volodymyrivka (Sumy oblast), Ohirtseve, Karaichne, Okhrymivka, Mala Vovcha, Nesterne (Kharkiv oblast).

Kup'yans'k axis: the Russian invaders launched air strikes in the vicinities of Pershotravneve, Kyslivka, Kup'yans'k (Kharkiv oblast). The settlements of Fyholivka, Dvorichna, Syn'kivka, Kurylivka, Kyslivka, Kotlyarivka (Kharkiv oblast) came under artillery and mortar fire of the Russian adversary.

Lyman axis: Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensives in the vicinities of Novojehorivka and Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast). The Russian adversary launched air strikes in the vicinities of Nadiya, Novojehorivka, Tverdokhlibove, Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast), Spirne (Donetsk oblast). More than 10x settlements, including Novojehorivka (Luhansk oblast), Yampil', Sivers'k, Verkhn'okam'yans'ke, Tors'ke, Spirne (Donetsk oblast), were shelled with artillery.

Bakhmut axis: the Russian occupiers conducted unsuccessful offensives in the vicinities of Bohdanivka and Ozarianivka (Donetsk oblast). The Russian adversary launched air strikes in the vicinities of Klishchiivka, Druzhba and Pivdenne (Donetsk oblast). More than 15x settlements, including Hryhorivka, Bohdanivka, Chasiv Yar, Ivanivske, Klishchiivka, Druzhba (Donetsk oblast), suffered from Russian artillery shelling.

Avdiivka axis: Russian forces launched an air strike in the vicinity of Avdiivka, fired artillery and mortars at the settlements of Keramik, Novokalynove, Stepove, Avdiivka, Sjeverne and Pervomais'ke (Donetsk oblast).

Mar'inka axis: the Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to hold back the russian offensive in the vicinity of Mar'inka (Donetsk oblast). The Russian adversary launched air strikes in the vicinities of Krasnohorivka and Mar'inka (Donetsk oblast). The invaders fired artillery at the settlements of Krasnohorivka, Mar'inka, Heorhiivka, Kurakhove, Pobjeda, and Yelyzavetivka (Donetsk oblast).

Shakhtars'ke axis: Russian forces launched air strikes in the vicinity of Staromaiors'ke (Donetsk oblast). Russian forces fired artillery at the settlements of Vuhledar, Prechystivka, Zolota Nyva, Velyka Novosilka, Blahodatne, and Urozhaine (Donetsk oblast).

Zaporizhzhia axis: the Russian adversary launched air strikes in the vicinities of Zaliznychne and Verbove (Zaporizhzhia oblast). More than 20x settlements suffered from Russian artillery shelling, including Shcherbaky, Stepove, P'yatykhatky, Kam'yans'ke, Plavni, Luk'yanivs'ke (Zaporizhzhia oblast).

Kherson axis: more than 10x settlements suffered from Russian artillery shelling, including Zolota Balka, Mykil's'ke, Kherson, Sadove, Sofiivka, Shyroka Balka (Kherson oblast).

At the same time, the Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to conduct the offensive operation on Melitopol' axis, consolidating their positions and conducting counter-battery fire.

The Russian occupiers continue to force Russian passports on the residents of the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson oblast. In the settlement of Mykhailivka, Skadovs'k district of Kherson oblast, Russian occupation forces are harassing local residents who refuse to obtain Russian passports. Because of the refusal to obtain the Russian passport, the Russian occupiers raid homes, carry out humiliating inspections, and threaten imprisonment and deportation.

\During the day of August 29, Ukrainian Air Force launched 7x air strikes on the concentrations of troops and 4x air strikes on the anti-aircraft missile systems of the Russian adversary.

During the day of August 29, the Ukrainian missile and artillery troops hit 1x concentration of troops, weapons, and military equipment, and 1x TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flamethrower system.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that in Donetsk direction, the Yug Group of Forces units repelled the AFU 59th Mechanised Infantry Brigade's attack near Nevelskoye (Donetsk People's Republic), and improved the situation on the front line.

The AFU military train with artillery ammunition was destroyed by a missile strike on the uploading station near Dorozhnoe (Donetsk People's Republic).

One ammunition depot of the AFU 93rd Mechanised Brigade has been destroyed near Druzhkovka (Donetsk People's Republic).

The enemy losses were more than 340 AFU militants dead and wounded, 6 armoured fighting vehicles, 13 motor vehicles, as well as two howitzers D-20 and Msta-B.

In Zaporozhye direction, Russian Group of Forces units, supported by aviation and artillery, repelled two attacks of the AFU 46th Aeromobile Brigade close to Verbovoye (Zaporozhye region).

Over the past 24 hours, up to 90 AFU servicemen, 2 armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, three M777 artillery systems, two U.S.-manufactured M119 howitzers, as well as one U.K.-manufactured FH-70 howitzer.

In Kupyansk direction, units of the Zapad Group of Forces, supported by artillery and heavy flamethrower systems, repelled six attacks of AFU 43rd, 115th mechanisrd brigades, as well as thr 25th Airborne Brigade close to Sinkovka (Kharkov region) and Stelmakhovka (Lugansk People's Republic).

The enemy losses were up to 50 Ukrainian personnel, two armoured fighting vehicles, and three motor vehicles have been eliminated.

In Krasny Liman direction, the Tsentr Group of Forces units, aviation and artillery repelled three attacks of the AFU 12th Special Forces Brigade, and 21nd, 63rd mechanised brigades near Kremennaya, Chervonaya Dibrova, (Lugansk People's Republic), and Yampolovka (Donetsk People's Republic).

Up to 80 personnel, two infantry fighting vehicles, three armoured fighting vehicles, and two pickups have been eliminated.

In South Donetsk Direction, the Vostok Group of Forces units, Army Aviation and artillery have destroyed up to 100 AFU servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, and two howitzers: Akatsiya and Giatsint-B.

One ammunition depot of the AFU 79th Air Assault Brigade has been destroyed near Novomikhaylovka (Donetsk People's Republic).

In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were up to 20 Ukrainian servicemen, three motor vehicles, and two D-30 howitzers.

Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised manpower and military hardware in 132 areas.

Two command and observation posts of the 67th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU have been destroyed near Serebryanka (Donetsk People's Republic).

Air defence sastems intercepted two HIMARS MLRS, one Neptune anti-ship missile and two HARM anti-radar missiles.

Over the past 24 hours, 27 AFU UAVs have been destroyed close to Shipilovka, Kremennaya, Sofiyevka, Zhitlovka, Zaliman (Lugansk People's Republic), as well as Kirillovka, Zaytsevo (Donetsk People's Republic), and Nesteryanka (Zaporozhye region).

In total, 466 airplanes, 247 helicopters, 6,206 unmanned aerial vehicles, 433 air defence missile systems, 11,555 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,146 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 6,107 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 12,508 special military motor vehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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South Sudan - Introduction

The conflict in South Sudan likely led to nearly 400,000 excess deaths in the countrys population since it began in 2013, with around half of the lives lost estimated to be through violence, according to a major new report by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Most of the death toll occurred in the northeast and southern regions of the country, and appeared to peak in 2016 and 2017. Those killed were mostly adult males but also included women and children. Unexpectedly, the share of infant mortality was low, and estimates of the under-five death rate were no higher during the war period than before it.

In September 2018, the warring parties signed an agreement to form a unity government, which would see Machar return to government as vice president, after previous attempts at ruling together only led to disaster.

South Sudan's president and his former rival reached a deal 17 June 2020 on the selection of governors for the country's 10 states, an issue seen as the biggest threat to peace since a transitional unity government was formed in February. President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, a former rebel leader and now vice president, had been at odds over the allocation of states, especially those producing oil, the country's main earner. Kiir's camp will nominate governors for six states, including the oil-rich Unity State and Central Equatoria, which includes the capital Juba. Machar's camp will propose governors for three states, including the largest oil-producing area, the Upper Nile state, while a third signatory to the peace deal, the South Sudan Opposition Alliance, will nominate a governor for Jonglei state.

The number of states was contentious because the borders will determine the divisions of power in the country. When it gained independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan had 10 states, as set out in its constitution. Kiir increased that in 2015 to 28, then 32 - and has now reduced them to 10, plus three administrative areas. The composition of the executive and the legislature in the states "shall be discussed and agreed at a later date", a statement said.

As of early 2018, the war had caused the displacement of about two million people within South Sudan and a further 2.5 million as refugees to neighboring countries. Although a Compromise Peace Agreement was signed in August 2015, temporarily leading to shared government, it broke down in July 2016, resulting in the conflict gaining intensity and spreading geographically. The humanitarian response to this crisis is among the largest worldwide, targeting about six million people with a total funding requirement of 1.7 billion USD in 2018, less than 50% met as of current UN figures.

Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani caused upset by claiming that the South Sudan peace agreement is really intended to benefit Uganda and Sudan. Writing in the New York Times, Mamdani, director of the Institute of Social Research at Makerere University in Kampala, said that the peace deal signed on 12 September 2018 by Salva Kiir, Riek Machar and other opposition leaders was, in fact, an agreement between Presidents Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda who are the guarantors of the latest peace pact. Mamdani claimed that South Sudan is on its way to becoming an informal protectorate of Sudan and Uganda. He pointed to the presence of Ugandan troops who support Kiirs faction, while Sudan supplies opposition groups, including those led by Machar.

Taban Deng Gai, First Vice President of South Sudan, told the UN General Assembly on 28 September 2018 that his country was heading towards peaceful stability. With the continued support and goodwill of regional and international partners, it was on schedule to hold free and fair general elections after a transitional period of 36 months - that is, by late 2021. The path forward began at the thirty-first Extra-Ordinary Summit of Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) Heads of State and Government on the Republic of South Sudan of 12 June 2018 in Addis Ababa. They aligned the need for a High-Level Revitalization Forum of all the parties to the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. This process included new stakeholders and various groups including civil society, womens groups, religious leaders, youth and eminent personalities as observers.

On 12 September 2018, all parties signed the final Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan. In addition, the Transitional Government of National Unity has embraced the Agreements full implementation and is ready to welcome forces from its guarantors to monitor implementation. South Sudanese armed and unarmed groups who signed a cease-fire 21 December 2017 said they were optimistic that peace will return to South Sudan despite the governments refusal to renegotiate parts of the failed August 2015 deal. The agreement was signed in Addis Ababa on December 21 during the High-Level Revitalization Forum.

The Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM IO) was the first party to declare a cease-fire since signing the deal this week. The leader of the SPLM IO and former first vice president and rebel leader, Riek Machar, was not invited to the talks. He was instead asked to send three officials from his group to represent him. Machar had been confined to house arrest by South African authorities since 2016.

The representatives of Norway, the UK, China, and Japan, the EU, United Nations, African Union and IGAD Forum member countries signed as guarantors of the cease-fire agreement. The representative of the United States declined to sign.

South Sudan has been rid by war for over four years, sparked by accusations by President Salva Kiir that his then deputy Riek Machar was plotting a coup against his government. Machar denied the allegations but then went on to mobilize a rebel force to fight the government. A UN-backed peace deal was signed in 2015, paving way for the 2016 formation of a unity government, with Machar taking up the first vice president position. The deal was however short-lived as fighting broke out in the capital Juba in July 2016, forcing Machar to flee the capital.

South Sudan is a violent place. It was subjected to decades of war, and government capacity to contain violence is significantly constrained. In most developing countries that come out of conflict, observers talk about reconstruction, but in South Sudan, they are really talking about construction. South Sudan had very little to start with. In 2005, Juba [the capital of independent South Sudan] was still a garrison town that armed forces of the north controlled. All the various infrastructure, such as sewers, electricity, roadsdated to the British colonial days of the 1950s. So not only is South Sudan starting from scratch in terms of government institutions, but also its infrastructure.

After over four decades of the South's conflict with the government in Khartoum, it is hard for most to comprehend how the South lacks the most basic physical and social infrastructure, including roads, schools, hospitals, and established social institutions other than religious organizations and the SPLA. During the almost 50 years from independence to the signing of the CPA in 2005, the central government in Khartoum made little to no investment in Southern Sudan. Roads and other transportation systems deteriorated to the point where travel between cities is in many cases best accomplished by air, and even then many airstrips (which are dirt except in Juba) are unusable in the wet season. Public education was intentionally neglected and missionary schools closed or harrassed, resulting in an overall illiteracy rate in the South at close to 80 percent (UN sources estimate 63% illiteracy for men and 88% for women).

On July 9, 2011 the Republic of South Sudan became an independent state -- by some counts the 193rd country in the world and the 54th member of the African Union. A transitional constitution took effect the same day and provides for executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The transitional constitution calls for the establishment of a representative National Constitutional Review Commission to conduct a national consultation, gathering views from communities and stakeholders across the country. The resulting draft permanent constitution would be presented to a National Constitutional Conference for consideration.

South Sudan is estimated to be the seventh-largest country in Africa and is bordered by Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda. The country is divided by the White Nile River, which flows north out of the uplands of central Africa. During the annual floods of the Nile River system, South Sudan's Sudd area is inundated. This large, swampy region of more than 100,000 sq. km dominates the center of the country and supports agriculture and extensive wildlife populations.

South Sudan has a population of over 8 million and a predominantly rural, subsistence economy; approximately 83% of the population is rural. There are 10 states: Central Equatoria (population 1,103,592), Eastern Equatoria (906,126), Jonglei (1,358,602), Lakes (695,730), Northern Bahr el Ghazal (720,898), Unity (585,801), Upper Nile (964,353), Warrap (972,928), Western Bahr el Ghazal (333,431), and Western Equatoria (619,029).

Except for an 11-year hiatus before the Comprehensive Peace Agreement [CPA] was signed in 2005, South Sudan was embroiled in conflict with the central authorities in pre-south independence Sudan following Sudan's 1956 independence, resulting in major destruction and displacement since the end of colonial rule. South Sudan continues to cope with the effects of conflict, displacement, and insecurity. The country has many tribal groups and languages, and its people practice indigenous traditional beliefs, Christianity, and Islam. Over 90% of the population identifies themselves as Christian.

During more than 20 years of conflict between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, violence, famine, and disease killed more than 2 million people, forced an estimated 600,000 people to seek refuge in neighboring countries, and displaced approximately 4 million others within Sudan, creating the world's largest population of internally displaced people. As of 2008, the UN estimated that nearly 2 million displaced people had returned to South Sudan and the three areas of Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Abyei following the 2005 signing of the CPA.

As of late 2009, the UN estimated that Lords Resistance Army (LRA)-related violence had displaced approximately 85,000 people in South Sudan, including more than 18,000 refugees from Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic. As of late 2011, the UN estimated that over 380,000 people were displaced across South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Central African Republic as a result of LRA activity.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir said 15 February 2020 he would return to a system of 10 states from 32, a major opposition demand, paving the way for a unity government and an end to the country's ruinous civil war. "The compromise we have made today is a painful decision but a necessary one if that is what brings peace", Kiir said in a statement. "I expect the opposition to be prepared to do the same." Disagreement between Kiir and former rebel leader Riek Machar over the number of states, a contentious issue because the borders will determine the divisions of power in the country, as well as a failure to integrate different fighting forces have been major obstacles to completing the peace process. The president said the country would now be divided among the original 10 states, plus three "administrative areas" of Pibor, Ruweng and Abyei. The opposition welcomed the move but also raised questions over the fate of Ruweng, a key oil-producing zone.

South Sudans President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar appeared together in Juba on 20 February 2020 to say that after several previous failed attempts and missed deadlines to form a unity government, they have agreed to create a new, transitional government by 22 February 2020. Kiir told reporters he was dismantling the current transitional government Thursday and would appoint the agreed-to five vice presidents.

The United Nations special envoy to South Sudan on 29 September 2020 said almost no progress has been made in unifying the countrys warring forces under one army, as promised under a hard-fought peace deal. The pledge to bring government and rebel soldiers under a national banner was a cornerstone of a September 2018 peace agreement that paused five years of bloodshed in which 380,000 people died.

Troops brought together at joint training sites across the troubled country were deserting because of a lack of food and other essentials, said UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) special representative David Shearer. There has been almost no movement on the critical areas of security sector reform, Shearer told a news conference in Juba. At the moment, the process is stuck. It hasnt even moved past the first stage, where forces are trained and graduated. Urgent action is needed to move the process forward.

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August 29, 2023

By David Vergun , DOD News

Florida National Guard Activated as Hurricane Idalia Approaches

Hurricane Idalia is on track to reach Florida's west coast by tomorrow morning.

Idalia "may bring a life-threatening storm surge to portions of the Florida Gulf Coast, as well as strong winds and significant flooding across Southeastern states," according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency report posted to its website this afternoon.

FEMA is closely coordinating with affected states and stands ready to provide support. FEMA Incident Management Assistance Teams are deployed to affected areas to provide support as needed and additional supplies and teams are on standby, according to the report.

The Florida National Guard has been fully activated with a mobilization of over 3,000 guardsmen in position across the state for preparedness and response efforts, and an additional 1,800 guardsmen are on their way to the state, said Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, who held a news conference this afternoon.

"This is a storm that we are certainly taking seriously, the state of Florida is taking seriously, in terms of not only making sure that we have the appropriate number of people in the state of Florida to help with any response that's needed but also prepositioning any assets or any forces that might be needed in the aftermath of the storm," Singh said.

Singh also provided an update to the relief efforts in the aftermath of the western Maui wildfire.

As of this morning, approximately 580 National Guardsmen, 133 additional Defense Department personnel and 119 Coast Guardsmen are actively engaged in the coordinated response, she said.

U.S. Army Pacific is executing mission assignments from FEMA. The most recent mission assignment is potable water distribution support, she said.

Navy mobile diving salvage unit teams from Pacific Fleet concluded their dive operations yesterday. Joint Task Force 5-0 continues search and rescue activities with the Hawaii National Guard teams, the FBI and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Singh said.

Hawaii National Guard continues round-the-clock support of local law enforcement. The 25th Infantry Division's fueling trucks distributed about 470 gallons of fuel over the past 48 hours in support of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' temporary power operations, she said.

Pacific Fleet's Navy Environmental Preventive Medicine Unit Six will deploy two sailors to Maui later today in support of potable water testing for the task force's water distribution mission, Singh said.

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Qakbot Malware Disrupted in International Cyber Takedown

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

Qakbot Malware Infected More Than 700,000 Victim Computers, Facilitated Ransomware Deployments, and Caused Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Damage Worldwide

The Justice Department today announced a multinational operation involving actions in the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Romania, and Latvia to disrupt the botnet and malware known as Qakbot and take down its infrastructure. The Qakbot malicious code is being deleted from victim computers, preventing it from doing any more harm. The Department also announced the seizure of approximately $8.6 million in cryptocurrency in illicit profits.

The action represents the largest U.S.-led financial and technical disruption of a botnet infrastructure leveraged by cybercriminals to commit ransomware, financial fraud, and other cyber-enabled criminal activity.

"Cybercriminals who rely on malware like Qakbot to steal private data from innocent victims have been reminded today that they do not operate outside the bounds of the law," said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. "Together with our international partners, the Justice Department has hacked Qakbot's infrastructure, launched an aggressive campaign to uninstall the malware from victim computers in the United States and around the world, and seized $8.6 million in extorted funds."

According to court documents, Qakbot, also known by various other names, including "Qbot" and "Pinkslipbot," is controlled by a cybercriminal organization and used to target critical industries worldwide. The Qakbot malware primarily infects victim computers through spam email messages containing malicious attachments or hyperlinks. Once it has infected a victim computer, Qakbot can deliver additional malware, including ransomware, to the infected computer. Qakbot has been used as an initial means of infection by many prolific ransomware groups in recent years, including Conti, ProLock, Egregor, REvil, MegaCortex, and Black Basta. The ransomware actors then extort their victims, seeking ransom payments in bitcoin before returning access to the victim computer networks. These ransomware groups have caused significant harm to businesses, healthcare providers, and government agencies all over the world.

"The FBI led a worldwide joint, sequenced operation that crippled one of the longest-running cybercriminal botnets," said FBI Director Christopher Wray. "With our federal and international partners, we will continue to systematically target every part of cybercriminal organizations, their facilitators, and their money - including by disrupting and dismantling their ability to use illicit infrastructure to attack us. Today's success is yet another demonstration of how FBI's capabilities and strategy are hitting cyber criminals hard, and making the American people safer."

The victim computers infected with Qakbot malware are part of a botnet, which is a network of compromised computers, meaning the perpetrators can remotely control all the infected computers in a coordinated manner. The owners and operators of the victim computers are typically unaware of the infection.

"An international partnership led by Justice Department and the FBI has resulted in the dismantling of Qakbot, one of the most notorious botnets ever, responsible for massive losses to victims around the world," said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California. "Qakbot was the botnet of choice for some of the most infamous ransomware gangs, but we have now taken it out. This operation also has led to the seizure of almost 9 million dollars in cryptocurrency from the Qakbot cybercriminal organization, which will now be made available to victims. My office's focus is on protecting and vindicating the rights of victims, and this multifaceted attack on computer-enabled crime demonstrates our commitment to safeguarding our nation from harm."

As part of the takedown, the FBI was able to gain access to Qakbot infrastructure and identify over 700,000 computers worldwide, including more than 200,000 in the United States, that appear to have been infected with Qakbot. To disrupt the botnet, the FBI was able to redirect Qakbot botnet traffic to and through servers controlled by the FBI, which in turn instructed infected computers in the United States and elsewhere to download a file created by law enforcement that would uninstall the Qakbot malware. This uninstaller was designed to untether the victim computer from the Qakbot botnet, preventing further installation of malware through Qakbot.

The scope of this law enforcement action was limited to information installed on the victim computers by the Qakbot actors. It did not extend to remediating other malware already installed on the victim computers and did not involve access to or modification of the information of the owners and users of the infected computers.

Valuable technical assistance was provided by Zscaler. The FBI has partnered with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Shadowserver, Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance, and Have I Been Pwned to aid in victim notification and remediation.

The FBI Los Angeles Field Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, and the Criminal Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) conducted the operation in close cooperation with Eurojust. Investigators and prosecutors from several jurisdictions provided crucial assistance, including Europol, French Police Cybercrime Central Bureau and the Cybercrime Section of the Paris Prosecution Office, Germany's Federal Criminal Police and General Public Prosecutor's Office Frankfurt/Main, Netherlands National Police and National Public Prosecution Office, the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency, Romania's National Police, and Latvia's State Police. The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs and the FBI Milwaukee Field Office provided significant assistance.

CCIPS Trial Attorneys Jessica Peck, Ryan K.J. Dickey, and Benjamin Proctor, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Khaldoun Shobaki and Lauren Restrepo for the Central District of California led the U.S. efforts.

Additional information and resources, including for victims, can be found on the following website, which will be updated as additional information and resources become available: www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/divisions/national-security-division/qakbot-resources.



Topic: Cybercrime

Components: Office of the Attorney General

Criminal Division

Criminal - Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section

Criminal - Office of International Affairs

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

USAO - California, Central

Press Release Number: 23-929

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Singapore Busts Multimillion-Dollar Money Laundering Scheme

By Adam Hancock August 29, 2023

A huge money laundering case has riveted attention in Singapore.

In a series of raids across the city-state in mid-August, authorities seized close to three quarters of a billion U.S. dollars in assets including more than 100 luxury condos and dozens of flashy cars. It's one of the city-state's largest ever money laundering cases.

Hundreds of bags were seized, some worth up to $100,000 from the likes of Hermes, Chanel and Prada, plus Patek Philippe watches and jewelry. Police images of the wines seized resemble the cellar of a French chateau.

The Singapore Police Force said the ill-gotten gains were obtained from organized crime committed overseas, including scams and online gambling, with the proceeds then brought into Singapore and filtered through the country's financial institutions.

Ten people were arrested in the raids on Aug. 15, with 12 others currently "assisting authorities" with their ongoing investigation. Eight more individuals are still wanted by police.

Those arrested appeared to be an international group - Cypriot, Turkish, Cambodian and from the small Pacific archipelago Vanuatu. But all the men also had Chinese passports.

Local media have since reported that the men all originate from the same part of China - Fujian province. It's a mountainous region on the country's southeast coast, affluent and once the hub of the Chinese tea industry.

"There has been a significant uptick in operations against money laundering groups recently involving China in cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, and no doubt more are coming", said Jeremy Douglas, the U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

It's unclear how the funds got into Singapore and how they were undetected for so long. Some local media reported members of the group have been living in Singapore for up to six years. Bloomberg reported the Singaporean arm of Citigroup was used by some of the men for banking as far back as 2020.

Singapore's Monetary Authority says it was banks that alerted them to the suspicious activities of these men, tipped off by suspicious fund flows and dubious documents about the money's origin.

Kelvin Law is an Associate Professor of Accounting at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He says Singapore's reputation as a global financial hub could attract criminals to move their illicit funds to the city-state.

"Singapore has an extremely high volume of high-value cross-border transactions every day. It is easier to hide money laundering transfers in a country with this feature because it is hard to spot the odd ones out," he said.

Once funds are in Singapore's banking system, Law says they can then be easily moved around.

There are now questions about whether such a high-profile money laundering case will impact Singapore's global reputation. Strong surveillance, a vast police network and a punitive justice system have given Singapore the reputation of being one of the safest countries in the world.

"I think they want to show the world that they're really serious about this without hurting the city's place as the financial hub of the region," said Zachary Abuza, a professor covering Southeast Asian politics at the National War College in Washington.

"This is a country where the rule of law and their kind of squeaky cleanliness is one of their key selling points," Abuza said.

Abuza said the city-state has recently invested in artificial intelligence to identify patterns or irregularities that would indicate foul play, making him surprised that the crime wasn't picked up by Singaporean authorities.

"This was not even very sophisticated money laundering, buying luxury goods, this was not sophisticated stuff."

Singapore is keen to protect its reputation, especially as money continues to pour into the country from high-net-worth individuals who see it as a safe haven.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore recently told VOA that the number of private offices managing wealth had risen to 1,100 at the end of last year, compared with just 400 in 2020.

"In recent years, with the geopolitical situation, more people are seeing Singapore as a good neutral place to conduct their business. When there is a lot of capital flowing, money launderers will naturally try to mask their fund flows through the same channels," said Stefanie Theo, managing partner at TSMP Law Corporation.

Singapore's Police Force was strong in its defence of the country's financial integrity. "We have zero tolerance for the use of Singapore as a safe haven for criminals or their families, nor for the abuse of our banking facilities," SPF's Director of Commercial Affairs David Chew said in a statement.

"Our message to these criminals is simple - if we catch you, we will arrest you. If we find your ill-gotten gains, we will seize them. We will deal with you to the fullest extent of our laws."

The United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime has warned of the increased risk of money laundering in the region.

"Southeast Asia has a huge and growing money laundering problem. Recent innovations connected to casinos, scams and the underground banking system have really driven home just how big and dynamic it has become," said Douglas, the office's Southeast Asia representative

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Mainland to drop pre-entry COVID-19 test requirement for cross-Strait travelers

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 08:37, August 30, 2023

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- People traveling to the Chinese mainland, either directly from China's Taiwan region or transiting through Taiwan, will no longer be required to take a pre-entry nucleic acid or antigen test for COVID-19 starting from Aug. 30, according to a mainland spokesperson on Tuesday.

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks in response to a media inquiry regarding the adjustment of COVID-19 protocols for cross-Strait travelers.

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Defence supports Pacific Partners to combat illegal fishing in the region

Issued by Defence Media

29 August 2023

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has conducted 17 missions and patrolled 686,000 square kilometres in an operation to combat illegal fishing in the Pacific.

As part of the third iteration of Operation Solania this year, the ADF provided important maritime surveillance support to the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency's (FFA) Operation Island Chief 2023.

The mission to detect and deter illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing in the region saw the ADF working alongside Pacific partners to protect Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Kiribati's fishing industries and economies.

A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) KA350 King Air flew 10 missions for the FFA out of Tuvalu and Kiribati, detecting and reporting more than 33 vessels of interest and covering over 590,000 square kilometres.

A RAAF C-27J Spartan flew seven missions covering 94,000 square kilometres of Vanuatu's exclusive economic zone, reporting more than 21 vessels to the FFA.

Commander of ADF forces assigned to Operation Solania, Major General Scott Winter, said the ADF is committed to working with Pacific partners to enhance regional maritime security.

"Our longstanding relationships and shared history, culture and values enable Australia and Pacific partners to work effectively and quickly to support shared priorities," Major General Winter said.

"Australia and the ADF are steadfast in our commitment to our Pacific partners, as we understand the enormous threats illegal fishing and transnational crime have on the region's fishing industry and economies."

The ADF joined aircraft from the United States Coast Guard, Royal New Zealand Air Force, France and the Pacific Maritime Security Program as well as surface vessels from the United States Coast Guard to support the FFA during Operation Island Chief.

The ADF also provides permanent staffing resources to the FFA's Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre in the Solomon Islands to ensure continuous support.

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Australian armour in Indonesia for exercise

By Major Martin Hadley

29 August 2023

It has been a long journey for the 1st Armoured Regiment's contribution of M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks and support vehicles to Exercise Super Garuda Shield in Indonesia.

Starting at their home at RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia, more than a dozen vehicles were transported across the continent by road on heavy trucks to Darwin Harbour, Northern Territory.

The vehicles were loaded onto US Army Vessel (USAV) SSGT Robert T. Kuroda and shipped to the Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, Indonesia, for transport by road to the training area in East Java.

More than 125 Australian Army personnel, drawn primarily from the 9th Brigade's 1st Armoured Regiment, 10th/27th Royal South Australian Regiment, 3rd Health Battalion, as well as other support elements, have deployed on the annual exercise.

The ADF's contingent commander, and Commanding Officer of the 1st Armoured Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Henderson, said the activity was significant for his regiment and the wider ADF.

"Our participation in Super Garuda Shield 2023 provides an important opportunity for Australia to work with our Indonesian and US partners to support an open, inclusive and stable Indo-Pacific region," Lieutenant Colonel Henderson said.

"It will also demonstrate our ability to meet the most demanding land challenges in the future and to effectively deploy significant land forces, including armour, across the Indo-Pacific region.

"Importantly, it also provides the opportunity to conduct joint interoperable operations and train with partners and allies in the region."

The movement of the tanks and vehicles from Darwin to Surabaya was an exercise in partnership, according to the skipper of the USAV SSGT Robert T. Kuroda, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Kyle Nicholas.

"These activities strengthen the bond and relationship with our countries, as well as provide experience for what it is like and what type of interoperability there is between US and Australian forces," Chief Warrant Officer Nicholas said.

"We've had a great time working with the ADF personnel, who are very professional."

Australian troops have joined more than 4000 personnel from 24 participant and observer nations in joint operations on the Indonesian Armed Forces and US Indo-Pacific Command-led exercise.

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Royal Canadian Air Force to participate for the first time in multinational exercise in the United Kingdom

National Defence

News release

August 29, 2023 - Winnipeg, MB. - National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

Aircraft and personnel from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) will participate for the first time in Exercise COBRA WARRIOR 23-2, a Royal Air Force hosted multinational live-fly exercise held at Royal Air Force (RAF) station Waddington in the United Kingdom, from September 4 to 22, 2023.

The RCAF's participation in Ex COBRA WARRIOR 23-2 includes seven CF-188 Hornets from 433 Tactical Fighter Squadron, one CC-150T Polaris from 437 Transport Squadron and more than 140 RCAF personnel.

Exercise COBRA WARRIOR provides an invaluable opportunity for international allies and partners to train together in developing operational tactics in the air. Australia, as well as our NATO allies; the United Kingdom, the United States, and Italy will be participating in this multinational exercise.

The exercise will further develop the RCAF's abilities to operate in high intensity, large force, tactical air war-fighting operations, while enhancing its proven capability to operate in European airspace.

Quotes

"Ensuring the readiness of the Royal Canadian Air Force to counter air threats is one of our most important responsibilities. Exercises like COBRA WARRIOR provide highly valuable training not only for our members, but also those of our allies and partners, to practice working together in a wide variety of tactical combat scenarios that they could face on real world operations." Lieutenant-General Eric Kenny, Commander Royal Canadian Air Force

"Recognizing the current world security environment, this training is of particular importance for the Royal Canadian Air Force as we strive to safeguard North American airspace. Exercise COBRA WARRIOR will strengthen the interoperability between the participants and build on strong relationships with participating allied and partner-nation Air Forces." Major-General Iain Huddleston, Commander 1 Canadian Air Division

Quick facts

The RCAF will be taking part in developing interoperability with allies and partners by exercising composite air operations in a contested, degraded and operationally limited environment.

The Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft will be operating from Royal Air Force Station Waddington and Royal Air Force Station Lossiemouth.

Four RCAF Air battle managers will be taking part in the exercise from RAF Boulmer. RCAF Air battle managers will provide Command and Control capabilities to enable simulated air combat.

Exercise COBRA WARRIOR is the largest exercise organized by the Royal Air Force and is a biannual training exercise to provide participants with high intensity large force tactical training.

Exercise COBRA WARRIOR brings different partner nation platforms together, providing crews an opportunity to learn how to integrate and enhance interoperability. Participating nations also fulfill leadership roles and are involved in mission planning.

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Readout of Secretary Raimondo's Meeting with Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China He Lifeng

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Office of Public Affairs

publicaffairs@doc.gov

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo met with Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China He Lifeng to engage on commercial issues impacting the U.S.-China economic relationship.

The Secretary underscored the U.S. commitment to taking actions necessary to U.S. national security. She raised key issues of concern for U.S. businesses and workers, including the level playing field for U.S. companies and workers, PRC subsidization of industry, and underdeveloped intellectual property protections.

The Secretary and Vice Premier also discussed the importance of strengthening the protection of trade secrets for U.S. businesses operating in China and agreed that subject matter experts from both the U.S. and China will hold technical discussions on the issue. They discussed topics including climate change, space commerce, AI, and healthcare.

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Readout of Secretary Raimondo's Meeting with Premier of the People's Republic of China Li Qiang

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Office of Public Affairs

publicaffairs@doc.gov

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Premier of the People's Republic of China Li Qiang discussed the importance of the bilateral economic relationship between the United States and China.

Secretary Raimondo reaffirmed her commitment to open channels of communication to facilitate cooperation on shared global challenges and areas of mutual interest and responsibility, such as combating climate change and addressing the Fentanyl crisis. The Secretary underscored the U.S. commitment to taking actions necessary to U.S. national security, ensuring fair and transparent treatment of U.S. companies, and creating a level playing field for U.S. workers and businesses.

The Secretary also emphasized her support for actions that invest in people-to-people ties including tourism and cultural and educational exchanges which are important for the broader U.S.-China bilateral relationship.

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China willing to promote more trade dialogues with US; Washington urged to meet Beijing halfway: Premier Li

Global Times

By Shen Weiduo Published: Aug 29, 2023 10:31 PM Updated: Aug 29, 2023 11:55 PM

Chinese Premier Li Qiang expressed China's willingness to have more dialogues over trade issues when he met with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Beijing on Tuesday, the second day of the US trade chief's China visit. Meanwhile, Li called for more concrete efforts from the US side to push forward the sound development of relations between China and the US, the world's two largest economies.

Li said that mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation are the correct ways for China and the US to get along, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday. Li noted that the essence of China-US economic and trade relations is mutual benefit and win-win results.

"It is hoped that the US will meet China halfway," the Chinese premier said.

The high-level meeting comes after Raimondo's several "candid and constructive" talks with top Chinese officials, including Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

During Raimondo's talks with He, the two agreed to maintain communication and support practical cooperation between enterprises of the two countries. After a roughly four-hour-and-half talk between Commerce Minister Wang and Raimondo, the two sides announced plans to establish a new trade communication channel, including a working group consisting of Chinese and US officials and business representatives to seek solutions on specific trade issues.

After holding meetings with Chinese officials on Monday and Tuesday in Beijing, Raimondo will head to Shanghai, accompanied by US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, according to a Reuters report.

"Candid talks will be significant to reduce misunderstanding and misjudgment, so this series of high-level meetings will no doubt have positive significance for future China-US ties," Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Zhou pointed out that tangible results have been achieved like the new working group, which is a step forward compared with the previous US officials' China visits. It would serve as an opportunity for the two to find future breakthroughs amid frosty ties.

Pragmatic progress

The first exchange on the communication mechanism for export controls was scheduled be held on Tuesday in Beijing, but no details on the talks were released as of press time.

"At least we can anticipate some partial warming in the fields of economy and trade in the next step - as this is not only the needs of the US, but also in the needs of China," He Jun, a senior researcher with Anbound, an independent think tank, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

In a fresh move on Tuesday, China's Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping met with Raimondo in Beijing and agreed to hold a high-level tourism dialogue in the first half of 2024 to boost the travel recovery between the two countries.

The tourism industry should be one of the areas where the two countries will open up to each other in the next step. China and the US have increased the number of flights, and will add more, He said.

In early August, the US and China agreed to double the number of passenger flights currently permitted for air carriers to fly between the two countries.

"It is hoped that the US will work with China to further increase direct flights between the two countries, adjust travel alerts against going to China as soon as possible, facilitate Chinese citizens to apply for visas to the US, stop unreasonable interrogation and harassment of Chinese citizens and groups going to the US, and exchange visits for tourists from the two countries to create better conditions," the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement Tuesday.

In addition, analysts predict that some business activities and trips will continue to increase following Raimondo's visit, paving the way for more economic and trade exchanges between the two countries.

"Such a signal and willingness to reestablish communication is not only beneficial for both countries, but also significant for the stability of the global economy, and it will restore investment confidence to the markets," Zhou said.

During talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Raimondo said that the Biden administration has no intention of curbing China's development and does not seek to "decouple" from China. It is willing to maintain communication with China, maintain normal economic and trade relations between the US and China, and promote the stable development of bilateral relations, according to Xinhua.

"But of course, no one is counting on one meeting to resolve everything, but it can prevent the two to head toward 'decoupling,'" Zhou said.

Challenges ahead

Although the series of meetings are believed to have generated a long-awaited sentiment of positivity between the two countries, observers said whether the two will see more progress depends on the US, as its unreasonable restrictions and tariffs on Chinese firms and products still pose major barriers for cooperation.

"No restrictions on China have been removed so far, indicating that the US' zero-sum mentality under the so-called national security excuse has not altered at all - This makes it difficult to move bilateral relations forward," Sang Baichuan, dean of the Institute of International Economy at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Any concrete progress will depend on the US, such as Washington scrapping its investment restrictions on Chinese high-tech firms to show its sincerity, Sang said.

On August 10, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order prohibiting certain new US investments in China in sensitive technologies like computer chips and requiring government notification in other tech sectors. The order has faced strong pushback from US business communities.

The political and diplomatic relations between China and the US still face major hurdles, but the economic and trade relations between the two countries remain tight, and no one can ignore this, He Jun said.

Moreover, China is both a huge production base and a huge market for the US, and the American business community cannot truly separate from China. It is hoped that the US can realize that the China-US economy and trade are deeply integrated, that cooperation will benefit both but confrontation will hurt both, so there can be a return to the stance of free trade as soon as possible, experts said.

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UK foreign secretary to visit China, first in five years

Global Times

Trip an opportunity to set tone for future engagement: experts

By GT staff reporters Published: Aug 29, 2023 10:12 PM Updated: Aug 29, 2023 10:46 PM

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is set to make a long-anticipated trip to China on Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday. The visit will make Cleverly the highest-ranking UK official to visit China since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The visit will end a long gap in high-level visits between China and the UK and set the tone for future exchanges and engagement, experts said. However, people should not be too positive over important consensus given the current divergences.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced Cleverly's China trip on Tuesday afternoon. Cleverly is set to kick off his visit on Wednesday at the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi.

During Cleverly's visit, the two sides will have in-depth communication on China-UK relations as well as international and regional issues of common concern, Wang Wenbin said.

We hope that the UK will work together with China to uphold the spirit of mutual respect, have in-depth exchanges, enhance understanding, and promote the stable development of bilateral relations, he said.

The Global Times has learned from sources familiar with the matter that Cleverly will meet with Wang Yi during his visit. The UK official is also set to meet with business leaders.

The UK side expects to have a substantive discussion at the senior level about issues of close interest to both sides, and sees the visit as an important opportunity to demonstrate that engagement between China and UK works and that it is valuable to both sides, the Global Times has learned. The topics will include the Ukraine crisis and fighting climate change.

Although the visit is more of symbolic than practical significance, it will provide an opportunity to improve China-UK relations, Gao Jian, director of the Center for British Studies at Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Cleverly will be the highest-ranking UK official to visit China since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first visiting UK foreign minister in five years, media reported.

Cleverly's visit can become an opportunity for China-UK relations to reset and gradually return to normalcy, at least at the working level, Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Observers noted that compared to the relationship between China and other major Western powers, China-UK ties have yet to restart in the post-pandemic era, especially considering the hostility toward China in the UK and inappropriate statements made by London over some sensitive issues.

Due to the lack of diplomatic interaction, China-UK relations have long been mired in uncertainty, Cui said. "This high-level visit will help remove that uncertainty. The two sides may use the visit as a starting point for further dialogue."

The expert said the trip will set the tone for the next China-UK engagement. The two sides are likely to make concrete plans for resuming exchanges, such as the ensuing exchange of visits. The two sides will also seek consensus on some hotspot issues and areas, even if some problems cannot be overcome in the short term, he said.

However, analysts pointed out that the visit is more of a tentative one, given the timing and context of the visit. The chances of reaching a significant consensus between the two sides are not very high, Cui said.

Observers noted that the Sunak administration's policy toward China has softened compared with previous administrations. Although it sometimes adopts a harsh tone under US pressure, it also shows practical sides.

At the G7 summit in May, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that China poses the "biggest challenge in the world to global security and prosperity," after having already described Beijing as an "epoch-defining challenge" in March. In April, Cleverly stated that the UK must engage with China rather than isolate it in a "new cold war" in his policy speech.

Gao pointed out that China is now the party that holds the initiative and strategic stability in China-UK relations.

"As the UK's international influence is lower than China's, there is no way to bypass the Chinese market when Sunak tries to boost the economy," Gao said. "The Sunak government needs to cooperate with China."

As permanent members of the UN Security Council and major global economies, China and the UK bear the common responsibility of promoting world peace, stability and development, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday. Maintaining and developing bilateral relations is in line with the common interests of the two peoples.

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China lodges stern representation with US on its law enforcement personnel unreasonably interrogating, harassing Chinese cargo ship

Global Times

By Global Times Published: Aug 29, 2023 04:45 PM

China has lodged a stern representation with the US on the matter concerning a Hong Kong-registered Chinese vessel that was subjected to unreasonable questioning and harassment by US law enforcement personnel recently, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, who also demanded the US cease the unwarranted interrogations and harassment of Chinese personnel traveling to the US.

The Global Times learned exclusively from a source recently that in July 2023, the vessel Zhenhua 28, a Hong Kong-registered Chinese cargo ship owned by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company, encountered unreasonable searches and harassment by US law enforcement in Jacksonville, Florida. Members of the US Coast Guard boarded the ship to carry out an inspection from its anchorage to the port and accompanied it in the entire course.

Some crew members had their personal electronic devices confiscated, the ship's planned journey to the US was delayed, affecting subsequent operations and the daily lives and work of the crew, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told the Global Times during a press conference on Tuesday.

In recent years, the US has been setting up barriers for Chinese citizens entering the country on various pretexts, unjustifiably intervening with Chinese students holding valid visas, and repeatedly harassing and interrogating Chinese personnel on the basis of their political beliefs and membership in the Communist Party of China. This clearly reflects the US' blatant ideological prejudice and cold war mentality, Wang said.

Upon arrival at the port, US Customs and Border Protection personnel boarded the ship to conduct an inspection, collected biometric information including faces and fingerprints of the crew members, and even questioned them about whether they were members of the CPC, soldiers, or government officials, the Global Times learned previously.

China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes these actions, Wang said, noting that China urges the US to correct its erroneous practices, cease the unwarranted interrogations and harassment of Chinese personnel traveling to the US, stop infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens, and refrain from using national security as a pretext to obstruct and undermine normal cultural exchanges and economic cooperation between China and the US. Such incidents should not recur.

"China will take all necessary measures to resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens," the spokesperson said.

Recently, the FBI stole a Chinese student's personal information from his study application materials and arrested and charged him with "visa fraud." Additionally, three Chinese students were detained, interrogated and deported by US Customs and Border Protection without valid evidence or basis.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the US has detained, interrogated and deported Chinese students without cause and trumped up charges against them. This is wanton suppression and persecution motivated by political purposes toward which China firmly opposes.

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Local group in Hong Kong disbanded for disseminating ideas of 'Hong Kong independence'

Global Times

By GT staff reporters Published: Aug 29, 2023 12:38 PM

A local organization that was set up to promote Cantonese in Hong Kong was disbanded on Monday after the Hong Kong Police Force's national security department visited the family residence of the group's organizeron August 22. Experts said the organization ostensibly claimed to promote Cantonese but in reality, subtly disseminated ideas linked to "Hong Kong independence," creating controversial factors that could impact social order.

Andrew Chan Lok-hang, chairman of Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis, was quoted as saying in media reports in Hong Kong that the national security department officers arrived at his former home on August 22, seeking to meet with him. But Chan was not in Hong Kong and the officers requested his family convey to him the need to "take down and delete an essay submitted to a Cantonese contest" three years ago.

"Considering the safety of my family and former members, and the lack of staff to continue operations, I decided to stop operating the organization and initiate the dissolution process," Chan said.

Chan, who was studying in the Chinese Medicine Department of Hong Kong Baptist University, founded Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis, local media Wei Wen Po reported. Although it claimed its aim was to "promote Cantonese," its actions revealed a radical localist nature, deliberately distinguishing Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland, the report said.

After its establishment, the organization frequently collaborated with various opposition groups, vehemently opposing the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government's bilingual education policy promoted in primary and secondary schools. And it was seen by the public as a group that disseminates separatist ideas.

In recent years, the organization rarely held public events. Chan did not specify which article the national security department asked him to remove. However, according to local media reports, before the implementation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong, the organization received a grant of HK$20,000 from the Central and Western District Council through the community participation funding scheme to organize a Cantonese essay contest.

Hong Kong lawmaker Elizabeth Quat later held a press conference lashing out at the contest as being radically anti-China and claimed the District Council was funneling interests to them. She believed that the activity might constitute misconduct in public office and reported the matter to the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Home Affairs Department, according to media reports.

The territory's Home Affairs Department earlier criticized its works as containing "vulgar language and controversial, misleading, and disruptive elements that may affect community harmony." The department requested that the organization obtain written consent from the Hong Kong government before publishing or making any public release, the report noted.

"The organization focused on the diminished usage of Putonghua and proper expression of spoken and written Chinese. It also highlighted political involvement and engagement instead of cultural development and cultivation. The disbanding of the organization is within the community's expectation," Chu Kar-kin, a veteran current affairs commentator based in Hong Kong and member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Languages including local dialects are tools for communication but not for hostile classification or discrimination. Some rude and inappropriate language was adopted in the previous events hosted by the organization, Chu said. "Conservation of the practices of Cantonese dialect should not be used to spread hatred or uncomfortable feelings in the community. Unity but not separatism or isolation should be the key for inheriting of language and dialect," he added.

Advancing the school education in Putonghua is very important as Hong Kong's youths would be at a disadvantage if they could not speak Putonghua, the common language used nationwide in China, and if some conditions can be met, local schools in Hong Kong should offer education in Putonghua, Christine Choi Yuk-lin, secretary for education of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, told the Global Times in an earlier interview.

Some experts believed that the investigation launched by the Hong Kong police's national security department into Chan is based on substantial evidence.

"Chan's decision to initiate the dissolution process is likely out of concern for implicating his family members," Willy Fu, a law professor and vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Legal Exchange Foundation, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Even if Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis is dissolved, law enforcement can still legally hold the founders criminally responsible, and trace and arrest associated criminals, Fu said, who urged Chan to return to Hong Kong and turn himself in. "Otherwise, he will be wanted by the police, bear the stigma of a fugitive, and live in exile, separated from his family in Hong Kong for life."

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China, Pakistan launch joint air exercise featuring Chinese warplanes on both sides

Global Times

By Liu Xuanzun Published: Aug 29, 2023 08:02 PM

In a first since Pakistan inducted Chinese-made J-10CE fighters into its air force, the two countries kicked off a joint air exercise on Monday, with experts saying on Tuesday that the drill will further enhance exchanges and cooperation between the two militaries and contribute to regional peace and stability.

The Shaheen-X joint air exercise kicked off on Monday in Chinese territory as part of efforts to further boost training and coordination between the two militaries and deepen their exchange and cooperation on military technology, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.

According to a statement released by China's Ministry of National Defense on Saturday, the exercise is scheduled to be held until mid-September, in Jiuquan, Northwest China's Gansu Province and Yinchuan, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The two sides will send fighters, early warning aircraft and several other types of aircraft, as well as ground forces such as ground-to-air missiles and radar and signal troops to participate in the exercise. Chinese naval aviation units will also be involved in the training, Xinhua reported.

J-10 fighter jets from the Pakistan Air Force will participate in the exercise, Pakistani media outlet The Nation reported on Monday.

It marks the first time J-10CE fighter jets have participated in the China-Pakistan Shaheen series air exercise since the Chinese-made aircraft were inducted into the Pakistan Air Force in March 2022, as the Shaheen-IX was held in December 2020.

Independently developed by China's aviation industry, the J-10CE is an all-weather, single-engine, single-seat, multirole, fourth-plus generation fighter jet capable of striking multiple targets from beyond visual range under a complex electromagnetic environment, and can deliver precision attacks against ground targets with multiple guidance modes.

Equipped with advanced comprehensive avionics and weapon systems, the aircraft boasts outstanding mid-to-low altitude combat maneuverability, supersonic flight, short-range takeoff and landing, large combat radius and long range and mid-air refueling capabilities.

After more than a year's independent practice and use, the Pakistani pilots should have already grasped and developed skills and tactics on the J-10CEs, and their first joint exercise with China using the aircraft will benefit both countries' pilots when they exchange experiences, Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military aviation expert, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The Pakistan Air Force uses the J-10CE as its main combat force, while the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force also operates a large fleet of J-10C fighter jets, Fu noted.

The exercise can enhance the two countries' interoperability under informatized systems of modern warfare, Fu said.

Xinhua reported that the Shaheen-X exercise will focus on training in typical combat scenarios such as joint air defense and joint countermeasures.

The drill will allow China to learn from the Pakistan Air Force's Western-like training system, while Pakistan will strengthen its capabilities in safeguarding its sky as well as conducting anti-terrorism operations, Fu said.

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China launches new-generation frigate: media

Global Times

By Liu Xuanzun Published: Aug 29, 2023 05:20 PM Updated: Aug 29, 2023 05:14 PM

China reportedly launched the first hull of its new-generation frigate, allegedly designated the Type 054B, in Shanghai last week, with observers expecting it to be an advanced but also cost-effective versatile vessel for far sea operations.

Photos emerged on social media show that the first Type 054B has been launched at Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai, US-based news website The Drive reported on Monday.

Calling the frigate one of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's most important future vessels, The Drive said the Type 054B is likely a continuation of the previous Type 054A, as it is expected to primarily perform anti-submarine warfare mission with anti-air warfare and anti-surface warfare roles as secondary, general-purpose objectives.

It will likely host the shipborne version of the Z-20 helicopter, which would provide a critical part of the frigate's anti-submarine warfare capabilities, the report said.

Compared with its predecessor, the Type 054B is larger, measuring about 147 meters in length and 18.5 meters in width with a displacement of around 6,000 tons, Navy Recognition, a dedicated naval news website, reported on Monday.

The new frigate is equipped with a dual-face active phased array radar system plus an integrated radio frequency mast similar to that on the Type 055 destroyer, Navy Recognition said, noting that this enhances the ship's air situational awareness and air defense capability.

Similar to the Type 054A, the Type 054B likely has a 32-cell vertical launch system that can accommodate HQ-16 long-range air defense missiles and Yu-8 rocket-assisted torpedoes, as well as two quadruple YJ-83 anti-ship missile launchers, according to Navy Recognition.

Instead of two 1130 close-in weapon systems equipped by the Type 054A, the Type 054B is armed with only one close-in weapon system, but is added with an HQ-10 short-range air defense missile system, the report said.

Another major change is that the Type 054B is seemingly fitted with a new 100mm main gun, replacing the Type 054A's 76mm main gun and offering more range and power. This enhancement allows the Type 054B to better execute sea and shore bombardment missions, amplifying its combat prowess and diversified strike capabilities, Navy Recognition said.

Navy Recognition among other overseas media reports suggested that the Type 054B is likely equipped with a fully electric propulsion system.

China has not officially announced the launch of the new frigate or its details, including its name and capabilities.

It is normal that China develops new vessels amid technological developments and as its navy make strides toward becoming a blue-water navy, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Overseas media reports might not be accurate, but more details could emerge as the ship would eventually enter service, the expert said.

A far sea-operable frigate is generally characterized by its versatility, reliability, cost efficiency and comfortability, the expert said, stressing that not all advanced and expensive equipment should be hoarded on a frigate when destroyers are available.

Another hull of the Type 054B is under construction at Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard in Guangzhou, The Drive reported.

The new Type 054B frigate could be mass produced just like the Type 054A frigate and the Type 052D destroyer, as they are expected to accompany aircraft carriers, amphibious ships and destroyers in far sea voyages, analysts said.

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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Remarks on President of Benin Patrice Talon's Visit to China and China-Benin Relations

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China

2023-08-29 15:10

Q: China announced that the President of Benin will visit China. Can you share the program and China's expectations for this visit? How does China view the current China-Benin relations?

A: China and Benin enjoy long-standing and profound friendship. Our two countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations last year. Over the course of more than half a century, China and Benin have treated each other with sincerity and friendship. Our bilateral relationship is a fine example of equality, mutual respect and mutual trust between developing countries. In recent years, thanks to the personal commitment and guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Talon, the China-Benin relations have maintained a good momentum of growth, with deepening political mutual trust, fruitful cooperation in various sectors and close communication and coordination in regional and international affairs.

During the visit, President Xi Jinping will hold a welcome ceremony and a welcome banquet for President Talon, and the two heads of state will hold talks. Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji will meet with President Talon respectively. President Talon will also attend the Global Trade in Services Summit. We are confident that this visit will provide new impetus for the friendly cooperation between our two countries in various sectors and bring the bilateral relationship to a new height.



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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on August 29, 2023

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China

At the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, James Cleverly, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the UK, will pay an official visit to China on August 30.

CCTV: The Chinese Ambassador to Switzerland Wang Shiting last week attended the ceremony for the return of China's lost cultural relics held by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, signed a return agreement with Switzerland and received five lost cultural relics. Can you give us more details and what's your comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: We appreciate Switzerland's returning the Chinese cultural relics. Our two countries signed the Agreement Between the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation and the Government of the People's Republic of China on Illicit Import and Export and Repatriation of Cultural Property in 2013 and have since carried out a series of practical exchanges and cooperation under this framework. In December 2014, Switzerland returned the first item, a piece of pottery figure of the Han Dynasty, to China. Last week, Switzerland returned to China another five cultural relics confiscated in four criminal proceedings in the past two years, including four pieces of chinaware and one coin. This marks another successful practice in cultural heritage protection cooperation between the two countries, contributes to deepening mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, and sets a fine example of combating cultural relics smuggling, ensuring the safety of cultural relics and expanding inter-governmental cooperation globally. China stands ready to deepen cooperation with Switzerland in such areas as the recovery and return of cultural relics, ancient civilizations studies, joint archaeological research, and the restoration of historical sites, in an effort to jointly bolster cultural exchange and mutual learning and create more highlights for the growth of China-Switzerland relations.

AFP: The Japanese foreign minister said earlier today that it's extremely regrettable and worrying that a brick was thrown at the Japanese embassy in Beijing. He urged the Chinese government to call on its people to remain calm on the issue regarding the ocean discharge of the treated water from Fukushima. Will China call on its people to remain calm on this matter?

Wang Wenbin: We've responded to and made clear our solemn position on Japan's so-called concerns and made serious dAmarches over the harassment to the Chinese diplomatic and consular missions in Japan. China protects and ensures the safety and lawful rights and interests of foreign nationals in China in accordance with laws.aIn disregard of the international community's strong criticism and opposition, the Japanese government unilaterally started releasing the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, which has sparked indignation over the world. This is the root cause of the current situation. If Japan's release of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea is based on science, why is the public's opposition is still mounting in Japan?

In response to Japan's extremely selfish and irresponsible wrong act, China and other stakeholders have the right and responsibility to take legitimate, reasonable and necessary preventive measures to safeguard the marine environment, food safety and people's health. What Japan should do is immediately correct its wrongdoing and stop discharging the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, not otherwise.

China Daily: Following on your announcement about the visit to China by Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the UK James Cleverly, can you share with us China's view on the current China-UK relations and expectation for the visit?

Wang Wenbin: As permanent members of the UN Security Council and major economies in the world, China and the UK shoulder the common responsibility of promoting world peace, stability and development. Maintaining and growing bilateral relations serves the common interests of the peoples of both countries.

During Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly's visit to China, the two sides will have in-depth communication on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest. We hope the UK will work with China to deepen exchanges and enhance understanding in the spirit of mutual respect, so as to promote the steady development of China-UK relations.

Kyodo News: Also on the release of the Fukushima treated water. How do you comment on the rising negative sentiment in China towards Japan, with some even calling for a boycott of Japanese products?

Wang Wenbin: As I just said, China protects the safety and lawful rights and interests of foreign nationals in China in accordance with the law. Japan needs to immediately correct its selfish and irresponsible act of dumping nuclear-contaminated water into the sea and earnestly respond to the international community's concerns.

Global Times: According to reports, in July this year, US Customs and Border Protection personnel forcibly boarded Zhenhua 28, a Hong Kong-registered Chinese cargo ship under Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company, for inspection in Jacksonville, Florida. Does the foreign ministry have any comment? Has China expressed its concern to the US?

Wang Wenbin: The vessel Zhenhua 28 encountered unreasonable searches and harassment by US law enforcement in Jacksonville, Florida. Some of the crew members' personal electronic devices were confiscated and seized. The ship's departure plan from the US had to be postponed, disrupting its subsequent operations and the crew's work and life. China has made serious dAmarches to the US side.

It must be pointed out that in recent years, the US has placed barriers to the entry of Chinese citizens under various pretexts, including unreasonable interference in the entry of Chinese students holding valid visas. In particular, it has often interrogated and harassed Chinese nationals on the grounds of their political beliefs or Communist party membership. This is a stark manifestation of ideological bias and Cold War mentality. We deplore and reject it. We call on the US to correct its wrong practice and stop the unjustified interrogation and harassment targeting Chinese citizens traveling to the US, stop infringing on their lawful rights and interests, stop using national security as a pretext to thwart and undermine people-to-people and cultural exchange and economic and trade cooperation between our two countries, and make sure the above-mentioned incidents won't be repeated. China will do what is necessary to firmly safeguard the lawful rights and interests of Chinese nationals.a

Hubei Media Group: The Chinese embassy and consulates in Japan have reportedly received a barrage of harassing calls from Japanese numbers recently. Do you have any information on that?

Wang Wenbin: China has made serious dAmarches to Japan over the harassment to the Chinese embassy and consulates in Japan and urged the Japanese side to handle the matter in accordance with the law to effectively ensure the safety of the Chinese embassy and consulates and Chinese institutions, companies and nationals, including tourists, in Japan.

AFP: In my previous question I mentioned someone throwing a brick at the Japanese embassy in China. I wonder if you are for or against such moves?

Wang Wenbin: I just covered this and made clear China's position.

CRI: According to reports, the Japanese side has said recently that the US, for example, has expressed its satisfaction with Japan's discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. "In this context, we would like to convey to the Chinese government these voices of the international community." What's your response?

Wang Wenbin: Of the close to 200 countries in the world, I wonder if Japan can name any other country beside the US that has voiced support for its plan to dump the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.

That list, I'm afraid, is very short. The overwhelming majority of countries have criticized and made clear their opposition to the ocean discharge process, a position shared by many in Japan itself, and taken preventative measures. This is the plain fact. Japan shouldn't ignore this or worse, resort to self-deception and try to fool others.a

Particularly, I would like to point out that the ocean discharge concerns the marine environment and public health. It is by no means the private matter of Japan itself. Nor can it simply be "greenlighted" by any individual country out of political calculations. What Japan did further reveals its nature of valuing only might in disregard of the wider international community, and putting its selfish interests above international public interests.

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Moves to 'politicize' trade will prove 'disastrous' for global economy, China warns US

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 29 August 2023 7:33 PM

China has warned the United States against moves to "politicize" trade issues, saying such measures will prove "disastrous" for the global economy.

In an attempt to mend strained trade ties between the world's two biggest economies despite tensions over multiple issues, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is currently on a four-day visit to the Asian country.

During a meeting between Raimondo and Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, China's top official, however, lay into Washington's trade curbs against Beijing.

The US claims that such measures are necessary for its national security while China insists that they are meant to clip its economic rise.

"Politicizing economic and trade issues and overstretching the concept of security will... seriously affect bilateral relations and mutual trust," China's official Xinhua news agency quoted Li as telling his the American side.

They "also undermine the interests of enterprises and people of the two countries, and will have a disastrous impact on the global economy", Li added.

Raimondo's trip to China is the latest by a senior US official in recent months as Washington tries to settle tensions with Beijing, as the US-China relations have dropped to some of their lowest levels in decades, with US trade curbs near the top of the list of disagreements.

The development came days after US President Joe Biden issued an executive order aimed at restricting certain US investments in sensitive high-tech areas in China, prompting Beijing to denounce it as being "anti-globalization."

The fresh restrictions, expected to be implemented in 2014, target sectors such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

This is while Li on Tuesday urged Washington to change tack, stressing that "the two sides should strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, reduce friction and confrontation, and jointly promote world economic recovery and cope with global challenges."

Raimondo, for her part, stressed the importance of open communication, telling Li that the US wants to "work with you as two global powers to do what is right for all of humanity."

"The world is expecting us to step up together to solve these problems," she claimed, adding, "We seek to maintain our $700 billion commercial relationship with China, and we hope that that relationship can provide stability for the overall relationship."

On Wednesday, the US commerce secretary will visit China's economic powerhouse, Shanghai, where she will meet with local officials before leaving the country.

Raimondo and China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reached an agreement to establish a working group aimed at easing trade tensions.

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Hong Kong police arrest two for 'collusion' with foreign countries over protest fund

Exiled language activist could be the next to have a bounty on his head.

By Simon Lee and Gigi Lee for RFA Cantonese, Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin 2023.08.29 -- Hong Kong national security police on Tuesday arrested two more people with ties to a now-defunct fund set up to help those targeted for involvement in the 2019 protest movement.

Police arrested two men aged 33 and 59 in Tai Po on suspicion of "colluding with the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund to receive donations from various overseas organizations to support people who have fled overseas or organizations which called for sanctions against Hong Kong," according to a statement posted to the government's website.

The men were also suspected of "conspiracy to incite others to commit riot," under public order laws, the statement said.

"Police conducted searches at the residences of the two arrested persons and another suspect with court warrants," the statement said. "Some related computers, electronic communication devices and exhibits fit for unlawful purpose were seized."

Earlier this month, police arrested 10 people in connection with the now-disbanded dund's activities. The arrests of outspoken Cardinal Joseph Zen and other trustees of the fund prompted an international outcry in May 2022.

Since the ruling Chinese Communist Party tightened its control over an ongoing crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong in July, police have started focusing on overseas activists, issuing bounties for eight prominent overseas campaigners and hauling their family members in for questioning.

The national security law - imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020 - ushered in a citywide crackdown on public dissent and criticism of the authorities that has seen senior journalists, pro-democracy media magnate Jimmy Lai and 47 former lawmakers and democracy activists charged with offenses from "collusion with a foreign power" to "subversion."

It applies to speech and acts committed anywhere in the world, and has been used to issue the leaders of London-based rights group Hong Kong Watch with a takedown order for the group's website.

Hong Kong leader John Lee has vowed to pursue the eight overseas activists - who include former democratic lawmakers Ted Hui and Nathan Law and businessman Elmer Yuen - for the rest of their lives.

'I would be the ninth'

Cantonese language activist Andrew Chan, who disbanded his campaign group Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis on Monday after national security police told him to take down an essay from its website, said police had also mentioned the eight overseas activists to him.

"They specifically mentioned the eight overseas Hong Kongers as an example, and told me I would be the ninth wanted person if I didn't remove the essay," said Chan, who is currently also overseas.

"They also told me that if I didn't cooperate, the police have the power to arrest members of my family," said Chan, adding that campaigning for Cantonese-medium instruction in Hong Kong's schools is equated with support for "Hong Kong independence" in the eyes of the Chinese government.

"When we applied for community funding in 2020, some establishment organizations labeled us as radical and anti-China," he said. "In today's Hong Kong, any initiatives that support local culture can easily be labeled pro-independence, and initiatives like ours that campaign against the enforced speaking of Mandarin [in schools] have been classified as seditious, subversive or separatist in the eyes of the government."

Current affairs commentator Sang Pu said Chan's group represents the celebration of everything that is unique about Hong Kong's culture, and is therefore seen as a threat by the authorities.

"National security isn't just about political security, but also cultural security," Sang said. "The Chinese Communist Party believes that Hong Kong's political insecurity stems from its unique culture, which gives the people of Hong Kong a sense of their unique identity."

"This attitude to the language of Hong Kong, but also things like the song 'Glory to Hong Kong', are not just single incidents, but show the way the system is moving to exterminate Hong Kong's culture," he said. "It's part of a bigger game in which Hong Kong's identity must be suppressed or deracinated."

Isaac Cheng, founder and director of the U.K.-based Hong Kong advocacy group Kongtinue, said he is concerned that there will soon be more concerted attempts by the authorities to suppress Cantonese.

"They deal with a Cantonese essay competition and a group campaigning for the preservation of Cantonese in the name of national security," Cheng said. "I'm very worried that insisting on speaking Cantonese instead of Mandarin ... will be viewed as an act of confrontation against the government."

Hong Kong Watch said the Chinese government has failed to deliver on the promises enshrined in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, and called on British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to raise the issue with Beijing on his trip to China this week, and called for the release of all political prisoners in Hong Kong.

"We urge the Foreign Secretary to make it clear that any stabilization of relations between the UK and the People's Republic of China will be dependent on ... the upholding of respect for the rights, freedoms, and autonomy of the people of Hong Kong," Hong Kong Watch chief executive Benedict Rogers said in a statement on Tuesday.

"This must include the release of all political prisoners in Hong Kong, in particular the former owner of Apple Daily Jimmy Lai, who is a British citizen and other prisoners whose families possess British passports or British National Overseas passports," he said.

Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie.

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 August 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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INTERVIEW: 'I don't know if it's possible for me to ever return to Hong Kong'

U.S. photographer Matthew Connors is turned away for the second time after documenting the 2019 protests

By Gigi Lee for RFA Cantonese 2023.08.29 -- A photography professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Art and Design has been refused entry to Hong Kong for the second time, further evidence that an ongoing crackdown on dissent under a draconian national security law could affect which foreign nationals are allowed to travel to the city.

Matthew Connors, who was denied entry in 2020, immediately after the 2019 protest movement, but who is still allowed to visit North Korea, told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview that he was given a brief, bureaucratic explanation that he "didn't meet the criteria" for entry, while the Immigration Department has declined to comment on the decision:

RFA: When did you try to enter Hong Kong?

Connors: On Aug. 16, I'd originally planned to come to Hong Kong as a tourist, and I especially hoped to visit art exhibitions, including the newly opened M+ museum. At the same time, it was also primarily to test the waters, because the last time I came to Hong Kong, at the beginning of 2020, I was refused entry by the Hong Kong Immigration Department, which made me always confused [about] whether I could visit Hong Kong again. And I couldn't see any reason why I would be refused entry, and I couldn't really understand what possible danger I could present to the Hong Kong government. I happened to be traveling in Asia for several weeks, and I was in Thailand.

Since the last time I was refused entry back in early 2020, I'd had a lot of uncertainty about whether or not I'd be allowed to return to Hong Kong. And that had been bothering me. So I was hopeful I'd be able to visit and then when I didn't really see any reason why I shouldn't be refused, again, because the protests are no longer going on. And I couldn't really understand what, you know, one possible danger I could present to the Hong Kong government. So I figured I would give it a try.

RFA: What happened when you arrived?

Connors: I was taken aside, again, by immigration, and I was told that I did not meet the qualifications for entry into Hong Kong at this time, which was a very bureaucratic answer. And it was the same reason that I was given the last time I was refused entry back in 2020. My trip was supposed to be an overnight trip, [and] I didn't really tell anyone I knew in Hong Kong that I would be coming. Because I didn't really know what risks that might have posed for anyone who would be seen associated with me.

So when I was interviewed in the airport by immigration officers, I identified myself both as an artist and a professor that was visiting for the purpose of tourism. But despite this, in a very short interview, I was just given the generic reason that I do not meet the qualifications for entry at this time. So I knew from my past experiences that trying to get more nuanced or detailed answers from any of the immigration officers would really be futile.

I actually had this feeling that no one that I actually encountered in the immigration office actually had the authority to make the decision about whether I could enter Hong Kong at the time or not. And so I really believe that I'm on a list of people whose access to Hong Kong is restricted, perhaps permanently, I'm not sure.

RFA: What makes you think that?

Connors: Part of the reason I think this is just the way they proceeded with the interview process, and it more or less mirrored exactly what happened to me last time. And so when I reached the immigration kiosk and presented my passport, they looked me up in the system. And then they called over immigration officer over to the window and he escorted me back to the immigration officers room and I sat in the waiting area and this was a designated area where I think they bring a lot of travelers that are flagged for further questioning, and I waited there with other travelers but ultimately, they never questioned me in this area, and they escorted me to a separate area, like a secondary interview area. I believe this is the place where they process people who they've already decided to refuse entry into Hong Kong. [It was] exactly where I went last time before I was refused entry.

RFA: Do you think there's anything you can do about your situation?

Connors: I don't know. I want to seek advice about that. You know, the last time I was refused entry, I started discussing it with an immigration lawyer, but that whole process really got derailed by the COVID lockdowns. I don't know, to be honest. And I think that uncertainty is by design, because, you know, both with this refusal, and the sort of sweeping powers that the National Security Law gives the Hong Kong government they're sort of instrumentalizing uncertainty in order to make people feel like their freedoms are being restricted.

RFA: Did you fear this might happen when you went to Hong Kong?

Connors: You know, I did. And I think some people that I consulted before left thought there was there was a higher risk, both because of the National Security Law had been passed, and because I had been denied before, but I think I had my instinct that I essentially, would be okay, that I think the worst case scenario was that I would be turned around again. I don't have a lot of data or information to back that up. But I think I was just traveling under that assumption.

This time, they did a much more rigorous search and my belongings, and then, when they escorted me through the airport, they actually took me through a separate security area and put me on a bus to the flight back to Bangkok. [During] this whole process, none of the immigration officers were really giving me any information about what they were doing with me. And so when they put me on the bus, I felt quite nervous that I was being transported to a longer term detention area. But I think in the end, they were just bringing me to the plane.

RFA: Do you think it's because a lot of your work recorded what happened in 2019, and interviewed protesters?

Connors: I think it's absolutely related. But, you know, I can only speculate why I would be on that list, because there are many people, local and international journalists and artists who were documenting, recording and interacting with those events. And, as far as I know, many of them have been able to travel freely back and forth. So it's a little bit of a mystery to me, why I would be singled out, to be honest.

My relationship with Hong Kong doesn't run as deep as many of your, as many of your readers or listeners, but it's a place I developed an affection for over the last 20 years and I have been considering partially relocating there and living in between New York and Hong Kong for the next few years. It was an idea I've been talking about with people that are close to me. And now I just don't think it's possible for me to do that, and I just don't know if it's possible for me to ever return to Hong Kong, to be honest.

RFA: Do you think more and more foreigners will be denied entry and removed from Hong Kong in future?

Connors: That's my assumption. You know, I think a lot of people are looking at the National Security Law, and the way it's being enforced. And the writing seems to be on the wall in a lot of ways -- there's an increasing instability there. And when things like this are happening, I think it's a real sign of fragility on part of the Hong Kong government, a kind of insecurity on their part. I've been in and out of North Korea several times, doing more or less similar things, taking pictures, and then later publishing, and exhibiting them, but I've had no problem returning to North Korea [despite the fact that] the North Korean regime is notoriously insecure about how they're depicted abroad. And I think it's quite interesting that the Hong Kong government is trending in that direction. It does feel like Hong Kong has really become a kind of frontier of the new Cold War. So I think you can expect to see a lot of people who would normally have been interested in doing business or living in Hong Kong, looking to other major Asian capitals instead.

RFA: Does it feel like another Xinjiang, do you think?

Connors: I don't know what all this augers for the fate of Hong Kong. But I do think that the surveillance capabilities of the [Chinese Communist Party], and the Hong Kong government [are] just going to get increasingly sophisticated. And that's going to continue the trend of a kind of hyper-surveillance state where people are going to feel less and less able to navigate Hong Kong with any sense of freedom for themselves. I don't know if that's going to lead to the kinds of incarcerations that you've seen in Xinjiang, but there could be a real dampening effect on the freedoms that a lot of people who live in, grew up in, or who love Hong Kong are accustomed [to]. And I think you can already see that with the National Security Law. I mean, it feels really quite dystopian, the some of the things that I've been reading, [for example], people getting arrested for having flags in their backpacks.

RFA: How do you feel about these experiences from 2019 to now?

Connors: The first time I got banned, it was in a state of shock, you know, and it was ultimately a much more arduous process, because it was something that I don't think I was mentally or physically prepared for. When that happened, I was traveling from New York City, and I was detained in the airport for about eight hours, and then sent all the way back to New York City. And so, you know, it was quite a long ordeal. And, you know, that was extremely difficult because of everything that was going on. And I was quite enthusiastic about being in Hong Kong and continuing to experience and draw inspiration from all the protests that were happening. And I think this time when it happened, I more or less expected that that was a distinct possibility, so in a way, I think I was more mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared. It's really sad.

The more difficult thing this time around was not quite understanding the rationale. I can understand back then, as odious as I think it was, that there could be a rationale for the Hong Kong government not wanting people, including myself, to be present, to be bearing witness to the ways in which the police were treating the citizens who were protesting. But now, this time around, there's no protest activity happening. And I just really couldn't fathom why they would think I, you know, an art teacher, an artist would pose any threat to the Hong Kong government. In a way, it's a little bit more difficult, because, to me, it suggests that that ban could be permanent.

Edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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 August 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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Foreign Secretary visits Beijing to further British interests

The Foreign Secretary is visiting China on Wednesday 30 August for high-level talks with senior representatives from the Chinese government.

29 August 2023

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is visiting Beijing tomorrow

he will look to further UK national interests including cyber, international security and human rights

as well as cooperating to face global problems such as climate change

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is travelling to Beijing to strengthen channels of communication to further and protect British interests as set out in his Mansion House speech.

In the speech in April, the Foreign Secretary set out the UK's multifaceted approach to China across 3 pillars. First, to protect national security whenever Beijing poses a threat to UK people or prosperity, second, to align cooperation with friends and allies in the Indo-Pacific and across the world to uphold international law, and third, to engage directly with China to promote stable relations.

Now, in the first visit of a UK Foreign Secretary for over 5 years, James Cleverly will hold bilateral meetings with China's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi, and Vice President Han Zheng.

Issues such as climate change cannot be tackled without China - as the world's largest investor in sustainable energy and the largest emitter of carbon, the choices that China makes are critical to our collective ability to tackle this global problem.

The Foreign Secretary will say that China's global significance comes with a responsibility on international security - helping to end Putin's invasion of Ukraine, diffusing tensions in the South China Sea and ceasing malign activity in cyberspace.

During his visit, the Foreign Secretary will raise Beijing's human rights obligations, including in relation to communities in Xinjiang and Tibet. He will also challenge China on the erosion of autonomy, rights and freedoms in Hong Kong under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, as well as other UK interests including the sanctions placed on UK MPs.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:

It is important we manage our relationship with China across a range of issues. No significant global problem - from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic instability to nuclear proliferation - can be solved without China. China's size, history and global significance means they cannot be ignored, but that comes with a responsibility on the global stage. That responsibility means China fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.

It is important to have discussions face to face and raise these issues directly with the centre of the Chinese system, making clear the UK's position with the decision makers in Beijing. This approach is in line with that of international partners, such as the recent visits of Five Eyes and European partners.

The engagements come after a visit to the Philippines, where the Foreign Secretary held talks on a range of subjects including maritime security, climate and trade.

Background

The UK takes a multifaceted approach to China over 3 pillars, which are set out in the Integrated Review Refresh and in the Foreign Secretary's Mansion House speech where he set out this position in detail:

first, to protect national security whenever Beijing poses a threat to UK people or prosperity the Foreign Secretary said in his speech: "We do not expect our disagreements with China to be swiftly overcome, but we do expect China to observe the laws and obligations that it has freely accepted."

second, to align cooperation with friends and allies in the Indo-Pacific and across the world to uphold international law the Foreign Secretary said in his speech: "This government will advance British interests directly with China, alongside our allies, while steadfastly defending our national security and our values."

and third, to engage directly with China to promote stable relations the Foreign Secretary said in his speech: "We must face the inescapable reality that no significant global problem - from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic instability to nuclear proliferation - can be solved without China. To give up on dialogue with China would be to give up on addressing humanity's greatest problems."



We have already taken robust action to protect UK interests and values, including creating new powers to block any Chinese investment that risks our national security, and the new powers in the National Security Act will help ensure that the UK remains the hardest operating environment for malign activity.

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US, China Agree to New Dialogue on Trade

By VOA News August 29, 2023

U.S. and Chinese officials expressed hope for positive economic relations as U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with Chinese leaders for a second day in Beijing.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Raimondo that "sound economic relations and trade cooperation will not only be beneficial to our two countries, but to the whole world."

Raimondo said the United States seeks to maintain its commercial relationship with China and hopes those ties "can provide stability for the overall relationship."

Raimondo also highlighted global concerns such as climate change and fentanyl addiction, saying the United States wants to work with China "as two global powers to do what is right for all of humanity."

"The world is expecting us to step up together to solve these problems," she said.

Raimondo met earlier Tuesday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and said the United States is not looking to separate economically from China.

"While we will never of course compromise in protecting our national security I want to be clear that we do not seek to decouple or to hold China's economy back," Raimondo said.

He Lifeng said China wants to work on "new, positive efforts to keep economic consensus and step up cooperation."

The United States and China on Monday agreed to create two separate dialogues to reduce misunderstanding of U.S. security issues central to its tight export controls on Chinese technologies, which Beijing sees as an attempt to quash its companies.

After meetings with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, Raimondo said the two countries will establish a working group that will include business representatives to focus on commercial issues and a governmental information exchange to focus on export control issues.

She told Wang Wentao that the Biden administration seeks healthy competition with China and that a "growing Chinese economy that plays by the rules is in both of our interests."

Wang Wentao said China is ready to work with the United States to "foster a more favorable policy environment for stronger cooperation between our businesses to bolster bilateral trade and investment in a stable and predictable manner."

He said U.S.-China economic relations are important not just for the two countries, but also for the rest of the world.

Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), told VOA Mandarin via email Monday, "Establishing two new U.S.-China working groups is an important step in ensuring that the respective staffs of both commerce ministers will continue to engage beyond this week's China visit by Secretary Raimondo."

"The difficult part will be keeping Chinese expectations in check on the export control enforcement information group, while achieving meaningful outcomes in the commercial group to address U.S. business and worker concerns," Cutler said.

Eric Zheng, president of AmCham Shanghai, told VOA Mandarin in a telephone interview Saturday that he sees the step as a very positive expression.

Zheng said, "Our hope is that the two governments will continue to engage in discussions. We are hopeful and at the same time we would like to share our out of the ground perspective, what's going on in China, to provide her with more active, more nuanced understanding of the local market. It's not black and white. There are opportunities for sure and most of our companies are doing well in China and they hope to continue to grow in this strategic market."

"At the same time, there are issues, challenges that we faced with, such as a lack of transparency, IP protections, lack of a level playing field. So, there are challenges that we would like to share with the secretary as well," he noted. Raimondo is scheduled to visit Shanghai on Tuesday. Her China visit concludes Wednesday, August 30.

However, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the Biden administration of being "at best naive" in starting a working group with China.

"The Biden administration's decision to join forces with the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] to establish a working group on export controls and commercial issues with CCP officials is at best naive, but also dangerous," he said. "The CCP steals U.S. intellectual property and hacks the emails of senior government officials a including Secretary Raimondo.

"The administration must stop treating the CCP as anything other than an adversary who will stop at nothing to harm our national security and spread its malign authoritarianism around the globe," McCaul said.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said the two countries need an enhanced dialogue on trade "in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election ... before it's too late."

"The U.S. ban on China-bound high-tech exports and investments has ended up promoting China's [tech] autonomy and innovative capabilities," he told VOA's Mandarin Service. "All these developments do not serve the interests of [U.S.] high-tech firms."

VOA Mandarin contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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Top DPRK leader instructs navy to develop fighting capacity, calls for war preparedness

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 16:52, August 29, 2023

SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has instructed the Korean People's Army (KPA) Navy to rapidly develop its fighting capacity and make an all-out effort to get combat-ready, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday.

Kim made the instructions during his congratulatory visit to the KPA Navy Command on Sunday, one day before the country's Navy Day, in a high-profile move to celebrate the occasion and raise the morale of the country's naval force, said the report.

The top leader pointed out an imperative to expedite a substantial improvement in the modernization and fighting capacity of the KPA Navy.

"To achieve the successes in rapidly developing the naval force has become a very urgent issue," Kim was quoted as saying.

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North Korea warns of 'nuclear war' as US, Japan, South Korea stage drills

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 29 August 2023 8:38 AM

The United States, South Korea, and Japan have staged joint maritime missile drills off the Korean peninsula, drawing condemnation from North Korea which warned Washington and its allies of the "danger of a nuclear war."

The drills on Tuesday took place off South Korea's southern Jeju Island, following the US deployment of some of its most advanced weaponry, including nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines, to the peninsula.

Destroyers equipped with the Aegis system to track and shoot down missiles were used in the drills, which was the first in its kind after the leaders of the three nations pledged to improve security cooperation.

The South Korean military said the exercises were carried out in a bid to improve the military forces' ability to detect and track targets and to share information about Pyongyang's ballistic missile launches.

As the drills began, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for "radically" modernizing the country's weapons and urged his military to be constantly ready for combat to thwart plots to invade the country.

Addressing a ceremony held to mark Navy Day, Kim warned over the provocative moves by the US and other hostile allies across the Korean peninsula, depicting the leaders of the US, Japan, and South Korea as the "gang bosses."

"Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the US and other hostile forces, the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been reduced into the world's biggest war hardware concentration spot, the most unstable waters with the danger of a nuclear war," North Korea's leader said.

"The prevailing situation requires our navy to put all its efforts into rounding off the war readiness to maintain the constant combat alertness," Kim said, adding the naval forces would become part of the "state nuclear deterrence carrying out the strategic duty."

Amid heightened tensions with the North, the US and South Korea last week began the Ulchi Freedom Shield summer exercises, pldeging to enhance their joint responses to North Korea's nuclear activities.

The North views all military drills conducted by Washington and its regional allies as rehearsals for the invasion of its territory.

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Raksha Mantri & Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence discuss capacity building & defence industry cooperation during talks in New Delhi

India - Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Defence

Goa Shipyard Ltd & Kenya Shipyard Limited sign MoU in capacity building & for collaboration in ship design & construction

Shri Rajnath Singh presents 15 pairs of parachutes manufactured by Gliders India Limited to Kenya

Extends support towards setting up of an advanced CT scan facility in the African nation

Posted On: 29 AUG 2023 4:53PM by PIB Delhi

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh held talks with Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence Mr Aden Bare Duale in New Delhi on August 29, 2023. The meeting was a testimony to the increasing depth in the India-Kenya defence partnership. Both the Ministers agreed that the defence relationship between the two countries has evolved from being training-centric to include more strategic aspects.

The Raksha Mantri underscored the importance India attaches to the ties with African nations. In particular, the relationship between India and Kenya has been growing from strength to strength. The two Ministers also concurred on the need for deeper cooperation in maritime security of the Indian Ocean region.

Capacity building and cooperation in defence industry and equipment was also discussed at length by the two sides. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Goa Shipyard Ltd and Kenya Shipyard Limited in the field of capacity building and for collaboration in ship design and construction.

As a token of friendship, Shri Rajnath Singh presented 15 pairs of parachutes (main and reserve) manufactured by the Gliders India Limited to the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence for use by the Kenyan Forces. India also extended support towards setting up of an advanced CT scan facility in Kenya.

Mr Aden Bare Duale appreciated the growing prowess of the Indian defence industry, including the private sector, and highlighted the areas in which the Indian industry can support the requirements of the Kenyan Forces. He also suggested 'training of trainers' of Kenyan Forces by the instructors of Indian Armed Forces in order to maintain continuity and extract greater benefit out of such programmes.

Both sides agreed for joint training in counter insurgency and UN peacekeeping domains. Other regional security issues of mutual interest were also discussed during the meeting. Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan and Defence Secretary Shri Giridhar Aramane also attended the meeting along with senior officials of Ministry of Defence, Ministry of External Affairs and Defence PSUs.

The Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence is on a 3-day visit to India. He will be visiting Indian shipyards and defence industries in Goa and Bengaluru during his stay.

****

ABB/Savvy



(Release ID: 1953231)

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GENERAL TOMAS MIGUEL MINE RIBEIRO PAIVA, COMMANDER OF BRAZILIAN ARMY ON A SIX DAY VISIT TO INDIA TO BOLSTER DEFENCE TIES

India - Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Defence

Posted On: 29 AUG 2023 4:45PM by PIB Delhi

General Tomas Miguel Mine Ribeiro Paiva, Commander of the Brazilian Army, is on a six day visit to India from 28th August to 2nd September 2023. The visit marks a significant milestone in the longstanding relationship between the armed forces of India and Brazil.

The visit commenced with a poignant wreath- laying ceremony at the National War Memorial on 29th August, where General Tomas paid homage to the fallen heroes of the Indian Armed Forces who have made the supreme sacrifice for the nation. This solemn act of remembrance epitomises the shared commitment of both the nations to peace and security. Thereafter, a ceremonial Guard of Honour was presented to General Tomas at the South Block Lawns in New Delhi after which he called on General Manoj Pande, the Chief of the Army Staff. They exchanged ideas and held constructive discussions on various contemporary issues. They also discussed issues pertaining to strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two armies.

General Tomas Miguel Mine Ribeiro Paiva later called on General Anil Chauhan, the Chief of Defence Staff and interacted with Shri Giridhar Aramane, the Defence Secretary. These discussions underscored the shared goals of enhancing defence cooperation and collaboration between the two nations.

During his visit, General Tomas also engaged in productive interactions with senior officers at the Army Headquarters, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and ideas. These engagements exemplify the commitment to mutual growth and shared excellence in military best practices.

As part of the itinerary, General Tomas Miguel Mine Ribeiro Paiva is also slated to witness manoeuvre and firing of various weapon platforms at the Pokaran Field Firing Ranges. The firing will demonstrate the capabilities of weapon systems possessed by the Indian Army including indigenous weapon systems.

The visit of General Tomas Miguel Mine Ribeiro Paiva underlines the deep- rooted bond between the armies of India and Brazil. This visit not only strengthens military cooperation but also reinforces the commitment of both nations to collaborative security efforts, global peace and prosperity.

*****

SC/RR/GKA



(Release ID: 1953228)

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INDIAN ARMY CONTINGENT LEAVES FOR EXERCISE BRIGHT STAR- 23 BEING HELD IN EGYPT

India - Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Defence

Posted On: 29 AUG 2023 12:29PM by PIB Delhi

Indian Army contingent comprising of 137 personnel departed for "Exercise BRIGHT STAR- 23" scheduled to be conducted from 31 August to 14 September 2023 at Mohammed Naguib Military Base in Egypt. It is a multinational tri-services joint military exercise that will be led by US CENTCOM and Egyptian Army. It was initially conceptualized as a bilateral biennial training exercise between the US and Egypt during the Camp David Accord of 1977. The first edition of the Exercise was conducted in the year 1980 in Egypt. From 1995 onwards the Exercise was expanded for participation by other nations. The previous Exercise BRIGHT STAR was conducted in the year 2021 wherein forces of 21 countries had participated.



This year 34 countries will participate in Exercise BRIGHT STAR- 23. It will be the largest ever joint military exercise in Middle East & North Africa region. This is for the first time that Indian Armed Forces are participating in Exercise BRIGHT STAR with a total strength of 549 personnel. The Indian Army is being represented by a contingent from 23 JAT Battalion.



The Exercise will comprise of a large number of training activities focused on combating emerging unconventional threats and enhancing regional partnerships amongst participating nations aimed at maintaining world peace. In addition to the various field and situational training exercises, Exercise BRIGHT STAR- 23 will also include a combined arms live firing exercise based on a tactical setting. A panel discussion on contemporary topics is also planned to be conducted on Cyber Security for which the Indian Armed Forces are the lead force.



Exercise BRIGHT STAR- 23 will provide a unique opportunity to Indian Army to share best practices and experiences with other armies besides enhancing the defence cooperation. Indian Army looks forward to an enriching professional experience from the Exercise.

******

SC/RR/GKA



(Release ID: 1953147)

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VISIT OF UAE NAVY SME DELEGATION TO INDIAN NAVY FACILITIES - 27 AUG TO 01 SEP 23

India - Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Defence

Posted On: 29 AUG 2023 12:17PM by PIB Delhi

A three member UAE Navy Subject Matter Expert Delegation led by Colonel Dr Ali Saif Ali Mehrazi arrived India on 27 Aug 23 for four day visit to specialised Meteorology, Oceanography and Weather Modelling units of Indian Navy (IN) at Kochi, Goa and New Delhi. This visit signifies beginning of a new chapter in professional cooperation between the two Navies, with the goal of exchanging professional knowledge, expertise, training and collaboration in the fields of Meteorology, Oceanography and Weather/ Ocean modelling.

The IN over the years has accrued knowledge, expertise and skills in the domain of Meteorology and Oceanography. IN, through its dedicated units has also been supporting many countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) with training in the fields as well as daily Weather forecasts services to ensure maritime safety in the region.

The UAE Navy delegation visited Kochi on 28 Aug 23, where they met senior officers of IN for professional interaction at Naval Operations Data Processing and Analysis Centre (NODPAC), which is a dedicated unit for aspects of Oceanography, Ocean State Forecast and Ocean Modelling. They also visited Indian Naval Meteorological Analysis Centre (INMAC) which looks into the aspects of Weather Forecasts and Atmosphere Modelling. The UAE Navy Delegation also visited the School of Naval Oceanology and Meteorology (SNOM), which caters to the Meteorological, Oceanographic and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) training needs of IN.

The delegation would also be visiting Air Squadrons and Met Office at INS Hansa, Goa which is the premier Naval Air Station of IN followed by meeting with Commodore (Naval Oceanology and Meteorology) at IHQ MoD (Navy).

The aim of this collaboration is to foster mutual learning and strengthen collective ability to address complex issues related to Meteorology and Oceanography. Both the navies would share their expertise and insights to work out areas for further cooperation.

The expertise, enthusiasm, and commitment of UAE Navy and IN will undoubtedly enrich operational and scientific capabilities of both the navies and will go a long way in furthering professional exchanges to fulfil mutual interests.

****

VM/JSN



(Release ID: 1953142)

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FM: Iran to promote cooperation within Asia Cooperation Dialogue, help realize its goals

Iran Press TV

Monday, 28 August 2023 11:55 PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says Tehran will do its best to boost cooperation among the members of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) during its rotating presidency of the forum.

He made the remarks in a Monday meeting with Secretary General of the ACD Pornchai Danvivathana in Tehran.

The top diplomat said during its rotating presidency of the ACD, in addition to promoting cooperation within the body, Iran will do its utmost to pave the way for the realization of its goals.

Amir-Abdollahian said the Kuwait-based ACD secretariat plays a leading role in bolstering cooperation among its members, and expressed Iran's readiness to help the secretariat and the ACD Cultural and Tourism Coordination Center, which is based in Tehran, in this regard.

Danvivathana, for his part, briefed Amir-Abdollahian on ACD's foreign ministerial meeting, which is set to be held in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's annual meeting. Iran's one-year presidency of the ACD will start following that meeting.

The first of its kind in Asia, the Asia Cooperation Dialogue is a continent-wide forum, which was inaugurated in Thailand in 2002.

More specifically, the ACD aims to constitute a missing link in Asia by incorporating every Asian country and building an Asian Community without duplicating other organizations or creating a bloc against others.

A key principle is to consolidate Asian strengths and fortify Asia's competitiveness by maximizing the diversity and rich resources evident in Asia.

Iran, Uzbekistan agree to implement presidential agreements

In a separate development also on Monday, the foreign ministers of Iran and Uzbekistan signed a document to implement the agreements previously reached during a meeting between the two counties' presidents.

The document was signed in a virtual meeting between Amir-Abdollahian and his Uzbek counterpart, Bakhtiyor Saidov, as the two foreign ministers discussed all aspects of bilateral cooperation in political and economic sectors.

The top diplomats also exchanged views about the summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), which is scheduled to be held in Uzbekistan in November.

Saidov invited his Iranian counterpart to visit Uzbekistan.

In the presence of Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and his Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in Tehran in June, officials from both countries signed 10 documents for cooperation in various fields.

According to the documents, Iran and Uzbekistan will enhance cooperation in trade, transportation and transit, pharmacology, standards and insurance, the establishment of joint free zones, technology and innovation, as well as agriculture.

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Iran's homegrown tactical air defense system can hit dozen targets at once: Military official

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 29 August 2023 11:08 AM

A high-ranking Iranian military official says the country's domestically-developed Tactical Sayyad (Hunter) air defense system can intercept several aerial targets at a distance of more than a hundred kilometers.

Afshin Naderi-Sharif, Iran's deputy defense minister for research and industrial affairs, on Tuesday described the homegrown military gear as a deployable medium-range ground-based system, with special privileges over similar ones.

Naderi-Sharif noted that Tactical Sayyad air defense system is furnished with short-range self-protection capabilities in comparison with Khordad-3 and Khordad-15 systems.

He underlined that the self-protection system is fitted in one of the missile turrets of the air defense system, making the weapon immune to potential low-altitude threats.

The official noted that the new air defense system enjoys greater mobility as its radars and missile launchers have been incorporated into a single vehicle.

Naderi-Sharif explained that Tactical Sayyad can detect and track 24 targets at a distance of 180 kilometers (111 miles) away and simultaneously deal with six to 12 targets within a range of 120 kilometers (74.5 miles).

IRGC Navy to take delivery of new submarines

Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy will soon take delivery of the new generation of two homegrown submarines.

An informed source at the Iranian Ministry of Defense said the naval force will receive new variants of Qadir and Fateh submarines in the near future,

The source explained that new submarines have been designed and manufactured by the Marine Industries Organization of the ministry.

Ghadir is a medium-sized submarine that has already been deployed by Iranian naval forces. It has been improved several times over the years and is now capable of launching cruise missiles.

The submarine is built specifically for cruising within the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

The 29-meter seacraft weighs 115 tons and can largely evade radar systems. It is equipped with two long-range torpedo tubes with a diameter of 533 millimeters, enabling it to launch anti-ship cruise missiles.

Fateh (Conqueror) submarine, on the other hand, is considered to be more advanced than Ghadir. It has joined the Iranian naval forces' fleet to beef up coastal defense. The 527-ton submersible is a semi-heavy one.

It can go as deep as 200 meters down and can navigate under the water for at least 35 days.

Fateh, which is said to be 43.5 meters long and 4.5 meters wide, is equipped with four 533-millimeter torpedo launchers and can also carry 8 naval mines.

Iranian military experts and engineers have in recent years made remarkable breakthroughs in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient.

Iranian officials have repeatedly underscored that the country will not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, including its missile power, which are entirely meant for defense, and that Iran's defense capabilities will be never subject to negotiations.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has repeatedly called for efforts to maintain and boost Iran's defense capabilities.

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Enemy failed to isolate Iran, drive nation to despair: President Raeisi

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 29 August 2023 9:01 AM

President Ebrahim Raeisi says efforts by the enemies to isolate Iran and drive the Iranian people to despair have failed, whereas all indicators attest to growth and progress in the country.

Raeisi told a news conference in Tehran that while Iran has forged strong relations with Islamic and like-minded countries, its enemies are also knocking on the door after initially trying to ditch the country when riots broke out following the death of a young woman last September.

"The enemy tried to follow two strategies of isolating Iran in the world and disappointing the people inside, which it failed in both.

"That is because we follow numerous agendas in our foreign policy all at the same time, one of which is the JCPOA," the president said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal which is on life support after the US withdrawal.

"We've followed relations with the neighboring countries as well as Islamic and aligned states, and improved the level of political, economic and commercial relations where commercial ties have grown 14 percent compared to the previous government," he said.

"In the area of regional trade ties and business measures which some believed little can be done, the government broke the record and it turned out that there are many capacities in the country," Raeisi added.

"Relations with Latin America, Africa and many Asian countries and becoming active in the Eurasian Economic Union and membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and recently in BRICS all show that ... the enemy did not succeed in its policy to isolate Islamic Iran and our political, commercial and economic situation shows the failure of the enemy in this strategy."

President Raeisi also touched on the enemies' project to disappoint the Iranian people.

"Not a few months had passed when a nationwide cyber attack was launched on gas stations," he said.

"Throughout the country, they tried to anger the people by creating problems, but the people carried on vigilantly and with insight and disappointed the enemy."

When the enemy realized that the people are with the government and the country is progressing, it turned to stoking unrest, the president said.

"It thought that it could follow through with agitation. Even the Westerners left the negotiation table and pinned their hope on riots," he said.

"They thought that they could achieve their goals in riots, but the people let them down, after which, they immediately messaged that they wanted to go back to the negotiating table and start negotiations," Raesi said.

"They sought to disappoint the people in various sectors, and the Iranian people disappointed them, instead."

The president said the people's effort and hope has increased day by day, as shown by production, science and technology indicators and knowledge-based initiates of the Iranian youths.

"Today is the day when Islamic Iran is known as an advanced and technological country," he said. "All indicators show growth, effort and progress."

US media reports have said the Biden administration has been negotiating quietly to open diplomatic channels with Iran. The indirect talks, they say, reflect a resumption of diplomacy between the United States and Iran after the collapse of more than a year of negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal.

The Iranian side has not commented on such claims, but President Raeisi said on Tuesday that "We have not abandoned the negotiating table for removing the sanctions".

"The other side left the negotiation table and now they regret it, stating that they are ready to negotiate."

Apart from pushing the envelope on the removal of sanctions through reviving the nuclear agreement, the president said, the Islamic Republic is "pursuing other files", such as Iran's membership in regional and extra-regional alliances, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

"Alliances like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS are definitely effective against the US unilateralism," the president said.

"The connection with the Shanghai infrastructure is important for us. My response to those who say the way out of our problems is the smile of America or some European countries is that we will not wait for their smile."

Along with SCO members, Iran can be influential with its high capacities, President Raeisi said.

"This influence is a two-way street, so we will take the necessary measures and not wait for them [the West] to make a decision for us," he added.

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Iranian Student Group Publishes Memo Showing Official Push For Gender-Segregated Classes

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda August 29, 2023

A student group says officials at Ferdowsi University in the city of Mashhad have decided to segregate classes by gender for the upcoming school year.

The Student Guild Councils of Iran published photos on August 28 showing an internal memo approved by Abolfazl Ghaffari, the school's vice president for cultural, social, and student affairs, that outlines the implementation of the plan, which was sent to the dean of the Mathematics Department and will be issued to other department heads as well.

In the directive, Ghaffari references a decision by Iran's Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which mandates the observance of Islamic guidelines in educational settings, endorsing the separation of male and female students in classes.

Gender segregation has long been a contentious issue at Iranian universities.

Over the past four decades, various university facilities, including cafeterias and libraries, have seen the implementation of the gender-segregation policy, sparking protests from students. Some universities have even been established exclusively for one gender.

Despite these measures, specialized course classrooms have largely remained co-ed, primarily due to opposition from the academic community and financial constraints.

In the 1980s, Iranian universities implemented a system where classes were divided by a curtain to separate male and female students. This measure faced opposition from Ali Khamenei, who was then president and is now Iran's supreme leader.

Over the past two decades, Khamenei has consistently stressed the importance of "Islamizing universities" and has advocated against the organization of "mixed-gender recreational camps" in his addresses.

Universities and students have long been at the forefront of the struggle for greater social and political freedoms in Iran. In 1999, students protested the closure of a reformist daily newspaper, prompting a brutal raid on the dorms of Tehran University that left one student dead.

Over the years, the authorities have arrested student activists and leaders, sentencing them to prison and banning them from studying.

The activist HRANA news agency says at least 700 university students have been arrested during the recent unrest.

Many have faced sentences such as imprisonment and flogging, and dozens of students have been expelled from universities or suspended from their studies, as security forces try to stifle widespread dissent.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-gender-segregated- classes-ferdowsi-university/32569939.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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At Least 10 Iranian Professors Dismissed For Support Of Student Protests

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda August 29, 2023

Iranian authorities have dismissed at least 10 university professors who supported nationwide protests that began last September following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Just weeks ahead of the anniversary of her demise, reports on social media showed that Hamideh Khademi and Ameneh Aali, two professors from Allameh University in Tehran, were dismissed via phone call, while the Student Guild Council of Iran reported the dismissal of seven professors from the Faculty of Literature at the University of Tehran.

Universities and students have long been at the forefront of the struggle for greater social and political freedoms in Iran. In 1999, students protested the closure of a reformist daily, prompting a brutal raid on the dorms of Tehran University that left one student dead. Amini's death while being detained for an alleged head-scarf violation in September last year has once again made campuses a hotbed of dissent.

Over the years, the authorities have arrested student activists and leaders, sentencing them to prison and banning them from studying.

The 'United Students' channel, which covers news related to students and academia, pointed out that last year during the protests, Hamideh Khademi and Ameneh Aali "not only opposed the suppression of students but also supported detained and suspended students."

Student guild councils across the country, called the method -- a phone call used by the head of the Psychology Department at Allameh University to announce the dismissal of Hamideh Khademi and Ameneh Aali -- as a "new innovation in suppressing and dismissing university professors."

Aali shot back in an open letter on August 28, saying that 'we, as teachers, cannot and should not be obedient and followers of governments.'

She also pointed out in her letter that teachers receive their salaries from the nation's budget and that 'schools and universities are the homes of this nation's children, and we are the defenders of these children's rights and the guardians of this homeland.'

On August 26, Ali Sharifi Zarchi, a faculty member at the Computer Engineering Department of Tehran's Sharif University, announced on his Twitter account that he had received a dismissal letter from the university.

During the recent nationwide protests, Zarchi repeatedly supported the students and at one point declared that he would suspend his classes until all detained students from Sharif University were released.

The activist HRANA news agency says at least 700 university students have been arrested during the recent unrest.

Many have faced sentences such as imprisonment, flogging, and dozens of students have been expelled from universities or suspended from their studies, as security forces try to stifle widespread dissent.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-university-professors- dismissed-student-protests/32569120.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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Libya politicians call for ouster of Dbeibeh govt. over secret meeting with Israel FM

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 29 August 2023 7:38 AM

Top Libyan politicians have called for the ouster of the government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh after it was revealed that the country's foreign minister and her Israeli counterpart met secretly, despite the two countries not having formal relations.

The meeting, which took place between Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush and her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Italy last week, came to the surface after Cohen boasted in a statement on Sunday about "the great potential" for the two sides to cooperate.

Former Chair of Libya's High Council of State Khalid Al-Mishri condemned the meeting, suggesting that it was probably not the first.

"The Dbeibeh government has crossed all red lines and must be overthrown," al-Mishri said in a post published on Facebook.

Libyan presidential candidate Suleiman Al-Bayoudi accused Dbeibeh of promoting normalization with the Israeli regime, calling for his exclusion from the upcoming elections.

"He has nothing but Israel's card to throw in the face of his opponents after playing all his other cards to continue to remain in power," al-Bayoudi said on Facebook, adding "Israel is the last straw he (Dbeibeh) is grasping before he drowns."

Following news of the controversial meeting that prompted protests in the North African country, Mangoush was suspended and later dismissed.

As uproar engulfed the country, reports said Mangoush fled the country.

The Libyan foreign ministry has issued a statement saying that the interaction did not include "any discussions, agreements or consultations", describing the meeting as "an unprepared, casual encounter".

But Israeli and US officials quoted as saying by Axios on Monday refuted the claim.

A US official told Axios that the administration of US President Joe Biden was surprised when Cohen publicly revealed the meeting, saying Washington's understanding was that it was meant to remain secret.

According to the report, US officials spoke to Israel's foreign minister and other Israeli officials on Sunday, protesting against Cohen's handling of the issue.

Three US and Israeli officials told Axios that the Biden administration had been pushing for normalization between Libya and Israel for two years.

But an official said that the fallout of the disclosure of the meeting has harmed such efforts.

"The Biden administration is concerned the exposure of the meeting and the unrest that followed will not only kill efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Libya but will also harm efforts that are underway with other Arab countries," the official told Axios.

In late 2020, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco signed normalization deals, brokered by the administration of the then-US president Donald Trump, with the Israeli regime. The deals were condemned by Palestinians as a "betrayal" to their cause.

Dbeibah has headed the government based in the capital since early 2021. He came to power under a UN-backed process with the aim of unifying Libya and preparing the country for elections.

Libya has been split between two rival governments since 2014, with the other one operating in the country's east and backed by field marshal Khalifa Haftar, who leads the Libyan National Army (LNA).

The North African has been beset by violence and chaos since the overthrow and killing of its long-serving ruler Muammar Gaddafi following a bombing campaign by the US-led NATO military alliance in 2011.

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Tiny ethnic Ta'ang army is a bellwether for opposition fight against Myanmar junta

Opposition gains could see the Brotherhood Alliance bandwagon to secure a better future negotiating position.

A commentary by Zachary Abuza 2023.08.29 -- In Myanmar's complex battle space, Shan state is a particularly fluid patchwork of people's defense forces, ethnic resistance organizations, and criminal gangs, all with varying loyalty to the military junta or the opposition National Unity Government.

The Shan-based Brotherhood Alliance is made of three ethnic armies that are publicly supportive of the goal of the National Unity Government (NUG) of establishing a federal democracy. They provide tacit support and training for opposition People's Defense Force (PDF) militias, but they fight mostly in self-defense.

The Brotherhood Alliance includes the Arakan Army (AA), the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), also known as the Kokang army. Shan state shares borders with key regional players China and Thailand.

The Arakan Army, the largest of three, gets most of the attention in its fight for a homeland in Rakhine state in Myanmar's far west. When fighting briefly resumed in late-2022, it was seen as a front that could break the 30-month-old military junta's back.

But the TNLA, though a small organization, is an important bellwether of how the war could evolve.

There've been five major clashes between the military junta and the TNLA since December. RFA reporting has described almost daily encounters in the past two months.

The TNLA is the armed wing of the Palaung State Liberation Front, which represents the Ta'ang, an ethnic minority group of half a million people found in Shan state, northern Thailand and China's Yunnan Province.

Early Ta'ang militias picked up arms in 1963, but reached a ceasefire in 1991, and surrendered their arms in 2005. Out of the ashes emerged the TNLA and its political arm, supported by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

The military's 2008 constitution established a small Palaung Special Administered Zone encompassing two townships in northern Shan State, though it was autonomous in name only. The TNLA was not a signatory to the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, but announced a unilateral ceasefire in 2018, though resumed fighting in 2019 when fighting broke out between the government and the Arakan Army in Rakhine state.

Three things make the TNLA distinct.

First, although it only has 7,000-10,000 men under arms, the TNLA is arguably the most cohesive ethnic resistance organization. They are well armed and militarily competent.

Second, they take a clear anti-narcotics position, otherwise unheard of in Shan state, which is the epicenter of regional synthetic drug production. The TNLA runs check points, seizes and publicly incinerates illicit narcotics, destroys opium fields. These actions anger the military, their border guard forces, and pro-junta ethnic armies - all of whom profit from the drug trade.

Third, the TNLA understands that autonomy is contingent on the establishment of a genuine federal system in multiethnic Myanmar, so they are staunch advocates for national political reform.

The Impact of the coup

Following the Feb. 1, 2021 coup d'etat, the TNLA suspended their ceasefire and voiced support for the NUG, but they did not formally ally with the main opposition. In March 2021, the Brotherhood Alliance threatened the junta that they would join the NUG if the military did not cease their attacks on the three members.

The TNLA has been giving tacit support to the NUG in four ways.

First, it expelled the pro-junta Shan State Restoration Council from northern Shan State by late 2021.

Second, it banned the sale of products from military-owned companies - including Myanmar Beer, Red Ruby and Premium Gold Cigarettes - within its territory.

Third, the TNLA welcomed Burmese opposition figures into its territory, and once the NUG announced its "People's War" in September 2022, began training and equipping local PDF militias.

Fourth, in January, TNLA Chairman Lieutenant-General Tar Aik Bong rejected the military's attempt to hold elections as a political off-ramp.

"Our revolutionary forces have an opportunity to prevent this election. Only by using this opportunity can we free future generations from the enslavement of the military," he declared.

Clashes with military government forces erupted in January 2022, but died down.

In December 2022, however, the military increased operations in Shan state to control major roads, leading to clashes with the TNLA and a sustained aerial campaign. There were some 30 air strikes in a single week after TNLA forces surrounded several military units. The military, unconvincingly, chalked this up to a "misunderstanding".

Violence has escalated in 2023.

After several snubbed invitations from the junta, on June 1, the Brotherhood Alliance met with a junta delegation, at the prodding of China.

After hedging its bets, China has doubled down on its support of the junta, and has been actively pressing the Northern Alliance to stop their active support for the NUG and cease all offensive operations.

The talks quickly broke down, and the Brotherhood Alliance rejected the junta's calls to support proposed "elections."

Fighting between the military and the TNLA intensified in July as the junta tried to retake the road outside of Muse, an important border crossing with China, where the TNLA has been inspecting vehicles for illicit narcotics.

Worth watching

While the junta controls the China border city Muse, it has tenuous control of the surrounding countryside. The military regime has artillery positions in Muse, which they use to target TNLA positions, though more often killing innocent civilians.

Clashes continued through August. Notably in one ambush of an army supply convoy NUG PDFs were fighting alongside the TNLA. The military has retaliated with air attacks.

The online newspaper Irrawaddy quoted a TNLA officer as saying that it had more than a dozen clashes with the junta in August, with tensions remaining high in two northern Shan townships.

"There were 13 clashes in August and all because of massive advances by the military into our territory," Lieutenant Colonel Tar Aik Kyaw from the TNLA told the independent daily.

So why does the TNLA matter?

First, should the violence escalate, the TNLA could publicly embrace the NUG and begin coordinated offensive operations. At this point, the military junta fights the TNLA at its choosing, but that could change.

If the NUG continues to make gains this year, the Brotherhood Alliance could bandwagon in order to secure a better negotiating position for itself over the establishment of a federal system.

Second, the junta has been steadily losing control over its border regions. This was most evident with the recent defection of its Border Guard Forces in Kayah state. In addition to the TNLA, the KIA has stepped up their attempts to control the Lashio-Muse Highway. The regime's forces in the border are isolated and dependent on overland trucks or helicopters for resupply.

The regime is increasingly isolated by international sanctions and even more dependent on non-dollar-denominated trade with China.

Third, while the Northern Alliance may have shrugged off Chinese pressure to reach a ceasefire with the junta, the TNLA is also an important bellwether for how the EROs think about their relationship with the governments in Beijing and the Yunnan capital Kunming.

In January, the Brotherhood Alliance issued a statement in which they pledged to protect Chinese investments - including their trade zone in Muse. This was reiterated in July.

Likewise, the TNLA pledged to cooperate in the combatting of human trafficking and other "illegal activities", as China takes the threat of transnational criminal enterprises operating out of Myanmar more seriously.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and an adjunct at Georgetown University. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College, Georgetown University or Radio Free Asia.

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 August 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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Myanmar military shells Bago region townships, injuring 8 civilians

The army claims to have won back territory from a powerful ethnic army.

By RFA Burmese 2023.08.29 -- Junta heavy artillery attacks on two townships in central Myanmar's Bago region have injured eight people, including a child, according to the Karen National Union.

The political group which represents ethnic Karen issued a statement Monday, saying a four-year-old child and three women were hurt by shells in Kyauktaga township the previous day.

Troops stationed near the township fired four shells at Ka Nyin Kyoe village, injuring four-year-old May Myat Noe Wai, 66-year-old San Htay, 52-year-old San San and 45-year-old Pyone Pyone Yi, according to locals who didn't want to be named for safety reasons.

They said San Htay was critically injured and five houses were destroyed in the attack.

In another attack on Saturday, a 40-year-old woman and three 25-year-old men were injured when troops stationed in Nyaunglebin township fired three shells at Kyoe Gyi village, according to the KNU. It said seven houses were destroyed by heavy artillery.

The majority of ethnic Karen who live in the region are Christian. An artillery attack on Aug. 20 destroyed one of their churches in Kyaukkyi township, the KNU said.

The junta has not issued a statement on the shelling. However, its regional spokesperson, Tin Oo, told Radio Free Asia that troops were trying to bring stability to the region because the KNU affiliated Karen National Liberation Army and local People's Defense Forces had entered some townships in eastern Bago. He said the townships were now under the control of junta troops.

Along with heavy artillery attacks, the junta has been carrying out airstrikes in the region.

On Aug. 18, planes attacked Kyaukkyi township four times, killing one civilian and injuring four others, the KNU said.

Nearly 100,000 residents of eastern Bago have been forced to flee their homes since the February 2021 coup, according to the United Nations.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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 August 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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Pakistan high court suspends Imran Khan conviction

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Aug 29, 2023

Islamabad, IRNA -- A Pakistani court has suspended former Prime Minister Imran Khan's three-year prison sentence on corruption charges, according to Pakistani media.

Suspending the former Prime Minister's three-year prison on corruption charges, the president of Islamabad's high court said on Tuesday that Imran Khan's trial was against the country's laws.

Khan's legal team had lodged an appeal on the grounds that he was convicted without being given the right to defend himself.

Khan was imprisoned on August 5 after being sentenced to three years jail for unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

3266**2050

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Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's answer to a question from The International Affairs about the so-called Athens Declaration adopted by a number of European countries

28 August 2023 20:02

1651-28-08-2023

Question: What is your comment on the Athens Declaration adopted by the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine, as well as the "premier" of Kosovo, following their meeting in Athens on August 21?

Maria Zakharova: The Athens Declaration provides new graphic evidence that the current EU leadership persists with its policy designed to Ukrainise the agenda of all multilateral cooperation formats. They select participants for each event of this sort, thus revealing for the umpteenth time the hidden designs behind any EU agenda.

The EU uses political and economic pressure and blackmail to induce Western Balkan countries to join its aggressive political line towards Russia. They want the accession countries to share collective responsibility. Their plan is to force them to be more proactive in aiding the neo-Nazi Kiev regime and support its totally unviable ultimatums that follow from Zelensky's absurd "peace formula." It is for this reason that the organisers of the Athens summit deliberately prioritised the Ukrainian theme, linked it directly to the European integration file, and turned Ukraine into the focal point of the final document approved following an event ostensibly dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the EU-Western Balkans Summit.

The EU does not take into consideration the real problems and aspirations of people living in Western Balkan countries. To continue its confrontation with Russia, the EU is ready to sacrifice the Western Balkan region's true development and security interests in violation of one of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter: respect for sovereignty and the right to independent development. They hypocritically refer in their final document to Russia's violation of the European security principles, which they, along with the United States, made null and void by their interventions in Yugoslavia in 1999, Iraq in 2003, Libya in 2011, and Syria in 2014. The EU countries were among those states that refused to accept, in 2008, the Russian proposal to make the indivisibility of security principle legally binding, despite the fact that this principle was repeatedly endorsed at the highest level in the OSCE documents and the papers of the Russia-NATO Council. They also rejected, in 2021, the Russia-drafted international agreements on security guarantees. They cynically introduce formulas on the "territorial integrity" of Ukraine in the joint document, while totally forgetting about their own attempts to separate Kosovo from Serbia. They are seeking to consolidate the pro-Western orientation of Western Balkan countries by putting them on a par with the anti-national governments in Kiev and Chisinau. They promise a radiant future to potential EU members in exchange for their support of the EU's anti-Russia policy, which is actually one of the criteria, if not the main condition, for acceding to the EU. These are clear manifestations of ideology-driven bloc thinking, which in no way facilitate a return of peace and security to the European continent.

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Interview: Prigozhin's Demise And Russia's 'Gangster Rules'

By Vazha Tavberidze August 29, 2023

Dmitri Alperovitch is a Soviet-born cybersecurity expert and entrepreneur who has waded deeply into geopolitics. A co-founder of CrowdStrike who helped investigate high-profile cases including the Russian hack of the U.S. Democratic Party in 2016, he also launched the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a nonprofit think tank, to examine U.S. policy challenges in the 21st century.

Alperovitch spoke to RFE/RL's Georgian Service after the crash of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin's private jet on August 23. He talked about what Prigozhin's demise says about President Vladimir Putin's "gangster state," the chilling message it sends, and its likely effect on events in Africa and the war in Ukraine.

RFE/RL: Prigozhin might have sung his own aria already, but what about the Wagner opera itself?

Dmitri Alperovitch: Well, I think that the Russian military would love to have the Wagner folks -- both the commanders and individual infantrymen -- join up and sign contracts either directly with the Russian military or through one of their cutout PMCs [private military companies], like Redut, for example, that the Russian military organized a few years ago. And in fact, Putin personally made the case to them a week after the mutiny when he met with about 30 Wagner commanders and Prigozhin himself -- in the Kremlin, as he himself retold -- and tried to push them to abandon Prigozhin and sign up. And according to his telling, they were all ready to do so, if not for Prigozhin, who said, speaking for them, that they did not want him.

RFE/RL: What do you think could have made Prigozhin think that he could escape the punishment?

Alperovitch: This goes to the issue of why he was [allegedly] killed, and I do not buy the argument that this was simply revenge for the mutiny. I actually do think that there was a deal that was made after the mutiny, where he was going to be forgiven for this act of disobedience, to put it mildly. But it was going to be on Putin's terms; and one of those terms is that he was going to go away. [Exile to] Belarus was not really about Belarus as much as about Prigozhin kind of disappearing into the night. And he decided not to do that.

And this latest confrontation about Africa, I think, was the straw that broke the camel's back, where I think Putin was sitting back and saying: "Wait a second, not only does this guy get away with a mutiny and I gave him his life back and guaranteed his safety, but now he dares to challenge me. The payment for the mutiny is that I'm going to take away your business, and I'm going to give it to myself and my cronies. And you are daring to resist that. That's it. You're done."

RFE/RL: So, he reneged on a pardon that was given to him?

Alperovitch: Yeah, I don't know that he knew exactly that he was reneging on it, because I'm not sure that the deal that he got specified all those details. But certainly, in Putin's mind, it was a complete capitulation by Prigozhin, and that whatever conditions that Putin would put forward -- even if he didn't mention Africa originally, but if he decided later on at some point that he was going to take Africa away from Prigozhin -- that Prigozhin's job was to say, "Yes, sir," and oblige. And Prigozhin dared again to obstruct, to fight back, and that was unacceptable.

RFE/RL: Speaking of Belarus, we should probably mention the great mediator, Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka. He's had an almost Shakespearean role in all this. How does it look from your perspective?

Alperovitch: I don't think that he was some great negotiator here; I think he was a messenger boy. Because Putin, clearly at the time of the mutiny, was uninterested in talking directly with Prigozhin. Prigozhin wanted to talk to Putin directly and explain, because I think Prigozhin got very scared during that episode that Putin was now interpreting this clearly as a challenge to him, which I don't think he ever intended it to be.

I think Prigozhin was very misguided in that he thought he could drive an armored column to Moscow and still be friends with Putin, and just, you know, ask for the resignations of Defense Minister [Sergei] Shoigu and Chief of Staff [Valery] Gerasimov. But Putin obviously did not take it that way, and he was livid. And Prigozhin was trying to make amends, and Lukashenka was the one guy that could talk to both of them and pass the messages along. So that's the role that he played.

The Belarus scenario of "Wagner goes to Belarus" never really made much sense. I think it was really much more of an exile for Prigozhin and Putin sort of waving away and saying: "OK, I will forgive him, I'll let him live. He just needs to go away." Where he [went] away, I don't think Putin really cared a whole lot. But when Prigozhin, instead of going away, decided to keep challenging the Russian system and the Russian government, that's when he signed his own death warrant.

RFE/RL: Speaking of Shoigu and Gerasimov -- can they breathe a sigh of relief now, or is it still murky waters for them?

Alperovitch: I don't think they're breathing a sigh of relief; I think they're toasting champagne glasses right now. Because not only did they have their rival eliminated, but it's also very, very sweet revenge, right? After all, even though Putin took it as an affront to him personally that there was this march toward Moscow, that was really the only thing that Prigozhin ever did to Putin. But with Shoigu and Gerasimov, he was vicious to them in all of his videos and public statements, making fun of them, and trolling them nonstop. So, to say that they had no love lost for him is a massive understatement.

RFE/RL: So, whether it was revenge or punishment for reneging on the deal....

Alperovitch: I just want to make clear: It's not so much that he was reneging on the deal -- I'm not so sure the deal ever included Africa -- but it's really about Putin thinking that the deal means that Prigozhin is going to disappear and never be a problem for him again. And that's what Prigozhin did not get.

RFE/RL: OK, let's rephrase it. Whether it was revenge or....

Alperovitch: Business.

RFE/RL: The business of Prigozhin's apparent reluctance to disappear. But the actual [alleged] execution, the manner of it, was very sensationalist, right out of mafia and Hollywood movies. They could have chosen many other methods, but they [allegedly] opted for this. What's the message beyond that?

Alperovitch: That's hard to tell. I'm not sure that Putin was actually micromanaging the means of [an alleged] execution. I think he most likely gave the order [to] go do it, and his underlings -- most likely the FSB (Federal Security Service) -- that [allegedly] carried it out, decided on the means. And that probably was related to how to get to Prigozhin, given that he is very paranoid and he has a lot of security, so to kill him in Africa was probably very challenging, given that he was surrounded literally by mercenaries; killing him in Moscow, when he's always traveling with significant security, was also probably going to be very challenging. So, it actually makes sense to try to orchestrate a quote-unquote accident in the air. That may have been just the easiest way to get to it.

And it also probably has a little bit of a poetic justice in their minds to it, because after all, not only did Prigozhin march on Moscow, but in the process, he had shot down a number of Russian aviators and killed them. So, to have him die by the same death -- falling out of the sky-- has a certain ring to it that I'm sure certain people in Moscow, if not Putin himself, decided to appreciate.

RFE/RL: When the Prigozhin mutiny happened, there was lots of talk that "Putin is weakened," or "his grasp on power is weakening," etc. Has he shown Russia and the wider world who is the boss?

Alperovitch: Yes, he has. I think he has reestablished -- for now, at least -- his hold on power. I think he sent a clear message that "My enemies tend to die. Never forget that."

RFE/RL: Even if it takes two months for them to die.

Alperovitch: Yes, yes. In fact, that's even better, right, that you never know when the sword of Damocles is going to strike you. But I think his geopolitical issues actually get worse, because this rush for Africa is going to be very challenging for him. Prigozhin was not just the CEO of this business empire; he was a really phenomenal organizer, quite entrepreneurial, and an inspirational leader to his people. Even though he was a brutal thug, he learned how to rule by both fear and inspiration. He had a lot of connections with all of these leaders across the continent that were personal in nature that will be hard to replicate and will certainly take time.

It's unclear what's going to happen to Wagner. Some of these people may decide to sign on and work with the Defense Ministry, some of them may just decide, "You know what, I'm done here. I liked working for Prigozhin, but I'm just going to go home now and cash in my chips." So, this is going to be a challenge for them to actually rebuild what Prigozhin had constructed, in terms of this whole system in Africa, and it will certainly take time and will not be without problems.

And then the second thing is that Wagner as an assault force that Prigozhin had built and used successfully in Ukraine to take Bakhmut is also now done. And to the extent that Putin could have used Wagner again in future offensives in Ukraine, that's going to be much more difficult for him and probably less likely to happen.

So, yes, he has taken out a rival who dared to challenge him. Yes, he has taken over his business interests. But his geopolitical strategic interests -- resolving the mess that he got into with this war in Ukraine and increasing his influence in Africa -- have actually not improved as a result of this action.

RFE/RL: Curiously enough, the name of [U.S.-convicted arms dealer] Viktor Bout has been mentioned as a possible successor to take charge of Wagner. How far-fetched would that be?

Alperovitch: No, no. Viktor Bout has no political capital in Russia. He may have some future as a small politician, but he's not a leader, he's not trusted by anyone, he doesn't have deep relationships within the system.

If there is a replacement, it's much more likely to be someone that comes from sort of the extended family, if you will, of Putin's inner circle. It could be someone like, for example, Dmitry Patrushev, who's the son of [Russian Security Council Secretary] Nikolai Patrushev, the gray cardinal of the Kremlin.

If Putin actually voluntarily cedes power, he needs to do it in the way that Yeltsin did it, which is to turn it over to someone he completely trusts, someone who will not turn him over to the International Criminal Court or to the West. And Putin is not a trusting individual, so it'll take him a lot to get that level of assurance. And I think the only way he gets there, if he ever does, is to give it to someone that he has known his entire life.

RFE/RL: Prigozhin was not exactly alone. He had his supporters; he had his people who were sympathetic to what he was saying. What happens to the so-called hard-liners?

Alperovitch: Well, there's been a crackdown on them even before this big Prigozhin incident. One of them was [Igor] Girkin, (aka) Strelkov, who had no love lost for Prigozhin but was very critical of this war and of Putin. Now he has his issues with the justice system and with Russia -- to the extent that you can call it the "justice" system.

So, some of these "Tuberpatriots" (ultranationalists on social media), as some have called them, and hard-liners, nationalists, have already been quieting down as a result of that initial action. And certainly, this just adds fuel to the fire, that the tsar has woken up and all of the things that he has tolerated until now he may no longer tolerate going forward. And people are trying to figure out once again what is going to be allowable, and how to manage their own criticisms -- to the extent that they express them -- within the system.

RFE/RL: What are the implications for Ukraine, after Prigozhin?

Alperovitch: I've had a lot of conversations with a range of officials in Kyiv since the mutiny in June but also since Prigozhin's likely death. And actually, their reaction is really interesting: It's sort of taking out the popcorn and enjoying the show but also appreciating that it really has very little relevance to their current fight.

Wagner is out of Ukraine, of course, and has been out of Ukraine since early June, so what's taking place right now with this counteroffensive, Wagner is not involved at all. So, [regarding] what happens to Prigozhin, people in Kyiv somewhat pay attention to [it] but not a whole lot because they're preoccupied with their own concerns and they know that this episode really has very little effect on their lives going forward.

There are two things that they can draw from it. That, one, Wagner as it existed under Prigozhin really has ended, and that's a positive for Ukraine -- frankly, a positive for the world -- because whatever form it continues in if it continues, it will not be the same, and it will not be as effective as it had been under Prigozhin. I think that is very clear. But, two, it also shows that Putin's word can't be trusted. This is the guy that guaranteed Prigozhin's safety, and for whatever reasons he chose to renege on that word -- the reality is that he did renege on his word. And if you're going to negotiate with him some sort of settlement....

RFE/RL: Although one might argue that Ukrainians know that by now, even without Prigozhin.

Alperovitch: The Ukrainians certainly know it. But I think there's a lot of people in Europe and elsewhere who keep talking about the prospect for negotiations. And, you know, I keep getting asked whenever I visit European capitals: "When are they going to finally start?" And my response to them is: "Who are you negotiating with and what do you think that you can get from Putin, first and foremost, and what do you think you can get from him that you can actually trust?" And I think that's going to be a message from the Ukrainians going forward: that this is not a guy that can be trusted and don't keep pushing us to negotiate with him.

RFE/RL: And finally, the world press had a field day writing about this, replete with all sorts of references, starting from classical literature and ending with pop culture, mafia movies, even The Wire got a mention. What do you think would be a fitting epitaph for Prigozhin?

Alperovitch: Well, I actually think that the whole episode is perfectly reflected by the Godfather scene where Michael Corleone says, "It's not personal, Sonny, it's strictly business." That's what I think actually happened here. Putin did know Prigozhin, as he said, for many, many years, going back to the early 1990s; there's some indications they may have had some intersections around casinos that Putin was responsible for granting licenses to in his early days in St. Petersburg, and he's certainly run into him on a number of occasions over the years.

I think [Putin] probably did not relish the idea of killing Prigozhin. I think a lot of people assume that he's this guy that [is] almost a caricature of a bloodthirsty tyrant that just assassinates people for fun. I don't think that's the case at all. I think he doesn't mind killing people if he thinks that it advances his goals, but I don't think he particularly enjoys it. And I think he probably wishes that he hadn't [allegedly] had to take this route, that it hadn't come to [this].

But it was business. And, you know, the one thing you cannot do is interfere with business interests in a mafia state, which is what Russia is today. It is not just a dictatorship, an authoritarian system; it literally is a gangster state that Putin has created, and it lives by gangster rules.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-prigozhin-alperovitch- gangster-rules/32569921.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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Moscow Court Rejects Pretrial Release For Putin Critic Igor Girkin

By RFE/RL August 29, 2023

A Moscow court rejected a bid for the pretrial release of Igor Girkin, the former leader of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine and the latest one-time Kremlin favorite finding himself in peril after criticizing President Vladimir Putin's sputtering war effort in Ukraine.

The case is being closely watched for indications of how far the Kremlin is willing to accept criticism of the war effort, which has lasted longer and been more costly and deadly than expected, with Ukraine now in the midst of a counteroffensive that is retaking ground lost early in the full-scale invasion.

Girkin (aka Strelkov) had been a key commander of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region in 2014 and helped Russia annex Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula that year.

He was also one of three men sentenced by a Dutch court to life imprisonment over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.

However, Girkin, 52, in recent months has become a vocal critic of Russia's war effort in his military blog and is charged with inciting extremism.

He lashed out at Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for "mistakes" in the ongoing invasion, accused him and Putin of "incompetence," and argued that a total mobilization is needed for Russia to achieve victory.

In one of his harshest rants, Girkin said in a July 18 post on his official Telegram channel that Putin should transfer power "to someone truly capable and responsible." The post garnered almost 800,000 views.

Girkin was arrested in Moscow last month and on July 21 was sent to a two-month pretrial detention. He pleaded not guilty.

At his August 29 hearing, Girkin said he has no plans to flee the country, pointing to the threat of a life sentence by a Dutch court and insisting he is in poor health.

"I have no reason to hide from the court and the investigation," he told the court.

However, Judge Yulia Komleva said the earlier court ruling to hold Girkin in pretrial custody until at least September 18 would remain in place.

Girkin faces up to five years in prison should he be convicted of the charges.

While Russia has seen some anti-war sentiment, much of the harshest criticism has come from hard-liners such as Girkin, who have pushed for a more forceful military effort in Ukraine.

The court ruling comes days after the death in a suspicious plane crash of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin, a longtime Putin association and ally, played an instrumental role in the fight against Ukrainian forces, leading his mercenary force in key battles, including the eventual drive to capture the destroyed Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

However, Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny on June 24 that saw Wagner fighters seize the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and march to within 200 kilometers of Moscow. A Russian military aircraft was shot down during the mutiny, and altogether 13 Russian Air Force personnel were killed. It was the most serious challenge to Putin in his more than two decades in power.

Prigozhin called off the mutiny after an apparent deal with Putin that was said to guaranteed his safety, but Putin nevertheless denounced the insurrection as a "stab in the back" and vowed to punish all "traitors" involved.

The suspicious nature of the plane crash -- which also killed top Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin -- has led many people to speculate that Putin was behind the incident. The Kremlin denied any connection and an investigation into the accident is said to be ongoing.

With reporting by Current Time, RFE/RL's Echo of the Caucasus, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-girkin-kremlin- critic-pretrial-release-rejected/32569945.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia Extends Pretrial Detention For Former Worker At U.S. Consulate

By RFE/RL August 29, 2023

A Moscow court has extended for three months the pretrial detention of a former employee of a U.S. consulate in Russia who is being held on charges of illegally collaborating with foreigners in an action condemned by the United States.

Russian state-run TASS news agency late on August 29 said Moscow's Lefortovo District Court had extended the pretrial detention until November 23 for Robert Shonov, a Russian national who worked at the now-closed U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years.

Following Shonov's arrest, the U.S. State Department warned Russia to follow international treaties in the case and said the move highlights the "increasingly repressive" actions the Kremlin is taking against its own citizens.

Shonov faces a potential sentence of up to eight years in prison.

TASS quoted a court spokeswoman as saying Shonov had pleaded guilty to gathering information about the "special military operation" -- what Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine -- for U.S. diplomats.

A video of him allegedly confessing appeared on August 28 in local media, along with pictures of two summonses from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) for two diplomats working at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in connection with the case.

There is no way to immediately determine if the alleged confession was made under duress.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement issued late on August 28 that the allegations of wrongdoing against Shonov are "wholly without merit," as he was employed in April 2021 by a company contracted to provide services to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow "in strict compliance with Russia's laws and regulations."

"Russia's targeting of Mr. Shonov under the 'confidential cooperation' statute only highlights the increasingly repressive actions the Russian government is taking against its own citizens," Miller said.

"We strongly protest the Russian security services' attempts -- furthered by Russia's state-controlled media -- to intimidate and harass our employees. Russia is obligated under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to treat diplomats with due respect and to take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on their person, freedom, or dignity, and we expect them to fulfill that obligation," Miller added.

Relations between Moscow and Washington are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War over the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has prompted waves of harsh sanctions against Russia and most of its leadership.

Shonov is in the same prison where Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal, is being held. Gershkovich has been in custody since his arrest on March 29 by Russia's security service on espionage charges that he, his newspaper, and the U.S. government have denied.

The United States has declared Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained and demanded his immediate release.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has widened the scope of a crackdown on criticism of Russian government policies.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/united-states-warns- russia-consulate-worker-shonov/32569652.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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'It's Very Clear What Happened': White House Suggests Kremlin Behind Prigozhin's Death

By RFE/RL's Russian Service August 29, 2023

The White House on August 29 came close to declaring that the Kremlin was responsible for the death of Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a mysterious plane crash last week.

"We all know that the Kremlin has a long history of killing opponents," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "It's very clear what happened here."

Her comment was the closest U.S. statement yet on the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed the killing of Prigozhin, who had launched a brief mutiny against the Kremlin in June.

Prigozhin was buried at a private funeral ceremony outside of St. Petersburg on August 29 that was not attended by Putin, his onetime close ally.

"The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich took place in a closed setting. Those wishing to say goodbye can visit the Porokhovskoye cemetery," a Telegram channel used by Wagner for statements said on August 29, referring to a cemetery just outside the city of St. Petersburg.

A plane linked to the Wagner mercenary group, run by the 62-year-old, crashed between Moscow and St. Petersburg on August 23, killing all 10 people onboard. Prigozhin, along with other senior Wagner officials, were listed on the passenger manifest.

Four days later, Russia's Investigative Committee announced that Prigozhin's body had been identified by medical examiners, along with those of nine other people onboard the Embraer 600 jet that crashed in the Tver region in suspicious circumstances.

A former convict who parlayed a St. Petersburg restaurant business into lucrative Kremlin contracts, Prigozhin first gained notoriety in the West for creating the "Russian troll factory" that was accused of trying to manipulate U.S. voters in the 2016 presidential election.

But his close relationship with Putin was left in tatters on June 23-24 after Prigozhin sent thousands of his fighters in a brazen rebellion against the military command fighting in Ukraine.

Putin called the insurrection a "stab in the back," and earlier on August 29, as rumors swirled that Prigozhin was being laid to rest, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that while he had no information on any ceremony, "the president's presence is not envisaged."

The insurrection came on the heels of months of intense public infighting with Russia's military leadership over the war strategy in Ukraine and ammunition supplies.

The brief uprising was the most serious challenge to President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power.

The Wagner chief's whereabouts had been largely a mystery since the mutiny. He was believed to be moving between Russia and Belarus, where Wagner troops have been setting up camps to train Belarusian armed forces as part of a deal negotiated that helped end the mutiny.

On July 28, he was photographed on the sidelines of an Africa-Russia summit in St. Petersburg shaking hands with an aide to the president of the Central African Republic.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-prigozhin-funeral- putin-attending-wagner/32569496.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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Pacific Fleet's corvette Gremyashy undergoes mock enemy submarine search drills in Sea of Japan

29.08.2023

The Pacific Fleet's corvette Gremyashy undergoes mock enemy submarine search drills in the northern part of the Sea of Japan.

As part of the training, servicemen searched for and established contact with a mock enemy submarine. At the same time, a Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopter took off from the corvette. The pilots searched for the submarine by engaging the lowered GAS hydroacoustic station.

During the submarine search drills, crew of the corvette Gremyashchy made torpedo weapons ready for use.

Mock enemy submarine drills were conducted in accordance with the Pacific Fleet's combat training plan.

Press Service of the Eastern Military District

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Russia Voices Position on Ukraine and Foreign Affairs Ahead of UN General Assembly

Sputnik News

20230829

Ekaterina Blinova

Ukraine is continuing strikes on Russian territory, claiming it has the blessing of some of its Western allies. In its position released ahead of the September UN General Assembly, Russia warned the collective West against the escalation and perpetuation of the conflict.

Representatives of the Kiev regime are trying to drag the countries of the West into the Ukraine conflict as deeply as possible, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

"We understand that the countries of the West are aware of the danger of this and know that the costs of such involvement are inevitable. Therefore, now there is this clash of points of view [in the West], and we are watching it very carefully," Peskov pointed out.

The Kremlin's comments came in response to the claims by Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, that some of Ukraine's allies have given a nod to Kiev's strikes on Russian assets in Crimea and territories which joined Russia in 2022.

Earlier this month, Moscow warned the countries of the West against engaging deeper into the ongoing Ukraine conflict in its position published on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website on August 9, ahead of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly scheduled for September 19.

"Ukraine's Western allies contribute to the escalation and perpetuation of the conflict by providing Kiev with heavy weapons, financial and technical assistance, and recruiting and supplying mercenaries," the Russian Foreign Ministry's official position reads. "NATO countries' weapons are used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to mount strikes against civilian infrastructure and peaceful citizens of Donbass. Thus, the West has virtually become a party in the hostilities responsible for the crimes of the Kiev regime."

Russia has made it clear that the special military operation was launched in response to Ukraine's eight-year-long war against the people of the Donetsk and the Lugansk People's Republics. The Kiev regime's attacks against civilians as well as the intentional sabotage of the package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements by Ukraine forced Russia to take measures to protect the region's people.

The special military operation that kicked off on February 24, 2022, is "conducted in strict compliance with Article 51 of the UN Charter" and "will continue till the threats to Russia's security are eliminated," the Russian position says.

Per Moscow, the violations of international humanitarian law and terrorist attacks carried out by Ukraine "are carefully recorded, and all the perpetrators will face their punishment."

The Russian Foreign Ministry has drawn attention to the fact that "Kiev's actions and rhetoric show that it clearly lacks interest in settling the conflict by peaceful means."

For its part, "Russia has never refused the option of diplomatic settlement and stands ready for negotiations taking into consideration the situation on the ground and its own legitimate interests," the ministry emphasized.

The people of the Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions became part of Russia after their civilians freely expressed their will during the September 2022 referendums, "in accordance with the UN Charter and the 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among states."

Moscow highlighted that the aforementioned document guarantees the territorial integrity of states, with "government representing the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or color". However, the Kiev regime obviously fails to meet this criterion, given its record of having persecuted a considerable part of the country's population precisely on the grounds of ethnic origin, creed, language and culture for years, the ministry underscores.

The recognition of the 2022 referendums as well as the Crimean plebiscite of 2014 is a "key precondition" for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive settlement of the situation in Ukraine, according to the Russian government.

"We are gravely concerned over the UN General Assembly's growing inclination to reach outside its competence, which resulted in a series of confrontational anti-Russian resolutions adopted since 24 February 2022 in connection with the situation in Ukraine in violation of Article 12(1) of the UN Charter. The UN General Assembly, seeking in its resolutions to qualify the special military operation as an 'aggression', calling for its cessation, reparation of damage, etc., goes far beyond its mandate and appropriates the functions of the UN Security Council," the ministry's position reads.

Moscow "categorically" opposes the revision of the outcomes of the Second World War and attaches special importance to the annual draft resolution of the UN General Assembly "Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance".

The relevance of this document has taken on a new significance in view of the tragic consequences of the Kiev authorities' efforts to encourage the neoaNazi ideology in Ukraine with the connivance of their Western patrons.

UN Playing Central Role in Global Affairs

The position, voiced by Russia on August 9 further indicates that the nation views the United Nations and its General Assembly as an international body playing the central and coordinating role in global affairs on the path to the transition to the multipolar system of international relations.

Moreover, Russia has been consistently advocating the strengthening of the multilateral framework of international relations and world economy based on the universal norms of international law, first and foremost the provisions of the UN Charter, with the focus on the unconditional respect for the sovereign equality of states and non-interference in their internal affairs.

According to Moscow, it is pivotal to prevent "a small group of Western countries from taking control of the UN" and from legitimizing the concept of the "rules-based world order" which de facto means rules, standards and norms developed without the equal involvement of all the interested states. "This concept is promoted in contrast to collective approaches based on the UN Charter and poses a serious threat to the stability of international relations," warned the Russian Foreign Ministry.

At the same time, Russia highlights the need to carry out reforms aimed at the expansion of the UN Security Council to strengthen the representation of developing states from Africa, Asia and Latin America in the body without prejudice to the UNSC's effectiveness and operational efficiency.

Moscow also encourages the UN's cooperation with regional and sub-regional organizations including the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), BRICS and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). "The relevance of this topic was confirmed by the adoption of the biennial resolutions on the UN-CSTO and UN-CIS cooperation by the 77th UNGA session, which reflects steady progress and positive dynamics in strengthening these relations," the Russian position reads.

Russia's clear and logical position concerning the Ukraine conflict and international affairs apparently irritates some forces in the West given that the Russian delegation has yet to get US visas to participate in the forthcoming UN General Assembly gathering.

Russian Delegation Faces US Visa Delays, Again

The Russian delegation has requested American visas to participate in the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, which will begin on September 19,. However, the answer has not yet been received, Grigory Karasin, head of the international committee of the Federation Council, told Sputnik on August 22.

Earlier this year, in April, Washington also initially snubbed Moscow's request for participation in the UN Security Council events and delayed the issuance of visas. Eventually, the US denied visas to Russian journalists who were supposed to accompany Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during his trip to New York for the UN Security Council.

Nonetheless, Russia is continuing to firmly manifest its position and stand by its principles despite the collective West's attempts to throw sand in its gears.

A Sputnik

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Analysts: Prigozhin Death Will Disrupt Wagner Group Activities in Africa

By Mariama Diallo August 29, 2023

While it might be too early to assess the effects the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and other leaders on the Wagner Group's operations in Africa, some analysts say there will be short-term disruptions.

Given Prigozhin's reach on the continent the past few years, it will take time to replace Wagner's top man, said Steven Gruzd, head of the Africa Russia Project at the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg.

"There's going to be a period of uncertainty; of people jockeying for position, of seeing who wants to take over," Gruzd said. "There's also the talk of Russia incorporating it into the army, taking it out of private hands."

But the International Crisis Group's Charles Bouessel told VOA the private mercenary group's activities in Africa will be disrupted because of the relationships the Wagner boss and some of his associates, including Valery Chekalov and Dmitry Utkin, who all died with him in a plane crash a were able to cultivate the past few years.

"Prigozhin and Utkin especially had deep knowledge," Bouessel said, "and they had all the connections with the African regimes where Wagner is working. It will take time for Russia to take it over and to rebuild relations with these countries."

Wagner's influence stretches across the continent, Gruzd said.

"The Wagner presence in Africa is large," he said. "Reportedly over 5,000 soldiers [are] spread across the various countries, embedded in countries like Central African Republic and Mali, less so in Libya and Sudan. Even as late as last week, it looked like Niger and Burkina Faso, the countries that have undergone coups in West Africa across the Sahel, are targets for Wagner."

The U.S. Treasury Department accused the Wagner Group of mass executions, rape and physical abuse in Mali and the Central African Republic, or CAR, and designated it a "criminal organization."

In the CAR, in particular, it's too early to assess the impact Prigozhin's death will have, but it's important to remember the role the group had under its leader, said Bouessel.

"The Central African Republic signed a deal with Russia in late 2017," he said. "This deal included the arrival of Wagner and assistance of Wagner toward the president. Since then, Wagner was able to oust the former colonizer France out of the country and out of the decision-making part of the country. They also managed to secure [Faustin] Touadera's power and make him re-elected. They managed to deter rebel groups from attacking the capital again. And they managed to weaken the armed groups."

In the CAR, Bouessel said, the group controlled businesses in the mining of gold and diamonds. They are also present in the timber industry and beverage sector.

Dr. Edgar Githua, a lecturer at the United States International University in Nairobi and Strathmore University who specializes in international relations, peace and conflict, said that Prigozhin's death will affect the group's finances, and that its global influence might take a hit.

"Prigozhin is the one who had the financial streams of the Wagner Group," Githua said. "He's the one with the international connections. He's the one who was getting all the international contracts.

"It was a one man show. Prigozhin had a lot of power and a lot of say within that group. With his demise, that group is going to find itself rudderless for some time," he said.

Prigozhin died a couple of months after he staged an unsuccessful rebellion against top Russian military commanders. After that failed mutiny, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov indicated that operations in the CAR and Mali would not be affected.

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Dozens of terrorists killed in joint Syria-Russia airstrikes in Idlib

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 29 August 2023 9:27 AM

A large number of foreign-sponsored militants have been killed and wounded after Syrian and Russian warplanes carried out a series of joint airstrikes on terrorist bases and arms depots in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

Syria's official news agency SANA, citing a statement issued by the Syrian Ministry of Defense on Monday, reported that the aerial raids were in retaliation for recent terrorist attacks on the positions of Syrian army troops in the rural districts of Idlib and the neighboring province of Hama.

The statement said that the joint Syrian and Russian airstrikes destroyed the headquarters and weapons caches of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the so-called Ansar al-Tawhid (Supporters of Monotheism) Takfiri terrorists.

Dozens of militants, among them high-profile commanders, were among the fatalities, it added.

Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Vadim Kulit, deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria, said on Monday that Russian military aircraft had launched airstrikes on a stronghold and two command centers of HTS terrorists.

He added that the slain terrorists used to organize and then stage attacks on the positions of Syrian government forces and civilian infrastructure from the targeted sites.

Kulit called on militant commanders to refrain from any escalatory measure and instead tread the path towards a peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict.

The senior Russian military official noted that 18 violations were also recorded in the area of the US al-Tanf military base, involving nine flights by the unmanned aerial vehicles of the coalition purportedly formed to fight the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

Russia has been providing Syrian forces with military assistance in the ongoing battles across the conflict-plagued Arab country.

The Russian assistance, which began in September 2015 at the official request of the Syrian government, has proved effective as Syrians continue to recapture key areas from remnants of the Daesh terrorist group and other foreign-backed terrorist factions.

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China's military sent drone to circle Taiwan: defense ministry

ROC Central News Agency

08/29/2023 02:39 PM



The flight paths of PLA warplanes. Photo taken from MND's website. The flight paths of PLA warplanes. Photo taken from MND's website.

Taipei, Aug. 29 (CNA) A combined total of more than 20 People's Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes and warships were detected around Taiwan during the 24-hour period from 6 a.m. Monday to 6 a.m. Tuesday, including one drone that was found circling Taiwan proper, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND).

The drone, identified as a PLA Air Force BZK-005 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), was found flying eastward from China's coast. It crossed the Taiwan Strait median line - the informal dividing line in the strait between China and Taiwan - in the north, and then passed between Japan's Yonaguni Island and Taiwan's east coast. The drone then returned back to China via the Bashi Channel, south of Taiwan, according to the MND.

According to the map released by the MND, the Chinese drone's route breached Taiwan's ADIZ, an area that is not part of the country's territorial airspace as defined by international law, but that is declared in order to help Taiwan identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft.

Aside from the drone, the MND map showed that two J-10 fighter jets had entered Taiwan's southwest ADIZ. The ministry did not release the flight paths of the other eight planes and the whereabouts of the ten vessels detected.

"The Armed Forces has monitored the situation and tasked CAP (combat air patrol) aircraft, navy vessels and land-based missile systems to respond to these activities," the ministry said in a statement.

(By Joseph Yeh)

Enditem/kb

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Defense ministry urges China to stop 'unprovoked military harassment'

ROC Central News Agency

08/29/2023 09:24 PM

Taipei, Aug. 29 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Tuesday urged Beijing to cease "unprovoked military harassment" after 12 Chinese warplanes and five naval vessels were detected in the vicinity of Taiwan.

In a statement, the MND said that 12 Chinese People's Liberation Army aircraft -- six J-10 and four J-16 fighter jets, one Y-9 electronic warfare aircraft, and one BZK-005 reconnaissance drone -- were detected in Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) between 9 a.m. and 2:20 p.m. Tuesday.

The six J-10s, the drone, and an unspecified number of the J-16s crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, while an unspecified number of the J-16s, as well as the Y-9, flew deep into the southwestern ADIZ, according to flight paths released by the MND.

An ADIZ is a self-declared area in which a country claims the right to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft but is not part of territorial airspace as defined by international law.

Meanwhile, five PLA Navy vessels were also in waters near Taiwan conducting joint combat readiness patrols, the MND said.

According to the MND, it has been closely monitoring the situation using its joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and deployed combat air patrol aircraft, vessels, and coastal missile systems in response.

The MND said that ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was key to maintaining security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, and it was the responsibility of all stakeholders, including Beijing.

The MND added that China's continued military harassment could escalate tensions and erode regional peace.

Beijing should shoulder its responsibility and immediately stop its unprovoked actions disrupting regional stability, the MND added.

(By Sean Lin)

Enditem/ASG

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Taiwan lobbies for U.N. inclusion ahead of general assembly

ROC Central News Agency

08/29/2023 01:55 PM

Taipei, Aug. 29 (CNA) Taiwan's government reiterated its pitch to be included in the United Nations ahead of the General Assembly kicking off next week and after facing more than fifty years of exclusion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.

Deputy Minister Tien Chung-kwang () said the ministry had continued to ask its diplomatic allies to speak up during the upcoming 78th General Assembly and/or to send a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Tien made the comment when announcing MOFA's campaign for U.N. participation this year in the run up to the annual event, which will kick off on Sept. 5. at the U.N. headquarters in New York. The General Debate, meanwhile, will be held between Sept. 19-26.

According to Tien, the theme for the 78th session will be "Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all."

Tien said the Taiwan government's main pitch to the world was that the PRC had been deliberately misinterpreting the U.N. Resolution 2758 as evidence of its claim over the island nation.

U.N. Resolution 2758 was adopted by the 26th General Assembly in 1971 to solve the issue of China's representation in the U.N. system.

It recognizes the PRC as the "only lawful representative of China". It does not mention Taiwan and does not state that "Taiwan is part of the PRC," according to Tien, who added that the resolution does not authorize Beijing to represent Taiwan in the U.N. system and does not say that Taiwan is a part of the PRC.

According to Tien, Taipei has asked the international organization to resolve the exclusion of Taiwan's 23 million people from the U.N. system so that "no one will be left behind" and to allow Taiwan to jointly work with countries around the world in taking on global challenges.

As part of the campaign to promote Taiwan's appeal to the international community, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu () published an op-ed in international media, Tien said.

MOFA also released a promotional video outlining Taiwan's contributions to solving global issues and its implementation of the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals as part of the nation's efforts to join the global body.

The video, titled "To Equality," tells five stories that echo the UN goals and the theme of the upcoming session, according to MOFA.

Mandarin and English versions of the video appear on its YouTube channel "Trending Taiwan" with subtitles available in Arabic, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

A number of side events launched by Taiwan's representative office in New York, where the U.N. headquarters is based, have been or will be held during the assembly to promote Taiwan's inclusion in the U.N. system, he added.

A delegation of Taiwanese lawmakers will also visit New York and advocate for Taiwan's U.N. inclusion, he added.

Taiwan, officially called the Republic of China, left the U.N. in 1971 when the People's Republic of China (PRC) took its place, and it has since been excluded from its special agencies.

(By Joseph Yeh)

Enditem/kb

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Taipei reports Chinese military activity near Taiwan

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 29 August 2023 9:29 AM

Taiwan's defense ministry has reported Chinese military activity near the self-ruled island, warning of a possible "sharp increase" in tensions.

The ministry claimed that it spotted 12 Chinese military aircraft in its air defense identification zone on Tuesday morning, adding that seven of them, including six J-10 fighters and a single drone, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait.

According to the statement, five Chinese ships also conducted "combat readiness patrols". The ministry, however, has not given a location.

"The continued military harassment by the Communist military in the region may lead to a sharp increase in tensions and worsen regional security," the ministry said, adding Beijing should "immediately stop such unilateral acts."

Beijing regards the island as part of its own territory under the "One-China" principle.

Under the internationally recognized policy, nearly all countries recognize Beijing's sovereignty over the island, including the United States.

However, in violation of its own stated policy and in an attempt to irritate Beijing, Washington continues to court the secessionist government in Taipei, supporting its anti-China stance and supplying it with massive caches of armaments.

China often conducts military drills around the island as a warning to Taiwan's separatist forces and their collusion with the US.

Washington's support for Taiwan is seen as an attempt to undermine its main rival Beijing, as is the case with Ukraine.

Moscow has noted that the US military support for Kiev to fight Russia aims to weaken and destroy the country.

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Foxconn founder Gou confirms Taiwan presidential bid

If his bid passes, it could be 'pop the champagne' time for the pro-Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party.

By Chris Taylor for RFA and Hwang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin 2023.08.29 -- Taiwan's mercurial richest man and founder of Foxconn, Terry Gou, has ended months of speculation - largely fueled by his own cryptic statements at rallies - by confirming he is joining the presidential elections.

Leaving no uncertainty as to his intentions, the billionaire would-be politician said Monday, "I, Terry Gou, solemnly announce to you all today that I have decided to enter the 2024 presidential election as a candidate."

But the fact that Gou has at last said the words, does not automatically make it so.

Gou now faces the challenge of summoning up 290,000 petition signatures to officially run as an independent candidate. The count is out as to whether there's still time to do that.

"A reality reminder," said Paul Huang, research fellow at the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation: "Just because Taiwan's #TerryGou announced he's running does NOT automatically make him a candidate in [the] presidential election ... Gou needs to pass [the] petition stage by Nov. 1 which IMO he has a high chance of failing."

But some observers of Taiwan politics maintain that Gou's entry into a race in which the opposition vote is already fractured between Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT) and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) can only serve to further bolster the chances of Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) winning the presidency.

Lai is consistently running ahead of his rivals in the polls, and if Gou can actually run - and neither Hou nor Ko is able to cut a deal and make him a running partner - he is likely to give Lai an even surer chance of becoming president in January next year.

"William Lai [Ching-te] likely just won Taiwan's presidential election, scheduled for January. Hard to envision three opposition nominees, to include Terry Gou entering the race today, winning enough votes individually when they are all competing for the same votes," Derek J. Grossman, RAND Corporation analyst, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Michael Turton, a veteran Taiwan analyst and columnist, argued that Gou could be such an asset to the DPP - or "green" - vote that it was likely that Gou's required petition numbers would come his way from an unlikely direction.

"Lots of smart pan-Greens are going to sign this petition, because they want Gou in the race, just as in the 2020 KMT phone poll they supported Han [Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang] because he so obviously could not win."

A vote for peace?

As the so-called "blue camp," or "pan-blue coalition" is broadly positioning itself, Gou is putting himself forward as a vote for some kind of reconciliation with Beijing and against an "inevitable" Ukraine-like conflict that another term of the DPP might bring.

Taiwan's blue voters very broadly tend to support the KMT and its allies, which advocate for closer ties with mainland China, based on the principle of "one China" with different interpretations, although close watchers of Taiwan politics caution that elections are not fought over China relations alone.

Multiple factors, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's increasingly bold aerial and naval incursions into Taiwan's air defense identification zone, and China's slowing economy, have led some Taiwanese to fear that Chinese leader Xi Jinping could play the ultimate nationalist card in his deck - an invasion.

Beijing is also manifestly opposed to the election of the DPP's Lai, who in the past has called himself "a practical worker for Taiwan independence," although every sign is he will represent a continuation of President Tsai Ing-wen's non-provocative policies.

Taiwan's political and economic predicament has been declining for the past seven years of DPP rule, argues Gou. The pro-Taiwan party has to be removed from power if Taiwan is to be saved from what Gou calls the "abyss."

"In the face of the precarious military situation across the Taiwan Strait and the tense relationship between China and the U.S., Taiwan absolutely cannot become another Ukraine," he said on Monday while declaring his determination to be president.

Gou has sent conflicting messages on his assets in China, at one point saying, "Personally, I don't own a penny's worth of assets in mainland China, including land and real estate."

On Monday, on the other hand, he said he would willingly sacrifice his assets in China to save Taiwan from war.

"If the Chinese Communist Party says, 'If you don't listen to us, we will confiscate Foxconn's assets,' I will say 'Yes, Please. Do it!'" said Gou on Monday.

"If sacrificing my personal wealth means they won't attack Taiwan, I'm willing to go back to being a mold worker, as long as they don't attack Taiwan. I cannot obey their commands."

Gou's avowed willingness to sacrifice everything for Taiwan drew some wry comments on social media.

"Foxconn founder Terry Gou ... said that he would accept the Chinese government's seizure of his firm's assets in China in exchange for not invading Taiwan," Swedish author and Taiwan commentator Jojje Olsen posted on X, adding:

"Yeah, Beijing would probably stop there."

The polls

Despite only declaring his candidacy on Monday, Gou has been tirelessly touring Taiwan to drum up support for an unannounced campaign, but he still trails his rivals by a large margin.

Various recent polls saw his support at between approximately 9% and 14%, while Hou of the KMT was at 14% to 22%, Ko at 27% to 28% and the DPP's Lai at 37% to 43%.

Just hours after Gou announced he was joining the presidential fray, the KMT said in a statement it was "deeply regrettable" that he had walked away from an earlier promise to help its presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih in the 2024 presidential elections.

The statement signaled a deep unease in the blue camp that Gou could wreck all chances of defeating the DPP and preventing the party from winning an unprecedented third term, in a move Beijing would almost certainly deplore as a victory to the island's separatists.

KMT Chair Eric Chu has stated that if Taiwan's opposition forces remain divided, as they currently are - and more so with Gou as a candidate - Lai will win the presidential election "lying down."

"If Gou runs, the rest of us are done for," Ko said in an interview with Chung T'ien Television earlier this month, Bloomberg reported.

"Lai Ching-te would 100% win. We wouldn't even need to hold the election. Lai could pop the champagne right away."

Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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 August 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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Humanitarian demining: Remote-controlled demining machine ready for delivery to Ukraine

Swiss Government

Bern, 29.08.2023 -- The DDPS is providing the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) with a remote-controlled demining machine to safely and efficiently clear areas that have been contaminated with mines, cluster munitions and explosive remnants of war since the outbreak of the conflict. The machine was presented to the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) by the Swiss DIGGER Foundation on 29 August and is now ready for delivery to Ukraine by the Van for Life Foundation.

The number of areas in Ukraine contaminated with mines, cluster munitions and explosive remnants of war has increased considerably since the beginning of the conflict. In order to clear them safely and efficiently, Ukraine urgently requires specialised equipment for humanitarian demining. This includes, in particular, mechanical clearance equipment.

Mine clearance machine presented to the DDPS

The mine clearance machine was presented to the DDPS today by the Swiss DIGGER Foundation and is now ready for delivery to Ukraine. The demining machine, which includes a spare parts package, will be transported to Ukraine by truck in September by the Van for Life Foundation.

The entire aid package amounts to CHF 1.2 million. It includes a caterpillar vehicle that can destroy or detonate anti-personnel mines, a truck trailer and a spare parts package for three years. In addition, the Ukrainian authorities will be trained on site by experts from the DIGGER Foundation. Switzerland's contribution is aimed at making humanitarian demining in Ukraine safer and more effective.

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Ukraine's claim raises 'apocalyptic' risks: Ex-Russian president

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 29 August 2023 8:37 PM

Former president Dmitry Medvedev has raised concern regarding recent claims by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's senior aide, warning that if the West truly supports what Mikhail Podoliak says it does that signals an "apocalyptic" risk of the end of the world.

In an interview with Ukrainian TV on Monday, Zelensky's senior aide Podoliak claimed that Kiev's Western backers were now fully supportive of all of Kiev's attempts to "destroy everything Russian."

Moscow has no reason to doubt Podoliak's claim, and what he said indicated an increase in the risks of an all-out war between Russia and NATO, Medvedev said on Tuesday. "Sad, unfortunately. The prophecies of the Apocalypse are getting closer."

"If this is true, and there is no reason to doubt it now," the former president and present deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council wrote on his Telegram channel.

"If this is true... then it constitutes direct, legally significant proof of the West's complicity in the war against Russia" and serves as a reasonable casus belli "and the opportunity for Russia to act within the jus ad bellum against everyone and everything in the NATO countries," he added.

Medvedev has repeatedly warned Kiev that Moscow would have to use a nuclear weapon if Ukrainian forces set foot on Russian territory. There would be "no other option" if Ukraine took "our land."

In related news, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday described Podoliak's claims as wishful thinking on behalf of like-minded advisers of Zelensky.

"Representatives of the Kiev regime want to believe that. And they certainly want to do everything possible and impossible to drag Western nations as deep as they can into this conflict," Peskov said.

Peskov suggested that there is a "clash of points of view" in the leadership of the US and its allies regarding their degree and level of involvement and direct engagement in the Ukraine war against Russia.

Moscow has said that the collective West is waging a proxy war against the Russian nation, with the Ukrainian troops under Kiev's command merely providing the "cannon fodder" for the conflict.

Since Russia launched its special military operation in Eastern Ukraine to stop NATO's westward encroachment, Kiev's backers have provided tens of billions of dollars of weapons and munitions to Ukrainian forces to achieve what some in Washington have declared as the West's objective which is the "strategic defeat" of Russia.

In the Monday interview, Podoliak said, "Today, the absolute consensus among the countries that support us is that we can destroy everything Russian in the occupied territories."

Podoliak also vowed that Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia by "unknown drones" would increase.

Ukraine, typically, does not formally claim responsibility for the increasing number of drone attacks that have targeted Moscow and other Russian cities.

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Assured by Paris, Ukraine says potential fall in US support not a concern

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 29 August 2023 7:06 PM

Ukraine's foreign minister says a potential dwindling support from the US in the war is not a matter of concern.

Dmytro Kuleba made that remark after he was reassured by his French counterpart about support from Paris.

Kuleba told his Catherine Colonna in Paris on Tuesday that "some people" in the United States and Europe hold that "we should support Ukraine less."

"We are not feeling any fall in support from the (US) Congress, in the European parliament."

"In the United States it's linked to the start of the electoral cycle," he said. Kiev would "overcome it," he said. "We will find a way through."

The French foreign minister said Paris "will continue and intensify as long as needed to defeat the Russian aggression."

President Emmanuel Macron has said France's "support to Ukraine is constant."

In the United States, however, reports are casting doubt on whether US support for Ukraine can be sustained.

The administration of President Joe Biden has supplied more than $43 billion worth of arms to Ukraine since Russia launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine in February 2022.

According to a poll conducted for CNN and released early this month, more than half of Americans were against additional US support for Ukraine.

A recent report by the Wall Street Journal also said Washington would probably reduce its military support for Ukraine in 2024.

The military support has also divided the nine leading Republican contenders for the top US job.

During the Republican discussion on Thursday, presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy said he would not support additional aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

He described Washington's support for Ukraine "disastrous" and a distraction from domestic issues.

Russia says the West and NATO are playing a direct role in the Ukraine conflict by pouring advanced weapons and military equipment into Ukraine.

It has frequently warned that continued supply of Western arms and military equipment to the Ukrainian military would only prolong the war and add to the suffering of Ukrainian people.

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Ukraine Orders Evacuations Near Kupyansk Amid Russian Shelling; Drone Attack Reported In Pskov

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service August 29, 2023

Ukrainian authorities ordered the mandatory evacuation of residents near the frontline city of Kupyansk in eastern Ukraine as Russian shelling continued to take a civilian toll in the region and as U.S. leaders announced a new tranche of military assistance to aid Kyiv in its fight against the invasion.

Meanwhile, officials in Russia in the early hours of August 30 said a drone attack in the northwestern city of Pskov had forced closure of the local airport, Russian media reported. Details remained unclear, but authorities said the drone attack was repelled with no injures but that four military planes were damaged.

The past 24 hours marked another bloody day in the war, with deadly attacks reported on civilian areas and heavy fighting reported in the east and south of Ukraine.

In Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Synehubov said a 44-year-old guard at a meat-processing plant was killed in Russian shelling of Kupyansk, while local officials said a 67-year-old man had also been injured in the attack.

Russian forces have been attempting retake Kupyansk in the eastern Kharkiv region after capturing it early in the war but losing it in the face of a Ukrainian counteroffensive that shocked Moscow with its speed and force nearly a year ago.

However, a new Ukrainian counteroffensive, begun in June in the east and south of the country, has made slower progress, resulting in heavy losses. Russian forces have also suffered heavy losses as they attempt an offensive in the east, leaving many experts to fear a long-term standoff between the two sides.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar on August 29 said Kyiv's forces were making progress near the Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut, which was mostly destroyed during Russia's effort to capture it in a long, bloody battle.

On August 28, Malyar confirmed that the village of Robotyne, which sits along an important road leading from the town of Orikhiv to Tokmak on the way to Melitopol in the south, has been liberated, although Russian officials have not acknowledged the loss.

Also in the south, Oleksandr Prokudin, Ukrainian governor of the Kherson region, said three people were killed by explosions in fields caused by mines and other devices that Russian troops had left scattered when they withdrew from the area in November during Ukraine's counteroffensive.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry said Russian forces downed two Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea.

The ministry earlier on August 29 said two Ukrainian drones were shot down over the Tula region, south of Moscow, without specifying the precise time and location.

Russia also alleged that Ukrainian forces had shelled a Russian village in the Bryansk region about 15 kilometers from the border, killing several people and injuring five others, including children.

Battlefield claims cannot immediately be independently verified.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on August 29 paid homage to the Ukrainian soldiers killed defending their country against Moscow's invasion as the number of civilians who died as a result of indiscriminate Russian shelling continued to mount.

"Every year on August 29, we honor the memory of Ukrainian men and women who gave their lives defending our state," Zelenskiy said in a statement released by his press office.

"There are no words that would be sufficient to fully describe the strength, majesty and self-sacrifice of a hero who remains forever in battle, so that only his people can preserve their will and gain victory. Words are always smaller than what we feel," said Zelenskiy.

In Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was providing its next package "of military assistance to aid Ukraine as it defends its territory and protects its people."

He said the package, worth $250 million, would include "AIM-9M missiles for air defense, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, mine-clearing equipment, [and] Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets."

The United States as so far provided some $40 billion in military aid to Ukraine, officials have said.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-civilians- civilians-killed-fighting-rages/32569162.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia's Defense Ministry Repel Drone Attack on Airport in Pskov Region - Governor

Sputnik News

20230829

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Defense Ministry repelled an overnight drone attack on the Pskov airport in Russia's Pskov region, Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said early Wednesday.

"The defense ministry is repelling a drone attack at Pskov's airport. I have been personally on the scene since the incident began. According to preliminary information, there are no casualties. The scale of destruction is being clarified," Vedernikov said on Telegram, adding that he will provide more information after an operational headquarters meeting.

The regional governor further indicated that all flights have been suspended until at least Thursday to assess damages at the airport. Rescuers on the scene have noted that a fire broke out at the facility; however, the blaze poses no threat of spreading.

The Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations detailed that an IL-76 military transport aircraft had caught fire in the aftermath in Russia's Pskov. Officials added that 21 units of equipment and 65 people were involved to extinguish the fire.

The latest efforts by Russian defenses come hours after a Russian fighter jet destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Black Sea in addition to an anti-ship cruise missile along with nearly 30 drones over the last 24 hours.

Over the last several months, the Ukrainian regime has repeatedly relied on drone attacks as part of the much-touted counteroffensive effort, which has largely proved unsuccessful. Oftentimes, Kiev's operations have been focused on striking civilian infrastructure; in fact, two strikes against the Crimean Bridge claimed the lives of five individuals and left a child injured.

A Sputnik

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Russian Air Defense Downs Ukrainian Neptune Anti-Ship Cruise Missile

Sputnik News

20230829



MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian air defense systems have shot down a Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship cruise missile and 27 drones over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry stated on Tuesday.

"Air defenes systems have intercepted two High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) shells, a Neptune anti-ship missile and two High-Speed Anti-Radiation missiles (HARM). In addition, 27 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed over the past day," the ministry reported.

Moreover, the Ukrainian military lost over 400 soldiers in Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions in the past 24 hours, the ministry noted.

"The enemy losses in this [Donetsk] direction amounted to more than 340 Ukrainian servicemen killed and wounded, six armored combat vehicles, 13 vehicles, as well as two howitzers a D-20 and Msta-B," the ministry clarified.

The Russian forces repelled two attacks in Zaporozhye direction, the ministry added.

"During the day, [in the Zaporozhye direction] up to 90 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, four vehicles, three M777 artillery systems and two M119 howitzers made in the US, as well as an FH-70 gun made in United Kindom were destroyed," the ministry said.

Furthermore, the ministry reported that six attacks have been repelled in the Kupyansk direction, where Kiev lost up to 50 soldiers, and three attacks have been repelled in the Krasny Liman direction, where Ukraine's casualties reached up to 80 soldiers.

"In the South Donetsk direction, units of [Russia's] Vostok [East] grouping of troops ... destroyed up to 100 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, three vehicles, and two howitzers, namely Akatsiya and Giatsint-B, during the past day," the ministry said, adding that Ukraine also lost 20 soldiers in the Kherson direction.

A Sputnik

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Ukraine Wants to Believe West Supports Destruction of 'Everything Russian' - Kremlin

Sputnik News

20230829



MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Kiev wants to believe that the West supports Ukraine in its desire to destroy "everything Russian," including in Crimea, but does not understand risks of dragging others into the conflict, and therefore different points of view clash, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has said that the West supports Ukraine in everything, including Kiev's strikes on Crimea.

"The representatives of the Kiev regime want to believe in this, and, of course, they want to do everything possible and impossible in order to drag Western countries into this conflict as deeply as possible. We understand that the countries of the West are aware of the danger of this and are aware that the costs of such involvement are inevitable. Therefore, now there is this clash of points of view, we are watching this very carefully," Peskov told reporters when asked about Podolyak's statement.

A Sputnik

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Russian Fighter Jet Downs Ukrainian Drone Over Black Sea

Sputnik News

20230829



MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A Russian fighter jet has destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Black Sea that tried to attack objects on the Russian territory, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"Today, at about 12:00 Moscow time [09:00 GMT], an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by one aircraft-type UAV on objects in Russia was thwarted. An unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed by a naval aviation aircraft over the Black Sea," the ministry stated.

With the much-touted Ukrainian counteroffensive proving to be largely unsuccessful, the Kiev regime increasingly employs the terrorist strategy of intimidation of the population by attacking peaceful cities with no other purpose than killing civilians and ruining the lives of innocent people.

The terrorist regime of Kiev committed two attacks on the Crimean Bridge, which is an entirely civilian infrastructure, murdering five people in total and injuring a child. Moreover, several Ukrainian officials admitted that Kiev is responsible for the attacks.

A Sputnik

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Russian Air Defense Destroys 2 Ukrainian Drones Over Tula Region

Sputnik News

20230829



MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - The Russian air defense systems shot down two Ukrainian drones over Russia's Tula Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"This morning, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation using two aircraft-type drones was thwarted. The unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed by air defense forces on duty over the territory of Tula Region," the ministry said.

The foiled attack comes on the heels of multiple thwarted efforts by the Ukrainian regime. Since hostilities kicked off between Ukraine and Russia, the Kiev regime has continued to conduct multiple strikes near civilian populations.

A Sputnik

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the implementation of the Peace Formula, security guarantees for Ukraine and the functioning of the "grain corridor" with the Prime Minister of Japan

President of Ukraine

29 August 2023 - 15:37

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a phone call with Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida.

The Head of State expressed gratitude for comprehensive assistance from Japan, particularly for supporting the Ukrainian Peace Formula. The President spoke about the next round of consultations at the level of national security advisors, preparation of the Global Peace Summit and invited Japan to participate in these important events.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the G7 Joint Declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine, adopted during the Japanese G7 Presidency.

"It is time to conclude relevant bilateral agreements in the framework of this declaration. We are ready to start this negotiation process with Japan as soon as possible," the Head of State noted.

The President also informed his interlocutor about the efforts made by Ukraine to extend the "grain corridor" in the Black Sea, in particular by creating alternative routes.

"Russia continues to use food as a weapon. It destroys our port infrastructure and grain storage facilities with missile attacks. It kills civilians every day. But even in these difficult conditions, Ukraine is ready to remain a guarantor of global food security," Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.

The leaders also discussed preparations for the Ukraine Recovery Conference scheduled to take place in Japan early next year.

The President of Ukraine and the Prime Minister of Japan coordinated their steps on the eve of important international legal events.

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President on the Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine: There are no words to describe the strength, greatness and self-sacrifice of a hero who remains forever in battle for his people to preserve freedom and emerge victorious

President of Ukraine

29 August 2023 - 13:49

On the Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy honored the warriors fallen in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

"Every year on August 29, we honor the memory of Ukrainians who gave their lives defending our country. Defending Ukraine's independence. Freedom for all our people. The territorial integrity of Ukraine. Ukraine's right to be among free nations," the Head of State said.

Accompanied by a company of honor guards, the President laid a flower composition at the Wall of Remembrance on Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv.

"There are no words to describe the strength, greatness and self-sacrifice of a hero who remains forever in battle for his people to preserve freedom and emerge victorious. Words are never enough to express what we feel. And let the tears that will be shed today, let the silence that will sound louder than any words, let our respect, which is absolutely sincere, tell everyone what we really feel and how grateful we are to all our defenders, whose lives became the life of Ukraine," Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.

The President and all those present observed a minute of silence in memory of the Ukrainian heroes who gave their lives for Ukraine.

"May the memory of all our warriors be blessed," the Head of State added.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy handed over the Gold Star Orders to family members of Ukrainian defenders who were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

In particular, the following warriors were posthumously awarded the highest state award:

Colonel Oleksandr Makhachek, the sapper of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who in May 2022, during an enemy artillery attack near the Bakhmut-Lysychansk road, organized the evacuation of personnel in a timely manner, saving the lives of his brothers-in-arms and ensuring the fulfillment of a combat mission. He was killed by a shell hit in a dugout.

Deputy commander of the squadron Lieutenant Colonel Vadym Blahovisnyi, who has flown 95 combat missions since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. He perished heroically while performing a combat mission.

Commander of the aviation squadron Major Yevhen Lysenko. In early March 2022, he spotted two enemy aircraft in Zhytomyr region and heroically engaged in combat with them, destroying one of the aircraft. His plane was shot down by the enemy, and the Ukrainian pilot himself perished heroically.

Captain Dmytro Romanchenko, the reconnaissance officer who personally organized the evacuation of wounded and killed brothers-in-arms, and then remained at the combat positions, directly leading the unit during the battle in Donetsk region. He was killed by an artillery shell.

Captain Eduard Kamardin, who personally evacuated five wounded servicemen and provided them with first aid during a battle on September 5, 2022, in Mykolaiv region. He also destroyed the enemy's depot by adjusting fire. Covering his brothers-in-arms, the captain was killed by enemy shelling.

Senior Lieutenant Serhiy Suchkov, a reconnaissance platoon commander, who on May 3, 2022, during a massive shelling managed to lead his reconnaissance group to safety, but perished heroically.

Junior Lieutenant Vadym Blyshchyk, a mechanized platoon commander who perished on August 14, 2022, during an intense artillery attack on a platoon stronghold, covering a subordinate serviceman with his body.

Sergeant Major Kyrylo Marach, a reconnaissance platoon commander who in August 2022, during a successful assault and clearing of a platoon stronghold, was wounded and died in hospital while covering a subordinate serviceman.

Chief Sergeant Mykola Yanyshyn, the tank commander, who died in May 2022 as a result of an enemy artillery strike while rescuing his brothers-in-arms from another tank.

Senior Sergeant Mykhailo Chabanenko, who in August 2022 repelled three assaults on a stronghold in Donetsk region, ensuring the destruction of several dozen enemy soldiers, but was killed by intense shelling.

Spotter Sergeant Denys Labunskyi, who showed bravery and fortitude during the battles in Bakhmut, inflicting maximum losses on the enemy. He died in Bakhmut in November 2022 as a result of a direct hit by an enemy shell.

Reconnaissance man Senior Soldier Valentyn Klymchuk, who in July 2022, during an assault on enemy positions in Mykolaiv region, personally blew up two enemy dugouts and captured enemy combat documents. When he ran out of ammunition, he found an enemy machine gun and covered the escape of his reconnaissance group. He perished heroically from a sniper's bullet.

Soldiers Leonid Butusin and Roman Butusin. In early March 2022, in fierce battles with overwhelming enemy forces in Chernihiv region, the two brothers did not retreat, acted decisively and courageously, fired to the last bullet, covering other servicemen, and saved more than 30 men at the cost of their own lives.

Soldier Yuriy Kovalchuk, a unit commander of the Stugna-P anti-tank guided missile battery, who skillfully repelled all enemy attacks in May 2022, demonstrating heroism and indomitability, remained in his combat position to the last and was killed by artillery fire.

Also, the title of Hero of Ukraine (posthumously) was awarded to:

Deputy head of the Border Guard Service Department of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Major Ivan Volochiy, who was holding back the enemy's advance near Izyum, Kharkiv region, in March 2022. He was killed by enemy tank fire.

State Border Guard Service inspector Master Sergeant Oleksandr Maslak, who, together with other border guards, has been inflicting damage on the occupiers in Mariupol for a long time with all available means. He was killed while covering the withdrawal of his brothers-in-arms.

Lieutenant of the National Guard of Ukraine Vitaliy Koval, who was one of the defenders of Bakhmut.

NGU Junior Sergeant Yevhen Bilash, who was killed while covering the withdrawal of his group during a combat mission.

The head of the sniper group, Colonel of the Security Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Vdovychenko, an active participant in search, reconnaissance and counter-sniper activities. Under his leadership, the sniper groups conducted more than 10 efficient sorties in Donetsk region.

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UNICEF Geneva Palais briefing note on the impact of the Ukraine war on children's education

UNICEF

This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Regina De Dominicis - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva

29 August 2023

GENEVA, 29 August 2023 -- "Attacks on schools have continued unabated throughout the war in Ukraine.

"Just last week teachers were among the casualties of an attack on a civilian area in the city of Romny. The attack ripped through a school where teachers were preparing lessons for the new school year. On the same day, a kindergarten in Kherson city was hit in another attack.

"These senseless and reckless attacks have left many of Ukraine's children deeply distressed and without a safe space to learn.

"Just one in three schoolchildren in Ukraine are learning in person fulltime.

"As a result, children across Ukraine are showing signs of widespread learning loss, including a deterioration in learning outcomes of the Ukrainian language, reading and mathematics.

"This war is layering crisis upon crisis.

"It is leaving children grappling with mental health problems.

"It is denying millions a chance to be educated.

"The war in Ukraine has become a war on children. And yet when it ends, children and young people will be essential to the country's recovery and future. This will require a workforce that is both highly educated and healthy. Tragically, with each successive indiscriminate attack on schools and on children, the realization of this critical necessity recedes.

"Later this week, Ukraine's school-age children should go back to school. It will be the fourth consecutive year of disrupted schooling.

"I was in Ukraine last week, meeting teachers and schoolchildren who are bearing the mental scars of war, struggling to remember how to read and write, and do basic maths and struggling to cope in a country still at war. Indeed, with nearly a third of the country estimated to be unsafe due to mines, children's most critical - and now mandatory - lesson today is how to avoid landmines and unexploded ordnance.

"In response, UNICEF is supporting children's mental health through counselling and psychosocial support, providing learning materials including those on mine safety, training teachers, and continuing to rehabilitate school shelters.

"For the millions of children who have fled Ukraine, more than half are not enrolled in national education systems in their host countries.

"Investing in education for Ukraine's children, no matter where they reside, is the best investment we can make in the country's future."

#####



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US Providing up to $250 Million in More Aid for Ukraine

By Carla Babb August 29, 2023

The United States is providing up to $250 million in additional military aid for Ukraine in a package that includes more rockets for HIMARS and AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles that can be used to defend Ukrainian skies.

This is the first time the U.S. has provided Ukraine with Sidewinders, which can be used for short range, air-to-air attacks.

The aid also includes mine-clearing equipment and anti-tank weapons such as TOW missiles and shoulder-fired Javelins.

The latest aid package marks the 45th authorized presidential drawdown of military equipment from Defense Department inventories since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Once again, long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems known as ATACMS were not included in the package, drawing criticism from analysts such as retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, who served as the commanding general for U.S. Army forces in Europe from 2014 to 2017.

"Unfortunately, the Ukrainians are going to continue to suffer a lot of casualties because we, the West, have not provided capabilities that they need," Hodges told VOA on Tuesday. "And I'm talking specifically about long-range precision weapons."

Moscow began a renewed offensive in Ukraine earlier this year that has stalled.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has characterized the current counteroffensive against Russian forces as slow but steady, with Ukrainian forces inserting reserve troops and breaking through some elements of Russian forces' southeastern defensive lines this month.

"Ukraine continues to get after it and fight," Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder told VOA in a briefing at the Pentagon last Thursday. "They are making some progress along the front line, but it's going to be tough."

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Russia Says Military Downed Ukrainian Drones

By VOA News August 29, 2023

Russia's defense ministry said Tuesday its air defenses shot down two Ukrainian drones south of Moscow.

The ministry said the drones were downed over the Tula region. It did not give any details about any related damage.

Ukraine has routinely targeted Russia, including the Moscow region, with drones in recent weeks.

China is the main supplier of critical components for Russian drones used against Ukraine, The International Working Group on Russian Sanctions reports.

The group is co-chaired by Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, and former U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, director of the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Russia relies heavily on foreign-made components, especially microelectronics in three of the drone models used to attack Ukraine.

According to the study, 67% of drone component shipments come from China, while 17% of them are going through Hong Kong to Russia. Turkey and The United Arab Emirates account for 5% and 2% of the components, respectively.

Components made in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland and other countries, including processors, chips, transistors, and other vital components, were also found in the drones.

"Russia is extremely active in using drones for massive attacks on infrastructure, civilian and military targets in Ukraine, so it is very disturbing to see that important components for the production of hostile UAVs come from different countries, including Ukraine's allies. This issue requires our joint immediate response. We have to take comprehensive measures to prevent the aggressor from using critical components to continue hostilities on Ukrainian soil," noted Yermak.

The group's experts called on manufacturers to do more to prevent Russia from accessing their products while bypassing economic sanctions.

It also recommended that governments investigate well-known companies that do not comply with the sanctions policy.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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At the battle of Stirling Bridge, 11 September 1297, the movie Braveheart has William Wallace provoking the English to battle, saying "Here are Scotland's terms. Lower your flags, and march straight back to England, stopping at every home to beg forgiveness for 100 years of theft, rape, and murder. Do that and your men shall live. Do it not, and every one of you will die today. ... Before we let you leave, your commander must cross that field, present himself before this army, put his head between his legs, and kiss his own ass."

Putin's December 2021 Ultimatum

"a gun hanging on the wall" must fire sooner or later

A nuclear escalation was cited by some Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, as a scenario they want to avoid by restricting their involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. They also warned Moscow against deploying nuclear weapons in Ukraine, stating that this would be considered a major provocation. The Russian military doctrine allows the use of such weapons of ultimate resort either in retaliation for an attack against Russia or its allies with weapons of mass destruction, or during a conventional conflict that puts the Russian statehood at significant risk.

"The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters 14 April 2022. Guterres sounded the alarm over Russia raising the alert level for its nuclear forces after invading Ukraine, describing it as a "bone-chilling development."

NATO's entry into the conflict over Ukraine could turn into the beginning of a third world war, says European Council President Charles Michel. "We are doing our best not to aggravate the conflict," he argued. "Russia is a nuclear power, and we are well aware that if this conflict turns into a [conflict] between NATO and Russia, then we will come to a third world war."

Professor Steve Fetter from Maryland University, a nuclear disarmament expert and former White House adviser, said in February 2023 that the "risks of catastrophe are higher today than last year, perhaps than ever before, largely due to the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the threats that Putin has issued." Fetter was especially worried that Russia's suspension of New START  the only agreement between Washington and Moscow  could pose the biggest threat to nuclear disarmament the world has seen in decades. "It is disturbing to see not yet a collapse, but the possibility of a collapse, in US-Russian arms control efforts, which has been a continuous process over the last 50 years," he says.

In December 2021 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin unleashed the most profound nuclear crisis since the Cuban Missile crisis six decades ago. He made an explicit nuclear threat on 25 February 2022 : Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so, to create threats for our country, for our people, should know that Russias response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences that you have never experienced in your history. We are ready for any development. All decisions in that regard have been made.

It is a bit difficult to figuring out Russian aimpoints. Doctrinally, if Putin thinks Ukraine is part of Russia, then NATO forces going into Ukraine would be a nuclear redline. And Putin might regard his impending demise as an attempt to "destroy Russia as a state." But once VVP decides to go nuclear, what is the aimpoint? Presumably, the intent is to "escalate to de-escalate", so probably it would be a demonstration. Probably not in NATO. Aimpoint in Ukraine would pose fallout and collateral damage concerns. So probably VVP nukes NATO warships in the Black Sea. No collateral, little fallout, enough NATO KIA to show he is serious, but not so horrific as to require lobbing the big one into the men's room in the Kremlin.

Putin created the tensest point in US-Russia relations since the Cold War ended three decades ago. In December 2021 Russia presented a sweeping set of demands including for a ban on further NATO expansion and an end to the alliance's activity in central and eastern European countries that joined it after 1997. Russias proposal for ending the current crisis stipulates that the United States not deploy land-based intermediate- and short-range missiles in areas allowing them to reach [Russian territory]. The urgency with which Moscow sought to have its proposals addressed  not a menu of options to choose from but a package  was even more stunning.

Russia not only delivered an ultimatum to the United States and NATO; it delivered an ultimatum to itself. Russia cannot afford to fail in this confrontation. To fail would show that Russia is weak, irresolute and incompetent. By setting out the demands so starkly, Putin was burning his bridges: There was thus no way back, short of unacceptable political humiliation (which is not Putins style).

Putin appeared to be acting as if Russia was in a position to rewrite the end of the Cold War. In her book Putins World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest, Angela Stent writes that the Russian leader wants the West to treat Russia as if it were the Soviet Union and to renegotiate the end of the Cold War. Russia doesn't want any NATO troops, weapons or exercises in Ukraine in the same way that JFK didn't want Soviet missiles in Cuba.

In October 2018, Putin, speaking at the plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club, uttered a phrase about the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. We have a nuclear missile warning system. When we are convinced that the attack is on Russian territory, we then strike back. Of course, this is a worldwide catastrophe, but we cannot be the initiators of the catastrophe. The aggressor must know that retribution is inevitable. Well, we, as martyrs, will go to heaven, and they will simply die, because they wont even have time to repent, he said then.

On 21 February 2022, Putin, during a meeting of the Russian Security Council, said that "We know that there have already been statements that Ukraine intends to create its own nuclear weapons. This is not mere bravado. Ukraine has a Soviet technological backlog. The situation in the world with the appearance of WMD in Ukraine will change dramatically.

Putin, meeting with Members of the Valdai Discussion Club, remarked Oct 22, 2021 what if tomorrow there are missiles near Kharkov  what should we do then? We do not go there with our missiles  but missiles are being brought to our doorstep. Of course, we have a problem here.... Has anyone even reacted to our statement that we will not deploy this kind of missile in the European part if we produce them, if they tell us that no one will do so from the United States or Europe? No. They never responded. But we are adults, we are all adults here. What should we do in this situation? The distance between Kharkiv and Moscow is 650 kilometers (400 miles).

In December 1996, Nato allies declared they had no intention, no plan and no reason to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of new members  the so-called three nos. The Russians Plan B was probably not to invade Ukraine or bomb Estonia but to position their latest tactical and strategic weaponry in places that present to the United States and NATO the same existential threat and ultra-short warning times of attack that the U.S.-led encirclement of Russia presented to Moscow.

If NATO opts for the policy of deterrence, we will respond with a policy of counter-deterrence, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said. If it turns to intimidation, we will respond with counter-intimidation. If it looks for vulnerabilities in Russias defense system, we will look for NATOs vulnerabilities. Its not our choice, but we dont have other options if we dont overturn this current very dangerous course of events.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said 13 January 2022 that Moscow couldnt exclude dispatching military infrastructure to Venezuela or Cuba if tensions with Washington continued to rise. I dont want to confirm anything, I will not rule out anything Depends on the actions of our American colleagues, Ryabkov told privately owned Russian-language television network RTVi. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken out, including on this topic, about what could be the measures taken by the Russian navy if things go completely in the direction of provoking Russia and further increasing military pressure on us, said Rybakov.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov compared the situation to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when the world stood on the brink of nuclear war, consistent with the uncompromising line Russia signaled. Poland's foreign minister said in Vienna that Europe was closer to war than any time in the last 30 years and the U.S. envoy said the West should not give in to blackmail.

The sources of Putin's ultimatum were easy to understand, representing long-standing grievances against the post-Cold War situation of Russia. From Russias perspective, NATOs claims that it is a purely defensive alliance ring hollow after its attacks on Yugoslavia and Libya.

The timing of the ultimatum was less apparent. Putins demands for security guarantees from the United States and NATO caught many by surprise. Russia is a declining Great Power, with trends ranging from unfavorable demographics to global decarbonization all pointing to a future of diminished influence. Some observers had interpreted the American exit from Afghanistan as signaling the Biden administration's weakness. Germany faced the transition from Angela Merkel to a fragile tri-partite left coalition, while Britain was afflicted with post-Brexit woes and the shambolic Johnson premiership. Russia had seeminly formed and understanding with China to confront America with a challenge on two fronts, Taiwan and Ukraine. If not now, when?

Putin virtually invited Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping to support the Russian ultimatum vis-a-vis the United States and NATO. China was displeased with Washington dragging Europe into its China containment agenda. Putin on 15 December 2021 held a videocall with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Putin told Xi that "a new model of cooperation has been formed between our countries" that includes a "determination to turn our common border into a belt of eternal peace and good-neighbourliness". China's relationships with multiple Western allies had cratered in recent years over a host of issues.

Much of the Russian problem has been the seeming absence of a not-incredible pathway to Russian first use of nuclear weapons. As someone once said "It is not a thing a sane man would do", and early trepidation concerning the madness of Putin have faded. Initially, scenario-builders focused on the use of tactical ["low yield" Hiroshima-sized bombs] in theater, possibly against Ukrainian troop concentrations, or maybe a demonstrations shot over the Black Sea. Such scenarios were nnt overly convincing, but sufficiently troublesome to provoke a "semi-official" response from GEN. David Petraeus [USA, Rtd.] in October 2022 that the US and its NATO allies would use conventional forces to destroy Russian troops and equipment in Ukraine - and sink its entire Black Sea fleet. That is, rather than responding nuke-for-nuke, follow the "no early second use" policy long advocated by Jeremy Stone.

This response largely abated overt Western fears of Russian nuclear weapons, but did not abate Russian enthusiasm for making such threats. In the subsequent year, Former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has become a parody of himself with weekly threats of atomic fire and brimstone, largely to little avail. Various supposed Red Lines were crossed with nary a quiver from Moscow's nuclear arsenal

The first step in the escalation ladder from conventional to nuclear weapons was in fact a giant leap. Russian political scientist Sergei Karaganov, the honorary head of the presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy of the Russian Federation, was most eloquent in arguing in late September 2023 for an increase in the nuclear threat. I hope , without implementing it to the end. But the enemy must know about the unconditional readiness of our leadership and society to take this step in case of emergency. We need to return faith in hell to those who have lost it,"

Around that time there was also evidence of renewed Russian interest in their Novaya Zemlya nuclear test range, silent since the end of the Cold War. Then on 03 October 2023 Margarita Simonova, editor-in-chief of the Russian Today propaganda empire, proposed using a nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon.

This plan might proceed in eight stages:

description of the concept, already in progress.

Denunciation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, already in progress.

Announcement of an intention to resuming testing.

Conduct an underground nuclear test in the Arctic.

A nuclear test in space above Siberia, creating a damaging EMP over Russian territory and crippling many satellites in space.

A nuclear attack against the US, with a nuclear detonation in space, over Manhattan, which could cause a blackout across the Northeastern United States and damage or destroy electronic devices.

A nuclear attack against the entire US, with a nuclear detonation in space, over the central USA, which could cause a blackout across the whole USA, and damage or destroy electronic devices.

further escalation

President Vladimir Putin on 05 October 2023 stated I hear calls to start testing nuclear weapons, to return to testing... I am not ready to say whether we really need to conduct tests or not. America's meager inventory of anti-missile interceptors might intercept a handful or so of incoming Russian hydrogen bombs, but the American store of interceptors would be long exhausted before the Russians depleted their atomic stockpile. And the Russian warheads might be fused to detonate when intercepted, complicating rather than solving the problem.





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Ukrainian Biological Weapons

US President Joe Biden warned 21 March 2022 that Russia may be considering using biological or chemical weapons against Ukraine. Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin's "back is against the wall" because of unified support from Western countries for Ukraine. He warned that Putin may turn to more intense tactics. He said Putin is asserting that both Ukraine and the United States have biological and chemical weapons, which is "simply not true." He explained, "That's a clear sign he's considering using both of those."

A biological agent is an infectious disease. They can be naturally occurring or be used in biological warfare. There are more than 1200 different kinds of biological agents, some of which can be used as biological weapons. Although it signed the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the Soviet Union covertly developed the worlds largest offensive biological weapons program, which relied on a network of military and nonmilitary scientific institutes, according to a January 2000 Department of Defense report to Congress. The United States achieved some access to more than 30 former Soviet biological weapons institutes in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Armenia. The United States remained concerned about the extent of Russias compliance with the Convention.

The U.S. Department of Defenses Biological Threat Reduction Program collaborates with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks (deliberate, accidental, or natural) of the worlds most dangerous infectious diseases. The program accomplishes its bio-threat reduction mission through development of a bio-risk management culture; international research partnerships; and partner capacity for enhanced bio-security, bio-safety, and bio-surveillance measures. The Biological Threat Reduction Programs priorities in Ukraine are to consolidate and secure pathogens and toxins of security concern and to continue to ensure Ukraine can detect and report outbreaks caused by dangerous pathogens before they pose security or stability threats.

Sanitary-Epidemiological Department (SED) of the Medical Command of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense received four mobile laboratories from DTRA with the goal of reinforcing the system of epidemiological surveillance in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense received an official Order from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine concerning the deployment of the mobile labs to the regions of Kyiv, Lviv and Eastern Ukraine to help with the COVID-19 response.

In order to assist Ukraine in preventing the proliferation of technology, pathogens, and expertise that are located at the Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene (Lviv), the Ukrainian Scientific Research Anti-Plague Institute (Odessa), the Central Sanitary Epidemiological Station (Kyiv), and other facilities in Ukraine identified by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, and that could be used in the development of biological weapons, the U.S. Department of Defense agreed 29 August 2005 to provide assistance to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine at no cost, material (including equipment, instruments, and other supplies), training of personnel and services for the purpose of preventing the proliferation of technology, pathogens and expertise that are located at facilities in Ukraine and that could be used in the development of biological weapons.

The United Nations is not aware of any biological weapons program in Ukraine, the U.N. disarmament chief told a Security Council meeting 11 March 2022, but warned that the possibility of an accident at Ukraine nuclear power plants was growing by the day. Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting requested by Russia, to discuss Moscows claims, presented without evidence, of U.S. biological activities, Izumi Nakamitsu said situations like the war in Ukraine required strengthening of the international ban on biological weapons.

The World Health Organization (WHO) advised Ukraine to destroy high-threat pathogens housed in the countrys public health laboratories to prevent any potential spills that would spread disease among the population. In response to questions from the news agency about its work with Ukraine ahead of and during Russias invasion, WHO said in an email that it has collaborated with Ukrainian public health labs for several years to promote security practices that help prevent accidental or deliberate release of pathogens. The UN agency said As part of this work, WHO has strongly recommended to the Ministry of Health in Ukraine and other responsible bodies to destroy high-threat pathogens to prevent any potential spills. The Pentagon believes that the information provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense about the presence in Ukraine of biological laboratories for the implementation of Kiev's military biological program is "false and absurd." The European Union is aware of the information about the US biological laboratories on the territory of Ukraine, which was presented by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, but does not trust it, Peter Stano, a representative of the EU foreign service, told reporters.

Russia, through its actions in Ukraine, is saving the world from a full-scale nuclear and biological war, which the United States planned to start from the territory of Ukraine, the council of the international association of veterans of the Alpha anti-terror unit said in a statement 11 March 2022.

The State Duma adopted an appeal to the UN and the OSCE PA on 11 March 2022 with a call to investigate the activities of biological laboratories in Ukraine, where experiments could be carried out to develop bioweapons. The State Duma will initiate a parliamentary investigation into the work of biological laboratories together with the Federation Council, one of the first to be interviewed is US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said. Ukrainian authorities have been instructed to scrub clean evidence related to the operation of a Pentagon-funded biological warfare program in Ukraine, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said 06 March 2022. "To prevent the disclosure of facts of violations by the United States and Ukraine of Article 1 of the Biological Weapons Convention, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health sent instructions to all biological laboratories to urgently eliminate stored stocks of dangerous pathogens," Konashenkov said in a briefing.

The military spokesman accompanied his remarks with excerpts of documents provided by employees of Ukrainian biolabs regarding a 24 February letter by Ukrainian Minister of Health Viktor Liashko ordering the destruction of pathogens including anthrax, the plague, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases.

"The documents confirm that the development of biological weapons components were carried out in Ukrainian biolaboratories in close proximity to Russian territory," Konashenkov said. "Obviously, with the start of the [Russian] special military operation [in Ukraine], the Pentagon has been given cause for serious concerns about the disclosures of the secret biological experiments being carried out on Ukrainian territory. In the near future, we will present the results of an analysis of the documents received," the spokesman promised.

The Russian Ministry of Defense presented an analysis of the conduct of US military biological activities on the territory of Ukraine. In particular, the infrastructure of funded laboratories is presented. Among them are research institutes and sanitary and epidemiological laboratories, including the Kyiv Research Institute of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases. L. V. Gromashevsky, Institute of Veterinary Medicine in Kyiv, Center for Public Health of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in Kyiv, Institute of Microbiology and Immunology. I. I. Mechnikov in Kharkov, Ukrainian Research Anti-Plague Institute. II Mechnikov in Odessa and the Lvov Research Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene. In total, funding amounted to about $200 million. Among the US activities in the framework of military biological research on the territory of Ukraine are monitoring of the biological situation, selection and transfer of strains and biomaterials, including those obtained from military personnel, as well as research work.

As many as 30 biological laboratories have been established in Ukraine that are actively cooperating with the US military, the commander of the Russian radiological, chemical and biological defense force, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, said at a news briefing 07 March 2022. The list of these laboratories partners includes the Pentagons Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR)  the largest biomedical research facility administered by the US military. Many of these laboratories have been active since the 2014 coup detat in Ukraine and their emergence in the country has coincided with a spike in infectious diseases in the region, including German measles, diphtheria and tuberculosis, the Russian military said.

Russia has released more documents on supposed Pentagon bioweapons research in Ukraine. The presented materials also show a map of the deterioration of the biological situation in Europe and the world. In particular, according to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in Europe, Ukraine showed the highest rates of measles in 2018. Shortly thereafter, the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense was no longer available. The claim that the United States is illegally researching pathogens in the Pentagon-controlled biological laboratories in Ukraine and Georgia, i.e. in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention, is not new.

Analysis of the documents shows that the laboratories had been working with dangerous infections such as anthrax and the plague. Assortment and the excessive quantity of the biological agents suggest that the work done in these laboratories had been part of some military biological programs, the general has said, adding that just one such laboratory in the western Ukrainian city of Lvov had destroyed as many as 320 containers with pathogens causing plague, swamp fever and Malta fever among others.

If these collections fall into the hands of the Russian experts, they will highly likely prove Ukraine and the US have been in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention, Kirillov has said, adding that this is the only reason that can explain the hasty destruction of those materials.

Moscow had been raising alarm about the activities of the US-financed biological laboratories located in the former Soviet states for quite some time. Earlier, it pointed to the Lugar Research Center  a US-funded laboratory in Georgia  as a place where some dangerous experiments are being conducted. The Pentagon brushed off such accusations as a Russian disinformation campaign at that time.

China has urged the US to make full clarification of its biological militarization activities at home and abroad and accept multilateral inspections, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry on 08 March 2022, following media reports that revealed a network of about 30 biological laboratories were formed in Ukraine at the request of the US. The US' biological laboratories in Ukraine have aroused great concern, Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in remarks during a press conference. Zhao cited media reports as saying that the biological laboratories store large quantities of dangerous viruses, and Russia found during its military operations that the US was using these facilities for biomilitary projects.

The US' biological military activities in Ukraine are just the "tip of the iceberg," said Zhao, noting that the US Department of Defense controls a total of 336 biological laboratories in 30 countries in the name of reducing biosecurity risks and strengthening global public health. "What is the real intention of the US? What exactly did it do?" Zhao questioned, stressing that the international community has always had misgivings, but the US has always responded perfunctorily.

One of the tasks of the United States and its allies is the creation of bioagents capable of selectively infecting various ethnic groups, in particular the Slavs. This was stated on 10 March 2022 by Igor Kirillov, head of the radiation, chemical and biological (RCB) protection troops of the Russian Armed Forces, at a briefing on the results of an analysis of documents related to the US military biological activities in Ukraine. He noted that representatives of Western states are extremely cautious about the transfer of their biomaterials, while a large amount of blood serum from residents of various regions of Ukraine belonging exclusively to the Slavic ethnic group was transferred abroad. "With a high degree of probability, we can say that one of the tasks of the United States and its allies is the creation of bioagents capable of selectively infecting various ethnic groups of the population," Kirillov said.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on 10 March 2022 that the US government is lying about the secret bio laboratories in Ukraine, indirectly confirming that it was sponsoring what are said to be "deadly" biological weapons. He referred to recent remarks made by Victoria Nuland during her testimony before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Ukraine on 08 March 2022. When asked whether the Ukrainian authorities have biological weapons at their disposal, she noted that "Ukraine has biological research facilities" and Washington is "quite concerned" that research materials may fall into the hands of Russian troops.

Carlson concluded that "under oath in an open committee hearing, Toria Nuland just confirmed that the Russian disinformation they've been telling us for days is a lie and a conspiracy theory and crazy and immoral to believe is, in fact, totally and completely true".

"You don't hear things like that every day in Washington. Talk about a showstopper and a dozen questions instantly jump to mind", he said. What exactly are they doing in these secret Ukrainian bio labs? Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe. It's hardly a hotbed of biomedical research".

Carlson assumed "these weren't pharmaceutical labs, probably not developing new leukemia drugs". He said "From your answer, Toria Nuland, we would assume because you all but said it, that there's a military application to this research, that they were working on bioweapons. Again, your answer suggests that".

An unsigned [ie, official CCP viewpoint] editorial in Global Times published 10 March 2022, stated "There is no smoke without fire. Some netizens commented that the Americans seem to have a special preference for making vampire-themed movies, and the prototype of the vampire comes from bat. The Americans' experiments with bat coronavirus have cultural origins. Discussions about US bio labs in Ukraine are turning heated.... With the revelation that US-funded biological labs in Ukraine were conducting experiments with bat coronavirus samples, the US owes the world an explanation.

"Regarding US bio labs across the world, many questions remain to be answered. The international community has no idea whether the US' 336 overseas bio labs and the labs on its soil such as Fort Detrick conform to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), while what is conducted inside these bio labs involves human security. Why has the US been standing alone in obstructing the establishment of a BWC verification mechanism and refusing verification of its biological facilities at home and abroad for the past two decades?"

An unsigned [ie, official CCP viewpoint] editorial in Global Times published 11 March 2022, stated "Biological military activities are not trivial. It is reasonable and legitimate for the international community to question the US for that. Right after WWII, the US spent 250,000 yen (several thousand US dollars at that time) on acquiring the infamous Unit 731's data, but never published what the data was used for. In nearly 30 years, the number of P4 labs on US soil increased by 750 percent - accompanied by an increasing risk of virus leakage. Because of protests from within, the US chose to establish labs overseas. Over the years, however, there have been deadly leaks linked to US military biological labs in Ukraine, South Korea, Kazakhstan and Georgia. But angry protests in those countries were simply crushed by the US manipulating public opinion.

"Biological weapons are seen as weapons of mass destruction together with nuclear and chemical weapons. Any suspicion of private development of biological weapons must be promptly investigated. Russia's information release was very specific and should draw the attention of the international community. The veracity of those materials must be determined by a multi-party inspection team led by an authoritative international organization, rather than by the US alone. The US should know that smearing others cannot bleach itself. If it is really innocent as it claims, it should take the opportunity to publish what is the truth and receive multi-party investigations to prove its innocence."

Yevgeniy Golovchenko, a specialist in Russian disinformation campaigns at the University of Copenhagen, is not surprised by China encouraging these rumours about secret US biolabs in Ukraine. "We should not forget that there have already been heated exchanges between Beijing and Washington about secret laboratories during the Covid-19 pandemic," he told FRANCE 24 12 March 2022, referring to the controversy surrounding the origin of the Sars-Cov-2 virus. While some Western conspiracy theorists believe it was manufactured in a laboratory in Wuhan, China has accused the US army of being behind its emergence. For Beijing, this new conspiracy theory has arrived at the right time. It allows China to show support for its ally Vladimir Putin without committing too openly to the invasion of Ukraine, explained Golovchenko.

the Russian disinformation theory has also found supporters in the heart of the United States. Followers of QAnon, a conspiracy theory that alleges Trump is saving the United States from a satanic group of paedophiles, were among the first to justify the invasion of Ukraine as a Russian attempt to destroy dangerous military laboratories. People close to Trump, such as former strategist Steve Bannon and Republican Senator Marco Rubio, have officially asked the White House for explanations about the activity in these Ukrainian laboratories.

The online popularity of the claims suggests some Americans are willing to trust the Kremlin over the US media and government. Others cited the claim while repeating Russia's talking points about the assault. Its not a 'war,' its a much needed cleansing, wrote a member of a Telegram group called Patriot Voices that is popular with supporters of Trump. Ukraine has a ton of US govt funded BioWeapons Labs that created deathly pathogens and viruses. For decades, Moscow has consistently accused Washington of secretly developing biological weapons. This has been a common thread of Russian propaganda since the beginning of the Cold War in 1949, explained Milton Leitenberg, an American expert on weapons of mass destruction, in a 2021 study on the history of the subject. Moscow suggested in 1950 that the United States was sending Colorado potato beetles that had been infected with a new virus to poison potato crops in East Germany.

Russia has been particularly effective in promoting the idea that the US weaponises viruses for use against its enemies. Golovchenko noted that a particularly effective disinformation campaign along these lines ran from 1985 to the end of the 2000s, when the Kremlin claimed that Washington was the source of the AIDS virus and was using it to target African and African-American populations". The AIDS conspiracy theory appeared in "2,000 newspapers across 25 countries since 1985, noted Leitenberg. In his study he pointed out that well-known personalities from the African-American community publicly expressed varying levels of support for this conspiracy theory, including "Will Smith, Bill Cosby and Spike Lee"

On 16 March 2022, Putin said "In Ukraine, there was also a network of dozens of laboratories, where, under the direction and financial support of the Pentagon, military biological programs were carried out, including experiments with samples of coronavirus, anthrax, cholera, African swine fever and other deadly diseases. The traces of these secret programs are now strenuously trying to cover up. But we have every reason to believe that in the immediate vicinity of Russia, on the territory of Ukraine, in fact, components of biological weapons were created."

An investment firm connected to US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, has been involved in the financing of the Pentagon's military biological program in Ukraine, Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces, mentioned during a briefing on 24 March 2022. "Incoming material allowed us to trace the interaction scheme between US government agencies and the Ukrainian biolab," Kirillov said, adding that the involvement in financing these activities by structures close to current US leadership, in particular Hunter Biden's Rosemont Seneca investment fund, draws attention to itself. According to information from the Russian Ministry of Defense, the fund has at least $2.4 billion in investment capital.

The Ukrainian regime made attempts to convert Turkish Bayraktar UAVs into carriers of chemical and biological weapons, Igor Kirillov, head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense forces of the Russian Armed Forces, said on March 31 at a briefing on the results of an analysis of documents on US military biological activities in Ukraine. The request of the Ukrainian company Motor Sich to the Turkish manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles Bayraktar attracts attention. I want to emphasize that this document is dated December 15, 2021. Its essence: is it possible to equip this UAV with systems and mechanisms for spraying aerosols with a capacity of more than 20 liters. With a flight range of such a UAV - up to 300 km and equipment of containers with biological formulations - a real threat is created of large-scale use of biological weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation. In fact, we are talking about the development by the Kiev regime of technical means for the delivery and use of biological weapons with the possibility of their use against the Russian Federation, Kirillov emphasized.

In particular, he recalled the drone for the spread of infected insects in the air. So, the US Patent and Trademark Office issued document No. 8,967,029 for an unmanned aerial vehicle for spreading infected insects in the air. The patent description states that with the help of this device, enemy troops can be destroyed or disabled without risk to US military personnel,  said Kirillov. They were presented with photocopies of other patents for various types of ammunition for the delivery of chemical and biological formulations. In their description, the characteristics are noted: ... low unit cost of destruction and no need for contact with enemy manpower .... This is in line with Washington's "non-contact war" concept. The possibility of equipping capsules with poisonous, radioactive, narcotic substances, as well as pathogens of infectious diseases has been shown , the Russian general noted.

On March 31, the Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Office and International Organizations in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov , announced documentary evidence of the implementation by Germany of a military biological program in Ukraine for the purpose of experiments on deadly diseases. In addition to research and scientific experiments in Ukraine, biomaterials and strains of especially dangerous biological agents were transferred from its territory to the military laboratories of the United States and a number of other countries, including Great Britain, Georgia and Germany.

The son of the incumbent US President, Hunter Biden , in his correspondence with employees of the Pentagon and his contracting companies, confirmed that biolaboratories in Ukraine were not engaged in science at all, Igor Kirillov , head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the RF Armed Forces, said on March 31 at a briefing on the results of the analysis of documents on military -biological activities of the United States in Ukraine. He recalled the involvement of the investment fund, managed by Hunter Biden, in financing US biological programs in Ukraine.

A parliamentary investigation in the Russian Federation established the facts of the deliberate distribution of banknotes infected with tuberculosis in the Luhansk People's Republic in 2020, Igor Kirillov, head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, said at an informal meeting of the UN Security Council on the "Arria formula" on 06 April 2022. "As part of a parliamentary investigation conducted by the Russian Federation, the facts of the deliberate distribution in 2020 of banknotes infected with the Asian strain of tuberculosis among minors on the territory of the Luhansk People's Republic were established. The organizers of this crime took into account the behavior of children who have a habit of putting everything in their mouths and taking food with unwashed hands. The investigation is ongoing," Kirillov said.

On 20 June 2022, Russia accused Ukraine of conducting "chemical terrorism" and poisoning a number of its troops, saying a number of soldiers had been taken ill and transfered to a military hospital. Subsequent tests showed the presence of botulinum toxin type B in their bodies. Ukraine's Interior Ministry put the blame on Russia, commenting that Russia had failed to "clarify whether the poisoning could have been caused by expired canned meat", as Botulinum toxin type B can cause botulism when ingested in contaminated food products. This appeared to refer also to well-documented reports at the beginning of the war, of Russian troops being supplied with expired military rations.





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Ukraine Chemical Weapons

US President Joe Biden warned 21 March 2022 that Russia may be considering using biological or chemical weapons against Ukraine. Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin's "back is against the wall" because of unified support from Western countries for Ukraine. He warned that Putin may turn to more intense tactics. He said Putin is asserting that both Ukraine and the United States have biological and chemical weapons, which is "simply not true." He explained, "That's a clear sign he's considering using both of those."

Ukraine has no chemical weapons program, although some remnants of the Soviet chemical warfare infrastructure remained in Ukraine as of 1997. Ukrarine's territory was used by Soviet government for chemical weapons storage and testing prior to 1991. Ukraine returned all chemical weapons to Russia for elimination following independence. Ukraine is a signatory of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which requires countries to destroy all chemical weapons and prohibits developing, stockpiling, or using chemical weapons.

"Chemical Weapons" means: Toxic chemicals and their precursors, except where intended for purposes not prohibited under this Convention, as long as the types and quantities are consistent with such purposes; Munitions and devices, specifically designed to cause death or other harm through the toxic properties of those toxic chemicals specified in subparagraph (a), which would be released as a result of the employment of such munitions and devices. "Toxic Chemical" means: any chemical which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm to humans or animals. This includes all such chemicals, regardless of their origin or of their method of production, and regardless of whether they are produced in facilities, in munitions or elsewhere.

Russias false statements about chemical weapons attacks being prepared by Ukraine in the lead-up to their premeditated invasion are an example of disinformation staging false pretexts for war. The Russian government continued to conduct this sort of misinformation operation in a transparent attempt to justify the unjustifiable.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, called the Russian accusations preposterous and said the United States does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere. Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them, she wrote on Twitter on 09 March 2022, adding: Its a clear pattern.

On December 21, at an extended meeting of the board of the Russian Ministry of Defense, chaired by Vladimir Putin, the head of the ministry, Sergey Shoigu, made the following surprising statement: We have established the presence of over 120 employees of American private military companies in the localities of Avdiyivka and Pryazovske in Donetsk region. They are equipping firing positions in residential buildings and critical infrastructure facilities, preparing Ukrainian special operations forces and radical armed groups for active hostilities. Tanks with an unidentified chemical agent were delivered to the cities of Avdiyivka and Krasnyi Lyman to carry out provocations.

Russian disinformation channels instantly turned "tanks with an unidentified chemical agent" into "proven facts" of chemical weapons available to Kyiv and Ukraines alleged readiness to actually use them. Allegedly, this was supposed to happen with the help of American mercenaries Shoigu mentioned.

This was not the first time that Russia had accused Ukraine of fake chemical weapons, according to Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Mariana Bezugla. Similar statements were made in 2016 and 2018. But today the scale of the informatics and its circumstances are special. "The attack is taking place in the context of growing Russian forces on Ukraine's borders and significant international tensions," she said.

The statements of the Minister of Defense of Russia about the alleged preparation of provocations in Donbass with the use of chemical weapons are another example of Russian disinformation, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (MFA) called the statement of Russian Defense Minister Serhiy Shoigu that the US military allegedly brought chemical weapons to Donbas and was preparing a provocation insinuations. This was announced on 22 December 2021, Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko. "We categorically reject the insinuations towards Ukraine made during the meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. for possible further provocations of its troops on Ukrainian territory, " said Nikolenko.

Shoigu's statement was called untrue by the United States. According to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, Sergei Shoigu's statement about the provocation with chemical weapons is completely untrue. Moreover, US State Department spokesman Ned Price called on Russia to "stop using false, inciting rhetoric" and take steps to de-escalate the situation. "Contrary to statements by Russia's defense minister, Russia and its representatives are responsible for escalating tensions, not Ukraine or the United States," he wrote.

On December 24, the international intelligence community InformNapalm published the Report on information countermeasures, which may be a document for internal use drawn up by the so-called ministry of information of the DPR. In the paper, propagandists admit they are the ones behind the fake story involving chemical weapons. The most recent of the 54 information subversions in 2021, on which Donetsk Goebbelses report to their Russian handlers, is preparation for the publication (once a special order is issued) of disinformation and staged photographs on the shipment of chemical weapons to the area near the contact line by Ukrainian military servicemen together with American and NATO specialists.

Then, throughout January, the Russian media actively covered the topic of the chemical attack in Donbass. The so-called "spies" of the terrorist organizations of the Luhansk People's Republic / DPR actively visited the propagandists of Skabeeva, Solovyov and others, who spoke about "provocations planned by Ukraine together with the United States." In particular, "chemical weapons" are stored in army depots in Balaklia (Kharkiv region), Lyman and Priazovsky (Donetsk region). And the direct use of an unnamed combat toxin, which "causes botulism" in the victims, is planned near Avdiivka. On 04 March 2022, the website www.naturalnews.com posted that the United States manufactured chemical weapons in Ukraine near the Russian border, htough they were evidentlly unable to distinguish between chemical and biological weapons. This website also published a discussion of the " trifecta of death science weapons which are now aimed at humanity. What Im calling the death science trifecta consists of the coronavirus (biological weapons), 5G towers (electromagnetic weapons) and vaccines (chemical weapons). In combination, they are designed to enslave and then exterminate most human beings living today." The website is also warning about fluoridation of water.

On February 23, 2022, the Russian Federation military, at the direction of Vladimir Putin, began a premeditated brutal assault on the people of Ukraine without provocation, without justification, and without necessity, making outlandish, false, and baseless claims that Ukraine was about to invade and launch a war against Russia and that Ukraine was prepared to use chemical weapons, and that Ukraine had committed genocide.

Russia is extremely concerned that nationalists in Ukraine may use chemical weapons. This was stated by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OPCW Alexander Shulgin, speaking at the 99th session of the Executive Council of the organization.

Nationalists are preparing provocations in Ukraine using toxic substances to accuse Russia of allegedly using chemical weapons, for this, about 80 tons of ammonia were delivered to the village of Zolochev northwest of Kharkov, said the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov on 09 March 2022.

Polish President Andrzej Duda openly issued a challenge. "If [Russian President Vladimir Putin] uses any weapons of mass destruction (WMD) then this will be a game changer," he told the BBC on 13 March 2022. "For sure, [NATO's] North Atlantic alliance and its leaders, led by the United States, will have to sit at the table and they will really have to think seriously what to do because then it starts to be dangerous," Duda said.

When DW asked Stoltenberg on 15 March 2022 whether such an action would change NATO's position, the NATO chief stuck to the script. "The president of the United States and other allies also made it very clear that if they use chemical weapons, there will be a high price to pay, he said. "But I will not speculate about any military response from the NATO side except for saying very clearly that NATO's main responsibility is to make sure that we defend and protect all allies, he added.

NATO doesn't have chemical weapons, but it might want to leave some ambiguity as to whether, if it's attacked with weapons of mass destruction, it might respond with its own weapons of mass destruction, which would not be chemical but would be nuclear.

On the evening of March 21, Ukrainian radicals carried out a provocation at the Sumykhimprom plant, which resulted in an ammonia leak. This was announced on 22 March 2022 by Dmitry Polyansky, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN. On the evening of March 21, Ukrainian nationalists carried out a provocation in the city of Sumy, as a result of which ammonia leaked from the Sumykhimprom plant, Polyansky said. The first deputy permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the UN said that the Russian military "did not plan or carry out strikes against facilities in Ukraine that store or produce toxic substances"

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on 24 March 2022 warned Russia against using chemical weapons in Ukraine. Should Russia be preparing a false-flag operation in order to use such [chemical and biological] weapons [in Ukraine], this would be in violation of all rules, agreements and conventions, he told journalists in Brussels.

Any use of chemical weapons by Russia in its war in Ukraine could cause contamination in NATO territory, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned 24 March 2022. Any use of chemical weapons would fundamentally change the nature of the conflict  it would be a blatant violation of international law, and it will have widespread and severe consequences, he said ahead of the NATO summit. The seriousness of using chemical weapons, of course, becomes even more obvious knowing that there is a risk always for contamination we can see the spread of chemical agents also into NATO territory, he said. The Ukrainian regime made attempts to convert Turkish Bayraktar UAVs into carriers of chemical and biological weapons, Igor Kirillov, head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense forces of the Russian Armed Forces, said on March 31 at a briefing on the results of an analysis of documents on US military biological activities in Ukraine.





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NEWARK, Del, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Surface Disinfectant Products Market Size is reached US$ 35.4 billion in 2022. Demand for is estimated to surpass US$ 37.5 billion in 2023. In the forecast period between 2023 and 2033, demand is poised to exhibit a 5.3% CAGR.



Revenues are anticipated to cross around US$ 62.8 billion by the end of 2033. Surface disinfectants play a vital role in preventing the spread of infections in healthcare facilities, schools, homes, and public spaces.

Strict regulations and guidelines from health authorities have spurred innovation and compliance in the formulation and marketing of surface disinfectant products. Not only healthcare, but sectors such as hospitality, transportation, and retail also require reliable disinfectants to ensure safe environments for their customers.

International travel and trade require stringent disinfection protocols, driving the need for effective and internationally recognized surface disinfectant solutions. Recent viral outbreaks have highlighted the importance of being prepared with effective disinfection measures, driving institutional and individual demand.

Request Sample Report and Conquer the Surface Disinfectant Products Market with Exponential Growth: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-17889

The expanding healthcare sector, including hospitals, clinics, and outpatient facilities, drives the need for high-quality disinfectants to maintain sterile environments. Healthcare providers need to be prepared for potential outbreaks. Surface disinfectants become crucial tools in containing the spread of diseases during epidemics or pandemics.

Operating rooms and surgical equipment need to be thoroughly disinfected to prevent post-operative infections, making disinfectants indispensable in the healthcare setting. Nursing homes and long-term care facilities house vulnerable populations. Disinfecting surfaces is vital to protect residents from contagious illnesses.

Healthcare facilities are required to meet strict hygiene and safety standards set by health authorities. Proper use of disinfectants helps them stay compliant. Disinfecting surfaces minimize the risk of healthcare workers being exposed to infectious agents while providing care, enhancing their safety.

Patients expect a clean and safe environment when seeking medical care. Regular disinfection can boost public trust in healthcare facilities. Laboratories and research facilities require a sterile environment to prevent contamination of experiments. This makes disinfectants essential for maintaining accuracy.

Even in telemedicine consultations, equipment and spaces used for remote setups need to be disinfected to prevent potential transmission of infections. Ambulances, emergency rooms, and first responder vehicles require frequent disinfection to avoid the spread of pathogens in emergencies.

The healthcare sector needs to adapt quickly to new disease variants or emerging pathogens, leading to increased use of disinfectants to contain potential outbreaks. Patients recovering from surgeries or medical procedures are more susceptible to infections. Proper disinfection is crucial for their well-being.

Dental clinics rely heavily on disinfection to maintain a clean and sterile environment, safeguarding patients during oral procedures. Facilities that produce medications require a sterile environment to prevent contamination, driving demand for disinfectant products.

Disinfection is essential for food processing, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing sectors to ensure product safety and regulatory compliance.

Get our comprehensive report with a dynamic dashboard showcasing industry giants, their market dominance, competitive landscape, and regional insights. Buy now at Special Discounts: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/17889

Key Takeaways from the Report:

The global market is expected to reach a valuation of US$ 62.8 billion by the end of 2033.

is expected to reach a valuation of by the end of 2033. Sales of surface disinfectant products are expanding at 5.3% CAGR over the forecast period.

over the forecast period. The United Kingdom is poised to have a valuation of US$ 2.2 billion by 2033.

by 2033. Japan is estimated to reach a market valuation of US$ 11.7 billion by 2033.

by 2033. By product, the liquid segment is estimated to have a value CAGR of 5.1% from 2023 to 2033.





Astonishing demand from the hospitality sector is likely to fuel demand for surface disinfectant products during the forecast period. Key companies are focusing on creating eco-friendly disinfectants that are less harmful to humans and the environment. This category of disinfectants is likely to present sizeable revenue opportunities through 2033. - says a lead analyst at Future Market Insights (FMI)

Competitive Landscape

Key players ensuring products meet regulatory standards and guidelines, is crucial to gain trust and credibility in the market. They are tailoring disinfectant solutions for specific sectors or environments, such as healthcare, hospitality, or industrial settings, can lead to increased demand.

Key companies are working on continuous research into new disinfectant technologies and testing methodologies keeps manufacturers at the forefront of product efficacy.

Recent development:

In October 2022, to specifically meet the demands of hospitals, clinics, labs, and other medical and healthcare setups, Deepak Fertilizers and Petrochemicals Corporation (DFPCL) has introduced Cororid disinfection solutions.

to specifically meet the demands of hospitals, clinics, labs, and other medical and healthcare setups, Deepak Fertilizers and Petrochemicals Corporation (DFPCL) has introduced Cororid disinfection solutions. In April 2020, the Savlon Surface Disinfectant Spray has been introduced by ITC's Savlon line of personal care products. Savlon claims that the spray destroys 99.99% of germs in the house, including viruses, bacteria, molds, and fungus.

Curious About How We Crafted Insights? Peek into Our Detailed Report Methodology! https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/request-report-methodology/rep-gb-17889

Scope of the Report

Attribute Details Estimated Market Size (2023) US$ 37.5 billion Projected Market Valuation (2033) US$ 62.8 billion Value-based CAGR (2023 to 2033) 5.3% Historical Data 2018 to 2022 Forecast Period 2023 to 2033 Quantitative Units Value (US$ million) Segments Covered Raw Material



Product



Distribution Channel



Region Regions Covered North America, Latin America, East Asia, South Asia Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa Key Countries Covered United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, GCC Countries, India, China, Japan and Australia Key Companies Profiled 3M



GOJO Industries, Inc.



Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC



BODE Chemie GmbH



Ecolab





Surface Disinfectant Products Market Outlook by Category

By Raw Material:

Synthetic

Biobased

Blends



By Product:

Liquid

Wipes

Sprays



By Distribution Channel:

B2B

B2C

Get More Valuable Insights

FMI has released an objective assessment of the global market, presenting past demand data from 2018 to 2022 and projecting forecast statistics for the 2023 to 2033 period.

Surface disinfectant products market by product raw material (synthetic, biobased, and blends), product (liquid, wipes, and sprays), distribution channel (B2B, and B2C) across the region from 2023 to 2033

Have a Look at Trending Reports of Chemicals & Materials Domain:

Industrial & Institutional Cleaning Chemicals Market Share: The global market share is anticipated to be valued at about US$ 158.1 billion by 2033 end.

Cleaning-In-Place Market: The cleaning-in-place market reaches a valuation of US$ 7.79 billion in 2023, with a projected CAGR of 8.7% from 2023 to 2033.

Surface Disinfectant Chemicals Market Trends: FMI forecasts the revenue share of the surface disinfectant chemicals market to expand from US$ 3.9 billion in 2023 to US$ 5.8 billion by 2033.

Disinfectant Chemicals Market Outlook: The global disinfectant chemicals market is forecasted to surge at a CAGR of 5% from 2022 to 2032, expanding to US$ 4 Billion by 2032.

Wetting Agent Market Demand: The wetting agent market is experiencing a profound transformation as manufacturers respond to the growing commercial significance of wetting agents across diverse industries.

Trona Market Growth: The glass manufacturers majorly drive the trona market. Trona, being a non-energy commodity, is not directly affected by the oil and natural gas prices.

Sodium Lactate Market Type: The sodium lactate market size is estimated at US$ 165 million in 2023 and is expected to reach US$ 390 million by 2033.

Fly Ash Bricks Market Analysis Forecast: One major factor driving the demand for fly ash bricks is the increasing investments in the construction sector, especially in the developing countries of the Asia Pacific region.

Road Marking Paint Market Sale: Global demand for road marking paint is expected to rise at a CAGR of 4.8% to US$ 8 billion in 2033.

Sodium Bicarbonate Market Value: Overall demand for sodium bicarbonate, which is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% between 2023 and 2033, totaling around US$ 7.7 billion by 2033.

About Future Market Insights, Inc.

Future Market Insights, Inc. (ESOMAR certified, Stevie Award - recipient market research organization and a member of Greater New York Chamber of Commerce) provides in-depth insights into governing factors elevating the demand in the market. It discloses opportunities that will favor the market growth in various segments on the basis of Source, Application, Sales Channel and End Use over the next 10 years.

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For Sales Enquiries: sales@futuremarketinsights.com
Westford, USA, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to SkyQuest, the growth trajectory of the cancer diagnostic market is poised to receive a notable boost in the forthcoming years, thanks to the escalating efforts of governments to propagate awareness about the merits of early diagnosis. Acknowledging the critical role that early detection plays in cancer management, governments worldwide are taking proactive measures to promote public understanding and education.

Browse in-depth TOC on the "Cancer Diagnostic Market"

Pages - 157

Tables -149

Figures  78

Get sample copy of this report:

https://www.skyquestt.com/sample-request/cancer-diagnostics-market

In the evolving landscape of cancer diagnostics, early detection through a straightforward blood test often called a liquid biopsy, has garnered significant attention within the cancer diagnostic market. This innovative approach represents a transformative facet of diagnostics, offering a non-invasive means to identify potential malignancies early.

Report Scope & Segmentation:

Attributes Details Market Size in 2022 USD 171.5 Billion 2030 Value Projection USD 276.8 Billion CAGR 6.89% Forecast Period 2023-2030 Segments Covered Test

Technology

Application

End User

Product Regions Covered North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East and Africa

Prominent Players in the Cancer Diagnostic Market

Abbott Laboratories

Agilent Technologies

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD)

bioMerieux SA

Danaher Corporation

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

GE Healthcare

Hologic, Inc.

Illumina, Inc.

Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Merck KGaA

Myriad Genetics, Inc.

QIAGEN N.V.

Quest Diagnostics

Siemens Healthineers AG

Sysmex Corporation

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Toshiba Corporation

Varian Medical Systems, Inc.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.

Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

https://www.skyquestt.com/report/cancer-diagnostics-market

Consumables Segment is Expected to Grow in the Market Due to the Significance of Consumables

Consumables segment asserted a dominant presence within the cancer diagnostics market, securing the most significant share at 59.58%. This commanding market share is projected to persist over the forecast period, highlighting the sustained significance of consumables in this sector.

The markets in Europe have asserted a commanding presence within the global cancer diagnostic market, contributing to over 30% of the total revenue. This substantial market share is attributed to the proactive initiatives undertaken by governments across various European nations to address the critical cancer issue.

Instruments Segment is Expected to Dominate the Market Due to the Accelerating Pace of Technological Advancements

In 2022, instruments accounted for the second-largest share within the cancer diagnostics market. This substantial market presence is poised to grow further due to the accelerating pace of technological advancements. These innovations are forecasted to underpin the market's expansion over the designated forecast period.

Regional markets in the Asia Pacific are projected to witness high growth in the cancer diagnostic market due to lifestyle associate choices and the largest population base. For instance, more than 50% of men in Indonesia, China, Malaysia, and Korea are smokers, leading to a high risk of lung cancer and other forms of cancer.

A comprehensive analysis of the major players in the cancer diagnostic 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 endeavours to develop innovative solutions to cater to the growing demand.

Key Developments in the Cancer Diagnostic Market

In 2022, Karkinos Healthcare, a significant player in the global cancer diagnostic market, took an important step forward by establishing the "Advanced Center for Cancer Diagnostics and Research." This pioneering center is set to serve as a central hub within the company's global oncology network. Operating at the forefront of technology, the center is dedicated to analyzing specimens at the molecular and genomic levels.

In 2022, Illumina made a substantial contribution to the field by unveiling a novel pan-cancer companion diagnostic. This innovative test kit is designed to match patients harboring rare genetic mutations with targeted therapies and offers a streamlined solution for precise treatment selection.

Speak to Analyst for your custom requirements:

https://www.skyquestt.com/speak-with-analyst/cancer-diagnostics-market

Key Questions Answered in Cancer Diagnostic 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 Veterinary Endoscopy Market

Global Electron Microscopy and Sample Preparation Market

Global Cancer Pain Market

Global CT Scanner Market

Global Raman Spectroscopy 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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MUNICH, Germany, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Multi-brand in-vehicle data provider CARUSO announced that it has signed an agreement with Renault Group. This agreement allows CARUSOs customers to access the vehicle's data such as mileage or geoposition without the need to install any additional device, 100% GDPR compliant. The CARUSO data marketplace is currently one of the leading platforms for real-time in-vehicle data in Europa.

Access to in-vehicle data via CARUSO follows a strict process and can only be forwarded with the fleet owners consent. The data that Caruso GmbH provides, as mentioned above, is 100% in compliance with GDPR and, hence, protects the privacy of the fleet owner or driver.

The data is available for all of Renault Group models, mainly from 2021, and for all European countries. One of the biggest benefits of CARUSOs platform is that they create a whole ecosystem around connected car data. With the standardization, simplified processes and additional services, they take away the complexity that in-vehicle data brings so that the customer can truly focus on their business.

Norbert Dohmen, Managing Director of CARUSO GmbH was excited about the agreement, saying We see the huge benefits that fleets can gain from connected car data. With Renault Group, we have another strong vehicle manufacturer on board. With that, our coverage of all connected vehicles in Europe is continuously growing. Promoting eco-friendly and safe driving actions or retrieving the vehicle's fuel and battery status are catching more and more attention, and we as CARUSO are here to help and support fleets. CARUSO GmbH is confident that this partnership will benefit fleets across the continent, ensuring customers can get the data they need quickly and efficiently.

To take advantage of this new agreement and the services offered by CARUSO, customers can visit the CARUSO website at https://www.caruso-dataplace.com/ and find out more about the services offered.

About Caruso GmbH

From Connected Cars to Connected Business. CARUSO is a neutral, open, and secure marketplace for mobility data. The platform enables third parties to consume data standardized across multiple vehicle manufacturers. Additionally, their built-in consent management technology ensures data privacy by giving vehicle end-users full control over data sharing. With that, CARUSO empowers its customers to easily build life-improving solutions based on data from connected cars.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f8a54f67-b8e3-4670-80d9-ec41cf591f32
Pune, India, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global sprinkler irrigation market size is anticipated to reach USD 2.91 billion by 2027 attributable to the rise in efforts of the government to encourage the use of sprinklers for multiple crop production. Sprinkler irrigation is the method of applying water to crops in a way similar to that of rainfall. The water to be sprayed is distributed through a pipe system and then sprayed into the air through sprinklers so that the water breaks into tiny droplets when falling to the ground. In this way, crops will get the desired amount of water required for their growth without wasting excess water.

A recently published report by Fortune Business Insights offers a 360-degree overview of the market and its prime growth trajectories. As per the report titled, Sprinkler Irrigation Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, and Regional Forecast, 2023-2027, the market value was USD 2.57 billion in 2019 and will rise at a CAGR of 1.67% during the forecast period set between 2020 and 2027.

Get a Free Sample Research Report:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/sprinkler-irrigation-systems-market-101611

List of Sprinkler Irrigation Market Manufacturers Includes:



Netafim Limited

Rivulis Irrigation Ltd.

Lindsay Corporation

Nelson Irrigation Corporation

Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd.

Hunter Industries

Valmont Industries

Rain Bird Corporation

The Toro Company

Reinke Manufacturing Co. Inc.

Other Players

Report Scope & Segmentation:



Report Attribute Details Forecast Period 2020-2027 Forecast CAGR 1.67% 2027 Value Projection USD 2.91 billion Market Size in 2019 USD 2.57 billion Historical Data 2016-2018 No. of Pages 150 Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Company Profiles, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors and Latest Trends Segments Covered By Type

By Mobility

By Application

By Region Regions Covered North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East and Africa Sprinkler Irrigation Market Growth Drivers Increasing Concern over Depleting Water Levels to Elevate the Adoption of Sprinkler Irrigation High Support from Government to Add Impetus to Market

What are the Objectives of the Report?

A detailed analysis of the market focusing on drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities

List of players and the key strategies adopted by them to hold the leading position in market competition

Table of segmentation of the market based on factors such as type, mobility, application, and region

Recent developments of the market, current trends, and other interesting insights into the market

Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report with TOC:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/sprinkler-irrigation-systems-market-101611

Increasing Need to Feed Population Despite Covid19 Outbreak will Propelling Growth

The agricultural industry is negatively impacted by the current pandemic of COVID19 that has propelled all businesses to come at a halt. Crop cultivation and irrigation have however managed to survive in developing nations such as Pakistan, India, South Africa, China, and others. The price of sprinkler systems in the nations mentioned above has witnessed extensive rise due to its low labor association and increasing need for crop irrigation to feed the population even during the coronavirus attack and worldwide declaration of lockdown. However, in the developed nations of Europe and North America, the market is stable owing to the availability of automated sprinkler systems.

Market Drivers

Increasing Awareness about New Irrigation Techniques will Bolster Growth

The increasing need to cultivate more crops rapidly to feed the growing population is the major sprinkler irrigation market growth, driver. Besides this, the rise in farmer awareness about the latest irrigation techniques with the help of government-supported initiatives is also adding impetus to the market. Furthermore, the rising acceptance of various water-efficient precision agricultural practices is likely to create lucrative growth opportunities for the market in the coming years.

Regional Segmentation:

Asia Pacific will Register the Fastest Growth Rate with Government-supported Initiatives

Regionally, North America generated the highest revenue of USD 930.85 million earned in 2019. This is owing to the presence of large area under irrigation across nations such as the U.S. On the other side, the market in Europe will witness significant growth on account of high awareness about modern irrigation system and allotment of huge plots of land under sprinkler irrigation in nations such as Italy, France, Spain, and Russia. Furthermore, Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth rate on account of the robust rate of the growing population and high support from the government to adopt the use of sprinklers for irrigation.

Competitive Landscape:

Jain Irrigation Systems, Lindsay Corporation, and few others enjoying Dominant Position

The market is consolidated in nature due to the presence of a few regional and global vendors. Players functioning in the market are engaging in collaborative efforts such as mergers and acquisitions, contracts and agreements, joint ventures, and partnerships to gain a competitive edge in the market. Manufacturers such as Jain Irrigation Systems, Inc., Netafim Limited, Lindsay Corporation, and Valmont Industries hold a prominent position in the market with their collaborative efforts.

Inquire Before Buying Report:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/queries/sprinkler-irrigation-systems-market-101611

Major Industry Developments in the Sprinkler Irrigation Market include:

February 2020  Lindsay Corporation launched Zimmatic Poly Pipe for working together with their center pivot irrigation systems. This product is specially designed for operations in areas with _a corrosive water environment.

April 2017  Jain Irrigation Systems, headquartered in India acquired an 80% stake in two of the US.S. irrigation companies namely Agri-Valley Irrigation Inc., and Irrigation Design and Construction Inc. (IDC) by a signing a contract worth USD 48 million.

Detailed Table of Content

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities Emerging Trends

Key Insights Overview of the Parent/Related Markets Agriculture Irrigated Area Analysis Industry SWOT Analysis Supply Chain Analysis Recent Industry Developments - Policies, Partnerships, New Product Launches, and Mergers & Acquisitions

Global Sprinkler Irrigation Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Size Estimates and Forecast By Type (Value) Center Pivot Lateral Move Solid Sets Others By Mobility (Value) Stationery Towable By Application (Value) Field Crops Orchard Crops Landscape & Turf Others By Region (Value) North America Europe Asia Pacific South America Middle East & Africa

North America Sprinkler Irrigation Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Size Estimates and Forecast By Type (Value) Center Pivot Lateral Move Solid Sets Others By Mobility (Value) Stationery Towable By Application (Value) Field Crops Orchard Crops Landscape & Turf Others By Country (Value) U.S Canada Mexico



TOC Continued!

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Read Related Insights:

Drip Irrigation Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis and Regional Forecast, 2019 - 2026

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Attachment
Dr. Carolin Frueh stressed the need for space situational awareness to ensure satellite performance and to avoid satellite collisions and space debris



SANTA BARBARA, CA, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Digital Locations, Inc. (OTCMKTS:DLOC), the developer of a disruptive technology that will deliver high-speed Internet from satellites directly to smartphones all over the world, today announced that in a recent podcast, its CEO, Rich Berliner, spoke with Dr. Carolin Frueh, a research scientist and professor at Purdue University, about the need for general space traffic management.

During the conversation, Dr. Frueh described her research which is focused on orbital information, orbital determination, the probability of collision and where objects might end up. She said, Certain regions of space are already clogged with space debris, such as at the 800-kilometer altitude. I am currently working on this problem.

Dr. Frueh continued, My research team and I are always excited to see more services offered from space. There are services we use every day that have a space component and the number will only increase in the future. We are also looking at how many satellites we can fit into a particular region and are considering guidelines for their sustainable use. In the past, when satellites died or were retired from use, we just let them go and no longer worried about them. Unfortunately, thats not a sustainable approach for the future.

Dr. Fruehs research is critical for the safe and cooperative use of space. She maintains that we must bring satellites down safely without harming humans and the organization of new constellations sent into orbit must be undertaken with great care to avoid collisions that create even more space debris. This cooperation will benefit everyone who wishes to use LEO, MEO and GEO orbits and will help reduce potential collisions.

Dr. Carolin Frueh was awarded a Ph.D. in Physics with a Specialization in Astronomy from the University of Bern, Switzerland, under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Schildknecht in 2011. After this, she took a National Research Council post-doctoral position with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base under the supervision of Dr. Moriba Jah until 2013, followed by a position as a Research Scientist at Texas A&M University with Dr. Terry Alfriend until 2014. She currently serves as an assistant professor at Purdue University. Dr. Frueh is listed as a Google Scholar at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bP165LoAAAAJ&hl=en

This podcast can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amko7sB_rKY

About Digital Locations, Inc.

Digital Locations, Inc., is the developer of a disruptive technology that will deliver high-speed Internet from satellites directly to smartphones all over the world. Today, high-speed Internet (also known as broadband Internet) is only available in densely populated areas around the world. The rest of the world is still waiting. Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and others are launching thousands of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. Unfortunately, without the use of additional equipment, the technology does not yet exist that will allow these satellites to deliver high-speed Internet directly to smartphones. Solving this problem represents an extraordinary business opportunity. Working with a research team from Florida International University, we are developing a truly disruptive technology that will finally make it possible for the wireless industry to offer high-speed Internet service from satellites directly to smartphones anywhere in the world, indoors and outdoors with no dead zones and no cell towers. Anyone, anywhere, regardless of location, economic status, race or gender will be able to access high-speed Internet service and benefit from remote learning, health care, government services, telework, participation in public affairs and even Netflix, Amazon and much, much more.

To learn more about Digital Locations please visit www.digitalloc a t io n s.co m

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable law.

Press Contact:

communications@digitallocations.com

(805) 456-7000
Pune, India, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global marine hybrid propulsion market size was valued at USD 4.62 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow from USD 5.13 billion in 2023 to USD 11.59 billion by 2030, exhibiting a CAGR of 12.4% during the forecast period.

In order to improve engine performance and cut pollution, hybrid propulsion systems for marine applications combine an internal combustion engine and battery power. They are perfect for boats with variable operating profiles and runtimes that demand different amounts of power. There are many different hybrid propulsion systems, but serial and parallel hybrid propulsion are the most widely used. Power generation flexibility, reduced carbon emissions, and fewer maintenance costs are all features of hybrid propulsion systems. Due to these important characteristics, the market for marine hybrid propulsion systems is anticipated to expand throughout the course of the forecast period.

Fortune Business Insights presents this information in their report titled "Global Marine Hybrid Propulsion Market, 20232030."

Get a Sample Research PDF:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/marine-hybrid-propulsion-market-100128

List of Key Players Profiled in the Report:

ABB Ltd. (Switzerland)

BAE Systems (U.K.)

Caterpillar Inc. (U.S.)

General Electric Company (U.S.)

Nidec Industrial Solutions (Italy)

MAN Energy Solutions (Germany)

Siemens (Germany)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan)

Wartsila Corporation (Finland)

Steyr Motors (Austria)

Report Scope & Segmentation:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2023-2030 Forecast CAGR 12.4% 2030 Value Projection USD 11.59 Billion Market Size in 2023 USD 5.13 Billion Historical Data 2019-2021 No. of Pages 180 Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Company Profiles, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors and Latest Trends Segments Covered By Operation Type

By Component

By Ship Type

By Installment Regions Covered North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East and Africa Marine Hybrid Propulsion Market Growth Drivers Decrease in Fuel Consumption Resulting in Low Operating Costs to Drive Market Growth Technological Capabilities and Broad Network of OEMs to Drive the Market

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COVID-19 Impact:

Supply Chain Impacted by COVID-19 Reduced the Demand for Marine Hybrid Propulsion Systems

Local authorities have prohibited several cargo and passenger ships from accessing ports as a result of COVID-19. Many merchant sailors were left stranded on the ship. Due to the ship's extended stay in territorial waters, the owner of the ship had to suffer additional expenses. The pandemic's influence on leisure activities, fishing tourism, and cruise tourism has an effect on the boat market as well. Due to the disease, many sailors had to renew their employment contracts, which had expired due to the outbreak. Also, it was prohibited to import and export items to stop the spread of a new coronavirus outbreak.



Segments:

Extensive Applications of Parallel Hybrid Propulsion Market to Boost Segment Growth

By operation type, the market is bifurcated into parallel hybrid propulsion system and serial hybrid propulsion system. The parallel hybrid propulsion segment propulsion is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period. Due to numerous benefits, including the ability for operators to switch to electric propulsion during low-speed cruising, which lowers fuel consumption, there has been an increase in the adoption of this technology in various ship types, including tugboats, passenger ships, and others.

I.C. Engine Segment Dominates Owing to Significance of Engine Component in Propulsion System

By component, the market is segmented into I.C. engine, generator, power management system, battery, gearbox, and others. The I.C. engine segment will dominate during the forecast period owing to the requirement of power during hybrid propulsion. I.C. engine is also an important part of the overall hybrid propulsion system due to its high cost.

Increasing Fleet of Fishing Vessels to Capture Market

By ship type, the market is categorized into container ship, passenger ship, fishing vessel, yacht, tanker, and others. During the forecast period, the fishing vessel segment is expected to lead the market. The size of fishing vessel fleets has increased globally, creating potential for the market of marine hybrid propulsion.

Technologically Advanced Ships Demand for Line Fit Segment to Drive Segment Growth

By installment, the market is categorized into line fit and retrofit. Throughout the anticipated period, the line fit segment will rule the market. During production, a number of OEMs and manufacturers add diesel-electric propulsion systems. Due to the need for highly advanced ships, the segment will expand in the coming years.

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Report Coverage :

The report offers:

 Major growth drivers, restraining factors, opportunities, and potential challenges for the market.

 Comprehensive insights into regional developments.

 List of major industry players.

 Key strategies adopted by the market players.

 Latest industry developments include product launches, partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions.

Drivers & Restraints:

Reduced Fuel Consumption and Low Operating Costs will Boost Market Expansion

The fuel consumption of a diesel engine propulsion system is the main issue for ship owners. Aside from this, significant players are concentrating on creating hybrid propulsion systems due to the fluctuation in fossil fuel prices, rise in sulfate emissions, and dependency on low-grade fuel. Also, the maximum load decrease of the hybrid propulsion system, according to numerous marine journals, reduces NOx by up to 40%. According to a different study, hybrid propulsion systems can reduce fuel consumption by up to 30% when compared to conventional propulsion systems. These figures show how important a hybrid propulsion system is for lowering fuel usage and consequently, operational costs, which will result in an increase in the marine hybrid propulsion market share.

On the contrary, propulsion systems are complex compared to conventional systems, which may impede the marine hybrid propulsion market growth.

Regional Insights:

North America Dominates the Market due to Increased Marine Fleet Size

In 2022, the North America market was worth USD 0.59 billion. The expansion of the marine fleet is driving the market growth in North America. A significant market driver is the increased emphasis that various OEMs are placing on R&D and the use of hybrid propulsion systems. Also, in April 2022, the federal and provincial governments of Canada invested USD 3 million to upgrade fishing vessels with effective hybrid and electric engines.

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Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Key Industry Developments  Key Contracts & Agreements, Mergers, Acquisitions and Partnerships Latest technological Advancements Porters Five Forces Analysis Supply Chain Analysis Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Marine Hybrid Propulsion

Global Marine Hybrid Propulsion Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2019-2030 Key Findings / Segmental Definitions Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Operation Type Parallel Hybrid Propulsion System Serial Hybrid Propulsion System Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Component IC Engine Generator Power management system Battery Gearbox Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Ship Type Container Ships Passenger Ships Fishing Vessel Yacht Tanker Other Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Installment Line Fit Retro Fit Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa South America



TOC Continued...!

Competitive Landscape:

Key Players Increase Joint Ventures to Accelerate Market Growth

With numerous key players present, including ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), BAE Systems (U.K.), Caterpillar Inc. (U.S.), General Electric Company (U.S.), Nidec Industrial Solutions (Italy), MAN Energy Solutions (Germany), Siemens (Germany), and others, the global market is highly fragmented. The most crucial benchmark by which businesses can compete is the implementation of a marine hybrid propulsion system. Other elements, such as collaboration and technical advancements, assist businesses in lowering manufacturing and installation costs and increasing the number of system installations.

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Key Industry Development:

September 2021  BAE Systems signed a contract to supply all-electric and hybrid power and propulsion systems for ships and transportation vehicles. Among them are five of the high-profile projects, including a luxury sailing superyacht, a bus fleet in Vancouver, and a new research vessel at the University of Vermont.

Read Related Insights:

Marine Battery Market to Hit USD 2,055.8 Million by 2028 | Marine Battery Industry Revenue Exhibit a CAGR of 17.05% During 2021-2028

Marine Vessel Market Size to Reach USD 188.57 Billion in 2028; Rising Adoption of Eco-friendly Hybrid Propulsion Systems to Augment Growth, says Fortune Business Insights

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Attachment
Pune, India., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A crew management system is a software tool that helps airlines manage their crew members, including pilots and cabin crew. Crew management systems automate and streamline tasks such as scheduling, duty rosters, follow-ups, and training. Crew management systems can consider crew availability, flight restrictions, rest periods, and qualifications to create optimized crew schedules that meet safety and operating standards. Crew management systems can improve the efficiency and productivity of crews while maintaining high safety and effective customer service.

Crew Management System Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $1.10 billion in 2022 and is poised to reach $2.23 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 9.1% from 2022 to 2030 according to a new report published by The Insight Partners.

The server-based segment led the crew management system market with a significant share in 2022 and it is also expected to grow with the highest CAGR. The growth of this market is driven by increased demand for efficient crew management solutions mandate of compliance with regulatory standards and rapid growth of aviation industry.





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Browse Comprehensive TOC on "Crew Management System Market Size and Forecasts (2020 - 2030), Global and Regional Share, Trends, and Growth Opportunity Analysis by Component (Software and Services), Deployment (On-Cloud and Server-Based), Airline Type (Passenger Airlines and Cargo & Defense Airlines), and Application (Crew Operations and Crew Training)"

List of Tables - 121

List of Figures - 72

No. of Pages - 189





Global Crew Management System Market Scope:



Report Coverage Details Market Size Value in USD 1.10 Billion in 2022 Market Size Value by USD 2.23 Billion by 2030 Growth rate CAGR of 9.1% from 2022 to 2030 Forecast Period 2022-2030 Base Year 2022 Segments covered Component, Deployment, Airline Type, Application, and Geography Regional scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, South & Central America. Country scope Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States Report coverage Revenue forecast, Company Analysis, Industry landscape, Growth factors, and Trends





The expansion of the airline industry is the major factor boosting the employment of crew members in this industry, which propels the adoption of crew management software services for the management, tracking, scheduling, and onboarding of such large crews. Various airlines upgrade their crew management services to maximize productivity and control costs. For example, Air India operates with enhanced crew management tasks while raising its overall workforce count. In July 2023, it reported the on-track progress of its plan to add 500 crew members to its system every month over a span of the next four months. The airline is investing in technology to handle crew management tasks such as rostering for more efficient operations. In March 2023, Malaysia Airlines agreed to a five-year contract to improve its crew management systems with IBS Software, an Indian supplier of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions. Under the new agreement between the airline and the SaaS vendor, Malaysia Airlines would move its crew management systems to iFlight Crew, a cloud-based platform from IBS Software. iFlight Crew analyzes various factors and scenarios to provide optimal crew pairing and rostering solutions. iFlight Crew is claimed to improve flight operations in tracking, workforce planning, altitude pairing, and optimizing rosters.





Global Crew Management System Market: Segmental Overview

Based on components, the crew management system market is bifurcated into Software and Services. The software segment held a larger crew management system market share in 2022 and is expected to retain its leading position till 2030. Based on deployment, the crew management system market is bifurcated into On-cloud and Server-based. The server-based segment held a larger crew management system market share in 2022 and is expected to retain its leading position till 2030. Based on airline type, the crew management system market is bifurcated into Passenger Airline and Cargo & Defense Airline. The passenger airlines segment held a larger crew management system market share in 2022 and is expected to retain its leading position till 2030. Based on application, the crew management system market is bifurcated into Crew Operations and Crew Training. The crew operations segment held a larger crew management system market share in 2022 and is expected to further consolidate its leading position by 2030.





China is Dominating the Crew Management System Market in APAC:

Crew management systems are a cost-effective solution that helps in assigning crew members to different airlines and ensuring that the crew staff is utilized to their fullest potential. The increasing number of airlines in China is boosting the adoption of crew management systems in China. For instance, in June 2023, the US Transportation Department granted Chinese airlines permission to run 12 weekly round trips to the country, matching the number of flights Beijing has approved for American carriers. This initiative was taken to promote travel between the two greatest economies in the world. Previously, Chinese airlines could only operate eight flights every week. Thus, the rise in the number of flights is boosting the adoption of crew management systems in China.





Global Crew Management System Market: Competitive Landscape

AIMS INTL DWC LLC, Airbus SE, ARCOS LLC, CAE Inc, Hitit Computer Services Ltd Co, IBS Software Pvt Ltd, Laminaar Aviation Infotech, Lufthansa Systems GmbH & Co KG, PDC A/S, and The Boeing Co are among the key players operating in the crew management system market. Various other companies are also operating in the market and coming up with advanced technologies and offerings. These companies have also been studied and analyzed during this research study to get a holistic view of the ecosystem. The crew management system market report provides detailed market insights, which can help major players strategize their growth.





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Global Crew Management System Market - Key Industry Dynamics:

Drivers:

Mandate of Compliance with Regulatory Standards

Rapid Growth of Aviation Industry

Increased Demand for Efficient Crew Management Solutions





Restraints:

High Implementation Costs

Data Privacy and Security Concerns





Opportunities:

Expanding Operations of Low-Cost Long-Haul Flights

Shortage of Skilled and Experienced Candidates in Aviation Industry





Future Trends:

Growing Use of Cloud-Based Software

Rise of Smart Airports

Advanced Technology Integration





Recent Developments:

In May 2023: IBS Software, a Singapore-based provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to the global travel and logistics industry, received an investment of approximately US$ 450 million. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach across the globe.

IBS Software, a Singapore-based provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to the global travel and logistics industry, received an investment of approximately US$ 450 million. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach across the globe. In May 2023: Airwork Group selected NAVBLUEs suite of digitized and integrated OCC (Operations Control Centre) systems covering Flight Planning, Operations Control, and Crew Management systems to enhance its flight operations productivity through automation & integration.





Report Spotlights:

Progressive industry trends in the Crew Management System market to help players develop effective long-term strategies

Business growth strategies adopted by developed and developing markets

Quantitative analysis of the Crew Management System market from 2022 to 2030

Estimation of global demand for Crew Management System

PEST analysis to illustrate the efficacy of buyers and suppliers operating in the industry

Recent developments to understand the competitive market scenario

Market trends and outlook as well as factors driving and restraining the growth of the Crew Management System market

Assistance in the decision-making process by highlighting market strategies that underpin commercial interest, leading to the market growth

Size of the Crew Management System market size at various nodes

Detailed overview and segmentation of the market, as well as the Crew Management System industry dynamics

Size of the Crew Management System market in various regions with promising growth opportunities





Go through further research published by The Insight Partners: (Purchase with 10% Instant Discount):

Air Management System Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2028

Aviation Crew Management Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030

Aircraft Management Systems Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030

Flight Management Systems Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030

Artificial Intelligence in Aviation Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030





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Dublin, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Conjugation and Labeling Services Market Trends and Global Forecasts, 2023-2035" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

In the rapidly evolving field of pharmaceuticals, the utilization of conjugation and labeling techniques has gained significant traction. These techniques, including fluorescent and isotopic labeling, enable the quantification, visualization, and monitoring of biological processes and compound interactions.

Over recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has recognized the potential of these methodologies, employing them in diverse applications such as the development of conjugated drug therapeutics, diagnostic tools, drug delivery systems, and high-throughput screening. This article delves into the key insights surrounding the conjugation and labeling services market, discussing the current landscape, market trends, regional dynamics, and the anticipated growth in the foreseeable future.

Outsourcing for Expertise: The Need for Conjugation and Labeling Services

Many drug developers and research institutions lack the specialized expertise and advanced technologies required for effective bioconjugation and labeling. As a result, outsourcing these operations to dedicated service providers has become a prevailing trend. These providers possess established methodologies and a wide array of reagents necessary for the chemical modification of diverse biomolecules, facilitating the conjugation process. By collaborating with service providers, organizations gain access to the necessary skills and equipment, fostering the growth of the market as outsourcing of protein labeling, antibody labeling, and conjugation services to Contract Research Organizations (CROs) becomes more prevalent.

Diverse Market Landscape

The current conjugation and labeling services market comprises more than 170 companies offering antibody conjugation services and 120 companies specializing in protein labeling, distributed globally. This landscape is characterized by a mixture of large, mid-sized, and small entities, each equipped with the expertise to provide bioconjugation services for various biomolecules, including proteins, antibodies, peptides, and small molecules. Among these, 78% of service providers offer antibody conjugation with haptens, exemplified by well-known names such as AAT Bioquest, Abzena, Fina Biosolutions, Life Tein, ProSci, Synaptic Systems, and ViroGen.

Segment Analysis - Focus on Antibody Conjugation Services

Custom antibody conjugation services for research applications dominate the market demand. These services encompass various offerings, such as HRP conjugation, Biotin Conjugation, and Fluorescent labeling. Antibody labeling, which involves attaching tags to antibodies, plays a crucial role in research and diagnostic applications. The report extensively covers the spectrum of antibody conjugation services relevant to these applications.

Fluorescent Tags: Essential Tools for Biomolecule Labeling

Fluorescent tags play a pivotal role in proteomics, facilitating the detection of protein location and quantity, identification of conformational changes, and tracking biological processes. Some companies even offer the tagging of fluorescent probes with antibodies and peptides for research purposes, underscoring their widespread utility in the field.

Regional Dynamics: North America's Dominance

The proliferation of companies offering protein labeling, peptide labeling, small molecule conjugation, and antibody conjugation services has been evident over recent years. North America emerges as a hotspot for bioconjugation service providers, with a majority of them based in this region. This underscores the importance of North America in driving the growth of the market.

Evolving to Meet Demand: Industry Trends

The market's stakeholders have been actively forming partnerships with other industry and non-industry players. Since 2018, more than 70 strategic alliances have been established, indicating a drive among service providers to enhance their conjugation capabilities in response to the growing demand for bioconjugates. The industry is dynamic, with stakeholders participating in various events such as webinars, conferences, and symposiums related to bioconjugation and biomolecule labeling. These platforms enable companies to showcase innovative methodologies, discuss applications, and collaborate, fostering an environment of innovation and rapid evolution.

Scope of the Report

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of organizations engaged in conjugation and labeling services across different segments and geographies. It includes:

An executive summary offering an overview of the current state and potential evolution of the conjugation and labeling services market.

An introduction to biomolecule conjugation and labeling, discussing advantages, types of conjugates, and their applications in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

An assessment of the market landscape, categorizing companies based on parameters such as establishment year, company size, headquarters location, supported molecule types, and conjugate/label types.

A company competitiveness analysis based on experience, size, supported molecule types, and offered services.

Profiles of prominent players offering conjugation and labeling services, focusing on North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions.

An analysis of recent partnerships among stakeholders, including acquisitions, service agreements, and product development deals.

A review of recent events in the bioconjugation domain, categorizing them by year, platform, type, geography, and more.

A discussion on trends, drivers, challenges, and opportunities within the conjugation and labeling services market using a SWOT analysis framework.

Forecasting the Future

The report's primary goal is to assess the present and potential opportunities in the conjugation and labeling services market through the forecasted period from 2023 to 2035. Projections are categorized by molecule types, conjugate/label types, and global regions, accommodating various growth scenarios - conservative, base, and optimistic - to provide a comprehensive view of potential market developments.

Conclusion

The field of conjugation and labeling services for biomolecules in the pharmaceutical industry is experiencing remarkable growth, driven by the increasing demand for specialized expertise and advanced technologies. Stakeholders are actively collaborating and innovating to meet market demands, and events serve as platforms for knowledge sharing and collaboration. As cutting-edge technologies and innovative approaches continue to shape the landscape, the conjugation and labeling services market is poised to evolve rapidly in the coming years, presenting abundant opportunities for growth and advancement.

The opinions and insights presented in the report were influenced by discussions held with stakeholders in this domain.

The report features detailed transcripts of interviews held with the following industry stakeholders:

Sudhirdas Prayaga (President and Chief Executive Officer, Antibody Research)

Vishal Rai (Founder, Plabeltech)

Alastair Dent (Managing Director and Quality Director, Fleet Bioprocessing)

Key Topics Covered

1. PREFACE

1.1. Introduction

1.2. Key Market Insights

1.3. Scope of the Report

1.4. Research Methodology

1.5. Frequently Asked Questions

1.6. Chapter Outlines

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

3. INTRODUCTION

3.1. Chapter Overview

3.2. Overview of Biomolecule Conjugation and Labeling

3.3. Types of Biomolecular Conjugates and Labels

3.4. Applications of Conjugated and Labeled Biomolecules

3.5. Concluding Remarks

4. CONJUGATION AND LABELING SERVICE PROVIDERS: MARKET LANDSCAPE

4.1. Chapter Overview

4.2. Conjugation and Labeling Service Providers: Overall Market Landscape

5. COMPANY COMPETITIVENESS ANALYSIS

5.1. Chapter Overview

5.2. Assumptions / Key Parameters

5.3. Methodology

5.4. Company Competitiveness Analysis

6. COMPANY PROFILES

6.1. Chapter Overview

6.2. AltaBioscience

6.3. Bachem

6.4. Bio-Synthesis

6.5. Cayman Chemical

6.6. CliniSciences

6.7. Eurogentec

6.8. GBI (formerly known as Goodwin Biotechnology)

6.9. Mimotopes

6.10. Peptide Institute

6.11. piCHEM

7. PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS

7.1. Chapter Overview

7.2. Partnership Models

7.3. Conjugation and Labeling Services: Partnerships and Collaborations

8. GLOBAL EVENT ANALYSIS

8.1. Chapter Overview

8.2. Scope and Methodology

8.3. Conjugation and Labeling Services: Global Event Analysis

8.4. Global Events: Speaker Analysis

8.5. Geographical Mapping of Upcoming Events

8.6. Concluding Remarks

9. SWOT ANALYSIS

9.1. Chapter Overview

9.2. Conjugation and Labeling Services: SWOT Analysis

10. MARKET FORECAST AND OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS

10.1. Chapter Overview

10.2. Key Assumptions and Forecast Methodology

10.3. Global Conjugation and Labeling Services Market, 2023-2035

10.4. Conjugation and Labeling Services Market: Analysis by Type of Molecule

10.5. Conjugation and Labeling Services Market: Analysis by Type of Molecular Conjugate / Label

10.6. Conjugation and Labeling Services Market: Analysis by Key Geographical Regions

11. CONCLUSION

12. EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS

13. APPENDIX 1: TABULATED DATA

14. APPENDIX 2: LIST OF COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Companies Mentioned

2BScientific

AAPPTec

AAT Bioquest

Ab Biotechnology

AbBioSci

Abbiotec

Abcam

Abcepta

AbClon

Abclonal

Abcore

Abeomics

ABI Scientific

Abingdon Health

Abnova

Absea Biotechnology

Absolute Antibody

Abzena

ACROBiosystems

Activotec

Adaltis

Advanced Peptides

Affigenix Biosolutions

Affinity Biologicals

Affinity Biosciences

Affinity Life Sciences

Ainnocence

AIVD Biotech

AlexoTech

Almac

Alomone Labs

Alpha Diagnostic

AltaBioscience

AMSBIO

AnaSpec

Antagene

AnteoTech

Antibodies

antibodies-online

Antibody Research

Arbor Assays

Arista Biologicals

ARVYS Proteins

Ascension

Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services

Aurion

Aurora Biolabs

AURUM Pharmatech

Aves Labs

Aviva Systems Biology

Bachem

BBI Solutions

Bethyl Laboratories (a subsidiary of Fortis Life Sciences)

Bhat Bio-tech

Bicycle Therapeutics

Bio Basic

BioActs

Biobest

Bioclone

BioCores

BioEastern

BioGenes

BIOHUB INTERNATIONAL

BioLegend

Biologics International

Biomatik

BioNova Pharmaceuticals

Biorbyt

BiOrion Technologies

BIOSYNTAN

Biosynth

Bio-Synthesis

BioTag

Biotech Desk

BioTeZ

BioVision

BIOZOL

BOC Sciences

Boster Biological Technology

BPS Bioscience

BrickBio

BroadPharm

Brookwood Biomedical

Calico Biolabs (a subsidiary of Abcam)

Cambridge Innovation Institute

CanPeptide

Capra Science

Caprico Biotechnologies

CARBOGEN AMICS

CASLO

Cayman Chemical

CD Bioparticles

celares

Cell Signalling Technology

CellMosaic

Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)

Charles River Laboratories

Chayon Laboratories

ChemPartner

ChemPep

CHI Scientific

ChinaPeptides

ChromoTek (a subsidiary of Proteintech)

Cisbio (a subsidiary of PerkinElmer)

Clementia Biotech

Click Biosystems

CliniSciences

Coherent Biopharma

Columbia Biosciences

CordenPharma

CortecNet

Covalab

CPC Scientific

CreaGen

Creative Biolabs

Creative BioMart

Creative Diagnostics

Creative Enzymes

Creative Peptides

Creative Proteomics

CRELUX

C-Six Labs

Curia

Curida Diatec

Cygnus Technologies

Cytiva

Cytodiagnostics

Denovo Biolabs

Denovo Biotechnology

Designer BioScience

Detai Bio-Tech

Diatheva

Drug Delivery Experts (acquired by Pace Analytical Services)

Elabscience

emp Biotech

Enzo Life Sciences

ETH Zurich

Eurogentec

Exeris

exonbio

Expedeon (a subsidiary of Abcam)

Explora Biotech

EZBiolab

Fagus Antibody Services

Fina Biosolutions

Fleet Bioprocessing

Fortis Life Sciences

FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical

Full Moon BioSystems

Fusion Pharmaceuticals

Future Diagnostics

G&P Biosciences

G-Biosciences

GCC Biotech

GeneDireX

Genei Laboratories

Genemed Synthesis

GENEPEP

GeneTex

GeNext Genomics

Genosphere Biotechnologies

Genovis

GenPro Biotech

GenScript

GenxBio

German Research Products

Gifford Bioscience

Giotto Biotech

GL Biochem

GlycoT Therapeutics

Glykos

Goodwin Biotechnology

Gyros Protein Technologies (a subsidiary of Mesa Laboratories)

Hanyang University

Healstone Biotech

HUABIO

HumanZyme (a subsidiary of Proteintech)

Hypermol

Immuno-Biological Laboratories

INDIGO Biosciences

InnoCare Pharma

InnoPep

Innova Biosciences

Institut de Biologie Structurale

Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology

InVivo BioTech Services

IRBM

Isca Biochemicals

Jackson ImmunoResearch

Jena Bioscience

JPT Peptide Technologies

KareBay Biochem

Kementec

Kerafast

Kinexus Bioinformatics

KMD Bioscience

Krishgen Biosciences

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Kunming Institute of Botany

Kyungpook Chonnam National Hospital

Lab Bioreagents

LabCorp

Labospace

LakePharma

LAMPIRE Biological Laboratories

Leadgene Biomedical

Leading Biology

Lehigh University

Leinco Technologies

Levena Biopharma

LGC

LifeTein

Lonza

LifeSpan BioSciences (LSBio)

LubioScience

Mabtech

Macrocyclics

Maliba Pharmacy College

MBL International

MedChemExpress

Medicinal Chemistry Pharmaceutical

MedKoo Biosciences

Merck KGaA

Mesa Laboratories

Meso Scale Diagnostics

metabion

Microcoat Biotechnologie

Mimotopes

Molnova

MuseChem

nanoComposix

Nanocs

NanoHybrids

Nanoimmunetech

NeoScientific

NJ Bio

Nordic BioSite

NOVA School of Science and Technology

Novatein Biosciences

NovoPro

Novoprotein Scientific

Novus Biologicals

Ohio Peptide

Oncomedics

Ontores Biotechnologies

OriGene Technologies

OriMAbs

Otto Chemie

Pacific Immunology

PATH

Pepceuticals

PeproTech

Pepscan

Peptide 2.0

Peptide Institute

Peptide Protein Research

Peptide Therapeutics Foundation

PeptidePharma

PerkinElmer

Phoenix Pharmaceuticals

piCHEM

Plabeltech

PolyPeptide

PPD

Prayaga Scientific Laboratories

Precision BioLogic

Primm Biotech

Profacgen

ProSci

Protein One

Protein Ark

Proteintech

ProteoGenix

Proteos

Prudue University

PurMabiologics

QED Bioscience

Qognit

R&D Systems

RayBiotech Life

RD-Biotech

RevMAb Biosciences

Rockland Immunochemicals

rPeptide

RS Synthesis

RWJBarnabas Health

SanBio

SB-PEPTIDE

SBS Genetech

SCHOTT MINIFAB

Scotia Biologics

Seoul National University

SeraCare Life Sciences

Seramun Diagnostica

Shikhar Biotech

ShineGene Bio-Technologies

Singzyme

Sino Biological

South Bay Bio

SouthernBiotech

Space Peptides

Standard BioTools

Steffens-Biotec

Swiss Biotech Association

Syd Labs

Synaptic Systems

Synbio Technologies

Syngene

SynPeptide

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Telix Pharmaceuticals

The Antibody Company

The Michael J. Fox Foundation

The University of British Columbia

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Toxikon

trenzyme

TriLink BioTechnologies

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

University of Georgia

University of Bologna

University of Eastern Finland

University of Florence

University of Iceland

University of Louisville

University of Prince Edward Island

USV

University of Utah

Vector Laboratories

Viewpoint Molecular Targeting

ViroGen

World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology

WuXi Biologics

WuXi STA

Xaia Custom Peptides

Xynomic Pharmaceuticals

YCharOS

Yonsei University

YuRoGen Biosystems

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Attachment
Hoofddorp, Netherlands, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Accruent, the leading provider of solutions to unify the built environment, today announced that it has entered a partnership with Group-IPS, a global provider of engineering, consulting, and project management services for the industrial field. This partnership will widen the catalogue of operations and energy efficiency services available to industrial facilities in Belgium, Spain, Germany, and France. Specifically, in joining forces, Accruent and Group-IPS will provide a joint service to help customers measure and track their real-time energy efficiency, understand their carbon footprint, and prioritise projects accordingly.

This partnership between Accruent Group-IPS will provide added value to both companies' current and future customers in the ECM world by widening the reach of each team.

In addition to adding Accruents remote monitoring solution to Group-IPS broader portfolio, this partnership will make available key benefits and functionalities, including:

Intelligent asset alarms management with automated triage processes, which will reduce unnecessary service calls and business interruptions.

Analysis of asset operating data to predict failure for proactive maintenance and reduce asset downtime.

Early diagnosis of asset energy consumption anomalies reduces costs and improves sustainability.

Real-time visibility of asset performance, which can reduce risks and safety concerns associated with facility performance.

A unified dashboard showing asset performance across asset classes, manufacturers, and models.

Group-IPS is excited to team up with Accruent in providing turnkey solutions adapted to customer needs for ever-greater efficiency, said Julian Saenz, Head of Corporate Development at Group-IPS. Our complementary focus on industry and infrastructures engenders a natural partnership that will increase our customers power of understanding of their energy efficiency.

Adds Pete Mansel, Chief Sales Officer at Accruent, "We are excited to enter into this strategic partnership with Group-IPS. Our goal is to intelligently combine Accruent's solutions and Group-IPS industrial projects services and its global presence to benefit customers. We look forward to seeing the results of this partnership.

About Accruent accruent.com | accruentllc - Accruent is the worlds leading provider of solutions for unifying the built environment  spanning real estate, physical and digital assets, and the integrated technology systems that connect and control them. Accruent continues to set new expectations for how organisations can use data to transform how they manage their facilities and assets. With U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas, and European headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, Accruent serves over 5,000 customers in a wide range of industries in more than 150 countries worldwide.

About Group-IPS group-ips.com  Group-IPS supports organisations around the world in developing sustainable industrial facilities and optimising their operations with consulting, innovation, architecture, engineering, and project management throughout the whole project cycle.

Attachment
Dublin, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Agricultural Biological Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2023-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

In the face of a steadily growing global population, the demand for food has surged over the decades. However, this pursuit of increased agricultural production has often relied heavily on the use of chemicals, sparking concerns about their adverse impact on human health and the environment. Responding to these concerns, the global agricultural biological market is flourishing, offering a range of organic solutions to bolster farming production. These biological solutions, spanning biostimulants, biopesticides, and biofertility products, provide a sustainable alternative to synthetic chemicals in agriculture.

Organic Food Drive Propels Agricultural Biological Market

Modern consumers are not only conscious of the food they consume but also the methods behind its production. Growing awareness of the health risks posed by chemical fertilizers and pesticides has led consumers to embrace organic consumption patterns. In response, market players are introducing organic alternatives and stricter regulations against false organic labeling are fostering consumer trust. These dynamics are poised to propel the growth of the global agricultural biological market.

Foliar Sprays: Transforming Agricultural Practices

The quest to eliminate harmful chemicals from agricultural practices is sparking innovation, with foliar sprays emerging as a significant solution. These sprays facilitate rapid nutrient absorption by plants, surpassing the efficiency of traditional soil-applied fertilizers. They assist plants in overcoming soil limitations and adapting to various adverse conditions such as drought, mechanical damage, and diseases. With their versatile applications, foliar sprays are expected to play a pivotal role in the expansion of the global agricultural biological market.

North America Takes the Lead

North America holds a vital position in meeting global demand for crops like wheat, cotton, and soybeans. However, the region grapples with plant-pathogen infections that can wreak havoc on crops. Consequently, the agricultural biological market in North America is experiencing robust growth. The region's proactive adoption of cutting-edge agricultural technologies further bolsters the demand for sustainable farming practices. The surging demand for organic food in North America solidifies its leadership in the global agricultural biological market.

Key Players in the Arena

The global agricultural biological market witnesses fierce competition among major players such as Syngenta (Switzerland), BASF (Germany), Bayer AG (Germany), Marrone Bio Innovation, Inc. (US), Gowan Company (US), UPL (India), and Vegalab SA (Switzerland). As the pursuit of sustainable agriculture gains momentum, these key players are at the forefront, steering the market's direction and shaping the future of farming practices.

Key Topics Covered



1. Executive Summary

1.1. Global Agricultural Biologicals Market Snapshot

1.2. Key Market Trends

1.3. Future Projections

1.4. Analyst Recommendations



2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Definitions and Segmentations

2.2. Market Dynamics

2.2.1. Drivers

2.2.2. Restraints

2.2.3. Market Opportunities Matrix

2.3. Value Chain Analysis

2.4. Porter's Five Forces Analysis

2.5. COVID-19 Impact Analysis

2.6. Government Regulations

2.7. Technology Landscape

2.8. New Product Launch, R&D, and Developments

2.9. Economic Analysis

2.10. PESTLE



3. Production Output and Trade Statistics, 2018 - 2021

3.1. Regional Production Statistics

3.1.1. North America

3.1.2. Europe

3.1.3. Asia Pacific

3.1.4. Latin America

3.1.5. Middle East & Africa

3.2. Trade Statistics



4. Price Trends Analysis and Future Projects, 2018 - 2029

4.1. Key Highlights

4.2. Prominent Factors Affecting Prices

4.3. By Product

4.4. By Region



5. Global Agricultural Biologicals Market Outlook, 2018 - 2029

5.1. Global Agricultural Biologicals Market Outlook, by Product, Volume (Tons) and Value (US$ Mn), 2018 - 2029

5.1.1. Key Highlights

5.1.1.1. Microbial Biofertilizers

5.1.1.2. Agricultural Biologicals

5.1.1.2.1. Seaweed Extracts

5.1.1.2.2. Organic Acids

5.1.1.2.3. Microbials & Amendments

5.1.1.2.4. Vitamins & Amino Acids

5.1.1.2.5. Trace Elements

5.1.1.2.6. Misc.

5.1.1.3. Biological Control

5.1.1.3.1. Biopesticides

5.1.1.3.2. Macrobials

5.2. Global Agricultural Biologicals Market Outlook, by Application, Volume (Tons) and Value (US$ Mn), 2018 - 2029

5.2.1. Key Highlights

5.2.1.1. Foliar

5.2.1.2. Soil

5.2.1.3. Seed

5.3. Global Agricultural Biologicals Market Outlook, by Crop Type, Volume (Tons) and Value (US$ Mn), 2018 - 2029

5.3.1. Key Highlights

5.3.1.1. Fruits & Vegetables

5.3.1.2. Row Crops & Cereals

5.3.1.3. Turf & Ornamentals

5.3.1.4. Misc.

5.3.2. BPS Analysis/Market Attractiveness Analysis

5.4. Global Agricultural Biologicals Market Outlook, by Region, Volume (Tons) and Value (US$ Mn), 2018 - 2029

5.4.1. Key Highlights

5.4.1.1. North America

5.4.1.2. Europe

5.4.1.3. Asia Pacific

5.4.1.4. Latin America

5.4.1.5. Middle East & Africa

5.4.2. BPS Analysis/Market Attractiveness Analysis

6. North America Agricultural Biologicals Market Outlook, 2018 - 2029

7. Europe Agricultural Biologicals Market Outlook, 2018 - 2029

8. Asia Pacific Agricultural Biologicals Market Outlook, 2018 - 2029

9. Latin America Agricultural Biologicals Market Outlook, 2018 - 2029

10. Middle East & Africa Agricultural Biologicals Market Outlook, 2018 - 2029

11. Competitive Landscape

11.1. Company Market Share Analysis, 2021

11.2. Competitive Dashboard

11.3. Company Profiles

11.3.1. Bayer AG

11.3.1.1. Company Overview

11.3.1.2. Product Portfolio

11.3.1.3. Financial Overview

11.3.1.4. Business Strategies and Development

11.3.2. Pro Farm Group Inc.

11.3.3. Corteva AG

11.3.4. BASF SE

11.3.5. Syngenta AG

11.3.6. Sumitomo Chemical

11.3.7. Koppert Biological Systems

11.3.8. FMC Corporation

11.3.9. Isagro SpA

11.3.10. UPL Limited

11.3.11. Novozymes A/S

11.3.12. Biolchim SpA

11.3.13. Haifa Group

11.3.14. Sapec Agro SA

11.3.15. TAGROW Co. Ltd.

11.3.16. AXEB BIOTECH SL



12. Appendix

12.1. Research Methodology

12.2. Report Assumptions

12.3. Acronyms and Abbreviations



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Pune, India, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oligonucleotide synthesis refers to the synthesis of are short fragments of nucleic acids using genetic engineering and enzyme chemistry. The technique is useful in existing laboratory practice as it provides a rapid and inexpensive access to custom-made oligonucleotides of the desired length and sequence. Oligonucleotides are used from initial research and screening through to target validation and drug production. Today, subsequent improvements in oligonucleotide synthesis, amplification and automation has completely revolutionized biological research. Increasing applications of synthesized oligonucleotides, increasing investments for synthetic biology and technological advancements genome editing tools are the key driving factors for the growth of the market in the forecast period. However, the growth of the market is restrained by factors such as renewed regulations for biotechnology and lack of skilled professionals in life science industry.

Oligonucleotide Synthesis Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $1.58 billion in 2018 and is poised to reach $3.9 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 11.1% from 2019 to 2027 according to a new report published by The Insight Partners.

Global oligonucleotide synthesis market growth is driven by increasing applications of synthesized oligonucleotides, rising investments for synthetic biology and technological advancements in genome editing tools.





Download Sample Pages: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPBT00002549







Browse Comprehensive TOC on "Oligonucleotide Synthesis Market Forecast to 2027  Global Analysis  by Product (Synthesized Oligonucleotides, Reagents, and Equipment), Application (Research, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics), and End User (Academic Research Institutes, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies, Diagnostic Laboratories, and Other End Users)."

List of Tables - 95



List of Figures - 66



No. of Pages  174







Global Oligonucleotide Synthesis Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Size Value in USD 1.58 Billion in 2018 Market Size Value by USD 3.97 Billion by 2027 Growth rate CAGR of 11.1% from 2019 to 2027. Forecast Period 2019-2027 Base Year 2019 Segments covered Product, Application, and End User Regional scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, South & Central America. Country scope US, Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina Report coverage Revenue forecast, Company Analysis, Industry landscape, Growth factors, and Trends





Technological Advancements Genome Editing Tools is Fueling the Growth of Global Oligonucleotide Synthesis Market Growth:

Advancement in the field of biotechnology has equally enhanced the synthetic biology. Many industry players have come up with innovative types of synthetic biology in last few years. Synthetic biology is a multidisciplinary approach that use various tools and techniques of biotechnology to alter the biological systems. The techniques such as cloning, gene sequencing, genome engineering has results into the generation of genetically modified organisms. The advancement in the synthetic biology has led to the faster and easier design of DNA and helped exponentially reducing the cost of DNA sequencing and synthesis. For instance, Twist Bioscience has developed Oligo pools, high diversity collections of oligonucleotides, are utilized in many applications, including generation of CRISPR guide RNA (sgRNA) libraries and high-throughput reporter assays. It offers precise editing of target loci as it enables highly accurate synthesis for specific targeting and the error rate is very low around 1:1000 nt. The companys low synthesis error rate and uniform sequence representation result in high quality custom oligo libraries that enable the most efficient CRISPR screens.

The technological advancement as headed emergence of the New Bioeconomy, which is the replacement of petrochemical-based manufacturing and fermentation-based manufacturing products. In addition, the investments from public and private investors are rising for the synthetic biology. The rise in the investment are enabling technological developments and standard biological parts. Advancement in synthetic biology has added various solution for most of the industries such as, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, food and agriculture among others. These technological advancements are likely to grow the market in near future.





Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic of Global Oligonucleotide Synthesis Market:

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized health data sharing and interoperability under the microscope. The interruptions in the supply chain and the massive demand for efficient treatments for the therapy of COVID-19 have put the health research industry in the world in a crucial position. COVID policies in regions have slowed the region's economic recovery compared to the rest of the world. While the region was extremely successful in slowing the spread of the virus early in the epidemic, it was reluctant to vaccinate and is only now slowly restoring borders and relaxing mobility.

The demand for custom-made nucleotides for preferred sequencing in genetic testing, research, forensics applications, and pharmaceutical development has increased as sequencing costs have decreased. This has increased the need for oligonucleotide synthesis even further. Global need for effective COVID-19 treatment has increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on every market. The possible use of oligonucleotides to stop the spread of viruses is being investigated by pharmaceutical and healthcare organizations. For instance, the Innovative Genomics Institute said that they are employing antisense oligonucleotide therapies to discover new treatments for COVID-19 patients who have acute respiratory symptoms.





Global Oligonucleotide Synthesis Market: Competitive Landscape

Molecular Assemblies, Twist Bioscience, Evonetix, Nuclera Nucleics Ltd., Camena Bio, DNA Script, Iridia, Inc., Helixworks, Ansa Biotechnologies, Inc., and Synthomics, Inc among others are a few of the key companies operating in the oligonucleotide synthesis market. The market leaders focus on new product launches, expansion and diversification, and acquisition strategies, which allow them to access prevailing business opportunities.





Directly Purchase this Report at https://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPBT00002549





Global Oligonucleotide Synthesis Market - Key Industry Dynamics:

Drivers

Increasing Applications of Synthesized Oligonucleotides

Increasing Investments for Synthetic Biology

Technological Advancements Genome Editing Tools





Restraints

Renewed Regulations for Biotechnology

Lack Of Skilled Professionals In Life Science Industry





Opportunities

Collaborations  The Future of Innovation





Future Trends

Advancements in Synthetic Biology





Recent Developments:

In February 2023 , The University of Manchester, Novartis, AstraZeneca, and CPI established a collaboration to increase patient access to life-saving oligonucleotide therapies. This collaboration aims to transform oligonucleotide-based medicines for the treatment of numerous fatal diseases.

In July 2022 , At its Changzhou site, WuXi STA, a division of WuXi AppTec, unveiled a brand-new large-scale oligonucleotide and peptide manufacturing plant. With this new launch, it will be better able to address the rapidly expanding global demand for oligonucleotide and peptide therapies development and manufacture.

In April 2022 , Bachem entered a strategic collaboration with Eli Lilly & Company to develop and manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients based on oligonucleotides, a rising new class of complex molecules. Under the agreement, Bachem provides the appropriate engineering infrastructure and expertise to implement Lillys novel oligonucleotide manufacturing technology.





Global Oligonucleotide Synthesis Market: Segmental Overview

The Global Oligonucleotide Synthesis Market is segmented based on product, application end user and geography. The product segment of the oligonucleotide synthesis market is broadly segmented into synthesized oligonucleotides, reagents and equipment. . The synthesized oligonucleotides is the largest segment among the products in the oligonucleotide synthesis market in 2017 and is also anticipated to hold the largest market in the year 2027. The oligonucleotide synthesis market is classified on the basis of application such as research, diagnostics and therapeutics. The research segment is expected gain its market share during the forecast period by accounting for 46.6% share by 2027. On basis of end user market is classified into academic research institutes, pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, diagnostic laboratories, and other end users. The research segment is expected gain its market share during the forecast period by accounting for 46.6% share by 2027.





Report Spotlights:

Progressive industry trends in the oligonucleotide synthesis market to help players develop effective long-term strategies

Business growth strategies adopted by developed and developing markets

Quantitative analysis of the oligonucleotide synthesis market from 2019 to 2027

Estimation of global demand for oligonucleotide synthesis

PEST analysis to illustrate the efficacy of buyers and suppliers operating in the industry

Recent developments to understand the competitive market scenario

Market trends and outlook as well as factors driving and restraining the growth of the oligonucleotide synthesis market

Assistance in the decision-making process by highlighting market strategies that underpin commercial interest, leading to the market growth

Size of the oligonucleotide synthesis market size at various nodes

Detailed overview and segmentation of the market, as well as the oligonucleotide synthesis industry dynamics

Size of the oligonucleotide synthesis market in various regions with promising growth opportunities









Go through further research published by The Insight Partners: (Purchase with 10% Instant Discount):

CNS Specific Antisense Oligonucleotide Market  Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030

Synthetic Biology Market  Global Analysis and Forecast to 2028

mRNA Treatment Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030









About Us:

The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We specialize in industries such as Semiconductor and Electronics, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive and Transportation, Biotechnology, Healthcare IT, Manufacturing and Construction, Medical Device, Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Chemicals and Materials.

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The Company achieved a total revenue of $13.3 million, driven by an 8% increase in adult-use revenue and a significant 45% increase in pre-roll revenue year-over-year

Gross Profit Before Fair Value Changes has surged to $2.15 million, indicating a substantial margin of 21% and a considerable year-over-year increase of 354%

Adjusted EBITDA showed a 28% improvement as the Company realizes benefits from strategic transformation initiatives

Strathroy sale enables BMO loan repayment, bolstering the Company's financial agility

Management will host a conference call on August 30, 2023, at 10 a.m. Eastern Time



TORONTO, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Entourage Health Corp. (TSX-V: ENTG) (OTCQX: ETRGF) (FSE:4WE) ("Entourage" or the "Company"), a Canadian producer and distributor of award-winning cannabis products, announced today its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023. The Company reported second quarter total revenue of $13.37 million and net revenue of $10.17 million, a total revenue increase of 1% and net revenue increase of 5%, showing consistent year-over-year performance. The Company will host a conference call to discuss its financial and business highlights on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

"Through the transition to a streamlined model and our strategic collaboration with our trusted supply partner, we've achieved strong results that are driving us toward a leaner and more operationally efficient framework. We're optimizing the value of every revenue dollar, magnifying our profit margins, and bolstering our cash performance. These strides enhance our financial resilience and position us to capitalize on the surging demand for our products, charting a promising path for our business growth," confirmed George Scorsis, CEO and Executive Chair.

Summary of Results

For the Quarter-Ended June 30, 2023 March 31, 2023 ($000s) ($000s) Total revenue 13,365 15,107 Net revenue (less Excise Tax)* 10,174 11,834 Gross profit (loss) before changes in fair value 2,151 3,002 Gross margin % before changes in fair value 21% 25% Loss and comprehensive loss (9,571) (9,516) Adjusted EBITDA* (1,746) (3,374) As at June 30, 2023 March 31, 2023 ($000s) ($000s) Cash and cash equivalents 9,442 15,551 Inventory 15,011 15,305 Biological assets - - Working Capital (120,288) (111,036)

*Net revenue (less Excise Tax) and Adjusted EBITDA are not a recognized measurements under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and this data may not be comparable to data presented by other companies. Net revenue is defined as revenue (i.e., gross revenue less discounts and customer incentives but inclusive of freight) less excise taxes. Management defines Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA adjusted to exclude interest, tax, and depreciation, stock compensation, fair value changes and other non-cash items, and non-recurring items. This data is furnished to provide additional information and does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. The Company uses these non-IFRS measures to provide shareholders and others with supplemental measures of its operating performance. The Company also believes that securities analysts, investors, and other interested parties, frequently use these non-IFRS measures in the evaluation of companies, many of which present similar metrics when reporting their results. As other companies may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently than the Company, this metric may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. We caution readers that Adjusted EBITDA should not be substituted for determining net loss as an indicator of operating results, or as a substitute for cash flows from operating and investing activities. See the Companys managements discussion and analysis for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 (the Q2 2023 MD&A) for a detailed reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Income / (Loss). The Companys financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, and the Q2 2023 MD&A are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca

"In Q2, we maintained a strong commitment to enhancing operational efficiency throughout our business," highlighted Vaani Maharaj, CFO of Entourage. "Our efforts translated into tangible results: they have effectively trimmed our expense base, balancing cost reduction while maintaining product quality. This marks a transition from the previous quarter, significantly strengthening our Company as we continue to stay resolute amid the ebbs and flows of the industry, underscoring our commitment to generating substantial shareholder value."

Revenue Highlights

Q2 2023 YoY%

Q2 2022

Q1 2023

($000s) % ($000s) ($000s) Net Revenue by Channel Medical 4,163 (4) 4,339 5,973 Adult-Use 5,786 8 5,352 5,861 Bulk 225 100 - - Total Net Revenue 10,174 5 9,691 11,834

Financial Highlights

For the quarter that ended June 30, 2023, Entourage recorded total revenue of $ 13.37 million compared to $13.18 million for the same quarter ended June 30, 2022, representing a 1.37% increase year-over-year.

Gross profit before changes in fair value was $2.15 million for Q2 2023, representing an increase of $1.68 million compared to Q2 2022. This growth can be attributed to a strategic focus on operational efficiencies supported by reduced inventory write-downs in Q2 2023.

Gross margins were 21% in Q2 2023, compared to 5% in Q2 2022. The improvement in Q2 2023, over Q2 2022 arises from increased automation in the production process of finished and semi-finished goods, resulting in lower direct labour costs.

Total cost of goods sold (COGS) decreased by $1.19 million for the three months ending June 30, 2023, compared to Q2 2022. This reduction was achieved by continued efforts to optimize our operational platform and further automation initiatives. Notably, 19% of COGS accounted for provisions and write-downs.

Selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses declined 13% to $6.85 million. This change was primarily driven by strategic reductions in headcount, predominantly linked to the exit of cultivation activities in March 2023. Importantly, 19% of SG&A accounts for one-time restructuring charges of $1.32 million.

Adjusted EBITDA improved by $0.67 million to $(1.75) million in Q2 2023, compared with $(2.41) million in Q1 2023, primarily driven by strategic transformation initiatives to lower costs and partly due to generating higher-margin revenue due to the Company's cost savings initiatives.



Corporate Highlights During and Subsequent to Second Quarter 2023



In May, a pivotal financial milestone was reached as the Company successfully finalized the sale of its Strathroy facility. By divesting this asset, the Company strategically strengthened the balance sheet while aligning its production infrastructure to its updated strategy. The net proceeds from the sale of the Strathroy facility paid down a significant portion of the Companys senior secured credit facility with BMO (the Credit Facility).

In June, the remaining balance of the Credit Facility, approximately $14.6 million, was assumed by the Companys other secured lender, an affiliate of LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada, who repaid the remaining balance to BMO. This step simplifies the Companys debt structure, enhances financial stability, reduces debt exposure, and positions Entourage for future fiscal agility.

Additionally, in June, Entourage held its Annual General Meeting. All director nominees, including George Scorsis, Gail Paech, Bruce Croxon, Luciano Cacioppo, and Jason Alexander, were resoundingly elected, garnering a combined average shareholder approval rating of 98%. Furthermore, the Company's shareholders approved the reappointment of MNP LLP as auditor.

In June, the Company entered into a two-year agreement with the University of Guelph to store its genetics in-vitro and research its proprietary genetics. This collaboration allows the Company to ensure that proprietary genetics' safeguard, maintenance, and value remain a priority.

June marked another milestone for the Company with the seamless sale, execution, and fulfillment of its first international orderan impressive 100kg of bulk medicinal cannabis dispatched to Australia through a partnership with Lyphe Australia Pty Ltd., a fully-owned subsidiary of Lyphe Group Ltd. Four of the Company's premium strains will now be available to medicinal cannabis patients through Lyphe, cementing our global market presence and accelerating our strategic growth agenda.

In the latter part of Q2, the Company issued 1,600,000 deferred share units to its Board of Directors in line with the provisions of its omnibus equity incentive compensation plan and are granted in lieu of specific cash compensation for services provided during the second quarter of 2023.



Commercial and Sales Highlights

The Company has a record 3.0% national pre-roll market share, with British Columbia showing the strongest growth at 8.3% in the second quarter.



Color Cannabis ranks among the top five pre-roll brands in Canada.



The Company launched 18 new SKUs across the Canadian marketplace under both the Color and Saturday portfolio in various new cultivars and formats including; Garlic and Gas Ready-to-Roll, Sour Berry 1g Vape, and Ghost Fuel Infused Pre-Rolls. The Company's ongoing commitment to crafting distinctive products infused with unique flavours and rare cannabinoids is poised to resonate strongly with consumers.



In conjunction with The Boston Beer Company Inc., Teapot introduced two new flavours, 'Good Day Iced Tea Mango Green Tea' and 'Good Evening Iced Tea Blueberry Chamomile.'



Introduced new dynamic brands, Dime Bag and Syndicate. These additions complement beloved offerings within the Color and Saturday Cannabis brands, propelling the Company's expanding product lineup.



The Company launched an innovative and comprehensive education program tailored to enhance budtender engagement and elevate product knowledge. This program reflects the Company's commitment to customer satisfaction and dedication to creating a well-informed and knowledgeable cannabis community.

Starseed Medicinal's experienced over 75% renewal rate. These substantial increases highlight the Company's ability to attract and retain a growing customer base.

Starseed Medicinal has expanded its medical platform, continually adding to its product portfolio. In partnership with Remidose, Starseed will introduce a range of controlled delivery inhaler products available in both a THC and balanced profile exclusively for medical patients.



Conference Call Details

A conference call will be hosted by Mr. Scorsis and Ms. Maharaj, with management available for questions following opening remarks as follows:

Date: Wednesday, August 30, 2023 Time: 10 a.m. Eastern Time Dial-in Number: Canada/USA: 1-800-319-4610. International Toll: 1-604-638-5340

Participants, please dial in and ask to join the Entourage call Replay Dial-in: Canada/USA: 1-800-319-6413. International Toll: 1-604-638-9010

Replay Access Code: 0350

Available after 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time, until September 30, 2023

About Entourage Health Corp.

Entourage Health Corp. is the publicly traded parent Company of Entourage Brands Corp., a licence holder producing and distributing cannabis products for both the medical and adult-use markets. The Company owns and operates a fully licensed 26,000 sq. ft. Aylmer, ON processing facility. With its Starseed Medicinal medical-centric brand, Entourage has expanded its multi-channelled distribution strategy. Starseeds industry-first, exclusive partnership with LiUNA, the largest construction union in Canada, along with employers and union groups complements Entourages direct sales to medical patients. Entourages elite adult-use product portfolio includes Color Cannabis, Saturday Cannabis  and now Dime Bag and Syndicate  sold across eight provincial distribution agencies. Exclusive Canadian producer and distributor of award-winning U.S.-based wellness brand Marys Medicinals sold in both medical and adult-use channels. Under a collaboration with the Boston Beer Company, Entourage is also the exclusive distributor of cannabis-infused beverages TeaPot in Canada. In addition, Entourage also entered into an exclusive agreement with Irwin Naturals, a renowned nutraceutical and herbal supplement formulator of popular branded wellness products sold across North America.

Follow Entourage and its brands on LinkedIn

Instagram: Color Cannabis , Saturday Cannabis , Starseed, Syndicate , Dime Bag

For Investor & Media Enquiries:

Catherine Flaman

Senior Director, Communications & Corporate Affairs

416-910-0279

Catherine.flaman@entouragecorp.com

Forward Looking Information This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation which are based upon Entourage's current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs and views of future events. Forward-looking information can be identified using forward-looking terminology such as "expect", "likely", "may", "will", "should", "intend", "anticipate", "potential", "proposed", "estimate" and other similar words, including negative and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may", "would" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy.

The forward-looking information in this news release is based upon the expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions, and views of future events which management believes to be reasonable in the circumstances. Forward-looking information includes estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, targets, guidance, or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking information necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; loss of markets; future legislative and regulatory developments; inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; the cannabis industry in Canada generally; the ability of Entourage to implement its business strategies; competition; crop failure; and other risks.

Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as required by law, Entourage does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Entourage to predict all such factors. When considering this forward-looking information, readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in Entourages disclosure documents filed with the applicable Canadian securities' regulatory authorities and available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The risk factors and other factors noted in the disclosure documents could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking information.

Third Party Information This press release includes market and industry data that has been obtained from third party sources, including industry publications. The Company believes that the industry data is accurate and that its estimates and assumptions are reasonable, but there is no assurance as to the accuracy or completeness of this data. Third party sources generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but there is no assurance as to the accuracy or completeness of included information. Although the data is believed to be reliable, the Company has not independently verified any of the data from third party sources referred to in this press release or ascertained the underlying economic assumptions relied upon by such sources.

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
WAWA, Pa., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wawa, Inc., is thrilled to announce today the return of its month-long Cheers to Classrooms celebration from September 1  September 30 that will recognize teachers and school administration who educate, guide and inspire children with the following support:



Free Any Size Hot Coffee for Teachers & School Administration

All day, every day from September 1 - 30, any size hot coffee is free for all teachers and school administration in Mid-Atlantic states including PA, NJ, DE, MD, VA and Washington, D.C. Faculty need to simply share that they work at a school at the register to receive offer.



All day, every day from September 1 - 30, any size hot coffee is free for all teachers and school administration in Mid-Atlantic states including PA, NJ, DE, MD, VA and Washington, D.C. Faculty need to simply share that they work at a school at the register to receive offer. $50,000 Cheers to Classrooms Chainwide Fund

Through a partnership with Donors Choose, an online resource for teachers to submit funding requests for school supplies/support, Wawa has designated a $50,000 chainwide matching fund to support schools throughout its operating area. Teachers can submit a project at www.donorschoose.org and those schools that meet Wawas funding criteria could receive matching funds.



Wawa is excited to bring back its Cheers to Classrooms initiative to put a smile on the faces of teachers and administration that work so hard to do the same for children in our community, said Dave Simonetti, Senior Director of Store Operations, Wawa. Our associates are also looking forward to visiting local schools throughout the month to welcome teachers back into the classroom and show our appreciation for everything they do!

About Wawa, Inc.

Wawa, Inc., a privately held company, began in 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Toward the end of the 19th Century, owner George Wood took an interest in dairy farming and the family began a small processing plant in Wawa, PA in 1902. The milk business was a huge success, due to its quality, cleanliness and certified process. As home delivery of milk declined in the early 1960s, Grahame Wood, Georges grandson, opened the first Wawa Food Market in 1964 as an outlet for dairy products. Today, Wawa is your all day, every day stop for freshly prepared foods, beverages, coffee, fuel services and surcharge-free ATMs. Wawa stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Washington, D.C. The stores offer a large fresh foodservice selection, including Wawa brands such as custom prepared hoagies, freshly-brewed coffee, hot breakfast sandwiches, specialty beverages and an assortment of soups, sides and snacks. Forbes.com ranks Wawa as one of the Best Employers for Women in 2023 and as #23 of Americas Largest Private Companies in 2020. For more information, visit us on www.wawa.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at @wawa.

CONTACT: public.relations@wawa.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7d7ee199-033b-448f-aec3-7f9deb9c9025




MIAMI, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Global travel marketplace Skyscanners new campaign sees continued investment into Canada and Australia as key markets, with an integrated mix of measurable, brand performance marketing tactics both online and offline.

The campaign is the first multi-market TV and out-of-home effort by Skyscanner and signals the brands confidence as travel returns to markets worldwide.

The campaign brings to life four new character worlds that include a Travel Magician, an Analog Travel Agent, a quirky Deal Collecting Couple and a Private Travel Hacker for the wealthy and well-travelled.

The campaign comes to life across TV, OOH and digital, including the launch of paid TikTok assets.

The Ultimate Travel Hack campaign is bolstered by fun easter eggs that reward curiosity, including a travel magic website featuring Gareth the Greats Alliance of Travel Magic, a phone number to Big Toms Small Travel Emporium, with more engaging layers to come.

The investment is designed to tap into Canadians and Australians interest in post-pandemic travel combined with their ability to find a great deal with Skyscanner, as they return to the skies in 2023 and beyond.

A parallel, global partnership with Exceptional ALIEN inspires travellers with curated creator guides. Exclusive, insider experiences in six iconic cities frequently visited by Australians and Canadians, allowing them to explore the cities they thought they knew in unexpected ways.



Global travel marketplace Skyscanner is launching a major advertising campaign which aims to demystify metasearch for keen travellers living in Canada and Australia.

Created by Little Big Engine and Skyscanners in-house Brand Studio, the irreverent campaign hopes to capture the travel companys playful sensibilities and quirky humour.

For example, one of the campaign characters is a failed magician who now uses Skyscanner to astound his audiences with his stage presence, sleight of hand and outrageous travel deals. Another is a travel agent surrounded by dusty fax machines and floppy disks, who is remarkably able to find his baffled clients unbelievable deals to amazing places with ease thanks to Skyscanner.

Skyscanners Executive Creative Director, Andre Le Masurier, explained the thought process behind the creative:

We are the OG travel hackers. Exploring, planning and booking travel should be fun, and we wanted to reflect the joy of finding your next great trip with rich, memorable character worlds that entertain and reward curiosity. I think advertising and the world could use a little more humour and unexpected quirkiness.

Skyscanner has launched a partnership with Exceptional ALIEN to further support travellers in Canada and Australia with a collection of under-the-radar travel guides curated by world-class creators and cultural icons, helping travellers explore the world through an adventurous new lens.

This Skyscanner x Exceptional ALIEN content includes insider pro tips, tools and travel hacks from Skyscanner ambassadors and staff. The experience will be exclusively available on skyscanner.ca and skyscanner.com.au from August 24th to November 24th, 2023.

Notes

Assets

The Ultimate Travel Hack: https://youtu.be/qwHt1gfIRyY

One Big Game: https://youtu.be/IW7M1MpiB_s

No Pressure: https://youtu.be/k9SALjJJnLoBest

Flights to Amazing Places: https://youtu.be/CfXIjXJE9wc

Best Deals All in One Place : https://youtu.be/U9N3MLwGdpA

World's First Travel Magician : https://youtu.be/eetT1_x85Jc

Magically Low Prices: https://youtu.be/A3YaXa7ahdA

Magically Searches Billions Of Prices: https://youtu.be/DgfMCNBM3XY

All The Best Deals: https://youtu.be/oWl62_3T5wU

Find Unbelievable Deals: https://youtu.be/WZioPWJG2w0

Finding Deals Has Never Been Easier: https://youtu.be/15JNUWakNnE

Save Like a Travel Agent: https://youtu.be/_sWg9Qj_9jY

Explore Everywhere: https://youtu.be/guUF96Fotq4

Hoarders without Boarders: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4Xoy2ahQGXE

The Travel Magician: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Tlu7H_lBqc8

Contact

Gemma Jamieson

gemma.jamieson@skyscanner.net
Pune, India, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Exposure to seated whole-body vibration for prolonged period while driving increases risk to the spine, and heavy impacts due to bumpy roads and sudden maneuvering can develop low back disorders . Automotive seats are designed to support buttocks, head, thighs, lower, and upper back to avoid discomfort and prevent heavy impact on the body. Seats are usually constructed from foam and comforting materials to provide comfort, safety, and support to the driver and passengers.

The demand for cars of various segments is based on the income levels. For instance, Small Class or Type A and B cars are mostly bought by the lower-income population. The lower-medium income population usually buys Medium Class or Type C and D. The High-End class or Type E, F, and G are extensively bought by the higher-income population. The growing sales of automotive vehicles worldwide drive the demand for automotive seats. The rise in road trips with friends and family has fueled vehicle sales. In addition, the rising disposable income of people worldwide has contributed to the factors propelling the demand for automotive seats.

Automotive Seats Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $60.28 billion in 2022 and is poised to reach $83.79 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 4.2% from 2023 to 2030 according to a new report published by The Insight Partners.

The growth of this market is driven by Rising Demand for Premium Vehicles and Increasing Adoption of Powered Seats in SUVs and MPVs.





Download Sample Pages: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPTE100001283







Browse Comprehensive TOC on "Automotive Seats Market Forecast to 2030 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Technology (Heated, Heated-Ventilated, Ventilated, With Massage Functions, and Others), Adjustment Type (Electrically Adjusted and Manual), Vehicle Type (Passenger Vehicle, Light Commercial Vehicle, and Heavy Commercial Vehicle), Seat Type (Front Row, Second Row, and Third Row), and Geography

List of Tables - 231

List of Figures - 91

No. of Pages - 252





Global Automotive Seats Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Size Value in $60.28 billion in 2022 Market Size Value by $83.79 billion by 2030 Growth rate CAGR of 4.2% from 2023 to 2030 Forecast Period 2023-2030 Base Year 2022 Segments covered Technology, Adjustment Type, Vehicle Type, Seat Type Regional scope North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South & Central America. Country scope Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States Report coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends





Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) are widely purchased by consumers who frequently travel long distances. These vehicles have gained immense demand due to features such as more accommodation, comfortable seats, and luggage space. The high seating position in these vehicles allows the driver to get a superior view of the road with good visibility, which helps make better judgments while maneuvering. Seats in these vehicles provide comfort to driver and passengers for longer tours, drastically shifting the consumer's preference toward SUVs and MPVs. According to International Energy Agency (IEA), the number of SUVs increased by 35 million in 2021 compared to 2020 globally. Its sales increased by 10% in 2021 compared to 2020. The SUV market has observed robust growth in the US, India, and Europe. Further, electric SUVs garnered the highest number of sales in the electric vehicle segment. Globally, approximately 55% of electric car models were SUVs in 2021, up by 45% in two years.

Market players are launching vehicles with various features to cater to the growing demand from consumers for SUVs and MPVs. In August 2021, Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) launched a new Land Cruiser with rearward front seats and revised second and third row seats. The third row seats can be retracted to make luggage loading and unloading easier; seats also feature motorized stowing to generously increase legroom and boot space. Thus, such vehicles are driving the demand for automotive seats.

The Automotive seat market is segmented into five major regionsNorth America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America (SAM). In 2022, Asia Pacific led the market with a substantial revenue share in the automotive seat market, followed by North America and Europe. Based on country, the Asia Pacific automotive seat market is segmented into Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the Rest of Asia Pacific. The automotive industry across Asia Pacific has been experiencing significant growth over the years. According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, countries such as India, China, Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand experienced a significant rise in vehicle production volume in 2022. Additionally, regional and global automotive manufacturers are investing in establishing new vehicle production plants across the region. For instance, in March 2022, Triton Electric Vehicle LLC announced the launch of its new production plant in Gujarat, India. In addition, in June 2022, BMW announced the opening of its new electric vehicle production plant in China with an investment of US$ 2.2 billion. The launch of new vehicle production plants is expected to increase the demand for automotive seats, contributing to the automotive seat market growth in the region.





Automotive Seat Market Analysis: Technology

Based on technology, the global automotive seat market is segmented into heated, heated-ventilated, ventilated, with massage functions, and others. The rising demand for heated seats for enhanced comfort during cold weather is helping the segment to grow at a significant rate.





Global Automotive Seats Market: Competitive Landscape

Lear Corp, TS Tech Co Ltd, Adient Plc, Summit Auto Body Industry Co Ltd, NHK Spring Co Ltd, Magna International Inc, Bharat Seats Ltd, RECARO Aircraft Seating GmbH & Co KG, Forvia, Toyota Boshoku Corp, and Tachi-S Engineering USA Inc are among the key automotive seat market players profiled in the report. Several other essential automotive seat market players were analyzed for a holistic view of the market and its ecosystem. The report provides detailed automotive seat market growth insights, which can help major players strategize their growth.





Directly Purchase this Report at https://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPTE100001283







Automotive Seats Market - Key Industry Dynamics:

Drivers:

Rising Demand for Premium Vehicles

Increasing Adoption of Powered Seats in SUVs and MPVs





Restraints:

High-Cost Testing Processes for Startups and SMEs





Opportunities:

Penetration of Heated/Ventilated Technology in Low Segment Cars





Future Trends:

Adoption of ABTS





Recent Developments:

In 2022 , TS TECH Co., Ltd. and Alps Alpine Co., Ltd. signed a business alliance agreement to develop new cabin spaces for incorporation into next-generation vehicles. The alliance introduced high-value-added automotive cabin spaces.

, TS TECH Co., Ltd. and Alps Alpine Co., Ltd. signed a business alliance agreement to develop new cabin spaces for incorporation into next-generation vehicles. The alliance introduced high-value-added automotive cabin spaces. In 2022 , an agreement to transfer two of Aisin's overseas manufacturing subsidiaries for seat frame mechanisms to Toyota Boshoku Corporation (Toyota Boshoku) was announced by the companies Aisin Corporation (Aisin), Shiroki Corporation (Shiroki), and Toyota Boshoku Corporation (Toyota Boshoku).





Report Spotlights:

Progressive industry trends in the Automotive Seats market to help players develop effective long-term strategies

Business growth strategies adopted by developed and developing markets

Quantitative analysis of the Automotive Seats market from 2023 to 2030

Estimation of global demand for Automotive Seats

PEST analysis to illustrate the efficacy of buyers and suppliers operating in the industry

Recent developments to understand the competitive market scenario

Market trends and outlook as well as factors driving and restraining the growth of the Automotive Seats market

Assistance in the decision-making process by highlighting market strategies that underpin commercial interest, leading to the market growth

Size of the Automotive Seats market size at various nodes

Detailed overview and segmentation of the market, as well as the Automotive Seats industry dynamics

Size of the Automotive Seats market in various regions with promising growth opportunities





Go through further research published by The Insight Partners: (Purchase with 10% Instant Discount):

Active Seat Belt System Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030

Automotive Comfort Seat System Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030

Automotive Ventilated Seats Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030

Automotive Seat Belt System Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030

Marine Seats Market - Global Analysis and Forecast to 2030





About Us:

The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We specialize in industries such as Semiconductor and Electronics, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive and Transportation, Biotechnology, Healthcare IT, Manufacturing and Construction, Medical Device, Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Chemicals and Materials.

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Dallas, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When it comes to backyard parties, Dickeys Barbecue Pit, is always a win.



The Texas-style barbecue brand is helping pitmasters across the country host the best barbecue on the block with their smoked daily meats by the pound and traditional sides. By ordering Dickeys meats by the pound, party hosts can offer their guests a variety of meal options. Smoked chicken, savory brisket for tacos, or fall off the bone pork ribs, your guests are sure to be satisfied. Dickeys will also provide the all-important side dishes ranging from mac and cheese, baked potato casserole, barbecue beans, potato salad, green beans, or their famous coleslaw. On Labor Day, guests can receive $10 off their order of $55 or more by using code LABOR10.

Labor Day is for kicking back and relaxing, says, Roland Dickey Jr., CEO of Dickeys Capital Group. Thats why we hope barbecue lovers across the country will let Dickeys do the work, and take advantage of our holiday deals in store or dickeys.com. Barbecue is the perfect meal for the holiday weekend.

You can also use Dickeys as your Labor Day caterer for gatherings of any size. Just pick up the phone and call Dickeys Catering at 1.866.BARBECUE (866.227.2328) or request a quote on dickeys.com to discover the variety of catering services made available all across the nation, from coast to coast.

For more about Dickeys, follow Dickeys Barbecue Pit on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Download the Dickeys Barbecue Pit app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

For Dickeys Virtual Concepts follow Wing Boss on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok; Trailer Birds on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok ; and Big Deal Burger on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok .

About Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.

Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the worlds largest barbecue concept, was founded in 1941 by the Dickey family. For the past 80 years, Dickeys Barbecue Pit has served millions of guests in 44 states Legit. Texas. Barbecue. At Dickeys, all our barbecued meats are smoked onsite in a hickory wood burning pit. Dickeys proudly believes theres no shortcut to true barbecue and its why our name isnt BBQ. The Dallas-based, family-run barbecue franchise offers eight slow-smoked meats and 12 wholesome sides with 'No B.S. (Bad Stuff)' included. Dickeys Barbecue 550 locations across the United States and eight other countries.

Dickeys was named to Newsweeks 2022 Americas Favorite Restaurant Chains list and USA Today 2021 readers choice awards. Dickeys won first place on Fast Casuals Top 100 Movers and Shakers list, been named a Top 500 Franchise by Entrepreneur and named to Hospitality Technologys Industry Heroes list. Led by CEO Laura Rea Dickey, who was named among the countrys 50 most influential women in foodservice in Nations Restaurant News, was recognized by Fast Casuals Top 100 Movers and Shakers list and honored by Dallas Business Journal. Dickey's Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Fox News, Forbes Magazine, Franchise Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine and QSR Magazine. Dickeys Barbecue is part of Dickeys Restaurant Brands which has more than 700 restaurants nationwide including brands Wing Boss, Trailer Birds, Big Deal Burger and bbqathome.com. DRB is led by CEO Roland Dickey Jr. For more information, visit dickeys.com.

# # #

Attachment
CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Associa Chicagoland (ACL), a leading provider of community management services throughout the Chicagoland and northwest Indiana region, recently partnered with the Meribel Condominium Association to host a community-wide safety event in conjunction with the 2023 National Night Out (NNO). The branch and association board members organized the event to promote neighborhood solidarity, resident safety, and police-community partnerships. Residents and neighbors attended the event in Meribel Park, which featured giveaways for all ages, a pinata for the kids, sweets and soft drinks, along with visits from local first responders.

As the community management industrys sole national sponsor of NNO, Associa works closely with its respective community partners through Associa Supports Kids (ASK), a community outreach program, to educate parents and children on the importance of neighborhood safety. Tens of thousands of ASK giveaway items are provided annually to NNO event attendees who attend both Associa-managed and non-Associa managed community safety events.

NNO takes place on the first Tuesday in August throughout all 50 U.S. states, territories, and on military bases worldwide. Texas and other selected regions celebrate the first Tuesday in October for heat-related reasons. Associa sponsored a total of 104 events in August and looks forward to working with many more Associa-managed communities on Tuesday, October 3, as part of Texas NNO. The goal of all the programs is to promote neighborhood camaraderie and inclusiveness to help make communities safer, more caring places to live.

About Associa

With more than 275 branch offices across North America, Associa is building the future of community for more than 6.5 million residents worldwide. Our 14,000+ team members lead the industry with unrivaled education, expertise, and trailblazing innovation. For more than 44 years, Associa has brought positive impact and meaningful value to communities. To learn more, visit www.associaonline.com.

Stay Connected

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/associa

Subscribe to the Blog: https://hub.associaonline.com/

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/associa

Join us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/associa

Attachment
New York, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Education Computing Devices Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Product Type, By End User, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2023 - 2030" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06487804/?utm_source=GNW

Teachers may access educational content, design digital assignments, and provide students with immediate feedback using tablets. The content can be personalized for each pupil and facilitate an interactive learning experience. Tablets can be used to promote distance learning and aid in bridging the digital divide by providing students with access to the same educational resources regardless of their location. Some of the factors impacting the market are increase in global digitization, rapid development of online education platforms, and digital divide and unequal Internet access.



In educational institutions, digitization has led to significant demand for PCs, laptops, and notebooks. The importance of online learning in educational institutions has boosted the need for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. A further factor driving the expansion of the market for education computing devices is the development of smart teaching techniques. Moreover, the rapid pace of digitalization in regions like Middle East, Africa, and Latin America is also presenting significant possibilities to industry participants. Therefore, need for education computing devices will grow as a result of the rising global digitization. The fast development of software solutions is providing educational institutions with improved resource planning tools, enabling faculty members to create more complex course content and efficiently manage classrooms and schools. Online learning platforms are supported by the idea that students are increasingly becoming interested in learning from the comfort of their homes. To improve the learning experience, online education combines a variety of multimedia components, including videos, presentations, and interactive activities. The adaptability of online learning is a critical factor in its expansion. As a result of the rising development of online education platform, the market is estimated to grow.



However, while developed countries are generally known for their technical agility, emerging economies are expected to make small strides toward digitization. LMIC, or low- and middle-income nations, are notoriously sluggish to adopt digital technology. The global prevalence of the digital divide is held responsible for this. Lack of access to essential technology and Internet connectivity may affect students from underprivileged families or marginalized areas, escalating already-existing educational inequalities. The difficulty of providing all students with fair access to computing devices for educational purposes needs to be resolved. Hence, all these factors pose a challenge for the market.



Product Type Outlook



By product type, the market is categorized into smartphones, laptops, tablets, and others. The laptops segment covered a considerable revenue share in the market in 2022. The growth of the segment is owed to initiatives like Laptops in Education PC, which is a program that provides students with laptops to improve their academic performance. Such initiatives aim to close the digital divide between people with access to technology and those without access. Such programs also ensure that all pupils, regardless of their socioeconomic status, have access to the same educational resources.



End User Outlook



Based on end-user, the market is divided into primary, secondary and higher secondary. The higher secondary segment witnessed the largest revenue share in the market in 2022. The reasons expected to drive the segments expansion include the higher secondary students increasing use of education computing devices as they frequently engage in college and career preparation activities, such as creating college applications, researching universities, and exploring career paths. Students can use computing devices to access college information portals, explore for scholarships, participate in online college fairs, and utilize career exploration tools, enabling them to make informed decisions about their future education and careers.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the market analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and LAMEA region. In 2022, the North America region led the market by generating the highest revenue share. One of the factors fueling the expansion of the regional market is the regions improved economic status and government attempts to upgrade the infrastructure in both the commercial and educational sectors. The use of laptop computers and wireless devices in educational institutions has grown during the past few years.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Xiaomi Corporation, Dell Technologies, Inc., Lenovo Group Limited, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Acer, Inc., ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Apple, Inc., OPPO Company, and HP, Inc.



Strategies Deployed in Education Computing Devices Market



Mar-2023: Xiaomi Corporation teamed up with United Way India, an India-based NPO, to deliver digital solutions to schools across Karnataka. The partnership would facilitate the transformation of the education infrastructure in Karnataka.



Mar-2023: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled WAC interactive display. The display comes in 65, 75, and 86-inch models and has a 3-in-1 USB-C port connectivity. Additionally, the display comes with 20 multi-touch dual-sided pens.



Jan-2023: Samsung Electronics today unveiled a new interactive display with upgraded features and a powerful software solution at Bett (British Educational Training and Technology) 2023, the worlds largest education technology exhibition, in London. The more than



Jan-2022: Dell Technologies Incorporated signed a partnership with Intel, a semiconductor manufacturing company, to deliver educational technology-as-a-service (ETaaS) solutions. The partnership would facilitate the schools to overcome the technological barriers.



Jan-2022: Lenovo released Lenovo 10w Tablet for education purposes. The laptop features a 10.1-inch Gorilla Glass-protected display and a 16:10 aspect ratio. Furthermore, the laptop has a Snapdragon 7c compute platform and extended battery life.



Dec-2020: Xiaomi Corporation introduced Xiaomi Mi Notebook 14 e-Learning Edition, a laptop made specifically for educational purposes. The laptop features 8GB RAM and an Intel Core i3 processor. The laptop has a thickness of 17.9mm and weighs 1.5kg.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Product Type



 Smartphones



 Laptops



 Tablets



 Others



By End User



 Higher Secondary



 Primary



 Secondary



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



 Xiaomi Corporation



 Dell Technologies, Inc.



 Lenovo Group Limited



 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.



 Acer, Inc.



 ASUSTeK Computer Inc.



 Apple, Inc.



 OPPO Company



 HP, Inc.



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 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



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 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06487804/?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, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Data Labeling Solution And Services Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Type, By Labeling Type, By Sourcing Type, By Vertical, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2023 - 2030" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06487774/?utm_source=GNW

Several market participants are launching strategic endeavors to create a strong artificial intelligence network by outsourcing data labeling solutions and services. Solutions based on artificial intelligence can be trained to recognize marked and labeled data. Common information sources include medical images, X-rays, CT scan images, and magnetic resonance imaging. Data solution labels and services are crucial in healthcare since medical imaging uses computer vision technology to recognize patterns and identify illnesses and injuries.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Product Launches as the key developmental strategy to keep pace with the changing demands of end users. In June, 2022, Google introduced a dedicated server for AI system training along with example-based explanations into its Vertex to expedite the adoption of machine learning models in businesses. Additionally, In February, 2023, Appen Limited launched Automated NLP Labeling, Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback, and Document Intelligence.



Based on the Analysis presented in the KBV Cardinal matrix; Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.) is the forerunner in the Market. Companies such as Appen Limited, TELUS International (Playment, Inc.) and Alegion, Inc. are some of the key innovators in the Market. For instance, In May, 2021, Cogito expanded its capabilities in Pathology, Ophthalmology & Cardiology. The adoption of AI in healthcare requires expertise for accurately annotated data in healthcare.



Market Growth Factors



Increasing Use of Labeled Data in Healthcare Imaging



The healthcare industry is growing due to adopting Al-enabled systems for better patient care, faster diagnostics, and earlier medication discovery. With the help of adequately labeled medical images, algorithms have been built that can identify patients disorders and illnesses without a humans aid. Medical staff also work with knowledgeable data labeling solutions and service providers to compile a database of precisely labeled operation videos. The dataset would serve as a fundamental component in developing autonomous surgical robots. Such wide usage of data labelling solutions and services in healthcare is estimated to support the expansion of the market during the projection period.



Increased Digitalization Across Various Industries



This market is growing significantly due to the adoption of digitalization. Data collection has increased significantly across numerous industries as a result of digitalization. An enormous amount of text data is available for analysis because of the growth of digital platforms, social media, and online communication. There is a need for effective data labeling services to make sense of the information and gain useful insights. Machine learning uses enormous volumes of data regularly, and firms invest time and money in giving employees the proper tools and training for data enrichment. It is anticipated that the market for data labeling solutions and services will gain support as the usage of digital platforms becomes widespread.



Market Restraining Factors



Problems Caused by Low-Quality Training Data



The shortage of high-quality input data continues to be one of the main obstacles to the market growth of data labeling solutions and services. Every attempt to use poor-quality data for training Al models leads to inaccuracies in the anticipated results, with certain techniques deteriorating to the point that they are never fully optimized. This is because the accuracy of the data used to feed the algorithms is highly correlated with their performance. Data accuracy is essential for industries with strict regulations, such as healthcare. As a result of the recent pandemic, increasing the data quality for upcoming pandemics is more important than ever. As a result, it is projected that the market for data labeling solutions and services will be restricted due to the these factor.



Type Outlook



Based on type, the market is classified into text, image/video, and audio. The text segment garnered a significant revenue share in the market in 2022. Text data refers to any information written down, such as documents, articles, chat logs, social media posts, customer reviews, emails, etc. As enterprises increasingly rely on machine learning and natural language processing technologies for mining vast amounts of textual data for insightful information, the text data labeling segment has grown significantly.



Labeling Type Outlook



By labeling type, the market is fragmented into manual, semi-supervised, and automatic. In 2022, the manual segment registered the highest revenue share in this market. The process of manually classifying or labeling any data involves humans. The method is fascinating compared to automatic labeling because of its advantages, including high integrity, consistency, and minimal data annotation effort. Manual labeling is essential when working with edge instances or niche sectors/industries in public or synthetic datasets is inadequate or insufficient.



Sourcing Type Outlook



On the basis of sourcing type, the market is segmented into in-house, and outsourced. The in-house segment acquired a substantial revenue share in the market in 2022. Businesses may develop trustworthy labeling procedures and a replicable data management system by implementing their in-house data labeling solutions. Per the clients applications and requirements, the vendors also provide specialized solutions. Additionally, setting up in-house labeling teams offers a better understanding and management of operational processes, which is advantageous from the organizations point of view.



Vertical Outlook



On the basis of vertical, the market is categorized into IT, automotive, government, healthcare, financial services, retails, and others. In 2022, the IT segment witnessed the largest revenue share in the market. The industrys extensive use of AI applications essentially contributes to the growth in this segment. The market is further predicted to grow in the segment with the growing innovations and adoption of cutting-edge technologies within the IT sector globally.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. In 2022, the North America region generated the highest revenue share in the market. This regions growing investment in data labeling solutions is driving market expansion. Canada and the U.S. were early adopters of AI in the North American region and are on the cutting edge of data labeling solutions and services. Modern research demands have compelled businesses to include strong virtual capabilities, which have expanded the use of these services.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stakeholders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.), Appen Limited, TELUS International (Playment, Inc.), Yandex N.V., Uber Technologies, Inc. (Mighty AI, Inc.), Zight, Alegion, Inc., Scale AI, Inc., Labelbox, Inc., Cogito Tech LLC



Recent Strategies Deployed in Data Labeling Solution and Services Market



Partnerships, Collaborations & Agreements:



Mar-2022: Labelbox, Inc. signed an agreement with Hitachi Solutions Co., Ltd., a core IT company of the Hitachi Group which provides IT solutions. Through this agreement, both companies get data labeling tools that help the creation of learning data for AI development and begin selling.



May-2021: Labelbox teamed up with Databricks, an enterprise software company. Together, the companies announced the features for teams to develop unstructured data for AI and analytics in Databricks. By integrating Databricks and Labelbox, users get an end-to-end surrounding for unstructured data workflows, a query engine developed around Delta Lake, quick annotation tools, and a strong Machine Learning computing environment.



May-2021: Alegion, Inc. signed an agreement with Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan Bumiputera, a Malaysian government agency. This agreement was signed to address the quickly emerging technologies of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) by offering training and certification in ML data labeling.



Feb-2021: Google Cloud formed a partnership with NextBillion AI, an industry-leading startup in mapping platforms. The partnership aims to enhance time-to-market for hyperlocal AI solutions by operating datasets & algorithms on Cloud Storage & Cloud SQL to reduce the operational overheads with Google Kubernetes Engine



Product Launches and Product Expansions:



Feb-2023: Appen Limited launched Automated NLP Labeling, Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback, and Document Intelligence. The launched products would leverage generative AI capabilities and zero shots learning techniques to rate up data annotation. Additionally, the product would unlock generative AI and strengthen exceptional customer experiences.



Jun-2022: Google introduced a dedicated server for AI system training along with example-based explanations into its Vertex. This product expansion aimed to expedite the adoption of machine learning models in businesses. In addition, the company also aimed to democratize AI To allow more people to deploy models in production, continuously monitor, and drive business impact with AI.



Jun-2022: Google rolled out Imagen, a text-to-image AI model. The new product aimed to generate photorealistic images of text and is pre-trained on text data. In addition, the new solution also outperforms DALL-E 2 on the COCO benchmark.



Oct-2021: Scale AI Inc. announced the launch of Scale Rapid, a service that aims to solve the problem by labeling a data sample within one to three hours. With this launch, users would be able to ensure the labeling is being done correctly, recapitulate upon their labeling instruction if important, then ramp up to have Scale AI label all of their datasets.



May-2021: Cogito expanded its capabilities in Pathology, Ophthalmology & Cardiology. The adoption of AI in healthcare requires expertise for accurately annotated data in healthcare.



Feb-2021: Appen Limited launched the latest off-the-shelf (OTS) datasets. These datasets are developed to make it simpler and quicker for companies to get the high-quality training data required to boost their artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) projects.



Acquisitions and Mergers:



Aug-2021: Appen Limited agreed to acquire Quadrant, a global leader in mobile location data, Point-of-Interest data, and corresponding compliance services. This acquisition aimed to strengthen Appens position in the market and also enable the company to provide high-quality data to companies that depend on geolocation for their business.



Jul-2021: TELUS International took over Playment, a complete data labeling platform. Through this acquisition, Playment would enhance TELUS deep domain expertise and uniquely position it to support customers in developing AI-powered solutions across verticals.



Mar-2021: TELUS International took over Lionbridge AI, a leading and global provider of scalable data annotation services for text, images, videos, and audio. This acquisition aimed to expand TELUS Internationals global service offerings and penetration into the fast-growing economy services market under its digital transformation strategy.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Type



 Image/Video



 Text



 Audio



By Labeling Type



 Manual



 Semi-Supervised



 Automatic



By Sourcing Type



 Outsourced



 In-House



By Vertical



 IT



 Automotive



 Financial Services



 Government



 Healthcare



 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



 Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)



 Appen Limited



 TELUS International (Playment, Inc.)



 Yandex N.V.



 Uber Technologies, Inc. (Mighty AI, Inc.)



 Zight



 Alegion, Inc.



 Scale AI, Inc.



 Labelbox, Inc.



 Cogito Tech LLC



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/p06487774/?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, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Controlled Release Drug Delivery Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Release Mechanism, By Technology, By Application, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2023 - 2030" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06487759/?utm_source=GNW

Coacervates are a novel family of drug delivery agents created to transport proteins and small-molecule medications. Among these are coacervates made of heparin that hold artificial polycations for the regulated delivery of growth factors. With more people using these devices, they are expected to soon increase in demand for controlled release drug delivery. Some of the factors impacting the market are growing application of non-invasive drug delivery techniques, increase in global aging population proportion, and Challenges in controlled release drug formulation preparation.



Because of technological improvements in medicine and straightforward oral drug delivery methods, the non-invasive mode of targeted medication delivery is now capable of competing with traditional injectables as well as uncomfortable routes of drug delivery. These drug delivery systems are rapidly displacing some of the most common injections given to patients with certain diseases. For example, hypodermic injections are painful, create hazardous medical waste, and raise the risk of disease transmission through reused needles, especially in developing countries. The elderly population is increasing quickly in every nation on the earth. Nearly 1.5 billion people will inhabit this world by 2050, an increase of more than three times the current number. Additionally, during this time, it is predicted that the percentage of elderly citizens will increase to 16.0% worldwide. In the middle of the twenty-first century, one in six people will be 65 or older. The "population aging phenomenon" describes the rise in the proportion and prevalence of older persons globally. Additionally, 703 million people worldwide were 65 or older in 2019. In 2019, there were 9% more persons aged 65 and over than there were in 2018. With the worlds aging population growing and these individuals being more susceptible to age-related problems, it is projected that increased demand for novel drug delivery systems will fuel market expansion.



Due to the rising need for solutions for controlled release drug administration, the COVID-19 pandemic had a favorable effect on the markets growth. For instance, the September 2021 publication of an article titled "Role of Novel Drug Delivery Systems in Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19): Time to Act Now" demonstrated the impending increase in the use and demand for novel drug delivery systems and technologies. This facilitated the release of several novel drug delivery systems and devices, which helped repurpose the existing medications to treat various viral illnesses.



However, drug-related formulation challenges include active pharmaceutical ingredients with short half-lives and the need for higher dose delivery, as well as formulation-related issues. This frequently calls for soluble handling capabilities because most polymers need to be dissolved in natural solvents before being covered by controlled-release formulations (such as tablets, granules, and capsules). Additionally, dumping of doses is a key drawback of controlled release formulation. Dose modification is more challenging in formulations with controlled release. Therefore, the market expansion may be slowed by any technological setbacks or delays.



Technology Outlook



Based on technology, the controlled release drug delivery market is characterized into Wurster technique, coacervation, micro encapsulation, implants, transdermal, targeted delivery, and others. The micro encapsulation segment procured a considerable growth rate in the controlled release drug delivery market in 2022. Over the projected period, the demand for controlled medication release of extremely complex and unstable compounds, including proteins, antioxidants, and vitamins, is expected to increase. This is projected to support the expansion of the micro encapsulation segment. For example, vitamin A has weak chemical stability and water solubility; nevertheless, when it is micro encapsulated, the shelf life of the product rises, aiding in the achievement of controlled drug release concurrently.



Release Mechanism Outlook



On the basis of release mechanism, the controlled release drug delivery market is classified into polymer-based systems, micro reservoir partition controlled drug delivery systems, feedback regulated drug delivery systems, activation-modulated drug delivery systems, and chemically activated. The feedback regulated drug delivery systems segment recorded the largest revenue share in the controlled release drug delivery market in 2022. Due to its therapeutic effectiveness in treating conditions like diabetes, feedback-regulated medication delivery devices are becoming more popular. Furthermore, it is anticipated that rising R&D efforts to develop feedback-regulated, controlled drug delivery systems as antidotes will support market expansion.



Application Outlook



On the basis of application, the controlled release drug delivery market is classified into metered dose inhalers, injectable, transdermal & ocular patches, infusion pumps & drug eluting stents, and oral controlled drug delivery systems. The oral controlled drug delivery systems segment procured the largest revenue share in the controlled release drug delivery market in 2022. By getting beyond obstacles such as low solubility, enzymatic degradation, and first-pass metabolism, oral controlled drug delivery systems can increase the bioavailability of pharmaceuticals. They can speed up the absorption of the medicine and prevent it from degrading in the GI tract, leading to higher and more reliable drug concentrations in the bloodstream. As the drug stays at the target location for a longer period and provides sustained pharmacological activity, this increased drug delivery can improve therapeutic effectiveness.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the controlled release drug delivery market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The North America segment witnessed the maximum revenue share in the controlled release drug delivery market in 2022. It is projected that increased investment in research and development, in addition to government initiatives that have been carried out to encourage the development of controlled release systems, will drive market expansion in this region. The presence of large market participants is another factor that contributes to the encouragement of the development of controlled release systems. The rise of the demand for these products is helped along by the rising prevalence of chronic ailments such as cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Inc., Alkermes PLC, Pfizer, Inc., Assertio Holdings, Inc. (Assertio Therapeutics, Inc.), Lonza Group AG (Capsugel), Colorcon, Inc. (BPSI Holdings LLC.), Corium, LLC (Gurnet Point Capital), Adare Pharma Solutions, and Coating Place, Inc.



Strategies deployed in Controlled Release Drug Delivery Market



Jun-2023: Colorcon Inc. introduced HyperStart C2C, the Smart Formulation Hub to offer its customers formulation design for solid oral dosage forms. The launched digital platform for solid dosage from design and development decreases time and effort from core to coating.



Apr-2023: Assertio Holdings, Inc. took over Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company. The acquisition of Spectrums commercial abilities and ROLVEDON, a novel long-acting G-CSF product. Furthermore, ROLVEDONs release for the benefit of patients maximizes its potential and propels further growth.



Nov-2022: Lonza released Capsugel Enprotect, a new capsule to deliver acid-sensitive APIs to the intestine. The launched capsule doesnt break during stomach transit and only releases its content in the intestine. Furthermore, Lonza would be able to address transforming demands while meeting regulatory requirements for various nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications.



Sep-2022: Corium announced the launch of Adlarity, a donepezil transdermal system for prescription usage across the United States. The Adlarity offers continuous doses of donepezil through the skin that treats patients with mild, medium, or critical dementia of Alzheimers type.



Aug-2022: Merck & Co., Inc. announced expanded production of its facility based in Carlow. The expansion would play a key role in making sure that they continue to sustain future supply to meet medical requirements.



Mar-2022: Johnson & Johnsons Janssen Pharmaceuticals came into an extended collaboration with Midatech Pharma, a drug delivery technology company. The collaboration focuses on enhancing drug loading and optimizing in vitro time of release for the undisclosed Janssen experimental molecule combined with Midatechs Q-Sphera technology.



Dec-2021: Pfizer expanded its geographical footprint by opening a new clinical manufacturing facility in Durham, North Carolina. The new facility broadens Pfizers complete range of capabilities in gene therapy and builds on the companys existing presence.



Dec-2021: Adare Pharma Solutions acquired Frontida BioPharm, a vertically integrated CDMO focused on oral formulations. This acquisition strengthens Adares aim to transform drug delivery by offering leading solutions from product development through commercial-scale packaging and manufacturing.



Oct-2021: Colorcon completed the acquisition of Ideal Cures, a manufacturer of excipients and ready-to-use coating systems for solid oral dosage. This acquisition of Ideal Cures aimed at underscoring the importance of India in the pharmaceutical sector by providing an expanded service network of manufacturing & technical capabilities, especially for the remotely located economic zones.



May-2021: Colorcon expanded its geographical footprints in Harleysville, PA, USA by opening a new Containment Suite located. This expansion would provide the Colorcon capabilities to develop prototype tablet or capsule dosage forms for clients when active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) quantity is limited, and the API potency needs a higher level of protection.



Oct-2020: Merck & Co., Inc. collaborated with Intec Pharma Ltd., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. This collaboration would be based on the alliance in prior research and enables the companies to leverage their combined experience in delivery.



Dec-2019: Johnson & Johnson completed the acquisition of TARIS Biomedical LLC, a biotechnology company with expertise in the development of a novel drug delivery technology through TAR-200, the proprietary TARIS System consisting of silicone-based drug delivery device that enables the continuous release of medication into the bladder. Through this acquisition, Johnson & Johnson aims to advance the whole regimen to push towards early interception of bladder cancer to enhance results for patients.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Release Mechanism



 Feedback Regulated Drug Delivery Systems



 Activation-modulated Drug Delivery Systems



 Chemically Activated



 Polymer Based Systems



 Micro Reservoir Partition Controlled Drug Delivery Systems



By Technology



 Targeted Delivery



 Coacervation



 Micro Encapsulation



 Transdermal



 Implants



 Wurster Technique



 Others



By Application



 Oral Controlled-drug delivery Systems



 Metered Dose Inhalers



 Injectable



 Transdermal & Ocular Patches



 Infusion Pumps & Drug Eluting Stents



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



 Johnson & Johnson



 Merck & Co., Inc.



 Alkermes PLC



 Pfizer, Inc.



 Assertio Holdings, Inc. (Assertio Therapeutics, Inc.)



 Lonza Group AG (Capsugel)



 Colorcon, Inc. (BPSI Holdings LLC.)



 Corium, LLC (Gurnet Point Capital)



 Adare Pharma Solutions



 Coating Place, 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/p06487759/?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, New York, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation , UNESCO, has just granted its patronage to maltabiennale.art , which will be held in Malta, an archipelago in the Mediterranean, for the first time in the coming year. UNESCO's patronage is considered as a high form of recognition for this art festival, which while still in its infancy, has already garnered a strong and encouraging global response from artists, and is clearly set to become the focal cultural event of 2024 in Malta.

Through contemporary art, maltabiennale.art will be investigating the Mediterranean, reflected in the theme for the biennale's first edition: Baar Abjad Imsagar taz-Zebbug (White Sea Olive Groves). The biennale will unfold across Malta and Gozo, mainly within Heritage Malta's historic sites, many of which have been declared by UNESCO as being World Heritage Sites, including Valletta, the capital, and Gozo's Ggantija.

In her letter, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay expressed how UNESCO's aims are perfectly reflected in maltabiennale.art's dialogue between Mediterranean art and cultures, and how this led the organization to grant its patronage to the maltabiennale.art 2024.

Her Excellency also congratulated maltabiennale.art's president, Mario Cutajar, as well as Heritage Malta for this initiative, and wished them the greatest success. The letter was delivered by Malta's ambassador to UNESCO, Mgr. Joseph Vella Gauci.

maltabiennale.art 2024 will be opening its doors on the 11th March 2024, and will welcome visitors until the end of May 2024. With just one week remaining for artists to submit their proposals for participation in Malta's largest cultural event in 2024, over 500 applications hailing from 80 states have already been received.

maltabiennale.art will be officially inaugurated by the President of Malta, his Excellency Dr. George Vella.

maltabiennale.art is a Heritage Malta initiative through MUZA, the Malta National Community Art Museum, in partnership with Arts Council Malta. The biennale is also presented in cooperation with the Ministries for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade, National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, and Gozo, as well as with Visit Malta, Spazju Kreattiv, Malta Libraries, and the Valletta Cultural Agency.

Michelle Buttigieg, Malta Tourism Authoritys Representative North America, noted that the attraction of Malta for many visitors from the US & Canada, is still very much its 8000 years of history and its robust arts & culture scene. It is wonderful that Heritage Malta will be using its many historic sites to provide a showcase for these works of art, creating a unique and exciting platform to integrate history with culture.







maltabiennale.art is online:

Official website: www.maltabiennale.art

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn: @maltabiennale

Email: info@maltabiennale.art

Attachment
New York, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Chlamydia trachomatis/Neisseria gonorrhoeae Testing Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Product, By End User, By Testing Type, By Technology, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2023 - 2030" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06487729/?utm_source=GNW

Consequently, the Asia Pacific region would acquire approximately 2/5th share of the market by 2030. Low regulatory obstacles, improved healthcare infrastructure, an escalating patient population, an increase in infections, and rising healthcare costs are all possible causes. Additionally, compared to wealthy countries, several of these nations regulatory systems are more flexible and business friendly. Some of the factors impacting the market are increasing funds and investments, high instances of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and the high price of instruments.



The market has growth potential due to government programs, funding initiatives, and other initiatives supporting and promoting innovation and development. Companies might invest in infrastructure, improved diagnostic technology production, research and development, financial incentives, and support systems. By making it easier for manufacturers to get funding, they are motivated to advance CT/NG testing, resulting in ground-breaking developments in disease detection, monitoring, and specialty medicine. It is anticipated that more developing nations would have access to high-quality healthcare as a result of their rapid economic growth and rising healthcare costs. This is seen as an indication that the market is expanding. The frequency of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is increasing globally, which will be a key factor in the markets growth rate. According to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1 million asymptomatic STIs are contracted each day worldwide. In 2020, an estimated 374 million new cases of one of the four STIs (gonorrhoea (82 million), chlamydia (129 million), syphilis (7.1 million), or trichomoniasis (156 million)) will be reported. Abdominal pain, urethral discharge or burning in males, genital ulcers, and vaginal discharge are all typical STI symptoms. As a result, the market is expected to expand due to the increased prevalence of STIs.



However, the variable costs of the necessary reagents, tools, and setup by the vendors raise the overall cost. Additional expenses include maintenance and insurance, laboratory supervision, and administrative costs (which include office space, rent, and administration). The vast array of diagnostic tools may only be affordable to large institutions and reference labs with substantial capital budgets. On the other hand, small laboratories, medical practices, and independent or private practitioners may have trouble affording large or bulky devices and analyzers due to capital constraints. These expensive constraints may hamper the market expansion. It is crucial to check current sources because market conditions and pricing are likely to change, which is also a key factor driving the market down.



Furthermore, the pandemic outbreak initially had a negative impact on the market. Due to the laboratories denial of the CT/NG tests, more instances were not reported, and there was an increase in the spread of these diseases. Reduced screening, limited resources, and social alienation measures established by the government all contributed an essential role in this decline.



Product Outlook



On the basis of product, the market is segmented into assays & kits, instruments/analyzers. The instruments/analyzers segment recorded a remarkable revenue share in the market in 2022. To diagnose such diseases, various instruments and analyzers were sold in the market. Since then, new technologies might have evolved due to the markets ongoing evolution. Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAATs), Automated Analyzers, etc., are some instruments and analyzers often used for CT/NG testing. Using instruments and analyzers in Chlamydia trachomatis/Neisseria gonorrhoeae (CT/NG) testing provides many significant benefits that help in the accurate and speedy detection of these diseases.



Technology Outlook



On the basis of technology, the market is fragmented into isothermal nucleic acid amplification technology, polymerase chain reaction, immunodiagnostics, and other technologies. In 2022, the isothermal nucleic acid amplification technology segment registered the highest revenue share in the market. The growing demand for quick, accurate diagnoses and the rising number of blood donations and transfusions have contributed to the growth of the INAAT sector. Other factors are the rising prevalence of CT/NG, the cost advantages of INAAT, the turnaround time of INAAT, and the necessity for these things. The INAAT segments high sensitivity and specificity in CT/NG diagnosis can be blamed for segments growth.



Testing Type Outlook



Based on testing type, the market is classified into lab tests, and PoC tests. The PoC tests segment garnered a significant revenue share in the market in 2022. Numerous terms, including "near-patient testing," "remote testing," "satellite testing," and "rapid diagnostics," may be used to describe it. Any test carried out at, close to, or at the location where care or treatment is provided falls within the broad category of point-of-care testing. This industry experienced growth due to patients rising preferences and manufacturers rising attention to creating point-of-care diagnostics.



End User Outlook



By end user, the market categorised into diagnostic laboratories, hospital & clinics, and other end users. In 2022, the diagnostic laboratories segment witnessed the largest revenue share in the market. These laboratories use chlamydia trachomatis/Neisseria gonorrhoeae (CT/NG) testing to identify or diagnose CT/NG and identify the best therapies. They take urine samples which are examined for CT/NG related diseases. The market is growing in this segment as a result of the presence of highly skilled professionals for diagnostics and availability of cutting-edge technologies in such laboratories.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the market is analysed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. In 2022, the North America region generated the highest revenue share in the market. North America primarily led the development of technology in the region of diagnostics. A strong infrastructure for research and development is found in this region, which has accelerated the adoption of cutting-edge platforms and testing techniques. In the market, North America is also home to several significant businesses. The regions market dominance can be attributed to these businesses extensive experience, resources, and established distribution networks.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Abbott Laboratories, Becton, Dickinson and Company, ZeptoMetrix LLC (Antylia Scientific), Danaher Corporation, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Hologic, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Bayer AG, Qiagen N.V. and Siemens AG.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Product



 Assays & Kits



 Instruments & Analyzers



By End User



 Diagnostic Laboratories



 Hospitals & Clinics



 Others



By Testing Type



 Lab Tests



 PoC Tests



By Technology



 Isothermal Nucleic Acid Amplification Technology



 Polymerase Chain Reaction



 Immunodiagnostics



 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



 Abbott Laboratories



 Becton, Dickinson and Company



 ZeptoMetrix LLC (Antylia Scientific)



 Danaher Corporation



 F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.



 Hologic, Inc.



 Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.



 Bayer AG



 Qiagen N.V.



 Siemens AG



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/p06487729/?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.



__________________________
MADRID, Spain, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spanish listed company Lleida.net (OTC.US) (ALLLN.PA) (LLN.MA) has been granted a European patent for its Method for Certifying the Content of Blockchain Transactions. The recognition is valid for 20 years and bears the number EP3761207, which is granted by the European Patent Office. The patent covers one of the main problems of blockchain networks and the blockchain industry which is the reliability of content entered into the network. The granting of this patent will allow the company to generate over its lifetime additional revenue in the SaaS segment estimated in the order of 30 million.



The method offers a way to immutably record messaging data in a blockchain ledger for traceability and trust purposes. Its innovation is the combination of the layer of trustworthiness that blockchain brings to events, transactions and actors involved in electronic certification.

In this way, you have in addition an extra security using the latest generation technology obtaining a more solid certificate in terms of proven validity and immutable traceability.

The trusted entity, in this case Lleida.net acts as a bridge between the certification system and the blockchain. As an inherently trusted party, it can feed real-world data into smart contracts on the blockchain network.

This allows smart contracts to access and record external data, such as message transmission details. The end result is a transparent, tamper-proof record of messaging activity that can be queried through the blockchain. "The new method provides a new way to certify communications using the security and decentralization of blockchain technology, and build trust in the new economy. The granting of this patent has been a great job by our entire team and is a step forward in our internationalization strategy," explained Sisco Sapena, CEO of the company. Lleida.net is the leading company in the electronic signature, notification and contracting industry at the European level. It has been listed on BME Growth in Madrid since 2015, on Euronext Growth in Paris since 2018 and on OTCQX in New York since 2020.

The concession, valid for a period of 20 years, brings to 302 the number of patents worldwide received by the listed company on its certification and notification methods, as well as digital tokens in electronic contracting and notifications.

Lleida.net's growth strategy in the electronic signature, notification and contracting market in the countries in which it is already present and those in which it plans to be in the future, includes a solid growth policy in intellectual property and R&D, as well as a reinforcement of its internationalization policy.

DISCLAIMER

This press release contains statements regarding the future of the Lleida.net company 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. No undue reliance should be placed 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.

CONTACTS:

Pedrosa IR

ir@pedrosa.uk
WORCESTER, Mass., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AdCare Hospital, a leading addiction treatment provider, is pleased to announce the promotion of Andrea Dayotas to the position of chief operating officer (COO). Dayotas has been with AdCare for five years, during which time she has held several leadership roles, including program manager, director of clinical services, executive director of inpatient services, and now COO. For Dayotas, working in addiction treatment is personal. Her mother is in recovery and received her treatment at an AdCare facility.



My mom is celebrating more than nine years in recovery this year, and Ive witnessed firsthand how this has changed the trajectory of her life and impacted our family, said Dayotas. Thats why I'm passionate about addiction treatment and committed to making a difference in the lives of our patients who entrust AdCare with their care and recovery.

Dayotas brings with her more than 20 years of healthcare experience. Her clinical background as a licensed mental health counselor, licensed alcohol and drug counselor, and licensed social work associate makes her ideal for the COO role. She has also worked in both hospital settings and outpatient settings and has always been connected to academia and teaching facilities.

"When people read the title of chief operating officer, you tend to lean on healthcare administration and more of a business perspective first. Whereas for Andrea, she understands the business aspect and the patient experience, giving her a unique perspective to enhance the quality of services we provide for our patients," said AdCare Hospital CEO, Brian Stoesz. "With Andrea at the helm, patients can expect excellent continuity of care.

Andrea is currently working on building several specialized intensive outpatient programs at AdCare Hospital, including a trauma-informed care program, a co-occurring program for people with multiple health conditions, a mens and womens program, and an LGBTQ+ program.

"I am excited to take on this new role and look forward to building on AdCares reputation as a treatment center known for providing high-quality, compassionate care, said Dayotas.

Dayotas has a bachelor's degree in psychology, a masters degree in agency counseling and a certificate of advanced graduate studies in counseling from Rhode Island College. She is also a graduate of Harvards Business School Online and is currently enrolled in the women in leadership executive program at The University of Vermont, Grossman School of Business.

About AdCare Hospital

AdCare Hospital is located in Worcester, MA. AdCare Hospital treats patients who are struggling with drug addiction, alcohol addiction and co-occurring mental/behavioral health issues. For more information, call 401-200-4885.

AdCare Hospital

107 Lincoln St.

Worcester, MA 01605

401-200-4885

Contact:

Joy Sutton

Director of Corporate Communications

jsutton@contactaac.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d75e2b2a-fc2d-455a-b80f-95d85dbebc0d
DEASE LAKE, British Columbia, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC) is pleased to announce it is now the fuel service provider at the Dease Lake Airport (CYDL). Serving up to 25 aircraft weekly, TNDCs fuel operations at CYDL will support medical evacuations, crew changes at the Red Chris mine, firefighting, and allow private aircraft a dedicated fuel source.



The Dease Lake Airport is a vital community resource in health and emergency operations as well as a central access point for the exploration/mining industry in British Columbias Golden Triangle. Extensive safety and capital upgrades, including runway repaving and lighting improvements, carried out in 2021, led to a significant reduction in medevac times, from 20.5 hours to 5.3 hours.

As the contract airport operator of CYDL, TNDC is the one of only a few Indigenous organizations to manage an airport in British Columbia. In addition to fuel operations, TNDC Airport Services is responsible for inspections, maintenance and ongoing operations of the airport, including snow and brush clearing, runway friction tests, runway sweeping, grounds maintenance, passenger and ground handling, and de-icing of aircraft.

Assuming fuel operations at CYDL is another milestone in TNDCs goal to provide all aspects of airport services at the Dease Lake Airport. This critical infrastructure is relied upon by the exploration and mining industry, government and local community for reliable fuel for medevacs, firefighting, and in future, commercial flights. It is one more example of TNDC diversifying our business and becoming an integrated full-service provider and trusted partner to our clients. Moreover, it is expanding the skills of our local Tahltan workforce, providing full-time year-round employment. We appreciate the continued support of Newcrest Mining and Stikine Airport Society and their confidence in TNDC, says Paul Gruner, CEO, TNDC.

Fuelling systems are intricate and made of many moving parts, requiring management by experienced employees who work together to safely deliver fuel to aircraft. Implementing the infrastructure required for fuelling has been a joint effort between TNDC, Red Chris Joint Venture, and CYDL owners Stikine Airport Society (SAS). TNDC provides the oversight, 50,000 litre jet fuel tank, fuel truck, required expertise and personnel, including training several employees in the safe handling and fuelling of aircraft. SAS provides land, electrical access, 9500 litre avgas tank, and a fuel operations/testing building, while Newcrests increased contracting scope provides financial support.

TNDC Airport Services has created eight local jobs for Tahltan members. TNDC Airport Services has been working with Executive Flight Centre in training our local team members in the disciplines of daily airport operations and ground support, including fuelling aircraft of all types.

ABOUT TNDC

Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC)  the business arm of the Tahltan Nation  is owned by its shareholders  Iskut Band, Tahltan Band and Tahltan Central Government. TNDC was founded in 1985 by visionary, progressive Tahltan leaders who wanted to ensure the Tahltan Nation benefit from the economic activities and development occurring within Tahltan Territory and to provide employment, training, and contracting opportunities to Tahltan members. From its roots in residential construction, TNDCs services have expanded to heavy construction, earthworks, camp services, air support, aviation, forestry, transportation, and fibre-optic communications services. To learn more, visit www.tndc.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a4622860-1922-4c24-975d-48e55c16925f
New York, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Automotive Electric Power Steering Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Propulsion Type, By Component, By Vehicle Type, By Type, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2023 - 2030" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06487654/?utm_source=GNW

The Pinion Type offers additional design flexibility to locate the controller, motor, and assist mechanism on the opposite side of the vehicles engine compartment from the driver. As a result of technological advancements that have made the pinion-type EPS more affordable, the pinion type is anticipated to expand at a constant rate. Some of the factors impacting the market are strict emission and efficiency standards, adoption of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) on the rise, and high initial investment expenditures.



Stringent fuel efficiency and emission standards promote the expansion of the electric power steering (EPS) market for automobiles. EPS systems are more energy-efficient than conventional hydraulic power steering, resulting in better vehicle fuel economy. In addition, EPS systems contribute towards carbon emissions by eliminating the need for power steering fluid, thereby reducing the likelihood of fluid leakage and environmental contamination. Integration with vehicle control systems optimizes energy consumption, further reducing emissions. Moreover, ADAS technologies seek to improve vehicle safety and provide driver assistance in various driving situations; EPS systems play a crucial role in facilitating these systems functionality. ADAS systems rely on precise and responsive steering control to implement features like lane-keeping assist, lane departure warning, and automated parking. With the implementation of EPS, vehicles reduce their energy consumption and improve their fuel efficiency following the EPAs proposed standards. Consequently, these factors are anticipated to propel the growth of the market.



However, the deployment of electric power steering (EPS) systems in vehicles requires substantial investments in the infrastructure of research, development, and production. To successfully design and optimize the various system components, including the electric motor, control unit, sensors, and software, the advancement of EPS technology requires extensive research and engineering. Significant capital expenditures are required for the purchase of specialized apparatus, tools, and production lines used in the production of EPS systems. Consequently, these factors are anticipated to restrain market expansion.



Propulsion Type Outlook



On the basis of propulsion type, the market is categorized into ICE and electric. In 2022, the electric segment garnered a significant revenue share in the market. The market growth is anticipated to be primarily driven by factors such as the increasing penetration of power-driven vehicles among consumers, the growing emphasis on environmental safety, and the increasing emphasis of government organizations on promoting sustainable development.



Component Outlook



Based on component, the market is bifurcated into electric control units, electric motors, rack-and-pinion, steering columns, and others. In 2022, the steering column segment registered the maximum revenue share in the market. The steering column system is a mechanism that aids in controlling the cars direction. The system consists of the steering wheel, linkage, and connecting shafts for the front axles. The column is mounted to the vehicles frame and can be altered vertically and laterally to assist drivers in finding a comfortable driving position.



Vehicle Type Outlook



By vehicle type, the market is segmented into passenger cars and commercial vehicles. In 2022, the commercial vehicles segment covered a considerable revenue share in the market. Integrating electric power steering with ADAS technologies, like lane-keeping assist and collision avoidance systems, improves vehicle safety. In order to reduce accidents and enhance overall fleet management, these features are gaining importance in the commercial vehicle sector.



Type Outlook



Based on type, the market is divided into column electric power steering, rack electric power steering, and pinion electric power steering. In 2022, the column electric power steering held the highest revenue share in the market. Column EPS offers steering assistance through an electromechanical power unit installed on the steering column. This system was designed specifically for the cockpits extant installation space.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the market is analysed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. In 2022, the Asia Pacific region led the market by generating the highest revenue share. This is attributable to the swiftly expanding manufacturing sector and the more substantial development of the automobile industry, in which China leads the world. The Asia-Pacific region is at the vanguard of electric vehicle and component supply. In addition, the consistent increase in EV sales in China, India, and ASEAN is expected to present market participants with lucrative opportunities. Asia-Pacific market growth is likely to be bolstered by the rising demand for advanced safety features and a comfortable driving experience.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include NSK Ltd., Robert Bosch GmbH, HL Mando Corporation, Hitachi, Ltd., JTEKT Corporation, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Thyssenkrupp AG, BBB Industries (Clearlake Capital Group, L.P.), Nexteer Automotive (Pacific Century Motors) and Zhejiang Shibao Co., Ltd.



Strategies Deployed in Automotive Electric Power Steering Market



Apr-2023: Nexteer Automotive launched a New Modular Rack-Assist Electric Power Steering system, a cost-effective, modular EPS offering. The launched product would enable flexibility to effectively meet OEMs broad-ranging needs for modern steering systems of heavier vehicles, such as light commercial vehicles and EVs.



Sep-2022: ZF Friedrichshafen AG signed an agreement with Freudenberg, a global technology group that empowers its customers and society long-term through forward-looking innovations. Following this agreement, both companies would advance an extremely combined fuel cell e-drive solution for commercial vehicles.



Sep-2022: HL Mando Corporation signed a contract with Argus, an Israeli cybersecurity company. Under this agreement, both companies would join forces in automotive cybersecurity.



May-2022: NSK, Ltd. came into an agreement with Thyssenkrupp AG, a German industrial engineering and steel production company, to view a joint venture between thyssenkrupp Automotive and NSK Steering. Following this agreement, both companies would allow the joint venture to meet the wide and mostly technological requirements of their respective clients and enable the combined entity to compete more efficiently in the world steering industry.



May-2022: Nexteer Automotive and Continental Automotive, a company that provides safe, efficient, and cost-effective solutions for machines, joint venture CNXMotion is adding capabilities to Brake-to-Steer technology together with two new software functions which would further support backup safety layers for all types of Electric Power Steering and Steer-by-Wire.



Mar-2022: Nexteer Automotive rolled out a 48-volt Integrated Belt-Driven Starter Generator (iBSG), a new eDrive product line. The launched product would hybridize traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.



Jan-2022: BBB Industries complete the acquisition of MAPCO Autotechnik GmbH, a provider of automobile parts and accessories. Through this acquisition, BBB Industries would further broaden its new portfolio and enter into new geographies.



Dec-2021: Hitachi America, Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd, came into an agreement with REE Automotive, Ltd., a manufacturer and developer of commercial electric vehicles. Under this agreement, both companies would facilitate and enhance the adoption of electric vehicles over the complete EV value chain, consisting of allowing EV producers at scale, providing commercial vehicle charging infrastructure and energy management, delivering comprehensive digital fleet management, and working for full visibility over EV fleets as company transition across the next decade.



Nov-2020: Nexteer Automotive unveiled a new high-output electric power steering system. The launched product would provide modern safety and comfort characteristics as well as improved fuel efficiency for light commercial vehicles and heavy-duty trucks.



May-2020: KOYO CANADA INC., a subsidiary of JTEKT Corporation took over Halifax, a British banking brand operating as a trading division of Bank of Scotland. Following this acquisition, both companies would empower JTEKTs global ECU progress of vehicle steering and driveline products and would further put the foundation for widening its world electrification potentials and plans.



Jun-2019: NSK Ltd. signed an agreement with Volkswagen AG, a German multinational automotive manufacturer. Through this collaboration, both companies would further enhance the strength of innovation in steering.



Mar-2019: NSK Ltd. expanded its geographical footprint by opening a new facility in Ahmedabad City, India. The new plant aimed to manufacture electric power steering systems.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Propulsion Type



 ICE



 Electric



By Component



 Steering Column



 Electric Control Unit



 Electric Motor



 Rack & Pinion



 Others



By Vehicle Type



 Passenger Cars



 Commercial Vehicles



By Type



 Column Electric Power Steering



 Rack Electric Power Steering



 Pinion Electric Power Steering



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



 NSK Ltd.



 Robert Bosch GmbH



 HL Mando Corporation



 Hitachi, Ltd.



 JTEKT Corporation



 ZF Friedrichshafen AG



 Thyssenkrupp AG



 BBB Industries (Clearlake Capital Group, L.P.)



 Nexteer Automotive (Pacific Century Motors)



 Zhejiang Shibao 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/p06487654/?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, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global API Intermediate Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Type, By End User, By Application, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2023 - 2030" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06487624/?utm_source=GNW

The pharmaceutical and contract manufacturing industries are expanding in several nations, including China and India, which is projected to boost the Asia Pacific region. Due to considerations like cheaper labor costs and the accessibility of production-ready raw materials, these nations have emerged as desirable locations for outsourcing the manufacturing of active ingredients. The expansion of manufacturing capacity in the region is also encouraged by favorable regulatory policies in Asia Pacific, fostering the markets development. Some of the factors impacting the market are strong demand for pharmaceuticals, increasing incidence of chronic illness, and biopharmaceutical drugs are expensive.



The prevalence of chronic diseases is rising rapidly around the world due to the aging of the population, the rise of sedentary lifestyles, and urbanization. As a result, there is an ever-growing market demand for therapeutic drugs. Additionally, several pharmaceutical firms introduction of novel pharmaceuticals to the market is projected to increase the focus on research and development operations, which would likely fuel the expansion of the market throughout the projection period. The rise in healthcare expenditures per capita in developing nations, coupled with the increase in diagnosis rates, has resulted in a large population requiring treatment. This rising prevalence of chronic diseases is also expected to increase demand for pharmaceuticals in the market for active pharmaceutical ingredients. Increasing pharmaceutical demand will drive the demand for branded and generic products. As a result of the rising incidence of chronic illness, the market is estimated to grow.



However, Research and development funding for novel drugs and APIs may be reduced due to pharmaceuticals. The pipeline of novel drugs and, consequently, their API intermediates could be limited, which could slow innovation. Due to the high cost of biological medications, market dynamics may shift, leading to more stringent restrictions and cost-cutting initiatives. These modifications may affect the pharmaceutical and, consequently, the market. This factor poses a challenge for the market. The market suffered greatly due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The lack of raw materials required for the production of API intermediates and the stringent government regulations governing the supply chain resulted in negatively impacting the market.



Type Outlook



By type, the market is classified into bulk drug intermediates and chemical intermediates. In 2022, the bulk drug intermediates segment held the highest revenue share in the market. Due to the rising frequency of chronic diseases and the growth in market participants who produce bulk drug intermediates, the bulk drug intermediates sector is anticipated to dominate the market. Active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) are frequently produced using bulk drug intermediates. The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is the essential component used in the production of medications to have the desired therapeutic effect.



End User Outlook



On the basis of end user, the market is segmented into biotech & pharmaceutical companies, CMO, and others. The CMOs segment recorded a remarkable revenue share in the market in 2022. CMOs frequently concentrate on particular therapeutic areas or specialize in the manufacturing of particular types of API intermediates. Their knowledge enables them to enhance manufacturing procedures, boost productivity, and guarantee high-quality output, attracting clients looking for dependable and effective API intermediates. Hence, their demand will increase the market segment further.



Application Outlook



Based on application, the market is bifurcated into analgesics, anti-infective drugs, antidiabetic drugs, cardiovascular drugs, anticancer drugs, and others. In 2022, the cardiovascular drugs segment acquired a substantial revenue share in the market. Due to its healing qualities, API Intermediate is widely utilized in cardiovascular diseases. One of the main causes of death globally is cardiovascular disease. Throughout the projected period, there is anticipated to be a noticeable increase in the usage of API Intermediate in the treatment of cardiovascular disorders.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. In 2022, the North America region led the market by generating the highest revenue share. The rise in senior populations is projected to contribute to the market in North America expanding at a noticeable rate over the forecast period. The aging population is more prone to chronic illnesses like cardiac, orthopedic, respiratory, and other diseases. Thus, an increase in the geriatric population increases the demand for pharmaceuticals and API intermediates, thereby driving market expansion. As a result, the growth of this market in the North American region has been fuelled by the rise in the incidence of these chronic illnesses.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stakeholders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Cation Pharma, Espee Group, Sandoo Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals Co., Ltd., Cipla Limited, Cambrex Corporation, Vertellus, Dr. Reddys Laboratories Ltd., Evonik Industries AG (RAG-Stiftung), Pfizer, Inc., Shree Ganesh Remedies Limited



Strategies Deployed in API Intermediate Market



Jul-2023: Evonik Industries AG partnered with Heraeus Precious Metals, a precious metal products provider, to expand its highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (HPAPIs) service portfolio. The partnership would enhance Evoniks HPAPI capabilities.



May-2023: Evonik Industries AG signed a distribution partnership with IMCD, a specialty chemicals distributor, to market Evoniks medicines in the European market. The partnership provides Evonik with an opportunity to accelerate its business growth.



Mar-2023: Evonik Industries AG expanded its geographical footprint by opening a new facility in Hanau, Germany. The new facility would serve as a lipid manufacturing hub. The lipids produced at the facility would be used in the companys RNA drugs.



Feb-2023: Dr. Reddys Laboratories Ltd. entered a distribution partnership with Aster Pharmacy, a pharmacy chain based in the GCC, to market its medicines in the Gulf region. The partnership enables Dr. Reddys Laboratories to expand its customer base.



Nov-2022: Cambrex Corporation announced the acquisition of Snapdragon Chemistry, a chemical process development service provider. The acquisition enhances Cambrexs capabilities in continuous flow process manufacturing and development.



Oct-2022: Evonik Industries AG came into partnership with Phathom Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company based in the US, to manufacture the gastrointestinal disorder treatment drug vonoprazan. The partnership comes in line with Evoniks commitment to deliver complex APIs for customers around the globe.



May-2022: Pfizer Inc. established a drug development center in Chennai, India. The center would be used for the development of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and would aid the companys global manufacturing operations.



Feb-2019: Aavis Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Espee Group, received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for its manufacturing plant in the United States. The approval places Espee as the 3rd company in Gujarat to have a US-based plant approved by the USFDA.



Jan-2019: Cambrex Corporation acquired Avista Pharma Solutions, a CDMO based in the US. The acquisition strengthens Cambrexs capabilities in APIs by adding Avistas early-stage development to Cambrexs portfolio.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Type



 Bulk Drug Intermediates



 Chemical Intermediates



By End User



 Biotech & Pharmaceutical Companies



 CMO



 Others



By Application



 Analgesics



 Antidiabetic Drugs



 Anti-Infective Drugs



 Cardiovascular Drugs



 Anticancer Drugs



 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



 Cation Pharma



 Espee Group



 Sandoo Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals Co., Ltd.



 Cipla Limited



 Cambrex Corporation



 Vertellus



 Dr. Reddys Laboratories Ltd.



 Evonik Industries AG (RAG-Stiftung)



 Pfizer, Inc.



 Shree Ganesh Remedies Limited



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/p06487624/?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.



__________________________
Seattle, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kinwell Medical Group today announced Dr. Mack Hinson as the companys new president beginning on Sept. 5.

A veteran with the United States Army, Hinson interned and completed his residency at Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Lakewood, Wash. He had a fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and later served as a medical director of neonatology in Seattle. Most recently he led Pediatrix Medical Group, a network of 4,000 clinicians that provides high-risk maternal and pediatric specialty services across 41 states.

Dr. Hinson has worn almost every hat in healthcare, tending to patients, operations, finance and clinician recruitment, said Dr. Mia Wise, Chief Medical Officer for Kinwell. He has a passion for people and creating an environment where everyone can thrive. He is uniquely qualified to help Kinwell fully realize its potential.

As president, Hinson will advance Kinwells mission to elevate the primary care experience and build strong relationships between patients and their care teams.

As a physician, my focus has always been on improving healthcare outcomes for my patients. This commitment has never wavered, even as I moved into executive leadership roles, Hinson said. Joining Kinwell is the perfect next step for me, as we share the same goal Ive had since I started medical school  deliver exceptional healthcare for our patients.

Hinson will replace Wise, who has held the role of interim president, and shell return to her primary role as Kinwells chief medical officer. Kinwell operates primary clinics around Washington state that exclusively serve patients who receive their health coverage through Premera Blue Cross or LifeWise Health Plan of Washington.

About Kinwell

Launched in 2021, Kinwell Medical Group is an exclusive primary care option for those insured by Premera Blue Cross, Premera Blue Cross HMO, Premera Blue Cross Medicare plans, LifeWise Health Plan of Washington, and BlueCard holders. We are elevating the primary care experience with more time, less complexity, and a better relationship between each patient and their healthcare team. Kinwell embraces a whole-health approach to primary care that includes nutrition, fitness, and behavioral health. We are also dedicated to building great places to work, where diverse ideas and cultures focus on the common goal of nurturing patient health. For more information, visit www.kinwellhealth.com.

Attachment
ROYAL OAK, Mich., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Those attending Soaring Eagle Arts, Beats & Eats in Royal Oak, Michigan are encouraged to call or text Laser Lounge at (248) 707-2800 to set up a free consultation and get a special GRAND OPENING Labor Day weekend rate! Laser Lounge is the newest laser hair removal business opening in downtown Royal Oak with the latest medical-grade technology, and is now proudly offering services featuring the Asclepion MeDioStar  laser, backed by Astanza . This revolutionary laser technology presents clients with a safe and highly effective solution for achieving long-lasting hair removal through state-of-the-art laser innovation.



Laser Lounge stands as a symbol of unwavering commitment to excellence, where clients can entrust their care to skilled and licensed professionals. With the MeDioStar diode laser, hair removal treatments guarantee both safety and longevity. The lasers light energy interacts with hair pigment, impairing follicles and obstructing their growth process, all without harming the surrounding skin tissue. This procedure requires little to no recovery time, allowing clients to promptly resume their daily routines following their appointment.

During consultations, laser practitioners at Laser Lounge meticulously evaluate each clients skin and hair type, determining the number of treatments required to attain optimal results. The MeDioStar laser boasts a track record of long-term efficacy, ensuring that clients revel in the luxury of soft, hair-free skin for months and even years after receiving treatment.

I founded Laser Lounge to provide a safe and effective solution for people looking to feel more confident and deal with unwanted hair, says Rachelle Parker, owner of Laser Lounge. We welcome you to come and see for yourself the amazing transformation that can happen with laser hair removal!

Laser Lounge is currently extending complimentary consultations along with attractively priced laser hair removal packages for the first two weeks in September in celebration of their grand opening.

About Laser Lounge

Dedicated to delivering the safest, quickest, and the most effective treatments, Laser Lounge is committed to serving the broader Southeast Michigan region, especially close to Royal Oak, Birmingham, Clawson, Beverly Hills, West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills, and Ferndale. Their laser experts are certified to handle medical-grade technology and collaborate closely with each client to create a custom treatment plan that caters to the individuals lifestyle and needs. Laser Lounge is a family-owned business, run by two sisters who are eager to come alongside and serve you in whatever laser hair removal goals you have.
New York, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Agriculture Analytics Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Offering, By Agriculture Type, By End User, By Farm Size, By Technology, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2023 - 2030" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06487584/?utm_source=GNW

In this regard, visualization relates to the graphical representation of agricultural data, whereas reporting is the presentation of these visualizations alongside pertinent analysis and findings. The market will be driven by the need for farmers, agronomists, and other stakeholders to rapidly comprehend complex information and recognize patterns or trends that may not be readily evident in unprocessed data.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships as the key developmental strategy to keep pace with the changing demands of end users. For instance, In February, 2021, IBM Corporation came into partnership with Solinftec, to offer real-time decision-making solutions for agriculture. Additionally, In June, 2023, Deere & Company signed a contract with PCT Agcloud, to support cotton and grain farmers to easily exchange data from their John Deere Operations Center with PCT Agcloud.



Based on the Analysis presented in the KBV Cardinal matrix; Accenture PLC, Deere & Company, Bayer AG and Oracle Corporation are the forerunners in the Market. In June, 2023, Bayer AG came into an agreement with Cargill, Inc, to provide farmers with creative solutions and accelerating optimal price awareness for their produce. Companies such as IBM Corporation, SAP SE and Trimble, Inc. are some of the key innovators in the Market.



Market Growth Factors



Rising demand for efficient resource utilization



Sustainable agriculture requires efficient resource utilization, and agriculture analytics solutions play a crucial role in optimizing resource allocation on farms. With the incorporation of data from multiple sources, such as field sensors, machinery, and weather stations, producers can collect information on the availability and requirements of resources. Farmers may identify the optimal irrigation schedule for their crops, for example, by analyzing soil moisture data from field sensors and meteorological data. This prevents over- and under-watering, reduces water pollution, and ensures crops receive the ideal amount of moisture for growth. Using agriculture analytics solutions facilitates optimal resource utilization, waste reduction, reduced environmental impact, and enhanced sustainability of agricultural practices.



Technological advances including IoT, AI, and ML



By transforming data collection, analysis, and decision-making in the agricultural sector, technological advancements have played a significant role in fostering the adoption of agriculture analytics. First, the development and ubiquitous availability of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, drones, sensors made it possible for farmers to collect real-time data on various operational aspects. This information includes weather patterns, soil conditions, crop health, and equipment performance. The ability to collect such precise and current data has paved the way for more accurate and insightful agricultural analytics. In agriculture, machine learning models can assist with crop disease prediction, irrigation schedule optimization, livestock behavior anomaly detection, and task automation. As additional data is collected, these models can continue to learn and develop.



Market Restraining Factors



Technological understanding and the skills gap



Technological literacy and the skills divide pose significant obstacles to the expansion of the market for agriculture analytics. Lack of awareness and comprehension among farmers and agricultural stakeholders regarding the potential benefits of analytics in agriculture is a significant obstacle. Farmers and agricultural stakeholders who are already pressed for time and have limited resources may find it difficult to keep up with the latest analytics tools and platforms due to their continual introduction. Insufficient ongoing support and training to keep up with advancing technologies can make it hard for users to employ agriculture analytics solutions, thereby impeding market expansion effectively.



Offering Outlook



Based on offerings, the market is bifurcated into solutions and services. In 2022, the solutions segment held the highest revenue share in the market. Advanced technologies and data analysis methods are utilized by agriculture analytics solutions to optimize and enhance agricultural operations. These solutions acquire, process, and analyze immense quantities of data from a variety of sources, such as weather patterns, soil conditions, vegetation growth, and machinery performance.



Agriculture Type Outlook



By agriculture type, the market is classified into precision agriculture, livestock farming, aquaculture farming, vertical farming, and others (organic and conventional agriculture). In 2022, the livestock farming segment generated a remarkable revenue share in the market. Using agriculture analytics solutions and services in livestock farming enables the collection of real-time data regarding animal health, feeding behavior, hygiene, and location monitoring, among others, to improve livestock management and production quality. Improving farm production through the use of RFID, GPS, feeder systems, farm management systems, robotic milking equipment, and other software technology solutions.



End User Outlook



Based on end users, the market is segmented into farmers, agronomists, agribusinesses, agricultural researchers, and government agencies & others. In 2022, the farmers segment held the highest revenue share in the market. Precision agriculture, which incorporates technologies such as GPS, data analytics, and remote sensing, has transformed the way producers manage their operations. These tools allow producers to collect real-time data, generate field maps, and administer inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides with precision.



Farm Size Outlook



Based on farm size, the market is fragmented into large farms and small and medium-sized farms. In 2022, small & medium-sized farms represented a substantial revenue share in the market. Small farms can receive numerous benefits from agricultural analytics, resulting in the expansion of this market segment. Agriculture analytics equips small farmers with the tools and knowledge necessary to optimize their operations, increase productivity, mitigate risks, and make well-informed choices which may result to greater profitability and sustainability.



Technology Outlook



By technology, the market is fragmented into remote sensing & satellite imagery, geographic information system, robotics & automation, big data & cloud computing, visualization & reporting, blockchain technology, and others. In 2022, the remote sensing & satellite segment witnessed the largest revenue share in the market. Utilizing remote sensing and satellite imagery has transformed agriculture analytics by providing invaluable insights and data for optimizing agricultural practices. These technologies enable farmers and researchers to collect information about crop health, land use, and environmental conditions without extensive monitoring on the ground.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the market is analysed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. In 2022, the North America region led the market with the maximum revenue share. Farmers and agribusinesses in North America are utilizing data-driven methods to optimize their operations, thereby elevating the significance of agriculture analytics. Farmers and agribusinesses are leveraging analytics to acquire important insights into their operations and make informed choices due to the increasing adoption of advanced technologies and availability of immense quantities of data. Rapid infrastructure advancements, pervasive utilization of digital technologies, and the popularity of data-driven solutions all encourage the growth of the market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include IBM Corporation, SAP SE, Oracle Corporation, Accenture PLC, SAS Institute, Inc., Tetra Laval International S.A. (DeLaval), Deere & Company, Bayer AG, Iteris, Inc. and Trimble, Inc.



Recent Strategies Deployed in Agriculture Analytics Market



Partnerships, Collaborations & Agreements:



Jun-2023: Bayer AG came into an agreement with Cargill, Inc., a food corporation that develops connections over the global food system. Under this agreement, both companies would transform the agricultural landscape by providing farmers with creative solutions and accelerating optimal price awareness for their produce.



Jun-2023: Deere & Company came into an agreement with Chevron, the parent company of EGO. Under this agreement, both companies would allow brands to utilize EGO battery-powered field care solutions with the help of John Deere traders. This agreement would further advance the power of both firms and broaden the supply of EGOs line of battery-operated OPE through John Deeres honored and strong trader network.



Jun-2023: Deere & Company signed a contract with PCT Agcloud, an independently owned Precision Agriculture software solutions business. This agreement aims to support cotton and grain farmers to easily exchange data from their John Deere Operations Center with PCT Agcloud.



Dec-2022: Accenture PLC signed an agreement with Planet Labs PBC, a company engaged in offering daily data and insights related to Earth. Under this agreement, both companies would support power decision-making at the firm over myriad industries consisting of consumer-packaged goods, agriculture, forestry, energy, and government.



Nov-2022: Trimble Agriculture announced a partnership with xFarm Technologies, a developer of a digital farm management platform. This partnership would support farmers to improve farm management. Moreover, Trimble would give farmers additional profitable and effective solutions through combination with the xFarm smart farming application.



Oct-2022: SAP SE teamed up with DeHaat, an Indian full-stack AgriTech firm focusing on creating an impact in farmers life. This collaboration aimed to improve Indian agriculture and assist the growth of regional microentrepreneurs by enhancing their economic, social, and environmental sustainability.



Aug-2022: Trimble, Inc. partnered with CLAAS, a manufacturer of agricultural machinery. Following this partnership, both companies would create CLAAS tractors, a next-generation precision farming system that consists of a GPS PILOT steering system, CLAAS CEMIS 1200 "smart" display, and the SAT 900 GNSS receiver.



Oct-2021: SAS Institute, Inc. came into collaboration with Pappas Capital, a venture investment company. Through this collaboration, both companies would help0 to promote North Carolina as a world pioneer in agricultural technology. Following this collaboration, SAS and Pappas would give a limited group of North Carolina Agricultural and food entrepreneurs access to SAS cloud services, industry-leading analytics tools, and executive leadership from Pappas.



Feb-2021: IBM Corporation came into partnership with Solinftec, a pioneer agricultural platform. Under this partnership, Solinftecs advanced algorithms and artificial intelligence would combine with IBMs unmatched climate-based insights to offer real-time decision-making solutions for agriculture.



Product Launches and Product Expansions:



Oct-2022: Trimble, Inc. launched Trimble GFX-1060 and GFX-1260 displays, next-generation displays for precision agriculture applications. This launch would further allow farmers to complete in-field operations fastly and effectively during monitoring and mapping field information in real-time with accuracy.



Aug-2022: Bayer AG introduced ForGround, a farmer-first digital platform. This launch would revolutionize the way farms of each size would conveniently build the move to sustainable agricultural practices.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Offering



 Solution



 Services



By Agriculture Type



 Precision Farming



 Livestock Farming



 Aquaculture Farming



 Vertical Farming



 Others



By End User



 Farmers



 Agronomists



 Agribusinesses



 Agricultural Researchers



 Government Agencies & Others



By Farm Size



 Large Farms



 Small & Medium-Sized Farms



By Technology



 Remote Sensing & Satellite Imagery



 Geographic Information System



 Robotics & Automation



 Big Data & Cloud Computing



 Visualization & Reporting



 Blockchain Technology



 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



 SAP SE



 Oracle Corporation



 Accenture PLC



 SAS Institute, Inc.



 Tetra Laval International S.A. (DeLaval)



 Deere & Company



 Bayer AG



 Iteris, Inc.



 Trimble, Inc.



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__________________________
New York, NY, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zion Market Research has published a new research report titled Dielectric Material Market By Technology (OLED Technology, TFT-LCD Technology, LCD Technology, LED-LCD Technology, Plasma Technology, DLP Technology, LCoS Technology), By Material Type (Calcium Titanate, Magnesium Titanate, Barium Titanate, Silicate, Calcium Titanate, Magnesium Titanate, Barium Titanate, Silicate), And By Region - Global And Regional Industry Overview, Market Intelligence, Comprehensive Analysis, Historical Data, And Forecasts 2023  2030. in its research database.

According to the latest research study, the demand of global Dielectric Material Market size & share in terms of revenue was valued at USD 61.48 billion in 2022 and it is expected to surpass around USD 89.72 billion mark by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 4.86% during the forecast period 2023 to 2030.

What is Dielectric Material? How big is the Dielectric Material Industry?

Report Overview:

The global dielectric material market size was worth around $ 61.48 billion in 2022 and is predicted to grow to around $ 89.72 billion by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 4.86% between 2023 and 2030.

Insulating materials, also known as dielectric materials, are substances that are utilised in a wide variety of electronic and electrical applications due to their dielectric qualities. These materials are characterized by their capacity to impede the flow of electric current while allowing for the propagation of electric fields. This ability is known as a ferroelectric effect. Dielectric materials, in contrast to conductors, do not have free electrons that are able to freely travel within their structure. Conductors readily allow the flow of electrons inside their structure. Due to the fact that they have this property, they are useful in situations in which electrical isolation or the storage of energy is required.

Capacitors are components that are meant to store and release electrical energy, and dielectric materials are used extensively in the production of capacitors. When a voltage is applied across the plates of a capacitor, an insulating layer made of dielectric material is placed between them. This layer prevents direct electrical contact between the plates while allowing an electric field to be established.

This makes it possible for electric charge to be stored on the plates, which ultimately results in the capacitor having the potential to store energy for use at a later time. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) and integrated circuits (ICs) are not built without the use of dielectric materials, which are also an essential component. They are used to insulate conductive traces and components, which helps to ensure that signals and currents do not interfere with the operation of neighboring elements of the circuit. In complex electronic systems, dielectrics play an important role in maintaining signal integrity and preventing unwanted crosstalk as well as interference.

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Global Dielectric Material Market: Growth Factors

It is likely that the growth of the market would be boosted by the growing demand for electronic devices.

It is anticipated that there would be an expansion in the global market for dielectric materials as a result of the rising demand for electronic devices such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets. The production of electronic components, such as capacitors, transistors, and circuit boards, all make extensive use of dielectric materials. The market for these electronic devices is expected to continue its upward trend, which will consequently result in an increase in the need for dielectric materials. For example, Rogers Corporation completed the acquisition of Entegris Corporation in February 2023. Entegris Corporation is a supplier of materials and solutions to businesses in the semiconductor and electronics industries. The portfolio of dielectric materials held by Entegris will become accessible to Rogers as a result of this acquisition. This will allow Rogers to increase the variety of products it offers to customers in the electronics industry.

The increasing demand for renewable energy sources is one more significant reason that is driving expansion in the market for dielectric materials. Wind turbines, solar panels, and other types of renewable energy sources all require the usage of dielectric materials in their construction. It is anticipated that there will be a rise in demand for dielectric materials as nations all over the world continue to invest in renewable sources of energy. In conclusion, an increasing number of people driving electric vehicles is also anticipated to be a factor in the expansion of the market. Batteries and motors are just two examples of the components of electric vehicles that require the use of dielectric materials during production. Both the demand for electric vehicles and the need for dielectric materials are expected to continue to expand in the coming years.

Price swings in primary commodities have the potential to impede the expansion of industries around the world.

It is possible that the industry for dielectric materials will be hindered in some ways, such as by variations in the costs of raw materials, which can have an effect on the entire cost of manufacture. Additionally, stringent government restrictions and environmental concerns around the processing of dielectric materials are having an effect on the expansion of the industry as well. When there is a shortage of raw materials, it can be difficult for manufacturers to solve problems, and it can also be tough to keep up with the growing demand in some locations. Competition from other materials used as electrical insulators, such as ceramics and glass, can be another barrier that prevents the usage of dielectric materials. This barrier can restrict the application of dielectric materials. These problems can be overcome and the company can continue to expand only with the progression of technology and innovation.

The expanding need for wireless communication networks has opened up new expansion opportunities for the international industry.

The growing need for wireless communication networks has presented a substantial opportunity for expansion within the sector. The market is also significantly driven by the progression of technology, which has resulted in an increased demand for materials that are able to tolerate higher temperatures and higher frequencies. In a nutshell, the Dielectric Material Market in the next years will likely present a sizeable window of opportunity for both expansion and innovation. For example, on January 1, 2023, Laird PLC completed the acquisition of Epcos AG, a German company that specializes in the production of passive electronic components. Laird will be in a better position to compete in the market for dielectric materials that are utilized in wireless communication networks as a result of this acquisition.

The proliferation of 5G technology has resulted in an increase in the requirement for the use of dielectric materials in the assembly of high-speed communication devices. The need for dielectric materials is also growing in the electronics industry. This is especially true for the applications of dielectric materials in capacitors, transformers, and other electronic components. In general, it is anticipated that the market for dielectric materials will expand over the course of the following years, which will result in the creation of new chances for companies operating in this sector.

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Report Scope

Report Attribute Details Market Size in 2022 USD 61.48 billion Projected Market Size in 2030 USD 89.72 billion CAGR Growth Rate 4.86% CAGR Base Year 2022 Forecast Years 2023-2030 Key Market Players Kent Displays, LG Display, Precision Materials, Schott AG, Kolon Industries, Honeywell Electronics Materials, Plextronics, BASF, Corning Incorporated, Dupont Display, NEC Display Solutions, Samsung Display Solutions, Samsung Corning, Photonics, Polyera Corporation, Plastic Logic, Merck Performance Materials, Tecnisco, Materion Corporation, and Novaled AG. Key Segment By Technology, By Material Type, and By Region Major Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East &, Africa Purchase Options Request customized purchase options to meet your research needs. Explore purchase options

Dielectric Material Market: Segmentation Analysis

The global market for dielectric materials may be broken down into four categories: technologies, types of materials, applications, and regions.

The global market for dielectric materials can be segmented into the following submarkets: OLED technology, TFT-LCD technology, LCD technology, LED-LCD technology, Plasma technology, DLP technology, and LCoS technology. During the period covered by the forecast, it is anticipated that the OLED technology category would seize the biggest share of the market. The market has been significantly influenced by the expansion of OLED (organic light emitting diode) technology in recent years. When an electric current is passed through an OLED display, it causes very thin organic layers to generate light. OLEDs are a sort of display technology. These displays have various advantages over the classic LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology, including the potential to produce flexible and even transparent displays, improved colour reproduction, and faster response times.

The global market for dielectric materials can be segmented into calcium titanate, magnesium titanate, barium titanate, and silicate, depending on the type of material being used. During the time period covered by this research, the calcium titanate segment is anticipated to seize the greatest share of the market. Calcium titanate is a ceramic substance that possesses dielectric properties. These features make calcium titanate valuable for a variety of electrical applications. Insulators are known as dielectric materials because they do not conduct electricity yet are nevertheless capable of storing and releasing electrical energy. CaTiO3 has a high dielectric constant, which indicates that it is capable of storing a significant amount of electric charge in relation to the voltage that is applied to it. Because of this feature, it is useful for usage in a variety of electronic components, including capacitors, microwave devices, and other electronic components.

The global Dielectric Material market is segmented as follows:

By Technology

OLED Technology

TFT-LCD Technology

LCD Technology

LED-LCD Technology

Plasma Technology

DLP Technology

LCoS Technology

By Material Type

Calcium Titanate

Magnesium Titanate

Barium Titanate

Silicate

Browse the full Dielectric Material Market By Technology (OLED Technology, TFT-LCD Technology, LCD Technology, LED-LCD Technology, Plasma Technology, DLP Technology, LCoS Technology), By Material Type (Calcium Titanate, Magnesium Titanate, Barium Titanate, Silicate, Calcium Titanate, Magnesium Titanate, Barium Titanate, Silicate), And By Region - Global And Regional Industry Overview, Market Intelligence, Comprehensive Analysis, Historical Data, And Forecasts 2023  2030" Report At https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/dielectric-material-market-size

Competitive Landscape

Some of the main competitors dominating the global Dielectric Material market include -

Kent Displays

LG Display

Precision Materials

Schott AG

Kolon Industries

Honeywell Electronics Materials

Plextronics

BASF

Corning Incorporated

Dupont Display

NEC Display Solutions

Samsung Display Solutions

Samsung Corning

Photonics

Polyera Corporation

Plastic Logic

Merck Performance Materials

Tecnisco

Materion Corporation

Novaled AG.

Key Insights from Primary Research:

According to the analysis shared by our research forecaster, the Dielectric Material market is likely to expand at a CAGR of around 4.86% during the forecast period (2023-2030).

In terms of revenue, the Dielectric Material market size was valued at around US$ 61.48 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach US$ 89.72 billion by 2030.

The dielectric material market is expected to grow due to increasing demand for electronic devices such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets. Dielectric materials are widely used in the manufacture of electronic devices, including capacitors, transistors, and circuit boards.

Based on the technology, the OLED technology segment is expected to capture the largest revenue share over the forecast period.

Based on the material type, the calcium titanate segment is expected to capture the largest revenue share over the forecast period.

Based on region, North America is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period.

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Key questions answered in this report:

What is the market size and growth rate forecast for Dielectric Material industry?

What are the main driving factors propelling the Dielectric Material Market forward?

What are the leading companies in the Dielectric Material Industry?

What segments does the Dielectric Material Market cover?

How can I receive a free copy of the Dielectric Material Market sample report and company profiles?

Key Offerings:

Market Size & Forecast by Revenue | 20232030

Market Dynamics  Leading Trends, Growth Drivers, Restraints, and Investment Opportunities

Market Segmentation  A detailed analysis By Technology, By Material Type, and By Region

Competitive Landscape  Top Key Vendors and Other Prominent Vendors

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Regional Analysis:

North America is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period

In North America, the widespread adoption of advanced electronic devices, coupled with the expanding telecommunications industry and ongoing technological innovation, fuels the demand for dielectric materials. The region's emphasis on research and development, particularly in sectors like aerospace and defense, also drives the need for high-performance dielectric materials for radar systems, sensors, and communication equipment.

Europe, with its strong presence in automotive manufacturing and electronics industries, contributes significantly to the dielectric material market. The growth of electric vehicles (EVs) and the push for energy efficiency in transportation stimulate the demand for dielectric materials in EV batteries, capacitors, and power electronics. Additionally, Europe's initiatives towards sustainable energy solutions boost the market for dielectric materials in renewable energy applications such as solar panels and wind turbines.

By Region

North America U.S. Canada Rest of North America

Europe France UK Spain Germany Italy Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific China Japan India South Korea Rest of Asia Pacific

The Middle East & Africa Saudi Arabia South Africa Rest of the Middle East & Africa

Latin America Brazil Argentina Rest of Latin America



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Wi-Fi as a Service Market Size Set to Skyrocket with a CAGR of 21.5% to Reach $24.53 Billion by 2030 | Explosive Growth, Lucrative Future,Trends, Drivers, and Opportunities Over the Globe Report by Zion Market Research: https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/wi-fi-as-a-service-market-size-set-to-skyrocket-with-a-cagr-of-21-5-to-reach-24-53-billion-by-2030--explosive-growth-lucrative-futuretrends-drivers-and-opportunities-over-the-globe-report-by-zion-market-research-301779982.html

Global Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Market Size & Share Revenue is Expected to Grow from $76.98 Billion to $177.57 billion, At a 8.01% of CAGR During 2023-2030 | Advancements in Internet of Things (IoT) Technology Report by Zion Market Research: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-cyber-physical-systems-cps-market-size--share-revenue-is-expected-to-grow-from-76-98-billion-to-177-57-billion-at-a-8-01-of-cagr-during-2023-2030--advancements-in-internet-of-things-iot-technology-report-by-zion-m-301779986.html

About Zion Market Research:

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Still, Looking for More Information? OR Want Data for Inclusion in Magazine, Case Study, or Media?
Saskatoon, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A global team of scientists is looking to wheats past to help it grow into the future.

More than two dozen scientists have contributed to a project that that has sequenced and characterized genomes of wild and domesticated einkorn, the worlds first domesticated wheat species.

Dr. Raju Datla (PhD), program lead, resilient agriculture, at the Global Institute for Food Security at the University of Saskatchewan is one of the contributors to the initiative, providing molecular genetics and genomics expertise to support the analysis.

Their findings were published in Nature in early August.

Though significant advances have been made in wheat species genomics, the species Triticum monococum (einkorn), representing the earliest domesticated wheat, was not defined yet, said Datla.

The research advances and findings described in this article will open several new opportunities for global and Canadian wheat improvement efforts.

Einkorn, which is still grown and consumed today, is a distant relative of modern bread wheat (Triticum aestivum). In the Nature article, the researchers find that about one per cent of modern bread wheat originates from einkorn.

The insights gained from genome sequencing wild and domesticated accessions allow us to reconstruct the origin and evolution of einkorn, said Datla.

This research adds to a growing body of knowledge regarding wheat genetics that includes other significant findings from researchers at the University of Saskatchewan. In 2020, a team, led by USasks Dr. Curtis Pozniak (PhD), sequenced the genomes for 15 different wheat varieties. That initiative included contributions from GIFS Dr. Andrew Sharpe (PhD) and its Omics and Precision Agriculture Laboratory (OPAL).

These, and other findings, help to improve the efficiency of wheat-breeding programs, allowing researchers and breeders to more quickly identify useful genes and traits that can enhance crop production and resiliency.

Einkorn, the diploid wheat species, represents significant diversity and genetic reservoir for a number of useful traits for climate resiliency, disease resistance and nutritional quality for applications in wheat breeding, said Datla.

The international team of scientists includes researchers from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia, the European Research Council and the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Newark, N.J., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), a corporation of New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Michael Johnson as NJII President. Johnson emerged from a deep and talented pool of candidates and will begin his tenure at NJII on October 10, 2023.

Working as Managing Director at Visikol and Chief Commercial Officer of MatTek Life Sciences, Johnson is a visionary leader who has focused his career on solving the big problems that our world faces by leading the development and commercialization of paradigm-shifting life science technologies. Johnson founded the advanced cell culture and imaging contract research service business Visikol, which he sold in 2021 to Swedish biotech company BICO. At Visikol, Johnson led all scientific, commercial, strategic, operational and finance efforts and attracted all 20 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies as clients. He oversaw 200+ discovery programs and led the development and launch of many advanced cell culture models, assays and imaging approaches.

Following the sale of Visikol, Johnson assumed his current role at MatTek Life Sciences (a BICO sister company), where he oversees an international sales, marketing and business development team.

Johnson also held positions at Johnson & Johnson and NASA earlier in his career and earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from Muhlenberg College as well as Ph.D. in microbiology from Rutgers University.

In addition to his impressive professional credentials, Johnson exhibited all of the traits necessary to effectively lead NJII, which partners with business and government entities to turn ideas into workable solutions across an array of sectors and create industry-centric ecosystems that help drive innovation and deliver solutions that make a direct and significant impact on the economy as well as the health and welfare of individuals. Johnson demonstrated poise, a high capacity for both internal and external engagement, a penchant for curiosity and innovation, a collaborative leadership style, and an understanding of how to move a complex organization forward throughout the search process.

NJIT President Teik C. Lim said, We are very excited to have attracted someone of Michaels experience and capability to serve as NJIIs next president. He is an excellent match for this opportunity, and we have great confidence that he will have a tremendous and positive impact on NJII. I very much look forward to working with him as we expand the ways in which NJII and NJIT engage with government and industry to develop mutually beneficial partnerships.

Robert Medina, Chair of the NJII Board of Directors, added, I am thrilled to have Michael joining NJII. Throughout this search, we worked very hard to make sure we found someone who had demonstrated a capacity to drive results and who would be the right fit to lead NJII and its extraordinarily innovative leadership team, into the future. Michael clearly checked both boxes.

Johnson said, I am passionate about translating cutting-edge research into innovative technologies that change the world, and the opportunity at NJII to be the conduit between a leading R1 research organization and industry was very attractive to me. As I look at NJII, I see an opportunity to greatly expand the organization's scope, size and impact over the next few years as we look to form stronger public and private partnerships, accelerate the translation of NJIT technologies, expand corporate education programs and spur innovation within the state while leveraging NJIT's vast resources. I am very grateful for this opportunity to join such a great team and really appreciate the efforts of President Lim as well as the NJII Board of Directors and the NJIT Board of Trustees.

NJIT Board of Trustees Chair Robert Cohen added, The Board of Trustees is enthusiastic about Michael Johnson assuming the presidency of NJII. His professional accomplishments align well with the NJII operating model, and he understands what it will take for NJII to take a leap forward. At his core, Michael is a proven innovator and problem solver, which is exactly what NJII is all about.

About the New Jersey Innovation Institute

The New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), an NJIT corporation, was founded in 2014 and serves as a portal and platform for university partnership with corporations and funding agencies by turning technological ideas into workable solutions across four divisions: healthcare, entrepreneurship, defense and homeland security, and professional and corporate education. NJII links its strong and far-reaching industry relationships with the vast resources of NJIT to build and support business-centric ecosystems that foster innovation and entrepreneurship, and deliver practical solutions that make a direct impact on the economy and improve the quality of life.

About New Jersey Institute of Technology

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is the greatest producer of technological talent and knowledge in New Jersey. NJIT is a leading public polytechnic research university that prepares students for uncommon career success and spurs innovations that improve lives while fostering economic growth. The New York Times college ranking tool rates NJIT No. 1 nationally among all public universities when you prioritize high alumni earnings, economic mobility, and academic profile. Additionally, NJIT is rated among the top 50 public national universities and top 100 overall by U.S. News & World Report.

For more information about NJII, visit njii.com. To learn more about NJIT, visit njit.edu.

Attachment
Denver, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This year, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation (GLOBAL) Awards Program hit the $1.1 million mark providing over 300 awards to local Down syndrome member organizations in 46 states and 6 countries since the program started in 2011.

The 2023 GLOBAL Education Awards will go to 13 organizations in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. A total of $76,000 will be invested in research and/or medical outreach programs that can quantitatively improve health outcomes. The awards will support over 8,000 individuals with Down syndrome, family members, and professionals. Over the years, a total of 20,000 individuals have been supported by the GLOBAL Awards Program.

Over the years, GLOBALs commitment and generous investment in community programs has made a significant difference in health outcomes for people with Down syndrome, said Anne Dichele, Executive Director of the Gold Coast Down Syndrome Organization. With GLOBALs medical expertise and resources, we have learned so much about the importance of mental health. Now we have their impactful funding that empowers us to host our mental health conference.

We are so grateful to have the support of a national organization like GLOBAL as we launch our Bilingual Medical Outreach Program, said Leah Boldt, Executive Director of the Down Syndrome Alliance of the Midlands. This program will provide access to critical resources for children who might otherwise be left behind.

Our member organizations provide life-changing programs and services in communities around the country and abroad every day, said Michelle Sie Whitten, President & CEO of GLOBAL. As the worlds leading Down syndrome research and medical care organization, we are proud to do our part to support their work and to fulfill our mission of elongating life and significantly improving health outcomes.

David Tolleson, GLOBAL Vice President, Strategic Alliances agrees, Local Down syndrome organizations are on the front line of service, positively impacting the health, education, and meaningful inclusion of the children and adults in their community. Its our honor to support their work.

The 13 organizations receiving the prestigious 2023 GLOBAL Education Award each have a unique program to offer:

To learn more about the GLOBAL Membership Awards Program, please visit https://www.globaldownsyndrome.org/global-awards/.

To learn more about GLOBAL Individual and Organization Memberships, please visit https://www.globaldownsyndrome.org/global-membership/.

To learn more about Global Down Syndrome Foundation, please visit www.globaldownsyndrome.org.

# # #

About Global Down Syndrome Foundation

The Global Down Syndrome Foundation (GLOBAL) is the largest non-profit in the U.S. working to save lives and dramatically improve health outcomes for people with Down syndrome. GLOBAL has donated more than $32 million to establish the first Down syndrome research institute supporting over 400 scientists and over 2,200 patients with Down syndrome from 33 states and 10 countries. Working closely with Congress and the National Institutes of Health, GLOBAL is the lead advocacy organization in the U.S. for Down syndrome research and care. GLOBAL has a membership of over 120 Down syndrome organizations worldwide, and is part of a network of Affiliates  the Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, the Sie Center for Down Syndrome, and the University of Colorado Alzheimers and Cognition Center  all on the Anschutz Medical Campus.

GLOBALs widely circulated medical publications include Global Medical Care Guidelines for Adults with Down Syndrome, Prenatal Testing and Information about Down Syndrome, and the award-winning magazine Down Syndrome World TM . GLOBAL also organizes the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show, the largest Down syndrome fundraiser in the world.

Visit globaldownsyndrome.org and follow us on social media (Facebook & Twitter: @GDSFoundation, Instagram: @globaldownsyndrome).

Attachments
Monroe, N.C., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Freedom Alliance, U.S. Bank and True Homes partnered Tuesday to honor one of our nations military heroes with the gift of a mortgage-free home.

U.S. Army Private Second Class Roy Garcia and his family were presented with the keys during a ceremony attended by local dignitaries and members of the community outside of the newly built Monroe home.

Roy Garcia served and sacrificed our country, said Freedom Alliance President Tom Kilgannon. He enlisted, deployed to the Kunar Province of Afghanistan, and was regularly engaged with the enemy. Today, he carries the unmistakable wounds of war, and we are honored, through this valued partnership, to give Roy and his family a place of security and comfort they can now call their home.

The life-changing gift is made possible by a donation by U.S. Bank through its Housing Opportunities after Military Engagement (H.O.M.E.) program, in conjunction with Freedom Alliances Heroes to Homeowners program. Since 2013, U.S. Bank has donated 22 homes valued at $4.8 million to deserving military families in thriving communities across the country.

In October 2008, Roy enlisted in the Army as an infantryman. He completed basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia (recently renamed Fort Moore) and was assigned to 3rd Platoon, D Company, 1/327th Infantry Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell.

In 2010, Roy and his unit deployed to the Kunar Province which, at the time, was among the most dangerous locations in Afghanistan. Here, Roy and his unit participated in Operation Bulldog Bite, a joint operation with Army Rangers and Afghan troops against the Taliban. The fighting was immediate and intense. Roys team was hit with gun fire, mortar rounds, and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Soon after the battle began, Roys unit lost their medic and within 24 hours their numbers were reduced from 22 platoon members to nine due to injuries requiring medical evacuation.

During his deployment in Afghanistan, Roy also helped build a school for Afghan children, provided security for election day voting, and established relations with village elders. Upon his return, he met Allison, and they married in 2012.

U.S. Bank is honored to partner with Freedom Alliance and True Homes to provide this mortgage-free home to U.S. Army veteran Roy Garcia and his family, said Len McMorrow, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Business Banking Default Operations at U.S. Bank. We cannot thank our veterans enough for their service and sacrifice and the gift of this home is a small way we can give back to our communities. This home will provide Roy and his family with stability and a place to put down roots for years to come.

The new home was constructed by Carolinas largest homebuilder, True Homes, which is consistently recognized as being one of the Best Places to Work in Charlotte.

We are so honored to partner with U.S. Bank and Freedom Alliance for this very special project, said True Foundation Program Director, Chelsea Mershon. As a company, we are committed to having a positive impact on the communities in which we build homes. With the help of our local partners, Beds for Kids and Ashley Furniture, as well as our associates, we were able to amplify our impact and provide a fully furnished brand new home to a very deserving family. We wish the Garcia family many years of happiness in their new home.

U.S. Bank, Freedom Alliance and True Homes are committed to honoring service members for their dedication and personal sacrifice. In addition to partnering with military service organizations such as Freedom Alliance and Operation Homefront, U.S. Bank supports veterans and military family members through Proud to Serve, an employee-led business resource group. Through Proud to Serve, each new veteran is personally welcomed by leaders who are also veterans. Employees are also encouraged to use internal social networking forums to connect, network, and share stories. The bank employs more than 2,000 veterans, including National Guard and Reserve members.

###

About Freedom Alliance: Freedom Alliance is a charitable organization providing help and support to wounded troops and military families. Freedom Alliance has awarded more than $23 million in college scholarships to children of heroes killed or disabled in military service and spent millions more helping injured veterans and their families with outdoor therapy trips, Heroes Retreats, care packages, mortgage-free homes, all-terrain chairs and more. Learn about Freedom Alliance at FreedomAlliance.org or facebook.com/FreedomAlliance.

Attachments
VANCOUVER, Aug. 29, 2023 -

TSX VENTURE COMPANIES

Tactical Resources Corp. ("RARE")

BULLETIN TYPE: New Listing-Shares

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at the opening on August 31, 2023, the common shares of the Company will commence trading on TSX Venture Exchange. The Company is classified as a 'mineral exploration' company.

The Company is presently trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

Corporate Jurisdiction: British Columbia



Capitalization: Unlimited common shares with no par value of which

35,674,480 common shares are issued and outstanding Escrowed Shares: 513,405 common shares remain escrowed pursuant to

a pre-existing escrow agreement



Transfer Agent: Odyssey Trust Company Trading Symbol: RARE CUSIP Number: 87357T102



For further information, please refer to the Company's news release dated August 29, 2023 and the Company's continuous disclosure information available on SEDAR+.

Company Contact: Matthew Chatterton Company Address: 1055 West Georgia St., 1500 Royal Centre,

Vancouver, British Columbia, V6E 4N7 Company Phone Number: (778) 613-2068 Company Email Address: info@tacticalresources.com

________________________________________

23/08/29 - TSX Venture Exchange Bulletins

TSX VENTURE COMPANIES

Alaska Energy Metals Corp. ("AEMC")

BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement-Brokered; Private Placement-Non-Brokered

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to a Brokered and Non-Brokered Private Placement announced July 6, 2023 and July 19, 2023:

Number of Shares -

Brokered: 16,112,500 shares



Number of Shares -

Non-Brokered: 7,637,500 shares



Warrants -

Brokered: 8,056,250 share purchase warrants to purchase 8,056,250 shares



Warrants -

Non-Brokered: 3,818,750 share purchase warrants to purchase 3,818,750 shares



Purchase Price: $0.40 per share



Warrant Exercise Price: $0.80 for a two-year period



Number of Placees: 171 placees

Insider / Pro Group Participation:









Placees # of Placee (s) Aggregate # of Shares





Aggregate Existing Insider Involvement: 2 297,500 Aggregate Pro Group Involvement: 13 2,442,500

Agent's Fee: Emerging Equities Inc. - $29,002.50 cash and 75,006 Compensation

Options

Echelon Wealth Partners Inc. - $32,317.50 cash and 80,794 Compensation

Options

Leede Jones Gable Inc. - $280 cash and 700 Compensation Options

BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. - $1,000 cash

Canaccord Genuity Corp. - $101,757.50 cash and 254,394 Compensation

Options

PI Financial Corp. - $177,670 cash and 444,175 Compensation Options

Research Capital Corporation - $39,960 cash and 102,900 Compensation

Options

Stephen Avenue Securities Inc. - $2,000 cash and 5,000 Compensation

Options

Cormark Securities Inc. - $7,645 cash and 16,113 Compensation Options

Haywood Securities Inc - $1,200 cash and 3,000 Compensation Options

Hampton Securities Limited - $600 cash and 1,500 Compensation Options

Red Cloud Securities Inc. - $9,667.50 cash and 24,169 Compensation

Options



Aggregate Cash Amount Aggregate # of Shares Aggregate # of Warrants Finder's Fee: $63,240 N/A 158,100 Warrants



Agent's Option or Finder's Warrants Terms: Each option or warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share at the price of $0.60 for a period of two years from the date of issuance.

The Company issued news releases on July 27, 2023 and August 4, 2023 confirming the closing of the private placement. Note that in certain circumstances the Exchange may later extend the expiry date of the warrants, if they are less than the maximum permitted term.

________________________________________

Alaska Energy Metals Corp. ("AEMC")

BULLETIN TYPE: Property-Asset or Share Purchase Agreement

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing a Data Purchase Agreement dated August 16, 2023 (the "Agreement") between the Company, the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary (the "Subsidiary") and an arm's length party (the "Vendor") to acquire a database of historical information concerning the Nikolai project in Alaska. Under the terms of the Agreement, the Subsidiary will pay $1,050,000 and the Company will issue 2,000,000 shares, at a deemed price of $0.50 per share, to the Vendor.

For further details, please refer to the Company's news releases dated August 16, 2023 and August 22, 2023.

________________________________________

ALITPLANO METALS INC. ("APN")

BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement-Non-Brokered

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to a Non-Brokered Private Placement announced on April 6, 2023:

Number of Shares: 3,810,000 shares



Purchase Price: $0.10 per share



Warrants: 3,810,000 share purchase warrants to purchase 3,810,000 shares



Warrant Exercise Price: $0.12 for a two year period



Number of Placees: 23 placees

Insider / Pro Group Participation:









Placees # of Placee (s) Aggregate # of Shares





Aggregate Existing Insider Involvement: N/A N/A Aggregate Pro Group Involvement: 1 350,000



Aggregate Cash Amount Aggregate # of Shares Aggregate # of Warrants Finder's Fee: $15,060 N/A 150,600



Finder's Warrants Terms: Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share at the price of $0.12 for period of 2 years from the date of issuance.

The Company issued a news release on May 18, 2023, confirming closing of the private placement. [Note that in certain circumstances the Exchange may later extend the expiry date of the warrants, if they are less than the maximum permitted term.]

________________________________________

CYBERCATCH HOLDINGS, INC. ("CYBE")

BULLETIN TYPE: Warrant Term Extension

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has consented to the extension in the expiry date of the following warrants:

Private Placement:

# of Warrants: 3,220,000 Original Expiry Date of Warrants: September 10, 2023 New Expiry Date of Warrants: September 10, 2024 Exercise Price of Warrants: $0.50 (Unchanged)

These warrants were assumed by the Company following the completion of its qualifying transaction, which was accepted for filing by the Exchange effective April 18, 2023. For further information, please refer to the Company's Filing Statement dated March 31, 2023.

________________________________________

EQUITY METALS CORPORATION ("EQTY")

BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement-Non-Brokered

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to a Non-Brokered Private Placement announced on June 30, 2023.

Number of Shares: 6,263,112 Flow-Through (FT) shares



Purchase Price: $0.13 FT per share



Warrants: 3,131,556 share purchase warrants to purchase 3,131,556 non-flow

through shares



Warrant Exercise Price: $0.20 for a three-year period



Number of Placees: 13 placees

Insider / Pro Group Participation:







Placees # of Placee (s) Aggregate # of Shares





Aggregate Existing Insider Involvement: N/A N/A Aggregate Pro Group Involvement: 2 615,800



Aggregate Cash Amount Aggregate # of Shares Aggregate # of Warrants Finder's Fee: $44,952.28 N/A 345,787



Finder's Warrants Terms: 246,508 warrants entitles the holder to purchase one common share at the price of $0.20 for a 3 year period from the date of issuance. 99,279 warrants entitles the holder to purchase one common share at the price of $0.13 for a 3 year period from the date of issuance.

The Company issued a news release on August 17, 2023 confirming closing of the private placement. Note that in certain circumstances the Exchange may later extend the expiry date of the warrants, if they are less than the maximum permitted term.

________________________________________

FUELPOSITIVE CORPORATION ("NHHH")

BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement- Brokered

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to a Brokered Private Placement announced May 30, 2023:

Number of Shares: 85,343,768 common shares



Purchase Price: $0.065 per common share



Warrants: 85,343,768 share purchase warrants to purchase 85,343,768 shares



Warrant Exercise Price: $0.09 for a period of three years



Number of Placees: 130 Placees

Insider / Pro Group Participation:

Name Insider=Y / ProGroup=P Number of Shares Aggregate Pro Group Involvement

[1 placee] P 200,000



Aggregate Cash Amount Aggregate # of Shares Aggregate # of Warrants Finder's Fee: $112,134.75 140,000 1,865,150

Finder's Warrants Terms: Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share at the

price of $0.09 for period of three years from the date of issuance.



For more information, please refer to the Company's news releases dated July 19, 2023, and August 24, 2023. Note that in certain circumstances the Exchange may later extend the expiry date of the warrants, if they are less than the maximum permitted term.

________________________________________

HANSTONE GOLD CORP. ("HANS")

BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement-Non-Brokered

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to a Non-Brokered Private Placement announced on July 31, 2023:

Number of Shares: 12,000,000 flow-through shares



Purchase Price: $0.05 per share



Warrants: 12,000,000 share purchase warrants to purchase 12,000,000 shares



Warrant Exercise Price: $0.05 for a five-year period



Number of Placees: 1 placee

Insider / Pro Group Participation:









Placees # of Placee (s) Aggregate # of Shares





Aggregate Existing Insider Involvement: 1 12,000,000 Aggregate Pro Group Involvement: NA NA



Aggregate Cash Amount Aggregate # of Shares Aggregate # of Warrants Finder's Fee: NA NA NA



The Company issued a news release on August 28, 2023 confirming the closing of the private placement.

________________________________________

HANSTONE GOLD CORP. ("HANS")

BULLETIN TYPE: Shares for Bonuses

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing the Company's proposal to issue 8,000,000 bonus warrants to a non-arm's length party, in consideration of a loan in the amount of $400,000 for a term of three years, and bears interest at a rate of 12% per annum. Each bonus warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share at an exercise price of $0.05 for a three-year period.

________________________________________

MEDMIRA INC. ("MIR")

BULLETIN TYPE: Halt

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at 7:40 a.m. PST, Aug. 29, 2023, trading in the shares of the Company was halted Failure to Maintain Transfer Agent; this regulatory halt is imposed by Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the Market Regulator of the Exchange pursuant to the provisions of Section 10.9(1) of the Universal Market Integrity Rules.

________________________________________

Osino Resources Corp. ("OSI")

BULLETIN TYPE: Warrant Term Extension

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has consented to the extension of the expiry date of the following warrants:

Private Placement:

# of Warrants: 4,772,727 Original Expiry Date of Warrants: September 1, 2023 New Expiry Date of Warrants: June 1, 2024 Exercise Price of Warrants: $1.35



These warrants were issued pursuant to a private placement of 9,454,455 shares with 4,772,727 share purchase warrants attached, which was accepted for filing by the Exchange effective November 17, 2021.

________________________________________

PATHFINDER VENTURES INC. ("RV")

BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement-Non-Brokered, Convertible Debenture/s, Amendment and Shares

for Debt

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Convertible Debenture/s, Amendment:

Further to convertible debentures pursuant to the Company's Qualifying Transaction originally accepted by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") effective October 18, 2021, the Exchange has consented to an amendment of the Original Convertible Debentures (the "Amended Convertible Debentures"):

Original Convertible Debentures

Maturity Dates: July 26, 2023 and September 8, 2023



Amended Convertible

Debentures Maturity Date: December 1, 2023



Original Convertible Debentures

Conversion Period Expiry Dates: July 26, 2023 and September 8, 2023



Amended Convertible

Debenture Conversion Period

Expiry Date: December 1, 2023



The amount of aggregate principal outstanding is $2,395,000 from the Original Convertible Debentures. All other details of the Amended Convertible Debentures remain unchanged from the Original Convertible Debentures.

For further information, please refer to the Company's press releases dated October 15, 2021, July 25, 2023, and August 28, 2023, and the Filing Statement dated September 21, 2021, available under the Company's profile on SEDAR+.

Shares for Debt:

Pursuant to the press release dated July 25, 2023, the Exchange has accepted for filing the Company's proposal to issue 2,755,173 units of the Company ("Units") at a deemed price of $0.04 per Unit to settle matured convertible debentures of $105,000 in principal, plus $5,207 of accrued interest, to arm's length parties for an aggregate amount of $110,207. Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company ("Share") and one-half of one non-transferable Share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each Whole Warrant may be exercised to purchase one additional Share for $0.08 per Share, for a period of 18 months from the date of issuance. The Warrants will be subject to an acceleration provision whereby after four months and one day from the date of issuance, if the Shares trade or close on the Exchange at $0.15 or more for 10 consecutive trading days, the Company has the right to give notice to the Warrant holders by way of press release, that the Warrants expiry will be accelerated to 30 days thereafter.

Number of Creditors: 3 Creditors.



Non-Arm's Length Party /

Pro Group Participation: None.

For further information, please refer to the Company's press releases dated July 25, 2023, and August 28, 2023.

________________________________________

Record Resources Inc. ("REC")

BULLETIN TYPE: Halt

BULLETIN DATE: August 29, 2023

TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at 4:53 a.m. PST, Aug. 29, 2023, trading in the shares of the Company was halted, Pending Clarification of Company Affairs; this regulatory halt is imposed by Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the Market Regulator of the Exchange pursuant to the provisions of Section 10.9(1) of the Universal Market Integrity Rules.

________________________________________

SOURCE TSX Venture Exchange
Vancouver, August 30, 2023 - New Energy Metals Corp. (TSXV:ENRG) (OTC:NRGYF) ("New Energy" or the "Company ") is pleased to announce that it has commenced exploration work at the Atikokan Lithium property (the "Property") located in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Field crews have mobilized and are conducting geological mapping, prospecting, and sampling.

Program Highlights

During the current phase of exploration, an experienced field team has been deployed to conduct field prospecting activities across the claim block. This process will involve the systematic examination and sampling of the potential fertile granitic pegmatite dykes for lithium and other rare elements. This crucial step will provide valuable insights into the mineralogy and lithium content of the identified pegmatites, aiding in the development of an extensive understanding of the property's lithium exploration potential for further work. Initial scanning of samples will be carried out by a handheld laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), which has recently emerged as a tool for instant geochemical analysis versus traditional laboratory analysis and resultant lag time. The LIBs can measure Li in minerals, rocks, soils, and brines in-situ in the field.

About the Atikokan Lithium Property

The Atikokan Lithium Property consists of 4 mining claims comprising 3,788 hectares and is located approximately 12 km east of Atikokan, Ontario. Geologically, the claims straddle the contact between a peraluminous S-type muscovite-bearing granite and metasediments within the Quetico subprovince. The Quetico-Marmion subprovincial boundary lies just 4 km north of the Property. Numerous lithium deposits of northwestern Ontario occur proximal to a subprovincial boundary. Muscovite-bearing pegmatite dykes and small pegmatitic granite masses are widely exposed along Highway 11 between Nym Lake Road junction and west to Niobe Lake (McIlwaine and Larsen 1981a, 1981b as cited in Breaks et al., 2003). Historically, the Atikokan area has documented strongly anomalous lake sediment results in Li, Rb, Cs, Ga and Sn (Jackson, 2001 as cited in Breaks et al., 2003).

Recently, lithium has been the primary mineral of economic interest in northwestern Ontario where lithium and rare-element mineralization style is dominantly hosted within spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes. Reconnaissance mapping and sampling by Breaks et al., 2003 along Highway 11 concluded that "the discovery of columbite-tantalite group minerals and beryl by this survey gives strong indications that, with careful prospecting, further rare-element minerals may be discovered.

"We are thrilled to initiate exploration activities at the Atikokan Lithium Property," said Rishi Kwatra, CEO. "We have engaged industry professionals with significant local knowledge to execute our Phase 1 exploration program."

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael Kilbourne, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS,

New Energy Metals Corp.

Rishi Kwatra

CEO & Director

#610 - 700 West Pender Street

Vancouver, BC V6C 1G8 Canada

Tel: 604-669-9788

www.new-enrg.com

References and Disclosures

Breaks, F.W., Selway, J.B. and Tindle, A.G. 2003. Fertile peraluminous granites and related rare-element mineralization in pegmatites, Superior Province, northwest and northeast Ontario: Operation Treasure Hunt; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 6099, 179p.

About New Energy Metals Corp.

New Energy is a Canadian-based resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol ENRG.

The Company has an option to purchase a 100% interest in the Atikokan lithium Project which comprises 3,788 hectares and is located approximately 12 km east of Atikokan, Ontario. The claims straddle the contact between a peraluminous S-type muscovite-bearing granite and metasediments within the Quetico subprovince. The Quetico-Marmion subprovincial boundary lies just 4 km north of the Property.

The Company also has an option to purchase a 100-percent interest in the Roslyn lithium property, covering 5,100 hectares located 20 kilometers southeast of the Georgia Lake pegmatite field and 35 kilometers southeast of where Rock Tech Lithium just published a preliminary economic assessment supporting the indicated mineral resource of 10.6 Mt (million tons) grading 0.88 percent lithium oxide and an inferred mineral resource of 4.2 Mt grading 1.0 percent Li2O.

The Company also has an option to purchase a 100-percent interest in the Troitsa copper property covering approximately 7,000 hectares located in the Omineca mining division of British Columbia.

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 Statement on Forward Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to, among other things: statements with respect to anticipated exploration program results from exploration activities, the expectation that the Company will enter into agreements to acquire interests in the Property, the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company and all other statements that are not historical facts, particularly statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance of the Company. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified through the use of words or phrases such as "will likely result", "are expected to", "expects", "will continue", "is anticipated", "anticipates", "believes", "estimated", "intends", "plans", "forecast", "projection", "strategy", "objective" and "outlook". Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made based on reasonable estimates and assumptions made by management of the Company at the relevant time in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that are believed to be appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will not update any such forward-looking statements as a result of new information or if management's beliefs, estimates, assumptions or opinions change, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results, performance, achievements and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development activities, actual results of exploration activities, including on the Property, the estimation or realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the fact that the Company's interest in the Property is an option only and there is no guarantee that such interest, if earned, will be certain, capital expenditures, requirements for additional capital, future prices of lithium, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing, title disputes, the inability of the Company to obtain any necessary permits, consents, approvals or authorizations, including approval by the TSX Venture Exchange required for the acquisition of the Properties, the timing and possible outcome of any pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, and all other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca. The Company cautions that the list of risk factors and uncertainties described in its publicly filed documents on SEDAR is not exhaustive and other factors could materially affect its results. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to consider all of them, or assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
After some disappointing Grand Prix weekends where things were not going so well, Aston Martin now seems to have a good race car. Fernando Alonso's team started the year very surprisingly with some podium finishes, but at one point the car seemed to become less and less competitive. Aston Martin engineer Tom McCullough knows where the problem was.

Article continues under ad

After the Dutch Grand Prix, Alonso was once again allowed to sit on the podium. Something he had done before this season in Monaco, Miami, Australia, Bahrain, Canada and Saudi Arabia. After the Canadian Grand Prix, things seemed to slow down. The team introduced a new base plate in Canada, but this did not prove to work a few races later.

Aston Martin's Formula 1 car

"It's never one thing. Sometimes they bring a bit of a characteristic change. Sometimes you go to tracks that suit your base package more or less," Tom McCullough told. We've actually changed the aggressiveness of development in certain areas. Obviously some teams came back strong who maybe weren't as strong to start off with. Going forward, we're still trying to push quite hard between now and the end of the year," he told.
Italy GP boss in a hurry for F1 contract talks

Italian GP chief Angelo Sticchi Damiani says he is in a "hurry" to ink a new Formula 1 race deal with Liberty Media.

Atmosphere, Italian GP 2022

 Alfa Romeo

With the highly popular Dutch GP at Zandvoort facing the prospect of having to annually alternate its calendar spot, it is clear that even the historic venue at Monza is in doubt for the future.

The future is in our hands, Damiani, president of the Italian automobile club Aci, is quoted by Italy's Autosprint ahead of this weekend's F1 race at Monza.

We must be all together to guarantee an extension of the contract with Liberty Media that expires in 2025, he said. "And under conditions that are sustainable.

And we must do it quickly.

It is already well known that F1 and Liberty are demanding key changes at the more than 100-year-old Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.

Monza is 100 years old and we are happy to be able to contribute so that the story continues, Sticchi Damiani said.

"We are in a concretely advanced stage for the works of the underpasses and the resurfacing of the circuit. The commitment we made for 2024 will be met in time.

By mid-October we will receive offers from companies and work could begin in November, he revealed. We are also working towards the approval of other things we intend to do, such as replacing the grandstands and the recovery of the high-speed track.

And while the current race contract still has some time to run, Sticchi Damiani insisted that he wants talks with Liberty Media to begin urgently.

We are in a hurry, he admitted.
Country set for industrial hub: Infrastructure ready - Prof Dodoo

Maclean Kwofi Business News Aug - 30 - 2023 , 10:47

The Director-General of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Professor Alex Dodoo, has called for stronger coordination on the part of all ministries and regulatory bodies to work harder and make the country a new manufacturing hub.

He explained that the approval of the National Quality Policy (NQP) and passage of the Standards Authority Act, 2022 (Act 1076) were crucial interventions that would prepare local companies and send the right signals to the rest of the world that the country was open for large-scale investments in the production sector.

We have been able to develop the companies, human resource, standards and NQP; what we need now is coordination for the new industrialisation hub to happen.

So yes, Ghana will become the unequivocal next hub of global manufacturing because we have the ingredients and infrastructure to support the agenda, Prof. Dodoo said.

At the maiden Daily Graphic-GSA-ISO Breakfast Summit in Accra last Friday, the Director-General of GSA maintained that the country had also taken deliberate steps to develop manufacturers (industries), human resources and standards to support the industrialisation drive.

Those constituted the necessary infrastructure and conditions to become the new industrialisation hub of the world, Prof. Dodoo stated.

The summit

The summit, an initiative of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) and GSA, with support from the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO), is a series of dialogues that will feature selected topics aimed at influencing government policies in favour of industries.

It is also to drum home the need for industries, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to embrace and deploy standards in their operations in order to break regional and international barriers to trade.

The breakfast summit brought together players in the private sector, particularly manufacturing concerns, policymakers, regulators and academia to discuss the countrys potential of becoming a global manufacturing hub.

It was on the theme: Standardisation and industrialisation: Could Ghana be the new hub for global manufacturing?

Prof. Dodoo referred to history and pointed out that when a nation showed strong determination and put efforts in place, it would succeed on its industrialisation drive.

Other countries have done it before; China and India are recent examples, the Director-General said.

Prof. Dodoo said the country needed to industrialise to create jobs for its citizens as part of measures to curb its rising unemployment.

He said the Directive Principles of State Policy of the 1992 Constitution directed that the state must take all necessary actions to ensure that the national economy was managed in a manner that maximised the rate of economic development.

That, he said, was to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every person in Ghana and to provide adequate means of livelihood and sustainable employment.

We already have a young, energetic and hungry-for-success generation trained from our newly rejuvenated technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions.

We also have solid manufacturing firms led by their umbrella body, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Prof. Dodoo added.

Optimism

The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev. Dr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, who was the chairperson of the summit, challenged Ghanaians to take steps that would ensure that the country became the new global manufacturing hub.

He said there should be a consensus on measures to build capacity and to be equipped enough for the rest of the world to acknowledge that indeed the country was open for industrialisation.

And so, as an optimist and a true Ghanaian, I will set the tone for this discussion on the premise that we must become the hub of global manufacturing and industrialisation, Rev. Dr Owusu-Amoah said.

Appropriate value

The GRA Commissioner-General stated that a country with so many natural resources was required to set the standard and be able to transform from exporting raw materials to semi-finished and finished goods to the international market.

That, Rev. Dr Owusu-Amoah said, would ensure that the country was able to get the appropriate value from its natural resources.

He said industrialisation was crucial to ensure that investors were more certain of the operating space and the mechanisms and standards required.

When there is a consensus in standardisation, the products or services that are being delivered or manufactured are always fit for purpose due to the confidence, the Commissioner-General added.

Prof. Alex Dodoo (left), Director-General, Ghana Standards Authority, chatting with Sergio Mujica (2nd from left), Secretary General of the International Organisation for Standardisation. Looking on are Patricia Safo (3rd from left), CEO of JCS Investments Limited; Rev. Dr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (4th from left), Commissioner-General, Ghana Revenue Authority, and Dr Hermogene Nsengimana, Secretary General, African Organisation for Standardisaction. Picture: EDNA SALVO-KOTEY.

Industrys view

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AGI, Seth Twum Akwaboah, entreated the government to support indigenous industries to grow and become global giants.

He stated that a deliberate effort towards building the capacities and helping industries to conform to standardisation would enable them to compete favourably on the international market.

That, he said, was equally necessary to send the right signals to the rest of the world that the country was ready to become the next hub of global manufacturing.

Mr Akwaboah stated that deliberate support was crucial because the majority of indigenous industries were SMEs.

We must admit that the majority of our manufacturers and industries are operating in the SMEs space.

I will say some of the SMEs are doing well, most of them are getting ready and others need to be supported to get ready and so we cannot say we are fully ready to be the new hub of manufacturing in the world, the AGI CEO said.

Mr Akwaboah explained that there were many countries in Africa that had been doing extremely well in manufacturing and Ghana was among them.

He said a number of global industrial giants and brands such as Guinness, Unilever, Nestle and Wilmar had operations in the country.

However, we have few of our indigenous industries that have attained such levels as well, including Tropical Cable and Conductor Ltd, Kasapreko and some pharmaceutical companies.

These indigenous industries have attained the latest versions of ISO certification and so I can comfortably indicate that they are effectively meeting the standards.

With that, they are already global, their products can go anywhere in the world without any problems but the majority of the indigenous industries fall within the SME space and more needs to be done to get them to embrace conformity, Mr Akwaboah added.

Leverage standards

The Secretary-General of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO), Dr Hermogene Nsengimana, challenged Ghanaians to leverage standards to boost industrialisation in the country.

He said the country and its manufacturers must build knowledge on standards because they were the cheapest way of acquiring skills required for industrialisation.

We must also take value addition seriously because it is a component embedded in standardisation.

Standards inspire healthy competition among manufacturers and producers and also bring out the best of innovation, Dr Nsengimana said.

Universal global standards

For his part, the Secretary-General of ISO, Sergio Mujica, stated that international standards were more important and relevant in todays changing world.

He maintained that for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to become successful, universal global standards that could be recognised and valued by all must be applied.

We want one standard, one test and one certification recognised and accepted everywhere. So with standards, you can have global access in your organisations for your products, Mr Mujica, who was on a three-day official visit to the country, said.
Bt cowpea: Saviour to consumers, good news to farmers

Lydia Ezit Features Aug - 30 - 2023 , 11:12

One of the fundamental determinants of our health is the food we eat. It is for this reason that one must be extra careful in selecting what to eat. This is because eating an unhealthy or contaminated food could bring you many health problems.

Thus, many people prefer to prepare their own foods instead of buying them on the streets. Such people think that by preparing your own food, you save yourself from eating unwholesome foods. But the challenge is that people are unaware of how the food stuff, particularly the vegetables, the beans, grains, and tubers are produced.

It is important to mention that food safety, nutrition and food security are inextricably linked. An estimated 600 million  almost 1 in 10 people in the world  fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420, 000 die every year, resulting in the loss of 33 million healthy life years, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

WHO also estimates that US$ 110 billion is lost each year in productivity and medical expenses resulting from unsafe food in low- and middle-income countries, and children under 5 years of age carry 40 per cent of the foodborne disease burden, with 125, 000 deaths every year.

Foodborne diseases impede socioeconomic development by straining health care systems and harming national economies, tourism and trade.

The fact is that when undesirable chemicals end up in food, they could cause health effects, such as allergic reactions and/or adverse effects on organs or physiology. Allergic reactions may occur in people who are particularly sensitive to certain substances (allergens).

Examples of toxic effects include gastrointestinal symptoms, kidney damage, liver disease, impairment of the nervous system, or DNA damage, which could cause cancer, according to health experts. Some toxic effects are transient, but other effect may sometimes be permanent.

In recent times, many researchers have become very particular about the use of pesticides and other agro-chemicals in food crop production since unguided use could pose many health challenges to consumers of such food crops.

Pesticides are chemical or biological agents that are used to protect crops from insects, weeds, and infections. Fetuses, infants, growing children, pregnant and nursing mothers, and women of childbearing age are most at risk for adverse health outcomes from exposure to pesticides. It has been established that long exposure to pesticides could even cause infertility in both men and women.

Cowpea and pesticides

But the reality is that in spite of the dangers associated with unguided use of pesticides, farmers tend to spend so much on pesticides on crops that are easily attacked by pests or insects. For instance, cowpea s one of the crops that farmers use a lot of pesticides on in Ghana due to the vulnerability of the bean crop to the ravaging maruca vitrata pests.

Maruca vitrata, also known as the Maruca pod borer, is one of the most devastating insect pests of cowpea in Africa.

Maruca pests attack cowpea at all stages of its development, causing up to 80 per cent yield loss. Farmers therefore in their attempt to control the pest spray their crops about six to eight times in the three-month life cycle of the crop.

What it means is that these excessive spraying of pesticides could lead to chemical infiltration of the substances in the cowpea.

And because Ghana is also one of the countries with high bean consumption per capita, it therefore implies that some lives will be at risk if the practice continues unabated.

For instance, bean consumption per capita reached 6.04 kg in 2020 in Ghana, according to Food and Agriculture Organisations (FAO) statistics. This is 0.984% less than in the previous year.

According to FAO, bean consumption per capita in Ghana reached an all-time high of 9.62 kg in 2012 and an all-time low of 0.130 kg in 1993.

The reason accounting for Ghanas high consumption of cowpea is that the crop is grown by many smallholder farmers and it is used in preparation of many local dishes.

The crop, popularly known as the poor mans meat is very common in many notable Ghanaian local dishes, hence farmers from across all ethnic identities in Ghana grow the crop.

Cowpea is an important source of plant protein  all parts of the crop is consumed and haulms used as fodder. Local dishes such as Koose, Gari & beans popularly known as Gobe, Waakye, and Tubaani are all prepared with cowpea as an active ingredient. Dishes made from this crop are an important source of quality plant protein.

However, farmers of cowpea are in constant battle with the destructive Maruca vitrata pest, thus overusing pesticides, which exposes the lives of consumers in danger.

The good news

Ghanaian research scientists in their resolve to help prevent this possible chemical (pesticides) infiltration in cowpea decided to adopt biotechnology to develop a cowpea variety that is resistant to the Maruca vitrata pests. It is called the Bt cowpea or pod borer resistance cowpea.

The Principal Investigator leading the development of the Bt cowpea in Ghana, Dr. Jerry Nbonyine, who is also an Entomologist and Plant Breeder at CSIR-SARI, is convinced that the crop has the potential to reduce pesticide use, thus reducing chemical impacts on both the environment and on the food crop itself.

For him, whereas farmers tend to spray their cowpea crops about six to eight times before harvest time, with the Bt cowpea, farmer may only spray it once or twice.

That, he explains, with the reduction in the number of times that farmers spray their cowpea crops, it will save them some money, time as well as protect the beans they produce from being contaminated with chemicals.

Dr. Nbonyine indicated that the Bt cowpea has been genetically modified to resist the destructive Maruca vitrata pest.

He explained that the Cry 1Ab gene, from Bacillus thuringiesis was used to develop the podborer resistant cowpea for small-holder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

For him, Bt Cowpea, which would be the first genetically modified (GM) crop to be released in Ghana, will contribute significantly to food security, improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers by reducing the pods damage, promote grain quality and reduce seasonal crop loss.

Dr. Nboyine explained that biological technology is not new to human race and that the insulin used in the field of medicine and the traditional brewing of pito, a local beverage, were all forms of biotechnology.

He expressed the concern that due to the impacts of the pod borer infestation, many cowpea farmers had stopped growing the crop.

In the absence of resistance genes in the cowpea germplasm, a new [biotechnological] innovation has identified a resistance gene from a bacteria species Bacillus Thuringiesis. This has been transferred into Songotra, a local cowpea variety to kill the pod borer and also reduce the harmful effect of many insecticides sprays the farmers are exposed to, he pointed out.

Dr Nboyine explained that the Bt cowpea would reduce pod borer damage by 98 per cent and also increase crop yields four times.

For him, the Bt cowpea reduces cost of production by the farmer, reduces the exposure of the farmers to the hazardous chemicals with its health implications, and that they were relatively environmental friendly as less chemicals are carried into the runoffs and water bodies.

Safe to eat

Speaking on the safety of the Bt cowpea, Dr Nboyine explained that proximate analysis conducted (biochemical and functional properties) showed that there was no difference between Bt and non-Bt in terms of crude protein, fat, ash, carbohydrates, calories, moisture.

For him, consumers had nothing to fear about the Bt cowpea, saying there is no toxicity or allerginicity associated with Bt cowpea.

He was of the view that when the Bt cowpea is released to the farmers, it will help them to increase their yields.

Our farmers will become non-competitive in the cowpea industry if other nations adopt Bt Cowpea and produce the grains cheaply, he said.
Ending deadly superstition ''Law against witchcraft accusations, journey, lessons''

Rev. Prof. John Azumah Opinion Aug - 30 - 2023 , 12:48

Belief in witchcraft is one of the oldest conspiracy theories used to perpetuate gender-based violence against women.

The Sanneh Institute (TSI) and other partners who led a three-year campaign to criminalise witchcraft accusations in Ghana are ecstatic that Parliament has passed the law.

Akua Denteh was not the first to be lynched in Ghana on account of witchcraft accusations.

In November 2010, a 72-year-old lady, Ama Hemmah, was burned to death in Tema on suspicion of being a witch.

This dastardly act was led by a so-called pastor, Samuel Fletcher Sagoe.

Ghanaians expressed outrage and revulsion at the act.

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) described the act as an atrocious crime and barbaric.

Then, everybody simply moved on with business as usual.

Same

When Akua Denteh was publicly lynched on July 23, 2020, the same outpouring of passionate condemnations and revulsion came from many, including the President.

The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) at the time organised a high-powered meeting of chiefs and queenmothers at Kempinski Hotel in Accra on August 7, and a visit to the alleged witch camps.

Parliamentary team and some victims at the Kpatinga Camp

Then, again, it was business as usual!

That was when it dawned upon some of us that something needed to be done.

The Sanneh Institute sent a petition to the then Speaker of Parliament, Mike Oquaye, calling for a law to be passed, criminalising witchcraft accusations.

We followed up with petitions to CHRAJ, MGCSP, the Office of the Attorney General and others.

We embarked on a relentless crusade!

Campaign

The Institute reached out to ActionAid Ghana and other partners and conducted research into the camps, visited the victims and engaged the chiefs and Tindanas managing the camps.

After the 2020 elections, we got in touch with Francis Xavier Sosu, whom we heard had expressed interest in sponsoring the bill.

In partnership with ActionAid Ghana, we engaged the parliamentary sponsors of the bill.

As the bill was a private members bill, The Sanneh Institute and ActionAid had to sponsor meetings and trips to the camps by the parliamentary team and support the work of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee which considered the bill.

As a result of the numerous engagements and persistence, the bipartisan parliamentary Committee, at its meeting in Koforidua in May 2023, adopted the bill.

The bill was then laid in Parliament and finally passed unanimously on July 27, 2023!

Lesson

A key lesson in all of this is that outrage and emotions by themselves dont bring about change.

These must be backed by sustained effort and commitment to the cause.

Another lesson is that the law is an eloquent testament to what Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) can do in partnership with government institutions in the governance of our country.

The Eighth Parliament and its Speaker, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, must be commended for this landmark legislation.

Three years

It took three arduous years, from July 2020, when Akua Denteh was lynched, to July 2023, when the bill was passed by Parliament.

We had to, first of all, work on changing the narrative that the alleged witch camps served as safe havens.

A former Minister for Gender had even talked about upgrading the facilities to improve the living conditions in the camps.

This, we felt, was going to feed into witchcraft accusations and perpetuate the existence of the camps.

In our view, the camps are crime scenes because it is at the camps that Trial by Ordeal, which is proscribed by our laws, is carried out as a form of witch-hunting.

Upgrading such places will amount to endorsing an illegal activity.

We also argued that upgrading the facilities would make witch-hunting more lucrative and add to the exploitation of the victims by the camp owners.

Others argued that we did not need a law on witchcraft accusations because there were enough laws in the books.

Consultation with Nayiri

The argument was further made that a law would not stop the practice, but would only drive it underground.

Our response has been that accusations are the root cause of all the dangers associated with witchcraft belief.

The camps would not exist without accusations.

The brutal attacks and lynchings would not happen without accusations.

Witchcraft accusation is a life sentence for the accused who live with the stigma as outcasts for the rest of their lives.

Witchcraft accusation is, in fact, a generational sentence, as it is passed from mothers to daughters.

Our response to the argument that a law will not stop the practice is that laws are not meant to stop crime but to punish crime.

We have laws in the books against murder, but murder continues!

A law against accusations will gradually stem the flow into the camps.

Law: Atonement for national sin

The law has a very solid constitutional basis.

Article 26(2) of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that All customary practices which dehumanise or are injurious to the physical and mental well-being of a person are prohibited.

37(2b) requires the state to enact laws for the protection and promotion of all other basic human rights and freedoms, including the rights of the disabled, the aged, children and other vulnerable groups.

Despite these clear constitutional injunctions, successive governments have turned a blind eye towards the plight of countless vulnerable, old, and defenceless women for decades.

Consultation with the Gnani Camp Tindana

This is an unpardonable national sin!

With the passing of the bill, Ghana has finally atoned for its decade-old sins of omission.

The Veteran Lawyer Ibrahim Mahama, who has campaigned for years against witchcraft accusations in the Dagomba area, said something profound to me when I called to break the news of the passage of the bill to him.

Prof., this law will do two things, he said.

First, it will protect the lives and livelihoods of many innocent, vulnerable and defenceless women in the coming years.

Second, it will prevent even many more people from going to hell! he said.

He explained that those who have, over the years, brought untold misery and death to innocent people on account of witchcraft accusations will all go to hell.

And if the law stops them from committing such acts, it will save many from hellfire!

Religious leaders, who may not be happy with the passage of the law, should reflect carefully on Lawyer Mahamas words.

Britain passed laws against witchcraft accusations as far back as 1735.

Ghana is nearly 300 years behind!

But as the saying goes, better late than never.

Hence, while we are celebrating the passage of this law, and rightly so, we should all commit to making sure this deadly superstition is eradicated from Ghanaian society.

And for the President to assent to the bill to make a law for the human dumpsters in the Northern and Northeast regions that we call camps to be cleared from the conscience of the nation.

The writer is Executive Director,

The Sanneh Institute,

Legon-Accra.
Gabon elections: How the Bongo familys 56-year rule has hurt the country and divided the opposition

The Conversation International News Aug - 30 - 2023 , 03:44

A military intervention appears set to end the Bongo familys 56 years hold to power in Gabon. A group of senior military officers announced that they had seized power shortly after President Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared winner of the countrys recently held presidential poll.

The coup leaders claimed the 26 August general election was not credible. They announced a cancellation of the election result, closure of all borders and dissolution of all state institutions including the legislative arm of government.

Ali Bongo was said to have won 64.27% of votes cast in the election that the opposition described as a sham. According to the electoral umpire, Bongos main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, came second with 30.77%.

Ali Bongo, (son of former president Omar Bongo who ruled the country from 1967 to 2009) contested the election on the platform of the ruling Parti Democratique Gabonais (PDG), founded by his father. The party has monopolised power in the oil-rich central African country for more than half a century.

The Bongo family has held onto power for 56 years. It has done so through single-party government, corruption in the mining and oil sectors, and political kinship. According to some estimates Ali Bongo personally controls US$1 billion in assets, much of that secreted overseas, making him the richest man in Gabon.

In addition, the constitution has been changed several times in the past decades to ensure the Bongos continued rule.

First, term limits were removed from the constitution in 2003, ensuring that Bongo could serve as president for life.

Second, traditional two-round ballots were changed into single-round ballots, also in 2003. This was to ensure that Bongos opponents could not rally around a single challenger in a run-off.

Third, instead of requiring that the winner obtain a majority, all that is needed for Bongo to be re-elected is a plurality. This means a majority could be less than 50%, as long as the winner has the most votes. Had he been required to win a majority of votes, Ali Bongo, with 49.8% in the 2016 election, would not be president today.

Fourth, in April 2023, the presidential term was reduced from seven to five years, ensuring the presidential elections would occur at the same time as legislative and local elections.

In the past, after presidential elections, opposition parties would organise against Bongos ruling party to capture seats in the legislative and local elections. The change makes it much more likely that all the institutions of government power will be taken by Bongo and his party in one single election.

Bongos party increased its seats in the national assembly, holding 63 out of 120 seats in 1990 and most recently 98 out of 143 in 2018. The ruling party has also increased its seats in the senate from 52 out of 92 in 1997, to 46 out of 67 in 2021.

The continuous rule by the Bongos has not been good for a country of just 2.3 million people. Gabon is a resource-rich country and was once heralded as the Kuwait of Africa. Because of its small population and large oil reserves, per capita income is at least US$13,949.16. In neighbouring Cameroon, per capita income is only US$3,733

But Gabons average is belied by a population where a third of the citizens live below the poverty line and unemployment stands at about 37% among young people.

Dynastic republic

Gabon is not a monarchy but a dynastic republic.

In dynastic republics, presidents have concentrated power in their hands and established systems of personal rule. They transmit state power through nepotism to their family and kin. This includes sons and daughters, wives and ex-wives, brothers and sisters, half-siblings and step-siblings, cousins, uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews, in-laws, illegitimate children and so on.

Under this system, the classical ideal of a legal-rational state  where position and rank are distributed based on merit in the name of the rational (efficient and effective) functioning of government - is corrupted.

In all dynastic republics around the world  including Togo, Equatorial Guinea, Syria, Azerbaijan, North Korea, Turkmenistan and most recently Cambodia - an institutionalisation of traditional family power through the modern vehicle of a single ruling party has been critical.

In Gabon, this is the Parti Democratique Gabonais. The party holds the presidential palace and has a majority in the national assembly (98/143 seats) and in the senate (46/67 seats). It also controls the courts, and the regional and municipal governments.

It is critical to understand that no man rules alone. Only with a large party apparatus can a man and his family rule a republic with millions of people.

But why has the rule by one man and his family been tolerated?

The answer is the political elite need him to keep their own positions.

The economist Gordon Tullock hypothesised back in 1987 that dynastic succession appeals to non-familial elites who are wary of a leadership struggle. In 2007, professor of government Jason Brownlee tested this theory by looking at 258 non-monarchical autocrats. He found that

in the absence of prior experience selecting a ruler through a party, regime elites accepted filial heirs apparent when the incumbent had arisen from a party and his successor predominantly emerged from that organisation.

Political scientists Bruno Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith argue that

essential supporters have a much greater chance of retaining their privileged position when power passes within a family from father to son, from king to prince, than when power passes to an outsider.

Omar Bongo founded the PDG in 1967 as a de jure one-party system. After constitutional reforms in 1990, he permitted the existence of opposition parties. But because he never held free or fair elections, the democratic opposition has never managed to wrest power from either the Bongos or their ruling party.

In the past, elections in Gabon were followed by protests, which were followed by security force crackdowns and ultimately silence. But the 2023 election may turn out to be different as it appears to have been followed by a military coup.

This article was updated on 30 August to reflect the coup in Gabon.

Douglas Yates, Professor of Political Science , American Graduate School in Paris (AGS)

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Meet Brice Oligui Nguema, the alleged coup leader in Gabon

aljazeera.com International News Aug - 30 - 2023 , 15:02

Minutes after Gabons electoral commission announced on Wednesday that President Ali Bongo Ondimba had won a third term in office, senior military officers announced a coup and annulled the election results.

According to local media reports, Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema, the commander-in-chief of the Gabonese Republican Guard  the countrys most powerful security unit  is the ringleader of the attempted coup.

Heres what we know about him so far.

A powerful figure

Nguema is one of the most influential and enigmatic figures in the country today. The son of a military officer, he trained at the Royal Military Academy of Meknes, in Morocco.

His military skills were noticed by members of Gabons former President Omar Bongos Republican Guard. Nguema then served as Bongos aides-de-camp or military assistant to a commander in the guard, until the former Gabonese leaders death in 2009.

When Omar Bongos son Ali Bongo rose to power in October 2009, Nguema was sent to Morocco and Senegal for diplomatic missions, but returned to Gabon in October 2018. In 2019, he took over as the head of the guard.

The Gabonese Republican Guard, whose military officers are recognisable by their green berets, is the presidential guard. As its head, Nguema ensured they not only protected the countrys president, but also tried to fortify Gabons internal security systems with more precision shooters and modern military equipment. He also introduced a security reform in the Republican Guard by setting up the Special Intervention Section (SIS), which is directly headed by Ali Bongo.

According to local media reports, Nguema also composed a song that included the line: I would defend my president with honour and loyalty.

A businessman

Besides military and diplomatic duties, Nguema was also entrepreneurial by nature and has been known in Gabonese circles for his millionaire status.

According to a 2020 investigation by The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on the Bongo familys assets in the United States, Nguema was instrumental in expanding the familys businesses overseas.

He bought three properties in middle- and working-class neighbourhoods in the Maryland suburbs of Hyattsville and Silver Spring, just outside the capital, in 2015 and 2018. The homes were purchased with a total of over $1 million in cash, the OCCRP report said.

The report also said Nguema was a cousin to the Bongos.

When reporters questioned Nguema about these properties, he said it was a private affair.

I think whether in France or in the United States, a private life is a private life that [should be] respected.

Nguema for President?

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Dusseldorf, Germany, political analyst Adama Gaye says the continuing coup in Gabon did not come as a surprise.

The Bongo era is over. Ali Bongo was no longer in the hearts of the population in Gabon  he was trying to create the condition for him to clamp down on the opposition and to fabricate another victory for himself in another rigged election. But this time around, the military realised that this was too far-fetched and they had to act, and that is what they did, Gaye added.

In an interview with French daily Le Monde on Wednesday, Nguema echoed those thoughts.

Beyond this discontent, there is the illness of the Head of State [Ali Bongo suffered a stroke in October 2018 which left him weakened]. Everyone talks about it, but no one takes responsibility. He did not have the right to serve a third term, the Constitution was violated, the method of election itself was not good. So the army decided to turn the page, to take its responsibilities, Nguema said.

He added that Ali Bongo can retire and continue to enjoy his rights like every other Gabonese citizen, adding that the generals would meet to decide on a successor to Bongo at 14:00 GMT on Wednesday.

And while Bongo is currently under house arrest after winning the cancelled election with 64.27 percent of the vote, Gabons soldiers have apparently begun celebrating Nguema.

Unverified videos and images on social media showed a group of soldiers dancing with Nguema and calling him Gabons next strongman.

Source: aljazeera.com
Graphic TBSC: Academic City Univ College qualifies for semi-finals

Getrude Ankah Nyavi Education Aug - 30 - 2023 , 18:24

Academic City University College (ACUC) on Wednesday kicked out Christ Apostolic University of College in the 2023 edition (5.0) of the Tertiary Business Sense Challenge (TBSC).

After the final round of the contest, Academic City had 31 points as against Christ Apostolic University Colleges 22.5 points.

Rounds

Academic City University College led the contest in the first round with 11 points while Christ Apostolic had eight points.

The two added four points each in the second round.

In the third round, Academic City University had five points with Christ Apostolic scoring 4.5 points.

Academic City stretched the lead in round four with 8 points and Christ Apostolic scored 2 points.

Christ Apostolic however won the fifth round with four points as Zac ademic City scored zero.

In the final round, Academic City scored three points; and Christ Apostolic University of College had zero, a development which won the day for Academic City University College.

TBSC

The 2023 edition (5.0) of the Tertiary Business Sense Challenge (TBSC) is being organised by Graphic Communications Group Limited.

It seeks to keep students abreast of developments within the business sector, and the economy as a whole, to enable students to make informed decisions in the sector.

The event, which has grown to become one of the most sought-after competitions among tertiary business schools in the country, is also meant to engender healthy competition between the various tertiary business schools across the country.

Sponsors

The TBSC version 5.0 is being sponsored by MTN Ghana, CompuGhana, Accra Brewery Limited, PwC, Goil Ghana, Cal Bank, McVities, and Glico Life, among others.

The event, with technical support from the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG), Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIMA), Graphic Business, Graphic Online, TV3, Asaase Radio, and KTU Radio, was on the theme: "Preparation Ahead of Opportunity; Business as a way of Life".
Stanbic Bank supports HOPSA 1999 Year groups project

Daily Graphic Education Aug - 30 - 2023 , 08:18

Stanbic Bank has donated GH15,000 in support of the 1999 graduating class of Holy Child High Schools (HOPSA 99) solar legacy project.

The group recently launched their upcoming silver jubilee celebrations and speech and prize-giving day with a fundraising event for a solar legacy project.

Energy solution

Presenting the cheque to the HOPSA 99 executives, the Head, Brand and Marketing at Stanbic Bank, Mawuko Afadzinu, said the donation formed part of the banks commitment towards decarbonisation and energy transition.

He added that the bank was focused on responding to the ever-growing need for reliable access to renewable and sustainable energy solutions in the country and also making investments to complement the efforts of responsible partners that support these ambitions.

Solar is a good pick because it resonates with climate change, which is one of the areas we are interested in.

We are happy for this new chapter of progress meant for the benefit of our students studying at Holy Child, the economy and the environment.

Harnessing Ghanas abundant sun and wind resources could hold the key to the future development of this countrys energy sector.

We are glad you gave us the opportunity to be part of this legacy project, he said.

Gratitude

The president for HOPSA 99-year group, Sheila Enyonam Akyea, received the donation on behalf of the group and thanked Stanbic Bank for taking a special interest in their solar project.

We cannot thank Stanbic enough for the support thus far.

We know this is a very tough time for Ghanaian banks, but they still found a way to put us on their discretionary spend list.

This gesture will go a long way to help migrate the entire Holy Child School community onto solar power and make the school a net producer of energy for the national grid.

HOPSA 99 is extremely grateful to Stanbic Bank.

I encourage other corporate organisations to emulate your steps and support this worthy cause, she said.

The HOPSA 99 Solar Legacy Project, which is to provide a sustainable energy to the school was selected by the year group as a way of giving back to the school 25years after completion, as they take their turn to host the schools upcoming 78th Speech and Prize-giving Day in March 2024.

The project is to, among other things, address the problem of unreliable power supply in the nine houses of the school, to reduce the schools electricity bill by 50 per cent, to promote clean, reliable and sustainable energy, contribute significantly to the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goal Seven (SDG 7) and enlighten the students on the installation and operation of solar PV systems.

Estimated to cost about GH1.3 million (without taxes), the project is intended to provide a total of 63KW of power which is about 70 per cent of the schools total energy needs.
Support boys to stay in school  GNAT

Emmanuel Bonney Education Aug - 30 - 2023 , 07:19

The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Musah, has called for sustained efforts by all Ghanaians to encourage and support more boys to stay in school to enable them to develop their full potentials for life and national development.

For instance, he said initiatives to motivate boys to go to school and remain throughout their study must be sustained and that all stakeholders including organisations, parent-teacher associations, philanthropists and old students needed to be actively involved in an all-hands-on-deck approach.

He said the countrys economic development indicator required a balance of both males and females.

Danger

So the supply of labour must always be there for you to enable you to turn your capital around, turn your land around and also engage in entrepreneurship.

And so, if we are having a situation where you have the female number increasing against the males, then we are in for trouble.

Where are the males going to? Where are they?

Are they dropping out of school and if they are dropping out of school, where are they now?

It means they would certainly go into child labour, they would go into other social vices which the nation might not be able to contain.

We need these people in the various sectors of the economy and not in prisons, he stressed.

Mr Musah alluded to the adage that, the devil finds work for idle hands and so, the issue was something that should not be taken lightly and that there was the need to find out where the problem was.

The GNAT General Secretary was reacting to a Daily Graphic report which revealed that females had outnumbered the number of boys that were writing this year's West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates and Basic Education Certificate Examination, also for school candidates.

So in policy formulation and being mindful of the requirement of ensuring that the country lives a healthy life in every aspect of economic development, you need both males and females, he said.

Statistics

Per current statistics from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), girls have outstripped boys in the two examinations.

For instance, girls last year were more than boys in the 2022 WASSCE for School Candidates (SC).

Out of the total number of 422,883 candidates, 203,753 were males while 219,130, females.

This year too, out of the 447,204 candidates writing the WASSCE-SC, 211,834 are males and 235,370 are females.

For the BECE this year, there were 68 more girls than boys sitting for the examination.

With a total number 600,714 for the school candidates, 300,323 were males and 300,391, females.

The BECE ended two weeks ago on August 11 while the 2023 WASSCE-SC, the Ghana Only Version, is still ongoing.

It is expected to end on September 26, 2023.

In trying to address the situation and encourage more boys to stay in school, Mr Musah said the necessary resources including the payment of the Capitation Grant must be done at the commencement of the school year so as to create an enabling environment for all learners.

Currently, the basic schools are not attractive, particularly the public basic schools.

Look, if you go to the kindergarten (KG) today, what is there to attract you; the teaching and learning materials, the resources that must be provided for the children to learn are not there.

When the children go to school and the environment there is not attractive, they will not come again because whatever you are teaching should be relevant to the child.

When the school is attractive, the child will come.

When the child wears the uniform, he must have a reason as to why he should not go fishing but rather go to school, he said.

Again, Mr Musah said junior high school (JHS) students must be fed under the Ghana School Feeding Programme to help keep them in school.

Mr Musah said technically speaking the feeding at SHS should have been at the JHS level to fulfil the promise in Article 25 of the Constitution.

He said it was in the interest of the nation to ensure that each and every one was developed well and no one left behind, adding that education was about national development.
ActionAid Ghana rescues 2 trafficked children

Daily Graphic Aug - 30 - 2023 , 06:39

ActionAid Ghana (AAG), a non-governmental organisation, has rescued two children trafficked into the country for exploitative work.

They were 14-year-old Togolese girl rescued about two months ago at a farming community in the Jaman South Municipality, and a Burkinabe boy rescued in the Banda District in the Bono Region within the same period.

Nana Afram Denkyira, the Bono East/Ahafo Regional Programmes Manager, ActionAid Ghana, said through the support of the Department of Social Welfare and other relevant institutions, the minors had been sent back to their respective countries.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of a media engagement held at Abesim near Sunyani last Wednesday, Nana Denkyira expressed regret that child trafficking was still common in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions and some parts of the country.

The NGO organised the engagement to sensitise the media and collect their inputs on a project being implemented in the Bono Region, titled: "Combating Modern Slavery".

It is a three-year multi-country project in the Tain and Jaman North districts and the Jaman South Municipality of the Bono Region, being implemented by the AAG. Ethiopia is also implementing a similar project.

Among other objectives, it seeks to identify, prevent and strengthen policies on anti-slavery, child trafficking, labour and exploitation.

"Slavery is still going on in parts of the country.

The ancient disgusting practice has taken a modern trend, mostly common in cocoa and cashew growing communities, Nana Denkyira said, and called on all to help bring the situation under control.

"In fact, we need a collective, concerted and decisive approach to tackling the growing trend of this modern slavery in a more proactive manner," he stated.

Nana Denkyira expressed regret that innocent and unsuspecting children recruited or trafficked for farm work went through the worst forms of human rights abuses, hence the need for everybody to support to curb the unacceptable practice in the country.

He acknowledged the immeasurable contributions of the media towards the implementation of the project, and expressed the hope that they would continue to play their advocacy roles to ensure its successful closure in December 2023.  GNA
AME Zion Educational Unit holds retreat to improve teaching, learning

Emmanuel Bonney Aug - 30 - 2023 , 09:15

The AME Zion Education Unit, Ghana, has held a one-day Special Annual Retreat for Stakeholders of senior high schools (SHSs) to fashion a strategy to improve upon teaching and learning in the various institutions.

The event, which was the third in the series, was initiated by the Presiding Prelate of the Western West Africa Episcopal District of the AME Zion Church, Rt.Rev. Dr Hilliard Dela Dogbe.

The retreat was attended by heads of second cycle schools, regional managers, school board chairpersons, leaderships of old students associations and parent associations.

It was on the theme: Raising the Standard of Education in Mission Senior High Schools: The Perspective of the Ghana Education Service.

Speaking at the event, Rt. Rev. Dr Dogbe bemoaned the spate of moral degeneration and acts indiscipline in some educational institutions in the country.

He, therefore, called for collaboration from all stakeholders to effectively address the challenge without further delay so that the situation did not get out of hands.

Rt. Rev. Dr Dogbe, who is also the Chairman of the Christian Council, noted that the Ghana Education Service (GES) alone could not deal with the problem and thus needed the support of all stakeholders; parents, teachers, guardians and school authorities.

Resources

A Deputy Director General of the GES, Dr Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, among other things, charged school heads to consider the resources and the facilities that they had in the various institutions in the discharge of their duties.

That, he said, was to inform the decisions that they would take in order to ensure the smooth running of the institutions.

He also said school heads must endeavour to value the time available to them in their institutions and manage its use effectively "within the confines and context of our schools".

He said they should also consider the resources and the facilities that they had in the various institutions so that they could manage them effectively.

"It is important that we also consider the community that makes up our educational institution," he said.

The General Manager of AME Zion Education Unit, Rev. Gabriel Senanu, said the purpose of the programme was to bring stakeholders of second cycle institutions together for consultation, cooperation and collaboration.

Effective education delivery, he said, required stakeholders collaborating and working together for the betterment of their institutions.

Another reason for the programme, he said, was to equip the stakeholders with the necessary knowledge and skills in order to facilitate quality education delivery.

We want to promote academic and moral excellence in our institutions.

As you know we now have some kind of moral decadence in the system and so we bring the stakeholders together so that we can brainstorm with a view to finding solution to the problems, he said.
Drug theft: 3 Bolgatanga Hospital staff denied bail

Gilbert Mawuli Agbey Aug - 30 - 2023 , 07:11

Three workers of the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital, who are standing trial for allegedly stealing medicines belonging to the hospital, were denied bail.

The accused persons are Fasilat Raheem, 48, a storekeeper, Bridget Banoeyelle, 33, an assistant dispensary officer and Raymond Asoke, 36, a driver.

They appeared before the Bolgatanga Circuit Court last Monday and were subsequently remanded into police custody.

Plea for bail

Counsel for first and second accused persons,Bagomluri Lwanga Sanyeh, prayed the court to admit the accused persons to bail since the charges preferred against them were bailable offences as they were not first-degree felonies where they should be refused bail.

For his part, the counsel for the third accused, Asoke, Richard Adongo, also associated with the pleas of the counsel for the first two accused persons by requesting for bail for his clients.

He noted that the accused person also earlier pleaded not guilty and that he had sureties to stand in for him if he was granted bail.

Opposition to bail

However, the prosecution led by Inspector Prosper Adabeen, opposed the bail since investigations was still ongoing and added that if they were granted bail, they would interfere with ongoing investigations.

The court, presided over by Sumaila Mbache Ahamudu, sided with the prosecution and refused to grant them bail and accordingly remanded them in police custody to reappear in court on September 6, 2023.

The trial judge, in his ruling, said upon hearing counsels of the accused persons and also considering the public interest, the application for bail is denied and that the prosecution is given two weeks to bring finality to their investigations into the case.

Facts

On August 4, 2023 around 11:00 a.m., the Bolgatanga Divisional Police Command picked intelligence that some staff of the hospital had been stealing boxes of medicines from the hospitals storeroom.

Around 8:30p.m. on that fateful day, the divisional police patrol team, led by detective Sergeant Eric Negle, swiftly monitored and arrested Asoke loading boxes of drugs from Banoeyelles official bungalow at Baukere into a waiting Toyota Vitz car with registration number GE 1532-21 owned by Fasilat.

Twelve boxes were founded loaded in the car and a further search conducted in the bungalow led to the discovery of 22 additional boxes containing various kinds of drugs.

Interrogation

Upon interrogation, Asoke mentioned Fasilat as the one who sent him and she was subsequently arrested at her official residence on the premises of the regional hospital.

Fasilat, in her caution statement, admitted the offence and stated that it was a deal between her and Banoeyelle.

At about 6:30 a.m. on August 5, 2023, Banoeyelle was arrested and she stated upon interrogation that she was informed by Fasilat that the said drugs were surplus and based upon that, she offered her bungalow for the medicines to be kept for them to sell later.

It was disclosed during interrogation that about three weeks ago, Fasilat informed Banoeyelle that she wanted to pick 34 boxes of the medicines from the regional hospital storeroom and needed a place to keep same for them to sell and share the proceeds.

Banoeyelle agreed and offered her official bungalow.

Based upon that, they selected 28 boxes containing various medicines from the storeroom and Asoke conveyed them with the car.

On August 4, 2023, as Asoke was offloading the medicines from Banoeyelles bungalow to be distributed to their buyers, he was arrested, leading to the arrest of the two others.
Graphic, CalBank confer on mutual interests

Emelia Ennin Abbey Aug - 30 - 2023 , 12:00

Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) and the management of CalBank PLC, have committed themselves to work together for their mutual benefit.

The two institutions are to explore possible areas of partnership that would build their brands and contribute towards the economic development of the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of CalBank PLC, Philip Owiredu, and the Managing Director of the GCGL, Ato Afful, expressed their commitment when the latter paid a courtesy call on the management of the bank in Accra yesterday to deepen their relationship.

We are a 73-year-old company that understands the business environment, as well as prick the national conscience and conversations.

We are certain when we direct the conversations in the right perspectives, businesses benefit, Mr Afful said.

He commended CalBank for its success story, saying the brand had grown over the years as an indigenous company.

Mr Afful said putting up its own head office was a testament to the strong brand equity of the bank which example he said was worth emulating.

The MD said the company was investing in the digital space by archiving all its newspapers from 1950 to date.

Graphic is the only institution that has chronicled the history of the country, and that treasure trove of information is now being preserved in its digital archive that would also inure to the benefit of all segments of society, including corporate institutions, he said.

Mr Afful added that the digitalisation of the newspaper publications would ensure we do not lose records.

It is a national project for future generations.

The Marketing Director at GCGL, Franklin Sowa, said the banking and media industries were both undergoing massive evolution.

GCGL, he said, was also investing in its online platform and other activities such as a weekly Twitter Business Dialogue where pertinent national and economic issues were discussed by experts.

Mr Sowa further said that the company had a subsidiary that provided courier services which could be used for delivery of all types of items, and a printing company known as G-PAK which did all forms of printing.

For his part, Mr Owiredu expressed appreciation for the visit and described the Daily Graphic newspaper as the biggest media platform in terms of circulation in the country that cannot be ignored by any business entity, adding that any business that wants to build its brand needs the Daily Graphic to do so.

He also described the strategic direction of GCGL, particularly the establishment of its digital archive as a laudable project and pledged the support of the bank towards the initiative.

Mr Owiredu described the performance of the bank last year as challenging, especially with regard to the effect of the domestic debt exchange on financial institutions.

He, however, said that so far business had started normalising and it is expected that by next year it will be much better.

Mr Owiredu said that GCGL would remain a key partner of the bank in its growth, adding that we will continue to work with you.

The Head of Marketing of the bank, Kofi S. Siabi, said the two companies would collaborate on the Graphic digital platform and other activities for their mutual benefit.
Invest in biotechnology research - GAEC to government

Juliet Akyaa Safo Aug - 30 - 2023 , 07:29

The Biotechnology and Nuclear Agricultural Research Institute (BNARI) of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) has called on the government to invest in biotechnology research institutions.

It explained that the institute had the human resource capacity to harness technologies to increase food production and reduce post-harvest losses.

Currently, the institute said it was leveraging technologies such as the black soldier fly which could convert organic waste into protein.

The protein, it said, could replace about 50 per cent of protein needed in animal feed in the country, therefore, its usefulness for poultry and livestock systems.

The institute is also screening for sweet potato virus disease and cultivar resistance breeding using conventional and molecular approaches.

BNARI

A Former Director of BNARI, Professor Kenneth Danso, who made this known during a public lecture said BNARI was one of the top research institutions promoting biotechnology solutions to agriculture and related fields in the country.

He said the BNARI had over the years used technology to help in the countrys agriculture development such as producing planting materials free from diseases.

The public lecture held in Accra, last Thursday was part of activities to mark the 30th anniversary of the institute.

The lecture was on the theme: Blazing the Biotechnology Trail in Ghana: The BNARI Story.

Biotechnology

Delivering a lecture on the theme, Prof. Danso, who is also the Associate Professor of the School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS), highlighted the chronicles of the institute as well as their works in the area of biotechnology.

He said they had supplied MD2 pineapple materials, an exotic kind, to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for onward dissemination to farmers in need of the MD2 pineapple planting materials.

This was when the international market had shifted from smooth canyene varieties to MD2 pineapples in 2003.

The introduction of the MD2 pineapples planting materials into Ghana came to BNARI and the institute multiplied it for MoFA.

We also multiplied planting materials for farmers in the Ashanti Region through MoFA, supplying over 19,000 planting materials for plantain.

Private individual farmers in other regions also came for planting materials for plantain, banana, and they were happy since they got a better yield than the conventional ones, he said.

He said the institute had the capacity to make a greater impact on the countrys agriculture systems.

We have the lab and scientists, they are paid every month but money to do the research work itself is not given, sometimes what comes into research is very minimal.

We need money to initiate new projects to address challenges that are facing farmers, he stated.

Prof. Danso said tissue culture had no adverse effect but rather cleaned planting materials from diseases and pathogens provided it was planted in a very good soil.

Food production

The Director of the institute, Michael Osae, said COVID-19 pandemic had exposed the country's fragile food system and said it was crucial to find ways to increase food production.

He expressed the hope that the impact of biotechnology on food production would be positive in the next decade.

The Head of Department of Nuclear Agriculture and Radiation Processing, SNAS, Dr Samuel Amiteye, said the country must apply scientific methods related to biotechnology to transform agriculture and to rapidly develop as a country.
Karpowership engages media in Western Region

Daily Graphic Aug - 30 - 2023 , 09:05

The management of Karpowership Ghana has held an engagement with journalists in Takoradi to educate them on the companys operations, as well as to solidify relations with the media.

The engagement, held in two different events -- a sit-down conversation and a guided tour of the Karadeniz Powership Osman Khan, which is moored at the Western Naval Command in Sekondi-Takoradi -- are in line with Karpowerships principle of having a transparent, trustworthy and sustainable relationship with its stakeholders.

Interactions

In the sit-down conversation, the company shared key information about its operations in Ghana, environmental compliance, contributions to both the micro and macro-economies, and how its cutting-edge technology  the Powership  works.

The media was also educated on the operations of Karpowership Ghana on topics ranging from its green environmental focus; why the switch from heavy fuel oil to natural gas; the companys investments into the economy, which has created both direct and indirect jobs, as well as engaging in sustainable corporate social activities that benefit the host country and community.

After the interaction, members of the media were hosted on a guided tour to allow them to experience first-hand the Powership and to better understand and appreciate how the technology operates.

Service

The Communications Manager of the company, Sandra Amarquaye, gave an assurance of Karpowerships commitment to building and sustaining a good relationship with the media while powering Ghana and touching lives.

The Plant Manager of the company, Semih Sahim, reiterated the Powerships efficient technology that could supply to the grid, any megawatts required at all times.

The Project Manager, Michelle Hazel, stated that the relocation of the Powership from Tema to Takoradi to use Ghanas natural gas has saved the country $18 million a month from 2019 till date.

She said Karpowership Ghana, since its inception in 2014 and subsequent actual upstream in 2015, had generated power that fed Ghanas power mix.

It has bankrolled the construction of an $8 million transmission line, invested more than $3 million into site preparation while obtaining vendors locally, and has empowered the lives of people in their host communities beyond powering industries, offices and homes.

Journalists

The Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) President for the Western Region, Desmond Cudjoe, a participant, thanked Karpowership for the opportunity, shared his learning experiences on how the Powership works, meaning of the take or pay clause, and requested more of such opportunities to meet the media.

The Western Regional Correspondent of the Daily Graphic, Dotsey Aklorbortu, commended Karpowership for the opportunity and called for more such engagements as it would enhance the knowledge of journalists in their work.
Make arable land available to farmers for PFJ 2 - Agric Minister appeals to traditional authorities

Mohammed Fugu Aug - 30 - 2023 , 12:00

Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr Bryan Acheampong, has appealed to traditional authorities to make parcels of land available to interested farmers to ensure the successful Planting for Food and Jobs Phase Two II (PFJ 2.0) programme.

The success of the PFJ 2.0, he said, would hinge largely on access to tracts of arable lands as it was one of the main challenges facing agriculture production.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture intends to tackle the problem of access to tracts of agricultural land through the establishment of agricultural zones to drive sustainable and commercially oriented agriculture with emphasis on climate-smart agriculture.

The success of PFJ 2.0 will hinge largely on the availability of land, therefore our traditional authorities have an important role to play in the implementation of the PFJ 2.0 programme, he noted.

Dr Acheampong, who made the appeal at the launch of the PFJ 2 programme in Tamale last Monday, indicated that the initiative formed part of the governments five-year strategic plan to attain self-sufficiency in grains, vegetables, tubers and poultry production in the country.

The initiative seeks to consolidate the gains of the first phase which started in 2017.

PFJ 2.0, also known as the Input Credit System, will provide affordable and timely credit specially designed to meet the needs of farmers.

The initiative is aimed at transforming and modernising the agricultural value chain through the active participation of the private sector, improving service delivery to maximise impact and creating decent jobs for the teeming youth.

The input credit system replaces the input subsidy programme under the first phase of PFJ.

Innovative approach

Modelled on the successful implementation of the first phase of the PFJ, the governments agricultural flagship programme initiated in 2017, the new phase is targeting about 1.2 million farmers nationwide for the cultivation of grains, tubers, vegetables and other crops.

The five-year programme is expected to create more than 420,000 direct and indirect jobs along the value chain.

Participants in the launch

The government of Brazil is supporting the programme with $62 million, while the government of Czech Republic has voted 10 million for the intervention over the five-year period.

Dr Acheampong, who gave the overview of the programme, explained that PFJ 2.0 had been designed as a bold, innovative and comprehensive approach to tackle food insecurity head-on.

The underpinning model which was the Input Credit System, he said, would solve a number of critical challenges, namely access to credit, quality of agro inputs, unstructured markets of agricultural produce and low mechanisation.

Indeed, when we roll out the programme in full, one will no longer need to mobilise upfront financing for land development and preparation as well as seeds and fertilisers which together constitute about 80 per cent of production cost.

Im bold to predict that with time, the new slogan for agriculture would be: PFJ 2.0, nea wohia ara ne asaase  to wit all you need is access to land and all other things shall be added, Dr Acheampong said.

High imports

Having committed over GH1.2 billion for irrigation infrastructure in northern Ghana alone, the Minister of Food and Agriculture said there was no justification for the current state of high imports of vegetables from the sub-region in spite of the huge potential for all-year round production.

The minister cited a recent meeting with onion importers plying the Niger route, which revealed that an average of $2 million was spent weekly to import onions.

I deem this to be an embarrassment and needless drain on our scarce foreign exchange.

It was, however, refreshing to me when they disclosed their willingness to convert their import trade to local production and trading, Dr Acheampong stated.

For his part, the Northern Regional Minister, Shani Alhassan Shani, thanked the government for initiating the programme, saying it will go a long way to consolidate gains in the sector and create more jobs for the unemployed youth.
Management, alumni of UPSA honour founder

Joshua Bediako Koomson Aug - 30 - 2023 , 12:43

The management and alumni of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), have celebrated the legacy of the founder of the institution, Nana Opoku-Ampomah I, on his 95th birthday at his residence in Accra.

They honoured him for his vision and immense contribution to the establishment of the institution in 1965.

Some of them recalled encounters they had with Nana Opoku-Ampomah, who is also the Paramount Chief of Amoafo Bekwai in the Ashanti Region, during their school days and how the founder had contributed to their success.

Nana Opoku-Ampomah, who was clad in a beautiful cloth and surrounded by some family members who included his wife and children, was full of smiles as he listened to the narratives from his former students.

They prayed for him and asked God to continue to protect and guide him in all his endeavours.

The alumni presented him with gifts which comprised of food items, cartons of assorted drinks and a pencil-sketched portrait of himself.

The event was attended by some year groups of the university as well as old students, including the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare.

The Ghana Police Band, led by gospel musician, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Kofi Sarpong, treated the guests to some melodious songs to suit the occasion.

Commendation

The Global Alumni President of the university, Francis Dadzie, commended Nana Opoku-Ampomah for opening the gateway for many citizens to achieve their aspirations.

Thank you for all that you have done for us, I am glad that I was able to make it to see your face again.

I have personally benefited from the school which propelled me to get to where I have gotten to today, he said.

Impact

The IGP also said that the founder had made a huge impact in the lives of an uncountable number of people through his vision in establishing the university.

We thank God for allowing you to live for such a long time to see how your brainchild has matured beyond your imagination.

Abraham was the father of many nations and you are the father of many professionals who are impacting this country at all levels.

So when the time comes and God calls you, you will be one of the people who will have a glorious welcome in a manner that angels and former students of your school will come together to celebrate you, Dr Dampare said.

He said the founder had been a great inspiration to him personally, and to many of his colleagues who were all thriving in their respective professions.

We know that in history, a lot of civilisations collapsed, but civilisations that are based on wisdom and godly principles endure and the UPSA story is a good example of that, the IGP further said.
National integrated maritime strategy launched

Donald Ato Dapatem Aug - 30 - 2023 , 08:58

A National Integrated Maritime Strategy aimed at charting viable courses of action to address the challenges of the industry has been launched.

The strategy is also to ensure that Ghana's maritime domain is globally considered safe and secure with a strong blue economy that not only generates substantial national income but also improves the living standards of the people.

It was launched yesterday by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during the opening of the third International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference 2023 held at Burma Camp in Accra.

Strategy

The six-point strategy includes strengthening the framework for maritime governance, the safety and security of Ghana's maritime domain, development of a thriving blue economy, protection of the marine and coastal environment, promotion of capacity-building, research, awareness and knowledge-sharing in the maritime domain and the development of a dynamic and diversified regional and international cooperation.

Conference

The conference and exhibition attracted global maritime industry players as well as Navy Chiefs from across the globe.

It was on the theme Consolidating the gains made in Gulf of Guinea, the role of stakeholders and technology in sustaining safe and secure maritime domain.

On display at the exhibition centre, which was also opened by President Akufo-Addo, were various sophisticated maritime and military hardware and equipment.

They included drones, arms and ammunitions.

Wrong reportage

President Akufo-Addo expressed worry about some entities who continued to paint a gloomy picture of events in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), although Ghana had not recorded any piracy at sea since 2022.

He said those agencies based their wrong reportage on the fact that some ship owners reported a few unverified petty theft at anchorages, situations which could not be described as piracy in the context of international maritime law definition.

As much as maritime stakeholder organisations contribute towards international shipping they should be mindful of the implications of inaccurate reportage on the nation's ability to participate in global trade, he added.

Technology

President Akufo- Addo said it was important to indicate that the illegal, unregulated and reported fishing, for instance, was linked to piracy, human trafficking, illicit drugs and weapons, and urged the maritime law enforcement agencies to consider using technology to break the vital link between the crimes.

Technology has become a vital tool in our quest to sustain and secure the maritime domain.

The critical challenge is that the perpetrators of maritime crimes use sophisticated forms of technology which require more Innovative counter advanced technology and give enforcers a comparative advantage, he added.

He urged the maritime security agencies and all stakeholders to take charge of this domain in order to deny access to terrorist groups drifting south west from the Sahel regions towards the Gulf of Guinea.

Global

The President further indicated that the recent global economic downturn had called for developing countries to engineer alternative and innovative solutions to propel their economies so that they would benefit from the $24 trillion estimated ocean wealth to mitigate their social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities.

He described the exhibition and conference as important platforms for maritime stakeholders, particularly naval chiefs, to discuss and strategise for an effective way to create more conducive ways to leverage effectively the blue economy for sustainable economic development using appropriate technologies.

He said the Gulf of Guinea was vital for Africa, as oil and other exports and imports with an estimated regional gross domestic product of some $550 billion dollars annually, entered or exited the region.

Equally important, President Akufo-Addo said the seas contribution to communication and technology was crucial as it held strategic underwater internet communication fiber cables, which demanded that stakeholders found innovative solutions to strengthen the gains made in creating a conducive environment for businesses to thrive.

Solutions

The Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Issah Adam Yakubu, in his opening remarks said the major outcomes expected from the conference were in line with the common understanding of the problem to develop a regional and international framework for dealing with piracy and other transnational maritime crime.

He expressed the hope that the industry players would present them with workable and affordable solutions that could be adopted regionally.
Niger coup: We are too poor to commit resources to war that we cannot win  Togbe Afede

GNA Aug - 30 - 2023 , 05:25

The Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV, has added his voice to calls on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) not to apply force in restoring constitutional rule to Niger.

He maintained that diplomatic approach should be adopted in tackling the military takeover in the North African country instead of the option of war being considered by the regional body.

Wars are not easily won; what is happening in Ukraine should be good lessons to us. Diplomacy should be the way. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind We are too poor to begin to commit resources to a war that we cannot win, he said.

Togbe Afede XIV, speaking at the launch of the 2023 Asogli Yam Festival in Accra, also urged traditional authorities to help resolve chieftaincy issues in Ghana.

He said the resolution of chieftaincy disputes in the country would require honesty on the part of traditional leaders, stressing that if all chiefs thread the path of strictest honesty, there will not be disputes.

Wherever there are disputes, somebody is not telling the truth so, I will encourage our chiefs to hold to the path of strictest honesty so, we can establish peace on the chieftaincy front and also fight the cause of peace across our country and our continent, he said.

The occasion, which also launched the 20th Anniversary of Togbe Afedes reign as Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, brought together traditional leaders from the Volta Region, The Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional Area in the Western Region, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, members of the diplomatic corps, the clergy, and other dignitaries.

Togbe Afede, in his address, stressed the importance of peace to the development of nations. He said the Asogli State believed in working together to strengthen peace hence his determination to work towards resolving outstanding chieftaincy issues in the country.

Peace and stability in Ghana have been magnets that have, and continue to attract investors to the country so, let us remember that between peace and anarchy, there is no choice, he stated.

The festival themed: 20 Years of Selfless and Inspiring Leadership has been scheduled to take place from September 2, 2023, to October 8, 2023, with series of activities in the Volta Regional Capital, Ho. Nana Kobina Nketsia, in an address, extolled the virtues and leadership qualities of Togbe Afede, indicating that the Agbogbomefias kingship had been impactful throughout the years, as he continued to champion development across sectors.

He praised Togbe Afede for exercising good judgement at all times, indicating that leaders should have the conscience to decipher good from wrong. You cannot lead with arrogance, you cannot lead if youre full of impunitySelflessness, humility, truthfulness are the mark of this very honourable man, he said, adding that Togbe Afedes leadership was celebrated throughout Africa.

Other traditional leaders and members of the Asogli Traditional Council praised Togbe Afede for sustaining the traditions and customs of the people over the years.

In attendance was renowned surgeon and poet, Prof. Lade Wosornu, who encouraged Togbe Afede to continue to promote peace and maintain integrity at all times.
Prioritise investment in TVET system for Africa - AU Commission to member states

Nana Konadu Agyeman Aug - 30 - 2023 , 07:46

The Commissioner of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (ESTI) of the African Union Commission, Professor Mohammed Beldocine, has charged African countries to prioritise investment in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in order to build a sustainable prosperous future for the people.

He said prioritising TVET would help to unleash the potential of African youth and empower them with the tools to drive innovation, build resilient economies and steer affairs of Africa towards global competitiveness.

He said it was incumbent on nations to invest in vital infrastructure, leverage technology, artificial intelligence and cultivate partnerships that could propel TVET to the forefront of the African agenda.

To achieve this, we must ensure that TVET is not used as a secondary choice but embraced as a first-class option free from the chuckles of stereotypes and misconception, Prof. Beldocine said.

ATUPA conference

At the opening of the Association of Technical Universities and Polytechnics in Africa (ATUPA) 2023 International Conference in Accra yesterday, Prof. Beldocine said TVET was the pathway that led to unprecedented opportunities and sustainable prosperity.

Africas future prosperity hinged on our collective ability to invest in our greatest resource-our people, he said.

The five-day event is being held on the theme: Mainstreaming TVET for skills development, mobility and resilient economies in Africa.

It has attracted representatives from the academia, governments and civil society organisations to discuss how to enhance TVET stakeholders sensitivity to the prevailing TVET and economic trends as well as Africa-specific instruments that can be harnessed for the renewal and consolidation of TVET programming in Africa.

It was also used to honour personalities from across Africa for their distinguished role in the promotion of TVET.

Lets join hands

Prof. Beldocine said the challenges African countries faced in TVET might be significant, but it also presented opportunity for growth.

In his view, TVET allowed nations to build robust and adaptable economies, creating a workforce that could work and innovate amid challenges.

He, however, said the collective vision for mainstreaming TVET could be realised, if TVET was allowed to stand alone.

We must join hands across nations, governments, businesses and civil societies to create an enabling environment for TVET to thrive, he said.

He cited how the African continent had only nine out of 10 children at the age of 10 who were not capable of reading or understanding properly a simple text or doing arithmetic operations.

Enrolment

Delivering the keynote address, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, said the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme had increased enrolment from 830,000 in 2016 to 1.4 million across the country.

He said the vast majority of those students, who were in boarding school and were fed three times a day, enjoyed several supports including free uniforms.

He added that in 2015 only two per cent of Ghanaian children could read and understand.

The President and all of us were not happy about that and today we have raised it to 38 per cent.

We are still not happy because 38 per cent still means 62 children read for understanding and that should not be our story two to five years from now, he said.

The ATUPA Executive Board Chairperson, Dr Laila Abubacar, said Africa had now left the old system where TVET system was for failures.

He said nations now knew that for them to create employment for their youth, they needed to impact skills, which TVET was the way to go.

Our curricula are supposed to integrate the standards that are required in our industries so that by the time our graduates leave universities and colleges, they are fit for purpose, Dr Abubacar said.
Decentralise limited voter registration exercise to villages - Goasomanhene to EC

Getrude Ankah Nyavi Politics Aug - 30 - 2023 , 13:55

The Paramount Chief of the Goaso Traditional Area in the Ahafo region, Nana Akwasi Bosompra I, has asked the Electoral Commission to consider extending the upcoming limited voters registration exercise to other areas apart from the district offices.

Nana Bosompras argument is that many eligible voters may lack the means to travel from their villages to the district offices since some villages are located far away from the district capitals.

Speaking at an event to mark the 15th anniversary of his enstoolment, at Goaso, on August 27, 2023, Nana Akwasi Bosompra I said the ECs decision to restrict the conduct of the limited voter registration exercise to its district offices has the potential to disenfranchise a significant number of Ghanaians who reside in areas located far from the district offices.

From September 12, 2023 to October 2, 2023 the EC will undertake a limited voter registration for eligible Ghanaians who turned 18 years after the 2020 registration exercise and other eligible voters at its district offices.

Reacting to the ECs choice of undertaking the exercise only at its district offices, Nana Akwasi Bosompra I, explained that many eligible voters might lack the means to travel from their villages to the ECs district offices to partake in the exercise.

What is Jean Mensa [EC Chairperson] doing, has she been to Ahafo before? Does she know the town that follows Esumira. Does she know the town after Kasapin, so is Jean Mensa saying that all these people, if they want to write their names, should have three people and travel to Goaso? Is she going to pay for their fare?

She should be careful not to bring any confusion into this country, Im pleading with her, she should change that rule and decentralise the process.

Because a rich person can bus people to register and vote for him, but that person is someone we may not even like, he said.
NPP will be kicked out of office in 2024 due to 'unprecedented' hardship - Felix Kwakye Ofosu

Getrude Ankah Nyavi Politics Aug - 30 - 2023 , 12:52

A former Deputy Minister of Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will be kicked out of office in 2024 because of the "unprecedented" hardship being experience in Ghana.

To him, the "poor performance" of the NPP administration led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia will determine the outcome of the 2024 general elections.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu was addressing the Western Regional youth wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Saturday, August 26, 2023.

The youth wing of the party had met at a capacity-building conference at in Ellembelle.

The conference was on the theme "Effective Mobilisation for Power: the Role of a Youth Organizer".

"The very essence of governance has eluded the current administration following the abysmal performance recorded in the last seven years... hardship would determine the outcome of the 2024 general elections. Hardship is the cause of change of governments since history", Mr Kwakye Ofosu said.

He was speaking under the topic "Effective Communication in Youth Mobilization: The Tips and Strategies"

Felix Kwakye Ofosu said a number of Ghanaian youth have been deserting their communities and leaving the country in mass droves following the excruciating hardship they are enduring under the current administration.

He added that Ghanaian youth do not have hope in the leadership of the country.

The disastrous performance recorded in government and having been confused about the series of mess, and embarrassments suffered, nothing important about governance again lately concerns President Akufo-Addo. The youth have lost hope in his government hence their exodus to other countries for greener pastures

The former Deputy Minister for Communications said the NPP does not come nearer to the NDC when it comes to good governance.

According to him, anytime the NDC gets an opportunity to govern, the party develops and improves all spheres of the country's governance process as well as the national economy.

Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said about the NPP since what they do basically is to reap the benefits accrued and later destroy everything before leaving office, said.

On his part, the leader of the NDC legal team, Lawyer Edudzi Kudzo Tameklo, who touched on the topic " Youth mobilization, law, and political dynamics: the role of an activist", appealed to the youth organizers to collaborate with the branch executives to facilitate the timely and cautious collation of figures with effectiveness and efficiency in 2024 election.

Capacity Building Conference

The exercise formed an integral part of activities being rolled out to sharpen the skills and experience of the youth wing of the party ahead of the 2024 general elections.

The theme for the conference was " Effective Mobilisation for Power: the role of a youth organization"

It attracted many party stalwarts who did not only contribute in kind, but in cash to support activities of the youth wing of the party in the region.

Meanwhile, the Western Regional Youth Organizer of NDC, Alhaji Mustapha Iddirisu charged each of the constituency youth organizers to work zealously in their respective communities and

Constituencies to influence the establishment of NDC presence across the country and also push hard to determine the outcome of the 2024 general elections.
Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia NPPs 2024 Flagbearer?

Dr John Osae-Kwapong Politics Aug - 30 - 2023 , 15:09

The super delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) convened on Saturday, August 26, 2023, across 17 voting centres nationwide and pruned the number of candidates vying for the flagbearer position from 10 to five.

Meanwhile, there is a runoff scheduled for September 2, 2023, between Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai-Nimoh to determine who gets the fifth spot. The five will compete for the ultimate prize of flagbearer on November 4, 2023. Three of my picks Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Alan Kyerematen and Kennedy Agyapong will feature.

The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of Dr Bawumia, the Vice-President, who won seven out of ten (68.15%) super delegate voters. Two questions emerged from the results  a) What informed the choice of the super delegates? and b) What signals are the super delegates sending to the larger electoral college who will vote on November 4 to pick the partys flagbearer for the 2024 elections?

Strong Support

The super delegates are the ones who can say with any degree of certainty what informed their strong show of support for Dr Bawumia. In the lead-up to the vote, some of the super delegates, as well as supporters of the candidates, made known the reasons why they were supporting a particular candidate. The candidates also made a case for why the party needs to choose them as flag bearers for 2024. Putting it all together, observers like me can only make inferences as to what informed the decision of the super delegates.

First, political parties want to win elections. It is only by winning that they can form a government and implement their policies for national development. And because winning is critical, the key driving factor for the selection of a flag bearer is the candidate who presents the party with the best chance of winning an election. The overwhelming support for Dr Bawumia tells me that the super delegates believe he is the candidate best positioned to win them the 2024 elections.

In addition, the candidates themselves offered varying messages as they travelled across the country campaigning. They couched their messages in various slogans  it is possible; it is my turn; Ghana first and new dawn; among others. If vote share is the yardstick by which we measure how well a candidates message resonates with voters, then it is reasonable to conclude that

Dr Bawumias message of it is possible resonated the most with the super delegates. It represents a message of hope, especially at a time when the political winds are not blowing favourably in the direction of the NPP.

Lastly, it is my observation that political parties reward a combination of loyalty, hard work, commitment and investment in the party. Dr Bawumia may not have a long history with the party compared to some of the other candidates. However, there is no denying that over the years, he has built a constituency of strong support in the party. That strong constituency showed up massively for him in recognition and appreciation of what he has brought to the party. This is not to say that the other nine contestants have not made sacrifices or are not committed to the party in their own ways.



What Signals Are The Super Delegates Sending?

There are two potential answers to this question. If you are the winning candidate, in this case, Dr Bawumia, your camp is likely to argue that the super delegates are essentially saying this is the partys candidate for the 2024 election. As a result, they expect the larger electoral college to vote on November 4 to endorse the signal from the super delegates.

If you are one of the remaining four whose share of the super delegates vote was one out of ten, your camp is likely to argue that the real contest is on November 4 when the larger electoral college of about 200,000 will vote.

This is the elite versus grassroots conversation I have been observing from the various camps of the candidates.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. The super delegates vote points to the fact that at least, among them, there is overwhelming support for Dr Bawumias candidacy. To have swept all 17

voting centres nationwide with a huge margin is a very loud and clear endorsement. The momentum going into November is, therefore, on his side.

But it is also true that there is a much larger electoral college waiting to have their say in November, who may not necessarily feel obliged to follow the lead of the super delegates.

We will have to wait to see which truth prevails. But I have consistently said I will be very surprised if Dr. Bawumia does not emerge as the NPP flag bearer for the 2024 elections.



The writer is a Democracy and Development Fellow, Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana)
Well, this was faster than expected  the Fairphone 5 is now official and you can already pre-order one from the companys online store. There is only one version and it costs 700/650 (up from 580/500 for the previous model), you only need to pick a color: Matte Black, Sky Blue or the new Transparent edition. Shipping is set to start on September 14, though the Sky Blue version won't be available until the end of September.



Fairphone 5 in Matte Black, Sky Blue and Transparent edition

The phone is made out of 70% fair and recycled materials and is built by people who are paid a living wage. You can even use the box that the Fairphone comes in to ship your old phone to the company and they will recycle it for you (this is just one of the ways the company ensures that its products are eco-friendly).

The Fairphone 5 is built to last  it comes with a 5 year warranty and software support until at least 2031 (8 years from now). At least that long, if things work out well the phone will be supported for 10 years. You get Android 13 out of the box and the company plans to deliver at least 5 OS updates to the phone.

This is also the easiest phone to repair, all you need is a Phillips head screwdriver. There are ten modules that you can replace yourself, you dont need to go to a repair shop. The modules are sold by Fairphone and partners.

The modules include the new OLED display, the rear and front cameras, the USB port and the battery, of course. Lets have a closer look at these components.

The new display measures 6.46 (a bit larger than the 6.3 panel on the Fairphone 4). Its a OLED with 1,224 x 2,700px resolution (20:9), 90Hz refresh rate (the companys first HRR display) and a peak brightness of 880 nits. Its covered with Gorilla Glass 5 (0.7mm with oleophobic coating).

The new phone says goodbye to the notch and has a punch hole selfie camera  this camera (and the two on the back) uses a 50MP sensor. This one specifically has a Samsung JN1, a 1/2.76 sensor with 0.64m pixels and support for 4-in-1 binning. The f/2.45 lens has a 90 FoV, video recording is supported up to 4K @ 30fps.

The main camera on the back has a 50MP Sony IMX800, a 1/1.56 sensor with 1.0m native pixels and 4-in-1 binning support. The f/1.88 lens has 84 FoV and supports optical image stabilization. Then theres the 117 ultra wide camera, this one has an IMX858 sensor (1/2.51, 0.7m). This one has autofocus and can capture macro images at 2.5cm/1in. The third module on the back is a Time of Flight sensor.

Fairphone chose a Qualcomm QCM 6490 chipset, an industrial part with long-term software support  this is why it can promise support up to 2031. Its comparable to the Snapdragon 778G in terms of hardware.

There is only one memory configuration available, 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage. There is a microSD slot that accepts cards up to 2TB (those should be pretty cheap eight years from now). Also, note that this is a dual-SIM phone with one physical SIM slot and one eSIM.



Fairphone 5

Other connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6E (6GHz), Bluetooth 5.2 and NFC. The 5G modem supports more bands, but the company has made no mention of releasing the phone in North America.

The Fairphone 5 comes with a larger battery, 4,200mAh (up from 3,905mAh). And it supports faster charging too, 30W (up from 20W). The speedier charging gets to 50% in 20 minutes, a fully charged battery should last a day and a half. And, of course, its super easy to swap with a fresh battery once it starts wearing out. There is no wireless charging, though.

Also, the USB-C 3.0 port handles charging and data duties and is also the only wired connection  the 3.5mm headphone jack is gone and it isnt coming back. On the plus side, the new model has stereo speakers.



The Fairphone 5 has stereo speakers and faster 30W charging

Note that the retail package includes only the phone and a quick start guide, there isnt even a cable.

While the phone is easy to repair, its also more durable than the previous model. It is rated IP55 (up from IP54) so it has better water resistance. Also, it has been drop tested from 1.8m/6ft.

Here are some videos that introduce the Fairphone 5 and all its new features, upgrades and all the ways that the company if making its phones fair.

Source
Update: it's official!

Detailed information of the upcoming Fairphone 5 leaked, including the announcement date  tomorrow. The new model will be more powerful, more repairable, more durable and with longer support and, unfortunately, more costly.

The Dutch phone company made an interesting choice for the chipset, it went with a Qualcomm QCM6490. Thats a chipset intended for embedded and industrial applications. In terms of performance it should be similar to the Snapdragon 778G.

What makes it interesting is that Qualcomm offers long term software support  eight years or until 2031. Fairphone does its best to offer long term support, e.g. Fairphone 2s last update came seven years after launch, but there is only so much it can do without Qualcomm. Picking an industrial chip could be a game changer.

Anyway, model 5 has 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage, plus a microSD slot. That microSD slot, along with the SIM slot, is now a separate module. There are now eleven modules in total (up from eight) with the cameras and vibration motor being separate parts too. This allows users to change them individually.

The Fairphone 5 is made up of 11 individually-replaceable modules

The company dropped the LCD of previous models and picked a slightly larger 6.46 AMOLED display (up from 6.3 on the Fairphone 4). It has higher resolution, 1,224 x 2,770px, and runs at 90Hz to boot (up from 1,080 x 2,340px, 60Hz). Even with the switch to AMOLED, the fingerprint reader remains on the side.

The new model is equipped with three 50MP cameras  two on the back and one on the front. All three will record 4K video. They have premium lenses, apparently, but theres no word on focal length or other features.



Fairphone 5 (leaked images)

The battery is bigger too with 4,200mAh capacity (up from 3,905mAh). There is no mention of charging specs in the leaked data (model 4 had 20W wired only charging). The new model is also packing improved connectivity with Wi-Fi 6E (6GHz) and Bluetooth 5.2.

Additionally, it is rated IP55, up from IP54 (the 5 means resistance to water jets, the 4 was resistance to splashes). As weve seen in leaked images, the new phone will be available in Sky Blue, Gray and Transparent.



Fairphone 5 in Sky Blue, Gray and Transparent

The new hardware is more eco-friendly too with 70% fair trade and recycled materials, up from 30-40% on the previous model. The phone will also have a new climate protection label that signifies a reduced carbon footprint over the lifespan of the device.

That all sounds great, but now its time for the bad news  the Fairphone 5 will cost 700 according to the leak. For comparison, the old model was 580.

The official announcement of the phone is coming up, so check back tomorrow. It will be interesting to hear what Fairphone has to say about software support on the new module.

Source (in German)
vivo sub-brand iQOO is launching two Z8 devices tomorrow, and today we learned some details about the more affordable Z8x variant. It will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset, while the battery capacity is going to be 6,000 mAh.



vivo iQOO Z8x teasers

The Z8x is expected to be more affordable than the Z8, similar to the previous mid-range iQOO Z series, but once again it will be the battery champion. The Z8 will have the more powerful Mediatek Dimensity 8200 chipset, though.

We also expect some downgrades in the camera department and the charging speed, but the Z8x will surely support at lest 80W charging because that's what the predecessor iQOO Z7x brought. Rumors also point to 120 Hz screen of Full HD+ resolution.

Sadly, the Zx series never escaped China, and we expect the Z8x also to remain exclusive for the domestic audience.

Source (in Chinese) | Via
Xiaomi posted its quarterly financial report, and the numbers did not look good for the Q2 period of 2023. The overall revenue declined by 4%, with the smartphone business playing a major part in the lower number. Between April and June 2023, Xiaomi sold 15.8% fewer devices, compared to last year's period.

Smartphone performance Q2 2023 Q2 2022 Change Revenue CNY 36.5 billion/

USD 5 billion CNY 42.2 billion/

USD 5.78 billion - 13.27% Profit CNY 4.8 billion/

USD 658 million CNY 3.6 billion/

USD 493 million 33% Shipped units 32.9 million 39.1 million - 15.8%

The company quoted a continued weakened market demand globally for the bleak result. During the three-month period, Xiaomi shipped 32.9 million phones (compared with 39.1 million the previous year), with a total revenue of CNY 36.5 billion (slightly over $5 billion).

Calculations showed the average sale price of a Xiaomi smartphone slightly increased from CNY 1,081.70 ($148.80) to CNY 1,112.20 ($154.37), primarily due to increased ASP in China.

Xiaomi still has some reasons to cheer  it kept its third place globally as a manufacturer and remained 2nd in two major regions  Europe and the Middle East. Between April and June, smartphone shipments ranked in the Top 3 across 51 countries and remained in the Top 5 in 10 more markets.

Monthly active users reached 606 million, a 10.8% yearly increase, which was also a new record for the company.

Source (pdf)
A 55-year-old Dededo man was charged in Superior Court Wednesday with leaving the scene of an accident with injuries in a fatal traffic crash.

Reynaldo B. Rupido of Dededo turned himself in to authorities on Monday after Julia Ann Sahagan Cruz was found injured on Route 1 in Dededo by Pacific Tyre. Cruz later died at Guam Regional Medical City, according to police and charging documents.

At 5:54 a.m. Monday, officers were called to the accident scene where Cruz was found with head trauma and cuts to her leg. According to the magistrate's complaint in the case, she had been jaywalking at the time of the crash, walking southbound toward Pacific Tyre when she was struck by an unidentified vehicle that fled the scene.

Investigators interviewed two witnesses who stopped to help when they saw the woman lying in the street. One of the witnesses called police and directed traffic, while the other spoke to a man who was standing over the injured woman.

When the witness asked the man, later identified as Rupido, what happened, he reportedly said, "I don't know, but I need to go to work now at Andersen or l'm going to be late," the complaint stated.

He "then drove away in a frantic manner," the complaint stated.

Police asked the public to help find the driver in the crash, and at 3:55 p.m. Monday, Rupido surrendered at the Dededo precinct.

He told officers he was driving a Honda Accord "onto the middle lane when he saw 'something' that appeared in front of his lane," the complaint stated. He said he veered left to avoid hitting the person, but ended up hitting her with the right front corner of his vehicle.

He said he waited five to 10 minutes for police, then "someone told him that he could leave and (he) went to work."

Rupido, who has no criminal history according to documents provided by the Office of the Attorney General, faces up to three years in prison if found guilty of the third-degree felony. He was released on $5,000 personal recognizance.
Teachers and community groups are invited to schedule free, live question-and-answer sessions in September regarding deep ocean exploration with Cara Lin, a seagrass and mangrove conservation coordinator at the Guam Coral Initiative. Sessions can be booked here and organizers can request Lin to be their presenter.

Lin is part of the 2023 Nautilus Exploration Program to promote education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics while also seeking out new discoveries. She will be aboard the Ocean Exploration Trusts exploration vessel, Nautilus, as she joins the expedition team in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument as a science communicator.

Lin was selected as a 2023 Science Communication Fellow due to her work at GCRI, which includes monitoring, research, and education concerning our seagrass, mangrove habitats and coral reef habitats.

Her work in education includes running field trip programs, creating teacher resources, visiting classrooms, and running activities for the Guam Department of Agricultures various public events.

I am so excited to share our exploration journey in real-time with students in Guam and showcase potential career paths for our future ocean scientists, explorers, engineers, videographers, and educators! expressed Lin.

Lin is one of sixteen fellows selected nationally this year across eleven US states and territories. The sixteen fellows will join the team on different sea-going expeditions from May to December.

For those who cant book a session in advanced, they can also tune into Nautilus Live, a 24-hour live-streaming portal on their website, NautilusLive.org, and watch the exploration feed.

Lin will participate in daily live audio commentary and question-and-answer sessions through the Nautilus Live website from sea. Ashore, Lin will also engage in various community outreach events and activities throughout the next school year to engage students and families in learning about the ocean.

Science Communication Fellows bring expertise as educators and storytellers to work alongside scientists and engineers and make discoveries about the planet, said Megan Cook, OETs Director of Education and Outreach. We are proud to elevate these role models for learners, with a particular focus on reaching communities who have been historically marginalized from STEAM and maritime fields.

Ship-to-shore interactions are conducted using Zoom or Google Meet and last 30 minutes with time for an expedition update and audience-led Q&A about careers, discoveries, or the exploration process.

Interactions are not broadcast publicly to allow for a more personal connection with their science and engineering team but can include multiple classrooms or virtual logins.

Interaction scheduling requests should be submitted no less than 72-hours prior to the date/time you are interested in hosting the live event. Additional advanced notice is recommended.

Live interactions are not recorded on Google Meet and can be recorded on Zoom, if requested, but organizers are welcome to record the connection on your side to share with parents or other class periods.

Anyone who plans to rebroadcast a recording or share it on social media must first notify education@oet.org for permission at the time you request the session.

Multiple sites can join the same interaction. There is no limit to the number of classes which can join a Google Meet or Zoom. If an organizer chooses to use this format, it is their responsibility to outline a communication flow for the multiple sites:

Who will ask questions first/second/third?

Will one classroom ask all the questions?

Will some classrooms exclusively watch or will all communicate?

Are teachers/facilitators at each site ready to mute their microphones when not speaking to eliminate background noise?

If they would like to link multiple sites together, they must note it in the request.

Additional answers to frequently asked questions can be found here.
A complaint about an assault in Tumon on Aug. 27 led to the arrest of professional fighter Ricky Camp for charges in two other cases, according to a news release from the Guam Police Department.

Just before 3 a.m. Sunday morning, Tumon Precinct officers responded to the Black Cat Cafe to investigate a disturbance call. They met with a victim who said he could not provide any details about the incident. The victim later arrived at the Tumon precinct and reported that he was attacked by Camp. The victim had multiple injuries to the face and knee area.

GPDs Community Crimes Task Force took over the investigation and after collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses, they located Camp.

The report says that Camp denied the accusations, and said that his involvement with the alleged victim revolved around seeking information about vehicle damage.

The task force officers also investigated Camps possible involvement in other cases. Camp was questioned about a home invasion case as well as two other incidents of alleged aggravated assault.

On Aug. 29, Camp was arrested for the following:

Case No. 23-20895  aggravated assault, assault on a peace officer and use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony,

Case No. 22-7799  home invasion and criminal mischief, and

Case No. 23-7625  aggravated assault and use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.

During the investigation, a second man, Joseph Christopher Mendiola, voluntarily arrived at the precinct for questioning. According to the document, Mendiola confessed to his assault of the victim, and in doing so, implicated Camps involvement.

Mendiola was arrested on charges of aggravated assault. Both Camp and Mendiola were booked and confined at the Department of Corrections, and arrest details were forwarded to the Attorney Generals office for their review. The case remains open, according to the release.
Three candidates of the Guam Army National Guard are now certified in Jungle Operations after passing the 25th Infantry Divisions Jungle Operations Course in Hawaii from Aug. 12 to 25.

A grueling course with a nearly 50% attrition rate, Sgt. 1st Class Gary Santos, Sgt. 1st Class Danielglen Salas, and Sgt. Andrew Quinata went three for three.

The 25th ID Jungle Operations Training Course focuses on jungle mobility training, waterborne operations, combat tracking, jungle tactics, survival training and more.

Graduates of JOTC learned tactics, techniques, and procedures required to fight, win, and survive within any jungle environment.

It was challenging, said Sgt. 1st Class Salas, State Partnership Program noncommissioned officer with the Guards Headquarters Element. There were times I had to look down at my Guam Patch and my nametag to remember why Im here. It helped me finish the course knowing that Im representing our Guard and our island, said Salas.

One event that stood out to Salas was the Jungle Survival Event, where students had to live off the land for 24 hours.

Ive never eaten so many cherry guavas, said Salas. Im thankful our fishing team caught something, because we were getting pretty hungry.

Salas completed the course despite suffering a possible shoulder dislocation while navigating the steep terrain in the mountains of Oahu. During a brief wait in a local emergency room, he relocated his shoulder using a waiting room chair and promptly returned to duty.

Command Sgt. Maj. Celso Leonen, command senior enlisted leader of the Guam Guard, traveled to Hawaii to witness the graduation ceremony and congratulate the troops.

Our soldiers are fighters. They dont quit, they wont quit and they have a lot of heart, said Leonen. Leonens goal is to send more troops to the school and have them certified as instructors so Guam can teach a version of the course for the National Guard.

Brig. Gen. Michael Cruz, adjutant general, shared the strategic importance of expanding this new capability for Guam and the Marianas, specifically. Cruz stated that creating a Jungle Course on Guam addresses the uniqueness of small Pacific islands with limestone forests, which create tactical differences from the terrain of Hawaii.

My top priority is the defense of Guam and the Marianas, said Cruz. As the native defenders of our homeland, we have the obligation to excel at fighting in this environment, and to share that excellence with our troops and partners in the region.




Haiti - FLASH : Results of 9th AF exams for 7 departments





The Ministry of National Education has published the results of the 9th Fundamental Year (AF) 2022/2023 exams for 7 departments, Nippes, North-East, Grande-Anse, Center, North-West, North and South East.



According to the figures provided by the National Bureau of State Examinations (BUNEXE), the success rates (listed in descending order) are :



Results by department 9th A.F. 2022/2023: (in descending order)



Grande-Anse: out of 6,493 participants, 6,169 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 95% (sharp increase) the previous year 79%

North: out of 18,849 participants, 17,399 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 92% (sharp increase) the previous year 80.95%%

North-West: out of 10,669 participants, 9,241 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 87% (up) the previous year 77.31%

North-East: out of 7,504 participants, 6,499 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 87% (up) the previous year 78.33%

South-East: out of 9,142 participants, 7,322 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 80% (sharp increase) the previous year 61.07%

Center: out of 13,105 participants, 10,002 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 76% (slight increase) the previous year 75.29%

Nippes: out of 7,115 participants, 5,129 candidates were admitted, a success rate of 72% (up) the previous year 65.54%



The Ministry informs that the results of the other departments will be available shortly and will be communicated gradually.



Directors of schools are invited to withdraw their school's results list from the Departmental Directorate of Education (DDE) concerned.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40347-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-6-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40331-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-5-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40273-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-4-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40265-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-3-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40219-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-2-departments.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40213-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-the-northeast-laureates.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Education : The Ministry tackles the problem of displaced students and teachers





As part of the initiatives to prepare for integration into school and manage the 2023-2024 school year, and especially to find solutions on the files of schools that use temporary places for displaced people in the metropolitan area of Port-in Prince and other localities of the country for reasons of insecurity, the Ministry of National Education has set up a Commission to work on the registers of schools that serve as temporary shelters and to identify displaced students and teachers and manage the implications of this file in the education system.



This Commission, which includes the technical direction and the departmental direction of the Ministry, must investigate and report on the number of displaced students and teachers and the number of schools that serve as temporary shelters. This Commission must make proposals to find alternatives to allow the resumption of school activities in school centers that serve as temporary shelters.



For now, the Ministry has identified 12 schools that serve as temporary shelters in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. 8 of them are public schools. This already means that around 150 classrooms are at risk of being added to those that will not be available to join the school on September 11...



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





The FAd'H and the PNH with means can defeat the gangs

General Jodel Lessage, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Haiti (Fad'H) believes that with adequate means to fight against gangs the FAd'H and the National Police (PNH) can defeat these criminals...



1 other police officer killed

Monday, August 28, 2023, heavily armed individuals riding a motorcycle targeted a police patrol in Port-au-Prince, fatally wounding a policeman Jean-Claude Orlens of the 31st promotion, reported the National Union of Haitian Police Officers (SyNaPoHa).



The correction of the Bac exams in way to finish

The results of the baccalaureate are coming soon, the Ministry of National Education has published a table of the progression rate of July 2023 baccalaureate corrections for each department as of August 29 August 29, 2023:







The Protestant Federation of Haiti condemns the massacre

The Protestant Federation of Haiti condemns the massacre perpetrated on August 26, 2023 in Canaan against Protestant worshipers who were participating in an anti-gang march. The FPH, which speaks of several dozen deaths, castigates the proven lack of discernment of the organizers and the naivety of Pastor Marcorel Zidor alias "Pastor Marco".



Operations in Canaan to dislodge Jeff's gang

Frantz Elbe, Director General ai.i of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) announced that operations will be carried out in Canaan to dislodge the gang of "Jeff" and recover the bodies of the faithful killed during the march of the Evangelical Pool Church of Bethesda that turned tragic. He said the police had done everything to prevent this tragedy, promising that justice would be taken against the perpetrators and their accomplices.



Edwing Charlesa elected President of UIASEC

Saturday August 26 in Benin, the former Minister of Youth, Sports and Civic Action Edwing Charles was elected (29 votes out of 41) President of the International Union of Sports, Educational and Cultural Associations (UIASEC) in the presence from 19 countries.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2023/08/30 | Source

Korean movies opening today 2023/08/30 in Korea: "Don't Buy the Seller", "Her Hobby", "Body Parts", "Legend of the Waterflowers",

"KANGDANIEL: MY PARADE" and "Piano Prism"

Advertisement

"Don't Buy the Seller" (2021)

Directed by Park Hee-gon

With Shin Hye-sun, Kim Sung-kyun, Im Chul-soo, Lee Joo-young-I, Keum Sae-rok, Kang Tae-oh,...

Formerly known as "Don't Buy the Seller", "Open the Door" (  , o-peun deo do-eo)

Synopsis

It all started with a second hand app

Soo-hyeon (Shin Hye-sun), who has recently moved into a new house, buys a used washing machine through a second-hand app but finds out it doesn't work. Annoyed by the seller's irresponsibility, she leaves a comment calling the seller a con man, and reports it to the police. Little does she know that the seller is a psychopathic serial killer who uses an online second-hand market to lure his victims. Her comment renders his hunt for a new victim all but impossible so she becomes his next target. She starts receiving obscene phone calls, countless unwanted food deliveries, and strange men knocking on her door looking for a good time. A trip to the sender's address proves deadly serious when the police and Soo-hyeon find a woman's dead body.

"Her Hobby" (2022)

Directed by Ha Myeong-mi

With Jung Yi-seo, Kim Hye-na, Woo Ji-hyun,...

Filming start: 2022/08/20

Synopsis

Adapted from a novel.

It depicts the process of a woman living in the weakest neighborhood in a closed community village, standing up proudly with her shoulders stretched out when she meets a woman who has migrated from the city.

"Body Parts" (2022)

Directed by Ahn Mi-na, Choe Won-kyung, Jeon Byeong-deok, Kim Jang-mi, Lee Gwang-jin, Wally Seo

With Kim Min-seok, Kim Chae-eun, Kwon Ah-reum-I, Kang Han-saem, Kim Ah-yoon, Kang Jun-kyu,...

Synopsis

A perfume is found in the dressing table of a dead person. A boy is bullied because he can see ghosts. A girl is hosting an online livestream show of her friend being possessed by a spirit after her family member died. This film consists of five stories with diverse genres from ghost story to exorcism and mystery. The five episodes of different genres and various subject matter are completed as one full story with an extra one that opens and closes the film. The five episodes are the believers' stories, which rookie reporter, Si-kyung, who is on an undercover mission, witnesses while attending a prayer service of a religious group. This clever structure not only connects all the stories as one, but also gives unity to the individual narratives, rather than them being separated and standing alone. What will be she offering at the end of the ritual that he secretly attended? (MO Eun-young)

Synopsis

A perfume is found in the dressing table of a dead person. A boy is bullied because he can see ghosts. A girl is hosting an online livestream show of her friend being possessed by a spirit after her family member died. This film consists of five stories with diverse genres from ghost story to exorcism and mystery. The five episodes of different genres and various subject matter are completed as one full story with an extra one that opens and closes the film. The five episodes are the believers' stories, which rookie reporter, Si-kyung, who is on an undercover mission, witnesses while attending a prayer service of a religious group. This clever structure not only connects all the stories as one, but also gives unity to the individual narratives, rather than them being separated and standing alone. What will be she offering at the end of the ritual that he secretly attended? (MO Eun-young)

Stink (, ak-chwi)

A woman killed herself by cutting off her ears. Da-hee ,who bought a dressing table without knowing it was hers, finds a perfume in the drawer.

A Child Who Sees Ghosts ( , gwi-sin-bo-neun a-i)

Joon-ho, the song of a shaman, is being bullied by Do-jin's gang for the reason that he can see ghosts. He has to show them real ghosts to break free from the violence.

exorcism.net (., ek-so-si-jeum.net)

Hwa-yeong, a high school girl, is possessed by an evil spirit after her family's death. Her best friends Joo-in and Eun-gi decide to let the world know about her through live broadcasting online and ask for a ceremony of exorcism.

The Person Who Lived (  , jeon-e sal-deon sa-ram)

Ji-soo got her own room. That night when she was having a housewarming with her colleagues, a middle-aged woman came and knocked on her door. She warns the woman. Never take the talisman off her house.

String (, kkeun)

A rainy night. Jae-seok wakes up to the sound of the alarm and finds that a hard string is tied to his neck.

"Legend of the Waterflowers"

Directed by Koh Heeyoung

Synopsis

Hyun Soonjik is ninety-six years old. She is the oldest living resident in Jeju Island. She lives in a small village in Seogwipo-si. A natural diver with good skills, she became a high rank Haenyeo at an early age and has led an astonishing career of diving for eighty-seven years. Though she looks more comfortable when she is under water than when she is at home, she quit diving in October, 2020, and goes to sea every day, missing her old life as a diver. When she does, Chae Jiae (39) who has been disciplined by Hyun, accompanies her and looks after her. Together they head for Deulmoolyeo, a place that only Hyun can find, to see the water flowers that bloom under water. Legend of the Waterflower is a thorough record that covers the six years of the amazing life of Hyun Soonjik, the friendship between two different generations, and the life and pain of Haenyeo. It is warm, sorrowful, and most of all, breathtakingly beautiful. HONG Eunmi

27th Busan International Film Festival

"KANGDANIEL: MY PARADE" (2023)

Directed by Park Jae-suk-II

With Kang Daniel,...

Synopsis

Waiting time to approach DANITY, "Whispering from the empty seats waiting for the audience, hot shouts pouring on the stage and awakening as an enthusiastic artist".

Kang Daniel draws the trajectory of "KANGDANIEL: MY PARADE" by singing the story of DANITY and us who have been waiting for Kang Daniel's first world tour, 'First Parade'.

The concert film "KANGDANIEL: MY PARADE" is a film about his first world tour 'First Parade' performances in Seoul, Thailand and Malaysia and the preparation process. Kang Daniel's voice tells stories on and off stage, and cinematic colors and sounds stimulate new senses that have not been experienced in live performances.

"Piano Prism" (2021)

Directed by Oh Jae-hyeong

With Oh Jae-hyeong,...

Synopsis

In a cramped space full of miscellaneous objects, a man in his pajamas laboriously moves the piano from one wall to the other. When he projects his video on the wall by the piano, dark blue waves ripple over his figure playing the piano. This magical opening takes a leap from a scruffy reality to an artistic fantasy. Director Oh Jae-hyeong, a painter-turned-filmmaker who is now trying to become a pianist, attempts a unique audio-visual performance that combines video and piano performance. Although it looks like a difficult experimental film, this film is a friendly and witty personal essay about the director's artistic practice. One day, he is asked to perform a solo recital at "The House Concert", a classical music venue, and Piano Prism contains his preparation process. The brilliant multi-artist Oh Jae-hyeong undergoes trials and errors to finally reach the synthesis of painting, video, and music, and this film presents the ultimate artistic experience. KANG Sowon

26th Busan International Film Festival
Maria 01 , the premier startup hub in the Nordics, has embarked on the quest to find a dynamic Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who will spearhead its expansion and innovation efforts. Home to a thriving community of over 180 startups and 1,500 members, Maria 01 is on a mission to solidify its position as one of Europe's most prominent startup hubs. The incumbent CEO, Ville Simola , will be transitioning to fresh challenges, leaving behind a legacy of growth and transformation starting November 2023.

Established in 2016, Maria 01 has achieved remarkable strides, and its growth trajectory remains resolute. In the year 2022 alone, the startups within its nurturing ecosystem secured an unprecedented 219 million in funding. Underscoring its unwavering commitment to fostering innovation, Maria 01 is gearing up to expand its Helsinki campus from its current 20,000 square meters to an impressive 70,000 square meters. This expansion aims to attract up to 600 startups and cultivate a vibrant community of 6,000 members.

Jarmo Hyokyvaara, Chair of the Board, expressed heartfelt appreciation, saying, "The entire Maria 01 community would like to thank Ville for growing the Maria 01 startup community to a leading one in the Nordics, and further strengthening the role of our lively startup culture. We wish him all the best in his new chapter."

Reflecting on his tenure, outgoing CEO Ville Simola shared his sentiments: "I have thoroughly enjoyed these past four years being the voice of the Maria 01 community and leading an organization that is a rendezvous for various stakeholders, be it startup employees, investors, other startup communities, or bigger corporations. Maria 01 is truly a place for coming together and creating new solutions with likeminded people."

The search for the new CEO commences on August 29th, concluding on September 17th. The ideal candidate will possess extensive knowledge of the Finnish and Nordic startup landscape, exceptional networking capabilities, and a vision to serve as the voice of the Maria 01 startup community. In addition to leading the organization, the CEO will drive the activities of the entire startup ecosystem.

In an era where startups wield increasing influence over the economy, attracting global talent stands as a pivotal endeavor. Collaborating with entities such as the Finnish Startup Community, the Finnish Startup Foundation, and Slush, Maria 01 plays a pivotal role in fortifying the startup ecosystem in both Finland and the Nordics.

The startup ecosystem's significance to Finnish society and economy is gaining prominence. As per the Finnish Startup Community, its members are projected to generate a turnover of 4.5 billion in 2022. With current forecasts pointing towards a 15 billion turnover by 2030on par with established industries like forestry and metalstalent scarcity remains a looming challenge. Against the backdrop of Finland's evolving immigration policies, Maria 01 underscores the necessity of attracting international talent to perpetuate and amplify the startup ecosystem's growth in the nation.

Jarmo Hyokyvaara emphasized, "We are currently the largest startup hub in the Nordics, and our new CEO will have the opportunity to support our goal of becoming the largest one in Europe in the near future. At the same time, talent shortage is a real challenge in Finland, and to ensure that the startup ecosystem keeps growing in Finland and supports our economic growth, we need to make sure that we are attracting international talents to come to Finland. Without them, the Finnish startup ecosystem cannot keep growing."

The search for a visionary leader to helm Maria 01's transformative journey marks a pivotal moment in shaping the future of the Finnish and European startup landscape.

HT
The latest survey conducted by Finnish Chambers of Commerce reveals that 71 percent of board members in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are male. The study sheds light on the demographics of board composition, with the average age of male board members being 53. The youngest board member averages 41 years old. The survey garnered responses from 788 company leaders across Finland.

The Central Chamber of Commerce encourages diversity when selecting board members, underlining that diversity often promotes corporate responsibility.

This year, the proportion of women in the boards of SMEs rose to 29 percent. Two years ago, in 2021, this figure stood at 25 percent, as indicated by the latest SME Board Barometer by the Chambers of Commerce. Notably, the proportion of women in SME boards aligns closely with small publicly listed companies, which feature 28 percent female board members.

The SME Board Barometer conducted by the Chambers of Commerce examines CEOs' perspectives and experiences concerning board activities in small and medium-sized enterprises. The survey is conducted biennially. This year's survey drew responses from 788 company leaders across Finland.

"It's worth noting that in large companies with at least 250 employees, the proportion of women among board members is 40 percent. This figure is slightly higher than the proportion of women on the boards of major publicly traded companies, which stands at 37 percent," highlighted Ville Kajala, Chief Specialist at the Central Chamber of Commerce.

In micro-enterprises (1-9 employees), the proportion of women among board members was 31 percent. Interestingly, whether the board consists solely of company leadership and owners or includes external members seems to have minimal impact on the gender distribution.

Average Age of SME Board Members: 53 Years

According to the survey, the average age of board members in SMEs is 53, whereas the average age for board members in publicly listed companies is 56. The youngest board member in an SME averages 41 years old. Notably, the age range of board members is most diverse in companies with at least 250 employees.

Kajala encourages Finnish companies of all sizes and industries to prioritize diverse board member selection:

"The diversity of skills, experience, and perspectives in a company's board supports its business operations, development, and effective governance. Sufficient diversity enhances the ability to welcome innovative ideas openly and fosters open dialogue. Diversity often contributes to corporate responsibility by taking various aspects into account during decision-making," emphasized Kajala.

HT
The Finnish government is set to adopt stricter rules for work-based immigration by stipulating that foreign workers will have to leave the country if they fail to re-employ themselves within three months of the end of their previous employment.

MINISTER of Employment Arto Satonen (NCP) has floated the possibility of making an exemption for international specialists from the tighter criteria the government is set to introduce for work-based residence permits in an interview with MTV .

The proposal has come under criticism from startups and other businesses, in part because the recruitment process for skilled specialists can take well over three months.

Satonen on Saturday told MTV that the government will devise a special solution for highly skilled specialists.

When were talking about these highly skilled workers, well have to re-examine the system. But in the big picture its justified that if you've entered Finland with a work permit, youll stay in the country for as long as you have work and return to your home country when your work ends, he argued.

Transitioning from an automotive plant to a broiler chicken farm should not take three months, illustrated Satonen.

But its true that for the positions of highly educated workers and especially of people who may have a waiting-period or non-compete clause the process can take time. This is what well have to address specifically, he said.

The government programme makes no mention of the kind of exemption he outlined.

Jani Makela, the chairperson of the Finns Party Parliamentary Group, on Sunday stated to MTV that the populist right-wing party does not support the proposal.

Satonen himself admitted that theres no agreement on this in the government programme, he highlighted. I dont think its terribly smart to start pursuing these kinds of things through the media.

I personally think its peculiar to think that someone whos genuinely a top talent couldnt find work in three months or that they possess top-level skills in something that is of no use in the Finnish labour market, retorted Makela.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
Apple Ambassador is a high-achieving trailblazer

Jackie Hernandez, the Apple Ambassador for the 2023 N.C. Apple Festival, speaks during the opening ceremony of the Apple Festival.

The N.C. Apple Festival made history this year when it named Jackie Hernandez the festivals Apple Ambassador. The rising senior at Hendersonville High School, is the first apple ambassador in the festivals 77-year history to come from a Hispanic family.

Its an honor, Hernandez said of being named Apple Ambassador and of being the first Latina to represent and promote the festival. The idea that there hasnt been another, that Im the first, is insane to me. Its a step in the right direction.

The Apple Ambassador program, which provides two scholarships each year, is open to all rising seniors in Henderson County. Hernandez will attend all four days of the 2023 festival and will also represent the festival at the N.C. Mountain State Fair as well as other events across the state throughout her senior year.

Hernandez said she learned on the day of her interview with festival officials that she would be this years ambassador.

It was exciting, she said, adding that all the candidates for ambassador were incredible people. Its such an honor. Im so excited to represent Henderson County in that way. I love the Apple Festival.

A student at Pats School of Dance, Hernandez has enjoyed performing with the schools dance team during the Apple Festival each year.



First-generation American

The 17-year-old was born in New Jersey but moved to Henderson County shortly after her first birthday. She is the first generation in her family to be born in America.

Her parents, Josefina N. Ades of Hendersonville and Juan Hernandez of New Jersey, came to America from El Salvador 20 to 30 years ago.

They wanted a better life, Hernandez said. They came from nothing. They inspire me every day to push. I want to make them proud.

The daughter certainly succeeded on that count. At HHS, shes president of the student body, the Keywanettes and the Spanish Club and vice president of the National Honor Society chapter.

Hernandez described her mother as very grateful and beyond thrilled when she learned her daughter would be the Apple Ambassador for the festival.

The festival received 20 applications for this years Apple Ambassador scholarship, organizers said.

Hernandez will be awarded a $2,000 college scholarship upon graduation from high school in June 2024.

She said she is still deciding where she wants to attend college and what degree she might want to pursue. Dance and theater are two areas she loves and might lead to a career in the performing arts, she said.

Hernandez said she intends to live in Hendersonville once she completes her education and hopes to help others in the community.

She has worked for the last couple of years as a life guard in the summer at pools in the area and said she enjoys meeting young children and playing with them around the pool.

The runner-up for Apple Ambassador this year is Destiny Simotics, a senior at East Henderson High School. Simotics is the granddaughter of Mike and Laura OConnor. She will be awarded a $1,000 college scholarship.

The scholarship is named in honor of Evelyn Lutz Hill, who served as the secretary of the North Carolina Apple Growers for many years and was serving as the festivals president when she passed away in 2004.






The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of New Jersey have secured a settlement agreement to resolve allegations that Comfort Hands Home Healthcare, LLC (Comfort Hands), a home healthcare provider, discriminated against a person with HIV in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Following an investigation, HHS OCR and the U.S. Attorneys Office found that Comfort Hands, of Marlton, New Jersey, unlawfully discriminated against a potential client by denying home health care services based on her HIV status.

Under the settlement agreement, Comfort Hands will, among other things, implement a non-discrimination policy to ensure that individuals with disabilities, including those with HIV or who are perceived to have HIV, are afforded full and equal opportunities to its benefits and services. Comfort Hands will also provide mandatory non-discrimination training to its employees and pay damages to the individual who experienced this act of discrimination.

The ADA prohibits places of public accommodation, such as Comfort Hands, from discriminating against people with, or perceived to have, disabilities, including HIV. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination based on disability in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance from HHS, while Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act does the same with respect to certain health programs and activities.

The HHS Office for Civil Rights has a long history of taking enforcement actions to protect the rights of people with disabilities, including those with HIV, said OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer. Todays important settlement tangibly contributes to our efforts to ensure nondiscrimination in HHS-funded services. It also advances our newly reinvigorated Olmstead Initiative by removing discriminatory barriers to ensure individuals with disabilities can be served in their own homes and communities.

The U.S. Attorneys Office is committed to ensuring that people with HIV do not face discrimination, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. The ADA prohibits health providers from denying services based on an individuals HIV status. Our office remains steadfast in its efforts to ensure that individuals with HIV and other disabilities are protected from this kind of unlawful discrimination.

Last year, U.S. Attorney Sellinger created a Civil Rights Division with the sole focus of enforcing federal civil rights laws, including the ADA, with the goal of protecting and upholding the civil rights of those in our community. Individuals who believe they may have been victims of discrimination may file a complaint with the U.S Attorneys Office at http://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/civil-rights-enforcement/complaint.

For more information on the ADA and HIV discrimination, visit www.ada.gov/aids. Additional information about the ADA can be found at www.ada.gov, or by calling the Department of Justices toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD). For more information on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and how it protects individuals with disabilities, visit: https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/disability/index.html. For more information on the nondiscrimination provisions in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, visit: https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/section-1557/index.html. For more information about OCRs Olmstead activities, visit: https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/special-topics/community-living-and-olmstead/index.html. You may file a complaint with OCR at: https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/complaints/index.html.

The government is represented by Jaimenys Taveras, Investigator, Eric Brown, SEOS, Frank Musumici, SEOS, Linda C. Colon, Regional Manager and Fernando Morales, Regional Civil Rights Attorney HHS OCR, Attorney Advisors, Marie Soueid and Chayhann Mars, Office of the General Counsel Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Susan Millenky and Emily B. Goldberg of the U.S. Attorneys Offices Civil Rights Division.

To read the full Voluntary Resolution Agreement text, please visit https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-providers/compliance-enforcement/agreements/vra-comfort-hands/index.html
NEW DELHI: The income-tax department may probe several domestic and overseas entities for tax evasion over profits from short-selling shares of companies belonging to the Adani Group following the controversial Hindenburg Research report on the conglomerate published in January, even as the market regulator investigates possible collusion between the firm and at least 20 entities, including security firms and media professionals, at least four people aware of the development said. During investigation by ED, it was also found that many of these firms did not report their windfall gains during this period to the income-tax department (Bloomberg File)

The market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), is basing its investigation party on a report from the Enforcement Directorate that said that certain entities seem to have had prior information about the report and gained materially by short-selling stocks of the Adani Group, with some other people, including journalists, helping amplify the content of the report, they said, requesting anonymity.

A senior ED official, who asked not to be quoted, told HT that their probe was incidental. The intelligence wing of our agency got some information in July about this. Since Sebi was probing it, we immediately sent the report to them. Now, if they file a complaint on this, then we can probe further. We are awaiting directions from them and the court, he said, adding, a large number of investors were impacted and thats why we are concerned.

Some of them are securities firms, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) based out of London, Ireland, France, Mauritius, Hong Kong and Cayman Islands.

Domestic entities include a private financial institution that also has a group company providing banking facilities, and two Delhi-based brokerage firms, the people said without naming any of the entities. To be sure, short-selling is not illegal in these geographies.

Not only the matter is subjudice, but investigations by multiple agencies are on, hence specific details and particular names cannot be disclosed at this stage, one of the people, a government official, said.

During the investigation by ED, it was also found that many of these firms did not report their windfall gains during this period to the income-tax department. The matter is also under investigation by the income-tax department as agencies have arrangements for real-time exchange of intelligence, a second official said. The Union finance ministry is the administrative ministry of both ED and the I-T department.

The ministry of finance, Hindenburg Research and the Adani Group did not respond to email queries seeking comment.

A third person, a legal expert, said: Prima facie a larger conspiracy of financial nature is visible. Overseas entities are attacking Indian entities both for economic gains and geo-political reasons.

(News agency) PTI reported that George Soros-backed OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) could release a similar report on some Indian corporate houses ahead of the G20 Leadership Summit and the General Elections.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has already shared key findings in its investigation report with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which is conducting a detailed probe into the Adani-Hindenburg matter, a fourth person aware of the investigation.

HT on August 15 reported that Sebi on August 14 approached the Supreme Court, seeking an extension of 15 days to conclude its investigation into allegations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud against the Adani group made by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.

The Supreme Court is likely to take up the matter on September 1 or 4.

By an order on May 17, the court had directed Sebi to complete its probe by August 14. Stating that it has progressed substantially, the market regulator said the extension will enable it to submit the final status report on 24 matters it has probed in connection with the report by Hindenburg, the HT report said.

The Hindenburg report claimed brazen accounting fraud and stock manipulation by the Gautam Adani-led group. Though the conglomerate rejected the report as unresearched and maliciously mischievous, it triggered a massive rout of Adani group stocks, which lost about $150 billion in days and forced the cancellation of a 20,000 crore share sale in the groups flagship.

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With the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) directing Karnataka to release Cauvery water ensuring 5,000 cusecs realisation at Biligundlu in Tamil Nadu for the next fortnight, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday said he would speak to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and other legal experts about the prevailing situation. Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar.(HT_PRINT)

Shivakumar, who holds the major and medium irrigation projects portfolio, said the CWRC has ordered release of 5,000 cusecs of water every day though Tamil Nadu had demanded releasing 24,000 cusecs every day.

READ | Cauvery water board directs Karnataka to release 5000 cusecs water to Tamil Nadu for next 15 days

"Our people have fought it vigorously. We have explained our situation (to the CWRC). The technical committee too presented the case. Our officers too have explained the exact situation. We are going to speak to our legal experts. I will speak to the Chief Minister. I have spoken to our officers about the prevailing situation," Shivakumar told reporters in Mysuru.

The DCM said Karnataka was earlier asked to release 10,000 cusecs of water everyday which was reduced to 5,000 cusecs in view of less rainfall.

When asked whether water is being released, Shivakumar said Karnataka has been asked to release from today itself but the government has to see the pros and cons as well.

"We are dependent on our legal team. We will discuss with them and take a decision. I have not spoken about releasing water because we got it (the order) today," he explained.

READ | Karnataka deputy CM: Mekedatu project only solution to end water sharing issue with Tamil Nadu

Shivakumar also said that the Cauvery case is coming up in the Supreme Court on Friday. In this regard, he said he will speak to legal experts to protect the interests of the state.

Sharing details of the current status of dams of Cauvery basin, he said the Gross Storage Capacity (GSC) of Krishnaraja Sagar Dam is 24 TMC but today there is 15 TMC Live Storage.

The GSC of Kabini Reservoir is 13 TMC while it has three TMC live storage. In Harangi, GSC is 7.8 TMC while live storage is 7 TMC. In Hemavathi reservoir, the GSC is 25 TMC and 21 live storage.

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Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy was admitted to a private hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday after complaining of weakness and discomfort. He is said to be suffering from a high fever and getting treated at the hospital. Ex Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy.

Also Read - No action taken: JDS targets Siddaramaiah over inaction on Cauvery dispute

The Apollo hospital has released a health bulletin on the condition of HD Kumaraswamy and said that he is haemodynamically stable and continues to be under observation. The health bulletin read, Mr. HD Kumaraswamy, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, was admitted to Apollo Specialty Hospital, Jayanagar, under the care of Dr. P. Satishchandra and team.

The former CM was rushed to the hospital in the early hours of Wednesday. He arrived around 3:40 AM today with weakness and discomfort. He was immediately evaluated and initiated the treatment for which he has responded very well. Currently, he is hemodynamically stable, comfortable and coherent has been kept under close observation, the bulletin further read.

Kumaraswamy earlier underwent a heart surgery and he has been busy with the production of a movie in which his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy is acting as a hero. The movie was announced a few weeks ago and he was reportedly busy with other party related activities as well.

However, the hospital management said that it will update the health condition further. We will continue to provide updates on his health condition and when there are further developments. Let us collectively send our thoughts and prayers for his swift recovery, said the hospital management.

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In a tragic event, as many as three people lost their lives in Karnataka after a fire broke out at a firecracker warehouse in Haveri district on Tuesday. Police officials said the three deceased were completely charred to death inside the warehouse, news agencies reported. Firefighters douse a fire that broke out at a firecracker shop, in Aladakatti village of Haveri on Tuesday. (ANI Photo)

ALSO READ | Woman garbage collector tries to set MC truck, self ablaze in Panchkula

The incident occurred in Aladakatti village on Haveri-Hanagal main road in the district. The identities of the deceased are yet to be revealed, however, police officials stated that they were all natives of Haveri. The firecrackers were meant to be sold during the ongoing festive season, especially on the upcoming occasions of Ganesha Chathurthi, Dasara and mainly, Deepavali.

It is not clear what started the fire. A 32-year-old man who was in the warehouse along with the three deceased managed to escape the fire after jumping off the third floor. He sustained serious injuries from the fall, which knocked him unconscious. He is a native of Harihara in Davanagere district and is currently being treated at a hospital, reports added.

ALSO READ | Seven killed, several injured in explosion at illegal Bengal firecracker factory

News agency ANI quoted the superintendent of police from Haveri, Dr Shivakumar as saying, Three bodies have been found at the site of the fire incident.

Rescue personnel reached the incident site shortly after receiving information and put out the fire. More details are awaited as further investigation is ongoing.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)

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Five workers lost their lives as a result of inhaling poisonous gas emanating from a tank at a food factory in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district on Wednesday, prompting officials to carry a frantic rescue operation and evacuate the facility. The incident occurred at the factory named 'Sakshi Food Product' in the Jarerua area of the district, the officials said. The facility has been evacuated. (Gurpreet Singh/HT photo/ Representative)

Following the incident, the authorities and the fire brigade arrived at the accident site to take control of the situation. The bodies of all five deceased labourers were sent for post-mortem examination.

Gas started emanating from a tank at the factory around 11 am and two labourers entered it to check it, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Bhupendra Singh Kushwaha told PTI. They took ill after inhaling the gas. Subsequently, three more labourers got affected, he said.

The affected labourers were rushed to the district hospital but were declared dead by a doctor.

The deceased were identified as brothers Ramavtar Gurjar (35), Ramnaresh Gurjar (40) and Veersingh Gurjar (30), all residents of Tiktoli village; Ganesh Gurjar (40) and Girraj Gurjar (28). After the incident, district officials got the factory vacated and further probe was on.

The factory makes processed tutti frutti and sugar-free chemicals used in food products. Factory owner Vipin Goyal said these labourers were engaged in cleaning the tank so that papaya and other ingredients can be immersed in water for a long time to make tutti frutti, gulkand and sugar-free powder. "I am unable to understand how this incident took place today," he said.

District collector Ankit Asthana sent a team led by tehsildar to seal the factory, officials said. A team of revenue, food and industries department has been constituted by the collector to probe the incident, they said.

Morena is located 39 km from the prominent MP city Gwalior.

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Six days after Chandigarh Police registered cross FIRs after a brawl between former Punjab Congress minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawas son and a Panjab University (PU) student at Hyatt Centric Hotel in Sector 17, the latter shared a video with the media, accusing the former of assaulting him outside the hotel with his security officers. On August 23, Chandigarh Police had registered cross FIRs after a brawl between former Punjab Congress minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawas son and a Panjab University student at Hyatt Centric Hotel in Sector 17. (HT)

Holding a press conference at Chandigarh Press Club on Wednesday, PU law student Narveer Singh Gill demanded that kidnapping sections be added in the FIR against Randhawas son Udayveer Singh lodged after the brawl on August 23.

In the video, whose authenticity could not be verified, a person can be seen crouching on the floor with his head down. A security personnel is pinning him down, while the person recording him, is repeatedly kicking him in the head, even after being stopped by the security person.

Narveer alleged that the man being attacked in the video was him, while the assaulter was Udayveer, though his face is not seen in the video.

Narveer claimed that he had handed over the video to the Chandigarh SSP two days after the attack.

While assaulting me, Udayveer himself shot the video to humiliate me. While I was fleeing to safety after the scuffle at the hotel, Randhawas gunman caught me, after which Udayveer again assaulted me and threw me in his car. Therefore, police should add kidnapping section against him, Narveer said.

Narveer also slammed former Punjab cabinet minister and state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring for supporting Udayveers actions, while addressing a protest in Ferozepur.

Warring should have rather snubbed Udayveer for misusing his fathers influence and thrashing students. Instead, he patted his back for assaulting me, Narveer said.

He tossed my turban, provoked me: Udayveer

Meanwhile, responding to the allegations, Udayveer said that it was his sisters birthday on August 23 and he, along with his family, were at the hotel since 8 pm. An entire section of Koyo Koyo restaurant was reserved by his family for their private function.

Narveer came to the restaurant at 10.30 pm. While I was in the toilet, he pounced on me from behind and grabbed my neck. When I turned around, he knocked off my turban and tried to escape from the washroom, but I grabbed his T-shirt. In the process of nabbing him again and taking him to the Sector 17 police station, I got injured, Udayveer alleged.

He added that while the scuffle broke out in the restaurant, his relatives informed the police control room (PCR), but by the time a PCR vehicle reached the hotel, he had already taken Narveer to the police station.

It is disheartening to see how a scuffle between two people, which is being investigated by police, has taken a political turn. The CCTV footage at the restaurant shows that I came out of the toilet with my turban in my hand. I did what any self-respecting Sikh would do when someone lays hands on his turban, he said.

While Udayveer was booked under Sections 341(wrongful restraint) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Narveer, a resident of Phase 3B2, Mohali, along with these two sections, was also booked for criminal intimidation (Section 506) by the Sector 17 police.

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Having ring-fenced 282 crore from its funds for citys waste management on the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the now fund-starved Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) has been forced to stall tenders for development projects till at least December. The decision came after Chandigarh MC ring-fenced  282 crore from its funds for citys waste management on the orders of the National Green Tribunal. (HT PHOTO)

Issuing an order in this regard, MC commissioner Anindita Mitra said, As per orders of NGT to ensure availability of funds to the extent of 282 crore, MC has ring-fenced this amount from its funds available under various heads, including funds allocated under capital head. Therefore, in interest of financial prudence, no new tender shall be floated except those of emergent nature, till further orders.

In May this year, NGT had asked the UT administration to set aside 282 crore for solid and liquid waste management after it sought waiver of penalty for violations.

The municipal commissioners order means that MC will not initiate even the approved development-related projects, at least till December, including those of road carpeting, paver blocks, and renovation or upgrade of community centres and toilets.

Over the last two days, MC had approved various projects to the tune of 10 crore during the F&CC and House meetings. These tenders will also be put on hold for now.

MC relies on funds from the UT administration as well as its revenue sources for its annual income. The civic body received the second instalment of funds from UT in October and the next instalment is expected in December. At present, MC has limited funds available, out of which 282 crore have been allocated for waste management, said Mitra.

She added that the civic bodys monthly liability, including salaries, and funds required for water supply and sewerage management, ran up to 66 crore per month.

The liabilities will be taken care of for the next three months before more funds from UT come in. I have also written a letter to the UT administration to release 34 crore for upgrade of sewerage treatment plants under the Chandigarh Smart City head, the commissioner said.

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Jatin Singh, a PhD scholar, has been unveiled by the National Students Union of India (NSUI) as their presidential face for the upcoming Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC) elections. NSUI presidential candidate Jatin Singh with supporters at Panjab university, Chandigarh. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

During an event at Student Centre on Wednesday, Singh, who jumped from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to the NSUI just a day ago, said he had to switch alliances as his opinions were being stifled by the senior party members. He wanted to organise an event in solidarity with the victims of the violence in Manipur, but was not allowed to do so.

While Singh, a former convener for ABVP, PU, who remained associated with the party for five years, claimed that he was happy to shoulder the responsibility given to him, the move has evoked disappointment among members who have been working for the party for a long time.

They said a parachute candidate could not lead them, alleging that during his interaction on Tuesday, NSUI national in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar had said there were no groups in NSUI and everyone worked for the party, assuring action against anyone working for his or her own vested interests.

On the other hand, according to a party insider, choosing one of the candidates from within the earlier members would have been seen as favouring one group over the other.

Meanwhile, NSUI Chandigarh president and municipal councillor Sachin Galav said the party will unveil their manifesto on Thursday. He added that Singhs vast experience in student politics will be beneficial to them and the party was open to any offers for an open debate with other parties to discuss the status of student politics in Panjab University.

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Police have busted an Uttar Pradesh-based gang of swindlers involved in duping residents by promising them hefty returns on investment with the arrest of four persons. The gang members have been booked under Sections 406 (forgery), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act. (iStock)

The accused would target people looking to invest their money by luring them with double returns, seek a minimum deposit of 50,000, and block them from all communication channels after receiving the money.

Sharing details, probe officials said the accused had created multiple groups on the networking platform Telegram under different names to execute the frauds. Through these groups, they duped people on pretext of doubling their money, trading, purchasing Bitcoin, and offering assistance for various online assignments.

According to the police, the fraudsters have targeted more than 500 people while the number of members in the Telegram groups go up to 80,000.

The arrested accused have been identified as Manisha Chauhan, Rishav Chauhan, Milan and Vishal, all residents of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Police teams have recovered three laptops, 11 mobile phones, 45 ATM cards, SIM cards from various companies, 13 checkbooks, 5 lakh in cash and 4.3 lakh from the accuseds accounts. They also impounded a Tata Punch and Maruti Suzuki Alto cars being used by the accused.

Senior superintendent of police Sandeep Garg said they were investigating the complaint of Akshay Kuma of Baltana, who had been duped of 46,000 by the gang.

During the investigation, it came to light that similar cases had been reported from different parts of the Mohali district and a special team was formed to probe the matter.

Garg said during the investigation, it came to light that the accused had carried out bank transactions worth 1.2 crore in the last one year.

They have been booked under sections 406 (forgery), 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act.

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The Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttarakhand Police on Wednesday arrested a Delhi man from Andhra Pradesh for allegedly issuing threats of bomb blasts in different parts of Nainital. The Uttarakhand police said a cyber team was dispatched to Andhra Pradesh for the arrest of the accused. (Representative Image)

The accused, identified as Nitin Sharma, is a resident of Patel Nagar in Delhi. The police also recovered an Aadhaar card, a drivers license and a voter ID from him.

According to STF, the accused first made a call to the Nainital Police control room in October last year to threaten bomb blasts in Nainital and issued similar threats on the Facebook page of the Nainital Police in July this year. The accused wrote in the threatening message, We will blast bombs in different parts of Nainital within 24 hours all the bombs will explode and Hizbul Mujahideen will take the responsibility.

A case in this regard was registered at Tallital Police Station under Section 66F (Punishment for cyber terrorism) of the Information Technology Act on July 23.

The investigation of the case was immediately transferred to the Cyber Crime Police Station in Dehradun on the instructions of higher officials.

Senior superintendent of police (STF) Ayush Agarwal directed the additional superintendent of police (STF) Chandra Mohan Singh for immediate arrest of the culprits.

SSP STF Ayush Agarwal said, It came to light during the investigation that Nitin Sharma, the man who sent threatening messages, is a resident of Delhi. A cyber team was dispatched to Andhra Pradesh for the arrest of the accused. There, our team stayed for 20 days and searched CCTV cameras in different districts to gather information about him and finally arrested him.

He said, On July 13, 2023, the accused had created a fake Gmail account in the name of Amit Sharma. On the basis of this Gmail account, he created a Facebook ID. Using this fake ID, the accused issued threats on the official page of the Nainital Police.

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Aam Aadmi Party leaders including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slammed the GNCTD (Amendment) Act, 2023, as a licence for the bureaucrats to "openly rebel" against the orders of an elected government and defy ministers' directions. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal ((Vipin Kumar/HT Photo))

The sharp reaction came just after Services Minister Atishi told a press conference that the principal secretary (finance) A C Verma refused to comply with her direction to depute a lawyer to file a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a High Court order against the Delhi government in a matter related to GST refund.

Citing Atishi's allegations that after the chief secretary, the finance secretary has also refused to obey the order of the elected government, the chief minister said the Services Act (GNCTD, Amendment, Act, 2023) will "ruin" Delhi.

"Delhi Services Act gives license to officers to openly rebel against written orders of elected govt. And officers have started refusing to obey orders of elected Ministers. Can any state or country or institution run like this? This Act will ruin Delhi (and) this is what BJP wants. Act needs to be struck down as soon as possible," Kejriwal posted on X.

Atishi claimed that the fear of a "revolt" by the officers after the enforcement of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Amendment Act, 2023, seems to be coming true.

She alleged that efforts were on to scuttle the Delhi government's functioning using the Services Act.

"What was said about the revolt of the officers seems to be coming true. After the Chief Secretary in Delhi, now the Finance Secretary has also written a 40-page letter refusing to obey the orders of the elected government," Atishi alleged.

She said her predecessor Kailash Gahlot had in June directed filing a petition in the Supreme Court in the GST matter involving a refund value of around 1 crore. She said she too issued a similar order on July 12.

"It was not any controversial matter, it was only a day-to-day matter. But from June 5 till date, the case has not been filed even on the request of the ministers. Now by sending a 40-page letter, the principal secretary of finance refuses to accept the order," she said.

She said the finance secretary claimed the lawyer cannot be appointed by her but the Lieutenant Governor would do it.

"Now they are saying that if the Delhi government goes to the court against the LG, then the LG will decide who will be the lawyer," she said.

The minister also attacked the Centre questioning if officers were being asked to sabotage the elected government in Delhi.

"I want to ask again: Has the central government instructed the officers in Delhi to sabotage democracy and refuse to obey every order of the elected government? Does the matter of triple chain of accountability mentioned in the order of the Supreme Court have no importance for them?," she asked.

Atishi, who holds several portfolios including Services and Vigilance in the Kejriwal government, had alleged earlier that Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar was not obeying her order concerning coordination among Delhi government departments and the National Capital Civil Services Authority, NCCSA.

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Miranda House, a University of Delhi constituent college for women, has revised guidelines saying male candidates contesting the September 22 students union elections or their supporters will not be allowed on campus without the principals prior permission after intimating the local police station. The elections are scheduled to be held on September 22. (HT PHOTO)

The revision of the norms came after candidates of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Partys ideological fount Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, were accused of forcefully entering the campus on Tuesday. A video of the incident purportedly showed students asking them to leave.

The Left-wing All India Students Association alleged a group of men barged into the college and harassed students.

ABVPs national media convener Ashutosh Singh denied the allegations saying all male candidates along with female students of their Miranda House unit followed the code of conduct and demonstrated utmost dignity.

Miranda House principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda said they had permitted only four students to enter campus but a dozen others followed when they came in. Nothing untoward happened but we have issued new guidelines to be on the safe side...[the guidelines] have been sent to the police and the university. She added the college was conducting an inquiry as well.

Professor Chandra Shekhar, the chief election officer for Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) polls, said they held a meeting on Monday and asked candidates to strictly follow the code of conduct. All principals have been instructed to ensure the same.

The revised guidelines say only up to five candidates or their supporters will be allowed on the Miranda House campus after ascertaining their identities through ID cards. The universitys norms permit only four students to enter a campus at a time.

The new guidelines warn against littering, say no loud sloganeering shall be allowed, and that candidates will be held accountable in case of any destruction or defacement of property.

The University of Delhi on Thursday last announced the DUSU polls will be held on September 22, four years after the last elections were held.

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GURUGRAM: Cow vigilante Raj Kumar, known as Bittu Bajrangi, who was arrested two weeks ago in connection with the communal violence on July 31 in Nuh, was granted bail by a Nuh sessions court on Wednesday. The Nuh police produce cow vigilante Raj Kumar, better known as Bittu Bajrangi, before a Nuh sessions court. (HT File Photo/Parveen Kuma)

Bajrangi, who had released a provocative video a day before the jal abhishek yatra, was arrested for allegedly brandishing weapons during the rally when violence erupted on July 31, police said. The violence soon spiralled and spread to Sohna, Palwal and Gurugram, leaving six people dead and over 88 injured over two days.

Police said Bajrangi was also booked for obstructing the police from performing duty, assaulting them and fleeing after snatching weapons seized by the police from the spot.

He (45) was arrested on August 15 after a chase in Faridabad.

While granting bail on Wednesday, additional district and sessions judge Sandeep Kumar Duggal put in place certain riders  Bajrangi will not visit Nuh district without prior permission from the superintendent of police and will stay away from making public statements, particularly on social media.

The major grounds on which Bajrangi was granted bail included the delay of a fortnight in registering an FIR against him, improbable allegations of snatching seized weapons like swords from police, and lack of evidence to ascertain whether the weapons Bajrangi carried were meant to inflict injury on policemen or to members of a particular community, the court said.

The allegations against the applicant-accused are that he along with his supporters had tried to snatch the sword and trishul (trident) which were carried by the applicant and his followers. It has nowhere been pointed out as to whether weapons were being used to cause violence on the spot or to inflict any injury either to the policemen or to any people of a particular community. No such allegations are there, the court said.

It further stated that snatching such weapons from the policemen was highly improbable.

In this case, the applicant is in custody for the past 14 days. Investigation qua the applicant has been concluded. Conclusion of trial shall take sufficient time. In these circumstances, no purpose would be served by keeping the applicant behind custody. Therefore, I deem it appropriate to grant the concession of regular bail to the applicant, the judge said.

Advocate LN Parashar, who represented Bajrangi, told the court that Bajrangi was in Faridabad in connection with another case -- of allegedly posting communally provocative speech on social media -- when Nuh police alleged that he was in Nalhar carrying swords on July 31.

Most importantly, the FIR was registered against him on August 15, a fortnight after the communal violence. This indicates that it was an afterthought of the Nuh police to book him. Nowhere was it alleged in the FIR that he had instigated others with the weapons, Parashar said.

SK Parmar, the public prosecutor, while opposing bail, submitted that Bajrangis mobile phone location showed that he was present in Nalhar on July 31 and due to the critical law and order situation in the district, an FIR could not be registered against him promptly. Bajrangi had given hate speeches besides obstructing policemen while snatching seized weapons, he told the court.

There were four more cases against Bajrangi in Faridabad in which he has already obtained bail. He is expected to come out of jail by Thursday evening, his counsel said.

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Five persons, including two who sustained bullet injuries during an exchange of fire with police, were arrested in connection with the Ranaghat dacoity case in West Bengals Nadia district. Two showrooms of a well-known jewellery company were looted in Nadia and Purulia districts of West Bengal on Tuesday afternoon by gangs that operated almost simultaneously. (Representative Image)

Police have also recovered a portion of the jewellery and cash that were looted from the outlet. A search for the other members of the gang have been launched.

We have arrested five persons, all in the early 20s. They are mostly residents of Vaishali district in Bihar. Two of them had sustained bullet injuries during an exchange of fire with the police when they were fleeing with the looted jewellery, said K Kannan, superintendent of Ranaghat police district.

Two showrooms of a well-known jewellery company were looted in Nadia and Purulia districts of West Bengal on Tuesday afternoon by gangs that operated almost simultaneously, police said.

A team of police officials from Purulia reached Nadia to question the accused persons on Wednesday. None could be arrested in the Purulia dacoity case till reports last came in.

A team from Madhya Pradesh also reached Ranaghat to question the accused persons in connection with a dacoity case, which took place in the state last month, a senior official said.

In the Ranaghat case there were at least eight persons, police said after scanning CCTv footages. The looted jewellery worth around 8 crore and cash around 3 lakh. The entire cash and jewellery worth around 1 crore have been recovered.

Some of the gangs members have been staying in a house in Kalyani in Nadia. They have been conducting recce of the jewelry shop for more than a month, a senior officer said.

Police have detained the house owner for questioning. Three motorcycles used by the gang were also seized.

The showroom in Nadia is located at the busy Ranaghat town. The other showroom is located at Purulia towns Namopara area, a business district not far from the railway station.

There has been no arrest in the Purulia dacoity case, said a senior officer.

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The Kolkata police on Wednesday questioned an executive of Leaps and Bounds Pvt Ltd in connection with the complaint he lodged against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stating that the federal agency downloaded 16 Excel files on a desktop computer during an 18-hour raid at the companys office between August 21 and 22. The Kolkata high court pulled up ED for using the computer for personal work during an official raid. (File Photo)

Although the ED team seized several documents and hard discs from the office at New Alipore in south Kolkata, the desktop computer was not taken away.

The raid has triggered a slugfest between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because after the raid the ED issued a press statement saying Abhishek Banerjee, MP from TMC, is the chief executive officer (CEO) of M/s Leaps and Bounds Private Limited and was also a director in the company from April 2012 to January 2014.

Abhishek Banerjee is the nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress (TMC)s national general secretary.

The raid was conducted in connection with the bribe-for-job scam in the education department, the ED statement said.

Chandan Banerjee, a Leaps and Bounds executive, lodged a complaint with the cybercrime branch of the Kolkata police on August 25 stating that the Excel files were noticed after the ED officers left.

The Kolkata police sought an explanation from ED after receiving the complaint.

Responding to the query, the ED wrote to the Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal on August 26 that one of the officers involved in the raid mistakenly downloaded the files while searching for hostels for his daughter, who is a student at a government engineering college in Howrah.

After this, the ED was asked to send its officer to the police headquarters for questioning but the federal agency did not comply, a police officer, who did not want to be identified, said.

Meanwhile, Chandan Banerjee was also summoned by ED on August 28 for questioning in the bribe-for-job scam, Kolkata police officials said.

Banerjees statement in regard to the downloading of the files was recorded on Wednesday, a Kolkata police officer said on condition of anonymity.

The issue surfaced at the Calcutta high court on Tuesday as well during a hearing on the education department scam. Justice Amrita Sinha pulled up ED for using the computer for personal work during an official raid.

No ED official commented on the police investigation.

Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday said the raid was conducted a day after he returned to Kolkata from the USA where he had gone for an eye treatment, and alleged that ED officials had left those 16 files in the computer.

A day after I returned, ED officials were sent to my office. They left 16 files in a computer. If the CBI visits the same place after seven days and discovers those files, another smear campaign will start. I reiterate that if there is an iota of evidence against me, no ED or CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) will be required. I will voluntarily walk to the gallows and hang myself. Does anyone else in this country has the courage to say this? he said.

Reacting on the issue, Mamata Banerjee said, The ED planted those files in the computer. How can they enter an office without informing anyone? Yesterday, someone sent me a message saying they may arrest Abhishek. If you think you are experts on computers, so are we.

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Having already announced its support for Samajwadi Party candidate Sudhakar Singh, the Congress has joined the Ghosi assembly bypoll campaign where Dara Singh Chauhan, a former minister back in the BJP camp after a spell in the SP, is also in the fray. Mau district Congress president Intikhab Alam speaking at a meeting. (SOURCED IMAGE)

Scheduled for September 5, the bypoll is the first electoral contest between the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and the National Democratic Alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav addressed a public rally in Ghosi on Tuesday. And now the Congress deputed its teams for the campaign. It has asked the SP to provide a list where state Congress leaders may hold public meetings.

Yes, our team led by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) secretary incharge has already reached Ghosi and campaigning there. I have asked them (SP leaders) to let me know if I need to address any public meetings there, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai said on the phone.

Mau Congress district Congress president Intikhab Alam said UPCC secretary (incharge Mau) has been camping in the constituency. He said he shared the dais with the Samajwadi Party leaders at a corner meeting at Auliapur on Wednesday.

We have been asked to visit the areas dominated by Dalits, Rajbhars and the weavers. We have asked for a list from the SPs district unit for campaigning. We have also requested the SP leaders to inform us about the areas where the UPCC chief Ajay Rai may address public meetings if needed, Alam said.

At his public meeting in Ghosi on Tuesday, Akhilesh Yadav said the by-election will make history.

I thank all the parties which are supporting the SP in this by-election. This decision of all parties will bring a big change in the politics of the country. This election will create history. Its message will go to the entire country. The INDIA alliance is united. The BJP is nervous about the unity of the alliance, Akhilesh Yadav said.

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LUCKNOW A day before the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) meeting in Mumbai, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati dismissed speculations of joining INDIA or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), saying her party would single-handedly contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BSP will contest the LS and assembly elections in four states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana on its own strength, said Mayawati (File Photo)

The NDA and INDIA mostly comprise of parties that are anti-poor, casteist, communal and pro-rich, against whose policies BSP is continuously fighting. That is why the question of contesting elections in alliance with the two alliances does not arise, she posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.

The BSP will contest the LS and assembly elections in four states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana on its own strength, she said.

The former chief minister urged the media to refrain from spreading fake news. Despite the manipulations and manoeuvres of the opponents, the BSP, like in the 2007 assembly election, will go solo in the 2024 Lok Sabha election and the upcoming assembly elections in four states by uniting millions of neglected people on the basis of mutual brotherhood. The media should not spread misconception, she said.

She said all political parties were eager for an alliance with the BSP. If the BSP does not opt for alliance, the opposition alleges collusion with the BJP. If you meet the opposition leaders, then you are secular, if you dont meet them, you are with the BJPits grossly unfair, she said.

Hitting out at former MLA Imran Masood (who was expelled from the BSP on Tuesday), Mayawati said: After being expelled from the party, the former Saharanpur MLA is busy praising the Congress and top leaders of that party, due to which it is natural for people to ask the question - why he left the Congress and joined another party? How can people trust such people?

The BSP had not received an invitation for the third INDIA meeting to be held in Mumbai on Thursday. The BSP was also not invited for the previous two meetings in Patna and Bengaluru, despite an indication by Mayawati that her party was open to opposition alliance.

Fifteen political parties had attended the first opposition parties meeting in Patna on June 23, hosted by the Janata Dal (U). Eight more were invited to the Bengaluru meeting on July 17-18. Top leaders of the 26 parties are likely to attend the two-day meeting of INDIA in Mumbai.

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Mumbai: As the third meeting of the INDIA coalition is being held in Mumbai, the ruling alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has convened a two-day review meeting for Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra. The meetings of the ruling parties are being held at the same time as the INDIA bloc on Thursday and Friday. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde with State Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.(Sen Gautam)

Chief minister Eknath Shinde has invited MLAs, MPs, district presidents and key leaders of the three ruling parties and their smaller allies for dinner on Thursday. Before it, there will be a formal meeting between them to take stock of the Lok Sabha preparation. CM and his two deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, ministers and key leaders are expected to attend the meeting at Varsha, the official residence of the CM. It will be followed by a detailed constituency-wise review by the leaders on Friday. By dividing the state into five regions, the leaders have been asked to attend them at NSCI, Worli throughout the day. (INDIA meet LIVE updates)

Also Read: Panels, logo, public outreach on agenda of INDIA meeting

Apart from BJP, factions of Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, other smaller allies like RPI-Athawale, RPI-Kawade, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi led by Hitendra Thakur, Jan Swarajya Shakti led by Vinay Kore, Prahar Janshakti led by Bachchu Kadu, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha led by Mahadev Jankar, Rayat Kranti Paksha led by Sadabhau Khot are expected to attend the meetings.

Our meeting was pre-scheduled and has nothing to do with the INDIA meeting. The opposition parties come together ahead of the general elections, but it would not impact our alliance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be re-elected to the post for the third time after the 2024 elections, said industries minister and Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant.

According to a minister, the ruling party meetings are convened to ensure that the opposition does not hog the limelight.

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Mumbai: The sessions court on Tuesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Satish Kalyankar (58) and Onkar Ashwinikumar Sovan (30), directors in Vedanta InnoTech Private Limited (VIPL) to whom a contract for supplying body bags at allegedly inflated rates was given by the BMC. The court has observed that there was misuse of public funds. The directors of VIPL claimed that the body bags supplied to the BMC were the only bags that qualified for supply and were as per the guidelines of the ministry of health and family welfare. (Representative Image)

The court also rejected the anticipatory bail plea of former mayor and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Kishori Pednekar in connection with the case as well as the pleas of Kalyankar and Sovan, observing that the allegations need to be viewed seriously.

It is alleged that VIPL supplied body bags for Covid-19 victims to the BMC at 6,719 apiece. The contract was awarded to VIPL even though a contract had already been awarded to M/s Care One Solutions to supply body bags at the rate of 2,583 per piece.

The contract given to Care One Solutions was cancelled to award a fresh contract to VIPL which was over three times ( 1,500 per piece) what VIPL had charged other private hospitals or government authorities during the same period, an earlier inquiry had revealed.

According to the economic offences wing, Pednekar, unknown public servants and private persons, who were entrusted with the use of BMC funds, hatched a criminal conspiracy to favour VIPL and its directors, and defrauded the BMC to the tune of 49,63,200.

The directors of VIPL claimed that the body bags supplied to the BMC were the only bags that qualified for supply and were as per the guidelines of the ministry of health and family welfare. They claimed that they had provided three different types of sample body bags for testing, each with a different price and quality, and the material used was impermeable, leakproof, air-sealed, double-sealed, disposable, opaque, white, U-shaped with a zip and 4/6 grip, while the body bags of Care One Solution did not meet with the requisite qualifications.

However, the court refused to accept the contentions and observed that prima facie, there were serious allegations against the applicants. It also noted that this showed the latters interference in the purchase of masks, body bags and other articles during the Covid-19 pandemic. The order said: It is alleged that there was conspiracy in getting cancelled the contract for purchase of those articles passed in favour of M/s Care One Solutions and getting purchased those articles at higher rate from M/s Vedant Innotech Pvt Ltd. There is also complaint by M/s Care One Solutions addressed to Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) at M.C.G.M. that delivery of the material was not accepted though it was sent as per purchase order from M.C.G.M. (sic)

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The Bhiwandi city police have arrested a man for allegedly raping and giving triple talaq to a 27-year-old woman in Bhiwandi on August 24. The accused has been identified as Raju alias Siraj Qureshi, a resident of Bhiwandi. He has been married for 10 years and has four children. Siraj Qureshi and asked the woman to convert to Islam if she wanted to live with him. (Getty image)

According to an FIR lodged by the victim, she married a man from Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh in 2012 under Hindu customs and has a seven-year-old daughter from the union.

She separated from her husband in 2018, and she and her daughter began living with her elder sister in Bhiwandi. In 2019, she got a friend request from the accused through a social media app in which he identified himself as Raju. Later, both contacted each other through social media.

The accused told the woman that he owned a hotel in the Gaibi Nagar area in Bhiwandi and that he was unmarried. He then proposed marriage to her, assuring her that he would take care of both her and her daughter.

He allegedly raped the woman at a lodge in Bhiwandi in 2020. On January 26 that year, he married the woman according to Hindu customs, the police official said, quoting the FIR.

A year after their wedding, the victim was shocked when the accused revealed his true identity as Siraj Qureshi and asked the woman to convert to Islam if she wanted to live with him. The woman accepted his demand, and they married again according to Islamic customs.

In May this year, Qureshi told the woman that he was already married with four children, and would lose his share in his ancestral property if they continued their relationship, said the police official. He then gave her triple talaq.

The victim further stated in the FIR that on May 4 this year, the accused beat her when she refused to sign the talaq documents and made her sign them using force. On August 20, she went to the local corporators office in Bhiwandi for a meeting with the accused and his family. She said the corporator told her that her divorce had been completed, and if she wanted to live with the accused again, she would have to undergo nikah halala under the Shariat law. In this process, the woman is made to marry another person, who has to consummate the marriage before the woman can marry her first husband again.

The woman then approached the police, following which a case was registered against Qureshi under Sections 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 376 (Punishment for rape), 506 (Criminal intimidation) and 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, which criminalises triple talaq, was also applied.

DCP Navnath Dhavle, Bhiwandi, said, We have lodged a case and arrested the accused and produced him in court, which remanded him to police custody. Further investigation is under way.

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Mumbai: The state-run JJ hospitals super-speciality building, which has been under construction since 2020, has been granted an 18-month extension by the new medical education minister, Hasan Mushrif after it missed the deadline in July. To date, only 29% of the work has been completed. The new deadline for the super speciality building is now dated March 30, 2025. (Hindustan Times)

Mushrif announced the extension following two review meetings, including a site visit on August 28. The new deadline for the super speciality building is now dated March 30, 2025.

Despite the present contractor missing the deadline, senior officials at JJ hospital said the extension was given to avoid delay in constructing the 10-storey building since appointing a new contractor could have led to further delay.

Although the deadline was missed, the reasons given by the contractor were genuine, which were taken into consideration, while giving the extension. During the Covid-19 pandemic, work never stopped, though the pace was slow, said a senior official from the medical education department.

Given the delay and slow pace of the construction, Girish Mahajan, former medical education minister, had decided to cancel the contract, said a PWD official.

The foundation work of the building is almost complete after the initial hurdles like tree-cutting permissions and piling work. The slabs have been cast till the four floors, and brickwork has started. Getting a new contractor at this juncture will delay the project further as the present one knows what needs to be done, said a PWD official.

Earlier, the contractor had asked for an extension till 2026, which was rejected.

The super speciality hospital was planned in 2010, and Ratnakar Gaikwad, then chief secretary, had put it on the fast track. When the BJP government took over in 2014, Mahajan got all the sanctions. The Bhoomi poojan was done in 2019, and the work order was issued in July 2020. The contractor was supposed to complete the work in 36 months.

At present, the hospital has 1,200 beds, and another 1,200 beds will be added after the new building is constructed, making it the largest hospital in Mumbai.

The 778.65 crore project will also house a VVIP ward and cardiovascular, neurosurgery, paediatric, urology, gastroenterology, surgical oncology, neurology, endocrinology, paediatrics, nephrology, chest and pulmonary diseases, pharmacology, haematology, rheumatology, medical oncology, and other departments.

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Mumbai: The Union environment ministrys regional empowered committee in Nagpur has sanctioned the diversion of 12.78 hectares of un-notified mangrove forests, for expansion of railway services between Borivali and Virar. The proposal, which will lead to the felling of 2612 trees (including 2092 mangroves), has been awaiting the Centres clearance for over a year. HT Image

Under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (Phase III), a fifth and sixth railway line will be added to the currently congested Western Railway at a cost of around 2,184 crore. The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has also been instructed to work with the state forest department and construct a series of animal underpasses to ensure the smooth movement of wildlife in the region.

The proposed project is 2.58 km from the boundary of Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, 1.8 km from Sanjay Gandhi National Park and 16.30 km from Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary. The deputy conservator of forests, Dahanu, has mentioned that there is the presence of Schedule- I animals like Indian Chameleon, Cobra, Python, Russells Viper, the REC noted while clearing the proposal.

As per the MVRCs proposal, the 12.78 hectares of mangroves proposed for diversion are located in Mumbais Dahisar village (3.68 hectares), Thanes Penpada village (1.42 hectares) and Palghars Umele village (7.67 hectares).

There are right now five lines between Mumbai Central and Borivali and the sixth line is under construction. From Borivali to Virar there are only four lines, so the bottleneck effect at Borivali will worsen if the network is not expanded. This will segregate suburban and non-suburban services on the western line beyond Borivali, and create independent slow and fast corridors between Virar and Churchgate which will allow for us to increase services across the entire length, said an official with the MRVC.

Though forest clearance applications typically ask project proponents to submit an analysis of alternative alignments for linear intrusions, the MVRC has clarified that no such analysis is possible in the given instance because of the site-specific nature of this project and that the area sought to be cleared is barest minimum and unavoidable.

The MRVC is yet to obtain necessary clearances from the Bombay high court for the clearing of mangroves, and CRZ clearance from the state coastal zone management authority.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the prime minister, approved Phase-IIIA of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project in April 2020 to improve the connectivity of mass rapid transport between Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts.

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Mumbai: In direct contravention of the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) notification barring Ganesh idol immersions in Aarey talao this year, several current and former MLAs have declared that they will carry out the immersions with the usual pomp and ostentation, ban or no ban. MLAs and corporators set to defy ban on Ganesh visarjan in Aarey

We have spoken to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and we are also meeting municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal in the coming week, as he is the chairman of the committee that overlooks ESZs. Any activity in an ESZ needs their permission, said Atul Bhatkhalkar, BJP MLA from Kandivali. I have full faith that the committee will take a favourable decision, because Ganesh visarjan at Aarey is a 100-year-old tradition. Visarjan will take place at Aarey at any cost.

Former Shiv Sena MLA and corporator Vinod Ghosalkar echoed Bhatkhalkars words. We will do the visarjan there even if permission is not given, he said, adding, If there is a law-and-order situation, were not responsible. This is ours and the peoples decision. The government has to listen.

The order for the ban was given on August 11, and the Ganeshotsav festival is to be held between September 19 and 28 this year. Around 3,500 idols are immersed in Aarey, 350 of which are big sarvajanik idols.

The ESZ notification has been in place since 2016, but they have allowed visarjans at Aarey even after, said Ghosalkar. Were not saying we wont follow the notification but this is very short notice to make arrangements for all the idols elsewhere. Ghosalkar added that they had the support of MLAs Sunil Prabhu and Ravindra Waikar.

Ashok Patel, a former corporator, said they would be meeting Tukaram Mundhe, CEO of Aarey Milk Colony this week. The Ganesh visarjan will happen in all its glory in the Aarey talao. This is the stand of our organisation, the Upnagar Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti, said Patel defiantly.

Stalin D, of the NGO Vanashakti, whose letter to the environment and forest departments, the BMC and the CEO of Aarey Milk Colony prompted the ban on immersions, refuted the possibility that the ban could be repealed. The municipal commissioner cannot give permission for visarjan, and if he does, we will take the BMC to court, he said. Stalin added that in addition, the municipal commissioner should be held responsible for not enforcing the notification in previous years.

Rajesh Akre, assistant commissioner of P South Ward, said he had also sought permission to allow immersions from Mundhe but was refused. Alternatives for visarjan are to be made at Marve, Borivali and Juhu Beach by the BMC.

These MLAs want to break the law and are encouraging others to do the same, said Stalin. The delay in the enforcement of the ESZ is no justification for delaying it even longer, and enough time has been given for alternatives to be arranged. My only request to the leaders is to take steps to save the environment, not destroy it.

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MUMBAI: The NITI Aayog will draft an economic masterplan for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to help raise the gross domestic product of the city from the existing $140 billion to $300 billion by 2030, people familiar with the matter said after the meeting between Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and top officials of the Centres public policy think tank. NITI Aayog chief executive officer BVR Subramanyam said the NITI Aayog will present the blueprint of the economic masterplan for Mumbai in the next four months

The NITI Aayog has identified 20 cities that will drive the growth of the country to help achieve its target of a $5 trillion economy, a Maharashtra planning department official said. The official underlined that while states have traditionally planned for the land use and physical masterplan, there has been no attempt to draft an economic masterplan. The NITI Aayog is doing this for these 20 cities. In the first phase, MMR has been chosen along with Surat, Varanasi and Visakhapatnam, the official added.

At Tuesdays meeting, NITI Aayog chief executive officer BVR Subramanyam said the NITI Aayog will present the blueprint of the economic masterplan in the next four months. The state government has also constituted a committee of senior officials for the implementation of the plan.

Maharashtra has skilled manpower, and a robust infrastructure with projects such as Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), coastal highway, and the Samruddhi expressway is expected to be operational soon. With last mile connectivity in place, MMR will be in a position to grow fast, generating more jobs, attracting information technology and the automobile industry in the near future., the official said.

Chief minister Ekanath Shinde said that the state governments target of making the state a $1 trillion economy could be achieved out of the growth in MMR.

Shinde expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for including MMR in the four cities that are part of the pilot project to make them the growth hub and announced a dedicated team of senior officials. He added that the master plan will help the state raise its contribution to the countrys GDP from the existing 13%.

The MMRs gross domestic product is more than that of many countries including Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Israel and Chili.

The population of the MMR is expected to grow over 27 million by 2030. The growh rate of the MMR ranged between 5 and 5.5% for the last five years, and to achieve the expected growth in the next seven years, an investment of $150 billion is needed. The urbanisation rate of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Punjab would be over 50% by 2030 and the cities in these states need to be economically capable, Subramanyam said in a presentation at the meeting attended by deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.

NITI Aayog called for a focus on hospitality, tourism, construction, financial services, education, health, logistics, transport for the overall development.

V Radha, additional secretary, NITI Aayog said, Generally we make masterplans for cities, but we are chalking out economic plan for MMR with the right policies to unlock the potential of the cities using the growth drivers. MMR is in good time now as the mega projects such as second airport, MTHL are nearing completion. There should be systematic efforts to ensure how can these projects become a money spinner for MMR.

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A lawyer was allegedly shot dead by two unidentified men in his chamber at the Ghaziabad tehsil and escaped the scene of crime on Wednesday afternoon, police said adding that they have formed several teams to trace the suspects. Several purported videos of the incident also emerged in which the bleeding man was seen on his chair inside the chamber. (Representative Image)

The police identified the lawyer as Manoj Chaudhary alias Monu Chaudhary, aged about 40, and said that he was having lunch in his chamber at the tehsil compound in Ghaziabads Gandhi Nagar.

The Sihani Gate police received a call around 2.15pm that two unidentified men had shot dead Manoj Chaudhary while the victim was sitting in his chamber. Several teams have been formed to trace the suspects and the body was sent for autopsy, said Nipun Agarwal, deputy commissioner of police (DCP  city).

The lawyers at the tehsil said that Chaudhary was having food in his chamber and was on a chair when the suspects fired one shot.

The shot was fired from close range to his head and he collapsed on the chair where he was sitting. The police are checking CCTV footage from nearby chambers and also inspected the scene of crime, said Ramanand Goyal, a lawyer at the tehsil.

Several purported videos of the incident also emerged in which the bleeding man was seen on his chair inside the chamber. Police said that they are trying to find out the suspects and probing enmity or personal rivalry angles behind the incident.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Peeyush Khandelwal Peeyush Khandelwal writes on a range of issues in western Uttar Pradesh  from crime, to development authorities and from infrastructure to transport. Based in Ghaziabad, he has been a journalist for almost a decade. ...view detail
The 16-year-old student killed in Khiri on Monday was cremated at Daraganj ghat, on Tuesday night, with the consent of his family. Locals protesting the murder of a 16-year-old student in Khiri on Monday (HT File Photo)

After the post-mortem examination, the police took the body to Daraganj ghat and not his native village, fearing sparking unrest. His last rites were performed by his family members amidst heavy security.

Meanwhile, in Khiri area, the situation is returning to normality where thousands of protestors had blocked the road at Khiri Bazar and surrounded the police station after the killing of the 16-year-old, allegedly by some persons of a different community, on Monday afternoon.

Villagers staged a protest for over 30 hours after it came to the fore that the student was killed for objecting to the molestation of his cousin, a Class 9 student of the same school.

DCP trans-Yamuna Santosh Kumar Meena said shops in Khiri Bazar area opened on Wednesday and the situation has turned normal. However, the police force continues to be deployed in the area as a precautionary measure. Five accused have been arrested in connection with the killing, he added.

Police officials said that the autopsy report suggests that the student died following a deep injury to the back of his head, inflicted with a hard object. Bruises were also found on the body during the autopsy performed by a panel of three doctors.

Meanwhile, district magistrate Sanjay Khatri has assured the kin of the deceased student of providing financial assistance. The DM said that the government has approved financial assistance to the family.

Officials are also scanning details of properties, including the house, land and bank accounts of the accused and their kin. Administrative officials in the trans-Yamuna area  where the accused and their families reside  have been asked to prepare a report of the assets owned by the accused and their kin. Officials will carry out investigations to ascertain if these assets were earned through illegal means.

MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi reached Khiri on Wednesday and met the aggrieved kin of the dead student. The MP assured the family of all possible help in getting justice.

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Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday said that Lord Rams name was used politically to spread hatred, but Ram was a symbol of love. Bhupesh Baghel (middle) said that Lord Ram was Bhancha Ram (nephew Lord Rama) for Chhattisgarh. (Image posted by Bhupesh Baghel on X (formerly Twitter))

Inaugurating a statue of Lord Ram and other developmental work in Chankhuri village in Raipur, as part of his governments Ram Van Gaman tourism circuit project, Baghel also said that Lord Ram was Bhancha Ram (nephew Lord Rama) for Chhattisgarh.

According to the legends, Ram Van Gaman path is the path taken by Lord Ram to go in exile. The path runs from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, then from Madhya Pradesh to Dandakaranya jungles in Chhattisgarh. The tourism circuit is being developed from Harchouka in Sitamarhi, Koriya district, till Ramaram in Bastars Sukma district (in Dandakaranya jungles).

Baghel launched the first phase of the project in December 2021 in Chandkhuri, the birthplace of Mata Kaushalya, the mother of Lord Ram, and unveiled a 51 feet-tall statue of Lord Ram.

Under the first phase of the project, nine sites have been selected where renovation and beautification of the temples will be done by the state government. The sites are Sitamarhi-Harchaika (Koriya), Ramgarh (Ambikapur), Shivrinarayan (Janjgir-Champa), Turturiya (Baloda Bazar), Chandkhuri (Raipur), Rajim (Gariaband), Sihawa-Saptarishi Ashram (Dhamtari), Jagdalpur (Bastar) and Ramaram (Sukma).

We are working on the first phase of nine sites from Koriya to Konta and we are trying to develop these sites as a tourism circuit, Baghel said.

He also added that his government is also working to preserve the tribal culture in the state.

A Congress leader said that the Ram Van Gaman project has helped the party to create a counter-narrative to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)s Ram Mandir campaign.

The Ram Mandir campaign built the iconography of an angry Lord Ram en route to Lanka to wage a war on Ravana and bring back Mata Sitaji. Jai Shri Ram, the war cry of his army became the war cry of the campaign of the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliates. Surprisingly, there was an inherent contradiction in the whole campaign as the temple was meant for Ram Lalla (infant Lord Ram) but the infant Ram Lallas images were never made part of the BJPs campaign. The Congress in Chhattisgarh used this gap and turned it in their favour, a Congress leader said on condition of anonymity.

The leader said that the party worked in two ways -- firstly, the Chhattisgarh congress leadership asserted that since Mata Kaushalya belonged to the state, Lord Ram was a Bhancha or nephew of the state.

Hence, in place of Jai Shri Ram, Jai Bhancha Ram is a more apt slogan as it highlights the relationship of Lord Ram with the people of the state. This invoking of the tradition and religion, with local culture- in sync with the Chhattisgarhiya sub nationalism of the Congress, went well with the public who accepted it wholeheartedly. Even the BJP had to use the Jai Bhancha Ram slogan in the state due to its acceptance, said the leader.

Secondly, the Congress government created new sites of pilgrimage for Ram devotees by forming the Van Gaman Path and advertising it aggressively.

Before it, only Ayodhya (where Lord Ram was born), Chitrakoot and Rameshwaram (where Ram did Shakti puja) were the sites of pilgrimage for devotees of Lord Ram. Most of the area in between was left unnoticed. Sites falling on Van Gaman path were just local sites. Bhupesh Baghel as CM did invest a lot of effort and money to bring them to notice and make them accessible. Who knows, with time, the Van Gaman path might start attracting yatras like the Chitrakoot Parikrama, said the Congress leader.

However, senior BJP leader and spokesperson Sachhinand Upasane termed the Congress move as a mere stunt.

People of the state know how the Congress is fooling them. The Congress in its culture never believed in Lord Rama. This stunt to develop tourism circuit will not help them in winning elections, he said.

Chhattisgarh- based political commentator Parivesh Mishra said that Congress is trying to project Lord Ram as religious symbol to connect with the majority community.

Besides being a religious symbol to help the Congress present a majority-friendly face, Ram has become a sort of economic exigency for the funds-starved government in Chhattisgarh. The state has got more landmarks and mythological footprints of Ram and characters that appear in Ramayan than any other state, he said.

Mishra further said that the prospects of religious tourism thus make a lot of economic sense for Chhattisgarh.

The subject in fact has the potential of becoming the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) for tourism here. It is not a coincidence that the forest -Dandakaranya - where Ram is believed to have spent most of his time during the 14-year exile is the core area of Maoist activities. The development of tourism will perhaps be the most non-intrusive vehicle of development in the area, said Mishra.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ritesh Mishra State Correspondent for Chhattisgarh. Reports Maoism, Politics, Mining and important developments from the state. Covered all sorts of extremism in Central India. Reported from Madhya Pradesh for eight years. ...view detail
LUCKNOW Minister of State for Transport (Independent Charge), Daya Shankar Singh, has refuted allegations that the suicide of a UPSRTC bus conductor was a result of depression caused by the termination of his services nearly three months ago. Mohit Yadav (File Photo)

It is entirely inaccurate to attribute the suicide to the termination, especially considering that the conductor did not leave any suicide note making such claims, he conveyed in a telephone conversation from Ghosi.

The minister further stated that if termination were indeed the cause, the conductor, Mohit Yadav, would have taken such drastic action three months prior when he was dismissed. Presently, it falls upon the police to investigate the case and determine the motive behind the suicide. UPSRTC has no involvement in this matter, he appended.

Singh emphasised that Mohit was a conductor employed on a contractual basis, and the services of such contractual conductors are regularly discontinued for various reasons. In this specific instance as well, the conductors services were concluded subsequent to an inquiry that found him responsible for permitting certain passengers to engage in namaz within a moving bus, he explained.

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GORAKHPUR: The vice-chancellor of Madan Mohan Malviya Technical University (MMMTU), Professor JP Pandey, has said that the university administration intends to challenge the single bench decision of the high court by bringing the matter before a double bench. HC overturned the institutes decision to debar approximately 40 students. (HT Photo)

This comes after the HC overturning the institutes decision to debar approximately 40 students who had purportedly secured admission through forged documentation.

Vice-Chancellor Prof JP Pandey explained that the students under scrutiny were debarred after a thorough investigation and based on recommendations from a probing committee.

Professor Pandey was responding to inquiries regarding the judgement from the Allahabad High Court, which granted reprieve to the suspended BTech students. The court directed MMMTU authorities to release their results and permit them to finish their courses.

The high courts single bench invalidated MMMTUs actions of debarring and revoking the admission of students who had enrolled in different branches of BTech in both 2021 and 2022.

One of the debarred students, Anmol Pandey, shared that he and 40 other students had jointly filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court challenging MMMTUs decision.

Subsequently, complying with the courts directive, these students were granted permission to take their semester exams, and their answer sheets were segregated. Now, the Allahabad High Court has mandated the release of their results and the continuation of their education.

These incidents came to light in September 2022 when, upon a professors request, a female student presented falsified receipts and allocation documents. Following this, the professor forwarded a report to the admission committee, and V-C JP Pandey assembled a three-member probe committee. Upon the committees recommendation, the admission of these students was suspended.

The court observed that MMMTU had granted admission based on online document submissions, and the admission of these students did not impede the benefits of others.

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Seventeen years after Bihar passed its own apartment ownership act, the state government is now ready with model by-laws to govern the functioning of residential apartment complexes, officials familiar with the matter said. An apartment complex in Patna. (HT FILE)

The model by-laws, to be called Bihar Apartment Owners Model By-laws, 2023, will be soon sent to the state cabinet for approval.

Once enforced, association of apartment owners (AAOs) will get legal recognition and can get registered with the co-operative department, a move that would help lakhs of flat owners in Patna and other cities to run the affairs of their apartment complexes.

Officials in the urban development and housing department (UDHD) said the chief technical hurdle  a clause that mandated there would be two directors from scheduled castes and tribes, two from extremely backward classes and two from other backward classes in the board of management of an apartment complex  has been now removed as a condition to register an AAO with the co-operative department.

The by-laws have been framed under the provisions of the Bihar Apartment Ownership Act, 2006.

There will be a prescribed form for registering the association of apartment owners to be issued by the co-operative department. The reservation norm in will not be required to be followed for registration of AAOs under the model by-laws, said an official of the UDHD, who did not wish to be named.

Additional chief secretary of the UDHD, Arunish Chawla, said the model by-laws will help apartment dwellers properly maintain the housing societies. It is final stages and soon be implemented, he said.

The model by-laws

Under the model by-laws, there are six chapters having detailed provisions of how the management committee or association of apartment owners (AAO) will function, the objects of the association, how the meetings would be conducted, the powers and duties of the association, the board of management, election of office bearers and audit of financial accounts.

The model by-laws , which will be the guiding provisions for AAOs to make its by-laws at their first meeting, are comprehensive and touched various aspects of running the affairs of the apartments.

Important clauses

All persons, who own or have purchased apartments in the building and executed a deed for this purpose, shall be members of the Association and shall ensure the payment of entrance fee of 1,000.

In case an apartment has been purchased jointly by two or more persons, joint owners be entitled to the apartment. The person whose name stands first shall have the right to vote in association meetings while the second holder will be entitled to vote in absence of the first holder.

A member will not be entitled to vote for election to the board of management if he/she has arrears or any sum due in respect of his/her contributions for common expenses for more than sixty days from the date on which the election would take place. This clause will act as a deterrent for apartment owners who fail to pay their maintenance amount for upkeep of common spaces of the apartments and facilitate the AAOs to act tough against defaulters, official said.

We are also in consultations for adding some provisions by which the management committee will be able to take certain action against flat owners who wilfully do not pay maintenance or keep arrears for a long time, said an official.

Board of management

There will be three to five members in the board of management comprising president, secretary, treasurer and two members. The secretary and treasurer would operate the bank accounts and the secretary will have powers to retain up to 10,000 for petty expenses and spend the amount without prior sanction of the AAO.

Bank accounts of the association have to be opened with nationalised bank/ scheduled or post office in the name of the association. The term of board management board will be for two years. No person shall hold the post in the board continuously for two terms, as per the by-laws. An arrangement shall be also made by the board that one third of the members of the board retire biannually.

Appointment of auditor

The Association has to get its financial accounts of every financial year audited and publish the same on or before the July 31 each year and also may appoint an auditor at its general body meeting.

Rules of conduct/obligations

An apartment owner will not be allowed to make any alteration or structural changes in his/her unit without permission from the AAO and no owner shall undertake any work that affects the external facade of the building from any angle i.e. covering of balconies and terraces, change of colour, etc.

Apartment owner would not keep any items or goods in the common passageway or encroach it and also shall not engage in any act intended to facilitate criminal activity in the apartment or common spaces. Any damages caused by the apartment owners or their guests to the building would have to be duly compensated.

We are hopeful the draft model by-laws have already covered many aspects of running the affairs of the apartments. Once implemented, it would help the owners association to settle disputes, upkeep the buildings through collection of maintenance charges or contributions and also act strictly against defaulters, said another UDHD official. He said the model by-laws would be enforced in a months time.

In Bihar, residents welfare associations (RWS) exist in some cities but face hurdles in registration under the Bihar Co operative Societies Act, 1935, and Bihar Self Supporting Cooperative Society Act, 1996, owing to the reservation clause.

The issue was raised last year in the state assembly during the budget session. The then Speaker, Vijay Kumar Sinha, had assured the House to look into the matter and held meetings with departments concerned.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anirban Guha Roy A journalist for 21 years, Anirban covers RJD, legislature and government beats. Has extensive experience in covering elections and writes regularly on finance, land reforms, registration, excise and socio-economic issues. ...view detail
Caste survey versus caste census. The battleline has once again been drawn in the run-up of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Bihar. The Union government on Monday opposed in the Supreme Court, the Bihar governments caste survey, asserting that only the Centre is empowered under the Constitution to carry out a census or any action akin to census. PREMIUM The Centres affidavit on the caste survey has triggered a bout of political slugfest in Bihars political arena (HT File Photo/Santosh Kumar)

In a short affidavit filed through the ministry of home affairs, the Union government maintained that census is enumerated as a subject under Entry 69 in the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

The Centres affidavit has triggered a bout of political slugfest in Bihars political arena which may or may not have ramifications in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and for the 2025 battle for Bihar, the state assembly polls.

Census versus Survey

Caste census means the inclusion of caste-wise tabulation of India's population in the census exercise. India started counting its people in 1872. From 1952, the country also counted and published separate data on Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). India also publishes data related to the religions, languages and socio-economic status of its people.

In terms of the provisions contained under the Census Act 1948, it is the central government alone that has been empowered to conduct census where the exercise of counting of the entire population is carried out. The nature of the caste survey undertaken by the state government is akin to census where the entire population is being counted and data under different parameters in relation to the citizens residing in the state and also residing outside the state of Bihar are being collected; and therefore, the state government is clearly acting in excess of its power and authority under the constitutional scheme, said advocate Abhinav Srivastava, who argued the case on behalf of Youth for Equality, an organisation against caste-based policies and reservations.

On June 2, 2022, the Bihar cabinet gave its nod for conducting a caste survey by February 2023. However, two months later, chief minister Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance (GA).

The survey eventually began on January 7, and the first round went on until January 21. The second round began on April 15 and was scheduled to continue until May 15, but mid-way through the process, the Patna high court issued a stay on May 4 after several petitions were filed by the organisation Youth for Equality against the legitimacy of the caste survey.

The state moved an interlocutory application (IA) for an early hearing, which was rejected. It then filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court challenging the HC stay. However, the apex court refused to hear the matter until its disposal by the HC.

Finally, nearly three months after the survey was suspended, an HC bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarthy dismissed all challenges to the survey.

Fate of caste surveys in other states

In 2014, Karnataka under the Congress-led Siddaramaiah government ordered a Social and Educational Survey. The objective of the survey said it was to be conducted to decide upon the proportionate reservations of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in accordance with the 127th Constitution Amendment Bill. The survey covering around 1.3 crore households was conducted by the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission under the chairmanship of H Kantharaj. The reports were to be submitted by June 2016 -- those reports were, however, never made public.

In 2021, the State Commission for Backward Classes in Telangana decided to proceed with the massive exercise of surveying the caste composition among the backward classes (BCs).

The primary plan was to rope in several expert agencies like the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Centre of Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Bureau of Economics and Statistics, and Centre for Good Governance. However, the fate of the exercise is still unclear.

Odisha has also recently started its caste-based survey from May 1 to understand the educational and social conditions of the backward caste communities. According to media reports, the survey asks questions related to livelihood and accessibility to basic infrastructures.

In the backdrop of the ongoing controversy, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the future of the Bihar caste census report.

We demand that Nitish Kumar's government release the report within 24 hours. By the order of the court, the Extremely Backward Commission was formed, but till now its report has not come out. The report of the upper caste commission also did not come, said BJP Bihar president Samrat Chowdhary.

The last data on the caste composition of the Indian population could be found in the 1931 census.

In 1941, though caste was enumerated, the report didnt publish the data. M W M Yeatts, the then Census Commissioner said in a note, The time is past for this enormous and costly table as part of the central undertaking.

Since then, the census only took into consideration the number of SCs and STs. While the Mandal Commission pegged the population of OBC at 52%, several other studies have put forth different numbers.

Impact on Polls

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has said the state was not doing a census but only counting. The primary reason is that no official data is available on the actual numbers of different castes: All estimates are based on projections from the last time a caste census was done and its information was made public over 90 years ago in 1931. But everybody seems to know what the exercise is aimed at  Politics.

Experts said that the caste census will play an important role in the upcoming 2024 elections as it will allow political parties to determine the electoral strength of communities. Whats more, it also has the potential to upset existing reservations.

Until now, the decadal census only counts religion and SC/ST population  not any other caste. Thus, based only on projections from the 1931 census, Bihars OBC population is estimated to be 51.3%.

In 1990, Prime Minister the late VP Singh -- seemingly as a matter of political exigency given ally BJPs Kamandal (Ram temple) politics and counter-caste consolidation in the name of Hindutva -- dusted off the Mandal Commission report, which was prepared based on the 1931 caste census.

Singh announced 27% reservation for the OBCs like Yadavs, Kurmi/Koiris and sections of Baniyas who were better off than Dalits but found to be sufficiently marginalised on socio-economic parameters to merit quota benefits.

Back to the past?

The 1991 formula seems to be at work again. The BJP has been pushing the agenda of Hindu Rashtra and the Uniform Civil Code in a bid to polarise the Hindu vote bank ahead of the 2024 polls. To counter that very-planned push, veteran leader and former Bihar CM, Lalu Prasad, and Nitish Kumar are likely to use the caste enumeration data to divert the fight: From the seemingly Hindu vs Muslim agenda to the Mandal vs Kamandal battle as it had yielded rich dividends for the Mahagathbandhan (the Grand Alliance or the RJD-JD(U)-led combine) ) in the 2015 Assembly elections.

We are not doing Census. It has been made clear at the outset. It is counting. While conducting a census, information is collected about people under the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and minorities. We have been telling for a long time that the same should be done for others also, but it was not done. It should have been done in 2021. So much time has elapsed, but Census could not be started, Nitish Kumar said on August 29.

They want to revive Mandal politics which has outlived its utility. The Grand Alliance parties led by Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar have realised that this can be a big tool to oust the Modi government from the centre. If nurtured well, it could turn out to be a Bramhashtra for the INDIA to oust the BJP from power, Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, social analyst and former head of economics department, Patna University, said.

Caste is a reality but to revive it for political gains is going to be disastrous. You dont need these figures for development, he said.

Anand Mandal, social activist and grandson of late B P Mandal, on whose name the Mandal Commission was formed, also referred to the 1991 Mandal Commission-related agitation.

The way BJP has handled the issue it (seems) to have almost a similar impact that of an anti- Mandal agitation of 1991 (it) has created the same division, (and) with general election round the corner it would be foolhardy to expect any other result than that of 1991, he said.

Referring to the Supreme Courts decision, Mandal justified the caste survey. The Supreme Court judgment has not only confirmed the claim of present dispensation in Bihar that to ameliorate the social and educational positions of castes accurate data is required but it also strengthens the case of continuation of protective discrimination on the part of government, he added.

The issue may be Bihar-centric but the answer has its national implications, at least at a time when the Opposition unity is envisaged as the only way to combat the BJP
Four members, including two minors, who were sleeping inside a hardware shop in Pimpri Chinchwad near Maharashtras Pune were charred to death in a fire incident early on Wednesday, officials said. All the four persons were asleep inside the shop when the incident took place. (HT Photo)

According to police, local residents found smoke billowing out of the shop early in the morning after which they informed the fire department.

The fire brigade personnel arrived at the spot and brought the fire under control in half an hour, officials from Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation said.

Also Read: Haveri fire accident: CM Siddaramaiah announces 5L compensation for the families of deceased

The fire personnel had to break open the shutter to douse the flames, eyewitnesses said.

However, by the time police and fire personnel managed to enter, four persons had already died.

According to the fire department, the fire happened due to a short circuit.

The deceased were taken to the hospital for postmortem.

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Four members of a family, including two minors, were killed after a fire broke out at an electric hardware shop in Pimpri Chinchwad town of Maharashtra's Pune district on Wednesday morning, fire officials said. Officials said a short-circuit may have caused the fire. However, an investigation is on. (Twitter/PTI)

The incident took place at 5.25 am in the shop located in Pooja Heights building at Purna Nagar in Chikhli area of Pimpri Chinchwad, they said.

"So far, bodies of four people, who were sleeping on the mezzanine of the hardware shop located on the building's ground floor, have been recovered, a fire official from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation said.

The blaze has been extinguished and cooling process is on, he said.

Officials said a short-circuit may have caused the fire. However, an investigation is on, they added

The deceased have been identified as Chimnaram Chowdhary (48), Namrata Chimnaram Chowdhary (40), Bhavesh Chowdhary (15) and Sachin Choudhary (13), the officials said.

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The Jharkhand high court has directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take over the probe from the state anti-corruption bureau (ACB) in the alleged multi-crore MNREGA scam in West Singhbhum district, people aware of the development said on Wednesday. The Jharkhand high court complex in Ranchi. (HT File Photo)

Hearing a petition filed by one Matlub Alam, the division bench of chief justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and justice Aanand Sen directed the federal agency on Tuesday to submit a report before October 31.

The case pertains to the alleged scam that took place between 2008 and 2011 in West Singhbum district. The Jharkhand police had registered 14 cases in this regard, but transferred them to the anti-corruption bureau in 2015. Subsequently, Alam filed the PIL in 2021 seeking probe by an independent agency.

We pleaded for an independent probe as these cases have been pending at different stages of investigation for a decade. Now the court has directed ED to probe the case, he said.

The ED is already probing another MNREGA scam case in Khunti district, for which the agency had on 11 May 2022 arrested IAS Pooja Singhal on charges of money laundering. The alleged scam happened when Singhal was the Khunti deputy commissioner from 2009-10.

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Bihar School Examination Board has released Bihar STET Admit Card 2023 on August 30, 2023. Candidates who will appear for State Teacher Eligibility Test can check the admit card and download it from the official site of BSEB at bsebstet.com. Bihar STET Admit Card 2023 released at bsebstet.com, download link here

BSEB will conduct STET 2023 from September 4 to 15, 2023 at various exam centres across the state. The exam will be held in two shifts on all exam days. To download the admit card, candidates can follow the steps given below.

Bihar STET Admit Card 2023: How to download

Visit the official site of BSEB at bsebstet.com.

Click on Bihar STET Admit Card 2023 link available on the home page.

Enter the login details and click on submit.

Your admit card will be displayed on the screen.

Check the admit card and download the page.

Keep a hard copy of the same for further need.

On admit cards, candidates can check exam centre name, date and time for the test, reporting time and gate closing time among other information. Admit cards will also contain mock test links for the computer-based exam. Candidates will have to carry the admit card to the exam hall to appear for the examination. For more related details candidates can check the official site of BSEB.

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Indian Institute of Technology (IISc) Bangalore will host online applications for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2024 on its official website, gate2024.iisc.ac.in. GATE 2024 registration likely from today(HT File)

As per information available on the website, registrations are likely to begin from today, August 30. Eligible candidates can visit the website to submit their forms.

Eligibility: To appear in GATE, a candidate should have an undergraduate degree in Engineering, Technology, Science, Architecture or Humanities, or should be in the third year of the UG degree in these disciplines.

Their graduate degree exams must be are approved by MoE/AICTE/UGC/ UPSC as equivalent to BE/ BTech/ BArch/ BPlanning, etc.

Those who are studying or have studied the qualifying exam from an institute other than India must be currently in the third or higher years or must have a degree of at least three years duration in Engineering/ Technology/ Science/ Architecture/ Humanities.

The aptitude test will take place on February 3, 4, 10, and 11, 2023, and the admit cards will be issued on January 3.

GATE 2023 application fee is 900 for Female/SC/ ST/PwD candidates during the regular period and 1,400 for the extended period.

For all other applicants, the fee is 1,800 for the regular period and 2,300 during the extended period.

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Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) has declared result of Uttar Pradesh Judicial Service (Civil Judge Junior Division) Recruitment Examination-2022, commonly known as PCS (J)-2022, on Wednesday, August 30. UPPSC declares PCS (J)-2022 results, 302 candidates qualify (K Sandeep Kumar )

Against 303 posts of judicial officers, 302 candidates have been declared successful. The selected candidates include 165 women, amounting to 55% of the selections, informed UPPSC secretary Devi Prasad Pal.

Remarkably, 15 women have made a place among the Top-20 in the results. Nishi Gupta of Kanpur has bagged first place followed by Shishir Yadav of Prayagraj at second place and Rashmi Singh of Kasganj at third place, he added.

Officials shared that the total selected candidates hail from 60 districts of the state. They maintained that UPPSC has created a record of sorts by declaring the result within 48 hours of the end of the interview round which concluded on August 28.

Out of 79,565 candidates who had applied for this recruitment exam, 50,837 candidates had appeared in the preliminary examination held on February 12. On the basis of preliminary examination, a total of 3,145 candidates were declared successful for the main examination.

A total of 3,019 candidates had appeared in the main examination held from May 23 to 25. In the result of the main examination declared on August 1, 959 candidates were declared successful for the interview round.

All 959 candidates appeared in the interviews held between August 16 and 28. The result of one post has not been declared in the light of the interim order of the Allahabad High Court. UPPSC secretary Devi Prasad Pal said that the recommendations of the selected candidates will be sent to the state government soon and after that the marks and category-wise cutoffs of the candidates will be displayed on the official website of the Commission.

Top-10 of PCS (J)-2022

Nishi Gupta

Shishir Yadav

Rashmi Singh

Snehil Kunwar Singh

Jahnavi Verma

Harshita Singh

Hazique Husain Ansari

Raveena

Shivali Misra

Mohd D Younis

UPPSC completed the entire process from the submission of application of PCS (J)-2022 to declaration of the final results within nine months. Online applications were accepted from December 10, 2022 and the final selection result was released on August 30. Earlier, the Commission had declared the result of PCS-2022 within 10 months of conducting the preliminary examination. The preliminary examination of PCS-2022 was held on June 12, 2022 and the final results were declared on April 7, 2023. Former chairman of UPPSC Prabhat Kumar had released the result of PCS-2020 in six months. PCS-2020 preliminary exam was held on October 11, 2020 and the final results were declared on April 12, 2021.

In PCS (J)- 2022, the state government had made significant changes. The Uttar Pradesh Judicial Service (Fourth Amendment) Rules 2022 were approved in the cabinet meeting held in April 2022. Instead of 200 marks question paper of English language, 100 marks each of English and Hindi languages were asked. A provision of 4% reservation for the physically challenged was also made in the recruitment of judicial officers.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR K Sandeep Kumar K Sandeep Kumar is a Special Correspondent of Hindustan Times heading the Allahabad Bureau. He has spent over 16 years reporting extensively in Uttar Pradesh, especially Allahabad and Lucknow. He covers politics, science and technology, higher education, medical and health and defence matters. He also writes on development issues. ...view detail
Days ahead of the release of his much-awaited film Jawan, actor Shah Rukh Khan will be part of the audio launch event on Wednesday in Chennai. Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday, Shah Rukh shared details of the event. He also hinted that he might dance at the event. (Also Read | Not Ramaiya Vastavaiya: Shah Rukh Khan brings his old moves back in new song with Nayanthara. Watch) Shah Rukh Khan in Jawan's new poster.

Shah Rukh will attend Chennai event

Shah Rukh shared a poster, featuring the actor, on X. It read, "Pre-release event. Ready ah? Jawan is coming. Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, Chennai. Tomorrow, 3-7 pm." Sharing the poster, he wrote, Vanakkam (Hello) Chennai, I am coming!!! All the Jawans - girls & boys at Sai Ram Engineering College be ready... I am excited to meet you all! Might even do some tha tha thaiya if asked. See you tomorrow 3 pm onwards.

Fans react to Shah Rukh's announcement

Reacting to the post, a fan wrote, "Always ready boss." Another person said, "We can't wait to welcome you in our Namma city Chennai tomorrow! " A tweet read, "Can't wait to see you tomorrow at the event sir. We love you, our #Jawan." "All set to ROAR!" said an X user. "Chennai m badshah ki entry (Badshah's entry in Chennai)," wrote another fan.

About Jawan new song

Shah Rukh made the announcement just hours after releasing Not Ramaiya Vastavaiya, the third song from Jawan. It followed Zinda Banda and Chaleya. The new song includes his famous Chaiyya Chaiyya hook step. Shah Rukh and his Jawan co-star Nayanthara grooved to the song. Sanya Malhotra also featured in the new track. It has been sung by Vishal Dadlani, and Shilpa Rao. The music of the song has been composed by Anirudh.

Jawan trailer

Shah Rukh had also informed that the film's trailer will be unveiled on August 31. "There are so many stories behind this song.but stories are for the 31st when the trailer comes out.for now just dance with me.Full Song out now! #Jawan releasing worldwide on 7th September 2023, in Hindi, Tamil & Telugu," he added. Shah Rukh earlier said that he will launch the trailer in Dubai and meet his fans at Burj Khalifa.

All about Jawan

Jawan is directed by Atlee and also stars Vijay Sethupathi in the lead role. Deepika Padukone will be seen in a special appearance. Sanya Malhotra, Priyamani, Girija Oak, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Lehar Khan, Aaliyah Qureshi, Ridhi Dogra, Sunil Grover and Mukesh Chhabra appear in the movie in key roles. It is all set to be released in theatres in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil on September 7.

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On Wednesday, the trailer of Adam Driver's upcoming film Ferrari was released. Directed by Michael Mann, the film stars Penelope Cruz and Shailene Woodley besides Adam who plays the lead as motor legend Enzo Ferrari. The racing drama follows the struggle story of Enzo as the ex-Formula 1 racer who went on to create his brand. Also read: Christian Bale, Noomi Rapace revv up for Enzo Ferrari biopic Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari in Michael Mann's Ferrari.

Ferrari trailer

The trailer shared by Neon, opens with a car racing scene and introduces Enzo's life, around his family and work. It shows how his brand, Ferrari is built out of crisis when Enzo goes bankrupt and his business fails. Even his personal life remains unstable as he deals with the death of his son, Dino, amid his rocky marriage with his wife (played by Penelope Cruz). He is also caught between acknowledging his other son, Piero, whom he had with his mistress Linda Lardi (played by Shailene Woodley).

On the other hand, it's his drivers and their passion to win which pushes them to the edge, ahead of the Mille Miglia, the 1,000-mile race across Italy. The trailer comes with little to no dialogue and relies heavily on visuals and sounds of motor engines.

However, the events of the film are set in 1975, prior to the infamous race which took ten lives after de Portagos Ferrari racecar blew a tyre. He along with nine spectators died in the accident. Ferrari and the tire manufacturer were charged with manslaughter, however, the case was dismissed later.

Michael Mann's film

The film is written by Troy Kennedy Martin. It also stars Patrick Dempsey as driver Piero Taruffi, Jack OConnell as driver Peter Collins, Sarah Gadon as Linda Christian and Gabriel Leone as Fon de Portago. Ferrari will be released in theatres on December 25 this year.

The trailer of Ferrari arrived before its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Reacting to it, someone wrote in the comment section, Whoever edited this trailer did a solid job building the tension right till the end. Very excited to see this movie. Michael Mann is BACK, added another. One more said, Love the fact that up until the closing shot there is really no voiceover/dialogues. Just visuals and the sound of an engine going full throttle. Beautiful teaser.

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BTS leader RM has clarified and explained at length days after a section of social media users asked him to apologise for insulting a religion. Taking to Weverse on Wednesday, RM aka Kim Namjoon asked BTS ARMY and the audience to believe his words. He continued that he had no such intention and it was only a song. RM also added that he wasn't apologising but simply speaking the truth. The BTS leader also added that he didn't want to speak on the topic. (Also Read | Fans divided as RM apologise to Muslims' trends on Twitter - Did BTS's Namjoon cross a line?) BTS leader RM, whose real name is Kim Namjoon, opened up on the recent row.

RM says he respects every religion

RM said, "Okay guys I know what you are talking about. You just keep telling me that I insulted a religion but I didn't. There was no any intention or like purpose to insult a religion. I respect every belief and every religion that's all I could say. So please don't. I know what's going on in my Instagram, I can see. But I never...there was no such any purpose or at least one percent of my heart or intention to insult a religion okay? Guys (shakes his head), it's a song, okay? I am not apologising, I am just saying."

Namjoon asks BTS ARMY to believe him

He continued, "I have my own soul. I am 30 years old. I can express my truth. Please a word is a word, believe my words from myself, not just guessing, pretending and assuming, okay? I know I can't, I know my limits, even if I am telling my truth, I know I can't convince and persuade every people. Maybe some people would think of me like, 'Oh no you still lie. You had that intention and purpose to insult', which I didn't, I never. Guys, I understand what you are saying but I just can't lie to you. I am just being honest."

RM calls himself a strong man

"I am fine, there are no problems. But I heard that there are some problems and the noise is all around. So I just had to say about that because some people keep chatting with me about that. Yo, okay, just believe me. Ya, let's change the topic. I didn't want to say about this but some people just made me say about this. I just can't stand right now. I have been holding my things in my heart for ten years. But now I can't deal with this. I just have to say. If it's me, believe my own words...Problems happen but I am a strong man," the BTS leader concluded.

What started the row?

Earlier this month, RM on his Instagram Stories shared Frank Ocean's song Bad Religion. Hours later, people on social media platforms asked him to apologise. Bad Religion, released in 2012, is renowned for its exploration of unrequited love in the face of religious struggles.

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Congresss Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhurys suspension from the House was revoked on Wednesday, hours after the privileges committee, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Sunil Singh, recommended his reinstatement to Speaker Om Birla. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. (ANI)

The Lok Sabha secretariat issued a circular after Birla approved the committee report, officials said.

On August 19, the day the privileges committee met to start its proceedings against Chowdhury, HT reported that the Congress MP was likely be reinstated after the next meeting. The decision recommending the revocation of Chowdhurys suspension was unanimous, said a functionary.

Chowdhury was barred from the Lok Sabha on August 10, pending a probe by the privileges committee of the Lower House of Parliament, for alleged gross and deliberate misconduct.

The Congress lawmaker appeared before the panel on Wednesday. Chowdhury emphatically said that he had no intention to hurt anyones feelings. He also admitted that Hindi is not his mother tongue and sometimes, a miscommunication arises from his usage of some words. Chowdhury also added that the Speaker has full authority to expunge any word he finds as unparliamentary, said a person familiar with the proceedings.

Last week, on the sidelines of the India chapter meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Birla underlined that as long as a matter is before the privileges committee, the Chair has no power to look into it.

The Congress floor leader is also the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee -- Parliaments audit watchdog. During Chowdhurys suspension, no meeting of the panel was scheduled.

The privileges panel goes strictly by the convention and rules of Parliament. As privileges charges have been moved against Chowdhury, he will be asked to depose before the privileges committee. He must get an opportunity to present his side to the panel, an official had said after the August 18 meeting.

Chowdhury, a five-term MP, was suspended from the Lok Sabha on August 10 and a privilege motion was initiated against him for his gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct, hours after he tried to compare Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Dhritarashtra and suggest that the PM is Nirav (Bengali for silent) on Manipur. His remarks were later expunged from the proceedings.

According to parliamentary experts, Chowdhury became the first floor leader of the largest Opposition party to be suspended from the House.

After the lengthy debate on the no-confidence motion ended on August 10, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi moved a resolution that said, This House, having taken note of the gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in utter disregard of the House and authority of the chair, resolves that the matter of misconduct be further referred to the committee of privileges for further investigation and Chowdhury be suspended from service of the House till the committee submits its report.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also took note of the days developments and observed that Chowdhurys behaviour during the debate was not appropriate.

Two days after his suspension, Chowdhury addressed a press conference and claimed that he was hanged and then asked to face trial. He also said that the simple formula could have been to expunge his words but that, instead, he was suspended from the House.

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New Delhi: At least seven people, including two India Reserve Battalion (IRB) personnel, were injured as armed miscreants from both Kuki and Meitei communities in ethnic strife-torn Manipur engaged in intermittent firing throughout Wednesday, people aware of the matter said. At least seven were injured as armed miscreants engage in intermittent firing on Wednesday. (AP)

Officials in the security forces confirmed that intermittent firing between two groups of armed miscreants have continued for over 36 hours in the hills and valley near Naranseina village in Bishnupur district.

The firings started on Tuesday morning after a 26-year-old farmer, Salam Jotin Singh, a resident of Naranseina, was shot by miscreants. Singh sustained a bullet injury, but survived.

Columns of army and Assam Rifles are present at the spot. The situation is tense but firing has finally stopped just now, a senior security officer said on Wednesday night, requesting anonymity. Miscreants from the hills also fired mortars, while those in the valley used automatic guns, the officer added.

Two battalions of the India Reserve Battalion  a special armed force of the state  were deployed in the area to control the firing. The miscreants also attacked the IRB personnel, resulting in bullet injuries to two jawans. The condition of the jawans is fine. The five civilians who also sustained bullet wounds are also stable. Their injuries are not life threatening, the officer cited above said.

IRB is posted along with other paramilitary forces, Army and Assam Rifles to restore normalcy in Manipur, which has been in the grip of ethnic clashes between numerically dominant Meiteis and tribal Kukis since May 3. At least 157 people have been killed and nearly 50,000 displaced in the ongoing violence in the northeastern state.

Meanwhile, security forces in a joint operation with the police have recovered at least 13 grenades, 10 grenade launchers, M-16 rifle and other weapons besides 19 explosives and three IEDs from two different places in the forested areas of Imphal West and Thoubal districts.

The weapons, officials said, were abandoned in the jungle area. Police suspect the recovered grenades and rifles are part of the ammunition looted from the police armoury in the first two months of the ethnic clashes in Manipur.

On Tuesday, two men were killed and six injured in separate incidents of violence near Narainsena village in Bishnupur. While one of the victims was killed by a bullet wound, the other died when a countrymade gun he was using misfired and hit him on his face.

Following the first incident in which farmer Jotin Singh was shot, miscreants from both Kuki and Meitei communities started firing at each other in the areas around Narainsena and the foothills nearby bordering Bishnupur and Churachandpur, the epicentre of the ongoing ethnic strife in the state.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Prawesh Lama Prawesh Lama covers crime, policing, and issues of security in Delhi. Raised in Darjeeling, educated in Mumbai, he also looks at special features on social welfare in the National Capital. ...view detail
A Bangla Desh mission was formally opened here today with the hoisting of its national flag amidst recitations from the Koran, the Gita, the Tripitak and the Bible. HT This Day: August 31, 1971 -- Bangla mission opened in Delhi

Speaking on the occasion, the chief of the mission, Mr K. M. Shehabuddin, said he hoped the Government of India which had extended full sympathy and support to our nascent State will soon recognise Bangla Desh and its legally constituted Government.

Mr Shehabuddin said: We consider this occasion historic because from this moment, the Bangla Desh flag will fly in Delhi in full glory and splendour proclaiming to the world the defeat of the aggressor and the ultimate victory of the aggressed.

Rented house

A small gathering of journalists, friends of the Bangla Desh diplomats, and sympathisers was present at the mission building, a rested bungalow in Anand Niketan, a South Delhi residential colony.

The mission will be manned by, besides Mr Shehabuddin, Mr Amjadul Huq, Mr Abdul Majid and Mr Abdul Qarim, all former employees of the Pakistan High Commission here, and Mr Babul Kanti Das who has been deputed to the mission from Bangla Desh.

Mr Shehabuddin said though the flag was hoisted on a separate building to avoid embarrassment to the Indian Government, he considered the Pakistan High Commission buildings in the diplomatic enclave in Chanakyapuri and the High Commissioners residence on Tilak Marg as the rightful properties of Bangla Dish.

He said these palatial buildings and similar missions in other capitals were built by the rulers of Pakistan with the foreign exchange earned by the jute and ten of Bangla Desh and as such none had a greater right to them than the people of Bangla Desh.

Mr Shehabuddin appealed to the international community not to condone the planned genocide in Bangla Desh. They cannot undo the barbarous regime of Yahya Khan to perpetrate further genocide by giving economic and military aid to Pakistan.

They should withdraw all aid from the aggressor and give it to the aggressed, so that a lesson could be taught to the aggressor, which it will never forget, he said.

He said independent and sovereign Bangla Desh was a reality and it was in the mutual interest of all States to develop friendship and co-operation with it.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition returned to power in Tripura with a wafer-thin majority of 32 seats in a 60-member assembly in March, making the by-polls to Dhanpur and Boxanagar seats on September 5 crucial. Wresting Dhanpur is seen as a prestige battle for the Opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) as former chief minister Manik Sarkar represented it for four consecutive terms until he opted out of the last assembly polls. The by-polls to Dhanpur and Boxanagar seats will be held on September 5. (PTI)

CPI(M) has again fielded Kaushik Chanda, who lost the Dhanpur seat to BJP nominee and Union minister Pratima Bhowmik. The BJP has named his college mate Bindu Debnath as its candidate for the by-poll.

The by-poll to Dhanpur was necessitated due Bhowmiks to resignation to retain her Union ministers post. The Boxanagar seat was left vacant after CPI(M) lawmaker Samsul Haques death in July.

The CPI(M) has fielded candidates for both seats against the BJP while two independent candidates are also in the fray. The counting of votes will take place on September 8.

Chanda said he has been going door to door and was trying to reach out to the voters they could not in February. Our workers are visiting the voters whom we reached out to last time with leaflets. We are focusing on door-to-door campaigns and corner meetings in markets, said Chanda, 42.

Chanda said he sensed an element of fear during his campaign with voters wondering whether they would be able to vote. I faced such questions from people. But we are hopeful that the people will be able to vote.

Chanda said he is hopeful of wresting the seat as he has the support of the indigenous voters. We are hopeful of good results. If I win, I shall work to improve roads, and hospitals and ensure employment.

He said he shares a cordial relationship with Debnath despite subscribing to opposite ideologies. We studied together in college. Apart from politics, we have friendly relations and talk to each other whenever we meet.

Debnath said a lack of development in Dhanpur despite being the constituency of the states longest-serving chief minister paved the way for BJPs victory last time. I am getting immense support from people. People will vote for development. In Dhanpur, road conditions are very bad. We lost three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic [during BJPs first term] and our government got little time for development.

He said the indigenous voters who supported TIPRA Motha last time were also with them this time. They understand that they would get nothing from TIPRA Motha, he said.

Debnath was associated with Congresss student wing during his college days before joining the Revolutionary Socialist Party, a constituent of the previous Left Front in 2004. He joined the BJP in 2014.

Debnath said as a classmate, he shared notes with Chnada and that they share friendly ties.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday shared a poster showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a Terminator on social media platform X, formerly called Twitter.



Opposition thinks PM Modi can be defeated. Dream on! The Terminator always wins, the BJP post says, equating the prime minister to the iconic character portrayed by Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.



The saffron party's poster move comes a day ahead of the opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A's meeting in Mumbai on Thursday. The meeting at Mumbai's Grand Hyatt may witness discussions by the 26 opposition parties on seat sharing for the upcoming elections.



63 representatives from 28 political parties will participate in INDIA coalition meeting in Mumbai, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said in Mumbai. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is shown as 'The Terminator' in this BJP post on X. (X/BJP)

At the two-day meeting, the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc may unveil its new logo. The opposition bloc might be expanded as more parties are expected to join it. This is the third meeting of the opposition bloc after huddles in Patna and Bengaluru.





The INDA bloc meeting is being held days after the opposition parties had brought the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government in Lok Sabha. The government had defeated the motion through a voice vote.



The prime minister has expressed confidence over winning a third term in 2024 Lok Sabha election, even declaring from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day that he would present the achievements of his government at the Red Fort next year.



The next five years are for unprecedented development. The biggest golden moment to realise the dream of 2047 is the next five years. The next time, on August 15, I will present before you the achievements and developments of the country from this Red Fort, Modi had said.



India enters a gruelling election season in the next few months. Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram will go to poll later this year. In early 2024, the Lok Sabha election and assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will take place.

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PANAJI: The Bombay high court at Goa has ruled that Christian members of other backward classes (OBC) will not be eligible for the benefits of the reservation unless the government notification specifically mentions that Christian counterparts of the specified OBC caste are entitled to quota benefits. The high court was hearing a petition filed by Uday Chari, who challenged a decision of the caste scrutiny committee

The high court was hearing a petition filed by Uday Chari, who challenged a decision of the caste scrutiny committee (CSC) that upheld the caste certificate granted to Hansel Fernandes, an Aam Aadmi Party candidate who won elections to the zilla panchayat from the Benaulim constituency in south Goa.

The seat was reserved for OBCs, and Fernandes, who belongs to the Mesta (carpenter) caste received a caste certificate for the same. However, after his election, his election was challenged before the scrutiny committee, which upheld his caste certificate.

[Fernandes] belongs to the Christian community, which ordinarily does not profess to follow any caste system. Nevertheless, in the State of Goa, for historical reasons like conversion, certain communities have been specifically included in notifications issued by the government formulating the State list of OBCs, SCs, STs etc. In all such notifications, however, there is a positive and clear inclusion of members of the Christian community wherever the Government intended them to be included, the high court said.

In his petition, Chari alleged that via a notification issued in December 2006, OBC status was granted to the Vishwakarma/Chari/Mesta community but the notification made no mention of their Christian counterparts.

He argued that the notification does not either include or clarify that this entry will also include Christian Vishwakarma/Chari/Mesta and referred to several government notifications to point out that whenever it was intended to include Christians in the State list of OBCs, the notifications said so or clarified so in clear terms.

The state governments seniormost law officer too supported the petitioners contention and pointed out that normally there are no castes among Christians [but], if any Christians were intended to be included in the State list of OBCs, notifications clearly say so by using the expression including Christian.

Since, in this case, no such expression was used in the notification, it is clear that, at least as of now Christian Vishwakarma/Chari/Mesta cannot be regarded as belonging to OBCs, the advocate general said.

The scheme is evident that whenever the government intended to include the Christian counterparts in the state list of OBC, the government notification said so in positive and clear terms. As a corollary, wherever there is no reference to the inclusion of a Christian counterpart, it must be held that the Government did not intend to include such a Christian counterpart in the State list of OBCs, the high court added.

Fernandes is expected to approach the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict.

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New Delhi: California moved one step closer to becoming the first American state to ban caste-based discrimination after a bill that adds caste as a protected category cleared a crucial hurdle in the state assembly on Monday. Californias first Muslim female state senator, Aisha Wahab speaks during an event at the state Capitol. (Shutterstock)

Senate Bill 403  which will add caste as an explicit category for anti-discrimination action in the states civil rights, education, and housing codes  passed by a margin of 50-3, marking the first time an American legislature has considered and cleared an anti-caste legislation. It will now move to the Senate for a final concurrence vote before heading to governor Gavin Newsoms desk for his signature  the final hurdle.

Thank you to all the assembly members who voted in support of SB 403 today. We are protecting people from a long-standing form of discrimination with SB 403, state senator Aisha Wahab, who introduced the bill in the California House, said.

The development is the latest in a string of moves that has put in the spotlight the presence of caste among the South Asian population in the US, with a significant group of activists saying that birth-based biases continue to dog the diaspora. The battleground for several of these cases  especially the ones involving tech workers  has been California, which is Americas most populous state with 39.2 million residents, of which nearly a million are Indian-American.

The assembly vote is a win for the ages. After conducting over 700 advocacy meetings across California, the people have spoken resoundingly for caste equity protections, said Thenmozhi Soundarajan, the founder and executive director of Equality Labs, an anti-caste advocacy group.

As a Californian who has endured caste my whole life, I know the struggles and adversity caste-oppressed Californians have unjustly faced firsthand. Caste-oppressed people have organised for over 20 years so we could have lives free from violent attacks and discrimination, she added.

The assembly vote also came months after Seattle became the first American city to explicitly ban caste-based bias in employment, housing, public transport and retail establishments, among others. In December 2019, Brandeis University became the first US institution to include caste in its non-discrimination policy, and was followed by the California State University System, Harvard University, Brown University and the University of California, Davis.

But the bill has also opened deep rifts within the Indian-American community with groups such as the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) opposing such moves.

Today is a sad day. California has reawakened its racist past in passing legislation that demonises and targets South Asians and Hindus. Fifty California legislators chose to side with anti-Hindu hate groups rather than showing moral courage and upholding the Constitution, said Suhag Shukla, the executive director of HAF.

Advocates of the bill defended its purpose.

Despite what opponents of this bill suggest, SB 403 seeks to build a better, more improved, and more peaceful California for everyone. This bill does not, nor will it ever target Hindus or any specific faith. Rather, it provides protections for all, said Maya Kamble of the Ambedkar Association of North America.

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Congress floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhurys suspension from Lok Sabha is set to be revoked in the next few days as he appeared before the House Privileges Committee on Wednesday, officials said. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. (ANI)

The officials added the panel has decided to recommend the revocation to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Once the Speakers office gets the recommendation, necessary action was expected to be taken swiftly.

Chowdhury was suspended on August 10 pending a probe over alleged gross and deliberate misconduct following his inappropriate comments during the debate on non-confidence motion against the government. The comments related to Prime Minister Narendra Modis silence over the Manipur violence.

Chowdhury maintained the suspension was unnecessary and that he did not intend to hurt anyone. He argued if his comments were inappropriate, then they could have been expunged.

Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Sunil Singh-led privileges committee also met last week to discuss Chowdhurys case. The panel felt the charges were serious but people aware of the matter said he could be reinstated considering his stature as a senior parliamentarian.

An official said the panel goes strictly by the convention and rules. He added Chowdhury was asked to appear before the committee as he must get an opportunity to present his side.

A second Lok Sabha official said Chowdhury remains an important leader as the largest Opposition partys floor leader and the Public Accounts Committee chairman.

Chowdhury, a five-term Member of Parliament, became the first-floor leader of the largest Opposition party to be suspended from the House.

After the debate on the no-confidence motion, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi moved a resolution against Chowdhury. Birla said that Chowdhurys behaviour during the debate was not appropriate.

Two days later, Chowdhury said he was hanged and thereafter asked to face trial.

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New Delhi: The recruitment process in Tamil Nadus transport department turned into a corrupt chiefdom, the Enforcement Directorate has contended in its chargesheet against V Senthil Balaji, the state minister who held the portfolio until the last week of June when it was re-allocated following his arrest. Raids at Senthil Balajis residence in May. (PTI)

The charge sheet was filed on August 12 and a court in Chennai took its cognizance on August 16.

The whole recruitment in the transport department during the tenure of the then minister V Senthil Balaji has turned into a corrupt chiefdom, in which, as per the illegal directions of the chief (V Senthil Balaji), recruitment process was designed and implemented, the charge sheet, seen by HT, stated.

Balaji was arrested by the ED on June 14 over allegations that he was part of a cash-for-jobs racket. He is currently lodged in Puzhal prison.

The irregularities allegedly took place in Tamil Nadus transport department, when Senthil was the transport minister between 2011 and 2015 in the AIADMK-led government.

The federal agency, which the state government accuses of running a fake case for political reasons, claimed in the charge sheet that Balaji exploited his official capacity as the transport minister for personal gains through corrupt and illegal means.

He directly acquired illicit proceeds resulting from criminal activities linked to scheduled offences and collaborated with co-conspirators, including his brother, personal assistants and officials from the transport department, to orchestrate a strategy, it added.

Balaji and his two personal assistants, B Shanmugan and M Karthikeyan, the agency added, denied their connections with each other during recording of their statements, but investigative and forensic findings established their links and his (Balajis) involvement and role, the agency contended.

The charge sheet adds that a paper sheet seized in the case stated that all the candidates who applied and approached Balaji and his PAs for recruitment got jobs illegally by way of illegal gratification derived by the minister.

Therefore, it is crystal clear that V Senthil Balaji continuously and meticulously monitored and executed a job racket scam along with his PAs - B Shanmugam and M Kartikeyan, the federal document said.

On the money trail, the ED said that the plan for the alleged scam involved channelling cash through the ministers brother, Ashok Balaji, and accomplices and this was supported by digital evidence found during the investigation.

These records outlined cash collections and job placements. Furthermore, the investigation unveiled tampering in candidate marks, favouring those who paid bribes to the accused, the ED added.

The agency seized a pen drive with an excel sheet showing that a drivers post in the transport department was priced and sold for 1.75 lakh, a conductors post for 2.25 lakh, a junior tradesmans post for 5 lakh, a junior assistants post for 7 lakh and an assistant engineers post for 12 lakh.

Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK chief MK Stalin has maintained that EDs action against Balaji is BJPs vendetta politics by using federal agencies.

The ED analysed the bank statements of Balaji and his wife S Meghala and found huge cash deposits, especially during/after the period of the job racket scam in the MTC (Metropolitan Transport Corporation).

It said some of the proceeds of crime were laundered by depositing money in the bank accounts of Balajis family members and associates for use or projection as untainted money and thereby, he was knowingly and actually involved in the process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and eventually, committed the offence of money laundering.
The Dalod village in Gujarats Ahmedabad district has a seven-hectare burial ground for Dalits allocated by the local administration. However, the Dalits living in the village say that it occasionally turns into a battle ground when a Dalit person dies as the community faces stiff resistance from the upper caste people to conduct their last rites. Police have set up a temporary police post in Dalod village in Gujarats Ahmedabad district. (HT Photo)

On June 23, when a villager named Manganbhai Gohil, who was in his fifties, passed away, and his body was being taken to the new site for burial, members of the Patidar community intervened. They attempted to prevent the burial from taking place, leading to a tense and heated argument that lasted for about two hours. After the intervention of the police, Gohil was finally laid to rest at the designated site.

However, the next day, a group of about 200-300 people attacked the house of Kishen Sendhav, 30, a farmer, who is also the deputy sarpanch of the village. He escaped unhurt but his nephew, sister and sister-in-law received injuries. Three complaints were registered at Mandal police station in this regard. Sendhav lodged a complaint against the crowd, accusing them of violence.

Another case was filed by the government ambulance service, alleging an attack on government property and assault on a government official while on duty.

A Patidar woman also filed a complaint of physical harassment against Sendhav and eight other villagers from the Dalit community.

Police later established a temporary police post in the vicinity where the Dalit community resides. Laxmanbhai Solanki, a constable at Mandal police station, said that their continuous presence in the area since June 24 has been dedicated to ensuring the safety and security of the Dalit community.

However, on July 14, the death of 80-year-old Trikambhai Gohil again sparked tension in the area. The Dalit community members, to which Gohil belonged, wrote to the district collector, stating that they will leave the deceased at their office if the administration could not guarantee their protection while carrying out the final rites.

Later in the day, Gohil was laid to rest amid police protection after a compromise between Dalits and the upper caste Patidars over the burial site.

The Dalod village, situated about 70 kms away from the state Capital, is divided into two parts by a road which runs between the upper caste and lower caste villagers. The village has a population of 5,000 with 1,500 Patels or Patidars and 1,000 Thakors and 1,000 Dalits, among others.

The village has three caste-based crematoriums. For several years, the Dalits were using an open space in the outskirts of the village to bury the dead.

Ratnaben Gohil, 65, an elected member of the Dalod gram panchayat, said she raised the issue about the need for a new crematorium at the local village level meeting in January this year.

The burial place that we once used was a village road in the past. Unfortunately, it has now dwindled into a tiny area, serving as a sewage disposal site. During the monsoon season, the place gets water-logged, transforming into a muddy terrain, leaving very limited space to move around, Gohil said.

The gram panchayat soon passed a resolution allocating 7-hectare barren land for the Dalits to carry out their last rites, she added.

However, their hopes for a smooth implementation were met with resistance and protests from the upper caste Patidars.

Sendhav said members of the upper caste community fenced the area with barbed wires and blocked the road leading to theburial ground. The panchayat served three notices to members of the Patidar community behind this and finally ordered removal of the wires, he added.

The Dalit community conducted their final rites at the newly allocated site for a period of approximately 5-6 months.

Meanwhile, officials have also raised concerns regarding the legality of using the land for burial purposes. They pointed out that the designated area for the burial site encompassed a portion of what was once a village waterbody, which brought into question the legitimacy of its usage for funeral rites.

Gohil said that now the government has identified a completely new site  a third one, and villagers will bury the dead only in the protection of police officials.

Assistant collector of Viramgam, Kanchan, who only uses her first name, admitted that concerns have arisen between the Dalits and members from another caste regarding the burial practices for the deceased. We have received an application from the Dalit community expressing their need for a dedicated crematorium space, and are processing it, she said.

Superintendent of police (SP), Ahmedabad (rural), Amit Vasava, blamed village politics and said that the burial ground issue incidentally came into play. Within the village, three communities mainly hold dominance. The Sarpanch position is held by a representative from the Bharwad (OBC) community, while the Deputy Sarpanch hails from the Dalit community. Notably, the Patidars, another dominant community within the village, lack any representation in the panchayat committee, and they seek representation, he said.

He said that, unlike many other communities, the Dalit community follows burial practices for their deceased, and this had turned into a notable point of dispute with the Patels, who raised objections about the location where the burials were conducted. The government has in principle identified land near Dalod for the scheduled caste community to carry out the final rites, Vasava said.

Kanu Sunesara, 44, convenor of the Dalit Adhikar Manch said that in many villages in Mandal-Viramgam area of Ahmedabad district, the Dalit community faces discrimination from the upper caste.

In many villages, people from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community are not allowed to enter temples or participate in Navratri festivals. There are schools where the Dalit children are served meals separately. Even in some of the gram panchayats the Dalit members are served tea in separate cups, said Sunesara.

In the nearby Trent village of Mandal taluka, four barber shops refused haircut to members of the Dalit community.

A few years ago, some youth and activists decided to take up the issue with the block panchayat. The government authorities gave them a choice  to offer their services to everyone without discrimination or shut down their shops. The shop owners feared backlash from the dominant upper caste at Trent and decided to close their shops. Today those four shop owners operate from their homes, giving services only to the upper caste, said a villager who did not wish to be named.

In yet another case of discrimination, in Geetapur village of Detroj taluka, five families have been living on the outskirts without electricity and water connection for the last ten years. The village is dominated by Patidars who live a little away from the Scheduled Caste community. The reason for this is that the village gram panchayat, which is represented by the Patidars, do not recognise these families as residents of Geetapur.

Reviben Parmar, 55, said, Earlier Bhagapura and Geetapura were in one gram panchayat. We lived in Bhagapura earlier and at the time the two panchayats were being separated a resolution was passed, according to which we would become residents of Geetapura. But now we are not being accepted here.

In 2018, the Dalit families sat on a protest for 21 days at the Mamlatdar office. The Patidars from the village also sat on a Dharna against them, said Parmar, while recalling the events. A settlement was reached and the Patidars promised to build proper houses a little away from this village. But nothing has happened so far, she added.

Vishnu Patel, sarpanch of Geetapura, said, There was no discrimination, and the Dalits had encroached village land. They have their farms where they used to stay earlier. I have become a sarpanch recently and do not know the matter in too much detail. What I know is that the villagers have approached the Gujarat high court to evacuate them from the encroached land.

Kiritbhai Rathod, a Dalit activist with the Navsarjan Trust said till the time the matter is settled as to who is the rightful owner of the land, these families should be given basic amenities. Their request for water and electricity are also being turned down by the respective authorities. They live in darkness at night. They are forced to go to other villages to fetch water or recharge phones. Their children dont go to school. These families have Aadhaar and election cards with Geetapur as the address, but they do not have a ration card. Isnt that worrying? he said.

Government data on offences registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 reveals a troubling trend of violence and discrimination against Dalits in Gujarat.

Between 2001 and 2015, the reported cases of crimes against Dalits in Gujarat exhibited a fluctuating pattern, ranging from 897 cases in 2003 to a peak of 1,165 cases in 2008. Overall, there was a slight increase in the total number of cases during this period, starting at 1,033 in 2001 and going up to 1,052 by 2015 in this period.

In contrast, from 2016, the year marked by the Una Dalit flogging incident, to 2022, the reported cases displayed a more consistent upward trajectory. With 1,355 cases in 2016, the numbers increased to a peak of 1,544 cases in 2018. There was a subsequent decrease to 1,485 cases in 2019, followed by a further drop to 1,370 in 2020. In 2021, reported cases decreased further to 1,298, before witnessing an increase again to 1,425 cases in 2022.

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A social media post by the Congress and a comment by an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson on the leadership of the INDIA bloc sparked a controversy ahead of the groupings meeting in Mumbai from Thursday but the parties moved quickly to douse the row. A poster released later has all 11 chief ministers part of the INDIA bloc.

The Congress released a post on Instagram on Wednesday morning that featured senior leader Rahul Gandhi at the centre of a group of Opposition leaders but omitted Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Hours later, AAPs chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said she would like to see Kejriwal as the prime ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc.

If you ask me, I would want Arvind Kejriwal to be the PM candidateHe (Kejriwal) raises peoples issues and rises as a challenger, she said.

But by evening, the row appeared settled. The Congress released a new poster on X, formerly Twitter, that featured all 11 chief ministers who are part of the INDIA bloc  including Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann. The Instagram post was brought down later in the day.

The AAP also walked back Kakkars comment, saying it was her personal opinion. Arvind Kejriwal is not in the race for being the prime minister. We have joined INDIA to save the country, its Constitution and democratic set up. We have not joined this alliance due to ambitions of becoming any minister or prime minister. We joined it to save India, and we are officially announcing that Arvind Kejriwal is not a PM candidate, state minister Atishi said at a press conference.

There was no immediate reaction available from the Congress. The post on the partys handle, with the new posted, said: The power of INDIA.

With 161 members of legislative assembly (MLAs) and 11 members of Parliament (10 Rajya Sabha and 1 Lok Sabha), and state governments in Delhi and Punjab, the AAP is one of the largest constituents of the INDIA bloc.
Chennai: Leader of opposition in Tamil Nadu assembly Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) on Wednesday asked why the state government is not handing over the probe into the 2017 Kodanad heist-cum-murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and accused the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of trying to frame him. The Kodanad tea estate in Nilgiris district was late chief minister J Jayalalithaas summer retreat. On the night of April 23, 2017, a group of 10 men hacked to death a security guard at Kodanad estate. They broke into the bungalow and allegedly looted the place. (HT Archives)

His remarks came even as the police continue to probe the case and his colleague-turned-foe O Panneerselvam (OPS) is planning to move the Madras high court on the matter.

There are so many deaths which happen when one is chief minister. Even in the DMK regime so many people have died. If you want to investigate the current chief minister for it, will he come for the inquiry? EPS asked reporters in Madurai airport.

EPS was responding to an article published in DMKs mouthpiece Murasoli on August 30. The piece stated that EPS was nervous at the mere mention of Kodanad and that he should have been part of the CB-CID inquiry process if he indeed had information to share.

Why are they speaking only about this one death? Because they are deliberately spreading rumours. I have already filed a case against an individual spreading rumours, which is pending in the high court, he said. EPS also recalled that during his regime, they had arrested those involved in the case, which went to the trial stage. It was the DMKs advocates who represented the accused at that time and brought them out on bail, said EPS. This raises a doubt on the government. Why dont they direct the case to be investigated by the CBI?

EPS also said that 90% of the probe into the case was completed when the DMK shifted it from the state police to the CB-CID last September. How long will it take to complete another 10%? EPS said. Since they are unable to pin us on anything, they are scheming against us due to political vendetta.

During the last hearing on July 11, principal district judge Abdul Khader had ordered the CB-CID to submit a status report on the investigation conducted for the past 10 months. So far they have questioned 158 people. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CB-CID requested an Ooty court for more time to collect and analyse call details from 19 mobile towers, an official said.

The Kodanad tea estate in Tamil Nadus Nilgiris district was late chief minister J Jayalalithaas summer retreat and sometimes she even functioned from there while in office. On the night of April 23, 2017, a group of 10 men hacked to death Om Bahadur, a security guard at Kodanad estate. They broke into the bungalow and allegedly looted the place. After police made arrests in the case, the trial began In October 2019 in the Nilgiris (district) sessions court.

The case has been shrouded in mystery as a week after the break-in, on April 28, two of the main accused met with separate road accidents. C Kanagaraj, who was once Jayalalithaas driver, died on the spot near Salem. K V Sayan escaped with serious injuries but his wife and daughter died on the spot while they were on their way to Kerala.

The DMK which was in the opposition when the crime happened had then sought the resignation of EPS who took over as chief minister following Jayalalithaas death. After the DMK formed the government in May 2021, the police launched fresh investigations into the case. Nilgiris police summoned key accused Sayan who had earlier linked EPS to the crime. Since then EPS has alleged that the DMK schemed to take a secret statement from Sayan to frame him.

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Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party over LPG cylinder price cut by 200 for all consumers.



"The Prime Minister and ruling party is expert in pleasing people...Elections are going to take place in many states...I want to ask, if the Rajasthan government can provide a cylinder at 500 then why cannot you...", Chowdhury was quoted by ANI as saying.



The Congress leader's swipe at the ruling government comes a day after it announced slashing LPG cylinder prices by 200 for all consumers. The Centre approved an additional subsidy of 200 under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), taking the total amount of subsidy for the beneficiaries to 400.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, saying,The festival of Raksha Bandhan is a day to increase happiness in a family. The reduction in gas prices will increase the comfort of the sisters in my family and make their lives easier. May every sister of mine be happy, be healthy, be happy, this is my wish from God.



Several opposition leaders including Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress have questioned the timing of the decision. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury(ANI)

"This is the pressure...After the second meeting (of INDIA alliance), they (BJP) have reduced the prices by 200...When everything is finalised, then you will see the strength (of the alliance)...," Bihar deputy chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav said yesterday.



Till now, only TWO meetings have been held in the past TWO months by the INDIA alliance and today, we see that LPG prices have gone down by 200. This is the impact of the INDIA alliance, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee posted on X, formerly Twitter.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT News Desk Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered. ...view detail
NEW DELHII: Foreign ministers of the Quad grouping, which includes India, Australia, Japan and the US, are likely to meet on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. External affairs minister S Jaishankar with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japan's foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong before the Quad Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi in March (PTI File/X/@SecBlinken)

The meeting is expected to review cooperation between the four countries to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific against the backdrop of Chinas increased assertiveness across the region, the people said. The Quad members are still in discussions regarding the meeting and a date is yet to be locked down, they said.

The meeting is possible though it is yet to be confirmed, one of the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. The UN General Assemblys annual session is set to start on September 19.

If it goes ahead, this will be the first meeting of external affairs minister S Jaishankar, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong, Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and US secretary of state Antony Blinken after they gathered in New Delhi on March 3 to discuss key challenges in the Indo-Pacific.

The Ukraine crisis is also expected to come up in any possible meeting, the people said.

At their meeting in March, the foreign ministers denounced the threat of the use of nuclear weapons in the context of the Ukraine conflict and opposed unilateral actions to change the status quo or increase tensions in the South and East China Seas.

The Quad Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, meant to tackle new and emerging forms of terrorism, was among new initiatives unveiled at the meeting in March.

Chinas aggressive behaviour has been in focus again in recent weeks, both because of the dragging standoff with India on the Line of Actual Control and the use of a water cannon by a Chinese coast guard ship against a Philippine vessel carrying supplies to troops on a shoal in the South China Sea.

India is set to host the next Quad Leaders Summit in 2024.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rezaul H Laskar Rezaul H Laskar is the Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times. His interests include movies and music. ...view detail
Hyderabad: Former minister and two-time legislator from Hyderabad C Krishna Yadav on Wednesday announced his decision to quit the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi and join the Bharatiya Janata Party soon. Former minister from Hyderabad C Krishna Yadav on Wednesday announced he will quit BRS and join BJP soon. (PTI)

I have been working for the BRS for the last seven years, but I have not got any recognition from the party. I was, in fact, a cabinet colleague of KCR during the Telugu Desam Party regime between 1994 and 1999. But he chose to humiliate me by ignoring my contribution to the party, the former minister said.

According to the people familiar with the matter, Yadav, who had quit the Telugu Desam Party and joined the BRS (previously Telangana Rashtra Samithi) in January 2016, was expecting the party ticket from Amberpet constituency in the upcoming assembly elections. But with BRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announcing renomination of sitting MLA Kaleru Venkatesh from Amberpet for a second term, Yadav decided to call it quits to the BRS.

He said he had decided to join the BJP only to serve the people of weaker sections in Telangana. I will continue to be among the people and prove my abilities. I am sure the BJP would come to power in Telangana under the leadership of Narendra Modi, he said.

Krishna Yadav, who was a two-time MLA from Himayatnagar assembly constituency in Hyderabad between 1999 and 2004, was a leading OBC leader during the Telugu Desam Party time. He served as the state labour minister between 1994 and 1999 and dominated the party politics in Hyderabad.

However, Yadavs political career came to an abrupt halt in 2003, when he was arrested by the police in connection with his alleged links with counterfeit stamp paper racket involving scamster Abdul Karim Telgi. He served imprisonment for over two years in Yeravada jail before he was exonerated in 2006 for want of evidence.

Since then, Yadav had not been active in politics. After the bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh, he sought the TDP ticket from Amberpet assembly constituency but as part of the TDP-BJP alliance, it was allotted to BJP candidate G Kishan Reddy. In 2016, he defected to the BRS.

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Space agency Isro on Wednesday released the first photographs of Indias lunar lander, the Vikram, on the moon in the clearest spectacle yet of the countrys historic achievement, less than an hour after it confirmed that its first mission to study the Sun was on track. The first photo of the Vikram lander on the surface of the Moon, clicked by the Pragyan rover. (Isro/ Twitter)

The Vikram and Pragyan, the rover that took the photo on Monday, have nine more days to explore and study the moon before the spot near the south pole loses sunlight, forcing the solar-powered equipment to stop missions.

Pragyan rover clicked an image of Vikram lander this morning. The image of the mission was taken by the Navigation Camera onboard the rover (NavCam). NavCams for the Chandrayaan-3 Mission are developed by the Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS), said the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) in a tweet.

The photograph was taken at 11.04am on Wednesday, when the rover was around 15 metres from the lander, Isro said.

The moon mission executed to a tee, the agency is now preparing for the blast-off its workhorse rocket PSLV-C-57, which will lift the Aditya-L1 solar probe into space for what will also be a historic first for India: the ability to study the sun.

PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 Mission: The preparations for the launch are progressing. The Launch Rehearsal - Vehicle Internal Checks are completed, the agency said in a post on X.

Jitendra Singh, Union minister for science and technology and space said that after Chandrayaan-3, India is now aiming for the Sun, and this only proves the countrys prowess in the space sector.

As PM (Narendra) Modi said, sky is not the limit. There are several big missions lined up for Isro in the coming months and this shows that India is a worthy partner in the field of space missions and applications in the world, the minister said.

A senior scientist from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics explained that the Aditya-L1 mission is designed to study the Sun from a vantage point, Lagrange Point 1. There are seven payloads or instruments on board the spacecraft--some of which will help collect and study the photons released from the Sun while others will help analyse the particles in-situ (at L1).

The mission will not only help us study the Sun but also the environment at that point. At our institute we have been studying various aspects of the Sun for over 120 years now, but there are still areas that have not been explored and for this, we need a mission like the Aditya-L1, the scientist said.

The solar probe is scheduled to be launched at 11.50am on Saturday atop the PSLV-C-57 rocket, which is a version of the Indias workhorse space launcher strapped on with additional engines.

It will then take 125 days to reach the Lagrange Point 1, where it will hover in what is known as a halo orbit and have a clear view of the sun.

The Aditya-L1 mission will allow Indias scientists to unlock new insights about the centre of our solar system, with the Lagrange point L1  1.5 million kms from Earth, expected to give it an unhindered view of the Sun.

Earlier, the mission was conceived as Aditya-1 with a 400 kg class satellite carrying one payload, the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph VELC, that was to be launched in an 800-km low earth orbit.

A Lagrange Point is a spot in space where the force of gravity of the nearest celestial entities cancel each other out, helping an object remain in equilibrium.

Isro scientists said the instruments of Aditya-L1 are tuned to observe the solar atmosphere mainly, the chromosphere and the corona --- two outermost layers of the star. The instruments will observe the local environment at L1 and carry out remote sensing and observation.

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Days after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal criticised the condition of Chhattisgarh's government schools, his counterpart Bhupesh Baghel reacted to his remarks, implying that his statements were only meant to generate publicity. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel addressing the media personnel during a Press conference at AICC ,in New Delhi. (Photo by Vipin Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

wo ek din gaye, ek dharmshala me kuch logo se baat ki aur aa gaye.matlab ye Kejriwal ji ye jante hai ki media me kaise bane rehna hai.kejriwal ji khans-khans ke bhi Hindustan bhar charcha me rahe hai, muffler laga kar bhi charcha me rahe hai.to abhi koi chal diye to usme bhi charcha me bana rehte hai, wo uski kabiliyat to hai (He went for a day, spoke with some people at an inn, and then returned... I mean, Kejriwal knows how to stay in the media headlineshe has been in discussion because of his coughing, wearing a muffler, this is just like that...that is his ability)," the Chhattisgarh CM remarked during a podcast with news agency ANI.

Baghel's reaction comes days after Kejriwal labelled the conditions of the government schools in the poll-bound state as terrible. Before coming here, I was reading a reportbura haal hai sarkari schools (government schools are in terrible condition). Many schools have been shut down by them (the ruling regime), while in others, there is only a single teacher for ten classes, the Delhi CM said in a rally in the Congress-ruled state on August 19.

Congress retorts

Shortly after the rally, the Congress national spokesperson Pawan Khera dared the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief to compare the performance of his government in the national capital versus those led by the Congress in the past for an apt analysis. "Why go to Raipur? Performance of our Chhattisgarh govt will be compared with the previous Raman Singh govt. Let us choose a sector of your choice and compare the performance of the Congress government in Delhi vs your govt here. Ready for a debate? Khera wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Notably, both the AAP and the Congress are allies of the Opposition's I.N.D.I.A or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance grouping aimed at taking down the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The bloc formed by 26 non-BJP parties continues to conduct national meetings to create a road map for their undertaking even as differences among them persist on regional levels.

Chhattisgarh is scheduled to go to poll later this year.

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Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that not an inch of land has been lost in Ladakh was a lie after China in its newly released map claimed Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as its territory. India registered its protest to the claim as external affairs minister S Jaishankar said making such absurd claims is China's old habit. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. (PTI)

As Congress questioned New Delhi's stand on China, Rahul Gandhi, who is visiting Karnataka to attend an event launching the Gruha Lakshmi scheme in Mysuru, said, I have been saying for years that what the PM said that not one inch of land was lost in Ladakh, is a lie.

The entire Ladakh knows that China has transgressed. This map issue is very serious. They have taken away the land. PM should say something about it," Rahul said.

China officially released the 2023 edition of its standard map on Monday, which showed the India's state of Arunachal Pradesh along with the Aksai Chin region, which was occupied by China in the 1962 war, as part of its territory. The map also claimed Taiwan and the disputed South China areas.

The map's release came days after the recent meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa, where the two leaders had agreed to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation at the LAC.

China's Xi Jinping will be attending the G20 Summit which is being hosted by India in the national capital from September 8-10.

Rahul Gandhi's recent Ladakh visit

Gandhi, who recently visited Ladakh for the first time after revocation of Article 370, said that China has taken away peoples land and they are not being allowed to graze their cattle.

Visiting Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh, Rahul said, Over here, people are concerned over their land being taken away by China. People have been affected because their grazing lands have been taken away.

To a query of Centres claims of no Chinese incursions and no land taken away by them, Rahul said, People here say that Chinese forces entered and took their grazing land and (now) they cant go there. The Prime Minister says that not an inch of land has been taken away, which is not correct. ask anyone here and they will tell you.

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Chandrayaan 3 on Tuesday confirmed the presence of sulphur and oxygen on the moon apart from many other elements like aluminium, calcium etc. Explaining the significance of the finding, scientist TV Venkateswaran told news agency ANI that it is like tasting cooked vegetables to confirm whether they are fully cooked. "We can see and tell if the vegetables are cooked from a distance. But we won't accept that. We will take a piece and taste it to see if it is properly cooked. In the same way, you need to land on the moon at least in a few places, look for this data and see whether this data matches the remote sensing data. If they match then our confidence in the remote sensing data will be very high," Venkateswaran said. Chandrayaan 3 has confirmed the presence of sulphur, oxygen among several other elements on the moon.

Explaining the significance of the finding of the Chandrayaan 3 vis-a-vis remote sensing data which previous missions procured, Venkateswaran said, "This provides the ground routine. Already orbiters like Chandrayaan 1, Chandryaan 2 and American orbiters have done remote sensing and mapped the minerals on the surface of the moon. But remote sensing takes place roughly about 100 kms away."

List of elements Chandrayaan 3 confirmed on the moon

Chandrayaan 3 shared the minerals it found on the lunar surface. The list includes:

Aluminum (Al)

Sulphur (S)

Calcium (Ca)

Iron (Fe)

Chromium (Cr)

Titanium (Ti)

Manganese (Mn)

Silicon (Si)

Oxygen (O).

This is the first-ever in-situ measurement of the elements present on the moon near the south pole. Chadrayaan 3 unambiguously confirmed the presence of aluminium, calcium, iron and these elements which was not feasible by the instruments onboard the orbiters. Pragyan rover's route was reprogrammed on Monday from Isro headquarters in Bengaluru after it came across a 4-metre-wide crater on its way.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Poulomi Ghosh Poulomi Ghosh is a journalist with Hindustan Times, New Delhi. ...view detail
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday celebrated Raksha Bandhan with former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai.



Banerjee tied rakhi to Thackeray and got clicked with his family. The Trinamool Congress posted the pictures of the two leaders celebrating Raksha Bandhan on X. Today, Hon'ble Chief Minister Smt @MamataOfficial celebrated Rakhi with Uddhav Thackerey ji and his family at his residence in Mumbai. They exchanged good wishes and celebrated the special day with smile and laughter, TMC posted.



Banerjee is in Mumbai for the two-day opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc meeting in India's financial capital beginning Thursday. Opposition leaders from 26 political parties will be attending the third meeting of the bloc. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee ties rakhi on Uddhav Thackeray's wrist at his residence in Mumbai.(X/AITC)





"In this meeting, we will decide our action plan, the structuring of the organisation, the logo, and how we will contest in Parliament (2024 Lok Sabha elections)," Congress leader Naseer Hussain told PTI on the agenda for the meeting.

The opposition alliance meeting is being held days after the Centre reduced LPG gas cylinder prices by 200 for all the consumers. The government approved an additional subsidy of 200 under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), taking the total amount of subsidy to 400.



While Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the move a gift to sisters for Raksha Bandhan, the opposition has questioned the timing of the decision.



"Till now, only TWO meetings have been held in the past TWO months by the INDIA alliance and today, we see that LPG prices have gone down by Rs. 200. This is the might of INDIA!" Banerjee had posted on X.



ALSO READ: BJP's X post shows PM Modi as The Terminator day before 'INDIA' meet



Earlier, Mamata Banerjee celebrated Raksha Bandhan with Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and his family at his residence in Mumbai. I think they (Bachchan family) are the No.1 family. He (Amitabh Bachchan) is our 'Bharat Ratna' and had it been under my control, I would have conferred him the award (Bharat Ratna) long back, she told reporters.

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The 26 participants of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance will meet in Mumbai on Thursday and Friday -- the bloc's third meeting after Patna and Bengaluru -- to strategies for the Lok Sabha election 2024. Just ahead of the Mumbai meeting, the government slashed the LPG price by 200 per cylinder. "Till now, only TWO meetings have been held in the past TWO months by the INDIA alliance and today, we see that LPG prices have gone down by 200. This is the power of INDIA," West Bengal chief minister and a key INDIA leader said. Opposition leaders of the INDIA bloc will meet in Mumbai for two days -- for the third time -- to finalise the 2024 strategy.

INDIA 3rd meeting in Mumbai: Logo, seat-sharing on agenda

1. The meeting will be held at Grand Hyatt, a luxury hotel in suburban Mumbai. The previous meetings were held in Patna and Bengaluru.

2. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav already reached Mumbai.

3. This huddle comes after the opposition bloc brought a no-confidence motion against the PM Modi-led NDA government in Parliament over Manipur issue. The NDA won the motion.

4. Seat sharing in the states is one of the most crucial issues on the agenda this time.

5. A new logo of INDIA bloc is likely to be launched after the two-day meeting.

6. The inclusion of a few more parties will also be discussed and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar hinted at a possible expansion of the opposition's bloc.

7. No discussion on PM face for INDIA bloc is likely as Congress leader PL Punia said the Prime Minister will be chosen only after the opposition registers a victory in the Lok Sabha election. The elected MPs will choose their PM.

8. The Mumbai Congress will felicitate Rahul Gandhi as he has been reinstated as an MP.

9. As per as Maharashtra is concerned, there is no competition over seat sharing, state Congress chief Nana Patole said. There is no competition for seats in MVA. Even Uddhav Thackeray has clarified that seat sharing will be done on a merit basis. Our goal is to defeat the Modi government," Nana Patole said.

10. It may be noted that several Congress leaders including Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot threw their weight behind Rahul Gandhi as the PM candidate of INDIA bloc. The BJP targetted the Congress over this and said though there is no vacancy in 2024 for the PM post, the Congress considers Rahul Gandhi to be above Mamata, Sharad Pawar, Nitish and Arvind Kejriwal -- all of whom have served or are serving CMs.

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Sixty-three leaders from 28 opposition parties flew into Mumbai on Wednesday for a two-day meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), bracing for tough negotiations that will test their unity in what is tipped to be the groups first effort at moving beyond symbolism to resolve thorny substantive issues of leadership and political strategy. Members of the INDIA bloc during their second meeting in Bengaluru on July 18. (AP)

A month after forming the grouping in Bengaluru, the parties are likely to discuss architecture, timeline and strategy, unveil a common logo and chalk out a mega public outreach programme with joint rallies, the first time the bloc is trying a consorted campaign outside Parliament, three INDIA leaders said on the condition of anonymity. (INDIA meet LIVE updates)

Also Read: As INDIA coalition meets in city, BJP-led NDA plans parallel meet for LS poll prep

The INDIA leaders might also fix timelines for key tasks, evolve a social media plan, fix the schedule for the next meeting (to be held in north India), and consider a few resolutions, including one on electronic voting machines, said the leaders cited above. Farmer leader Raju Shettis Swabhimani Shetkari Saghtana and Peasants and Workers Party of India are likely to join the 26 parties already part of the bloc.

But the contentious issue of working panels, especially a 11-member coordination committee to handle secretarial work and operational task, may generate differences at the Mumbai meeting on August 31 and September 1, the leaders cited above added. Some disquiet was already visible on the eve of the meeting after a Congress post on the bloc on Instagram featured Rahul Gandhi at the centre and omitted Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Also Read| Holding Narendra Modis throat': Lalu Prasad's attack on PM ahead of I.N.D.I.A meet

The decision to name a convener for the bloc  Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad said announcement was likely to be made on Thursday  might also highlight fault lines. A section of the Opposition feels that there is no need for a convener now. At least two parties maintain that instead of a convener for INDIA bloc, the coordination committee can have one.

Various names of possible conveners are already swirling  from Nitish Kumar to Mallikarjun Kharge  ahead of the event, highlighting competing ambitions.

The meeting will focus on architecture, timelines and strategies, said a senior leader, seeking anonymity.

But the groupings leaders scotched speculation of differences, saying the agenda will remain focussed on taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The senior leader also appeared to rule out the inclusion of the Shiromani Akali Dal for now, and said the Bahujan Samaj Party was in touch with the BJP.

New logo launch

The meeting will also see the unveiling of the logo of a grouping that is in power in 11states, and which won 134 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, securing a 35% vote share. At least 19 outfits have less than three seats in the Lok Sabha; and 11 have none (Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party not considered due to internal disputes).

After the first two meetings of the Opposition alliance in Patna in June and Bengaluru in July, the Mumbai gathering is set to focus on campaigns in a number of states. The focus will be how to reach the common people. We have held two meetings so far. 26 parties have come to a common ideological platform. In Bengaluru, we have given our alliance a name. now we have to take this alliance to the people, said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity.

Two non-Congress Opposition leader echoed similar sentiments. We have worked together as team INDIA in Parliament. But with eight months left for the Lok Sabha elections, we have to discuss on public outreach, said a leader who asked not to be named.

The proposals, said a third Opposition leader, included holding joint meetings of the alliance in many states including in the Northeast on key issues such as price rise, unemployment, federalism and misuse of central agencies.

But it might not all be smooth sailing. All parties are expected to agree on the outreach plan, but some may try to scuttle plans to form a number of committees, including the all-important coordination panel. Another section, however, is expected to push for the formation of the 11-member committeee, and decide on a formula to constitute at least five subject committees to manage campaign and logistics.

A top-ranking Opposition leader expressed reservations about these panels. We are currently 26 parties (two more will formally join on Thursday) committed to greater unity. How can one pick eleven leaders from 26 parties on the basis of numerical strength in Parliament? the leader asked.

A senior Congress strategist and two senior non-Congress opposition leaders went into a huddle at New Delhis Constitution Club on Wednesday to sort out the differences before the issues are formally taken up at the Mumbai meeting.

The group, which sees merit in the formation of these panels, pointed out that Congress president Kharge had announced that these committees would be formed in Mumbai.

INDIA members are also on board to discuss EVMs threadbare. Even as the Election Commission has repeatedly rejected allegations of EVM manipulation, the Opposition might try to raise these issues again. It is true that the EVMs are not connected to web. But EC has to go online to get the sequence of names in the voting machine. Also, we have been asking that the control unit has to be placed near the voting unit and VVPAT should be generated from the control unit, said an Opposition leader.

Some of the constituents might also raise issues of federal structure and insist on passing more resolutions (the Congress has prepared three resolutions in advance).

A plan for using each others social media accounts for greater milage and showcasing unity of the alliance is on the cards. Trinamool Congresss Rajya Sabha leader Derek OBrien pointed out how on Tuesday, Kejriwal retweeted West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjees tweet on the Centres decision to reduce cooking gas prices. This is a fine example of how we can collectively work in social media, he added.

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With suicide in prisons, especially by hanging, proving to be the major cause of unnatural death of prisoners in jails across the country, a panel on prison reforms has recommended that the Supreme Court direct states to have suicide-proof barracks with collapsible material. In the period between 2017 and 2021, out of the 817 unnatural deaths reported in prisons, 660 died by suicide, with hanging being the preferred mode. In September 2018, the Court formed the panel headed by former Supreme Court judge, justice (retired) Amitava Roy along with two others, to study the issues affecting prisons across the country. (AP File)

The report was made public by the Supreme Court on Tuesday . In September 2018, the Court formed the panel headed by former Supreme Court judge, justice (retired) Amitava Roy along with two others, to study the issues affecting prisons across the country.

Also Read | Six prisoners thrash fellow inmate in Rohtak jail, booked

One of the focus areas of the panel was unnatural deaths. It found a steady rise in the number of deaths of inmates in prisons, due to natural and unnatural causes. Between 2017 and 2021, a total of 8,198 prisoners died due to old age or illness, exposing the complete lack of emergency medical care for old and sick inmates. The corresponding figure of unnatural deaths during the five years was 817 of which suicide figured as the leading cause followed by accidental deaths (46) and murder (41).

Data from the Prison Statistics of India (PSI) 2021 prepared by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) suggests that the number of deaths (natural and unnatural causes) in prisons is steadily rising. The total death toll in prisons rose from 1,671 in year 2017 to 2,116 in 2021.

Also Read | Prisoners in India 5 times more at risk of TB: Lancet study

Commenting on unnatural deaths, the panels report said: There is a need to identify potential hanging and anchoring points within the existing design of prison infrastructure and to build suicide-resistant cells/barracks with the use of collapsible material .

It added: Death in prisons is one of the worst violations committed against human rights and dignity in civilized society .... The panel found Uttar Pradesh reporting 101 suicides over the five years, the highest among states with the two other states reporting large numbers being Punjab (63) and West Bengal (60). Among the union territories, Delhi alone saw 40 suicides.

Focusing on the remedial measures, the committee, also comprising Director General of Tihar Prisons and inspector general of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) recommended that the top court direct every prison in the country to have a suicide prevention programme.

The committee also recommended bringing all inmates under the governments health insurance ambit and to mandatorily issue Ayushman cards for medical treatment to all existing and new inmates.

The issue of violence in jail was also discussed . The panel was particularly disturbed to note that several unnatural deaths did not have any specific cause. The report flagged this finding to highlight lack of proper and time bound inquiries of deaths occurring inside jails. It recommended a centralised inmate complaint helpline with a phone booth to be set up in each barrack.

To prevent prisons from becoming a breeding ground for violence and recruitment centres for criminals the justice Roy committee recommended mandatory segregation of undertrials and convicts and further separation of first-time offenders from hardened criminals among undertrials. It recommended such segregation not only inside jail but also during production in courts, visit to hospitals or intra-jail movements.

The panel noted that when violence breaks out inside jail, the prison staff is so understaffed that one warder, equipped with a baton/stick, fails to be effective against 100 inmates. The panel recommended body-worn cameras for each warder and a centralised alarm with touchpoints in every cell/barrack.

The panel found a huge gap between various sanctioned posts and actual working force in prisons and recommended all vacant posts to be immediately filled up. As per the Prison Statistics 2021, as on December 31, 2021 for a total of 5,54,034 inmates lodged in various jails of the country, the actual strength of executive jail staff, including officers was 54,955 in various prisons while correctional staff, including counsellors/psychologists were only 886 for the 1,319 prisons across the country.

The panel has submitted a series of reports since 2020 highlighting other aspects such as overcrowding in prisons, condition of women and children in jails, transgender prisoners, death row convicts, semi-open or open jails, and reforms in juvenile correctional homes. These recommendations are yet to be dealt with by the Court. The panel recommended that the top court direct all states to setup an oversight committee headed by their chief secretary to monitor the implementation of these suggestions.
Bengaluru: The development work carried out by the Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government will be replicated across the country, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday, adding that the party fulfilled key pre-poll promises made to the people of the southern state. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says development work carried out by the Karnataka government will be replicated across the country. (PTI)

Gandhi was speaking at the launch of the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, which offers a monthly assistance of 2,000 to about 11 million women who are heads of their families in Karnataka. The scheme is one of the five pre-poll guarantees of the Congress, which ousted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power in the assembly elections held in May.

We have kept our word on promises. We never make false promises, Gandhi said at the event in Mysuru. The work we have done in Karnataka will be replicated across India.

The former Congress president emphasised that the five guarantees are not just schemes; but a governance model.

He labelled the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, which was launched by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, as the worlds largest cash transfer scheme, whereby 2,000 will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of millions of women beneficiaries.

The other four poll guarantees of the Congress are: Shakti, which offers free travel for women in government buses in the state; Anna Bhagya, which offers 10 kg free rice to below poverty line (BPL) card holders; Gruha Jyoti, which provides 200 units of electricity free of cost per month; and Yuva Nidhi to give 3,000 and 1,500 stipend every month to unemployed graduates and diploma holders, respectively.

Barring the Yuva Nidhi scheme, the four guarantees are meant for women of the state, Gandhi said. We are happy to fulfil the promises given to women, and sisters on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan festival. Yuva Nidhi scheme will also be launched at the right time.

The senior Congress leader said that the guarantees originated from listening to the peoples concerns during Bharat Jodo Yatra last year. He pointed out that the rising prices of essential commodities was a central concern raised during the yatra.

Recalling the comments of some senior BJP leaders ahead of the polls on the Congresss guarantees, Gandhi said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself said that we were giving false promises to the people. But within 100 days of forming the government, we have fulfilled four of our promises.

He also took a swipe at the BJP-led Union government, accusing it of working only for a few capitalists. Our concept is that no one should be left behind. We do not discriminate on any ground, he said.

Besides Gandhi and Kharge, chief minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy DK Shivakumar and several Karnataka ministers were also present at the event held on Maharaja College grounds in Mysuru. The Gruha Lakshmi scheme was launched simultaneously at 12,000 centres across the state. District in-charge ministers inaugurated the scheme in their respective districts after it was rolled out at Mysuru.

Kharge said such welfare schemes were not implemented anywhere in the country and added that everyone was now keen to replicate Karnatakas scheme in their states.

PM Modi had said that our promises in Karnataka are not true. The implementation of Gruha Lakshmi is yet another proof that we walk our talk, he added.

Siddaramaiah said the Yuva Nidhi scheme will be implemented in December or January. Speaking on the completion of 100 days of his government on Tuesday, the chief minister said that the government earmarked 17,500 crore for the Gruha Lakshmi scheme in the current financial year.

The opposition BJP in the state, however, alleged that the state government put several conditions on its schemes, thereby betraying the people.

The Siddaramaiah government has betrayed the people by not fulfilling its promises. Before coming to power, Siddaramaiah said the Congress has announced five guarantees. However, by putting conditions on these guarantees later, the government has backtracked from its promises, state BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Arun Dev Arun Dev is an Assistant Editor with the Karnataka bureau of Hindustan Times. A journalist for over 10 years, he has written extensively on crime and politics. ...view detail
Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha on Wednesday alleged that his planned lecture has been cancelled by the Delhi University and called for a probe into the matter. Manoj Jha, a Delhi University professor known for his strong speeches in Rajya Sabha, said he received an invite from DU's Centre for Professional Development in Higher Education on August 18 to address college and university teachers virtually on September 4. RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha.(PTI)

According to the letter issued by CPDHE director Geeta Singh, Jha was requested to be the resource person for a refresher course in social work and social sciences.

However, he received another letter today informing him that the lecture had been cancelled due to "some unavoidable circumstances" even as the rest of the programme will go on as scheduled, Jha said.

I am the Professor of that University. I got a letter on August 18 to take a lecture on 4th September. And this morning a letter came saying that your lecture has been cancelled. The programme has not been cancelled only my lecture is cancelled, Jha told news agency ANI.

I demand to the government that this move of the Centre for Professional Development for Higher Education (CPDHE) should be investigated. What's the reason that I can't give the lecture? Don't I have the right?

The teachers there wanted to hear me but it was unacceptable to you. You won't become Vishwaguru like this. I am hurt, he added.

In a video message, Jha said, This is my university. I teach here. I have studied here and I am teaching here. I can speak in Parliament, on the street, write in newspapers. But I cannot address teachers of my university. What is the fear?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT News Desk Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered. ...view detail
Bengaluru: Forest authorities, after an increased felling of sandalwood trees in the forests, have intensified their patrols to catch smugglers

A sandalwood smuggler was shot dead by forest officials at the Bannerghatta National Park on Tuesday night in self defence after the smugglers attacked them, officials said on Wednesday.

According to the officials, the deceased has been identified as Muniraju (38), from Natuvarahalli in Malur, Kolar district.

Forest authorities, after an increased felling of sandalwood trees in the forests, have intensified their patrols to catch smugglers, said officials in the know of the development.

According to the officials, deputy range forest officer (DRFO) Vinay Kumar and forest guards Michael and Yediyura encountered two smugglers around 1.30 am on Tuesday while they were allegedly felling a sandalwood tree.

The smugglers, unwilling to be apprehended, resorted to violence by attacking the forest staff with sharp weapons, including a sickle, an official added.

DRFO Vinay used his official SBBL (smooth-bore breech loading) gun in self-defence, resulting in the death of one of the smuggler, while the other managed to escape, officials said.

With sandalwood fetching prices over of 12,000 per kilogram in the open market, poachers have been looking to enter the forest, said officials.We have been diligently tracking these smugglers for the past two months as incidents of smuggling have surged, Kalkere Wildlife Wing RFO Gururaja Sankeshwara said.

Bannerghatta Police inspector SA Umashankar said that forest officials use of force in self-defence, led to the demise of the accused. Our investigation has revealed that forest officials acted out of necessity, he stated. The police also recovered evidence from the scene, including a machete, sawing machine, sickle, and torch.

Police have registered cases against the smugglers under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including charges of criminal force on a government servant to deter duty (IPC 353), theft (IPC 379), and attempted murder (IPC 307). Additionally, charges have been filed under the Wildlife Conservation Act and the Karnataka Forest Act.

Amid the unfolding investigation, Bengaluru rural deputy commissioner Dayananda and superintendent of police Mallikarjuna Baladandi visited the site to investigate into the incident.

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AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday said India's response cannot be weak and timid as the Chinese side ramps up the construction of reinforced bunkers and underground facilities in Aksai Chin to better protect military assets from aerial or missile strikes. AIMIM Chief and MP Asaduddin Owaisi.(PTI)

Analysis of satellite images, provided to Hindustan Times by Maxar Technologies, shows reinforced personnel bunkers at three locations and tunnelling activity at three more locations, all within an area of roughly 15 sq km.

Citing the HT report, Owaisi said that China's preparations on the border should be sending alarm bells within the government.

What we have instead is a PM who is requesting Xi for a meeting where the phrase status quo ante is never mentioned, the Hyderabad MP said in a post on X.

He added, Indias response cannot be weak and timid. We need to stand up to China. But we have a PM who cant call out China by name and a government that stalls all discussions in Parliament on the subject.

These new revelations about the border demand a special session of Parliament to discuss the border crisis and Indias China policy. Whether it be Manipur or Ladakh, keeping the Indian public in dark has worked and is going to work to our disadvantage.

The development comes at a time when China has released the 2023 edition of its so-called standard map depicting Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh as part of its territory. India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with China over its new map and asserted that such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

"We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so called 2023 'standard map' of China that lays claim to India's territory," external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

"We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," he added.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT News Desk Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered. ...view detail
Over a dozen students and teachers associations staged a protest near Gujarat University on Tuesday, seeking withdrawal of a proposed bill that is likely to be tabled during the monsoon session of the state assembly next month, and which may tighten the governments control over its varsities. HT Image

The Gujarat Common University Bill, 2023 seeks to do away with all the politically elected bodies  the senate and syndicate bodies  and replace them by a board of governors and an executive council, whose members will be appointed by the state government.

Currently, of the 16 government universities in Gujarat, only eight hold senate and syndicate elections.

The bill also suggests extending the tenure of vice-chancellors from three years to five years.

Several members of various students and teachers associations threatened to launch a statewide agitation if the proposed legislation is not withdrawn. The associations include All India Save Education Committee, Gujarat Rajya Adhyapak Mandal, Baroda University Teachers Association, and Gujarat University Principals Association among others.

Bhavik Raja, Gujarat president for All India Democratic Students Organisation, said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state has tried to introduce such a legislation twice in the past (once in 2007) but failed due to protests from students and others.

This time too, we are united in our fight against the government for withdrawal of the bill. The bill would open the doors for heightened political interference, which could compromise the quality of education, he said.

Also, the teachers will turn government employees and could face punitive transfers. Once the government gains control, it could easily lease or rent university-owned land to industrialists. There is also a possibility of universities hiking fees without encountering protests, he added.

The very fabric of democracy is at stake. Institutions that have borne unique names like Veer Narmad hold local significance. The proposed abolition of the senate is a blow to student representation. Equally worrisome is the diminishing power of teachers in the executive council and syndicate  the entities responsible for making critical decisions, said Manishi Jani, who led the Nav Nirman movement in 1974.

Kapil Joshi, a senate member at MS University in Vadodara, described the bill as a disaster draft for all universities of the state.

Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said: We are deeply concerned about the erosion of democratic values in universities. The bills provision to remove elected senate representation threatens the very foundation of inclusive decision-making that universities have upheld. Faculty members and experts, who play a crucial role in shaping academic directions, could potentially find their voices lost.

For the draft bill, we had solicited suggestions and received 236 responses from stakeholders. These inputs are presently undergoing a process of scrutiny, said a senior official of the Gujarat education department.
The Surat Crime Branch on Wednesday nabbed tuition teacher Mitul Trivedi after he gave media interviews claiming that he is the ISRO scientist who designed Chandrayaan 3's Vikram lander. Trivedi forged documents and a letter to further his claim. As per the police, Trivedi  who provides tuition classes to students from 12th standard and onwards  confessed that he drafted the letter because he felt that if he showed such a letter to the parents of students, he would have more students registering for his classes. Trivedi claims that he has a Bachelors in Commerce (B.Com) and Masters in Commerce (M.Com) degrees but the police is yet to verfiy it. (Twitter/ANI)

In support of his claim, Trivedi created a fake appointment letter of ISRO dated February 26, 2022 in which he claimed to be the assistant chairman of ISRO's Ancient Science Application Department. He had forged another letter in which Trivedi claimed to be a space research member for ISRO's upcoming project called mercury force in space.

Speaking to reporters, Surat Additional Commissioner of Police Sharad Singhal said that an application was submitted to the Commissioner of Police requesting an investigation into the matter.

In a primary response, ISRO conveyed to the crime branch that the letter was forged and no such letter had been issued by the space research organisation. ISRO will be submitting a detailed response to the Surat police in a few days, Singhal said.

The fake letter comes in light of ISRO carrying out its moon mission by successfully landing Chandrayaan-3 on the south pole of the moon. ISRO is also set to launch its first Sun mission Aditya-L1 this week.

Earlier on Augsut 24, a day after Chandrayaa-3 landed on the moon, posing as an ISRO scientist, Trivedi in an interview to news agency PTI said, We felt as if we were on the moon, it was the proudest moment.

Singhal said, Yesterday, the Crime Branch called Mitul Trivedi to its Chowk Bazar office and conducted a detailed interrogation. Today, it has been established and he has made a confession as well that the letter is forged.

Trivedi claims that he has B.Com and M.Com degrees but the police are yet to verify it. An FIR has been registered against Trivedi under IPC sections 465, 468, 471 and 419.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sanskriti Falor Sanskriti Falor is a Senior Content Producer at the News Desk of HT Digital. Having worked in Digital Media for the past two years, she is interested in covering civic issues and global affairs. ...view detail
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday suggested issuing stapled visas to Chinese passport-holders hailing from Tibet and stop supporting One-China policy as a response to Beijing laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin in its so-called standard map. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.(PTI / File)

India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with China over its new map and asserted that such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question. External affairs minister S Jaishankar also rejected the claims made in the map as absurd and said Beijing had even put out such maps in the past claiming territories that are not theirs and that it is "an old habit" of China.

"It is not something which is new. It started in the 1950s. So just by putting out a map claiming territories some of which are part of India.. I think this doesn't change (anything). These are very much part of India," he said while replying to a question on the 'map' at an event hosted by the NDTV.

"We are very clear what our territories are. This government is very clear about what we need to do to defend our territory. You can see that on our borders. I think there should be no doubt about that," Jaishankar said.

"Just making absurd claims does not make other people's territories yours. Let's be very clear on that," he added.

Reacting to the controversial map, Tharoor said, So we have protested China's latest outrage, the issuance of yet another map claiming Arunachal Pradesh as their territory.

"Yes @DrSJaishankar is right, it IS an "old habit" of theirs. It's also their habit to ignore our protests. So are we going to leave it there?" the Congress leader said in a post on X.

Is there nothing more we can do to show our displeasure? Why don't we start issuing stapled visas to Chinese passport-holders hailing from Tibet? And stop expressing our support for the One China policy?

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A week after Isro's historic Moon Mission, Chandrayaan 3 has already made some significant progress in its work and has confirmed the presence of sulphur, aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon on the lunar surface near the south pole. Isro has released a chart showing the presence of these elements at various ranges corresponding to the wavelength. Pragyan rover of Chandrayaan 3 has been carrying out experiments on the South Pole of the moon since its successful landing on August 23.

From August 23 to August 30: What Chandrayaan 3 found so far

Chandrayaan 3 soft-landed on the south pole of the moon on August 23. Since then, it has been conducting scientific experiments -- first of its kind -- as no other country ever soft-landed on the south pole of the moon. The South Pole is less illuminated by the sun and might have the potential to be colonised by humans, Isro chief S Somnath earlier said explaining why the South Pole has been picked.

List of elements Chandrayaan 3 found on the moon: Aluminum (Al), sulphur (S), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), titanium (Ti), manganese (Mn), silicon (Si), and oxygen (O). The findings are significant because if Chandrayaan 3 finds the hydrogen that it is searching for, then it will be a step further in the search for water on the moon.

Chandrayaan 3 has confirmed the presence of several elements including oxygen in the South Pole of the moon.

4-meter diameter crater: As Pragyan rover has been moving on the lunar surface to carry out the experiments, it came across a 4-metre diameter crater which was 3 metre ahead of its location. Pragyan was redirected to a new path. The South Pole of the moon is full of such craters.

Chandrayaan 3 measured the temperature of the moon under and above the ground.

Lunar temperature: Chandrayaan 3 measured the soil temperature of the moon and revealed some interesting findings. The temperature ranges from minus10 degree-celsius to around 70 degree-celsius. While minus 10-degree was recorded at 80 mm under the ground, 60-degree was above the ground -- around 20 mm.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Poulomi Ghosh Poulomi Ghosh is a journalist with Hindustan Times, New Delhi. ...view detail
On the eve of India hosting the G20 summit in New Delhi, China released a so-called standard map coopting parts of eastern Ladakh as per the rejected 1959 line and Arunachal Pradesh in the Middle Kingdom apart from Taiwan and the South China Sea. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping.

This cartographic expansion by Beijing duly amplified by Chinese propaganda through social media was immediately rebutted and rejected by the Modi government as Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and parts of Aksai Chin were occupied by Maos China in the 1950s even before the disastrous 1962 war. While India was signing the Panchsheel Agreement in 1954, China was building a highway linking occupied Tibet with occupied Sinkiang (called Xinjiang) through Aksai Chin with the then government rather oblivious to the facts.

The timing of the release of the map by China clearly has ominous portends as it poses serious questions on whether President Xi Jinping is inclined to attend the G20 summit in the Indian capital or has other plans. We are told that China releases the standard map every year but it is the first time that India has lodged a serious protest with Beijing, rejecting the territorial claims of the Middle Kingdom.

The larger question is why did Beijing release the so-called standard map and get it amplified by its propaganda media through social media platforms ? The answer lies in the recently concluded BRICS summit in Johannesburg, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a brief interaction with President Xi Jinping at the leaders lounge of the summit. It is understood that China wanted a bilateral meeting with India on the sidelines of the summit and push for normalization of ties without conceding an inch on the pending problems of Depsang Bulge and Demchok in Eastern Ladakh. Given the schedule restraints of PM Modi, the formal meeting between the two leaders could not take place and was limited to a brief interaction only. Even during the brief interaction, PM Modi raised his concerns over the border issue, clearly indicating that the road to normalization of ties goes through disengagement and de-escalation on the East Ladakh border and resolution of the remaining two friction points.

It is evident that President Xi Jinping is miffed with Prime Minister Modis unambiguous response that normal ties can only resume after PLA withdraws its forces from occupied Aksai Chin and that Indian Armys patrolling rights are restored in Depsang Bulge and in CNN junction in Demchok. It is not very difficult to presume that China released the so-called standard map to teach India a lesson. It is another matter that the Modi government has totally rejected the Chinese territorial claims.

By deliberately releasing the so-called standard map on the eve of G20, China has clearly indicated that it treats India as an adversary and will put coercive pressure on India for having close ties with the US and Quad powers. This means that China will keep the military pressure up all along the 3488 km LAC and also arm its tributary state Pakistan to put pressure on Indias western borders. With the PLA throwing both the 1993 and 1996 bilateral peace and tranquility agreements into dustbin by May 2020 transgressions in East Ladakh, India has to be prepared for the worst with China as Modis India has bigger ambitions than playing second fiddle to Communist China by becoming a regional power. India will respond to Chinese cartographical expansion in time.

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Uttar Pradesh BJP MP Varun Gandhi at a recent event in his constituency Pilibhit interacted with a sadhu and the clip has gone viral. The incident took place on Monday when the MP was addressing his party workers. The sadhu was standing near him when the sadhu's phone rang. Apparently, the sadu disconnected the call as the MP was speaking. Varun Gandhi discontinued his speech and asked the sadhu to take the call. Varun Gandhi during an address in Uttar Pradesh's Pilbhit interacted with a sadhu.

"Maharaj-ji, take the call. What difference will it make? Probably you are getting some important call," Varun Gandhi said as party workers wanted the sadhu to be removed from Varun Gandhi's side. Varun Gandhi pulled the sadhu near him and said to the party workers: "Don't do this to him. You never know when Maharaj ji becomes the chief minister. What will happen to us then?"

"Understand the times we are in. Maharaj ji, I think good times are coming," Varun Gandhi said. The video went viral with social media users interpreting that Varun Gandhi who is known for openly criticising his party took a dig at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who is the head seer of Gorakhnath Peeth in Gorakhpur.

The speech that followed was also filled with jibes at the BJP and praises for the Gandhi family. "Vote anyone but only after applying your brains. Don't vote just listening to Bharat Mata ki Jai or Jai Shri Ram. Because after that you will only become a number. I don't want you to become a number," Varun Gandhi said.

"Gandhi family is not like those who will steal your votes by sweet talking..." Varun Gandhi said.

Ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections, speculation became rife once again whether Varun Gandhi will join the Congress and, if not, whether the BJP will field him from Pilibhit given his constant attack on the BJP. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai said, "This is an issue between the mother (Maneka Gandhi) and the son. I think Varun Gandhi has weakened his place by staying with the BJP. He is an MP and has been working for Pilibhit. He must think what he should do next."

Varun Gandhi is the third-time MP from Pilibhit as he has been winning the seat since 2009 when the BJP fielded him from the constituency instead of his mother.

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As a medication, fentanyl subdues and reduces pain. But its consumption has to be strictly monitored  when fentanyl is consumed as an illicit drug, it impairs a person's awareness, and can lead to slow breathing, comatosed states, and death in the worst cases. More than 70,000 people died in 2021 alone as a result of fentanyl use in the USA. It is highly addictive. Fentanyl is a painkiller 70 times stronger than morphine and a common illicit drug. But just 2 mg is enough to kill you. (File Photo)

When is fentanyl used in medicine?

Fentanyl is used in the care of cancer patients as they approach the end of their lives. It is also used to treat pain after serious surgical operations.

It is stronger and more effective than other opiate painkillers, like morphine, oxycodone (more commonly known by its product name, Oxycontin), and hydromorphone. Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin, another common illicit opiate drug.

Since it affects the central nervous system, fentanyl is also used as an anesthetic before an operation. It puts patients into a deep sleep-like state, in which they relax and feel no pain. The dose of the drug depends on the severity and the duration of the operation.

Because fentanyl can cause respiratory depression (slow or ineffective breathing and reduced oxygen supply in the body), the dose of the drug must be carefully monitored by doctors and other medical personnel. They are there to ensure that the patient's organs, like the heart and brain, receive enough oxygen.

How is fentanyl administered?

Fentanyl can be administered intravenously. This sends the drug straight into the bloodstream, where its effects are fast.

When people use fentanyl in an uncontrolled, unmonitored way, they often suffer an overdose, and in the worse case, death.

The drug is also sold as a powder. People addicted to fentanyl often snort it as powder. Some take it as pills, commonly produced from the powder in makeshift labs in Middle and Latin America.

Both forms of consumption can make it hard to get the dosage right, especially as even a small amount, just 2 milligrams, can be fatal.

Fentanyl plasters  otherwise known as transdermal fentanyl  are used to treat chronic pain over a sustained period of time.

Clinics, doctors' surgeries and chemists have been forced to ensure a proper disposal of fentanyl plasters, because people addicted to fentanyl have been known to search through trash cans, looking for used fentanyl plasters, as it's sometimes still possible to extract some of the drug from the plaster.

People addicted to fentanyl sometimes also smoke fentanyl and inhale the drug's fumes. Even then, it is possible to suffer an overdose and its subsequent effects.

Where does illicit fentanyl come from?

A lot of the substances needed to produce fentanyl come from China. From there, they are exported to Middle and Latin America, where they are cooked up into the drug and sold illegally, often in North America.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said it had confiscated 50.6 million fentanyl pills and more than 4,500 kilograms of fentanyl powder in 2022. According to the DEA, that is the equivalent of 379 million potentially fatal doses of fentanyl  enough to kill the entire US population of 333 million people.

Fentanyl has been used illicitly since the 1970s. The illegal production of the drug grew rapidly in the 80s and 90s and took on ever bigger proportions in the 2000s. As the spread of the drug increases steadily, especially in the USA, so too does the number of people addicted to the drug and fentanyl-fatalities.

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During the 18th century, historical records note the recognition of approximately 50 distinct dog breeds in the Indian subcontinent. However, with the increasing popularity of Western dog breeds, a significant number of India's indigenous canine varieties are rapidly edging towards the brink of extinction. Despite the efforts of individuals and organizations to bring them back, the nearly extinct native dogs of India continue to be perceived as rare to uncommon canine varieties. Here are five lesser-known indigenous dog breeds that boast exceptional uniqueness. There are several lesser-known or "indie" dog breeds that possess unique qualities. Here are a few examples:(HT Photo/Abhinav Saha)

Gaddi

Gaddi Kutta(Pinterest)

Introductions: This Himalayan Sheepdog is native to the Himalayan foothills in eastern Nepal and Kashmir. They are known locally by various names including the Bhote, Bangara or Gaddi Kutta, and sometimes called the Himalayan Mastiff.

History: The Gaddi dog breed was specifically bred to safeguard encampments and livestock, primarily consisting of yaks, sheep, and goats, from potential predators.

Unique Aspects: Despite their ability as premier guard dogs, they also showcase an impressive ability to herd goats and sheep, with little to no instruction.

Chippiparai

Chippiparai(Pinterest)

Introductions: Often linked to the Greyhound the Chippiparai epitomises the strong and silent hound dog. They excel as guard dogs and are also known to make a great one-man dog.

History: Also known as as Kanni (virgin) or vettainaai (hunting dog), this is a sighthound bred by royal families in Chippiparai near Madurai district Tamil Nadu. They were predominantly used to find and kill their prey, mainly deer, wild boar, and hare.

Unique Aspects: They have a straight, dome-like head with a narrow muzzle, a black nose, and powerful jaws. Their eyes are positioned in a manner that grants them an exceptional 270-degree field of vision, providing a broader scope than the majority of other breeds.

Mudhol Hound

Mudhol Hound(Pinterest)

Introductions: Also known as the Caravan Hound, this pure bred Indian breed is a type of sight hound that is famed for its remarkable agility and swiftness. The Mudhol Hound thrives as both a skilled hunting companion and a vigilant guardian.

History: This is a very ancient breed that was predominant in the Deccan Plateau region. It is believed that this breed is the descended of the Saluki and Tazi that were brought to India by the Pathans, Afghans, Arabs and Persians India through the Kyber Pass.

Unique Aspects: Their remarkable eyesight, owing to the positioning of their eyes, equips them with the ability to effectively chase away rabbits and other small animals.

Indian Mastiff

Indian Mastiff(Pinterest)

Introductions: Also known as beast of the East or Bully Kutta, this giant dog originated in the Indian subcontinent and is one of the world's four toughest breeds.

History: This indigenous mastiff dog breed dates back to the 16th century. They have a long history of being a working dog, used for hunting and guarding.

Unique Aspects: Bully Kuttas are known to be intelligent, alert, responsive, energetic and aggressive. They are a dominating canine and should only be handled by well-experienced owners.

Rajapalayam

Rajapalayam(Pinterest)

Introductions: Also known as the Polygar Hound or Indian Ghost Hound, Rajapalayam is a southern Indian dog breed named after a town in Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu.

History: Historical accounts suggest that the breed was initially developed during the reign of the Nayak dynasty, a prominent royal family in Tamil Nadu. In antiquity, local villagers utilized these dogs to safeguard agricultural crops, livestock, and agricultural yields within the region.

Unique Aspects: They are great watchdogs and fiercely loyal. Presently, the Indian army recognizes the exceptional qualities and capabilities of these dogs, having enlisted them into their ranks and providing them with training.

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Annually, Rakhi or the festival of Raksha Bandhan falls on the Poornima Tithi (full moon day) of the Shukla Paksha in Shravan Maas (Sawan month) and this year, the Hindu community in India is celebrating it on August 30 and 31 since Poornima tithi began at 10:58 am on August 30 and will end at 7:05 am on August 31 while the Bhadra Poonch time will last from 5:30 pm to 6:31 pm, Bhadra Mukha will start from 6:31 pm then end at 8:11 pm and Bhadra Kaal will conclude at 9:01 pm, according to Drik Panchang. The festival marks the unbreakable bond between brothers and sisters, commemorated by tying a Rakhi string on your sibling's hands and what better way to celebrate the two-day festivities than with a cup of tea and some crunchy snacks with your siblings. Perfect tea-time snack for Raksha Bandhan evening: Try South Indian Spiced Almond Pakora with siblings on Rakhi (Photo by Chef Manish Mehrotra)

So, move over regular pakoras this Raksha Bandhan evening and enjoy your sweet and spicy bond with siblings by giving a nutty twist to snacking with this recipe of South Indian Almond Pakoras -

Ingredients Quantity

whole almond (without skin) 1 cup

gram flour (besan) 2 tbsp

semolina (rava) 1 tbsp

refined oil (for frying)

Kashmiri red chilli powder  tsp

turmeric powder  tsp

cumin powder  tsp

sea salt to taste

asafoetida a pinch

freshly chopped curry leaves 2 tsp

Water 2 tbsps.

chopped ginger 1 tsp

chopped green chilli  tsp

Method

 Roast almonds in preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for 4 minutes and cool it.

 Take a large bowl, combine gram flour, semolina, roasted almonds, asafoetida, and cumin powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder, freshly chopped curry leaves, chopped ginger and chopped green chilli. Sprinkle water and toss the almonds to coat.

 Heat oil in deep bottom pan, slowly drop in almonds and fry to golden colour.

 Drain out the excess oil. Cool it.

 It can be eaten like a snack.

(Recipe: Chef Manish Mehrotra)

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Google Flights, a Google service that facilitates the purchase of air tickets through third-party suppliers, has rolled out a set of features to help travellers save money on flights for the holiday season, or any time of the year. Representational Image

Most of the time, it is better to book on the early side, especially when your plans are not very flexible. But flight prices do change frequently, and there are often low fares to be found with the right tools (and some perseverance), the tech giant said on its official website on August 28.

Upgraded insights: For searches with reliable trend data, the system will now show when fares are at their lowest for the coming days, to book chosen dates and destination.

This upgrade is in addition to the existing facility, under which users can check if the current prices for their search are low, typical, or high, when compared to past averages for the same route.

Price tracking: This feature is for those who want to wait till fare reduction before booking tickets. When enabled, it will automatically notify you in case there is a significant drop in prices.

With this, you can also set up fare tracking for specific dates, or, if you are willing to be flexible, you can turn activate Any dates for deals within the next three to six months.

Price guarantee: This is in the form of a colourful guarantee badge'; it reflects if the system is especially confident that for a flight ticket one has booked, the price as on the day of booking will not get any lower before departure (including before takeoff).

If, however, the fares drop, the difference between the original and reduced price shall be returned to the customer by Google Flights via Google Pay.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT News Desk Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered. ...view detail
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that preparations for the launch of Aditya L1 are progressing smoothly, and everything is set for liftoff today. In a release featuring pictures of the launch rehearsal, the Indian space agency informed that the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has completed its internal checks and is fully prepared for its 59th mission  to deploy India's inaugural solar mission into a low earth orbit. ISRO's Aditya L1 (Left) and NASA's Parker solar probe (Representative Image)

Will Aditya L1 land on the Sun? No. Unlike Chandrayaan 3, where the Vikram lander, with Pragyan rover inside, softly touched down near the lunar south pole, the solar probe will instead be positioned at the first Lagrange point in the Earth-Sun system.

The distance to the L1 point is 1.5 million km, a span anticipated to be traversed by the spacecraft through various manoeuvres over the course of 4 months, ISRO said. Remarkably, this distance represents only 1 per cent of the overall 150 million km separation between Earth and the Sun.

ALSO READ- ISRO's Aditya L1 launch live: How to watch

NASA's Parker probe touched Sun

In December 2021, a spacecraft touched the Sun for the first time in history. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA's Parker Solar Probe navigated through the Sun's upper atmosphere, known as the corona, and sampled particles and magnetic fields within. The Parker Probe reached to about 7.8 million kilometres from the Sun's surface.

Since then, it has been executing loops in a highly elliptical orbit around the Sun, gradually drawing nearer with each orbit and relaying an abundance of observational data.

How close will NASA's Parker probe go?

At present, the NASA probe, which orbits the Sun, is situated approximately 50 million km away from Earth. It is currently making loops around Venus as part of preparations for an upcoming close encounter with the Sun. According to the most recent updates from NASA, the Parker Probe successfully passed by Venus on August 21, employing the planet's gravity to align itself for an upcoming series of record-setting flights around the Sun, slated to commence next month. The US space agency has confirmed that the probe remains on track to execute its closest flybys of the Sun thus far.

ALSO READ: NASA shares before and after image of Sutlej River flooding

Parker Solar Probe will employ Venus flybys to gradually reduce its orbit around the Sun, ultimately approaching as close as 6.16 million kilometres from its surface. This proximity places it well within the orbit of Mercury and approximately seven times nearer than any previous spacecraft.

During its anticipated closest approach in June 2025, Parker Solar Probe will be hurtling around the Sun at an astonishing speed of approximately 692,000 km per hour! To put this into perspective, it's fast enough to travel from New Delhi to Lahore in just two seconds.
Los Angeles Fire Department rescued two deer who found themselves stuck in a gate. The fire department took to social media to share about this dramatic rescue. Snapshot of the deer stuck in between a gate.(Instagram/@lacountyfd)

"Engine and Patrol 144 in Westlake Village were able to assist two deer stuck in a sticky situation. Thankfully, #LACoFD firefighters had the necessary resources to assist and make a difference in ensuring the wellbeing and safety of these two deer," wrote the Los Angeles County Fire Department in the caption of the post. (Also Read: 'Taffy thief': Deer 'breaks into' candy shop in Washington)

In the rescue video, you can see two deer, each stuck in a gate. The deer can also be seen jumping, trying to free themselves. However, their efforts seem to be in vain. Finally, the rescue personnel arrived near the gates and freed the deer carefully.

Watch the video of this dramatic deer rescue operation here:

This video was shared just one day ago. Since being posted, it has been viewed more than 26,000 times. The share has also received over 1,200 likes. Several even took to the comments section of the post to share their reactions to this video.

Here's what people are saying about the deer rescue:

An individual wrote, "Heros to all living beings! Thanks for always being there when one is in need of help. God bless our awesome firefighters."

A second commented, "Bless you, and thanks." A third posted, "Thank you for your service." "Dumb & Dumber but oh so cute! So glad you guys helped them out!" expressed a fourth.

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A heartwarming story unfolded in Ohio, US, where a couple received the best birthday gift they could ever ask for - the arrival of their twins on the same day as their birthday. Scierra Blair (left) and her fiance Jose Ervin (right) with twins Jose Ervin III and Arria Lannette Ervin.(Instagram/@clevelandclinic)

Scierra Blair, 31, and Jose Ervin, 32, celebrate their birthdays on August 18. The couple welcomed a son and a daughter just five minutes after midnight at Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital on August 18, reported People.

The hospital shared the news about the rare occurrence on Instagram. They wrote, What are the odds?! Mom, dad, and their newborn twins all share the same birthday today! A-ria and Jose were each born at just over five pounds at Hillcrest Hospital. Congratulations to Scierra and Jose on their sweet, healthy babies!

Cleveland Clinic, the hospital where the twins were born, also shared a few pictures of the family on Instagram.

Also Read| US woman gives birth in parking garage of hospital

According to People, the due date for the babies was August 28. However, during a prenatal checkup at 4:30 pm on August 17, one of the babies was found in a feet-down position in the womb, which required cesarean delivery the same day to avoid complications.

Thats when Ervin convinced his fiance to endure a few hours of extra discomfort to hit the delivery date so that the family could share the same birthday. Since the mother and her babies were in good health, the doctors gave the go-ahead to wait.

As the clock struck midnight, Jose Ervin III entered the world, followed a minute later by Arria Lannette Ervin.

Its a blessing, Ervin told People. They were my birthday present, and Im good with that. Im so stoked. I kiss them like 30,000 times a day, he added.

Take a look at the pictures below:

The post was shared on August 19. It has since accumulated nearly 5,000 likes. Additionally, the post has so far received a flurry of comments from netizens.

Heres how people reacted to this post on Instagram:

It was written in the stars, expressed an individual.

Another added, Thats gonna be one big b'day party!

Thats crazy! Congratulations! Happy birthday to everyone, shared a third.

A fourth wrote, Happy birthday to the whole family!

How sweet is this! remarked a fourth.

A fifth commented, Congratulations! Thats awesome! Meant to be! No forgotten birthdays in that family.

Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" "Exciting news! Hindustan Times is now on WhatsApp ChannelsSubscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!

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Scores of sea lions died from bird flu in Argentina, officials said amid an unprecedented global outbreak that continues to infect mammals. This has also raised fears that the virus it could spread more easily among humans. Argentina animal health authorities recently reported dead sea lions in several locations along country's Atlantic coast- south of the capital Buenos Aires to Santa Cruz near the southern tip of the continent. A dead sea lion lying on the beach in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.(AFP)

Another "50 dead specimens have been counted... with symptoms compatible with avian influenza," a statement from a Patagonian environmental authority said as authorities asked people to avoid beaches along Argentina's roughly 5,000-kilometer coastline where cases have been reported, news agency AFP reported.

Hundreds of sea lions- marine mammals like seals and walruses- were reported dead in Peru earlier this year as the virus ravaged bird populations across South America. The H5N1 bird flu has typically been confined to seasonal outbreaks but since 2021 cases has emerged year-round leading to what experts say is the largest outbreak ever seen.

Although there is no treatment for bird flu which spreads between wild birds and can also infect domestic poultry. The viruses do not typically infect humans, although there have been rare cases.

The outbreak has infected several mammal species such as minks and cats. The World Health Organization warned in July that this could help the virus adapt to infect humans more easily.

"Some mammals may act as mixing vessels for influenza viruses, leading to the emergence of new viruses that could be more harmful to animals and humans," the WHO said.

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NEW DELHI: Chinas aggressive muscle flexing is threatening the democratic way of life in Taiwan and allowing the islands participation in the UN system will demonstrate the world bodys determination to unite for global peace, Taiwanese foreign minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu said on Wednesday. Air Force aircraft take part in military drills by the Eastern Theatre Command of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) around Taiwan, in this screengrab from a handout video released by Eastern Theatre Command (VIA REUTERS)

Wu also said Chinas gray zone activities in the East and South China Seas are designed to substantiate its hawkish territorial claims, and Beijing has been securing ports for future military use in the Indian Ocean.

Gray-zone activities have been defined by the Australian Department of Defence as coercive statecraft actions short of war.

Taiwans foreign ministers remarks were made in an article seeking global support for Taiwans participation in the UN system. The Taiwan government plans to hold a series of events on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month as part of its efforts to seek meaningful participation in the UN system.

While China has vowed since the mid-20th century to take control of Taiwan and refused to renounce the use of force, the people of the island have remained calm in safeguarding the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, Wu said.

However, as Chinas economic and military might has grown stronger, it becomes increasingly aggressive in flexing its military muscle to intimidate Taiwan, thereby threatening our democratic way of life, he said.

Besides sending warplanes and ships across the median line of the Taiwan Strait, China has intensified gray zone tactics, such as disinformation and economic coercion. The PRCs expansionism does not stop at Taiwan. Chinas use of gray zone activities in the East and South China Seas are designed to expand its power and substantiate its hawkish territorial claims, he added.

China has signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific and has been securing ports for future military use in the Indian Ocean. All of these manoeuvres are causing grave concerns that peace is becoming more difficult to maintain, Wu said.

Wu also cited Russias invasion of Ukraine as a reminder of how autocracies care little about causing death and destruction. The war violated the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes as set out in the UN Charter, while its humanitarian and economic fallout has shown crises cannot be contained within national borders.

It is therefore imperative to deter similar threats to global security from happening elsewhere. Taiwan  a democracy that is home to over 23 million people and that I proudly represent  continues to confront enormous challenges posed by China, Wu said.

Ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is in everyones interest as half of the global commercial container traffic passes through the channel daily, he said. Taiwan produces a majority of the worlds semiconductors and plays a key role in global supply chains, and any conflict in the area will have disastrous consequences for the global economy, he added.

While the UN remains the best platform for global discourse, Taiwan continues to be excluded from the world body due to Chinas distortion of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, Wu contended.

This resolution neither states that Taiwan is a part of the PRC nor gives the PRC the right to represent the people of Taiwan in the UN and its specialised agencies. In fact, the resolution only determines who represents the member state China..., he said.

Wu added: While there are no easy answers, the first step is dialogue. As a truly global institution, the UN can serve as a champion of progress. We call on the UN to uphold its principle of leaving no one behind by allowing Taiwan to participate in the UN system, rather than excluding it from discussions on issues requiring global cooperation.

Ukraines bravery and resilience have inspired other countries and the war there has forged a new sense of togetherness in the world, Wu said. It is vital to make China and other authoritarian governments aware that they will be held accountable and to urge them to settle differences through peaceful means, he said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rezaul H Laskar Rezaul H Laskar is the Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times. His interests include movies and music. ...view detail
French journalist groups condemned "sexist" remarks directed at women reporters by country's justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti who made the comments after inspecting a courthouse in the central town of Aurillac. He said that it had been damaged during a protest against the prosecution of a woman for "sexual exhibitionism" after she walked topless in the street. During the demonstration, many bared their chests like the arrested woman who told police that she had removed her top because "it's super hot out" and "half the men" in the street had done the same. French justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti leaves following the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France.(Reuters)

The Societe des Journalistes (SDJ) claimed that Eric Dupond-Moretti told journalists that I have noticed that none of the women journalists asking questions today were standing bare-breasted in front of me. Maybe it wasn't hot enough? The SDJ said that he made the "inappropriate" remarks after a press briefing to several reporters, two of whom were women. The SDJ called the remarks "sexist" and "unacceptable" even "if they had been made jokingly".

There was "no basis" to the complaints and that the minister was "completely" devoted to the fight against all forms of sexual and sexist violence, an official speaking for Eric Dupond-Moretti said. The minister's remarks had been taken out of context and that he had simply wanted to point out that women wearing tops were proof that respect for the law is the norm, he clarified.

The leader of the opposition Socialists, Olivier Faure called Eric Dupond-Moretti's words "inappropriate remarks by an inappropriate minister". The minister "should manage his libido elsewhere than in government", Olivier Faure said.

Eric Dupond-Moretti has earlier also made objectionable remarks. In March, he was scolded by France prime minister Elisabeth Borne for repeatedly using an offensive hand gesture known as the bras d'honneur towards an opposition lawmaker in parliament.

Re

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken a firm stance against misleading advertising practices by issuing a warning to Exeltis, the manufacturer of the progesterone-only birth control pill, Slynd. The FDA's letter, dated August 11, rebukes Exeltis for a sponsored social media post that conveyed inaccurate claims about the safety and effectiveness of Slynd. FILE - A sign for the Food and Drug Administration is displayed outside their offices in Silver Spring, Md., on Dec. 10, 2020.(AP)

Based in Florham Park, New Jersey, Exeltis has drawn the FDA's ire for failing to provide information about possible side effects associated with the drug. The FDA underscored that omitting essential side effect information creates a distorted perception of Slynd's benefits and safety. The FDA letter stated, "These violations are concerning from a public health perspective because the promotional communication fails to include any risk information, which creates a misleading impression about the expected benefits and safety of Slynd."

The FDA's communication highlighted potential side effects associated with Slynd usage, including acne, abnormal uterine bleeding, headaches, breast pain, weight gain, menstrual pain, nausea, vaginal bleeding, decreased libido, breast tenderness, and irregular menstruation. Additionally, the FDA pointed out that Slynd is not approved for individuals with specific medical conditions such as kidney impairment, adrenal insufficiency, liver tumors, and a history of certain cancers.

The prescribing information for Slynd further underscores potential risks, including increased blood potassium levels, bone loss, thromboembolic disorders, liver disease, cervical cancer, ectopic pregnancy, and depression. The letter stressed the significance of disclosing these risks to consumers, emphasizing that omitting such vital information misrepresents the drug's safety profile.

Exeltis was granted 15 working days from the date of the FDA's letter to respond. The FDA also requested that Exeltis submit any other communications that fail to disclose risks and side effects. Furthermore, the FDA urged Exeltis to provide a plan for discontinuing misleading advertising practices and "ceasing distribution of Slynd" if needed.

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Military officers in oil-producing Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday, after the Central African state's election body announced that President Ali Bongo had won a third term. Mutinous soldiers in Gabon said Wednesday they were overturning the results of a presidential election that was to extend the Bongo family's 55-year hold on power. (GABON 24 via AP)

A dozen senior officers appeared on television channel Gabon 24 to declare that the election results were cancelled, borders were closed and state institutions were dissolved. They said they represented all Gabon's security and defence forces.

Hundreds of people took to the streets of the capital Libreville to celebrate in the morning following the overnight announcement, which appeared to have been filmed from the presidential palace, according to the television images.

If successful, the coup would be the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020. The latest one, in Niger, was in July. Military officers have also seized power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad, erasing democratic gains since the 1990s.

The officers, calling themselves The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions, said Gabon was "undergoing a severe institutional, political, economic, and social crisis", and said the Aug. 26 election was not transparent or credible.

Gunfire was heard briefly in Libreville after the statement announcing the ousting of Bongo, whose family have ruled the oil and manganese producer for more than half a century. But the streets were largely calm before celebrations erupted. Police officers guarded major city intersections.

There was no immediate comment from Gabon's government and there were no immediate reports on the whereabouts of Bongo, 64, who was last seen in public casting his vote on Saturday.

The president had appeared in public before the vote looking healthier than previous rare and frail television appearances following a stroke in 2019.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said France, Gabon's former colonial ruler, was following the situation closely.

The coup creates more uncertainty for France's presence in the region. It has about 350 troops stationed in Gabon. French forces were kicked out of Mali and Burkina Faso after coups in those countries, amid a wave of anti-French sentiment, and the coup leaders in Niger have also ordered them to leave.

China's foreign ministry called for the situation in Gabon to be resolved peacefully and said the personal safety of Bongo, who visited China in April, should be ensured.

RESTIVE REGION

Niger and other Sahel countries have been battling Islamist insurgencies that have eroded faith in democratic governments. Gabon, which lies further south on the Atlantic coast, has not faced the same challenges, but a coup would be a further sign of democratic backsliding in the volatile region.

Discontent against the Bongo family's 56-year grip on power has been growing in Gabon, an OPEC member. Violent unrest broke out after Bongo's 2016 election win and there was a foiled coup attempt in 2019, months after the president suffered a stroke abroad, raising doubts about his ability to rule.

"We think the soldiers will want to hang onto power and set up a national dialogue of some sort to draw up a new constitution, while they rid the bureaucracy of (Bongo's) loyalists," Francois Conradie, leading political economist for Oxford Economics, wrote in a note.

Bongo's critics say the family has done little to channel Gabon's oil and other wealth towards the population of some 2.3 million people, a third of whom live in poverty.

Gabon produces about 200,000 barrels of oil a day, mainly from depleting fields. International companies include France's TotalEnergies and Anglo-French producer Perenco.

French miner Eramet, which has large manganese operations in Gabon, said it had halted operations.

There had been fears of unrest after the presidential, parliamentary and legislative elections, which saw Bongo seeking a third term against 18 challengers.

His team rejected allegations of fraud.

But a lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts and the authorities' decision to cut internet service and impose a night-time curfew nationwide after the poll raised concerns about the transparency of vote.

The officers said the state institutions they had dissolved included the government, the senate, the national assembly, the constitutional court and the election body.

After the officers' announcement, internet access appeared to be restored for the first time since Saturday's vote. The government had said the web blackout and curfew were necessary to prevent the spread of fake news and to protect public safety.

The Gabonese Election Centre had earlier on Wednesday said Bongo won the election with 64.27% of the vote and his main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, had secured 30.77%.

Bongo succeeded his father Omar as president in 2009 and was re-elected in a disputed election in 2016.

Gabon's dollar-denominated bonds fell as much as 14 cents on Wednesday before recovering around 2 cents of the losses.

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The royal family blocked Meghan Markle from uttering certain words on Suits, the shows creator Aaron Korsh has revealed. I will say, and I think Harry put this in the book, because I heard people talking about it  [the royal family] weighed in on some stuff, Aaron told the Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview. Not many things, by the way, but a few things that we wanted to do and couldnt do, and it was a little irritating. Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, arrives at the Invictus Games venue in The Hague, Netherlands on April 15, 2022 (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)(AP)

Meghan was supposed to say, My family would say poppycock, but the family had it removed. The royal family did not want her saying the word, Aaron claimed about the Palace. They didnt want to put the word poppycock in her mouth. I presume because they didnt want people cutting things together of her saying ck.'

What was the word replaced with?

Surprisingly, the word was changed into an actual curse word  bullst.. It is unclear how the royal family accessed the script. Aaron, however, learned that they had the script because he started getting feedback. There was maybe one or two more things, but I cant remember, he said of other changes.

Aaron also revealed that Meghan was not the one to tell him about not being able to deliver the line. No, Meghan did not call me, he said. I cant remember. It might have been the directing producer at the time, or her agent. Whoever it was, they didnt like having to tell me any more than I liked having to hear it.

Aaron added that he understood how internet trolls attack celebrities, and therefore decided to be sympathetic to the change. Im pretty sure it got explained to me that it was about that [splicing potential], I had some sympathy because I wouldnt want somebody doing that to her either, he said. And the thing is, I didnt think anybody really would, but also I dont know. People are crazy.
Hurricane Idalia has surged to a menacing Category 4 hurricane, boasting ferocious winds of 130 mph, as it inundates streets and threatens catastrophic damage along Florida's western shore. Forecasted to make landfall on Wednesday morning, this "extremely dangerous" storm is set to hammer Florida's Gulf Coast, particularly the Big Bend region, with once-in-a-lifetime destructive winds and a perilous storm surge of up to 16 feet, as stated by the National Hurricane Center. This Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, 1:31 p.m. EDT satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Idalia, center, approaching Florida's Gulf Coast, and Hurricane Franklin, right, as it moves along the East coast of the United States, southwest of Bermuda. Feeding on some of the hottest water on the planet, Hurricane Idalia is expected to rapidly strengthen as it bears down on Florida and the rest of the Gulf Coast, scientists said.(AP)

Local authorities, as well as the National Guard, are on high alert, urging residents to evacuate to safety. The Taylor County Sheriff's Office, in the heart of the Big Bend region, didn't mince words: "There is great potential for death and catastrophic devastation." The storm surge, high enough to submerge half the second floor of an average building, has the potential to be the most powerful in the area's recorded history.

Idalia, rapidly intensifying even as of 5 a.m. and positioned around 60 miles west-southwest of Cedar Key, is now predicted to maintain its hurricane status for an extended period. Hurricane warnings have been extended to southeastern Georgia and South Carolina as well, signaling the potential for a wide-reaching impact.

As the hurricane advances, a tornado watch blankets more than 7 million people across central and western Florida, including major cities like Tampa. Coastal areas are experiencing flooding as ocean water surges ashore, rains pour, and winds whip in a storm that defies restraint.

Idalia's eye is expected to hit the Big Bend region, generating severe winds and a devastating storm surge. The National Weather Service in Tallahassee aptly commented, "This has the makings of an unprecedented event for this part of the state. There are NO major hurricanes in the historical dataset going back to 1851 that have tracked into Apalachee Bay. None. Don't mess around with this one."

Governor Ron DeSantis underscored the gravity of the situation, urging residents to evacuate immediately. "Now's the time," he implored the people of the Big Bend region, warning of a "significant, significant impact." The police in the city of Perry emphasized the storm surge's potential lethality, cautioning that surge over 15 feet is "not survivable if you are caught in it."

The ramifications of Hurricane Idalia extend beyond Florida's borders, with the storm's effects expected to be felt in Georgia, South Carolina, and even North Carolina.
Idalia weakened to a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale and is crossing into southern Georgia, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory on Wednesday. Hurricane Idalia: In this aerial view, vehicles attempt to travel on a flooded road in Tampa, Florida.(AFP)

Idalia was about 15 miles (20 km) south-south east of Valdosta Georgia. Maximum sustained winds decreased to 90 mph (150 kph) with higher gusts, the Miami-based forecaster said in its 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) advisory.

"Idalia is forecast to be a tropical storm while moving near the coasts of northeastern South Carolina and North Carolina tonight and on Thursday," the NHC said.

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Hurricane Idalia strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it made landfall on Floridas west coast where it threatens to unleash floods and trigger blackouts. Idalias maximum sustained winds reached 130 miles per hour with catastrophic storm surge, the US National Hurricane Center said. Officials said that the hurricane will slam the coast within hours as an extreme and historic Category 4 storm. Idalia in Florida: A vehicle drives through flood waters caused by Hurricane Idalia passing offshore in St. Petersburg, Florida.(AFP)

Authorities in the US state termed Idalia as a once-in-a-lifetime event for Florida's northwest coast as they ordered evacuations and issued flood alert. The US National Hurricane Center said, "Additional strengthening is forecast, and Idalia is forecast to become a category 4 hurricane before it reaches the Big Bend coast of Florida this morning. Idalia is likely to still be a hurricane while moving across southern Georgia, and possibly when it reaches the coast of Georgia or southern South Carolina late today."

Warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico are expected to further intensify Idalia with wind speeds of 130 to 156 mph, the NHC said as it warned of a potentially disastrous storm surge inundation of 12 to 16 feet in some coastal areas.

"Very few people can survive being in the path of a major storm surge, and this storm will be deadly if we don't get out of harm's way and take it seriously," Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) chief Deanne Criswell said.

Idalia was already battering parts of Florida with flooding seen in Fort Myers Beach south of Tampa. Florida governor Ron DeSantis urged those in the evacuation areas in 23 counties to go now. The hurricane appeared to be the strongest to impact the region in more than a century, he said in the region where almost 150 people were killed last year when Hurricane Ian slammed Florida's west coast.

The storm is forecast to bring to 12 inches of rain in parts of the Florida panhandle potentially triggering flash floods and tornadoes. US president Joe Biden spoke with Ron DeSantis and approved an emergency declaration for Florida.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
A special court extended the judicial remand of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan by two weeks in connection with the leakage of a confidential diplomatic cable that was allegedly misused for political purposes by his government, reported news agency PTI. According to Geo News report, Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain, who arrived at Attock jail in Punjab to conduct the hearing, issued the decision in the case of the missing cipher. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.(Reuters)

Khan was imprisoned after a district court sentenced him to three years in jail in the Toshakhana case on August 5. While the Islamabad high court suspended the jail sentence ordering his release, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader continued to remain in prison in the Cipher case, which is related to the alleged disclosure of state secrets.

Khan has for long mentioned the missing cable as evidence of a foreign conspiracy to remove him as the prime minister in April last year. The purported cipher (secret diplomatic cable) contained an account of a meeting between US state department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Pakistani envoy Asad Majeed Khan last year.

On Monday, the court extended the physical remand of Pakistan's former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi by two days in connection with the cipher case. Qureshi was foreign minister when the issue of the diplomatic cable erupted. He was arrested on August 19 under the Official Secrets Act for violating the secrecy of the official cable sent by the Pakistani embassy in the US to the foreign office.

(This is breaking newsplease check back for updates)

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Britain's top diplomat, James Cleverly, began a long-awaited visit to China on Wednesday as the two countries attempt to stabilise bilateral ties that have frayed badly in recent years. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly meets with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, not in photo, during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.(AP)

The trip is the first by a United Kingdom foreign secretary to China in more than five years, underscoring the downturn in relations over Beijing's curbing of civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony, abuses against Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, China's support for Russia and Britain's close security ties with the United States.

Cleverly met first with Vice President Han Zheng, who said the visit will further promote the sound and stable development of bilateral relations.

Cleverly will meet later in the day with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, who is both the ruling Communist Party's top official for foreign affairs and recently resumed his former post as foreign minister after the still-unexplained disappearance of his predecessor, Qin Gang.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Beijing hoped the British side will "work with us to uphold the spirit of mutual respect, deepen exchanges, enhance mutual understanding and promote the stable development of Sino-British relations.

Cleverly has said he would raise issues such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and is expected to stress that Chinese influence comes with responsibility on the global stage  including helping end Russia's invasion of Ukraine and diffusing geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is aiming to pursue a nuanced, non-confrontational approach to relations with Beijing. He has described China as a growing systemic challenge to Britain's values and interests, but he has also stressed the need to maintain a relationship with the Asian superpower.

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Russia targeted Kyiv with the biggest overnight missile attack since the spring, and accused Ukraine of sending a swarm of drones against Russian targets that damaged military transport planes at a northwestern airport. Rescuers work at a site of buildings damaged in the night by Russian drone and missiles strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv region, Ukraine. (Reuters)

At least two people were killed and three wounded by falling debris in the Ukrainian capital, local authorities said Wednesday. Air defenses shot down more than 20 Russian missiles and drones overnight, they said. Russia also launched missiles at the southern Odesa region, according to Governor Oleh Kiper.

In Russias Pskov region, four Ilyushin 76 military transport aircraft were damaged by a drone strike, state-run Tass news agency reported, citing an unidentified emergency services official. Regional Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said on social media that all flights from the airport are halted Wednesday. Pskov, home to an elite paratrooper base, borders NATO members Estonia and Latvia, and lies about 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Ukraine.

The attacks came as Ukraine reported its troops pierced the first line of Russian fortifications in the nations southeast and are fighting to widen the breach. The Ukrainian counteroffensive, started in June, has been bogged down by Russian forces dug in along a vast front line stretching from the Donbas region in Ukraines east through the south to the mouth of the Dnipro river. The slow-moving push has worried Ukraines allies, who say a long fight risks giving Russian President Vladimir Putin the upper hand in a war of attrition.

Moscow shut four international airports briefly as a combat drone was downed near the capital, Tass reported, citing emergency services. In central Russia, drones also were shot down in the Ryazan, Kaluga, Oryol and Bryansk regions. The military destroyed four Ukrainian speedboats in the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The British government said that it will change the law to force serious criminals to attend their sentencing hearings. This came after an outcry from the families of murder victims after the refusal of nurse Lucy Letby to come to court this month to be sentenced for the murder of seven infants and the attempted murder of six others. A handout image released by Cheshire Constabulary police force in Manchester on shows the November 2020 custody photograph of nurse Lucy Letby.

Lucy Letby, Britain's most prolific serial child killer in modern times, will spend the rest of her life behind bars, a judge ordered. Lucy Letby, 33, murdered te five baby boys and two baby girls at the neonatal unit of Countess of Chester hospital in northern England where she was working in 2015 and 2016. She injected the infants with insulin or air or force fed them milk.

The changes in the law would mean that the killer will have to hear anguished victims' statements from families or listen as judges impose sentences. Politicians and victim advocates called for the changes in the law to force criminals to appear for sentencing after several convicts chose not to face their victims in recent months.

Under the current law, offenders can be found in contempt of court if they refuse to attend, but they can't be forced to come. The law will be changed to make clear that custody officers can use reasonable force to make them comply and those who refuse will face up to two additional years in prison.

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak said the government would introduce the legislation this autumn asserting that it was unacceptable that some of the country's most horrendous criminals have refused to face their victims in court. They cannot and should not be allowed to take the coward's way out.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
Iran has put the lawyer of Mahsa Amini to trial, a media report claimed. Mahsa Amini's custodial death last September triggered a widespread protest movement in the country. Her lawyer Saleh Nikbakht is charged with "propaganda against the system", the daily Etemad reported and the first hearing was held on Tuesday and he was notified of the charge of propaganda activity against the regime for having spoken to foreign and local media about Mahsa Amini's case in particular", it said. An Iranian flag flutters.(Reuters)

Saleh Nikbakht's trial begins nearly a year after the death in custody last September 16 of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. She was arrested for allegedly violating the country's strict dress rules for women. If convicted, the lawyer faces a prison term of between one and three years, Etemad reported adding that Saleh Nikbakht's lawyer urged his acquittal, saying that in interviews he "only criticised the running of the country by the authorities".

In September 2022, Saleh Nikbakht indicated that Mahsa Amini's family had filed a complaint against the police officers who had arrested her. Saleh Nikbakht has represented several Iranian personalities during his career, including acclaimed film director Jafar Panahi.

This comes as it was reported that Iran is increasing a crackdown ahead of the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, arresting prominent personalities, campaigners and relatives of those killed by security forces in protests last year.

The protests following Mahsa Amini's death have now largely subsided despite some sporadic outbursts, after a crackdown which saw thousands detained, according to the UN.

As per news agency AFP, campaigners outside Iran said that the authorities are acutely aware of the risk that the anniversary could spark more protests and security forces have stepped up repression to prevent a repeat of the events of last autumn.

Amnesty International has said families of those killed in the crackdown on the movement have been subjected to "arbitrary arrest and detention".

"These arrests are a blatant attempt by Iranian authorities to instil fear within the population ahead of the upcoming anniversary (and) to deter more protests," Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New-York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
A Russian airport near the border with Estonia came under drone attack, the local governor said on Wednesday, with reports that planes were damaged. In this grab taken from a handout video posted on the Telegram account of Mikhail Vedernikov, the governor of Russia's Pskov region, on August 30, 2023, an explosion lights up the sky as the Russian military repell a drone attack on an airport in the northwestern city of Pskov.(AFP)

Regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov, who said he was at the scene of the attack, posted a video on Telegram of a massive fire, with the sounds of explosions and sirens in the background.

A drone attack "has been repelled in Pskov airport," Vedernikov wrote, adding authorities were assessing the damage but there were no casualties.

Pskov is located roughly 800 kilometres (nearly 500 miles) from Ukraine's border and the surrounding region borders EU member states Latvia and Estonia.

There was no immediate comment from the defence ministry but four heavy transport planes were reportedly damaged.

All Wednesday flights at the airport were cancelled, Vedernikov wrote, "until the nature of the possible damage to the runway is clarified."

State news agency TASS, citing emergency services, said that four Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transport planes had been damaged.

Citing air traffic services, TASS also reported that airspace above Moscow's Vnukovo airport had been closed.

Also Read: Ukraine announces liberation of strategic settlement Robotyne from Russian forces

The region of Pskov was previously targeted by drones in May.

Moscow and other Russian regions have been targeted in recent weeks by a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks after Kyiv vowed this summer to "return" the conflict to Russia.

- Black Sea ships -

Moscow later said forces had destroyed four Ukrainian boats carrying up to 50 troops in the Black Sea.

An aircraft "destroyed four high-speed military boats" around midnight Moscow time (2100 GMT), the Russian defence ministry wrote on Telegram.

The ministry said the boats had been carrying "landing groups of Ukrainian special operations forces with a total number of up to 50 people."

It did not give details on exactly where in the Black Sea the incident took place.

Both Ukraine and Russia have ramped up activity in the area after a United Nations-brokered deal to ensure safe navigation for grain ships in the Black Sea collapsed last month.

Russia has since pounded Ukraine's port infrastructure on the sea and on the Danube River.

Kyiv has attacked Russian ships in its waters and the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Last week, Moscow's defence ministry said one of its jets destroyed a Ukrainian "reconnaissance boat" near Russian gas production facilities in the Black Sea.

It later said it also destroyed a US-made speedboat carrying Ukrainian troops east of Snake Island, without providing further detail.
North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile on Wednesday, Japan's defence ministry and South Korea's military said, hours after the United States separately deployed B-1B bombers for allied air drills. People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul.(AFP)

No further information was immediately available.

The launch comes as South Korea and the United States prepare to wrap up 11 days of combined military drills, which Pyongyang has denounced.

The B-1B bombers conducted separate air drills with warplanes from South Korea and Japan earlier on Wednesday.

North Korea's ballistic missiles are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions that have imposed strict sanctions on the nuclear-armed country.

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Prince William and Kate Middleton have been told that their vacations might soon be a problem, a royal commentator said. The Prince and Princess of Wales, who are currently taking time off, may come under fire for taking extended breaks from royal duties. William and Kate have made it very clear that their children are their priority this summer holiday, OK! Magazine reported. They have blocked off much of the summer so that they can spend time with the children in the UK", it added. Kate Middleton Prince William: Britain's Kate, Princess of Wales, and Prince William, Prince of Wales, in London.(AP)

At this time, the couple are travelling to the the English countryside, Scotland, and the Caribbean along with their children George, Charlotte, and Louis. The family is said to have stayed at Anmer Hall, their country home on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. Additional stays have included Mustique in the Caribbean as well as Scotlands Balmoral Castle.

Read more: This is what Prince Harry wants Archie to be when he grows up

Royal commentator Richard Palmer said that although the couple has done things behind the scenes, taking a long, long time off is a luxury.

I do think that is an issue for them as well. Theyre very popular, theyre a huge asset to the UK. But there have been eyebrows raised in other parts of the royal household about the amount of time theyre not doing official engagements. It may well be that they come under a little bit of pressure to up their number of engagements," Richard Palmer said.

The commentator continued, There arent many families where both the father and mother are able to have 12 or 13 weeks with their children on all of their school breaks. I think theres an awful lot of goodwill toward them, but they do need to keep an eye on that.

The Princess of Wales has made it clear that her children will remain her priority for the foreseeable future, the expert said.

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Prince Harry said that there was an "unravelling" after he returned from his tour of Afghanistan that triggered the "trauma" of losing his mother Princess Diana aged 12. In his Heart of Invictus docuseries released on Netflix, Prince Harry said his "biggest struggle" was "no one around me could really help". Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is seen. (Reuters)

"I didn't have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify actually what was going on with me," he said, adding, Unfortunately, like most of us the first time you really consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the foetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously.

Prince Harry said mental illness was a "dirty word" when he first joined the military and said he wants to cure the "stigma" within society, continuing, "Look, I can only speak for my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unravelling and the trigger for me was actually returning from Afghanistan. But the stuff that was coming up was from 1997, from the age of 12, losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had I was never really aware of, it was never discussed, I didn't really talk about it - and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done but when it all came fizzing out I was bouncing off the walls, I was like what is going on here, I am now feeling everything as apposed to being numb."

The five-part project follows Invictus competitors from around the world as they prepare for the tournament, which has been founded by Prince Harry.

In the opening episode, he said, "Im Harry, a dad of two, .. couple of dogs, husband, there's lots of hats one wears but today is all about Invictus".

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Prince Harry admitted "no one around me could really help" and he had no support network after he returned from war in Afghanistan as it triggered the trauma of losing his mother Princess Diana. The Duke of Sussex' sly dig at the royal family was made in his new Netflix docuseries Heart Of Invictus, which follows a group of service members on their road to the Paralympic-style sporting competition which Harry set up in 2014. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex walks outside the Rolls Building of the High Court in London, Britain.(Reuters)

Prince Harry "didn't have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify actually what was going on with me" after admitting he was angry when he returned from a tour of duty. He also said that returning from Afghanistan triggered unresolved trauma caused by the tragic death of his mother Diana in 1997, when Harry was just 12 . He only considered therapy once he was left lying on the floor in the foetal position, he said.

In swipe at the royal family, Prince Harry said: Look, I can only speak for my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unravelling and the trigger for me was actually returning from Afghanistan.

But the stuff that was coming up was from 1997, from the age of 12, losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had I was never really aware of, it was never discussed, I didn't really talk about it - and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done but when it all came fizzing out I was bouncing off the walls, I was like what is going on here, I am now feeling everything as apposed to being numb.

The biggest struggle for me is no-one around me could really help, I didn't have that support structure that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me. Unfortunately, like most of us the first time you really consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the foetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously and that's what I really want to change.

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Britain's King Charles' wife Queen Camilla unveiled a new portrait of the Indian-origin spy and descendent of Tipu Sultan, Noor Inayat Khan at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Club to honour her sacrifice as an undercover agent for Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the World War II. The royal formally named a room at the RAF Club as Noor Inayat Khan Room which houses the portrait. Britain's Queen Camilla unveils a portrait of SOE Operative, Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan GC, at the Royal Air Force Club in London.(AP)

Noor Inayat Khan was a member of RAFs Womens Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) when she was recruited to the SOE in 1942. She then became one of only two members of the WAAF to be awarded the George Cross (GC) which is the highest award bestowed for heroism.

"It was a proud moment to have the Queen unveil the portrait of Noor Inayat Khan at the RAF Club, British Indian author Shrabani Basu, who presented a copy of her biography of Noor  'Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan'  to the Queen, said at the unveiling ceremony.

"For me, it has been a privilege to tell her story. This wonderful portrait will now be seen by many young men and women for generations. Noor's story will never be forgotten," she added.

Who is Noor Inayat Khan?

Noor Inayat Khan was born Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan in Moscow in 1914 to an Indian sufi saint father and American mother. She then moved to London at a young age before settling in Paris for school. Following the fall of France during the Second World War, she escaped to England and joined the WAAF. In 1942, she was recruited into the SOE.

"Noor was the first woman SOE operator to be infiltrated into France, and was landed by Lysander aircraft on 16 June 1943. During the following weeks, the Gestapo arrested most of the Paris Resistance Group in which she worked. Despite the danger, Noor refused to return to England because she did not wish to leave her French comrades without communications and she hoped also to rebuild the Group, the RAF Club said in a statement.

"The Gestapo had a full description of Noor, who they knew only by her code name Madeleine, and in October 1943 she was captured by them. Despite brutal interrogation she refused to give any information, either as to her work or her colleagues. She was imprisoned in Gestapo HQ, during which time she made two unsuccessful attempts at escape, and was then sent to Germany for so called safe custody. She was considered to be a particularly dangerous and uncooperative prisoner, it noted.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
Russia has informed Brazil's aircraft investigation authority that it will not probe the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet that killed mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin under international rules "at the moment", the Brazilian agency told Reuters on Tuesday. A view shows a portrait of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin at a makeshift memorial in Moscow, Russia August 24, 2023.(REUTERS)

Prigozhin, two top lieutenants of his Wagner Group and four bodyguards were among 10 people who died when the Embraer Legacy 600 crashed north of Moscow last week.

He died two months to the day after staging a brief mutiny against the Russian defense establishment that posed the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule since he rose to power in 1999.

Brazil's Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA), in the interests of improving aviation safety, had said it would join a Russian-led investigation if it were invited and the probe held under international rules.

Russias aviation authority was not obligated to say yes to CENIPA, but some former investigators said it should, as the U.S. and other Western governments suspect the Kremlin of being behind the Aug. 23 crash of the Embraer Legacy 600, which has a good safety record.

The Kremlin denies any involvement. Prigozhin was publicly critical of Moscow's prosecution of its invasion of Ukraine. The Wagner mercenaries fought battles there on Russia's side.

Also Read: Old video of Wagner boss Prigozhin triggers wild theories after his mysterious death

According to the Montreal-based United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the flight from Moscow with a destination of St Petersburg was domestic, so it is not subject to international rules known throughout the industry by their legal name "Annex 13."

NO OBLIGATION TO ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL RULES

"They are not obliged, only recommended to do that," CENIPA head Air Brigadier Marcelo Moreno told Reuters after the agency sent an email last week asking Russia whether it would open such a probe.

"But if they say theyll open the investigation and invite Brazil we will participate from afar."

U.S. aviation safety consultant and former investigator John Cox said an internal Russian investigation would always be questioned without the participation of Brazil, the country where the plane was manufactured.

"I think its very sad," Cox said after being told of the Russian response. "I think it hurts the transparency of the Russian investigation."

CENIPA said in an emailed statement it got the response from the Interstate Aviation Committee - Commission on Accident Investigation (IAC) on Tuesday, with the Russian authority saying it would not open for now a probe under Annex 13.

In air crash investigations, experts work to improve aviation safety without assigning blame, but probes are often tainted by political interests.

CENIPA and manufacturer Embraer want to prevent future accidents but face challenges in getting information from the investigation due to sanctions on Russia and Moscow's reluctance to allow outside scrutiny.

Some 802 Embraer regional jets with 37 to 50 seats, built on the same platform as the Legacy 600 corporate aircraft, are in service, underscoring Brazilian interest in the probe.

Embraer declined comment.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former U.S. air crash investigator, said Russia should accept assistance from Brazil, even if CENIPA can only participate remotely.

"If they don't, well, then that's a sure sign that it's not going to be a transparent investigation."

Drawing their name from an annex to the Convention on International Civil Aviation - commonly known as the 1944 Chicago Convention - the rules represent a low-key but effective form of international cooperation that has rarely been challenged.

By promoting unusually close technical co-operation across political frontiers and steering clear of issues of blame, Annex 13 has been credited with improving air safety dramatically since it was first introduced, safety officials said.
UK foreign secretary James Cleverly urged China to help bring Russias invasion of Ukraine to end. He is currently visiting Beijing to mend the UKs ties with the country. In an interview, James Cleverly said that he called on Chinese officials to stand by their past commitments to uphold Ukraines territorial integrity while responding to a question on Russian president Vladimir Putin accepting Chinas invitation to visit amid allegations of war crimes. British foreign secretary James Cleverly attends a meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi (not pictured) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.(Reuters)

My visit here is about the bilateral relationship between the UK and China. I have said that Russias brutal invasion of Ukraine cannot be justified by Moscow or indeed anywhere else," he said.

Britain aims to improve its relationship with China which has been strained by issues including Chinas crackdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong. His visit also set the stage for the first one-on-one meeting between UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and Chinese president Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in India next month.

China is a country with fundamentally different values to ours and we should be robust in standing up for the things that matter to us, not just for our values but for our interests, Rishi Sunak said, adding, But alongside that, like all our allies, whether thats America or Canada or Australia and others, its sensible to engage with people so that we can find a common ground on the issues where we can make progress together.

James Cleverly met with his counterpart Wang Yi and China's vice president Han Zheng, according to Chinese state media. The basis for the healthy and stable development of the bilateral relationship is through economic and trade cooperation, Xinhua News Agency said in its readout of James Cleverlys meeting with Han.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Taiwan, The UK governments position has remained consistent that there should be no unilateral change to the status quo, that any changes should be done through discussion on both sides of the Taiwan Strait."

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The White House said that it has new intelligence which showed that Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia is seeking more weapons from North Korea amid the Ukraine war. National security council spokesman John Kirby said that it had determined that Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent visit to Pyongyang called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow. Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other basic material to shore up Russia's defense industrial base, he said. Russian president Vladimir Putin (AP)

Earlier, the Joe Biden administration said that the Kremlin has become reliant on North Korea as well as Iran for the arms. North Korea and Iran are largely isolated on the international stage owing to their nuclear programs and human rights records.

In March this year, the White House said that it had gathered intelligence showing that Russia was looking to broker a food-for-arms deal with North Korea under which Moscow would provide North Korea with food and other commodities in return for munition. Last year, the White House said it had determined that the Wagner Group had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea. Both North Korea and Russia have previously denied the allegations.

North Korea, however, has sided with Russia over the war in Ukraine, asserting that the hegemonic policy of the West has forced Moscow to take military action.

This comes as drone attacks targeted multiple regions of Russia in a retaliatory strike as the authorities in Kyiv battled the heaviest air assault the city has faced since the spring. At least two people were killed and three wounded amid housing damage and falling debris in Ukraines capital region, local authorities said. Air defense forces said they shot down 28 Russian cruise missiles and 15 drones overnight in Kyiv.

The war is increasingly moving to Russias territory and it cannot be stopped, Mykhailo Podalyak, an aide to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wrote on social media.

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A Saudi court sentenced a man to death over his posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, and his activity on YouTube, marking the latest incident in a crackdown on dissent in the kingdom which has drawn international criticism. The judgement against Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi comes against the backdrop of doctoral student Salma al-Shehab and others facing prison sentences over their comments online. Saudi Arabia: The sentence was handed down by Saudi Arabias specialized criminal court.(AFP)

The sentences are a part of Saudi Arabia crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's effort to stamp out any defiance in the kingdom.

Al-Ghamdis death sentence over tweets is extremely horrific but stands in line with the Saudi authorities escalating crackdown," Lina Alhathloul, the head of monitoring and advocacy at the London-based advocacy group ALQST, said.

Lengthy prison sentences issued for free speech, such as 27 years against Salma al-Shehab, have not received sufficient outcry, and the authorities have taken this as a green light to double down on their repression, Lina Alhathloul said, adding, They are sending a clear and sinister message  that nobody is safe and even a tweet can get you killed.

The sentence was handed down by Saudi Arabias specialized criminal court which used to terror cases but also weighs on charges against activists.

According to court documents, the charges levied against Nasser al-Ghamdi include betraying his religion, disturbing the security of society," conspiring against the government and impugning the kingdom and the crown prince  all for his activity online that involved re-sharing critics' posts.

His brother Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi- a well-known critic of the Saudi government living in the United Kingdom- said, This false ruling aims to spite me personally after failed attempts by the investigators to have me return to the country."

Repression in Saudi Arabia has reached a terrifying new stage when a court can hand down the death penalty for nothing more than peaceful tweets, Joey Shea, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said.

Saudi Arabia is one of the world's top executioners, behind only China and Iran in 2022, according to Amnesty International.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for a probe into flooding at a work site in the southwest that killed four people and left another 48 missing as officials are still seeking answers more than a week after the incident. Chinese president Xi Jinping(AFP)

Xi told the nations cabinet to send a task force to conduct a thorough investigation into the disaster in Jinyang county, Sichuan province, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

There are indications the scale of the incident on Aug. 21 in the remote area was obscured from central government leaders in Beijing. The same Xinhua report said Premier Li Qiang issued instructions urging prompt efforts to ascertain relevant facts and information.

Authorities have already detained five people at a construction company on suspicion they didnt report or lied about certain aspects of the incident, Xinhua said in a separate report. Police encountered significant uncertainty regarding the number of people the firm reported missing, Xinhua said.

China has been hit by bouts of extreme weather this summer. Thats caused flooding in the north that left dozens dead.

The disasters have led to public anger directed at the government, largely over accusations authorities directed water toward areas of Hebei province and away from projects in and around Beijing that are important to Xi.

The weather has also sped up the spread and growth of destructive diseases and pests, posing risks to key crops including corn and rice.

China is at risk of more flooding in the coming days. The National Meteorological Center forecasts Super Typhoon Saola to make landfall in Guangdong or Fujian on Friday. It has issued an orange alert, the second-highest in its four-tier system for severe weather.
Revellers played in tomato pulp during the annual food fight festival La Tomatina in Spain as the tomato-throwing festival took place in the village of Bunol, near Valencia in Spain. The event takes place on the last Wednesday of August each year and this year the festival is celebrating its 76th anniversary. Thousands of people from all over the world gather to take part in the festival where people throw overripe and low-quality tomatoes at each other. People wear goggles to help protect their eyes from the pulp. Spain La Tomatina Festival: Revelers react during the annual "La Tomatina" food fight festival in Bunol, Spain.(Reuters)

What happens at La Tomatina festival?

La Tomatina begins when a truck containing tomatoes rolls into the Plaza del Pueblo around 11am. After this, the festival is supposed to start when someone climbs to the top of a two-story high wooden pole to grab some ham at the top. Often the food fight starts before when the water cannons start spraying. After one hour of tomato-fighting, no more tomatoes can be thrown and the cleaning begins which involves using fire engines to spray down the streets. Locals use brushes to clear the tomato pulp off houses and streets.

Workers on trucks tip around 120 tons of tomatoes for participants to throw. Tickets for the festival start at 12 euros (USD 13). The party is ranked by Spain as an international tourism attraction.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
UK air traffic control chief said "unreliable" flight data was the cause of widespread disruption that affected thousands of passengers stuck at airports. Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of National Air Traffic Services (NATS), said an initial investigation found that the air traffic control failure was caused by flight data which its system "didn't understand" and "couldn't interpret". UK Air Traffic Chaos: Passengers are seen waiting for delayed flights in London's Heathrow airport.(AP)

Reiterating UK governments previous statement, the air traffic control boss said that it was not caused by a cyber-attack.

Initial investigations into the problem show it relates to some of the flight data we received, Martin Rolfe said, adding, Our systems, both primary and the back-ups, responded by suspending automatic processing to ensure that no incorrect safety-related information could be presented to an air traffic controller or impact the rest of the air traffic system. There are no indications that this was a cyber-attack."

Reassuring passengers, the air traffic chief said that since Monday afternoon all systems have been running normally but acknowledged that the knock-on effects could continue to be felt for days at a particularly busy travel time of the year over the summer holidays.

We know it is something in the flight data and we will get to the bottom of it and understand why. We are conducting an investigation, we will conduct it incredibly thoroughly, he continued.

NATS said it has identified the issue around the way the system and "several levels of backups" reacted to the incorrect data. Meanwhile, it said it is working with the UKs Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on the investigation and that the conclusions of that report will be made public.

Analysis of flight data found around 281 flights, including departures and arrivals, were cancelled on Tuesday at UK's six busiest airports  75 at Gatwick, 74 at Heathrow, 63 at Manchester, 28 at Stansted, 23 at Luton and 18 at Edinburgh.

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A Kentucky radiation oncologist who claims to have studied more than 5,000 near-death experiences believes that life exists after death, without a doubt. Back in1998, Dr. Jeffrey Long founded the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation whilecompleting his medical residency. The website describes near-death experiences (NDEs) as a lucid experience associated with perceived consciousness apart from the body occurring at the time of actual or threatened imminent death." An NDE is described as 'a lucid experience associated with perceived consciousness apart from the body occurring at the time of actual or threatened imminent death' (Pixabay - representational image)

Further, in an essay for Insider, he defined NDEs as someone who is either comatose or clinically dead, without a heartbeat, having a lucid experience where they see, hear, feel emotions, and interact with other beings. Jeffrey reportedly hears stories from those who have reported NDEs, and analyses them scientifically.

Her body stayed on the trail while her consciousness traveled

In the face of overwhelming evidence, Ive come to believe theres certainly an afterlife, Jeffrey said. He said that every NDE is different, however, there are many consistent patterns. The doctor also added that about 45% of patients report that they had an out-of-body experience.

Jeffrey said that people claim their consciousness separates from their physical body, usually hovering above, which lets them hear and see what is happening around them

Dr. Jeffrey Long founded the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation while completing his medical residency (@4NDERF/X)

After the out-of-body experience, people say they're transported into another realm. Many pass through a tunnel and experience a bright light. Then, they're greeted by deceased loved ones, including pets, who are in the prime of their lives. Most people report an overwhelming sense of love and peace. They feel like this other realm is their real home, Jeffrey said.

Citing an example, he said, One woman lost consciousness while riding her horse on a trail. Her body stayed on the trail while her consciousness traveled with her horse as he galloped back to the barn. Later, she was able to describe exactly what happened at the barn because she had seen it despite her body not being there. Others who hadn't spoken to her confirmed her account.

Jeffrey, however, admitted that he never found any scientific explanation for these experiences. Ive read brain research and considered every possible explanation for NDEs. The bottom line is that none of them hold water, he said.
A middle-schooler from Colorado was reportedly removed from class for having a Gadsden flag patch on his backpack. The student, 12, at The Vanguard School was told he must remove the patch before he comes back to the class. The yellow flag features a coiled rattlesnake with the phrase Dont tread on me written, a video of meeting between the childs mother and an administrator posted on social media revealed. The Gadsden flag is also known as the Hopkins Flag or Dont Tread on Me flag (amazon.in)

The video shows the schools administrator telling the mother that the patch had to be removed because of the flags origins with slavery and the slave trade. The mother responds that one can trace back the origin of the flag to the Revolutionary War, and not slavery.

According to New York Post, the child, a seventh-grader, had other patches attached to his backpack. Some depicted semi-automatic weapons, thereby violating the schools dress code policy.

What is the Gadsden flag?

The Gadsden flag is also known as the Hopkins Flag or Dont Tread on Me flag. The historic flag was used by Commodore Esek Hopkins, the United States first naval commander in chief. He used it during the American Revolution (177583), as his personal ensign.

The flag is named after Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress and brigadier general in the Continental Army, who designed it. He gave the flag to Commodore Esek. Notably , it was unfurled on December 20, 1775, on the main mast of Esek's flagship USS Alfred. Christopher made the flag as a warning to Britain, demanding that it does not violate the liberties of its American subjects. The flag is called the "most popular symbol of the American revolution." The rattlesnake drawn on the flag appears ready to strike.

The origin of the flag can indeed be traced back to the American Revolution, also referred to as the United States War of Independence or American Revolutionary War. The war led to 13 of Great Britains North American colonies to win political independence. They went on to form the United States of America. After the US achieved independence, it adopted the Stars and Stripes as the official national flag in 1777. The Gadsden flag, therefore, received little mention.

The school walks back on its demands

After the incident, the school received massive media attention. There was widespread outrage over the child being kicked out because of the flag. The schools board of directors later called an emergency meeting. It eventually walked back its demands that asked the child, identified as Jaden, to remove the flag. He was allowed to return to class with the patch on his backpack.

From Vanguards founding we have proudly supported our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the ordered liberty that all Americans have enjoyed for almost 250 years, the board wrote in an email to Vanguard families. The Vanguard School recognizes the historical significance of the Gadsden flag and its place in history. This incident is an occasion for us to reaffirm our deep commitment to a classical education in support of these American principles.

However, Harrison School District 2 administrators said that the story is incomplete, and is not just related to the Gadsden flag. Unfortunately, this story is incomplete, they said.

The patch in question was part of half a dozen other patches of semi-automatic weapons, the administrators added. The student returned to class without incident after removing the patches of semi-automatic weapons from the backpack.
The Kremlin said that the investigation into the plane crash which killed mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin included the possibility that it was caused deliberately marking the first explicit acknowledgement that he may have been assassinated. A view shows a framed photo of Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin at his grave at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in Saint Petersburg, Russia.(Reuters)

"It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including the version - you know what we are talking about  let's say, a deliberate atrocity," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding, "Let's wait for the results of our Russian investigation."

The private jet on which Yevgeny Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow killing all 10 people on board on August 23, including two other top Wagner figures, his four bodyguards and a crew of three.

The cause is still unclear. The plane crashed exactly two months since Yevgeny Prigozhin took control of the southern city of Rostov in late June in a mutiny which shook the foundations of Russian president Vladimir Putin's rule.

Russia informed Brazil's aircraft investigation authority that it will not probe the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet under international rules "at the moment", the Brazilian agency told Reuters. Dmitry Peskov said: First of all, the investigation is under way, the Investigative Committee is engaged in this. In this case there can be no talk of any international aspect.

Yevgeny Prigozhin was buried at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in his home town of St Petersburg on Tuesday privately. Vladimir Putin was not present at the funeral.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
As part of an evolution to a more flexible and agile organizational structure, Dominic Dragisich, who joined the company as Chief Financial Officer in 2017, will be promoted to Executive Vice President, Operations and Chief Global Brand Officer. Mr. Dragisich will oversee all of Choice's brand segments, brand development, segment services, and corporate development. During his tenure as CFO, Mr. Dragisich successfully enhanced and streamlined the company's budgeting, forecasting and capital allocation processes and led several major initiatives to support the company's continued growth. Recently, he was instrumental in the acquisition of the Radisson Americas business and will continue to lead corporate development efforts.

Choice

Rockville, Maryland

United States Website
Anna Abbott joins The Doyle Collection from the Tate, the largest museum visitor destination brand in the UK where she spent the past six years. Anna brings over 20 years' track record driving reach, reputation and for global brands including the Tate, the BBC, Royal Museums Greenwich, and Arts Council England.

Anna brings a wealth of expertise in building desirable brands, digital transformation, creative campaigns and end-to-end customer experience to grow businesses. In her role as Chief Marketing Officer at The Doyle Collection, Anna will be responsible for leading brand strategy and overall marketing, digital, PR and customer relationship management. Anna is a well-established leader in her field, and her knowledge and expertise will benefit the marketing teams, as well as The Doyle Collection as a whole.
W Punta de Mita, the newly reimagined beachfront resort on the shores of Riviera Nayarit, is pleased to announce the appointment of Oscar Gonzalez Ibarra as General Manager. With his extensive expertise in luxury hospitality and commitment to delivering unparalleled guest experiences, Gonzalez is poised to lead W Punta de Mita's reputation as the premier lifestyle hotel in the region.

Oscar Gonzalez Ibarra began his career in his hometown of Mexico City at the J.W. Marriott Hotel. Over the course of his impressive 26-year tenure, he has held numerous leadership positions across a range of hotels and Marriott branded properties, leading him to work in diverse locales spanning from Panama and London to Aruba, Honduras and, most notably, Mexico. His hard work and dedication landed him General Manager of the Year of Marriott's Caribbean and Latin American (CALA) region in 2019. Prior to joining W Punta de Mita, Gonzalez served as Chief Operating Officer in a private real estate company, where he oversaw seven hotels under the Hilton and Hyatt umbrellas.

In his new role, Gonzalez will take the helm of the 126-room resort's operations, with his responsibilities cementing the property's standing as the foremost lifestyle hotel in Rivera Nayarit. His role will be instrumental in highlighting the recent multi-million dollar renovation and ensuring the resort remains a haven where guests can experience the destination in a relaxed and authentic way.
Andrew Cameron is a consulting and valuation Project Manager with the HVS Wilmington/Philadelphia office. He graduated from the University of Delaware in May 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Real Estate Transactional Advisory Services. Prior to joining HVS, he held internships with Tri-State Commercial in Brooklyn, New York, and Gurneys Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa in Montauk, New York. While at the University of Delaware, he received his Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics (CHIA) and Certification in Advanced Hospitality and Tourism Analytics (CAHTA). He is also a licensed New York State Real Estate Salesperson.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Demonstrating post-pandemic revival and improving vibrancy in the iconic city of San Francisco, Chicago-based Oxford Capital Group, LLC announces the debut of four rebranded and repositioned hotel properties: Hotel Julian San Francisco (formerly Hotel Vertigo, and originally Empire Hotel), SoMa House (formerly Americania Hotel), Hotel Garrett (formerly Good Hotel), and Hotel Fiona(formerly Carriage Inn), now accepting reservations starting in mid-September and October with introductory pricing. In the Bay Area, Oxford currently owns and operates Hotel Griffon on the Embarcadero, Inn at Union Square and King George Hotel in Union Square, Creekside Inn in Palo Alto, as well as Hotel Los Gatos. Oxford Capital Groups wholly owned affiliate, Oxford Hotels & Resorts, LLC, will continue to manage these properties post reopening.

We are sanguine about the long-term prospects of downtown San Francisco, which has proven resilient over a number of economic cycles and challenges. By investing in these four properties as well as coming off recent comprehensive refreshes of Hotel Griffon and Hotel Los Gatos, our local portfolio of nine hotels is poised to differentiate itself and attract new customers. Sarang Peruri, Chief Operating Officer of Oxford Capital Group, LLC and Partner of Oxford Hotels & Resorts, LLC

With these developments, Oxford has proven its commitment to rebuilding and enhancing the surrounding communityand in particular the SoMa neighborhoodas it fell victim to homelessness and crime during the pandemic. After being utilized by the city for nearly three years as some of the first hotels in the city to provide quarantine facilities during COVID, in close partnership with city officials, including District Supervisor Matt Dorsey, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, San Francisco Police Department Captain Luke Martin, and Mayor London Breed, these properties are poised to reopen, bringing modern design, refreshed hospitality, high touch service, and guest-driven amenities for business, leisure and convention travelers.

As we expand our West Coast presence, we are proud to bring Oxfords commitment to compelling design, quality service, and enjoyable and safe community-driven experiences to these new properties. SoMa will soon have new, vibrant public spaces and food & beverage experiences for locals and visitors to enjoy; somewhat of a living room for the neighborhood. George Jordan, President of Oxford Hotels & Resorts, LLC

In late 2022, Oxford began its efforts in refreshing and repositioning the properties. The initial focus was the guestrooms and lobby areas to allow for a soft reopening. Later this year and early next year, Oxford will debut additional guestrooms (adding nine rooms at SoMa House and four rooms at Hotel Garrett) and multiple new food and beverage facilities described below.

On behalf of the City of San Francisco, I proudly welcome this bold investment in the South of Market neighborhood, and am eager to see the vibrancy, excitement, and visitation these new hotels will bring to the community and city at large. Oxfords efforts here are an example of the kind of strong commitment that shows people are betting on San Francisco and that our future is bright. We have been, and look forward to continuing work alongside Oxford to make sure these properties are successful and the surrounding neighborhood is welcoming and safe for visitors, workers, and residents. San Francisco Mayor London Breed

Additional information about and location of each of the hotels can be found below:

Hotel Julian San Francisco (940 Sutter Street) -Located in the dynamic and affluent Lower Nob Hill submarket of downtown San Francisco, Hotel Julianthe second location of this Chicago hotel brand named after the patron saint of hospitalityis finishing a multi-million-dollar refresh. A classic reborn and set to debut in mid-October, Hotel Julian will represent the perfect union of old and new, featuring a combination of sophistication and playfulness with its 107 refreshed guestrooms and the introduction of a two-story, indoor-outdoor wine bar called Carlottas (set to open in early 2024), whose name dates to the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo that was filmed at the property in the 1950s. Hotel Julian features hard flooring, new central air conditioning, new furniture and refreshed bathrooms across its guestrooms and a reconfigured two-story arrival lobby.

(940 Sutter Street) -Located in the dynamic and affluent Lower Nob Hill submarket of downtown San Francisco, Hotel Julianthe second location of this Chicago hotel brand named after the patron saint of hospitalityis finishing a multi-million-dollar refresh. A classic reborn and set to debut in mid-October, Hotel Julian will represent the perfect union of old and new, featuring a combination of sophistication and playfulness with its 107 refreshed guestrooms and the introduction of a two-story, indoor-outdoor wine bar called Carlottas (set to open in early 2024), whose name dates to the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo that was filmed at the property in the 1950s. Hotel Julian features hard flooring, new central air conditioning, new furniture and refreshed bathrooms across its guestrooms and a reconfigured two-story arrival lobby. SoMa House (121 7th Street) - Debuting in September, SoMa House is finishing a multi-million-dollar refresh across 152 guestrooms (including the proposed addition of nine guestrooms), as well as the build out of a new sports-themed gastropub concept called SoMA Social (set to open in early 2024). The refresh combines playful design with traditional historic elements, offering a peaceful oasis in the heart of the city with amenities including a spacious fitness center, heated outdoor pool, and an expansive courtyard space that boasts a new water feature. The guestroom refresh includes hard flooring, new furniture, refreshed bathrooms, and improved air conditioning. The property is also currently designing a new indoor-outdoor rooftop venue boasting unobstructed views of the city skyline that would be operated in conjunction with SoMa Social.

(121 7th Street) - Debuting in September, SoMa House is finishing a multi-million-dollar refresh across 152 guestrooms (including the proposed addition of nine guestrooms), as well as the build out of a new sports-themed gastropub concept called SoMA Social (set to open in early 2024). The refresh combines playful design with traditional historic elements, offering a peaceful oasis in the heart of the city with amenities including a spacious fitness center, heated outdoor pool, and an expansive courtyard space that boasts a new water feature. The guestroom refresh includes hard flooring, new furniture, refreshed bathrooms, and improved air conditioning. The property is also currently designing a new indoor-outdoor rooftop venue boasting unobstructed views of the city skyline that would be operated in conjunction with SoMa Social. Hotel Garrett (112 7th Street) - Hotel Garretts multi-million-dollar refresh blends modern elegance with rich architectural history. The contemporary refresh of the property will feature hard flooring, improved air conditioning system, new furniture, and refreshed bathrooms across 121 guestrooms (including the proposed addition of four guestrooms), available to be enjoyed by guests starting in September, along with an expanded and reconfigured lobby. The hotel houses a 4,200 square foot restaurant space with an open kitchen, two private dining areas, and full-service bar, and is currently evaluating prospective tenants to relaunch this venue in 2024.

(112 7th Street) - Hotel Garretts multi-million-dollar refresh blends modern elegance with rich architectural history. The contemporary refresh of the property will feature hard flooring, improved air conditioning system, new furniture, and refreshed bathrooms across 121 guestrooms (including the proposed addition of four guestrooms), available to be enjoyed by guests starting in September, along with an expanded and reconfigured lobby. The hotel houses a 4,200 square foot restaurant space with an open kitchen, two private dining areas, and full-service bar, and is currently evaluating prospective tenants to relaunch this venue in 2024. Hotel Fiona (140 7th Street) - Set to debut in September, the refreshed, historic 48-key boutique hotel property with Victorian flare features hard flooring, new furniture, central air conditioning, and refreshed bathrooms across its guestrooms and an updated arrival lobby.

For more information, please visit Oxford Capital Group, LLCs website - www.oxford-capital.com.

About Oxford Capital Group, LLC and Oxford Hotels & Resorts

Oxford Capital Group, LLC is an award-winning international real estate investment, development, and management firm that focuses on large-scale acquisitions, developments, redevelopments, and operationally-intensive real estate. Oxford, its affiliates, and principals have been involved in over $3 billion of real estate and private equity investments, with a primary focus on hospitality (15,000+ hotel rooms); hospitality anchored mixed use projects including multi-family (1,000+ units); senior housing (3,000+ units); urban retail; and parking. Oxford Hotels & Resorts, LLC is its wholly owned hotel management affiliate, which specializes in operating, managing, and branding distinctive, high design luxury lifestyle hotels, and food & beverage venues. Its growing national portfolio of luxury lifestyle hotels and brands include Audrey, Cass, Felix, Godfrey, Griffon, Julian, King George, Le Meridien Essex Chicago, LondonHouse, Los Gatos, Porter, Thompson (Chicago), Versey, and Vertigo. It also has a growing collection of restaurants, rooftops, bars and pool-centric food & beverage venues. These include About Last Knife (ALK), I|O Rooftop, LH Rooftop, Ruka, Spa Boutique, SX Sky Bar, and WTR. Oxford Living, LLC is its senior housing investment and management platform. Oxford Residential, LLC is its multi-family development affiliate.
The first thing I discovered when I started in hospitality is that it is a zero-disappointment business, particularly when guests are paying for a world-class service.

Naturally, this raises little room for error. If a property exceeds expectations on nine out of 10 guest experiences but disappoints on the tenth, that is the one that will show up on a review site, discouraging both return and referral business. Making zero-disappointment a fundamental priority and providing broad options for your customers to put this in place will help drive high-return hospitality overall.

At Agilysys, we target zero-disappointment through integrated, experience-focussed modules designed based on customer input, as well as industry dynamics, such as the increased demand for self-service and mobility for both staff and guests.

Additionally, hospitality technology must clear a higher bar than traditional return on investment (ROI) due to the marginal factors that determine whether your offering is successful or not. When it comes to guests, a zero-disappointment experience is crucial  you need to deliver the type of exceptional experience that delights your guests. With a comprehensive suite of fully integrated end-to-end solutions, Agilysys has dedicated countless hours to creating a personalised experience to deliver greater spending, stronger reviews and guests for life.

Essentially, it is irrelevant how beautiful your property is or how many activities it offers; if its not focused on the overall experience of its guests, then its doomed to fail in the long run. Providing exceptional personalised experiences is the goal of every hotelier nationwide, and the right technology solutions are vital.

Here are four ways properties with the right technology solutions can create exceptional zero-disappointment stays that, ultimately, delight their guests while enhancing ROE:

Identifying the right Property Management System

Choosing the right property management system (PMS) is one of the most important decisions a hotelier may ever make throughout their tenure. The right software has the capabilities to streamline your hotel operations while alleviating the relentless workload that can manifest at your property.

PMS, after all, have the capability to ensure interoperability throughout the property  with open-platform PMS systems communicating with one another. This champions the brand at every touch point within the business, from booking to re-engagement and referral.

By investing in the right PMS, hoteliers are putting not only their guests but also their staffs experience at the centre of their operation: reducing their levels of stress, empowering them to become more efficient and providing them with a higher sense of fulfilment in their work. This inevitably encourages guests to stay more often, spend more, and recommend more while leaving stronger reviews. Meanwhile, from a staff perspective, it boosts the likelihood of retention, increases empowerment, reduces stress and gives staff a greater incentive to stay long-term  guaranteeing a high return on experience (ROE).

Overall, this produces more champions and fewer critics and provides greater choice, control and convenience. On top of this, a greater sense of loyalty is created for both staff and guests and theres a stronger belief that your business can keep its promises in terms of its overall offering.

Higher Return on Data (ROD)

Solutions designed by hospitality experts to reveal data-driven insights and decisions about guests and staff have also been proven to increase a high return on data (ROD). This ensures that the businesss promises are kept, which delivers profits through data-driven, connected solutions centred on guest delight, staff satisfaction and insightful relationships.

Additionally, for guests, this creates more efficient preference-based services, optimised reservations, curated offers and greater influence, in terms of interaction. For staff, this enables data-informed schedules and creates coverage aligned to demand while providing a deeper understanding of guests and uncovering insights that increase revenue.

Allowing guests to take control of their stay

Guests have access to an array of a hotels facilities and activities online before arriving. When guests can review the propertys offering and make selections in their own time, they are more likely to spend more. Additionally, guests can book spa appointments, tee times and other activities when they reserve a room. On top of this, they have the option to not only make a restaurant reservation but also select the specific table or seat and the server they prefer  allowing guests to reserve an array of offerings of their own choice at the time that is best for them.

Ensuring the hotel communicates with guests before, during and after their stay

Its important for properties to stay in contact with their guests to build loyalty. Pre-stay emails alerting guests towards updates, discount offers, or new features can be sent to new and repeat guests. By using guest profile content, for example, hotel staff can generate SMS communication with upgrades, coupons, or special offers while the guest is on the property. Moreover, post-stay surveys encourage positive reviews and return visits. By staying in touch with guests before, during and after their stay, hotels remain top of mind when guests make future travel plans.

These solutions help properties deliver a seamless, personalised experience to their guests, which provides them with choice, control and convenience. These solutions work together to optimise staff experiences by easing workload stress and providing tools that empower them to be better hosts. As a result, guest loyalty is prioritised, staff turnover is reduced, and a propertys bottom line is increased  maximising ROE.

At Agilysys, The Hospitality Cloud  the only end-to-end, exclusive hospitality platform that maximises ROE  for guests and staff across every hospitality touchpoint, has been developed with a hospitality core collection of services that are tailored to maximise ROE by specific venue and management model needs. These include a collection of core PMS to fit operational needs and technology preferences, such as point-of-sale systems (InfoGeneisis and Buy) which are optimised for food and beverage experiences, and Agilysys inventory and procurement for food, beverage, furniture and fixture needs in hospitality venues.

Furthermore, experience-focused models that integrate with core solutions to amplify specific guest and staff experiences, including digital, mobile, self-service, amenity-based and loyalty-based products, have been developed to enhance economic and emotional ROE outcomes based on how staff and guests interact in specific venue types.

Overall, when it comes to your guests, a zero-disappointment experience should be at the heartbeat of your hotels offering. Its fundamental that hoteliers target delivering the type of exceptional experiences that not just delight guests  but give them that urge to return again. With a comprehensive suite of fully integrated end-to-end solutions, Agilysys have the capability to create a seamless personalised experience to deliver greater spending, stronger reviews and guests for life.

Reprinted from Hotel Management International with permission from www.hmi-online.com.

About Agilysys

Agilysys is well known for its long heritage of hospitality-focused technology innovation. The Company delivers modular and integrated software solutions and expertise to businesses seeking to maximize Return on Experience (ROE) through hospitality encounters that are both personal and profitable. Over time, customers achieve High Return Hospitality by consistently delighting guests, retaining staff and growing margins. Customers around the world include: branded and independent hotels; multi-amenity resort properties; casinos; property, hotel and resort management companies; cruise lines; corporate dining providers; higher education campus dining providers; food service management companies; hospitals; lifestyle communities; senior living facilities; stadiums; and theme parks. The Agilysys Hospitality Cloud combines core operational systems for property management (PMS), point of sale (POS) and inventory and procurement (I&P) with Experience Enhancers that meaningfully improve interactions for guests and for employees across dimensions such as digital access, mobile convenience, self-service control, personal choice, payment options, service coverage and real-time insights to improve decisions. Core solutions and Experience Enhancers are selectively combined in Hospitality Solution Studios tailored to specific hospitality settings and business needs. Agilysys operates across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and India with headquarters located in Alpharetta, GA. For more information visit Agilysys.com

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Travel influencer Michael Motamedi with his wife and 2-year-old daughter in Paris

Travel influencer Michael Motamedi has been traveling the world with his wife and 2-year-old daughter using the free AI travel assistant GuideGeek to make every decision since June. The trip, initially planned for six months, is off to such a strong start that it has been extended to 12 months.

The family's adventures are documented in an original web series titled No Fixed Address that airs weekly on Motamedi's TikTok as well as Matador's Instagram and the GuideGeek Instagram, and there has been no shortage of adventure. For instance, GuideGeek sent Motamedi deep into a Marrakech neighborhood for a haircut at a barber's home.

"That was the craziest thing," says Motamedi. "I never would have known about that barber without GuideGeek. I couldn't even find him on Google, and I was a little nervous walking into his house, but it was a great haircut  and an even better story."

Travelers message GuideGeek on Instagram or WhatsApp to get personalized, instant recommendations in response to any travel query. The AI is built on OpenAI's ChatGPT technology and includes many travel-specific integrations, including live flight data from 1,000 OTAs and airline websites, as well as the best vacation rentals in major cities around the world.

Motamedi and his wife Vanessa Salas, a former producer at Discovery Channel, use GuideGeek to select which countries to visit, where to eat, and everything in between. After starting in Morocco, the family visited Barcelona, where Motamedi used GuideGeek to experience the city through the eyes of Anthony Bourdain, Picasso and Dali.

"We are not just using GuideGeek as a 'best of' resource, but discovering unique things about a city in real time," says Motamedi. "I could be at a restaurant and want to know the history of it. No longer do I pull out Google and sift through articles while I am dining with my wife. Instead, I ask my friend GuideGeek about it on WhatsApp while I'm pouring myself a glass of wine."

Currently the family is in Paris, where Motamedi asked GuideGeek to direct him to authentic French cocktails. In one case it was flat out wrong, recommending a British cocktail, but Motamedi had a great experience nonetheless. Matador Network, which created and operates GuideGeek, has decreased the percentage of conversations containing errors from 12% to less than 5%, and is targeting 2% in the next month.

"AI isn't perfect, but it dramatically reduces the time we spend planning and trying to find information about a destination," says Motamedi. "GuideGeek has proven to be a much faster path to authentic interactions with the local people and culture than any other travel resource I've experienced. It's a little ironic when you think about it, but it's true."

Motamedi recently announced on the Get Lost Podcast that the experiment would be extended to a full year. Media outlets such as Business Insider and KTLA, in Motamedi's hometown of Los Angeles, have highlighted the family's journey. Since the family set out, GuideGeek has seen daily active user growth of more than 650% month over month and amassed 1.3 million followers on Instagram.

"The technology has already advanced so much since Michael and his family started their trip in June, and the intense use he and other creators are putting it through have been a big part of that," says Matador Network CEO Ross Borden. "Michael is a sort of guinea pig helping us perfect this technology and pioneering new uses for it that will be commonplace for all travelers in 1-2 years."
Weekly Hotel Industry Asia Pacific News Roundup from HVS

Scotland Hotels: Mercure Glasgow Acquired For GBP7.5 Million By Thai Company

Bangkok-based international hospitality company, S Hotels & Resorts, has successfully acquired the freehold of Mercure Glasgow City Hotel on Ingram Street in Scotland for GBP 7.5 million. The hotel encompasses 91 rooms, a restaurant, bar, meeting spaces, and other amenities. The acquisition enables S Hotels & Resorts currently operating the hotel to take ownership of the site and has the flexibility to undertake a substantial refurbishment of the property. The Scottish hotel market is displaying resilience, with a threefold increase in investment volumes this year, totaling GBP165 million. This purchase aligns with Scotland's flourishing tourism

Vacant Sydney Office Tower To Be Converted Into Luxury Hotel

Indonesia's affluent Karim family, based in Jakarta, has intensified their efforts to establish a AUD500 million hotel portfolio in Australia. Through their local investment entity, Singapore-based Invictus Developments, they have recently acquired the five-star 50-key boutique hotel The Inchcolm by Ovolo in Brisbane for AUD25 million and the vacant former Bank of China building in Sydney near Wynward Station for a discounted AUD52.5 million. Invictus plans to repurpose the latter into a luxury hotel, spending AUD30 million on renovations, including a rooftop bar with a targeted opening by end 2025. With these acquisitions, Invictus now owns four hotels in Australia, including Harbour Rocks Hotel in Sydney and Quest Woolloongabba in Brisbane purchased for AUD40 million and AUD43.8 million respectively. The Karim family sees Australia's post-COVID return to international travel as a promising factor for their investment.

With Indonesia's High-Speed Rail Set To Launch In September, Authorities Look To Surabaya For Phase Two

The High-Speed Rail (HSR) between Surabaya and Jakarta will be launched in September 2023. The service will shorten the travel time to 45 minutes, from the usual three hours. The trains are designed to travel at a top speed of 420 kmh, but authorities approve a maximum speed of 350kmh for safety reasons. For the introductory campaign, there will be two months of complimentary rides for passengers with commercial operations beginning in October. The train is operated by PT KCIC, a joint venture of Indonesian state-owned enterprises and a consortium of Chinese railroad companies. The next step for the project is to extend services some 700 kilometres into East Java. The planned extension would facilitate an efficient transport infrastructure which will raise connectivity for passengers, bringing about economic growth. Overall, the rail project may serve as a catalyst for regional high speed rail development.

Enhanced Tourism Development Between Lam Dong And Busan

A strategic partnership between Busan Tourism Organization and Tourism Association of Lam Dong  Da Lat has been formalized in a signing ceremony with representatives of both associations in attendance. The agreement seeks to boost tourism exchanges and advance the tourism industries of both countries. A new direct flight route this past month from Busan and Da Lat has spurred greater connections between the two cities. The partnership focuses on bi-directional tourism growth, collaborate in tourism marketing initiatives, setting favorable conditions for tourism businesses to open tours to Da Lat, and providing support in preparation of Busan's International Exhibition in 2030.

About HVS

HVS is the world's leading consulting and valuation services organization focused on the hotel, restaurant, shared ownership, gaming, and leisure industries. Established in 1980, the company performs more than 4,500 assignments per year for virtually every major industry participant. HVS principals are regarded as the leading professionals in their respective regions of the globe. Through a worldwide network of over 50 offices staffed by 300 experienced industry professionals, HVS provides an unparalleled range of complementary services for the hospitality industry. For further information regarding our expertise and specifics about our services, please visit www.hvs.com.
1Concier to Host Wellness Webinar in Honor of Housekeeping Week

In honor of Housekeeping Appreciation Week commencing on September 9th,1Concier is excited to announce an initiative to honor the diligent efforts of our customers housekeeping staff. 1Concier will host an insightful and invigorating Virtual Wellness Webinar titled "Prioritizing Wellness for Housekeeping." The online webinar is scheduled for September 6th, from 1:00 PM to 1:45 PM (EST).

At 1Concier, we recognize the indispensable role that housekeeping plays as the heartbeat of the hospitality sector. As a gesture of gratitude towards both our loyal customers and their dedicated staff, we have organized this exclusive Wellness Webinar. The event is designed to provide valuable self-care insights encompassing meditation, mindfulness, and yoga techniques. By sharing these holistic practices, we aim to facilitate a sense of tranquility and renewal within housekeeping teams.

Tony Smith, CEO of 1Concier, expressed the significance of the Wellness Webinar, stating, "At 1Concier, we deeply understand the importance of self-care. Our objective with this webinar is to equip the housekeeping teams of our valued customers with tools and practices that promote well-being. Through meditation, mindfulness, and yoga, we aspire to inspire and rejuvenate these unsung heroes who contribute immensely to the hospitality industry. This event is a testament to 1Concier's commitment to caring for our housekeeping community."

The Wellness Webinar promises to be a transformative experience led by accomplished facilitators in the realm of well-being. Esteemed leadership trainer Mo Hasan will guide participants through an insightful session titled "Inspiring Your Mind for Reflection, Rejuvenation, and Restoration." Additionally, Yoga and Meditation Teacher Ashley Devi will conduct an interactive segment focused on Breathwork and Mindfulness Practices.

For those interested in participating in the "Prioritizing Wellness for Housekeeping," please visit https://lp.1concier.com/housekeeping-wellness-webinar-2023-by-1concier.

ABOUT 1CONCIER: 1Concier, owned by Lion Equity Partners, was formed from the merger of Riegel Linen, T-Y Group, and Harbor Linen - combined we strive to be the industry-leading linen solution for the Hospitality, Healthcare, and Commercial Laundry markets. Since 1838, we have been providing textile expertise to hotels, resorts, casinos, managed care facilities, and commercial laundries. Our superior product offering includes linen, terry, patient apparel, incontinence care, pool towels, robes, slippers, bedding, and table linen.

ABOUT LION EQUITY PARTNERS: Headquartered in Denver, CO, Lion Equity Partners is an operations-focused private equity firm specializing in corporate divestitures and special situations. Lion Equitys investment strategy is centered on creating value in their portfolio companies through a combination of operational improvements, organic growth, and strategic add-on acquisitions. The firm leverages its strategic, financial, and operational expertise to build businesses that will create long-term value for all stakeholders.

Media Contact: Vera Kolesnik, Director of Product Development & Marketing

P 786-532-9278 E vkolesnik@1concier.com
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Hong Kong: London ETO vandalism condemned

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today expressed strong condemnation over the vandalism committed on the premises of the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office (ETO) in London.

In a statement, the Hong Kong SAR Government pointed out that on August 29, London time, offenders, under the cover of darkness, sprayed indecent and offensive language on the entrance of the London ETO, and defiled the Hong Kong SAR regional emblem.

Apart from pointing out that the London ETO has notified local police accordingly, it stressed that the vandals must face legal consequences as soon as possible.

It also emphasised that such vandalism is an outright challenge to the Hong Kong SAR Government and reflected the nefarious intentions of destabilising foreign forces to cause chaos and disruption in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong SAR Government made it clear that it must strongly condemn such acts and will pursue legal liability of the individuals involved.

As such, it called on the British police to handle the matter seriously, and apprehend the culprits with proactive and appropriate actions.

British police are urged to act in accordance with its obligation to safeguard the London ETOs property and its staffs personal safety, thereby ensuring that the office can operate without illegal or undue interference.

The Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development has contacted the British Consul-General in Hong Kong to express his deep concern about the incident, and requested the British police to take action to protect the legal rights and interests of the London ETO.

The Consul-General undertook to reflect the matter to the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and London police, and follow up as appropriate, the statement added.

This story has been published on: 2023-08-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Hudson, NY (12534)

Today

Periods of rain. High 52F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low around 35F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
North Adams School Officials Vote to Change Grade Configuration

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The School Committee on Tuesday voted with little discussion to change the school district's organization of instruction.

The school district will have a prekindergarten through Grade 2 early education program and a Grades 3-6 upper elementary program and a Grades 7 through 12 middle and high school level.

This was done in two votes as the organization of instruction had not been changed to reflect the move of the middle school to Drury High School nearly a decade ago.

Superintendent Barbara Malkas gave the same presentation provided last week to the Policy subcommittee, which voted to recommend the change.

"We had an overview of the data that you just shared and the community input that you just shared, and a discussion amongst ourselves about the educational benefits that we'll be able to bring to our district by reconfiguring in this way," said Tara Jacobs, chair of the subcommittee. "There's so many benefits that we saw."

Committee member Richard Alcombright said there are going to be some logistical things that parents will have to deal with, such as transportation, but everything else he'd heard was positive.

"What I've learned from faculty people I've talked, to from administration I've talked with, from some of the colleagues here at the table and from folks out in the community is that the benefits to the students are great," he said. "I have not heard one thing that would not benefit the students."

Mayor Jennifer Macksey, chair of the committee, concurred, said the committee's vote was needed narrow down the options for the design work to come.

This means the school building project will focus on how to educate the city's children in the two separate elementary levels.

"We are not there yet," said Malkas after the vote. "We are just finishing up our PDP process, which is your programmatic design phase report with the MSBA."

The project will be moving into the Massachusetts School Building Authority's preferred schematic phase. The vote was necessary, she said, because "we need to know what we're designing our options towards."

That phase won't end until next May, after which community support will be sought to enter into the schematic phase. It will be a year a more before construction begins.

"We have many scenarios that we will need to work through to start to actually think about how we can actually phase it in over time," said Malkas. "Because with our declining enrollment, declining population, we will need to think about consolidating classes at particular grade levels."

It's not going to happen Thursday and may not even happen next year, she said, but "it may be in the future beyond that."

The School Building Committee will review building options based on the vote at its meetings in September with the expectation a preferred design will be submitted to the MSBA this fall.
Dalton Considers Implementing Climate Change Policy

DALTON, Mass.  The Select Board is considering a climate-change policy to improve the town's chances of obtaining grants.

This policy is a significant commitment because it sets requirements that the department heads and the Finance Committee has to follow, Select Board chair Joseph Diver said at last week's meeting.

The board voted to postpone the decision until it can look into the topic further and until the policy is reviewed by Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson and department heads.

It is important that the department heads are involved in the conversation because of the impact it will have on them and the town as a whole, Diver said.

The town's energy reduction level continues at 21 percent as of August 2022, which complies with the state-mandated level for 2020.

Further improvements are needed, however, to reach the state-mandated 33 percent energy reduction by 2025, which is quickly approaching, Diver said.

It is unclear what the financial impact will be to meet the mandated energy reduction level so the information provided during the meeting's presentation in addition to the department heads input should inform the town's strategy session in Sept, Diver said.

There is a lot to consider when looking at a policy of this magnitude so it is important to have all the information so that they can streamline the process in a cost effective way, Hutcheson said.

The town could consider incorporating aspects of this policy into a climate action plan that the Select Board can then adopt in full as a policy.

This would allow them to work from an already comprehensive and coordinated approach to reach the net zero goal, he said.

Then this policy becomes an "educational item" that the Green Committee and Planning Board can use when adopting funding measures for implementing parts of the policy.

The plan may recommend that the town implement a manager for a project of this magnitude but that may be difficult with funding and staffing issues, Hutcheson said.

Adopting a plan as policy would bring the town's capabilities into the conversation to find the best solution, he said.

"Although I very much appreciate the work and the goal, I also want it to be put in, in the context of what the town can do and try to streamline the process," Hutcheson said.

Although Green Committee member Thomas Irwin endorses this as a concept, there are certain elements of the policy that would not be included in a climate action plan so he requested being included in the conversation with the town consultants and sustainability directors.

A climate-change policy is not required when applying for grants but it can help the town obtain the grant funding, Irwin said, because having a policy would demonstrate that the requested funds are consistent with the town's plan.

"With the increasing amounts of state and federal funding rapidly becoming available, being in the best position is certainly in Dalton's best interest to take maximum advantage of grant opportunities," he said.

In addition to having this policy, Dalton needs to develop the action plan and community engagement, and create a website that is organized and easily modifiable for educational information, Irwin said.

"We believe this policy organizes steps that Dalton is already doing, or is planning to do in a manner that provides support in Dalton's climate change preparedness projects in a sensible, accurate and useful manner," he said.

There is an urgent need for this policy as evident from recent events caused by climate change that have affected the Berkshires including rising temperatures, heavy rains and flooding, drought conditions, tick and mosquito-borne illnesses, and the Canadian wildfires, Irwin said.

The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission and Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources is recommending the town adopt a policy.

Irwin suggested that they integrate the "climate change considerations" into the master plan when it is updated in 2025.

Once the town has developed a climate action plan it will also need to update its municipal vulnerability plan to make it qualify for grant and implement a zero-emission vehicle policy, Irwin said.

The Green Committee will be considering a draft of the zero-emission vehicle policy at its September meeting prior to submitting it to the Select Board for review and approval.
Guest Column: Aug. 31 Overdose Awareness Day

Purple flags at North Adams City Hall mark the 107 North Berkshire residents lost to overdose over the past seven years.

Thursday, International Overdose Awareness Day, is the world's largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died from overdose and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind.



In Berkshire County, programs are planned in North Adams and Pittsfield.



In North Adams, the community will gather at City Hall at 5 p.m. Flags will mark each death, and people are welcome to bring (or make on site) signs to raise awareness and speak to their own loss. At 6 p.m., we will gather for a vigil to remember those lost. Bereavement resources will be available from Support After a Death by Overdose (SADOD). Narcan will be available. We will also have pins and bracelets to mark the day.

This is the first year North Adams is hosting a community event for International Overdose Awareness Day. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.



You can find other International Overdose Awareness Day events in Massachusetts on the Support After a Death by Overdose website. This organization provides many valuable support resources, including information about meetings for the bereaved, and a platform to memorialize a loved one lost to overdose.

Wendy Penner is a member of the North Adams Healing Communities Coalition and has been involved in local harm reduction and drug prevention programs. She is currently the Drug Addiction Recovery Team coordinator in Northampton.




iciHaiti - Massacre of Canaan : Those who died had lost their faith dixit Pastor Marco





Following the massacre of the faithful on Saturday August 26, 2023 at Lilavois and Rosembert https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40355-haiti-flash-a-faithful-march-against-the-canaan-gang-ended-in-a-bloodbath-video.html , Pastor Marcorel Zidor, better known as "Pastor Marco" who leads the "Eglise Piscine de Bethesda" in Caradeux and who led the march, declared on the airwaves of Mega Radio "Those who died are those who went to hide in the houses, because they had lost their faith [...] 95% of my parishioners were the targets of fire, none among them was touched."



Pastor Marco Zidor had convinced his parishioners that they could not be hurt by the bullets of the gangsters "They were determined because the Pastor had told them that they will not be shot," declared Frantz Elbe Director General a.i. of the National Police of Haiti in a press conference, adding "There was a belief in this crowd, there was a determination [...]"



On Monday, the police were still trying to recover an undetermined number of bodies of worshipers killed, but the area controlled by the bandits was inaccessible. The Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights (CARDH) told Reuters that the number of dead worshipers could be as high as 20...



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40370-haiti-flash-massacre-of-the-faithful-of-pastor-marco-official-version-of-the-pnh.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40364-haiti-flash-pastor-marco-summoned-by-justice-for-the-canaan-massacre.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40355-haiti-flash-a-faithful-march-against-the-canaan-gang-ended-in-a-bloodbath-video.html



TB/ HaitiLibre






















iciHaiti - Security : DR prepared for anything that could happen in Haiti





During a meeting with journalists at the National Palace, President Luis Abinader questioned on the security of the Dominican Republic in relation to the crisis in Haiti, declared "The Dominican Republic has the necessary resources to protect the sovereignty of its territory [more of 12,000 soldiers deployed along the border] in case the armed gangs operating in Haiti decide to cross the border faced of a possible international mission led by Kenya," adding "We have acquired military equipment which will be distributed in a practical way to the specified time. We have a lot of information about what could happen at this border, which is well protected."



He assured "these gangs will not enter the country [...] We are well prepared for anything that could happen in Haiti."



Finally, Abinader announced that he would participate in the next United Nations General Assembly and that he would do so "mainly to follow and be informed" by world leaders of the situation in Haiti. Recalling that for "historical reasons", the Dominican Republic can only provide humanitarian aid to Haiti.



SL/ iciHaiti


















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Vladimir Putin will leave Russia and travel the farthest distance from his home country for the first time since an arrest warrant was issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to a report.

Mr Putin has reportedly accepted an invitation by Xi Jinping to visit China and the Kremlin is gearing up for his attendance at the Belt and Road Forum in October, three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

News of the visit comes after Mr Putin declined an invitation by India to attend G20 summit next week. The Kremlin said the Russian leader has a busy schedule while his main focus at the moment is Russias invasion of Ukraine. Russia will be instead be represented by its foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

Moscow is an ally to Delhi and Beijing, both of whom are regional rivals and share strained diplomatic ties with each other. Both countries are not signatories to the ICC either.

The Russian leader has, ever since the warrant was issued, travelled only to Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine. Before the warrant, he had visited Iran last year.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin said a schedule for bilateral Russian-Chinese contacts was being worked out, when asked about the reported visit.

The schedule of bilateral Russian-Chinese contacts at various levels, including at the highest level, is being coordinated, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

We will inform you about specific events and deadlines in a timely manner.

Mr Putin and Mr Xi have declared a no limits partnership between their countries. China has refused to condemn Russias actions in Ukraine directly while emphasing the importance of upholding Kyivs territorial integrity.

In March, an arrest warrant was issued against Mr Putin and Russias commissioner for childrens rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for alleged war crimes committed by deporting Ukrainian children into Russia during the conflict.

Human rights groups have estimated that more than 19,000 children were deported and placed with Russian families. Russian officials have claimed the children were taken in as a war-time humanitarian gesture.

The Kremlin has rejected the war crime accusations.

The Russian leader had earlier avoided going to South Africa, which is an ICC signatory, to attend the Brics summit last week.

Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan also invited Mr Putin to visit Ankara for talks on a Black Sea grain deal, but he is now said to be considering traveling to Moscow himself. Turkey is not an ICC signatory.

The flurry of announcements about the diplomatic visits come as British foreign minister James Cleverly visited China in the first such visit by a UK diplomat in five years.

Mr Cleverly said he will urge China to fulfil its international commitments and show responsibility on the world stage on the Ukraine invasion.

On Mr Putins purpoted visit to Beijing, he said, Russias brutal invasion of Ukraine cannot be justified by Moscow or indeed anywhere else.
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Five doctors from Indias top government hospital revived a two-year-old toddler after she stopped breathing mid-air on a Delhi-bound domestic flight.

The group of doctors onboard the Vistara airline flight were returning from a medical conference in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, more than 2,000km away from Delhi, when flight stewards made emergency announcements about the unconscious child.

The child had developed a bluish skin discolouration, developed from oxygen deficiency in her blood, reported local outlets.

As soon as a flight attendant made the distress call, around 9.30pm, we immediately examined the toddler and found her pulse was absent, her extremities were cold, and she was not breathing, with cyanosed lips and fingers, Dr Damandeep Singh, a senior cardiac radiology department resident at Delhis All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), told The Indian Express.

He along with four colleagues  Dr Navdeep Kaur, Dr Rishab Jain, Dr Oishika, and Dr Avichala Taxak  began emergency medical treatment.

Explaining the procedures, the doctors told The Times of India that they tried to maintain the childs airway using three manoeuvres that included a head tilt, jaw thrust and chin lift.

On air-immediate CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) was started and with limited resources, using skilled work and active management by team, said AIIMS hospital in an update on its X account, formerly Twitter, explaining the procedures undertaken by the doctors.

Successfully IV cannula was placed, (the) oropharyngeal airway was put and emergency response was initiated by (the) whole team of residents on board, which eventually helped restart the childs heart.

It was complicated by another cardiac arrest for which an [automated external defibrillator] was used, said the statement.

While the doctors worked, the Vistara airline staff coordinated with airport authorities in the western city of Nagpur to arrange an emergency landing, and the patient was transferred to the citys KIMS-Kingsway Hospital.

In a remarkable display of preparedness and professionalism, co-passengers from medical backgrounds on board promptly initiated life-saving measures by providing CPR to the baby passenger, said a media brief issued by the hospitals deputy general manager Aejaz Shami.

Mr Shami said the child remains at the hospital in critical condition. The patient is admitted under a senior consultant in Paediatrics and Neonatology, the patient is unconscious and in critical stage on ventilator and on several live-saving drugs, he said.
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India has lodged a strong diplomatic protest with China after the latter released an official map that shows Indian territories in the Himalayas as its own.

The formal objection has led to doubts over Xi Jinpings expected visit to Delhi for the G20 summit set to begin next week and comes in the backdrop of a historic border dispute between the nuclear neighbours that has only strained diplomatic relations between them.

On Monday, Chinas Ministry of Natural Resources released a map showing the Indian territories of north eastern Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin area on the western border as Chinese territory.

The map also included Taiwan and the entire South China Sea as Chinese areas.

Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement that India rejected claims of Chinas so-called standard map.

We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so called 2023 map of China that lays claim to Indias territory, he said.

We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question, he said.

China is yet to comment on the incident.

The diplomatic incident between India and China comes at a crucial time when Delhi will host world leaders from the largest economies of the G20 grouping.

President of China Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi gesture during the 2023 Brics (AFP via Getty Images)

Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and Justin Trudeau are among the Western world leaders who will visit Indias capital for the two-day summit on 9-10 September.

Mr Xi is yet to announce his travel plans to India.

The map has sparked fury among experts, politicians and opposition party members in India.

Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar denounced the Chinese map as absurd in a sharp rebuke.

Just by putting out maps with parts of India... this doesnt change in anything. Our government is very clear about what our territory is. Making absurd claims does not make other peoples territories yours, Mr Jaishankar said on Tuesday in an interview to NDTV.

According to Chinese state media, the map was released for what it called the National Mapping Awareness Publicity Week, with more digital and navigational maps to be released in the coming days.

The map was released to offer publishers, businesses and other entities an official reference version as firms end up running trouble with the Chinese government over the depiction of Chinese territories.

The flare-up comes just days after Mr Xi and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi held an informal meeting during the Brics summit in South Africa and agreed to resolve border tensions.

The meeting descended into a row over which side first urged to meet the other after Beijing said Mr Modi had requested the meeting.

The militaries of the two countries have remained in a standoff in the high-altitude areas of the Himalayas for three years and have amassed troops, weaponry and infrastructure along the border, known as the Line of Actual Control.

The armies, which are not allowed to fire along the border, got into their first fatal confrontation in decades in the Galwan valley area after Indian army soldiers and People Liberation Army troops fought with medieval-era weapons, leading to the death of 20 Indian soldiers and an unconfirmed number of deaths on the Chinese side.

China, has long laid claim on Arunachal Pradesh and has, in three separate instances, renamed places in the northeastern Indian state.

Beijing calls the state, which is governed and ruled by Indian government, Zangnan or southern Tibet. Earlier in April, India sharply rejected Chinas release of names for 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which was the third such instance, and called them invented names.

India also lays claim on the Aksai Chin plateau in the Himalayas, which is controlled by China.
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Indias conflict-ridden Manipur state held a much-awaited single-day session of its local assembly  but the proceedings were adjourned within an hour with no announcement of when they will begin again.

This was the first session to take place in the northeastern states legislative assembly ever since ethnic clashes broke out between the minority Kuki and majority Meitei communities nearly four months ago on 3 May.

Nearly 180 people have died in the conflict, while tens of thousands remain displaced.

The single-day session was hurriedly convened to meet a constitutional requirement that says the gap between two legislative sessions cannot be more than six months  a period that would have been expired on 2 September.

The single-day session, called through summons on 21 August, could not be attended by 10 Kuki-Zomi lawmakers, who earlier conveyed their inability to travel to Meitei-dominated state capital Imphal due to security concerns.

The conflict began after Kukis began protesting against benefits and quotas being extended to Meiteis. Since then, both sides have taken up arms as vicious violence engulfed the state and effectively split Manipur into two parts.

The collapse of law and order in the state is such that locals have set up their own checkpoints and disallowed members of the other communities from entering the respective territories they dominate.

Elected representatives of prime minister Narendra Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have also not been spared from the violence.

Earlier in May, local Kuki lawmaker Vungzagin Valte, belonging to BJP, was attacked by a mob while on his way home from a meeting with chief minister N Biren Singh in the capital. He was beaten, given electric shocks and has been bedridden since the incident.

On Tuesday, while the assembly condoled the death of tribals and non-tribals killed in the violence, it failed to carry out a discussion on the issue despite demands from various quarters, including the main opposition Congress party.

Security personnel fire tear gas shells to disperse members of the Lamlai Kendra village volunteers force (AFP via Getty Images)

The assembly, however, found time to laud the successful landing of Indias Chandrayaan-3 moon mission and congratulate N Raghu Singh, a scientist from the state who was a part of the mission.

With great sorrow, we condole the deaths of those killed in the violence. In times like these, words seem inefficient for those who have lost their loved ones in the strife, chief minister Singh said in his address.

He also moved a resolution in the legislative assembly to stay together in these trying times by healing wounds, fostering unity and creating brighter future for all residents.

It was adopted amid ruckus from the opposition that demanded the session be extended to five days, so the violence in the state could be discussed.

Smoke bellows from houses in flames after a suspected arson attack by unknown miscreants, following ongoing ethnic violence in Imphal on 27 August 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Led by former chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, the opposition said a single day was not enough to discuss the situation.

The opposition also began raising slogans in the assembly.

The chief minister, however, said the state government did not intend to hold a discussion on the violence. This was because, as per the rules of procedure, discussion on sub-judice matters is not allowed in the assembly, reported The Indian Express.
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The head of Japans largest boyband talent agency, who happens to be late founder Johnny Kitagawas niece, should step down due to allegations of his decades-long sexual abuse of recruits, a panel has said.

On Tuesday, a panel established by talent agency Johnny & Associates to investigate abuse allegations said Julie Fujishima should resign.

The panel said she had long been aware of the allegations against her uncle, but failed to initiate a proper investigation.

In late May, a team of independent experts commissioned by the talent agency conducted interviews with 41 individuals.

Their findings indicated Kitagawa allegedly initiated the sexual abuse of boys as early as the 1950s, and this behaviour persisted within his agency from the 1970s through the 2010s.

Johnny & Associates did not take appropriate actions, such as investigating whether the sexual abuse (allegations) against Johnny (Kitagawa) were true or not despite various news reports and court cases, the report said.

Johnny & Associates had a serious problem of lacking governance.

The panel consisted of three experts: Makoto Hayashi, a former prosecutor-general, Nozomu Asukai, a psychiatrist and Azusa Saito, a child trauma specialist. They were also joined by six lawyers from the Anderson Mori & Tomotsune law firm, who are assisting in the investigation, according to Japan Times.

Kitagawa passed away in 2019 due to a stroke at the age of 87. Throughout his career, he played a pivotal role in the creation of J-pop supergroups like SMAP, TOKIO and Arashi, which garnered a massive following of devoted fans across Asia.

The panel members meanwhile said they found the statement by Ms Fujishima that she didnt know at the time to be a lie.

It will be extremely difficult to change the mindset of its [Johnny & Associates] executives and members, and start over with Julie at the top of management, the report said, and urged the company chief to step down.

This will allow it to prevent one of the biggest reasons behind the lack of corporate governance at Johnny & Associates which is the negative effect that came from a family-run business, it said.

Local media reported that a collective of individuals who have experienced sexual abuse, however, issued a statement on their website clarifying that they are not seeking Ms Fujishimas resignation.

We think it is unacceptable that she should resign to avoid responsibility, said Junya Hiramoto, a representative of the victims group. We recognise that Mr Shirahase [agencys vice president Suguru Shirahase] who is all-knowing, is the one most responsible for this, it alleged.

In May, Ms Fujishima issued a public apology on the agencys website, stating she had no knowledge of the abuse. On Tuesday, the agency apologised to the victims again.
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A lion has caused panic on the streets of the Pakistan city of Karachi, having escaped from a car into heavy traffic.

The lion was being transported by its owner when it escaped onto the main road of the bustling port city during peak traffic hours, the police said in a statement. Having wandered along the road for some time, the animal made its way into the basement of a nearby building, sparking fear among local residents.

In one of the videos shared on social media, the big cat can be seen racing and charging at a man, but walks away after falling to the ground. It was eventually recpatured in the basement after two hours on the loose.

The animal, believed to be about two years old, was captured by a team of Sindh Wildlife officials after the local police cordoned off the area. "Our teams rushed here immediately. Praise be to Allah, it is with us safely and no one is in danger now," wildlife inspector Mukhtyar Soomro told Reuters at the site of the lion's capture.

The incident brought traffic in the area to a standstill with crowds gathering to try to catch a glimpse of the escaped lion. Visuals of the lion went viral on social media, with many expressing alarm. Others saw an excuse to make jokes at the citys expense. "Lion is taking stroll comfortably in Karachi as if he knows there is the law of the jungle here," one user on messaging platform X posted, referring to the city's high street crime rate.

People carry a cage for capturing a lion that escaped from a private vehicle (Reuters TV/via Reuters)

The Wildlife Department said the lion had been taken to its compound, as keeping lions in residential areas is banned. However, keeping wild cats as pets is not uncommon in Pakistan, where wealthy businessmen have been known to operate private zoos and sometimes parade the animals for the public.

"The owner of the lion has been detained and a case will be registered against him," Senior Superintendent of Police Shiraz Nazir said in a statement.

A pet leopard escaped from a house in the capital Islamabad and roamed the streets before being shot with a sedation dart in February this year.

In 2017, police in Pakistan arrested a man who took his pet lion for a night-time drive through the streets of Karachi.

Reuters contributed to this report
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Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 on Wednesday morning bringing catastrophic storm surge to parts of Florida.

The hurricane slammed into the Big Bend area, near Keaton Beach, just before 8am (Eastern Time) with 125mph winds and warnings of up to 15ft of storm surge.

Two men were killed in separate vehicle crashes during heavy rainfall, Florida Highway Patrol reported on Wednesday. A 59-year-old man died in Gainesville after his pickup truck hit trees during extremely rainy conditions. A 40-year-old man in Spring Hill lost control of his truck during the severe conditions and hit a tree.

A third man was killed in Georgia, according to the Lowndes County Sheriffs Office, as he attempted to dismantle a fallen tree.

Idalia rapidly intensified to a Category 4 hurricane overnight before being downgraded as it reached Floridas west coast where thousands of residents had been ordered to evacuate.

The hurricane was eventually downgraded into a tropical storm, though officials at the National Weather Service warned on Wednesday evening that the weather system could still bring life-threatening storm surge to coastal areas in the Carolinas.

Authorities are now in search-and-rescue mode for those who had failed to heed evacuation warnings.

Along the Gulf coastline, homes were underwater up to their rooflines and some structures, boats and docks were being swept away by the power of the storm surge.

Away from the coast, authories warned that high levels of rainfall could increase the chance of inland flooding.

Idalias impacts were being felt in areas devastated by Hurricane Ian less than a year ago such as Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. Ian killed 150 people and damaged 52,000 structures.

At one point, more than 250,000 customers were left without power in Florida and more than 100,000 in Georgia as the powerful winds snapped utility lines. Florida governor Ron DeSantiss press conference in Tallahassee was hit by a power cut as Idalia came ashore.

President Joe Biden called Mr DeSantis to let him know federal support will be available to deal with destruction from Idalia, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Hurricane Idalia seen from space on Wednesday morning as it made landfall in Florida (NOAA/NHC)

Hurricane Idalia will likely be an unprecedented event for many locations in the Florida Big Bend. Looking back through recorded history, NO major hurricanes have ever moved through the Apalachee Bay. When you try to compare this storm to others, DONT. No one has seen this, NWS Tallahassee office warned as the storm approached the state.

Evacuation notices were issued in at least 21 counties in western and central Florida with mandatory orders in places. Some 46 Florida counties are under a state of emergency.

The trajectory of Hurricane Idalia (National Hurricane Center)

Tolls were waived on Florida highways to allow residents to quickly evacuate. Some 5,000 people were in Red Cross shelters across the state.

More than 30,000 utility workers were gathering to make repairs to the downed power lines, supported by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Tampa General Hospital, the citys only Level 1 trauma centre located on an island in Hillsborough Bay, was temporarily surrounded by Aquafences on Tuesday in attempts to keep out the predicted storm surge.

In coastal Tarpon Springs, a community northwest of Tampa, 60 patients were evacuated from a hospital out of concerns of high water levels.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled at Tampa International airport while Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando said that it was operating under normal conditions but closely monitoring the storm. The company said it was closing the Typhoon Lagoon water park and minature golf areas due to the inclement weather on Wednesday.

Cedar Key island, a small community in Big Bend, Florida was inundated with water during Hurricane Idalia (Screengrab/Facebook/Michael Presley Bobbitt)

While most weather models projected that Idalia was moving northeast and out into the Atlantic in the coming days, the Global Forecasting System, a US federal project, indicated that there was an outside chance that the hurricane could circle back and strike Florida for a second time early next week, but with much less power. Such looping is considered highly unusual for tropical storms but is not unprecedented.

Idalia may be the first major storm to hit Florida this hurricane season but it joins a long list of disasters in the United States and globally which are being amplified by the climate crisis.

Ocean temperatures have reached unprecedented highs this summer including in the Gulf of Mexico. Warming oceans fuel stronger tropical cyclones that bring more heavy rainfall and higher storm surge when they make landfall, according to Climate Central.

Idalia has already deluged western Cuba, particularly the province of Pinar del Rio which is also still recovering from Hurricane Ian last year. More than 10,000 people evacuated as up to four inches (10cm) of rain fell, leaving half the province without power.

The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from 1 June to 30 November, is forecast to be above average this year.

This is a developing news story and this article is being updated
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A rare blue supermoon could make the impact of Hurricane Idalia on northern Florida even harder, according to weather experts.

As the Category 3 hurricane made landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning the full moon, caused by it being at its closest to Earth, will create higher tides through intensified gravitational pull.

The National Hurricane Center announced at 7.45am that the extremely dangerous Category 3 storm had made landfall, bringing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph and catastrophic storm surge to the Sunshine State.

The supermoon is expected to make the tidal flooding worse in Florida, as well as Georgia and South Carolina, which are in the downgraded hurricanes path.

The moons gravitational pull is even stronger when it is closer to Earth, causing the tides to be even higher.

I would say the timing is pretty bad for this one, said Brian Haines, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Charleston, South Carolina.

Some tides could be up to a foot higher than usual because of the moon.

The National Hurricane Center projected on Tuesday that the storm surge could be up to 15 feet on parts of Floridas west coast, while it could reach up to 7 feet around the Tampa Bay area.

The Big Bend area of Florida where the hurricane is expected to make landfall is particularly vulnerable to storm surge because of its geography.

The continental shelf stretches a long way out from the coast and has a gradual slope allowing the ocean to grow higher as it is driven towards land, Brian Tang, associate professor of atmospheric science at the University at Albany in New York told The Associated Press.

Theres a saying that you hide from the wind and run from the water, and hopefully people are heeding that advice, he said.

This supermoon is the biggest and brightest of 2023 and will be exceptionally close to Earth at 222,043 miles, according to The Old Farmers Almanac. This is nearly 17,000 miles closer than average.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
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Hurricane Idalia was downgraded back to tropical storm status on Wednesday after making landfall in Keaton Beach in northeastern Floridas Big Bend and crossing into Georgia, losing some of its power but still leaving behind a trail of flooding and destruction in its wake.

The storm is now headed for the Carolinas before dropping out into the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend but has so far proved far less destructive than initially feared, providing only glancing blows to Tampa Bay.

Even so, the 125mph winds with which it arrived from the Gulf of Mexico did plenty of damage, as captured by drones flying overhead, and left as many as half a million Floridians without power after ripping down electricity poles and cables across the north of the state.

The Big Bend area, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula, saw streets turned into rivers that submerged cars and homes, while the howling winds tore off roofs, snapped tall trees, sent sheet metal flying and shredded homes.

Rescue and repair efforts are continuing in the areas the storm passed through on Wednesday but there has been no immediate word on the death toll from its ferocious winds and inundating waters, although authorities have counted at least one fatality.

North Carolina governor Roy Cooper, who declared a statewide emergency earlier this week, has warned residents in coastal and eastern inland counties to prepare for heavy rainfall and localised flooding, urging them to stay off roads covered by floodwater.

In South Carolina, the storm coupled with king tides to send seawater flowing over sand dunes and spilling onto beachfront streets.

In Charleston, a surge from Idalia topped the seawall that protects the downtown, sending ankle-deep ocean water into the streets and neighbourhoods where horse-drawn carriages pass million-dollar homes and the famous open-air market.

Preliminary data showed the Wednesday evening high tide reached just over 9.2 feet, more than three feet above normal and the fifth-highest reading in Charleston Harbour since records were first kept in 1899.

Bands from Idalia also brought short-lived tornadoes. One flipped a car in suburban Goose Creek, South Carolina, causing minor injuries, authorities said.

Earlier this week, western Cuba was hit by torrential rainfall and flooding from Idalia, bringing further devastation to the tobacco-producing province of Pinar del Rio, which was hammered by Hurricane Ian last September.

Its impact led Floridians to prepare for the worst, with many loading up on sandbags and others living in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast packing up their cars, readying generators and evacuating their homes to be out of harms way.

A map to show the expected route of Hurricane Idalia as it passes through Cuba, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas into the Atlantic (The Independent/Datawrapper)

Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis had declared a state of emergency in 46 counties, a broad swathe that stretches across the northern half of the state from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic. In the event, Mr DeSantiss own mansion was struck by a fallen tree.

State officials, 5,500 National Guardsman and rescue crews went into search-and-recovery mode once Idalia had crossed state lines into Georgia, inspecting bridges, clearing toppled trees and looking for anyone in distress. More than 30,000 utility workers gathered to repair the downed power lines and poles.

President Joe Biden called the governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina on Wednesday and told them their states had his administrations full support, the White House said.

Idalia is just the latest in a summer of natural disasters to hit North America, from deadly wildfires in Hawaii and Canada to the first tropical storm to hit California in 84 years  marking the latest illustrations of the climate crisis in action.

Additional reporting by agencies.
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Hurricane Idalia made landfall in northwestern Florida on Wednesday morning  bringing heavy winds, torrential rains and sending thousands of people fleeing for safety  and has since cut a path of destruction across southern Georgia en route to the Carolinas.

It was downgraded to tropical storm status by the National Hurricane Center after arriving in Keaton Beach in Floridas Big Bend and has since lost seen its wind speeds drop from 125mph to 60mph but has still caused plenty of chaos.

While the storm is expected to drift out into the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend, the Global Forecasting System, a US federal hurricane projection model, has caused alarm by indicating that it could then circle back and strike the Sunshine State for a second time early next week.

According to The Daily Beast, other models, including that of the trusted European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, do not support that conclusion and such looping is considered highly unusual for tropical storms but is not unprecedented.

Hurricane Ivan, for instance, came back around to strike Florida for a second time in 2004, ultimately taking 25 lives and causing $20.5bn-worth of damage.

Before Idalia completed its crossing of the Gulf of Mexico and arrived in the southeastern United States, it had already hit western Cuba with torrential rainfall and flooding, bringing further devastation to the tobacco-producing province of Pinar del Rio on Monday and Tuesday, which was hammered by Hurricane Ian last September.

Its impact led Floridians to prepare for the worst, with many loading up on sandbags and others living in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast packing up their cars, readying generators and evacuating their homes to be out of harms way.

Idalia marked the first major storm to strike Florida this hurricane season, which tends to peak in August and September before coming to a close in late November.

Like Cuba, Florida is still dealing with the damage left behind by Hurricane Ian 11 months ago, which left 150 people dead and damaged 52,000 structures.

Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis had declared a state of emergency in 46 counties, a broad swathe that stretches across the northern half of the state from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic. In the event, Mr DeSantiss own mansion was struck by a fallen tree.

State officials, 5,500 National Guardsman and rescue crews went into search-and-recovery mode once Idalia had crossed state lines into Georgia, inspecting bridges, clearing toppled trees and looking for anyone in distress. More than 30,000 utility workers gathered to repair the downed power lines and poles.

President Joe Biden called the governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina on Wednesday and told them their states had his administrations full support, the White House said.

Tropical Storm Idalia is just the latest in a summer of natural disasters to hit North America, from deadly wildfires in Hawaii and Canada to the first tropical storm to hit California in 84 years  marking the latest illustrations of the climate crisis in action.
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Ron DeSantis has refused to call out Donald Trumps silence over Hurricane Idalia  as the former president stays mum despite being a resident of the Sunshine State.

The Florida governor held an early morning press conference in Tallahassee on Wednesday where he warned residents about the encroaching hurricane, bringing with it life-threatening storm surges to the Big Bend region.

When asked in the briefing about the fact that Mr Trump had not addressed the dangerous storm heading to the state he calls home, Mr DeSantis quickly dismissed the question.

Not my concern. My concern is protecting the people of Florida, being ready to go, he said.

He continued to instead talk about the preparedness of the state for the hurricane: In Florida, you just have to do this.

Mr DeSantis has repeatedly refused to be drawn into criticising Mr Trump as the two former allies go head to head to become the next Republican presidential candidate.

While the former president regularly attacks the Florida governor in scathing Truth Social posts, Mr DeSantis remains cautious about retaliating  appearing concerned that he could alienate MAGA Republicans.

In Wednesdays briefing, Mr DeSantis warned Floridians that Hurricane Idalia would make landfall by around 8am ET on Wednesday morning in Taylor County and the Big Bend region after it strengthened into a Category 4 storm in the early hours of the morning.

The storm surge up to 16 feet in some areas of the Big Bend region  this storm is life-threatening, said Mr DeSantis.

So do not go outside in the storm... if its calm where you are it may be because you are in the eye of the storm.

He warned: Dont mess with this storm. Dont do anything that will put yourself in jeopardy.

Reporters wade through flood waters as it inundates the downtown area after Hurricane Idalia passed offshore on August 30, 2023 in Tarpon Springs (Getty Images)

At around 7.45am ET, Hurricane Idalia made landfall, hitting the Big Bend region as an extremely dangerous Category 3 hurricane, and bringing with it damaging winds of up to 125 mph and catastrophic storm surge.

Idalia is now moving inland from Floridas Big Bend region, the National Hurricane Center said.

Thousands of Florida residents are currently in warning zones  either having been urged to evacuate in advance of the storm approaching or told to hunker down in homes until further notice.

Ahead of the storm making landfall, evacuation notices had been issued in at least 21 counties in western and central Florida while 46 counties were placed under a state of emergency.

Officials have reassured Floridians that search and rescue operations are poised and ready to go as soon as the storm passes but  during the storm  residents have been urged to look after their families and hunker down inside.

Even after the storm passes, Mr DeSantis warned people not to drive through flooded streets, to assume that all downed power lines could be live and be careful when using generators  for risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Power outages were already being reported on Tuesday evening before the storm hit with around 50,000 homes without power early on Wednesday morning.

Mr DeSantis press conference was also briefly hit with an outage as he spoke of homes being plunged into darkness  before a backup generator restored power.

Meanwhile, a terrifying forecast model has shown that Idalia could actually hit the state of Florida twice over the coming week.

Global Forecasting System, a federal hurricane projection model, forecasted that Idalia would first make landfall on Floridas Big Bend region on Wednesday morning.

It predicts the storm will then travel up through north Florida and into Georgia and South Carolina, before heading back out into the Atlantic.

However, after that, the storm is forecast to turn southwest and head back toward Floridas Atlantic coast to make landfall in the state for a second time on Monday.
 Close Flood waters from Hurricane Idalia inundate Steinhatchee, Florida

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Joe Biden told Florida residents your nation has your back on Saturday as he toured areas of the state damaged by Hurricane Idalia.

The president assessed the scale of the storms impact from the air, before meeting members of the public on a walking tour.

But while Mr Biden was joined by one of the states Republican senators  Rick Scott  his trip was snubbed by governor Ron DeSantis, a possible rival in the next presidential election.

As Ive told your governor, if theres anything your state needs, Im ready to mobilize that support, Mr Biden said.

Idalia ploughed into Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday morning before losing power as it moved inland through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

At around 5pm on Saturday afternoon the National Hurricane Center issued what it said was its final advisory on Idalia, noting that the post-tropical cyclone had moved away off Bermuda and that the storm warning for the island was discontinued.

Potentially dangerous surf and rip currents from Idalia will continue to hit the US east coast throughout the Labor Day weekend, it warned.
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Typhoon Saola is advancing toward Hong Kong and China's southern coastline after lashing Taiwan with heavy rains and strong winds as it intensifies over the night.

The storm, now officially upgraded to the status of a strong typhoon, is expected to sweep the coast of Chinas southern province of Guangdong this week before closing in on Hong Kong on Friday and Saturday.

Chinas National Meteorological Center anticipates a weakening trend as the storm approaches land, but experts said its too soon to anticipate.

There are still quite a lot of variables over the track and intensity going forward, because it will be affected by a northeast monsoon, weather official Kong Yu-chau told public broadcaster RTHK.

Saola brushed the southern tip of Taiwan on Wednesday, bringing heavy rain and winds that disrupted some travel and prompted the island to issue land and sea warnings.

While the typhoon did not make a direct landfall on the island, the storm has triggered heavy rain in the mountainous and less densely populated regions of Pingtung County in the far south.

As a precaution, classes and work have been suspended in some townships in these areas, as well as along Taiwans east coast.

Early Wednesday reports indicated the typhoon is growing in strength, prompting concerns for areas in its trajectory.

China has already ordered fishing boats to return to ports along its southeastern coast as gale force winds and gusts whip across the South China Sea.

While Hong Kong, which ranks typhoons on a scale ranging from 1 at its lowest to 10 at the strongest, issued its lowest typhoon signal on Wednesday.

Currently, the typhoon is moving northwest with sustained winds clocking in at 191km/h, accompanied by gusts reaching up to 234km/h, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.

Earlier, the typhoon ravaged the Philippines, prompting evacuations of nearly 25,000 people to safer locations.

Though the Philippines did not report any casualties, the typhoons presence resulted in torrential rains and fierce winds that intensified seasonal monsoon showers across the northern regions of the country.

At least 14 domestic flights were cancelled and some schools were closed, with classes suspended on the first day of the school year in the southeast Asian nation. The rough sea conditions also led to the suspension of inter-island ferry services, while more than 100 houses endured damage.
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On Monday, October 9, millions of Americans will celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day.

Indigenous Peoples Day, which is celebrated on the second Monday in October, is a holiday that honours the history and contributions of Native Americans. The holiday has become a replacement for federal holiday Columbus Day, which also falls on October 9, and which many have argued should no longer be celebrated due to the fact that Christopher Columbus does not deserve credit for discovering the Americas.

Currently, there are 29 states and 198 cities across the country that have chosen to adopt Indigenous Peoples Day, according to renamecolumbusday.org. In 2021 and 2022, President Joe Biden also issued proclamations declaring the holiday Indigenous Peoples Day.

First introduced by Congress in 1885 when it was decided that federal employees should have certain days off from work, the list of US federal holidays is made up of 11 days of significance that Americans recognise - and celebrate.

To ensure that these holidays are observed, certain guidelines have been put in place, with federal holidays that fall on a Saturday observed by federal employees on the previous Friday, while holidays that fall on Sunday are observed the following Monday.

On these 11 days, all non-essential federal offices are closed, while banks, post offices and schools may also be closed. However, that doesnt mean that all Americans will receive a day off from work, as employees in the private sector may or may not get the day off, depending on their employer.

From Memorial Day to Thanksgiving, these are the dates of the 2023 federal holidays.

2023 federal holidays:

New Years Day: Sunday, January 1 (Observed Monday, January 2)

Martin Luther King Jr Day: Monday, January 16

Presidents Day: Monday, February 20

Memorial Day: Monday, May 29

Juneteenth: Friday, June 16

Independence Day: Tuesday, July 4

Labor Day: Monday, September 4

Indigenous Peoples Day (also observed as Columbus Day): Monday, October 9

Veterans Day: Saturday, November 11 (Observed Friday, November 10)

Thanksgiving: Thursday, November 23

Christmas: Monday, December 25

Other important days to note:

Valentines Day: Tuesday, February 14

St Patricks Day: Friday, March 17

Passover: Thursday, April 6

Good Friday: Friday, April 7

Easter: Sunday, April 9

Mothers Day: Sunday, May 14

Fathers Day: Sunday, June 18
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Anne Hathaways on-screen portrayal of a fashion challenged assistant to an Anna Wintour-inspired magazine editor in The Devil Wears Prada led her to become the style muse for several major fashion houses, including Versace.

Now, the 40-year-old Hollywood star has begun experimenting with new fashion trends, crafting mod looks, and stunting on every red carpet. While Hathaways induction into the fashion world can be traced back to her role in the 2006 film, the actor has revealed that shes recently been taking style cues from Generation Z.

In a conversation with Vogue published on 29 August, the Princess Diaries star opened up about her motivation to take fashion risks in recent years. I know this sounds like Im super-pandering, but Im really switched on by Gen Z, she confessed. Its a fun generation when it comes to fashion.

Hathaway went on to not only credit the group of individuals born between the late 1990s to the early 2000s for her style playfulness, but the artistic direction of standout designers. I feel like designers are having a lot of fun, she said.

I feel like people are enjoying it. Maybe it was always the case, and maybe I was the only person in the corner watching everybody else have fun, Hathaway continued. But just the ability to enjoy it feels like its more available to me now than it ever was before.

The Interstellar actor has been collaborating with stylist Erin Walsh on some of her most sought-after looks, such as her Karl Lagerfeld-inspired Versace number she wore to this years Met Gala honouring the late Chanel designer.

On her partnership with the stylist, Hathaway said: She inspires me. Her style has really rubbed off on me, and the way she wears things, whatever it is, she always wears it in the most effortless way possible.

Walsh expressed the same sentiment about Hathaway when speaking to E! News this past May. Whats more stylish than a woman who is embodying her ultimate essence and dressing the part? Walsh admitted. Anne is beautiful inside and out. Its very inspiring to see someone actually glowing.

Much like her character in The Devil Wears Prada, Hathaway used to feel trapped under one aesthetic when it came to her everyday fashion. She explained how she preferred to play it safe, and didnt realise that she could assume some of the unique looks that shed seen others in.

I thought that I could only have one, the Academy Award-winner proclaimed. I felt really lost because I didnt know what that was until I realised I have so many styles. Once I realised that, then I felt like something clicked. But thats just me. Its different. Some people are like, Nope, black turtleneck every day.

Whether shes sitting front row at a Louis Vuitton runway show wearing a collared mini dress and elevated updo, or donning an all-latex black ensemble with sheer tights for Versace, Hathaways style can no longer be categorised under just one uniform.
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Florence Pugh has said that people who body-shamed her for showing her nipples under a sheer pink Valentino dress she wore last year are scared of her freedom.

The Oppenheimer star wore the transparent dress to the labels haute couture show in Rome last July. She received a slew of derogatory messages from people commenting on her breasts and nipples.

At the time, Pugh responded to the vulgar backlash in an Instagram post. Whats been interesting to watch and witness is just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a womans body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see, she wrote.

In a new interview with Elle, Pugh, who has been named the current winner of the magazines style icon award, spoke candidly about how her body has been the subject of scrutiny.

I speak the way I do about my body because Im not trying to hide the cellulite on my thigh or the squidge in between my arm and my boob: I would much rather lay it all out, she said.

I think the scariest thing for me are the instances where people have been upset that Ive shown too much of myself. When everything went down the with Valentino pink dress a year ago, my nipples were on display through a piece of fabric, and it really wound people up.

The Dont Worry Darling star continued: Its the freedom that people are scared of; the fact Im comfortable and happy. Keeping women down by commenting on their bodies has worked for a very long time.

The actor believed that there is a swing taking place among public opinion, with more people having a I dont give a s*** attitude, she said.

Unfortunately, weve become so terrified of the human body that we cant even look at my two little cute nipples behind fabric in a way that isnt sexual, Pugh added. We need to keep reminding everybody that there is more than one reason for womens bodies [to exist].

(Getty Images)

In her Instagram post addressing the controversy over her nipples at the time, Pugh wrote: Ive lived in my body for a long time. Im fully aware of my breast size and I am not scared of it. Whats more concerning is Why are you so scared of breasts? Small? Large? Left? Right? Only one? Maybe none? What. Is. So. Terrifying.

She reflected on the reaction in a Vogue interview in January, saying: Ive never been scared of whats underneath the fabric. If Im happy in it, then Im gonna wear it. Of course, I dont want to offend people, but I think my point is: how can my nipples offend you that much?

Elsewhere in her latest interview, Pugh also said that women were far more complimentary of her wearing sheer dresses than men.

When I wore the [sheer] dresses, every woman I walked past would say, You look like youre having so much fun. And I was! she said.

Women were drawn to the fact that I was completely happy. Thats been a massive aspect of my career and my life: accepting who I am, and not running away from it.
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Jurgen Krausss elimination from the 2021 Great British Bake Off caused such a scandal, Ofcom received 115 viewer complaints.

The lovable German baker was seen as a top competitor, winning three star baker prizes before being booted off in the semi-finals.

Nearly two years on, Brighton-based Krauss, 58, has no hard feelings  but he did see the uproar coming.

I had a feeling there would be complaints  a feeling that people would take it very seriously, he says.

But he still has only good things to say about the show, noting the overwhelmingly positive reaction was quite amazing, and crediting the experience with boosting his baking skills massively.

He speaks particularly fondly about the period before the competition started, when the contestants were in a bubble and testing their recipes.

We had nine weeks to prepare one signature and one showstopper each week and submit the recipe  that was really a huge time for growth, he says. He calls this a period of non-stop new ideas, non-stop new processes, adding with a wry laugh: Most of the things Id done in the tent Id never done before, and some of them Ive never done since, [and] Im not sure Ill ever do them again. It was tough  it was amazing.

Many of the bakes Krauss made on the show were inspired by his childhood in the Black Forest, Germany. This formed the start of his new cookbook, aptly called German Baking: Cakes, Tarts, Traybakes And Breads From The Black Forest And Beyond.

During Bake Off, the briefs of all these signature bakes often included references to childhood that really reconnected me to my culinary home, to the Black Forest and the cooking of my parents, the things I liked to eat as a child or teenager, or while I was studying.

Some of Krauss favourite food memories growing up are from the period before Christmas. My brother and I, we were always in the kitchen with my mother, we were always part of cooking and baking Christmas  the time before Christmas was always amazing, he remembers.

It was fun, getting hands sticky in dough and tasting it all, and using ingredients like kirsch [brandy made from cherries]. I didnt think much of it, being able to make cakes like cheesecakes or Linzer torter [a spiced tart that would kick off the Christmas period in Krauss household].

But then much later, after the move to England [in 2003], I really took a deep dive into making bread. After 10 years or so, I really was craving German bread.

From apple marzipan tarts to the classic Black Forest gateau, Krauss book is an ode to his childhood and where he grew up.

Black Forest is an interesting region, because it has influences from France and Austria, Krauss explains.

It had a varied history. It was Austrian for almost 200 years  you get dark breads, but rye isnt such a dominant grain as it is in other German areas. Thats the Austrian influence  you get a lot more wheat and you get things like pancakes and dumplings, more than in other German areas, which is clearly inspired by the Austrian kitchen.

You have also a huge influence from France and Alsace in terms of day-to-day cooking, so its a bit of a conglomerate.

Despite its name, Krauss suggests the Black Forest gateau was actually invented in Dortmund  a city around five hours drive away from his home.

But it has become iconic because on the borders of the Black Forest in the Rhine Valley there are huge orchards and cherries grow very well there. Making kirsch has a long tradition, making fruit brandies has a long tradition in the Black Forest because of that.

Other recipes in the book include the Flammkuchen, or what Krauss describes as kind of a Black Forest pizza.

Its an unleavened bread, so you could say its a matzah with sour cream on it, and you can put lardons on it, onions, or you can make it sweet with cinnamon sugar and apple slices. Its really so easy  you can have it ready in 20 minutes, from start to finish. You just need to have an oven that goes really hot.

While the book is all about traditional German baking, Krauss has added the occasional modern twist.

He says animal products are prominent in German cooking, And they dont run very strongly through my bakes in the book, because I wanted to make it appealing to a very wide audience. So I didnt use lard, where a traditional Black Forest baker would probably use lard or lardons  things like that. I definitely scaled back on that. You would make dumplings or doughnuts in lard, you would fry them in lard  this sort of thing has lost its appeal over the last few years I think.

While hes still known to many as Jurgen from Bake Off, Krauss says hes come a long way since the show.

I feel much more in command of things, he muses.

It feels a lot easier for me to change things. I got to a stage in bread baking where I can go fancy and know the outcome will be OK. I never had that with sweet things before Bake Off.

But now I can see how to change ingredients and how recipes work in general  so thats a huge change.

German Baking: Cakes, Tarts, Traybakes And Breads From The Black Forest And Beyond by Jurgen Krauss (published by Kyle Books on 31 August, 26).
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Hugh Jackman posted to his Instagram story asking fans to help him find a blind middle school student because he wanted to wish him a wonderful school year.

On his Instagram Story, Jackman shared a viral video that The Good News Movements account reposted from Our Blind Sides account. In the video, Hilda Dunford, the mother of blind Utah middle school student, Ashton, asked other parents to teach their children about blind students and encourage them to remember to be kind and inclusive towards their classmates with disabilities.

Teach them to not only be kind but to look past differences this year and make a new friend like my son, Dunford wrote in overlaid text over a clip showcasing her son navigating a school hallway with a cane. In the caption on the original post, the mother shared her fears as her son hasnt had the easiest time in school due to his disabilities: Ashton starts middle school on Wednesday and I think Im more nervous than he is. I just want him to be able to find some good friends this year. Middle school is a hard transition and all I ever want for him is to feel included and to know he belongs with his peers and the rest of the [students] in the school.

She continued, Being the only blind student was hard in elementary school and I know its going to be even harder in middle school for my son. So please talk to your kids and tell them about children with disabilities this year. Tell them about my son who practiced walking around the school all summer just to prepare for his first day.

Dunford implored parents to tell their children to include someone someone who is different and give them a chance to get to know a new friend. She also expressed that she hopes Ashton will come back home smiling after his first day of middle school because hes made a new friend.

She concluded her caption: Inclusion starts at home and parents should talk to their kids about these things before sending them to school every year. It will make a difference for my son if you have these kinds of talks with your kids.

The X-Men star posted a viral video from The Good News Movements page onto his Instagram Story, writing: If you know how I can be in touch with Ashton please DM me. Id like to wish him an amazing new school year. He concluded the plea: Thanks for the help! HJ.

It didnt take long for Jackmans plea to his followers to reach Dunford, who shared a clip of her son singing along to Jackmans song A Million Dreams from the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman, writing: "Ashton has always loved Hugh Jackman and he shared this. I messaged him.

Ashton reportedly suffers from septo-optic dysplasia (SOD). According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the rare disorder - previously known as de Morsier syndrome - causes optic nerve abnormalities that affect the septum pellucidum, the eyes, and the development of the pituitary gland.

The Independent has contacted Hilda Dunford for comment.
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After a two-year break from social media, Jay-Z has made a subtle return to Instagram.

The 53-year-old previously moved his presence offline, deleting his account on the platform before making his comeback on 29 August. But, while he may have been following more individuals prior, hes now only shown interest in one persons account  his wife, Beyonces.

Jay-Z took to the app to post one reel promoting the upcoming film, The Book of Clarence. The star of the film, Lakeith Stanfield, assumes the role of a family man living in Jerusalem during 33 AD. Clarences journey in meeting Jesus Christ and deciding to become a messiah is documented with a legendary soundtrack featuring a Prince classic, I Would Die 4 U, along with new music from Jay-Z and Samuel.

Along with Stanfield, the cast includes Anna Diop, David Oyelowo, Micheal Ward, Omar Sy, Teyana Taylor, Caleb McLaughlin, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Eric Kofi-Abrefa. Jeymes Samuel wrote and directed the film, while Jay-Z is one of the executive producers. Samuel and the Empire State of Mind creator previously worked together on his Netflix movie The Harder They Fall.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Jay-Z expressed concerns about what the audience would think about the new film ahead of its release. He thought people would immediately just focus on the religious aspect of it and not the human story.

This story is about a young man who finds his faith through love and through wanting to become somebody in the world, which is the story of everybody, the rapper proclaimed. Everyone wants to find love and everyone wants to leave this place having accomplished something, having left their mark that theyve been here and hopefully affected the world in a positive way.

Jay-Zs been known to use his social media to promote his movie-screen projects. When the Young Forever creator joined Instagram in November 2021, he posted to his story adorning The Harder They Fall.

The renowned artist has been paving his way in the film industry for over 15 years. Jay-Zs produced several projects starting from State Property in 2002.

Great films have melody to them, Jay-Z told The Hollywood Reporter about The Harder They Fall. And great songs, you can close your eyes and see them.
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People are praising a middle school students reaction to President Joe Biden visiting her classroom alongside his wife, First Lady Jill Biden.

On 28 August, the President of the United States and the First Lady headed to Eliot-Hine Middle School in Washington, DC, in honour of the first day of the 2023-2024 school years. In a video shared by The Recount on X - formerly known as Twitter - Biden made his way into one of the classrooms, prompting applause and cheers from students in the background, with one shouting: Joe Biden!

The video showed Biden giving a student a hug, while students in the seats continued cheering. The politician then posed for the camera with a young girl, who puckered up her lips and put on a funny a duck face while holding up a peace sign with her fingers.

The president laughed at the camera, pointed at the student, and joked: Shes the school principal. In response, she jokingly gave a thumbs up and said: Yeah.

After taking photos, the student also shared her excitement at the opportunity to shake hands with the US president, as she told her fellow classmates: Im shaking hands with the president... Im going to be famous!

Both Biden and the other students laughed at her remark, as he told the young girl that she was going to be president herself. The middle schooler agreed, and quipped to her classmates: Im going assistant president, yall.

In the comments of the post, many fans went on to praise the sweet interaction between Biden and the student.

Im going to be assistant President, yall. So cute! one responded on X, while another wrote: Im so jealous This is so cool.

A third wrote: The joy of the young woman with the president pretty much says it all.

This weeks visit to the middle school also kicked off several back-to-school activities for the First Lady, who is travelling to the Midwest later this week to celebrate teachers and highlight the mental health needs of students.

Dr Biden - who is also a longtime college professor - has continued her career outside of the White House, as she teaches English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College. She also taught at the college during the eight years that her husband was Vice President of the United States.

Shortly before the school year started in August 2022, Dr Biden recalled how she was set on keeping her teaching job when she first became the Second Lady. In an interview with Real Simple magazine, she described how she overcame the doubts that people had when it came to handling both jobs.

I think people were a little sceptical. Could I truly do it, since I was the first one to try it? she said. But I knew I wanted to teach. She said she told her staff: This is what I want to do. We have to figure it out.

She recalled how she was able to manage her teaching duties while her husband was vice president, saying: I saw it work then, and I knew we could figure out how to do it now.
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Fitness influencer Larissa Borges has died at the age of 33, after spending a week in a coma due to double cardiac arrest, according to her family.

In a statement shared to her Instagram account on Monday, Borges family revealed that she had passed away. They explained that her death came after she was first admitted to a hospital earlier this month, when she first suffered cardiac arrest.

It is with deep sadness that we report the death of our beloved Larissa Borges, the statement reads, which was translated from Portuguese to English via Google Translate. Larissa suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday, the 20th, in Gramado-RS and fought bravely in a coma for a week.

In the statement, the influencers family said she passed on 28 August, when she faced a new cardiac arrest and, unfortunately, did not resist.

Borges family went on to reflect on their grief over the death of the 33 year old.

The pain of losing someone so young, at just 33 years old, and so lovely is overwhelming, the statement continued. Our hearts are broken, and the longing we will feel is indescribable.

The statement continued to detail the legacy of love, joy and determination that Borges left, before describing her personality.

She was known for her captivating personality, always bringing smiles to those around her, her family wrote. Her presence illuminated any environment, and her contagious energy was missed by everyone who had the privilege of knowing her.

Borges family went on to praise her work ethic, continuing: In addition to her charming personality, Larissa was also a dedicated and hardworking person. She battled tirelessly for her life, facing all the obstacles that a determined, warrior woman does: Without complaining.

The statement concluded by describing the void that Borges death has left in her familys hearts. It also noted that more information regarding her passing will continued to be shared.

May her soul rest in peace and may her memory always be remembered with affection and gratitude, the Brazilian influencers family continued. We ask everyone to wait for information about the burial, which will be announced shortly.

The caption of the Instagram post also read: Our beloved daughter, take your steps with God, and be blessed.

According to recent reports, the Civil Police in Gramado will be conducting an investigation into Borges death. Speaking to Brazilian news outlet G1, Delegate Gustavo Barcellos said that the investigation will begin after the results of the autopsy are done. The delegate also claimed that Borges could have ingested alcohol and narcotic substances before she died.

There is a report of possible ingestion of narcotic substances, accumulated with alcoholic beverages, Barcellos summarised to the news outlet. The body was sent for necropsy. Lets try to look through laboratory tests for substances that she possibly consumed. We have already heard the boyfriend who was with her and we are investigating the case.

Borges had more than 30,000 followers on Instagram, where she frequently posted about her workout routines, daily life in Brazil, and trips shed taken. One week before her death was reported, she shared a snap of herself sking in Gramado, alongside the caption: I can believe in tomorrow.

After sharing the statement to Instagram about her death, Borges family posted a video of her 2021 trip to Pernambuco, Brazil, alongside a caption that read: She enjoyed all God have given her.

In the comments of the video, many fans sent messages of condolence to Borges family, while speaking candidly about their own grief after the influencers passing.

Forever in our hearts, one wrote, while another added: Rest in peace Lari..My condolences to the whole family.

A third wrote: It's heartbreaking!!! Stay here once again, my gratitude for having known you [is] wonderful. I [hope] your passage was as peaceful as possible, and that you are being very well taken care of by the Holy Spirit!

The Independent has contacted the Gramado police department for comment.
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A 93-year-old woman reportedly had to be taken by stretcher to prove to her bank she was still alive.

The pensioner was filmed arriving by what appears to be an ambulance at a Bradesco bank branch in Serra Preta, Bahia, Brazil.

In the footage, which was shared online on Friday (25 August) but reportedly filmed last Wednesday (23 August), de Jesus could be seen on a stretcher covered in blankets as two men wheeled her into the branch.

She could be seen barefoot with what appeared to be bandages or compression tights on her leg, and a red hat on.

A man wearing a green T-shirt shouted at staff members during the incident.

The elderly womans son, Claudio Mascarenhas, shared the video, explaining his mother had to show proof of life in order to benefit from INSS (National Social Security Institute).

He claimed she is paraplegic, and has a femur fracture and anthrosis. Mascarenhas said he had to ask for an ambulance from the municipal hospital to take his mother to the bank as if she did not prove she was alive, she would not be given the card to withdraw the benefits  after hers had reportedly expired.

(Jam Press)

(Jam Press)

According to Mascarenhas, the bank had issued his mother a replacement card but sent it to a bank branch rather than a post office  and said it could only be released to the account holder, despite Mascarenhas attempts to get it himself.

He told local media: She didnt sign anything. Another employee handed me the correspondence and asked me only to confirm the password.

I confirmed it and she stayed on the stretcher, standing on the bench. It created an unnecessary inconvenience ...

The bank reportedly said they regretted what happened and clarified they had followed the INSS rules regarding proof of life by the beneficiary.

According to local reports, the bank said the elderly womans case has been resolved.

However, local media reports suggest that INSS beneficiaries no longer need to provide proof of life, as of last year.
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Prince Harry has described how returning from his final tour of Afghanistan triggered an unravelling but no one around me really could help.

Discussing his time in the military, the Duke of Sussex said he experienced an unravelling after he returned from his tour that triggered the trauma of losing Diana at such a young age.

The confession was made in Harrys new Netflix docuseries, Heart of Invictus, which is released today.

Prince Harrys new Netflix series Heart of Invictus was released on Wednesday morning (AP)

Harry admitted his biggest struggle after his mum died was that no one around [him] really could help.

He said: I didnt have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify actually what was going on with me.

He said his return from Afghanistan unlocked suppressed grief that he was never really aware of.

He said: Look, I can only speak for my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unravelling and the trigger for me was actually returning from Afghanistan.

The stuff that was coming up was from 1997 from the age of 12. Losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had, I was never really aware of. It was never discussed, I didnt really talk about it. And I just suppressed it as most youngsters would have done.

But then when it all came fizzing out, I was bouncing off the walls. I was like, What is going on here, I am now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.

Harry said his biggest struggle after his Afghanistan tour was the lack of a support network around him (Heart of Invictus, Netflix)

Diana died in a car crash at 36 years old, which has been famously blamed on the paparazzi who had been following the princess while she drove through Paris. The accident also resulted in the deaths of Dianas boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and her chauffeur, Henri Paul.

The duke added: Unfortunately, like most of us the first time you really consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the foetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously.

Reflecting more on trauma later in the series, Harry said: For all those years I had no emotion. I was unable to cry. I was unable to feel. I didnt know it at the time. Then when I was aged 28 it all came out. It was like my emotions sprayed all over the wall.

Harry said he was unable to cry for years after he lost his mother (AFP via Getty)

Speaking about his time serving in Afghanistan, he said it was only possible because it was kept a secret.

While I was there for the 10 weeks, no one knew apart from the British press who had all said We will all keep quiet as long as we get access.

But his deployment was cut short when word of his whereabouts were made known and the Duke was sent home.

Harry said this made him angry as he had spent 10 weeks on the ground in the sand with all the others.

Prince Harry said his tour of Afghanistan unlocked trauma of losing his mother (Netflix)

During a special screening of the five-part series in California, Harry emerged to introduce it, to the surprise of the audience.

In a video circulating on social media, he was heard talking about the sacrifices that veterans and their families make while serving their country.

He said in episode two of the series: One of the key missions of the [Invictus] foundation today is to find those who are sitting on their sofa, staring at a TV and they never want to leave their house. Theyre hard to reach.

There is literally one moment to be able to convince that individual that, whatever their plan is, whatever they are thinking and however bad their day is, that [it] will not last forever.
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Prosecutors have dropped all felony charges against an Iowa man who was arrested in 2021 by Chicago police for having guns and ammunition in his hotel room overlooking a popular tourist attraction.

Cook County prosecutors dropped the felony charges against Keegan Casteel on Monday after he pleaded guilty to reckless conduct, a misdemeanor, and was ordered to pay a $500 fine.

The Ankeny, Iowa, man had faced two felony counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, but no evidence was ever produced in court files that Casteel had anything nefarious planned, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Casteel was arrested on July 4, 2021, when a housekeeper found the guns and ammunition in his room at the W Hotel. The weapons  a rifle with a laser sight, a handgun and ammunition  were found on the sill of a 12th-floor window that had a view of Ohio Street Beach and Navy Pier, a major tourist attraction along Lake Michigan.

Police video showed he told officers he didnt mean to startle anyone and simply forgot to remove the firearms from a bag while packing for a trip to the city.

Then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the city's then-police superintendent both suggested after his arrest that Casteel, visiting with his family from Iowa, may have intended to fire on Navy Pier crowds.

Casteel said he had packed the guns and ammunition by mistake when he packed quickly the night before making the trip with his girlfriend and his two children and decided to keep the items in his room. He said he had traveled to Chicago to propose to his girlfriend on the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier.

Among the items police seized during a search of the hotel room was a diamond ring. And Casteel, then 32, proposed to his girlfriend immediately after being released from the Cook County Jail.

His attorney, Jonathan Brayman, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that Casteel was questioned by a joint terrorism task force, which eventually cleared him and issued a report saying it had determined he did not pose a threat.

I think he was very unfairly portrayed by the mayor and police in the media, Brayman said of Casteel.

He said his client, an auto mechanic, was happy to be putting the case behind him and wanted to move forward with his life."
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Egyptian authorities said the national carrier will resume direct flights to Sudan this week following high profile talks between the Egyptian president and Sudan's military chief.

Egypt's Ministry of Civil Aviation said Tuesday that EgyptAir would launch a weekly flight route from Cairo to the Sudanese coastal city of Port Sudan starting Friday. No further details were given.

Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April when simmering tensions between the military, led by Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere.

The flight announcement came hours after Burhan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi concluded talks in Cairo. The visit marks the Sudanese generals first trip abroad since fighting erupted on April 15.

Sudanese authorities reopened the airspace in the east of the country earlier this month, according to local media. Port Sudan on the Red Sea has seen limited fighting since the conflict broke out and is controlled by the military. The port has becoming the main entry point for humanitarian flights and aid shipments for Sudan.

Both leaders said they spoke about ways to end the conflict but gave few details. Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq, who traveled to Cairo with Burhan, said that among several urgent issues discussed was the flow of people and goods across the Sudanese-Egyptian border.

More than 4.6 million people have been displaced, according to the U.N. migration agency. Those include over 3.6 million who fled to safer areas inside Sudan and more than 1 million others who crossed into neighboring countries. More than 285,300 people have fled to Egypt.

Egypt has longstanding ties with the Sudanese army and its top generals. In July, el-Sissi hosted a meeting of Sudans neighbors and announced a plan for a cease-fire. A series of fragile truces, brokered by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, have failed.

According to Sudan's ruling Sovereign Council, Burhan returned to Port Sudan late Tuesday.
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More than 170 global leaders and Nobel laureates have urged Bangladesh's prime minister to suspend legal proceedings against Muhammad Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people.

In an open letter, the leaders, including former U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and more than 100 Nobel laureates, said they were deeply concerned by recent threats to democracy and human rights in Bangladesh.

"One of the threats to human rights that concerns us in the present context is the case of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus. We are alarmed that he has recently been targeted by what we believe to be continuous judicial harassment, said the letter, dated Tuesday.

We are confident that any thorough review of the anti-corruption and labor law cases against him will result in his acquittal, it said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responded by saying she would welcome international experts and lawyers to come to Bangladesh to assess the legal proceedings and examine documents involving the charges against Yunus.

If they send the experts and lawyers, many more things will get revealed, which remain untouched. Many such things will come out, Hasina said.

In 1983, Yunus founded Grameen Bank, which gives small loans to entrepreneurs who would not normally qualify for bank loans. The banks success in lifting people out of poverty led to similar microfinancing efforts in many other countries.

Hasina's administration began a series of investigations of Yunus after coming to power in 2008. She became enraged when Yunus announced he would form a political party in 2007 when the country was run by a military-backed government and she was in prison, although he did not follow through on the plan.

Yunus has also criticized politicians in the country, saying they are only interested in money. Hasina called him a bloodsucker" and accused him of using force and other means to recover loans from poor rural women as head of Grameen Bank.

Hasina's government began a review of the bank's activities in 2011, and Yunus was fired as managing director for allegedly violating government retirement regulations. He was put on trial in 2013 on charges of receiving money without government permission, including his Nobel Prize award and royalties from a book.

He later faced more charges involving other companies he created, including Grameen Telecom, which is part of the countrys largest mobile phone company, GrameenPhone, a subsidiary of Norwegian telecom giant Telenor.

Earlier this month, 18 former Grameen Telecom workers filed a case against Yunus accusing him of siphoning off their job benefits. Defense lawyers called the case harassment and vowed to fight the allegations.

Separately, Yunus went on trial on Aug. 22 on charges of violating labor laws. The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments brought the case against Yunus and three other people in 2021, alleging discrepancies during an inspection of Grameen Telecom, including a failure to regularize positions for 101 staff members and to establish a workers welfare fund.

Yunus and 13 others were also named in a case brought by the Anti-Corruption Commission accusing them of embezzling funds from Grameen Telecom.

In their letter, the global figures also urged that Bangladesh's upcoming elections, expected to be held by early January, be credible.

Hasina said the elections would be free and fair.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by Zia has alleged that the elections will be rigged and threatened to boycott the voting if Hasina does not step down and hand over power to a caretaker government to oversee the balloting. Hasina has rejected the demand.
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The Biden administration said Tuesday that it detected and stopped a network attempting to smuggle people from Uzbekistan into the United States and that at least one member of the network had links to a foreign terrorist group.

U.S. officials do not believe the Uzbek nationals who used the smuggling network had any terrorist ties or were planning a terrorist attack, said a statement from National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.

The statement did not specify the foreign terrorist group, but a U.S. official told The Associated Press that it was the Islamic State. The official was not authorized to speak about the ongoing investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The U.S. worked with governments overseas to detain key members of the smuggling network, including the person with the foreign terrorism links, the NSC said. The statement did not specify how the person was linked to the terrorist group or what governments the U.S. worked with to apprehend the smugglers.

The FBI, which has been investigating, also stressed that it had not identified any specific terrorism threat associated with the migrants.

"Whenever we have indicators that criminal actors  such as those involved in human smuggling  have connections to terrorism, we work diligently with our partners to investigate and understand how foreign terrorist organizations may attempt to exploit their capabilities so that we can best mitigate any risk to the American public," the FBI said in a statement.

The U.S. is working with the foreign partners to shut down the travel routes used by the smuggling network and to identify the people who used it to enter the country, the NSC said.

Since this information became available, those encountered at the border who fit the profile associated with individuals who were facilitated by this network are being placed into expedited removal, being thoroughly vetted against national security and public safety systems, and generally detained pending removal, the statement read.

CNN, which first reported the detection of the smuggling network, said more than a dozen people from the Central Asian country who used the network were allowed to enter the United States.

Biden administration officials have often noted the role that smuggling networks play in encouraging people from across the world to seek entry into the United States and facilitate their travel to the southern border, often describing the networks as ruthless, sophisticated operations that prey on the desperation of migrants seeking a new life.

Decades ago, most migrants attempting to cross the border illegally were men from Mexico who were trying to find work in America. But in recent years, immigration officials have increasingly encountered migrants from across the Southern Hemisphere and beyond. In addition to people from Uzbekistan, there have been increasing numbers of people from Afghanistan, China and Mauritania, to name just a few.

News of the smuggling effort comes as Republicans have been accusing the administration of not doing enough to secure the border and endangering national security.
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Women who kept their weight stable over the age of 60 were more likely to achieve exceptional longevity and live to 100, new research suggests.

Those whose weight did not change were between 1.2 and two times more likely to reach the ages of 90, 95 and 100 when compared with those who lost 5 per cent or more of their body weight, a study by researchers at the University of California found.

Aladdin Shadyab, associate professor at the university, said the findings support stable weight as a goal for longevity in older women.

If aging women find themselves losing weight when they are not trying to lose weight, this could be a warning sign of ill health and a predictor of decreased longevity, he said.

For their study, the researchers examined data from more than 54,000 participants in a US study looking into the causes of chronic diseases among postmenopausal women.

People who are overweight or obese are more at risk from developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer.

The research found that 56 per cent of women survived to age 90 or beyond. But losing 5 per cent of their weight over a three-year period, when compared with keeping weight stable, was linked to lower odds of exceptional longevity.

The pattern of results was similar among normal weight, overweight and obese women when they looked at those groups separately.

It is common for men and men over the age of 65 in the US and UK to be overweight (PA)

Professor Shadyab added that it was common for older women in the US to be overweight or obese.

In the UK, a healthy body mass index (BMI) score is between 18.5 and 24.9 but the average woman aged 65 to 74 has a BMI of 28.2.

And around three quarters of all adults in that range are overweight or obese, according to NHS data.

It is also common for men in the same age category in both the US and the UK to be overweight or obese.

The study is published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.
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Hurricane Idalia pummeled Cedar Key, Florida as it came ashore on Wednesday 30 August.

Idalia grew from a tropical storm into a hurricane early on Tuesday, a day after passing west of Cuba, where it damaged homes and flooded villages.

By Tuesday evening, the storm was churning about 155 miles (250 km) southwest of Tampa as it crept northward.

Idalia is forecast to reach Category 4 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson wind scale, qualifying it as a major hurricane, when it reaches Floridas Gulf Coast on Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The Florida Emergency Management Agency has listed 28 counties with evacuation orders.

Sixteen counties issued mandatory evacuation orders for certain residents, especially those living in coastal and flood-prone areas or in mobile homes, recreational vehicles or structurally unsound housing.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has urged residents in vulnerable communities to heed orders to move to higher ground, warning that the storm surge could cause life-threatening floods.

At the White House, U.S. President Biden said he and DeSantis were in constant contact, adding that he had assured the governor federal disaster assistance would remain in place for as long as it takes.
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Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is set to embark on a visit to Beijing on Wednesday against the backdrop of criticism from MPs regarding the Governments approach to China.

In the first visit to China by a UK Foreign Secretary in more than five years, Mr Cleverly will engage in bilateral meetings with Chinese officials, addressing issues ranging from climate change to international security, while emphasising Beijings responsibility on the global stage.

The trip takes places as the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) calls for a more structured and comprehensive approach to dealing with Chinas assertiveness and its potential impact on the UKs interests and global stability.

In a new 87-page report focused on the Tilt to the Indo-Pacific announced in the Integrated Review, MPs highlighted the urgency of an unclassified China strategy that encompasses not only trade and security but also diplomatic engagement, human rights, and technological cooperation.

The report concludes that there appears to be confusion across Whitehall about the Tilt to the Indo-Pacific, stemming from a failure to explain the policy and urges that all relevant ministers are briefed on the higher classification version of the China strategy.

MPs on the committee also called for the Government to recognise that the repeated attacks on Hong Kong dissidents are part of a wider Chinese Communist Party policy of repression and to proactively communicate the unacceptability of such a policy directly with representatives of the Chinese government.

The Tory chair of the committee Alicia Kearns said: Todays report is a thorough assessment of the UKs policy on the Indo-Pacific; the result of two years of evidence gathering and research.

The Indo-Pacific is a vast and varied geopolitical region, home to over half of the worlds population and set to continue to grow as a major economic powerhouse. The era of the Indo-Pacific is here.

In any conversation about the Indo-Pacific, China looms large. Chinas global ambitions and desire to rival the reach and influence of the West were made clear at the recent BRICS summit, but the writing has been on the wall for years. Its only by shoring up our networks in the Indo-Pacific that we can temper Chinas economic and political expansionism, offering a viable, democratic alternative to Indo-Pacific states.

She argued that for many years the Foreign Affairs Committee has advocated the need to balance economic cooperation with caution in the UKs dealings with China, adding: The confidential, elusive China strategy is buried deep in Whitehall, kept hidden even from senior ministers across Government. How can those implementing policy  and making laws  do so without an understanding of the overall strategy?

The Intelligence and Security Committees report highlighted the incoherence in the Governments approach to China. Our report goes even further and calls for Government to publish an unclassified China strategy.

Strengthening our diplomatic, defensive and economic ties in the Indo-Pacific is critical  if the West leaves a vacuum, China will eagerly fill it.

Resilience and deterrence must be at the core of our foreign policy. Concentrations of power can easily end up in the wrong hands. Diversifying our supply chains, particularly our supply of semiconductors, will protect us in the long term.

On Taiwan, which she described as an important ally and partner of the UK, Ms Kearns said: The Government should stand shoulder to shoulder with Taiwan, making clear that attempts to undermine Taiwanese self-determination are unacceptable.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said the success of his opposite numbers visit would be determined by whether he can secure an end to Chinese sanctions on British parliamentarians.

The Government now needs to demonstrate that it can get a grip on the UK-China relationship by securing tangible diplomatic wins in Britains interests, he said.

The first test that will determine the success of James Cleverlys visit to China will be whether or not he can secure an end to Chinese sanctions placed on British parliamentarians.

Senior sources pointed to the Foreign Secretarys Mansion House speech in April as giving the full picture of the UK Governments views on China and rejected the FACs criticism.

In response to the call for the full, unclassified China strategy to be published, senior figures in Government said everything they were comfortable with putting in the public domain already had been.

In his Mansion House speech, Mr Cleverly spoke about the need for engagement and balanced policy towards China, highlighting the complexities of its history and current global role.

He stressed the importance of safeguarding national security, deepening cooperation with partners, and addressing human rights concerns while fostering open and stable relations
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A former GCHQ worker has admitted attempting to murder a US spy with two knives at a leisure centre.

Joshua Bowles, 29, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on Wednesday to punching and stabbing the woman some three miles from the UK intelligence agencys Cheltenham base on March 9.

Bowles, of Welwyn Mews, Cheltenham, cited the victim working at GCHQ as a motive for his attack, Gloucestershire Police has said.

The court heard that the woman, who is referred to in charges only by the code number 99230, was employed by the United States Government and was stationed at GCHQ at the time of the incident.

Prosecutors told the court Bowles had also been an employee at GCHQ and he had researched the victim and other US nationals who worked at the site, but he was no longer working there at the time of the attack.

During Bowless first appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court, prosecutor Kathryn Selby said the case, which she said involved a planned attack, should be dealt with under the terrorism protocol.

She told the court: The defendant has selected the victim because he believed she is a worker for GCHQ and holds views on the work he believes they conduct.

He attacked the victim because, in his mind, she represents the state.

Bowles was charged with attempted murder, as well as assaulting a man, causing him actual bodily harm, following an investigation by counter-terror police.

He was armed with two knives when he launched the attack at about 9.15pm as the woman left the leisure centre, in Tommy Taylors Lane, with a friend.

The victim had been taking part in a netball game at the leisure centre and Bowles attempted to stab her in the car park, before she fled with her friend back into the building.

Bowles followed them and he attacked the victim again inside with one of the knives, before she escaped onto a netball court.

The victim was taken to hospital after suffering multiple stab injuries in the attack.

Through our extensive and thorough investigation, it is clear that Bowles had selected his victim because of where she worked Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright

Bowles also punched a man named Alex Fuentes after being confronted in the car park, the court heard.

Following the hearing on Wednesday, Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: This extremely violent attack against two innocent people was completely unprovoked.

It is right that those who commit violent crimes like this should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law to protect the public and our thoughts continue to be with the victims and their families.

Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright, head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), said: This was a violent and unprovoked attack on two innocent victims.

Through our extensive and thorough investigation, it is clear that Bowles had selected his victim because of where she worked.

Mr Wright said Bowles pleading guilty will thankfully spare the victims from having to go through the traumatic process of reliving the events of that day through the trial process.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Bowles she hoped he will be sentenced before the end of October.

When questioned about the case, GCHQ said it would be inappropriate to comment on live legal proceedings.
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A former GCHQ worker has admitted attempting to murder a US spy in a leisure centre car park.

Joshua Bowles, 29, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on Wednesday to stabbing and punching the woman in Cheltenham because he believed she worked at GCHQ.

The court heard that the woman, who is referred to in charges only by the code number 99230, was employed by the United States Government and was stationed at GCHQ at the time of the incident.

Bowles, who used to work at GCHQ himself, was armed with two knives when he launched his attack at about 9.15pm on March 9 as the woman left the leisure centre, in Tommy Taylors Lane, with a friend.

The site is some three miles from the UK intelligence agencys Cheltenham base.

The court heard that Bowles had previously researched the victim and other US nationals who worked at the site before the knife rampage, but was no longer working there at the time.

The victim had been taking part in a netball game at the leisure centre before Bowles attempted to stab her in the car park.

She and her friend managed to escape and ran back into the leisure centre. But Bowles followed them inside with one of the knives, before she fled onto a netball court.

The victim was taken to hospital after suffering multiple stab injuries.

Bowles also punched a man named Alex Fuentes after being confronted in the car park.

Bowles, of Welwyn Mews, Cheltenham, targeted his victim because he believed she worked at GCHQ and represented the state.

He was charged with attempted murder, as well as assaulting a man, causing him actual bodily harm, following an investigation by counter-terror police.

During Bowless first appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court, prosecutor Kathryn Selby said the case, which she said involved a planned attack, should be dealt with under the terrorism protocol.

She told the court: The defendant has selected the victim because he believed she is a worker for GCHQ and holds views on the work he believes they conduct.

He attacked the victim because, in his mind, she represents the state.

Following the hearing on Wednesday, Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: This extremely violent attack against two innocent people was completely unprovoked.

It is right that those who commit violent crimes like this should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law to protect the public, and our thoughts continue to be with the victims and their families.

Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright, head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), said: This was a violent and unprovoked attack on two innocent victims.

Through our extensive and thorough investigation, it is clear that Bowles had selected his victim because of where she worked.

He added: I am pleased that Bowles has taken the decision to plead guilty to these crimes due to the strength of our investigation and evidence against him. This will thankfully spare the victims from having to go through the traumatic process of re-living the events of that day through the trial process.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Bowles she hoped he will be sentenced before the end of October.
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Criminals will be forced into the dock to hear their sentence, under new laws to be rolled out after the conviction of Britains most prolific child killer, Lucy Letby.

Judges will be given the power to order offenders into court, including by force if necessary, the Ministry of Justice said.

The serial killer neonatal nurse, 33, was given a whole life sentence for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others between 2015 and 2016, earlier this month.

But she refused to attend her sentencing, prompting an outcry and fresh calls for ministers to speed up a promised change in the law.

Announcing the reform on Wednesday, Rishi Sunak said it was unacceptable some of the countrys most horrendous criminals refused to face their victims in court.

They cannot and should not be allowed to take the cowards way out, the prime minister said.

It comes as health secretary Steve Barclay confirmed that the inquiry into how Letby was able to go on a prolonged killing spree would be upgraded to a statutory one. The move will give it legal powers to force witnesses, including staff at the Countess of Chester Hospital where she worked, to give evidence under oath.

The decision to upgrade the inquiry was made after talks with the victims families who had raised concerns the inquiry would lack the teeth needed to expose a possible NHS cover-up.

Under the new plans to force criminals into the dock, those who refuse to attend could have an extra two years added to their sentence.

The announcement has been hailed by victims and campaigners, including the mother of nine-year-old shooting victim Olivia Pratt-Korbel, whose killer Thomas Cashman also refused to face his victims family in court.

Former Labour home secretary Jack Straw also backed the move. Its a sensible change, he told The Independent. There will be practical issues if someone refuses, but its right to give judges greater power to try to enforce appearance. Very few prisoners will want to add two years to their sentence.

Court drawing by Elizabeth Cook of empty chairs in court after nurse Lucy Letby refused to attend (PA)

But critics warned the issue was complex and could, in the end, cause more distress for grieving families.

Justice secretary Alex Chalk told ITV News the law was being changed to ensure natural justice, because for many victims, they will never be able to sleep peacefully again because their lives have been shattered by what the offender has done.

He added: It is only right that, as the offender is trying to get to sleep, they hear societys condemnation expressed through the sentencing remarks of the judge ringing through their ears.

The MoJ said that the law will be set out in due course, though no firm timeline was given. But critics of the idea say it is an unworkable policy, as there is no incentive for those with a whole-life tariff to appear in the dock if they do not want to.

Hospital staff 'devastated' over Lucy Letby murders, medical director says

Labour MP and former shadow justice secretary Karl Turner told The Independent: It is all too tempting in these tragic cases for politicians to promise to force the guilty, dragged kicking and screaming if need be, to court.

But to make such promises that are not, in reality, actually possible to deliver, may just cause further suffering to victims of crimes.

He added: Politicians pretending otherwise is, in my view, very unwise because it risks adding insult to those already badly injured.

Letbys refusal to turn up for sentencing followed former justice secretary Dominic Raabs promise to act after the non-attendance of the killers of schoolgirl Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Zara Aleena and Sabina Nessa.

Lucy Letby has begun her whole-life prison sentence (PA)

Cashman was jailed for life with a minimum term of 42 years for fatally shooting nine-year-old Olivia at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, while pursuing a fellow drug dealer.

Sex attacker Jordan McSweeney murdered 35-year-old law graduate Ms Aleena as she walked home in Ilford, east London, and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years.

Koci Selamaj received life with at least 36 years behind bars for murdering primary school teacher Ms Nessa after travelling to London to carry out an attack on a random woman.

All refused to appear in court for sentencing, with their punishments being handed down in their absence.

Rishi Sunak says criminals wont be allowed to take the cowards way out (PA)

Labour criticised the government for yet again failing to set out a timeline of when the law change would take effect.

Steve Reed, Labours shadow justice secretary, said the opposition had called for new laws to force criminals to attend sentencing back in April 2022  claiming the Tories had dragged their feet.

He said: This is the fourth time in over 18 months the government has promised action  and yet again they have failed to outline a proper timeline on when they will act.

Calling it disrespectful and grossly offensive for criminals to avoid hearings, Mr Reed added: In government, Labour will give judges the power to force offenders to face justice in court. The families of victims deserve nothing less.

However, Labour has previously said it would back such a change, meaning the reforms announced by Mr Sunak today could be passed into law relatively quickly.

Olivias mother Cheryl Korbel had also called for the law to be changed, saying Cashmans absence was like a kick in the teeth.

Judges will have the discretion to use the powers as they see fit to ensure justice is done.
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The pupil of a dangerous internet predator blackmailed and controlled at least 27 women from all over the world into carrying out degrading sexual acts for his own gratification, a court has heard.

Anthony Burns, 39, pleaded guilty to a raft of blackmail and online sex offences against children and adults, it can now be revealed, after being tutored by notorious online child sex offender Abdul Elahi, who was jailed for 32 years in December 2021 after targeting 2,000 people globally to commit sadistic online abuse.

Instructed in techniques of blackmail and threats by Elahi, Burns would follow a pattern when engaging with women online, usually via sugar daddy or other legitimate online dating sites using different identities and phone numbers as well as fake profile photos, a jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told.

He would occasionally pose as a modelling agent and, after making contact with the women, would move their conversation to WhatsApp before asking them to send sexual photographs or videos in exchange for 600, which he never paid.

Burns would ask the women for photographs of their identification, which he said was to ensure they were of legal age  before actually using the information to research them online.

When the women agreed to a video call over WhatsApp, Burns would keep his camera off but direct and control them by giving them specific instructions about what to do and persuade them to carry out increasingly explicit sexual activity.

When he had received enough explicit material, Burns threatened to expose the pictures to the victims families and friends unless they sent more increasingly depraved photographs and videos.

He would record the video calls and save the recordings to the cloud so he could access them again later.

A trial, concerning two counts of causing a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity, was told that one such call in August 2020 resulted in a woman from the US performing sex acts on herself before sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl.

Lisa Wilding KC said it was the prosecutions case that Burns was the one directing the woman, who has been jailed for her part in the abuse, to carry out the acts on the child when he noticed she was in the room, although the video recording in question did not have any sound.

Burns, originally from Lowestoft in Suffolk, was described by the prosecution as a controlling and manipulative sexual predator who had attempted to contact approximately 600 people around the world with the intention of sexually exploiting them.

He was arrested and his devices were seized after an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The NCA is determined to identify and pursue the most harmful child sexual offenders, including those who exploit technology to hide their activities and target large numbers of victims, no matter where they are Robert Slater, National Crime Agency

Nigel Whalley, an investigator at the NCAs Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, told the court on the first day of the trial there is evidence that Burns was speaking with women from across the UK, US and Australia.

NCA operations manager Robert Slater said: Anthony Burns showed remorseless cruelty in controlling and coercing his victims, including very young children, into acts which have left them severely traumatised.

The NCA is determined to identify and pursue the most harmful child sexual offenders, including those who exploit technology to hide their activities and target large numbers of victims, no matter where they are.

The FBI provided assistance to the NCAs investigation and helped locate victims in the United States.

Burns was charged with 46 counts including blackmail, attempted blackmail, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, arranging the commission of a child sex offence, making and distributing indecent images of children, possessing extreme pornography, malicious communications offences, and failure to comply with notification requirements.

He admitted 39 counts and was found guilty of a further two at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday by jurors who deliberated for just over two hours. He is due to be sentenced at the same court on January 18 2024.

The remaining five charges will lie on file.

Judge Sarah Buckingham told the jury Burns is under no illusion that he will be facing a significant custodial sentence, but said the sentencing hearing will be long and complex due to the crimes involved.
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British Airways has cancelled a further 34 domestic and European flights to and from London Heathrow as the airline recovers from Mondays air-traffic control shutdown.

The Independent has identified 18 domestic departures, including three in each direction linking Heathrow with Aberdeen and Edinburgh, and two to and from Glasgow.

To and from Continental Europe, single departures serving Berlin, Budapest, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Munich, Prague and Rome. A flight to Sofia has been delayed for 23 hours.

British Airways is telling passengers: Like all airlines using UK airspace, our flights have been severely disrupted as a result of a major issue experienced by Nats Air Traffic Control on Monday 28 August. While Nats has now resolved the issue, it has created significant and unavoidable delays and cancellations.

Passengers booked on short-haul flights on Wednesday can move their flights free of charge to a later date, subject to availability.

Sources told The Independent that a dodgy flight plan filed by a French airline may have sparked the major systems meltdown.

Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe appeared to confirm that claim late on Tuesday, saying in a statement: Initial investigations into the problem show it relates to some of the flight data we received.

He said the error caused both Nats primary and back-up systems to suspend automatic processing to ensure that no incorrect safety-related information could impact the air traffic system.
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Rogue and corrupt police officers may be more easily sacked under government reforms aimed at restoring damaged confidence in forces.

Under the new system, a finding of gross misconduct will automatically result in an officers dismissal, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

And all officers who fail vetting while in the job may be sacked.

The overhaul of police disciplinary, vetting and performance processes follows a review launched after the conviction of David Carrick, who was jailed for life, with a minimum of 30 years, for dozens of rapes and serious sexual offences committed while he was a serving police officer.

His case and that of Sarah Everards murderer Wayne Couzens led to a drop in public confidence in the police, especially among women.

The scandals led Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to demand greater powers to sack staff, saying it was nonsensical he could not do so.

The Metropolitan Police have previously admitted convicted sex offenders are serving in the force, and has started a process of re-investigating hundreds of employees for sexual and domestic abuse allegations.

David Carrick

Carrick, 48, abused and raped women over 17 years during his career in the Metropolitan Police before being locked up in February.

He pleaded guilty to 49 offences, which represented more than 70 instances of serious sexual offending.

He was allowed to remain in Britains largest force despite police recording nine incidents, including rape and violent assault, because there was no prosecution or disciplinary action against him.

Wayne Couzens exposed himself to a number of women in the months before he kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard (Metropolitan Police/PA) (PA Wire)

Wayne Couzens

Couzens, a former armed officer with the Mets Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, is serving a whole-life sentence for kidnapping, raping and murdering Ms Everard, 33, in south London.

He was also sentenced to 19 months in prison after admitting three counts of indecent exposure that took place before the murder.

The Met held an accelerated misconduct hearing following his guilty plea and he was sacked in July 2021, a week after he admitted the murder in court. The force apologised for not having caught the sexual predator before he attacked.

But these are not isolated cases. Other serving officers have also committed evil acts, using their job as a cover.

Prosecutors at his trial said Provan was obsessed with young women, had viewed teenage pornography and collected more than 700 female contacts on his mobile phone(Credit: Metropolitan Police/ PA) (PA Wire)

Adam Provan

They include Adam Provan, who last week was jailed for 16 years for a series of rapes, including six on a female fellow officer and two on a 16-year-old girl.

The 44-year-old, of Newmarket, Suffolk, who was in the Met Polices East Area Command Unit at the time of the attacks, met the girl on a blind date in 2010 after lying about his age.

On Wednesday, a Lancashire police officer who stalked and harassed a colleague using official computers was jailed for 21 months.

Justin Fraser

Sgt Justin Fraser checked up on her whereabouts and what she was investigating, police said.

Fraser, of Liverpool, had admitted stalking and securing unauthorised access to computer materials with intent, Preston Crown Court heard.

He retired while still under investigation but a misconduct hearing earlier this month found that he would have been guilty of gross misconduct, sacked and banned from the profession for good.

Thomas Phillips

A Metropolitan Police officer who sent his ex-girlfriend racial slurs about her new partner in five grossly offensive messages was jailed last week.

Thomas Phillips used the n-word in a series of WhatsApps to his former partner Samantha Ryan, also a serving officer, when referring to her new boyfriend, Pc Danny Gobin, another officer.

The 34-year-old, from Croydon in south London, was jailed for 71 days. He was suspended from duty during the case and is expected to face misconduct proceedings later.

Adnan Ali

Two months ago, a former police officer who sexually assaulted and sent indecent messages to young people on a cadet scheme he was in charge of was jailed for five years.

Adnan Ali, 36, was found guilty in April of five counts of sexual assault and 15 counts of misconduct in a public office.

Former Greater Manchester Police officer Adnan Ali arriving at Liverpool Crown Court (Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Wire)

Ali was sacked after being found guilty of gross misconduct but senior officers admitted more could have been done to supervise him.

Anthony Paul Smith

Last year former Met Police officer Smith was found guilty of 13 counts of sexual assault and rape against three teenage girls between 1993 and 1997 while he was in the force. The 56-year-old was sentenced to 24 years in jail.

His victims, who had been aged between 13 and 17, said he raped and sexually abused them in various incidents over several years.

He left the force in 2004 after being convicted of an unconnected crime of gross indecency with a child under the age of 16.

PC Luke Wenham

Last month, a Met officer who pepper-sprayed a man as he climbed down a high-rise block of flats to escape arrest avoided jail.

PC Luke Wenham, attached to the Central South Basic Command Unit, was convicted of assault following the incident in Southwark last year was given a 12-month community order.

Recommended Police officer jailed for sexual assault and indecent messages sent to cadets

He was found guilty of two counts of common assault, and sentenced to 15 days rehabilitation and a curfew for three months. Misconduct proceedings against him were due to take place.

Earlier this year it was revealed that more than 1,500 police officers and staff were accused of abusing women, including rape and sexual harassment, over a six-month period, but less than 1 per cent had been sacked.
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A police officer who was hit by a train while trying to save a distressed man from train tracks has been hailed as a "true hero".

Sergeant Graham Saville, a Nottingham Police response officer based at Newark Police Station, suffered serious injuries after he was hit by a train in Balderton, near Newark-on-Trent, on Thursday.

The 46-year-old was taken to Queens Medical Centre, where he died on Tuesday with family by his side.

Tributes have since been pouring in for Mr Saville, with a former colleague describing him as everything that you would want in a police officer.

Nottinghamshire Police Federation branch chairman Simon Riley told the Today programme: He was caring, compassionate, strongly determined, and just generally an all-around good, professional police officer.

Its fair to say that it has absolutely devastated the force, from everybody that Ive spoken to and everybody thats contacted us, everybodys deeply saddened by it.

It is often a cliche that we are a police family and when something like this happens it deeply affects us all, and that extends to beyond Nottingham as well.

Weve been contacted by federations and officers up and down the country whove reached out to us to offer their condolences.

Tributes have been paid to Sergeant Graham Saville, 46, described as a true hero (Nottingham Police handout )

Nottinghamshire Police has said that flags across the force will be flown at half-mast as a mark of respect to the popular colleague, who was the uncle of Nottingham Forest football club captain Joe Worrall.

Friends also took to social media to pay tribute to the officer, while a GoFundMe page has raised more than 90,000 for his family in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Dave Kerry wrote on Facebook: Truly awful news to hear about our friend Graham Saville. Many good times had with this hero. Rest well mate.

Benjamin Rosser added: A true hero and brave man. RIP Sgt Graham Saville. Youre a true inspiration and honour to yourself and your family.

Tributes have also flooded in from senior officers at the force as well as his local MP, the policing minister and politicians.

Paying respect to Sgt Saville, Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: Today is a day of mourning for the entire police family. Graham was a hugely respected and popular colleague and his death in the line of duty has come as an enormous shock to us all.

Our hearts and deepest condolences go out to his family and we will do everything we can to support them through this unimaginably devastating time.

It is impossible to put into words how devastating this news is for everyone who loved and respected Graham.

On Thursday, he went to work to protect the people of Nottinghamshire from harm, and it is testament to his bravery and dedication as a police officer that he was fatally injured while attempting to save another mans life. His service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.

Police and railway workers near the scene in Balderton, near Newark-on-Trent (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Wire)

The police officer was called to a residential area in Balderton over concerns for a mans safety just before 7pm.

But he was struck by a train himself as he attempted to save the distressed man who was on the railway lines, in what was described as extremely traumatic incident for those at the scene.

The man on the railway lines, 29, sustained electricity-inflicted injuries and was taken to hospital where he remains, but his injuries are not believed to be life-changing.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak paid tribute to Sgt Savilles bravery.

Posting on X, previously known as Twitter, he wrote: It is a testament to his bravery that he died in the line of duty and a terrible reminder of the work the police do every day to keep us safe.

Home secretary Suella Braverman offered her deepest condolences to Sgt Savilles family and colleagues, adding: We owe our police officers an immense debt of gratitude for their bravery while protecting us all.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the tragedy was devastating news.

Thinking of all the family, friends and colleagues of Sergeant Graham Saville at this difficult time and of the bravery he showed to help save others, she wrote on X.

Head of the College of Policing, Chief Constable Andy Marsh, said the horrifying incident was a tragic reminder of the risks and bravery shown every day by police officers.

Robert Jenrick, MP for Newark, whose constituency includes Balderton, praised the officers exceptional bravery.

He said: Sergeant Graham Saville selflessly gave his life to save someone else. All of us in Newark salute his exceptional bravery and self sacrifice, which wont be forgotten.

Nottinghamshire Police Federation branch chairman Simon Riley said the sergeants death will resonate deeply throughout policing, adding: His selfless sacrifice will never be forgotten.

British Transport Police (BTP) is leading an investigation to establish the full circumstances of the incident, but the inquiry is not said to be criminal.

It is understood emergency services would usually contact Network Rails route control before attempting to access the railway.

However, in some instances responders may do so without making a call in order to prevent someone from coming to immediate harm.
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Witnesses to the Lucy Letby inquiry will be compelled to give evidence under oath after the government upgraded the probe to a statutory one following growing pressure from the victims families.

The inquiry will look at the circumstances surrounding the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others committed by the serial killer nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the move was taken after listening to the concerns of the families, who were worried the original probe would lack the legal powers needed to uncover a possible NHS cover-up.

The inquiry into serial killer Lucy Letbys crimes will become statutory, the Health Secretary Steve Barclay has announced (Cheshire Police/PA) (PA Media)

Announcing the news on Wednesday evening, Mr Barclay said: The crimes committed by Lucy Letby are truly harrowing, and my thoughts remain with the families of her victims.

Following her conviction, we announced an inquiry and said the nature of this inquiry would be shaped by the families.

Having now discussed this with the families, we will launch a full statutory inquiry giving it the legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence. This statutory public inquiry will aim to give the families the answers they need and ensure lessons are learned.

Mr Barclay said while statutory inquiries typically take longer to conclude than non-statutory ones, the move would mean it will have legal powers to force witnesses, including former and current staff of the Countess of Chester Hospital Trust, to give evidence.

It will also mean evidence must be heard in public, unless the inquiry chair, who has yet to be announced, decides otherwise.

The news comes after the government announced that criminals will be forced into the dock to hear their sentence under new laws to be rolled out after Letby refused to attend her hearing.

A police car escorts the prison van believed to be carrying the convicted hospital nurse Lucy Letby leaves Manchester Crown Court, 21 August 2023 (Getty Images)

Judges will be given the power to order an offender into court, including by force if necessary, the Ministry of Justice said on Tuesday.

Letby, 33, was found guilty of murdering seven babies and the attempted murder of six others earlier this month and will served the rest of her life in prison.

But she refused to attend her sentencing, prompting an outcry and fresh calls for ministers to speed up a promised change in the law.

Letby is depicted listening to the verdicts being read at Manchester Crown Court, 10 August 2023 (PA)

Announcing the law change on Wednesday, Rishi Sunak said it was unacceptable some of the countrys most horrendous criminals refused to face their victims in court.

They cannot and should not be allowed to take the cowards way out, the prime minister said.

Those who refuse to attend court could have an extra two years added to their sentence.

The moved has been hailed by victims and campaigners, including the mother of nine-year-old shooting victim Olivia Pratt-Korbel, whose killer Thomas Cashman also refused to face his victims family in court.

Earlier this month, Good Morning Britain host Richard Madeley suggested that criminals such as Letby should be tasered if they refuse to appear for their court sentencing.

Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies and the attempted murder of six others earlier this month (Cheshire Constabulary/AFP via Ge)

If were being told we cant get these people back into court because... they might be aggressive and dangerous, well thats why you go in mob-handed ... you have tasers to deal with people like that, and you have truncheons, the host said.

The reasons why Letby committed the murders may never be fully understood, although prosecutors and other experts told jurors during her trial of several possible motivations, including that she got a thrill from the grief and despair of parents and enjoyed playing God.
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More zombie-style knives and machetes with no practical use are to be banned and police will be given more powers to seize and destroy them, the government has said.

The maximum sentence for the importation, manufacturing, possession and sale of these newly proscribed weapons will be two years, the Home Office said.

A new offence will also be introduced for possessing bladed articles with the intention to endanger life or cause fear of violence.

The government said the measures, first proposed in April, will be legislated when Parliament allows following a public consultation.

We are banning these knives and making sentencing more severe, so our communities can be reassured that this violent criminality will face the punishments they deserve, and lives will be saved Policing minister Chris Philp

The possession of so-called zombie knives, currently defined by the government as a blade with a cutting edge, a serrated edge and images or words suggesting it is used for violence, is already illegal.

Under the new measures, the Home Office said the definition will include any bladed weapon more than eight inches long with a plain-cutting edge and sharp pointed end that also has either a serrated cutting edge, more than one hole in the blade or multiple sharp points like spikes.

Ministers hope the changes will close a loophole which has seen some retailers continue to sell dangerous weapons without breaking the law by removing certain banned features.

But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the newly prohibited weapons should have been banned years ago, and accused the government of failing to properly close gaps in the current legislation.

Police will be given new powers to seize and destroy knives found on private premises if there are reasonable grounds to believe the blade will be used in a serious crime, said the Home Office.

This is the sixth time in seven years that the Conservatives have promised to outlaw zombie knives Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper

The Sentencing Council will also be asked to consider amending guidelines for the possession of bladed articles and offensive weapons so that these are treated more seriously than possession of non-prohibited weapons.

The Home Office said specific exemptions will be made for legitimate articles such as objects of historical importance and those that are hand-made, in order to avoid negative effects on the antiques market.

It follows a string of similar announcements by a succession of home secretaries in recent years.

Policing minister Chris Philp said the newly-prohibited weapons serve no other purpose but to inflate criminal egos and endanger lives and there is no reason to own them.

That is why we are banning these knives and making sentencing more severe, so our communities can be reassured that this violent criminality will face the punishments they deserve, and lives will be saved, he said.

Anti-knife crime charity Steel Warriors welcomed the ban on weapons that have no place in modern society.

National Police Chiefs Council knife crime lead, Commander Stephen Clayman, said the proposals would offer robust measures to tackle knife crime when used appropriately.

But Ms Cooper said: This is the sixth time in seven years that the Conservatives have promised to outlaw zombie knives. Time and again the Tories have been hopelessly weak and slow to tackle this serious and dangerous crime.

In April Mr Philp defended the plans, which will be introduced across England and Wales, in the face of accusations that they were too little, too late.

Shadow policing minister Sarah Jones told MPs the measures were a smokescreen to distract from (the governments) appalling record but Mr Philp said they would help to go even further in tackling knife crime, building on the Offensive Weapons Act 2019.

The number of people killed with a knife in England and Wales in 2021/22 was the highest on record for 76 years, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

About four in 10  282  homicides were committed using a knife or sharp instrument in the year to March 2022.

Some 51 teenagers aged between 13 and 19 were among the victims.
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James Cleverly has met senior officials in Beijing in a visit aimed at easing tensions with China but which risks deepening divisions in the Conservative Party.

The Foreign Secretary said the UK was clear-eyed that China was not going to change overnight.

He also insisted the visit would allow him to have tough conversations with the Chinese on issues including repression in Hong Kong, and human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.

In a face-to-face meeting with Vice President Han Zheng, who played a leading role in the anti-democracy crackdown in Hong Kong, Mr Cleverly said regular meetings are important to enhance understanding and to avoid misunderstanding.

In the first visit by a UK foreign secretary to China for five years, Mr Cleverly told him they will address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries have in bilateral relations.

The meeting comes amid speculation that Rishi Sunak could hold talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next week in the latest sign of thawing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

It's perfectly possible to engage with China at the same time as being very robust in standing up for our interests and our values Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

The Prime Minister refused to be drawn on whether he would meet his counterpart at the event, saying his schedule had not yet been finalised, but pointed to the Foreign Secretarys visit as an entirely sensible approach.

Its perfectly possible to engage with China at the same time as being very robust in standing up for our interests and our values, he told broadcasters during a visit to a police station in London on Wednesday.

But Mr Cleverlys visit has been criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches, who want a tougher line against a state which has sanctioned several British MPs and peers for speaking out about human rights violations.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith compared the Governments approach to the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

The Foreign Secretary said that he had spoken to Chinese officials about human rights, amid concerns about the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang province.

Ive had a number of conversations with senior representatives of the Chinese government, and I have raised human rights in every single one of those meetings and I will continue to do so, he told broadcasters.

This will continue to be an area of discussion that I bring up alongside other areas, and Im not going to change my posture on that.

And I think the Chinese government understand the UK is consistent in our approach. I am consistent in my approach and I will keep raising these issues with the Chinese government.

It is important that we maintain regular dialogue, regular lines of communication Foreign Secretary James Cleverly

He added: The UK, I, am clear-eyed  that we are not going to change China overnight.

Were certainly not going to do it in any one individual meeting.

But it is important that we maintain regular dialogue, regular lines of communication.

Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns said she had spoken to Mr Cleverly before his visit and urged him to pressure the Chinese on human rights concerns.

Im very hopeful that he will land those points about transnational repression. We all know we are seeing increased espionage on British shores and we are also seeing appalling human rights abuses against the Uighur, the Tibetans and many more, the senior Tory said.

It is absolutely important that Britain has a role in the Pacific where we make clear that we will stand up for the rule of law, for human rights and for self-determination.

Ms Kearns told Sky News that Mr Sunak should absolutely meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping if the opportunity arises because that is how you prevent and deconflict potential issues.

She said Mr Cleverlys visit is an opportunity to bring to an end two decades of failed deterrence and to make clear defence is not an escalation, and we wont tolerate transnational intimidation.

But the visit needs to achieve outcomes in Britains interests  we await them.

Her committee has published a report which recognises the activities of the Chinese Communist Party as a threat to the UK and its interests and that the behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party is currently characterised by increased aggression towards the UK.

The cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee called on the Government to publish an unclassified version of its China strategy to ensure cross-Whitehall coherence on the approach to Beijing, and for all relevant ministers to be briefed on the classified version of the document.

The MPs said the Government should have had a policy of zero tolerance of transnational repression which has seen the Chinese authorities seek to carry out repression of dissidents in countries including the UK.

It should now announce a clear policy of zero tolerance of transnational repression and be prepared to expel any foreign diplomats who engage in intimidation of, or physical attacks on, British citizens or those who seek refuge on UK shore, the committee said.

If the Government is unwilling to defend its own people at home, and those seeking safety, it will lose all credibility at claims or attempts to deter autocracies and aggression abroad.

The MPs also called for the Government to intensify efforts to discourage the use of Chinese technologies such as surveillance cameras which are capable of being used for remote data harvesting by Beijings security services.

The report also said the Government has failed to take adequate action to protect against the risk of Beijing using economic coercion by targeting strategically critical industries which rely on Chinese technology or investment.

On the disputed island of Taiwan, the committee said the UK should put in place an effective policy of deterrence diplomacy towards Beijing to protect the Taiwanese right to self-determination.
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Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said the UK is clear-eyed that China will not change overnight, as he finished meetings with senior officials in Beijing in a visit aimed at easing tensions with the Asian power.

The trip has faced criticism from some senior Conservatives, but Mr Cleverly insisted that a pragmatic relationship was necessary to tackle major global issues such as climate change.

He also insisted that the visit would allow tough conversations with the Chinese on issues including repression in Hong Kong, and human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.

Its an important country, its a large country and influential country, and a complicated country. And therefore our relationship with China will necessarily be just as complicated and sophisticated, the Foreign Secretary told broadcasters.

We are clear-eyed about the areas where we have fundamental disagreements with China. And I raise those issues when we meet.

But I think its important we also recognise that we have to have a pragmatic, sensible working relationship with China, because of the issues that affect us all around the globe.

In a face-to-face meeting with vice president Han Zheng, who played a leading role in the anti-democracy crackdown in Hong Kong, Mr Cleverly said regular meetings were important to enhance understanding and to avoid misunderstanding.

In the first visit by a UK foreign secretary to China for five years, Mr Cleverly told Mr Han they would address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries have in bilateral relations.

He also met his counterpart Wang Yi during the trip.

But Mr Cleverlys visit has been criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches, who want a tougher line against a state which has sanctioned several British MPs and peers for speaking out about human rights violations.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith compared the Governments approach to the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

The meeting comes amid speculation that Rishi Sunak could hold talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next week in the latest sign of thawing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Its perfectly possible to engage with China at the same time as being very robust in standing up for our interests and our values Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

The Prime Minister refused to be drawn on whether he would meet his counterpart at the event, saying his schedule had not yet been finalised, but pointed to the Foreign Secretarys visit as an entirely sensible approach.

Its perfectly possible to engage with China at the same time as being very robust in standing up for our interests and our values, he said on Wednesday.

Mr Cleverly said that he had spoken to Chinese officials about human rights, amid concerns about the treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang province.

Ive had a number of conversations with senior representatives of the Chinese government, and I have raised human rights in every single one of those meetings and I will continue to do so, he told broadcasters.

This will continue to be an area of discussion that I bring up alongside other areas, and Im not going to change my posture on that.

And I think the Chinese government understand the UK is consistent in our approach. I am consistent in my approach and I will keep raising these issues with the Chinese government.

He added: The UK, I, am clear-eyed  that we are not going to change China overnight.

Were certainly not going to do it in any one individual meeting.

But it is important that we maintain regular dialogue, regular lines of communication.

Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns said she had spoken to Mr Cleverly before his visit and urged him to pressure the Chinese on human rights concerns.

Im very hopeful that he will land those points about transnational repression. We all know we are seeing increased espionage on British shores and we are also seeing appalling human rights abuses against the Uighur, the Tibetans and many more, the senior Tory said.

It is absolutely important that Britain has a role in the Pacific where we make clear that we will stand up for the rule of law, for human rights and for self-determination.

Her committee, the cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee, has called on the Government to publish an unclassified version of its China strategy to ensure cross-Whitehall coherence on the approach to Beijing, and for all relevant ministers to be briefed on the classified version of the document.

The MPs also called for the Government to intensify efforts to discourage the use of Chinese technologies such as surveillance cameras which are capable of being used for remote data harvesting by Beijings security services.

The report also said the Government had failed to take adequate action to protect against the risk of Beijing using economic coercion by targeting strategically critical industries which rely on Chinese technology or investment.

On the disputed island of Taiwan, the committee said the UK should put in place an effective policy of deterrence diplomacy towards Beijing to protect the Taiwanese right to self-determination.

The Foreign Office said that Mr Cleverly had raised a range of issues, including concerns about Hong Kong and Xinjiang, as well as sanctions against UK MPs, during his meetings.

The Foreign Secretary also made clear the UK position on key geopolitical issues including the conflict in Ukraine, the situation in North Korea and nuclear non-proliferation.

They agreed on the potential of AI to unlock huge opportunities but stressed the need for global co-ordination to mitigate risks and put protections in place, the readout said.
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The Duke of Sussex has described how returning from his final tour of Afghanistan triggered an unravelling but no-one around me really could help.

Harry, speaking in his new Heart of Invictus docuseries on Netflix, said he did not have a support structure to help him deal with his mental health struggles, which related back to the trauma of losing his mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

The duke, whose troubled relationship with the royal family has long been documented, said the impact of Dianas death when he was 12 was never discussed and he finally sought therapy after lying on the floor in the foetal position.

The five-part documentary, which was launched in the UK at 8am on Wednesday, follows a group of former military servicemen and women on their road to the paralympic-style sporting competition Invictus, which Harry set up in 2014 for injured and sick military personnel and veterans.

In the second episode, entitled Invisible Injuries, Harry tells how he suppressed the trauma of losing his mother in a car crash  the 26th anniversary of which is on Thursday  but his return to the UK from his second frontline tour to Afghanistan in 2012 brought it all back.

I can only speak from my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012, flying Apaches, he said.

Somewhere after that, there was an unravelling.

The trigger to me was actually returning from Afghanistan. But the stuff that was coming up was from the age of, from 1997, from the age of 12.

Losing my mom at such a young age, the trauma that I had, I was never really aware of.

It was never discussed. I didnt really talk about it and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done, but then when it all came fizzing out, I was bouncing off the walls. I was like what is going on here? Im now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.

He added: The biggest struggle for me was  no-one around me really could help.

I didnt have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me.

Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you really consider therapy is when youre lying on the floor in the foetal position, probably wishing that youd dealt with some of the stuff previously, and thats what I really want to change.

In a 2017 interview, Harry described how his brother, the now-Prince of Wales, had been a huge support and that William, with whom he has since fallen out, encouraged him to seek help.

The duke made a surprise appearance at a special US preview screening in California of the new five-part Netflix show which has been more than two years in the making.

He emerged to introduce it, telling the audience about the sacrifices that veterans and their families make while serving their country.

The series also charts the story of the Ukrainian team preparing for the competition in The Hague in 2022 against the backdrop of the Russian invasion.

It tells the story of paramedic Yuliia Taira Paievska who was training for the tournament when she was captured and held prisoner by Russian troops.

She was eventually released in the wake of global publicity at The Hague games about her situation.

In the first 45-minute episode, Harry discusses how he never wanted to serve in the armed forces as a father.

The duke, who has two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, is chatting during a hike in California with his friends, former Invictus competitors JJ Chalmers and David Wiseman, and says: Ive always had myself down as being the dad that I could never be serving while having kids. And you both did, right?

Its never the individual signing up  its the whole family signing up.

Interviewed sitting in a chair facing the camera, Harry is asked to describe what he does.

He replies: What do I do? Er on any given day, Im a dad of two under-three-year-olds.

Ive got a couple of dogs. (Im) A husband. Im founding patron of Invictus Games Foundation.

Theres lots of hats that one wears, but I believe today is all about Invictus.

The Duchess of Sussex first appears in behind-the-scenes footage from November 2021 when the couple attended the Salute to Freedom gala honouring military veterans in New York.

Harry confides in his wife about his nerves as they walk hand in hand along a red carpet into the event, saying: We havent done this in a while.

Meghan, dressed in a red Carolina Herrera gown, replies: I know.

Harry adds: My heart  Im like (making a noise like a rapid heart beat)  Im nervous.

The duke is shown anxiously pacing around a room as he waits to take to the stage.

Meghan appears only briefly a few times, joining an outdoor group meeting with the couples Archewell staff, and taking to the stage to introduce Harry on the opening night in the Netherlands.

In one episode, Harry is seen with his eyes closed as he takes part in a breathing technique session with Invictus competitors, and, in a good luck video call, he tells Team UK to f****** cry if they feel like it during the tournament.

The duke also takes a night-time diving trip in Hawaii with US competitor Gabriel George where the pair are filmed watching the sea life underwater.

Harry is listed in the credits as an executive producer of the series, which was made in association with Harry and Meghans Archewell Productions.

It is directed by Orlando von Einsiedel and produced by Joanna Natasegara, who worked together on the Oscar-winning short The White Helmets.

Heart of Invictus forms part of the Sussexes multimillion-pound deal with Netflix  with their main output so far being last years controversial Harry & Meghan documentary.

The six-part series last December saw the duke and duchess shed light on their troubled life within the royal family and accuse Kensington Palace of lying at the Megxit summit to protect Harrys brother William, and father Charles, now King.

Meanwhile, the couples other lucrative media deal  with Spotify  ended in June after one season of Meghans podcast Archetypes.

Heart of Invictus has been released in the run-up to next months Invictus Games which begins in Dusseldorf on September 9, with Harry set to travel to Germany for the start of the tournament, and Meghan joining later.
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The number of appointments, operations and procedures postponed due to strikes in the NHS in England is in touching distance of one million, NHS leaders have said.

Some 45,827 inpatient and outpatient hospital appointments in England had to be rescheduled as a result of the industrial action by British Medical Association (BMA) consultants that took place from August 24-26.

A further 1,302 cancellations in mental health, learning disability and community settings were also recorded, though this is likely to include a small amount of double-counting, according to NHS England which published the data.

The number of inpatient and outpatient appointments cancelled in England since the current spell of industrial action began in the NHS in December 2022 now stands at 885,154.

If the community and mental health figures are included, the total rises to more than 940,000  though this will not reflect the overall number of actual cancellations, due to some duplication of data.

At the same time, not all NHS trusts have been able to supply figures for publication by NHS England, meaning it is impossible to represent the true scale of disruption.

NHS leaders have said that the true impact of strikes is being masked as many hospitals have stopped booking in surgeries and other appointments on future strike days.

Industrial action continues to have a huge impact on the NHS, and on the lives of patients and their families. Professor Sir Stephen Powis

Commenting on the figures, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: Despite sterling work by health leaders and their teams, this latest round of industrial action has seen the cancellation of 47,129 operations and appointments, taking the total cancelled over the past nine months of strike action to within touching distance of one million.

This must stop. The NHS cannot be expected to roll with the punches for much longer, and with junior doctors looking to extend their mandate for industrial action, health leaders are seriously worried that we are potentially sleep walking into the NHSs very own winter of discontent.

All parties need to work together to end this for the sake of the health service.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said there will be no more negotiations on pay as he demanded an end to the costly and harmful industrial action.

Regrettably, hundreds of thousands of NHS patients waiting for vital treatment have suffered the impact of last weeks BMA consultant strikes, he said, claiming consultants are receiving significant pay rises already.

Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive at NHS Providers, added: Trust leaders are alarmed by the snowballing impact of the strikes on patients.

Nearly one million people across England have now had appointments for hospital, mental health and community care pushed back due to the walkouts since December.

On top of that, there is the immeasurable impact of all the appointments that couldnt be booked on the day of a strike itself.

No one can afford this dispute to continue. Talks between the government and unions must resume.

NHS Englands national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: Industrial action continues to have a huge impact on the NHS, and on the lives of patients and their families.

This strike took place into a bank holiday weekend, when NHS activity is generally lighter, but many services have for some time avoided scheduling any planned appointments for strike days in order to prioritise emergencies.

This means the true impact of this action will be even higher, and as we move into September, the extraordinary cumulative effect of more than nine months of disruption poses a huge challenge for the health service, as staff work tirelessly to tackle the backlog.

The Government insisted talks on pay are over after it said consultants would receive a 6% rise.

The BMA said the increase was insulting and have claimed that consultants have experienced a 35% pay erosion over the last 14 years.

Consultants are due to walk out again on September 19 and 20 and October 2,3 and 4.

As with previous consultant walkouts, doctors will still provide Christmas Day cover meaning that emergency care will still be provided.

Meanwhile the BMAs Junior Doctors Committee is reballoting members to see whether they want to continue with strike action.

Professor Phil Banfield, chair of council at the BMA, said: As doctors caring for patients over years of increasingly challenging conditions, the last thing we ever wanted was for patients to experience such disruption. Unfortunately, these figures are a damning indictment of the Governments intransigence to get around the table and come up with a credible offer that would see these strikes called off.

As well as the impact on patient care, the amount of money that strikes have cost the NHS  now around 1 billion  shows just what waste this Government is willing to sanction whilst demonstrating how little it values the very doctors so essential to restoring the health and therefore wealth of this country. This is an investment in future generations, but it is portrayed cynically as an unaffordable cost.

The only way to get elective recovery care back on track and a fully-fledged workforce that can care for patients now and in the years to come is to properly fund the expertise our patients need. Doctors are the solution, not the problem and what happens next rests entirely with the PM and Chancellor. We need to see a credible offer that also aims to restore eroded pay to put an end to these strikes.
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Police have appealed for help to find an acclaimed 27-year-old poet who went missing after a festival.

Gboyega Odubanjo, from Bromley, London, was last seen around Kelmarsh in Northamptonshire at 4am on August 26 after previously attending the Shambala music festival, police have said.

Northamptonshire Police said he was last seen wearing a beige/cream bucket hat, a red and white striped gilet with black clothing underneath, black trousers and dark-coloured shoes.

Mr Odubanjo is 5ft 6in tall, with short black dreadlocks, a full-face beard, and wears glasses.

In a statement, his family said: Gboyega is a loving and caring son who means the world to our family.

He is currently studying for his PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Hertfordshire; He has a warm and infectious personality, a contagious smile, and a heart full of kindness.

We believe that Gboyegas disappearance is entirely out of character for him, and we are genuinely worried for his safety and wellbeing.

We are reaching out to the community, friends, and all compassionate individuals who may have any information that could lead to his safe return.

No piece of information is too small, and your help could be the key to bringing him back to us.

Mr Odubanjos best friend, Tice Cin, described him as an acclaimed poet and highly anticipated novelist.

My best friend Gboyega Odubanjo, light of my life and acclaimed poet, highly anticipated novelist, the best son and brother, she said.

We need help bringing him home, nobody deserves to go missing in a society with all the resources to find our loved ones.

In a society that is structurally unequal when it comes to missing black people (black people account for 14% of missing people in England and Wales, four times the relative population of black people in England), we need to work tirelessly to find Gboyega.

Help us to find this brilliant kind man, the type of man who you can ring at 3am when your back is hurting, and you cant sleep.

The 27-year-olds work has appeared in the Guardian, The Poetry Review and New Statesman.

Northamptonshire Police are encouraging anyone with information about Mr Odubanjos location to contact them immediately at 999 or 101, quoting the reference number MPD1/2619/23 when providing information.
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The government must not allow artificial intelligence (AI) developers the free use of copyrighted songs and books for training, MPs have urged.

Parliaments Culture, Media and Sport Committee told ministers to heed the chorus of warnings from musicians, authors and artists about the risks of failing to protect intellectual property from the rapidly advancing technology.

The cross-party group of MPs said the government must follow through on its pledge and abandon plans to exempt text and data mining by AI from copyright protections.

Data mining is a way of deriving information such as patterns and trends from different sources, including books, websites and music.

Figures from across the creative industries have expressed concerns about the impact such a process will have on arts and cultural production.

Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive of British trade body UK Music, has warned of the potential of music laundering where AI companies essentially take music they do not own, use copies of it to train an AI, and then reap the commercial rewards with a legally clean new song, the committee said.

Svana Gisla, producer of the virtual concert residency Abba Voyage, told the committee any such exemption would be terrible, saying: Our emerging, new and existing artists have a hard enough time surviving in life, let alone if they have to compete against computers on top of that.

Last June, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) announced proposals to introduce a copyright and database exception which allows (text and data mining) for any purpose.

In response to concerns from across the industry, the government appears to have since changed course, saying it no longer wants to proceed with the original plans.

In a report released on Wednesday, the committee praised the government for listening to stakeholders but warned its initial handling of the issue showed a clear lack of understanding of the needs of the UKs creative industries.

The report recommends the government provide a substantive update on its direction in managing the impact of AI on the industries by the end of 2023.

Instead of a broad text and data mining exemption to copyright, it proposes proactive support for small AI developers in particular, who may encounter difficulties in acquiring licences.

This would include reviewing how licensing schemes can be introduced for technical material and how mutually beneficial arrangements can be struck with rights management organisations and creative industries trade bodies, it said.

Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the committee, said: The chorus of warnings from musicians, authors and artists about the real and lasting harm a failure to protect intellectual property in a world where the influence of AI is growing should be enough for ministers to sit up and take notice.

The government must now start to rebuild trust by showing it really understands where the creative industries are coming from and develop a copyright and regulatory regime that properly protects them as AI continues to disrupt traditional cultural production.

The development and use of creative technology is currently being hampered by a shortage in technical skills. For the UK to fulfil its potential as a world leader in the creative industries, the Government must commit to ensuring the right skills are being taught to ensure a pathway for the next generation of digital artists, visual effects professionals and innovators.

A government spokesperson said: We will take a balanced and pragmatic approach to the use of AI across creative industries, which allows both AI innovators and our world-leading creative industries sector to continue to grow.

To support this, the Intellectual Property Office is working with AI firms and rights holders to produce an agreement and guidance on copyright.

This supports our ambition to make the UK a world leader in AI research and development, while making sure our copyright framework continues to promote and reward innovation and investment in the UKs creative industries.

We are working closely with stakeholders to understand the impact AI has on broadcasters, publishers and creative businesses.
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Top Tory Sir Brandon Lewis is trousering 150,000 from five extra jobs - on top of his 86,000 MP salary.

The former justice secretary has taken on a string of lucrative jobs outside parliament, almost tripling his yearly pay.

The jobs, revealed by The Daily Mirror, include 60,000-a-year roles with property developer Thakeham Homes and infrastructure firm FM Conway, as well as a 30,000-a-year post as a consultant for Civitas Investment Management.

Labour chair Anneliese Dodds told the paper: MPs are elected to represent our constituents and serve the country - but increasing numbers of Tory MPs are simply checking out and stacking up private sector roles.

Brandon Lewis has brazenly sought to line his pockets only months after leaving government, in yet another example of the Tories giving up on governing." She told Mr Sunak to "get a grip on his moonlighting MPs.

And backbencher Karl Turner told The Independent being an MP is already a very well-paid, full-time job

But it clearly is not enough for greedy six job Lewis, he added.

Mr Turner said: If he cannot afford to pay for his lifestyle on eighty-six grand a year he should call it a day, stand aside and let the people of Great Yarmouth find an MP that is prepared to work for them and not themselves.

He said MPs second jobs are utterly contemptible to the British public and should be banned.

Labour has said it wants to ban second jobs with only limited exemptions, and Mr Turner said they should be banned completely.

As well as the paid posts, Sir Brandon became director of a group of private schools more than 100 miles from his Great Yarmouth constituency, but waived payment.

And he became a patron of the free market think tank the Adam Smith Institute.

Labour analysis showed Sir Brandons 28 hours of work outside parliament each month netted him an hourly rate of 625.

Analysis earlier this year showed MPs had earned 17.1m from work outside parliament since the 2019 election, with the vast majority made by Conservative MPs.

Boris Johnson has raked in an astonishing 21,000 an hour for work on the speaking circuit and other lucrative gigs since quitting as prime minister.

In less than a year after being forced out of Downing Street, Mr Johnson made almost 5m.

His successor Liz Truss also went on to take huge payments for speaking gigs, despite being Britains shortest-serving prime minister.
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Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has raised the case of the arrest of British citizen Jimmy Lai in a meeting with Chinas vice president.

Sebastien Lai, son of British businessman Jimmy Lai, 75, said it would be a missed opportunity if Mr Cleverly didnt stand up for his father and British values while meeting Chinese vice president Han Zheng on Wednesday.

Founder of Hong Kongs largest pro-democracy paper Apple Daily, Mr Lai was a prominent critic of the Chinese Communist Party and has been detained in solitary confinement since 2021 where he is now likely to die.

It comes after Mr Cleverly met Mr Han, the architect of Chinas crackdown on Hong Kong, in the first visit by a UK foreign secretary to China in five years this morning.

Sebastien Lai told The Independent: James Cleverly should be calling for my fathers release. My father is a British citizen and he is in jail for championing British values.

I think it would be a missed opportunity for my father, and the UK, not to challenge China. How many chances do you have to stand up for a British man who is willing to give up everything he has to stand up for these freedoms?

It makes me sad. Were a powerful country. My father and I are proud to be British. By arresting my father, China is putting British values on trial.

The Foreign Office claimed Mr Cleverly raised the case of Jimmy Lai, as well as further damage caused by Beijings National Security Law.

Mr Lai was perp-walked from his office in August 2020 and was charged with four offences under Chinas draconian National Security Law, one of which included lighting a candle in commemoration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989.

Mr Lai was then sentenced to 20 months in prison and was given a further five years and nine months last year on two separate charges linked in lease violations which have been described as politically motivated.

Sebastien Lai said James Cleverly should be calling for his fathers release (Sky News)

This month, Hong Kongs High Court suggested Mr Lais trial would be adjourned for the third time, delaying the prospect of him facing the alleged offences against national security and sedition.

Caoilifhionn Gallagher KC, who is part of his international legal team, described the delay as a charade.

Mr Cleverlys visit was also criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches, who want the Government to take a tougher line against China, who increasingly see the country as a threat to the UKs national security.

And today, the cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee published a report which called on the UK Government to take every opportunity to raise the case of Jimmy Lai and any other British nationals detained by the Peoples Republic of China.

However, the Foreign Secretary said the UK was clear-eyed that China was not going to change overnight.

He also insisted the visit would allow him to have tough conversations with the Chinese on issues including repression in Hong Kong, and human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.
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Labour and the Liberal Democrats could allow the Tories to win the Mid Bedfordshire by-election by splitting the vote, according to polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice.

Anti-Tory campaigners have called on opposition leaders Sir Keir Starmer and Sir Ed Davey to agree on a non-aggression pact in the blue-wall seat vacated by Nadine Dorries.

But advocates of tactical voting fear that the determination of both their parties to fight the election will see the Conservative Party hang on to the seat, despite its current unpopularity and local anger about Ms Dorries behaviour.

If there is any by-election where the Tories can hold on to the seat amid difficult circumstances, its probably Mid Bedfordshire, because both parties [Labour and the Lib Dems] are determined to fight the seat, Prof Curtice told Politics Home.

The elections expert added: The Tory vote could collapse, but they could still hang on to it. So, perhaps the thing we should be looking at is not who wins, but by how much the Tory vote goes down.

Tory peer and elections expert Robert Hayward also said Rishi Sunaks party had a good chance of winning if the vote were split evenly between the two opposition parties.

Lord Hayward told The Independent: You also have the potential for a split opposition vote, because Keir Starmers determination to prove he can appeal to all parts of the country has surprised the Lib Dems.

Labour is hopeful of overturning Ms Dorries 24,000 majority, having come second in 2019  ahead of the Lib Dems by 6,000 votes. But the Lib Dems also believe they can come from third, having done so in the recent Tiverton and Honiton by-election.

Labour insists it is in pole position to gain momentum and defeat the Tories. But Lib Dem officials argue that there is a ceiling to the Labour vote in Mid Bedfordshire because of the demographics in the rural constituency.

Ed Davey and Keir Starmer have been urged to agree a deal in which one party would ease off campaigning in an effort to avoid splitting the anti-Tory vote (Getty)

The tactical voting advocates Compass have warned that the ghost of the recent Uxbridge by-election should loom large over Mid Bedfordshire  pointing to the Tories hanging on despite Boris Johnsons unpopularity.

The Lib Dems have told activists that Labour made a huge campaigning error by choosing Alistair Strathern as its candidate. Sir Eds party claims that photos of Mr Strathern dressed as a zombie at a Greenpeace protest will be on every single Conservative attack leaflet from now until polling day.

But Labour has fired back by pointing out that, according to the register of interests, Lib Dem candidate Emma Holland-Lindsay is a member of Greenpeace.

Despite Ms Dorries having formally resigned  12 weeks after promising to do so  a writ for the by-election wont be moved until parliament returns on 4 September. It looks most likely to take place in October, after the Tory conference at the start of the month.

Mr Sunak said on Wednesday that he was grateful to Ms Dorries for her service as both an MP and a minister. The PM said he is delighted to support the Tories Mid Bedfordshire candidate Festus Akinbusoye, the local police and crime commissioner.
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Sir Iain Duncan Smith has branded James Cleverlys visit to China project Kowtow, claiming it smells of appeasement.

The former Tory leader said the foreign secretarys meetings, with Chinese foreign affairs minister Wang Yi and vice president Han Zheng, were pointless.

And Sir Iain warned ministers appear more interested in boosting trade than defending human rights and democracy.

He said: This is just the latest stage of project Kowtow.

The problem with our position right now is it smells terribly of appeasement. Its like we want more business, therefore we dont want to upset the Chinese too much.

And he told Politico that for the trip to be a success, Mr Cleverly had to tell the Chinese categorically and publicly their behaviour is unforgivable  the genocide, the torture, the slave labour, Hong Kongs National Security Law.

Hitting back, Mr Cleverly said he had raised human rights issues during every single one of his meetings with Chinese officials.

Pressed on whether simply raising human rights obligations was enough, amid concerns about abuses in Xinjiang province, Mr Cleverly said: "This will continue to be an area of discussion that I bring up alongside other areas, and Im not going to change my posture on that.

"And I think the Chinese government understand the UK is consistent in our approach. I am consistent in my approach and I will keep raising these issues with the Chinese government."

But he said Britain is clear-eyed that China is not going to change overnight.

Mr Cleverly said: Were certainly not going to do it in any one individual meeting.

"But it is important that we maintain regular dialogue, regular lines of communication. That is what I am doing, because we do seek to influence, that is what diplomacy is all about.

"We do seek to influence China."

Meeting his British counterpart, Mr Yi told Mr Cleverly that Sino-British relations can "eliminate all unnecessary interference" if both countries "adhere to mutual respect".

"I believe that as long as both sides adhere to mutual respect, equal treatment, view each other's development objectively, and enhance mutual understanding and trust, Sino-British relations will be able to eliminate all unnecessary interference and obstacles," Wang said during the meeting's opening remarks in front of reporters.

Cleverly is the first senior British minister in five years to visit China, a trip aimed at resetting ties between the two countries after years of tension over security, investment and human rights concerns.

Mr Cleverlys visit is the first by a UK foreign secretary since 2018 and is aimed at resetting relations with Beijing.

If successful, it could pave the way for talks between Rishi Sunak and Mr Xi, with both leaders invited to attend the G20 summit in India in September.

But as well as Sir Iain, Mr Cleverlys visit has been criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches, who want a tougher line against the state which has sanctioned several British MPs and peers for speaking out about human rights violations.

Alicia Kearns, chair of parliaments foreign affairs committee, said the trip is an opportunity to bring to an end two decades of failed deterrence, but said it needs to achieve outcomes.

Ms Kearns said she urged Mr Cleverly to pressure the Chinese on human rights concerns ahead of the trip.

And, ahead of the G20 summit, she said Mr Sunak should "absolutely" meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping if the opportunity arises because that is "how you prevent and deconflict potential issues".

But, speaking to LBC, Ms Kearns warned the Chinese Communist Party is tracking the prime ministers location using electronic devices in many cars in the UK.
Even by her own busy standards, the home secretary, Suella Braverman, has been having a bit of a hyperactive week. Fresh from some far-fetched proposals to deal with the small boats crisis, she has also proposed that the police investigate all crimes (less reasonable and practical than it sounds), along with yet another tightening of the law on machetes and zombie knives; signalled fresh legislation to force offenders to face juries (after the outcry at the behaviour of Lucy Letby); and now, rather belatedly, says she will give chief constables the power to fire corrupt officers.

Under new rules, police officers found guilty of gross misconduct will face automatic dismissal; and all officers who fail vetting can be sacked. It is, though, far from clear how these measures will boost the governments miserable poll ratings.

What is Braverman going to do about corrupt police officers?
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An influential group of MPs has criticised the governments approach to China as it emerged Rishi Sunak could meet the Chinese leader within weeks.

A new report by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee warns the activities of the Chinese Communist Party are a threat to the UK and its interests and that its behaviour is currently characterised by increased aggression towards the UK.

Ministers risk failing to meaningfully deter the risks to UK sovereignty from a more aggressive China by not publishing an unclassified version of the governments strategy, the MPs say.

As diplomatic relations between the two countries thaw, James Cleverly hit back at the Tory critics. He said he would not conduct diplomacy via catchphrase as he prepared to become the first foreign secretary in five years to visit China.

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has called on Mr Cleverly to cancel his controversial trip, just weeks after parliaments intelligence and security committee concluded that Britain was subject to a prolific and aggressive Chinese espionage campaign.

It comes as government sources indicated the prime minister could hold talks with President Xi at the G20 in India next month.

The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report calls on ministers to recognise that an attack on demonstrators outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester was not an isolated incident, but rather a sustained attempt by China to intimidate expats and dissidents.

It also said the government must be prepared to expel foreign diplomats who engage in intimidation of, or physical attacks on, British citizens or those who seek refuge here.

The Tory chair of the committee Alicia Kearns said: "The confidential, elusive China strategy is buried deep in Whitehall, kept hidden even from senior ministers across Government. How can those implementing policy - and making laws - do so without an understanding of the overall strategy?

The critical report will serve as the backdrop as Mr Cleverly meets his Chinese counterpart.

While there, he is expected to address issues including international security and Beijings responsibility on the global stage.

In a speech in April, Mr Cleverly spoke about the need for engagement and balanced policy towards China as well as addressing human rights concerns.

On Tuesday, Mr Cleverly said: It is important we manage our relationship with China across a range of issues.

No significant global problem  from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic instability to nuclear proliferation  can be solved without China.

Chinas size, history and global significance means they cannot be ignored, but that comes with a responsibility on the global stage. That responsibility means China fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.
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Six former home secretaries have written to Suella Braverman urging her to hand greater powers to police chief to sack officers guilty of misconduct.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has been demanding greater dismissal powers following public outrage over the cases of Sarah Everard murderer Wayne Couzens and serial rapist David Carrick  both serving officers while they committed their crimes.

Ms Bravermans Tory and Labour predecessors at the Home Office told her to get behind Labour MP Harriet Harmans police reform bill to give chief constables a greater say in misconduct cases.

The letter was signed by former Tory home secretaries Michael Howard and Ken Baker, alongside ex-Labour ministers John Reid, David Blunkett, Jack Straw and Alan Johnson.

The public deserves to have full confidence in the officers who have been tasked with upholding the law and keeping them safe, the cross-party grandees wrote in a letter first shared with LBC  warning that changes were need to restored trust.

The group of six added: We believe this issue is too important for partisan arguments and that the response must sit above party politics, which is why we are asking for your support to work with colleagues to make parliamentary time so these measures can be urgently implemented.

In January the Home Office ordered a review into the system for removing officers unfit to serve after the atrocious crimes of Carrick.

Reports suggest the government is ready to give chief constables they final say on whether officers can be sacked  rather than independent lawyers on misconduct panels, as is currently the case.

Under the present system, police officers who fail to maintain their vetting status can stay in their jobs under the appeals process. But it is thought the government is looking at ways to give chief constables automatic dismissal powers.

Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley (PA Wire)

Mr Rowley is desperate to speed up the process of clearing out unsuitable officers after re-vetting and checking records against the Police National Database.

The Met commissioner admitted earlier this year that the rules around getting rid of unfit staff were crazy after it emerged that sex offender cases were among the 161 serving officers with criminal convictions.

Calling on Rishi Sunaks government to grant him powers to sack rogue cops, Sir Mark said it was nonsensical he does not have the power to dismiss officers. Give me the power to do it, he said.

The Met has admitted 161 officers have criminal convictions, including three serving officers have convictions for sexual offences and another 49 have convictions for crimes of dishonesty or violence.

Sir Mark said that of the 1,131 individuals whose misconduct cases were reviewed, 689 will have their case reassessed; and 196 may have their vetting status reviewed.

Recommended Ulez expansion sees cameras destroyed and police scuffle with furious protesters

Donna Jones, chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said it was not uncommon for an average police force to have up to 20 officers waiting for misconduct proceedings.

Its right and proper that they are dismissed as quickly as possible, she said. Its a better use of taxpayers money and once theyre sacked, the chief constable is free to go and recruit somebody else to replace them.

It is thought more than 2,000 officers across England and Wales could lose their jobs under a reformed disciplinary process.
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Police chiefs will get greater powers to sack rogue officers under reforms announced by Home Secretary Suella Braverman  as she urged forces to root out those who have no place wearing the uniform.

The Home Office has revealed plans to change the law so cops found guilty of gross misconduct face automatic dismissal, while chief constables  rather than independent lawyers  will be put back in charge of misconduct hearings.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has been demanding greater dismissal powers following the scandals over Sarah Everard murderer Wayne Couzens and serial rapist David Carrick  both serving officers while they committed their crimes.

Police chiefs and former home secretaries Jack Straw and Alan Johnson welcomed the sensible moves but opposition parties said it was a disgrace that it had taken Ms Braverman so long to act after a review was launched back in January.

And major changes could still be six months away. The government will need to change the law to overhaul the system as soon as possible  with officials hoping new processes will be in place by next spring, it is understood.

Sir Mark called the rules around getting rid of unfit staff crazy after estimating that hundreds of rogue officers worked on his force  and admitting that sex offenders were among the 161 serving officers with criminal convictions.

The Scotland Yard boss said it was nonsensical that he does not have the power to dismiss officers, which still lies with independent lawyers known as legally qualified chairs (LQCs) on misconduct panels. Give me the power to do it, the commissioner pleaded back in April.

The Home Office has now promised that law changes will be made so that officers who fail vetting checks can be sacked. Independent lawyers will continue to sit on the panel to advise and maintain rigour, but only in a supporting role.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley demanded powers to sack officers (PA Wire)

Chief constables and other senior officers will now chair the panels that conduct misconduct hearings, while police bosses will also have the right to challenge decisions they disagree with.

Responding to the announcement, Sir Mark said he was grateful to the government for recognising the need for substantial change that will empower chief officers in our fight to uphold the highest standards and restore confidence in policing.

Gavin Stephens, one of Britains most senior officers as chairman of the National Police Chiefs Council, also welcomed the sensible plans  saying they will put police chiefs back in control of being able to quickly remove corrupt staff from forces.

Ms Braverman said: Corrupt police officers and those who behave poorly or fail vetting must be kicked out of our forces. For too long our police chiefs have not had the powers they need to root out those who have no place wearing the uniform. The home secretary also urged forces to take swift and robust action to sack officers who should not be serving.

Government officials are looking at creating a list of criminal offences that would automatically amount to gross misconduct, and are also exploring the idea of expanding the rights of police and crime commissioners to challenge disciplinary decisions.

Suella Braverman says rogue officers must be kicked out (PA Wire)

Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, suggested Labour would back any changes to legislation  calling the planned reforms long overdue.

The frontbencher said the Tories had been too slow and were not going far enough to raise standards, root out abuse and restore confidence in the police.

She added: Labour has called for police officers under investigation for rape and domestic violence to be suspended pending investigation and for mandatory national vetting standards to end the postcode lottery across the forces.

The head of the police watchdog has warned against making chief constables judge and jury. Acting director-general of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) Tom Whiting said last week that independent lawyers brought much-needed independence and more objectivity to the system.

But critics of the LQC-run disciplinary system brought in back in 2016 say its too slow and too lenient, with under-pressure senior officers more likely to sack those found guilty of wrongdoing.

Former Labour home secretaries Alan Johnson and Jack Straw both backed the Home Offices announced changes  but Mr Straw said he was appalled it had taken so long to heed calls from police chiefs.

I support the changes very strongly, Mr Straw told The Independent. The final decision [on gross misconduct] needs to be made by senior officers. Its got to lead to bad officers being dismissed more quickly.

Reclaim These Streets demanded action after scandals over Wayne Couzens and David Carrick (PA Archive)

Tony Blairs former home secretary added: At the moment bad cops being allowed to play the system is undermining public trust. Im appalled its taken so long. But Im not surprised. The last home secretary who was competent was Theresa May.

Mr Johnson, home secretary between 2009 and 2010, added: I welcome this announcement as a crucial step in restoring public trust in the police after recent revelations about conduct caused such widespread concern.

Mr Straw and Mr Johnson were among six former home secretaries  including David Blunkett and Tory grandees Michael Howard and Ken Baker  to write to Ms Braverman earlier this week to urge her to give the police more powers over the disciplinary process.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said it was right that the government was addressing the cracks in police vetting and misconduct procedures, but its a disgrace that its taken so long in the first place.

Donna Jones, chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said she welcomed efforts to speed up the process enabling chief constables to sack corrupt police officers quicker.

However, John Bassett, a barrister representing the National Association of Legally Qualified Chairs, speaking in a personal capacity, said he was disappointed in the move  adding that he did not want to see police chiefs marking their own homework.
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The chaotic first day of London mayor Sadiq Khans ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) scheme expansion saw furious protests outside No 10 and traffic cameras smashed or vandalised with spray paint.

The Crown Prince of Kuwait had his trip to meet Rishi Sunak partially disrupted by opponents of the charge on motorists using high-polluting vehicles, who staged an angry demonstration outside Downing Street.

Police were forced to restrain some anti-Ulez activists as tempers flared in scuffles on Whitehall. Some campaigners chanted get Khan out and held up mocked-up car registration plates bearing the slogan.

More than a dozen cameras across Bromley, south London, were vandalised as the expansion came into force on Tuesday. Some were spray-painted red, while others were smashed or had their wires cut. Only two of 16 cameras on one stretch of the A224 escaped untouched.

Anti-Ulez vigilantes labelled Blade Runners have been damaging cameras wires in recent weeks, but it is not known if they were responsible for the latest attacks.

Mr Khan remained defiant despite the backlash  arguing that expanding the 12.50 daily fee for high-polluting vehicles to outer London boroughs was difficult but vital to save lives.

But the plan was hit by an early snag when the Transport for London (TfL) website where drivers can check if they have to pay the charge crashed. Motorists were told on Tuesday morning that the site was experiencing technical difficulties.

Protesters outside No 10 carried placards saying Stop the Toxic Air Lie and Ulez all about money. Dozens of activists lined the road leading to Downing Street in the centre of the capital, blowing whistles and banging drums.

Husband and wife Tom and Carolyn Dare were among the crowd of protesters. Ms Dare said she wanted Mr Sunak to overrule Sadiq Khan, adding: He has got the power.

Police officers restrain an anti-Ulez protester outside Downing Street (PA)

On Tuesday, London became the worlds largest pollution charging area after Ulez was expanded to the whole of the capital. People who drive in the zone in a vehicle that does not meet minimum emissions standards are now required to pay a 12.50 daily fee or risk a 180 fine.

Mr Khan clashed with transport secretary Mark Harper  accusing the Tory minister of spreading factual errors about the initiative.

The Tories continue to hammer both Mr Khan and Labour more widely on the introduction of the scheme, widely reckoned to have cost Labour the recent by-election in Boris Johnsons old seat of Uxbridge.

Asked on the BBC Radio 4s Today programme if he had thought about it costing Labour the general election, Mr Khan said: It was a difficult decision. I accept Ulez was a factor in Uxbridge and Ruislip, [but] there was a lot of misinformation in relation to that seat.

Camera spray-painted red in Bromley, south London (SWNS)

Mr Harper accused the Labour mayor of a cash grab. Its not about air pollution, its about a money-raising exercise, he told GB News. And this is absolutely not the time to be putting all those costs on hard-pressed and hard-working Londoners and those in the area outside London.

Asked if he would put an end to the expansion if he had the power to do so, Mr Harper said: Yes  I dont have the power, though.

Rejecting some of Mr Harpers factual errors, Mr Khan told BBC Breakfast: If this was about making money, Id have acceded to the demand from the government to expand the congestion charge much wider than it currently is. That would have been a cash grab, but I said No.

Speaking on Times Radio, the Labour mayor also ruled out a pay-per-mile charging scheme while he is in office, adding: Its not on the agenda, its not on the table.

Mr Khan did say that it was no secret that the government, transport officials in London and around the country, have been looking at for some time... a smarter, streamlined service for a variety of reasons.

He added: In fact, Boris Johnson, when he was the mayor of London  remember him?  in his transport strategy there was talk about a pay-per-mile scheme. When Rishi Sunak was chancellor, he asked his Treasury officials to look into these schemes. Theres no secrecy around this.

Sadiq Khan with Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, whose daughter Ella died from a fatal asthma attack (PA)

Mr Harper explained on LBCs Nick Ferrari programme that the government will be backing an amendment to the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill in a bid to prevent road charging.

Under the amendment, brought forward by Tory peer Lord Moylan, London boroughs would be able to opt out of future TfL clean air schemes if they are meeting air quality targets.

Despite the Tories moves to pounce upon anger over Ulez, Stanley Johnson warned Mr Sunak that opposing the scheme is a betrayal and is not going to help the party win the next general election.

I think the Tories are seriously barking up the wrong tree if they think that attacking Ulez is going to be the secret to success of the next election, Boris Johnsons father told GB News.

Mr Khan is at odds with Sir Keir Starmer over Ulez, after the Labour leader backtracked on support and urged the mayor to reflect on its expansion.

But Mr Sunak hit out at both Sir Keir and Mr Khan on Tuesday, saying the scheme was going to hit working families. The prime minister added: I dont think thats the right priority, I dont think thats the right thing to do and I wish they hadnt done it.

So far, more than 380 Ulez cameras have been targeted during a wave of anger against the anti-pollution scheme, with the Metropolitan Police reporting 185 destroyed cables and 164 stolen cameras.
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More than 20,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the Channel.

Some 300 people made the journey in five boats on Tuesday, according to Government figures, suggesting an average of around 60 people per boat.

This takes the provisional total for 2023 to date to 20,101, the Home Office data shows.

This is around 20% down on this time last year when more than 25,000 people had already made the journey, according to PA news agency analysis of the figures.

There have been 5,369 people detected crossing the Channel so far this month, compared with 8,631 recorded in the whole of August 2022.

Pictures of some of Tuesdays arrivals showed a dinghy packed with men and boys, some without lifejackets, perched on the sides while their legs dangled in the water.

Labours shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the Prime Minister had failed to get a grip on Channel crossings.

But Mr Sunak continued to defend his stop the boats plan as he faced questions from broadcasters and insisted the Government was making progress.

He urged people to have confidence in his plan as he claimed the lower number of Channel crossings compared to last year showed it was working.

Mr Sunak previously played down suggestions that the lower number of crossings compared with last year was linked to poor weather conditions rather than policy decisions.

But this summer has seen more unsettled weather compared with last year when there was a spike in crossings in August.

While June 2023 was the warmest on record, July and August have been much more unsettled, with a sequence of low pressure bringing wind and rain.

Summer 2022 was the fourth warmest on record for the UK and the warmest on record for England, with heatwaves in each of the three months.

Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, said: This is another reminder that the Governments failing migration policies wont stop people making perilous journeys to seek asylum.

Ms Cooper told PA: Rishi Sunak made this his top priority. He told us that his plan was working.

And yet these figures show that hes completely failed to get a grip.

The Tories boats chaos is continuing, thats undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.

In the space of just a few years, the Conservatives have let criminal gangs take hold along the Channel.

What we need is a proper plan to go after those criminal gangs and to stop the dangerous crossings that are putting lives at risk. That is what Labour would do.

A Home Office spokesman said: The unacceptable number of people risking their lives by making these dangerous crossings is placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system.

Our priority is to stop the boats, and our Small Boats Operational Command is working alongside our French partners and other agencies to disrupt the people smugglers.

The Government is going even further through our Illegal Migration Act which will mean that people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country.

Mr Sunak also failed to say when migrants would be moved back onto the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset.

The first asylum seekers arrived on the barge earlier this month but were moved off again just days later after tests revealed Legionella  the bacteria which can cause the potentially fatal Legionnaires disease  was present.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has insisted the giant vessel is safe amid threats of legal action from firefighters.
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As the air traffic control debacle continues to cause major travel headaches for stranded Brits, the story continues to dominate the front pages of newspapers across the UK.

The Daily Telegraph is warning there will continue to be airline chaos all week, while The Independent states much of the same thing, adding that the French are now copping the blame for the whole fiasco.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror are looking into how those stranded are impacted by the travel mess, reporting that not a penny of compensation is to come as some families have been left thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Despite the French copping the blame for triggering the air traffic control debacle, the i leads with accusations UK airlines have abandoned passengers in the travel crisis.

The Times has focused on an issue far closer to home, with a new survey indicating three-quarters of priests from the Church of England believe that Britain can no longer be described as a Christian nation.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sung the praises of Brexit to the Daily Express, crediting the UKs European divorce for making it possible to tear up housing red tape once imposed by Brussels.

The Guardian has looked east with its front page today, referencing an influential group of MPs urging Britain to stand up against Chinas human rights abuses while calling on the UK to help Taiwan rebuild its defences to withstand an attack from mainland China.

Speaking of China, the Financial Times reports investment megafirm Goldman Sachs has used a fund made up of Chinese state cash to purchase UK and US-based companies, some with ties to the British government.

And it is bad news for anyone who does not look like Gal Gadot or Henry Cavill because the Daily Star says beer goggles do not actually work.
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Mutinous soldiers seized power in Gabon in the early hours of Wednesday and put President Ali Bongo under house arrest  moments after he was declared the winner in an election extending his familys 55-year rule.

A dozen senior officers appeared on television to declare a coup detat, minutes after the central African states election body announced Mr Bongo had won a third term in a disputed election. Gunfire was heard in the centre of the capital, Libreville.

They declared the election results void  saying Saturdays poll result was not credible  and announced the closure of borders and the dissolution of state institutions.

They also said they had detained Mr Bongo, who took over in 2009 from his father Omar, who had ruled since 1967. They said they had arrested the presidents son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and others over allegations of corruption and treason. Opponents say the family has done little to share the states oil and mining wealth with its 2.3 million people. Violent unrest broke out after Mr Bongos disputed 2016 election win and there was a foiled coup attempt in 2019.

Residents in Libreville celebrate the Gabon coup on Wednesday (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Bongo pleaded for support, appearing in a video showing him sitting in a chair with a bookshelf behind him. He said he was in his residence while his wife and son were in different places. Im calling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really, he said.

Instead, hundreds took to the streets to celebrate the apparent end of his government amid widespread frustration over the rising cost of living and other issues.

I am marching today because I am joyful. After almost 60 years, the Bongos are out of power, Jules Lebigui, a jobless 27-year-old, told Reuters, having joined the crowds on the streets of the capital.

Gabon is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), with a production of some 181,000 barrels of crude oil a day, but its population are enduring high unemployment. Nearly 40 per cent of Gabonese aged between 15 and 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank.

The results of the elections had been delayed since Saturday as the opposition claimed it was marred by fraud. A lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts and a decision to cut internet service and impose a night-time curfew after the poll had raised concerns about the votes transparency. Mr Bongos team rejected allegations of fraud.

After the militarys TV announcement, internet access appeared to be restored.

Gabon president Ali Bongo Ondimba records a video from his residence in Libreville, calling on supporters to make noise (AP)

If successful, the Gabon coup would be the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020. The most recent, in Niger, was in July. Military officers have also seized power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad, erasing democratic gains since the 1990s.

If this is confirmed, it is another military coup which increases instability in the whole region, said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, speaking at a meeting of EU defence ministers in Toledo.

The whole area, starting with Central African Republic, then Mali, then Burkina Faso, now Niger, maybe Gabon, its in a very difficult situation and certainly the ministers ... have to have a deep thought on what is going on there and how we can improve our policy in respect with these countries, he said.

He added that this instability in the region is a big issue for Europe.

Residents in Gabon celebrate the apparent coup (AFP via Getty Images)

In his annual speech last month marking independence day for Gabon, Mr Bongo had said he would not allow the country to follow the path of Niger. While our continent has been shaken in recent weeks by violent crises, rest assured that I will never allow you and our country Gabon to be hostages to attempts at destabilisation. Never, he said.

At a time when anti-France sentiment is spreading in many former colonies, French-educated Mr Bongo met Emmanuel Macron in Paris in late June and shared photos of them shaking hands. French government spokesperson, Olivier Veran, said: France condemns the military coup that is underway in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments in the country, and France reaffirms its wish that the outcome of the election, once known, be respected.

France has about 350 troops in Gabon. Its forces have been forced out of Mali and Burkina Faso in recent years.

Unlike Niger and other Sahel countries, Gabon, which lies further south on the Atlantic coast, has not had to battle destabilising Islamist insurgencies  but this latest coup merely adds to the volatility in the region.

Russia said it was also closely following the developments in the African nation, while China has called for a peaceful resolution. The chair of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has called on Gabon's army to ensure the safety of Mr Bongo and his family and condemned the attempted coup.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
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When Gabons leader of 42 years Omar Bongo died in 2009, the country declared a month of mourning and his week-long state funeral was attended by 15 world leaders, including the president of France.

Presidential elections following his death were won by Bongos son Ali, who remains only the countrys third leader since it gained independence from France in 1960.

That rule is now threatened by the countrys generals, who took over a national TV stations broadcast on Wednesday to declare that they were seizing power and dissolving all the institutions of the republic.

Follow our live blog on the Gabon coup here

If their coup detat proves to be successful, it would represent a dramatic end to the Bongo familys grip on power over this oil-rich but poverty-stricken state.

Gabon has a population of just two million people and produces 181,000 barrels of crude oil a day, making it the eighth-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa and an important member of the OPEC grouping.

Despite this, a large portion of the population lives in poverty, and nearly 40 per cent of people aged 15-24 are out of work, according to the World Banks 2020 figures.

When he came to power in 1967 aged just 31, Omar Bongo did so peacefully, in a post-colonial period where much of west Africa was going through conflict or successive coups.

His family enjoyed a strong relationship with former colonial power France and he maintained a firm grip on power by concentrating the countrys natural wealth in his control, investing some in big ticket infrastructure projects while buying off political opponents with lucrative roles in his government.

By the time he died of cardiac arrest at a Barcelona hospital aged 73, Bongo senior had become so successful at keeping hold of power there was no one left in the country with the authority to pronounce him dead.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy travelled to Libreville to attend the funeral, and a communique from his office said that France, faithful to a long friendship, remains by Gabons side, that of its institutions, and by its people at this testing time.

Omar Bongo, the president of Gabon, was once said to have brought $1m to the US in shrink-wrapped $100 notes (AFP/Getty)

Yet, in the years after Ali Bongos election there was a reckoning, with a case into Omar Bongos alleged ill-gotten gains launched in France in 2010 after a lengthy investigation and campaign by watchdog Transparency International.

French prosecutors have previously said that prior to Omars death, the family owned 33 properties in France alone, including a villa estimated to be worth $27m. The Bongo family has strongly denied any embezzlement or wrongdoing.

In 2015, Ali Bongo pledged to give away his fathers troublesome inheritance, declaring that in my eyes, we are all heirs of Omar Bongo. He said two of his fathers former properties in Paris would be given to the state and that a building in Libreville would be turned into a new university.

France maintains close ties to Gabon, with some 400 French soldiers stationed in Libreville, down from around 1,000 in 2009. French prime minister Elisabeth Borne said on Wednesday that she was closely following the situation regarding the apparent coup.

Soldiers from the Gabon military declare a coup live on TV after Ali Bongo wins disputed election (Groupe Gabon Televisions)

If confirmed, the collapse of the government in Gabon would follow a spate of others in the region, with military takeovers in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and most recently Niger all occurring since 2020.

The West is watching with alarm, particularly as the fall of a friendly government in Niger was immediately followed by a shift towards closer ties there to Russias Wagner mercenary group.

Josep Borrell, the EUs foreign policy chief, said: If this is confirmed, it is another military coup which increases instability in the whole region This is a big issue for Europe.
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American Airlines flight attendants voted overwhelmingly to strike amid contract negotiations with their carrier, according to the union.

The vote was near-unanimous  with 99.4 per cent of the workers voting in favour  giving union leaders in the Association of Professional Flight Attendants authority to call for the strike if negotiations falter.

American Airlines told KERA News that the company and the labour organisation were making progress toward an agreement.

"We understand that a strike authorization vote is one of the important ways flight attendants express their desire to get a deal done," the carrier wrote. "The results dont change our commitment or distract us from working expeditiously to reach an agreement."

Both sides would have to bring the contract dispute before the National Mediation Board before a strike could go into effect.

Workers have been holding informational pickets around the country during negotiations, including at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Picketers held signs claiming they were "ready to strike" and bearing the slogan "More Work Less Pay: It's the AA Way."

Workers at airports in Boston, Charlotte, Washington, La Guardia, Orlando, Miami, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Chicago also picketed.

The company reached an agreement with its pilot last week on a tentative four-year contract. That contract will give the 15,000 pilots in the union a 21 per cent raise on average along with a 401(k) contribution increase and annual pay rate increases.
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CNN has named former <em>New York Times</em> and BBC boss Mark Thompson as its next chief executive, following the chaotic tenure of Chris Licht.

The cable network announced the appointment on Wednesday in a statement by David Zaslav, the CEO of CNNs parent company Warner Bros Discovery.

In the statement, Mr Zaslav described the former BBC director general as a true innovator who has transformed for the digital age two of the worlds most respected news organisations.

His strategic vision, track record in transformational leadership and sheer passion for news make him a formidable force for CNN and journalism at this pivotal time, he added.

Mr Thompson, 66, will take over on 9 October.

After first joining the BBC in 1979 as a trainee, Mr Thompson took the helm of the organisation between 2004 and 2012.

After that, he became president and CEO of The New York Times Company from 2012 to 2020.

CNN has been beset by crisis over the last year-and-a-half amid plummeting ratings and profits and a series of scandals.

The leading man of CNNs primetime lineup, Chris Cuomo, was fired following an ethics inquiry in December 2021 in connection to the sexual harassment allegations against his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The chairman of the network Jeff Zucker was then forced to leave only two months later after he didnt disclose a relationship with a colleague.

Then, in April last year, days into the life of Warner Bros Discovery, Mr Zaslav and other executives closed down CNN+, the networks shortlived streaming service.

Yet another longtime star of CNN primetime, Don Lemon, was then ousted from the network earlier this year after coming under fire for comments about GOP presidential candidate and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.

In May, then-boss Mr Licht and the network were criticised for hosting a town hall with former president Donald Trump, with the criticism even coming from CNN International anchor Christiane Amanpour.

Mr Licht left the post in June and the network is still recovering from his departure, with staff morale low,The New York Times notes.

Since his departure, the network has been led by longtime CNN staffers Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling, and David Leavy, an associate of Mr Zaslav.

Mark Thompson has been named the new chief executive of CNN (Getty Images)

During the course of the last two months, the quartet has put in place a full-time anchor for CNNs morning show and completed a lineup for its primetime hours that have been up in the air for over a year.

In Wednesdays statement, Mr Zaslav thanked the quartet in a note to staff, mentioning the chaos that has surrounded the network over the last year. Warner Bros Discovery said the group would each stay in their current positions under the new leadership of Mr Thompson.

I want to say that I recognise change is not easy, and I know youve been through a lot of it, Mr Zaslav said in his note to employees.

Mr Thompson massively expanded the digital subscription business of The New York Times to update the company for the digital era. When he joined the paper, a subscriber-only paywall had just been set up. Two years ago, he told a UK outlet that in the early days of his time leading the paper, he faced scepticism that it would be possible to grow the number of digital subscribers.

I just thought we werent doing it well enough, he told thePress Gazette. And we werent doing it smart enough. And we werent using data properly.

Today, more than nine million of The New York Times almost 10 million subscribers are digital-only.

CNN is now facing a similar challenge as its 4,000 employees worldwide work to change the company toward a more digital future as the cable business subsides.

Warner Bros Discovery revealed last week that it will introduce a CNN channel on Max next month, the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max.

CNN Max will simulcast shows by Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer, and Anderson Cooper.

CNN is currently lagging behind MSNBC and Fox News in viewership, with MSNBC seeing its biggest lead over CNN since February 2020 and with Fox even further ahead.
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A television crew in Chicago, reporting on a string of violent robberies in the city, became the victims of a robbery themselves.

The two-member crew of Spanish-language station Univision Chicago was confronted by three robbers wearing ski masks and armed with guns as they were filming just before 5am on Monday in Chicagos West Town neighbourhood, the network said.

Luis Godinez, vice president of news at Univision Chicago, said the employees were looted of their television cameras and other personal items at gunpoint.

They were approached with guns and robbed. Mainly it was personal items, and they took a camera, he told the Chicago Tribune.

He said crew members were filming a segment on increased armed robberies in the West Town neighbourhood, but that story will never make it on air as the footage was on the stolen camera.

Chicago police said no one was hurt in the incident and no arrests have been made yet.

Police identified the victims as two men aged 28 and 42. Their identities were not revealed to protect their privacy.

The two men were robbed by the three accused who were driving in a grey sedan and black SUV. The armed robbers fled with their vehicles soon after the robbery, police said.

There were at least seven robberies between Sunday night and Monday morning, including the one that targeted TV crew, according to CBS Chicago.

There were also reports of two carjackings on the same night in Wicker Park and West Town, the network said.

The incident with the television crew members was the second robbery this month involving a Chicago news crew.

On 8 August, a WLS-TV photographer was robbed and assaulted as he was preparing to cover a news conference on Chicagos West Side, the station reported.

The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 41 issued a warning in the wake of rising crime in the city.

Our news photographers and reporters provide a very important public service in keeping our community informed. We are committed to making sure that their safety comes first, Raza Siddiqui, president of the union local, said in a statement.
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A Massachusetts District Attorney whose office is prosecuting a woman for the murder of her Boston police officer boyfriend has come under fire for dismissing recent conspiracy theories surrounding the case.

Karen Read, 42, is accused of hitting John OKeefe with her SUV in January 2022 and leaving him to die in the snow. Her defence team claims someone else killed him at the house after she dropped him off and have accused local and state enforcement of a massive coverup.

The case has gained nationwide media coverage in recent weeks sparking a slew of conspiracy theories online and alleged harassment of the prosecutions witnesses.

The harassment of witnesses in the murder prosecution of Karen Read is absolutely baseless. It should be an outrage to any decent person, and it needs to stop, Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in a video statement on Friday.

Innuendo is not evidence. False narratives are not evidence, he continued.

Mr Morrissey defended several of the prosecution witnesses including police officer Brian Albert, who owns the home where OKeefe died.

These people were not part of a conspiracy and ... have not engaged in any cover up, Mr Morrissey said. To have them accused of murder is outrageous. To have them harassed and intimidated based on false narratives and accusations is wrong. They are witnesses doing what our justice system asks of them.

(Boston Globe via Getty)

He also came to the defense of Mr Alberts 18-year-old nephew, Colin Albert, who has been accused by some people online of attacking OKeefe when he reportedly entered the home that night.

But Mr Morrissey, however, claimed OKeefe never went inside the house.

But phone evidence shows OKeefe never entered the home at all, Morrissey claimed in the video.

Testimony from witnesses tell us that 18-year-old Colin Albert had left his uncles home before John OKeefe and Karen Read had arrived outside the residence. There was no fight inside that home. John OKeefe did not enter the home. Colin Albert, the young man being vilified, was not present when Reads vehicle and John OKeefe arrived on the street. This is a false narrative. Colin Albert didnt commit murder.

Michael Proctor, a state police trooper who has been accused of planting evidence outside the house, was another witness defended by Mr Morrissey.

He said Proctor was never at Fairview Road on the day of the incident and that the officer would have no motive to do so given that he had no close personal relationship with any of the parties involved in the investigation and had no conflict.

The video statement was issued following reported criticism online, though Mr Morrissey did not call out anyone in the video.

Just days before the statement was issued, an episode of the popular podcast "Turtleboy Live," hosted by Aidan Kearney, slammed a former FBI agent turned crime commentator for defending the Albert and McCabe families in posts on X, formerly Twitter.

Reads attorneys claim OKeefes injuries were consistent with a severe beating, rather than being struck by a car, and that Ms Read is being framed by the real killer or killers.

The case hit headlines again in late July 2023 as Ms Read appeared in a Dateline interview, where she insisted she and OKeefe were happy, having fun, laughing in the hours before he was killed and alleged she is being unfairly prosecuted in a cover-up.

The idea that multiple police department EMTs, fire personnel, medical examiner and prosecuting agencies have joined in and taken in a vast conspiracy should be seen for what it is  completely contrary to the evidence and a desperate attempt to reassign guilt, Mr Morrissey later said in the video statement.

He said the rare video statement was released instead of holding a press conference because his remarks need to be so narrowly tailored to the issue at hand while the prosecution is pending in superior court.

A grand jury of every day citizens heard the documented evidence and testimony before making a decision. The subject of that murder indictment enjoys the constitutional presumption of innocence. Why should the witnesses who have committed no crime be afforded less by members of the community? Mr Morrissey said.

They should not be harassed for telling the government what they heard or saw. Im asking the Canton community and everyone that feels invested in this case to hear all the actual evidence at trial before assigning guilt to people who have done nothing wrong. And certainly before taking it upon yourself to harass citizens who evidence shows have done nothing in this matter but come forward and be a witness.

What is happening to the witnesses, some with no actual involvement in the case, is wrong. It is contrary to the American value of fairness, and the Constitutional value of a fair trial," he added.

"What is happening to these innocent people, these witnesses, is wrong, and it needs to stop.

Mr Morrisseys video statement on Friday, which was an uncommon move by a DA, was scrutinized by many people online.

"I agree that statement Morrissey made is just made everything 10x worse for the Proctors, Lanks, and Alberts, one person commented, asking Whose terrible idea was that?

Another Twitter user pointed out the oddity of a DA making such a statement outside of court.

Can anyone remind me why the FBI is involved? Also, has a DA ever done this before?

Online commenters also slammed the DA for putting out information that appeared to differ from what has already been reported.

The DA either lied or was incorrect in multiple statements. We shall learn more, during trial.
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Two days before a mob of Donald Trumps supporters stormed the US Capitol, the now-former leader of a neo-fascist gang was arrested in Washington DC shortly after stepping off a plane from Miami.

Enrique Tarrio was wanted by police after he admitted to tearing down and burning a Black Lives Matter flag outside a historically Black church in the nations capital during December riots connected to a protest supporting then-President Donald Trumps false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

On 6 January, 2021, Tarrio watched the insurrection unfold from a hotel in Baltimore.

Before his arrest two days earlier, Tarrio wrote to his lieutenant: Whatever happens  make it a spectacle.

Tarrio is now among four members of the self-described Western chauvinist gang facing decades in prison after they were found guilty in May of seditious conspiracy and other charges in connection with the mobs assault. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison, the longest sentence to date in connection with the attack.

In a sentencing memo, prosecutors said the men organized and directed a force of nearly 200 to attack the heart of our democracy and intentionally positioned themselves at the vanguard of political violence in this country.

The defendants understood the stakes, and they embraced their role in bringing about a revolution. They unleashed a force on the Capitol that was calculated to exert their political will on elected officials by force and to undo the results of a democratic election, prosecutors wrote. They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals.

During the trial, prosecutors presented hundreds of internal messages revealing the groups toxic rhetoric and culture of violence depicting a gang that came together to use force against its enemies in the weeks leading up to January 6, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors argued that the Proud Boys were not merely obedient followers of the former presidents commands but were preparing for all-out war to undermine millions of Americans votes and upend a democratic election to preserve his presidency.

Tarrio, as the leader of the gang, along with his four co-defendants, directed, mobilized and led a crowd of 200 supporters towards the Capitol on January 6, leading to dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, breaching of the Capitol building, and assaults on law enforcement, then bragged about their actions on social media and in group chat messages that were later shared with jurors, according to prosecutors.

Defence attorneys have placed the blame on the words and actions of then-President Trump, who directed his supporters to fight like hell the morning of the attack and  in a message from a debate stage heard loud and clear by members of the Proud Boys and their allies  stand by.

It was Donald Trumps words. It was his motivation, Tarrios attorney Nayib Hassan told jurors in closing arguments. It was not Enrique Tarrio. They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald J Trump and those in power.

Enrique Tarrio (AP)

Proud Boys emerged in cities across the US as a violent response to antifascists organizing in the wake of the 2016 election, exploiting white, right-wing male rage and relying on semi-ironic posturing and barroom culture to launder far-right, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT+ views.

Tarrio, who assumed the role of group chairman in 2018, previously was a prolific cooperator with local and federal law enforcement agencies, according to court records and testimony from a former attorney.

His own lawyer and an FBI investigator said Tarrio helped authorities prosecute more than a dozen people in cases involving drugs, gambling and human smuggling between 2012 and 2014. Tarrio has denied his involvement.

Enrique Henry Tarrio, 39, was born in Miami to Cuban immigrant parents.

He was initially reluctant to join the Proud Boys until he was courted by members at a party for far-right activist Milo Yiannopoulos in 2017; Tarrio was there working security.

Tarrio rose through the ranks of the burgeoning neo-fascist gang, attending events for Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka, rallying alongside members at 2017s so-called Unite the Right event in Charlottesville, Virginia that exploded into lethal violence, and broadening his Florida chapter into a national operation.

Before me  and they hate it when I say this  they were the Gavin McInnes fan club, he told the Miami New Times. We werent really political.

In 2013, he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a healthcare fraud case involving diabetic test strips, then assisted federal prosecutors to identify a dozen other suspects, according to court records. He served one year and four months in prison.

During a televised presidential debate on 29 September, 2020, debate moderator Chris Wallace repeatedly asked then-President Trump whether he would denounce white supremacism. Mr Trump asked for a name to reference. Joe Biden, standing on the opposite side of the stage, suggested the Proud Boys.

Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, Mr Trump said. But Ill tell you what somebodys got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem.

Almost immediately, Proud Boys members and their allies celebrated what they heard as a call to action.

Trump basically said to go f*** them up! Tarrios future co-defendant Joe Biggs wrote on Parler at the time. This makes me so happy.

Accounts also circulated a meme illustrating the president wearing a Fred Perry shirt  a part of the groups unofficial uniform  and a peaked cap bearing the Proud Boys logo with the text standing by for your orders general, sir.

Another image included an incorrect version of the presidents remarks that more acutely resembled a call to arms: Proud Boys can stand back and stand by, because someone has to take care of antifa and these people.

Although I am excited about our mention on the debate stage  I am not taking this as a direct endorsement from the President, Tarrio wrote on Telegram.

Him telling the Proud Boys to stand back and standby is what we have ALWAYS done, he added.

On Parler, Tarrio said: Standing by, sir.

Following Mr Trumps defeat in the 2020 election, Tarrio and hundreds of members of the Proud Boys and other far-right groups marched through Washington DC, where they set fire to a Black Lives Matter banner seized from historic Black church Asbury United Methodist. The group also attacked Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, another historic Black church.

During his arrest after his arrival in Washington on 4 January, 2021, police found Tarrio was carrying two high-capacity magazines compatible with high-powered rifles. Both were empty.

He faced a misdemeanor charge of destruction of property for burning the churchs sign and two subsequent felony charges for possessing a high-capacity feeding device.

Tarrio had previously admitted in comments on Parler and on a Proud Boys-affiliated podcast that he was responsible for burning a churchs sign.

In the burning of the BLM sign, I was the one that lit it on fire, he said. I was the person that went ahead and put the lighter to it and engulfed it in flames, and I am damn proud that I did.

Later that year, he announced he was stepping down from his leadership role with the Proud Boys, as other members start getting more involved in local politics, running our guys for office from local seats, whether its a simple GOP seat or a city council seat.

But in the wake of January 6, as the group decentralized, members have harassed drag queen story-telling events at libraries and amplified groomer smears aimed at LGBT+ people.

The group has been central to a wave of attacks and threats against drag performers and the people and venues that host them, according to a recent report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Proud Boys chapters targeted 60 such events, with more than half resulting in physical and verbal clashes, the report found.

In July 2021, as part of a plea agreement dropping the felony charges against him, Tarrio pleaded guilty to destruction of property and to a misdemeanor count of attempted possession of a high-capacity magazine. He was released in January 2022 after serving four months in jail.

Last month, members of the group were ordered to pay $1m over what a Washington DC Superior Court judge called a highly orchestrated and hateful and overtly racist assault against the church.

Members of the Proud Boys gathered outside the Tennessee state capitol on 21 August (Getty Images)

Five months later, a federal grand jury indicted Tarrio and four other men  Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola and Zachary Rehl  for seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol attack.

US District Judge Timothy Kelly barred prosecutors from discussing Tarrios prior arrest during the Proud Boys trial, but jurors were exposed to dozens of messages revealing members hateful rhetoric and calls for violence in private messages and across social media platforms and in public statements  and in a video showing them burning the Black Lives Matter banner.

In the weeks leading up to January 6, Tarrio had assembled a Ministry of Self-Defense with his co-defendants and Jeremy Bertino, a former Proud Boy who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and served as a key government witness at trial. Bertinos testimony implicated Tarrio and the other men in a conspiracy to what he said was anything that was necessary to save the country  including breaking into the Capitol to block the certification of an American election.

Days before the attack, Tarrio exchanged messages with another person who shared a plan called 1776 Returns that included plans to occupy crucial buildings with as many people as possible, including the House and Senate. That person wrote that revolution is [sic] important than anything, to which Tarrio replied: Thats what every waking moment consists of  Im not playing games.

On January 6, Tarrio told followers on social media that day to do what must be done and, in a group chat with other Proud Boys members, do it again.

Make no mistake, he wrote in another message. We did this.

This story was initially published on 29 August and has been updated with developments
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A campus security guard at Edward Waters University, a historically Black college, is speaking out after being credited as a hero for confronting the Jacksonville gunman on campus.

Lieutenant Antonio Bailey approached the vehicle of the suspected gunman on Saturday after several students alerted him to the young white man who was wearing a tactical vest, gloves and a hat when he arrived on the campus.

Though the students did not see a weapon, they became suspicious leading Mr Bailey to approach the gunmans vehicle.

As soon as the gunman, identified as 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter, saw Mr Bailey he sped away which led Mr Bailey to call the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office to report the vehicle.

Zachary Faison, the president of Edward Waters University called Mr Bailey our hero for acting immediately.

Mr Faison said that the gunman sped off campus when he saw Mr Bailey and hit a curb, narrowly avoiding a brick column.

At a news conference on Monday, Mr Bailey said: Im no hero. If anything, its the students who alerted me so I could do my job.

Antonio Bailey, the campus security officer at Edward Waters University (NBC News)

Just minutes later, the gunman drove to a Dollar General store where he shot and killed three Black people: Angela Michelle Carr, 52, AJ Laguerre, 19, and Jerrald Gallion, 29.

Its not just on a whim that he chose to come to Floridas first historically Black college or university, Mr Faison said.

Directing his comments toward Mr Bailey, Mr Faison said: Your actions are beyond commendable and they will resonate not just for today but for generations to come.

We have attempted to create a culture of caring among our student body that champions, See something, say something, And our students acceptance and integration of that culture into their university experience surely saved countless lives, he added.

Mr Bailey said he relied on his training to respond to the students concerns. Though he did not see a weapon on the gunman at the time, he felt strange about the incident.

Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters said that investigators believe the shooter specifically targeted the store and that he does not believe Edward Waters University was the intended location for the rampage.

Authorities said the gunman was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and Glock handgun fully prepared to carry out an attack on Black people. Mr Waters said a journal from the gunman was the diary of a madman.

I dont understand his rhyme or reason for why he did what he did and the way that he did it, Mr Waters said. I know that for a fact he was targeting Black people.

Russ Bynum and Valerie Gonzalez from The Associated Press contributed to this report
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A Florida father has been criminally charged more than two years after he allegedly killed his infant daughter by stuffing a baby wipe down her throat.

Joseph Napier, 30, is facing one count of manslaughter in connection with the death of his two-month-old daughter Iris Noelle Napier on 28 May 2021. The development comes after a years-long investigation into the circumstances surrounding the baby girls death, the Indian River County Sheriffs Office said during a press conference on Monday.

Mr Napier made a 911 call reporting that her daughter was unresponsive and received CPR instructions over the phone. When deputies arrived at his residence in the city of Vero Beach, they found Iris was turning blue and took over CPR.

The infant was transported to a local hospital before she was flown by helicopter to a medical centre in Orlando, where she was eventually pronounced dead. Mr Napier told investigators that he had left his deceased daughter unattended for 10 minutes and that it was his 18-month-old daughter who shoved a wipe down Iriss throat.

However, a team of detectives and forensic investigators determined that the toddler couldnt have possibly done that due to her hands measurement, leaving Mr Napier as the only suspect as he was the only adult at the home.

Our team has done a great job of proving that he had had enough that day, that he put that wipe in that childs mouth, Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers said on Monday, per WPTV. He pushed it down far enough that this child choked. It took doctors using forceps to go deep into this childs mouth.

Sheriff Flowers also said that an analysis of Mr Napiers cellphone determined he had been playing on his phone, on Facebook, and complaining to the childrens mother that Iris would not stop crying. Law enforcement also accused Mr Napier of waiting five minutes after he allegedly shoved the wipe down Iris throat before calling 911.

Detectives later determined that Mr. Napier spent approximately 30 minutes on his cell phone making his timeline inaccurate, a statement released by IRSO also said.

Iris Noelles maternal grandfather Joe Miller also spoke at Mondays press conference. Mr Miller said that he was getting ready to take his other granddaughter to dinner when he heard an angry Mr Napier screaming at the top of his lungs because he was frustrated with baby Iris.

As I was getting dressed, Joe was screaming at the top of his lungs at the baby, Why cant you shut the f up?! Mr Miller said. That was the last thing I heard.

An autopsy performed on Iris determined that she died due to a fatal airway obstruction.

Based on all of the evidence gathered, and in consultation with medical physicians, it was determined that the only person present at the time of the incident that could have placed the wipe that deep in the childs throat was Joseph Napier, the IRSO said. While this investigation involved the tragic loss of life, we are hoping that this arrest can give some closure to the friends and family.

Mr Napier has denied all the allegations against him.

He is being held at the Indian River County Jail on a $750,000 bond.
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The name Guy Rockwell Muldavin exploded onto the internet last year unexpectedly, dangling a possible culprit in an infamous murder whose victim, the Lady of the Dunes, had also been explosively identified. Cape Cod authorities, after almost 50 years, finally gave the headless torso a name: Ruth Marie Terry, a 37-year-old newlywed originally from Tennessee.

Muldavin, who died in 2002, was then named as her husband  and prime suspect in her murder. And now, less than one year later, hes been confirmed as Ms Terrys killer, the case officially closed.

The first mention of his name in connection with the murder (and, soon, as.the prime suspect in two others) left one family friend speechless, he told The Independent last year.

But it wasnt the first time Muldavins name had been in the headlines; 14 years earlier, hed fled after his ex-wife and 18-year-old stepdaughter disappeared. He was questioned but seemingly never charged in those presumed deaths, according to media reports at the time.

He went on to have at least two more long-term relationships with women, both of whom were mentioned in Muldavins 2002 obituary: his widow, Phyllis, who died in 2021; and a sister, Joan Towers. She was not a blood relation but the two referred to each other affectionately as siblings after a romantic relationship turned platonic, a family friend told The Independent.

The friend said he could not reconcile the details coming out about Muldavin with the man hed known.

Ruth Marie Terry was found on 26 July 1974 in the dunes of Provincetown at the edge of Cape Cod; her head had been nearly severed and she was missing both hands (FBI)

At the time, both he and Muldavin had been living in California - the state where the latter died - and nowhere near Provincetown, Massachusetts or Reno, Nevada or any other locations that are referred to now in connection with Muldavin, the friend told The Independent.

He was great, the friend said of the Muldavin he knew. I really loved him. I mean, he was terrific. And I was very close to him ... Im speechless, because none of it makes any sense.

He said, however, that he knew little of Muldavins history, other than the fact he believed hed been born in New Mexico.

Muldavin was born in 1923, police say, though details are scant regarding the early life of a man whose aliases include Raoul Guy Rockwell and Guy Muldavin Rockwell. According to a 1960 UPI report following his later brushes with the law, Muldavin was schooled in Switzerland, New York, and Connecticut as well as tutored privately on his family cattle ranch at Tibera, N. M.

By the time he was a young adult, Muldavin had made his way to New York, where he was working as a professor at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, according to the obituary for his first wife, Joellen Mae Loop. A former beauty pageant contestant and model, she died in January 2002 - just two months before Muldavin passed away.

The starry-eyed beauty and Muldavin - known to her as Guy Raoul Rockwell - fell in love in New York, the obituary continued.

Guy Rockwell Muldavin, who went by several aliases, married Ruth Marie Terry several months before her murder, cops say (Massachusetts State Police)

She left her career and the big-city nightmare and moved into a tree stump along a river in California, read the obituary, published in a Washington state paper. Her husband sang at KIEM radio stationn Monday through Friday at 5 oclock.

The couple later moved to the northwest, where Rockwell took a job in the Seattle Bon Marche furniture department. The couple then owned a large antique shop. They were married ten years.

Though the obituary does not state when the pairs marriage dissolved, Muldavin was living in Seattle and running an antique shop in 1960 when another of his wives, Manzanita Aileen Manzy Ryan, disappeared.

She and her 18-year-old daughter vanished on April Fools Day of that year, UPI reported; in July, Muldavin divorced Manzanita, claming desertion, and married Evelyn Emerson.

When police went to the home hed shared with Manzanita - his second wife, according to UPI - bits of human tissue and pieces of human body were located in a newly sealed septic tank.

The report also pointed out that, five days after he married Ms Emerson, her stepmother had given him a cashiers check for $10,000 to buy antiquities for quick resale in Canada.

He and the money vanished, around the same time serious questions began swirling about the fate of Manzanita and Dolores. Muldavin was eventually picked up in an apartment in Greenwich Village, on the other side of the country in New York.

He was described by media at the time as a sometimes actor and DJ in California, an antiques dealer in Seattle and a bunco artist and great lover everywhere he went, according to SFGate.com.

Authorities are appealing for any information about Mulavin, who died in 2002 (Massachusetts State Police)

The New York Daily News reported he had three wives and many sweethearts by 1960 and was known around Greenwich Village for his nightly soirees with beatniks, art lovers, celebrities and celebrity hunters, all bound by Muldavins magnetism and offbeat philosophy.

Whatever happened within the justice system, Muldavin appears to have been free and up to his old tricks by the early 1970s, when police believe he married Ruth Marie Terry. A 37-year-old Tennessee woman, she had been married once before but little remains known about the rest of her life.

Her death, however, is famous; a 12-year-old and a dog found her body on 26 July 1974 in the dunes near Provincetown, Cape Cod, her hands amputated and head nearly severed. Unidentifiable, she earned the monker The Lady of the Dunes - a name she kept until last year, when the FBI announced that forensic genealogy had finally revealed who she was.

While his former wife was lying buried in a Massachusetts cemetery plot, however, Muldavin continued to forge relationships and build a life on the West Coast. He married Phyllis Roper, who was listed as his widow in his 2002 obituary. She died in 2021.

Authorities this week confirmed that Muldavin had killed Ms Terry not long after marrying her in either 1973 or 1974.

The couple then travelled after their wedding, stopping in Tennessee to see Ms Terrys family, Cape & Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois said Monday in a statement.

Through investigative efforts, the Massachusetts State Police learned that Ms Terry and Mr Muldavin travelled during the summer of 1974, he continued. When Mr. Muldavin returned from that trip, he was driving what was believed to be Ms. Terrys vehicle and indicated to witnesses that Ms. Terry had passed away. Ms. Terry was never seen by her family again.

Ms Terrys brother tried to find his sister with Mr Muldavin only stating that they had a fight during their honeymoon, and he had not heard from his wife again.

Marking the end of a haunting chapter in the Capes history, he said authorities had determined that Mr Muldavin was responsible for Ms Terrys death in 1974  going on to extend his condolences to The Lady of the Dunes family and to thank the law enforcement and forensic scientists who dedicated their efforts into the identification of Ms Terry and the identification of her killer.

He reaffirmed the Capes authorities to investigate any other unsolved cases, though perhaps its most famous Jane Doe can finally find peace.

The victims, he said, are never forgotten.
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After nearly 50 years, the mystery of the Lady of the Dunes case has finally been solved with police concluding that the woman whose mutilated body was discovered on Cape Cod was killed by her husband.

For decades, the victim had been known only as the Lady of the Dunes before she was finally identified in October as 37-year-old Ruth Marie Terry, following the use of genetic genealogy.

On Monday, Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois announced that Terrys husband Guy Rockwell Muldavin  who married her just a few months before she disappeared  has now been identified as her killer.

Muldavin was also a prime suspect in the death of another one of his wives and a stepdaughter in the 1960s. He died in 2002.

Further details about what led to the break in the investigation now were not revealed, with DA Galibois only confirming that one of the states most infamous cold cases had now been closed.

Based on the investigation into the death of Ms Terry, it has been determined that Mr. Muldavin was responsible for Ms Terrys death in 1974. Mr Muldavin passed away in 2002, he said in a statement.

Terrys nearly decapitated body was found in the sand dunes of Provincetown, Massachusetts  a popular summer vacation spot  in July 1974.

She was naked on a beach blanket with her hands severed so she could not be identified by her fingerprints.

Her skull had been crushed and she was nearly decapitated. The cause of death was later determined to be a blow to the head, with authorities believing she had been dead for several weeks before her body was found.

Terry was the oldest unidentified homicide victim in Massachusetts, despite authorities working for years to identify her and her killer by exhuming her remains, performing clay model facial reconstruction, and releasing age-regression drawings of her face.

She was finally identified in October 2022 after her jaw was tested using genetic genealogy at the Othram forensics lab, the Cape Cod Times previously reported.

Ruth Marie Terry, 37, was identified as the Lady of the Dunes, in October 2022 (FBI)

Since then, investigators had zeroed in on Muldavin. State police said they learned he had been driving his wifes car after they returned from a trip to Tennessee to visit her family.

When Mr Muldavin returned from that trip, he was driving what was believed to be Ms Terrys vehicle and indicated to witnesses that Ms Terry had passed away, Mr Galibois said in a statement.

Ms Terry was never seen by her family again.

Who was Guy Rockwell Muldavin?

Muldavin is thought to have wed Terry in 1974 just months before her body was found on the beach.

He previously made national headlines when his ex-wife and 18-year-old stepdaughter disappeared.

Following their disappearances, he fled and was later questioned about what happened to them. But, he was seemingly never charged in their presumed deaths, according to media reports at the time.

Ruth Marie Terrys body was found at the Cape Cod seashore in 1974 (FBI Boston)

He went on to have at least two more long-term relationships with women, both of whom were mentioned in Muldavins 2002 obituary: his widow, Phyllis, who died in 2021; and a sister, Joan Towers. She was not a blood relation but the two referred to each other affectionately as siblings after a romantic relationship turned platonic, a family friend previously told The Independent in November.

The family friend said back then that he was speechless over the revelations that were emerging about Muldavin.

At the time he knew him, both he and Muldavin had been living in California  the state where the latter died  and nowhere near Provincetown, Massachusetts or Reno, Nevada or any other locations that are referred to now in connection with Muldavin, the friend tells The Independent.

He was great, the friend said of the Muldavin he knew. I really loved him. I mean, he was terrific. And I was very close to him ... Im speechless, because none of it makes any sense.

US Cold Case Lady of the Dunes

He said, however, that he knew little of Muldavins history, other than the fact he believed hed been born in New Mexico.

Muldavin was born in 1923, police say, though details are scant regarding the early life of a man whose aliases include Raoul Guy Rockwell and Guy Muldavin Rockwell.

According to a 1960 UPI report following his later brushes with the law, Muldavin was schooled in Switzerland, New York, and Connecticut as well as tutored privately on his family cattle ranch at Tibera, N. M.

By the time he was a young adult, Muldavin had made his way to New York, where he was working as a professor at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, according to the obituary for his first wife, Joellen Mae Loop. A former beauty pageant contestant and model, she died in January 2002 - just two months before Muldavin passed away.

The starry-eyed beauty and Muldavin  known to her as Guy Raoul Rockwell  fell in love in New York, the obituary continued.

She left her career and the big-city nightmare and moved into a tree stump along a river in California, read the obituary, published in a Washington state paper. Her husband sang at KIEM radio stationn Monday through Friday at 5 oclock.

The couple later moved to the northwest, where Rockwell took a job in the Seattle Bon Marche furniture department. The couple then owned a large antique shop. They were married ten years.

Ruth Marie Terry was found on 26 July 1974 in the dunes of Provincetown at the edge of Cape Cod; her head had been nearly severed and she was missing both hands (FBI)

Though the obituary does not state when the pairs marriage dissolved, Muldavin was living in Seattle and running an antique shop in 1960 when another of his wives, Manzanita Aileen Manzy Ryan, disappeared.

She and her 18-year-old daughter vanished on April Fools Day of that year, UPI reported; in July, Muldavin divorced Manzanita, claming desertion, and married Evelyn Emerson.

When police went to the home hed shared with Manzanita - his second wife, according to UPI - bits of human tissue and pieces of human body were located in a newly sealed septic tank.

The report also pointed out that, five days after he married Ms Emerson, her stepmother had given him a cashiers check for $10,000 to buy antiquities for quick resale in Canada.

He and the money vanished, around the same time serious questions began swirling about the fate of Manzanita and Dolores. Muldavin was eventually picked up in an apartment in Greenwich Village, on the other side of the country in New York.

He was described by media at the time as a sometimes actor and DJ in California, an antiques dealer in Seattle and a bunco artist and great lover everywhere he went, according to SFGate.com.

The New York Daily News reported he had three wives and many sweethearts by 1960 and was known around Greenwich Village for his nightly soirees with beatniks, art lovers, celebrities and celebrity hunters, all bound by Muldavins magnetism and offbeat philosophy.

Whatever happened within the justice system, Muldavin appears to have been free and up to his old tricks by the early 1970s, when police believe he married Terry months before she was murdered.

While his former wife was lying buried in a Massachusetts cemetery plot, however, Muldavin continued to forge relationships and build a life on the West Coast. He also married Phyllis Roper, who was listed as his widow in his 2002 obituary. She died last year.
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Federal prison sentencing hearings for former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and prominent member Ethan Nordean were abruptly postponed minutes before their scheduled appearances on Wednesday.

An announcement from the US Department of Justice stated that the hearings were cancelled due to an unspecified emergency, though a spokesperson for the court clarified that there was no emergency.

Tarrios sentencing is now scheduled for 2pm on 5 September. Nordean will be sentenced at 2pm on 1 September.

US District Judge Tim Kelly, who presided over the nearly four-month trial, appeared to be out sick. The judge heard witness impact statements and arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys on 29 August ahead of this weeks sentences.

Tarrio, the former leader of the neo-fascist gang, and three other members of the group were found guilty of seditious conspiracy earlier this year for their roles in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, among the most serious crimes facing the hundreds of people arrested in connection with the mobs assault.

Prosecutors are seeking 33 years for Tarrio and 27 years for Nordean, what would be the longest sentences yet in connection with the attack.

Tarrio, Nordean, Joe Biggs, Dominic Pezzola and Zachary Rehl were also found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding. Four of the men  all but Pezzola  were also found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, civil disorder and destruction of government property.

The jury found Tarrio, Biggs, Nordean and Rehl guilty of seditious conspiracy after conspiring to forcefully oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power.

Prosecutors are also seeking 33 years for Biggs, 30 years for Rehl and 20 years for Pezzola.

Now-former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio is pictured leaving Washington DC jail in January 22. (REUTERS)

The E Barrett Prettyman Courthouse has seen wave after wave of high-profile activity in the wake of the January 6 attack and the hundreds of arrests and court hearings that have followed, including an historic arraignment for former president Donald Trump after he was federally charged for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The schedule for 30 August appeared to be no different, with a sentencing hearing for a convicted member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia and a pretrial conference for Peter Navarro, among other hearings, in addition to the first of four sentencings for Proud Boys members convicted on treason-related charges.

Fifteen people connected to the January 6 attack, including Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, have either been convicted by a jury or pleaded guilty on charges of seditious conspiracy in the aftermath of the riots. Tarrios verdict marked the first successful seditious conspiracy conviction against a January 6 defendant who was not physically at the Capitol that day.

Tarrio and Rhodes  who was sentenced to 18 years in prison, the longest January 6 sentence to date  are among the most prominent figures in the Justice Departments efforts, which have netted more than 1,000 arrests and more than 700 convictions in connection with January 6.

Prosecutors have argued that both men fuelled violence and radicalized followers with a constant drumbeat of conspiracy theories echoing the former presidents baseless narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

During the Proud Boys trial, prosecutors presented hundreds of pieces of evidence from the days leading up to the January 6 attack, revealing the groups toxic rhetoric, culture of violence and damning messages depicting a gang that came together to use force against its enemies, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors argued that the Proud Boys were not merely obedient followers of the former presidents commands but were preparing for all-out war to undermine millions of Americans votes and upend a democratic election to preserve his presidency.
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A former ringleader and three members of a neo-fascist gang that one member called the foot soldiers for the right were convicted on treason-related charges for plotting to unleash a violent assault in the halls of Congress.

More than two years after the attack, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other men connected to the far-right group  known for their black-and-yellow outfits  appeared in a federal courtroom in prison-orange jumpsuits to face what could be the longest sentences yet in connection with the violent siege.

On 4 May, following a four-month trial and six days of jury deliberation, Tarrio and three of four other Proud Boys associates on trial alongside him were found guilty of seditious conspiracy, among other charges stemming from a violent attempt to throw 2020 presidential election results into chaos.

Their combined prison sentences total more than 80 years in prison.

In a sentencing memo, prosecutors said the men organized and directed a force of nearly 200 to attack the heart of our democracy and intentionally positioned themselves at the vanguard of political violence in this country.

The defendants understood the stakes, and they embraced their role in bringing about a revolution. They unleashed a force on the Capitol that was calculated to exert their political will on elected officials by force and to undo the results of a democratic election, prosecutors wrote. They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals.

US District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Tarrio to 22 years in prison, by far the longest sentence to date among the hundreds of people charged in connection with the Capitol attack, reflecting his singular role organizing members of a mob that threatened American democracy on 6 January, 2021.

Now-former Proud Boys leaders Ethan Nordean and Joe Biggs to 18 years and 17 years in prison, respectively, marking what are now the second- and third-longest sentences yet.

Zachary Rehl was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Dominic Pezzola  the only member of that group who was not convicted of seditious conspiracy  was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Fifteen people connected to the January 6 attack, including the leader of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers, have either been convicted by a jury or pleaded guilty on charges of seditious conspiracy in the aftermath of the riots  major victories from a sprawling investigation from the US Department of Justice into hundreds of Capitol riot cases. Tarrios verdict marked the first successful seditious conspiracy conviction against a January 6 defendant who was not physically at the Capitol that day.

Tarrio and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes  who was sentenced to 18 years in prison, now tied with Nordean for the longest sentence connected to January 6  are among the highest-profile figures in the Justice Departments efforts, which have netted more than 1,000 arrests and more than 700 convictions to date.

Prosecutors have argued that both men fuelled violence and radicalized followers with a constant drumbeat of conspiracy theories echoing Donald Trumps baseless narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

During the Proud Boys trial, prosecutors presented hundreds of pieces of evidence from the days leading up to the January 6 attack, revealing the groups toxic rhetoric, culture of violence and damning messages depicting a gang that came together to use force against its enemies, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors argued that the Proud Boys were not merely obedient followers of the former presidents commands but were preparing for all-out war to undermine millions of Americans votes and upend a democratic election to preserve his presidency.

These defendants saw themselves as Donald Trumps army, fighting to keep their preferred leader in power no matter what the law or the courts had to say about it, Conor Mulroe, a trial attorney for the Justice Department, told jurors in closing arguments.

Tarrio, Biggs, Nordean and Rehl were found guilty of seditious conspiracy after conspiring to forcefully oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power, a jury found.

All four men, as well as Pezzola, were also found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding. Four of them  all but Pezzola  were also found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, civil disorder and destruction of government property.

Pezzola also was found guilty of robbery and assaulting, resisting or impeding police.

Defence attorneys argued that there was no conspiracy to join the attack, an event they characterised as a spontaneous act of rage fuelled by then-President Trumps demands.

It was Donald Trumps words. It was his motivation, attorney Nayib Hassan told jurors in closing arguments. It was not Enrique Tarrio. They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald J Trump and those in power.

The foot soldiers of the right

The group, founded in 2016 by Vice co-founder turned far-right commentator Gavin McInnes, has exploited white male aggression, weaponized semi-ironic posturing and relied on a veneer of drinking clubs to launder white nationalist, antisemitic and anti-LGBT+ tropes that lead to real-world violence.

Across his platforms, Mr McInnes carved out an ideological space for frustrated young men to rally around by arguing for the superiority of white western culture and against white liberal guilt, feminism, Islam and LGBT+ people, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Over the last several years, the Proud Boys have emerged as a fascistic, right-wing political bloc relying on street-level violence in concert with right-wing media and Republican elected officials, according to SPLC senior research analyst Cassie Miller.

In the wake of January 6, as the group decentralized, members have harassed drag queen story-telling events at libraries and amplified groomer smears aimed at LGBT+ people.

Proud Boys have been central to a wave of attacks and threats against drag performers and the people and venues that host them, according to a recent report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Proud Boys chapters targeted 60 such events, with more than half resulting in physical and verbal clashes, the report found.

Jeremy Bertino, a former North Carolina Proud Boy who served as a key witness for the government during the trial, said the group emerged as the foot soldiers of the right against antifascist demonstrators. Bertino is the only Proud Boy to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy.

Canadian authorities have designated the Proud Boys as a terrorist organisation.

Members also participated in Stop the Steal rallies across the US following Joe Bidens victory in the 2020 presidential election  including a rally on 12 December, 2020 in Washington DC, where members of the gang were filmed tearing down and burning Black Lives Matter banners at historically Black churches.

Rioters destroyed two Black Lives Matter banners at Metropolitan AME and Asbury United Methodist Church. Tarrio was wanted in connection with the destruction. He was arrested shortly after landing in Washington DC on 4 January, two days before the attack, which he watched unfold from a Baltimore hotel room after he was barred from re-entering the nations capital.

Trumps call to arms and January 6

Then-President Trump invoked the groups name during the first 2020 presidential debate on 29 September after debate moderator Chris Wallace repeatedly asked the president to denounce white supremacism.

Mr Trump asked for a name. Joe Biden, standing beside Mr Trump on the debate stage, suggested the Proud Boys.

Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, but Ill tell you what, somebodys got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, Mr Trump replied. This is a left-wing problem.

After his comments, Mr Biggs wrote on the social media platform Parler that President Trump told the Proud Boys to stand by because someone needs to deal with antifa ... well sir! were ready!!

Standing by, sir, Tarrio wrote on Twitter.

Mr Trumps remarks turned into a kind of catchphrase that quickly spread across far-right online spaces. Proud Boys-related T-shirts and other items with the phrase appeared in online shopping sites shortly after the debate.

Bertino testified to the House select committee investigating January 6 that Mr Trumps comments were a call to arms that helped swell the groups ranks exponentially afterward.

From left, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean and Joe Biggs are pictured in Washington DC on 6 January, 2021. (AP)

Proud Boys activity has been strongly correlated with the fortunes of former President Trump, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, noting that 97 of the 152 demonstrations involving Proud Boys in 2020 were explicitly in support of then-President Trump. That includes at least 79 demonstrations after Mr Trumps stand back and stand by remarks.

If Biden steals this election, [Proud Boys] will be political prisoners, Tarrio wrote on social media 16 November, 2020, days after media outlets projected Mr Bidens victory.

We wont go quietly.  I promise, he wrote, according to prosecutors.

Days later, he wrote: No Trump...No peace. No quarter.

During a sentencing hearing on 29 August, US District Judge Tim Kelly ran through messages used as evidence during the Proud Boys trial depicting members of the group using violence as a recruitment tool and then weaponizing their recruits.

Trump tells Proud Boys to stand by during a presidential debate in September 2020.

Biggs took Mr Trumps comments as a signal to f*** up antifa. Nordean said it was time to f****** rage. Rehl called for firing squads for traitors who want to steal the election. Tarrio said media coverage warning of Proud Boys threats of civil war should be careful what the f*** you ask for.

We dont want to start one, he wrote, but we sure as f*** finish one.

Tarrio also possessed a document called 1776 Returns with plans to occupy crucial buildings in Washington, including House and Senate office buildings, on January 6.

We need many people as possible inside these buildings, the document states. These are OUR buildings, they are just renting space. We must show our politicians We the People are in charge.

Before he was arrested on 4 January, Tarrio wrote to Biggs: Whatever happens  make it a spectacle.

Biggs, Nordean and Rehl marched with a group to the Capitol and broke through barricades. Pezzola seized a riot shield from an officer and used it to break a window, through which the first members of the mob entered the Capitol, according to the indictment. Tarrio wrote he was proud of my boys and my country.

Brother, You know we made this happen, Bertino wrote to Tarrio that day.

We influenced people, the normies, enough to stand up for themselves to take back their country and take back their freedom, he later testified during the trial. We were always talking about being the tip of the spear, and that was just another example of us leading the way and leading by example. Follow us.

This story was first published on 29 August and has been updated with developments




Impact





The executive indicated that the construction of the Port of Chancay generates 1,300 direct jobs and around 8,000 indirect jobs due to the economic dynamics observed in the area.





The design and construction project for the Port of Chancay has been developed since April 2011. The total investment is estimated at US$3.4 billion, of which US$1.315 billion will be executed in the first stage.





"The project, which will be the most important port in South America and will function as a regional hub (logistics center), entails an initial investment of more than US$1.3 billion," De las Casas stated.





"This is the first private port for public use in Peru, which will provide a great opportunity for the country's economic growth and foreign trade, thus putting us at a competitive level," he added.





(END) DOP/CNA/WRR/JJN/RMB/MVB
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Police are investigating whether a Quebec father killed his two children, just two days after he was arrested for harassing the boys mother, his estranged wife.

Ian Lamontagne, 46, and Antoine and Tristan, both 3, were found dead on Saturday in Notre-Dame-des-Prairies, a town in the Lanaudiere region, according to CBC, and the coroner confirmed their identities on Monday.

Police are reportedly investigating the case as a double murder-suicide, according to the outlet.

Patrick Boucher, friend of the family, said Lamontagne called him to vent last Wednesday, fuming that he had been arrested in front of his children for harassing their mother, his wife. The pair had reportedly been separated for about a year.

Mr Boucher says Lamontagne was released the same day of his arrest, which is just two days before he and his sons were found dead.

I wanted to see him because of the arrest and I wanted to make sure he was OK, said Mr Boucher.

Mr Boucher also told the Montreal Gazette that the deaths were a horrible, unacceptable, unforgivable act. He added and said he would like the discussion of the three deaths to focus on how a human being who loves his children can go from I love my children to destroying my childrens lives.

How can we transform this event into something more? Mr Boucher asked. To learn how  how should I react to my other friends who tell me theyre having difficulties?

Ian Lamontagne and his two boys (Ian Lamontagne / Facebook )

Notre-Dame-des-Prairies Mayor Suzanne Dauphin in a statement called the incident  tragic and heartbreaking.

She also underscored the importance of seeking mental health help: It is crucial that we break the taboo surrounding psychological distress and provide resources and support to those in need. If you or someone you know is struggling with dark thoughts, I encourage you to seek help.

She added, As a society, we must also commit ourselves to preventing such occurrences in the future.
 Close University on lockdown over active shooting situation on campus

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Students at the University of North Carolina are demanding action on gun control in the wake of Mondays deadly Chapel Hill campus shooting.

Around 600 students took part in a rally on Wednesday calling for stricter state gun laws and holding a moment of silence for slain professor Zijie Yan.

The student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel marked the tragedy with a powerful front page on Wednesday, featuring the terrified text messages sent by loved ones to its editor-in-chief during the active situation. The page has gone viral.

Many questions still remain about suspect Tailei Qis motive for the attack as the search for the gun continues.

Mr Qi, a PhD student majoring in applied physical sciences, had complained about the victim online in the lead-up to the attack and railed against hard work, girls and tattletales and bullies in the US.

He was arrested and booked into Orange County Sheriffs Office jail on a first-degree murder charge for fatally shooting Yan, the head of the Department of Applied Sciences.
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A man who has been a longtime suspect in the 1986 disappearance of a California teenager may have confessed to burying her body in Yosemite National Park.

Raymond Lewis Stafford, 70, was arrested in Texas earlier this month and charged in connection to the cold case murder of 15-year-old Susan Robin Bender.

Bender was last seen getting into a green van at a Greyhound bus depot in Modesto on 25 April 1986, according to the California Department of Justice. Her case was reopened several years ago, which finally led to Staffords arrest.

New details emerged this week, according to court records obtained by SFGate.com, that Stafford had allegedly told a woman he lived with in the 1980s that he had killed a female.

He then allegedly confessed to driving to a campground near the Big Oak Flat entrance to Yosemite National Park, where he buried her body, the records claim. The name of the campground was not released.

On the day Bender went missing, she had planned to take a bus to Carmel to see friends and then return in a few days, according to the investigation. But she never did.

A friend who ran into Bender at the depot later claimed to have seen the teen making a call on the pay phone and then getting into a green van willingly.

The van was traced to Stafford when he was arrested on suspicion of an unrelated burglary just a month after Bender vanished, according to court records filed in Stanislaus County.

Susan Bender was last seen getting into a green van at a Greyhound bus depot in Modesto on 25 April 1986 (California Department of Justice)

Further investigation revealed that Stafford and Bender knew each other and that Stafford had briefly worked with her mother Patricia Chupco.

Ms Chupco told the Modesto Bee that she believed the two had formed a relationship even though Stafford was married with children.

Years later, in 1999, Ms Chupco also told the Modesto Bee that detectives found her daughters clothes and diary in the possession of a man who was not named in the press because he had not publicly been identified as a suspect.

However, recent court records allege that the man was Me Stafford, the SFGate reported. The same court records contained details about Staffords alleged confession about killing a female and burying her body at Yosemite.

Big Oak Flat Entrance at Yosemite National Park (National Park Service)

In an odd turn of events, within just a year of Benders disappearance, Stafford, then 38, ran for Modesto City Council.

When he was asked by the Modesto Bee about his criminal record, he told the paper in July 1985 that it was a result of his being in the wrong place at the wrong time, according to SFGate.

His criminal record at the time included allegations of soliciting an undercover officer for sex, operating an unlicensed private investigator business and carrying a badge saying he was a PI.

When asked about his campaign platform, Stafford responded, We dont spend any time getting the people who are molesting our children. He lost the election.

In December 1986, Staffords criminal record got even longer when he was convicted of setting a business on fire. He also pleaded guilty to making a false police report after he reportedly faked a kidnapping to avoid appearing in court.

Stafford, at some point, moved to Texas where he was listed on the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry under the alias Gregg Tunningley. He was required to register as a sex offender after he allegedly abused a 13-year-old girl in California in 1994, SFGate reported.

Decades passed and Susan Benders case grew cold before it was reopened a few years ago.

And after nearly 40 years, an arrest warrant was issued by Modesto police in early August and Stafford was taken into custody in Van Zandt County, Texas, where he lived.

He is currently being held at the Van Zandt County Justice Center but is expected to be extradited to California.
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Sex abuse charges against former Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick have been dismissed by a Massachusetts judge who ruled the 93-year-old was incompetent to stand trial.

Mr McCarrick, who was the former archbishop of Washington, was charged with assaulting a 16-year-old boy in 1974.

He was defrocked who was defrocked by the Pope in 2019 after a Vatican investigation alleged he had sexually molested adults as well as children during his career.

The former cleric, the most senior member of the US Catholic church to face charges, still faces a criminal sexual abuse charge against the same alleged victim, in Wisconsin.

Mr McCarrick pleaded not guilty in September 2021 to allegations that he sexually abused the boy at a wedding reception at Bostons Wellesley College in June 1974.

His lawyers told the court in April that Mr McCarrick had been examined by experts at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who concluded he suffers from dementia, likely due to Alzheimers disease.

The judge ruled in agreement on Wednesday and prosecutors immediately dismissed the complaint against the former Cardinal.

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick arrives at the Dedham courthouse for his first appearance for sexual assault charges on September 3, 2021 in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Getty Images)

(The) Commonwealth does not have a good-faith basis to proceed any longer with the prosecution give the testimony and the opinions of the psychologist that Mr McCarrick is not restorable to competency, the prosecutor said.

Mr McCarrick, who now lives in Missouri, did not appear in person in the courtroom but joined the hearing by video.

FILE - Former Washington Archbishop, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick listens during a news conference in Washington, May 16, 2006. (AP)

Court documents in the case state that the victim alleged Mr McCarrick groped him as they walked around the campus of Wellesley College, where his brothers wedding reception was being held.

The man also claims that Mr McCarrick also later fondled the boy in a room and told him to say three our fathers and a Hail Mary or it was one our father and three Hail Marys, so God can redeem you of your sins.
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The University of North Carolinas student newspaper front page has featured the dramatic text messages sent and received by students while they hunkered down in lecture halls and dorms as police hunted for a shooter.

Students and faculty members were in the dark for more than three hours as FBI, ATF, SWAT teams and university police searched for a gunman later identified as PhD student Tailei Qi.

The Daily Tar Heels powerful cover on Wednesday came together as the UNC at Chapel Hill continued to reel from the terrifying lockdown on Monday and the loss of assistant professor Zijie Yan.

The DTHs print managing editor Caitlyn Yaede told The Independent that she had become emotional as she typed the heartwrenching messages on the front page.

Im in class, everyone is losing it, Are you safe? Where are you? or Come on sweetheart - I need to hear from you were only a few of the dozens of texts included.

They were penned by distressed students barricading in classrooms or frantic parents trying to get ahold of them  the reflection of a harsh reality that is, unfortunately, too familiar for Americans.

Id like to say the first thing I did was jump on the breaking news story but the first thing I did was [also] calling my sister because she is a sophomore here at UNC and I had no idea where she was, Ms Yaede said, adding that her sibling was eventually able to communicate with her and tell her she was sheltering in place in her dorm.

One of the [messages] was, I wish I could come and get you right now, and my mom said that to me ... on Monday when this was happening and she was two hours away.

Ms Yaede, a journalism graduate student at UNC, was at the Daily Tar Heels office when the alarm was first raised about the active shooting situation. From there, she and other students saw the heavy police presence rushing towards the Caudil Labs, where the shooting unfolded.

Student editors and reporters across campus covered the active shooting situation as it happened, keeping students informed amid the uncertainty.

I think any tragedy felt by any member of our community is a tragedy felt by all. Violence like this in any form makes us feel scared because we have seen it happen elsewhere and we dont know if and when something with mass casualties could happen, Ms Yaede told The Independent.

All the anxiety and fear, we are not immune to it but we kind of tabled it for the first day or two as we worked to get the news out.

Law enforcement and first responders gather on South Street near the Bell Tower on the campus (AP)

Then on Tuesday, the Daily Tar Heels managing team asked their reporting team to gather messages sent or received during those moments of sheer fear.

No matter how they communicated that, they were all sharing that fear and anxiety and I think [sharing] that experience really struck me. I hope that cover tells a story. Its a story of not knowing what was happening and reaching out in the darkness.

Zijie Yan, victim of UNC at Chapel Hill shooting on Monday (UNC)

Tailei Qi, an applied sciences PhD student at UNC, has been charged with first-degree murder and possession of a weapon on academic premises in connection with the fatal shooting of his lab advisor Zijie Yan.

Mr Qi appeared in court on Tuesday and was ordered held without bail. The suspect had a Mandarin interpreter during his arraignment and was scheduled to reappear in court on 18 September.

UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said on Tuesday that Yan left two young daughters behind and described the slain professor as a beloved colleague and friend who was fondly remembered by everyone who crossed paths with him.
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Last year, before his headline-dominating acquisition of Twitter, Elon Musk confessed to being in a state of something like homelessness, though that term doesnt quite feel right for someone now worth more than $257bn.

I dont even own a place right now, Im literally staying at friends places, he said at the time. If I travel to the Bay Area, which is where most of Teslas engineering is, I basically rotate through friends spare bedrooms.

Ninth Circuit Court considering San Francisco's homeless crisis

Even though Mr Musk very publicly moved to Texas a few years ago, he still frequently, albeit sometimes inaccurately, weighs in on the state of San Francisco and its well-documented public safety issues.

Over the weekend, he made perhaps his biggest gesture yet, threatening to go to war with the snakes supporting a lawsuit challenging San Franciscos homelessness policies.

They want war? Lets give it to them, Mr Musk wrote on X. We cannot let these snakes win or San Francisco will end up like Detroit.

The snakes in question? The global law firm Latham & Watkins, LLP, which has been assisting a coalition of housing advocacy groups, as well as the ACLU of Northern California, who are suing San Francisco, alleging the city is conducting sweeps of unhoused people without offering them adequate shelter.

Mr Musk, one of San Franciscos most high-profile corporate tenants, floated the idea of asking his companies to cease working with the firm and encouraging other CEOs to do the same.

The Independent has contacted Latham for comment.

Hes not alone in siding with the city against the groups.

Garry Tan, a prominent earlier investor in startups like Instacart and Coinbase, who now leads Silicon Valleys prestigious Y Combinator startup incubator, has called the lawsuit madness and a sign of vast corruption in San Francisco in social media posts of his own.

The lawsuit is more than just fodder for pontificating tech elites online, though.

It could change the way the city interacts with its estimated population of nearly 8,000 unhoused people.

On any given night, San Francisco homeless shelters can have a waiting list of hundreds of people. As of Wednesday morning, 466 were waiting for a spot. And even more people may be staying on the street.

City leaders like mayor London Breed argue they need the power to conduct homeless encampment sweeps (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The citys most recent point-in-time count showed that more than half of the 7,754 homeless people counted in 2022 were unsheltered.

In September, a group of advocacy organisations called the Coalition on Homelessness sued the city, alleging its homelessness sweeps and other enforcement actions were violating the Martin v Boise ruling, a federal Ninth Circuit appeals decision that declared it illegal to penalise homeless people on government property without offering them adequate shelter.

In December, a judge issued a temporary injunction, halting encampment sweeps, prompting outrage from city officials, who appealed. The case is now before the Ninth Circuit.

The lawsuit has exposed the fractious nature of housing politics in California, where different sides can have vastly different visions of what thoughtful, progressive policy looks like.

City leaders and their supporters argue that the city should be allowed to continue to conduct sweeps because shelters often do have vacancies and some unhoused people refuse shelter offers entirely.

Tech leaders like Elon Mus have railed against advocates seeking to pause homeless sweeps (PA Archive)

California governor Gavin Newom has previously slammed the injunction as preposterous and inhumane.

He celebrated Mr Musk for calling attention to a key issue with his boycott threat.

California has made record investments  $15.3[bn], the governor wrote on X. But federal courts block local efforts to clear street encampments  even when housing and services are offered. Courts must also be held accountable. Enough is enough.

The mayor of San Francisco has gone even further, claiming the Coalition on Homelessness has held the city hostage for decades during a round of recent protests in front of the Ninth Circuit.

City Attorney David Chiu has alleged that the advocacy coalition wont stick by comments it made in court seeming to exempt those who refuse shelter from the injunctions pause on sweeps.

It is unfortunate and telling that Plaintiffs are unwilling to confirm in writing what they told the Court, he said in a Tuesday filing. It does not make sense that a person who rejects a shelter offer or has a shelter bed but chooses to maintain a tent on the street should be considered involuntarily homeless.

However, advocates argue that the city shelter system is not adequate to house the numerous people on San Francisco streets each night, so further sweeps amount to inhumane treatment.

[The City] insists on a charade that the City makes valid shelter offers to unhoused individuals when the entire shelter system is at capacity, 400 individuals are waiting patiently on a waitlist to shelter to no avail, and the City itself doesnt know if any shelter will become available on a given day when it continues to threaten the enforcement of laws enjoined by the district courts injunction, Zal Shroff, an attorney representing the Coalition on Homelessness, recently told CBS News Bay Area. We should expect better from our political leaders. San Francisco deserves better.

A trial over the future of the injunction could take place in April 2024.
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Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Wednesday said she warned Chinese leaders that U.S. businesses might stop investing in their country without prompt action to address complaints about worsening conditions due to raids on firms, unexplained fines and unpredictable official behavior.

Raimondos comments add to pressure on Chinese leader Xi Jinping's government, which is trying to revive investor interest and reverse an economic slump. Business groups say confidence among foreign companies is at an all-time low. Official figures show foreign investment plunged in the latest quarter.

Raimondo visited Beijing as part of U.S. efforts to restore relations that plummeted to their lowest level in decades due to disputes about technology, security, Taiwan and other issues. She called her meetings with Chinas No. 2 leader, Premier Li Qiang, and other officials very productive but said she didnt pull any punches in conveying business complaints.

Raimondo said CEOs ahead of her trip told her they face increased pressure from Beijings expansion of an anti-spying law this year, raids on some firms, tighter controls on data and lack of information about rule changes.

My point was U.S. business needs to see some action taken to address these issues. Otherwise, they will deem it as just too risky and, as I said, uninvestable, Raimondo told reporters at a Boeing Co. joint venture in Shanghais eastern district of Pudong.

Foreign direct investment in China fell 89% from a year earlier in the three months ending in June, according to official data. Most investment is believed to be brought into the country by Chinese companies disguised as foreign money to get tax breaks and other incentives, but business groups have warned foreign companies are withholding new spending until their status is clearer.

Patience is wearing thin, Raimondo said. She said conditions for companies that have complained for years about technology theft and official favoritism toward Chinese competitors are becoming in some ways even tougher.

Economic growth slid to 0.8% compared with the previous quarter in the three months ending in June from the January-March period's 2.2%. That is equal to an annual rate of 3.2%, which would be among China's weakest in decades.

Despite that, Li, the premier, has expressed confidence the economy can hit the ruling party's annual growth target of about 5%.

Raimondo said she welcomed moves such as the ruling partys announcement of a 24-point plan to improve conditions for entrepreneurs. She said the party secretary for Shanghai, Chen Jining, told her Wednesday the city was considering creating a hotline to receive business complaints.

We have to see the situation on the ground match the rhetoric, Raimondo said.

Raimondos visit produced the most substantial results of a series of trips to Beijing over the past three months by U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last month.

The two governments announced Monday they would form two groups to reduce trade tension by sharing information about U.S. export controls on technology that irritate Beijing and discuss other commercial disputes. They also agreed to have officials meet to discuss protection of trade secrets and to hold a travel and tourism summit."

Beijing broke off dialogue with Washington over military, climate and other issues in August 2020 in retaliation for a visit to Taiwan by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The ruling party claims the self-ruled island democracy as part of its territory and objects to foreign official contacts.

Relations already were strained by a tariff war launched by then-President Donald Trump over complaints including that Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology.

Li appealed to Raimondo on Tuesday for concrete actions by Washington to improve relations, a reference to Chinese pressure for changes in U.S. policy on Taiwan, technology and other issues.

Washington has blocked Chinese access to processor chips and other technology on security grounds. That threatens to hamper the ruling partys ambitions to create artificial intelligence and other industries. Xi accused Washington in March of trying to block Chinas development.

The group held its first meeting Tuesday. Raimondo said it would meet several more times. She said the meetings are intended to provide information and wont result in changes to U.S. export controls.

We were able to clarify in the first meeting that were not targeting China, Raimondo said. Were targeting action and behavior which undermine U.S. national security, and we sought to begin clarifying our procedures.

Export controls will continue to be the area of the most disagreement, but communication can only help, Raimondo said.

Conditions for foreign companies have worsened following the expansion of an anti-spying law that some say leaves them unclear about what consumer and other information they can gather. A research firm, Mintz Group, was fined $1.5 million this month on charges it improperly gathered data. China ordered makers of some data equipment to stop using products from the biggest U.S. maker of memory chips, Micron Inc., on security grounds.

The secretary said she raised the status of Visa and Mastercard as an example of the need to treat each others companies the same way. The credit card issuers have waited for years for approval of applications to operate in China, while Chinese payment services Alipay and UnionPay operate freely in the United States.

We did not resolve anything, but I thought that it was important to put the issue on the table, Raimondo said. And I did feel heard.

In a phone call later with reporters, Raimondo said she mentioned to Chinese officials that her own emails were stolen by computer hackers. She said nothing about the source, but The Washington Post reported in July that she and Blinken were targets of state-backed Chinese hackers.

I mentioned that as an action that erodes trust," she said.
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A student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hillwho was also a Parkland school shooting survivorsaid she was forced to relive grief following the UNC shooting this week.

Bella Miller was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February 2018 when a gunman opened fire at his former high school, killing 17 people.

Ms Miller is a junior at UNC, where she competes on the universitys gymnastics team.

The student-athlete posted on X on 28 August: Is this really happening to me again? During my freshman year of HS, my Parkland community lost 17 angels.

She continued, Today, I am having to relive the grief and unease of a shooter on my campus once again. My heart goes out to my Chapel Hill family today. I know how hard these times can be.

It was unclear whether Ms Miller was on campus during the attack.

Tailei Qi, a PhD student majoring in applied physical sciences major, was arrested and booked into Orange County Sheriffs Office jail on a first-degree murder charge on Monday for fatally shooting Dr Zijie Yan, the head of the Department of Applied Sciences and Mr Qis academic adviser.

His next hearing is scheduled for 18 September.

Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz was sentenced last November to life imprisonment without parole after a Florida jury failed to unanimously recommend the death penalty.

Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in connection to the shooting, the worst ever at a US high school.
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Australias prime minister Anthony Albanese has officially announced the date for a historic referendum to take place for Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Australians will participate in a vote to decide whether to establish a body within the constitution that would provide advice to the parliament and executive government on matters concerning Indigenous Australians.

The idea for a Voice came from the people and it will be decided by the people, Mr Albanese said on Wednesday.

He said the referendum will take place on 14 October. On that day every Australian will have a once-in-a-generation chance to bring the country together and change it for the better, he said.

During his initial term in office, Mr Albanese placed significant emphasis on the Voice, dedicating a substantial amount of political influence to ensure its success.

Our government, along with every single state and territory government, has committed to it. Legal experts have endorsed it, Mr Albanese said.

People on all sides of the Parliament have backed it. Faith groups and sporting codes and local councils and businesses and unions have embraced it. An army of volunteers from every part of this great nation are throwing all of their energy behind it.

Now, my fellow Australians, you can vote for it.

Out of the 44 Australian referendums held since the countrys federation in 1901, only eight have achieved success, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The most recent referendum held in 1999  on whether Australia should become a republic and whether to insert a preamble into the constitution  ended in failure.

If the upcoming referendum on the Voice achieves a positive outcome, it would mark the most significant policy change concerning the Indigenous population, or First Nations people, in over five decades.

Indigenous advocates in favour of the Voice say they want it incorporated into the constitution as a means of safeguarding it against potential interference by future governments. Any amendments to the constitution necessitate a referendum that must secure both a majority of overall votes and the endorsement of a majority of the six states, a principle known as the double majority.

Although Mr Albanese has expressed his support for the Voice, recent polls indicate that public backing for this initiative is diminishing.

The idea of this proposal originated from a historic gathering in 2017, where over 250 Indigenous leaders convened to deliberate on constitutional reforms. The gathering took place at the sacred Uluru site in central Australia.

Pat Anderson, one of the architects behind the Uluru statement, asserts that incorporating the Voice into the nations constitution would offer formal acknowledgement to the First Peoples of this beautiful continent of ours and would elevate the institution beyond the realm of daily politics.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton, however, said the referendum on a Voice to parliament is unprecedented in its lack of detail.

Its without precedent that a prime minister would go to a constitutional referendum without providing the detail to Australians, Mr Dutton said.

He said the referendum will be a tight vote, but said this is due to the vast resources available to the Yes campaign.

The Yes campaign, thanks to the unions and thanks to big business bosses, has somewhere between $50m and $100m, he claimed.
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The partner of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been accused of victim blaming after comments he made about rape on his television talk show 

Andrea Giambruno, who hosts the Diario del giorno [Daily diary] programme on the Rete 4 commercial station, was commenting after a high-profile gang rape case in the Sicilian capital Palermo.

"If you go dancing, you have every right to get drunk - there shouldn't be any kind of misunderstanding and any kind of problem - but if you avoid getting drunk and losing your senses, you might also avoid running into certain problems and coming across a wolf," he said in his programme earlier this week.

Opposition politicians condemned the comments.

"I say to Giambruno that boys should be educated to show respect, rather than girls taught to be careful. Teach them [males] the value of consent, rather than girls to be wary," said Cecilia D'Elia, a senator with the opposition Partito Democratico (PD).

The opposition Five Star Movement party (M5S) said in a statement that Giambrunos words are unacceptable and shameful and they represent a male-dominated and retrograde culture.

Mr Giambruno, whose television career has taken off since Ms Meloni became the head of a hard-right government last October, said his comments had been taken out of context to create a "surreal" controversy.

"I didn't say that men are free to rape women who are drunk," he told Corriere della Sera in an interview on Wednesday.

"Some politicians are jumping on a false headline and calling for my suspension, but for what reason? For having told young people not to take drugs?" he added. He also said that "rape is an abominable act".

Ms Meloni, who has a young daughter with Mr Giambruno, has not commented on the situation, but she has been called on to distance herself from the comment.

It is not the first time that Mr Giambruno's comments have caused controversy.

In July, he told Germany's health minister, Karl Lauterbach, to "stay at home, stay in the Black Forest"  after Mr Lauterbach questioned the viability of tourism to southern Europe because of intense heat waves.

Reuters
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Russia says at least four of its military transport planes were damaged after Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack on Russian soil since the beginning of the invasion.

The Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged after drones hit an airport in the western Pskov region, located 660km north of the Ukrainian frontier and near the borders of Estonia and Latvia.

Two of the military aircraft "burst into flames" after the attack, Tass news agency reported, and images from the city showed fire rising high into the night sky.

All civilian flights to and from the airport were cancelled on Wednesday so that the damage could be assessed during daylight, Pskov regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said.

"According to initial assessments, nothing serious has occurred but it is hard to determine that at night. If everything is in order, the airport will resume normal operations on Thursday," he said, adding there were no civilian injuries.

According to the defence ministry, more drones were shot down over Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan, Kaluga and the Moscow region surrounding the Russian capital.

The airspace around Moscow's Vnukovo airport was shut down briefly for the night following the strikes, while flights at Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports were delayed.

Footage shared by the governor showed smoke billowing over the city of Pskov and a large blaze. Unconfirmed media reports said between 10 and 20 drones could have attacked the airport.

Russia has accused Ukraine of steadily escalating its drone attacks on Russian soil and Russian-occupied territory in recent weeks.

Ukraine typically does not comment on who is behind attacks on Russian territory, although officials have publicly expressed satisfaction over them.

Moscow retaliated on Wednesday by launching a "massive combined attack" on the Ukrainian capital using drones and missiles, that killed two people and injured another.

Sergei Popko, the head of the military administration in Kyiv, said Russia launched Shahed drones at the city from various directions and then targeted the capital with missiles from Tu-95MS strategic aircraft.

He said more than 20 targets had been brought down by Ukraine's air defences.

Recommended

The deaths and injuries occurred when debris fell on a commercial building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, Mr Popko said.

Explosions in Ukraine were also reported in the southern city of Odesa and the Cherkasy region.
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Two Russian soldiers have been jailed for refusing to return to the frontline in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

In an intelligence update posted on Twitter, the ministry said two Russian soldiers were sentenced to serve at least two years in a penal colony by a military court for refusing to obey orders to return to the front in Ukraine.

It comes after Russian independent media outlet Mediazona reported that Russia was convicting close to 100 soldiers a week for refusing to fight.

The defence ministry predicted there will be approximately 5,200 convictions a year for refusing to fight if the trend continues.

The high rate of convictions demonstrates the poor state of morale and reluctance to fight in the Russian Army, the MoD said.

The update continued: Refusal to fight likely reflects the lack of training, motivation and high stress situations Russian forces face along the entire Ukrainian frontline.

However, the defence ministry said it is likely Russia mitigates losses in soldiers by committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline.

Since Russias September 2022 partial mobilisation, Russia has adapted its approach to warfare by utilising sheer mass for offensive and defensive operations, the update explained.

In September 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilisation of 300,000 military reservists for the war in Ukraine.

The call-up prompted hundreds of thousands of men to flee the country. Outbound flights were full and neighbouring countries received large influxes.

Russian soldiers (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Soon afterwards, Mr Putin toughened up penalties for desertion and refusal to fight, making the offences punishable by up to 10 years in prison, or 15 years for voluntary surrender to enemy forces.

But first-time offenders may be exempted from criminal liability if he took measures for his release, returned to his unit or place of service and did not commit other crimes while in captivity, according to the new law.

Within weeks of the boost to Russian numbers, UK defence chiefs concluded many of the newly mobilised soldiers were poorly equipped, possibly with weapons in a barely usable condition.

Earlier this year, the MoD suggested Russian troops were using shovels for hand-to-hand combat in Ukraine because of an ammunition shortage.

In the latest development in Putinss war in Ukraine, at least four of Russias military transport planes were damaged after Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack on Russian soil since the beginning of the invasion.

Recommended

The Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged after drones hit an airport in the western Pskov region, located 660km north of the Ukrainian frontier and near the borders of Estonia and Latvia.
 Close Aftermath of Russian missile strike on Ukraine mail depot that killed six

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Russia has significantly bulked up its forces around the devastated city of Bakhmut in the east and has switched its troops from a defensive posture to taking active actions, a Ukrainian military commander said on Monday.

Russia captured Bakhmut, the scene of some of the most intense fighting of the 20-month war, in May. Ukraine has been on the counteroffensive since June to try to retake occupied land in the south and east, including the town.

In the Bakhmut area, the enemy has significantly strengthened its grouping and switched from defence to active actions, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the ground forces, wrote on Telegram messenger.

It comes following reports that Ukrainian forces made advancements near Bakhmut. War monitoring think-tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that geolocated footage indicated that Ukrainian forces advanced over a railway line south of Andriivka - 10km southwest of Bakhmut.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces continued assault operations south of Bakhmut and offensive operations towards the key city of Melitopol.

A prominent Russian milblogger also claimed that Ukrainian forces established control over unspecified positions in the Zaporizhia direction over the past week.
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Ukrainian drones have hit at least six regions deep inside Russia in one of the largest such strikes since the start of Moscows invasion.

Russian officials confirmed attacks on targets in the Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions, with the assault on the military airfield in Pskov that damaged aircraft as the most significant. Situated more than 600km (400 miles) from Ukraine, it was where a number of elite paratroopers are stationed. The state-run Tass news agency reported at least four giant Il-76 transport planes were damaged, two of which had burst into flames.

Mikhail Vedernikov, the governor of Pskov, posted video on the messaging app Telegram showing a huge fire with the sounds of sirens and an explosion at the airbase. Other videos posted online showed anti-aircraft systems in action around the city, which is about 32km (20 miles) east of Russias border with Nato-member Estonia.

Kyiv confirmed the Russian planes had been destroyed in Pskov, without commenting on the nature of the incident. It generally does not claim strikes on Russian territory, but does say it has the right to hit military targets.

Yes, four IL-76 transport planes were destroyed in Pskov at an airfield, they are beyond repair. Also, several other of those [aircraft] are damaged, but the information is being checked, said Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraines military intelligence agency.

The number of drone strikes hitting Russia has increased in recent weeks, supporting a ground counteroffensive against Russian forces in Ukraine by destroying equipment and seeking to disrupt supply lines. Moscow typically describes all Ukrainian drone strikes as unsuccessful, regardless of the damage on the ground, but claimed that its own forces had attacked four Ukrainian attack boats in the Black Sea.

In a sign of how disruptive the latest Ukrainian strikes were, Russias Defence Ministry said they would not go unpunished. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said Russia was working out where the drones were launched from to try and prevent further strikes. President Vladimir Putin had been informed immediately, as would be the case in any such massive attacks, Mr Peskov said.

A firefighter works at the site of a missile strike in Kyiv (EPA)

The increase in strikes inside Russia, including repeated drone strikes on central Moscow, have brought the war home to many Russians for the first time, even as Ukrainians have spent the past 18 months under threat of airstrikes from long-range missiles and drones.

The latest strikes inside Russia coincided with Moscows largest barrage against Kyiv in months. Ukraine said its air defences had shot down 28 Russian missiles and 15 out of 16 drones fired overnight.

Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring. The enemy launched a massive, combined attack using drones and missiles, Serhiy Popko, the head of the citys military administration, said on Telegram.

Back in Moscow, the Kremlin said that it will not conduct an investigation under international rules into the plane crash that killed the Wagner mercenary group founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin. In this case there can be no talk of any international aspect, Mr Peskov said, but he did suggest that deliberate wrongdoing is among the possible causes.

The private Embraer jet on which Mr Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of the capital killing all 10 people on board on 23 August, including two other top Wagner figures, Mr Prigozhins four bodyguards and a crew of three.

That was two months to the day since Mr Prigozhin began a mutiny against President Putin, with his forces marching towards Moscow. The uprising ended 24 hours later after a deal was struck between the Wagner founder and the Kremlin  but a number of Western leaders have suggested that Mr Putin would not let that embarrassment stand. The Kremlin has claimed any suggestion the Russian leader was involved in the killing is an absolute lie.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
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Watch footage of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin's grave in a Russian cemetery from a feed streamed live on Wednesday, 30 August.

The mercenary chief was buried quietly, in a ceremony that took place away from media, on the outskirts of his hometown St Petersburg on Tuesday, six days after he was killed in a plane crash.

"The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich took place in a closed format. Those who wish to say goodbye may visit Porokhovskoye cemetery," his press service said on Telegram.

Prigozhin's grave has been covered with flowers and is being guarded with a strong presence of police officers and members of the Rosgvardiya national guard.

The Kremlin has described suggestions that president Vladimir Putin ordered Prigozhin's death as revenge for the June mutiny as an "absolute lie."

"We all know that the Kremlin has a long history of killing opponents," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

"It's very clear what happened here."
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Google Meet will now let an AI attend a meeting for you.

The company is rolling out its Duet AI which integrates artificial intelligence into Google Meet, its video chat service.

It brings a whole host of features with it: it can automatically improve the look, lighting and sound of a video caller, for instance, and detect peoples faces so that they do not appear far away in meeting rooms. It will automatically generate captions in 18 languages, detecting what is being spoken and showing translation in real time.

But perhaps most notable is a system that can use artificial intelligence to watch meetings and then recap them. Users can delegate note taking, so that an automatically generated summary of a meeting is sent to attendees when a meeting is over.

And if someone arrives late to a meeting, they will be able to see a summary so far that will catch them up with everything that has been said.

If they do not want to attend the meeting at all, they can choose attend for me, sending the AI to the meeting in behalf, passing on any message or input and then sending a recap after it is over.

Artificial intelligence in meetings has proven controversial in recent weeks. A new change to Zooms rules led to fears that it was using private calls to train its AI systems  and while the company denied it, it caused a run of concern about whether meetings were really private.

Google said that when using the Duet tool no other user will see your data and Google does not use your data to train our models without your permission. All interactions with the Duet AI are private to you, Google said.
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The April 2020 supermoon will be the biggest and brightest of 2020 as its elliptical orbit brings it closer to the Earth in more than a year.

On 7-8 April, the full moon will reach as close as 356,907km (221,772 miles), and will appear most impressive at moonrise on Tuesday and moonset on Wednesday.

Clear skies in the UK, combined with unusually low air pollution due to the coronavirus lockdown, make it one of the best opportunities in years to view the rare celestial phenomenon. Heres how to take the perfect picture of it:

Use a landmark to get perspective

Everyone will be taking pictures of the supermoon by itself, but some of the best pictures show the moon next to a land mark or trees and houses, which is what helps to give the picture a sense of place, says Nasas senior photographer, Bill Ingalls. Think of how to be creative  that means tying it into some land-based object. It can be a local landmark or anything to give your photo a sense of place.

9 best images of the 2016 supermoon Show all 9 1 / 9 9 best images of the 2016 supermoon 9 best images of the 2016 supermoon The moon rises over the O2 Arena in south-east London PA 9 best images of the 2016 supermoon A commerical jet flies in front of the moon on its approach to Heathrow airport in west London on November 13, 2016. AFP/Getty Images 9 best images of the 2016 supermoon A super moon rises over the Statue of Freedom on the Capitol dome in Washington, DC November 13, 2016. AFP 9 best images of the 2016 supermoon The "supermoon", the closest the moon comes to Earth since 1948, rises over the Power and Light building in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., November 13, 2016 Reuters 9 best images of the 2016 supermoon A woman sits on the rooftop terrace of a house during the "supermoon" in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, November 13, 2016 Reuters 9 best images of the 2016 supermoon The moon rises behind the eagle sculpture high atop LeVeque Tower in Columbus, Ohio, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016 AP 9 best images of the 2016 supermoon The moon rises beyond the Arch in St. Louis as seen from the Compton Hill Water Tower on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016 AP 9 best images of the 2016 supermoon The moon rises behind Reunion Tower in downtown Dallas, Sunday evening, Nov. 13, 2016. AP 9 best images of the 2016 supermoon The moon rises over the harbor of the costal town of Lambert's Bay, South Africa, Monday, Nov. 14, 2016 AP

Pick the best spot

Location isnt everything, but it can definitely help with getting a perfect picture of the supermoon if you have time to plan it. You can look up the best monuments or statues in your area to photograph the image of the moon against, like Mr Ingalls does in Washington D.C., where he lives. It means doing a lot of homework. I use Google Maps and other apps  even a compass  to plan where to get just the right angle at the right time, he told Nasa.

Use an app to find the moon

Unless you're an astronomer, the best way to know where the moon will rise or set is to use a app on your smartphone to locate it. There are several free or cheap options you can choose from, each using your phone's inbuilt accelerometer to know which way you're facing.

The apps can also tell you what phase the moon is in, while some even give other celestial details, like the location of planets and star constellations. Decent options for iOS and Android devices include Star Chart, Sky Safari and Skyview.

Get the right exposure

If youre using a camera where you can control the shutter speed, dont go for a long exposure even though the picture will be taken in low light, National Geographic photographer Mark Thiessen told the magazine, as it will lose any chance of capturing lunar detail and make the moon itself appear too bright.

April's supermoon will offer the biggest and brightest view of the full moon in over a year (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

If youre taking a picture on your camera, control the light balance by first tapping the screen where the moon appears to get the camera to focus on the object before dragging your finger up and down to play with the exposure. Youll usually want to drag it down for underexposure to be sure you have all the highlight detail, National Geographic photographer Michael Christopher Brown said.

Use a tripod for your camera or rest your phone on a solid surface

David Reneke, an astronomer and writer for Australian science magazine told ABC.net that if youre using an SLR or DSLR then its important to play with aperture settings on your camera to photograph the supermoon, but that using a tripod is essential.

Its worth using a tripod for taking pictures with a smartphone too, as any camera shake can compromise the quality of the pictures  but if you dont have one to hand you can simply rest your phone on a window ledge.

For older smartphones that use a digital zoom rather than an optical zoom, its generally best not to use the zoom as it could compromise the quality of the image. Instead, take the picture and then crop it.

Newer phones like the Huawei P30 and P40 series feature incredible zoom capabilities that can take detailed pictures of far away objects. Other cameras come with special features to improve pictures of the night sky, such as the Google Pixel 4s Astro mode.
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At the height of holiday season travellers are still facing disruption following a failure of the main air-traffic control system across the UK.

As a result of the system failure on bank holiday Monday, almost 1,600 flights were cancelled  grounding around 250,000 holidaymakers.

On Tuesday, around 300 departures were cancelled as airlines struggled with aircraft and crew being out of position.

Wednesday has seen further disruption for holidaymakers, with more than 2,000 flights grounded in total.

Many stranded travellers have been left wondering whether they can claim compensation and what airlines are required to do to help them. Others are concerned about future holidays and how long before things will return to normal.

During an Ask Me Anything session for The Independent, travel correspondent Simon Calder tackled a wide range of questions from readers worried about their holiday plans and how they would be impacted by the outage.

The last week of August is a time of high demand for air travel, especially from returning holidaymakers, so many people have been affected.

Here are seven questions answered by Simon.

Q: We had our flights with Ryanair from France to Manchester cancelled on Monday. Rebooked new flights with them as soon as we heard but werent any available until Saturday. Will we be entitled to compensation for the additional five days accommodation, car parking charges at Manchester airport or loss of earnings at work?

SuzanneF

A: Will we be entitled to compensation for the additional five days accommodation? Yes, as well as meals, but keep the receipts and make sure they are itemised.

Car parking charges at Manchester airport? Possibly, but some car parking firms are letting people off if their flights are delayed.

Loss of earnings at work? No.

Q: Should I be worried about a holiday booked for September with easyJet? How long will it take for things to return to normal? Thank you

Zasha

A: Have no worries about travel plans in September.

From all points of view you have made a good decision  anyone who does not have to holiday in August should not do so, to reduce the stress on themselves (and everyone else who has no choice).

September is a perfect month in many parts of Europe, particularly the Mediterranean.

Q: We were informed that our Jet2 flight out to Gran Canaria and subsequent holiday were cancelled not because of the NATS issue, but because the knock on delay meant although the fresh crew could fly their first sector (and us) out, they would be out of hours to complete the return and be stuck away from Bristol. As the company has apparently decided not to fly our flight, can compensation be claimed for this as it was a Jet2 scheduling decision not as a direct cause of the NATS problem?

Markhamm

A: An interesting question, but I am afraid that the airline can mount the reasonable explanation as follows: that the extreme disarray caused by Mondays air-traffic control collapse, and in the process of trying to recover the schedule it is not feasible to night stop the crew and aircraft in Gran Canaria.

Q: Can we claim compensation under EU regulations or is this situation exempt because it is considered extraordinary? Our flight from Amsterdam was cancelled at very short notice on Monday night. Next earliest EasyJet flight available is Thursday evening. Has caused us stress and expense. I will claim for accommodation and food costs from easyJet and hope they pay up without any quibbling. Can we also claim compensation under EU rules?

Concerned

A: Sorry to hear about your situation and stress. Sadly, European air passengers rights rules on compensation (which would be 220 for a short hop from Amsterdam to the UK) do not apply when the airline is not responsible.

But I am concerned to read: Earliest easyJet flight available is Thursday evening. That is entirely irrelevant. Plenty of other planes as well as ferries and trains are going from Amsterdam to the UK, and easyJet must cover the cost of getting you home as soon as possible.

Whatever the cause of a cancellation, and regardless of the amount of notice that is given, you can insist upon replacement transport: the airline must get you to your destination as soon as possible if that is what you want.

If you are flown to a different arrival airport, the airline must also meet reasonable onward travel costs.

More information here.

Q: Why not advise people to holiday in their own country? England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are great.

Drew

A: I couldnt agree more: this has been an absolutely awful summer for many airline passengers, and many holidays have been spoilt by stress and upset due to the repeated problems for UK travellers.

Holidaying in the UK and Ireland is an excellent idea, with minimal travel problems (so long as you are not relying on rail and caught up in the current series of rail strikes).

Q: Our BA flight for our family of 4 out of Gothenburg was cancelled on Monday (just before boarding) and the earliest re-booking we could get is on Friday. We had a separate weekend trip booked with another airline to depart on Friday morning, a flight which we will now miss. Will BA be obliged to cover the (400!) fee for changing our Friday flights with the other airline? Also, will BA cover our hotel costs till Friday in Gothenburg? What else are we entitled to?

Alice

A: British Airways is responsible for covering your hotel and meal costs (no alcohol). More importantly, you are entitled to get home on any airline that can take you. I am seeing lots of options via Copenhagen, Helsinki and Amsterdam. BA should be rebooking you.

Q: We had our flight cancelled from Antalya to Manchester with Sun Express on Monday afternoon after sitting in the airport for eight hours. It was rescheduled for Wednesday 30 at 9.50am but we have just been told it has been cancelled again until tomorrow 31 August. How long can we be left here? As a family of four we will have at least three days loss of earnings, can we claim this in any way?

Louise

A: Sorry to hear it. There are many ways of getting back from Antalya to the UK, for example with connecting flights via Istanbul or a Continental European city. Whatever the cost, the airline must meet it if they are unable to get you back direct before Thursday.

You may ultimately be able to claim from Nats, the air-traffic control service, but that looks only a slim possibility at present.

These questions and answers were part of an Ask Me Anything hosted by Simon Calder at 9am BST on Wednesday 30 August Some of the questions and answers have been edited for this article. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article.

During times of travel chaos, The Independents travel correspondant Simon Calder is here to provide unparalleled advice to holidaymakers. You can sign up to Simons newsletter by clicking here.

Simon also sends a weekly Ask Me Anything newsletter exclusive to Independent Premium subscribers, where he answers your ravel questions. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, head here to find out more.
 Close Simon Calder on air traffic control chaos - how to get refunds, compensation

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Airlines have demanded compensation reform as air traffic control chaos has seen 2,000 flights cancelled across Europe.

More than 2,000 flights have been cancelled in the last three days, following an hours-long air control system failure that sent flight schedules into meltdown and left thousands of travellers stranded.

Industry body Iata projected a 100m loss in revenue for airlines as customers reclaim the costs for food, accommodation and alternative travel, urging the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to review the compensation system and make the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) contribute to the cost.

Its very unfair because the air traffic control system, which was at the heart of this failure, doesnt pay a single penny, Willie Walsh, the director general of Iata, told the BBC.

He added that the UK should look at the way passenger compensation is dealt with to ensure that the people who are responsible for the delays and cancellations ultimately bear the costs.

The UKs air traffic control boss, Martin Rolfe, said the glitch  caused by dodgy flight data  has been fixed and will not occur in the future.

Have you been affected by delays? If so email maanya.sachdeva@independent.co.uk
Prince Harry surprised cinema-goers as he made an unexpected appearance at the premiere of his Invictus Games Netflix documentary.

The Duke of Sussex spoke at the theatre in Chula Vista, California on Monday night (28 August) and also took selfies with a number of people in attendance.

He joked with the audience of veterans and their family members that it was nice of you to dress up for the occasion.

The crowd cheered his arrival before they were shown two episodes of Heart of Invictus, Harrys new series that follows veterans as they prepare for the Invictus Games.
Ahora el premier Alberto Otarola sustenta en la @ComisionConsti2 la solicitud de delegacion de facultades legislativas en:



? Seguridad ciudadana

? Gestion de riesgo de desastres

? Infraestructura social y calidad de proyectos

? Meritocracia pic.twitter.com/qCaMaUECzL
James Cleverly has vowed to continue to raise human rights issues in his talks with the Chinese government.

The Foreign Secretary said that he had spoken to officials amid concerns about the treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang province.

His visit has been criticised by Tories who want a tougher line against China, which has sanctioned British MPs and peers for speaking out about human rights violations.

I think the Chinese government understand the UK is consistent in our approach, Mr Cleverly said.

Mr Cleverlys trip was the first visit by a UK foreign secretary to China for five years.
Senior military officers appeared on Gabon national television to announce a coup following the countrys presidential election in the early hours of Wednesday, 30 August.

Soldiers spoke on Gabon 24 minutes after the state election body announced President Ali Bongo won a third term, declaring that they represented all security and defence forces in the Central African nation.

Officers claimed that election results were cancelled, all borders closed until further notice, and state institutions dissolved.

Bongos team rejected allegations of fraud by Albert Ondo Ossam, who came in second place, and his opposition alliance after a vote marred by numerous polling stations opening several hours late.
Gabon president Ali Bongo pleaded for support and called for citizens to make noise in a video from his residence, shared on Wednesday 30 August.

The military in Gabon says it has seized power and placed the president under house arrest, a move that threatens the end of more than five decades in power for the Bongo family.

Senior officers appeared on national TV to declare the coup, stepping in minutes after the central African states election body announced Mr Bongo had won a third term in a disputed election.

Im calling you to make noise, Mr Bongo said, pleading for support from his home.
Hurricane Idalia battered a resort on the Florida island of Key West.

Storm Idalia strengthened into a hurricane on Tuesday, 29 August and is expected to rapidly intensify before making landfall along the western coast of Florida on Wednesday.

Idalia is expected to be a historic event with life-threatening storm surges of up to 15 feet from tonight into Wednesday in the Big Bend area, according to authorties.

The latest National Weather Service update for Key West states: A Tropical Storm Watch remains in effect for the Lower Florida Keys, from the west end of the Seven Mile Bridge through Key West.
An NBC News photographer battled wind gusts of 100mph as he reported from Florida amid Hurricane Idalias landfall.

Paul Rigney was on the ground in Perry at just after 8am on Wednesday 30 August when he was nearly blown off his feet.

The gust was so severe it lifted me, my camera and tripod off the ground. Hence the wobble halfway through, Mr Rigney tweeted, responding to a video shared on Twitter of his report.

He also explained that a billboard close to him collapsed in roaring winds.
A power outage in Tallahassee, Florida, caused by Hurricane Idalia was captured during a live TV broadcast.

Journalist Forrest Saunders was caught in the blackout as he spoke on the impact of the storm on Wednesday 30 August.

We just lost power, he exclaimed, as the lights around him went out.

If you cant see me, I apologise.

Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 on Wednesday morning, bringing catastrophic storm surge to parts of Florida.

The storm is now Category 1 after losing power as it moves inland towards Georgia and South Carolina.
Sir Richard Branson has said he believes airlines will have to pay compensation to passengers who are affected by the widespread flight disruption, even though the problem was caused by air traffic control failure.

The fallout from Mondays UK air traffic control failure continues to disrupt travel, with the government telling airlines to take every step to help stranded passengers.

About a quarter of a million passengers have been caught up in the bank holiday chaos after a technical problem at Nats, which runs UK air traffic control systems, severely limited takeoffs and landings for a number of hours.
Footage shows the moment a brazen thief on an electric bike snatched a womans phone in broad daylight, metres away from The Ritz Hotel.

The dash cam video shows the mugger speeding through traffic next to Londons Green Park early on 25 August.

After mounting the pavement, he rides up to a lone woman, snatching her phone out of her hand and riding away.

The woman was left on the floor as the thief sped off on his bike through the morning traffic.
Eight years ago, George Osborne, the then chancellor, visited China. Then, the talk was of a golden era in Anglo-Chinese relations and the UK promising to be Beijings number one partner in the West.

Much has happened since then, notably Chinas crackdown on civil rights in the UKs former colony of Hong Kong. Since then, relations have been decidedly unfriendly.

Now, the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, is visiting Beijing, paving the way for a bilateral meeting between the countries two leaders at the forthcoming G20 summit in New Delhi. The relationship is back on, albeit not to the same degree of closeness wished for by Osborne.
Hotel firm reported a record set of first-half results with earnings of 103m

The expiration of the 9pc Vat rate for the hospitality sector tomorrow will have a significant impact on pubs and restaurants facing high energy costs and a 12pc rise in the minimum wage from next January, according to the chief executive of Irelands largest hotel group, Dalata.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. The Russian community of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) has held a meeting in the Stepanakert Culture and Youth Palace.

Alexander Bordov, the Head of the Russian Community, said in his speech that the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is now facing a difficult situation and praised the Nagorno-Karabakh residents for their resilience and willpower in honorably withstanding the challenges.

Of course, we remember that it wasnt easy for our grandfathers and fathers, because the entire history of the holy land of Karabakh has been a struggle for freedom, life, and the right to live on your own ancestral land, Bordov said.

Both the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Russian peacekeepers are facing a difficult, crisis situation, he said.

We must definitely stand on the same side of the barricades today, he added.

Of course we dont have anything against the population of Azerbaijan, but we are against the blockade that has been continuing for 206 days and the other actions by the Azerbaijani military-political leadership taken in the Karabakh land, contrary to the trilateral statement. This all, as well as historical memory about the tragic events in Sumgait, Baku and Nagorno-Karabakh when cruel crimes were committed against the Armenian population, dictates the impossibility of being part of Azerbaijan and coexistence in these conditions, the wounds of losses are too deep, Bordov said.

He called on everyone to contribute to having a safe and prosperous Artsakh.

The representatives of the Russian community attached importance to the Armenian-Russian friendship and discussed options for resolving the situation resulting from the blockade.
SMBC Aviation Capital is advancing plans with Trinity College researchers

Globally aviation would rank in the top 10 emitters of greenhouse gases if counted as a single country, the European Commission says. Stock image

Plans have been lodged with Dublin City Council for a sustainable aviation fuel research facility that aims to show the way in how to convert leaves, grasses and household waste into sustainable aviation fuel.

Leading aircraft lessor SMBC Aviation Capital Ltd has lodged the application and the facility is to be advanced in collaboration with researchers from Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

It is to be housed in SMBC Aviations Dublin HQ at Fitzwilliam Street Lower in Dublin 2.

A planning report drawn up by Stephen Little & Associates and lodged with the application states that Prof Stephen Dooley and Dr Mohammad Reza Ghanni from the TCD School of Physics state that the work performed in the laboratory will learn how to convert leaves, grasses, straws, household waste, even carbon dioxide itself  all things we throw away today, into fuels that are sustainable and can be used in aviation.

The planning report says that the research facility is an analytical chemistry laboratory which will perform microscopic testing in support of research towards sustainable aviation fuel.

The planning report further contends that the proposed fit out of internal office space for a sustainable aviation fuel research facility aligns with the current use of the building as an office and thus no material of use is proposed.

The Stephen Little & Associates report states that SMBC Aviation Capital is determined to take a leadership role in connecting R&D with industry while making a meaningful contribution to decarbonising aviation and seek opportunities for concrete action in developing sustainable fuels.

The report states that TCD has significant capability in the field of sustainable aviation fuel research and this collaboration is considered to be a unique opportunity to help progress the study of sustainable aviation fuels.

The report points out that aviation is one of the most difficult human activities to decarbonise.

The report states that sustainable aviation fuels will provide the major share of aviation energy globally into 2050 and beyond. The report says: Aviation accounts for 3.5pc of human induced global warming. Decarbonising aviation thus hinges on massive deployment of sustainable aviation fuels.

The report states that Ireland commands 60pc of the global aviation leasing market with 14 of the top 15 lessors based here while TCD has an internationally known research facility in fuels and energy science.

SMBC Aviation Capital operates 894 owned and managed aircraft which earned $341m (318m) profit in the 12 months to March 31.

SMBC completed a deal to buy rival Goshawk during the year. The purchase, which included Goshawks leasing business, assets and liabilities, was valued at $6.7bn.

That underlying profit excluded a $1.1bn loss stemming from the termination of agreements covering the lease of 34 aircraft to Russian airlines to comply with EU sanctions.

Japans Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Sumitomo Corporation owns SMBC.
The Biden administration yesterday released its list of 10 prescription medicines that will be subject to the first-ever price negotiations by the US Medicare health program that covers 66 million people, with big-selling blood thinner Eliquis from Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer among them.
Local farmer Mykola, 63, touches wheat grains inside a storage of his farm that was damaged last year by Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near a frontline in the village of Velykomykhailivka in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine August 15, 2023. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi

Wheat from European Union nations bordering the Black Sea is trading cheaper than rival origins like Russia, raising its relative attractiveness for buyers.

Russia the world's top wheat exporter has tried to maintain an unofficial price floor while tightening its hold on the world's wheat supplies following its invasion of Ukraine, but bumper stocks elsewhere have lowered costs.

As a result, countries that previously bought wheat mainly from Russia are starting to turn to cheaper competitors.

"Russian wheat has lost its competitive edge because of the price floor and the competition with Romania and Bulgaria," said Andrey Sizov, managing director at research firm SovEcon. Those countries have a big crop and high carryover stocks, he said. Crops in Romania and Bulgaria make up about a fifth of EU production.

Egypt bought 60,000 tons of Romanian wheat last week, after tenders earlier this season had been dominated by Russia. Romania, along with Bulgaria and three other eastern members of the European Union plan to ask the bloc's executive to prolong a ban on grain imports from Ukraine until the end of the year, after a glut on their markets has angered farmers.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin next week to discuss reviving the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine to ship from its ports.

Wheat rose from the lowest level since early June as hostilities between Ukraine and Russia ramped up again in the key Black Sea waterway.

Futures in Chicago gained as much as 0.7% on Wednesday after losing more than 6% over the previous four sessions. A military plane destroyed four speed boats with Ukrainian soldiers in the Black Sea, Russia's Ministry of Defense said in a Telegram post. Tass also reported a drone attack near Sevastopol.

Conflict has escalated in the Black Sea this month after Moscow pulled out of a grain deal in July that ensured the safe passage of Ukrainian grain. Benchmark wheat futures are still about 24% lower this year following bumper harvests in some parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

Bloomberg.
Single-vehicle collision happened around 9pm on Tuesday outside the townTragedy comes less than a week after four young people died in nearby ClonmelTaoiseach Leo Varadkar offers his condolences

Tributes have been paid to the grandparents and grandson who died in a road crash in Co Tipperary last night, as they were named by gardai.

Thomas OReilly (45), his wife Bridget O'Reilly (46) and their grandson Tom OReilly (3) all lost their lives after a car collided with a wall. It happened shortly after 9pm in the Windmill Knockbulloge area of Cashel.

A man (22) and woman (22), both front occupants of the car were removed from the scene to Tipperary University Hospital, Clonmel.

Both remain in hospital today. Gardai said that the man is being treated for serious injuries, and the woman is being treated for less serious injuries. All five occupants of the car were members of the same family.

Family friend of the deceased speaks on the tragedy that took place in Cashel

A family liaison officer has been appointed to the family to provide support and gardai said that they will be kept updated as to the course of the investigation.

Superintendent Kieran Ruane this afternoon extended his sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

He said that he met with the extended family members of the crash victims this morning.

"I have spoken with the family of the deceased this morning, a family that is devastated by this terrible incident.

I assured the family and I want to assure the community that local gardai here in South Tipperary are here to support them and the community, as we all come to terms with this tragedy over the coming days, weeks and months.

He stated that: "The road at Windmill remains closed today and a technical and forensic examination is being carried out by An Garda Siochana Forensic Collision investigators.

An incident room has been established at Cahir Garda Station.

The area has been left reeling after the second multiple road deaths tragedy in the past week.

Four young people from the nearby town of Clonmel lost their lives on their way to a Leaving Cert party last week.

The single vehicle collision occurred shortly before 9pm this evening when a car hit a wall in the Windmill Knockbulloge area of Cashel, Co. Tipperary, the force said in an updated statement issued shortly after midnight.

Gardai can confirm three fatalities as a result of this collision. The adult male and adult female rear seat passengers, both aged in their 40s, were pronounced deceased at the scene. Their bodies have been removed to University Hospital Waterford where a post mortem will take place in due course.

A three-year-old infant boy, was also fatally injured during the collision; the body of the infant boy has been taken to Tipperary University Hospital, Clonmel.

Gardai said the adult male driver and adult female front seat passenger of the car, both aged in their 20s, have been taken to Tipperary University Hospital where they continue to be treated for serious injuries.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar offered his condolences to the people affected by the tragedy.

My sincere condolences to the friends and family of the people killed in the road incident in Cashel. May they rest in peace, he said.

My thoughts are with everyone in Tipperary with this awful news coming so soon after the tragic deaths in Clonmel.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin said the incident near Cashel last night was a devastating loss of life.

The enormous sense of shock and grief in the community is shared by people across the country, he said.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family who have suffered so much, their neighbours and friends.

Sinn Fein TD Martin Browne, who has been speaking with the family, said they are heartbroken and that the town will rally around them in support.

The family, they've been in Cashel all their lives. They'd be a very quiet family who have always kept to themselves.

"They're a big family but they would have been well known around Cashel town and the area.

We've seen it in Clonmel over the last week how the families and town have rallied together, I've no doubt Cashel will rally together in support of the families over the next couple of days up to the time of the funerals.

Wed encourage the media to give them a small bit of privacy, theyre a private family. Having spoken to them they just wish to get on with grieving their loved ones.

"It's heart-breaking, they're heartbroken about it. You just don't expect when someone goes away that the next thing you get is a knock on the door from the emergency services to say that theres been an accident, especially when you've a three year old involved.

He added: "It's just numbness and shock all around the area, just 16 miles down the road we had it last week in Clonmel, were faced with it in Cashel this week.

We'll rally behind the lads and get them over the next couple of days, he added.

Gardai tells of devastation after deaths of three members of one family in Cashel collision

Mags Casey, a co-ordinator at Tipperary Rural Travellers Project has known the family for 23 years. Speaking with RTEs News at One, she said: the traveller community all over Ireland is devastated and numb at this particular time.

Ms Casey said that the grandparents were parents to 10 children.

They were the most kind, humble and caring parents Ive ever come across in my life.

Any child would love to have a father and mother like this man and woman.

Meanwhile, Sinn Feins First Minister Michelle ONeill said she was so saddened to learn of the harrowing tragedy in Cashel.

I offer my heartfelt condolences to the loved ones of the deceased. Please know that the people of Clonmel, Cashel and wider community are in our thoughts and prayers at this very sad and distressing time, she said.

Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly, who has an office based in Clonmel where a separate car accident killed four young people on Friday, offered his sympathies to the bereaved families and the people of Tipperary.

This is very sad altogether. Following tragedy in Clonmel, where my office is based, and now another in Cashel, sincere sympathy to the grieving families & the nice people of Tipperary. Go gcuidi Dia sibh.

News of the tragedy was only filtering through the area on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, leaving local people reeling.

Local Fianna Fail councillor from Cashel Roger Kennedy described the incident as an awful tragedy.

They are a family known locally and its an awful tragedy for them, coming on top of the tragedy in Clonmel earlier in the week, he said.

My sympathies to the family. Its a terrible tragedy for three family members to die in a horrific car accident. To the two people that are injured, I wish them a speedy recovery.

Cllr Kennedy said there will be and there will need to be ongoing support for the family from the local community in Cashel.

There will be great support from the family and from the community. But it is an awful tragedy, he said.

Co Tipperary-based priest Fr Michael Toomey offered his condolences to those affected and said there are no words.

Our Tipperary county suffers again. Thoughts and prayers for those who have died in tonights tragedy in Cashel, he wrote on social media.

Local Fine Gael councillor in Cashel and cathaoirleach of the Cashel Municipal District Cllr Declan Burgess said it was awful news.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families involved. It is a devastating blow for our community, he said.

Local Independent TD Mattie McGrath said: More heartbreak for our community as a number of people are believed to have been killed in a crash near Cashel. My thoughts and prayers are with all those involved, their families and the emergency services dealing with another tragic event.

The road in Windmill Knockbulloge is currently closed to traffic with local diversions in place.

The road will remain closed this morning and is not expected to reopen for some time.

Gardai, Cashel Fire Services and the HSE Ambulance Service remained at the scene, while Garda Forensic Collision Investigators (FCI) are attending the scene this morning to conduct an examination.

An incident room has been established at Cahir Garda Station and a senior investigating officer has been appointed to lead the investigation, with gardai appealing for any witnesses to contact them.

Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling in the Windmill Knockbulloge area near Cashel between 8.30pm and 9.15pm this evening are asked to make this footage available to Gardai, they said.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Cahir Garda station on 052 617 7640, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.

The news comes just days after the nearby town of Clonmel was left reeling at the deaths of three Leaving Cert students and one of their brothers at the Mountain Road in the town on Friday evening.

Zoey Coffey, Nikki Murphy and Grace McSweeney (18) and Luke McSweeney (24) died when the car being driven by Luke overturned as they made their way to a celebration of the girls Leaving Cert results. Their funerals will take place in the coming days.
A model citizen was caught red-handed with a variety of drugs worth over 70,000 in north Dublin, it is alleged.

Sam Collins (28), an electrician who was described in court as a working Joe, is accused of having drugs including ecstasy and ketamine following a garda search.
The transition to college is tricky. Here is expert advice on how to make the most of the third-level adventure. Their top tip is that in order to success, you must attend your lectures

What does it take to succeed in your first year at college? Starting college is one of the biggest adventures in a persons life; like all adventures, it will have highs and lows.

Here, two experts share advice on making the most of the highs as well the skills needed to navigate any lows. They offer practical examples of how students in TU Dublin can make the most of it, but the same principles apply to any student in any college

One of the biggest hurdles for first-year students is getting to know their new campus and where to go if they need help or support.

To prepare, we strongly recommend that students visit their prospective colleges before they begin, follow their social media accounts and look at their websites.

For instance, TU Dublin hosts information evenings for parents and guardians of first-years to ensure they understand the support structures available, so be sure to find out about similar events in your college. These small steps will go a long to help you feel connected to your new community.

Tip One: In TU Dublin, we enrol all incoming students on the Student Success Module, an online tool to help students transition into college life; many colleges will have similar offerings, so make the most of them before orientation.

Youre not alone.

There is no better way to connect and create the foundations of solid friendships than sharing a life-changing experience like starting college. While each students adventure is unique to them, what youre feeling will be shared by many of your peers.

Tip Two: Go to your orientations and join in all the events during freshers week.

Connecting from the start will be a major step in succeeding at college.

In TU Dublin, we have a special section on the website called Getting Started, with lots of advice; other colleges will have similar guidance, so check these out and start scheduling your first few weeks at college. If you are a mature, Hear, or Dare candidate, you will likely be invited to a pre-orientation event to learn about specific supports and meet college staff and other students.

Dont be afraid to ask questions, and keep an eye on your calendar.

Universities often use their own terms or words; for example, at TU Dublin, an exam can be called an assessment, and a semester is what we use instead of a term.

If you hear a word you dont understand in class, please ask your lecturer what they mean. A college semester is also shorter than secondary school, typically 12 teaching weeks; it really flies, so it is important to be mindful of college calendars and important dates on assessments and exams.

Tip Three: Get organised quickly and manage your time; it is important to factor in all the time you have committed, with a part-time job, commuting, lectures and labs, exam dates, assessment deadlines and, of course, your free time to relax and unwind.

Its not rocket science.

Well, it might be for some of you, but to succeed at college, you must attend classes. You also need to make time for independent study. A good rule of thumb is to allow two hours for every one hour of lectures and labs.

This will give you a better sense of how much contact and independent study hours you must plan for. There is lots of support to help you get started.

Tip Four: Do a library tour as soon as possible and learn about the academic support your college provides. At TU Dublin, we have a whole area dedicated to Student Success, including Library Services, an Academic Writing & Learning Centre, a Maths Learning Centre, Access and Disability Support Services.

Be kind to yourself and others.

When starting college, being kind to yourself and others is important. Its a huge transition, and life happens. Ask for assistance if you are having difficulties with academic or personal issues. Half the battle is to recognise that there is a difficulty, and more often or not, the solution can only be achieved with the help of others such as friends, family, support staff, lecturers or the students union.

Get to know the services your college offers because getting help sooner rather than later can help decrease stress and assist in finding a better solution.

The more information you have, the better equipped you will be to tackle any problems you or a friend might experience. A great community is built on the kindness and acceptance of its members. So, step up and create a thriving community in your college.

Tip Five: Get to know what support is available and register with them. For example, in TU Dublin, all our campuses have free medical and counselling services. We also have pastoral and career services that can help you manage the transition and thrive at college. Community is extremely important to us at TU Dublin, and it is important that first-years begin building relationships and networks. For example, the TU Dublin Access Orientation Programme connects first-year students with more experienced students and Access Alumni, highlighting the benefit of immersing yourself in your new university community.

Remember, this year is what you decide to make of it.

Dr Rachel OConnor, Deputy Head of Student Support, TU Dublin. Grainne Burke, Senior Manager Student Support, TU Dublin
A fourth person has died on Irish roads in just 12 hours, bringing the road death tally to ten people in the last five days.

Gardai are appealing for witnesses after a man was killed in a road crash in Co Donegal.

The single-vehicle collision occurred at Carrowreagh, Bridge End, between 8.30am to 9am on Tuesday morning.

The driver of the car  a man in his 40s  was pronounced dead at the scene.

His body has been removed to the mortuary at Letterkenny University Hospital.

The road in Carrowreagh was closed while Garda Forensic Collision Investigators carried out a technical examination of the scene.

Gardai said it has since reopened.

A spokesperson said: Gardai are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to contact them.

Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam), and who were travelling in the Bridge End to Killea area between 8.00am and 9.30am on Tuesday 29th August, are asked to make this footage available to Gardai.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Buncrana Garda Station on 074 932 0540, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station, the spokesperson added.

It has been a tragic week on Irish roads with the deaths of three people  grandparents and their three-year-old grandson - in a road crash outside Cashel, Tipperary on Tuesday night.

The incident occurred shortly before 9pm this evening when a car hit a wall

Just days earlier, four young people lost their lives in the Clonmel area of Tipperary when the car they were travelling in crash last Friday night on the way to celebrate Leaving Cert results.

Meanwhile, two men died in motorbike crashes over the weekend.

A man from Banagher, Co Offaly, died when his motorcycle was involved in a single vehicle collision at Mullaghatour, Belmont on Sunday.

A second motorcyclist, a man in his 40s, died in a collision at Junction 1 Southbound of the M1/M50 slip road in Dublin on Sunday evening.
When she was 17, Emma was at a social event with her school. A male teacher asked her to dance. Hed been suggestive before, but I agreed, she said.

When dancing, he grabbed my ass and then tried to kiss me. I ran off to my friends, and we laughed about it. Later, he licked my neck when we were all drinking shots at a table. At the time I thought it was a joke, but I was 17. It was horrible, and I still think about it, and it makes my skin crawl.
Experts to examine confirmed cases of potentially life-threatening condition

The HSE has insisted that the number of potentially life-threatening head injuries suffered by newborn babies at a major hospital last year was within accepted limits.

However, health chiefs are still refusing to say exactly how many instances of the injury  known as subgaleal haemorrhage  occurred during the delivery of babies at University Hospital Galway (UHG). It comes almost a week after the Irish Independent revealed a probe had been launched there.

Experts from outside the hospital have been drafted in to examine cases where newborn babies were diagnosed with the rare and potentially lethal condition, which is a bleed under the skin of the head outside of the skull.

The injury is usually associated with difficult deliveries involving a vacuum cup, known as a ventouse.

It has been associated with seizures, brain damage, cerebral palsy and development disabilities when not recognised or treated properly but according to the Saolta University Healthcare Group, which runs UHG, all infants subject to the review were discharged home safe and well.

The Irish Independent is aware of reports of at least three subgaleal haemorrhages at the hospital last year, but neither Saolta nor the HSE would confirm the precise number.

In a statement, all the HSE would say was that the number of cases was small and within published accepted limits.

The HSE said the review was prompted by a slight increase in such cases in 2022 and was in keeping with good practice and assurance of quality of care.

It also said it was unable to provide data on how many cases were notified nationally last year as this data has not been validated.

National guidelines on best practice are still being developed, the HSE said.

Saolta has its own clinical guidelines in place regarding the detection and management of potential subgaleal haemorrhage in a newborn baby.

The external review is being conducted by the National Women and Infants Health Programme, a HSE programme set up in 2017 to lead the management, organisation and delivery of maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services in Ireland.

The HSE statement said the review team comprised of obstetrical, neonatal and midwifery expertise and was external to Galway and the Saolta Hospital Group.

Dr Sam Coulter-Smith, chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said the incidence rate for subgaleal haemorrhages was about one in every 200 deliveries where a ventouse is used.

A subgaleal haemorrhage is a bleed that occurs underneath the skin of the scalp between scalp and the skull. It would normally be associated with a more difficult suction cup or ventouse delivery, he said.

Essentially, the suction cup attaches to the top of the babys head and then, as the mother pushes during a contraction, the obstetrician puts traction on the babys head and pulls it down through the pelvis.

If the cup is on for a very long time or there is a lot of pulling, then one of the complications of that can be a subgaleal haemorrhage.

A babys blood volume isnt very big, so they can lose quite a lot of blood and they can get quite sick. There have been fatalities from subgaleal haemorrhages.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS/BTA. Bulgaria should become one of the centres of the new wave of innovations based on high scientific activity, Minister of Innovation and Growth Milena Stoycheva said here on Tuesday.

According to her, this will cause more and more Bulgarians to choose the path of entrepreneurship. Small and medium-sized businesses are at the heart of the economy and it is good that more people are inspired to start working in this direction, the minister said.

Milena Stoycheva participated in a discussion forum with the business community in Shumen, dedicated to funding opportunities from the Ministry of Innovation and Growth. The meeting was hosted by Alkomet AD. The Executive Director of the InvestBulgaria Agency Hristo Etropolski, Shumen Regional Governor Dobromir Dobrev, Deputy Mayor Rositsa Antonova, and business representatives.

Stoycheva pointed out that the main task of her Ministry is to create a better environment for investments oriented towards digital transformation and the creation of products and services with high added value. She argued that this will turn Bulgaria not only into a destination for innovation, but also for human capital development. Stoycheva also said that the goal is to rebrand Bulgaria and make it a preferred location for creating new services. The Minister gave aluminium rolled and extruded products manufacturer Alcomet AD as an example of how to achieve this goal, pointing out that the company has a sustainable development plan, which helps the whole region. Stoycheva pointed out that new technologies are being introduced at the plant, which not only create greater production capacity, but also provide opportunities for people to develop and innovate in the process.

Bulgarian businesses currently have very good opportunities to apply for funding, with one of the highlights being the development of the circular economy, Stoycheva added. She recalled that contracts for investments in innovation and increasing competitiveness are already being signed for the implementation of projects under two procedures of the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The projects approved so far for the Shumen region are worth about BGN 5 million.

(This information is being published according to an agreement between Armenpress and BTA.)
One victim said he felt pressured into accepting to financial agreement

The Jesuit province in Ireland has made financial settlements with 55 victims of paedophile Joseph Marmion, who abused students at three schools.

The order told the Irish Independent eight more cases were outstanding, bringing the total to 63.

A spokeswoman said: There are no court cases pending or instituted in this regard as individuals have chosen to use the redress scheme.

A report hosted on the Jesuit website includes a letter of apology and acknowledgment from the former Jesuit Provincial Leonard Moloney SJ.

He lists the failures of the Jesuits to attend to those who had been abused by Marmion. Current provincial, Shane Daly, said he echoes every word of this apology to past pupils.

I want to thank the past pupils/survivors for their courage and commitment in engaging with the restorative process. I am aware of the huge amount of work this entailed, he said.

I am also struck by the unwavering concern of the past pupils for one another and particularly for those who have not as yet engaged. Also notable was their deep concern that what happened with Joseph Marmion should never happen again.

But Mark Harrold, a clinical psychologist and former Belvedere College student, said many wanted nothing more to do with the Jesuits.

The Irish Independent yesterday highlighted shocking stories from 62 adults who told of physical or sexual abuse by Marmion, a languages teacher who worked at Belvedere, Clongowes and Crescent colleges.

Most victims were at Belvedere, where hundreds witnessed intimidation and physical violence in the classroom, while some were sexually abused elsewhere on the campus, including the living quarters of the Jesuit community.

Mr Harrold, who has concluded his own financial settlement in the last six weeks, said on RTEs Liveline yesterday that he felt railroaded into doing so.

We know young boys were walking up and down steps to his [Marmions] bedroom at 7.30 in the morning and at 7.30 in the evening  lets face it, his cards were well marked [as an abuser] by the mid-1970s, Mr Harrold said.

And still nobody stepped up and said, Hold on, theres something wrong here.

Marmion died in 2000 and is buried in a Jesuit plot in Glasnevin Cemetery.

The restorative justice report by independent facilitators chronicles claims by members of the order that they had no idea what was going on until formal complaints of sexual abuse were made following a school trip to Vienna in 1977.

Marmion was then withdrawn from his role as a teacher of German and other languages and was appointed the following year as a chaplain at St Vincents Hospital in Dublin, where some of his victims are said to have later encountered him.

One victim told the reports authors he had himself gone on to abuse as a result of his trauma. Mr Harrold alleged others had died through alcoholism or loneliness. Most survivors are now in their late 50s to late 80s.

Mr Harrold said he knows many who will have nothing to do with the process, part of which involved victims being directed for psychiatric evaluation. However, this could have the effect of providing grounds to resist adequate compensation.

I know people who were extremely badly abused by this psychopath, Mr Harrold added. There are Jesuits who are genuinely good people who have given their lives to do good. I know that because I know them so well.
The establishment of a Just Transition Commission to ensure the costs and benefits of climate action are evenly shared has been pushed out to next year.

In the meantime, a taskforce is to be convened to advise Government on what form the commission should take.

A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment said the first meeting of the taskforce was due to take place next month.

Its members will be representatives of employers, trade unions, farmers groups, social NGOs, environmental NGOs and the National Economic and Social Council.

The Department could not put names to the representatives however, as the membership is still being finalised.

In relation to a timeline, the spokesperson said: It is expected that the taskforce will commence its work in September, with a view to delivering its recommendations in relation to the Commission by early 2024.

A temporary just transition commissioner was appointed to oversee the response to the winding down of industrial peat extraction in the Midlands.

Grant aid for retraining, new enterprise and other community development initiatives for affected workers and neighbourhoods were made available.

Government appetite for setting up a permanent, statutory just transition commissioner or commission has wavered, however, with early plans being shelved but then reactivated.

The 2023 Climate Action Plan included a commitment to establish a commission but had a target timeline of the middle of this year.

The Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) this week stressed the importance of embedding just transition in all climate action policies and measures.

CCAC member, Patricia King, a former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, wrote in the Irish Independent of the need to adequately support vulnerable households, businesses and farmers to make the changes climate action required.

As we transition to a green economy, that is one that is no longer dependent on fossil fuels, we risk the prospect of affecting low-income and marginalised communities most severely as they struggle to cope with or afford the changes necessary to adjust to our climate, she wrote.

It is vital, therefore, that- as we work to transition our society and economy, we support the most vulnerable to achieve this transformation, ensuring the transition is fair and just.

Ms King pointed out that the Scottish government had established a just transition commission which may provide a model for Ireland to follow.
Broadcaster Pat Kenny is one of four Dalkey residents that has launched a High Court challenge against An Bord Pleanala's decision to grant planning permission for a new nursing home in the South Dublin suburb.

Mr Kenny, along with Christopher Herbert, Tom Palmer and Peter Cullen have brought judicial review action challenging An Bord Pleanala's decision of July 6 to grant Bartra Property Ltd permission to construct a 104-bed nursing home on lands at Ulverton Rd and Harbour Rd, Dalkey.

In their proceedings the plaintiffs, who live near the proposed five-storey development, seek various orders and declarations including an order setting aside the board's decision which it is argued is flawed.

Among the grounds of their challenge is that the proposed nursing home will adversely impact on badgers living on the lands.

It is claimed that conditions of the permission granted by the board contradict each other.

One of the conditions requires the nursing home to be built in accordance with the plans submitted.

Another condition is the developer adheres to National Guidelines concerning the treatment of badgers and works being carried out near their setts.

It is claimed that the guidelines require that heavy machinery cannot be used within 30 metres of badger setts. The guidelines also prohibit works with lighter machinery within 20 metres, and no hand digging or clearing done within 10 metres of badger setts.

The applican's claim that if the conditions of the permission are to be complied with it would be impossible to build 60 of the proposed nursing home units.

The challenge has been brought on other grounds including that the board failed to properly take account or determine issues including the volume of extra traffic generated, parking and the capacity of local sewers generated by the proposed development before it decided to grant permission.

The board also failed to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in respect of the proposed development, the applicants also submit.

Other issues include the ability of the proposed nursing home's elderly residents to access to local services and shops in Dalkey village which is 500 metres away, and the amount of light generated by the proposed development.

In its decision, the board overturned Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council's 2021 decision to refuse to grant planning permission to Bartra.

As well as that board, the residents' action is against the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Ireland and the Attorney General.

Bartra is a notice party to the proceedings.

The proceedings were briefly mentioned before Justice Michael MacGrath during Wednesday's vacation sitting of the High Court.

The judge, following an application by the plaintiff's solicitor, Fred Logue, deemed that their application to have the board's decision judicially reviewed has been brought within the legal time limits allowed.

The matter was adjourned and will be mentioned before the court next month.
The country will vote for an extra 14 new TDs at the next general election.

The Electoral Commissions first review of the constituency boundaries has recommended the creation of 174 Dail seats for the next national vote.

This will see the number of constituencies increased by four to 43.

There will be 13 three seater constituencies which is an increase of four on the last election, 15 four seaters which is a reduction of two and 15 five seaters which is an increase of two.

Only seven constituencies will remain entirely unchanged since boundaries were last reviewed and they are; Clare, Cork South West, Donegal, Dublin Central, Kerry, Limerick County and Waterford.

Electoral Commission Chair and Supreme Court Judge Justice Marie Baker the recommendation for 174 TDs across 43 constituencies is the product of detailed analysis of constitutional and statutory limits. It arrives at a solution which best fits the needs of the country as a whole, as our population expands.

The Commission is pleased to be in a position to recommend the removal of seven of the 10 existing breaches of county boundaries, reductions in the size of two existing breaches and to propose just three new county boundary breaches in the recommended constituency composition, she said.

Thanks to all those hundreds of people, parties and organisations who shared their ideas and proposals with us. Each was considered in making our final recommendations.

This Constituency Review is the first task of Irelands new Electoral Commission, An Coimisiun Toghchain. At barely six months old, we are proud to deliver this significant democratic review of Irelands constituencies, the building blocks of our democracy, on time and in line with our statutory mandate, she added.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkars constituency of Dublin West will go from a four to a five-seater which will put pressure on the Fine Gael leader to bring in a second candidate for the first time.

The Cork South Central constituency of Tanaiste Micheal Martin, Finance Minister Michael McGrath and Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney will also increase from four to five seats

The five-seater Dublin Fingal constituency is to be split into two next three seat constituencies of Fingal West and Fingal East.

Dublin Rathdown, the constituency of three Government ministers, will see an extra seat added and part of Dun Laoghaire included into the electoral boundary.

Meath East will increase from a three-seater to a four-seater and will see electoral divisions in Cavan-Monaghan and Louth moved into the expanded constituency.

Meanwhile, Longford-Westmeath will increase from a four to five-seater and will include electoral divisions that were formally in Meath West.

The five-seat constituency of Laois-Offaly is to be split into two three seaters along county lines.

Similarly in Tipperary, the five-seat constituency will be split into two three seaters consisting of Tipperary South and Tipperary North.

The five seat Wicklow constituency which is the electoral area of Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and Higher Education Minister Simon Harris will go from a four to a five-seater.

The Wexford constituency is also going from a four to a five-seater. In addition, a new three seat constituency called Wicklow-Wexford is being created.
The Green Party has lashed out at the independent Electoral Commission as TDs have remained defiant following the redrawing of constituency boundaries ahead of the next general election.

The commission announced the new borders and recommended 14 extra TDs and four new constituencies.

Senior Green Party politicians said they were disappointed that there were no six seat constituencies, despite electoral laws setting out that each constituency can have three, four or five TDs.

The law will now have to be changed to take into account the recommendations from the Commission.

We would have preferred if six-seater constituencies had been possible, to avoid some counties being split in two, said party leader and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan.

At some stage, we may have to review the constitutional requirements on the level of representation per capita, given our rapidly growing population.

The partys chief whip Waterford TD Marc O Cathasaigh TD said: Larger constituencies tend to allow for the breakthrough of more female and minority representation.

Smaller constituencies tend to favour incumbents and more established voices. A wide range of voices and viewpoints strengthens democracy."

Pauline O'Reilly

Chair of the party Pauline OReilly said it is disappointing that there was no mention of gender.

"Given the role of the commission in advising on representation, it could have recommended legislative changes which would make the constituencies more representative, she said.

It's disappointing that there is no mention of gender when the size of constituencies has a direct impact on achieving more diversity and better representation of women.

The Commission instead said it would now examine the possibility for six seaters.

Elsewhere, some TDs lost chunks of their vote due to constituency border changes but remained defiant.

Cork East Labour TD Sean Sherlock, who has a stronghold in Mallow which has now been moved from Cork East into Cork North Central, said there was a seismic shift in the political landscape.

He said he needs time to analyse his next steps but said he will remain in Mallow, which may mean he will run in Cork North Central.

Im still assessing what is a seismic shift in the political landscape. Its too early to make any detailed comment on the future. I need some time to analyse this. Mallow is my home town so one way or another Mallow is where Im staying.

Deputy Frank Feighan.

Former minister Fine Gael TD Frank Feighan remained defiant and said he would run in the next election despite losing his stronghold of Boyle in Co Roscommon to the Roscommon-Galway constituency from his Sligo-Leitrim constituency.

Im happy enough. Boyle is where I came from, I got the guts of 1,200 votes there the last time, he said.

Things have changed, I live in Sligo now with my wife and two kids who go to school in Sligo and I have an office in Sligo, Leitrim and in Donegal.

Im seen as a Sligo candidate now, I am a Sligo TD and I live in Sligo.

Former Minister and FG TD Michael Ring said he intended to run again in Mayo and welcomed the restoration of the county boundary which saw the return of parts of south Mayo that had been put into Galway West in the last general election.

Aontu TD Peadar Toibin said the country doesnt need any more TDs and said a referendum should be held to cap the number of TDs.

The vast majority of TDs barely speak in the Dail on any given day, and contribute little to our parliamentary debates. I think the public would be with Aontu on this issue - I don't know many ordinary people in this country are too enthusiastic about increasing the number of TDs in Leinster House, he said.

There is a question of physics here too - the Dail chamber has a limited number of physical seats".

Social Democrat TD Cian OCallaghan said he was happy with the changes in his constituency of Dublin Bay North.

Some of the constituencies who have increased to five seaters makes it more viable for people like [Social Democrat] Cllr Eoin O Broin in Dub Mid-West, increases his prospects of winning a Dail seat so thats a positive for him, he said.

There are a few areas with extra five seaters which creates openers for us.
The current upper age limit of 35 for joining An Garda Siochana will significantly increase under radical fresh proposals

The current upper age limit of 35 for joining An Garda Siochana will significantly increase under radical fresh proposals.

The new age ceiling is thought likely to land between 45 and 50 years as all efforts are made to boost the uniformed ranks.

The force needs additional personnel across a variety of specialist positions, in addition to requiring regular officers for patrol and station purposes.

A final decision on the age limit is expected within weeks, sources told independent.ie.

It is intended that the new upper age limit will take effect in time for the next recruitment campaign, which is due to take place within months. But there will be no change to required physical fitness levels.

The age change has been part of discussions between Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, with the commissioner expected to shortly make a final recommendation to the minister.

The entry age limit of 35 has been in place since 2004, when it was increased from 26. Informants are suggesting that this nine-year jump will be replicated and then some.

This suggests a new maximum age of between 45 and 50 years  and could be particularly significant in attracting serving officers in other jurisdictions.

Revealed: How many gardai are in your county?

This would include the PSNI, where many Catholic officers have been destabilised by an error this summer that saw the accidental release of names of more than 10,000 officers on foot of a Freedom of Information request, along with their general location and place of work.

How best to implement the move  including what a new limit would be  is currently being finalised by garda management. But it is expected to make a major difference to the recruitment process.

The change can be made only by way of regulation following its approval by the Cabinet.

However, there will still be strict requirements to enter An Garda Siochana, including the current range of physical tests that recruits must pass before graduating from Templemore.

A source said: This is about widening access to An Garda Siochana as much as possible and ensuring that anyone who wants to join the gardai has the opportunity to do so, as long as they pass all the tests and interviews required.

There will be no drop in standards across the organisation due to this move. All applicants will still be required to undergo medical tests, fitness tests, physical competency tests and vetting.

It comes after Ms McEntee said all options are on the table to support recruitment and retention in An Garda Siochana, amid growing popular unease after a spate of high-profile violent crimes, particularly in central Dublin.

Garda recruitment is accelerating after a Covid-enforced pause and the necessary closure of the Garda College in Templemore during the pandemic.

Ms McEntee last month attended the graduation of 87 new gardai who attested in Templemore. Numbers at the Garda College continue to increase, with fresh officers coming on stream every three months. A total of 135 trainees entered the training college in February and another 154 in May. A further class of 174  the largest since Covid  entered the college at the end of July.

The Governments stated commitment to An Garda Siochana is also reflected in the unprecedented allocation of more than 2bn to the force this year.

This increase of almost 500m on 2019 allowing for sustained and ongoing recruitment.
The enforcement order would impact the number of night flights at Dublin Airport

The chairman of DAA has appealed to the Taoiseach to fast-track a resolution to the dispute over the number of night flights at Dublin Airport.

Basil Geoghegan wrote to Leo Varadkar to highlight a matter of significant concern which, if not resolved urgently, will have serious consequences for Dublin Airport.

It comes after Fingal County Council issued an enforcement order to DAA for the alleged breach of planning conditions related to the new North Runway.

DAA later secured a temporary High Court stay on the order, which would have reduced the number of night flights to 65 between 11pm and 7am.

DAA disputes the councils decision and denies the planning breach as alleged.

In his letter, Mr Geoghegan warned: An enforced reduction in night-time flights, if implemented, would result in the mass cancellation of flights for passengers and cargo operators.

It is critical that An Bord Pleanala (ABP) comes to a final decision on the appeal as soon as possible given the relevance of its decision to the enforcement action.

North Runway at Dublin Airport opened in August last year

To be clear, DAA is not looking for any special treatment  but I am writing to ask you to impress upon ABP the critical national interest at stake and expedite the appeal in order to deliver a permanent decision on this matter as quickly as possible.

A spokesperson from DAA confirmed that Mr Geoghegan wrote a letter to the Taoiseach.

They said: The chair of DAA, as a commercial semi-state company with a statutory mandate to grow Dublin Airport and protect and enhance Irelands international connectivity in line with agreed Government policy, wrote to the Taoiseach to highlight a matter of significant concern which, if not resolved, will have serious consequences for Dublin Airport, its customers, and the Irish economy.

The chair previously raised these significant issues to be addressed at his appearances before the Oireachtas as early as June 2018 and again in 2021.

The case is with An Bord Pleanala for almost a year now and it is a matter of utmost importance to have it resolved as quickly as possible in the national interest.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been approached for comment.

Meanwhile, 15 permanent noise-measuring systems in community locations around Dublin Airport are now operating following a direction by the Aircraft Noise Competent Authority (ANCA) to the DAA.

ARCHIVE: Video compares noise around Dublin Airport before and after flight paths were changed

Since the North Runway opened in August 2022, local residents have complained about increased noise levels.

In November 2022, ANCA issued a direction to DAA to install and maintain permanent noise measuring systems in 23 community locations no later than August 24, 2024.

DAA has now made 15 noise measuring systems operational and they are accessible for public viewing via Dublin Airports Webtrak flight monitoring system.

The 15 locations now live are: Ashbourne; Balcultry; Bay Lane; Bishopswood; Coast Road, Portmarnock; Donabate; Dunboyne; Feltrim; Malahide Demesne; Roundwood; St Davids; St Doolaghs; St Margarets; Summerhill; Swords.

This information is available for the visibility of near-live aircraft noise information. The data is also used to validate noise models used in aircraft noise assessments.

The remaining eight noise measuring systems are due to be installed within the next 12 months by DAA.
Thousands of children will not be guaranteed teachers on a daily basis in the upcoming school year. Photo: Stock image

The Government has repeatedly touted its commitment to investing in primary education. The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) has lobbied to ensure it delivers on this promise during its first three years in office, but results have been mixed.
While many school-leavers take the academic route, there are plenty of opportunities for training and apprenticeships in other areas. Photo: Getty

Whether its your first day at school or youre awaiting your CAO course offer today, you should never consider yourself too big or too small to ask questions or to learn something new.

This applies as much to the sleepy heads dragging themselves back into the classroom after the summer as it does to those who still cannot close their eyes for anticipating what might lie in store for them with their course choices.

It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it, wrote Jacob Bronowski, the Polish philosopher.

It is to be hoped the Citizens Assembly on the future of education will also question and look at ways to adapt our education system. Given the transformation in technology and the revolution in the workplace, it is essential that we react quickly to prepare students for tomorrow.

This week, Ibec head of education and innovation policy Claire McGee said it was vital to examine whether the Leaving Cert was adequately preparing students for their future.

It is expected that around half of this years college applicants will secure their top course preference when offers are issued. Another year of inflated grades has to be factored in. As a result, some universities will have to adopt some form of random selection, or a lottery, to pick applicants in some of the higher points courses.

This is less than ideal because it means some who have met the criteria could still miss out.

It was the direct intervention of Education Minister Norma Foley that produced another year of bumper results. One can appreciate her concern not to disadvantage the class of 2023, especially as they had not sat a Junior Cert exam, and therefore were coming to the state exam system cold.

But a rebalancing is vital to maintain standards, and to ensure students have the ability their course choice demands. The upside is the enormous selection of third-level courses to avail of.

Unfortunately for many starting college next month, accommodation concerns will prey on minds.

The nightmare scenario for any student is to be accepted to their dream course, only to discover it is impossible to get anywhere affordable to stay. Sadly, such scenarios are likely to be all too real until the housing situation is improved.

Apart from the academic route, there are also enormous opportunities for training and apprenticeships in other areas. Solas, the State agency responsible for further education and training, provides a rich range of options for those more vocationally oriented.

So inform yourself on what is best for you, so that it is you who decides where you are going to go.

Do not be daunted  this is just another stage of the journey.
Milk price cuts wipe away almost 38% of revenues for Irish dairy farmers over the past year.

ICMSA president Pat McCormack said it was an astounding amount of money to lose.

The ICMSA said falling milk prices have cost Irish dairy farmers 2 billion over the past year. As a result dairy farmers have stopped investing in sheds, milking equipment and machinery, which the ICMSA said could spell disaster for the rural economy.

STARTLING new figures have revealed the sheer scale of the financial crisis facing dairy farmers across Cork in the face of ongoing milk price reductions, with almost half a billion Euro wiped off their incomes this year.

The figures compiled by the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) make for stark reading, with association president Pat McCormack saying they spell disaster for the rural economy.

Earlier this month Dairygold became the latest processor to slash its July quoted milk price by 2 c/pl to 36 c/pl, with a spokesperson saying that global milk markets continue to weaken due to pressure on demand in key markets, with no sign of near-term correction.

To put the scale of reductions in milk prices over the past 12-months into context, in June of last year Dairygold was paying its milk suppliers 55.5c/pl.

This represents a year-on-year reduction of just over 35%.

The ICMSA said that steady decline in milk prices has seen dairy farmers across the country take a 2 billion hit in revenues, with Cork bearing the brunt of this.

Their figures showed that in 2022 milk revenues in Cork totalled 1,269,394.000. According to the ICMSA the revenue figure for 2023 currently stands at 777,865,000 - a reduction of 491,529,000 or 38.7%.

The ICMSA has carried out a detailed analysis of each of the 26 counties to establish the reduction in revenues earned by dairy farmers over the last two years.

Results show the dramatic drops in milk values with almost 2 billion less expected to be paid to dairy farmers in 2023 against 2022

Describing this as being an astounding amount to lose, ICMSA president Pat McCormack said it was going to have a very serious impact, not just on dairy farmers but also on the wider rural economy this year and in 2024 as farmers tighten their purse strings and make sweeping cuts to their spending.

We all know that spend in their local communities and many local services and companies are dependent on farmers. It comes no surprise to see the spending power of dairy farmers dramatically deteriorate and this is being reported by businesses across rural communities that provide goods and services to dairy farmers and the wider dairy industry, said Mr McCormack.

From concrete to shed suppliers, to milking equipment to farm machinery, the reports coming back is that dairy farmers have stopped buying and investing, only the very basics are being purchased and this is going to have a dramatic impact on the local economy, he added.

Mr McCormack said that with an outlet multiplier of two for dairy, the total loss to the Irish rural economy for 2023 could be as high as 4 billion

At county level, we see the largest reduction occurring in Cork with almost half a billion of a reduction while Tipperary will lose almost quarter of a billion in direct revenues. These counties have large processors, and this is where the multiplier effect can bite even harder with so many indirect jobs depending on the dairy sector, said Mr McCormack.

The ICMSA analysis used an average overall milk price if 59cpl for 2033 and an expected average price of 37cpl for 2023, with production expected to fall by 2% years-on-year given the prevailing weather and price conditions.

This means that almost 38% of dairy revenues have been wiped away in the space of 12 months and this analysis does not include the very severe cost elements facing dairy farmers, meaning that dairy farm incomes will be severely hit in 2023, said Mr McCormack.

While fertiliser has reduced somewhat, most fertiliser was purchased early in the year or last year at inflated prices and unfortunately, electricity and feed remain stubbornly high, he added.

Mr McCormack called on the Minister for Agriculture, Food & Marine, Charlie McConalogue to convene a meeting of the Dairy Forum so that a clear strategy could be put in place to kick-start an immediate recovery in milk price.

This is needed not just by the farmers who produce the milk on a daily basis but also the wider rural businesses that are dependent on it for their revenues, said Mr McCormack
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh have closed the Aghdam-Stepanakert road with barricades and barbed wire after Azerbaijani authorities said they were sending what they described as humanitarian aid through that road, a move vehemently decried by Nagorno-Karabakh as an attempt by Baku to subjugate them and mislead the international community.

Videos posted online show Russian peacekeepers blocking the part of the road where the Azeri trucks are now parked.

The road is blocked by residents of Nagorno-Karabakh as well, who have installed tents there. Nagorno-Karabakh has rejected any Azeri aid and insists on the reopening of the Lachin Corridor.

Azerbaijanis have also installed tents in that section.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani authorities themselves have been blocking Armenian and French humanitarian convoys at the entrance of Lachin Corridor.

Lachin Corridor has been blocked by Azerbaijan since late 2022, resulting in an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.
How they look now - the Cork constituencies after the shake-up announced by the Electoral Commission on Wednesday.

The transfer of Mallows urban and rural electoral divisions from Cork East to Cork North Central is the main headline for Cork voters in what was otherwise a lack lustre constituency shake up as far as the Rebel County constituencies were concerned.

While there had been predictions of a radical shakeup for Cork constituencies, these didnt come to pass as the Electoral the Commission opted for continuity above change in its approach to its first constituency review since its formation.

The constituency boundaries needed to be reviewed due to the rapid inrease in population recorded in the 2022 Census and reported earlier this year. Many constituencies were exceeding the constitutional limit of one TD per 30,000 population.

Before Wednesdays announcement, there were 160 TDs representing the voters of 39 constituencies. The Commission proposes four new constituencies to bring the overall number to 43 with an additional 14 TDs, bringing the number of seats in the Dail to 174.

Overall Cork gains two TDs, up to 20 deputies from 18. One additional representative each has been allocated to Cork North Central and Cork South Central.

The figure of 174 that we recommend is the product of detailed analysis of constitutional and statutory limits, said Commission chairperson, Supreme Court Judge, Marie Baker. It arrives at a solution which best fits the needs of the country as a whole.

The main headline from Cork North West is the transfer of Ballincollig to Cork North Central and the inclusion from Cork East of electoral divisions north of Mallow such as Buttevant, Doneraile, NewTwoPotHouse and Ballyclough.

Cork North West remains a three seater with a pupulation of 84,312, up more than 7,118 since 2016.

Cork East will remain a four seater constituency under the new boundaries but, as one of the constituencies with a fast growing population, it will lose three electoral divisions with a population of 14,408 to Cork North Central and five electoral divisions to Cork East.

Cork South West remains a three seat constituency.

In its commentary about the proposed changes in Cork, the Commission report says: With a population of 584,156, equivalent to an allocation of 19.74 seats in a 174 member Dail, the Commission recommends the allocation of two extra TDs to the Cork constituencies to bring the number of TDs up to 20.

The Commission considered issues of population density when recommending that two additional seats go to the Cork City constituencies. This approach allowed for minimising changes to existing constituencies in the county.

Since 2016 the population of Cork North Central increased by 7,631 (6.1%), Cork South-Central by 9,170 (7.5%), Cork North-West by 7,118 (8%), Cork East by 10,104 (8.3%) and Cork South-West by 7,265 (8.5%).

In the Cork constituencies the Commission recommends:

 22,050 population of 12 EDs from the Cork North-Central constituency be transferred to the Cork South-Central constituency.

 20,497 population of one ED from the CorkNorth-West constituency be transferred to the Cork North-Central constituency.

 14,408 population of three EDs from the Cork East constituency be transferred to the Cork North-Central constituency.

 2,944 population of two EDs from the Cork North-Central constituency be transferred to the Cork North-West constituency.

 5,667 population of five EDs from the Cork East constituency be transferred to the Cork NorthWest constituency.

The Commission recommends that the constituencies of Cork North-Central and Cork South-Central be allocated one additional seat each - with both constituencies now becoming 5seat constituencies with associated transfers.

As a result, in County Cork there would be two 5 seat constituencies - Cork North-Central and Cork South-Central; one 4 seat constituency - Cork East; and two 3 seat constituencies - Cork North-West and Cork South-West.
The Rose of Tralees Armageddon act now seems a regular post-festival tradition to try and reignite attempts to boost investment. The recent comments by Rose of Tralee Chief Executive Anthony OGara that Dublin is a possible venue for the coveted Rose selection series hit a nerve, and rightly so.

In terms of reading between the lines, this basically translates as more needs to come from Tralees business clique and further up the financial food chain to retain, preserve, keep  call it what you like  the Rose of Tralee in Tralee.
FRENCH CLASSES

French classes for adults will be starting at Ballymote FRC on Thursday, September 14, Please phone 071 9197818 for more details.

KARATE CLASSES

Karate classes will be starting at Ballymote FRC on Monday, September 4. Please contact Keelan at 089 6167724 for more details.

IRISH CLASSES

Irish classes for adults will be starting at Ballymote FRC on Wednesday, September 29, These classes are suitable for beginners and improvers. The total cost for the 10-week course is 100. Please phone 071 9197818 to book a place.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY QQI LEVEL four

This msletb course will be starting at Ballymote FRC, Thursday mornings in September. This is a free course. To apply register online at fetchcourses.ie or call Emma Gray at 071 9141251.

NEW COMMUNITIES INCLUSION WORKER

For communities new to the Ballymote area assistance with local services for health, education, employment and well-being is available. Please phone Michelle Lally at 087 4708651 to make an appointment.

FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICE

We offer in home family support to families in Ballymote and the surrounding areas. Our family support worker is trained to offer advice and help.

Please contact Maura at 087 3348567 or email fswballymotefrc@gmail.com for more information.

DAY YOGA

Morning yoga will be resuming in September at Ballymote FRC, Tuesdays 9.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. Contact Aoife at aoifekaneyoga@gmail.com to book a place.

ADULT COUNSELLING

Every Friday from 9 p.m. to 5 p.m. Areas covered include bereavement, anxiety, depression, trauma and relationship counseling. Please call 071 9197818 or check our website ballymotefamilyresourcecentre.ie for more details.

FOOD PACKAGES

Free food packages are available under the FEAD programme for people on low incomes. Call 071 9197818 for more details. A brief form must be completed.

SENIORS ALERT SCHEME

This scheme provides alarms to the over-65s. Application forms for the scheme are available at Ballymote FRC. A fee applies call 071 9197818 for more details.

MABS

If you are worried about money, MABS hold outreach clinics at Ballymote FRC. These clinics are available by appointment only. Contact MABS at 0818 07 2730 for an appointment.

CLOONACOOL

Charlie in concert

Charlie McGettigam will be play in Cloonacool Community Centre on the opening night of the upcoming Cloonacool Sheep Festival. Charlie will sing and play his many hits for the local audience in an old-fashioned cabaret format.

The centre will have full bar facilities on the night. Booking is advisable for this show as a large attendance is expected. Preference will be given to those who have booked in advance. Book by text at 087 2512030.

Sheep Festival

The list of additional events for the upcoming Sheep Festival are now available. Friday, the 22nd, will feature a Kiddies Disco early in the evening and a 80s Disco later that night. Saturday will feature a Walking Treasure Hunt and later that night, Stuart Moyles will play at the annual Festival Dance. Sunday, the 24th is family day with our hugely popular Sheep and Dog shows.

This year the festival has full bar facilities each night. Keep the weekend free and invite your friends to Cloonacool. Keep an eye on the Festival Facebook page for regular updates.

Construction Begins

Congratulations to local businessman Paul Kilcoyne, who will be taking on the contract of building the new accessible entrance at Cloonacool Community Centre.

Note that this project has been under way since last week. Please show all due care and caution while construction is ongoing.

Tickets at the Cafe

The Cloonacool Sheep Festival and Cloonacool Community Centre tickets are now on sale at the Mill Community Cafe from now till draw date, September 24. Tickets at 5 each or a book of three for 10. Top prize of five lowland ewes or 1,000. Please support. The cafe itself remains open at its usual times each weekend.

Electricity Outage

Please note that there will be an electricity outage locally on Saturday, September 2. Regrettably, this will force the closure of the Mill Community Cafe on that day.

Local Crafts and Displays

The Sheep Festival committee was inviting any local crafters, small businesses or artists to book a display space at their upcoming festival (for Sunday, the 24th only). Contact may be made through their Facebook page or at 087 2512030.

South Sligo CCE

A trad session will be held in the May Queen lounge Tubbercurry on Friday, September 8, juniors at 8 p.m. and seniors at 9 p.m. Music classes resume in Tubbercurry Family Resource Centre on Monday, September 11, Beginners at 6.15 p.m. and advanced whistle, flute and fiddle at 7 p.m. Contact Michael Hurley 086 6036253 for further details.

Cemetery Mass

The local cemetery Mass will be held this year on Sunday, August 13, and Sunday, September 3 (note the change) in Cloonacool and Kilcummin respectively. Both Masses will be at 10 a.m. and are weather permitting.

Notes Deadline

All notes are welcome to cloonacoolnotes@gmail.com by Friday at midday each week.

DROMAHAIR

Fun Walk/Run

The Dromahair Defibrillator Group are holding their annual 5K Family Fun Walk/Run on Sunday, September 3, at 5 p.m. Registration in the Depot from 4 p.m., refreshments and Spot Prizes afterwards in the Depot.

All funds raised goes towards the upkeep of the five AED in the area.

Please come along and support us on the day.

Dromahair Development Association blotto draw

Our blotto draw took place in the Depot on Tuesday, August 22. The numbers drawn were 07, 13, 22 and 26.

There was no winner of jackpot. Congratulations to our five winners of 30 who were No 18 Josephine Travers, Dromore, 28 Eugene ONeill, Carrigeencor, 167 Mary Gallagher, Ardvoley, 293 Eimear Shannon, Galway and 295 Eimear Shannon Galway. Our next draw will take place in the Depot on Tuesday, September 5. Jackpot now stands at 5,600.

Our Draw takes place every two weeks to help fund all the various projects around the village. Tickets for the draw are available through QR code on Facebook and lottoraiser/DromahairDA They are also available in boxes in local businesses.

Watch out for the QR Code stickers that are up in different locations around the village, on blotto boxes, there is one on the glass display cabinet at the Depot.

They will give you quick access to the draw online. Get your tickets now, we need your support. Good luck everyone.

Killenummery Parish

Upcoming Events include Padro Pio Relic Weekend: Commences with 7.30 p.m. Mass for the sick on Friday, September 29, Killenummery. Saturday, September 30, Vigil Mass 7.30 p.m. Killenummery. Sunday October1.10 a.m. Killavoggy and Sunday, October 1, 11.30 a.m. in Ballintogher. Everybody welcome to attend for the special blessing.

Keyboard Classes in the Depot

Keyboard lessons in the Depot, Dromahair commencing Saturday, September 9, at 10 a.m. for everyone. All levels, children and adults. Please contact us at 085 8017943. You can text your name and number and we put you on our list.

DIY Classes

We are starting DIY Classes on Monday, September 4, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Please contact us at 085 8017943 to book your place.

We have lots of names but no contact numbers so please text or call to confirm your interest.

DIY will cover all those small jobs that you would like to be able to do e.g fix dripping tap, change a fuse in socket, change a door handle. The list is endless. Come with suggestions and Eddie will do his best to enlighten you.

Class list at The Depot

List of classes resuming in the Depot this September.

Monday

Airc Damhsa Dance 6 p.m., DIY 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Pilates with Rory from September 25, 7 p.m.

Tuesday

North Leitrim Dance Class 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Wednesday

Active Age 10.30 a.m.-12.30, Exercise with Sue 7 p.m. Yoga with Amy 8 p.m.

Thursday

Exercise with Sue 7 p.m.

Friday

Knit Group 11 a.m.-1.00, Karate 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Saturday

Keyboard lessons 10 a.m.

For further information on any of the activities contact the Depot office, open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday to Thursday for July and August. Contact us at 071 9134986 or 085 8017943. Items for local notes to dda.tidytowns@gmail.com before midday on Thursday please.

Social Dancing

Social dancing continues in Ballintogher Community Centre (F91XW71) Thursday nights class 8 p.m. Live Music 9 p.m. For further details  Contact Brian at 087 7077074

Traditional festival

Ballintogher Traditional Festival takes place during October/November 2023 annual Feis Sunday, October 29  music, singing, dancing Traditional Concert.

Friday, November 10, Ceili Saturday, November 11, Other events, list at a later date. Contact details  087 6645509/087 6787342 071 9164463.

Tidy Towns

Dromahair Development Tidy Towns would like to remind everyone that we are a Poster Free village. We ask that no posters are erected within the 50k zone, on poles or in the ground.

Dromahair has been poster free for many years now and it makes a huge difference to how our town looks not just in the summer but all year round.

We have had great support from our local businesses, community and sporting organisations and the political candidates over the years.

Thank you all for your continued support.
Glenfarne Crafts

The next next and excellent Leitrim Women Through Time Project crafts free event takes place on Saturday, September 2, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Rainbow Ballroom of Romance Glenfarne.

Encouraging all to participate in this event the Leitrim Women Through Time Project asks have you ever fancied trying your hand at wool spinning, willow weaving, or straw craft? Would you like to see some professionals demonstrate some of the many crafts that Leitrim women have held skills in over many generations (and join in yourself)?

Join us for a day of celebration of craft, where well also have our Leitrim Women Through Time travelling museum exhibition on display, with a Pop-up Leitrim Womens Craft Museum showcasing objects and creations associated with Leitrim womens crafts. All welcome to this free event, and no booking is required.

The Leitrim Women Through Time project is supported by the Heritage Council Community Heritage Grant Scheme 2023. Regarding Saturdays event the Leitrim Women Through Time Project add it will be wonderful opportunity to see a display of traditional Irish crafts, and why not have a go yourself in our interactive demonstrations/workshops.

The traditional Irish crafts demonstrations/workshops that will take place in Glenfarne include: Straw Craft with Stffi Otto, Heritage Crafts Alive; Basket Weaving with Glenboy Manorhamiltons Helena Golden, The Willow Woman; Fax and Wool Weaving with Annie Gambrill, Killala (Co. Mayo) Wool Craft.

The Leitrim Women Through Time Project Exhibition and Pop-Up Womens Museum will also be on display in Glenfarne, featuring a range of artefacts and samples of local crafts. No book is required for Saturdays event as everyone can pop into the Ballroom of Romance for it between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Educational Advice

The Leitrim Adult Educational Guidance Service is a free, confidential and impartial service that supports you to explore your education, training or career options.

This excellent service is for adults, or 16  18-year-olds who are not currently in full-time education and are considering returning to or continuing with education. You may have no idea what you would like to do and need some good direction.

Meanwhile, the Leitrim Adult Educational Guidance Counsellor will be available in the Bee Park Community Centre, Newline Road, Manorhamilton on Tuesday, September 5. Please contact Martina at 071 9621371 or martinaosullivan@msletb.ie to make an appointment.

District News Deadline

Please email all notes for next weeks Sligo Champion Manorhamilton District News to PJ Leddy  pjleddy@yahoo.com by 6 p.m. at the latest on Thursday, August 31.

MERVILLE CENTRE

DREAMCHASERS CHILDCARE

Dreamchasers Childcare Pre-School and After School Full Service resumed this week and a big welcome to all the children returning to the service and a special welcome to all the new children attending for the first time this year.

Some spaces are still available for our award winning pre-school. With a Focus on outdoor play,

Dreamchasers Childcare Service has an established Community Centered Programme for all children with an emphasis on fun being our number one priority. Free Preschool Places on the ECCE Scheme and qualifying supports such as the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) are available.

Please contact 071 9152022 or 086 4424093 for further information. All parents are asked to exercise caution when driving in the area when on drop off and pick up, as these times are extremely busy. Think safe.

CONDOLENCES

The Merville Management Committee, staff and on behalf of the wider Merville Community wish to offer our condolences to the family and many friends of Ann Tiernan (nee Kelly) formerly of Treacy Avenue, who has passed away recently. Ar dheis De go raibh a hanam.

PENDANT ALARMS

Merville Community Centre facilitate on behalf of our community the provision to eligible persons of Social Monitored Pendant Alarms, under the Seniors Alert Scheme that is administered by Pobal.

Equipment funding is available for eligible persons over 65 years for the installation of an monitored alarm on a landline in the persons home.

The alarms are now available for persons aged 65 or older and living alone, living with another person who meets the terms and conditions, living alone for significant periods of time during the day, or is a carer to someone else in their household.

First year monitoring is free for all new applicants. Subsequent annual monitoring charges are then payable by the user.

Other Systems are available at various costs for those who do not posses a Landline. Overall this monitoring product adds peace of mind for both the users, family and friends at minimal cost. Contact Merville Centre Office at 071 9150029 for further information.

PATHWAY TO EMPLOYMENT

Community Employment is a great option for those on a lower social welfare rate as it involves rising of payment on to the increased CE rate, while providing work experience/training for 19.5 hours a week.

If you have been in receipt of DSP Payment of any amount, however small, for the last 12 months, you could be eligible to join the Merville Community Employment (CE) programme. Community Employment vacancies are currently available for School Age Care (Afternoons), General Operatives and Kitchen Assistant (Afternoons), Caretakers (Evenings and Weekends).

No experience is necessary as full training will be provided. Get involved in working in your community while availing of Career Changing Opportunities. Call 071 9150029 for further information.

YOUR NOTES

Local Voluntary and Community Groups are reminded that any notices for publication can be emailed to mervilleycc@gmail.com or hard copy left into the Merville Centre for inclusion in our Local Notes.

RIVERSTOWN

Fleadh Achievements

Riverstown CCE and Riverstown Community would like to extend a massive congratulations to three branch members on their Fleadh achievements. In English Singing (men) 12-15 competition Adam O Fiannaidhe, CCE, Baile Idir Dha Abhainn took third place. In English Singing (ladies) under-12 competition Rachel Ni Fiannaidhe, CCE, Baile Idir Dha Abhainn took third place and in ceili Band 018 competition band member Conal McCormack Glor na dTonn  CCE, Scoil Acla, Maigh Eo second place.

SEAN NOS DANCING CLASSES

Sean nos Dancing classes with Broga Briomhar Dance School will resume on Thursday, September 14, in the Morrison Cottage, Riverstown. Beginner Childrens classes 5.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Intermediate one Childrens classes 6 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. Intermediate 2/Advanced Childrens classes 6.30 to 7.10 p.m. Advanced Teens 7.10 to 7.50 p.m. To register contact Eimear at 086 2584465.

COMMUNITY NOTES

All are welcome have their news items included in the Riverstown community notes so please email carrowcashel@eircom.net or alternatively text or call Iris at 086 8258525.

SKREEN-DROMARD

September Social Dance

The September Social Dance in the community centre Skreen will take place on Saturday, September 30, and music will be provided by Kieran McAree. Everyone welcome.

Beltra Show

The annual Beltra Show will take place in Beltra Hall and grounds on Saturday, September 2, show schedules will be available soon.

The annual Show Raffle which supports the ongoing running of the show will again take place and ticket sellers will be calling door to door in the local area over the coming weeks. Your support will be greatly appreciated.

Anyone who would like to volunteer as help on the Show Day or join the committee should please contact the show secretary.

All enquiries to the show secretary Caroline Dowd at 086 0397900.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Sharon OBrien, Carrowkeel, Beltra and Paul McManus on their recent marriage in St Peter and Paul Church, Dromard on Saturday, August 19  the reopening day of the newly refurbished and decorated Dromard Church.

Community Council August Meeting Headlines

Skreen Barracks is now maned every Tuesday with the extended time of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A Tractor Run will take place at the community centre on Sunday, September 17, at midday. Tickets for the annual Fuel Raffle will be on sale shortly, with the draw taking place at the end of October.

St Patricks GAA Fundraiser

The local St Patricks GAA Club are planning a major fundraiser for the pitch development at their grounds.

The Car Draw Fundraiser was launched at the community centre on Thursday, August 3, All support will be greatly appreciated. The Draw First Prize will be a 241 Seat Arona along with other prizes.

Seniors Alert Scheme

Anyone wishing to avail of Personal Monitored Alarms should contact David Tuffy at 087 6773816 for further details.
The new fifth-generation Toyota Prius is now available at Toyota Ireland dealerships across the country. The eye-catching Prius is available exclusively as a Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) and is priced from 45,900.

The new generation model features a sleek, sloping design, representing a stylish evolution from the original world-popular Prius which has sold over 5 million units to date. Key features include a 12.3 Toyota Smart Connect multimedia system, a new 13.6 kWh lithium-ion battery and 19 alloys.

The Prius PHEV does not compromise on hybrid energy efficiency, capable of doing up to 71km in zero emissions mode after a single charge. It embodies Toyotas commitment to carbon neutrality, offering even more choice to those looking to start their hybrid electric journey. The Prius PHEV joins the ranks of Toyotas wide range of Hybrid Electrics (HEVs), PHEVs (RAV4), and BEV, the bZ4X. Daily journeys for the majority of Prius PHEV drivers will run like an EV, before swapping to an efficient hybrid model when battery power depletes.

Zoe Bradley, Head of Marketing Communications and Corporate Affairs in Toyota Ireland said: The fifth-generation Toyota Prius.. represents the next generation of one of our most iconic vehicles, combining a powerful driving experience with a sleek new design and features we know Irish customers will enjoy.

First launched in 1997, the worlds most popular hybrid electric vehicle, the Prius, quickly became renowned as a sustainability game-changer, and to date has sold more than 5 million units.

From a design perspective the new PHEV is a world away from the original Prius hybrid. With a sleek hammerhead design, it flaunts transformative features and embraces a stylistic evolution. With modern detailing down to an elegantly sloped rear, this new-look fifth-generation Prius stuns from any angle.

Toyota is committed to carbon neutrality, and the Hybrid technology originally pioneered by the Prius continues to drive the transition towards zero emissions.

This new fifth-generation edition is available in Ireland exclusively as a PHEV and is capable of doing 71km in zero emissions mode after a single charge. The new Prius embodies the continued progression of hybrid technology, giving further choice to those who are seeking to start their electrification journey.

For the majority of drivers, the Prius PHEV runs like an EV on their daily journeys, before reverting to an efficient hybrid model when the battery power is depleted.

Toyota Ireland customers can now choose from a wide range of Hybrid Electrics (HEVs) which spend, on average, more than 50% of the time in zero emissions mode, PHEVs (RAV4 and new Prius) and the new BEV, the bZ4X.

As a path-finder for new technologies, the Prius has always inspired the future of other models and the new generation continues that pioneering spirit. It introduces Toyotas new generation Plug-in Hybrid system, an all-round evolution with enhanced output via an increased high-capacity battery.

A more powerful motor generator and two-litre engine engage the drivers senses with a combined 223 DIN hp (164kW) for strong and responsive acceleration. Meanwhile, a revised body is aerodynamically streamlined to optimise air flow and achieve excellent fuel efficiency, handling and stability.

The distinctive styling for which Prius has become famous is taken to a new, more dynamic level by a coupe-like silhouette, inspiring a strong emotional response. It is built on the second-generation GA-C platform of the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), which reduces weight and increases rigidity.
The Adjustment Bureau (2011) GREAT! movies, 9p.m.

Adapted from Philip K Dicks 1954 short story, writer-director George Nolfis fast-paced thriller ponders the ripple effect when one man attempts to defy the future that has been apparently mapped out for him. Its smartly scripted and slickly directed, anchored by another compelling performance from the ever-reliable Matt Damon. He plays ambitious New York politician David Norris, who has overcome tragedy in his personal life to lead the charge for the US Senate and The White House, aided by campaign manager Charlie Traynor (Michael Kelly).

On the eve of an important speech, David meets gifted dancer Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt) and the spark of attraction is palpable, culminating in a kiss. The chance encounter proves a turning point in Davids potentially glittering future.

THURSDAY

Green Book (2018) BBC1, 10.40p.m.

Frank Tony Lip Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) is a bouncer at the Copacabana nightclub in 1962 New York City. During the winter, the club is closed for renovations, so Tony accepts an offer from refined pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) to chauffeur him on an eight-week tour that will take in Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee. Tony and Don initially clash but as the tour gathers momentum, they learn valuable life lessons from each other.

Inspired by a real-life friendship, Green Book is a life-affirming comedy drama which follows the tyre prints of Driving Miss Daisy to spark mutual appreciation between a chauffeur and his employer. Peter Farrellys Oscar-winning picture makes exceedingly light work of a 129-minute running time, deftly juggling heart-tugging drama and culture-clash comedy.

FRIDAY

Spy (2015) ITV, 11.35p.m.

Suave secret agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) completes some of the CIAs most dangerous missions thanks to the quick-thinking and hi-tech gadgetry of deskbound analyst Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy). When Bradley and other agents, including British bruiser Rick Ford (a very funny Jason Statham, gamely sending up his hard-man image), are compromised, Susan puts herself forward for active duty to infiltrate the inner circle of arms-dealer Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne).

Spy is a terrifically entertaining comedy caper and McCarthy throws herself into her role with gusto, mixing steeliness with lovability as she battles armed henchmen, speeds after a target on a scooter and tries to stop a bad guy from escaping in his helicopter.

SATURDAY

Grease (1978) E4, 6.45p.m.

Following an idyllic holiday romance, 1950s teenagers Danny (John Travolta) and Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) part company, believing theyll never see each other again. Theyre unexpectedly reunited when she enrols at his high school, but picking up where they left off proves difficult, as Danny has been boasting to his mates about his steamy summer fling and is a little too keen to keep his cool reputation.

Some of the so-called teenagers would struggle to pass for 30, let alone 17, but who cares  we love this musical anyway. The songs are catchy, Travolta and Newton-John make a very cute couple, Stockard Channing steals scenes as bad girl Rizzo and the whole film has so much good-natured energy, its impossible not to be swept along.

SUNDAY

Judy (2019) BBC2, 10p.m.

Judy Garland (Renee Zellweger) is embroiled in an acrimonious tug-of-war with third husband Sidney Luft (Rufus Sewell) for custody of their children. Crippled by debt, Judy reluctantly agrees to a five-week run of shows at The Talk of the Town nightclub in London run by Bernard Delfont (Michael Gambon).

Delfont assigns despairing assistant Rosalyn Wilder (Jessie Buckley) the unenviable task of shepherding Garland to the stage each night. Unfortunately, flighty fiance Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock) continually distracts Judy when she should be rehearsing.

Adapted from Peter Quilters stage play End of the Rainbow, Judy is elevated beyond the pages of Tom Edges script by the luminous, Oscar-winning Zellweger.

MONDAY

The Other Guys (2010) ITV4, 10p.m.

Detectives PK Highsmith (Samuel L Jackson) and Christopher Danson (Dwayne Johnson) are the golden boys of the NYPD, monopolising newspaper headlines with their gung-ho antics. When the two officers are sidelined, hot-headed Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) and his mild-mannered partner Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) vie with rival detectives Fosse (Damon Wayans Jr) and Martin (Rob Riggle) to lead the team.

The Other Guys is an intentionally ludicrous buddy cop movie that gets considerable mileage from several running jokes including Terrys ability to attract very sexy women such as his wife, Dr Sheila Gamble (Eva Mendes). Wahlberg has a blast as the rogue cop with a short fuse and Ferrell brings out the sweetness and vulnerability of his clumsy oaf.

TUESDAY

Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) GREAT! movies, 9p.m.

A female assassin decides to quit the profession, get married and raise a family  only to be shot on her wedding day and left for dead. Four years later, she wakes up from a coma intent on revenge and sets off to wipe out her former colleagues. Her old boss Bill is her main target, but in the meantime shell make do with a couple of other hit-women.

Uma Thurman is on terrific form here in a role created especially for her by Quentin Tarantino  he reportedly gave her the script for her 30th birthday and delayed production when she became pregnant. The director also does her proud with some great fight scenes, keeping the violence nicely stylised. However, its a shame he had to chop his own movie in two  the ending is a bit of an anti-climax.
Graiguenamanagh celebrated a momentous occasion - the 20th anniversary of the Town of Books Festiva  with a book cake and congratulations for all involved in making it such a success.

Set on the banks of the enchanting River Barrow, the festival has been a literary haven for book lovers and a cultural highlight for locals.

The Town of Books Festival first graced our town in 2003, and over the past two decades, it has grown from strength to strength, attracting

booksellers, authors, avid readers, collectors and enthusiasts from all corners of Ireland and further afield, said one of the organisers, Mary Whelan.

This year's milestone anniversary surpassed all expectations, delivering an exceptional program of events.

The lead sponsor for the festival was Blacknight Ltd whose owner and CTO, Paul Kelly hails from the town. Blacknight is also celebrating its 20th year in business, so it was a very fitting collaboration.

Ms Whelan said: "We are thrilled to celebrate two decades of the Town of Books Festival. This event has not only brought joy to our town but has also fostered a love for literature, encouraged creativity, and promoted the value of reading in our community.

"We are extremely grateful for everyone's support, especially the support of Kilkenny and Carlow County Councils, without their continued support we could not develop the festival. We would also like to thank most sincerely our local sponsors, volunteers and the owners of the premises who continue to support us each year.

As part of the 20th-anniversary celebrations, the Town of Books Festival Committee invited former committee members and the Minister of State for Heritage and Local Government, Malcolm Noonan, TD; to cut the cake.

The minister said: 'What better way to celebrate Heritage Week than to showcase the written word in all its beauty? It is said that books are portable magic and I firmly believe that they open up endless possibilities to us the reader. I'd like to commend the committee for their hard work in creating such a magical and special calendar event  not to mention the hundreds of people, community groups and organisations across Ireland who, every year  give freely of their own time to host events and share their interest in heritage with the public. Congratulations to all involved in the Town of Books Festival on this 20th anniversary.
Ice bath challenge at the library park in aid of FDYS to fund a defibrillator. Les Walsh braving the ice. Photo; Mary Browne

Ice bath challenge at the library park in aid of FDYS to fund a defibrillator. Rachel Colfer braving the ice. Photo; Mary Browne

Ice bath challenge at the library park in aid of FDYS to fund a defibrillator. Les Walsh braving the ice. Photo; Mary Browne

Ice bath challenge at the library park in aid of FDYS to fund a defibrillator. Photo; Mary Browne

Ice bath challenge at the library park in aid of FDYS to fund a defibrillator. Photo; Mary Browne

Ice bath challenge at the library park in aid of FDYS to fund a defibrillator. Rachel Colfer braving the ice. Photo; Mary Browne

Ice bath challenge at the library park in aid of FDYS to fund a defibrillator. Photo; Mary Browne

FDYS staff, volunteers and supporters were joined by representatives from New Ross Health Centre, to take part in a sponsored Ice Bath Challenge at New Ross Library park on Wednesday evening.

The event raised funds to support first aid initiatives across the county, primarily promoting the importance of fitting defibrillators in the community.

The initiative was supported by the Order of Malta and New Ross fire service, with ten hardy souls braving the icy water.

There was a great atmosphere as they plunged themselves into the freezing water  all for a great cause.

FDYS would like to thank all who supported the event.
Gardai are investigating an alleged assault in Fethard village on Friday night which saw a man in his seventies sustain a blow to the face.

The incident is alleged to have occurred at 8 p.m. on main street after a Dublin man who had arrived in the village in a campervan went for a cycle and upon returning was confronted by a man in a cul-de-sac.

"He said he was verbally attacked and struck in the face, said Supt Jarlath Duffy.

The man didnt require medical attention.

Gardai are investigating the incident and the suspect has yet to be interviewed.

Anyone with information about the alleged assault can call New Ross Garda Station on 051 426030.
During her life Teresa Wickham  who died aged 46 on August 22 after a long battle with illness  was known for her sociable spirit and the love she had for her two sons, Craig and Blake.

Late of Raheen and Haughton Place, New Ross, Teresa came from a big family of 12: Thomas, Jennifer, Lisa, Tracy, John, Samantha, Lorraine, Bridget, Dean, Shauna and the late Rose.

She grew up in Raheen  the loving daughter of Tom and Mary, attending school locally, before the family moved to Caislean Maol. She attended secondary school at Colaiste Abbain in Adamstown.

Teresa enjoyed playing rounders and was part of a successful Raheen team who competed at Community Games level.

After school she went to work  spending several years employed at Lake Region. She later found work at award winning The Nutshell cafe.

Teresa had Craig at a young age and devoted herself to raising him. With Blakes arrival her life took on another dimension and both sons were never far from her mind.

She loved going for long walks with her headphones on and enjoyed social nights out, being known as a wild one. She enjoyed crocheting clothing for her nieces and nephews.

Teresa suffered from a mental illness which she spent her final years really struggling from. Prior to her passing she spent over a month in University Hospital Waterford and was released home where she sadly passed away.

Her sister Bridget said the family has received tremendous support over recent days from the community.

At Teresas funeral mass in Raheen, she paid tribute to her sisters outgoing spirit.

From early days Teresa enjoyed a good social event, whether it was sporting or out with friends. Coming from a large family of girls, it was hard as we all wanted to be Daddys girl. In all ways Teresa wore this crown.

She said Teresa suffered from a mental illness in the same way someone can suffer from a physical illness.

Unfortunately society doesnt always see it this way. Teresa was a bright, strong woman but she struggled to find the help she needed. Even with failing health this didnt stop Teresa from enjoying life the best she could and touching the hearts of others.Teresa was laid to rest in Raheen cemetery after the mass.

She is sadly missed by her loving sons, parents, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, extended family and friends.
GORIS, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. French Senator Bruno Retailleau has accused the government of Azerbaijan of carrying out genocide and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Bruno Retailleau, a senator representing The Republicans group, has arrived in Armenia as part of the delegation escorting the French humanitarian convoy for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Whats happening in Artsakh leads to ethnic cleansing and geocide. The main reason that we are here is because a tragedy is unfolding. Whats happening today is transforming Artsakh into a concentration camp under an open sky. This attempt of ethnic cleansing and genocide is aimed against 120 thousand people, including 30 thousand children. We demand the French President, to utilize Frances position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to introduce a resolution for adoption that would eventually allow to open the Lachin Corridor and put it under international protection, in order for transit to be restored along the humanitarian road, the French senator said at a press conference in Goris.

The French humanitarian convoy for Nagorno-Karabakh led by the Mayor of Paris has arrived to the border area near the entrance of Lachin Corridor.
Sisters Alana and Celine Barnes taking part in the Bray Junior Parkrun at the People's Park Bray.

Christ Church COI

Services of Worship for this Sunday The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity: 11am: Family Service followed by a family BBQ.

Parish Life Centre [PLC] Bookings: The Parish Life Centre is available for day and evening bookings. Please contact Tracey in the Parish Office at 01-286 2968.

Parish Office: The Parish Office can be contacted at 01- 286 2968 or info@christchurchbray.ie between 9am to 1pm Monday to Friday.

160 Years of Christ Church Bray: This summer marks 160 years since Christ Church Bray was consecrated by the Bishop of Killaloe on St. James Day, July 25th 1863. To mark this occasion we are having a family BBQ after Sunday Service this Sunday. We look forward to seeing you there for lovely food and fun with ukelele music, face painting and bouncy Castle.

Rathmichael Parish Fete: The Annual Rathmichael Parish Summer Fete will take place on Saturday September 9th in the grounds of Rathmichael National School, Stonebridge Road, Shankill,from 12Noon to 4pm and all are welcome.

Irish Trefoil GuildGuiding for Life: Calling all former leaders of the Irish Girl Guides in Bray and the surrounding area. There is now a Trefoil Guild in Bray. Contact Anne at braytrefoilguild@gmail.com.

Bray Methodist Church

Worship this Sunday: 10amSunday Worship with Creche and Sunday School.

Bray Presbyterian Church

Worship this Sunday: 11.30am Sunday Worship with Sunday School.

Christian Assembly Church

Worship this Sunday: 10.45am Morning Worship; 6.30pm Evening Service of Bible teaching, singing and fellowship.

Wednesdays: 8pm Prayer Meeting & Bible study

Cornerstone Church at The Well

Worship this Sunday: 11am.

Bray Gospel Hall,

Bray Gospel Hall, 27 Florence Road. Sunday Morning 10.45am to 12 Noon: Breaking of Bread (Lords Supper)A Time of Worship, Praise and Remembrance.

Holy Redeemer Parish

Contact Holy Redeemer Parish: Call (01) 2868413. Website: www.holyredeemerbray.ie; Email: office@holyredeemerbray.ie.

Parish Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: 9.30am to 11am. If you need to contact us email: office@holyredeemer.ie.

Mass Times: 10amMonday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday No Mass on Tuesday. Sunday Masses: 6pm Vigil Mass on Saturday and on Sunday at 10.30am and 12Noon. To book a Mass, please call into the Sacristy before or after our Masses.

Mass Cards: Mass Cards may be purchased from the Parish Office during its opening hours.

Baptism: Registration for Baptism can be made online via the parish website www.holyredeemerbray.ie. Please choose a Second or a Fourth Saturday of the month in 2023.

St. Annes Church, Shankill: On Saturdays the Vigil Mass is celebrated at 5pm in St. Annes Church. All are welcome.

St. Peters Parish

To Book a Mass: To book a Mass, please contact Sharon in the Parish Office on 01- 282 9467 or email: stpeterslittlebray1@gmail.com.

Parish Office: Parish Office opening hours areMonday: 9.30am to 12.30pm; Tuesday: 9am to 12.30pm; Wednesday: Closed; Thursday: 9am to 12.30pm; Friday: 9am to 12.30pm. The parish office can be contacted by calling 01-282 4967 or by email: stpeterslittlebray1@gmail.com.

St. Peters Church Mass Times: Sunday: 9.30am (Irish), 11.30am. Holy Days of Obligation: 11.30am. No Weekday Mass. First Friday of the Month Mass: 10am.

Mass Update: Sunday Mass is broadcast on the parish web-site at 9.30am (Irish) and 11.30am (English)Google Chrome required.

Car Park Hours: These are 9am to 12.30pm, Monday to Friday, for parish business and at the weekends during church ceremonies. The Cemetery is accessible via Laneway for Pedestrians.

St. Peters Cemetery: There is a strict policy of No Dumping Allowed in any area of the cemetery. Visitors to the cemetery are requested to take home all forms with them of their rubbish in order to keep the cemetery tidy. Your co-operation is appreciated.

St. Annes Church, Shankill: On Saturdays the Vigil Mass is celebrated at 5pm in St. Annes Church. All are welcome.

Our Lady Queen of Peace

Parish Website: www.queenofpeace.ie.

Mass: Weekday Masses are celebrated at 10.30am on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Weekend Masses are at 6.30pm on Saturdays and 10.30am and 12 Noon on Sundays.

Mass Bookings: Anyone who wishes to book a Mass can do so by contacting the Parish Secretary via email at: secretary@queenofpeace.ie, or call 2745497.

Parish Centre: To book a meeting room in the Parish Centre please call 01-2760045 or email: villafas1@hotmail.com.

St. Fergals Parish, Ballywaltrim

Mass Times: Mass times are 9.30am Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. No morning Mass on Thursdays and Saturdays. Saturday: 7.30pm Vigil Mass; Sundays: 8am and 10.30am.

Baptism: Baptisms take place on the first and third Saturday of each Month at 12Noon. Bookings can be made through the Parish Office Only. The Preparation meeting takes place on the Monday before the 1st Saturday of the month. Please call into the Parish Office three weeks in advance of the Baptism to complete the Baptism Form and to confirm the date.

Confessions: Are heard on Saturdays after the 7pm Vigil Mass.

Marriage: All couples must give notice to the priest or Parish Secretary at least three months prior to the date of marriage.

Facebook page for the Bray & Enniskerry Pastoral Area: Check out Bray and Enniskerry Pastoral Area for all the news and information of our Pastoral Area.

Syro Malabar Catholic Church

Mass is celebrated every Sunday at 2.30pm in St. Fergals Church, Ballywaltrim.

Diving club

Bray Divers Sub-aqua Club are pleased to be on target to acquire a minimum of one hundred club dives before the year ends. Two more divers are ready for coxswain certification, and another two are ready to acquire their two star diver qualification.

There are two planned dive trips for next month one to Wexford and the other to Saint Johns point in Donegal. For information about joining the club call Albert on 087 6756439.

Bray Library

Opening hours are 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday with late opening on Tuesday and Thursday to 8.30pm. The library can be contacted at 01-2862600 or email: braylib@wicklowcoco.ie. Online services including e-books, audio-books, digital magazines and newspapers and e-learning are available via the library website.

The library is again involved in Imbolc, the Community Seed Arc programme, where one can get seeds for a variety of plants and after they flower, donate seeds from them for the programme. As always, you can have seeds sent to your local Wicklow Library branch by emailing your branchand requesting up to 4 packets.

Knit and Crochet for Purple House Cancer Support takes place at 11am every Monday in the library no need to book. Doodle Time for 9-12 year olds takes place every Thursday from 3pm to 4pm.

As part of Summer Stars Bray Library will host a Monster Doodle with Elida Maiques from 3.30pm to 4.30pm on Thursday September 7th. Book in branch, call 01-2862600 or email: braylib@wicklowcoco.ie.

Fairy Harp: Ceol Si an hour long concert of harp music inspired by fairies with harpist Aisling Ennis will take place in Bray Library on Thursday October 5th at 11am. Contact the library for tickets.

The library will be closed this Friday to facilitate staff training and any inconvenience to users is regretted.

Ballywaltrim Library

Opening hours are 10am to 5 pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and 10am to 8pm on Wednesday. The library can be contacted at 01-2723205 or by email at: Asballywatrimlibrary@wicklowcoco.ie. Online services including e-books, audio-books, digital magazines and newspapers and e-learning are available via the library website. Borrowers can renew their books on-line at any time.

The library will be closed this Friday to facilitate staff training and any inconvenience to users is regretted.

Fairy Harp: Ceol Si an hour long concert of harp music inspired by fairies with harpist Aisling Ennis will take place in Ballywaltrim Library on Wednesday October 18th at 11am. Contact the library for tickets.

Bray Cualann Historical Society

Members and supporters of the Bray Cualann Historical Society, the local history society for Bray and North Wicklow, are asked to note that the following events take place this week.

Tonight (Wednesday) Frank Whearity will present The rise & fall of John Spicers model bakery & shop Balbriggan (1904-1999): an overview of parts 1 & 2 at 8pm to the Balbriggan & District Historical Society in the Bracken Court Hotel, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. All are welcome admission is 5; on Saturday Adrian Le Harivel will lead a Donnybrook Walk at 2 pm which will highlight its past back to Saint Broc, the great Victorian expansion, and current building developments as one of Dublins oldest villages tries to keep its identity. Participants are asked to meet at the churchyard beside Donnybrook Garda Station, Donnybrook. All are welcomeParticipants take part at their own risk. Please dress appropriately for the days weather conditions, wear suitable footwear, and bring refreshments.

The attention of members and supporters of the Society is drawn to The Lord Mayors Certificate in Oral History offered by Dublin City Council as part of its commitment to life-long learning. The course will equip participants with skills in the preparation and conduct of oral history projects, including best practice in the collection and archiving of oral history interviews. It examines the wealth of recorded oral narrative sources in Ireland in both oral history and folklore. As of 2023 this course will be offered free of charge. Commencing in October 2023, classes will be held on Monday evenings at Dublin City Library and Archive, 139-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2, and will include two visits to archive services. Applications online for the course commenced last Monday. The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday September 8th. Prospective students must submit a completed online application form which can be found at: https://bit.ly/44KZVFv. If you require any assistance with the online application form please email cityarchives@dublincity.ie The Course Tutor for the Certificate in Oral History at Dublin City Library and Archive will be Dr Mary Muldowney, who is one of Dublin City Councils Historians in Residence, responsible for the Dublin Central area. Classes will take place on Monday evenings from October 2023 to April 2024 starting at 5.30pm and concluding at 8pm

Bray Mens Shed

Bray Mens Shed is always open to new members. The group meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the mornings from around 10am.To find out more, pop along to its new location on Kilmantain Place. If you cant get there in person, email the group on braymensshed@gmail.com or dermotmcelroy@gmail.com
Bernadette Stokes (Greystones) with Bray Councillor Joe Behan for the Ceremonial Opening Move at the 29th Annual Bray Rapidplay Chess Tournament 2023, in Greystones.

Liam Moran, from Greystones, at the 29th Bray Rapid Chess Tournament, in Greystones.

Eavan Gleeson, Dublin (left) competes against Flavia Bastos Scully, from Greystones (right), at the 29th Annual Bray Rapidplay Chess Tournament in Greystones.

The reigning Irish Champion, Grandmaster Alexander Baburin, has won the 29th Annual Bray Rapidplay Chess Tournament, which took place at Greystones Bridge Club on Sunday, August 27.

Councillor Joe Behan was on hand to make the ceremonial opening move and in his opening remarks thanked everyone for visiting County Wicklow for the event and wished the competitors an enjoyable day of chess.

The event was a huge success and sold out with a total of 90 entrants. Two International Masters  Sam Collins and Oleg Gubanov  also participated.

The tournament took place in Greystones Bridge Centre for a second time and players travelled from across Ireland to contest the seven-round event.

Stella Li, of the Master Chess Club, in Stillorgan, earned the ladies prize, while local man Eric Bennett was the highest local finisher in 14th place.

Meanwhile, Greystones women Bernadette Stokes and Flavia Bastos Scully were the highest placed local female finishers.

Councillor Stephen Stokes, who was one of the organisers, praised the organising committee and Greystones Bridge Centre.

The Bray-Greystones Chess Club were lucky to have a great team including Tom Janowski, Eugene Rellis, Bernadette Stokes and Niall OHiggins, he said. Greystones Bridge Centre is an outstanding venue. On behalf of Bray-Greystones Chess Club, we would like to thank them for hosting us. The day was a big success.

Chess has undergone a new wave of popularity in recent years with the success of the Queens Gambit on Netflix.

The Bray-Greystones Chess Club is currently recruiting players for the upcoming Leinster League season.

Anyone seeking more information can email braygreystoneschessclub@gmail.com.
Greystones artist Lisa McCleary, who has returned to Ireland after a decade of living and working overseas in Sydney and New York, is launching her first solo art exhibition in Ireland, and in her hometown.

In her own words, the exhibition, titled Ill Be in Touch will classify an exploration into the last four years of my material practice, delving into elements of painting, drawing, tapestry, and limited-edition art prints.

Lisas list of accolades are eye-watering to say the least. It all began in 2018, when she completed her MFA Degree at Parsons, The New School, New York City. She went on to exhibit internationally, with solo exhibitions in Sydney, Mexico, and New York City. Her most recent solo show was held at Shelf Gallery in Mexico City and her art is currently on view at the Irish Consulate, New York City.

Lisa was selected to exhibit her work at the London Art Biennale and the Royal Hibernian Academys 193rd Summer Annual in Dublin, Ireland this year. In 2022, she exhibited her work at The Boynes Emerging Artist Awards, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, LA and the Oscar Roman Gallery and Hotel Matilda, Mexico.

In 2021, Lisa was selected as a semi-finalist in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, as part of the Smithsonian Museums National Portrait Gallery, in Washington DC. In 2020, Lisa was included in The UK Sunday Times article 30 under 30: Irelands most promising artists.

Lisa grew up in Greystones and was educated at Holy Child Killiney, where she first grew to love art. She continued her creative education at the Sallynoggin College of Further Education Art Portfolio Course, in County Dublin. In 2011, her mother made the move to Sydney and she followed shortly after and was accepted into the University of New South Wales Art & Design, Sydney, and spent the next four years working towards her Bachelor of Fine Art Honors Degree. She then moved to New York to put the icing on what was becoming a very fine cake indeed, a Master of Fine Arts Program at Parsons.

It was a dream of mine to experience life as an artist in New York, she said at the time, especially after developing and refining my creative practice during my time in Sydney. For me, I think that a change of environment is a great way to grow and learn.

As a young Irish artist living in New York, she told the Irish Echo: I never could have imagined as a young child painting at my art desk in my home in Greystones, that I would one day have my own solo exhibition in New York City; it is a very exciting dream that has become a reality. I think New York is a special place for the creatively inclined. There is an overabundance of opportunities here for artists to exhibit and to maintain a practice, even outside of commercial galleries. Artists in New York have a great sense of community; we all work together and support one another.

Her work, currently, investigates the malleability of identity and the nature of the human spirit. I explore the intersection of vulnerability and resilience, materiality, absurdity, ambiguity, otherness and the tactile.

I utilise abstract figuration, focusing on physical aberrations and tactile manipulations of expression to evoke highly ambivalent emotions and experiences, she says. I employ a layered artistic process to create surrealist distortions and anthropomorphic beings. I begin by making clay sculptures which I then photograph and render in oil paint onto wooden panel. I utilize the Trompe Loeil painting technique; I want to create the illusion of 3-dimensionality through the skilled use of form, colour, and light. The paintings are 2-dimensional and place focus on the sensuality of the flat painted surface. The illusion of tactility creates a longing for the real and palpable.

Lisa McCleary will showcase the last four years of work at "An Tigin", Marine Terrace, Greystones, A63 PK81, on Friday, September 8  Sunday, September 10; Wednesday, September 13  Sunday, September 17, with viewing times from 12pm  6pm. The launch reception is on Friday and Saturday, September 8 and 9, from 4pm-7pm.
The top ten accountancy firm welcomes this months announcement by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., made during the launch of the launch of the new Succession Planning Advice Grant.

Marty Murphy, Head of Tax with ifac said: This is a very welcome move for the future of Irish farming and rural communities. The new grant is to encourage farmers aged 60 years and above to seek succession planning advice, potentially helping many farm families to avoid future financial hardship. We would urge older farmers to take up this incentive and seek professional advice on how to best safeguard their own financial security while also looking after the next generation and securing a viable future for their farm.

Succession planning is important in every business, so its worrying that it is neglected on so many Irish farms. Research conducted for ifacs 2023 annual Farm Report found that 64 per cent of farmers surveyed dont have a successor in place, and 90 per cent have little or no understanding of the Fair Deal nursing home scheme.

While inheritance and succession can be a thorny subject, its crucial that farmers plan ahead, taking into account both their own aspirations and those of the next generation. The Succession Planning Advice Grant is a welcome initiative and an important support for older farmers. Family circumstances differ, and every case is unique, which is why its so important to obtain professional advice. Getting the timing of a transfer of farm ownership wrong or failing to take advantage of relevant tax-saving opportunities can lead to significant hardship, added Marty.

When planning for succession, it is also important that farmers make a will. Once in place, Succession Plans and Wills then need to be reviewed at least once a year and updated when necessary.

The Succession Planning Advice Grant opens for applications September 19 and will cover up to 50 per cent of vouched legal, accounting and advisory succession planning advice costs, subject to a maximum payment of 1,500.

To apply, farmers must be aged 60 years and above, farming at least three hectares of land, and farming for a minimum of two years before making their application. The grant does not apply to farmers currently in a succession farm partnership.
Wicklow Sinn Fein TD John Brady has called on Minister Charlie McConalogue to introduce supports for farmers to deal with the costs involved with addressing the loss of trees due to the ash dieback disease.

Estimated to cost landowners in the region of 7,000 per hectare, and over 800 million nationally to date, Ash dieback was first discovered in October 2012 in a forest in Leitrim and has the potential to kill 90 per cent of Ash trees in the state.

There is also a need for further funding for local authorities to assist them in addressing the danger posed to motorists and pedestrians from trees which have been affected by the Ash Dieback disease.

The unfortunate reality is that Ash Dieback is now endemic to Ireland's forests which have been devastated by the disease, Mr Brady said.

And although Teagasc has been attempting to develop an ash dieback resistant strain of Ash trees since 2015, there is no means to cure the disease. This means that once affected that trees will atrophy and die.

This represents a significant financial setback for forest owners, estimated at approx. 7,000 per hectare. Which the government must address through increased grant aid.

There is also a considerable health and safety risk to road users and walkers from diseased trees along roadsides and parks which have been undermined by the disease and fall over. This will become an increasingly important issue for landowners, workers and visitors as the disease progresses.

The government must also fund local authorities in order to enable them to assist landowners in the removal of trees that represent a health and safety risk as a consequence of the Ash Dieback disease.
Deputy Jennifer Whitmore, Social Democrats Spokesperson for Children has called on the Government to expand the School Transport as a matter of urgency.

At present the school transport scheme operates within very narrow parameters. For a child to qualify for a ticket they must live more than 3.2km from their primary school or 4.8km from their secondary school.

The child must also be attending the school geographically closest to their family home with certain exceptions made for schools of a particular ethos, religion or language. If a child does not meet these requirements, they may be eligible for a concessionary ticket which is issued at the discretion of Bus Eireann if there are places available on the school bus route.

She is aware of one child living in west Wicklow whose parents were only they didnt have a place on the bus just two weeks before the start of school.

Deputy Whitmore stated: Every year from June onwards I have a huge number of parents contacting my office asking for help with the School Transport Scheme and every year we are dealing with the same problems. It is an annual and predictable School Transport Crisis and it is time for the Government to take action and resolve it.

One of the issues that we have seen arise again and again are when children who had received concessionary tickets in previous years are not offered a place on the school bus for the new school year due to an increase in students deemed eligible for tickets applying for that school bus route. Families are being told with very short notice that their children dont have a way to get to school. One family in west Wicklow was told that their ten-year-old did not have a place on the school bus two weeks before the new school year was due to start.

I am calling on the Government to urgently expand the School Transport Scheme. The current system of concessionary tickets for children deemed to live too close to their school is not working, is unfair and is causing added stress and frustration to families.

Deputy Whitmores office made representations on behalf of ten children attending the same school who were told they were eligible for concessionary tickets but there was on room on the school bus for them.

This school bus route is currently serviced by a mini-bus and capacity could be easily increased by using a larger bus. But instead under the current system Bus Eireann will not hire a larger bus to operate the route and the ten children without tickets must make their way to school by car, commented Deputy Whitmore.

Another reason that children are not being offered school bus places is the requirement that they must be attending the school that is geographically closest to their home. This is hugely problematic and another example of the School Transport Scheme failing students in its current form.

There are a range of reasons why a child may not be attending the nearest school to their home and Deputy Whitmores office have worked with several families in this situation.

One familys children have moved schools due to bullying; another student could not attend the nearest school as the road between his family home and the school was rural and inaccessible during winter.

But the overwhelming reason across Wicklow that children do not go to the school nearest their home is because that school is oversubscribed, and they cannot get a place, added Deputy Whitmore.

The lack of school places and in particular secondary school places is a huge problem across Wicklow and especially in Greystones and east Wicklow.

At present there is no collaboration between school admissions policies and the School Transport Scheme. This means that families who have missed out on a school place close to their home are being punished again with the news that their child is also not eligible for a place on the school bus, said Deputy Whitmore Whitmore.

At a time when we are desperately trying to cut our carbon emissions why are we forcing families back into their cars? Transport is one of our highest carbon emitters in Ireland and this is an opportunity for the Government to tackle it head on.

By expanding the School Transport Scheme to include more children we would be directly lowering our carbon emissions, taking private cars off the roads, and teaching our children from a young age the value and importance of public transport.

Surely for a Government that repeatedly uses the mantra of being green, this is a simple measure to implement, and one which would make a huge difference to families across the country.
Charlie Bird, pictured at Powerscourt Hotel Resort and Spa in Co Wicklow, with his wife Claire and family dog Tiger, as he launched an appeal for businesses and the public to get involved in Bewleys Big Coffee Morning Social for Hospice.

Legendary Wicklow-based broadcaster Charlie Bird has urged businesses across Ireland to get involved with Bewleys Big Coffee Morning Social for Hospice next month and help raise 2 million to support the national hospice movement.

The former RTE chief news correspondent, who is receiving Hospice care at home in his ongoing battle with motor neurone disease, was joined by his wife Claire and beloved dog Tiger at Powerscourt Hotel Resort and Spa in Enniskerry as he asked the public, coffee shops, hotels and other businesses to join Irelands biggest coffee morning on September 21.

Bewleys Big Coffee Morning Social for Hospice has raised 43.2million for Together for Hospice, the national hospice movement, since its inception in 1992. The fundraising drive helps to pay for medical and general staff, palliative care beds, home care visits, specialist equipment, and new hospice builds.

Two years after his diagnosis in autumn 2021, Charlie vowed to continue to support groups and charities as long as I have a breath in my body.

Communicating through an app that clones his speaking voice, he said he has been receiving care from Our Ladys Hospice and Care Services at his Wicklow home.

Outlining a worsening of his condition, the 73-year-old said: Every day is a struggle for me now. But I live each day at a time. My MND has deteriorated, especially affecting my mobility.

I would plead with everyone, in addition to businesses and organisations, to host or sponsor a coffee morning on September 21 or whenever suits them. Even two people getting together for a coffee counts as a fundraiser.

Businesses and the public can register to host a coffee morning on September 21, or on a date that suits them, on hospicecoffeemorning.ie or calling 0818 995 996.
The new season for the Royal Bridge Club will recommence on Wednesday, September 6, and Monday, September 11, upstairs in the De La Salle Pastoral Centre, Wicklow town. Please be seated at 7.25pm, to start playing at 7.30pm.

Friday Morning Bridge in Wicklow Sailing Club will recommence on Friday, September 8. Please be seated at 9.55am to start playing at 10am.

New and returning members are welcome. All enquiries to Bernie Hamilton on 085-8511581, or Joe Kelly on 086-8418043.

Bridge Lessons will be available on Thursday nights in Wicklow Sailing Club, starting on September 14. Please phone Phyllis Kavanagh on 086-8388096 to book your place.

Active Retirement

The next Roundwood Active Retirement lunch takes place in the Roundwood Inn on Friday, September 8. It starts at 1 p.m. and food will be served at 1.15 p.m. sharp. Please let Mary Flanagan know if you wish to attend by calling 087 6595381.

Indoor bowls

Indoor bowls is now finished in Glenealy for the summer and will resume again in September. New players always welcome.

Historical journal

Wicklow Historical Society Journal 2023 is now on sale. and is packed with very interesting articles and photographs.

The society has launched its annual patronage appeal to raise funds to continue the many events, lectures and tours which have been organised for this year.

The members of the society have been active for well over 30 years, organising exhibitions, seminars, lectures, walk and talk tours and they have produced an annual journal each year, all promoting the history, heritage and folklore of Wicklow and district. It costs 5 to purchase.

Walking group

On Monday mornings weekly at 10 a.m. join the Laragh walking group at the Brockagh Resource Centre for a walk around the Glendalough area for approximately one hour.

No need to book, just show up on the day.

Biodiversity plan

You can help with the Roundwood and District Community Biodiversity Action Plan by submitting your sightings of birds, insects, mammals, flowers and all the wildlife you see in the area on the National Biodiversity Database records.biodiversityireland.ie/.

Theres lots of help with identification online, so get spotting and recording.

The National Biodiversity Data Centre works to make biodiversity data and information more freely available in order to better understand and assist the protection of Irelands biodiversity.

By recording your sighting you are adding to this important scientific knowledge through citizen science.

There is also a county league. Wicklow is currently 6th so lets see can you help move Wicklow up that table.

Scouts

The 17th Wicklow Roundwood scouts need your help to avoid permanent closure.

Adult volunteers are needed to help provide scouting for young people in the local area.

Contact cillmhantain.cc@gmail.com or phone 086 8544262 for more information.

Slimming World

Slimming World Newtown meet every Monday at 5.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Parkview Hotel. Call or text Trevor at 085 2499982 for more information.

45 Card Game

45 Card Game every Tuesday night in Moneystown Community Centre, starting at 8 p.m.

Teas served. All are welcome.

Newtown Bingo

Bingo is played at Newtownmountkennedy Community Centre every Friday. Doors open at 7.30 p.m., with Bingo starting at 8.30 p.m.

EcoTrail Wicklow 2023

The fourth edition of EcoTrail Wicklow will take place on Saturday, September 30.

EcoTrail Wicklow is part of the eco-responsible international circuit of EcoTrail races in 13 destinations around the world.

The core principles behind EcoTrail is to organise world-class trail running events while raising awareness of the importance of protecting natural environments.

EcoTrail Wicklow offers the option of four distances (19k, 30k, 46k or 80k) following trails that run through some of Wicklows most scenic locations including Bray Seafront, Bray Head, Killruddery, the Great Sugarloaf, Powerscourt Waterfall, Djouce and the Wicklow Way, Lough Tay and Roundwood Reservoir.

Go to wicklow.ecotrail.com to register.

Yoga with Sally

Relax and unwind with Sally each Tuesday evening in the Mountain View Room at the Brockagh Resource Centre, Laragh. Contact Sally on 086 233 2937.

Classes are on Tuesday evenings from 7.30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Zumba

Come and join the Zumba class in Brockagh Resource Centre, Laragh each Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 7.45 p.m.

Walk-in class, no need to book. Contact details are 086 8256775 or email elevationdance@gmail.com.

Badminton classes

Badminton classes return to the Brockagh Resource Centre, Laragh on September 11 with Monday evenings: dedicated to adults from 7.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Thursdays Evenings: are for Juniors 4th class beginners at 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., 5 to 6th class and first year secondary school students from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and teenagers 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th year Secondary School Classes from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Contact Phil Curley at 0404 45175/087 2067607 or Gosia Ward at 087 063 8898. Small club fee for the year applies for participation.

All are welcome.

Ukulele Players

Roundwood Ukulele Players will resume strumming and singing on Tuesday, September 19 in Roundwood Parish Hall.

The ukulele class is for Adult Beginners and is open to everyone and anyone, but mostly to those who would love to sing and learn a new instrument but have never taken the plunge before.

Contact Linda on 087-9729956 to enquire about the morning or evening classes.

Storytelling

Mermaid Arts Centre, with the support of Wicklow Arts Office, is delighted to bring an evening of storytelling and song to the beautiful setting of Lynhams of Laragh on Thursday, November 23 at 8 p.m.

The event will feature Colum Sands, Eimear Burke and Jack Lynch.

Draw close to the fire and join them. All welcome, no need to book.

Taekwon-Do

Teens, children and adults will enjoy Taekwon-Do, a Korean art of self-defence.

Benefits include improving confidence, respect, discipline, awareness, concentration, channeling aggression, balance, coordination, speed, reactions, fitness and health. Call Master Kenneth Wheatley on 087-2547347 for further information.

Classes are on Tuesday evenings (Seniors and Teens) in the Brockagh Resource Centre, Laragh, while classes for children take place on Tuesday evenings.

Walking group

On Monday mornings weekly at 10 a.m. join the Laragh walking group at the Brockagh Resource Centre for a walk around the Glendalough area for approximately one hour. No need to book, just show up on the day.

Active Retirement

The annual Roundwood Active Retirement trip will see everyone staying at the Clonakilty Park Hotel, which proved so popular last year, from October 2 to October 6 for four nights and five days. Tours of Kerry, including Killarney, Kenmare, Dingle etc. Cost 425 per person sharing. Cost 485 for single room (there are limited single spaces available).

Total cost includes bus to and from Roundwood, daily tours around County Kerry, Bed, Breakfast and evening dinner with music every night in the bar. All enquiries to Mary Flanagan at 0876595381.

Pilates

Zara is on a break for the Summer and will be back on September 11. Pilates strengthens core muscles, improves muscle control, flexibility, strength and tone, as well as alignment and breathing. Offering STOTT Pilates Mat-work Classes based in Co.Wicklow. Both group and private classes are available. Contact Zara on 087 9367474.
Sir Mark Thompson has spoken of his dedication to building a successful future for CNN after being appointed the newest leader of the US media giant.

The media executive served as director-general of the BBC from 2004 until 2012, before leaving to work as chief executive at the New York Times for eight years until 2020.

He was knighted for services to media in the Kings Birthday Honours in June 2023.

On Wednesday, CNNs parent company Warner Bros Discovery announced that Sir Mark will be the new chair and chief executive of CNN Worldwide, replacing Chris Licht who stepped down effective immediately in June after 13 months.

Mr Licht left after his tenure saw CNN fall behind Fox News and MSNBC in popularity, as he encouraged the media giant to find a middle ground during a politically polarised time where opinionated news seemed to connect more with viewers.

Sir Mark will take up the position from October 9 in an attempt to help CNN compete during what Warner Bros Discovery chief executive David Zaslav recently called a time of huge disruption and transformation.

Sir Mark said: I couldnt be more excited about the chance to join CNN after years of watching it and competing against it with a mixture of admiration and envy.

The world needs accurate, trustworthy news now more than ever and weve never had more ways of meeting that need at home and abroad.

Where others see disruption, I see opportunity.

I cant wait to roll up my sleeves and get down to work with my new colleagues to build a successful future for CNN.

Warner Bros Discovery said Sir Mark would act as editor-in-chief of CNN, responsible for all content across its global portfolio of networks, channels and programming, as well as the companys 4,000 employees worldwide.

Mr Zaslav said: There isnt a more experienced, respected or capable executive in the news business today than Mark, and we are thrilled to have him join our team and lead CNN Worldwide into the future.

Mark is a true innovator who has transformed for the digital age two of the worlds most respected news organisations.

His strategic vision, track record in transformational leadership and sheer passion for news make him a formidable force for CNN and journalism at this pivotal time.

As the BBC director-general, Sir Mark led the development of the BBC iPlayer, expanded web and smartphone services, and presided over one of the worlds biggest newsrooms during the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Meanwhile, at the New York Times, he helped lead the transition to a digital-first service with a large subscriber base.
Smoke rises as a wildfire burns at the Dadia National Park in the region of Evros, Greece, yesterday. Photo: Reuters

A wildfire burning in north-eastern Greece for 11 days has destroyed an area larger than New York City, the European Union-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service said as firefighters from five countries battled to contain the flames.

Fuelled by gale force winds and hot weather, the fire that began near the city of Alexandroupolis quickly spread across the Evros region, killing at least 20 people last week in Europes deadliest blaze this summer. It turned swathes of lush greenery into scorched earth and destroyed homes and livelihoods.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Officials from a number of regions of France have arrived in Armenia to express support and friendship to the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo said at a press conference in Goris.

The French delegation that escorted a humanitarian convoy for Nagorno-Karabakh to the Lachin Corridor on Wednesday includes representatives of various political parties who are all united by Armenia and Artsakh.

We are here today because the Armenian organizations in France told us it was time to act, time to address the people of France. And there was especially a need to bring together the French local authorities in order to be able to send humanitarian aid to Artsakh. It was possible to collect ten cargo trucks of humanitarian aid thanks to the unity of local self-governing bodies, and the aid consists of food, baby food, milk powder, generators and solar panels. This will allow Artsakh to withstand, the Mayor of Paris said.

She said that the aid is intended for six cities in Artsakh that have been under blockade since December 2022.

Our message is clear and simple. First of all we are calling for respect of international law. The Armenians in Artsakh are under blockade involuntarily and this blockade is being perpetrated in violation of international law and the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement. Whats happening today in Artsakh is similar to genocide. The former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has described whats happening in Artsakh as genocide, and four of the principles defining genocide have been acknowledged by the international community and experts. The advisor to the UN Secretary General responsible for genocide prevention is also using the same word to describe the situation in Artsakh. Genocide, ethnic cleansing by an authoritarian regime against a people that is simply asking for its rights to be respected, rights that any person or nation has. This is why weve come here to witness it and condemn it. And we are also asking the French President to use his position at the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution with the purpose of respecting the rights of the people of Artsakh, Anne Hidalgo said.
Passengers could one day be able to jet from New York City to London in just 90 minutes, with Nasa announcing it is conducting research into supersonic aircraft.

A plane similar to the now-retired Concorde that can travel at speeds of more than 3,000mph (4,830kmh) is being worked on, which would see flight times from the Big Apple across the Atlantic drop by more than three quarters.
Tanner White, Donald Woods, Will Thomas and Joey Clark with the alligator Photo: Red Antler Processing/AP.

A group of hunters have captured the longest alligator ever to be recorded in Mississippi, according to the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

Four state residents  Donald Woods, Will Thomas, Joey Clark and Tanner White  harvested a male alligator on Saturday in west Mississippis Sunflower River. The alligator weighed 802.5 pounds (364 kilograms) and measured 14 feet, 3 inches (4.3m) long, breaking the previous record by over two inches, the department said.
Photo courtesy; Video grab

Chennai: The law enforcement personnel at Tamil Nadus Trichy airport arrested a passenger after they caught the person with illegal gold hidden inside Nutella jars, media reports said.

Acting on a tip-off, the Airport Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Trichy airport seized one gold bar of 24K purity weighing 149.000 grams, valued at Rs. 8.90 lakhs, reported ANI citing customs officials.

Tamil Nadu | Based on intelligence, the AIU, Trichy Airport seized one piece of gold bar of 24K purity weighing 149.000 grams, valued at Rs. 8.90 Lakhs. The Gold bar was extracted from gold powder concealed in two Nutella jars by a passenger who arrived from Kuala Lumpur on pic.twitter.com/AWAtBc7j5N  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023

The gold bar was extracted from gold powder concealed in two Nutella jars by a passenger who arrived from Kuala Lumpur on 28.08.2023, they added.

Based on intelligence, Trichy Airport Customs seized one piece of Gold bar of 24K purity weighing 149.000 grams valued at Rs. 8.90 Lakh. The Gold bar was extracted from gold powder ingeniously concealed in two Nutella jars by a passenger who arrived from Kuala Lumpur on pic.twitter.com/KC0Wp2VjrF  DD News (@DDNewslive) August 30, 2023

Recently, two passengers were arrested at Bengaluru airport with 48,000 cigarettes worth Rs 8.2 lakh. They had arrived from Bangkok on a Thai AirAsia flight.

In April, a woman was arrested at Chennai airport after she was found carrying 22 snakes in her bag while traveling from Kuala Lumpur.
S Jaishankar targets China over its new map that included Arunachal Pradesh and said it is an old habit of Beijing. Photo Courtesy: S Jaishankar Facebook page

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar rebutted China's claim over Indian territory as shown in a map unveiled by the country and said the Narendra Modi-led government is clear about the territory of the nation.

"China has put out maps with territories (that are) not theirs. (It is an) old habit. Just by putting out maps with parts of India... this doesn't change in anything. Our government is very clear about what our territory. Making absurd claims does not make other people's territories yours," he told NDTV.

India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with Beijing over the issue of the 2023 standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory.

In response to media queries, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "India rejects these claims as they have no basis."

"Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," the MEA spokesperson said.

India's response came after China on Monday officially released the 2023 edition of its standard map where Arunachal Pradesh, the Aksai Chin region, Taiwan, and the disputed South China Sea were all included within the Chinese territory.

The development came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi-Jinping called for a "resolution" of the long-standing border issues between the two nations on the sidelines of the 15th edition of the BRICS Summit in South Africa.

The two leaders also agreed to intensify efforts at expeditious "disengagement and de-escalation" to restore normal relationships between the two countries.
Photo Courtesy: Pixabay

At least two minor girls, studying at Panchhat high school in Narur village of Punjab, went missing on Tuesday.

On a complaint lodged by a woman Manjit Kaur of Narur village, the Rawalpindi police have registered a case under section 346 of IPC against unknown persons on the charges of kidnapping and keeping hostages the daughter of the complainant and her other friend (Classmate).

The complainant told the police on Wednesday that her daughter and her classmate friend (both studying matriculation) went to the school yesterday but not returned back.

She expressed her doubts that someone might have kidnapped both girls and keeping them hostage somewhere.

Phagwara Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh said the police are investigating the matter and searching for the missing girls.

(With UNI inputs)
Photo Courtesy: UNI

Trinamool Congress supporter, identified as Matiazul Dafadar, was shot dead and his uncle Mohatali and son Samjhi were injured when unidentified miscreants entered their house and fired indiscriminately on Wednesday morning, Nadia district police said.

The trouble had been brewing since yesterday, and its impact happened early on Wednesday when the assailants, armed with weapons, attacked the TMC leader's house and fired indiscriminately.

All three wounded were taken to a local hospital, where the medics declared Matiazul dead.

The two wounded have been taken to the Krishnanagar hospital.

The victims family members alleged infighting in the party led to the quarrel and murder, which the TMC denied. The police began the probe.

(With UNI Inputs)
Two people were killed and 16 others were injured when a pickup vehicle collided with a truck in Kamrauli area of Amethi district in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, police sources said.

Police sources said that the incident took place near Utlewa village on national highway when a Sitapur-bound pickup vehicle from Varanasi collided with the truck.

"Two persons identified as Manoj (35) and Raj Kishore (34) were killed in the accident," they said.

Police sources said that 16 others were injured in the incident and were taken to the community health centre, from where eight have been referred to the district hospital.

Station House Officer (SHO) Kamrauli Avinesh Kumar said that a total of 18 people were travelling in the pick-up vehicle, of which two died.

"16 people were injured in the accident, and the condition of eight is stated to be serious," he said.

He said that the bodies had been sent for postmortem examination. "The family members of the deceased have been informed," he said.

Meanwhile, taking cognizance of the road accident in Amethi, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed the officials to ensure proper treatment of the injured while wishing them speedy recovery.

(With UNI inputs)
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. Minister of High-Tech Industry Robert Khachatryan held a meeting on August 30 with the delegation of Indias National Defense College led by Commandant of the college, Lieutenant General Sukriti Singh Dahiya.

Indias Ambassador to Armenia Nilakshi Saha Sinha also participated in the meeting.

Minister Khachatryan said that the development of the defense industry based on modern technological developments is one of the strategic goals of the ministry.

Lieutenant General Sukriti Singh Dahiya expressed hope that Armenia and India will develop cooperation in the military industry.

The parties outlined the opportunities for partnership in the military industry.

The multinational delegation spoke about the importance of capacity-building and high-tech industry.

An exhibition of Armenian defense industry developments and products was also held.
Representative image/ courtesy: Pixabay

New Delhi/IBNS: A lawyer was shot dead at his office in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad on Wednesday.

The lawyer - Monu Chaudhary - was in his chambers, inside the district court complex, and eating when two men burst in and opened fire on him.

Chaudhary's blood-covered body was found slumped in the chair.

A case was filed with the Sihani Gate Police Station and the investigation is ongoing.

As a part of the probe, a forensic team gathered evidence and the body was sent for post-mortem.

According to preliminary information, Chaudhary was shot dead at 2 p.m. The attackers reportedly arrived on foot and fled the scene after killing the lawyer.

The killing comes as legal practitioners across western UP went on a 24-hour strike on Wednesday to protest the clash between lawyers and police in the state's Hapur region.

In anticipation of further clashes, police had been deployed at all court and tehsil complexes in the state.

However, the fact that armed men broke through this security cordon, murdered Chaudhary and then escaped has led to questions on police.

After news of the gruesome murder, scores of lawyers gathered around the crime scene and soon protests broke out as Mr Chaudhary's colleagues demanded justice. At the time of the attack other lawyers were meeting to chalk out their strategy on the Hapur issue.
Photo Courtesy: PIB

New Delhi: Kolkata Metro Railway has now decided to use composite Aluminium Third Rail in all the upcoming corridors being undertaken for construction along with retrofitment in existing corridors with steel third rail, the Ministry of Railways said on Wednesday.

A total of 35 RKm mainline steel third rail will be replaced in three stages.

In this regard, Metro Railway Kolkata has floated a tender for replacement of existing third rail, in the first phase to cover the section between Dumdum to Shyambazar, the ministry said in a statement.

In the second phase, work would be taken up from Shyambazar to Central and J D Park to Tollygunge.

In the third phase, the section between Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) to Kavi Subhash (New Garia) will be taken up.

With this Metro Railway, Kolkata would become a member of the elite club of London, Moscow, Berlin, Munich, and Istanbul Metro which have also shifted from steel third rail to aluminium third rail.

Kolkata Metro Railway is Indias first Metro built by Indian Railways on October 24, 1984.

For nearly 40 years now, it has been serving as a lifeline for Kolkata.

So far, the power to metro rakes was supplied to rolling stock at 750V DC through steel third rail. The Third Rail Current Collector (TRCC) made of steel fitted on a metro rake collects the current from the third rail.

Advantages of aluminium composite third rail over steel third rail

Reduction in resistive current loss and improved Traction voltage level as the resistance of steel Third Rail is around six times higher than composite Aluminium Third Rail.

On average, a 10 km corridor with the use of aluminium composite third rail would require 01 no. less Traction Substation compared to steel Third Rail i.e. a straight saving of approx. Rs 210 crores capital investment for 35 km of the Metro corridor.

The reduced voltage drop shall facilitate achieving faster acceleration with the same rake available with Kolkata Metro Railway.

Reduced maintenance and life cycle cost. The requirement of painting of Third Rail every 5 years may not be needed anymore. The frequency of measurement of the third rail dimension may be reduced significantly. There may be no possibility of damage due to rusting etc

Improvement in the efficiency of train operations.

Huge improvement in Energy Efficiency and reduction in carbon footprint.

Estimated energy saving using composite Aluminium Third Rail may be approximately 6.7 million units per annum.

Improved headway of the trains.
Photo Courtesy: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee X page

A police complaint has been filed against the creators of the film Yaariyan 2 for hurting religious sentiments after a complaint from the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee (SGPC) - the body responsible for managing Sikh places of worship in India.

The film, being directed by Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru, faced controversy shortly after releasing the new track, Saure Ghar.

The SGPC accused the creators of the song of using kirpan = a Sikh symbol - in an offensive way in one scene.

In the song, a clean-shaven character can be seen sporting the kirpan.

The Sikhs contend that only initiated Sikhs sporting a beard are allowed to carry the kirpan.

The SGPC expressed its anger and also shared its opinion on micro-blogging site X (formerly Twitter) calling for a ban on the film starring Divya Khosla Kumar, Meezaan Jafri, and Pearl V Puri.

SGPC initiates legal action against Yaariyan-2 film for anti-Sikh scenes

-Film hurting Sikh sentiments will not be allowed to release: @SGPCPresident

Amritsar:

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has initiated strict legal action against the film 'Yaariyan-2' for pic.twitter.com/Ifkz59VslN  Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (@SGPCAmritsar) August 29, 2023

In the most recent update, it has been revealed that a police complaint has been filed against the creators of the film.

The Sikhs have also demanded that the video of the song be taken down from all platforms and are seeking the intervention of the government and digital platforms.

Yaariyan 2 is a highly anticipated sequel to the 2012 film Yaariyan.

The film's makers have clarified that the character is actually wearing a Khukri, not a Kirpan, and that they did not intend to offend or disrespect any religious beliefs.

(With UNI inputs)
Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Abuja: Nigerian Police have arrested more than 100 people in Delta for attending a suspected same-sex marriage.

This is one of the major mass arrest incidents reported from the country targeting the LGBTQ community.

A police spokesperson in the southern Delta state told reporters as quoted by CNN that on Tuesday 67 people will be prosecuted for allegedly conducting and attending a same-sex wedding ceremony.

Nigeria bans same-sex marriage.

The African country's strict penal code approves a punishment of up to 14 years in prison for people who are convicted of engaging in a same-sex civil union.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International Nigeria asked the police to release the arrested people.

Amnesty International is calling on the Nigerias Delta state police command to immediately release the over 100 men,

arrested and paraded to the media, over allegedly organizing gay marriage and put an immediate end to this witch-hunt.  Amnesty International Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) August 29, 2023

"Amnesty International is calling on the Nigerias Delta state police command to immediately release the over 100 men, arrested and paraded to the media, over allegedly organizing gay marriage and put an immediate end to this witch-hunt,"Amnesty International Nigeria wrote on X.
Drone attack leaves four planes damaged in a Russian airport. Photo Courtesy: Igor Sushko X page

At least four Il-76 planes were damaged in a drone attack at an airport in the northwestern Russian city of Pskov on Wednesday.

Governor Mikhail Vedernikov wrote on Telegram as quoted by Telegram: "The defence ministrys forces are repelling a drone attack on an airport in Pskov."

"I arrived at the site at the very start of the incident. According to preliminary information, there have been no casualties. The scope of damage is now being assessed," Vedernikov said.

Emergencies services told TASS that four Il-76 planes were damaged at a military airport in Pskov, a city located more than 600km away from Ukraine.

The city is located close to the Estonia border.

"As a result of a drone attack, four Il-76 planes were damaged. A fire broke out. Two aircraft are engulfed in flames," an emergency service official told TASS.

Flight movements above the Pskov Region have been restricted.

Ukraine has not commented on its involvement in the attack so far.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry said a Ukrainian drone was staged above Moscow city on Wednesday.

"At around 3:30 a.m. Moscow time today, the Kiev governments attempt to attack facilities in Russia with a fixed-wing drone was thwarted. The drone was intercepted and crashed on the territory of the Ruzsky municipal district in the Moscow Region [west of the Russian capital]," the ministry was quoted as saying by TASS.
Photo Courtesy: Grab of Viral video from X page

A group of military officers appeared on national TV on Wednesday and announced they had seized power in Gabon, the Central African country where President Ali Bongo was deemed the winner in a recently contested election.

The officers, claiming to represent defence and security forces in the country, made the announcement in a televised address on news channel Gabon24, reports CNN.

On behalf of the Gabonese people and guarantor of the protection of institutions, CTRI [the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions] has decided to defend peace by putting an end to the regime in place, a military officer said on the broadcast as quoted by CNN.

All the institutions of the republic are dissolved: in particular the government, the Senate, the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court, Economic and Social and Environmental Council, and the Elections Council of Gabon, the officer said.

In July, Nigers military junta seized had seized control over the West African country.

The military coup in Gabon was caused by the facade of democracy.

Gabon has been ruled by a Father and Son since they had democracy in that country.



President Omar Bongo the former president had 70 bank accounts, 39 apartments, 2 Ferraris, 6 Mercedes Benz cars, 3 Porsches and a pic.twitter.com/ag5rtMs7sI  SERAH IBRAHIM (@TheSerahIbrahim) August 30, 2023

The ongoing political crisis, with no clear solution in sight, is generating uncertainty and concern as Niger continues to experience repeated attacks by non-State armed groups, especially near the Mali and Burkina Faso borders, said UNHCR.

Recent violence has led to an extra 20,000 newly displaced in the last month according to UNHCRs representative in Niger, Emmanuel Gignac, who noted that an increase in security incidents over the past few weeks has heightened protection risks for refugees, asylum-seekers and their hosts.

For example, in July UNHCR monitored 255 protection incidents including kidnapping, gender-based violence and domestic violence.

Witnessing a sharp increase since the military takeover, between 26 and 31 July, the agency recorded a 50 per cent increase in similar incidents compared with earlier in the month.

Last week, country's election body had announced Bongo won the presidential election with 64.27% of the vote.

Sixty-four-year-old Bongo took charge of the country after his father Omar Bongo died in 2009 due to cardiac arrest.

He was in office for 42 years.
Image: ICAN/Lucero Oyarzun

The United Nations on Tuesday called for more global action to end nuclear testing, warning against the danger of collective suicide.

In his message marking the International Day against Nuclear Tests, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for key countries to ratify the international treaty that bans experiments for both peaceful and military purposes.

Recipe for annihilation

This year, we face an alarming rise in global mistrust and division, he said. At a time in which nearly 13,000 nuclear weapons are stockpiled around the world  and countries are working to improve their accuracy, reach and destructive power  this is a recipe for annihilation.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) therefore represents a fundamental step in our quest for a world free of nuclear weapons, he added.

The treaty opened for signature in September 1996 but has yet to enter into force because it must be signed and ratified by 44 specific nuclear technology holder countries, eight of which have yet to ratify it: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Pakistan and the United States.

In the name of all victims of nuclear testing, I call on all countries that have not yet ratified the Treaty to do so immediately, without conditions, said Mr. Guterres.

Unfinished business

The President of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Korosi, echoed this message during a commemorative event at UN Headquarters in New York.

Heightened distrust, geopolitical competition and a growing number of armed conflicts have only increased the dangers in our world. Particularly if we consider the regular threats of resorting to a nuclear strike in the on-going war against Ukraine, he said.

Mr. Korosi called for a human-centred approach to disarmament as investing in nuclear weapons is simply incompatible with global pledges to achieve a more sustainable future for all people and the planet.

He said the CTBT remains a stark reminder that we have unfinished business and urged the remaining countries to sign and ratify the treaty.

The General Assembly President also underscored the importance of learning from history especially at such a moment, fraught with so many dangers.

End the threat

He shared the example of a Japanese woman, Teruko Yahata, 85, who was a child when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945, destroying the city. Today, she delivers presentations to people worldwide about the impact of a nuclear blast.

In the name of all those who suffered from nuclear testing or nuclear detonations, in the name of our loved ones, and the future generations, it is time to prevent global nuclear destruction, he said. It is time to put an end to the threat of our collective suicide.

The UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, also stressed the urgency for action.

Although the CTBT has not entered into force, it remains a monumental testament to the global goal of relegating nuclear weapons to history.

The unilateral moratoria against tests adopted by the nuclear-weapon States are to be commended. However, they are no substitute for a legally binding prohibition against all nuclear tests, she said.

Walk the talk

The International Day Against Nuclear Tests has been observed annually on 29 August since 2010.

The date marks the anniversary of the 1991 closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan, the largest of its kind in the former Soviet Union, where more than 450 nuclear devices were exploded over four decades.

The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), Kazakhstan and partners held a #StepUp4Disarmament symbolic walk at UN Headquarters on Tuesday morning, to mark the International Day  part of a global campaign to press for a world free from nuclear weapons.
Image:UNICEF

Amid the deepening crisis driven by warring militaries in Sudan, the UN announced on Tuesday an additional allocation of $20 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to aid civilians caught up in the turmoil.

The latest funds, approved by Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, builds upon previous support, bringing the total CERF funding for the crisis to $60 million.

As humanitarian needs soar in Sudan with critically low funding, I have approved an additional $20 million from CERF, Mr. Griffiths said in a post on social media platform, X.

Civilians need life-saving assistance now, humanitarians need access and funding to deliver it.

In spite of the latest funding injection, resources remain critically low for relief efforts in Sudan.

So far the $2.57 billion Humanitarian Response Plan has reached only 26 per cent of its funding target. Aid workers hope to reach 18.1 million of the approximately 25 million in need of assistance.

Huge wave of displacement

The four-month conflict in Sudan has triggered a huge wave of displacement. Over 3.6 million Sudanese have been uprooted within the country and a further one million outside its borders.

More than 240,000 Sudanese refugees and South Sudanese refugees, previously sheltering in Sudan, have crossed into South Sudan since the crisis erupted, in increasingly desperate conditions, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

There are limited health services, shelter, water and sanitation for returnees, refugees and the host population, the agency said.

The priority remains facilitating onward transportation for new arrivals away from the border. However, funding for this is also running out, risking further backlogs.

 UNHCR/Charlotte Hallqvist UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, meets a group of young Sudanese refugees in a refugee settlement in Aweil, South Sudan.

Regional response

UNCHR chief Filippo Grandi, who just concluded a four-day visit to South Sudan, underscored the need for strong government leadership and ownership of the response to the new emergency.

Efforts need to be intensified to create conditions for sustainable returns, he said.

While additional support is required for emergency assistance for those arriving, investment in basic infrastructure and services will be crucial to make these unplanned returns sustainable.

UNHCR is working with humanitarian partners to revise the Regional Refugee Response Plan for Sudan situation. Overall funding needs for emergency assistance, including food, shelter, healthcare, education and protection, are expected to reach over $1 billion by the end of 2023.

People are going to need support to rebuild their lives. We cannot afford to let them down, Mr. Grandi said.
Image: UNICEF/PAC

The United Nations on Tuesday announced that it has conducted 200 cross-border missions delivering aid into northwest Syria from Turkiye since the devastating earthquakes that struck the two countries in February.

The milestone mission took place on Sunday via the Bab al-Salam crossing, said UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, speaking during his daily briefing in New York.

Once in Syria, personnel from the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted monitoring visits to health facilities and agency warehouses in the cities of Afrin and Azaz. They also met with local partners.

Immense humanitarian needs

Mr. Dujarric said the UN and humanitarian partners are continuing to deliver urgently needed aid through the Bab al-Salam and Al-Raee crossings, which opened earlier this year as part of the emergency response to the earthquakes.

Today, 17 trucks carrying humanitarian shelter items from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) crossed into the northwest via Bab al-Salam, he said.

Humanitarian needs in Syria are at record highs after more than 12 years of war and in the aftermath of the double earthquakes on 6 February which left more than 50,000 dead.

Lifeline extended

The UN announced earlier this month that an agreement had been reached with the Government of Syria to re-open the main border crossing, Bab al-Hawa, to allow aid to flow into the northwest, the last opposition stronghold.

More than four million people rely on this lifeline, which was established in 2014 when the UN Security Council authorized cross-border relief deliveries.

However, the crossing closed in July after the Council failed to reach consensus on two competing resolutions on its renewal.

The Bab al-Hawa border crossing will now be accessible for the next six months, following the Syrian Government agreement. The deal also authorizes the UN to use Bab al-Salam and Al-Raee border crossings for an additional three months.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia has issued a statement on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

Below is the full statement.

13 years ago, in 2010, the UN General Assembly, with Resolution No.65/209, proclaimed August 30th as the Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, expressing concern at the "increasing incidence of violent or enforced disappearances, including arrests, detentions and abductions, in various parts of the world".

Emphasizing the importance of the fight against enforced disappearances, including the prevention of this crime and the fight against impunity, Armenia has signed and ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

The Convention, as well as other fundamental international documents on human rights, reaffirm the right of every person to be free from enforced disappearance and to receive immediate, just and adequate compensation.

The issue of enforced disappearances is one of the most severe and lasting problems both during and after conflict. All the while, the families of the missing person wait, search and remain hopeful about the return of their loved ones.

As a result of the Azerbaijani aggression in 2020, new cases have been added to the hundreds of cases of missing persons and forced disappearances of the 90s of the previous century, when even in the face of documented and video evidence, the authorities of Azerbaijan demonstrated inaction regarding the fate of Armenian servicemen.

Concerned about the fate of hundreds of missing people of the 44-day war, Armenia also draws attention to the cases where numerous videos and testimonies proving the forced disappearances were presented. However, no information about their fate and whereabouts has been provided by Azerbaijan.

In this context, Armenia is taking all possible steps to bring this issue to international courts, taking into account the fact that enforced disappearances in certain circumstances are also crimes against humanity defined by international law.

One of the objectives of the International Day of Enforced Disappearances is to remind all states to respect the rights of the families to know the truth about the fate of their loved ones.

August 30 is the day when we not only address cases of enforced disappearances but also reaffirm our commitment to overcome all obstacles to clarify the fate of the missing.
In recent times, the world has witnessed a series of perplexing alliances and actions, leaving experts and observers to question the motivations behind such moves.

One of these eyebrow-raising alliances is the partnership between China, Pakistan, and the Khalistan separatist movement, and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun at the center of it all.

While many may find it difficult to fathom the convergence of these entities, a closer examination reveals a web of disturbing connections that aim to threaten regional stability.

Pannuns Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) organizations recent appeal to China, pledging support for the annexation of Arunachal Pradesh and seeking support for a Khalistan Referendum, has startled many.

The SFJs comparison of Punjabs situation to Arunachal Pradeshs alleged occupation by India illustrates the convoluted narratives they are weaving. Pannuns handshake China displays a concerning level of disregard for historical context and the delicate regional balance.

Furthermore, the timing of Pannuns outreach to China cannot be ignored. Amidst the 2020 border clash between China and India at the Galwan River valley, Pannun saw an opportunity to align his movement with Chinas interests. His letter to President Xi Jinping, expressing support for China while neglecting the sacrifices of Sikh soldiers who gave up their lives defending India, is deeply disheartening. This raises questions about his loyalties and whether he is in cahoots with the Chinese regime.

Pannuns connections with Pakistans ISI further intensify these concerns. His communication with Imran Khan, Pakistans former Prime Minister, where he pledged Khalistani Sikh support (who are only a handful) against India, underscores his willingness to collaborate with entities that have historically posed a threat to regional stability. The fact that Pakistan continues to harbor and promote militant groups under the K-2 alliance, with the aim of destabilizing India, only adds to the gravity of the situation.

The question arises: What kind of support does this separatist movement genuinely enjoy within the Sikh community? Multiple reports indicate that the Khalistan movement finds little traction within Punjab, India, further casting doubts on its legitimacy and goals.

As the world grapples with growing counterterrorism and counterintelligence threats, it is essential for authorities to intervene and disrupt these alliances that fan the flames of radicalism and extremism. The Khalistan separatists are growing more violent by the day. Multiple cases in Canada, the UK and the US are testament to that. And Chinas deepening involvement in the Khalistan movement and its collaboration with Pakistans ISI must be scrutinized and curtailed for the sake of regional peace and security.

Moreover, its crucial to remember the sacrifices made by Sikh soldiers who bravely defended India from Chinese aggression during the Sino-Indian war. Pannuns disrespect for these soldiers memory raises fundamental questions about his motives and allegiances. Its a stark reminder that the pursuit of narrow agendas must not come at the cost of historical truth and the sacrifices of those who fought for their motherland.

In a world where complex alliances and hidden motivations abound, it is our duty to expose such partnerships that threaten global stability and undermine the sacrifices of brave soldiers who stood for their nations. Only through awareness, unity, and a commitment to truth can we safeguard the values that form the foundation of our societies.

(Image and Text courtesy: Khalsavox.com)
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Pakistan is witnessing massive protests over inflated power bills with the caretaker government even failing to give relief to people.

In the cabinet meeting presided over by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Tuesday, the interim set-up expressed helplessness on how to address the issue, even on spreading electricity bills in instalments unless the International Monetary Fund cleared it, reports Dawn News.

Interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi, who didnt immediately hold a presser after the cabinets meeting, later told a private TV channel as quoted by Dawn News that the government was engaging with the IMF regarding relief measures for electricity consumers and an announcement was expected soon.

Bokhari told the media that his country's cabinet made decisions for providing short-, medium- and long-term relief to consumers.

Meanwhile, several regions of Pakistan are witnessing protests over the inflating power bill issue.

Gojra Saddar police on Tuesday registered two cases against 158 people for protesting against inflated power bills and blocking the M-4 at two points between Gojra and Toba Tek Singh interchanges in Pakistan on Monday.

On the other hand, a man allegedly committed suicide at Dijkot near Faisalabad after he failed to pay Rs 40,000 electricity bill, reports Dawn News.

The family of Muhammad Hamza (35), a resident of Sabri Town locality of Dijkot, told police as quoted by the newpaper that he was already at his wits end due to financial constraints and the exorbitant electricity bill proved the last nail in his coffin.

He shot himself dead after failing to pay bill.
Photo Courtesy: Pixabay

A Chinese national, who was involved in an international-level pyramid scheme posing as an investor, has been arrested in the Sri Lankan city of Colombo.

He was arrested during a joint operation conducted by the Colombo South Division Criminal Investigation Unit and the Borella Police.

The police suspect that more than 4000 Chinese nationals may have been involved in this racket. It has also been revealed that the money of the smuggling has been taken to China through the Undial system, reports Mawrata News.

It has been revealed that the arrested Chinese national has cheated people from this country in Malaysia, Singapore and other countries by giving benefits for deposits like 100, 200 dollars and after depositing an amount of 10,000 dollars without paying those benefits.

A senior police officer was quoted as saying by the news portal that the suspected Chinese national had taken 8 houses from 7 high-rise complexes in Colombo by pretending to be an investor in the port city and inside the Chinese nationals there and carried out this racket.

When asking the private security officer of one of the houses, it was also revealed that 27 Chinese nationals had left just before the raid. The police suspect that there may be more than 300 Chinese nationals under him.
Antonio Blinken announces new military assistance package for Ukraine.Photo Courtesy: Antonio Blinken Instagram page

The US government has announced the next package of military assistance to aid Ukraine, a nation engaged in war with Russia since it was invaded last year.

"This package contains important capabilities to help Ukraine on the battlefield," US Secretary of State Antonio Blinken said in a statement.

The package includes AIM-9M missiles for air defence, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, mine-clearing equipment, Javelin and other anti-armour systems and rockets, over 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition, ambulances, demolition munitions for obstacle clearing, as well as spare parts, services, training, and transportation.

"This package of weapons and equipment, which are valued at $250 million, is being executed under drawdowns previously directed for Ukraine," Blinken said.

In his strong eroded words, Blinken said Russia continued to wage a brutal war of conquest that has killed many of Ukraines civilians and displaced millions of its people.

"Their attacks on Ukraines ports and grain infrastructure have caused price volatility in food and grain markets and worsened hunger and global food insecurity around the world," Blinken said.

"Russia started this war and could end it at any time by withdrawing its forces from Ukraine and stopping its brutal attacks. Until it does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes," he said.
ANCHORAGE - Alaskan law enforcement agencies, in collaboration with advocates for Indigenous peoples, have launched a new endeavor to provide and distribute more information to assist in locating the missing, particularly those of Alaska Native an...
Raksha Bandhan, also known as Rakhi is the Hindu festival that celebrates the bond of love between brothers and sisters on the last day of the lunar Calendar month of Sawan (Shravan). Raksha Bandhan in Sanskrit means bond of protection and every year, sisters tie the rakhi which symbolizes the bond of protection on their brothers hands. In return, the brothers promise to protect their sisters and be with their side forever.

Raksha Bandhan is celebrated in various ways. Not just siblings but many other people celebrate the day with their loved ones. People who arent siblings but share a similar bond also cherish their relationship by tying the rakhi on this day.

Happy Raksha Bandhan 2023: Wishes, Messages, Quotes, Images And Rakhi Whatsapp Status In English | Freepik

This year, Raksha Bandhan falls on August 30 and 31. According to Drik Panchang, the two dates are because of Bhadra Kaal, during which one should not perform Raksha Bandhan rituals. Therefore, you can tie Rakhi on these two dates. On this day, sisters tie rakhi on the wrist of their brothers and pray for their good health and prosperity. Siblings exchange sweets and gifts, which makes the festival even more exciting for them.

(Also Read: Happy Raksha Bandhan 2023 Wishes)



As Rakhi 2023 is just around the corner, Here we have compiled a number of funny Rakhi wishes, messages, quotes, images, cards and Raksha Bandhan status in English that you can share with your sisters and brothers and celebrate the bond of togetherness. May you all have a Happy Raksha Bandhan!

Funny Raksha Bandhan Wishes, Messages And Rakhi Whatsapp Status To Share Your Siblings

Here are some funny Raksha Bandhan messages, wishes, images and Rakhi Whatsapp status that you can send to your siblings and make the day special for them:

Motivational Raksha Bandhan Quotes, Wishes, Messages, Images And Rakhi Whatsapp Status To Share Your Siblings

Funny Raksha Bandhan Wishes for Brother and Sister

1. To my dear brother, I know you're getting old when I have to remind you about Rakhi! Just kiddingage is just a number. Happy Rakhi 2023!

2. Dear sister, I thought about getting you a gift, but then I realized that annoying you all year round is gift enough, right?

3. Happy Raksha Bandhan to my partner in crime! May our bond of love and laughter continue to grow stronger with each passing year.

4. To my dearest brother, You may be the biggest pain in my life, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love you!

5. Dear sister, I know I don't always say it, but I love you more than anything in the world. Thank you for always being there for me, even when I didn't deserve it.

6. Happy Raksha Bandhan to my best friend and biggest supporter! I am so grateful to have you in my life.

7. To my brother, You may not always be the easiest person to get along with, but you're my brother and I love you. I hope you have a happy Raksha Bandhan!

8. Dear sister, I know I'm not always the perfect brother, but I love you and I'm always here for you. Happy Raksha Bandhan 2023!

9. The relationship between brothers and sisters is a rainbow of relationships. Happy Raksha Bandhan to my brothers and sisters who make this rainbow a bright one.

10. I am truly blessed to have such amazingly annoying brothers and sisters who made the outside world look so much better to me. Happy Rakhi to all.

11. You always told me that you were more intelligent than me but I always remembered that you were one big fat liar.. So I would agree with what you told me. Warm wishes on Rakhi to you.

Happy Raksha Bandhan 2023: Wishes, Messages, Quotes, Images And Rakhi Whatsapp Status For Sisters | Freepik

Funny Raksha Bandhan Messages for Brother and Sister

1. Happy Raksha Bandhan! May your wallet always be full and your siblings always be speechless!

2. On this Rakhi, I promise not to eat all the chocolates before sharing... maybe. Happy Raksha Bandhan!

3. Roses are red, violets are blue, and my wallet's empty, thanks to you! Happy Rakhi, dear sibling!

4. Happy Raksha Bandhan! Here's to another year of pretending to get along and secretly plotting each other's downfall.

5. Dear sibling, you're like a fine wine  you get better with age, and you give me a headache. Happy Rakhi!

6. Happy Rakhi! May our bond be as strong as our Wi-Fi connection  always reliable, even in the most trying times.

7. To my partner in crime, my fellow troublemaker, and the reason behind most of my grey hair  Happy Raksha Bandhan!

8. Wishing you a Raksha Bandhan filled with fewer fights over the remote and more fights over who loves each other more!

9. Happy Rakhi! Let's continue our tradition of swapping gifts that we secretly want for ourselves. It's the thought that counts, right?

10. On this Raksha Bandhan, let's make a pact: I promise to keep your secrets if you promise to keep sharing your snacks. Deal?

11. It is so funny that we would fight all day long but would not stand staying away from each other. Wishing a very Happy Raksha Bandhan to you.

Funny Rakhi Wishes for Brother & Sister 2023

1. I might tease you and annoy you. But, I know that despite all my bad habits you will always be there for me. Blessed to have an understanding brother like you. You are the best. By the way, your gift is still pending! Love you the most! Happy Rakhi 2023!

2. Whenever I look at you, I lose faith in God because if you can happen to me then anything can happen to me. Cheers to our wonderful bond Happy Raksha Bandhan 2023!

3. Rakhi is a reminder that you have to thank God and your sister because you have me. Happy Rakhi 2023!

4. You are the most handsome brother I have and I would request a completely new wardrobe this Raksha Bandhan to match up with your level of smartness and looks. Happy Raksha Bandhan!

5. Those blessed with siblings can only understand the pain of sharing their chocolates, clothes and parents. Happy Raksha Bandhan to the sister who is the sweetest devilish angel to me.

6. I always wondered why God brought you into my life and then finally I realized that he wanted to add some humor and some trouble to my life. Wishing you a Happy Raksha Bandhan.

7. Sometimes I think, if you had not been there in my life then there would have been no chili flakes to spice up my life. Warm wishes on Raksha Bandhan to the cutest sister.

8. Being blessed with a brother is like being blessed with a bodyguard for life who will work for you without any wages. Wishing all the happiness to my sweetest bodyguard. Happy Rakhi to you.

9. You always told me that you were more intelligent than me but I always remembered that you were one big fat liar.. So I would agree with what you told me. Warm wishes on Rakhi to you.

10. Cheers to the bond of love and laughter that we share I wish I was blessed with more humour to crack more hilarious jokes on you each and every day.. Happy Raksha Badhan to you bhai.

Happy Raksha Bandhan 2023 Wishes Messages, Quotes, Images And Rakhi Whatsapp Status For Sisters

Happy Raksha Bandhan wishes 2023 in English

1. The knot of that thread tied to her brothers hand is a knot of love, care, support, respect, and security. Happy Rakhi!

2. A plate filled with sweets and Rakhi says its the time of the year to show your endless love to your siblings. Happy Rakhi 2023!

3. Happy Rakhi from mine to yours, lets celebrate our childhood journey together and enjoy this beautiful festival!

4. I will always stand by you, no matter how tough the situation might be. Happy Raksha Bandhan!

5. The distances between us might increase with time but the love and special bond you and I share will always grow ever stronger with each passing day. Wishing you a Happy Rakshabandhan!

6. Dear Bhaiya! This Rakshabandhan, I pray to the almighty to make our bond of love and care grow stronger each time I tie this sacred rakhi on your wrist. Happy Rakhi!

7. A bond of love  A bond of togetherness A sacred thread of protection  An occasion to cherish the life-long relation of care  Happy Rakshabandhan!

8. I may have a lot of friends, but to have you in my life is the best gift of companionship. Thank you! for the fond memories that you have given. To the best brother and best friend. Happy Rakshabandhan!

9. I might tease you and annoy you. But, I know that despite all my bad habits you will always be there for me. Blessed to have an understanding brother like you. You are the best. By the way, your gift is still pending! Love you the most! Happy Rakshabandhan!

10. If God grants me a wish, I will ask him to make you my brother in my next-life. Much love. Happy Rakshabandhan!

Happy Rakhi Images & Cards 2023

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Happy Raksha Bandhan 2023: Wishes, Messages, Quotes, Images And Rakhi Whatsapp Status In English | Freepik

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Happy Raksha Bandhan 2023: Wishes, Messages, Quotes, Images And Rakhi Whatsapp Status In English

Wish you a Happy Raksha Bandhan 2023!

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As a 90s kid, my winters were spent soaking in the sweet scent of Vaseline body lotion and eyeing the fragrant  and expensive  blue Nivea tin my mum pulled out only on special occasions. These iconic products have graced our mothers dressing shelves, but now serve mostly as aromatic reminders of our past. Today, Indian consumers are spoilt for choice with lotions and potions of every hue, fragrance, and price point.

Homegrown beauty brandswith a wide array of products and innovations in skincare, body care, makeup and hair carehave exploded in a market that used to be dominated by legacy brands like Nivea and Vaseline. Our generation wants variety and quality, and beauty entrepreneurs are coming in to bridge this demand with new brands and innovative products. They are intensifying their efforts to capture the market, and in the process, consumers are being served the best that Made in India brands have to offer.

Indias beauty and personal care (BPC) industry reached $26.3 billion in 2022, from $15 billion in 2021, according to research by IMARC Group, and the market is expected to reach $38 billion by 2028. The exponential growth of this sector is attracting entrepreneurs to the BPC industry, and even legacy brands are encouraging new entrants.

A few weeks ago, Estee Lauder New Incubation Ventures launched Beauty and You, a programme to find and support the next generation of Indian beauty entrepreneurs. The initiative focuses on identifying innovative brands and new business models across the beauty and personal care space. The goal is to provide consistent resources to cultivate an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and amplify the vibrant beauty community in India, said Shana Randhava, Senior Vice President, New Incubation Ventures, Estee Lauder Companies.

Estee Lauder's new "Beauty & You" campaign aims to incubate new beauty brands from India

That a leading company like Estee Lauder  which owns several premium skincare and make-up brands like Aveda, M.A.C, and the massively popular The Ordinary  launched an initiative like this, is a sign of just how much movement the personal care market is witnessing. For most regular folks, the pandemic was a huge turning point. Being forced to stay indoors, meant our focus turned inwards: so many of us familiarised ourselves with terms like CTM and chemical exfoliant and the difference between peptides and ceramides. We learnt to read ingredient lists on product labels and sort through bogus claims like clean beauty. Beauty and skinfluencers exploded.

Shuddh Desi Beauty

According to a Statista report, India is ranked fourth globally for generating the highest revenue from the beauty and personal care market in 2022. Retailers  and e-tailers  have helped fuel the growth. Nykaa launched 45 offline stores in 2022, while the Tata group launched Tata Cliq Palette. Earlier this year, Tira Beauty from Reliance Retail launched with an app and an offline store in Mumbai.

And the beauty market has responded. Inclusivity and transparency became important buzzwords. Plum, founded in 2014 by Shankar Prasad, is one such brand that focuses on being transparent about their products complete ingredient list and using recyclable packaging. Plum is Indias first 100% vegan beauty brand. The dynamic and ever-evolving nature of the category is what motivated me, claimed Prasad. Plum now produces a variety of bath and body care products like shower gels, shampoos, fragrances, and body oils.

Shankar Prasad, Founder & CEO, Plum

The desi celebrity beauty market also stepped up its game. While Deepika Padukone is the latest entrant, in the last couple of years, actresses Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif launched their own brands. Kaif, who launched Kay Beauty in late 2019, aimed to create makeup that looks like natural skin. We launched the foundation range with 20 shades while paying a lot of attention to not just Indian skin tones but also different undertones, so that everybody finds their shade of beautiful, the actress said at the launch of her foundations in March, 2021.

This clearly spoke to a market need. Priya Singh, 35, a banker from Kolkata, noted that its been difficult to find makeup brands that suit her darker skin tone. Brands in India strangely have very light foundation shades, despite most of us having brown skin tones. Its good to see newer brands acknowledging this issue and coming up with more brown girl-friendly products, she said.

An agreeable fallout of the pandemic was an increased scrutiny of our own consumption and sustainability. Consumers, says Kavita Khosa, founder and CEO of Purearth, demand to know about a brands impact on the environment. According to Khosa, this went hand in hand with a need to know more about Ayurveda  which is what her range of products focuses on. Purearths catalogue includes face masks, treatment serums, and facial and hair oils.

Katrina Kaif's Kay Beauty aims to launch "brown-girl-friendly" products

Beautys 'Make in India' Push

Perhaps the biggest contributor towards the flux in Indian beauty and personal care brands is the ease of operations. Smaller brands need not rely on brick-and-mortar stores when online ordering will do. Online shopping in the beauty and personal care segment surged post-lockdown by 132% in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to the India Retail and E-commerce Trends report by Unicommerce.

The growing demand during and post the pandemic, the surge of low investment mediums such as e-commerce and social media for marketing and more accessible logistics solutions have all reduced the entry barriers for beauty entrepreneurs and the distance between brands and their target audiences, said Prasad.

Influencer marketing has turned the tables for beauty entrepreneurs by enabling them to compete against the massive budgets of big conglomerates. Influencers like Kritika Khurana, Shreya Jain, Jovita George, and Vasudha Rai have a combined following of more than 2 million on Instagram and cater to a vast audience with purchasing power. They began to attract the attention of brands, who saw an opportunity to reach new audiences, at a fraction of the price of launching a traditional campaign.

Its the new age marketing funnel, said Mumbai-based influencer Aleena Darwesh, 26. With more than 70,000 followers, Darwesh creates beginner-friendly skincare videos and reviews products. She has worked with legacy brands like Ponds, as well as newer ones like Dr Sheths and Dot & Key. Audiences may be oblivious to a new launch from a legacy brand, but they will be aware of a smaller brands offering, all thanks to influencer content.

Lovechild By Masaba is another homegrown beauty and skincare brand by designer Masaba Gupta

But perhaps the most important factor in the growth of Indian beauty entrepreneurs is the coalescing of skincare and self-care. Remember the several unbothered, moisturised, happy, in my lane, focused, flourishing memes that did the round last year? Self-care is no longer an indulgence but more of a daily routine. Skin is intimate, sensual, and personal. Were reconnecting with ourselves; skincare is the best form of self-care, explained Khosa.

As definitions of beauty continue to evolve and the consumer base becomes increasingly sophisticated, the Indian beauty market presents an exciting opportunity for founders and creators. Well light a candle, put on a sheet mask, and watch this space.

Feature image source: Laura Chouette/ Unsplash
Suffering a burn injury can be painful, both mentally and physically. Burns can damage skin and tissue and even leave victims disfigured for life.

This can have a devastating psychological impact on the victims throughout their lives, including anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), lack of confidence, and more.

Unsplash

Burn injury that changed her life

This would have been the life story of Prema Dhanraj, but she chose to fight back and reclaim her destiny.

In 1965, a then 8-year-old Prema, a native of Bengaluru, suffered a severe burn injury after a stove burst on her face while playing in the kitchen.

The young girl had suffered nearly 50 per cent burns on her face, neck, and body.

After running from pillar to post for nearly a month, CS Dhanraj and Rosie Dhanraj took her to the Christian Medical College in Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

"My lip was touching my chest, and I couldn't speak or eat. That was my condition when I was taken to the operational theatre. I was taken to the operational theatre three times, but they couldn't intubate me because I had no neck at all," Dr. Prema recalled.

TWITTER

Mother, Prema's pillar of support

While the doctors struggled to perform the surgery on Prema, her mother, Rosie, prayed to God.

"My mother was praying and vowed to God that if I get a second lease of life, she will make me a doctor at the same hospital and dedicate her life to the service of people. And the fourth time when I was taken to the operational theatre, the doctors were able to perform the surgery that went on for 12 hours. My mother was praying all this while, and after I opened my eyes, the first thing she said was - You have to become a doctor," she said.

How a doctor helped her

At the hospital, Prema also met her other guardian angel - Dr. LBM Joseph, who performed the complicated surgery and reconstructed every inch of her face.

"Dr LBM Joseph also played a great role both in the operational theatre and beyond. He was very gentle and very caring, and encouraged me to overcome all my pain and my medical problems," she said.

FLICKER

Struggling to face society

Prema was mostly in and out of the hospital in the next three years, going under the knife more than two dozen more times. Still, she wasn't ready to return to school and face society.

"When my parents told me that I had to start going to school again, I was not ready for it. Then my gave me two options - stay home while your siblings go to school and achieve success in life, and you will be reduced to cooking for them, or go to school, come up in life, and succeed. This was an eye-opener for me," she said.

But it wasn't easy for young Prema to return to school as she was met with stares everywhere she went, and students were even scared to talk to her.

From burn victim to doctor

After completing school, Prema went to college, where she had better friends who stood up against anyone who tried to bully her.

"After a point, I became confident and was focused only on my studies. And it paid off, and I got an admission at the Hubballi Medical College. After I finished my MBBS, I met Dr LBM Joseph, and he was very surprised to learn that his patient has now become a doctor. I wanted to get into MS General Surgery. He was always there to encourage and guide me," she said.

AGNI RAKSHA

After her MD in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery from CMC, Ludhiana, Dr. Prema returned to CMCH in 1989 as a surgeon and thus fulfilled her mother's promise.

What made it even sweeter was that Dr. Prema worked under Dr. Joseph himself and later became the Head of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the same hospital that saved her life.

Helping burn victims with award money

In 1999, Dr Prema and her sister Chitra established Agni Raksha, an NGO to provide medical treatment and holistic rehabilitation for burn victims from low-income families, especially women and children.

AGNI RAKSHA

"In 1998, I got an award from the US, which had a prize money of $10,000, which was a huge amount for me then. I didn't know what to do with it, and after discussing it with my sisters, I decided to start this NGO to help other burn victims, like how my mother helped me overcome my trauma. Because without her, I would not been where I am now," she said.

Installing confidence in burn victims

Since then, Agni Raksha has helped over 25,000 burn victims, including in their medical treatment and helping them rebuild their lives.

"We are trying to send them back to society near-normal, and it is not possible to be 'normal' after the skin is burned. At Agni Raksha, our focus is to give them both medical treatment and skill training. We had both in-patient and OPD for burn victims. All our nurses are also burn victims, and that makes them more sympathetic to the patients as they themselves have gone through the pain," she said.

AGNI RAKSHA

Based on their physical abilities and interests, the NGO also provides the burn victims with skill training so that they can rebuild their lives.

Patients get inspired by her

For many burn victims who come to the care of Agni Raksha, the biggest motivation is Dr. Prema herself.

"We also provide them counselling. But many have told me that seeing me and interacting with me have boosted their confidence. Many children have told me that they also want to become doctors like me, and I tell them that they can, and there is nothing in the world that can stop them," she said.

Creating awareness about prevention

Dr. Prema, who retired from active medical service in early 2020 due to COVID-19, is today still active in creating awareness about prevention.

"A lot of children suffer burn injuries due to carelessness. We have been attending schools, colleges and other groups to create awareness about burn prevention, first aid and management. We also provide training programmes for doctors on how to treat burn victims," she said.

AGNI RAKSHA

Improving medical practices

Regarded as one of the best reconstruction surgeons in India, Dr Prema has also influenced how the procedure is carried out and brought international practices to the country.

"Because I worked in the US for some time, I have brought in some of the reconstructing practices there to India as well. I have also taught the same to my students. Earlier doctors used to do reconstruction for the sake of reconstruction, but there is an aesthetics for reconstruction. I have authored several papers on the reconstruction of each body part and the aesthetic aspect of it. Another change I have been able to bring is how to reduce pain during the skin graft, which used to be there for days. I was able to reduce the pain and heal the wound the same day. I believe that it was the biggest gift that I could give to my patients as a plastic surgeon," she said.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
A private tutor, Mitul Trivedi, who allegedly posed as a scientist with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and gave interviews to the media in Surat claiming he designed the lander module for the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission was arrested on Tuesday, police officials said.

Mitul Trivedi/ ANI

Police said that the accused, Mitul Trivedi, is in his late 30s and impersonated an ISRO scientist to draw more students to his tuition classes in Surat city.



This instance of impersonation isn't a standalone case; in the recent past, more such cases have come to the fore.



Many cases of impersonation recently

IndiaTimes brings to you a list of recent impersonation cases:

1. On 20 August this year, a man was arrested in Ahmedabad for impersonating a senior officer from the Chief Ministers Office (CMO) to put pressure on officials of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) department against proceeding in an investigation. The impersonator was 28-year-old astrologer-priest Lavkush Dwivedi hailing from Uttar Pradesh and residing near Ahmedabad. He was also providing private security to VIPs, the police had said, adding that this wasn't the first time he had misused his political connections.

Lavkush Dwivedi/ BCCL

2. On March 2, alleged conman Kiran Patel was arrested from a luxury hotel in Srinagar for impersonating an official at Prime Ministers Office (PMO). Patel allegedly claimed to be a government officer and defrauded Morbi-based businessman Bharat Patel of 42.86 lakh in 2017, the crime branch had said in a statement.



Kiran Patel/ Instagram

3. In February of this year, Gagandeep Singh, who had lived in Italy since 2007, created a fake WhatsApp account using a photo of the vice president of India and sent messages to senior government officials seeking favours.



The 22-year-old was able to contact senior bureaucrats after watching several YouTube videos and getting their contact details. The police had recovered five mobile phones used in the commission of crime from his possession.

Repercussions for imitators as per Indian Law

The Indian law has prescribed repercussions for the impersonators.

Section 170 of the Indian Penal Code deals with a non-public officer impersonating a public officer; the section states that: "Personating a public servant. Whoever pretends to hold any particular office as a public servant, knowing that he does not hold such office or falsely personates any other person holding such office, and in such assumed character does or attempts to do any act under colour of such office, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both."

When an individual impersonates a public officer, knowing that he is falsely doing so, they are sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment or fine or both imprisonment coupled with fine.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Bilateral shipping relations and migration dominated the meeting between the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Miltiadis, and the Ambassador of the United Kingdom, Matthew Lodge .The two officials

Varvitsiotis and UK Ambassador Lodge discuss bilateral shpping relations -  
YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. On August 29, at the Permanent Representation of Armenia to the United Nations the ceremony of establishing diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago took place, the foreign ministry said in a press release.

The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the UN Mher Margaryan and the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to the UN Dennis Francis signed the Joint Declaration on Establishing Diplomatic Relations between the two countries.

During the conversation prior to the signing ceremony, the parties touched upon the development of mutually beneficial relations between the countries and the further deepening of existing cooperation at international platforms, particularly within the framework of the UN.

Ambassador Margaryan congratulated the Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago on his election as the President of the upcoming 78th session of the UN General Assembly, wishing him success during his presidency.
By Global Times

August 27/28, 2023 - Information Clearing House - "Global Times " ---The US is not a littoral state of the South China Sea; it lies tens of thousands of kilometers away. However, the US has become the greatest destabilizing factor and challenge to the regional development of the South China Sea. As a potentially dangerous "time bomb," it continues to daydream about how to manipulate regional countries into confronting China.



On Sunday, Karl Thomas, the US Navy's Seventh Fleet Commander who was in Manila for a port call, called out China's "aggressive behavior" in the South China Sea, referring to China Coast Guard vessels' lawful interception of Philippine ships that trespassed into waters near Ren'ai Reef of China's Nansha Islands on August 5. "You have to challenge people I would say operating in a grey zone," Thomas told Reuters.



That incident happened in early August and quickly festered under Washington's constant hype. Thomas's remarks prove that the US hopes to heat up this event again to continue provoking China-Philippine relations, with the aim of Manila fully aligning with Washington and becoming a front-runner in the US' strategic plan against China.



The current tensions in the South China Sea are mainly caused by the US' instigation, and such action of playing with fire is dangerous to the US.

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The US has overestimated its own military capability, as well as the determination and confidence of its regional allies and partners to participate in its Indo-Pacific Strategy against China. How China and relevant countries solve the dispute is none of Washington's business. If the US dares to provoke China's core interests in the South China Sea, it will certainly face a head-on blow from China.



China's principle has been consistent and clear - we won't relinquish what is ours, nor do we desire any territory that does not belong to us. The US, however, is pulling in neighboring countries around China to flex its muscle and create tension in the region. Despite its efforts, it will never get what it wants, but will only create more instability in the region.



Washington's provocative behaviors pose a big obstacle to the resolution of the South China Sea disputes. The US continuously stirs up trouble in the hope of driving a wedge between China and its neighboring countries. Moreover, at a time when the consultations between China and ASEAN on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) enter a critical stage, Washington is trying to mislead public opinion and hinder the process.



Last month, it was confirmed that the consultations on the COC have taken a positive direction, with China and regional countries completing the second reading of the draft text of the COC after four years of consultations. The Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, signed by China and ASEAN in 2002, has determined some of the basic directions toward the resolution of the South China Sea issue, and the consultations on the COC now are making more specific efforts in this direction.



At present, all parties involved in the South China Sea issue should strengthen communication, and strive to adopt the COC as soon as possible. The disputes can only be handled in a reasonable, fair and proper manner by returning to such a track and eliminating the interference of external forces. Considering the complexity of the South China Sea issue, China has always advocated setting aside disputes and pursuing joint development. This is still the most realistic way to solve the issue, the most consistent with the interests of all parties, and the most feasible means of maintaining regional peace and stability.



The US continues to play up the "China threat" in the South China Sea to hijack ASEAN countries and make them treat China as an adversary rather than a partner for cooperation. It is clear that the US does not want to see peace in the South China Sea that is favorable to China and ASEAN, because otherwise, how can the US take advantage of the disputes to pursue its own interests?



For decades, ASEAN and the whole Asia-Pacific region have witnessed rapid economic development and prosperity, thanks to regional peace. Such a trend will certainly come to an abrupt end once the South China Sea becomes a region full of turbulence. When China and ASEAN countries urgently seek peaceful development, the US will have exerted every effort to stop it. Regional countries should stay vigilant.
Brice Oligui Nguema, head of the African Union (AU) Commission, has condemned the coup in Gabon and urged the army to guarantee the physical integrity of the President, his family and those in government.

Information Nigeria had reported that rebel officers in the oil-rich central African state announced earlier today that theyve seized power following disputed elections, in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared winner.

Brice Oligui Nguema, head of his presidential guard told Le Monde newspaper that Bongo had been placed in retirement after rebel officers said they had toppled him.

He has been placed in retirement. He has all his rights. Hes an ordinary Gabonese person, like everyone, Nguema said.

He further denied that he had become the leader of the putsch.

Bongo, 64, whose family has ruled Gabon for over 55 years, was placed under house arrest and one of his sons arrested for treason, the coup leaders disclosed.

READ ALSO: Appellate Court Upholds N50m Damages Against Sen. Abbos Sex Toy Scandal

A statement published on the AU website in French, said: (Faki) is following with great concern the situation in the Gabonese Republic and strongly condemns the attempted coup detat in the country as a way of resolving its current post-electoral crisis.

Faki further called on the national army and security forces to adhere strictly to their republican vocation, to guarantee the physical integrity of the president of the republic, members of his family as well as those of his government.

The AU commission chief also described Wednesdays events as a flagrant violation of the legal and political instruments of the Addis Ababa-headquartered African Union.

(Faki) encourages all political, civil and military actors in Gabon to favour peaceful political paths leading to the rapid return to democratic constitutional order in the country, the statement added.

Meanwhile, Nigerias President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed concern about the coup in the West Coast of Central Africa.

Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, while briefing State House Correspondent in Abuja posited that Tinubu would consult with other Heads of State and Government in the African Union on the Gabon crisis with a view to determining the way forward for the natural resource-rich country.

President Bola Tinubu is watching closely with deep concern for the countrys social political stability and at the seeming autocratic contention apparently spreading across different regions of our beloved continent.

The President as a man who has made significant sacrifices in his life in the course of advancing and defending democracy is of the belief that power belongs in the hands of Africas great people and not in the barrel of a loaded gun, he said.

Mr Ngelale said the president affirmed that the rule of law and recourse to the constitutional resolutions and instruments of electoral dispute needed to be used in the matters of democratic challenges.

This is towards a comprehensive consensus on the next steps forwards with respect to how the power in Gabon will play out and how the continent will respond to contagious autocracy spreading across the continent, he said.

The Commonwealth has also expressed fear about the military takeover in the country with Secretary-General Patricia Scotland saying the situation is deeply concerning.

The Commonwealth Charter is clear that member states must uphold the rule of law and the principles of democracy at all times, Scotland said.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the N50million damages awarded against Senator Elisha Ishaku Abbo (Adamawa North) by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for assaulting a woman.

Recall that the Senator assaulted Ms. Osimibibra Warmate at a sex toy shop in Abuja in 2019.

Abbos appeal was against the September 28 judgment by Justice Samira Bature of the High Court of the FCT, in the fundamental rights enforcement suit, marked: FCT/HC/CV/2393/2019 filed by Ms Warmate.

Justice Bature had, among others, held that Abbos violent attack on Ms. Warmate on May 11, 2019, in a sex toy shop at New Bannex Plaza, Wuse 2, Abuja amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment, which constituted a breach of her fundamental right to the dignity of her person guaranteed under Section 34 of the Constitution.

In a judgment, a three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Jamilu Tukur, dismissed Abbos appeal which he filed against the judgment given on September 29, 2020, Justice Samira Bature on a fundamental rights enforcement suit by Ms. Warmate.

The court, which affirmed the judgment of the High Court of the FCT, held that Justice Bature was right in upholding Warmates case and awarding N50m in damages against the Senator.

It rejected Abbos argument that the suit was not properly commenced at the trial court and that he was denied a fair hearing.

READ ALSO: Portable Loses Instagram Account To Hackers

However, in the judgment delivered on Tuesday, the appellate Court equally rejected Abbos argument that Ms. Warmates claim that he slapped her, pulled her hair and dragged her out of the shop did not amount to rights violation, but a case of simple assault.

While describing Abbos conduct as sufficiently outrageous, the court resolved all five issues, identified for determination, against the Senator and further awarded N500,000 cost against him and in favour of Ms. Warmate.

Justices Tukur, James Abundaga and Danlami Senchi, who were on the panel, unanimously held that the appeal, marked CA/ABJ/945/2020 was without merit and proceeded to dismiss it.

Justice Senchi, who authored and read the lead judgment, held that from the evidence presented before the trial court, Warmate sufficiently proved that Senator Abbo violated her fundamental right to human dignity.

The decision of the trial court in the award of N50m against the appellant and in favour of the respondent was proper, Justice Senchi said.

He added that going by the quality of evidence presented by Ms Warmate, including a medical report and video recordings of the incident, the decision of the trial court could not be tampered with.

The conduct of the appellant is sufficiently outrageous to merit the punishment as the facts of the case disclosed flagrant disobedience of the law, especially that the appellant is an elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Justice Senchi stated.
A Kano High Court has issued an interim order restraining the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and others anti-graft agencies from interrogating the former Chairman Kano Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission, Barrister Muhuyi Magaji Rimin-Gado.

Rimin-Gado on Tuesday, secured the court injunction to stop further meddling into the affairs of the state anti-graft agency barring a last minute probe he ought to have appeared before the Federal anti-graft agencies.

The EFCC and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) had formally invited Rimin-Gado and a director of account in the state agency for interrogation.

READ ALSO: EFCC Arrests Five Suspects For Using Forged Letter Heads Of NSA, AGF For Employment Scam

In a letter signed by Deputy Director, Cybercrime and Other Related Offences, Muhtar S. Bello, the EFCC invited the Kano boss to produce details of its spending between 2019 and 2021.

A similar letter by the Director Intelligence, Investigation and Monitoring, Code of Conduct Bureau, Gwimi S.P, directed the Kano Anti-graft Boss to produce a record of all contractual projects and that of forfeiture carried out by the agency.

According to the letter of investigation signed and extended to Rimin-Gado and the account director, the duo were supposed to appear before EFCC and CCB Abuja office today 29th August, 2023.

However, in an order granted by Justice Farouk Lawan Adamu, Monday evening, the court restrained the EFCC, ICPC and CCB, either by themselves, agents, staff, privies from inviting, threatening, coaxing, cajoling, arresting, or in any way or manner interfering, meddling, or interloping in the affairs of any staff or person in the Kano Anti-graft agency, pending the hearing and determination of the originating motion.

The plaintiffs in the suit, the Attorney General of Kano State, Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, and Barrister Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado, are challenging the powers of the respondents from interfering in the business and operations of the state agency.

The court then adjourned the matter to 25th September, 2023, for hearing.
Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State says his administration has frequently had to supplement funds allocated to Local Governments (LG) in the State from the Federation Account in order for them to meet their obligations.

Information Nigeria reports that Abioduns disclosure is in response to allegations made by Wale Adedayo, the Chairman of Ijebu East LG, that the State has allocated zero revenue to Local Governments since 2021.

Adedayo had lamented the inability of LG chairmen to carry out projects in the last two years and urged Chief Olusegun Osoba, former governor of the state, to intervene immediately and persuade Abiodun that the statutory Federal Allocation to Local Governments in Ogun State should be allowed to reach each of them as envisaged by the 1999 Constitution.

The Council boss, elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), like his principal, however wrote to the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) requesting that the Governor be investigated for alleged diversion of local government funds.

According to Adedayo, in the last two years, Abiodun has not paid a dime to local government accounts as a result of federal allocation.

In separate petitions to the EFCC and the ICPC on Tuesday, he requested the anti-graft agencies immediate intervention.

However, the Governor, via a statement issued by Lekan Adeniran, his Chief Press Secretary, stated that he had never tampered with local government funds.

Wondering how adding to the funds allocated to local councils to meet their obligations amounted to hijacking their funds, Abiodun said funds earmarked for State LGs are managed by the constitutionally mandated Joint Account and Allocation Committee (JAAC).

He said JAAC members ensure that the third tier of government receives the necessary allocations for optimal performance.

His words: The latest meeting by the JAAC was held last week, and was widely reported in the media.

READ ALSO: Ill Not Beg Federal Govt. For My Release  Nnamdi Kanu

At the meeting, which was held at the Conference Hall, Obas Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, over N5bn was shared among the 20 local government areas, out of which over N2 billion went into paying teachers.

Between May 2023 when the Governor was sworn in for the second term and July 2023, the JAAC shared among 20 local governments N4.531b, N4.444b and N4.497b respectively on first line charges and just last week N5.2b was shared among the local governments for the month of August.

First-line charges, including local council staff salaries and pensions; primary school teachers salaries and pensions; healthcare workers salaries and pensions and emoluments for traditional rulers are tabled for discussion and fund allocation at the JAAC meetings, the statement added.

Meanwhile, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Oladipupo Adebutu, urged the Ogun State House of Assembly to begin the impeachment process of Abiodun over alleged withholding of local government funds from the federal allocation if found guilty.

Adebutu, who spoke through his media aide, Afolabi Orekoya, said the Governor had contravened a section of the Constitution as regards the diversion of funds allocated to council areas and must be punished for the act.

He said, The local government chairman has also written a letter to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, and we believe that the Speaker will not sweep the letter under the carpet because he is one of the team members of the governor.

This is purely an impeachable offence; if this is found to be true, it is an impeachable offence, and we are really watching the House of Assembly members to see how they are going to follow this through and to see their action and steps they will take when this letter is brought to the floor of the House.

Thank God we are not having the usual rubber stamp House of Assembly in Ogun State now. We have very responsible, very committed members of the PDP who are also in the House of Assembly now, and Im sure from what we have heard from our members this morning, they are already taking steps to ensure that the Rule of Law is being followed on this matter.

We believe that he will bring the letter out and read it on the floor of the House, and we believe the members of the House will do the needful.
Popular Nigerian Catholic priest, Rev Fr Chinenye Oluoma, has condemned online fraudsters defrauding innocent people of their hard-earned money.

The cleric noted that persons involved in fraud should not bother getting married because their children will suffer the repercussions.

Oluoma, however, said that even if they would be involved in fraud, it would be better if they target politicians who have stolen public funds.

Oluoma said this in a video posted on his official Facebook page on Tuesday while speaking during a church sermon.

The cleric said, When you pursue wealth at the expense of fellow humans, you are trashing people to get a treasure that will be trash in your life.

READ ALSO: Mercy Chinwo May Charge N10m To Perform In Church  Rev. Fr. Oluoma Slams Gospel Musicians

I dont understand when people who steal and dupe others get angry when ministers condemn it. Yahoo means a set of people who will just lock themselves in a house, look for somebody who is vulnerable using their computers and dupe the person with everything they laboured for.

Then the person becomes so broke after 30 to 40 years of labouring. You steal everything the person has and the person is dying of depression, High Blood Pressure and heart attack and you are comfortable.

That some musicians even sing to endorse that kind of lifestyle means to you that it is normal?

If Yahoo means tricking people, defrauding them of their hard-earned money, leaving them penniless and they die of heart attack, how do you want to end well?

Some people even consider it as a legitimate hustle. How can stealing be a legitimate hustle? If you are that kind of person, you cant end well.

If you are into such a thing, please dont marry because if you marry and you give birth, your children will suffer the consequences.

At least if you want to be a Yahoo, target politicians who are stealing money. But you wont target such people, it is people who worked honestly. At least target the bad politicians so that on the last day, you and God may have conversations on it.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the results of the Kogi State governorship election on November 11 will be sent electronically straight from polling units to its server.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Kogi, Prof. Gabriel Longpet, disclosed this at a two-day media roundtable Engagement on the Kogi election Organized by the Independent Press Center, IPC in Abuja.

Prof. Longpet said the electronic transmission of the results will help to eliminate rigging, electoral fraud and other irregularities and to ensure the enthronement of credibility and transparency in the electoral process.

He also assured that the issues of insecurity that characterised the 2019 governorship election have been critically analysed and dealt with, urging Kogi electorates to come out and vote as the election will be volatile free.

READ MORE: 2023 Polls: INEC Helped My Case At The Election Tribunal  Peter Obi

Of course, we will be transmitting the Kogi election electronically. A lot of infractions do happen between the polling units and the collation centre; the transmission of the results through electronic methods will definitely prevent such issues of infractions from occurring.

By the electoral acts, any results figures on form EC8A that appeared mutilated cannot be allowed. If results are transmitted electronically to the IREV, there will be no need for results to be hijacked in the first place, mutilated or changed.

The state REC reiterated that the 2023 Kogi guber poll will be by the poll and not by the gun, assuring that the commission will do everything to ensure that votes count and that those who will emerge will emerge through popular votes.

We have only one message and the message is that you come out to exercise your franchise, he said.
A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima, has said that the purported suspension of the partys 2023 presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, is a Hollywood joke.

Recall that the NNPP Board of Trustees (BoT) after a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Lagos, on Tuesday, suspended Kwankwaso, citing material evidence in public affirming the former Kano state governor was involved in anti-party activities in various meetings.

The Board also claimed that Kwankwaso was in political discussions with President Bola Tinubu, then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC); his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar; and Labour Party (LP)s Peter Obi. without authorisation from the party.

READ MORE: NNPP BoT Suspends Kwankwaso Over Alleged Anti-Party Activities

Reacting to the development during an interview on Channels Televisions Politics, yesterday, Galadima, described the suspension as a Nollywood and Hollywood joke.

He said When I saw it on social media, I thought it was like a Nollywood or Hollywood joke, Galadima said.

Galadima noted that the NNPPs BoT had long been expelled from the party.

All of them who were expelled were called to a disciplinary committee. They were drilled and they accepted their sins and it was on the basis of their acceptance that they were recommended to the Nation Working Committee for expulsion.

Galadima noted that despite sponsored internal wranglings, the NNPP remains a solid party.

A lot of people are interested in this party in the sense that the other parties felt that they could only survive if they destroyed this party.

But unknown to them we are as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar, he said.

Dismissing the accusations of anti-party activities against the former Kano governor, Galadima said, As a politician, we can meet with anybody.

He took permission from us, the party chieftain argued. Whatever the case, Kwankwaso had permission from the party to meet with President Tinubu and talk to any other political group. So, he didnt do this on his own.
The designer of the Nigerian Flag, Pa Taiwo Akinkunmi, has died at the age of 87.

His son, Akinkunmi Akinwumi Samuel, announced his demise via his Facebook page on Wednesday.

He wrote, Life is indeed transient; I can say boldly you live a life with a landmark. Continue to rest on, my father! Pa Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi (O.F.R) Great Man has gone.

READ ALSO: I Remember The Day I Designed The Nigerian Flag  Taiwo Akinkunmi

Pa. Akinkunmi started his career as a Civil Servant at the Secretariat of Ibadan and later travelled overseas to study Agricultural Engineering at Norway Technical College.

In 1958, during his stay abroad, Akinkunmi stumbled upon an advertisement in a national daily calling for the submission of designs for Nigerias national flag in view of Nigerias imminent Independence from British governance.

His entry was adjudged the best among the roughly 2,000 entries submitted.

Akinkunmi was awarded 100 pounds by the government when his design was selected as the Nigerian flag.

He has also been honoured with the Order of Federal Republic award by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has suspended its candidate in the Feb. 25 presidential election, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso for alleged anti-party activities.

INFORMATION NIGERIA reports that Kwankwasos suspension was announced on Tuesday at the end of a parallel National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held in Lagos State.

The NNPP BoT also suspended the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party and appointed new officers, which include Agbo Major as the acting national chairman with 18 others.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Babayo Muhammed Abdullahi, secretary of the BoT, accused Kwankwaso of engaging in political discussions with President Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), without the boards authorisation.

Abdullahi said the partys BoT has stripped Kwankwaso of national leader recognition.

READ MORE: Dont Trust Him  NNPP Warns Atiku, Tinubu Against Dealing With Kwankwaso

He added that the memorandum of understanding signed by different groups in the party in the build to the 2023 election has been voided.

According to News Agency of Nigeria, Abdullahi, said: The BoT decided that material evidence in the public sector affirmed that Kwankwaso was involved in anti-party activities in various meetings, suggesting political discussions with the President, Atiku and Obi without authorisation from the board.

This has earned him six months suspension pending the outcome of the investigation by the disciplinary committee.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan on Tuesday met with Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights.

August 30, 2023, 10:34 Ararat Mirzoyan to Dunja Mijatovic: Azerbaijan demonstrates its real goal of ethnic cleansing in Artsakh

STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 30, ARTSAKHPRESS: The meeting was held during Minister Mirzoyan's visit to Slovenia to participate in the Bled Strategic Forum, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia informs.

The humanitarian crisis in due to Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor for more than eight months and the complete blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh since June 15, the harsh conditions and human rights violations of the Nagorno-Karabakh population, as well as the urgency of overcoming the situation, were emphasized on both sides. The Armenian FM stressed that with its actions, Azerbaijan openly demonstrates its real goal: ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ararat Mirzoyan welcomed the statements made by the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as since the blocking of the Lachin corridor, and stressed commissioner's mandate and the unhindered implementation of possible steps within the framework of the CoE toolkit.

They reflected also on Armenia's effective interaction with the office of the aforesaid CoE commissioner in matters of human rights.
Tony Elumelu, Chairman, Transcorp Power Limited says the private sector is encouraged by the reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In a chat with State House journalists after meeting with the President on Tuesday, the founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation lauded Tinubu for his policy initiatives since taking office.

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) chairman further expressed optimism that Nigerians will reap the benefits of the reforms in due course.

His words: The private sector is encouraged with the bold decisions President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has taken and we hope that in the fullness of time, Nigerians will benefit from it because it is all about the Nigerian people.

READ ALSO: Short-Sighted Nigeria Has Abundant Gas Resources, Yet Cant Produce It To Power Economy  Elumelu

It is all about the youths. It is all about making sure that women are involved and empowered.

It is all about making sure our youths get jobs and I think Mr. President has this at the back of his mind and I believe, as a private sector person, that the actions and the decisions the president is taking now will help our people in the long run.

Elumelu urged Nigerians to be more patient with the President and the ongoing process.

A bit of patience, you know Rome was not built in a day, he said.

Information Nigeria had earlier reported that Elumelu called for investments in Nigerias power sector, saying it was ironic that Nigeria has abundant gas resources but cannot optimally operate its power plants.
A former Kaduna Central lawmaker, has reacted to the suspension of Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State, by the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

Information Nigeria had reported that the suspension of Kwankwaso, the Partys 2023 presidential candidate, was announced on Tuesday at the end of a meeting held in Lagos State.

Kwankwasos suspension is for a period of six months, the Partys BoT disclosed.

The BoT also suspended the Partys National Working committee and appointed new officers, to include Agbo Major as the acting National Chairman.

READ ALSO: NNPP BoT Suspends Kwankwaso Over Alleged Anti-Party Activities

In a chat with journalists after the meeting, Babayo Muhammed Abdullahi, the secretary of the BoT, accused Kwankwaso of engaging in political discussions with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), without the boards authorisation.

Abdullahi added that the Partys BoT also stripped Kwankwaso of National Leader recognition.

In reaction to the development via X, Sani posited that NNPP would have remained in the shadows without the aid of Kwankwaso.

Without Kwankwaso, NNPP would have been unknown. I think the party have just gotten their own Lamidis, he posted.

Note that the Lamidi exemplified in his post refers to the embattled factional National Chairman of the Labour Party, Lamidi Apapa currently involved in internal wrangling over the Partys chairmanship position.
One 24-year-old Victor Ochonogor, a final-year student of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) has allegedly stabbed his girlfriend, Success Regha, to death.

The incident happened at 10, Osahon Street, Ogheghe Quarters, off Sapele Road, Benin City, Edo state.

Muhammed Dankwara, State Commissioner of Police, who made the disclosure on Tuesday in Benin, said the 24-year-old has since been arrested.

He stated that the incident was reported to the police by Emmanuel Momoh, the suspects landlord.

Ochonogor, a student of Applied and Industrial Chemistry, his late girlfriend were said to have locked themselves inside the house when the physical confrontation ensued and started stabbing each other.

The suspect was said to have stabbed the deceased in the neck and chest with a knife.

He listed Items recovered from the suspect to include two blood-stained knives, two iPhones, one Nokia phone, one laptop, and two ATM cards

READ ALSO: If You Must Do Yahoo, Target Politicians  Rev Fr Oluoma Tells Internet Fraudsters

The commissioner who said they recovered the knife, revealed they rushed the suspect with injury on his neck to Stella Obasanjo hospital for treatment and would be charged to court for murder.

According to Ochonogor, he had been dating his late girlfriend for three years, adding that she came from Asaba to Benin to visit him.

She came from Asaba to Benin to visit me and while we were together, I found in her possession substance suspected to be diabolical.

I have been dating her for three years now and the family accused me of being a kidnapper. I asked her why must her family accuse me of such when we had been together for such a time?

I have been seeing her with kayamata and I also saw a message in her phone that she was also dating another person. An argument ensued and we started fighting, so I stabbed her, he told newsmen.
In a picture obtained by investigators, Tony Ho is seen firing a homemade ghost gun and silencer into his backyard in Hatfield. Ho has been charged with manufacturing and selling at least 15 unregistered ghost guns. Read more

A Hatfield man operated a gun-manufacturing workshop out of his home, prosecutors said Wednesday, assembling unregistered ghost guns and silencers that he then solicited for sale.

Tony Phan Ho, 32, has been charged with operating a corrupt organization, conspiracy and more than two dozen firearms-law violations. Two of his friends, Ritha Kay Ngoy, 36, also of Hatfield; and Michael Phan Nguyen, 32, of Lansdale, face similar charges for helping Ho in what investigators described as a sophisticated gun-trafficking operation.

Although detectives found evidence that Ho had sold 15 homemade firearms, he had the capability to make significantly more, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.

The true extent of his firearms manufacturing business  as well as the extent of the criminal activities those firearms were then used in  may never be known, especially since privately made firearms have no serial numbers, Steele said. These ghost guns are a great danger to the safety of our communities.

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 READ MORE: Three people charged with gun trafficking as Montco prosecutors work to crack down on straw purchases

Ngoy hid 15 of Hos guns in June when federal investigators arranged to interview him, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in his arrest. Nguyen asked Ho to build ghost guns for him, and also attempted straw purchase of firearms from gun stores on Hos behalf. Ho is unable to legally buy guns due to a previous conviction for burglary.

Hos lawyer, Richard Blasetti, declined to comment. Nguyens lawyer, Paul Mallis, did not immediately return a request for comment. There was no indication Ngoy had hired a lawyer.

Federal investigators began tracking Ho in May, when they were notified of a shipment of silencer components sent to his home in Hatfield from China, the affidavit said. Montgomery County detectives working with their federal counterparts intercepted the package and arranged to interview Ho.

 READ MORE: Ghost guns proliferate as Philadelphia grapples with gun violence

Initially, Ho told the investigators that a friend ordered the silencers accidentally, admitting that he knows he cant own a firearm legally, the affidavit said. However, after continued questioning, Ho changed his story, saying that he bought the components himself.

He then told the detectives that he sometimes builds the upper components of firearms for his friends and family as a way to make money, but denied assembling fully functional ghost guns, the affidavit said.

A subsequent search of Hos home and shed revealed tools and machines required to create ghost guns from kits ordered online, as well as AR-15 rifle parts, polymer pistol kits, ammunition, and other gun accessories.

After the search, Ngoy turned over 15 guns that he said Ho had asked him to hold on to after detectives made their appointment to meet with him. All but one were fully functional ghost guns, the affidavit said.

Detectives later searched Hos cellphone, which, they wrote in the affidavit, contained pictures of even more fully assembled ghost guns, the affidavit said.

Web search records showed Ho purchased more than 200 firearms related products and body armor through eBay between August 2020 and July, the affidavit said. These purchases included pistol slides, barrels and triggers, as well as AR-15 components, ammunition, and silencer components.

 READ MORE: The Kingsessing mass shooting suspect used ghost guns, police say. Philly is suing two manufacturers.

The phone also contained hundreds of text messages with Nguyen, Ngoy, and others, in which Ho discussed building guns for potential clients, according to investigators. In one of those messages, Ho bragged about having customers from Philadelphia coming all the way to his home in the suburbs to buy guns from him, the affidavit said.

Investigators also found multiple videos of Ho firing a silenced rifle through his back door, toward a target in his backyard. Law enforcement sources said none of Hos neighbors on his residential street ever reported hearing gunfire.

All three were being held on $75,000 bail, and they did not post the 10% required for release.
Following the Supreme Court decision, pressure on highly selective colleges, such as Princeton, has many schools re-evaluating their admissions process. Read more

Amherst College for many years would instruct its admissions staff to give preference to those whose parents had graduated from the school.

A notation also would appear in the students application files, flagging that they were so-called legacies.

But last year for the first time, Matthew L. McGann, dean of admission and financial aid at the highly selective, small liberal arts college in Massachusetts, didnt instruct his team to give that preference. And there was no notice in the file. The result: Only 6% of students admitted to Amhersts freshman class this year were legacies, down from 11% when the preference was still in place.

 READ MORE: What Philly-area schools are saying about the SCOTUS ruling to end race-based admissions in colleges

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This is one more in a series of things that Amherst has done to try to broaden access and opportunity, to really be a place thats trying to lead among our peers in growing a more racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse student body, he said.

Amherst, which admits only about 10% of applicants, made its decision to discontinue the legacy preference in October 2021, about a year and a half before the U.S. Supreme Courts decision in June to ban race-conscious admissions practices.

Now, as colleges rethink admissions and consider new ways to ensure diversity in the aftermath of the courts decision, more are looking closely at the legacy preference, long considered by many to give another edge to whiter, wealthier families at highly competitive schools. At the same time, some have worried that getting rid of the legacy preference could alienate families whose members have attended and supported the colleges for generations, yielding strong bonds and philanthropic giving.

A policy under scrutiny

President Joe Bidens administration told colleges in August to reconsider their policies about legacy in a letter urging schools to expand access and create diverse student bodies.

 READ MORE: Colleges should shoulder the burden of SCOTUS admissions ruling, not students, say Philly college advisers

Colleges and universities can examine admission preferences, such as those based on legacy status or donor affiliation, that are unrelated to a prospective applicants individual merit or potential, that further benefit privileged students, and that reduce opportunities for others who have been foreclosed from such advantages, said the Aug. 14 letter from the federal education and justice departments.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education in July began investigating Harvards policies on legacy in response to a complaint from a civil rights group. During the trial that led to the Supreme Courts decision on race-based admissions, data showed that 34% of Harvards so-called domestic legacy applicants got admitted over six years, compared with 6% of those who did not have a legacy connection, according to the Washington Post.

Because colleges weigh and define legacy differently, each will have to consider whether or how to alter their policies, said Jonathan Fansmith, senior vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education. If a college decides that its use is leading to unequal outcomes for applicants from different backgrounds, then a change would be necessary, he said.

But others, he said, may find it really doesnt have bearing and actually has a lot of benefits, including building a college community over generations.

Colleges need some time and space to absorb what the ruling means to them, and how to respond to that and meet the needs of the institution, especially of their students and their communities, he said.

The pros and cons of legacy admissions

Some colleges took action even before the decision. Bryn Mawr, which accepts 31% of applicants, stopped considering legacy in 2017, according to a spokesperson. Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, a selective research university, discontinued legacy preference , while the University of Pittsburgh, which accepts 49% of applicants, disclosed it had stopped considering legacy in 2020.

 READ MORE: Colleges are bracing for a court decision on affirmative action. Heres what Princetons president is doing to prepare.

Joan Gabel, who became Pitts chancellor last month, said she supports the decision.

I think doing away with inside tracks is a good thing, she said. Leveling the playing field is a big part of what higher education can and should do for communities. And so I think it was the right choice.

Some colleges are just starting to talk about making a change.

Pennsylvania State University doesnt consider legacy  or race or ethnicity  during admissions but does factor in all three, as well as other characteristics, in deciding who is placed at its main campus in University Park and who will go to one of its branch campuses.

In light of the Supreme Court decision on the use of race in admissions, Penn State is reviewing its admissions and campus placement procedures, the school said in a statement.

At Haverford College, Jess Lord, vice president and dean of admission and financial aid, said the school is thinking critically about the pros and cons of continuing to give legacy preference. Less than 10% of students have a relative who went to the college, which accepts about 13% of applicants, while 3% to 5% have a parent who went.

Even if Haverford were to stop considering legacy, Lord, like officials at some other universities, said he doubts it would greatly change the racial makeup of the college. While legacy is a factor, its weight at Haverford is pretty small, he said.

I dont believe it has nearly as much impact as some may think it does, he said.

The college is committed to continuing to diversify its student body, no matter what stance it ultimately takes on legacy, he said. At Haverford, more than 10% of students are Black and nearly 13% are Hispanic.

Princeton University president Christopher Eisgruber, noting that the schools alumni are becoming increasingly diverse, said he, too, doubted that losing legacy as a consideration would appreciably alter student demographics.

Its not going to be the difference maker when it comes to racial diversity, he said in an Inquirer interview in December.

About 12.5% of Princeton students are children of alumni at the Ivy League university, one of the most selective in the nation: It admits only 5.7% of applicants.

We think its an important part of who we are as an institution that creates a community that persists long after somebody graduates, he said. Legacy works in our admissions process as a literal tie breaker.

Princetons trustees established a committee in late August to examine the universitys admissions practices, following the court decision, with recommendations expected by the end of this academic year.

Not every university would discuss legacies. The University of Pennsylvania, which accepts single-digit percentages of applicants each year, did not answer The Inquirers questions on legacy preferences.

Amhersts McGann said its too early to tell whether the change in its legacy preference will significantly influence the racial makeup of the class over time. About 16% of students were Latino last fall and 11% Black.

When it changed its legacy preference, the school also increased its financial aid to students from families with low and moderate incomes, so it may be hard to determine what, if any, impact the loss of legacy will have, he said.

Exactly how all these things play together remains to be seen, he said.

This year, he said, he doesnt expect a dramatic difference in underrepresented students. But 19% of the class are first-generation college students, the largest percentage the college has seen, he said.

Embracing legacies  without any weight

John E. Jones III, president of Dickinson College in Carlisle, which accepts about 43% of applicants, said the school celebrates legacies because it means honoring families over generations who have chosen the school and support it. At commencement, alumni are given the option of presenting the diploma to a graduating relative.

But, he said, legacy applicants do not receive any extra weight in the admissions process.

We dont put our finger on the scale, he said. We measure them the same way we measure everybody else.

About 5% of Dickinson students are legacies, he said, and often those families donate generously to the college. Senior Sophie Asbell, of Cherry Hill, is the 13th member of her family to attend Dickinson. Her father and grandfather went there, as well as cousins and other extended family.

There is a center for Jewish life on campus named after her grandfather, Milton B. Asbell.

Shes brilliant, Jones said. She could have gotten into any number of places.

But she chose Dickinson.

Im lucky No. 13, said Asbell, 21, a religion and Judaic studies major with a minor in Middle Eastern studies, who has a 3.88 GPA.

She said that she knew she wanted a small liberal arts college and that Dickinson had been a household name ever since she could remember. Her late grandfather, an orthodontist, would talk about how the school changed the trajectory of his life in a positive way, she said.

I already felt like I had a history [with Dickinson] before I created my own, she said. I felt like I was an instant member of a community. And I feel more connected to my family. Dickinson bonds us.

She agrees with Dickinsons policy that legacy students shouldnt get any special consideration in the admissions process.

Making the college admissions process as equitable as it can be is very important, she said.
Philadelphia School District headquarters. School begins Sept. 5; parts of Martin Luther King High, in East Germantown, will remain closed because of damaged asbestos. Read more

Staff will be able to return Friday to Martin Luther King High School, which had been temporarily closed because of damaged asbestos.

A routine inspection in early August of the school in East Germantown uncovered damaged fireproofing above ceiling tiles in multiple spots, environmental chief Victoria Flemming said in a letter to the King community.

Some administrators returned to the building this week after a temporary closure, though staff worked remotely Tuesday and Wednesday. An off-site workday had already been planned for Thursday.

 READ MORE: Philly schools are ramping up asbestos work but are three years away from meeting federal requirements

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Monique Braxton, district spokesperson, said the building was on track for students to return on Tuesday, though some areas of the school will be off-limits as abatement work continues.

The first floor is ready for occupancy, Braxton said. The second-floor main office has been restored, and barriers are in place as active abatement continues in the gymnasium and girls bathroom on the second floor. Active abatement continues in third-floor classrooms that will not impact school opening.

Though air quality samples taken in the early August inspection showed that the building was acceptable for occupancy, the district opted to close the school for two weeks to gather more data, Flemming wrote.

Kings building had a large-scale abatement of asbestos-containing fireproofing in the 1980s, but some residual fireproofing remained. When the building was closed, district staff worked to get a more accurate picture of exactly where the fireproofing was located and its condition.

Through comprehensive sampling, we now know that only 37 out of the over 500 spaces above ceiling tiles in MLK have asbestos-containing fireproofing, Flemming wrote.

Air samples continue to show acceptable readings, Flemming said.

We know this work will cause minor disruptions, principal Keisha Q. Wilkins wrote in a letter to staff this week, but it is essential for maintaining safe and healthy school environments. Consistent with past efforts, any/all related abatement and construction will be completed after school hours starting at 3 p.m. daily and on weekends.

Six Philadelphia schools were closed because of damaged asbestos in the 2022-23 school year.

Of the three that remained closed through the end of the last school year, Mitchell Elementary, in Southwest Philadelphia, is reopening on Tuesday; the main Frankford High building is closed but students in 10th through 12th grade will learn in an annex on the Frankford campus and ninth graders will learn at Roberto Clemente Middle School in North Philadelphia; and Universal Vare, a charter operating in a district building, will remain closed, with students learning in the McDaniel Annex building nearby.
Philadelphia School District students, shown here in this 2022 file photo, will be mask optional when the school year begins Sept. 5. Read more

The Philadelphia School District announced its updated COVID-19 policies Tuesday, and the school system is keeping masks optional  mostly.

The news comes as COVID hospitalizations are up nationally, but the risk of contracting the coronavirus locally remains low, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

Students and staff in the districts 216 schools can wear masks at any time, but will not be required to do so unless the city health department deems it necessary amid a COVID-19 outbreak in a classroom, school, office or department, according to the guidance.

 READ MORE: From the calendar to parent-paid transportation, what you need to know for the Philadelphia school year

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People will also be required to wear masks if they test positive for COVID-19 after returning from five-day isolation, and are highly recommended to wear a mask for 10 days after their last date of COVID exposure.

Students who test positive must stay home for at least five calendar days, and will be expected to participate in virtual learning. Parents are obligated to notify the school nurse or principal if a student tests positive, and those who show COVID symptoms during the school day must be picked up by a family member, and will be provided with a free COVID test.

The district has also dropped its COVID vaccine mandate for new employees.

Philadelphia teachers returned to classrooms Tuesday; students are due back Sept. 5.
Were gearing up for Center City District Restaurant Week, and we spill our favorite offerings. Also this week, we tell you about the worlds longest cheesesteak, a South Jersey candy company thats all the rage online, and the impending departure of our food editor. Also read on for scoops about New Haven-style pizza and a big, new restaurant coming to the Main Line.

 Read on for a quiz and restaurant news.

 Mike Klein

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

Center City District Restaurant Week is revving up its 20th-anniversary edition from Sept. 10-23 with more than 100 participants. Some deals are better than others. The tabletop grilling at Jomon Japanese BBQ? Yes, please. The deeply discounted chefs tasting menu at Double Knot? Also yes. Weve narrowed our favorites and share 25 of them.

This 722.8-foot cheesesteak now claims the unofficial title of worlds longest cheesesteak. Its from the Main Street Grill. If the name doesnt ring a bell among you Whiz aficionados, thats because its in Lewiston, Idaho. Mike Newall explains why they captured the crown from a restaurant in ... Idaho.

What do you get when you mix salt water taffy, marshmallows, Skittles, and Nerds? A new business in South Jersey thats blowing up online. Friends Phil Kramer and Tommy Sandelier use a freeze-drier to transform them into new sweets with names like Scrunchums and Cosmic Clouds. Kevin Riordan writes about the craze.

We have updates on Jims South Street Steaks and Tequilas, two popular restaurants that have been shuttered by fire. The cheesesteak landmark and the upscale Mexican restaurant are pushing toward their reopenings, and are adding improvements. Jims is even becoming a kind of art gallery.

Jamila Robinson, The Inquirers assistant managing editor for food and culture, has announced her departure. She will become editor-in-chief of Conde Nasts food magazine, Bon Appetit, and its culinary lifestyle and recipe website, Epicurious, next month. Her new boss, publishing legend Anna Wintour, pointed out: Its not every day you get to meet an accomplished writer and editor who has led features departments and food organizations, is a competitive skater, classically trained violinist, teacher, world traveler, and is an absolute whiz in the kitchen.

Scoops

Philly is getting New Haven-inspired pizza. Chris Barnes of the Luckys Last Chance bars will be rolling out Edas, named after his grandmother, at his Luckys Trading Co. offshoot (5154 Ridge Ave. in Roxborough.) Hell offer eight pies, including a white with Italian sausage from Carl Venezia meats and broccoli rabe, a bacon and garlic pie, and a New Haven-style tomato pie. Target: Sept. 7. Hours for takeout will be 5-9 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.

P.J. Whelihans has come a long way since Bob Platzer opened a 14-stool barroom in the Poconos 40 years ago. After Jim Fris stepped into the CEOs role in 2018, the Westmont-based sports-bar chain (including the Pour House, Treno Pizza Bar, ChopHouse, ChopHouse Grille, and Central Taco & Tequila) has been on a roll, dotting the Philly suburbs and attracting $$ from a New York investment firm. The 21st location opened in late 2022 in Lawrence Park Shopping Center in Broomall, and the 22nd is due to open in late fall in Plymouth Square in Conshohocken. Now theres a liquor application for a location in Wynnewood Shopping Center, where it would fill the long-vacant space that housed Mad Mex. Its up for 2024.

Restaurant report

Vince DiRienzo and Mo Huss parlayed their profits from various pizzerias into real estate. Now theyve gone into business together on a brick-oven pizzeria in Montgomery County that they call a passion project aimed more at quality. The money is not that important, DiRienzo told me.

The result is Verona Pizza, which opened a month ago in the strip mall next to the Giant supermarket in Maple Glen. High points: sandwiches on Sarcones rolls, pizzas made of imported Molino Caputo flour and San Marzano tomatoes, and organic chicken. There is limited indoor seating and some outside; its mostly takeout. Calling card is the cheesesteak (shown above), whose Cooper Sharp melts gloriously into nearly a pound of hand-sliced ribeye and chunks of sauteed onions. (I happen to like mine chopped, and if you prefer slab-style, thats on you.) Below is a grandma-style vodka pizza that could feed five.

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Verona Pizza, 1941 Norristown Rd., Maple Glen. Hours: 10 a.m-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday.

Pop quiz

Pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks. How many years have they been offered?

A) 5 years

B) 8 years

C) 10 years

D) 20 years

Find out if you know the answer.

Ask Mike anything

Whats happening at 1625 N. Howard? I see a liquor application in the window and its a cool building.  @jfishtown

No one is talking, but as I wrote a few months ago, it appears that this former firehouse will become a new Mike Solomonov/Steve Cook restaurant, a block from their restaurant Goldie and event facility, Lilah, and several blocks north of their Laser Wolf. Name from public records appears to be Jaffa, the same as their new Israeli seafood bar in Brooklyn. Stay tuna-ed.

 Have a question about food in Philly? E-mail your questions to me at mklein@inquirer.com for a chance to be featured in my newsletter.

 If someone forwarded you this newsletter and you like what youre reading, sign up here to get it free every week.

 Keep reading more food news.

 Follow me on Twitter. Or follow me on instagram.
Police and city officials gathering outside of Stoned Pizza, Fifth and Bainbridge Streets, as it was shut down on May 12. Read more

A pizzeria in Queen Village specializing in cannabis-infused food, which had been shut down by authorities shortly after its opening in May over licensing issues, reopened Thursday.

But Pizza Pusha, at Fifth and Bainbridge Streets, closed the next day when it was determined that while the restaurant had passed a health inspection in early August, violations issued by the citys Department of Licenses & Inspections had not been cleared up.

Pizza Pusha owner Chris Barrett, a cult figure in the cannabis world who runs THC-friendly restaurants in New York called Stoned Pizzeria, said he wants to serve the same menu as before, but with no THC infusions. Just like a regular pizzeria, he said, except youre able to bring weed and smoke at the table.

Such a bring-your-own-buzz arrangement, however, would not square with Philadelphias Clean Indoor Air Act, which prohibits indoor smoking at public establishments unless the business has a tobacco license, said a spokesperson for the Health Department.

During Thursdays opening, Barretts Instagram showed video of two uniformed Philadelphia police officers at the counter, ostensibly to sniff out any smoking. No citations were issued.

Barrett argues that the act specifies tobacco, not cannabis. He also contends that Pizza Pusha will require reservations for indoor seating; in his view, this would make it a nonpublic venue, exempt from the law. I dont want someone walking in off the street and the place is smelling like weed and they didnt want that, he said. If everybody makes a reservation and were not open to the public, I think it could work.

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Recreational marijuana is not legal in Philadelphia, but small amounts have been decriminalized, meaning that police will not arrest for minor offenses. The city has, however, shuttered establishments that allow indoor cannabis smoking, including the Lair in West Philadelphia.

In New York, where recreational cannabis is legal, Barretts Stoned Pizzeria locations have been allowed to operate, he said.

Barrett said he was prepared to take his chances in Philadelphia. Should Pizza Pusha be shut down, the Health Department spokesperson said, the business could ask for a reinspection, which costs $315.

The Queen Village pizzeria was shut down in May, following a joint investigation by the citys Departments of Health and Licenses & Inspections, not because of cannabis smoking but because the business lacked a business license and a health certificate. The Health Department cleared Pizza Pushas reopening Aug. 2.

Barrett said he chose to open in Philadelphia after running the data from his New York locations. The most customers we have that are not from New York are from Philadelphia, he said. When you come to the restaurant, you have to check in, you have to give us your credit card and your drivers license. We were seeing half of the licenses were from Pennsylvania, and from Philly more specifically.

I think its close enough that Philly people dont mind coming all the way to New York for something that wasnt available there, he said.

Who is Chris Barrett?

In a phone call from Ibiza, where he was vacationing to celebrate his 50th birthday, Barrett said he was turned on to the idea of infused cannabis cuisine about eight years ago while living in California. He attended a party where the sauces used in the food contained cannabis oil. Upon returning to New York, he began throwing private parties with pizza on the menu.

Im a big weed head, he said. Im an Italian kid from Brooklyn that loves pizza and weed. It was really a no-brainer.

Barrett also had a business called SendAPackage.com that allowed relatives and friends of New York State inmates to ship preapproved items  cigarettes, sneakers, clothes, food, music, electronics, watches, books, magazines  to them in prison. Through this business, he said, he met celebrities and took the nickname Pizza Pusha.

Barrett said he started the pizza business out of a studio apartment. The square pizza, baked in a pan, could be cooked in a home oven. He added other foods, such as lollipop chicken, garlic knots, and salad, infusing the olive oil with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). None of his restaurants have liquor licenses, but the soft drinks are also infused with THC.

For the first two years we were working from homes and then maybe another year after that, we were working in a ghost kitchen, he said. It was really successful, and a lot of the celebrities that Ive met through SendAPackage are the same ones that helped me in Pizza Pusha.

Meanwhile, cannabis shops and dispensaries  legal and otherwise  have popped up all over, and Barrett said competition is everywhere. The restaurant idea gives him an edge, he said. I think the days of just selling weed in a bag and making a lot of money at it are over, he said. I think you need to be creative with the weed. What keeps me attracted to [the business] is the fact that Im the only one in the space and Ive been the only one in the space for so long that I think thats cool.

Barrett said he recently reconfigured his business. At Stoned Pizzeria, with two locations in Manhattan, customers pay $130 a person for an unlimited five-course meal of cannabis-infused food and soft drinks. (This is the concept that was shut down in Philadelphia in May.)

Barrett has another brand, with locations in the Bronx and Brooklyn, called Eighths, which sells $10 slices of infused pizza. And now there also is Pizza Pusha, with locations in North Jersey, the Catskills, and Philadelphia, whose food (including pizzas at $4.50 and $5 a slice) is not infused.

Barrett said he knew that opening wouldnt be easy. Were learning and we hope to achieve our goal one day, and if it takes a couple of years were OK, he said. Were here for it.
A bombshell set of studies that linked fracking exposure to lymphoma, asthma and low birth weight is making waves in Pennsylvania and prompting calls by some for a ban on fracking in the state. The studies were released only after years of pressure from people living in the heart of one of the most active shale plays in the nation. Some of these residents have faced dire health consequences  and repeated attempts by the fossil fuel industry to discredit their concerns.

The three studies copublished by the Pennsylvania state government and the University of Pittsburgh found serious health effects resulting from shale gas production in the southwestern part of the Commonwealth. A study on the incidence of childhood cancer found five to seven times the rates of lymphoma among children who live within one mile of a natural gas well compared to those who live no closer than five miles from such a well. A study on birth outcomes found a correlation between low birth weight and a mothers proximity to active wells during their production phase  when oil or gas is collected from a well, after drilling fluid has been shot deep vertically, then horizontally, underground.

And a study on asthma risk found a strong link between natural gas production and hospitalization for asthma in people living within 10 miles of a natural gas well.

 READ MORE: Does anyone care about the study linking Pa. fracking to cancer in kids? | Opinion

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These findings are backed up by previous research. But for Ned Ketyer, president of Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, who first called on state regulators to investigate frackings link to a grouping of rare childhood cancer cases in 2019, the asthma revelation is, nonetheless, a bombshell.

I live in Washington County, he said. There is no resident who lives more than 10 miles away from a fracking well or another site of fracking infrastructure. We are all at risk.

The road to that finding and others, released Aug. 15, was not an easy one, he told Capital & Main. Ketyer was among a group who first proposed the research in the wake of a 2019 investigative report by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that found 67 rare cancer patients across four counties surrounding Pittsburgh, rattling residents who live near fracking in the No. 2 natural-gas-producing state in the country.

Then-Gov. Tom Wolf authorized $3 million in 2019 to study the health effects of natural gas development. And at the end of 2022, the entities conducting the study  the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) and the University of Pittsburgh  were slated to meet with concerned residents. Theyd been meeting regularly with an external advisory board of which Ketyer and representatives from environmental groups were a part.

But the agency and university both pulled out at the last minute amid pressure from Washington County GOP Sen. Camera Bartolotta. She has advanced antiregulatory fossil fuel policy in the Capitol as the cochair of the Pennsylvania Senate Oil and Gas Caucus, received thousands in campaign contributions from the industry, and urged the DOH not to engage with anti-fossil fuel advocates.

In December, accountability database LittleSis Aly Shaw reported key relationships between several trustees at the University of Pittsburgh and oil and gas companies like ExxonMobil, Range Resources, Peoples Gas and Shell Oil. Meanwhile, industry groups like the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a Pennsylvania-based trade group for the natural gas industry, have long claimed that there is no evidence that fracking harms public health. The coalition has come under fire in the past for funding university studies on the benefits of fracking. When Gov. Wolf initially announced funding for the study, the coalition expressed support, provided that the research be conducted neutrally, fairly and without bias.

Across environmental circles, some are calling for stronger regulations or an all-out fracking ban. Others have been left wanting more from the reports.

Residents attending an Aug. 15 conference on the results, including parents of children with rare cancers, lined up at a pair of microphones in a University of Pittsburgh auditorium. Several expressed dismay at what they claimed were holes in the research  not taking into account drinking water contamination or radioactivity from fracking waste, and relying upon a limited sample, for instance. Others were concerned that the studies failed to find a correlation between fracking exposure and leukemia, brain and bone cancers, including Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer of which 27 cases were identified in southwestern Pennsylvania in 2019. (The overall incidence of this cancer is one in a million people.)

Future studies will be needed that assess water quality and cover some of the blind spots of this study, said Tom Pike, environmental policy advocate at Protect Penn-Trafford, an environmental advocacy group in southwestern Pennsylvania. Many people attended the presentation hoping for answers, because their loved ones are sick. There was a lot of disappointment and anger in the room because what people really wanted to hear from the Pennsylvania Department of Health is that it was going to be taking action.

 READ MORE: Pa. lets polluter resume drilling in protected zone, outraging Dimock residents in frackings ground zero

Watching from afar was Sandra Steingraber, cofounder of Concerned Health Professionals of New York, who has helped compile a compendium of scientific studies on the links between fracking and poor health outcomes. She was among the initial voices that warned of these concerns in New York, where fracking was banned in 2014.

How much damning evidence do governments need to prohibit something that is clearly environmentally harmful and likely killing people? she said.

Pennsylvania grassroots environmental group the Better Path Coalition has, in the wake of the studies release, called for a statewide fracking ban. Others urge the state to adopt the eight recommendations of a 2020 grand jury report on fracking, including 2,500-foot setbacks of homes from fracking wells, and the end of trade secret status for fracking fluids.

Despite Gov. Josh Shapiros holding polluters to account when he was state attorney general, environmentalists have called into question whether he will take a hard line on fracking while governor. Meanwhile, the state Legislature has stalled meaningful environmental policy. And while advocating against a bill that would create health and safety setbacks from natural gas development, GOP Sen. Eugene Yaw, majority chair of his chambers Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, stated that he had not seen any recent studies confirming health consequences from fracking. The day after the studies release, he issued a statement call[ing] into question  their results.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition was just as quick to deny the DOH/Pitt studies credibility. All of the studies, in fact, failed to adequately consider other critical causational factors that may have affected the findings, David Callahan, the groups president, said in a statement the day the results were released. (Researchers specified factors they accounted for in these studies to eliminate the likelihood that any correlations they found could be misattributed to fracking, such as family history, age and sex.) Energy in Depth, a blog by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, has also downplayed the study results by highlighting associations that the studies did not find.

Some feared industry groups would attempt to discredit the reports, as they have with other research in the past. Ketyer, for his part, says it is time for elected officials to show theyre not listening to these efforts by industry.

Trust is being lost with the government, he said. The government really has to step up now. Theres enough information showing that fracking is harmful. We need some health protective policies. And Gov. Shapiro knows all about that.

This article was produced by the nonprofit journalism publication Capital & Main. It is copublished here with permission.
French Senator Bruno Retailleau has accused the government of Azerbaijan of carrying out genocide and ethnic cleansing in Artsakh.

August 30, 2023, 16:54 French senator accuses Azerbaijan of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Artsakh

STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 30, ARTSAKHPRESS: Bruno Retailleau, a senator representing The Republicans group, has arrived in Armenia as part of the delegation escorting the French humanitarian convoy for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Whats happening in Artsakh leads to ethnic cleansing and geocide. The main reason that we are here is because a tragedy is unfolding. Whats happening today is transforming Artsakh into a concentration camp under an open sky. This attempt of ethnic cleansing and genocide is aimed against 120 thousand people, including 30 thousand children. We demand the French President, to utilize Frances position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to introduce a resolution for adoption that would eventually allow to open the Lachin Corridor and put it under international protection, in order for transit to be restored along the humanitarian road, the French senator said at a press conference in Goris.

The French humanitarian convoy for Nagorno-Karabakh led by the Mayor of Paris has arrived to the border area near the entrance of Lachin Corridor.
WASHINGTON  A federal judge on Wednesday held Rudy Giuliani liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of fraud, ruling that the former New York city mayor gave only lip service to complying with his legal obligations while trying to portray himself as the victim in the case.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said the punishment was necessary because Giuliani had ignored his duty as a defendant to turn over information requested by election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea ArShaye Moss, as part of their lawsuit.

The decision moves the case toward a trial in Washington that could result in Giuliani being ordered to pay significant damages to the women, in addition to the tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees hes already being directed to pay.

The workers complaint from December 2021 accused Giuliani, one of Donald Trumps lawyers and a confidant of the former Republican president, of defaming them by falsely stating that they had engaged in fraud while counting ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

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In a statement Wednesday, the women said they had endured a living nightmare and an unimaginable wave of hatred and threats because of Giulianis comments.

Nothing can restore all we lost, but todays ruling is yet another neutral finding that has confirmed what we have known all along: that there was never any truth to any of the accusations about us and that we did nothing wrong. We were smeared for purely political reasons, and the people responsible can and should be held accountable, they said.

The ruling compounds the legal jeopardy for Giuliani at a time when he and Trump are both among 19 defendants charged this month in a racketeering case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. It also creates the potential for a massive financial penalty for Giuliani as the case proceeds to a federal trial in Washington, where a jury would determine damages he may be liable for.

He will have a final opportunity to produce the requested information, known under the law as discovery, but could face additional sanctions if he fails to do so. In the meantime, Howell said, Giuliani and his business entities must pay more than $130,000 in attorneys fees.

Howell expressed skepticism at Giulianis claims that he cannot afford to reimburse the plaintiffs in the case, noting that he recently listed his apartment in Manhattan for $6.5 million and was reported to have flown via private plane to Atlanta to surrender to charges there. He has pleaded not guilty.

Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention, Howell wrote.

Howell said that aside from an initial document production of 193 pages, the information Giuliani had turned over consisted largely of a single page of communications, blobs of indecipherable data and a sliver of the financial documents required to be produced.

Perhaps, he has made the calculation that his overall litigation risks are minimized by not complying with his discovery obligations in this case, Howell said. Whatever the reason, obligations are case specific and withholding required discovery in this case has consequences.

The judge said Giuliani has given only lip service to compliance with his discovery obligations.

Giuliani has blamed his failure to produce the requested documents on the fact that his devices were seized by federal investigations in 2021 as a part of a separate Justice Department investigation that did not produce any criminal charges.

Ted Goodman, a political adviser to Giuliani, said in a statement that the judges ruling is a prime example of the weaponization of our justice system, where the process is the punishment. This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI.

Last month, Giuliani conceded that he made public comments falsely claiming the election workers committed ballot fraud during the 2020 election, but he contended that the statements were protected by the First Amendment.

That caveated stipulation, Howell said, has more holes than Swiss cheese and suggested Giuliani was more interested in conceding the workers claims than actually producing meaningful discovery in the case.

Yet, just as taking shortcuts to win an election carries risks  even potential criminal liability  bypassing the discovery process carries serious sanctions, no matter what reservations a noncompliant party may try artificially to preserve for appeal, she said.

Moss had worked for the Fulton County elections department since 2012 and supervised the absentee ballot operation during the 2020 election. Freeman was a temporary election worker, verifying signatures on absentee ballots and preparing them to be counted and processed.

Giuliani and others alleged during a Georgia legislative subcommittee hearing in December 2020 that surveillance video from State Farm Arena showed the election workers committing election fraud.

As those allegations circulated online, the two women said, they suffered intense harassment, both in person and online. Moss detailed her experiences in emotional testimony before the members of Congress investigating the Capitol insurrection. The Jan. 6 committee also played video testimony from Freeman during the hearing in June 2022.
The bright super moon silhouettes an aircraft as it rises into the night sky above Philly last August. Read more

Some lunar-related nuisance flooding notwithstanding, for moonlight connoisseurs, this is quite the special week. The moon is making its closest annual approach to Earth, and will reach its instant of fullness over Philly at 9:37 p.m. Wednesday.

Its proximity makes it a super moon in what has been a harvest season for those things. And since it is the second of the month, it is knighted a blue moon. Savor it: You wont have a chance to see a super-blue moon again until 2037.

Here are a few things to know, including the fact that while the term has a questionable history, yes, the moon really has turned blue on several occasions.

But not this week.

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 READ MORE: Space tourism is taking off. You probably can't afford it.

Tidal waves

Blame the moon for the nuisance flooding expected this week at the Shore and along the Delaware River. The moon is a grand mover of the tides, those long-period waves that roll around the planet, in NOAAs words. The moons influence ebbs and flows depending on its distance from Earth, and its making its closest encounter of the year.

During its elliptical orbit in a 29.5-day cycle, the moons distance from us typically ranges from 226,000 to 253,000 miles. On Wednesday night, however, it will come extra close, within 222,000 miles.

The moon doesnt act alone: The gravitational might of the sun also has an effect on tides, and during full and new moons the earth, sun, and moon are aligned directly. But our natural satellites proximity makes its influence twice as strong as the suns.

Another major factor in tide levels is water temperature. Warmer waters take up more room. Thus full-moon high tides at perigee, when the moon is closest to Earth, can be 10 to 15% higher in summer than in winter, according to NOAA data.

 READ MORE: NOAA sees more nuisance flooding for the region

Just what all this would mean for Floridas west coast on Wednesday would depend on when in the tidal cycle Hurricane Idalia approaches land.

Super summer

This super moon  using the definition of the moons perigee coinciding with the full moon  is the third in a quartet that began in July. Well get another one in September. How unusual is it to get four in a row? Evidently, not very. It will happen against next year.

Why the blue moon?

What is different about this sequence is that the four are occurring within three months. Thats because this one is a so-called blue moon, which has come to mean the second full moon in a month. The first was on Aug. 1.

How the term took on its current meaning remains somewhat of a mystery. NASA says the label dates to the 1500s, when it was used to designate the third of four full moons in a season.

Philip Hiscock, a folklorist with Canadas Memorial University, searched long and hard to find out how it came to mean what it does today. In a 2012 article in Sky & Telescope, he said that the popular definition appeared in the magazine in the 1940s but that the writer was incorrectly describing a reference from an old almanac. The new meaning took on a life of its own, he said, and even appeared as a Trivial Pursuit question. The rest is history, or at least distorted folklore.

The blues

It has been a while, but the moon has appeared blue on several occasions.

After the cataclysmic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, ash plumes that were filled with particles that scattered red light transformed the volcanos clouds into blue filters. Full moons, quarter moons, crescent moons, in-between moons all appeared blue for years, according to NASA, with sightings reported all over the world.

A hundred years later, blue moons developed after the eruption of the El Chichon volcano in Mexico, and reportedly were visible after the eruptions of Mount St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991. And in 1953, a massive forest fire in Alberta, Canada, created blue moons all the way to England.

The whites

The moon will look oversized and spectacular rising in the southeast Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., and will outshine every star.

Although physically it will be 14% closer than a full moon at apogee  when the moon is at its furthest point from Earth  it will look 30% brighter, said Karen Masters, professor of astronomy and physics at Haverford College. No need to rub your glasses, she said: Thats the result of the same physics that makes headlights of nearby cars look so much brighter than distant ones.

 READ MORE: Have trouble sleeping this week, this article may explain why

Double-shot

If you miss it this time around, youll get another shot at a super blue moon in January 2037, and another two months later. The Phillies Bryce Harper will be 44, and its possible youll be older, too.

Good morning, moon

The sky conditions, unfortunately, arent looking great for Wednesday night, but the prospects are considerably better Thursday and Friday nights. The moon is 100% full for roughly a nanosecond. On Thursday, it still will be at 99% fullness, and 95% on Friday.

Masters said that a personal favorite of hers is the morning moon. It wont be setting until 6:53 a.m. Thursday, and 8:11 a.m. Friday. It will be visible after sunrise for a week to 10 days.

The moon is always beautiful, she said.
FILE - In this April 5, 2018, file photo, people walk through the Princeton University campus in Princeton, N.J. Princeton University said it would reject federal relief money available in the government's multi-trillion dollar coronavirus rescue package. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) Read more

Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

It looks itll be rainy day with some fog. Temps will reach a high of 86.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that colleges could not use race as a factor in admission decisions, colleges faced renewed and intensified scrutiny around legacy preference policies, which give an edge to prospective students related to alumni.

Its not surprising that the U.S. Department in July began investigating Harvards polices around legacy admissions in response to a complaint from a civil rights group.

As universities and colleges navigate new ways to ensure diversity, our lead story features schools that are debating the merits of legacy admissions.

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 Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

Legacy preference has long been criticized for giving another advantage to whiter and wealthier families at top schools. At the same time, some colleges worry that getting rid of the practice means alienating families that have attended and financially supported them for generations.

Several colleges opted to do away with legacy preference before the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to ban race-conscious admissions practices. Bryn Mawr, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Pittsburgh dont consider prospective students legacies during admissions anymore.

Other colleges are just starting to talk about making a change. Some arent convinced that losing legacy as a consideration would significantly alter student demographics.

Continue reading to learn what experts have to say on the issue  and what colleges should do.

What you should know today

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will attend three fundraisers across Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Hes set to attend a breakfast in Harrisburg, a lunch in Altoona, and an evening reception in Pittsburgh. All are ticketed events with high-dollar donations.

His visit comes as DeSantis recently rebooted his campaign.

Where he stands: DeSantis is in a distant second place behind former President Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary polls. He has raised $20.1 million so far, second to Trumps $36 million, according to campaign finance reports that reflect all donations through June.

Note: Pennsylvania ranked fifth for both DeSantis and Trump in large-dollar fundraising, with both raising similar shares of their fundraising dollars from the state. Although Trump is out-raising him, DeSantis is raising money quickly.

Read on for the data breakdown of DeSantis fundraising momentum.

 Trivia time 

A diner broke the record last week for the worlds largest cheesesteak. Which state is it in?

A) Pennsylvania

B) New Jersey

C) New York

D) Idaho

Think you know? Check your answer.

What were...

 Viewing: What the reimagined former Family Court building and the new African American museum on the Parkway could look like.

 Wondering: How theres only one Philly influencer marketing agency. Meet Alex Prushinski, the owner of 215 Agency.

 Unscramble the anagram 

Hint: Art collection

BROADEN FOUNTAINS

Email us if you know the answer. Well select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Dawn Leinberger, who correctly guessed Tuesdays answer: Philly Special.

Photo of the day

Have a great day! Ill be back with the latest news tomorrow morning.
Play captains and neighborhood children run underneath a colorful parachute. FAB Youth Philly hosts a playtime activity for children and youth in the Norris Square section of Philadelphia and other locations in the city during the summer, Wednesday, July 14, 2021. Read more

Each day in my office, children enact scenes of violence and death.

Im a play therapist who specializes in trauma, and the children who come see me  particularly those directly and indirectly impacted by the epidemic of gun violence  arrange intricate battle scenes using green plastic army men, role-play violent encounters with cloth puppets, and pretend they are doctors informing a teddy bear that a loved one has been murdered.

This can be heartbreaking for me to watch. But I also know its exactly what these children need to do to process what has happened to them.

Practiced by licensed mental health professionals for decades, play therapy creates a space for children to give voice to their experiences through the language of childhood: play. Research shows play therapy works, but the city cant always provide it.

Research shows play therapy works, but the city cant always provide it.

The surgeon general has declared the rising mental health challenges of young people to be a crisis, but there are not enough mental health providers who are trained to meet the needs of children and adolescents. Theres especially a demand for interventions such as play therapy.

Philadelphias children cant afford to wait.

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So far this year, there have been more than 900 nonfatal and 200 fatal shootings in the city. Summers are a particularly violent time.

Although the pace of shootings in 2023 seems to have fallen over the last two years, the proportion of victims who are children has increased. That means more of our citys children are being shot and shot at, and living with the aftereffects of that trauma.

 READ MORE: Halfway through 2023, shootings are down and more killings are solved. But trauma persists.

Eleven percent of people shot this year in Philadelphia were under the age of 18. And for every person shot  no matter their age  there is a web of people impacted by that experience, many of whom are kids. Sometimes, theyre witnesses. Other times, theyre friends or relatives; the person shot could be their neighbor, uncle, or mom. Many are merely young residents of a city mired in a crisis of violence.

For adults, continued reports of gun violence can elicit fear, anger, or grief. That impact is magnified for children, who are still developing the framework to process major emotional stressors. When a child witnesses someone they love get shot, they have little idea how to talk about and deal with their feelings. They can become overwhelmed by fear, and see the world as an inherently violent place. Nothing will feel safe.

Very often, my clients play recalls the dynamics of neighborhood tragedies theyve witnessed. This is not a new situation for children facing traumatic events.

During the Holocaust, for instance, children who were sent to concentration camps would reenact the terror around them, be that play acting as Gestapo or pretending to bury one another in makeshift mass graves.

This play has a purpose. By acting out the unspeakable horrors they witnessed, children attempt to make sense of the inconceivable.

When adults experience trauma, they have options to deal with it  they can, for instance, talk about their lingering fears and anxieties about their unsafe world, and take in the advice and strategies offered by a mental health professional.

Children dont always have that ability. Play therapy provides a safe environment in which a child can use familiar tools like puppets, dollhouses, and figurines to communicate their inner worlds and thoughts, including what scares or overwhelms them.

Among children exposed to violence and other potential traumas, studies have shown that play therapy can relieve PTSD symptoms and decrease problem behaviors, such as getting into fights at school.

However, as I noted, too few Philly kids have access to this important intervention.

Even without access to therapy, there is a lot adults can do to support children. Adults can talk and listen to kids, do everything they can to make the home environment feel safe, and offer kids books that address trauma such as shootings.

Yet one of the most important  and often overlooked  ways that adults can support children in the aftermath of violence is to encourage and allow them to play, either alone or together.

There are so many benefits to play for kids. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that parents participate in special playtime  five to 10 minutes with one parent and one child participating in child-led play activities. No expensive toys are required, just imagination.

Special time could involve playing a childs favorite game, following their lead in pretend play, or coloring with crayons. The childs choice of activity is less important than the fact that they are in control of the choice and that a trusted caregiver is playing alongside them.

The practice can provide children with an outlet for difficult emotions, and a sense of connection to their primary caregiver, which can be especially important in uncertain times.

Routines can help children feel safer and in greater control of their environments, particularly as the summer schedule changes and the school year begins. When the outside world introduces chaos and violence into childrens immediate surroundings, regularly scheduling special playtime can increase the childs feelings of safety and security.

Some children may require the involvement of a professional, but all children can benefit from time spent playing at home.

Philadelphias gun violence problem requires complex, multifaceted solutions. We may not have the tools to make the world safer for our children, but there is something we can do: We can play.

Katharine Wenocur is a licensed clinical social worker and registered play therapist supervisor who coordinates the child trauma and play therapy concentration within Thomas Jefferson Universitys Community and Trauma Counseling Program.
History lesson

As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the Rev. Al Sharpton said he wished he could show a split screen with the left side featuring the violent Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists and the right showing the thousands of peaceful, nonviolent demonstrators who gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. What an important reminder of how to bring a powerful message to Washington.

Paul L. Newman, Merion Station

Lead with honesty

America is currently experiencing a 21st-century variation on Jane Elliotts blue eyes/brown eyes exercise. Say anything long and loud enough and many will subscribe to it as their personal agenda. If a lie is to be convincing, you must not cloud the issues with pertinent facts. Your followers will become emboldened and feel superior to all who disagree, as their main goal is to have those others become inferior and subservient. This scenario has happened throughout history. Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat past mistakes. All countries need a leader who can actually lead for the betterment of their citizens, instead of dividing them against each other. Let our precious and delicate democracy, through our judicial checks and balances, finally process the truth and hopefully prevail through our current travails.

Ron Farbman, Philadelphia

Split the difference

The Inquirer reports that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed a bill that designates Central Jersey as an official place. Down here in South Jersey, we consider this nonsense. It is as real as Central Dakota, Central Vietnam, or Middle-earth. Doesnt exist. Central Jersey sounds like the place people from North Jersey say theyre from when they dont want to say theyre from North Jersey. I-95 splits the state in two. If you are north of that, you are in North Jersey.

Bill Bead, Westville

Protect the Mutter

Its perfectly clear that the Mutter Museums rich tradition of displaying a history of medical science, within both old and new contexts, will soon be lost. Its time for the Pennsylvania Orphans Court to step in and protect this institutions unique role and the opportunities it provides. The Mutter has always trumpeted the good, the bad, and yes, the very ugly and disturbing materials of 19th-century science. The Mutter is not an exhibit of art, humanities, or health  it displays a story of how medical science came to be, like no other institution.

Yes, major portions of the collection of human matter were obtained in pursuit of peculiar beliefs that we now know to have been significantly flawed, false, and harmful. Yet this history remains valuable. Understanding the falsehoods and excesses of eugenics (a significant subtheme at the museum and 19th-century science) is as critical in medicine as understanding the Confederacy is to U.S. history and politics. Their importance today should not be devalued, hidden, or varnished by misapplied cultural insights or political vogues.

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The Mutters collections are decidedly not pleasant, but they give unique understanding within their context. This context is the medical sciences of a different time. Are Michelangelos dissections to be stored away because theres no record of the cadavers informed consent? Of course not. But starting an understanding of todays informed consent, or what makes bad science, or what are errors of natal development, etc., are lessons that the Mutter uniquely provides.

Dolph Druckman, Baltimore

Its debatable

In her recent column, Jennifer Stefano demands that Democratic mayoral candidate Cherelle Parker debate her Republican opponent, David Oh. Stefano claims that this is a way for candidates to show their worthiness to voters. Has she actually seen a debate by political candidates lately? Rather than either answering questions or discussing positions, these so-called debates are simply a way for the candidates to repeat their talking points regardless of the questions asked. Some candidates also present canned zingers where they demonstrate the wit of their speechwriters. These debates are competing campaign ads that candidates dont pay for. Since it is obvious that no worthiness will be demonstrated in this kind of pseudo-debate, what is Stefanos real motivation?

Kenneth Gorelick, Wayne

In charge

The seismic shift coming to Americas auto fleet will be electrifying. President Joe Bidens sustainability plan requires all federal agencies to transition all light-duty vehicles to zero-emission vehicles by 2027, followed by transitioning all medium- and heavy-duty vehicles by 2035. The build-out of the immense network of electric vehicle charging stations required to meet demand will fall to IBEW members. Our proprietary Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP) is the preferred national certification standard for training workers who will install the 500,000-station national charging network.

The EVITP was developed with the automotive, utility, and manufacturing sectors, as well as with our partners in the National Electrical Contractors Association. The training alliance oversees and develops curricula for the IBEWs joint apprenticeship training centers and the inside wiremen training centers in the U.S. that are actively enrolling students for electric vehicle charging system training programs. The EVITP instruction covers such subjects as vehicle history, design, and structure, as well as the National Electrical Code and the applications of load calculation methods and rules. IBEW Local 98 is leading the charge. To learn more, visit www.atei98.org.

Brian Myers, apprentice training director, IBEW Local 98, Philadelphia

Slow down

Tucked away at the end of the excellent editorial on safety for cyclists and pedestrians in our parks is the suggestion that speed bumps should be implemented in the FDR Oval. Speed bumps should be used way more widely than they are: on Lincoln Drive, which is treated by drivers as a speedway despite 25 mph limits; on many streets in the city, where souped-up cars and ATVs race day and night; and around all schools.

Barbara Gold, Philadelphia

Gun control

The ubiquity of guns makes any traffic stop, any investigation of domestic abuse, or any attempt to apprehend a criminal a possible life-threatening event for police officers. The GOP has styled itself as the law and order party, and yet its representatives at both the state and federal levels stand staunchly against the kind of sensible gun control that 80% of the populace thinks reasonable. Police officers need this protection.

Today, anyone confronted by the police is at risk of gun violence because of the increased possibility that the officer is justifiably fearful of personal injury or death. Guns promote a never-ending continuous loop of violence begetting violence. The way to interrupt this loop is actually quite simple: sensibly disarm the population. I know that particular solution would be extremely difficult to accomplish in the present state of contentiousness our country finds itself in. I am soon to be 80 and have seen many things in my lifetime, but I doubt I will see this problem addressed in a meaningful way. I hope my children and grandchildren will see some solution, but even that remains deeply speculative.

P.M. Procacci, Moorestown

Systemic danger

A recent Inquirer article addressing the rise in postpartum complications caught my attention. As a Black undergraduate student focusing on racism as a public health issue, the story impressed upon me the urgent, ongoing need for measures to stem the impact of race in maternal care. However, how certain statistics were presented may lead some to link most maternal complications among Black people with lower socioeconomic status. Even without factoring in education and income levels, Black women are still more likely than their white counterparts to have maternal complications, including death.

In November 2022, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report that credited both socioeconomic disparities and systemic racism and discrimination as drivers of this maternal health crisis among Black women. Too often, the media links lower-income populations with social instability, perpetuating the myth that higher education and social status equate to less exposure to racism. Weathering, the chronic, long-term effects of racism on physical and mental health, impacts Black women at every level. More representation among health-care providers, along with more unconscious bias training, must be the priority of health-care administrators now to curb the effects of racism and weathering on Black women.

Rayna Jael Bolich, Reading

Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
In this file photo, medical workers bring a patient out of the hospital into a waiting ambulance at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia on Dec. 3, 2020. Read more

HARRISBURG  Emergency medical services are the only first responders that most Pennsylvanians dont pay toward until they call 911.

And EMS agencies are warning that they might not be there when theyre needed if they dont see substantial funding increases.

For years, EMS agencies have been generating less revenue than they need to operate each year. Unlike other first responders, they rely entirely on ambulance reimbursements, philanthropy, and other creative ways to raise money.

EMS is dying, said Heather Sharar, the executive director of the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania, which represents 220 EMS agencies. How long can you exist if no one is paying you the cost for your service?

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The funding shortfall has led a number of EMS agencies to close, with three in Pennsylvania closing in the last three months  leaving a ripple effect that will require other agencies in the region to pick up the need.

We take for granted that theres always going to be an ambulance to respond if we dial 911, said Shane Wheeler, the CEO of VMSC Emergency Medical Services, which provides emergency care to the greater North Penn area of Montgomery County. Increasingly, were finding that that might not be the case.

 READ MORE: These backroom deals helped Gov. Josh Shapiro complete the Pa. state budget

The state Senate is expected to unveil Wednesday a plan to implement a $20.7 million increase to ambulance reimbursement rates. These funds  and a number of other new initiatives  were included in the $45.5 billion state budget signed earlier this month, but require further legislative action for the state to actually spend the money.

Eight municipal governments, including Philadelphia, pay toward their emergency medical services through their fire department. Last year, the Philadelphia Fire Department responded to 251,501 EMS incidents, according to a 2022 city report.

However, Philadelphia also relies on some independent EMS agencies to respond to emergency calls. These agencies dont receive funding from the city and mostly rely on ambulance billing, Sharar said.

Both Wheeler and Sharar said they appreciated the states expected funding increase this year, but much more is needed. For Wheelers EMS agency, a statewide $20.7 million funding would only increase its annual revenue by nearly $45,000.

Its going to take a lot of $20 million initiatives to get EMS on a good, stable platform, Wheeler added.

Any delay to these funds hurts EMS agencies, Sharar said. The increased ambulance reimbursement rates wont get disbursed until both the Senate and House approve them. The state House isnt scheduled to return to session until the end of September, following a special election for a safe Democratic seat that is all but sure to return House Democrats to their numeric majority of 102-101. Until then, the chamber is tied 101-101, and House lawmakers are unlikely to return until after that election.

VMSC Emergency Medical Services has turned to each of the seven municipalities in Montgomery County, including Hatfield Township and Lansdale, to request they each pay toward their usage of EMS services. Their annual request totals approximately $1 million, calculated on the number of calls in that area that they responded to.

Wheeler said the North Penn region is better off than some Pennsylvania communities. With only about 10% of its population on Medicaid, most people have private health insurance.

And we still have a 14% gap between revenue and expenses, Wheeler said.

 READ MORE: All Pa. public school students will get free breakfast, but some districts struggle with low participation

Ambulance services dont receive increased payment for providing higher-quality care either, Wheeler noted. For example, his agency has tried to add ultrasound technology to their emergency vehicles in an effort to determine a persons condition before they reach the hospital. There is no way for them to charge extra for the clinical enhancement, which could improve a patients outcome.

Ambulance rides are more than just a ride, Sharar said.

You are receiving a mobile [emergency room], she said. Its not just the gas for the ride to the hospital. It is care. It is medical monitoring, treatment, and observation. It is a lifesaving resource that unfortunately, nobody wants to pay for.
HARRISBURG  Private-school vouchers are back on the table in Pennsylvania.

The GOP-controlled Senate on Wednesday again approved a $100 million initiative  this time in a 28-19 vote  that would allow some students in Pennsylvanias poorest districts to attend private schools. The move comes less than a month since Gov. Josh Shapiro vetoed the same proposal, one he helped develop.

In addition, the Republican-led Senate cut a number of Democratic priorities from the states spending plan, including tens of millions of dollars in supplementary funding for the poorest school districts and money to continue a popular home-repair assistance program.

Shapiro, a Democrat, led the state through a monthlong state budget impasse after negotiations broke down between him, Senate Republicans, and House Democrats over school vouchers. He created the program with Senate Republicans but soon realized he could not garner enough support among House Democrats  who hold a one-seat majority in the chamber.

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The state Senate returned Wednesday for an unusual August session day to pass two code bills, which contain the legislative language that allows the state to actually spend about $1.1 billion of the money legislators allocated in the $45.5 billion budget bill signed into law earlier this month.

Teachers unions were quick Wednesday to criticize the Senate GOP for forcing the voucher issue again.

Republican leadership is actively working to dismantle public education, said Jerry Jordan, the president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. The notion that they continue to pursue an education privatization agenda that further siphons money from public education and instead invests in a system of education that is proven ineffective is simply outrageous.

Republicans say theyre negotiating in public

Leaders for House Democrats and Senate Republicans have struggled to negotiate with one another in Pennsylvanias new divided General Assembly. Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said on Aug. 3 that he hadnt spoken with the House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) since mid-July. Negotiations picked back up again in recent weeks but did not produce any meaningful agreements.

As talks continue to stall between House Democrats and Senate Republicans, GOP leaders said the ball is now in House Democrats court.

Here is our first shot at a negotiation, sending something to the House and letting them counter, said President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland) in an interview with The Inquirer. Were negotiating in public now.

 READ MORE: All Pa. public school students will get free breakfast, but some districts struggle with low participation

Ward urged the House to return to session next week to send its own version of the bills, which would likely include the $100 million program to send more state dollars to the poorest school districts and other Democratic priorities that Senate Republicans cut on Wednesday.

However, the House is unlikely to return before its next scheduled session day, Sept. 26. The House is currently tied 101-101, but a special election on Sept. 19 in a safe Democratic district is expected to return Democrats to a one-seat majority.

Whats more, House Democrats still dont want to vote on a school voucher bill.

Im the whip, so that means that I count the votes, said Rep. Dan Miller (D., Allegheny) during a press club luncheon on Monday. I didnt need to put it up to know where my caucus was. ... We know where each other are, and we know where were not. And were not for vouchers.

The issue remains complicated for some Philadelphia Democrats, who understand that student achievement ranks near the bottom of all urban districts nationally and want students in their districts to have the opportunity to succeed.

Rep. Amen Brown (D., Philadelphia) came out in support of the vouchers earlier this month, the most vocal House Democrat to do so.

I know what I fight for every single day in West Philadelphia, Brown said on Dom Giordanos radio show on Aug. 1. And Im just hoping that a lot of my colleagues start to do the same. We have to remove the politics out of it because our children are dying.

Senate passes second bill

Sen. Amanda Cappelletti (D., Montgomery) said it was disingenuous for Senate Republicans to remove Democratic priorities from the code bills. Initiatives such as the Whole Home Repairs program to help Pennsylvania residents stay in their homes or funds for the poorest school district benefit all citizens, she said.

In addition to the measure creating a school voucher program, the Senate approved another fiscal code bill on Wednesday. That larger bill includes funding increases for state-owned universities, increased EMS reimbursement rates, and more. Advocates say the issues require swift action from the legislature.

 READ MORE: These backroom deals helped Gov. Josh Shapiro complete the Pa. state budget

Most Senate Democrats opposed both bills, with Sen. Anthony Williams (D., Philadelphia) voting with Republicans on both bills in support. Sen. Lisa Boscola (D., Lehigh) supported the larger bill.

Each of these programs was allocated money as part of the states $45.5 billion spending plan signed into law earlier this month. But they all require further legislative language to disburse the money, or the funds will sit unspent in the state Treasury until next year.
After eight years in office, Deputy Mayor Anne Fadullon  the Kenney administrations point person for negotiating with City Council on housing and land use policy  officially left city government last week.

Her time in city government coincided with a sustained period of redevelopment that saw Philadelphia lead the region in housing construction. It ended with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, as some of Philadelphias progress was reversed, and development continued to blossom in some corners of the city.

But Fadullon leaves her job confident that the city will bounce back. Weve got a lot of strengths. Were in a great location, she said. Im very bullish on Philadelphia.

She is taking some time off and then plans to start her own consulting firm, focused on capacity-building and mentorship in the development industry with an emphasis on affordable housing and community development.

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Fadullon spoke to The Inquirer about her tenure. The interview has been edited for concision and clarity.

The city faced a lot of setbacks in recent years, including a slightly shrinking population again. What are your hopes for Philadelphia, given the trends?

I used to talk to student groups and say when SimCity first came out that every once and awhile, Godzilla would come and eat your town. The pandemic was our Godzilla.

Our trend lines were looking really great, and then they just flatlined. Now were doing that typical Philadelphia thing: We didnt crash as hard as some cities did, and were coming out of it but not at a skyrocketing trajectory.

Were seeing more folks in the city.  Our tax revenue is coming back. Were seeing higher [office] occupancy rates. A strong residential population downtown. We have seen tax growth in our neighborhood commercial corridors. All of those things are happening, but some not as quickly as wed like.

We were really growing somewhat because of birthrate but a lot because of immigration, and that really came to a halt during the pandemic. I think well start to see that pick up.  Were well positioned for warehouse distribution. Life sciences will come back once the markets have kind of settled down.

You focused a lot on policies aimed at renters, even though traditionally. Philadelphia has been a homeowner-dominated town. Why should renter-forward policies continue to be prioritized?

In this country, generational wealth often comes from home ownership. So weve got some pretty robust home ownership programs. We started our Philly First Home program that provided up to $10,000 or 6%, toward your closing costs, which really opened up the market to a lot of folks. Particularly when we first started that program, the sales market was relatively accessible and affordable, but people didnt have the savings or the family wealth to be able to get that initial nut in place.

But we have a large portion of our population thats extremely low income, where home ownership is probably not attainable and may not be the best option for them. Its a struggle when your roof starts to leak or your water heater goes. When youre living on the edge, trying to make those repairs on your own may be difficult. We just have to look at the reality of who is our city: We have a lot of very low-income renters. And while we want to support generational wealth and home ownership, we have to keep our eye on our rental population as well.

The people youre describing are probably not calling their Council offices seeking help.

Theyre busy trying to survive. Some of them may have a technological barrier, or language barrier, or are just spending all their time trying to make it from one day to the next. Their voices arent heard as often as they should be. Our job in the public sector is weve got to take care of everybody the best that we can. Just because someone may not be the loudest voice in the room doesnt mean that we can ignore their needs.

The elected officials are trying to be responsive to their constituency. Some members of the constituency have louder voices than others. People are focused on whats going on my block or community and not understanding that we have to consider the city as a whole.

These localized decisions have ramifications throughout the city. If we say were going to limit density or development over here, its going to impact other areas. Thats not going to be a successful strategy. If you try to limit density in one area that doesnt mean development goes away, or youve stopped demand, you just move it someplace else. Or the demand stays, the supply drops, and housing costs go up.

And we dont want those policies to successfully limit demand. Ive been here long enough to know what its like to manage a city in decline. I would much rather deal with the issues that come with managing a growing city.

If we didnt have some growth happening, we would not have a Neighborhood Preservation Initiative. If we had not grown the tax base, we would not be able to support the bond issue for street paving. We would not be able to put additional dollars toward the school district.

But we do need to make sure were putting those dollars back into communities. The folks that are seeing that change need to see some benefit so theyre not just feeling like my neighborhood is being overwhelmed by people that dont look like me and dont understand the history of my neighborhood.

Things definitely slowed down once the pandemic hit. Hearings can take longer because weve got more public participation, and it may take a longer time to explain things online.

Weve been working closely with the development community to try to assist them in being prepared for their hearing. We do have incidents where there may be X number of cases scheduled for that session, and we get to only get one or two of those cases, because everybody else comes in to ask for a continuance.

So were trying to work with folks to say if theres a problem, please let us know a couple weeks in advance, and we can have someone else take your slot. Because it really does back up the system.

Many city meetings like the zoning board, historic commission, and planning commission are still held on Zoom. Why have they remained remote?

Were working on making technological improvements that would allow us to have a hybrid environment, because we dont want to lose the public participation that weve been able to get online. But we understand that certain things are facilitated better when theyre in person.

Also, during the pandemic, one of the bills that Council passed is a requirement that all of our meetings be recorded. But we did not have that technology and functionality in all of our various meeting rooms. So thats something that we are working on. I think probably sometime in 2024 there will start to be a shift toward a more hybrid and not completely virtual.
Mark "Quiet Hawk" Gould and his daughter Tyrese Gould Jacinto in front of a former church, whose 63-acre wooded property the Native American Advancement Corp. just acquired. The parcel has been renamed the Cohanzick Nature Reserve. Read more

Tyrese Ty Gould Jacinto walked a trail at the edge of an oak and pitch pine forest off Gravelly Hill Road in rural Salem County, saying theres an energy to the land she finds difficult to put into words. The woods are surrounded by hundreds of acres of more woods and miles of gentle farmland.

Everybody feels things here, Jacinto said during a tour of the property Tuesday. Dont you feel it?

Jacinto, president and CEO of the nonprofit Native American Advancement Corp (NAAC), was referring to a 63-acre parcel complete with a church building that her group just acquired to transform into an educational center, museum, and environmental preserve open to the public, complete with hiking trails.

It was part of a decade-long quest to find a more expansive location for the NAAC, which has its headquarters in Bridgeton, Cumberland County. Its a rare reclamation of land by a Native American group in New Jersey.

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The new Cohanzick Nature Reserve in Quinton Township, Salem County, is named after an ancient Native American tribe that once made its home in the area of what they called the Cohanzick River, a tributary of the Delaware Bay in an area of rich soil, deep forests, abundant wildlife, and fish. The 30-mile river was called the Cohansey by colonists and the name stuck.

Jacinto said she really doesnt believe in lingering spirits. But I know energy cannot be destroyed nor created, right? And sometimes the energy remains. My husband put it in context. He said, You know, you had births here. You had people living, dying, and tragedies. You had blood spilled. He said that energy is still there.

Jacinto is a member of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Nation, an officially recognized state tribe. The Cohanzicks are ancestors of the Nanticoke and Lenape tribes, which all fall under the Algonquin language group.

Her father, Mark Quiet Hawk Gould, 81, was chief of the tribe for 45 years.

Its like coming home, Gould said, noting his great-grandparents once lived nearby. I dont know how to explain it. Its a good feeling.

The two are planning a private blessing of the land sometime soon.

Surrounded by preserved land

The reserve lies in an area known as Burden Hill, a complex of forests covering 16,400 acres in Salem and Cumberland Counties. Thousands of acres of land nearby are already preserved and serve as an important habitat for birds such as bald eagles, red-shouldered hawks, barred owls, Coopers hawks, red-headed woodpeckers, and 32 species of warblers.

White-tailed deer, coyote red fox, gray fox, river otter, and black bear make their home there, with some anecdotal evidence of state-endangered bobcats, according to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, which owns the Burden Hill Preserve that adjoins the Cohanzick Nature Reserve.

The New Jersey Conservation Foundation was instrumental in helping the NAAC acquire the property from the South Carolina-based Morningstar Fellowship Church on Aug. 15 for $820,000.

The state Department of Environmental Protection contributed $410,000 toward the purchase through its Green Acres program to preserve the property for recreation and conservation purposes. The Nature Conservancy contributed $370,000. The New Jersey Conservation Foundation, NAAC, and Natural Lands came up with the balance. The Open Space Institute as well as Natural Lands, a nonprofit based in Pennsylvania, assisted by helping connect partners and contributing funding for other costs.

After purchasing the property from the church, the New Jersey Conservation Foundation deeded the land to the NAAC for $1. Because state money was used, the preserve must be open to the public. But the NAACs plans still need township approval, and trails need to be cleared, designed and clearly marked.

Green Acres takes great pride in its contribution toward this significant acquisition, said Elizabeth Dragon, a DEP assistant commissioner.

How will the reserve be used?

Rob Ferber, who led the project for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, praised Jacinto and the NAAC. This group doesnt just serve the Native American community that theyre a part of, he said. They work with a much larger community.

The NAAC works to advance Native American interests, promote self-sufficiency, and preserve the culture. It focuses on charitable, educational, and service-oriented programs. It provides employment training, financial literacy, and fosters home ownership. Other services include weatherization for homes of low-income families, replacing heating units, connecting people to fuel and water rebate programs, and working with the state to identify households with lead paint exposure.

Jacinto, a real estate agent, childrens book author and entrepreneur, said she teaches people financial literacy with a goal of home ownership.

The reserve will give her a chance to expand the NAACs educational reach, she said. She already has a booklet of plans ready to go once they receive township approval.

While touring the churchs spacious interior, Jacinto said the group plans to launch Indigenous conservation education programs that will allow the general public, including schoolchildren, to learn about native peoples through hands-on experiences, workshops, and tours. The hope is to foster a sense of environmental stewardship through programs designed to teach about native plants and their uses.

The church, complete with a full kitchen, has been vacant for a few years. But it is relatively new with a row of offices that could serve as a welcome area, educational space, research area, conference room, and library of historical books. She is working with Down Jersey Folklife Center at Wheaton Arts in Millville to create displays for the museum.

But Jacinto said shes hoping for donations from people, businesses, and organizations for planned initiatives.

Its exciting to think of the schools that will be able to come here and take tours, Jacinto said. They wont have to drive an hour or two to another reserve to learn some indigenous language. Well show them how we still live. We want to teach the new generation to be more cognizant of conserving, and you know, what it means to not plant invasive species bushes on purpose, and that you create a force with your landscaping.
Commentary

By Krystle Wittevrongel

The Trudeau government has announced it will be restricting oil and gas subsidies unless they meet one or more of a short list of criteria, one of which is to support Indigenous economic participation in fossil fuel activities.

It didnt take much more than this for some to go from being purported champions of First Nations right to self-determination on their lands to claiming this was just one more loophole that must be closed to align with climate commitments.

Instead, could the governments announcement be a nod to its pledge for reconciliation, and more specifically economic reconciliation, with Indigenous communities? After all, this exemption for Indigenous participation is meant to avoid preventing them from investing in the oil and gas sector if they decide to do so.

While reconciliation has been a prominent theme in the federal governments policy agenda for years, the promise of economic reconciliation has only recently entered the discourse. The concept is gaining momentum, with two senators hosting an advancing economic reconciliation on Parliament Hill event in Ottawa last June.

While the federal government doesnt have a precise definition of what economic reconciliation is, many First Nations do. According to Dale Swampy from the National Coalition of Chiefs, for instance, economic reconciliation means an end to the vicious cycle of the social welfare economy. Put more positively, its a way for First Nations to reaffirm their autonomy and self-reliance.

Unfortunately, this has long been undermined by the federal governments obstruction of the growth of the natural resource industry  specifically the oil and gas sector.

Natural resource development projects provide key economic opportunities to thousands of Indigenous Canadians. This is especially true for those who live on reserves far away from large urban centres and who may not otherwise have alternative employment.

Take Fort McKay First Nation in Alberta, for example. Fort McKay has lower unemployment and higher household income than the average First Nation in Canada due to decades of partnership-building with industry and natural resource development in the Alberta oil sands.

This is no surprise when you consider that the median income for self-identified Indigenous Canadians working in the oil and gas sector is about $144,000, whereas the median across all sectors is only $46,800, according to data from the latest census.

Not only that, but there are also often considerable community benefits, such as various educational, training, and partnership opportunities linked to natural resource development projects.

The Northern Gateway Project, for example, had pledged to support Indigenous communities and businesses, work to develop community capacity, and support long-term skills development and training. There was a reported $ 2 billion set aside for this.

Then there are the infusions to government revenues, which could be mobilized in part to advance other aspects of reconciliation. Estimated impacts over Northern Gateways lifespan included a total increase in government revenue over the operating period of $2.9 billion HYPERLINK "https://docs2.cer-rec.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll/fetch/2000/90464/90552/38..." \t "_blank" annuallyHYPERLINK "https://docs2.cer-rec.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll/fetch/2000/90464/90552/38..." \t "_blank" , which is just under the total amount spent by the federal government on infrastructure projects to expand on-reserve access to clean drinking water over seven years.

Despite the expected gains, however  and even though nearly 60 percent of the identified Indigenous communities in its proximity supported the project and even held equity shares  the federal government rejected the project in 2016, in what disappointed leaders of a number of affected First Nations said was merely a political decision.

In recent years, many First Nations have not only been vocal supporters of resource development but have sought to become large-scale investors. Take the Cedar LNG project in British Columbia, for instance, which is the worlds first Indigenous majority-owned LNG project. Not only is it expected to provide stable and significant benefits for the region, but it also has one of the cleanest environmental profiles in the world.

Not impeding major energy projects that First Nations support, or have invested in, is the least the government can do. After all, blocking them from ensuring their own prosperity is a pretty bad way of following through on its pledges of reconciliation.

Krystle Wittevrongel is a Senior Policy Analyst and Alberta Project Lead at the Montreal Economic Institute.
Chen's most recent position was as Starr's regional manager responsible for Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, specifically overseeing property, energy, and construction. According to LinkedIn, he held the position of senior property underwriter at Starr's Hong Kong office. Having accumulated over 25 years in underwriting and client relationship roles, both on the insurance carrier and broker sides of the industry, Chen brings with him a wealth of knowledge to his new position.
CHUs approach to people development, industry contribution, and focus on community work and environmental strategy were touched on by the judges along with the improvement to their services that included a catastrophe response team and technology enhancements. The agencys education and training programs for brokers and strata managers were also commended as they also had a CHUniversity L&D initiative for their internal staff and the FUCHURE CHU initiative.
Escalating expenses associated with marine insurance present a significant and imminent threat to both the vitality of the tourism industry and the well-being of the communities that rely on the marine sectors support. Marinas are integral to the broader marine and tourism industries, and foster significant employment opportunities, said Andrew Chapman, president at MIA.
She most recently served as CEO of AXAs UK Healthcare business (formerly AXA PPP), and before that was CEO of HSBCs Channel Islands and Isle of Man business, after four years as the CEO of First Direct Bank. Garrad is also a non-executive director of The London Stock Exchange Group plc. In her new role, she will also report to Blanc and is set to become a member of Avivas group executive committee on joining the company.
Optimax is an employee benefits firm focused on serving small to medium-sized businesses. Based in Edmonton, it was founded in 1998 by Earl Shindruk. It has since become a well-known brokerage in its community, with a significant portion of its clientele being nonprofit organizations.
Others might tell you their customers are number one, but I'll be the first one to stand up and say our people are number one and at the centre of everything that we do, with our customers a close second, he said. It's based on the philosophy that if you create a positive work environment where people want to come to work, where they feel safe and where they can see a future then they will do an outstanding job for our customers every day.
Originally established in 1952 as The Gene Christensen Agency, Christensen Group Insurance transitioned to being 100% ESOP-owned in 2005. Following the ESOP transaction, the company, which initially employed 50 individuals, embarked on a series of targeted add-on acquisitions, currently operating with a team of 210 across nine locations. The scope of Christensen Group's operations encompasses all lines of insurance and benefits, supplemented by its RIA subsidiary, Christensen Group Financial, LLC.
In her decision, Matsumoto said it would be premature to accept GEICO's contention that it could not be held directly responsible for the plaintiffs injuries, noting that the theft had merely been a part of a concerted campaign by fraudsters targeting the online quotation systems of insurance companies.
This was not seen to be as significant an event as it might have played out initially  what did happen is managed and we wouldn't expect there to be an initial knee jerk reaction from the market, said Alexandra Littlejohn (pictured left), executive vice president, managing director at Alliant.
Hannah Montana, As someone who literally grew up watching Miley Cyrus will always hold a special place in my TV and celebrity-loving heart. Of course, Miley starred in the hit Disney Channel series from 2006 to 2011, which made her a household name.

Steve Granitz / WireImage / Getty Images

Since finishing her run on the show, Miley has been very open when talking about how it was hard to shake her Disney Channel kid persona, and it often led to her being scrutinized by the media and others, in what some label as her "controversial past."

Kevin Mazur / WireImage for MTV / Getty Images

Her latest single, "Used to Be Young," is allowing her to dive into all of the moments that led her to where she is now, and alongside the release of the personal song, she's launched the "Used to Be Young" series on her TikTok where she's re-watching important moments from her past.

Miley Cyrus / TikTok / Via tiktok.com

Of course, a big portion of the videos as of right now have been centered on her days as Hannah Montana/Miley Stewart on Hannah Montana, and how she became a household name practically overnight.

In one video, she even detailed her intense weekend schedule when she was 12 or 13 years old. It included her waking up at 5:30 a.m., conducting several interviews, and wrapping around 6 p.m., only to repeat the same thing the following day before going to film Hannah Montana on a Monday. Disney Channel / Everett Collection

Hannah Montana era, Miley's been very open about how she tried to separate herself from Hannah as she got older. In While revisiting herera, Miley's been very open about how she tried to separate herself from Hannah as she got older. In Part 13 of the "Used to Be Young" series , she chatted about her first solo record as Miley was part of a double disk featuring Hannah Montana because "at the time, I wasn't valued in the way that Hannah was."

Miley Cyrus / TikTok / Via tiktok.com

During the time she tried to stand out as just Miley, one controversy occurred, and it involved her posing for the cover of Vanity Fair in 2008 when she was 15 years old. In the piece titled "Miley Knows Best," Miley detailed her journey as a breakout Disney Channel star.

Vanity Fair / Via vanityfair.com

The photos accompanying the piece were taken by the talented Annie Leibovitz and included Miley with her dad Billy Ray Cyrus , as well as a photo of Miley draped in only a sheet and wearing red lipstick. The photo of Miley in the sheet was selected for the cover.

Miley Cyrus / TikTok / Via tiktok.com

This looks pretty, and really natural. I think it's really artsy." At the time of the interview, Miley was asked if she  or Disney  was nervous about the photo, and she replied, "No, I mean I had a big blanket on. And I thought,. I think it's really artsy."

Kevin Winter / Getty Images

Hannah Montana as you never expected to see her." When the Vanity Fair cover eventually dropped, people quickly went wild over seeing the Disney Channel star wearing only a sheet  with the New York Post even running a front page article that read: "Miley's Shame. Here's wholesomeas you never expected to see her."

Jean Baptiste Lacroix / WireImage / Getty Images

In response to backlash from the media, parents, and more, Disney issued a statement, saying , "Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines." They also made Miley apologize to her fans and say she was "embarrassed" about how the photos and article turned out.

In 2018, Miley tweeted, saying, "IM NOT SORRY. Fuck YOU" with a photo of the New York Post's front page article. Kevin Winter / Getty Images

And now, 15 years after this 2008 Vanity Fair cover, Miley is looking back on it and revealing why the behind-the-scenes moments on the shoot were so important to her.

Miley Cyrus / TikTok / Via tiktok.com

"2008. Everybody knows the controversy of the photo, but they don't really know the behind-the-scenes, which is always much more meaningful," Miley began in her latest "Used to Be Young" series video.

Miley Cyrus / TikTok / Via tiktok.com

She continued, saying, "My little sister Noah [Cyrus] was sitting on Annie's lap and actually pushing the button of the camera taking the pictures. My family was on set and this was the first time I ever wore red lipstick."

Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for iHeart Media

"Pati Dubroff, who did my makeup, thought that that would be another element that would divide me from Hannah Montana."

Kevin Mazur / WireImage / Getty Images

Speaking about why she thought the image caused such drama at the time, Miley added, "This image of me is a complete opposite of the bubble gum pop star that I had been known for being...and that's what was so upsetting. But, really, really brilliant choices looking back now from those people."

Miley Cyrus / TikTok / Via tiktok.com

After Miley posted the TikTok of her talking about the Vanity Fair cover, a lot of fans took to the comments to talk about how they remember how big a deal this harmless photo was:

I also remember being 13 years old and defending Miley with MY LIFE, so some of these comments had me cackling. TikTok / Via tiktok.com

Personally, I'm absolutely loving Miley's "Used to Be Young" video series and I love how she's using it as a way to look back at her life and career while also connecting with her fans.

Miley Cyrus / TikTok / Via tiktok.com

You can watch the full video of Miley talking about her Vanity Fair cover below, and more videos in her "Used to Be Young" series can be found on her TikTok, too.

Miley Cyrus / TikTok / Via tiktok.com
I want to prioritize and highlight that diversity does exist throughout the country, and that our constituents have different entry points and experiences based on different factors, Brooks-Woods said. I think thats something thats been underneath everything we do but hasnt been pushed to the top [of the agenda].
Yale University and a student group announced Friday that they`ve reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit that accused the Ivy League school of discriminating against students with mental health disabilities, including pressuring them to withdraw.

Under the agreement, Yale will modify its policies regarding medical leaves of absence, including streamlining the reinstatement process for students who return to campus. The student group, which also represents alumni, had argued the process was onerous, discouraging students for decades from taking medical leave when they needed it most.

The settlement is a watershed moment for the university and mental health patients, said 2019 graduate Rishi Mirchandani, a co-founder of Elis for Rachael, the group that sued. It was formed to help students with mental health issues in honor of a Yale student who took her own life.

This historic settlement affirms that students with mental health needs truly belong, Mirchandani said.

A joint statement from Elis for Rachael and Yale, released on Friday, confirmed the agreement to resolve a lawsuit filed last November in federal district court related to policies and practices impacting students with mental health disabilities.

Under the agreement, Yale will allow students to study part-time if they have urgent medical needs. Elis for Rachael said it marks the first time the university has offered such an option. Students granted the accommodation at the beginning of a new term will receive a 50% reduction in tuition.

Although Yale describes the circumstances for this accommodation as rare, this change still represents a consequential departure from the traditional all- or-nothing attitude towards participation in academic life at Yale, the group said in a statement.

The dean of Yale College, Pericles Lewis, said he was pleased with todays outcome.

He said constructive ideas had emerged from students and alumni, saying in a statement that he hopes the changes will make it easier for students to ask for support, focus on their health and wellbeing, and take time off if they wish, knowing that they can resume their studies when they are ready.

In a November letter to alumni responding to a Washington Post article about student mental health and Yales withdrawal and readmission policies, President Peter Salovey said colleges and universities in the last few years have seen a surge in demand for mental health services that was exacerbated by the pandemic. He said Yale stopped requiring withdrawn students to take two courses at another school before they could seek readmission.

But the plaintiffs argued much more was needed, including a more individualized process for students. Under the agreement, the length of a student`s leave would be based on a clinical assessment. Students may remain on a medical leave of absence for as long as they wish.

Photo: A woman walks by a Yale sign reflected in the rainwater on the Yale University campus, Aug. 22, 2021, in New Haven, Conn. Yale University and a student group that accused the Ivy League school in 2022 of discriminating against students with mental health disabilities, including pressuring them to withdraw, announced on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, that the two sides have reached an agreement to settle the students federal lawsuit. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Education Universities
A motorist who veered off a highway and struck four state troopers was charged with operating under the influence of drugs, officials said Monday, as two of the troopers remained hospitalized.

Three troopers and a trooper-in-training were at the end of a driveway while investigating a family dispute when the car sped off Route 202 and threaded the needle by avoiding three parked cruisers with flashing lights to hit the law enforcement officers late Sunday, Col. William Ross, the state police chief, told reporters at a briefing in Augusta.

York County Sheriff William King said there was no evidence that the motorist, Tyler Croston, 24, of Westbrook, tried to brake but he could not say whether the crash was an intentional act.

Trooper Jake Mowry and trainee Shane St. Pierre remained at Maine Medical Center with serious injuries Monday morning, while Troopers David Lemieux and Dakota Stewart were discharged earlier, Ross said.

All four troopers had injuries including broken bones in their lower extremities when they were struck, but the people they were interviewing about the domestic disturbance avoided the impact, he said.

Croston was also treated at the hospital before being taken to the York County Jail, where he was booked on aggravated operating under the influence, aggravated driving to endanger and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, officials said. He was jailed without bond for violating bail conditions, and it was unclear if he had an attorney.

There was evidence that Croston had been using marijuana, and a drug recognition expert at the hospital indicated he was under the influence of narcotics, York County Chief Deputy Jeremy Forbes said. Croston gave a blood sample.

The crash was being investigated by the York County Sheriffs Office and the Kennebunk Police Department was conducting the crash reconstruction. Investigators are conferring with the York County District Attorneys Office.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Personal Auto Law Enforcement Maine
Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the German airline, is looking to sell its insurance brokerage unit Albatros and insurance business Delvag, according to people familiar with the matter.

The countrys largest carrier is working with advisers to find a buyer for the two units in a push to streamline operations, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are confidential.

Lufthansa has been selling non-core businesses in a bid to raise cash after COVID, as it focuses on consolidating Europes aviation market. The company is in the process of selling a minority stake in its maintenance unit and has offloaded the remainder of its catering business to private equity group Aurelius. At the same time, Lufthansa agreed to buy a stake in Italys ITA Airways in May.

The sale of Albatros and Delvag would follow that strategic rationale. A representative for Lufthansa declined to comment.

Delvag is Lufthansas in-house insurer and offers, for instance, coverage for air cargo, sea freight and transport. Albatros is part of the unit and acts as an insurance broker for airlines that seek coverage for their fleets.

Lufthansa is currently grappling with higher costs in a post-pandemic world, driven by higher air traffic control and airport charges, as well as maintenance expenses. Healthy summer demand has recently helped the firm to triple its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, and the company expects robust demand for the rest of the year.

Photograph: Lufthansa airplanes stand on the tarmac at Frankfurt International Airport on Feb. 22, 2010 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Photo credit: Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images.

Copyright 2023 Bloomberg.

Topics Carriers Agencies Aviation
UK insurer Direct Line Group announced that Adam Winslow has been appointed as chief executive officer, subject to regulatory approval.

It is expected that he will take up the role in the first quarter of 2024, succeeding Jon Greenwood who has been acting CEO since January 2023.

Since May 2021 Winslow has led Avivas UK and Ireland general insurance business developing a clear strategy for both personal and commercial lines which has delivered market share expansion and improved profitability.

Prior to this he was CEO of Global Life at AIG Life and Retirement (now Corebridge), having successfully held a number of general insurance and life insurance roles in his eight years at AIG. Winslow serves on the board of the Association of British Insurers and is a non-executive director at Pool Re. Throughout his career his commitment to delivering for customers has been a clear focus, as has his energy and passion as a leader.

Jon Greenwood will remain as acting CEO until Winslow joins, continuing to focus on improving business performance. Greenwood chose not to pursue the role of CEO in order to develop a portfolio career. Greenwood will work with Winslow when he takes up the CEO role, to ensure a smooth handover and transition. After this, as planned, Greenwood intends to step back from his executive career and pursue other opportunities, including non-executive roles.

The board is delighted to announce that Adam Winslow is to be our new CEO. Adam has deep expertise in the UK general insurance market and significant leadership experience, spanning two decades across personal and commercial lines insurance, commented Danuta Gray, chair of Direct Line Group.

The board conducted an extensive search and Adam Winslow stood out for his strategic understanding of the sector, outstanding track record of leading high performing businesses and his focus on driving operational excellence to consistently meet customer needs, Gray continued.

Gray thanked Greenwood for stepping up as acting CEO where he has shown commitment, leadership and focus to improve business performance and for his leadership of the successful commercial function before that.

Winslow will receive an annual salary of 820,000 (US$1.04 million) and a pension allowance of 9% of salary, which is aligned to the pension allowance for the groups workforce. He will be able to participate in the companys annual incentive plan and long-term incentive plan, consistent with the terms of the Directors Remuneration Policy approved by shareholders.

Source: Direct Line Group
This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Starr Insurance, Arch Reinsurance and Fidelis MGU.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Starr Names Chen CEO of Starr Singapore

Starr Insurance announced that Sean Chen, a 14-year member of Starrs global team, has been named chief executive officer of Starr International Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (Starr Singapore), effective Aug. 28.

Chen most recently served as Starrs regional manager for Korea, Taiwan and Japan for property, energy and construction. He previously served as a senior property underwriter in Starrs Hong Kong office.

Including his time at Starr, Chen has more than 25 years of underwriting and client relations experience on both the insurance carrier and broker sides of the business.

Chen succeeds Phil Finley as CEO of Starr Singapore. Finley recently moved to Thailand as CEO of Starr International Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Ltd., to oversee the expansion of that important new venture for Starr while continuing to lead Starrs Asia operations as president, Asia Pacific Region.

Were fortunate to have an executive of Seans caliber, with extensive underwriting experience, to help us grow our presence in Asia, said Maurice R. Greenberg, chairman and CEO of Starr Insurance. Seans advancement underscores Starrs strength as a place where people can thrive along with the company.

***

Arch Re Announces 4 Executive Promotions

Arch Reinsurance Ltd., a subsidiary of Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group Ltd., announced the promotions of Crystal Doughty to chief underwriting officer, Property, and William Soares to chief underwriting officer, Casualty and Specialty.

Both will report to Jerome Halgan, CEO of Arch Reinsurance Ltd. (Arch Re Ltd.).

Pierre Jal, who most recently served as global chief underwriting officer for Arch Re Ltd., has assumed the role of chief underwriting officer for Arch Reinsurance Europe (Arch Re Europe). Jal, now based in Zurich, continues to oversee underwriting strategy across both Arch Re Ltd. and Arch Re Europe.

Matthew Dragonetti, president of Arch Re Ltd., will expand his responsibilities to include leading client-centric initiatives across Arch Worldwide Reinsurance Group.

Doughty joined Arch in 2021 as a senior property underwriter and has been leading several of Arch Res insurance-linked securities initiatives. Prior to Arch, Doughty spent 15 years with Markel in various underwriting and actuarial roles.

Soares has held a variety of senior underwriting roles, most recently head of Casualty and Specialty, since joining Arch Re Ltd. in 2006.

Jal started with Arch Re Europe in 2007 as an underwriter/actuary and has held senior underwriting roles at both Arch Re Europe and Arch Re Ltd.

Dragonetti helped found Arch Re Ltd. in 2001 and has been president and head of Property since 2017.

I want to congratulate Crystal and William, both of whom have been critical to the success of Arch Re Ltd., and I am looking forward to working with them as we strive to meet the needs of our customers and grow our Bermuda platform, Halgan said. I am also excited to draw on Matts and Pierres experience and leadership as we advance several strategic initiatives across the reinsurance group.

Crystal and Williams well-deserved promotions reinforce the caliber and depth of our leadership team at Arch Re. We take great pride in our underwriting acumen, and I know they will be incredible stewards of the underwriting legacy that is well established at Arch Re Ltd., said Maamoun Rajeh, chairman and CEO of Arch Worldwide Reinsurance Group.

Matt and Pierre have been instrumental in building our operations in both Bermuda and Europe, and Im delighted they will once again apply their talents and experience to help our organization realize its full potential. We have incredible opportunities in front of us at Arch Re, and Im looking forward to whats next, Rajeh added.

***

Fidelis MGU Boosts U/W Team With 6 Promotions

Fidelis MGU, the privately owned, Bermuda-based managing general underwriter, announced six promotions, including three to senior executive roles, with immediate effect.

Richard Coulson has been promoted to deputy group chief underwriting officer (CUO), remaining in his secondary role as chief executive officer (CEO) of Insurance. He was most recently UK CUO since 2021, overseeing all business written from London and the groups insurance lines. His responsibilities will expand to include assisting with the management of Fidelis MGUs global underwriting portfolio across all lines of business. Coulson joined Fidelis in 2015 at the time of its launch as head of Speciality and has since held multiple executive positions at the company.

Michael Davern, who was most recently Deputy UK CUO will be taking over the role of UK CUO from Coulson, remaining in his role as group head of D&F Property, Energy and Construction, leading the management of the UK portfolio. Davern began his career in the industry at 2003 at Lane Clark & Peacock actuarial consultancy. After qualifying as an actuary, he moved into underwriting at Catlin Syndicate, progressing to underwriting manager. He joined Fidelis in 2020 as a senior underwriter.

Matthew Bellamy has been promoted to Deputy UK CUO. He will continue his role as director of Underwriting for the group with responsibility for underwriting data, systems, process and reporting having joined Fidelis in 2019 as a senior underwriter.

Bellamy began his career in the industry at Amlin as a US property treaty underwriter before moving to Acappella Syndicate 2014 where he held multiple senior underwriting roles on the Property Treaty team and was deputy active underwriter.

Fidelis MGU has also promoted Jamie Cann to head of Aviation and Space, Savannah Thompson to head of Political Risk, and Abigail Wilkins to head of Airlines recognizing their leadership in these lines of business and the significant expansion of these portfolios.

It is an exciting time for Fidelis MGU as we take advantage of our separation from the Fidelis Insurance Group to redouble our focus on underwriting and our balance sheet colleagues complete a successful first earnings release as a public company, commented Richard Brindle, executive chairman and CEO of Fidelis MGU.

Topics Underwriting Insurance Wholesale
The U.S. Department of Justice and a northeastern Oklahoma bank have announced a proposed agreement to settle claims that the bank discriminated in lending to Blacks and Hispanics in the Tulsa area.

Collinsville-based American Bank of Oklahoma used the illegal practice known as redlining in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Tulsa area, including the area of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, according to the Justice Department.

Redlining is an illegal practice in which lenders avoid providing credit to people because of their race, color or national origin.

The practice was used by the bank from 2017 through at least 2021, the Justice Department alleged.

The proposed consent agreement filed in federal court in Tulsa on Monday is pending court approval and calls for ABOK to provide $1.15 million in credit opportunities in neighborhoods of color in the Tulsa area.

This agreement will help expand investment in Black communities and communities of color in Tulsa and increase opportunities for homeownership and financial stability, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the departments Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

Remedial provisions in the agreement will open up opportunities for building generational wealth while focusing on neighborhoods that bear the scars of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Clarke said.

ABOK denied the allegations but said in a statement that it agreed to the proposal to avoid the cost and distraction of lengthy litigation.

Bank chief executive Joe Landon said in a statement that ABOK, with branches in Collinsville, Ramona, Muskogee, Disney and Skiatook, is a small community bank with $383 million in assets and lamented that the Justice Department referenced the 1921 Race Massacre.

As Oklahomans, we carry a profound sense of sorrow for the tragic events of the Tulsa Race Massacre over a century ago, Landon said.

The 1921 massacre left hundreds of Black residents dead when an angry white mob descended on a 35-block area known as Greenwood, looting, killing and burning it to the ground. Beyond those killed, thousands more were left homeless and living in a hastily constructed internment camp.

The three known living survivors of the massacre are appealing a ruling that dismissed their lawsuit seeking reparations from the city and other defendants for the destruction of the once-thriving Black district.

Landon said the bank will expand its deposit and lending products and add mortgage and refinancing options in Tulsa and open a new loan production office in a historically Black area of the city.

The Justice Department said the bank will also provide at least two mortgage loan officers for majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, and host at least six consumer financial education seminars annually with translation and interpretation services in Spanish.

ABOK is also to hire a full-time director of community lending to oversee lending in neighborhoods of color in the Tulsa area.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics USA Oklahoma
Just when parts of the property-casualty industry thought it was safe to re-enter the Florida market, Hurricane Idalia made landfall closer to the heavily-populated Tallahassee area than expected and brought heavy storm surge to the Big Bend coastline.

Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 storm about 8 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday, with the eye of the storm near Keaton Beach, about 75 miles southeast of Tallahassee. Even if the strongest winds do not make a direct hit on the state capital, residents there feared that Tallahassees famous tree-lined streets will mean downed limbs, widespread roof damage and power outages.

Tallahassee has so many trees, were bound to get some damage, said David McKee, owner of the McKee Insurance Agency, which also has policyholders all across the most vulnerable parts of the low-lying coastal areas along Apalachee Bay, southeast of Tallahassee.

A CNN meteorologist warned that thousands of trees could fall, from north Florida across southeast Georgia. NBC News reported that a motorist in Pasco County, near Tampa, was killed in an weather-related accident. Businesses in downtown Tarpon Springs saw at least two feet of storm surge, Bloomberg News reported.

Another major loss for Floridas insurers would come at a crucial moment for the industry  less than a year after Hurricane Ian caused $60 billion in insured losses and after 10 insurer insolvencies in the last 30 months. But the storm also comes just as state legislative reforms appear to be having a desired effect on litigation and loss adjustment expenses. Four new p/c carriers have been approved to do business in Florida in the last two months, providing a ray of sunshine for the state.

At least one industry veteran believes the revamped Florida market can now withstand another powerful blow.

The legislative changes put in place since Hurricane Ian have strengthened Floridas insurance industry and, notwithstanding the last five years of unprecedented losses, companies are in a stronger position to cope with a major storm, said Fred Karlinsky, co-chair of the Greenberg Traurig insurance and regulatory law firms Global Insurance Regulatory and Transactions Practice Group.

Still, even with the legislative changes, heavy losses from Idalia will likely result in further rate increase filings by at least a few insurers in coming months. And some insurance advocates are concerned that insureds could also be hit with a surcharge later this year if Idalia forces Floridas Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to burn through the surplus in its Personal Lines Account.

Citizens, created to be an insurer of last resort but now the largest carrier in Florida, has a large share of policies in the 10-county area that could be most affected by the storm  more than 16,000, according to first-quarter 2023 data from state regulators. The insurer now holds a surplus of just $420 million in its Personal Lines Account, one of three accounts set up by statute.

If losses exceed the $420 million in that account, then, yes, that would result in an assessment, said Michael Peltier, spokesman for Citizens.

An emergency assessment on Citizens policyholders could add 10% to premiums.

The accounts surplus is at that level due to rapid growth of policies in recent months and heavy losses from Hurricane Ian and other storm events, Peltier said.

But breaching the surplus appeared to be less than likely as of Wednesday morning. A look at Hurricane Ian gives a rough idea of claims and costs that Citizens could see from Idalia:

Ian, which struck the Fort Myers area in late September 2022, resulted in 68,000 claims by Citizens policyholders and caused an estimated $3.8 billion in losses, including litigation and loss adjustment expenses. The average Ian Citizens claim, with expenses, was more than $55,000. With the recent legislative reforms, the volume and cost of claims litigation is expected to drop significantly. And the area hit by Idalia holds fewer policyholders.

So, even if 10,000 Citizens claims were filed from Idalia, at an average of $30,000 each, that would be below the Personal Lines Account surplus level.

Its really premature to compare Idalia to Ian, and may not ever be a fair comparison, Peltier said Tuesday.

The Florida Legislature earlier this year allowed Citizens to combine its three accounts into one, to provide more flexibility with surplus. But that move wont be made until January.

Other insurers with policyholders in the Hurricane Idalia zone include American Bankers, with more than 6,000 tenant policies in force in the most-populous county of Leon, home to Tallahassee; Cypress Property & Casualty, with some 2,400 tenant policies in Leon County; Nationwide Mutual Insurance, with 4,200 homeowner policies in Leon County; and American Modern Insurance, with 1,200 tenant policies in the county.

Some insurers information is considered a trade secret and is not reported by Floridas Office of Insurance Regulation, so some major insurers are not included in the OIRs quarterly report.

Meanwhile, news reports from the epicenter of Idalia showed heavy storm surge, flooding, and winds reaching 110 mph. The Steinhatchee River rose 7 feet in one hour, putting it above flood stage, the National Weather Service reported. The storm had reached Category 4 earlier but weakened slightly before making landfall, Bloomberg News Service reported. Tornado watches were posted for parts of the state and into Georgia.

More than 140,000 homes and businesses were without power in Florida on Wednesday, according to data from PowerOutage.us. The utility with the most outages was Duke Energy with more than 40,000 customers without power, followed by Florida Power & Light Co. at more than 16,000, Reuters news service reported.

Tampa Electric on Tuesday said about 3,000 people, including line crews, tree trimmers and damage assessors, are traveling to Florida to help restore power after the storm passes.

Top photo: Reporters wade through floodwaters in Tarpon Springs, Florida, after Hurricane Idalia passed offshore early Wednesday morning. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/Bloomberg)

Topics Florida Georgia
August 30, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) New research has revealed the top 10 states most interested in cryptocurrency jobs, with Massachusetts taking the top spot.

Experts at cryptogambling.tv analyzed Google data to discover the search volume of multiple terms in each state, including 'crypto careers', 'Web3 internships', and 'blockchain jobs'. The search volume of each term was combined for each state to determine the ranking.

Massachusetts places first for the state most interested in cryptocurrency jobs, with an average monthly search volume of 720.93 for every 100,000th person. However, the term 'top Web3 jobs' proved the most popular, with a staggering 3585.08 searches for every 100,000th person - and there are many roles within Web3 to choose from, including blockchain developers, full stack developers, and smart contract developers.

New York ranks second in the list, raking 84.85 Google searches on average each month for cryptocurrency jobs per 100,000 people. The financial district of New York City boasts an abundance of cryptocurrency companies offering skyline views from high office floors, as well as plenty of bars for after-work socializing - so it's an excellent state to work in this sector.

New York's neighbor, New Jersey, places third in the ranking with 74.93 searches for cryptocurrency jobs on a monthly average for every 100,000th person. New Jersey has plenty of opportunities for citizens wishing to work in cryptocurrency, specifically in Downtown Jersey City's Exchange Place, which is home to many crypto offices.

Connecticut takes the fourth spot with 68.60 average monthly Google searches for every 100,00th citizen. Like Massachusetts, Connecticut also has a high demand for working within Web3; the state has a total of 15,540 for 'Web3 careers' alone, equating to 428.55 for every 100,000th person.

Fifth in the ranking is New Hampshire, which takes a total of 24.49 Google searches on average each month per 100,000 people. The state is well-equipped when it comes to cryptocurrency after adopting a bill in 2022 that favors digital assets, and it now has the highest number of establishments per capita where this can be used to make payments.

Texas ranks in sixth place with 4,831 Google searches for cryptocurrency jobs in total, making that 16.09 for every 100,000th person. As the state offers low power costs and tax incentives, Texas is well-suited to crypto mining, which has perhaps influenced crypto enthusiasts to search for careers in this field.

Seventh on the list is Hawaii, receiving an average total of 10.99 Google searches for every 100,000th person. The state is currently running an experiment with 11 companies offering digital currency services, which is set to finish in December 2024. Despite cryptocurrency being less established in Hawaii than other states, the demand for jobs in the field may contribute to the growth of businesses, and there may be a rise in cryptocurrencies in the future.

Following closely behind is Kansas in eighth place with 10.50 average monthly Google searches for every 100,000th person. Many businesses in Kansas accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment, causing bitcoin trading to be significant within the state's economy, potentially driving citizens' interest in crypto and causing a demand for jobs in the field.

In ninth place is Maryland, which has a total of 9.19 searches a month on average for every 100,000th person. The most searched term in Maryland was 'top Web3 jobs' with 'crypto jobs' and 'blockchain jobs' following in second and third place, respectively.

Last on the list is Wyoming in tenth place with 8.89 searches per 100,000 people. The state was the first in the country to allow banks to house digital currencies, as well as not taxing citizens on cryptocurrency.

A spokesperson from cryptogambling.tv has commented: "It's fascinating to see how varied the states in the ranking are in terms of cryptocurrency development, from Hawaii which is in the process of testing the currency out, to New Hampshire which has multiple establishments that accept this as a form of payment."

"It will be interesting to see if there is a significant increase in the number of crypto companies in these states due to the high demand for jobs in this field."

This information was provided by cryptogambling.tv, experts offering insights into all things crypto.

Methodology

Google data was used to analyze the search volume of the following terms in each state:

templates crypto careers [crypto] [careers] crypto careers Best [crypto] [careers] cryptocurrency jobs Top [crypto] [careers] web3 internships [crypto] [careers] Salary blockchain roles Entry Level [crypto] [careers] defi Remote [crypto] [careers]

Credit to: Journo Research

More Info:

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Calgary, Alberta - August 30, 2023 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) Resolute Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RRL) ("RRL" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the following corporate activities:

News Dissemination

As announced in the August 23, 2023 news release of the Company, the business combination between the Company (formerly, Crossover Acquisitions Corp.) and Resolute Resources Ltd. was completed on August 23, 2023. The shares of the Company will resume trading on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV"), under the symbol RRL, at the open on August 30, 2023. Due to the changing shareholder registration and the evolving shareholder registry upon the resumption of trading, please subscribe to the corporate mailing list, at www.resoluteresourcesltd.com.

Land Acquisition

As reflected in the filing statement of the Company dated August 10, 2023 (the "Filing Statement"), the Company would also like to announce that it acquired 8.75 sections of land in the Grimshaw and Flood area of the GFD Project in the Crown land sale held on May 17, 2023. This brings the Company's total land package in the GFD Project to 53.5 sections or approximately 35,000 acres.

Operations Update

The Company has began preparations for the upcoming exploration program. RRL recently completed surveying the 14-19-83-23 W5M and 5-25-83-24 W5M surface pad locations. It is expected the 5-25 location will be the first spud, and a pre disturbance environmental baseline study and aquifer water chemistry study has each been completed in advance of drilling. This location is targeting the Shoreface A reservoir. The location was chosen based on a combination of well control, 3D seismic and to minimize surface disturbance.

Surface leases for the 5-25 drill pad and the 14-19 drill pad have been signed and a well license for the RESOLUTERESLTD HZ ANTHONY 7-24-83-24 well has filed and obtained. The 5-25 pad construction commenced on August 23, 2023 and was completed on August 26, 2023.

A drilling rig has been contracted and is expected that the first of three wells to be drilled in the second half of 2023 will be spud in the first week of September.

3D Seismic Interpretation

RRL has received the results of the 3D seismic data that was acquired earlier in the year. The 5.5 square miles 3D seismic acquisitions covers both the Grimshaw drilling locations. The data was of high quality and did not require reprocessing. A 3D model has been developed and interpreted. Resolute's 3D seismic model is being used to better target the horizontal sections of our planned wells for both the Shoreface A sand and Channel sand wells. Resolute's 3D seismic interpretation was not used in the generation of the resource report due to timing of data acquisition, interpretation, and the resource report.

Resource Report

RRL is pleased to announce the results of its independent resource evaluation (the "Evaluation"), which was conducted by GLJ Ltd (" GLJ") of Calgary and published in a resource report dated February 28, 2023 (the "Report"). The Evaluation was conducted, and the Report was prepared, in accordance with the definitions, standards and procedures contained in the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook ("COGEH") and National Instrument 51-101 - Standards for Disclosure of Oil and Gas Activities ("NI 51-101"). The Report was summarized in the Filing Statement, which was filed with the TSXV in connection with the business combination and the listing of the Company as a Tier 2 oil and gas issuer.

The Report covers 38 of the 53.5 sections that RRL is the 100% working interest owner in its light oil Grimshaw, Flood and Duncan project. A summary of certain findings of the Report are as follows (capitalized terms not otherwise defined have the meanings ascribed to such terms in the Report):

Economic Estimation

Economic parameters for the Grimshaw, Duncan, and Flood properties were based on the Company's feedback to GLJ that the company plans to drill Clearwater-style multi-leg lateral wells to produce the reservoirs. Using industry knowledge of the Clearwater Formation and well geometries similar to what the Company has proposed, GLJ was able to estimate operating costs, capital costs, and abandonment costs.

Information sources for GLJ's price forecast include government agencies, industry publications, Canadian oil refiners and natural gas marketers. GLJ's forecasts are based on an informed interpretation of currently available data. While the 3 Consultants' Average (GLJ Ltd., McDaniel & Associates Consultants Ltd., and Sproule) included in the Report are considered reasonable at this time, users of these forecasts should understand the inherent high uncertainty in forecasting any commodity or market.

Range of Uncertainty

The range of uncertainty of estimated recoverable volumes may be represented by either deterministic scenarios or by a probability distribution. Resources should be provided as low, best, and high estimates as follows:

Low Estimate: This is a conservative estimate of the quantity that will actually be recovered. It is likely that the actual remaining quantities recovered will exceed the low estimate. If probabilistic methods are used, there should be at least a 90 percent probability (P90) that the quantities recovered will equal or exceed the low estimate.

Best Estimate: This is considered to be the best estimate of the quantity that will actually be recovered. It is equally likely that the actual remaining quantities recovered will be greater or less than the best estimate. If probabilistic methods are used, there should be at least a 50 percent probability (P50) that the quantities actually recovered will equal or exceed the best estimate.

High Estimate: This is considered to be an optimistic estimate of the quantity that will actually be recovered. It is unlikely that the actual remaining quantities recovered will exceed the high estimate. If probabilistic methods are used, there should be at least a 10 percent probability (P10) that the quantities actually recovered will equal or exceed the high estimate.

For reference, the COGEH defines Prospective Resources as "Those quantities of petroleum which are estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by application of future development projects."

About Resolute Resources Ltd.

Resolute energy corporation trading on the TSXV under the symbol RRL.V. Resolute has projects in Northwest Alberta and Northeast British Columbia, where it is exploring shallow cretaceous sandstone reservoirs that can be exploited with Multi-Lateral Open Hole wells. Resolute has accumulated just under 35,000 acres in its GFD light oil project in Northwest Alberta and approximately 10,000 acres at its Evie project in Northeast BC. Resolute is pursuing projects that are high in environmental social and governance metrics, that result in lower emission oil and low water use due to no hydraulic fracturing, but that provide high economic returns.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain information that may constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward looking information includes, but is not limited to, future exploration and development plans, corporate and technical objectives, RRL's 2023 drilling program and resource estimates relating to the Company's properties. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could affect the outcome include, among others: future prices and the supply of hydrocarbons, the future demand for hydrocarbons, the results of drilling, inability to raise the money necessary to incur the expenditures required to retain and advance the property, environmental liabilities (known and unknown), general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, results of exploration programs, risks of the oil and gas industry, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, and failure to obtain regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof. RRL disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

For further information, please contact:

Bradley Parkes FCSI, P.Geo

CEO & Director

Phone: 403-608-9327

Email: resolute@resoluteresourcesltd.com

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Are you ready for amazing new adventures? Conduct a science experiment. Take the stage in a talent show. Ride a horse. Build a robot. Roast smores around the campfire. Make a difference in your community and the world by pursuing your Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. You can do all this and more as a Girl Scout!

Dont miss your chance to discover something new about yourself. Join Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways today and get ready for your best year yet. The council is currently forming troops and recruiting new leaders for the 2024 member year beginning this fall. All girls in grades K-12 are invited. Girls, families and adults interested in learning more about opportunities in their area can find upcoming information and recruitment events throughout GSNYPENNs footprint by visiting gsnypenn.org/events or the councils Eventbrite profile at gsnypenn.org/eventbrite.

Why does Girl Scouts work? Girl Scouts encourages teamwork and collaboration, independence and self-discovery. Girl Scouts learn and apply skills  like positive values, healthy relationships and a strong sense of self  that they need today and throughout their lives. Girl Scouts learn vital leadership skills and work collaboratively to solve problems. They gain the confidence and social skills to succeed in life, school, their communities and careers. As active members of the organization and community, Girl Scouts are better prepared for lifes challenges and know how to be problem-solvers.

Opportunities to participate in Girl Scouts in a troop or as an individually registered member (Juliette) are available. With both options, Girl Scouts can participate in council and community partner programming; community service initiatives and Highest Awards; trips and travel; the annual Treats, Reads & More fall product and Girl Scout Cookie programs; special interest groups like Mariners (boating), Trailblazers (hiking), Astronomy Club, Girl Advisory Board (advising GSNYPENNs CEO on issues facing girls today), or River Raiders (paddling); and more.

Interested in becoming an adult volunteer? Opportunities range from being a troop leader for the member year to serving as a cookie coordinator to volunteering on an episodic basis to share a special skill or talent with Girl Scouts. More information can be found at gsnypenn.org/volunteer.

Ready to join? Visit gsnypenn.org/join. You can also find information about Girl Scouting in your area or starting a new troop by contacting info@gsnypenn.org, (315) 698-9400 or 1-800-943-4414.

Local Girl Scout news

Girl Scouts from Service Unit 117 Jordan-Elbridge marched in the village of Elbridges 175th Anniversary Parade on Aug. 12.

Troop 40214 from Service Unit 404 Weedsport recently attended Troop Core Camp at the councils Camp Hoover property in Tully.
Toronto, Ontario - August 30, 2023 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) Trojan Gold Inc. (CSE: TGII) (OTC Pink: TRJGF) ("Trojan" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that on August 23, 2023 it entered into a non-binding letter of intent (the "LOI") with Tashota Resources Inc. ("Tashota") outlining the general terms and conditions of a proposed transaction whereby the Company will purchase certain mineral claims of Tashota (the "Proposed Transaction").

It is anticipated that the purchase price payable by the Company to Tashota will consist of (i) CAD $250,000 paid in cash and (ii) the issuance of 5,000,000 common shares in the capital of the Company.

Each of Trojan's and Tashota's obligations to close the Proposed Transaction will be subject to customary conditions and any other conditions agreed to by the parties to be included in a definitive asset purchase agreement (the "Definitive Agreement") for the Proposed Transaction, including but not limited to the receipt of all necessary approvals and consents required by each party to complete the Proposed Transaction.

Trojan and Tashota intend to complete the Proposed Transaction as soon as practicable.

Charles Elbourne is a director and officer of each of Trojan and Tashota, and Rodney Barber is a director of each of Trojan and Tashota. As a result, the Proposed Transaction, if completed, will constitute a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Proposed Transaction is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 in respect of related party participation as neither the fair market value (as determined under MI 61-101) of the subject matter of, nor the fair market value of the consideration for, the Proposed Transaction, insofar as it involves interested parties, exceeds 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

Additional details will be provided in due course.

About Trojan Gold Inc.

Trojan is an active Ontario-based prospect generator junior exploration company, led by a team of professionals having exploration, engineering, project financing and permitting experience. Trojan has accumulated land positions in the Hemlo Gold Camp and Shebandowan Greenstone Belt which in management's view represent mineral exploration potential. For further information on the Company, please visit www.trojangold.com. Trojan is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol (CSE: TGII) (OTC Pink: TRJGF).

For further information, please contact:

Charles J. Elbourne, President & CEO

Trojan Gold Inc.

82 Richmond St. East, Suite 401

Toronto, Ontario M5C 1P1

Telephone: 416-315-6490

Email: elbourne007@gmail.com

Website: www.trojangold.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "likely", "should", "would", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "proposed", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions, and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy. Forward-looking information contained in this press releases includes, but is not limited to: the anticipated terms and timing of the completion of the Proposed Transaction; and the nature of estimated future exploration potential.

Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. Such assumptions include, without limitation: that the Proposed Transaction will be completed on the terms and timing as currently anticipated; that the terms of a Definitive Agreement can be successfully negotiated and concluded between the parties; that all necessary approvals for the Proposed Transaction will be received; and that sufficient capital, personnel and other resources will be available to the Company that will allow it to undertake exploration activities on its properties.

However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected, or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to: the risk that all necessary approvals for the Proposed Transaction will not be received; the risk that the parties to the Proposed Transaction will not successfully negotiate the terms of the Definitive Agreement; the impact of the recovery post COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to its impact on precious metals and the mining industry generally; the Company not having access to the resources it needs in order to carry out its proposed exploration activities on the timeline described in this press release or at all; risks and uncertainties inherent to any mineral exploration activities; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; future gold and other metal prices; accidents, labour disputes and shortages; environmental risks; and other risks relating to mining industry, including the risks set out in the Company's public disclosure documents that can be found on its profile page at www.sedarplus.ca.

Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as at the date hereof and are based on the beliefs, estimates, expectations, and opinions of management on such date. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any such forward-looking statements or any forward-looking statements contained in any other documents whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required under applicable securities law. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties, and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information.

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After profits at the world's big nine fertiliser companies soared to a total of 45bn last year, it is perhaps not so surprising that several of the largest mining companies have begun to expand into fertiliser production.

As a result, farmers can hope that prices will fall, due to an increased supply coming on the market. And in the longer term, they can also take heart from Norge Mining's announcement that it has found a huge phosphate deposit in Norway, which could satisfy worldwide demand for the next 100 years.

Up to now, the largest phosphate rock deposits were in Morocco, with more than 50% of the planets reserves. China, the US, Syria, Uzbekistan, South Africa, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Russia each have sizeable deposits.

The large new discovery in a European country has lessened fears of political instability in some countries, or international sanctions, shrinking the phosphate supply.

However, many farmers believe they are up against profiteering by a global fertiliser cartel.

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They are supported in this belief by international non-profit organisations such as IATP, which works to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems, and GRAIN, which supports community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems.

Earlier this year, they accused fertiliser companies of raising prices far beyond the increases in production costs, to boost their profit margins to a massive 36% in 2022.

As a result, farmers cut fertiliser use, and their reduced production led to an alarming rise in global food insecurity, according to GRAIN and IATP (the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy).

With many farmers saying they spent three times as much on fertilisers than a few years ago, they fell deeper into debt. The same happened in countries where fertilisers are heavily subsidised. India's central government expenditure on fertiliser subsidies last year was reported to surge from 9 bn to 15.7 bn.

The huge price rises in 2022 left a ready audience for allegations of fertiliser cartels and profiteering. With Russia and Belarus controlling a large share of the world supply, the finger was pointed at them also, when prices shot up.

But market forces turning in their favour are likely to be a better bet for farmers than expecting a global cartel investigation that finds fertiliser magnates guilty.

Increased supply and reduced prices looks likely for potash and phosphate, whatever about nitrogen, the third crucial element for crop growth.

For example, BHP, the worlds largest mining company, is beginning work on a multi-billion dollar potash mine in Canada.

When its products come on the market in 2026, in expected tonnages equivalent to 5% of projected global demand, prices could be expected to moderate.

Nearer home, Anglo Americans Woodsmith mine in northern England will produce a new potash-rich fertiliser, polyhalite, from 2027.

Miners globally say they are looking ahead to 2050, when more efficient food production from less arable land will be needed to feed 10 billion people. Analysts are telling them potash demand will grow 1% per year to 2030.

For those who opt to mine phosphate rock, there is also the electric vehicle battery market to supply. Production of lithium iron phosphate batteries for vehicles is expected to increase demand for phosphate rock 4% by 2030.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the US House of Representatives is also getting miners more interested in fertilisers. The bill would list phosphate and potash as critical minerals. It is being put forward by representatives warnng against dependence on Russian and Chinese minerals for crop fertilisers. Classification as critical minerals, paving the way for tax breaks and subsidies, could be good news for fertiliser miners.

Phosphorus has already been designated an EU critical raw material, with the vast majority needed for agriculture, but phosphorus also plays a big role in the green and digital transition, for semiconductors and electronic circuits.

So it is welcome news that Norge Mining's phosphorus ore body, previously estimated at only 300m deep, has been found during more recent drilling programmes to run 4,500m deep.

The deposit also contains two other EU critical raw materials, vanadium and titanium.

It is estimated at more than 70 billion tonnes of phosphate, which compares with only 71 billion tonnes of proven world reserves as evaluated by the US Geological Survey in 2021.

So Norway's high-grade phosphate rock find is the worlds largest, enough to satisfy world demand for 100 years, and hopefully to end the kind of price surges which occurred after Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.
Farmers are frustrated that a likely drop in Irelands nitrates derogation will result in carnage for the industry.

Farmers of West Cork gathered in Clonakilty on Monday night for a meeting organised by Fine Gael senator Tim Lombard, who told the meeting that the coming weeks are critical for this part of the world.

The nitrates derogation allows farmers to farm at higher stocking rates, above 170kg livestock manure nitrogen per hectare up to 250kg nitrogen per hectare.

Irish dairy farmers are anxiously awaiting a decision from Brussels expected in late September / early October as to whether the nitrates derogation maximum stocking rate will be cut from 250kg per hectare to 220kg from 2024.

If this is the outcome, affected farmers will have to either remove stock, obtain more land, or export nutrients to other farms.

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'Carnage'

Mr Lombard told this weeks meeting that if farmers are stuck in that scenario that you have to destock, thats carnage.

Thats my real fear here  that were dealing with carnage and Im worried about where were going to go, he said.

Theres farmers here this evening that cant plan for next spring because they dont know where theyre going to be, they dont know what the figure is.

Panel discussion at the meeting in Clonakilty on Monday night. Picture: Andy Gibson

Carbery Groups director of sustainability Enda Buckley told the meeting that those in derogation are the ones going the extra mile in trying to farm environmentally friendly.

Effect on the West Cork economy

He said that the company recently has estimated the potential economic impact of derogation and what it could have on the West Cork economy.

Mr Buckley said: We really zoned in on farmers that are running a 60-70-cow herd and its just going to decimate those farmers, he said.

Theyre looking at circa 12% destock, possibly more.

"Its hard to give exact numbers because we dont know exactly how many farmers we have in derogation.

Weve a good idea, we feel its around two-thirds of our supply so its very substantial.

Mr Buckley said that a cut to the derogation is going to be very unfair on these farmers.

He added that the last thing we want is reducing milk supplies, we want to see it going the other direction.

In total, the cut to the derogation would affect around 7,000 farmers in Ireland.

'Devastate' West Cork

According to the chairman of Barryroe Co-op Peter Fleming, for areas like West Cork, the outcome of a reduced derogation from 2024 would devastate farmers.

He said this week at the meeting that if you take the cow out of West Cork there isnt going to be a lot left because theres no heavy industry down here.

Mr Fleming said that farmers are not just confused, theyre frustrated.

This is going to devastate West Cork, he said.

Farmers in our catchment area arent happy, theyre fearful for their future, a lot of them with youngsters coming into the industry.

The idea of expanding and driving on, that was for my generation, it doesnt seem to be for the future.

Mr Fleming added that there is an onus on us to defend ourselves, and he called on politicians to stand up for farmers.

Tim Lombard told the Irish Examiner recently that farmers fears over the ticking timebomb that threatens their industry are growing as a possible cut to the nitrates derogation is nearing.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue is being urged to go before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine as soon as possible to discuss the matter.

Fine Gael senator and vice-chairman of the committee Mr Lombard said that the potential of us losing the derogation is very possible and what that means for us as an agricultural entity is huge.

EPA report

The Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) recent report shows that nitrates remain too high in rivers, groundwater, and estuaries in the south-east, south-west, and midlands and eastern regions.

While negotiations are continuing, the EPAs report went to the commission over the summer.

The report is part of the interim review process of the Nitrates Action Programme. The review was required by the European Commission as part of granting Irelands nitrates derogation.

The report outlines the regions that could be required to reduce their organic nitrogen stocking rate to 220kg per hectare from 250kg in 2024 under the derogation, as a result of the effect of agriculture on water quality in these areas.

This would likely see a reduction in herd numbers, and put further pressure on the land market.

'Maybe less cows has to be a consideration'

Speaking at Mondays meeting in Clonakilty, Bank of Irelands agri manager John Fitzgerald said that farming has a track record of always responding and changing to the challenges that are presented to it.

If the derogation is cut, he said the bank will be looking to work with our farmer customers through it.

There are solutions here for farmers to try and work with derogation as well, he said.

Citing contract rearing stock along with bringing in extra land, Mr Fitzgerald said that fewer stock numbers is also a solution.

Maybe less cows has to be a consideration here as well, he told the meeting.

I know farmers particularly dont want to cut back but if it gets you into a situation where you can farm comfortably within the limits that are there, a few less cows isnt the worst outcome here, hopefully not.

But hopefully that wont have to be the case.

A drop in profitability by 29% on worst affected dairy farms is possible as a result of nitrate banding and a cut to the derogation, Teagasc has recently estimated.
Here we go - the school year is about to kick off, and the rollercoaster ride is going to get real once again.

The financial costs associated with back to school are immense. When we talk about things adding up, theres little that compares to the adding up of school costs around this time of the year.

Everything from socks to school bags to Pritt Sticks and pens - the struggle is real.

Then you factor in the texts and emails that will come flying in from the endless list of activities that your child may be involved in and you are left with a financial mountain to climb.

This year, thankfully, parents have been granted some financial relief in the form of the newly implemented Government free book scheme.

The scheme means school books and workbooks will now be essentially given on loan to students and must be returned at the end of the school year in good condition.

Free books are great, but there are many other costs that parents will also face. We know about the usual ways to save with back-to-school costs, such as buying items on sale or reusing last years lunchbox but what about some of the more unusual ways?

Marian Ryan, Director at Taxback, said that there are several potential tax-saving opportunities available to parents who are preparing for the back-to-school season which may help ease the financial burden of school-related expenses.

For anyone with children in primary school or secondary school, you may be eligible for the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BTSCFA).

This is a means-tested payment provided by the Department of Social Protection to assist with the cost of clothing and footwear for eligible students.

Those eligible are children aged between four and 17 years of age, or those aged between 18 and 22 who are returning to full-time second-level education.

The BSCFA paid for each eligible child aged four to 11 on the 30th September 2023 is 260 and 385 for each eligible child aged 12 to 22.

Parents of third-level students may also qualify for Tuition Fees Tax Relief.

This relief allows eligible individuals, including parents funding the schooling, to claim tax relief on qualifying tuition fees paid for approved courses at qualifying institutions including undergraduate, postgraduate, and information technology and foreign language courses.

The maximum amount of fees that can qualify for tuition tax relief is 7,000 per person, per course, per academic year.

Always keep your receipts for fees paid for a minimum of six years as per Revenues requirement, said Ryan.

Kevin Johnson, CEO of the Credit Union of Development suggests starting saving from when your child is a baby for their school fund.

He points out that back-to-school expenses are a yearly dread for many parents as the cost of uniforms, textbooks, and stationery can add up to a considerable bill each year.

However, there are steps you can take to financially prepare yourself for the upcoming school year to ensure you do not find yourself unable to cope with this financial pressure.

If possible, start saving for the next school year well in advance. Its never too late to start saving, even putting aside 5 or 10 a week could make a big difference when the time comes.

"This is particularly relevant for people who have just had a baby. While school might seem a lifetime away, the years roll around pretty fast, so starting to save when the child is still an infant can be a really good idea.

Also, it is worth bearing in mind that not everything has to be brand new each year and if your school or friend group doesnt already run a swap scheme for uniforms take it upon yourself to start the process.

It could even be as simple as starting a WhatsApp group or contacting the school to see if you could manage this.

Uniforms can be a considerable expense for parents so look out for uniform exchange programmes or second-hand options within your community. If your child has siblings, cousins, or friends who are a year or two ahead, it may be worth speaking with their parents about buying them at a low cost, said Johnson.

Also with regard to transport, this can also be a financial burden for many parents especially now with fuel increases.

Talk to neighbours who have school-going children in their households who may be interested in carpooling to save money. Also, its worth checking if there is a bus service under the Department of Educations School Transport Scheme in your area, as if you are eligible for it, this could save you a lot of money on fuel for school runs, he added.

Another tip is to create a list of items that you will need to replace over the year and buy in bulk if you see some good deals in September. These deals may not last but the requests for pencils, pens and Pritt Stick will keep coming all year round.
Irelands failure to protect critical subsea cables poses a heightened level of threat not just domestically but also for the EU and Nato, according to maritime experts.

They warn that because Ireland is not a member of Nato, hostile states, such as Russia, face lower diplomatic risks by interfering with cables in Irish waters, knowing it would still impact the western military alliance.

They also told the Irish Examiner that it was likely that the Governments decision to cut from four to two the number of operational navy vessels will be exploited not only by criminal elements but potentially hostile states.

It is estimated that three-quarters of transatlantic cables  the digital infrastructure for internet use and financial information  pass through or near Irish waters, with four cables physically connected to Ireland and 12 connecting Ireland and Britain.

A new paper by Robert McCabe of the Institute for Peace and Security at Coventry University, and Brendan Flynn of the school of political science at the University of Galway, said the apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in October 2022 magnified the vulnerability of critical maritime infrastructure.

It said Irelands energy was heavily reliant on subsea interconnectors, including between Ireland and Britain and Ireland and Iceland with one between Ireland and France due by 2027.

The INS [Irish Naval Service] does not currently have the required subsurface capabilities or enough assets at sea at any one time to effectively undertake the broader maritime security responsibilities of the state," it said.

The INSs current vessels are austere and lack Nato standard sonars capable of detecting, classifying and tracking either submarines or submersibles.

Apart from the physical and economic damage arising from a large-scale disruption, the reputational damage to Ireland as a gateway to Europe would likely be profound with potential negative impact on foreign direct investment.

The academics said the updated white paper on Defence 2019 only mentions subsea cables once, while the National Cyber Security Strategy 2019-2024 does not mention them at all.

The paper, published in the European Security journal, said the fact subsea cables were not considered critical national infrastructure was a significant gap.

It called for the creation of a single agency within the Department of Defence or Transport to assume maritime security and said the new Maritime Area Regulatory Authority could be repurposed as such.

The authors concluded:

There was overly bureaucratic and siloed governance with multiple public and private agencies;

The underfunding of maritime security coupled with a Naval Service retention crisis meant there is limited ability to know what is happening both on and beneath the ocean's surface;

The muddled governance meant coordinating a response in the event of a malicious act on a subsea cable or pipeline predominantly fell initially on the private sector.

Because Ireland is not a Nato member means any, possibly Russian, intelligence or sabotage operation in the Irish EEZ [Exclusive Economic Zone] or even territorial waters has lower diplomatic risk, it said.

Given the war in Ukraine and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, this scenario was far from fanciful.

It said it was a plausible and lower risk strategy for raising the stakes with Nato countries by hitting them indirectly via critical infrastructure that passes through a non-Nato state.

It concluded: The result is a cumulative lack of credible subsea security capability whose implications are possibly stark not least for Ireland but also for the wider EU and Nato.

It said this provides "a heightened level of threat" well beyond Ireland's maritime borders.
Police are investigating the death of a man aged in his 50s.

Officers attended the scene in the Fallahogy Terrace area of Kilrea, Co Derry on Tuesday night.

Members of the public have been asked to avoid the area.

All circumstances surrounding the mans death are being investigated by detectives from the Major Investigation Team, the PSNI said.

A 33-year-old man has been arrested man and remains in police custody.
A father has failed in his claim that his daughter suffered discrimination from her schools failure to allow her to participate in alternative classes after she opted out of religion classes.

The man alleged the school had breached the Equal Status Act on grounds of religion.

In a case at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), he argued his daughter was receiving an inferior education to her sister, who did attend religious education classes.

The man told the WRC his daughter exercised her rights under the Constitution as well as the Education Act 1998 not to attend religion class.

However, he claimed the school had not complied with a requirement of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 to publish details of its arrangements for any student who had decided not to attend religion class.

The WRC heard the schools admission policy stated a meeting would be arranged with the relevant parents to discuss how such students might be accommodated.

The man proposed his daughter should be allowed to attend one of the alternative classes for her year because the content of her religion class was contrary to her conscience.

He pointed out his older daughter had been facilitated in such a manner.

However, he claimed the school had refused to allow his younger daughter to swap classes, even though it would not have required any additional school resources.

Instead, he said his daughter was unlawfully and unconstitutionally forced to remain in the religion class where she cannot participate in any educational activity.

The father said this resulted in her receiving two hours less education per week than another of his daughters who does attend religion class.

The schools principal told the WRC the school did not accept a lesser service was being provided to the daughter who does not attend religion class as she is entitled to study other subjects during such classes.

The principal claimed the father had a misunderstanding of the law and the school was entitled to provide religious education but individuals are also entitled to opt out of that programme.

The principal argued if the girl was to receive more mainstream education than her other sister, it might expose the school to claims from other parents that non-religious students were getting an additional benefit.

The school informed the WRC there were also students who opt out of other subjects like Irish, French and science for various reasons and they do not swap into other classes as it would have the potential to create chaos".

In a preliminary ruling, the WRC found the father had locus standi to pursue the case on behalf of his daughter.

However, the WRC said he had failed to provide any supporting evidence to show any legislation explicitly requires schools to offer alternative classes or additional tuition to students who opt out of religious studies.

WRC adjudication officer Breiffni ONeill said he was satisfied the arrangements by the school for students opting out of religion was transparent.

Mr ONeill said the evidence the school engaged in a conversation with the student and their parents about arrangements for the time religion classes were held constituted a reasonable approach that did not breach its transparency obligations under the legislation.
There are a number of important new changes to the student grant scheme for the upcoming college year, so its worth taking note and double-checking your eligibility.

The Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) grant is the main financial support scheme for students studying in Ireland. Student grants here are means-tested, which means a students household income is examined in order to determine their eligibility.

Applications have been open since April, but there is still time to apply if you think you may be eligible. Different factors contribute towards how much of a grant a student receives, typically their household income and the distance they live from college.

For 2023, a new student contribution grant of 500 has been introduced for eligible undergraduate students and income thresholds have been introduced. If your household income is under 100,000, you may be eligible for this new grant towards your student contribution, charged at a max rate this year of 3,000.

This 500 grant is not available for those availing of free fees, and a students total household income must fall within certain set thresholds.

If there are less than four dependent children in the household, the income threshold is set at 100,000. If there are between four and seven dependent children in the household, this threshold is set at 109,600, and at 118,806 if there are eight or more dependent children in the house.

Keep in mind that income is calculated based on gross income from all sources for the previous calendar year.

The maintenance grant is a contribution towards a students living costs, and it is paid directly through nine monthly installments over the course of the academic year.

Its paid at two rates; adjacent and non-adjacent rates. The adjacent rate is paid when a student is attending college less than 30km from their home, while the non-adjacent rate is paid when a students college is 30km or more from their home.

A big change to the student grant for 2023 is the introduction of new, increased income thresholds for the part-maintenance student contribution grant.

Last year, it was set at 55,240 in households where there are less than four dependent children in the household. For 2023, this has now been set at 62,000.

A special rate of maintenance grant is also available for eligible students whose total household income meets a certain threshold. For 2023, this has also been increased. It now stands at 25,000 in households with less than four dependent children, having increased from 24,500 last year.

For 2023, the amount a student can earn outside term time has increased from 4,500 to 6,552.

You can check your eligibility on SUSI.ie, and see what grants are available to you. Applications will remain open in the coming weeks, but students should not delay when it comes to starting their applications.

CAO offers: Did your course go up? See all the first-round cut-off points

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Level 7/6 courses
A woman who died hours after giving birth by Caesarean section suffered a catastrophic internal haemorrhage in which almost half the blood in her body pooled into one area.

An inquest in Tralee into the death of Tatenda Mukwata, who died at University Hospital Kerry on April 21 last year, was told two litres of blood had gathered in one part of her abdomen, where a body typically holds up to five litres.

Ms Mukwata, 34, had been a resident at the Atlantic Lodge direct provision centre in Kenmare but had been granted permission to stay in Ireland shortly before her death.

She gave birth to her daughter, Eva, at the hospital at 7.48pm on April 20 last year, only to die in the early hours of the following day.

Dr John OMahony, senior counsel for Ms Mukwatas family, argued warning signs were present in the hours prior to her death that would have indicated a huge internal bleed, namely plummeting haemoglobin levels, her pulse rate, and an alarming drop in her blood pressure levels.

However, the inquest before Coroner Helen Lucey and an 11-strong jury was told Ms Mukwata suffered an arterial venuous malformation (AVM)  a rare occurrence where a vein and an artery running closer to each other can be punctured or torn and results in the blood from one running into the other.

Tatenda Mukwata died at University Hospital Kerry, on April 21 last year after giving birth to a healthy baby.

The inquest also heard arterial venuous malformations usually go unnoticed until they rupture, and one witness, Dr Peter Kelehan  a consultant perinatal pathologist who, alongside Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster, reviewed the case  said he believed this was a pre-existing condition in Ms Mukwata, pre-dating not just the delivery of the baby, but the entire pregnancy.

Ms Mukwatas mother, Catherine, and her children Munashe, Rutendo, Sherley and Eva, were present for the opening of the inquest, with Rutendo confirming she had identified her mother to gardai following the death at the hospital.

Haemorrhage and shock

Dr Bolster gave evidence from the autopsy, referring to the two-litre clot in the abdomen, centred in the pelvic region, with other clots also evident elsewhere in the abdomen. The woman had died from haemorrhage and shock, she said.

Dr Bolster said she found no evidence of sepsis or any other cause of the bleeding, which had taken place on the operative side of the abdomen.

Dr Bolster said she and Dr Kelehan had carried out a histological review of samples taken from Ms Mukwata, indicating the presence of an AVM that had ruptured.

I knew there was an abnormal area and this is where the clot was centred, she said. It is my opinion that caused the bleeding.

From left: Catherine Mukwata, with Tatenda's children Eva, Munashe, Rutendo and Sherley Mukwata at Tralee courthouse. Picture: Domnick Walsh

Dr OMahony, cross-examining, said the literature did not suggest an AVM causing death in such rapid circumstances and instead there was evidence they happened weeks or months afterwards.

Dr Bolster said they were rare, describing what occurred as a massive, catastrophic bleed.

Dr Kelehan said he had seen a number of AVMs in his professional life, beginning with one on the head of a person who had been hit at an earlier stage with a hurley.

He said AVM has been likened to a bag of worms due to its pulsing nature but that they are often only seen when they bleed.

He said his opinion was that in this case, it was the arterial venuous malformation that pre-existed this pregnancy that caused haemorrhaging and the patients death.

Dr Kelehan said it was very rare for an AVM to exist in the uterus, adding: It can be discovered but you have to know to look for it.

The inquest was then adjourned and is set to resume at 10.30am on September 25, with another three days after that set aside for it to be heard.



Sept 6, 2023: This article was edited to remove a reference to a possibility that sutures may have ruptured a pre-existing arterial venuous malformation (AVM), causing a fatal bleed. Consultant perinatal pathologist Dr Peter Kelehan has clarified that he did not intend to introduce this possibility to the record, rather a possibility that stitches adjacent to a malformation may have changed the dynamics of the malformation, causing blood pressure within the mass of vessels to rise and burst one of the weaker vessels.
Fourteen new TDs, four new constituencies, and political careers are on the line as the Electoral Commission announced its boundary shake-up ahead of the next general election.

Revealing the much-anticipated report on Wednesday, the commission has made a series of changes to boundaries and increased the number of constituencies from 39 to 43.

The number of TDs for the next Dail will be increased by 14 from 160 to 174.

The review takes account of an 8% growth in the population since 2016 and under the Constitution, Ireland should have one TD per 20,000-30,000 people.

The review has led to the number of three-seat constituencies increasing to 13 instead of nine, the number of four-seat constituencies will be 15 instead of 17, and the number of five-seat constituencies will be 15 instead of 13.

Seven constituencies will remain unchanged entirely since the last review: Cork South-West, Clare, Donegal, Dublin Central, Kerry, Limerick County, and Waterford.

The main changes are:

Dublin gains four extra seats;

Cork gains two extra seats  one in Cork North-Central and one in Cork South-Central;

Three constituencies to be split in half: Tipperary, Dublin Fingal, and Laois-Offaly, each creating two three-seaters;

New seats are added to Mayo, Galway East, Kildare North, Longford-Westmeath, and Meath East;

A new inter-county constituency of Wicklow-Wexford.

There have been a number of key changes in Cork which will have politicians pondering their future political careers.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Electoral Commission CEO Art OLeary accepted Cork was a difficult county to redraw.

We suggest and strongly recommend that this is the best option for the county because it was something that gave us many sleepless nights, said Mr OLeary.

Both Cork North-Central and Cork South-Central have gained an extra seat and Seanad Eireann Cathaoirleach Jerry Buttimer plans to target the new fifth Dail seat in Cork South-Central constituency.

There are ramifications, particularly for Labour TD Sean Sherlock, whose voter base in Mallow has now been hived off into Cork North-Central.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, Mr Sherlock indicated he is considering a constituency change, saying Mallow is my home town so one way or another Mallow is where Im staying.

He said he is assessing what is a seismic shift in the political landscape for him, adding it was too early to say much more and he needed time to analyse the review. Mr Sherlock has held the seat for 16 years following the success of his father Joe Sherlock since the 1980s.

Mr OLeary said the transfer of Ballincollig into Cork North-Central was not the biggest change, but the biggest call was moving 20,000 people from Bishopstown into Cork South-Central.

There are 20,000-odd people in Bishopstown who will move from Cork North-Central back to where they feel they belong in Cork South-Central.

Commenting on Cork South-Central's return to a five-seater after seven years, Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney said what has happened "is both necessary and appropriate in Cork".

Mr OLeary added the commission was pleased it did not have to make any changes to Cork South-West. In the next general election, mooted to be next November, all eyes will be on Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns on whether she will be able to retain her seat as Fine Gaels Tim Lombard will run again, the Kinsale-based senator looking to win back a seat the party had held since the constituency was established in 1961.

The 'biggest call' was moving 20,000 people from Bishopstown into Cork South-Central.

The number of seats in Cork North-West remains at three but theres an opening there with Fine Gaels Michael Creed announcing he wont run again. However, its not yet known who will run for the party or Sinn Fein. However, a Sinn Fein candidate may have an impact on the two Fianna Fail TDs, Michael Moynihan and Aindrias Moynihan.

Tipperary has been split into North Tipperary and South Tipperary which will be welcome news for Fine Gael in the south of the county. Sinn Fein is also expected to run a second candidate given that Martin Browne topped the poll.

In Dublin, there has been a number of constituencies hived off into different parts of the city and county due to the growth of the population, which was expected.

One of the biggest changes in the capital is splitting Dublin Fingal into two new constituencies: Dublin Fingal East, Dublin Fingal West, both three-seaters.

The extra four seats in the capital have gone to Dublin West, Dublin-Rathdown, and the two Fingal constituencies.

Minister of state Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has suffered a loss of her Fine Gael voters to Dublin-Rathdown with the transfer of Foxrock, Stillorgan, and Carrickmines from Dun Laoghaire.

Existing Fine Gael ministers Neale Richmond and Josepha Madigan have already begun leaflet drops in the area to capitalise on the changes.

One of the decisions by the Electoral Commission that has attracted attention is the creation of a new inter-county constituency of Wicklow-Wexford to take in south Wicklow and north Wexford including Rathdrum, Avoca, and Arklow in the north, Tinahely and Bunclody to the west, and Gorey, Ferns, and Kilmuckridge to the south.

North County Wicklow will remain a four-seat constituency which will take in the main urban centres of Bray and Greystones to the north of the county, down as far as Rathnew.

The areas to the south of Wicklow will join with North Wexford to form the new constituency of Wicklow-Wexford, with three seats up for grabs. Currently, not a single TD lives in the constituency but Fianna Fails Malcolm Byrne represents the area in the Seanad.

Five TDs in Wicklow  Fine Gael's Simon Harris, Fianna Fail's Stephen Donnelly, Sinn Feins John Brady, Social Democrats' Jennifer Whitmore, and the Green Party's Steven Matthews  are all located in the Bray and Greystones area.

'Hatchet job'

Mr Brady said the Electoral Commission review was a hatchet job on Wicklow while Mr Harris said he was "happy enough" with the lines drawn on the map.

It was expected that both counties Kerry and Donegal would become two three-seaters in the redraw. Electoral Commission chairwoman Ms Justice Marie Baker said on Wednesday: If a six-seater would have been possible perhaps Donegal could have been a six-seater.

The commission defended its decision not to recommend the creation of more Dail seats with accusations it had been conservative given it had the scope to increase the number of TDs to 181.

Ms Justice Baker insisted that officials could not have recommended a dramatically higher number of TDs at the next election because it is not clear where the increased population dynamics will reveal themselves.

She said the electoral watchdog has been unable to future-proof against population and it was not part of the commission's terms of reference.

The commission has also said its time to start the conversation around possibly needing constitutional change to cap the number of TDs who can be elected to the Dail.

Several politicians have said they would be in favour of this while Mr Harris said an informed debate is needed about whether the number of national legislators should be entirely and exclusively linked to population.

Gender balance

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commissions proposed boundary changes for Dail constituencies published on Wednesday may make it more difficult to achieve a better gender balance in the Dail, said Women For Election CEO Brian Sheehan.

Ireland currently ranks 101st in the world for womens representation in parliament, with only 23% female TDs. A quota of 40% female candidates will apply at the next general election.

The commission increased the number of three-seat constituencies to 13 from nine which provides mixed results in terms of women being elected. Mr Sheehan said that three-seaters are not good for smaller parties generally and it's smaller parties that have much better gender representation among candidates and elected TDs.
GEDDES  An idea from the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition's former executive director became one of the most popular attractions at the New York State Fair.

The Dairy Cow Birthing Center is celebrating its 10th anniversary at the fairgrounds. The exhibit, which opened in 2013, pulls back the curtain on what happens every day on dairy farms across New York.

The center is operated by the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition, a group that aims to educate the public about farming. Jessica Ziehm, who served as the coalition's executive director until 2019, got the idea for the Dairy Cow Birthing Center from when she attended Virginia Tech and saw a birthing exhibit.

Eileen Jensen, who now serves as executive director of the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition, told The Citizen that Ziehm pitched the idea to the group's board of directors, many of whom are farmers.

"They believed in the mission, they believed in the vision of this exhibit and so they stood behind it," Jensen said. "They all took a risk and 10 years later, they are still right here supporting us."

Any hesitation from farms was due to concerns about the health of their cows, according to Steve Palladino, who owns Walnut Ridge Dairy Farm in Lansing and is vice-chairman of the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition's board of directors.

In weighing the pros and cons, farmers decided to participate. Cows from six dairy farms, all of which are part of the Cayuga Marketing cooperative that owns Cayuga Milk Ingredients in Aurelius, were featured at the center in its first year.

"It could be hard to do, but it's something we really need to do," Palladino said. "Right from the first year when we did it, and it was hard, but you could see the reactions we were getting from people and the questions that we were getting asked. It was like, we just need to keep doing this. It's such a great way to reach the public and tell our story so they know a little bit more about what we do and know that we're doing what we can to care for the animal."

More than 330 calves have been delivered at the Dairy Cow Birthing Center over a 10-year period, with more expected by the end of this year's fair. But one of the most memorable moments at the center involved the loss of a calf from Palladino's farm.

In 2014, Palladino's second year at the exhibit, one of his cows started calving. When there wasn't any progress, he checked the cow and realized the calf was badly deformed.

"There was no way that the cow was going to have the calf without a C-section," he said.

A veterinarian was brought in and told Palladino that they needed to move the cow for the procedure. But because of the stress the cow was facing, Palladino made the decision to have the surgery performed in the center  with a huge crowd in attendance.

The veterinarian provided details about the procedure and Palladino, along with Ziehm, relayed those to the crowd.

"It was so quiet in here and people were just in awe," Palladino recalled. "The surgery was on the other side so they couldn't actually see it. We were talking through it."

When the surgery was completed and the dead calf was removed, the crowd gave them a standing ovation. Even though it wasn't the outcome anyone wanted, it reinforced for Palladino the need for farms to tell their stories.

"This stuff happens to people in real life and it happens here and they can see how much we care for the animal," he said. "I know it was a worthwhile experience for everybody."

Education is at the core of the center's work. The space was smaller in its early years, but it has since expanded on the west end of the fairgrounds with more information about cows and dairy farms. This year, one panel marks the 10th anniversary of the exhibit.

To educate the public, transparency is important. What happened with Palladino's cow nearly a decade ago is an example.

"What you see here is exactly what you see back home on the farm," Jensen said. "That's one thing that hasn't changed over 10 years."

She continued, "We want people to come here to see the miracle of life, but we want them to talk to our volunteers. Our volunteers are farmers, they are nutritionists, they are veterinarians. They work with farmers every day. That is the most exciting part is we are making connections between consumers of dairy products and the farmers that are producing them."

The interest from fairgoers over 10 years has been maintained, Jensen said. Although many people are aware of the Dairy Cow Birthing Center, there are newcomers who didn't know about the exhibit.

Cows from more than 30 farms across New York have been featured in the center since its formation in 2013. This year, four of the six participating farms  Patterson Farms in Aurelius, Pine Hollow Dairy in Genoa, Twin Birch Dairy in Skaneateles and Walnut Ridge  were part of the first group of farms 10 years ago.

The center has been around long enough that a cow born at the fair in 2013 delivered a calf at the exhibit Tuesday morning, according to Jensen.

"It's really fun to see this come full circle in a matter of 10 years," she said.
A three-year-old boy and his two grandparents have died in a single-vehicle crash in Cashel, Co Tipperary.

The crash happened shortly before 9pm on Tuesday night, when the vehicle hit a wall in the Windmill Knockbulloge area.

The three-year-old boy and his two grandparents, aged in their 40s, were passengers in the rear of the car.

The bodies of the two adults have been removed to University Hospital Waterford where a post-mortem examination will take place in due course.

The body of the young boy has been removed to Tipperary University Hospital in Clonmel.

The boy's parents, who are aged in their 20s, sustained serious injuries in the crash. They are currently undergoing treatment at Tipperary University Hospital.

The road in Windmill Knockbulloge is currently closed to traffic and is not expected to reopen for some time. Local diversions have been put in place.

A Garda spokesperson said forensic collision investigators would attend the scene later on Wednesday morning to conduct an examination.

Gardai at the scene of the crash this morning. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

An incident room has been established at Cahir Garda Station and a senior investigating officer has been appointed to lead the investigation.

Gardai have appealed for any witnesses to Tuesday night's collision to contact them.

Any road users who may have camera footage, including dash-cam, and were travelling in the Windmill Knockbulloge area near Cashel between 8.30pm and 9.15pm on Tuesday evening have been asked to make this footage available.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Cahir Garda Station on 052 617 7640, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.

'An unbelievably difficult week for people of Tipperary'

There was widespread disbelief across all social media platforms on Tuesday night as news of the crash in Cashel broke.

The deaths come just a few days after the car crash in Clonmel last Friday night which claimed four lives.

Chairperson of Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District Declan Burgess said: "Just days after the tragedy in nearby town Clonmel, we didn't expect to be struck in Tipperary by a yet another awful blow.

"Our community of Cashel is extremely, extremely sore. It's extremely numb.

"It's truly an upsetting and very difficult situation, especially when there's a child involved.

"Our community really feels some of the strongest emotions right now, it's just awful.

Mr Burgess, expressed his deepest condolences to the families involved in Tuesday's crash.

"It's hard to comprehend," he said.

"It's a really difficult situation, and the town are struggling to cope with an ongoing situation.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the two others who are in hospital."

In a post on Facebook last night, TD Michael Lowry said: There is an enormous sense of shock in the Cashel area tonight following confirmation of a fatal car crash.

It is understood that two grandparents and their three-year-old grandchild have lost their lives in the single-vehicle crash, which occurred just outside the town.

Two other adult passengers have been removed to hospital for treatment.

TD Mattie McGrath said: More heartbreak within our community as a number of people have been killed in a crash near Windmill, Cashel.

My thoughts and prayers are with all those involved, their families and the emergency services dealing with another tragic road collision.

There are just no words, what an unbelievably difficult week this has been for the people of Tipperary.

Such heartbreaking news when the county is still grieving following Friday night's tragic accident, which claimed four young lives.

May those who have lost their lives Rest in eternal peace.

The death toll on Tipperary roads now stands at 10 in just 30 days between July 31 and August 30, and 123 countrywide.

It is the second multiple fatality road traffic tragedy in Tipperary in under a week.

The deaths come just days ahead of the funerals of the four young people who were killed in the horrific crash in Clonmel last Friday.

Luke McSweeney, 24, his sister Grace McSweeney, and her friends, Nicole Murphy and Zoey Coffey, all aged 18, were all killed when the car Luke was driving struck a wall at Hillview, Mountain Road, Clonmel, at about 7.30pm.

The girls had received their Leaving Cert results and were on their way to a Leaving Cert party.

Before Tuesday nights fatalities, 120 people had died on Irish roads  27 pedestrians, 43 drivers, 26 passengers, 17 motorcyclists, three pedal cyclists, three e-scooter riders and one pillion passenger.

On Monday, Junior Transport Minister Jack Chambers said the Government plans to meet the Road Safety Authority and gardai to try to address the spike in road deaths which has so far seen 20% more fatalities in 2023 than last year, and 40% more than 2019.
The two adults and boy who died in Tuesday nights crash in Tipperary have been named locally as Tom, 45, and Bridget, 46, O'Reilly and their grandson, three-year-old Tom O'Reilly.

They died after the car in which they were rear seat passengers hit a wall in the Windmill Knockbulloge area of Cashel at around 9pm last night.

The childs parents, both aged 22, were injured in the crash.

The man, who was driving the car, is being treated for serious injuries while the woman sustained less serious injuries.

The site is near a bend and a steep dip in the small, rural road.

Thomas and Bridget O'Reilly. Picture: Garda Press Office

Residents from houses around the site tried to help as best as they could until emergency services arrived.

The road in Windmill Knockbulloge was closed to traffic overnight, with local diversions in place and it is expected to remain closed for most of today.

Last night's deaths come after the car crash in Clonmel last Friday night which claimed four lives.

Members of the O'Reilly family turned up at the crash site just off the Windmill Road to Cashel town on Wednesday but declined to say anything.

A vigil is to be held in St John the Baptist Church in Cashel at 3pm on Thursday.

Garda Superintendent Kieran Ruane said the local community in Cashel was shocked and deeply saddened by Tuesdays crash.

I want to express my sincere condolences and the sympathies of every member of An Garda Siochana to the family and friends of Thomas, Bridget and Tom on this tragic loss of life, said Mr Ruane.

He said Garda would investigate all circumstances of the collision.

The officer also commended the response of emergency services to the incident.

Our local community here in Cashel is shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic road traffic collision involving five members of one family, with three deceased, he said.

I have spoken with the family of the deceased this morning, a family that is devastated by this terrible incident.

I assured the family and I want to assure the community that local gardai here in south Tipperary are here to support them and the community, as we all come to terms with this tragedy over the coming days, weeks and months.

I want to take the opportunity to appeal to any person with any information on this road traffic collision to contact the investigation team at Cahir Garda station.

Mr Ruane, who also spoke to media following the Clonmel crash, said welfare support was being offered to emergency personnel who had dealt with the fatal incidents.

Whilst we wear these uniforms and we have PPE equipment, that doesnt stop us from seeing what we see and causing emotions, he said.

It is difficult for first responders to deal with that. But we do our job, and we do it well.

A garda at the scene of the crash where three people died. Picture: Arthur Carron / Collins

Mr Ruane said he had tried to give words of comfort to the family.

We understand what theyre going through, theyre numb, theyre trying to deal with the loss of three family members, and such a young life lost in those three, its very difficult, he said.

You offer words of comfort and support and thats all really you can do in such circumstances.

Mr Ruane said while weather was a factor in the Clonmel crash, he said it was too early in the investigation to determine whether it played a role in the Cashel collision.

Its too early to establish what the exact cause of the collision was, he added.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar paid tribute to the victims of the latest road tragedy to hit the county.

My sincere condolences to the friends and family of the people killed in the road incident in Cashel. May they rest in peace, Mr Varadkar posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

My thoughts are with everyone in Tipperary with this awful news coming so soon after the tragic deaths in Clonmel.

Tom O' Reilly. Photo: Garda Press Office

Mags Casey of the Tipperary Rural Travellers Project said that she has known the family affected by the crash in Cashel for 23 years.

The Travelling community all over Ireland are shocked, devastated and numb, at this particular point, she told RTEs News At One.

Sinn Fein TD Martin Browne, who is a family friend, said they were heartbroken.

You just dont expect when someone goes away that the next thing you get is a knock on the door from the emergency services to say there has been an accident, especially when you have a three-year-old involved," he said.

The emergency services were brilliant and the neighbours themselves came out when the tragedy happened. There is just numbness and shock all around.

He added: Theyve been in Cashel all their lives.

They'd be a very quiet family and just kind of kept to themselves.

They're a big family, and they would have been well known around Cashel town.

Local TD Martin Browne. Picture: Arthur Carron / Collins Photos

Parish priest Fr Enda Brady, who administered the last rites last night, said: As you can imagine, Cashel is so close to Clonmel and you are going to have a lot of connections between the two towns.

So, people in Cashel are still reeling from the shock of what happened last Friday and now they have to deal with the death of two more adults and a child.

The town is numb and there is a silence over it.

He said the scene last night "was devastating" as he paid tribute to the emergency services.

Local TD Mattie McGrath said his "thoughts and prayers are with all those involved, their families and the emergency services dealing with another tragic road collision".

There are just no words, what an unbelievably difficult week this has been for the people of Tipperary.

Such heartbreaking news when the county is still grieving following Friday night's tragic accident which claimed four young lives.

May those who have lost their lives rest in eternal peace.

Speaking in Cork, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said its hard to know what to say in the wake of the latest road tragedy but said the Government will examine the recent trends to see what more can be done to improve road safety.

Gardai at the scene of the collision. Picture: RollingNews.ie

It's just devastating, not just for the family, but I think for the wider communities to see such a horrific accident last night  a young boy and his grandparents losing their lives and two more people critically ill  so above all my thoughts go out to their families and to their wider communities," she said.

We've had a really difficult few weeks when it comes to our roads. We've had a number of tragedies.

There are a lot of families grieving but it's important as well that, working with the gardai, we understand and we find out what's happened and obviously that we do whatever we can to prevent these types of accidents from happening."

Garda Forensic Collision Investigators (FCI) are to conduct an examination of the scene. An incident room has been established at Cahir Garda Station and a senior investigating officer has been appointed to lead the investigation.

Gardai are appealing for any witnesses to this collision to contact the investigation team.

Any road users who may have camera  including dash-cam  footage and were travelling in the Windmill Knockbulloge area near Cashel between 8.30pm and 9.15pm on Tuesday evening are asked to make this footage available to gardai.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Cahir Garda Station on 052 617 7640, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.

Additional reporting by PA
An American asylum seeker found dead in the Kerry mountains, having gone missing from his accommodation weeks previously, was ultimately identified by matching DNA found on his razor and toothbrush.

The inquest into the death of Thomas Stofiel, a 44-year-old originally from Oregon in the US, also heard that while he was last seen by his roommate at the Atlas House Direct Provision centre in Tralee on September 25, 2020, he was reported as missing on October 6 of the same year.

Mr Stofiels body was discovered on November 14 in a remote area high in the Kerry Mountains near Tonevane, Tralee, by a farmer who was out with his dog checking on sheep.

Coroner Helen Lucey, hearing the inquest at Tralee Courthouse, was told that Mr Stofiel was last seen by his roommate, Imad Choufry, on September 25, with Inspector Gary Carroll reading out a short deposition on his behalf.

A statement read into court on behalf of Joe Fitzgerald, a farmer from Farranfore who was present in court, outlined the circumstances of the discovery of Mr Stofiels body on November 14.

Mr Fitzgerald said he had been out checking on his sheep when his sheep dog headed towards a ravine. It was there that he saw the body of a man. He said he did not approach the body and contacted gardai immediately.

Depositions from Garda Brian English and Garda Nicola Hogan were then read out. Both officers were on patrol when the call was received at 11.40am on November 14 that a body had been discovered. Garda English described the 30-minute walk up the mountain to the scene and outlined the difficulty of the terrain and its inaccessible nature.

Thomas Stofiel was fondly remembered by fellow residents of Atlas House and it is understood he was also working in a local restaurant prior to when he went missing.

Kerry Mountain Rescue were contacted and they recovered the body. A doctor pronounced Mr Stofiel dead at 2.50pm and the body arrived at the mortuary at University Hospital Tralee at 3.30pm the same afternoon.

In her deposition, Garda Hogan said Mr Stofiel had been reported missing on October 6. Garda Hogan said she identified the remains to Sean Lynch at the mortuary at 3.50pm.

The coroner heard that two forms of picture identification were found on the body, as well as 1,220 in cash and a social welfare receipt. Mr Lynch said he identified Mr Stofiel to Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster at 10.45am on November 15.

Sgt Marcus Twomey of Castleisland Garda Station told Ms Lucey that the two identity cards found on the body were matched, through the American Embassy in Dublin, with photos from Mr Stofiels passport.

Subsequent DNA analysis was then carried out. A statement by Dr Sibeal Waldron of the Forensic Science Laboratory outlined how visual identification was not possible and, with no close relative available, DNA from a razor and toothbrush belonging to Mr Stofiel was used to ascertain if there was a match with the remains recovered from the mountainside.

The coroner heard that it was 1,000 million times more likely that the match indicated the remains belonged to Mr Stofiel, rather than another, unknown person. Sgt Twomey told the court that subsequently a DNA profile was matched with that of Mr Stofiels daughter in the US.

Both the gardai and the coroner said they had been in contact with members of Mr Stofiels family and that they were aware the inquest was taking place.

Read More The Lost American  From an FBI wanted list to a Tralee direct provision centre

Later in the afternoon, Dr Bolster gave evidence and said she conducted an autopsy on November 15, the body having been identified to her as the presumed remains of Thomas Stofiel.

Dr Bolster said teeth and hair samples were recovered for DNA purposes and that the remains were badly decomposed. She outlined evidence of ligature marks on Mr Stofiel, on his neck and wrists, consistent with the circumstances of his discovery.

Ms Lucey said Mr Stofiel, late of Atlas House, died some time between September 25 and November 14, 2020, with death due to suicide through suspension by a ligature. Gardai confirmed there was no suspicion that anyone else was involved.

The coroner extended her sympathies to Mr Stofiels daughter and commended all those who assisted in recovery of the body and also praised their honesty, remarking that a substantial sum of money was found at the scene.

One does not know very much about his circumstances, the coroner said. The course of his life had changed for him. He ended up staying in Atlas House and went to this remote area.

Ms Lucey and Inspector Carroll also said that media reporting of Mr Stofiels case had assisted in tracing Mr Stofiels daughter and that this had facilitated a full DNA identification. Garda Carroll said he had conveyed his condolences to Mr Stofiels daughter directly.

- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.

Read More The Lost American  From an FBI wanted list to a Tralee direct provision centre
Cork will get its fair share of new garda recruits in October, Justice Minister Helen McEntee insisted on Wednesday as she met civic and business leaders to discuss city centre policing resources.

Ms McEntee heard repeated calls for more gardai on the beat, and for high visibility policing in the city centre, from members of the Cork Development Forum at the Cork Chamber offices, and later from members of the Cork Business Association (CBA).

But she declined to comment on whether Cork would get emergency funding for garda overtime as Dublin did last month.

First and foremost, Im here to listen, to hear what people have to say, to see how I can provide further support and obviously working closely with the gardai who are already doing an amazing amount of work on the ground, she said.

The meetings were facilitated after a fatal stabbing on the Grand Parade in June focused attention on city centre policing.

Days later, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris ruled out the blanket approval of garda overtime, telling the citys joint policing committee that resources werent the issue, that it was about recruitment and retention.

However, in July, Ms McEntee announced 10m in emergency funding for additional garda overtime in Dublin following a number of high-profile incidents in the capital.

She said her department has provided some 105m to fund garda overtime so far this year, including for garda overtime in Cork, but she stopped short of confirming any emergency funding for city centre policing, and also insisted that recruitment is key.

Following the covid pandemic closure of the Garda training college in Templemore, she said: Were now starting to see that steady flow of numbers coming through the college.

Weve had our first new recruits come out in July. Ill be back again in October for an even larger number and Ive no doubt that Cork as well as other counties will get their fair share, she said.

But Im here to listen, I want to know what more I can do as my colleagues are and obviously Ill take that with me after todays meetings.

She also confirmed that raising the age at which people can join An Garda Siochana, from the current ceiling of 35, is actively being considered.

I would expect in the coming weeks to have a recommendation or a report from the Commissioner that Id be able to respond to, she said.

What that goes to, that is a matter to be decided but it is about making sure we have a workforce thats open to as many people as possible.

She stressed, however, that if the age ceiling increases, applicants will still have to go through the same training, and meet the same standards, including fitness standards, as other new recruits.

Jerry Buttimer, Colm Burke, Deirdre Clune, Mary Crilly, Helen McEntee, and Simon Coveney during the justice minister's visit to Cork City. Picture: Justice.ie

Cork Chamber CEO Conor Healy said the focus of their meeting, which was also attended by senior politicians including Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney, MEP Deirdre Clune, and Chief Superintendent Tom Myers, was to highlight some of the concerns associated with the need for a greater garda presence in the city.

The meeting was very productive and a wide range of issues connected to policing resources were discussed, he said.

The need for increased policing resources in the city has been on our agenda and we will continue to advocate on behalf of our members to ensure that Cork remains a safe city that is an attractive place to work, live, and visit.

The ministers engagement was very important, and we are hopeful that the necessary supports needed will be put in place to address some of the difficulties being experienced in the city and also to complement the growing population.

CBA president Kevin Herlihy said they put forward a number of proposals to the minister which were very well received.

So we hope this will result in a more visible garda presence on our streets and more supports for businesses, he said.

The citys security and its perception as a safe place to shop, socialise, live, visit, and work is our number one priority, and we will continue to work with the guards and advocate on behalf of our members to ensure that Cork remains a safe city.
Politicians are eagerly awaiting the results of a constituency boundary review which could decide the electoral fates of many TDs and ministers.

The much-anticipated new constituency boundaries will see the number of seats in the Dail increase from 160 TDs to at least 172 or as many as 181.

The redrawing of boundaries has been prompted by a boom in the population to 5.15m, as shown in Census 2022  an increase of 8% in four years.

As the constitution says there needs to be one TD to represent every 20,000 to 30,000 people, the constituency boundaries will shift  to what extent is still unknown.

Asked whether he was nervous about the outcome of the review, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath said they were eagerly awaiting the outcome of the review, but added well cross every bridge when we come to it.

Want to learn about Ireland's #ConstituencyReview23? 



What is a Constituency Review?



Why is @ElecCommIRL carrying one out?



When will we make our recommendations?



Find out more from Tim, our Head of Electoral Operations.



Part 1 of 2@Ireland_Votes @OireachtasNews pic.twitter.com/N08Gd3yjUW  An Coimisiun Toghchain, The Electoral Commission (@ElecCommIRL) August 21, 2023

Ill sleep soundly tonight, he said.

The Fianna Fail TD, whose Cork South-Central constituency is a four-seater, said the review would be accepted and implemented even if the ball bounces in a way you dont want it to.

Youve just got to take it on the chin and move on.

His junior ministerial colleague and Mayo TD Dara Calleary added: Ive always taken the view we cant control it.

We control the controllables and what happens tomorrow morning will happen, well deal with it afterwards.

But not only that. It is important that each one of our TDs  from Donegal to Kerry  represents a similar number of people. More on this here: https://t.co/FPppXkTnuX #ConstituencyReview23@citizensinfo pic.twitter.com/nVjbg06hBJ  An Coimisiun Toghchain, The Electoral Commission (@ElecCommIRL) August 28, 2023

According to electoral laws, each constituency should have between three and five elected members, with three-seaters seen as advantageous to large political parties and five-seaters an easier job for smaller parties and independents to get over the quota threshold.

Any change in population that means more than six seats are needed could see parts of one constituency added to another, or one five-seat constituency cut into two three-seat constituencies  which threatens to split elected candidates votes.

The law says a redrawing of constituencies which breaches county boundaries should be avoided where possible, it should follow geographical markers, and should be as much continuity of electoral areas as possible.

The Electoral Commission has received 556 submissions from elected representatives, political parties and academics about the redrawing of boundaries, representing what Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe called red-hot interest in the issue.

Asked whether there should eventually be a cap on the number of TDs in the Dail, Mr McGrath said: I think it would be interesting to hear what the (Electoral) Commission have to say on that matter tomorrow because of course, that formed very directly a part of their consideration.

Follow us here to see the changes were suggesting and our reasons for suggesting them. https://t.co/HbHinhwXCD #ConstituencyReview23  An Coimisiun Toghchain, The Electoral Commission (@ElecCommIRL) August 29, 2023

I would make the point overall that the bands that we have currently in the constitution has formed the basis of representation.

And if you were to increase the amount of population per TD, it will inevitably have a consequence on the ability of an individual member to provide a quality service, and our constituents do like direct contact.

They like personal engagement with their Oireachtas members.

So lets wait and see what the Commission say on that issue tomorrow, but Id be very reluctant to tamper with a structure that I think has served us well since the foundation of the state.

Local council and European Parliament elections will be held next summer.

A general election is heavily rumoured to be set for November next year, after the final Budget of the three-party coalition government is officially confirmed.
In every boundary redrawing, there are winners and losers as key areas where TDs pick up votes are cut up and hived off into separate constituencies and occasionally counties.

This years redrawing is no different  despite an increase of 14 TDs, there will still be politicians left high and dry by changes, but just who is now in trouble after the boundary changes?

THE WINNERS

With an additional 14 seats set to be added to the next Dail, there will be TDs and senators the length and breadth of the country who are delighted with the new boundary changes.

The redraw, while it was less radical than some may have expected, has still thrown up significant changes in numerous constituencies, impacting how the votes may fall at the next general election.

Housing Minister Darragh OBrien will likely be thrilled to see the creation of a three-seater constituency in Fingal that wraps around his key base of Malahide Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins

But who is likely to be happiest with these changes?

Housing Minister Darragh OBrien will likely be thrilled to see the creation of a three-seater constituency in Fingal that wraps around his key base of Malahide.

Dublin Fingal East, which will take up Malahide, Donabate, Swords and Portmarnock, will likely help keep Mr OBrien in place as a Fianna Fail TD. While his primary base is in Malahide, he also has strong support in Donabate and Portmarnock.

Fine Gaels Alan Farrell, who is also based in Malahide, will also be in a strong position to keep his seat due to strong party support in the town. After topping the poll in 2020, Sinn Feins Louise OReilly may have to decide whether to run in Fingal East or Fingal West.

Sinn Fein housing spokesperson and standard bearer in Dublin Mid-West, Eoin O Broin, will likely be pressing to get a third candidate over the line for Sinn Fein in the constituency. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The Sinn Fein operation in Dublin Mid-West will be very happy with their redraw of the constituency, as the constituency sees an additional seat, pushing it from a four- to a five-seater.

The partys housing spokesperson and standard bearer in Dublin Mid-West, Eoin O Broin, will likely be pressing to get a third candidate over the line for Sinn Fein in the constituency, after Mark Ward retained a second seat in 2020.

A chunk of Tallaght, previously in Dublin South-West, is being transferred into Dublin Mid-West, which will help bolster the Sinn Fein vote in the area.

Two of the three Government leaders will also be happy with the changes to their constituencies, as both Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Micheal Martin will see an additional seat in Dublin West and Cork South-Central.

While there has been significant consternation over the redraw in the south-east of the country, Fianna Fails Malcolm Byrne will likely be delighted with the outcome. The new three-seater, Wicklow-Wexford, has his base of Gorey at the centre and he will hope this will allow him to return to the Dail.

Fine Gaels Garret Ahearn, a senator from Tipperary, will also be happy with the split into two constituencies after he missed out on a seat in the 2020 election.

A key takeaway from the changes is that the three big parties overall will be pleased with the changes, particularly due to the increase in three-seaters, where larger parties perform particularly well.

THE LOSERS

In every boundary redraw, there are losers when TDs have their core voting areas hived off into different constituencies.

This years redraw is no different, despite an increase of 14 TDs, there will still be politicians left high and dry. But who is now in trouble after the boundary changes?

One of the TDs most impacted by this years constituency changes is Sean Sherlock, a Labour TD for Cork East.

One of the TDs most impacted by this years constituency changes is Sean Sherlock, Labour TD for Cork East. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Mr Sherlock has his key voter base in the town of Mallow, which has now been moved into a larger Cork North-Central.

This leaves him with a difficult decision of whether to fight it out in Cork East or migrate to Cork North-Central and attempt to take a seat.

Indicative of the difficulty he now faces, he told the Irish Examiner: Im still assessing what is a seismic shift in the political landscape. Its too early to make any detailed comment. I need some time to analyse this.

Former Labour leader Alan Kelly previously kept his seat in the five-seater Tipperary, but with a split to north and south, he may face an uphill battle if he seeks to retain a seat for the party.

While Mr Sherlock is the most impacted, Labour more broadly will face difficulties due to the increased number of three-seater constituencies.

Former leader Alan Kelly previously kept his seat in the five-seater Tipperary, but with a split to north and south, he may face an uphill battle if he seeks to retain a seat for the party.

In Wicklow, both Fianna Fails Stephen Donnelly and the Green Partys Stephen Matthews will be under pressure. With the former five-seater constituency now falling to four seats, it will be a battle among the five incumbent TDs  all based in north Wicklow  as to who survives.

The loss of rural parts of Wicklow will likely reduce the Fianna Fail vote, which Mr Donnelly relied on in 2020 to get over the line.

Several People Before Profit TDs may also face pressure, as Sinn Fein will be breathing down their necks in several Dublin constituencies.

Prominent TD Paul Murphy could be squeezed by two Sinn Fein candidates in Dublin South-West, while Gino Kenny will face pressure as the party looks to run three candidates in Dublin Mid-West.

While Sinn Fein will be happy overall, the partys incumbent TD in Meath-West, Johnny Guirke, has lost a chunk of his vote in Meath West.

More broadly, smaller parties are likely to be unhappy with some of the changes, particularly the increase in three-seater constituencies across the country.

It is accepted larger parties fare better in these smaller constituencies, while smaller parties can struggle to get candidates over the line without high-profile performers.
A Sinn Fein MLA has said that at no point did he suggest his party would withdraw support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) during discussions with senior officers about the policing of a Troubles memorial event in 2021.

Policing Board representative Gerry Kelly said he wanted to set the record straight following the latest controversy to hit Northern Irelands police force after a High Court judge ruled that a decision to discipline two junior officers was unlawful.

The row has led some unionist politicians to call for the resignation of Chief Constable Simon Byrne.

High Court judge Mr Justice Scoffield said this week that the decision was made to discipline the officers to allay any threat of Sinn Fein abandoning its support for policing in Northern Ireland.

However, Sinn Fein denied there was any threat to withdraw support.

Mr Kelly said: Its a matter of public record that we raised our valid concerns with the chief constable and senior police officers about the arrest of victims on the Ormeau Road where families were commemorating the murders of their loved ones by loyalists.

I want to set the record straight.

At no stage during any calls to, or meetings with, senior PSNI officers did I suggest or insinuate that Sinn Fein would withdraw support for the rule of law or policing, or remove our members from the Policing Board.

Party colleague and North Belfast MP John Finucane reiterated the position when speaking to the media on Wednesday, and added that it was a matter for the chief constable why he believed there was any reason why the party would withdraw support for policing.

A special meeting of the Policing Board has been called for Thursday to discuss the latest crisis to hit the force.

The incident happened on the Ormeau Road in February 2021 during a service marking the anniversary of the February 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers attack in which five people were murdered.

The court ruling has prompted further criticism of Mr Byrne, who is already under pressure following revelations of data breaches this month.

Trevor Clarke, the DUPs lead representative on the Policing Board, said it is difficult to see what credibility the chief constable has left.

Trevor Clarke said Simon Byrne has lost the confidence of his officers, the public and politicians (Liam McBurney/PA)

He told the BBC Good Morning Ulster programme: Where a judge has said a chief constable is prepared to sacrifice his young officers, how can the chief constable or anyone else expect anyones support after that?

I spoke to the chief executive of the Policing Board yesterday, asking for a meeting with the chief constable, but we are at the stage now that it is difficult to see any credibility that the chief constable has left.

I think if he was making that decision today, he would make that decision himself.

Asked if he is calling for Mr Byrne to resign, Mr Clarke said: It is clear the officers dont have confidence and now politicians dont have confidence, and clearly the public wont have confidence, so I think if you work out the consequences from that, the only option open to Simon is to resign at this stage.

The chief constable has said, and the counsel for the chief constable has said, he was guided by their (Sinn Fein) threat to leave the (Policing) Board.

There is nothing to prevent me or anyone else speaking to the officers of the police, but they shouldnt be held by threats by us or anyone else on the basis of our support for policing.

Clearly Sinn Fein has used conditional support and the chief constable has read into that and made a decision based on that.

UUP leader Doug Beattie has called for an urgent meeting with the chief constable (Liam McBurney/PA)

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie has asked for an urgent meeting with Mr Byrne, while TUV leader Jim Allister said the chief constable should resign.

SDLP Policing Board member Mark H Durkan said serious issues with policing have been exposed.

He added: The chief constable, the Policing Board and all of us with an interest in securing the new beginning to policing must act urgently to address this situation.

The two officers faced action in 2021 following the arrest of Mark Sykes, a survivor of a loyalist gun attack on the Sean Graham bookmakers shop in south Belfast in 1992.

The controversial incident unfolded when police challenged those attending a memorial event amid suspicions that the size of the public gathering breached coronavirus regulations.

Mr Sykes was handcuffed and arrested in chaotic exchanges captured on social media.

The incident triggered a major controversy at the time and sparked criticism of Mr Byrne.

Simon Byrne has accepted the findings of the court (Liam McBurney/PA)

Mr Byrne apologised for the PSNIs handling of the event and it was announced that one officer was to be suspended and one repositioned.

Following a legal challenge by the Police Federation, Mr Justice Scoffield said: Both the deputy chief constable and the chief constable were acutely aware of the threat of Sinn Fein withdrawing support for policing and/or withdrawing from the Policing Board if immediate action was not taken in respect of the officers duty status.

In a statement in response to the courts findings on Tuesday, Mr Byrne said the incident was difficult for everyone.

He added: Those paying their respects at a memorial event, the young officers who attended on behalf of the police service, and for the public who observed the footage of an incident which happened shortly afterwards which circulated across media platforms.

As chief constable, I accept the findings of the court.

In particular that there was a legal error in the way in which the public interest test was applied in deciding to suspend one officer and reposition another, rendering the action unlawful.

It is important, however, to clarify that neither officer has been disciplined to date.
Alone in the Arctic, surrounded by disappearing sea ice  few fables of the climate crisis are better known than the plight of the polar bear.

The marine mammals are heavily dependent on sea ice for hunting, and as the Arctic warms, scientists warn they will become extinct across much of the region.

Long-term declines have already been recorded in three of the 19 polar bear subpopulations found across the Arctic, including those in the western part of Hudson Bay in Canada  among the most southerly populations  whose numbers dropped from an estimated 842 to 618 between 2016 and 2021.

But some researchers warn this accidental symbol of the climate crisis is unhelpful and not universally true so far, and can undermine conservation efforts by driving mistrust with some Indigenous communities in the Arctic. They say other species are better suited as symbols of wildlife threatened by a warming world.

Its easier to tell the public simple stories: the sea ice is melting so polar bears are doing worse. But biology and ecology are very complicated, says Professor Jon Aars, who has been leading polar bear research at the Norwegian Polar Institute on Svalbard since 2003.

'Its easier to tell the public simple stories: the sea ice is melting so polar bears are doing worse. But biology and ecology are very complicated.'

The Norwegian archipelago is the most rapidly warming part of earth. Temperatures there have risen 4C on average in the past 50 years and a massive amount of sea ice has disappeared, raising fears for the survival of the 300 bears that are based there, part of a wider Barents Sea population of about 3,000 between Svalbard and the Franz Josef Land islands in Russia.

Dramatic change in conditions

Despite this dramatic change in conditions, however, the polar bear population on Svalbard has yet to experience a decline. This could be because the mammals are still recovering from the pressures of hunting, which was banned in Norway in 1973, and Aars does not rule out a future collapse.

There is growing evidence the bears are switching hunting practices  targeting reindeer as well as seals, a change that was first documented on the archipelago in 2021. Denning  behaviour around making dens  has changed and bears are swimming long distances, but, says Aars, there is still enough sea ice in the spring for the bears to hunt successfully.

I have to say that Im a bit surprised that polar bears do so well in Svalbard because the changes have been so big. They have three to four months less sea ice now than three decades ago on average, which is a lot.

"If someone told us 20 to 30 years ago that the ice would be in this situation, most of us would have guessed that polar bears would have done worse than theyre actually doing, he says.

Big data gaps

The complicated global perspective of the estimated 26,000 wild polar bears  which has big data gaps in Russia and parts of Greenland  has much to do with types of sea ice, which are grouped into four ecoregions  seasonal, divergent, convergent and archipelago  according to Dr Steven Amstrup, chief scientist emeritus at Polar Bears International.

Under a high-emissions scenario, many subpopulations could disappear entirely this century, warn some scientists.

In Hudson Bay, where the ice is seasonal, longer fasting periods are forcing bears to come on shore, where there is little to eat.

In Svalbard, the ice moves away from the shore in summer, creating a divergent ecoregion where the picture is uncertain. The Norwegian archipelago is surrounded by the rich waters of a continental shelf and in spring  the crucial hunting season for polar bears  there is enough coverage for them to find seal pups.

In the Beaufort Sea near Alaska, which is also in the divergent group, however, where the waters are among the least productive in the Arctic and support fewer seals, the polar bear populations are struggling.

We cant talk about a global state of the bears [because of the data gaps], says Professor Andrew Derocher, a polar bear expert at the University of Alberta, who authored some of the early studies about the effect of climate change on polar bears.

You have to take a more subpopulation perspective. Some are doing well, some are not. This creates a lot of confusion working with Inuit hunters in Canada who say theyre seeing lots of bears. I say, Yes, because you live in an area where there are lots of bears but there are other places where they are not doing as well.

Greenland subpopulation

Last year, the situation was further complicated with the discovery of what appears to be a 20th isolated subpopulation in Greenland that has adapted to use ice from glaciers to aid hunting.

In the Canadian context, the polar bear being a symbol of climate change has caused a lot of problems, Derocher says. We used to have a good relationship with Inuit hunters. A lot of the hunters that I know think that polar bears will do OK with climate change and it has created some interesting tensions.

Although Derocher is pessimistic about the future for many subpopulations, including the bears in Svalbard, he says: Weve got areas of polar bear distribution that are going to be quite robust to the effects of climate change.

I always say polar bears are an accidental icon of climate change. Its not a skies falling scenario or Chicken Little time. But what we have to do is look at our trajectories decades into the future.

Under a high-emissions scenario, many subpopulations could disappear entirely this century, warn some scientists. Derocher says the popular tale of the polar bear is likely to play out, increasing human-wildlife conflict as polar bears starve, with a rise in deaths, such as the recent attack on three people in Quebec

In the two remaining ice ecoregions  convergent, where separate pieces of ice merge, and archipelago, where there is the most ice coverage  polar bears are expected to do okay.

We have 19 populations of polar bears across the Arctic and 19 different scenarios are playing out over time, says Derocher. I think that our best analysis is that all of those are not going extinct this century.

 Guardian
US president Joe Bidens recent executive order restricting investments in Chinese semiconductors, microelectronics, quantum information technology, and artificial intelligence marks another escalation in the Sino-American tech war.

In the context of the two superpowers intensifying geopolitical rivalry, the chances that this conflict will be resolved anytime soon are virtually zero, to the detriment of the global economy.

In his 2018 book Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy, venture investor William H Janeway highlights the US governments pivotal role in spurring innovation by funding research and development in critical defence technologies.

Despite the significant expenditure associated with these technological advances, the scale of the USs economic reach drove down the costs of cutting-edge tech products and services.

These innovations were subsequently commercialised through private entrepreneurship, making them easily accessible to consumers.

By the time Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012, the US already regarded China as its main geopolitical rival. Picture: Leah Millis via AP

Simply put, by harnessing economies of scale and specialisation, the US innovation economy ushered in an era of rapid growth and prosperity.

As China integrated into the global economy, it adopted a similar model, enabling Chinese companies to reduce the costs of new technologies such as solar panels, 5G infrastructure, and electric vehicles, while building the countrys industrial and military capabilities.

At the same time, Chinas increasingly assertive foreign policy raised concerns among Democrats and Republicans.

By the time Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012, the US already regarded China as its main geopolitical rival.

Sanctions

Consequently, the US imposed sanctions on China to prevent American technology from enhancing Chinese military capabilities.

Between August 2018 and June 2023, 669 Chinese companies were added to the Department of Commerces so-called Entity List, used to blacklist foreign companies on national security grounds.

These sanctions have had a significant impact on China, exacerbating its ongoing economic slowdown and heightening the risk of deflation.

With US allies such as the Netherlands, South Korea, and Japan imposing their own export restrictions, Chinese companies have been deprived of key inputs for the design and production of advanced semiconductors.

This strategy resulted in a 17.9% decline in US-China trade during the first half of 2023. Chinas share of US imports plummeted to 13.3% during this period, a 38.4% drop from a peak of 21.6% in 2017.

'If we are deprived of the Chinese market, we dont have a contingency for that,' Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang recently warned. Picture: AP /Chiang Ying-ying

Foreign direct investment and portfolio flows have also decreased, with net FDI flows recording a deficit of $49bn in the second quarter of this year.

Deglobalisation will have profound implications for US economy as well.

More than 70,000 US companies currently operate in China, and nearly 90% of them are profitable.

China is the worlds largest semiconductor market, accounting for more than 31% of global sales and 36% of US semiconductor sales.

For Intel and Nvidia, China represented, respectively, 27% and 26.4% of revenues in 2022, and a whopping 67.1% of Qualcomms revenues.

If we are deprived of the Chinese market, we dont have a contingency for that, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang recently warned.

There is no other China, there is only one China.

Higher costs

As the global innovation economy continues to fragment, Chinese and US companies will likely face higher costs for R&D and for manufacturing equipment.

After all, as the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and other semiconductor manufacturers have recently discovered, it is far more expensive to produce chips in the US than in Asia.

Worse, governments worldwide will likely turn to industrial subsidies to compensate for the loss of the Chinese market, potentially triggering a harmful subsidy war.

Given the US seems determined to continue with its current strategy of expanding sanctions, China is expected to retaliate with its own measures.

Recent export restrictions on strategically vital raw materials such as germanium, gallium, tungsten, and rare earth metals foreshadow the possibility of more wide-ranging measures.

As the International Monetary Fund has warned, a fragmented world is likely to be a poorer one.

Moreover, dividing the global technology and innovation market into two distinct categories  one for defence purposes and the other encompassing everything else  could distort the incentives for technological development.

Potential military applications

Given that all technology has potential military applications, the interplay between restrictions and subsidies could steer innovation toward national security, potentially impeding the emergence of consumer-oriented high-tech products and services.

Just as regulation is necessary to curb market concentration and address the ethical implications of generative AI and biotech, competition in defence-oriented technologies must be carefully controlled.

Even at the height of the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union successfully negotiated treaties that effectively slowed the nuclear arms race and prevented mutual assured destruction.

Similarly, the US and China must establish a transparent rules-based framework that facilitates private-sector participation in open trade, fosters trust, ensures market openness, protects property rights, and sets boundaries on punitive sanctions.

State-imposed sanctions and subsidies will inevitably push the private sector and markets into retreat, with adverse consequences for the world economy.

This has been a topic of fierce debate within China over the past few years, as the states role in the economy expanded.

To be sure, China and the US each want to bargain from a position of strength, and both are understandably concerned that initiating negotiations might be perceived as a sign of weakness.

Consequently, it is possible that only the pain of a severe global recession can compel them to start talking.

Nevertheless, the longer these talks are delayed, the greater the suffering will be for China, the US, and the rest of the world.

Andrew Sheng is a distinguished fellow at the Asia Global Institute at the University of Hong Kong.

Xiao Geng is a professor and director of the Institute of Policy and Practice at the Shenzhen Finance Institute at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.
The bodies of three US Marines killed in a tiltrotor aircraft crash during a training exercise in Australia have been retrieved from the crash scene while another Marine remained in a critical condition, the US Marine Corps has said.

Those killed were from Illinois, Virginia and Colorado.

The Marine V-22B Osprey with 23 Marines on board crashed on Sunday in a tropical forest on Melville Island while taking part in Exercise Predators Run, a drill that includes the militaries of Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.

All 20 survivors were injured and were flown by rescue aircraft 80km (50 miles) south to the city of Darwin within hours of the crash. Three of those Marines remained in Royal Darwin Hospital on Tuesday, one in critical condition and two stable, a Marines statement said.

Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of the Marines who lost their lives in this deadly crash

The three casualties had been declared dead at the crash site and their bodies were returned to Darwin late on Tuesday, a statement said.

Up to 2,500 US Marines have been based in Darwin for six months a year since 2012 as part of the US military pivot to Asia to counter Chinas growing influence in the region.

Col Brendan Sullivan, commanding officer of the Marine Rotation Force-Darwin, said the Marines focus was on supporting the recovery of wreckage and investigating the cause.

We are deeply saddened by the loss of three respected and beloved members of the MRF-D family, Mr Sullivan said in a statement.

Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and with all involved, he added.

United States Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft parked at RAAF Base Darwin, Australia (CPL Robert Whitmore/Australian Department of Defence via AP/PA)

The three killed were Osprey pilot Capt Eleanor V Beau, 29, originally of Belleville, Illinois; Cpl Spencer R Collart, 21, from Arlington, Virginia; and Major Tobin J Lewis, 37, from Jefferson, Colorado. All were based in Darwin.

The names of the injured had not been released.

US President Joe Biden also offered his condolences to their families.

Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of the Marines who lost their lives in this deadly crash, Mr Biden tweeted, referring to his wife Jill Biden. We are praying for those who also suffered injuries.

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but during flight can tilt its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane.

Before Sunday, there had been five fatal crashes of Marine Ospreys since 2012, causing a total of 16 deaths.

Three Marines were killed when an Osprey plunged into the Coral Sea off Australias northeast coast in 2017. The remaining 23 people on board were rescued.
Five juveniles have been arrested by the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office for allegedly stealing guns and ammunition from a gun store in the town of Elbridge twice last weekend.

The office's public information officer, Thomas Newton, told The Citizen on Wednesday that a group of five juveniles first broke into Tim's Guns and Shooting Supplies at 1404 Route 5 at 5:30 a.m. Saturday. The juveniles broke in through a window and a wood panel, Newtown said, and stole 12 handguns and three rifles in the span of 52 seconds.

At 6 a.m. the next day, a group of six juveniles was observed in an SUV in the parking lot of the store by a citizen who called 911, Newton continued. The group broke into the store again, this time stealing ammunition, but police arrived before the juveniles left. Two were apprehended at the scene. The SUV later crashed in Camillus, and another three juveniles were apprehended there.

Newton said officers are searching for the sixth juvenile. He thanked officers with the Solvay and Geddes police departments, and New York State Police, for assisting with the response.

The group is also believed to be behind the burglary of at least one gun store in Oswego County, Newton continued, as well as a rash of vehicle thefts and smoke shop robberies in Onondaga County.

"We caught them," he said, "so hopefully we broke up this ring of thefts."
Russian officials have accused Ukraine of launching what appears to be the biggest night-time drone attack on Russian soil since the war began 18 months ago.

The Kremlins forces also hit Kyiv during the night with what Ukrainian officials called a massive, combined attack that killed two people.

Drones struck an airport in western Russias Pskov region near the border with Estonia and Latvia, damaging four Il-76 transport aircraft that can carry heavy machinery, Russian state news agency Tass reported.

The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.



The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine  30 August 2023



Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/D9kZT12Ypx#StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/VtBzyFjLMY  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) August 30, 2023

The airport strike, which was first reported minutes before midnight local time, started a massive fire, the regional governor and local media reported.

Unconfirmed media reports said up to 20 drones may have targeted the airport.

More drones were shot down over the Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan and Kaluga regions, as well as the region surrounding the Russian capital, according to the defence ministry.

Three main Moscow region airports  Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo  temporarily halted incoming and outgoing flights.

Aerial attacks on Russian soil have escalated in recent months as Ukraine pursues a counter-offensive to drive the invading forces out of its territory.

Firefighters put out a fire following a rocket attack in the Ukrainian capital (AP)

Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russias military assets behind the front lines in the countrys east and south.

The Kremlin has repeatedly accused the Ukrainian military of also launching drones toward Moscow.

Russia, meanwhile, used drones and missiles in its biggest bombardment of Ukraines capital in months, Ukrainian authorities said.

Two people were killed and another person was injured by falling debris, Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, wrote on Telegram.

Russia launched Shahed exploding drones at the city from various directions and then followed with missiles from Tu-95MS strategic aircraft, Mr Popko said.

It was unclear how many were launched, but Mr Popko called the attack the biggest on the capital since the spring.

A local resident looks at the fragments of a Russian rocket in a Kyiv park following a rocket attack (AP)

In Russia, Pskov regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the airport in the regions namesake capital cancelled for the day so the damage could be assessed during daylight.

Footage and images posted on social media showed smoke billowing over the city of Pskov and a large blaze.

Mr Vedernikov said there were no casualties, and the fire has been contained.

Pskov was the only region reporting substantial damage. In Kaluga, one drone was brought down and another hit an empty oil reservoir, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished, governor Vladislav Shapsha reported. Windows in residences were shattered, Mr Shapsha said.

In the Bryansk region, governor Alexander Bogomaz said six drones were downed overnight. One of them damaged an administrative building, he said, prompting a brief fire. Two were targeting a television tower, but were brought down. Russian media cited local residents as saying they heard a loud explosion.

Two drones were downed over the Oryol region, governor Andrei Klychkov said. Two more were downed over the Ryazan region and one over the Moscow region, officials said.

Now, as every day of these 553 days, the resilience of our warriors makes all the difference. Our resilience. Not some attempts and plans of Russia. But the bravery and determination of our warriors. The strength and unity of our people - all those who work for our victory and pic.twitter.com/8dRziBeN7p  Volodymyr Zelenskyy /   (@ZelenskyyUa) August 30, 2023

Also on Wednesday, Russian-installed officials in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014,

reported repelling an attack of drones targeting the harbour of the port city of Sevastopol.

Fuel depots and airfields have been hit in drone attacks on Crimea or Russian-held regions that Moscow officials have blamed on Kyiv.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who usually refuse to take responsibility for any attacks on Russian soil.

Explosions in Ukraine were also reported in the southern city of Odesa and the Cherkasy region.

Ukraines air defences destroyed 28 cruise missiles and 15 of 16 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones targeting the capital and multiple regions across the country overnight, the Ukrainian air force said in its daily Telegram update on Wednesday.

It said 43 weapons were downed in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in the south of the country. The statement did not say what happened to the other drone.
The Belgian government has said it will no longer provide shelter for single men seeking asylum, saying its insufficient reception capacity should prioritise families, women and children.

Europes foremost human rights organisation and aid groups condemned the move as reneging on international commitments.

Belgium has long been criticised for failing to provide enough shelter for the thousands of people seeking asylum.

Long lines of tents along streets outside the main processing centre in Brussels have become a stain on Belgiums reputation.

Migrants sleep on the floor of a squat in Brussels (Olivier Matthys/AP)

On Wednesday, asylum secretary Nicole de Moor said increasing pressure on asylum housing was expected over the coming months and she wanted absolutely to avoid children ending up in the streets this winter.

Instead, single men will have to fend for themselves.

According to the EU Agency for Asylum, male applicants last year accounted for 71% of asylum claims.

Belgiums move was criticised by human rights organisations, with the 46-nation Council of Europe taking the lead.

The CoEs human rights commissioner Dunja Mijatovic, said that the lack of accommodation has serious consequences for the human rights of people applying for asylum in Belgium, including from the perspective of their right to health.

The Belgian government isnt just sitting on human rights, its burying them by suspending the reception of single male asylum-seekers

Last December she urged Belgian authorities to provide better assistance to asylum-seekers after hundreds of people slept on Brussels streets in freezing temperatures, scenes that went on through much of the winter.

I reiterate my call to the authorities to implement swift measures and durable solutions to address structural shortcomings in the asylum system in Belgium and ensure that accommodation is available for all those seeking international protection, including single men, she said.

Others were more scathing.

We thought wed seen it all, but no. The Belgian government isnt just sitting on human rights, its burying them by suspending the reception of single male asylum-seekers, said Philippe Hensmans, director of Amnesty International Belgium.

Mr De Moor said the influx of asylum-seekers over the past two years in the country of 11.5 million had filled shelters almost to their capacity of 33,500.

Last year Belgium had nearly 37,000 applications for protection, the federal agency Fedasil said.

On top of the asylum-seekers, Belgium is also giving help to some 62,000 Ukrainian refugees who fled Russias war.

Last year alone, labour courts convicted Fedasil more than 5,000 times for failing to provide proper shelter.

Still, said Mr de Moor, our country has already done more than its share for a long time, and she called on some other EU countries to increase their effort instead.
UK ministers have been warned that plans to give judges the power to order offenders to attend sentencing hearings could prove harder to implement in practice.

Some victims and campaigners, including the mother of shooting victim Olivia Pratt-Korbel, hailed a government promise of new legislation to force serious offenders to attend their sentencing.

But others warned that it was a complex issue that in the end could cause more distress for grieving families.

British prime minister Rishi Sunak, who met with Cheryl Korbel on Wednesday, called it unacceptable that some criminals have refused to face their victims.

Ms Korbel has been among those campaigning for a change in the law to force criminals to appear in court after Thomas Cashman, who shot Olivia after chasing a fellow drug dealer into her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, refused to come up to the dock when he was sentenced to a minimum of 42 years.

Ministers had committed earlier this year to changing the law to force criminals to be sentenced in person after the killers of Olivia, Zara Aleena, and Sabina Nessa refused to stand in the dock.

The promised reforms will give custody officers the power to use reasonable force to ensure those awaiting sentencing appear in the dock or by video link.

Those convicted could also face an extra two years in jail if they ignore a judges order and continue to refuse to attend court, with such penalties applying in cases where the maximum sentence is life imprisonment.

It also comes after child murderer Lucy Letby refused to appear for her sentencing earlier this month.

Ms Korbel said she hoped that Olivia was proud of what weve done.

Because at the end of the day, its in her name, its why weve done this. And not only in her name, its for every other family out there that has gone through it.

We just hope it gets changed so no-one else has to go through it, she told ITV.

But the father of a murdered police officer warned against a knee-jerk, headline-grabbing response.

Former prison officer Bryn Hughes daughter Pc Nicola Hughes was killed in 2012 alongside fellow Pc Fiona Bone in a gun and grenade ambush while on duty in Tameside, Greater Manchester.

I have seen it from both sides of the courtroom. On being the father of someone who was murdered and being in court, and a former prison officer who has actually restrained someone into court, it is difficult, he told the PA news agency.

He said that he had seen the behaviour of prisoners forced into courtrooms: Foul abuse towards the family, abused the court, turned their back, kicked off, fought, spat, bitten people.

They are beyond being told to sit down and be quiet, arent they?

If you are going to restrain them in court, is it going to involve a Hollywood-style Hannibal Lecter outfit? he said, referencing a character from the 1991 film Silence Of The Lambs.

Mr Hughes warned that it was often very difficult to force people up the often narrow steps from the cells into courtrooms.

In reality it is complex and operationally it is fraught with danger, he warned.

I wouldnt want to see them dragged up into the dock shouting abuse about the final moments of your loved one.

Labour also said the Conservatives had dragged their feet on the issue, accusing ministers of promising to act on four separate occasions over the last 18 months.

The Ministry of Justice said judges would have discretion over whether it is in the interests of justice to order an offender to attend court.

No exact date has been given for the legislation and it has been promised in due course.

The crime week announcement forms part of the latest summer recess policy blitz by the government, following so-called small boats week and health week.

Mr Sunak said: It is unacceptable that some of the countrys most horrendous criminals have refused to face their victims in court. They cannot and should not be allowed to take the cowards way out.

Thats why we are giving judges the power to order vile offenders to attend their sentencing hearings, with those who refuse facing being forced into the dock or spending longer behind bars.

A sketch of empty chairs in court after nurse Lucy Letby refused to attend Manchester Crown Court during her trial (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

Labour backing for the proposal means the reforms could be passed into law relatively quickly, but the legislative process will not be able to begin until MPs return to the Commons in the autumn.

This will happen in the new session of Parliament when it commences in the autumn, Mr Sunak told broadcasters during a visit to a police station in London.

Labour said that there was still no timeline for when ministers would act.

Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed said: We called for new laws on this back in April last year  but the Conservatives have dragged their feet.

This is the fourth time in over 18 months the Government has promised action  and yet again they have failed to outline a proper timeline on when they will act.

In government, Labour will give judges the power to force offenders to face justice in court. The families of victims deserve nothing less.
In her dreams at least, Phyu Nyo hoped to see all the colors of the outside world and experience freedom, even though she was in prison. But it never happened.

I thought I could exist only in my dreams, she said over the phone, recalling her 19 months locked up in two notorious junta prisons.

But I never escaped from the prisons, even in my dreams. [The dreams] were all about prison, about running away and being recaptured. It was like my mind was also jailed, the now 30-year-old said in a low voice.

The number of female political prisoners in Myanmar is at a record high under the military junta led by coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. According to rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), at least 4,883 women were arrested for anti-regime activities between Feb. 1, 2021 and Aug. 23 this year. Another 602 were killed, including 114 girls. Of those arrested, more than 3,770 are still in custody, 15 of whom face the death penalty.

The women arrested include political leaders, elected lawmakers, activists, striking civil servants, medics, resistance fighters, students, journalists, businesswomen and those from all walks of life.

Before the military staged a coup and overthrew Myanmars elected civilian government in February 2021, Phyu Nyo was a fashion designer and trainer from Yangon, living a decent life with her husband, who had a livestock farm and agribusiness.

But the pair were forced to become fugitives after participating in anti-coup protests and supporting striking civil servants who took part in the civil disobedience movement (CDM).

The two left their house in Yangon and fled to Mandalay to evade arrest, but were detained after being discovered in their hideout in the city in October 2021. The junta also sealed off Phyu Nyos fashion shop in Yangon and seized everything inside including clothes, bags and shoes.

She and her husband were sent to the juntas notorious Mandalay Palace interrogation center, where Phyu Nyo was threatened with rape.

They [the junta forces] yelled at me and said We could rape and kill you! Phyu Nyo recalled.

Since the coup, women in Myanmar have been tortured, sexually harassed and threatened with rape in custody. The National Unity Governments Ministry of Women, Youth and Childrens Affairs said in March that junta troops have sexually assaulted at least 122 women since the beginning of the coup.

Another form of sexual harassment that female political prisoners increasingly face is humiliating mass strip searches by prison staff.

Phyu Nyo said she had heard in June from female political inmates still held in Yangons Insein Prison that such searches had become worse this year.

Female inmates in Insein Prison are being forced to submit to thorough checks of their intimate body parts after court appearances. Told that it is necessary to ensure that the detainees dont smuggle papers, female political prisoners are required to lift their breasts and expose their vulva. And prison staff wearing gloves touch and rub all of the inmates private parts and even use their hand to forcefully penetrate into the vagina during the searches.

In addition to the usual strip search humiliations, women who are menstruating are ordered to remove their sanitary pads in order to be strip-searched.

Supposedly done in order to search for smuggled papers, all such activities are violations not only of the detainees human rights but also their dignity, Phyu Nyo said.

Phyu Nyo was held in Mandalays Obo Prison and Myingyan Prison. During her imprisonment, she didnt experience the most invasive searches into the vagina but did endure occasional body searches.

Human rights abuses were common and the prison staff would swear at all of us, including women old enough to be their mothers and grandmothers, every day, Phyu Nyo said, sobbing as she described the encounters.

In prison you cant do anything the way you wish, from speaking to taking a bath, she said.

For bathing, prisoners are limited to 15 regular cups or 30 small cups of water a day.

Phyu Nyo said that while she would prefer not to think about those days in the military interrogation center and the prisons, as the memories are suffocating and painful, she felt a responsibility to speak up for her sisters who continue to languish in jails across the country, and to let others know their stories and what is happening behind bars.

Sometimes, I have even thought of suicide. But the mindset that I will not give up on these guys, and that we will be free if we win, keeps me alive.

Alinn, another former political prisoner who was also jailed in Obo Prison and Myingyan Prison for two years, similarly recalled that the prison authorities, especially in Obo Prison, treated political prisoners with hostility, adding that non-political inmates were encouraged to take part in abuses against political prisoners, and to monitor their activities.

A first year student at a nursing training school at the time of the coup, Alinn took part in peaceful protest rallies in Mandalay to demand the return of democracy in the country.

During a dawn protest on May 12, 2021 in Mandalays Pyigyidagon Township, she was violently arrested together with 30 other protesters. She was beaten on the head, back and arm, and collapsed during the arrest. Almost all of the detained protesters were later sentenced to two years imprisonment on incitement charges.

Alinn said many political prisoners suffer from health problems inside due to the lack of proper healthcare provisions.

In prison, whatever your illness, they just give you para [paracetamol], Alinn said.

According to accounts from media and rights groups, some political prisoners have died because of inadequate medical treatment and health care, including denial of emergency care at public hospitals.

The lack of adequate health care and medical treatment is only compounded by the growing number of female political prisoners that continue to be crammed into Myanmars overcrowded prisons across the country.

Khin Waddy, a 27-year-old former female political prisoner and student activist from Monywa, Sagaing Region, said she was forced to share a space, including while sleeping, with 100 to 150 inmates in one single dormitory in Monywa Prison. Around 60 percent of the inmates there were political prisoners, she said.

Being locked up with more than 100 people makes it difficult for prisoners to even change position from one side to another or turn around while sleeping, and inmates were forced to sleep face to face due to the lack of space.

Hygiene is another problem; those positioned near the septic tank were directly exposed to the smell, with liquid leaking from the tank passing near their heads.

To avoid being positioned near the septic tank, prisoners must pay the head of the dormitory for a sleeping space farther away, Khin Waddy said.

The former student activist and human rights advocate was arrested in May 2021 for providing support to 1,500 striking civil servants who joined the CDM following the military takeover.

Khin Waddy recalled that while she was being interrogated in the military interrogation center in Monywa, she was forced to kneel down while holding her hands up for 24 hours, and was beaten if she lowered her hands. She was also denied food and water. After two-and-a-half days of interrogation, she began experiencing stomach pains and vomiting and had to be sent to a military hospital.

While there she met Daw Khin Mawe Lwin, National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker for Sagaing Regions Mingin Township, who was also hospitalized while undergoing military interrogation.

The 56-year-old was twice elected a lawmaker for her constituency, in both the 2015 and 2020 elections. The results of the latter were annulled by the military following the coup.

Khin Waddy said Daw Khin Mawe Lwin, despite her frail outer appearance, stood firm and served as a mother figure for all of the female detainees in the prison.

Later, Khin Waddy and Daw Khin Mawe Lwin were both transferred to Myingyan Prison.

In prison, the two engaged in activities together including political talks and discussions during which prisoners could exchange political views, and organizing strikes mirroring those taking place outside, such as silent strikes, Thanakha (traditional cosmetic paste) strikes and flower strikes, and strikes to mark occasions such as Martyrs Day, the anniversary of the 1988 uprising, and detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyis birthday.

In prison, staging such activities can have repercussions ranging from the imposition of stricter rules or a reduction in the water allotted for showering, to a beating. There have been many reports of female political prisoners being brutally beaten and seriously injured, or being transferred to a remote prison, simply for asking that their rights be observed.

Khin Waddy was released in November last year. But instead of releasing Daw Khin Mawe Lwin, the junta hit the NLD lawmaker with another charge and transferred her to Kalay Prison.

Daw Khin Mawe Lwin suffered facial paralysis due to a stroke while in Monywa Prison. Denied timely medical care, she did not fully recover and later suffered another stroke in Kalay Prison, Khin Waddy said.

If people like Amay [mother] Mawe were outside, they could do much more than us, Khin Waddy said, adding that her wish is for Amay Mawe [Daw Khin Mawe Lwin] and all political prisoners to be released soon.

Despite the horrific, traumatizing experiences they have endured, female former political prisoners like Khin Waddy, Alinn and Phyu Nyo are not disheartened, and refuse to abandon their activism. Instead, they have joined other women who are at the forefront of the revolution.

Women from all walks of life have bravely participated in Myanmars democracy struggle under successive military regimes, including the current junta, to restore democracy in the country. Similarly, women civil servants in the education, health and other sectors have joined the CDM, refusing to work under military ruleto date, their strike continues. This is to say nothing of the many women resistance fighters who are fighting alongside their male comrades in the armed struggle against the junta.

Phyu Nyo, who was released together with her husband in May this year, said she has continued to dream of her days of imprisonment over the past three months.

In my dreams, we are both still on the run and being caught, again and again, she said with frustration. Only when I wake up without seeing any [prison] bars, and recognize that I am now outside, do I feel relief, she said.

However, Phyu Nyo hasnt let her traumatizing experiences stop her from resuming her contributions to the political movement. She has joined the Political Prisoners Network-Myanmar, which was founded by her husband and other former detainees to help political prisoners still being detained by the junta.

Alinn, the former political prisoner from Mandalay, also joined the network with the same aim as Phyu Nyo.

I couldnt feel happy on the day of my release. Though I was free, people who had become like family members to me remained behind, Alinn said.

Through the network, both Phyu Nyo and Alinn now help to send parcels containing medicines and cash to female political prisoners.

Khin Waddy is also working on raising funds for displaced people in Sagaing Region who were forced to flee their homes amid the juntas raids and arson attacks.

We want this revolution to end quickly. Only if we win will all the political prisoners be released, and thus we are determined to contribute in all ways we can. The same mindset we had while inside [prison], we now have on the outside, Khin Waddy said.

Phyu Nyo said that some of the female political prisoners still locked up are serving terms as long as 30 to 40 years.

I want all of them to escape quickly and return home. That can only happen if the revolution succeeds at the earliest possible time. And thus I will devote myself to the revolution, she said.

With the exception of Daw Khin Mawe Lwin, the names of the women mentioned in this story were changed to protect their safety.
The regime is mobilizing support from local residents for possible attacks on the capital, following recent resistance attacks on junta bases in the regimes nerve center.

A team of junta officials led by Naypyitaw Council member Colonel Min Naung gave food supplies, issued citizenship ID, and provided healthcare services in villages in Naypyitaws Pyinmana Township on Monday and Tuesday.

A resident of Pyinmana described the dire warning officials gave to residents of the township.

They said PDFs would come and attack us anytime. They threatened young people [that PDFs would attack them]. Their main intention was to rally our support, she told The Irrawaddy. They gave donations the following day [and] alerted us so that they can get information in advance if something is going to happen, the source added.

The juntas media had a different story. It said the team of officials aimed to facilitate regional stability, security, the rule of law, education, health and development in the area.

Residents of the villages visited by junta officials include retired military personnel and their families. In Myemyo Village, the team provided cash, top-up cards for phones, and food supplies to local militias.

Warning about the risk of attacks by Peoples Defense Force (PDFs), junta officials called for solidarity between the government, military and people against the danger of saboteurs using the word that previously referred solely to ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) fighting for self-determination. It now applies to both EAOs and resistance groups collectively known as PDFs.

In Gamonetaung Village, junta officials called on residents to cooperate with the regime for regional development and stability, and fight threats from saboteurs.

The campaign to solicit support from civilians in Naypyitaw started after the regime admitted at a press conference on August 22 that resistance attacks had occurred in the capital.

Bomb attacks, and surprise raids on police stations and security checkpoints are not unusual in Napyitaw. But the regime was forced to bring in air support when it attempted to retake a hill-top outpost in Pyinmana Township from resistance forces earlier this month. The outpost is only about 70 kilometers from the center of Naypyitaw.

It also lost weapons during a resistance attack on a junta outpost near Pyinmana Town recently as resistance forces increasingly target the capital.

More than two-and-a-half years since coup, the regime still cannot control the country while fighting against a widespread anti-regime resistance movement by PDFs and EAOs nationwide. Martial law is still in effect in more than 40 townships in Yangon, Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe regions, and Chin and Kayah states.

At a National Defense and Security Council meeting on July 31, Min Aung Hlaing threatened to do whatever it takes to regain control of territory lost to EAOs and PDFs.

Now, he is being forced to beef up security in Naypyitaw.
Thousands of residents of southern Kantbalu Township, Sagaing Region fled a junta raid amid the monsoon rain early on Wednesday morning, according to the locals.

A military column comprising over a hundred soldiers and members of pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militias raided 14 villages including Thayet Gaung Village in Kantbalu Township at 2 a.m., firing weapons and forcing thousands of residents to flee. A villager was killed by troops and Thayet Gaung was torched.

We heard that some residents were arrested and forced to serve as guides and reveal the houses of PDF members in the village, a representative of Infinity Group, local charity and information group, told The Irrawaddy.

Thayet Gaung has over 500 houses. Casualties resulting from the raid are not known yet, he added.

Local charity groups described the situation as an emergency, saying the fleeing residents were in need of tarpaulins, food and medicine.

The residents are having trouble as they were forced to flee in the rain, a Kantbalu resident told The Irrawaddy.

The regime unit involved, Light Infantry Battalion 361, has conducted frequent raids in Kantbalu. During Wednesdays raid, troops looted villagers property, torched the villages and killed civilians, according to Kyun Hla, another local charity and information group.

Residents said there had been no clashes between local resistance forces and Myanmar junta troops in the area recently that could have prompted the raid.

Kantbalu and adjacent Kyun Hla townships are in the resistance stronghold of Sagaing Region. Pyu Saw Htee militias are very active in the townships and force village residents to undergo military training. There are at least eight Pyu Saw Htee villages in Kyun Hla Township, which shares a border with Kantbalu.
Two of four people sentenced to death by a military tribunal in Sagaing Regions Indaw Township have gone missing and are feared dead, residents say.

One woman and three men were sentenced to death on terrorism charges on August 18. They are: Ko Aung Kyaw Kyaw Moe, Ko Zaw Myo Tun, Ko Kyaw Swar Win and Ma Myint Myint Aye.

A member of local resistance group Indaw Revolution said: According to judicial procedures, they should be sent to prison after the ruling was made. They should be sent to Katha Prison. But they have not yet been sent there. Ko Kyaw Swar and Ma Myint Myint remain at a junta base outside Indaw. The whereabouts of the other two remain unknown.

While the four were held at Indaw police station, family members could send food and other necessities to them though they were not allowed to visit them.

Family members were told in July that the four were taken from the police station.

That was the last information they received until August 18 when pro-junta Telegram channels reported that the four were sentenced to death by a military tribunal. Their photos were also displayed on Telegram.

Only one of the fourKo Aung Kyaw Kyaw Moeis a resident of Indaw Town.

Ko Kyaw Swar Win and Ma Myint Myint Aye are from Htigyaing Town. They were arrested at junta security checkpoints in Indaw. Ko Zaw Myo Tun is a driver on the Monywa-Myitkyina express bus line. He was arrested in April at a security checkpoint in Indaw while driving from Myitkyina.

A source close to Ko Aung Kyaw Kyaw Moe said: Only Ko Kyaw Swar Win and Ma Myint Myint Aye are at the junta base.

We dont know the whereabouts of the other two. We are concerned for their safety as they were given the death sentence.

Ko Aung Kyaw Kyaw Moe works as a bricklayer and has no ties to the revolution, the source said. He was arrested because junta troops found photos of villages they had torched in his phone.

Ko Zaw Myo Tun was arrested for allegedly transporting weapons on the bus he drove, [but] there was not one weapon on the bus when he was arrested. Someone who wants to hurt him gave false information to the regime, said the source.

The regime has been conducting daily checks on those who go in and out of Indaw Town as it steps up security. Junta troops pay special attention to phones. People are arrested and given fines or prison sentences if anything related to the Spring Revolution is found in their phones. At least 10 residents who were arrested over telephone infractions have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Indaw Township is one of the 14 townships in Sagaing Region where the regime has imposed martial law. Junta troops from the 77th Light Infantry Division are deployed on a hill outside Indaw Town from which they operate security checkpoints. Since the declaration of martial law, the township court was closed, and a military tribunal was set up on the hill.

A member of Indaw Township Peoples Defense Force (PDFs) said: They arrest people if anything related to military or political issues is found in their phones. They also accuse people of supporting PDFs if they cant give satisfactory answers about money transfers in their mobile wallets. Government employees who have joined the civil disobedience movement are also arrested on trumped-up charges. They are tried at a military tribunal, and given heavy sentences that we have never heard [given] before.

Military tensions are currently running high in Indaw Township, according to local resistance groups.
Two civilians were injured in Sei Lant Village on Tuesday as fighting escalated between junta forces and the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), displacing more than 500 people in Muse Township in northern Shan State near the Myanmar-China border, according to local residents.

Sei Lant was largely deserted on Wednesday as the junta conducted heavy shelling over the village, according to residents.

Two villagers sustained injuries as they were hit by shrapnel on Tuesday, a Sei Lant villager said.

A local volunteer said one of the wounded villagers was in critical condition and transferred to Mandalay Hospital from Muse on Wednesday.

A burning house was seen in a video uploaded on Facebook by the Tai (Shan) Students Union.

No one claimed responsibility for the shelling but junta forces have previously conducted shelling over civilian villages in Muse.

Sources said an artillery shell exploded on a civilian house close to an outpost of paramilitary troops. The junta-backed paramilitaries are based outside of Sei Lant near a high school on the Muse-Nam Kham Road, according to residents.

The Irrawaddy was unable to verify the reports.

A Sei Lant resident said his family left the village yesterday due to the escalation of fighting between junta troops and the TNLA.

We are temporarily staying at a relatives house in Nam Kham. My wife and daughter were petrified by the junta air strikes and heavy bombardments, he said.

Sei Lant Village consists of 10 wards with around 400 households. The village also hosts the remains of an ancient fortress that is well known among Shan communities.

Meanwhile, 200 Palaung (Taang) residents from Mant Kan, Mai Hset and Nam Kat villages are taking shelter at Ho Nar Monastery in Muse town, according to a local volunteer group.

Around 200 residents including children and seniors were evacuated with the help of volunteers yesterday. Some people still remain in the village, a volunteer said.

The fighting eased on Wednesday but tension between junta troops and the TNLA remained high in Sei Lant, according to residents.

The TLNA reported that at least 15 clashes occurred in Muse, Kutkai and Lashio townships in August as junta infantry and their militia allies entered its territory.
After it extended emergency rule for six more months in July, Myanmars regime reshuffled its cabinet and changed its five-point roadmap and 12 objectives which it adopted after the 2021 coup.

The changes saw the juntas proposed election become the top priority. It was previously the fifth point in the roadmap.

The second is about foreign policy. The country officially had an independent and non-aligned foreign policy since independence in 1948 but this has now been ditched.

The regime has removed to ensure economic prosperity for the entire nation by establishing a stable market economy and inviting foreign investments from its original manifesto. The three policy changes are related.

The Anti-Fascist Peoples Freedom League government after independence participated in the non-aligned Bandung Conference.

It was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, in 1955 amid the Cold War tensions. The states adopted independent foreign policies, free from interference from Moscow and Washington.

The regime has ditched this policy to boost its Russian ties.

Russia and China

In a significant departure from tradition, Myanmars junta, after the 2021 coup, approached Russia over China, the traditional ally of previous generals. The regime expresses total support for Russias invasion of Ukraine and everything else Moscow has done. Regime chief Min Aung Hlaing has hailed Putin as a world leader.

But the regime has been forced to return to Chinas embrace, with Beijing increasingly powerful on the global stage.

Despite some initial hesitation after the coup, China finally moved to reengage late last year with Myanmar, where it has considerable interests.

Since then, senior Chinese representatives, including the special envoy on Myanmar and Communist Party officials, diplomats and military officers, have visited Naypyitaw.

While ASEAN is pushing the junta to engage with all parties under its five-point peace plan, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang told generals in Naypyitaw in May that he supports Myanmar in advancing its political transition process and backs parties in the country to properly address differences and seek national reconciliation under the constitutional and legal framework.

Only China will know what it means by political transition under the military-drafted 2008 Constitution as opposed to ASEANs call for dialogue with all parties. The probable explanation, however, is that China has signaled its support for the juntas proposed general election, which many foreign governments say will be a sham.

Election priority

Some two months after China made this suggestion, the regime changed policy as it extended emergency rule for six months. And an election has become its priority.

The transition under the 2008 Constitution is not a new idea. Myanmar had a transition period after 2011. By saying political transition under the legal framework, China apparently refers to a repeat of Myanmars transition from military rule to a quasi-democracy in 2011, with ex-generals forming a government.

Ex-general Thein Seins administration started political reforms by offering peace talks to ethnic armed organizations, releasing political prisoners, allowing the National League for Democracy (NLD) to take part in elections and granting press freedom.

His political and economic reforms won international recognition, convincing Western democracies to lift sanctions and attract foreign investment. Politics was no longer taboo and the administration won trust over time.

The peak came when Thein Sein transferred power to the NLD after the 2015 general election. The power transfer convinced people and the international community that Myanmars political transition was irreversible.

People started to enjoy the fruits of political and economic liberty and have greater hope for the future.

People felt free for the first time after nearly five decades of suffocation under military rule since 1962.

The changes were not caused by voting but because of the political reforms. The 2015 election was only part of the process.

Coup ruined reforms

Ten years of reforms came to an end on February 1, 2021. Younger people who grew up free from military rule have seen all the progress ruined.

Thousands of politicians and activists have been put behind bars. The free press was crushed. Fresh international sanctions came and foreign investment evaporated. The kyat slumped and food, fuel, cooking oil and medicine prices shot up. While military rule has impoverished many families, some amassed wealth, working in tandem with the regime.

The juntas brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters after the coup sparked an armed revolt, which spread across the country.

The regime, in response, has burned down more than 70,000 buildings including religious buildings, across the country. It has carried out massacres, countless war crimes and indiscriminate air and shelling attacks.

Chinas push for transition

Chinas suggestion of transition under the constitutional framework means holding an election and transferring power to the winner, even if it is the militarys proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party.

This is why Chinese ambassador Chen Hai regularly meets the chair of the junta-appointed Union Election Commission. China also hosted the commission this year.

China seems to think it is safer to engage with an elected government rather than a regime even if the voting is a sham and the same people retain power.

A reason why the regime has prioritized holding an election after admitting it lacks control to organize voting is that it cannot say no to China.

However, an election without any political reform is meaningless and will solve no problems.

The juntas future

The regime has abandoned a neutral foreign policy as it seeks support from China and Russia. It has rejected dialogue and is promising a general election.

One of the regimes objectives was to build a union based on democracy and federalism by applying a true and disciplined multi-party democratic system with full justice. But it has now removed full justice from that objective.

The regime does not even bother to make empty promises of a free and fair election.

The regime has also removed market economy from its economic policies as creates an increasingly centralized economy.

The changes appear to be attempts to win approval from China and Russia.

It is not aware of or ignores the fact that doing so will only make it more difficult to retain power, intensify the many armed conflicts and worsen the economic crisis in Myanmar.

Banyar Aung is a researcher on politics and ethnic affairs.
Myanmars civilian National Unity Government (NUG) aims to bankrupt the junta through tougher sanctions and diplomatic pressure, foreign minister Daw Zin Mar Aung told the media on Tuesday.

We aim to increase our efforts to lobby the international community to impose more economic sanctions and more diplomatic pressure upon the military council, which is oppressing the people and committing violence, said Daw Zin Mar Aung.

She said the NUG will engage with any country that supports efforts to end military rule in Myanmar.

The US expanded its sanctions on August 23 to aviation fuel, adding two Burmese business owners and three companies that supply jet fuel to the regime to its Specially Designated Nationals List.

The US was the first country to impose sanctions after the February 1, 2021, coup with measures taken against Myanmars top 10 generals by February 11.

The UK and Canada also imposed sanctions on the generals by February 18.

Further sanctions against the regimes leaders, advisers, the children of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and military-owned conglomerates followed from the US, UK and European Union in March and April.

In May 2021, the US issued further sanctions on more junta members and its ruling body.

The EU sanctioned junta cabinet ministers and the attorney general in June 2021 and in July the US sanctioned more junta members, their relatives and Chinese firms.

In September 2021 the UK sanctioned Tay Za, a notorious junta crony, and his businesses for providing financial support and arms to the military.

To mark a year since the coup, the US, UK and Canada sanctioned three junta appointees while Washington also targeted four businessmen who were supporting the regime and two organizations providing arms and equipment.

The EU sanctioned more companies, including the junta-controlled Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise.

In June 2022 the UK sanctioned three firms from Russia and three from Myanmar for supplying aircraft parts to the junta. The UK expanded these measures a month later to other junta-linked companies.

In October the US placed arms dealers in Myanmar on its sanctions blacklist and in November the US and EU extended sanctions, targeting the Sky Aviator aviation company and its owner and 19 other individuals, including a minister and the chief justice.

To mark two years since the coup, the EU imposed further sanctions on junta members, its arms brokers and jet fuel suppliers.

In June this year, the US sanctioned the juntas defense ministry and the regime-run Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank, which handle the juntas foreign currency exchanges. Last month the EU sanctioned six more junta members.

The NUGs foreign ministry thanked the countries imposing sanctions upon junta assets, individuals and allied businesses.

Daw Zin Mar Aung said the NUG is also working with regional neighbors, although only East Timor has officially recognized the civilian government.

No neighboring countries have officially recognized us yet but they are communicating with us. We need to maintain these relations through engagement, proceeding silently, she said.

Daw Zin Mar Aung praised Indonesia, the current Association of Southeast Asian Nations chair, for its active role in Myanmars crisis. She called for the progress to be continued next year when Laos is chair.

The military council has not respected ASEANs five-point consensus and it does not listen to anyone or anybody, she said. We urge ASEAN to keep up its progress and maintain institutional relations with the NUG as well.
In the week leading up to Labor Day, state Sen. John Mannion has picked up six more union endorsements in his bid to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams in the 22nd Congressional District.

The labor groups endorsing Mannion, D-Geddes, include the American Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Amalgamated Transit Union, the National Education Association and the New York State Council of Machinists.

A pair of local labor organizations, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local One and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 580, are also supporting Mannion for Congress.

The teachers' unions endorsing Mannion note that he is a former educator. Before being elected to the state Senate, he was a biology teacher at West Genesee High School in Camillus. He also served as president of the West Genesee Teachers' Association.

"(Mannion is) the champion for education and for the economy that voters in central New York and the Mohawk Valley need, and he's committed to the real solutions that support student learning and engage families, because he's been putting them into practice for the last 30 years  in the classroom and now at the state Capitol," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

When Mannion launched his congressional campaign in July, he received early endorsements from the Civil Service Employees Association and New York State United Teachers.

The support from labor could elevate Mannion in the three-way Democratic primary  Sarah Klee Hood, a DeWitt town councilor, and Clemmie Harris, a Utica University professor, are also seeking the party's nomination  and in the race to defeat Williams, R-Sennett, in the 22nd district.

"As we approach Labor Day weekend and pause to recognize the immeasurable contributions of the working people who built this country and keep it running  and the labor unions who helped build the middle class  I'm more committed than ever to deliver fair working conditions, fair wages and the protection of union rights for all Americans," Mannion said.

He continued, "I am grateful to have earned the support of so many of the country's largest and most influential unions that represent millions of teachers, nurses, public employees, food workers, machinists and transportation professionals. I look forward to bringing my values and priorities as a longtime union member and teacher's association president to the halls of Congress."

The 22nd district, which includes all of Onondaga, Madison and Oneida counties, plus a portion of Oswego County, is a top target for Democrats in 2024. Democratic-friendly groups are planning to invest millions in House races across the state, including NY-22.
The prime minister of Myanmars National Unity Government (NUG) has warned resistance groups not to stray into criminal behavior as the nationwide struggle to oust the junta gains momentum.

The NUG was formed by elected lawmakers and their ethnic allies to rival the military junta following the February 2021 coup. In May 2021, it inaugurated the Peoples Defense Force (PDF) as the precursor of a Federal Union Army.

Prime Minister Mahn Winn Khaing Thann told the NUGs cabinet meeting on Tuesday that some armed resistance groups had forgotten their revolutionary roots and were using their weapons to bully civilians.

I have also heard that people are worried for their lives because of the actions of these groups, he said, reminding responsible ministries to apply the chain of command and other rules strictly.

He added that it was vital to solve the problem of rogue resistance members quickly with strong policies.

Armed resistance forces have taken the responsibility of keeping the people safe. If those who are supposed to protect the people go astray, the revolution will also suffer. We have to be very careful, because public support and encouragement may be lost little by little if there are many of these unfortunate incidents.

His warning comes as resistance groups under the NUGs command in Sagaing and Magwe regions face criticism for abusing human rights.

Currently, there are more than 300 PDF units and over 250 township-based groups across the country, according to the NUGs Defense Ministry.

Furthermore, there are around 400 guerrilla groups known as the local defense force (LDF), most of whom are in contact with the NUG. As well as the LDFs and PDFs, there are also peoples defense teams (PDTs, or Pa Ka Pha) under the NUGs Defense Ministry.

The speed of the revolution will increase from all sides as we approach the end of 2023, so lets not waver in the direction we are taking. I think we all understand that this is the time to move cautiously in order to achieve a common goal, the prime minister said.

NUG Acting President Duwa Lashi La told cabinet members at Tuesdays meeting that the lifeline of the government is public support, and reminded them to maintain contact with the people while carrying out their responsibilities.

It is vital to pay constant attention to the fact that the revolution is not separate from the people, he said, adding that connection and unity with the public was a core priority of the NUG.
At least 50 Myanmar junta forces as well as 15 resistance fighters were killed in the last three days as Peoples Defense Force groups (PDFs) and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) stepped up attacks on regime targets across the country.

In one case, 13 ethnic Chin resistance fighters were killed during failed offensives against junta bases in the mountaintop town of Chin State on Monday.

Incidents were reported in Chin and Shan states and Magwe and Sagaing regions.

The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs and EAOs.

Some military casualty figures could not be independently verified.

Clashes intensify in northern Shan State



A junta fighter jet attacks TNLA troops in Muse Township on Tuesday. / Shan News

Clashes between regime forces and the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) intensified in Muse Township, northern Shan State on Tuesday after the junta conducted artillery and air strikes on TNLA bases as well as residential areas in the township, according to reports from local media.

The TNLA said heavy clashes lasted the whole day near the Myanmar-China border on Monday when five military columns attempted to raid the groups areas in Muse Township.

Details on casualties were not available for either side.

Heavy clashes erupt in mountaintop town in Chin

At least 13 ethnic Chin resistance fighters were killed and more than 10 injured in the mountaintop town of Thantlang in Chin State on Monday when four Chinland Defense Groups including the Chin National Army (CNA), the armed wing of the Chin National Front (CNF), attempted to occupy four junta bases, including a strategic hilltop base, in and around the town.

To protect its bases, the junta conducted air strikes while artillery units from nearby Hakha town bombarded the resistance forces.

In the clashes, around 30 junta troops were reportedly killed and dozens injured.

Military checkpoint bombed in Magwe



Resistance forces conduct drone strikes on a military checkpoint in Pakokku Township on Monday. / RDF

Royal Defense Force said it and two other resistance groups used improvised remoted-controlled planes to drop 10 bombs on a military checkpoint on the Pakokku-Myaing road in In Pin Village in Pakokku Township, Magwe Region on Monday.

Military casualties were unknown. The regime forces responded by indiscriminately firing both heavy explosives and firearms.

Police outpost attacked in Magwe



Joint resistance forces during an attack on Kaing Taw Ma police station in Myaing Township on Sunday / Young Force

A resistance fighter was killed during a clash with regime forces in Myaing Township, Magwe Region on Sunday when several PDF groups from Pakokku and Myaing townships jointly raided the Kaing Taw Ma police station, where police and regime soldiers are stationed, said Young Force, which joined the raid.

Military casualties were unknown.

Junta vehicles ambushed with land mines in Magwe

At least three junta police officers were killed in Pakokku Township, Magwe Region on Tuesday when Young Force and other resistance groups triggered land mines to ambush a police vehicle on the Pakokku-Yesagyo road, the PDF group said.

On Monday, the group also ambushed a military vehicle using land mines triggered from locations outside Pakokku town, killing two soldiers.

Two junta forces killed by resistance snipers in Magwe

Myaing PDF claimed to have killed Police Captain Zaw Min Tun in Myaing Township, Magwe Region on Tuesday morning when its resistance sniper forces attacked a military checkpoint at the west entrance of Myaing town.

An army sergeant was killed in the evening when the sniper groups continued to fire on regime forces at the same checkpoint.

Junta suffers casualties in clash in Magwes Gangaw

At least three regime forces were killed and five injured in Gangaw Township, Magwe Region on Sunday when three local resistance groups including Chin groups clashed with a military unit including pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia members who were raiding and looting villages, said Yaw PDF, which coordinated the attack.

A resistance fighter suffered injuries in the clash.

Two regime forces killed in urban attack in Magwe

Oppressed Peoples Revolutionary Force claimed to have killed two regime forces when one of its fighters threw a grenade into a junta bunker at a military checkpoint at an entrance of Natmauk town, Magwe Region on Tuesday evening.

Clashes rage for two days in upper Sagaing

At least eight regime forces as well as a resistance fighter were killed in Indaw Township, Sagaing Region on Sunday and Monday when the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) clashed with a military unit of 60 troops in the Maw Take area in the west of the township for two days, said Indaw Revolution, a local revolutionary media outlet.

Junta sentries bombed by resistance drones in Sagaing



A resistance drone drops bombs on junta sentries at the Military Tank Battalion in Sagaing Township on Tuesday.

Unicorn Guerrilla Forces said it and four other PDF used drones to drop seven bombs on junta sentries at the entrance gate of a military tank battalion in Ohn Taw Village in Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday.

Military casualties were not yet known. After being bombed, the regime forces responded indiscriminately with 40-mm explosives and firearms.
Wednesday, Aug 30th, 2023 (11:40 am) - Score 2,040

Infracapital-backed ISP Fibrus, which is rolling out a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across Northern Ireland and the North of England, has today revealed that their network now covers 300,000 premises (up from 250k in March) and is home to 50,000 customers (up from 36,000).

Just to clarify that coverage figure a bit. Fibrus might have built to 300,000 premises, but at present only 273,000 of those premises are considered to be in a Ready for Service (RFS) state. Given the 50,000 customers figure released today, this means that Fibrus has a respectable 18.32% take-up rate on that RFS coverage figure (Fibrus officially puts it at 19%, which is up from 15% in March).

NOTE: Fibrus has attracted over 750m of committed capital, including 235m from investors, 220m from a banking consortium and the rest as public subsidy (e.g. 197m Fibrus has attracted over 750m of committed capital, including 235m from investors, 220m from a banking consortium and the rest as public subsidy (e.g. 197m Project Stratum  85,000 premises by March 2025 in N.Ireland  and the 108m Project Gigabit contract for 60,000 premises in Cumbria, England  Hyperfast GB ).

The operator aims to cover 1 million premises over the next 3 years (by Q1 2026)  reflecting around 450,000 in N.Ireland (c. 50% of homes in the region) and the rest from England and Scotland. A total of 400,000 UK premises are currently expected to be covered by March 2024 (i.e. 150,000 in a single year).

In order to fund this continued expansion, the company this week received an additional 35m tranche of equity funding from its shareholder Infracapital, bringing its total investment in Fibrus to 150m.

Colin Hutchinson, Fibrus Chief Revenue and Finance Officer, said: Connecting 50,000 customers is an important milestone in our mission to bring Full Fibre broadband to homes and businesses to rural and regional areas of the UK. It shows the momentum we are building in the market, having tripled our customer base in just one year. Our journey has become synonymous with bringing Full Fibre broadband to every corner of Northern Ireland, and our growth is accelerating as we continue our rollout and build our brand in northern England. We recently launched a new Total Home Wi-Fi product, teaming up with eero, an Amazon company, to guarantee customers coverage in every room of the house. A new brand campaign features the Total Home Wi-Fi guarantee as one of three pillars of our value proposition, along with guaranteed speeds and our promise to never raise prices mid-contract.

Fibrus also notes that, earlier this year, the first homes in the UKs first regional Project Gigabit procurement in Cumbria were connected in Aspatria with customer penetration exceeding 20% within one month of launch. The provider has also confirmed that it is planning to raise further equity and debt to fund its #R21M (road to one million) plan which also includes more Project Gigabit contracts.

Customers of Fibrus typically pay from 24.99 (discounted to 19.99) per month for an unlimited 146Mbps (30Mbps upload) package with an included eero 6+ or eero Pro 6E router and free installation, which rises to 44.99 (discounted to 39.99) per month for their top 946Mbps (300Mbps upload) tier on a 24-month contract term. The service discounts may vary between different parts of their build.
Wednesday, Aug 30th, 2023 (4:43 pm) - Score 1,272

Scottish ISP Lothian Broadband (LBN), which is building a 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network across rural parts of East Lothian, the Highlands and Fife, has announced that theyre extending into the rural areas surrounding the city of Stirling  starting with 3,400 premises across three villages.

The latest rollout expansion will utilise funding from the UK Governments (BDUK) Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme in order to build their full fibre network across 3,400 homes and businesses in the villages of Cowie, Fallin and Plean. Assuming all goes to plan, then the first customer installs are expected to begin in October 2023 and the roll-out could be completed by the end of 2023.

NOTE: LBN is supported by an investment of 50m from a mix of shareholders and the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB).

The provider, which also operates the Highland Broadband sub-brand across the Highlands region, originally began building a new full fibre network to cater for the East Lothian village of Gifford, but theyve since expanded into various other locations such as Longniddry, Pencaitland, Gullane, East Linton, Pathhead and more.

At present LBN claims that their network already passes approximately 10,000 premises  including both their old fixed wireless and new FTTP networks, which we think is out-of-date as thats the same exact figure they gave in April 2023 (here). But theyll need to move faster in order to achieve their next goal of passing 100,000 premises by the end of 2024.

Gavin Rodgers, LBN CEO, said: We are thrilled to be connecting Stirlings surrounding villages to the UKs fastest broadband network. With support from the Scottish Government, Building Digital UK and the Scottish National Investment Bank, we are on track to complete the network build making all 3,400 premises ready for service by the end of 2023, further transforming connectivity across Scotland.

Sir John Whittingdale, UK Minister for Digital Infrastructure, said: Thanks to LBN, local residents in and around Stirling will now have access to faster and more reliable internet than any other area of the UK  helping to boost connectivity, fuel economic growth and create jobs. Importantly, this shows that no matter how rural the area, lightning speed broadband can still reach homes and businesses and the UK Government is determined to bring ultrafast gigabit broadband to every corner of the UK by 2030, backed by up to 210 million in gigabit vouchers for people in remote locations.

Residential customers of the service can expect to pay from 34.99 per month for an unlimited 100Mbps (symmetric) service on a 12 or 24-month term, which rises up to 49.99 (reduced from 74.99) for a 900Mbps service or 64.99 (reduced from 89.99) for 2000Mbps! Various phone, pay TV and mesh WiFi solutions can also be added at an extra cost.
Wednesday, Aug 30th, 2023 (11:14 am) - Score 1,224

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has revealed that their 1.8Gbps capable UK Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network now covers a total of 949,000 properties in Scotland (up from 800,000 in mid-March 2023), which is estimated to have cost them around 280m (assumes an average of 300 per premises passed).

The vast majority of their full fibre build in Scotland reflects their own commercial investment, but it should be said that theyre also covering some areas with support from Gigabit Broadband Vouchers and the Scottish Governments 600m Reaching 100% (R100) project. The latter will ultimately aim to upgrade another 115,000 of Scotlands hardest-to-reach premises by 2028 (theyve already delivered 24,194 premises of that target).

NOTE: The operators up to 15bn The operators up to 15bn FTTP network currently covers over 11 million UK premises, but they aim to reach 25m by December 2026 (80%+)  including 6.2m in rural areas. Currently building at a rate of 55,000 premises per week.

Some of the latest areas to benefit from Openreachs wider roll-out include the large North Lanarkshire village of Shotts and the similarly sized Dumfriesshire town of Annan, where work to build the new full fibre network has just begun. Both builds are expected to reach the majority of local homes and businesses over the next 18-24 months. Take-up in Scotland currently sits at around 30% on their new network.

Robert Thorburn, Openreachs Partnership Director for Scotland, said: [Shotts and Annan are] part of our balanced build across Scotland, which includes more than 200 rural towns and villages. We want to make sure that progress is evenly spread and that people in all parts of Scotland can be online effortlessly and build opportunities in their community. Connecting everyone in Scotland to our fastest and most reliable broadband would result in a multi-billion pound economic boost.

Meanwhile, were still waiting to hear how the UK governments Project Gigabit funding for Scotland (aka  LOT 39) will be handled, although the first procurements should launch sometime this autumn. Some 447,170 premises across Scotland are currently predicted to need support from public funding to help them gain access to a gigabit-capable (1000Mbps) broadband network (here), which could rise if existing plans (inc. commercial builds) fall short.

Naturally, in order to benefit from the new network, youll need to order the service from a supporting ISP like BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Vodafone, Zen Internet, iDNET, AAISP and many more.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- During the first half of 2023, BAIC Motor Corporation Limited (BAIC Motor) achieved an operating revenue of 99.047 billion yuan, marking an 18.37% year-on-year growth, according to the companys performance report for released on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Photo credit: BAIC Motor

During the reporting period, BAIC Motors net profit attributable to shareholders reached 2.846 billion yuan, surging 31.9% from the previous year.

BAIC Motor's four major vehicle brands, namely Beijing Brand, Beijing Benz, Beijing Hyundai, and Fujian Benz, collectively recorded a sales volume of 507,000 units in the first half of this year, representing a 24.1% jump year over year.

The company's strong growth is evident across various dimensions, including the advancement achieved by its wholly-owned brands, new energy vehicle sector, and export business. Notably, Beijing Brand's sales soared by 125.9% year over year in H1. Sales of new energy vehicles under the brand saw a remarkable 267.6% spike from a year ago, while its export business experienced an extraordinary 234.8% year-on-year surge.

Embracing international market opportunities, BAIC Motor is deepening its dual-market strategy, expanding its presence in both domestic and international markets. The company has ventured into new markets in the Middle East and Europe, leveraging popular models to boost overseas business growth.

In the luxury segment, Beijing Benz achieved vehicle sales of over 301,000 units in the first half of the year, marking a 12.9% increase from a year ago. The maiden shipment of Beijing Benz's first EQE all-electric SUV to Germany showcases the brand's global ambitions.

On the other hand, Beijing Hyundai's wholesale sales reached 118,000 units during the reporting period, jumping 25.7% from that of the previous year.
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.
China's monthly registrations of locally-made passenger vehicles (PVs) reached 1,736,292 units in July 2023, edging up 0.41% from the previous year, but falling 9.63% from the previous month, according to the data compiled by Gasgoo Auto Research Institute ("GARI").

July's registration figures hit the second-highest monthly level so far this year, despite the traditional trend of July being a slack season for car shopping. The month showcased a moderate decline from June's peak.

With July marking the beginning for the implementation of China's VI-b emission standards, the rapid ascent of the price cut spree witnessed in the first half of the year has tapered off. The auto market entered a subdued growth period in July, with an overall slight reduction in sales promotion intensity.

At the national level, guiding policies have been frequently introduced to boost and expand consumer automobile purchases. Initiatives such as the "Hundred-City Coordination" Auto Festival and the "Thousands of Counties and Ten Thousands of Towns" New Energy Vehicle Consumption Season, which promote the use of new energy vehicles, have yielded positive outcomes. Diverse promotional activities like regional auto shows and consumer voucher distribution, coupled with manufacturers' stronger efforts in the semi-annual sprint, have collectively boosted consumer confidence.

Besides, taking into account such factors as an earlier-than-usual Spring Festival, the ebb and flow of anticipated stimulus policies, the surge in sales promotion for China VI-a car inventories, and the lower base for the year-ago period, the cumulative PV registrations for the Jan.-Jul. period in China rose 4.05% from a year earlier to 11,025,225 million units.

In July 2023, three brands saw their monthly PV registrations in China exceed 100,000 units, namely, BYD, Volkswagen, and Toyota, the same as that of the previous month. Of them, BYD was the only one to get over 200,000 PVs registered.

In addition, Changan, Geely, and Wuling, the three of the main Chinese indigenous brands, occupied the fifth to seventh spots in terms of July PV registrations. They were closely followed by the Germanys Big Three, namely, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi.

Tesla, with only two China-made battery electric vehicle (BEV) models available for sale, took the 17th spot with 32,383 vehicles registered, sliding 10th places from the previous-month ranking. It was outdone by AION and Li Auto, two of the major Chinese local new energy vehicle (NEV) makers.

On the front of year-to-date performance, BYD was the first brand to see its cumulative registrations exceed 1 million units this year. Volkswagen was claimed the runner-up with 984,064 PVs registered.

Among main Japanese brands, both Toyota and Honda appeared on the top 10 brands list by Jan.-Jul. figures, while Nissan stood at the 11th spot.

Apart from BYD, there were still 9 China's wholly-owned members among the top 20 brands by Jan.-Jul. PV registrations, namely, Changan, Geely, Wuling, Haval, Chery, AION, Trumpchi, Li Auto, and Hongqi.

Among all China-made PV models, the Sagitar and the Sylphy held the first two places regarding July registrations, and both of them are oil-fueled vehicles. The Model Y dropped to the third place, but it was still the best-performing new energy vehicle (NEV) model.

On the top 20 PV models list by July registrations, BYD's products took 6 spots, and 5 of which successively ranked 5th to 9th. Notably, the brand's best-selling model in July was the Seagull, which hit the market on April 26 this year with a price range of 73,800 yuan to 89,800 yuan. Boasting 12 features, including four air bags, ESP, and fast charging, as standard across all trims, the affordable all-electric A0-segment car is serving a vigorous driver to BYD's continuous sales rise.

In addition, the two main battery electric city carsthe Wuling Honguang MINIEV and the Changan Luminranked 16th and 17th, respectively, with over 15,000 vehicles registered in July each. The Mercedes-Benz E-Class was the only one from the "Germany's Big Three" to enter the top 20 models list.

Of all locally-made PV models, the Model Y was the only one to record a year-to-date registration volume of over 200,000 units. The Sylphy and the Lavida were honored the runner-up and the second runner-up, respectively. The No.4 to No.7 spots were all obtained by BYD's vehicles, namely, the Dolphin, the Qin PLUS DM-i, the Song PLUS DM-i, and the Yuan PLUS. Great Wall Motor's Haval H6 also had over 100,000 vehicles registered in the first seven months, ranking 10th.

The German trio had two models on the top 20 models list by Jan.-Jul. registrations, namely, the Audi A6L and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

Among cities on the Chinese mainland, Beijing and Shanghai took the first two seats by July registrations, both of which had over 50,000 domestically-built PVs registered in the month.

As for the most popular models in major cities, the top 3 models by July registrations in Beijing were the Yuan PLUS, the Model Y, and the Song PLUS EV, all of which were all-electric ones. In the same time span, there were a number of BEV models existing in the top 10 models list in Shanghai, such as the Model Y (No.1), the Yuan PLUS (No.3), the NIO ES6 (No.5), the Dolphin (No.6), the ID.3 (No.7), the NIO ET5 (No. 8), and the Model 3 (No. 10).

For the Jan.-Jul. period, a total of 11 cities had over 200,000 locally-made PVs registered each, three of which (Shanghai, Beijing, and Chengdu) saw their respective year-to-date registrations surpass 300,000 units.

In July 2023, China's monthly locally-made new energy passenger vehicle (NEPV) registrations came in at 602,946 units, jumping 37.32% year on year, but dipping 6.62% month on month.

For the first seven months of this year, the cumulative NEPV registrations across the Chinese mainland leapt 39.07% over the prior-year period to 3,517,387 units.

By specific powertrain solutions, the BEV sector logged a registration volume of 416,088 units in July, accounting for 69.01% of the country's total NEPV registrations. The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) registrations reached 186,662 units, which included 52,008 range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs).

There were 196 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) registered on the Chinese mainland in July, making up a tiny 0.03% of China's NEPV registrations.

Of the NEPVs registered in Jan.-Jul. 2023, 68.56% were contributed by BEVs. Meanwhile, the FCEV sector posted a year-to-date registration volume of only 263 units.

With respect to the NEPV registrations in July, BYD still took a remarkable lead over other brands. It had 200,783 NEPVs registered in the month, which were even more than the sum of the No.2-No.8 occupants. GAC Group's AION was credited the runner-up, while Li Auto and Tesla ranked 3rd and 4th, respectively.

Li Auto was the top-performer among Chinese NEV startups. The company made up 64.39% of the country's total REEV registrations in July, demonstrating the high attractiveness of its L series models to family users.

Wuling served as the No. 5 brand with 31,542 NEPVs registered in July, including 15,506 Hongguang MINIEV cars and 14,611 Binguo cars. Changan still occupied the 6th place with the Changan CS75 PLUS as its best-selling model. The Geely brand dropped 5 spots from the previous month to the 15th in July, while Galaxy, the NEV range Geely Automobile launched earlier this year, ranked 18th with only one production model, the Galaxy L7, now for sale.

In terms of the year-to-date NEPV registrations, the top five brandsBYD, Tesla, AION, Wuling, and Li Autoall witnessed their cumulative registration volume surpass 100,000 units.

With regard to July registrations, the Model Y still topped other homemade NEPV models. Six BYD-branded modelsthe Seagull, the Qin PLUS DM-i, the Yuan PLUS, the Dolphin, the Song PLUS DM-i, and the Song Pro DMtook the 2nd to 7th spots among all domestically-built NEPV models.

The three brands-Wuling, AION, and Li Autoall had two models on the top 20 NEPV models list by July registrations.

Judging from the Jan.-Jul. performance, there were 6 NEPV models in total whose respective cumulative registrations all exceeded 100,000 units. Of them, the Model Y was the only one to surpass the 200,000-unit mark.

On the top 20 NEPV models list by Jan.-Jul. registrations, BYD held 10 spots in total (including the DENZA D9). Li Auto saw its three L series models all enter the top 20 rankings (18th-20th).

In July 2023, Beijing outdid other cities with 24,531 homemade NEPVs registered, outselling the runner-up Shanghai by only 447 units. Guangzhou moved up to the third place with over 20,000 NEPVs registered as well.

During this year's first seven months, there were 6 cities on the Chinese mainland with over 100,000 domestically built NEPVs registered each.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- On August 29, Inceptio Technology, a Chinese developer of autonomous driving solutions for commercial vehicles, announced that its Inceptio Trucks equipped with NOA technology have successfully operated for over 50 million kilometers with zero accidents.



Photo credit: Inceptio Technology

Since the successful mass production of intelligent heavy-duty trucks in partnership with major automakers at the end of 2021, Inceptio's NOA-equipped trucks have seamlessly covered national highways, gaining widespread recognition from leading logistics clients for their safety, efficiency, labor savings, and fuel economy. This accomplishment marks a significant milestone in the large-scale commercial deployment of intelligent heavy-duty trucks.

Inceptio Technology has established operational collaborations with over a hundred cargo owners and carrier fleets. The trucks have traversed over 340 major national highways across 7 core economic regions, completing nearly 50,000 trips autonomously. Over the course of approximately 600 days of continuous intelligent driving commercial operations, autonomous driving covered more than 90% of the total driving distance, consistently delivering substantial safety, labor, efficiency, and fuel-saving benefits to logistics customers.

During the Inceptio Tech Day event, Inceptio Technology also announced strategic partnerships, signing procurement agreements for the first batch of 500 intelligent heavy-duty trucks with Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle and STO Express, as well as 200 trucks with China National Heavy Duty Truck Group (CNHTC) and ZTO Express. A strategic cooperation agreement was also established with Deppon Express.
Due to an unspecified "technical problem", air traffic in the United Kingdom went haywire on Monday and hundreds of thousands of passengers remained stranded at the airport. The effects continue today and will last for days, with delayed flights and long queues at airport security checks, as airlines try to clear the backlog of rescheduled flight connections.

Among the main victims of the chaos at the end of August are thousands of tourists and families returning home after their long-awaited holidays. These passengers were left stranded at the airport and in hotels, with no clarity on when they would be able to board their return journey.

Among them is Victoria Cadwallader-Webb, who suffers from type 1 diabetes, stranded in Bulgaria's Burgas airport after TUI Airways canceled her return flight to Cardiff, Wales. She says: "I have enough insulin with me, I'm covered for up to 12 hours, but I can't get my suitcase back". However, the airline said it is assisting all customers, contacting them one by one.

There are many stories like this, which expose the fragility of the air traffic control mechanism in the post-pandemic. The system used by air carriers is "highly automated": pilots hand over the flight plan to assistants, who then transmit it to the air traffic controller, to enter it into the digital platform. Therefore, a simple technical problem can lead to interruptions that cause inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of passengers; so the companies reverted to the old manual-paper system until the problem was solved.
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By Wolf Grune, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | 

In Nazi Germany, Hertha Reis, a 36-year-old Jewish woman, performed forced labor for a private company in Berlin during World War II. In 1941, she was evicted by a judge from the two sublet rooms where she lived with her son and mother  she was unprotected as a tenant because of an anti-Jewish law.

In plain daylight, in front of the courthouse in the heart of the Nazi capital, she protested in front of passersby.

We lost everything. Because of this cursed government, we finally lost our home, too. This thug Hitler, this damned government, these damned people, she said. Just because we are Jews, we are discriminated against.

Historians knew of clandestine acts of resistance, of course, and of armed group resistance, such as the Warsaw ghetto uprising. But in the dominant understanding of the Nazi period until now, the act of speaking out publicly as an individual against the persecution of Jews seemed unimaginable, especially for the Jews.

But in July 2008, I stumbled on the first trace of such public acts of resistance in the logbook of a Berlin police precinct, one of the few chronicles of its kind that had survived in the Berlin State Archive.

The entry, bearing the label political incident, was written by a police officer who had arrested a Jewish man protesting against the Nazi anti-Jewish policies. At the time of the discovery, I had studied the persecution of German Jews intensively for almost 20 years, but I had never heard of anything like this.

Intrigued, I started investigating. Subsequently, finding more and more similar stories of resistance in court records and survivor testimonies began to shatter my established scholarly beliefs.



A display box for the Der Sturmer newspaper that has been defaced to read, The Jews are our fortune instead of The Jews are our misfortune. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Miriamne Fields

Challenging traditional views of Jewish resistance

Historians, including myself, had long painted a picture of passivity of the persecuted. When discrimination in Nazi Germany gradually increased, the Jews slowly adapted, so went the argument. More generally, an assumption still exists today that defiance, especially individual protest, is rare in authoritarian regimes.

The astonishing evidence from the Berlin police files resonated deeply with me on a personal level. I grew up behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany. The communist regime persecuted even mild expressions of individual opposition as threats. This personal experience of living in a dictatorship until the age of 28 provided me with a distinct sensitivity that enabled me to recognize day-to-day forms of resistance.

Knowing from history that the treatment of the political opposition in Nazi Germany was so much more brutal, how much more serious must the Hitler regime have perceived any signs of resistance coming from their No. 1 racial enemy, the Jews?

Still, today the public and many scholars understand Jewish resistance during the Holocaust mostly in terms of rare armed group activities in the Nazi occupied East, for example ghetto uprisings or partisan attacks.

By including individual acts and, thus, broadening the traditional definition of Jewish resistance, over a dozen years of systematic research I was able to unearth many new sources  from police and court records of various German cities to video testimonies of survivors  that documented a much greater volume and variety of resistance acts than could ever have been imagined.

The astonishing results change the view of Jewish resistance during World War II dramatically. The story of Hertha Reis and many other potent tales of individual defiance and courage contradict the common misconception that Jews were led like sheep to slaughter during the Holocaust.

A 17-year-old challenges the Nazi regime

Searching the Hesse Main State archive in Wiesbaden, I found the story of Hans Oppenheimer. He left his four-story apartment house every night for weeks in 1940, breaking the curfew for Jews. Not a single light illuminated the street in front of him. The city of Frankfurt had ordered a brownout to protect it from Allied air raids.

A few blocks away from his home, Hans hid in a doorway. With the entire city, Hans waited anxiously for the bombs to fall.

Persecuted because he was Jewish, as a 17-year-old, Hans had already toiled as a forced laborer for a year and a half, most recently unloading stones and cement bags from river barges for 10 hours every day. He earned only pennies and felt constantly harassed.

Hans had never been to a movie or a play, because those were prohibited for Jews in Frankfurt. As a Jewish adolescent, he saw no future in Nazi Germany. Because the war prevented him from leaving, he had decided to do something.

Every night, he waited in the dark, anxious and excited. When the sirens started to blare, announcing that the Allied bombers were closing in, Hans set off fire alarms to divert the German firefighters from the actual bombing sites. In December 1940, after he had set off dozens of false alarms, the police finally manage to catch Hans red-handed.

The Frankfurt prosecutor indicted Hans Oppenheimer and put him on trial. Since the court could not prove treason, the now 18-year-old received only three years in prison for sabotaging the war effort.

Incarcerated and isolated, Hans suffered from severe depression and physical debilitation. When the prison officials did not respond to his repeated complaints, the young man attempted to take his own life twice. At the end of 1942, the Gestapo deported all Jewish prison inmates from Germany to Auschwitz. Hans Oppenheimer did not survive there for long, because of his weakened state. He died on Jan. 30, 1943, just days after he had turned 20 years old.

A new history of Jewish resistance

Forgotten until now, between 1933 and 1945 hundreds and hundreds of Jewish women and men performed individual acts of resistance in Nazi Germany proper. I present many of their stories in my new book, Resisters. How Ordinary Jews Fought Persecution in Hitlers Germany.

They destroyed Nazi symbols, protested in public against the persecution, disobeyed Nazi laws and local restrictions and defended themselves from verbal insults as well as physical attacks.

Amazingly, Jews of all ages, educational backgrounds and professions resisted in many ways. Some did it repeatedly, others just once. The fact that so many Germans and Austrians individually resisted the Nazis and their policies obliterates the common misconception of the passivity of the persecuted Jews.

Instead, such widespread individual acts of resistance during World War II provide a new view of history: that Jews showed agency in fighting their persecution by the Nazis. And this, in turn, demonstrates that individual resistance is possible under even the worst genocidal circumstances.

Wolf Gruner, Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of History; Founding Director, USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Featured Image: Lizi Rosenfeld, a Jewish woman, sits on a park bench bearing a sign that reads, Only for Aryans, in August 1938 in Vienna.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum /Provenance: Leo Spitzer, CC BY-SA
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( Tomdispatch.com )  A new war, a new alibi. When we think about our latest war  the one that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, just six months after our Afghan War ended so catastrophically  there is a hidden benefit. As long as American minds are on Ukraine, we are not thinking about planetary climate disruption. This technique of distraction obeys the familiar mechanism that psychologists have called displacement. An apparently new thought and feeling becomes the substitute for harder thoughts and feelings you very much want to avoid.

Every news story about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys latest demand for American or European weaponry also serves another function: the displacement of a story about, say, the Canadian fires which this summer destroyed a forest wilderness the size of the state of Alabama and 1,000 of which are still burning as this article goes to press. Of course, there is always the horrific possibility that Ukraine could pass from a contained to a nuclear war, as out of control as those Canadian fires. Yet we are regularly assured that the conflict, close to the heart of Europe, is under careful supervision. The war has a neatly framed villain (Vladimir Putin) and  thanks to both the U.S. and NATO  a great many good people containing him. What could possibly go wrong?

A fantasy has taken root among well-meaning liberals. Ukraine, they believe, is the good war people like them have been searching for since 1945. This is our Spain, young enthusiasts have been heard to say, referring to the Spanish Republican war against fascism. In Ukraine in the early 2020s, unlike Spain in the late 1930s, the Atlantic democracies will not falter but will go on as long as it takes. Also, the climate cause will be assisted along the way, since Russia is a large supplier of natural gas and oil, and the world needs to unhook itself from both.

That theory got tested a year ago, with the underwater sabotage of Russias Nordstream natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. President Biden, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland all welcomed that environmental disaster. In an eventually deleted message the former Polish foreign minister and war advocate Radislaw Sikorski tweeted thanks to the U.S. for what he took to be a transparently American operation. The American media, however, treated the attack as an imponderable mystery, some reports even suggesting that Russia might have destroyed its own invaluable pipeline for reasons yet to be fathomed. Then, in a February 2023 article, the independent investigative reporter Seymour Hersh traced the attack to the U.S., and later Western reports would come halfway to his conclusion by assigning credit to Ukraine, or a pro-Ukrainian group. As of late summer, all reporting on the Nordstream disaster seems to have stopped. What has not stopped is the killing. The numbers of dead and wounded in the Ukraine war are now estimated at nearly half a million, with no end in sight.

The Nordstream wreck was only one attention-getting catastrophe within the greater horror that a war always is. An act of industrial sabotage on a vast scale, it was also an act of environmental terrorism, causing the largest methane leak in the history of the planet. According to a report in Forbes, The subsequent increase in greenhouse gases was equivalent to as much as 32% of Denmarks annual emissions.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was an illegal and immoral act, but the adjective that usually follows illegal and immoral is unprovoked. In truth, this war was provoked. A contributing cause, impossible to ignore, was the eastward extension of NATO, always moving closer to the western borders of Russia, in the years from 1991 to 2022. That expansion was gradual but relentless. Consider the look of such a policy to the country - no longer Communist and barely a great power  which, in 2013, American leaders again began to describe as an adversary.

With the end of the Cold War in 1991 (the very global conflict that gave NATO its reason for being), the eastward projection of the alliance accelerated dramatically. Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, all former members of the Soviet bloc, were brought into NATO in 1999; and 2004 witnessed an even richer harvest of former satellites of the USSR: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, all either near to or bordering on Russia. Then came the Bucharest Summit Declaration of April 2008: Georgia and Ukraine, the NATO heads of state announced, would be given the opportunity to apply for membership at some future date. If you want to know why Putin and his advisers might have considered this a security concern for Russia, look at a map.

Counterfeit Solidarity

The United States has supported Ukraine with copious donations of weapons, troop-trainers, and logistical and technical advisers left to work the interoperable targeting equipment we share with that country. Between 2014 and 2022, NATO drilled at least 10,000 Ukrainian troops per year in advanced methods of warfare. In the war itself, weapons supplies have climbed steadily from Stinger and Javelin missiles to Abrams tanks (whose greenhouse-gas environmental footprint is 0.6 miles per gallon of gas, or 300 gallons every eight hours of use), to cluster bombs, and most recently the promise of F-16s.

All this has put fresh wind in the sails of the weapons manufacturers of the American military-industrial-congressional complex. In May 2022, the CEO of Lockheed Martin thanked President Biden personally for his kindness. F-16s, after all, are big money-makers. As for the additional fuel that ordinary Ukrainians require, it is now being sequestered underground by Ukrainian commodities traders at enormous environmental risk.

Wars and their escalation  the mass destruction of human life that is almost invariably accompanied by destruction of the natural world  happen because preparations for war bring leaders ever closer to the brink. So close, in fact, that it feels natural to go on. That was certainly the case with Russia, Ukraine, and NATO, and the escalation that followed. Examples of such escalation are indeed the rule, not the exception in time of war.

Think of the invention, testing, and strategic planning that led to the dropping of the first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. In Jon Elses extraordinary documentary The Day After Trinity, the physicist Freeman Dyson offered a sober analysis of the momentum driving the decision to use the bomb:

Why did the bomb get dropped on people at Hiroshima? I would say: its almost inevitable that it would have happened  simply because all the bureaucratic apparatus existed by that time to do it. The air force was ready and waiting. There had been prepared big airfields in the island of Tinian in the Pacific from which you could operate. The whole machinery was ready.

In the same sense, all the apparatus was in place for the war in Ukraine. Joe Biden, a conventional cold warrior, has always had a temperament rather like that of President Harry Truman. The Biden of 2023, like the Truman of 1945, comes across as impulsive, not deliberate. He likes to pop off, thinks he is appreciated for taking risks, and fancies himself particularly good under pressure. This state of mind partly accounts for his decision to label Vladimir Putin a war criminal: never mind that such a description would apply with equal truth to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for launching the invasion of Iraq in 2003  a war that Biden, as chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, supported unreservedly. His insistence that this man [Putin] cannot remain in power for gods sake and his belief (as of mid-July 2023) that Putin has already lost the war exhibit the same pattern of effusive moralism accompanied by a denial of inconvenient facts.

A different perspective was offered by Anatol Lieven at the Responsible Statecraft website:

We are repeatedly told that the war in Ukraine is a war to defend democracy and help secure it across the world. Our American, French and British ancestors (and even the Russians, from March to October 1917) were also told the same about the Allied side in the First World War. It did not quite work out that way, and nothing guarantees that it will happen that way in Ukraine.

In the case of Ukraine, such false hopes have been pushed far more freely by the media than by the military. War is a drug, and they have chosen to be the dealers.

The Media Airbrush

War propaganda can be delivered in picturesque as well as popular ways. A prime example of the former approach was Roger Cohens August 6th front-page New York Times story, Putins Forever War, based on a recent visit. (I spent a month in Russia.) The apologetic intent here is underscored in the headline, which picks up an epithet once applied to the disastrous American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and slyly transfers it to Russia. The coverage is all in the same key, over six full pages of the paper Times, bulked out with color photographs of cheerleaders, churches, dank stairways, military processions, statues, tombs, and models on a fashion shoot.

From the start, Cohen adopts the voice of a prophetic observer of a new war, even as he makes it sound a good deal like the old war with the Soviet Union. Along the way, he writes,

I encountered fear and fervid bellicosity, as well as stubborn patience to see out a long war. I found that Homo sovieticus, far from dying out, has lived on in modified form, along with habits of subservience. So with the aid of relentless propaganda on state television, the old Putin playbook  money, mythmaking and menace of murder  has just about held.

The name Putin appears with great regularity as the article proceeds, doing extra duty for the historical analysis and exposition that are mostly absent.

I first visited Moscow, writes Cohen, four decades ago, when it was a city devoid of primary colors eking out existence in the penury of Communism. But Moscow has changed and the reason is Putin: He opened Russia, only to slam it shut to the West; he also modernized it, while leaving the thread to Russias past unbroken. So here, as in many Western accounts, the problem turns out to be not just Putin but the fact that he embodies a backward, naturally vengeful, country and its irretrievable past. The people of Russia are lost and  a few courageous dissidents excepted  they are given over to primitivism, hopeless nostalgia, and of course aggression. Putin is their epitome.

He governs from the shadows  no point in skipping the vampire trope  unlike Stalin, whose portrait was everywhere. There is no cult of the leader of the kind Fascist systems favored. Yet mystery has its own magnetism. The reach of Mr. Putins power touches all. There is, in other words, a cult of personality without either the personality or the display that belong to such a cult: Putinism is a postmodern compilation of contradictions. It combines mawkish Soviet nostalgia with Mafia capitalism, devotion to the Orthodox Church with the spread of broken families. It did not take a month in Russia to write those sentences. A day at the New York Times would have sufficed.

The former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev finally emerges as the hero of this story. Nowhere quoted, however, is the Gorbachev who, between 2004 and 2018, contributed eight op-eds to the New York Times, the sixth of which focused on climate change and the eighth on the perilous renewal of a nuclear arms race. Gorbachev was deeply troubled by George W. Bushs decision to withdraw from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty (which Putin called a mistake) and Donald Trumps similar decision to pull out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Does anyone doubt that Gorbachev would have been equally disturbed by the Biden administrations virtual severance of diplomatic relations with Russia?

In an October 25, 2018, op-ed, Gorbachev summed up the American tendency throughout the preceding two decades: The United States has in effect taken the initiative in destroying the entire system of international treaties and accords that served as the underlying foundation for peace and security following World War II. Notice that the bellicose American initiative began well before the ascent of Vladimir Putin and, according to Gorbachev, it possessed  like the expansion of NATO  a dynamism that operated independently of developments inside Russia.

Return to Earth

The major news of the summer, besides the apparent lack of success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, has been Russias sudden cancellation of the Black Sea grain deal  a decision prompted in some measure by a July 17th Ukrainian drone attack on the Kerch Bridge. This is the bridge that has served to connect Russia to Crimea, after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014; and the drone strike was part of a continuing Ukrainian-NATO effort to undermine  by sanctions, among other means  Russias export of its own grain. A typical Western media report about these developments in the Washington Post declined to associate the two events; as if the Ukrainian attack had occurred by coincidence just hours before the Russian termination of the deal and its own attacks on Ukrainian grain storage facilities. The events are referred to as twin developments, and that is all.

In a recent article at TomDispatch, Michael Klare recalled the public shame that never properly attached to U.S. energy companies for choosing to perpetuate practices known to accelerate climate change and global devastation. Among the most egregious, the decision of top executives of the ExxonMobil Corporation  the worlds largest and wealthiest privately-owned oil company  to continue pumping oil and gas for endless decades after their scientists warned them about the risks of global warming.

Such environmental indifference, as Klare rightly notes, persisted long after the reality of climate disruption was recognized by the polluters. No less irresponsible has been the choice to perpetuate the war habit even as we recognize the inseparable role wars have always played in the destruction of the planet. The Ukraine war was launched by Russia in an exertion of brutal short-term opportunism, but it was also provoked by the United States as one of a long series of wars and regime-change operations that were meant to give the U.S. uncontested leadership of a unipolar world.

All of us now inhabit a war planet threatened in other devastating ways as well. Our escape will not be achieved through a new norms-based international order in which NATO, with the U.S. at the helm, replaces the United Nations as the global authority presiding over war and peace. The next war on the horizon, whether in the Baltic Sea, the Persian Gulf, or Taiwan, is a matter of grave interest to the citizens on all those horizons who may want anything but to serve as its field of exercise. Meanwhile, the lesson for the United States should be simple enough: the survival of the planet cannot wait for the worlds last superpower to complete our endless business of war.

Copyright 2023 David Bromwich

Via Tomdispatch.com
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Sousse, Tunisia (Special to Informed Comment; Feature)  The Mediterranean Sea route is still the most dangerous immigration route in the world. Since 2014, the UN has registered more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Immigration to Europe is not a new phenomenon. Still, the numbers of immigrants have increased substantially over the last few decades, and these include especially undocumented immigrants from the Sub-Saharan regions of Africa. However, contrary to popular belief, Europe is not facing an immigration crisis, but more a policy question regarding selective immigration. The difference between who is considered a welcome refugee and who is seen as an unwelcome immigrant reveals a racial bias that is deep-rooted in Europe.

Most commentators about the Mediterranean migrants would claim that there is a migration crisis that explains the harsh treatment and the denial of entry for many refugees. However, is there really a crisis? In truth, the statistics suggest that immigration to Europe from Africa by sea has dropped significantly, from 362,000 in 2016 to around 172.000 in 2017 and to 110 000 in 2018. At the same time, since the war in Ukraine started in February 2022, more than 8 million refugees have been welcomed into Europe, with 40% of those being children. In contrast, 1 in 50 Mediterranean migrants ends up dead or missing. According to a Save the Children report, European countries and the EU exhibit a double standard when it comes to refugees.

Despite the provision of essential services by African immigrants to European states, their reception is often harsh, and often these newcomers are seen as a security threat. European countries main response to African immigration is to increase security, intensify national borders, and create more detention centers even at the expense of human lives. For instance, Italy recently made a deal with Libya to train its coast guard to reduce immigration vessels. However, its no secret that would-be immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa apprehended in Libya are sent to detention centers. The bargain Italy struck with Tripoli knowingly left people to be tortured, kidnapped, and put horrendous living quarters. These measures are proven to not diminish immigration. Instead, they force would-be immigrants to place themselves in the hands of people smugglers who pledge to get them past the Libyan security forces; but these same smugglers do not hesitate to put the lives of these immigrants at grave risk.

Most African immigrants are of North African heritage (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia). They comprise almost two-thirds of all migrants in Europe. However, Sub-Saharan Africa is slowly increasing its percentage of immigrants to Europe. As far as destinations abroad, Europe attracts the biggest share of African migrants in comparison to other destinations like the US. This unequal distribution could be linked to multiple factors but mostly to advantages with relation to transfer cost, and the established cultural and socioeconomic links of African Diasporas to the former colonial powers, England, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany and Italy (GIGA).

Article continues after bonus IC video

Italy migrant crisis: Dozens missing off Lampedusa after boats capsize in rough seas  FRANCE 24

This wave of immigration is for the most part portrayed by politicians and journalists as a negative phenomenon for European countries. In reality however, African migration has a complex impact both on the country of origin as well as on the new host countries. For many European states, African immigrants are often a valuable and sought-after resource (Africa and Europe). This is owing to the aging population of many European countries and labor shortages in these states. For example, in many European countries, migrants form a big percentage of the healthcare workforce, an essential sector, which was especially in evidence especially during the Covid-19 crisis. The role of high-powered professionals form Africa in Europe highlights one of the main concerns about this outflow, namely Brain Drain. Most African migrants, contrary to widespread belief, are highly skilled individuals. Over the last couple of decades, Africa has lost about one-third of its highly skilled workforce to developed countries in Europe.

At the same time, African immigrants in Europe do provide their fair share of benefits to their home countries. A lot of African countries that send students and short-term immigrants north benefit from a reverse Brain Drain, such that migrants return to their home countries with their resumes enhanced by skills, knowledge, and values beneficial for the development of their respective countries.

Even those who do manage to pass through European borders are not met with the warmest welcome. People confront challenges from the get-go, seeking shelter, food, facing hostile authorities, and more. However, the European response is to attack NGOs and individuals who seek to help such people. According to a 2015-2016 report published by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), these African migrants who are in dire need of help, are often seen as economic or illegal immigrants without any consideration for the reasons of their immigration.

Some of the Mediterranean refugees are facing the same situation as Ukrainians, that is, they are fleeing warfare or foreign intervention  including Afghans, Syrians, and Somalis. Yet, it seemed as if there were two parallel realities: one for Ukrainians and another one for everyone else (Save the Children). Not only that, but European countries were swift in their response to the Ukrainian crisis, but even far right-wing politicians from the EU who had always spouted a strong anti-immigration stance are now flocking to support Ukrainian refugees. This clearly highlights a deeper issue of racism. The change of heart for many Europeans towards immigration raises the question of who is seen as an immigrant and who is seen as a refugee. Europeans are observing the scene with racial lenses, categorizing newcomers as Us or Them.

Ukrainians are truly suffering from a horrendous situation, and they deserve all the help they can get. Yet, the way the EU and the European countries show a double standard treatment exposes an ugly side of humanity. A comment by Flavio di Giacomo, a spokesperson for IOM Italy about rickety immigrant ships in the Mediterranean Sea holds true to this day on the double standard treatment of immigrants European coast guards are slow to intervene because it is not a priority for their governments (NPR).
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Bear Creek Mining Corporation (TSXV: BCM) (OTCQX: BCEKF) (BVL: BCM) ("Bear Creek" or the "Company") is very pleased to provide results from underground definition and delineation drilling at its Mercedes gold mine in Sonora, Mexico. The Company has focused drilling on the Marianas, Rey de Oro, Diluvio and Lupita deposits, all of which are associated with near-term production; however, the results also hold significant implications for exploration upside. Highlights* include:

Table 1: Highlighted* Results

Deposit Hole ID From

(meters) To

(meters) Length

(meters) True Width

(meters) Au

(grams/tonne) Ag

(grams/tonne) Marianas UG-MR23-115 126.4 127.4 1.0 1.0 47.90 39.00 UG-MR23-116 70.4 77.5 7.2 5.2 62.59 92.92 UG-MR23-117 104.7 109.2 4.5 4.3 7.55 27.59 UG-MR23-120 78.0 82.5 4.5 4.4 3.53 10.00 132.7 135.0 2.3 2.1 18.41 10.83 Rey de Oro UG-RDO23-083 112.2 113.7 1.5 1.4 21.00 11.00 UG-RDO23-085 73.5 81.0 7.5 4.9 3.52 53.40 92.7 94.0 1.3 0.9 29.30 63.00 UG-RDO23-086 70.4 76.1 5.7 4.2 4.56 70.61 Diluvio UG-DI23-167 34.4 41.2 6.7 ** 3.24 63.20 UG-DI23-168 51.8 66.1 14.3 ** 4.11 54.26 51.8 57.9 6.1 ** 3.54 63.26 59.6 66.1 6.5 ** 5.51 44.68 UG-DI23-169 87.8 92.9 5.1 ** 7.11 78.33 UG-DI23-171 13.4 14.9 1.5 ** 9.23 34.00 UG-DI23-173 41.6 42.6 1.0 0.8 22.4 127.00 Lupita DF-1094LP-001 b 27.2 31.7 4.5 3.4 5.46 95.60

*All significant results are provided in Table 2, below.

** True width cannot be accurately estimated as these intercepts consist of brecciated and stockwork zones rather than discrete veins.

Andrew Swarthout, Director and Qualified Person, states, "Our 2023 drilling program at Mercedes has to date concentrated on improving operations and production in the current workings. We are very excited by the results of this underground drilling program, which have returned intercepts with gold grades substantially higher - in some cases up to 30 times higher - than the currently defined resources of the deposits in which they occur. We are also seeing geological evidence including hydrothermal textures and higher gold and silver grades as we proceed to the north along the main Mercedes structure, which supports our belief that the source of mineralization in the Mercedes district may occur in the unexplored northern extensions of this important structure. This exploration thesis applies to other targets at Mercedes, including the San Martin offset, Klondike, Rey del Oro and Margaritas East and we look forward to reinitiating surface exploration drilling in 2023/24."

Marianas

The location of the five new underground drill holes from the Marianas deposit, as well as five underground holes announced earlier this year are shown on Figure 1, below (see also Bear Creek news release dated February 22, 2023). Significant intercepts from Marianas in 2023 are between 1.5 and 30 times higher in gold grade than the material currently being mined in this deposit. This is expected to translate into an increase in mining grades at Marianas as planned development progresses over the next month and beyond. Importantly, most of the drill results from Marianas announced in 2023 are located outside of the current reserve boundaries, confirming that ore grade mineralization is open to the north and at depth.

Mineralization is contained in quartz-carbonate veins, hydrothermal breccias and complex stockwork veins which are styles of mineralization distinct from those historically mined in the district and indicative of approaching proximity to the potential sources of ore-bearing fluids, which typically produce more robust ore bodies. Channel sampling from underground exploration drifting, proximal to the delineation drilling, has intersected one stockwork vein zone containing 3.0 meters averaging 15.0 g/t Au and 761 g/t Ag. The silver values from this sample are approximately 15 times the average silver grade seen elsewhere in the district, providing additional geological and structural evidence suggesting the source of the hydrothermal vents responsible for mineralization in the Mercedes district may occur along strike and northwest of Marianas. Additional underground drill stations are being prepared at Marianas to continue to follow these promising results, and surface drilling will commence over the coming three months to explore and expand resources.

Rey de Oro

Similarly to Marianas, as shown in Figure 2, drill results from Rey de Oro indicate that the deposit remains open at depth and along strike. The deepest drill hole, RDO 23-083, located 40 meters below the deepest mine workings and resource model, intersected 1.4 meters (true width) averaging 21.0 g/t Au and 11.0 g/t Ag. These results fortify the exploration potential at depth and to the north where the Rey del Oro, Klondike and San Martin vein systems remain under-explored.

Diluvio-Lupita

Drilling at the Diluvio and Lupita deposits in 2023 was undertaken for mine planning purposes. Nonetheless, these recent holes have continued to intersect high grade gold mineralization and the results further establish that ore bodies in the Mercedes district are showing evidence of more robust grades to the north where structural preparation increases and the potential source(s) of mineralization are approached.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Eric Caba

President and Chief Executive Officer

For further information contact:

Barbara Henderson - VP Corporate Communications

Direct: 604-628-1111

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.bearcreekmining.com

Subscribe to Bear Creek Mining news

Figure 1: Marianas Deposit - longitudinal section looking northeast

Figure 2: Rey de Oro Deposit - longitudinal section looking northeast

Table 2: All Significant Results

Deposit Hole ID From

(meters) To

(meters) Length

(meters) True Width

(meters) Au

(grams/tonne) Ag

(grams/tonne) Marianas UG-MR23-115 126.4 127.4 1.0 1.0 47.90 39.00 UG-MR23-116 70.4 77.5 7.2 5.2 62.59 92.92 UG-MR23-117 104.7 109.2 4.5 4.3 7.55 27.59 UG-MR23-119 119.7 121.2 1.5 1.4 3.32 5.00 127.2 128.7 1.5 1.4 3.15 6.00 UG-MR23-120 78.0 82.5 4.5 4.4 3.53 10.00 132.7 135.0 2.3 2.1 18.41 10.83 Rey de Oro UG-RDO23-083 112.2 113.7 1.5 1.4 21.00 11.00 UG-RDO23-085 66.4 67.5 1.1 0.5 7.87 101.00 73.5 81.0 7.5 4.9 3.52 53.40 92.7 94.0 1.3 0.9 29.30 63.00 104.1 105.3 1.2 0.7 9.42 5.00 UG-RDO23-086 66.0 67.5 1.5 1.0 4.90 73.00 70.4 76.1 5.7 4.2 4.56 70.61 UG-RDO23-087 96.2 97.3 1.1 0.8 3.54 70.00 UG-RDO23-088 66.5 67.4 0.8 0.6 5.04 21.00 Diluvio UG-DI23-166 32.3 36.6 4.4 N/A 2.79 53.36 45.8 48.2 2.5 N/A 3.79 42.22 UG-DI23-167 34.4 41.2 6.7 N/A 3.24 63.20 UG-DI23-168 51.8 66.1 14.3 N/A 4.11 54.26 51.8 57.9 6.1 N/A 3.54 63.26 59.6 66.1 6.5 N/A 5.51 44.68 UG-DI23-169 87.8 92.9 5.1 N/A 7.11 78.33 UG-DI23-171 13.4 14.9 1.5 N/A 9.23 34.00 UG-DI23-172 30.0 31.0 1.0 0.7 5.32 20.00 UG-DI23-173 41.6 42.6 1.0 0.8 22.4 127.00 45.0 48.5 3.4 2.5 2.92 32.96 45.0 46.4 1.4 1.1 3.93 53.00 47.5 48.5 1.0 0.7 4.14 20.00 Lupita DF-1094LP-001 b 27.2 31.7 4.5 3.4 5.46 95.60 39.4 40.3 0.9 0.7 4.95 20.00 DF-1094LP-005 43.0 48.7 5.7 2.7 3.64 61.33 43.0 44.1 1.1 0.6 7.09 29.00 47.2 48.7 1.6 0.9 5.09 184.09

NI 43-101 Disclosure

Unless otherwise indicated, scientific and technical information in this news release is based on work programs and initiatives conducted under the supervision of, and/or has been reviewed and approved by, Andrew Swarthout, AIPG Certified Professional Geologist, a director of the Company who is a Qualified Person ("QP") as defined in NI 43-101.

All Bear Creek sample and assay results are independently monitored through a quality control / quality assurance ("QA/QC") program that includes the insertion of a minimum of the following for each assay batch of approximately 84 samples: two certified standards, one certified fine blank, one coarse blank and pulp and reject duplicate samples. Logging and sampling at the Mercedes Mine are completed at a secure onsite facility. Drill core is sawn in half on site and half drill-core samples are securely transported to ALS Chemex sample preparation facilities in Hermosillo, Mexico. Sample pulps are sent to ALS Chemex lab in Vancouver, British Columbia for analysis. Gold content is determined by fire assay of a 30-gram charge and silver content is determined by four acid digestion, sample preparation and assay labs are independent from Bear Creek. Bear Creek is not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data referred to herein.

Additional information is available in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form, available on its website and on SEDAR+.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding: the potential implications and impacts of recent drill results on the tonnages and grades of future production from Mercedes; the timing and focus of anticipated surface drill programs at Mercedes; the potential to expand mineral resources at the Mercedes mine; the potential continuation of mineralization at known deposits and trends within the Mercedes concessions; the potential location of the structures and systems that control the deposition of mineralization within the Mercedes district; and the potential for these structures and systems to occur within the Mercedes property . These forward-looking statements are provided as of the date of this news release and reflect predictions, expectations, or beliefs regarding future events based on the Company's beliefs at the time the statements were made, as well as various assumptions made by and information currently available to them. In making the forward-looking statements included in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to: that future underground and surface exploration drilling plans will transpire as and when predicted. Although management considers this assumption to be reasonable based on the information available to it, it may prove to be incorrect. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and the risk exists that estimates, forecasts, projections, and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions on which they are based do not reflect future experience. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as several important factors could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the expectations expressed in them. These risk factors may be generally stated as the risk that the assumptions expressed above do not occur, but may include additional risks as described in the Company's latest Annual Information Form, and other disclosure documents filed by the Company on SEDAR+. The foregoing list of factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. Investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by the Company or on behalf of the Company, except as required by law.

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.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd. (TSXV: SPA) (the "Company" or "Spanish Mountain Gold") announces today the appointment of Mr. Troy Gill as Vice President, Exploration effective immediately.

Peter Mah, Spanish Mountain Gold's President and CEO, comments, "We are excited to have someone with Troy's extensive experience globally and with gold projects in British Columbia to join the Spanish Mountain Gold team. He will help us expand our large resource base and help the team advance our robust, economical Spanish Mountain Gold Project through further development, permitting and ultimately towards construction."

Mr. Gill, Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (MAIG), is a geologist with 30 years of exploration and mining experience for a diverse range of commodities and styles of mineralization in Australia, Canada, Mexico and Solomon Islands. He was a Senior Project Geologist and Team Leader at Rio Tinto for 15 years. Since then, Mr. Gill has held roles of Exploration Manager, VP Exploration and Director in Canadian junior exploration companies. For the last three years Mr. Gill has focused on exploration in British Columbia including epithermal gold and silver in the Nechako Plateau region south of Burns Lake and orogenic gold in the northern Stikine terrane. Most recently as VP Exploration for Canagold Resources Ltd. he delivered the updated mineral resource estimate of 1.1Moz Indicated gold for New Polaris Gold Project. Other commodity experience includes porphyry copper, VMS base metal, kimberlites and diamonds, komatiite nickel and iron ore. The range of his experience in exploration methods spans from grassroots regional surficial geochemical sampling in regolith and glacial environments, remote sensing and geophysical survey data interpretation, geological and structural mapping through to various methods of resource definition drilling and geological modeling. Mr. Gill, MAIG, meets the requirements of a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd.

Spanish Mountain Gold is focused on advancing its 100%-owned Spanish Mountain Gold Project in southern central British Columbia. The Company is focused on trade-off assessments to determine the targeted optimal production to advance its multimillion-ounce gold resource towards a construction decision. The 2021 Pre-Feasibility Study demonstrated the Project's potential to be a mining operation with a production profile of greater than 150,000 gold ounces per year and low All-In Sustaining Cost (AISC) of $801 per ounce over a 14-year mine life. Details on the Company are available on www.sedarplus.ca and on the Company's website: www.spanishmountaingold.com.

On Behalf of the Board,

"Peter Mah"

President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd.

For more information, contact:

Investor Relations

(604) 601-3651

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.spanishmountaingold.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Certain of the statements and information in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" Any statements or information that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "estimates", "intends", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "potential" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements or information. The Company's forward-looking statements and information are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management as of the date of this press release, and other than as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements and information if circumstances or management's assumptions, beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, or changes in any other events affecting such statements or information. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information.
LOS ANGELESOne-time adult industry photographer Gareth Pursehouse appeared in a criminal court this week to face the capital case against him for killing Hollywood sex therapist and former model Dr. Amie Harwick.

Presenting evidence to a jury at a downtown Los Angeles court Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila stated that Pursehouse was obsessed with [Harwick] and broke into her house armed with a syringe that contained a nicotine dosage that was lethal. Pursehouse was arrested by the LA Police Department February 19, 2020, on a felony no-bail arrest warrant in the area of 92nd and Sepulveda, south of Westchester, after first posting bail when taken in following the crime four days earlier. The official charges for which he is now standing trial are one count each of murder and first-degree burglary.

According to a press release issued by the LAPD at the time of Pursehouse's initial arrest, patrol units responded to a radio call at the 2000 block of Mound Street in the Hollywood Hills area.

Officers were met by a roommate who was waiting in the street. The roommate told officers that Harwick was assaulted by an assailant in her residence. Reportedly, the roommate went out to call for help from neighbors. Avila told the jury that Pursehouse waited for hours in Harwicks residence and then strangled her after he surprised her upon her return from a night out.

Avila added that out of panic, Pursehouse threw her to her death from the third-story balcony before fleeing. Pursehouse and Harwick dated years ago for about 18 months. But then they broke up, with Harwick taking out a restraining order against him and completely cutting off ties.

Years later, Harwick encountered Pursehouse at the 2020 XBIZ Awards, held on January 16 of that yeara little over a month before her death. Witnesses state that Pursehouse was heard calling Harwick a bitch and saying that his life was ruined after the two broke up, Avila added in his statements to the jury.

Shortly after, Pursehouse texted Harwick after finding her cell phone number on the internet. He contacted her several times and left a voice message. She blocked his number, upgraded her locks, and invested in a security system. Unfortunately, the security system failed to prevent the entry of Pursehouse, who was caught on video from a neighbors security camera wearing gloves the night before.

Harwick was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead due to her injuries.

DNA evidence found on a French-style door in Harwicks living room and other samples found under her fingernails linked Pursehouse to the attack. An autopsy conducted by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiners Office determined that she died of blunt force trauma to the head and torso, and there was evidence of manual strangulation.

The evidence against Pursehouse includes witness testimony, DNA evidence, and an email Harwick wrote to herself shortly after the encounter with him at the 2020 XBIZ Awards.

It terrifies me that hes been obsessed with me for nine years, she wrote in the email, which was found in a forensic examination of her computer and Gmail account during the investigation.

If found guilty, Pursehouse could spend the remainder of his life in prison without an opportunity for parole.

AVN reported in February 2022 that CBS true crime docuseries 48 Hours profiled the case in an episode called The Final Hours of Amie Harwick.

Harwick was educated at local universities, including her undergraduate degree at California State Polytechnic University, a graduate degree from Pepperdine University, and a doctoral degree from the unaccredited Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. She was a licensed family and sex therapist and began working with adult industry mental health nonprofit Pineapple Support before she died.

Also an author, Harwick wrote The New Sex Bible for Women: The Complete Guide to Sexual Self-Awareness and Intimacy, published in late 2014.
Toronto, ON - TheNewswire - August 30, 2023 - AbraSilver Resource Corp. (TSX.V:ABRA) (OTC:ABBRF) (AbraSilver or the Company) is pleased to announce assay results for the final set of drill holes completed as part of the Companys highly-successful Phase III drill program, on its wholly-owned Diablillos property in Salta Province, Argentina (Diablillos or the Project).

The reported holes were designed to delineate the margins of the JAC zone, ahead of the upcoming Mineral Resource estimate (MRE) and a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) on the Diablillos project. Key takeaways include:

Holes DDH 23-066 to DDH 23-070were drilled to determine the northwestern edge of the JAC zone. All holes encountered silver mineralization, with a broad intercept of 64 m grading 148 g/t Ag in hole DDH 23-070 from a downhole depth of only 41 m.

Holes DDH 23-071 to DDH 23-075were drilled to test the northeastern edge of the JAC zone. The holes encountered several narrower zones of silver mineralization, with hole DDH 23-075 intersecting 15.0 m at 93 g/t Ag and 0.78 g/t Au. Results from DDH 23-075 are highly encouraging as they demonstrate the continuity of mineralization between the JAC zone and the main Oculto deposit, and the possibility of a combined open pit.

Hole DDH 23-065 was drilled beyond the northwestern edge of the JAC zone, into the recently discovered JAC North zone. The hole successfully encountered a near-surface intercept of 7 m grading 119 g/t Ag and 0.14 g/t Au, starting at a downhole depth of only 85 m.

This encouraging result further confirms the presence of a new significant mineralized structure beyond the main JAC zone. As announced on August 9, 2023, the newly discovered JAC North zone is located over 900 m beyond the limit of the conceptual open pit that defines the current Mineral Resource estimate at Oculto and approximately 100 m northwest of the high-grade JAC zone.

While hole DDH 23-075 represented the final drill hole at the main JAC zone as part of the Phase III drill campaign, the Company completed drilling of six additional holes at nearby exploration targets (namely JAC North, Alpaca and Fantasma). These results are expected to be received within the next few weeks and will help determine the highest-priority targets for the next phase of exploration.

The Phase III drill program has now been successfully completed. The Company is preparing an updated MRE which remains on schedule to be completed within the next few weeks, to be followed by a PFS on the Diablillos project.

John Miniotis, President and CEO, commented, We are delighted with the results of our highly successful Phase III drill campaign. The consistent, high-grade drill results encountered throughout the past year clearly demonstrate the large-scale silver-gold mineralization potential at our flagship Diablillos project. The completion of this drill campaign represents another major milestone for the Company and reinforces our belief in the tremendous value remaining to be unlocked through our ongoing exploration efforts.

The latest assay result highlights are summarized in Table 1 below.

Table 1  Summary of Diablillos Drill Results

Drill Hole Area From (m) To (m) Type Interval (m) Ag g/t Au g/t DDH-23-065 JAC North 85.0 92.0 Oxides 7.0 119.1 0.14 DDH-23-065 101.0 117.0 Oxides 16.0 63.4 - DDH-23-066 JAC 140.0 159.0 Oxides 19.0 68.9 - DDH-23-068 JAC 36.0 44.0 Oxides 8.0 175.4 - DDH-23-068 62.0 91.0 Oxides 29.0 69.6 - DDH-23-069 JAC 39.0 42.0 Oxides 3.0 58.4 - DDH-23-069 46.0 50.0 Oxides 4.0 36.4 - DDH-23-070 JAC 41.0 105.0 Oxides 64.0 148.1 - DDH-23-070 135.0 139.0 Oxides 4.0 93.9 - DDH-23-071 JAC 72.0 76.0 Oxides 4.0 32.2 - DDH-23-072 JAC 90.0 96.0 Oxides 6.0 56.1 - DDH-23-073 JAC 94.5 112.0 Oxides 17.5 68.9 0.20 DDH-23-074 JAC 163.0 165.0 Oxides 2.0 41.8 - DDH-23-075 JAC/Oculto 94.5 102.0 Oxides 7.5 42.7 - DDH-23-075 112.0 127.0 Oxides 15.0 93.1 0.78

Note: All results in this news release are rounded. Assays are uncut and undiluted. Widths are drilled widths, not true widths. True widths are estimated to be approximately 80% of the interval widths for oxides.

Figure 1  Plan View of Latest Drill Holes

Exploration Update

The Phase III drill program successfully achieved all of its key objectives, namely:

Systematically grid drilling the silver-dominant mineralisation at the JAC zone in order to estimate Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources which can be incorporated into the planned overall Diablillos MRE update and PFS.

Delineate the margins of the JAC zone and conduct geotechnical drilling necessary for a conceptual open pit design.

Conduct reconnaissance drilling at other targets on the Diablillos land package, including the Fantasma, Alpaca and JAC North zones.

All Phase III drill holes from the JAC zone will be incorporated into an updated MRE and will be included in a PFS on the full Diablillos project. Our next phase of drilling (Phase IV) will explore additional targets which will all be prioritized based on distance from the probable porphyry progenitor beneath Oculto and favourability of structural trends reflected in magnetic surveys, with special reference to any historical drill data. Current priority targets in the area west of Oculto include JAC North, Alpaca and Fantasma, with additional targets also being developed to the east and north of Oculto.

Highlights of selected high-grade drill results reported from the Phase III drill program are summarized in Table 2 below:

Table 2  Highlights of Phase III High-Grade Intercepts at JAC Zone

Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Type Interval (m) Ag (g/t) Au (g/t) AgEq1 (g/t) DDH-22-019 89.0 176.0 Oxides 87.0 346.0 0.15 356.5 DDH-22-044 121.0 179.0 Oxides 58.0 208.8 0.20 222.8 DDH-22-046 123.0 165.5 Oxides 42.5 400.5 0.11 408.2 DDH-22-052 139.5 164.5 Oxides 25.0 754.4 0.12 764.2 DDH-22-053 140.5 168.5 Oxides 28.0 266.4 0.64 318.8 DDH-22-056 110.0 167.5 Oxides 57.5 141.4 0.27 163.5 DDH-22-057 144.0 164.0 Oxides 20.0 498.6 0.10 506.8 DDH-22-060 114.0 154.0 Oxides 40.0 203.4 - 203.4 DDH-22-061 65.0 168.0 Oxides 103.0 138.7 - 138.7 DDH-22-062 119.0 170.0 Oxides 51.0 169.4 0.20 185.8 DDH-22-063 56.0 85.0 Oxides 33.0 143.4 - 143.4 DDH-22-063 135.0 169.0 Oxides 34.0 118.6 0.08 125.2 DDH-22-067 143.0 179.0 Oxides 36.0 463.3 0.71 521.5 DDH-22-067 179.0 206.0 Sulphides 27.0 745.0 1.54 871.1 DDH-22-075 151.0 167.0 Oxides 16.0 604.4 0.82 671.5 DDH-22-076 147.0 169.0 Oxides 22.0 476.8 0.20 493.2 DDH-22-076 169.0 177.5 Oxides 8.5 1,952.8 6.66 2,498.3 DDH-22-077 60.0 92.0 Oxides 32.0 121.9 - 121.9 DDH-22-078 58.0 99.0 Oxides 41.0 103.5 - 103.5 DDH-22-079 144.0 179.0 Oxides 35.0 199.2 0.36 228.7 DDH-22-080 50.0 102.0 Oxides 52.0 125.1 - 125.1 DDH-22-081 128.0 165.0 Oxides 37.0 179.3 - 179.3 DDH-22-082 154.5 181.0 Transition 26.5 311.4 0.43 346.6 DDH-22-083 159.0 184.0 Transition 25.0 773.8 0.28 796.7 DDH-22-086 158.0 167.0 Sulphides 9.0 342.3 - 342.3 DDH-23-002 148.0 165.0 Transition 17.0 288.6 0.14 300.1 DDH-23-003 155.8 161.5 Sulphides 5.8 502.2 - 502.2 DDH-23-004 136.0 150.0 Oxides 14.0 3,024.5 0.21 3,041.7 DDH-23-007 115.0 119.0 Oxides 4.0 2,320.0 - 2,320.0 DDH-23-009 161.0 169.5 Oxides 8.5 479.2 0.15 491.5 DDH-23-010 132.0 177.5 Oxides 45.5 233.4 - 233.4 DDH-23-014 127.0 173.5 Oxides 46.5 185.0 0.50 226.0 DDH-23-017 92.0 104.0 Oxides 12.0 876.1 - 876.1 DDH-23-021 161.5 193.5 Oxides 32.0 530.8 0.60 579.9 DDH-23-024 144.0 161.0 Oxides 17.0 828.9 - 828.9 DDH-23-025 100.0 179.0 Oxides 79.0 237.6 0.15 249.9 DDH-23-036 140.0 150.0 Oxides 10.0 520.0 0.04 523.3 DDH-23-039 105.0 124.0 Oxides 19.0 253.4 - 253.4 DDH-23-046 157.0 160.0 Oxides 3.0 2,070.0 0.27 2,092.1 DDH-23-061 134.0 153.5 Oxides 19.5 272.8 - 272.8 DDH-23-070 41.0 105.0 Oxides 64.0 148.1 - 148.1

Note: All results are rounded. Assays are uncut and undiluted. Widths are drilled widths, not true widths. True widths are estimated to be approximately 80% of the interval widths.

1 AgEq based on 81.9(Ag):1(Au) calculated using long-term prices of US$25.00/oz Ag and US$1,750/oz Au, and 73.5% process recovery for Ag, and 86.0% process recovery for Au as demonstrated in the Companys PEA in respect of Diablillos dated January 13, 2022, using formula: AgEq g/t = Ag g/t + Au g/t x (Gold Price/Silver Price) x (Gold Recovery/Silver Recovery).

Results of Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders

The Company is also pleased to announce the results of its annual general and special meeting of shareholders held on August 28, 2023 (the Meeting). At the Meeting, each of the director nominees listed in the Company's management information circular dated July 18, 2023 (the "Circular") were elected as directors of the Company, including Robert Bruggeman, Stephen Gatley, Sam Leung, Jens Mayer, Nicholas Teasdale, Flora Wood and Hernan Zaballa. The shareholders of the Company also approved the re-appointment of Crowe MacKay LLP as the auditors of the Company for the ensuing year and authorized the board of directors to fix their remuneration and terms of engagement.

At the Meeting, the shareholders of the Company also approved amendments to the Company's share compensation plan (the Plan), in accordance with the TSX Venture Exchange rules and policies. The Plan is a rolling 10% plan and was amended to include a net exercise provision. A copy of the Plan is attached as a schedule to the Circular, which is available on the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

Upcoming Milestones and Catalysts

The Company anticipates announcing several upcoming milestones over the next few months, including:

Announcing assay results from the remaining six holes on regional exploration targets (JAC North, Alpaca and Fantasma (September 2023)

Updated Mineral Resource estimate for the Diablillos project (October 2023)

Conduct a CSAMT geophysical survey at Diablillos and prioritize exploration targets for the upcoming Phase IV drill campaign (Q4 2023).

Pre-Feasibility Study completed for Diablillos project (December 2023)

Collar Data

Hole Number UTM Coordinates Elevation Azimuth Dip Depth (m) DDH 23-065 E719351 N7198699 4,141 0 -60 152 DDH 23-066 E719425 N7198702 4,147 0 -60 182 DDH 23-067 E719526 N7198780 4,155 0 -60 155 DDH 23-068 E719599 N7198852 4,162 0 -60 170 DDH 23-069 E719625 N7198879 4,164 0 -60 152 DDH 23-070 E719625 N7198840 4,165 0 -60 191 DDH 23-071 E719728 N7198918 4,173 0 -60 175 DDH 23-072 E719250 N7198710 4,135 0 -60 173 DDH 23-073 E719800 N7198941 4,178 0 -60 170 DDH 23-074 E719850 N7198928 4,182 0 -60 176 DDH 23-075 E719849 N7198982 4,182 0 -60 179

About Diablillos

The 80 km2 Diablillos property is located in the Argentine Puna region - the southern extension of the Altiplano of southern Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile - and was acquired from SSR Mining Inc. by the Company in 2016. There are several known mineral zones on the Diablillos property, with the Oculto zone being the most advanced with over 120,000 metres drilled to date. Oculto is a high-sulphidation epithermal silver-gold deposit derived from remnant hot springs activity following Tertiarty-age local magmatic and volcanic activity. Comparatively nearby examples of high sulphidation epithermal deposits include: Yanacocha (Peru); El Indio (Chile); Lagunas Nortes/Alto Chicama (Peru) Veladero (Argentina); and Filo del Sol (Argentina).

The most recent Mineral Resource estimate for the Oculto Deposit is shown in Table 3:

Table 3 - Oculto Mineral Resource Estimate  As of October 31, 2022

Category Tonnage (000 t) Ag (g/t) Au (g/t) Contained Ag (000 oz Ag) Contained Au (000 oz Au) Measured 19,336 98 0.88 60,634 544 Indicated 31,978 47 0.73 48,737 752 Measured & Indicated 51,314 66 0.79 109,370 1,297 Inferred 2,216 30 0.51 2,114 37

Notes: Effective October 31, 2022. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and have not demonstrated economic viability. The Mineral Resource estimate is N.I. 43-101 compliant and was prepared by Luis Rodrigo Peralta, B.Sc., FAusIMM CP(Geo), Independent Consultant. The mineralization estimated in the Mineral Resource is sub-horizontal with sub-vertical feeders and a reasonable prospect for eventual economic extraction by open pit methods. For additional information please see Technical Report on the Diablillos Project, Salta Province, Argentina, dated November 28, 2022, completed by Mining Plus, and available on www.sedarplus.ca.

QA/QC and Core Sampling Protocols

AbraSilver applies industry standard exploration methodologies and techniques, and all drill core samples are collected under the supervision of the Companys geologists in accordance with industry practices. Drill core is transported from the drill platform to the logging facility where drill data is compared and verified with the core in the trays. Thereafter, it is logged, photographed, and split by diamond saw prior to being sampled. Samples are then bagged, and quality control materials are inserted at regular intervals; these include blanks and certified reference materials as well as duplicate core samples which are collected in order to measure sample representivity. Groups of samples are then placed in large bags which are sealed with numbered tags in order to maintain a chain-of-custody during the transport of the samples from the project site to the laboratory.

All samples are received by the SGS offices in Salta who then dispatch the samples to the SGS preparation facility in San Juan. From there, the prepared samples are sent to the SGS laboratory in Lima, Peru where they are analyzed. All samples are analyzed using a multi-element technique consisting of a four acid digestion followed by ICP/AES detection, and gold is analyzed by 50g Fire Assay with an AAS finish. Silver results greater than 100g/t are reanalyzed using four acid digestion with an ore grade AAS finish.

Qualified Persons

David OConnor P.Geo., Chief Geologist for AbraSilver, is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and he has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release.

About AbraSilver

AbraSilver is an advanced-stage exploration company focused on rapidly advancing its 100%-owned Diablillos silver-gold project in the mining-friendly Salta province of Argentina. The current Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource estimate for Diablillos consists of 51.3 Mt grading 66g/t Ag and 0.79g/t Au, containing approximately 109Moz silver and 1.3Moz gold, with significant further upside potential based on recent exploration drilling. The Company is led by an experienced management team and has long-term supportive shareholders including Mr. Eric Sprott. In addition, AbraSilver owns a portfolio of earlier-stage copper-gold projects including the La Coipita copper-gold project in the San Juan province of Argentina. AbraSilver is listed on the TSX-V under the symbol ABRA and in the U.S. under the symbol ABBRF.

Alternatively please contact:

John Miniotis, President and CEO

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: +1 416-306-8334

Cautionary Statements

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. 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. All statements that address future plans, activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur are forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. When considering this forward-looking information, readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in the Companys disclosure documents filed with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The risk factors and other factors noted in the disclosure documents could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as 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 accuracy of this news release.




Tonopah, Nevada - TheNewswire - August 30, 2023 - Allegiant Gold Ltd. (Allegiant or the Company) (TSXV:AUAU) (OTC:AUXXF) announces the finding of high-grade gold and silver on existing heap leach and waste dumps at the former operating Boss Mine, within the Castle Project of the Eastside District.

Allegiant sampled material from existing waste dumps and tailings. A total of 79 samples were collected and analyzed for gold, silver and other elements, the majority from the Boss Mines leach pad.

Highlights of the sampling include:

Coarse fraction (1/16-inch) samples from the Boss Mines leach pad samples returned up to 8.02 g/t Au and 28.2 g/t Ag.

Fine fraction (1/16-inch) samples from the Boss Mines Leach pad returned up to 2.10 g/t Au and 5.2 g/t Ag.

Dump samples returned up to 22.2 g/t Au and 10.2 g/t Ag.

Leach pad area covers approximately 5.0 hectares and dumps cover approximately 11 hectares.

Further sampling and drilling of leach pad and dumps is planned over the coming months.

Metallurgical testing is planned later this year.

The Boss Mine was a producing mine from 1987 to 1989 (see Map 1). It is estimated that the Boss Mine produced over 32,000 Au ounces from 650,000 tons at an average grade of 0.058 opt (1.99 g/t Au); recovery for silver and other metals of value is unknown.

MAP 1: LOCATION OF BOSS MINE  TAILINGS AND WASTE DUMPS

Peter Gianulis, CEO of Allegiant Gold, commented: We continue to advance the Castle Area, encompassing the Berg, Blackrock, Boss and Castle Zones, toward delineation of an economic resource. Our goal is to develop the Eastside District in two to three phases led first by the Castle Area, then moving onto the McIntosh Zone, and then into the other new areas to be discovered. We are encouraged by the initial results of our leach pad testing that suggest higher than expected gold and silver content. This would be the first phase in the development of the Castle Area that could provide important cash-flow to help develop the follow-on phases of the district. With a land package covering greater than 80 km2, we believe we will continue to make new discoveries.

CASTLE PROJECT  BOSS MINE LEACH PAD SAMPLING

Samples were collected from the near surface at the Boss Mines leach pad without damaging the existing liner materials. A total of 72 samples (Map 2) were collected from the leach pad at points across the whole of leach pads area, approximately 5-hectares. The samples were divided into 2 fractions: a coarse fraction consisting of particles greater than 1/16-inch diameter, and particles less than 1/16 -- inch diameter. Samples were then sent to American Assay Labs of Reno, Nevada for analysis. Each sample was analyzed for gold by 30g fire-assay with ICP-OES finish; overlimit samples were reanalyzed by 30g fire-assay gravimetry. Multi-element analysis was also carried out on all samples to determine the concentration of other metals. Sample analysis for 28 elements was performed by 4-acid digest and ICP-OES analysis.

Additional samples were collected from dumps located adjacent to the leach pad which are believed to represent mineralized rock. These samples returned assay values from 4.53 to 22.2 g/t Au and 5.4 to 10.2 g/t Ag. Antimony, arsenic, iron, gold, and silver were the only metals that returned significantly anomalous values and characterize the metals most commonly associated with the Eastside District epithermal-style mineralization.

Further sampling and drilling of the leach pad and dumps is proposed to assess the full extent of undocumented gold and silver mineralization in material already mined and at the surface. Metallurgical testing of the samples collected from all sources will be carried to allow the Company to assess the economic viability of reprocessing the leach pad and dumps to extract the remaining gold and silver prior to commencement of new mining operations.

CASTLE PROJECT  EASTSIDE DISTRICT

The Castle Project approximately 10 kilometers south of the McIntosh Zone within the Eastside District, contains four known low-to-moderate sulfidation epithermal gold-silver deposits: Boss, Berg, Black Rock and Castle. An inferred resource was defined based upon historic drilling through 2020. This was followed by resource expansion drilling in early 2023 which demonstrated that the Castle Project was under-drilled, and that further exploration and resource expansion drilling could bring significant additional mineralization to the resource*.

To achieve this goal, Allegiant has identified areas of both exploration and expansion drilling to complete the objective of identifying additional target areas. Allegiant has already drilled 19 holes in early 2023 and will drill an additional 30 to32 holes using both reverse circulation and diamond core drilling.

Allegiant is in the process of completing all the necessary planning and environmental steps to enable the filing of a Plan of Operation that will include an extensive drilling program to upgrade the resource from inferred to indicated and measured resources, steps necessary for mine planning and permitting.

* The updated resource estimate (Updated Resource Estimate and NI 43-101 Technical Report, Eastside and Castle Gold-Silver Project Technical Report, Esmeralda County, Nevada) conducted by Mine Development Associates of Reno, Nevada, with an effective date of July 30, 2021, contained a pit-constrained Inferred Resources (cut-off grade of 0.15 g/t Au) of 61,730,000 tonnes grading 0.55 g/t Au and 4.4 g/t Ag at the Original Pit Zone (1,090,000 ounces gold and 8,700,000 ounces silver) and 19,986,000 tonnes grading 0.49 g/t Au at the Castle Area (314,000 ounces gold). A copy of the Eastside Technical Report can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

CHANGE TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Allegiant further announces that the Company has accepted the resignation of Andy Wallace from the Board of Directors. I would personally like to thank Andy for his dedication to Allegiant over the past three years since he joined the Board of Directors. Andys history with Allegiant Gold and our projects are well known and he has been instrumental in developing and advancing the Eastside project since its discovery back in 2011. Andy will be dearly missed, commented Peter Gianulis, CEO of Allegiant Gold.

QUALIFIED PERSON

Alan Roberts is a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists and is the Qualified Person under NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, who has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this press release.

ABOUT ALLEGIANT

Allegiant owns six highly prospective gold projects in the United States, five of which are in the mining-friendly jurisdiction of Nevada. Two of Allegiants projects are currently farmed-out, providing for cost reductions and cash-flow. Allegiants flagship, district-scale Eastside project hosts a large and expanding gold resource and is in an area of excellent infrastructure. Preliminary metallurgical testing indicates that both oxide and sulphide gold mineralization at Eastside is amenable to heap leaching.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Peter Gianulis

CEO

For more information contact:

Investor Relations

(604) 634-0970 or

1-888-818-1364

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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.

Certain statements and information contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities laws and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, which are referred to collectively as "forward-looking statements". The United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for certain forward-looking statements. Allegiant Gold Ltd.s (Allegiant) exploration plans for its gold exploration properties, the drill program at Allegiants Eastside project, the preparation and publication of an updated resource estimate in respect of the Original Zone at the Eastside project, Allegiants future exploration and development plans, including anticipated costs and timing thereof; Allegiants plans for growth through exploration activities, acquisitions or otherwise; and expectations regarding future maintenance and capital expenditures, and working capital requirements. Forward-looking statements are statements and information regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations that are based upon assumptions about future economic 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. Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Some of the known risks and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements are described in the sections entitled Risk Factors in Allegiants Listing Application, dated January 24, 2018, as filed with the TSX Venture Exchange and available on SEDAR under Allegiants profile at www.sedar.com. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Allegiant undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this press release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.
Syndication: Akron Beacon Journal

In order for OpenAIs ChatGPT to work at its best, it needs to consume as much data and information as it can. As questions swirl around the legality of doing so and proprietary rights around that information, several major media companies are blocking the web crawling from scanning their online platforms for content.

After The Guardians Ariel Bogle reported last week that CNN, The New York Times, and Reuters were blocking GPTBot, OpenAIs web crawler, CNN found that many more media companies were doing the same thing, including Disney, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Axios, Insider, ABC News, ESPN, Conde Nast, Hearst, and Vox Media.

As for why these massive companies would feel the need to prevent AI companies like OpenAI from scrapping their data, it comes down to how valuable it is compared to most of whats out there.

Most of the internet is garbage, an anonymous news executive told CNNs Oliver Darcy. Traditional media publishers, on the other hand, are fact-driven and offer quality content.

While none of the media companies would go on the record about the blocking effort, one industry executive told CNN that its clear that news organizations see the data-scraping as a threat to their ability to own their content.

I see a heightened sense of urgency when it comes to addressing the use, and misuse, of our content, Danielle Coffey, president and chief executive of the News Media Alliance, said. One publisher told me it is an existential threat. Another publisher told me there isnt a business model with certain uses of AI there is a sense of urgency to address this.

The problem for AI-based programs like ChatGPT is that they need a constant stream of fresh, valuable content in order to continually improve. Otherwise, its accuracy and dependability will degrade rapidly. If you think AI-generated content is bad now, just wait.

For better or worse, AI isnt going anywhere, so the logical solution to all of this is for media organizations and AI companies to come to the table and figure out how to co-exist. Perhaps that will lead to financial incentives to share content and data. Perhaps it will require some extensive legal agreements. Whatever it is, this silent blockage will only last for so long.

[CNN]
The visual duo Park Bo Gum and BTS V made fans gush over their dazzling looks during their visit to Japan.

The South Korean stars graced Celine's event during the brand's reopening at the Omotesando store in Tokyo.

LOOK: More of Park Bo Gum & BTS V During Celine's Reopening in Tokyo

Being Celine's global ambassador, both Park Bo Gum and BTS V showcased their head-turning visuals and undeniable charm as they checked out the items for the store's reopening.

The new Celine Omotesando branch boasts a three-story store featuring the structural design of the brand's artistic director, Hedi Slimane.

During the event, BTS V was definitely head-turning with his blonde hair. He wore a denim trucker jacket paired with a simple white shirt and slim-fit leather jeans for that cool aesthetic.

Meanwhile, Park Bo Gum matched V's vibe by appearing in an all-black ensemble. Different from his usual boy next door look, Bogummy stunned with his debonair charm in a leather jacket and slim-fit jeans.

He capped off the look with pointy boots and a crossbody bag from Celine.

Park Bo Gum Shares Snaps With BTS' V

On social media, Park Bo Gum also shared the behind-the-scenes of the Celine event.

Showcasing his close friendship with the BTS member, the actor posted selfies with V and a short clip waving at Japanese fans who were waiting outside the store.

Of course, Park Bo Gum's Instagram post sparked an online frenzy as fans pointed out the duo's amazing visual combination.

In another post, the "Reply 1988" star shared a few photos while exploring the city.

With the caption, "Thank You," there's no doubt that Park Bo Gum enjoyed his short work trip in Tokyo.

Park Bo Gum New Drama Features Team-Up With IU

As part of his K-drama comeback, Park Bo Gum is headlining the romance series "You Have Done Well" with IU.

Taking on the role of Gwan Shik, he is described as a diligent and introverted individual. The story revolves around him and his longtime friend, Ae Soon, played by IU.

Both of them grew up on Jeju Island but had to part ways as they grew older.

Joining them are Park Hae Joon and Moon So Ri as the older versions of Gwan Shik and Ae Soon.

In addition, the "You Have Done Well" cast also includes Lee Jun Young of U-KISS and award-winning actor Oh Jung Se.

Scheduled to be released in 2024, Park Bo Gum and IU's new drama will exclusively air on Netflix, under the direction of Kim Won Suk of hit K-dramas like "Signal" and "Arthdal Chronicles."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Park Bo Gum's 2-Day Fan Meet in Seoul Sells Out in Minutes

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
While "Moving" continues to attract viewers' attention with its amazing lineup and show-stopping episodes, writer Kang Full and actor Ryu Seung Beom talked about their experiences filming the series.

Released on August 9, the 20-episode made viewers hooked on every scene as Disney+ released the show's first 7 episodes all in one day.

In the first part, the K-drama narrates the characters' superpowers and a brief background regarding their superhuman strengths.

On the other hand, "Moving" episodes 1 to 7 also introduced the drama's antagonist, played by Ryu Seung Beom.

Ryu Seung Beom Accepted the Villain Role in 'Moving' Because of THIS

In an interview obtained by local media outlet Star Today, the actor revealed why he accepted the offer to portray a villain.

According to him, he was moved by the story while reading the script. What made him fall in love with the story was how the parents' love for their children was depicted.

"The setting of people with superpowers was fun, but more than anything, personally, I was touched by the parents' desire to protect their children," he said.

As mentioned by the actor, he could feel the strong emotions of the parents and was "able to sympathize more" with the characters because he is also a father.

Based on the webtoon written by Kang Full, "Moving" follows the story of 3 extraordinary high school students who inherited their superpowers from their parents.

However, these individuals are being chased down by the CIS through Frank, played by Ryu Seung Beom.

Ryu Seung Beom's Character Not Part of the Webtoon?

In "Moving," the antagonist, Frank, is a mysterious character who works for a US agency. The Korean-American poses himself as a courier who hunts down individuals with superpowers.

Despite being just like them, Frank goes on a mission to track down former agents, which include Jang Joo Won (Ryu Seung Ryong), Lee Mi Hyun (Han Hyo Joo), and Kim Doo Shik (Jo In Sung).

In addition, Frank was also the reason behind the brutal death of Jeon Gye Do's (Cha Tae Hyun) father.

However, behind the interesting and mind-boggling character of Frank, the role did not exist in the original webtoon.

According to the same outlet, Kang Full created Frank with Ryu Seung Beom in mind to play the role. Moreover, the writer also mentioned that the process of building each character was very important, including the antagonist.

Interestingly, Frank is not the only character that did not exist in the original story. Cha Tae Hyun's Lightning Man was also created for the series.

In a previous interview, Kang Full revealed that he wanted to bridge the gap between the parents and the kids; hence, Jeon Gye Do's character was born.

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
Jeon Yeo Bin gets candid at the fun talks of the upcoming movie "Cobweb," where she revealed the true personality of one of her co-stars.

Curious about who this celebrity is? Then read on.

'Cobweb' Stars Song Kang Ho, Jeon Yeo Bin, More Attend Press Conference

The cast and the creative heads attended the press conference of the soon-to-release film "Cobweb." The event was held at CGV Yongsan Mall in Seoul on the morning of August 29. Present at the gathering are Song Kang Ho, Oh Jung Se, Im Soo Jung, Jeon Yeo Bin, and Krystal Jung.

During the fun talks segment, the cast members shared some of their experiences and behind-the-scenes stories working on the movie.

Jeon Yeo Bin is set to portray the role of Shin Mi Do, the nephew and assistant of Director Kim of Korea's top movie company Shin Sung Film. She is in charge of the financial affairs for filming their movie and is a hard-working staff who will do anything to re-shoot "Cobweb."

Jeon Yeo Bin Exposes Krystal's True Personality

During the media conference, Jeon Yeo Bin commented on her co-actress Krystal Jung, "Back when we were in school, there was a saying that 'There isn't a girl who doesn't have Jung Soojung in their heart," (referring to the idol-actress' real name) that's how famous she was in f(x).

The "Vincenzo" lead star also spontaneously revealed Krystal Jung's true personality.

According to Jeon Yeo Bin, "She has this cold and sophisticated image, right? However, in real life, she's really warm-hearted and friendly." The "Be Melodramatic" star added, "Her passion for acting is something to commend about her too, it brings me happiness when I watch her."

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Jeon Yeo Bin Goes Viral After Staff Reveals Her True Personality

Jeo Yeo Bin exposed the new friendship that she found with her co-star and the strong bond that they have was evident during the press conference.

What We Know So Far About 'Cobweb'

"Cobweb" follows the story of a director who is obsessed with thinking of a great way of concluding the movie "Cobweb," which was originally produced in the 1970s, and would be better if re-filmed.

Furthermore, the director then faces challenges from censorship authorities and the actors and the staff's incompetence to comprehend the changes in the film's narrative, leading to the chaotic and funny things that happen while working on the movie.

"Cobweb" is scheduled to hit the cinemas beginning September 27.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Jeon Yeo Bin Makes Bold Transformation in New Film 'Cobweb'

What can you say about the news? Share your thoughts/replies in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
"Mask Girl" actress Nana is embroiled in a rumor of her getting married. This immediately broke the internet but the media responded and clarified the news.

Keep on reading to know what happened.

Nana Embroils in Marriage Rumor on Twitter

On the afternoon of August 28, K-netizens were shocked as Nana's name unexpectedly became a hot topic on the social media platform Twitter. According to a source, the hashtag 'Nana gets married' surprisingly shot up to the top trending on Twitter in Korea.

Due to this, rumors about the idol-actress getting married spread like wildfire online. In particular, the news left the fans astonished because, for the past years, Nana has not opened any romantic relationships with anyone.

  ?

?  ?  SY (@dodobboo) August 28, 2023

People on the said media platform expressed their sentiments regarding the issue.

To recall, the only dating rumor she was involved in was eight years ago when the K-star was linked to Hong Jong Hyun. It was said that they were seeing each other, but then she immediately denied the issue.

Media Outlet Clarifies Marriage Rumors Involving 'Mask Girl' Star Nana

After Nana's name got dragged into the wedding news, a media outlet clarified that it was a misunderstanding. It has been said that when clicking on the keyword "Nana getting married," there is not any information related to the former After School member.

Instead, netizens came across news about the musical actress Na Ha Na announcing her marriage. It turned out that the Korean star who declared her wedding was not Nana but an actress who has a similar name as her.

What's Next for Nana

On the other hand, Nana just finished her Netflix series "Mask Girl," which garnered attention for its narrative. Viewers have expressed their thoughts about the drama, while others complimented the actors for their notable acting performances.

Aside from Nana, rookie actress Lee Han Byeol and veteran actress Go Hyun Jung starred as the main protagonists of the drama.

Furthermore, following her back-to-back Netflix projects, the actress is preparing for another exciting romance series through "My Man is Cupid," where she will team up with actor Jang Dong Yoon.

It will present the story of a fairy, who falls in love after being shot by his own arrow. Nana takes the role of Oh Baek Ryun, a veterinary surgeon who turns heads with her stunning beauty. However, whenever she gets involved with someone, they seem to experience a crisis, which leads her to eventually prevent dating.

"My Man is Cupid" is tentatively to be released in the last quarter of 2023.

What can you say about the news? Share your thoughts/replies in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
With her beauty and enviable figure, Gong Seung Yeon is one of the most sought-after stars in Hallyu today.

Currently, she stars as a paramedic in the mega hit drama "The First Responders" which recently debuted its new season.

Unbeknownst to many, she's not only equipped with solid acting skills but also a full-packed wardrobe. Here are her three iconic looks that you might like to try.

Gong Seung Yeon In Leather

In contrast to her angelic face, Gong Seung Yeon also looks good in anything made of leather. In her photoshoot with Dazed Korea, the South Korean star was garbed in a jet black leather dress with an intricate lining in the bodice from Bridal Kong.

The dress gives emphasis to her fair complexion, proving that leather isn't limited to bags and shoes nowadays. Get yourself your own leather dress for special occasions by clicking here!

Gong Seung Yeon In Couture Cut Out Dresses

One thing about the Hallyu star is she's not scared of any challenge. In her pictorial with Singles Plus Korea, Gong Seung Yeon dipped her toes in unconventional fashion clothing.

She wore a plum and rust-colored turtleneck maxi dress, giving off an undeniably elegant aura. The dress freely opens at the back which shows some skin, making the look sultry and riveting.

Gong Seung Yeon also donned an infinity maxi dress that is decorated with kiss marks from the bottom to the top that gives a bolder and more mature look on the actress.

Both pieces were sourced from the British luxury brand Alexander McQueen. Get your own cut out decorative dress for a cheaper price by clicking here.

Gong Seung Yeon In Trendy Alternative Style

Like many things, fashion evolves over time. Among the Gen Z, the alternative style is the trend now. Many youngsters dress according to their desired "aesthetic." However, there are still trendy items that can be worn without any hassle.

In her pictorial with GQ Korea, she was dressed in a black knit top and a pair of washed jeans from the Seoul designer label YCH.

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THIS: 3 Stylish Holiday Looks As Seen On 'Mask Girl' Scene-Stealer Han Jae Yi

Since this can be "too basic" for some people's taste, Gong Seung Yeon accessories herself with a bucket hat from Bossman and a pair of Moschino earrings, completing the look. Click here to cop the look without breaking the bank.

Which Gong Seung Yeon look would you try on? Tell us what you think in the comments below!

For more K-Drama, K-movie and celebrity updates, follow and subscribe to KDramaStars now!

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Flagstaff resident Fred Gibbs earned his second accreditation as a Master Flight Instructor from the National Association of Flight Instructors.

He currently manages Wiseman Aviation flight school in Flagstaff and is its only flight instructor providing more than 1,000 hours of ground and flight training per year. And Gibbs has had a long history in the aviation industry.

Gibbs is the retired CEO of his aviation consulting firm, The ABC Group, founded in January 2000.

The company specializes in air traffic issues with the FAA and many of the aviation industry's major air traffic players, including Boeing Air Traffic Management, Raytheon, DynCorp, DME, Washington Consulting Group and Lockheed Martin.

Gibbs is also a former second vice president of the Arizona Pilots Association, was director of its safety and education programs through 2018, and is currently director of safety and education programs emeritus. He also served as safety officer for the Civil Air Patrol squadron in Flagstaff, as well as flight check pilot and certified search and rescue mission pilot.

Gibbs has been a pilot since 1973, holding ATP, multi-engine, commercial SMEL, CFII, and remote (drone) pilot certificates. He has been an instructor pilot since 1976 -- with more than 16,000 hours of instruction time given with a total of slightly more than 19,000 hours total. He has also flown 2,500 hours in his own single-propeller plane, a Bellanca Super Viking.

Gibbs has been a safety counselor/FAAST team lead representative since 1973 and a former FAA designated pilot examiner. He was the 2003 Safety Counselor of the year for the State of Arizona.

As a finale to his flying career, in 2023 he will receive the FAA's Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for 50 years of safe flight. He has also been immortalized on the National Air and Space Museum's Wall of Honor at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport in Chantilly, Virginia.
Other than the bromance between Jo In Sung and Ryu Seung Ryong, "Moving" episode 12 will narrate the lives of Han Hyo Joo and Jo In Sung as first-time parents.

In the latest update of Disney+, the streaming platform teased viewers with a sneak peek of upcoming episodes, showcasing how the couple welcomed their firstborn.

Han Hyo Joo, Jo In Sung Escape City to Raise Lee Jung Ha

In the "Moving" trailer, Han Hyo Joo, who plays Lee Mi Hyun, is living with Kim Doo Shik, portrayed by Jo In Sung, in what seemed like a countryside.

The duo left their city life and their career as secret agents as they welcomed their bundle of joy.

Embracing the newlywed life in the countryside, both Lee Mi Hyun and Kim Doo Shik are now living their dream - a peaceful life with their son and away from the chaos.

Although their current lives are quite different from their previous ones, happiness radiates through them, especially now that they have Kim Bong Seok.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Did You Know? THIS 'Moving' Character Was Not Part of the Original Webtoon

As Disney+ dropped a sneak peek for "Moving" episode 12, viewers express how they are thrilled to see Lee Mi Hyun and Kim Doo Shik being parents to an extraordinary child.

On Twitter, fans gush over Jo In Sung's first father role.

Interestingly, other fans are also excited to see Han Hyo Joo and Jo In Sung living a domesticated life.

Apart from the duo's love story, "Moving" episodes 12 and 13 will also showcase the team-up between Kim Doo Shik and his new partner, Jang Joo Won, played by Ryu Seung Ryong.

In addition, the upcoming episodes will also narrate Jang Joo Won's new life after quitting the gang and becoming a secret agent. The trailer also hints at his reunion with Hwang Ji Hee, played by Kwak Sun Young.

It can be recalled that episode 9 left viewers with a heartbreaking reunion between Lee Mi Hyun and Kim Doo Shik.

On the other hand, episode 11 featured Kim Doo Shik welcoming his new partner, Jang Joo Won, to the agency.

Where to Watch 'Moving' Episodes 12 and 13

Based on the webtoon of the same name, "Moving" is a superhero action drama that depicts the story of 33 high school students who have superhuman abilities, which they got from their parents.

As they hid their superhuman powers from everyone else, powerful dark forces came to hunt them.

"Moving" episodes 12 and 13 will be released today, August 30, at 4 p.m. KST. Viewers get to watch the two new episodes, which will be released simultaneously via Disney+ and Hulu.

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
Mother Andrea Brown, father Gladstone Brown and lawyer Saron Gebresellasi (right) are shown with a portrait of Samuel Brown in a handout photo. A coroner's inquest has heard that overnight staff at an Ontario school for blind children were shocked to find a disabled teen unresponsive after routinely checking on him. Student support staff working at W. Ross Macdonald School between Feb. 8 to 9, 2018 testified that they had been checking on Samuel Brown at half-hour intervals all night and keeping a close eye on him, given he appeared to have cold symptoms. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Michael YC Tseng MANDATORY CREDIT




(Global Times) The US and Vietnam are eyeing developing ties to a higher level, as Washington puts more efforts into using or forcing China's neighbors to join the US-launched Indo-Pacific strategy and major power competition that aim to contain China's development.

Analysts said Vietnam, in order to boost its own development, wants to benefit from the US strategy, but that it will not be used by the US to contain China. The Southeast Asian and socialist country enjoys a high level of mutual trust and deep cooperation with China, while there will be limits on closer US-Vietnam due to complicated ideological and historical reasons.

US President Joe Biden is heading to Vietnam in September to meet with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong, the White House announced on Monday. The US president will arrive in Hanoi on September 10, tacking on the one-day visit to the Vietnamese capital after attending the annual G20 leaders' summit in India.

"The [US and Vietnamese] leaders will explore opportunities to promote the growth of a technology-focused and innovation-driven Vietnamese economy, expand our people-to-people ties through education exchanges and workforce development programs, combat climate change, and increase peace, prosperity, and stability in the region," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

Biden's visit is expected to see the two nations announce a "strategic partnership," an upgrade on the current "comprehensive partnership," US media Politico reported on August 18, citing "three people with knowledge of the deal's planning."

Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday that Vietnam has a long-existing diplomatic plan to develop strategic partnerships with all five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and "the US is the last one to have it due to the complicated US-Vietnam relations."

"Vietnam is a socialist country, so it's facing ideological pressure from the US, and many conflicts and attacks within Vietnam are related to US-backed anti-government organizations. The country is facing a long-standing threat of 'color revolutions' from the US since the end of Vietnam War," Xu said.

Xu said Biden will face domestic pushback on becoming closer to Vietnam. "Although Biden wants to include Vietnam as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific strategy, he also faces pressure from conservative forces in the US Congress and from other political groups that are hostile toward Vietnam and the CPV," he said.

Lingering historical issues after the Vietnam War are another problem, experts said. The US committed numerous atrocities and war crimes including using bio and chemical weapons, and massacring civilians during the war, and caused generational harm to Vietnamese people, and added to geopolitical concerns, the development of Vietnam-US ties is slow, Li said.

Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the US is now deciding to upgrade ties with Vietnam because its priority is the major power competition against China and Russia, and Washington will try everything it can to make the biggest use of the regional disputes around China to create troubles.

"The Biden administration is searching for another 'Ukraine' in Asia. Vietnam needs to stay calm and vigilant, to avoid being used by the US as a pawn to contain China on its geopolitical chessboard," Li noted.

Xu said China and Vietnam are two socialist countries with a high level of mutual trust, so "we don't have ideological problems, and the inter-party relationship between the Communist Party of China and the CPV guides the development of bilateral relations. Hanoi understands that a stable relationship with China is key to safeguarding the political security of its socialist system."

Analysts said that US-Vietnam relations can never match the level of China-Vietnam relations, which is why Vietnam retains close communication with China before or after significant engagement with the US, so any impact of closer US-Vietnam relations should not be over-exaggerated.
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Idalia continues to strengthen, skirts well west of Keys

Photos by ROB ONEAL/Keys Citizen Waves crash against the Edward B. Knight Pier at Higgs Beach on Tuesday morning as Hurricane Idalia enters the Gulf of Mexico. ROB O'NEAL/Keys Citizen Visitors to the Southernmost Point buoy Tuesday morning brave the waves for a few cellphone photos as Hurricane Idalia passes the Florida Keys some 175 miles to the west.

Local, county and state offices remained open on Tuesday, Aug. 29, as Hurricane Idalia skirted well to the west of the Florida Keys.

The most significant impacts were expected in the early afternoon, with high sustained winds and frequent squalls moving across the Lower Keys.

Idalia was predicted to pass approximately 200 miles west of Key West around 2 p.m., Tuesday. The storm is on track to make landfall north of Tampa as a major hurricane, fueled by the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Our highest winds so far were at Sand Key this morning at 53 knots around 9:20 a.m., said National Weather Service meteorologist Jon Rizzo. We also expect tides to be at their highest tonight in conjunction with the full moon.

Forecasters predict tides as much as 2 1/2 feet above average, with high tide for Key West Harbor at 10:39 p.m., Tuesday night. They expect the tide to be exacerbated by the strong southerly winds associated with the storm.

As of Tuesday morning, no utility outages were reported, although Rizzo said that they are expected due to the high winds associated with the storm.

Although Key West International Airport remained open, its website advised travelers to contact individual airlines to confirm flights.

By midday, Delta and Silver Airways had canceled two flights each. Other airlines were also seeing delays.

Idalia is forecast to strengthen rapidly into an extremely dangerous major hurricane before hitting the Gulf Coast on Wednesday, possibly as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of up to 120 mph.

You still have time this morning to make your final preparations ... but you gotta do that now. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced at the states emergency operations center. Tolls have been waived on highways out of the danger area, shelters have opened, hotels are prepared to take evacuees, and more than 30,000 utility workers are being staged to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricanes wake, he said.

You do not have to leave the state. You dont have to drive hundreds of miles. You have to get to higher ground in a safe structure. You can ride the storm out there, then return to your home, DeSantis said.

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, Hurricane Idalia was about 320 miles south-southwest of Tampa, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, the hurricane center said. Idalia was moving north at 14 mph.

The center of Idalia will most likely hit a lightly populated area of the Gulf Coast known as the Big Bend before crossing the peninsula and drenching southern Georgia along with the Carolinas on Thursday, forecasters said.

While the rest of the state was getting ready for landfall, emergency planners for Monroe County lauded the NWS for its efforts.

I have been doing this since 1998, and the forecasts have gotten so good, I cant tell you how many evacuations we have been able to avoid, said Andy Newman, who handles public relations for the Florida Keys and Key West.

Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi agreed.

The forecasts have gotten so good that we have been able to avoid evacuations that can cost up to $15 million per day.

Although still elevated to a Level 3, highly monitoring status, Monroe Countys EOC doesnt have additional meetings planned for the duration of the storm, instead relying on situation reports from its stakeholders.

ted.lund@keysnews.com
Bus owners under the Uganda Bus Owners Association (UBOA) will today know their fate regarding the park user fees impasse in a meeting expected to be held with Ministry of Local Government and other government officials.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at the Ministry of Local Government offices in Kampala this morning.

Last week, bus owners suspended all operations in protest against Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) enforcement officers move to close down all bus terminals over non-payment of the Shs2.4 million annual park user fees, which they say is too high and crippling business.

This prompted government to call an urgent meeting with the bus owners and other stakeholders which resulted in the temporary suspension of the strike, pending formal submission of the petition.

According to UBOA secretary Mr. Robert Mutebi, the petition was delivered to the ministry yesterday. They now await the outcome of the meeting to decide whether or not to resume the strike.

In addition to the Shs2.4 million, bus owners are also required to pay Shs2.8 million for operating licences for each bus, Shs1.5 million for passenger service vehicle licences, and Shs1.3 million as advance income tax to Uganda Revenue Authority.
Epona Equine Rescue received a boost Tuesday in the form of a $10,000 donation that will be used to care for neglected horses recently seized in Gage County.

The donation came from the Wayne Orin King Revocable Trust, and was presented at the Gage County Sheriffs Office.

Timothy Brutsche, Trustee, brought the check from Fort Calhoun, personally.

The donation was to care for 36 horses confiscated from the Blue Valley Veterinary Clinic and Pickrell Veterinary Clinic in Gage County on Aug. 17. They are being cared for at the Epona Equine Rescue in Crete. Veterinarian Jennafer Glaesemann has been charged so far with 37 counts of livestock neglect after an estimated 15-17 horses died under her care.

Director of the rescue Lin Guyton said some of the mares arrived slightly malnourished, but others were horrendously emaciated.

She noted one group of mares is going through a big round bale of hay a day. The grass hay or grass alfalfa mix bales are averaging of $200-$300 a bale.

Guyton said the community support has been amazing.

These horses and the outpouring of support has reaffirmed my belief in the goodness of people, she said. Our hearts are full and we are deeply grateful.

She said all of the horses are recovering well.

They are doing great, she added. The colts are beginning to run around and have fun. They dont act like Auschwitz victims anymore.

Brutsche said he likes to deliver these kinds of donations in person.

I wanted to hand the check in person, he said. Im doing what King wanted me do as the trustee of his estate.

Wayne Orin King was a Native American who lived in poverty throughout his 62 years of life. His grandparents owned land on the reservation which he had inherited. A year before his death the Omaha tribe purchased a portion of the land giving him funds to be able to set up the revocable trust.

King gave instructions to Brutsche that donations were to be made to individuals or organizations whose primary purpose is the rescue and preservation of domestic and wild animals.

I only choose catastrophic problems that dont have regular streams of income, Brutsche said. Its a lot of fun to be able to give donations of this size. Its fun to see the look on their face. I hope others will step up and help with large donations.

I wish I could give more, 36 horses is a lot.

Investigator Tim Hansen with the Gage County Sheriffs Office said neither Epona Horse Rescue or the county is making money from the seized horses, but the care and recovery of the horses is costly.

Were very appreciative of the large donation of the trust, he said. We encourage others to give any amount they are able for the care of the horses.

As the horses continue to recover, they are not for sale or adoptable at this time.
High Court Judge Esta Nambayo has ordered Rosewell Women and Children Hospital in Kampala to facilitate a DNA test on a now three-month-old baby it allegedly detained at childbirth after the parents failed to clear Shs4.4 million in nursery fees despite the couple having paid five million for the Caesarean birth.

Justice Namboyo issued the order after the couples lawyer Geoffrey Turyamusiima requested for a DNA test after the mother failed to identify the toddler as her own.

On Wednesday morning, Nambayo ordered Rosewell hospital to produce the baby in court after the health facility allowed the couple to pay one million in cash and pay the balance in installments.

However, when the baby was produced in court by Loving Hearts, a baby care home, Soloome Alinda (the mother) informed court that she was not in position to identify her son since she had not seen him for the past three months.

The parents through their lawyer Turyamusiima then asked court to compel Rosewell Hospital to pay for the said DNA test at a government analytical laboratory to ascertain the babys parents.

Meanwhile, court further learnt that the hospital took the baby to Central Police Station Kampala and reported him as an abandoned child a few weeks ago after allegedly detaining it.

A representative from Loving Hearts informed court that police and the KCCA probation office contacted them before handing over the baby.

However, the parents insist that they did not abandon their newborn baby, explaining that the hospital detained the child after they failed to raise another Shs4.4 million.

These have been ordered to return to court on September 5, 2023, when the DNA results are expected to be ready.

The couple dragged the hospital to court, accusing the facility of refusing to release their child until they cleared all the outstanding bills. They claim that the hospital denied them a chance to pay the said bill in installments.

The couple also accuses the hospital of threatening to sell their baby to Sanyu Babys Home in Kampala if they failed to clear the said Shs4.4 million bill.
The High Court Civil Division has ordered Rosewell Women and Childrens Hospital to produce a 5-month-old newborn baby who was allegedly detained as security for unpaid medical bills. The order has been issued by Justice Esta Nambayo.

This is after the couple Soloome and Bridges Alinda dragged the hospital to court for allegedly refusing to release their newborn baby over an accumulated bill of Shs4.4 million.

The order to produce the baby with his food at 2pm was issued after lawyers for both parties agreed that if the parents could raise one million shillings out of the outstanding bill, he will be handed over back to his parents.

However, the hospital lawyer, Mr. Ssemakula Mukiibi told court that the toddler is at Loving Hearts, a baby care home after being abandoned by his parents, hence involving Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to have the baby taken in safe care.

The couple contends that they have gone through an emotional roller-coaster ever since they gave birth to their baby boy who was detained by the hospital over non-payment of Shs4.4 million, which they were allegedly denied a chance to clear in installments.
Chief Justice Alfofonse Owiny-Dollo has assigned the acting Registrar Magistrates Affairs and Data Management Ereemye James Mawanda as the new Public Relations officer of the Judiciary.

His Worship Mawanda replaced Jamson Karamani who was recently appointed as the High Court Judge.

In exercise of the powers conferred upon the Chief Justice under Article 133 of the Constitution and in accordance with Section 3(a) of the Administration of the Judiciary Act, I hereby assign you as Public Relations Officer of the Judiciary, in addition to your duties as a Registrar, a letter signed by the Chief Justice reads in part.

Mawanda now takes on the registry of communications and public relations to supervise a team of professional communications officers. He will also deputize the Chief Registrar as the spokesperson of the Judiciary.

Meanwhile, the Chief Registrar, Sarah Langa Siu welcomed the appointment, saying the new PRO will be instrumental in fostering public awareness and the image of the Judiciary in line with their strategic plan.

Mawandas experience spans 27 years, growing through the ranks from Magistrate Grade III Trainee, Magistrate Grade II, Magistrate Grade I, Chief Magistrate, Deputy Registrar, and Acting Registrar. He is also a member of the Judiciary Council representing the Lower Bench.

The Judiciary Council is an advisory body to the Chief Justice established under the Administration of the Judiciary Act, 2020.

Additionally, Mawanda is also a member of the Law Council and the Disciplinary Committee of the said

council.

He is also a member of the Executive of the Uganda Judicial Officers Association representing registrars.
Makerere University administrators have rejected the request to provide space for born-again Christians who are demanding their own church on campus, with the institution insisting that it can only accommodate three mainstream religions on campus.

The controversy emerged after Pastor Martin Ssempa, who has been leading prayers for students subscribing to the born-again denomination, petitioned the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) over the failure by the University to recognise and gazette their church.

According to the petition seen by KFM, Pastor Ssempa accused the university of religious discrimination, asking the EOC to intervene and ensure that equal treatment is given to born-again Christians, just like the Muslims, Catholics, and Anglicans.

According to the demands, Mr. Ssempa wants Makerere University to avail them land where they would construct their church, a Chaplain, and a house for the Chaplain.

A highly placed source said that the EOC court based on the above petition and complaints summoned Makerere University administrators to respond to the accusations. The meeting transpired last week according to the source.

EOC directed Makerere University to meet Pr Ssempa for mediation in a case of discrimination and marginalisation of the born-again faith in Makerere University and come up with resolutions in the next 60 days.

In an interview with Daily Monitor, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic Affairs, Prof Umar Kakumba said that the University Council previously guided that the university can only accommodate the three mainstream religions.

He said that the university recognises Anglicans, Catholics, and Muslims.

He, however, said that the University Council will guide further on the way forward after the petition.

Makerere University management closed Ssempas Makerere Community Church which had been in operation for more than 20 years after Covid-19 in 2022, on grounds of being irregular to the university law which only recognises 3 religious groups.

The church was operating in the main hall of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Bio-security (COVAB) before its closure.

Pastor Ssempa told Daily Monitor that without this church in place, they are unable to provide social services and support to thousands of students.
The General Court Martial has set free former Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura by dropping charges of failure to protect war material, alleged kidnap of Rwandan refugees, among others.

This is after prosecution led by Lt Col. Rapheal Mugisha presented a withdrawal letter of the said charges dated 30th August 2023 before the seven-member team led by Brig Gen Freeman Robert Mugabe citing loss of interest in prosecuting the said case.

He has been battling the said charges since 2018 in which prosecution had stated that on various occasions between 2010 and 2018, the former police chief allowed the use of arms and ammunition by unauthorised persons including members of the defunct Boda Boda 2010 that was headed by Abdallah Kitata who has since been released.

He also faced charges of aiding, and abetting the kidnap and repatriation of Rwandan Refugees.

He was jointly charged with other seven senior police officers and spent close to three months in prison before being granted bail and recently pardoned by President Museveni.

Commenting on his freedom, Kayihura thanked the president, his family, and friends for walking with him until today when he attained his freedom.

Im extremely happy. I have never been this happy because I have got justice and freedom. Its not the kind of freedom that you have, this is sweet freedom that you cant imagine, Kayihura said.
The Iowa Attorney Generals Office has found that the Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa, police officers who fatally shot a homicide suspect in July were justified.

The officers who shot 41-year-old Matthew Briggs on July 8 fired at him only after he aimed a shotgun at them from the car he had stolen, a report from the Attorney Generals Office said. The report found that Lt. Chad Geer of the Council Bluffs Police Department and Lt. Martin Stiles of the Omaha Police Department were legally justified in their use of lethal force and that no criminal charges are warranted.

The Attorney Generals Office concurred with a report issued by the Pottawattamie County Attorneys Office in July that found both officers justified in the use of deadly force in the case.

Briggs, 41, was suspected in a string of felony assaults and a homicide in Omaha before he reportedly stole a car and led police on a multi-county high-speed chase.

The string of incidents involving Briggs began in the early-morning hours of July 8 when Omaha police responded to reports of a stabbing. Briggs had reportedly forced entry into the home of an ex-girlfriend, cut her and threatened her with a gun. He then went to the home of a different ex-girlfriend, who was not home, and repeatedly drove his car into her garage, according to Omaha police.

Shortly before 7 a.m., police received information that Briggs had shot and killed someone in the Regency neighborhood. At 9927 Essex Drive, police found Greg Donsbach, 52, shot to death inside his home.

Briggs was quickly identified as a suspect in the assaults and killing of Donsbach, and law enforcement began a citywide search for Briggs. His car was later found running and abandoned in a ravine near Mandan Park in South Omaha at about 1 p.m.

As officers were completing their search of Mandan Park at about 3:30 p.m., an armed carjacking was reported about a mile south of the park in Sarpy County in which Briggs had stolen a blue Toyota Camry.

Officers then began a pursuit of the stolen car, which lasted more than 20 minutes as Briggs traveled from Bellevue into Council Bluffs. The pursuit ended when an officer was able to bring the car to a stop using a PIT maneuver, a tactic in which an officer hits the back of a fleeing vehicle to cause it to spin out.

Once the car was stopped, Briggs pointed a shotgun at officers, at which point both Geer and Stiles fired at him, the report said.

Briggs was taken to the hospital, with CPR in progress, where he later died.
Hot on the heels of the sheepdog trials in Thomastown in Kilkenny, the International Sheepdog Trials are being held in Blessington, Co. Wicklow this year, commencing September 8 and with the big finale on Sunday the 10th.

The International Sheepdog Trials is a yearly competition which rotates between Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England and it demonstrates the natural ability of the sheepdog and the partnership between man and dog. This year sees Blessington host the most prestigious trophy in the calendar of events for sheepdog trialists.

Local Kilkenny artist Krisztina Rozanich has donated a piece of art specifically created for this event. Krisztina, in addition to being an artist, is an avid sheepdog trialist and sheepdog trainer.

"It is pure magic to work alongside your dog. The communication and partnership between you and your dog is unbelievable," she siad.

She is raffling off this drawing with all proceeds going to the International. It is an online raffle, hosted by the trusted idonate platform. The drawing is framed and ready to hang. It depicts 3 Wicklow Cheviot sheep which is the breed of sheep used in the competition this year. It will be on display at the International Sheepdog Societies tent for the duration of the event. Tickets for this online raffle can be purchased by following the link: https://www.idonate.ie/raffle/WicklowCheviotsInternationalSheepdogTrials2023

There will be activities for the whole family, including vintage cars, face painting, live music and more. https://www.internationalsheepdogtrials.ie/
Children in Hospital Ireland (CIH Ireland) are looking for Kilkenny locals to support children at St Lukes General Hospital and to join their play volunteer team.

With almost 300 volunteers across 14 hospitals in Ireland, Children in Hospital Ireland creates play opportunities and eases the experience of hospitalisation for children and their families.

CIH Ireland also provides information and advocates on behalf of all children and their families to ensure they have access to the resources and supports.

Children in Hospital Ireland are looking for volunteers to dedicate two hours a week to play with children in the hospital.

Volunteers must be 18 years or older and will have the opportunity to engage in activities such as arts and crafts, story time, board games and more.

CIH Ireland is hosting an information evening in Kilkenny on September 21 for those interested in volunteering.

To register your interest in becoming a volunteer, please visit childreninhospital.ie.
The Dail Constituency Review has recommended that Carlow-Kilkenny remains a five-seater constituency however it has also recommended that parts of north-west Kilkenny be subsumed into a new three-seater Tipperary North constituency.

According to the constituency review report, submissions for the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency included proposals to respect the county boundaries of Carlow and Kilkenny.

"Some submissions called for the county of Carlow to form the basis of a new constituency with transfers in from other counties, and the Commission did consider dividing the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency into two 3 seat constituencies based on their respective counties," the report reads.

"However, Co. Carlows population of 61,968 is insufficient to support a standalone constituency, and this approach would give rise to breaches of the boundaries of adjacent counties.

"The Commission considered the current constituency population as requiring a change to its current form, and recommends the transfer of 13 EDs, with a population of 6,431, from the western part of Co. Kilkenny to the newly formed Tipperary North constituency.

"These EDs are in the general area of the town of Urlingford. This transfer allows for the constituency to remain otherwise unchanged with a relatively high variance of 7.93%.

"The Commission, conscious of its approach to county boundaries generally, considered at some length a number of possible alternatives to reduce the extent of this variance. However, the Commission ultimately decided on this option to minimise the number of breaches of county boundaries in the area and to provide for the highest level of continuity.

"The continuation of the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency maintains the historical electoral link between the two counties since 1948."

The 13 Kilkenny EDs (that have been recommended form part of a new Tipperary North constituency) include Baunmore, Galmoy, Glashare, Urlingford, Johnstown, Lisdowney, Balleen, Clomantagh, Tubbridbrittain, Freshford, Rathealy, Ballybeagh and Tullaroan.

The Waterford constituency is also recommended to remain unchanged, coming as a relief to many in South Kilkenny.

Ms Justice Marie Baker, Chairperson of the Report, acknowledged the challenge of altering the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency in a presentation to the news media this morning.

The Commission recommends that the next Dail would see 174 TDs representing 43 Dail Constituencies, up from the current 160 TDs in 39 Constituencies.
A Papillion man accused of killing his estranged wife Saturday night was ordered to be held without bail during his first court appearance Tuesday.

The decision from Sarpy County District Court Judge S. Colin Palm came after prosecutor Thomas Gross requested Walter Alexander, 47, be held without bail. Alexander is accused of killing his estranged wife, 32-year-old Brittney Alexander, and subsequent attempt to avoid arrest. Walter Alexander faces charges of first-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony and operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest.

Police said Alexander fatally shot Brittney in her home at 735 Madison St. Around 6:15 p.m., police responded to the residence on a report of domestic violence. Police found Brittney suffering from a gunshot wound and saw a 2012 Mercedes Benz sedan leaving the scene.

Papillion police followed the vehicle and were able to arrest Alexander near 84th and Harrison streets with the assistance of the La Vista Police Department. Papillion Police Chief Chris Whitted previously said Alexander was driving erratically and his vehicle stopped after becoming high-centered on the median. He was taken into custody without incident.

An affidavit pertaining to the incident has been sealed.

In court, Gross argued Alexander would be a flight risk since he has ties to Massachusetts.

John Hascall, deputy public defender, did not object to the lack of bail for Alexander. Hascall said Alexander does not have the finances to post bail.

Alexander is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 16.
Winter wheat variety selection is one of the first key management decisions that you make each year as a wheat farmer in southeast Nebraska. The three-year average yield difference in currently planted varieties evaluated at the University of Nebraska Jefferson County trial is 12 bushels per acre. I consider southeast Nebraska to include the 22 counties south of Highway 30 and east of Highway 14. In 2022, there was nearly 40,000 acres of wheat in southeast Nebraska. Given the limited wheat acres in each farm operation and my experience indicates that most wheat farmers only plant one or two varieties each season. Therefore, how do you select the best variety for your farm?

There are several variety selection tools I encourage you to use in making data-driven decisions. First, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Agronomy Department conducts statewide winter wheat variety trials including locations in Saunders, Lancaster, Jefferson, and Clay counties. Those results are posted each July online at cropwatch.unl.edu/varietytest. Unfortunately, several of the locations were abandoned this spring due to the winterkill and drought. There is a new wheat variety app the helps you use the data more efficiently on CropWatch. Second, there is a regional data analysis website (ramwheatdb.com) hosted by Colorado State University. This tool allows for analysis of wheat variety performance across a broader region, for example southeast Nebraska, northeast Kansas, and north-central Kansas. As an agronomist local individual trial data is helpful, but multiple location and multiple year data analysis of variety performance helps me find consistently performing varieties for farmers.

What variety traits should you look for? Yield, protein, and test weight all determine the price you receive at the elevator, so these are at the top of the list. Standability or resistance to lodging is important given our higher yield environment and growing conditions in southeast Nebraska. Disease resistance to Fusarium head blight is high of my list. Fusarium damaged kernels and vomitoxin is assessed at the grain elevator to and can lead to dockage or even rejection of the load. There are no varieties completely resistant to Fusarium head blight, but resistance ratings above average are needed most years along with a well-timed fungicide application during flowering to avoid issues. Varieties with moderately resistant ratings for 4 to 7 are preferred (scale of 1 to 10, 1 is resistant and 10 is susceptible). Varieties moderately resistant to leaf and stripe rust are preferred too. The varieties that match most of my preferred traits for this upcoming growing season include, but not limited to: WB4401, WB4422, WB4699 from WestBred; LCS Valiant from Limagrain Cereal Seeds, AP Bigfoot, AP Prolific, SY Wolverine, from AgriPro; CP7017AX from Croplan; Siege from NuPride; Ruth from Husker Genetics, Rock Star and Paradise from Polansky Seed. You can find the list of certified seed growers to purchase wheat seed from through the Nebraska Crop Improvement Association online at necrop.org. Winter wheat seed supply will be very tight, so call and order as soon as possible.

As a reminder, you can find more information on variety selection, a seeding rate calculator, target planting date map, and much more on my locally focused website for growing winter wheat in southeast Nebraska at croptechcafe.org. For inquiries about these and other agronomy-related resources from Nebraska Extension, contact me at nathan.mueller@unl.edu or 402-821-1722. Know your crop, know your tech, know your bottom line at croptechcafe.org.
(Adds details, analyst comment from paragraph 3)

By Danilo Masoni MILAN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Shares in European oil producers, miners and other companies with large exposures to Gabon plummeted on Wednesday after a military coup raised concerns over their operations in the resource-rich African country.

London-listed oil producer Tullow Oil fell as much as 12% in afternoon trading, while French energy companies TotalEnergies Gabon and Maurel et Prom and miner Eramet all dropped by more than 20% at one point. "Shares are reacting to concerns over the backdrop in Gabon," said Investec equity analyst Alex Smith in London. Military officers in Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday and put President Ali Bongo under house arrest, stepping in minutes after the state's election body announced he had won a third term.

France, Gabon's former colonial ruler which has troops stationed in the African nation, condemned the coup. Eramet, the world's No.1 producer of high-grade manganese ore thanks to its Moanda mine in Gabon, said it had suspended all operations in the country as a "precautionary measure".

Timber company Woodbois also said production at its facilities in the Gabonese city of Mouila were suspended, sending its London-listed shares almost 16% lower.

However, Assala Energy, which current owner Carlyle has agreed to sell to Maurel, said its oil production in Gabon was unaffected. Tullow Oil also told analysts its production was continuing as normal.

"Note Gabon production represents around 20% of group production. However, assets are based offshore and importantly oil revenue is dollar denominated," said Investec's Smith. Gabon produces about 200,000 barrels a day (bpd) of crude oil, making it the second-smallest OPEC producer. Oslo-listed Panoro Energy and BW Energy were down 5% and 7%, respectively, and U.S.-based Vaalco Energy fell 13.8%. According maritime sources, at least 30 commercial ships dropped anchor on Wednesday around Gabon's waters.

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, editing by Alun John, Kirsten Donovan)
PARIS, Aug 30 (Reuters) - French miner Eramet , which owns the Comilog manganese minit unit in Gabon, said on Wednesday it had halted all operations in the country following overnight events. "From this morning all Comilog and Setrag operations have been halted and train transport suspended," an Eramet spokesperson told Reuters. A group of senior Gabonese military officers appeared on television in the early hours of Wednesday and said they had taken power, after the state election body announced President Ali Bongo had won a third term. (Reporting by Sybille de la Hamaide, Writing by Dominique Vidalon) Messaging: dominique.vidalon.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
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(Kitco News) - Australian gold miner Red 5 (ASX: RED) yesterday announced record gold production of 165,544 ounces for the 12 months to 30 June 2023 (FY23), contributing to gross sales revenue of A$422.7 million, up 156% from the prior year.

The company said that gold was produced from the new King of the Hills (KOTH) gold mine in Western Australia, with ore feed sourced from the KOTH open pit mine, the KOTH underground mine and the Darlot underground satellite mine, and processing at the new KOTH process plant.

Commercial production was declared at the KOTH gold mine on 16 December 2022, with production for H2 FY23 of 102,574 ounces, at the upper end of guidance and mid-range for cost guidance at A$1,837/ounce.

The company said the processing plant is now operating at an annualized throughput rate of up to 5.5Mtpa, 37.5% higher than the nameplate design of 4.0Mtpa.

Red 5 also reported it incurred net loss from continuing operations for the period of A$8.7 million (30 June 2022: operating loss from continuing operations of A$48.7 million and net loss of A$28.6 million).

The net loss reflected the ramp-up of KOTH mining and processing activities during the first half of the financial year, the company said in a press release.

However, Red 5 noted that operations have been cash-flow positive since March 2023, putting the company in a solid position to continue to de-leverage and strengthen its balance sheet for the future.

The company said its net debt position improved by A$56.6 million during the second half of the year, standing at A$81.9 million at 30 June 2023.

We continue to deliver positive cash flow from our operations and we are targeting to accelerate our debt repayments in the year ahead. This will provide the company with a robust balance sheet for future growth as we continue to unlock the potential of our long-life King of the Hills mining operation, said managing director Mark Williams.

Red 5 also reaffirmed its FY24 production guidance of 195,000  215,000 ounces at an AISC of A$1,850 - A$2,100/oz.
By Mai Nguyen and Siyi Liu

Aug 30 (Reuters) - Nickel smelters in top producer Indonesia are making rare purchases of ore from the Philippines to ease tight supplies, people familiar with the matter said, upending trade flows of the raw material and pushing up costs across the supply chain. Jakarta recently delayed the issuing of mining quotas and suspended operations at a key site of state miner Aneka Tambang (Antam) after an investigation into corrupt practices in issuing mining allowances.

While mining at other sites continues and Indonesia, which accounts for half of global mined supply, has said there is no shortage of ore, prices have risen about 8% this week, following a 10% surge a week earlier, local buyers say. Some firms are now buying ore from neighbouring Philippines, the world's No. 2 supplier, in the event that new mining quotas are further delayed, said three smelter managers, two nickel traders and a Chinese analyst. All declined to be identified because they were not permitted to disclose the trade information publicly.

"(We) started imports from this month. It is economical," said an official at a major smelter in Indonesia. The person did not specify how much the smelter is buying but said the purchases are of low-grade limonite ore. Indonesian miners will prioritise high-grade ore for their limited production quotas, the person added. Indonesia imported 53,864 metric tons of nickel ore in the first half of 2023, up from 22,503 tons for all of 2022, Indonesian trade data showed. But imports from the Philippines only started in May, and all arrived at Morowali port in a huge nickel processing park run partly by Chinese nickel giant Tsingshan Group, the Indonesian data showed. Tsingshan did not respond to a call and email seeking comment. Volumes in the first half from the Philippines were less than 1,000 tons in nickel content compared to Indonesia's 1.6 million tons mined last year, data from the Indonesian government and the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) showed.

"The ore from the Philippines is generally lower grade than Indonesian material which will push operating costs higher due to lower production from same tonnage of ore," said Wood Mackenzie analyst Andrew Mitchell. "But the ore is cheaper by comparison with domestic ore currently and so this will offset some of the rising costs," Mitchell said.

Indonesia exported much of its ore before a 2020 ban halted all shipments and attracted billions of dollars worth of investment in nickel smelting, mostly from Chinese companies.

Rising demand for ore from the Philippines is also pushing up prices in China, as buyers stock up due to tighter Indonesian supplies and ahead of the rainy season in the Philippines starting in October, said a Chinese trader. Philippines 1.3% grade ore landed at China's Lianyun port surged 20.6% in the past month to $41 a ton, the highest since March, Mysteel data showed.

World nickel mine production World nickel mine production by country Indonesia nickel production

(Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi, Siyi Liu in Beijing, Fransiska Nangoy in Jakarta, Enrico dela Cruz in Manila and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Dominique Patton and Kim Coghill)
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(Kitco News) - The Hong Kong branch of SEBA Bank, a full-service crypto-friendly banking institution based in Switzerland, announced on Wednesday that it has received approval-in-principle (AIP) from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to begin offering virtual asset services.

The AIP for SEBA Hong Kong grants the firm the ability to deal in securities, including virtual assets-related products, such as OTC derivatives and structured products; advise on securities and virtual assets; and conduct asset management for discretionary accounts in both traditional securities and virtual assets, the announcement said.

Receiving an AIP is the first step in SEBA Hong Kongs journey to becoming a fully licensed entity once all the SFC conditions have been met. The AIP marks a significant leap forward in SEBA groups mission to secure the future of the global crypto economy and, in turn, validates SEBA Hong Kongs position in the market as a trusted and regulated partner, SEBA said.

Once the license is issued, SEBA Hong Kong will become part of the first group of licensed corporations in Hong Kong to conduct investment services with crypto capabilities, making the bank a significant frontrunner in Hong Kongs burgeoning crypto economy.

SEBA group wants to service crypto investors in jurisdictions that recognize the value of digital assets, said Amy Yu, CEO of APAC at SEBA Hong Kong. We see enormous potential in Hong Kongs journey to becoming a global crypto market leader and look forward to contributing to that trajectory.

In separate comments made by Yu, the CEO said SEBA is well-positioned to tap into the Chinese market when it opens up thanks to it being strategically located close to the mainland, while also being a Special Administrative Region of China. Hong Kong may once again serve as a gateway to China, delivering the significant potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, she said.

The new license represents a significant milestone in SEBAs Asia Pacific strategy as it looks to become a primary provider of wealth management, investment, and advisory services for investors with the security and customer experience that accompanies a regulated institution.

SEBA Hong Kongs AIP is a reflection of our teams commitment towards compliance and due diligence  essential pillars of tomorrows digital economy, said Franz Bergmueller, Group CEO at SEBA Bank. SEBA group aligns itself with the Hong Kong government and its financial regulators in facilitating an environment that supports the responsible growth of the digital assets industry.

Tether partners with Britannia Bank & Trust

In other banking news in the world of crypto, Tether, the company responsible for issuing the USDT stablecoin, has reportedly partnered with Britannia Bank & Trust, a private bank based in the Bahamas, to process dollar transfers on its platform.

According to a Tuesday report from Bloomberg, Tether has instructed clients to send money to Britannias bank account over the last few months, people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified said.

While its unclear when the banking relationship started, Tether has instructed clients to send money to Britannias bank account in recent months, the report said. Tethers known banking partners include Deltec Bank and Capital Union Bank.

Britannia Financial Group is a London-headquartered financial services firm that has seen its profile rise in recent years thanks to several notable acquisitions. In April 2022, the bank announced the purchase of Alphaplate Ltd., a proprietary crypto trading firm, and its CEO Mark Bruce, said crypto is an increasingly important asset class to many of its clients.

The news of a new banking partner for the stablecoin giant follows a crackdown on U.S.-based crypto firms and their banking relationships, which has forced many firms to seek out offshore banking partners amid increased scrutiny by U.S. regulators.

USDT is the dominant stablecoin in the crypto market, with its $82.9 billion market cap representing 66.5% of the total stablecoin market, according to CoinGecko. Its next closest competitor, USD Coin (USDC), has a market cap of $26.1 billion.
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(Kitco News) - Tuesdays ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must reconsider Grayscales application to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) helped breathe life into an otherwise stagnant crypto market, but it remains to be seen whether the momentum will last or fade away in a similar manner as other rally-inducing announcements thus far in 2023.

According to Markus Thielen, Head of Research at Matrixport, the market is now pricing in a roughly 75% chance that a Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) will receive SEC approval for an ETF conversion.

Thielen went on to suggest that its likely more Bitcoin (BTC) ETF announcements will be made over the next few days, and said, Regardless of the outcome, a potential approval will support Bitcoin prices.

This is why we expected Bitcoin prices to remain above the $25,000 level when the Blackrock application was filed, he said. We also encouraged our institutional investors to accumulate Bitcoin sub-$26,000.

To determine how a spot BTC ETF could perform after launch, Thielen used the market capitalization of the leading gold ETF, SPDR Gold, which is $58 billion.

We can envision the Blackrock Bitcoin ETF accumulating $10bn within three months of launch, and $20 billion within six months, he said. Half of that $20 billion would most likely be new inflows from U.S. retail investors, pension and endowment funds, with the other half coming from less reliable crypto exchanges.

He suggested that the Blackrock iShares commodity Bitcoin ETF will attract an allocation of $20-50 billion over time, which is a calculated assumption based on the fact that Gold ETFs hold $100 billion.

Theilen said this development could help lead to greater regulatory compliance by crypto exchanges, otherwise, its likely that they could lose a vast number of their customers to more regulatory compliant exchanges that cater to institutional investors.

He also noted that a Bitcoin ETF would prompt registered investment advisors (RIAs) to reevaluate their allocation models to include digital assets, which unlocks a treasure trove of funds as the 14,800 RIAs in the U.S. manage over $5 trillion in assets.

Pension Funds, University Endowment Funds, ultra-high-worth individuals, and Multi-Family Offices tend to run well-balanced portfolios across all asset classes, he said. Bitcoin will play a larger role in those asset allocation strategies.

Thielen said an optimized, well-diversified (tactical) portfolio would allocate 21% to global equities, 42% to global fixed income (bonds, credit, loans, etc.), and 37% to alternatives  including 10.6% to Bitcoin.

According to Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas, The chances of the SEC approving spot Bitcoin ETFs this year have risen to 75% from 65% following Grayscales court win, while odds by the end of 2024 reach 95%. The judges unanimously repudiated the SECs arguments, and the agency will struggle to justify further denials as it faces deadlines [and] negative PR.

While we factored Grayscale's win into our previous 65% odds, the unanimity & decisiveness of [the] ruling was beyond expectations and leaves [the] SEC with very little wiggle room, Balcuhunas tweeted.

A lot of people were asking yesterday, Seyffart said. Eric and I have moved to 75% for a 2023 launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF and we think its almost a done deal that we will have one launched by the end of 2024.

Balchunas added that while the legal loss is damaging for the SECs case, there is also a significant PR loss, which matters because it sets narratives and changes minds. And this got covered far and wide in mainstream media including NYT, WSJ, CNN, AP, ABC, [etc.] We think the legal and PR loss will combine to make denial politically untenable.

The SEC has already delayed its decision on the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF application, and with the deadline for decisions on the applications from Bitwise, VanEck, WisdomTree, Invesco, Fidelity and Valkyrie coming between September 1-4, Balchunas expects that further delays are likely.

We will not be surprised if the SEC delays given the ruling just happened, he said. That said, I'm not sure timelines will matter as much in this situation. Probably more likely we wake up one day and hear SEC has given in, and a launch is imminent.

We're expecting delay orders this week on a bunch of the applications, Seyffart added. We see approvals as highly unlikely so soon after the court decision.

The Grayscale ruling painted the SEC in an unflattering light, and Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Litigation analyst Elliott Stein warned that if the SEC really wants to be vindictive, they could approve the other applications, and drag out the process with Grayscale.

A caveat to our expectation of delays this week, Seyffart said. We're watching to see if this happens... Not out of the realm of possibility.

In the ruling issued by Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, the judge said, The denial of Grayscales proposal was arbitrary and capricious because the Commission failed to explain its different treatment of similar products. We therefore grant Grayscales petition and vacate the order.
The Big J Show Cares, in conjunction with The Education Foundation For Billings Public Schools is thrilled to announce the success of their recent fundraiser Books For Kids. Together, they raised $77,451 to support literacy in the local schools.

Thanks to the support from the Billings community, more than 4,300 students across 14 schools in the area will receive a monthly book throughout the upcoming academic year. These books will be wonderful additions to the students' personal bookshelves at home, encouraging a love for reading and fostering a lifelong passion for learning.

The majority of the donations came from generous individuals who were eager to contribute to this initiative, promoting literacy throughout the area.

We couldn't have achieved this incredible feat without the support of the Billings community and its generous individuals and businesses," said Justin Hutchinson, director of The Big J Show Cares. "We extend our heartfelt gratitude to businesses like Stink Blossom, 406 Disaster Response, and TDS Fiber for their significant contributions as well as the individual donations we received."

The Books For Kids program began during the 2021-22 school year at Bench Elementary, under the guidance of teacher Joseph Kamps. I have really loved getting to see genuine joy every month when these kids receive these books, said Kamps, who now teaches at McKinley Elementary. All year, I hear from students time and time again how much these books mean to them.

Now in its third year, Books For Kids has expanded to a total of 14 schools. The schools that will receive monthly books are Bench, McKinley, Ponderosa, Central Heights, Big Sky, Washington, Newman, Miles Avenue, Beartooth, Bitterroot, Burlington, Broadwater, Rimrock Learning Center, and Columbus. Students are encouraged to take these books home with them and read them at their leisure. Teacher representatives at each school will select the books monthly based on grade level, popularity of the titles, and awards the book has received.

The partnership with The Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools has been instrumental in providing guidance and support for selecting the schools to benefit from the funds raised. The Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools is so proud of Books for Kids. This community support is truly inspiring, said Kelly McCandless, Executive Director of the Foundation. Getting books in the hands of kids is critical to helping them meet literacy benchmarks, and this program is making huge strides in supporting students to develop a passion for reading.

For further information, please visit http://bigjcares.com/books or contact Justin Hutchinson (info@bigjcares.com).
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A wind-driven wildfire just north of Pryor was estimated to have burned at least 1,000 acres as of Wednesday morning while crews are working to encircle the blaze.

The Pryor Creek Road fire threatened dozens of homes, but has only destroyed two outbuildings, according to the most recent statement from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Crow Agency Fire Management crew. By Wednesday morning, the tower of smoke created by the fire, and visible from Billings, had dissipated and there have been no injuries reported in connection to the blaze.

Thanks to the work of many aircraft crews and many engine crews, the fire was not growing at dusk Tuesday, BIA Information Officer Jon Kohn said.

The fire began early Tuesday in farmland about four miles northeast of Pryor. Farmers were apparently harvesting grain when the flames started spreading. An exact cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but it is suspected to be human-caused.

Hot, dry winds carried the fires north, prompting Yellowstone County deputies to issue voluntary evacuation notices door-to-door in the area and a shut-down of a portion of Pryor Creek Road. Fire crews spent most of Tuesday afternoon protecting homes against flying embers, Kohn said, with flames creating a wall of fire as high as 10 feet.

Along with the BIA, engines from the Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, Big Horn County, Blue Creek, Lockwood, Shepherd and Worden fire departments contributed to the effort. Ten aircraft attacked the fire from above, Kohn said, with air traffic control at Billings Logan International Airport diverting flights to keep the skies above the fire clear. The American Red Cross established an overnight shelter for any evacuees, but Kohn said nobody has utilized the shelter.

The morning after the fire began, winds were continuing to gust north and northwest up to 25 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures are expected to get into the upper 80s.

A dawn wind shift from a dry cold front passage is now pushing the Pryor Creek Road fire away from homes. Many engines and aerial resources were in use Wednesday morning to fight the fire, which burned in grass and creek bottoms, Kohn said.

Wildfires in Montana, the majority of which have been caused by humans, have burned through nearly 110,000 acres across the state this year. Fire crews in Montana were battling 37 active wildfires on Wednesday, according to the states fire tracking data.
The businesses accused Moresource of causing them to bear nearly $740,000 in total losses.
Linemen work on poles in Lahaina, Hawaii, following a deadly wildfire, on August 13. Hawaiian Electric Company said that power lines falling in high winds seem to have caused a fire during the early morning of August 8, but power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours by the time a second afternoon fire began in the Lahaina area.
Idalia now Category 2 hurricane as it lashes the Florida coast and officials warn of potential for death and catastrophic devastation
A search is ongoing for a Wolf Point man who went missing in the Missouri River over the weekend.

The 18-year-old went into the river to help pull others out of the water, Roosevelt County Sheriff Jason Frederick said, and he didnt resurface.

Its the Missouri, it's unpredictable, said Frederick, who was on the water Wednesday with search crews.

The Wolf Point man was near the river south of his hometown around midnight Aug. 25, Frederick said. He assisted in saving others in the river, but was the only one who didnt make it out. Rescue crews have been dredging the river since early Saturday morning.

In addition to Roosevelt County personnel, Fort Peck tribal resources, Valley and Rosebud counties and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks are assisting in the search. Frederick said he expects the search to continue at least through the week.

West of Wolf Point, the Fergus County Sheriffs Office confirmed in June of this year that a 78-year-old man had died of drowning in the Missouri River. The Wisconsin native was paddling upriver, Fergus County Sheriff Ryan Peterson said, and his body was found several miles downstream of the James Kipp Recreation Area on June 11 after a series of severe storms in the region.

Between Aug. 25 and 27, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Missouri River flowing past Wolf Point peaked at around 12 feet. As of Wednesday morning, the river was at just under 11 feet.
Pfizer Inc. is a US-based multinational biotech company. The company operates as a research-based pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, production and marketing of medicines and vaccines. It is the 2nd largest drugmaker globally by revenue and is ranked 64th on the Fortune 500 list. The companys avenues of research include Immunology, Oncology, Cardiology, Endocrinology and Neurology.

Regarding its product line, the company has at least ten blockbuster drugs producing more than $1 billion in avenue revenue each. The company brought in over $81 billion in total revenue in 2021. The US is its main market and represents roughly 50% of all revenue. China and Japan make up roughly 12% of the business, while the rest come from the rest of the world. It employs roughly 79,000 people and is headquartered in New York state.

Pfizer Inc. was founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer Sr. and his cousin Charles Earhart. The two were German immigrants and chemists that set up shops outside New York City to make medicinal compounds. The first major success was an antiparasitic called santonin, and the commercialization of citric acid-making technologies quickly followed that up. Their success with citric acid led to the companys expansion and other major discoveries.

World War I caused a shortage of materials for making citric acid and forced the company to seek alternatives. The one they latched on to was the fermentation of certain fungi known to produce citric acid naturally. This led to the advancement of fermentation technology that was later used in the commercial production of penicillin and then the advancement of antibiotics in general.

Pfizer Inc was incorporated on June 2nd, 1942 in Delaware, and another period of expansion began. The postwar drop in demand for penicillin led to the discovery of newer, more marketable antibiotics and cemented the companys role in modern medicine. By the time he 80s rolled around, the company was trading on the New York Stock Exchange and on the path to developing todays blockbuster lineup.

The companys top seller in 2021 was Comirnaty, a COVID-19 vaccine. It generated nearly $37 billion in 2021 and was followed by Prevnar, Ibrance and Eliquis with just over $5 billion in sales each. Other blockbuster names on Pfizers list include Xeljanz and Enbrel, each bringing in $3.5 billion. Pfizer operates 39 research and production facilities worldwide and sells its products in 125 countries.

As of 2022, the company had a robust pipeline of potential treatments, with more than 220 in some stage of clinical trials. Among its leading candidates is a vaccine for RSV, a life-threatening respiratory disease affecting children. 2021 highlights include 8 FDA approvals, four new regulatory submissions and 13 new trial startups. Pfizer is also a well-known dividend payer and has returned more than $8.7 billion to shareholders since going public.




Korea has launched intensive radiation tests on salt fields across the country amid safety concerns over Japan's release of contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, the oceans ministry said Wednesday.







Last week, Japan began discharging radioactive water from the power plant into the ocean, sparking concerns about its impact on the environment, seafood and public health.







Commissioned by the government, private institutions began inspecting the radiation levels of all the country's 687 smaller-sized salt farms Tuesday, Vice Oceans Minister Park Sung-hoon said during a regular briefing on the Fukushima issue.







The ministry has been carrying out radiation tests on the country's 150 major salt fields since April, and it decided to strengthen the move by mobilizing private entities to ease public concerns about the safety of salt and other marine products.







"We will wrap up the tests on salt farms by October, when this year's salt production ends. The government will then carry out radiation checks on packaged salt starting in November to dispel safety woes," Park said.







So far, the government has checked 109 samples from 86 salt farms, and all met safety standards, he added. (Yonhap)






South Korea and the United States staged combined air drills, involving at least one U.S. B-1B strategic bomber, Wednesday, Seoul's defense ministry said, as part of the allies' annual joint military drills.







During the drills, FA-50 fighter jets from South Korea flew together with U.S. F-16 fighters to escort the B-1B aircraft above the Korean Peninsula, according to the ministry. It did not clarify the number of B-1B aircraft deployed here.







The joint air drills took place after North Korea's attempt to launch its Chollima-1 rocket, carrying what it claimed to be a military spy satellite, was unsuccessful last week, its second failure this year.







The drills displayed "extended deterrence in action" and a "robust combined defense posture" by deploying "U.S. strategic assets for the recent launch of North Korea's claimed space launch vehicle," the ministry said in a statement.







With the U.S. deploying its strategic bombers to the joint drills with South Korea, the allies have showcased their deterrent capabilities while demonstrating their combat readiness.







The joint military drills are set to end Thursday. (Yonhap)


Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during a parliamentary session at the National Assembly in Seoul, Aug. 30. Yonhap



Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Wednesday that the government would consider changing the term used to refer to the water being released from Japan's crippled Fukushima plant into the ocean.



The government has been using the term "contaminated water" in its daily briefings on the Fukushima water release, which began last Thursday. Meanwhile, Japan has referred to it as "treated water."



Earlier in the day, the chief of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives advocated for using the term "treated water" to encourage seafood consumption. He argued that the term "contaminated water" has generated a negative public reaction, despite the fact that the water undergoes scientifically proven treatment processes.



"What is being discharged is not contaminated water, but rather contaminated water that has been treated according to scientific standards," Han said during a parliamentary questioning session.



Han also suggested that it would be more scientifically accurate to refer to it as "contaminated water that has undergone treatment through the custom purification system ALPS," a designation endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.



Han further put forward an analogy between this terminology debate and the country's economic challenges during the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in 1997. At that time, the Seoul government sought a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).



"(The crisis) had nothing to do with the IMF. Instead, our currency crisis was resolved with the IMF's support," Han emphasized, asserting that it would be misleading to label the situation as an "IMF crisis." (Yonhap)


Police and security personnel stand outside the entrance of the Japanese embassy in Beijing, Aug. 29. AFP-Yonhap



Japan threatened on Tuesday to take China to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to seek a reversal of Beijing's ban on all of its seafood imports after the release of treated radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.



Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that Japan would take "necessary action (on China's aquatic product ban) under various routes including the WTO framework".



Filing a WTO complaint might become an option if protesting to China through diplomatic routes is ineffective, Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi said separately.



The comments came as Japanese businesses and public facilities continued to receive harassment calls from phone numbers with the +86 Chinese country code, with many reporting callers complaining of the Fukushima water release.



Fukushima prefectural government and public facilities in the prefecture have received about 3,000 such calls, Kyoto News reported, quoting the prefecture governor.



The power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power has received about 6,000 such calls to date, local media reported, and the government said it was seeking help from telecommunications companies to block the calls.



An increasing number of landline phone users are requesting to block foreign numbers, said a spokesperson at NTT Communications, a Nippon Telegraph and Telephone unit. NTT and other phone companies including KDDI and SoftBank Corp are discussing measures following the government's request.



NTT East, which serves the eastern half of the country including Fukushima, said it had set up a customer service center on Tuesday specifically for harassment calls from overseas, in response to the government's plea.



"It is extremely regrettable and concerning about the large number of harassment calls that have likely come from China," Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said during a news conference. He said that according to the people of Fukushima some calls were even going to hospitals.



"Human life is at stake now. Please stop the calls immediately," Nishimura said.



The minister said the government was gathering information on the reports of movements to boycott Japanese products in China and would work with business leaders to address the situation.



Japan is also conducting interviews with local travel agencies to gather information about the status of travel to Japan from China after media reports that some Japan-bound tours have been cancelled.



"Some travel agencies responded that they had received cancellation requests while others said they had received inquiries about the safety of food and beverages, and the possibility of postponing or cancelling tours," Japan's Land Minister Tetsuo Saito told reporters.



The move came after China earlier this month lifted pandemic-era restrictions on group tours for Japan and other key markets. (Reuters)




Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Cloudy this morning with showers during the afternoon. High 41F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Widespread frost likely. Low 26F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
People impacted by a deadly road washout on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation four years ago are seeking to take their battle for federal compensation to the U.S. Supreme Court.

People who were injured and the families of people who died suffered setbacks when a federal judge dismissed their multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the U.S. government, and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling.

Plaintiffs' attorney Tim Purdon on Wednesday petitioned the Supreme Court to review the case. The move is a long shot -- the Supreme Court fields thousands of such requests each year and typically selects about 100 cases to hear.

It is not every case that is worthy of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the horrible losses suffered by these families cry out for justice and we must keep fighting for them," Purdon said in a statement to the Tribune.

Washout and lawsuit

Trudy Peterson, 60, and Jim VanderWal, 65, both of Mobridge, South Dakota, died when their vehicles drove into a chasm on BIA Road 3 in the dark, early morning hours of July 9, 2019. The incidents followed overnight rains of 7 inches that scoured away a culvert that had been designated for replacement several years before. Steven Willard and Evan Thompson, both of Fort Yates, were injured when they also drove their vehicles into the washout.

The plaintiffs sued in April 2021, maintaining the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs didn't adhere to adopted road maintenance standards including inspection, maintenance and signage. The government argued the bureau had discretion to maintain roads subject to the availability of funds.

The plaintiffs sought money damages for wrongful death, personal injury and property damage. The government in court documents said 11 claims were submitted totaling more than $10 million.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland in March 2022 ruled that the BIA and tribe had the discretion to determine when, where and how to perform road maintenance, and was therefore shielded from liability. But Hovland also said he was "troubled" by the outcome and thought it "extremely unfair"; he suggested the rule exempting the bureau from liability be changed.

The plaintiffs appealed. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this past June agreed with Hovland that the BIA is shielded from liability in the case, and affirmed the dismissal of the lawsuit. The appeals court panel ruled that there is no federal law, regulation or policy requiring the tribe to warn motorists of unsafe road conditions.

Petition arguments

Purdon argues in the petition to the Supreme Court that the appeals court ruling "deepens an entrenched conflict among the circuit courts, which are divided" on the question of whether government conduct is shielded from liability when it's based on the availability of funds -- in this case, the cost of posting a road warning.

Purdon wrote that "because everything the government does is subject to the availability of funds," other courts have declined to allow the government to use budgetary concerns to shield negligent conduct from lawsuits.

"Petitioners' claims may not have been dismissed had they been filed in the Ninth or D.C. Circuits," he wrote, adding later that "the federal government owes, and should be incentivized to show, the same duty of care to all Americans, regardless of which state or federal appellate circuit they call home."

Purdon in a statement to the Tribune said that if the Supreme Court takes up the case, it "has a chance ... to restore fairness across the country in suits brought against the government when it fails to warn unsuspecting citizens of known, hidden dangers that put their very lives at risk.

The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a Tribune request for comment.
Next year, elections in North Dakota could be on the ballot.

A group of residents on Tuesday filed a petition with the Secretary of States office for a proposed constitutional measure that would overhaul the states electoral process if approved by voters. Among the most notable proposed changes are the removal of voting machines in favor of paper ballots that must be hand-counted, and the restriction of mail-in voting by requiring all mail-in ballots be received by 8 p.m. on the day before the election.

Around 20 supporters of the initiative walked the halls of the Capitol on Tuesday  many of them wearing items supporting former President Donald Trump  as they completed the first step in the process that could eventually put the matter on the ballot. All potential initiatives must be reviewed by the secretary of state, and must have at least 25 electors serving as sponsors. The sponsoring committee for the electoral process measure listed by the Secretary of States office numbers 79.

The initiatives chair, Lydia Gessele, said the proposed ballot measure is a route to ensure election integrity in the state. She cited the states past usage of paper ballots as an approach to return to, and named the elimination of voting machines as her top priority.

Everybodys sick and tired of these machines controlling our elections, Gessele said. We are supposed to be in control of these elections. Were supposed to know that our vote actually counted. And we cant tell that with the machines.

The State Auditors Office ahead of the 2022 election released a review of the states election system in which auditors determined its exceptionally unlikely that North Dakota election results could be fraudulently influenced.

The initiative is the latest iteration of an ongoing battle interrogating the states electoral process in the wake of the 2020 presidential election and Trumps unfounded claims of election fraud.

Burleigh County Auditor Mark Splonskowski in July filed a lawsuit in collaboration with a conservative legal organization that seeks to restrict mail-in voting across North Dakota. That suit was filed in federal court and claims that state mail-in collection policies are at odds with federal law. The state argues that such a conflict doesnt exist and the filing is instead an attempted improper overthrow of North Dakota law.

Some of the facets of the proposed measure are reminiscent of attempts from the last legislative session to change the states electoral process.

Lawmakers earlier this year considered a slate of bills on election operations, including one from state Sen. Jeff Magrum, R-Hazelton, that would have eliminated mail-in ballots. Magrum, a sponsor of the election integrity initiative, said he was recruited to the cause based on his legislative record.

Many of Magrums election-related bills died in the Legislature. But he said the proposed ballot initiative is a new opportunity for North Dakota residents to weigh in on the matter  an opportunity he hopes will gain more traction.

I did introduce a lot of legislation that didnt get anywhere, Magrum said. So its going to have to be done through the ballot box by the people. It wont get done at the Legislature.

The initiative also includes a proposed change to the process for altering North Dakotas Constitution. Currently, legislators are able to place constitutional amendments on the ballot  but under the proposal, that power would be removed. Supporters didnt elaborate to the Tribune. Residents would still have the power to propose and circulate an amendment through an initiative petition.

Supporters of the measure must collect at least 31,164 valid voter signatures to make the ballot if the petition is approved for circulation by the secretary of state. Gessele said she is hoping to see the measure included in the June primary, with a goal for signature collection to be done by late December or early January.

If the group meets the signature count, the initiative could either make it on the ballot in June or for the November 2024 general election depending on the length of the signature collection process. The secretary of state will respond to the initiatives filing for circulation no earlier than Sept. 6 and no later than Sept. 8.
A Cherokee County landowner in Iowa claims that a carbon dioxide pipeline companys agent pressured him explicitly with the threat of eminent domain during easement negotiations for the project.

Richard Davis ultimately declined the agreements and is now subject to eminent domain requests by Summit Carbon Solutions, which told the Iowa Capital Dispatch the agents alleged tactics were improper.

Tuesdays session opened the second week of the companys evidentiary hearing for its hazardous liquid pipeline permit application with the Iowa Utilities Board.

Davis was among five landowners who testified Tuesday. He has four land parcels in the proposed pipelines path where his sons tend corn, soybeans and cattle.

He said a Summit land agent attempted to persuade him to sign voluntary easements by noting that if the company sought forced easements through eminent domain, it was likely his compensation would only be a fraction of what the company had offered. He said the agent also told him the company was certain to succeed with its eminent domain requests.

If the IUB approves Summits pipeline permit and its eminent domain requests, county compensation commissions will determine how much the company will pay for the forced easements.

Those easements give perpetual permission to the company to construct and operate its pipeline on land it doesnt own.

Any Summit team member who is found to have pressured landowners around the possibility of eminent domain being used will be disciplined and, if such behavior continues, terminated by the company, said Sabrina Zenor, a spokesperson for the company.

Wright County landowner Verle Tate also testified on Tuesday that agents told him: If you dont take this, then well probably go to eminent domain, and you probably wont get much for your land.

That negotiation tactic has not been universal, according to landowner testimony. Elizabeth Ellis, a Wright County landowner who also testified on Tuesday, said the land agents she negotiated with did not make explicit threats about eminent domain, although she was aware her land would likely be subject to it.

The company wants to build a pipeline system in five states that would span more than 2,000 miles and would connect to ethanol plants. The system would transport captured carbon dioxide to North Dakota for underground sequestration.

More than 680 miles of that system would be built in Iowa, and the company said it has obtained voluntary easements for about 72% of the route.

The remaining part of the route that is subject to eminent domain amounts to about 950 land parcels, the IUB has said.

A total of about 40 landowners of some of those parcels were expected to testify at the start of Summits evidentiary hearing, which began Aug. 22 in Fort Dodge. Those landowners testimonies are expected to continue into next week, said Don Tormey, a spokesperson for the IUB.

After the initial landowners, Summit will present its witnesses. The remaining landowners subject to eminent domain will testify in the later part of the hearing, which could go for weeks or months.

Landowners who have testified so far have objected to the project for various reasons, including potential damage to their land and the underground tiling that drains it; the threat to public safety posed by a pipeline leak, and the use of eminent domain for a project they dont view as a public utility.
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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Goolara, the worlds only known albino koala, died at the San Diego Zoo after ailing with cancer for nearly two years, zoo officials said Sunday.

The 7-year-old popular koala, whose friendly disposition made him a hit with the zoo staff as well as visitors, was euthanized Saturday evening after severe internal hemorrhaging.

Snowy-white Goolara had pink paws, pink eyes and a pink mouth that--because of its up-curved shape--always made the koala look like he was smiling. During a 1987 television appearance on the Tonight show, Goolara even seemed to win the heart of host Johnny Carson.

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Though Carson frequently had animals on his show, he didnt usually have much to do with them when the cameras werent running. In Goolaras case, however, Carson made an exception, San Diego Zoo spokeswoman Georganne Irvine said.

After the show, Carson came backstage and asked to hold the cuddly koala. With Goolara in his arms, Carson then requested that his picture be taken.

Goolara was one of our favorite animals, Irvine said. And Johnny Carson was just enchanted with him.

Among humans, albinism--or absence of pigmentation in the skin--is an extremely rare genetic condition that occurs in only one of 20,000 births. It is not necessary for either parent to be an albino if each carries the recessive gene for the trait. But very little is known about albino koalas, and San Diego Zoo keepers were shocked to find they had one.

When zookeeper Valerie Thompson first noticed the koala baby Sept. 21, 1985, all she could see was a little nose sticking out of the pouch of its mother, Matilda. For Thompson, it was quite a surprise: Usually, the nose poking out of a koala mothers pouch is black. This time, it was pink.

Every time I tried to get a better look, the nose disappeared into the safety of the pouch, Thompson wrote in recalling the event. I spent the subsequent several days trying to get a better look at the pink-nosed baby in an effort to dispel my fear that I had finally gone off the deep end.

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Thompson, however, finally got a good look at the baby and learned it was indeed an albino, an attribute that made the little koala sensitive to the sun and susceptible to sunburn.

Initially, because of the pronouncement of an inexperienced keeper, zoo officials thought the baby koala was female, Irvine said. And the baby was named Goolara, which means moonlight in the Aboriginal language. But the tiny koala also had several nicknames, including Sweet Pea and Snowala.

As soon as the keepers realized their error, however, those nicknames were replaced by others, including Big Guy.

Goolaras father, Kalba, was also an albino koala. He died at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane, Australia, in 1977. Goolaras mother, Matilda, died of cancer several months after giving birth. After her death, the baby koala became accustomed to being handled by people because he was frequently bottle-fed.

Zoo veterinarians first noticed a small, cancerous tumor in the palate of Goolaras mouth in January, 1991. They operated and removed the tumor, and monitored their furry patient for several months.

But last spring, keepers noticed that Goolara was drooling and having trouble chewing his eucalyptus leaves. When the vets examined him again, they found another tumor, this one on the roof of his mouth. They operated and removed a portion of the new tumor June 3.

Last month, however, Goolara--who never fathered offspring--began to worsen. He started to lose weight and become weak. In recent days, Goolara had become so weak that he had trouble sitting on his usual perch.

On Saturday, the koala could sit only on the floor of his enclosure. He made sharp pleading-like noises that made his keepers think he was in pain. By the late afternoon, Goolara had become so weakened that he could not hold up his head.

Veterinarian Don Janssen put Goolara to sleep at 5 p.m. A necropsy showed that the koala also had bleeding of the large intestine.

Because Goolara was so rare, zoo officials say his body will probably be donated to a museum.

I still remember the day I first saw him, Irvine said. There was this little white koala peering out of his mothers pouch. At that moment, he won my heart. We have all been rooting for him.
On 29 August Costa Ricas Presidentmet US Presidentat the White House where they discussed migration, security, and trade among other issues.

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On 29 August Perus prime minister,, accompanied by various cabinet ministers, presented a bill to the constitutional commission of congress requesting powers to legislate by decree on public security matters.

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Authorities have confirmed Monday that the UNC-Chapel Hill shooting gunman, who claimed the life of a faculty member, is a graduate student at the institution, per CNN.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, UNC police disclosed that the alleged shooter, Tailei Qi, faces charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm on educational premises.

During the court appearance on Tuesday, Qi opted not to enter a plea and was remanded without the option of bail.

The UNC-Chapel Hill shooting victim, Zijie Yan, has been identified as an associate professor in the Applied Physical Sciences department. With tenure at UNC spanning from 2019, Yan was well-established in his role.

UNC Police Chief Brian James revealed on Tuesday that there was an existing connection between the assailant and the victim.

Investigations unveiled that Qi, the accused UNC-Chapel Hill shooting gunman, was enrolled in the same academic department as Yan.

The UNC-Chapel Hill shooting victim also served as Qi's faculty advisor, as detailed on Qi's now-archived UNC biographical page, which is retrievable through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, indicating that Qi commenced his academic journey at UNC in 2022.

His prior educational background encompassed Louisiana State University and Wuhan University studies.

READ NEXT: UNC-Chapel Hill in Lockdown Following Shooting

UNC-Chapel Hill Shooting Gunman Enters Courtroom

Wearing an orange prison outfit and hands cuffed in front, Qi appeared in court on Tuesday.

He relied on an interpreter and was provided with a public defender for his preliminary hearing, AP reports.

Qi, hailing from China and holding a US visa, was the subject of District Attorney Jeff Nieman's disclosure.

The gun possession accusation revolves around a 9 mm handgun, with the weapon used in the shooting still outstanding, according to James' statement.

Should he be found guilty, Qi, the accused UNC-Chapel Hill shooting gunman, could receive a life sentence devoid of parole for the murder charge, accompanied by a potential two-year term for the weapons offense.

While North Carolina's highest punishment for first-degree murder is the death penalty, Nieman confirmed his office's stance against seeking capital punishment.

In a concise session, Orange County Superior Court Judge Sherri Murrell ordered the detention of 34-year-old Tailei Qi without granting bond, as an interpreter briefed Qi in Mandarin on the court proceedings.

Qi's next court appearance is scheduled for September 18.

Following the hearing, Dana Graves, the public defender representing Qi, left the courtroom without engaging with journalists.

Authorities have refrained from offering conjecture regarding the motives behind the assault.

UNC-Chapel Hill Shooting

The shooting happened during the second week of the fall semester when students were alerted to an armed and dangerous individual just after 1 PM, NBC News noted.

The university issued an additional notification at 2:24 PM, indicating that the assailant was still at large.

A photograph of an unidentified person was circulated, and subsequently, Qi was apprehended in a residential vicinity near the campus.

Social media disseminated videos depicting distressed students seeking shelter within classrooms and others resorting to climbing out of windows within a campus edifice.

The lockdown persisted until approximately 4:15 PM.

UNC Police Chief Brian James elaborated that the comprehensive lockdown encompassed nearby public schools, a measure that endured post-Qi's arrest.

The intent was to ensure campus-wide safety, as law enforcement agencies verified the suspect's identity and addressed potential indications of additional victims.

James abstained from confirming whether other individuals were in the room during the shooting.

Notably, responding officers did not cross paths with the alleged shooter upon arrival at the scene, suggesting a swift departure from the building on his part.

No further injuries have been reported in connection to the UNC-Chapel Hill shooting.

READ MORE: North Carolina Lures Disney World to Leave Florida

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WATCH: UNC Student charged in killing denied bond - From Associated Press
"Bachelorette" alum has reassured his followers of his well-being following a recent Josh Seiter dead hoax on his Instagram account, according to ABC News.

Taking to his Instagram on August 29, Seiter shared a video of standing against a plain white backdrop, clad in a blue T-shirt.

He revealed that his account had fallen victim to a "hack," and he had been striving to regain control over the past 24 hours.

In the video, Seiter, who has candidly discussed his mental health journey online previously, expressed his distress over the incident. He noted that someone had exploited his struggles with depression and suicide attempts, using the post to cruelly mock his experiences.

Seiter expressed gratitude for the regained access and acknowledged his team's ongoing efforts to identify the perpetrator behind the hack. He also extended apologies to his followers for the ensuing confusion caused by the false announcement.

In a subsequent conversation with "Good Morning America," Seiter affirmed his current state of being, emphasizing that he is "alive and well."

READ NEXT: Kellie Pickler's Statement on Husband's Death

Josh Seiter Dead Hoax

The Josh Seiter news emerged just four days after the model candidly discussed his ongoing battle with mental health on social media, PEOPLE noted.

In a selfie shared on Instagram, he captioned, "Surviving depression and anxiety one day at a time with a smile."

Soon after, an announcement appeared on Josh Seiter's Instagram account, claiming his demise."It is with an extremely heavy heart that we share the tragic news of Joshua's unexpected passing," the post read.

It highlighted Seiter's radiant presence, which stood out in a world growing dim.

While the statement refrained from disclosing the cause of death, it concluded by providing the contact number for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, intended for those grappling with mental health crises.

Josh Seiter, known for participating in "The Bachelorette," has maintained an open dialogue about his mental health journey on social media platforms.

He disclosed a history of suicide attempts and the challenges tied to bipolar disorder, general anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder in July 2021.

Asserting his resilience, he wrote, "But I refuse to give up," within the Instagram caption.

A year later, Seiter delved into the hardships he surmounted during his early twenties in an Instagram post, reflecting his commitment to sharing his personal growth journey.

Josh Seiter Dead Hoax Recalls Lil Tay News Earlier This Month

The recent rapid turn of events echoes a previous instance of media frenzy and confusion involving the purported "death" of Lil Tay earlier this month, per The Guardian.

Lil Tay, a former social media sensation, had risen to fame on Instagram in 2018 as a young rapper characterized by her audacious demeanor.

The scenario bore similarities to the recent situation with the Josh Seiter dead hoax.

Much like Josh Seiter's case, numerous media outlets treated Lil Tay's reported demise as fact. This followed a statement attributed to her family that appeared on her previously inactive Instagram account.

However, this assertion was met with skepticism when neither her father, Christopher Hope, nor her former manager, Harry Tsang, could validate her passing.

The uncertainty triggered online speculation about a potential hoax.

Within a day, TMZ refuted the claims of Lil Tay's death, citing a subsequent statement from her and her brother, Jason Tian, who was also said to have passed away.

"I'm completely heartbroken and struggling to find the right words to say. It's been a very traumatizing 24 hours," Lil Tay stated, expressing deep distress.

She asserted that a third party had compromised her Instagram account, leading to the dissemination of misleading information and rumors about her, including details regarding her legal name.

READ MORE: 'Hannah Montana' Actor Mitchel Musso Arrested

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WATCH: Josh Seiter ALIVE: Says Hacker Posted Fake Death Announcement - From Entertainment Tonight
The CM Punk drama over at All Elite Wrestling (AEW) continues as the controversial wrestler was caught in another confrontation after the company's "All-In" PPV in London, where he reportedly had an altercation with fellow wrestler Jack Perry backstage.

The former WWE and AEW world champion reportedly told people he "hates this place." This is reportedly a reference to the frequent backstage troubles over at AEW, which includes the ongoing CM Punk drama.

The situation became even more complicated with the real-life Phil Brooks's altercation with Jack Perry following "All In." However, many within AEW believe that CM Punk himself is "plenty responsible for those issues," according to What Culture Wrestling.

Sources familiar with the matter have reportedly stated that "...with 100 percent certainty, Jack Perry didn't throw the first punch. Punk shoved him and put him in a choke."

Reports indicated that the incident happened before CM Punk took on Samoa Joe for the event's opening match, with Samoa Joe playing peacekeeper in the situation.

Punk and Perry reportedly started their beef when the former UFC fighter accosted Perry for planning to use real glass during a spot in AEW Collision. Perry reportedly provoked Punk, but it was Punk who threw the first punch. What Culture noted that the stories about the altercation are inconsistent and scattered.

CM Punk Threatened To Quit After Jack Perry Altercation at AEW 'All In'

More reports indicate that CM Punk is now threatening to quit AEW after that heated altercation with Jack Perry. However, reports also said that it might be Perry who will be taking the biggest hit following the altercation.

CM Punk reportedly wanted to create a drama-free locker room environment in AEW and has been saying this since returning after his other big "CM Punk drama" involving Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks. He has so far achieved this after AEW Collision but was ended after his latest altercation.

READ NEXT: Jay Briscoe Dead at 38; Cause of Death Is a Car Crash

Even after the altercation, though, CM Punk and Samoa Joe were able to put on a good match as Punk "quickly regrouped" after his tussle with Perry. However, AEW was still concerned that they might have to change the opening match right after the confrontation.

As for Perry, since he was the one who initiated the confrontation, he is likely to take the brunt of the punishment. It was noted that the former "Jungle Boy" "should know that Punk doesn't let those types of things slide."

The CM Punk drama has been giving AEW some pretty big problems backstage, too, as the wrestler's "controversial" leadership style has reportedly escalated several situations that could have been avoided.

CM Punk Also Had a Heated Confrontation With Tony Khan During 'All In'

Jack Perry was not the only one whom CM Punk had a confrontation with during "All In" but also AEW owner Tony Khan. The controversial wrestler reportedly confronted the businessman and wrestling booker in front of many others in the AEW locker room.

Ringside News reported that the exchange between Khan and Punk was described as "heated" and "intense," with the Second City Saint reportedly using strong language when confronting Khan.

Following his confrontations with Khan and Perry, CM Punk had to be talked into doing his match with Samoa Joe in London. CM Punk and Tony Khan reportedly have not spoken much after the altercation.

READ NEXT: Puerto Rico's Wrestling Culture and Its Underrated Pro Wrestlers

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WATCH: CM Punk Threatens To QUIT - "Hates" AEW! - WhatCulture Wrestling
The opening gambit for the Donald Trump Georgia election case has been made as former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows took the stand on Monday as Fulton County prosecutors cross-examined him in his bid to try and get the case transferred from Georgia to a federal jurisdiction.

Meadows reportedly testified about his job and talked about then-President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the election results in Georgia. Meadows is one of 19 co-defendants in the sprawling Georgia RICO case that involves the former reality star-turned-POTUS.

According to CNN, Meadows is trying to convince the judge that as the Trump White House chief of staff, his various attempts to block Joe Biden's election win against his then-boss was part of his official government duties.

Should the judge agree with Meadows, the Georgia case could be moved to Federal Court. This means that should Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election, he could pardon himself and his 19 co-defendants. However, this is a gamble as this also makes Meadows open for cross-examination from Georgia prosecutors who could use anything he says against him and the 18 other co-defendants.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is also investigating Trump's election subversion attempts at a federal level, could also use his testimony against Trump.

Mark Meadows Grilled About Donald Trump's 'Perfect Phone Call'

Mark Meadows was first questioned by his own attorney, George Terwilliger III.

"It was a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week kind of job," the former Trump chief of staff testified. "It was a very broad responsibility. ... I found myself on defense a lot with things coming at me from a million different directions."

However, prosecutors grabbed this chance to grill the Trump ally about his participation regarding his former boss's "perfect phone call" with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the state's chief election official. In that infamous phone call, Trump asked Raffensperger to "find" nearly 12,000 votes in an effort to overturn his loss to Joe Biden.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Continues Spreading Election Misinformation

Prosecutors also called Raffensperger to testify and certify that the audio recording of that call was accurate, according to Politico. They then played that recording in court, and the Georgia election official admitted that Donald Trump did not win the state by 500,000 votes or anything close to it.

Another audio was played during the hearing, this time of Mark Meadows, with the Trump chief of staff telling Raffensperger that his office was inaccurate when it said only two dead people were recorded as voting. Meadows reportedly insisted that there was more. Raffensperger said he was right to a degree as they actually found four, which was not enough to make up for Biden's 11,779 vote lead in the state.

Donald Trump May Not Attend Georgia Arraignment

Meadows's former boss, Donald Trump, may not show up to his arraignment in Georgia next week. Two sources familiar with the ex-president's plans told CBS News that "Trump is considering waiving his arraignment appearance."

His next court appearance is scheduled for September 6, and it was noted that the "Fulton County Superior Court allows defendants to appear virtually for arraignments or waive their right to appear at all."

READ MORE: Donald Trump Election Interference Co-Conspirators Turning on Each Other

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WATCH: 'Very shaky ground': McCabe on Mark Meadows taking the stand - CNN
Outgoing Guatemala president Alejandro Giammattei has declared his commitment to overseeing a smooth and transparent transition of power to Bernardo Arevalo, who emerged victorious in the 2023 presidential race, per Al Jazeera.

However, this announcement arrives amid allegations that certain figures within Giammattei's administration are actively working to undermine Arevalo's political party and cast doubt on his electoral win.

Giammattei released a video on social media on Tuesday, addressing the election outcomes and assuring that he will meet with Arevalo on September 4.

This meeting is scheduled before Arevalo's official inauguration as president in January.

"The doors are now open towards an orderly, transparent, and, above all, efficient government transition," Giammattei stated in a video.

Yet, the timing of this video is notable as it follows shortly after Guatemala's electoral registry suspended the party of President-elect Arevalo, known as the Movimiento Semilla or Seed Movement.

This development is the latest twist in an election marked by controversy and challenges.

READ NEXT: Guatemala Elections: Bernardo Arevalo Wins

Incoming Guatemala President Bernardo Arevalo's Party's Suspension

In the lead-up to the official certification of Bernardo Arevalo as the victor of Guatemala's recent presidential election by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Monday, another governmental entity, the electoral registry, suspended the activities of Arevalo's political party.

The Seed Movement, Arevalo's party, promptly requested the electoral authority to lift this suspension, AP reports.

Arevalo denounced this suspension as illegal during a press conference, asserting that the certified election outcome now grants him the right to assume office on January 14.

Both Arevalo and his party have encountered a series of legal challenges, allegations of irregularities, and even assassination plots, as observed by international monitors.

President Giammattei, in a concise message to Guatemalans on Tuesday, expressed satisfaction with his administration's efforts in maintaining a peaceful electoral process.

Despite conservative former first lady Sandra Torres' accusations of voter fraud, Giammattei affirmed that there were no "significant" incidents during the voting.

However, the suspension has raised doubts regarding whether Seed Movement lawmakers can take their allocated 23 seats in Congress.

This situation highlights the challenges confronting Arevalo, who campaigned on progressive and anti-corruption principles.

The Seed Movement's plea for the suspension's nullification rests on a June ruling by Guatemala's constitutional court, which dictates that no political entity can be suspended during an electoral period.

The determination of the party's status lies with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

Tiziano Breda, an expert on Central America at Italy's Instituto Affari Internazionali, noted that the situation enters unprecedented legal territory.

Nevertheless, he emphasized the formidable nature of Arevalo's victory, suggesting that the potential risks of causing international concern or unrest may dissuade attempts to overturn the election result.

Breda also anticipates ongoing efforts by Arevalo's opponents to create obstacles for his administration, aiming to hinder his governance as much as possible.

Bernardo Arevalo

Bernardo Arevalo, 64, exudes an air of impeccable composure and soft-spoken demeanor.

In contrast to bombastic rhetoric, his unassuming nature and the minimalist framework of his party have kept him largely out of the limelight, according to The Nation.

The Seed Movement distinguished itself by refusing the bribes and gratuities that often prop up Guatemala's major political factions.

This stance allowed him to remain inconspicuous and facilitated the accumulation of support.

The platform put forth by the Seed Movement is marked by a resolute practicality.

Proposals center on pragmatic steps, including the dissolution of monopolies to reduce the costs of essential commodities like electricity and food, integration of workers into the formal economy to curb the escalating trend of emigration to the United States, and comprehensive reform of government institutions through a meticulous ten-step strategy.

Throughout his campaign, Arevalo consistently emphasized his commitment to the latter objective.

While his language retained an element of vagueness ("collectively, as a united populace, we shall combat corruption"), his candid approach and untarnished history contributed to an invaluable descriptor: the "anti-corruption" candidate.

READ MORE: Haiti Police Investigates Deadly Church-Led Protest

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WATCH: Guatemala's anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arevalo wins presidential election - From FRANCE 24 English
North Dakota National Guard troops who helped with security at the U.S.-Mexico border for the past month are back home.

About 100 members of the Wahpeton-based 188th Engineer Company spent 30 days at the southern border, helping with a state of Texas operation. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum in June signed an executive order formally authorizing the deployment. The North Dakota Emergency Commission that month approved a $2.2 million loan from the state-owned Bank of North Dakota to send the troops south. The loan ultimately will be repaid with taxpayer money.

Burgum on Wednesday announced that the soldiers had returned.

Border security is national security, and these North Dakota National Guard soldiers made the most of their time at the border, doing an outstanding job of supporting Operation Lone Star to limit illegal crossings and enhance public safety, he said.

About 125 members of the Bismarck-based 1st Battalion, 112th Aviation Regiment also are deployed at the border, on federal status in support of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The yearlong deployment began last October.

North Dakota National Guard units have provided support at the southwest border during more than 10 deployments since 2006.
A tragic incident unfolded in Allen, Texas, as a family of four individuals was discovered deceased in what appears to be a murder-suicide within their residence on Monday, per WFFA.

Authorities responded to a welfare check request around 8:45 AM on Monday at a residence in the 1200 block of Aberdeen Drive, close to North Allen Heights Drive and East Exchange Parkway, as stated in a police press release.

Initial reports indicate that a resident had been locked out of the dwelling and was unsuccessful in prompting their family members to open the door.

Subsequently, additional family members arrived, enabling police entry into the residence, where they discovered the lifeless bodies of four individuals.

Allen police continue their investigation into the matter, with updates expected as they progress with their inquiries.

READ NEXT: Texas Man Kills Wife, Then Shoots Himself in Head

Police Confirm Identities of Texas Family

The Allen Police Department has confirmed the victims' identities involved in the Texas murder-suicide incident.

The victims are Farman Sherwani, the father; Layla Sherwani, the mother; their 12-year-old son, Shaheen Sherwani, and their 2-year-old son, Mateen Sherwani, according to Fox 4.

It has also been disclosed that the family experienced the loss of their 4-year-old daughter, Lyian Sherwani, in a drowning incident earlier this month.

The specifics of the drowning are not entirely clear, but authorities believe this event played a role in the subsequent murder-suicide.

The Allen Independent School District verified that one of the victims was a fifth-grade student at Olson Elementary.

The school communicated the "unexpected death" of the student to parents through a message. It ensured counselors were available at the school to support students on Tuesday.

The Islamic Association of Allen organized a funeral for the four family members, and the community has come together to mourn the devastating loss.

Abdul Rahman Bashir, the religious director at the mosque, shared that the Sherwani family were members of the congregation and were known to be close-knit.

The family was already grappling with the tragic loss of their daughter, and this compounded the challenges they were facing.

The entire community, both within and outside the congregation, has expressed deep sorrow and compassion for the family during this difficult time.

Similar Incident Happened in the Community 2 Years Ago

Imam Abdul Rahman Bashir acknowledged the unfortunate recurrence of a similar tragedy within the community two years prior when six individuals were discovered deceased in another Allen residence.

The Islamic Association of Allen had also conducted a janazah prayer for the Texas family at the time, The Dallas Morning News reports.

Considering these distressing events, Bashir emphasized the importance of communication and support within the community.

He encouraged mosque attendees to confide in someone they trust if they struggle with life's challenges.

Additionally, he urged everyone to be attentive to signs of distress in others and to be ready to listen when someone reaches out for help.

Bashir underscored that moments of empathy and attention could have a transformative impact, possibly making the difference between life and tragedy.

The association has collaborated with the Muslim Association for Psychological Services to further extend support.

Licensed mental health professionals were made available on Tuesday evening, demonstrating the community's commitment to providing accessible resources and care during these trying times.

"We are all one ummah and one body," Bashir said. "It is our job to be there for each other."

READ MORE: Josh Seiter Dead?

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WATCH: Allen family of 4 found dead in apparent murder-suicide, police say - From FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
The SAG-AFTRA Strike continues and this time, it gets some very big backup from the cast of "Breaking Back" as Hollywood continues its strike against the big studios.

Brian Cranston himself was leading the demonstrations alongside other "Breaking Bad" cast members like Aaron Paul, Jesse Plemons, and many more. They joined the picket lines to re-energize the striking actors, as well as the striking writers of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which is striking alongside SAG=AFTRA.

"We want you to come back to the table with us," the 'Godzilla" and "Breaking Bad" actor said in a plea to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). He and the other "Breaking Bad" cast members, all members of SAG-AFTRA, were seen picketing outside Sony Pictures Studios on Tuesday.

"The way things were structured 10 years ago made a lot of sense and it made it more possible for journeymen-type actors, actors in the middle that are working just as a hard or harder," said Plemons, with Aaron Paul adding, "I don't get a piece from Netflix on 'Breaking Bad' to be totally honest and that's insane to me." The "Breaking Bad" co-lead also stated, "I think a lot of these streamers know that they have been getting away with not paying people a fair wage and now it's time to pony up."

According to the Associated Press, the "Breaking Bad" cast specifically chose Sony because it was the studio behind the Emmy-winning hit. Sony is also behind the AMC prequel series "Better Call Saul" and the Netflix film, "El Camino."

"We're not making them the enemy. They are not villains. These are people that we all will be working with once again at some point," said the veteran actor. "We just want them to see reality."

SAG-AFTRA Remains Ready To Return to Negotiating Table With AMPTP

As the strike reached its 46th day, the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee released a statement, that said, "Unfortunately, as we've seen from the recent news out of the WGA negotiations, it appears the AMPTP is still unwilling to make the concessions necessary to make a fair deal that would bring the strikes to a close."

READ MORE: SAG-AFTRA and WGA Strike: Why Are Hollywood Actors and Writers Picketing?

However, SAG-AFTRA leaders have stated that they have always been ready to resume negotiations since its strike began. According to Deadline, they are now only waiting on AMPTP President Carol Lombardini to return to the negotiating table.

Celebrities Flocking to Cameo as SAG-AFTRA Strike Continues

Meanwhile, as the strike continues to cripple Hollywood, actors are finding other ways to make money, with many celebrities taking Cameo to film short videos for fans on the celebrity greeting website.

According to CNN, actors are earning between $1 to $1,500 per video recording. In that website, fans can pay for personalized videos from their favorite celebrities. Over 2,400 performers have joined or reactivated their Cameo accounts since the strike began.

Cameo CEO Steven Galanis told CNN Business that the site saw a 137% increase in actors joining the site. He added that this is the biggest influx since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It seems that it has the blessing of SAG-AFTRA big wigs too, as SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, best known for her lead role 90's sitcom "The Nanny," reactivated her account this week.

READ MORE: Florida 'Openly Hostile Toward African Americans,' Warns NAACP

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Fran Drescher: Striking actors union won't back down despite 'silent treatment' | Full AP interview - Associated Press
3M, a leading manufacturer of chemicals and consumer products, announced on Tuesday that it has reached a settlement of $6 billion to address the 3M earplugs lawsuit brought forth by US service members who claim to have suffered hearing loss and other serious injuries due to the use of faulty earplugs bought from the company.

The settlement, comprising $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in 3M stock, will be distributed throughout payments continuing through 2029, AP reports.

The legal actions originated from many veterans and current service members who filed lawsuits against 3M and Aearo Technologies.

The plaintiffs contended that a flawed design in these earplugs, which were designed to protect ears from loud noises, including close-range firearms, caused them to loosen slightly, resulting in hearing damage.

This assertion has been presented by Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis, & Overholtz PLLC, one of the law firms representing the plaintiffs.

The law firm's online overview of the litigation highlights that 3M had previously agreed to pay $9.1 million to resolve a lawsuit alleging the company knowingly provided defective earplugs to the US military.

READ NEXT: Capitol Police Officers' Civil Lawsuit vs. Donald Trump

3M Earplugs Lawsuit

The earplugs in question, known as Combat Arms earplugs, were manufactured by Aearo Technologies, a company that 3M acquired in 2008, per Reuters.

These earplugs were utilized by the US military for training and combat purposes from 2003 to 2015, including deployments in regions such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

The lawsuits brought by plaintiffs allege that Aearo Technologies concealed design flaws, manipulated test results, and omitted proper usage instructions for the earplugs, ultimately resulting in hearing damage for the users.

These lawsuits were consolidated and brought before US District Judge M. Casey Rodgers in Pensacola, Florida, federal court in 2019.

The litigation, at its peak, accounted for approximately 30% of all federal court cases nationwide.

Of the 16 earplug cases that have undergone trial, 3M experienced losses in 10. The combined total of approximately $265 million has been awarded to 13 plaintiffs, contributing to the overall settlement of $6.01 billion.

Aearo Technologies filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, with 3M committing $1 billion to address its liabilities from the earplug lawsuits.

3M contended that the mass tort litigation was unjust, asserting that Judge Rodgers had excluded scientific evidence favorable to the company from the trials and permitted numerous "unvetted" claims to inundate the court's docket.

However, a bankruptcy judge in June dismissed Aearo's bankruptcy filing, determining that the company's financial situation did not warrant such an action.

3M Earplugs Lawsuit Settlement Marks the Company's Second in Summer

The recent settlement in the 3M earplugs lawsuit is not the only legal resolution the company has reached this summer.

3M announced a substantial settlement in June wherein it would allocate up to $10.3 billion over 13 years to support public water suppliers in the United States that had identified the presence of toxic "forever chemicals," specifically polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in their water sources, according to CNN.

PFAS, commonly called "forever chemicals," have been detected in numerous everyday items, including cosmetics and carpets.

These substances create coatings that resist water, grease, and oil.

The settlement arose following a barrage of lawsuits directed at 3M, asserting that the company knew PFAS could lead to cancer, developmental anomalies, and other health issues.

Allegations further claimed that the chemicals contaminated the drinking water systems across the United States.

In response to these concerns, 3M committed last year to discontinue the production of these contentious chemicals by the conclusion of 2025.

READ MORE: 4, Including 2 Kids, Found Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: 3M to pay out billions in earplug lawsuit - From WCCO - CBS Minnesota
The Canadian government has issued new advice warning travelers about laws recently passed in the U.S. that target gay, bisexual, transgender and other queer people.

"Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons," the advisory states, using the expanded term that includes reference to two-spirit, intersex and other sexualities. "Not all countries have the same values and legal system that we have in Canada. As a result, it is important for you to be informed about the legal framework and social customs governing sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics in your destination country," that page notes.

Within the U.S., there's a 35% jump in hate crimes led by the anti-gay hysteria on the right. Were it not for the need to be diplomatic, I suspect the advisories would be more blunt about it becoming a bad idea to go to these places if you're out and obvious.
Local and state law enforcement agencies arrested two suspects described as upper-level, Allentown-based drug-traffickers and seized nearly 165,000 doses of the synthetic opioid painkiller fentanyl, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said in a news release.

The Office of Attorney General Bureau of Narcotics Investigation worked in collaboration with the Lehigh County District Attorneys Office and Allentown police to investigate the trafficking operation, and on Saturday, Aug. 26, executed search warrants that uncovered more than 11 pounds of fentanyl with an estimated street value of more than $1.5 million, Henry said.

Wilson Jose Rosario, 33, and Luis Manuel Ventura, 21, are each charged with numerous felony drug charges in connection with the probe, according to the release. Both were arraigned over the weekend and sent to Lehigh County Jail in lieu of $600,000 bail each.

Fentanyl is an incredibly dangerous drug that plagues nearly every community, and presents a clear risk to families and individuals across the Commonwealth, Henry stated in the release. A strong collaboration between my office, Lehigh County law enforcement, and the Allentown police department, netted two high-level traffickers and thousands of doses of this poison.

During searches of three Allentown properties, investigators also seized drug-packaging materials including respirators, scales and vacuum sealers  and $3,400 in cash, the release states.

The cases will be prosecuted by the Lehigh County District Attorneys Office.

I commend Attorney General Michelle Henry on an excellent investigation which culminated in taking about 11 pounds of deadly fentanyl off of our streets, stated Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin.

Both suspects are being represented by the county public defenders office and face preliminary hearings tentatively scheduled for Friday. A district judge at the time of the hearing will determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the charges toward trial in the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
After comments and discussion spanning about six hours, the Lower Saucon Township Council on Wednesday approved rezoning 275.7 acres so it can be used for a potential expansion of the Bethlehem Landfill.

The council also agreed to relocating land protections in the area of the landfill to permit the possible expansion. An additional vote adopted a revised host agreement with the landfill that increases revenues to the township once the expansion is operational.

Wednesdays council meeting started at 9 a.m. at the Se-Wy-Co Fire Hall. After a public hearing and discussion, the approvals were finalized about 3:15 p.m. The township planning commission endorsed the rezoning last Thursday.

The 275.7 acres rezoned from Rural Agriculture to Light Industrial extend east of the 2335 Applebutter Road landfill and north to along the Lehigh River. Councils approval makes landfills and waste disposal facilities permitted uses in the Light Industrial area. Prior to the vote, zoning hearing board approval was needed for a landfill under the zoning. The township council with planning commission input and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection would still need to approve any expansion plans that are filed.

Except for making a landfill a permitted use, this rezoning proposal is essentially the same as the rezoning adopted by the council during Christmas week last December. Northampton County Judge Abraham Kassis in May overturned the December rezoning on procedural issues after residents sued.

Bethlehem Landfill Co., owned by Texas-based Waste Connections, announced Tuesday it intends to pursue a new disposal footprint on around 86 acres of the rezoned land, down from its original conceptual plans for a new 117-acre disposal under its planned expansion known as Phase V.

We are confident that these revisions to our plans will better align with the values and expectations of our host community, while still delivering the vital services and benefits our region needs, the landfill company said in a statement. We will continue to engage with the host community, seeking input and feedback to ensure that their concerns and suggestions are addressed throughout the expansion process.

Vocal residents opposed to the rezoning and potential expansion kept up their fight during the public hearing that preceded Wednesdays approval votes. A number people tried to speak who werent residents or taxpayers of the township, despite living even just a couple miles away from the landfill or down the Lehigh River that runs near the rezoned land; they werent permitted to speak under the councils public participation rules. Expansion opponent Larry Opthof was having a medical procedure done when it was his time to speak but hurried over after and was able to get his comments in.

Council President Jason Banonis and Councilman Thomas Carocci, prompted by Vice President Mark Inglis, both addressed criticisms from residents that the landfill company supported their candidacies for office. Both denied having received anything of value from anyone affiliated with the landfill, and Banonis produced campaign finance reporting from their 2021 election that he said shows about $17,662 in donations from township residents of primarily $50 or $100.

Campaign finance reporting reviewed by lehighvalleylive.com in 2021 showed Banonis, Carocci and fellow successful Republican candidate Jennifer Zavacky, who has since resigned, drew the support of a political action committee called Responsible Solutions for Pennsylvania. The reports from that time showed this PAC was funded by Waste Connections US Inc., which had the same address in The Woodlands, Texas, as IESI PA Bethlehem Landfill Corp. that owns the Bethlehem Landfill. The PACs support for Lower Saucon Township Council Races included about $68,314 in political consulting; polling; door walking; digital ads and a website; palm cards, door hangers and a mailer, according to a campaign finance report dated Oct. 29, 2021, and filed with the Northampton County Office of Elections and Voter Registration. The responsiblesolutionspa.com website paid for by Responsible Solutions for Pennsylvania backed Banonis, Carocci and Zavacky for the council seats.

Banonis clarified after Wednesdays meeting the PACs activities were independent of the candidates campaigning: We had nothing to do with it.

Banonis during Wednesdays meeting railed against what he called despicable lies and noted he is a plaintiff in a 2021 defamation lawsuit pending in Northampton County. During this portion of the meeting, a man approached council whom Banonis ordered to stand down, telling police on hand, Officer, I dont know who this man is or why he is approaching.

Carocci suggested others may need to be sued for defamation, and Banonis replied that they very well might be.

Banonis then offered a detailed defense of the landfill expansion and what it means for township finances.

Under the townships revised agreement to host the landfill, once the Phase V permit is final, the townships host fees would rise from $6.90 to $11 per ton of municipal waste and wastewater treatment sludge disposed at the landfill and from $9.97 to $13.57 for residual waste.

Even without that escalation, Banonis said, annual revenue to Lower Saucon from the landfill totals about $2.6 million  about 30% of the municipal budget  and is the second-highest source of township funding behind its earned income tax. Saucon Valley School Districts takes in an additional $400,000 a year in real estate taxes from the landfill. Without that funding, taxpayers would be looking at paying 7 mills more in property taxes, Banonis said. A mill is $1 in tax for every $1,000 of a propertys assessed value. Citing a July 2023 median sale price of $524,900 for a township home, Banonis said that tax hike could mean paying as much as $3,500 more a year. If the township were to pursue plans to create a paid fire department, Banonis said that would add another $2.5 million in expenses that taxpayers would be on the hook for.

Do you want to pay another $500 a month? he asked.

Banonis and Carocci also argued that the roughly 80-year-old landfill predates most if not all neighboring property owners and that none of the landfill opponents proposed an alternative waste disposal method.

Every single person in this room generates waste, Banonis said, echoed later by Carocci saying, It doesnt disappear. It goes to a landfill and you just dont want it in your backyard.

The council members also pushed back against arguments that the landfill accepts out-of-state trash. Lower Saucons solicitor, B. Lincoln Treadwell Jr., said interstate commerce is protected by the U.S. Constitution and trying to stymie it would open up the township to paying damages to cover lost revenue plus attorney fees.

The council voted 3-2 for the rezoning, with Councilwomen Priscilla De Leon and Sandra Yerger opposed. de Leon has sided with residents opposed to the expansion, and read into the record a lengthy comment written by a township resident concerning a 2012 landfill expansion about how Lower Saucon can cope with the loss of the landfill revenue. Yerger raised concerns about rezoning the eastern- and northern-most land.

Inglis, who joined Banonis and Carocci in supporting the rezoning, said hes confident the state DEP will adequately enforce protections on the environment when it comes to the landfills operation and proposed expansion.

This map provided by the Bethlehem Landfill Co. of Waste Connections Inc. shows, within the dotted orange line, the 86-acre footprint of its proposed expansion onto a portion of 275.7 acres rezoned from Rural Agriculture to Light Industrial under a vote Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, by Lower Saucon Township Council. Land being preserved under conservation easements also approved by the council are shown in green cross hatching,Courtesy image | For lehighvalleylive.com

Wednesdays vote on conservation easement included lifting the restrictions on landfill use for former parcels the Bethlehem Landfill Co. owns known as the former Helms and Redington properties. The City of Bethlehem and Lower Saucon had agreed to those restrictions in 1994, following the citys sale of the landfill to what was then Eastern Waste of Bethlehem Inc. These restrictions were meant to create a natural buffer between the landfill and the Lehigh River and private property.

Township residents in August sued the township over the 1994 conservation easements, saying they cant be unilaterally lifted without court approval.

The council on Wednesday approved about a 1-to-1 swap of land protected under easements, in lifting the restrictions on the former Helms and Redington tracts totaling about 200 acres and extending protections anew to about 193 acres across 13 parcels. The newly protected acreage includes 96 acres from the Helms and Redington tracts, closest to the Lehigh River and private land to the east, as well as newly protected land to the west toward Steel City.

Council members authorized township Manager Mark Hudson to find a third-party entity, such as a land conservation agency, to sign off on protecting the land. That third-party beneficiary was lacking under the 1994 easements, Treadwell noted.

de Leon cast the lone vote against the conservation easement swap and the revised host agreement.

Editors note: This article was updated and corrected to say that Lower Saucon Township Council President Jason Banonis and Councilman Thomas Carocci denied having received anything of value from anyone affiliated with the landfill.

Reporter Connor Lagore contributed to this story.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
UPDATE: Woman was stabbed to death and 4-year-old was injured in Wilson Borough, prosecutor says

Authorities were investigating the death of an individual Wednesday along the Wilson Borough-Palmer Township border.

Its an active investigation, Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek said at the scene in the 900 block of South 25th Street in Wilson. Theres no threat to the public.

Wilson Borough police were called about mid-to-late morning for the death inside a home on the block, Lysek and borough police Chief Christian Meehan told lehighvalleylive.com.

Pennsylvania State Police were assisting borough police and the coroners office at the scene.

Meehan said he could not comment immediately on whether anyone was in custody or sought, but said he expected further information to be released later Wednesday.

Authorities were going to be working to notify next of kin before further information could be released, Lysek said.

The block is home to numerous businesses just north of Freemansburg Avenue. No streets were closed, and the investigation was not affecting local businesses, Meehan said.

One local business owner told a reporter a woman showed up to talk to police investigators around mid-morning and became frantic at what she was told. This business owner, who preferred to remain anonymous, was planning to check security cameras to see if anything was captured that may aid in the investigation.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
A Bethlehem man was indicted Tuesday on charges he paid to watch a livestream video of children being sexually abused.

Harold Daleus, 48, is accused of paying money to watch a livestream of child sexual abuse in Bethlehem and in the Philippines on Nov. 14, 2017, according to a federal indictment filed Tuesday.

The indictment says Daleus also used the internet to try to procure a child for sexual exploitation in Bethlehem between May 2017 and August 2019.

Hes also charged with receiving child pornography in Bethlehem on July 13, 2019, and possessing a phone and a computer with child pornography on them on Dec. 13, 2022. The children were allegedly under 12.

Daleus is charged with similar offenses in Northampton County Court. Those charges will be dropped now that hes charged in federal court, according to defense attorney Theodore Skaarup.

Skaarup represented Daleus on the Northampton County charges. He anticipates Daleus will be assigned a federal public defender on the new charges.

Northampton County Chief Deputy District Attorney Tatum Wilson said the local charges will be withdrawn once Daleus is in federal custody. Daleus is in Northampton County Prison after failing to post $100,000 bail on the local charges, online court records say.

The process of moving Daleus into federal custody and then dropping the local charges will take about a week, Wilson said.

When Daleus was charged in Northampton County in December 2022, police allegedly found six videos and four images of child sexual abuse on his phone and computer, state police said.

He is charged in federal court with using an interstate commerce facility to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity, making and attempting to make child pornography, receiving and attempting to receive child pornography, and possessing child pornography.

Daleus faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison on the single count of manufacturing of child pornography, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Priya De Souza.

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Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com.
Taking part in the International Rose of Tralee festival has imbued Laois Rose Sinead Dowd with new confidence.

The Cullohill native did Laois proud on the Tralee stage where she was interviewed by Daithi O Se live on RTE television.

Sinead who told Daithi how she travelled from her New York home to live in Laois at the tender age of 17, is now looking forward to some more travel.

She spoke to the Leinster Express / Laois Live as the dust settled on the 2023 festival, where New York Rose Roisin Wiley won the sash.

"The stage night is something I will never forget. Considering I was the last rose to take the stage on Monday night, I was quite nervous waiting around. However, the moment Daithi asked me his first question all the nerves went out the door.

"Daithi and Katherine were fantastic and made every effort to keep myself and the other girls comfortable and relaxed. I feel that it was a once in a life time opportunity to showcase who I am as a person and my love for Ireland. I was completely myself and have no regrets about anything.

"Whilst this may sound cliche, the highlight of the entire experience would have to be the friendships I have left with. We spend every day, all day together for two weeks, so our bond grew very fast.

"One moment that sticks out for me is a private helicopter ride! It was something I've never done before and it reminded me how lucky I am to be in this position.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank every business and person who has supported me with sponsorship. In particular, my sponsors Turley's Bar in Mountmellick, The Style Bar and Skyn Clinic in Portlaoise, Catwalk boutique in Kilkenny who gifted me countless accessories, the Harps GAA, and every other business who donated to the cause. This journey would not have been possible without any of them.

"On a final note, I would like to thank The Rose of Tralee festival for providing this once in a lifetime experience.

"To be the Laois rose in itself is something that I still am in shock over. No matter the outcome, I feel that I have came out of this journey with more confidence and self worth. If there are any young women considering pursuing this, just know that it has been nothing but fun and empowering.

"I'm looking forward to continuing my duties as Laois Rose. I'm hoping to travel in the near future. I don't have a definite plan of action yet, but that is the beauty of it all. This celebration of women has given me confidence to take more risks and to try new things, so here's to the next chapter," Sinead Dowd said.
Coldplay concerts in Ireland are not the reason for holding the 2024 Electric Picnic festival earlier than normal, the Festival Republic CEO has said.

The 2024 Electric Picnic is taking place two weeks earlier than it has done since it began 20 years previously.

The earlier scheduling caused speculation that it was to avoid the four Coldplay gigs in Croke Park which take place from late August to early September in 2024, with tickets completely sold out.

However this week the Electric Picnic promotor denied this is the reason.

Its not about that. Its something weve been giving some consideration to for a while.

We want to see how it plays out, the booking of the talent, the weather, and see whether its the right year to be going year on year. The response so far from the Electric Picnic community is very positive," Mr Benn said in a press interview on Tuesday, August 29.

The 2024 Laois based festival will take place from August 16 to 18.

This weekend it returns to the Cosby estate in Stradbally with 70,000 ticket holders arriving from Thursday August 31 onwards.
Laois farmers have objected to the plan to hold the Electric Picnic in the middle of August 2024 because of the impact on the harvest.

Festival Republic announced in the run-up to the 2023 event that it is planned to hold 20th anniversary of the show in Stradbally from August 16-18 a fortnight earlier than usual.

Stradbally is also a hub for malting barley harvested in the surrounding farms which are intensive tillage lands. Agriland reports that Laios farmers are shocked by the move.

Bobby Miller, who farms in Stradbally, the new date would clash with prime harvest time.

Paul Cushe lives in the town and farms locally. He summed up the views of farmers.

Its pure craziness, thats what it is, Cushen said.

Apart from needing the co-operation of farmers and local people to hold the festival in Laois, Festival Republic rely on farmland in and around the village for parking.

The late 2023 harvest caused by a summer of bad weather could also cause problems. Met Eireann is forecasting a dry and warm weekend in Laois.

The expected weather led to a reply from one farmer to Carlow Weather that at least one road will be out of bounds to picnicers.

If thats the case Ill be cutting corn ye may use a different road to get there  Enda fingleton (@EndaFingleton) August 29, 2023

Over 70,000 are due in Stradbally from September 1-3. Full Agriland story HERE.
Laois voters will vote separately from their from their Offaly neighbours for the second time in the history of State while thousands of people around Portarlington will no longer have to vote in Kildare.

That's the upshot of the Electoral Commission recommendations to the Oireachtas on the make-up of Irelands electoral constituencies for the next Dail and European Parliament elections.

The Commission recommends that the next Dail would see 174 TDs representing 43 Dail Constituencies, up from the current 160 TDs in 39 Constituencies.

In light of the statutory importance of the preservation of country boundaries, and because the majority of submissions received by the Commission stressed the perceived importance of the maintenance of county boundaries, the Commission took the view that it was appropriate to propose some variances at a level higher than that proposed by the previous Review.

Laois Offaly was split into two three-seaters for the first time at the 2016 General Election with the two counties reuniting into a five-seater.

In relation to Laois-Offaly, the Commission considered the breach of county boundaries with the Kildare South constituency in the Portarlington area and the increase in population of the constituency which meant that it could not remain a 5-seat constituency without substantial transfer out.

The Commission said the submissions in relation to Laois-Offaly were mostly in favour of splitting the Laois-Offaly constituency into two three-seat constituencies, primarily based on their respective county boundaries. Many of these submissions called for areas around Portarlington to be transferred to the Offaly constituency.

The variance in the new 3-seat Laois constituency would be 3.49%. This would be the first time that a Laois constituency fully aligns with its county boundary.

People living in the new Laois constituency would have a population of 91,877.

The change may not make a huge difference to the representation in Laois where Brian Stanley, Sean Fleming and Charlie Flanagan are based for Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael respectively.

Just six candidates ran in the 2016 General Election in Laois when Monasterevin was part of the constituency.

It took just three counts to decide the outcome of a largely uneventful campaign when the current contingent were easily return to Leinster House. Fleming topped the poll. The other candidates were Thomasina Connell, Fine Gael, John Whelan, Labour and Sinead Moore the Greens.
Garda HQ in Dublin has appealed for the public's help in a statement in which they confirmed that a girl aged three has died in Laois after being knocked down in a big Portlaoise housing estate.

In what has been a horrendous week on Irish roads leaving seven people die, a garda statement issued just after 6pm on Wednesday, August 20 confirmed that another a fatal road traffic collision this time involving an infant.

They say the incident happened on Wednesday at approximately 1.15 pm. A statement said that the collision, which involved a car and a pedestrian, occurred on Cosby Avenue in the Fairgreen estate which is located off the town's Mountmellick Road N80

"An infant girl (3 years old) was seriously injured during the collision. She was taken to Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise where she was later pronounced deceased," it said. MORE BELOW Leinster Express / Laois Live PICTURE.

Gardai added that the scene of the incident on Cosby Avenue was preserved for a technical examination by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators.

The statement included an appeal to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to contact them.

They are interested from hearing from any road users or pedestrians who may have camera footage (including dash-cam), and who were in the Fairgreen area of Portlaoise this afternoon between 12.45pm and 1.30pm, is asked to make this footage available to Gardai.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Portlaoise Garda Station on 057 867 4100, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.

The child days in the same 24 hours as a boy aged three and a his grandparents were killed in a crash in Tipperary. The boys parents were seriously injured.

It's less than a week since three young women and a man were killed in Clonmel on their way to a Leaving Cert celebration.

The Laois infant who lost her life is the 28th pedestrian to die on Irish roads in 2023. Garda stats show that 124 people have lost their lives in crashes and other road incidents in 2023. That's up nearly a quarter on the months to the end of August 2022.
The first and only poll-topping TD in a standalone Laois Dail constituency agrees with the decision to give Laois and Offaly three representatives each in Leinster House.

Fianna Fail TD Sean Fleming has welcomed the Electoral Commission report of recommendations for Irelands Dail constituency boundaries in particular its impact locally.

Due to population rises the Commission has recommended that two new three-seat constituencies in the counties which were united in one constituency up to 2016 when separated. At the time Laois took in part of Kildare around Monasterevin while Offaly annexed part of north Tipperary.

However, the split was shortlived as another boundary commission decided to reunite the counties in 2020 with out Kildare and Tipperary. However, Portarlington, Killendard and Ballybrittas were then put into Kildare South.

Minister of State Fleming believes there was little choice but to split the counties again.

"Due to an increase in the population in the counties of Laois and Offaly, there was a compelling case for an extra Dail seat to represent the people of both counties," he said.

The changes will also mean that all of Laois will be in a Dail constituency of its own for the first time.

"I look forward to continuing my work and representing the people of Laois both now and into the future," he said.

Minister Fleming topped the poll in Laois in 2016 when he topped the poll with 13,626 number ones which was more than one-third of all first preferences.

He was the only Fianna Fail candidate in field of just six hopefuls which saw the three seats decided after just three counts. Charlie Flanagan of Fine Gael and Brian Stanley were also returned to the Dail after an uneventful campaign.

All three won seats in the 2011 and 2020 General Elections when Laois and Offaly were combined. Dep Flanagan topped the poll in 2011 while Dep Stanley had that honour in 2020.

The next General Election can be held no later than 2025.




A teenage Laois student has moved to Italy for his final two years of secondary school after winning a prestigious scholarship.

Luke Carroll, 16, from Ballyfin is already settling in as a boarder at the UWC (United World College) Adriatic, as one of just three in Ireland selected for their international 2023-2025 Programme.

He will spend the next two years studying for the esteemed International Baccalaureate (IB) programme.

A son of Eithne and Finbarr Carroll, he told the Leinster Express / Laois Live that the win has been "surreal" but he is "absolutely thrilled".

"It was totally surreal for me to receive such a generous and life changing scholarship. I knew as soon as I heard the news that I would fully commit to making the most of exceptional opportunity.

"I have always had a bit of a travel bug, so I am absolutely thrilled to be able to live abroad. I find there is no better learning experience than immersing myself in a new countrys language, culture, and customs.

"I already feel at home at UWC Adriatic and the opportunities here are more incredible that I ever imagined. The boarding school life took a while to get used to but I have already met people from countries I did not knew even existed, discussed the heart of international issues with people who have live through them daily, and I am beginning to digest the rich culture of Italy and the customs and culture of all my co-years. I do not see myself ever forgetting what I learn here," Luke said.

He has clear career goals.

"UWC represents a unique chance for me to expand my horizon in a way thats impossible by studying at home. I am certain that I will use this scholarship and all the opportunities at UWC Adriatic to accelerate my path to working for the EU commission and improving European cooperation. UWC Adriatic has students from 82 different countries living and studying together and I am sure that I will learn so much from them that I never would have even thought about before coming to Italy.

He thanked his former school and his family.

"None of this would have been possible without the support from my parents. It has been a pleasure to be supported by the Irish UWC national committee. Their help has been invaluable, and I wouldn't be here now without their passion for education. Finally, I would like to thank Mountrath Community School principal, Kathryn O' Brien and all my teachers for their support and it was not easy to leave such a great school," Luke said.

The UWC also awarded Traolach Dawson, 16, from Glanmire, Cork, who will travel to UWC East Africa in Tanzania, and Kai Kane, 16, from Cork City will attend UWC Maastricht in the Netherlands.

All three students were selected for their "strong academic records, interest in public service, and aptitude for personal leadership".

A celebratory send-off event took place in Charlotte Quay restaurant, which is owned by UWC alumnus Conor Bereen, to honour and celebrate the exceptional students selected for the 2023-2025 scholarship programme.

Aisling Hassell is a Co-Chair of UWC Ireland along with Karen O'Leary.

Our hope is that UWCs support will enable Luke, Traolach, and Kai to reach their fullest potential in the years ahead. They were selected based on their remarkable achievements to date and demonstrated commitment to public service and integrity. UWC's global community fosters an enriching environment for students, promoting intercultural understanding, respect, compassion, and service, she said.

We are so very pleased to celebrate with this years scholars, their families, and some of our alumni. We wish them the very best of luck with their studies and broader experience over the next two years. It is our hope that these young people will bring back new knowledge, experiences, and expertise with them which will serve both themselves and Ireland, Karen OLeary said.

Each year, UWC Ireland selects three students from a vast pool of applicants who apply to participate in the programme. This year marks the 60th anniversary of scholarship programme and to date UWC Ireland has supported 180 students.

Fully or partly funded scholarships are offered to ensure that scholars can immerse themselves in the cultural exchange without any academic constraints. To bolster their educational pursuits, United World Colleges have committed over 130,000 in scholarship funding for the next two years.

UWC Ireland plans to open applications for the September 2024 entry later this year. Eligible students, aged between 15 and 17 years old, who have completed their Junior Certificates are encouraged to apply.

For more information about the 2024 United World College Scholarship programme and the application process, visit https://www.ie.uwc.org/
Dawn Behan, a childrens bookseller from Kildare, has joined internationally celebrated authors and illustrators such as Eoin Colfer, Marita Conlon-McKenna, Chris Haughton, Shane Hegarty and Laureate na nOg Patricia Forde, to launch Discover Irish Childrens Books, a new initiative to champion childrens books written by those living and working in Ireland.

Discover Irish Childrens Books estimates there are upwards of 350 published childrens writers and illustrators from or living in Ireland. Yet for 15 weeks between May and early August 2023, no Irish books charted in the weekly childrens top ten sellers list. In the same period, 96 Irish writers charted in the equivalent list for adults fiction.

To highlight the range of Irish titles available to young readers, the campaign will launch a new top ten bestsellers list dedicated to Irish childrens books. The list will be informed by the top ten bestsellers in a different independent bookshop across Ireland, including Woodbine Books, each week throughout September and October. The list will be available each week on www.discoveririshkidsbooks.ie.

Award-winning childrens writer and illustrator Chris Haughton has also designed a sticker to be made available to bookshops, libraries and schools to highlight Irish childrens books for young readers and adults. The campaign will raise awareness of titles for all ages on social media using #DiscoverIrishKidsBooks and work directly with teachers to recommend novels for class groups. Resources will be available on the website.

Childrens writer and bookseller, Sarah Webb says this trend shocked her: Out of interest, I asked children attending my summer workshops who their favourite writer was. Even when prompted, they struggled to name an Irish writer.

On the international stage, Irelands storytellers for children are much celebrated. Eoin Colfers Artemis Fowl was a New York Times bestseller. John Boynes The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has been translated into 56 languages. Oliver Jeffers has sold over 14 million books worldwide. Catherine Doyle, Judi Curtin, Roddy Doyle, Derek Landy, Mary Murphy  these are well-known names in childrens books globally.

Yet at home theres a lack of knowledge and awareness that Discover Irish Childrens Books is determined to tackle. We want to see new and well-established Irish writers and illustrators at book festivals, hear them on the radio and published in newspapers, and find them front and centre in bookshop and library displays.

Almost a quarter of all books sold in Ireland are childrens titles, but celebrity authors and big marketing budgets dominate that pool. There will always be a place for international writers and for the classics we all know and love, but there is a diverse wealth of new Irish books available, we need to give them an equal opportunity to find their way into childrens hands.

Childrens author and Laureate na nOg, Patricia Ford said, Ireland now has a wonderful canon of literature for children in both English and Irish. We owe it to our young people to promote that work and to make sure that they are aware of books that are written and illustrated here. We all need to see ourselves and our culture in the books that we read, and our writers and illustrators, in Kildare and across Ireland, need our support to continue making that work.

Childrens Books Ireland CEO, Elaina Ryan said, Theres much deserved celebration of the four Irish authors longlisted for the Booker Prize at the moment but what went by with little fanfare earlier this year, was the longlisting and shortlisting of two Irish authors and illustrators and an Irish publisher for the prestigious Yoto Carnegie Medals which recognises work created for children and young people. Irelands literary excellence is as obvious in our books for young readers as it is in those for adults, and they are equally worthy of our praise and support.

Further information is available on: www.discoveririshkidsbooks.ie.
An Coimisiun Toghchain, The Electoral Commission, has this morning made its independent recommendations to the Oireachtas on the make-up of Irelands electoral constituencies for the next Dail and European Parliament elections.

The Commission recommends that the next Dail would see 174 TDs representing 43 Dail Constituencies, up from the current 160 TDs in 39 Constituencies.

The Commission recommends that Sligo-Leitrim should remain a 4 seat constituency, with a transfer out of the 18 EDs (population 8,569) in the northern part of Co. Roscommon to the Roscommon-Galway constituency.

Following the recommended transfer, the would contain all of both Co. Sligo and Co. Leitrim and nine EDs of southern Donegal.

The Sligo-Leitrim constituency would have a population of 114,781 with a variance of -3.03%.

Current configuration: A 4 seat constituency, including all of Co. Sligo and Co. Leitrim, 18 EDs of north Roscommon and nine EDs of south Donegal.

Recommended configuration: Remains a 4 seat constituency encompassing all of counties Sligo and Leitrim, and the nine EDs of southern Donegal. The 18 EDs from the northern part of Co. Roscommon transfer to the Roscommon-Galway constituency, reunifying Roscommon in that constituency.

The current Sligo-Leitrim constituency is unique in that it currently comprises EDs from four counties. It consists of the entire counties of Sligo (population of 70,198) and Leitrim (population of 35,199) as well as nine EDs in southern Donegal with a population of 9,384, and the northern part of Co. Roscommon made up of 18 EDs with a population of 8,569. This

brings the total existing constituency population to 123,350.

There are no breaches in the boundaries of the counties of either Sligo or Leitrim, while the breaches in the counties of Donegal and Roscommon are addressed under their respective constituencies.

While there was a small number of submissions that argued in favour of splitting counties Roscommon and Leitrim respectively, that approach was not viewed as desirable by the Commission.

The transfer out of Sligo-Leitrim of the 18 Roscommon EDs with a population of 8,569, into the Roscommon-Galway constituency, means that the Sligo-Leitrim constituency would contain all or part of three counties rather than the current four.

The proposed changes to constituencies throughout the country.
Actor Domhnall Gleeson is urging people across the North West to host coffee mornings to help raise 2million for extraordinary hospice services.

The Hollywood star is supporting Bewleys Big Coffee Morning Social for Hospice, a fundraising drive which has generated 43.2million since 1992.

He joined Hospice hosts and volunteers at the iconic Bewleys cafe on Grafton Street on August 2, and asked everyone in Ireland to host or support this years event on September 21.

Both of Gleesons grandparents  his father Brendans parents - spent their final days in St Francis Hospice in Dublin.

My grandma (Pat) was only there for a few weeks and that was my first experience of being around a Hospice, said the Harry Potter and Star Wars actor, 40.

I was incredibly close to her and I was struck by the atmosphere of care and kindness. She had a rough journey before she got there - and all of a sudden, that difficult road seemed less punishing to travel.

He recalled thinking she seemed as safe and cared for as possible.

It was such a relief, he said.

In terms of my granddad (Francis), we had been looking after him for a long time, probably about a year, and didnt think he was going to last that long in Hospice, but he was there for months.

The care was extraordinary, but he had a new lease of life, it (Hospice care) gives their body the care it needs, and makes them feel special.

He told how Francis constantly joked with staff who, he said, see beyond the illness or life-limiting condition.

Theres a focus on creating a connection and patients are not just a problem to be solved on the way to the next problem along the corridor. Each persons journey is different, and each one matters to the people working there.

I dont know how they do it; there is an incredible giving of oneself.

So I am asking everyone in Leitrim on September 21, or whenever suits them, to organise, support or donate to a coffee morning, wherever it might be held.

Now in its 31st year, organisers hope to raise 2million in 2023, returning the countrywide fundraiser to pre-Covid levels and bringing the total raised since its inception beyond the 45million mark.

Together for Hospice, The National Hospice Movement, represents 26 Hospice and specialist palliative home care providers supporting patients and their families.

Funds raised locally stay local and go back into each Hospice service, helping to pay for medical and general staff, palliative care beds, home care visits, specialist equipment and new hospice builds.

Communities right across Sligo are urged to simply gather a group on September 21st to help raise much needed funds to support the work of North West Hospice, Sligo.

Bernadette McGarvey, of North West Hospice, said: We are delighted Bewleys Big Coffee Morning Social for Hospice, which is one of Irelands longest and most loved fundraisers, is now entering its fourth decade of raising funds in support of Hospice in-patient and community services around Ireland.

It is a chance to celebrate our many coffee morning hosts across the county, who are an incredible testament to the dedication and committed nature of Hospice supporters in local communities. This ongoing support is invaluable and funds vital services and quality initiatives enhancing care for patients living with a life limiting illness.

Jason Doyle, Managing Director at Bewleys Ireland & UK, said the company has stood side by side with Hospice since 1992.

Our business was founded on the principle of caring for people and communities, so we urge everyone to host a coffee morning social to help support the incredible work Hospice carries out every day.
In the aftermath of a fire in the Amazon rainforest in Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil, on August 24, 2019. JOAO LAET / AFP

In an investigation published on August 23 which traced the origin of meat sold by French wholesale retailer Carrefour, the investigative magazine Reporter Brasil discovered that one of its suppliers, the Frialto group, was sourcing cattle from the breeder Bruno Heller.

Considered by the police to be "the largest destroyer of the Amazon biome ever investigated," he is suspected of illegally clearing 6,500 hectares of forest in Novo Progresso, in the northern state of Para  twice the size of Brussels. In the region, the Heller family is well known to environmental authorities: Since 1990, the farms in its possession have accumulated 43 fines, totaling 27 million reis (5.12 million), for cases of illegal deforestation and the purchase of livestock from protected areas.

How did this escape the control of the country's leading food distribution group? According to the Brazilian media's investigation, the cattle were the subject of a "laundering" operation by Heller. First raised on one of his farms sanctioned for illegal deforestation, the cattle were then transported to two farms officially owned by his daughter, Tatiana Heller, which were in compliance with environmental standards. "A few days after the transfers, some oxen were sold to Frialto's Matupa unit [in the state of Mato Grosso], which supplies Carrefour," said Marina Rossi, one of the journalists who was a part of of Reporter Brasil's investigation.

Carrefour denies

In an email to Le Monde, the Carrefour group denied, however, that it "purchased meat from the farms mentioned" in the investigation. "The company's association with criminal practices is false and irresponsible," the group said, assuring that it had "a certification and image-tracking process via satellites to analyze the socio-environmental compliance of the acquisition of 100% of the fresh meat sold" in its supermarkets.

Nonetheless, this is not the first time Carrefour has been accused of participating in the deforestation of the Amazon. On September 5, 2022, the environmental NGO Mighty Earth launched the "Carrefour Nous Enfume!" campaign on social media. It denounced the fact that, despite Carrefour's commitment to stop buying meat from "critical zones" by 2030, the company continued to buy from two slaughterhouses belonging to the Brazilian multinational JBS, which sourced their meat from farms that deforested indigenous territory in the state of Rondonia, in northwestern Brazil.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Lula scores diplomatic win at the Amazon summit in Belem, despite limited progress

Following Mighty Earth's action, Carrefour promised to stop buying from the two JBS suppliers. But, according to the NGO, these commitments have not been kept. "We remained vigilant and found that Carrefour was still selling meat from these slaughterhouses in its supermarkets in Brazil," said Boris Patentreger, Mighty Earth's director in France.

You have 40% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
Top US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell appears to freeze up for more than 30 seconds during a public appearance before he was escorted away, the second such incident in a little more than a month, after an event with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in Covington, Kentucky, on August 30, 2023 in a still image from video. ABC AFFILIATE WCPO / VIA REUTERS

Top US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell appeared briefly unable to speak at a news conference on Wednesday, August 30, marking the second time in recent weeks that the 81-year-old has abruptly frozen at a public event.

McConnell was answering reporters' questions in his home state Kentucky when he fell silent for around 30 seconds, despite being prompted by an aide.

"Did you hear the question, senator?" the staffer asked after an awkward pause and, as McConnell continued to be unresponsive, she told the room: "I'm sorry, you all. We're going to need a minute." "Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today," his spokesman said later.

President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House he was going to get in touch with McConnell. "[We] have had disagreements politically, but he's a good friend," he said.

It is the senator's second health scare since July when he froze mid-sentence during a press conference in Congress and stood motionless at a microphone for about 20 seconds before aides and fellow senators led him away. At that time, the veteran politician returned several minutes later and told reporters he was "fine" before taking questions.

McConnell has been the top Republican in the US Senate since 2007 and wielded unflinching power as majority leader from 2015 to 2021.

He notably engineered conservatives taking a majority on the Supreme Court by stalling a confirmation hearing for Barack Obama's nominee in 2016 and ensured that Trump was not convicted after his unprecedented two impeachments.

In March, McConnell was hospitalized after he tripped and fell during a private dinner. He suffered a concussion and a fractured rib, and spent six weeks away from the Senate, undergoing physical therapy. An aide said McConnell would consult with a physician before his next event.
Brice Oligui Nguema in Libreville on August 30, 2023. AP

Leaders of a coup in Gabon on Wednesday, August 30, named a general, Brice Oligui Nguema, transitional president after seizing power following disputed elections in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has ruled for 55 years, had been declared the winner. Bongo, 64, who took over from his father Omar in 2009, was placed under house arrest, and one of his sons was arrested for treason, the coup leaders said. The claimed takeover sparked condemnation from the African Union (AU) and alarm from Nigeria over "contagious autocracy" in a continent where the military has seized power in five other countries since 2020.

In a dramatic pre-dawn address, a group of officers declared that "all the institutions of the republic" had been dissolved, the election results canceled and the borders closed. "Today, the country is going through a serious institutional, political, economic and social crisis," according to the statement read on national television. The statement was read by an officer flanked by a group of a dozen army colonels, members of the elite Republican Guard, and regular soldiers. The elections "did not meet the conditions for a transparent, credible and inclusive ballot so much hoped for by the people of Gabon," the statement read.

"We, the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions [CTRI], on behalf of the people of Gabon and as guarantors of the institutions' protection, have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime," the military officers said. Nguema told Le Monde in an interview Bongo had been "retired." Television footage later showed Nguema, previously the head of the Republican Guard, being carried in triumph by hundreds of soldiers to cries of "Oligui president."

In Libreville on August 30, 2023. STRINGER / REUTERS

Arrests

Bongo's son and close adviser, Noureddin Bongo Valentin; his chief of staff, Ian Ghislain Ngoulou, as well as his deputy; two other presidential advisers; and the two top officials in the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) "have been arrested," a military leader said. They are accused of treason, embezzlement, corruption and falsifying the president's signature, among other allegations, he said.

In a video from an unidentified location, a worried-looking Bongo appealed to "all friends that we have all over the world to make noise" on his behalf. "My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place and I'm at the residence, and nothing is happening. I don't know what's going on. I'm calling you to make noise."

Groups of joyous people celebrated on the streets of the capital, Libreville, and the economic hub, Port-Gentil. In Libreville, around 100 people shouted "Bongo out!" and applauded police in anti-riot gear, according to an Agence France-Presse witness.

A defaced billboard of Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba in Libreville on August 30, 2023. YVES LAURENT / AP

Disputed election

The coup announcement came just moments after the national election authority declared Bongo had won a third term in Saturday's election with 64.27% of the vote. Gabon's main opposition, led by university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, had accused Bongo of "fraud" and demanded that he hand over power "without bloodshed."

The authorities at the weekend imposed a curfew, which on Wednesday was extended until further notice, and shut down the internet nationwide. The internet was restored on Wednesday morning after the television address. Many French media, whose outputs had been suspended during the tumultuous period following the election, were permitted to resume operations.

Bongo was first elected in 2009 following the death of his father, Omar, who had ruled the country for 41 years, reputedly amassing a fortune. The Bongos have ruled the central African country of 2.3 million people for more than 55 out of its 63 years since independence from France in 1960.

Gabon's 2016 elections were marked by deadly violence after Bongo edged out rival Jean Ping by just 5,500 votes, according to the official tally. In 2018, Bongo suffered a stroke that sidelined him for 10 months, fuelling accusations that he was medically unfit to hold office.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Gabon awaits election results and a potential repeat of its 2016 protests

Family rule

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "firmly condemns the ongoing coup attempt" and reaffirms "his strong opposition to military coups," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The White House said it was closely watching the situation, while the AU said it "strongly condemns" the claimed takeover as a violation of its charter.

In Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy and most populous country, President Bola Tinubu said he was in contact with other African heads over the "contagious autocracy we have seen spread across our continent." "Power belongs in the hands of Africa's great people and not in the barrel of a loaded gun," Tinubu said.

In Libreville on August 30, 2023. STRINGER / REUTERS

Since 2020 there have been military takeovers in Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and, most recently, Niger. In France, where the loss of Bongo would further blow Paris' reach in Africa, the government said it "condemns the coup" and reiterated its desire "to see the election results respected, once they are known." Russia said it was "deeply concerned" by the situation, while China called for "all sides" in Gabon to guarantee Bongo's safety.

Column Article reserve a nos abonnes 'Africa is one of the main playgrounds for large and medium-sized powers competing for influence'

Germany and Britain released statements on Wednesday condemning the coup, with Berlin saying there were "legitimate" concerns with the transparency of the elections. The United States urged Gabon's military to preserve civilian rule, voicing concern after coup leaders ousted the entrenched president following disputed elections. "We urge those responsible to release and ensure the safety of members of government and their families and to preserve civilian rule," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Kyrgyzstan said Wednesday, August 30, it planned to ban the popular video-sharing platform TikTok, after the Central Asian country accused the app of "causing addiction" among children and affecting their mental health. The Central Asian country's culture ministry said in a statement it had received "frequent messages" from organizations expressing concern about the app's "harmful effects".

"It is noted that TikTok immerses the user in a virtual world of short clips. After watching them, teenagers try to repeat certain videos, some of which are life-threatening," it said. It also accused the app of failing to restrict content which it claimed was "harmful to the health and development of children".

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Multiple countries have sought to tighten controls on social media due to their potential impact on children, including the United Kingdom and France. However, Kyrgyzstan has also been criticized in recent months for reining in independent media, in what rights groups argue is a growing crackdown on freedom of expression.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes TikTok and its users take Montana state ban to court: 'It's my right to free speech'

TikTok, which has around one billion monthly users, has faced restrictions in other countries for allegedly breaking data rules, and has been banned in India. The app has also faced fierce Western scrutiny over its ties to China. Its owner, ByteDance, is Chinese, but the company denies it is under Beijing's direct control.
Khuree Tsam festival - Shamanism is still very much alive in Mongolia. ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Pope Francis will be in Mongolia from Thursday, August 31, until Monday, September 4. This is the first visit by a pope to this East Asian country, which boasts one of the world's smallest Catholic communities, with only some 1,500 followers out of a population of three million. Situated between Russia, of which it was a satellite at the time of the Soviet Union, and China, its main trading partner, Mongolia is an important diplomatic intermediary for the Holy See.

But this former Soviet country also represents a high-potential mission land for Francis, who intends to put the Church's "outskirts" back in the spotlight. In August 2022, the Pope made the Italian missionary Giorgio Marengo  the apostolic prefect of Oulan-Bator, the Mongolian capital  a cardinal, which, at 48, made him the world's youngest. But is there really room for the development of Catholicism in Mongolia? In an interview with Le Monde, anthropologist Gregory Delaplace analyzed the country's religious landscape, which has been constantly reshaped by the upheavals of history.

What is Mongolia's main religion?

The most present and influential religion is undoubtedly the Gelug school of Buddhism, known as the "yellow hat" school  in reference to the color of the clothing worn by monks and dignitaries. This is the school of which the Dalai Lama is the highest representative, a fact which has led to recurrent tensions with China.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes The Dalai Lama's impossible dialogue with China

Between 1921 and 1924, before the establishment of a socialist republic based on the Soviet model, Mongolia was even a veritable theocracy for a few years, ruled by a high dignitary of Gelug Buddhism. The influence of the Buddhist clergy was considerable. Benefiting from substantial donations, monasteries were not only rich and powerful places but also major centers of intellectual production. What's more, every family was required to send one child to a monastery. There was talk of a state within the state, which the socialist regime could not tolerate. This led to massive repression of the clergy in the 1930s.

Today, monks are fewer in number and less powerful, but still very much present. The country's entire religious life is structured by Buddhist liturgy. During the Lunar New Year, for example, many Mongolians continue to visit monasteries to prepare for the coming year, find out about potential obstacles to prosperity, find out whether they'll be lucky, what they should avoid doing, perform rituals to compensate for unfavorable astrological configurations, and more.

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The Niwot Historical Society's first lecture in its annual Now & Then Lecture Series, Aug. 23, featured Daryl Mercer and the history of coins, particularly in Colorado. The Now & Then Lectures were started in 2011 by Laura Skaggs and have continued for 12 years, bringing interesting new historical insights to the history lovers in Niwot.

The Now & Then Lectures are now organized by Kathy Koehler, who has been the president of the Niwot Historical Society for several years. The lecture series continued even over the Covid pandemic and are still going strong today, with five lectures scheduled for this season.

Mercer, a Niwot resident who specializes in coin history and identifying old coins, became interested in coins at a young age. He eventually came to work at Tebo Coin Company in Boulder and bought it from the original owner, Stephen Tebo, in 1978. Mercer owned the shop until 2020, when he sold Tebo Coin Company to Bruce Bollschweiler.

"Kathy called me six months ago and asked me, 'Would you be willing to come out and talk with the historical society?'" Mercer recalled. "That was my first event with the historical society." Mercer explained that some of his favorite coins come from the diversity of coins from early U.S. minting. "With the beautiful coins, it is really truly hard to beat the 1907 Saint-Gaudens twenty-dollar gold piece," he said. It's called high relief." The coin recently sold on ebay for $37,000.00.

Another one of Mercer's favorite coins was prominent in the lecture and dates back to the Civil War. "One of the ones that comes to mind just because it makes me laugh is... the Civil War token where they misspelled the word "spot," so instead of saying, 'the flag of our nation if anybody attempts to tear it down, shoot him on the spot,' it says, 'shoot him on the spoot.' And so we've always joked about, where is a person's spoot."

Mercer's talk focused mainly on the history of minting coins in the United States and how that had an influence in Colorado and many mining towns in the west. The Gold Rush impacted the establishment of currency due to the differences in the purity of the gold, as well as the variations in the price of everyday items sold by merchants.

Because the government had not made private mints illegal, various mints began to pop up in Colorado and along the west coast, which created several varieties of coins with the same value. The Denver Mint started at the Clark and Gruber Bank in Kansas, which eventually moved to Colorado as a mint, and was very successful despite the failure of other mints at the time.The mint was eventually bought by the U.S. Government by an Act of Congress in 1963, and became the current Denver Mint.

Mercer described this historically important mint in the lecture, "The bank was a two-story building. There would have been a basement. That's where they would have kept the dies and where all the manufacturing of the coins would have taken place... It would have been one of the first brick buildings in Denver... There is still a plaque marking the place of the first bank."

"The presentation by Daryl Mercer was so special," Kathy Koehler said after the Early Coinage in Colorado Lecture. "He was filled with the history of amazing coins in Colorado and other early minted coins. When you can relate coins to the historical development of our country, it can be inspiring, and Daryl is a very good storyteller."

Provided by Kathy Koehler The original Clark Gruber & Company Mint that became the Denver Mint.

The lecture, with over 50 people attending, included several pictures of old and rare coins from United States history. Mercer discussed how the value of gold in the coins compared to the value of the coin itself caused coins of certain years to be melted for their gold value, and how this led to periods of extremely rare coins that can sell for millions of dollars today.

Next month's lecture, "Boulder County's Early Residents," will be held on Sept. 20, and will focus on the pioneers who settled in Colorado when it was only a territory. The speaker, Diana Carson, is a specialist in genealogy and research.

The Now & Then Lecture Series takes place in the Left Hand Grange monthly at 7:00 p.m. on a Wednesday evening. The doors open a half-hour early and lectures are free to all members of the Niwot Historical Society, or five dollars for non-members.
ATHEA Vintage Club in Limerick will donate funds from their annual road run to a charity in Dublin which is looking after one of their own.

It takes place this Sunday, September 3.

Registration begins at 11am for vintage cars and modern / vintage tractors.

A junior run, featuring go karts, bikes and trikes, begins at noon.

Athea Vintage Club will proudly welcome All-Star hurler Aaron Gillane on the day but the number one VIP in Athea is Sophie Mulligan.

A club spokesperson said the townland of Dirreen was overjoyed with the arrival of Sophie Mulligan, daughter to Melissa and Alan on August 2, 2022,

Sophie was born in Limerick Maternity and spent the first two weeks of her life in the ICU. Sophie was then transferred to Childrens Health Ireland in Crumlin Hospital on August 16. She was born with Pierre Robin Sequence which caused Sophie to have breathing difficulties. As a result, Sophie required a tracheostomy so that she could breathe.

Over the past 12 months Sophie has had many ups and downs and has overcome so many obstacles during her recovery. It has been a long road for Sophie, her parents, her grandparents in Athea and West Cork and her aunts, and uncles who are all so eager to welcome Sophie home to Dirreen for the very first time, said the spokesperson.

Melissa and Alan have moved to Dublin to stay by their beautiful baby girls side.

This would not have been possible without the help of Ronald McDonald House - without this charity they would not have been able to stay close to Sophie over the last 12 months.

They have described it as being a safe and comfortable home from home, meals prepared daily for them and most of all providing a caring and supportive environment, said the spokesperson.

Funds raised from Athea Vintage Clubs event will be divided between Ronald McDonald House and Mid-West Parkinson's Association.

The service they provide to people locally is one that cannot be taken for granted, as it provides not just information for families, but it helps people to interact, chat and spend time with others who are dealing with Parkinsons, they say.

Tickets available from committee and on Sunday for lots of prizes including vouchers for Longcourt House Hotel, AG Sports, hampers, and more.

See Athea Vintage Club & Road Run Facebook page for more.
THE OCCUPANTS of a car involved in a road traffic collision, which resulted in a man and a woman being rushed to hospital, fled the scene on foot, Limerick Live has learned.

A garda spokesperson confirmed they are investigating a two-vehicle road traffic collision, which occurred at around 8.30pm on Tuesday, August 29 on the Ballysimon Road (R527) in Limerick city.

"A man and woman, both aged in their 20s, were taken to University Hospital Limerick to be treated for injuries which are believed to be non-life threatening," said a garda spokesperson.

Locals came to the injured parties' aid while they waited for emergency services to arrive. Gardai, Limerick Fire and Rescue Service and paramedics with the National Ambulance Service all rushed to the scene.

It is understood a number of occupants in the other vehicle fled the scene on foot. This car is the subject of garda technical analysis.

Gardai are appealing to anyone with information to contact them.

"Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam), and were travelling in the area between 8.15pm and 8.45pm, are asked to make this footage available to gardai.

"Anyone with information is asked to contact Roxboro garda station on (061) 214340, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station," said the garda spokesperson.

The section of the Ballysimon Road has since reopened and investigations are ongoing.
Stock Market News

UK Market Open - UK businesses spend big on corporate events in a bid to tempt the workforce back to the office 30-08-2023 02:58



Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk
MUMBAI : Bharat Nidhi Ltd, the largest shareholder of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL) (as of FY22), was recently able to give up its non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence, nine years after it first wrote to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2014.

In a list published on 10 August, RBI named eight companies which have exited the NBFC business and have surrendered their certificates of registration. Among these was Bharat Nidhi Ltd, which, according to the companys disclosures, has been trying to surrender the licence for a while now.

Founded in 1942, the company received its NBFC licence in October 2002 and as on 31 March 2022, held 70 million shares in BCCL, a diversified media company that publishes The Times of India. Based in New Delhi, Bharat Nidhi is engaged in the distribution of newspapers and magazines.

The company had voluntarily made an application on 29 October 2014 to the RBI for surrender of its certificate of registration as NBFC, as the company is engaged in the business of distribution of publications and no longer meets the criteria for classification as a NBFC as more than 50% of its revenue is from the sale of publications," it said in its FY22 annual report.

Bharat Nidhi said as a follow up to the application RBI had in February 2018 directed it to reduce its financial assets below 50% of its total assets in order to initiate cancellation of NBFC registration.

RBI regulations state that financial activity will be considered the principal business of a company when financial assets constitute more than 50% of the total assets and income from financial assets constitute more than 50% of the gross income. A company which fulfils both these criteria will be registered as NBFC by RBI. The regulator refers to this as the 50-50 test and applies it to establish whether a company is into financial services.

In accordance with the said directions in June 2018, the company reduced its financial assets below 50% of its total assets by way of redeeming some of its investments in mutual fund units and depositing the redemption proceeds into fixed deposit with banks," it said.

Following this, it said it submitted a letter to the RBI confirming the compliance of the above requirement, however, before formally cancelling its registration, RBI had also asked Bharat Nidhi to submit its amended memorandum of association (MOA) after incorporating some changes in the objects clause. Accordingly, the company altered its memorandum of association (MOA) by shifting the financial activity clause from its main objects to other objects and has submitted amended MOA with RBI vide its letter dated 26 June 2019 and again requested RBI for cancellation of the NBFC CoR which is still pending before the RBI," the annual report said.

It posted a profit of  6.7 crore on the back of 39.2 crore in revenues. Its net profit quadrupled on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis in 2021-22. The company does not have a promoter and some of the shareholders who owned more than 5% as on 31 March 2022 include Matrix Merchandise Ltd, Vineet Jain, Sanmati Properties Ltd, Ashoka Marketing Ltd and Mahavir Finance Ltd.
Hyundai Motor Group will acquire a 5% stake in Korea Zinc for 527.2 billion won ($397.74 million) as a part of the automobile group's collaboration with the smelter to ensure a stable supply chain for electric vehicle batteries, the company said in an official statement.

Earlier in May this year, Hyundai Motor Co announced to investment of around 2 trillion won ($1.51 billion) in Ulsan, South Korea to build a designated electric vehicle (EV) factory.

A report published by Reuters stated that the investment is part of a previously announced plan by Hyundai Motor Group, which includes Hyundai Motor, Kia Corp, and Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd, to invest 24 trillion won in South Korea's EV industry through 2030.

Prior to this, the company had also finalized a $5 billion joint venture with partner SK in North America to set up a new battery manufacturing plant in the state of Georgia.

As part of the partnership, both South Korean firms will have an equal shareholding in the plant, to be constructed in Bartow County, Georgia. Its expected the facility will produce EV battery cells starting in the second half of 2025.

The new plant should have an annual production capacity of 35 GWh of EV battery cells, enough to produce 300,000 all-electric vehicles.

The joint venture further accelerates the groups electrification efforts and bolsters its position as an EV leader in the US market with a stable battery supply," Hyundai said in a statement. The carmaker signed a memorandum of understanding with SK On to secure battery supply for North America last November.

(With Reuters inputs)

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With the help of cost-cutting efforts and a focus on more expensive mobile devices, Xiaomi Corp. reported a better-than-expected profit in the smartphone market. The company's net income doubled to 3.67 billion yuan in the three months ended June, according to a report published by Bloomberg News.

However, the average estimate of Xiaomi's net income was 3.16 billion yuan. The report stated that revenue slid a less-than-projected 4% to 67.4 billion yuan, narrowing declines from previous quarters when the smartphone market slump was at its worst.

The Beijing-based smartphone company has been spending on cuts that helped stabilize the bottom line during China's faltering economic recovery. The domestic mobile market is now showing signs of bottoming out, Bloomberg reported.

Xiaomi has sold more premium smartphones and its average selling price in China climbed more than 24%. The executives have reaffirmed the company's intention to expand in regions such as Latin America and Europe into new arenas.

Speaking to media persons, President Lu Weibing said, "As a consumer electronics player, Xiaomi has to scale up in global markets. Xiaomi will firmly proceed with the legal actions in India. Weve actually seen a pretty big improvement in Indian business, I believe you will see some indexes showing the change soon."

Billionaire Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun has turned his attention to a $10 billion electric car venture, which recently won approval from Chinas powerful state planning agency, Reuters reported last week.

With the first vehicle planned for next year  pending a full set of regulatory licenses  the EV business could contribute as much as 5% of Xiaomis 2024 revenue, Bloomberg Intelligence estimates.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi also boosted its research spending by 21% to 4.6 billion yuan, of which more than a third went toward its EV project. It also hired some 3,000 people to propel AI development, joining a nationwide investment spree that accelerated this year with the advent of ChatGPT.

Shipment remains soft given inventory digestion but likely reaching a healthier level," Citigroup analysts including Kyna Wong and Andre Lin wrote ahead of the earnings release.

(With Bloomberg inputs)

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Mission 2024 Lok Sabha Polls: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre has started campaigning on its social media platforms for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming general elections due next year.

The saffron party called PM Modi The Terminator who always wins, while telling the Opposition bloc to continue dreaming about PM Modis defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 2024! I'll be back!" the BJP's social media campaign read. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), BJP wrote, Opposition thinks PM Modi can be defeated. Dream on! The Terminator always wins."

Recently, the BJP has also launched a nationwide Voter Chetana Maha Abhiyaan campaign to ensure that the saffron party secures maximum votes in the general elections due next year. The campaign was launched on August 25 to help register new voters including people who have shifted, remove doubtful voters, and correct voter card details.

Under this campaign, BJP workers will carry out door-to-door visits to contact the youth and ensure that eligible voters get enrolled. In each assembly, bogus voters will be removed and new voters will be enrolled.

The target has been set to make 20,000 voters in big Vidhansabha, 10,000 in Medium Vidhansabha, and 5,000 voters in Union Territories which are small areas. New voters will be made aware and connected," the BJP source said.

The Voter Chetana Maha Abhiyaan campaign will be overseen by BJP's Mahila Morcha and Yuva Morcha. A team of eight people has been formed under the leadership of BJP's joint general secretary (organization) Shiv Prakash to look after this campaign. Each has been given the responsibility of six states.

Meanwhile, the BJP and the opposition INDIA alliance have announced their strategy meetings on August 31 and September 1 in Mumbai. During the meeting, the INDIA alliance in Mumbai will unveil its logo. The opposition bloc will also deliberate upon the general elections due next year.

It is also expected that some more regional outfits will join the 26-party opposition alliance in Mumbai as top leaders huddle for a two-day meeting starting August 31 where the BJP-Shiv Sena government is in power.

The Congress party has claimed that 4 to 5 political parties of the BJP-led NDA bloc are in touch with the INDIA alliance and some of them will join the opposition bloc in the coming days.

Speaking about the BJP meeting in Mumbai, NCP MP Sunil Tatkare, who represents the Ajit Pawar faction said In this meeting, all our state government alliance partners BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), and NCP (Ajit Pawar) will participate."

Our meeting was planned long back before the last state assembly Monsoon session by our coordination committee, so its no point to say that we are doing this as opposition parties are also having a meeting on the same day," Tatkare further said.

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Bad Bank chairman Karnam Sekar has resigned due to differences over structure and functioning of the institution, reported Economic Times. National Asset Reconstruction Company of India (NARCL) Chairman Sekar resigned on August 19, soon after a proposal for merging public sector NARCL with India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL) was suggested.

NARCL managing director N Sunder while confirming the update told Economic Times, "While it is true that Karnam Sekar has resigned from the board of NARCL, those were for strictly personal reasons only. We are absolutely not aware of any recommendations from IDRCL."

The report notes that the proposal for the merging of two entities first came from IDRCL, headed by former State Bank of India managing director Diwakar Gupta. It was suggested to the Finance Ministry that the two entities should be merged in order to optimize business opportunities and reduce costs.

However, the report notes that the Finance Ministry may not be in favour of this proposal and the status quo is expected to be maintained for the time being.

Also Read| NARCL plans to ramp up acquisition of distressed assets in fiscal year 2024

Under the current structure, NARCL functions as a principal entity while the IDRCL operates as a resolution agent. NARCL is tasked with with acquiring and aggregating bad loan accounts from banks, while IDRCL is equipped with handling the resolution process.

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Recalling the objectives and strengths of Urban Co-operative Banks in furthering financial inclusion and supporting economic development by providing last mile connectivity, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das Wednesday urged the directors of UCBs to further strengthen their governance practices, especially the three supporting pillars of compliance, risk management and internal audit.

The quality of governance was the most important aspect in ensuring stability of individual banks and the directors of UCBs are urged to further strengthen governance practices," the RBI governor said at a conference of directors on the boards of Tier 3 and 4 UCBs in Mumbai Zone.

The RBI governor noted that while the UCB sector has displayed improved financial performance at an aggregate level in recent times, concerns and vulnerabilities are seen for certain individual entities.

He highlighted the need for the UCBs to strengthen their financial and operational resilience so as to contribute to the overall financial and banking sector stability.

On the functioning of boards, Das emphasized five aspects - adequate skills and expertise of directors, constitution of a professional board of management, diversity and tenure of board members, transparent and participatory nature of board discussions, and effective functioning of board level committees, the RBI said in a release.

The RBI governor also stressed the need for board's involvement in upholding rigorous credit risk management including robust underwriting standards, effective post sanction monitoring, timely recognition and mitigation of incipient stress, rigorous follow up of large NPA borrowers for effective recovery, and maintaining adequate provisioning.

The conference was also deputy governors M. Rajeshwar Rao and Swaminathan J., along with executive directors representing the RBIs Departments of Supervision, Regulation and Enforcement, and other senior officials.

The Reserve Bank would be convening similar conferences of directors on boards of other Urban Cooperative Banks in other regions of the country.

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Raksha Bandhan 2023: Raksha Bandhan, the beautiful festival celebrates the bonding between the siblings. Rakhi remains incomplete without gifts. However, the trends are changing with time. But one thing that has remained constant is the cash, the money that brothers tend to gift to their sisters. So, how much money can you give your sister on Raksha Bandhan 2023? Is it taxable? What does the income tax rule say?

There is no limit on the amount of gift given to the relatives who are ascended or descended, lineally. Since your sister shares the same bloodline as yours. Any gift given to you to your sister is neither taxable in your hand nor in your sister's hand," said Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO, Clear.

There is no limit up to which a person can give a gift to another person either under the income tax laws or any other law. Likewise, there is also no limit to which a person can give a gift in cash. However, there is a limit of 2 lakh beyond which one cannot accept cash from any person for any transaction including gift on one occasion," said tax and investment expert Balwant Jain

In case the amount is more than 2 lakh, Jain suggested carrying out the transaction through banking channels in order to comply with the law.

The gifts are taxable in the hands of the recipient under Section 56(2)(x) but gifts from certain specified relatives are outside the scope of this provision," added Balwant Jain.

Can you transfer your share/stocks to your sister? What is the procedure?

Yes, shares can be transferred to your sister without any repercussion of taxes, said Archit Gupta.

Raksha Bandhan 2023: Date, time, muhurat

There is a lot of confusion about the most auspicious time to tie Rakhi this year as the festival is celebrated on two days- August 30, and August 31

This year Raksha Bandhan will be celebrated on Wednesday, August 30.

Best time to tie Rakhi on August 30- After 9:01 pm

Best time to tie Rakhi on August 31- Before 7:05 am

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In a male dominated industry, female surgeons spend more time in the operating room and their patients endure fewer postoperative complications.

Thats the conclusion of two research studies published Wednesday in JAMA Surgery.Researchers found better outcomes for patients treated by female surgeons in the sweeping reviews of millions of procedures in Canada and Sweden.

In the first study, 17 researchers in the U.S. and Canada followed the outcomes for 1.2 million patients in Canada undergoing common surgeries between 2007 and 2020.

The study authors found that at both 90 days and one year following surgery, patients treated by female surgeons were less likely to experience adverse postoperative issues, including death. The outcome differences were modest, but consistent.

Even after statistically accounting for characteristics that may affect surgical outcomes, such as patient age and overall illness, surgeon experience and volume, hospital setting, and measures of case complexity, the authors reached the same conclusion. The study also found that when male surgeons treat female patients, outcomes are slightly worse.

The findings reveal that patients outcomes arent just about what happens in the operating room, said Dr. Angela Jerath, an author on the study and anesthesiologist and associate professor at the department of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Toronto.

Picking up problems early is where you start to save patients," she said.

Jerathsaid the differences arent about technical skill, but about listening to patients and choosing appropriate care. Previous studies point to differences in the way that female physicians communicate and engage with patients.

Patients treated by male surgeons had postoperative complications about 14% of the time versus 12.5% of the time for female surgeons 90 days post surgery. And at one year post surgery, male-treated patients had adverse postoperative events 25% of the time, versus 20% of the time from female-treated patients.

Overall, patients experienced complications 9% of the time when treated by female surgeons and 10.2% of the time when treated by male surgeons.

Ashish Jha, dean at Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, R.I., who has separately studied sex differences in patient outcomes, said it is important that hospital systems look at their own data and practices to see what underlies the phenomenon.

Its not realistic or desirable that we only have female surgeons," he said. We want everyone to get better."

Surgical professions are still largely dominated by men. In 2021, 22.6% of general surgeons in the U.S. were women, and orthopedic surgery had the lowest representation of female surgeons (5.9%), according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Surgery is not a friendly place for women in general. The women who are getting into surgery are highly skilled," said Christopher Wallis, lead author on the study, a urologic oncologist and assistant professor of urology at the University of Toronto.

Another study published in JAMA Surgery on Wednesday looked at more than 100,000 patients in Sweden whod had surgery to remove their gallbladders. Female surgeons had longer operation times, but their patients had shorter hospital stays and less invasive surgeries.

Male surgeons spent a mean of eight minutes less per operation compared with women, even after matching similar patients, surgeries and hospitals. Complications including bleeding, perforations of the intestine or bowel, bile duct lesions, leakage and abscesses occurred nearly 30% more often for male surgeons.

In clinical practice it is important to promote safety and caution in favor of speed, especially when we educate younger surgeons, regardless of the surgeons gender," said Dr. My Blohm, lead author of the study and general surgeon and a Ph.D student at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

The studies back up a growing body of literature that points to better outcomes for patients of female doctors.

Researchers are just beginning to uncover the reasons behind these differences, which can only be seen across large averages, and they warned that gender shouldnt be the basis for choosing a physician.

Dr. Sharon Stein, professor of surgery in the division of colon and rectal surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and past president of the Association of Women Surgeons, said if these studies show us anything, it is that theres a preponderance of evidence that female surgeons are as competent as male surgeons.

The norm for surgery has been for a long time that youre a man," she said. Its a profession thats very hierarchical and changing slowly."

She said more senior women in leadership positions are having an effect on younger womens interest in going into surgery. Still, it can be hard to fight against the big-male-energy surgeon stereotype.

A review published in 2017 of Medicare data found that physicians who referred a patient to a female surgeon and had a bad outcome werent only less likely to refer to that surgeon again, but also less likely to refer to any female surgeons. There was no such spillover effect to other male surgeons when a patient had a bad experience with a male surgeon.
The Congress-ruled Karnataka government rolled out the 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme today i.e. on 30 August. This scheme is part of one among the five poll promises made by the party during its election campaign. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi who arrived in Bengaluru ahead of the launch of the scheme transferred the amount into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries of Gruha Lakshmi Yojana, through direct benefit transfer (DBT). The scheme was out at a public function in Mysuru in the presence of state Chief Minister Siddaramiah and Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge among other senior leaders of the party. While addressing the event, the Congress MP said, Before the elections, Congress party had made five promises to Karnataka. We had said that when Congress party and its leaders say something, they do it. Today, when we clicked on the tablet, crores of women received 2000 directly into their bank accounts." Top points to know about the Gruha Lakshmi scheme 1. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi transferred the amount into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries of Gruha Lakshmi Yojana, through direct benefit transfer (DBT).

2. Under the scheme, the state government will provide 2000 monthly assistance to the woman head of BPL familes. For this scheme, Karnataka has allocated a substantial 32,000 crore annually to support this scheme.

3. Women listed as family heads on Antyodaya, Below Poverty Line (BPL), and Above Poverty Line (APL) ration cards are eligible for the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme. Only one woman in a family will be the beneficiary of this scheme.

4. With the launch of the scheme, it is offering a monthly assistance of 2,000 to about 1.1 crore women who are heads of their households.

5. According to KC Venugopal, Congress General Secretary, it will be the "world's largest-ever welfare scheme for women". "Through this revolutionary scheme, the Karnataka government led by Siddaramiah will be distributing 2000 to 1.28 crore women. When Women are empowered-India is stronger," he said in a post on X.

6. Women government employees taxpayers and families whose husbands pay income tax or file GST returns are not eligible for the scheme.

7. The objective of this project is to achieve gender balance cultivating financial support to housewives who are eligible for household duties.

8. The Women head of the families who has Above Poverty Line card (APL)/Below Poverty Line (BPL)/Antyodaya card and Bank linked Aadhaar card, Bank details, Aadhaar-linked phone number. If someone does not have their bank account linked with Aadhaar, then they can produce a passbook

9. Registration for the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme can be done both online and offline. For online registration, one can visit to portal.

10. Congress during its poll campaign in Karnataka this year had announced the five main guarantees to the people of Karnataka. The five 'main' guarantees are 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti); 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi); 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya); 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (Yuva Nidhi) and free travel for women in public transport buses (Uchita Prayana).

Meanwhile, the fifth guarantee Yuva Nidhi (Youth Fund) which promises to give 3000 and 1,500 a month to the unemployed graduates and diploma holders, respectively, who failed to get a job even after six months of clearing the exam in the 2022-23 academic year will be launched in December, officials said as reported by PTI.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)

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The G20 Summit is poised to begin on September 9 in New Delhi. The event, spanning two days, will witness participation from representatives of both member nations and guest nations. The focal point of the summit will involve deliberations on a range of economic reforms. Here are all the questions frequently asked about the G20 Summit.

What is G20?

Established in 1999, the Group of Twenty (G20) is a consortium comprised of twenty of the world's largest economies. The main purpose behind its inception was to create a platform where significant industrialized and developing economies could convene to engage in discussions about matters concerning global economic and financial stability.

The G20 nations collectively account for approximately 85% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), more than 75% of the worldwide trade, and approximately two-thirds of the global population.

Also Read: Invite to African Union made G20 more inclusive

The G20, consisting of 19 individual nations (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, United Kingdom, and the United States) along with the European Union, collectively forms a prominent international assembly.

How G20 Works?

As per the central government website on the G20 Summit, the G20 was upgraded to the level of heads of state, and government in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis of 2007, and, in 2009, was designated the premier forum for international economic cooperation".

The G20 Presidency oversees the G20 agenda over a span of one year and takes on the role of hosting the Summit. In the year 2022, Indonesia assumed the G20 presidency. Following that, Brazil is set to take on the presidency for the upcoming year.

Also Read: Ahead of G20 Summit, waste-to-art installations adorn Delhi

Within the G20, there are two concurrent tracks: the Finance Track and the Sherpa Track. The Finance Track is led by Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, while the Sherpa Track is guided by Sherpas following the Finance Track.

The G20 process from the Sherpa side is coordinated by the Sherpas of member countries, who are personal emissaries of the Leaders. Finance Track is led by Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the member countries.

Where US President Joe Biden and leaders from other countries will stay?

In addition to the robust security measures planned for Delhi, the preparations also encompass the provision of accommodations for the delegates. More than 30 hotels have been selected to accommodate the delegates throughout the duration of the event.

As per media reports, among the hotels in Delhi, those catering to the delegates include ITC Maurya, Taj Mansingh, Taj Palace, Hotel Oberoi, Hotel Lalit, The Lodhi, Le Meridien, Hyatt Regency, Shangri-La, Leela Palace, Hotel Ashoka, Eros Hotel, The Surya, Radisson Blu Plaza, JW Marriott, Sheraton, The Leela Ambience Convention, Hotel Pullman, Rosette Hotel, and The Imperial.

According to a report by Business Today citing sources, President Biden is set to reside at the ITC Maurya Sheraton during the summit.

Enhanced security measures will be enforced, with Secret Service commandos stationed on every hotel floor. A dedicated elevator will be installed to transport the President to his room on the 14th floor. About 400 rooms have been reserved in the hotel for this purpose.

Also Read: G20 summit is Peoples Presidency', says PM Modi in Mann Ki Baat

China President Xi Jinping's accommodation will be at the Taj Palace, while PM Sunak's stay will be at the Shangri-La Hotel.

President Macron is scheduled to stay at the Claridges Hotel, and PM Albanese's lodging will be at the Imperial Hotel.

As per media reports, approximately 23 hotels in Delhi and an additional nine in the National Capital Region (NCR) have been designated to accommodate the G20 delegates. Notably, the Oberoi Hotel will provide lodging for the Turkish delegation, while Le Meridien will be the chosen accommodation for delegations from Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, and Spain.

The Lalit Hotel has been selected to host the Canadian and Japanese delegations, while the Korean delegation will be accommodated at the Oberoi Gurugram. The Egyptian delegation is slated to stay at the ITC Sheraton in Saket, the Leela Hotel in Gurugram will house the Saudi Arabian delegation and the Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi will accommodate the UAE delegation, Business Today reported.

What is the venue of the G20 Summit 2023?

The G20 Summit will be held in New Delhi at Bharat Mandappam at ITPO Convention Centre, Pragati Maidan. The event will be held on Septemberr 9 and 10. In addition to the primary summit location, foreign delegates are also set to visit key venues of the national capital like Rajghat, IARI Pusa, and NGMA (Jaipur House).

G20 Summit Full Schedule

September 3-6: 4th Sherpa Meeting

September 5-6: Finance Deputies Meeting

September 6: Joint Sherpas and Finance Deputies Meeting

September 9 - 10: Meeting of Ministers at the G20 Summit

September 13-14: 4th Sustainable Finance Working Group Meeting in Varanasi

September 14 - 16: 4th Meeting for the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion in Mumbai

September 18 - 19: 4th Framework Working Group Meeting in Raipur.

G20 Summit: India likely to unveil G20 Digital Museum with artefacts from member and guest countries. Details here

G20 Summit 2023: Logo

The G20 Logo is inspired from India's national flag and contains vibrant colour of the Tiranga, ie saffron, white, green, and blue. The seamless combination of lotus coloured in white green and blue with the Earth adds on to the beauty of the logo. At a time, when climate change is causing severe loss of life, property and resources, the Earth in the logo reminds of the urgency to opt for an environmentally conscious approach. Beneath G20 logo, Bharat is written in the Devanagari script.

G20 Summit 2023: Theme

The theme of the international summit is "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" or One Earth  One Family  One Future." It is derived from a famous ancient Sanskrit text, Maha Upanishad. The theme, which gives the message of global unity, is a perfect slogan for the international grouping.

It also highlights the concept of LiFE and signifies environmentally sustainable and responsible choices.These choices are pertinent not only at the individul level but also at national level.

Also Read: Traffic, metro advisory for G20 Summit in Delhi: Check which routes to take, avoid from September 7 to 10

Who is attending G20 Summit 2023 and who giving it a miss?

Some of the leaders who will attend the event in New Delhi include US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Also Read: Russian President Vladimir Putin to skip G20 Summit in New Delhi; Here's why

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be able to attend it.

What are the security measures taken by Delhi Police ahead of G20 Summit?

To avert any hostages during the G20 summit in Delhi, a total of 69 explosive detection dogs from the police K9 squad will be strategically placed at critical locations across the New Delhi district. The team includes 13 trained dogs that were acquired from the Indian Army's RVC (Remount and Veterinary Corps) unit.

Also Read: G20 Summit: Sniffer dogs and their handlers deployed for security in Delhi; Covering airports, hotels

Delhi Police has prohibited flying of sub-conventional aerial platforms like paragliders, hang-gliders and hot air balloons in the national capital from August 29 to September 12 for security reasons, officials said.

An order to this effect was issued by Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora on Tuesday.

Also Read: Govt reviews preparations for G20 summit

It has been reported that certain criminal, anti-social elements or terrorists inimical to India may pose a threat to the safety of the general public, dignitaries and vital installations by the use of "sub-conventional aerial platforms" like paragliders, paramotors, hang-gliders, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), remotely-piloted aircraft, hot air balloons, small sized powered aircraft, or by para-jumping from aircraft etc, the order stated.

What is India's priority?

Green Development, Climate Finance and LiFE

2) Accelerated, Inclusive and Resilient Growth

3) Accelerating Progress on SDGs

4) Technological Transformation and Digital Public Infrastructure

5) Multilateral Institutions for the 21st Century

6) Women-led Development

Also Read: G20 Summit: We should address the question of debt distress, says Nirmala Sitharaman

The theme of the international summit is "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" or One Earth  One Family  One Future." It is derived from a famous ancient Sanskrit text, Maha Upanishad. The theme, which gives the message of global unity, is a perfect slogan for the international grouping.

It also highlights the concept of LiFE and signifies environmentally sustainable and responsible choices. These choices are pertinent not only at the individual level but also at the national level.

(With inputs from agencies)

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In a bid to deter rhesus macaques, commonly referred to as rhesus monkeys, from pathways and event locations during the G20 Summit, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has initiated the placement of life-sized representations of grey langurs along roads near the Central Ridge area.

As reported by The Hindustan Times citing senior officials, the municipal authority intends to employ 40 skilled personnel to replicate the vocalizations of grey langurs. This strategy aims to discourage monkeys from approaching hotels and venues linked to the G20 Summit.

NDMC vice chairman Satish Upadhyay noted that these temporary steps are being taken in coordination with the Delhi forest department to ensure that monkeys remain inside the Ridge and do not cause disruptions to the motorcades of dignitaries.

Also Read: Monkey men to combat macaque menace near Parliament

The langur cut-outs have been put up on an experimental basis, and we will have to see how much actual impact they have on the monkey density. We also have trained people who are experts in making sounds similar to langurs. They will be deployed at various sites across New Delhi to keep monkeys in check," Upadhyay said.

Nevertheless, specialists have raised scepticism regarding the effectiveness of these approaches and emphasized the necessity for a broader investigation to address Delhi's persistent issue with monkeys. While Delhi has never conducted an official monkey population survey, the uncontrolled expansion of their numbers has resulted in frequent occurrences of monkey attacks across different areas of the city.

Also Read: Monkey takes a ride in Delhi Metro. Video goes viral

A notable incident involving a monkey attack took place in 2007, when deputy mayor SS Bajwa was assailed by monkeys. The attack led to his fall from the terrace of his residence, ultimately resulting in fatal head injuries. In response to this event, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) initiated a program of capturing and transferring monkeys to the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, in accordance with directives from the Delhi High Court.

An MCD official said that over the last 16 years, more than 21,000 monkeys have been relocated to the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary.

In May of the present year, the rhesus macaque was excluded from the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), a change that permits them to be managed similar to domestic animals like street cats or dogs.

Also Read: G20 Summit in India: Green development, climate finance among key issues on agenda

Despite this alteration, the NDMC refrains from employing monkey catchers for the purpose of transferring the monkeys to the sanctuary. Instead, they are opting to employ life-sized cut-outs of langurs and simulated calls to encourage monkeys to vacate the vicinity of New Delhi.

Faiyaz Khudsar, who oversees the biodiversity parks initiative at the Delhi Development Authority, mentioned that the endeavour involving the placement of langur cut-outs might not yield positive results due to the essential requirement of actual movement.

Even if such an experiment is being undertaken, movement is a critical factor, and stationary cut-outs may not help. They should put up these cut-outs in large numbers as multiple replications will be needed to ascertain the impact," Khudsar said.

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Shimla: 10 July is a date that will forever be etched in the mind of Shrawan Kumar, 68, a farmer in Sihardi village of Himachal Pradeshs Solan district. That night, heavy rains triggered landslides that destroyed his home, his fields and roads in the area. In a tragic turn, the mountain of debris on the road near his home prevented the family from getting Kumars elder brother, Krishan, who was ailing, to a hospital. He died that night.

It was a double blow for my family. I lost my 75-year-old elder brother that night. We had called an ambulance but the road was blocked. The landslides also destroyed my 2,800 sq.ft house along with the standing crop on 10 bighas of land," he recounted.

If Kumar had been at home, he would not have been alive to tell the tale. He blamed shoddy construction of a water pipeline near his home for the landslide.

Adjacent to Solan district, Shimla, the state capital, was brought to its knees. Indeed, the entire hill state has been laid low by the intensity of the monsoon rainfall this year. According to the Himachal Pradesh government, since 24 June, the state has suffered losses to the tune of 10,000 crore. The State Disaster Management Authoritys data notes that 379 persons have lost their lives in rain-related incidents to date, while 352 have suffered injuries, 38 are missing and 16,343 animals have died. Over 2,457 houses have been completely damaged, while 10,569 have suffered partial damage; 307 shops and 5,439 cowsheds have also been damaged.

As of 27 August, 160 landslides and 66 flash floods had been reported in the state. The Himachal Pradesh government has declared the entire state a natural calamity-affected area". Tourism, a major source of revenue, has been hit.

Social media and local television channels have been in overdrive to capture the mayhem, with visuals of floods, landslides, mudslides, fallen trees, broken bridges, and so on. Recently, the hill state again had to endure incessant rain, which triggered landslides leading to the closure of hundreds of roads. The relentless onslaught has reduced many in Himachal to a state of anxiety.

Shrey Paul Sood, a Shimla resident, said that the damage in the city and other areas this year is unprecedented". There have been heavy rains in Shimla in the past, too, but the magnitude of the damage wasnt this much. It is also the result of unplanned construction in Shimla since the last decade," said Sood.

Most major businesses, except shops selling daily essentials, remained shut while students took classes online. Sadly, the disaster has brought out the worst instincts in some who have been looking to cash in on it. For instance, the supply of daily essentials such as milk, bread and eggs, among other items, was hit across the state during the downpour, leading shopkeepers to charge a premium. People who used to charge 4,000-5,000 to cut fallen trees were demanding 15,000-20,000.

The states overworked officials have been trying to restore normalcy but the incessant and heavy rain has made their jobs tough. According to local administration officials in Shimla, many water and electricity supply lines have been affected in the last two months and employees have been working tirelessly to restore them.

What ails Himachal?

But what is it that has reduced Himachal Pradesh to this sorry state? There are myriad factors, say experts, including environmentalists and those working with non-governmental organizations. The laundry list includes climate change, unchecked construction, hydropower projects, deforestation, encroachment of flood plains, and so on. The government, however, claims this is simply a natural disaster on an unprecedented scale.

In response to Mints queries, Naresh Chauhan, media advisor to Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, blamed climate change. It is a natural calamity and we cant blame it on  encroachment, dams or faulty construction," said Chauhan. He, however, admitted that the lack of a proper drainage system and construction of national highways in some places had aggravated the situation.

Taking a contrary view, social activist Hem Singh Thakur insisted that the devastation inflicted by the floods in July and August was mostly man-made. Although week-long rains were usual in the past, the volume of muck and debris carried in the floodwaters this year was a major impact-enhancing factor. The rivers overflowed as a result," he said.

For instance, Thakur pointed out, the Beas River overflowed due to the dumping of debris generated during construction by the National Highway Authority of India to widen the Kiratpur-Manali highway to four lanes. The road construction in Himachal is opposite to the nature of the Himalayas, especially the current method of vertical hill cutting (cutting slopes at a nearly a 90-degree angle, which often leads to boulders and debris rolling down), which is a major factor behind the landslides," he added.

Former Shimla Municipal Corporation deputy mayor and environmental activist Tikender Panwar called the recent tragedies a planned destruction of the Himalayas. Construction activities, especially near nullahs and rivulets, are aggravating the situation  unchecked construction by the government, private players and the general public on riversides, without following norms, is adding to the problem," he said. Also, the rampant legal and illegal mining in the Beas River is causing the river to change course, and this multiplies the flooding in low-lying areas."

Kulbhushan Upmanyu, noted environmentalist and Green India Award winner, also blamed the dumping of debris from the construction of national highways for increasing the intensity of the floods. In Shimla, the huge losses were the result of global warming as it reduced the number of rainy days but increased the rainfall intensity. The government should have adopted a cautious approach to development. Instead, we have become more irresponsible," he said.

The Congress-led state government recently ordered a halt to the operations of stone crushers on both perennial and non-perennial rivulets of the Beas river and its tributaries until further orders.

Stone crushers source sand and rock from river beds, which they crush and then supply for road construction.

In an official statement, chief minister Sukhu said the decision was taken considering the alarming transformation of the ecosystem during the monsoon, which had wreaked havoc downstream in the Beas river basin and its tributaries in Kullu, Mandi Kangra and Hamirpur districts, as well as the Chakki rivulet in Kangra district.

The chief ministers statement said that the decision had been taken to ensure the safety of human settlements and infrastructure, and to preserve the fragile ecology and environment of the state.

The hydropower factor

One major point of discussion in Himachal Pradesh and neighbouring Uttarakhand is the series of hydropower projects in the two states, which many blame for the havoc wreaked by extreme weather.

There are 23 hydropower projects that are operational in Himachal Pradesh, with a total capacity of about 9,200 megawatts. At least six more are under construction.

These power companies release water when they feel that the dams wont be able to hold more, which results in flooding in low-lying areas. There is no accountability or monitoring mechanism while releasing water from these dams," environmentalist Manshi Asher alleged.

Asher said that the states energy department had put the onus of monitoring water release with the hydropower companies and had directed them to form a cell to this end. But no monitoring cell has been formed."

Thakur echoed her views and said the dams should have been partially empty before the onset of the monsoons, to accommodate the excess inflow. However, this norm was allegedly more honoured in the breach than in the observance, flouting the much-advertised purpose of the dams, i.e., flood control.

On 18 August, the Himachal Pradesh government issued notices to the managements of 21 hydropower projects in the state for not adhering to safety normsa failure that may have aggravated the flooding during the recent rains.

The writers approached many hydropower companies for clarifications but they werent available for comment. For instance, calls, messages and an email to Nand Lal Sharma, chairman and managing director of SJVN, remained unanswered. SJVN, a power generation company, is a joint venture between the Government of India and the Government of Himachal Pradesh.

Climate change

Himachal Pradesh is not the only state that has faced severe damage due to extreme weather events this year. Neighbouring Uttarakhand has also been battered.

A recent study by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) noted that the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) cryosphere (glaciers, snow, permafrost) is undergoing unprecedented and largely irreversible changes, primarily driven by climate change. It stressed that the impacts are becoming increasingly clear, with increased warming at higher elevations, accelerated melting of glaciers, and more erratic snowfall patterns.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president of meteorology and climate change at private forecaster Skymet Weather, explained that currently, the country is witnessing break-monsoon conditions. During this time, he said, the axis of the monsoon trough shifts northwards and stays stationed over the Himalayas, triggering heavy to very heavy rains over the hilly region".

However, a warming atmosphere has increased the intensity of rain tremendously. More warming means more energy in the environment, leading to more rain. Moisture availability is abundant in the atmosphere, which causes incidents such as torrential rainfall in a short period, causing damage like what we saw in Himachal and Uttarakhand this season," said Palawat.

Between 2018-19 and July 2022, according to parliament data, Himachal Pradesh recorded at least 865 deaths due to hydrometeorological calamities, including heavy rainfall and floods.

Mitigation

The authorities have set up fact-finding committees to get to the root cause of the disasters in Himachal Pradesh, but experts say that is not enough and have called for a holistic approach to prevent a repeat and ensure the state is better prepared for such situations.

Chief minister Sukhu said that the environment department has been asked to hold high-level expert consultations with experts from the IITs, NITs, universities and other bodies to identify the factors behind the disaster. He said that the department will also constitute a multi-sectoral expert committee to evaluate the cumulative impact of unscientific and illegal mining.

Asher blamed the current crisis on faulty governmental policies and land-use changes, with climate change aggravating the situation. This is not the first time that floods or landslides are happening in the state as it is a regular phenomenon during the monsoons," she said. Asher called for the views of local communities to be taken into account during policy formation and regulation, and for scientific principles to be followed to ensure sustainable development.

Panwar stressed on the need to prepare a climate action plan to tackle future crises and prepare zone-wise plans in accordance with the diverse topography of Himachal Pradesh. In recent years, we are witnessing higher precipitation in the region and in the last three decades, no efforts have been made to become climate resilient."

B.R. Thakur, chairman of the geography department at the Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, called for vertical building construction to be halted in the ecologically sensitive Himalayan region, noting that it is a young mountain range with extremely fragile" soil structure.

Citing the example of extensive damage in and around Shimla, where he said construction has been unscientific and unplanned, Thakur said, In the hilly regions, we need to understand the load-bearing capacity of the soil and there should be proper geological investigations to understand the topography and the type of construction practices one should follow."

In road construction too, there are several shortcomings in the current methodology  we cant follow the trend of vertical cutting as climate change conditions can worsen the situation during disasters such as heavy rains," said Thakur. He said studies need to be carried out before the authorities engage in vertical cutting of the hills to widen roads."

Instead, the bench-cutting format should be followed and it should be ensured that contractors engaged in road construction are well-read and aware of climate change and the other challenges that lie before us in the Himalayas," he emphasised. Bench-cutting is the process of cutting the slopes in steps; experts say this method ensures stability.

People from across India flock to Himachal Pradesh during Indias searing summers. Indeed, the British loved Shimla so much, they made it the summer capital of India, calling it the queen of the hills. Today, the queendom is crumbling, and unless Himachal acts, much of its glory will only remain as a memory.
With G20 summit around the corner, the Centre is planning G20 Digital Museum which will have at least one key artefact or its digital replica from all member nations and the nine guest countries has been envisioned by India in its power as the chair of the influential grouping, sources said as reported by PTI . As per the sources, the project is likely to be unveiled during the Leaders Summit on 9-10 September.

The sources added that digital replicas of Mona Lisa, the 16th century masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci which is hung at the Louvre Museum in Paris is likely to be part of the novel phydital muesum. Moreover, 'Girl With a Pearl Earring', the famed oil painting by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, which is kept at a museum in the Netherlands is also likely to be added.

A 'phygital' museum which refers to the idea of having a museum that will have both physical and digital components.

At the recently-concluded G20 Culture Ministers' Meeting in Varanasi, delegates were enthralled by the performance of a special G20 orchestra which mounted a performance titled 'Sur Vasudha'.

With the main Summit event close by, the Culture Ministry is also working on several other projects as part of G20 engagements, which include a 'G20 Digital Museum - Culture Corridor, and a 'G20 Anthology of Poems - Under the Same Sky'.

The G20 Summit in Delhi is all set to commence on September 9. The summit will be held for to days and will be joined by representatives of member nations as well as guest nations. The 18th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in Delhi will be a culmination of all the G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials, and civil societies.

Coming back to the Culture Ministry, a senior official had recently said that the G20 museum was in a "very early phase of the project, and we are trying to source at least one key artefact from all member nations and the nine guest countries."

"So, we have requested these 28 countries if they can share at least one artefact or antiquity from their side which represents the culture of those countries for the G20. And, if that cannot be shared, then at least a digital replica can be shared, which can be showcased in the 'digital corridor' where cultural richness of the world can be portrayed," the official had said.

The G20, or Group of 20, is an intergovernmental forum of the worlds major developed and developing economies. India currently holds the rotating presidency of the multinational group.

G20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, the UK, the US, and the European Union (EU).

"We are also seeking poems from G20 member nations as part of the G20 Anthology of Poems project," the official had as quoted by PTI.

At the G20 Culture Ministers' Meeting and other meetings, another official source said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi' was "showcased wonderfully" during these meetings. "Heritage is a vital asset for economic growth and diversification," Modi had said in his video address at the G20 Culture Ministers' Meeting and added that India's mantra is 'Virasat Bhi, Vikas Bhi'.

A ministerial Outcome Document and Chair's Summary -- 'Kashi Culture Pathway' was issued at the end of the meeting held on August 26.

According to sources, the "Global South" was included in the Kashi Culture Pathway, a word that was not mentioned in any of the materials that had previously been made public or in any of the meetings that had been held before. India, the chair of the influential organisation envisioned a project that would likely be launched during the Leaders Summit in September and will include at least one major item or its digital counterpart from each of the member countries and the nine guest countries.

(With inputs from PTI)

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A report by Financial Times has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is spying on its citizens by buying powerful surveillance tools from Israeli tech companies such as Cognyte and Septier.

According to FT's report, the surveillance system is installed on subsea cable landing stations, which allows India's security agencies to snoop on the personal data and communications of its 1.4 billion citizens.

Israel-based Septier has reportedly sold its lawful interception technology to telecoms groups including Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Jio, the Vodafone Idea, and Singapores Singtel.

According to the promotional video of Septier, its technology extracts voice, messaging services, web surfing and email correspondence" of targets.

On the other hand, another Israeli company Cognyte also provides surveillance products in India.

In 2021, Meta alleged that Cognyte was among several companies whose services were being used to track journalists and politicians in multiple countries, though it did not mention India.

The Financial Times report cited four people who have worked on submarine cable projects in countries all over the world who said, "India is unusual in that it openly requires telecom companies to install surveillance equipment at subsea cable landing stations and data centres that are approved by the government as a condition of operation".

Livemint could not independently confirm the report.

India is not alone in having a more permissive legal interception regime. Countries like Uganda and Rwanda have similar interception legislation. In 2013, Snowden leaks revealed the US and the UK intelligence agencies were engaged in mass surveillance via backdoor arrangements with telecom companies.

India's Pegasus scandal

In 2019 and 2021, Opposition party leaders, journalists, and activists targeted the Modi government for using Pegasus spyware to surveil them. The Washington Post had reported about the Pegasus spyware in which the English daily said that it hacked mobile phones through a link and secretly recorded emails, calls, and text messages.

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Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday reiterated his claims about China "invading" Indian territory in Ladakh. The Congress leader termed the matter of China including Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China as a part of its territory in its latest edition of the Standard Map as a "serious issue".

Speaking to the media ahead at the Delhi Airport, Gandhi said, "I have been saying this for many years... What the prime minister has said, I have just returned from Ladakh... What the prime minister has said...That not an inch of land has been invaded..it is totally false". The Congress leader claimed that all the people of Ladakh know that China has "intruded upon" Indian land.

Answering a question from ANI on China incorporating Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China in its new map, Rahul Gandhi said," The question of the map is a very serious one. But they (China) have captured our land. The prime minister should also speak on this issue".

The former Congress president was on his way to Mysuru in Karnataka where he along with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will attend the launch event of the State Government's Gruha Lakshmi scheme. This scheme will be rolled out at a public function in Mysuru in the presence state Chief Minister Siddaramiah and senior leaders of the party.

Under the scheme, one among five poll promises made by the Congress during its election campaign, the state government will provide 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of the family of BPL families.

China on Monday released the 2023 edition of its standard map," which shows the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory.
The foreign minister of Quad group -- which includes India, Australia, Japan and the United States  are likely to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in September. The meeting of the foreign ministers is being held to expand the cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.

The meeting has however not been confirmed yet.

The Quad, comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia, has been focusing on practical cooperation to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's increasing military muscle-flexing in the region.

The foreign ministers of the four Quad countries -- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi  last held talks in India in March 2024.

During the meeting, the foreign ministers restated the alliance's dedication to a free and open Indo-Pacific region. They expressed robust endorsement for upholding the rule of law, safeguarding sovereignty and territorial integrity, and achieving peaceful resolutions to conflicts.

The ministers also vowed to work closely to align and complement Quad's agenda with Japan's presidency of the G7, India's presidency of the G20 and the United States' APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) "host year" in 2023.

Russia's war on Ukraine is also likely to come up at the meeting of the Quad foreign ministers at the UNGA.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also likely to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York. At the UNGA, Zelensky is expected to put forth his peace plan, according to people familiar with the matter. Russian President Vladimir Putin is not expected to travel to New York in the US to attend the UNGA.

(With agency inputs)

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 30 August celebrated Raksha Bandhan with school girls in Delhi. School girls tied Rakhi to Prime Minister in Delhi, as they celebrated the festival of Raksha Bandhan with him. The school children greeted the Prime Minister with smiles as he entered the classroom and tied the sacred thread to him. PM Modi also greeted them with an affectionate smile, asking their names and classes.

Apart from this, the Prime Minister also posed for a group photo with schoolgirls and teachers on the occasion. The customised rakhis, which the girls tied on PM Modi's wrist, had his image on them.

Also read: Raksha Bandhan 2023: Is gifting cash to your sister taxable? Income tax rules explained here

The festival marking the eternal bond between a brother and a sister is being celebrated with signature pomp and fervour across the country. In Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district, schoolgirls tied rakhis to CRPF jawans. In the Samba district of the Valley, BSF jawans celebrated Raksha Bandhan with school children.

Earlier the Prime Minister also greeted people on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. Dedicated to unbreakable trust and immense love between sister and brother, this auspicious festival is a sacred reflection of our culture, he said on X and wished that it strengthens the feelings of affection and harmony in people's lives. The festival is marked by the practice of sisters tying a 'rakhi' on the wrist of their brothers.

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Vivek Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old Republican presidential contender of Indian American descent, has advocated for fortified ties with India, South Korea, and Japan as a strategy to diminish the United States' economic reliance on China and Taiwan.

Following his participation in the inaugural Republican primary debate, where his popularity saw a notable upswing, Ramaswamy articulated his foreign policy stance and proposed strategies on Tuesday.

Ramaswamy criticized Nikki Haley, a fellow Indian American Republican presidential candidate, who had previously criticized him for his lack of experience in matters of foreign policy.

Also Read: Eminem asks Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to stop using his songs for US presidential campaign

Ramaswamy said, We will enter a stronger partnership with India that involves an Indian commitment to close the Malacca Strait in the event of a near-term conflict with Taiwan, and enter stronger partnerships with other allies including South Korea and Japan to reduce our economic dependence on China and Taiwan."

The politician, who transitioned from entrepreneurship to politics, expressed a preference for clear strategic objectives. He supported the idea that the United States should strongly protect Taiwan until it attains self-sufficiency in semiconductor production. After achieving this independence, he suggested adopting a position of strategic uncertainty when the risks for the U.S. are reduced.

"The American way of life depends on leading-edge semiconductors manufactured in Taiwan, and we cant risk China gaining near-total leverage over the entire US economy," he said.

By saying that we will defend Taiwan, the US can strongly deter China from blockading or invading the island in the near term. Meantime, Taiwan should more than double its own military expenditures to a more rational level of 4 to 5 per cent of its gross domestic product," he said.

He emphasized the urgency for the United States to swiftly equip and educate Taiwan with Anti-Access/Area Denial weaponry. Additionally, he recommended the regular passage of at least one Destroyer warship through the Taiwan Strait each week.

Furthermore, he highlighted the necessity for enhancing the defence of the US homeland, which is currently exposed to significant risks in potential confrontations with China. He emphasized the importance of bolstering capabilities in areas such as nuclear defence, super electromagnetic pulse protection, cybersecurity, and space defence.

His campaign said that Ramaswamy is the only US Presidential candidate to date who has clearly stated that the US will defend Taiwan.

Also Read: US Presidential polls 2024: Indian-American Ramaswamy, a newly minted debate star thinks he can fake it

I am the only Presidential candidate willing to state what is necessary: we will defend Taiwan. The US currently doesnt even recognise Taiwan as a nation. Democrats and Republicans both unquestioningly endorse the one China policy and embrace strategic ambiguity" toward the island," Ramaswamy said.

Responding to Haley's criticism, Ramaswamy's campaign released a statement rebuking her. The statement alleged that Haley was deliberately spreading falsehoods about Ramaswamy as a way to gather financial support for her struggling establishment campaign.

Also Read: India is important to reduce the US' dependency on China: Vivek Ramaswamy

Haley has strongly criticized Ramaswamy for his perceived lack of support for US allies.

According to his campaign, Haley flatly lied on Fox News that "Ramaswamy said he would abandon Israel, those were his words" and that he wants to go and stop funding Israel."

"This is false," his campaign asserted in a late-night statement.

We challenge the failing Haley campaign and any media outlet to find a single instance where Ramaswamy utters that he would not support Israel. They will not  because Ramaswamy never said it. Instead, they continue to recycle blatantly false headlines that they manufactured," the statement said.

Also Read: Want to be part of Indias economic miracle, says US official

Ramaswamy said that if Israel ever gets to the point that it no longer needs US financial support, that would be a mark of achievement  but that the US will never cut off aid to Israel until Israel says they are ready for it, his campaign said.

It all started about a week ago when Haley at the debate stage accused Ramaswamy of not having any foreign policy experience.

Since then the Ohio-based Indian American has been attacked both by the media and his political opponents for his inexperience on foreign policy.

On Tuesday, Ramaswamy used the 'Namrata Randhawa' name of Nikki Haley on his website.

Also Read: 2024 US Presidential Elections: Former US President Donald Trump's campaign emblazons merchandise with his mugshot

I'm not going to get involved in these childish name games. It's pretty pathetic. First of all, I was born with Nikki on my birth certificate. I was raised as Nikki. I married a Haley. And so that is what my name is.

"So he can say or misspell or do whatever he wants, but he can't step away from the fact that, he's the one that said he was going to abandon Israel," Haley told Fox News in response.

Those were his words. Now he's wanting to walk it back. And the reality is, you have to understand the importance of our allies and those relationships. We can never be so narcissistic to think that we don't need friends," she said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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In a recent court case, US military judge Col. Lanny Acosta Jr. ruled that confessions made by Abdul Rahim al-Nashiri, a detainee at Guantanamo, were not legally admissible, on the grounds that al-Nashiri was repeatedly sexually assaulted and tortured by the CIA. Specifically, Col. Acosta Jr. said that al-Nashiri was "subjectedto physical coercion and abuse amounting to torture as well as living conditions which constituted cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment."

But Col. Acosta Jr went into more, erm, anal detail later in the ruling:

[al-Nashiri] occasionally undertook hunger strikes, in his words, to protest being treated like an animal. At Location 6, the CIA responded to a hunger strike by force-feeding him rectally. As described in the context of his rectal feeding, Ensure was infused into al-Nashiri in a forward-facing position (Trendlenberg) with head lower than torso [Unlubricated rectal examinations were part of the rendition intake process]. Since the early twentieth century, medical knowledge has concluded that there is no medical reason to conduct so-called rectal feeding. Although fluids can be absorbed through the rectum in emergencies, food or nutrition cannot.

Spencer Ackerman, acclaimed National Security Reporter and author of Reign of Terror and Waller vs Wildstorm, broke this down in his Forever Wars newsletter (one of the most consistently valuable newsletters out there, I might add), putting in the broader context of sexual assault as a tool of the US military and intelligence apparatus:

They violated al-Nashiri's anus while putting him in the same position they used to waterboard him. I wasn't familiar with the Trendlenberg Position, but that's apparently what it is: "supine on the table with their head declined below their feet at an angle of roughly 16 degrees." The CIA, remember, contends that this was a mercy. What, you want al-Nashiri to die? [] As well, a footnote in Acosta's ruling gestures at how routinely the CIA sexually assaulted detainees. "Unlubricated rectal examinations were part of the rendition intake process," he writes. We'll never know, but it's likely the number of those whom the CIA rendered for torture is significantly greater than the at-least-119 people the CIA tortured directly. Many whom it tortured directly were also rendered, as with al-Nashiri. "Unlubricated rectal examinations" was not the only sexual-assault feature of the rendition process. [] As I first reported in 2016 for The Guardian, the CIA took nudes of the people it rendered. It raped Majid Khan. At the risk of straying outside my professional expertise, it should surprise no one that when granted conditions of total impunity over people subject to total dehumanization, the powerful will consider themselves licensed to commit themost violative physical transgressions possible, and justify it to themselves and the world.

The fact Acosta acknowledged the cruel inhumanity of this act is both cold comfortand depressingly monumental, considering how few consequences the US has suffered for the horrendous acts it has committed at black sites like Guantanamo.

Military Judge Rejects CIA's 'Rectal Feeding' Narrative for Post-9/11 Sexual Assault [Spencer Ackerman / Forever Wars]
Africa's Gabon witnessed rebel military officers engage in a coup that put third time elected President Ali Bongo Ondimba under house arrest. The reportedly disputed elections had declared Ondimba as the victor. Notably, Ali Bongo Ondimba has been in power in the oil-rich African country since 2009.

In the latest news, Bongo had called upon citizen to make noise after he asserted that he had been detained in his home, according to AP report.

Notably, Gabon is the sixth country in Africa to be facing a coup in the past three years. Five other countries include- Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

The Commonwealth on Wednesday voiced fears about a military coup in Gabon, which joined the grouping last year, and said it was monitoring the situation closely.

Here are the top points to Gabon Military Coup

-In a dramatic pre-dawn address, a group of officers declared "all the institutions of the republic" had been dissolved, the election results cancelled and the borders closed

-Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, whose family has ruled Gabon for over 55 years, was placed under house arrest and one of his sons arrested for treason

-Bongo was first elected in 2009 following the death of his father Omar, who had ruled the country for 41 years

-TV images later showed the head of the Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, being carried in triumph by hundreds of soldiers, to cries of Oligui president", reported AFP.

-Bongo's son and close adviser Noureddin Bongo Valentin, his chief of staff Ian Ghislain Ngoulou as well as his deputy, two other presidential advisers and the two top officials in the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) "have been arrested,", according to the military official statement

-They are accused of treason, embezzlement, corruption and falsifying the president's signature, among other allegations, the statement added

-A country of just 2.3 million people, Gabon has been ruled by the Bongo family for more than 55 out of its 63 years since independence from France in 1960

-Notably, another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in January 2019, while Bongo was in Morocco recovering from a stroke, but was quickly overpowered.

-Paris maintains a military presence in many of its former territories -- including Gabon where it has 370 soldiers permanently deployed, some in the capital Libreville, according to the French defence ministry website

-According to reports, Omar Bongo was one of France's closest allies in the post-colonial era and his son has long been a regular in Paris, where his family owns an extensive real estate portfolio that is being investigated by anti-corruption magistrates.

-Videos and images emerged of people celebrating in support of the putschists in the street of Libreville, Gabon

-Russia has expressed concern over the situation in Gabon. Further, China has also called for "all sides" in Gabon to guarantee the safety of Bongo, resolve differences through dialogue, (and) restore normal order as soon as possible."

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Hurricane Idali a hit Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday flooding several parts of the US state in precursor to what weather agencies believe will be a long season of more than predicted severe storms that is likely to go on till November this year.

A category 3 storm hit Florida on Wednesday unleashing threats to life, property, with surging probability of rainfall across an area that has never before received such pummelling.

Hurricanes are measured on a five category scale, with a Category 5 being the strongest. A Category 3 storm is the first on the scale considered a major hurricane and the National Hurricane Center says a Category 4 storm brings catastrophic damage."

Last year hurricane Ian was responsible for almost 150 deaths. That Category 5 hurricane damaged 52,000 structures, nearly 20,000 of which were destroyed or severely damaged.

Here are top points to Hurricane Idalia

-More than 230,000 customers were without electricity as trees snapped by strong winds brought down power lines and rushing water covered streets, reported AP.

-Idalia came ashore in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. It made landfall near Keaton Beach at 7.45 am as a high-end Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph (205 kph).

-In Tallahassee, Florida's capital city, the power went out well before the center of the storm arrived.

-Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey urged everyone to shelter in place  it was too late to risk going outside. Florida residents living in vulnerable coastal areas had been ordered to pack up and leave as Idalia gained strength in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

-Asked about the hurricane Tuesday, President Joe Biden said he had spoken to DeSantis and provided him with everything that he possibly needs."

-US airlines cancelled over 850 flights as Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida's Gulf coast

-According to media reports, nearly 4,500 people are taking refuge in Red Cross shelters

-Both Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster announced states of emergency, freeing up state resources and personnel, including hundreds of National Guard troops.

-Storm surge could rise as high as 16 feet (4.9 meters) in some places. Some counties implemented curfews to keep residents off roads, the AP report mentioned

-The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia an unprecedented event" since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend. The state, still dealing with lingering damage from last years Hurricane Ian, feared disastrous results.

(With agency inputs)

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Former US president Donald Trump said that Joe Biden is a mental catastrophe and he will lead the US to World War III.

As reported by Forbes, Trump said, "Joe Biden has gone mad a stark raving lunatic with horrible and country threatening environmental open borders and DOJ, FBI. Trump further slammed the US president Joe Biden over his weaponisation policies and termed him as "a mental catastrophe," that is leading his country to World War III.

Trump said, "The US will end up in WW III because of this man for no reason whatsoever."

In March, Trump made history as the first former US president to face criminal charges, accused of 34 felony counts linked to falsifying business records within a hush-money scheme. He currently faces a multitude of indictments concerning the alleged mishandling and possession of classified documents.

Furthermore, Former President Donald Trump slammed Joe Biden over the disorderly US exit from Afghanistan, asserting that he himself would have ensured the evacuation of American citizens and equipment ahead of the withdrawal of military personnel.

Also Read: Donald Trump's federal trial for election plotting set for March next year

Its a great thing that were getting out, but nobody has ever handled a withdrawal worse than Joe Biden," Trump said in an televised interview with Fox News on Tuesday. This is the greatest embarrassment, I believe, in the history of our country."

Amid the backdrop of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul and the departure of U.S. forces, the international airport in Kabul witnessed scenes of turmoil on Monday, as individuals made frantic attempts to escape the city. The Biden administration said the U.S. has now secured the airport and cleared the way for thousands of Americans to evacuate, but Trump said there could be as many as 40,000 potential hostages" left behind.

Also Read: Taliban: US must complete evacuations from Afghanistan by Aug-end, no extensions

Meanwhile, A trial date of March 4, 2024, has been established by a judge for the federal case in Washington involving Donald Trump. The case pertains to the accusations against the former president for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Judge Tanya Chutkan refuted the assertions made by Trump's legal team, who had argued that an April 2026 trial date was necessary due to the extensive evidence review and the unique nature of the prosecution. However, she did agree to a minor postponement beyond the initially suggested January 2024 date put forward by special counsel Jack Smith's prosecution team.

Trump, a Republican, was charged this month in a four-count indictment with scheming to undo his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Aircraft investigators from Russia have declined to conduct an immediate investigation into the tragic crash of a Brazilian-manufactured Embraer jet that resulted in the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a prominent mercenary figure. According to Brazil's aircraft investigation authority, Russia relayed this decision, informing them that the crash would not be probed under international regulations at this juncture.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, along with high-ranking associates from his Wagner Group and personal security personnel, lost their lives in the crash of the Embraer Legacy 600, which occurred in the northern vicinity of Moscow recently.

The crash, which came exactly two months after Prigozhin led a brief insurrection against Russia's defence establishment, is being seen as a significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin's tenure, potentially the most substantial since his ascent to power in 1999.

In response to this development, Brazil's Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA) had offered to join a collaborative investigation led by Russia if they received an invitation to do so, and if the inquiry adhered to internationally recognized protocols. However, Russia's aviation authority, although not compelled to accept the offer, has chosen not to proceed with such a collaborative investigation.

This move has prompted certain former investigators to suggest that Russia should have considered the collaboration, especially given the suspicions of some Western nations, including the US, that the crash might have been orchestrated by the Kremlin. The Kremlin, however, has categorically denied any involvement in the incident, Reuters reported.

The Russian decision holds weight as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) clarifies that the flight was domestic, which means it does not come under the regulations stipulated in "Annex 13", the legal framework governing international air crash investigations.

The Brazilian authorities express their willingness to participate in the investigation from a distance should Russia decide to open an inquiry and extend an invitation.

Experts, including John Cox, a former US air crash investigator, have highlighted the importance of transparency in such investigations. Cox suggests, as per Reuters, that an internal Russian investigation could be susceptible to scepticism without the involvement of Brazil, the country of the aircraft's origin.

Embraer, the manufacturer of the aircraft, refrained from commenting on the situation, while concerns mount regarding obtaining information from the investigation due to international sanctions on Russia and the reluctance of Russian authorities to permit external scrutiny.

(With Reuters inputs)

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With an aim to boost tourism to nearly $100 billion next year, Thailand is likely to ease visa rules for Indian and Chinese travelers and allow longer stays for visitors from all nations. PM Srettha Thavisin discussed options with executives of Thailand Pcl and several other airlines.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), PM Srettha said, The airport operator agreed to reduce bottlenecks to augment flight capacity by 20% and find ways to speed up immigration clearances."

The new government aims to lift revenue from foreign tourists to 3.3 trillion baht next year, with the travel industry offering the best short-term economic stimulus," Srettha said as quoted by Bloomberg News.

According to Bank of Thailand data, tourism accounts for about 12% of gross domestic product and nearly a fifth of jobs in the country.

China, the largest group of visitors before the Covi-19 pandemic, faces a costly and cumbersome visa application process, which has been a drag on the tally this year, according to the premier.

Meanwhile, travelers from India must pay 2,000 baht ($57) for a 15-day visa on arrival. Srettha said he wants the list of visa-exempt countries expanded as well as increased stay limits for most international travelers, with caps of 15 days or 30 days for many nationalities, Bloomberg reported.

Thaneth Tantipiriyakij, president of the Phuket Tourism Association, said scrapping the application fee would be ideal than giving visa exemptions to visitors from China and India.

Visa fee exemptions are a quick win for tourism. International visitors to Phuket through July were about 70% of pre-pandemic totals, but the Chinese arrivals recovery rate is only 30%," Thaneth was saying as quoted by Bloomberg.

As per Nomura Holdings Inc. data, foreign-tourist arrivals will be about 30 million in 2023, almost triple last years 11.2 million.

The return of Chinese has been slower than expected even though China was the largest source of travelers last month at nearly 420,000. In 2019, before the pandemic, about 28% of the record 40 million foreign arrivals to Thailand were from China, generating about 1.9 trillion baht in revenue in the process.

(With Bloomberg inputs)

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Russia said Wednesday the investigation into the plane crash that killed Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin included the possibility that it was caused deliberately, marking the first explicit acknowledgement that the mercenary chief may have been assassinated.

"It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including the version - you know what we are talking about  let's say, a deliberate atrocity," reported Reuters quoting Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

When asked if the International Civil Aviation Organization would investigate the crash, the Kremlin spokesperson said that the circumstances made it different. "Let's wait for the results of our Russian investigation," the spokesperson added.

The private jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow killing all 10 people on board on August 23, including two other top Wagner officials, his four bodyguards and three crew members.

The cause is still unclear.

The plane crashed exactly two months since Prigozhin took control of Rostov in late June in a mutiny which shook the foundations of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Brazil's aircraft investigation authority told Reuters that it will not it will not probe the crash of the Embraer jet made in Brazil under international rules "at the moment" because of a request by Russia.

Asked about that report, Peskov said, "In this case there can be no talk of any international aspect."

The day after the crash, Putin sent his condolences to the families of those killed in the crash.

"He was a man with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life," Putin said, while describing Prigozhin as a talented businessman.

Kremlin has rejected as an "absolute lie" the suggestion by some Western politicians that Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed in revenge.

US President Joe Biden has said he was not surprised by the death and that not much happened in Russia that Putin was not behind.

Followers of Prigozhin laid flowers, messages and poetry at his grave on Wednesday, hailing him as a fearless warrior.

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The government on Wednesday said it has permitted exports of 1.43 lakh tonnes of non-basmati white rice to Bhutan, Mauritius, and Singapore.

The export is permitted through National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL), the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.

Though exports of non-basmati white rice were banned on 20 July to boost domestic supply, exports are allowed on the basis of permission granted by the government to other countries to meet their food security needs and on request.

The DGFT has notified export of 79,000 tonnes of non-basmati white rice to Bhutan, 14,000 tonnes to Mauritius and 50,000 tonnes to Singapore.

"Export of non-basmati white rice to Bhutan, Mauritius and Singapore is notified," it said.

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In theory, there is little doubt that stereotypes of any kind are regressive, whether relating to race, gender or nationality, but there is less consensus about how to go about dismantling them in everyday life. Which is why the recent Supreme Court handbook on combating gender stereotypes is so interesting. I believe it employs a scalpel approach to gender discrimination, rather than a sledgehammer techniquean approach that works equally well for corporate workplaces and other organizations, as it does for the judiciary. Let me explain.

A few years ago, I attended a round-table discussion on gender discrimination hosted by the dean of one of the worlds foremost business schools. The dean explained that the business school had observed that although nearly equal numbers of women and men were admitted to the programme, many more men than women were awarded distinctions at the time of their graduation.

The school decided to investigate the reasons for this imbalance in a number of waysfrom documenting whether female students voices were not being registered in class to exploring other causes for gender bias. There were a number of reasons, it turned out, not just one, and the school tried to address all of them. A couple of years later, the ratio of distinctions between men and women was much more equal because the root causes had been tackled. We used a scalpel approach to make precise improvements, not a sledgehammer that wouldve caused more damage," the dean explained.

The Supreme Court of Indias handbook is one such scalpel, because it recognizes that while there are many ways to tackle gender bias, modifying language is one of the most effective.

Language is an expression of attitudes and biases, and this impacts our behaviour and actions. Words matter so much in cementing and perpetuating unhelpful cliches about men and women. In the corporate world, which continues to be a boys club, for too long we have been cavalier about hateful language," observes Shrayana Bhattacharya, an economist and writer on gender and work.

Corporate language is often casual, toxic and damaging to many groupswomen as well as men.

Yet, most human resource departments are tasked with improving their diversity ratios and hiring more women in particular. So how would this concise handbook help a business leader who wants to attract and retain more women in the business and create a more women-friendly work environment? In three principal ways.

First, the handbook has a glossary of words that we should avoid using and suggestions of progressive replacements. These could be as simple as saying home-maker instead of housewife, and the list includes more evolved vocabulary, such as saying sex worker rather than prostitute. The SC handbook also lists common gender stereotypes that prevail in our society, several of which are extremely relevant to the corporate workplace. For example, that women are more nurturing and better suited to care for others and Women who work outside of the home do not care about their children.

So my first suggestion to any business leader or manager (whether youre a man, woman or non-binary) is to quietly evaluate your own language against this list. How many of these words do you use on an everyday basis? How many of these stereotypes do you find yourself silently agreeing with? Dont judge yourself, just be honest. It wont take more than a few minutes.

Second, the handbook cues research. Managers should find an expert to help them understand the reasons underpinning the progressive alternatives suggested. Dont just rely on the human resources department. For example, Robin Chaurasiya, founder of Kranti, a non-profit organization that rehabilitates and educates daughters of sex workers, has explained that use of the term sex work implies a recognition that these individuals are performing a service to society for which they are being compensated, and that they have rights, like other workers, against abuse. Its a subtle but important distinction from saying prostituteand it reframes the way we look at women in general, not just sex workers.

The Supreme Court has consulted many experts in putting together this handbook, so we must all take a few moments to understand its logic. The examples that it lists enable us to adopt a more progressive view on women and their role in society and at work, and this is a vital and much-needed shift in mindset.

Third, and most important, the handbook helps us call out inappropriate language in meetings and group discussions. If a male colleague suggests that a female colleague won some business because of the kind of clothes she wore, call him out. If a woman is called bossy behind her back because shes assertive, call out the person saying it. Like surgeons with a scalpel, gender bias has to be fought every day.

Language is a powerful scalpel. We need leaders who will act as surgeons, wielding this scalpel with precision, intentionality and consistency. Sharpen your scalpel with this handbookor risk remaining a blunt and ineffective bystander to corporate and societal change.

Aparna Piramal Raje is an educator and a mental health advocate.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has alleged that the Principal Secretary (Finance) and Chief Secretary have refused to obey the orders of the elected government in the national capital, terming it as an aftermath of the GNCTD (Amendment) Act 2023.

Elaborating on the order concerning the Principal Secretary (Finance), Delhi Minister Atishi said in a press conference that the officer was asked to appoint a government lawyer and register and SLP in the Supreme Court.

Despite repeated orders from former Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot and me, the Principal Secretary (Finance), citing Section 45(J)5 of the GNCTD (Amendment) Act 2023, has neither appointed a lawyer nor registered the case in the Supreme Court till date," Atishi said.

If officials will refuse to accept orders of the elected government for routine governance issues, how will the work of Delhi people continue? Democracy defined as a system that is 'of the people, by the people and for the people is ensured through a triple chain of accountability. In a democracy, the 'triple chain of accountability' holds officers accountable to the Minister, but GNCTD (Amendment) Act 2023 has finished this accountability," Atishi said.

The Delhi minister said, It was clearly mentioned in the order that if we will have to pay the GST refund in this case, the public exchequer will face loss but the Principal Secretary (Finance) didn't take any action."

Providing further details, Atishi stated, "As we are witnessing in present times in Delhi that democracy, the Constitution and the Federal Structure is being disregarded repeatedly. The Central government has introduced the GNCTD (Amendment) Act 2023, also known as the Services Act, which significantly curtails the authority of the elected government of Delhi."

Reacting to the alleged refusal of the officers to follow the orders, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the Delhi Services Act has given open license to officers to outrightly rebel against the written orders of elected government" and officers have started refusing to obey the orders of elected ministers."

Can any state or country or institution run like this? This Act will ruin Delhi and this is what BJP wants. The act needs to be struck down as soon as possible," Arvind Kejriwal said.

Atishi emphasised that due to the illegal and unconstitutional nature of the GNCTD Amendment Act, numerous officials have now begun to rebel against the elected government, a press release mentioned.

On Monday, in a fresh escalation of the power struggle in Delhi, the AAP government, in a statement, termed the legislation "unconstitutional" that "took away" the vested powers of the democratically elected government in Delhi.

Atishi, who holds the portfolios of services and vigilance, in her orders on August 16 and 19 directed that transfer and posting proposals to be placed before the National Capital Civil Services Authority (NCCSA) and documents of vigilance department to be sent to other departments and the lieutenant governor would require her consent.

Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar in his report submitted to the LG on August 21 observed that Atishi's orders were in "material departure" from the provisions of article 239AA (4) of the Constitution, the GNCTD Act and the rules made under it, prompting Delhi minister Atishi to allege that the chief secretary was disobeying" her orders.

(With agency inputs)

ARVIND More Information

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The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Wednesday said that the majority of parties in the NDA and INDIA alliances hold stances that are against the interests of the impoverished and alleged that they promote caste divisions and communalism.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Mayawati said, NDA and INDIA alliances comprises mostly of parties that are anti-poor, casteist, communal, pro-rich against whose policies BSP has always fought. So, there is no question of contesting the election by forging an alliance with them..."

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the BSP chief further informed that BSP, like in 2007, will single-handedly contest the upcoming Lok Sabha and four state assembly general elections by uniting crores of neglected society on the basis of mutual brotherhood rather than the manipulation of the opponents. Mayawati further warned that the media should not spread any misconceptions regarding this matter.

Mayawati lodged an attack on the recently expelled senior BSP leader Imran Masood and said, The former Saharanpur MLA is busy in praising the Congress and the top leaders of that party, due to which it is natural for people to question why he left this party first and then went to another party?"

Also Read: Lok Sabha election 2024: 'BSP to contest alone', Mayawati confirms

Earlier on Tuesday, the president of the BSP Saharanpur district unit, Janeshwar Prasad, released a statement noting that Masood, a former independent Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), was cautioned multiple times regarding his engagement in "anti-party activities and indiscipline."

Despite these warnings, his behaviour remained unchanged, ultimately leading to his expulsion from the party.

As reported by PTI, Masood, a prominent Muslim figure hailing from Saharanpur district, was absent from a gathering of BSP leaders and officials led by party head Mayawati in Lucknow on August 23. Notably, he garnered attention in recent times for lauding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Also Read: 'Impact of INDIA alliance': Opposition takes aim at Modi govt after LPG price cut

In March 2014, he was taken into custody due to hate speech allegations, stemming from his threat to "cut" Narendra Modi, who was then the BJP's candidate for the prime ministerial position, "into pieces." At the time, Masood was running as a Congress candidate from Saharanpur for the Lok Sabha elections, and this comment was made during his campaign.

Immediately preceding the Assembly elections in the previous year, Imran Masood became a member of the Samajwadi Party and subsequently shifted his affiliation to the BSP.

The BSP said in its release that when he joined in, he was clearly told he would be given a Lok Sabha ticket from Saharanpur only after an assessment of his work. He additionally participated in the Lok Sabha elections on the Congress ticket both in 2014 and 2019, standing as a candidate from Saharanpur.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Mission 2024 Lok Sabha Polls: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition INDIA alliance have announced their strategy meetings on August 31 and September 1 in Mumbai. In July this year, both political alliances also held their meetings focused on the 2024 general elections on the same day in Bengaluru.

Here's a 10-point guide on BJP and INDIA meetings in Mumbai

1) During the meeting, the INDIA alliance in Mumbai will unveil its logo. The opposition bloc will also deliberate upon the general elections due next year.

2) It is also expected that some more regional outfits will join the 26-party opposition alliance in Mumbai as top leaders huddle for a two-day meeting starting August 31 where the BJP-Shiv Sena government is in power.

3) Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi will also attend the INDIA bloc meeting in Mumbai this time, the party's Maharashtra unit president Nana Patole said on Monday.

4) The preparations are done. Shiv Sena is the host of the INDIA Alliance meet. Congress and NCP are with us. Our delegates from all over the country have started arriving in Mumbai," said Shiv Sena leader(UBT) and MP Sanjay Raut.

5) The anti-BJP bloc leaders will gather in a luxury hotel in suburban Mumbai on August 31 and September 1 in what will be their huddle since coming together on a common platform for the first time in June in Patna.

6) The Congress party has claimed that 4 to 5 political parties of the BJP-led NDA bloc are in touch with the INDIA alliance and some of them will join the opposition bloc in the coming days.

7) NCP MP Sunil Tatkare, who represents the Ajit Pawar faction said In this meeting, all our state government alliance partners BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), and NCP (Ajit Pawar) will participate."

8) Our meeting was planned long back before the last state assembly Monsoon session by our coordination committee, so its no point to say that we are doing this as opposition parties are also having a meeting on the same day," Tatkare further said as quoted by ANI.

9) Congress Leader PL Punia said that the names for the Prime Minister post for the INDIA bloc will be decided after the alliance registers victory in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

10) INDIA alliance has been formed with the aim of taking on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 parliamentary polls.

(With inputs from agencies)

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United States, United Kingdom, and China are reportedly seeing a resurgence of the dreaded coronavirus cases. Amid the sudden surge, concern have grown about a new strain of Covid-19  Pirola or BA.2.86 . According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this variant poses much higher risk as it has reportedly been causing higher infection across many regions.

Notably, the Pirola variant seems to be much milder than the original Covid-19 strain which soon turned into the 'deadly Delta variant' taking millions of lives during the first and second wave of the pandemic.

According to a report by the Hindustan Times quoting virologist Dr. Pavithra Venkatagopalan, Pirola variant appears to have undergone as many changes as the Omicron variant did from the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Principal Secretary PK Mishra chaired a high-level meeting to review the global and national Covid-19 situation, newer variants in circulation and their public health impact on Monday, a press release from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare read.

This was in view of recent reports of the detection of certain newer variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus reported globally.

Is Pirola variant very dangerous?

The health expert in an interview with HT has informed that very few samples of the Pirola variant is available, therefore it is difficult to gauge the severity of the new strain.

Only nine samples of the BA.2.86 variant have been received, although this does not necessarily reflect the total number of cases, reported Reuters.

The CDC has also noted that the Pirola variant could potentially affect people who have survived and earlier variant of coronavirus or have received Covid-19 vaccines. This indicates a higher potential for breakthrough infections compared to previous strains of the virus.

According to the HT report, Pirola variant is interesting because it has a lot of 35 new mutations that sets it apart from previously known prevalent Covid variants.

Where Pirola variant of Covid-19 cases have been reported?

According to CNBC report, Pirola variant coronavirus cases have been detected in Denmark, South Africa, the US, UK, and Israel.

The BA.2.86 variant was first identified on 24 July 2023, and has been designated a variant of interest by the World Health Organisation (WHO) due to its 35 mutations, which significantly exceed those observed in previous variants.

How does Pirola variant of Covid-19 spread?

Dr. Kuldeep Kumar Grover, Head of Critical care, CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram had told Times of India that both BA.2.86 and Eris transmits through droplets.

Pirola, Eris variant Symptoms

According to a health expert the symptoms of the Pirola variant infected patients include

-Rashes

-Conjunctivitis

-Diarrhea

The report published in Times of India also noted that symptoms of the Eris variant of coronavirus include

-Fever

-Cough

-Shortness of breath

-Fatigue

-Muscle aches

-Headache

-Loss of taste and smell

-Sore throat

Is Pirola variant of Covid-19 dangerous?

According to various media reports, substantial mutations in the spike protein of BA.2.86 raise concerns about potential immune evasion, indicating that the existing vaccines and prior Covid-19 infection may offer less protection against this variant compared to earlier strains of the virus.

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After the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is bracing for another mission--this time it is the Sun. ISRO will be sending its spacecraft to the Sun in early September under mission Aditya L1.

Also read: Aditya L1 spacecraft rolled out to second launch pad, scheduled to launch on September 2

Aditya L1 mission launch date:

ISRO will be launching its solar mission Aditya-L1 on September 2.

Also read: After Chandrayaan-3 success, Isro to launch solar mission on 2 Sept

Aditya L1 Mission launch venue:

The ISRO is set to launch Aditya-L1 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on 2 September.

Also read: Aditya-L1: Sun most mysterious object.. mission to be turning point HoD Astronomy Osmania University

About Aditya L1 Mission:

The spacecraft will be carrying seven payloads to observe the Sun's outermost layers -- known as the photosphere and chromosphere -- including by using electromagnetic and particle field detectors.

Also read: Isro turns its gaze to the sun: 2 Sept, 10 mins to noon

Among several objectives, it will study the drivers for space weather, including to better understanding of the dynamics of solar wind.

While NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have previously placed orbiters to study the Sun, it will be the first such mission for India.

Also read: ISRO announces launch details of Aditya L1, India's mission to study Sun. Check date, time here

The total travel time from launch to L-1 (Lagrange point) would take about four months for Aditya-L1, ISRO said.

Other solar missions:

NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe in August 2018. In December 2021, Parker flew through the Sun's upper atmosphere, the corona, and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. This was the first time ever that a spacecraft touched the Sun.

Also read: Aditya-L1 launch: What is Lagrange point, the location of ISRO's spacecraft on Sun?

Other active solar missions by NASA are Advanced Composition Explorer launched in August 1997; Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory in October 2006; Solar Dynamics Observatory in February 2010; and Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph launched in June 2013.

Also, in December 1995, NASA, ESA, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) jointly launched the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

China's Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) was successfully launched by the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), on October 8, 2022.

In October 1990, the European Space Agency launched Ulysses to study the environment of space above and below the poles of the Sun.

JAXA, Japan's space agency, launched its first solar observation satellite, Hinotori (ASTRO-A), in 1981. The objective was to study solar flares using hard X-rays, according to JAXA's official website.

JAXA's other solar exploratory missions are Yohkoh (SOLAR-A) launched in 1991; SOHO (along with NASA and ESA) in 1995; and Transient Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), along with NASA, in 1998.

In 2006, Hinode (SOLAR-B) was launched, which was the successor to Yohkoh (SOLAR-A), the orbiting solar observatory. Japan launched it in collaboration with the US and the UK.

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Meta on Tuesday announced that it had removed around 7,700 Facebook accounts and 954 pages, 15 groups and 15 Instagram accounts that were spreading positive commentary about China while criticizing the US, Western foreign policies and critics of the Chinese governments. Originating in China, this network targeted many regions around the globe including Taiwan, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Meta started investigating this operation after the attack on a non-governmental organization late last year. The investigation later found ties between this network and a previous influence campaign called the spamouflage, reported Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, Meta's Global Threat Intelligence Lead Ben Nimmo told The New York Times, This is the biggest single takedown of a single network we have ever conducted. When you put it together with all the activity we took down across the internet, we concluded it is the largest covert campaign that we know of today."

The New York Times report noted that the influence campaign appeared to learn and mimic Russian-style influence operations. It also noted that the messages were aimed at broad audience and used many different languages including Russian, French, German, Korean, Thai and Welsh.

Largest cross-platform influence operation to date:

Meta officials believe that Spamouglage network has become the largest cross-platform influence operation to date, having a prescence in over 50 platforms and forums like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter).

Meta said that the Spamouflage network first started posting on larger platforms like Facebook, YouTube and X but recent acitivity shows that it has expanded its footprint to include smaller platforms like Medium, Reddit, Quora and Vimeo.

Meta officials determined that a large number of accounts were run from locations with shared digital infrastructure like offices and operated with clear shift patterns with breaks for lunch and dinner.

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WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) anchor-reporter Michael Wooten wasnt allowed to say an on-air goodbye to viewers.

A goodbye package of highlights is routinely given to someone like Wooten who has worked tirelessly at a local station for 14 years so the decision to escort him out of the newsroom Tuesday while he still was under contract says a lot about the way his employment ended.

So does the silence from Channel 2 General Manager Mark Manders, who has declined to return emails and phone calls asking for comment.

The failure to respond to my questions has been fairly routine from Manders since taking over from Jim Toellner, the long-running GM who revived the station during his tenure. Manders has a different management style from Toellner.

Wooten cant comment to avoid jeopardizing his salary for the month of September and his co-workers arent allowed to talk to me, by Channel 2 rules.

But I know this much:

Wootens contract was set to expire in August but had been extended a month to September. He declined a contract offer with a raise and was abruptly told to leave.

He shared the frustrations of several co-workers about the number of openings in the news department that hadnt been filled primarily because of a pending sale of Tegna that fell through. The reduced staff put increasing stress on the remaining workers.

On Friday, Wooten was among six staffers who called in sick, which led to speculation that it was an organized protest for being overworked because of staffing issues.

Wooten, who has rarely taken a sick day, has told co-workers he really was sick and, despite speculation, that the number of people who called in sick had nothing to do with his departure.

A disgruntled employee, he just decided against signing a new deal. In that case, his leaving was on him.

But the way he was treated after he made his decision is on station management. It also serves as a reminder to co-workers that everyone is replaceable. However, Wooten wont be easily replaced. His departure is a big loss to Channel 2.

You need only to look at the overwhelming support he received Tuesday on social networks after The Buffalo News story reported he was gone to see his impact and popularity.

By Wednesday morning, more than 600 people had added Facebook comments to The News story about his departure, almost all with positive messages to Wooten.

He is a versatile anchor who also had the title of managing editor at Channel 2, which illustrated how valuable his news judgment was to the station.

He was the primary anchor of Channel 2s Town Hall newscast at 5:30 p.m., which was especially important during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and was dropped this week in favor of a regular newscast.

It was an important program that devoted more time than normal for a newscast to focus on local issues after Covid-19 became a less prominent issue.

However, you could make the case that the need for the program had run its course even if another regular 30-minute newscast wasnt the answer.

Kelly Dudzik anchored the 5:30 p.m. newscast Tuesday, though it is unclear if that is a permanent assignment.

The question now is where will Wooten go?

I wouldnt worry about him. He is a talent and wont be unemployed for long.

Channel 4 or Channel 7 would be wise to hire him, one former Channel 2 staffer texted me. He does the work of three people.

It would be surprising if Channel 2s rivals, WKBW-TV (Channel 7) and WIVB-TV (Channel 4) didnt immediately reach out to him because of his knowledge of Western New York and talent. He would especially be a big get for Channel 7, which is looking to do things differently these days.

He stayed at Channel 2 for so long because he enjoys being here. Whether he would join the third-rated station in town might depend on Channel 7s salary offer and the opportunity to do something new.

Non-compete clauses in TV news arent valid in New York State so that shouldnt be an impediment to any possible deal.

Another question is, where does Wootens departure leave Channel 2?

It probably needs to hire another male anchor. Wooten, Scott Levin and Daybreak co-anchor Pete Gallivan are the only full-time male anchors on the staff.

More importantly, how can Channel 2 improve news department morale after months of frustration over its low staffing levels?

Im told that one of the periodic staff surveys conducted by Tegna ends this week and that workers cant wait to give their opinions about their bosses and the direction of the station as the treatment of Wooten is fresh in their minds.
Longtime County Attorney Rheubin Taylor has filed suit against new County Mayor Weston Wamp, saying he is trying to fire him despite him having a four-year contract given by the prior County Commission in 2021.
Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, a former Georgia election worker, is comforted by her mother, Ruby Freeman, right, as the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington in June 2022.
There is an ebullience in Grace Kemple's tone when she starts to speak of her experience representing Longford at the Rose of Tralee International Festival: It was just the most surreal experience ever, she says.

Since twenty-three years old Grace was chosen as Longford's first Rose since 2019 she's been on a helter skelter journey to Tralee via some of Irelands most famous landmarks. That trek brought Grace and her 31 companions to Longford, the first time the county featured on the Rose's itinerary.

The young lady gushed about the experience: It was so, so good. Everything. The girls, the escorts, the rosebuds, the parade, the fireworks, it was just class. People told me how enjoyable it was, but it's only when you are in the middle of it that you appreciate how good it is. I was in Tralee as a child, but it's so much more magical when you're a part of it. The kids who are looking for your autograph and photograph. It's so cute. You just feel so loved.

Grace is halfway through her Higher Diploma in Midwifery at Trinity College and the Coombe Hospital. As part of her course she was back at work on Monday: It was a bit of a return to earth, she laughs.

As one of 14 Irish and 18 international girls taking part she has lived in a bubble the last month: You are with the other 31 girls all the time. It's like a big sleepover in a hotel with all your friends. It was madness, but a good madness.

Criticisms about the Festival being outdated are dismissed by Grace: I can see how people may think that if they just watch the show, but it's much more than what you see on TV.

So much goes on behind the scenes. You get to know the girls over the whole summer, all the lead up was class. When you are involved in it you see how much goes into it.

It's constantly changing. Bringing in Kathryn Thomas as a presenter is an example of that. The Festival is all about women, so adding a female presenter was a good move. People are always going to make comments like that, but it is progressive.

The glitz of the event was quite appealing to the Longford Rose: Everyone had their own style. I loved the glamour of it; getting dressed up, the head pieces, the heels everything like that. That is me.



"I really enjoyed that part. It was full of glamour, but there were times it was less so. In Longford we went go-kart racing, in overalls and helmets. We also did zip-lining, we chased sheep on a farm, so it was quite a mix.

This is not the end of Grace's Rose journey: I will be the Longford Rose for the next two years. I will be the ambassador for Longford. I undertake all the duties I have had over the summer.

I won't be on stage next year, but I will be down in Tralee. I will soak it all in, and continue to enjoy being the Longford Rose.

Grace concluded by commending the people of Longford for their support: I just want to say thanks to everyone. Bringing the Rose tour to Longford was a big thing.



Not every county gets to show off their best part. I was so proud to bring the other girls to Longford, people came out in their droves.
Vice Chair of the Longford Community Safety Partnership, Cllr Seamus Butler (pictured), says the absence of visible Garda patrols in Longford is undermining the overall success of the pilot Local Community Safety Partnership (LCSP) project in Longford.

A survey by University of Limerick of the Local Community Safety Partnerships (LCSP) suggested the project is improving community awareness of local safety activities and identifying local safety issues.

In a statement this week, Cllr Butler said, The Longford LCSP has made great strides, being the first pilot to launch its Action Plan in September 2022. This is hugely down to the tireless work of our co-ordinator, Janine Bartley. However, one of the overriding aims of the Action Plan was to have a visible Garda street presence in Longford Town.

Longford is one of three areas where the LCSPs is piloted.

The three areas (Dublin North Inner City, Waterford and Longford) will inform a national rollout of the scheme, which will replace the existing Joint Policing Committees (JPCs).

Cllr Butler said more resources are needed: Whereas there has been a highly welcome appearance of foot patrols, these have been sporadic at best. This is down to insufficient resources to maintain anywhere near daily foot patrols.

This is the only way to allay the fear, fuelled by constant media reports, that Longford town is a dangerous, lawless place. Statistically, Longford is neither dangerous nor lawless, although a very small criminal minority has done untold reputational damage to the town.

Cllr Butler says there's an imbalance in the three areas, In keeping with the recent funding of extra Garda and resources for Dublin City, I am calling for a similar proportional Garda resourcing package for Longford town. Failure to provide these resources will deem the pilot Longford LCSP, promoted by the Department of Justice, a failure.
The Houses of the Oireachtas are set to decide on recommendations that could see an increase in the number of TDs returned to the Dail.

Longford/Westmeath is set to becomes a five-seat constituency following recommendations by the Electoral Commission in its Constituency Review published this morning.

An additional 19 electoral divisions have been moved into the Longford/Westmeath constituency from the Meath West constituency.

It's determined by their terms of reference, Longford solicitor Frank Gearty said of the changes. Frank is more familiar with the work of the Electoral Commission than most, having made submissions to the State body in the past.

The review suggests the creation of four new constituencies and an additional 14 Dail seats.

The last boundary review took place in 2020, but the 8% increase in the Irish population since then has led the Electoral Commission to make recommendation for a significant number of changes to political representation in the country.

Overall, the Commission recommended that the next Dail should see 174 TDs representing 43 Dail Constituencies, up from the current 160 TDs in 39 Constituencies.

It looks like they have done a brilliant job, Frank told the Leader, It's great that Longford/Westmeath has been retained as a single constituency. The big challenge now is for the people of Longford to elect two TDs, that aught to be possible with our population. It will be up to people of Longford and the calibre of the candidates. 

The Commission stated the Longford-Westmeath constituency's population justifies the allocation of an additional seat to make it a five seat constituency.

The constituency is now made up of the entire counties of Longford and Westmeath for the first time since 1980.

The constituency now includes an additional 19 electoral divisions in the north east of Westmeath. This area around Castlepollard brings in an additional 9,481 residents in the redrawn Longford/Westmeath.

Frank says this puts an onus on Longford voters to support their own to ensure local representation: It does weigh it more strongly in favour of Westmeath. That's counterbalanced by the fact there are five seats. Therefore it's up to Longford to do its job right and get two TDs in. If it's not approached properly it could be a one to four split.

The change may have an impact on an existing anomaly in the current representation. The constituency's largest population centre, Athlone, has no TD, while Mullingar has three resident sitting in the Dail.

Athlone have to look at that, Frank said, It's extraordinary they have no representation, but surely they will have one of the five TDs returned, it will be very interesting to see how it goes.

The largest number of changes make by the Commission were made in the country's capital. There are four extra seats in the Dublin area, with several changes to electoral divisions.

Frank says on balance the changes are very positive: There are many well considered decisions. The changes to Leitrim, Cavan/Monaghan and Roscommon, return electoral division in counties back inside county bounds. There are a lot of very good things, but this is in the face of significant challenges.

The scale of the constituencies in Dublin is frightening. There are now 49 seats in Dublin. Then you look at Laois, who have only three seats and Kerry with only five. The inter county constituency of Wicklow/Wexford, flanked on either side by the Wicklow and Wexford constituencies is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, he observed.

Overall just seven of the 39 constituencies remain untouched under the Commissions Constituency Review 2023 Report. In concluding her report Ms Justice Marie Baker, Chairperson, An Coimisiun Toghch said: I commend these recommendations for consideration by the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The final determination of the constituencies for both Dail Eireann and the European Parliament will in due course be decided by the Houses of the Oireachtas in legislation.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: August 30 2023

As severe weather events become more frequent and more extreme, preparing for the unexpected is more important than ever, Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton said.

With hurricane season on the horizon, Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D  Glen Cove) and New York State hosted a New York State Emergency Preparedness Workshop at the Glen Cove Senior Center on Monday, Aug. 28  an event that taught a capacity crowd of 100 participants how to protect themselves and their families amidst a catastrophic event.

Presented by the States Citizens Preparedness Corps, the workshops equip residents with the tools and resources to prepare for any type of natural or man-made disaster, respond accordingly, and recover as quickly as possible to pre-disaster conditions.

Each family participating received a free Citizen Preparedness Corps Response Starter Kit filled with emergency prep essentials.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: August 30 2023

Paul Marchese and Robin Maynard Made Improper Payments to Themselves from Deceased Clients Funds Intended for Charity.

New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced a settlement with Paul Marchese and Robin Maynard, two Long Island lawyers who allegedly illegally paid themselves more than $1.3 million from a deceased clients trust and charitable foundation. Following the death of their client, Helen Gottlieb, Mr. Marchese and Ms. Maynard were in control of funds that Ms. Gottlieb had left for charity. Mr. Marchese unilaterally paid his law firm nearly $600,000 in fees without reporting the financial transactions to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), as required by law. Additionally, he and Ms. Maynard improperly paid themselves salaries from the foundation in excess of $750,000. As part of the settlement, Mr. Marchese and Ms. Maynard will have to pay $510,000 in restitution and may not serve as officers or directors of a not-for-profit corporation or any other charitable organization for three years unless authorized by OAG to do so.

New Yorkers who generously donate to charity upon their death deserve to have their wishes honored, said Attorney General James. Mr. Marchese and Ms. Maynard abused their positions and misused funds entrusted to them, depriving others of significant charitable donations intended to help the most vulnerable. My office will ensure that these funds will be used as intended and continue to enforce the laws that protect charitable organizations.

Mr. Marchese established a charitable foundation and a trust for Ms. Gottlieb. The trust held $2 million in assets to fund her foundation upon her death. After Ms. Gottlieb died in 2008, Mr. Marchese directed the trust to pay his law firm, Marchese & Maynard LLP, fees totaling $598,931.42. Mr. Marchese and Ms. Maynard were unable to provide attorney time sheets, invoices, or receipts to prove that they provided legal services worth nearly $600,000 or that Ms. Gottlieb knew of or agreed to pay Marchese & Maynard LLP that amount.

Over the next decade, Mr. Marchese and Ms. Maynard also paid themselves salaries totaling $758,334 as directors of Ms. Gottliebs charitable foundation, in violation of New York law. These salaries were substantially greater than the amount the foundation disbursed in charitable grants.

In the settlement, Mr. Marchese and Ms. Maynard admitted to failing to register the trust after Ms. Gottliebs death, failing to retain timely records of the trusts expenditures, and operating Ms. Gottliebs foundation without a legally constituted board of directors. As a result, they set their own compensation without review by nonconflicted directors. They also failed to adopt and adhere to a conflict of interest policy.

As part of the settlement reached with OAG, the foundation will be dissolved and all of its remaining assets, which together with the restitution funds exceed $1 million, will be disbursed to other charitable organizations under the supervision of OAG.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Peggy Farber and Rebecca Gideon of the Charities Bureau, under the supervision of Charities Enforcement Section Chief Emily Stern, former Enforcement Section Co-Chief Yael Fuchs, Trust and Estates Section Chief Deborah McCarthy, and Charities Bureau Chief James Sheehan. The Charities Bureau is a part of the Division for Social Justice, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux and overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.
A 38-year-old Niagara Falls man was shot in the leg about 10 p.m. Monday in a house in the 400 block of 19th Street, according to Niagara Falls police.

The victim, whose identity was not released by police, was transported to Erie County Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident and are asking anyone with additional information to contact the departments Criminal Investigation Division at 716-286-4553 or the general information number at 716-286-4711.

 Harold McNeil
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: August 30 2023

OASAS and DOH Hold Kickoff Meeting for Interagency Task Force on Overdose Prevention, Report Due Later This Fall.

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the kickoff meeting for the Interagency Task Force on Overdose Prevention. Governor Hochul announced the creation of this task force in the 2023 State of the State address. Chaired by Commissioners Dr. Chinazo Cunningham from the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports and Dr. James McDonald from the New York State Department of Health, the group includes experts across seventeen state agencies and offices working collaboratively to combat the overdose epidemic in New York State.

In my 2023 State of the State address, I outlined our commitment to taking further steps to care for New Yorkers struggling with addiction across our state through the creation of the Interagency Task Force on Overdose Prevention, Governor Hochul said. Turning the tide on illegal substance use requires full coordination across our agencies, and today we take the next step in this ongoing vital work.

The Interagency Task Force on Overdose Prevention will review the broad issue areas of illegal substance use prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction with attention to how substance users interact with education, healthcare, criminal justice, housing, and other social service entities. The group will produce a report of their findings in Fall 2023. The mission of the task force will be to increase programmatic coordination, analyze the success of existing state programs, and explore additional solutions to this crisis.

The Interagency Task Force on Overdose Prevention includes the below members:

Chair - OASAS: Commissioner Chinazo Cunningham

Chair - DOH: Commissioner James McDonald

OMH : Moira Tashjian, Executive Deputy Commissioner

OCFS : Acting Commissioner Suzanne Miles-Gustave

OTDA : Valerie T. Figueroa, Deputy Commissioner, Employment and Income Support Programs

DVS : Dr. Lessie Branch, Special Assistant for Community Engagement

SOFA : Charlie Williams, Assistant Director for Healthy Aging and Longevity

ESD : Maria Mitchell, Senior Vice President, Life Sciences

DCJS : Joseph Popcun, Executive Deputy Commissioner

DFS : Eamon Rock, Deputy Superintendent for Pharmacy Benefits

DOCCS : Dr. Carol Moores, Deputy Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer

SCOC : Ellen B. Tryon, RN, MAT Unit Supervisor

DHSES: Luci Labriola-Cuffe, Deputy State Fire Administrator

SED : Kathleen DeCataldo, Senior Advisor for Student Support Services

State Police : Captain James Browne, FC BCI

SUNY : Valerie Grey, Senior Vice Chancellor & Chief Hospital and Healthcare Operations Officer

CUNY: Pedro Mateu Gelabert, Associate Professor Community Health and Social Sciences

New York State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, The opioid crisis is not just a public health issue - it is a crisis of humanity that touches every corner of the State. Governor Hochuls new Task Force on Overdose Prevention brings all facets of state government together to identify areas for greater collaboration and make specific recommendations on treatment, recovery, and harm reduction programs to expand access to care and save more lives.

New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports Commissioner and Task Force on Overdose Prevention Chair Dr. Chinazo Cunningham said, We continue to experience the worst overdose crisis in history. Governor Hochuls Inter-Agency Overdose Epidemic Task Force will generate greater collaboration through education, cross training, and sharing of resources to help enhance the States efforts to save lives. Bringing so many agencies together to discuss their roles in addressing the epidemic is critically important.

The Interagency Task Force on Overdose Prevention will hold two public listening sessions to be held in Albany and Staten Island. Members of the public who wish to submit public comment to the Task Force should email OverdoseTaskForce@oasas.ny.gov .
With the Labor Day holiday acknowledged as the unofficial last day of summer, it may be time to turn your attention from any late summer travel plans to fall and even holiday vacation plans. Nows also the time to maximize the savings with a lifetime subscription to Dollar Flight Club Premium Plus service.

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A 76-year-old Swedish man who has been living in Santa Ponsa for twenty years faces extradition to Sweden on fraud charges. He is accused of having defrauded a road construction company of the equivalent of 733,800 euros (approx. 8.7 million Swedish krona) and could be sentenced to eight years in prison.

Said to be in poor health, the Audiencia Nacional high court in Madrid is considering the possibility of his serving a possible sentence in Spain. He lives with his wife in Santa Ponsa and his lawyer says that his whole life is in Spain. "Everything he owns is in Mallorca."

A Swedish court issued a European Arrest Warrant on November 1, 2022. The Guardia Civil in Calvia arrested him on December 15. He exercised his right not to testify and was released without bail but with precautionary measures. His defence argues that it is not necessary for him to have to go before the Swedish courts when the evidence against him has been established and he is located at his home.
A wrong turn onto the Peace Bridge resulted in the arrest of a Philadelphia man who is wanted on an active warrant for rape, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

Officers on Tuesday said 45-year-old Jose Cruz Lopez did not have proper identification when he turned onto the Peace Bridge and drove into the primary inspection area. Cruz Lopez was subsequently escorted to the secondary inspection area for verification of his identity, during which it was discovered that he was sought on a felony arrest warrant for rape from the Philadelphia Police Department, Customs and Border Protection officers said.
Two manhole explosions were heard in Cambridge on Wednesday, with firefighters attempting to contain a third manhole in the area, the Cambridge Fire Department posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Fire Chief Thomas Cahill detailed what happened, starting with the first explosion on Brattle Street.

The fire department received a call this morning for a manhole explosion, he said in a video posted on X. When they arrived, there was one actively on fire. Shortly after, a second manhole popped and we had fire come out from two manholes.

The Cambridge Fire Department initially posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, about a structure fire on Brattle Street at around 8:34 a.m. A follow-up from that post at 8:55 a.m. said companies were working on a manhole fire in the area, that police were directing traffic and that Eversource was en route.

Cahill told reporters that the presence of carbon monoxide was detected, and the goal was to lower it. Officers closed off Harvard Square to pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Nearby buildings and businesses were also evacuated. No injuries were reported, though one firefighter was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries believed to be caused by smoke inhalation, Channel 7 News reported.

Theres not a timeline on businesses reopening, Cahill said. We cant fully control the (carbon monoxide) levels in a lot of these businesses right now. We do have a third manhole thats active. Eversource is working diligently to secure the power to that. But until that power is secure, we know its secure, its going to generate carbon monoxide until then.

Read more: Suspect in Boston Caribbean Carnival shooting arraigned from hospital bed

All of the manholes are connected to each other, he added. It could take a few days to determine what caused the initial explosions, Cahill said at the end of the video.

The containment is expected to carry on well past the evening commute and into the night, the post read.
Boston city councilors want to make it easier for street food vendors to operate in the city as a way to help them succeed financially and to bring other cultures into the neighborhoods.

District 1 City Councilor Gabriela Coletta has proposed an ordinance that would provide permits for vendors who sell food from non-motorized carts. While these vendors are currently allowed, they have to go through multiple government departments and get multiple permits for permission to operate, including having a business plan approved by the Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, getting a health permit from the Inspectional Services Department and approval for sidewalk occupancy from the Department of Public Works.

Once we pass these regulations, we have the potential to unlock an economic tool that does not require significant upfront costs for businesses, Coletta said at Wednesdays City Council meeting. This will allow folks to build capital quickly without the expensive costs associated with obtaining a brick-and-mortar or a food truck.

Coletta said since the pandemic, more street vendors are operating, particularly in East Boston. Many of them sell cut fruit or homemade foods from baby strollers, truck beds or shopping carts.

Read more: Worcester Regional Food Hub director to open Fitchburg Public Market

Operators of these sidewalk enterprises are predominantly those who have immigrated here from other countries and we should be celebrating and fostering anyone who wishes to share their culture and culinary talents in order to support themselves and their families, she said.

Washington, D.C. recently passed similar legislation, and cities like New York City and Los Angeles have proposals currently in the pipeline, Coletta said.

While she acknowledged that some brick-and-mortar retailers may be concerned about competition, she said that in the past, places that have tried to clear street vendors have actually seen negative effects on the local economy because of the drop in foot traffic.

Colettas proposal allows for potential pre-designated zones where street vendors would be allowed to operate.

Multiple other councilors spoke in support of the idea. At-large Councilor Julia Mejia said the idea was a continuation of an ordinance passed in 2021 that created a permit process for retail residential kitchens, so entrepreneurs could make certain shelf-stable cottage foods without a commercial kitchen.

She pointed out that many street vendors are already operating in the city, and that punishing them because the system hasnt caught up is not helpful.

District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell compared the proposal to the citys food truck program, which was launched in 2011.

Fifteen years ago ... few thought of food trucks as anything more than an ice cream man, he said. Today, its a $1.5 billion industry that has sparked food revolutions across the country and given Bostonians a taste of some of the many cultures that thrive in our city.

The proposal was sent to the Committee on Government Operations for further discussion.
With August ending soon, the number of white sharks seen off in Cape Cods waters yielded to several appearances from tagged sharks and confirmed sightings of unknown sharks.

Around 85 sharks were detected by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, based in Chatham. Data for each shark spotted around the Cape can be found on their app, Sharktivity, which follows the movements of sharks swimming around the states waters.

Several sharks tagged by the conservancy made several appearances off the Capes shores. The sharks seen at least four times in August were Copy Cat, Cheerio, Scarface, Cow, Padre, Iceland, Mr. Pallas, Portal, Terp, Big Daddy and Chrispy.

Along with several other sharks, each of those tagged was typically spotted around buoys located off the shores of Newcomb Hollow Beach and Cahoon Hollow Beach, both in Wellfleet; north of Nauset Beach in Orleans; and off of North Beach Island in Chatham.

For years, Cape Cod has been a hotspot where white sharks gather during the summer months. On July 27, a study published in the latest edition of the Marine Ecology Progress Series said that between 2015 and 2018, 800 white sharks were detected around Cape Cod.

White sharks travel thousands of kilometers every year to optimize foraging opportunities but are only available to survey efforts at coastal aggregation sites that constitute a small fraction of their overall range, the study said. The challenge in documenting them depended on the frequency with which sharks were seen in one particular spot year after year.

Therefore, we view reliable abundance estimates as not only critical for management but also for navigating the complex societal conflicts that will arise when and where white shark populations recover, which will likely present the next major conservation challenge for this iconic species, the study said.

Read more: Shark attack at New York City beach leaves woman critically injured

Overall, there were about 51 sharks detected or spotted since the start of August. The number of white sharks in Cape Cod waters began to uptick in July, according to researcher Greg Skomal, the senior fisheries scientist at Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

See below to see all other sharks spotted or detected around Cape Cod since Aug. 1:
The biggest full moon of 2023 begins overnight on Wednesday and Thursday, and its not going to be seen again among the stars until 2037.

The very rare Super Blue Moon is a celestial event only seen in the night sky about every decade, according to NASA. A regular blue moon is when a full moon appears a second time within one month after a whole lunar cycle is completed.

What is a Super Blue Moon?

The difference now is the blue moon also happens to be a supermoon. Supermoons, like the Sturgeon Moon seen on Aug. 1, reach their closest point in the moons orbit around Earth. Called a perigee, the moon is 14% closer to Earth and appears 7% bigger in the sky, NASA said. When this moment coincides with a full moon, astronomers call it a supermoon.

This combination happens about every 10 years. But despite the name, the moon does not appear blue whatsoever  its so named for its rarity, hence the expression, Once in a blue moon. It stemmed from the March 1946 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine, which featured an article by James Hugh Pruett titled Once in a Blue Moon, which referred to such celestial events, according to EarthSky.

Read more: Watch Hurricane Idalia live as it makes Florida landfall

The Super Blue Moons peak is expected to be at 9:36 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Space.com. After Wednesday, the moon is expected to rise and set an hour later each night, with the illuminated side of the moon shrinking or waning, the website added. By Sept. 14, the next new moon is expected to be seen in the night sky.

How will the moon affect Hurricane Idalia?

The Super Blue Moon has also grabbed attention as it relates to Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall in Florida on Wednesday. Like any full moon, the tides rise. But with a supermoon happening right as waters are already rising due to a hurricane, tides could reach their strongest point of the year, National Geographic said.

The high tide alone, possibly somewhere between 3 and 5 feet, is not enough to cause alarm. Add that height with 10 to 15 feet of storm surge and the situation becomes more of a concern.

The full moon can enhance the tides and so certainly  at the time of high tide during the storm, youre going to see greater coastal flooding, Noah Petro, a research scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, told National Geographic.

Will Massachusetts be cloudy?

Going into Thursday, Massachusetts residents should have pleasant conditions with which to see the Super Blue Moon after a brief spell of rain on Wednesday. Gusty winds should clear out any remaining clouds across the state, the National Weather Service said.

To get a clear view of the moon without the risk of any light pollution, locations such as Cape Cod National Seashore, Wachusett Mountain State Reservation or Lake Dennison Recreation Area are recommended by Go Astronomys Dark Sky Parks in Massachusetts page.

The Virtual Telescope Projects YouTube channel will also offer a livestream of the moon making its bright way across the sky over Rome, where the project is based. To watch their stream, click the link here.
Just down the road from the Ford plant in Hamburg, local members of the United Auto Workers were practice picketing  just in case they have to go on strike for a new contract.

And outside what was supposed to be DYouville Universitys opening assembly last week, faculty members were engaged in a real picket after almost three years of fruitless negotiations. Faced with the prospect of facing down picketers, DYouville administrators switched the meeting to a video call.

As another Labor Day approaches, reminding us whos actually responsible for the goods and services we depend on, the local signs of worker unrest should also make us think about how inequitably the spoils of what we produce have been shared, especially recently.

The Economic Policy Institute reported last year that CEOs at the nations top 350 public firms made 399 times what the typical worker got in compensation, up from 366-to-1 the year before. The ratio was 59-1 in 1989, and just 20-1 in 1965.

Such a widening gap is what passes for progress in todays United States.

No wonder the head of the local autoworkers said of his Western New York members, They want equality. Their labor produces these massive profits. They want a piece of that, their fair share. Thats all.

Which brings to mind the fact that this Labor Day  and the labor unrest accompanying it  also comes just two weeks after Republicans kicked off their presidential primary debates. The juxtaposition is either a wake-up call or a cruel joke, depending on how much or how little one has been indoctrinated into the GOPs trickle-down economics.

By one measure  the closeness of 2024 presidential polls pitting Joe Biden against Donald Trump  the brainwashing has been a huge success.

Exhibit A is the 2017 tax cuts pushed through by Trump and a Republican-led Congress. As Trump himself bragged when signing the bill, Corporations are literally going wild over this.

Defenders of the law trumpet the fact that it cut taxes for lower- and middle-income earners by greater percentages than it did for the wealthy. In fact, a 2021 opinion piece in The Hill argued that most middle-income and working-class earners enjoyed a tax cut that was at least double the size of tax cuts received by households earning $1 million or more.

But such arguments bring to mind Mark Twains quote that figures dont lie, but liars figure, because those percentage comparisons dont tell the real story.

Analyzing the bills impact  especially the large corporate tax cut  two years after enactment, the Center for American Progress concluded that, So far, the large corporate tax windfalls have gone mostly toward lining the pockets of already wealthy individuals, and there is little evidence that middle- and working-class families will see real benefits.

Similarly, a 2019 Congressional Research Service analysis found that Statutory rate reductions for individuals were relatively small compared with the corporate rate reduction.

And a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analyst, testifying before the Senate Budget Committee in May, said that permanently extending the tax cuts past their 2025 expiration date would benefit households in the top 1% more than twice as much as those in the bottom 60% as a share of their incomes  providing a roughly $41,000 annual tax cut for the top 1% compared to $500 for households in the bottom 60%, on average. She went on to call the laws permanent corporate provisions heavily tilted in favor of large corporations and their shareholders, who are disproportionately wealthy.

And how do Trump and the presidential dwarfs feel about this? Almost to a person, the GOP contenders are ready to double down on trickle down.

Given the ratio of working- and middle-class Americans to the very wealthy, youd think that would be a recipe for electoral disaster. And in 2020, it was. Despite all of the rhetoric about Trumps support among white, working-class voters, exit polls showed that Biden got 55% of the votes of those with family incomes under $50,000 and 57% of those with incomes between $50,000 and $99,999.

Yet for some reason that neither political scientists nor psychiatrists can figure out, polling for a 2024 rematch has Biden and Trump fairly even despite the fact that only about a third of U.S. households earn over $100,000.

In other words, lots of working- and middle-class Americans are buying what the GOP is pushing, even though  as with pushers everywhere  the product is harmful to the users.

In one sense, its hard to feel sorry for such voters when they get exactly what they deserve. As the Eli Wallach character famously said in The Magnificent Seven when rationalizing why he exploited the peasants, If God didnt want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep. That could be the new GOP campaign slogan.

The only problem is that the rest of us have to live with the policies such voters enable.

The actions of the Hamburg auto workers and the DYouville faculty, coming on the eve of the first GOP debate, should be a reminder of how much Labor Day and Election Day are two sides of the same coin.

When it comes to achieving a better standard of living, one way is to use the clout of labor solidarity to demand a bigger cut of the pie.

The other, more effective way is to vote for people who will enact policies that slice the pie more equitably in the first place.
After a $70,000 viola was stolen in Boston, police are asking for the publics help.

The viola worth $70,000 went missing between 2 a.m. to 3:50 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 27 during a larceny on Glenville Avenue, the Boston Police Department said.

The viola is 16.5 inches long and stored inside a black BAM Black Panther HighTech case with two Boston University stickers and a Vivant Vintage sticker. The case alone is worth $1,300.

The Boston police strongly urged anyone with information to contact District D-14 Detectives at (617) 343-4256. Those wishing to remain anonymous can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463).

In 2021, a flute worth more than $10,000 that was left in a taxi cab a decade prior was returned to its rightful owner, according to Boston police.

It was found after it was brought to a music store to determine its value.

The man who had the flute turned it over to police and told officers he bought the instrument from an unknown man, according to the department. But police said they later determined the man who was in possession of the flute was the cab driver who was operating the taxi the day the instrument was reported missing.
Aggressive wasps have descend upon part of Ashland, causing the town to have to block off part of the square near the library with yellow tape.

Several territorial wasps have landed at Montenegro Square, the town wrote on Facebook. Our DPW is roping off the area and working on a solution. These wasps are exhibiting aggressive behavior, please give them space while we resolve the situation.

Several territorial wasps have landed at Montenegro Square. Our DPW is roping off the area and working on a solution.... Posted by Ashland Massachusetts on Thursday, August 24, 2023

CBS News reported there were several different types of bees and wasps. The area the wasps are in is the paved brick square across from the Library on Main Street, the town said. Ashland Public Works Director Doug Small told the news outlet there could be hundreds -- probably thousands -- of bees here.

One resident commented they saw tons of bees on cars in the parking lot across from the library.

It was weird, she wrote.

The library said it was thankful for the attempts at humane methods to encourage the bees to move on.

Lets hope they can get them to a new home at a farm or forest, it said.

Read more: Boston exploring expanded rules to allow easier beekeeping in the city

A contractor for the town blasted the area with an eco-friendly spray, according to CBS News. It doesnt kill the inspects but strongly encourages them to move on.

They still havent.

Earlier this summer, about 20 children were attacked by bees at a Topsfield summer camp after a hive had been disturbed, Topsfield Police Chief Neal Hovey and Fire Chief Jen Collins-Brown said.

The person who called 911 said about 20 children had been stung by bees and that most children had been stung multiple times at Tritown Council Leg Morning Workshop Summer Camp being held at Trinity Church in Topsfield. NECN reported one boy was stung 17 times by the bees.

One child was showing signs of anaphylaxis, police said. First responders arrived two minutes after the 911 call and the child was taken to the hospital.

The fire department warned that there has been a significant uptick in bee-related medical calls in August.

Remember to stay vigilant when out and about, if concerned about an allergic reaction, dont hesitate to call 911, the department said.
The man killed after his bicycle was struck by a UPS truck on Monday night has been identified.

Alex Bohm, 57, of Newton, was hit at the intersection of Bridge and Watertown streets in Newton, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryans office said in a statement Tuesday.

After first responders arrived at around 5:24 p.m., Bohm was taken to Brigham and Womens Hospital, where he died from his injuries.

The UPS driver remained where the crash happened, Ryans office said. No charges have been filed.

This crash is being investigated by the Middlesex District Attorneys Office, the Newton Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section.
The Boston Police Department has released an image of the suspect believed to have been involved in the shooting of eight people during the Caribbean Carnival celebration on Saturday.

The suspect is believed to be a Black man who was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants with white strips, and white sneakers at the time of the shooting at 10 Talbot Ave., the department said.

Anyone with information in regards to the shooting is encouraged to call the Area B-3 Detectives at (617) 343-4712, or the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463).

Read more: Several arrests made in connection with shooting at Boston Caribbean Carnival

Boston Police responded around 7:44 a.m. to the area of Blue Hill Avenue and Talbot Avenue in Dorchester for a call of a shooting near a parade passing through as part of the Caribbean Carnival, the department said.

Authorities found six men and two women injured by gunfire, police said. Five men and one woman were taken to the hospital while the other two victims declined treatment. None of their injuries were life-threatening, according to Boston police.

Officers found two guns onsite and were able to arrest two other individuals shortly after the shooting, suspects 30-year-old Gerald Vick and 30-year-old Dwayne Francis, both of Dorchester, police said.

Police said Vick had a 9mm pistol with a large capacity magazine, equipped with a Glock switch, that enabled the firearm to fire continuously, while Francis had a loaded 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol.

Both men were charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and were to be arraigned in Dorchester District Court on Monday, police said.

During the investigation, detectives obtained video that showed two men involved in the initial shooting. One of the men was shot in the leg and was seen limping into a tow lot. Officers found him and sent him to the hospital for treatment, police said.

He was later identified as 21-year-old Sebastian Fernandez, who was arrested in connection with the shooting and is being guarded at the hospital, according to police.

Another man in the video was seen running behind the Boys and Girls Club towards Franklin Field. He was arrested around 1:50 p.m. on Westview Street.

Read more: Boston shooting leaves 7 people hospitalized

The 17-year-old boy from Dorchester was in possession of a Polymer 80 pistol equipped with a Glock switch, police said. He was placed under arrest for firearm possession. His involvement in shooting is under investigation.

Boston police reported four more arrests Saturday, but it is unclear if they were in connection with the Talbot Avenue shooting. They included:

Nakhi Cox-Obryant, 18, of Dorchester

Maceo Withers-Brewer, 21, of Boston

John Davis , 32, of Boston on assault and battery charges

Limondji Simon , 26, of Medford on firearm related charges

All individuals were expected to be arraigned in Dorchester District Court, police said.

The annual Caribbean Carnival consisted of two separate parades. The first, the JOuvert parade, began at 6:30 a.m. on Talbot Avenue and proceeded up Blue Hill Avenue to the Circuit Drive entrance of Franklin Park.

The second and main parade, the Caribbean Carnival, was scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Warren Street at Martin Luther King Boulevard, proceed up Warren Street to Blue Hill Avenue and end again at the Circuit Drive entrance of Franklin Park. The festivities proceeded despite the shooting.
A Fall River woman walking her dog early Monday morning was attacked by a coyote and police were forced to use deadly force to put it down, according to news reports.

The coyote bit the womans legs and arms and she went to St. Lukes Hospital for treatment, according to The Boston Globe.

The woman was attacked near the South Winds Apartments in Fall Rivers North End at about 5:45 a.m., Detective Sgt. Moses Pereira told The Herald News. After the woman encountered the coyote, it took an aggressive stance and she picked up her dog, Pereira told the newspaper. The coyote then bit her on each leg and her left arm.

The woman screamed at the animal and fought off the coyote before it fled, Boston.com reported. Her neighbors heard her screams and called the police.

Soon after less than a mile away, the grounds crew at the Fall River Country Club reported the aggressive coyote after it tried to attack one of its employees.

The staff member scared it off, and when the police arrived they were forced to take action.

They were able to spot the coyote, and it took an aggressive stance towards the office, Pereira The Herald News. Unfortunately, the manner in which the coyote was acting so aggressively, they were forced to put it down.

Pereira told Boston.com that the coyote attacked one person and tried to attack a second before police used deadly force.

The coyotes body is being tested for rabies by the Division for Animal Health and there is no more information about the womans current condition.
WESTFIELD  After Target abandoned its plans to construct a warehouse at a site near the Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport, a pair of developers are proposing a new warehouse design for the property.

Winstanley Enterprises and NorthPoint Development of Kansas City, Missouri, call their proposal a scaled-down plan from the one Target proposed in 2021 and withdrew a year later in the face of neighborhood opposition and doubts that the city planning board would approve its plans.

That feedback largely helped to shape the current proposal, project spokesman Matt Watkins said. We look forward to continuing the dialogue with the community as this process progresses.

Winstanley and NorthPoint are marketing the proposed 524,000 square-foot warehouse, dubbed Falcon Landing after its location on Falcon Drive, to potential tenants and plan to build on spec, Watkins said. The new warehouse will not be used for e-commerce deliveries (Amazon has a facility nearby in Holyoke) and it wont be for Target, which plans to sell the 126-acre property to the two developers.

Target is constructing a regional warehouse in Windsor, Connecticut.

Ion this preliminary proposed site plan, Winstanley Enterprises and Northpoint Development want to build a 524,000-square-foot warehouse between North Road and Falcon Drive.

That 2021 Target proposal was the retailers second try. In 2005, Target proposed a distribution center for the state that would have been more than twice as large at 1.66 million square feet. Target told the state it abandoned the project in the face of the 2008 economic recession.

Now in Westfield, the new plans from Winstanley and NorthPoint Development eliminate all access from North Road in favor of one driveway from Falcon Drive to the south, said Watkins.

Winstanley and NorthPoint said they will not build the cold-storage that Target previously wanted. They will reduce parking by 30% and not build a transportation office building and trailer maintenance facility, which will cut the facilitys water consumption by 67%.

Plans call for 362 parking spaces to accommodate two shifts and 322 tractor-trailer spaces of which 88 will be land banked for future use if needed.

The new proposal keeps all the vegetation on North Road.

Watkins said the number of truck trips will fall 15%, from the 200 separate trips a day Target predicted, to 170. Watkins said the truck trip estimates are based on studies of warehouses of this size and are not dependent on the tenant.

Winstanley and NorthPoint plan to submit updated paperwork Thursday to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Watkins said the new project also needs a special use permit and site plan approval and stormwater management plan approval from the city in order to move forward. Watkins said he expects the first meetings for that process in December.

Concerned neighbors also plan to meet with Winstanley and NorthPoint Development Thursday.

Our concerns about the site are the same as they were before: tractor trailer and general traffic along a corridor that runs through Hampden Ponds, said Susan McFarlin, president of the Hampton Ponds Association whose members, made up of nearby residents voted to oppose the Target proposal in 2021.

They worry about the aquifer and the danger of water pollution.

Her husband, Rick Epstein, said residents on the north side of town think the city has too many businesses dependent on tractor-trailer traffic and Route 10  called Southampton Road  is too congested.

Westfield Mayor Michael A. McCabe praised the developers behind Falcon Landing for reaching out to the community.

Its a little different than how Target rolled out their situation, McCabe said.

He pointed to the switch from Targets proposed employee driveway from North Road to Falcon Landings one proposed driveway on Falcon Drive.

Its a much easier traffic situation, he said, especially with the states plan to improve intersections, including the busy one at Southampton Road and North Road where Route 202 branches off to the east.

And the state and federal governments are building a new gate for the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard base. The new, more secure, entrance will be on Southampton Road and not on Falcon Drive anymore.

Winstanley Enterprises owns 111 Southampton Road, the former Digital Equipment Corp. factory that employed 445 people before closing in 1993. Today it is leased out as warehouse and logistics space.
A former deputy with the Middlesex County Sheriffs Office was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston on Wednesday in connection with threats made to the Plymouth County Courthouse and sheriffs officers, Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levys office said in a statement.

Joshua P. Ford, 42, of Kingston, was indicted on three counts of interstate transmission of a threatening communication.

Ford was with the office between 2009 and 2017. He sent 12 emails to about 140 people, all law enforcement officers in Massachusetts, on March 12, 2023, Levys office said. Each email shared the same text, that there is no more justice system anymore just WAR and I am calling on all able-bodied officers my brothers in blue to suit up for a fight.

Ford asked those officers to arm themselves and arrive at the Plymouth County Courthouse, in armored vehicles, to declare: Tomorrow we burn down the (courthouse) to the ground.

Emails included a link to a video Ford posted on YouTube and on BitChute, the British video hosting service, Levys office said. The video was called War Has Been Declared F***em All, an 11-minute recording of Ford inside his kitchen and talking about how he believed the justice system to be corrupt, making statements about police officers, correctional officers, court officers, a judge, a prosecutor, defense attorneys and others, including Middlesex Sheriffs officers.

Read more: Suspect in Boston Caribbean Carnival shooting arraigned from hospital bed

And guess what? Im f***ing coming, he said. Im f***ing coming, and hells f***ing coming with me. Im going to Im f***ing get every last one of you mother******s. I know where you work. And I am coming to get you.

Levys office added that Ford threatened to break the arms and legs of every court officer and to kill court security officers working in the Plymouth County Courthouse. He also encouraged other law enforcement officers to help him by bringing gasoline, C-4, armored personnel carriers and SWAT teams to a planned confrontation at 8:30 a.m. on March 14, 2023.

Instead, local law enforcement arrested Ford on March 13, 2023, after the emails were sent, Levys statement read.

The charges of interstate transmission of a threatening communication each provide for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Beck of the National Security Unit is prosecuting the case, Levys office said.

Ford is in state custody and is expected to appear in Bostons U.S. District Court at a later date.
MONTAGUE  A 30-year-old Florida man accused of shooting and injuring a man on Tuesday is being held without bail for three months.

Gil Viera was arrested a little more than five hours after the 1 p.m. shooting and charged with 11 offenses including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, possession of a firearm in commission of a felony, carrying a gun without a license and possession of heroin and cocaine, said Laurie Loisel, spokeswoman for Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan.

He is being accused of shooting an Athol man on 11th Street in the Turners Falls section of the town. The 30-year-old victim was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield for treatment, Loisel said.

Viera fled the area after the shooting. After a search by local and state police, he was arrested on Interstate 91 in Holyoke, she said.

During his arraignment yesterday in Greenfield District Court, Judge William Maznaec deemed Viera too dangerous to be released and ordered him held for 120 days. Maznaec also set bail at $100,000 cash after the 120-day period, Loisel said.

His case was continued until Sept. 26, she said.
HOLYOKE  When students from Lyman Terrace head to school Wednesday morning, they will get there via a walking school bus rather than the big yellow one that children of the complex have been riding for more than three decades.

But parents are protesting the plan, saying the route to the Dr. Marcella Kelly School has too many hazards  two steep hills, busy streets and a dangerous Main Street crossing  and children should continue to be bused.

It is about the safety of the children, said Iris Espada, whose grandchild and nephew will be entering kindergarten and third grades and will have to walk to school for the first time.

The citys schools leader says the change is driven by costs.

But Espada and other parents are worried a child will be hit by a car walking to school or back home. They have many concerns, especially about children who suffer from attention deficit and behavioral disorders and dont listen, making it dangerous to walk to and from school on busy urban streets.

They said Lyman Bridge is safe but there have been so many accidents on the corner, Espada said. They didnt consider the weather.

Edda Amaro has three daughters who are 11, 8 and 5. She is especially concerned about her middle child, Luzianys Rosario, walking in traffic because she has hearing problems. While that daughter may be eligible for a bus for children with disabilities, Amaro never requested one, since Luzianys was fine riding the regular bus with her sisters and other neighborhood children.

She worries that children will have to walk through what she feels are dodgy neighborhoods.

The stuff that happens around here is not safe to have kids walking to school and coming back, especially kids that age, she said. If it was kids in middle school, they have a little more knowledge, they know to defend themselves a little more. It would be different.

Luzianys Rosario, 8, with her siblings Krizdielys Rosario, 5, and Yexleana Rosario, 11, at Lyman Terrance in Holyoke. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

A careful review

State Receiver Anthony Soto, who serves as the school superintendent, said school officials carefully reviewed the route before deciding children can safely walk to Kelly School from Lyman Terrace.

The city redistricted schools for the start of this school year, ditching the kindergarten through grade eight model and returning to separate buildings for elementary and middle schools. That change forced a review of all the bus routes in the city. That hadnt been done for at least seven years and likely longer, Soto said.

All families were notified of changes in their childrens schools and bus routes in January, he said.

The School Departments policy for decades has been that children in fifth grade and younger are bused if they live a mile or more from their school. That increases to 1.5 miles for middle school and 2 miles for high school students.

But when officials determine there is a safety issue, such as children being forced to walk along a busy street with no sidewalks or having to cross a problem area with no crosswalk, they will find solutions, including adding a crossing guard or including them on the bus route, Soto said.

Using software that maps bus routes, officials measured the route from the Lyman Terrace complex to Kelly School as 0.7 miles. Those children have been bused for decades due to a never-ending construction project on the Lyman Street Bridge that blocked a sidewalk, forcing walkers into the street, he said.

Construction is finally complete and a sidewalk has been installed. Police and school officials determined it is safe for children to walk. Their one concern about a lack of a crosswalk on Bowers Street has been solved by hiring a crossing guard, Soto said.

Some disabled children will continue to be bused, since their specialized education plans call for transportation to be provided. Soto said there are about 35 others from Lyman Terrace who will be walking.

Soto said the School Department must have consistent rules. He has seen situations where families live .99 miles from an elementary school, so children walk, while others who live 1.01 miles away are bused.

Cost concerns

One of the problems of adding a bus to Lyman Terrace is the price. This years transportation contract increased by $700,000, mostly because of rising costs of fuel and salaries. The city also added one regular bus and one minibus to its routes because of the switch to middle schools, he said.

The cost of one regular bus is $75,000 to $80,000. Under the state Education Reform Law, transportation is funded through the citys budget, not the school budget, so if the School Committee wanted to add a bus, members would have to request the money from the mayor and City Council, Soto said.

That is not to say transportation is set in stone on the first day of school and never changes. For example, parental concerns about a hazardous intersection will often lead to the addition of a crossing guard or the start of a construction project may force the city to add a bus, he said.

For Lyman Terrace, school officials have decided to try a walking school bus, which has children gathering at 8:15 a.m. at the corner of Front and Lyman streets. They will then be escorted by several adults to the school before the 8:30 a.m. start time, Soto said.

Its a compromise we had to make because of increasing bus costs, he said.

At least for the first three days of school, the walking school bus will be led by Assistant Superintendent Stephen Mahoney and the attendance officer. Once school is in session, Soto said he hopes to hire teaching assistants, parents or someone else who is willing to walk the children.

Parents, however, have their doubts about the walking school bus. They say three adults will not easily corral 35 children, especially since the younger children tend to forget safety rules when they are excited and start running around and playing with friends.

Families and children walking around Lyman Terrance in Holyoke Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 29, 2023. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

The lack of a bus puts Kateryn Berroa in a quandary. She starts her job as a corrections officer at 6:30 a.m. so she wont be around to get her daughter Addison off to kindergarten. Her babysitter does not have a car, but Berroa wasnt worried because she figured she would just get her on the bus.

She is entering the police academy in September and Berroa said her job will finally move her out of poverty. But if she has to worry that her daughter wont get to school safely and on time, it could stand in the way of her goals.

The assistant superintendent and the attendance officer, why are they taking away from their time to walk kids to school? she asked. Dont they have other jobs to do to take care of our kids in our school system? Its not OK.

She said there is no easy way for the kids to walk to school, adding she has slipped and fallen on the steep hill that leads to the school.

Kids walking to school with mental health issues is not OK. They will run into the streets, she said. When it rains, the kids are going to get to school soaking wet.

Parents will see how things go in the first five days of school. They plan to attend the City Council meeting Sept. 5 to plead their case, since its members have the ultimate say on funding buses.

Espada said the bus has been in existence since her son, now 42, took it as a kindergartener. It was always a relief to have it because parents knew their children would be safe from the time they boarded it to the time it brought them home.

We had this bus for many, many years and they are taking it away from us, Espada said.
SPRINGFIELD  The Massachusetts Gaming Commission met Wednesday in executive session to discuss a letter to MGM Resorts International addressing safety and security at the companys Springfield casino.

The closed-door executive session was allowed under state law to discuss the use and deployment of security personnel or devices, or strategies with respect thereto at gaming establishments, according to the meeting agenda and to a statement that the commissions chair, Cathy Judd-Stein, read into the record.

The commission did not come back into public session and members never specified what the issue is.
Metro Buffalo is now at least a temporary home to hundreds of undocumented immigrants who may well claim a right to stay in the United States based solely on their argument that they would be persecuted in their homelands.

But it will likely be years before a judge decides whether any of those people  some who came here on their own and some bused here recently from New York City  really do qualify for asylum, a legal shelter that the United States provides to those who would face grave danger back home. And every time another asylum-seeker from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba or some other troubled nation crosses into the United States, that backlog of asylum cases grows, as does the legion of undocumented migrants now living in limbo in cities across the country.

That being the case, even some of the most fervent supporters of legal immigration say America faces an asylum crisis thats overwhelming cities from Brownsville to Buffalo.

I hate to say this as a progressive person, but the federal government has the responsibility to protect our borders, said Dr. Myron Glick, founder and CEO of Jericho Road Community Health Center, which runs the Vive Shelter for asylum-seekers. And if they realize that millions of people are crossing that border every year, then they cant ignore that. They have to say: All right, we know theres going to be a downstream problem, whether its in El Paso, Texas, or in New York.

For now, Glick said, the federal government needs to provide localities with the resources to deal with the migrant influx  but he added that the government cant stop there. He favors comprehensive immigration reform, including reform of the asylum program that now finds itself overwhelmed with many people who wont qualify for asylum.

The brokenness of the whole system, from the federal level on down, is just causing a lot of suffering, he said.

What went wrong

The asylum crisis was rooted in good intentions. After more than 120,000 Vietnamese fled their own country after the end of the Vietnam War, Congress in 1980 formalized the process for welcoming newcomers who left their homelands to flee danger.

The Refugee Act of 1980 created two paths for such people to come legally to America. Under the U.S. refugee resettlement program, people register overseas, get vetted by a United Nations agency and the U.S. government and then settle in America with the help of a refugee resettlement agency. Buffalos burgeoning population of Burmese and Somali families came here largely through that program.

But that same law drew up new rules for those seeking asylum here. Asylum-seekers arrive here on their own and then file a claim with the government, arguing that they would be in danger back home because of their race, religion, nationality, politics or group affiliation. Then immigration court judges review their cases and determine whether they truly would be in danger and ought to be offered legal status as asylees in the United States.

The trouble is that over time, the number of asylum-seekers simply overwhelmed the system designed to review their cases. Despite the election of a new president who vowed to build a wall at the Mexican border, 146,074 people in 2017 filed asylum claims in the United States, up from 83,190 the year before. According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, the annual number of asylum claims fell under 100,000 in only one year since then. And in 2022, the figure reached 256,770, a number thats likely to be exceeded this year.

Why do so many people keep fleeing to the United States to claim asylum? David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of the Immigration Research Initiative, said its partly because the immigration system offers few other pathways for obtaining legal status.

This is clearly not the way the asylum system was designed to work, Kallick  who has long touted the benefits of the separate refugee program  said. It wasnt designed for this volume of people coming in, and thats why its going to probably be more than four years for these people to get their cases heard. And thats just wrong. Thats just a broken system.

Proof of the systems brokenness can be found in its statistics  which indicate that migrants are indeed seeking asylum as a last-resort way of staying in the United States when they arent really in danger. According to statistics compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, the six immigration judges in Buffalo and Batavia heard 1,760 immigration cases between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2022and rejected 70% of them.

But conservatives argue that New York City is partly to blame for the more than 100,000 asylum-seekers who arrived in the city in the past year. In response to a lawsuit in 1981, the city established a right to shelter policy for homeless men that was later extended to cover women and families, essentially saying the city had a mandate to put a roof over their heads. And that, Daniel Di Martino of the conservative Manhattan Institute wrote in a recent blog post, makes the Big Apple a destination for asylum-seekers.

New York Citys right-to-shelter policy is already encouraging people to leave their countries, and it could summon tens of thousands of additional migrants, further straining the citys already stretched resources, Di Martino wrote. While compassionate in intent, the policy is unsustainable.

Proof of that can be found in upstate metro areas such as Buffalo, which now house migrants bused north at the behest of New York Mayor Eric Adams because the citys shelters were full.

More than 600 migrants were bused to Buffalo, but only about 500 remain because some have left the area or the program. That figure doesnt include the number of asylum-seekers who came here on their own. Many of them end up at Jericho Roads Vive Shelter, which has been over its capacity of 120 for months, prompting Vive to seek shelter for about 40 people elsewhere  first at SUNY Buffalo State University, then at a rectory and a local hotel.

Glick, of Jericho Road, said the Biden administration has made the migrant crisis worse by striking an agreement with Canada this spring under which migrants would arrive in that country only over staffed land borders. That agreement shut down a much-used unstaffed border crossing in the North Country and, in essence, forced more asylum-seekers to stay here instead of Canada.

That had a huge impact on our work, because in the past, Vive has been more like this underground railroad helping people to get into Canada, Glick said. But now thats reversed and we have, you know, instead of 70% or 80% of folks going up into Canada or moving elsewhere, people are stuck in Buffalo.

Can it be fixed?

With hundreds of thousands of new asylum claims being filed every year, immigration judges in Buffalo and elsewhere just cant keep up.

So what can be done about it all? Gov. Kathy Hochul said the answer doesnt lie in Albany.

This crisis originated with the federal government, and it must be resolved with the federal government, she said in a speech on Thursday.

More specifically, any resolution would have to start with Congress  which has been in a state of partisan paralysis on the immigration issue since the last major reform bill was passed in 1986. Generally speaking, Republicans favor finishing the wall at the Mexican border while Democrats favor finding a legal pathway not just for many asylum applicants but for the millions of undocumented immigrants who have been living in the shadows in America for years. And with the two parties unwilling to compromise on those two demands, there hasnt even been a serious bipartisan attempt at immigration reform legislation since 2013.

Still, the Buffalo areas two members of the House offered the same solution that aims to deal with the immediate asylum crisis.

If I were asked to appropriate any money to this crisis right now, it would be to hire a SWAT team of judges  including retired judges  to come in and clear this caseload, said Rep. Nick Langworthy, a Republican who represents eastern and southern Erie County and the Southern Tier. Bring them in from all over the country to get this settled. Those that arent entitled asylum, well be happy to escort you back to Mexico. And those that deserve asylum, by all means this country welcomes you.

The six U.S. Immigration Court judges in Buffalo and Batavia could use the help. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), those judges faced a backlog of 2,364 cases as of July.

But those two courts werent even close to being among the most overburdened in the country. More than 100,000 people were waiting for their immigration cases to be cleared in Miami, while more than 90,000 were enduring the wait in New York City.

With that many people waiting, it takes more than four years and three months for the average asylum-seeker to get a court hearing, TRAC reported.

Amid such statistics, Rep. Brian Higgins, a Buffalo Democrat, suggested the very same solution that Langworthy suggested: more resources for the immigration courts.

What you need is to to expedite the process of adjudication, Higgins said. And clearly, the resources for that do not exist. Congress, if they wanted to do something about this issue, they could they could start there and provide an expedited adjudication of these these asylum claims.

For Langworthy and Higgins, the agreement on immigration pretty much ends there. Langworthy opposes speeding up the granting of work visas to asylum-seekers, saying that would only draw more migrants to America. Higgins favors it, saying working migrants could ease the labor shortage.

Langworthy, like many Republicans, said: Fixing the problem begins with sealing the border. Whats more, he called the situation a crisis of choice, arguing that the Biden administration actually wants would-be asylum-seekers to flood across the border.

Higgins, meanwhile, argued that Republicans weaponized the immigration issue for political gain and therefore dont really want to solve it.

What Congress is doing is pointing fingers and blaming everybody else from county executives to governors to to the president, but its not helping the situation at all, Higgins said.

In other words, Langworthy and Higgins echo the partisan divide that has left Glick mightily discouraged.

Because of the political nightmare that is Washington, there isnt the political will to actually have a comprehensive immigration policy that dictates who can come in and how we handle this and how we treat people well and how we protect the border and then downstream, how do we get communities the resources they need to handle this, Glick said. And so, instead, we have a disaster.
A 127-year-old water main under New Yorks Times Square gave way early Tuesday, flooding midtown streets and the citys busiest subway station.

The 20-inch pipe gave way under 40th Street and Seventh Avenue at 3 a.m., and quickly delivered a wet reminder of the perils of aging infrastructure beneath the citys crowded streets.

The rushing water was only a few inches deep on the street, but videos posted on social media showed the flood cascading into the Times Square subway station down stairwells and through ventilation grates. The water turned the trenches that carry the subway tracks into mini rivers and soaked train platforms.

Read more: Shark attack at New York City beach leaves woman critically injured

It took DEP crews about an hour to find the source of the leak and shut the water off, said Rohit Aggarwala, commissioner of New York Citys Department of Environmental Protection.

The excavation left a big hole and a muddy mess in one city intersection where workers dug with heavy equipment to get to the broken section of pipe.

Surrounding streets were open by rush hour, but subway service was suspended through much of Manhattan on the 1, 2 and 3 lines, which run directly under the broken pipe. Service was restored with delays by midday.

Only two local businesses were without left without water at the start of the work day, Aggarwala said.

New York City has about 6,800 miles worth of water mains  enough pipe to stretch from Times Square to Tokyo  and has spent $1.9 billion in the past three years upgrading outdated water and sewer lines. Breaks happen somewhere in the city almost every day, though the city said the 402 water main breaks last year were the second lowest number on record, and better than average for a U.S. city if the size of the system is taken into account.

The cast iron pipes used as water mains in the city in the late 19th century, like the one that broke, were known for their durability, but even those have a typical lifespan of 120 years.

Besides old water and sewer pipes and subway tunnels, the ground beneath Manhattan also contains a steam energy system and an electrical system that rely on components buried many decades ago.

Breakdowns can occasionally be spectacular. In 2007, an 83-year-old steam pipe exploded near Grand Central Terminal, sending a towering geyser of scalding vapor and mud into the air, swallowing a tow truck and killing one person.
Three people, including a man laying in his hospital bed, have appeared in court this week after they were arrested in connection with a shooting at Bostons Caribbean-American Carnival that injured eight people last weekend, according to the Suffolk County District Attorneys Office.

Sebastian Monteiro Fernandez, Gerald Vick and Dwayne Francis were all arraigned separately in Dorchester District Court on Monday, Aug. 28, James Borghesani with the office told MassLive Wednesday.

Monteiro Fernandez, of Dorchester, is facing charges of illegal possession of a firearm (2nd offense), illegal possession of a loaded firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, discharging a weapon within 500 feet of a dwelling and seven counts of armed assault with intent to murder, Borghesani said.

The 21-year-old was arraigned from his hospital bed at Boston Medical Center, officials said.

Read More: Organizers outraged after 8 injured in shooting at Boston Caribbean Carnival

Monteiro Fernandez, who was shot in the leg, was one of the eight individuals hurt in the shooting that happened in the area of Blue Hill and Talbot avenues in Dorchester around 7:45 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 26.

The shooting happened near the Jouvert parade that was passing through as part of the Caribbean Carnival. The parade, which started at 6:30 a.m., is one of two parades that are part of the carnival.

The shooting sent five men and one woman to the hospital, while the other two victims declined treatment. None of their injuries were life-threatening, according to Boston police.

Read More: Several arrests made in connection with shooting at Boston Caribbean Carnival

Surveillance video caught Monteiro Fernandez firing multiple shots at a group of men that were lingering around the Boys & Girls Club on Talbot Avenue, according to officials.

The other group returned fire, striking the 21-year-old in his lower leg and knee, Borghesani said. Monteiro Fernandez is then seen limping into a tow lot and handing a gun to an unidentified woman.

Monteiro Fernandez was arrest shortly after. Monteiro Fernandez was ordered held without bail pending a Sept. 7 dangerousness hearing, Borghesani said.

Its impossible to overstate the sheer recklessness of firing bullets on a city street at any time, much less when people are gathered to celebrate and enjoy a popular cultural event, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said. This shooting is frightening not only for the thoughtlessness of those involved and the injuries they inflicted, but for the potential fatalities that, mercifully, didnt occur.

Two other suspects, 30-year-old Gerald Vick and 30-year-old Dwayne Francis, both of Dorchester, were also arraigned Monday on firearm possession charges, Borghesani said. Vick was ordered held without bail pending a Sept. 6 dangerousness hearing and Francis was released on bail with conditions, he added.

No information has been released about the fourth suspects court appearance, who is a 17-year-old from Dorchester. The teenager was also caught on video behind the Boys and Girls Club towards Franklin Field, according to Boston police. He was arrested around 1:50 p.m. on Westview Street, police said.

The 17-year-old boy from Dorchester was in possession of a Polymer 80 pistol also equipped with a Glock switch, police said. He was placed under arrest for firearm possession. His involvement in shooting is under investigation.

Absolutely deplorable and unacceptable, the Caribbean American Carnival Association of Boston wrote in outrage on Facebook. We are praying for all the victims from the weekend. Were praying for your mental and physical healing and hoping for your full recovery.

The violence erupted after two rival gangs were seen taunting each other from opposite sides of Talbot Avenue near the Boys & Girls Club, according to a police report obtained by MassLive. Officers saw the groups taking specific notice of each other while ignoring the festival, the report reads.

As the groups got closer to one another, police determined that some of the gang members were armed.

Officers were also aware that gang violence has erupted at Bostons Caribbean Carnival in the past and noticed several individuals who had criminal paths, according to the report.

Read More: 2 people injured in shooting at Worcester Caribbean American Carnival Sunday

Officers started walking towards the groups and, when they were about 15 yards away, heard roughly 12 gunshots. This caused hundreds of people to run and duck for cover, police said.

Officers kept moving forward while looking for any victims. One officer saw a suspect, later identified as Vick, running up the handicap ramp to the Boys & Girls Club. He was arrested shortly after.

Vick also had a 9mm pistol with a large capacity magazine, equipped with a Glock switch, that enabled the firearm to fire continuously, in his possession, police said. Officers also arrested Francis onsite, police said. Francis had a loaded 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol.

Im heartbroken over the gun violence that occurred this weekend in Boston and Worcester amid proud celebrations of culture, community and joy, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy said in a statement referencing the shooting that occurred during Worcesters Caribbean Carnival on Sunday where a 15-year-old and 23-year-old were shot and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Im deeply grateful for the heroic efforts of law enforcement, public safety personnel and first responders whose quick actions have saved lives, Healy continued. Our administration is committed to being a strong partner to cities and towns by collaborating on a coordinated approach to get illegal guns off the streets, address the root causes of violence, and ensure safe communities for all.

Read More: Worcester Caribbean American Carnival joyful celebration of culture prior to nearby shooting

The Boston shooting remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call Boston police detectives at (617) 343-4700. Anonymous tips can be made by calling the Boston Police Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463).
Tufts University is mourning the loss of a 57-year-old professor who died after he was hit by a UPS truck while riding his bicycle in Newton this week.

Professor Andrew Alex Bohm, of Newton, was hit at the intersection of Bridge and Watertown streets in Newton on Monday evening, Aug. 28, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryans office said in a statement.

After first responders arrived at around 5:25 p.m., Bohm was taken to Brigham and Womens Hospital, where he died from his injuries.

The UPS driver remained where the crash happened, Ryans office said. No charges have been filed. The crash remains under investigation.

Bohm was an associate professor of developmental, molecular, and chemical biology, who taught at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University said in an online statement.

Bohm obtained a Bachelor of Science from SUNY at Binghamton in New York in 1987 and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1992, his Tufts profile reads.

He started as an adjunct professor at Tufts in 1998 and worked at the University ever since. Bohm leaves behind his wife Celia and their children, the University said.

Dr. Bohm was a beacon of guidance and support for the postdoc community for the past five years, the statement from Tufts website reads. From hosting coffee hours to kayaking on the Charles River, he built a community where postdocs felt valued, supported, and empowered to thrive both academically and personally. He served with an open mind, a generous heart, and a genuine dedication to the postdoc community and the university.

Members of the Tufts community are invited to a gathering in Room 114 of the universitys Medical Education Building on their Boston Medical Campus at noon Wednesday. A university chaplain will be present.

Counseling services are being offered the students and faculty as well. Tufts University will hold a vigil for Bohm and share details once they are finalized.

People can submit a remembrance of Bohm to TUSMcommunications@tufts.edu.
A suspect was arrested in connection with a shooting in Turners Falls during a traffic stop on I-91 in West Springfield on Tuesday, Aug. 29, Massachusetts State Police Spokesperson Dave Procopio told MassLive.

A search for the suspect started in the morning after the suspected shooter ran off into the woods near 11th Avenue in Turners Falls, Western Mass News reported.

Videos posted by Michael Wallitis on Facebook showed state police helicopters circling the area, known as The Patch, Tuesday afternoon.

There is an active manhunt going on chasing down an armed person after a shooting here in the patch of Turners Falls as I post this, Wallitis wrote. There is a state police helicopter circling my parents house and the whole neighborhood along with dozens of ground units surrounding the whole area with M-16s and shotguns.

State Police, police from Montague, Greenfield and Gill, Environmental Police, the Turners Falls Fire Department and American Medical Response (AMR) repsonded just after 1 p.m., according to the Greenfield Recorder.

The suspect was taken into custody around 9:20 p.m., Procopio said. He did not have information regarding the actual incident or the suspects charges.

Laurie Loisel, a spokesperson for the Northwestern District Attorneys Office, confirmed the shooting to MassLive and said the victim is expected to recover.

The suspect is being held pending arraignment in Greenfield District Court Wednesday, Loisel added. The investigation is ongoing.
First-of-its-kind research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will explore how womens breast tissue is affected by exposure to so-called forever chemicals.

The research will be funded with a two-year, $405,000 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the university said in a statement Wednesday.

Our overall goal is to understand if PFAS contribute to breast cancer development, Katherine Reeves, the associate dean of graduate and professional studies and professor of epidemiology at UMass School of Public Health and Health Sciences, said in a statement.

State and federal lawmakers have been trying for years to get per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more widely known as PFAS chemicals, out of public water supplies and the supply chain. The chemicals do not break down naturally.

Read more: Lawmakers hope to turn off tap of PFAS forever chemicals in Mass.

The chemicals are used for a variety of purposes, including making waterproof cosmetics, stain-resistant fabrics and carpeting and non-stick cookware. Theyre also used in fire-fighting foam at military installations, leading to contamination at scores of military bases.

The chemicals pose a significant public health risk. Theyve been linked to cancer and other serious health problems, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported in 2020.

Legislation now before the Massachusetts Legislature would ban the use of PFAS in most products to prevent new contamination, require sellers to inform customers if PFAS chemicals are present in their products, create new programs to clean up contamination that already exists, and would have the state regulate PFAS chemicals as one class rather than individually, State House News Service reported in June.

As long as we keep making and using things with PFAS, we will keep contaminating our bodies and the environment with ever-increasing amounts of PFAS. The only solution is to turn off the tap, Laura Spark, the senior policy advocate at Clean Water Action, told a legislative committee during a June hearing, according to State House News Service.

According to Reeves, nearly everyone in the U.S has some exposure to PFAS.

Were exposed to them in a variety of ways, Reeves said. Drinking water is certainly a very common one. Even though these chemicals are being phased out, were still using the consumer products that have these  think of the couch you bought 15 years ago that you Scotch-Guarded. Youre still being exposed. And the health effects are not entirely known.

Previous studies on animals have shown that the chemicals adversely impact mammary gland development and function, according to Reeves.

Some studies among humans have shown that women with higher exposure to PFAS chemicals breastfeed for a shorter period, possibly because their breasts stop producing milk, Reeves said.

In the new research, Reeves will use preexisting data and specimens provided by the Susan G. Kamen for the Cure Tissue Bank, which includes 9,000 breast tissue samples donated by healthy volunteers, along with their medical and reproductive histories, UMass said in its statement.

Reeves and her team will crunch data from 286 postmenopausal breast tissue donors who also provided a blood sample and gave access to their mammograms and measurements of their terminal duct lobular units. The ducts produce milk after childbirth, and the involution, or turning on of that process, happens naturally with aging, UMass said in its statement.

Most breast cancers come out of these terminal ductal lobular units, and a greater degree of involution is associated with a lower breast cancer risk, Reeves said.

Read More: Local PFAS activist welcomes national drinking water standard proposed by EPA

Researchers will measure concentrations of the five most common PFAS chemicals in the blood serum samples and try to determine whether they see an association between the concentration of PFAS that women have circulating and the level to which there is involution of the breast, Reeves said.

Were expecting to see that PFAS concentrations will be associated with less involution, meaning that there is a higher breast cancer risk, Reeves said.

The researchers also will use the volunteers digital mammogram files to examine breast density, according to UMass.

Weve known for years that higher mammographic density is related to an increased breast cancer risk, Reeves says. And were going to ask the question, is PFAS concentration in the blood related to the density that we see in the breast.

According to Reeves, higher PFAS concentrations associated with greater breast density would point toward a higher risk for breast cancer, though its possible that PFAS exposure itself is associated with denser breasts, according to Reeves, who added that other factors, such as genetics and weight, are involved.

Were taking advantage of these well-established biomarkers of future breast cancer risk to look at associations between PFAS and those biomarkers, Reeves said.

According to UMass, the eventual findings from the research also likely will foreshadow the long-term effects of new, similar chemicals as the legacy PFAS chemicals are phased out. This information may inform public health guidelines and new policies related to these classes of chemicals.

Its too early for us to study the health effects of these newer chemicals, but the mechanisms involved with these legacy chemicals can shed light on the health effects that we might expect to see from the newer chemicals that are being introduced today, Reeves said.
A Massachusetts man faced additional gun related charges after he took Snapchat photos of him with guns while on house arrest.

Freily Cabral, 25, of Boston and Quincy, was on house arrest with electronic monitoring following a November 2020 arrest for his second unlawful possession of a firearm charge, according to acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levys office. He also faced charges in 2016 for unlawful possession of a firearm and in 2017 for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was sentenced to one year in prison.

While on house arrest in August 2021, officials said Cabral posted photos of himself with five firearms on Snapchat. This included a black colored Glock semiautomatic handgun with a flashlight attachment; a black Walther semi-automatic firearm; a silver Taurus revolver; a black semi-automatic firearm; and a brown and silver revolver.

Officials said that in one of the videos, Cabral held three separate guns to his face as if he were using the firearms to make a phone call.

Police searched his house and found multiple guns, hundreds of grams of marijuana packaged for sale and $23,000 in cash.

On Thursday, Cabral pleaded guilty today to two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

The charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition provide for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of possession with intent to distribute marijuana provides for a sentence of up to 5 years in prison, at least two years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 14.
A forklift driver who was taken to Boston Medical Center with life-threatening injuries following an incident at Boston Logan International Airport on Tuesday has died, Massachusetts State Police said.

Around 3:30 p.m., investigators believe a a 51-year-old man from Winthrop, who was a subcontractor for JetBlue, tried to drive a Komastu forklift through a lower bag service entrance that had a clearance of 8 feet, 6 inches, state police said.

As he drove through, the forklifts backrest extension  a part of the equipment that attaches to the front and is designed protect the operator from loads falling toward him  was raised, according to state police.

The backrest was higher than the clearance height, and collided with the beam at the top of the entrance, police said. This caused the forklift to tip over and fall on top of the man, who was thrown onto the pavement.

Several co-workers rushed over and used an aircraft tow bar to lift the forklift enough to pull the man out from underneath. State Troopers arrived shortly after and started performing CPR.

It happened in an outdoor loading area behind Gate C26 in Terminal C, where there is no public access, state police said.

The man was taken to Boston Medical Center where he later died, according to state police. He was the only person on the forklift, police added. His name was not released.

Read More: Boston removes gender markers from marriage certificates

The mans death is being investigated by The State Police Detective Unit for Suffolk County, the State Police Crime Scene Services Section, and the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section.
A coyote that attacked and bit a woman in Fall River on Monday tested positive for rabies, according to the Fall River Police Department.

At about 5:45 a.m., police were called after a 54-year-old woman walking her dog near the South Winds Apartments in the North End was attacked by a coyote. Her neighbors heard her screaming and fending off the animal after it bit both her legs and arm, according to reports by The Boston Globe and The Herald News.

Police on Wednesday morning said the coyote tested positive for rabies and said that anyone who had direct contact with the coyote should call the Massachusetts Department of Public Health at 617-983-6800.

Officials at the Department of Public Health could not be immediately reached.

After attacking the woman, the coyote confronted workers of a grounds crew at the Fall River Country Club less than a mile away from the South Winds Apartments. The coyote tried to attack one of the employees who managed to scare it away, outlets reported.

When police arrived, they shot and killed the animal after it became aggressive.

(Police) were able to spot the coyote, and it took an aggressive stance towards the officer, a police spokesperson told The Herald News. Unfortunately, the manner in which the coyote was acting so aggressively, they were forced to put it down.

Fall River Police Sgt. Moses Pereira told Boston.com that the coyote attacked one person and tried to attack a second before police used deadly force.

Pereira told MassLive that the woman was still in the hospital as of Tuesday evening but did not know whether she remained there on Wednesday morning.

The attacks by the coyote on the woman and the encounter at the country club are so far the only reported incidents, according to Pereira.

What is rabies?

Rabies is a serious disease that affects the brain and spinal cord of mammals such as cats, dogs, raccoons, other mammals and people, according to the states Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences.

It is rare for people to get rabies, and of the 55,000 people who die of rabies every year around the globe, only one or two deaths happen in the United States, according to the laboratory.

After a person is exposed to rabies, they can be given shots around the bite or scratch to help fight the virus where it entered the body. A person will also get four to five vaccine shots in their arm over several weeks, which can be life-saving if given before a person starts to get sick.
A federal judge on Wednesday held Rudy Giuliani liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of fraud, entering a default judgment against the former New York City mayor and ordering him to pay tens of thousands of dollars in lawyers fees.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said the punishment was necessary because Giuliani had ignored his duty as a defendant to turn over information requested by election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea ArShaye Moss, as part of their lawsuit.

Their complaint from December 2021 accused Giuliani, one of Donald Trumps lawyers and a confidant of the former Republican president, of defaming them by falsely stating that they had engaged in fraud while counting ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

The ruling enables the case to move forward to a trial in federal court in Washington to determine any damages that Giuliani must pay. He will have a final opportunity to produce the requested information, known under the law as discovery, or face additional sanctions if he fails to do so.

In the meantime, Howell said, Giuliani and his business entities must pay more than $130,000 in attorneys fees and other costs.

Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention, Howell wrote.

Ted Goodman, a political adviser to Giuliani, said in a statement that the judges ruling is a prime example of the weaponization of our justice system, where the process is the punishment. This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI.

Last month, Giuliani conceded that he made public comments falsely claiming the election workers committed ballot fraud during the 2020 election, but he contended that the statements were protected by the First Amendment.
BOSTON  A Red Sox starter failed to make it through 5 innings for the 14th time in 27 games during August. Bostons defense also scuffled again.

Brayan Bello, who has been Bostons most reliable starter, pitched only 4  innings in the Red Soxs 6-2 loss to the Astros on Tuesday at Fenway Park.

Boston starters have pitched 5 or fewer innings in 20 of 27 games this month. Bello gave up three runs (two earned runs), four hits and two walks while striking out two.

The 24-year-old righty allowed back-to-back solo homers to Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez with one out in the first inning. Bregman connected on a 94.4 mph sinker and sent it 403 feet to left-center field. Alvarez hit a slider, sending it 334 feet to right field with a 113.2 mph exit velocity.

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Bad Red Sox defense leads to a Houston run

Houston went ahead 3-1 in the fifth. Rafael Devers made a fielding error with one out on Mauricio Dubons grounder to third. David Hamilton had a chance to turn a double play to escape the inning without any runs scoring but he skipped a throw past first baseman Triston Casas after stepping on the second base bag for the second out. The next hitter, Bregman, ripped an RBI single.

McGuire cant tag out runner

Dubons two-run double to center field in the sixth off John Schreiber made it 5-1. Trevor Story cut off Adam Duvalls throw from center. Storys throw home to Reese McGuire beat the second runner, Yainer Diaz. But McGuire failed to get the tag down and Diaz was called safe.

Duvall homers again

Adam Duvall cut it to 5-2 with a 389-foot homer to left field in the bottom of the sixth inning. Duvall has homered in seven of his past nine games.

Houston got its four-run lead back in the seventh.
It is the empowerment they had long lacked. With the help of the Adult Survivors Act, former women prisoners who say they suffered sexual abuse from corrections officers during their periods of confinement  but were unable or unwilling to pursue litigation at the time of the alleged abuse  are now able to seek justice from New York States Department of Corrections and Community Service.

The Adult Survivors Act, a piece of legislation passed in May, 2022, gives people who say they were sexually abused a one-time opportunity to file suits regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred  often decades after the statute of limitations for most criminal cases has expired.

As a result, long-buried and often-horrifying narratives of physical and mental trauma are being brought to light and  finally  taken seriously. New York State is legally obliged to defend against these cases, but, even so, its response has been remarkably tone-deaf, particularly in its use of culpable conduct language against the defendants, strangely applied to sexual acts between guards and inmates that are illegal under any circumstances.

Regardless, even as it defends, the state also needs to investigate. Given the sheer number of these cases, it is urgently necessary for prison authorities to take a good hard look at how correctional officers are vetted and monitored as well as pursue aggressive action to make sure those who abuse are removed from the system.

Thousands of women are now in the process of initiating lawsuits  and a recent report from News Albany correspondent Chris Bragg indicated that many of these claims are coming from Western New York prisons, with Albion Correctional Facility in Orleans County a major source.

One of the former Albion inmates who is suing, Sierra Johnson, describes being raped and then intimidated with official punishments to the extent she worried that she would be killed before ever being released. She is accusing three Albion officers of abuse. Another claimant, who remains anonymous, describes blind spots unmonitored by cameras, including a laundry room where an officer entered the space and told everyone to leave before attacking her.

Its important to make clear that New York State has a sad history of sexual abuse inside its prisons; successful suits brought by women prisoners include a series of actions against Manhattans notorious (and now shuttered) Bayview Correctional Facility. And a 2012 landmark judgment against Albion Correctional ordered New York State to pay a former inmate $605,000. During the course of that case, it was discovered that the officer who had raped her was still on active duty even though he was already under investigation for another attack.

This deadly combination of too much opportunity and not enough oversight can and must be addressed; other than legally designated areas of privacy  which doesnt include laundry rooms  cameras should be monitoring 24/7. Better screening and ongoing training should help winnow out abusive officers as well as maintain awareness that abusive behavior comes with serious penalties.

Another grim acknowledgement must be made: New York is by no means alone in running prisons where sexual abuse accusations by female inmates are common. A 2022 New York Times report refers to an epidemic of assaults against female prisoners at the 160,000-inmate Federal Bureau of Prisons. One U.S. prison, the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, Calif., has such a culture of abuse and cover-ups that it is known by many as the rape club.

Even the unquestionably conservative columnist George Will has recently stated, Americans would gag if they had an inkling of what occurs, unreported, in prisons.

That curtain is being lifted, with critical help from the Adult Survivors Act. The resulting lawsuits shine a necessary spotlight that should evoke public outrage, official action and justice for the abused.

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
BOSTON The Red Sox have optioned righty Kyle Barraclough back to Triple-A Worcester one day after the Astros pounded him for 10 runs on 11 hits, six walks and three hit batsmen in 4.1 innings.

The move was expected. Boston recalled left-handed reliever Joe Jacques to take Barracloughs spot on the 26-man roster. Jacques has pitched for the Red Sox this season, posting a 5.85 ERA in 17 outings. He has 14 strikeouts and five walks in 20 innings. Opponents are batting .333 against him. The 28-year-old southpaw has a 2.83 ERA in 35 inning for Worcester.

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Manager Alex Cora left Barraclough in Mondays game to reset the overworked bullpen.

I feel awful, said Cora of leaving the veteran out there for four innings. I feel bad. It happened to (the Astros) last week. They brought up a guy who threw 100 pitches and saved their bullpen. He wanted to go out in the ninth. We were thinking about actually sending out a position player, but he was like, You know what? Ill take this one. Il finish this one.

Barraclough has a 2.43 ERA in 10 outings (nine starts) at Worcester this year.

The Red Sox and Astros will play at 7:10 p.m. at Fenway Park. Ceddanne Rafaela is not in the lineup. David Hamilton will play second base.
WESTFIELD  Police in Westfield are asking the public to help identify a man who allegedly stole several credit cards from a womans vehicle and used them to buy thousands of dollars of merchandise from a retail store on Springfield Road.

Usually, [the thief] will use it as quickly as they can, said Westfield Police Detective Jason Williams.
When Worcester Police searched the Northborough home where Steven Foley lived, chemical tests revealed the presumptive presence of blood on the floorboards, according to testimony in Foleys murder trial in Worcester County Superior Court Tuesday.

Worcester Police Sgt. Eric Boss testified he executed multiple search warrants in the wake of Cynthia Webbs death in 2017.

Webb was found dead and burning in a car in Hope Cemetery in Worcester the morning of Dec. 12, 2017. Foley is charged with murder and malicious damage to a motor vehicle.

While evidence on Monday, the first day of Foleys trial, largely concerned timeline evidence, testimony Tuesday centered on physical evidence, including blood testing and DNA testing.

Boss told the jury that in two searches of 76 Shady Lane, where Foley lived with his girlfriend, chemical tests returned a presumptive positive for blood on the floorboards.

When Assistant District Attorney Brett Dillon asked if Boss noted any particular patterns in the luminescent patterns revealed by one test, Boss said there appeared to be swirls as if someone had attempted to clean the area.

Under cross-examination Boss testified that a subsequent test, meant to confirm whether blood evidence is human, did not return a positive result. Boss said the Worcester Police Department has since stopped using that subsequent test, and now if an item returns a presumptive positive test for blood, its sent to the state crime lab for further testing.

Boss said tests of the bedding, mattress and box spring did not return positive results for blood, but that another test on the wheels of the bed frame also returned a positive result.

Boss said following those tests, police removed several segments of floorboard, many of which showed red-brown staining between the boards.

Worcester Police Sgt. Elise Miranda, who worked in the departments crime scene unit at the time, testified she tested stains from many of the floorboards at the departments laboratory, and her tests also returned a presumptive positive result for blood.

Defense attorney Sarah Hamilton questioned Miranda, attempting to establish that Miranda was not present when the floorboards were removed, and that they had been provided to the WPD lab loosely stacked in a box meant for storing rifles.

Lindsey Bird, a forensic scientist at the Massachusetts State Police crime lab, testified that she analyzed a swab taken from the stain in one of the floorboards, and that the profile matched Webb, with less than a 1-in-42-nonillion (a number with 30 zeroes) chance it could be from another person.

Bird also testified the sample contained DNA from a male, but that male was unidentifiable due to the small size of the sample compared to the amount of female DNA.

Hamilton questioned Bird regarding the multiple ways a DNA sample could end up between two floorboards  skin cells, saliva, vomit, DNA from one person transferring to another person then being deposited on the boards.

Following that line of questioning, Bird testified that, based on her training and experience when we test a swab from a red brown stain that is presumed to be blood  we get the DNA from the stain and not the material that was around it.

The days previous evidence included testimony from Jason Prashaw, Foleys next door neighbor in Northborough, who said the night of Dec. 11 and the morning of Dec. 12 he noticed an unfamiliar maroon car in Foleys driveway, and as he left for work later on the morning of the 12th, saw Foley returning toward his home.

Ricardo Leal, a custodian of records with T-Mobile, testified regarding cell phone evidence and identifiers unique to Foleys contract and cell phone, which paved the way for intelligence analyst Lisa Schultz.

Schultz, using a mix of surveillance videos and cell phone data provided by Worcester Police, showed a 45-minute video interspersing the cell data with individuals and vehicles shown on the videos.

Schultz said the data showed Foleys cell phone active in zones that corresponded to Marios Showplace in Webster, where Webb worked as a dancer  where video showed a man she identified as Foley interacting with a woman she identified as Webb  as well as coinciding with an area near Hope Cemetery shortly after firefighters responded for the reported burning car, and when taxi company workers said Foley requested a ride to Northborough.

Other cell data showed Foley making a call from the Northborough area in the early-morning hours of Dec. 12, 2017, also coinciding with when a taxi driver said he was called to pick Foley up and drop him off near the Lamplighter club in Worcester. Surveillance video showed one car arriving at that club the evening of Dec. 11, and two people switching places in a different vehicle and driving off that same evening.

Testimony resumes Wednesday morning.
The District 1 Candidate Forum in Worcester remained mostly cordial and sometimes candidates even broke out in laughter, as they answered questions about police funding, housing projects and more.

One of the most pointed questions of the night in Notre Dame Academys auditorium came from candidate Jenny Pacillo when she asked fellow candidate Dave Peterson if he thought it was responsible and respectful to run for city council when hes expressed how demanding his job is in the summer months.

Peterson, who is the General Manager of the Worcester Bravehearts, said that while his job is demanding he will be responsive to residents.

I respond to emails. I answer your phone calls. I go to lunch with you, Peterson said, after going on to joke that it is unfortunate that he is single but it means he will be available to answer phone calls from residents.

Pacillo, who works as the editor of Pulse Magazine, is a stay-at-home mom and the leader of the neighborhood association, also faced some difficult questioning, but from moderator Hank Stolz.

Stolz brought up a video that has circulated on social media during the race from a three-year-old podcast where she said she would make city council a circus to get more people involved and make it less boring.

Pacillo emphasized that the comments were made on a comedy podcast and were sarcastic comments that included jokes about a generation that is different from hers.

If you want to know the actual way I feel you can look at what Ive done, Pacillo said, citing that she has attended every neighborhood meeting for the last five and half years.

Peterson argued that he has worked entertaining people in a ball park for the last 15 years and never made a disparaging comment about anyone that was in the ballpark.

Fellow candidate Larry Shetler, a retired urban planner who used to work under former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, turned the discussion away from the video to how Worcester governs itself and if it should continue with its city manager.

Later in the night, Shetler called for a strong mayor and city council, which would be moving away from the citys current form of government, stating that the city needs serious leadership to reach some of the goals that were raised during the forum.

Both Pacillo and Peterson made comments that suggested they are open to reviewing the citys charter.

Many of the candidates stances throughout the night did not differ greatly.

Read more: Worcester Caribbean American Carnival joyful celebration of culture prior to nearby shooting

When asked if they would defund the police, all three candidates said they would not and Shetler said specifically that he would fund the police.

Despite signing onto an online petition calling for the defunding of the Worcester Police Department, Pacillo said the petition was related to excessive use of force complaints and nowhere on this petition was there ever mention of the police budget.

Pacillo said she attended the civilian police academy after signing onto the petition to help better understand policing from their point of view and said she knows the police department is short on staff and needs to recruit new people in new and innovative ways.

As for having school resource officers in schools, Pacillo said adjustment councilor and social workers are better equipped in some ways to handle issues at schools, but that having police in schools allows children to engage with them on a more low stakes person-to-person level. Peterson said he believes school resource officers belong in schools and help children see officers as someone who can protect them and be their friend.

The candidates opinions didnt differ greatly when it came to housing projects for the unhoused that have faced some push back from neighbors in the district. Both Pacillo and Shetler said they were conflicted when it came to the projects.

Shetler questioned how you balance a need to help people against beautiful neighborhoods.

Ive been attending the northern Lincoln Street meetings on and off for a few years, Ive seen what that neighborhood has gone through, Pacillo said. Theyre skeptical of the housing project on Oriol Drive.

The Quality Inn on Oriol Drive has already been purchased to be converted into 90 units of permanent supportive housing.

Theres already a concentration of services on Lincoln Street and I think the people that are putting in the hotel and doing the services need to do a way better job of speaking to residents to (communicate) their plan clearly and transparently, Pacillo said.

She recognized that the city is in a housing crisis and people need housing, but said residents should be able to have their voices heard.

We always need to make sure were looking out for the homeowner, Peterson said.

For a city councilor, Peterson said that will mean hearing from residents and looking into what they are saying, such as checking if there are needles on Lincoln Street or people walking into traffic and working to address it.

He said the city needs to make sure its giving the unhoused all of the resources that they need to recover and become productive members of society again, but that the city councils role is to make sure that while that is occurring the homeowners around the development are buying into it.

One of Petersons comments that received the most applause during the night was turning the old Saint-Gobains factory into a movie studio. The Worcester Business Development Corporation has received millions of dollars to help them clean up the site which has been designated as a brown field.

Shelter and Pacillo both said they loved the idea of the 51-acre lot being converted into a movie studio, which is a rumor that has been floating around.

In closing statements, Pacillo said as a someone who shares the same dreams and faces the same challenges as District 1 residents, she would work to uplift the citys families, prioritize accessible health care, affordable housing and a clean, safe environment.

Peterson highlighted the work he did to keep the Worcester Bravehearts relevant and profitable during the pandemic and the arrival of the Worcester Red Sox and said he is ready to bring that experience to the public sector.

Shetler said he plays well with others and told voters who were looking for a person who can work in coalition that he would appreciate it if they chose him.

The preliminary election in Worcester are Sept. 5. Early voting started Monday.
MAYO will gain an additional TD as part of the recommendations of the An Coimisiun Toghchain with electoral divisions currently in the Galway West constituency to be transferred back to Mayo.

An Coimisiun Toghchain, Irelands Independent Electoral Commission published its recommendations on Irelands Dail and European Parliament Constituency Review this morning which will see the number of Dail TDs increase from 160 to 174 and the number of Dail constituencies to increase from 39 to 43.

With regard to the Mayo constituency, An Coimisiun Toghchain recommends it becomes a five seat constituency, with the addition of one seat. The Mayo constituency is currently a four-seat constituency with a population of 132,044, an increase of 7,069 (5.66 percent) since 2016.

The constituency had been a five-seat constituency from 1995 to 2013 when it was reduced to a four seater with a significant part of south Mayo transferred to Galway West.

Six electoral divisions in the south eastern part of Co Mayo  Cong, Houndswood, The Neale, Kilmaine, Dalgan and Shrule - with a total population of 5,926 are recommended for transfer to the Mayo constituency from the Galway West constituency.

Submissions received by the Commission were overwhelmingly in favour of removing the breach in the Mayo county boundary with many submissions calling for Mayo to be allocated an extra seat and become a five-seat constituency.

An Coimisiun Toghchain stated that the primary factors for the Commission in relation to the Mayo constituency was the breach of the county boundary by the Galway West constituency, and the increase of 7,069 of population in the Mayo constituency since the 2016 Census. The four seat Mayo constituency, with a population of 132,044, has a variance of 11.55 percent which is beyond what the Commission would consider acceptable, they read in this mornings report.

The decision to recommend the return of the six electoral divisions will be welcomed by the local population who had made submissions to An Coimisiun Toghchain calling for the removal of the breach of county boundary.

Ballinrobe-based councillor Michael Burke described the recommendation as a wrong being put right.

The parts of South Mayo that were in Galway West for the last number of elections have been reinstated to the Mayo constituency. I am delighted that the Electoral Commission has returned the areas in South Mayo which had been in the Galway West Constituency back to the Mayo Constituency for future elections. I was delighted to support the Mayo Fine Gael Organisations submission to the commission along with those of Deputy Michael Ring and Deputy Alan Dillon, he wrote on his Facebook page.

He added: I would like to thank Minister Hildegarde Naughton and Senator Sean Kyne for their work in ensuring these areas of South Mayo were not forgotten while they were part of the Galway West Constituency. Many of the works carried out in these areas in South Mayo over the past number of years would not have happened without their assistance.
A FUNDRAISING night in aid of well-known Bekan man, Jim Duggan, who is currently in New York undergoing preparatory examinations ahead of a proposed life-saving transplant operation, will take place this Sunday in the Castlecourt Hotel in Westport.

Jim was diagnosed with Leukaemia in May 2022 and despite receiving a bone marrow transplant in September 2022, he was informed in July that he had three months to live and to go home and get his affairs in order as there was no chance of getting a second transplant in Ireland.

The married father of three children has been given a lifeline when he travelled to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York for treatment and was informed he had three suitable bone marrow donors.

However, the family were informed they need to be in a position to pay upfront for the bone marrow transplant which is estimated to cost between $1.3m and $2.2m.

As a result his family launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds for substantial costs involved in the procedure and this Sunday they will host a charity night in The Castlecourt Hotel in Westport. Jim's daughter, Corina Cunningham, who has resided in New York for the last five years, outlined the urgency of the treatment.

Jim was diagnosed with Leukaemia in May 2022 and started treatment in June 2022 in preparation for a bone marrow transplant. Jim received a bone marrow transplant in September 2022 in Ireland.

It seemed like everything was going to plan until Jim's results suddenly changed. At the start of July, out of nowhere, his doctor brought him into a room alone and told Jim he had three months to live, to go home and get his affairs in order. The medical team also told him there was no chance of doing a second transplant in Ireland.

As you can imagine, Jim was heartbroken, as was his wife Bridie and three children, Tommy, Corina and Paul and his brothers and sisters. Jim said, This was the hardest thing to hear, not just because I wouldnt be around anymore, but rather because I was leaving my family and friends behind.

The treatment is for Leukaemia, a cancer of your white blood cells and bone marrow. Bone Marrow is the place where blood cells are made in your body. With Leukaemia, immature blood cells divide quickly and do not grow into mature cells. These immature cells crowd your Bone Marrow and prevent it from making normal healthy cells, bringing me to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.

But like anything, this treatment is expensive, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center requires payment of their medical bills before Jim can start the treatment.

Jim has asked me to set up the GoFundMe page to help us get started and give Jim the best chance of receiving the best care and chance of beating this cancer. I will be paying the medical bills on his behalf directly to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as I am resident in the US. Jim will be living with me while receiving his care.

Every donation is greatly appreciated. Thank you to all of the Duggan and Heneghan family and friends who have donated already and continue to support us at this time, says Corina.

The family explained that ideally the transplant operation in New York should take place within one month, whilst there is no cancer in Jims bone marrow following the successful chemotherapy. However this is a temporary scenario as the cancer will return unless the transplant takes place. The doctors at MSKCC have estimated that this transplant should increase Jims life expectancy by 25 years.

As well as the cost of the transplant operation, Jims family have already paid around 600,000 of their own money to the hospital and there is approximately $325,000 still owing to the hospital.

The family simply cannot pay any more, this cost is out of their reach - as it would be for almost anyone in this unfortunate position. So, they now need to fundraise a minimum of $1.6m to save Jims life- as he will die if he does not receive a bone marrow transplant, a spokesperson for the family stated.

A fundraising campaign 'A Lifeline for Jim' has been set up to raise as much money as possible with the charity night in The Castlecourt Hotel on Sunday, September 3 among the events to take place. A 'Mega Draw' will take place on the night with prizes including vouchers worth 1,000 each for the Westport Hotel (Castlecourt) Group; Broderick Electrical; Delaney's Hardware Ballyhaunis; PJ Kelly Homevalue and a One for all voucher.

Several retailers across the county are selling tickets for us but they can also be purchased online via https://www.idonate.ie/raffle/ALifelineforJimmegaRaffle.

The link to the GoFundMe page for those who wish to donate is https://gofund.me/440435f6.
THE upgrade of the Newport Sewerage Scheme will not start until the third quarter of 2026 at the earliest, despite previous commitments by Uisce Eireann to complete it by 2025.

The issue of raw sewage flowing into sea at Newport was first highlighted by The Mayo News in 2016. Despite commitments by Uisce Eireann, the EPA and Mayo County Council for a new treatment plant, timelines for its upgrade have not been met.

The new treatment plant was initially down for completion in 2023 but Uisce Eireann, the new name for Irish Water, stated in 2022 that it will be 2025 before it is completed.

However, the EPA have now informed Westport councillor Brendan Mulroy that the start date of the project will now be the third quarter of 2026, with a completion set for the second quarter of 2028.

Absolute disaster

Speaking to The Mayo News, Cllr Mulroy  who along with the late Neill ONeill of The Mayo News first revealed that raw sewage was flowing into the sea in Newport  accused Uisce Eireann of not being honest to him or to the people of Newport.

I presumed the start date would be in a couple of months time and finished by 2026 and not just starting in 2026, he told The Mayo News. They have been leading us astray by saying a lot of investigations are being carried out, but we have never seen any proof of that. It has been all a stalling process.

I have been chasing Irish Water for a timescale but they never got back to me. The only time I got information was when I contacted the EPA asking them to fine Irish Water and they got the response out of Irish Water and the timescale.

It was never realistic that it was going to be done in 2023. They kept that line up and up and then they came back and told me they would have to revisit it with new plans for a new scheme because some of the plans they had were not fit for purpose.

Are people going to stand over the decision that the plant would be completed by 2023 considering all the documentation that was emailed to me. At what stage do they stop and tell the truth. They have continued to lie to the people of Newport and myself as a public representative.

This will come as a shock to a lot of people who would have expected this to be done. This further delay is an absolute disaster and at this stage Irish Water are a joke, the Fianna Fail councillor said.

Something in the Water / Raw sewerage flowing in the Newport River in 2016. The town is still waiting for a new treatment plant. Pic: Neill O'Neill

Foreshore licence

In a response to questions from The Mayo News, Uisce Eireann stated it is moving ahead with plans to develop a new wastewater treatment plant for Newport. It said an application for a foreshore licence to carry out survey works in Clew Bay has been submitted to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. No timeline for the commencement of the project was provided.

In building treatment plants and other infrastructure, we have to be mindful of the challenges around the statutory processes such as planning, environmental studies, land acquisition and other consents, explained Uisce Eireanns Programme Manager Colm Claffey .

There had been initial indications that the existing outfall pipes and points in Newport could be maintained. However, this is now not the case, and we need to identify a new discharge point in the estuary/Clew Bay. The stages of a project of this scale can take time to work through, but we need to proceed through each one to ensure the success of the project. Once we break ground and start construction, we generally progress these projects very quickly.

We submitted a pre-application to the Foreshore Unit to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for permission to carry out survey work in the bay. This pre-application was approved by the Department and a full application was submitted last year. This element is a critical path item for the advancement of the project.

When completed, a new wastewater plant will benefit Newport for decades to come. We would like to thank the local community for their support while we continue to progress with the project.

A lie

Newport is the only town in Mayo to be identified by the EPA where raw sewage is being released untreated into the environment.

When Cllr Mulroy and the late Neill ONeill highlighted the problem in 2016, it was initially dismissed by Irish Water, the EPA and Mayo County Council before they backtracked and admitted that raw sewage was being discharged. As a result funding has been ring fenced for the upgrade of the plant and was included in Irish Waters capital investment with an initial completion date of 2023.

Cllr Mulroy said the delay was unacceptable and called on the EPA to immediately start fining Uisce Eireann for polluting the bay if they do not bring the commencement date forward.

The EPA are the regulators and they are letting Irish Water get away with this. So from the time myself and Neill figured it out they have not fined Irish Water for raw sewage flowing into the bay.

From day one Irish Water and the EPA and Mayo County Council have been dragged roaring and screaming to the table. First of all they denied it was ever going into the bay and then when they acknowledged it they gave us a timescale, which was a lie.

I call on the EPA to fine Irish Water straight away and get that date moved forward as soon as possible. At the same time Mayo County Council are bringing people into court and people are being fined for faulty septic tanks yet the EPA are not in a position to fine Irish Water, he said.

Disgraceful

In response, the EPA stated that it considered its enforcement action in line with its Compliance and Enforcement Policy.

The EPA has identified the key national priorities that Uisce Eireann (as the national utility responsible for water services) must address to deliver improvements where they are most urgently needed and will bring the greatest environmental benefits.

The EPA will continue to keep all enforcement options under review in monitoring Uisce Eireanns progress in providing a wastewater treatment plant for Newport, the statement read.

Cllr Mulroy said he has worked hard with the businesses and the people of Newport in highlighting the problems of raw sewage flowing into the sea. He claimed that had it not been exposed in 2016, he is 100 percent certain the old treatment plant which was a holding tank would have been granted a licence and the EPA, Uisce Eireann and Mayo County Council would still be in denial.

The people involved in Irish Water and the EPA need to take a look at themselves and the role they have played in the Newport treatment plant because it is disgraceful. They have lied and let the people of Newport down but I for one fully intend to finish what I started along with the late Neill ONeill.
Mayo Fine Gael TD, Alan Dillon has welcomed the recommendations of the Electoral Commission to transfer six electoral divisions back to Mayo describing it as a 'victory for south Mayo'.

An Coimisiun Toghchain, Irelands Independent Electoral Commission published its recommendations on Irelands Dail and European Parliament Constituency Review this morning and recommended that Mayo will return as a five-seat constituency.

It also recommended that six electoral divisions in the south eastern part of Co Mayo  Cong, Houndswood, The Neale, Kilmaine, Dalgan and Shrule - with a total population of 5,926 are recommended for transfer to the Mayo constituency from the Galway West constituency.

Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon was one of the public representatives who made submissions calling for the six electoral divisions to be returned to Mayo and welcomed the Electoral Commission's recommendations.

This decision rectifies a deviation made in 2013 for over 5,000 Mayo residents who were temporarily repositioned to the Galway West constituency, outlined Deputy Dillon.

In his submission to the Electoral Commission, Deputy Dillon emphasised the imperative of upholding the county boundary and safeguarding South Mayo's regional identity.

I am extremely pleased to see the return of Cong, Cross, The Neale, Kilmaine, Glencorrib, and Shrule, representing a population of 5,962, to Mayo. The inclusion of the region in the Galway West constituency since 2013, inadvertently undermined South Mayo's heritage and rich contributions to our great county of Mayo, he said.

The Mayo constituency had been a five-seat constituency from 1995 to 2013 when it was reduced to a four seater with a significant part of south Mayo transferred to Galway West.

The Commission stated that the 'four seat Mayo constituency, with a population of 132,044, has a variance of 11.55 percent which is beyond what the Commission would consider acceptable'.

The recommendation to increase the number of TDs in Mayo from four to five will be a sign of relief for the current TDs as it will increase their chances of being re-elected at the next election.

Deputy Dillon who was elected on the last count at the 2020 General Election stated that the increase in TDs will 'ensure that the rights of the people of South Mayo are respected, and their voices are properly heard'.

There are a number of important issues such as advancing plans for the Cong R345 relief road, upgrading of the R332 Kilmaine to Foxhall Road from the Tuam by-pass as well as N84 Ballinrobe by-pass. I also look forward to working with all the local community organisations, sporting clubs, voluntary groups, and farmers in the region.

This is a great day for Mayo which now sees our constituency returned to what it should have been over the past decade, he concluded.
TRAVEL on short stay booking website Airbnb was worth 21 million to Mayos economy in 2022, according to a new analysis.

The Economic Impact of Airbnb in Ireland by Oxford Economics found 238,000 nights of accommodation were booked through Airbnb last year. This generated 25 million of Airbnb-linked spending in ancillary businesses such as pubs, restaurants and other tourist businesses.

The report found that 330 jobs in Mayo were supported by Airbnb, which has properties listed for short stays in every part of the county.

Entire houses or apartments accounted for 92 percent of Airbnb bookings in Mayo, with the rest coming from private rooms.

Speaking to The Mayo News this afternoon (Wednesday), Westport-based county councillor Peter Flynn said that the number of Airbnbs in his area were creating a shortage of rental properties for local workers.

At present, there are nine properties to rent in the Westport area listed on Daft.ie.

According to Insideairbnb.com, there are 504 properties  including 305 entire houses and apartments - listed on Airbnb in the Westport Local Electoral Area, which runs from Newport to the Galway-Mayo border at Killary Fjord.

Theres no debating the benefit of Airbnb in terms of direct visitors and money coming into the local economy, but its the other side of the equation that people are ignoring, and Airbnb are ignoring. Youre taking a hell of a lot of former long-term residential units out of the local economy, which is having a huge knock-on impact, particularly on employment, said Cllr Flynn.

People simply cannot get accommodation, particularly in the Westport town area. So the likes of the Abbvies are struggling, the Portwests, the bigger multinationals are struggling to get employees, the hotels are struggling to get employees, the restaurants, the tourism industry in general are really, really struggling to get people to come to relocate to Westport.

Of those who booked Airbnb stays in Mayo, 45 percent were from the domestic tourist market.

Eleven percent of bookings were made by visitors from The United States, with the United Kingdom (25 percent), France (5 percent), Germany (4 percent) and other countries (10 percent) making up the remainder.

By comparison, domestic tourists accounted for 24 percent of Galways Airbnb nights while visitors from the United States made up 27 percent.

The direct, indirect and induced impact of Airbnb expenditure was calculated based on several factors. This includes spending by guests on retail, leisure and hospitality outlets as well as extra income spent by the host in the local economy.

Airbnb-linked tourism employment impact was highest in the West region supporting over 1,200 jobs in 2022 (25 percent of total tourism employment impact).

This compares with 870 jobs in the South-West, 860 in the Border Region at 860 and more than 860 in Dublin.

The report found that Airbnb expenditure generated 79 million of extra GDP in the West region, which comprises Mayo, Galway and Roscommon.

Fifty-nine percent of this spending was not related to accommodation.

Airbnb-linked expenditure by Irish guests accounted for 4.1 percent of domestic tourism expenditure in 2022 amounting to 537 million from 4.4 million guest nights.

David Goodger, Managing Director, Europe & Middle East, Tourism Economics at Oxford Economics said that Airbnb listings play an important role enabling visitors to experience Irelands tourism offering.

They also help to disperse tourism expenditure and bring economic benefits to regional areas of the country which is particularly important for local economies, he added.
Its critical to read past the line Not all of the extreme weather events can be immediately attributed to climate change, in Extreme August weather events arrive with a warning: expect more, August 23. Theres no wiggle room here for climate deniers. Beyond El Nino, invasive plants and poor disaster response, the rising temperature due to heat-trapping emissions is demonstrably the force behind nearly all the disasters were experiencing. (Rare exceptions would include Vermonts recent flooding.)

Record heatwaves, storms and rainfall are not partisan events. Yet multiple Republican presidential candidates, including Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of disaster-prone Florida, absolutely denies the existence of climate change or wildly minimizes its disruption. (Note to Trump: Mar-a-Lago will be swamped by sea level rise.)

According to a recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, conducted in July during the hottest days in 100,000 years and while Canadian wildfire smoke blanketed parts of the nation, while 74% of Americans reported experiencing extremely hot days in the past five years, only 35% of Republicans say climate change was a factor compared to 85% of Democrats. A similar divide holds for droughts, floods, storms and wildfires.

Our state legislators are also at partisan odds. Federal policy is giving clean energy a boost, but its up to each state to make the most of it. We count on Gov. Kathy Hochul, with a supportive legislature, to meet New Yorks climate mandate.

Deborah Cohen

Buffalo
Since we first heard the word Raksha Bandhan, it has always served one purpose  a festival where the brother swears to protect his sister. For years, this has been the centre of heated debates.

Sisters need love, not protection.

Sisters wouldnt need protection if brothers would swear to not bother other mens sisters.

You get the gist.

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In the middle of this gender equality debate around Raksha Bandhan, lets take a look at reasons why every Raksha Bandhan should be about brothers and sisters looking out for each other. So, this year lets talk about how every sister should also promise to protect her brother as she ties the sacred thread around his wrist.



1. Protecting Him From Toxic Masculinity

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Toxic masculinity, a deeply entrenched issue, has long affected societal perceptions of masculinity. A sisters influence can be transformative for her brother  whether he is younger or elder to her. Encourage your brothers to embrace vulnerability, express their emotions, and reject the harmful norms that restrict the spectrum of their humanity. Tell them its okay to cry and feel low and help them get the tools to process such emotions.



By nurturing the values of equality, respect, and compassion, you are paving the way for a generation of men who prioritise emotional well-being over societal stereotypes.

2. Help Him Build Healthy Relationships

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Relationships  romantic or platonic  are a dynamic entity. You can never have all the answers to every question. However, when you join hands with your brothers, together you can pave the way for healthier relationships in different walks of life.



Our society teaches men to supervise relationships, not nurture them. Your advice on communication, empathy, and compromise can guide your brothers towards nurturing and loving connections. By highlighting the importance of mutual respect, active listening, and open dialogue, you're contributing to the foundation of strong and enduring relationships.

3. Be His Emotional Mentors

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The ability to understand and manage emotions is a critical aspect of navigating life's challenges. Sisters can play a crucial role in fostering emotional intelligence by openly discussing emotions and sharing strategies for managing them. By offering a safe space for their brothers to explore their feelings, sisters contribute to the development of emotional resilience. This foundation equips brothers to handle stress, communicate effectively, and navigate conflicts in their personal and professional lives.



Something as simple as Its okay, men cry too, can make a world of difference to him. He may have heard it in videos and read it on social media, but when someone close to you tells you this, it feels more real.

4. Talk To Him About Dignity & Consent

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In a world that grapples with issues of consent and boundaries, sisters can be powerful advocates for respectful behaviours. By emphasising the importance of seeking consent in all interactions and relationships, sisters guide their brothers towards actions that prioritise the well-being and autonomy of others.



Can you imagine what an integral part of his life this teaching will become. This is how we start to make our society a better and safer place for women  by teaching men the right things at the right time.

5. Make Him Aware About The Smallest & Biggest Of Gender Inequalities

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As advocates of gender equality, you can inspire your brothers to challenge stereotypes and prejudices. Encourage them to become allies in the journey towards a more equitable society. By endorsing equal opportunities and shared responsibilities, you're shaping brothers who respect and uplift every individual's rights.



By engaging in conversations about the importance of equal opportunities and fair treatment, sisters encourage their brothers to challenge societal norms that perpetuate discrimination. This empowerment leads to brothers who are not only empathetic but also actively contribute to a world where everyone's potential is recognized and celebrated.

6. Make Him A Better Father, Son, Brother & Partner

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The values you instil in your brothers today will shape the way they raise their own children in the future. By promoting empathy, kindness, and respect, you're nurturing a generation of better fathers who prioritise emotional nurturing and gender equality.



The journey of parenthood begins with the values imparted during childhood. You can play a pivotal role in shaping their brothers' perspectives on parenting. By promoting the right qualities and having the right conversations, sisters lay the foundation for brothers to become nurturing and supportive fathers, sons and partners.

Conclusion

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Redefine brotherhood as a dynamic partnership where protection, care, and love are mutual. Beyond the traditional notion of one-sided protection, sisters can become beacons of guidance and support. In fact, sisters aren't just protectors  they're catalysts of change, architects of better relationships, and advocates for a more inclusive world.



This year, as you tie a rakhi around your brother's wrist, remember that you're not just promising protection  you're pledging to guide your brothers towards being better men, husbands, sons, and friends.
The Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey is history, and there is less than a week left in the LOC Derby, ending on Labor Day. There are changes to the Southtowns Walleye contest, making it a tournament instead of a derby, and the date has been moved to Sept. 23  National Hunting and Fishing Day. Dont put your boat away yet just because Labor Day weekend is approaching 

Lake Erie and tributaries

Everything went perfectly Saturday for the First Responders Day put on by Southtowns Walleye. Organizer Steve Haak of South Wales said the weather was great, the lake was perfect and the walleye were hungry. They had 32 boats volunteer for the day, and there were about 100 first responders and veterans involved. Everyone caught fish, followed by a fish fry picnic at the association clubhouse in Hamburg. Kudos for a job well done. Bruce Kowalski of TAAR Outdoors in Lake View reports the word on walleye out of Buffalo is that fish are being caught from the departure buoy to the Canadian line in 55 to 65 feet of water. There has also been some decent action off Sturgeon Point straight out to 55 feet of water trolling west. Out of Cattaraugus Creek, two spots seem to be producing consistently, 65 feet of water and 80 feet of water, all on stickbaits and worm harnesses. Steve Brzuszkiewicz of Marilla confirmed some fish were also in shallower this week at the Catt when he found 30 boats fishing the perching area at the 50-foot dropoff. The fish were stacked on the bottom, using his favorite firetiger spinner with 4 ounces of lead and trolling at 1.2 mph. He caught three walleye before he hit 56 feet and decided to repeat that trolling path using the east wind. The next troll yielded three more walleye to finish off his limit by 9:30 a.m. The walleye were at the dropoff hunting for large gobies. Limit catches seemed to be the order of the day.

Matt Wilson of Lewiston reported good smallmouth bass action while fishing last weekend at the Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey. He found areas holding big fish, and his best five bass weighed more than 25 pounds Friday, using all plastics, drop-shotting Maxscent baits. Saturdays trip was another outstanding day, catching dozens of bass more than 19 inches long and at least seven fish of more than 20 inches. Matts brother, Tom, caught a personal-best 21 1/2-inch bass that placed third in the Odyssey. Nephews Trevor and Logan placed second in the youth division with a second-place bass and a second-place sheepshead, respectively. Check out Sundays Scattershots for a rundown of the Odyssey winners.

Southtowns Walleye has changed its one-day walleye derby to a six-fish total weight tournament Sept. 23 from 12:01 a.m. to 2 p.m. Weigh-in will be at the clubhouse located at 5895 Southwestern Blvd., Hamburg, and you must be in line before 2 p.m. The station opens at noon. This is open to the public.

Niagara River

The Upper Niagara River was invaded by 10 boats in the inaugural Casting for Courage event to raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer thanks to Anchor Marine on Grand Island, Catching Dreams Charters and the Courage of Carly Fund. According to Capt. Ned Librock of Catching Dreams, the tournament was a huge success. The teams boated 184 fish before noon, with Capt. Connor Cinelli of Grand Island leading the way with 31 fish that included bass, walleye and sheepshead. The biggest fish was a 27-inch sheepshead, and there were numerous smallmouth bass in the 19-to-21-inch range. Crayfish was a hot bait for bass as boats drifted three-way rigs around Strawberry Island and at the head of the river near the round house. In the lower river, walleye action was good for some Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey Derby fishermen, including Bill and Jake Joseph of Youngstown and Anthony LaRosa of Lewiston. Bruce Kowalski with TAAR Outdoors reported that 3- and 4-inch paddletails and 3- and 4-inch twister jigs did well on bass and walleye. One local favorite was Crack Head Jigs.

Lake Ontario and tributaries

There were three lead changes this past week for the $25,000 grand prize in the Fall Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby. First, it was Robert Sczepczenski of North Tonawanda fishing out of Olcott with Thrillseeker Sportfishing and Capt. Vince Pierleoni to take the lead with a 29-pound, 5-ounce king salmon on Sunday. The next day, a Fair Haven salmon took over the top slot  a 29-pound, 8-ounce Chinook reeled in by Brian Gasper of Queensbury. Tuesdays leader was a 29-pound, 13-ounce king weighed in at Henderson Harbor by Robert Karker of Bridgeport. Leaders remain rainbow and brown trout. The Derby continues through Labor Day.

Capt. Tom Pearse with Reel Adventure Sportfishing reports a nice mix of king salmon and steelhead between Wilson and Olcott in 400 to 500 feet of water. Greens and reds are the hot colors, with it being primarily a spoon bite. Salmon have also started moving into the shallow water staging for the fall run. Karen Evarts at The Boat Doctors in Olcott reports some bigger kings have been reported in 150 to 250 feet of water, down as deep as 110 feet. Green is working with flashers, flies, and meat. In Olcott harbor, she reports good perch, bass and pike action on live bait.

Capt. Mike Johannes of On the Rocks Charters reported decent brown trout action off Wilson during the VIP fishing day inside of 50 feet of water. Spoons worked best off divers 55 to 60 feet back. Town of Porter Supervisor Duffy Johnston nearly perfected his in-water catch-and-release technique for those on board. The biggest king salmon for VIP out of Olcott was a 19 1/2-pound king salmon reeled in by Andrea Czopp of Destination Niagara USA while fishing with Capt. Tim Sylvester and Tough Duty Charters. The largest Wilson fish was a 21-pound salmon hauled in by Tony Evans with the Wilson Town Council, while fishing with Capt. Alan Sauerland of Instigator Sportfishing.

Chautauqua Lake

Capt. Mike Sperry of Chautauqua Reel Outdoors did well on walleye over the weekend trolling the south end. Trolling crankbaits near the bottom is the program. The vertical jigging on the north basin hasnt kicked in yet. The musky fishing has been slow this week. He raised a few fish Tuesday casting, but couldnt get hooks in them.

Finger Lakes

It has felt like fall, with some maples already changing color, according to Capt. John Gaulke with Finger Lakes Angling Zone. Seneca Lake fished well over the weekend, with lake trout running 19 inches to over 30 inches long for Gaulke. Around 80 to 110 feet was good for his crew out of Geneva. They had good fishing on chartreuse and baitfish colors. Fishing was also good in mid-lake areas. Bass fishing is reportedly good here as well. Cayuga Lake fished well for Gaulke on Monday, and fair last week. Fish are really moving around a lot, and covering water is important. After you find them, they may not be feeding, so theres a balance between finding fish and being patient. Some rainbows and occasional brown trout are also being caught. Baitfish are abundant. Owasco Lake fished well for Gaulke on Thursday and Sunday. Fish are well-distributed throughout the lake now. Lake trout range in depth from 55-foot out to over 100 foot. Some rainbows are around, too.
News / Local

by Staff reporter

A group of senior military officers has gone on national television in Gabon saying they have seized power because elections held over the weekend were not credible.The officers, appearing on Gabon 24 in the early hours of Wednesday morning, said they had cancelled the elections, dissolved all state institutions and closed the country's borders.They said they represented all security and defence forces of Gabon.The announcement came shortly after the state election body said President Ali Bongo Ondimba had won a third term in office in Saturday's disputed elections."In the name of the Gabonese people  we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime," the officers said.The Gabonese Election Centre said Bongo had secured 64.27 percent of the vote compared with 30.77 percent for his main challenger Albert Ondo Ossa, after a process beset by delays.Al Jazeera's Catherine Soi, reporting from Kenya, said that "there are lots of uncertainties" surrounding the military action."There is a lot of tension as well. They [military leaders] are claiming that the government has not been respecting the will of the Gabonese people for so many years and they say that has to change," said Soi.On Saturday, the opposition camp said the election was a "fraud orchestrated by Ali Bongo and his supporters" after the internet was cut and a curfew imposed. French media outlets France 24, RFI and TV5 Monde were also banned, accused of "a lack of objectivity and balance  in connection with the current general elections", the government said."We also know that the internet is still shut down. It was shut down over the weekend and curfew was imposed," Soi said. "So, people are very afraid.""It is very hard for people in Gabon to access the information that they need to know what is happening," she added.Bongo was the candidate for the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), the party founded by his father, Omar Bongo, who led Gabon from 1967 to 2009. After his death, his son, then the defence minister, took his place as president and has been in power ever since."We have no idea where President Bongo is. The military did not say where the president is. Things are moving very fast," reported Soi.Tensions had been running high amid Saturday's vote with the opposition pushing for change and an end to the Bongo family's dominance of Gabon.Following the military announcement, the Reuters and AFP news agencies reported the sound of gunfire in the Gabonese capital, Libreville.This is a developing story. More updates to follow.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A Panel of Elders led by Former Tanzanian President HE Jakaya Kikwete is expected to land in Zimbabwe today. They will be here to peruse the controversies that emanated from the SEOM preliminary report.



All members of the SEOM will be assisting except Dr Mumba @ZANUPF_Official pic.twitter.com/JpqOg170ma  Farai Dustee Marapira (@marapira_farai) August 29, 2023

THE Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Secretariat in Botswana has dispatched its Panel of Elders (PoE) on a fact-finding mission into disputed 2023 harmonised elections results in Zimbabwe.This follows a damning preliminary report of the SADC Election Observer Mission (SEOM) chaired by former Zambian vice president, Nevers Mumba in the aftermath of chaotic August 23-24 plebiscites.Mnangagwa was last Saturday night declared winner in the just-ended presidential election by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).The elections management body announced Zanu-PF leader victor with 2 350 711 votes against his arch-rival Nelson Chamisa of Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC), who tallied 1 967 343 of total 4 468 740 ballots.This translated to the president-elect garnering 52, 6% against his contender's 44%.Following the announcement of the results, main opposition, Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC) challenged the outcome describing the polls as a sham and calling for fresh elections.The delegation will be led by Botswana's Charles Tibone as former Tanzanian president and the Panel's chairperson Jakaya Kikwete could not make it."The SADC Secretariat presents its compliments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of the Republic of Zimbabwe and has the honour to acknowledge receipt of the latter's note verbale Ref No. C/10 dated 21 August 2023 inviting SADC PoE to the Harmonised Elections in the Republic of Zimbabwe, in accordance with recommendations of the SADC Electoral Advisory Council Pre-Election Assessment Mission conducted from 12 to 19 August 2023 and Summit Decisions of 17 August 2023," the note reads."Consequently, the PoE will conduct a mission to the Republic of Zimbabwe between 28 August and 1 September 2023, in line with Summit directives of 17 August 2023."The PoE comprises eminent personalities that include former Heads of State and Government and former government ministers from other SADC countries, who were appointed for their reputable and demonstrable political and technical expertise in conflict resolution, preventative diplomacy and mediation.The mission to Zimbabwe, which will be accorded Very Important Person (VIP) status, will be supported by Dr Kondwani Chitambo, Kitenge Tunda, Tsholofelo Kereeditse and representatives of the SEOM already in the country.Exiled former Cabinet minister, Saviour Tyson' Kasukuwere who was barred from contesting the just-ended presidential election by the courts, welcomed the PoE's tour of duty."Zimbabwe SADC Mission. Welcome (former) Pres Kikwete and team. Let's resolve Zimbabwe's problem once and for all."It's a grave mistake to pretend that the SADC Election Observer Mission Preliminary Report is of no force. Once again ED (Mnangagwa ) in characteristic arrogance & stupidity adopts the ostrich mentality."Reckless antipathy towards regional body makes no heroes. It creates villains," said Kasukuwere on X, formerly Twitter.
The National Guard was called up in Florida on Tuesday and the military was making a series of moves and precautions -- including moving ships and planes, as well as evacuations -- to prepare for the impact of Hurricane Idalia, a powerful and historic storm bearing down on the state.

The Navy's base in Mayport, Florida, had gotten all but five ships underway by Tuesday ahead of what is expected to be an early Wednesday morning landfall, a Navy official told Military.com. The same official said that Navy aircraft from bases in Mayport and Jacksonville were evacuated to Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

According to estimates from the National Hurricane Center, Idalia is expected to hit Florida's western coast near Apalachee Bay. The National Weather Service called the storm an "unprecedented event" that is still strengthening. "Rapid intensification is still forecast to occur today and into landfall sometime Wednesday morning," the service said in a social media post.

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Pentagon spokesman Sabrina Singh told reporters at a briefing Tuesday that the Florida National Guard has been called up for state active duty, with a mobilization of more than 3,000 Guardsmen in position across the state for preparedness and response efforts.

"An additional 1,800 Guardsmen are on their way, bringing the total to 5,500 prior to the storm landing," Singh said.

The Navy's evacuations came after the Air Force ordered its own preparations Monday. MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, located further south of the storm's anticipated landfall, issued a mandatory order that was to be completed by Tuesday morning.

The base is home to U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command.

The evacuation order included uniformed service members and their dependents, as well as civilian employees and their dependents, who are assigned to MacDill Air Force Base and live in the nearby counties.

On Monday, the Defense Department's top spokesman, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, told reporters that Central Command and Special Operations Command were considering temporarily relocating some command-and-control facilities further inland as a precaution.

"This is something that they trained for and are prepared for -- to ensure continuity of operations," Ryder said.

The Air Force noted in a press release that its own evacuated aircraft would be moved to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio as soon as 4 p.m. Tuesday.

The Navy said in a Tuesday statement that it was also making preparations at Joint Base Charleston, North Carolina, which could be in the path of Idalia if storm track predictions are accurate.

"Base personnel and residents should prepare for the arrival of the storm and assess their own personal hurricane preparedness," the statement said. "At this time, no evacuation order has been given."

Meanwhile, the Navy official told Military.com that four submarines at the base in King's Bay, Georgia, will remain in port but under heavy-weather mooring.

Military installations have a history of weathering and being damaged by hurricanes passing through Florida. Hurricane Ian damaged several installations when it hit the state in 2022, and Tyndall Air Force Base suffered severe damage during the onslaught of Hurricane Michael in 2018.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: A Taxed National Guard Braces for Hurricane and Fire Season
KYIV, Ukraine  Russian officials on Wednesday accused Ukraine of launching what appeared to be the biggest nighttime drone attack on Russian soil since the war began 18 months ago. The Kremlins forces also hit Kyiv during the night with what Ukrainian officials called a massive, combined attack that killed two people.

Drones struck hit an airport in western Russias Pskov region near the border with Estonia and Latvia, damaging four Il-76 transport aircraft that can carry heavy machinery, Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

The airport strike, which was first reported minutes before midnight, started a massive fire, the regional governor and local media reported. Unconfirmed media reports said up to 20 drones may have targeted the airport.

More drones were shot down over the Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan and Kaluga regions, as well as the region surrounding the Russian capital, according to the Defense Ministry. Three main Moscow region airports  Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo and Domodedovo  temporarily halted incoming and outgoing flights.

Aerial attacks on Russian soil have escalated in recent months as Ukraine pursues a counteroffensive to drive the invading forces out of its territory. Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russia's military assets behind the front lines in the country's east and south. The Kremlin has repeatedly accused the Ukrainian military of also launching drones toward Moscow.

Russia, meanwhile, used drones and missiles in its biggest bombardment of Ukraine's capital in months, Ukrainian authorities said.

Two people were killed and another person was injured by falling debris, Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, wrote on Telegram.

Russia launched Shahed exploding drones at the city from various directions and then followed with missiles from Tu-95MS strategic aircraft, Popko said. It was unclear how many were launched, but Popko called the attack the biggest on the capital since the spring.

In the aftermath, Kyiv resident Iryna Oblat pointed to debris in the street and shattered windows in surrounding buildings.

Look where it hit, look what happened to the house, she told The Associated Press. Garages are on fire. We dont know how many cars and garages were destroyed because firefighters and police wont let us in.

In Russia, Pskov regional Gov. Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the airport in the regions namesake capital canceled for the day so the damage could be assessed during daylight.

Footage and images posted on social media showed smoke billowing over the city of Pskov and a large blaze. Vedernikov said there were no casualties, and the fire has been contained.

Pskov was the only region reporting substantial damage. In Kaluga, one drone was brought down and another hit an empty oil reservoir, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished, Gov. Vladislav Shapsha reported. Residential windows were shattered, Shapsha said.

In the Bryansk region, Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said six drones were downed overnight. One of them damaged an administrative building, he said, prompting a brief fire. Two were targeting a television tower, but were brought down. Russian media earlier on Wednesday cited local residents as saying they heard a loud explosion.

Two drones were downed over the Oryol region, Gov. Andrei Klychkov said. Two more were downed over the Ryazan region and one over the Moscow region, officials said.

The Oryol and Kaluga regions border Bryansk, and the Moscow region sits on top of Kaluga. Pskov, however, is about 700 kilometers (434 miles) north of Russias border with Ukraine, and was described by Russian media and military bloggers as an unlikely target.

Also early Wednesday, Russian-installed officials in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, reported repelling an attack of drones targeting the harbor of the port city of Sevastopol.

Fuel depots and airfields have been hit in drone attacks on Crimea or Russian-held regions that Moscow officials have blamed on Kyiv.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who usually refuse to take responsibility for any attacks on Russian soil.

Explosions in Ukraine were also reported in the southern city of Odesa and the Cherkasy region.

Ukraines air defenses destroyed 28 cruise missiles and 15 of 16 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones targeting the capital and multiple regions across the country overnight, the Ukrainian air force said in its daily Telegram update on Wednesday.

It said 43 weapons were downed in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in the south of the country. The statement did not say what happened to the other drone.

-

Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia.
Leaders at Fort Cavazos in Texas held a "call to action" on Aug. 16 -- a day to focus on mental health, suicide prevention, intervention and access to care and services -- following the suicide deaths of three soldiers assigned to the post.

In the wake of the deaths, however, the parents who pushed for a new Defense Department policy that improves troops' access to mental health care after their Navy sailor son died by suicide question why the Army is late in implementing the policy.

"[The Army has] a campaign, 'people first,' but clearly, that's not working," said Teri Caserta, mother of Brandon Caserta, who died in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2018. "Not having the Brandon Act implemented is completely irresponsible."

Read Next: Marine Corps Veteran Paul Whelan, Held by Russia, Is Spotted at Penal Colony in State TV Video

As part of the National Defense Authorization Act, Congress passed the Brandon Act in late 2021, requiring the services to implement a policy that would allow service members to request a mental health appointment at any time and receive an immediate response.

The Defense Department issued the instruction related to the law on May 5 of this year, requiring the military services to draft and institute their Brandon Act policies within 45 days. With the deadline of June 19, the Navy and Marine Corps announced their policy July 11, followed by the Air Force on Aug. 7.

The Army has yet to issue its policy and did not provide a reason for the delay.

Instead, Army Public Affairs Officer Bryce Dubee said Tuesday that the service is crafting its instruction.

"The Army is working deliberately to finalize a new policy that will comply with the Brandon Act and will empower soldiers with additional avenues to seek help confidentially -- for any reason, at any time and in any environment -- with the goal of reducing the stigma associated with seeking mental health care," Dubee wrote in an email to Military.com.

The Army issued a unified regulation earlier this month that codifies the service's suicide prevention program, nearly three years late and to little fanfare. The regulation, which goes into effect Sept. 8, spells out the focus of the program and outlines the responsibilities Army leadership has in preventing suicides.

But it says nothing about what soldiers can do for themselves or to assist others who are in a mental health crisis or contemplating suicide, as was intended, nor does it include the Brandon Act or address Defense Department Instruction 6490.08 -- the Pentagon policy that implemented the Brandon Act.

At least 255 active-duty, reserve and National Guard soldiers died by suicide in 2022. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, 49 active-duty soldiers died by suicide, up from 37 for the same time frame in 2022, according to Defense Department data.

While the circumstances that lead to suicide are complex, outreach, therapy and support are known to reduce suicidal thoughts and the risk that someone may harm themselves, thus the preventive focus on calling a crisis line, reaching out to friends or asking for a mental health evaluation.

"Not implementing the Brandon Act shows [the Army is] not serious about suicides and failing [its] soldiers," said Patrick Caserta, a retired Navy senior chief petty officer and co-president of the Brandon Caserta Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that focuses on suicide prevention initiatives, training and education.

Brandon Caserta died at Naval Station Norfolk after he had been bullied by a supervisor, and his command knowingly did little to stop the abuse while actively working to prevent him from transferring to another unit. His parents lobbied Congress to pass a law in late 2021 requiring the services to allow troops to request a mental health appointment at any time and receive an immediate response.

The Casertas said they have met with the secretaries of the Navy and Air Force but have yet to have discussions with Army Secretary Christine Wormuth about the law and the service's failure to implement it. They said the Army not only needs to publish its policy, it must publicize it to ensure that soldiers are aware of their right to a speedy evaluation.

"Everyone knows this is not a perfect fix. It's just a step in the right direction to reintroduce the programs the DoD has to help these people. They invoke the Brandon Act and then they can pick the program that addresses whatever problem they need addressed," Patrick Caserta said in an interview with Military.com.

Dubee said the Army will continue to encourage soldiers to seek mental health treatment, which it considers a "sign of strength and resilience."

"The Army's greatest strength is our people, and we are committed to their well-being," Dubee said.

If you are a service member or veteran who needs help, it is available 24/7 at the Veterans and Military Crisis Line, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org, or through the online chat function at www.veteranscrisisline.net.

 Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com.

Related: 'Brandon Act' Named for Sailor Who Died by Suicide Gains New Supporters in Congress
FORT JACKSON, South Carolina -- The Army's pre-basic training courses are here to stay and will likely be a fundamental tool for the service to fill the ranks amid falling academic performance and growing obesity among young Americans.

The Future Soldier Preparatory Course was launched as a pilot program in August last year, with most of it held here at Fort Jackson. Early results suggest it could be a massive success -- winning virtually universal praise from Army officials -- as it helps the service climb out of the biggest recruiting slump in decades.

Starting in October, the course will move from that pilot stage into a permanent school in the Army's portfolio, opening up more resources and funding, and signaling the preparatory courses will likely be an integral part of the service for the foreseeable future.

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"Our insistence on not lowering the standard to enter basic training means that we have to be ready to remove obstacles for those that want to serve," Brig. Gen. Jason Kelly, commander of the Army Training Center and Fort Jackson, told Military.com in an interview. "So, this is a program of record. Next month, that will be true. We're moving away from pilot."

As of Tuesday, 10,260 soldiers had attended at least one of the prep courses and moved on to basic training -- a 95% graduation rate, according to data provided by the service.

Those are soldiers who otherwise would not have been eligible to enlist at all before the new program, making up much of the Army's recruiting deficit. The service came up 15,000 soldiers short of its 60,000 recruiting goal last year.

The drop-off in recruiting is among the service's top concerns and is due to an amalgamation of issues. But at the top of those problems is a shrinking pool of eligible applicants, with Army officials estimating that only about 23% of 17- to 24-year-olds are qualified to serve.

Childhood obesity has ballooned in recent decades, rising from 5% in the 1970s to 22% among 12- to 19-year-olds today, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts have long labeled the runaway obesity epidemic in the U.S. a major national security problem -- one that only gets worse with each passing year.

Meanwhile, academic performance in schools has fallen in the past decade. ACT scores, which are used in college admissions, have steadily declined since the early 2010s, while the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a major dip in high school reading and math abilities.

The Army prep courses provide lower-performing applicants a pathway into the service. Those who attend the pre-basic training courses could not initially meet the standard, either by performing poorly on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, or being too overweight to serve.

Under the new courses, recruits have 90 days to come into compliance with the Army standard and then can ship off to basic training. If they don't, they go home and are removed from the Army.

"When I came into the Army, I'd never shot a rifle. I grew up an inner-city kid. I was taught how to shoot when I joined," Kelly said. "That's how I think about what we're doing here."

Despite the widespread optimism over the program, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth has tamped down expectations.

Wormuth said the service still expects to miss its recruiting goal of 65,000 new active-duty soldiers this year. While the active force forecasts falling short, the Army National Guard has made significant headway in recruiting this year, according to internal data reviewed by Military.com.

The pre-basic courses are separated into two tracks, academic and fitness. Previously, recruits could do only one of those courses. But in June, the Army started allowing recruits to do both. So far, 58 soldiers have completed both tracks, and there are a total of 108 currently enrolled in the overall program.

Those who need help meeting both Army academic and fitness standards typically do the academic course first, in hopes of losing enough weight during daily physical training to avoid having to go through the fitness course.

The soldiers retake the ASVAB every three weeks, and pick their military occupation with potential entitlement to enlistment bonuses, which have spiked to $50,000 for some roles, including infantry. Most recruits perform well enough on the ASVAB to progress into basic training after the first few weeks but can stay in the program as long as 90 days.

In some cases, they can pick their duty station, but those options are limited.

On average, the soldiers boost their entrance exam score by 19 points, a shift from being sub-standard to qualifying for a huge swath of jobs in the service.

In the fitness track, applicants can enlist with up to 6% more body fat than the Army allows. For men, the standard ranges between 20% and 26% body fat depending on age. For women, it's 30% to 36%. Recruits can move on to basic training being 2% above the normal Army standard, with the presumption they'll lose that weight there.

Recruits have their body fat measured once a week. On average, they lose 1.5% body fat each week at the prep course.

"Some have never learned how to make good food choices, and don't understand how to have a healthy plate. We're doing it here," Kelly said. "Same thing on the academic side. Regardless of what you were doing in the classroom back home, we're providing focus, training and investment, so that you can become all you can be."

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: Is Soldier Recruiting Up? Army Claims Yes But Won't Say by How Much
The Marine Corps' top officer has ordered the service to undergo a safety review in September following the crash of an MV-22 Osprey that killed three Marines during training in Australia, as well as two other deadly mishaps this month.

"We must conduct a thorough and harsh review of our processes to confirm that our culture of safety is still strong," Gen. Eric Smith, the acting commandant of the Marine Corps, wrote in an administrative message Tuesday.

The Marine Corps has had a notably deadly August. The crash over the weekend that left three Marines dead and three more seriously injured was preceded Thursday by an F/A-18D Hornet crash near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, that killed the pilot. Earlier in August, a lance corporal was killed during a live-fire training event at Camp Pendleton, California.

Read Next: Once a Pilot, Army Program for Recruits Who Fall Short of Weight, Academic Standards Is Becoming Permanent

A senior Marine official told Military.com that, while the review had been previously scheduled, the recent mishaps prompted Smith to start it sooner.

In his message, Smith ordered commanders and supervisors "at all levels [to] review and document their unit's approach to safety in order to reinforce proper procedures, provide information, and gather feedback for future actions" by Sept. 15.

The vision for the review, as outlined in the memo, is for commands to have group discussions around a mishap or scenario that applies to those individual units.

"Junior personnel will be asked to provide honest feedback on perceived hazards; they should expect to do so without fear of reprisal," Smith wrote. Senior leaders "must be ready to describe how they would manage and mitigate risks, including when the level of risk exceeds their ability to mitigate it."

"Candor is expected and required," the four-star general said.

The Marine Corps' most recent mishap, the crash of an Osprey while on a multinational training exercise in Australia, claimed the lives of Maj. Tobin Lewis and Capt. Eleanor LeBeau, the aircraft's pilots, as well as Cpl. Spencer Collart, one of the crew chiefs.

The incident again raised concerns over the safety of the airframe since it came just a bit more than a month after the news that a mysterious clutch issue that the Marine Corps knew has been dogging the aircraft since 2010 downed a training flight in 2022, killing five Marines.

The Marine Corps has said it reduced the clutch issue malfunction by "99%" but at the same time conceded it didn't know what was causing the issue. The claim of a near-perfect fix led to skepticism from family members of those victims.

For Smith, the problem goes beyond just the Osprey.

"Although we are making significant improvements to lethality and our readiness for future challenges, we continue to lose nearly a platoon's worth of Marines and sailors to training accidents and off-duty mishaps each year," Smith wrote in the memo.

"Safety is not a peacetime concern; it is a warfighting issue," he added.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Marine Corps Widow Pushes Back After Claims Deadly Osprey Malfunction Is 99% Fixed
The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.

Two years ago, America watched as Afghanistan crumbled before our eyes. Afghans and Americans rushed to escape the country as the Taliban began taking control, culminating in the deaths of 13 troops just days before the withdrawal was complete.

For those of us who served in Afghanistan, watching those moments unfold in real time was gut-wrenching. It felt like the prior 20 years of work and courageous service were for nothing. Young men and women, some of whom were the same age as the war itself, lost their lives when they were so close to returning home.

We know, of course, that our service in Afghanistan did serve a noble purpose. We accomplished our original missions there: overthrowing the 2002 Taliban, ejecting al-Qaida, and killing Osama bin Laden.

But mission creep set in, and nation-building began, causing thousands of American troops to lose their lives in support of these vague operations with little to no connection to vital U.S. interests.

Looking back, the tragic end to the Afghanistan War and the 20 years of death and destruction that preceded it are harsh reminders that wars must be executed responsibly, with realistic, vital goals in mind. And America's leaders must be held accountable for failures on those fronts.

To the first point, America has taken a misguided approach to war for decades. Our lawmakers have signed into law open-ended Authorizations for Use of Military Force, or AUMFs, that have allowed Pentagon leaders and four presidents to send troops into harm's way without votes approving operations or proper oversight from Congress.

Making decisions to send America's sons and daughters to war should be amongst the hardest that members of Congress make. But the blank-check nature of broad AUMFs gives them the chance to shirk this responsibility, leaving decisions to generals and Defense Department bureaucrats who are more likely to misuse these authorities as they're further removed from public accountability.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 7,000 service members, allies and military contractors have lost their lives in combat. That is 7,000 children, siblings, spouses, parents and friends whose loss leaves a hole in the lives of those who loved them at home. Their loss is felt in hurting families and communities every day.

Withdrawing from Afghanistan put an end to at least some of the needless deaths. America's sons and daughters are no longer deployed fighting a seemingly endless war in Afghanistan. They stand ready to protect vital U.S. interests, but they do so in their homes and communities while out of unnecessary danger.

If we learn one lesson from Afghanistan, it should be that combat will devolve from its original mission if Congress doesn't keep a tight hold on oversight and make tough decisions about when to end conflicts.

To the second point, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan is cause for accountability measures. Withdrawing from Afghanistan was the right decision, but the method in which the withdrawal was executed and the decades of lies and misinformation fed to the public about the war demand answers and justice.

The Afghanistan Papers showed what many of us who served in theater already knew: Our leaders realized early on that nation-building in Afghanistan was going to be an impossible feat. Further, leaders often didn't even know what we were trying to accomplish there in the first place.

But still they sacrificed American troops, my friends included, in the name of figuring it out and saving face for their mistakes.

As the Afghanistan War Commission begins untangling 20 years of war, it's my hope, along with many of my fellow veterans, that those who made poor decisions during the course of the war will be held accountable.

Two years after the final withdrawal from Afghanistan, I still deal with complicated feelings about the war itself, as do most Afghanistan veterans I know. A change in how the U.S. approaches war and accountability for poor execution will help us sort through those feelings and make peace with them.

-- John Byrnes is deputy director of Concerned Veterans for America, an organization that is a member of the Stand Together philanthropic community that was founded by Charles Koch. Byrnes is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and Army National Guard who deployed to Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
lithium-0830-ph

The technology that isolates lithium from brine solution without the need for traditional evaporation methods wasnt something Chris Doornbos was keen on when he founded E3 Lithium Ltd. in 2016.

But seven years on, the chief executive predicts the direct lithium extraction (DLE) process, which is yet to be commercially used by miners outside China, will dominate an industry looking to boost supplies of the metal to meet the rising demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in the next few years.

Doornbos also hopes E3 can be a frontrunner in that transition. To that end, the company announced its pilot DLE plant in Alberta had become operational this week. This year, E3 will test its DLE process and figure out whether it can extract lithium from old, depleted oil and gas reservoirs at a commercially viable rate.

Its one of the biggest pieces of news the company has put out, he said. There have been small tests done by E3 and others, but from what I know, this pilot is the first Canadian full-scale pilot that has ever operated.

By full-scale, Doornbos means the pilots scale is big enough for E3 to rely on the resulting data to design a much bigger commercial facility. Theres still a long way to go, but the company hopes to start producing lithium by the end of 2026.

Chris Doornbos, the founder of E3 Lithium, in his Calgary office.

Although lithium prices have fallen by almost 50 per cent in the past 12 months, the long-term outlook from analysts remains positive. Thats because the mineral, which is used to make batteries that power EVs, is expected to play a key role in the shift away from fossil fuels.

Theres also the geopolitical perspective since countries such as the United States and Canada are looking to lessen their dependence on China for critical minerals such as lithium, nickel and copper amid rising tensions with the worlds second-largest economy.

That has miners and researchers alike looking for alternative methods to supply more critical minerals.

DLE is one such process. Lithium brine is pumped into a processing unit where the lithium is extracted using methods such as ion-exchange, adsorption or solvents. The brine is then reinjected into the original water source.

Story continues

Miners using traditional evaporation techniques pump the brine water from the salar (salt flat) into large ponds where evaporation can take place, resulting in piles of salt from which lithium is then extracted using a series of treatments and processing. As a result, analysts consider DLE to be more environmentally friendly since it uses less water and energy compared to evaporation.

But the technology needs to adjust for individual brine chemistries, which means each DLE process must be tailormade for each mining project. Mining analysts at Red Cloud Securities say all brines are different and any extraction solution has to be tailored to each brine.

A breakthrough by one company does not necessarily translate into blanket applications to all brine projects across the globe, the analysts said in a note on Aug. 30.

As such, companies such as E3 are looking to partner with technology firms to develop their own solutions.

Mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd. is one company aiming to use DLE in 2024. Vancouver-based Standard Lithium Ltd. and Australias Lake Resources NL are operating demonstration plants in the United States and Argentina, respectively.

The main challenge with DLE is scalability, according to Red Cloud Securities. Lab tests conducted at various projects have successfully produced lithium from brine, but they dont always mimic real-world conditions.

That is why pilot and demonstration plant testing become important aspects of de-risking projects, as the size and scale is closer to real-world production conditions, the analysts said.

Doornbos at E3 believes the companys pilot test will be robust enough to provide data that can help design engineering and feasibility studies. It will test its own DLE solution as well as those created by other companies to ensure the best fit for commercial production.

E3 controls the mineral rights in Albertas Leduc Aquifer, which was discovered as a source of oil in the 1940s and then was drilled out by the 1990s, and is currently in talks with battery and automaker companies to develop strategic partnerships that can help it grow.

It currently has a market cap of about $250 million. As of 11 a.m. on Aug. 30, its shares were trading at $3.73 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, up 14 cents for the day and 20 cents since opening on Aug. 29, which is when E3 announced its pilot plant.

Doornbos expects four or five projects using the DLE method to produce lithium by the end of 2026, and he hopes E3 can be one of them.

The landscape is going to be very different. Everyone is at about the same level of development, he said. We are all pushing.

 Email: nkarim@postmedia.com
Two days after his death, James Parks was laid to rest on Aug. 23, 1929, in what is now Section 15, Grave 2 at Arlington National Cemetery overlooking Washington, D.C. Like most of those buried at the United States most well-known military cemetery, Parks name is not recognizable to most Americans, yet he holds a unique distinction: He is believed to be the only person among the roughly 400,000 buried on Arlingtons hallowed grounds who was also born on the property.

Born into slavery in 1843, Parks was owned by Army Col. George Washington Parke Custis. An author and playwright, Custis was also the son of one of Martha Washingtons children from her first marriage, and she and her second husband, President George Washington, later adopted Custis after the latter's father died. Custis so admired the nations first president that he had Arlington House built in the early 1800s partly as a memorial to Washington, who died in 1799.

Former slave James Parks was born on the grounds that became Arlington National Cemetery, and even after being freed, he worked there until he was in his early 80s. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service)

Parks was a slave at the Arlington House plantation through his late teens. By that time, the property was owned by Custis daughter, Mary, and her husband, Gen. Robert E. Lee. Custis died in 1857, but as one of his final acts, he gave his slaves what they most wanted.

[He] provided in his will that all of the Arlington slaves be given $50 and their freedom five years from the date of his death, Maj. Gen. Jerry R. Curry, U.S. Army deputy commanding general, wrote in a 1985 article for the NAACPs official publication, The Crisis. When the five years had passed, the Civil War had started. General Robert E. Lee rode south to join the Confederate Army. Before his departure, General Lee honored the will of his father-in-law, Major Custis: He freed the slaves. But, because of the war, he was unable to pay them the $50 that his father-in-law had promised.

Shortly before President Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, Parks found himself a free man but decided to remain on Arlingtons grounds. Parks lived in Freedmans Village, a community for former slaves, and worked for the Army, helping to build Fort McPherson in Nebraska and Fort Whipple (later Fort Myer and now Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall) in Virginia.

Because the Lees did not pay taxes in person -- then a legal requirement -- before vacating Arlington, the federal government bought the property in January 1864 for Government use, for war, military, charitable, and educational purposes. The timing of the purchase could not have been more fortuitous: Nearly three years into the Civil War, the increasing number of dead soldiers exposed the alarming lack of proper burial space around the nations capital, and Arlington provided a solution.

Brigadier General Montgomery C. Meigs, quartermaster general of the U.S. Army, authorized military burials on the Arlington property -- the presence of graves, he believed, would deter the Lees from ever returning, according to the cemeterys website. On May 13, 1864, Private William Christman became the first soldier to be buried at Arlington, and on June 15, 1864, the Army formally designated 200 acres of the property as a military cemetery.

Parks dug some of the first graves at Arlington National Cemetery, and he also helped maintain the grounds. Not one to sit around, Parks worked into his early 80s. In 1925, the year he retired, Congress voted to restore Arlington House to how it looked when the Civil War started, and Parks -- still blessed with a good memory  provided recollections that were invaluable to the restoration project, especially when it came to the exterior.

He gave specific locations for the wells, springs, slave quarters, slave cemetery, dance pavilion, old roads, icehouse, blacksmith shop and kitchens, according to the National Park Service. Parks said that all of his grandparents and parents were buried in the slave cemetery.

The grave marker of James Parks is seen in Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, April 13, 2010, in Arlington, Va. (Kevin Wolf/AP Photo)

The father of 22 children, five of whom served in World War I, Parks died at the age of 86 and was buried with full military honors despite being a civilian. He left behind a legacy so rich that the American Legion sponsored a marker at his gravesite, which read:

An interesting, respectful, kindly old Negro born a slave at Arlington House estate about 1843.  Uncle Jim lived and worked at Arlington practically the whole of his long and useful life. In appreciation of his faithful service, the secretary of war granted special permission to bury his mortal remains in this national cemetery.

Requiescat in Pace.

-- Stephen Ruiz can be reached at stephen.ruiz@military.com.

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Civilian life out in the real world can be pretty dull when your past military career was full of action and adventure. It's a feeling nearly everyone who served can relate to in some way; special operators probably feel that way all the time. John Cena plays such a veteran in the new action comedy "Freelance," directed by Pierre Morel ("Taken").

Cena stars as Mason Pettits, a former Special Forces soldier who leaves the Army and takes a "soul-crushing" job as an attorney. When a buddy (Christian Slater, "Mr. Robot") gives him a freelance opportunity to work in his chosen profession once more (and for a big payday), he reluctantly agrees.

Claire Wellington (Alison Brie, "GLOW") is a journalist, forced to resign from her job after it was discovered critical sources in a story she reported were lying in their statements. To restore her career, Wellington goes to the fictional country of Paldonia to interview its unpopular dictator (probably as a freelancer), President Venegas (Juan Pablo Raba, "Six").

Wellington gets to be the first reporter on the ground when someone unhappy with the regime and its dictator stages a coup as she rides in the presidential motorcade. Luckily, Pettits' freelance gig is working as her security. He saves her from the attack on the motorcade, inadvertently rescuing the dictator, too. The three then escape into the jungle.

"I'm with the president of a country in the middle of a coup. This is the scoop of a lifetime," Wellington tells Cena's Pettits. To which he replies, "You gotta be alive to have the scoop of a lifetime."

Once in the jungle, the trio must survive as a rebel force hunts down Venegas, who presumably won't leave Pettits' side, while Pettits tries to keep his charge alive and pocket his $20,000. Think of a funnier version of "Commando," where Arnold Schwarzenegger accidentally started fighting for the dictator of Val Verde instead of shooting him out of a second-floor window with a shotgun.

Pierre Morel not only directed "Taken," but also a number of other action movies. His bona fides include 2010's "From Paris with Love," the 2015 Sean Penn-Idris Elba thriller "The Gunman" and "The Ambush," an Arabic language movie from the United Arab Emirates that became the country's highest-grossing film ever.

"Freelance" was written by "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" writer Jacob Lentz and also features Alice Eve ("Bombshell"), Marton Csokas ("The Equalizer") and Sebastian Eslava ("Narcos"). Catch it in theaters Oct. 6, 2023.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, or on LinkedIn.

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LAS VEGAS  A man has been charged with two criminal offenses for an attempted break-in of a home owned by UFC president Dana White, police say.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Penobscot County Sheriffs Office (Maine) revealed Brady Cooper, 23, of Glenburn, Maine, has been identified and charged after White posted a video of the alleged break-in on his social media early Monday and asked the public for help identifying the individual.

The video, captured on a doorbell camera, showed a man approach the door and kick it three times. On the third attempt, the man stumbled before seeing, and grabbing at the camera. The incident occurred at approximately 1:45 a.m. local time, according to police.

The deputies were able to meet with a property manager and secure video footage of the suspect along with other evidence, police said. The property was occupied at the time of the incident, but they did not have contact with the suspect involved. When the video was shared through social media platforms, several tips were submitted to the Sheriffs Office.

After processing evidence and information developed, deputies interviewed, Brady Cooper (23) of Glenburn. Cooper has been charged with two criminal offenses and the case was submitted to the District Attorneys Office for further review.

It is unclear if Cooper has been detained or is in custody, as an online inmate log does not display his name. The investigation is ongoing.

Dana White reveals someone just tried to break into his house, offers $2.5k reward pic.twitter.com/fP3d2WO6e3  Best MMA Moments (@XcellentMMA) August 28, 2023

Following the conclusion of DWCS 60 on Tuesday at the UFC Apex, White was asked about the incident and revealed he was not at the property at the time  though some family members were.

Do you f*cking think youre going to break into my house and theres no cameras at my house, you f*cking idiots? White laughed. Its crazy. Im assuming the guy was breaking in to try to rob the house. My sister and her husband and some of his friends are up there visiting right now. The guy came up and tried to kick the door in a couple times and then noticed the camera was there, tried to rip it off and rang the doorbell, freaked out and ran away.

My guy who handles my house up there called me and is calling me at 4:30 in the morning his time. Im like, Uh oh, something is going on up there. So I answer the phone and he said, Somebody just tried to kick your door in and rob your house or do whatever. We got video footage and the police are going to post it in the morning. I said, Yeah, f*ck that. Send that to me right now. That dude woke up and was famous the next morning. The Levant sheriff out up there, they had them in a few hours. We got him.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie
7:12pm: Tampa Bay has announced the deal.

5:49pm: The Rays have agreed to a big league contract with reliever Chris Devenski, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Hed apparently been released by the Angels after being designated for assignment last week. The Rays are placing him on the bereavement list, so he wont report to the MLB club for a few days. Tampa Bay already had an open 40-man roster spot after outrighting Francisco Mejia.

Devenski signed a non-roster pact with the Halos last offseason. Los Angeles selected his contract in late April and had kept him in the MLB bullpen for the bulk of the year. The right-hander logged 33 2/3 innings over 29 appearances. His 5.08 ERA isnt particularly eye-catching, but his underlying marks were all fairly solid.

The changeup specialist has struck out a league average 23.6% of batters faced while picking up whiffs on 11.9% of his offerings. He has kept his walks to a modest 6.4% clip and kept the ball on the ground at a 46.3% rate. Devenskis fastball has sat north of 94 MPH, while hes handling hitters from both sides of the plate. The primary driver in his middling ERA is a 61.8% strand rate that is well below the league mark.

Tampa Bay feels comfortable enough with Devenskis peripherals to install him into the middle innings. He cant be optioned to the minor leagues, so hell be in the MLB bullpen once hes ready to join the club. Theres no financial risk, as the Rays will only pay him the prorated portion of the $720K league minimum for the stretch run before he returns to free agency at years end. Devenski will be eligible for postseason play since hes in the organization before September 1, though hes not a lock to secure a spot on the Rays playoff rosters.
First baseman/outfielder Trey Mancini has been released by the Reds, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Mancini, 31, just signed a minor league deal with the Reds a week ago. In five games for Triple-A Louisville, he hit two home runs in 19 plate appearances and slashed .316/.316/.737. Despite that strong showing, hes been cut loose.

Speculatively speaking, its possible that Mancini had some kind of opt-out in his deal, allowing him to return to the open market. By doing so now, he could sign with another club prior to September 1 and thus be postseason eligible with whatever club signs him. Or perhaps the Reds knew they werent going to squeeze him onto their roster in the coming days and merely released him as a courtesy, so that he could seek out other opportunities.

Cincy has Christian Encarnacion-Strand getting the bulk of the first base playing time at the moment with Nick Martini mashing in the designated hitter slot in a small sample of eight games. The corner outfield mix consists of Will Benson, Nick Senzel, Stuart Fairchild and TJ Hopkins. Previously, Spencer Steer was in that mix but he seems ticketed for second base work with Matt McLain landing on the injured list recently.

Whatever the reasons for Mancinis release, it doesnt appear to be performance-based, as his batting line in that small Triple-A sample was excellent. But prior to joining the Reds, he had been struggling in the big leagues with the Cubs. After signing a two-year, $14MM deal coming into this year, he hit .234/.299/.336 and was released in early August. That means hes free to sign with any club for the prorated league minimum, with the Cubs remaining on the hook for the majority of the salary.

He will now presumably try to find another team to sign with in the next 30 hours or so. Despite his rough showing this year, he brings plenty of experience to the table, along with a solid track record. In 831 career games, hes hit .263/.328/.448 for a wRC+ of 108. Defensively, hes best suited to first base but has also spent some time in the outfield corners.
DETROIT - The word free isnt used lightly when it comes to this world-renowned event. When they say this is the largest free event of its kind in the entire world, they mean it. The Detroit Jazz Festival is happening all weekend with multiple music stages spread around downtown Detroit from Friday through Labor Day.

Not only do music artists come from all over the world to perform at this event, but music fans travel here from across the globe, stay in the area and enjoy four days of music from some of the biggest jazz artists around.

The event is always a homecoming as a number of the music artists are from Detroit and Michigan who are returning home to play in the Festival, with Karriem Riggins as this years artist in residence.

We always have a strong contingent of the world-class jazz artists who are from Detroit who live in different places in the world and they come home to play this festival, Chris Collins, President and artistic director of the Jazz Festival told MLive. Riggins, a Detroit native, is equally respected in the jazz community as a drummer. Hes also involved in hip-hop and electronic DJ music and became a well-known producer. Hes bringing those worlds together for some historic performances at this event.

More than 300,000 thousand people attend the event each year, not counting the dozens of music artists and hundreds of crew members. And while the event is free to the public, a lot of effort goes into that to keep it that way.

The Festival is not just the largest no admission festival, its also one of the premiere festivals in the world, added Collins. We do not keep it free on the backs of the artists and stage crews. They all get paid competitively with any other festival they would do in the world.

And it takes at least $4 million to run this event each year.

We rely on the corporate sponsors and we have a number of independent donors being added all the time. And when Gretchen Valade, God rest her soul, saved the festival about 15-years ago, she created the Gretchen Valade Endowment of the Arts, which is her private foundation. Every year, they make a significant donation to the festival. But we have to build on that which is why every donation is so important.

One change this year to the festival is the elimination of the smaller Pyramid Stage in Hart Plaza. The JP Morgan Chase Main Stage at Cadillac Square will be utilized more as well as the other two stages at Hart Plaza: The Carhartt Amphitheater Stage and the Absopure Waterfront Stage along the river. The change is aimed at allowing people to enjoy more music.

And if you cant make it to the festival, you can watch it via livestream, which, so far, has around two million viewers worldwide since it was implemented when the festival continued during covid as an online only event.

When you come to the Detroit Jazz Festival, you are coming into the city, into the downtown, and youre experiencing the music in the city thats truly connected to the art form itself and influences the art form. You will be in one of the largest single jazz audiences in the world. The music is for everyone and the no admission is about allowing diversion and inclusivity. We have among the best audiences in the world.

Those who wish to make a donation to the Detroit Jazz Festival can do so here. It runs Friday, September 1 through Monday, September 4.

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ALLEN PARK -- Germain Ifedi didnt waste too much time finding a new team after getting cut by the Detroit Lions.

NFL Network reports the former first-round pick visited with the Buffalo Bills on cut day, and will sign with the team. Ifedi was Pick 31 out of Texas A&M to the Seattle Seahawks in 2016. He signed with the Lions as they started their offseason program, but was released in their first wave of roster cuts.

Related: Our thoughts on the Detroit Lions initial 53-man roster

Related: Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley reportedly coming off PUP list to open season

Ifedi spent his first four seasons with the Seahawks, starting 60 games between tackle and guard. He then landed with the Chicago Bears for two years, starting another 23 games inside the NFC North. Hes a big, powerful option at 6-foot-5, 344 pounds, so seeing him get new work this quickly is not surprising.

The Lions kept only eight offensive linemen on their initial 53-man roster, including Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson, Frank Ragnow, Graham Glasgow, Penei Sewell, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Colby Sorsdal and Matt Nelson. Their top six is among the best in the league, whether Glasgow or Vaitai starts at right guard.
WASHINGTON, D.C.  A 16-year-old girl was stabbed to death during a fight with another teen girl over McDonalds sweet-and-sour dipping sauce, reports say.

A news release from the Metropolitan Police Department says Naima Liggon of Waldorf, Maryland, died at a hospital following the stabbing at about 2:10 a.m. Sunday. A 16-year-old girl from Waldorf has been arrested and charged with second degree murder while armed. Police say the teen suspect had a knife with her when she was arrested.

A detective tells DC News Now that five teens had met to go to a party in Oxon Hill, Md. After leaving the party, the group went to a McDonalds in Washington.

After ordering food in the restaurant, the teens returned to their vehicle, where a fight started over the dipping sauce, police tell WUSA Channel 9. Liggon reportedly was stabbed in the stomach and chest.

WUSA reports the teen suspect claims the stabbing was in self-defense, saying she was knocked to the ground by Liggon and another person.

In a statement released to WUSA, the victims family says Liggon was a beautiful, smart, funny, and unique young lady who loved life.

The impact of this senseless loss has affected our family, our friends and our community, the statement says. Naima will never see her prom or her graduation. We will not get to see her graduate from college or get married or have kids.
A Maryland teen has been arrested after allegedly calling victims in Michigan and threatening to shoot up Oxford High School, police said.

The 17-year-old from Baltimore, Md., was arrested Thursday, Aug. 24, and charged in Maryland juvenile court with multiple crimes, including threats of mass harm and improper use of a telephone, according to a news release from the Oakland County Sheriffs Office.

We will work to hold anyone, anywhere accountable for threats they make against our community, Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

Investigators do not believe these threats were related to the deadly shooting at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, that left Hana St. Juliana, 14, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Tate Myre, 16 and Justin Shilling, 17, dead and seven others injured, including a teacher.

Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to 24 felonies in October, including first-degree murder. He is awaiting sentence.

The sheriffs office was alerted to the recent threat through an OK2Say tip it received from the Michigan State Police. Three 14-year-old Oxford students and a 39-year-old woman had received threatening phone calls.

The sheriffs office investigated the threat and then partnered with Maryland State Police to arrest and charge the suspect.

The investigation included interviews with the victims on Aug. 14. They had each received a series of threatening phone calls to their homes. In one instance, the caller told one of the 14-year-olds he was going to shoot up the school and that the student would be shot next. The caller also made inappropriate sexual comments to at least of the students and the woman.

Detectives linked the calls to a phone number, which was traced to Maryland and the suspects home address.

The suspect was interviewed by Maryland State Police on Thursday and admitted to making the calls. He also wrote an apology letter.

No firearms were found in the suspects home; he had no means to carry out the threat, Bouchard said.

Whether a threat is intended to be carried out or not, it terrifies people and is a crime, he said.

Detectives believe the suspect obtained the victims phone numbers through a mutual acquaintance who attended Oxford schools several years ago but no longer lives in Michigan.
Police in Dearborn Heights arrested Dearborn Fire Chief Joseph Murray early Tuesday morning for alleged drunk driving. According to Fox 2 Detroit, Murray was stopped by police in the area of Telegraph and Dartmouth around 2:45 a.m. after he was spotted doing 15 miles-per-hour over the speed limit and weaving in traffic.

After police pulled him over, bodycam footage of the traffic stop shows Murray telling police he had four or five beers and declining to take a breathalyzer test at the scene.

Lets be honest, youre absolutely ripped, replied one of the officers after Murray said how many drinks hed had. You can barely speak, you can barely stand up.

After police got a warrant, Murray was taken to a local hospital for a blood draw. From there, police took Murray to lockup before releasing him about 10 hours later. Police did not release the blood-alcohol-content numbers from the blood draw.

Murray has been with the Dearborn Fire Department since 2004 and has been chief since 2012.

Following the arrest, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud released a statement on the issue:

Earlier this morning, the administration was notified of an incident involving our Fire Chief. We are taking this matter seriously. As facts become known, we will take the appropriate course of action.

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NEWAYGO COUNTY, MI -- A 21-year-old former student of Hesperia Schools is accused of making an online social media threat against the district.

Newaygo County sheriffs investigators announced the arrest Tuesday, Aug. 29.
WAYNE COUNTY, MI - The pilot of the Soviet-era fighter jet that crashed at a Michigan air show ejected before he was ready, according to initial federal investigation results.

Two people ejected from a MiG-23 demonstration plane performing at the Yankee Air Museums Thunder Over Michigan air show at about 4 p.m. Aug. 13. The show was cut short as a result of the incident, according to the shows Facebook page.

An Aug. 25 preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board details how pilot Daniel Filer tried to land the plane before his backseat co-pilot is believed to have pulled the ejection handle.

While the pilots landed in Belleville Lake, the plane collided with multiple unoccupied cars, the report states. There were no injuries to anyone on the ground, and Filer and his co-pilot suffered minor injuries, officials said.

The jet, a MiG-23UB, experienced engine trouble at low altitude during its Thunder Over Michigan routine, the report states. While Filer told investigators he wasnt ready to eject, the report states, the co-pilot initiated both of their ejections.

The rear seat observer stated that the airplane made a pass along the runway and the plan was to go to the left for another pass followed by a landing, the report states. He stated that the engine was not accelerating. He and the pilot had a brief discussion and began to climb up and gain altitude. They determined that they had some type of engine problem and needed to get back on the ground. He stated that they determined they did not have sufficient altitude to make it to a runway at the airport. He said they were compressed for time and needed to get out.

When asked if he had pulled the ejection seat handles, he stated that he could not specifically remember but thinks that he would have pulled them, the report states.

The jet crashed about one mile south of its final runway, the report states. The wreckage path was about 600 feet long, which ignited an explosion and fire, the report states.

The report is preliminary, as full ones take about 12 to 24 months to complete, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Filer, a Texas resident, is the only private owner of a MiG-23 in the world, he said on social media. He had recently debuted his aircraft at a show in Florida.

Both he and his co-pilot were taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in stable condition and were reported as alert and awake by the end of Aug. 13, according to previous reporting.

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Read more from MLive:

Plane crashes into unoccupied vehicles after Thunder Over Michigan airshow goes awry

2 hospitalized after plane crash halts airshow in Ypsilanti

Video shows how fighter jet crashed at Michigan air show
ANN ARBOR, MI  A man who robbed a downtown Ann Arbor cellphone store at gunpoint almost a year ago has been sent to prison.

Deon Andrew Bell was sentenced Aug. 21 to serve eight and half years in federal prison after pleading guilty two days before his trial in U.S. District Court to one count each of interference with commerce by robbery and destruction of evidence, court records show.

As part of the sentence, he also is required to pay more than $9,000 in restitution and, upon his release, be on supervised release for three years.

Bell, 27, was originally facing six felony charges from the Washtenaw County Prosecutors Office, though those charges were dismissed after the U.S. Department of Justice sought the case and charged him with one federal felony charge each of robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, records show.

The charges stem from a robbery that occurred at 2:55 p.m. Oct. 10 at the T-Mobile store at 200 E. Washington St.

Related: Gunman robs downtown Ann Arbor T-Mobile store in middle of day

Employees told police a man, later identified as Bell, walked into the store, pulled out a handgun and ordered the employees to fill his backpack with cell phones and cash, police said. The incident was caught on store surveillance.

Staff complied with the gunmans demands and filled his bag with 13 electronic devices totaling $9,000 in value, along with an unspecified amount of cash from the register. The gunman then fled on foot, police said.

While loading the gunmans bag, one employee slipped in a decoy iPhone that had a tracking device installed, according to the federal affidavit.

Police contacted T-Mobiles asset protection department and were able to track the phones location to a cellphone store in Hamtramck, records show.

Investigators went to the store and discovered the suspect had sold the stolen items to the store for $3,000 before being told one of the phones was a decoy, causing the suspect, Bell, to panic and immediately flee the store, records show.

Using surveillance video from around Hamtramck, police identified the fleeing man as Bell who was later seen throwing several more stolen electronic devices in a dumpster.

Police obtained search warrants for Bells home and vehicle where they found the clothing he was wearing during the robbery, as well as several discarded T-Mobile boxes and bags.

While in the Washtenaw County Jail, he called his mother and asked her to pick up his phone, which contained photos of the stolen phone, telling her to destroy it, federal court records show.

Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page, the Ypsilanti-area page or sign up for the free 3@3 Ann Arbor daily newsletter.

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry pictured during Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee in 2022

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry pictured during Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee in 2022

Suits creator Aaron Korsh has claimed he was irritated by the Royal Familys supposed interventions when it came to Meghan Markles character after she began dating Prince Harry.

The Duchess of Sussex was still playing Rachel Zane in the US drama when she met her future husband, and her character was eventually written out of the show in the lead-up to their wedding.

Prior to that, however, Aaron has alleged that the Royal Family weighed in on some stuff to do with Meghans character, which left him rather displeased.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: I will say, and I think Harry put this in the book, because I heard people talking about it  [the royal family] weighed in on some stuff.

Not many things, by the way, but a few things that we wanted to do and couldnt do, and it was a little irritating.

Aaron went on to say that one particular grievance was related to the term poppycock, which hed planned to have Meghans character say as a nod to his in-laws, who use the term regularly.

Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane during the sixth season of Suits

Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane during the sixth season of Suits

The Royal Family did not want her saying the word, the producer and writer claimed. They didnt want to put the word poppycock in her mouth. I presume because they didnt want people cutting things together of her saying cock.

Interestingly, Aaron said the term was then changed to bullshit in the script, adding: There was maybe one or two more things, but I cant remember.

Asked how the Royal Family got their hands on the script in the first place, Aaron said: I dont know how they got em. I was aware that they were reading them because I got the feedback, but I dont remember the process by which they got them.

Aaron Korsh

Aaron Korsh

Buckingham Palace had no comment when contacted by HuffPost UK. We have also contacted representatives for the Duchess of Sussex.

Prince Harry previously wrote about Meghan leaving Suits  and the alleged royal interference that preceded it  in his book Spare, which was released at the beginning of this year.

Story continues

Meg packed up her house, gave up her role in Suits. After seven seasons, he wrote.

A difficult moment for her, because she loved that show, loved the character she was playing, loved her cast and crew  loved Canada.

On the other hand life there had become untenable. Especially on set. The show writers were frustrated because they were often advised by the Palace comms team to change lines of dialogue, what her character would do, how she would act.

Harry and Meghans wedding in 2018 was attended by a number of her former Suits co-stars, who have also publicly jumped to her defence on several occasions since.

READ MORE:
FLINT, MI  Will country music star Jelly Roll be making an appearance soon at the Genesee County Jail sometime soon?

The scenario is possible based on recent dialogue between Jelly Roll and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.

In a Facebook reel posted to the Genesee County Sheriffs Office Facebook page, Jelly Roll, whose legal name is Jason Bradley DeFord, said he was interested in coming to the jail to play songs for inmates and to speak.

Heres what I want to do, Jelly Roll said in the reel. I want to come see you. I want a ride along, I want to go talk, I want to play some songs for some inmates if Im allowed to.

Im on the way, baby, the music star continued. I want to see what I can do to help further.

The musician also commended the sheriffs policing strategies.

That is whats making a difference, man, Jelly Roll said. We need to focus on rehabilitation and not discipline and you get it.

There are not yet any concrete dates or plans between the musician and the sheriff, who told MLive/The Flint Journal Wednesday that things are currently in the hands of the record label.

Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson speaks during a news conference on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, outside of the Genesee County Sheriff's Office. (Jake May | MLive.com)

Jelly Roll, who earned his GED while in jail, is in of himself an inspiration, Swanson said Monday, Aug. 28, in an interview with the WWJ Radio.

Its to show people that are locked up  because theres 80 million people in America thats at least one time, one hour, one day, in jail  that there is hope in making better decisions and hes got the story of hope, Swanson said in the interview.

Swanson said the visit would involve his I.G.N.I.T.E. program, which he launched in September 2021 and has grown progressively since then. The program  which works as a sort of in-jail education system  aims to reverse the cycle of generational incarceration through education.

The program has expanded to seven states, with many more to follow, Swanson said.

In the years to come itll be the national standard across America, the sheriff said. And thats what he is going to come and show. You do your part, then the world will do their part and it restores hope and value.

Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Flint daily newsletter.

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HOLLY, MI  The Holly Hotel has stopped its reconstruction after the owners filed a lawsuit against the owner of its neighbor property.

The Holly Hotel has been closed since June 21, 2022, after a fire damaged the building and several surrounding businesses.

The fire originally started at the Holly Antiques Arcade at the hotels adjacent property.

During the reconstruction, the owners of the hotel learned the west wall of the building has been over its property line since 1891, when it was first built.

The lawsuit, filed in Oakland County Circuit Court, states the reconstruction has been halted since Feb. 26 by the unnecessary, unlawful, and even spiteful actions of Defendant Jeremiah Roberts, the new owner of the former Holly Antiques Arcade property.

George Kutlenois, co-owner of the Holly Hotel, told MLive-The Flint Journal Roberts denied the construction crews access to rebuild the west wall.

The arcade next door hired a contractor to finish what was left of their building and they inadvertently tore down our west wall of the hotel, Kutlenois said. It was already pronounced by the engineers to be OK and sound, so it wasnt something we would have needed to have done or repair.

The west wall of the hotel veers over its property line about six inches, Kutlenois said. In December, he called the former property owner of the arcade and she gave approval to continue the construction.

But Kutlenois said the property was then sold in early February to Roberts.

When I explained to him we had the blessing from the previous owner to move forward, it wasnt a satisfactory response to him, Kutlenois said. We were 85% done with that west wall and he wanted us to cut the eaves off of the building that he said were infringing into his airspace.

The hotel is on the national register of historic places in the U.S., and Kutlenois said they are forbidden to reconstruct the building any differently.

Even if we resolve this thing in a month or two, the construction companies are so booked up and have already done us so many favors, it may take us until the winter to start the construction, Kutlenois said.

The lawsuit states that a Michigan statute allows the hotel reasonable access to adjoining land for necessary reconstruction. It also states that the time to voice objections of the property line expired more than a century ago.

Weve tried negotiating in a good faith way just to move on with this thing because its not a very reasonable situation, Kutlenois said. He gave us permission in early August only to change his mind two weeks later and say no.

The Oakland County Circuit Court website does not list a lawyer for Roberts at this time.

Unfortunately, most of the information out there regarding the Holly Hotel is false. I am unable to comment further at this time, Roberts told MLive-The Flint Journal.

Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Flint daily newsletter.

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KENT COUNTY, MI -- Kent County has declared a local state of emergency following the Aug. 24 storm that produced several tornadoes across Michigan, including one in Kent County.

Kent County leaders announced the emergency declaration Tuesday, Aug. 29 and said it will help the county possibly leverage state and federal funding.

The funding, if approved, would help reimburse the county for money spent during cleanup and recovery efforts.

The Thursday, Aug. 24 storm produced an EF-1 tornado with wind speeds up to 110 mph. The tornado was on the ground for more than eight miles and caused significant damage in the area of Alpine Avenue NW and Six Mile Road.

The winds uprooted and snapped many trees.

Kent County leaders, as part of declaring a local state of emergency, also are seeking the state and federal government to declare a state of emergency for Kent County.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  The leader of the nations largest teachers union is learning from a top-rated Grand Rapids high school on what its doing right.

Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, visited Grand Rapids City High Middle School to learn what policies and best practices should be taken to the national table to improve educational opportunities for public schools students around the country.

She visited Wednesday, Aug. 30, to talk to students, teachers and administrators about what is being done well at the Michigan high school, which recently was named one of the 100 top-performing schools in the country.

Pringle, who visited five Michigan schools this week as part of her 2023 back-to-school tour, said she wants to learn how educators at City are taking innovative approaches to help students learn, grow and thrive.

These students here, they feel cared about, they feel valued, they feel like they can do anything, and even when they have struggles or problems, that they have caring adults in the system who will help them, Pringle told MLive/Grand Rapids Press during Wednesdays visit.

This is one (school) where you come here and you say, Now this is in that category of best public schools. What are we going to do that make sure that every school is one of those best schools in this country, that every school has what those best schools have?

City High Middle School, which uses the rigorous International Baccalaureate curriculum, routinely ranks among the five best schools in the state for its challenging academic program, positive culture and climate, and diverse student body. The school currently serves 930 students in grades 7 through 12.

This year, the Grand Rapids high school was ranked third in Michigan and the 69th nationwide, in the latest U.S. News & World Report best high school rankings released Aug. 29.

RELATED: Here are the 50 highest rated Michigan high schools in the new U.S. News rankings

During Wednesdays school visit, Pringle, Michigan Education Association President Chandra Madafferi, and U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten had the opportunity to sit down with City High Middle School students and teachers and ask questions about what makes the school successful.

Students talked about how their teachers have pushed them to be independent, confident learners and helped them hone their critical thinking and writing skills through rigorous coursework.

City senior Sparsh Aiyar said students feel support from their teachers to challenge themselves in the classroom. While other schools may not have as much flexibility in their course offerings, students at City are given the courage and the freedom to take more advanced classes if theyre looking to push themselves, he said.

Junior Madisen Washington said part of what makes City High so successful is the diversity among the school community. She said students have a broad range of backgrounds, from racial and socioeconomic diversity to their political and sexual identities, which allows students to be themselves and feel like they still belong.

Pringle had one question for high schoolers during Wednesdays visit: What message should she pass on to legislators and education policymakers at the federal level about what students need to be successful in public schools?

The first answer she heard from the high schoolers: Respect teachers.

They said, we need to support them (teachers) and respect them and we need to listen to them, Pringle said. And I thought, this is coming out of an 11th graders mouth. That was the first thing they thought of. They talked about how they are given the support, how theyre building a community of collaboration and respect, and to give space for teachers to be the professionals they are.

Madafferi, president of the Michigan teachers union, said she was blown away by the level of support teachers said they felt from their school administrators. One teacher said they had considered leaving the field of education before coming to City.

I felt the teachers had a lot more freedom and they felt respected, and supported, Madafferi told MLive. Those are huge things, because almost all of them said, my administration is amazing, and they support me. When I go from school to school, I feel joy, and I also feel sorrow, because theres been a lot of schools I have seen, where they dont even have close to the resources.

Scholten said lawmakers at the state and federal level need to support public schools and provide funding to ensure teachers are properly compensated for their work. Citing a recent report from MLive that more experienced teachers are quitting, Scholten said more work needs to be done to retain quality teachers who are equipped to mitigate the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We know that one of the main reasons teachers are leaving is that the pay is not worth the added stress that they are experiencing, she said. So I think it is incumbent on us in Congress to make sure that we have the resources, the money, to support teachers, pay them what theyre worth, and make sure that they have the resources they need to do their job.

RELATED: Low pay, culture wars, and bulldozer parents. Why Michigans best teachers are calling it quits.

NEA and MEA leaders visited five Michigan schools this week as part of Pringles national back-to-school tour: City High Middle School, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools Dublin Elementary, Latinx Technology and Community Center in Flint, Beecher High School, and Grandville Middle School.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  A man who blackmailed girls into sending him nude photos  and threatening to share images if they did not provide others  was sentenced to five years, 10 months in federal prison.

Brandon Huu Le, 22, a Maitland, Florida, college student, pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography. He was sentenced Tuesday, Aug. 29, by U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids.
VICKSBURG, MI -- Students, with help from their guardians, have sued Vicksburg Community Schools and district administrators, alleging they allowed biological males to use the girls multi-user private restrooms and locker rooms.

Parents spoke about school restrooms at the Aug. 14 Vicksburg school board meeting and complained about how the school is handling student access to restrooms. They did not give their names while speaking.

A lawsuit followed, saying students are allowed to use restrooms that allegedly did not correspond to their biological gender, causing fear and privacy concerns for girls attending the school.

Portage attorney and 2022 Republican candidate for attorney general, Matthew DePerno, filed the case Friday, Aug. 25 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

Vicksburg is about 15 miles south of Kalamazoo.

This case is about the intentional violation of childrens fundamental right to bodily privacy contrary to constitutional and statutory principles, including the Fourteenth Amendment, the lawsuit states.

The suit alleges the school discriminated against students and violated their privacy rights by allowing male students to dress as girls and use the girls multi-user private restrooms and locker rooms.

The plaintiffs are four Jane Doe minors, including current and former students of Vicksburg High School. Because they are minors, the action was brought through their legal guardians.

Some plaintiffs refused to use the girls restrooms and locker rooms, instead holding their urine the entire school day, the lawsuit alleges.

Some Plaintiffs and other girls did not understand if the biological male was in the girls restroom and locker rooms in order to spy on them, take pictures, threaten them or harm them, the lawsuit claims.

It claims the school now permit(s) boys to use the girls locker room, strip naked, and expose themselves to girls.

The suit, signed by DePerno, says the term sex refers to ones biological/anatomical status as either male or female.

Sex is fixed at conception, binary, objectively verifiable and rooted in our human reproductive nature, the lawsuit states.

School Board President Virgil (Skip) Knowles read a statement at the Aug. 14 meeting. The statement, vetted by an attorney, said the district will not disclose information about specific students.

I understand this is tough, he said before reading the statement. The school board does not have a choice in the matter, Knowles said, and urged people to contact state legislators if they want a change.

The district recognizes that providing students with a safe and supportive educational environment is of the utmost importance, Knowles said at the Aug. 14 meeting. The districts policies prohibit discrimination, bullying and harassment on the basis of sex, which includes sexual orientation and gender identity.

He said its important the district follow policies and complies with federal, state and local laws and guidance, as well as legal precedent related to unlawful discrimination, bullying and harassment.

State and federal law in Michigan requires public schools to allow all students, including transgender students, to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity or to use single-user restrooms, whichever the student chooses, Knowles said.

Anyone using a restroom is expected to respect the privacy of everyone else using it and should conduct themselves in an appropriate manner, or they will be held accountable, Knowles said.

The lawsuit disputes the schools position, and says: By adopting gender identity theory as the basis for regulating access to private facilities, Defendants are violating sex discrimination law by not protecting students based on sex, but instead imposing an individuals subjective perception of their gender on other students who value their privacy based on anatomical differences between the sexes.

A woman, who said she has a daughter in high school, spoke at the Aug. 14 board meeting. She said there are physical and mental health risks to students because of the bathroom issue. She did not give her name.

What about our daughters biological rights to privacy and protection? the woman said.

Vicksburg Schools Superintendent Keevin ONeill, reached by phone Tuesday, Aug. 29, declined to comment due to pending litigation.

The lawsuit asks for the court to take action, including awarding compensatory damages of $30,000, and to issue a permanent injunction ordering the school to permit only biological females to use the girls restroom.

In March, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an anti-discrimination law that explicitly protects Michiganders on the basis of sex and gender identity.

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MERRILL, MI  Ice cream lovers searching for a taste of heaven might consider a visit to the Merrill Whippy Dip.

The frozen treats there were recently blessed with the patronage of 58 nuns at once, said Karen Beougher, owner of the small-town ice cream shop in northwest Saginaw County.

And one gentleman paid for the entire thing, she said. So, he bought his wings to heaven.

Beougher said the scene unfolded earlier this month but she posted images of the scene on the stores Facebook page this week, earning plenty of feedback  and nun puns  from viewers.

Bar nun  the best ice cream around, one follower wrote in the posts comments.

Another users contribution: I must confess  it is the best ice cream around.

The social media post made the rounds on the same day Facebook users also were sharing images of a black bear lounging in Merrills downtown district, less than a mile down the road. Some social media users attempted to humorously tie the two visits together.

I wonder if they came to see the bear? But thats nun of my business, one wrote.

A representative from The Religious Sisters of Mercy said the nuns originated from the organizations headquarters in Alma. When they stopped in Merrill on Wednesday, Aug. 16, the group was returning to Alma after Sister Agnes Mary Graves received a profession of vows at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption near downtown Saginaw.

The Religious Sisters of Mercy representative said the nuns are fans of the Whippy Dip store and wanted to celebrate there on their way home.

Beougher said she sees the same group of nuns visit her ice cream shop at least once each summer. This years collection, though, was the largest group she recalled serving during her 31 years as owner.

Beougher and two of her employees were working that day, she said. It took about 30 minutes to provide the group an assortment of ice cream orders.

I think weve been saved, Beougher joked. It was great. They just hung out, and they all seemed so happy.

The Whippy Dip is located at 690 W. Saginaw in Merrill, a village within rural Jonesfield Township.

While the store is called Whippy Dip, a sign out front reads, Merrill Dairy Bar, and some call it by that name. Whippy Dip opened there in 1956.

The shop serves customers from noon to 9 p.m. daily during the warm weather seasons. Beougher said Whippy Dips final day of operation for 2023 is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 10.

For more information, visit the ice cream shops Facebook page.

A group of nuns gathered for ice cream at the Whippy Dip in Merrill in August 2023.

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The state legislative districts that the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission drew for this decade could be in jeopardy as a lawsuit claiming discrimination against Black voters moves forward.

A panel of three federal judges on Tuesday advanced Agee v. Benson to trial 17 months after it was filed by voters who allege districts in and around Detroit were racially gerrymandered, thus reducing the power and representation of Black voters who live there.

At issue will be whether the Commission went too far in lowering black voter percentages in Detroit-area districts, wrote U.S. Circuit Court Judge Raymond Kethledge.

Kethledge and the District Court judges on the panel  Paul Maloney and Janet Neff  were appointed by Republican President George W. Bush.

The twenty citizens suing the redistricting commission and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson say the districts in use for the 2022 elections through the 2030 elections violate the federal Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitutions Equal Protection Clause.

Plaintiffs hope to have the districts at issue redrawn or have their proposed alternative map adopted.

Democrats, whom Black voters tend to overwhelmingly support, took control of both the Michigan House and Senate for the first time in 40 years after last years elections. But the Capitol lost two of five Black senators and two of 15 Black representatives.

Go deeper: Black Michiganders voted heavily for Dems but were sacrificed in representation

In response to the once-existing system of elected officials drawing new legislative districts, Michigan voters in 2018 passed a constitutional amendment creating a redistricting commission made of regular citizens. The commissions maps were in use starting with last years elections.

These maps reconfigured Detroit-area districts to include voters from the suburban countiesthereby lowering the percentage of black voters in those districts to 35-55%, Kethledge wrote of the state legislative maps. In the old map, by contrast, the black voting-age population in some districts in Detroit exceeded 90%.

The number of majority-Black districts fell from 11 to seven in the House and from two to zero in the Senate, but the commission has argued its maps scored better than old ones on measures of partisan fairness.

A date for the trial to begin will be determined later.

Plaintiffs originally raised issues in 17 districts, but the following nine districts will be challenged in trial:

House district 1 , represented by Rep. Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit

House district 7 , represented by Rep. Natalie Price, D-Berkley

House district 10 , represented by Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit

House district 12 , represented by Rep. Kimberly Edwards, D-Eastpointe

House district 14 , represented by Rep. Donavan McKinney, D-Detroit

Senate district 1 , represented by Sen. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor

Senate district 3 , represented by Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit

Senate district 6 , represented by Sen. Mary Cavanagh, D-Redford Township

Senate district 8, represented by Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak

Read more from MLive:

Areas represented by Democrats received 90% of pork projects in Michigans budget

Could the 14th Amendment keep Trump off Michigan ballots?

Record tornadoes, heat waves, wildfires: Climate disasters increasing everywhere including Michigan

Here are the 50 highest rated Michigan high schools in the new U.S. News rankings
One-time Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon said former President Donald Trump told her to change her messaging on abortion during her 2022 campaign, but was too late, she said on her podcast Wednesday.

You came to me and you said, youve got to talk differently about abortion. And we could not pivot, we could not pivot in time, Dixon said. You were absolutely right, sir.

From Oct. 2022: Tudor Dixon asks to set abortion aside from Michigan governors race

Dixon was briefly interviewing Trump for an episode of The Tudor Dixon Podcast, where she lavished praise on the former commander-in-chief, who she said spent time with her late father, without asking him directly about the four indictments hes facing.

Trump told Dixon theres a way to deftly handle abortion that avoided the pitfalls she fell into. Trump has not offered a specific stance on abortion and has not said whether hed back a national ban on abortion.

It didnt happen to me because theres a way of talking about it, Trump said. I think exceptions are very important, I think you need the exceptions, you and I talked about that.

He also had praise for Dixon and her effort to win the gubernatorial race.

You were really something, you were a terrific friend of mine and we worked hard together, Trump said of Dixon. You put your heart into it and you did a good job.

Abortion became the marquee issue of the election. With a proposal on the ballot that enshrined access to abortion in Michigans constitution, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tied herself to the issue and defeated Dixon by nearly 11 percentage points.

The leadership of the Michigan Republican Party later blamed the issue  and Dixons performance  as the reason behind their historic losses.

The media personality turned gubernatorial candidate has returned to life in conservative media since ending her campaign for governor. She regularly appears on channels such as Fox News and Newsmax.
In an agenda-setting speech laying out her priorities for the remainder of 2023, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave marching orders to the state legislature that were sprawling in scope but light in detail toward the policies she called for.

Whats next on the fall agenda for Michigan is the health of our people, the health of our planet, the health of our economy and the health of our democracy, Whitmer said.

Most of the policies she called for in the speech had been relayed to various news outlets in the days leading up to the address. Whitmer began her remarks touting economic development projects already underway throughout the state, particularly in the automotive and technology sectors.

The factories will help Michigan go toe-to-toe with China, bringing critical parts of the auto supply chain home, Whitmer said, adding: We must reduce our reliance on Chinese products, which have caused work stoppages, shortages and car price hikes over the last few years.

She called for the establishment of a paid family and medical leave policy, a 100% carbon-free energy standard and the further removal of barriers to accessing abortion services.

Whitmer cast paid leave as a key measure needed to grow Michigans economy and population.

While many large companies already offered this benefit, small businesses often cannot afford to, she said. When we enact paid leave, well level the playing and help small businesses attract and retain workers.

Whitmer spoke of Michigan as a destination for people seeking safe water, clean air and opportunity in the era of climate change, and argued Michigan could transform its energy sector without major sacrifices while pushing for energy efficiency incentives.

We can achieve 100% clean energy while balancing reliability and affordability, Whitmer said.

Some members of her party in the legislature have blasted the states largest utilities for taking days to restore power after storms earlier this year.

The Michigan Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, should have expanded authority and be able to incorporate climate change and equity into its decision-making process, Whitmer said. She also called for streamlining the states permitting process so clean energy projects could move forward more quickly in order to realize Michigans energy goals.

Whitmer additionally pushed for the legislature to enact laws preventing election subversion and to codify portions of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, into state law.

We cannot allow the will of the people to be tossed out or overturn and we cant permit politicians to stay in office despite getting voted out, she said. We must ensure that Michiganders are heard and respected

Key details in Whitmers calls for major policy changes, however, went unspoken in the speech.

She didnt touch on how a paid family and medical leave would be paid for, how many weeks should be offered and if all Michigan workers should be eligible for leave.

Similarly, Whitmer didnt mention a date for when Michigan should achieve an 100% carbon-free energy standard. Gilchrist had previously endorsed 2035 as a deadline to reach the benchmark.

The event was also a victory lap to celebrate Democrats policy accomplishments from the first half of the year. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist opened the address with a litany of praises for Democratic legislators who sponsored the policies the majority has hailed as significant wins throughout the year.

Democrats control all three branches of state government and spent the first part of the year swiftly undoing many of the keystone policies of the prior decade under Republican leadership of former Gov. Rick Snyder, including an income tax on some retirement income and right-to-work.

Legislative leaders, who maintain just two-vote majorities in each chamber, can only withstand one defection on party-line votes in order to pass bills, forcing them to act delicately on sensitive subjects. They avoided providing any specific feedback after the speech, aside from general support of Whitmers message.

There are some good models out there, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said of paid leave. Were going through all the pros and cons of how to do it.

House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, spent nearly 10 minutes with reporters without revealing any details about the legislatures plans, the policies they intend to pass or his own views of the governors agenda.

Rep. Phil Green, R-Watertown Township, was one of just a few elected Republicans in attendance after receiving an invitation. He was skeptical of much of what the governor proposed, aside from a call to rein in the price of prescription drugs.

We have local governments that already permit, we have local governments that zone we have residents ... that are speaking, theyre saying look, we dont want this type of energy in our community, Green said. And yet, Lansing is going to say, Youre going to get it anyway.

House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, said in a statement after the speech Whitmers proposals would only increase the cost of living.

Whitmer ended the speech with an exhortation to Michiganders to be ambassadors to the state.

Every conversation with folks from other states should start with Hi, I live in Michigan and heres why you should too, Whitmer said. We have it all so lets tell the story, because were Michiganders, damn it, and theres nothing better than that.
James Cleverly and Chinese vice president Han Zhen (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

After nearly five years without a senior cabinet minister visiting China, Foreign Secretary James Cleverlys visit marks the re-opening of communications. However, we should not expect substantial improvement in the UKs ties with China from just a single visit.

After the golden era of bilateral ties during President Xi Jinpings state visit in 2015, relations between China and the UK turned sour as they clashed on human rights, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

For the Government, a major challenge has been balancing a pro-business attitude with the demands of China-sceptic Tory backbenchers. It must better understand how these strands of the relationship are connected and become more skilful at operating at both levels. Judging by the language from this years review of UK foreign policy priorities, ministers have been wrangling about how to define China for months. Epoch defining challenge is what they finally arrived at.

A major challenge has been balancing a pro-business attitude with the demands of China-sceptic Tory backbenchers

The formula reflects a strong desire to balance UK trade ties with increasing geopolitical concern and alignment with US policy. Beijing remains perplexed by Brexit and the succession of short-lived prime ministers in its aftermath. China is therefore re-evaluating its relationship with London and the longevity of the current government. Yet Chinas growth prospects have been weaker than expected and this has renewed its impetus to engage with Europe economically.

While EU states such as France and Germany are well versed, as is Brussels, in the rhetoric of de-risking with China, both President Macron and Chancellor Scholz managed visits as soon as Beijing emerged from Covid. Rishi Sunak remains the only G7 leader with no in-person meeting with Xi.

It has never been easy to craft a middle way foreign policy. Yet, Sunak and Cleverly are now convinced ambivalence should characterise the UKs ties with Beijing. London will have to balance security concerns with realism about how much it can change the Chinese governments outlook and political choices. And it will have to accept that it cannot divorce its security stance from its hopes for reasonable economic ties.

Dr Yu Jie is senior research fellow on China in the Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House
Its been a touch on the cool side for August. Thats going to change this holiday weekend as hot weather moves in.

Most all of us will have an entirely dry weekend. There could be a thin band of thundershowers form Saturday across northern Lower Michigan. This would happen as the hot air moves into Lower Michigan. You can see the small area of thundershowers possible on the forecast model I like to use for this weather pattern.

Radar forecast from 8 a.m. Friday, September 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday, September 3.

If it rains at all this weekend it would be a half hour thundershower from the Traverse City area to around Bay City and the tip of the Thumb Saturday.

Otherwise Friday, Sunday and Labor Day are all going to be dry, sunny and eventually turning hot. Temperatures and wind will be the weather features to look at for the weekend. Friday will be a day when its hard to argue with any better weather around. Saturday turns summery. Sunday and Labor Day will be hot, especially Labor Day. Id call Sunday a day around 90 degrees and Labor Day in the low-90s.

High temperature forecast for Friday through Labor Day.

Morning temperatures will start almost chilly Friday morning and warm to very warm summer levels by Monday morning.

Low temperature forecast for Saturday, Sunday and Labor Day.

Once the warm air kicks in we will have southwest winds at 10 mph to 20 mph Saturday, Sunday and Labor Day.

Get ready for a great, fully summery weekend on the way. Enjoy it and stay safe!
30.08.2023 LISTEN

Artiste manager and chairman of the Ghana Songwriters Association, Emmanuel Barnes, known in the industry as Mr. Logic has jumped into the defends of dancehall artist Shatta Wale in light of his recent comments concerning Nigerian artist Asake's successful performance at the O2 Arena in London.

Following Asake's big show at the O2 Arena, Shatta Wale expressed his thoughts on the state of the Ghanaian music scene in comparison to Nigeria's achievements on X, formally called Twitter.

In a Tweet on August 21, 2023, Shatta Wale wrote, "Nigerians are making Ghana music look like a feeding bottle compared to Hennessy bottle. Congrats to Asake meeenn!!!"

His tweet stirred controversy and prompted discussions about the growth and potential of Ghana's music industry.

Reacting to this on UTVs United Showbiz program on Saturday, Mr. Logic defended Shatta Wale's comment, asserting that the issues within the Ghanaian music industry go beyond individual artists and their capacities.

He emphasised that the lack of funding and financial support for Ghanaian musicians poses a significant challenge.

"The problem we have is funding. Our boys don't have money. There is no money, so don't blame Wale," Mr. Logic stated.

He further explained that the Nigerian music industry benefits from substantial financial backing and investments that contribute to the successes of Nigerian artists on international stages.

He stated, See, Asake's music is practically and basically Yoruba and the use of English with melodies. It is nothing strange that these people cannot do."

It's because of the push and the kind of investment these Nigerians get unless you haven't worked with a Nigerian artist before, he said.
Ghana's dancehall sensation, Shatta Wale has come under criticism for his controversial comments regarding the Ghana music industry.

Film producer and presenter, Ola Michael said Shatta Wale might be grappling with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) for downgrading Ghana music industry.

The ongoing feud between Shatta Wale and Ola Michael seems to have escalated with each throwing jabs.

The rift initially gained public attention when Ola Michael's previous comments about Shatta Wale prompted a fiery diss track from the dancehall artiste.

The feud was sparked by Shatta Wale's tweets regarding Nigerian musician Asake's successful performance at the 02 Arena in the United Kingdom.

On August 21, 2023, Shatta Wale posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, comparing Ghanaian and Nigerian music industries, suggesting that Nigerians were overshadowing their Ghanaian counterparts.

He said, Nigerians are making Ghana music look like feeding bottle compared to Hennessy bottle. Congrats to Asake meeenn!!!"

This sparked criticisms from the public, to which Shatta Wale responded defensively, stating that he had more important financial priorities than filling the O2 Arena.

You people call me a drug addict, why should I risk my life to fill a place for Ghanaians or the music industry?

"I am okay, I wanted to buy a house, lands and investments, I am okay, so filling the O2 is not my priority, my priority is to keep a billion dollars in my account, that is where I am at right now. Nobody should disturb me about filling the 02 or my music, he explained.

Reacting to this on UTV's 'United Showbiz' Ola Michael expressed concern over the artiste's mental state saying he may be suffering from "Narcissistic Personality Disorder" due to Shatta Wale's behavior.

"Let's be very careful with the way we deal with issues. From where I sit and the things I have seen, read, and listened about our brother; I'm tempted to believe that he may have an NPD disorder [Narcissistic Personality Disorder].

He may have a mental disorder that you are not paying attention to," Ola Michael remarked.
The Monchengladbach District Court pronounces a two-and-a-half-year verdict today against the former pastor and leader of the Community of Congregations in Huckelhoven.

The clergyman is accused and prosecuted of commercial embezzlement and money laundering in dozens of cases.

The former head of the community of churches in Huckelhoven is charged before the Monchengladbach District Court.

In total, the now 60-year-old is said to have withdrawn around 100,000 Euros from parish accounts.

In court, the former priest had made a comprehensive confession a few days ago.

According to this, he had been contacted by a Nigerian priest who had asked for financial support for social projects. I made transfers for various projects out of a mixture of naivety and imprudent action," the defendant explained in court.

Defendant: Probably became a victim of fraud himself

In his confession, the ex-pastor emphasized that the donation requests had apparently been fakes. He had become a victim of fraud himself and had regularly transferred sums of money from the donation and collection accounts of the (German town) Huckelhoven parishes abroad since 2016.

He had made a mistake and did not want to enrich himself, the priest explained. "I only became aware of the dimension of the problem when the accusation of money laundering arose," he said.

Priest with high debts of his own, but apparently the priest also wanted to improve his own financial situation. The 60-year-old has debts of around 200,000 euros. He admitted after repeated inquiries of the district court and the public prosecutor's office that he wanted to balance his debts.

Mild punishment expected after confession based on his confession, the accused could get away with a comparatively mild punishment. The public prosecutor's office has demanded a prison sentence of two and a half years and the confiscation of a so-called value replacement amounting to 98,000 euros.

For a time, the former priest was in pre-trial detention but has since been released. Even if he is convicted, he is likely to leave the courtroom a free man.

The priest is no stranger to justice

In August 2020, he was arrested in Belgium, at the Brussels' Zaventem Airport. He had three kilograms of heroin in his luggage. He had to serve a prison sentence in Belgium before being extradited to Germany at the beginning of this year.
Zimbabwe's main opposition on Tuesday called for fresh elections after its presidential candidate lost to incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa in a vote it lashed as flawed and illegal.

The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) urged the African Union (AU) and southern Africa's regional bloc to help mediate a solution to the crisis that followed last Wednesday's vote.

"Zimbabwe needs a fresh and broad and proper election to exit the current crisis," the CCC's deputy spokesman Ostallos Siziba told a press conference in Harare.

Mnangagwa, 80, won a second term with 52.6 percent against 44 percent for the CCC's Nelson Chamisa, 45, according to official results announced late Saturday by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

International observers said the vote fell short of democratic standards.

Balloting was troubled by delays, purportedly caused by the printing of ballot papers, that forced voting to spill into a second unprecedented day.

The opposition said the poll was marred by rigging and voter suppression and claimed victory.

Mnangagwa said the outcome demonstrated Zimbabwe was a 'mature democracy'. By Jekesai NJIKIZANA (AFP)

Mnangagwa has rebuffed criticism saying the polling "demonstrated that we are a mature democracy."

He challenged those who contested his re-election to go to court.

"Those who feel the race was not run properly should know where to go to," he said.

Siziba appealed for African help in finding a way out of the crisis.

"The solution lies in calling upon our African brothers and those in the region, particularly SADC (and) the African Union, to help us to facilitate, to meditate, to scaffold and more importantly to guarantee a process that will lead our return to legitimacy," he said.

The vote has been watched across southern Africa as a test of support for Mnangagwa's ZANU-PF party, whose 43-year rule has been accompanied by a moribund economy and charges of authoritarianism.

Observer missions from the European Union, the Commonwealth and Southern African Development Community (SADC) listed a number of concerns, including the banning of opposition rallies, issues with the voter registration rolls, biased state media coverage and voter intimidation.

It was a rare rebuke from the 16-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) whose observers usually endorse polls in the member countries.

Zimbabwe has been ruled by the ZANU-PF party since independence 43 years ago. By Jonathan WALTER, Jean-Michel CORNU (AFP)

But some member countries, including regional powerhouse South Africa, have since congratulated Mnangagwa on his re-election.

On Sunday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all sides to "peacefully settle any disputes through established legal and institutional channels" and resolve disputes "in a fair, expeditious, and transparent manner to ensure that the results are a true reflection of the will of the people."

The CCC did not rule out challenging the results in court, with Siziba saying the party was going to "employ all the necessary measures at the right time".
Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Stephen Ntim has asserted that the partys recently concluded Super Delegates conference was clean.

He noted that none of the aspirants or their teams shared money with the aim of inducing voters.

Speaking to the media in Accra on Tuesday, August 29, Mr. Ntim said, "From where I sit, I didnt witness any vote-buying incident; nothing of that came to my attention."

He, however, admitted to the fact that the Saturday, August 26 polls recorded some incidents of violence and assured that his outfit is working to address them.

"Disciplinary measures will be put in place, investigations will be conducted, and discipline will be meted out accordingly," he assured.

This comes after some party faithful, including Alan Kyerematens flagbearer campaign team member, Hopeson Adorye publicly confirmed the vote incidents.

Speaking to journalists during the conference at the NPP headquarters on Saturday, Mr. Adorye said, In this election, money played a role, money, money. Money played a role, we are not afraid to say it. You could give someone US$5,000, what are you talking about?

We also shared money, he admitted when pressed by journalists but whose was bigger? How can you give one person 100,000 cedis to go and vote?

When challenged further, he posed, What are you talking about? Go to Ashanti Region and ask. The minimum was GHS50,000.
Former Algerian defence minister Khaled Nezzar has been indicted in Switzerland on charges of committing crimes against humanity in the 1990s during the civil war, state prosecutors said Tuesday.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) said it had filed an indictment in the Federal Criminal Court against the 85-year-old, who faces accusations including coordinating torture.

The 1992-2002 Algerian civil war between government forces and Islamists left up to 200,000 people dead.

"Nezzar is accused of violating the laws of armed conflicts in accordance with the Geneva Conventions between 1992 and 1994 in connection with the civil war in Algeria and of committing crimes against humanity," the OAG said in a statement.

"It is alleged that at the very least he knowingly and willingly condoned, coordinated and encouraged the torture and other cruel, inhumane or humiliating acts, physical and psychological assaults, arbitrary detentions and convictions and extra-judicial executions."

The civil war erupted after the army suspended an electoral process when the Islamic Salvation Front won the first round of a parliamentary vote in 1991.

The OAG opened criminal proceedings against Nezzar in 2011, following a complaint from the TRIAL International organisation, which fights against impunity for war crimes.

Nezzar was living in Switzerland at the time but has since left the country.

The OAG abandoned the proceedings in 2017, concluding that the Algerian civil war was not an internal armed conflict as defined by law.

On appeal, the Federal Criminal Court in 2018 ruled against that decision, and the OAG resumed criminal proceedings.

'War crimes, systematic attacks'

The indictment, filed on Monday, alleges that Nezzar "knowingly and willingly created structures in order to eliminate the Islamist opposition according to his plan of action".

"This led to the commission of war crimes and widespread and systematic attacks on civilians suspected of sympathising with the opposition."

The OAG documented 11 incidents, each with several allegations, alleged to have taken place between 1992 and 1994.

"The suspected victims are alleged to have been subjected to torture using water and/or electric shocks and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatments," it said.

The OAG stressed that the presumption of innocence applies to the accused.

The indictment "renews hope that victims of the Algerian civil war will get justice", TRIAL International said on its website.

"Nezzar will be the highest-ranking military official ever tried for such crimes based on the principle of universal jurisdiction."

The organisation wants the trial to begin as soon as possible, citing Nezzar's state of health.

The Collective of the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CFDA) on Tuesday celebrated a "historical legal victory", calling a demonstration on Wednesday in Algiers to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

According to TRIAL, one of the victims withdrew their complaint under pressure, while another complaint was shelved this year because the victim was no longer reachable. A third victim recently died.
The Nkawkaw chairman for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Eastern Region, Andy Kwaku Ameyaw has posited that the center-right ideological party is by no doubt the flame of hope in Africa's quest to deepen democratic practices and governance.

Expressing his gratitude on behalf of the Nkawkaw Constituency to the Chairman of the election committee responsible for overseeing the entire presidential primaries of the party, Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye and his team, Chairman Andy Kwaku Ameyaw made reference to the party's reforms and restructuring of internal electioneering systems when at the Trade Fair Center in 2009 the electoral college was widened after the 2008 general election defeat to late Professor John Evans Atta Mills and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) so all departments from top hierarchy to grassroots level within the party structures including the Zongos and communities would be captured, represented.

Speaking to Bretuoba on Obuoba FM's morning show in Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region on the just ended Special Delegates Congress of the NPP which sought to choose five flagbearer aspirants out of ten for the final hurdle, the Chairman, astute politician, educationist and a thoroughbred of the Danquah - Busiah - Dombo political tradition enlightened the listening public that the process was not to elect the best but to select after cognitive and 'SWOT' analysis for which reason the current Vice President Dr Mahamud Bawumia who now goes with the campaign acronym 'DMB' won overwhelmingly and unprecedentedly.

The Chairman made mention of the fact that once the best has emerged out of the congress it is possible for the Veep to win the next hurdle and lead the party in breaking the eight in the general elections against his excellency former President of the republic John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). He explained that owing to good governance systems introduced by the government under the tutelage of Dr. Mahamud Bawumia, the beleaguered Electricity Company of Ghana can now make whooping profits of millions of cedis.

He also pointed out that the introduction of medical drones and one district/constituency one ambulance concept has improved the country's health care delivery in gargantuan proportions. He again listed a number of road constructions under the current regime as a sign of improved governance and that Dr Mahamud Bawumia will lead the party to break the eight in the next general election.

Reacting to conduct of the delegates and few skirmishes reported by the media during the congress, Chairman Andy Kwaku Ameyaw advised the eligible voting community of the party to understand the voting ritual which expressly directs the voter to act in secrecy and rebuked delegates who hop from one aspirant to the other to extort money before they cast their ballot reminding them to be guided by the party's constitution in all endeavors.

He recalled that the current generation of the party are very fortunate to have witnessed victory with two flagbearers namely former President John Agyekum Kufuor and the sitting President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo under the fourth republic where as founding fathers, late Dr. J B Danquah and the rest did not.
Nearly 2,000 people have been convicted in France over nationwide riots sparked in late June by the fatal police shooting of a teenager during a traffic stop near Paris, the Justice Minister said on Tuesday.

Eric Dupond-Moretti had called for a "rapid, firm and systematic" response from magistrates to the worst urban violence in the country since 2005, with many courts holding fast-track trials for suspects.

Speaking to RTL radio, Dupond-Moretti said that out of 2,107 people tried, 1,989 had been found guilty and 1,789 had received prison sentences.

4,000 people were arrested during the eight nights of rioting following the death of 17-year-old Nahel during a traffic stop west of Paris.

A video of a police officer shooting the teen at point-blank range went viral.

"I called on magistrates to be firm and they responded," Dupond-Moretti added. "It was question of restoring law and order."

The riots were contained only after the deployment of around 45,000 security forces on successive evenings, including elite police special forces and armoured vehicles.

The minister also said that 20 judicial facilities had been vandalised during the four nights of clashes, costing the taxpayer 5 million.

Elsewhere, shopfronts, vehicles, schools and townhalls were attacked, many are waiting to be repaired.

But Nahel's death revived existing tensions over police brutality and racism in the country.

Earlier this month, a court in Versailles upheld an decision to detain the police officer suspected of fatally shooting Nahel.

The suspect, named as Florian M., a 38-year-old police motorcyclist, is under investigation for voluntary manslaughter over the death.

Death in Marseille

Meanwhile, three French police were charged with "armed violence unintentionally causing death" on 10 August over a 27-year-old man's death during the rioting in Marseille, in an uncommon instance of officers facing a criminal case over on-duty violence.

An autopsy of the man showed marks on his chest consistent with the impact of a shot from a blast ball commonly used by police, prosecutors said.

The officers remain under judicial supervision. They are banned from having any contact with plaintiffs in the case and from participating in any police contingent concerned with urban riot control or large-scale events.

The investigation is the latest high-profile incident involving Marseille police.

Last month, a 22-year-old man called Hedi had to have part of his skull removed after being beaten up and fired on with a blast ball on 21 July by a group of men suspected to be police officers.

Four Marseille police officers have been charged over that incident.

Three have been released under judicial supervision.The fourth has been remanded in custody for the duration of the investigation.

His detention caused huge controversy within the French police.

(with AFP)
Traditional authorities have condemned in no uncertain terms the use of live ammunition by police to disperse a crowd following a misunderstanding between police and some youth in Tamale.

The chiefs are also demanding the immediate release of all 13 persons arrested by the police as well as motorbikes they seized.

Briefing the media after a crunch meeting between the chiefs and the youth, spokesperson for the chiefs Alhaji Abdul Latif Sahanaa described the actions of the police as unprofessional.

The chiefs, while condemning the acts of the police, called on the youth to exercise restraint as the relevant stakeholders continue to engage the police to consider a roadmap to ensure sanity between them.

A team of police officers from the national headquarters arrived in Tamale Tuesday, August 29 and have since been meeting with the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) and the traditional rulers of Tamale.

Six persons on Monday sustained various degrees of gunshot wounds following a confrontation between police and the youth at the Tamale District Court.

The youth had besieged the premises of the court to demand the prosecution of Karim Osman, an alleged drug lord.

Thirteen people were arrested by the police.

Hundreds of motorbikes belonging to the youth were also seized by the police.
Prince Harry pictured in June

Prince Harry pictured in June

Prince Harry has lamented the lack of support he received while struggling with his mental health, before he sought out therapy.

The Duke of Sussex is currently appearing in the five-part Netflix series Heart Of Invictus, which was released on Wednesday, as part of the multi-million pound deal he and his wife Meghan Markle have with the streaming platform.

Harrys latest project is a documentary about the Invictus Games, the sporting event for injured and wounded veterans and serving members of the military, which he founded in 2014.

In the documentary, Harry speaks candidly about the mental health struggles he faced when his own tour of Afghanistan came to an end, and the feelings this triggered within him.

Somewhere after that, there was an unravelling, he explains.

While Harry says the trigger was returning home from Afghanistan, he says he began experiencing trauma related to the death of his mother, Princess Diana, 15 years earlier.

The trigger to me was actually returning from Afghanistan, but stuff that was coming up was from 1997, from the age of 12, Harry recalls. Losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had, I was never really aware of. It was never discussed.

I didnt really talk about it and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done, but then when it all came fizzing out, I was bouncing off the walls. I was like what is going on here? Im now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.

Prince Harry in December 2012

Prince Harry in December 2012

He continues: The biggest struggle for me was [that] no-one around me really could help. I didnt have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me.

Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you really consider therapy is when youre lying on the floor in the fetal position, probably wishing that youd dealt with some of the stuff previously, and thats what I really want to change.

Story continues

Harry has previously spoken in depth about the struggles he has experienced with his mental health due to past trauma in his 2023 memoir Spare.

He and his wife also spoke about their shared difficulties in the three-part Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, as well as their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at an Invictus Games event in September 2022

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at an Invictus Games event in September 2022

Reflecting on her time as a senior member of the Royal Family, the Duchess of Sussex disclosed that she experienced suicidal thoughts during that period.

Meghan shared: I went to the institution and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help ... And I was told that I couldnt, that it wouldnt be good for the institution.

All five episodes of Heart Of Invictus are now streaming on Netflix.

Help and support:

Mind , open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393 .

Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).

CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58 , and a webchat service.

The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk

Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0808 801 0525 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org.

READ MORE:
Sudan's army chief returned home Tuesday after visiting Egypt on his first trip abroad since the outbreak of war in April, with the latest violence killing dozens of civilians in battle-scarred Darfur.

As Abdel Fattah al-Burhan travelled for talks with key ally Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, medics and witnesses said 39 civilians were killed, most of them women and children, in shelling of Nyala, the South Darfur state capital where fighting between the army and paramilitary forces has intensified.

Burhan was back in Sudan's Red Sea city of Port Sudan late Tuesday, the country's highest authority, the Sovereign Council said, after he swapped his trademark military fatigues for a suit and tie for his flight to El Alamein on Egypt's north coast earlier the same day.

While there, he said his forces faced "rebel groups who have committed war crimes in their attempt to seize power".

Western countries have accused the paramilitaries and allied militias of killings based on ethnicity, and the International Criminal Court has opened a new probe into alleged war crimes.

The army has also been accused of abuses, including a July 8 air strike that killed around two dozen civilians.

In their meeting, Sisi's office said he had "reaffirmed Egypt's firm position in standing by Sudan and supporting its security, stability and territorial integrity".

The war between Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has raged since April 15, killing thousands and uprooting millions.

For months, the RSF had besieged Burhan inside the military headquarters in Khartoum, but last week the general made his first foray outside the compound.

Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan prepares to board a plane to Egypt on his first visit abroad since fighting flared with a rival general. By - (Sudan's Transitional Sovereignty Council/AFP)

Speaking to Egyptian media on Tuesday, Burhan said Sudan's military is "committed to ending the war" and "does not seek to continue ruling" the country.

"We seek free, fair elections where the Sudanese people can decide what they want."

But the war continued on Tuesday.

In Khartoum's eastern district of Sharq al-Nil, the RSF came under artillery fire, according to witnesses.

New Darfur violence

Fighting in Nyala killed at least 39 civilians when shelling hit their homes, witnesses and a medical source said.

"The entire members of five families were killed in a single day," said Gouja Ahmed, a rights activist originally from the city.

Images posted online showed dozens of shrouded bodies on the ground, as well as men placing the dead in a large grave.

Darfur has long been the site of unrest since a war that erupted in 2003 and saw the then-government of Omar al-Bashir unleash the feared Janjaweed -- precursors of the RSF -- on ethnic minority rebels and civilians.

Since August 11 more than 50,000 people have fled Nyala due to the violence, the United Nations says.

Before they turned on each other, Burhan had been backed by Daglo when he became Sudan's de facto ruler in a 2021 coup.

Sudan's war has killed thousands, uprooted millions, and led to a new international probe into alleged war crimes. By - (AFP/File)

The coup derailed a transition painstakingly negotiated between military and civilian leaders following the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Bashir.

Port Sudan, spared the fighting, is where government officials and the UN have relocated. It is also the site of Sudan's only functioning airport.

Burhan's trip follows multiple diplomatic efforts to end the war in Sudan, with a series of US- and Saudi-brokered ceasefires systematically violated.

In July, Egypt, which has received more than 285,000 refugees from its neighbour, hosted a crisis meeting attended by African leaders to seek a solution.

Analysts say the international allies of both sides are set to play crucial roles, with Egypt and Turkey firmly on the army's side and the United Arab Emirates and Russian mercenary group Wagner among those accused of supporting the RSF.

After Egypt, speculation has mounted that Burhan will next travel to Saudi Arabia, which has positioned itself as a mediator also "in opposition to the UAE's plan" to back the RSF, said Magdi el-Gizouli, a researcher with the Rift Valley Institute.

Conservative estimates from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project show nearly 5,000 people have been killed in the more than four-month Sudan war.

The United Nations says more than 4.6 million people have been uprooted by the fighting, fleeing inside Sudan as well as to neighbouring countries.

Many of the million people who have crossed borders are living in "increasingly desperate conditions," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Tuesday in South Sudan, where more than 230,000 people have sought safety.
Aid workers in the French alpine town of Briancon, inundated by a sharp rise in the number of migrants crossing the border from Italy, have said they would close their reception centre to protest inaction by the state.

Volunteers from the Terrasses Solidaires refuge in Briancon  the first on the French side of the border  on Tuesday said they could no longer accommodate the growing influx of migrants.

Despite having only 60 emergency beds, the facility  a former sanatorium  was reportedly forced to make room for 326 people overnight Monday.

Arrivals of migrants, who often cross from Italy in small groups, have multiplied with the centre now experiencing its heaviest demand since operations began in 2021.

"These migrant routes have always existed," said Luc Marchello, who works with the NGO Refuges Solidaires, of the mountainous pathways that stretch from Italy through Montgenevre, on the border, and on to Briancon.

"But their use has intensified since 2016 and even more so since this spring."

Terrifying trek

One young man from Cote d'Ivoire, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told RFI he was able to reach Briancon on his second attempt at trekking along the mountain. On his first try, he was intercepted by border police.

"We left around 1am during the night, he said. One of my friends was so scared he turned around to go back, but we found the courage to continue.

"The Mediterranean was even worse."

Using the GPS on his mobile phone, the young man managed to quietly guide his group out of the thick forest that lines the Montgenevre pass, taking careful detours to avoid the border police.

It was 6am when they successfully arrived at the Terrasses Solidaires reception centre, where volunteers offered them camp beds, sheets, soap and toothpaste.

Overwhelmed

To accommodate the flow of migrants, mattresses lined the floors of the corridors and meeting rooms, while tents were pitched on the outdoor terrace.

Local NGOs estimate that at least 25,000 migrants have made their way to France along alpine routes since 2016.

Most of them are people from sub-Saharan countries who fled north through Tunisia, where they travelled by boat to Italy.

Despite repeated requests for help in recent weeks from aid workers in Briancon, no alternative solutions have so far been put forward by authorities.

Volunteers at the Terrasses Solidaires reception centre hope that by shutting the facility in protest, the government will be forced to provide improved emergency accommodation.

Migrants currently being sheltered there are to be found alternative lodgings before the centre closes its doors.
Turkey has said that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia "soon" for talks with Vladimir Putin on reviving a Black Sea grain deal that could be used as a springboard for broader peace negotiations with Ukraine.

On Monday, Erdogan's ruling AK party spokesman Omer Celik told reporters that the meeting will take place in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi and focus on averting a looming "food crisis".

In televised remarks, Celik said: "As you know, [Erdogan] will pay a visit to Sochi soon."

Meanwhile, Turkish media are reporting that Erdogan could meet the Russian president, possibly as soon as 4 September.

For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that a meeting between the two leaders was being prepared "intensively" but gave no time or place for the talks.

Ankara's communication channels

This comes as Erdogan has used his good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv to try and bring the two sides into formal peace talks.

He last met Putin in the Kazakh capital Astana in October last year.

The two also held a teleconference in April that inaugurated a Russian-built nuclear power plant on the eve of Erdogan's tough re-election to his final term in office.

Turkey was a key broker in the only major agreement signed by the warring sides since the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine  a deal to ship grain from three Ukrainian ports across the Black Sea.

As both Russia and Ukraine are major grain exporters, their initial deal helped bring down global food prices that were contributing to starvation in Africa and parts of the Middle East.

New sea route

Only last month, Moscow scuppered the UN-backed agreement with Kyiv citing non-compliance with provisions aimed at easing Russia's own exports of agricultural products and fertiliser.

Russia has since launched repeated attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure and warned that it may consider any ships in the Black Sea as military targets.

Ukraine has also stepped up attacks on Russian targets around the Black Sea, but Erdogan has remained undeterred.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was dispatched to Kyiv last Friday in a bid to bring Ukraine on board for the talks.

Ankara's chief envoy used the visit to urge Ukraine to abandon its attempts to set up a new route  reportedly backed by Washington and the European Union  that ships can use without Russia's involvement in time for the autumn harvest.

"We know alternative routes are being sought [for grain shipments], but we see no alternative to the original initiative because they carry risks," Fidan said in Kyiv.

Fidan is reportedly due to visit Moscow in the coming days.

For now, Ukraine depends on land routes and a shallow river port that severely limits its grain export volumes.

It has sent two ships along a new route from a port in Odesa that reached Istanbul after hugging the shores of NATO members Romania and Bulgaria, but Turkish officials argue that it is too dangerous.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Dr. Delese A. A. Darko, has called on employers to establish lactation rooms and provide flexible work hours to ensure lactating mothers have access to the resources they need to continue breastfeeding.

According to her, many parents, particularly working mothers, face challenges in juggling their professional responsibilities while providing the best nutrition for their children through breastfeeding practices.

She noted that breastfeeding is not just a biological process; its a natural gift providing infants with optimal nutrition and emotional bonding, thereby setting the stage for a lifetime of wellness.

Dr. Delese Darko disclosed this at the launch of the 2023 Breastfeeding Awareness Month Celebrations. This year's celebration is on the theme, "Enabling Breastfeeding: Making a Difference for Working Parents".

Dr. Delese A.A. Darko emphasized that the benefits of breastfeeding extend far beyond the comfort of the home.

She noted that the FDA is working closely with various stakeholders such as the Ghana Health Service, UNICEF, private sector employers, policymakers, and civil society organizations, to raise awareness about the benefits of breastfeeding, dispelling myths, providing evidence-based information to families, and advocating for breastfeeding-friendly workplaces.

Deputy Minister of Health, Hon. Tina Mensah said, it is a collective duty to create an environment that empowers these parents to make the choice to breastfeed without compromising their careers.

She advised nursing mothers to breastfeed their babies intensively for six months.

To promote breastfeeding, the Authority prevents direct and indirect advertisement of designated products on social media, shops, electronic and print media through surveillance activities and also advises the Minister of Health on the regulation of designated products (e.g. donations).

The FDA also liaises with GHS and other stakeholders to enforce all aspects of L.I.1667.

Mr. Roderick Daddey-Adjei, DCE-Food, FDA, presenting the outcome of a short survey on the knowledge of the L.I. 1667 among workers and their breastfeeding experiences, indicated that 78.61% of people affirmed they had heard about the Breastfeeding Promotion Regulation 2000 (L.I. 1667).

Also, 66% of the survey participants think that the introduction of Breast milk substitutes contributes to reduced exclusive breastfeeding and has an overall positive perception of exclusively breastfeeding babies which is best for them.

The survey aimed to assess public awareness, practices, challenges and perceptions regarding breastfeeding in Ghana, with a specific focus on Ghana's Breastfeeding Promotion Regulation, 2000 (LI 1667); this law promotes and protects breastfeeding in Ghana.

The survey, which has 505 participants, recommended a Review of Existing Regulations to address the identified gaps to strengthen restrictions on advertisements of infant formulas and clear sanctions for behavior contrary to the Breastfeeding Promotion Regulation 2000 (L.I.1667).

Actively educate people on the importance of Exclusive breastfeeding and sensitization of Industries, health professionals, Shops, and the general public on the various Guidelines and Legislation on Breastfeeding put in place to protect infants.
Franklin Cudjoe

30.08.2023 LISTEN

The Founding President and chief executive officer of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Franklin Cudjoe has described governments Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme as a dodgy intervention.

In a post on Facebook, he called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to look into the PFJ programme and all other programmes being run by the NPP government.

Franklin Cudjoe argues that Phase I of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme only worked in 2017 and if Phase II has been launched for votes then it's bad and must be checked.

Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) phase 2 announced. Just get good land & the govt will give you farm inputs. PFJ 1 worked well only in 2017.Inputs such as fertilisers were shared but eloped to Togo, Burkina Faso etc.

Better to convert these dodgy interventions to cheap credits, fix the bad roads, reduced taxes and let every farmer buy his own inputs. There must be no wasteful shortcuts unless 'buying votes' is part of the plan. It is a very bad idea. IMF shine your eyes and please check these schemes, Franklin Cudjoe shared in a post on Facebook.

He continued, Already deals like BoG's $300m showroom office and Genser's falaaa gas contract are bleeding the treasury and leading to higher electricity costs for the ordinary pillaged Ghanaian. IMF wake up and follow your money.

Meanwhile, officials of IMF are set to travel to Ghana to make an assessment of its programme of the country's economy before the release of the second tranche of the $3 billion credit facility it is giving to the country.
A charity-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Helpingothers, has presented a cash amount of GH3,050.00 to an 11-year- old boy on admission at the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga, to facilitate his care.

The boy, (name withheld), was diagnosed of typhoid perforation and had been on admission at the Paediatric Surgical Unit of the Hospital since July 11, 2023.

Typhoid perforation is a complication of typhoid fever, caused by salmonella typhi and spread through contaminated food, water and close contact with an infected person.

The money was to help in purchasing some surgical consumables, his upkeep and registration onto the National Health Insurance Scheme, as he was not an NHIS client.

Mr Antonio Garcia Condado, the Head of the NGO, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after he presented the cash, said Helpingothers got wind of the patient's plight through Mr Mark Anthony Azongo, a Paediatric Nurse Specialist at the Hospital.

The NGO is made of family members from Spain who have taken it upon themselves, as the name suggests, to extend help to less privileged individuals and institutions in the Region and beyond.

Some members, thus, visited the boy on admission, and upon assessment, realised that his parents needed financial support to facilitate his health care.

Helpingothers had offered support to hospitals and schools in the Region for the past six years.

We are in our last days in the Region and so we want to help as many needy people as possible to settle their bills, he said.

Mr Condaho, accompanied by his daughter, Ms Claudia Garcia, wished the patient a speedy recovery.

Mr Bukari Musah, the father of the patient, who received the money, commended the NGO for the support and said it was timely.

This support is timely because I have spent almost all I had on the health of my son, and almost lost hope. I thank them very much and may God replenish what was spent on my son, he said.

Mr Dokurugu Mohammed, the Assistant Manager of the Paediatric Surgical Unit, told the GNA that the patient had undergone surgical operation for the condition, where colostomy, an incision into the colon through the abdomen was done to redirect his stool from the rectum and the anus.

He said the victim had a colostomy bag which contained faecal matter and was changed every four to six hours daily.

The frequent changing of the bag is quite expensive to the family. And once we change the colostomy bag, it means we have to dress the wound.

The management of the Unit would ensure that the money was used to buy the needed items to

continue with the patient's care for speedy recovery, he said, and expressed gratitude to the family for the gesture.

GNA
The Minority in Parliament has expressed the view that the launch of Phase II of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme is an admission by government that Phase I failed.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, the Deputy Ranking Member on the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw made the allegation that government is using the PFJ programme as a state resource looting platform.

This a clear admission of our position that the PFJ programme had failed and that it was a mere state resource looting platform disguised as a flagship programme, Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw said.

According to the Minority MP, Phase II of the PFJ programme will leave smallholder farmers impoverished.

Its just a way of telling us government can no longer support input subsidy and that farmers will be left in the hands of private commercial entities to negotiate and transact their own production input regimes based on market determinants.

In fact, this new program will impoverish the smallholder farmer in a worse form as his faith will be determined by market forces, Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw argued.

President Akufo-Addo on Monday, August 28, launched Phase II of the Programme at the University of Development Studies, Tamale.

Phase Two of the PFJ Programme is a five-year master plan for the transformation of agriculture in Ghana.

The objective is to transform and modernise Ghanas agriculture through the development of a selected commodity value chain, with active private sector participation.
30.08.2023 LISTEN

Ghana goes to the polls next year. Ghanaians are determined to have political campaigns issue-based. IMANI intends yet again to take it a step further- measuring the feasibility of manifestos as it has been doing since 2008 and received global recognition for it in 2017.

Unrealistic campaign promises are a staple in elections across the world, and nowhere has that been truer than in Ghana  until now. Last year, Accra-based IMANI Center for Policy and Education launched its 2016 IMANIFesto Campaign, which estimated the costs and rated the feasibility of all campaign promises. For the first time this forced the countrys political parties to justify many of their unrealistic plans to the public.

Each IMANIFesto publication was followed by a formal press conference to discuss the findings of its work with political parties vying for elections, which resulted in these parties reforming their promises. Supplementing this initiative was near-constant attention in the national media and IMANIs savvy use of social media, which stirred the public debate by reaching over 2 million Facebook users and nearly 1 million Twitter users from August to November of 2016.

.

This prompted many political party officials to take to those platforms to defend against challenges from the public. IMANIs engagement of millions of Ghanaians has reminded the people of Ghana that the power to hold the government accountable is in their hands and transformed the 2016 Parliamentary Election into one based not on political promises but on policy issues. IMANIFestos success has even inspired other think tanks in West Africa to visit IMANI in hopes of replicating the project in their respective countries.

Demystifying Ghanas Political Atmosphere

IMANIFesto became a reference point that benchmarked political promises along quantifiable metrics that the common man could relate to and is now the blueprint for political communication along the lines of policy promises, said Franklin Cudjoe, founding president and CEO of IMANI. It is exciting to know that IMANIFesto will become the most potent tool to help narrow the gap between political wish lists and reality in Ghana and anywhere we export the idea to  primarily the rest of Africa and anywhere else politicians evade scrutiny.

IMANI tried to rein in the rampant promise making of those campaigning for public office in Ghana by introducing a three-pronged quantitative assessment framework allowing Ghanaian citizens to determine the viability of each campaign promise made by political parties. Those three prongs were financial viability of each promise, its potential impact on private sector development, and overall policy implications of its implementation.

To support this initial framework IMANI published four major research reports as part of its campaign, each with an accompanying press event geared toward political candidates, parties, and members of the government. The three major radio stations of Citi FM, Joy FM, and Starr FM  in addition to the state-owned Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and the Daily Graphic  covered each press event. The most impactful report was 2016 IMANI Pre-election Report: Critical Analysis of the Political Promises in Ghana, which identified all campaign promises of Ghanas six leading political parties and categorized them as quantifiable, semi-quantifiable, and non-quantifiable. Only 18 of the 247 promises analyzed in the report were deemed quantifiable, 43 were deemed semi-quantifiable, and 186 non-quantifiable; the vast majority of these political promises were proven to be empty and vague.

The findings of the report were announced at the reports launch event, a true spectacle that was broadcasted live and attended by journalists, politicians, and other stakeholders, with the broadcast reaching millions. A media frenzy followed as the reports findings made their way onto front-page headlines of Ghanas top newspapers, forcing party leaders to address criticism of their parties platforms. One such promise that was sunk because of the report was the Convention Peoples Party (CPP)s pledge to establish exportation of African tropical almonds as the backbone of the countrys economy, promising that such a move would yield $300 billion in revenue. IMANI found that the value of the worlds current leading almond exporter earned only $4.5 billion  far less than $300 billion  which proved the endeavor to be unattainable and forced the CPP to abandon such a pledge.

Another example was when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) promised one district, one factory, a pledge to build one factory in each of Ghanas 216 administrative districts. IMANI found that such a promise had no measurable indicators and argued that the only feasible way to accomplish such a task was through a public-private partnership model, but NPP doubled down in its official response to IMANIs criticism, saying they would keep such a promise and accompanying plan for implementation. The NPP came to power after the most recent elections, and its roll-out of the one district, one factory initiative notably followed the public-private partnership model that IMANI had advocated for and not its originally proposed state-owned enterprise model.

The IMANIFesto project also tracked the political promises of the previous parliament and will continue to track the current NPP government to provide a tool for Ghanaian voters to hold their government accountable. The NPP made additional market-friendly promises to reduce the corporate tax rate, import duties, and the Value Added Tax; all of which, if implemented, would help raise Ghanas level of economic freedom, and the pressure IMANIs watchdog project exerts helps push those reforms further along.

IMANI demonstrates the vital role that civil society organizations can play in making government leaders more accountable to citizens, said Atlas Network CEO Brad Lips. Its IMANIFesto Campaign finally forces politicians to reconcile their campaign rhetoric with the real-world trade-offs that face policymakers in office.

Digital Grassroots

The IMANIFesto campaign was broad in its digital reach  over 4 million watched the broadcast of the report launch. IMANIFesto reached more than 2 million Facebook users and 1 million Twitter users from August and November 2016. And it had more than 20 direct media placements on radio, traditional, electronic, and state-run media outlets. A famous cartoonist even published a cartoon called Manifesto Inspector in the Daily Graphic, Ghanas most read newspaper, depicting IMANI President Franklin Cudjoe scrutinizing the political promises from the leaders of major political parties.

The impact of the IMANIFesto project is undeniable. It provided a country easy-to-consume information about the issues of the election and the viability of the various political promises from each party and, according to Kenneth Ashigbey (editor-in-chief and managing director of the Daily Graphic), it functioned as a barometer of legitimacy for the masses. This allowed the 2016 election to transcend its usual partisan, religious, and tribal lines. IMANIs work also forced party leaders to revise their party manifestos to increase their feasibility and thus their attractiveness to the electorate. IMANI is even working with think tanks in Nigeria to duplicate this work for Nigerian elections. The campaign on the whole had a dual effect: first, it educated an electorate that previously lacked access to information about the various campaign promises of political parties that preyed upon such a lack of access, and second, it induced those parties to revise their poorly formulated platforms or risk being punished by voters at the ballot box.

IMANI extended this project to Liberia- IMANI Press Release: Analysis of Key Political Promises Ahead of Presidential Elections in Liberia, Sierra Leone- IMANIFESTO Report: How Sierra Leonean Politicians Plan to Fix Countrys Challenges, IMANIs Analysis and Recommendations Ahead of the March 7 Presidential Elections , Zimbabwe- IMANIFesto -ZIMBABWES 2018 ELECTION: An Analysis of Manifesto Promises

IMANI is seeking funding support to continue this important democratic exercise in 2024. Please send an email to [email protected] to find out how you can help.

About the Templeton Freedom Award and the additional 2017 finalists:

Awarded since 2004, the Templeton Freedom Award is named for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton. The award annually honors his legacy by identifying and recognizing the most exceptional and innovative contributions to the understanding of free enterprise, and the public policies that encourage prosperity, innovation, and human fulfillment via free competition. The award is generously supported by Templeton Religion Trust and will be presented during Atlas Networks Freedom Dinner on Nov. 8 in New York City at the historic Capitale. The winning organization will receive a $100,000 prize, and five additional finalists will receive $25,000 prizes. In addition to IMANI, the other finalists for the 2017 Templeton Freedom Award are:

Sources: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/articles/imani-ghana-case-study-highlights-imanifesto-as-ghanas-barometer-of-legitimacy-for-the-masses

https://www.africanliberty.org/2017/08/30/imanifesto-and-the-demystification-of-ghanas-political-campaign-atmosphere/
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged International Maritime rating agencies to be mindful of the implications of inaccurate reportage that impacts negatively African countries' participation in global trade.

President Akufo-Addo, who expressed worry about the skewed and inaccurate reportage on the safety and security of the Gulf of Guinea, said while past efforts had brought relative calm to the waters of Africa some entities continue to paint a grooming picture of events in the Gulf of Guinea.

Speaking at the launch of the National Integrated Maritime Strategy of Ghana and the International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference in Accra on Tuesday, the President disclosed that Ghana's maritime domain had not recorded any incident of piracy since 2022.

That, President Akufo-Addo attributed to the concerted efforts of the Ghana Navy and other key maritime stakeholders.

The National Integrated Maritime Strategy (NIMS) has been developed by a multi-agency Ghanaian team at a crucial moment where there is a burgeoning awareness of the contribution of oceans to sustainable development.

The Strategy is intended to chart viable courses of action towards addressing these issues to ensure that Ghana's maritime domain is globally considered safe and secure, with strong blue economy sectors that not only generate substantial national income but also improve the living standards of people.

The NIMS has been developed with six strategic objectives  to strengthen the framework for maritime governance; ensure the safety and security of Ghana's maritime domain; develop a thriving blue economy; protect Ghanas marine and coastal environment; promote capacity-building, research, awareness and knowledge-sharing in the maritime domain and develop dynamic and diversified regional and international cooperation.

President Akufo-Addo said the government has commenced equipping the Navy with drones, coastal radars, real-time surveillance and tracking protocols to improve maritime domain awareness.

He assured that the government would continue to support the maritime authority and the entire maritime industry with policies, equipment, training and resources as part of maritime security capacity building.

All these investments, according to the President, are geared towards developing a blue economy, adding that Ghana is taking steps to strengthen maritime governance and also harmonise activities in the maritime sector.

The President was joined at the event by the Minister of National Security, Kan Dapaah, Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral, Issah Yakubu among other important state officials and private sector players.
30.08.2023 LISTEN

George Orwell's words resonate today as he urges us to defend the English language from propaganda and euphemism. In his essay "On Politics and the English Language," Orwell astutely observed the challenges inherent in defining terms like "democracy."

He noted that the term's ambiguity arises from its misuse by regimes of various kinds, all eager to adorn themselves with democratic legitimacy. This phenomenon finds relevance in Ghana's political context, where successive governments since 1994 have paraded under democracy's banner. However, it is imperative to delve deeper into the meaning of governance structures and assess which aligns with Ghana's realitydemocracy or kleptocracy.

Democracy and kleptocracy stand at opposite poles, symbolizing contrasting governance and societal well-being approaches. Democracy champions citizen empowerment and participatory decision-making, while kleptocracy represents a distortion of power, where a select few exploit their authority for personal wealth accumulation. The dichotomy between these ideologies manifests across various dimensions, spanning accountability, transparency, economic development, and civic freedoms.

Democracy hinges on accountability, wherein leaders are held responsible through elections and the rule of law. Transparency in governance fosters an informed electorate capable of making sound choices. In contrast, kleptocracies lack accountability, as leaders manipulate information, manipulate the press, and consolidate power. This divergence tarnishes democracy's essence by eroding public trust and isolating leaders from their constituents.

The rule of law, a democratic cornerstone, mandates that laws apply equally to all citizens. A robust legal system safeguards individual rights and ensures fairness. However, kleptocracies mold the rule of law to serve the interests of the elite, undermining justice and perpetuating a culture of impunity. This manipulation erodes public faith in institutions, tarnishing the very essence of the justice democracy seeks to uphold.

Democracy champions equality by providing equal opportunities and protecting minority rights. However, kleptocracy exacerbates inequality as a privileged minority accumulates wealth, leaving the majority grappling with deprivation. This divergence from democratic principles breeds resentment, hindering collective progress and shared prosperity.

Democratic societies encourage civic engagement, allowing citizens to voice their concerns and aspirations. Kleptocratic regimes stifle participation by controlling information. This suppression contradicts the democratic ideal, distorting governance processes and undermining the principle that leadership should be by and for the people.

Democracy prioritizes public welfare through policies addressing societal needs. In contrast, kleptocracy prioritizes personal enrichment, diverting resources to private coffers. This divergence undermines economic development and thwarts collective growth.

Kleptocracies breed corruption and nepotism, corroding meritocracy and fairness. Leaders favor allies, undermining institutional integrity: democracies base appointments and opportunities on qualifications, not personal connections.

Civic freedoms, including freedom of speech and the press, are essential to a democracy's health. Kleptocracies suppress these freedoms to maintain control. Such suppression erodes democratic dialogue and eliminates vital power checks.

Democracies prioritize growth through social and physical infrastructure. Kleptocracies prioritize personal wealth accumulation, retarding socioeconomic progress and undercutting democratic economies' long-term stability.

The contrasting concepts of democracy and kleptocracy provide a prism to analyze Ghana's governance since 1994. Democracy, emphasizing accountability, transparency, equality, and civic engagement, strives to empower citizens and foster collective progress. On the other hand, kleptocracy's hallmarkscorruption, inequality, suppression of civic freedoms, and personal enrichmentreflect an environment where governance veers off course. To accurately characterize the governments since 1994, one must scrutinize whether the ideals of democracy or the shadows of kleptocracy define the nation's trajectory.

In navigating this analytical journey, it becomes evident that while Ghana's governments may have paraded as democratic entities, kleptocratic tendencies are visible. The challenge lies in deciphering whether the label of democracy reflects the nation's governance or whether the tendrils of kleptocracy have subtly intertwined within the political fabric. Perhaps, as Orwell suggests, it is the meaning that chooses the word, and not vice versa. Only by critically evaluating the alignment between Ghana's governance reality and democracy and kleptocracy tenets can we gain insight into the nation's political identity.
TAIPEI (Reuters) - The leading candidate to be Taiwan's new president, Vice President William Lai, said in an interview on Tuesday that he has no plans to change the island's formal name, but reiterated that Taiwan is "not subordinate" to China.

Beijing dislikes Lai for previous comments saying he is a "practical worker for Taiwan independence" - a red line for China, which views the democratically governed island as part of its territory.

Lai has repeatedly said that he is not seeking to change the status quo and that he is simply stating a fact: that Taiwan is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its formal name, and that only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

"We must abide by the truth  which is what I mean by pragmatism  which is Taiwan is already a sovereign, independent country called the Republic of China. It is not part of the People's Republic of China," he said in an interview with the Bloomberg news agency. "The ROC and PRC are not subordinate to one another. It is not necessary to declare independence. The ROC (Taiwan) is not subordinate to the PRC."

The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, who established the People's Republic of China.

"The current name, according to our constitution, is the Republic of China," Lai said, according to a transcript published by his campaign team.

"And in respect to unifying Taiwanese society, President Tsai has used the term Republic of China (Taiwan) to describe our country. I will continue to do so in the future," he added. "There are no plans to change the name of our country."

Taiwan holds a presidential election in January. President Tsai Ing-wen cannot run again after serving two terms in office.

Tsai has repeatedly offered talks with China, which Beijing has rebuffed, and Lai said the door to dialogue is always open as long as there is "parity and dignity".

Story continues

"We don't want to be enemies, we can be friends. And we would love to see China enjoy democracy and freedom  just like us," he said. "However, until China renounces the use of force against Taiwan, we must strengthen our military capacity."

Lai is in Paraguay for the inauguration of that country's new president. Paraguay is one of only 13 nations to maintain formal ties with Taipei.

He transited through New York on his way there, drawing anger from China, which said he was both a separatist and "trouble maker", and is due back in Taipei on Friday after stopping over in San Francisco.

(This story has been refiled to fix typographical errors in paragraphs 2 and 8)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard. Editing by Gerry Doyle and Jon Boyle)
The familiar sight of African citizens celebrating in the streets after a military coup has repeated itself once more, this time in the small Central African nation of Gabon.

But while the jubilant crowds in Libreville hail this coup as liberating them from over 50 years of rule by the Bongo family, it raises troubling questions about democracy and stability on the continent.

Gabon's coup comes 59 years after Africa's first successful post-independence coup in Togo in 1963.

In the decades since, over 200 military coups or attempts have struck nations across Africa.

From Ghana to Burkina Faso to Zimbabwe, prolonged periods of military rule have often followed the sudden overthrow of civilian governments.

While the motivations differ, African coups share some common root causes. Most stem from popular frustrations with corruption, economic mismanagement, and authoritarian rule under long-serving presidents and parties.

Military factions can also have their own grievances related to pay, living conditions and leadership disputes.

Whatever the triggers, the results have often been the same - armed forces seizing power from civilian leaders unable or unwilling to address simmering crises.

Mali has endured two coups just since 2020. Neighboring Burkina Faso has witnessed multiple coups in recent years. Now Gabon is the latest example of this pattern of military interventions.

But are coups ever the answer? Nigeria's checkered history provides a cautionary tale. Following independence in 1960, Nigeria suffered through numerous military dictatorships interspersed with short-lived civilian rule.

Only since 1999 has a sustained democratic system taken shape. The costs of Nigeria's coups were extensive - human rights abuses, corruption, and delayed development.

Ghana shares a similar past. After gaining independence in 1957, the promising democracy gave way to military rule throughout much of the 1960s to early 1980s. The echoes of that chaotic period still shape Ghanaian politics today.

The lessons are clear - while coups may promise quick remedies to corruption and injustice, they seldom lead to stability or prosperity long-term.

The difficult work of building strong democratic institutions and cultures cannot be circumvented by troops seizing presidential palaces.

Gabon's people may have legitimate grievances with the Bongo dynasty's dominance and stewardship.

But they may come to regret losing even a flawed democracy if the incoming military regime resorts to greater repression and incompetence.

West Africa's recent coups have demonstrated how hard it is to break free from that cycle once unleashed.

Though African citizens yearn for better governance, the solution must be found at the ballot box, not the barracks.

Sustaining democracies against backsliding into strongman rule or coups remains a central challenge.

Africa's progress depends on leaders respecting their term limits and oppositions pursuing change through elections, not insurrections.

Gabon's post-coup future weighs in the balance. Its people are understandably jubilant today. But if history provides any lesson, they may look back with regret that the promise of long-sought change came at the price of democracy lost.
"It's difficult, I'm the first to admit it. I have said it several times but at the end of the day, i believe when the moment comes, Ghanaians will reflect who best to get us out of these difficulties and take us to the next stage".

Above were the words of our President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo after casting his votes on Saturday at the NPP delegates conference.

By this statement what else are Ghanaians waiting for? It's a clear admission of failure by the president and the Gov't at large. It would have been appropriate for Ghanaians to go the Sri Lankan way but ...... the consequence could be unbearable.

It's no secret facts that the country's economy is in comatose. I know of many institutions of state that need human resources but are not getting clearance from the finance ministry. No wonder hundreds of university graduates are home depending on their parents for survival. How can any right 'thinking member of society' support this situation?

Today ordinary Ghanaian have to eat once a day just to survive. To get a decent breakfast of 'koko', bread, 'koose' and a spoonful of milk one needs an average of ghc10. 'Gari' and beans which used to be the delicacy of the suffering masses is today food for the privileged

In admitting that the challenges are beyond him who then can rescue us from these doldrums? The president has indirectly shot his party in the foot. This is because if there is anyone with the magic wand that person would have been consulted to solve it. Must our president end his tenure before that 'messiah' comes? I can't stop sobbing for Mother Ghana.

That said, can any of the opposition parties help solved our plight? Your guess is as good as mine.

The youth are leaving the shores of Ghana in droves to any country. Their targets are to get to USA by any means necessary. Mexico, as I write thousands of migrants who are waiting to enter the USA. Many Ghanaians are within.

Shamefully enough we have in our constitution what's we call 'article 71 holders'. This article Should have been abolished long ago but.... One day all these cheating mechanisms will be dragged to a tribunal and the beneficiaries will account and pay dearly for their greed and misdeeds.

Henry Haruna Asante

Vice Chairman (PNC)
Nairobi, August 30, 2023The Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International, the Burundi Human Rights Initiative, and Human Rights Watch on Wednesday, August 30, renewed their call for Burundian authorities to unconditionally release journalist Floriane Irangabiye, who has been detained for a year.

Irangabiye was arrested on August 30, 2022, and is serving a 10-year prison term following a January 2023 conviction on charges of endangering the integrity of Burundis national territory.

In their joint statement, the organizations asserted that Irangabiyes conviction and imprisonment for commentary aired by exiled online outlet Radio Igicaniro were punishment for her peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression. The statement also expressed concern for Irangabiyes deteriorating health behind bars after she experienced respiratory distress in July.

The failure to provide Irangabiye with adequate medical care is not only cruel, but a sign of the states ruthlessness in silencing critics, said Muthoki Mumo, CPJs sub-Saharan Africa representative, in the statement. Authorities should immediately provide her access to the necessary medical care and release her unconditionally.
30.08.2023 LISTEN

Minority in Parliament has strongly criticised the 2nd phase of the governments agricultural flagship programme, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ).

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Monday, August 28, 2023, launched Phase Two of Planting for Food and Jobs at the University for Development Studies, in Tamale.

Targeted at building on the successes of the initial programme, the second phase of the programme is a five-year master plan for the transformation of agriculture in Ghana with a focus on modernisation through the development of a selected commodity value chain and active private sector participation.

Reacting to the launch of the 2nd phase of PFJ in a statement signed by Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw, Deputy Ranking Member, Committee on Food, Agriculture & Cocoa Affairs, the Minority took a dig at the government arguing that six years after the implementation of the PFJ programme, Ghanaians cannot account for increased production.

We have been tricked!!! After six (6) years of implementation of the PFJ programme, we still cannot account for the so-called increased production figures that are being reported by the Minister for Agriculture. Where is the maize? Where is the rice? Where are the Soyabeans? All other things being equal, we expect to have a glut in the system and that should drive down prices. On the contrary, food produce are scarce and prices are skyrocketing. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have been tricked!!!

The Minority in Parliament doubted if the government would deliver any significant march to

food security for the country. After reading through the PFJ Phase 2 program document, we are sad to report that, there is nothing substantially new in it and will not deliver any significant march to food security for this country. Its aimed at erasing the mess of PfJ 1 and creating an image-saving platform to continue the dissipation of this country's resources through establishments by their friends and family.

They said theres nothing new about the 2nd phase of PFJ stressing that it will impoverish smallholder farmers.

So clearly, there is nothing special about PFJ Phase 2.0. It's just a way of telling us government can no longer support input subsidy and that farmers will be left in the hands of private commercial entities to negotiate and transact their own production input regimes based on market determinants.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the PFJ phase is substantially not different from the PFJ this government has implemented since 2017, infact, this new program will impoverish the small holder farmer in a worse form as his faith will be determined by market forces. Government has no priority crops its prepared to commit finances on to reduce our import bill and achieve food sufficiency in the short to medium term. The whole production season for 2023 has been wasted and farmers have planted crops at full market price for their inputs. Expect higher food prices by close of year 2023 as farmers recover their full input cost. The language of the launched PFJ 2 document

is flowery and highly theoretical. The Minority in Parliament entreated the Minister of Food and Agriculture Bryan Acheampong, to up his game.

We conclude that PFJ has failed to deliver food and nutritional security for the people of Ghana and the new minister must be seen to be doing something new, they advised.

citinewsroom
Director of the Ghana Adventist Health Services (GAHS), Dr James Antwi, has bemoaned the now-regular exodus of Ghanaian health workers; doctors and nurses, to the Western world to seek greener pastures.

Dr Antwi, who noted the practice was not helping the development of the countrys health sector, appealed to health workers leaving the country to consider staying in order to provide quality health care to Ghanaians.

Speaking at a fundraiser for the construction of a community centre at Adunku in the Bosomtwi District of the Ashanti region, Dr Antwi, described Ghanaian health workers as top-notch and commended them for their quality health care delivery.

He also appealed to health workers to stay in the country to help develop health care delivery.

The exodus of health workers is destroying the sector. We will plead with those doing that to stay here in Ghana to enable us develop the health sector.

Because when they all leave, who will take care our grandmothers and grandfathers, our parents,, brothers and sisters? Dr Antwi asked.

Source: classfmonline.com
Ghanaian good governance activist and lead convener of the #FixTheCountry Movement, Oliver Barker Vormawor has reacted to the recent recurring military coups in Africa.

He noted that Ghana does not need a military intervention to rescue the nation from the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

If a coup happens in the country, Mr. Vormawor in a tweet on Wednesday, August 30, said he will lead scores of people to demand the reinstatement of President Akufo-Addo.

The outspoken activist explained that the country wants the President and his government to finish what he described as their wickedness.

If a coup happens in Ghana; I wil lead Ghanaians to descend massively in the streets to demand the return of Akufo-Addo. We want him to finish his wickedness, read his tweet.

Contrary to Mr. Vormawors assertion, scenes of jubilation played out on the streets of Libreville as Gabonese citizens celebrated a military coup that ousted President Ali Bongo and his family dynasty of 56 years.

The coup comes just after a disputed election declared Bongo the winner of a highly contested third term.

But senior military officers rejected the results in a televised address, stating they now represent Gabon's security forces.

Gunfire rang out in the capital as the stunning announcement was made.

The officers said all state institutions are dissolved and borders closed indefinitely. If successful, this would mark Gabon's first coup since gaining independence in 1960.
KILLED! Paa Kofi

30.08.2023 LISTEN

A shooting incident that occurred at a galamsey site at Sefwi Abrokofe, near Sefwi Boinzan in the Sefwi Juaboso District of the Western North Region, has led to the death of an 18-year-old young man in the area popularly called Paa Kofi.

The alleged shooting incident happened at a site belonging to a Chinese illegal miner.

The security guard of the purported Chinese galamseyer was alleged to have fired the gun, which also led to the injury of two other residents.

Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicate that the youth in the area normally storm the galamsey sites of the Chinese illegal miners to also mine in their pits, after the foreign nationals had left the sites.

According to sources, on that fateful day, last Wednesday, while some of the youth were entering the purported galamsey site of the Chinese nationals, the security guard was around and started shooting at the youth, which led to the death of Paa Kofi.

A relative of the deceased, who gave her name only as Maabena, disclosed that she believed the security man deliberately shot and killed Paa Kofi, whom she referred to as her son.

What I gathered was that the security guard first shot on the ground and later pointed it on my son and his friends and shot them, she alleged.

She asserted that after the death of her son, the deceaseds elder brother was arrested for allegedly inciting the youth in the town to destroy the properties of the Chinese illegal miners.

It took the Assembly member for Boinzan Electoral Area, Affum Kooko to grant him bail, Maabena revealed.

She continued, The Chinese nationals want to subject us to injustice, and we are appealing to the Inspector General of Police to intervene in this matter so we can get justice.

The father of one of the victims who was shot in the thigh, Mr. Nketiah Barnabas, said he had a call that his son had been shot, so he rushed to the scene to ascertain the truth of the matter.

Upon reaching the place, it was disclosed that a Chinese illegal miners security guard was the one who shot my son and other two teenagers. But one of the victims died on the spot, he noted.

My son and the other injured person were initially rushed to the Proso Kofikrom Clinic but were later transferred to the Sefwi Asafo St John of God Hospital, where they are currently receiving medical attention, he revealed.

Meanwhile, the Assembly member for Sefwi Boinzan Electoral Area, Mr. Stephen Affum Kooko, has expressed disgust about the spate at which Chinese and Ghanaian illegal miners continue to pollute river bodies and destroying arable lands, including cocoa farms.

He was worried that school children are dropping out of school to join the Chinese nationals in the illegal activities.

Government is investing in the cocoa sector to increase production but the illegal miners are also bent on destroying the cocoa farms, he stressed.

He, therefore, appealed to the President and the Minister of Lands to reactivate the military personnels Operation Halt so that the soldiers could visit the area to halt the activities of the illegal miners.

DGN online
I began my journalistic career at a Christian-oriented magazine called New Nation, where I learnt pretty quickly that my idea of `Christianity was not necessarily that of all the people I saw in church on Sundays.

Once, we were visited by a well-known Missionary, who asked me what story Id been working on.

So I boastfully narrated to him, how Id travelled to a village in the Northern Territories and unmasked a fetish priest who had been taking peoples money and prophesying about their future.WE entitled the story How I Deceived The Tongo Festish and I was very proud of it because it was my first foray into the world of bylined, first-person narrative.

How did you deceive the fetish? the missionary asked.

I told the priest that I had my eye on a girl but that she didnt want to have anything to do with me, I replied. So I asked the priest what to do to win her love, and he gave me a series of rituals to practise, which (he said) would win her for me. But it was all a ruse. No such girl existed! 

But instead of commending me, the missionary pointed out to me that I had committed a sin by lying to the priest about a girl who did not exist!

What? I was puzzled. I had proved that the fetish priest was full of empty prophecies, hadnt I? Didnt that tell people that there was only one true religion in the world, namely, Christianity and that fetish priests were charlatans who should be avoided like the plague?

In fact, the missionary was about to go on and pry into my reasons for inventing the story about a girl who did not exist!? The words secret lust passed his lips, but fortunately for me, the telephone rang at that point and I shouted into it, I shall be there in five minutes, made an excuse and left.

So one couldnt fib to expose fetishism, eh? Great lesson about fishing for compliments from a missionary, what?

From New Nation, I went to work in the news section of the Ghana Broadcasting Service (as it was then). The work atmosphere there was as different from what was to be found at a monthly magazine as ink from milk. At the magazine, one suggested a story ast the monthly editorial conference, and if it was accepted, one had about two weeks to turn it in.

At the Ghana Broadcasting Service, every minute was its own deadline. Stories came from the

teleprinter at their own rate, to be subbed immediately (with the words counted) and included in the pile of stories waiting to be broadcast in the next news bulletin.

The news bulletin had to be quite ready at least half an hour before its broadcast time, because the news readers had to have time to rehearse the items before they read them on air. Worst of all was that if you subbed a story  be it from the printer or from a reporter  it had to be absolutely accurate.

Dates, and the names of people and places, were the most troublesome to get right. If you broadcast a wrong name or date, someone would ring up the station almost immediately to complain. And yet we hated to make corrections on the air. So sub-editors had to anticipate corrections and call people they thought would be knowledgeable about particular subjects, to check whether the station had got everything right.

To illustrate how important it was to get things right, we one day got a telephone call on our direct line, shortly after the one oclock news had been broadcast.

The editor on duty, who took the call, was called Ben Sackey  an experienced hack, who had been once the news editor of the Daily Graphic.

The voice on the other end of the telephone said, Good afternoon. This is the Prime Minister. [This was, at the time, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanas first Prime Minister!

Ben Sackey thought it was a prankster, but so well-trained was he that he nevertheless asked the voice: What can I do for you, please?

The voice replied, You said in your news broadcast that the place we are going to build the dam is called Konsommo. It isnt Konsommo! It is Akosombo! And he spelled it out: A-K-O-S-O-M-B-O.

Ben Sackey carefully wrote it down and thanked the voice at the other end of the telephone. As a parting shot, he said, I dont believe Ive been talking to my Prime Minister!

The man at the other end chuckled and said, It doesnt matter whether you believe I am the Prime Minister or not. Just check the name and see whether youve got it right. Ben Sackey called the Volta River Commission and confirmed the spelling wed been given by the voice on the phone. From then on, we instinctively checked facts with institutions, whenever we were to broadcast anything about them.

Needless to say, this practice made us very authoritative, and when someone said, I heard it on the radio, everyone knew it was gospel truth. With such a background, I dont play with my facts, and I was extremely annoyed, recently, when someone who was subbing a column of mine sent an email saying that a factual error had been found in my copy.

I was doubly annoyed when I found that the sub-editor had misspelt my first name as Cameroon! What? Someone who couldn't correctly spell the name of the papers own columnist was accusing me of having committed a "factual error?"

TO BE CONTINUED!
Rebel officers in the oil-rich central African state of Gabon announced on Wednesday they had seized power following disputed elections in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba, in power since 2009, had been declared victor.

Bongo, 64, whose family has ruled Gabon for over 55 years, was placed under house arrest and one of his sons arrested for treason, the coup leaders said.

In a dramatic pre-dawn address, a group of officers declared "all the institutions of the republic" had been dissolved, the election results cancelled and the borders closed.

President Ali Bongo Ondimba came to power in 2009, succeeding his father Omar, Gabon's leader for more than four decades. By LUDOVIC MARIN (AFP)

"Today, the country is going through a serious institutional, political, economic and social crisis," according to the statement read on state TV.

It was read by an officer flanked by a group of a dozen army colonels, members of the elite Republican Guard, regular soldiers and others.

The elections "did not meet the conditions for a transparent, credible and inclusive ballot so much hoped for by the people of Gabon," the statement said.

"Added to this is irresponsible and unpredictable governance, resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion, with the risk of leading the country in chaos."

"We -- the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) on behalf of the people of Gabon and as guarantors of the institutions' protection -- have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime," it said.

TV images later showed the head of the Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, being carried in triumph by hundreds of soldiers, to cries of "Oligui president."

A video grab from Gabon 24 showing soldiers carrying General Brice Oligui Nguema, head of Bongo's presidential guard. By - (Gabon 24/AFP)

Bongo's son and close adviser Noureddin Bongo Valentin, his chief of staff Ian Ghislain Ngoulou as well as his deputy, two other presidential advisers and the two top officials in the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) "have been arrested," a military leader said.

They are accused of treason, embezzlement, corruption and falsifying the president's signature, among other allegations, he said.

Disputed election

Bongo was first elected in 2009 following the death of his father Omar, who had ruled the country for 41 years, reputedly amassing a fortune en route.

The announcement came just moments after the national election authority declared Bongo had won a third term in Saturday's election with 64.27 percent of the vote.

Gabon. By Jean-Michel CORNU (AFP)

Gabon's main opposition, led by university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, had angrily accused Bongo of "fraud" and demanded that he hand over power "without bloodshed."

The authorities at the weekend imposed an overnight curfew and shut down the internet nationwide. The internet was restored on Wednesday morning after the TV address.

Gabon's 2016 presidential elections were marked by deadly violence after Bongo was named winner, edging out rival Jean Ping by just 5,500 votes, according to the official tally.

Family ruler

According to the results issued prior to the officers' announcement, Albert Ondo Ossa won just 30.77 percent of the vote. By Steeve JORDAN (AFP)

A country of just 2.3 million people, Gabon has been ruled by the Bongo family for more than 55 out of its 63 years since independence from France in 1960.

Omar Bongo was one of France's closest allies in the post-colonial era and his son has long been a regular in Paris, where his family owns an extensive real estate portfolio that is being investigated by anti-corruption magistrates.

Paris maintains a military presence in many of its former territories -- including Gabon where it has 370 soldiers permanently deployed, some in the capital Libreville, according to the French defence ministry website.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said her government was following events in Gabon "with the greatest attention."

Russia said it was "deeply concerned" over the situation in Gabon.

China called for "all sides" in Gabon to guarantee the safety of Bongo, "resolve differences through dialogue, (and) restore normal order as soon as possible."

Over the past three years, five other African countries have been wrenched by coups -- Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The French mining group Eramet, which employs 8,000 people in Gabon, said that it had halted activities in the country "for the safety of staff and the security of operations".
30.08.2023 LISTEN

Former Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema East constituency, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover has asserted that the relentless targeting of Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is an indicative that he is the most feared candidate among the flagbearer aspirants of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mr. Glover, who is known for his support of the Vice-President, emphasized that Dr. Bawumia's prominence and NDC's center of attention stems from the fact that he is perceived as the only candidate capable of propelling the NPP to break the eight-year cycle of governance.

He stated, Hes the candidate the NDC fears most, of all the ten, when you look around, when you scout around who is the most attacked candidate amongst the ten.

It tells you something. When NDC [set] their eyes on you, consistently attacking you, then you are the one that they fear the most.

Mr. Glover made these remarks during the Super Delegates Conference held on Saturday, August 26, 2023, in Ho.

Drawing attention to Dr. Bawumia's pivotal role in the NPP's performance in the Northern Region, Mr. Glover described his role as "phenomenal."

He went on to praise the Vice-President's dedication and contributions to the party, particularly highlighting his efforts during challenging times, such as the days of the 2012 Supreme Court election petition case.

This is somebody who has sacrificed so much for the country, Im not saying the others havent sacrificed but when you look at the individual contribution, look at the days of the Supreme Court...I think that he has done his best," he stated.

He added: He [Dr Bawumia] has defended this party, he has sacrificed for this party, he is the candidate that the NDC fears so much.
Mutinous soldiers seized power in Gabon in the early hours of Wednesday and put President Ali Bongo under house arrest  moments after he was declared the winner in an election extending his familys 55-year rule.

A dozen senior officers appeared on television to declare a coup detat, minutes after the central African states election body announced Mr Bongo had won a third term in a disputed election. Gunfire was heard in the centre of the capital, Libreville.

They declared the election results void  saying Saturdays poll result was not credible  and announced the closure of borders and the dissolution of state institutions.

They also said they had detained Mr Bongo, who took over in 2009 from his father Omar, who had ruled since 1967. They said they had arrested the presidents son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and others over allegations of corruption and treason. Opponents say the family has done little to share the states oil and mining wealth with its 2.3 million people. Violent unrest broke out after Mr Bongos disputed 2016 election win and there was a foiled coup attempt in 2019.

Residents in Libreville celebrate the Gabon coup on Wednesday (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Bongo pleaded for support, appearing in a video showing him sitting in a chair with a bookshelf behind him. He said he was in his residence while his wife and son were in different places. Im calling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really, he said.

Instead, hundreds took to the streets to celebrate the apparent end of his government amid widespread frustration over the rising cost of living and other issues.

I am marching today because I am joyful. After almost 60 years, the Bongos are out of power, Jules Lebigui, a jobless 27-year-old, told Reuters, having joined the crowds on the streets of the capital.

Gabon is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), with a production of some 181,000 barrels of crude oil a day, but its population are enduring high unemployment. Nearly 40 per cent of Gabonese aged between 15 and 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank.

Story continues

The results of the elections had been delayed since Saturday as the opposition claimed it was marred by fraud. A lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts and a decision to cut internet service and impose a night-time curfew after the poll had raised concerns about the votes transparency. Mr Bongos team rejected allegations of fraud.

After the militarys TV announcement, internet access appeared to be restored.

Gabon president Ali Bongo Ondimba records a video from his residence in Libreville, calling on supporters to make noise (AP)

If successful, the Gabon coup would be the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020. The most recent, in Niger, was in July. Military officers have also seized power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad, erasing democratic gains since the 1990s.

If this is confirmed, it is another military coup which increases instability in the whole region, said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, speaking at a meeting of EU defence ministers in Toledo.

The whole area, starting with Central African Republic, then Mali, then Burkina Faso, now Niger, maybe Gabon, its in a very difficult situation and certainly the ministers ... have to have a deep thought on what is going on there and how we can improve our policy in respect with these countries, he said.

He added that this instability in the region is a big issue for Europe.

Residents in Gabon celebrate the apparent coup (AFP via Getty Images)

In his annual speech last month marking independence day for Gabon, Mr Bongo had said he would not allow the country to follow the path of Niger. While our continent has been shaken in recent weeks by violent crises, rest assured that I will never allow you and our country Gabon to be hostages to attempts at destabilisation. Never, he said.

At a time when anti-France sentiment is spreading in many former colonies, French-educated Mr Bongo met Emmanuel Macron in Paris in late June and shared photos of them shaking hands. French government spokesperson, Olivier Veran, said: France condemns the military coup that is underway in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments in the country, and France reaffirms its wish that the outcome of the election, once known, be respected.

France has about 350 troops in Gabon. Its forces have been forced out of Mali and Burkina Faso in recent years.

Unlike Niger and other Sahel countries, Gabon, which lies further south on the Atlantic coast, has not had to battle destabilising Islamist insurgencies  but this latest coup merely adds to the volatility in the region.

Russia said it was also closely following the developments in the African nation, while China has called for a peaceful resolution. The chair of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has called on Gabon's army to ensure the safety of Mr Bongo and his family and condemned the attempted coup.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said he hopes for a peaceful end of his term in office.

According to him, Ghanaians should have faith in his leadership.

Addressing a valedictory service for Rev. Dr. Seth Kissi outgoing chairperson of Akyem Abuakwa Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Kyebi in the Eastern region, he stated, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that dayand not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Pray for me and the people I have appointed to various positions with responsibilities that we will continue to exercise our responsibilities with humility and integrity. Pray for Ghana that It remains united in peace and continues to thrive for progress and prosperity. I continue to abide in faith in the Almighty God to help advance the fortunes of our nation accompanied by appropriate policies, determination, and hard work on our part, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo added.

He continued that the fortunes of Ghana will change for the better.

I urge all of you gathered here to have the same believe that the fortunes of Ghana under His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will be assured. The battle is indeed the Lord's," he emphasized.
Kwaku Krobea Asante, Ghanaian fact-checker

30.08.2023 LISTEN

Ghanaian fact-checker, Kwaku Krobea Asante has described the recent coup in Niger as a right thing for the nation.

He acknowledged the fact military coups are unfortunate but indicated that the Gabonese have suffered enough and need an end to the recently ousted government.

Coups are unfortunate but its very difficult to look into the eyes of the people of Gabon today and tell them this coup is needless, he wrote in a tweet on Wednesday, August 30.

Following a disputed election in which President Ali Bongo secured a third term, some senior military officers has declared a seizure to the constitutional rule.

The junta announced via a national television Gabon 24 on Wednesday, August 30 that their mission is to defend the peace of the country from the current leadership.

This, if successful, will end the 56-year-old Bongo family dynasty in the oil-producing Central African country.

Africa has since 2020 experienced 10 successful coups and 9 failed attempts in countries like Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, and others.

The plotters have always cited corruption, mismanagement of the economy, long-term leadership and others as the cause of their actions.
Gabonese military army officers with the guidance of the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions on Wednesday, 30th August, 2023 took over power from President Ali Bongo in the country and placed him under arrest.

The soldiers highlighted serious institutional, political, economic and social crises as factors responsible for the coup that they tagged, necessary for the progress of the West African country. We explore some reasons below:

1. Institutional Malaise

The military in Gabon feels the institutions of government aren't working properly in Gabon and all seem to working for the president, Ali Bongo.

Information indicates that anytime there were going to be elections, the government shut down the Internet which prevents the opposition from being able to collate their results, closed its borders to bar independent observers from having access to monitor the elections. This gives way to rigging which the current elections were disputed by the opposition as being fraudulent.

2. Political Malaise

The Bongo family have ruled Gabon for more than 55 out of its 63 years since the country got independence from France in 1960.

Ali Bongo, 64, took over the reins of power from his father in 2009 after nearly 42 years at the helm of affairs in Gabon.

Senior Bongo, who took office in 1967, had been accused of being a kleptocrat  one of the richest men in the world, with a fortune derived from Gabons oil wealth.

Gabonese citizens are fed up with the dynasty of the Bongos which has not brought any meaning to them, hence they applaud the military.

3. Economic Malaise

Gabon is one of the richest countries in Africa in terms of per-capita GDP. This is largely attributed to oil revenues.

With a population of 2.3 million, and oil accounting for 60 percent of the countrys revenues, a third of the population still live below the poverty line of $5.50 per day, according to the World Bank.

4. Social Malaise

A social crisis is any change or event that pushes a government, nation, or people into such acute pressure that a breakdown of law and order may result. Normally associated with war, unhappiness with political leadership, economic failure, natural disasters like floods and hurricanes, or the outbreak of disease.

With the Gabonese situation bad governance and unhappiness are averred by the Gabonese army. It has created a lot of social unrest which has culminated in the people repudiating the Bongos rulership.

Therefore, today, 30 August 2023, the defence and security forces, gathered as the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) on behalf of the people of Gabon and as guarantors of the institutions protection  have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime.

To this end, the general elections of 26 August 2023 and the truncated results are cancelled. The borders are closed until further notice", the junta statement as translated in English by ARP read.

The junta resolved that all of the institutions of the country be dissolved including the Constitutional Court, the National Assembly, the Federal Government, the Senate, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council and the Gabonese Elections Centre.
Ho Central Deputy Director of Prisons, Mr Martin Kwesi Darku, who served as the immediate past Volta Regional Commander of Prisons, has emphasised the importance of providing quality care, empathy, and support to inmates, irrespective of their social status.

With 31 years of dedicated service to both the Ghana Prisons Service and the nation, the Deputy Director reflected on the significance of ensuring the comfort and well-being of prisoners during their time of incarceration.

Drawing attention to the unpredictability of life's circumstances, Darku highlighted that anyone, regardless of their current situation, could find themselves within the confines of a prison.

The prison is meant for everybody, its not for only one man. You are a driver today and anything at all can happen and you will end up in prison, so, if you prepare the place before coming to the prison, then you will enjoy it but if the place is bad, you will also come and enjoy it like that, so, everybody should come on board, he stated.

During his tenure, the Deputy Director focused on numerous initiatives aimed at improving the lives of inmates and fostering a more supportive environment within the prison system including the establishment of a Health Centre within the Ho Central Prison to address the medical needs of inmates.

He also championed the setting up of a Barbering Shop within the prison, offering inmates the opportunity to acquire valuable skills for their reintegration into society after serving their sentences.

The Deputy Director further initiated negotiations to secure a farm land that would serve as a Camp Prison, toward expanding the facilities of the Ghana Prison Service. These achievements that underscore his dedication to enhancing the conditions of both inmates and the prison system as a whole.

Speaking at a pull-out & send-off ceremony in his honour at the Ho Central Prison the Deputy Director emphasised that the responsibility of supporting inmates should not solely rest on the government's shoulders.

He called upon all well-meaning Ghanaians to contribute to this collective endeavor, recognising that the conditions inmates face are distinct and require the empathy of society at large.

With patience, determination, and hard work, you will reach greater heights, he affirmed.

The Deputy Director's journey in the Ghana Prison Service began on August 6, 1992, as a member of the 95th Recruit Course. Throughout his career, he served in various capacities, ascending to the position of Deputy Director of Prisons. Notably, on January 1, 2021, he was promoted to this esteemed role and later assumed the responsibility of Volta Regional Commander of Prisons in May 2021.

Source: classfmonline.com
Over 70 young leaders from across the African continent gathered at the Movenpick Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, from August 16 to 17, 2023, for an African Youth Workshop focused on understanding the intricate interplay between migration, environment, and climate change. Representing Ghana, four dynamic and passionate youth leaders lent their voices to this crucial conversation, advocating for proactive measures to address the challenges of climate-induced mobility.

Hosted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a key agency within the United Nations, the workshop aimed to foster greater awareness and knowledge about the migration-environment nexus. The IOM's commitment to empowering young people and involving them in policy-making decisions was evident as participants contributed to refining key messages on human mobility within the context of climate change.

The workshop was a platform to expand upon the Kampala Declaration on Migration, Environment, and Climate Change (KDMECC). Originating in the East and Horn of Africa (EHoA), the declaration was conceived to address the implications of climate-induced mobility. However, recognizing that climate challenges are not confined to a single region, the declaration was recalibrated to encompass the wider African context.

Ghana, like many other African nations, grapples with the effects of climate change on its population and environment. Extreme weather events have brought about floods, landslides, and droughts, imperilling human lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure. Such challenges have prompted rural-urban migration, creating additional strain on cities and leaving vulnerable populations behind.

Nadia Owusu, Zipporah Kyerewah Amankwah, Darius Saviour Ankamah, and Bismark Oppong were the fervent voices representing Ghana in this pivotal gathering. They eloquently conveyed the concerns and aspirations of Ghanaian youth, calling for inclusive policy formulation, implementation, and monitoring. Their plea for African leaders to heed their voices, amplify the Kampala Declaration, and engage young people at all stages of policy-making reflects the urgency of the issue.

As the workshop concluded, it was evident that the collective determination of these young leaders resonated across the African continent. Their dedication to influencing change, ensuring the well-being of vulnerable communities, and paving the way for sustainable development highlighted the vital role that youth play in shaping the future of their nations.

In a world facing unprecedented environmental challenges, the contribution of young leaders like those from Ghana serves as a beacon of hope. Their actions echo the sentiment that tackling climate change and migration demands collaboration, innovation, and meaningful engagement. As the African Youth Workshop on Climate Mobility drew to a close, it left behind not just a declaration, but also a renewed sense of purpose  a shared commitment to safeguarding our planet and its people for generations to come.
Officials of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana N.A.L.A.G together with members of the District Working Group have engaged both the Atebubu and Amantin traditional councils in a bid to shore up support for female assembly aspirants in the forthcoming district level elections under the Partnership for Municipal Innovation-Women In Leadership PMI-WILL project.

The 5 year project which also runs in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Benin and Zambia is being implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in partnership with NALAG with funding from Global Affairs Canada and has the Kwahu west municipal, Tema metropolitan, Saboba district and Nadom municipal also benefitting.

At each venue, the General Secretary of N.A.L.A.G Hon. Kokro Amankwaah underscored the need to get more women in leadership positions especially in the district assemblies since most decisions taken at that level affects them most.

Referring to statistics from the last Population and Housing Census he said although the female population outnumbers their male counterparts, they are disproportionately represented when it comes to leadership.

Mr. Amankwaah indicated that out of the 275 Members of Parliament only 40 are women whiles only 39 females can be counted among the 261 district, municipal and metropolitan chief executives currently serving in the country.

He said 2 out of 16 Regional Coordinating Directors are women, 39 out of 261 district Coordinating Directors are females whiles only 245 out 6038 elected assembly members countrywide are females.

The N.A.L.A.G General Secretary said the declining female population at the various assembles from 10.1% in 2006 to 3.8% in the last elections in 2019, is indicative of the impediments in the way of women assembly aspirants and asked the traditional authorities to do everything within their means to get more women elected to the assembly.

The Atebubu-Amantin municipal chief executive Hon. Edward Owusu said women representation at the assemblies has become even more important because it now constitutes about 10% of the District Performance Assessment Tool D.P.A.T under which the assemblies receive funds for development projects.

The two traditional authorities led by Nana Kwabena Kyere III acting president of the Atebubu traditional council and Osabarima Appau Bonsie Bonsu II welcomed the initiative and pledged their support towards the realization of its objectives.

Present were the National Project Coordinator Mr. Sheriff Amarh, Mrs. Esi Benewaah, Gender Officer and Mr. Emmanuel Abbey Musah Programme Officer for PMI-WILL.
Sierra Leone achieved a significant milestone on 6 June when it was elected to a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the period 2024 to 2025. Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Prof. David Francis spoke to Africa Renewal's Kingsley Ighobor on what this means for Sierra Leone and Africa, and the priorities that the country intends to promote during its tenure. The following excerpts are from the interview:

What is the significance of this achievement for your country, but also for Africa?

Today marks a momentous day for Sierra Leone. We are returning to the UN Security Council in the non-permanent category after 53 years. Being voted for by 188 countries [there are 193 UN member states] is a demonstration of the respect for Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone is no longer defined by its troubled past. Today we are considered a liberal, progressive, confident and enterprising nation.

As you know Sierra Leone is the Chair of the African Union Committee of 10 (C-10) for the reform of the UN Security Council. Algeria, another C-10 member, was today also elected to the non-permanent category of the Security Council. This means that in 2024 and 2025, two C-10 members will amplify our collective voice to promote and defend the common African position for the reform of the UN Security Council.

What factors have contributed to your lengthy absence from the UN Security Council, and how were you able to get back in?

Sierra Leones absence can be attributed to several factors, including a difficult period marked by a brutal civil war, bad governance and near-state failure.

When you are in a period of bad governance, inefficient political and economic management of the state and civil war, you don't have time to come to the UN Security Council. Nobody will vote for you because they will not respect you.

However, the country was able to regain its position through a series of positive developments. The interventions of the UN and the West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG, played a crucial role in helping Sierra Leone recover from the civil war and rebuild itself.

We transitioned from war to peace, on a path towards democratic consolidation. We are now regarded as a successful case of post-war peacebuilding and state reconstruction.

In 2018, Sierra Leone was ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. However, through focused efforts, Sierra Leone managed to improve its score on the Millennium Challenge Corporations Control of Corruption index, from 49% in 2018 to 83%, in 2022.

As the Foreign Minister, I mobilized our diplomatic missions, particularly in New York, Geneva, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, and Abuja, to advocate for and secure the seat on the UN Security Council. This effort was challenging, especially considering that Nigeria was also vying for the position. However, Nigeria, under the leadership of former President Mohammadu Buhari, demonstrated magnanimity by ceding the opportunity to Sierra Leone.

We are returning to the UN Security Council in the non-permanent category after 53 years. Being voted for by 188 countries [there are 193 UN member states] is a demonstration of the respect for Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is no longer defined by its troubled past

You mentioned at the campaign launch last year that your priorities would be promoting peace and security, empowerment of women and youth, addressing climate change and others. On women and youth, what initiatives do you have back home that demonstrate your commitment to these goals?

We have seven strategic priorities but let me focus on women and youth. Our government recognizes the importance of investing in human capital development, particularly prioritizing women and youth. With women comprising around 52 per cent of our population, it is essential to focus on empowering them.

To advance gender equality and women's empowerment, we passed the groundbreaking Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Act last year 2022. This legislation ensures a minimum quota of 30 per cent for women in elective positions, appointed roles, and access to private capital from banks.

Similar efforts have been made to empower the youth. We have created opportunities for skills training and development such as the Youth Agricultural Farms where young people are contributing to food security and getting vocational and technical education.

In the UN Security Council, we aim to share our experiences with the rest of the world.

There are still many troubled spots in Africa. In the 1990s, the war in Liberia spilled over to Sierra Leone. Now Guinea, another neighbouring country, is undergoing a political transition following the coup detat of September 2021. How are you contributing to the restoration of democracy in that country?

Military coups are a threat to the peace, security, and stability of our sub-region. Currently, transitional authorities in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea are in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.

We cannot allow Guinea to be affected by large-scale conflicts because of the spillover or fire-next-door effect, as I always refer to it.

President Bio has personally visited Guinea and the President of the National Committee for Unity and Development [Col. Mamady Doumbouya] has also visited Sierra Leone. We've reached an agreement that we will support the process on the understanding that they remain committed to the ECOWAS [Economic Community of West Africa States] transition agenda.

The President has also been to Mali, and he has sent me as his Special Envoy to engage with the leadership of Burkina Faso. Our goal is to encourage them to remain committed to their democratic transition agendas.

Are you hopeful?

On the one hand, yes, but at the same time, in politics, you can never be definitive. Our role is to encourage them to remain committed to restoring constitutional rule and democratic governance.

The 2023 Global Terrorism Index refers to the sub-Saharan region of Africa as the epicenter of terrorism, more than other regions. How do you intend to use your membership in the UN Security Council to rally countries in Africa and indeed your international partners to tackle terrorism on the continent?

Terrorism in the Sahara region is a threat to the peace, security, and stability of the continent. We know the insecurity challenges in Mali and Burkina Faso.

Notably, the P-5 [the Permanent Five include China, France, Russia, UK and USA) members have expressed a willingness to reform the UN Security Council, in particular bringing on board other regions of the world, including Africa. However, the devil is in the detail. Africa has a common position, which is what Sierra Leone will promote. We will advocate for two seats in the permanent category

Sierra Leone, although not directly affected by terrorist activities, has experienced a history of civil war and understands the devastating consequences of such insecurity.

We're going to engage with all players within the ECOWAS framework and through bilateral engagements. In my engagements with the Deputy Secretary of State of the USA and the UK Foreign Secretary and other European colleagues, including foreign ministers, we have developed a proposal aimed at combating terrorism in the region.

However, we must also address the root cause of terrorism.

What motivates ordinary people in the Sahara region to engage in terrorist activities? We think we have fair knowledge of the dynamics and complexities of this issue.

The root cause is essentially marginalization, dispossession, poverty, deprivation, exclusion from the economic and political processes within countries.

To effectively address these factors, it is imperative to prioritize democratic governance, where individuals can freely express their opinions and actively participate in decisions that affect their lives. It is that failure that drives them away and neutralizes them because they have nothing to lose.

As Chair of the AU Committee of 10 to negotiate the reform of the UN Security Council, what is Africa's best argument for more seats in the council and do current geopolitical realities reinforce the need for such a reform?

Africas best argument is that the world that established the UN Security Council 77 years ago is very different from today.

While the UN Security Council underwent a reform once, from 1963-1965, increasing its membership from 11 to 15, Africa continues to be underrepresented in the non-permanent category and unrepresented in the permanent category.

Addressing the historic injustices and marginalization of many regions of the world, including Africa, is a moral and political argument.

Furthermore, the geopolitical landscape has significantly evolved, particularly since 24 February 2022 [when the war in Ukraine started].

Notably, the P-5 [the Permanent Five include China, France, Russia, the UK and the USA) members have expressed a willingness to reform the Security Council, in particular bringing on board other regions of the world, including Africa. However, the devil is in the detail.

Africa has a common position, which is what Sierra Leone will promote.

We will advocate for two seats in the permanent category, including all the rights and privileges, including the veto, if maintained. Without a doubt, Sierra Leone and Algeria can leverage proximity to the P-5 members to amplify Africas voice.

Elections are coming up in Sierra Leone. Is your victory today celebrated across party lines back home?

The campaign for the seat was supported by all 11 parties in the country. As Foreign Minister, I have worked with all the political parties in Parliament. Members on the Foreign and Affairs Select Committee have been fully supportive.

This about Sierra Leone; it is not about scoring political points.

For more information on COVID-19, visit www.un.org/coronavirus

Africa Renewal
Ibrahim Mayaki, the Africa Union Special Envoy for Food Systems, previously served as the CEO of the AU Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD). Ahead of the UN Food System Stocktaking Moment scheduled to take place in Rome on 24 - 26 July 2023, Africa Renewal's Kingsley Ighobor interviewed Dr. Mayaki. They discussed various issues regarding the state of Africa's food systems and the opportunities and challenges involved in feeding a rapidly growing population. Below are excerpts from their insightful conversation:

As the African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems, what is the scope of your mandate and what should Africans expect from you?

The role of special envoys of the AU is primarily to tackle a critical issue for which the AU needs support. A special envoy does not seek to replace or take over the responsibilities of the AU or the AU Commission (AUC). Instead, their role is to support and enhance their work by bringing additional value.

This is the first time the AU is designating a Special Envoy specifically dedicated to food systems. Previously, notable individuals such as Rwandas Donald Kaberuka served as Special Envoy for Financing and Michel Sidibe from Mali as Special Envoy for the African Medicines Agency.

Ibrahim Mayaki, Africa Union Special Envoy for Food Systems

There are three main reasons behind this decision to designate a special envoy for food systems. These issues were thoroughly discussed when I accepted the designation.

Firstly, we could enter a post-Ukraine war era that will be characterised by a crisis in food systems.

Leaders must not only establish the food systems but should also ensure their effectiveness in achieving desired outcomes

The market has witnessed an unfavourable evolution, and African countries are suffering the consequences of that war. We have observed shortages of vital resources such as fertilisers, seeds, wheat, etc. The crisis and our response to it have revealed a lack of co-ordinated efforts.

Hence, the first reason for appointing a Special Envoy is to ensure preparedness for such a crisis, even as we anticipate more crises in the future.

The second reason relates to the many initiatives addressing food systems issues in Africa. We have some complexity in terms of initiatives, and this complexity necessitates better management and coherence.

Without proper co-ordination, Member States and their stakeholders may struggle to comprehend the direction we are heading in. Therefore, the appointment aims to foster preparedness and enhance coherence among these initiatives.

The third reason, closely linked to the previous two, pertains to resource mobilisation. Specifically, it refers to the need to mobilise domestic resources to address the challenges faced in food systems.

We also have the resources of multilateral development banks and other institutions that can support Africa's endeavours in transforming its food systems.

Apart from the Ukraine crisis, what other factors are jeopardising Africa's food systems?

I will start by unpacking the concept of food systems. Previously, and still now, we talked about agriculture, agricultural production, rural economy, diversification, agricultural productivity, food security and insecurity.

We are talking about food systems now because it embraces the entire spectrum, in an integrated manner, of processes, from the farmer to the consumer, and, in-between, the numerous actors and sectors.

Evidently, food systems are about production, nutrition, roads and other infrastructure, markets, and trade. Its about connecting farmers to markets, about education and entrepreneurship, enabling small-scale farmers to become micro and small entrepreneurs. Its about agribusiness.

Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of providing consumers with essential information and addressing the impacts of climate change, particularly in regions like Africa that suffer greatly despite being net zero emitters.

If we look at Africa today, it's true that we have reduced extreme poverty in the past 20 to 25 years, but at the same time there is an increase in malnutrition.

Our food import bill is still very high, beyond $60 billion a year. The small-scale farmers who produce 80 per cent of the food we eat also suffer from malnutrition and food insecurity, which is abnormal.

We have utilised frameworks such as CAADP [the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme] and the Malabo Declaration to address agricultural development. The Malabo Declaration is considered a precursor to food systems because it opened agriculture to other sectors.

It is a kind of CAADP phase two, and it has been well implemented with over 40 countries adopting national agricultural investment plans. The African Development Bank has started to develop compacts at the national levels to enable countries have frameworks that will attract financing.

So, we have the frameworks, but we need two radical things to occur.

The first one is to have a whole-of-government approach toward food systems transformation and not leave it to the agriculture or the environment ministries.

Secondly, we need to invest more in food systems to reduce food insecurity. I said at the Ibrahim Governance Weekend[held from 28-30 April, 2023] that food insecurity is not a question of production; it's a question of poverty. At the end of the day the main aim is to tackle poverty.

FACT BOX

Africas food import bill is beyond $60 billion a year.

Africa will have approximately 2.5 billion people by 2050

Regarding CAADP, we see that many countries are still not meeting their commitment to invest 10 per cent of national budgets in agriculture and rural development?

You are right. Only around 10 to 12 countries out of the 50-plus have managed to reach the target of investing 10 per cent of their national budgets in agriculture.

However, some countries claim to meet the 10 percent threshold, but their expenditures include items that are not directly linked to food systems or the transformation of agriculture through a sound integrated plan.

When you have a head of state who prioritises agricultural transformation and provides the drive that leads to results and impact, that transformation happens. So, the issue of leadership is critical.

Technically, we know what needs to be doneagricultural techniques, access to market and finance, and increasing yieldsbut we need the political solution and determination to move forward.

Sometimes you have leadership but lack the necessary systems. Leaders must not only establish the systems but also ensure their effectiveness in achieving desired outcomes.

How do you anticipate the AfCFTA's [African Continental Free Trade Area] potential to strengthen Africa's food systems, considering the complexities and the need for an integrated approach?

The AfCFTA aims to resolve the issues of tariff and non-tariff barriers and to facilitate the flows of goods and services. These require working on normative issues such as rules and regulations.

But its not the AfCFTA by itself that will facilitate production. The success of the AfCFTA in enhancing our food systems transformation is contingent upon the availability of robust infrastructure such as roads, railways, and storage facilities.

So the AfCFTA is an important instrument, but it must be complemented by sound policies and well-developed infrastructure.

Food insecurity is not a question of production; it's a question of poverty. At the end of the day the main aim is to tackle poverty

Can that be done?

Again, I emphasize the importance of effective national leadership in addressing our prevailing challenges, as many of them necessitate solutions at the national level. While regional solutions are crucial, national governments need to embrace and implement these regional solutions.

Furthermore, it is vital to ensure coherence among all our initiatives. We should not adopt disparate approaches from various institutions, as this would create a landscape of competing initiatives. Instead, we must assert our strategic frameworks and urge our partners to align with these frameworks.

These frameworks include CAADP, the Malabo Declaration, and the African Common Position on Food Systems, which was developed through inclusive national dialogues involving over 50 countries.

How does the Africa Common Position on Food Systems inform your preparation and participation in the upcoming UN Food Systems Stocktaking Moment?

At the UN Food Systems and Stocktaking exercise, each region of the world will present a position. Africas position will revolve around three key issues.

The first one is financing food systems transformation. It should be a priority for our partners that our capacity to mobilise domestic resources is not undermined.

The second is climate, which will need to be looked at in a very realistic manner. Despite commitments made at the various COPS, many of them remain unfulfilled. If these commitments cannot be respected, we must explore alternative approaches to climate finance.

The third is about our small-scale farmers. The farmers are a part of a private sector we are talking about. The private sector is not only agribusiness; it also includes small-scale farmers who have the capacity and knowledge to transform our food systems. They need to be supported, as it is done in the US and Europe.

At the stocktaking exercise, what will also be looked at is how far we have gone in implementing the conclusions of the 2021 Food Systems Summit and what lessons each region can learn from the others.

With Africa's projected population reaching approximately 2.5 billion by 2050, coupled with the existing challenge of over 250 million malnourished Africans, is there a sense of heightened concern among policymakers and stakeholders?

This question is extremely pertinent because Africa's population is set to double by 2050. The most critical concern is the challenge of feeding over 1 billion additional people. Failure to address this issue with the necessary capacity and solutions will not only strain our existing governance systems but also heighten social fragility.

Given our demographic situation, the risk of encountering numerous political crises becomes imminent.

Urgency is paramount, necessitating an alarmist approach and accelerating the implementation of solutions, especially considering that a significant portion of the projected population growth already exists today.

This acceleration must be achieved through the appropriate policies and political determination.

For more information on COVID-19, visit www.un.org/coronavirus

Africa Renewal
The recent coups in four former French colonies in Africa, is a "rebellion" against France, the Chief Executive Officer of the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation, Prof Baffour Agyemang-Duah has observed.

Speaking to Korku Lumor on the Class Morning Show on Class91.3FM on Wednesday, 30 August 2023 about the latest coup in Gabon, following those of Burkina Faso, Guine and Niger, Prof Agyemang-Duah said: "First of all, I am not surprised that there is a coup in Gabon, and the reason[s] I'm not surprised [are] two things: first, it is striking that all these coups are happening in former French colonies: Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger and now Gabon".

"So, I think we have to ask ourselves: why is this happening in the former French colonies?"

The answers, Prof Agyemang-Duah noted, "are there for us to see because we know that the French leaving their former colonies did not mean cutting off their links".

"I think the French have continuously plundered these countries since independence", Prof Agyemang-Duah asserted.

He said: "We know the famous story of the independence agreement that they reached or the compact that they reached with these colonies, tying them strictly to the French, so, I'm not surprised there is that kind of rebellion".

The second point, he added, "is this notion of democracy", explaining: "I have been somebody, who, for some years now, have been calling for a radical regime of our understanding of democratic practice".

"There is a difference between principles or the ideals of democracy and what we call practised democracy, so, I'm talking about how the practise of democracy, for me, has been a failure in African countries".

Prof Agyemang-Duah complained: "We have simply imposed upon ourselves, the way democracy is practised in the Western World without any regard at all to our history, cultures and traditions".

"... We hurriedly created constitutions without any serious consideration of our culture or tradition; the composition of the state, [and] so many things that we should have taken into account, and quickly imposed on ourselves majoritarian democracy, winner takes all, all kinds of stuff and I think that's the backlash".

"So, while I'm optimistic, relatively that countries like Ghana or the so-called former British colonies may not experience this, I'm still very very cautious about making that statement because, so far as our democracy remains the way it is, without serious revisions to make sure it reflects our realities as Africans, we are going to have those challenges", he feared.

Source: classfmonline.com
In 2022, the Ada East District recorded two Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive cases in babies born to HIV-positive mothers, Mr. Adator Anani, the Ada East District HIV Programmes Coordinator, has revealed.

Speaking at the 2023 Half-Year Performance Review of the Ada East District Health Directorate, he said the two positive cases were gotten from a total of 52 babies tested in the Early Infant Diagnosis (EID).

Mr. Anani said 65 expectant mothers in 2022 tested positive for HIV, and their babies were therefore required to undergo the EID for prompt diagnosis of HIV in infants.

He said for the first half of this year (2023), they recorded 20 HIV positive pregnant women adding that they conducted EID for 31 babies with no positive cases recorded.

He said the 31 was an indication that there was a spillover in the EID from the last year of babies delivered to HIV-positive mothers.

He said Ada East had a reduction in its prevalence rate to 2.28 percent for 2022 compared to the 4.56 percent seen in 2021, however, more work needed to be done as the district's figures were still higher than the 2.05 per cent prevalence of the Greater Accra Region.

He said in 2022, a total of 3,650 people were tested for HIV in the district, out of which 250 turned out positive and between January and June 2023, a total of 678 had already been tested, of which 95 were HIV positive.

On viral load, he said it showed the way the drug was performing in the patient's system, adding that if the viral load was low, it meant that the drug was working well and the risk of transmitting the disease to others was also low.

Mr. Anani stated that for 2022, even though they were expected to get viral suppression tests for 582 patients, they were able to do 339, which he described as low.

He added that for 2023, the expectation was that at least half of the people on treatment would have the viral suppression test, stating, however, that they have currently done 723.

He said of the 723, 680 of them were from the Ada East District Hospital, eight from Ada Health Centre, 17 from Kasseh Health Centre, and 18 from Healthstar Clinic, which had only 30 HIV patients.

Mr. Anani explained that it has been observed that patients who go for treatment at Kasseh Health Centre often go in the afternoon, affecting the viral suppression test as the laboratory would have closed at the time of their visit.

He said for the Ada Health Centre, most of them were receiving the treatment at home, as a dedicated and compassionate nurse took the medicine to them as the patients complained of having to pay a transport fare to go to the centre for it themselves.

He explained that this, however, was affecting their test, adding that the Directorate was considering putting in measures that would ensure that a lab technician would accompany the nurse to the homes to take the sample for processing alongside them.

He said the HIV services in the district were doing well due to the dedicated staff providing such services, adding that some of the trained nurses had left for greener pastures.

He said they also have a constant supply of logistics, engage more with clients, and have a quick resolution of their challenges, adding that expansion of coverage has also been done as they now use many of the CHPs compounds as anti-retroviral treatment (ART) services for easy access to treatment.

He said they were looking forward to reducing the district's new infections by ensuring that all positive pregnant women and nursing mothers were put on treatment and that they stayed on it as a way of reducing the transmission from mother to child.

He also said they would expand HIV testing and treatment to all patients, especially mothers going through the family planning unit, adding that they also want to do contact tracing to ensure that all partners of those who are positive will be tested.

The HIV Coordinator urged sexually active persons to make use of condoms while encouraging the youth to practice abstinence.

GNA
The Killers have completed a European Tour that has not been without its issues (Getty Images)

The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers has revealed he has scrapped the bands new album, as they prepare to play their final shows on an European tour.

Having been booed at a concert in Georgia after inviting a Russian fan to play drums for one song, the US rock band were back on form at last weekends Reading and Leeds festival.

Flowers and co. played a greatest-hits-heavy set that included new song Your Side of Town, but the long-planned subsequent parent album will now not be released.

Halfway through recording I realised, I cant do this, Flowers told The Times.

This isnt the kind of record I think this will be the I dont think youll see us making this type of music anymore.

The wait is over. pic.twitter.com/XKW0GnExQM  The Killers (@thekillers) August 25, 2023

When are The Killers playing in Ireland and Northern Ireland?

The Killers are set to wrap up their summer tour of Europe with a show at Boucher Road Playing Fields in Belfast, Northern Ireland on September 1 and then at Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Ireland on September 3.

This will precede a tour of the US into the autumn and winter. It follows The Killers releasing studio albums Imploding The Mirage in 2020 and Pressure Machine in 2021.

Brandon Flowers in concert (PA Archive)

Are The Killers still making music?

The Killers released the standalone single Boy last year and then synth-heavy new song Your Side of Town only a few days ago. But this song too is set to be a standalone, with Flowers telling The Times that he had lost heart someway into a larger project.

This is the crisis Im in. The Killers are my identity and our songs fill the seats, but Im more fulfilled making music like Pressure Machine, he said of the album - which was a more introspective release than the stadium rock fans might expect.

I found a side of myself writing it that was strong. This was the guy Id been looking for! Im as proud of [debut album] Hot Fuss as you can be for something you did when you were 20, but Im not 20. So Im thinking about the next phase of my life.

Story continues

Im a different person now, itll be difficult to go back.

What happened to The Killers in Georgia?

Frontman Brandon Flowers described fans as brothers and sisters at the gig on August 15 as he invited a Russian fan to perform a song with the band to an audience in Georgia.

We dont know the etiquette of this land but this guy is a Russian, you okay with a Russian coming up here? he said. The crowd chanted that no, they were not okay.

This led to Flowers saying: So Im not your brother? Am I not your brother, being from America, am I not your brother?

One of the things we have come to appreciate about being in this band is that it brings people together.

Tonight I want us to celebrate together and I dont want it to turn ugly.

I see you as my brothers and my sisters.

After the awkward clip went viral, The Killers apologised with a statement on their social media.

It was never our intention to offend anyone! the band said, adding that it had a longstanding tradition of inviting people to play the drums.

We recognise that a comment, meant to suggest that all of the Killers audience and fans are brothers and sisters, could be misconstrued, it added.

What songs are The Killers playing on tour?

The Killers changed convention by opening their show at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh on Tuesday, August 29 with their cornerstone song Mr Brightside. They also invited Johnny Marr on stage to perform The Smiths song This Charming Man - as they had done together to headline Glastonbury in 2019. Marr stayed on as the band closed with When You Were Young.

This was the full setlist but this does not represent the tour as a whole.
- Source:

30.08.2023 LISTEN

In the 1950s and 1960s, young Africans were assisted financially by their governments to study in western countries in the hope they would return to contribute to nation building . Individuals who qualified abroad and returned home formed the educated elites of immediate post-independent Africa .

Over the years, the demography of such migrants has changed to include professionals who after graduation at home move abroad in search of employment and remain there permanently . This loss of human talent and skills  the brain drain  is arguably one of Africa's key developmental challenges .

The migration of highly skilled professionals such as doctors, nurses, engineers and academics from Africa has serious economic, political and social implications for development .

But there is another side to the migration of skilled people. That is  brain gain   the return migration of professionals  and  brain circulation   temporary migration of professionals between countries. This is not well documented, especially in the case of African countries.

This is the gap we sought to fill, using a case study of the late Ghanaian fashion designer, Kofi Ansah .

Ansah's impact on Ghanaian fashion was immense because of the timing and context of his return in 1992. He had built a successful career for 20 years in the UK and the future looked promising . On the other hand, the country he returned to was undergoing profound political and economic transformation. Ghana was transitioning from military rule to a civilian government . Political tension was high, linked to an economic downturn following structural adjustment programmes adopted in the 1980s. But Ansah chose to relocate his budding career to Ghana.

His case demonstrates how the knowledge and expertise migrants gather through international career mobility can be converted into assets at an individual, national and international level. Returning migrants can transform traditional industries into modern, globalised ones.

Transforming Ghana's fashion industry

We are researchers in sociology, African studies and geography who have been studying how internal and external migration and spatial context influence cultural and creative practice in Ghana. For the Kofi Ansah case study we interviewed 31 Ghanaian fashion designers whose career journeys had been directly and indirectly influenced by him. These interviews are supplemented by information from social media dedicated to Ansah and his works.

Kofi Ansah, who died in 2014 , was from a creative family. His elder sister, Felicia Abban , was the official photographer of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president. His elder brother, Kwaw Ansah , is an acclaimed film writer, director and producer.

After completing his secondary education, Kofi enrolled in the Chelsea School of Art in the United Kingdom to study fashion design. He made his first fashion headline after he designed a beaded dress for Princess Anne. Subsequently, he worked for several successful British fashion brands, including Gerald Austin and Guy Laroche, before establishing his own studio in central London in 1980.

Despite his early success on the UK fashion scene, Ansah returned to Ghana in 1992 to get fresh inspiration and try to show people that we can use our fabrics for other things  We just have to work on it and make it commercial, he explained during an interview .

The way cloth was produced locally, using strip loom technology, limited the volume of production. And the conventional styling of clothes limited their patronage. These were some of the features Ansah sought to change.

Ansah transformed Ghana's fashion industry in four areas:

Fabrics and design : His modern designs used African traditional cloth, such as kente and bogolanfini . Linked to these style changes was his collaboration with Woodin and the Ghana Textiles Production, two textile producing companies, to introduce the sale of fabric in single yards instead of the standard six yards. This made the cloth more accessible and functional. It led to the production of casual clothes, such as skirts, blouses, shirts, shorts and trousers, for men and women. He then introduced ready-to-wear clothing at Woodin.

: His modern designs used African traditional cloth, such as kente and bogolanfini . Linked to these style changes was his collaboration with Woodin and the Ghana Textiles Production, two textile producing companies, to introduce the sale of fabric in single yards instead of the standard six yards. This made the cloth more accessible and functional. It led to the production of casual clothes, such as skirts, blouses, shirts, shorts and trousers, for men and women. He then introduced ready-to-wear clothing at Woodin. Accessories : Ansah was also passionate about promoting fashion accessories made with local materials. These included wood, raffia and his personal favourite, calabash. His runway designs always included stunning accessories. The use of prominent accessories has now become an integral element of African fashion shows.

: Ansah was also passionate about promoting fashion accessories made with local materials. These included wood, raffia and his personal favourite, calabash. His runway designs always included stunning accessories. The use of prominent accessories has now become an integral element of African fashion shows. Production : Ansah was instrumental in the introduction of the Friday African wear policy in Ghana. This was aimed at promoting the wearing of local bespoke garments in workplaces on Fridays. Ansah used his friendship with then minister for trade and industry, Alan Kyeremanten, to push his idea to democratise and regularise the use of wax print. Ansah also influenced fashion production by employing international marketing strategies like fashion shows and exhibitions. He thus opened Ghanaian fashion to international audiences by using globally accepted techniques.

: Ansah was instrumental in the introduction of the Friday African wear policy in Ghana. This was aimed at promoting the wearing of local bespoke garments in workplaces on Fridays. Ansah used his friendship with then minister for trade and industry, Alan Kyeremanten, to push his idea to democratise and regularise the use of wax print. Ansah also influenced fashion production by employing international marketing strategies like fashion shows and exhibitions. He thus opened Ghanaian fashion to international audiences by using globally accepted techniques. Human capital: More importantly, Ansah's vision to grow a lasting and successful industry propelled him to mentor many of Ghana's finest contemporary designers. He partnered with international agencies to launch mentorship programmes for young designers.

One such programme was the Web Young Designers Hub , financed by the French Embassy and coordinated by Ansah and Franca Sozzani , former editor of Vogue Italia. Another project spearheaded by Ansah was the Ethical Fashion Initiative , a partnership between the United Nations and the Presidential Special Initiative programme. These programmes and the exposure that came with them positioned contemporary designers to engage in brain circulation.

By participating in projects, young designers had the opportunity to travel to other countries and learn about aspects of fashion such as fabric production and event organisation. Such travel was geared towards acquiring knowledge that would have an impact on Ghana's fashion industry.

These engagements helped young fashion designers build networks with designers across the globe.

Ansah's impact

The Ghanaian fashion industry is making its mark globally . Steve French and other young designers are recognised for their creative works and talents. Garments made by Ghanaian designers like Duaba Serwaa and Christie Brown are worn by stars such as Lupita Nyongo and Beyonce respectively. Young Ghanaians, too, proudly wear African clothes for all occasions. The current status of Ghana's fashion industry is largely due to the efforts of Kofi Ansah.

Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie received funding from the Danish Foreign Ministry (DANIDA) for this research.

Akosua Keseboa Darkwah received funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark grant number 18-05-CBS, Advancing Creative Industries for Development in Ghana for this study.

Katherine V. Gough received funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark grant number 18-05-CBS, Advancing Creative Industries for Development in Ghana, for this study.

By Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie, Research Fellow, Center for Cultural and African Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) And

Akosua Keseboa Darkwah, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Ghana And

Katherine V. Gough, Professor of Human Geography, Loughborough University
The National Democratic Congress' newly appointed Director of Legal Affairs, Edudzi Tamakloe has opined on the outcome of the recent New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Super Delegates Conference, expressing his delight in the fact that over 32% of the NPP's super delegates did not vote for Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

This revelation, according to Tamakloe, is a strong indication of the sentiments held by Ghanaians which could kick out NPP in the upcoming 2024 general elections if Dr. Bawumia is chosen as the party's flagbearer.

During an interview on TV3s New Day morning show, Edudzi Tamakloe contended that the results of the NPP conference is a promising opportunity for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to clinch victory in the 2024 general elections.

Lawyer Tamakloe underscored Dr. Bawumia's failure to secure the same level of support within his party as former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo did in August 2014, when he garnered an impressive 81.28% of the super delegate votes.

"What is the record? When Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was put together for the 2014 super delegates, hecame out with 81.28%.

81.28%; that was the record. Today, if after a little over 8 years, the person that you have ruled this country with, the man you claim his brain is what you have used for governance; if your own super delegates; over 32% are opposed to his candidature to even lead the NPP, how much more Ghana?" Tamakloe remarked.

He further stated, "That is pleasing to us because to even have 20% of your core support opposed to your candidature, it should be concerning.

But of course, it is said that he whom the gods want to destroy, they will first make you mad and the madness is going to continue till it gets to where it has to."

The NPP's Super Delegates Conference, held on August 26, 2023, saw Vice President Dr. Bawumia secure a resounding victory over nine other contenders.

Official results revealed that he garnered 629 votes, securing the first position.

Kennedy Agyapong followed with 132 votes in second place, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen polled 95 votes in third place, and Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto received 36 votes, placing fourth.

Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai-Nimoh both secured 9 votes each, resulting in a tie for the fifth position.

The remaining candidates, including Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, Joe Ghartey, Kwadwo Poku, and Kofi Konadu Apraku, received varying vote counts.

In total, there were 923 valid votes cast during the conference.
In a primary school, a teacher asked his pupils, What is the name given to a situation where a person dies by hanging himself or herself?

Sir, sir, sir, the pupils shouted with their hands raised. The teacher called one of them for an answer; and he said, tie and die. Utterly disappointed, the teacher shook his head and wondered what the future held for his pupils. One after the other, he asked them what they wanted to be in future.

One child said he wanted to be a shoe shine boy. When asked why, he said he was always fascinated by the sound shoe shine boys make by hitting their wooden boxes with a stick to attract clients, and that was his motivation.

Another child said she would love to be a delegate. Her motivation was that her father was a branch chairman of a ruling party and her uncle a constituency organizer of an opposition party; and that during party and primary elections, his father and uncle received assorted items and huge sums of money as gifts.

As much as this may sound funny, there are serious underlying issues regarding the endemic rot which is destroying the very fabric of our society. The underhand dealings that go on during party conferences to elect officers at the constituency, regional and national levels is no more a secret.

In the recently held NPP Super Delegate Conference for instance, it was alleged that delegates were given Ghs100,000 each.

There are more, in some instances, corrupt politicians get funding from some rapacious businesspeople who become the power brokers when power is won.

The most disturbing part of this narrative is that our young ones are watching and emulating. Terrible! I had a shock of my life when I visited a primary school some years ago to see a friend who was a teacher there. A child who appeared to be from an affluent home was sharing toffees to his school mates. Was he celebrating his birthday? No, I was wrong! There was an impending poll to elect prefects, and apparently that child was practising what he had observed from adults in his community whenever there is an election. He was buying votes! I cringed!

This marked the instant my life crossed a particular junction of time and space. I'm scared and wondering what the future holds for us as a country. Little wonder a pupil of a basic school sees a "delegate" as a lucrative career. God help us!

Anthony Obeng Afrane
The 13 suspects arrested in the court attack in Tamale have been granted bail by the district court in Tamale.

The chief of Tamale, Gulkpegu Naa on Tuesday demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the suspects with their motorbikes given to them.

The suspects were arrested after a group of irate youth stormed the court premises and pelted it with stones, destroying fixtures and injuring a police officer.

The youth were protesting the release of a drug dealer who they accused of being shielded by the police.

Following the attack, 13 suspects were arrested. Addressing the media on behalf of the Gulkpegu Naa, his spokesperson, Saha Naa Abdul Latif, said the police should release the suspects and return their motorbikes.

He also alleged that the police stormed the Gukpe Naa's Palace and started shooting into the palace, wounding five people.

I took off from the UDS campus rushed here, and I couldn't even find my way to the police headquarters and from there I managed to make my way to the district court where the youth amassed. Actually, the whole issue centered on the drug peddling that is going on in town. So the youth of Tamale with the support of the chiefs and everybody have vowed to leave the drug trade in the mud so those who were arrested were arraigned before the district court.

But I hear those drug peddlers were allowed off the hook, so the youth did not take it kindly. And unfortunately, the police came in and started firing indiscriminately and in the process five of our compatriots got wounded and are currently receiving treatment at various hospitals within the municipality. Then later on in the day we also heard some five policemen were also wounded, he stated.

The Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) has condemned the unlawful invasion of the Tamale District Court by the youth.

JUSAG said the attack was a clear attempt to undermine the rule of law and called on the police to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The police have said they are investigating the attack and that the suspects will be brought to justice.

citinewsroom
The National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana to intensify public education on the upcoming limited voter registration exercise.

The Commission further advised the EC to employ the services of mobile vans to educate the populace.

Deputy Chairperson, Samuel Asare Akumoah, emphasised the need for the EC to explain to the people the need to take part in the registration exercise.

The EC is set to comment a limited voter registration for eligible Ghanaians who turned 18 years after the 2020 registration exercise and other eligible voters from September 12, 2023, to October 2, 2023.

In the past, the motivation was that the voters ID card was used for things other than elections, so people would spend money to go and get it. Now they have Ghana Card, which they can use for other things. If this is for elections, and he thinks he doesnt need it, he will not register. We need to motivate them, its mandatory that we provide access, the Deputy Chairperson of the National Commission on Civic Education said.

Some seven political parties in the country are unhappy with the decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) to restrict the upcoming voter registration exercise to its district offices.

According to the political parties, such a move would disenfranchise a number of Ghanaians who have attained the voting age.

They want the commission to instead open up the process for the exercise to be conducted at the electoral areas.

The seven political parties have thus promised not to rest until the EC registers every eligible Ghanaian who has attained the voting age.

Citi Newsroom
30.08.2023 LISTEN

A youth activist, Bright Botchwey has strongly criticised the Ghana Education Service's (GES) management for their response to the incident involving a female student who was slapped and punched by the assistant headmaster of Nkwanta Presby SHS.

The victim was reportedly battered by Mr Derick Abu Yeboah due to her failure to secure permission before leaving the school premises.

The youth activist believes that the statement released by GES regarding the incident is merely an attempt to save face.

He asserts that the school has not provided genuine support to the victim.

Instead, the medical expenses for the 15-year-old student were covered by Mr. Emmanuel Agyepong, her uncle.

According to the activist, GES's statement was a superficial gesture intended to gain public sympathy rather than a sincere effort to address the matter that has gained widespread attention on social media.

The activist argued that the actions taken by GES, such as relieving the Assistant Headteacher of his duties, are insufficient to address the severity of the situation.

He expressed his disappointment with the District Commander for not pursuing more substantial actions.

The activist believes that the District Commander should have prepared a legal case and forwarded it to the Attorney General for legal guidance.

In the activist's view, the appropriate course of action should involve the prosecution of the Assistant Headteacher rather than merely removing him from his post.

He expressed these concerns during an interview on Accra 100.5 FM's mid-day news on Tuesday, August 29, 2023.

The activist emphasised that the central issue at hand is the assault committed by the Assistant Headteacher, and he is dissatisfied with the way GES and the authorities have handled the situation thus far.

Source: Classfmonline.com
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has condemned the alleged assault of a student by the Assistant Headmaster (Academics) of the Nkwatia Presby Senior High School.

The incident, which was captured on video and has since gone viral on social media, showed the Assistant Headmaster slapping and beating the student, who is believed to be a second-year student.

A press statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the GES, Cassandra Twum Ampofo, stated that the Assistant Headmaster had been relieved of his duties and that the student was receiving medical care and counselling.

The GES also said that the Eastern Regional Director of Education was liaising with the school authorities and the relevant law enforcement agency to investigate the matter.

The Ghana Education Service assured the general public that it was committed to ensuring a safe and secure learning environment for all students.
Bernard Mornah, former Chairman of the Peoples National Convention (PNC) has cautioned Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia not to underestimate the dissatisfaction among grassroots members of the NPP despite his convincing victory in the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) super delegates conference.

Mr Mornah revealed that following his interactions with NPP grassroots members in the Upper West Region, it became evident that they were far from impressed with Vice President Bawumia's bid to secure the party's flagbearer position.

These members believed that Bawumia's association with the Akufo-Addo-led government contributed to the economic challenges experienced by Ghanaians.

The former PNC chairman issued a warning that if Bawumia's campaign team become complacent due to their success in the Super Delegates Conference, they might face defeat in the main election scheduled for November 4.

Speaking during a panel discussion on TV3, Bernard Mornah advised Dr. Bawumia and his team to critically assess the elections and focus on persuading the grassroots to solidify his victory as the NPP's flagbearer.

"In my view, the vice president's camp should be concerned. His campaign team needs to conduct a thorough review because the outcome of the super delegates conference doesn't guarantee the same result on November 4.

It won't be the same. When I visited the Upper West region, many NPP members participating in the November 4 elections didn't share the same mindset as President Akufo-Addo, but they remained silent, waiting for the super delegates conference to conclude.

"Having interacted with some of these NPP members," Mornah continued, "they expressed the sentiment that if President Akufo-Addo's governance is not satisfactory, then Vice President Bawumia, being part of the administration, cannot distance himself from it and claim that his ideas weren't heeded by Akufo-Addo."
30.08.2023 LISTEN

National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons (NACSA) has announced plans to tackle the illegal importation of illicit weapons into Ghana, especially from neighbouring countries.

Recent research conducted in five regions in Ghana suggests an estimated presence of 35,000 to 40,000 illegally produced firearms, with over 2000 blacksmiths having production capacity in just one region.

Speaking to Citi News, Deputy Director for Policy Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation at the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Gyebi Asante emphasized the need for a collective effort to combat the proliferation of firearms in the country.

He warned that his outfit would deal ruthlessly with persons found smuggling weapons into the country.

We are now going to the ports and borders, we have recruited and trained officers, and we are getting them equipment to be at these borders. To be able to detect some of these guns that are being guns smuggled into the country. So they better put a stop to it now, before they find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

When we detect it and realise that you are the ones bringing these weapons in, the law will definitely deal with you. We should all help this country to make it peaceful.

 Citi Newsroom
Government has been urged to take steps to include the treatment of Neurodevelopment Disorders onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) benefit package.

Such a move would go a long way to bring financial and economic relief to poor parents whose children are suffering from such conditions, improve access to healthcare for all and better growth outcomes for special children.

Stakeholders such as parents, healthcare providers, caregivers, teachers, Civil Society Organisations, among others, made the call at a symposium on Neurodevelopment Disorders, held at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

The stakeholders also called for investment to train specialists to ensure easy access to service delivery across the country and prevent people from travelling long distances to access care.

The forum was organised by Ms Katherine Millar, and her husband, Professor Mamudu Akudugu, both Lecturers at the University for Development Studies as part of activities to mark the birthday of Ms Millar.

The event was in partnership with Mission Pediatrics, Klicks Africa Foundation, and Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment Ghana (RISE-GHANA) with support from the Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary and Development Studies.

Neurodevelopment Disorders are conditions that affect the development of the nervous system, leading to abnormal brain functioning of a child, which may affect emotions, learning abilities, self-control and memory and the conditions tend to last for a person's lifetime.

In addition to the symposium, a free health screening for various conditions of Neurodevelopment Disorders was also organised and more than 250 children from Bolgatanga Municipality and its environs benefitted from the gesture

Madam Belinda Azusyine, a mother of a child with special needs from Bolgatanga, noted that the cost of treatment and medication for such children and children with Neurodevelopment Disorders was having a toll on families.

She there were no specialists in the region and northern Ghana as a whole and parents of children with special needs had to travel to the South, particularly Accra and Kumasi to access medical care but poverty had made some parents unable to afford the required medications for their children.

I was supposed to be visiting the hospital in Kumasi every month but the transportation alone I could not afford and the least amount of money I use to buy medicines is GH500.00 every

month. I am a teacher but unemployed, so, I am pleading with the government to include the treatment of these conditions onto the NHIS package, she pleaded.

Ms Margaret Akindeba, another mother of a child with special needs, indicated that due to the cost of treatment and stigmatisation, many families were hiding their children in their home, which was impeding their growth and development.

She said although not all Neurodevelopment Disorders required medications, those conditions that required medications should be, as matter urgency, captured in the NHIS benefit package to support special children.

Ms Jaw-haratu Amadu, another mother with a special child and head of programmes for RISE-GHANA, said apart from the high cost of the medications, the region did not have specialists in such a field and called on the stakeholders to help train more specialists to provide critical care to the patients.

Ms Millar explained that there were many children in rural areas like the Upper East Region who were suffering many Neurodevelopment Disorders and the symposium was to create a platform to build the capacity of the primary stakeholders on early signs and how to assist children with such conditions to have a better growth.

She said the move was also to increase awareness about the conditions, demystify myths and misconceptions and influence policies directions to ensure early interventions and diagnosis to help in the growth of such children.

GNA
LPU Ranks Ahead of 3 IITs in India and Among Top Universities Worldwide by Young University Rankings-2023

Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India] Published : August 28, 2023



The world-renowned Young University Rankings-2023 by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings system has placed Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Worlds Rank Band 251-300 among the universities created since 1973.Being ahead of three IITsincludingIITGuwahati & Bhubaneswar (301-350) band;IITMandi (351-400) band; and many other government and private institutions of the world; LPU has once again created a benchmark in global education with such a remarkable ranking.Singapores Nanyang Technological University has topped the league table; Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on the second spot; while, Paris Sciences et Lettres PSL Research University Paris gets the third place. All of these commenced their existence in the 20th century; whereas, LPU got established in this century only. Overall, Turkey leads as the most-represented nation with 47 institutions, followed closely by India with 45.The universities of the world are judged across all their core missions teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. It was to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available. Here, The Rankings has listed the worlds best universities that are 50 years old or younger. The table is based on the same 13 performance indicators as the flagship TheWorld University Rankings.Congratulating all at LPU for their devotion towards diverse duties to see such a coveted ranking for the university; Chancellor Dr Ashok Kumar Mittal once again invoked all to continue working hard to lead LPU to be at the top position in the world. Dr Mittal emphasized that this novel recognition reaffirms LPUs commitment to be an exemplary university globe over, for others to follow and applaud.LPUs placement data has always been illustrious since its inception. Thousands of LPU students have been successfully pursuing careers across the globe with hundreds of national and international companies. 350+ top recruiting companies which recruit from IITs/IIMs/NITs also recruit from LPU.A student from Lovely Professional University's (LPU) class of 2018, Yasir M. has made history by securing a whopping Rs. 3 crore package in a global IT giant. Furthermore, LPU B.Tech. Graduate Harekrishna Mahto joined Google's Bangalore office in 2022, receiving a package of INR 64 Lakh, which is also one of the highest packages received by any young graduate. From the last few batches, over 600 LPU students have been placed at a package of INR 10-63 lakhs. Top companies that recruited a large number of LPU students include Cognizant, which hired 1850+ LPU students, Capgemini recruited 1400+students, Wipro recruited 500+ and Highradius hired 800+ students, among numerous other notable companies. In recent years, more than 20,000 placements/internships have been offered to LPU students by top recruiters, with several Fortune 500 companies extending over 5000 offers.



Dr Mittal also mentioned that prior to this also, LPU has been listed among the world's top universities, alongside Harvard and Oxford in the World University Rankings for Innovation (WURI)-2023. Indias National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Rankings 2023 has ranked LPU at 38th among all government & private universities in the country.Highlighting, as per a recent updation, there are more than 29,257 universities in the world. To be one of the prominent among these all, in mere a span of less than 20 yrs. of existence, is indeed a matter of immense prideforallatLPU.The admission process for LPU's 2023 intake is closing soon. To know more about the exam and admission process, students can clickhere.



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A coup attempt is underway in Gabon. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, a group of soldiers declared the end to the regime of President Ali Bongo, whose election for a third term as president had just been announced. He succeeded his father, Omar Bongo, in 2009 who had governed the country for more than forty years. Here is a brief history of Gabon in dates.

17 August 1960

Gabon gained independence from France.

The country had been part of the French empire in Africa since 1886, a year after the infamous Berlin Conference where European powers decided how to divide the African continent among themselves.

February 1961

Leon Mba was elected president.

12 November 1966

Albert-Bernard Bongo  later to be known as Omar Bongo Ondimba  became Leon Mba's vice-president, opening the way for a long reign.

December 1967

Bongo was elected president of the Republic of Gabon.

Bongo created the Gabonese Democratic Party (Parti democratique gabonais, PDG), a unique party ruling the country thanks to its massive oil revenues.

1973

Bongo converted to Islam, and took the name of El Hadj Omar Bongo, later adding "Ondimba", his father's name, in 2003.

In 1973, 1979 and1986 again, Bongo was the only candidate in the presidential elections.

1989

Omar Bongo named his son Ali, 29, as Foreign Affaires minister.

January - April 1990

Anti-PDG protests turned to riots.

In May 1990, Omar Bongo agreed to install a multiparty democracy, but he was reelected in 1993 and 1998.

1999

Ali Bongo became Defence minister, and remained so until 2009.

2005

Omar Bongo was reelected for the last time, despite strong opposition, post-electoral violence, and accusations of fraud.

June 2009.

Omar Bongo dies.

August 2009

Ali Bongo Ondimba was installed as president of Gabon despite opposition to his appointment.

2010

The French judiciary nonetheless opened a first investigation into president Ali Bongo's chief of staff on suspicion of taking a bribe to help secure a contract.

2014 - 15

A scandal erupts over allegations that Ali was adopted abroad by his father.

December 2014

Violent clashes between the opposition's supports and security forces left one dead. Demonstrators demanded Bongo's departure.

2015

A crash in oil prices weakened Gabon's economy.

2016

French properties of Omar Bongo's family were seized by court.

2016

Ahead of the presidential election, the opposition demanded that Ali Bongo's should not be allowed stand. The demand was ignored.

August 2016

Bongo was reelected in even if the only challenger, Jean Ping, was declared victor.

September 2016

Constitutional Court validates Bongo's reelection.

The parliamentary elections were called off until December 2016.

October 2018

Ali Bongo suffered a stroke while travelling in Saudi Arabia.

Bongo is forced to transfer some of his powers to the vice-president and prime minister for months.

7 January 2019

The regime survived a coup attempt, followed by another attempt later that year.

October 2021

Ali Bongo's name appeared in the Pandora Papers, accusing multiple head of states of have hidden millions in offshore tax havens.

9 July 2023, despite his ongoing health issues, Bongo declares himself candidate again for the August presidential election, held in late August.

30 August 2023

Ali Bongo is officially re-elected with over 64% of the vote against his main rival, Albert Ondo Ossa.

Ossa had denounced "fraud orchestrated by the Bongo camp" two hours before the poll closed.
The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has warned farmers along the White Volta of dangerous reptiles as the animals also struggle to survive the floods caused by the spillage of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso.

NADMO on Wednesday, August 30 further warned that the water level of the White Volta at Pwalugu in the Upper East Region has increased as Burkinabe authorities re-opened valves of the Dam on Tuesday.

We urge farmers/people along the White Volta River to avoid the flood waters, NADMO stated in its update to residents.

The river has overflown its banks and some farms along the river are flooded.

The nations disaster management organisation said the natural habitats of reptiles are being disturbed as a result of the floods.

It, therefore, cautioned that people should be careful along the river as the risk of snake bites is high during this period.

The reptiles are also struggling for survival as they move upland, on debris and on top of trees along the river.

-3news.com
30.08.2023 LISTEN

Calm has been restored to Gbi-Godenu near Hohoe in the Volta Region following violent incidents on Wednesday, 30 August 2023.

The Police have arrested twelve individuals suspected to be involved in the disturbance.

During the apprehensions, a Bruni pistol was seized by the police.

The Police have also beefed up security in the community and its environs to ensure the maintenance of law and order.

A police vehicle affiliated with the Hohoe District Police Command in the Volta Region was set on fire in the early hours of Wednesday.

The circumstances surrounding the arson remain unclear.

The torched vehicle, bearing registration number GP 590, had previously been involved in a collision with a motorcyclist who was suspected of carrying illicit substances believed to be marijuana.

According to eyewitnesses, the collision led to the motorcyclist falling into an open drain.

Subsequently, law enforcement personnel transported the injured individual to a medical facility, leaving the police vehicle unattended at the scene.

Upon their return, the police officers discovered that the vehicle had been set ablaze.

The motive behind the arson remains unknown. Despite initial suspicions, no illegal substances were found on the injured motorcyclist, further deepening the mystery surrounding the incident.

-classfmonline
Nana Appiah Mensah aka NAM 1

30.08.2023 LISTEN

Nana Appiah Mensah, commonly known as NAM1, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Menzgold Ghana Limited, has been hit with fresh charges filed by the Attorney Generals Department.

The charges total 39 counts and also include NAM1s other defunct firm, Brew Marketing Consult.

The charges are primarily related to allegations of defrauding by false pretence, as outlined in Section 131(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).

These charges represent another blow to NAM1 and the already burdened customers of Menzgold.

Adding to their woes, Menzgold recently announced that customers must now fulfil fresh monetary demands before their locked-up claims can be released.

This news has caused significant frustration and outrage among the already financially struggling customers.

According to a statement released by Menzgold on August 18, 2023, the company completed the validation process of transaction-supporting documents submitted by customers.

To their dismay, it was discovered that 60% of the claims had unacceptable infractions, rendering them invalid.

In the final phase of the due diligence process, Menzgold requires customers with genuine indebted transaction claims to acquire the Menzgoid Digital Verification Access Card from authorized Payboy Agents allegedly owned by him.

These cards, priced at GHC650 each, will enable customers to verify their transaction validation status between August 10 and September 14, 2023.

Menzgold emphasizes that they cannot provide free verification services like they did during the initial validation exercise.

The company states that their resources must be dedicated to paying off their financial liabilities, prompting the need for this new payment obligation.

Customers are warned that failure to comply with this final verification exercise may result in the forfeiture of their claims. There is a fear that those who do not undergo this process will lose any hope of recovering their funds altogether.

This development has significantly escalated the already existing outrage and frustration among Menzgold customers. Many are questioning why they are being burdened with additional financial obligations when they are victims in this situation. Concerns have also been raised about the companys motives, with fears that the rightful funds may never reach the customers.

The Menzgold saga has been ongoing for years, marred by allegations of fraud and mismanagement against the company. While the Ghanaian government has taken steps to address the issue, the resolution remains distant.

As customers anxiously await the outcome of this new verification process, the future remains uncertain for those who have already suffered severely due to the Menzgold crisis.

-DGN online
Leaders of the coup in Gabon on Wednesday named a general transitional president after seizing power following disputed elections in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has ruled for 55 years, had been declared winner.

The claimed takeover sparked condemnation from the African Union (AU) and alarm from Nigeria over "contagious autocracy" in a continent where the military have seized power in five other countries since 2020.

Bongo, 64, who took over from his father Omar in 2009, was placed under house arrest and one of his sons arrested for treason, the coup leaders said.

In a dramatic pre-dawn address, a group of officers declared "all the institutions of the republic" had been dissolved, the election results cancelled and the borders closed.

Bongo, in a video from an unidentified location, appealed to 'all friends that we have all over the world... to make noise' on his behalf. By - (UNKNOWN SOURCE/AFP)

"Today, the country is going through a serious institutional, political, economic and social crisis," according to the statement read on state TV.

It was read by an officer flanked by a group of a dozen army colonels, members of the elite Republican Guard, regular soldiers and others.

The elections "did not meet the conditions for a transparent, credible and inclusive ballot so much hoped for by the people of Gabon", the statement said.

"Added to this is irresponsible and unpredictable governance, resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion, with the risk of leading the country in chaos."

"We -- the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) on behalf of the people of Gabon and as guarantors of the institutions' protection -- have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime," it said.

Arrests

TV images later showed the head of the Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, being carried in triumph by hundreds of soldiers, to cries of "Oligui president".

The coup leaders later named Oligui Nguema "transitional president", according to a TV statement.

A video grab from Gabon 24 showing soldiers carrying General Brice Oligui Nguema, head of Bongo's presidential guard. By - (Gabon 24/AFP)

Bongo's son and close adviser Noureddin Bongo Valentin, his chief of staff Ian Ghislain Ngoulou as well as his deputy, two other presidential advisers and the two top officials in the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) "have been arrested", a military leader said.

They are accused of treason, embezzlement, corruption and falsifying the president's signature, among other allegations, he said.

A worried-looking Bongo, in a video from an unidentified location, appealed to "all friends that we have all over the world... to make noise" on his behalf.

Since 2020 there have been military takeovers in Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Niger. By - (AFP)

"My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place and I'm at the residence and nothing is happening. I don't know what's going on. I'm calling you to make noise."

On the streets of the capital, and the economic hub Port-Gentil, groups of joyous people were seen celebrating. In Libreville, around 100 people shouted "Bongo out!" and applauded police in anti-riot gear, an AFP staff member saw.

Disputed election

Bongo was first elected in 2009 following the death of his father Omar, who had ruled the country for 41 years, reputedly amassing a fortune.

The coup announcement came just moments after the national election authority declared Bongo had won a third term in Saturday's election with 64.27 percent of the vote.

Gabon. By Jean-Michel CORNU (AFP)

Gabon's main opposition, led by university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, had accused Bongo of "fraud", and demanded that he hand over power "without bloodshed".

The authorities at the weekend imposed a curfew, which on Wednesday was extended until further notice, and shut down the internet nationwide. The internet was restored on Wednesday morning after the TV address.

Several French media outlets, whose outputs had been suspended during the tumultuous period following the election, were permitted to resume according to a statement read on Gabon 24 Wednesday.

Gabon's 2016 elections were marked by deadly violence after Bongo edged out rival Jean Ping by just 5,500 votes, according to the official tally.

In 2018, Bongo suffered a stroke that sidelined him for 10 months and fuelled accusations that he was medically unfit to hold office.

Family rule

The central African country of 2.3 million people has been ruled by the Bongos for more than 55 out of its 63 years since independence from France in 1960.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "firmly condemns the ongoing coup attempt" and reaffirms "his strong opposition to military coups", according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

The White House said it was closely watching the situation, while the AU said it "strongly condemns" the claimed takeover as a violation of its charter.

In Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy and most populous country, President Bola Tinubu said he was in contact with other African heads over the "contagious autocracy we have seen spread across our continent".

"Power belongs in the hands of Africa's great people and not in the barrel of a loaded gun," Tinubu said through his spokesman.

Since 2020 there have been military takeovers in Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Niger.

In France, where the loss of Bongo would mark a further blow to Paris' reach in Africa, the government said it "condemns the coup" and reiterated its desire "to see the results of the election respected, once they are known".

Russia said it was "deeply concerned" by the situation, while China called for "all sides" in Gabon to guarantee Bongo's safety.
30.08.2023 LISTEN

The resurgence of coups in Francophone Africa, Gabon being the latest has alarmed scholars and policymakers alike. Let us deep dive into the potential role France plays in these political upheavals by utilizing an analysis of intelligence and comprehension that examines the historical context, political and economic dynamics, and the impact of French neocolonial policies on the continent.

The colonial legacy left by France has had a profound impact on Francophone Africa, contributing to a volatile political climate. The French Empire implemented a system of indirect rule, fostering a deep dependence on France for economic, military, and political stability. Decolonization in the 1960s did little to dismantle this neocolonial structure, as France retained significant influence over regimes and local elites. A legacy of French-backed coups during this period laid the groundwork for subsequent military interventions.

The complex political dynamics in Francophone Africa, combined with fragile economies, make these countries particularly vulnerable to coups. Weak governance, widespread corruption, and limited infrastructure hinder social and economic development, leading to public discontent. Such conditions create fertile ground for political opportunists seeking power through undemocratic means, including military intervention. France's historical support for autocratic leaders has perpetuated this cycle, contributing to recurring instability.

France's neocolonial policies in Francophone Africa have exacerbated political tensions and contributed to the surge in coups. The Francafrique relationship, characterized by close political, economic, and military cooperation, has frequently been condemned as perpetuating corruption and enabling authoritarian regimes. France's assistance to autocratic leaders, often at the expense of democratic institutions, has undermined popular confidence in governance and facilitated power grabs by disgruntled military factions.

France's persistent military presence in Francophone Africa has also been a contributing factor to the resurgence of coups. Operation Barkhane, an ongoing French-led counterterrorism mission in the Sahel region, has intensified military tensions and inadvertently strengthened the position of military factions within these countries. France's support for oppressive regimes, coupled with its inclination to intervene militarily when its interests are threatened, creates a power vacuum that is often filled by military actors seeking political control.

The resurgence of coups in Francophone Africa cannot be attributed solely to France, as these complex dynamics involve a range of factors unique to each country. However, France's historical legacy and neocolonial policies have undeniably contributed to this destabilizing trend. By perpetuating corrupt regimes, supporting autocratic leaders, and maintaining a military presence, France inadvertently creates an environment conducive to political upheaval. A comprehensive understanding of these intelligence and comprehension factors is crucial for addressing the root causes of these coups and fostering sustainable democratic governance in the region. Efforts should focus on promoting good governance, economic development, and reducing France's neocolonial influence, ultimately paving the way for stability, democratization, and self-determination in Francophone Africa.

By Amatus Fomjegeba
30.08.2023 LISTEN

A policeman in Tamale is in custody for allegedly stealing three motorbikes that were seized during an attack on the district court by irate youth in the area.

The court today granted bail to the suspects who were arrested, and the police asked the motorbike owners to come with the papers for their bikes.

One of the owners went to the police station and did not find his motorbike. However, he had a tracker on the bike, so he started tracking it which took him to the room of the police officer.

He reported to the police, who traced the motorbike to the room and found three motorbikes.

The police officer has been arrested and is currently in custody.

13 suspects were arrested after a group of irate youth stormed the court premises and pelted it with stones, destroying fixtures and injuring a police officer.

The youths were protesting over an alleged drug dealer who they accused of being shielded by the police.

---citinewsroom
A 47-year-old Civil Servant, who allegedly shared a nude recording of a nurse with her friends and others has been granted bail by an Accra Circuit Court.

Mr Teddy Tom-Thompson is said to have recorded the nude video of the nurse during a WhatsApp video call without the knowledge of the nurse when he engaged her in phone sex.

After the recording, Mr Tom-Thompson was said to have threatened the nurse to share her nudity to disgrace her when she opted to break up with him.

Charged with a threat to distribute prohibited intimate images or visual recording and non-consensual sharing of intimate images, Mr Tom-Thompson pleaded not guilty.

The Court presided over by Mr Samuel Bright Acquah admitted Mr Tom-Thompson to GH20,000.00 bail with one surety.

It directed the accused person to deposit his Ghana card at the Court's Registry.

Police Inspector Geneive Ankamah, prosecuting narrated to the Court that the complainant was a nurse at Tafo Government Hospital, Kumasi while the accused person was Civil Servant in Accra.

The prosecution said the complainant and the accused person had been in a relationship since June 2023, which lasted for only three months due to some misunderstanding.

It said during their relationship, while having a WhatsApp video call, the accused person engaged the complainant in phone sex.

The prosecution said the accused person recorded the complainant's nude without her knowledge during the call.

It said the accused person then threatened the complainant to share her nudity to disgrace her when she opted to break up with him.

The prosecution said the accused person went further to share the nude recordings with the complainant's friends including witnesses in this case.

It said the complainant reported the matter to the Police and the accused person was arrested to assist investigation.

The prosecution said investigations confirmed that the sim card used by the accused person to share the nude recordings was registered in the name of Mr Tom-Thompson.

It said screenshots of the video and chats from the complainant's friends were obtained.

GNA
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Wednesday, 30th August 2023, commissioned the Electrochem Salt Mine in Sege, in the Ada West district.

The Mine, operated by the McDan Group, currently has the ability to produce some six hundred and fifty thousand metric tons (650,000 MT) of salt per annum.

The Mine is expected to increase its productive capacity to one million metric tons in 2024, and to two million metric tons by 2027, making it the biggest salt producing facility in Africa.

Addressing the gathering at the event, President Akufo-Addo noted that for some fifty-four (54) years, successive Governments have tried, without success, to harness the full value of the Songhor Lagoon.

I am glad that under the Government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Songhor Lagoon is being brought into full production for the benefit of residents of Ada and citizens of the entire nation, he said.

According to President Akufo-Addo, The man who is to receive the plaudits for the brilliance of what we are witnessing today is the courageous, excellent entrepreneur, Mr. Daniel McKorley, aka McDan. This is the first time in recent history that an indigenous Ghanaian businessman owns one of the biggest extractive industries in Africa. He is a shining example of what determination and perseverance can produce. Ayekoo!!

Recounting a news item he came across in the run-up to the 2008 elections, the President stated that he was startled by a news report which suggested that the Federal Republic of Nigeria was in the process of importing two billion dollars worth of salt from Brazil.

You can imagine the thoughts that were running through my mind. Think with me for a moment about the prospects of Ghana selling two billion dollars ($2 billion) worth of salt to Nigeria and the ripple effects the sale of such a simple commodity, which Nigeria and, indeed, many other countries in West Africa import from other continents, can have on our economy, he added.

As an advocate for value-addition activities since coming into office in January 2017, evidenced in the implementation of the 1-District-1-Factory policy, President Akufo-Addo was delighted that Electrochem is in the process of constructing a salt refinery, in addition to a Port not too far away from here for the purpose of exporting refined salt products to the wider African market.

With Accra serving as the headquarters of the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the President was confident that the expected revenues of some one billion dollars ($1 billion) to the company would be surpassed.

He extended the appreciation of the Government and people of Ghana to the Paramount Chief of the Ada Traditional Area, Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku III, his Chiefs, and to the people of Ada for the support given to the success of the project.

President Akufo-Addo also took notice of the request by McDan in his speech requesting for the construction of some major road projects leading to the mine.

He assured that I will put these requests before the Minister for Roads and Highways, and ensure that he does his best to construct the roads. I intend to take a personal interest in them.

The President reiterated his belief that not only is Ghana the best place for doing business in West Africa, but she is also the preferred destination for a perfect blend of mineral resource potential, stable regulatory environment, favourable fiscal regime, and socially responsive mining in Africa.

In spite of our present challenges, I maintain that it is an exciting time to be in Ghana, and do business in the country. The Akufo-Addo Government is determined to make Ghana an example of rapid economic growth within the context of a well-developed market economy, where the private sector does not only survive, but actually thrives, President Akufo-Addo stated.
The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to reconsider its decision to hold this years limited voter registration at its district offices.

Mr Samuel Asare Akuamoah, a Deputy Chair in charge of Operations, at NCCE, who made the call said this was to ensure that all qualified citizens had access to the centres to enable them to register.

The EC has set September 12 to October 2, 2023, for the registration of new voters onto the electoral roll.

However, the Commission said the registration exercise would only take place at its 268 District Offices across the country.

This has raised concerns among sections of the public with some political commentators describing the decision as undemocratic which could disenfranchise many Ghanaians.

Last week, seven smaller political parties including the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), People's National Congress (PNC), All Progressives Congress (APC), National Democratic Party (NDP), and the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), also raised concerns about the decision, warning that it would disenfranchise many eligible voters if implemented.

The major opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), also warned that it may head to the law court if the EC restricted the limited voter exercise at its district offices.

Speaking at the media launch of the 30th anniversary celebration of the NCCE, in Accra, Mr Akuamoah called on the EC to reconsider its position to ensure accessibility.

He warned that the decision if maintained may be a demotivation for many and result in low turnout.

My humble appeal is that the EC should reconsider the spread of the locations of the registration centres to serve the youth who are in the deprived areas who may not be able to travel to the main centres so they are not disenfranchised because if you are not registered you cannot exercise your franchise, he urged.

Again, Mr. Akuamoah urged the EC to undertake a rigorous public voter education exercise to whip up the interest of the citizenry.

The Deputy Chair of the NCCE, also reiterated calls for the amendment of sections of the Constitution, stressing that, that would strengthen Ghanas democracy.

We need to see some results coming up, he said. We have seen two failed attempts: one by the NDC from 2010 till they left and one by the current administration which also didnt succeed.

We pray that these reforms are necessary and that for the time that is ahead of us, we are successful in getting all the amendment that is required to strengthen our democracy, he added.

Ms Kathleen Addy, Chairperson, NCCE, cautioned Ghanaians against any uprising despite the current economic challenges the country was faced with.

She explained that coup d'etat was not the solution to the countrys problems, stressing the need for Ghanaians to continue to uphold the tenets of democracy to sustain gains made.

Indeed, when it comes to coups, Ghana has been there  we have done that and we know for a fact that nothing good can come of it, she stressed.

GNA
Repairs to a bridge in Lake Hallie will begin Tuesday after Gov. Tony Evers signed a $384,382 contract with prime contractor Lunda Construction Co. for the project, according to a press release from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

The bridge, which was built in 2002 and carries County Road OO over northbound U.S. Highway 53, was struck in February by the raised boom of a logging truck. A damaged girder and a section of the County OO bridge deck are expected to be repaired.

Most work will be completed using lane closures, the release says, but northbound U.S. 53 will be closed overnight for up to three nights and eastbound County OO can be closed for up to 10 consecutive days.

The first overnight closure of U.S. 53 is expected to begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6, or Thursday, Sept. 7, with the lanes reopening by 6 a.m. the next day.

Construction is scheduled to be completed in November.
Former Deputy Minister of Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu

31.08.2023 LISTEN

Former Deputy Minister of Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has opined that it appears government and the Police Service never learn.

This is his reaction to reports that the Greater Accra Regional Police Command of the Ghana Police Service has secured an injunction against the Minority over disagreements with the route for their demonstration next month.

The Minority early this month wrote to the Command to communicate plans to protest to the head office of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) on September 5.

Due to the disagreements over the route the Minority intends to use, the Command has now reportedly secured an injunction to stop the upcoming demonstration.

In a post on social media today, Felix Kwakye Ofosu says the Minoritys demonstration only gets bigger if the Police continue attempts to stop the protest.

This government and their police lackeys never learn. Demonstrations get bigger and more hostile with attempts to scuttle them, the former Deputy Minister of Communications said.

Felix Kwakye Ofosu argues that the area around the BoG is a public place and marching there poses no security threat to anyone.

Through the September 5 demonstration, the Minority in Parliament will demand the resignation of Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Ernest Addison.

The Minority wants the Governor gone for supervising a GHS60 billion loss and allegedly illegally printing money for government.
The Chief of Staff Hon. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare has launched the Chartered Institute of Realtors (CIR) Ghana at the Africa Trade House in Accra.

In her speech, the Chief of Staff pointed out that the initiative primarily seeks to sharpen the skills of real estate developers.

She stated that "the launch serves as useful additional government efforts towards enhancing safe and sound professional real estate practice in Ghana."

The Chief of Staff at the Presidency who was the special guest of honour at the event said President Akufo-Addo is excited about the presence of the Chartered Institute of Realtors (CIR) and their contribution to the socio-economic development of the nation.

She was honest in agreeing to some defects and promised that the government would act with a strategy to resolve housing and road construction deficits.

She expressed that this serves as a useful platform for safe and sound real estate business with the urban population increasing at a rate of 75%.

She named a few government projects to solve the defects like the Marine Drive and 8,000 Affordable Housing Units under construction.

Akosua Frema Osei-Opare welcomed the Chartered Institute of Realtors and called for public/private sector collaboration in the industry.

She assured of government support to fulfil the mission of establishing a professional body of real estate operators.

Mr Asenso-Boakye, Minister of Works and Housing, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, Firas Jaber, Chartered Institute Of Realtors and George Mireku Duker, Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in their respective speeches pledged government's unflinching support for the initiative aimed at taking the real estate space a notch higher.

The event drew dignitaries from the highest office of the land, members of the Diplomatic Corps, other state personalities, and key stakeholders that include real estate developers both local and international, suppliers, construction firms, investors, and major banks within the real estate industry.

The Institute is being established to offer opportunities for sharpening the knowledge, skills, standards, and experiences of practitioners in the real estate industry to meet global standards.

Real Estate in Africa is a rapidly growing industry with many opportunities for investment. This growth rate is driven mainly by urbanization, population growth, and increased foreign investment.

All around the world, specifically the economically advanced countries, real estate has been a driving force in their development agenda and has provided jobs for several thousands of people with diverse skill sets and backgrounds.

Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, and New York, to mention just a few are famed for their architectural prowess and have become some of the worlds most visited destinations thanks to Real Estate.

Africa has not been left behind with all these developments happening around it. From its blurry past, it can be said that the future of Africa looks promising with the involvement of the government in providing housing for its citizens, particularly the low-income sector of society to alleviate the burden of shelter as a basic need.

The fast-growing rate of the industry worldwide has therefore made it quintessential that players, both potential and major be sharpened with the requisite tools that help improve the activities within the industry globally.

As part of the vision and mission of the launch of the Chartered Institute of Realtors (CIR), the institute will be engaging in a progressive series of seminars and workshops that will see the involvement of seasoned speakers, lecturers, and industry professionals from acclaimed institutions worldwide bringing their knowledge and experience to bear. The institute intends to, in the foreseeable future, establish itself as a professional body providing education and training courses to its members.
Major retired Kojo Boakye-Djan has passed on at age 81. He died on Wednesday, August 30 at the 37 Military Hospital after a short illness.

Major (rtd) Boakye Gyan, a Ghanaian military officer and politician known to have planned the coup that brought Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings to power in Ghana on June 4, 1979 with other junior officers.

A key member of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), he masterminded the release of then junior officer Jerry John Rawlings from custody.

Major (rtd) Boakye-Gyan had flown into exile for a big part of the Rawlings regime but only returned to Ghana during the presidency of John Agyekum Kufuor.

He later joined the National Democratic Congress (NDC), becoming the partys 2012 Parliamentary Candidate in the Jaman South Constituency but lost the polls to then incumbent Member of Parliament, Yaw Afful.
Following the military coup in Gabon that removed President Ali Bongo from power on Wednesday, August 30, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement:

The new military authorities in Gabon must prioritize journalists ability to report on matters of public interest and avoid replicating the constraints and intimidation faced by reporters in other countries across the region following coups, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator, in Durban, South Africa. We welcome the restoration of internet access and call on authorities to ensure the safety of local and international journalists. Unhindered access to information is particularly needed at this moment of political tension.

CPJ has documented press freedom concerns following coups across Africa in recent years, including in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Tunisia, Sudan, and Egypt.

On Wednesday, Gabonese military officers announced the dissolution of all the institutions of the republic, placed Bongo under house arrest, and established the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions, headed by Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, commander-in-chief of the republican guard.

The military also annulled the results of the August 26 election; results showed Bongo won with 64% of the vote, which would have extended the Bongo familys 55-year reign in Gabon.

Military authorities restored public internet access and broadcast signals for French broadcasters Radio France Internationale, France 24, and TV5 Monde after they were suspended on August 26, according to a local journalist who spoke to CPJ in the condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns, and a Wednesday statement made by the military.
Hims & Hers Health, Inc. operates a telehealth platform that connects consumers to licensed healthcare professionals. The company offers a range of health and wellness products and services available to purchase on its websites and mobile application directly by customers. It also provides prescription medication on a recurring basis and ongoing care from healthcare providers; and over-the-counter drug and device products, cosmetics, and supplement products, primarily focusing on wellness, sexual health and wellness, skincare, and hair care. The company's curated non-prescription products include vitamin C, melatonin, biotin, and collagen protein supplements in the wellness category; moisturizer, serums, and face wash in the skincare category; condoms, climax delay spray and wipes, vibrators, and lubricants in the sexual health and wellness category; and shampoos, conditioners, scalp scrubs, and topical treatments, such as minoxidil in the hair care category. In addition, it offers medical consultation services, as well as health and wellness products through wholesale partners. The company is based in San Francisco, California.
you are here:
Trans-Siberian Orchestra will return to Pinnacle Bank Arena on Nov. 16.

The holiday rock/metal/orchestral group, which played the arena during its 2013 inaugural run of 10 shows in 80 days, rehearses each year in Council Bluffs, Iowa. It will play the third show of its 62-city 2023 tour The Ghosts of Christmas Eve  the Best of TSO & More in Lincoln.

The tour will feature The Ghosts of Christmas Eve, a rock opera created by TSOs late founder Paul ONeill that follows the journey of a runaway who breaks into an abandoned vaudeville theater on Dec. 24. While seeking shelter from the cold, the teen is discovered by the theaters caretaker who uses the ghosts and spirits from the buildings past to turn her life around.

Following the performance of the rock opera, a laser-lit second set will feature some of TSOs greatest hits and fan favorites from the troupes 27-year career.

Since its touring debut, TSO has played more than 2,000 winter tour shows for more than 18 million fans, 8 million of them in the past decade. In keeping with ONeills vision, TSO donates $1 from every ticket sold to charity, more than $18 million to date.

TSO, which has sold more than 12 million albums and DVDs, will release a 25th-anniversary edition of The Christmas Attic on Sept. 29, a vinyl pressing of Christmas Eve and Other Stories on Nov. 3, and a digital release of The Ghosts of Christmas Eve  The Complete Narrated Version on Nov. 10.

TSO tickets go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Sept. 15. Special $39 tickets will be available for one week or while supplies last. Tickets will be available at ticketmaster.com, on the Ticketmaster app and at the arena ticket office on Tuesdays after Sept. 15.

Fans can also sign up for presales and other ticketing options at trans-siberian.com.

Close With the roar of six-string power chords of guitarist Al Pitrelli (right) and the siren song of violinist Asha Mevlana, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords and arpeggiated keyboard runs from pianist Vitalij Kuprij (left) and Jane Mangini (right), the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords and arpeggiated keyboard runs, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords and arpeggiated keyboard runs, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords and arpeggiated keyboard runs, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the arpeggiated keyboard runs of pianist Jane Mangini, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra performs Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords and arpeggiated keyboard runs, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords from Al Pitrelli (center) and arpeggiated keyboard runs from pianist Jane Mangini, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords of guitarist Al Pitrelli (right) and the siren song of violinist Asha Mevlana, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. Photos: Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Pinnacle Bank Arena With the roar of six-string power chords of guitarist Al Pitrelli (right) and the siren song of violinist Asha Mevlana, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords and arpeggiated keyboard runs from pianist Vitalij Kuprij (left) and Jane Mangini (right), the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords and arpeggiated keyboard runs, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords and arpeggiated keyboard runs, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords and arpeggiated keyboard runs, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the arpeggiated keyboard runs of pianist Jane Mangini, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra performs Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords and arpeggiated keyboard runs, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords from Al Pitrelli (center) and arpeggiated keyboard runs from pianist Jane Mangini, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. With the roar of six-string power chords of guitarist Al Pitrelli (right) and the siren song of violinist Asha Mevlana, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra hits the stage amidst a spectacle of luminance and verve on Thursday at the Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Shubham Raj has six years of experience covering capital markets. He primarily writes on stocks with special focus on F&O and PMS-AIF industry.
Preeti Kulkarni is a financial journalist with over 13 years of experience. Based in Mumbai, she covers the personal finance beat for Moneycontrol. She focusses primarily on insurance, banking, taxation and financial planning
Pallavi Singhal is a Correspondent at Moneycontrol.com covering commerce, agriculture and education. With a total experience of four years, she has reported on varied subjects covering crime, courts, civic affairs, health & politics. Human interest and feature stories have always piqued her interest.
Mid-morning on Aug. 30, office staff at Ag Park received a call that one of the barns on the South side of the property behind the racetrack was on fire. After verifying, staff called the Columbus Fire Department. The fire was extinguished. Columbus Fire Chief Ryan Gray said that, as of noon, the department has yet to investigate but will release details as they come.
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Sohil Sehran is a journalist with 10 years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital media. He covers politics and national affairs at Moneycontrol. He tweets @SohilSehran
Tether Turns to Britannia Bank & Trust Amidst US Crypto Banking Struggles

Source: Adobe

Stablecoin issuer Tether has established a banking relationship with Britannia Bank & Trust, a privately-held bank located in the Bahamas, to facilitate dollar transfers, according to unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg.

Although it remains unclear exactly when the new banking relationship started, Tether has allegedly instructed clients to send funds to Britannias bank account in recent months.

Tether, which issues the worlds most popular stablecoin USDT, has not commented on the matter. Britannia Financial Group, the parent of Britannia Bank & Trust, has also refrained from making a statement.

It is well-known that Tether historically has faced challenges accessing the traditional financial system, and in particular US-based banks.

Tethers chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, has previously disclosed some of the companys banking partners, including Bahamian lenders Deltec Bank & Trust Ltd. and Capital Union Bank, as well as Cantor Fitzgerald, which serves as a custodian for Tethers Treasury bill holdings.

Tethers banking relationships have been the subject of speculation, with the company having reached a settlement with the New York Attorney General in 2021 over allegations of misrepresenting its reserves and losses.

Tether secrecy a major impediment for industry

Commenting to Bloomberg, Patrick Tan, general counsel for blockchain analytics firm ChainArgos, said that Tethers complicated relationship with banks and regulators has become a problem for the crypto industry.

The secrecy surrounding Tethers banking relationships continues to be a major impediment for developing the cryptocurrency industry, deterring regulatory approvals on other matters, and discouraging traditional asset managers with little tolerance for regulatory risk from more active participation in the space, Tan said.

Britannia Financial Group has expanded its presence through acquisitions in recent years, including a proprietary crypto trading firm in April last year.

At the time of the acquisition, Britannias CEO called crypto as increasingly important asset class for many of its clients.

The London-based firms CEO, Mark Bruce, joined from Jump Trading in 2022.

The market capitalization of USDT tokens in circulation has grown significantly this year, from around $66 billion at the beginning of the year to almost $83 billion as of today, per data from CoinGecko.

USDT market cap past year. Source: CoinGecko
Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr is a New Delhi-based journalist. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.
Andreas Kluth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European politics. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
Sanjay Kumar is a Professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), and an Election Analyst. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.
To really see and experience America, youve got to unplug, says Baratunde Thurston, host and executive producer of America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston.

We are showcasing people who have a relationship with nature. Were looking for all kinds of representatives of We the People, he says. The lower the wi-fi speed, the better it is because then youre really getting out there.

During two seasons of the PBS series, Thurston has tested his limits, jumping into 40-degree water in Maine, climbing trees in Oregon and riding with alligators in Florida.

For the Washington, D.C. native, communing with nature has been a way to understand experiences he might have readily avoided. Among them: hunting.

America Outdoors Baratunde Thurston, right, learns about turtles in one of his "America Outdoors" forays.

The nations capital, he says, was a war zone in the 1980s. My father was, essentially, a casualty of that war, he says. There was never a police investigation; no person that Im aware of was ever charged but he was shot and killed very late in the night one day.

Guns, as a result, have a different meaning for him.

When he was assigned to shoot with Olympic silver medalist Kayle Browning, I was terrified, Thurston says.

Browning, who grew up in a family of competitive shooters, has a different view of guns: I try to be the light in what seems like a very dark topic in the media.

America Outdoors Baratunde Thurston canoes in the wild and discovers plenty about the natural habitat in "America Outdoors."

When the two got together, she tried to show him the more you know about the firearm youre handing, the safer it becomes. At the end of the day, its an object and it has to be respected.

Thurston, she says, wanted to learn about her sport and her lifestyle. By the end of it, he was like, I see a totally new light, a totally new perspective on what you do and its not all bad.

When he was invited to a turkey hunt in New Mexico, that preparation helped. I had never listened so closely in the outdoors as when I was trying to be super-quiet and super-still, Thurston says. Even the prospect of taking a life heightened the experience, not with a sense of conquest or joy but with a sense of gravity. And so there was respect for the environment and for the habitat.

While Thurston didnt kill a turkey, he learned about those who do. This stuff gets real spiritual and philosophical very quickly, he says. It gets political, not in a left/right way, but in How do people live together? How do we live with our fellow creatures on this earth?

America Outdoors Baratunde Thurston, Farmer Steph and the kids hike to the tree tipping spot in the forest in Maine.

In the six-episode second season, America Outdoors hits parts of the country rarely given national exposure.

In Elaine, Arkansas, Thurston learned about one of the worst incidents of racial violence in 1919. An estimated 237 Black residents were killed by a white mob. Today, the community has its first Black mayor, Lisa Gilbert. In the series, she helps Thurston understand how a connection with nature can bring about change. Without me having to do a lot of convincing him, he got it, Gilbert says.

Our young people are so in tune with nature here, she says. Were small, were rural, they come from generations of farmers, generations of hunters, people fishing. Young people dont have problems detaching themselves from their devices because theyre so surrounded by nature and they grew up with itits pretty much in their DNA.

Now, Thurston says, theres a lesson viewers can learn. The show is called America Outdoors, but it should be billed as America, comma, Outdoors. This is a show about people and their connection to the outdoors, to nature, and, through that, to each other.

America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston premieres Sept. 6 on PBS.
The Post Cemetery is closed to visitors as the U.S. Army prepares to launch its sixth disinterment project to recover the remains of Native American children buried at Carlisle Barracks.

The Office of Army Cemeteries plans to begin recovering the bodies of five children who died after being sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School more than 100 years ago. The multiphase project is scheduled to begin on Sept. 11, with forensic archaeological and anthropological expertise from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The project will attempt to locate and disinter the remains of Beau Neal from the Northern Arapaho Tribe; Edward Spott from the Puyallup Tribe; Launy Shorty from the Blackfeet Tribe; Amos Lafromboise from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe; and Edward Upright from the Spirit Lake Tribe.

The cemetery area will be enclosed with privacy fencing and access will be restricted to Army Cemeteries staff, tribal members and their families. This closure will continue until the completion of the work, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 21.

The Army is committed to returning these five children to their Native American families, said Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director of the Army National Military Cemeteries and the OAC. We are truly honored to help provide the peace, comfort, and closure they deserve.

In 1879, Carlisle Barracks became the site of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, operated by the Department of the Interior until 1918. According to calculations by Dickinson College, the school enrolled about 8,000 Native American children, with representation from approximately 50 Native American tribes from across the nation.

The Army will disinter and transfer custody to families and tribes able to establish the closest family link to the child.

The transfer of custody will enable families and tribes to return these children to cemeteries of their choice. The Army will reimburse families for their travel to participate in the disinterment process and a subsequent transfer ceremony, as well as the cost for transport and reinterment of the children.

The Army team of dedicated professionals maintains an environment of dignity and respect throughout each disinterment, said Renea Yates, project director and director of the OAC. We treat every gravesite, family, tribe and child the same way: with the utmost care and appreciation.
Police on Wednesday said Troop H in Harrisburg has seen an increase in the number of seizures in "candy" with THC or psilocybin.
HARRISBURG  Pennsylvania is considering changing the states 2024 presidential primary to an earlier day, although the proposed move may do little to give the states voters more say in deciding presidential nominees.

State lawmakers advanced legislation Wednesday through a Senate committee to change Pennsylvanias primary from April 23 to March 19, but lawmakers said they are not done deciding on a new date or considering the views of county election clerks and the national parties.

The state hasnt hosted a competitive presidential primary since 2008, when Hillary Clinton pulled off a win to stay alive against Barack Obama, the leader in delegates and eventual winner of that years Democratic nomination.

Under current law, Pennsylvanias presidential primary date is the fourth Tuesday in April, which lands on April 23 next year.

Many states want to hold presidential primaries earlier, to give residents more influence on the presidential campaigns. But Pennsylvania lawmakers have long resisted a change because it would push the beginning of the states customary 13-week primary season into the winter holidays.

The Senate bills sponsor has long pushed to hold Pennsylvanias primary earlier, before presidential candidates have all but locked down the delegates they need to win the nomination.

By March 19, a candidate could lock up the delegates necessary to win the nomination, or at least put the contest out of reach.

In an interview, Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, said that moving the primary to March 19, or any date after that, still leaves many states with large numbers of delegates before Pennsylvania, including Super Tuesday primary states on March 5.

This year, more lawmakers are motivated to support a change because April 23 is the first day of Passover, a Jewish holiday when observant Jews typically avoid the same activities they avoid on the Sabbath, such as driving, working or using electricity.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, has said he supports changing the date, as well.

The states Democratic Party chairman, Sharif Street, said both national parties are encouraging Pennsylvania to choose April 2 to create a regional primary election with nearby states, and their structure of awarding delegates carries incentives to pick that date.

That is the date that is more consistent with where the national parties would like us to be, both parties, in order to create a regional primary, Street said.

A regional primary structure eases travel by candidates and creates more opportunities for retail campaigning by candidates for president, Street said.

However, county election personnel organizations have told lawmakers that Holy Week  the week between Palm Sunday and Easter, the most sacred time of the year for millions of Christians  will complicate a primary date on April 2 or in late March, said state Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, D-Montgomery.

April 2 is the first Tuesday after Easter.

Many polling places are located in churches and Holy Week could pose a problem for getting election machines into churches and materials to polling place personnel, Cappelletti said.

Those organizations prefer moving the primary to April 9 or April 16, Cappelletti said.

March 19 is the same primary date as in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Arizona. Still, that date comes after primaries in other states, including California, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts and Tennessee.

Many state lawmakers oppose moving Pennsylvanias primary date to March 19, because that would force them and other candidates to start gathering signatures on their re-election petitions the week before Christmas, Argall said.

Moving it to March 26 is also under discussion.

Under those scenarios, Pennsylvania would leap over Delaware, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, whose primaries are scheduled for April 2. Lawmakers in New York passed legislation in June setting that states primary on April 2, although it has yet to be signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Separately, a House bill expected to get consideration would move Pennsylvanias primary date to April 2.

That would allow lawmakers and other candidates to start gathering signatures on their re-election petitions the day after New Years Day, the bills sponsor, Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, said.
Talented multi-instrumental duo Ash Wallace and Gabriel Everett, better known as Foley, have reached a couple of milestones lately. Firstly, they have released their debut album Crowd Please, and the lead single 'What Got Into You'. But more importantly - they have debuted in the infamous More FM Heardle battle!
Virginia Tech may be well positioned at the start of another semester, but it would be foolish to ignore larger trends in higher education, said university President Tim Sands.

We are fortified and resilient, but we will be impacted, Sands said on Tuesday. The overall environment for higher education has never, at least in recent history, faced so many seemingly existential threats.

During his quarterly report to the schools Board of Visitors, Sands listed those threats.

The publics loss of confidence in our institutions, the shrinking pool of college-ready students in the Northeast and Midwest, the destructive culture wars, the assaults on free speech and academic freedom, and the affordability crisis are all around us, Sands said.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June banned consideration of race and ethnicity in college admission processes, and Virginia Tech has complied with that ruling, Sands said. People evaluating college applications will not be able to see applicants self-reported race or ethnicity, he said.

Its a significant change, Sands said. But Virginia Tech found recruiting success in recent years by reaching out to school districts and creating pathways for students that way, along with lowering application barriers.

None of that will change as a result of the Supreme Court decision, Sands said.

Virginia Tech also eliminated legacy status as a formal factor in admissions, he said. Similarly, an early decision option is now removed, also a result of the universitys regular reviews of admissions and enrollment management, he said.

We have committed to increase student financial support by just over $50 million a year in current dollars. This will obviously be ramping up, Sands said. This will bring unmet financial need for Virginia resident students, about 5,500 of them, down to a level that could be addressed by working half-time at the prevailing minimum wage.

Minimum wage in Virginia is $12 per hour. Affordability and support for underrepresented, underserved, low- and middle-income students is a top priority for the university, Sands said previously.

We have an incoming class of over 7,000, very close to target, Sands said. Were coming in just where we wanted to land.

That class includes more than 1,000 transfer students, and 400 international students representing 71 countries, he said.

Philanthropic giving yielded $225 million in new gifts and commitments, and $200 million in philanthropic cash during the 2023 fiscal year, Sands said. Research expenditures are up 28% over the last two years.

That metric of research expenditures more than any other is a strong indicator of our future ranking among global research institutions, Sands said.

Opening on campus this fall: the Data and Decision Sciences building, a new residence hall for the Corps of Cadets, and the Corps Leadership and Military Science building, Sands said.

Several other projects will open in the next year or so, he said, including a Blacksburg multimodal transit facility, a residence hall and dining facility, and an undergraduate science lab building.

After growing by about 5,000 undergraduates between 2015 and 2019, we are finally catching up on the infrastructure to support those students, Sands said.

Slated to open next fall is the first academic building at the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Alexandria. E-commerce retailer Amazon is constructing its second corporate headquarters nearby.

You all know about our contributions in bringing Amazon HQ2 to Virginia, Sands said. At any given time, we are engaged in several similar efforts, probably not at that scale, but important to the future of Virginia nonetheless.

Also announced Tuesday, board of visitors vice rector for the 2023-024 academic year is David Calhoun, president and CEO of The Boeing Company. Calhoun is taking the role of vice rector in lieu of previous selection Sharon Brickhouse Martin, who was not re-appointed by the governor. She would have been the boards first Black vice rector.
University of Guam President Dr. Anita Borja Enriquez, first from left, holds a copy of the book Teaching & Learning in Micronesia: Reflections on Island Centered Pedagogy. Enriquez is joined by Dr. Kirk Johnson, center, UOG professor of sociology who facilitated the book project, and Interim Senior Vice President and Provost Dr. Sharleen Santos-Bamba.
Reporter

Andrew Roberto was raised his whole life on Saipan. He graduated from Saipan Southern High School, holds a degree from Northern Marianas College, and a BA in English from the University of Guam. He once worked for KUAM, UNO Magazine, and the Guam Daily Post.
Australian citizens, who were aboard the MS Zaandam and Coral Princess cruises, now cleared to fly after quarantining, wait in line to receive their boarding passes for a specially chartered United Airlines flight to take them home to Australia at San Francisco International Airport as efforts continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in San Francisco, California, U.S. April 5, 2020. REUTERS/Kate Munsch/File Photo
A Texas Army National Guard walks next to razor wire on the northern bank of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S. May 23, 2022. U.S. authorities, blocked by a federal judge from lifting COVID-19 restrictions that empower agents at the U.S.-Mexico border to turn back migrants, continue to enforce the Title 42 rules which result in the fast expulsion of migrants to Mexico or other countries. REUTERS/Marco Bello
Its been four years in the making, Ray Vodden- the Boonshofts Palentologist tells us, but now the Paleo Lab is now open. Located inside the Eco Eatery, the lab includes fossil specimens, a dig pit, large foam dino puzzles, and the opportunity to see our paleontology crew work on articulating and constructing our hadrosaur skeleton!

Ray leads a team of volunteers that are working on restoring a hadrosaur, lovingly called TC, after Tim Clelland, the property owner where the skeleton was found in Butte County South Dakota. It was excavated in 2001, purchased at auction by Dayton resident Peter Thaler for $100,000, then donated to the Dayton Society of Natural History.

Ray says they have 209 bones of the 275 the duck-billed dinosaur had. They use a Sandblasters to help clean the bone and remove the rocks formed around them. Many of the smaller bones disappeared in the blow out of the levies where the skeleton was found. His team is working using foam and car bondo to recreate the missing bones. He is currently working on an upper leg bone that he thinks will take him about 3 weeks to finish. Ray estimates it will take about 4 years to recreate the bones and attach to a support system that will eventually move TC into an interactive display.

In the cases there are Mosasaur heads, an extinct, large marine reptile who breathed air, were powerful swimmers, and were well-adapted to living in the warm, shallow inland seas prevalent during the Late Cretaceous period, over 66 million years ago and casts of footprints from other dinosaurs of that period.

Kids will love the hands on dig pit where they can search for bone recreations and also build foam dinosaurs from the many bones theyll find.



Dayton OH 45414 2600 DeWeese Pkwy,Dayton OH 45414 937-275-7431

Hours: Monday  Sat 9am  5pm

Sunday noon  5pm Admission: Adults $14.50

Seniors 60+ $12.50

Children 3-17 $11.50 Annual Family Membership $135
Sen. Chris Barnett, who chairs the Guam Legislature's oversight committee on charter schools, speaks during session Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, in the Guam Congress Building in Hagatna.
Corvallis School District staff gathered Tuesday, Aug. 29 for a boisterous pep-rally of their own, starting the year on an energetic note before classes begin next week.

Teachers, school board members, educational assistants, custodians, office managers and more, funneled into the Corvallis High School gymnasium for a morning rally to hear encouraging words from their superintendent and alumni guest speakers.

That included current Miss Oregon winner Manju Bangalore, OSU biology instructor David Hubert and Casa Latinos Unidos youth-coordinator Gustavo Esparza.

They also heard remarks from the district's two union leaders who represent teaching and classified staff (think educational assistants, bus drivers, and other support staff).

It had the air of a spirit-day assembly, only with mandatory professional development sessions scheduled afterward.

Cliques of staff, for instance, blurted out short chants and songs when Assistant Superintendent Melissa Harder called out their school.

Cheldelin Middle School staff notably stomped the bleachers to some powerful effect.

The new year marked a fresh start for those gathered at the gym, like Phil Escanlar, a behavioral specialist at Mountain View Elementary School, who's looking forward to seeing bright new faces in the classroom.

The beginning of the school year also represents a return to normalcy, like for Maxine Agather, an office manager at Franklin K-8, which finally wrapped up big construction projects this summer.

The rally also serves as a welcome for new staff like Katie Watson, a health services assistant at Lincoln Elementary, who's also a transplant from Madison, Wisconsin.

"I'm really looking forward to everything," she said.

Of course, teachers were also grateful to have a newly approved contract with the district, which the school board ratified at their latest meeting.

Teachers applauded the news when Corvallis Education Association President Christa Schmeder spoke in front of the gym's packed bleachers.

She acknowledged the process was a collaborative effort by the district and union, and implored educators to advocate for their needs and familiarize themselves with the agreement.

"It's only as good as we enforce it," she told the crowd.

The new three-year agreement was finalized late this summer, after a prolonged negotiation hit snags around cost-of-living adjustments.

An earlier proposal by the union called for a raise of 8%. The district had offered 6%.

Both parties appeared to have met somewhere in the middle with a 7.5% raise this year, followed by a 5% raise next year, and a 4% raise the year afterward.

Superintendent Ryan Noss said it was a good feeling having negotiations settled before the school year starts.

"It allows us to continue our focus on welcoming students back," he said.

Schmeder was also grateful to start the year with an ironed-out contract and said the new compensation package would help attract teachers to the district.

"It's still going to be expensive to live in Corvallis, but it's going to allow those people to imagine a future where they can live in Corvallis and work in Corvallis," she said, adding that the package would help the district retain veteran educators too.

The contract also includes language around the district's behavior guidelines that clarifies classroom management policy for staff, students and teachers, and makes procedures for dealing with student behavior more consistent across the district, according to Schmeder.

"If kids transition between schools, they'll know the expectations at one school are the same as the other school," she said.

Melissa Straughan, a third and fourth-grade math teacher at Letitia Carson Elementary School praised the agreement.

"The contract we have here is so supportive of teachers," she said.

While teachers will have some measure of stability for three years, the district's classified union will begin bargaining over their new contract at the end of this year. Schmeder told staff during her rally remarks that teachers would have their backs.

Mary Marshall, the classified union president, was in good spirits when she spoke at the rally on Tuesday morning.

"I know as classified we had a rough end to the year, but we're coming back here this year positive," she told the crowd. Over 40 positions, mostly classified, were cut by the district back in June.

Schools are scheduled to open next Tuesday, Sept. 5, right after Labor Day.

Related stories:
Vice President and Zanu-PF second secretary Constantino Chiwenga has congratulated President Emmerson Mnangagwa on his election victory and the ruling partys success in last weeks polls.

In a statement, Chiwenga praised Mnangagwas leadership for driving Zimbabwes economic development agenda. He said the election results affirm the governments growth trajectory under the Presidents astute guidance.

The Vice President also commended the peacefulness of the pre- and post-election periods, noting citizens heeded Mnangagwas call for tolerance, unity and harmony. This displayed the hallmarks of a mature democracy, Chiwenga stated.

Referring to Mnangagwa as Cde President, Chiwenga expressed great joy and fulfillment at the ruling partys affirmation of their liberation legacy through the parliamentary wins.

He heartily congratulated Mnangagwa on his resounding victory, saying a second term will continue advancing socioeconomic reforms to empower citizens by 2030.

Chiwenga appealed for opposition candidates to now focus their energy on national progress. He stressed Zimbabwes shared identity transcends political differences.

The Vice President also congratulated victorious parliamentary and local government candidates. He urged citizens to back Mnangagwas efforts to develop the economy post-election.

In firmly endorsing both Mnangagwa and Zanu-PFs performance, Chiwengas statement projects a united front within the party leadership.

It is with great joy and a huge sense of fulfilment that I note the affirmation of our liberation legacy through your re-election, Cde President, including our Members of Parliament and Councillors, said VP Chiwenga.

Your Excellency, may you accept my hearty congratulations on your resounding victory.

The triumph secures a well deserved second term that guarantees the continuation of the economic development agenda that will improve the livelihood of our people and achieve our Vision of an empowered and prosperous middle income society by 2030.

Your Excellency, Cde President, it is my hope that those that contested against you will now turn their energy towards the common national good. As you have always said, that what unites us as a people under one flag and one national anthem is far bigger than what sets us apart.

Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate all candidates that were victorious in parliamentary and council elections, said VP Chiwenga.

Breaking News via Email
Zimbabwes main opposition party calls for re-election over flawed process

The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in Zimbabwe has demanded a new national election, rejecting Emmerson Mnangagwas victory in the August 23rd vote. Mnangagwas ZANU-PF party was declared the winner, with the incumbent president securing 52.6% of the vote compared to CCC leader Nelson Chamisas 44%.

However, several election observer missions preliminarily concluded the electoral process was problematic and skewed against the CCC. The partys meetings were banned, members arrested, and access to ballot papers restricted. CCC deputy spokesperson Gift Ostallos Siziba said at a press conference this week that the entire process was flawed. Thousands were unable to vote due to issues with voter registration and intimidation, he claimed.

Siziba argued only a fresh election overseen by an independent, private entity chosen by the Southern Africa Development Community and African Union could address the situation. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission must be dissolved for failing to run the polls impartially, in his view. When asked if the CCC would pursue a recount, Siziba maintained ZEC could not be trusted and an international body was needed.

Problems cited included a delimitation exercise seen as unfair and intimidation of voters and officials. The CCC activist said ballot materials arrived late in opposition strongholds on election day, contributing to the problems. While a court challenge was rumoured, Siziba focused on calls for SADC and AU involvement in facilitating a free and fair redo of the previously held election.

Breaking News via Email
 Carrier pigeons have been couriers of legitimate and nefarious items for centuries. But officials at the Pacific Institution in Abbotsford, British Columbia, nonetheless were stunned when a gray bird with a tiny backpack landed in a fenced inmate prison yard.

The CBC reported that officers "had to corner it," according to John Randle, Pacific regional president of the Union for Canadian Correctional Officers.

"You can imagine how that would look, trying to catch a pigeon."

After some time, they were able to grab it and remove the package, which contained about 30 grams of crystal meth.

"We've been focusing so much on drone interdiction ... Now we have to look at, I guess, pigeons again," Randle said.

They set the little guy free and are investigating its origin. [CBC, 1/6/2023]
The Aurora dentist accused of poisoning his wife will not enter a plea in his murder case until early October.

James Craig, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, listened as his attorneys argued that they would not be ready for the arraignment, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, because they still had 2,000 pages of discovery to comb through.

John Kellner, the 18th judicial district attorney, objected to the postponement, saying Angela Pray Craig's siblings "want to continue without delay."

Craig's sister and two brothers listened to the hearing on WebEx, as did her husband's relatives.

The couple's six children deferred their opinion on the postponement to both parties, according to their attorney.

Craig, 45, faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of his wife, Angela, 43, who died under mysterious circumstances on March 18, 2023. Craig was arrested the next day.

Aurora police said Craig had a motive to kill his wife. His marriage and business were on the rocks and he had just begun a romantic relationship with a Texas orthodontist when he started his plans, according to the arrest affidavit.

Prosecutors said that Angela Craig died from cyanide and and tetrahydrozoline, a decongestant found in over-the-counter eyedrops, such as Visine.

The arrest document said that Angela Craig first visited the Parker Adventist Hospital March 6, complaining of dizziness and saying "her head wasn't right," but that she was released that day. She visited again three days later, when symptoms reappeared. That time, she remained in the hospital for five days.

On March 16, her brother, Mark Pray, rushed her to the CU Anschutz emergency room, where she collapsed and died two days later. Police suspected that James Craig poisoned his wife with potassium cyanide, which he disguised in her protein shakes, the arrest affidavit contended.

Craig's lawyers argued during the preliminary hearing that there was no evidence that the poison originated in the drink that Craig said he prepared for her after a workout.

Craig is expected to enter a plea Oct. 9 in Arapahoe County Court.
A WOMAN from Dzivaresekwa says she caught her husbnd, who is a self-styled prophet, hving x with another womn in his car.

The husband, said Sarafina Makota, apologised for his shameless deeds.

She revealed this at the Harare Civil Court yesterday in a case in which she was being accused of inflicting emotional and verbal abuse on Rebecca Sanali.

The protection order, demanded by Sanali, was dismissed because of lack of evidence.

Sarafina told the court that Rebecca was mocking her for being barren and seduced her husbnd to ber him a child.

I cught her hving x with my husbnd in his car and she admitted to the ffir, she said.

My husbnd apologised, he even broke his old sim card to avoid her but she keeps begging my 26-year-old husband to impregnte her because I cant have kids and she is in her late 30s.

Sarafina claimed she was not in a reltionship with Rebeccas husbnd, who is a self-styled prophet.

Ndiri Madzimai and her husband anondishandira so she saw me with him and assumed that we were having an ffir.

Whenever we meet in the neighbourhood, she insults me and she even approached my relatives insulting them and demanding my pnties to bewitch me.

Sarafina denied the allegations saying Rebecca was pulling off stunts to sntch her husbnd.

Magistrate Sharon Mashavira dismissed the application.

The applicant (Rebbecca) failed to submit evidence of abuse and the court was left to speculate, she managed to make bold accusations without evidence, she said.

 HMetro

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A group of senior Gabonese military officers have appeared on national television declaring they have seized power, claiming the recent general election lacks credibility and saying they represent all Gabons security and defence forces.

They said the election results were cancelled, all borders closed until further notice and state institutions dissolved. Loud sounds of gunfire could be heard in the capital, Libreville, a Reuters reporter said, after the television appearance.

It was not immediately possible to reach the government for comment.

In the name of the Gabonese people  we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime, the officers said on television.

Gabons incumbent president, Ali Bongo, won a third term in the presidential election with 64.27% of the vote, the Gabonese election centre said on Wednesday, after a delay-plagued general election that the opposition denounced as fraudulent.

Announcing the result in the early hours, the elections head, Michel Stephane Bonda, said Bongos main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, came second with 30.77%. Bongos team rejected Ondo Ossas allegations of electoral irregularities.

Tensions were running high amid fears of unrest after Saturdays presidential, parliamentary and legislative vote, which saw Bongo seeking to extend his familys 56-year grip on power while the opposition pushed for change in the oil and cocoa-rich but poverty-stricken nation.

A lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts, and the authorities decision to cut internet service and impose a night-time curfew nationwide after the poll had raised concerns about the transparency of the electoral process.

As one officer read the joint statement on television, around a dozen others stood silently behind him in military fatigues and berets.

The group have declared themselves members of the committee of transition and the restoration of institutions. The state institutions they declared dissolved included the government, the senate, the national assembly, the constitutional court and the election body.

If successful, the coup would represent the eighth in west and central Africa since 2020. Coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger have all undermined democratic progress.

In July, the military snatched power in Niger, sending sh0ckwaves across the Sahel and sucking in global powers with strategic interests at stake.

Bongo, 64, who succeeded his father Omar as president in 2009, had 18 challengers, six of whom backed Ondo Ossa in an effort to narrow the race.

In 2016, the parliament building was torched when violent street protests erupted against Bongos contested re-election for his second term. The government shut down internet access for several days at the time.

 Guardian/Reuters

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Revellers were treated to a free boxing match at the launch of Jah Prayzahs thirteenth album, Maita Baba, last weekend at Queens Sports Club, as bouncers started throwing punches at each other at the main gate of the venue.

The fight was a war for territory between Harare and Bulawayo bouncers.

The organisers of the gig ferried three bouncers from Harare to provide security at the launch, because they can be trusted.

However, at around 11pm on the night of the gig, about seven Bulawayo bouncers seemed to have organised themselves and decided to cause commotion at the main gate, a fracas that even attracted police, with some revellers getting injured in the process.

Local bouncers sought to access the venue for free and that did not go down well with the bouncers who were hired to provide order and security, leading to exchange of harsh words and blows, in a fight that lasted at least 20 minutes.

The official launch of Jah Prayzahs Maita Baba album in Bulawayo

You cant come all the way from Harare to tell us what to do, this is our home, its our territory that we control. Where do you think we will get money to feed our families when you invade and work in our place, one bouncer was overheard by this reporter during the row.

The main reason for an organiser of a show to hire bouncers of his or her preference is based on trust issues and reliability.

When you are hiring bouncers to provide security at your gig, you consider many aspects but the most vital one is honesty. You must trust the bouncers at the gate because they will be guarding your money as well as the revellers at the show.

So, I understand what the organisers at the Jah Prayzah show did, they came with their security personnel who they trust which is good for business because you will be avoiding losses.

Bouncers are capable of stealing your money as they can allow a certain number of revellers who will be giving them money directly instead of buying tickets. That can cripple the promoter who is in business, said local celebrated promoter Mduduzi Mdlongwa from 3D Events.

He also condemned violence caused by bouncers and suggested how best promoters could strike a balance of employment opportunities among security people.

There was violence at the event but we dont tolerate that because lives can be lost during these unnecessary provocations. However, a promoter must also try beefing up their security by also hiring and fusing his team with local bouncers.

By doing so, there will be peace and local bouncers will also get their slice of the cake. These bouncers belong to different companies. Therefore, one has to be professional by approaching their structures, instead of hiring individuals, said Mdlongwa.

A local bouncer who preferred not to be mentioned said one of the reasons they end up making revellers enter the venue by paying directly to them was because there was no motivation as they get US$30 from the promoters for their risky service.

The honest truth is promoters dont pay us. All the shows that you can think of, we were paid US$30 instead of at least US$100 each. Because of these poor remunerations, you will then find other bouncers taking money from the sides and allow patrons to enter for free.

I dont promote violence, but when shows are happening in Bulawayo, we must benefit. We wont allow a bouncer from somewhere else to come and reign in our territory. We have families to feed, so if people come and steal bread from us what must we do, he said.

He said promoters must pay them better as their job was dangerous.

 BMetro

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RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has congratulated President Mnangagwa on his re-election following last weeks harmonised elections, saying he wished him all the success and good health, to further strengthen Zimbabwe-Russia ties.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba announced on Saturday night that President Mnangagwa had won the elections, thus granting him a second term in office.

President Mnangagwa representing Zanu-PF garnered 52.6 percent while his closest opponent Mr Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) polled 44 percent of the vote.

In July, President Mnangagwa attended the Russian-Africa Summit and met President Putin.

Presidents Mnangagwa and Putin at the Second Russia Africa Summit in Russia

In a statement shared by the Russian Embassy in Zimbabwe, President Putin expressed heartfelt congratulations to President Mnangagwa.

Your Excellency, Dear Mr. Mnangagwa, Please accept the heartfelt congratulations on Your re-election as the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. Russia and Zimbabwe enjoy the relations of friendship, as our recent meeting at the Second Russia-Africa Summit fully confirmed, said President Putin.

He said he looks forward to continued strengthening of the two countries cooperation for the benefit of the people.

I trust that your work as the Head of the State will contribute further to development of the constructive bilateral cooperation for the benefit of our people, in the interests of strengthening security and stability on the African continent. I wish you every success, as well as sound health and well-being. Yours respectfully, V.PUTIN, read the statement.

 Chronicle

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The Biden Administration may have thought that substantially liberalizing asylum rules to allow 30,000 entrants per month would be a twofer: theyd be suppressing low-end wages and assuring members of the professional-managerial class a supply of nannies, housecleaners, yardmen, and Uber drivers and were creating future Democratic party voters.

They might have talked to Angela Merkel first. Less than a year into Bidens new program, established via executive order, the Democrats are already getting overt criticism (RFK, Jr.) and quiet rebellion (New York City major Eric Adams) from their own ranks, and it was predictable.

Germany took in nearly 1 million Syrian refugees in 2015-2016. This was a humanitarian measure since the country was war-torn and large numbers of Syrians were using any means possible to get to Europe. Merkel supported taking in immigrants because the birth rate in Germany is well below reproduction level and Syrian had very high education standards, so optimists hoped the Syrian new-comers could become productive guests and potentially citizens.

But hope is not a plan. Germany wasnt even prepared to house and feed so many arrivals; there were reports of some camps being on the level of slums, with the refugees also unsure of what was coming next. There seemed to be little to no programs to assimilate the Syrians, most of all teaching them German. What good does it do to bring in on average educated immigrants and not have a means for vetting skill levels and setting up tracks to get as many as possible into jobs? Some German pundits are recommending banning the right-wing party AfD now that it mioght come to power. Remember that it was the migrant crisis that gave them their impetus.

NBC outlined the new Biden scheme:

The humanitarian parole program, announced in January, allows up to 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to be admitted into the U.S. each month for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit on a case-by-case basis, according to the Biden administration. Under the program, migrants are allowed to stay in the U.S. for up to two years and must go through an online application process, have a financial sponsor and undergo background and security checks. Almost 160,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans have arrived under the parole program through the end of June, according to the administration.

RFK, Jr., who visited border town Yuma, Arizona in June, explained that the migrants were overwhelmingly not Hispanic, were overwhelmingly coming for economic reasons, and that the asylum system is a joke, and it looks like by design. RFK, Jr. also described how we have effectively outsourced our border policy to cartels. This discussion starts at 1:01:00:

Ep. 16 RFK Jr. explains Ukraine, bio-labs, and who killed his uncle pic.twitter.com/RMr5VZVqSM  Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 14, 2023

An opinion piece in the Hill by a recently retired border patrol chief pointed out:

President Bidens No More Wall executive order not only halted construction of former President Donald Trumps wall, but it also defunded a whole system of border security, including cameras, lights, motion detectors, sensor equipment and access roads. This has left agents with none of the tools they need to do their job of securing the border.

The NBC story added:

A total of 21 Republican-leaning states have challenged the policy, calling it unlawful in an amended complaint in February. They wrote that President Joe Biden has effectively created a new visa program  without the formalities of legislation from Congress. District Judge Drew Tipton in Victoria, Texas, a Trump appointee, will begin hearing arguments challenging and defending the programs legality Thursday.

Now to the story, Uncertainty for Migrants as 60-Day Deadline to Leave Shelters Looms. from THE CITY, on how New York Citys plans to deal with migrant overload includes busing them elsewhere.

By Gywnne Hogan. Originally published at THE CITY on August 230, 2023



Near his shelter in Bushwick, migrant Yohandry Marquez said he doesnt know where hell go when his time there is up.Gwynne Hogan/THE CITY

More than 4,500 adult migrants living in city shelters are fast approaching a deadline when they will be ejected from where they currently live, thanks to a dramatic policy shift announced in July thats sparking alarm and concern among some people and optimism in others.

At a Brooklyn shelter at 455 Jefferson Avenue, a converted commercial space, at least 533 residents have received the 60-day warning notices, city officials saidat a recent City Council hearing.

The notices, highlighting cutoff dates beginning in late September, instruct shelter residents to go to the Roosevelt Hotel, the citys main intake for newly arriving asylum- seekers, to apply for another housing assistance option, which could include a faith or community based organization or placement in a hotel in upstate New York.

Migrants at the Jefferson Avenue shelter who spoke with THE CITY shared notices they had received, on NYC letterhead with no agency specified, and said they dont know what to do next.

It will be chaos, said Yohandry Marquez, speaking in Spanish outside the shelter on a recent afternoon. The 25-year-old migrant from Venezuela said he suffers from scoliosis, which makes it hard for him to work more than a few hours a day and difficult for him to save enough to rent a place of his own.

Its going to get ugly, Marquez predicted.Spokespeople for Mayor Eric Adams and city agencies involved in the efforts to house migrants did not respond to requests for comment.

Copies of the warning letter shared with THE CITY promise that a case worker will be reaching out to you in the coming days to explore your options for the future, including connecting with family, friends and other networks. The City is able to facilitate your travel to another destination.



Marquez shows the 60-day notice he received about leaving the shelter where hes been staying.Gwynne Hogan/THE CITY

In July, the city expanded its contract with the controversial private contractor DocGo to provide casework services at some migrant shelters, city records show.

Dr. Ted Long, who is playing a key role coordinating migrant response from his post as a senior vice president at NYC Health + Hospitals, has touted the additional attention migrants get once theyve received eviction notices.

We ask, how can we help you? And what people are asking us is they want certain tools in order to be able to work, Long said at a recent press briefing. Our focus is on giving people what they want, and those are the specifics of what theyre telling us they need.

But more than a dozen migrants at two city-run shelters who received eviction notices said that they were offered bus or plane tickets to other cities, and were given little guidance beyond that.

Nada, said 44-year-old Wilmer Barrios, who said he was recently hospitalized and was told he needs a gallbladder operation, but is delaying it while his housing is up in the air.

I dont have any idea what Im going to do, Barrios said in Spanish. I just keep thinking about winter. I dont know if theyre going to wait until people end up in the street.

Mayor Eric Adams announced the new 60-day limit on shelter stays for migrants in mid-July, as the number of people in shelters soared to more than 104,000 people, including 54,000 asylum-seekers.

In the month and a half since, the shelter population has continued to climb, with more than 110,000 people in shelters, including nearly 60,000 migrants, as of Aug. 20.

On Day 61

The 60-day warnings are among a host of changes the city has implemented as the shelter population has more than doubled over the past year due to the influx of asylum-seekers from countries all over the world, including Venezuela, Ecuador, Mauritania and Sudan.

Attorneys for Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, and advocates for homeless New Yorkers, are in ongoing discussions before a Manhattan Supreme Court judge, debating the citys shelter obligations under a decades-old court decree.

Tensions have flared between Democratic leaders at the city, state and federallevels over how each arm of government has handled the new arrivals, as public sentiment has shifted toward frustration at the situation.

The Roosevelt Hotel arrival center was overwhelmed in recent weeks, with migrants spending multiple nights outside for a week straight during a heat wave in late July.

The Adams administration has yet to detail how the city will handle the combined influx of migrants kicked out of shelters returning to the Roosevelt Hotel, as well as new arrivals, hundreds of whom are still showing up in New York daily, at the same time.

The question that we havent reached is what happens on day 61, said Joshua Goldfein, an attorney with The Legal Aid Society who advocates on behalf of homeless New Yorkers. City officials have told him the first asylum-seekers will be evicted from their current shelter placements on Sept. 23.

What they wont say is whether they will promise to offer anything at all, he said.

Thankful to US

But not all migrants who spoke to THE CITY were dreading their final days in city shelters.

Some who have been able to find stable work said they were hopeful about finding a place to rent before their ultimate eviction date. Though many who spoke to THE CITY had been in the U.S. long enough to begin to apply for work authorization, none had done so, and were instead working under-the-table in construction and day labor, as food delivery workers for Uber, or in restaurants.

I dont want to return to another shelter, said Overt Palomino, 28, from Venezuela, whos been bouncing around various shelters and hotels since his arrival in New York City in October. Not everyone is as lucky as me. Im saving money to rent something, because I can, Palomino said in Spanish.

He added: Im thankful to the United States for all the help Ive gotten.

Yoxander Duarte, 27, another Venezuelan asylum-seeker, said he was already calling around to people he knew about renting a room and pinching pennies to be able to rent a place.

He said his plan is to keep working, saving cash so when its my time to leave, wherever I can find a place, Ill rent, Duarte said in Spanish, snapping his fingers.

Migrants, like residents in the traditional shelter system, have moved multiple times in their months here, often with little to no warning before being told they had to move. The adults currently subject to eviction from the system have been in city shelters for several months, and have already been shuffled around between Randalls Island, the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, various hotels, and other emergency shelters during their months in New York City.

All the shuffling, historically it reduces peoples ability to move on, Goldfein said. In the long term it ends up costing the city money, to keep shuffling people around rather than letting them stay in a stable place [so they can] get together what they need to move on.

New arrivals to the Bushwick shelter have also been warned their days are numbered. Mohammed Hasan, a 28-year-old student who fled war-torn Sudan, arrived in New York City in mid-August. Hasan said that on his second day in the shelter he was told he would have to leave in two months.

Theres nothing to say, he said in French. Well see after the two months, where exactly Ill go, I dont know.
Yves here. Below we are featuring an important comment from PlutoniumKun, where he weighs in on the debate over how serious Chinas current and prospective economic problems are. We have pointed out that a Chinese economic crisis has been overpredicted for a very long time. But being early does not make one wrong; recall some experts like William White and Claudio Borio of the BIS, and Nouriel Roubini were warning of a housing bubble and the prospects of a very ugly implosion years before it happened.

However, as we have pointed out (following Michael Pettis and Marshall Auerback, among others) and PlutoniumKun highlights, China seems not just to be having what would be expected difficulty in changing from an investment/export led growth model to one with domestic consumption being far more important. But China also appears to have an ideological, or one might say political problem in making this shift. Higher consumption would require lower savings rates. Not only do Chinese consumers not feel secure enough to do that (too much history of crises in China and its neighbors) but China under Xi is unwilling to implement the social safety nets that would encourage more spending.

I dont want to take up too much time with this intro, but some relevant recent sightings. Note that Setser among other things is the man on dollar holdings and flows outside the US:

I suspected that parts of Chinas top leadership objected to a household focused stimulus. Turns out the epicenter of opposition is Xi himself: Xi sees such growth as wasteful and at odds with his goal of making China a world-leading industrial and technological powerhouse 2/  Brad Setser (@Brad_Setser) August 27, 2023

Beijings mind seems made up  but Chinese policy makers have this backwards. Using the central governments clean balance sheet to support household demand would actually make it easier for households, property developers and local governments to delever. 3/ pic.twitter.com/i2abVkdEJB  Brad Setser (@Brad_Setser) August 27, 2023

A hypothesis: there can be no durably stable Chinese and global economy so long Chinas national savings rate stays around 45% of GDP  (note that, contrary to the IMFs forecasts, savings has been rising since 2020 ) 1/ pic.twitter.com/PDzgbgbuLB  Brad Setser (@Brad_Setser) August 28, 2023

Chinas shoppers hesitate to spend big in face of deflation via @FT



Excess savings in China have increased in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year, and there is still a gap between pre-pandemic and current consumption https://t.co/dvQvhP1lrU  Iikka Korhonen (@IikkaKorhonen) August 29, 2023

By PlutoniumKun

Dont focus on GNP growth, its not a relevant measure for comparing developing and developed countries, especially how its measured in China. Pettis gives a long form explanation here. It terms of assessing what the real economy is doing in China, its a pretty much useless measure.

Only time will tell if this is an existential economic crisis for China or just a very unpleasant blip. But the reality is that a crisis is inevitable for any country pursuing an unbalanced growth model  i.e. by focusing on investment and exports over domestic/consumer led growth. This is baked into the standard model  and the Chinese are fully aware of this, and have been since at least the 1980s and 1990s when I started following (from afar) the Chinese economy from a development economics perspective. Back in the 1990s the Chinese devoted very significant resources to studying the Japanese late 80s collapse, later the 1990s Asian crisis, and the multiple crashes which foiled numerous countries over the past century or more from crossing the threshold from upper-developing to developed country status. There is a line of thought among some China analysts that Xi was selected and given extraordinary powers specifically to deal with what was foreseen to be a very difficult transition from a the current development model to developed status, which has always overtly been the holy grail for the CCP.

I dont think there is much doubt that the current situation in China is very serious. In my opinion, the housing crisis is a symptom, not the cause of the current problems (in reality, the Chinese economy started showing signs of strain even before Covid). The core problem being several decades of internal debt build up and chronic mal-investment along with an overdependence on rising property values to underpin spending at a local level. But the housing issue alone is gigantic  by any objective measurement it is vastly greater as a proportion of the economys size than the Irish and Spanish crashes of 2007-9. When you add in demographic issues and climate induced strains, this is potentially much more than just a cyclical downturn.

It is highly unlikely for there to be a financial crash as the Chinese banking and finance model is very different from in the west, or for that matter, most other Asian economies. In simple terms, Beijing has plenty of tools to stabilize the finance side of the economy, and not having external debt is a huge advantage  not to mention the enormous strides made in just the last decade in gaining competitive advantage in a wide range of important manufacturing sectors. But it is increasingly recognized within China (this is very obvious reading between the lines in various statements from Beijing) that the current model has finally run out of steam and needs fundamental overhauling.

The problem is that this has been pretty obvious for some time, but despite numerous policy statements going back at least 2 decades (the big change was supposed to happen after the 2008 Olympics), very little has been done, its always been easier to open up the spending spigots and kick the can down the road. In particular, the funding model for local government  which has always been the big driver of growth  is now not fit for purpose and must be replaced by either a proper local taxation system or direct funding from Beijing. But that is easier said than done. There has to be a very significant transfer of wealth to ordinary citizens through higher wages and better social welfare provision in order to boost consumer spending (one of the few things orthodox and heterodox economists agree on when looking at China). And as for debt  in theory, this is a simple problem to address (i.e. monetize/forgive it in one form or another), but there appears to be an unwillingness to even discuss this option within high level circles in China.

The irony to me is that having studied the Japanese crash intensively, the Chinese may somehow manage to replicate exactly the mistakes the Japanese made. There appears to be a lot of pressure to go for yet more concrete pouring and refinancing of debt as a solution. This will risk deflation, zombification and/or a greater crisis further down the line.

While it can be argued that the current property/investment boom is not as bad in China as it was in Japan, in other respects the Chinese economy may be a lot weaker than Japan was at the time  for all its modernity, China is still essentially a poor country  significantly poorer than, for example, Russia or Turkey, and probably not even matching Mexico. What is unique about China is its enormous size, which allows it to mobilize resources and dominate economic sectors in a way small developing countries cant. But then again, this has never helped India, which also has some very advanced technological sectors.

The other huge problem  ironic given demographic problems  is youth unemployment. This seems to be a characteristic of fast growing export-led economies once they rise above the sweatshop levels of development  both Japan and South Korea have had huge problems in keeping up employment levels even at times when their economies have been seen to be healthy when measured in GNP. In simple terms, I dont think you can keep up a high level of employment if you insist on suppressing wages and consumer demand. But this is integral to an export/investment model of development.

If you want to understand whats happening in China its important I think to forget the whole China vs US thing (the US has almost no direct or indirect influence on what is happening in China) and look at it as it is  a typical, if unprecedentedly large, example of a country pursuing very rapid growth using what used to be called the American system (later refined by the Germans, South Koreans, Taiwanese and Japanese). Each of those economies have unique features, but the underlying advantages and disadvantages of combining high levels of internal wage/spending suppression in the domestic economy with an insistent on export and investment led growth all seem to lead in the same direction. The only question is whether they can achieve the transition to a more balanced economy (i.e. ROK and Taiwan or even Russia) or end up butting their heads against the ceiling Argentina or Brazil style, or perhaps end up in some sort of Japanese style limbo, albeit at a much lower level of development than Japan.

A few years ago, I would have been fairly confident that the CCP could pull it off, especially with someone as impressive as Xi at the helm. But more recently there are increasing signs of inept leadership, groupthink and poor decision making at higher levels of government in Beijing, going right to the top. There is a lot of rot among our leadership classes everywhere, not just in the west.
Analyst company Canalys reported smartphone shipments in Southeast Asia fell 15% year-on-year in Q2 to 20.9 million units, the lowest total since 2014, macroeconomic conditions continue to dampen consumer confidence.

In a statement, Canalys said the low shipments have led to an increase in old stock, the stifling of new initiatives and inventory from smartphone manufacturers, and a lacklustre festive season. This was also the sixth consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline.

Brands maintained a cautious approach to the quarter and focused on strengthening channel positioning for long-term share sustainability, said Canalys analyst Le Xuan Chiew.

Samsung was the highest shipping vendor in Southeast Asia with 4.2 million units, taking a market share of 20%, despite a year-on-year decline of 26%. Chinese vendor Oppo was in second with 3.4 million shipped and 16% market share.

Xiaomi and Transsion both shipped around 2.9 million units taking 14% of the market each, through key device launches and market expansion, respectively. Realme reclaimed the fifth spot with 2.6 million units (12% market share).

The market is expected to gain momentum in H2 2023 as channel inventory returns to healthier levels, said Canalys analyst Sheng Win Chow.

The ramp-up of incentive programs and new high-end launches should increase retail sales Q3 2023 onward. The long-term outlook for Southeast Asia is intact and Canalys expects mid-single-digit growth in 2024.

Expansion of the online channel will contribute largely to future growth as investments from e-commerce operators improve infrastructure, and timely payment and logistics will enable e-retailers to scale more efficiently.

Increased marketing expenditure will spur demand by enabling more aggressive discounting. In addition, the regions increasing disposable income from an expanding middle-class and young population entering the workforce are strong reasons to expect an improved landscape.
The American public is ready to go off on the Biden crime family and all this ongoing nonsense, what is hands down the worst political scandal in US history, dwarfing Watergate

Jonathan Turley

(Article by James Howard Kunstler republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)

Beach boy Joe Biden will be well-rested when the plan for his impeachment rolls out after Labor Day. Just because youre not hearing any news about it now, with the county fairs on all over the USA, and the pols busy scarfing corn-dogs and kissing heifers, doesnt mean that the key players arent confabbing among themselves. Hey, have you noticed, youre hardly hearing about anything else these dwindling days of summer, either? Got any idea whats up with that war in Ukraine? Of course you dont.

A preview for you then: Rep James Comers House Oversight Committee has already assembled a bundle of evidence tracking the exact ways and means of how the Biden familys global bribery operation worked. That includes the bank records, the emails and deal memos, the chronology of meetings, the FBI documents, the phone recordings, the photos of JB schmoozing with Hunters clients, and the famous video of Joe Biden bragging onstage at the Council on Foreign Relations about how he strong-armed Ukraine President Poroshenko into firing General Prosecutor Viktor Shokin.

Next, Speaker McCarthy has to form an actual impeachment inquiry committee. (If he tries to demur, there could be a new Speaker of the House in short order.) That committee will entertain witnesses, including figures in Justice Department who have been reluctant to discuss these matters previously. This might entail a Part B of the inquiry: the blatant obstructions of justice by DOJ officials in the long-running case on various charges against Hunter Biden, as supervised by federal attorney in Delaware, now Special Counsel, David Weiss. Mr. Weiss dawdled so strenuously for five years that he let the statute of limitations run out on the major tax evasion charges, while he ignored all the allegations of Hunters FARA violations in seeking money from officials of many foreign governments.

Theres reason to believe that botching that case was well-coordinated with help from the Biden family DOJ mole, one Alexander S. Mackler, who had served as Senator Joe Bidens press secretary in 2007-08, was campaign manager in 2010 for the Senators son, Beau Biden (deceased 2015), when he ran for Delaware Attorney General, and from 2014-16 was Deputy Counsel to Veep Joe Biden. Mr. Mackler was later inserted into the Delaware US attorneys office as a prosecutor under David Weiss, from August 2016 to May 2019, while Hunter Bs case was under investigation.

Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com
COLLUSION: Biden staffers met with top aide for Special Counsel Jack Smith at the White House before Trump indictment

White House visitor logs have proven that a member of President Joe Biden's counsel's office met with a top member of Special Counsel Jack Smith's team several weeks before the first indictment against former President Donald Trump.

Smith's top aide, Jay Bratt, who joined the special counsel team in November 2022 shortly after it was formed, met with Deputy Chief of Staff for the White House counsel's office Caroline Saba on March 31. This is just nine weeks before Trump was first indicted by Smith's office on June 8. (Related: Trump's "menacing" mugshot could elevate his 2024 presidential campaign which is already far ahead of other GOP candidates.)

Bratt and Saba were joined in their 10 a.m. meeting by Danielle Ray, an agent in the Washington field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The logs do not disclose what Bratt, Saba and Ray were discussing during their meeting.

This was also not the first time Bratt had a meeting in the White House. In November 2021, Bratt met with Saba at a time when the National Archives was negotiating with Trump for the return of presidential records from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida before a formal investigation had even been opened.

Before this, Bratt had a meeting in September 2021 with Katherine Reilley, an advisor to the White House chief of staff's office. The logs do not offer any information about what this meeting was about.

In a statement, Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel, claimed that Bratt's most recent meeting at the White House was for a "case-related interview" but declined to comment any further.

One individual with knowledge of the most recent insisted to the New York Post that Bratt's meeting with Saba was "an interview of a career official who was also working at the White House during the Trump administration." This source further claimed that the 2021 visits were "national security related."

Critics, legal experts concerned with possible DOJ-White House collusion over Trump indictments

Critics and legal experts are asking why a member of the Department of Justice's special counsel's team would take meetings at the White House counsel's office while he is part of an active investigation into the leading Republican politician likely to face off with Biden in the 2024 election.

"There is no legitimate purpose for a line DOJ guy to be meeting with the White House except if it's coordinated by the highest levels," said former prosecutor and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who added that he believes the special counsel and the White House were coordinating on Trump's prosecution.

"What's happening is they have trashed every ethical rule that exists and they have created a police state," said Giuliani. "It is a Biden state prosecutor and a Biden police state."

Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, noted that the meeting between Bratt and Saba has some particularly troublesome implications and "raises obvious concerns about visits to the White House after [Bratt] began his work with the special counsel."

"There is no reason why the Justice Department should not be able to confirm whether this meeting was related to the ongoing investigation or concerns some other matter," Turley added.

Even Trump criticized the White House for Bratt's meeting with Saba, alleging that the Biden administration is colluding with prosecutors to imprison him.

"It has just been reported that aides to TRUMP prosecutor, Deranged Jack Smith, met with high officials at the White House just prior to these political SleazeBags [indicting] me OVER NOTHING," wrote Trump on the social media platform Truth Social. "If this is so, which it is, that means that Biden and his Fascist Thugs knew and APPROVED of this Country dividing Form of Election Interference, despite their insisting that they 'knew nothing.'"

Learn the latest news from the Trump indictment saga at Trump.news.

Watch this clip from "The Five" on Fox News as former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore discusses how Special Counsel Jack Smith has taken a "pretty careless" approach to the Trump indictment.

This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Jack Smith's indictments of President Trump are ill-founded and unconstitutional, judicial clerk explains why.

Sarah Palin warns of SECOND CIVIL WAR if political persecution of Donald Trump continues.

Donald Trump surrenders in Georgia over election case, gets historic mugshot taken.

The Resistance Chicks discuss "coincidences" between Trump indictments and Hunter Biden revelations  Brighteon.TV.

Before Trump was indicted for challenging stolen election, Democrats denied election results more than 150 times.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

NYPost.com

NBCNews.com

Brighteon.com
Lawfare with Tom Renz: Biden to bring back COVID-19 lockdowns to STEAL the election  Brighteon.TV

The administration of President Joe Biden is expected to bring back full Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns beginning this fall to meddle with the 2024 presidential elections

This is according to whistleblowers from the United States Border Patrol and the Transport Security Administration (TSA), who informed InfoWars that the lockdowns will begin by mid-September with the incremental reintroduction of restrictions. (Related: TSA and Border Patrol officials reveal Biden's plan to reinstate full COVID lockdown measures.)

According to the sources, including one high-level TSA official, some of the first restrictions to return will be mandatory masking requirements for TSA and other airport employees. By mid-October, these same policies will be required for pilots, flight staff, and eventually passengers and other airport patrons.

A high-level Border Patrol source confirmed that these same directives will be given to Border Patrol officials. The agency was told that it was a matter of "if," not "when" official COVID-19 numbers will start climbing back up, and in response to this, by mid-October most of the agency will return to forced masking.

"InfoWars' analysis is clear: This new rollout's timing is perfect for the embattled Biden administration to put the country back in a state of civil emergency and even martial law to further divide and confuse the public and move forward with the greatest election meddling in history," wrote the InfoWars editorial board in its report.

Attorney Tom Renz, on his Brighteon.TV program "Lawfare with Tom Renz," agreed with InfoWars' assessment.

"He needs to steal 2024 to have any chance of winning. 2024, there's zero chance [of Biden winning] unless they can have the same sort of corruption that they had in 2020," he said. "We are at a crossroads in this country, folks. We have an election coming. That's the most consequential election in American history. I would say even more so than the Civil War elections.

Biden admin denies reintroduction of lockdowns

Following the release of this report, the TSA, the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have all repeatedly denied that they are going to roll out new COVID-19 lockdown regulations.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the TSA claimed that no such announcement was made to TSA managers regarding the gradual reintroduction of COVID-19 lockdown protocols. "TSA is unaware of such a requirement," said the TSA spokesperson. "There was no TSA meeting on the topic."

A spokesperson for the CDC similarly made a statement refuting InfoWars' claims. "These rumors are utterly false," said CDC spokesperson Nick Spinelli.

"The restrictions that were [reintroduced] on businesses, on going to the movie theater, on going to the retail mall  all of those were done by states and local governments, not the federal government," claimed Northeastern University public health law expert and professor Wendy E. Parmet in an interview. "The 'lockdown' terminology is certainly a misnomer It is conspiracy thinking and it's catastrophizing."

All of this is despite the fact that universities all over the U.S. are reinstituting mask mandates, schools are being forced to shut down due to COVID-19 cases and the Biden administration providing over $1.4 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies and tax credits to Big Pharma to make new, updated COVID-19 vaccines by September.

Read the latest news involving the government and the possible return of lockdowns in America at Pandemic.news.

Watch the full episode of "Lawfare with Tom Renz" below as he discusses Biden's lockdown plans and their links to the 2024 elections.

Tune in to "Lawfare with Tom Renz" every Tuesday from 11:30 a.m. to noon and Saturday from 12:30 to 1 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

IT'S COMING: Fake president Biden already buying more COVID equipment, hiring pandemic "safety protocol" enforcers for next round of LOCKDOWNS.

COVID 2.0? Biden planning to LOCK DOWN and MASK America starting in mid-September, TSA whistleblowers tell InfoWars.

Top 5 most LIKELY EVENTS the Democrats will stage or invoke to cheat for another four years while running the "show" from Washington, D.C.

LOCKDOWN EFFECTS: Students struggle to recover academic proficiency post-pandemic, particularly in READING and MATH.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

InfoWars.com 1

InfoWars.com 2

InfoWars.com 3
New documentary proves building offshore wind farms does kill whales

The increase in whale, dolphin, and other cetacean deaths off the East Coast of the United States since 2016 is not due to the construction of large industrial wind turbines, U.S. government officials say.

(Article by Michael Shellenberger republished from NYPost.com)

Their scientists have done the research, they say, to prove that whatever is killing the whales is completely unrelated to the wind industry.

But now, a new documentary, Thrown To The Wind, by director and producer Jonah Markowitz, which I executive produced, proves that the US government officials have been lying.

The film documents surprisingly loud, high-decibel sonar emitted by wind industry vessels when measured with state-of-the-art hydrophones. And it shows that the wind industrys increased boat traffic is correlated directly with specific whale deaths.

My nonprofit organization, Environmental Progress, which is independent of all energy interests, funded the documentary because, like millions of Americans, we love whales and believe their extinction is an avoidable tragedy.

The species in question is the North Atlantic right whale. Its population has dropped to 340 from over 400 over the last few years.

And, there have been more than 60 recorded whale deaths of all species on the East Coast since Dec 1, 2022, a number that increased markedly since 2016 when the wind industry started to ramp up.

The documentary may not stop the industrial wind projects from being built. After all, the wind projects are going forward despite urgent warnings from leading conservation groups and a top scientist at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The waters off New York and New Jersey have seen a sudden upsurge in whale deaths this year.

But our documentary has hit a nerve. Within the first 48 hours of it being online, over 20,000 people re-posted it, and over 6 million people total, across two tweets, have viewed the posts with the embedded trailer for Thrown To The Wind.

And, now, Republican members of Congress tell me they want to hold hearings to investigate.

I have been involved in a lot of great causes in the 35 years that I have been politically active. This one, saving the whales, is easily one of the most noble and important. One of my first political memories as a boy was the Greenpeace Save the Whales sticker in my fathers food co-op.

Whales touch something deep within us. They care deeply for their offspring. They form communities. They sing.

Whales are, as the conservationists in Thrown to the Wind explain, magnificent spiritual beings, not just great biological ones.

There appear to be at least two distinct mechanisms by which wind industry activities are killing whales.

The first is through boat traffic in areas where there hasnt historically been traffic. The second is through high-decibel sonar mapping that can disorient whales, separate mothers from their calves, and send them into harms way, either into boat traffic or poorer feeding grounds.

Whale deaths caused by boat strikes are not unrelated to windfarm works  as some have sought to claim  but fueled by them.

The waters around New York and New Jersey have seen three humpbacks die in August alone; two of them had blunt force trauma while the third was too decomposed for a necropsy.

Shot in the hand-held style made famous by Paul Greengrass, the creator and director of the Jason Bourne movies, Markowitzs Thrown To The Wind gives the experience of being on the ocean and in the room with the films stars, Lisa Linowes, who correlated the whale deaths to wind industry activity with Eric Turner, and Rob Rand.

Linowes is a lifelong environmental activist, data analyst, and co-founder of the Save the Right Whales Coalition.

Shes also an obsessive data nerd who, working with her husband, sold their start-up software company over a decade ago and moved to New England where she does her conservation work full-time and without pay.

Rand, meanwhile, is a conservationist and one of the worlds leading underwater acoustics experts with over 30 years of experience.

The commitment by Markowitz to investigative documentary filmmaking led him to go out on the ocean with Rand to measure the sound of industrial wind activity.

It was on that trip that Rand and his team discovered high-decibel sound emissions that appeared to violate NOAAs protective standards for marine life.

When combined with the work of Linowes and Turner, correlating whale deaths with wind industry vessel traffic, Rands acoustic research should have far-reaching implications, including halting all industrial wind activity along the East Coast.

After a dead whale washed ashore on Takanassee Beach in New Jersey two weeks ago, police blocked off the area so tractors could be brought in to remove it.

We were sitting on the beach yesterday, and I noticed it when people started running up to it, Soraya Nimaroff, who lives nearby, told the Ashbury Park Press. Im very sad. It is very sad.

Our research shouldnt have been necessary. Dr. Sean Hayes, a top NOAA scientist warned last year that industrial wind projects could have population-level effects on an already endangered and stressed species.

Population-level effects include extinction.

This was the warning from NOAAs head of protective species about the dangers of windfarms. It was ignored, writes Shellenberger.

Dr. Hayes, NOAAs chief of protected species warned that oceanographic impacts from installed and operating turbines cannot be mitigated for the 30-year lifespan of the project unless they are decommissioned. His warnings were ignored.

So, too, were the ones from scientists representing many of the same environmental groups supporting the industrial wind energy projects wrote in a 2021 letter that the North Atlantic right whale population cannot withstand any additional stressors; any potential interruption of foraging behavior may lead to population-level effects and is of critical concern.

But the scientists then stood by as their organizations sold out them and the whales.

Under pressure from the White House, the US government has ignored its top scientists and pushed forward to industrialize the oceans and risk the extinction of the North Atlantic right whale.

The Jersey Shore has become an all too frequent host of the least welcome form of whale visitor: a washed-up corpse.

This 2021 letter from scientists, many from groups backing the expansion of wind energy, warned how vulnerable right whales are. Population-level effects include extinction.

Part of the problem is that the wind industry spent years bribing the US government, scientific organizations, and aquariums to lie to the American people.

Wind energy companies and their foundations have donated nearly $4.7 million to at least three dozen major environmental organizations.

And Facebook went so far as to censor my post linking whale deaths to wind energy off the East Coast of the United States.

The censorship came in the form of adding a link to a FactCheck.org article from March 31, 2023, which relied entirely on U.S. government sources Thrown to the Wind debunks.

Thrown To The Wind exposes the reality that the U.S. government agencies and the scientists who work for them either havent done the basic mapping and acoustic research to back up their claims, have done the research badly, or found what we found and are covering it up.

Given the evidence presented in Thrown To The Wind, its clear that the American people and our representatives cannot trust NOAA and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the two government agencies that, for years, have repeatedly betrayed the publics trust in service to powerful industrial interests.
SILENCE! EUs censorship law is now legally enforceable across social media platforms and search engines

The Draconian Digital Services Act (DSA) has just been rolled out, forcing more than 40 online giants including Facebook, X, Google, and TikTok to better police the content they deliver within the European Union (EU) starting August 25. The EU Commission proposed the passage of the DSA in early 2022. It used the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "disinformation-misinformation" allegations as a convenient excuse to push for the anti-free speech law.

The legislation applies to any digital operation serving the EU, forcing them to be legally accountable for everything from fake news to manipulation of shoppers, Russian propaganda and criminal activity including child abuse. It also applies to large and small operators, but the rules are tiered, with the toughest obligations applying to 17 companies including Facebook and Amazon that have been designated as "very large online platforms," and two "very large online search engines:" Google and Bing.

EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton posted on X on the day the act was put into effect, expressing his excitement for a "safer internet for everyone."

"These systemic platforms play a very important role in our daily lives  so it was time for the EU to set our own rules," he said in the caption.

Today, the Digital Services Act  #DSA  becomes legally enforceable for Very Large Online Platforms & Search Engines. These systemic platforms play a very important role in our daily lives  so it was time for the EU to set our own rules. A safer Internet for everyone ?? pic.twitter.com/fGPCERx5mW  Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) August 25, 2023

There are five key issues covered in the new legislation, including online disinformation and other "societal risks." First is that the online platforms are obliged to combat the sale of illegal products and services, which will affect Amazon and Facebook Marketplace among others. It also provided that there are new measures designed to crack down on illegal content, including Russian propaganda, interference with elections, hate crimes, and online harms including harassment and child abuse, and ensure that fundamental rights recognized by law across Europe, including freedom of expression and data protection, are safeguarded.

DSA also provided that platforms are prohibited from targeting children with advertising based on their personal data or cookies, requiring them to redesign their systems to ensure a "high level of privacy, security, and safety of minors" as well as their content recommender systems to reduce risks to children. The tech giants are also ordered to steer clear from the use of sensitive personal data including race, gender, and religion for targeting users with adverts.

Lastly, for the protection of shoppers from everyday interfaces used to manipulate them into buying things they don't need or want, "dark patterns" or persuasion marketing techniques are banned.

However, ZeroHedge's Tyler Durden pointed out that the legislation is actually a tool for the EU to "rein in" the power of social media corporations. Its primary purpose is to give the EU legal precedence to force Big Tech companies to apply censorship standards to their platforms, regardless if they are European-based or not. (Related: Big Government selling unconstitutional censorship tools to Big Tech to override First Amendment and silence all voices of dissent.)

Those who do not comply with the Act would face sanctions including large fines, which could run into hundreds of millions of euros. An EU-wide ban is also possible.

EU wants Musk's X to conform to its political taboos via DSA

There is a possibility that the newly executed DSA could ban in Europe even an EU-censored version of X, formerly Twitter, not because of information shared by Europeans, but because of information shared on X outside of Europe. "These rules would include EU 'hate speech' and 'disinformation' restrictions. "Keep in mind that in many parts of Europe using the wrong pronouns for a trans person is considered punishable hate speech, and pointing out that medical masks are useless for stopping COVID-19 transmission is considered dangerous disinformation. Scientific facts don't play into such determinations, they are purely political," Durden stresses in the article.

According to him, X CEO and tech mogul Elon Musk and his platform have been cited as targets of the DSA, and some argue that the DSA was specifically created by the EU in preparation for Musk's eventual takeover of the massive platform. The political and economic union officials even publicly argued that they would find a way to force Musk to conform to their political taboos.

X was one of several dozen signatories to the EU's "2022 Strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation," a self-regulatory framework for addressing disinformation tied to the DSA. When a company becomes a signatory, it submits a subscription document identifying which Commitments (and, more specifically, which Measures) it is signing up for. The microblogging site's June 2022 subscription document indicates that the platform has committed to: "defund the dissemination of disinformation and misinformation," "prevent the misuse of advertising systems to disseminate misinformation or disinformation," and "put in place or further bolster policies to address both misinformation and disinformation."

Censorship.news has more stories on how the government colludes with the tech giants to censor speech on social media.

Sources for this article include:

TheGuardian.com

ZeroHedge.com
Special Counsel Jack Smith accused of deliberately impeding Trumps presidential campaign

The defense attorneys representing former President Donald Trump have accused U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith of deliberately impeding their client's ability to campaign for the 2024 presidential elections and to properly defend himself in court.

Trump is facing charges against alleged mishandling of classified documents in a federal court in Florida, with the trial set to commence on May 20, 2024. Additionally, charges are pending against Trump in a federal court in Washington, D.C., pertaining to alleged interference with the 2020 presidential election. Smith has proposed starting this trial on January 2, 2024.

In a letter addressed to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida, the defense attorneys wrote: "The special counsels conduct appears to be intentionally motivated to prevent President Trump from meaningfully preparing for either trial and to simultaneously prevent him from running a campaign for president of the United States."

The preparation for both trials includes discovery, pre-trial motions and jury selection, all of which are expected to overlap. An evidentiary hearing for the Florida case is scheduled for December 11, 2023, while jury selection for the Washington case is also proposed for December.

Furthermore, the attorneys of Trump have highlighted the demanding timeline. Apart from the two pending trials, a six-week trial is scheduled to begin in New York in October, addressing allegations of falsification of business documents related to hush payments. All this is happening while Trump is also engaged in a potential presidential campaign.

Attorney Curt Levey, president of the Committee for Justice, has questioned the rush behind the schedule. "They're less concerned with doing this in a thorough way to insulate it from successful appeal, than they are in making sure that the trials, and in their mind, hopefully the convictions, happen before the election."

Trump pads lead in GOP primary polls amid indictments

Trump said these indictments are giving him an advantage in the 2024 presidential elections. (Related: Political network set up by Koch brothers raises more than $70M to stop Trump from winning GOP presidential nomination.)

According to an aggregation of the recent major national GOP primary polls by FiveThirtyEight, Trump is currently enjoying an average support of 51.6 percent, giving him a substantial lead of 36.8 percentage points against his closest competitor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

His average support in national polls has steadily increased from around 43 percent at the beginning of the year to the current 51.6 percent. This prompted him to announce that he will not be joining any GOP presidential primary debates. But he'll be watching them closely.

"Let them debate so I can see who I MIGHT consider for Vice President!" Trump posted on Truth Social.

During the a recent debate, GOP presidential candidates were asked whether they would endorse Trump if he secured the nomination but was simultaneously convicted of any of the 91 felonies alleged by prosecutors. Of the eight candidates present, only Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie explicitly stated they would not support Trump.

Hutchinson explained his stance by claiming that Trump was "morally disqualified from being president" again, while Christie emphasized the importance of ceasing to normalize what he deemed inappropriate conduct from the former president.

Fascism.news has more stories about attempts to prevent Trump's reelection.

Watch this news report about the Koch brothers' efforts to prevent Trump from securing the GOP presidential nomination back in 2020.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Reason magazine goes pro-Antifa, says investigations of funding sources should be stopped.

No surprise here: Florida judge who authorized FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago is a known anti-Trumper.

Conservatives and Trump supporters who get censored are being accused of spreading "disinformation" for speaking up about the abuse.

Sources include:

NTD.com

MSN.com
Judge deciding Trumps fate in 2024 election comes from family of Marxist revolutionaries

The judge presiding over former President Trumps multiple charges related to his attempts to legally challenge the 2020 presidential election comes from a family with a history of Marxist revolutionary activities in Jamaica. The judges family history was reported recently by the New York Post.

(Article republished from BeckerNews.com)

Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, appointed by President Obama, is the grandchild of Frank Hill. Hill was a communist revolutionary in Jamaica who, along with his brother Ken, was briefly incarcerated by the British governor of the island during WWII due to suspicions of subversive activities, the report notes.

Frank Hill is the father of Noelle Hill, who is Judge Chutkans mother, according to public records. Frank and his brother Ken were ousted from the Peoples National Party of Jamaica for their communist beliefs, as reported by Jamaican media outlets.

Ken was described as more pragmatic and less concerned with political theory by Richard Hart in his 1999 book, Towards Decolonisation: Political, Labour and Economic Developments in Jamaica 19381945.

Ken Hill, by far the most influential, was more pragmatic and less concerned with political theory than most members of the left. He probably began to consider himself a communist both as a result of the influence of his brother Frank and also his observation of the course of world events, Hart wrote of the brothers.

Judge Chutkan has faced accusations from conservatives, who allege that she demonstrates political bias in her role. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, for example, recently introduced a resolution seeking to censure and investigate the judge for open bias and partisanship in the conduct of her official duties, referencing her past remarks in support of Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.

Read more at: BeckerNews.com
National Archives has about 5,400 emails, records linked to Joe Bidens email aliases

5,400 emails and records linked to President Joe Bidens email aliases, the House Oversight Committee revealed Monday evening.

The National Archives (NARA) possesses about

(Article by Wendell Husebo republished from Breitbart.com)

The email aliases  Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware  were used to share government information and discuss business with Hunter Biden and associates, according to the Southeastern Legal Foundation, which filed a lawsuit to compel the agency to turn over the emails.

All too often, public officials abuse their power by using it for their personal or political benefit. When they do, many seek to hide it, Southeastern Legal Foundation general counsel Kimberly Hermann told Just the News in a statement. The only way to preserve governmental integrity is for NARA to release Bidens nearly 5,400 emails to SLF and thus the public. The American public deserves to know what is in them.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) in August requested the Archives hand over all documents and communications in which then-Vice President Joe Biden used pseudonyms such as Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware.

Joe Biden has stated there was an absolute wall between his familys foreign business schemes and his duties as Vice President, but evidence reveals that access was wide open for his familys influence peddling, Comer wrote in a statement. The National Archives must provide these unredacted records to further our investigation into the Biden familys corruption.

The Robert Peters alias raised concerns among Republicans since 2021 as it is unusual for government officials to use an obscure government network with an alias.

Ive been suspicious ever since my office uncovered this fact back in 2021, and we have unfortunately gotten no response from the White House to the four letters that my office has sent on this matter, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Breitbart News last week. It is incredibly worrisome that Joe Biden continues to evade our oversight efforts surrounding his corruption.

Read more at: Breitbart.com
Republican activist stabbed to death in his New Hampshire home under suspicious circumstances

Authorities are trying to piece together what happened to a Republican activist who was found dead in his home in Durham, New Hampshire over the weekend.

The New Hampshire Attorney General's office has announced that 41-year-old Alexander Talcott died of a fatal stab wound to his neck and ruled his death a homicide. The lawyer's body was found early on Saturday, and no one has been arrested in the case. Authorities say they have identified those involved and claim that the stabber is not a threat to the public. However, the wording of their statement indicates more than one person may have been involved.

Parties involved in the incident have been identified and based on the information known to investigators there is no danger to the public, they stated.

According to some reports, the Attorney Generals office is investigating whether the person who stabbed Talcott in his home did so in self-defense. Investigators have not found any signs of forced entry at his home. He lived there with his wife, Kristin, who is a clinical social worker and therapist, and their three young children.

Under New Hampshire law, an individual can claim a killing was self-defense if their aggressor posed a deadly threat to them or another party. In cases where a killing in self-defense is found to be justified, the individual will not face any criminal charges.

Talcott was an Ivy League-educated father of three who was working as a private equity real estate lawyer. He also served as a Republican adviser and an adjunct professor at the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics of the University of New Hampshire, where he taught classes in corporate finance and business law.

He launched an unsuccessful run for state representative last year.

On Talcotts Facebook page, he can be seen photographed with well-known Republican politicians, including Senator Rand Paul and former governor of Ohio John Kasich. He can also be seen rubbing elbows with retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter during an event for the New Hampshire Bar Association.

His page also features photos of him spending time with his children, who he said in an interview were homeschooled.

Friends and colleagues describe Talcott as a selfless advocate

Talcott was named the Republican National Lawyers Associations (RNLA) New Hampshire leader in 2021. He has been described by the organization's current New Hampshire chapter director, William OBrien, as a staunch advocate for the core values of the Republican Party. He remembered him for having an unwavering belief in liberty, free markets and limited government.

He stated: Alex was an exceptionally skilled champion for the rule of law and the importance of fair and honest elections. We will forever honor Alexs selfless dedication and profound contributions to our shared vision of liberty through legal processes. His legacy will undoubtedly inspire future generations within the RNLA and the greater legal community.

A fellow attorney and instructor at the University of New Hampshire who worked with him for 15 years, Chris Ager, described him as being passionate about the work he did with the RNLA and characterized him as selfless, saying: He always wanted to do more and he was very helpful. He wanted to help. He came to me many times just asking, Hey Chris, how can I help? Never asking for anything in return. He was that kind of person.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

NHJournal.com

NYPost.com
Never let a good crisis go to waste: Trump turns mug shot into a potent fundraising tool

Former President Donald Trump, who is facing over a dozen felony charges over alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, used his mug shot at Fulton County Jail in Georgia for fundraising purposes

The mug shot, taken just minutes after his booking, captured a stern-looking Trump staring intently at the camera with his trademark red tie tightly knotted.

In no time, Trump utilized his social media platform Truth Social, as well as his recently reactivated X account, to post the mug shot. "ELECTION INTERFERENCE! NEVER SURRENDER!" Trump posted on X for the first time after the platform suspended his account for more than two years. (Related: The photo that will win Trump the 2024 presidency.)

Trump also posted the photo on his campaign website along with an appeal for donations. The former president claimed that he had been "arrested despite having committed no crime," a stance consistent with his previous statements about the legal cases against him.

The booking photo gained mixed reactions from his supporters. Others questioned the necessity of releasing a booking photo, while others saw it as an opportunity to further amplify their messages.

Malcolm Davis, 19, a vocal Trump supporter, remarked: "The mug shot isn't necessary and is done to hurt him. But it won't."

Laura Loomer, a former Republican congressional candidate, saw the image as a potential icon. "We want them to take a mug shot. We want to put it on a T-shirt. It will go worldwide. It will be a more popular image than the Mona Lisa," Loomer exclaimed.

Mug shot turns into a badge of honor for Trump

The release of the mug shot turned into a badge of honor for Trump and a segment of his fan base rather than a moment of shame and humiliation for facing four separate indictments with 13 felony counts in Georgia.

After the mug shot went public, images of Trump began appearing on different merch, including T-shirts, mugs and koozies, while other supporters digitally superimposed their own faces into the mug shot and shared the modified images on X. These unusual movements found their way into Trump's campaign strategy and were added to his political merch lineup.

William Howell, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, noted the unusual nature of the scandal for political gain. "There's nothing like the scale of what's going on  a politician of Trump's stature who's using the scandal to such political benefit."

Mary Angela Bock, a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, highlighted the stark contrast between the impact of mug shots on individuals with power and those without.

"Folks without power, they're criminalized. They don't have much say about it. But folks who have a lot of power get to redefine that picture," said Bock. Elected officials possess the resources and influence to redefine the meaning of such images, effectively diminishing their potential to cause lasting damage.

Howell even suggested that Trump's campaign could benefit from this polarizing incident through fundraising, which the former president has already capitalized on by selling merch featuring a mock Trump mug shot.

As the unconventional use of Trump's mug shot gains traction, it not only symbolizes solidarity but also underscores the unyielding loyalty of his followers. Howell noted: "This isn't just that they're going to stand with him through fires. It's that the fires are only going to strengthen the bonds between them."

Read more stories about Donald Trump at Trump.news.

Watch this clip from "Dick Morris Democracy" on Newsmax as the host touches on the targeting of former President Donald Trump.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Former House Speaker Gingrich says Trumps Georgia INDICTMENT was a HIT ordered by D.C.

Trump indictment shows that power-crazed Democrats are INCOMPATIBLE with human society.

The Trump indictment criminalizes political dissent.

Washingtons 'whoo-hoo' moment: Trump indictment coverage borders on the indecent.

RIGGED: Trump indictment documents published online BEFORE the grand jurys official vote.

Sources include:

Reuters.com

Kasu.org
Australias first COVID deaths were all FULLY VACCINATED, state records show

The discovery process in a court case launched by a cohort of Australian doctors suing the government of Queensland for its Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "vaccine" mandates has brought to light the fact that the very first "COVID" deaths that occurred in the state were

You read that right: the very first people to die from "COVID" in Queensland were people who had taken all the jabs as ordered by the government to "protect" them against becoming infected with the Fauci Flu.

Internal government records show that the first 183 deaths that occurred during the "pandemic," which officially began there on March 13, 2020, and lasted through Jan. 27, 2022, were in those who should have been immune to COVID, assuming the shots actually work as claimed.

Further, the documents show that authorities in Queensland knew as early as January of 2022 that COVID jabs were not protecting people against the so-called "virus." And yet, none of them ever mentioned this publicly as they forced the populace to get jabbed.

"The list shows that the first locally acquired COVID-19 death was one in their 80s and another in their 30s, with both having received two doses of the vaccine in December 2021 and January 2022, respectively," reports reveal.

(Related: Did you know that employees of Pfizer received "special batches" of COVID jabs that were different from the ones everyone else received.)

END the Queensland covid jab mandate for public health, aged-care facility workers, lawsuit demands

Early in the scamdemic, Queensland recorded seven deaths from "COVID," with all of the individuals in question having acquired their disease outside the state before the jab rollout began.

In December of 2021, Queensland's border reopened after being closed for almost two years. By then, 80 percent of the state's population had been jabbed  and by the end of 2021, roughly 90 percent of the population over the age of 16 had gotten injected.

The purpose of the new lawsuit, which uncovered all these juicy details about Queensland corruption, is to revoke the September of 2021 directive for the state that requires all employees who work in the public health and aged-care facility sectors to get jabbed for the Chinese Virus.

"I graduated from medical school 40 years ago and in all that time have never had a single complaint about me presented to a medical board or AHPRA," said psychiatrist Peter Parry, a case specialist who in his three-decade career has never once been subjected to disciplinary action  until now.

Parry chose to decline COVID-19 injections because he says they are "not normal vaccines." In fact, they are not vaccines at all, based on the traditional definition of a vaccine.

"We hope, by bringing evidentiary material and expert witness testimonies before the Supreme Court, that the justices will look at the evidence and rule in our favor," he added. "If successful, large numbers of experienced nurses, allied health, and doctors will be able to return to assist an overstretched Queensland public health system."

In addition to these mandates, unvaccinated people in Queensland, under the order of Premier Annastacia Palazczuk, were barred from accessing certain services and exercising certain freedoms, including hospitals, aged care, disability services, libraries, and hospitality venues.

Proof of "vaccination" was required in order to access these services and engage in these freedoms, which violated the right of Aussies to go about their business without having to first receive an experimental chemical injection that could kill them.

"The COVID vaccines were an IQ test  how did you do?" one commenter asked, making an excellent point with few words.

More related news about the ongoing fallout from Operation Warp Speed can be found at Genocide.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
British police now ARRESTING politicians for criticizing law enforcement, calling it a hate crime

A Conservative councilor in Great Britain was arrested for a "hate crime" this past week. His violating behavior? Retweeting a video criticizing law enforcement in the United Kingdom who mistreated a Christian street preacher.

Cllr Anthony Stevens, 50, from Wellinborough, Northamptonshire, told the media that British police came to his home and escorted him to a local police station for questioning over the retweets, which occurred on his personal Twitter (now known as "X") account with a whopping 76 followers.

The incident with Christian street preacher Oluwole Ilisanmi occurred in Southgate, London, back in 2019. Police officers snatched Ilisanmi's Bible after accusing him of engaging in Islamophobia  Islam does not recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and instead puts the "prophet" Muhammad on a pedestal.

It turns out that the state was deemed to be in the wrong, and Ilisanmi was later awarded 2,500 (roughly $3,200) for his wrongful arrest.

(Related: Did you know that Brits caught committing "hate crimes" can lose access to the government-run National Health Service [NHS]?)

UK allows Muslims to preach on its streets but not Christians

In the video that Cllr Stevens shared and was arrested for, a British police officer was seen stating that Muslim preachers are allowed to preach on the street but not Christian preachers because the latter are preaching "hate."

Cllr Stevens, a member of the Wellingborough Town Council, says he was told by British police officers that the video he shared via a retweet was originally posted by a member of Britain First, a far-right political party in the UK.

Cllr Stevens responded by stating that he had no idea who originally shared the video, nor was he even aware of what Britain First is. The only reason he posted the video, Cllr Stevens then said, is because it shows "disturbing evidence of religious discrimination in law enforcement."

British police further persecuted Cllr Stevens by questioning why he tweeted support for Cllr King Lawal, a fellow councillor in Northamptonshire who was similarly "canceled" for expressing his Christian beliefs in relation to LGBT issues.

Cllr Lawal, 31, is the only black councillor in Northamptonshire. He was suspended by his local Conservative group back in July after he responded to various Pride parade images with the following statement:

"When did pride become a thing to celebrate. Because of pride, Satan fell as an archangel. Pride is not a virtue but a sin. Those who have pride should repent of their sins and return to Jesus Christ. He can save you."

Later that same month, Cllr Stevens retweeted a petition calling for Cllr Lawal's positions within the Conservative party to be reinstated, writing:

"If you value free speech please sign and share."

Because of this particular retweet, law enforcement grilled Cllr Stevens even more, to which he told them that he is a "free speech absolutist." Even if he does not agree with someone's speech, Cllr Stevens still supports it.

To this, British police further grilled Cllr Stevens by asking him if he supports the idea that pride is a sin, including at LGBT events, to which Cllr Stevens stood his ground and reiterated that "it did not matter whether he agreed with what he said or not; he believed he had the right to say it without having his life torn apart."

Cllrs Stevens and Lawal would both make great liberty-minded politicians in the United States, would they not? In many ways, they are more constitutional than our own politicians  and very bravely so  and would be welcomed with open arms were they to relocate here (wink, wink).

"Hate speech" laws are a Trojan horse way of stealing people's freedom of speech. Learn more at FirstAmendment.news.

Sources for this article include:

Telegraph.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
Calvary Chapel San Jose, fined for defying covid lockdowns, SUES California for illegally tracking worshipers

Pastor Mike McClure of Calvary Chapel San Jose, a prominent church in California, is suing Santa Clara County for issuing a fine of $1.2 million during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "pandemic" because the church remained open for services rather than closed as demanded by the police state.

The lawsuit demands restitution from Santa Clara County for illegally spying on church members at Calvary Chapel San Jose, using SafeGraph, an advanced geofencing-based surveillance system, to track their whereabouts.

Whenever a church member was observed through the geofencing surveillance system via their smartphones to have attended a service at Calvary Chapel San Jose during the "pandemic" lockdowns, Santa Clara County would tack on another fine.

Citing both the First and Fourth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the suit alleges that Santa Clara County violated church members' right to privacy and protection against warrantless searches.

(Related: While Calvary Chapel stayed open during COVID, other churches closed their doors and later pushed COVID "vaccines" on their congregants.)

Don't forget: The COVID "police" aggressively targeted Christians because they HATE Jesus and those who follow Him

The liberty-minded group Advocates for Faith & Freedom filed the suit on behalf of Calvary Chapel San Jose, specifying that Santa Clara County's use of SafeGraph for such purposes was unconstitutional and illegal.

Not only did congregants not grant permission for the warrantless spying and surveillance, but they did not even know it was occurring.

"This type of expansive geofencing operation is not only an invasion of privacy but represents a terrifying precedent if allowed to go unaddressed," the complaint reads.

"As it stands, Defendants assert that, as long as they call it research, any level of government can target and spy on any individual or group at any time for any duration."

The suit goes on to accuse Santa Clara County of engaging in such illegal activity for more than a year, "with seemingly no oversight, boundaries, or limitations."

Not only were members of Calvary Chapel San Jose tracked and spied on for going to church during the lockdowns, but Santa Clara County officials also tracked them doing other things such as going to the grocery store or even going to the washroom.

"The implication of this is that those targeted by this controversial, dragnet-style surveillance weren't safe from it anywhere  be it the prayer room or the bathroom," Infowars reports.

In its defense, Santa Clara County is attempting to claim that the entire illegal operation was merely conducted for "research" purposes, and nothing more. The plantifs reject this argument, once again citing the provisions of the U.S. Constitution that protect against this kind of illegal probing.

If Santa Clara County's argument is ruled valid, then it will set a precedent for warrantless government intrusion of all kinds, just so long as it is officially dubbed as being for "research," argues Advocates for Faith & Freedom.

"This is not just un-American; it is downright Orwellian," the group says.

So far, Santa Clara County has not responded to the suit with anything more than what it claimed before it was filed: that the spying was merely "research," and is thus justified.

"Someone needs to find a way to track all elected officials and police in that county and post it online so people can know their locations at all times," one commenter suggested. "Let's see how they like it."

"The satanists were tracking the Christians to find blame with them, just like their father satan does," wrote another about the spiritual implications of this kind of flagrant abuse by Santa Clara County.

The latest news about the ongoing litigatory fallout from the illegal COVID mandates can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

Infowars.com

NaturalNews.com
Emails show Weiss, DOJ colluded to SUBVERT congressional investigation on Hunter Biden case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) intervened on behalf of Special Counsel David Weiss to respond to congressional inquiries related to investigations on the Biden family's business dealings, according to emails.

The emails were among the first batch of documents provided to the Heritage Foundation (HF) after it filed a lawsuit against the DOJ. Mike Howell, director of HF's Oversight Project, initiated a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The Biden administration attempted to slow-walk the release of documents in relation to the FOIA request, which led to Howell escalating with a lawsuit.

A court ruled in favor of the Washington, D.C.-based think tank and ordered the DOJ to comply with the request. It gave an Aug. 25 deadline to the Justice Department to produce "all records collected from Weiss and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf" that adhere to the FOIA request.

One email in the tranche of documents involved Weiss asking Shannon Hanson, one of his lead assistant U.S. attorneys, if the DOJ's Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) responded to a letter sent by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI). The senators' May 2022 letter addressed to Weiss alone sought information concerning Congress' Hunter Biden probe.

"Not to my knowledge," replied Hanson. She then followed up with a second email noting that Joe Gaeta, then deputy assistant attorney general (AG) in the OLA, was working on their response. The OLA then responded to the senators' letter in June 2022, saying that the Justice Department would not respond to their questions.

In July 2022, Grassley and Johnson sent another letter requesting information related to the Hunter Biden investigation. This correspondence was addressed to Weiss, AG Merrick Garland and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray. The DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel intervened, telling Weiss in an email that it would "take the lead on drafting a response" to the senators' letter.

Patel: It is standard procedure to rout congressional inquiries to OLA

According to the Federalist, the emails raise questions on whether "Weiss' responses to congressional investigators were under the direction of the DOJ" and if both the special counsel and the DOJ "colluded to mislead Congress."

Meanwhile, Howell said the emails show that while Garland was claiming Weiss had the independence to bring whatever charges he wanted, the AG was "simultaneously running communications" from the special counsel to the two senators. (Related: House Judiciary Committee: David Weiss appointment as special counsel in DOJ's Hunter Biden probe a COVER-UP TACTIC.)

"The only reason these documents are starting to trickle out is because we sued for transparency," he told the Federalist. "We've faced taxpayer-funded resistance at every step of the way and havent given up. [Nevertheless,] the DOJ is under a judicial order to continue this production."

The next tranche of documents in relation to HF's FOIA request is due by Oct. 31. Unless the Republican-controlled House of Representatives files a subpoena seeking access to those documents, the American public will have an exclusive first peek at further exchanges between Weiss and the Justice Department.

Former Trump administration staffer and attorney Kash Patel put in his two cents on the issue. He told Breitbart: "It is standard procedure for congressional inquiries to be routed through the [DOJ's] legislative affairs shop. What is not standard is for the DOJ to create 'conspiratorial schemes concocted to subvert valid constitutional oversight and stonewall documentation production.'"

"It also shows how Republicans allow themselves to be dominated by DOJ's criminal conduct by flailing about with another strongly worded letter. Impeach them for breaking the law, or stop complaining when you get punched in the face," continued Patel, who penned the children's book "The Plot Against The King."

Visit BidenCrimeFamily.news for more stories about the DOJ and the Hunter Biden investigation.

Watch Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) explaining why the appointment of David Weiss as special counsel "demonstrates a level of desperation" below.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

IRS whistleblower who revealed how DOJ slow-walked Hunter Biden tax probe TESTIFIES before Congress.

Whistleblower: DOJ is obstructing IRS probe into Hunter Biden's taxes from the millions he "earned" in business deals overseas.

Lawyer says Biden's DOJ hiding hundreds of documents revealing payoffs, gifts to Hunter, Jim Biden from China, Russia, Ukraine.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

TheFederalist.com

Brighteon.com
As financial terrorists economically rape Americans, panic internet searches for live off grid skyrocket

The search term "live off grid" has reached the highest number of hits in internet searches in five years as increasingly more Americans realize they are screwed due to the financial terrorism of their overlords.

American housing is now so obscenely expensive, and the country is in such shambles, that more Americans than perhaps ever before are trying to flee the globalist plantation while there is still time.

The regimes of both Democrat and Republican dating back many decades have all printed money endlessly, which has so diluted the value of U.S. fiat dollars that a whole truckload of Federal Reserve paper is barely enough to buy groceries anymore, let alone a house.

Depending on the media source, both sides of the political aisle are blaming each other for this mess, but the truth is that both sides are responsible for creating it in the first place.

(Related: Remember when the U.S. Treasury threatened to starve America unless everyone got "vaccinated" for the Wuhan coronavirus [COVID-19]?)

America has become a third world DUMP, minus the culture

A mass exodus of the well-to-do from the cities to rural areas already occurred during the first Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "pandemic." Now, many more are signing up to do the same as the Biden regime readies to unleash a second COVID "pandemic" starting this fall.

What will become of America's major cities in the process? Expect a lot more rioting, looting, and spray-painting of anti-white, pro-black messaging, along with rampant violent crime, escalating public drug use, and the loss of America's economy.

The off-the-grid sector of the economy is booming, though, all things considered. The RV Industry Association put out several reports this year stating that parked mobile home shipments are surging on a monthly basis compared to the same time last year.

As more Americans discover they cannot afford to buy a real house, many are turning to vans, shipping containers, and cardboard boxes  whatever they can find, wherever they can find to put it.

Home improvement stores are also now selling things like the "Getaway Pad," a 540-square-foot one-bedroom "tiny home steel frame building kit" that sells for a cool $43,832.00.

This is a lot of money for some steel and a pad, but it is a lot less money than your average dump in a typical American city. The answer is thus an easy one for those with only so much money to spend.

"Just leave the country," one commenter on a story about all this suggested to those who have the means to do so. "It gets way more affordable, and way more peaceful."

"One hundred years ago, it was easier to flee when people saw things getting bad," rebutted another about how things have changed. "There are no more real bastions left. Maybe a few pockets left, but the world got small really quickly."

Others spoke about how even formerly "free" areas of the United States are becoming tyrannical hellholes, especially the ones that have been targeted by the globalists for conversion into so-called "15-minute cities."

"Methinks the government and the 'wildfires' that are going on are linked to force people to live in 15-minute cities," one suggested about all the chaos that is currently taking place, including in West Maui.

"You are not safe just because you live in a 'red' state," wrote another. "Yes, it might be a little better for now, but the capitals get taken over by communists and proceed to pass leftist laws that end up destroying the rest of the state and its people in time."

It won't be long now. Learn more at Collapse.news.

Sources for this article include:

Infowars.com

NaturalNews.com
Rising number of Florida counties sign on to resolution to ban COVID vaccines

A resolution passed back in July by the Brevard County Republican Executive Committee (BREC) in Florida is gaining traction across the Sunshine State as conservatives move forward with plans to ban all sales and administration of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "vaccines" in the state.

As we previously reported, GOP leaders in Florida declared COVID injections to be a "biological and technological weapon" rather than a medicine. As such, they want Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to ban COVID jabs from being sold or administered anywhere in the state of Florida.

At first it was just Brevard County that took this position. Now there are at least nine other counties across Florida that have adopted the same resolution, as well as numerous state lawmakers and Florida's Congressional delegation.

The 83-page resolution also calls on state Attorney General Ashley Moody to immediately seize all remaining COVID jab supplies and discard them. Then, Moody would need to conduct a forensic analysis of the shots to see what they really are and what they contain.

Author of Biological Weapons and Anti-Terrorist Act of 1989 says COVID "frankenshots" are "existentially dangerous to the lives, health, and well-being of the people of Florida"

Psychotherapist Joseph Sansone is behind the "Ban the Jab" initiative, having written it up for the state's Republicans to use. Local-level GOP officials in the following Florida counties have joined on to the resolution:

 Brevard

 Collier

 Franklin

 Lake

 Lee

 Santa Rosa

 Seminole

 St. Johns

 Hillsborough

"On behalf of the preservation of the human race, the Lee County Republican Party calls upon Gov. DeSantis and the state legislature to prohibit the sale and distribution of Covid injections and all mRNA injections in the state of Florida, and for the state Attorney General to immediately seize all Covid injections and mRNA injections in the state of Florida and have a forensic analysis conducted," the committee in Franklin County said in voting to adopt the resolution on August 19.

The resolution is not just a declaration and request. It also contains more than 140 exhibits of evidence pointing to the independent findings of biomedical professionals and others who have expressed concerns about COVID jabs. It also contains a statement from Francis A. Boyle, a lawyer and professor who is credited with writing the Biological Weapons and Anti-Terrorist Act of 1989.

It is the Biological Weapons and Anti-Terrorist Act of 1989 that defines what a bioweapon is. And according to Boyle and the others, COVID jabs absolutely qualify as such, with Boyle himself specifically calling them "COVID frankenshots."

According to Boyle, COVID jabs are "existentially dangerous to the lives, health, and well-being of the people of Florida."

In addition to having the support of Boyle and a host of GOP leaders throughout Florida, the resolution also has as backing some 17,000 doctors and medical scientists who back in May of 2022 gathered together for the Global COVID Summit.

The purpose of that summit was to "recognize that the disastrous COVID-19 public health policies imposed on doctors and our patients are the culmination of a corrupt medical alliance of pharmaceutical, insurance, and healthcare institutions, along with the financial trusts which control them."

Also cited in the resolution is data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a government database run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Immediately following the launch of Operation Warp Speed by the Trump administration, the number of VAERS reports increased by 1,700 percent.

In Florida, which has its own VAERS system as well, "life-threatening conditions" increased by 4,400 percent after COVID jabs were officially launched. In 2021 alone, there were 41,000 VAERS reports filed in the state of Florida.

The latest news about the scourge of COVID injections can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

SlayNews.com

NaturalNews.com
Expert: RADIOACTIVE WATER from Fukushima nuclear power plant could cause ANIMAL MUTATIONS

An expert has warned that the release of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean could cause animal mutations

The warning came amid Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida approving a proposal by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to release treated and diluted wastewater from the plant. TEPCO pushed through with the discharge of radioactive water from the plant on Aug. 24, unloading it in the Pacific Ocean.

But Dr. Timothy Mousseau of the University of South Carolina (USC) has expressed worry. According to the professor at USC's Biological Sciences Department, the Fukushima wastewater could trigger the appearance of mutated animals due to the effects of an under-researched radioactive chemical called tritium. Mousseau warned that tritium, the only radioactive isotope of hydrogen, may genetically damage marine life.

"We see genetic damage. We see effects on reproduction. We see effects on development and we see effects on longevity," he said. "And so, there's certainly potential for all of these negative effects, including genetic mutations. What that means, and what the long-term impacts will be, we have no idea. But the potential is there."

Currently, there isn't a lot of information about tritium because of limited research so the effects it could have on marine life is unclear. But Mosseau said early indications point to the possibility of tritium being just as dangerous as other well-known radioactive chemicals. Although the wastewater Japan is shedding has been treated, Mosseau said tritium could still be present as it is difficult to get rid of.

"Tritium is not removed in any way from this treatment process. It escapes the treatment process that they have in place because it's basically water," he added.

Japan's discharge of Fukushima wastewater to take decades

Japan has started pumping more than a million metric tons (MT) of treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi plant, a process that will take decades to complete. The goal of dumping the wastewater is to finally shut the plant completely down. Tanks on the site hold about 1.3 million (MT) of the water - enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

TEPCO, the utility responsible for the plant, has been filtering the contaminated water to remove isotopes. The filtration process leaves only tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is hard to separate. It will dilute the water until tritium levels fall below regulatory limits before pumping it into the sea from the site on the coast north of Tokyo.

Tritium is considered to be relatively harmless because its radiation is not energetic enough to penetrate human skin. Water containing tritium is routinely released from nuclear plants around the world, and regulatory authorities support dealing with the Fukushima water in this way. But according to a 2014 article in Scientific American, tritium can raise cancer risks when ingested at levels higher than in discharged Fukushima wastewater.

Kishida said the central government in Tokyo will take responsibility until the disposal of treated Fukushima wastewater is completed, "even if it takes several decades." Under the plan he approved, 31,200 tons of wastewater will be discharged by March 2024.

Safety of discharged water comes into question

Japan and scientific organizations say the water is safe, but environmental activists argue that all possible impacts have not been studied. Japan says it needs to start releasing the water as storage tanks are full.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nation's nuclear watchdog, gave the plan a green light in July. It argued that the proposal "met international standards and the impact on people and the environment would be 'negligible.'" (Related: IAEA says Fukushima nuclear plant plan to dump radioactive waste into Pacific Ocean is perfectly safe.)

Greenpeace said that the radiological risks have not been fully assessed and the biological impacts of tritium, carbon-14, strontium-90 and iodine-129  to be released with the water  "have been ignored."

A study published April 2021 in the Journal of Radiation Research outlined the potential health effects of tritium. The study served as a response to the discharge of tritium-laced water. This water is filtered using the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) and stored in the now-decommissioned Fukushima power plant prior to discharge.

FukushimaWatch.com has more news about the defunct power plant.

Watch this video about the mutant animals of Chernobyl  something that could also happen to the marine animals where Fukushima wastewater is released.

This video is from the Daily Videos channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Hong Kong plans widespread BAN of Japanese sea products if Fukushima dumps nuclear water into the ocean.

Radioactive Fukushima water to be released into the ocean.

ENDANGERING the Pacific Ocean: Japanese proposal to dump radioactive water from disabled power plant gets APPROVAL.

Sources include:

DailyStar.co.uk

Knewz.com

Reuters.com

Academic.OUP.com

Brighteon.com
On August 14, the same store was hit again. Two men were caught on camera leaving the store, calmly exiting the store while toting a bag presumably filled with stolen goods. (Related: Retail analyst: Theft is growing at a faster rate than sales.)

Flash robberies involve groups of thieves overwhelming store employees and security personnel, rapidly grabbing high-value items and escaping before law enforcement can respond effectively. These incidents have become increasingly frequent, targeting high-end retailers where thefts often exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A similar incident happened at a Macy's store in Downtown Los Angeles. A group of at least five were filmed ransacking the Macy's store at the Santa Anita shopping mall in Arcadia. The hooded thieves were seen loading bottles of designer perfume into trash bags.

This comes in the wake of a series of high-profile thefts that have shaken the city's retail landscape. In the weeks leading up to these incidents, three women were arrested for allegedly stealing approximately $30,000 worth of designer handbags from a Glendale store.

Another case took place at a Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) store at the Americana at Brand in Glendale, where over 30 thieves swarmed the establishment and made off with an estimated $300,000 worth of merch.

Similar incidents have occurred at a luxury denim store in Gabcock Park, a Nike Store in East LA and a Gucci store at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.

Zero cash bail policy in Los Angeles contributes to the increasing crime rate

City officials are pointing to the zero cash bail policy of Los Angeles as a major contributor to the ongoing crime wave. Under this policy, people who are arrested and charged with a crime are released from custody without having to pay bail money upfront.
Individuals posing as buyers may have planted bomb on doomed plane carrying Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin

Hours before the plane carrying Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin crashed last week , some individuals were given access to it, fueling suspicions that a bomb was planted onboard.

Video has surfaced showing people posing as "potential buyers" onboard the plane before takeoff. The "potential buyers," including a woman with a handbag, reportedly had access to the plane for around an hour between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. The plane crashed early evening.

Prigozhin was one of seven passengers and three crew members onboard the doomed plane that crashed into a ball of flames. The plane was on its way to Saint Petersburg when it crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in Russia's western Tver region. Flight data shows the plane reached an altitude of some 28,000 feet before it suddenly stopped transmitting tracking details.

The Russian state media reported that the bodies of eight people had been found on the crash site. TASS, the official state news agency, reported that the plane "burned up" on impact. It had been in the air for about half an hour.

Debris from the wreckage was scattered over a wide expanse near Kuzhenkino, and witnesses reported hearing an explosion followed by the plane's descent.

Was it a bomb or missile strike?

Video released by RIA Novosti showed a plane plummeting with one wing missing. The authenticity of the video could not be confirmed.

"It was something like a bang, like a shot," a woman from Kuzhenkino told RIA Novosti. "Then suddenly an explosion, I looked up and heard a sound above me  it was like pops, like several explosions. The plane started to swerve. Then a plume of smoke emerged and the plane began to descend, to dive."

Russian authorities are still investigating and conducting search operations.

An onboard bomb or a missile could have caused the crash, according to CNN veteran science and aerospace reporter Miles O'Brien.

"Its coming down quickly in a spin, and its trailing a lot of smoke. So, this is an aircraft that was on fire. And it looks like some structural pieces, aerodynamic surfaces, were missing," he said. "An aircraft like this... they just don't catastrophically drop out of the sky without something very unusual happening."

However, U.S. officials cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions about the cause, but are not ruling out that an onboard explosive device caused the crash.

The crash came two months after Prigozhin mounted a mutiny against Russia's military leadership. Prigozhin's troops seized key military sites and marched toward Moscow where the Kremlin had deployed heavily armed troops to the streets. (Related: Was Prigozhins mutiny a Western intelligence op derailed by Russian spies?)

The showdown was averted, however, after a deal was struck that sent Prigozhin and his Wagner fighters to neighboring Belarus. Experts speculated that the warlord became a dead man walking after posing the biggest challenge against Russian President Vladimir Putin's 23-year rule.

"I don't know for a fact what happened, but I'm not surprised," said U.S. President Joe Biden, suggesting Putin's involvement.

Bill Browder, a Putin critic and formerly the largest investor in Russia, said other Wagner leaders and Prigozhin allies may now be either on the run or in hiding.

Visit RussiaReport.news for more stories about Russia and prominent Russian figures.

Watch Brannon Howse report about about the plane crash that killed Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

This video is from the Worldview Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Crashed Russian jet was carrying Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is now DEAD along with 9 others.

Wagner Group founder and leader Yevgeny Prigozhin presumed dead as Russia claims he was passenger in plane crash.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

CNN.com

Brighteon.com
U.S. military whistleblower who first uncovered Pentagon evidence showing COVID vaccines cause myocarditis SPEAKS OUT about massive increase in SUICIDES

In addition to triggering a massive wave of new myocarditis cases, the United States military's Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "vaccine" mandate also led to a substantial rise in cases of attemptedand other forms of violence.

This is the claim of Lt. Ted Macie, the military whistleblower who previously blew the whistle about how the medical database run by the Pentagon (Pentagram) shows that rates of cardiovascular disease went through the roof following the Trump administration's launch of Operation Warp Speed.

Lt. Macie, an active-duty Navy Medical Service Corps officer, recently came forward to reveal that compared to the average from 2016 through 2021, cases of accidents, assaults, self-harm, and suicide attempts have risen so massively that it is criminal for the government to keep a lid on it.

Cases of self-harm among service members rose 147 percent after the U.S. government started forcing them get injected. Injuries from assaults also rose by a whopping 828 percent.

(Related: Remember when the Pentagon lifted its covid jab mandate after it had already forced just about every service member to get injected?)

Pentagon IGNORES letter from Senate Subcommittee on Investigations concerning COVID jab health destruction in military

Lt. Macie says he first began "keeping an eye on" the Pentagon's medical database, known officially as the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED), after another whistleblower warned him that there was a major uptick in health-related incidents in the winter of both 2021 and 2022.

Like private medicine, the DMED utilizes the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes to log medical incidents. In the military's case, it uses ICD codes in the DMED to mark whenever a servicemember sees a military or civilian health care provider either on- or off-base.

The DMED system does not, it is important to note, log any personally identifiable information about servicemembers' whose conditions are reported to it.

Back in January, Lt. Macie and his wife traveled to Washington with a report showing that, based on DMED data, myocarditis cases in 2021 had jumped 130.5 percent compared to the average from years 2016 through 2020.

U.S. officials have confirmed that all four of the COVID "vaccines" currently authorized for use in the U.S. cause myocarditis.

The same data shows that diagnoses of pulmonary embolism are up 41.2 percent; blood clots in the lungs and ovarian dysfunction are up 38.2 percent; and "complications and ill-defined descriptions of heart disease" are up 37.7 percent.

In 2022, certain other whistleblowers likewise reported disturbing spikes in disease rates right after the launch of Operation Warp Speed. The Pentagon's response to their claims is that the data is incorrect because it somehow became "corrupt."

After the Pentagon "fixed" the data, Lt. Macie and numerous others pointed out that rates of disease and death are still noticeably higher in the military after the jab mandates occurred compared to before.

Fortunately for Lt. Macie, he remains the only active-duty member at his command who did not get jabbed for COVID. He is actively suing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and service members continue to approach him in confidence to disclose their jab-related adverse reactions.

"These anecdotal, but compelling personal injuries, were a motivator to get things on the right track," Lt. Macie says.

Members of the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), confirmed the findings of Lt. Macie's report before sending a letter to Sec. Austin asking the Pentagon to either confirm or deny  the Pentagon ignored that letter.

"In the event our suspicions were correct, I kept additional data to reveal as soon as the data we brought [to Washington] was confirmed, or after being ignored for some time," Lt. Macie said, indicating that he expected the Pentagon to not respond.

The latest news about the next round of COVID the government has planned can be found at Plague.info.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
Ukrainian prosecutor confirms being fired while investigating Burisma due to Bidens influence and pressure on then-Ukraine president

During a tell-all interview with Fox News's Brian Kilmeade, former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin confirmed he was fired at President Joe Biden's insistence because of his investigation into Burisma, a Ukraine-based holding company for a group of energy exploration.

"I have said repeatedly in my previous interviews that [then-Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko fired me at the insistence of the then-Vice President Biden because I was investigating Burisma," the nation's once top prosecutor said in the interview. "[Poroshenko] understood and so did Vice President Biden that had I continued to oversee the Burisma investigation, we would have found the facts about the corrupt activities that they were engaging in. That included both Hunter Biden and Devon Archer and others."

Biden's son Hunter served on the energy company's board from April 2014 until he left the position in 2019.

Meanwhile, a July 20 copy of an unclassified Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI-) generated record indicated that a confidential human source (CHS) was told why the younger Biden held a position on the board of directors was that he would "protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems." This was a unique selling point for Burisma because allegedly, they did not "trust Hunter was that smart." (Related: Archer: Joe Biden fired prosecutor investigating Burisma for corruption because the company was paying Hunter for protection.)

Burisma was planning to potentially buy a U.S.-based oil firm and launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, during this timeframe. Since Shokin was already looking into the company affairs, the CHS sounded off that it would be difficult for the IPO to take place. Burisma founder and Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky assured him/her that "Hunter will take care of all of those issues through his dad."

Then in 2018, Biden publicly admitted and even boasted about his role in Shokin's removal. During a Council on Foreign Relations panel, the president recounted, "I said, 'You're not getting the billion. I'm going to be leaving here,'" he added. "I looked at them and said, 'I'm leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money.' Well, son of a bitch, he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."

In 2018 Joe Biden bragged about his threats to withhold aid money to Ukraine if former President Poroshenko didn't fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. The prosecutor was investigating Burisma Holdings, the energy company from whom his son Hunter was collecting a paycheck. pic.twitter.com/hins3hAz9q  Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 8, 2022

The White House has been disputing the claim that the younger Biden influenced his father into using his "power" to convince Kyiv to fire a prosecutor. In a statement to the media outlet, it pointed to indications that Shokin was fired because he had been too soft on corruption.

Washington D.C. also stated that the prosecutor's office had not been investigating Burisma or Hunter at the time of his ousting in March 2016, and it pointed to three reports published within weeks of each other in 2019 by the Washington Post, Associated Press, and New York Times that said Shokin's office wasn't investigating Burisma.

Devon Archer met with then-Secretary of State Kerry weeks before Shokin's removal

Hunter Biden's former business partner and fellow Burisma board member, Devon Archer, met with then-Secretary of State John Kerry just weeks before the Ukrainian prosecutor was fired. According to the bombshell report, a meeting between Kerry and Archer was confirmed via a redacted State Department email dated March 2, 2016, which stated, "'Devon Archer coming to see S today at 3:00 pm  need someone to meet/greet him at C Street,'" Although the identity of "S" was initially obscured, Fox News has confirmed that it refers to Kerry.

During this time, then-Vice President Biden had just returned from Ukraine to urge Kyiv to dismiss Shokin.

Upon the initial release of the email in 2019, Sens. Chuck Grassley, (R-Iowa), and Ron Johnson, (R-Wis) expressed concerns about the meeting, sparking a letter to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The GOP duo requested access to all records related to the controversial meeting, according to the media portal. "E-mails recently obtained and made public through a FOIA request indicate that Burisma's consulting firm used Hunter Biden's role on Burisma's board to gain access and potentially influence matters at the State Department," the senators wrote in November 2019.

Meanwhile, the House Oversight and Ways and Means Committees are currently investigating the damning allegations of the bribery scandal linked to Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential election. House Republicans have launched several probes into the allegations and are demanding documents from the White House. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy even issued a threat to the Biden administration, saying that if the president refuses to comply with the document requests, he could face impeachment proceedings.

Discover more about the Biden family's illegal international business dealings on BidenCrimeFamily.news.

Sources for this article include:

HeadlineUSA.com

FoxNews.com

Grassley.Senate.gov
Thousands of U.S. doctors pedaled Covid JABS for CASH BONUSES making thousands of dollars daily while infecting millions of people with clotting spike proteins

Big Pharma shelled out billions of dollars extra to U.S. doctors who bombarded their patients with experimental, dangerous, vascular-clogging clot shots also known as "Covid vaccinations." It was a no-holds-barred mass human experiment with gene-mutating injections never even proven safe or effective on animals.

The FDA never approved them, and they did NOT qualify for the "Emergency Use Authorization" protocol, even though the lying, talking heads at the CDC said they would "flatten the curve." Thousands of U.S. doctors got more and more loads of cash for every patient they injected, and the bonuses were bigger in a week than most Americans make at their job over an entire year. Think about that for a minute.

Deadly mRNA injections promoted with lavish bonuses revealed by leaked insurance documents

Health insurance companies are on the hook now for increasing cash payouts on an INCREMENTAL SCALE for the most patients any doctor could shoot up with the deadly myocarditis-inducing clot shots for Covid. We're talking thousands of dollars daily here. It's cash over ethics when it comes to deadly Covid "treatments" in America, and around the world.

Peddling deadly jabs for cash is worse than peddling snake oil. U.S. doctors have no business pushing "medications" that are not FDA approved, not safe, not effective, and completely experimental. Plus, the more shots each human gets, the less immune they are to the next variants, and it goes round and round, until all immunity is lost, and the human suffers from autoimmune disorders.

Someone who works for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield leaked a document out to journalists showing how the health provider creating a massive Covid jab incentive program against the Hippocratic Oath doctors are supposed to uphold at all times. Oops. Most U.S. doctors couldn't care less, as they push venom-peptide based pharmaceuticals and deadly vaccines on every human, including newborn babies and pregnant mothers. Who cares if they die, or get autism, or heart disorders, because the cash incentives are massive, right?

Meanwhile, the health care companies lied through their teeth, saying the shots were all safe and effective, and the "best and safest ways people can protect themselves and their families against the virus." Sure. Now look at them all. People are dropping dead like flies from myocarditis, pericarditis, strange rubbery vascular clots, heart attacks, strokes  and it's all labeled "Died Suddenly" in the mainstream news.

It went like this: As a participating practice in the COVID-19 Provider Vaccine Incentive program, we recognize your hard work by offering incentives for helping patients make the choice to become vaccinated. (Anthem Medicaid)

Some doctors were paid bonuses of $100 per new vaccine victim, and even more for overall percentages of covered members by Anthem:

40 percent of Anthem members vaccinated equals $150 bonus per newly jabbed member

50 percent of Anthem members vaccinated equals $175 bonus per newly jabbed member

60 percent of Anthem members vaccinated equals $200 bonus per newly jabbed member

75 percent of Anthem members vaccinated equals $250 bonus per newly jabbed member

Many doctors made close to a million dollars EXTRA in CASH bonuses from stabbing their patients with experimental mRNA "technology." This is no conspiracy theory either, as it's all documented in the national open-source public website.

Bookmark Vaccines.news to your favorite independent websites for updates on experimental gene therapy injections that lead directly to vascular clots, hypertension, myocarditis, pericarditis, heart attacks, strokes, and Long-Vax-Syndrome.

Sources for this article include:

Pandemic.news

NewsAdddicts.com

NaturalNews.com
Outgoing NAF Atsugi commander warns: U.S. and its allies face DANGEROUS TIMES in Western Pacific

The U.S. and its allies face "amazingly dangerous times" in the Western Pacific region due to "authoritarian and totalitarian" regimes in the region, according to the outgoing commander of a Navy air facility near Tokyo.

"Unfortunately, our deterrence efforts are arguably not working, and as a result, nothing less than our way of life as underwritten by the rules-based international order is directly under assault," Navy Capt. Manning Montagnet said during a turnover ceremony inside hangar 1430 of the Naval Air Facility (NAF) Atsugi.

Navy Capt. Nicolas Leclerc, who was previously a member of the International Military Staff at NATO headquarters in Belgium, was named Montagnet's successor as NAF Atsugi commander.

Flanked by an MH-60 Seahawk helicopter and a Navy C-12 turboprop, Montagnet spoke before an audience of 200 and warned that military deterrence may not be working. He named North Korea, Russia and China as "three of the top five adversaries," and noted their proximity to Japan. (Related: WWIII looms: Biden administration working on another PROXY WAR involving Taiwan and China.)

"But heres the thing: They have to go through us first. They have to take on our alliances, our friendships, our shared common values, our technology and know-how," he said. "Weve already begun our pivot. Were training differently  more jointly, more comprehensively  in order to take on the task before us. This base, this installation, is an ever-increasing part of that effort."

NAF Atsugi a vital military hub in the region

NAF Atsugi is like a power center for planes and helicopters. A facility shared with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the base is located about 16 kilometers west of Yokohama and about 36 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.

Covering an area of 1,249 acres, it is a critical logistics and maintenance hub and home to Fleet Air Western Pacific. Three Navy helicopter squadrons  two maritime strike squadrons and one sea combat  are stationed there.

NAF Atsugi has runways, taxiways and hangars, making it ready for all kinds of planes, from fighters to transport ones. The base is home to U.S. Navy and Marine Corps squads that do important missions like patrolling the seas and carrying out strikes.

The base also helps aircraft carriers do their job by providing a place for planes to take off and land safely. It was a major naval base during both the Korean War and Vietnam War.

Montagnet, who took command of the base in September 2020, told Stars and Stripes that he envisions NAF Atsugi playing a "major supportive role" in deterring regional conflict. He will relocate to the Navy Region Mid-Atlantic in Norfolk, Virginia after his stint in Japan.

Leclerc, on the other hand, is hoping to build on his predecessor's successes and to make NAF Atsugi "relevant" to the challenges. "We have concerns with some of the neighbors near Japan," he told Stars and Stripes. "Our goal is to represent the U.S. and provide the requirements in a supportive role, as mentioned, that are necessary for the U.S. to meet its goals."

The new commander of NAF Atsugi graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2000 with a degree in computer science. He has logged over 2,300 flight hours piloting both the MH-53E Sea Dragon and MH-60S Seahawk helicopters. Leclerc's past assignments include tours as the executive officer and commander of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 in San Diego, and the commissioning air officer aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli.

Visit NationalSecurity.news for more stories like this.

Watch retired Col. John Mills warning the public that China's Navy is now larger than that of the U.S. below.

This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Cover-up? U.S. Navy says it detected Titan sub implosion DAYS ago.

Bidens woke Navy now training sailors to create proper pronoun 'safe spaces' as Russia, China laugh.

Navy secretary admits crisis in U.S. defense stockpiles: 'Decision to arm ourselves or arm Ukraine'.

Sources include:

Stripes.com

Brighteon.com
Experts have warned that the extreme weather events, like flashfloods, wildfires, and the heat waves, which are being encountered by many countries at present could be a norm within a decade.

According to climate scientists, the heatwaves, wildfires as well as the floods experienced in most countries were considered to just be the "tip of the iceberg," as they warned that worse weather phenomenon could take place in the future.

They warned that in just a decade, the extreme weather events of 2023 could be considered as normal, unless there will be a dramatic increase in measures of addressing climate crisis.

Read Also: Volcanic Eruptions Will Increase Amid Climate Change Threats

Rise in global temperature, fossil fuel

The occurrence of the El Nino phenomenon has boosted the rise in global temperatures. July has been considered as the hottest month on record, with scientists saying that the planet has been entering an era of global boiling.

The recent increase in global temperatures was very evident as record-breaking heat conditions have been unfolding in parts of Europe and the United States. Further, heat wave and wildfire records have been broken around the world this year, from North America to Europe, and even in Asia.

Scientists have explained that climate models have accurately predicted this increase in global temperature because the human-induced greenhouse gas emissions have spiked. Still, a number of experts have mentioned the difficulty that they have been experiencing in projecting extreme weather events.

Dr. Raul Cordero from the University of Santiago in Chile said that the public seemed to partially blind on what to expect for extremes climate events.

Meanwhile, another expert, Dr. Rein Haarsma of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, stressed and warned that the extremes being encountered could induce tipping points such as the collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation as well as the melting of the Antarctic ice sheets.

Haarsma said that these weather events could have devastating impacts.

Amid these weather events, experts have called for slashing the burning of fossil fuels down to zero.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, when fossil fuels are burned, they release nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, which will then contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain.

The most common nitrogen-related compounds emitted into the air by human activities are collectively referred to as nitrogen oxides. Scientists explained that the presence of excess nitrogen in the atmosphere in the form of nitrogen oxides or ammonia could be deposited back onto land, where it washes into nearby water bodies.

These excess nutrients will then contribute to pollution, harmful algal blooms, and oxygen-deprived aquatic zones. Studies have found that excess ammonia and low pH in these areas are toxic to aquatic organisms and can adversely affect their survival.

Underestimating the effects?

According to experts, it seems that the public have been downplaying the impacts of these weather events.

They said that governments of countries should not only make empty promises but they should commit to fulfilling their obligations to protect the condition of the planet in the future.

Further, people should also learn to adapt to unavoidable impacts as well as to address the loss and damage caused by climate change in vulnerable nations.

Related Article: July As Hottest Month: Intense Global Heatwaves To Bring Health Risks

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Since the COVID-19 virus can evolve three times more quickly in white-tailed deer than it does in humans, scientists are concerned about the prospect of interspecies transmission.

COVID-19 in White-Tailed Deer, 30 Spillovers From Humans

Ohio State University (OSU) researchers found that white-tailed deer carry the COVID-19 virus, evolving three times faster than humans. From November 2021 to March 2022, they tested 1,522 deer in 83 of Ohio's 88 counties, revealing over 10% positive samples, where 59% of the tested counties were affected. Genomic analysis showed 30 deer infections from humans.

Prof. Andrew Bowman, one of the researchers from OSU, stated rare interspecies transmission is evident; 30 spillovers were documented, suggesting easy transmission between humans and animals. Growing evidence shows a two-way transmission is a possibility, where humans can contract it from deer. The study highlights virus dynamics in wildlife and potential cross-species infection, which is raising concerns among experts.

White-tailed deer serve as a COVID-19 virus reservoir, fostering mutations and potential transmission to other animals. In December 2021, researchers found the virus in Ohio deer at 9 sites. The team later expanded monitoring across various areas and revealed widespread presence, where urban and rural deer both tested positive. Antibodies were found in numerous blood samples, indicating that about 23.5% of Ohio's white-tailed deer likely contracted the virus. This highlights the deer's role in virus dynamics and suggests potential risks of transmission to wildlife and livestock.

Evidence for Multiple Spillovers

In 80 whole-genome sequences from samples, researchers found that 90% of the deer contracted the delta variant, which was dominant in fall 2021 in the US, along with the alpha variant. The deer's delta cases closely matched human variants at the same time, indicating multiple spillovers. Deer-to-deer transmission occurred in clusters crossing counties.

The timing suggests that some deer hold extinct human lineages of the alpha variant, while the human delta variant peaks. This prompted researcher Bowman to raise concerns about deer preserving outdated human variants.

If the virus spreads to humans again, immunization via vaccination is most recommended by experts to shield people against deadly infections. For instance, research on the impact of virus variants from deer on Siberian hamsters-an animal model frequently used in COVID-19 studies-showed unmistakably that vaccinated hamsters did not become sick as quickly as unvaccinated ones did after infection.

Also Read: Zombie Deer with Chronic Wasting Disease Seen Acting Abnormally in Oklahoma

Could Faster Evolution of the Virus in Deer Spill Back to Humans?

Unfortunately, it is anticipated that the deer variations in circulation will continue to evolve more quickly than those seen in humans.

According to Bowman, deer are not only acquiring and sustaining the COVID-19 virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, but their pace of evolution is also accelerating, maybe in a different direction than that of people.

Additional investigation is required to determine how the virus spreads from humans to white-tailed deer and to determine whether altered forms are likely to return to humans.

Although significant deer-origin strain outbreaks have not yet affected humans, animal-to-animal transmission is still quite likely. Additionally, since around 70% of Ohio's deer that are allowed to roam freely have not yet been exposed to the virus, there are a lot of immunologically immature animals that the virus might spread unchecked.

Bowman concludes that the presence of the animal host puts dangers into play. Bowman raises the question of whether this could become a route into other animal hosts, whether wild or domestic if this trajectory persists for years and a virus evolves to become deer-adapted.

Related Article: Fatal Chronic Wasting Disease Halts Rehabilitation Efforts for White-Tailed Deer Fawns in Tennessee
Even though hundreds of thousands of birds fly through Spain as part of their migration routes, 37,000 decide to spend the winter in a landfill so they may eat leftover food and rodents.

Winter in a Dump Site in Spain

Hundreds of thousands of birds, including storks, black kites, and vultures stop at a massive garbage dump in southern Spain to eat food scraps before starting their voyage across the Strait of Gibraltar, drawing the attention of ornithologists.

It is especially helpful for conducting a census, according to Jesus Pinilla of SEO/Birdlife in Andalucia, because there are so many birds gathered in one spot that it is simple to count and read their rings.

The piles of trash in the dump at Los Barrios, close to Cadiz, where the waste from 400,000 residents of Gibraltar and the surrounding area is dumped, make it simple for the birds to find food.

Feeding on Food Waste and Rats Instead of Migrating

Taking use of this food source is nothing new for birds, according to Pinilla, but this occurrence is seen as a change in migratory behavior, particularly in the case of white storks.

Until recently, all European white storks spent their winters in Africa. As the garbage dumps have expanded, the birds have discovered that they no longer need to travel 1,850 miles to sub-Saharan Africa in search of food if there is enough food available locally.

The more fed they are before they leave, the higher their chances of surviving the 8-mile journey due to strong crosswinds and the likelihood that any bird that falls down the sea will perish there due to their inability to regain flight.

According to researchers, a lot of rubber, plastic, and hazardous materials from landfills are unintentionally ingested by birds in addition to food and rats, which are another prey item that kites pursue.

Also Read: 22,000 Red Knot Shorebirds Return for Migration, Marking Successful Recovery of New Jersey Shores

Shift in Migratory Behavior

In an earlier investigation, Spanish scientists followed the activities of white storks, Ciconia ciconia, as they flew from northern Spain to Morocco and discovered that they frequently stopped at landfills along the way.

The scientists discovered that storks might disperse contaminants from landfills, resulting in heavy plastic and metal pollution in agricultural regions, notably in rice-growing areas.

However, by foraging in landfills along the way, storks were able to migrate more easily and with less energy expenditure, boosting their chances of survival. The population of European white storks has drastically expanded since the 1980s.

Additionally, the climate problem is forcing birds to adapt, particularly migratory species. Some species are being forced to alter their behaviors as a result of two hot summers in a row and a protracted drought in parts of Spain.

Pinilla later clarified that although they don't have all the information, it appears highly likely that storks, which depend on wetlands for food and reproduction, had altered their behavior as a result of the prolonged drought and may have given birth to fewer offspring.

Related Article: Migratory Devil Bird Sets Up Nest in New York in New Migration Patterns
India has successfully landed near the Moon's South Pole, becoming the first country ever to do so. The landing of the South Asian nation's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the lunar South Pole region on August 23 highlights the advance of the Indian space program. It also marks India in history to be the 4th country to land on the Moon after the United States, China, and the Soviet Union (currently Russia).

Since the NASA-led, Moon-landing Apollo missions from the early 60s until the early 70s, humans have not returned to our lunar neighbor until 2013 when China's Chang'e-4 spacecraft successfully landed on the far side of the Moon. Now, the Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander has set the stage for a new era of further lunar missions and large-scale expeditions.

Why Did India Land on the Moon?

Aside for the purposes of space exploration for the sake of human curiosity, one might wonder why did India landed on the Moon's South Pole region? After all, the dark side of the Moon has been a subject of imagination and mystery, as portrayed in films in previous years.

One of the key factors as to why the selected lunar site is unique is due to unexplored area consisting of craters and landscapes that are potentially more ancient than the ones discovered by the Apollo missions. It could also be rich in resources that future astronauts could use.

For now, India has planned to name their landing area near the lunar South Pole as "Shiv Shakti Point," where "Shiv" in Sanskrit translates to 'Shiva' and "Shakti" means 'power.' On the other hand, there were no astronauts on board the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft. This means the U.S. is the only country to have sent humans to the Moon, including Astronaut Neil Armstrong.

Also Read: Moon Mission Ahead! Private Rovers to Visit Apollo 17 Landing Site

Lunar South Pole

According to NASA, the Moon's South Pole is a place full of intrigue, mystery, and science, adding that its contrasting conditions make it hard for humans to land, as well as live and work, in the context of human lunar exploration. In the age of lunar rovers and other breakthrough robot missions, the lunar South Pole still remains largely unknown.

One of the largest hindrances to fully exploring the said lunar region is due to its position relative to our Solar System's source of light, the Sun. NASA explains that even if the Sun hovers below or above the horizon, there are places in the Moon's southern part that have high mountains that shadow deep craters. These shadowed regions have not received sunlight for billions of years, the U.S. space agency adds.

Based on multiple reports, some of the reasons why humans have not gone back to the Moon is first and foremost, the so-called space race between the U.S. and Russia is over already. Another reason is that the U.S. government cut the federal budget for NASA in previous decades, according to the National Air and Space Museum.

Related Article: Neil Armstrong's EKG Taken During Moon Landing Up For Auction [VIDEO]
Even though the ghost orchid is an airborne plant without leaves, it nonetheless grows through photosynthesis.

Getting to Know The Ghost Orchid

With its lengthy, delicate petals and nectar spur, the ghost orchid has long stood for the South Florida landscape. The ideal habitat for this sensitive plant is a deep swamp with cypress, pond apple, and palm trees. Similar to many other orchids, the ghost orchid has particular environmental needs, including a particular kind of fungus, high humidity, moderate temperatures, and dappled shade.

The ghost orchid is distinguishable from other kinds of orchids by the existence of fine white marks dotting its roots. Its tangled mass of green roots clings fast to the trunks of numerous tree species including pond apple, cypress, and maple, and is visible all year long. The ghost orchid blooms in June and July, which is the height of mosquito season.

Leafless But Uses Photosynthesis

Despite having no leaves, the ghost orchid has photosynthetic roots that may synthesize sugars when exposed to sunshine. Its roots work alongside a certain kind of fungus to assist it in absorbing nutrients in exchange for extra carbohydrates. The said fungus is a lifeline for the orchid, where it will not survive without this fungus.

The ghost orchid's leaves have been reduced to scales, and mature plants appear to be devoid of foliage. Additionally, it has a shortened stem, which can be challenging to see even on wild ghost orchids.

Pollination

It is pollinated at night by the sphinx moth, whose large tongue or proboscis enables it to sip nectar from the blossom that is difficult for other insects to access.

One or occasionally two white flowers with similar sepals and petals are produced by a small percentage of the plants, which flower from May to August. The labellum has three lobes, with a triangular one in the middle, while the other two are elongated and tapering. In hardwood hammocks, tramways, sloughs, and cypress domes, this orchid is found growing on a variety of tree types.

The moth that will pollinate it should visit multiple ghost orchid plants in order to spread pollen. The ghost orchid is a rare and endangered species of plant that rarely blooms.

Other moth species, including the gaudy sphinx moth and the streaked sphinx moth, have been recorded in recent fieldwork visiting the flowers. Two other moth species, the pawpaw sphinx and the fig sphinx moth, have also been seen with pollinia from ghost orchid flowers on their heads.

Also Read: Critically Endangered Cooper's Black Orchid Undergoes DNA Testing in Search for Species-Saving Fungi

Mysterious and Endangered

In South Florida, human development has resulted in habitat degradation and hydrologic changes that have contributed to the population fall of ghost orchids. Additionally, overharvesting has harmed this unique plant. In several public lands in South Florida, including Big Cypress National Preserve, the ghost orchid is currently protected. The ghost orchid and other orchid species will continue to live in South Florida's distinctive mosaic of ecosystems with continuous preservation.

In Florida, ghost orchids also grow slightly higher above the ground than in Cuba, presumably because, during the rainy season in South Florida, stagnant water inhibits seedlings from developing on submerged tree surfaces.

Since ghost orchid populations have already been steadily declining in the wild, hurricanes and other natural disasters may bring them close to extinction in the next 25 years or less, according to simulations of habitat alterations.

Related Article: New Orchid Species that Looks Like Glass Discovered in Most Common Places in Japan
The massive blaze in the northeastern region of Dadia National Park in Greece has remained out of control, with authorities saying that the flames in Greece was the largest wildfire incident that took place in Europe since 2020.

According to the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, a total of 81,000 hectares or 200,000 acres of land have been burnt into ashes following the wildfires in the past days.

Authorities said that the wide flames have continued to ravage most of the areas in the north of Alexandroupolis.

Update #EMSR686 #Greece



Our #RapidMappingTeam delivered its 6th Monitoring Product for the historic #wildfire that continues to ravage the areas north of #Alexandroupolis



A total burnt area of 808,7 km2 has been detected, an area larger than #NewYorkCity pic.twitter.com/Sy8U8skyfJ  Copernicus EMS (@CopernicusEMS) August 29, 2023

They noted that the wildfires have burned more than 310 sq miles or 810 sq kilometers, which is considered bigger than New York City.

Read Also: 77,000 Hectares Of Land Scorched By Greece's Wildfires; Experts Say It's One Of Europe's Largest Blaze

Deployment of assets

To mitigate the effects of the wildfires, the European Commission's Emergency Response Coordination Center has already mobilized a total of 11 firefighting planes and one helicopter from the rescEU reserve, stationed in six member states.

In addition to these air assets, a total of six European countries have contributed with six ground forest fire fighting teams via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

On August 20, the EU further deployed 11 rescEU firefighting airplanes stationed in Croatia, Cyprus, France Germany, Spain and Sweden, as well as one Blackhawk helicopter from Czechia.

A total of 407 fire fighters and 62 vehicles from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France Romania, Serbia and Slovakia were also deployed to address the blaze.

Officials said that the wildfire could be considered as the largest in Europe since the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) had started recording data.

According to Janez Lenarcic, Commissioner for Crisis Management, they stand in solidarity with Greece as it battles the devastating wildfires.

"The European Union's largest aerial firefighting operation underscores our commitment to swift and effective collective action in times of crisis. Our thoughts are with the people of Greece, and we will continue working tirelessly to protect lives, property, and the environment," she said.

"The EU's unity and cooperation are our strongest assets in overcoming these challenges."

Climate crisis, arson

Since the wildfires began on 19 August, the death toll already climbed to 20, in which 18 of those who died were migrants. Their bodies were found in a region that is often used as an entry point from the neighboring Turkey.

The country has been ravaged by numerous massive fires this summer, which the government and experts have attributed to the impacts of the climate crisis.

Experts also noted that winds and temperatures have created conditions that were conductive to increased wildfire activity.

Europe, at present, experiences hot summers, and this prompts its southern countries to be prone to wildfires.

Furthermore, the ecosystems and wildlife in Greece have been affected due to the raging wildfires that caused massive evacuations and property damage.

In the past days, security forces have made arson arrests as some individuals were supposedly starting new fires in Mount Parnitha, which is located northwest of Athens.

Earlier, the Greek government vowed that tougher penalties would be imposed against arson as it aims to dissuade potential criminals and bring those responsible for damaging fires to justice.

Related Article: Wildlife, Ecosystems in Greece At Risk Due to Raging Wildfires, Reports Show

Related Video:
The recovery of the Atlantic Puffin population amidst the climate change risks demonstrates that this phenomenon is "not always as tidy as we think."

According to scientists who monitor the birds, the puffins had their second consecutive rebound year for fledging chicks.

This contradicts environmental trends, as scientists have warned that warmer waters off New England endanger the birds by reducing the type of fish they require to feed their chicks.

Stable population

The good news comes as the Audubon Society celebrates its 50th year of caring for Maine's puffin colonies, which it restored from a few dozen pairs.

Don Lyons, director of conservation science at the National Audubon Society's Seabird Institute in Bremen, Maine, claims that there are now up to 3,000 birds and that the population is stable.

"This year is a good example of how complex things are. We can't boil it down to one variable," he said in an interview. "We still have a lot to learn."

Puffins, often known as "sea clowns" or "sea parrots," nest in burrows and feed their babies tiny fish like herring.

Due to a lack of such fish, the colonies had one of their worst years for reproduction in decades.

Audubon and other conservation organizations have linked the fish shortage to rising sea temperatures.

The Gulf of Maine, which contains puffin colonies on its islands, is warming faster than the rest of the world's oceans, and the last few years have been particularly warm.

This summer appears to have been "still unusually warm," according to David Reidmiller, climate center director at the Gulf of Maine.

Read Also: Puffins Eating Plastic? Pellets Threaten the Isle of May

Resiliency of seabirds

The capacity of puffins to reproduce despite environmental changes shows seabird resiliency, according to Bill Sydeman, president and principal scientist of the Farallon Institute, a marine conservation group based in California.

However, long-term threats posed by climate change, such as lethal heat waves, food loss, island loss due to sea level rise, and the inability to breed, remain existential threats to puffins and many other seabirds.

"The problem with climate change is these breeding failures and low breeding productivity years are now becoming chronic," Sydeman said. "There will be fewer young birds in the population that are able to recruit into the breeding population."

In recent years, scientists have focused on the consequences of climate change on seabirds.

Because of the deaths of some of the puffin's auk family relatives, such as common murres and Cassin's auklets off the West Coast, interest in the subject has increased.

Due to the difficulties that seabirds encounter, good breeding seasons are very vital, according to P. Dee Boersma is a biology professor at the University of Washington and the director of the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels.

"What that means is we should be more cautious and concerned about reproductive failures and things like that to make sure that in good years everyone that wants to has a chance to breed, and do well," Boersma said.

The puffins of Maine are the only breeding Atlantic puffins in the United States. The species is found throughout the North Atlantic, from Maine and Canada to Europe.

Other countries with large puffin populations, like Iceland, have seen a fall in the number of birds in recent decades.

Puffins can now be found on Matinicus, Eastern Egg Rock, Seal Island, and Petit Manan Island.

Related Article: Endangered Birds: Puffins Join Threatened Species List

Related Video:
New Zealand is home to many unique and endangered birds, but none more so than the takahe, a large, flightless, and brightly colored bird that was once thought to be extinct.

The takahe is a conservation icon and a survivor, and its recent return to the wild in some parts of the country marks a significant achievement for wildlife protection efforts.

What is a takahe?

The takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is the largest living member of the rail family, a group of small to medium-sized ground-dwelling birds with short wings, large feet, and long toes.

The takahe is often known by the abbreviated name takahe, which it shares with the recently extinct North Island takahe (Porphyrio mantelli).

The two takahe species are also known as notornis, meaning southern bird in Greek.

The takahe has a stout red beak and legs, and a dark royal blue head, neck, and breast. Its shoulders are peacock blue, and its wings and back are iridescent turquoise and olive green.

It stands about 50 cm tall and weighs between 2.3 and 3.8 kg. It has wings, but only uses them for display during courtship or as a show of aggression.

The takahe is native to New Zealand and has a special cultural, spiritual, and traditional significance to Ngai Tahu, the iwi (Maori tribe) of most of the South Island.

Ngai Tahu value takahe as a taonga (treasure) and they continue to act as kaitiaki (guardians) of the takahe by working with the Department of Conservation (DOC) to protect this precious species.

Also Read: 5 Extinct Species That Strangely Came Back to Life

How did the takahe survive?

The takahe was first discovered by Europeans in 1849, when a group of sealers captured a living bird in Tamatea/Dusky Sound, Fiordland.

The bird was sent to Gideon Mantell, a paleontologist who realized that this was Notornis, a living bird known only from fossil bones. The bird was formally described in 1850 by his son Walter Mantell.

The takahe once roamed across the South Island, but pressures from hunting, introduced predators, habitat destruction, and competition for food led to their decline.

After another bird was captured in 1898, and no more were to be found, the species was presumed extinct.

In 1948, after a carefully planned search, the takahe was dramatically rediscovered by Geoffrey Orbell in an isolated valley in the South Island's Murchison Mountains.

The species was then managed by DOC, whose Takahe Recovery Programme maintains populations on several offshore islands as well as Takahe Valley.

It has now been reintroduced to a second mainland site in Kahurangi National Park.

Although the takahe is still a threatened species, its conservation status was downgraded in 2016 from Nationally Critical to Nationally Vulnerable. The population is now at 440 (as of October 2021) and is growing by 10 percent per year.

The takahe is a sedentary and territorial bird that inhabits native grasslands in alpine areas. It eats mostly the starchy leaf bases of tussock and sedge species, and also tussock seeds when available.

If snow cover is heavy, it will move to the forest and feed mainly on underground rhizomes of the summer green fern.

The takahe breeds once a year, raising one or two chicks. The pairs are monogamous and highly nurturing parents, who take turns incubating the eggs and caring for the chicks until they are ready to fledge.

The families need a lot of space, with territories ranging between 4 and 100 ha, depending on the availability and quality of their food.

Related Article: Island Birds Are Losing The Ability To Fly
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By: Gabriel Gomane, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

With the acceleration of digital transformation and hybrid working, organizations are moving their applications to the cloud at a faster pace. Users are now accessing sensitive data in the cloud from any location and device, often through untrusted connections. Traditional security models based on perimeter defenses are becoming obsolete as the security perimeter dissolves.

To solve these challenges, watch my video to learn how SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) enable the workplace transformation.

Here are four benefits of SASE to enable the modern workplace:

Benefit 1: Securely connect from anywhere

With hybrid working becoming the new norm, branch workers and remote workers require seamless and secure access to applications. As most applications now reside in the cloud, directing application traffic from branch offices to the data center is no longer practical, as it was done in traditional router-based network architectures. VPN, commonly used by remote workers, provided unrestricted access to the enterprise network, but lacked granular control, and created potential security risks.

ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Architecture) offers least privilege access principles, allowing granular control over network segmentation at the application level based on user identity. This ensures a more secure and flexible approach compared to traditional VPN solutions. Moreover, third-party users can be easily onboarded with agentless ZTNA, enabling efficient collaboration.

Benefit 2: Browse the web securely

SASE also addresses the need for secure web browsing in the modern workplace. Employees are exposed to a myriad of web-based threats, including ransomware, phishing, and malware. Secure Web Gateway (SWG) protects users by utilizing advanced SSL inspection, URL filtering, content filtering, and DNS filtering in real time. By safeguarding employees from internet-based threats, organizations can enhance their overall security posture and improve compliance to regulations.

Benefit 3: Regain control over cloud-hosted data

As more organizations are adopting cloud services, it is key to ensure security and compliance of cloud-based data. More sensitive data travels over unsecured links and are hosted outside of the enterprise security perimeter in sanctioned or unsanctioned cloud services. With that in mind, organizations must detect potential data breaches and prevent them by monitoring and blocking unsafe movement of sensitive data.

CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) provides the necessary measures to detect and prevent potential data breaches by monitoring and blocking unsafe data movements. Additionally, CASB helps organizations discover shadow IT, enforce unified policies across platforms, and prevent data loss through controlled file uploads and downloads.

Benefit 4: Improve application performance

Traditional architectures relying on MPLS links for branch office connectivity, introduce latency and performance limitations when backhauling cloud traffic to the data center for security inspection.

With SD-WAN, organizations implement a robust and flexible way to connect branch offices to headquarters by combining MPLS, Internet and 4G/5G links while intelligently steering traffic to the cloud, improving application performance and security. Virtual instances of SD-WAN can also be deployed in cloud service providers creating an end-to-end connection from the branch to IaaS platforms to enable multi-cloud networking. Advanced SD-WAN solutions also include routing and next-generation firewall capabilities such as IDS/IPS and fine-grained segmentation, allowing organizations to replace legacy routers and firewalls in branch locations, while isolating mission-critical application traffic from unsecure traffic such as IoT devices.

In conclusion, SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) offers numerous benefits for the modern workplace. It enables secure connectivity from anywhere, protects web browsing, ensures control over cloud-hosted data, and enhances application performance and security at branch offices. By adopting SASE, organizations can meet the challenges of hybrid working, digital transformation, and evolving security needs, empowering their workforce and safeguarding sensitive information in the dynamic modern workplace.

If you want to learn more, watch my lightboard video about enabling workplace transformation with SASE.

Other resources:

Unified SASE Web page

EdgeConnect SD-WAN Web page

HPE Aruba Networking SSE Web page

What is a secure SD-WAN?
By AFP

SHANGHAI: Business in China could become "too risky" for US firms without changes to the regulatory environment, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned Wednesday as she wrapped up a visit to the world's second-largest economy.

Speaking on her fourth day in China and after several rounds of talks with officials as well as with US firms, Raimondo said she had raised "tough issues" with local counterparts.

The business environment in China "has to be predictable, there has to be a level playing field, there has to be due process, there has to be transparency", she told a press conference near Shanghai.

"US business needs to see some action taken to address these issues, otherwise they will deem it as too risky," she said.

Raimondo is the latest in a series of senior US officials to visit Beijing, as both sides seek to defuse tensions across a range of security and economic issues that have been at their highest levels in years.

"I raised the tough issues like subsidies, like China's non-market practices, like raids on US firms, like intellectual property theft," Raimondo said.

She also said she had raised the alleged hacking of her email by China-based actors with Beijing officials.

"I mentioned that as an example of an action that erodes trust at a time when we are trying to stabilise the relationship," she told a digital press briefing following the media availability in Shanghai.

But this week's talks were "productive", she added, and an "excellent start".

"Nothing good comes from shutting down communication," she said.

ALSO READ | Can China's push to replace dollar with yuan as world's reserve currency succeed?

US firms in China have long complained about what they see as an unfair business environment, with limited protection for intellectual property and preferential treatment afforded to domestic competitors.

Those fears have been compounded this year by a broad crackdown on US consulting firms operating in China.

A new anti-espionage law, which came into force on July 1, has also spooked foreign and domestic firms as they try to decipher authorities' intentions and, crucially, pinpoint what is off-limits.

'Most consequential'

Raimondo has used the trip to seek more open discussions with the Chinese over trade curbs and the two sides have agreed to set up a working group to iron out the laundry list of trade disputes between them.

They also agreed to establish what Washington called an "export control enforcement information exchange" -- described as a platform to "reduce misunderstanding of US national security policies".

That group held its first meeting on Tuesday, Raimondo said.

"It was an open dialogue," she said.

"We were able to clarify in the first meeting that we're not targeting China," she added.

"We're targeting certain behaviour. We're targeting actions and behaviour which undermine US national security."

Raimondo has repeatedly stressed this week that US curbs on Chinese businesses -- which Washington says are aimed at protecting its national security -- need not affect the broader economic relationship.

Chinese officials have pushed back, with Premier Li Qiang telling Raimondo Tuesday that US moves to "politicise" trade issues would prove "disastrous" for the global economy.

"Politicizing economic and trade issues and overstretching the concept of security will... seriously affect bilateral relations and mutual trust," Li told Raimondo, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

On Wednesday, Raimondo told Shanghai Communist Party chief Chen Jining that the US-China economic relationship was "among the most consequential in the world".

Later, she met with students at New York University's campus in Shanghai and spoke at a meeting of women executives hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in the city.

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp

SHANGHAI: Business in China could become "too risky" for US firms without changes to the regulatory environment, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned Wednesday as she wrapped up a visit to the world's second-largest economy. Speaking on her fourth day in China and after several rounds of talks with officials as well as with US firms, Raimondo said she had raised "tough issues" with local counterparts. The business environment in China "has to be predictable, there has to be a level playing field, there has to be due process, there has to be transparency", she told a press conference near Shanghai.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "US business needs to see some action taken to address these issues, otherwise they will deem it as too risky," she said. Raimondo is the latest in a series of senior US officials to visit Beijing, as both sides seek to defuse tensions across a range of security and economic issues that have been at their highest levels in years. "I raised the tough issues like subsidies, like China's non-market practices, like raids on US firms, like intellectual property theft," Raimondo said. She also said she had raised the alleged hacking of her email by China-based actors with Beijing officials. "I mentioned that as an example of an action that erodes trust at a time when we are trying to stabilise the relationship," she told a digital press briefing following the media availability in Shanghai. But this week's talks were "productive", she added, and an "excellent start". "Nothing good comes from shutting down communication," she said. ALSO READ | Can China's push to replace dollar with yuan as world's reserve currency succeed? US firms in China have long complained about what they see as an unfair business environment, with limited protection for intellectual property and preferential treatment afforded to domestic competitors. Those fears have been compounded this year by a broad crackdown on US consulting firms operating in China. A new anti-espionage law, which came into force on July 1, has also spooked foreign and domestic firms as they try to decipher authorities' intentions and, crucially, pinpoint what is off-limits. 'Most consequential' Raimondo has used the trip to seek more open discussions with the Chinese over trade curbs and the two sides have agreed to set up a working group to iron out the laundry list of trade disputes between them. They also agreed to establish what Washington called an "export control enforcement information exchange" -- described as a platform to "reduce misunderstanding of US national security policies". That group held its first meeting on Tuesday, Raimondo said. "It was an open dialogue," she said. "We were able to clarify in the first meeting that we're not targeting China," she added. "We're targeting certain behaviour. We're targeting actions and behaviour which undermine US national security." Raimondo has repeatedly stressed this week that US curbs on Chinese businesses -- which Washington says are aimed at protecting its national security -- need not affect the broader economic relationship. Chinese officials have pushed back, with Premier Li Qiang telling Raimondo Tuesday that US moves to "politicise" trade issues would prove "disastrous" for the global economy. "Politicizing economic and trade issues and overstretching the concept of security will... seriously affect bilateral relations and mutual trust," Li told Raimondo, according to China's official Xinhua news agency. On Wednesday, Raimondo told Shanghai Communist Party chief Chen Jining that the US-China economic relationship was "among the most consequential in the world". Later, she met with students at New York University's campus in Shanghai and spoke at a meeting of women executives hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in the city. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The number of foreign tourists who arrived in India this year during January-June is 106 per cent more than the figure for the corresponding period in 2022, official sources said.

Also, according to data shared by them, there has been a growth in foreign exchange earnings for this period in 2023 compared to the corresponding figures last year.

India has been making sustained efforts to boost tourism in the country, seeking a rise in footfall of both domestic and international tourists, after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials earlier said after the coronavirus pandemic, foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India have increased. "The number of foreign tourists who arrived in India this year during January-June stood at 43.80 lakh, which is 106 per cent higher than the figure (21.24 lakh) for the corresponding period in 2022," a source said on Tuesday.

As far as domestic tourism is concerned, the figure stood at 677 million in 2021 and grew to 1,731 million in 2022, the sources added.

Sharing data on the rise in tourist footfall in Jammu and Kashmir, the source said in 2022, the figures stood at over 1.8 crore while the figures for the period January-June in 2023, were pegged at 1.09 crore.

They said the construction of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi has contributed to the growth in tourism in the temple town.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 13, 2021, inaugurated the first phase of the corridor christened Kashi Vishwanath Dham, a project that is spread over 500,000 square feet and connects the temple premises to the Ganga river.

Modi, in a recent Mann Ki Baat address, said the the recent jump in the number of tourists in Varanasi, reflects a "cultural reawakening."

Sources on Tuesday added that 7.16 crore people visited the temple in 2022 and 2.29 crore in 2023 (January-May), adding the number of visitors to the holy shrine has grown manifold since the construction of the corridor.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust's CEO, Sunil Verma, recently said that about 10 crore devotees have visited the temple since the inauguration of the corridor.

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp

NEW DELHI: The number of foreign tourists who arrived in India this year during January-June is 106 per cent more than the figure for the corresponding period in 2022, official sources said. Also, according to data shared by them, there has been a growth in foreign exchange earnings for this period in 2023 compared to the corresponding figures last year. India has been making sustained efforts to boost tourism in the country, seeking a rise in footfall of both domestic and international tourists, after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Officials earlier said after the coronavirus pandemic, foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India have increased. "The number of foreign tourists who arrived in India this year during January-June stood at 43.80 lakh, which is 106 per cent higher than the figure (21.24 lakh) for the corresponding period in 2022," a source said on Tuesday. As far as domestic tourism is concerned, the figure stood at 677 million in 2021 and grew to 1,731 million in 2022, the sources added. Sharing data on the rise in tourist footfall in Jammu and Kashmir, the source said in 2022, the figures stood at over 1.8 crore while the figures for the period January-June in 2023, were pegged at 1.09 crore. They said the construction of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi has contributed to the growth in tourism in the temple town. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 13, 2021, inaugurated the first phase of the corridor christened Kashi Vishwanath Dham, a project that is spread over 500,000 square feet and connects the temple premises to the Ganga river. Modi, in a recent Mann Ki Baat address, said the the recent jump in the number of tourists in Varanasi, reflects a "cultural reawakening." Sources on Tuesday added that 7.16 crore people visited the temple in 2022 and 2.29 crore in 2023 (January-May), adding the number of visitors to the holy shrine has grown manifold since the construction of the corridor. Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust's CEO, Sunil Verma, recently said that about 10 crore devotees have visited the temple since the inauguration of the corridor. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
COLUMBUS, Georgia Columbus State University will host a three-part public symposium series focused on the legacy of the Korean War and post-war relations between the Republic of Korea and the United States during the wars 70-year armistice.

The first of these will be on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. in 1304 Frank Brown Hall on the universitys RiverPark Campus. Its focus will be on the state of U.S. and Korean diplomatic and military relations from 2006 to present. It will feature a three-person panel including:

Retired Gen. Robert B. Abrams, former commander of U.S. Forces Korea and ROK/US Combined Forces Command;

Jenny Town, senior fellow, Stimson Center and director, 38 North; and

Frank Aum, senior expert, Northeast Asia, U.S. Institute for Peace.

We are thrilled to have assembled a panel that will bring together internationally recognized thinkers with vast, but also diverse, experience in U.S.-Korean relations, said Dr. David Kieran, Columbus States Col. Richard R. Hallock distinguished chair in military history and an associate professor in its Department of History, Geography and Philosophy. These are the leading experts who, over the past two decades, have played prominent roles in analyzing the political dynamics of North Korea and crafting and implementing U.S. policy relating to the Korean Peninsula.

The 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice is certainly an opportunity to think about the events of 1950 to 1953 and of the seven decades that followed. But as the U.S. turns its attention to the Pacific and to challenges posed by China and North Korea, and as Korean corporations become increasingly prominent investors in the United States particularly the Chattahoochee Valley  the anniversary is also an opportunity to think about the current state of affairs and how the U.S./Republic of Korea relationship will continue to evolve over the next 70 years.

The U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance stands as a beacon born from the Korean War, said Dr. Daewoo Lee, an associate professor in the School of Policy, Justice, and Public Safety and a South Korean native who has been planning the symposium series alongside Kieran. Our series of events will remember and honor the sacrifices made  underscoring the importance of chronicling a legacy that continues to guide our two countries shared journey during the past 70 years.

The second symposium session is scheduled for Nov. 7 and will focus on U.S. and Korean relations during the Cold War and after from 1953 to 2006. The final symposium installment will be Feb. 1, 2024, and will focus on the legacy of the Korean War. Both will begin at 7 p.m. in 1304 Frank Brown Hall Room.

The program that we have created allows us to spend a year focusing and reflecting on the different moments that have shaped the past 70 years of U.S.-Korean relations, Kieran said, beginning with an assessment of the current challenges and opportunities and moving backward to study the Cold War Era and the Korean Conflict itself.

During the Summer 2024 semester, Kieran, Lee, and retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Pat Donahoe will accompany a group of Columbus State students to South Korea as an endnote to the symposium series. The study abroad excursion will include visiting several Korean conflict sites, some of the military installations where U.S. troops serve today, and the think tanks, consular offices and corporate headquarters that highlight the enduring relationship between these countries.

Having spent a number of years serving in South Korea from my first assignment in 1989 to my most recent posting there in 2020 to 2022, I have seen South Korea develop at lightning speed, said Donahoe, who recently retired as the commanding general of the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Moore. He now serves as CSUs special assistant to the president for military liaison.

Their development is widely known as the Miracle on the Han  the Han being the river that runs through Seoul. As our nation looks to its future in the Pacific, our South Korean ally is at the center of our strategy, so its incredibly important for our students, our citizens, to better understand the US-South Korean relationship across our diplomatic, military and economic connections.

The symposium program is hosted and funded by the universitys Hallock Endowment for Military Studies. It is presented in partnership by CSUs Center for Global Engagement; Military-Connected Student Services; Department of History, Geography and Philosophy; and School of Policy, Justice and Public Safety.

All three symposium sessions are open to the public at no charge. No registration is required.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Arunachal Pradesh Congress MLA Ninong Ering has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to take up the matter of China unilaterally making changes in its map with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the upcoming G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10.

I write to you today to express my deep anguish and concern regarding the Chinese cartographic aggression by the People's Republic of China (PRC) by releasing a so-called 2023 edition of Chinas standard map claiming Indian territories of Arunachal and Aksai Chin. The map was released by PRCs Ministry of Natural Resources while Chinese state-run propaganda piece Global Times went on to state this map is compiled based on the drawing method of national boundaries of China and various countries in the world, Ering wrote in his letter, a copy of which is available with this newspaper.

He mentioned that the unforeseen, unfortunate yet deliberate action by the Chinese invoked deep resentment among the people of Arunachal. He also pointed out that the PRC had tried to assert its claim over Arunachal by renaming 11 locations in April 2023, 15 locations in 2021 and six places in 2017.

The recent release of the PRC Standard Map is hence a culmination of PRCs nefarious plans and a matter especially significant since Arunachal is an integral part of India and has scarred memories of the 1962 Sino-Indian war, Ering wrote.

He further mentioned that India is engaged in combat with an aggressive PRC along the Indo-Tibetan border in the Himalayas, and 20 Indian Army personnel gave their lives defending Indias frontiers against the PLA in the Galwan Valley in 2020.

Prior to this, you emphasised that no one can seize an inch of India's land. Referring to the India-PRC standoff in the Tawang district of Arunachal in December 2022, Union Home Minister Amit Shah ji earlier stated that the government is committed to ensuring that not a single inch of India's soil is compromised, Ering wrote to PM Modi.

He viewed the release of the map by China as an attack on Indias sovereignty and integrity.

And, it is in this connection that being an elected representative of Arunachals Pasighat-West seat (which sits right on the India-Tibet border) that I appeal to you to discuss this matter of PRC unilaterally making changes in its map with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the upcoming G20 Summit... Ering further wrote to PM Modi.

He said that any more silence on the issue would be considered and even advertised by the PRC as a tacit approval of the Indian side on Chinese claims. He also said he would like this matter to be highlighted and condemned globally by relevant state-run media in order to appraise the world of the PRCs aggression.





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GUWAHATI: Arunachal Pradesh Congress MLA Ninong Ering has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to take up the matter of China unilaterally making changes in its map with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the upcoming G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10. I write to you today to express my deep anguish and concern regarding the Chinese cartographic aggression by the People's Republic of China (PRC) by releasing a so-called 2023 edition of Chinas standard map claiming Indian territories of Arunachal and Aksai Chin. The map was released by PRCs Ministry of Natural Resources while Chinese state-run propaganda piece Global Times went on to state this map is compiled based on the drawing method of national boundaries of China and various countries in the world, Ering wrote in his letter, a copy of which is available with this newspaper. He mentioned that the unforeseen, unfortunate yet deliberate action by the Chinese invoked deep resentment among the people of Arunachal. He also pointed out that the PRC had tried to assert its claim over Arunachal by renaming 11 locations in April 2023, 15 locations in 2021 and six places in 2017.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The recent release of the PRC Standard Map is hence a culmination of PRCs nefarious plans and a matter especially significant since Arunachal is an integral part of India and has scarred memories of the 1962 Sino-Indian war, Ering wrote. He further mentioned that India is engaged in combat with an aggressive PRC along the Indo-Tibetan border in the Himalayas, and 20 Indian Army personnel gave their lives defending Indias frontiers against the PLA in the Galwan Valley in 2020. Prior to this, you emphasised that no one can seize an inch of India's land. Referring to the India-PRC standoff in the Tawang district of Arunachal in December 2022, Union Home Minister Amit Shah ji earlier stated that the government is committed to ensuring that not a single inch of India's soil is compromised, Ering wrote to PM Modi. He viewed the release of the map by China as an attack on Indias sovereignty and integrity. And, it is in this connection that being an elected representative of Arunachals Pasighat-West seat (which sits right on the India-Tibet border) that I appeal to you to discuss this matter of PRC unilaterally making changes in its map with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the upcoming G20 Summit... Ering further wrote to PM Modi. He said that any more silence on the issue would be considered and even advertised by the PRC as a tacit approval of the Indian side on Chinese claims. He also said he would like this matter to be highlighted and condemned globally by relevant state-run media in order to appraise the world of the PRCs aggression. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

PATNA: Congress received a shot in the arm when senior BJP leader Vinod Sharma joined the grand old party in the presence of state president Akhilesh Prasad Singh and other senior leaders at Sadaqat Ashram on Tuesday.

Sharma, chief spokesperson of BJP and member of the executive committee, had resigned from the saffron party last month alleging the central governments utter failure to contain violence in Manipur. Sharma had also assailed PM Narendra Modi for the Manipur violence.

Speaking at Milan Samaroh at the partys headquarters, Congress state chief Singh claimed that several BJP legislators were in touch with him and have expressed willingness to join Congress.

I am waiting for the instruction of the partys high command on the matter, he added.

He said that Vinod Sharmas joining would boost the morale of the workers of the party. He has vast experience in the field of politics and the party will benefit from him. It will help the party perform better in the upcoming election, the state president said.

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PATNA: Congress received a shot in the arm when senior BJP leader Vinod Sharma joined the grand old party in the presence of state president Akhilesh Prasad Singh and other senior leaders at Sadaqat Ashram on Tuesday. Sharma, chief spokesperson of BJP and member of the executive committee, had resigned from the saffron party last month alleging the central governments utter failure to contain violence in Manipur. Sharma had also assailed PM Narendra Modi for the Manipur violence. Speaking at Milan Samaroh at the partys headquarters, Congress state chief Singh claimed that several BJP legislators were in touch with him and have expressed willingness to join Congress. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); I am waiting for the instruction of the partys high command on the matter, he added. He said that Vinod Sharmas joining would boost the morale of the workers of the party. He has vast experience in the field of politics and the party will benefit from him. It will help the party perform better in the upcoming election, the state president said. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Bosky Khanna By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: For the first time ever, traces of sulphur have been found on the south pole of the moon.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) took to social media platform X to share its findings from its rover Pragyaan, which read, In-situ scientific experiments continue. Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the rover unambiguously confirms the presence of sulphur in the lunar surface near the south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements.

According to ISRO, LIBS is a scientific technique that analyses the composition of materials by exposing them to intense laser pulses. A high-energy laser pulse is focused onto the surface of a material, such as a rock or soil. The laser pulse generates an extremely hot and localised plasma. The collected plasma light is spectrally resolved and detected by detectors such as Charge Coupled Devices. Since each element emits a characteristic set of wavelengths of light when its in a plasma state, the elemental composition of the material is determined, it said.

Through the post, the scientists at ISRO also shared that aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen have also been detected as expected, while the search for hydrogen is underway. A scientist told TNIE that sulphur has been found on some parts of the moon earlier, but not on the south pole. The scientist explained that the orbiter revolving around the moon cannot pick up sulphur samples, and surface experiments need to be done.

The US, China and Russia have found sulphur, but it was not expected on the south pole. It is believed that rocks contain sulphur and it is a new element. And the South Pole is believed to be the oldest rock formation. Thus, sulphur cannot be there. So now, this has given rise to theories  either a meteorite could have come through or something else. This finding has raised more questions for scientists. This is being discussed and studies will start soon. It is an interesting and inquisitive find for all, the scientist explained.

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp

BENGALURU: For the first time ever, traces of sulphur have been found on the south pole of the moon. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) took to social media platform X to share its findings from its rover Pragyaan, which read, In-situ scientific experiments continue. Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the rover unambiguously confirms the presence of sulphur in the lunar surface near the south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements. According to ISRO, LIBS is a scientific technique that analyses the composition of materials by exposing them to intense laser pulses. A high-energy laser pulse is focused onto the surface of a material, such as a rock or soil. The laser pulse generates an extremely hot and localised plasma. The collected plasma light is spectrally resolved and detected by detectors such as Charge Coupled Devices. Since each element emits a characteristic set of wavelengths of light when its in a plasma state, the elemental composition of the material is determined, it said. Through the post, the scientists at ISRO also shared that aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen have also been detected as expected, while the search for hydrogen is underway. A scientist told TNIE that sulphur has been found on some parts of the moon earlier, but not on the south pole. The scientist explained that the orbiter revolving around the moon cannot pick up sulphur samples, and surface experiments need to be done.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The US, China and Russia have found sulphur, but it was not expected on the south pole. It is believed that rocks contain sulphur and it is a new element. And the South Pole is believed to be the oldest rock formation. Thus, sulphur cannot be there. So now, this has given rise to theories  either a meteorite could have come through or something else. This finding has raised more questions for scientists. This is being discussed and studies will start soon. It is an interesting and inquisitive find for all, the scientist explained. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Jitendra Choubey By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Lightning strikes in the country have seen an alarming increase in the last four years as an aftermath of climate change, according to data from the Lightning Detection Network of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

While there has been a 53 per cent rise in lightning strikes between 2019 and 2023 across the country, in some states the increase has been more than 300 per cent, according to data.

The lightning strikes have increased from 1.38 crore in 2019-20 to 2 crore in 2022-23. Lightning can be Inter-cloud or cloud-to-ground. Scientists are concerned about the rise in cloud-to-ground lightning, which causes immense damage to human lives and properties.

Our data shows that cloud-to-ground lightning strikes rose from 51.6 lakh to 72.6 lakh in the last three years, which is a concern, said Sanjay Srivastava, convenor of the Lightning Resilient India campaign.

The eastern and central Indian states are the most vulnerable when it comes to lightning-related incidents and tribal groups feature top among the socio-economic groups affected.

Central Indian states such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh and eastern states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha are the most vulnerable regions, witnessing a rise in both lightning strikes and mortality.

*Bihar - 3558

Most of the casualties take place among tribals, especially in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha, says data. Their housing patterns and subsistence on the land are cited as reasons.

Furthermore, the region between the central river basin between the Ganges, Sone and Mahanadi, and mountain ranges Vindhyachal, Satpura, Kaimur and Vidarbha cover the zones most prone to lightning.

There has been around 75 per cent rise in casualties in only eight states located in the vulnerable zones in the past two decades. Madhya Pradesh tops the list of casualties, followed by Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The increase in lightning strikes is the fierce declaration of the impact of climate change, say experts.

Lightning constitutes two major elements, moisture and heat, explained Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of meteorology, India Meteorological Department.

Global warming has fuelled a rise in heat, resulting in increased surface sea temperature and melting of ice in the Himalayas causing extreme moisture in the atmosphere, he added.

Scientists say lightning-related casualties are totally preventable. Recently, states like Odisha and Andhra Pradesh reduced nearly 70 per cent of such incidents within a relatively shorter timeframe.

These states strengthened their lightning detection instruments and public alert systems, and popularised DAMINI, a dedicated app to track and issue warnings of lightning strikes.

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp

NEW DELHI: Lightning strikes in the country have seen an alarming increase in the last four years as an aftermath of climate change, according to data from the Lightning Detection Network of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. While there has been a 53 per cent rise in lightning strikes between 2019 and 2023 across the country, in some states the increase has been more than 300 per cent, according to data. The lightning strikes have increased from 1.38 crore in 2019-20 to 2 crore in 2022-23. Lightning can be Inter-cloud or cloud-to-ground. Scientists are concerned about the rise in cloud-to-ground lightning, which causes immense damage to human lives and properties.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Our data shows that cloud-to-ground lightning strikes rose from 51.6 lakh to 72.6 lakh in the last three years, which is a concern, said Sanjay Srivastava, convenor of the Lightning Resilient India campaign. The eastern and central Indian states are the most vulnerable when it comes to lightning-related incidents and tribal groups feature top among the socio-economic groups affected. Central Indian states such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh and eastern states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha are the most vulnerable regions, witnessing a rise in both lightning strikes and mortality. *Bihar - 3558 Most of the casualties take place among tribals, especially in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha, says data. Their housing patterns and subsistence on the land are cited as reasons. Furthermore, the region between the central river basin between the Ganges, Sone and Mahanadi, and mountain ranges Vindhyachal, Satpura, Kaimur and Vidarbha cover the zones most prone to lightning. There has been around 75 per cent rise in casualties in only eight states located in the vulnerable zones in the past two decades. Madhya Pradesh tops the list of casualties, followed by Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The increase in lightning strikes is the fierce declaration of the impact of climate change, say experts. Lightning constitutes two major elements, moisture and heat, explained Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of meteorology, India Meteorological Department. Global warming has fuelled a rise in heat, resulting in increased surface sea temperature and melting of ice in the Himalayas causing extreme moisture in the atmosphere, he added. Scientists say lightning-related casualties are totally preventable. Recently, states like Odisha and Andhra Pradesh reduced nearly 70 per cent of such incidents within a relatively shorter timeframe. These states strengthened their lightning detection instruments and public alert systems, and popularised DAMINI, a dedicated app to track and issue warnings of lightning strikes. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: A day after a Class 10 student was beaten to death allegedly by his schoolmates in broad daylight, communal tension gripped Uttar Pradeshs Prayagraj on Tuesday. Five people, including two named accused, were arrested in connection with the killing, while the Prayagraj police commissioner suspended two cops for dereliction of duty.

A huge protest was staged with the boys family members and locals vandalising an ambulance. The protestors then proceeded to the police station alleging that the teenager was beaten to death for opposing the harassment of his cousin sister at the hands of one of the accused belonging to a minority community. The sister also studies in the same Shri Pramanand Smarak Inter College where the deceased was studying.

The police, however, denied the charge of eve-teasing saying the boy was beaten to death after a tiff with the accused over some other issue. Dissatisfied by the police version, the crowd staged a protest in front of Khiri police station seeking action against the culprits and demolition of the houses of the accused.

All senior police and district administration officers, including Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma, rushed to the protest site and pacified the agitators. Ramit Sharma said the situation was under control and additional police forces, including RAF, were deployed.

On the complaint of the boys family, an FIR was lodged against two named and three unknown persons. Two police officials have been suspended on the charges of dereliction of duty, said Ramit Sharma. Two groups of students had a heated argument followed by a clash on the school campus over some issues on Monday.

Protests break out

A protest was staged with the boys family members and locals vandalising an ambulance. The protestors then went to the police station alleging that the teenager was beaten to death for opposing harassment of his cousin's sister by the accused belonging to a minority community.

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp

LUCKNOW: A day after a Class 10 student was beaten to death allegedly by his schoolmates in broad daylight, communal tension gripped Uttar Pradeshs Prayagraj on Tuesday. Five people, including two named accused, were arrested in connection with the killing, while the Prayagraj police commissioner suspended two cops for dereliction of duty. A huge protest was staged with the boys family members and locals vandalising an ambulance. The protestors then proceeded to the police station alleging that the teenager was beaten to death for opposing the harassment of his cousin sister at the hands of one of the accused belonging to a minority community. The sister also studies in the same Shri Pramanand Smarak Inter College where the deceased was studying. The police, however, denied the charge of eve-teasing saying the boy was beaten to death after a tiff with the accused over some other issue. Dissatisfied by the police version, the crowd staged a protest in front of Khiri police station seeking action against the culprits and demolition of the houses of the accused.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); All senior police and district administration officers, including Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma, rushed to the protest site and pacified the agitators. Ramit Sharma said the situation was under control and additional police forces, including RAF, were deployed. On the complaint of the boys family, an FIR was lodged against two named and three unknown persons. Two police officials have been suspended on the charges of dereliction of duty, said Ramit Sharma. Two groups of students had a heated argument followed by a clash on the school campus over some issues on Monday. Protests break out A protest was staged with the boys family members and locals vandalising an ambulance. The protestors then went to the police station alleging that the teenager was beaten to death for opposing harassment of his cousin's sister by the accused belonging to a minority community. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday flagged a 2008 MoU between the Congress and Chinese Community Party to target Rahul Gandhi, asking if the agreement required him to work against India's interests and to hurt the morale of Indian forces.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia's attack came hours after Gandhi reiterated his charge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion during the early weeks of the Ladakh standoff that China had not captured any part of Indian territory was an "absolute lie".

"The whole of Ladakh knows that China has usurped our land," Gandhi told reporters.

Hitting back, Bhatia said China captured over 43,000 sq km of Indian land when Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister and asked if Gandhi believed the stalwart Congress leader and his great grandfather was a "traitor".

The term 'gaddar' (traitor) was used by Gandhi recently for those who "gave away a part of Bharat Mata" to China, the BJP leader noted.

Gandhi should disclose the details of the MoU signed between the Congress and the CCP, he said, alleging it has been claimed the agreement requires him to "spy" against India and to break to morale of Indian forces when they act decisively against the Chinese.

"Does this MoU also require to him to mock a prime minister, who is the protective shield for every citizen and has elevated India's global stature, as "surrender Modi"," Bhatia asked in a reference to Gandhi's earlier barb at him.

Noting that China had also donated to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Bhatia asked if this "bribe" is the reason behind his statements "against" India.

He asserted that no one can dare to capture an inch of Indian land under Modi's leadership.

The people of India will bless him again in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the BJP will retain power with a bigger mandate, Bhatia said.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi termed "very serious" the issue of China releasing a "standard map" that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, saying the neighbouring country had already taken India's land in Ladakh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak on the issue.

Gandhi told reporters, "I have just returned from Ladakh and I have been saying for years that what the PM has said, that not one inch of land has been lost in Ladakh, is an absolute lie. The whole of Ladakh knows that China has usurped our land."

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi flayed Gandhi for claiming that China had usurped India's land and accused him of making "baseless allegations". China grabbed India's land during the Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure as prime minister, Joshi said.

"Rahul Gandhi's allegations are baseless. They (China) are doing some activities in the area that were grabbed during Nehru's tenure as prime minister. This is due to the sins committed by the Congress post-independence that China has become our neighbour. From the time it was Tibet till today, these people pursued policies which led to this," Joshi said.

Rahul Gandhi "does not have any understanding" of policies, Joshi charged.

On Monday, Beijing released the 2023 edition of the so-called "standard map of China" that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as regions within its borders.

"Our External Affairs Ministry has already condemned China's action on the map issue and has also strongly protested it. But he (Rahul Gandhi) does not trust our External Affairs Ministry. He believes in what China says," the Union minister said.

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday flagged a 2008 MoU between the Congress and Chinese Community Party to target Rahul Gandhi, asking if the agreement required him to work against India's interests and to hurt the morale of Indian forces. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia's attack came hours after Gandhi reiterated his charge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion during the early weeks of the Ladakh standoff that China had not captured any part of Indian territory was an "absolute lie". "The whole of Ladakh knows that China has usurped our land," Gandhi told reporters.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Hitting back, Bhatia said China captured over 43,000 sq km of Indian land when Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister and asked if Gandhi believed the stalwart Congress leader and his great grandfather was a "traitor". The term 'gaddar' (traitor) was used by Gandhi recently for those who "gave away a part of Bharat Mata" to China, the BJP leader noted. Gandhi should disclose the details of the MoU signed between the Congress and the CCP, he said, alleging it has been claimed the agreement requires him to "spy" against India and to break to morale of Indian forces when they act decisively against the Chinese. "Does this MoU also require to him to mock a prime minister, who is the protective shield for every citizen and has elevated India's global stature, as "surrender Modi"," Bhatia asked in a reference to Gandhi's earlier barb at him. Noting that China had also donated to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Bhatia asked if this "bribe" is the reason behind his statements "against" India. He asserted that no one can dare to capture an inch of Indian land under Modi's leadership. The people of India will bless him again in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the BJP will retain power with a bigger mandate, Bhatia said. Earlier in the day, Gandhi termed "very serious" the issue of China releasing a "standard map" that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, saying the neighbouring country had already taken India's land in Ladakh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak on the issue. Gandhi told reporters, "I have just returned from Ladakh and I have been saying for years that what the PM has said, that not one inch of land has been lost in Ladakh, is an absolute lie. The whole of Ladakh knows that China has usurped our land." Union Minister Pralhad Joshi flayed Gandhi for claiming that China had usurped India's land and accused him of making "baseless allegations". China grabbed India's land during the Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure as prime minister, Joshi said. "Rahul Gandhi's allegations are baseless. They (China) are doing some activities in the area that were grabbed during Nehru's tenure as prime minister. This is due to the sins committed by the Congress post-independence that China has become our neighbour. From the time it was Tibet till today, these people pursued policies which led to this," Joshi said. Rahul Gandhi "does not have any understanding" of policies, Joshi charged. On Monday, Beijing released the 2023 edition of the so-called "standard map of China" that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as regions within its borders. "Our External Affairs Ministry has already condemned China's action on the map issue and has also strongly protested it. But he (Rahul Gandhi) does not trust our External Affairs Ministry. He believes in what China says," the Union minister said. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Shruti Kakkar By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Amid the Supreme Courts prodding on a timeline for restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Tuesday said he would make a positive statement on it on Thursday.

The assurance came before the Constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. He added that the Union Territory status of J&K is not permanent although Ladakh would remain as Union Territory. The court had said although it was conscious about converting J&K into Union Territory in lieu of national security, that status could not be permanent.

Without putting you in a bind, you (SG) and AG (Advocate General) may seek instructions at the highest level whether there is some timeframe in view. Restoration of democracy is a very important survival component for our nation... We take your point that progress has begun, the CJI said.

As the hearing on the hugely contentious issue continued for the 12th day, the apex court wanted to know from the government's law officers was the abrogation of Article 370 "really a logical step" to achieve J-K's complete integration with India.

Commencing his arguments, Advocate General R Venkataramani said there is no fundamental difference between the integration process of J&K and the constitutional integration process of the rest of the country. The bench questioned the attorney general as to how provision 3 of Article 370 can be given a go-by while abrogating the provision.

Article 370 (3) says, "Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this article, the President may, by public notification, declare that this article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may specify: Provided that the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State referred to in clause ( 2 ) shall be necessary before the President issues such a notification."

The CJI contended that Article 370 says the recommendation of the constituent assembly shall be "necessary" and "before" the President issues a notification, and so it cannot be a post facto recommendation.

The top court also questioned the Centre about the validity of its decision to divide the erstwhile state into two Union Territories, saying the petitioners who have challenged its decision contended it was beyond the powers of Parliament.

...on the wide chasm between absolute autonomy as it existed on 26th January 1950 and complete integration brought about on Aug 5, 2019, it was substantially bridged by what was happening in between. So it was not a complete migration from absolute autonomy to absolute integration. Substantial degree of integration had already taken place in the between 1950 and 2019. So what was done in 2019, was it really a logical step forward to achieve that integration? the bench remarked.

The bench also disagreed with S-G Mehta's contention and said from the plain reading of Article 370, it appears that the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir was given overriding powers in respect of the state government, as the matters were to be placed before the CA for approval if concurrence or consultation had been obtained before it came into existence.

Several petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which split the erstwhile state into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh - were referred to a Constitution bench in 2019.

(With additional inputs from PTI)

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NEW DELHI: Amid the Supreme Courts prodding on a timeline for restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Tuesday said he would make a positive statement on it on Thursday. The assurance came before the Constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. He added that the Union Territory status of J&K is not permanent although Ladakh would remain as Union Territory. The court had said although it was conscious about converting J&K into Union Territory in lieu of national security, that status could not be permanent. Without putting you in a bind, you (SG) and AG (Advocate General) may seek instructions at the highest level whether there is some timeframe in view. Restoration of democracy is a very important survival component for our nation... We take your point that progress has begun, the CJI said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); As the hearing on the hugely contentious issue continued for the 12th day, the apex court wanted to know from the government's law officers was the abrogation of Article 370 "really a logical step" to achieve J-K's complete integration with India. Commencing his arguments, Advocate General R Venkataramani said there is no fundamental difference between the integration process of J&K and the constitutional integration process of the rest of the country. The bench questioned the attorney general as to how provision 3 of Article 370 can be given a go-by while abrogating the provision. Article 370 (3) says, "Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this article, the President may, by public notification, declare that this article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may specify: Provided that the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State referred to in clause ( 2 ) shall be necessary before the President issues such a notification." The CJI contended that Article 370 says the recommendation of the constituent assembly shall be "necessary" and "before" the President issues a notification, and so it cannot be a post facto recommendation. The top court also questioned the Centre about the validity of its decision to divide the erstwhile state into two Union Territories, saying the petitioners who have challenged its decision contended it was beyond the powers of Parliament. ...on the wide chasm between absolute autonomy as it existed on 26th January 1950 and complete integration brought about on Aug 5, 2019, it was substantially bridged by what was happening in between. So it was not a complete migration from absolute autonomy to absolute integration. Substantial degree of integration had already taken place in the between 1950 and 2019. So what was done in 2019, was it really a logical step forward to achieve that integration? the bench remarked. The bench also disagreed with S-G Mehta's contention and said from the plain reading of Article 370, it appears that the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir was given overriding powers in respect of the state government, as the matters were to be placed before the CA for approval if concurrence or consultation had been obtained before it came into existence. Several petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which split the erstwhile state into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh - were referred to a Constitution bench in 2019. (With additional inputs from PTI) Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Mayank Singh By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: In a significant success for the Indian defence manufacturing sector, India and Kenya on Tuesday agreed to collaborate in capacity building, ship design and construction. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held talks with Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence Aden Bare Duale.

As per the Ministry of Defence, capacity building and cooperation in the defence industry and equipment were discussed at length. An MoU was signed between Goa Shipyard Ltd and Kenya Shipyard Limited for capacity building, collaboration in ship design and construction, MoD said, adding, Both the countries agreed that the defence relationship between the two countries has evolved from being training-centric to more strategic.

Singh underscored the importance India attached to its ties with African nations. He also talked about the need for deeper cooperation in maritime security of the Indian Ocean region. Duale appreciated the growing prowess of the Indian defence industry, including in the private sector, and highlighted the areas in which the Indian industry can support the requirements of the Kenyan Forces. Both sides agreed to joint training in counter-insurgency and UN peacekeeping domains.

Duale is on a three-day visit to India and will be visiting Indian shipyards and defence industries in Goa and Bengaluru. Meanwhile, delegations from UAE and Brazil were in India to discuss the success of Indias military diplomacy. A three-member UAE Navy subject matter expert delegation led by Colonel Dr Ali Saif Ali Mehrazi reached India on 27 August for a four-day visit to explore specialised meteorology, oceanography and weather modelling units of Indian Navy (IN) at Kochi, Goa and New Delhi.

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NEW DELHI: In a significant success for the Indian defence manufacturing sector, India and Kenya on Tuesday agreed to collaborate in capacity building, ship design and construction. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held talks with Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence Aden Bare Duale. As per the Ministry of Defence, capacity building and cooperation in the defence industry and equipment were discussed at length. An MoU was signed between Goa Shipyard Ltd and Kenya Shipyard Limited for capacity building, collaboration in ship design and construction, MoD said, adding, Both the countries agreed that the defence relationship between the two countries has evolved from being training-centric to more strategic. Singh underscored the importance India attached to its ties with African nations. He also talked about the need for deeper cooperation in maritime security of the Indian Ocean region. Duale appreciated the growing prowess of the Indian defence industry, including in the private sector, and highlighted the areas in which the Indian industry can support the requirements of the Kenyan Forces. Both sides agreed to joint training in counter-insurgency and UN peacekeeping domains.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Duale is on a three-day visit to India and will be visiting Indian shipyards and defence industries in Goa and Bengaluru. Meanwhile, delegations from UAE and Brazil were in India to discuss the success of Indias military diplomacy. A three-member UAE Navy subject matter expert delegation led by Colonel Dr Ali Saif Ali Mehrazi reached India on 27 August for a four-day visit to explore specialised meteorology, oceanography and weather modelling units of Indian Navy (IN) at Kochi, Goa and New Delhi. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: For decades, the issue of construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya has dominated national politics. However, in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Lord Rams greatest devotee and Hindu god Hanuman now seems to be dictating politics ahead of assembly polls.

A political controversy has erupted in the central Indian state, due to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhans statements in a recent interview to a national news channel.

In the interview, when asked about his government developing a Hanuman Lok temple corridor in Chhindwara (Kamal Naths political pocket-borough) in response to a giant Lord Hanuman statue built by Nath in the same district, the CM said, The statue has been there much before Kamal Nath was there. Kamal Nath may even claim that the Red Fort and Qutub Minar were built by him, but the reality about the Hanuman statue having been there for years is known to the entire state.

Responding to Chouhans statements, Nath tweeted on Monday night, Everyone knows that I was fortunate to have built the highest Hanuman statue in Simiriya (Chhindwara) in 2014. Still, if Shivraj Ji is spreading lies, then Lord Hanuman will do justice to him.

On Tuesday, the Congress organised Hanuman Chalisa Paaths, Sunder Kand Sadbuddhi Yajnas in its offices across the state, including state Congress headquarters in Bhopal and party offices in other major cities such as Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior and Sagar.

The religious events dedicated to Lord Hanuman were aimed to pray to the crisis eliminator god to render common sense to the CM, who is now spreading lies even in gods name, state Congresss media wings head KK Mishra said.

Responding to Congresss accusations, state BJP spokesperson Narendra Saluja claimed, By saying that the Hanuman statue had been there much before Kamal Nath, the CM was referring to Lord Hanumans idol in the old Jamsavli Hanuman Temple in Sausar area of Chhindwara.

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BHOPAL: For decades, the issue of construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya has dominated national politics. However, in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Lord Rams greatest devotee and Hindu god Hanuman now seems to be dictating politics ahead of assembly polls. A political controversy has erupted in the central Indian state, due to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhans statements in a recent interview to a national news channel. In the interview, when asked about his government developing a Hanuman Lok temple corridor in Chhindwara (Kamal Naths political pocket-borough) in response to a giant Lord Hanuman statue built by Nath in the same district, the CM said, The statue has been there much before Kamal Nath was there. Kamal Nath may even claim that the Red Fort and Qutub Minar were built by him, but the reality about the Hanuman statue having been there for years is known to the entire state.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Responding to Chouhans statements, Nath tweeted on Monday night, Everyone knows that I was fortunate to have built the highest Hanuman statue in Simiriya (Chhindwara) in 2014. Still, if Shivraj Ji is spreading lies, then Lord Hanuman will do justice to him. On Tuesday, the Congress organised Hanuman Chalisa Paaths, Sunder Kand Sadbuddhi Yajnas in its offices across the state, including state Congress headquarters in Bhopal and party offices in other major cities such as Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior and Sagar. The religious events dedicated to Lord Hanuman were aimed to pray to the crisis eliminator god to render common sense to the CM, who is now spreading lies even in gods name, state Congresss media wings head KK Mishra said. Responding to Congresss accusations, state BJP spokesperson Narendra Saluja claimed, By saying that the Hanuman statue had been there much before Kamal Nath, the CM was referring to Lord Hanumans idol in the old Jamsavli Hanuman Temple in Sausar area of Chhindwara. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has appointed Geetika Srivastava, as the first woman charge d'affaires at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Women diplomats have been posted to Pakistan earlier, but not at the highest level. It is also considered a tough posting since Islamabad was declared a non-family posting for Indian diplomats some years ago. That usually limits women officers from taking up the assignment in Pakistan.

Geetika Srivastava is currently serving as joint secretary at the headquarters of the MEA and will replace Suresh Kumar, who will return to Delhi soon.

Srivastava, who is from the 2005 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, served in the Indian embassy in China during 2007-09. She has also had stints at the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata and as a director of the Indian Ocean Region division in the External Affairs Ministry.

The last Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad was Ajay Bisaria, who was withdrawn after Pakistan decided to downgrade the status of the High Commission following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.

The Indian and Pakistani high commissions in Islamabad and Delhi are being headed by their respective charge d'affaires after Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has chosen Saad Warraich, currently director general of the Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey desk at the foreign ministry, as the new charge daffaires in New Delhi.

Salman Sharif, the previous Pakistani charge daffaires, was recently called back to Islamabad.

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NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has appointed Geetika Srivastava, as the first woman charge d'affaires at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. Women diplomats have been posted to Pakistan earlier, but not at the highest level. It is also considered a tough posting since Islamabad was declared a non-family posting for Indian diplomats some years ago. That usually limits women officers from taking up the assignment in Pakistan. Geetika Srivastava is currently serving as joint secretary at the headquarters of the MEA and will replace Suresh Kumar, who will return to Delhi soon.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Srivastava, who is from the 2005 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, served in the Indian embassy in China during 2007-09. She has also had stints at the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata and as a director of the Indian Ocean Region division in the External Affairs Ministry. The last Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad was Ajay Bisaria, who was withdrawn after Pakistan decided to downgrade the status of the High Commission following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. The Indian and Pakistani high commissions in Islamabad and Delhi are being headed by their respective charge d'affaires after Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties. Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has chosen Saad Warraich, currently director general of the Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey desk at the foreign ministry, as the new charge daffaires in New Delhi. Salman Sharif, the previous Pakistani charge daffaires, was recently called back to Islamabad. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
FORT NOVOSEL The 1st Aviation Brigade welcomed its new commander during a change of command ceremony at Fort Novosel Aug. 25.

Col. Jason T. Woodward formally assumed command as he accepted the unit colors from Maj. Gen. Michael C. McCurry, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Novosel commander, after Col. Richard P. Tucker relinquished command.

McCurry, who hosted the event, welcomed attendees to the home of Army Aviation, including community leaders and the families of the outgoing and incoming commanders.

Whatever measure one uses to calculate success, the support of family is surely a key to the equation for both Rich and Jason, McCurry said.

Honoring the brigades history, McCurry said the 1st Aviation Brigade represents the emergence and preeminence of Army Aviation after its birth.

Activated in Vietnam, the brigade was commanded by a brigadier general. By 1970 the brigade had more than 27,000 soldiers and 4,000 helicopters.

Today the brigade is comprised of more Soldiers than any aviation brigade in the Army and executes many functions of the branch and the installation, he added.

McCurry welcomed Woodward and his family to Fort Novosel and 1st Aviation Brigade, as the right leader at the right time.

Woodward has served at every level from platoon leader through battalion commander in peacetime and in war, understands training, and is familiar with the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, he explained.

Hes open-eyed about the challenges in front of him to help transform Army aviation for the future and strengthen our profession of arms, McCurry said.

Woodward enlisted as an infantry man in 1994, attended the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School, and commissioned as an aviation second lieutenant in 2003.

Among his assignments, he served as the senior aviation trainer at the National Training Center, and commanded the 4th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado. He also served at the Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate, Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Woodward completed an interagency fellowship in the office of Homeland Security and Emergency Coordination, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

He also served as the plans officer for the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, Louisiana; the operations and command post observer controller-trainer in Aviation Division, Operations Group, Joint Readiness Training Center; and as the operations officer for 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion.

He deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, Enduring Freedom, and Inherent Resolve.

I am honored and humbled to be counted amongst the Golden Hawks, a team of professionals with extraordinary responsibilities to the Army and Army Aviation, he said.

He thanked guests and family for their support, McCurry for his trust and confidence, and Tucker for the professional handover.

I will work hard to continue the work you have done improving the quality of aviation warfighters produced by the Army, he said. This opportunity to command is an honor that I do not take lightly, he said.

McCurry said successful servant leadership is marked by the people they lead, and he lauded Tucker for leading the Golden Hawks with distinction.

The brigade executed 34 programs of instruction for U.S. and international officers and s23-oldiers, and ensured the training, safety and welfare of more than 4,500 military and civilian personnel, students and their families. It produced more than 8,000 Aviation warfighters for the Army in the operational force, McCurry explained.

Tucker said serving as the 1st Aviation Brigade commander was the most profoundly impactful position of my career.

He thanked leaders past and present, family, friends and the local community, and commended the hardworking people of the 1st Aviation Brigade.

You work tirelessly every day to deliver world-class training, accomplish our operational missions, advance this aviation branch and deliver results. You made lasting impacts . A job well done, and thank you, he said.

Tucker will move on to serve as the USAACE chief of staff.
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India has made an exception to its rice export ban for the benefit of Singapore, which also happens to be the highest investor in India. According to latest figures, Singapore is investing $17.2 billion in 2023 in various projects in India, including the Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City project.

India had announced a ban on rice exports on July 20 in a bid to control increase in prices. A month later, they have decided to export rice to Singapore to help it meet its food security requirements.

"India and Singapore enjoy a very close strategic partnership, characterised by shared interests, close economic ties and strong people-to-people connections, the ministry said in a statement. In view of this special relationship, India has decided to allow export of rice to meet the food security requirements of Singapore. Formal orders in this regard will be issued shortly," said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi.

Nearly 90 per cent of rice produced in the world is in Asia, and India is said to contribute nearly 40 per cent of the total rice exports globally. Singapore which has a high consumption of rice (statistics reveal it was nearly 347,000 metric tonnes in 2017) depends largely on India, Thailand and Vietnam for imports. Their consumption is increasing and according to Goldstein Research analyst the Singapore rice industry is expected to grow at CAGR of 1.9 per cent through 2030.

"Singapore is one of the largest investors in India, as a result India will do all it can to support them specially in this case as it is a question of their food security. Hence this exception of exports was made," according to a source.

Meanwhile, India banned the export of non-basmati white rice to control the rise in prices on July 20. This ban impacted nearly 80 per cent of the exports. However, on Wednesday (August 30), the government decided to permit exports of non-basmati rice that were trapped in ports. According to estimates, nearly 150,000 tonnes of non-basmati rice will be released from various ports for exports  most are said to be heading for East African and West African countries.

In addition, India imposed a 20 per cent duty on parboiled rice until October 15.

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NEW DELHI: India has made an exception to its rice export ban for the benefit of Singapore, which also happens to be the highest investor in India. According to latest figures, Singapore is investing $17.2 billion in 2023 in various projects in India, including the Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City project. India had announced a ban on rice exports on July 20 in a bid to control increase in prices. A month later, they have decided to export rice to Singapore to help it meet its food security requirements. "India and Singapore enjoy a very close strategic partnership, characterised by shared interests, close economic ties and strong people-to-people connections, the ministry said in a statement. In view of this special relationship, India has decided to allow export of rice to meet the food security requirements of Singapore. Formal orders in this regard will be issued shortly," said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Nearly 90 per cent of rice produced in the world is in Asia, and India is said to contribute nearly 40 per cent of the total rice exports globally. Singapore which has a high consumption of rice (statistics reveal it was nearly 347,000 metric tonnes in 2017) depends largely on India, Thailand and Vietnam for imports. Their consumption is increasing and according to Goldstein Research analyst the Singapore rice industry is expected to grow at CAGR of 1.9 per cent through 2030. "Singapore is one of the largest investors in India, as a result India will do all it can to support them specially in this case as it is a question of their food security. Hence this exception of exports was made," according to a source. Meanwhile, India banned the export of non-basmati white rice to control the rise in prices on July 20. This ban impacted nearly 80 per cent of the exports. However, on Wednesday (August 30), the government decided to permit exports of non-basmati rice that were trapped in ports. According to estimates, nearly 150,000 tonnes of non-basmati rice will be released from various ports for exports  most are said to be heading for East African and West African countries. In addition, India imposed a 20 per cent duty on parboiled rice until October 15. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: After breaching the security cordon, a protesting group of farmers from Morshi from Vidarbha region jumped from the second floor of Mantralaya building  the administrative headquarters of Maharashtra govt in Mumbai  to safety nets set up on its first floor, demanding justice and compensation for the land acquired for the Upper Wardha irrigation project.

Farmers from Morshi have been protesting for the last 103 days to draw the attention of the government. On Tuesday, they came to Mantralaya and jumped from the second floor. Police rushed in to pull them away and were later detained.

The videos and photos of farmers jumping immediately went viral on social media. Chief Minister Ekanth Shinde said that he has discussed this issue with the department concerned and secretaries and in the next 10-15 days the issue of these protesting farmers will be resolved.

Farmers in the pamphlet demanded the project-affected should be given compensation with interest against their land that was acquired for the development of the Upper Wardha irrigations project besides the equal size of the land should be also given at different places.

The project affected farmers children should be given jobs in government and semi-government departments. The government should talk with the farmers, otherwise, they will intensify the protest in the coming days, threatened the farmers.

Earlier, protesters had breached the security, entered Mantralaya and tried to end their lives by leaping from top floors. The government has installed safety nets on the first floor of the main Mantralaya building as a precautionary measure to prevent any suicide attempts.

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MUMBAI: After breaching the security cordon, a protesting group of farmers from Morshi from Vidarbha region jumped from the second floor of Mantralaya building  the administrative headquarters of Maharashtra govt in Mumbai  to safety nets set up on its first floor, demanding justice and compensation for the land acquired for the Upper Wardha irrigation project. Farmers from Morshi have been protesting for the last 103 days to draw the attention of the government. On Tuesday, they came to Mantralaya and jumped from the second floor. Police rushed in to pull them away and were later detained. The videos and photos of farmers jumping immediately went viral on social media. Chief Minister Ekanth Shinde said that he has discussed this issue with the department concerned and secretaries and in the next 10-15 days the issue of these protesting farmers will be resolved.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Farmers in the pamphlet demanded the project-affected should be given compensation with interest against their land that was acquired for the development of the Upper Wardha irrigations project besides the equal size of the land should be also given at different places. The project affected farmers children should be given jobs in government and semi-government departments. The government should talk with the farmers, otherwise, they will intensify the protest in the coming days, threatened the farmers. Earlier, protesters had breached the security, entered Mantralaya and tried to end their lives by leaping from top floors. The government has installed safety nets on the first floor of the main Mantralaya building as a precautionary measure to prevent any suicide attempts. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Narendra Sethi By

Express News Service

DEHRADUN: An Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) team has arrested a man who had threatened to carry out serial bomb blasts at various locations in Nainital from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh after 20 days of efforts.

Khalid, formerly Nitin Sharma, who threatened to carry out bomb blasts in the name of terrorist organization Hizbul Mujahideen, is being interrogated by the STF.

Uttarakhand STF's Additional Superintendent of Police Chandra Mohan Singh told TNIE, "On July 17 this year, the accused Nitin Sharma had threatened the Nainital Media Cell police through Facebook Messenger that serial bomb blasts would take place in the next 24 hours."

On October 4, 2022, the Nainital Police Control Room had received bomb threats through phone calls.

"The case was transferred to Uttarakhand STF amidst repeated bomb threats and after about three weeks of hard work, the STF arrested the accused Nitin Sharma from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh on Monday," the cop said.

No concrete evidence has been found yet to show that the accused has links with international terrorist gangs, the ASP said.

The STF however has confirmed that bomb threat cases have been registered against the accused in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala.

The arrested accused will be produced in Nainital court.

STF sources said that Nitin Sharma, a resident of Delhi, who has passed Class 10, had confessed during interrogation that he had converted to Islam, that he goes to different mosques to pray, and that there was no one behind him.

"Preliminary interrogation and investigation has revealed that the accused Nitin Sharma alias Khalid used to visit mosques in different states and collect money from there," ASP Singh told TNIE,

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DEHRADUN: An Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) team has arrested a man who had threatened to carry out serial bomb blasts at various locations in Nainital from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh after 20 days of efforts. Khalid, formerly Nitin Sharma, who threatened to carry out bomb blasts in the name of terrorist organization Hizbul Mujahideen, is being interrogated by the STF. Uttarakhand STF's Additional Superintendent of Police Chandra Mohan Singh told TNIE, "On July 17 this year, the accused Nitin Sharma had threatened the Nainital Media Cell police through Facebook Messenger that serial bomb blasts would take place in the next 24 hours."googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); On October 4, 2022, the Nainital Police Control Room had received bomb threats through phone calls. "The case was transferred to Uttarakhand STF amidst repeated bomb threats and after about three weeks of hard work, the STF arrested the accused Nitin Sharma from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh on Monday," the cop said. No concrete evidence has been found yet to show that the accused has links with international terrorist gangs, the ASP said. The STF however has confirmed that bomb threat cases have been registered against the accused in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala. The arrested accused will be produced in Nainital court. STF sources said that Nitin Sharma, a resident of Delhi, who has passed Class 10, had confessed during interrogation that he had converted to Islam, that he goes to different mosques to pray, and that there was no one behind him. "Preliminary interrogation and investigation has revealed that the accused Nitin Sharma alias Khalid used to visit mosques in different states and collect money from there," ASP Singh told TNIE, Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: The Opposition alliance, INDIA, appears to be planning to pit a Dalit stalwart against the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The third meeting of the Opposition, scheduled to be held here on August 31 and September 1, is expected to decide on its convenor, and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is the front-runner for the post.

Kharge is a senior and experienced leader who can take all regional parties along in the fight against the BJP. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has conveyed that he does not want to be convener but will play a major role in the alliance. Then, it was suggested that since Congress is the biggest party in the alliance, its president Kharge should be made convenor. Kharge never projected himself as a Dalit leader, but he can consolidate Dalit voters that are in significant numbers in states like Uttar Pradesh, said a source who is part of the INDIA, while requesting anonymity.

Another source said Kharges name as convener would be proposed by regional party leaders like RJDs Lalu Prasad, JD(U)s Nitish Kumar or NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

If required, two co-conveners could be chosen at the Mumbai meet or later. The co-conveners would mainly be from regional parties, the source added.

This newspaper tried to reach Kharge and Congress general secretary in-charge of media Jairam Ramesh for their comments, but both were unavailable.

Besides the convenor, the meeting will pick an 11-member panel that will be empowered to make key decisions regarding the alliance. The panel will include Nitish, Lalu, TMC head Mamata Banerjee, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, AAP president Arvind Kejriwal and DMK chief M K Stalin, the source added.

Meanwhile, sources said the flag and logo of INDIA will also be finalised.

On August 31, an informal meeting of all 60 invited leaders will discuss matters on the agenda. On September 1, the decisions will be shared with the media, sources said.

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MUMBAI: The Opposition alliance, INDIA, appears to be planning to pit a Dalit stalwart against the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The third meeting of the Opposition, scheduled to be held here on August 31 and September 1, is expected to decide on its convenor, and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is the front-runner for the post. Kharge is a senior and experienced leader who can take all regional parties along in the fight against the BJP. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has conveyed that he does not want to be convener but will play a major role in the alliance. Then, it was suggested that since Congress is the biggest party in the alliance, its president Kharge should be made convenor. Kharge never projected himself as a Dalit leader, but he can consolidate Dalit voters that are in significant numbers in states like Uttar Pradesh, said a source who is part of the INDIA, while requesting anonymity.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Another source said Kharges name as convener would be proposed by regional party leaders like RJDs Lalu Prasad, JD(U)s Nitish Kumar or NCP chief Sharad Pawar. If required, two co-conveners could be chosen at the Mumbai meet or later. The co-conveners would mainly be from regional parties, the source added. This newspaper tried to reach Kharge and Congress general secretary in-charge of media Jairam Ramesh for their comments, but both were unavailable. Besides the convenor, the meeting will pick an 11-member panel that will be empowered to make key decisions regarding the alliance. The panel will include Nitish, Lalu, TMC head Mamata Banerjee, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, AAP president Arvind Kejriwal and DMK chief M K Stalin, the source added. Meanwhile, sources said the flag and logo of INDIA will also be finalised. On August 31, an informal meeting of all 60 invited leaders will discuss matters on the agenda. On September 1, the decisions will be shared with the media, sources said. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

NEW DELHI: As it grapples with the problem of overcrowded jails with inmates living cheek by jowl, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre and states to furnish details about the availability of medical facilities for prisoners and imparting them vocational training.

The apex court, which is hearing a matter related to alleged "inhuman conditions" prevailing in 1,382 prisons across India, also asked the Centre and the states to file affidavits giving the details about availability of adequate information technology (IT)infrastructure for conducting virtual court proceedings and visitation rights of family members of those incarcerated.

When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday before a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Rajesh Bindal, it noted the sixth, seventh and eight preliminary reports and the final synopsis of the reports of December last year have been submitted by the top court-appointed committee on prison reforms.

In September 2018, the top court had constituted a three-member committee headed by former apex court judge Justice (retd) Amitava Roy to look at issues involving jail reforms and make recommendations on several aspects, including overcrowding in prisons.

On Tuesday, the bench asked advocate Gaurav Agrawal, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae (friend of court), in the matter, to share copies of the reports with the counsel for the Union of India and the state governments.

Some time is sought and granted to counsel for the parties to go through the reports and assist the court on the next date of hearing, the bench said.

"Having perused the terms of references forwarded by this court to the committee for giving its recommendations in terms of the order dated September 25, 2018, we are of the opinion that some other issues are also required to be addressed, which include the following: Availability of medical facilities to the inmates in jail, imparting vocational training to the inmates in the jail and availability of adequate IT infrastructure in jail premises for the purposes of conducting virtual court proceedings and for visitation rights of family members," the court said.

It said, to start with, the aforesaid aspects may be responded to by the Union of India and the state governments by filing appropriate affidavits through the Director General of Prisons of the respective states within three weeks from today, with advance copies to the amicus curiae (lawyers appointed by court to assist it in a case), who is requested to collate the entire information furnished, for the perusal of the court on the next date of hearing," the apex court said.

It said the counsel for the parties shall assist the bench on issues related to women and children in detention, transgender prisoners, and death row convicts.

The bench has posted the matter for resumed hearing on September 26.

In its September 25, 2018 order, the apex court had said the Supreme Court committee on prison reforms would give its recommendations on several issues, including reviewing the implementation of the guidelines contained in the Model Prison Manual, 2016 by the states and Union Territories.

It had said the committee would examine the extent of overcrowding in prisons and correctional homes and recommend remedial measures, including an examination of the functioning of under trial review committees, availability of legal aid and advice, grant of remission, parole and furlough.

The apex court had said the committee would examine violence in prisons and correctional homes and recommend measures to prevent unnatural deaths.

The panel, it said, would also assess the availability of medical facilities in prisons and correctional homes and make recommendations about these aspects.

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NEW DELHI: As it grapples with the problem of overcrowded jails with inmates living cheek by jowl, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre and states to furnish details about the availability of medical facilities for prisoners and imparting them vocational training. The apex court, which is hearing a matter related to alleged "inhuman conditions" prevailing in 1,382 prisons across India, also asked the Centre and the states to file affidavits giving the details about availability of adequate information technology (IT)infrastructure for conducting virtual court proceedings and visitation rights of family members of those incarcerated. When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday before a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Rajesh Bindal, it noted the sixth, seventh and eight preliminary reports and the final synopsis of the reports of December last year have been submitted by the top court-appointed committee on prison reforms.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); In September 2018, the top court had constituted a three-member committee headed by former apex court judge Justice (retd) Amitava Roy to look at issues involving jail reforms and make recommendations on several aspects, including overcrowding in prisons. On Tuesday, the bench asked advocate Gaurav Agrawal, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae (friend of court), in the matter, to share copies of the reports with the counsel for the Union of India and the state governments. Some time is sought and granted to counsel for the parties to go through the reports and assist the court on the next date of hearing, the bench said. "Having perused the terms of references forwarded by this court to the committee for giving its recommendations in terms of the order dated September 25, 2018, we are of the opinion that some other issues are also required to be addressed, which include the following: Availability of medical facilities to the inmates in jail, imparting vocational training to the inmates in the jail and availability of adequate IT infrastructure in jail premises for the purposes of conducting virtual court proceedings and for visitation rights of family members," the court said. It said, to start with, the aforesaid aspects may be responded to by the Union of India and the state governments by filing appropriate affidavits through the Director General of Prisons of the respective states within three weeks from today, with advance copies to the amicus curiae (lawyers appointed by court to assist it in a case), who is requested to collate the entire information furnished, for the perusal of the court on the next date of hearing," the apex court said. It said the counsel for the parties shall assist the bench on issues related to women and children in detention, transgender prisoners, and death row convicts. The bench has posted the matter for resumed hearing on September 26. In its September 25, 2018 order, the apex court had said the Supreme Court committee on prison reforms would give its recommendations on several issues, including reviewing the implementation of the guidelines contained in the Model Prison Manual, 2016 by the states and Union Territories. It had said the committee would examine the extent of overcrowding in prisons and correctional homes and recommend remedial measures, including an examination of the functioning of under trial review committees, availability of legal aid and advice, grant of remission, parole and furlough. The apex court had said the committee would examine violence in prisons and correctional homes and recommend measures to prevent unnatural deaths. The panel, it said, would also assess the availability of medical facilities in prisons and correctional homes and make recommendations about these aspects. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: In a surprising turn of events, Kailash Meghwal, a senior BJP MLA in Rajasthan and former Speaker of the Rajasthan Assembly, has accused Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal of corruption, calling his colleague "corrupt number one."

Addressing a public gathering, Kailash Meghwal vowed to expose Arjun Meghwals alleged corrupt practices and declared his intention to write a formal letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to remove Arjun Meghwal from the council of ministers.

During his impassioned speech, Kailash Meghwal remarked, PM Narendra Modi appointed Arjun Ram Meghwal as the law minister despite his involvement in corrupt activities. Even in his previous capacity as a government officer, Arjun Ram Meghwal was embroiled in numerous corruption cases. These cases have persisted through successive administrations.

Kailash Meghwal accused Arjun Meghwal of entering politics solely to evade facing these corruption charges. "This Arjun Ram Meghwal is corrupt number one. There are cases of corruption against him. I will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding he should be removed from the Council of Ministers," the Shahpura MLA said.

Bikaner MP Arjun Ram Meghwal was recently appointed the convenor of the BJP's election manifesto committee for the Rajasthan assembly elections.

Both Arjun Ram Meghwal and Kailash Meghwal are Dalit leaders.

Arjun Ram Meghwal was appointed the Minister of State (independent charge) of Law and Justice, succeeding Kiren Rijiju. He has been the chief whip of the party in the Lok Sabha and later, a Minister of State handling portfolios such as finance, corporate affairs, heavy industry and public enterprises, water resources, parliamentary affairs and culture.

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JAIPUR: In a surprising turn of events, Kailash Meghwal, a senior BJP MLA in Rajasthan and former Speaker of the Rajasthan Assembly, has accused Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal of corruption, calling his colleague "corrupt number one." Addressing a public gathering, Kailash Meghwal vowed to expose Arjun Meghwals alleged corrupt practices and declared his intention to write a formal letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to remove Arjun Meghwal from the council of ministers. During his impassioned speech, Kailash Meghwal remarked, PM Narendra Modi appointed Arjun Ram Meghwal as the law minister despite his involvement in corrupt activities. Even in his previous capacity as a government officer, Arjun Ram Meghwal was embroiled in numerous corruption cases. These cases have persisted through successive administrations.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Kailash Meghwal accused Arjun Meghwal of entering politics solely to evade facing these corruption charges. "This Arjun Ram Meghwal is corrupt number one. There are cases of corruption against him. I will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding he should be removed from the Council of Ministers," the Shahpura MLA said. Bikaner MP Arjun Ram Meghwal was recently appointed the convenor of the BJP's election manifesto committee for the Rajasthan assembly elections. Both Arjun Ram Meghwal and Kailash Meghwal are Dalit leaders. Arjun Ram Meghwal was appointed the Minister of State (independent charge) of Law and Justice, succeeding Kiren Rijiju. He has been the chief whip of the party in the Lok Sabha and later, a Minister of State handling portfolios such as finance, corporate affairs, heavy industry and public enterprises, water resources, parliamentary affairs and culture. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: A major storm has erupted in the Rajasthan unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after senior MLA and former Speaker of the state Assembly Kailash Meghwal called Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal 'Corrupt Number One' at a public rally in Bhilwara on Monday.

While Arjun Meghwal has threatened to launch a defamation case against the former, the BJP has issued a show cause notice to the veteran MLA, urging him to offer a clarification within a stipulated ten-day period.

However, Kailash Meghwal has asserted that he has not received any formal communication from the party.

Arjun Meghwal's recent appointment as chairman of the election manifesto panel for Rajasthan has been perceived by some as a factor contributing to Kailash Meghwal's statements.

Kailash Meghwal is known to be a staunch loyalist of ex-chief minister Vasundhara Raje. There is speculation that Kailash Meghwal's outburst may be a sign of potential consequences if Vasundhara Raje is not named as the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming state assembly elections.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has assured that his government will investigate the charges against the union minister.

Amidst this turmoil, Rajasthan's Disaster Relief Minister Govind Meghwal has come forward to substantiate Kailash Meghwal's allegations. He mentioned that Arjun Meghwal faced corruption accusations during his tenure as the Collector of Churu.

He went on to add that within the BJP, leaders tainted with allegations of corruption often ascend to prominent positions due to their tendency to act as yes-men.

Govind Meghwal's remarks underscore a deeper critique of the party's internal dynamics.

CM Gehlot did not let the opportunity to critique the BJP go to waste.

Supporting Kailash Meghwal's claims, Gehlot remarked, "There were indications of significant corruption during Arjun Ram Meghwal's tenure...an issue that was allegedly suppressed. Investigations were underway into the matter but Arjun Ram Meghwal sought legal intervention, securing a stay from the High Court against further investigation."

Meanwhile, Arjun Ram Meghwal has staunchly defended himself, suggesting that Kailash Meghwal's allegations could be stemming from the latter's bitterness over his potential exclusion as a BJP candidate in the upcoming state elections.

Accusing Kailash Meghwal of seeking refuge within the Congress party, Arjun Ram Meghwal contended that the allegations stem from political motivations rather than genuine concerns.

He alleged that Kailash Meghwal's recent praises for the Congress Chief Minister at public gatherings as an indicator of the MLA possibly shifting allegiance.

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JAIPUR: A major storm has erupted in the Rajasthan unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after senior MLA and former Speaker of the state Assembly Kailash Meghwal called Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal 'Corrupt Number One' at a public rally in Bhilwara on Monday. While Arjun Meghwal has threatened to launch a defamation case against the former, the BJP has issued a show cause notice to the veteran MLA, urging him to offer a clarification within a stipulated ten-day period. However, Kailash Meghwal has asserted that he has not received any formal communication from the party. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Arjun Meghwal's recent appointment as chairman of the election manifesto panel for Rajasthan has been perceived by some as a factor contributing to Kailash Meghwal's statements. Kailash Meghwal is known to be a staunch loyalist of ex-chief minister Vasundhara Raje. There is speculation that Kailash Meghwal's outburst may be a sign of potential consequences if Vasundhara Raje is not named as the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming state assembly elections. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has assured that his government will investigate the charges against the union minister. Amidst this turmoil, Rajasthan's Disaster Relief Minister Govind Meghwal has come forward to substantiate Kailash Meghwal's allegations. He mentioned that Arjun Meghwal faced corruption accusations during his tenure as the Collector of Churu. He went on to add that within the BJP, leaders tainted with allegations of corruption often ascend to prominent positions due to their tendency to act as yes-men. Govind Meghwal's remarks underscore a deeper critique of the party's internal dynamics. CM Gehlot did not let the opportunity to critique the BJP go to waste. Supporting Kailash Meghwal's claims, Gehlot remarked, "There were indications of significant corruption during Arjun Ram Meghwal's tenure...an issue that was allegedly suppressed. Investigations were underway into the matter but Arjun Ram Meghwal sought legal intervention, securing a stay from the High Court against further investigation." Meanwhile, Arjun Ram Meghwal has staunchly defended himself, suggesting that Kailash Meghwal's allegations could be stemming from the latter's bitterness over his potential exclusion as a BJP candidate in the upcoming state elections. Accusing Kailash Meghwal of seeking refuge within the Congress party, Arjun Ram Meghwal contended that the allegations stem from political motivations rather than genuine concerns. He alleged that Kailash Meghwal's recent praises for the Congress Chief Minister at public gatherings as an indicator of the MLA possibly shifting allegiance. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By PTI

AMRITSAR: A teenage girl has been shot dead in Punjab's Ajnala village allegedly by a youth who was stalking her for the past few months, police on Wednesday.One of the two accomplices of the main accused Dalbir Singh has been arrested, they said.

On Tuesday evening, the three accused forcibly entered the house of the 15-year-old girl's aunt and started asking her whereabouts, a police official said.

The girl, who was inside the house, came out and a heated argument ensued during which Dalbir Singh shot her and fled, the official said, adding the girl was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared her dead.

According to the police, the accused had been harassing the girl for the past many months and pressuring her to marry him. The girl's parents had sent her to her aunt's residence as the accused was constantly harassing her.

A case has been registered under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act while a hunt is on to nab the other two accused.

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AMRITSAR: A teenage girl has been shot dead in Punjab's Ajnala village allegedly by a youth who was stalking her for the past few months, police on Wednesday.One of the two accomplices of the main accused Dalbir Singh has been arrested, they said. On Tuesday evening, the three accused forcibly entered the house of the 15-year-old girl's aunt and started asking her whereabouts, a police official said. The girl, who was inside the house, came out and a heated argument ensued during which Dalbir Singh shot her and fled, the official said, adding the girl was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared her dead.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); According to the police, the accused had been harassing the girl for the past many months and pressuring her to marry him. The girl's parents had sent her to her aunt's residence as the accused was constantly harassing her. A case has been registered under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act while a hunt is on to nab the other two accused. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya in Uttar Pradesh is in a tight corner for "ridiculing Hinduism."

A Congress leader in Moradabad on Tuesday offered a bounty of Rs 10 lakh for cutting off the tongue of Maurya, but later withdrew his statement.

Meanwhile, State General Secretary of Shiv Sena and Kranti Sena, Manoj Saini offered Rs 1100 for hitting Maurya with shoes.

Bounty for Maurya's tongue

Pandit Ganga Ram Sharma, chairman of Moradabad district Congress Committee's Human rights cell came out with an offer of Rs 10 lakh for cutting off the tongue of Maurya for ridiculing Hindu Dharma. Sharma was also angry against Maurya for making "vitriolic remarks against Hinduism" on various occasions.

However, Sharma on Wednesday withdrew his bounty offer by issuing another statement. In that, Sharma said he is taking back his earlier statement since the Congress party stood for love, truth and non-violence

"Our party follows the path of truth and non-violence and I abide by those principles completely. So, I express regret over my undignified remarks and withdraw my statement given on August 29, 2023," said Sharma.

He claimed that he was withdrawing his statement against SP MLC Swami Prasad Maurya after having a discussion with Congress's Moradabad district chief Aslam Khurshid.

Sharma had accused Maurya of insulting epic Ramcharit Manas. Hurt by the SP leaders incendiary remarks, he reportedly issued a press note, on Tuesday, saying that Swami Prasad Maurya was not only insulting Tulsidas Ramcharit Manas but also the Hindu religion. The statement had gone viral on social media.

The Congress party had distanced itself from Sharmas controversial statement.

Responding to the development, Aslam Khurshid said that Sharma's statement had nothing to do with the party and it was the latter's personal remark.

Shiv Sena leader offers Rs 1100 for hitting Maurya with shoes

Meanwhile, another local leader announced that he would give a reward for thrashing SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya. While speaking to the media, State General Secretary of Shiv Sena and Kranti Sena Manoj Saini stated that they will give Rs 1100 to the one who will hit Swami Prasad Maurya with shoes.

It may be recalled that after spearheading a hateful campaign against Ramcharit Manas, on August 27, Maurya announced that Hinduism is not a religion but a "hoax." He also equated Hindu religion to an oppressive trap for the deprived and the downtrodden people.

The Samajwadi Party chose to distance itself from Mauryas remarks when its leader Manoj Kumar Pandey claimed that Mauryas statements did not reflect the stance of the party. He slammed his senior party colleague for using religion to revive his political career.

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LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya in Uttar Pradesh is in a tight corner for "ridiculing Hinduism." A Congress leader in Moradabad on Tuesday offered a bounty of Rs 10 lakh for cutting off the tongue of Maurya, but later withdrew his statement. Meanwhile, State General Secretary of Shiv Sena and Kranti Sena, Manoj Saini offered Rs 1100 for hitting Maurya with shoes.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Bounty for Maurya's tongue Pandit Ganga Ram Sharma, chairman of Moradabad district Congress Committee's Human rights cell came out with an offer of Rs 10 lakh for cutting off the tongue of Maurya for ridiculing Hindu Dharma. Sharma was also angry against Maurya for making "vitriolic remarks against Hinduism" on various occasions. However, Sharma on Wednesday withdrew his bounty offer by issuing another statement. In that, Sharma said he is taking back his earlier statement since the Congress party stood for love, truth and non-violence "Our party follows the path of truth and non-violence and I abide by those principles completely. So, I express regret over my undignified remarks and withdraw my statement given on August 29, 2023," said Sharma. He claimed that he was withdrawing his statement against SP MLC Swami Prasad Maurya after having a discussion with Congress's Moradabad district chief Aslam Khurshid. Sharma had accused Maurya of insulting epic Ramcharit Manas. Hurt by the SP leaders incendiary remarks, he reportedly issued a press note, on Tuesday, saying that Swami Prasad Maurya was not only insulting Tulsidas Ramcharit Manas but also the Hindu religion. The statement had gone viral on social media. The Congress party had distanced itself from Sharmas controversial statement. Responding to the development, Aslam Khurshid said that Sharma's statement had nothing to do with the party and it was the latter's personal remark. Shiv Sena leader offers Rs 1100 for hitting Maurya with shoes Meanwhile, another local leader announced that he would give a reward for thrashing SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya. While speaking to the media, State General Secretary of Shiv Sena and Kranti Sena Manoj Saini stated that they will give Rs 1100 to the one who will hit Swami Prasad Maurya with shoes. It may be recalled that after spearheading a hateful campaign against Ramcharit Manas, on August 27, Maurya announced that Hinduism is not a religion but a "hoax." He also equated Hindu religion to an oppressive trap for the deprived and the downtrodden people. The Samajwadi Party chose to distance itself from Mauryas remarks when its leader Manoj Kumar Pandey claimed that Mauryas statements did not reflect the stance of the party. He slammed his senior party colleague for using religion to revive his political career. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
By AFP

BATAM: Dozens of Chinese nationals were arrested in Indonesia on suspicion of running an online love scam syndicate that ensnared hundreds of victims in China, police said Wednesday.

Acting on a tip-off from their Chinese counterparts, Indonesian police arrested 83 men and five women at an industrial park in Batam city in Riau Islands province on Tuesday.

Police said the syndicate blackmailed hundreds of victims in China, many of whom were public officials.

"We are investigating if there are any Indonesians among the victims. If there are none, the scammers will be deported immediately," Riau Islands police spokesman Zahwani Pandra Arsyad told AFP on Wednesday.

The alleged scammers pretended to have romantic feelings for their victims during video calls.

The women scammers are accused of seducing the victims before asking them to engage in sexual acts during the calls while other suspects recorded the videos.

The suspects then allegedly blackmailed their victims, threatening to release the videos on social media if they refused to send them money.

It is unclear how long the group had been operating and how much they had earned.

Police had previously said many scammers had moved to Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries after China cracked down on domestic networks.

In 2019, police arrested 85 Chinese nationals and six Indonesians over an online scam that tricked victims out of millions of dollars.

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BATAM: Dozens of Chinese nationals were arrested in Indonesia on suspicion of running an online love scam syndicate that ensnared hundreds of victims in China, police said Wednesday. Acting on a tip-off from their Chinese counterparts, Indonesian police arrested 83 men and five women at an industrial park in Batam city in Riau Islands province on Tuesday. Police said the syndicate blackmailed hundreds of victims in China, many of whom were public officials.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "We are investigating if there are any Indonesians among the victims. If there are none, the scammers will be deported immediately," Riau Islands police spokesman Zahwani Pandra Arsyad told AFP on Wednesday. The alleged scammers pretended to have romantic feelings for their victims during video calls. The women scammers are accused of seducing the victims before asking them to engage in sexual acts during the calls while other suspects recorded the videos. The suspects then allegedly blackmailed their victims, threatening to release the videos on social media if they refused to send them money. It is unclear how long the group had been operating and how much they had earned. Police had previously said many scammers had moved to Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries after China cracked down on domestic networks. In 2019, police arrested 85 Chinese nationals and six Indonesians over an online scam that tricked victims out of millions of dollars. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
A Houston County grand jury indicted the office assistant of a homebuilder charged with multiple counts of mortgage fraud, according to court records.

On Thursday, Aug. 17, Shelley Lynn Brown, of Dothan, was indicted on 29 counts of mortgage fraud and 33 counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument.

In March, Brown and her boss Ryan Jay Kriser, of Dothan, were arrested following a year-long fraud investigation conducted by the Houston County Sheriffs Office.

Houston County Sheriffs Cpl. Brandon Barnes said an investigation was launched into Kriser Homes South in March 2022 after a homeowner presented a certificate of occupancy from Houston County to Dothan Utilites. However, the county doesnt issue those certificates.

Throughout the investigation, several other documents including building permits, sewage inspections, and termite bond records were found to be fraudulent and forged.

No homeowners were affected by the alleged fraud, but three mortgage companies and a pest control company were impacted.

Court records show Browns trial is set to start on Monday, Nov. 13. Krisers trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, Dec. 4.
By Online Desk

On Tuesday, Ugandan prosecutors charged a man with "aggravated homosexuality", the first since the enactment of an anti-gay law in the country in May.

The 20-year-old man was charged in Soroti [in eastern Uganda] and he is on remand in prison. He will be appearing in court for mention of the case, said Jacquelyn Okui, a spokesperson for Ugandas directorate of public prosecutions.

Since it is a capital offence triable by the High Court, the charge was read out and explained to him in the Magistrates Court on [the] 18th and he was remanded, he added.

As per reports by the media, he did not provide additional details about the case.

According to The Guardian, the charge sheet mentions that the young individual was charged on August 18 and is accused of "unlawful sexual intercourse with... male adult aged 41."

According to the new law, homosexuality is an offence punishable by death and someone suspected of "aggravated homosexuality" can be sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. Even though the law has widespread support in Uganda, it has received severe criticism from around the world.

As per a report by the Associated Press, "the World Bank earlier this month announced a decision not to consider new loans to Uganda because of the law, drawing an angry response from President Yoweri Museveni."

ALSO READ | World Bank says no new funding to Uganda over anti-gay law

The law has been condemned by activists and different world leaders since its induction.

A UN watchdog committee also condemned the move by the Ugandan government. We are as appalled as you are as to the content and the effects of this law, said Jose Santos Pais, vice chair of the U.N. Human Rights Committee.

In a statement released by the UN, General Secretary Antonio Guterres called the law a deeply troubling development. "This law is probably among the worst of its kind in the world," he added.

ALSO READ | Amnesty urges Uganda's President to reject 'appalling' anti-LGBTQ bill

Homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 African countries. Recently, police in Nigeria arrested 67 people for celebrating a gay wedding.

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On Tuesday, Ugandan prosecutors charged a man with "aggravated homosexuality", the first since the enactment of an anti-gay law in the country in May. The 20-year-old man was charged in Soroti [in eastern Uganda] and he is on remand in prison. He will be appearing in court for mention of the case, said Jacquelyn Okui, a spokesperson for Ugandas directorate of public prosecutions. Since it is a capital offence triable by the High Court, the charge was read out and explained to him in the Magistrates Court on [the] 18th and he was remanded, he added.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); As per reports by the media, he did not provide additional details about the case. According to The Guardian, the charge sheet mentions that the young individual was charged on August 18 and is accused of "unlawful sexual intercourse with... male adult aged 41." According to the new law, homosexuality is an offence punishable by death and someone suspected of "aggravated homosexuality" can be sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. Even though the law has widespread support in Uganda, it has received severe criticism from around the world. As per a report by the Associated Press, "the World Bank earlier this month announced a decision not to consider new loans to Uganda because of the law, drawing an angry response from President Yoweri Museveni." ALSO READ | World Bank says no new funding to Uganda over anti-gay law The law has been condemned by activists and different world leaders since its induction. A UN watchdog committee also condemned the move by the Ugandan government. We are as appalled as you are as to the content and the effects of this law, said Jose Santos Pais, vice chair of the U.N. Human Rights Committee. In a statement released by the UN, General Secretary Antonio Guterres called the law a deeply troubling development. "This law is probably among the worst of its kind in the world," he added. ALSO READ | Amnesty urges Uganda's President to reject 'appalling' anti-LGBTQ bill Homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 African countries. Recently, police in Nigeria arrested 67 people for celebrating a gay wedding. Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp
Wanted to showcase India's scientific achievement on world stage: Vivek Agnihotri on screening of 'The Vaccine War' in US

By Reena Bhardwaj, Maryland, August 29

W ith his upcoming film 'The Vaccine War', filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has paid tribute to Indian scientists and doctors for crafting a successful Covid-19 vaccine.

Before the release of 'The Vaccine War' in India in September, special screenings of the film have been conducted in the US under the India for Humanity Tour.

Speaking about the film's screening in the US, Agnihotri told ANI, "I wanted to showcase this great scientific achievement of India on the world stage. India and the US collaborated and there was this mutual understanding and cooperation between the two countries, and we have worked a lot towards helping lots of underdeveloped countries. So I thought it was very important since this was the hub when COVID was happening. The whole world was looking at the USA with optimism, and India played that role as a democracy. So I thought it's good to start from here and showcase it to people and get their reactions and then go and release it in India."

'The Vaccine War' will narrate the tale of the triumph of scientists and 130 crore people who fought the battle in the Covid-19 era.

Agnihotri unveiled the film's teaser on social media earlier this month.

The brief teaser gave a glimpse of the activities of scientists involved with the BBV152 vaccine, also known as Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Virology.

https//www.instagram.com/p/Cv83NXiIEKh/?hl=en

As per Agnihotri, 'The Vaccine War' is a pure science victory film.

"The film is a story of how our women and scientists got locked inside labs and sacrificed everything in order to make the vaccine. I wanted the younger generation to see a pure science victory film..so, therefore, we did not spend much time on Covid management and frontline workers, we focussed more on the science and the vaccine," he shared.

Actors like Nana Patekar, Anupam Kher and Pallavi Joshi headline the film.

Wanted to showcase India's scientific achievement on world stage: Vivek Agnihotri on screening of 'The Vaccine War' in US

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Kerala revels in Thiruvonam festivities, feast of 26 dishes star of the day

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 29

E ven a blazing Sun could not dampen enthusiasm of Keralaites who indulged in a "secular bash" as they celebrated Thiruvonam, the mother of all festivals, with traditional gaiety and fervour across the state on Tuesday.

The ten-day festivities peak on Thiruvonam, which is the second of the four Onam days that ends on Thursday.

And the highlight irrespective of caste,creed or religion is the traditional 26 dish Onam 'sadhya' (feast).

The sadhya especially, during Onam, has to be served on the banana leaf and in some places it's partaken while sitting on the floor, reminiscing the olden style.

The 26 dish lunch includes chips, papads, various preparation of vegetables, a good number of pickles both sweet and sour, the traditional aviyal, sambar, dal curry served along with a small quantity of ghee, rasam, two different preparations of butter milk, a chutney powder prepared from grated coconut and not to mention a series of mouth watering payasams eaten either straight or mixed with a ripe small plantain.

But over the years, with every cultural activity in the state getting modified because of the hectic life, in actual practice, today it's a rarity that the rule of serving the 26 dish Onam lunch gets actually prepared in Kerala homes.

In the big cities of the state, mostly families prefer to spend more time shopping than in the kitchens. This has been made use by select families who take orders for preparing Onam lunch and not to mention the hotels and restaurants make a killing with one Onam sadhya costing

Rs 300 upwards and at the big star hotels it can be as high as Rs 1500 and upwards.

Incidentally the only difference in the traditional lunch is, while in the northern districts of the state , there are non-vegetarian dishes, which is not there in the central and southern districts.

On Thiruvonam day, the state literarily is closed for all practical purposes and gets back to normalcy only next Monday.

Kerala revels in Thiruvonam festivities, feast of 26 dishes star of the day

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The trial for a Georgia man accused of shooting at Dothan police officers over two years ago has been delayed due to an incomplete court ordered mental evaluation.

Jeffery Michael Stewart, 44, of Jakin, Georgia, was arrested in June 2021 after he fired shots at several people in Dothan before shooting at officers and stealing a police cruiser.

According to Dothan Police, Stewart crashed his vehicle into multiple cars in a Motel 6 parking lot on the Ross Clark Circle. From there, he shot at several vehicles before arriving at a Volkswagen dealership.

Officials said while at the dealership, he confronted a woman and her daughter who were there to drop off a vehicle. Stewart fired a shot at the daughter and then attempted to steal the car.

When Dothan Police arrived on the scene, Stewart exchanged gunfire with an officer before being wounded. However, he entered a patrol vehicle and led law enforcement officials on a high-speed chase around Ross Clark Circle. The chase ended after Stewart crashed the vehicle in the 3200 block of Denton Road and was talked into surrendering by a trained negotiator.

Stewart faces four counts of attempted murder, three counts of first-degree criminal mischief, two counts of robbery, and one count of discharging a gun into an occupied building, interfering with a public safety official, and breaking into a vehicle. Stewart has been in the Houston County Jail since his arrest.

In February 2022, a Houston County judge ordered Stewart to undergo a mental evaluation. According to court documents filed last week, Stewarts trial, which was expected to start this week, was delayed since the evaluation isnt finished.
New York, Aug 29

N ovak Djokovic made a stunning comeback to the US Open after he was denied the calendar grand slam in the 2021 final by the Russian Daniil Medvedev.

In his opening-round encounter on Monday night against Frenchman Alexandre Muller, Djokovic displayed a sheer governing performance at the Arthur Ashe Stadium with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 scoreline.

With the win, he regained his top stop at the ATP World Rankings from defending US Open Champion Carlos Alcaraz on September 11, when Djokovic will start a record-extending 390th week at the top.

He celebrated this win pleasantly and stated in his on-court interview, "The first set I started tremendously well off the box. We started quite late. Obviously, there was a ceremony between matches and I knew that we might have a late start, but nevertheless, I was excited to come out on the court."

It's been a couple of years, and to come out here in front of you guys is always an honor and a pleasure here on Arthur Ashe," he added.

The dominance on the court that Djokovic showed was pretty evident to all, especially to former American President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama who enjoyed his game till the end.

Djokovic will be eyeing his 4th US Open title in his 10th appearance and also to make his third career appearance in the final of all four Slams during the same season (2021 and 2015).

The World No. 76 Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles, who upset NCAA champion Ethan Quinn of the United States 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, will meet Djokovic in the second round.

Djokovic also expressed his respect towards Zapata Miralles, "He's a clay-court specialist but over the years all these guys learn how to play on the hard courts."

"There's no easy opponent, obviously I respect everyone. I don't underestimate anybody and try to give my best. Hopefully, I can get another win in a few days."

hs/cs

Novak Djokovic makes a stunning return to US Open, gains World No.1 spot

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Indian IT industry expected to grow 3-5% revenue in 2024, lower than 2023: Report

New Delhi, Aug 29

T he Indian IT industry is expected to see moderate revenue growth of 3 to 5 per cent in FY2024, lower than 9.2 per cent growth in FY2023, a new report said on Tuesday.

According to the credit rating agency ICRA, key sectors like BFSI, retail, technology, and communication are expected to slow down discretionary IT spending.

The operating profit margin is expected to decline by 70-100 bps in FY2024 due to lower operating leverage.

"The operating profit margin (OPM) for the sample set is expected to decline by 70-100 bps in FY2024, due to lower operating leverage. Nevertheless, it will remain healthy at 20-21 per cent in FY2024, owing to the ability of most companies to work with multiple levers such as onshore-offshore mix, employee utilisation levels, employee pyramid optimisation, among others, to manage costs," said Deepak Jotwani, Assistant Vice President & Sector Head, ICRA.

In terms of segment-wise growth trends, the report said that BFSI and communication have tapered more than other segments. BFSI is impacted due to softness in mortgage, investment banking, capital markets and insurance segments amidst ongoing macroeconomic headwinds.

The communication vertical has been impacted because of the weakening revenue profile of telecom companies, as the investments made by the customers in 5G have not materialised meaningfully leading to the reprioritisation of its technology spending.

Moreover, the report mentioned that there has been a significant reduction in hiring by IT services companies in the last three quarters, given the slowdown in the growth momentum, coupled with utilisation of the considerable excess capacity added in FY2022 and in the first half (H1) of FY2023.

"ICRA expects lower hiring by the IT services companies in the near term because of the expected slowdown in growth and also estimates attrition to further decline over the next few quarters before stabilising at the long-term average of 13-15 per cent," Jotwani said.

In addition, the report stated that the Indian IT services industry continues to have a net cash surplus position with strong liquidity owing to a high level of operating cash flows and modest capex and working capital requirements.

Indian IT industry expected to grow 3-5% revenue in 2024, lower than 2023: Report

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Los Angeles, Aug 29

R ock band Green Day have sold t-shirts emblazoned with former US President Donald Trump's mug shot to raise relief funds for Maui wildfire victims.

They recreated their 1997 'Nimrod' album cover, but replaced the pictures of Frederick Banting and Charles Best, who co-discovered insulin, with the former US president's frowning face covered up with the title in a yellow circle, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Referencing their 1997 classic 'Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)', Billie Joe Armstrong and co captioned a picture of the design on Instagram, "Good Riddance. The ultimate Nimrod shirt is available for 72 hours only. Limited edition shirt proceeds will be donated to @greatergoodmusiccharity, which brings food to those affected by the Maui wildfires."

The 'American Idiot' rockers are among a host of stars who have helped raise funds for those impacted by the deadly wildfires in Hawaii, including Jason Momoa, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, and Dwayne Johnson.

Meanwhile, Trump has released his own mug shot merchandise that has reportedly raised a whopping $7.1 million for his campaign to become president again in 2024. His campaign team used the shot to start selling items featuring his image and the former reality TV star also posted the picture on his X profile.

The post was Trump's first message on the social media app, formerly Twitter, since January 2021 and the message also featured a link to his official website. His mugshot has already been attached to various bits of merchandise including T-shirts, coffee mugs and bumper stickers.

Trump and 18 co-defendants were given a Friday, August 25 deadline to voluntarily surrender after they were charged with trying to overturn the election result. Earlier this month, the billionaire businessman claimed to be the victim of a political "witch hunt."

Trump, who served as the 45th US President between 2017 and 2021, took to social media to rubbish the allegations and to also question the integrity of the legal process. He blasted on his Truth Social platform at the time, "So, the Witch Hunt continues! 19 people Indicted tonight, including the former President of the US, me, by an out of control and very corrupt District Attorney who campaigned and raised money on, 'I will get Trump'."

Green Day monetise Donald Trump's mug shot to help Maui fire victims

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Rajinikanth visits BMTC bus depot in B'luru where he worked as a conductor

Bengaluru, Aug 29

S uperstar Rajinikanth paid a surprise visit on Tuesday to Jayanagar Bus Depot attached to the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation in Bengaluru where he worked as a conductor before becoming an actor.

Rajini, along with his best friend Raj Bahadur, who pushed him to take up acting, walked into the depo where both worked once upon a time.

Rajinikant, who was born as Shivajirao Gayakwad in a Marathi family, worked as a conductor and Raj Bhaddur worked as a driver of BMTC bus.

Rajinikanth spent a quality time in the bus depo premises and interacted with the conductors, drivers, mechanics and other staff of BMTC. He also took a stroll around the depo reminiscing the old memories.

The staff of the depo could not believe the surprise and cheered for the superstar.

The staff were thrilled to click photos with the superstar and saluted his simplicity.

Rajinikanth patiently posed for clicks and selfies.

His recent movie 'Jailer' has been declared as an all-time blockbuster. Rajinikanth often visits Bengaluru city and spends quality time with his old friends.

Sources said that he used to visit the local bar as well in disguise.

Rajinikanth visits BMTC bus depot in B'luru where he worked as a conductor

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Kochi, Aug 29

K erala film bodies have decided to lift the ban on upcoming actors Shane Nigam and Sreenath Bhasi.

In April this year, various film bodies including AMMA, FEFKA (19 different organisations) and producers association, producer Renjith had said that the behaviour of actors Shane Nigam and Sreenath Bhasi has crossed all limits and till they do not mend their ways, none from the industry will cooperate with them.

The complaint against them was that the actors do not honour their commitments and arrive late on the sets.

Actor Bhasi has apologised to the associations while Nigam also agreed to make course-corrections.

Film bodies lift ban on upcoming Kerala actors Shane Nigam, Sreenath Bhasi

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Los Angeles, Aug 29

D irector David Ayer, who is best known for directing the 2016 'Suicide Squad' which was badly panned, has said that Hollywood did him dirty, and the end result of the film broke him badly, labeling it as his "biggest heartache".

According to 'Deadline', while making an appearance on the Real Ones with Jon Bernthal podcast, Ayer talked about how the end result of the movie broke him.

"Hollywood, I tell people, is like watching someone you love get f***** by someone you hate," Ayer said. "The big one is 'Suicide Squad'. That s*** broke me. That handed me my a**."

He continued, "Come right off Fury, right? I had the town in my hand, could've done anything, and I did do anything. And (I) go on this journey with (Suicide Squad). And the same thing - authentic, truthful, let's do all the rehearsal, let's really get in each other's souls."

"Let's create this amazing, collaborative thing, right? And then 'Deadpool' opened... and they never tested 'Batman v Superman' so they were expecting a different result, and then they got hammered by all the critics. Then it's like, 'Okay, we're going to turn David Ayer's dark, soulful movie into a f***** comedy now'," he added.

David Ayer has been one of the biggest critics of the film ever since it hit the big screen, saying that it was far off from his original script which was far darker, grounded and had much more emotional weight along with a different storyline.

For this, Warner Bros. have received a lot of criticism who also were later panned by fans and critics for not letting Zack Snyder finish his work for his former DCEU films, such as 'Batman V Superman' or 'Justice League', which was later released as 'Zack Snyder's Justice League', to differentiate it from the theatrical cut.

Ayer had very recently shared on social media that James Gunn, who is now the new DC director told him his cut of 'Suicide Squad' would be seeing the light of day someday in his DCU.

Thanking Gunn, Ayer had written "All I know is my unseen film plays much better than the studio release. The interest in my cut being shown seems real and organic. And Gunn told me it would have its time to be shared."

"He absolutely deserves to launch his DC universe without more drama about old projects. In a way I'm chained to this thing. I'm riding a tiger here and navigating this situation the best I can. Life is a very strange journey, David shared.

David Ayer calls Hollywood's version of 'Suicide Squad' his biggest heartache

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Falaq Naaz on Rakshabandhan plans: Have been telling Sheezan to bring me something good as gift

Mumbai, Aug 29

T elevision actress Falaq Naaz is too excited to celebrate Rakshabandhan with Sheezan Khan and said that she wants something good as a gift from him.

Falaq said "He is my younger brother, and our bond is very strong. We are very close with each other. I always say my mom is my backbone and Sheezan is my heart. I believe a good bond with siblings is a must.

"They are the ones with whom you can fight, cry, and share everything. And the best thing about him is that he is a very good listener, won't judge you, tries to help you by finding a solution, and also never leaves anyone's side. Our common areas of interest are music and travelling."

Talking about Raksha Bandhan this year, she added "Just like every year, we will tie rakhi to our brothers, and I have been telling Sheezan to bring me something good as a gift (laughs) and then just spend a fun, peaceful day with them. I have one memory that I remember, once I got so busy on Raksha Bandhan that I didn't have time to tie a rakhi, and Sheezan was waiting the whole day for me. So he got very upset because I came home late, and then I tied him a rakhi. But now I make sure to keep my time for my family and celebrate it with them only."

Falaq believes that life is all about loving your family.

"I think without family, the individual has no base. No matter how many friends you have or wherever you go, your family will understand you the way no one else can," she says.

Falaq Naaz on Rakshabandhan plans: Have been telling Sheezan to bring me something good as gift

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Kochi, August 29

D evotees visited Thrikkakkara Vamana Moorthy Temple on Tuesday in Kochi to offer prayers on the occasion of Onam.

Talking about the festival, Ram Moorthy who is a member of the temple committee told ANI, "Kerala's onam festival is an important festival in which people from many places, not only from Kerala but from other states also, take part in the function. Onam connected with the Maha Vishnu took place in Thrikkakara and that day is celebrated as Onam and that's called Vaman Jayanti. Actually, throughout India, it's called Vaman Jayanti. Jayanti is connected with the Onam as Kerala was ruled by Asur chakraborty Mahabali during the period."

He continued, "People were Happy. There is no scarcity of food. There is a pleasant relationship with everyone and a tranquil scenario out there, so he feels happy with himself for doing such a good job. So god on seeing this performance, approached Mahabali demanding three feet of land but Mahabali did not know that the person who appeared before him Mahavishnu who has taken the avatar."

He added, "So he has measured with his long feet with Akash and Bhumi and the third foot was where he has to place. Then Mahabali told and on touching his foot of Bhavan he got salvation. He was taken to his swarg rajya where he has to be done so this is the cause behind it. Onam is a celebration of Life."

Women devotees were in the temple seen in handloom Kerala sarees.

Meanwhile, as Malayalis all over the world are celebrating Onam on Thiruvonam day, the spirit is equally buoyant at the Thrikkakara Vamana Moorthy Temple. It is the only temple dedicated to Vamana in Kerala.

According to the myth, Mahabali used to rule Thrikkakara, and Vamana, the fifth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, pushed him down to the same place. So, the belief is that Mahabali arrives at Thrikkakara first.

Onam is celebrated through various rituals. Temples decorated with flowers had the faithful throng them since early morning for prayers to mark the occasion.

Onam is a harvest festival, celebrated mainly by Malayalis. The date is based on the Panchangam which falls on the 22nd Nakshatra Thiruvonam in the month Chingam of the Malayalam calendar, which in the Gregorian calendar falls between August-September.

Chingam is the first month according to the Malayalam calendar. The celebrations spread over 10 days mark the Malayalam New Year and conclude with Thiruvonam.

The festival is an occasion for family and friends to get together and indulge in traditional games, music, and dancing and participate in a grand feast, the 'Onasadya'.

The festivities are marked by people decorating their houses with 'Rangoli' and engaging themselves in activities like boat races, flower arrangements, and tug of war among others.

This vibrant festival is an emblem of Kerala's rich heritage and cultural splendour. The 10-day Onam celebrations in Kerala started with the Atham celebrations on August 20.

To welcome Mahabali, people started constructing floral carpets in front of their homes and institutions. Celebrations of many kinds begin today in schools, universities, offices, and other locations.

During the Onam festival, people usually wear traditional kasavu saris and mundu . It is a time when family members and friends gather and exchange gifts like new dresses.

Devotees celebrate Onam at Thrikkakkara Vamana Moorthy Temple in Kochi

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Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 29

M alayalam star Mohanlal celebrated Onam with style and great fervour dressed up in a traditional outfit, and wished "Happy Onam" to all Malayalees.

Taking to his social media, the actor showed himself, celebrating Onam with style and great fervour, dressed up in a traditional outfit and partaking in the long time rituals that come as part and parcel of the festival.

Mohanlal on his Instagram posted a whole reel of himself celebrating the occasion, dressed up in traditional white Kasavu clothing, donning mundu and a matching kurta .

He proceeds to open the door and then partakes in Onam Poolkalam, or a sort of Rangoli during the festival where a floral design is created on ground with flowers as homage to the spirits of King Mahabali and Vamana.

Speaking in Malayalam with beautiful classical music playing in the background, he proudly said, captioning the video "My heartfelt Thiruvonam to all Malayalees."

Fans took to Instagram to wish the actor a happy Onam, with various netizens writing "Happy Onam Laletta."

Another netizen called him "Lord Jagannthanan of Kanimangalam Kovilkaram!"

The ten-day festival is always celebrated with much fervour by the 63-year old superstar with much enthusiasm and passion, which is seen every year as he has visited the Thrikkakkara Vamana Moorthy Temple in Kochi, several times with various devotees.

Mohanalal was most recently seen in superstar Rajiniknath-starrer film 'Jailer' which has become a massive success, and had become all the rage in Kerala and among Malayalees due to the actor's small role in the film.

Before that he was seen in the Tamil film 'Kaappann' and will next be seen in his upcoming film 'Barroz Guardian of D'Gama's Treasure' which will mark the actor's directorial debut.

Mohanlal greets Malayalees on Onam

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Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 29

T hroughout Kerala, and for so many Malayalees, Onam is one of the most holy and sacred festivals which is celebrated with much pride. Malayalam superstar Mammooty participated in Onam celebrations and extended wishes to everyone.

The actor dressed up in traditional white Kasavu mundu (dhoti) and white shirt.

On his X account (formerly Twitter), he wrote "My happiest wishes to all."

The Malayalam actor has been greatly enthusiastic about the festival and has partaken in various celebrations and rituals throughout his career.

Apart from taking part in the Pookkalam or floral Rangoli, he was also previously seen participating in the Onam Onasadya on the set of his upcoming film, 'Bramayugam'.

The actor was then wished by many of his fans "Happy Onam."

A Thiruvonam ritual, Onasadya is a grand meal served on banana leaf plates as an offering to the spirit of Vamana and King Mahabali. While families usually participate in this meal, Mammooty has treated his colleagues to many exquisite meals when observing Onamsadya.

Mammooty has also earlier partaken in celebrations at Thrikkakkara Vamana Moorthy where most Malayalees celebrate in Onam festivities, praying to Vamana and Mahabali.

The Malayalam superstar was last seen in the Telugu spy-thriller-action film 'Agent' which was a commercial flop and received negative reviews from critics.

The 71-year old actor is one of the biggest figures in Southern cinema, particularly in Malayalam films making his debut 50 years ago with 'Anubhavangal Paalichakal', eventually getting his leading role in 'Vilkkanundu Swapnanga' in 1980.

Some of Mammooty's best known films include 'Ahimsa', 'Sandhyakku Virinja Poovu', 'Kutty Srank', 'Varsham', 'Pathemari' and 'Bheeshma Raja'.

Mammooty is currently geared up for various projects, which include 'Kadugannawa Oru Yatra' 'Venugopal', 'Kaathal - The Core', 'Kannur Squad' and 'Bazooka' in late 2023 and 'Bramayugam' in 2024.

Mammooty partakes in Onam celebrations, extends wishes

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Press Release

August 30, 2023 Pia questions objectives of new IACAT guidelines on Filipinos traveling abroad Transcript of the manifestation of Senator Pia S. Cayetano in reaction to the privilege speech of Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on the revised IACAT requirements Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to commend our Senate President for the timely delivery of his privilege speech, precisely because the subject matter is going to be effective as of September 3. I'd just like to share some insights. For many years, I have been involved, in fact, the late Sec. Toots Ople was also very much involved in [anti] human trafficking efforts. So I'd like to remember her because she also worked very tirelessly on these issues, mostly of course trafficking victims are women, but of course it can also happen to men. So I do know all the advocates personally. And I do know that they work tirelessly on issues that they are passionate about. But I have also, for the same amount of time, seen well-meaning policies of the government, especially when it involves agencies with 10, 15, 20 members. [They] can come up with policies that really cannot be implemented in an orderly manner. And I think this [IACAT revised requirements] may really be one of them. So let me just point out one example. I am sure many of us in the Senate have received a request by text, e-mail or even people coming to us na 'patulong naman magpa-consularize ng documents abroad.' For the benefit of those who do not understand the importance of consularized or authenticated documents, when we need certifications of documents that have to be certified abroad, hindi yan basta-basta. Kunyari, affidavit of support. Hindi basta-basta papansinin sa Pilipinas ang affidavit that was executed in another country. That person executing or signing the document must go to the Philippine Embassy to have it authenticated in the embassy. And I would receive messages saying, 'may kilala ka ba sa Consul ng ganito? Magpapa-authenticate kami.' It's very difficult because hindi ko naman sinisisi ang mga consular offices natin or embassies, baka sa dami ng trabaho. The point is, napakahirap magpa-consularize. And with this regulation that our Senate President mentioned, kapag ikaw ay isang sponsored traveler and ang relationship mo doon sa sponsor mo ay 4th degree of consanguinity or affinity, which actually is a term that a layman does not understand, pero explain ko, ganito lang yan. Kapag ikaw ito, ang nanay or tatay mo one degree, ang kapatid mo pababa, two degrees. Ang lolo mo naman one degree to the parent, two degrees to the grandparent. So doon pa lang, bibilangin mo kung ano ang 4th degree, basically pinsan yun. Kung ang sponsor mo ay up to sa 4th degree, o di kaya you are not related to that person at all, kailangan mo ngayon mag-present ng original affidavit of support duly notarized by the Philippine Embassy Consulate or Honorary Consulate. So napakaraming city in the world, kilalang city, na wala tayong consular office. So for example, Barcelona, Spain. For a while, mayroon tayong Consular Office sa Spain. Kasi ang Embassy natin nasa Madrid, tapos sinara natin yun under my protest, in all sincerity, kasi hindi ako naniwala, bakit kailangan tanggalin ang Consular Office natin sa Barcelona. Pero nangyari yun. Ngayon ata, I don't know if our Chairman... Yes, I know it's back na nga, binalik na. Pero dati, wala yan sa Barcelona, sa ibang lugar na napakarami pa rin Pilipino, whether it's Italy, Spain, andaming cities na walang Consular Offices. Babyahe pa ng mga apat na oras, anim na oras ang mga kababayan natin para pumunta doon sa Embassy or Consular Office na doon sila magpapa-authenticate. Lahat yan, they have to do para ibigay nila doon sa kanilang sponsored traveler na Pilipino. So pag-eexplain ko pa lang, napagod na ako. What more doon sa babyahe mismo? Nakakapagod talaga, your honor. And may gastos pa yan sa kanila, they'll have to take a train, a bus. Sometimes, lumilipad pa sila. Andami. I mean...I truly believe from the bottom of my heart, Mr Senate President, na well-meaning naman ang mga gumawa ng rules na ito. But just as my colleagues will all I hope agree with me, you know when we have our firm advocacies and I put in one of mine, kailangan ganito, tapos Sen. Joel will say, ito rin kailangan. Minority Leader will say, ito rin kailangan. And the Chairman of the Committee on Finance will say, ito rin kailangan. The next thing you know, there's a long, long list. And there is no one overseeing it who will say na sandali lang, teka muna. Nahuli niyo ba ang perpetrator? Of course hindi. Hindi niyo naman nahuli ang perpetrator. But yes maybe, maybe you will save a life. But at what expense? And are there not any more effective ways to protect our women, our children? Because let's not be misquoted. Every single person here in this hall will agree that we want to protect the most vulnerable. Let us agree that that is a good objective. But the manner of implementing this does not seem to be aligned, [it] does not seem to be the most effective way to protect the vulnerable. In fact, it curtails constitutional rights of travel and maybe the opportunity to be reunited with your loved one. Baka hindi na sila magkita, your honor, dahil napakahirap mabuo itong proseso na ito. So yun lang. I just wanted to share my insights on the very well timed privilege speech of our Senate President. Thank you po.
Dothan-based Five Star Credit Union announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Georgia-based OneSouth Bank.

The deal is structured as a purchase and assumption transaction and is an all-cash consideration. Other financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Upon completion of the purchase, Five Star will have $950 million in total assets and 23 banking locations across south Alabama and southcentral Georgia.

Five Star Credit Union and OneSouth Bank have over 140 years of combined service to members and customers in the southern parts of Alabama and Georgia, Bob Steensma, president and CEO of Five Star Credit Union, said in a press release. We share similar values, and our partnership will reinforce the foundation for an extraordinary community financial institution that puts our members, employees, and communities first. We look forward to welcoming the OneSouth Bank team members and customers to the Five Star family.

OneSouth Bank and Five Star share many philosophies that will enable this agreement to be a win for all parties involved, Kim Davis Wilson, president and CEO of OneSouth Bank, said. We are pleased that our customers can look forward to expanded products and solutions while enjoying the same friendly service theyve come to expect from OneSouth. It was also extremely important for us to partner with an organization that shares our commitment to supporting the communities we serve, and Five Star certainly has that reputation across its footprint.

This transaction was unanimously approved by each institutions board of directors and is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2024.
New Delhi, Aug 29

T ech Mahindra on Tuesday announced a partnership with Google to launch Generative AI powered Email 'amplifAIer' under its suite of artificial intelligence offerings.

The Email amplifAIer will serve as a one-stop solution to manage all email communication of contact centers for enhanced customer service.

It will also bring the power of Generative AI to provide unified visualisation and automation technique, enabling a human in loop philosophy to deliver outcomes in a responsible manner to improve customer experience, according to the company.

In addition, the Email amplifAIer will provide end-to-end solutions for email automation and personalised responses by identifying the intents, extracting the required entities from the email, and other systems including applications such as CRM, Finance.

"Our Email amplifAIer powered by generative AI, will help enhance organisational efficiency and customer experience with quick, accurate and automated responses. It will further enable personalisation at scale and create compelling and visually appealing content. Together with Google, we are delivering the most advanced solution for all the email needs in contact centre space," Hasit Trivedi, CTO - Digital Technologies and Global Head - AI, Tech Mahindra, said in a statement.

Moreover, the company said that the newly launched solution with Generative AI capabilities is designed on the Human in loop principle. With this, users can review generated responses and make changes before sending them to customers, if required.

"Google Cloud's generative AI capabilities can add real world value for organisations working across every industry, particularly in areas where data privacy and security are paramount. New services and solutions from partners like Tech Mahindra will scale these capabilities to customers more quickly and effectively, and create even more opportunities for organisations to accelerate their AI-driven transformations,"said Chandra Sankholkar, Director, Google Cloud Partnerships.

shs/shb

Tech Mahindra, Google join hands to launch GenAI powered Email 'amplifAIer'

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Ahmedabad, Aug 29

A woman in Ahmedabad fell victim to an attack by stray cows.

The incident was captured on camera, showing the ordeal the woman faced. The video footage shared on Tuesday shows a broad daylight attack on the woman as she walked alone on a street in Ahmedabad. The stray cows knocked her to the ground and persistently struck her. The woman's cries for help caught the attention of local residents, who managed to rescue her.

In another similar incident a woman sustained injuries after being attacked by a stray cow near her residence in Naroda Navarang. The woman was hospitalized with serious injuries. The video footage showed an initial attack by one cow, with eight more cows joining in. Reacting to the woman's cries the locals promptly rallied to her aid, rushing to the scene and driving away the cows. The injured woman was later hospitalized.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is now facing public criticism for its perceived failure to check the menace of stray cattle, despite receiving stringent directives from the High Court.

Spike in stray cattle incidents: Cows attack woman on Ahmedabad street

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Mumbai, Aug 29

A ctor Manuj Sharma, who is receiving a lot of good response to his work in the recently released streaming series 'Guns and Gulaabs', has said that his on-screen friendship with his co-actor and Bollywood star Rajkummar Rao is a reflection of the genuine equation that the two shared off-screen.

In the series, Manuj plays one of the henchmen of the Ghanchi gang, a mafia group that deals with opium. His character soon becomes a close friend of Rajkummar's character of Tipu, who joins the gang to avenge his best friend's murder by Gulshan Devaiah's character of '4 cut Atmaram'.

Talking about his camaraderie with Rajkummar, Manuj told IANS, "Being a part of 'Guns and Gulaabs' has truly been an amazing journey. The camaraderie I shared with Raj Kummar Bhai on set was something special. His ability to adapt and our seamless give-and-take approach during scenes added an authentic touch to our performances."

He further mentioned, "Our characters' on-screen friendship was a reflection of the genuine equation we had off-screen, making the show not just about acting, but about the real connections and shared moments that brought it to life. Also, with the guidance of my favourite director Raj & DK, the journey had been really incredible. It's an achievement for me as to work with them has always been in my wish list."

He also recently shared a post on his social media about his experience of shooting the series. Sharing an array of pictures from the making of the show, he wrote in the caption, "I got to spend an incredible time on the sets of 'Guns and Gulaabs'. What a great learning it has been. Thank you @rajanddk sir for having me. Ready to trade some secrets from the sets (sci)".

Manuj Sharma's off-screen equation with Rajkummar reflected on-screen in 'Guns & Gulaabs'

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Mumbai, Aug 29

A ctor Prithviraj Sukumaran, who predominantly works in Tamil and Malayalam films, is celebrating Onam. The actor, who will be soon seen in the pan-India film 'Salaar', on Tuesday took to his social media to share pictures from his celebrations. He shared that though this was a forced break from work, he enjoyed the celebrations and the 'advantages' which came with the break.

The actor celebrated the festival of Onam in the true spirit of love and togetherness as he shared the pictures featuring his family members and close ones.

In the pictures, the actor can be seen dressed in a traditional mundu as he is all smiles posing for the camera. One of the pictures also shows him enjoying the traditional Sadhya off a banana leaf.

Sharing the pictures with his fans on social media, Prithviraj wrote in the caption, "Onam (heart emoji). I guess a forced rest has its own advantages".

Prithviraj is one of the biggest stars in Tamil and Malayalam cinema having received several awards including a National Film Award, 3 Kerala State Film Awards, and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award.

The actor, who had 6 releases in 2022, will be soon seen in a slew of releases. He has a busy year ahead with the release of 'Salaar' in which he will be seen along with Prabhas. The film has been directed by Prashanth Neel of 'K.G.F.' fame. He also has 'Bade Miya Chote Miya' and 'Aadujeevitham' in the pipeline.

(Picture courtesy Instagram)

Prithviraj Sukumaran celebrates Onam, says 'forced rest has its own advantages'

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Bali, Aug 29

I t is not new technology, but Artificial Intelligence is now raising concerns with the advent of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, which may have significant repercussions across the cyber landscape, as they foster phenomenon like "suffering distancing syndrome", "responsibility delegation", and "AI hallucination" for those simply using it to find or validate information, says a senior Kaspersky Labs cyberthreat expert.

"With the rise of generative AI, we have seen a breakthrough of technology that can synthesise content very similar to what humans do from images to sound, deepfake videos, and even text-based conversations indistinguishable from human peers...

"All of that sounds so unusual and sudden, that some people become worried. Some predict that AI will be right in the centre of the apocalypse, which will destroy human civilisation.

"Multiple C-level executives of large corporation stood up and called for slowdown of AI to prevent the calamity," Kaspersky's Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), Asia Pacific, leader Vitaly Kamluk said in a presentation at the Kaspersky Cybersecurity Weekend 2023, titled "Deus Ex Machina Setting Secure Directives for Smart Machines", held in Indonesia's Bali over the weekend.

"But is AI really the cause for apocalypse or is it just one scary painting we should put on the wall as a reminder of how things may go wrong? Is AI a threat or a salvation for mankind?" he asked, in the presentation created using 100 per cent AI-generated content and integrating Chat GPT too.

Kamluk, who has spent over 18 years in Kaspersky - including two years secondment as a cybersecurity expert to Interpol in Singapore, stressed that first we have to distinguish between terms like AI, Machine Learning, Large Language Models, and Chat GPT, "which are used interchangeably and can create confusion".

He said when we refer to AI, it means a variant of AI-based system, and AI is a field of computer science to create systems capable of performing tasks that cannot be solved with a traditional algorithm and usually require human intelligence. These tasks include understanding and generating natural language, recognising patterns, making decisions, and learning from experience.

A subfield of AI, Machine Learning focuses on enabling computers to perform tasks without strictly defined algorithms. That is made possible due to training and reinforcement techniques, he added.

ChatGPT, or Chat Generative Pre-training Transformer, is a Large Language Model developed by OpenAI, coming under the broader umbrella of AI and more specifically, Machine Learning, and learning from a large dataset containing parts of the internet and using patterns in the data to generate responses to user prompts.

LLM, Kamluk defined, as a type of AI model that's been trained on a vast amount of text data, but while they are good at mimicking human-like text, they don't truly understand the content like humans and generate responses based on patterns they've learned during their training, and not based on any inherent understanding or consciousness.

"Thus, ChatGPT, well we can generalise it now to LLMs, do not have mechanisms to perceive the world as humans do. Their input is only text, they don't have sensors to perceive images, sound or using other human senses," he added.

Kamluk stressed that AI "needs to be taken with a grain of salt and that people need to be aware of AI hallucination, as it is a phenomena present among all LLMs, including ChatGPT" and there is no cure for it.

In his presentation, Kamluk asked ChatGPT if he had co-authored any books, to which it responded with two book titles - which were actually the subjects of his specialisations, and then, asked again, responded with 10 titles, also naming co-authors, and even his favourite cocktail!

He clarified that he, in fact, has not written any books and that this phenomenon, called hallucinations, is what people need to be aware of.

"It is all fine and harmless until it's not. Some businesses already rushed into offering new services like AI-based plagiarism detection with very impressive self-assessed qualitative analysis, with a 98 per cent rate of detecting plagiarism.

"As a result, there were a number of incidents where students were wrongly accused of generating their whole works with LLMs and it's impossible to prove that it is their original work and not by AI. Imagine how much is lost by accusing them of this," he said.

But, there is a darker side too, especially where cybercrime is concerned.

Use of AI in cyberattacks can potentially result in a psychological hazard known as "suffering distancing syndrome" where AI becomes a barrier between the scammer and the victim and the former feel no remorse for the consequences of their acts.

"Physically assaulting someone on the street causes criminals a lot of stress because they often see their victim's suffering. That doesn't apply to a virtual thief who is stealing from a victim they will never see. Creating AI that magically brings the money or illegal profit distances the criminals even further, because it's not even them, but the AI to be blamed," Kamluk contended.

Another psychological impact of AI that can affect IT security teams is "responsibility delegation", where, as cybersecurity processes and tools become automated and delegated to neural networks, humans may feel less responsible if a cyberattack occurs, especially in a company setting.

So is AI a boon or bane for mankind? Kamluk held that like most technological breakthroughs, it is a double-edged sword and people can always use it to their advantage, as long as they know how to draw the parameters to ensure its ethical use.

"I do have hope in humanity and the intelligence of mankind that it will be used to improve our lives...," he said, listing some ways that people and businesses can reap the benefits, including restricting anonymous access to real intelligent systems, having proper regulations, including for detecting AI-developed content, licensing AI developers and especially, awareness among people.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at <a href="mailtovikas.d@ians.in" data-mce-href="mailtovikas.d@ians.in">vikas.d@ians.in</a>)

'Suffering distancing, hallucinations': AI & ChatGPT's problems and pitfalls

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New Delhi, Aug 29

I ndia on Tuesday dismissed a 'standard map' released by China on Monday, showing parts of Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh within its territory.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar during an interaction with a television channel was quoting as saying said that China has a "habit" of releasing such maps and mere inclusion of territories belonging to other countries in its maps does not mean anything.

The minister was quoted by the television channel as saying that China has put out a map with territories that are not theirs.

Simply releasing maps with territories not belonging to it does not change anything, as the government is very clear about its territory, and such "absurd claims" don't make other people's territories theirs, Jaishankar said as quoted by the television channel.

Jaishankar also chose to de-link the disengagement talks along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the release of the map by China.

The release of the map comes just days before the G20 summit, which is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on September 9 and 10.

Last week during his informal conversation with China's President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit in South Africa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had conveyed India's "concerns over unresolved issues along LAC and other areas along the India-China border".

'Mere inclusion of territories doesn't mean anything': Jaishankar dismisses China's map claim

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Washington, Aug 29

A new poll conducted among people in more than 23 countries showed that India is generally viewed favourably by the world.

The poll also found that while most Indians said their country's global influence has grown stronger in recent years, the rest of the world disagreed, and either saw no change in India's standing or saw it get weaker.

At home in India, the 24th country polled for this survey, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a commanding double-digit lead over his key challenger for premiership, Rahul Gandhi of the Congress.

The multi-nation poll was conducted by the Pew Research Center to assess India's image in the world in the year of India's presidency of the G-20, whose leaders will congregate in a few days in New Delhi for their annual summit.

Pew polled 28,250 people in 23 countries between March and May, and 2,611 in India, over phone and Internet and in face-to-face interviews.

The survey report released on Tuesday showed that a median of 46 per cent of the respondents held a favourable view of India and a median of 34 per cent held an unfavorable view.

Views about India were most positive in Israel (71 per cent), followed by the United Kingdom (66 per cent), Kenya (6 per cent), Nigeria (60 per cent), South Korea (58 per cent), (Japan (55 per cent), Australia (52 per cent), the United States (51 per cent) and Canada (47 per cent).

Holding a positive view of India did not, however, translate to believing India's global clout is growing.

Only 29 per cent of the Israelis, 34 per cent of the respondents in the UK, 32 per cent in Japan and 23 per cent in the US said India's clout has grown in recent years. In contrast, 68 per cent of Indians polled for the survey said their country's global influence has grown in recent times.

Countries that did not view India positively were led surprisingly by South Africa (51 per cent saw India unfavorably), the Netherlands (48 per cent), Spain (49 per cent) and Austria (45 per cent).

In India, Prime Minister Modi turned in a chartbusting lead of 17 percentage points over Rahul Gandhi with 79 per cent to 62 per cent; he was also way ahead of other Congress leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

The poll was started just before Rahul Gandhi was removed from the Parliament for his conviction in a defamation case (he has since been reinstated) and wrapped up before the Karnataka election results that gave a new thrust to the Congress party and its leader.

This poll may not be an updated reflection of the mood in India, having been conducted three months and many critical developments ago.

In other findings of the survey, Indians said they believed both the US and Russia -- and they had a positive view of the country and its leader Vladimir Putin -- had grown in influence in recent years. Four in 10 Indians said they felt China's influence has grown stronger in contrast to three in 10 who said it has become weaker.

Views about Pakistan were predictably hostile. About seven in 10 Indians have an unfavorable view of Pakistan, with 57 per cent of them being very unfavorable towards Pakistan.

Merely 19% Indians have a favorable view of their western neighbors.

New survey shows world views India positively

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SoftBank may sell 1.17% stake in Zomato via block deal: Report

New Delhi, Aug 29

J apanese company SoftBank Vision Fund is looking to sell off 1.17 per cent stake in food delivery giant Zomato, according to a media report on Tuesday.

The stake will be offloaded via a block deal -- 10 crore shares at a price of Rs 94 apiece, totalling Rs 940 crore, CNBC TV-18 reported.

Kotak Securities will be the broker to the deal, the report added.

Last week, JM Financial Institutional Securities in a report said that Zomato's stock is likely to be volatile in the near term on account of market speculation around possible exits by some pre-IPO shareholders (VC/PE/Chinese investors) of the company as well as erstwhile shareholders of Blinkit who had received it under a share swap deal.

On Tuesday, US-based investment major Tiger Global, via its VC fund Internet Fund III Pte Ltd, exited Zomato by selling its entire shareholding for Rs 1,123.85 crore.

Several pre-IPO and ex-Blinkit investors are sitting on substantial unrealised gains. An analysis of the cost of acquisition of shares owned by pre-IPO and ex-Blinkit shareholders of Zomato suggests they are currently sitting on substantial gains on their investments, a large chunk of which is, however, unrealised.

SoftBank may sell 1.17% stake in Zomato via block deal: Report

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New York, Aug 29

L ast year's finalist Ons Jabeur of Tunisia defied breathing difficulties to edge past Colombian youngster Camila Osorio 7-5, 7-6 to reach the women's singles second round at the US Open on Tuesday.

The 2022 runner-up, who turned 29 on Monday, defied breathing difficulties to edge Colombian youngster Camila Osorio just about put the icing on the cake for a belated birthday celebration with a gutsy performance inside Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Jabeur sprinkled in her trademark drop shots and looping lobs, changing the direction at will, to race 4-1 ahead.

The Tunisian will next play Czech Republic teenager Linda Noskova, who is a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Madison Brengle, on Thursday.

Ekaterina Alexandrova got the better of Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 US Open women's singles runner-up from Canada, in a first-round match in the women's singles competition.

In a tight contest featuring some high drama, Alexandrova was able to seize the initiative to win the match 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4.

In other first-round matches on Day 2, Katie Boulter of the United Kingdom defeated Diane Parry of France 6-4, 6-0 while Maria Tatjana of Germany went down to Petra Martic of Croatia 6-2, 6-1.

bsk

US Open: Ons Jabeur overcomes breathing trouble, Osorio to reach women's singles Round 2

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New Delhi, August 30

C elebrating sibling bond on Raksha Bandhan, schoolgirls tied rakhis to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a school in New Delhi.

The schoolchildren greeted PM Modi with smiles as he entered the classroom and tied the sacred thread to him.

As the girls stepped up to tie the rakhi, Prime Minister Modi greeted them with an affectionate smile, asking their names and classes.

https//twitter.com/ANI/status/1696753045869314172?s=20

In an adorable moment, one of the girls gave PM Modi a peck on his cheek as he proceeded to bend down and bless her.

PM Modi was seen sitting on a chair with the schoolgirls taking turns to tie rakhis.

Prime Minister also posed for a group photo with schoolgirls and teachers on the occasion.

The customised rakhis, which the girls tied on PM Modi's wrist, had his image on them.

The festival marking the eternal bond between a brother and a sister is being celebrated with signature pomp and fervour across the country.

In Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district, schoolgirls tied rakhis to CRPF jawans.

In the Samba district of the Valley, BSF jawans celebrated Raksha Bandhan with school children.

Delhi: Schoolgirls tie Rakhi to PM Modi on Raksha Bandhan

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OZARK  A standing room only crowd attended a four-hour special meeting of the Ozark-Dale County Public library board after Ozark Mayor Mark Blankenship took to social media over the weekend to urge residents to call on elected officials to defund the library over LGBTQ materials.

We have been trying to remove this trash from the kids section of our library for several months, Blankenship posted. We have been told several times it would be removed. It never happened.

I know most of you are too busy to attend this meeting, Blankenship said about the Wednesday morning library board meeting. But you can contact your city council or county commission and to request they cut their funding to the library. If we cut the funding, they will be closed and our children will not be exposed to this mess. Its time the majority of the people stand up and address this liberal mess in Alabama.

An official request to remove two specific books in the young adult section was filed yesterday, said Library Board Chairman Liz Delaney. Until yesterday, the staff does not recall getting any recommendation to remove a book in the history of this library.

This all started with two unofficial requests to remove books from the library in March, said library board Vice Chairman Mike Cairns. We cannot remove books from the library without proper process. There is a right way to do this and there is a wrong way. This meeting is about policy and procedures.

The procedures for challenging a book in the library are on the librarys website. The library accepts materials suggestions for the collection. Likewise we also accept concerns over material currently in the collection. Please fill out and submit the appropriate forms for review by the director, are the instructions on the website.

Yesterday we received the first complaints on any books as far back as we can go in our history, Cairns said. We will have a separate board (apart from the library board) to review these books to see if they should be removed from the section they are in.

Cairns thanked the crowd for attending and reiterated that if any person has an issue with any of the books in the library, there is a procedure in place. He reiterated that the official complaint received about two young adult section books by Dale County Commissioner Adam Enfinger Monday were the first received in the librarys history and encouraged citizens to continue to be engaged in the communitys library.

Cairns said that there are more than 21,000 books in the library, with 1,600 in the young adult section. The official complaints are about two of the young adult books. So this is not an overrun as you have heard, Cairns said. Yesterday was the very first day in the history of the library that we have received an official form of complaint and that is how the procedure is supposed to go. There is a proper procedure. Not a threat, not a text message.

Social media posts on both sides of the issue ensued during the weekend and several Ozark council members posted comments expressing support of the library and its mission. I will not be seeking to nor will I ever vote to defund out Ozark-Dale County Public Library, wrote Ozark City Council President Brenda Simechak. The government has no business censoring content in a public library. A librarys purpose for existence is to provide access to information to all of its patrons.

When the government deprives someone the right to receive information and ideas, they are practicing censorship. The government cant argue freedom of speech but then dictate content, Simechak wrote. The government does not get to forcefully impose personal beliefs on individuals.

At the Dale County Commission meeting Monday, three citizens asked commissioners to disregard Blankenships request to cut funding to the library. The commissioners did not address the comments but when Commission Chairman asked for a vote on the countys annual budget, Enfinger made a motion to table a vote on the budget pending the outcome of Wednesdays library board meeting.

After the commission meeting, Enfinger filed an official objection with the Ozark Dale County Library to request that two books be removed from the Young Adults section and be reshelved into the adult section of the facility. The young adult section of the library is designated for use by library patrons at the age of 12 years old, Enfinger said. I am not requesting that any book be banned. I am only requesting that these two books be reassigned into the adult section of the library due to their graphic sexual content.

Following the commission vote to table a vote on the budget, Commissioner Frankie Wilson said that the commissions decision to table the budget vote until after the library board meeting was not to be construed as a vote to defund the library. Regardless of your stance on the library, be in prayer for the board members as they meet this morning, Wilson said in a social media post Wednesday morning. My personal convictions and my fiduciary obligations as an elected official are two separate things. The library is very beneficial to our community and funding must continue.

At the library meeting Wednesday, dozens of citizens took the floor to express their thoughts on both sides of the issue, within the three-minute time parameter.

Among them, Ozark Pastor Jim Hill said that his preference would be to move the books to a section of the library where parents would be able to monitor them. He used the analogy of talking about a hot stove to his children when they were young. We taught our children that a stove is hot and they did not touch it, he said. We did not remove the stove from our home, we kept an eye on our children around it.

Our library is a place for people to gather, to learn about new concepts, cultures, and lifestyles and to explore new ideas, said Ozark resident Caitlyn Cummings. I dont believe that it is the place of the government to determine what my child can and cannot have access to at the library.

When I got my library card, I thought I had won the lottery, said Ozark resident Bobbie McLauchlin, who called a library was a safe haven and called present debate troubling.

If I read a book about a detective it will not make me a detective, she said. By the same token if I read an LBGTQ book, it does not make me a member of that esteemed community.

Blankenship asked to take the floor at the end of the meeting to set the record straight. He said that he had been told about the inappropriate books by a parent, that he had brought the complaint to the library staffs attention and that he thought the issue was resolved. He later learned about the librarys scheduled public meeting on the issue adding that no person at the library gave me the courtesy of telling me about it, he said, encouraging citizens to be aware of the books that are an embarrassment to this city.
New Delhi, August 30

A s Beijing released its latest edition of the so-called "standard map," showing the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory, Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that China asserting a claim on Arunachal Pradesh is 'not a new thing'.

"We already know that the Aksai Chin has been under China for many years...That is not a new thing...China's claim on some portions of Arunachal Pradesh is also not a new thing," Kapil Sibal said.

Sibal also took a jibe at PM Modi and said that when the Prime Minister was in opposition, he used to say that we should show 'laal aankh' to China.

"When the Prime Minister was in opposition, he used to say that we should show 'laal aankh' to China...But now it appears that the talks take place by sitting in the same swing," he added.

"External Affairs Minister himself has said that China is a bigger economic power than us...This statement shows that we do not have much negotiation capacity...There have been negotiations at several levels and the External Affairs Minister says that Chinese troops should withdraw... But this will not happen as they have done construction there and this will be the status quo," Kibal added.

He further stated that the External Affairs Minister often makes statements that this is objectionable and we do not accept it, which is right.

"The solution will not come by making statements... A solution can be achieved when we become a big economic power. Only then can you talk to them as equals," Sibal said.

The map released by China on August 28 shows Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea are also included within the Chinese territory in the new map.

The map also incorporates China's claims over the nine-dash line thus laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea.

The map was released by China's Ministry of Natural Resources during the celebration of Surveying and Mapping Publicity Day and the National Mapping Awareness Publicity Week on Monday in Deqing county, Zhejiang province, as per China Daily newspaper.

Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

China asserting claim on Arunachal Pradesh is 'not a new thing': Kapil Sibal

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New Delhi, Aug 30

A ctor Manit Joura believes that Raksha Bandhan is about the loving bond between siblings, and sisters should be celebrated not just one day, but everyday.

Talking about the festival, the 'Kundali Bhagya' fame actor said "Raksha Bandhan is all about siblings, and the loving bond they share. I believe that sisters should be celebrated not just one day, but everyday. The most remarkable and cherished aspect of my relationship with my sister is our togetherness during these special moments."

"Residing in different cities, our reunions are valuable presents for us. I don't confine my expressions of affection to a single day; I consistently strive to make my sister feel exceptional," Manit said.

The 36-year-old actor added "While I won't be able to journey to Delhi this Raksha Bandhan due to my commitment to Kundali Bhagya's shoot, my sister might be visiting Mumbai this year. We're planning to indulge in some shopping, and I intend to gift her whatever she desires. Personally, I take great pleasure in pampering her in every conceivable manner. I consider myself truly fortunate to have such an adorable sister."

'Kundali Bhagya' is a romantic drama television series, which is a spin-off series of 'Kumkum Bhagya'. The show stars Shraddha Arya as Dr Preeta Arora Luthra, Shakti Anand as Karan Luthra, and Manit as Rishabh Luthra. It also features Paras Kalnawat, Baseer Ali, and Sana Sayyad. The show airs on Zee TV.

Manit made his film debut in 2010 Yash Raj Films' 'Band Baaja Baaraat', directed by Maneesh Sharma, starring Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh in the lead.

He was also seen in 'Naagin 6' as Professor Jeet Patel.

sp/kvd

Manit Joura on Raksha Bandhan: 'Sisters should be celebrated everyday'

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Wallace Community College-Dothan has partnered with the Wiregrass Area Food Bank to open a student food pantry on its Dothan and Sparks campuses in an effort to combat campus food insecurity.

Students on both campuses will have access to non-perishable foods such as canned goods, and snacks, and even household items like laundry detergent.

The food pantry on the Wallace campus in Dothan is located in the cafeteria in Cunningham Hall. On the Sparks campus in Eufaula, the pantry is in the administration building. The hours of operation for both campuses will be Mondays from 1-3 p.m., and Thursdays from 9 a.m.-noon.

Food insecurity has short- and long-term effects, Mickey Baker, WCCD dean of student success and Sparks campus, said. However, we are trying to minimize the effect at Wallace by serving as a location for the College Campus Hunger Initiative. We hope that providing easy access to food can reduce food insecuritys immediate negative consequences.

The food is provided by local food bank through the Heart of Alabama Food Bank as part of a statewide initiative to combat food insecurity on community college campuses.

We are grateful to the Heart of Alabama Food Bank for stepping in and helping meet a need on the community college system level, Daymesha Reed, student life coordinator, said. Over half of our student population suffers from food insecurities. Meeting a physical need will in turn help meet an academic need.
Most consumers buy their food at the local grocery store. But do they know where it came from and who grew it? Those are some things to think about, says Molly Oberg, one half of the husband-wife owners/operators of Ben & Mollys Farm.
The hardest thing about being a leader is  "that ultimately, no matter what, I am responsible for whatever happens in the businesses. Which means, in practice, everything from fixing the soda gun at 1 a.m., to making sure the bills are paid, to dealing fairly with random well-meaning but inebriated guests."
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On working with her sister, Yin said: It is an incredible support to work with your best friend, especially in high stress moments."
The plaque at Rex Lookout in Queensland, Australia, had the name of the politician who made it possible, Martin Tenni, erased a few years after it was installed as he was swept up in a corruption scandal.
A team of researchers from Yale University and other institutions globally has developed an innovative patient triage platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that the researchers say is capable of predicting patient disease severity and length of hospitalization during a viral outbreak.

The platform, which leverages machine learning and metabolomics data, is intended to improve patient management and help health care providers allocate resources more efficiently during severe viral outbreaks that can quickly overwhelm local health care systems. Metabolomics is the study of small molecules related to cell metabolism.

Being able to predict which patients can be sent home and those possibly needing intensive care unit admission is critical for health officials seeking to optimize patient health outcomes and use hospital resources most efficiently during an outbreak." Vasilis Vasiliou, senior author, professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health (YSPH)

The researchers developed the platform using COVID-19 as a disease model. The findings were published online in the journal Human Genomics.

The platform integrates routine clinical data, patient comorbidity information, and untargeted plasma metabolomics data to drive its predictions.

"Our AI-powered patient triage platform is distinct from typical COVID-19 AI prediction models," said Georgia Charkoftaki, a lead author of the study and an associate research scientist in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at YSPH. "It serves as the cornerstone for a proactive and methodical approach to addressing upcoming viral outbreaks."

Using machine learning, the researchers built a model of COVID-19 severity and prediction of hospitalization based on clinical data and metabolic profiles collected from patients hospitalized with the disease. "The model led us to identify a panel of unique clinical and metabolic biomarkers that were highly indicative of disease progression and allows the prediction of patient management needs very soon after hospitalization," the researchers wrote in the study.

For the study, the research team collected comprehensive data from 111 COVID-19 patients admitted to Yale New Haven Hospital during a two-month period in 2020 and 342 healthy individuals (health care workers) who served as controls. The patients were categorized into different classes based on their treatment needs, ranging from not requiring external oxygen to requiring positive airway pressure or intubation.

The study identified a number of elevated metabolites in plasma that had a distinct correlation with COVID-19 severity. They included allantoin, 5-hydroxy tryptophan, and glucuronic acid.

Notably, patients with elevated blood eosinophil levels were found to have a worse disease prognosis, exposing a potential new biomarker for COVID-19 severity. The researchers also noted that patients who required positive airway pressure or intubation exhibited decreased plasma serotonin levels, an unexpected finding that they said warrants further research.

The AI-assisted patient triage platform has three essential components:

Clinical Decision Tree: This precision medicine tool incorporates key biomarkers for disease prognosis to provide a real-time prediction of disease progression and the potential duration of a patient's hospital stay. The tested predictive model demonstrated high accuracy in the study. Hospitalization Estimation: The platform successfully estimated the length of patient hospitalization within a 5-day margin of error. Respiratory rate (>18 breaths/minute) and minimum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), a byproduct of protein metabolism, were both found to be important factors in extending patient hospitalization. Disease Severity Prediction: The platform reliably predicted disease severity and the likelihood of a patient being admitted to an intensive care unit. This helps health care providers identify patients most at risk of developing life-threatening illnesses and allows them to begin treatments quickly to optimize outcomes, the study said.

As part of the study, the research team developed user-friendly software  the COVID Severity by Metabolomic and Clinical Study (CSMC) software  that integrates machine learning and clinical data to provide pre-hospital patient management and classify patients' conditions when they arrive at the emergency department.

"Our model platform provides a personalized approach for managing COVID-19 patients, but it also lays the groundwork for future viral outbreaks," said Vasiliou, chair of the YSPH Department of Environmental Health Sciences and the Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences). "As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19 and we remain vigilant against potential future outbreaks, our AI-powered platform represents a promising step towards a more effective and data-driven public health response."

Limitations of the study include the fact that all samples were collected between March and May 2020, a time period before the emergence of COVID-19 vaccines and before many treatments for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, such as remdesivir, were available. Such treatments could reduce the changes observed in metabolite biomarkers. Secondly, the population of healthy controls was mainly white, while the COVID-19 patients comprised a higher proportion of Black individuals. As such, the possibility of race /ethnicity being a factor contributing to differences in subjects cannot be excluded.

Researchers with the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece; Imperial College of London; and the Sao Carlos Institute of Chemistry at the University of Sao Palo, Brazil contributed to the study.
In a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers evaluate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated changes in gestational weight gain (GWG) patterns by the timing of conception and delivery.

Study: Trends in Gestational Weight Gain in Louisiana, March 2019 to March 2022. Image Credit: puhhha / Shutterstock.com

Background

Weight gain during pregnancy is crucial for both maternal and neonatal health. Most pregnant women acquire too much weight, which can have negative repercussions, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the widespread implementation of social distance measures, in addition to medical centers implementing protocols to minimize the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As a result, several individuals reported increased inactive time, adverse changes in eating habits, and worsened anxiety and sadness.

The pandemic had both direct and indirect consequences on the daily lives of pregnant women, such as increased depression, fewer prenatal and postpartum visits, and a rise in early pregnancy outcomes. The average GWG also rose during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it remains unclear whether these altered pregnancy-related outcomes have reverted to pre-pandemic levels.

About the study

Researchers examined GWG direction and consistency by conception and delivery in annual increments during the first and second COVID-19 waves. Any changes in GWG in individuals who had pregnancies before and during COVID-19 were also determined.

To this end, birth certificates and delivery-related records were retrospectively reviewed between 2019 and 2022. Electronic medical records were obtained from a large Louisiana maternity care hospital.

The study included all women between 12 and 50 years of age who delivered babies between March 2019 and March 2022. Information was analyzed between October 2022 and July 2023.

The study exposures were delivery dates and conception in the pre-pandemic period between March 2019 and March 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and March 2021, as well as the late COVID-19 period between March 2021 and March 2022.

According to the Institute of Medicine guidelines published in 2009, GWG, defined as total GWG from the estimated conception date to the delivery date, was the primary study outcome. Log-linear-type regression models and generalized estimating equations (GEEs) were used for the analysis, and adjusted odds ratios (aORs) were determined.

Some of the covariates that were adjusted for in the analysis included age of the pregnant woman, educational status, participant-documented ethnicity and race, marital status, insurance type, job status, parity, alcohol use, and smoking habits.

Study findings

Of the 23,012 deliveries included in the analysis, 51% were among white women and 38% among black women. The mean maternal age was 29 years, whereas the mean pre-pregnancy weight was 75 kg.

About 42% of individuals gained more weight than recommended during the period preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparatively, 45% and 44% of women exceeded recommended GWG levels during the COVID-19 peak and late COVID-19 period, respectively.

As compared to women who delivered before the start of the pandemic, women gained more weight during gestation when they delivered during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic or late pandemic period.

Defining cohorts by the date of conception, women who conceived before the pandemic but delivered after the COVID-19 pandemic began had higher GWG than women whose pregnancy period was completed before the pandemic. GWG was lower among pregnancies conceived after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and during the late COVID-19 period; however, many of these women began pregnancy with a slightly higher weight.

Examining the mean GWG by month indicated a minor drop during March 2020 and an increase in mean GWG in the subsequent year. Women with two pregnancies were more likely to gain more weight than the recommended levels during the late pregnancy period in comparison to their pre-COVID-19 pregnancy; however, this relationship weakened after covariate adjustment.

Conclusions

In deliveries during the later phase of COVID-19, an increase in GWG was similar to pre-pandemic levels; however, many women began their pregnancies at heavier weights than those recorded before the start of the pandemic.

The study findings indicate that GWG plateaued during the later stages of the pandemic. Changes in pre-pregnancy weight and GWG were among the alterations associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, with individuals who were overweight or obese being the most affected.
Vietnam's new visa policy, applicable from Aug. 15, will help the country lure more business travelers from Japan in September, according to the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).

Nobuyuki Matsumoto, JETRO Chief Representative in Ho Chi Minh City, said that in the first seven months of this year, Vietnam welcomed 283,668 Japanese visitors, 617 folds higher than that in the same period last year. However, compared to the figure recorded in the same period in 2019 before Covid broke out, the number was equal to only 54%.

The new and more favorable visa policy is expected to bring about positive impacts, especially on Japanese business travelers in September after Japan's peak tourism season and on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-Japan diplomatic relations, he said.

Currently, 460,000 Vietnamese people are working in Japan, accounting for one fourth of the total foreign workforce in the country, he noted, expressing his hope that Vietnam will increase tourism promotion in Japan.

The JETRO Chief Representative said that from September, JETRO plans to organize various events to strengthen bilateral economic partnership, including a business connection event for Japanese firms and Vietnamese startups slated for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in September.

In November, JETRO will hold a "Fast Track" event with the participation of leading Vietnamese and Japanese companies who will challenge Vietnamese startups, he revealed.

Nobuyuki Matsumoto said that Japanese investors highly values the development potential of the Vietnamese market. However, he pointed to a number of difficulties facing them, including modest industrial land reserve and complicated administrative procedures in work permit issuance.

He advised Vietnam to stably develop industrial parks, while making more efforts in administrative reform, and developing more high-quality residential areas for Japanese experts in localities.

Recently, the National Assembly has adopted a law amending and supplementing some articles of the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens and the Law on Foreigners' Entry into, Exit from, Transit through and Residence.

Under this law, starting from Aug. 15, citizens from all countries and territories around the world can use e-visas to enter Vietnam, with the visa valid for multiple entries and for 90 days.

The law also permits citizens of the 13 countries entitled to Vietnams unilateral visa exemption to be granted a temporary residence period of 45 days, instead of 15 days like in the past, and have visa granting and temporary residence extension considered in line with regulations.

The 13 countries are Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the U.K., Russia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Belarus.
A few days ago, the federal government took the controversial decision to make the acquisition and possession of small amounts of cannabis exempt from punishment. Provided the German parliament approves the draft bill, the "Cannabis Act" will come into force next year. While some consider this move to be long overdue, others continue to warn strongly against the health risks of cannabis use.

The Jena researchers and their colleagues are now taking a different look at cannabis  at the traditional medicinal plant  with a study published in the journal Cell Chemical Biology. The team from the Institute of Pharmacy investigated how certain ingredients from the cannabis plant counteract inflammation. It was already known from previous studies that cannabis is not only an analgesic and an antispasmodic, but also has an anti-inflammatory effect. "However, the reason for the anti-inflammatory effect was largely unclear until now," says Dr Paul Mike Jordan, who led the study together with Prof. Oliver Werz.

The researchers studied how different cannabinoids, including the psychoactive THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol), which is already found in freely available products today, act on human immune cells.

We found that all eight cannabinoids we studied had anti-inflammatory effects. All the compounds we studied were found to inhibit the formation of pro-inflammatory messenger substances in cells while enhancing the formation of inflammation-resolving substances." Lukas Peltner, doctoral student and first author of the study

CBD induces a switch in immune cells

CBD in particular proved to be highly effective and the team investigated it in more detail with regard to its mode of action. The researchers were able to determine that CBD activates the 15-lipoxygenase-1 enzyme, which triggers the production of inflammation-resolving messenger substances that subsequently cause the inflammation to subside. "CBD thus induces a switch in the affected cells, so to speak, which steers the inflammatory process from the promoting to the inhibiting side," explains Dr Jordan. The researchers were also able to confirm these results, which were obtained in cell cultures, in animal experiments on mice.

In the long term, the insights gained could lead to new therapeutic strategies for treating inflammatory diseases, the researchers conclude. The focus should be on CBD, which was the most effective cannabinoid in the study. Previously approved preparations with cannabinoids contain CBD, "but also the psychoactive THC, which can be associated with a variety of side effects", notes Dr Jordan. Therapeutics containing only CBD would reduce this problem.

The research work has been carried out within the Collaborative Research Centres "PolyTarget" and "ChemBioSys" of the University of Jena, Germany and has been funded by the German Research Foundation.
Elizabeth Amirault had never heard of a Narx Score. But she said she learned last year the tool had been used to track her medication use.

During an August 2022 visit to a hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Amirault told a nurse practitioner she was in severe pain, she said. She received a puzzling response.

"Your Narx Score is so high, I can't give you any narcotics," she recalled the man saying, as she waited for an MRI before a hip replacement.

Tools like Narx Scores are used to help medical providers review controlled substance prescriptions. They influence, and can limit, the prescribing of painkillers, similar to a credit score influencing the terms of a loan. Narx Scores and an algorithm-generated overdose risk rating are produced by health care technology company Bamboo Health (formerly Appriss Health) in its NarxCare platform.

Such systems are designed to fight the nation's opioid epidemic, which has led to an alarming number of overdose deaths. The platforms draw on data about prescriptions for controlled substances that states collect to identify patterns of potential problems involving patients and physicians. State and federal health agencies, law enforcement officials, and health care providers have enlisted these tools, but the mechanics behind the formulas used are generally not shared with the public.

Artificial intelligence is working its way into more parts of American life. As AI spreads within the health care landscape, it brings familiar concerns of bias and accuracy and whether government regulation can keep up with rapidly advancing technology.

The use of systems to analyze opioid-prescribing data has sparked questions over whether they have undergone enough independent testing outside of the companies that developed them, making it hard to know how they work.

Lacking the ability to see inside these systems leaves only clues to their potential impact. Some patients say they have been cut off from needed care. Some doctors say their ability to practice medicine has been unfairly threatened. Researchers warn that such technology  despite its benefits  can have unforeseen consequences if it improperly flags patients or doctors.

"We need to see whats going on to make sure were not doing more harm than good," said Jason Gibbons, a health economist at the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus. "Were concerned that its not working as intended, and its harming patients."

Amirault, 34, said she has dealt for years with chronic pain from health conditions such as sciatica, degenerative disc disease, and avascular necrosis, which results from restricted blood supply to the bones.

The opioid Percocet offers her some relief. She'd been denied the medication before, but never had been told anything about a Narx Score, she said.

In a chronic pain support group on Facebook, she found others posting about NarxCare, which scores patients based on their supposed risk of prescription drug misuse. She's convinced her ratings negatively influenced her care.

"Apparently being sick and having a bunch of surgeries and different doctors, all of that goes against me," Amirault said.

Database-driven tracking has been linked to a decline in opioid prescriptions, but evidence is mixed on its impact on curbing the epidemic. Overdose deaths continue to plague the country, and patients like Amirault have said the monitoring systems leave them feeling stigmatized as well as cut off from pain relief.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that in 2021 about 52 million American adults suffered from chronic pain, and about 17 million people lived with pain so severe it limited their daily activities. To manage the pain, many use prescription opioids, which are tracked in nearly every state through electronic databases known as prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs).

The last state to adopt a program, Missouri, is still getting it up and running.

More than 40 states and territories use the technology from Bamboo Health to run PDMPs. That data can be fed into NarxCare, a separate suite of tools to help medical professionals make decisions. Hundreds of health care facilities and five of the top six major pharmacy retailers also use NarxCare, the company said.

The platform generates three Narx Scores based on a patient's prescription activity involving narcotics, sedatives, and stimulants. A peer-reviewed study showed the "Narx Score metric could serve as a useful initial universal prescription opioid-risk screener."

NarxCare's algorithm-generated "Overdose Risk Score" draws on a patient's medication information from PDMPs  such as the number of doctors writing prescriptions, the number of pharmacies used, and drug dosage  to help medical providers assess a patient's risk of opioid overdose.

Bamboo Health did not share the specific formula behind the algorithm or address questions about the accuracy of its Overdose Risk Score but said it continues to review and validate the algorithm behind it, based on current overdose trends.

Guidance from the CDC advised clinicians to consult PDMP data before prescribing pain medications. But the agency warned that "special attention should be paid to ensure that PDMP information is not used in a way that is harmful to patients."

This prescription-drug data has led patients to be dismissed from clinician practices, the CDC said, which could leave patients at risk of being untreated or undertreated for pain. The agency further warned that risk scores may be generated by "proprietary algorithms that are not publicly available" and could lead to biased results.

Bamboo Health said that NarxCare can show providers all of a patient's scores on one screen, but that these tools should never replace decisions made by physicians.

Some patients say the tools have had an outsize impact on their treatment.

Bev Schechtman, 47, who lives in North Carolina, said she has occasionally used opioids to manage pain flare-ups from Crohn's disease. As vice president of the Doctor Patient Forum, a chronic pain patient advocacy group, she said she has heard from others reporting medication access problems, many of which she worries are caused by red flags from databases.

"There's a lot of patients cut off without medication," according to Schechtman, who said some have turned to illicit sources when they can't get their prescriptions. "Some patients say to us, 'It's either suicide or the streets.'"

The stakes are high for pain patients. Research shows rapid dose changes can increase the risk of withdrawal, depression, anxiety, and even suicide.

Some doctors who treat chronic pain patients say they, too, have been flagged by data systems and then lost their license to practice and were prosecuted.

Lesly Pompy, a pain medicine and addiction specialist in Monroe, Michigan, believes such systems were involved in a legal case against him.

His medical office was raided by a mix of local and federal law enforcement agencies in 2016 because of his patterns in prescribing pain medicine. A year after the raid, Pompy's medical license was suspended. In 2018, he was indicted on charges of illegally distributing opioid pain medication and health care fraud.

"I knew I was taking care of patients in good faith," he said. A federal jury in January acquitted him of all charges. He said he's working to have his license restored.

One firm, Qlarant, a Maryland-based technology company, said it has developed algorithms "to identify questionable behavior patterns and interactions for controlled substances, and for opioids in particular," involving medical providers.

The company, in an online brochure, said its "extensive government work" includes partnerships with state and federal enforcement entities such as the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In a promotional video, the company said its algorithms can "analyze a wide variety of data sources," including court records, insurance claims, drug monitoring data, property records, and incarceration data to flag providers.

William Mapp, the company's chief technology officer, stressed the final decision about what to do with that information is left up to people  not the algorithms.

Mapp said that "Qlarant's algorithms are considered proprietary and our intellectual property" and that they have not been independently peer-reviewed.

"We do know that theres going to be some percentage of error, and we try to let our customers know," Mapp said. "It sucks when we get it wrong. But were constantly trying to get to that point where there are fewer things that are wrong."

Prosecutions against doctors through the use of prescribing data have attracted the attention of the American Medical Association.

"These unknown and unreviewed algorithms have resulted in physicians having their prescribing privileges immediately suspended without due process or review by a state licensing board  often harming patients in pain because of delays and denials of care," said Bobby Mukkamala, chair of the AMA's Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force.

Even critics of drug-tracking systems and algorithms say there is a place for data and artificial intelligence systems in reducing the harms of the opioid crisis.

"Its just a matter of making sure that the technology is working as intended," said health economist Gibbons.
In a recent article published in JAMA Network Open, researchers performed a cross-sectional analysis of the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) data collected between April 2020 and March 2022.

The study aimed to examine the varying experiences of children and caregivers in the United States (US) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Study: Sociodemographic Differences in COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences Among Families in the United States. Image Credit: FamVeld/Shutterstock.com

Background

The ongoing National Institutes of Health (NIH)funded ECHO survey began capturing COVID-19 pandemic experiences in families across the US in April 2020.

This multi-cohort currently encompasses 64 individual cohorts, with 24,757 children and 31,700 caregiver participants from 50 US states and Puerto Rico.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately disrupted the US children's and their families' day-to-day lives.

It led schools to shut down, caused disruptions in access to healthcare, and many child caregivers even experienced financial and health-related concerns due to the loss of jobs.

Most studies examining COVID-19 pandemic-related experiences among families in the US used publicly available administrative data (e.g., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data), which restricted their ability to capture the instantaneous experiences of children and their families during the pandemic.

These studies identified notable social inequities among adults; however, data gathered on the experiences of children and their caregivers was inadequate.

Understanding social inequities using population-based datasets of children could inform recovery efforts and support families during similar large-scale disruptions in the future.

About the study

In the present study, researchers used data from over 13,000 children and caregivers from the ECHO study, representing a socio-demographically, racially, ethnically, and geographically diverse population to examine independent associations between caregiver's educational status, child life stage, residence type, and varying COVID-19 pandemic-related experiences.

The authors used two distinct samples to describe varying COVID-19 pandemic-related experiences. They included data from caregivers (mostly mothers) who finished the ECHO COVID-19 surveys between April 2020 and March 2022.

Next, they derived the child analytical sample from the parent survey, considering only the earliest survey data if parents completed more than one survey per child.

Among sociodemographic measures, the team first classified caregivers into five groups based on their highest level of education. Secondly, they considered four child life stages for their assessments: infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and young adulthood, with children aged zero to one year, one to five years, six to 11 years, and 12 to 21 years, respectively. Thirdly, they ascertained whether a child lived in an urban or rural area.

Further, the team collected self-reported race and ethnicity data from all the participants.

The team used logistic regression models to examine independent associations of each sociodemographic measure with COVID-19 pandemic-related experiences stratified by child life stage, caregivers' education level, and residence type (rural or urban).

Furthermore, the researchers examined each child's analytical sample for COVID-19 testing, healthcare, school, or daycare access. Among caregivers, they focused on whether they had difficulty arranging childcare and transitioning to remote work to care for children.

Other COVID-19-related stressors evaluated for caregivers were accessibility to food, health or financial concerns, social distancing or quarantining effects, and the overall impact of the pandemic on their child, family, and work.

Results

The child dataset had 14,646 participants from 57 cohorts with a mean age of 7.1 years, of which 49% were female. They self-reported their race as American Indian (3%), Asian (3%), Black (14%), Hispanic (24%), and White (65%).

The remaining 1,443 children belonged to more than one race. Compared to the ECHO cohort, the study cohort had a large proportion of rural participants (16% vs. 13%).

Likewise, the caregiver dataset had 13,653 adult participants, with a mean age of 37.6 years, of which 98% were females.

Compared to the ECHO cohort, it had fewer Hispanic and more rural participants. In addition, this dataset overrepresented and underrepresented Black and Asian caregivers, respectively.

Caregivers with lower educational status were more likely to postpone/cancel their children's healthcare appointments due to COVID-19-related concerns and had more food access-related and financial concerns. Moreover, they were less likely to consider working remotely.

Conversely, caregivers with higher educational status faced challenges arranging childcare and endorsed social distancing and impacts on work or their child as top stressors.

Furthermore, the authors noted that rural caregivers were less likely to consider social distancing a pandemic-related stressor than urban caregivers.

In addition, children aged 1-5 (young) were least likely to receive support from schools during pandemic-induced closures.

Conclusions

Overall, the study findings highlighted the inequitable COVID-19 pandemic-related burden on US families with lower socioeconomic status and young children. Policymakers should prioritize these vulnerable groups in recovery efforts and offer more support to them during future public health crises.

Future studies should evaluate the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic among children as ECHO data grows. Additionally, they could consider refining the nuanced associations observed in this study.
Researchers in the Cho Lab at Seoul National Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine, are using the VACUSAFE safe aspiration system and VACUSIP portable aspiration system from INTEGRA Biosciences to help them culture organoids from cancer-stricken domesticated dogs as part of a comparative medicine research initiative.

Collaborating closely with the universitys veterinary practitioners, researchers aim to expand the number of canine NGS datasets, in a bid to advance our understanding of the biological progression of tumors in both human and dog oncology.

We perform daily microvolume aspirations of organoid cultures, working with many diverse samples from the universitys veterinary hospital. The compact VACUSAFE and VACUSIP systems provide us with a finely controlled aspiration technique that enables accurate work in our NGS workflows. The VACUBOY vacuum hand operator on the VACUSAFE features a finger-activated valve that precisely regulates vacuum flow, enabling sensitive fingertip control and markedly improving accuracy when aspirating microvolumes. INTEGRAs VACUSAFE also has multiple vacuum intensity settings that allow us to control the amount of suction force, which is ideal for the delicate handling of precious samples such as organoids. The VACUSIP is perfect for daily microvolume aspiration tasks, as it allows us to aspirate any remaining liquid from the samples  which is simply unachievable by manual pipetting  and saves us a lot of time for our microplate- and PCR plate-based samples. Borris D. Aldonza, Facility Manager, Cho Lab

Borris continued: We are very satisfied with the VACUSAFE and VACUSIP and were looking forward to continuing our relationship with INTEGRA in the future. The companys products have helped us to achieve great feats so far  including our successful publication of the first reference epigenome of the domesticated dog  and we plan to keep moving the field of comparative oncology forwards using such robust, reliable equipment.
Intellegens, a company applying machine learning (ML) to accelerate innovation in R&D, today announced that it has secured a 1.6m grant from Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), to apply ML in the emerging field of oligonucleotide therapies. In collaboration with the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), the two-year project will augment and validate the companys ML technology, Alchemite, as a tool to enhance productivity and yields of oligonucleotide therapeutic manufacture through performance prediction and optimisation of quality control strategies.

Expert support for the project is being provided with direct input from six leading research organisations, including top 10 pharma companies, such as Novartis and specialist biotech companies, such as Silence Therapeutics.

Offering high specificity with the ability to treat an extremely broad range of diseases, oligonucleotides represent a promising therapeutic option in pharmaceutical research. However, their full potential is yet to be realised, as manufacturing knowledge and experience are limited outside a small number of specialist companies. Therapeutic oligonucleotides are large, complex molecules, requiring a multi-stage synthetic process alongside significant purification and analysis steps. The workflow presents many challenges, constraining manufacturing productivity.

Intellegens Alchemite is a set of advanced ML artificial intelligence algorithms and tools that supports the design and development of chemicals, materials, formulations, and processes. The novel adaptation of machine learning can extract meaningful information from the sparse, noisy datasets typical of experimental programmes and chemical and biological processes. The tool has been applied to process and other optimisation challenges across multiple industries, including modelling small-molecule drug pharmacokinetics with a world-leading pharmaceutical company1 and developing novel additive manufacturing processes with collaborators including Boeing2. The results are accelerated time to market for innovative products and increased manufacturing efficiency.

The collaboration will validate Alchemite as a tool to improve productivity in oligonucleotide process development and manufacturing workflows. Through automated data processing and process modelling, Alchemite will be used for analysis of large datasets, predictions of process performance, and subsequent optimisation of quality control strategies and process parameters. The project has been granted access to CPI Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC), providing world-leading expertise and state-of-the-art facilities for the duration of the collaboration.

Ben Pellegrini, CEO, Intellegens, said: The potential of oligonucleotide therapeutics to treat a vast spectrum of diseases is an exciting prospect that is unfortunately held back by manufacturing capabilities. We are extremely pleased to announce this Innovate UK funded collaborative project with CPI and experts from across the life sciences to apply Alchemite to improve manufacturing productivity of these next-generation therapeutics.

Dave Tudor, Managing Director of Pharmaceuticals at CPI, said: We are really excited to be working with Intellegens on this project to help harness the potential of oligonucleotides to treat a variety of conditions. Oligonucleotides are complex molecules and the process of bringing them to market is costly, meaning very few companies are able to harness this potentially life-saving and life-changing technology. Through CPIs Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, we will look to bring together a community of experts from the pharmaceutical and technology companies to support the development of the Alchemite tools, reducing development times and improving manufacturability of oligonucleotide therapeutics.
Most of us know that smoking is unhealthy.

Cigarette packets display shocking picture warnings of diseased lungs and rotting teeth. And we often hear in the media about how smoking can cause all sorts of cancer.

But most of us probably do not know that smoking actually increases the risk of mental illness as well.

In recent years, ever more research has indicated a strong correlation between smoking and mental illness. However, researchers have not been able to agree on whether smoking causes depression or other mental disorders, or whether we smoke because we need to lessen the symptoms of a latent mental disorder.

But now we know.

Together with two colleagues from Canada, Doug Speed from the Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics at Aarhus University has shown that smoking can lead to depression and bipolar disorder.

"The numbers speak for themselves. Smoking does cause mental illness. Although it's not the only cause, smoking increases the risk of being hospitalized with a mental illness by 250 per cent," he says.

Smoking typically comes before the mental illness. In fact, a long time before. On average, people from the data set began smoking at the age of 17, while they were typically not admitted to hospital with a mental disorder until after the age of 30." Doug Speed, professor at QGG

Based on health data from 350,000 people

Before Doug Speed and his colleagues could answer whether smoking can cause mental disorders, they needed very large volumes of data. There can be many different reasons why we develop a mental disorder. It was therefore important that they had enough data to clean their figures from other possible effects.

They gained access to the UK Biobank, one of the largest databases in the world of human health information. The database contains genetic data on more than half a million people. The genetic data was paired with a lot of other health information and answers provided by the participants regarding their lifestyle.

They fed the data into a computer and began looking for patterns. Doug Speed and his colleagues are far from the first researchers to investigate this correlation, but they found a new way to do it, as he explains.

"Previous research hasn't really considered that there may be a temporal dimension at play. People typically start to smoke before the age of 20, but aren't admitted to hospital with a mental disorder until they're between 30 and 60 on average."

"Smoking typically comes before the mental illness. In fact, a long time before. On average, people from the data set began smoking at the age of 17, while they were typically not admitted to hospital with a mental disorder until after the age of 30."

Your genes affect whether you become a smoker

As many as 90 per cent of the people in the data set who were still smokers or former smokers started before the age of 20. The likelihood that you will start smoking later in life is therefore quite small. In fact, your genes help determine whether or not you will become a smoker, explains Doug Speed.

"When we looked at the many smokers in the database, we found a number of recurring genetic variants. By looking at twin studies, in which the twins had the same genes but grew up in separate homes, we could see that their genes could explain 43 per cent of the risk of becoming a smoker."

In the homes where the adoptive parents also smoked, the risk of the child starting to smoke increased. However, if the parents didn't smoke, the risk was lower, but still greater when the children's 'real' parents had been smokers and passed on certain genes.

"There are a number of genetic variants that we can refer to as 'smoking-related genes'. The people in the data set who carried the smoking-related genes but did not smoke were less likely to develop mental disorders compared to those who carried the genes and smoked," he says and continues:

"Because the genetic variants also seem to be linked with the risk of mental illness, this used to be a bit blurry. But in this study, we demonstrate that it's probable that the risk of starting to smoke causes the risk of developing mental disorders to increase due to the 'smoking-related genes'".

Another explanation could be that smoking causes inflammation in the brain, which in the long term can damage parts of the brain and lead to various mental disorders. But as I said: We don't know for sure as yet". Doug Speed, professor at QGG

Nicotine may damage the brain

Statistically, smoking seems to cause mental disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. However, Doug Speed and his colleagues have no explanation as to why. Only a number of theories.

"We still need to find the biological mechanism that causes smoking to induce mental disorders. One theory is that nicotine inhibits absorption of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain, and we know that people with depression don't produce enough serotonin," he says.

When you smoke a single cigarette, nicotine activates the production of serotonin in the brain. Among other things, this is what makes you feel relaxed after smoking. But if you continue to smoke, nicotine will have the opposite effect. Instead, it will inhibit the serotonin  which can make you anxious, upset and unstable.

"Another explanation could be that smoking causes inflammation in the brain, which in the long term can damage parts of the brain and lead to various mental disorders. But as I said: We don't know for sure as yet," he says.

Should we raise the age limit for buying cigarettes?

One of the things the new figures show is that we rarely start smoking after the age of 20. Therefore, it might be a good idea to look into whether we should raise the age limit for buying cigarettes.

"This could be a good way to prevent people from starting smoking. Again, we don't know why people don't start smoking after the age of 20, but perhaps it's because we become less and less willing to take risks with age," says Doug Speed, and continues:

"Changing the law and raising the age limit may therefore have an effect. At least there are indications for this".

The figures on which the study is based are from the UK. So they are not based on Danes. However, Doug Speed believes that the differences, if any, are very small.

"Denmark and the UK are very similar, and I would say that they are quite comparable. Having said that, our next step is actually to conduct the same study with figures from Denmark and Finland. However, getting access to this data is more expensive, which is why we did a pilot study with the British data to see if there was a correlation," he concludes.
In a recent preprint study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, a group of researchers explored the experiences of Michigan-based Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in implementing the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)'s 2021 Hypertension (HTN) Initiative for improved hypertension control.

The initiative used bluetooth-enabled self-measured blood pressure monitoring (BT SMBP).

Study: Determinants of Bluetooth-enabled Self Measured Blood Pressure monitoring in Federally Qualified Health Centers. Image Credit: ymgerman/Shutterstock.com

*Important notice: medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

Background

HTN is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disorders, strokes, and conditions related to Alzheimer's disease. In the United States (US), almost half of the population has HTN, yet only half have it under control.

Similarly, Black Americans face a higher prevalence of HTN and less control than White Americans, while low-income groups also experience greater prevalence and restricted treatment.

Partnerships with FQHCs are necessary to address these disparities, serving many low-income and minority Americans. Additionally, mobile health (mHealth) tools can aid in HTN control. The National HTN Control Initiative focuses on using BT SMBP, enabling patients to measure and share data with healthcare providers.

About the study

In the present study, semi-structured interviews were deployed to identify obstacles and enablers to applying BT SMBP for HTN patients at FQHCs. The tailored implementation for chronic diseases (TICD) framework was employed to shape the interview guide, which aimed to pinpoint factors aiding or hindering BT SMBP initiation and its clinical integration.

TICD, a comprehensive construct, examines determinants in seven domains: guideline aspects, healthcare professional elements, patient-related factors, and more.

The discussion began by outlining the hypertension initiative in each FQHC network, incorporating open-ended questions probing every TICD domain, excluding the social, political, and legal segments. The culmination involved soliciting general suggestions for FQHCs contemplating BT SMBP adoption.

Between September and November 2022, staff from three Michigan-based FQHCs participated, with a subsequent interview in February 2023 for one center still in the pre-enrollment phase.

The selection criteria were their location in Michigan, receipt of initiative-specific funding, and diverse implementation approaches. Various FQHCs spanning diverse demographic locales were included to ensure a representative sample.

The interview process ranged from 15 to 60 minutes, which was recorded and transcribed. The TICD framework was preferred for data analysis and by using Atlas.TI software, transcripts were systematically coded.

A consensus approach was used to address discrepancies, and multiple researchers extracted, refined, and endorsed the themes, ensuring the study outcomes' robustness and integrity.

Study results

In this study of three Michigan-based FQHCs, ten staff members participated in interviews to study the implementation of the BT-SMBP program, a blood pressure monitoring system.

This program was implemented in February 2021 and employed a data-driven, community health worker (CHW) backed remote monitoring approach. They identified patients with uncontrolled blood pressure from the previous year and contacted them for enrollment.

Within 20 months, over 580 patients joined. FQHC 2 commenced in September 2022 and used a short-term blood pressure device loan setup. FQHC 3 collaborated with an external company for a social needs-driven BT-SMBP approach. In two months, roughly 250 patients were onboarded.

Several barriers and facilitators for the BT-SMBP program implementation were identified across five domains: health professional factors, organizational capacity for change, patient factors, guideline aspects, and resources and incentives.

Positive staff attitudes were significant facilitators, especially in FQHCs one and three. These attitudes were tied to expected patient outcomes and perceived benefits of the system. Knowledge acquisition and established workflows from prior initiatives supported the program's implementation.

Leadership support and patient motivation played crucial roles in the program's success. However, challenges like digital literacy among patients and their various social needs posed hurdles.

Technology-related challenges hinder the feasibility of programs that involve patient monitoring. For instance, at FQHC 2, a weak wireless fidelity (WIFI) connection in one clinic obstructed setting up patients' devices, emphasizing the importance of reliable technology for real-time patient training.

Furthermore, staff at FQHC 1 faced difficulties in pairing blood pressure devices with certain cellphone models. Larger cuff attachments also produced errors, causing inconvenience for patients and staff.

Misunderstandings arise when patients change phones, assuming their devices would still connect without redownloading necessary apps, and tech-related issues add more responsibilities for clinic staff.

Instead of specialized software, FQHC 1 and 2 improvised with their existing computer systems. This sometimes resulted in periods without monitoring, and manually transferring blood pressure data to Electronic Health Records (EHR) was another labor-intensive task.

However, FQHC 3 improved efficiency by partnering with a remote monitoring service that automatically sends patient data to the EHR.

Staffing issues and resource constraints affected program implementation, and high turnover rates at FQHC 1 disrupted program continuity, while at FQHC 3, workforce shortages due to broader industry trends heavily impacted operations. Adding to the complexity, limited grant funding, and billing challenges made scaling up and sustaining these programs a daunting task.

*Important notice: medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
Following the most recent revision to the EU GMP Annex1 in 2020, Eric Clement Arakel (Global Product Manager) and Myriam Gueye (Segment Marketing Manager, Applied Industries) at Sartorius will explain the impact that this updated guidance has on pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers.

The original version of the guidance was published in 1971, with many revisions taking place over the years. The document has since expanded from 16 pages to more than 50 pages, with the European Commission finalizing the document in August 2022.

Although the EU GMP Annex 1 is a European guide for manufacturing, it has a global impact. For a sterile medicinal product to be imported into Europe after being manufactured elsewhere, the same practices must be implemented in these manufacturing facilities.

The EU GMP Annex 1 is driven by a Quality Risk Management and Contamination Control Strategy. Despite this being largely directed at the manufacturers of sterile medicinal products, there are many useful aspects within the document for non-sterile manufacturing, such as prompts and recommendations.

Download the full paper

Image Credit: Sartorius Lab Instruments GmbH & Co. KG

About Sartorius Lab Instruments GmbH & Co. KG

The Sartorius Group is a leading international partner of life science research and the biopharmaceutical industry.

With innovative laboratory instruments and consumables, the Groups Lab Products & Services Division concentrates on serving the needs of laboratories performing research and quality control at pharma and biopharma companies and those of academic research institutes.

The Bioprocess Solutions Division with its broad product portfolio focusing on single-use solutions helps customers to manufacture biotech medications and vaccines safely and efficiently. The Group has been annually growing by double digits on average and has been regularly expanding its portfolio by acquisitions of complementary technologies.

In fiscal 2021, the company earned sales revenue of some 3.45 billion euros. At the end of 2021, nearly 14,000 people were employed at the Groups approximately 60 manufacturing and sales sites, serving customers around the globe.

Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments.
VinCSS and SmartDisplayer aim to revolutionize physical-cyber access control solutions, from car parks to cloud services with the innovative BobeePass FIDO card.

Simon Trac Do (L), CEO of VinCSS, and Lantin (R), General Manager of SmartDisplayer, at the signing ceremony, which took place at the FIDO APAC Summit 2023 in Vietnam. Photo courtesy of VinCSS

SmartDisplayer, based in Taiwan, has long been a pioneering force in the world of smart card design and manufacturing. Specializing in fin-tech, cybersecurity in banking, and other sectors, their quest has always been to challenge and redefine the potential of the traditional card.

Their latest marvel, the BobeePass FIDO 2nd Gen Card, which will see its grand unveiling at the FIDO APAC Summit, aims to set new benchmarks for secure access solutions.

This card, bearing the badges of FIDO L1 and L2 certification, encapsulates the next frontier in authentication technology, blending cutting-edge features with uncompromised security.

VinCSS Cyber Security Services JSC, a subsidiary of Vingroup, has made waves in cybersecurity and IAM since 2018.

Esteemed by industry titans like Frost & Sullivan, VinCSS is a brand synonymous with innovation and trustworthiness in the Southeast Asian cybersecurity and passwordless authentication realm.

The partnership between two companies crystallizes the shift from traditional authentication methods to advanced passwordless authentication solutions.

Both VinCSS and SmartDisplayer are embarking on a mission to integrate the BobeePass FIDO card seamlessly into the VinCSS FIDO2 ecosystem.

A unique feature making waves is the embedded fingerprint sensor (FPS) on the card, typically a luxury of laptops and high-end devices, now available on smart cards. Coupled with the robust FIDO L2 certification, this union ensures peak security, catering to the most demanding of industries.

Simon Trac Do, CEO of VinCSS, said that their vision aligns seamlessly with SmartDisplayer, diving deep into R&D to evolve and adapt the BobeePass FIDO card. This partnership exclusively places SmartDisplayers innovation at the heart of VinCSS's physical-cyber access control solutions.

"Spanning every possible system, from the tangible world of car parks to expansive cloud services, we are co-writing the future of secure digital access. Our combined efforts resonate in a shared ethos of innovation and a symbiotic profitability model," he added.

The partnership was signed successfully with representatives from both companies. Photo courtesy of VinCSS

Lantin Hsieh, general manager of SmartDisplayer, shared his enthusiasm by saying that he is thrilled to reflect upon the transformative partnership they have embarked upon with VinCSS, an innovative cybersecurity enterprise hailing from Vietnam.

"The collaboration marks a significant stride forward in the landscape of digital security, infusing our efforts to safeguard IT, OT, and connected cars with a spirit of ingenuity. At the forefront of this partnership is their resolute focus on pioneering robust passwordless authentication, complemented by advanced identity and access management solutions. This dedication underscores our commitment to leading in the realm of security measures."

Their enthusiasm extends to the realization of having a partner in Vietnam, a sentiment that holds particular significance for the Vietnam and ASEAN markets. This shared journey with VinCSS bolsters the company's collective mission to cultivate a more secure digital future in this dynamic region.

"Together, we navigate this path with innovation, determination, and a joint pursuit of excellence. This partnership is a testament to the strength of collaboration, and together with VinCSS, we redefine what's possible in the realm of cybersecurity," Hsieh said.
The ambitious Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RAPIDX corridor celebrated a major accomplishment on Tuesday with the flawless completion of the 2 km-long tunnel between Anand Vihar and Sahibabad. This is a significant step towards improving regional connectivity.

The spectacular accomplishment was completed with the stunning breakthrough of the Sudarshan 4.4 tunnel boring machine (TBM) at the Vaishali retrieving shaft in Ghaziabad.

The event was graced by the presence of Vinay Kumar Singh, the Managing Director of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), who initiated the breakthrough by remotely activating the breakthrough button. Esteemed directors and senior officials of the corporation also bore witness to this momentous occasion.

The Sudarshan 4.4 TBM, which commenced its journey from the launching shaft at Anand Vihar, has now successfully reached the Vaishali retrieving shaft, marking a significant advancement in the tunnelling projects.

With the remarkable completion of the entire tunneling process in under 18 months, credit is due to the deployment of seven cutting-edge Sudarshan TBMs. These advanced machines played a pivotal role in boring the 12km-long parallel tunnels that constitute the underground section of Indias pioneering RRTS corridor. Furthermore, the remaining stretch of the 70km-long corridor primarily comprises elevated sections, with an impressive 80 percent completion rate for the viaduct.

The construction of these complicated tunnels required the utilization of over 80,000 precast segments. These meticulously crafted tunnel segments were created at advanced casting yards situated in Karkardooma, New Delhi, and Shatabdi Nagar, Meerut.

Moving on, a total of four tunnels that began at the Anand Vihar subterranean RAPIDX station have been successfully established in Delhi. These tunnels basically helps in the seamless movement of trains. Among them, two parallel tunnels, each measuring approximately 3km, will serve as the vital link between Anand Vihar station and New Ashok Nagar station. Additionally, another pair of parallel tunnels, measuring about 2km each, will seamlessly connect Anand Vihar station to Sahibabad station.

With this outstanding accomplishment, the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RAPIDX corridor makes a significant advancement, getting closer to its ultimate fulfilment and promising a transformative impact on regional connectivity and mobility.
Raksha Bandhan is here and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is leaving no stone unturned to make the occasion special this year. The metro authorities on Tuesday confirmed that it will run more than 105 extra train trips on its operated routes, which will allow commuters an easy travel on the auspicious day.

Extra Ticket Counters on Crowded Stations

Amid this, the Delhi metro authorities also informed that the authorities will deploy the DMRCs personnel on most of the stations, which usually witness rush even on normal days. The team will not only cater the rush, but will help the commuters by setting up the extra ticket counters for them.

Additional metro trains on Standby

Principal Executive Director of DMRC, Anuj Dayal said there will be extra trains on standby too, and will start providing the service, if needed. He also urged the passengers to avoid long queues at ticket counters and use the DMRCs application online to generate tickets or any other related information.

Delhi Metro Historic Milestone

Meanwhile, it has been informed by the Delhi Metro today that it has unlocked a historic milestone by registering 68.16 lakh passengers on Monday. It is the highest single-day passengers number till date.
Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, a distinguished subsidiary of Tata Motors, has proudly revealed its revamped brand identity  TATA.ev.

The introduction of this new brand image demonstrates the homegrown automakers unwavering commitment to innovation, sustainability, and community development.

This identity integrates the principles of sustainability, community empowerment, and technology innovation. It is based on the theme Move with Meaning. It signifies the first step towards bringing customers unique and meaningful interactions and promoting a collaborative push towards an environmentally aware electric future.

TATA.ev: Core Aspects of the Brand Identity

Sustainability serves as the foundation of the brand identity for TATA.ev, which has been created in partnership with Landor & Fitch. Every design choice represents the brands strategic objective, with graphics that are accessible, open, and environmentally conscious.

The Orbit: The .ev in the companys logo is enclosed within an orbit. It represents TATA.evs role in promoting a circular ecosystem where people and the environment work together to create a better future.

The .ev in the companys logo is enclosed within an orbit. It represents TATA.evs role in promoting a circular ecosystem where people and the environment work together to create a better future. Evo Teal Color: The brands distinct Evo Teal color is a fusion of technology and sustainability, symbolizing innovation and a steadfast commitment to a sustainable tomorrow.

The brands distinct Evo Teal color is a fusion of technology and sustainability, symbolizing innovation and a steadfast commitment to a sustainable tomorrow. Inter Typeface: The Inter typeface, known for modernity and accessibility, has been chosen to align with the brands sustainability-first approach.

The Inter typeface, known for modernity and accessibility, has been chosen to align with the brands sustainability-first approach. The Sonic Logo: The motion and sonic logo maintains a balance between tradition and innovation, infusing a sense of forward movement. It combines electronic circuits with a powerful ripple sound and is inspired by the intersection of nature and technology.

The motion and sonic logo maintains a balance between tradition and innovation, infusing a sense of forward movement. It combines electronic circuits with a powerful ripple sound and is inspired by the intersection of nature and technology. Dynamic Typography: The introduction of the bridge element in the typography injects movement and dynamism into the brands communication.

TATA.ev: Commitment to Sustainability

TATA.evs commitment to environmental responsibility is evident through several key actions:

Eco-friendly Design: Print collaterals use reduced ink on a white base.

Print collaterals use reduced ink on a white base. Digital Efficiency: Digital collaterals follow a dark mode approach on a black base to minimize battery consumption and energy usage.

Digital collaterals follow a dark mode approach on a black base to minimize battery consumption and energy usage. Font for Sustainability: The use of the open-license and variable font family, Inter, enhances accessibility, optimizes performance, and aligns seamlessly with the brands sustainable ethos.

This refreshed brand identity will be progressively rolled out across consumer-facing communications, reaffirming TATA.evs dedication to a sustainable and dynamic future.

Under the banner of Go Beyond, the automaker has unveiled a three-phase EV strategy, designed to cater to diverse consumer needs through various body styles and accessible price points. The companys focus on seamless connectivity, cutting-edge design, exceptional performance, and uncompromised safety across its EV lineup aims to set new industry benchmarks.
Raksha Bandhan Bank Holiday: Raksha Bandhan, celebrated in India and various parts of the globe, is a significant Hindu festival. On August 30 and August 31, 2023, certain cities will experience bank closures on the occasion of the festival. The list of cities includes Jaipur, Shimla, Dehradun, Gangtok, Kanpur, Kochi, Lucknow, and Thiruvananthapuram.

Bank holiday on Raksha Bandhan

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) holiday list, the majority of private and public sector institutions in India will be closed today on August 30 and tomorrow (August 31) for Raksha Bandhan. Before visiting a bank branch, it is advised to verify the banks closure schedule. This will ensure that your banking requirements are met promptly and effectively.

August 30: Raksha Bandhan

Banks will be closed in Srinagar and Jaipur on account of Raksha Bandhan.

August 31: Raksha Bandhan

Banks will be closed in Thiruvananthapuram, Gangtok, Lucknow, Kanpur, Dehradun, and Kochi on account of Raksha Bandhan.

Overall, there are 14 bank holidays in August, depending on the state. These holidays include weekends and various festivals. The banking regulator has notified the holidays for lenders under three brackets  the Negotiable Instruments Act, Holiday, Real Time Gross Settlement Holiday and Banks Closing of Accounts.

All banks including the public sector, private sector, foreign banks, cooperative banks and regional banks across the country will remain closed on these notified holidays.

All the lenders remain closed on Republic Day (January 26), Independence Day (August 15), and Gandhi Jayanti (October 2), Christmas Day (December 25). Banks also remain shut on festivals including Diwali, Christmas, Eid, Guru Nanak Jayanthi, Good Friday.

On the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, the private and public sector banks across the country remain closed. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also made it compulsory for banks to remain shut on Sundays.

Most banking transactions, including financial and non-financial, can be done via net banking, mobile banking, or WhatsApp banking. Do make sure you have registered for these services in order to access banking services during this period.

Bank customers must visit the bank holiday list regularly for any new updates and also verify it with the holiday list issued by the Reserve Bank of India on its official website.
Small Industry Day celebrates the unstoppable entrepreneurial spirit that fuels economic advancement. Observed every year on August 30 in India, this day honours the invaluable contributions of small industries, often overlooked yet pivotal drivers of global economies. These industries, driven by unwavering resolve, are the backbone of innovation, job creation, and economic dynamism. At present, small industries make up approximately 40% of Indias overall economy.

ALSO READ: Happy Raksha Bandhan 2023: Best Rakhi Wishes, Quotes, Messages and Images to Share With Your Brother or Sister

To fully appreciate the essence of Small Industry Day, we must journey through its history, delve into its significance, and explore the plethora of challenges and boundless opportunities that these unsung heroes of industry encounter daily.

National Small Industry Day: History

The roots of Small Industry Day can be traced back to the year 2000. In August of that year, the Indian government created a comprehensive policy package for small-scale industries (SSI). To mark this occasion, the Ministry of Small-Scale Industries announced that August 30, would be observed as the Small Industries day, annually.

It was celebrated for the first time on August 30, 2001. On this day, the Ministry of Small-Scale Industries organised a convention for small entrepreneurs in the national capital. These small-scale industries can range from blacksmiths to tailors, contributing their unique skills and products to their communities. Over time, government institutions as well as common people have recognised the importance of these small industries.

The Significance

Small industries play a pivotal role in the economic landscape. They are often the breeding grounds for innovation, fostering creativity and adaptability. Here are a few reasons why they matter:

Employment GenerationSmall industries are significant employers, providing jobs to many. They often serve as a stepping stone for many young professionals and entrepreneurs, kick-starting their careers. Local DevelopmentThese businesses form the backbone of local economies. They source materials and labour locally, creating a ripple effect that boosts surrounding communities. Innovation HubsSmall industries are often hotbeds of innovation. With fewer bureaucratic layers, they can quickly adapt to changing market demands and experiment with new ideas. DiversityThey contribute to product and service diversity. Small industries often specialize in niche markets, catering to unique customer needs.

Challenges Faced by Small Industries

However, the path to success for small industries is not without its hurdles. Despite the governments constant efforts, these businesses face challenges as such:

Limited ResourcesSmall industries typically have limited financial resources, making it challenging to invest in technology, marketing, and expansion. Unfair CompetitionThey often face stiff competition from larger, more established companies. This necessitates creative strategies to carve out their market share. Regulatory IssuesCompliance with regulations can be daunting for small industries, especially when they lack dedicated legal departments. Access to FinanceSecuring funding can be a major roadblock. Many small businesses struggle to access loans or investors.

Looking at the opportunities ahead

Despite these challenges, small industries have a promising future. Here are some opportunities that they can capitalise on:
The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) released an update on the change of nationality from Indian to NRI for the NEET UG counselling 2023 round 3. Candidates who want to change their nationality are advised to send an application via mail between August 28 (11 AM) to August 29 (5 PM). It is important to note that students who send the mail after the deadline will not be considered for the nationality conversion.

Candidates should send their relevant documents, in support of their claim to change nationality from Indian to NRI through e-mailug.nri.mcc@gmail.comfrom 11:00 AM of 28th August, 2023, till 05:00 P.M of 29th August, 2023, read the official notice issued by MCC. Students are recommended to provide all mandatory documents enclosed in a single email within the time limit. The mail received in parts and in duplicate will not be considered, the notice adds.

According to the MCC, the following documents should be mailed to convert nationality for NEET UG round 3 counselling 2023:

 Documents proving that the sponsor is a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) (passport, sponsored visa)

 Relationship between the NRI and the candidate

 A notarized affidavit from the sponsor stating that he or she will pay the candidates whole course fee.

 Sponsors Embassy Certificate (Consulate Certificate)

 National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) scorecard of the candidate.

Candidates must agree to the MCCs terms and conditions in order to apply for nationality conversion. In addition, the following are the eligibility requirements for applying for nationality conversion:

1. Candidates must have qualified for NEET 2023 in order to be eligible for NEET UG counselling.

2. Following the category transfer, candidates will be treated as NRIs in all rounds of NEET counselling.

3. If the category is switched to NRI, students will no longer be entitled to receive any benefits under the Muslim Minority Quota, the Jain Minority Quota, or any other quota.

4. If any of the submitted details or documents are found to be false, the concerned counselling authorities will cancel the candidates application.

As per the schedule, the NEET UG counselling 2023 round 2 reporting to college was conducted from August 20 to August 28. Meanwhile, the round 3 online registration process for NEET UG counselling 2023 will be held from August 31 to September 4. The choice filling and locking process for the same is scheduled from September 1 to September 5. There are a total of four rounds of the NEET UG counselling 2023 which is scheduled from July and September, this year.
Calling the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition  Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)  formula a big hit, Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Sudhakar Singh said their party will win the Ghosi Assembly bypolls scheduled on September 5.

ALSO READ | Ghosi Assembly Bypoll Result Will Bring Change in Countrys Politics: Akhilesh Yadav

In an interview to News18, Singh also took potshots at BJP candidate Dara Singh Chauhan, calling him an outsider and urging people to throw him out of the constituency.

Besides, he blamed the previous governments for the poor development of the Other Backward Class-dominated constituency of Uttar Pradeshs Mau district, where OBCs, Scheduled Castes (SC) and minorities play a major role in deciding the fate of the candidates in the fray. Singh also slammed Chauhans party-hopper image, saying who cant be loyal to the party, can never be loyal to the public.

BAHARI HATAO, GHOSI BACHAO

Who is Dara Singh Chauhan? He is an outsider and now its time to shove the outsiders out of constituency limits. Bahari Hatao, Ghosi Bachao (remove outsiders to save Ghosi), said Sudhakar Singh, ahead of the bypolls necessitated after the resignation of Chauhan, who joined the ruling BJP last month.

INDIA alliance A hit

The Ghosi bypolls will be the first fight between the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and anti-BJP INDIA. INDIA is a big hit. With the support of all parties that have come together to save our nation, I will win Ghosi by a good margin. People of Ghosi, be it young or old, will vote for the SP and push the outsider away, said Singh.

  ,                                              pic.twitter.com/Fn55lT2GVq  Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) August 29, 2023

DEVELOPMENT A POLL ISSUE

Singh also slammed previous governments for not bringing development to the constituency. Governments came and went, but did nothing for Ghosi, which is still one of the most backward constituencies of Mau district. I will bring in change as I did during my regime when I was elected as an MLA from Ghosi. I will carry out extensive development work in the constituency if voted to power, said Singh.

NOT LOYAL TO A PARTY OR PUBLIC

Singh also slammed Chauhan saying, Those who cant be loyal to the party can never be loyal to the people. Chauhan, being an outsider, was never loyal to the people. Barring election time, he was never seen in the constituency. Being a party hopper, he has never been loyal to any party. People of Ghosi are smart to choose the right person to bring development to their constituency.

ALSO READ | Will Stay With BJP Forever: Turncoat Dara Chauhan Pledges Loyalty, Lays Out Roadmap for Ghosi Bypoll

Singh also blamed the ruling BJP for tampering with the voters list of the Dalit-dominated localities with the help of the administration to prevent them from voting.
A day before a meeting of the opposition INDIA bloc, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the alliance will defeat the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Yadav added that his party and its allies are ready to face elections anytime.

The country wants a change. INDIA is going to defeat the BJP (in 2024). The Samajwadi Party and its allies are ready for the election  be it early or later, a statement quoted Yadav as telling reporters in Sitapur. Yadav was in Sitapur to condole the death of former party MLA Rampal Yadav.

Farmers, youths, labourers and the poor are angry and upset by the policies and decisions of the BJP government. The BJP has broken the hopes of the poor. The BJP wants to keep the poor as slaves, he alleged. Leaders of the INDIA bloc are set to hold hectic parleys during a two-day conclave in Mumbai starting Thursday, during which they will announce a coordination committee and a logo for the alliance.

They will chalk out a joint campaign strategy to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and iron out differences among themselves. The leaders are also likely to announce a few panels to draft a common minimum programme of the alliance, to frame joint plans for holding agitations across the country and for seat sharing. Speaking about the bypoll in Ghosi, scheduled for September 5, Yadav said, The BJP candidate (Dara Singh Chauhan) ditched the people of the constituency. He migrated (to the BJP) for his self-gains. The people are going to defeat him and make Samajwadi Party candidate Sudhakar Singh victorious with a record margin. Chauhan won the 2022 polls on a Samajwadi Party ticket but resigned to join the BJP. He was made the BJP candidate for the bypoll.

Yadav also claimed that the ministers who went to campaign in Ghosi could not highlight the works of their government. On the slashing of LPG prices, Yadav said, Cylinders of Rs 400 were given to the people at Rs 1,100. Now, seeing that elections are near, they have only reduced the price by Rs 200. Prices of essential commodities are on the rise. The BJP is filling coffers of capitalists and betraying the people, he alleged. The Samajwadi Party chief also claimed that the BJP government is acting against democracy and the Constitution.
Women matter. Women voters more so. Ahead of the upcoming election season, all parties are wooing them. As per the Election Commission data, in 2019, women voters at 67.18% outstripped men at 67.01%.

Results from Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had scored on the strength of women voters. For example, in parts of UP, the triple talaq issue worked among Muslim women who voted for the BJP.

ALSO READ | LPG Cylinder Prices Slashed by Rs 200: PM Modis Rakhi, Onam Gift Fuels Poll Fest Talk

It comes as no surprise that sops for women offered by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh clicked for the Congress. In fact, with the rollout of the Gruha Lakshmi scheme in Karnataka, where each woman would get Rs 2,000, Rahul Gandhi paid tribute to women power.

#LPGcylinder prices cut by 200, PM Modis gift for Raksha Bandhan, announces CentreBut how happy is the opposition with this Rakhi gift? Listen to know@_pallavighosh with details#GasCylinder #PMModi | @AnushaSoni23 pic.twitter.com/DgtI7q0OfQ  News18 (@CNNnews18) August 30, 2023

WOO-MANIA

In the upcoming polls in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, both the BJP and Congress are in a race to announce more sops for women.

For example, in Madhya Pradesh, Congress chief and CM aspirant Kamal Nath launched the Nari Samman Yojana, which includes Rs 1,500 for women and subsidised LPG cylinder. Not to be outdone, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, too, announced schemes for women. Called the Ladli Behna, subsidised LPG and money into bank accounts are some of the sops announced.

ALSO READ | Ashok Gehlot Slashes LPG Cylinder Price to Rs 500 for BPL Families Months Before Rajasthan Polls

Same with Rajasthan, where CM Ashok Gehlot has already announced LPG cylinders at Rs 500.

Back in the Centre, given the above steps taken, the government, in a major boost, announced 75 lakh new gas connections and slash in LPG cylinder prices.

Petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri told News18: This is the PMs rakhi gift for women. There is no political notice behind it, but we think this will benefit women. When women are happy, the entire household is happy."

HAPPY WOMEN, HAPPY HOUSEHOLD

Happy women will make the parties happy, especially the BJP and Congress, for whom the women vote is critical. The Congress has always laid claim to being a party for women. With Sonia Gandhi at the helm for 19 years and also pushing the womens reservation bill, the Congress says the BJP is misogynist, while Rahul Gandhi has insisted in meetings that more tickets should be given to women in polls.

The BJP has openly wooed women voters. As women scale the peak, entering various fields, the BJP claims this was possible as it alone has ensured ease of living for women. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao to Ladli Yojana, the BJP hopes to strike another chord with the LPG cylinder slash.

PM Narendra Modi had in the past said that the Ujjwala scheme ensures good health for women as they no longer have to cook on firewood or coal which emits smoke injurious to their lungs. In fact, the Ujjwala scheme has done for the BJP what the MNREGA had done for the Congress before 2019.

                                    ,  ,  ,      https://t.co/RwM1a1GIKd Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 29, 2023

In the last UP polls, this scheme, which provided free cooking gas connections to around 40 million poor families, was the trump card.

ALSO READ | PM Sensitive Towards Needs of Vulnerable Sections of Society: Hardeep Puri on LGP Price Cut | Exclusive

The BJP hopes to repeat this now in 2024. The Oppositions INDIA front has already claimed credit for it, saying their pressure forced the government to slash LPG cylinder prices.

The BJP is facing competition from the Congress in the upcoming polls over cylinder prices and plans to include it in the common agenda of the INDIA front for 2024.

Both hope that subsided cylinders will be the pipeline to women voters.
The G20 Summit, which is scheduled to be held in New Delhi from Saturday, will be attended by several world leaders including Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron, who are a part of the grouping.

Joe Biden left for India on Thursday to participate in the historic Summit in the national capital to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

PM Modi has said that the G20 Summit in India will be historic as it will be attended by the largest number of world leaders.

Over 40 world leaders are expected to be part of the summit in New Delhi, where preparations are in full swing to host foreign dignitaries. In view of the event, all central government offices, banks and financial institutions in the national capital will be closed from September 8 to 10.

Indias G20 Presidency

The G20 world leaders summit, an intergovernmental forum of the worlds major developed and developing economies, is expected to be one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in India.

The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.

The members represent around 85% of the global GDP, over 75% of the global trade and about two-thirds of the world population.

Over 3,500 hotel rooms have been booked across hotels in Delhi and Gurugram to accommodate the VVIP delegates of the summit, while at least 160 flights have been cancelled during the event.

Countries attending G20 summit:

United States: US President Joe Biden is on his way to India to participate in the summit. This is Bidens maiden visit to India as President and he is likely to stay at ITC Maurya. The US President is expected to discuss a range of global issues with world leaders, including the Ukraine conflict. Biden will also hold a one-to-one meeting with PM Modi on the sideline of the summit. United Kingdom: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is eagerly looking forward to attending the G20 Summit in New Delhi, UK High Commissioner in India, Alex Ellis, revealed last month. Sunak will also make his maiden visit to India as the Prime Minister. As per reports, Sunak will also discuss the UK-India trade negotiations in a separate bilateral meeting with PM Modi. Canada: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed his attendance at the G20 Summit. I will be at the G20 in a week and we will continue to make sure that the world is standing with Ukraine" Trudeau said. He also expressed his disappointment that Ukraine was not invited to the summit. South Korea: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will attend the summit in Delhi, South Koreas Ambassador to India Chang Jae Bok has confirmed. Yes, our President is coming to the (G20) Summit which is being held on 9-10 September. We strongly support Indias G20 presidency this year and we hope that the Summit meeting in September will be the highlight and culmination of the G20 presidency efforts by the Indian Government," the envoy said. France: French President Emmanuel Macron will also attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi. He is expected to stay at Claridges hotel in New Delhi. Australia: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced that he will be attending the summit from September 9 to 10. The Australian prime ministers visit to India will be part of his three-nation tour including Indonesia and the Philippines. Turkey: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also be attending the summit and one of the important agenda items he will discuss with the leaders at the summit will be climate change. After the summit, Erdogan will head to New York to attend the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. Bangladesh: Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner has also announced that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will attend the summit. Hasina is then expected to host French President Macron following the summit in New Delhi, according to reports.

Which Countries to Skip G-20

Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin will skip the G20 summit in New Delhi as he would focus on special military operations," a Kremlin statement said. Putin has been giving international events a miss since the Ukraine invasion and instead chose to either attend the events virtually or by sending his representative.

Recently, Putin also skipped the BRICS summit in South Africa and the G20 summit in Indonesia last year.

China

Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi and the delegation will be led by Premier Li Qiang instead, the foreign ministry announced on Monday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said Premier of the State Council Li Qiang will attend the high-profile conclave this weekend and did not provide any reason for President Xis absence.

President Xi is also skipping the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and East Asia summits in Jakarta this week. Premier Li will be representing China at the ASEAN Summit in Indonesia.

Ukraine

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will not be part of the summit in New Delhi as he has not been invited to attend the summit. Zelensky had not attended the G20 summit in Bali last year, but he had addressed the world leaders virtually from Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia, Japan & Others

Many others who have not confirmed their participation to the summit are: Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Mexico, Japan, Italy, Germany, Indonesia, Brazil and Argentina.

Guest Countries

The summit will also be attended by some guest countries" including the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, UAE, Oman, Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, and Nigeria.
Miss Universe Japan 2021 Juri Watanabe will open Vietnamese designer Ho Tran Da Thaos show, which is set to take place on September 19 as part of the London Fashion Week.

Miss Universe Japan 2021 Juri Watanabe. Photo from Watanabe's Instagram

As someone interested in Vietnamese culture, Watanabe gave Thaos invitation an instant nod, accepting to be one of the models showcasing Thaos designs.

Thao uses traditional patterns from the 16th to 19th century on modern materials including lotus fabric, silk, chiffon, and tussah silk in her collection named "Di San - Xuyen Khong Gian" (Heritage - Across the Space).

Though this is her first time using lotus fabric in her designs, Thao instantly loved the material for being silky, smooth, crinkle-free, and environmentally-friendly.

"It took me a lot of time to find the suitable materials, dig up historical papers, and consult with traditional clothing experts in [the imperial city of] Hue," Thao said. "Im excited to introduce Vietnamese culture to international friends with my fashion designs." Sketch of the outfit ending the show. Photo courtesy of Thao

Thao, 44, established her name in the fashion industry in 2004 as she became the winner of the Vietnam Competition of the Mercedes Benz Asia Fashion Award.
After the success of the Chandrayaan 3 mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch Indias first space-based observatory called Aditya-L1 to study the Sun. The Bengaluru-headquartered space agency is planning to launch the sun mission on September 2 at 11.50 a.m. from Sriharikota spaceport.

ISRO, in a social media post, said that the spacecraft  the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun  would be launched using a PSLV-C57 rocket. The agency also shared the first glimpse of the rocket that will carry the Aditya-L1 to space.

PSLV-C57 carrying #AdityaL1 has been rolled out to the Second Launch Pad at Sriharikota!! The launch is scheduled for Saturday, 2 Sept. at 11:50 AM IST! #ISRO, the space agency posted on X (formally Twitter).

PSLV-C57 carrying #AdityaL1 has been rolled out to the Second Launch Pad at Sriharikota!!The launch is scheduled for Saturday, 2 Sept. at 11:50 AM IST!  #ISRO More images https://t.co/IhpEakju3I pic.twitter.com/M3jxHUSXuh  ISRO Spaceflight (@ISROSpaceflight) August 29, 2023

The satellite, developed by U R Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, arrived at ISROs spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, earlier this month.It will be placed in a halo orbit around the L1 point of the Sun-Earth system.

About ISROs Aditya-L1 Mission

Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to provide remote observations of the solar corona and in-situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrange point), which is about 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth.Lagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of the Sun and the Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion. These can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position, according to NASA. Lagrange points are named in honor of Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange.

The Aditya-L1 mission, aimed at studying the Sun from an orbit around the L1, would carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the corona  the outermost layers of the Sun  in different wavebands.

Aditya-L1 is a fully indigenous effort with the participation of national institutions, an ISRO official said.

The Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) is the lead institute for the development of Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) payload while Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, has developed the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) payload for the mission.

According to ISRO, VELC aims to collect the data for solving how the temperature of the corona can reach about a million degrees while the Suns surface itself stays just over 6000 degrees Centigrade.

Aditya-L1 can provide observations on the corona, and on the solar chromosphere using the UV payload and on the flares using the X-ray payloads. The particle detectors and the magnetometer payload can provide information on charged particles and the magnetic field reaching the halo orbit around L1.

A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any planets obstructing the view or causing eclipses, ISRO noted.

Objectives of Aditya-L1 Mission

The major science objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission are

Study of solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics

Study of chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionised plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares.

Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun.

Physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism.

Besides, the mission aims to study diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: temperature, velocity and density; development, dynamics and origin of CMEs; identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events; magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona; and drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind).

The instruments of Aditya-L1 are tuned to observe the solar atmosphere, mainly the chromosphere and corona. In-situ instruments will observe the local environment at the L1 point.
While Karnatakas Gruha Lakshmi programme is being called the worlds biggest direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for women, the backend operations to connect and communicate with the beneficiaries are quite arduous, News18 has found. Nearly 24 lakh people across Karnataka joined on Zoom links to directly interact with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday during the launch of the scheme. The backend infrastructure supporting the Gruha Lakshmi programme established seamless connectivity via the videoconferencing platform.

This comprehensive setup spanned the entirety of Karnataka, linking all 31 districts, including taluka panchayats, gram panchayats, Zilla panchayats, and urban local bodies. It involved sharing links across these administrative bodies, enabling an extensive network connecting various locations seamlessly.

Gandhi arrived in Mysuru to launch the scheme and interacted with a number of beneficiaries who had gathered at 80 locations across Karnatakas 31 districts to participate in this event. With the press of a button, the Congress leader also addressed over 40 lakh people across the state who had been connected live. The backend team was able to coordinate with 35- 40 lakh people, including those gathered via Zoom link IDs from 12,000 locations.

The Congress-led Karnataka government rolled out the Gruha Lakshmi scheme on Wednesday as part of the five poll promises made by the party during its 2023 assembly election campaign. This scheme aims to benefit 1.1 crore women who have registered under it, where they will receive a monthly payout. A sum of 32,000 crore annually has been allocated to support this plan.

Gandhi, along with Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, and party president Mallikarjun Kharge made the first set of transfers to the bank accounts of women under Gruha Lakshmi. The state government will provide a Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of each BPL family directly into her bank account.

News18 gives you a peek into how nearly 24 lakh viewers and 12,000 participants were brought live on a large screen.

Gandhi, Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar, Kharge, and other dignitaries were seated on the stage. A small white tent right next to it was buzzing with activity. A group of 50 members logged into over 35 laptops, busy connecting 31 districts of Karnataka, including taluka panchayats, gram panchayats, Zilla panchayats, and urban local bodies. Thousands were connected via Zoom links shared over 80 locations with 30 dedicated servers.

For bidirectional communication, the CM and his deputy strategically chose 70 to 80 locations for interaction. These hubs served as focal points for Gruha Lakshmi beneficiaries to engage in live conversations with Rahul Gandhi and other dignitaries.

We shared the links to all these bodies and through these links, we were able to connect all the locations. We ensured that interaction with the CM, deputy CM, and other dignitaries was seamless and every participant got to see the Gruha Lakshmi event live and even got an opportunity to speak to Gandhi, the CM, and deputy CM directly. It was a Herculean task and we wanted to ensure everything was smooth and seamless, said Janardhan Somany, the operations manager of this production.

In order to ensure that the videos were clear and people were seated with the proper background without any disturbance, the backend team constantly monitored the videos.

To ensure video hygiene, we planned that the Zoom link was only shared with those who were directly involved with the scheme and the officials of the government bodies. Based on that, we ensured that it was not publicly available. That way, we were able to keep a tab on any misuse and a clean and neat interaction from Mysuru to the chosen location, added the operations manager.
In a tragic incident, a 14-year-old girl died after allegedly jumping from the twelfth floor of a high-rise apartment complex in the Bellandur area of Karnatakas Bengaluru. The incident occurred around 10:20 a.m. on Tuesday morning while the girl, a class 10 student, was alone at home.

As per the police, the girl, whose family moved to Bengaluru a few years ago from Tamil Nadu, was a student at a local school.

In prima facie, police found she had not been attending her classes regularly. Police has lodged a case into the matter and further investigation is underway.

A 14-year-old died by suicide by jumping off the 12th floor of classic apartment in Bellandur police station limits. We dont know the reason why the girl took the extreme step. The family is from Tamil Nadu. They were staying in an apartment in Bengaluru for the last three years, said S Girish, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Whitefield, according to a report by Asianet News.

As per the police, the girls father is a software engineer and her mother is a teacher at a private school in the city. She was alone at home at the time of the incident.
For the first time, National Security Guard (NSG), Indias elite and highly equipped force, will deploy its entire range of expertise on anti-terror, anti-sabotage, anti-drone tasks, house intervention, snipers and teams handling chemical attacks, bomb disposal squads for the G20 Summit Delhi from September 9-10, sources told News18.

According to the sources, the NSGs famous black cats will be deployed at several strategic locations who will react in minutes in case of any attack.

Multiple contingency plans have been prepared and the force will not only be the first responders but also give backup to the Delhi Police. The fully equipped NSG teams will be stationed at the venues where the heads of states will stay.

The NSG House Intervention Teams (HITs) and sniper detachments will be ready for action to neutralise any terror contingency in key locations. The NSGs bomb disposal squad will be conducting anti-sabotage checks at all the important meeting venues as well as places of residence of key dignitaries. The squad will be all set to quickly respond to any bomb contingency during the summit and will be equipped with Remotely Operated Vehicles and Total Containment Vehicles to safely negotiate the potential bomb threats anywhere in the national capital.

NSG will also counter the drone menace for which the team will be deployed at key locations as a part of the multi-agency employment of assets against rogue drone threats.

The NSG will also be working closely with the Indian Air Force, Air Traffic Control (ATC) and other agencies to neutralise the potential rogue drone threats during the summit. The aerial insertion teams of NSG will also be stationed during the summit for all the important events to swiftly deal with any contingency. Besides, teams with multiple capabilities will be deployed for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Explosive (CBRNe) intervention.

Former NSG officers will be handling the security of VVIPs. The government has already called officers repatriated from elite Special Protection Group (SPG) and NSG to provide security cover to the foreign dignitaries on the sidelines of the summit. These officers will provide cavalcade security and cover to the VVIPs.

The former officers are currently deployed in forces and police in different parts of the country.

The government has asked all the forces to be prepared to depute the officers who have served in the two of the elite security units.

According to a top government official, several countries have shared a detailed threat perception to their dignitaries due to which the decision to provide foolproof security at the summit through NSG and SPG was taken.
G20 Summit: Indian security agencies have made elaborate security measures as international delegates of major global economies are set to arrive in New Delhi for the upcoming G20 meet.

Delhi Police and other paramilitary units, deployed especially to ensure security at the G20 Summit, Artificial Intelligence (AI) based cameras, software alarms and drones will be used to monitor the movement and ensure foolproof protection at the summits venues.

According to an India Today report, such security measures have been put in place to track any unsuspicious movement and if anyone is caught climbing walls or making unusual movements like running or bending down, AI cameras will alert the security personnel.

G20 Summit: Deployment of Snipers In Venues

For additional security, National Security Guard (NSG) commandos and Army snipers will be deployed in high-rise buildings during the G20 Summit.

Apart from that, teams from international security intelligence agencies, including the CIA from the US, MI-6 from the United Kingdom, and MSS from China, had also already arrived in Delhi to make security arrangements for their respective delegates, India Today reported.

The NSG will also be working closely with the Indian Air Force, Air Traffic Control (ATC) and other agencies to neutralise the potential rogue drone threats during the summit.

G20 Summit: Special 50 Team

A Special 50 team comprising around 1,000 security personnel, who have experience in VIP security, has been prepared by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

G20 Summit Security: Delhi Police Dogs Conduct Mock Drill To Detect Explosives

The Dog Squad of the Delhi Police on Tuesday conducted mock drills to detect dummy explosives planted in luggage, vehicles and packages.

G20 Summit: Schedule

The G-20 world leaders summit is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. The summit is expected to be one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in India. India assumed the G-20 Presidency on December 1, 2022, from Indonesia.

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the worlds major developed and developing economies.

The grouping comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.
A woman in Chhattisgarhs Raipur will donate her kidney to save her 48-year-old brothers life.

Sheelabai Pal said that she took this decision to save her brothers life, and on Raksha Bandhan she pledged to protect him.

Her brother, identified as Omprakash Dhangar, was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in May 2022. Both his kidneys were damaged to a point that he needed dialysis, NDTV reported.

When he was in need of a kidney for a transplant, Pal immediately volunteered for it.

After undergoing the needed tests, she was a perfect match, NDTV said.

The surgery is scheduled to take place on September 3.
Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Guardian Minister of Mumbai suburban area, has written to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Iqbal Singh Chahal, demanding that a Clean Mumbai, Healthy Mumbai campaign involving citizens be started on the lines of Swachh Bharat.

ALSO READ | Fill All Potholes on Mumbai Roads by This Weekend: Minister Lodhas Ultimatum to BMC After Complaints

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Swachh Bharat campaign on Mahatma Gandhis 150th birth anniversary in 2014 with a vision to make public places, hospital and railways stations clean. As part of this campaign, railway stations, roads, public toilets and hospitals have got facelift due to active participation of people.

Lodha is of the view that public participation can create wonders in such campaigns. It is necessary to convince the public that epidemics spread due to dirty surroundings, which again affects the people. Hence to widen the scope of Swachh Bharat campaign, a city like Mumbai should start Clean Mumbai, Healthy Mumbai campaign, he wrote.

Under this campaign, public toilets, bus stands, grounds, parks, market places within the city will be focused. Many residential societies dont have the facility to segregate wet and dry waste, hence the BMC should have centralised machinery which will help residential societies, he said.

Lodha has also asked the BMC to start this campaign from October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. He has also instructed the BMC chief to implement this scheme on a war footing and prepare for the launch.
The Narendra Modi-led central government on Tuesday slashed LPG cylinder prices by Rs 200, making it around Rs 900 while Ujjwala beneficiaries will get it for Rs 700. A big step, especially ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it will not only work as a major poll attraction but also ease household spends while giving many the option of clean cooking.

Keeping in mind the welfare of women and many who do not have access to clean cooking methods, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the Rs-200 subsidy a gift for his sisters on Onam and Rakshabandhan. The festival of Raksha Bandhan is a day to spread happiness in our families. The reduction in gas prices will increase the comfort of the sisters in my family and make their lives easier. May every sister of mine be happy, be healthy, this is my wish from God, he posted on X (formerly Twitter).

                                    ,  ,  ,      https://t.co/RwM1a1GIKd Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 29, 2023

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 2.4 billion people worldwide  one-third of the global population  rely on open fires or inefficient cooking methods with the help of fuels like kerosene, biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste), coal among others. This leads to air pollution inside homes, contributing to an estimated 3.2 million deaths annually in 2020 of which more than 2,37,000 were children under the age of five.

Indian households and clean cooking gas

Clean cooking gas reduces the burden of pollution inside households, leading to a much more sustainable lifestyle for all family members. Liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, was introduced in India in the 1950s, but even after over 60 years only 14.5 crore gas connections had been provided by April 2014. This left at least 44 percent of the households without access to clean cooking gas.

Impoverished communities in India, especially in rural areas, used traditional fuels like firewood, coal and dung cakes without being aware of the adverse health effects caused by them. A study in 2015 showed that limited distribution networks and high acquisition costs significantly contributed to the absence of a gas connection in many households.

The governments latest cut in LPG prices is in addition to subsidised rates for beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), who earlier got a relief of Rs 200 in March 2023. Now, the government will be giving away an additional 75 lakh Ujjwala connections taking the total number of beneficiaries to 10.35 crore.

What are steps taken by Centre to expand LPG coverage?

PMUY: The government launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana on May 1, 2016, aiming at giving free LPG connections to rural and deprived households still relying on traditional cooking fuels.

PAHAL, or direct benefit transfer: Instead of providing LPG cylinders at slashed prices, they were sold at market price and subsidies were directly transferred to individual bank accounts. This reduced the number of ghost accounts and the illegal use of gas cylinders for commercial purposes. It also ensured that the beneficiaries receive the subsidy.

Giving up subsidised connections: Instead of removing subsidies by force, people were encouraged to voluntarily surrender their subsidies. Many willingly gave up subsidies, which helped redirect funds for those who genuinely needed assistance in acquiring LPG cylinders.

How has PMUY made a difference?

Under Ujjwala 1, the total cost was borne by the government at Rs 1,600 including security deposit as well as hosepipe, booklet and pressure regulator. Oil companies gave easy loans of Rs 2,000 to consumers for LPG in the first cylinder and a gas stove, which was deducted from the subsidy transferred to their accounts.

In 2021, under Ujjwala 2, the loan is also being paid off by the Centre. So, the government is giving Rs 3,600 for each connection, besides Rs-200 subsidy per refill later. Initially, targeting five crore LPG connections, the scheme surpassed expectations with an overwhelming demand and led to an increased target of eight crore connections.

The eligibility criteria was expanded to include more deprived sections, ensuring that all poor families who needed LPG connections could benefit from the scheme. Realising the need to achieve complete LPG saturation and for those who were left out, Ujjwala 2.0 was launched. Along with a deposit-free LPG connection, this version of the scheme provides first refill and a hotplate free of cost to beneficiaries.

The government also ensured migrants, who lacked proper address proof, are included by creating a special provision in Ujjwala 2.0. They were enabled to apply for LPG connections with a self-declaration as proof of identity and address. The target of releasing another 1.6 crore LPG connections under Ujjwala 2.0 was achieved on December 31, 2022.

The per capita consumption of Ujjwala beneficiaries, which was 3.01 in 2018-19, has increased to 3.71 in 2022-23. They take more than 35 crore LPG refills per year now (2022-23). Hence, the government is committed to provide Ujjwala connections to every eligible household and, to further encourage consumption, it has started a targeted subsidy of Rs 200 per 14.2 kg cylinder for beneficiaries for up to 12 refills per year for 2022-23 and 2023-24.

How much does the Centre spend on Ujjwala?

The Centre has spent Rs 12,800 crore on providing free LPG connections to eight crore women in the first phase of PMUY. In addition, the public sector oil marketing companies (OMC) provided loans to beneficiaries to cover the cost of first refill and stove.

More than 6.3 crore beneficiaries availed this facility for which over Rs 10,100 crore was disbursed. The loan was free of interest with payment moratoriums and more than Rs 5,000 crore is still with beneficiaries due to relaxed repayment terms.

For Ujjwala 2.0, the government spent over Rs 2,500 crore. In addition, OMCs have spent more than Rs 3,200 crore in providing free refills and stoves. A targeted subsidy for PMUY families was started at Rs 200 per cylinder for 12 of them per year. For this, the government spent more than Rs 6,000 crore in 2022-23 and will spend another Rs 7,500 crore this year.

What are the results?

In India, LPG coverage has significantly improved  105.1 percent as of April 2023 as compared to 55.9 percent in April 2014. The implementation of PMUY generated an estimated one lakh jobs in the LPG distribution system.

During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, a free refill scheme was implemented under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana in which 14.17 crore PMUY beneficiaries got LPG refills. This way, the scheme provided a much-required safety net to those who belong to economically weaker sections and were adversely affected during the pandemic.

The increased adoption of LPG among PMUY beneficiaries resulted in a significant rise in domestic consumption from 14,411 TMT in FY 2013-14 to 25,381 TMT in FY 2022-23, indicating an improvement in cooking practices and a reduction of air pollution inside homes.

The gender factor

Research has indicated a gender problem in the use of traditional fuels: girls and women face increased exposure to them. Cooking with these fuels also delays progress towards five of the sustainable development goals (SDG)  good health and wellbeing; gender equality; affordable and clean energy; climate action; and life on land.

The Ujjwala scheme has economically and socially empowered women. With easier access to LPG, women are no longer burdened with the task of collecting firewood or other traditional fuels, which often required long and laborious journeys. The convenience of a gas cylinder allows them to take part in community life and have other income-generating opportunities.

The scheme has also helped enhance safety and security of women, as they no longer need to venture into isolated areas to collect firewood or fuel. It has been a transformative initiative with a positive impact on health, safety and livelihoods of women in rural as well as deprived areas.

What are the health and environmental benefits?

Studies and policy research shows that health, environment and gender equity, all are affected due to the use of traditional fuels. Household air pollution leads to 3.2 million premature deaths annually, a significant proportion being women and children. There is a heightened risk to life due to illnesses such as pneumonia, lung cancer, ischaemic heart and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, all of which are extensively reported.

Non-renewable wood fuels for cooking cause a gigaton of carbon dioxide emissions while burning residential solid fuels contribute to 58 percent black carbon emissions. These are also a significant contributor to household air pollution due to incomplete combustion of solid biomass.

According to a study by the ministry of health and family welfare, more than 40 percent of those who use cooking gas reported significant improvement in general health. At least 55 percent of the LPG users surveyed reported a significant decrease in the number of episodes of respiratory illnesses.

The study also showed that 40 percent of LPG users reported a decrease in the number of visits to hospitals. At least 99 percent reported less time consumed in cooking while 97 percent reported that it was easier to clean utensils.

Central govts role in keeping LPG prices low

Even when the Saudi contact price (CP), the international LPG benchmark, rose by a whopping 303 percent from April 2020 to April 2022, the prime minister ensured that domestic prices did not rise in the same range. Hence, there was an increase of 63 percent in LPG prices in the same period.

India imports more than 60 percent of its domestic LPG consumption and prices are based on Saudi CP, which rose from $236 per MT in April 2020 to $952 per MT in April 2022. This hike was not fully passed on to Indians due to which the OMCs suffered under recoveries of approximately Rs 28,000 crore on sale of domestic LPG. The Centre, hence, approved a one-time compensation of Rs 22,000 crore for OMCs in FY 2022-2023.
A 15-year-old -girl was allegedly killed by her stalker in Punjabs Amritsar. The accused, who is a resident of the same village as the girl, shot her dead on Tuesday at around 5 p.m. The accused has been absconding since the crime.

According to the police, the incident took place in the Ajnala sub-division when the girl was present at her aunts (mothers sister) house in the village.

The victims family told police that the accused stalker had been harassing the girl for the past six months to marry him and despite several warnings, failed to behave after which the girl was sent to her aunts house.

Also Read | Drew Barrymores Stalker Arrested After Going Door-To-Door Looking For Her: Report

The accused had been stalking my daughter for the past six months. Fed up with his behaviour, we had sent the girl to her aunts house in Ajnala. However, the accused didnt stop and continued harassing my daughter there too, the girls mother told HT.

About the incident, the victims family said that on the day of the crime, the accused stalker barged into the girls aunts home and started inquiring about the girl. When her relatives denied him information about the girl, he barged into the house with a pistol and shot the girl dead, HT reported.

Senior Superintendent of Police (rural) Satinder Singh said, The accused, who is an adult, is absconding. Our teams are conducting raids to nab him.

The man has been booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections of the Arms Act, added the SSP.

In another similar incident, a stalker shot dead a 22-year-old woman in full public view in Madhya Pradeshs Dhar.

The accused, Deepak Rathore, was pressuring the woman for marriage and was furious at her repeated refusals. He was later arrested late Wednesday night after a gunfight with police in which he was injured.
A remarkable drop in stone-pelting, hartal calls, casualties of civilians and security forces has been witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 sections, thus improving public safety, top government sources told CNN-News18 on Wednesday. According to official figures, the most significant change observed is the decrease in stone pelting incidents.

The period before August 5, 2019, recorded 5,050 such incidents, which significantly reduced to 445 in the time after that, marking a remarkable 92 per cent decrease, said officials.

This decrease signifies improved public order and a more peaceful environment, they added.

Official figures indicate that the number of hartal and bandh calls reduced from 302 in the time when Article 370 was in effect to 31 after that, reflecting a 90 per cent fall.

With each passing day, Kashmir has been recording a significant decrease in the number of terrorist incidents and related casualties, said officials.

This is attributed to a combination of factors, including increased security measures and intelligence gathering, targeted counterterrorism operations by J&K police, and security forces, and better coordination between them, they said.

Security operations

Security forces have conducted counterterrorism operations against various terror groups operating in J&K.

These operations have targeted the leadership and infrastructure of these terror groups, weakening their capabilities to carry out attacks.

International pressure

International pressure and diplomatic efforts aimed at reducing violence in J&K could have played a role in discouraging terror activities.

Local rejection of violence

Over time, sections of J&Ks local population have grown disillusioned with the violence and its impact on their lives. This has led to decreased local support for terror groups.

Economic development

Efforts to improve economic opportunities and development in the region helped to reduce the appeal of terrorism among the youth of J&K.

Improved living conditions and job prospects offered an alternative to engaging in violence.

Intelligence sharing

Improved intelligence sharing and cooperation between various security agencies have led to better anticipation of terror activities, preventing many attacks from taking place.

Infiltration challenges

Increased vigilance along the Line of Control (LoC) and improved border security measures have made it harder for terrorists to infiltrate into Kashmir, reducing their ability to carry out attacks.

Dismantling of militant networks

Successful operations against terror networks and their sympathisers in J&K disrupted their command structures, making it difficult for them to plan and execute attacks.

Public opinion

Negative public opinion about terrorism and its consequences have contributed to a decline in local recruitment in terror ranks and support for terror groups.

Social media and counter-radicalisation efforts

Efforts to counter online radicalisation through social media platforms and educational campaigns have influenced potential recruits to turn away from terrorism.

The Pulwama terror attack, which occurred on February 14, 2019, was a significant incident that had far-reaching implications for the situation in Kashmir and the broader India-Pakistan relations.

In this attack, a suicide bomber affiliated with the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed targeted a convoy of paramilitary CRPF in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in the deaths of over 40 soldiers.

In the aftermath of the Pulwama attack and subsequent events, various measures were taken to address terrorism and violence in Kashmir. These measures have contributed to a decline in terror incidents.

Some potential factors, according to officials, that could have led to the decline in terrorist incidents in J&K include:

Following the Pulwama attack, security forces in the region intensified their operations against terror groups, their leadership, and their infrastructure. This disrupted their activities and networks.

International pressure and diplomatic efforts might have encouraged both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and work towards de-escalation, which could have indirectly affected the level of violence in J&K.

Coordinated efforts by security agencies to target and neutralise terrorists and their hideouts could have hindered their ability to carry out attacks.

The scale of the Pulwama attack and the subsequent public outcry might have led to decreased local support for militant activities, as some segments of the population could have been disillusioned.
I didnt put the trash at your house, so whats the problem? Nguyen Thi Tho was told when she questioned a neighbor placing a full garbage bag near her house.

"Everyone only wants their houses to be clean and they dont care about anyone elses [houses]," sighed the 75-year-old Hanoian living on the capitals Doi Can street.

Tho and her family moved into the neighborhood almost 50 years ago. Her neighbors started piling their trash along the wall of the unoccupied house five meters away from her home around 10 years ago. The spot gradually turned into the neighborhoods unauthorized but now de facto dump.

Tho said smell is extremely bothersome. She feels goosebumps and dizzy every time the wind blows the foul odor her direction.

And the situation gets worse when it rains. Dirty water from the drain near her house rises to knee level, pushing garbage bags from the pile to her house.

"Houses on higher ground are fine, while lower homes [like mine] get flooded with dirty water and trash," she said.

A passer-by throwing her garbage bag at the unauthorized trash pile near Thos house on August 17, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Nguyen

Thos family and some of her other neighbors have asked people not to pile their garbage at the spot anymore, but it did not work. They spent money making a "No Trash" sign and cleaned the area hoping that would deter people. They even discussed taking turns watching over the place.

"But people sneaked in to dump their trash at night as we could only watch over the spot during the day," Tho said.

The "No Trash" sign was also recently damaged. So, they then paid for another sign saying "Protecting the environment and urban spaces is every citizens duty." But that didnt stop the trash dumpers either.

"The area under the sign is always full of trash, which is very annoying," Tho said. "I dont want to invite anyone over to my place, even though I live in the heart of the city, because of the garbage."

Pham Thi Lan, a cleaner working at the Hanoi Urban Environment Company, said the trash pile in Thos neighborhood is one of many of the citys illegal trash piles.

According to Lan, her coworkers, local residents, and even authorities have also tried to put a stop to the trash piling, but each time the effect "lasted a few days only."

"I empty the dump three to four times a day, but people instantly go back to throwing trash there the next day," she said.

A foul-smelling unauthorized trash pile on the sidewalk of Chua Lang street in Hanois Dong Da District on August 16, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Nguyen

Thu Phuong, 47, a resident of Nguyen Khang street in Hanois Cau Giay District, moved in 20 years ago and had seen illegal trash piles emerging one after one ever since. She said the dumps continue to exist despite the presence of local authorities daily trash collection vans and a legally authorized trash pile nearby. The smell gets so bad sometimes that she has to take her child to a relatives house to escape the discomfort.

"Some people said I was being dramatic and asked why I did not simply close the door," she said. "But it was honestly unbearable."

She added that she tried various other measures, from clearing out the piles herself and parking her motorbike there as a barrier, to even occupying the spot with tables and chairs. But nothing has even come close to curbing the problem. Things have in fact become more serious as she and her family have been violently scolded by the people who dump their trash in the area.

So, they eventually gave up.

"Our whole family leaves our home for relatives houses on days when we cannot put up with the situation."

Surveys conducted by VnExpress showed that unauthorized trash piles are present in every corner of the city. The irony is places that have "No Trash" signs or even barriers surrounding places that have the most garbage.

Another worker at the Hanoi Urban Environment Company said the company and other local authorities have been working together to raise peoples awareness about the importance of only throwing out their trash at designated locations approved by the city.

"But we can only remind them," the worker said. "Whether they use our reminders in their daily lives is another different story.

Unauthorized dumps burden city street cleaners as they have to constantly check and clean newborn dumps. And these sanitation workers are already overworked by the 6,000 tons of trash disposed of daily in the capital city.

People disposing of waste illegally in a neighborhood on Hanois Tan Mai street on August 17, 2023, only one hour after trash collectors had cleared the location. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Nguyen

Residents of an alley on Hanois Tan Mai street have been living with an unauthorized trash dump for many years.

Pham Lan, 40, said it started with a few business owners "placing their trash there temporarily while waiting for trash collection vans to arrive." But other people began adding to the pile and it gradually grew into a small hill of waste half of the size of the alley.

Households close to the unauthorized dump have spent their own money installing a "No Trash" sign and a surveillance camera to catch the illegal litterers red-handed. But both the sign and camera were destroyed by vandals only a few days later.

Local residents reported the case to authorities, but there has not been any response since.

"Unpleasant smells and unsightliness are obvious consequences, but Ive also seen visitors unfamiliar with the alley trip over the garbage pile and fall to the ground," Lan said. "Its fortunate no one has been severely hurt."

Dr. Bui Thi An, head of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, names three main reasons for these unauthorized trash dumps: peoples low awareness about environmental protection, long established habits of disposing of trash wherever convenient, and weak punishments that dont do enough to deter illegal dumping violations.

She believes the unauthorized trash dumps will only be halted if authorities impose punishments that are strong enough to worry the illicit trash pilers.

In the meantime, people like Tho, Phuong, and Lan will have no other choice but to co-exist with the discomforts caused by the dumps.

"We have tried everything in our ability [but nothing seems to work]," Tho said.
Two IndiGo flights reported mid-air glitches on Tuesday and were forced to land midway as their engine was shut down. Both the flights, however, were safely landed.

The IndiGo flight bound for Mumbai from Madurai encountered a mid-air engine shutdown on Tuesday hours after a similar engine glitch was reported in a Kolkata-Bengaluru IndiGo flight.

The IndiGo A321Neo aircraft, bearing the registration VT-IUJ and operating under flight number 6E-2012 from Madurai to Mumbai, encountered an In-Flight Shutdown (IFSD) of Engine No.1, DGCA said in a statement.

Regarding the Mumbai-Madurai IndiGo flight, officials closely monitoring the situation said that the emergency unfolded when one of the Pratt and Whitney engines experienced a sudden shutdown mid-air.

Panic briefly gripped the passengers as the aircraft faced an unexpected technical glitch. However, the skilled crew quickly reassured everyone and successfully navigated the situation.

Signs of high engine vibrations were detected during the ascent, followed by a low oil pressure warning for Engine No.1. The situation escalated during the cruise, leading to the eventual stall of Engine No.1. Responding with impressive professionalism, the crew promptly shut down the affected engine and initiated a request for a priority landing. The pilots skills were put to the ultimate test, and a commendably safe landing was achieved, it added.

Also Read | Indigo to Start Direct Flight Service on Delhi-Belagavi Route; Check Timings, Schedule and More

Noting the pilots swift action in landing the flight, IndiGo in its official statement said, The pilot prioritized the landing in Mumbai. The aircraft is held in Mumbai and will be back in operation after necessary maintenance. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers.

About the Kolkata-Bengaluru flight incident, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that a glitch was reported in engine 2 before the aircraft was successfully landed.

Engine 2 Stall occurred and Engine 2 oil chip detected warning came. Engine 2 was shut down as per the checklist, and the aircraft landed safely, the DGCA said in a statement.
RAKSHA BANDHAN 2023: Raksha Bandhan is a popular Hindu festival that celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters. On this day, sisters tie a sacred thread (rakhi) on their brothers wrist, and brothers pledge to protect their sisters. Raksha Bandhan is a day of love, laughter, and joy. The festival is celebrated on the full moon day of the Shravan month in the Hindu calendar. This year, Raksha Bandhan will be celebrated on August 30 and August 31.

ALSO READ: Raksha Bandhan 2023: Heartfelt Rakhi Wishes, Messages, Quotes and Images to Share!

SHUBH MUHURAT FOR RAKSHA BANDHAN 2023

Purnima Tithi Begins: Wednesday, August 30 at 10:45 am Purnima Tithi ends: 7:05 am on Thursday, August 31 Raksha Bandhan Bhadra Begin: Wednesday, August 30 at 11 am Raksha Bandhan Bhadra Ends: Wednesday, August 30 at 9:03 pm Best time to tie Rakhi on Wednesday, August 30: After 9:01 PM Best time to tie Rakhi on Thursday, August 31: Before 07:05 AM

WHY IS AUSPICIOUS TIMING IMPORTANT FOR TYING RAKHI?

Auspicious timing, also known as shubh muhurat, is considered to be important in Hinduism for any important occasion or event. This is because it is believed that tying a rakhi during an auspicious time will bring good luck and blessings to the brother and sister.

History of Raksha Bandhan

The festival is believed to have originated in ancient India, and there are many different stories about how it came to be.

One story says that Raksha Bandhan was first celebrated by the gods Indra and Vishnu. Indra was the king of the gods, and he was constantly being attacked by demons. Vishnu, the preserver of the universe, came to Indras aid and helped him to defeat the demons. In gratitude, Indra tied a thread around Vishnus wrist as a symbol of his protection.

Another story says that Raksha Bandhan was first celebrated by the Pandavas and Kauravas. The Pandavas were five brothers, and the Kauravas were their cousins. The two families were enemies, and they fought a long and bloody war. In the end, the Pandavas emerged victorious, and they tied rakhis around the wrists of their brothers as a symbol of their love and protection.

WHAT IS BHADRA KAAL?

Bhadra Kaal is an inauspicious time period that should be avoided during Raksha Bandhan. Bhadra Kaal falls in the afternoon, between 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM. If you are tying a rakhi during Bhadra Kaal, it is believed that the protective power of the rakhi will be weakened.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RAKSHA BANDHAN

Raksha Bandhan is a festival that celebrates the love and bond between brothers and sisters. On this day, sisters tie rakhis on their brothers wrists, and brothers promise to protect their sisters. Raksha Bandhan is a day of love, laughter, and joy.

HOW TO CELEBRATE RAKSHA BANDHAN

There are many different ways to celebrate Raksha Bandhan. Some people choose to visit their siblings homes and tie rakhis in person. Others send rakhis through the mail or by courier.

No matter how you choose to celebrate Raksha Bandhan, the most important thing is to show your loved ones how much you care. A simple rakhi and a heartfelt message can go a long way in strengthening the bond between a brother and sister.
Inshallah, one of the dream projects of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, has always grabbed attention. The film, in which Alia Bhatt and Salman Khan will be seen as lead stars, faced a setback when it was shelved due to creative differences between Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Salman Khan. Back then both celebrities took to their social handles and informed the fans. The news surely left fans disheartened. However, now recent developments have once again rife with speculations that the project might be revived.

India Today, in its exclusive chat with Prerna Singh, CEO of Bhansali Productions, shared the truth. When asked about the film, she replied to the portal, It was a very good story. If the calling comes, it will happen. As of now, there are no immediate plans. Tomorrow, you never know. The idea is here. It is all his idea and it is ready. It has to come naturally and has to come from within that now I want to make this. It is worth mentioning here that Inshallah was announced in 2019. But in the same year, the film was shelved.

Production designer and celebrity interior designer Rupin Suchak exclusively revealed to News18 that Inshallah was scrapped due to creative differences between Bhansali and Salman. Fortunately or unfortunately, the film didnt make it to floors because of a showdown that happened, and Salman walked away from the sets. Salman and Bhansali didnt want to do the film together. I spent a year pre-planning the set with Bhansali. We were in the USA for about three months scouting the location, he told News18 Showsha.

On the work front, Salman Khan was last seen in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan with Pooja Hedge in the lead. The multi starrer also saw Shehnaaz Gill making her acting debut in the film. Apart from this, he also has Tiger 3 with Katrina Kaif. It is releasing this year in November.

While Sanjay Leela Bhansali is concentrating on Heeramandi. The web show stars Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Manisha Koirala, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Richa Chadha, Sharmin Sehgal and more.
They are in their 50s, but Arjun Rampal and Milind Soman continue to be everyones favourites courtesy of their dazzling appearances, stylish dispositions, and exceptional acting abilities. The pair was well-known as supermodels in their era, maintaining an undeniable allure even today, as they recently collaborated for the first time as brand ambassadors for an apparel brand.

In an exclusive conversation with News18, the duo spoke about the difficulties they faced while making a transition from models to actors. Rampal, who went on to win a National Award for Rock On!! (2008), said that he didnt have a promising start to his acting career. It was difficult and people would say that models cant be successful actors, but I believe it is not wrong. Over the years you realise that there is truth to everything. I remember when I came into films and started acting, the process of model training to be in front of the camera was completely different from how an actor would do. As models, we have a certain body language that needs to be broken and you need to unlearn things and try a different approach, he said.

The Dhakaad actor adds, Its good to break stigmas and I believe I was successful in breaking the stigma that models cant be good actors. I dont think nobody cant do anything.

Soman, who will soon be seen playing the role of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw in Kangana Ranaut starrer Emergency, says that he too had a similar experience, People have preconceived notions and I believe they have their reasons for it. I feel we always have to be open to learn and do something new. I also believe the audience needs to allow an individual to learn the craft without labeling or dismissing them. People try to label you which is ridiculous. Imagine if people wouldnt have given Arjun work, he wouldnt be a part of Rock On!! and wouldnt have won the National Award.

Recalling their modeling days, Rampal said that everyone aspired to be like Milind Soman, He was completely into fitness. He had created a vibe and style that was helpful for other models. At the same time, the beauty of it was that he had his personality which is true even today. There cannot be another Milind Soman as he created an image that was absolutely a delight to experience.

Soman on the other hand says that he considered Arjun as the best model, I think there was no competition to him including me. He was the best. At that time we were around 20 models and if I had to look at it objectively I think he was the best male model in India.

The duo came together for U.S. Polo Assn, as the brand recently announced its latest fashion campaign. Conceptualized by WYP, a Wondrlab company, Legends Forever, Play Together weaves together threads of nostalgia, and partnership and brings back two sets of legendary duos.

Talking about their association, Rampal says, This is the third time I am collaborating with them and I am someone who will endorse something only if I am going to use it and if I can associate with them. Also, this time its unique because I am partnering with Milind for the first time in 35 years since the time we started modeling. I dont know why no one thought of casting us together.

Soman adds, Arjun and I have done more than 100 fashion shows and photoshoots but this is my first with him and I was excited.
I went and met Anirudh and reluctantly asked him a song so that I can show to SRK sir.

Ani said me Inna Thala. Intha panni tharen. Ani is like one school friend. He will also not finish school home work and say Vidu machi nalaiku paathukalam.

 Atlee#JawanAudioLaunch

 RamKumarr (@ramk8060) August 30, 2023
Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh are undeniably among the most loved couples in Bollywood. Their presence on social media and affectionate public displays of affection never fail to catch the eye of their fans. Amid their hectic schedules, with continuous film shoots and public appearances, it was about time they took off on a well-deserved break. If recent fan pictures as anything to go by, the duo is currently enjoying their time in Kenya. Pictures of the couple posing with fans have gone viral across various social media platforms.

Some time back, a fan page called RanveeriansFC posted a photo of Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh on Twitter. The fan page captioned it as, Update: Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone spotted in Kenya today! Enjoy! The photo captures the couple alongside a few fans, all smiles.

In the photo, Deepika is seen sporting a black hoodie and black trousers, while Ranveer opted for a beige jacket. The two sported their bright smiles as they posed with their fans.

On Reddit, one fan wrote, I am so happy they came to East Africa . People here really underrate the impact of bollywood on the entire Africa .. We have to be biggest fans over here . We even regard you guys more than our actors. Another wrote, This is super wholesome.

Back in April, the actress was in the picturesque Bhutan and soon after, she enjoyed a mini-break with sister Anisha Padukone in Maldives.

Coming up next for Deepika is Siddharth Anands Fighter, which marks her first onscreen collaboration with Hrithik Roshan. The film also features Anil Kapoor and Karan Singh Grover in pivotal roles and is set to release in January 2024. That apart, she also has Kalki 2989 AD, starring Prabhas, Nag Ashwin, Kamal Haasan and Amitabh Bachchan.

Meanwhile, Ranveer Singh is prepping for Don 3, directed by Farhan Akhtar. The film is slated to hit the big screens in 2025.
Sunny Deol has opened up about his equation with his step-sister Esha Deol. Earlier this month, Esha hosted a special screening of Gadar 2 for the family when she was seen posing with Sunny and Bobby Deol. Their pictures had gone viral on social media. While fans were thrilled to see Dharmendras children together, Sunny has now shared how time heals everything.

Obviously, Ive gone through lots of pain and agony beforehand, Ive gone through a lot of processes but as I always say happiness can come and you wont even know what pain and agony was. It just takes over you and you just forget all those things, he told Zoom in a recent interview.

Years back we all used to think life is going to be a certain way. But when you start into your life, things change and then youve to adapt yourself to that. Thats why we say, films are fairy tales, life is not so. We want life to be like films but still, the beauty is in life itself where we accept it the way it is and not regret it, dont hate it, let go of that negative energy and accept it, the actor added. He further made it clear that everything is fine between him and Esha.

Interestingly, this comes a day after Esha Deol opened up about the viral pictures and shared that she is not going the extra mile to justify her relationship. Honestly, the picture happened very organically. It was not planned. We are very private as a family. We are very respectful towards each other. I feel that whether I tie him Rakhi or not is none of anyone elses business. But I think because we are actors, people want to do that moment, she told E-Times.

For the unversed, Esha Deol and Ahana Deol are Dharmendras daughters from his second marriage with Hema Malini. Prior to Bollywoods Dream Girl, Dharmendra was married to Prakash Kaur with who he has two sons  Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol. Dharmendra married Prakash Kaur in 1954 when he was reportedly just 19 years old. It is claimed that Dharmendra married Hema without giving Prakash a divorce.
The day of 23 August was historic for India and the Indians. When the Chandrayaan-3, Indias third lunar exploration mission, was landing on the moons surface, the Indians were watching nervously across the width and breadth of India and around the globe. The moment the Vikram lander landed successfully and made India the first-ever country to land on the moons south pole, we all cheered with happiness. The nation of 140 crore Indians was over the moonliterally and metaphorically.

Chandrayaan-3 is a cost-effective mission with a budget of just 615 crore, or $75 million. The flop movie Adipurush had a similar budget, and films like Barbie and Oppenheimer had more funding than our moon mission. Indias moon mission has a budget of just 1 per cent of the one-year budget of NREGA, one of Indias many social welfare schemes. It prompts us to ponder: Does a modest science budget evoke a sense of pride or cast a shadow of shame?

Research and development in various science, technology, and engineering sectors have faced a budget crunch in India since independence. Most of the innovations that happened post-independence were on a frugal budget. Here, frugality was not a choice but a compulsion under the license-quota-permit raj. But India cant live with this. In an interview, K Sivan, ISROs former chairman, said, We need bigger rockets and systems. We cannot live with frugal engineering alone. We need to have high-power rockets and high-end technology.

The triumphs of Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan-3 underscore the capacity of Indias scientific community to innovate and excel on a global stage. With increased financial backing, we might have already achieved manned space missions. However, within a democratic republic where welfare remains a paramount concern, diverting more government funds towards science and technology could face resistance, particularly when it involves reducing the budgets of social welfare programs, as seen after the 2023 budget announcement. This contrast leaves the space sector with two viable pathways: privatisation or international collaboration.

Chandrayaan-1 notably uncovered the presence of water in ice form on the moons surface, opening doors to further exploration of its utility. Converting moon water into fuel presents the prospect of cost-effective lunar missions in the future. Yet, capital investment is crucial for such research. In a nation abounding with brilliant scientists and engineers, the responsibility to fund these endeavours should shift towards the private sector, whereby investing companies could reap profits. However, the substantial costs involved demand a collective effort, necessitating international cooperation for mutual advantage.

The present space sector in India is synonymous with the ISRO and its suppliers and vendors. Privatisation will make the space sector cost-competitive and create more jobs locally. For example, imagine Skyroot Aerospace, which launched the maiden flight of Indias first privately built rocket, Vikram-S, in November 2022, launching satellites of other countries from Sriharikota. Envision a space tourism venture catering to Indian billionaires thirst for adventure among the stars or the realisation of an entirely indigenous navigation system. This is the economic landscape we must cultivate.

Despite Indias notable achievements, its share of the global space economy stands at a modest 2-3 per cent, whereas China and the US have more than 30 per cent share. Failing to translate our scientific strides into economic gains would be a missed opportunity. India possesses a latent potential where the sky, metaphorically speaking, is not the limit.

To be fair, the current government has laid the privatisation card on the table for the space sector. Initiatives like granting private players access to ISROs infrastructure and formulating the Indian Space Policy in 2023 reflect a well-intentioned effort. However, progress has encountered delayssuch as the Indian Space Policy notificationand legislative roadblocks, exemplified by the fate of the Draft Space Activity bill introduced in 2017, which lapsed in 2019 with the outgoing Lok Sabha. This perpetual tardiness exacts a toll on Indias space endeavours.

In conclusion, while Chandrayaan-3s accomplishment is a commendable stride for India, its financial constraints make a compelling case for liberalising the space sector. The earlier we do, the more beneficial it is for India.

The writer is an independent columnist who writes on international relations, and socio-political affairs. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.
The timing was perfect from an Orwellian perspective. India was literally on the moon when a news item appeared cautioning the country of another Soros-ian strike  on the lines of the Hindenburg assault on a prominent corporate house in March this year. As per a PTI report, India should be prepared for Hindenburg 2.0 as George Soros-backed Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is reportedly planning to come up with another expose, targeting other corporate houses in the country.

OCCRP is a global network of investigative journalists that exposes crime and corruption so the public can hold power to account, says the description on its website. The body is being funded among others by Soros Open Society Foundations (OSF), whose distaste, if not disregard, for democratic India in general and Narendra Modi in particular is not quite unfamiliar.

Soros has never concealed his loathing for Modis India. The Hungarian-born American billionaire, in fact, had defended the Hindenburg report accusing how Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies. He added, Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market but failedModi will have to answer on Adani in Parliament. This will significantly weaken Modis stranglehold on Indias federal government. I expect a democratic revival in India I could be foolish, but I think democracy will flourish again.

The Soros-ian idea of democracy is Orwellian in nature: Here war is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. And dictatorship is democracy! Clearly, things didnt go as per the Soros-ian script despite the Hindenburg report causing ripples across the country  and abroad. On the contrary, in the past few months, India has not only come out stronger, but also it is being accepted as the only bright spot in the global economy, especially at a time when it gears up to host a G20 summit in New Delhi. India has never been so self-assured and sure-footed in conducting itself globally. To add insult to injury, Prime Minister Modi has declared on the floor of Parliament in the just-concluded monsoon session that in his third term, India will become the third-largest economy in the world!

Thus comes the spectre of Hindenburg 2.0.

Soros, largely influenced by the American Deep States inherent and institutionalised distrust for India, seems to be working overtime to turn this country into a failed democracy. As seen with OSFs reported involvement with anti-CAA and anti-farm law protests  and also with a senior OSF personnel participating enthusiastically in Rahul Gandhis recent Bharat Jodo Yatra  a strategy seems to be in place to unleash chaos, violence and despair in India, on the lines of a toolkit created by communist theoretician Jan Kozak that called for exertion of pressure for radical change from the upper levels of government and from provocateurs in the streets. Kozak termed this pressure from above and below.

One way to exert pressure from below, as Kozak explained, was to fill the streets with rioters, strikers and protesters. As for pressure from above, there are reasons to believe that Soros OSF, with its extended, hidden and dubious arms, are subverting top global think tanks and educational institutions such as Harvard (about which Rajiv Malhotra and Vijaya Viswanathan write in detail in Snakes in the Ganga) and London School of Economics (where a top professor like Mukulika Banerjee is accused of pushing vitriolic anti-India narrative on campus), where children of the rich and powerful Indians study in a substantial number. The idea is to re-orient Indias elite and push them to exert pressure from above.

Soros is dangerous because he wears many masks. In an interview for a 1995 New Yorker profile, he conceded that the subversive mission of the OSF required him to wear a variety of masks. I would say one thing in one country, and another thing in another country, he said with laughter. This two-faced nature was evident when he first denied any hands in the November 2003 uprising that toppled Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, but a few months later he told the Los Angeles Times: Im delighted by what happened in Georgia, and I take great pride in having contributed to it.

Author Rachel Ehrenfeld, in The Soros Agenda (2023), accuses Soros of spending a lot of time discussing the need for transparency and openness while running one of the worlds most secretive and powerful investing firms. To buttress her claim, she explains how in 2016, Tranparify rated Soros OSF as highly opaque and the least transparent of 200 think tanks in 47 countries worldwide that were ranked. Soros once described the influence of large cash donations in politics as a fundamental crisis in democratic self-government. This, however, did not stop him from channeling his political philanthropy through an intricate, multilayered web that would put to shame the elusive Darwins bark spider (Caerostris darwini), creator of the largest known orb webs, she adds.

Hypocrisy and double-standards come naturally to him. When he is accused of orchestrating the 1990s collapse of the Asian market, he first denies it, then takes refuge in what has been a common refrain for him  that it wouldve happened even if he wasnt there  and, finally defending his role: Im basically there to make money. I cannot and do not look at the social consequences of what I do. And once he makes money  a lot of money  through the hidden, dirty hands of capitalism, he questions the market system itself: I now fear that the untrammeled intensification of laissez-faire capitalism and the spread of market values into all areas of life is endangering our open and democratic society, Soros writes in the Atlantic. The main enemy of open society, I believe, is no longer the communist but the capitalist threat.

Now thats called having the cake and eating it too  George Soros style!

The biggest Soros-ian lie, however, has been his victimhood story vis-a-vis Nazis. Ehrenfeld writes in The Soros Agenda, Much has been written about Soros past as a survivor of the German occupation of Hungary during World War II and the Soviet occupation that followed. He uses those experiences as his leading credential to justify meddling in political and social affairs as he sees fit.

However, the fact is Soros was a beneficiary of Nazi generosity. He was 14, when he had accompanied a Nazi Hungarian official at the Ministry of Agriculture named Baumbach, who was bribed by Soros father to keep the teen at his apartment and present him as his godson. Soros accompanied Baumbach as the official identified Jewish property for confiscation by the Nazis. I was only a spectator, Soros would defend his role in an interview with Steve Kroft on CBSs 60 Minutes in 1994.

What makes him utterly dangerous is his illiberal, undemocratic nature. In 2020, Soros announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos his most ambitious initiative  the Open Society University Network (OSUN). He pledged $1 billion to create what the world really needs  a global platform for teaching and research that existing universities all over the world would be able to join, among other things, to fight dictators and would-be dictators. When asked how the scholars at OSUN would identify would-be dictators, Soros was quick to retort, as quoted by Ehrenfeld: A perfect way to tell a dictator or a would-be dictator is if he identifies me as an enemy.

The truth is that it is this megalomaniac billionaire with dubious democratic, capitalistic credentials and Nazi connections who is the biggest threat to democracy worldwide, including in India. He publicly calls out his enemies, often holding them to ransom. The worlds largest democracy is on that list currently. Soros has already declared a war on India under Prime Minister Modi, calling it a sham democracy.

India should be prepared for a series of Hindenburgs and other related assaults. The attack will continue till there is an innate anti-India ecosystem in the West and dirty Chinese money flushing Soros coffers. The nihilistic Soros-ian philosophy is a 21st century avatar of the Orwellian world order. The battle lines have just been drawn.

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.), comprising various political parties with the Congress at the Centre, was established with the objective of challenging Narendra Modis BJP, a goal that the Opposition has been nurturing for the past decade but has failed to achieve so far. Rarely in the history of India have we witnessed a political coalition as inorganic and unnatural as the present alliance.

The participating parties have conflicting ideologies, and each of their leaders fosters personal aspirations for the prime ministerial role. Yet, they seem to have found common ground in a shared set of interests that can be categorised as A.B.C.D.: Appeasement, Bigotry, Corruption, and Dynastic politics. Today, with I.N.D.I.A., the Opposition is only trying to strengthen its A.B.C.D. agenda rather than upholding Indian democracy.

The I.N.D.I.A. alliance is the combination of several parties in the country, including Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, etc. The CPM is also part of the alliance. Both Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the CPM, and Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader, have had meetings and discussions on how the alliance should operate. The CPM, a party that is struggling to hold on to its national party status, is in power only in Kerala and has a minor presence in West Bengal and Tripura.

In such a sorry state of affairs, it is important to look at what is happening in Kerala, which has found itself in an unnatural situation. It is currently ruled by the Left Democratic Front (LDF), with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at the helm. In 2016, this alliance came to power by defeating the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). Following the 2021 Assembly election, the LDF was able to continue its rule in the state. During this time, the NDA, led by the BJP, made huge strides and emerged as the third-largest political entity in Kerala.

It is here that the situation takes an interesting turn. Making an absolute mockery of democratic principles, the CPM and Congress are alliance partners at the national level, but in Kerala they are foes. This peculiar arrangement raises questions about the authenticity of the alliance and reveals its hollowness. In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, for which the alliance was forged and where the CPM holds stronger prospects, both the Congress and CPM are set to contest against each other.

The partners at the national level are already gearing up for the important by-election that is set to take place in the Puthuppally assembly constituency following the death of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Both Congress and the CPM have fielded their respective candidates, who are now fighting against each other. If the I.N.D.I.A. alliance had any merit, they should have fielded a single candidate and fought Prime Minister Narendra Modis party, the BJP. This is the best example that the I.N.D.I.A. alliance is a farce.

The election is also an exposition of the A.B.C.D. objective of this alliance. Congress candidate Chandy Oommen is the son of former chief minister Oommen Chandy, the very example of the dynasty model of politics that the Congress adheres to. Interestingly, CPM has chosen to remain silent on this matter.

Moreover, a couple of weeks ago, the alliances shared interest in corruption was also exposed. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayans daughter Veena Vijayan was found to be on an illegal payroll of a firm. A report of the Interim Board for Settlement under the Central Board of Taxes regarding a settlement application filed by Kochi-based Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) refers to illegal payments to the tune of Rs 1.72 crore made to her. Veena, who is also the wife of Kerala PWD Minister Mohammed Riyas, has been embroiled in numerous instances of corruption in recent years.

Some time back, Swapna Suresh, one of the key accused, named Veena Vijayan in another scam. Both the public and the media anticipated that the opposition would address this matter in the assembly and bring it to public attention. However, they chose not to take up this issue. Similarly, now that her name has surfaced in the monthly payroll, the Congress party has made an official announcement that they will not raise the issue in the assembly.

The firm also exposed the names of the other recipients who were on the illegal payroll. These names were abbreviated as PV, OC, RC, KK, IK, and AG in the documents seized by the Income Tax Department, as stated in the report. When expanding upon the aforementioned abbreviations, it appears to be chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Congress leaders Oomen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala, Muslim League leaders Kunhalikkutty and Ibrahim Kunju, and CPM state secretary A Govindan. So, it becomes apparent that Congress, another partner in the I.N.D.I.A. alliance, the Muslim League, and the CPM are all part of the nexus that runs the corruption syndicate in Kerala.

Now turning to the Appeasement aspect. A recent incident involved Kerala assembly speaker Shamseer insulting Lord Ganesh, a matter that was echoed by CPM secretary Govindan. Adding to this, Govindan said that Allah is a spiritual belief, and Ganesh cannot be compared to it. The hatred of Left parties towards Hindus and Hindu beliefs is well known. But more precarious is the hatred shown by the Congress and UDF, which did not oppose the insult perpetrated by the CPM.

It is evident that the I.N.D.I.A. alliance in Kerala is an association for appeasement of a single community while they make concerted efforts to push Hindus and Christians to the wall. Recently, the partner of Congress in UDF and partner of both Congress and CPM in I.N.D.I.A., the Muslim League, conducted a rally in which it shouted, Hindus will be hanged on temple gates and burnt alive. Neither CPM nor Congress uttered a word. Earlier, the Popular Front of India (PFI) shouted similar slogans, Arrange rice flakes (for Hindu funeral rituals).. arrange amber (for Christian rituals).. Hindus and Christians prepare for your funerals. Even at that time, none of them spoke a word. But when the Bishop of Pala Joseph Kalarangatt warned the community about Love Jihad and Narcotic Jihad, both Congress and Left pounced upon him.

When the Kerala governor opposed the illegal appointment of vice chancellors of nine state universities flouting rules by the state government, then the Congress and CPM came together in bringing an ordinance against this. In all similar scams, they scratch each others back.

Despite being the majority in the state, the government and its major parties insult Hindu culture and beliefs publicly without any hesitation. They use every opportunity to degrade the beliefs of both Hindus and Christians in order to appease one captive vote bank.

To align with their agenda and interests, the Congress and CPM stand united. However, when it comes to fighting elections together in Kerala, they do not seem to be on the same page. This raises questions about the relevance of their alliance.

The author is former national secretary of BJP youth wing. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views.
Minh Tam in tears as she is led down the aisle by her father (in black). Photo courtesy of Tam

After enduring several heartbreaks with romantic partners who couldnt accept dating a woman with a deaf and mute father, Minh Tam thought that she would never be able to marry.

But everything changed for the 23-year-old woman from Hoa Lu District, Ninh Binh Province when she met Shutaro Kawamoto, a 33-year-old Japanese man who met her on a Vietnam business trip two years ago.

The couples wedding earlier this month, which included the full participation of Shutaros family, wiped away Tams sadness.

During the ceremony, the brides father Hoang Van Tinh slowly led his daughter down the aisle. At the altar, he hugged both his daughter and son in law.

"I finally found my happiness, and now my parents dont have to worry about my love life anymore," Tam says.

Their love story unexpectedly began at the end of 2021. Tam was a university student working at a shopping mall in Hanoi where Shutaro saw her for the first time.

"I thought she was also Japanese because of her petite height, appearance, and clothing style," Shutaro says.

Shutaro was intrigued enough by Tam that he visited her store to buy a tub of bath salts from her that he didnt want or need. He then asked for her phone number.

They began texting each other in English with the help of translation tools. From there, they were able to get to know each other and they then began hanging out with each other at popular spots in Hanoi. "Hes very nice, kind, and doesnt joke around," Tam says about her partner.

Minh Tam and her husband during a yearbook photo session at her university, 2022. Photo courtesy of Minh Tam

Though her English is not excellent, and there have been many miscommunications between the lovebirds, Tam says Shutaro is still patient with her and helps her correct her mistakes and learn more English.

"I can be patient with her because I like Minh Tams personality," Shutaro says. "Shes straightforward and energetic, and shes always happy and carefree."

But as their feelings for each other deepened, Tam could avoid the worries plaguing her mind. Her father and an uncle were born deaf and mute, an effect of her grandfathers Agent Orange poisoning while on the battlefield.

From a young age, Tam was bullied and ostracized for being the daughter of a man who is deaf and nonspeaking. The people in her neighborhood would call her fathers barbershop "the deafs shop" or "deaf Tinhs shop."

Minh Tam is proud of her resilient father, but she could not avoid the trouble prejudiced views of his condition brought to finding a husband. She had several relationships, but they all fell apart when the boyfriends family found out that her father suffered an after-effect from Agent Orange.

"Its because many of my relationships failed due to that reason that I wanted to be straightforward with Shutaro from the beginning, to avoid the possibility of the both of us going further and ending up disappointed," she says.

She told Shutaro about her family with her limited English. As opposed to what Tam imagined, he hugged her with tears on his cheeks.

"People shouldve admired your father for being able to help his family become prosperous even with his disability," Shutaro told her. After knowing her story, he decided he wanted to do his best to protect Tam and her family.

Minh Tams mother Vu Thi Thanh, 49, says she was also always worried about how difficult it would be for her daughter to start a family in the future.

"Tam and I would always come clean about our family after getting to know a guy for 2-3 days. Whenever I saw that he wouldnt be able to accept the truth, I advised her to break up with him, because even if they tried to be together, they wouldnt be happy," Thanh says.

But the moment her daughter brought Shutaro home, Thanh knew that Tam had found her lifelong partner. "Not only did Shu accept her, but his family was also supportive, so we were all very excited," Thanh says.

She says that its hard to predict the future, but she believed that at the moment Tam was truly happy, especially when she saw how Shutaro loved and dotes on her daughter. Furthermore, her worries were assuaged when it became evident that his family was open-minded.

The grooms family in uniform during the wedding. Photo courtesy of Minh Tam

At the wedding, guests were teary-eyed as the brides father walked her down the aisle. But then they were also pleasantly surprised by a performance from the grooms family. Eight people, including Shutaros parents, took to the stage wearing matching shirts featuring a picture of the couple, and performed a charming song and dance routine.

Shutaro and Tam are currently enjoying their honeymoon at his hometown in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. After that, they plan to settle in Vietnam long-term.
BJP MLA Nitesh Rane has called Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray and MP Sanjay Raut Pakistani agents in response to the latters statement that the trains for the Ram Temples inauguration in Ayodhya may be attacked.

In a video statement, Rane said, All Indians are eagerly waiting for the opening ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. On one hand, thousands of Ram devotees would be attending the event, on the other hand, Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut are making such comments just to create riots. Sanjay Raut and Uddhav Thackeray are seen making controversial statements when it comes to any Hindu festival. However, they do not say anything during Haj or Muslim festivals. Are Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut Pakistani agents?

Further, Rane criticised Thackeray by saying, If you see his past, he has always provoked people. In 2004, at a meeting held at Matoshree, (Uddhav Thackerays residence), he asked his party workers to provoke the riots in the state. I have raised this issue many times but no-one from their party has dared to comment. A few years ago, Thackerays personal assistant Milind Narvekar and former UBT leader from Pune Neelam Gorhe had faced a police inquiry for attempting to create riot-like situation in Pune. The police had got some call records also. Shiv Sena MP Dharyashil Mane recently had made a statement that when the riots took place in Sangli district in western Maharashtra a few years, Raut was behind them.

He further said if Thackeray and Raut have any information about the riots that might happen in Ayodhya, then being peoples representatives, they should inform the police to avoid any untoward incident.

Meanwhile, Eknath Shindes Sena MLA Sanjay Shirsat has also reacted to Rauts statement, calling it stupid. This is a disgusting form of politics. Every devotee will attend the opening ceremony of Ram Mandir with joy and enthusiasm. Crimes should be registered against people who say they are going to plant bombs. For this, I am going to meet Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
On her visit to Mumbai, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackerays residence and tied him a rakhi on Wednesday.

In photos, Banerjee is seen tying rakhi on Thackery and clicking pictures with him and his wife Rashmi Thackeray at their residence Matoshree in suburban Bandra.

Banerjee also tied rakhi to former cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray.

The chief minister visited them after visiting Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan at his residence in Juhu, sources said.

The TMC chief arrived in Mumbai to attend the two-day meeting of the INDIA bloc to be held on August 31 and September 1 at Hotel Grand Hyatt in the city.

The opposition bloc, which has more than two dozen parties, will gather in their third huddle since coming together on a common platform for the first time in June in Patna.

As many as 63 representatives from 28 political parties will attend the third meeting of the INDIA alliance meet on August 31 and September 1, NCP president Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday.

In a presser, Pawar showed confidence that the opposition alliance will provide a formidable alternative to bring about political change. Pawar said there has been no discussion on seat sharing within INDIA.

The first meeting of the bloc was held in June in Patna, while the second gathering in Bengaluru in July finalised its name  Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The grouping has been formed with the aim of taking on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 parliamentary polls.

With PTI inputs
On the eve of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) blocs meet in Mumbai on Thursday and Friday, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar sought to clear the confusion over the split in his party after a big chunk of NCP leaders, led by Ajit Pawar, joined the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra.

ALSO READ | Rahul Out, Kejriwal In: Cong Deletes Poster After Backlash Ahead of I.N.D.I.A Meet, Shares New One

There is no confusion among NCP party workers and leaders. Those who have gone there will be shown their place by people during the upcoming elections, Pawar said.

So far, 28 political parties have supported the grand alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). At least 63 leaders are expected to attend the meet.

            ,               ,                     ,       ,   pic.twitter.com/IB3N0Zro6W Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) August 30, 2023

ON BSP, AKALI DAL

At the press conference of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners, who have organised the meet, Pawar was asked about other political parties namely Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Akali Dal and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), who have not extended their support to the INDIA alliance. Present along with Pawar were Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole, Congress leader Ashok Chavan and Shiv Senas Aditya Thackeray.

Mayawati has kept her doors open for the BJP, so unless we get clarity from her, it will not be possible for us to think about the BSP. If Akali Dal wants to join us, they can come in the alliance, but it will not be easy. We have the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in power in Punjab. We have the Congress which has a different strategy for Punjab, so we dont want to indulge into such things which will increase the differences among us, he said.

The power of INDIA pic.twitter.com/bJvBflsz5p Congress (@INCIndia) August 30, 2023

COMMON MINIMUM PROGRAMME, SEAT SHARING, MULTIPLE CHOICES

There is a possibility that a common minimum programme, on the lines of the MVA alliance, will be drafted at the Mumbai meeting to get all alliance partners to agree on common issues. There is also a chance that the seat-sharing formula may be discussed.

We are yet to start the dialogue for seat-sharing. There is a chance that we might discuss this issue in this meeting and then give the responsibility to some leaders to speak with state leaders about seat-sharing, said Pawar in the same press conference.

ALSO READ | Stumbling Bloc? Friction over Convener, PM Pick Reveals Unsettled INDIA

When asked about the formation of coordination committee and head of the coordination committee, Uddhav Thackeray said: We have two days to discuss this issue, soon you may get clarity on this issue.

Before the Mumbai meeting, various leaders of the INDIA alliance have started making statements in favour of their party leaders for the post of PM. Thackeray took dig at the BJP, without naming it. For the post of PM, we have multiple choices, ask them if they have such an option? They only have one option, he said.

Given Maharashtras legacy of freedom movement, Maharashtra Congress leaders feel INDIA will carry forward the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Shahu Maharaj, Jyotiba Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar and fight against injustice.
Seat-sharing formula for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections is likely to be discussed at the upcoming meet of I.N.D.I.A (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1, according to highly placed sources.

Though the opposition parties have come together under the banner of INDIA but there are frictions over issue of seat sharing. What formula should be worked out will be a challenge for INDIA as issues of all state-based parties are different hence bringing a uniform formula could be tough.

The challenges the regional parties face in fighting off the BJP will also get discussed at the Mumbai meet.

In the backdrop of the splits in the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra, the delegates may also discuss a strategy to prevent more such divisions in parties in other states. Hence, the focus will be on keeping the regional parties intact to strengthen the INDIA alliance.

The alliance also wants to set up a coordination committee for smooth functioning and communication among the parties, the sources said. The structure of the committee and who will be its members may also get discussed in the Mumbai meeting. If require, the delegates may further decide on who will lead the coordination committee.

A pitch has been made to have a 11-member coordination committee for the INDIA alliance. According to sources, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) have their reservations against Congress leading the coordination committee.

It is likely that the leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)  Shiv Sena UBTs Uddhav Thackeray, NCPs Sharad Pawar, Ashok Chavan and Nana Patole will hold a press conference today at Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai to reveal the agenda of the INDIA meeting.

The focus of the meeting will also be on NCP after the Ajit Pawars rebellion, while Sharad Pawar still maintains that there is no split in the party. The onus lies on the senior Pawar to clear the air at the meet.

According to sources, Shiv Sena UBT leaders want Mumbai to be the last of INDIA meeting after which the partners should start taking action in their state to do aggressive campaigns against the BJP for the upcoming elections in the country.
With the launch of Griha Lakshmi scheme in Mysuru today, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, in an interview with News18, said the Congress has set up the Karnataka model, which can be emulated by other states. This will change their lives, social and economic status, the minister said.

As the Congress completes 100 days of governance in Karnataka, Shivakumar said we have delivered what we have promised. Griha Lakshmi scheme is a gift for the people, he added.

The scheme provides cash assistance of Rs 2,000 a month to female heads of the house in the state. A total of 1.3 crore women have registered for the plan.

When asked about the partys plan for the next five years, the Deputy CM said whatever schemes we have promised, we will take them forward.

Edited interview

Q: From D for Deputy Chief Minister to D for delivering on promises that were made. One of the biggest achievements has been the Griha Lakshmi scheme, with more than 1.3 crore women enrolling and an allocation of over Rs 33,000 crore. Was it a challenge putting it together?

A: Out of 1.33 crore, only 1.1 crore have opted till now; they may register later as well. With the 1.1 crore who have applied, all of them will receive their sanction orders. Today, on their phones, they will receive a message that lists their application number, their ID number, and the sanction order. The banks will inform all the beneficiaries that their accounts will receive the money that the government is providing to them under the Direct Benefit Transfer. Today is a significant day as our government completes 100 years, and the people will receive a gift from us on this completion. Whatever we have promised, we have delivered.

Q: Now that you have completed 100 days of your governance, you have faced challenges and attacks from the Opposition. Yet, you have ensured that the five promises are successfully delivered. Will this be implemented in other states as well? I recall West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saying she would like to implement the Griha Lakshmi scheme in her state as well. With the Telangana elections around the corner, will this also be used as a poll promise?

A: Karnataka has a model that we (Congress) have set up. While they all talk about the Gujarat model, we have given you the Karnataka model, a new concept. Take a look at the way we are implementing the Griha Lakshmi programme. All the beneficiaries in the state will watch this. We have blocked two hours on television sets so that all women can see the rollout on their TV from home. We have also provided the option for women to participate from the panchayat offices via Zoom. We have given people an opportunity to be part of this programme. This will change their lives, social and economic status.

Q: Are you saying that Karnataka has set a model that can be emulated and implemented across?

A: Definitely, we have set a standard of socio-economic strength.

Q: The BJP has no leader of the opposition in both houses. They are yet to elect a state president as the present leader is on an extended term. What do you think the BJP is up to?

A: I dont want to comment about their party. It is their wish. Let them do what they want.

Q: But as a ruling party, dont you need a strong opposition?

A: We need a strong opposition to find out our mistakes and ensure that we rectify any mistakes that we may have committed. A strong opposition in a democracy is required.

Q: Now that you have won with a comfortable majority and your government is in place, looking at completing five years of governance in Karnataka, what would be your next step of action? Would you be rolling out more schemes or continuing with these?

A: This will be delivered in the next five years, and whatever schemes we have promised, we will take them forward. We will also provide good governance as people have a lot of faith and respect in us. We will ensure that we deliver it.

Q: During one of the interviews you had given to me earlier, you had mentioned bringing in the RSS model in the Congress. Do you think that is applicable even now?

A: Not the RSS model, but we will have a cadre-based model where every panchayat and booth will be empowered. A leader must emerge from a panchayat to become a leader.
After four years of Modi Sarkar 2.0 and with only two Parliament sessions left  the winter and budget  the 17th Lok Sabha is yet to get a Deputy Speaker.

In spite of several reminders to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the election for the same is yet to be called. The matter has even reached the Supreme Court in the form of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL). The top court has demanded to know from the Centre why the post is still vacant.

Article 93 Vs Reality

The function of the Deputy Speaker is to decide whether a bill is a Money Bill or not. He is also responsible for the discipline and decorum of the House. He is not subservient to the Speaker and is responsible directly to the House. In the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker authorises the powers of a Speaker.

Article 93 of the Indian Constitution clearly states that both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker should be elected as soon as may be. Norm says the first Parliament session after a new government takes oath shall elect both posts. Yet, the position of the Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha  the second-highest-ranking legislative officer after the Speaker has been vacant since Modi 2.0 came to power in 2019.

But why is this the case?

Congress Lok Sabha whip Manickam Tagore blames the intent of the government. One of the institutions, particularly in the Lok Sabha, is the office of the Deputy Speaker. That institution has been broken or is kept locked. His office has been kept locked  The simple reason is he (the Speaker) does not want to give it to the main opposition party, nothing else, Tagore tells News18.

Tagore was referring to a non-binding Parliamentary tradition where the post of the Deputy Speaker is generally given to the opposition. The last Deputy Speaker the Indian Parliament saw was DMKs M Thambi Durai.

Tagore further said in order to get a Deputy Speaker, the Lok Sabha secretariat has to convene an election for the post with the approval of the Speaker, who, in this case, is BJPs Kota MP Om Birla. He makes a political point alleging that the fact that this post has been lying vacant for so long needs to be seen in the larger scheme of things of democratic institutions being targeted.

Regardless of the political pitch, the fact remains that it never took so long for a government to elect a Deputy Speaker. The longest it took was in the 12th Lok Sabha  269 days, according to the Statistical Handbook, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

BJPs Different Logics

However, the BJP has a counter-logic to it. BJPs Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri says no party in the Lok Sabha has the requisite numbers. There is a clear stipulation that any party has to have at least 50 MPs to elect the Deputy Speaker, Bidhuri tells News18.

When asked about Tagores charge, quick came his reply, Arre bhai, that is a constitutional provision. They (the opposition) behave like Kejriwal as if there is no Constitution in this countryAsk them, if you are not capable enough to be one, (Deputy Speaker) how can you be made one?

However, News18 spoke to constitutional experts who are not convinced. They hint that once the Speaker calls for an election, either one can win unopposed, or even in the case of a proper election, the numbers of a bloc count. If the entire opposition puts a common candidate, their total numbers in the Lok Sabha will count, they argue.

A BJP minister, who refused to speak on either Tagores charge or Bidhuris logic, told News18, on conditions of anonymity, Is the functioning of the House getting affected in the absence of a Deputy Speaker? So wheres the hurry?

But, on the contrary, there is a huge delay.

A PIL in the Supreme Court citing this missing Deputy speaker post forced the top court to issue a notice to the Centre in February this year. However, Constitution Experts caution that the courts cant do much about it as Article 122 (1) prohibits external interference. But the stressing on as soon as may be, which is clearly articulated by Article 93, gives the Supreme Court power to question the Centre over its delay, which it has already exercised.

But, what is the role of the Speaker, who has to call the election, so far? We have approached him two to three times. Every time, he just smiles. He doesnt say anything, says Congresss Lok Sabha whip.

With nearly four and a half years over, is the Centre smiling away the Lok Sabha Deputy Speakers post?
In good news for air travellers, Google Flights, an online flight booking search service by Google, has launched a new feature called insights. This feature will provide users with suggestions on the best time to purchase flight tickets at the most affordable price. These suggestions will be based on historical data specific to that particular flight.

On Google Flights, you can already see whether current prices for your search are low, typical or high compared to past averages for the same route. But the age-old question remains: Is it better to book now or wait for lower prices to come along? Google wrote in a blogpost.

So this week, were launching upgraded insights to make that choice a bit easier. For searches with reliable trend data, youll now see when prices have typically been lowest to book your chosen dates and destination, the US-based tech giant said.

As per Google, these insights could inform you that the best time to book similar trips is usually about two months before your travel date, and youre in that good window right now. This way, you can make your decision with more confidence. Google Flights insights will start rolling out this week.

Google Flights has lots of helpful features, and one of them is price tracking. When you turn this on, Google will let you know if flight prices go down a lot. You can use it for certain dates, like a friends wedding in February. Or you can choose Any dates to get alerts about deals for the next three to six months if youre open to flexible travel.

To enable this feature, make sure youre logged into your Google account.

Another interesting feature is the price guarantee. On some flight results, youll see a colourful price guarantee badge, which means Google is especially confident the fare you see today wont get any lower before departure.

When you book one of these flights, Google will monitor the price every day before takeoff, and if the price does go down, Google will pay you back the difference via Google Pay.
Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian astronaut to be in space in 1984, recently praised the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which led India to become the first country to successfully land near the South Pole of the Moon.

On the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, Sharma told National Geographic: I am not surprised, because I knew deep inside that ISRO will make it this time. I am already a proud Indian and I have become a prouder Indian now. I knew that ISRO will iron out all the challenges faced by Chandrayaan-2 and will make this mission a success.

In 1984, Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma embarked on an extraordinary space journey, playing a significant role in Indias space history. Lets delve into his journey and find out what he is currently engaged in.

Sharma courageously explored the unknown space and achieved an amazing accomplishment and the whole nation remembers him with fondness today. His journey started when he joined a joint space programme between ISRO and the Soviet Interkosmos Space programme. On April 3, 1984, he traveled to space on Soyuz T-11 with two astronauts from the Soviet Union.

Sharma and his colleagues on Soyuz T-11 spacecraft, worked on scientific and technical investigations, including 43 experimental sessions, for seven days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes while aboard the Salyut 7. He focused mainly on remote sensing and biomedicine in his work.

During his time in space, this Indian astronaut captured the beauty of space, did yoga, and conducted experiments that advanced science. A touching moment occurred when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked him how India looked from space. With great love for his country, he replied, Saare jahan se accha.

Rakesh Sharma was born on January 13, 1949, in Patiala, Punjab to a Punjabi Hindu Brahmin family. He finished school at St. Georges Grammar School in Hyderabad and graduated from Nizam College in Hyderabad. He became an Air Force pilot by enrolling at the National Defence Academy in July 1966.

In 1970, Sharma officially became an Indian Air Force pilot. He also got training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre. For his commitment, he earned the prestigious Soviet Hero of the Soviet Union medal in 1982.

At present, reports said that the famous Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma is living a simple life in Coonoor with his wife, Madhu. He also contributes to ISROs ambitious missions, serving on the National Space Advisory Council for the Gaganyaan venture.
Gujarat was the first state to come up with a dedicated semiconductor policy in 2022 and has been a perfect destination for the industry. Its policy offers a range of incentives to attract semiconductor manufacturing companies, including capital and land subsidies as well as tax breaks. Now, following the states footsteps, Odisha and Assam have come up with their own policies to begin their chip journey.

Apart from geographical advantage, stable political atmosphere, skilled workforce and availability of a well-developed infrastructure, industry insiders praised Gujarat for its industry-focused semiconductor policy. For example, US chip maker Micron Technology will have an assembly and test facility in the state.

On the sidelines of Semicon India 2023, which took place last month, the India Electronic and Semiconductor Association (IESA) signed agreements with the Uttar Pradesh government via the UP Electronics Corporation Ltd (UPLC). A multi-stakeholder engagement strategy, this collaboration will seek to curate semiconductor and fabless policy for the state.

The emphasis will be on developing hardware centres of excellence, which will help to boost the semiconductor ecosystem in Uttar Pradesh. Additionally, it was decided that skill development efforts will take the stage, ensuring that the states workforce is prepared to succeed in changing the semiconductor landscape.

Odisha is also willing to foster a semiconductor ecosystem in the state. The UK-based SRAM & MRAM Group have already started investing in the state as it signed an agreement with the government. Odisha also signed another pact with Epic Foundation last year for designing and manufacturing chips as well as electronic products.

In July, meanwhile, the Odisha government approved the semiconductor manufacturing and fabless policy. Under this, the state hopes to have at least one manufacturing unit and 100 fabless design companies. It is also expected that 5,000 direct and 20,000 indirect jobs will be created in Odisha in seven years.

Recently, the Assam government, too, announced that it had approved the Assam Electronics (Semiconductor, etc) Policy 2023, during its 100th cabinet meeting. It is designed to transform the state into a dynamic and self-sustaining centre for semiconductor manufacturing and electronics production; and it also aims to attract investments in semiconductor fabrication and design.

This policy has ambitious goals, including the creation of more job opportunities in the global market, development of a robust ecosystem and enhancing market resilience. The benefits will extend to all new entities under the category of semiconductor manufacturing.

Eligible industrial units will have the opportunity to implement their approved capacity plan in phases. It was said this implementation must take place within the specified timeframe of three years for MSMEs and five years for large industries from the date of their initial capital investment.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said: Advanced states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha have announced a policy for semiconductors. We have announced a policy where there will be a capital investment subsidy. With our new production-linked incentive policy, Assam will soon attract investments to manufacture semiconductors in the state.

pure water

We have some positive vibes. Due to the clean andof the Brahmaputra river, many industrialists have evinced interest. For the semiconductor industry, clean water is required. Many are asking if we have a policy or not. Today, we have approved a policy and we have positive vibes. I am very hopeful, he added.

Talking about the policies of Odisha and Assam, IESA chairman Sanjay Gupta said the proactive steps in launching own semiconductor policies following Gujarats lead, were undoubtedly commendable. He said these policies reflected a commitment to align with the National Policy on Electronics 2023 and the National Policy on Semiconductor Manufacturing 2023, aiming to position India as a global hub for electronics system design and manufacturing (ESDM).

Odishas Semiconductor Manufacturing and Fabless Policy 2023, is an encompassing strategy that spans the entire semiconductor value chain. By offering incentives such as subsidies on land, power and water tariffs as well as production-linked incentives, the policy seeks to create an appealing investment environment and lays emphasis on fostering a thriving ESDM ecosystem through research, innovation and entrepreneurship, Gupta told News18.

Similarly, in terms of Assams policy, he said: Offering a substantial capital investment subsidy along with various other incentives like interest subsidy, stamp duty exemption, GST reimbursement and employment generation subsidy, Assams policy encourages both domestic and foreign investments. This approach demonstrates a forward-looking strategy that recognises the role of semiconductors in the digital economy and national security.

He further said these policies align with the regional strengths of Odisha and Assam, which encompass skilled human resources, abundant natural resources and strategic geographical locations.

In the foreseeable future, these states are poised to emerge as appealing destinations for the ESDM industry, playing a vital role in the growth and advancement of the overall electronics sector in India. At IESA, we anticipate that these policies will contribute significantly to creating a robust ecosystem that attracts investments, fosters innovation and paves the way for India to become a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing and design, he added.
Imlie has managed to capture the hearts of viewers with its gripping storyline. Even after a generation leap and the exit of Sumbul Touqeer and Fahmaan Khan, the show continued to dominate the TRP charts. The new star cast of Megha Chakraborty, Karan Vohra, and Seerat Kapoor kept the viewers on the edge of their seats. However, recent weeks have seen a dip in TRP ratings, prompting the shows creators to take another generation leap. Reports also suggest the lead actress Megha Chakraborty who plays Imlie has decided to bid farewell to the show post-leap.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by StarPlus (@starplus)

Sources close to India Forums revealed that there will be a tragic twist coming up in the love story of Imlie and Atharva. A bomb blast will completely change their storyline, leading to a tearful goodbye for these beloved characters and the Rana family. However, amidst this tragedy, Imlie and Atharvas daughter, Kairi, will survive the explosion. The story will continue as Anu escapes with Kairi to the city of Varanasi. The shows sets are undergoing a significant transformation which will aim to engage the audience in the eagerly awaited new chapter of the show.

The sources further revealed that the cast is already shooting the final phase of the show. The generation leap brings along fresh faces to grace our screens as the show moves ahead. Actors Adrija Roy and Sai Ketan Rao have been approached for the new leads of the show. Speaking to ETimes TV, Sai Ketan shared, I am in talks with the makers of Imlie. Hopefully, I will be back on screen. The makers have made Imlie interesting. The first-generation leap worked well. I look forward to the second one.

Sai Ketan Rao was last seen in the Star Plus show Chashni, which premiered in March 2023. He has also made appearances in other series, including Mehndi Hai Rachne Waali, as well as several Telugu films and web series.

Sumbul Touqeer and Fahmaan Khan had made their mark as the lead actors of the show. However, in August 2022, Imlie took a significant leap of 20 years, introducing actors Karan Vohra and Megha Chakraborty as the new leads.
Zimbabweans recently went to the polls to elect a new president. Although the Zimbabwe Election Commission announced that incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa won the election, multiple observation missions have expressed deep concern and stated that the countrys electoral process did not meet regional and international standards for credibility.

Indeed, the Southern African Development Community and other international electoral observation missions cited problems with transparency, independence, fairness, and credibility at all stages of the electoral process.

The United States notes in particular the systemic bias against political opposition during the pre-election period and reports from respected civil society groups that Election Commission officials pressured election observers to sign altered polling station result forms. We call on the [Zimbabwe Election Commission] to make the disaggregated polling station results publicly available to increase confidence in the result tabulation process, said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement.

The United States is committed to the people of Zimbabwe and their right to choose their leaders in free and fair elections conducted in a transparent manner. We commend those who sought to exercise their right to vote peacefully, said spokesperson Miller. He went on to strongly condemn the intimidation and disruption of lawful election observers throughout the electoral period.

On August 23, the Zimbabwean government arrested staff from respected civil society organizations engaged in lawful election observation. These arrests prevented efforts to independently verify the Election Commissions announced results, a fundamental component of democratic processes in the region and around the world. Furthermore, threats directed against members of the [Southern African Development Community] Electoral Observation Mission are dangerous, said spokesperson Miller, and we call upon the government of Zimbabwe to cease these inflammatory and unacceptable attacks.

These actions belie President Mnangagwas repeated pledges to respect rule of law, transparency, and accountability. The United States is engaging with regional leaders to discuss their efforts to reengage the Zimbabwean government.

There is much at stake for the people of Zimbabwe and the region, said spokesperson Miller. We urge all Zimbabweans to remain peaceful and pursue grievances through established legal channels.
For quite some time now, red-faced rhesus macaques (a species of Old World monkey) have been causing chaos in New Delhi, creating fear among the population in and around the national capital. To prevent a recurrence of the alarming situation witnessed during the 2018 Elections, where troops of monkeys posed a significant threat around city offices, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has initiated a strategy. They are placing life-size cut-outs of grey langurs along the Central Ridge roads, aiming to deter rhesus monkeys from using these pathways and approaching locations relevant to the G20 Summit, which will be held on September 9-10 in Pragati Maidan.

Moreover, the civic body plans to employ 40 trained workers who will emulate the voice of grey langurs. These efforts aim to discourage monkeys from venturing near hotels and venues associated with the G20 Summit, as confirmed by knowledgeable senior officials. The langur cut-outs have been put up on an experimental basis, and we will have to see how much actual impact they have on the monkey density. We also have trained people who are experts in making sounds similar to langurs. They will be deployed at various sites across New Delhi to keep monkeys in check, explained Satish Upadhyay, NDMCs vice chairman.

Also Read: Move Over Bananas, Its Golgappa Time For This Monkey

However, some experts harbor skepticism about the efficacy of these measures. They are urging for a more comprehensive investigation to tackle the ongoing monkey issue in Delhi. Faiyaz Khudsar, the scientist overseeing Delhi Development Authoritys biodiversity parks program, emphasised, Even if such an experiment is being undertaken, movement is a critical factor, and stationary cut-outs may not help. They should put up these cut-outs in large numbers as multiple replications will be needed to ascertain the impact.

Khudsar highlighted the necessity to analyse multiple factors for effective interventions. Agencies must examine the movement patterns of monkey groups, their need to cross roads for specific habitats or water sources, and whether their activity increases significantly on important days due to food expectations.

In parallel, the monkey population has experienced rapid growth in Delhi and its neighbouring states, bolstered by their protected status. However, an official estimate of their exact numbers is not available.

Over the years, India has implemented various strategies to combat this issue. In the past, larger black-faced langurs, which are feared by macaques, were introduced to patrol critical areas. However, this approach was discontinued when it became illegal to keep langurs in captivity.

Also Read: Monkey Roaming Around Kuala Lumpur Airport Causes Chaos

Meanwhile, the outcome of employing langur cut-outs to deter monkey activity awaits observation!
As working people find themselves working to an older age with countries setting retirement age later, companies need to address the reality of working with multigenerational teams. Employers must now take into account the different needs of various age groups, including that of older adults. The growing presence of these workers is prompting some companies to offer leave to the grandparents that make up their ranks.

Fannie Mae, Booking and SentinelOne are among the companies now offering their employees this new kind of leave, according to Quartz magazine. They are entitled to it as soon as they become grandparents, whether through childbirth or adoption. This shows that companies see family and work-life balance as a benefit that can be useful for attracting and retaining employees.

At a time when workers are in short supply and the workforce is aging, companies are looking to a variety of means to make sure that employees are not tempted to see if the grass isnt greener elsewhere. And one area HR directors are exploring is the addition of grandparental leave to their arsenal of benefits to keep employees, along with remote working policies and flexible working hours. Grandparents do so much. The workforce is changing, people are working longer, and they are still in the workforce when they have grandkids. Its not a huge part of our workforce, but it is a key part of our workforce, Divya Ghatak, SentinelOnes Human Resources Director, told Quartz.

Also read: This Viral Video Will Make You Miss Your Grandmother A Bit More Today

For the time being, the cybersecurity firm only has a few employees potentially eligible for grandparental leave. But there could be many more in a few years time. Some 20% of Americans over 65 were still working in 2019, according to the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons). A growing number of retirees throughout the country are returning to work, due to the financial difficulties they face.

A balance between personal and professional life

A phenomenon that hasnt escaped the notice of companies like SentinelOne, which offer grandparental leave to their teams. [This measure] sent a really powerful message to the rest of the employee population that we are not just taking care of one constituent, Divya Ghatak explained to Quartz.

The idea of grandternity leave has only recently made its appearance in the United States, like the idea of unlimited vacation time previously. And its not that surprising that its in the US that it takes off, given that the country has no legal minimum for paid leave, and the average number of days of leave taken per worker is around 15 a year. In this context, grandparent leave is a way of boosting a companys attractiveness for recruiting talent.

While few companies have actually created a dedicated policy, a much larger number offer their employees a degree of organizational flexibility so that they can balance their professional and family priorities. Working Americans are no longer prepared to sacrifice their lives outside work to further their careers. In fact, its become a consideration of the utmost importance. For example, 82% of Americans in blue-collar jobs would rather have an extra weeks vacation than an annual salary increase of $2,000, according to a survey of 19,500 hourly workers conducted by recruitment specialist EmployBridge.

Leaders and managers are trying to adapt to this phenomenon, by taking into account the personal grievances of their employees and offering them arrangements that allow them to continue to work while fulfilling their family or personal life duties. A balancing act in line with recent developments in the world of work.
From Greece to Hawaii and Canada, many countries and regions have been severely affected by wildfires this summer, with all the environmental and health consequences that result. In addition to effects on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, inhalation of these fumes may also be harmful for brain health, potentially even leading to neurocognitive or mood disorders, as a new study reveals.

Increasingly frequent and intense droughts and heatwaves encourage the outbreak of forest fires, which can then spread rapidly due to the wind or the nature of the vegetation and soil, sometimes spiraling out of control. We saw several examples of this phenomenon this summer in Greece and other parts of Europe, North America, the Pacific and North Africa.

Its a phenomenon that has serious consequences on both the environment and human health, as Frances Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety. (Anses) outlined this summer. The French administrative body explains that inhalation of these fumes, which can generate suspended particles, carbon monoxide and other chemical substances, can cause respiratory and cardiovascular effects, and is particularly damaging to firefighters and people with chronic respiratory conditions and cardiovascular disease.

Also read: The Devastating Impact Of Hawaii Wildfires On Earth, Courtesy ISS

But there could be an even greater impact on health. Thats according to a new study by researchers at the University of New Mexicos Health Sciences, which links wildfire smoke to brain health. Their research, published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation, reveals more specifically that inhalation of such smoke could be responsible for inflammation of the brain and that such inflammation persists for at least a month. The inflammatory process affects the hippocampus  the brain region associated with learning and memory  altering neurotransmitters and signaling molecules, explains Professor Matthew Campen, one of the studys authors, via a press release.

Risk of neurocognitive disorders

For their research, the scientists exposed rodents to smoke from a wood fire every other day for two weeks. At the end of the experiment, they identified pro- and anti-inflammatory responses when tiny particles of smoke managed to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB)  whose function is to prevent, among other things, the passage of foreign substances, sometimes toxic, and other pathogenic agents, into the brain. Whats more, this inflammation was not short-term, and may even be long-lasting.

We were able to measure the inflammatory response amplitude and time frames. We expected it to be a lot shorter. Some of it progressed out to 28 days and we didnt see a complete resolution, and that was very scary to us, says David Scieszka, who led the research. This observation is all the more alarming as forest fires are multiplying at speed around the world, exposing a growing number of people to these unhealthy fumes.

According to the researcher Matthew Campen, neuroinflammation is the seed for all kinds of bad things in the brain, including dementia, Alzheimers disease  the buildup of the plaques  but also alterations in neurodevelopment in early life and mood disorders throughout life. He adds: If youre a firefighter, or if youre just a citizen in a community that has had some of these dramatic smoke exposures, you could be having neurocognitive or mood disorders weeks or months or weeks after the event.

In the event of a forest fire, the French government recommends staying indoors  provided your home is not in danger  and plugging air vents. It is also advisable to apply a damp cloth over mouth and nose to avoid inhaling the smoke. Some experts also recommend wearing an N95 mask, designed to filter out particles potentially harmful to health and using an air purifier, preferably fitted with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter.
In a tale that seems almost scripted for a Hollywood movie, an American couple who share a birthday found themselves at the center of an extraordinary event. Scierra Blair, 32, and her partner Jose Ervin Jr, 31, were not only born on the same date but also managed to defy astronomical odds by welcoming twins into the world on that very day. The odds of a child sharing a birthday with both parents are approximately 1-in-133,000, making this occurrence a true rarity. Their bundle of joy arrived on none other than August 18, turning their joint birthday into a double celebration of epic proportions.

Also Read: Texas Couple Welcomes Twins Born in 2022 and 2023 But They are Only 5 Minutes Apart

The couple, born a year apart on the auspicious date of August 18, had initially looked forward to the arrival of their twins a few weeks after their shared birthday bash. However, fate had a different plan. On August 17, Blair received surprising news from her doctor: one of the twins had taken up an unconventional breech position in her uterus, a situation uncommon for her stage of pregnancy. Due to this, a cesarean section surgery was deemed the safest option for delivering the twins.

Around 4:30 p.m., Blair arrived at Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital for the scheduled procedure. As the hours ticked away and their birthdays neared, Ervin had a unique request for the medical staff: he inquired whether it would be safe to delay the C-section until after midnight so that the twins could share their birthdays. The medical team reassured them that waiting a few more hours posed no particular risk. Encouraged by this, Ervin asked Blair to hold off until they could all celebrate together. After Ervins mother also joined in the plea, Blair agreed, humourously remarking, I agreed, but I told them they owed me a week of potato salad, as she mentioned to People magazine.

As the clock struck midnight, Jose Ervin III made his entrance into the world, closely followed by his sister Arria Lannette Ervin just a minute later. Both twins weighed a little over 5 lbs each.

Also Read: US Couple Who Was Married for 79 Years Passes Away Hours Apart

We can just do one big celebration, do it all at one time, and that would be beautiful, Ervin reflected, envisioning future birthday parties that would combine the joyous occasions.
Dozens of Chinese nationals were arrested in Indonesia on suspicion of running an online love scam syndicate that ensnared hundreds of victims in China, police said Wednesday. Acting on a tip-off from their Chinese counterparts, Indonesian police arrested 83 men and five women at an industrial park in Batam city in Riau Islands province on Tuesday.

Police said the syndicate blackmailed hundreds of victims in China, many of whom were public officials. We are investigating if there are any Indonesians among the victims. If there are none, the scammers will be deported immediately, Riau Islands police spokesman Zahwani Pandra Arsyad told AFP on Wednesday.

The alleged scammers pretended to have romantic feelings for their victims during video calls. The women scammers are accused of seducing the victims before asking them to engage in sexual acts during the calls while other suspects recorded the videos.

The suspects then allegedly blackmailed their victims, threatening to release the videos on social media if they refused to send them money. It is unclear how long the group had been operating and how much they had earned.

Police had previously said many scammers had moved to Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries after China cracked down on domestic networks. In 2019, police arrested 85 Chinese nationals and six Indonesians over an online scam that tricked victims out of millions of dollars.
The five Kenyan officers allegedly involved in the murder of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif resumed their duties as authorities in Nairobi did not take any action against them. A report by Pakistans Geo News said that the police officers involved are back to work and two of those five officers have been promoted to senior ranks.

The five allegedly involved officers are also enjoying full police perks as well.

Arshad Sharif was killed in October 2022 at a roadblock in a remote part of Kenya. The Kenyan Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (IPOA) which at that time said that it would make the findings of the probe into the journalists murder public within weeks has not made any finding public in nine months.

The Pakistani media outlet said the Kenyan IPOA refused to answer questions regarding the reinstatement of the police officers as well.

Geo News in its report claimed that the Kenyan probe into the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif has gone silent.

Kevin Kimuyu Mutuku, a police officer attached to the General Service Unit (GSU), who was allegedly shot at the scene of crime where Sharif was killed immediately returned to work after he was released from the hospital. Mutuku claims the shots were fired from inside the car but the Geo News report cited that the forensic investigation does not align with the claim.

Sharif arrived in Kenya on August 20 and died on October 23 in a shootout but Khurram Ahmad survived miraculously sparking speculations as to what led to Sharifs mother.

Arshad Sharif fled Pakistan in August to avoid arrest after he was slapped with several cases including sedition charges. He had interviewed Shahbaz Gill, a former aide of Imran Khan.

After fleeing to Kenya he was living at the Riverside penthouse of businessman Waqar Ahmad, the brother of the driver Khurram Ahmad.

Geo News said that the National Police Service (NPS) in Kenya slowed down the investigation because its own members were involved. Kenyas Human Rights Commission member Martin Mavenjina told Geo News that it was clear that the National Police Service in Kenya is not interested in a detailed probe. He said the time taken by the police shows they are not interested in pursuing the case.

Martin Mavenjina told Geo News that Sharifs family may not end up getting justice.

Mavenjina said that there is lack of political goodwill as well which has resulted in the delay.

We have already learnt that the deceased was an outspoken journalist. He was loved and hated on equal measure. If there was a positive political goodwill then automatically the investigations by now could have been concluded, Mavenjina was quoted as saying by Geo News.

Former Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Siddiqui told Geo News that the Kenyan Police were privy to this planned murder.

I have no doubt in my mind that Kenyan Police were privy to this planned murder. It is so painful for the family of Arshad Sharif that even those officials who played the role of hired assassins have been let free and brought back to their rank, Siddiqui was quoted as saying.

All eyes are now on caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar who visits Kenya next month, with caretaker foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, at the invitation of Kenyan President William Ruto.
China is increasingly flexing its military muscle to intimidate Taiwan and allowing the democratic island to meaningfully participate in the UN system would demonstrate the global bodys determination to unite for peace, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said on Wednesday.

Chinas expansionism does not stop at Taiwan and its use of gray-zone activities in the East and South China seas are designed to expand its power and substantiate its hawkish territorial claims, Wu said, days after Beijing came out with a new map reflecting its cartographic aggression.

Beijing considers Taiwan as its breakaway province and insists it should be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary. Taiwan, however, sees itself as completely distinct from China.

In an article, the Taiwanese foreign minister said Russias invasion of Ukraine is a reminder of how autocracies care little about causing death and destruction and that it is imperative to deter similar threats to global peace and security.

On Monday, Beijing released the 2023 edition of the so-called standard map of China that includes Taiwan, the South China Sea, Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as Chinese territory. India has dismissed the map and lodged a strong protest with China over it.

Taiwan, a democracy that is home to over 23 million people, continues to confront challenges from China.

In the piece, released to the media here by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center, said the people of Taiwan have remained calm in safeguarding the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait for decades.

However, as Chinas economic and military might has grown stronger, it becomes increasingly aggressive in flexing its military muscle to intimidate Taiwan, thereby threatening our democratic way of life, Wu said.

This includes sending warplanes and ships across the median line of the Taiwan Strait and encroaching into our air defence identification zones. It has also intensified gray-zone tactics, such as disinformation and economic coercion, in an attempt to wear down our will to fight, he wrote.

The Taiwanese foreign minister said Chinas expansionism does not stop at Taiwan.

Chinas use of gray-zone activities in the East and South China Seas are designed to expand its power and substantiate its hawkish territorial claims, he said.

In addition to signing a security agreement with Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, the PRC (Peoples Republic of China) has been securing ports for future military use in the Indian Ocean. All of these maneuvers are causing grave concerns that peace is becoming more difficult to maintain, he said.

Wu said the Taiwan Strait is indispensable to global security arguing that half of the worlds commercial container traffic passes through it each day.

Taiwan produces the majority of the worlds semiconductors and plays a key role in global supply chains. Any conflict in the area would have disastrous consequences for the global economy, he said.

Describing the United Nations as the best platform for global discourse, he said time has come for allowing it to be part of the UN system.

UN officials speak often of joint solutions, solidarity, and inclusion in tackling the pressing issues of our time. Taiwan is more than willing and able to take part in these efforts, he said.

However, Taiwan continues to be excluded from the UN due to Chinas distortion of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, Wu said, This resolution neither states that Taiwan is a part of the PRC nor gives the PRC the right to represent the people of Taiwan in the UN and its specialised agencies, he added.

He claimed that misrepresentation of Resolution 2758 contradicts the basic principles upheld by the UN Charter and must be rectified.

In recent years, bilateral and multilateral forums have repeatedly emphasized that the peace and stability over the Taiwan Strait is indispensable to global security, Wu said.

While we can all agree that the war must be avoided, how to best do so requires inclusion, dialogue, and, most of all, unity, he said.

Wu further said that it is vital to make China and other authoritarian governments aware that they will be held accountable and to urge them to settle differences through peaceful means. Allowing Taiwan to meaningfully participate in the UN system would benefit the worlds efforts to address pressing global issues, he added.

Though India and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic ties, the bilateral trade relations have been on an upswing.

In 1995, New Delhi set up the India-Taipei Association (ITA) in Taipei to promote interactions between the two sides and to facilitate business, tourism and cultural exchanges.

India-Taipei Association has also been authorised to provide all consular and passport services.

In the same year, Taiwan too established the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in Delhi.
Facing backlash from the Indian side over its standard map for 2023, China on Wednesday downplayed the controversy calling it a routine practice and urged India to stay objective and calm and refrain from over-interpreting the issue.

India has rejected claims by China over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin in its latest map and lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the neighbouring country.

Asked for his reaction to Indias diplomatic protest by a Chinese state-run outlet, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing on Wednesday that on August 23, the Ministry of National Resources of China released the 2023 edition of the standard map.

It is a routine practice in Chinas exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law. We hope relevant sides can stay objective and calm, and refrain from over-interpreting the issue, Wang said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in a statement, on Tuesday said such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory. We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question, the MEA said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also slammed China for making absurd claims and said it does not change anything.

China has put out maps with territories (that are) not theirs. (It is an) old habit. Just by putting out maps with parts of India this doesnt change anything. Our government is very clear about what our territory. Making absurd claims does not make other peoples territories yours, the EAM told NDTV.

The release of the controversial map comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Xi Jinping at the BRICS Summit in South Africa. Apart from Arunachal Pradesh, the map reflects Chinese claims over the Aksai Chin region, Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.

India has repeatedly said that the state of Arunachal Pradesh has always been and will always be an integral part of the country.

The 2023 edition of Chinas standard map was officially released on Monday and launched on the website of the standard map service hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources, state-run Global Times said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. This map is compiled based on the drawing method of the national boundaries of China and various countries in the world, the post said.

(With PTI inputs)
Ukraine War: A Russian airport near the border with Estonia came under drone attack, the local governor said on Wednesday, with reports that planes were damaged.

Regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov, who said he was at the scene of the attack, posted a video on Telegram of a massive fire, with the sounds of explosions and sirens in the background.

A drone attack has been repelled in Pskov airport, Vedernikov wrote, adding authorities were assessing the damage but there were no casualties.

Pskov is located roughly 800 kilometres (nearly 500 miles) from Ukraines border and the surrounding region borders EU member states Latvia and Estonia.

There was no immediate comment from the defence ministry but four heavy transport planes were reportedly damaged.

All Wednesday flights at the airport were cancelled, Vedernikov wrote, until the nature of the possible damage to the runway is clarified.

State news agency TASS, citing emergency services, said that four Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transport planes had been damaged.

Citing air traffic services, TASS also reported that airspace above Moscows Vnukovo airport had been closed.

The region of Pskov was previously targeted by drones in May.

Moscow and other Russian regions have been targeted in recent weeks by a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks after Kyiv vowed this summer to return the conflict to Russia.

Ukraine War: Black Sea ships

Moscow later said forces had destroyed four Ukrainian boats carrying up to 50 troops in the Black Sea.

An aircraft destroyed four high-speed military boats around midnight Moscow time (2100 GMT), the Russian defence ministry wrote on Telegram.

The ministry said the boats had been carrying landing groups of Ukrainian special operations forces with a total number of up to 50 people.

It did not give details on exactly where in the Black Sea the incident took place.

Both Ukraine and Russia have ramped up activity in the area after a United Nations-brokered deal to ensure safe navigation for grain ships in the Black Sea collapsed last month.

Russia has since pounded Ukraines port infrastructure on the sea and on the Danube River.

Kyiv has attacked Russian ships in its waters and the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Last week, Moscows defence ministry said one of its jets destroyed a Ukrainian reconnaissance boat near Russian gas production facilities in the Black Sea.

It later said it also destroyed a US-made speedboat carrying Ukrainian troops east of Snake Island, without providing further detail.
Hurricane Idalia will most likely make landfall in Florida early Wednesday morning (local time) and residents as well as nearby states are bracing for impact. The American National Hurricane Center (NHC) expects Hurricane Idalia will reach Category III major hurricane before making landfall on the Gulf coast of Florida.

Here are five things to know about Hurricane Idalia:
Press Release

August 30, 2023 CHIZ SAYS BI SHOULD REIMBURSE PASSENGERS WHO MISSED FLIGHTS DUE TO LONG INTERROGATION Senator Chiz Escudero wants the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to reimburse the travel expenses of the more than 32,000 passengers that were offloaded from their flights due to prolonged interrogation by immigration officers "in the guise of fighting human trafficking." In a manifestation supporting the privilege speech of Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri this afternoon denouncing the new departure rules issued by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), Escudero said immigration officers should be held accountable for the woes of these offloaded travelers. The new policy, which is set to take effect on September 3, has been heavily criticized by the public in various social media platforms, especially the additional paper requirements that make international travels tedious and complicated. "Hinahayaan dapat silang magbiyahe at hayaan nating 'yung bansang kanilang pupuntahan ang tumingin at magtanong: meron ka bang pambayad sa hotel? May insurance ka ba? Dahil bago sila inisyuhan ng visa, Mr. President, tiningnan at hiningi na lahat 'yan ng mga embassies. Bakit kailangan pa ipresenta muli sa ating mga immigration officers sa airports?" Escudero asked. To teach the BI a lesson, Escudero said they should pay for the troubles they caused Filipinos wanting to travel. "May I seek the chamber's support that we include a provision in the proposed 2024 national budget that these 32,404 passengers and anyone who will be offloaded will be reimbursed in so far as their expenses is concerned," Escudero said. "This will be chargeable against the immigration fees being collected by the BI since a percentage of this goes to them anyway. Let it hurt them, Mr. President, so that they learn their lessons and they exercise the power given to them not arbitrarily but with due diligence and care," he added. According to BI records, a total of 32,404 Filipino passengers were not allowed to proceed with their flights last year, of which 472 were found to be victims of human trafficking or illegal recruitment. The Bicolano senator, however said, that up to this time, "there is no proof and final decision that says that indeed those offloaded will be engaged in prostitution or human trafficking." "Therefore, it just behooves government to reimburse these 32, 404 retroactively, even for previous years, chargeable from the fees collected by the Immigration and I hope that you, Mr. President, can lead us insofar as inserting that special provision in the budget of the BI for 2024," he pointed out. Senate President Zubiri thanked Escudero for his manifestation and assured the veteran legislator that he will ensure that a special provision on the matter will be carved during the budget deliberation for next year's budget.
On 1 February 2021, three months after losing a national election by a landslide, Burma's military staged a coup detat and arrested the countrys elected civilian leaders. Much of the population of Myanmar, also known as Burma, rose up in mostly peaceful protests which continue to this day.

And to this day, the ruling junta continues to try to put down the protests, using increasingly brutal methods. The last months have seen unrelenting violence across Myanmar, notes a joint statement condemning the regimes actions and signed by 13 members of the United Nations Security Council, including the United States. Russia and China, as well as India, whose term on the Council had ended, abstained from voting.

More than two and a half years since the state of emergency imposed by the military in Myanmar on 1 February 2021, we remain deeply concerned at the situation in Myanmar and its impact on the people of Myanmar, said the statement.

The latest report on Burma from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights concludes that the military regime has persistently targeted civilians through air strikes and the razing of populated areas, said U.S. Representative to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

A similar report by the Human Rights Council-mandated Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar states that there is strong evidence that the Burma military and its affiliate militias have committed war crimes with increasing frequency and brazenness  including indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks on civilians by aerial bombing, she said.

Just two months after the coup, Burmas military leaders agreed to a plan put forward by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. The plan required an immediate cessation of violence, and dialogue among all parties mediated by an ASEAN envoy. Subsequently, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2669, which also calls for an immediate end to violence in Burma, urges restraint, demands the release of arbitrarily detained prisoners, and calls for the full implementation of the ASEAN plan. According to the UN, there has been insufficient progress on implementing resolution 2669.

The regimes horrific atrocities must stop. Given the Burmese military regimes intransigence and continued human rights abuses, it is time for the Security Council to act beyond Resolution 2669, said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield.

We stand in solidarity with the people of Burma as they call for a return to peace, democratic governance, and the rule of law.
Kuala Lumpur rejected Wednesday a new Chinese map that claims waters off Malaysias coast in the South China Sea, in the latest war of words between the Asian allies over Beijings assertiveness in the waterway.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea  through which trillions of dollars in trade pass annually  despite an international court ruling that Beijings entitlement has no legal basis.

Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei also have overlapping claims in parts of the sea, while the United States sends naval vessels through it to assert freedom of navigation in international waters.

China released a standard map this week that included its unilateral claims in the sea, which overlap with Malaysias exclusive economic zone off the coast of the Sabah and Sarawak states on Borneo island.

Malaysia does not recognise Chinas claims in the South China Sea, as outlined in the China Standard Map 2023 Edition which covers Malaysias maritime area, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Describing the South China Sea issue as complex and sensitive, Kuala Lumpur said the dispute must be handled peacefully and rationally through dialogue based on international law.

Malaysia also said it supported the creation of a Code of Conduct for the sea, which Southeast Asian nations are currently negotiating.

Kuala Lumpur summoned Beijings envoy in 2021 after Chinese vessels entered its exclusive economic zone.

Malaysia says the South China Sea area it claims north of Borneo island  including five maritime features in the Spratly Islands chain  falls within that zone.

In recent years, China has ramped up development of artificial islands and outfitted some with military facilities and runways.

Other Southeast Asian nations have also accused Chinese vessels of harassing their fishing boats.
A senior police officer who headed the anti-narcotics wing of Lahore police is being accused of being involved in cross-border drug smuggling via drones. The Lahore Deputy Inspector General Imran Kishwar said a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) was involved and a case has been registered against him by the Anti Narcotics Force (ANF).

ALSO READ | WATCH | Pak Official Admits Smugglers Using Drones to Smuggle Drugs across Punjab Border

Cops said the drones would drop off drug bundles at a given location in Indias Punjab state and then return and smugglers on both sides of the border would connect with each other and arrange the drop. The payments for the drugs would be made in the UAE, the Dawn said in its report.

It also emerged that a frontman was working for the cop and the business was going for several years.

We have constituted a high-powered committee of senior police officers to further expand the scope of the investigation into the illegal cross-border smuggling of the drug, the DIG was quoted as saying by the Dawn.

The issue first came to light in July when a drone carrying six kilos of drugs, worth millions, crashed outside Lahore. Around the same time Malik Mohd Ahmad Khan, a top Pakistan government official, told news channels in Pakistan that smugglers in Pakistan are using drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to smuggle drugs across the border into India from the border town of Kasur.

The smugglers were transferring methamphetamine from Lahore to India.

Probe revealed that senior police officer Mazhar Iqbal was involved in the alleged smuggling. He has secured an interim bail after a case was registered against him.

Iqbal arrested a smuggler and recovered 35 kilos of heroin from him but he allegedly let the man off the hook after taking a PKR 75 million bribe (Rs 2,05,18,043). He also recovered three vehicles.

However, in the official report Iqbal wrote he recovered merely 450 grams of heroin from the smuggler who ran his operations from the Cantt area.

Later the ANF carried out another raid where the smuggler and a frontman for the DSP were nabbed in connection with cross-border smuggling.

The frontman, now a prime suspect, claims he was privately working for the DSP in the cross-border smuggling of meth and added that the business had been going on for the past several years.
A man in Pakistans Faisalabad allegedly committed suicide after he failed to pay an electricity bill amounting to PKR 40,000 on Tuesday. The 35-year-old man Muhammad Hamza was facing financial constraints and was struggling to provide for his family. His family said that when he could not pay the bills he shot himself dead. The deceased has left behind two minor children.

ALSO READ | Why Electricity Bills have Led to Countrywide Protests in Pakistan & Who are Supporting it | Explained

Pakistan is burning as protests against inflated electricity bills are drawing ire from the common man. People have burned electricity bills in protests and several marches and rallies have been taken out demanding a relief.

In Pakistans Sargodha, the Sargodha Chamber of Commerce and Industry and district bar association while a large number of the general public joined to protest against the inflated power bills. The protesters said they would not deposit the bills and said any attempts to sever the electricity will be stopped.

Traders along with office-bearers of Dera Ghazi Khan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and common people protested against the inflated power bills in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Protests were also taken out in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with traders there protesting against the inflated power bills. A shutter-down and wheel-jam strike against power bills and other issues of public concern will be held on Thursday.

The government is also unsure how to tackle the crisis as it balances itself amid three separate issues of concern. First, an economic downturn, which means Pakistanis do not have enough money for essentials and inflated power bills means more problems for them.

Second, the Pakistan government has made promises to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and it does not want to come up with any relief measures and draw its ire.

Third, if citizens keep getting enraged, it could lead Pakistan to end up in a state of unmitigated political, social and economic crisis.

Polices role is likely going to trigger more unrest as it arrested 158 people for protesting. The issue is also being politicised as coalition partner, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as well as the Jamaat-i-Islami have sided with protesters and called for more protests.

The interim government headed by Pakistan interim Prime Minister Anwar Ul Haq Kakar will not be able to provide any relief as they do not have the power to but they said they can help ease the burden by breaking up the bills into four to six instalments but that would also require IMFs nod.
Prince Harry has opened up about the emotional challenges he encountered after returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan during his time with the British army. Looking back on his mothers death when he was 12 years old, the Duke of Sussex revealed that the trauma resurfaced upon his return from the war-torn country.

In his Heart of Invictus docuseries on Netflix, Harry revealed how the lack of a support structure and expert advice led him to suppress his emotions, Sky News reported. He said that mental illness was a dirty word when he first joined the military, adding that he wants to cure the stigma around it.

He discussed how his Afghanistan tour in 2012 led to an unraveling, making him confront emotions dating back to 1997 when he lost his mother, Princess Diana. Despite his initial silence on the matter, Harry said the unresolved trauma eventually surfaced, overwhelming him.

Look, I can only speak for my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unravelling and the trigger for me was actually returning from Afghanistan, he said.

Prince Harry undertook two deployments in Afghanistan at a time when the democratically elected government in the country was fighting the Taliban, along with its Western allies. From 2007 to 2008, he had functioned as a forward air controller. From 2012 to 2013, he served as an Apache helicopter pilot. His deployment was in Camp Bastion in a Taliban stronghold then.

Harrys first deployment saw him encounter several close calls to death. One instance involved a close call with a Taliban rocket-propelled grenade, and another necessitated an emergency landing due to gunfire damage. During the second deployment was less eventful, the Duke remained exposed to combat risks. Engaging in firefights and airstrikes, he coped with the pressures of being a target for the Taliban.

The Heart of Invictus docuseries, which took over two years to create, follows Invictus Games participants worldwide as they prepare for the tournament Harry founded for wounded armed forces personnel. In the series, the former British Royal introduced himself as a husband, father of two, and a supporter of the Invictus cause.

Earlier, in his memoir titled Spare: A Memoir, Harry disclosed that he was responsible for the deaths of 25 people while stationed in the landlocked country. He revealed that while he didnt find joy in taking lives, he believed it was his responsibility to safeguard his fellow soldiers.
A top panel of British lawmakers has described Taiwan as an independent country that possesses all the qualifications for statehood. This reference in the House of Commons Committee report is expected to rile China, given its assertive claim over the democratic island.

Taiwan is already an independent country, under the name Republic of China (ROC). Taiwan, including a permanent population, a defined territory, government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states  it is only lacking greater international recognition, read the report, spearheaded by the committees chair Alicia Kearns.

This morning we publish our report on the Indo-Pacific Tilt.We conclude the shift in focus is absolutely right  the eastward shift globally is undeniable. But the Govt has yet to fully capitalise on its flagship foreign policy. We call for the Govt to: https://t.co/sdbRXN0hH4  Alicia Kearns MP (@aliciakearns) August 30, 2023

This report follows PM Rishi Sunaks efforts to manage China ties following continued tensions. Though Beijing is Londons fourth-largest trading partner, concerns remain on rights issues in Hong Kong and Beijings support for Russia amid the Ukraine war.

In the report titled Tilting Horizons: The Integrated Review and the Indo-Pacific, British MPs have urged their government to form a more coherent and unified approach to China.

Concern over a lack of consistent and coherent policy on China that was creating uncertainty for the business community was expressed by a representative of the UK business sector in the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee inquiry into the UK and Chinas security and trade relationship, it added.

The lawmakers described Beijing as a threat to the UK and its interests, saying that Increased assertiveness is inherent within competition between nations, however, the behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party is currently characterised by increased aggression towards the UK.

In the 87-page report, the committee also urged Foreign Secretary Cleverly and PM Sunak to release an unclassified version of their China strategy and to expand cooperation with Taiwan.

The Government should urgently publish an unclassified version of its China Strategy to ensure cross-government coherence and also publish sector-specific guidance to support, in particular, industries of critical national importance, national security, or data-intensive industries, the report read.

Incidentally, the House of Commons report was released as Cleverly was meeting top-level Chinese officials in Beijing for the first time in five years. His trip was met with criticism back home but the Foreign Secretary insists some engagement with the worlds second-largest economy is key to furthering national interests.

Speaking to the BBC, Cleverly stressed that his visit aimed to address areas of disagreement directly and collaborate in mutual interests. He argued the importance of re-establishing communication lines to avoid misinterpretations, mistrust, and errors resulting from limited face-to-face engagement.
The UK government needs a more coherent and unified approach to China if its so-called tilt towards the Asia-Pacific region is to succeed, a critical report by MPs said Wednesday.

Ministers should publish an unclassified version of the China strategy as part of a coordinated, whole-of-government approach, the 87-page report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said. It brands Beijing a threat to the UK and its interests, arguing that the behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party is currently characterised by increased aggression towards Britain.

The report also urges London to develop deterrence diplomacy, increasing resilience and defence-orientated policies with allies, to counter Chinese threats and protect the self-determination of the people of Taiwan.

The papers publication  following two years of evidence-gathering and research  coincides with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly arriving in Beijing, in the first visit by Britains top diplomat for over five years.

He has faced criticism for the trip but insists some engagement with China is necessary to further UK national interests and promote stable bilateral relations. However, the cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee said that aim has been hindered by the governments own internal incoherence towards the region.

It appears that there is confusion in Whitehall about the tilt to the Indo-Pacific, stemming from a failure to explain the policy, and its implications for resource allocation, across government, said the report, using another name for the Asia-Pacific region. It urged greater clarity on detail and concrete steps to help deliver the shift.

 Vacuum 

The UK first detailed its strategic tilt towards the Asia-Pacific region in March 2021, as part of the biggest overhaul of security, defence and foreign policy in decades.

Touted as Global Britain repositioning itself post-Brexit, it was seen as an overdue response to Chinas growing geopolitical importance. The shift includes deepening ties with its regional rivals, such as India and Japan, as well as members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Other key areas include bolstering regional relationships in everything from military and space to cutting-edge technologies. But more than two years on, Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said there is still too much unsaid around the policy.

Strengthening our diplomatic, defensive and economic ties in the Indo-Pacific is critical  if the West leaves a vacuum, China will eagerly fill it, she added, highlighting a raft of recommendations.

They include announcing zero tolerance of transnational repression, including being prepared to expel foreign diplomats involved in intimidating or attacking British citizens or those given refuge in the UK.

London should engage with Taiwan to secure domestic investment in the semiconductor and wind industries, and build an alternative supply source for advanced semiconductors and wind energy components, the report urged.

The UK must expand alliances such as the AUKUS defence pact with Australia and the United States, and join the Quad strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the United States, it added. Britain should also further develop economic and people-to-people ties with Asia-Pacific countries, according to the report.
Ukrainian drones damaged at least two military planes at an airport in Russias northwest, officials said Wednesday, as several other Russian regions were targeted in a massive overnight attack.

The attack on Pskov airport, roughly 700 kilometres (more than 400 miles) from the border with Ukraine, marked the latest strike to rock Russian territory since Kyiv vowed to return the conflict to Russia in July.

Regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said on social media that a drone attack had been repelled in Pskov airport, adding there were no casualties but that authorities were assessing the damage.

Vedernikov, who said he was at the scene of the attack in the small hours of Wednesday, posted a video showing a large fire and smoke on the skyline, as blasts and sirens could be heard in the background.

Later footage shared by the governor showed a barrage of outgoing fire from what appeared to be Russian air defences.

There was no immediate comment from the defence ministry, which said in the early hours of the morning it had downed a wave of drones in several other regions.

State news agency TASS, citing emergency services, said four Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transport planes were damaged in the attack in Pskov.

The emergencies ministry said at least two Il-76 military transport planes had caught fire at the airport.

Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the attack showed that the conflict was moving closer to Russian territory and that this could not be stopped.

However he added that Ukraine strictly adheres to the obligation not to use the weapons of its partners to strike inside Russia.

The airport cancelled flights on Wednesday after the attack, but will resume normal operations Thursday, governor Vedernikov said.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that military experts were working to find out which routes the drones were taking in order to prevent such situations in the future.

Indeed, the terrorist activity of the Kyiv regime continues, with an overwhelming number of drones flying precisely at civilian targets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The region of Pskov, which was also targeted by drones in late May, is surrounded by NATO members Estonia and Latvia to its west and Belarus to its south.
The U.S. military is in talks to develop a civilian port in the remote northernmost islands of the Philippines, the local governor and two other officials told Reuters, a move that would boost American access to strategically located islands facing Taiwan.

U.S. military involvement in the proposed port in the Batanes islands, less than 200 km (125 miles) from Taiwan, could stoke tensions at a time of growing friction with China and a drive by Washington to intensify its longstanding defence treaty engagement with the Philippines.

The Bashi Channel between those islands and Taiwan is considered a choke point for vessels moving between the western Pacific and the contested South China Sea and a key waterway in the case of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The Chinese military regularly sends ships and aircraft through the channel, Taiwans defence ministry has said.

Marilou Cayco, the provincial governor of the Batanes islands, told Reuters in a message she had sought funding from the U.S. for the building of an an alternative port there, which was intended to assist the unloading of cargo from the capital, Manila, during rough seas in the monsoon season.

She said the plans were to build a port on Basco island, where local authorities say high waves often make the existing port inaccessible, and that a decision could be made in October.

The Philippines has in the past year almost doubled the number of its military bases that U.S. forces can access, ostensibly for humanitarian assistance, and also has thousands of U.S. troops in the country at any given time, rotating in and out for joint training exercises. China has said these U.S. moves were stoking the fire of regional tensions.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposed port in Basco. Two other Filipino officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media, said U.S troops had visited Batanes recently to discuss the port.

One, a senior military official, said the Filipino armed forces were interested in radar and improving monitoring capabilities in the area. Cayco confirmed the visit, saying they came one time to assess the proposed alternative port. The move comes as Washington pursues closer ties with Asian nations to counter China in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines, its former colony and treaty ally.

Kanishka Gangopadhyay, a spokesperson for the U.S embassy in Manila, said U.S. Embassy and U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) experts had been engaging the governor and local government, at their request, to discuss ways USARPAC can support engineering, medical, and agricultural development projects in the province. He did not mention the port specifically.

MARCOS INCREASES U.S. ACCESS

Previous President Rodrigo Duterte had threatened to scrap the U.S.-Philippines alliance and realign the country with Beijing but relations between China and the Philippines have grown tense under the current president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Marcos, the son and namesake of the disgraced late strongman president, has sought closer ties with Washington, granting it access to four more military bases, including several close to Taiwan, though not in Batanes, and announced joint patrols in the South China Sea. Marcos has said the bases under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) could prove useful if China attacked Taiwan.

Security officials in Manila said they believed any military conflict in the Taiwan Strait would inevitably affect the Philippines, given its geographic proximity to Taiwan and the presence of over 150,000 Filipinos on the democratically-governed island.

Batanes also served as one of the training sites during this years joint military exercises, known as Balikatan, which involved more than 17,000 Filipino and American troops, making it the biggest ever edition of the military drill.

At the time of the exercise, Cayco said she was seeking investment to build seaports and airports in the island province that is home to 18,000 people. The province could harbour Filipinos fleeing Taiwan if conflict breaks out there and residents have been worried about mounting tensions, according to local government officials.

The Philippines and China have also clashed in recent months over disputed waters in the South China Sea, with Chinese vessels firing water cannons on a Filipino vessel trying to send supplies to an outpost.

Cayco said she didnt have any conversation with the U.S. about EDCA or about radar installations. She also said there had not yet been discussions about what access the U.S would have to the proposed port, but troops could use all ports in the area for regular military exercises like the Balikatan.

Jay Batongbacal, maritime affairs expert at the University of the Philippines, said the proposed port would certainly be needed for the islands defence in a worst case scenario. If I were a Chinese strategist, I would want to take the Batanes at minimum in order to ensure control of the Luzon straits and use the island to prevent the approach of adversary naval forces, he said.
"We are so excited to have the goats join us for a day on the town to celebrate their hard work clearing vegetation around power lines," said Michelle Blaise, Senior Vice President of Technical Services at ComEd. "This event highlights one of the many innovative and sustainable ways ComEd works to avoid outages and provide continued reliability to families and businesses across northern Illinois."

The goats will take a driving tour of Chicago on an all-electric ComEd truck with members of the ComEd team between 11 and 3pm with 30-minute stops at Pioneer Court beginning at 11:30, 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30 on Tuesday, August 29. All members of the public are invited to meet the goats at Pioneer Court while learning more about ComEd's efforts to improve grid reliability and resiliency in our region.

Since 2019, over 200 goats have supported ComEd in clearing vegetation in places that are difficult for human crews to access and safely address in northern Illinois. The goats play a critical role in helping ComEd avoid outages and service disruptions due to overgrown vegetation near power lines. This is the second year the goats have supported vegetation management in Matthiessen State Park, with plans to return in 2024.

Among its benefits, the program drives maximum efficiency of this work, cutting the cost and time needed to clear the area by more than half, while also reducing safety risks for workers and air emissions from fuel-burning equipment.

To learn more about the goats, visit ComEd.com/Goats.

ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ: EXC), a Fortune 250 energy company with approximately 10 million electricity and natural gas customers - the largest number of customers in the U.S. ComEd powers the lives of more than 4 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population. For more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
The handling of spent nuclear fuel has been a source of debate since the first commercial exploitation of nuclear energy in the second half of the twentieth century. On the one hand, nuclear fuel is a large source of fossil-free energy. It does, however, come at its price, as spent nuclear fuel is highly radioactive. In 2022, the European Union included nuclear energy into its EU taxonomy for sustainable activities after rigorous debates, thereby promoting investment into its production. As nuclear power will remain part of the European energy mix, member states are looking into final disposal options.

The global frontrunner in the push for a final solution to the increasing volumes of spent nuclear fuel is found in Finland, where Posiva has been tasked with the responsibility of building and operating Finland's final repository. Posiva has constructed such a facility and is in the process of obtaining a license to operate it. Finland will thus be the first country in the world to provide a repository in which nuclear waste can be safely stored for at least 100,000 years. Direct radiation will approximately decay already within 1,000 years. Afterwards, the spent nuclear fuel would still be damaging to the body upon ingestion, which is why it will remain inside the repository.

Posiva The Finnish company Posiva was established in 1995 with the task of handling the final disposal of the spent nuclear fuel generated by its owners, the nuclear plant operators Teollisuuden Voima and Fortum.

Final repository on Olkiluoto Island

Decades-long research into geological conditions led to the confirmation of Olkiluoto Island as the site best suited for Finland's final repository. There are two generally accepted final disposal options, namely near-surface disposal as well as deep geological disposal. In 2000, the Finnish government concluded in a decision-in-principle that the latter option was preferrable, and Posiva was asked to provide an in-depth study of the Olkiluoto bedrock.

Pasi Tuohimaa, spokesperson at Posiva, explains:

"In order to reach the depth of the future repository at about 430 metres, Posiva decided to construct the ONKALO facility, a combination of shafts and an access tunnel, in 2004. The bedrock condition was found to be suitable, so ONKALO was confirmed as the site for the repository. The construction license was granted by the Finnish government in 2015. ONKALO will continue to expand. Its tunnels will eventually reach a length of around 50 km."

Posiva determined the exact location of the repository by drilling holes into the crystalline bedrock and taking groundwater samples. The repository will be located where cracking of the bedrock and groundwater movement are minimal. Rigorous testing ensures long-term functionality, even in the case of extreme events such as earthquakes or coming ice ages. In Finland, 6,500 tons of spent nuclear fuel will be placed into approximately 3,250 canisters. It is the multi-barrier principle described below that will ensure the containment of radiation inside the repository to offer maximum protection for human beings and the environment.

SKB and the Swedish KBS-3 method

Posiva's counterpart in Sweden, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB), is currently working on the world's second final repository. It will be located close to Vattenfall's Forsmark nuclear power plant in the municipality of Osthammar, north of Stockholm. The two companies have long been collaborating on final disposal solutions, also due to the fact that bedrock conditions are similar in both countries. Posiva and SKB will both use what the latter calls the KBS-3 method, according to which several protective layers contain the spent fuel's radiation.

"In Sweden, approximately 12,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel will be stored in 6,000 copper canisters. The canister is the first barrier. The cast iron insert ensures stability, and the copper case prevents corrosion. The second barrier is bentonite clay. It will be placed around the canisters, so it can absorb surrounding water and expand. The clay will keep the canisters in place and protect them from movements in the bedrock. It will also keep the water away from them. The third and final barrier is the bedrock itself. The canisters will be placed safely at a depth of about 500 metres below ground," says SKB spokesperson, Jenny Rees. The Swedish final repository is expected to start operating in the mid-2030s after all necessary licenses have been obtained.
Swiss Geo Energy (SGE) announces the imminent launch of its geophysical campaign, which will take place between September 20 and October 9, 2023, in the area defined by its surface research permit of 104 km. This sector includes 32 municipalities in the Jura-Nord, Morges, and Gros-de-Vaud districts. This campaign is part of the GeoCogen Eclepens project and aims to explore the geothermal potential of the region to produce heat and electricity by 2030.

Campaign objective: Mapping the geological subsurface structures

This geophysical prospecting phase will allow the construction of a 3D geological model between the surface and approximately 4,000 meters deep. This model will also define the trajectory of the future exploration well, the execution of which will be subject to a subsurface research permit application. The Eclepens region was chosen because of its exceptional geological characteristics. Indeed, historical data analyses revealed temperatures of over 110C at just 2,100 meters deep. The planned exploitation technology, called hydrothermal, will not require hydraulic stimulation.

A nighttime geophysical campaign with vibrating trucks

Four vibrating trucks operated by the Yverdon geophysics company Geo2X will travel the roads and some accessible and authorised municipal and forest accesses between September 20 and October 9, 2023. The campaign will occur at night between 8:00 pm and 6:00 am to minimise inconvenience for residents and traffic disruptions.

Safety guidelines and current regulations are a priority for our company so that the vibrating trucks will move under the supervision of a specialised team. Each truck will operate in a given area for 30 minutes. The route plan, scheduled 24 hours and 72 hours in advance, will be updated daily on the website www.swissgeoenergy.com.

A half-day "open day" on September 9. Meet us there!

To present the challenges of the GeoCogen Eclepens project and answer questions from the region's residents about the upcoming campaign, Swiss Geo Energy is organising an "open house" half-day on September 9 from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the La Sarraz's "salle du Casino".

The GeoCogen Eclepens project: a significant contribution to the federal and cantonal energy and climate strategies

GeoCogen Eclepens is a visionary deep geothermal project supported by the Federal Office of Energy (OFEN). It aims to produce renewable heat and electricity by 2030 jointly. Swiss Geo Energy's activities fully align with the objectives of the federal energy strategy and those of the climate and innovation law adopted by the people on June 18, namely, to contribute to the development of renewable energies and achieve carbon neutrality.

The geophysical campaign will cover the following 32 municipalities:

Agiez, Arnex-sur-Orbe, Assens, Bavois, Bettens, Bofflens, Bournens, Boussens, Chavornay, Chevilly, Cossonay, Croy, Daillens, Dizy, Eclepens, Ferreyres, Goumoens, La Chaux (Cossonay), La Sarraz, Lussery-Villars, Moiry, Orbe, Orny, Oulens-sous-Echallens, Penthalaz, Penthaz, Penthereaz, Pompaples, Saint-Barthelemy (VD), Sullens, Villars-le-Terroir, et Vuarrens.

About Swiss Geo Energy:

Swiss Geo Energy SA is a company specialised in the exploration, storage, and valorisation of renewable underground resources in Switzerland and Europe. Swiss Geo Energy is a subsidiary of Ad Terra Energy, a Swiss consulting company specialising in geosciences and engineering.

Press contact:

Geoffroy Cazenave

Communication Officer

press@swissgeoenergy.com

+41 26 558 48 98

www.swissgeoenergy.com
UPDATE

Aug 29, 2023 6:50 PM CDT

A federal judge in Miami has decided that it should be up to jurors to determine "what reasonable people think" about Burger King's in-store ads for the Whopper. US District Judge Roy Altman rejected Burger King's attempt to dismiss a proposed class-action suit from consumers who said the photos on menu boards are inaccurate and the burgers are smaller than depicted, Reuters reports. The chain argued that it isn't required to serve burgers that look "exactly like the picture." The judge allowed breach of contract and unjust enrichment claims based on the menu photos to proceed, but rejected claims based on TV and online ads.

Apr 5, 2022 2:02 AM CDT

In advertisements, Burger King's food appears larger than it actually is when ordered by a customer at one of the fast-food chain's locations, a new lawsuit claims. The class-action suit accuses BK of misleading consumers since 2017, NBC News reports. Prior to that, according to the suit, the food appeared more realistically in ads. Since then, it claims, the size of almost all items on the menu is "materially overstated." The chain's signature sandwich, the Whopper, is 35% larger in ads than in real life, per the suit, with a whopping twice as much meat shown in ads than what is actually served.
A convicted rapist who authorities say used a jet ski during an escape from an Arkansas prison last year was arrested Tuesday in West Virginia, the US Marshals Service said. Samuel Paul Hartman, 39, was arrested along with his wife, his mother, and his mother's boyfriend at a hotel in Lewisburg, the Marshals Service said in a news release. The women are accused of helping Hartman escape in August 2022 from the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys, 96 miles east of Little Rock, the AP reports.

Hartman was on a work detail in a field near the detention facility when a pickup truck with the women inside approached. Several gunshots were fired at a corrections officer from the waiting vehicle as Hartman ran to it. The vehicle fled to two jet skis staged near the Mississippi River not far from the prison, the statement said. Police have said the abandoned jet skis were found on the Mississippi side of the river and that a witness reported seeing one man and two women riding them.

Arrested along with Hartman were his wife, 39-year-old Misty Hartman, his mother, Linda Annette White, 61, and Rodney Trent, 52, identified by the Marshals Service as White's boyfriend. Trent faces felony charges of harboring a sex offender and of assisting Hartman and the two women, the Marshals Service said. The service did not say what charges Misty Hartman and White would face. Hartman, 39, was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 for a rape conviction out of Franklin County, Arkansas.

(Read more Arkansas stories.)
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman would like to see his wife, once her own prison sentence is up. The Mexican drug lord is serving a life sentence plus 30 years at a Colorado supermax prison (where, he said earlier this year , he is experiencing "psychological torment") and, in a handwritten letter to the federal judge who oversaw his case, he asks that his wife be allowed to visit along with their twin daughters, CBS News reports. His wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, not only helped him run his drug empire but also helped him escape from a Mexican prison in 2015, and was sentenced to three years behind bars. She is expected to be released in mid-September.

Guzman noted in his letter that his mother and sister do not have travel visas and would not be able to visit him, but that after his wife's confinement ends, she "will be able to travel anywhere in the country." His daughters, who are in school in Mexico, would only be able to visit him "during the vacation period, 2 times per year [or] 3 times at most," he wrote. ABC 7's legal analyst doesn't think Guzman is likely to see his request granted. "He is subjected to what are called special administrative measures that are very restrictive measures that are put in place against the most high risk prisoners, the ones that pose the greatest danger of running a criminal enterprise or posing a threat to other people," he says. "And, he's on that list." (Read more Joaquin Guzman stories.)
Gabon's diplomatic government appears to be falling along with what the New York Times calls "one of Africa's most enduring political dynasties." Military officers in Gabon appeared on television early Wednesday, less than an hour after President Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared to have won a third term, and announced they were seizing power, per the Times. "We have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime," said a spokesman for the group, dubbed the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions. The officers, many wearing the uniform of the Republican Guard in charge of protecting the president, said they were canceling the results of an election that had not been credible, dissolving state institutions, and closing borders until further notice.

Shortly after the announcement, which appeared to have been filmed at the presidential palace in the capital Libreville, gunfire was heard in that same area. There was no comment from 64-year-old Bongo, who is said to be under house arrest, per Reuters. In 2009, he took over from his father, Omar Bongo, who'd been in power since 1967. He was re-elected for a third term during a Saturday vote marked by "loud opposition claims of rigging and fears that, as in many previous elections in Gabon, it would end in violence," per the Times. "The parliament building was torched when violent street protests erupted against Bongo's contested re-election for his second term" in 2016, per the Guardian.

Around 3am Wednesday, the national electoral authority announced Bongo had won 65% of the vote, with his main opponent Albert Ondo Ossa receiving 30%. The coup announcement followed soon after. A spokesperson for the officers said Bongo's "irresponsible and unpredictable governance" threatened chaos in the country of 2.3 million. "If successful, the coup would be the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020," following another in Niger last month, per Reuters. France, the former colonial power with 400 troops in Gabon, is following the events "with the greatest attention," Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said in a statement. France's troops were booted from Mali and Burkina Faso following coups and "Niger's coup leaders have also revoked military agreements with France," per Reuters. (Read more military coup stories.)
The Canadian government updated its advisory for travel to the United States on Tuesday, and one section that stands out is directed toward LGBTQ+ tourists. "Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons," the short section in the advisory from the Global Affairs Canada agency now reads. "Check relevant state and local laws." The Washington Post notes that the "2S" abbreviation refers to "two-spirit," a term in Canada used to describe the gender spectrum among Indigenous people.

The advisory also linked to a second page dedicated to LGBTQ+ travel in general, warning Canadian citizens that "while you are [traveling] outside Canada, you are subject to, and must follow, the local laws of your destination country, even if these laws infringe on your human rights." The finger wasn't pointed at any US states or laws in particular, though a GAC spokesperson specified that the transgender community is especially being targeted, per the CBC. "Since the beginning of 2023, certain states in the US have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender-affirming care and from participation in sporting events," the rep said in a statement.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says the advisory isn't designed to pick a political fight with the United States, but simply a warning meant to protect Canadian citizens. "Even as we work hard on that government-to-government relationship, every Canadian government ... needs to put at the center of everything we do the interests and the safety of every single Canadian and every single group of Canadians," she said at a Tuesday presser, per Quartz. "That's what we're doing now." The news outlet notes that Canada is seeing its own growing list of anti-LGBTQ+ policies, including at least two provinces that bar teachers from using a child's preferred pronouns if they're under 16 and don't have an OK from their parents. (Read more LGBTQ stories.)
Delta Air Lines Flight 175 landed safely in Atlanta on Tuesday, but with many injured people on board. At least 11 passengers and crew members were taken to the hospital after the flight, which set out from Milan, Italy, "experienced severe turbulence" in its approach to Atlanta, the airline said Tuesday, per NBC News . Turbulence struck as the plane was roughly 40 miles northeast of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Airbus A350 carrying 151 passengers and 14 crew members landed safely just before 7pm. Delta did not disclose the severity of the injuries. "Our priority is taking care of our customers and crew who sustained injuries," it said.

The incident comes days after another flight experienced severe turbulence, leaving passengers crying and vomiting, according to a video shared on Instagram. The plane was flying to Majorca from the Spanish city of Alicante on Sunday when a violent storm hit the island, per Newsweek. "It was like a roller coaster," passenger Estela Orts Martinez, 25, tells the outlet. "I felt vulnerable ... that my life depended on someone else." She adds "some screamed, others cried, others vomited, others hugged each other, others laughed and others seemed to even enjoy themselves." After multiple failed attempts to land, the plane returned to Alicante, per Fox Business. No injuries were reported.

A day later, an off-duty pilot and star of The Bachelor Australia posted a viral TikTok of what he said was "some of the worst turbulence I've ever felt." Jimmy Nicholson noted turbulencedefined as "an irregular motion of the air resulting from eddies and vertical currents"is "completely normal" and not usually anything to worry about as planes are built to withstand "way worse," per Insider. But he noted passengers can keep an eye on flying conditions using the "water bottle trick," where one turns a clear, plastic water bottle upside down and monitors the water's movement. In this case, "the water isn't moving too much," he said. He also recommended passengers uncomfortable with turbulence look out a window or open the overhead vents for fresh air. (Read more turbulence stories.)
A presidential candidate who skips debates and has had a mugshot released after one of several criminal indictments wouldn't normally be expected to stay in the race, let alone remain the frontrunner. But the latter is exactly what's happening for former President Trump, whose lead over rivals for the GOP nomination has only grown since his booking photo from the Fulton County Jail in Georgia was released last week. Per the Guardian , a recent Coefficient poll of 2,700 or so likely GOP primary voters commissioned by the Trump campaign put Trump at 58%three points more than he claimed at the beginning of August. The closest Republican candidate to him in the more recent poll was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, with 13%.

A Morning Consult poll conducted Friday through Sunday of about 3,600 potential GOP primary voters showed similar numbers, with Trump at 58% and DeSantis at 14%. The Guardian notes that these surveys suggest "that some of DeSantis' principal campaign argumentsthat he is more electable than Trumphave failed to cut through with likely Republican voters even after he had the opportunity to establish himself last week in Trump's absence on the debate stage."

The Trump mugshot has evolved into more than a routine law-enforcement image since it was disseminated. The Atlantic notes that although in most cases such a photo would serve as "an exercise in humility," Trump and his associates have instead transformed it into a "threat," with Trump even using it in his first post on X (the former Twitter) in more than two and a half years. Per the New York Times, the mugshot has become collateral for a "dangerous marketing" scheme, one in which both the left and the right are claiming it for their own purposes. "Normally you would be ashamed of a mug shot and what it represents," Rutgers history professor Wendy Woloson tells the paper. "But this is a way for both sides to own it. Literally. To domesticate it and make it safe by turning it into a commodity."

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One super PAC supporting a Trump rival for the GOP nomination isn't shying away from using the Trump mugshot, despite its apparent appeal to at least some of his base. NBC News reports that the Tell It Like It Is PAC, which has gotten behind former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, incorporated the photo into its latest broadcast TV ad that's airing in New Hampshire. On Tuesday evening, CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins asked Christie if he thought using the mugshot would actually do any damage to Trump in the Republican primary. The picture "reminds everybody what he's done to the country," Christie replied. "This is his conduct." (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
Kyle Rittenhouse is already being sued by the estate of one of the two men he fatally shot during a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and by a third man he shot and wounded. Upon the third anniversary of the shooting, the lone holdout party is now taking legal action, too. Lawyers for the estate of Joseph Rosenbaum say Rittenhouse, the City of Kenosha, the Kenosha Police Department, the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department, several individual officers, and other defendants "intentionally and unjustifiably caused" the 36-year-old's death, according to the document filed Friday in Wisconsin, which seeks unspecified damages, per the Guardian . Rittenhouse responded on X, saying , "I'm being sued again for defending my life."

Rittenhouse was acquitted of homicide and attempted homicide in the fatal shootings of Rosenbaum and 26-year-old Anthony Huber and the non-fatal shooting of Gaige Grosskreutz, 27. He was 17 on Aug. 25, 2020, when he traveled from his home in Illinois to join a self-described militia protecting businesses in Kenosha during Black Livers Matter protests over the police shooting of an unarmed Black man named Jacob Blake. He said he opened fire in self-defense. However, the lawsuit claims Rittenhouse "fired his assault rifle indiscriminately multiple times at citizens on the street. He shot and killed two men, seriously injured a third, and narrowly missed a fourth."

Law enforcement defendants "did nothing to stop" his actions, the suit continues, per the Guardian. "They did not disarm him. They did not limit his movement in any way. They did not question him. They did not stop him from shooting individuals after he started. They did not arrest him, detain him, or question him even after he had killed two people." Indeed, the suit notes officers were seen giving water to armed men who were out in violation of a curfew. They "deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit."

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Huber's father filed a similar federal lawsuit against Rittenhouse and law enforcement in August 2021, claiming wrongful death and civil rights violations. Grosskreutz, who was shot in the arm, sued law enforcement that October and added Rittenhouse as a defendant this past February, per Law & Crime. In response to the latest suit, Rittenhouse, who now lives in Texas, spoke to the Texas Scorecard, a nonprofit that advocates for self-governance in the Lone Star State, saying he lives in fear because of the lawsuits' claims. "It is extremely difficult to go outside without fear of being harassed or assaulted because of the lies spread," he said. "No one should have to continue to defend the fact that they acted in self-defense." (Read more Kyle Rittenhouse stories.)
The US government is trying to stop a planned expedition to recover items of historical interest from the sunken Titanic. The expedition, tentatively planned for May 2024, is being organized by RMS Titanic Inc., the Georgia-based firm that owns the salvage rights to the world's most famous shipwreck. The company exhibits artifacts that have been recovered from the wreck site at the bottom of the North Atlantic, from silverware to a piece of the Titanic's hull. The battle in the US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which oversees Titanic salvage matters, hinges on federal law and a pact with Great Britain to treat the sunken Titanic as a memorial to the more than 1,500 people who died, reports the AP .

"RMST is not free to disregard this validly enacted federal law, yet that is its stated intent," US lawyers argued in court documents filed Friday. They added that the shipwreck "will be deprived of the protections Congress granted it." The company said it plans to take images of the entire wreck, including "inside the wreck, where deterioration has opened chasms sufficient to permit a remotely operated vehicle to penetrate the hull without interfering with the current structure." RMST said it would recover artifacts from the debris field and "may recover free-standing objects inside the wreck."

Those could include "objects from inside the Marconi room"which holds the ship's radio"but only if such objects are not affixed to the wreck itself. ... At this time, the company does not intend to cut into the wreck or detach any part of the wreck." The company said it would "work collaboratively" with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US agency that represents the public's interest in the wreck. But RMST said it does not intend to seek a permit. US government lawyers said the firm can't proceed without one, arguing that RMST needs approval from the secretary of commerce, who oversees the NOAA.

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The firm has argued in previous cases that only the court in Norfolk has jurisdiction over the wreck and reiterated that stance in a statement to the AP on Tuesday, noting that the court granted its salvage rights three decades ago. Since then, the firm said it has recovered and conserved thousands of Titanic artifacts, which millions of people have seen. In 2020, the US government and RMST engaged in a nearly identical legal battle over a proposed expedition that could have cut into the wreck in order to retrieve the radio. In May 2020, US District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith gave RMST permission, writing that the radio is historically and culturally important and could soon be lost to decay. A few weeks later, the US government filed an official legal challenge against the 2020 expedition, but the proceedings were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic and never fully played out.

(Read more Titanic stories.)
ENGIE announces it has signed a binding agreement for the acquisition of 100% of Broad Reach Power, a company specialized in battery storage and based in Houston, from private equity funds EnCap and Apollo.

The transaction involves 350MW of operating assets, as well as 880MW under construction assets with a commissioning expected before the end of 2024, 1.7GW of advanced stage projects and a significant pipeline of early stage projects. The projects are located in Texas, California and the central states of the United States. Broad Reach Power skills, tools and teams are the perfect fit, in and outside the United States, with ENGIE's integrated model.

The acquisition will support the Group's goal of having 10 GW of battery capacity globally by 2030. It will also strengthen ENGIE's position as a leader in the energy transition in the United States, where the group already has significant positions through its renewable assets (5GW in operation at the end of 2022), battery storage and its energy management platform. The development of these projects will respond to the strong need for flexibility generated by the growth of the share of renewable energies in the energy mix and will increase ENGIE capacity to provide 24/7 decarbonized electricity to his customers.

Completion of the transaction is expected by Q4 2023, subject to the fulfilment of certain approvals from anti-trust and energy regulatory authorities.

For Catherine MacGregor, Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE: "This acquisition is fully in line with ENGIE's strategy: it will contribute to the development of a low-carbon, affordable and resilient energy system where flexible assets will play a critical role alongside renewables."

Contact

ENGIE Press

+33 (0)1 44 22 24 35

communication@press.engie.com

Investors Relations Contact

+33 (0)1 44 22 66 29

communication@press.engie.com
There are thought to be roughly 1,000 Siberian tigers in the world, the majority of those held in captivity. Now, there's one fewer. A critically endangered Siberian tiger held at a Colorado zoo died in a "freak accident" Friday during preparations for a dental procedure, ABC News reports. After receiving a dose of anesthesia, the 2-year-old female named Mila fell off a bench and suffered a spinal injury from which she could not recover, according to officials at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. Mila had jumped up on the waist-high bench "where she began to lay down and peacefully let the anesthetic drugs take effect," according to the Tuesday statement announcing her death. Seconds later, she began to slip.

"It was impossible from a human safety standpoint to stop her tragic fall," the zoo said. "She could have slid off from that height a hundred times and landed in a variety of other positions and been unaffected," noted head veterinarian Dr. Eric Klaphake. He said officials "quickly entered her den when it was safe and diligently tried for 40 minutes to give her life-saving care." The young Siberian tiger, also known as an Amur tiger, arrived from the Toronto Zoo in March, per the Denver Post. After much training, the "feisty and intelligent tiger" was "getting so close to being out where guests could see her," said an animal care manager at the zoo. But a recently discovered dental infection needed to be addressed first.

"This was not just a cavity, and it could not be left untreated, as it was advancing to her sinuses," zoo officials said, noting the infection could've been fatal. "You can plan and plan and things still go wrong," said Bob Chastain, the zoo's president and CEO. "We have successfully anesthetized countless tigers in this same den and have never experienced an accident like this." Another female Siberian tiger named Savelli died at the zoo in 2021 due to complications after an artificial insemination procedure, per ABC. The zoo said the two deaths, though unrelated, show how the "fragile state of their species is glaring." Just 350 to 450 Siberian tigers are thought to remain in native habitats, according to the Denver Zoo. (Another died in a fight at a UK zoo.)
If drought in the Panama Canal region sounds like something that has no impact on you, think again. CBS News reports the lakes that feed the canal system are close to their minimum levels after an atypically dry season, and that's throwing a wrench into how much traffic the canal can handle. Some 40% of US container traffic passes through it, with roughly two of every three ships in it either bound for the US or coming from it. A lack of rainfall spurred officials to reduce the number of ships passing through daily to 32 in late July; the AP reports the typical max is between 36 and 38. Weight limits have also been shaved down, and in late August, those restrictions were extended for the next 10 months.

Panama is halfway through its rainy season, and what is typically one of the wettest countries on Earth is seeing some of the lowest rainfall numbers it has recorded, per CNN. The drought itself is not entirely unprecedented, with the canalwhich relies on freshwaterhaving weathered a drought over 2019 and 2020. But as USA Today puts it, "the current drought recurrence and severity has no historical precedence," according to officials.

CBS News reports it takes at least 55 million gallons of water to move a single ship through the canal's lock system, with the water typically ending up in the ocean. The Panama Canal Authority is looking into options ranging from retaining some of that water to building more reservoirs or diverting nearby rivers. Shipping company Maersk is the canal's top user, and its managing director warns that should the drought persist, we could feel it come Christmastime, with potential delays and increased shipping costs that could get passed on to the consumer. (Read more Panama Canal stories.)
Rudy Giuliani's financial problems might soon be getting worse. In a default judgment, the former New York City mayor and Trump lawyer was held liable in a defamation lawsuit filed by two election workers in Georgia, CNBC reports. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Giuliani had defamed mother and daughter Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss when he accused them of mishandling ballots in Atlanta in the 2020 election, reports the New York Times . The case will still go to trial, but only to determine damages. Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court said the trial will be scheduled for later this year or early 2024.

In a filing last month, Giuliani said he did not contest the accusations and conceded that he had made "false" statements about the women. He later said it was a move toward having the case dismissed. In her ruling Wednesday, Howell said his stipulations had "more holes than Swiss cheese and found him liable for "defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy and punitive damage claims," per the Times. The judge ordered Giuliani to pay $133,000 in sanctions for failing to turn over evidence. In her ruling, she accused him of "willful" misconduct, saying "the bottom line is that Giuliani has refused to comply with his discovery obligation" in the case.

Giuliani, who still faces election-related felony charges in Georgia along with Trump and 17 other co-defendants, falsely claimed that the two women had pulled thousands of fake ballots from a suitcase in a polling station. He doubled down on the accusations after they were debunked, comparing the women to drug dealers and saying their homes should be searched, the Times reports. Freeman and Moss said they received death threats and feared for their safety after they were targeted, CNN reports. According to the lawsuit, the FBI recommended Freeman leave her home for her own safety. CNN notes that damages against Giuliani could be in the millions. (Read more Rudy Giuliani stories.)
The White House on Wednesday said that it has new intelligence that shows Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for the Ukraine war. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the latest finding just weeks after the White House said that it had determined that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent visit to Pyongyang called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow for its war in Ukraine, reports the AP .

Kirby said that Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other basic materiel to shore up Russia's defense industrial base. He added that the letters were "more at the surface level" but that Russian and North Korean talks on a weapons sale were advancing. The leaders exchanged the letters following Shoigu's visit, he said.

The Biden administration has repeatedly made the case that the Kremlin has become reliant on North Korea, as well as Iran, for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine. Both North Korea and Russia have previously denied the allegations, though North Korea has sided with Russia over the war. In March, the White House said it had gathered intelligence that showed that Russia was looking to broker a food-for-arms deal with North Korea. Late last year, the White House said it had determined that the Wagner Group had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces fighting in Ukraine on behalf of Russia. (Read more Russia stories.)
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Per the agreement, HASI will provide financing for Summit Ridge Energy's growing pipeline of community solar projects in Illinois and Maryland over the next two years. Once complete, the portfolio of ground-mounted and rooftop community solar projects will provide energy savings to residential and small commercial customers and avoid more than 51,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually which is equivalent to eliminating the carbon emissions generated from 118,000 barrels of crude oil.

This transaction doubles the size of an existing joint venture between HASI and Summit Ridge Energy, announced in 2019. To date, the partnership has supported the development of a 255 MW solar portfolio and strengthened Summit Ridge Energy's position as market leader in Illinois and Maryland.

"We are delighted to deepen our partnership with Summit Ridge Energy," said Susan Nickey, Chief Client Officer of HASI. "This latest transaction underscores our commitment to delivering scalable and repeatable transactions to our clients as they seize the tremendous opportunity of the energy transition. Our programmatic, client-centric approach delivers long-term value to our partners, and we look forward to supporting the rapid growth of Summit Ridge Energy's solar pipeline."

"We're proud to double-down on our formidable funding platform with HASI which since 2019 has seen Summit Ridge Energy continuously expand our market share and become the largest commercial solar company in the country," said Steve Raeder, CEO at Summit Ridge Energy. "This expanded partnership doubles the size of the Summit Ridge Energy solar portfolio supported by HASI. The deal is a mark of Summit Ridge Energy's leadership in commercial solar and ability to execute in a challenging economic environment."

About HASI

HASI (NYSE: HASI) is a leading climate positive investment firm that actively partners with clients to deploy real assets that facilitate the energy transition. With more than $10 billion in managed assets, our vision is that every investment improves our climate future. For more information, please visit hasi.com.

About Summit Ridge Energy

Launched in 2017, Summit Ridge Energy is the nation's leading commercial solar company. Through its strategic partnerships and project financing expertise, the company develops, acquires, owns and operates energy projects within the rapidly growing commercial solar and battery storage sectors.

In the past six years, Summit Ridge Energy has deployed over $1.6B USD into clean energy assets. With a development pipeline of more than 2 GW, Summit Ridge Energy will have more than 400 MW of PV online by the end of 2023, providing solar power to 50,000 homes and businesses. Learn more at srenergy.com and connect with us on LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the information contained in this press release is forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended that are subject to risks and uncertainties. For these statements, we claim the protections of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in such Sections. These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future results of our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans and objectives. When we use the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "plan," "continue," "intend," "should," "may" or similar expressions, we intend to identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on such statements. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements include those discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as in other periodic reports that we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Forward-looking statements are based on beliefs, assumptions and expectations as of the date of this press release. We disclaim any obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements reflecting new estimates, events or circumstances after the date of this press release.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission resolved a long-standing litigation matter related to uncertain tax positions taken by System Energy Resources, Inc., or SERI, by denying a request for SERI to pay additional refunds to customers. The FERC ruling also ordered SERI to recalculate the value of overpayments on sale-leaseback refunds previously made to customers. SERI is an Entergy subsidiary that is the majority owner of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson, Miss.

"We are pleased today's order resolves a major source of litigation between our regulators and SERI," said Rod West, Entergy Group President, Utility Operations. "We hope the clarity provided by the FERC in this ruling helps to guide constructive discussions with our regulators to resolve the remaining SERI litigation matters. A comprehensive settlement could provide significant and imminent refunds to our customers at a time when energy bills are high due to record usage."

Entergy's actions have been and continue to be in the best interest of its customers. SERI claimed legitimate federal tax deductions for its business operations, which, if successful, would lower costs for customers. Ultimately, the IRS allowed over $100 million of the tax positions taken and the subsequent credits were passed on directly to customers. FERC's order does not require any further refunds or credits beyond those previously paid.

Entergy Mississippi reached a settlement agreement with the Mississippi Public Service Commission in summer 2022 on a number of pending SERI cases being litigated, including the case resolved today by the FERC. That agreement provided $300 million in credits directly to Entergy Mississippi customers that helped to pay their electric bills.

About Entergy

Entergy (NYSE: ETR) is a Fortune 500 company that powers life for 3 million customers through our operating companies in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. We're investing in the reliability and resilience of the energy system while helping our region transition to cleaner, more efficient energy solutions. With roots in our communities for more than 100 years, Entergy is a nationally recognized leader in sustainability and corporate citizenship. Since 2018, we have delivered more than $100 million in economic benefits each year to local communities through philanthropy, volunteerism and advocacy. Entergy is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, and has approximately 12,000 employees. Learn more at entergy.com and follow @Entergy on social media. #WePowerLife.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Report by Julia Cassano

The blood sport of dog fighting in Bahrain has been crippled by the decision of the Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture to ban the import of 17 predatory animals, including pit bulls, said Bahraini animal welfare activist Fathiya Al Bastaki while welcoming the ban.

Commending the ministrys decision, the esteemed activist said the move essentially reduces the likelihood and incidence of dog fighting in the future.

"Any change is a good start in the right direction," Fathiya said. Terming the decision as a progressive step, she expressed hope that more such reforms will follow.

According to the renowned campaigner, bulls in Bahrain were staging dog-fighting performances with pit bulls for years, thus subjecting the animals to cruelty.

"For about seven to eight years, animal rights activists have been pleading with the authorities to ban this practice and to close down the locations where people would hold these inhumane dog fights.

Breeders would modify the training and food of the pit bulls so that they would turn wild and then exploit the animals through these fights," Fathiya said.

Nonetheless, even after the animals were forced to fight in the gruesome shows, the pit bulls punishments if they lost were completely barbaric, she stated, adding that some were reportedly burned alive.

Thus, the ministrys decision ensures Bahrains environmental safety as well as assists in the regulation of animal imports and the development of more responsible ownership practices, Fathiya stated.

The ministrys resolution

The ministrys resolution (Decision No. 100/2023) enforces an import ban that includes four dog breeds as well as lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, hyenas, foxes, wolves, crocodiles, baboons, green monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, various spider species, snakes, and more.

Dog breeds that have been banned include pit bulls, Staffordshire terriers, Tosa dogs, Presa Canario, and mastiffs, along with hybrids involving these breeds.
AFP | Jerusalem

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday thanked authorities in Saudi Arabia, with which his country has no formal ties, for their warm attitude following an emergency aircraft landing in Jeddah.

The Air Seychelles flight laden with Israeli passengers was heading from the Seychelles to Tel Aviv.

Saudi airspace had been closed to flights to and from Israel until July 2022, when it opened to coincide with a visit by US President Joe Biden to the region.

The Air Seychelles flight made an emergency landing Monday in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah due to technical difficulties.

On Tuesday the Israeli foreign ministry said an Israeli charter flight had retrieved the Israelis from Jeddah.

I greatly appreciate the warm attitude of the Saudi authorities to the Israeli passengers whose flight was in distress and was compelled to make an emergency landing in Jeddah, Netanyahu said in a brief video statement.

According to Israeli media, there were 128 Israeli passengers aboard the Air Seychelles flight.

They were welcomed and given overnight accommodation in the Red Sea city.

Though Saudi Arabia was not one of the Gulf and Arab countries to normalise ties with Israel as part of the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords, speculation has grown of an impending deal.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (right) and Governor of Japan's Nagasaki prefecture Oishi Kengo at the event. (Source: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

FM Bui Thanh Son highly valued Governor Oishi's efforts in promoting cooperation and exchanges between Nagasaki prefecture and Vietnam in general and Vietnamese localities in particular in the past time.

He expressed his pleasure with the sound, rapid and comprehensive development of the Vietnam - Japan relations with high political trust, affirming that Vietnam considers locality-to-locality cooperation an important, sustantive and effective channel to strengthen economic, trade and labour cooperation, and to promote people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

The minister highly appreciated and thanked the Nagasaki administration as well as Governor Oishi for always paying attention to promoting the development of friend and cooperation between Nagasaki and Vietnam, especially between the Japanese prefecture and Quang Nam province, the place that still preserves many vestiges of the exchange relations between the two countries more than 400 years ago.

Minister Bui Thanh Son suggested Oishi promote the prefectures businesses to boost investment and business in Vietnam, especially in potential fields such as high-quality agriculture, fishery, manufacturing and supporting industry as well as strengthen human resources training and people-to-people exchanges, thereby creating an important foundation for enhancing long-term cooperation between Nagasaki and Vietnam.

For his part, Governor Oishi expressed his impression of Vietnam's socio-economic development achievements in recent years.

He briefed his host about the outcome of cooperation between Nagasaki prefecture and Quang Nam province and agreed to support the expansion of collaboration between Nagasaki and other localities of Vietnam in the fields of investment, trade, culture and tourism.

The governor spoke highly of contributions of the nearly 3,000 Vietnamese community to the prefecture's socio-economic development. He expressed his wish to expand the reception of Vietnamese trainees, nurses and workers, and pledged to continue to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese people to live, study and work in the locality./.
 100% of proceeds from the sale of the shirts are donated to Indspire in support of the Learning from the Past Fund 

 Last year's campaign raised more than $207,000 for Indspire 

OTTAWA, ON, Aug. 30, 2023 /CNW/ - Giant Tiger Stores Limited is proud to announce today the launch of its second-year collaboration with the national Indigenous charity Indspire. This collaboration offers Canadians an exclusive orange shirt designed to raise funds in support of Indigenous post-secondary students through Indspire's Learning from the Past Fund, and creates awareness for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Created by Two-Spirit Ojibway artist Patrick Hunter, this custom shirt is available now at your local Giant Tiger store and online at GiantTiger.com, with 100% of proceeds from the sale of the shirt donated to Indspire in support of the Learning from the Past Fund. (CNW Group/Giant Tiger Stores Limited)

Created by Two-Spirit Ojibway artist Patrick Hunter, this custom shirt is available now at your local Giant Tiger store and online at GiantTiger.com, with 100% of proceeds from the sale of the shirt donated to Indspire in support of the Learning from the Past Fund.

"This partnership with Giant Tiger and Patrick Hunter is a tangible sign of reconciliation in action, standing as a testament to the life-changing power of positive collaboration," said Mike DeGagne, President & CEO of Indspire. "Thanks to this shared endeavour, hundreds of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit learners across Turtle Island have been empowered to pursue their educational goals. We are pleased to be working together on this important initiative again, and we look forward to its continued success."

The following students shared their gratitude for the impact Indspire's Learning from the Past Fund has had on their education and personal growth:

"Thanks to Indspire's Learning from the Past Fund, I can pursue my passion for language and culture revitalization through the Indigenous Studies Undergraduate program at Trent University. I look forward to a career that can assist First Nation communities, including my own, and I am confident that the expertise and knowledge I have gained through my studies will allow me to make a lasting difference."  Ashley, Indigenous Studies Undergraduate Program, Trent University

"As a mother of two young boys, Indspire's Learning from the Past Fund provided much-needed financial assistance to me and my children so I could focus on my studies. I aspire to one day give back to Indigenous students in the same way. Thank you for your generous support."  Kayla, Bachelor's Degree, Native Studies and Elementary Education, University of Alberta

"My goal is to graduate with an Indigenous Studies degree and combine it with my cultural knowledge to create a better future for all Nehiyawak people. The acknowledgment and financial support I have received through Indspire's Learning from the Past Fund has had a profound impact on me. It has relieved the financial burden, instilled confidence in my endeavours, and reminded me that there are caring individuals out there. I am deeply humbled, honoured, and immensely grateful for the generous support."  Megan, Bachelor's Degree, Indigenous Studies, University of Regina

"We believe that the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation provides an important opportunity to engage in meaningful and lasting discussions about the impacts of residential schools on Indigenous communities. At Giant Tiger, we are dedicated to raising awareness and actively participating in this ongoing conversation," said Alison Scarlett, Head of Public Relations and Communications and DE&I Council Co-Chair at Giant Tiger Stores Limited. "We are thrilled to build on the success of our inaugural campaign and continue our partnership with Indspire to provide Canadians with the opportunity to support Indigenous students. The unwavering support from our customers and communities across the country has made a significant impact in empowering students through education in the communities we call home."

As a longstanding partner of Indspire, Giant Tiger actively supports three essential programs, contributing a total of $75,000 annually, in addition to the proceeds from the shirt collaboration. These programs include Indspire's annual Soaring: Indigenous Youth Empowerment Gathering; Indspire's Building Brighter Futures: Bursaries, Scholarships and Awards (BBF) program, which supports Indigenous youth in Giant Tiger communities; and Rivers to Success, an Indigenous student mentorship program that supports students as they graduate and become the leaders of tomorrow.

For more information on the campaign and the impact of Indspire's Learning from the Past Fund, please visit gianttiger.com/pages/truth-and-reconciliation.

About Indspire:

Indspire is a national Indigenous charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit and Metis people for the long-term benefit of these individuals, their families and communities, and Canada. With the support of its funding partners, Indspire provides financial awards, delivers programs, and shares resources so that First Nations, Inuit and Metis students will achieve their highest potential. In 2022-2023, Indspire provided more than $27 million through 7,522 bursaries and scholarships to First Nations, Inuit and Metis students across Canada. For more information, please visit www.Indspire.ca.

About the Learning from the Past Fund:

Indspire's Learning from the Past Fund provides bursaries to Indigenous post-secondary students pursuing an education in Indigenous Studies and Languages. For more information on Indspire's Learning from the Past Fund, please visit indspire.ca/learning-from-the-past/.

About Giant Tiger:

Giant Tiger, the leading Canadian-owned family discount store, is on a mission to make every dollar matter and is committed to providing on-trend family fashion, groceries and everyday household needs. The privately held company has over 260 locations across Canada and proudly employs over 10,000 members of Team Tiger. All Giant Tiger locations are locally owned or operated by a team member who knows the community. Whether Canadians are shopping in store or online at gianttiger.com, Giant Tiger makes it easy and fun for all to shop smart and save smart every day. #GTCommunityProud #GiantTiger

Join the conversation and keep up to date on all Giant Tiger news:

Like us on Facebook: Giant Tiger

Follow us on Instagram: @Gianttigerstore

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SOURCE Giant Tiger Stores Limited

For further information: For media inquiries, please contact: Jessica Charbonneau, Manager, Brand Public Relations, Giant Tiger Stores Limited, [email protected]
Dr. Jordan B Peterson and Stephen J Shaw discuss the Birthgap, a term recently coined by Shaw and the subject of his documentary. They examine the invisible causes of the global population collapse. They describe one of the very bad but not worst case scenario: total societal collapse due to a lack of new children being born, and a rise in senior citizens living longer. The actual worst case scenario is actually complete extinction of humanity in about 500-1000 years.

Stephen is a British national who has studied and lived on three continents. He trained as a computer engineer and data scientist before starting his first film project, Birthgap, at age 49.

I, Brian Wang, spoke about trying to solve this issue with Robin Hanson.

Over 70% of the Worlds population live in countries that are below replacement fertility levels and this includes poor countries like India and Pakistan. 30% of the Worlds population is in countries that have declining populations and this includes China, Japan, South Korea, Italy and Spain. China is on track to drop from 1.4 billion people today to less than 1.1 billion in 2050 and Japan is heading from 122 million today to less than 100 million in 2050.

China and Japan need to spent $700 billion to $1.5 trillion between now and 2050 to save their populations and economices. It will be totally worth it to stabilize the working age population by around 2040. Instead of halving by 2050, the economy might only be 30% less. It would be a 5X to 10X return every year from GDP that was saved.

The traditional pro-baby policies used in Sweden would likely not be enough. Free egg freezing for all women and free invitro fertilization and support and subsidies for surrogate births will likely be needed.
Local Government chairmen in Ogun State on Tuesday prostrated before Governor Dapo Abiodun, seeking forgiveness over a comment made by their Ijebu East counterpart, Wale Adedayo, that Abiodun had diverted funds meant for the councils.

Adedayo had written a letter to former Governor Olusegun Osoba and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the manners in which local government funds were being spent.

Adedayo had claimed that the 20 local governments in Ogun State were being run on zero allocation due to the joint account being operated by the State and local governments.

According to him, the development had prevented local government chairmen from performing their functions to people at the grassroots.

He alleged that the bail-out funds and Ecological funds meant for the councils did not get to them, but were diverted by Governor Abiodun.

However, at a meeting held with all the council chairmen yesterday, apologies were tendered to the governor.

In a video released by the governors media team, the Chairman of Ijebu-Ode Local Government, Emilola Gazal, while speaking on behalf of his colleagues, pleaded with Abiodun to forgive them as a father that he is.

Gazal said: We are here to beg you as a father that you are in this state. Your Excellency, please forgive us. If you dont forgive us, who do we go to? So, on behalf of all of us, Im tendering this apology, and in particular, on behalf of Wale Adedayo.

After saying this, the council boss prostrated before the governor and others followed suit as they begged Abiodun to forgive them.

Responding, Abiodun said he had been operating with every iota of sincerity of purpose.

Abiodun said he had continued to ensure that I am guided with all the promises I made in the course of my journey to the governors office.

Adedayo himself was at the meeting, but it could not be immediately confirmed whether or not he also prostrated to beg Gov Abiodun, whom he had accused of diverting council funds.

Meanwhile, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, has called on the State House of Assembly to investigate the allegations raised by Adedayo.

Adebutu said he had since 2021 been complaining about the way local government funds were being managed in the State.

Adebutu, who spoke through his media aide, Afolabi Orekoya, said the outburst of a serving chairman, Adedayo had vindicated him.

He claimed that, a total amount of N153bn had been diverted and that is why our local governments are in a terrible state.

But, the governor has debunked all allegations that he diverted council funds since he came on board.

Instead, Abiodun said that he had been augmenting the local government funds coming from the federation account so that the chairmen could meet their financial obligations, especially the payment of salaries.

Video:




The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it has not released any campaign council lists for Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo gubernatorial elections.

The off-cycle elections will be held on November 11.

In a post on platform X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday, Muhammad Argungu, APCs organising secretary, said Abdullahi Ganduje, national chairman of the party, approved the constitution of the campaign councils in consultation with the national working committee (NWC).

In the now disowned lists, Dapo Abiodun, governor of Ogun, was to lead APCs campaign council for the Kogi governorship.

While Inuwa Yahaya, governor of Gombe, was listed to spearhead the partys campaign council in Bayelsa, Bassey Otu, governor of Cross River, was appointed to be in charge of Imo.

The Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo campaign councils had 135, 123, and 138 members respectively.

Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Mohammed Bago, and Uba Sani were members of the Kogi campaign council.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio and George Akume, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF); and Betta Edu, minister of humanitarian affairs, were appointed members of the Bayelsa campaign council.

For Imo, Francis Nwifuru, governor of Ebonyi; Benjamin Kalu, deputy speaker of the house of representatives; and Rochas Okorocha, a former senator; were also meant to serve as members of the states campaign council.

But a few hours after the list was released, the ruling party said it has no campaign councils set up yet for the elections.

The attention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to National Campaign Council Lists for the 11th November, 2023 Governorship Elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo States in circulation in sections of the media, Felix Morka, the partys spokesperson, said in a statement on Tuesday evening.

The lists are not official documents of the Party and should be disregarded.

Before the APC withdrew the lists, Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), appeared as one of the members of the Bayelsa campaign council.

The party took out his name in a revised list and eventually withdrew everything.
Nguyen Trong Nghia presents the book by CPV General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to PT General Secretary Alberto Anaya Gutierrez. (Photo: VNA)

In Mexico, the delegation held talks with General Secretary of the Mexican Labour Party (PT) Alberto Anaya Gutierrez; received President of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Chamber of Deputies Alfredo Femat Banuelos, who is also President of the Mexico-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians Group; and worked with Sofia Carvajal, secretary of international affairs of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

During the talks with PT General Secretary Alberto Anaya Gutierrez, Mr. Nghia said that his visit aimed to boost friendship and cooperation between the CPV and the PT and other Mexican political parties, thus contributing to strengthening and deepening the two countries time-tested relations in various fields.

Nguyen Trong Nghia holds talks with PT General Secretary Alberto Anaya Gutierrez. (Photo: VNA)

The CPV and the PT have many opportunities to cooperate in training and fostering revolutionary ideals for young people, thereby upholding patriotism and national pride for the next generations.

Mr. Alberto Anaya Gutierrez expressed admiration for the struggle for national liberation of the Vietnamese people and President Ho Chi Minh. The success of Vietnam today is underpinned by the role of the CPV. He said that Vietnam has also promoted the thought and vision of President Ho Chi Minh very well to develop the country. He also assessed that it is very impressive that Vietnam maintains a growth rate of over 5% after the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also expressed his wish that Vietnam will continue to promote the results achieved as well as maintain the study of President Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle.

CPV delegation and representatives from the PRI (Photo: VNA)

Mr. Nguyen Trong Nghia highly appreciated the close support of the Mexican people and the PT for the Vietnamese people. He also said that while Vietnam's development indicators in 2022 really impressed international friends, Vietnam's economy is currently facing a lot of challenges from global issues such as climate change, environment, epidemics and international conflicts. In 2023 and the following years, Vietnam must recover socio-economic development after the pandemic, creating a favorable environment for businesses to invest and do business, he added.

Meeting Sofia Carvajal, secretary of international affairs of PRI, the Vietnamese official thanked the PRI and Mexican people for supporting Vietnam in its past struggle for national liberation and reunification, as well as the nation building and safeguarding cause at present.

The Communist Party of Vietnam wants to continue tightening and further developing its traditional cooperation with the PRI in all fields for the benefit of the two countries' people, as well as for peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

CPV delegation visits President Ho Chi Minh's Monument in downtown Mexico City. (Photo: VNA)

The CPV wishes to welcome the PRI delegation soon to visit and work in Vietnam to discuss in-depth cooperation between the two Parties and the two countries towards the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship (May 19, 1975 - May 19, 2025), he went on to say.

During the working trip, the Vietnamese delegation visited and offered flowers at President Ho Chi Minh's Monument in downtown Mexico City.

To make the monument space always lively and meaningful, Mr. Nghia suggested that the Vietnamese Embassy in Mexico coordinate with Mexico City to regularly pay attention to, decorate and organize meaningful activities on introducing the life and career of President Ho Chi Minh to the Mexican people and the Vietnamese community in Mexico./.




Big Brother Naija All Stars housemate, Seyi has complained to Biggie about his female colleague, CeeC.





Seyi, during his diary session with Biggie on Tuesday, accused CeeC of being the source of toxicity in the house.





Expressing his frustration on the ongoing BBNaija season 8 show, Seyi claimed that CeeC is unable to handle criticism or confront the consequences of her own actions.





CeeC is a source of toxicity in the house because she always wants to be the centre of attention. And she does the things she complains about the most.





CeeC cant take half of the things she dishes out or confront the consequences of her own actions, he said.
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has described the purported request of the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, to meet President Bola Tinubu as inappropriate and condemnable.

He said Bidens request conveyed by a US Presidential envoy and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Molly Phee, defeats the stance of the American government on democracy and the sanctity of the ballot.

Frank, in a statement issued Wednesday, said the meeting billed to take place at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September was suspicious because Tinubu currently lacks legitimacy as the result of the 2023 presidential election is being contested in court.

This move by Biden is certainly an anti-American stance on the rule of law and a bad example in collaborations in view of the pendency of suits challenging the declaration of Tinubu as President and multiple investigations ongoing concerning his integrity, true identity and academic records both in Nigeria and USA.

Its an insult to say that Tinubu is the only African president that Biden has chosen to meet on the sidelines of UNGA when they know his legitimacy deficit and the fraudulent election that brought him as president.

For me, even if they want to discuss African affairs, they can discuss with any other legitimate African leader within the continent.

However, it is clear the only reason they are seeking this meeting is to protect their selfish interests and it is for this type of unbecoming action that the US is now trying former President Donald Trump, he said.

Frank said it was disheartening to note that at a time when everyone is eagerly waiting on the outcome of the Presidential Election Tribunal, the US seeks to play to the gallery by inviting Tinubu as the sole African leader Biden wishes to meet at UNGA.

He urged Biden to rescind his invitation to Tinubu pending the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on the suits challenging the legitimacy of the President.




Operatives of the Uyo Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have arrested 17 suspected internet fraudsters at different locations in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.





The suspects were arrested during a sting operation following a series of intelligence reports linking the suspects to all kinds of online criminal activities.





The Commission confirmed the arrest in a post on its Twitter page.





Items recovered from the suspects include; mobile phones, a television set, a red Toyota Camry LE car, a black Honda car and two Lexus cars.





The suspects will be charged to Court as soon as the investigations are concluded, it added.
Kayode Egbetokun, acting inspector-general of police, has warned officers against the extortion and harassment of commuters on highways.

Egbetokun said the force has noted the series of complaints on the unprofessional conduct of police officers as raised by the national assembly.

In a statement on Tuesday, Muyiwa Adejobi, force spokesperson, said the acting IGP has expressed strong displeasure at the misconduct of some police officers along major highways in the country.

The IGP expresses strong displeasure at the misconducts of a few recalcitrant officers along our major highways in Nigeria, which have repeatedly tarnished the forces reputation, the statement reads.

The alleged incidences of extortion, intimidation, and harassment of commuters on the highways are being looked into, and the Force is resolute in addressing these issues promptly and decisively.

In response to the reports and series of complaints received on police platforms, the IGP has directed all supervising officers to undertake stringent supervision of their subordinates in the field with the primary objective of curbing and eradicating the unprofessional conduct of erring officers.

He noted that it is imperative that supervising officers take proactive measures to prevent any form of misconduct, and where such misconduct is observed, they are expected to take immediate action to rectify the situation.

Adejobi said any officer found guilty of misconduct will face severe disciplinary measures.

Personnel found guilty of such offenses will face severe disciplinary measures, aimed at deterring future occurrences, he said.

Moreover, supervisory officers who fail to fulfill their duty of oversight will also face appropriate sanctions.

In July, the senate asked the acting IGP to direct its personnel to stop extortion, intimidation, and harassment of motorists and commuters on highways.
The military junta in Gabon also detained the son of the deposed President Ali Bongo in a coup on Wednesday, according to Alarabiya News.

Recall that on Wednesday, Gabonese Senior Military officers overthrew Ali Bongo, who was recently re-elected for a third term.

The report said Bongos son was arrested for treason.

The military had earlier announced that President Ali Bongo was under house arrest, surrounded by his family and doctors.

On July 26, a Military junta deposed Nigerien democratically-elected president, Mohammed Bazoum.




President Bola Tinubu has reacted to the latest coup in Gabon, where President Ali Bongo has been outsted and placed under house arrest.





Recall that some military personnel had hinged their plot to seize power from Bongo on what they termed as observed flaws in the recent general election in the central African country.





The officers had also admitted that the organisation of the general elections of August 26, 2023, did not meet the conditions for a transparent, credible and inclusive ballot so much hoped for by the people of Gabon.





They had also cited irresponsible and unpredictable governance, resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion, with the risk of leading the country into chaos.





But reacting on behalf of President Tinubu on Wednesday, his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale said the presidency is watching closely with deep concern the seeming autocratic contention apparently spreading across different regions of our beloved continent.





Ngelale said the President as a man who has made significant personal sacrifices in his own life in the course of advancing and defending democracy is of the unwavering belief that power belongs in the hands of Africas great people and not in the barrel of a loaded gun.





He said the President affirms that the rule of law and a faithful recourse to the constitutional resolutions and instruments of electoral dispute resolution must not at any time be allowed to perish from our great continent.





To this end, the President is working very closely and continues to communicate with other Heads of States in the African Union towards a comprehensive consensus on the next steps forward with respect to how the power in Gabon will play out and how the continent will respond to contagious autocracy we have seen spread across our continent.
The coup leaders in Gabon have placed President Ali Bongo under house arrest, hours after he was toppled.

The soldiers also announced that one of his sons has been arrested for treason.

In a televised address, the soldiers who said they represent all security and defence forces in the Central African nation, added that Bongo is surrounded by his family and doctors.

Earlier on Wednesday, the soldiers cited institutional, political, economic, and social crises as reasons for the coup.

They added that Bongos administration had been reduced to an irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos.

As elections were wrapping up in Gabon, the government announced a nationwide curfew and cut off internet access.

Media outlets were also banned over a lack of objectivity and balance.

The countrys political opposition described the election as a fraud orchestrated by Ali Bongo and his supporters.

The coup punctuated Bongos familys 53-year hold on power.

The 64-year old rose to power when Omar, his father, died after ruling from 1967 to 2009.

The Gabon coup comes barely a month after President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger Republic was toppled by a military junta.

Negotiations instigated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to relinquish power to Bazoum have been ongoing since his deposition on July 26.
The leader of the Yoruba socio-political association, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, on Wednesday, expressed dissatisfaction over the unpleasant state of the group in recent time.

Fasoranti regretted that the association was being threatened by the leadership crisis currently, saying there was a need for urgent action to revamp the organization.

The elderstatesman stated this at the meeting of members of the group held at his residence in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

Some of the Afenifere chieftains present at the meeting were the immediate past governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, a former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Iyiola Omisore, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and monarch of Ilu Abo Community, Chief Olu Falae, the former Secretary General of the Afenifere, Chief Sehinde Arogbofa, the Organising Secretary of the group, Apagun Omololu, among others.

In his address, Chief Fasoranti said, A noticeable drift away from our core values of consultation, brotherliness and camaraderie and traditional process of conducting the business of the organization, upon which our collegial system of leadership is based, has been severely threatened.

This threat has been further exacerbated by more recent events, culminating in a fracture of the traditional backbone of the organization. I am sorry to say, without mincing words, that our organization is in a sorry state and requires urgent restoration effort to steer it away from the current trajectory.

This wasnt my vision or expectation when I appointed the acting leader and deputy leader. And to say that I am sad and disappointed at the turn of events is an understatement. I am particularly disturbed because unless, we take urgent remedial action, the future looks very bleak and the necessary resources to revamp our organization are being depleted by the day.

To this end, the Afenifere leader urged other chieftains of the group to find a lasting solution to the current impasse in the association

I implore you to engage franklymand honestly in the spirit of comradeship and mutual respect for which we are well known and upon which this organization is founded. With determination and commitment, I believe you are all able to find a solution that will propel Afenifere to greater heights.

At the end of the meeting, a communique was issued and read by the Publicity Secretary of the group, Jare Ajayi. The communique contained the resolutions reached at the meeting.

In the communique, the Afenifere said it would set up a committee to work on reconciliation and unity of the association.

The communique read, Afenifere is to be reinvigorated to be stronger and be able to continue to fulfill its mandate of being the vanguard for the Yoruba race. To achieve this, a committee is to be set up to achieve reconciliation and unity.

The Afenifere is an ideological movement. It is not a political party. Deviation from the basic principles of Afenifere has been responsible for the undesirable turn of events in the last two years.

Arising from the above, Afenifere is to be brought back to its core values and tradition.
Taiwo Akinkunmi, the designer of the Nigerian flag, is dead. He was aged 87.

Akinkunmi Akinwumi, one of his children, announced the death in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

Life is indeed transient; I can say boldly that you lived a life with a landmark. Continue to rest, my father! Pa Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi (O.F.R.): Great Man has gone, he wrote.

Akinkunmi is reported to have died in the early hours of Wednesday after a brief illness.

On his 85th birthday in 2021, former President Muhammadu Buhari celebrated Akinkunmi for upholding the values that every citizen should emulate for nation building, which include humility, selflessness, integrity and a keen interest in seeking greater good for country and humanity.

The former president beseeched God to grant the octogenarian and retired civil servant longer life, good health and strength to keep serving the nation he loves so much.

THE GREEN AND WHITE DESIGN THAT WON

While studying abroad in 1959, Akinkunmi stumbled on a newspaper advertisement calling for submission of designs for the Nigerian national flag, as the African nation prepared to gain independence from the British colonial masters.

Akinkunmi, then a 23-year-old engineering student at Norwood Technical College in London, joined the competition.

In 1960, Akinkunmis design was selected the best among more than 2000 entries. He was told that his green and white design had won.

At the time, he received a reward of 100 for the feat.

The flag designer was born on May 10, 1936 and hailed from Owu in Abeokuta, Ogun state.

He attended Baptist Day Secondary School, Ibadan for his primary education, Ibadan Grammar School for his secondary education and then took up an appointment as a civil servant at the state secretariat Ibadan.

After working for a number of years, he travelled abroad to study agricultural engineering at Norwood Technical College.

Upon graduation, he returned to Nigeria and served in the ministry of agriculture.

In 2014, former President Goodluck Jonathan conferred on him the honour of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR).

Jonathan also directed his chief of staff to place him forever on a salary equivalent to that of a special assistant to the president.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has asked states along River Benue to evacuate residents in flood-prone areas due to the opening of Lagdo dam in Cameroon.

Mustapha Ahmed, director-general of NEMA, spoke on Wednesday during the national emergency coordination forum meeting, in Abuja.

According to Ahmed, Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, and Anambra states could be flooded due to the release of water from the dam.

Other states at risk of being flooded are Enugu, Edo, Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa.

He said the meeting was held following the alert received by the ministry of foreign affairs concerning the planned release of water from the Cameroon dam.

He said Cameroon has opened the dam at the rate of 200 cubic meters per second, adding that the level is about 18 million cubic meters of water daily.

The states on the downstream of River Benue are Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Anambra, Enugu, Edo, Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states, he said.

Information available from the flow level of the River Benue at Nigerian Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA) gauging station at Makurdi stood at 8.97 meters as of Aug. 25, 2023 compared to 8.80 meters on the same date in 2022.

Also, NIHSA has provided that the flow level of the River Niger system, especially at Niamey, Niger Republic, remains stable at a normal level of 4.30 meters.

Similarly, inland dams including Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro reported consistent flow regimes.

The director-general of NEMA called on stakeholders to commence evacuation immediately, adding that the government would continue to work with other partners to mitigate the impact.
This is Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongs fifth visit to Vietnam in his position as the Prime Minister of Singapore, showing the closeness and cohesion between the two nations.



It is among a wide range of activities in celebration of the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership.



During their talks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his visiting Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong agreed to consider upgrading the relationship between Vietnam and Singapore to a comprehensive strategic partnership in the time ahead.



Host and guest shared the view that the Vietnam-Singapore relationship is at its best ever, with various important cooperation agreements put in place.



The leaders emphasised the need to fruitfully realise the partnership in digital economygreen economy.



Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong in Ha Noi on Monday.  VNA/VNS Photos

PM Pham Minh Chinh suggested Singapore facilitate the export of Vietnamese goods into the market, as well as the development and the transformation of the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks to smart, green low-carbon industrial parks, towards the industrial-urban ecosystem.



The two sides concurred to enhance cooperation in national defence and security through the signing and implementation of relevant cooperation agreements, along with dialogue mechanisms, and coordination in multilateral mechanisms and activities.



The two Prime Ministers agreed to promote cooperation in other key areas, including finance, banking, culture and tourism.



Regarding multilateral and regional cooperation, they also consented to continue their coordination with other ASEAN member countries in trade and investment promotion, and maintaining the groupings stance on the East Sea issue.



Following the talks, the leaders witnessed the signing of seven cooperation documents, including a study agreement for high-ranking officials of the Communist Party of Vietnam for the 2024-2026 period between the two foreign ministries, and others covering economy, innovation, labour, climate change response, education, and sustainable infrastructure development./.
A faction of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) loyal to Rabiu Kwankwaso, the partys standard bearer in the last general election, has reversed his suspension.

The partys board of trustees (BoT) led by Boniface Aniebonam had expelled Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano state, over anti-party activities.

Kwankwaso has been photographed alongside President Bola Tinubu on a few occasions in recent times.

Agbo Major, national publicity secretary of the party, was also expelled by the faction loyal to Kwankwaso.

Major had been appointed acting chair by the BoT.

A statement by the faction said Aniebonam, founder of the party, had been on suspension since August.

At the National Executive Committee meeting of the NNPP held in Abuja today August 29th 2023, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, Agbo Major and several others were expelled from the party, the statement signed by Ladipo Johnson, a chieftain of the party, reads.

The NEC also moved several other motions relating to the Logo of the party, the Amendment of the constitution, ratification of the State caretaker committees, and the suspension of two Articles in the constitution of the NNPP 2022.

At the meeting were the Executive Governor of Kano State, the National Chairman, Distinguished Senator Kawu Ismaila, the Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, Engr Buba Galadima and many others.

NEC noted that there were suspended (now expelled) persons who purportedly held a Board of Trustees meeting in Apapa, Lagos this morning.

Naturally, their meeting was null and void and to no effect.
The Peoples Democratic Party PDP, is in quandary over how to handle the open romance between former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Party officials have kept sealed lips over its plans on how to deal with what some describe as a the most brazen case of anti-party activity ever embarked upon by a party leader.

The situation took an unexpected turn for the worse with former Governor Wike being named as a leading figure in the National Campaign Council of the APC.

Wike who is the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, was on Tuesday named as a member of APCs campaign council for the 2023 Governorship Elections for Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo States.

This is despite the fact that his party-The PDP, on August 2nd, 2023, named him as a member of its National Campaign Council for the same set of elections.

Attempts to get an official response from the PDP leadership have been unsuccessful.

The partys National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, neither picked nor returned calls to his mobile telephone.

He was yet to respond to a text message on the subject as at the time of filing this report at 9:40pm.

However, a party leader who spoke on condition of anonymity because the party is yet to deliberate and take a decision on the issue said, the party would definitely act at the appropriate time.

The party source said,  We dont want to make our party all about Wike and his unending tantrums.

We are all aware about his love for attention so weve decided to ignore him in the hope he will avail himself of the opportunity of our efforts to reconcile aggrieved members.

While we are open to reconciling, I dont see the party turning a blind eye to his numerous infractions when the Presidential Election Petition Court gives its judgement on our pending case before it.

This is the same man who went to court to get an injunction restraining the party from suspending, expelling or taking action against him for his open infringement of our partys constitution.

 It is now clear for every one to see that his insistence on remaining on our party register as member is simply to do the bidding of the ruling party.

This cannot continue, something has to give and Im sure as soon as the election tribunal concludes its assignment our party will take a definite stand.
Former lawmaker and renowned social critic, Senator Shehu Sani has stated that poisoned elections are responsible for the collapse of democracy in Africa.

Sanis statement is coming on the heels of a coup in the Central African country.

Recall that military officers in Gabon earlier in the day announced the seizure of power after the third term re-election of President Ali Bongo.

The BBC reported that top military officers made the announcement on Tuesday on national Television.

The officers reportedly announced they were annulling the outcome of Saturdays election which the opposition had rejected and described as fraudulent.

However, Sani, in a post via his social media platform X, accused the Bongo family of dominating and destroying democracy in Gabon.

He wrote, A BBC correspondent just reported people in Gabon are genuinely trooping out to the streets in support of the Coup in Libreville. The Bongo family dominated and destroyed Democracy. Democracy dies in Africa when elections are poisoned.
Salihu Tanko-Yakasai, a former governorship candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in Kano, says Abdullahi Ganduje, national chair of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has asked him to return to the ruling party.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Tanko-Yakasai said Ganduje urged him to help in consolidating the gains of the party.

The former governorship candidate said he has already withdrawn his membership of the PRP ahead of his return to APC.

The National Chairman of the APC His Excellency Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje OFR, has requested me to return to the APC and continue to give my best in consolidating the gains of the party from top to bottom, which I have gladly accepted, he said.

Ive withdrawn my membership from the PRP and will rejoin the APC.

The National Chairman of the APC His Excellency Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje OFR, has requested me to return to the APC and continue to give my best in consolidating the gains of the party from top to bottom, which I have gladly accepted. I've withdrawn my membership from the PRP pic.twitter.com/aUsld6RiWx  Peacock (@dawisu) August 30, 2023





Tanko-Yakasai was an aide to Ganduje when the APC chair was governor of Kano state.

Ganduje sacked him in February 2021 after he criticised former President Muhammadu Buharis leadership style.

Clearly, we as [the] APC government, at all levels, have failed Nigerians in the number 1 duty we were elected to do which is to secure lives & properties, he posted on X at the time.

Not a single day goes by without some sort of insecurity in this land. This is a shame! Deal with terrorists decisively or resign.

Following the tweet, Tanko-Yakasai was detained by the Department of State Services (DSS) but he was later set free.
Family members of a man who died last year have sued the Bergen County funeral home where the service was held, claiming the owner left the fathers ashes in a running car that was stolen.

Walter Garcia, 62, died on Jan. 27, 2022, and his wife and daughter paid the Macagna-Diffily Funeral Home of Cliffside Park to perform a service followed by cremation, according to a lawsuit filed on Aug. 25 in Superior Court of Bergen County.

The service was held on Jan. 29, 2022, followed by cremation. The wife and daughter were told they would be contacted within three days to pick up the ashes, according to the suit.

Plaintiffs were intending to keep, maintain and display decedents ashes in the family home, the suit says.

But when the family had not heard from funeral home employees by the first week in February, Garcias daughter went to the business to pick up the ashes, according to the suit.

At that time, she was advised that decedents ashes had been left in an unlocked and running car which had been stolen, from the driveway of the funeral home, the suit alleges.

The next day, a representative of Macagna-Diffily Funeral Home contacted the daughter and told her the stolen car had been recovered but he was unsure as to the status of the ashes, the suit claims.

The family later learned from police that although the stolen vehicle had been found, the ashes were not inside.

The suit says a video shows the door to the vehicle was not locked when the car was entered and stolen. The family also learned the key fob had been left in the vehicle at the time of the theft.

Anthony Macagna, owner of the funeral home, was in possession of and/or transporting the ashes when the vehicle was stolen, alleges the lawsuit.

Neither Macagna nor a representative of the funeral home returned calls seeking comment on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Garcia family is suing Macagna and the funeral home for intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract, and breach of duty for failure to return the ashes to the family.

John Nulty, a Jersey City attorney representing the Garcia family, told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday the ashes had been placed inside a luxury vehicle that was stolen by teenagers.

Nulty said he believes the teens, not knowing what they had, dumped the ashes out of the window.

Leaving a running, open luxury vehicle is an invitation for something like this to happen, Nulty said. The family feels like they lost their father twice.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Passengers on a European airline can look forward to more peaceful flights without screaming kids this fall.

Corendon Airlines will offer a child-free zone of 100 seats on its flights between Amsterdam and the Dutch-Caribbean island of Curacao starting on Nov. 3.

Its Only Adult zone will be a section of seats open to passengers ages 16 years or older, according to Corendons press release. The new zone will be sectioned off by walls and a curtain at the front of the aircraft to create peace of mind for certain passengers.

Standard seats for a one-way flight start at $49, and if you want extra legroom, you will have to pay $109.

The Only Adult zone was designed for passengers traveling without children and for business travelers who want to work in a quiet environment, the airline said.

Although Corendon is the first airline to separate infants, the company is not the first airline to try and solve this problem.

Singapore-based Scoot offers a Scoot in Silence cabin for passengers 12 and older. AirAsia X also offers a quiet zone for passengers 10 and older.

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Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips.
The U.S. is seeing a summer surge in COVID-19 cases thanks to the newest highly transmissible subvariant, Eris.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there has been a nearly 22% increase in COVID-related hospitalizations and a 21% increase in COVID-related deaths recently.

Heres what you need to know about Eris and its symptoms.

What is the Eris COVID subvariant?

Eris, also known as EG.5, accounts for the largest proportion of COVID-19 cases in the country. It is a descendant of the omicron subvariant and also comes from the XBB sublineage.

Both omicron and XBB were dominant strains of COVID-19 this past year.

According to the CDC, EG.5 comprises of 20.6% of new COVID-19 cases for the two-week period ending August 18, an uptick from 7.5% compared with the first week of July.

What are the symptoms of the Eris COVID subvariant?

The symptoms of Eris are similar to many other COVID-19 strains. However, health officials warn that EG.5 can more easily elude antibodies that have built up from immunity or previous vaccinations.

Here are the symptoms to look out for, Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease physician and professor at Yale School of Public Health, told NBCs Today:

Fever

Fatigue

Body chills

Chronic cough

Headache

Sore throat

Nasal congestion or runny nose

Nausea and vomiting

Diarrhea

Shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing

New loss of taste or smell

Do vaccines protect against the Eris COVID subvariant?

There is not an Eris-specific vaccine available on the market yet, but health officials believe the booster that will be unveiled this fall will offer at least some protection, Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Childrens Hospital, told NBCs Today.

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Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips.
Rutgers and Montclair State are requiring vaccines, while other schools are recommending them, according to an NJ Advance Media survey of New Jersey colleges and universities.

Although the pandemic-related public health emergency ended in May, COVID-related hospitalizations increased 18.8% in the U.S. in the week ending August 19, the most recent in which data was recorded, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rutgers spokeswoman Dory Devlin said students can request exemptions to the vaccine requirement, and those are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Our immunization requirements for students are designed to protect their health in a densely populated community and the health of others, including fellow students, staff, and patients, she said. We will continue to follow public health trends and adjust our requirements as needed.

She noted that only 17 of 60,303 students had not yet complied, a number that is getting smaller daily, ahead of school opening on Sept. 6.

The university continues to work with students to achieve 100% compliance, she said.

Rutgers claims to be the first university to require COVID vaccines, which prompted a federal lawsuit by an anti-vaccine group founded by presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Montclair State University requires people living on campus and students participating in some off-campus activities to be vaccinated. They can request an exemption.

Since the onset of the pandemic, we have followed the science, state and federal guidelines, and the recommendations of our on-campus experts, said university spokesman Andrew Mees. The vaccine has been proven to slow the spread of the virus, and the risk of transmitting COVID-19 appears to be higher in congregate housing. The health and safety of our community members will always be our most important priority, and this strategy has been proven to be effective.

According to the states safety guidelines for colleges and universities, vaccination is the leading strategy to prevent COVID-19 infections. The guidelines recommend that all faculty, staff, and students get vaccinated as soon as possible and receive the booster shots they are eligible for.

Other New Jersey colleges and universities are recommending students receive vaccines and boosters, including Caldwell, Centenary, Drew, Fairleigh Dickinson, Georgian Court, Monmouth, New Jersey City University, Princeton, Rider, Rowan, St. Peters, Seton Hall, and Stockton Universities; Ramapo College; The College of New Jersey; New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Stevens Institute of Technology.

From December 2020 through November 2022, the U.S. vaccination program prevented 3.2 million deaths from COVID-19 and 18.5 million hospitalizations, according to a December report from the Commonwealth Fund, an independent healthcare research organization.

According to fall figures from the CDC, people over 5 who were vaccinated and boosted were almost 19 times less likely to die of COVID and more than three times less likely to test positive for COVID than unvaccinated people.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Tina Kelley may be reached at tkelley@njadvancemedia.com.
Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway announced the departure of the Newark campus popular chancellor, Nancy Cantor, in such glowing terms that friends mistakenly reached out to congratulate the 71-year-old career educator on a well-deserved retirement, according to several people.

She was getting congratulation calls, said Richard Cammarieri, a Rutgers University-Newark alumnus who chairs the nonprofit Newark Community Development Network, one of the organizations Cantor has worked with to integrate the campus into the life of its host city.

The flattering heading of Holloways Aug. 16 online announcement read, Celebrating Nancy Cantors Outstanding Chancellorship. But its central message was that he would not renew Cantors second, five-year contract as chancellor when it expires June 30, 2024, ending her tenure as leader of the Newark campus, which began in January 2014. And the next day, Cantor made it clear in a message of her own that she would have preferred to remain as chancellor to continue advancing the expansive work weve done together.

In the two weeks since then, theres been an outpouring of support for Cantor and opposition to Holloways decision, including an Aug. 16 letter from Mayor Ras J. Baraka co-signed by state Senate majority leader, Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) and other Newark lawmakers, and a letter dated Aug. 24 signed by 50 Rutgers Law School professors.

We cannot help noting that your communications do not identify any shortcomings in Chancellor Cantors leadership of the Newark campus, the law professors wrote. Instead, they are effusive in their praise of Chancellor Cantors workWe are at a loss as to why, amid all of the challenges facing Rutgers and higher education generally, you would choose to embark on a costly and disruptive leadership transition to address a problem that, by your own telling, is no problem at all.

NJ Advance Media asked to speak to Holloway, but a university spokesperson, Dory Devlin, provided a statement instead, declining to say why Holloway would not renew Cantors contract.

As the presidents letter notes, he applauds her commitment to Newark, her commitment to access, and her transformative initiatives to advance social mobility, publicly engaged scholarship, and collaboration among anchor institutions, the statement read. But, again, as a personnel matter, it would be inappropriate to discuss the decision.

Devlin said Cantor would remain a valued member of our community as she completes her current contract term as chancellor, takes a one-year sabbatical at her current salary and, at her discretion, returns to the faculty as a Distinguished Professor with all its rights, privileges and tenure.

Cantor declined to comment, said Carrie Stetler, a spokesperson for Rutger University-Newark.

The controversy has generated headlines around the state and in the higher education national press.

It was also the latest in a string of issues to attract attention during Holloways three-year tenure, including a faculty strike last spring that was the state universitys first in its 257-year history, in which Holloway threatened to seek an injunction against the strikers. Others include a contentious merger of the New Jersey Medical School in Newark and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick to form the Rutgers School of Medicine and a 6% tuition hike approved in July, doubling the rate of last years increase.

An opinion piece signed by 30 Rutgers-Newark faculty members published last Sunday in The Star-Ledger and on NJ.com said Cantors sacking was Holloways most recent disaster. It asserted it was time for him to radically change his approach, or barring that, to leave Rutgers.

The work Cantor said she prefers to continue doing in Newark includes boosting local student enrollment, encouraging Newark-based research that has driven city policies, and hiring residents into hundreds of campus jobs under a Newark 2020 plan devised by the city with Rutgers input.

Those and other accomplishments have earned Cantor praise as a leader of the anchor institution movement, which seeks to build mutually beneficial relationships between large organizations and their surroundings. Cantors efforts have been recognized by sources ranging from the Carnegie Foundation to Holloway himself, when he extended her second 5-year contract last fall by another six months after its original end date of Dec. 31.

This extension of your reappointment is in recognition of your vision and the extraordinary leadership you have demonstrated in advancing Rutgers University Newarks strategic placement as an anchor institution, Holloway wrote in a Nov. 4 letter informing Cantor of the extension. The letter further praised Cantor for fostering strong business, government, and community partnerships, and leveraging resources to enhance the student experience.

Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway announced Aug. 16 that Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor's contract would not be renewed when it expires in June. He delivered welcoming remarks during commencement at SHI Stadium in Piscataway in May.Julian Leshay | For NJ Advance Media

Rutgers faculty said they have been frustrated by Holloways failure to explain why he planned to replace Cantor.

I cant tell you how many of us have been scouring whatever known and unknown sources we can find to try to get an authoritative reason for this, said Prof. David Troutt, director of the Center on Law in Metropolitan Equity, or CLiME, at Rutgers Law School in Newark.

Were still trying to figure out what it might have been that she did? said Troutt, who signed the law school letter. And nobody can really trace that, which is rather frightening because you can call it whatever you want, but if theres no evidence of her not following along, its just arbitrary. And its very scary to follow an arbitrary president.

A 2022 CLiME study, Who Owns Newark? exemplifies the local research encouraged by Cantors vision of Rutgers-Newark as an anchor institution. The study, authored by Troutt, revealed a recent surge in corporate purchases of single and multi-family homes in Newark, contributing to rising home prices and rents, threatening to displace longtime residents and destabilize neighborhoods. The findings contributed to counter-measures by Baraka and the City Council, including expansion of the citys rent control law to cover apartments previously exempted.

Marcia Brown, a Newark vice chancellor under Cantor who retired in 2021, said Holloways decision to replace her old boss defied logic and that his announcement seemed crafted to appear as if she were departing voluntarily, pointing to a more personal, less rational, motivation.

In my view, it has to do with ego, insecurity, Brown said in a text message. Cantor, she added, is the tallest tree in the room. She has brought national attention to Newark.

Brown said if not for Nancy, there would be no tuition-free education for Newark students; no Run to the Top leading to a 60% increase in enrollment in Newark students; no Express Newark; no Honors College for people of color; no scholarships for dreamers; no Clements Place; no 500 new jobs at Rutgers Newark for Newark residents making a living wage.

Devlin, the Rutgers spokesperson, did not directly address Browns comments.

She said Rutgers Board of Governors Chairman William Best was unavailable for comment. A spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy, who took an active role in the Rutgers strike, decline to comment.

Cantor made headlines in 2019 after a widely-publicized incident captured on video. She was heading for a trip on Rutgers business, waiting to be picked up on campus for the ride to the airport, when her university driver nicked the fender of a parked Rutgers Police cruiser as he tried to pull up to the curb where Cantor was standing.

There was no visible damage to either vehicle, and Cantor grew impatient for the officers to let her and the driver be on their way. When one of them asked who she was, Cantor yelled incredulously, Im the chancellor! and at one point told them they would be in trouble if she missed her flight. She later apologized.

Cantor took over the top job at Rutgers-Newark after serving as president of the University of Illinois and Syracuse University. The campus has about 12,000 students, two-thirds of them undergraduates, out of a total university student body of 67,000.

Her starting base salary was $385,000, plus incentives, and remained that amount when then-President Robert Barchi renewed her contract for another five years, effective January 2019.

Holloway, 55, replaced Barchi in July 2020 at a base salary of $780,000 plus incentives. A historian and former provost of Northwestern University, he made history as Rutgers first president of color.

Newarks mayor was among the first Cantor supporters to respond to the announcement of her departure, penning a letter to Holloway that day insisting it would amount to two steps backwards for the city and urging the president to reconsider.

Holloway wrote back the next day, assuring Baraka he had every confidence the team Cantor had assembled and her successor would carry on her work. Holloways letter noted that he and the mayor had spoken to one other about the issue, though it did not elaborate on the conversation, and Baraka declined to comment. The letter did not say why Cantor was being replaced.

I am personally committed to Newarks success, Holloway wrote to Baraka. And you will see further evidence of that in our selection of a new chancellor for Rutgers UniversityNewark.

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Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com
Back-to-school season is in full swing in New Jersey with some students already returning to classrooms to meet new teachers this week and others still readying backpacks for that first day.

The number of teachers those students will meet can vary widely from district-to-district and school-to-school. Statewide, the median student-teacher ratio for New Jersey schools is 11 to 1, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis of state Department of Education data from the 2021-2022 school year, the most available.

Search for your school in the chart below
Press Release

August 30, 2023 Jinggoy calls for Senate inquiry on new travel requirements In the light of a public uproar on the new travel guidelines issued by the executive branch, Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada has called for the conduct of a Senate investigation into the tighter rules issued by the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for Filipinos traveling abroad, citing concerns over potential violation to the constitutionally-guaranteed right to travel and freedom of movement. "The right to travel is a constitutional right and possible restrictions on such right in the guise of stricter pre-departure guidelines which act as a watchlist against outbound Filipino travelers wanting to travel in the whims of Immigration officers may be illegal and should be thoroughly reviewed," Estrada said in his Senate Resolution No. 771. As tourism begins to pick up and more Filipinos are eager to travel following the end of the pandemic, the new immigration guidelines in the Philippines will only tend to cause stress for travelers who have already booked and prepared for their trips using their hard-earned money, the senator said. Estrada pointed out that a special trend worldwide is being practiced in which immigration checks are loosened to revive the once vibrant travel and tourism industry, which has been greatly devastated by movement restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Immigration checks are usually seamless worldwide as immigration officers only ask passengers their destination, which is a stark contrast to the situation in the Philippines where the bureaucracy gets in the way and causes additional stress and anxiety among passengers, Estrada also said. "As the Philippine government bids to be an essential travel destination in the world because of its pristine waters and highly attractive tourist spots, what authorities should focus on are airport delays, long queues, and a dire lack of lack of employees in immigration counters --long-standing problems that have beset the airport pre-departure area for decades," the veteran lawmaker stressed. A 45-second screening time per passenger had been promised by the Bureau of Immigration (BI), but in reality, there are long queues at immigration counters particularly in Manila's gateways because passengers are asked to submit their yearbook, bank statements, and family photos, among other ridiculous requirements which are highly irrelevant to their travel, he lamented. "Minsan na tayong binansagan na worst airport in Asia. At nang dahil dito sa pangyayaring ito, mukhang nasa atin pa rin po ang korona ng pagiging worst airport," Estrada said.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Hungary Nguyen Thi Bich Thao presents certificates of merit

to the outstanding translators (Photo: VOV)

The event drew the participation of 150 delegates from Hungary and Vietnam.

Speaking at the event, President of the Hungary-Vietnam Friendship Association Kristof Szatmary highlighted Hungarian peoples warm sentiments towards Vietnam, and affirmed that the association will continue making contributions to the relations between the two countries in all fields.

At the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to Hungary Nguyen Thi Bich Thao briefed participants on the historical significance of the date of September 2, 1945, when President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence, announcing the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam which is the Socialist Republic of Vietnam now.

She reviewed achievements in the traditional friendship and all-round partnership between Vietnam and Hungary after 73 years of the diplomatic relation establishment and five years of bilateral comprehensive partnership.

The Ambassador affirmed that the bilateral ties are developing fruitfully on the key pillars of politics-diplomacy, economy-trade, justice, education-training and parliamentary cooperation.

On this occasion, she thanked the Hungarian Government for supporting Vietnam in training high-quality human resources, and lauded the efforts by the Hungary-Vietnam Friendship Association in fostering people-to-people exchange between the two countries.

At the event, outstanding Vietnamese and Hungarian translators were honoured for their works in introducing and promoting Vietnamese and Hungarian cultural values to each other countries./.
A worker at Montclair State University has filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming supervisors sexually harassed and discriminated against her based on her gender and Muslim faith.

The 23-year-old, who works in the recreation department, states in court papers the harassment ranged from probing questions about her sexuality to statements that Muslims fasting during Ramadan was weird.

The woman also claims a male supervisor asked her to down shots of alcohol with him in his office, and a female supervisor would inappropriately hug her and once asked if she and her boyfriend were sexually active.

The same woman supervisor also asked the worker about a time when she was sexually assaulted, pressing her for details even as she cried, according to the suit filed Aug. 23 in Superior Court of Essex County.

A spokesperson for Montclair State University did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

The worker said she brought her complaints to managers, who did nothing to stop the alleged behavior, according to court papers.

The managers allegedly encouraged additional discriminatory acts and further harassment by telling others about workers complaints, according to the suit.

Despite the workers complaints, the female supervisor continued touching the woman at least every other shift they worked together, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says the worker eventually brought her concerns to Romayne Eaker-Kelly, the campus recreation director, who allegedly said the woman should be thankful you got this job.

Eaker-Kelly did not respond to a call and email on Monday seeking comment on the suit.

The lawsuit alleges violations of New Jersey Law Against Discrimination with regard to sexual and religious harassment.

The suit also alleges the university retaliated against the woman by withholding 39 hours of pay, along with threatening her employment and harassing her.

After she complained to upper management, the woman was allegedly removed from a supervisory position, according to the suit.

The woman is seeking 200% of the back pay shes allegedly owed, along with punitive damages and reinstatement to her higher paying supervisory position.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Residents marched by candlelight with nurses from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital on Tuesday evening in Highland Park to show support for the nurses strike thats been ongoing for nearly a month.

At around 7 p.m., union nurses and community members met at the Reformed Church of Highland Park, which hosted the walk. The group marched from the church across the Albany Street Bridge into New Brunswick.
Jersey City is teaming up with Mana Fashion Services and Mana Contemporary for a day of fashion -- the Jersey City Day of Fashion in fact -- on Wednesday, Sept. 6. The event will highlight the local fashion community, supporting businesses and building relationships with industry leaders.

The day begins at 9 a.m. with a press conference at City Hall with city officials and two fashion professionals. Their goal is to solidify Jersey City as an emerging fashion hub.
Hundreds of people, including some elected officials, called for Jersey City to stop responding to mental health crises with armed police officers during an emotional vigil Tuesday night for the emotional disturbed man who was shot and killed in his home by police officers Sunday after moving toward them with a knife.

Family members, City Council President Joyce Watterman and Ward F Councilman Frank Gilmore were among the speakers at the event on Randolph Avenue outside the home of the victim, 52-year-old Andrew Jerome Washington.
A man authorities described as homeless has been arrested after police say he exposed himself in a Hoboken park, the citys public safety spokeswoman said.

Wander Torres, 32, was charged with lewdness and making terroristic threats Friday after an incident in Church Square Park, which residents in the area have said is becoming increasingly dangerous.
The state Office of Higher Education and Gov. Phil Murphy have selected a turnaround specialist and prominent corporate and securities attorney with veto power to shepherd the finances at the cash-strapped New Jersey City University.

The appointment of Henry Amoroso  whose consulting firm specializes in restructuring and developing sustainable budgets for governments, big businesses and large nonprofits  was the major stipulation on the $10 million in additional aid the school received in the states 2024 budget.
A man from Texas has been sentenced to 20 years in state prison for a fatal shooting at a New Jersey truck stop in 2021, authorities said.

David L. Rodriguez, 47, of Alamo, Texas, was sentenced by Judge Angela F. Borkowski on a guilty plea of aggravated manslaughter, said Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee M. Robeson.

Rodriguez was initially charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Ricardo Menezes De Castro, which occurred at the Pilot Travel Center in Union Township on Jan. 23, 2021.

Authorities accused Rodriguez of firing multiple shots at the 43-year-old Florida resident during an argument at the truck stop, leading to his death.

We again find ourselves mourning a life cut short at the hands of gun violence, Prosecutor Robeson said. This case is an unfortunate example of how a roadside dispute quickly escalated into a fatal encounter. Mr. Rodriguez took the life of a hardworking and beloved man for which he will have to serve a lengthy sentence.

The defendants sentence is subject to the No Early Release Act, requiring him to serve at least 85% of the 20-year prison term before parole eligibility. Upon his release, he will be on parole supervision for five years, officials said.

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Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com.
Police arrested a Philadelphia woman for illegally possessing a gun that a 3-year-old used to shoot himself in the head in a Trenton home, authorities said Wednesday.

Chante L. Odom, 30, of Philadelphia, was charged with third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of hollow-point rounds, authorities said.

An investigation revealed Odom, a friend of the boys father, was visiting the 100 block of Phillips Avenue Tuesday, authorities said. The 3-year-old retrieved the gun from Odoms purse.

Trenton police responded just before 11 a.m. after reports of a shooting, authorities said.

Officers found a 3-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to his head, Lt. Nate Bolognini said. First responders transported the boy to a nearby hospital.

Once he was stabilized, the 3-year-old was transferred to Cooper University Medical Center in Camden, where he underwent surgery Tuesday, Bolognini said. The boy was in stable condition.

There were two other children in the house at the time of the shooting, Bolognini said. Police did not say if the boy and his father are related to the other two children.

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Camille Furst may be reached at cfurst@njadvancemedia.com.
With stories about breaking up fights, hiding behind carts and having had luggage thrown at them, flight crews appealed to travelers at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday for sanity in the skies and support for a law that would ground the most violent passengers.

Union flight attendants were handing out red cards to travelers entering Terminal A, asking them to support the Transport Workers Union Assault Wont Fly campaign and legislation that would ban passengers who have been convicted of assaulting flight crews or security officers.

But its the stories behind the cards that crew members told that are cringe-worthy.

Each of the three flight attendants interviewed had a story about themselves or a colleague being abused verbally or physically for doing their job.

In many cases, the abuse started after a routine request or when there was a problem that is out of the flight crews control, such as delays or cancellations. Drinking alcohol to excess also has been a factor, they said.

Willingboro resident Tiffany Humes is a JetBlue flight attendant at Newark Airport and said she has had to serve as a referee between passengers, break up fights and endure abuse for conditions beyond her control.

We had an incident where the plane had to sit out on the tarmac and was delayed for two hours, and the crew felt so unsafe they used a cart to get behind just because customers were getting so upset and agitated with them, Humes said. They take it out on crew members.

She said she hopes the campaign and legislation would cause people to think before they act and attack someone because they are doing their job.

The biggest problem is when alcohol gets involved, Humes said. I had a problem when a customer who was a little intoxicated and had an interaction with another customer. It escalated and I had to get involved and try to prevent a fight from occurring.

In that case, one passenger was about to attack the other customer from behind, she said. As a union representative for TWU local 579, Humes said she hears complaints from the 270 members.

The union has a national assault wont fly campaign, said Thom McDaniel, TWU international vice president and flight attendant with Southwest Airlines for 31 years. Union members handed cards to passengers detailing the Protection from Abusive Passengers Act and the anti-abuse campaign.

Jet Blue flight attendant Tiffany Humes of Willingboro displays an Assault Won't Fly card to promote legislation and anti-abuse campaigns to protect flight crews, Union airline workers said they're subject to abuse ranging from verbal to physical violence that has increased since 2021.

The bill would create a national airline-wide flying ban for anyone convicted of abusing an airline worker and would take away their access to TSA pre-check (expedited security screening), he said. The duration of a ban is up to the TSA, and bans could be issued based on the severity of the attack, McDaniel said.

We understand passengers frustrations because of cancelations... While there are current laws that prohibit interfering with crew members responsibilities, very often they are not prosecuted, McDaniel said. This is really focused on physical assault, he noted.

Weve had many cases where a passenger will abuse a flight attendant or another passenger and the police might meet them at the plane, but they dont really enforce the rule, he said.

Hes seen incidents where a flight attendant was attacked by a passenger who tried to open the airplanes emergency exit, and flight attendants who have suffered broken teeth and concussions from being shoved by passengers, he said.

Federal Aviation Administration statistic showed a spike in reported incidents in 2021, hitting a high of 5,973 unruly passenger reports. That declined to 2,455 in 2022. So far, as of Aug. 27, 1,334 unruly passenger incidents have been reported to the FAA this year.

Karla Kozak of New York City, whos been a Southwest flight attendant for three decades, said she saw a colleague assaulted by a passengers who smashed her head against the side of the aircraft so badly, she was out of work for three years.

Personally, Kozak said shes endured everything from verbal abuse to having a suitcase and coffee thrown at her.

We are trained in de-escalation and hospitality, and customer abuse is unacceptable, she said. Were asking people to stop.

Union officials pushed for these measures to be part of a recent FAA reauthorization bill, along with legislators such as U.S. Rep. Bonnie Coleman Watson, D-12th Dist., who is a co-sponsor of the Protection from Abusive Passengers Act.

The safety of flight attendants is paramount to the safety of everyone on board. Their primary mission is the safety of passengers, and we must do everything we can to aid them in that mission, the congresswoman said in a statement. The Protection from Abusive Passengers Act is an important step in keeping passengers with a history of unruly and violent behavior from putting flight attendants and their fellow passengers at risk.

The bipartisan bill passed the the House in July 2023 and is waiting for a vote in the U.S. Senate. That bipartisan bill also includes protections from assault such as reformed assault prevention plans and increased self-defense and de-escalation training. Flight crew members interviewed on Tuesday said theyve received the training.

We need to put an end to assaults against our airline workers and make sure these criminals are brought to justice and held accountable, said U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist. If you put your hands on an airline worker, you should never be allowed to fly again, period.

The legislation, which Gottheimer supports, is important because airline employees keep the public and economy moving at some of the worlds busiest airports here in Jersey and the tri-state area, he said.

Information events similar to what was done at Newark have been held at other airports, including John F. Kennedy International in New York, as well as airports in Houston and Chicago. And passengers who union members spoke to generally understood what the campaign was about, he said.

But there is more work that needs to be done.

Since COVID, its gotten worse, said Humes, the JetBlue flight attendant. Some of the incidents are alcohol related, some are delays, or (passengers) are unhappy crew members spoke to them to tell them not to do something.

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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.
The last remaining immigration detention center in New Jersey is allowed to stay open after a federal judge on Tuesday ruled its unconstitutional that a state law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy would have banned the facility from renewing its contract with U.S. authorities.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kirsch sided with CoreCivic, the worlds largest private prison company, which sued the state in an effort to keep operating the Elizabeth Contract Detention Center.

The decision comes two days before the center  which CoreCivic has run for more than two decades  would have been forced to close. The companys latest contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, is set to expire Thursday and the law Murphy approved two years ago would have blocked a renewal.

But Tuesdays ruling changes that. Federal officials have said they fully intend to extend the contract.

The state Attorney Generals Office immediately said it plans to appeal. Immigration advocates who have long condemned how detainees are treated at the center denounced the ruling and vowed to keep pressing for the facility to be shuttered.

The law (A5207), which Murphy signed in 2021, prohibits both government-run and privately run jails in New Jersey from entering into, renewing, or extending contracts with ICE to house federal immigration detainees. Its one of several policies Murphy, a Democrat who once said he was open to making New Jersey a sanctuary state, has installed to protect immigrants in the state.

But Kirsch, sitting in Trenton, wrote that if any neighboring state passes a comparable law, it would result in nothing short of chaos.

He also said that while reference to the federal government was conveniently omitted from the law, the statute is a dagger aimed at the heart of the federal governments immigration enforcement mission and operations.

Ultimately, Kirsch ruled New Jerseys law is unconstitutional as applied against CoreCivic, violating the U.S. Constitutions supremacy clause, which says federal law generally takes precedence over state law.

CoreCivic filed its lawsuit against the state in February, claiming the law was unconstitutional.

Government-run jails in Bergen, Essex, and Hudson counties ended their contracts with ICE shortly after the law was enacted. Tuesdays ruling does not change that because officials say the decision applies only to private facilities.

The case pitted Murphys administration against the administration of President Joe Biden, a longtime Murphy friend and fellow Democrat.

The U.S. Department of Justice under Biden filed a brief in July saying it supported keeping the facility open because its closure would cause catastrophic impact to national security, border security, and other immigration policy  including possibly leading to the release of dangerous noncitizens.

The center holds about 300 detainees and is the only ICE facility within 60 miles of New York City. The justice department argued the centers proximity to Newark and JFK airports made it especially sensitive.

A spokesman for state Attorney General Matthew Platkins office said we are disappointed with todays ruling, which we view as interfering with New Jerseys right to protect its residents.

Private detention facilities threaten the public health and safety of New Jerseyans, including when used for immigration purposes, the spokesman added. We will be appealing this decision.

Murphys office said it was also disappointed that a federal court has ruled that New Jersey does not have the authority to prohibit private entities from entering into detention agreements with ICE.

However, the Governor is pleased that the rest of the law that applies to public entities remains intact, a spokeswoman added. He understands that the Attorney Generals Office will appeal todays decision and seek to reinstate the entirety of the law.

A spokesman for CoreCivic said the company was happy with the outcome.

CoreCivic plays a valued but limited role in Americas immigration system, which we have done for every administration  Democrat and Republican  for nearly 40 years, including more than 20 years at Elizabeth Detention Center, spokesman Ryan Gustin said in a statement. We appreciate that we had the opportunity to present our positions to the court and are grateful that we have the privilege of continuing to support the vital mission of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.

Our sole job has been and continues to be to help the government solve problems in ways it could not do alone  to help manage unprecedented humanitarian crises, dramatically improve the standard of care for vulnerable people, and meet critical public safety needs efficiently and innovatively.

Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, one of the largest advocates that pushed for closing the facility, said her group is bitterly disappointed, but we also know this is not the final step.

We are pleased that the Attorney Generals office has already shared their intent to appeal and our communities will continue to take this issue to the streets to demand the shutdown of the Elizabeth Detention Center, Torres added.

The organization wrote on the social media site X that the news is infuriating.

 BREAKING NEWS: Judge Kirsch has sided with CoreCivic to keep Elizabeth Detention Center OPEN.



This news is infuriating BUT THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER! Whether in the streets or in the court room, we will not give up until immigrant detention is out of New Jersey! pic.twitter.com/YCjYNfjKEk  NJ Immigrant Justice (@NJAIJ) August 29, 2023

Several Democratic federal lawmakers from New Jersey wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland last week calling on Bidens administration to drop its support for CoreCivic.

U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-12th Dist., told News 12 New Jersey last week the lawmakers dont believe the Elizabeth center has been a safe and secure facility that treats with their human rights and protection nor that this is a way to reform immigration.

U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez, D-8th Dist.  who represents the district where the facility is located  said Tuesday he was deeply disappointed in the ruling and that the centers continued operation goes against the values and wishes of our state and district, diverse and welcoming places made better by the contributions of generations of immigrants.

Serges Demefack of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that advocates for immigrant rights, called the decision a devastating setback for our immigrant communities.

As an immigrant organizer in New Jersey, I have seen firsthand the harm caused by immigration detention, said Demefack, coordinator of the Black Immigrant Justice Project for AFSC. Rather than continuing and expanding immigration detention, the Biden administration must close EDC and other immigration detention centers across the country and create an immigration system that welcomes and supports people rather than caging and harming them.

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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu on Tuesday called for joint efforts from China and Africa to enhance cooperation and safeguard global security.

Delivering a keynote speech to the plenary session of the third China-Africa Peace and Security Forum in Beijing, Li noted that humanity has faced with unprecedented challenges as global development enters a new phase of instability and transformation.

He said China is willing to join hands with Africa to tackle security challenges and safeguard international equity and justice, thus injecting more certainty and stability into the world.

China and Africa should step up strategic communication and pragmatic cooperation, and enhance the quality and efficiency of their security cooperation, therefore making more contributions to maintaining regional and global security, Li said.

More than 100 senior representatives from the African Union (AU) and nearly 50 African countries attended the forum. At the session, they made speeches on such topics as peace and security, maritime security, and the anti-terrorism situation in Africa.

Expressing gratitude to China for its strong support in terms of peace and stability, the representatives said that they look forward to strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation with China, and will strive to create a better future for African and Chinese people.

Also on Tuesday, Li held meetings with the defense leaders of Senegal, Comoros, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Ghana, Zambia, South Sudan, Gambia, Mauritania, Uganda and other countries respectively, as well as the commissioner for political affairs, peace and security of the AU Commission.

Editor: WXL
A New Jersey park remains closed to the public as the search for a missing alligator continues, authorities said.

Authorities spotted the reptile early Wednesday morning near the small island in Lake Creighton, also known as the Duck Pond, in Middlesex Boroughs Victor Crowell Park, officials said.

Wednesdays sighting is the first one since Saturday, police said. Local and state authorities have attempted to find and relocate the reptile since it was first seen on Aug. 23 before disappearing.

This is a very novel thing for New Jersey, said Lt. Thomas Falk of the Middlesex Borough Police. We dont have alligators in the water. Were not Florida.

Authorities estimate the alligator to be between 3 and 4 feet in length.

Police officers associated with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Division of Fish & Wildlife Conservation are working with local authorities to remove the threat that this non-indigenous reptile causes, the local police department said on social media.

Its still unclear how the alligator ended up in a New Jersey lake.

Authorities have used drones and boats in unsuccessful attempts to find and relocate the gator, which is capable of inflicting serious or fatal injuries, officials said.

Our paramount concern remains the safety of our community in the surrounding park and brook area, police said.

Officials said there were several unconfirmed sightings Monday, including a report from a bystander who claimed that the alligator briefly surfaced on Lake Creighton and attacked a duck. A police officer fired a single shot at the alligator on Saturday in the Ambrose Brook, but the reptile immediately submerged and police do not know if it was struck, borough police said.

Authorities ask anyone who sights the alligator to stay away from it and contact the police department at 732-356-1900.

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The promised extension of NJ Transits original light rail line from Hudson County to Bergen County, which had been anticipated for two decades, just encountered a federal roadblock that potentially could add two more years to the process to build it.

Federal Transit Administration officials rescinded a notice of intent to act on an Environmental Impact Study, saying updated information is needed, according to a notice in Tuesdays Federal Register.
Expedition Bigfoot is airing the first episode of its 4th season on Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 10 p.m. You can watch the premiere live as it airs on Philo (free trial).

In the premiere, the team will travel to Prince of Wales Island in Alaska, ecstatic after the discovery in California of what they believe is compelling evidence. In the midst of their search for the source of strange screaming noises, they will stumble across information that hints they are not alone in the wilderness.

Heres the information youll need to watch Expedition Bigfoot on Discovery Channel or via a free live stream online.

How to watch Expedition Bigfoot without cable

If youre a cord-cutter or dont have cable, you can live stream Expedition Bigfoot on any of the following streaming services:

Fubo TV (free trial)

Philo (free trial)

DirecTV Stream (free trial)

Each streaming service offers a free trial.

What time is Expedition Bigfoot on TV?

Expedition Bigfoot begins its 4th season on Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 10 p.m. on Discovery Channel. It will follow after a new episode of Expedition X at 9 p.m.

What channel is Discovery Channel?

You can use the channel finder on your providers website to locate it: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV, Dish.

How to watch Expedition Bigfoot online on-demand

If you missed an episode of Expedition Bigfoot or want to binge watch other Discovery Channel or Shark Week series online when they become available, look for them on any of the following streaming services:

Fubo TV (free trial)

Philo (free trial)

DirecTV Stream (free trial)

What is Expedition Bigfoot about?

According to the official description of the Travel Channel series:

An elite team of Sasquatch specialists journey into the unforgiving Oregon wilderness in search of Bigfoot. The three-week expedition, based on science and expertise, may finally pull the elusive beast out of the pages of legend and lore and into reality.

Heres a look at some of the most significant evidence the team of Expedition Bigfoot has found in favor of their marks existence, courtesy of Discovery Channels official YouTube channel:

Related stories about streaming TV services

Sling TV launches free streaming platform

The best streaming services for animated TV in 2023

The best streaming services for live TV in 2023: Prices, features, free trials

The best VPNs of 2023, according to reviews

How to watch Yellowstone, the hottest show on TV right now

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Joseph Rejent covers TV, writing about live television, streaming services and cord-cutting. He can be reached at jrejent@njadvancemedia.com.
New Jersey sent 45 members of the states search and rescue squad to South Carolina as Hurricane Idalia strengthened along the Gulf Coast.

New Jersey Task Force 1  made up of police, fire and emergency personnel specializing in boat water rescues  deployed to Columbia, South Carolina, on Monday night.

While staged, they will be rehabbing, conducting just-in-time training, planning, and awaiting further information on operational orders, New Jersey state Office of Emergency Management Sgt. Joseph Walsh told NJ Advance Media.

The states task force has members from 21 counties across New Jersey and is managed by the State Police and the states Office of Emergency Management.

All costs associated with the deployment will be refunded by Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The latest forecast showed Hurricane Idalia gained strength in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and authorities warned of a catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds as the storm moves ashore Wednesday morning.

Idalia was projected to make landfall later Wednesday morning as a Category 4 storm with winds of at least 130 mph in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula.

Forecasters say widespread outages are possible across northern Florida and into parts of Georgia and South Carolina, according to AccuWeather.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the local weather news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.

Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.
Six-day (Tuesday through Sunday) print subscribers of the Watertown Daily Times are eligible for full access to NNY360, the NNY360 mobile app, and the Watertown Daily Times e-edition, all at no additional cost.

If you have an existing six-day print subscription to the Watertown Daily Times, please make sure your email address on file matches your NNY360 account email. You can sign up or manage your print subscription using the options below.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Cloudy skies with periods of rain late. Low 38F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy skies with periods of rain late. Low 38F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
* To many museum staff, the crowds they see this summer were rarely seen before, and the hustle-and-bustle museum scene is a total novelty.

* Looking into the causes behind this "museum craze," Guo Sike, curator of the Confucius Museum in Qufu City, east China's Shandong Province, pointed to the "craze for traditional culture," or a growing fascination with traditional Chinese culture, particularly among young Chinese.

* The growing popularity of study tours focusing on traditional culture has also attracted huge crowds to museums, as museum visits usually constitute an integral session of the tour.

TAIYUAN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Booking a museum ticket, during this hectic summer vacation in China, is not easy. Aspiring visitors may be disappointed by the fact that tickets for the entire week might be fully booked.

In response to the "heated-up museum fever during the summer vacation," Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, in a rare move, announced on Aug. 18 that 46 museums in the city would cancel their Monday closures until Aug. 31, allowing visitors to visit museums every day.

The surging demand is also visible in packed museum halls across the country. To many museum staff, the crowds they see this summer were rarely seen before, and the hustle-and-bustle museum scene is a total novelty.

Looking into the causes behind this "museum craze," Guo Sike, curator of the Confucius Museum in Qufu City, east China's Shandong Province, pointed to the "craze for traditional culture," or a growing fascination with traditional Chinese culture, particularly among young Chinese.

"Young generations have cultural confidence and love the splendid traditional Chinese culture," said Guo, adding that modern technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), have diversified the means by which traditional culture is presented, and enabled it to be presented in a more lovable and lively image.

A tourist visits an exhibition at a Qinqiang opera art museum in the Yisushe Theater cultural block in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

RISING DEMAND FOR MUSEUM TOURS

On a Sunday morning in August, the Shanxi Museum in Taiyuan City, capital of northern China's Shanxi Province, drew a long line of visitors before its opening hour. "A large number of bronzes, Buddha statues, artifacts from traditional residential courtyards and ancient opera stages are displayed here," said Wang Bin, a tourist from Beijing. He was visiting the museum together with his wife and son, dragging suitcases with them.

Visitors wait to enter the Shanxi Museum in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, Aug. 6, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Xuetao)

"The visit will leave my kid a general impression of the long history of Shanxi Province, its history of ethnic integration, the culture of Shanxi merchants and local ancient architectures, which helps to broaden his horizon and enrich his knowledge," said Wang.

As of Aug. 15, the Shanxi Museum had welcomed a total of 1.11 million visits this year, among which, 400,000 visits, or more than one-third of the total, had been recorded during the period from July 1 to Aug. 15. The number of visits to the museum for the entire year 2019 was tallied at 1.41 million.

To satisfy the needs of visitors, the Shanxi Museum extended the opening duration by one hour on Saturdays and Sundays during the summer vacation, and increased the number of free guided tours to almost five times more than non-holiday time, according to Zhang Huiguo, deputy curator of the museum.

The Shaanxi History Museum in the city of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, also saw growing enthusiasm from visitors, and their tickets are highly sought-after during the summer vacation. Despite a daily maximum capacity of 12,000 visitors, the museum's ticket booking platform receives more than 600,000 clicks each day, and tickets are fully booked the moment they become available for reservation.

In response, the museum called off its Monday closures and prolonged opening hours on Sundays, during the summer vacation.

INCREASING CHARM OF TRADITIONAL CULTURE

At the Confucius Museum in Shandong, Du Pengfei, a secondary school student from Heze City, was "enthralled by the charm of brilliant traditional culture," after completing his visit.

"I did my homework before coming here, and I knew that the Kong family boasts a long history of book printing, and many of the books displayed were made by woodblock printing," said Du, referring to the ongoing exhibition in the museum on books and documents of the Kong family (Kong is the family name of Confucius). "Woodblock printing was an important invention of the ancient Chinese people," said Du.

Students pose for a photo in front of the statue of Confucius during a study tour in Qufu City, east China's Shandong Province, June 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

The growing popularity of study tours focusing on traditional culture has also attracted huge crowds to museums, as museum visits usually constitute an integral session of the tour.

Catering to the needs of these study tours, the Confucius Museum, for example, has launched a variety of exhibitions and activities apart from its regular exhibitions themed on Confucius, including the ones showcasing the Kong family's customs, rituals, daily etiquette, as well as calligraphy and aesthetic education summer camps.

In Xi'an, the traditional Qinqiang Opera, a local folk opera genre added to the country's intangible heritage list in 2006, has become a popular subject of study tours.

Local museums themed on Qinqiang Opera offer participants of the tours opportunities to learn the culture not only by the book but also hands-on -- donning the performers' costumes, learning to sing a classic excerpt of the opera, drawing Qinqiang Opera masks and joining a shadow puppet performance.

Children learn Qinqiang Opera at the Yisushe Theater cultural block in Xi'an City, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 6, 2023. (Xinhua)

"Compared to being a passive recipient in traditional sightseeing tours, people love the more interactive and hands-on travel experiences," said Yang Rong, director of the study tour sub-branch of the Shaanxi Tourism Association, "students traveling to the historic city of Xi'an would love to learn a few lines of Qinqiang Opera, to try repairing an artifact, or to learn the performance of shadow puppetry."

"Museums are bridges connecting the past, present, and future. The 'museum craze' is propelled by a renaissance of Chinese traditional culture in recent years. More and more people wish to learn more about the profound Chinese civilization and the historical heritage of the Chinese nation through visiting museums," said Yang Chaoming, professor at the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies, Shandong University.

Editor: WXL
In the good Samaritan shooting, Hollins and an unidentified woman were arguing outside a laundromat in the 2500 block of Reverend Richard Wilson Drive in Kenner on June 29, 2021, Kenner police said.

A 38-year-old man stepped in to help when the dispute turned physical.

Hollins reportedly told the man, "I've got something for you," before walking to a van, getting a gun and shooting the man in the torso and arm, according to authorities. He then fled the scene.

The victim tried to drive himself to a hospital but pulled over near the intersection of Jefferson Highway and Clearview Parkway in Elmwood to call an ambulance.

Hollins was arrested about a month later at a motel in Metairie after authorities received a Crimestoppers tip, police said.
Giant panda Yi Yi waits to board a plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.

At a brief ceremony held at the Giant Panda Conservation Center in Zoo Negara, Deputy Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Huang Tiong Sii said Yi Yi, who is now five years old, had been scheduled to return in 2020, but this was postponed due to the pandemic.

"Considering that Sheng Yi also reached 24 months of age last May, the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) has agreed to Malaysia's proposal to send the third Giant Panda cub back together with Yi Yi," he said.

He also commended the important role the giant pandas, including their parents, have played in fostering closer ties between China and Malaysia.

"Yi Yi, meaning friendship, and Sheng Yi, meaning peace and friendship, have been chosen as the names for the two Giant Panda cubs born to the loving pair Xing Xing and Liang Liang, who arrived in Malaysia on May 21, 2014. These meaningful names reflect the significance of friendship and peace, and symbolize the strong bond between Malaysia and China," he explained.

The cubs are the second and third cubs born in Malaysia: Yi Yi was born on Jan. 14, 2018, and Sheng Yi was born on May 31, 2021. The first cub born in Malaysia, Nuan Nuan, traveled back to China in November 2017.

Their parents Xing Xing and Liang Liang, who celebrated their 17th birthday last week, will stay on in Malaysia for the time being.

Zoo Negara said in a statement that the cubs would remain in their hearts and minds through good memories and strong bonds that have been developed between the zoo's staff, handlers and visitors and the giant panda family.

"Their playful antics, gentle roars and endearing presence have seamlessly woven themselves into the very fabric of our zoo's identity. From their first hesitant steps to their mischievous adventures, every moment was a testament to the sheer joy and wonder these pandas brought to all who crossed their path," the statement said.

Chin Chet Mooi, a volunteer who has dedicated her time and effort to the bears since Xing Xing and Liang Liang first arrived in Malaysia in 2014, said the moment of farewell is one of bittersweet memories and she understood the need for them to return home.

"Their future is in China. We have done our best to take care of them. They are going back to fresh air and snow. I am really looking forward to seeing photos and videos of them playing in the snow in China," she said, adding that she hoped to be able to make a trip to China to see Yi Yi and Sheng Yi as she had previously made a trip to see Nuan Nuan.

Giant pandas Yi Yi and Sheng Yi board a plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

Giant panda Sheng Yi waits to board a plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

Giant panda caretaker Akmal Hadi Samsuddin feeds giant panda Yi Yi at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

Staff members take photos of giant panda Yi Yi at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

Giant panda Yi Yi eats at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

Editor: ZAD
The Krewe of Jefferson truck parade rolled Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in Metairie for the final time. The parade, which follows the Krewe of Argus and the Elks Krewe of Jeffersonians, featured 2,000 riders on 45 trucks. (Staff photo by Scott Threlkeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated for just over three hours before acquitting three men accused of fatally shooting a motorcyclist from behind as he rode along a West Bank street three years ago.

Vincent Goffner Jr., 26, Jacorey Davis, 21, and Malik Rodrigu, 25, were found not guilty Thursday in the death of death of 34-year-old father of three James White after a nine-day trial, according to Jefferson Parish court records.

Gregory Carter, Goffner's attorney said his client maintained his innocence the entire time.

"In the case, we were able to point out the limitations of the investigation," Carter said. "There was a lot to be desired in terms of being able to identify our client as a shooter or perpetrator."

The attorneys for Rodrigue and Davis could not be reached for comment.
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise stands with his wife, Jennifer, on September 28, 2017, as he reacts to cheers upon returning to Capitol Hill for the first time after being shot in June 2017 at a congressional baseball team practice in Alexandria Virginia. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council has released a plan to boost the high-quality development of the Chinese-mainland part of a sci-tech innovation cooperation zone jointly developed by the southern tech hub Shenzhen and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

According to the plan, the Shenzhen section of the Hetao zone for science and technology innovation cooperation will seek coordinated development with the section in the HKSAR, the two complementing each other with their respective strengths, making the cooperation zone a key engine for the high-quality development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

By 2025, an efficient mechanism will be basically established to support the scientific and technological innovation cooperation between the two regions, the plan states, while the reconstruction of the Huanggang Control Point will be completed and customs clearance procedures will be realized.

The flow of factors, the chain of sci-tech innovation and the exchange of personnel between the two sections will be unimpeded, says the plan, which also expects the Shenzhen section to attract a number of lab clusters, research centers, and research and development centers of top firms, delivering key achievements through collaboration with the HKSAR.

By 2035, the Shenzhen section is expected to become a world-class research hub that enjoys a free and orderly cross-border flow of innovation factors, solidly supporting the development of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao sci-tech innovation corridor.

To this end, efforts will be made to coordinate with the HKSAR on promoting global sci-tech innovation, and to build an internationally competitive industrial base for the piloting and application of scientific achievements.

The plan also pledges to establish an internationalized scientific and technological innovation mechanism, as well as a platform to pool global wisdom and boost international exchange and cooperation.

Editor: WXL
A new round of business and community support grants has been announced by North Devon+, the regions economic delivery partner for both North Devon and Torridge District Councils.

Grants ranging from 2,000 to 25,000 to support rural jobs and improve local facilities are now available. The Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) grants will be funded by both local authorities through central government's wider UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKPSF) as part of the levelling up agenda.

The Rural Fund is integrated into the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which supports activities that specifically address the particular challenges rural areas face. The business schemes are aimed at small and micro businesses, with up to 50 employees with a turnover of less than 10m.

The principal objective of the REPF scheme is to provide funding to assist with the purchase of capital items such as equipment or software that will help businesses to create jobs or introduce new technologies or processes with a focus on net zero. There will be a requirement for match funding of 20-30% depending on the size of the grant and adherence to other terms and conditions.

Eligible local business and social enterprises will be able to apply under three key Investment Priorities, which include:

Small scale investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas focussed on funding for net zero infrastructure, and diversification of farm businesses outside of agriculture.

Growing the local social economy and supporting innovation. This call is only for community businesses and social enterprises.

Developing and promoting the visitor economy.

The grant programme will be run in small rounds for each investment theme over this year and next year. Businesses will only be able to apply for that investment theme grant during the open window for applications. Grant eligibility will be determined by the address where the business is registered, which is the address on business bank statements and which local authority the business pays rates to.

Lead member for Economic Development at North Devon Council, Councillor Malcolm Prowse said: "We are pleased to have secured Government funding to support our rural businesses and communities. This funding will enable sustainable growth, help create new jobs and improve community facilities. We would urge anyone interested to get their applications in as soon as possible."

Lead member for Economy and Estates at Torridge District Councillor Bob Hicks said: This is a broad range of support packages for our business community to benefit from, offering assistance in helping them diversify or grow their businesses or to help them to adopt new technology and processes. With this in mind I would recommend that firms study the packages on offer carefully or seek the advice of the expert advisors at North Devon+ in working out which option would best suit their needs and aspirations.

"Theres also support for community businesses and social enterprises run either entirely or substantially for the benefit of the communities they serve. So, as well as promoting business growth there will be benefits for local residents though the support aimed at growing the social economy, which is being launched at the same time.

More information on the programme including eligibility criteria, guidance, application details and timetables is available on the North Devon+ website.
People visit the 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 29, 2023. The 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition, with the theme of "Cooperate to Share New Opportunities, Innovate to Inspire New Driving Forces," kicked off in Harbin on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

People visit the booth of China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) at the 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 29, 2023. The 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition, with the theme of "Cooperate to Share New Opportunities, Innovate to Inspire New Driving Forces," kicked off in Harbin on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

People visit the booth of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) at the 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 29, 2023. The 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition, with the theme of "Cooperate to Share New Opportunities, Innovate to Inspire New Driving Forces," kicked off in Harbin on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

People visit the 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 29, 2023. The 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition, with the theme of "Cooperate to Share New Opportunities, Innovate to Inspire New Driving Forces," kicked off in Harbin on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

People visit the 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 29, 2023. The 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition, with the theme of "Cooperate to Share New Opportunities, Innovate to Inspire New Driving Forces," kicked off in Harbin on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

People visit the 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 29, 2023. The 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition, with the theme of "Cooperate to Share New Opportunities, Innovate to Inspire New Driving Forces," kicked off in Harbin on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

People prepare to enter the exhibition hall of the 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 29, 2023. The 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition, with the theme of "Cooperate to Share New Opportunities, Innovate to Inspire New Driving Forces," kicked off in Harbin on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Wang Dayu)

People visit the 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 29, 2023. The 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition, with the theme of "Cooperate to Share New Opportunities, Innovate to Inspire New Driving Forces," kicked off in Harbin on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

People view a model of C919 aircraft at the 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 29, 2023. The 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition, with the theme of "Cooperate to Share New Opportunities, Innovate to Inspire New Driving Forces," kicked off in Harbin on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

Visitors view a product on display at the 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 29, 2023. The 6th China International Advanced Materials Industry Exposition, with the theme of "Cooperate to Share New Opportunities, Innovate to Inspire New Driving Forces," kicked off in Harbin on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Wang Dayu)

Editor: WXL
GARY  Indiana State Police arrested two people Tuesday morning after an intoxicated driver skidded along the side of a semi and sent it tumbling over the median on Interstate 80/94.

Police were dispatched around 3:45 a.m. to the interstate's eastbound lanes where they found the semi turned on its side. The semi also struck equipment that was being operated by two construction workers, state police said.

A Ford Taurus vehicle hit the semi, causing it to crash into the median before it flipped on its side. The Ford was found abandoned in a ditch nearby. Witnesses said they saw a man run from the car after the incident. During the trooper's investigation, a man and woman arrived at the scene and told police the woman had been driving. Police were suspicious of her statements and soon discovered the man with her had been driving the vehicle.

Charles Luis Berrios, 30, of Michigan City, was arrested for operating while intoxicated, leaving the scene of a crash, driving while suspended and false informing and booked into the Lake County Jail. The woman with him was charged with false informing.

No one was injured.
GARY  U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg touted the Biden administration's infrastructure efforts during his visit to Gary on Wednesday.

The former South Bend mayor and one-time presidential candidate started a two-day tour of his former home state by meeting members of the United Steelworkers with U.S Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland.

Buttigieg and Mrvan then made their way to Gary/Chicago International Airport to meet with Mayor Jerome Prince and Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Michael Smith to tour the aviation facilities.

During the tour, Buttigieg was told of work completed and occurring at the airport, such as the $174 million runaway expansion project that was finished in 2015, the $9.8 million in state funding to be used to connect the airport directly to a jet fuel pipeline and plans to build new, larger hangers.

He also heard of the airport's future goals, such as replacing its air traffic control tower, which is not ideally situated due to the extended runaway, and expanding its cargo business as efforts are being made to build an airport in south suburban Chicago. Mrvan has already secured $6 million for the expansion of cargo operations and is currently seeking an additional $5 million. In addition, the airport is looking at providing passenger service once again by the end of this year or early next year. A study commissioned by the airport found the top travel destinations for Northwest Indiana residents were Orlando, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Houston.

After the tour, Buttigieg and other elected officials spoke to guests in front of a hanger that is set to be demolished next month to make way for a new 39,000-square-foot hanger. Behind them were ironworker apprentices.

Mayor Prince noted the growth of the airport, saying it was the best opportunity Gary and the Region has seen in a while. He also mentioned the recent Smart Fiber House development in the historic Union Station as going hand-in-hand with the process and success at the Gary airport.

"I'm going to have the opportunity to see the resurgence of a great city, that once was, that always was, and continues to be," Prince said.

Mrvan credited the federal infrastructure bill passed two years ago for bolstering the transportation industry, and bringing $8 billion in federal funding to Indiana.

"The most important thing here today is that we keep continuing to deliver and have a vision for Gary and its greatness," said Mrvan.

The congressman also took the time to tell Buttigieg to keep in mind the Region was in the running for a hydrogen hub at the BP Whiting Refinery. According to Mrvan, it would create thousands of jobs at the refinery, put people to work for 10 to 15 years, and would allow the refinery to become a clean energy provider.

In his remarks, Buttigieg highlighted the infrastructure work done since President Biden took office, such as the heavy air cargo apron and logistics center at the airport and the second track on the South Shore Line.

He also told the audience he wanted to lift up the story of Gary, noting its resilience through good and bad economic times.

"Now we are making sure that there will be boom times again here and across the United States of America," Buttigieg said

In addition he said these infrastructure projects were building foundations of economic prosperity by creating jobs and providing better transportation services.

"We're here about building bridges, we're not interested in banning books," he said.

Randy Palmateer, business manager for the Northwest Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council, said it was great to see Buttigieg come back to Indiana.

"It's great to have one of our own in Washington advocating for us," Palmateer said.

The union leader has been a long time supporter of the transportation secretary.

Buttigieg continued his tour of Indiana on Wednesday in Elkhart to discuss a $2.6 million federal grant awarded to the city to help with traffic delays from railroad crossings. He will be in Indianapolis on Thursday to speak with union workers and apprentices at the Sheet Metal Workers apprenticeship facility.

The transportation secretary will then wrap up his time in the Midwest by holding a press conference at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to discuss Labor Day air travel.

PHOTOS: U.S. Transportation Secratary Pete Buttigieg visits Gary
By Emily Chen

Next to the Dandelion Forest, listening to the professor explain the history of the school. (Photo provided to Guangming Online)

The Tree of Life, crowned with snowy branches and ruby-speckled dandelions  this is an emblem of The Dandelion School, the only non-profit primary and middle school in Beijing for students from low-income migrant families. There are approximately 292 million rural migrant workers in China, who generally seek employment in cities away from home. When they relocate to other cities for employment, their children are also uprooted from their learning environment, to which they may have struggled to adapt. The Dandelion School provides them with a stable education, thus contributing to their growth and challenging stereotypes about migrant children. Moreover, it shatters and reconstructs their world on three levels: rebuilding their physical campus, reforming their mindset, and combating the ossification of the social structure. On my first visit, the campus itself shattered my preconceptions. For a charitable school, I pictured shabby buildings and bare cement. Yet the architecture is modern. Staircases spiral above a round plaza, its white tiles glinting like a moving eye in the sun. Plaques of gratitude for sponsors, community photographs, graffiti, and handprints decorate every wall. Down to each brick and tile, the school felt alive.

The students themselves were engaged in reconstructing their physical environment. The Dandelion Schools philosophy is that one needs not be ashamed of patches, only of holes. Hence, although it did not possess the best ornaments or facilities, the community worked with whatever materials were available to them to beautify their campus. Under the guidance of the artist Lily Yeh, the redecoration of the walls became an art project. Students went on a quest for discarded bricks and tiles, dragged them from the Tartarean depths of trash piles, broke them down into fragments, and resurrected them as pieces in rainbow murals. Around the flag post and along walkways, they form galleries of geometric patterns, sprouting leaves, and blossoms of dandelions in the Tree of Life. Like their tiles, the children at the school undergo an intellectual revival. On entering, many were years behind in education and had failed their middle school exams. Yet the majority continue on to high school and college, matriculating to various parts of the world. There was something in the patient instruction of volunteers, fellow boarders who sympathized with their situation, or simply the aura of color and artistry on campus that powered the students academic self-drive.

In this way, the Dandelion school also reconstructed the childrens mindset. They regained confidence and a sense of self-worth despite the low-income, migrant status of their families. A map outside each classroom displays the hometown of every student, teaching them to share and take pride in their native cultures. As I toured through the campus, the students waved, undisturbed by our presence; a girl on cleaning duty twirled around freely with her broom, as if dancing; a fourth grader stepped up to me with a boxful of hand-crafted costumes, her eyes agleam. Her father was a subway operator, she told me, miming a driver with her hands, and although he could not always be with her, she was proud of him. Far from seeming restricted by pressuring circumstances, she and the others struck me with their frankness and sense of freedom. My guide explained that the students were used to strangers arriving, and because when they came, they always offered some type of comfort or assistance, even the youngest children learned to be not nervous but grateful. They celebrated the stories of those who have made their education possible: from the volunteer teachers that guided them to donors who contributed small funds every week so that they could have baths, and then eggs, and then chicken legs on Fridays.

A student at the Dandelion School and her visual arts project. (Photo provided to Guangming Online)

It is this simplicity and openness of the community that renders the school a fresh page where so much can be reimagined, restructured, and rebuilt. The Dandelion School also eliminates borders between classes by functioning as a medium where the socially privileged and underprivileged can meet as equals in an educational context. Volunteers from global institutions, high schools, and Ivy League colleges such as Harvard come every year to lead academic sessions and interact with the students. They form close emotional bonds. The school is stifling and humid due to the lack of air conditioners, even so, most volunteers choose to return after one summer. Once, a volunteer named Jimmy promised the students that he would do so the following semester. Yet although he passed away that very year, his mother and sister returned to keep his promise. Relationships established at the Dandelion School endure, transcending the boundaries of society and (in Jimmys case) even of life.

When arriving on campus, I asked a question: Why dandelion? Why not rose or any other flower? According to the headmaster, this is an analogy to the students themselves. A dandelion is a common flower, but one whose seeds are dispersed across the world by a breath of wind. Similarly, the students, though coming from humble backgrounds, are seeds that can fly when propelled by education. They can go anywhere and become anyone that they desire. Hence, the dandelion also plays on the idea of migrant; the word itself is redefined to signify fluidity and autonomy rather than a limitation in the childrens lives. In all these aspects, the Dandelion School is a seed of change. The rest of the world would progress if it, too, could break and reconstruct, and be open to learning.

Yinuo (Emily) Chen is a 15-year-old Chinese student at Branksome Hall, Canada. She is a member of the China Film Critics Association and has published a number of reviews. As an actress, she won international awards for her performance in the movie "When a Peking Family Meets an Au-Pair". She has also written, directed, and starred in public welfare short films. In her spare time, Emily enjoys writing, musical theatre, graphic design, and studying various languages.

Editor: WXL
MERRILLVILLE  Two K-9s were welcomed to Merrillville's police department last Tuesday.

"Welcome aboard, I know you guys will do a great job," Merrillville Police Chief Kosta Nuses said at the swearing-in ceremony held at a town council meeting.

K-9 Blue, a Dutch Sheperd, and K-9 Yaga, a Belgian Malinois, were trained at Baden K-9 and will serve as dual-purpose K-9s. Both dogs are trained to trace missing people, detect illegal narcotics, and track and apprehend fleeing criminals, according the Merrillville Police Department.

Merrillville Officer Nick Wright is the handler for K-9 Blue. Blue comes from a donation from The Hall Family Foundation. Randy Hall, Luxor Homes president, said his family's foundation was happy to make a donation to the department.

"With our growing business within the town borders, we are excited to continue to contribute to the community," he said.

K-9 Yaga will be handled by officer Ian Fultz. Both K-9s will be with their handlers 24/7, requiring constant support and care, Town Council Rick Bella said.

Yaga was purchased through donations from Baden K-9 and Fox News contributor and host, Lawrence Jones. Each K-9 costs around $12,500, excluding certification, training and equipment costs, Nuses said.

Baden K-9, based out of Ontario, Canada, is a multi-service company who has bred and trained K-9s for more than 50 years, MPD says. This organization regularly donates to law enforcement.

"I think it's needed more, especially with everything that's going on with law enforcement," Baden K-9 Representative Joshua Perry said. "We look forward to continuing to support not just Merrillville, but other agencies."

The department's four K-9s are described by Nuses as a "priceless tool."

Gallery: Recent arrests booked into Lake County Jail Tara Smith Javier Verdin-Gonzalez Jerrell Peterson Iris Rivera De Luna Paul King Kenneth McCeader Fred Myers Paige Perry Jordan Ivy Paola Gonzalez Kimberly Harris Roy Hunt Jr. Zion Ellis Josiah Flowers Malik Cook-Bey Marlon Davis Gabriel Bastida Aguilera Alexander Alvarez Aalayah Wright Christine Waddell Daniel Toms Kevin Williams Jr. Dayshann Smith Daniel Swets John Tacuri-Cuji Erin Sexton Saleh Mugalli Derrick Musgrave Joel Montejano Keadrick Morris Jose Mendoza Fred Montejano Desmond Davis Derrick Glade Mariah Gonzalez Djuan Chism Sean Bush John White Jr. Allen Willis Joseph Szilagyi Michelle Velez Jhoan Villomizar Jeffery Stodola Erica Stone Janet Hertzfeldt Stephan Hintz Devonte Lewis Deja Miller Steven Einikis Gabriel Garcia Fraire Marco Aguirre Jeremy Brown Donta Davis Joseph Rodriguez William Rogers Marylou Rohrbacher Jahmal Perkins Helen Reynolds Jamilla Moore Aaron Novak Nicholas Drugan Matthew Juknius Tyron Kennedy Mirlan Kojobaev John Mayes Noel Castro Michael Bryant Jr. Anthony Bennett
Lakeshore PBS will soon replace its decades-old antenna with a new high-definition television antenna that will strengthen its signal.

Merrillville-based Lakeshore Public Media warns the installation will lead to brief intermittent interruptions for viewers who get over-the-air signals.

The public media broadcaster, which also runs Lakeshore Public Radio, has been working for a year to install a new antenna that will meet the latest over-the-air broadcast standard and also improve indoor reception.

Tower climbers will work for the next two weeks on the project, which Lakeshore Public Media said "heralds a new era in public broadcasting for Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland." They will install the new antenna at the top of a 1,000-foot tower in Lowell, replacing the previous side-mount installation at a lower point.

Viewers, including those who get the station through AT&T Uverse, Direct TV and Dish, can expect disruptions for two weeks. It also will affect Lakeshore Public Medias secondary channel, NHK World-Japan at channel 56.2.

While we understand that broadcast interruptions can be frustrating to viewers, the end result will be an amazing accomplishment for public broadcasting in Northwest Indiana, Lakeshore Public Media President and CEO Chuck Roberts said. Lakeshore Public Media takes pride in bringing award-winning local programming as well as state-wide programming that is often lacking in our media landscape, and now the station will be able to serve more households than ever before.

Lakeshore Public Media aims to invest in technology to ensure "the highest quality public broadcasting possible for decades to come."

Its truly an exciting time for Lakeshore staff who have been working so hard to make this new antenna a reality, Vice President of Development Carl Kurek said. We have made sure our broadcast is available on the growing number of digital platforms like YouTube TV and Hulu Live, but it is equally important that we also continue to improve the accessibility to over-the-air viewers across the Region including those who will now be able to discover the Lakeshore PBS broadcast in their channel line-up for the first time.

Lakeshore PBS broadcasts popular PBS shows like "Cook's Country," "My Greek Table with Diane Kochilas," "Ask This Old House," "Rick Steve's Europe" and "Cosmos," as well as children's educational programming.
After turning down a buyout offer from rival Cleveland-Cliffs and announcing it was open to offers, U.S. Steel is entering into confidentiality agreements with prospective buyers.

The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker, one of the driving forces of the Calumet Region's initial industrialization that remains a major economic player here today, announced it had entered into non-disclosure agreements "with numerous third parties." It said it has received interest from credible bidders.

U.S. Steel said in a letter to shareholders it disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it was starting to share due diligence information with potential buyers.

"We are highly focused on running a fair and competitive process to maximize stockholder value and mitigate transaction execution risk," U.S. Steel said in the letter.

The steel company, which built Gary as a company town in 1906, has expressed concerns that Cleveland-Cliff's $7.3 billion cash-and-stock buyout offer would face potential antitrust concerns. It also was concerned the proposal might undervalue the company, as Cleveland-Cliffs did not meet to discuss its valuation.

U.S. Steel, which runs Gary Works and the Midwest Plant in Portage, did not solicit any acquisition offers but effectively put itself on the market after turning down Cleveland-Cliffs' bid to further consolidate the integrated steel industry by announcing it was exploring strategic alternatives.

"While everyone at U.S. Steel is focused first and foremost on safety, the team continues to make significant progress transforming the company into a customer-centric, world-competitive Best for All steelmaker," U.S. Steel said in a letter to shareholders. "We are winning in strategic markets, moving down the cost curve and moving up the talent curve. This proven strategy has provided customers with profitable steel solutions for people and the planet while rewarding U.S. Steel shareholders."

The steelmaker, the world's first billion-dollar corporation that built Pittsburgh's tallest skyscraper for its headquarters and has contributed the steel to countless other landmark structures around the country, said it is weighing buyout offers as part of its financial responsibility to its stockholders.

"It is a great credit to this transformation and our best-in-industry practices team that our company has received multiple unsolicited proposals ranging from the acquisition and parts of the company to consideration for acquiring all of U.S. Steel," the company said in a letter to shareholders. "While the board of directors and management team are confident in the strategy currently underway, we take all these proposals seriously. Our number one obligation is to uphold our fiduciary duties. This means we are focused on the path forward for the company that drives the most value for you  our stockholders."

U.S. Steel, which supplied most of the world's steel for years and outlasted many longtime rivals like Inland, LTV and Bethlehem. lost ground in recent decades and has said it is weighing all alternatives for its future.

"Given the significant amount of interest in our company from multiple, credible bidders, the board, with the counsel of our outside advisors, strongly believes it is our duty to conduct a strategic alternatives review process to fully and fairly review all options available for U.S. Steel," the company said in the letter to shareholders. "While some companies undertake this kind of review privately, we chose to make it public to ensure that the process is as robust as possible and the board hears all options, from any party that may have an interest in our company."
"China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man," scoffed then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2019. Two years later, now President Biden declared: "The Chinese are eating our lunch. They're eating our lunch, economically. They're investing hundreds of billions of dollars in research and development. ... We got to compete."

Mario Cuomo famously said politicians "campaign in poetry, but govern in prose." But in this case, the poet was closer to the mark. The Chinese economic rocket looks to be running out of fuel.

Chinese economic statistics have never been entirely reliable, but the last reported number for urban youth unemployment we have is 21.3% (it may actually be closer to 50%). One sign it will get worse: China recently announced it will no longer be publishing youth unemployment -- or consumer confidence -- numbers.

China is also facing a ripening debt crisis and potential deflationary spiral. For decades, the Chinese government has encouraged real estate speculation and over-investment. As a result, millions of Chinese small investors and families put their eggs in the housing basket, fueling massive bubbles, soaring home prices and crushing increases in debt. Countless skyscrapers, airports, highways and even whole cities are little more than white elephants thanks to state-directed over-building.

Now, the housing sector -- roughly a quarter of China's economy -- is cratering. Falling prices, construction industry bankruptcies and slower growth generally are scaring consumers out of spending and raising concerns about deflation.

Foreign investment in China is drying up as investors see even more contraction on the horizon. Foreign firms -- and even Chinese ones -- are moving their supply chains elsewhere.

Xi Jinping, China's proudly authoritarian president-for-life, has responded to all of these and other economic challenges by insisting that everyone should toughen up in the name of national "rejuvenation." Young people need to "abandon arrogance and pampering" and embrace the Maoist spirit of self-sacrifice, which is why the state cracked down on decadent video-game playing.

Xi believes China is rich enough to do what it needs to do -- supplant the United States as the global leader and become an imperial hegemon in, for starters, its own neighborhood. Politically enforced internal discipline, military expansion and consolidation of political and economic power in his hands are more important than additional economic growth. And by implementing such measures, he all but assures that the economy will get worse. Markets need reliable information and freedom to function, and information is joining economic freedom in lock-up.

It's no coincidence that Biden claimed China was eating our lunch when he wanted to get his "American Jobs Plan" approved. In America, the argument for state-directed economic planning is always made in the language of "competitiveness."

According to the simplistic binary logic of "competitiveness," China's economic woes should be good news for America. This zero-sum view sees GDP gains as points on a scoreboard, where our "wins" are their "losses." But it doesn't work that way. Contrary to a lot of bipartisan talking points, China getting richer didn't make America poorer. And if China's economy implodes, our economy will suffer as a result.

The Biden administration has been clear that it would prefer to keep China an economic competitor and not a strategic or military adversary. And it has taken a number of praiseworthy steps to prevent the latter.

But the Chinese threat is geopolitical and ideological, not economic. Constraining China's access to sensitive technology and buttressing alliances in the region is necessary not because of China's money, but because of what the Chinese regime wants to buy with it. A rich, democratic, China would be good for everyone, especially China.
Mark Thompson, a former chief executive of The New York Times and leader of the BBC, is expected to be named the next top executive of CNN, according to three people with knowledge of the decision.

Some senior executives at Warner Bros. Discovery, CNNs parent company, have already been informed of the decision to hire Mr. Thompson, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because some executives at CNN hadnt yet been informed of the decision.

Mr. Thompson and a spokesman for Warner Bros. Discovery did not respond to requests for comment.

CNN, one of the worlds pre-eminent news organizations, has been battered by a nearly endless string of crises for the last 18 months. Ratings have plummeted, profits have slumped, and the network is still reeling from Chris Lichts tenure as chief executive, which was terminated in June amid sagging staff morale.

Since Mr. Lichts ouster, the network has been run by three veterans of CNN  Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley and Eric Sherling  as well as David Leavy, who is a longtime lieutenant of David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Still, on Tuesday, the administration said it was abiding by that ruling by issuing a new regulation that essentially exempts millions of streams, marshes and wetlands from federal protection. Michael Regan, the E.P.A. administrator, said that neither he nor the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had any choice.

While I am disappointed by the Supreme Courts decision in the Sackett case, E.P.A. and Army have an obligation to apply this decision, Mr. Regan said in a statement. Moving forward, we will do everything we can with our existing authorities and resources to help communities, states and Tribes protect the clean water upon which we all depend.

In the Sackett case, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the E.P.A. and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wrongfully claimed oversight of wetlands on the property of an Idaho couple, Chantell and Michael Sackett. It ruled that federally protected wetlands must be directly adjacent to a relatively permanent waterway connected to traditional interstate navigable waters, such as a river or ocean.

Yet the court was divided on an approach known as the significant nexus test that had been in place since 2006 to determine whether a specific waterway was protected. Under it, wetlands and streams were protected if they had a significant nexus  or scientific connection  to a navigable water.

The new E.P.A. rule removes the significant nexus test from consideration when identifying tributaries and other waters as federally protected.
The lunar fanfare of August wrapped up with a treat: a blue supermoon that occurred on Wednesday at 9:36 p.m. Eastern time.

The blue moon is the second of two full moons in a single month. Each month usually hosts only one full moon, but blue moons sometimes arise because the lunar cycle is 29.5 days long  just short of the length of an average calendar month. This difference means that some months see two full moons.

That is exactly what happened this month: The first full moon popped up on Aug. 1 and the second on Wednesday.
Tina Howe, who in plays that could be extravagant productions or small-cast gems zeroed in on the humor, heartache and solidity of her characters lives, particularly the female ones, died on Monday in Manhattan. She was 85.

Her family said the cause was complications of a broken hip sustained in a recent fall.

Ms. Howe was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in drama, for Painting Churches in 1984 and Prides Crossing in 1997. Her Coastal Disturbances had a 350-performance run on Broadway in 1987 and was nominated for the Tony Award for best play.

In the foreword to a 1984 collection of her plays Museum, The Art of Dining and Painting Churches, she described those three works this way, a summary that applies to much of her output:

They share an absorption with the making and consuming of art, a fascination with food, a tendency to veer off into the primitive and neurotic, and of course a hopeless infatuation with the sight gag.
It was billed as a modest proposal that would help heal the traumas of history and unite the country. Australia would change its Constitution to recognize the original inhabitants of the land and enshrine an advisory body in Parliament for Aboriginal people, giving them a greater say on issues that affect their lives.

But over the past year, the proposal has exposed racial fault lines and become ensnared in a bitter culture war, in a country that has long struggled to reckon with its colonial legacy.

One former prime minister said it would entrench victimhood, and another called British colonization the luckiest thing that happened to this country. One opponent said Aboriginal people wanting a voice should learn English and suggested that those who receive welfare payments should prove their heritage with blood tests.

And now, public polling suggests, a referendum on the matter  which will be held on Oct. 14  is likely to fail. That result, according to Thomas Mayo, an Indigenous leader, would mean Australia officially dismissing our very existence.
The idea of placing a Harriet Tubman statue in front of Philadelphias City Hall was inspired by a traveling statue that Wofford designed in 2017 after receiving a private commission. When he posted pictures of the statue online, he said, people responded enthusiastically and asked how they could see it in person.

So Wofford created an artists proof of the statue, called Journey to Freedom, that has since toured 17 American cities, starting with a visit to Montgomery, Ala., in February 2020. When it was displayed in Philadelphia from January to March 2022 in honor of Tubmans 200th birthday, millions of people expressed their delight in the monument, said Kelly Lee, executive director of the citys Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy.

Lees office attempted to buy the statue but could not because the design was a private commission. Instead, the city decided to commission Wofford to design a new statue of Tubman for about $500,000.

The contract was being finalized when local artists and community members heard the news. Hundreds of people denounced the city for commissioning Wofford instead of opening a public process that would allow local artists, particularly those who are Black, to submit their work. Wofford, who grew up in rural Georgia and now lives in North Carolina, said that the critiques were mostly about his race and that he felt sidelined.
The state-owned enterprise Forests of Ukraine in January-August 2023 transferred to the state budget UAH 1.1 billion more than in the same period last year (an increase of 35%). From the profits received, the company finances programs to assist the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to the report, another batch of equipment was handed over to the Armed Forces of Ukraine this week: five new L200 pickups and four Ford trucks worth more than UAH 24 million, the press service of the enterprise said.

"Since the beginning of the war, we have provided more than 800 pieces of equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In total, the amount of assistance exceeds UAH 1.2 billion. In addition, our employees collected tens of millions of hryvnias in aid for various units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. These are drones, thermal imagers, ammunition, generators, food. We have already transferred equipment worth more than UAH 25 million this summer to the 43rd Brigade, which has already become almost sponsored by us, and we are transferring it again," the press service quoted Head of SOE Forests of Ukraine Yuriy Bolokhovets at a meeting with the military in the Kyiv suburban forestry.

Since its foundation in December 2022, the SOE Forests of Ukraine has not purchased a single vehicle for the administrative apparatus. Only special equipment to extinguish fires and protect forests was purchased. Almost two-thirds of the purchase amount was spent to buy cars, then transferred to the military.

"With the profit that remains after paying taxes, we are trying to buy what the troops need," Bolohovets said.

He added that state-owned forestry had suffered greatly during the occupation. It is necessary to rebuild forestry premises, but the priority for the enterprise is investment in the development of production and assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"Our brigade was created at the beginning of the year and is holding the front near Kharkiv, where it is very hot today. There is not enough equipment, and the help of SOE Forests of Ukraine is very important. We especially appreciate that this is new equipment, which means it will last longer and will not need repairs. There is not much time for it in the war," Deputy Commander of the 43rd Brigade Andriy Petrov said.

The head of Forests of Ukraine also said that the company has launched a program to support veteran foresters. Participants who returned from the front are given a salary increase of 20% and an annual bonus is paid.
For evidence that all is not business as usual at Lincoln Center these days, look no further than its stately travertine campus, which, for much of the summer, was dominated by a giant glittering disco ball, pink and purple flowers painted on the sidewalk and a flock of 200 flamingo lawn ornaments.

There are some who will reasonably eye-roll at this, said Henry Timms, the centers president and chief executive, standing on the plaza recently. I get it. But it sends a message that we are here to have some fun.

We can afford, he said, to loosen up a little.

Since taking the helm in 2019, Timms has been on a mission to remake Lincoln Center. Having helped finally push through the long-delayed $550 million renovation of David Geffen Hall, he is working to forge closer ties with the city and to bring more diversity to the centers staff, board and audiences.
The Fraud, by Zadie Smith

Set in 19th-century London, Smiths first historical novel centers on the real-life figure of a man who stood trial for impersonating a nobleman who had been lost at sea. Although the defendant was clearly a fraud, he amassed an unlikely legion of supporters who viewed him as a populist folk hero. The novel focuses on the developing friendship between one of his fans (a Jamaican who escaped slavery) and a skeptical Scottish housekeeper who is fascinated by the trial.

Penguin Press, Sept. 5
Hurricane Idalia made landfall this morning in Floridas Big Bend, hitting the area with heavy rain and devastating winds before marching northeast into Georgia. The storm severed power to hundreds of thousands of homes and left behind life-threatening floods across wide swaths of the region.

Idalia, which briefly reached Category 4 strength, is now a tropical storm with sustained 70-miles-per-hour winds. Still, forecasters warned that as it moves north tonight it could produce dangerous conditions in parts of Georgia and southern South Carolina. Heres a tracker of the storms path.

Two deaths from car crashes have so far been attributed to Idalia, but the full extent of the damage is not yet known. Downed trees and flooded roads have made it difficult for reporters to access the hardest hit areas, but my colleague Patricia Mazzei was able to reach Cedar Key, a conglomeration of tiny islands on the Big Bend where she learned that about 100 people decided to ride out the storm.

There, Patricia told me, she met a woman named Donna Knight, a clammer, who had opted not to evacuate. She described the waters of the Gulf of Mexico gushing into her backyard, the first floor of her house, the road, Patricia said. The wind tossed debris around that made banging noises in the dark. Her water taps ran dry and the power went out.
A wave of drone attacks reached deep into Russia

Exploding drones attacked six regions of Russia yesterday morning, suggesting that, after months of enduring missile and drone strikes with little recourse, Ukraine is increasingly able to hit back deep inside Russia.

In what appeared to be the most successful of the strikes, four Russian military cargo planes were damaged at an airfield in Pskov, near the border with Estonia. The Russian regional governor posted video footage of smoke billowing from an airfield, where he said drones had damaged the planes, although the extent was unclear.

Russia also launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine early yesterday that targeted at least three regions, killing at least two people, Ukrainian officials said. Local officials in Kyiv said the barrage was the most significant in the region in months.

Ukrainian officials did not claim responsibility for the strikes, in keeping with their practice regarding attacks inside Russia. But they have made clear that they view bringing the war home to ordinary Russians to be a legitimate tactic.
Mark Thompson, a former top executive at The New York Times Company and the BBC, was touring wine country in the south of France with his wife in mid-June when an unexpected call came in.

David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, CNNs parent, was on the other end with a question: Would Mr. Thompson be interested in taking over leadership of the network?

It had been mere days since Mr. Zaslav fired Chris Licht as chairman of CNN, ending a stormy 13-month tenure defined by declining ratings and sagging staff morale. The call kicked off a series of in-person meetings, phone calls and videoconferences that culminated in Mr. Thompsons return to the news business after three years away.

CNN announced Wednesday that Mr. Thompson would be its next chairman and editor in chief, starting Oct. 9.
As natural disasters and extreme environmental conditions became more commonplace around the world this summer, scientists pointed repeatedly to a shared driver: climate change.

Conspiracy theorists pointed to anything but.

Some claimed falsely that the record-smashing heat waves blistering parts of North America, Europe and Asia were normal, and that they had been sensationalized as part of a globalist hoax. Others made up tales that cloud-seeding airplanes or a nearby dam, rather than torrential rains, had caused the unusually intense flooding in northern Italy (and in places like Vermont and Rwanda).

The devastating wildfire on Maui this month produced especially ludicrous claims. Social media that racked up millions of views blamed the blaze on a directed energy weapon (the evidence: years-old footage not recorded in Hawaii). And as Florida braced this week for Hurricane Idalia, some people claimed incorrectly online that such storms are not affected by fossil fuel emissions.

The unfounded claims that now regularly follow natural disasters and dangerous weather, contradicting a preponderance of scientific evidence, can often seem frivolous and fantastical. They persist, however  attracting large audiences and frustrating climate experts, who say the world has little time to evade a global warming catastrophe.
Nakia Rohde, a spokeswoman for Trader Joes, said in a statement on Wednesday that we err on the side of caution and are proactive in addressing issues. We voluntarily take action quickly and aggressively  investigating potential problems and removing a product from sale if there is any doubt about its safety or quality.

She added that the company does not wait for regulatory agencies to tell us what to do, and that it shares news of recalls through in-store signs, on its website and via email alerts.

The close timing of these recalls is coincidental, Ms. Rohde said.

Darin Detwiler, an associate professor of food safety and corporate social responsibility at Northeastern University, said that in a way, its good that Trader Joes recalls are so public and transparent because its a sign that things are working.

Trader Joes is doing a great job in making sure that if they have to do a recall, not only do they do it, but they communicate it as well as they can, Dr. Detwiler said.

He added that such recalls are frequent in grocery stores, but stores with name brands like Trader Joes receive more attention. Dr. Detwiler also noted that the source of the recalls has been from Trader Joes suppliers, which are smaller and typically not associated with other stores.
The problem is still new enough that there is no comprehensive accounting of how often it happens. But one expert whose company, Pindrop, monitors the audio traffic for many of the largest U.S. banks said he had seen a jump in its prevalence this year  and in the sophistication of scammers voice fraud attempts. Another large voice authentication vendor, Nuance, saw its first successful deepfake attack on a financial services client late last year.

In Mr. Kabatzniks case, the fraud was detectable. But the speed of technological development, the falling costs of generative artificial intelligence programs and the wide availability of recordings of peoples voices on the internet have created the perfect conditions for voice-related A.I. scams.

Customer data like bank account details that have been stolen by hackers  and are widely available on underground markets  help scammers pull off these attacks. They become even easier with wealthy clients, whose public appearances, including speeches, are often widely available on the internet. Finding audio samples for everyday customers can also be as easy as conducting an online search  say, on social media apps like TikTok and Instagram  for the name of someone whose bank account information the scammers already have.
Narcan, the first opioid overdose reversal medication approved for over-the-counter purchase, is being shipped to drugstore and grocery chains nationwide, its manufacturer said Wednesday. Big-box outlets like Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and Rite Aid said they expected Narcan to be available online and on many store shelves early next week.

Public health experts have long called for greater accessibility to the drug, which they describe as a critical weapon against rising overdose rates. There were more than 100,000 overdose fatalities in each of the last two years in the United States.

Narcan is already a staple for emergency personnel and street outreach teams. Now scientists and health officials are hoping Narcan will eventually become commonplace in public libraries, subways, dorms, corner delis and street vending machines.

They also predict it may become a fixture in medicine cabinets, as more people realize that illicit party drugs like cocaine and counterfeit Xanax pills may be tainted with deadly fentanyl, an opioid.
When a 13-year-old girl drapes a huge snake over your shoulders in front of hundreds of people on the Coney Island boardwalk, the obvious questions  What is her deal? Why am I doing this?  fall away.

Its grim weight and unnervingly cool, undulating mass ripple along your arms and across your neck. It is, in a way, clarifying: gone are your troubles, your worries and dreams. There is only you and the snake.

This has been the Summer of the Snake at Coney Island, the latest of countless come-and-go pop-up spectacles along the rickety and uneven boards. For a mere $5, you, too, can take a selfie with a 40-pound boa constrictor that eats live rats and dislikes the sort of sudden jerking movements that naturally follow having a heavy rat-eating thing placed upon you.

The variety of wildlife available for photographs at Coney Island made headlines this month when a young mans pet wallaby, that kangaroo-adjacent animal native to Australia, was seized on the boardwalk by the police. The man, Mike Gibbons, 23, who lives nearby, was told that he needed a permit to own a wallaby, and his pet was delivered to an animal shelter on Long Island.
The Ministry for Communities and Territories Development and Infrastructure (the Ministry of Restoration) has signed a protocol with the Norwegian Ministry of Transport on a transport visa-free regime, which will allow cargo transportation without permits.

"Previously, Ukrainian cargo carriers, regardless of the environmental class of vehicles, could travel to Norway only with a permit. Now, for trucks of the Euro-5 standard and above, permission less travel is introduced," Deputy Minister of Restoration Serhiy Derkach said.

The simplified regime comes into effect on September 1 and will apply to both bilateral and transit traffic.

It is specified that this liberalization of freight traffic was introduced at least until June 30, 2024.

As for vehicles of a low class of environmental friendliness, then, as the Ministry of Restoration notes, during the meeting it was possible to agree on permits for the next year.

"Ukrainian carriers will be able to obtain 250 universal permits and 50 from/to third countries," the report says.

Carriers of Ukraine since last year have the opportunity to work in the same "transport visa-free" with the EU countries. In June 2023, Ukraine agreed on the same road freight transport regime with North Macedonia.
In America, I thought that I would finally learn what freedom really was, and I did feel free at first. I could speak my mind, question and challenge others, ride a bicycle and wear whatever I chose to wear.

But even here, its not so simple.

Former President Donald Trump has attacked and incited violence against some of the foundations of American freedom  the press, Congress, truth itself. In doing so, he is no different from the other authoritarians and fascists around the world who appeal to mythical or selective notions of freedom that threaten to erase all others.

A growing push by American conservatives to remove books from libraries and public schools on grounds of morality or contested history, or to supposedly free children from the woke agenda, reminds me of when I was 11 and Taliban sympathizers came to our home to tell my father that if my sisters and I returned to school, we would have acid thrown in our faces. This was a few years after the Taliban had been driven from power, yet parts of the country were still under their sway. For the next nine years, books and a slow dial-up internet connection were my only window to the world beyond the four walls of my home.

We should be wary of those who speak of freedom as if it were self-evident and universal. We must look closely at our freedom, as if it were a beam of light passing through a prism, to discern its true colors. We should ask ourselves: Are we really free, or do we live in someone elses idea of freedom, one driven by religious or nationalist myths? Does my freedom to stay ignorant deny your place in history, your identity? Do my rights diminish yours? No matter where we stand politically or geographically, we should weigh the freedom that we seek against the moral cost that we pay to achieve it.

I feel more like an observer of American freedom than a true participant. Freedom is not only a physical or intellectual state; it is emotional. The Taliban takeover has devastated and scattered my family and enslaved my homeland. I will only truly feel free when I can do in Afghanistan the same things that I can do in America.
The abrupt rise of social media has, in turn, facilitated the denigration of political adversaries and provided a public forum for false news. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter likely are not the root cause of polarization, but they do exacerbate it, according to a 2021 Brookings report.

Some of those who study these issues, including La Raja and Schaffner, argue that one step in ameliorating the polarizing effects of campaign financing would be to restore the financial primacy of the political parties.

In their book, La Raja and Schaffner proposed four basic rules for creating a party-centered system of campaign finance:

First, limits on contributions to the political parties should be relatively high or nonexistent. Second, modest limits should be imposed on contributions to candidates. Third, no restrictions should be imposed on party support of candidates. Political parties should be permitted to help their candidates as much as desired with direct contributions or in-kind support. Fourth, public financing should support party organizations.

Persily, however, voiced strong doubts about the effectiveness of these proposals. You cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube, he said, noting that polarization is becoming embedded in the personnel and decision-making processes of political parties, especially at the state and local levels, making a return to the parties past role as incubators of moderation unlikely.

Broockman, Nicholas Carnes, Melody Crowder-Meyer and Christopher Skovron provided support for Persilys view in their 2019 paper, Why Local Party Leaders Dont Support Nominating Centrists. Broockman and his colleagues surveyed 1,118 county-level party leaders and found that given the choice between a more centrist and more extreme candidate, they strongly prefer extremists, with Democrats doing so by about two to one and Republicans by 10 to one.

If what Broockman and his co-authors found about local party leaders is a signal that polarized thinking is gaining strength at all levels of the Democratic and Republican Parties, the prospects for those seeking to restore sanity to American politics  or at least reduce extremism  look increasingly dismal.

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Here is a list of the biggest U.S. cities by population in 1900: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston, Baltimore, Cleveland, Buffalo, San Francisco and Cincinnati. Some of those cities have continued to thrive, but others have faded. This year Baltimore is the 30th biggest city, Cleveland 54th, St. Louis 75th and Buffalo 79th.

Is the shrinkage of some American cities, towns and villages an inevitable consequence of economic change or something to be vigorously resisted? And if you do want the government to help rejuvenate places that have fallen behind, whats your argument? Is it a simple matter of mercy, a political calculation or an economic case that bringing opportunity to people is more effective than bringing people to opportunity?

Theres a lot to think about. At the moment, efforts to spread the wealth geographically are underpowered. True, the Biden administration has put place-based policies at the center of its industrial policy agenda. But Congress hasnt laid out the funds to make those policies a reality. For example, congressional committees authorized the spending of $10 billion for regional technology and innovation hubs over five years, but appropriators laid out just $500 million for them this fiscal year, according to a Brookings Institution tabulation. (Here is how that works.) The National Science Foundation got only about 6 percent of what it was authorized to receive for regional innovation engines, Brookings calculated. And a pilot program for distressed areas called re-compete got a fifth of what was authorized.

At the same time, the forces of agglomeration  which lead the rich metros to get richer and the poor ones poorer  are pushing against what the government is trying to achieve. Surprisingly, even in the era of Zoom, Slack and other collaboration tools, people on the leading edge of new technologies still end up working in the same few big, crowded, expensive metro areas. In July, Brookings issued a report on generative artificial intelligence, which found that nearly half of all job listings in the field were for jobs in six metro areas: San Francisco, San Jose, New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle.
Urban strategy must focus on these microneighborhoods, or three-minute villages, as I like to call them, said Mr. Bernard, who estimates that Paris could house 150 of these urban villages based on its population and geography. Conviviality is a richness that is sleeping. When we awaken the sense of place and community, the citizens and urban fabric are transformed.

The Parisian project, whose motto is to transform neighbors who interact five times daily into those who do so 50 times a day, is at the forefront of what urban planners say is a rapidly expanding movement to reclaim cities from the ground up and to recast urban living through a hyperlocal prism of close interaction, mutual support and a sense of neighborliness.

Our immediate neighborhoods, proponents argue, are the most effective platforms by which people can create resilience to and potentially mitigate the growing number of crises that urban populations face, including loneliness, food insecurity, extreme heat and social unrest linked to inequality  as witnessed in the riots that shook Paris and other French cities this summer. In other words, they say, cities of the future must be cities of villages, public spaces and neighborhoods.

In Paris, where minority residents often say they are pushed to the margins, socially and geographically, Mr. Bernard said his intent is to leave nobody out. There are Black, Muslim and East Asian members of the Super Neighbors. Participation is free. In the past, the neighbors pooled together to pay the rent of a Malian refugee who joined them.

Community has to be at the center of urban development, said Ramon Marrades, the director of Placemaking Europe, a network of European organizations aiming to revitalize public spaces. Properly inclusive policy allows residents to be actors in the community, to have a sense of anchorage and to invest emotionally.
Over the last three years, a highly lethal form of avian influenza has whipped around the world, felling birds in Europe, Africa and Asia before jumping across the ocean and setting off the worst bird flu outbreak in United States history.

Last fall, the virus, known as H5N1, finally arrived in South America. It raced quickly down the Pacific coast and killed wild birds and marine mammals in staggering numbers. Peru and Chile alone have reported more than 500,000 dead seabirds and 25,000 dead sea lions, according to a new report, which was published last week by OFFLU, a global network of flu experts.

Now, scientists are worried that the virus will make its way to Antarctica, one of only two continents  along with Australia  that have not yet been hit by the pathogen. The negative impact of this virus on Antarctic wildlife could be immense  likely worse than that on South American wildlife, the report warns.

More than 100 million birds breed in Antarctica and on the islands nearby, and many marine mammals swim in the surrounding waters. Some of those species, including the distinctive emperor penguin and Antarctic fur seal, crowd together in large colonies. And that could be a recipe for disaster, said Dr. Ralph Vanstreels, a researcher at a Latin American wildlife health program at the University of California, Davis, and an author of the new report. We could be looking at a very high death toll.
In late 1985, weeks after the shattered remains of the R.M.S. Titanic came to light, officials in Washington began seeking legal authority to regulate access to the famous shipwreck as part of a memorial to the more than 1,500 passengers and crew members who had lost their lives in 1912. Congress called for a global accord, as the wreck lay in international waters. Until then, Congress declared, no person should physically alter, disturb, or salvage the R.M.S. Titanic.

As nations debated a draft agreement, American salvors moved in. Over the years, thousands of artifacts have been retrieved, including a top hat, perfume vials and the deck bell that was rung three times to warn the ships bridge of a looming iceberg.

Now, the federal government is taking legal action to assert control over who can recover artifacts from the storied liner and, potentially, to block an expedition planned for next year. The move comes as the Titan submersible disaster of June 18 raised questions about who controls access to the ships remains, which lie more than two miles down on the North Atlantic seabed. The legal action is also notable because it pits the legislative and executive branches of government against the judicial branch.

Last Friday, in a federal court in Norfolk, Va., two U.S. attorneys filed a motion to intervene in a decades-old salvage operation. The Virginia court specializes in cases of shipwreck recovery and in 1994 granted exclusive salvage rights to RMS Titanic, Inc., which is based in Atlanta, Ga. The company has retrieved many artifacts from the ship and set up a number of public exhibitions.
Amid an ongoing strike by Hollywood screenwriters and actors, a play with the nifty title Pay the Writer courts applause before anyone has uttered a word. Never mind that its turf is mainly the literary world, not the cinematic one; the author at the center of Tawni ODells play, Cyrus Holt (Ron Canada), seems to speak for all underpaid writers when he inscribes that feisty injunction in a copy of his book that is being adapted as a movie.

Holts agent, Bruston Fischer (Bryan Batt), has the thankless job of acting as the go-between for his client and the film producer, who has not paid anything more than a small advance. Despite its thunderbolt of a title, the real focus of this elegiac memory play is on the relationship between Holt and Fischer: one an ailing, thrice-divorced author, the other his confidant, therapist and enabler.

Under Karen Carpenters brisk direction, the play darts back and forth between present-day New York City and Holts Lothario days in the East Village, Paris and Los Angeles some 40 years earlier. When we first meet him, Holt is ensconced in penthouse luxury, anxiously waiting word from his French translator Jean Luc (Steven Hauck) about his new manuscript. He is now the Black author on every American Lit syllabus kids try to avoid reading, as he wryly puts it.

But before he became a star in the literary firmament, Holt was a struggling author. As a portrait of the artist as a young man, the play is contractually required to mention a Big Bang moment. That moment arrives in a funny, if slightly overwritten scene when the younger versions of Holt (Garrett Turner) and Fischer (Miles G. Jackson), then working as a junior editor, meet outside a publishing house. They trade opinions on the relative merits of Tolstoy and Richard Wright before Holt gives Fischer a copy of his manuscript. A beatific expression washes over Jacksons line-free face as he reads aloud excerpts, but the tin-eared prose made me yearn for Keatss unheard melodies. Holts novel, about a mother who kills her child, owes too much to Toni Morrisons Beloved  and suffers by comparison.
Five anti-abortion activists, including one who was found to have kept five fetuses in her home last year, were found guilty of federal civil rights offenses on Tuesday after blocking access to an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C., in 2020.

Lauren Handy of Virginia, who prosecutors said directed the invasion and blockade of the abortion clinic on Oct. 22, 2020, and her co-defendants were each convicted of a felony charge of conspiracy against rights and of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The law makes it a crime to threaten, obstruct or injure a person seeking access to a reproductive health clinic or to damage clinic property.

Prosecutors said that Ms. Handy had arrived for an appointment she had made at the clinic under a false name. She and other defendants forcefully pushed their way into the waiting room and used their bodies, furniture, chains and ropes to block its doors, prosecutors said.

The defendants, who were livestreaming their blockade on Facebook, blocked a patient from entering the treatment area and left a nurse with a sprained ankle, prosecutors said.
Theodore McCarrick, the highest-ranking Catholic cleric in the United States to face charges in the churchs ongoing sexual abuse crisis, is not competent to stand trial, a judge in Massachusetts ruled.

The disgraced former cardinal, who is 93, was declared unfit by a Dedham District Court judge on Wednesday.

Mr. McCarrick faced three counts of indecent assault and battery in Massachusetts, based on an accusation that he repeatedly sexually assaulted a teenage boy at a family wedding reception in 1974.

The charges in Massachusetts were seen as a milestone in victims efforts to hold abusers in Catholic settings accountable. Thousands of clergy members in the United States have been accused of crimes in the sprawling reckoning with sexual abuse, secrecy and cover-ups in the Catholic Church. But because most of the alleged assaults took place decades ago, successful prosecutions have been relatively rare.
She had barely opened her town hall to questions when Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican from a competitive district in Iowa, was pressed to defend her opposition to abortion rights.

One of the main functions of the federal government is to protect life, Ms. Miller-Meeks, who won election in 2020 by just six votes, told a sparse crowd this month in Iowa City, a younger, more progressive part of her district where she rarely campaigns.

Ms. Miller-Meeks then quickly pivoted to politically safer terrain, telling her constituents about how she had also sponsored legislation aimed at expanding access to contraception.

The best way to prevent abortion is to prevent pregnancy, she said.

It is an increasingly common strategy among vulnerable House Republicans  especially those in politically competitive districts  who are trying to reconcile their partys hard-line anti-abortion policies with the views of voters in their districts, particularly independents and women.
Two people killed, three wounded amid enemy missile attack on Kyiv - Kyiv Military Administration

According to updated data, two people were killed and three wounded as a result of a massive enemy attack, Kyiv City Military Administration has reported.

"As a result of falling debris in different districts of Kyiv, two people were killed. Three more received injuries of varying severity," the report says.

It is noted that medical assistance was provided to the victims, two wounded were hospitalized.
Days after being sworn in as Floridas governor in 2019, Ron DeSantis pardoned the Groveland Four, a group of Black men who had been wrongfully accused of sexually assaulting a white woman decades earlier.

At the time, Mr. DeSantiss decision seemed like it could serve as a vital olive branch to Floridas wary African American community. Accusations of racism had trailed him throughout a bruising general election, which he had begun by warning voters not to monkey this up by voting for his Democratic opponent, who was Black. The case of the Groveland Four, who all died before having their names cleared, had received national attention, and Mr. DeSantis said their treatment represented a miscarriage of justice.

Four years later, Mr. DeSantiss relationship with Black Floridians could hardly be worse. As he moved increasingly to the right ahead of his run for president, Mr. DeSantis pushed an agenda that cemented his status as a rising conservative star nationally but that has outraged many Black voters and leaders in his home state.

Those policies include changing how slavery is taught in schools, cutting funding for diversity and inclusion initiatives and redistricting a Black-led congressional district in northern Florida out of existence. Some Black professional groups have stopped holding conferences in the state, while several Black leaders have condemned Florida  and Mr. DeSantis  as an example of racism in policymaking.
When the last American soldier flew out of Afghanistan on Aug. 30, 2021, leaving the country to Taliban rule, the world braced for a human rights nightmare.

In that sense, the Taliban have met expectations. The countrys extremist rulers, who seized power from an American-backed government of 20 years, have carried out revenge killings, torture and abductions, according to international observers. They have also imposed the worlds most radical gender policies, denying education and employment to millions of Afghan women and girls  even shutting down beauty parlors.

On Aug. 14, a group of United Nations officials issued a report saying the Taliban had engaged in a continuous, systematic and shocking rescinding of a multitude of human rights, including the rights to education, work, and freedoms of expression, assembly and association.

Some analysts and U.S. officials had clung to the hope that the Taliban had moderated since they last controlled the country in the 1990s, or that they would at least make concessions to Western demands on human rights to win diplomatic recognition or economic aid as the country suffers a deepening humanitarian crisis.
A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Rudolph W. Giuliani was liable for defaming two Georgia election workers by repeatedly declaring that they had mishandled ballots while counting votes in Atlanta during the 2020 election.

The ruling by the judge, Beryl A. Howell in Federal District Court in Washington, means that the defamation case against Mr. Giuliani, a central figure in former President Donald J. Trumps efforts to remain in power after his election loss, can proceed to trial on the narrow question of how much, if any, damages he will have to pay the plaintiffs in the case.

Judge Howells decision came a little more than a month after Mr. Giuliani conceded in two stipulations in the case that he had made false statements when he accused the election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, of manipulating ballots while working at the State Farm Arena for the Fulton County Board of Elections.

Mr. Giulianis legal team has sought to clarify that he was not admitting to wrongdoing, and that his stipulations were solely meant to short circuit the costly process of producing documents and other records to Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss so that he could move toward dismissing the allegations outright.
Facing the prospect of a politically damaging government shutdown within weeks, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is offering a new argument to conservatives reluctant to vote to keep funding flowing: A shutdown would make it more difficult for Republicans to pursue an impeachment inquiry against President Biden, or to push forward with investigations of him and his family that could yield evidence for one.

Mr. McCarthy first made the case on Sunday during an interview on Fox News in which he warned that a shutdown would stall the Houses ongoing inquiries into the president and his family. His argument reflected the speakers growing desperation to find a way to persuade right-wing Republicans to drop their opposition to a stopgap measure that is needed to keep federal money flowing beyond the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.

By tying the issue to the prospect of impeaching Mr. Biden, Mr. McCarthy appears to be hoping that the conservative desire to investigate and possibly charge him with high crimes and misdemeanors  particularly amid the multiple criminal cases against former President Donald J. Trump  might outweigh their resistance to voting in favor of federal spending.

If we shut down, all the government shuts it down  investigation and everything else, Mr. McCarthy said about the prospect of funding running out Sept. 30. It hurts the American public.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the longtime Republican leader who has appeared increasingly diminished and frail after a series of falls and a serious head injury this year, froze up suddenly during a news conference on Wednesday in Covington, Ky., the second such episode he has experienced on camera in recent weeks.

Mr. McConnell, 81, was taking questions from reporters after an event hosted by the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce when he was asked for his thoughts on running for re-election in 2026. Mr. McConnell, who appeared thinner and paler than he has in recent months, began to answer the question with a slight chuckle and abruptly stopped speaking for about 30 seconds, standing motionless as he gripped his lectern with his mouth pursed and his eyes fixed.

When an aide approached to ask if he had heard the question, he mumbled yes, but he seemed unable to continue speaking or to move.

It was the second such incident in two months, and the scene intensified questions about Mr. McConnells health condition, his ability to serve and his future in the Senate.
Here are some notable occasions when he sought to retreat from his past statements or mischaracterized basic facts:

A misleading anecdote

At a breakfast round table event organized by his campaign on Friday in Indianola, Iowa, Mr. Ramaswamy recounted how he had visited the South Side of Chicago in May to promote his immigration proposals to a mostly Black audience.

He boasted that nowhere had his ideas on the issue been more enthusiastically received than in the nations third most populous city, where his appearance had followed community protests over the housing of migrants in a local high school.

I have never been in a room more in favor of my proposal to use the U.S. military to secure the southern border and seal the Swiss cheese down there than when I was in a nearly all-Black room of supposedly mostly Democrats on the South Side of Chicago, he said.

But Mr. Ramaswamys retelling of the anecdote was sharply contradicted by the observations of a New York Times reporter who covered both events.

The reporter witnessed the audience in Chicago pepper Mr. Ramaswamy about reparations, systemic racism and his opposition to affirmative action. Immigration was barely mentioned during the formal program. It was so absent that a Ramaswamy campaign aide at one point pleaded for questions on the issue. With that prompting, a single Republican consultant stood up to question Mr. Ramaswamy on his proposals.
Do you feel more comfortable in the Democratic Party now? The way you described it initially was fraught. They rejected you, and you were definitely trying to change the party. You have said youve pushed the party leftward. Many would agree. So is it OK to be a regular Democrat now?

The activist in me always seeks to agitate for more. I think despite there being progress, many people are still woefully underserved in this country. But the Democratic Party has changed dramatically in the last five years. Even if you just look at the numbers, I believe its something around 50 percent of House Democrats have been elected since 2018. And so what is considered center and moderate now is dramatically different than what it was five years ago.

We started this conversation talking about how you entered politics at a particular moment, and not a good one. And you acknowledged that your tenure has been tumultuous, with attacks on democracy and on your own person. Do you like your job?

I certainly think I like it a lot more than I used to.

There have been times where this work has been extremely challenging, and I didnt know if I would survive in this position. But I see myself as having a very great responsibility, because at the end of the day, the representation of working-class people in our Congress is still extremely low. Women still only constitute 27 percent of our Congress. People of color, Latinas  there have only been, I dont know, two to three dozen Latinas that have been elected in the history of the United States. And so Im motivated by an extraordinary sense of responsibility, not just for representation, but to deliver on policy.

At 33 years old, first winning my election at 28  this has taken a large degree of learning. Im also very hard on myself, and I have to sometimes put into perspective that I am comparing myself to the skill set and performance of people 20, 30, 40 years my senior. But again, its something that is very important, and I maintain that one of my responsibilities is to hold the door open for those who are to come.
New Hampshires first-in-the-nation primary is quickly becoming the leading edge for an unproven legal theory that Donald J. Trump is disqualified from appearing on the ballot under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

A long-shot presidential candidate has filed a lawsuit in state court seeking an injunction to keep Mr. Trump off the ballot. And a former Republican candidate for Senate is urging the secretary of state to bring a case that could put the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Wednesday, Free Speech for People, a liberal-leaning group that unsuccessfully tried to strike House Republicans from the ballot in 2022, sent a letter to the secretaries of state in New Hampshire, as well as Florida, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin, urging them to bar Mr. Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment.

These efforts employ a theory that has been gaining traction among liberals and anti-Trump conservatives: that Mr. Trumps actions on Jan. 6, 2021, disqualify him under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars people from holding office if they took an oath to support the Constitution and later engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
Now, short of a full capitulation from Mr. Trump, removing him as the nominee at the convention after he has secured enough delegates remains an extreme long shot. A surrender by Mr. Trump seems highly unlikely given that advisers have said he views getting re-elected  and taking command of the pardon power plus control over the Justice Department  as his best insurance policy. Despite Mr. Trumps claims, however, it is not clear that a president can pardon himself, so he might be on safer legal ground if some other Republican secured the nomination, became president and then pardoned him.

The Trump campaign is taking no chances on a contested convention. His team is far more experienced and professional than it was in 2016, when Mr. Cruzs forces organized state party conventions in Louisiana, Colorado and elsewhere to elect Cruz loyalists as convention rules committee delegates. Mr. Trump has a tighter grip on the partys grass-roots supporters than he did in 2016, and his aides  including Mr. Henson, Brian Jack, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita  have been working for months behind the scenes to ensure he will have loyal delegates in state parties across the country, according to people with direct knowledge of their efforts.

Mr. Trumps team also has a stronger hold on state parties themselves, after three advisers  Bill Stepien, Justin Clark and Nick Trainer  worked to consolidate support within them ahead of the 2020 election to stave off primary challenges to Mr. Trump. Many of those changes, which favor Mr. Trump, remain in place.

Mr. Trump himself has gotten involved deep in the weeds of convention politics. He has awarded endorsements not just for state party bosses but for leaders of the two largest county Republican parties in Nevada  the sort of local officials who will have significant influence in choosing which grass-roots leaders will represent their states as convention delegates next July in Milwaukee.

This loyalty has already delivered results for Mr. Trumps campaign. This month, the Nevada Republican Party quietly announced it would not share political data or coordinate with super PACs  a blow to Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who has outsourced much of his campaigns political operation to the super PAC Never Back Down. Never Back Down is led by Jeff Roe, the architect of Mr. Cruzs 2016 campaign.
The F-16 fighter jets would not be delivered to Ukraine until next year, but that did not dissuade President Volodymyr Zelensky from hopping into one last week in the Netherlands  one stop on a European tour to collect commitments to donate the warplane as quickly as possible.

There he was in Denmark, praising the government for helping Ukraine to become invincible with its pledge to send 19 jets. In Athens, he said Greeces offer to train Ukrainian pilots would help us fight for our freedom. Within days of returning to Kyiv, Mr. Zelensky had secured promises from a half-dozen countries to either donate the jets  potentially more than 60  or provide training for pilots and support crew.

It is important and necessary, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store of Norway told Mr. Zelensky in Kyiv, announcing that his government would provide an undetermined number of the jets  probably 10 or fewer  in the future.

It was a remarkable victory lap for a sophisticated attack aircraft that even Ukraines defense minister has acknowledged is unlikely to perform in combat until next spring  and then only for the few pilots who can understand English well enough to fly it. With Ukraines counteroffensive grinding ahead slowly this summer, Mr. Zelenskys airy announcements of securing the F-16s signal a tacit acknowledgment that the 18-month war in Ukraine will likely endure for years to come.
Press Release

August 30, 2023 Transcript of Interpellation of Senator Risa Hontiveros with AFP Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. during the Commission on Appointments hearing Senator Risa Hontiveros (SRH): First of all, on the AFP's revolving door policy and RA 11939. This Committee has always been cognizant of the constitutional role of the AFP as the "protector of the people and the state" and the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. However, the revolving door policy of the AFP often resulted in a lack of strategic direction and continuity of purpose in the organization. In fact, for the past years 20 years, 28 AFP Chiefs had been subjected for confirmation before this body - their tours of duty ranging from 8 days, to 1 year and 295 days. This policy was put to end with the passage of RA 11939 which set a fixed three-year tour of duty for key AFP officials. Unang tanong po. General, pursuant dito sa RA 11939, you will serve as Chief of Staff of the AFP until 2026. You will have enough time to mold, shape, and transform our military in accordance with your personal vision and aspirations. Ano pong primary objectives ang intensyon ninyong ma-accomplish gamit nitong almost unprecedented mandate? Gen. Brawner: When I took over as the chief of staff of AFP, I set forth my priority thrusts for the Armed Forces, and it is embodied in an acronym UNITY. U stands for unification. We will have to unify the AFP as a solid and professional organization. We will also try to help unify our communities as we are deployed in the most remote areas in our country. We will try to unify families by making sure that our former rebels are united back with their families. Letter N is for normalization. We will focus also on the normalization of the Bangsamoro region. Kailangan po natin pabilisan yung proseso ng pag-normalize, particularly decommissioning, disarmament and reintegration of our former rebels. Letter I po is for internal security operations. Now that we believe that we are winding down with our internal security operations, we will have to sustain the gains that we had. So tuloy-tuloy parin po yung pagserbisyo ng ating armed forces, bagamat nagdeklara na po tayo ng insurgency-free yung ibang mga probinsya natin, we will still remain in the area to make sure that there will be no resurgence of insurgency. Letter T is for territorial defense. As we wind down doon po sa internal security operations natin, we will not focus on territorial defense. That means we will have to recalibrate our doctrines, our trainings, our organization, in order for us to be able to cope with the demands of defending our territory. For Y, this will be for the youth. We will focus on developing our youth particularly on programs such as the ROTC program. We are anticipating the passing of that bill for the mandatory ROTC. Naghahanda na po ang inyong armed forces and we want to make sure that we will not repeat the mistakes that we had, the abuses that happened during the past when we had the ROTC program. We will now make sure that those who will handle the ROTC are prepared and are professional para wala na po ang mga abuso, katulad ng mga grades for sale, o kaya mga hazing, maltreatment na nangyari po noong nakaraan. SRH: Considering your 3-year term, you will also have to confront, and hopefully resolve the military pension issue during your watch. As we all know, there has been some reluctance from our uniformed personnel vis-a-vis various proposals to reform their pension system. Paano niyo tingin na kami pong sa Kongreso - ang Senado at ang House - ay best ma-address yung mga concerns na yon at medyo i-ease yung anxieties nung ating mga men and women in uniform. Gen. Brawner: Doon po sa huling SONA ng ating pangulo, he mentioned about the MUP pension and that his desire is to make it less painful for our retirees and uniformed personnel. Sa amin po naman, we have been doing consultations with our soldiers and even our retirees so that we can get the consensus of everyone and so far as far as the uniformed services are concerned, kami po noh. When I entered the service, meron na po kaming contribution para sa aming pensyon and then it was in the form of RSBS contributions and then later on it was given to GSIS. But then after a few years, it was also terminated. So, open naman po ang mga sundalo natin to that idea of contributing but doon po sa mga proposals na nilalabas po natin especially with the proposals of our secretary of national defense, Sec. Gilberto Teodoro Jr., he wants the real estate of the AFP to be placed in a trust fund. So that this will be the source of funds for the pension of our soldiers and our retirees. Yun po yung initial na proposal namin but I understand that there are already versions that are coming out from Congress, which of course will be briefed to us in later days. But as much as possible, ang ginagawa natin sa ating mga sundalo, is we talk to them. Dahil ang mga sundalo naman po natin ay very rational, madaling umintindi ang mga sundalo, and if it is for our country, handa po kaming magsakripisyo. SRH: Salamat po, General. Interesting yung isang element ng possible consensus yung real estate in relation sa trust fund. Importante din po sa amin dito sa Senado trabahuin ang isang maayos na batas tungkol dito. A couple of general principles that some of us are thinking of ay yung as is where is dun sa mga existing pensions na sa ngayon and then moving forward contributory system sa mga bagong entrants sa ating armed forces. We will continue to rely on the AFP among other institutions makapagbigay po ng inputs at gabay din sa amin sa aming legislative work tungkol dito. Moving on sa military expenditure naman, partikular sa NTF-ELCAC at saka AFP modernization. General, during a visit to the Southern Luzon Command earlier this month, you said that your principle of UNITY focused on applying the whole-of-nation approach in ensuring internal security and stability in order for the AFP to shift its focus to territorial defense by, among others, modernizing to keep pace with our peers in the region. However, to modernize efficiently and effectively, we will need to think about our force structure - the people, materiel, and infrastructure our military will need to satisfy the requirements of our national strategy and the exigencies of the current threat environment. Ano po yung thoughts niyo doon sa force structure na kakailanganin natin para makamit ang national security objectives natin? Gen. Brawner: Because of the advent of new technology in warfare, we will have to also adjust our doctrines and our organization. Because of the arrival of missile systems which will be using to defend our territory from possible external aggression, we will have to create units that will be able to man this modern weapons. In the Philippine army for instance we are proposing for the creation of a missile regiment which will be the one in charge of maintaining and later on if needed firing this weapon systems. Another aspect that we have to focus on is on cyberwarfare. In the recent chiefs of defense conference that I attended with 24 other countries, one of the emphasis that was given in that conference is the importance of the cyberdomain. Dahil po ngayon hindi lamang land, water, o air domain ang hinaharap natin or ginagalawan natin, but we also have the cyberdomain and I believe that in the cyberdomain we can play equally with the other nations. Kaya po nating lumaban dito. That is why this is one of the focus areas that we are looking into. We are going to develop our cybercommand. Palalakihin po natin yung ating mga cybergroups. May mga cyberunits po yung ating mga major services but we will look at creating a bigger cybercommand and integrating all of these cybergroups that we have in the major services. SRH: Just this July, the AFP reported a "strategic victory" against NPA insurgents, kaya yung sinabi niyo nga pong kanina na winding down, with 400 of the remaining 1,800 members identified and facing criminal charges. Our armed forces were also able to dismantle the NPA's guerilla fronts, a major blow to their operations. Given your victories against these internal threats and their diminished numbers, as well as the establishment of the BARMM, binanggit niyo rin po kanina in relation to normalization. We should consider how much utility and value are we receiving from the NTF-ELCAC's ?8.64 billion proposed 2024 budget, considering that they have completed only 2% of their projects as of November 2022. Ano po yung opinyon ninyo dun sa realignment nung portion ng mga pondong iyon to territorial defense, halimbawa pagdagdag ng funding para sa Philippine Coast Guard o yung buong National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea? Gen. Brawner: We agree that mahalaga po na bigyan po ng tuon yung ating modernization program but we also have to focus on internal security but we believe that the NTF-ELCAC funds are very important also so that we could sustain the gains that we had in our counterinsurgency operations. Importante ho kasi yung ma-address natin yung root causes of the problem dahil kung hindi po natin gagawin yun, there is a big possibility that insurgency will come back. So ang mga proyekto pong binibigay natin sa mga barangay, yung BDP, Barangay Development Program, in the past, it was 20 million per barangay, was a big boost to our counterinsurgency effort. Dahil po dito, sa mga programang ito, nabibigyan ng mga clinics, farm to market roads, school buildings, yung mga barangay po na talagang nangangailangan nitong mga ito. I believe that we should strike a balance between funding the NTF-ELCAC and addressing the root causes of insurgency and also putting in funds for our modernization as we shift to territorial defense. SRH: Alam niyo naman siguro that I fully support the AFP modernization program, tulad namin dito sa kumiteng ito. But also baka alam ninyo mula sa simula may argument talaga ako diyan sa NTF-ELCAC dahil tingin ko po ang mga pondong iyon dapat talaga makarating sa mga identified barangays sa pamamagitan ng DILG at mga line agencies. At ngayon, sa pamamagitan din ng buong NTF- WPS. But we can continue talking about that in the coming years. Moving on to condemning harassment by the Chinese in the WPS. This month, the senate passed Senate Resolution No. 718 condemning the continued harassment of Filipino fisherfolk and the incursions in the West Philippine Sea by the Chinese Coast Guard and militia vessels, and urging Government to take appropriate action in asserting and securing the Philippines' sovereign rights over our exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, and calling on China to stop her illegal activities in accordance with the UNCLOS and the 2016 Ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. This has led some observers to argue that there should be a re-calibration or re-alignment of Forces towards external defense, for example, by investing more on the Navy and Air Force, to better safeguard our seas and waters. Considering the archipelagic nature of our country and the growing the Chinese government's aggressive foreign policy in the South China Sea, and continuing tensions over regional flashpoints like Taiwan, ano po ang thoughts niyo tungkol sa realignment ng ating armed force mula sa current focus on land warfare at counter-insurgency patungo sa higit na force projection sa pagitan ng ating mga isla at maritime zones. Gen. Brawner: Ang ginagawa po natin ngayon is that we are also trying to look into our strategy and trying to redefine our strategy. Nabanggit po ninyo yung projection. Tama po iyon. Initially, our defense, the concept of our defense is defense in depth, ibig sabihin po, we will defend from our land and also towards our territorial waters and our exclusive economic zone. But this time, we are going to project our forces. So ang ginagawa po natin ngayon is that we are hardening our positions in the islands and the features that we are occupying. Sa ngayon, meron po tayong maliliit na structures in the islands that we are occupying pero hindi po ito sapat for us to be able to project our forces. And the name of the game dito po sa West Philippine Sea is effective presence. Kung sino po ang marami na nandiyan ay sila po yung may advantage dito. That is why we are seeing so many foreign vessels in the WPS at any given time. Nabanggit ko po sa isang interview that there are more than 400 foreign vessels in the WPS at any given time and yung barko po natin from the Philippines, meron po tayong just a few number of vessels from the Philippine Navy, from the Philippine Coast Guard, from the Bureau of Fisheries at yung ating mga fishermen. Pero talagang napakaliit po ng numbers natin compared to the other countries. SRH: Huling tanong yungkol doon sa UNITY at mandatory ROTC. Upon your assumption into office, you spoke about the 5 focus areas - summed up as UNITY - that you intend to prioritize as the AFP's Chief of Staff. You were also reported to be in favor the revival of the mandatory ROTC program, saying that "we have to prepare the youth to be able to defend our country in case anything happens." However, with all due respect, this seems akin to mass conscription, solving our deficiencies in training and equipment with numbers. Now, I know someone who is not a favorite of any of us, Stalin, is attributed as having said that quantity has a quality all its own, but this sounds like we are preparing to fight the last war... and not even something recent like the gulf war, but World War II. In Ukraine we are getting an unprecedented look at how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are going to wage war - with technology, with remote sensors, with long-range fire, with drones - both on the ground and in cyberspace. For this style of war, that we hopefully we would never need to wage, we will need young people who are tech-savvy, skilled, and highly-motivated; not conscripts mandated to fight, whether they want to or not. As Sun Tzu, who we all much prefer to Stalin, said, without moral factors - the willingness to fight for a cause - it might be difficult to bring a campaign to a successful conclusion. Now, the purpose of a general staff is to prepare a nation's plans and contingencies for various scenarios. Sa ilalim po ng anong mga scenarios ay kakailanganin natin i-deploy yung ating mga reserve officers na produced ng ROTC program? Gaano karaming value ang nakukuha natin sa mga resources na ginagamit natin sa pag-train ng ROTC cadets na yung iba sa kanila hindi suitable o baka hindi inclined sa military service? How much value are we getting from the resources we are using to train our ROTC cadets kung under sa isang mandatory program, kumpara sa kung gagamitin yung parehong mga resources na yan para i-train pa at i-develop pa ang ating professional soldiers? Gen. Brawner: We are now trying to develop a ROTC program that is very much different from the ROTC program that we knew when we were students. Dati po kasi, martsa martsa tayo halos buong araw nagmamartsa, meron konting kaalaman sa pagdisassemble, pag-assemble ng baril. This time, we are going to try to professionalize even the ROTC program. Meaning, if a student is enrolled in medical fields for instance, hindi po siya magiging foot soldier, ang training niya will not be on being an infantry man. Rather, ang training nila ay magiging related sa kanilang medical field. Sila po ang magiging medics natin, mga doctors, mga nurses, when their services will be needed during war. Kasi ngayon yung current numbers ng mga doctors and nurses natin will not be sufficient when there is war. The same is true with our engineering students for instance, so hindi na po sila magiging infantry soldiers as well, they will be trained as combat engineers. They will be building bridges, they will be building our defensive positions and so on. So aside from that, the value that we will be getting from training our youth is that we will be ready to face any challenge, whether manmade or natural. We all know that we face natural disasters, 20 typhoons on the average every year, so pag handa po ang ating mga kabataan, they will be able to help our country when the need arises especially when disasters strike. Ang isa pong pinaghahandaan natin dito sa Manila is the Big One. Handang handa po ang ating mga rescue units but again they will not be sufficient. Pero kung handa po yung mga ating kabataan yung ating mga mamamayan to deal with these kinds of threats then we will be able to more efficient and capable of mitigating the effects of these natural disasters. Yun po yung focus area ng ating ROTC program, hindi na yung katulad nung dati but we will really prepare our citizens for any eventuality, whether it is manmade or natural.
Zelenskyy thanks USA, Biden for new package of defense assistance to Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the United States and President Joe Biden for the new package of defense assistance to Ukraine.

I am grateful to all American people, the Congress and personally to President Joseph Biden for the new defense assistance package for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said on Twitter.

According to him, artillery, missiles, ammunition for HIMARS, demining equipment - that's what Ukrainian warriors need.

Freedom needs protection, and this protection is growing strong, the head of state stressed.

As reported, the United States announced a new package of additional military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $250 million, which includes various ammunition, equipment and spare parts for it, as well as personnel training.
Testing. One. Two. Three.

Every television, radio and cellphone in the United States broadcast a message on Wednesday that said: THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System.

The test alert was sent out around 2:20 p.m. Eastern time, reaching phones at slightly different times. The test was conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, working in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission.

The test is intended to make sure that the alert system is ready to warn the public in the event of emergencies, particularly those that have a national impact, FEMA said in a statement.

How often are the tests run on a national scale?

This was the seventh time that a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System has been beamed to radios and televisions.
At Studio A in Los Angeles, Diane Kravif, 75, stands at the barre with pin-straight posture. Pink slippers cover her feet, and her silver bob is pushed back with a headband. Watching her tendu and plie, you might assume she has danced forever. But it has been only four years.

Im always the oldest one, Ms. Kravif said of students in the weekly drop-in class. Learning the technique was tough at first, she added, but there are moments now when she feels as if she is really dancing. It feels astounding, something I never expected.

Ballet has in recent years gained traction among older adults. Though there is no public data on the number of senior ballet students, there was enough interest in 2017 for the Royal Academy of Dance, among the largest teacher-training authorities in the world for classical ballet, to create its Silver Swans program for teaching people 55 and older. The academy has since certified over 1,000 of these ballet teachers, operating out of 51 countries.

American schools have been offering similar programs, including the Golden Swans at Oklahoma City Ballet, Senior Steps at Ballet West in Salt Lake City and Boomer Ballet at the St. Paul Ballet in Minnesota.
The police in Nigeria have arrested over 60 people who were in attendance at what the authorities claimed was a same-sex wedding, reinforcing a crackdown on L.G.B.T.Q. people in Africas most populous nation.

The police also broadcast the identities of some of those arrested on social media and encouraged members of the public to help uphold the moral standards of the society by providing relevant information  moves that raised concern that those who attended the event would be subjected to stigma or violence.

Under a 2014 law, anyone entering a same-sex marriage or civil union in Nigeria can be imprisoned for up to 14 years. Those who administer or witness such a ceremony can face up to 10 years in prison. At the time it was enacted, the U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, said the law violated basic human rights protections.

Bright Edafe, a police spokesman in Delta State in southern Nigeria, said the arrests were a sign that the country was going to use an iron fist against gay unions.
The call of duty for Terri Faloney, a beekeeper in Hamilton, Ontario, came on Wednesday at around 8 a.m. Her mother had just seen a report on television that five million angry bees had escaped from wooden boxes that had toppled off a trailer and were swarming a two-lane road in nearby Burlington.

Theres a bee emergency, her mother told her. They need all the beekeepers they can get.

Mike Barber, a beekeeper in Guelph, Ontario, got the call even earlier as he was lying in his sons bed, trying to help his 8-year-old get back to sleep. When he finally looked at his phone, he noticed that he had missed 10 calls from a local police officer, asking him for help.

Both beekeepers knew they were in for a serious mission, and so did dozens of others who quickly learned through social media posts and news reports about the swarm of millions of bees churning above the road, about an hour southwest of Toronto. The Halton Regional Police were warning pedestrians to avoid the area and urged residents and passing motorists to keep their windows closed.

Mr. Barber, who owns a business called Tri-City Bee Rescue that relocates swarms from homes and other locations where they arent wanted, grabbed his beekeepers suit and drove to the scene. So did Ms. Faloney, who brought bee smokers, which release smoke to subdue panicked bees into a state of lethargy.
The salmon were once so plentiful in the river that old-timers talk about having been able to cross on the backs of fish so thick they were like steppingstones. Such was the renown of the Cowichan River, flowing east on Canadas Vancouver Island, that its fly-fishing conditions were posted in fishing clubs in London. John Wayne and Bing Crosby were regulars in Cowichan Bay.

So when hundreds of young salmon and trout were found dead in the river last month, even as record wildfires burned across Canada, the news made the front page of the local newspaper. The die-off, the biggest in living memory, quickly led to an investigation.

It remains a mystery. Government officials found partially treated wastewater in the river a couple of weeks after the fish were found, but they have yet to draw conclusions about its impact. Local scientists suspect the bigger culprit is climate change, which has contributed to the decline of salmon populations in British Columbia by increasing droughts and heat waves.

In a summer of global catastrophes for Canada, climate change has been felt across this vast country  from Cowichan Valley on the Pacific Coast to Halifax on the Atlantic, from the long border with the United States to the remotest towns above the Arctic Circle. But if the world has been consumed with the fires raging across Canadas forests, turned into tinderboxes from the effects of climate change, the plight of the river has hit close to home in Cowichan Valley.
The Canadian government is warning L.G.B.T.Q. travelers to the United States that they may be affected by a series of recently enacted state laws that restrict transgender and gay people.

Global Affairs Canada, the foreign affairs department, added a brief notice on Tuesday to a long list of travel warnings involving the United States that had already included cautions about gun violence and terrorism.

Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons, the notice reads. Check relevant state and local laws. (The beginning of the Canadian governments acronym, 2S, represents two-spirit, an Indigenous term for someone with a masculine and a feminine spirit.)

Jeremie Berube, a spokesman for the department, said in a statement that the change was made because certain states in the U.S. have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender-affirming care and from participation in sporting events since the beginning of this year. The warning did not name specific states.
At dusk last week in the picturesque northern Greek village of Dadia, home to a few hundred people and next to a lush national park full of rare vultures, dozens of firefighters from around Europe gathered to assess the days work and load up on water and fuel.

Exhausted, with dark smudges across flushed cheeks, they watched Europes most destructive blaze in recent history advance through virgin forest across the hill.

There was little to do now but wait. In this spot, the impenetrably dense forest meant firefighters couldnt confront the enemy on the ground. Two water-scooping aircraft had just completed their final drops for the day  they would have to head back to base and wait for first light to get back up.

The acrid air in the tidy village square was full of ash settling gently like snow. Locals prepared for another anxious sleepless night. They opened the cafe on the square, pulled up chairs and offered the firefighters drinks and snacks. Together, they waited for what the night held in store.
For over six years, President Emmanuel Macron has struggled to convince the French that he is a man of dialogue. He went on a countrywide listening tour to calm the storms of the Yellow Vest uprising, convened a citizen convention on climate policy, and created a council of politicians and members of civil society to discuss Frances most pressing issues.

But he has generally remained a top-down leader, one who listens before deciding but rarely talks of compromise. An image of aloofness has clung to him, despite attempts to bury it.

Now, more isolated, he is trying political outreach.

In the midst of the torrid doldrums of mid-August, when the ritual of protest is momentarily replaced by the ritual of the beach, France awoke to the news that Mr. Macron would convene the main parliamentary groups on Wednesday for an afternoon of discussion followed by a dinner.

It looked like a pre-emptive strike aimed at heading off a potentially turbulent rentree  the post-vacation convergence on Paris often marked by resentments reignited after a spell of downtime.
Sixteen people have died and over 150 have been hospitalized in southeastern Poland in an outbreak of Legionnaires disease, a severe strain of bacterial pneumonia, local health authorities said Wednesday.

The outbreak has been concentrated in the southeastern city of Rzeszow, which lies about 60 miles from the border with neighboring Ukraine, although some cases have been registered elsewhere. The Polish health ministry said this week that the most likely source of infection was Rzeszows municipal water network.

Once relatively quiet, Rzeszow has become an important hub for the international response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, hosting American soldiers and thousands of Ukrainian refugees. The deaths, which have occurred over the past week, sparked unfounded rumors in Poland of Russian responsibility for the outbreak that the authorities have tried to tamp down.

Stanislaw Zaryn, a deputy minister who oversees the countrys intelligence services, said Friday that the Polish internal security service was pursuing a routine investigation into the circumstances behind the infection to rule out potential intentional action in this case.
Pope Francis has expressed in unusually sharp terms his dismay at a very strong, organized, reactionary attitude opposing him within the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, one that fixates on social issues like abortion and sexuality to the exclusion of caring for the poor and the environment.

The pope lamented the backwardness of some American conservatives who he said insist on a narrow, outdated and unchanging vision. They refuse, he said, to accept the full breadth of the Churchs mission and the need for changes in doctrine over time.

I would like to remind these people that backwardness is useless, Francis, 86, told a group of fellow Jesuits early this month in a meeting at World Youth Day celebrations in Lisbon. Doing this, you lose the true tradition and you turn to ideologies to have support. In other words, ideologies replace faith.

His words became public this week, when a transcript of the conversation was published by the Vatican-vetted Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) may be reverting to the more limited coverage of the war in Ukraine while attempting to censor complaints along the frontline and reports of Ukrainian advances, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its report.

The analysts admitted that it is likely that the Russian Defense Ministry is returning to more limited coverage of the war in Ukraine, while simultaneously trying to censor complaints about the front lines and reports about the offensive of Ukrainian troops.

Analysts recall that the Russian Defense Ministry recently changed the style of its daily reports to reduce the daily amount of information about the war.

According to their observations, it had previously published a daily report that differed from the individual reports of the press services of each Russian group of troops.

However, on August 29, the press services of each Russian group of troops published a text directly copied from the universal daily, and not their own original reports.

The Russian MoD has consistently attempted to institute an information policy that would provide limited information about the frontlines throughout the war. The Russian MoDs change in reporting, if this trend continues, may reflect its wider efforts to censor Russian reporting on the war and unify its own narrative, the ISW said.
A wave of exploding drones was launched in six regions of Russia overnight Wednesday, Russian officials said, damaging four military cargo planes at an airfield 30 miles from the border with Estonia, a NATO member, in an apparent sign that Ukraine was increasingly capable of striking back deep inside Moscows territory.

Around the same time, Russia unleashed an aerial assault on at least three regions of Ukraine, officials in Ukraine said, including one of the most significant barrages the Kyiv region has experienced in months. Ukraines air force said it had shot down 43 of 44 incoming missiles and drones.

Explosions and the roar of air-defense missiles shook Kyiv, the capital, around 5 a.m. Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv regional military administration, said that two people in the city had been killed by falling debris.

The assault in Russia came after months of Moscows deadly missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities, infrastructure and military targets. While Ukrainian officials did not claim responsibility for the overnight strikes on Russian soil, in keeping with standard practice, they have made it increasingly clear that they view taking the war to ordinary Russians as a legitimate tactic against Moscows invasion.
Feb. 24 April 1 Explosion detected Larger Smaller Kyiv Dnipro River Zhytomyr Korosten Chernihiv Irpin Brovary Malyn Borodyanka Seismic sensors Source: Dando et al, Nature Notes: Locations are estimated to within a couple of miles. Circles are sized by the magnitude of the detection. By The New York Times

The explosions came one after another, a relentless series of bombings that echoed across Kyiv in the first weeks of the war. Residents at the center of Russias invasion of Ukraine were forced underground into makeshift shelters.

While the fight for Ukraines capital is well known, researchers have developed a way to better understand the battle by capturing subtle tremors beneath the earths surface, a method that could improve our understanding of future conflicts.

Seismic waves were generated when Russia fired artillery, airstrikes and missiles across northern Ukraine. For the first time, researchers in Norway and Ukraine studied data from dozens of earthquake sensors around Kyiv, estimating the position and strength of each explosion to see the full extent of the Russian barrage.

There is no perfect way to chronicle a war, and the seismic record has gaps. Attacks farther from the sensors are most likely to be missed. A few of the explosions may have been set off by Ukraine. And the unique geology of the city of Kyiv, built on wetlands and floodplains, deadens signals from explosions, researchers say.

But unlike the selective focus of traditional war reporting, seismic detections can track blasts at any time, picking up hundreds of attacks that were not previously reported. And the objective measurements can see through the distortions of social media reports and aggressive propaganda from both sides.

Its a way of finding out whats happened which doesnt involve anecdotal reports, said Ben Dando, a seismologist at NORSAR, an independent research foundation in Norway and the lead author of a paper on the work published today in the journal Nature. Its verifiable data thats showing what happened where.

One well-known attack illustrates how the detection works.

On the fourth day of the war, an explosion was detected at the Hostomel airport outside Kyiv. Satellite imagery from the same day showed smoke billowing out of one of the hangars.

Hostomel airport after it was hit with a strike on Feb. 27, 2022. Maxar Technologies

The force from the explosion sent seismic waves toward two dozen nearby sensors, the equivalent of a tiny 0.2-magnitude earthquake.

This bombing was one of more than a thousand detected explosions during a constant, around-the-clock barrage during the first five weeks of the war.

Russia withdraws from Kyiv April 1 Russia invades Feb. 24 Constant attacks Time of day Midnight Less frequent attacks 3 a.m. 6 a.m. Hostomel airport strike One detected explosion Malyn train station strike 9 a.m. Noon 3 p.m. 6 p.m. Most likely mining activity Some mining resumes 9 p.m. Midnight Jan. 2022 Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Time of day Midnight 6 a.m. Noon Midnight 6 p.m. Jan. 2022 One detected explosion Most likely mining activity Feb. Hostomel airport strike Russia invades Feb. 24 Constant attacks Russia withdraws from Kyiv April 1 May Less frequent attacks June Malyn train station strike Some mining resumes July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Time of day Midnight 6 a.m. Noon 6 p.m. Midnight Jan. 2022 One detected explosion Feb. Hostomel airport strike Most likely mining activity Russia invades Feb. 24 Constant attacks Russia withdraws from Kyiv April 1 May Less frequent attacks June Malyn train station strike Some mining resumes July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Time of day Midnight Midnight 6 a.m. Noon 6 p.m. Jan. 2022 One detected explosion Most likely mining activity Feb. Hostomel airport strike Russia invades Feb. 24 Constant attacks Russia withdraws from Kyiv April 1 May Less frequent attacks June Malyn train station strike Some mining resumes July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Source: Dando et al, Nature Note: Circles are sized by the magnitude of the detection. By The New York Times

As Russias attempt to capture Kyiv failed and its troops withdrew from northern Ukraine in early April, the rate of the bombardments dropped. But Russia continued to bomb civilian infrastructure, hitting the Malyn train station in the early morning of May 20 and injuring three people. The researchers said that they picked up three separate explosions from the attack.

Militaries have long used remote sensing techniques to detect missile launches, bombings and other details of conflict. But their records are largely kept secret, and the researchers said public research on seismic detections of conventional weaponry is lacking.

Using the same technique in future conflicts could help document wartime violations of human rights, said Sebastian Schutte, a senior researcher at Peace Research Institute Oslo who has used spatial data to research conflicts around the world. For example, he said, it could be used to document double tap strikes in which an attack on a civilian area is followed, after a delay, by a second attack aimed at rescue workers.

Dr. Schutte said the data could also guide post-war cleanup efforts, as areas that experience large numbers of blasts inevitably contain unexploded munitions, which oftentimes kill civilians for decades to come.

Keith Koper, a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah and the director of its earthquake observatory, who reviewed the analysis, said the work appeared to be careful and rigorous. But although there are hundreds of seismic arrays around the world, few war zones have high-quality arrays, he said.

It is a very unusual situation. There was nothing similar in Iraq or Afghanistan, for instance, Professor Koper said.

Researchers determined the location of a blast to within a couple of miles by analyzing the timing of multiple seismic waves that arrived at each sensor after the blast went off. They also estimated the size of each blast, although this was more of a rough estimate.

Dr. Schutte said that the current approach for using seismic waves to monitor wars had limitations, because it required a large-scale array that happens to sit in a war zone. More research is needed to make this an easily deployable solution.

But the glass is way more than half full here, he said. The first telescopes, satellites, and radars could not see much, but they all sparked decades and centuries of steady progress and now deliver invaluable data. Lets hope this approach will also be developed over time to reveal intentional attacks on civilians, and thereby deter perpetrators.
A Spanish restaurant recently paid 30,000 euros ($32,800) for a 2.2kg (4.85 lbs) piece of handmade cheese, thus setting a new world record for the most expensive piece of cheese.

Every year, in the last week of August, the town of Las Arenas de Cabrales hosts a contest where the best pieces of Cabrales cheese are auctioned off to the highest bidder. This year, Llagar de Colloto, a restaurant in Oviedo, Spain, paid a whopping 30,000 euros for a piece of Cabrales cheese made by hand from cow and goat milk and matured for several months in a cave in Los Picos de Europa mountains. Made by the Los Puertos cheese factory from Poo de Cabrales, the 2.2kg piece of cheese was selected by the jury as the best of the cheeses of fifteen producers who participated in the contest and was the most coveted in the subsequent auction.

Photo: Asturnut/Wikimedia Commons

We knew we had a good cheese, but also knew that it is very difficult to win, said Guillermo Pendas Bada, maker of the winning cheese, which matured for ten months in a cave at 1,500 meters above sea level.

Interestingly, Llagar de Colloto has been outbidding everyone for the best piece of Cabrales cheese for a few years now. In 2018, this restaurant paid 14,300 euros for the winning piece of the contest, and a year later, it spent 20,500 euros for the best-rated cheese. Now, it once again spent a crazy amount on the piece of Cabrales and set a world record in the process.



Cabrales is a natural cheese made by hand either from raw cows milk or a mixture of two or three kinds of milk  cow, sheep, and goat  that matures in natural caves in the Picos de Europa for several months. The humid conditions favor the development of penicillin-like molds that give it its characteristic blue-green streaks and spots.

Cabrales cheese has become increasingly popular both in Spain and abroad, with 66,226 kilos sold last year in the European Union alone.
London-based GABA Labs is working on a type of synthetic alcohol called Alcarelle which reportedly provides the relaxing effects of alcohol without hangovers, balance deficiencies or any of its other negative side effects.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid, aka GABA, is a neurotransmitter that blocks certain signals in the brain, thus producing a calming effect. When alcohol reaches the brain, it binds to GABA receptors and produces the same effects, relaxing and calming people down. The problem with alcohol is that it also has other negative side effects, like hangover, movement difficulties, speaking and thinking problems, etc. GABA Labs is currently working on a type of synthetic alcohol called Alcarelle that is supposed to provide all the positive effects of alcohol consumption, but none of the bad ones.

Photo: Vinicius Amano/Unsplash

It feels like what a glass of wine feels like, GABA Labs founder Dr. David Nutt told The Wall Street Journal. It feels relaxing. It makes you a bit more chatty, a bit more socially engaged with people.

We know where in the brain alcohol has its good effects and bad effects, and what particular receptors mediate that  Gaba, glutamate and other ones, such as serotonin and dopamine, Nutt told The Guardian in 2019. The effects of alcohol are complicated but  you can target the parts of the brain you want to target.



Apparently, Alcarelle is a tasteless substance that can be added to other drinks  alcoholic or non-alcoholic  to boost their tipsiness potential without the negative side effects. Thats a groundbreaking prospect in itself, considering the serious health problems linked to alcohol consumption. If people could get their fix from synthetic alcohol without suffering damage to their liver, heart, brain, etc., that could potentially save millions of lives.

It makes you a little slack around the jaw, a little bit chatty, mellow, so Im pretty confident people will find it does what they want it to do, Dr. David Nutt told Inside Hook, adding that he and his partners at GABA Labs hope to launch Alcarelle by 2026. The product has been in development for quite some time now, but the regulatory approval process has been very slow.

One potential stumbling block for Alcarelle is the fact that its not a natural product, unlike alcohol, which has been produced and consumed for millennia. However, the founders of GAB Labs claim that just because something is natural, doesnt automatically make it good for you. Plus, they are betting that, for many, enjoying the positive effects of alcohol without the hangover will be a pretty powerful reason to partake of it even if its not natural.
A Florida man was arrested after a hidden camera caught him injecting a clear liquid under his neighbors front door, because he was annoyed by the noise they made.

Xuming Li, a former Ph.D. chemistry student at the University of South Florida reportedly used the laboratory at his former school to mix a cocktail of dangerous chemicals, load it up into syringes, and then inject it into the home of his upstairs neighbor through a crack in their front door. A subsequent test showed that the 36-year-old man used a combination of methadone and hydrocodone, two well-known opioid medications. Its unclear what Li hoped to achieve by repeatedly injecting the substances into his neighbors home, but its easy to assume that he did not have good intentions. He was arrested after his neighbors, who had become exasperated by the bizarre smell in their home, installed a hidden camera outside their front door.

I installed a hidden camera outside because we were suspecting someone is basically tampering with our place from outside, Umar Abdullah told Fox13. And then we got our neighbor injecting something through our door.

Ever since Abdullah and his family had moved into their Tampa Bay condominium in 2022, their downstairs neighbor, Xuming Li had constantly been complaining about the noises they made. One day it was his little daughter walking, the next it was the noise their doors made when they closed, or how their toilet seat clanged. He would send angry texts to them, or complain to their face that he was losing sleep because of them.

My landlord and I did a simulation, and we could hardly find any sound, Abdullah said, adding that he, his wife, and their daughter first smelled something strange in the house back in May. He checked various appliances, replaced the water heater, and even had the fire department check the home but they couldnt find anything.

For a time, the bizarre smell was gone, but it returned in June and the family started experiencing dizziness and nausea. Abdullah said that his daughters eyes were sometimes full of tears, because of the fumes. Eventually, he started suspecting that someone was tampering with their home from the outside, so he installed a hidden camera outside their front door.

Upon checking the hidden camera one day, Umar Abdullah was shocked to see his upstairs neighbor kneeling down in front of their front door and injecting a clear liquid through a small crack. Further investigations revealed that Xuming Li had repeatedly injected chemicals into their home, putting their lives at risk. They contacted the police and Li was arrested.

I never expected something like that to happen. I wish no one else would have to go through a situation like this ever in their life, Abdullah said. If we could not have found that incident on the camera, probably after a few days, we might have been dead.



Xuming Li was arrested on June 27 but was later released on bond. He has been charged with possession of dangerous substances, among other felonies, and is scheduled to appear in court on December 5. The condominiums owners association is also trying to have him and his roommate evicted.
ANNE Deroe, Shinrone raised over 800 for the Oncology Unit in Portinuncla Hospital, Ballinasloe during Birr Vintage Week.

Her husband, Mick OShea was diagnosed with colorectal cancer at an extremely advanced stage and given three to five years to live. He survived for just over five years, having gone through surgery in St Vincents and University Hospital Galway and several rounds of chemo in Ballinasloe. He died on 27th May 2021, but Mick was very grateful for the treatment he received in Ballinasloe. The nurses treated him and all the other patients, with expert attention, care and good humour. When the chemo was no longer effective, Mick was devastated as he missed the regular contact and friendship. Eventually the Palliative Care Team from Tullamore took over his care and enabled him to fulfill his wish to die in his own home in his much loved Shinrone.

Anne Deroe is a member of Birr Art Group and sold some paintings, the proceeds of those and of the donations bucket during Vintage Week raised over 800. Anne would like to thank the people who donated and members of Birr Art Group who helped and supported the fundraiser.

Anne appeals to people who are sixty and over to take the bowel screen test as Mick O Sheas cancer would have been detected at much earlier stage if he had taken the bowel screen.
ONE hundred people fleeing the war in Ukraine are to be accommodated in the former La Sainte Union convent building in Banagher, and will probably arrive in November.

The former convent is in private ownership, and improvement works have been ongoing in recent months at the building to prepare for the refugees.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said the premises will be made up of beneficiaries of temporary protection fleeing the conflict in Ukraine....The Department is focussed on the immediate, short-term accommodation needs of those who have fled here.

Cllr John Leahy told The Midland Tribune that while he has no difficulty with accommodating Ukrainian refugees, he does have a number of reservations. He said he has talked to a number of local people who share his concerns.

The councillor said a number of people had contacted him last week prior to the news breaking when they heard rumours that a significant number of refugees would be coming to the premises.

I initially didn't believe the news myself. I was glad to see the LSU building being renovated in the last few months because it's been empty and neglected for many years," he said.

"There had been a plan to demolish the premises and create a car park instead, but they couldn't do that because it's a protected building.

"Then there was a plan to create apartments in it. When I saw it being renovated I thought that was for the apartments, not for refugees. I was surprised when I found out I was wrong.

He said he rang a contact in the government who got on to the Department for Foreign Affairs who told him the news was true.

Councillor Leahy pointed out that there are already about 30 refugees in Banagher and his worry is the town mightn't be ready for a hundred more arrivals.

What should happen, but unfortunately I can't see it happening, is the Department should come down to the town and tell us that the educational and medical needs of the new arrivals will be met and how they will be met.

Unfortunately, the Department's template is a lack of adequate communication, which creates confusion and anger. They should be telling us what the plan is. They should be telling the schools how many children might be arriving. They should be talking to the local medical services. I don't think any of that has happened. It's possible 50% of the new arrivals could be children. That would mean a need for two extra classrooms and two more teachers in Banagher.

The Councillor said the 30 Ukrainian refugees in Kilcormac's former convent have integrated well into the local community since their arrival in February. He said their arrival hasn't adversely impacted on the town's services. He is not certain Banagher will turn out as well.

A hundred is a lot of people, and we need to be reassured it won't have a negative impact on the services. I also think a hundred people will be too many for the LSU building. Definitely a lot of bunk beds will be required.

Cllr Leahy added that he's also worried about the longer-term use of facilities such as the former convent in Banagher, and thinks it's possible that they could be turned into permanent accommodation centres for people arriving into the country.

The La Sainte Union order came to Banagher in 1863. Its secondary school closed in 2007 when it amalgamated with St Rynagh's Community College and the building has been empty since. It covers an area of 14,110 square feet.
The number of TDs should increase from 160 to 174, it has been recommended in a much-anticipated review of Irelands constituency boundaries.

The largest increase in TDs since 1980 would be achieved by the Electoral Commission also recommending that the number of constituencies be increased from 39 to 43.

The constituency review was prompted by a boom in the population to 5.15 million, as shown in Census 2022  an increase of 8% in four years.

As the Irish constitution says there needs to be one TD to represent every 20,000 to 30,000 people in Ireland, the constituency boundaries need to shift.

Of Irelands current 39 constituencies  nine three-seaters, 17 four-seaters and 13 five-seaters  all but one have seen population increases which put them at more than 30,000 people per TD, with Limerick County being the exception.

According to Irish electoral laws, each constituency should have between three and five elected members, with three-seaters seen as advantageous to large political parties and five-seaters an easier job for smaller parties and independents to get over the quota threshold.

Constituency reviews are meant to avoid breaching county boundaries where possible, to follow geographical features and to maintain the continuity of electoral areas as much as they can.

Upon the establishment of the Electoral Commission in February this year, it asked for submissions on how the boundaries should be redrawn, and received 556 submissions from elected representatives, political parties and academics.

Recommendations published on Wednesday include that there should be 13 three-seat constituencies (plus 4), 15 four-seat areas (minus 2), and 15 five-seat constituencies (plus 2).

This would mean that, on average, 29,593 people would be represented by each of the 174 TDs.

Ms. Justice Marie Baker, Chair, An Coimisiun Toghchain/The Electoral Commission, introduces the recommendations of the Constituency Review Report. #ConstituencyReview23 pic.twitter.com/SUafzqTPvD  An Coimisiun Toghchain, The Electoral Commission (@ElecCommIRL) August 30, 2023

Seven constituencies remain entirely unchanged since the last review: Clare, Cork South-West, Donegal, Dublin Central, Kerry, Limerick County and Waterford.

Seven of the 10 existing county boundary breaches have been removed across Laois, Mayo, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary and Westmeath.

There are four extra seats in the Dublin area, with several changes to electoral divisions.

The five-seat Dublin Fingal constituency has gained a TD after being split into Dublin Fingal East and Dublin Fingal West, with three seats each.

Dublin Rathdown, Dublin West, and Dublin Mid-West have all been allocated an additional TD, while Cork North Central and Cork South Central also pick up an extra seat each.

There will be a new TD for Tipperary as that five-seat constituency will be divided into two new three-seat constituencies of Tipperary North and Tipperary South.

Similarly, the existing five-seat Laois-Offaly constituency has been split into a three-seat Laois constituency and a three-seat Offaly constituency.

An Coimisiun Toghchain recommends that 174 TDs should be elected from 43 constituencies at the next General Election. https://t.co/CpgiruDyBl #ConstituencyReview23 https://t.co/4ioBTshEOY pic.twitter.com/qGvgKMST9J  An Coimisiun Toghchain, The Electoral Commission (@ElecCommIRL) August 30, 2023

Elsewhere, the constituencies of Wicklow and Wexford lose a seat each, down from five to four, in a major change which sees territory from each area being transferred to create the new three-seat constituency of Wicklow-Wexford  representing an overall increase of one TD.

The five remaining new seats have been added to to Kildare North, Longford-Westmeath, Galway East, Meath East and Mayo.

The commission could have recommended up to 181 TDs but said it chose 174 because it was neither possible, nor appropriate, to attempt to predict where, and to what extent, the population will grow in the future.

The chairwoman of An Coimisiun Toghchain, the Electoral Commission, said the significant changes are the product of detailed analysis of constitutional and statutory limits.

Supreme Court Judge Ms Justice Marie Baker said: It arrives at a solution which best fits the needs of the country as a whole, as our population expands.

The commission allowed for a variance in average constituency population per TD of plus or minus 8%.

Some of the greatest variances are a plus 8.08% in Clare, plus 7.93% in Carlow-Kilkenny, plus 7.41% in Dublin South-West, minus 8.13% in Kildare South and minus 6.75% in Mayo.

This means each TD in Clare represents 31,985 people while each TD in Kildare South covers 27,186 people.

Ms Justice Baker acknowledged that there were constituencies that gave the commission nightmares and terrors due to the domino effect of changes affecting surrounding areas.

She said: There were some constituencies where the answer was clear enough when you looked at the boundaries but none of it was easy because obviously once you create one constituency it will have a domino effect on the ones around it.

Commission chief executive Art OLeary said the drawing up of new constituency boundaries was a battle between maths and geography.

This would be an additional 14 TDs and 4 new constituencies, making the next Dail the largest in the history of the State. The extra seats correspond with our population growth and distribution. (Census 2022 counted 5,149,139 people, up 8%.) @CSOIreland https://t.co/GoWEgYGJNu https://t.co/lrIHbIHtrC pic.twitter.com/vaAq56H0I5  An Coimisiun Toghchain, The Electoral Commission (@ElecCommIRL) August 30, 2023

Elsewhere, the commission recommended that existing European Parliament constituencies remain because the EU institutional process has yet to make formal recommendations on the number of seats allocated to Ireland, which is likely to increase by at least one to 14.

Ireland is due to hold local council elections and a European Parliament election next summer.

A general election is heavily rumoured to be planned for November next year, after the final Budget of the three-party coalition government is officially confirmed.
Redrawing Irelands electoral constituencies was not an easy task, with changes sparking a domino effect on neighbouring areas, the chairwoman of the Electoral Commission said.

Supreme Court judge Ms Justice Marie Baker described a big constitutional question in making decisions to ensure equality of representation across the country.

She said in some constituencies the answer was clear enough, but there was then a knock on effect to deal with.

Unveiling the commissions Constituency Review 2023 in Dublin on Wednesday morning, Ms Baker said they broke the country up into regions.

We started in the North West but for methodological reasons we broke the country up into regions because we were aware of the domino effect very early, she said.

The domino effect is biggest in the middle of the country and there were a few constituencies that gave us nightmares and terrors because the constituencies in the middle of the country, the domino falls all around, whereas if youre a constituency on the coast you simply cant move into the sea, so the effect is less so.

The process was interesting because we looked at different regions, conscious that the region was not an electoral division or not a constituency, but because the region best reflected or represented the dominos.

The middle of the country, Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Laois, you can see all of those counties cause great problems because everything you do impacts on the neighbouring county.

The commissions chief executive Art OConnor described a battle between maths and geography.

Sometimes geography wins, sometimes maths wins, he said.

In all of the submissions, people asked us to reduce the number of three-seater constituencies, including unanimity across the political system, thats not something that can be easily ignored.

Where possible, there were four seaters and five seaters included but when were looking at some parts of the country, like Tipperary and Laois-Offaly, it just simply wasnt possible to avoid three seaters. This is where the maths wins out, rather than the geography.
PLANS to refurbish a protected structure in Tullamore and to construct a three storey block of apartments in the curtilage of the same structure is being met with fierce opposition in one area of Tullamore.

The proposal by Cayenne Holdings would see the partial rear demolition of the former Moorhill House on the Clara Road to make way for a three bedroom house. The proposed apartments will consist of 24 one-bedroom units in a single and three storey block. The site also contains a number of chalets which were originally built as holiday homes.

There has been a strong backlash from residents living along the Clara Road who argue that the planned apartments are out of character with the rest of the residences and will change the ambience of the neighbourhood.

A large number of objections have been lodged with Offaly County Council. One submission said, ''Offaly County Council speak about historical buildings and try to save them, what about Moorhill? The beautiful trees as we all know will go, due to the foundations being laid. This is just awful and sad to see these trees, years old, being cut down for a modern development.''

''Will the council be happy when the town is full of densely populated housing estates and apartment blocks and the knock on effect that this high density building will have in years to come?''

Another said, ''We chose to save, build and buy a once off property and worked hard for same. The Clara road was always known as a tranquil area and this can be observed with the amount of people taking a walk along the road every single day. Our road is becoming very unsafe, due to traffic and the number of motorised scooters using the footpaths.''

''There has been absolutely no consultation from the developers, which to me indicates the total lack of respect that they have for the residents of Clara Road,'' professed one resident.'' This is going to affect all our our lives and this modern building is totally out of character with the site that it is being built on.''

One submission said, ''As Tullamore has a history of 'rising from the ashes like the Phoenix, it would be much more appropriate to concentrate on the restoration of Moorhill to bring it to its former majesty. The proposed development is more in keeping with a streetscape, and if not well maintained to a high standard could very quickly become an eyesore. If this happens it will negatively impact the neighbourhood and negatively impact the first impression of Tullamore for strangers visiting the town for the first time.''

One resident welcomed what they termed the ''culturally sensitive re-development of Moorhill House in a manner synonymous with its former prestige.'' However, they went on, ''to that end we feel that the development of the site with a small number of bungalow style dwellings, perhaps replicating the courtyard area and outbuilding as highlighted on the 1890s OSI (Ordnance Survey Ireland) map, would be at harmony with the existing Georgian building.''

Another said that ''the planning and design statement ignores the presence of the chalet holiday homes.

Meanwhile, Offaly County Council has placed the application 'on hold' while it seeks further information from the developer.

The local planning authority, says it ''has concerns regarding the existing houses on the landholding'' which form part of the ''historical planning permissions and the current proposal could therefore facilitate unauthorised developments on the landholding.''

It noted that these houses were granted as holiday cottages and the houses no longer appear to be in use for such purposes. The council also observed that no car parking for such units is evident in the proposed site layout plan and the applicant is requested to clarify if the lack of car parking for the existing houses is contrary to the requirements of the historic planning permissions on this site.

In addition it says that the proposal could result in the intensification of an existing dangerous entrance if the applicant does not have land ownership consent to amend the entrance.

Furthermore the local authority points out that the application provides ''no usable public open space for the existing dwelling houses on the landholding'' and the applicant is requested to address this issue.

The proposal involves the creation of 24 apartments and a 3 bed house in addition to the existing nine houses which forms part of the historic landholding of this site. In terms of the Development Management Standard the current County Development Plan, fifty car parking spaces are required, the local authority states.

In addition the council is seeking a separate site layout plan, showing the existing and proposed site boundary treatment, a green infrastructure master plan, a residential efficiency and climate change adaptation design statement, and a revised proposal meeting the construction and demolition waste management plan.

In addition it is asking for a report from a qualified arborist, providing details of their qualifications and experience, indicating which trees along the front boundary are to be removed due to sight light requirements and which trees are to be retained

Furthermore a separate schedule for each separate apartment unit is required.

Finally the local authority specifies that Moorhill House is a protected structure and stresses that the applicant should pay special regard and provide sufficient information in relation to retention, repair, restoration and replacement of any area of the building.

It remarks that a brief Architectural Heritage Impact Assessment has been provided by the developer containing what it says is ''a few external photographs and one page of internal photographs.'' It continues, ''the document does not appear to consider the existing rear extension may have formed part of the original house.''

No date has been given for a decision on the application as it remains 'on hold.'
Recognition as unconstitutional of the provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On the Prevention of Corruption," which obliges officials to submit e-declarations and empowers the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) to verify them, can "completely offset the e-declaration process in Ukraine and make effective work of anti-corruption bodies is impossible," Chairman of the NACP Oleksandr Novikov said.

He expressed this opinion in a letter to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the eve of the consideration of the case on the constitutionality of certain provisions of the mentioned law, according to the official website of the NACP on Tuesday.

On June 15, the CCU opened proceedings on a complaint of a lawyer  a member of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar of Zakarpattia region Oksana Bukhtoyarova on the compliance of certain provisions of the law "On Prevention of Corruption" with the Constitution. In particular, the lawyer disputes the provisions that define the circle of persons equated to the subjects of the declaration, oblige officials to annually submit electronic declarations and establish types of control over them.

"Recognition of the provisions of the law relating to financial control as unconstitutional can completely neutralize the process of e-declaration in Ukraine and make it impossible for the effective work of anti-corruption bodies. This will significantly undermine achievements in the field of combating corruption and, as a result, will negatively affect both the financial support of Ukraine's international partners, and on its European integration prospects. The decision of the Constitutional Court adopted in the framework of this case, which is binding and not subject to appeal, can lead to a crisis in an extremely difficult time for the country," Novikov said in a letter to the president.

The NAPC recalled that almost three years ago, on October 27, 2020, the Constitutional Court adopted a decision that for some time blocked the e-declaration and work of the NACP and led to the so-called "constitutional crisis" in the state. It was possible to resolve the crisis then only thanks to the joint efforts of the authorities and the public."

"Declaration is one of the key anti-corruption tools. Now, we are waiting for the parliament to restore the mandatory declaration of public servants, the priority of this has been repeatedly emphasized by our international partners. We hope for an objective and impartial consideration of the case by the Constitutional Court. At the same time, I urge the public to closely follow the progress of the case. Indeed, the actual recognition of the submission and verification of declarations as unconstitutional will mean the defeat of Ukraine in the anti-corruption struggle," Novikov said.

As reported, the chairman of the NACP also sent a petition to the Constitutional Court with a request to involve the NACP in the consideration of the case, "since the decision may adversely affect the activities of the agency. The NACP is ready to provide the court with comprehensive explanations for a full and comprehensive consideration of the case," the NACP said.
IND vs BAN: After Two Big Upsets, Can Bangladesh Take Inspiration And Shock India In Pune?

4 Killed In Fire At Electric Hardware Shop In Pune's Pimpri-Chinchwad

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

A tragic fire broke out in an electric hardware store in the Purnanagar area of Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune district on Wednesday morning, claiming the lives of four people.

The fire started at around 5 am and quickly spread to the ground floor of the residential building where the store was located. The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) Fire Department responded swiftly to the emergency and brought the fire under control after several hours.

However, four people, including the owner of the store, were trapped inside and died in the fire. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Madurai Train Fire: FIR Registered Against Tour Operator

Distressing images from the scene show billowing black smoke emerging from the shop, accompanied by the complete destruction of merchandise. The fire also caused extensive damage to the residential building.

#WATCH | Maharashtra | Four people died in a fire in Purnanagar area of Pimpri-Chinchwad of Pune district today. Fire gutted an electric hardware shop on the ground floor of a residential building around 5 am today.



(Video: Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation Fire Department) https://t.co/it5AVRtTMk pic.twitter.com/D43G8zmieK  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023

The PCMC Fire Department has urged people to take precautions to prevent fire accidents. They have also advised people to stay away from the area as the rescue operation is still underway.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 9:57 [IST]
Murder of Dalit Family Leads to Suspension of Four Land Consolidation Department Employees in Kaushambi

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's Suspension From Lok Sabha Revoked

India

oi-PTI

The Privileges Committee of Lok Sabha on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution to revoke the suspension of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from the lower house.

The resolution was adopted after Chowdhury appeared before the Committee and expressed regret over certain remarks made by him in the House which had led to his suspension from the Lok Sabha on the last day of the monsoon session of Parliament on August 11.

Chowdhury is learnt to have told the Committee, chaired by BJP member Sunil Kumar Singh, that it was never his intention to hurt anybody's feelings and expressed regret for certain remarks made by him.

"The Committee has adopted a resolution to revoke the suspension of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from the Lok Sabha. The resolution will be sent to the Speaker as soon as possible," a committee member said.

Why Was Adhir Chowdhury Suspended From Lok Sabha?

Chowdhury was named by Speaker Om Birla for "unruly conduct" on August 11, the last day of the monsoon session and was suspended from the membership of Lok Sabha pending a report from the Privileges Committee.

At the meeting of the Committee on August 18, several members were of the view that Chowdhury has been punished for his conduct by Lok Sabha and there was no further need to examine his behaviour by a parliamentary panel.

However, as a process of natural justice, the Committee had asked Chowdhury to appear before it on Wednesday.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 16:31 [IST]
Is there any possibility of new variants as Covid-19 cases in other countries climb

New Covid variant 'Kraken' termed most transmissible by WHO. Know why it is concerning

BA.2.86 Variant: 5 Early Signs And Symptoms Of New Covid-19 Viral Strains Pirola To Watch Out For

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Canada has now identified cases of the highly mutated COVID-19 variant BA.2.86, which was previously detected in Switzerland and South Africa. This variant is reportedly contributing to an increase in COVID-19 cases in several countries, including the UAE, USA, UK, Israel, Denmark, and others. According to Reuters, BA.2.86 carries over 35 mutations in key parts of the virus, similar in number to the Omicron variant, which led to record infections.

A group of scientists worldwide suggests that while monitoring BA.2.86 is important, it is unlikely to cause a severe wave of illness and death, given the global immunity built up through vaccination and prior infections.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has categorized BA.2.86 as a 'variant under monitoring' due to its numerous mutations, though only a limited number of cases have been reported in a few countries.

What is BA.2.86?

BA.2.86, sometimes referred to as "Pirola," was initially identified in late July. It appears to have evolved from the Omicron BA.2 sublineage, which caused surges in early 2022. Notably, BA.2.86 exhibits a substantial number of mutations compared to earlier Omicron variants, making it distinct from the prevailing Omicron XBB subvariants.

Canada Reports 1st Case Of Highly Mutated Coronavirus Variant BA.2.86 | Should We Be Worried?

BA.2.86 variant symptoms:

Currently, there is insufficient data to determine the specific symptoms associated with BA.2.86 infection. The CDC reports no evidence that this variant causes more severe illness, but this may change with further research.

Recommended Video

Covid-19: New variant Pirola BA.2.86 causes concern, cases surge | Know more | Oneindia News

Common symptoms of other COVID-19 variants include cough, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, and altered sense of smell. Existing tests and medications for COVID-19 appear effective against BA.2.86 based on current knowledge.

Spread of BA.2.86:

As of August 28, BA.2.86 has been linked to cases in Denmark, South Africa, the United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom. It is likely spreading more extensively than reported due to limited testing and sequencing. In the U.S., the EG.5 or Eris subvariant accounts for the largest proportion of COVID-19 infections.

Is BA.2.86 more transmissible?

It is too early to determine whether BA.2.86 is more transmissible. However, genetic analysis suggests it may have the ability to evade existing immunity, both from prior infection and vaccination. This makes it concerning from a scientific perspective, particularly regarding the efficacy of future vaccines.

Will BA.2.86 cause a surge in Covid-19 cases?

The impact of BA.2.86 on the number of COVID-19 cases remains uncertain. It is difficult to predict how much disease the variant will cause and how easily it will spread. Recent increases in cases and hospitalizations in the U.S. have been attributed to various Omicron variants, but the overall numbers remain lower than in previous surges. The death rate due to COVID-19 is decreasing.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 8:14 [IST]
'Baseless Allegations': Pralhad Joshi Flays Rahul Over His Claim About China Usurped India's Land

India

oi-PTI

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday flayed Rahul Gandhi for claiming that China has usurped India's land and accused him of making "baseless allegations". China grabbed India's land during the Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure as prime minister, he said.

Joshi's reaction came after Gandhi termed as "very serious" the issue of China releasing a "standard map" that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, and claimed the neighbouring country has already taken India's land in Ladakh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak on the issue.

"Rahul Gandhi's allegations are baseless," Joshi told PTI. He said Gandhi should understand that "whatever land that China has grabbed was during the tenure of Jawaharlal Nehru".

"They are doing some activities in the area that was grabbed during Nehru's tenure as prime minister. This is due to the sins committed by the Congress post-Independence that China has become our neighbour. From the time it was Tibet till today, these people pursued policies which led to this," Joshi said.

Rahul Gandhi "does not have any understanding" of the policies, he charged.

China Responds To India's Objection Over 'Standard Map' Including Arunachal

On Monday, Beijing released the 2023 edition of the so-called "standard map of China" that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as regions within its borders.

"Our External Affairs Ministry has already condemned China's action on the map issue and has also strongly protested it. But he (Rahul Gandhi) does not trust our External Affairs Ministry. He believes in what China says," the Union minister said. India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with China over its so-called "standard map" laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin, and asserted that such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

The External Affairs Ministry also rejected these claims as having "no basis". "Just making absurd claims does not make other people's territories yours," External Affairs Minister Jaishankar told NDTV while reacting to the Chinese move.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 16:56 [IST]
The Security Service of Ukraine, together with the Bureau of Economic Security (BES), has unveiled new crimes of sub-sanctioned oligarch from the Russian Federation Mikhail Shelkov, who is involved in schemes for covert supplies of Ukrainian titanium raw materials to the aggressor country.

As reported on the Security Service's website on Wednesday, it was established that Shelkov circumvented the personal sanctions imposed on him by the National Security and Defense Council and used for this a company controlled by one of the European countries.

"On paper, this foreign enterprise acted as a customer of titanium raw materials to Demurinsky Mining and Processing Plant LLC from Dnipropetrovsk region. However, in fact, Ukrainian products were sent by rail to Russia. This scheme was in effect before the full-scale invasion of Russia and brought millions of windfall profits to the organizers of the transaction through nonpayment of taxes and concealment of real incomes. Thus, during 2020-2021, the defendants caused damage to the state budget of about UAH 100 million," the Security Service said.

Based on the evidence base, Shelkov was notified of suspicion under Article 212 (evasion of taxes, fees or other compulsory payment) and Article 209 (legalization (laundering) of criminally obtained money and other property) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Earlier, in June, investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine notified him of a suspicion of another episode of illegal activity under Part 110-2 of the Criminal Code (financing actions committed with the aim of forcibly changing or overthrowing the constitutional order or seizing state power, changing the boundaries of the territory or state border of Ukraine). Then the Ukrainian intelligence service established that Shelkov was secretly supplying Ukrainian titanium raw materials to the Russian Federation for the needs of the Russian military-industrial complex.

An investigation is ongoing to ascertain all the circumstances surrounding the crime. Since the person involved is on the territory of the aggressor country, complex measures are being continued to bring him to justice for crimes against Ukraine.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan Begins Poll Campaign from Budhni, Urges People to Consider Themselves as Shivraj

Amit Shah appeals for votes in MP, says BJP ensured development in all sectors

BJP Tags PM Modi As 'Terminator' On Platform X, Here Is Why

India

oi-Sushmita Halder

The latest picture of 'Terminator' has become viral on the internet. No, it's not a Hollywood movie, but a social media post that shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a 'Terminator'.

The Bharatiya Janatiya Party (BJP) on Wednesday took to platform X, formerly Twitter to share a post that shows PM Modi as the 'Terminator'.

The BJP post on X says, "Opposition thinks PM Modi can be defeated. Dream on! The Terminator always wins" with PM Modi's pic as Terminator, a famous character portrayed by Hollywood superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Opposition thinks PM Modi can be defeated. Dream on! The Terminator always wins. pic.twitter.com/IY3fYWMzbL  BJP (@BJP4India) August 30, 2023

The BJP's move comes just a day before the INDIA bloc's meeting which is scheduled on Thursday in Mumbai. 28 opposition parties would reunite at the meeting held at Mumbai's Grand Hyatt to unveil the new logo.

Earlier on the eve of Independence Day, PM Modi expressed confidence over winning a third term in the 2024 Assembly election by saying that he would present his government's achievements at the Red Fort next year and this led the formation of the INDIA bloc who want to defeat the BJP in the upcoming elections.

"The next five years are for unprecedented development. The biggest golden moment to realise the dream of 2047 is the next five years. The next time, on August 15, I will present before you the achievements and developments of the country from this Red Fort", Modi had said.

According to Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, 63 representatives from 28 political parties will participate in the INDIA coalition meeting in Mumbai.

The 2024 Lok Sabha election is going to be crucial with Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram going to poll later this year while assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will take place in early 2024.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 19:05 [IST]
China Responds To India's Objection Over 'Standard Map' Including Arunachal

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

China responded on Wednesday following India's strong objection to Beijing's inclusion of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region in its "standard map."

According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the release of the 2023 edition of China's standard map constitutes a routine display of sovereignty within legal parameters. The ministry emphasized that the matter should be approached with objectivity and not blown out of proportion.

India strongly protested China's assertion of territorial rights over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region using what it calls a "standard map." The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that these actions further complicate the resolution of the border dispute and dismissed the claims as unfounded.

Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the MEA, conveyed the nation's strong dissent through diplomatic channels, denouncing China's "standard map" and its claims over Indian territory. Bagchi underscored that such actions hinder the progress toward resolving the boundary issue.

China Releases New 'Standard Map' Showing Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin as Its Territory

India's response followed China's official release of the 2023 version of its "standard map," in which it asserted ownership of Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, as well as including Taiwan and the contested South China Sea under its jurisdiction.

Furthermore, India's Minister of External Affairs, S Jaishankar, dismissed China's claims and emphasized that merely making "absurd claims" does not grant ownership over others' territories. He noted that China has previously presented maps that falsely included territories belonging to other countries. Jaishankar highlighted that such practices date back to the 1950s, asserting that these territories are an integral part of India and cannot be claimed by China based on maps alone.
Cyrus Poonawalla Advices Sharad Pawar To Retire, Here Is Why

India

pti-PTI

Head of the Serum Institute of India (SII), Dr Cyrus Poonawalla and a close friend of National Congress Party President Sharad Pawar on Wednesday suggested the latter retire from his services.

Reacting to Pawar's political split, Poonawalla said that Pawar had two opportunities to become the Prime Minister but things did not work in his favour. Now it is time for him to retire.

"My advice to Sharad Pawar... He had two opportunities to become the PM but he lost them. He is a clever person. He could have served well (as PM) but those chances are gone. I am also getting older and he is also ageing and therefore he should retire," Poonawalla was quoted as saying while addressing the media during the Miss World 2023 contest.

Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar is currently busy with the preparations in connection with the INDIA Bloc meeting in Mumbai scheduled to take place on August 31 and September 1.

Poonawalla also praised the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the success of the historic landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface. He said it is a great honour that India has become the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon.

"The Aerospace industry will greatly benefit from this success," he was quoted as saying. He further spoke about SII being instrumental in bringing vaccines for malaria and dengue.

Poonawalla hosted the Miss World 2023 team in Pune at Ritz Carlton Hotel here. The attendees include Karolina Bielawska (Miss World 2022), Sini Shetty (Miss India), Shree Saini (Miss World America) and the pageant's chair Julia Morley.
INDIA Bloc Resolves To Fight 2024 LS Polls Together 'As Far As Possible'

Why Are You Feeling Ashamed, Jairam Ramesh? BJP Amid Buzz Over India To Be Renamed As Bharat

Framing Joint Campaign Strategy On Cards During INDIA Bloc's Mumbai Meet Starting Tomorrow

India

oi-PTI

Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc are set to hold hectic parleys during a two-day conclave here starting Thursday during which they will announce a coordination committee and a logo for the alliance.

They would chalk out a joint campaign strategy to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and iron out the differences among themselves. The leaders are also likely to announce a few panels to draft a common minimum programme of the alliance, to frame joint plans for holding agitations across the country and for seat sharing.

''The Mumbai meeting shall come out with a clear-cut roadmap for providing a progressive alternative to the regressive policies of the current regime,'' RJD's Manoj Jha told PTI.

The INDIA bloc is also likely to announce a secretariat for smooth coordination between the constituents and it is likely to be set up in the national capital. Besides, the members will also discuss the issue of having a coordinator or a chairperson to head the alliance.

Amit Shah Compares Opposition Alliance INDIA To 'Old Wine In Old Bottle'

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the frontrunner for the convenor's post. There are also talks of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi being considered to head the alliance.

According to sources, while Kumar has already announced that he is not in the race for the convernor's post, Gandhi has privately expressed that she was against the proposal.

The leaders, some of whom have started arriving here for the two-day conclave, will take forward deliberations on contentious issues such as seat sharing. RJD president Lalu Prasad and his son Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav are already in Mumbai. There are speculations of some more regional outfits joining the 26-party opposition alliance at its Mumbai conclave which is the third in a series of meetings held in Patna and Bengaluru.

The INDIA bloc's first meeting was held in Patna in June, while the second one took place in Bengaluru in mid-July. The Bengaluru conclave had finalised the name of the alliance -- Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

Ahead of the Mumbai meeting, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has reiterated that his drive to forge the opposition unity was not prompted by any ''personal ambitions'' and he would like someone else to be made convener of the opposition coalition.

''I have been maintaining since the beginning that I have no desire for myself... I have no personal ambitions... I don't want anything. Somebody else could be given the responsibility (convener post). My only wish is to unite the maximum number of parties (opposed to BJP) before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. I am working in this direction only,'' Kumar said.

He had on Sunday said that ''a few more'' political parties were likely to join the INDIA alliance during its Mumbai meeting. Kumar, however, did not reveal the names of the likely entrants to the bloc.

''We will discuss issues related to seat sharing and will also finalise several other agenda in the Mumbai meeting. A few more political parties will join the INDIA coalition and it will be announced in the next meeting,'' Kumar had said.

You Have Decided NDA, BJP Will Return In 2024 LS Polls, Breaking All Records: PM Modi Slams Opposition

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole has said that the INDIA bloc will coin the slogan ''BJP Chale Jao (BJP Go Away)'' at the meeting.

He said the grouping has many capable candidates for the prime minister's post and claimed that some parties which are currently constituents of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) may switch over to the INDIA bloc.

Ahead of the conclave, Congress leader Milind Deora said that seat sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls among alliance partners is more or less finalised in most states barring a few that require more time.

Deora, who is closely involved in organising the meeting, also hailed the ''evolving chemistry'' between the INDIA bloc partners and said the best example of that was in Maharashtra.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress has formed several committees to plan various aspects of the meeting of the opposition bloc.

This is the first meeting of the opposition INDIA alliance in a state where none of the bloc members are in power. Unity would be the key focus of the meeting.

INDIA bloc constituent the RLD's chief Jayant Chaudhary has dismissed as ''conjecture'' the talks about the possibility of his party switching over to the NDA and said parties would not be comfortable in joining hands with the BJP which is ''very effective'' at steam-rolling dissenting voices.

In an interview with PTI ahead of the conclave, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader also said the Congress has a ''big role'' going forward as it is a ''well-understood brand'' with many people across the country voting for the party for a long time.

At the conclave held in the Karnataka capital last month, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had said the opposition will fight the 2024 elections unitedly and succeed. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said their fight was against BJP's ideology.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 10:24 [IST]
Muzaffarnagar School Ordered To Close Amid Probe Into Student Slapping Row

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Local authorities in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district ordered the closure of Neha Public School in Khubbapur village on August 27, 2023. The decision came after a video of a student being slapped by his fellow classmates on the instructions of a teacher went viral on social media.

Despite the absence of factual basis for these claims, an investigation was launched into the school's management. The school, established in 2019, was found to be operating without the required authorisation from the education department. Consequently, the decision was made to seal the school, as stated by Shubham Shukla, Basic Education Officer. Additionally, the teacher involved in the incident has also been served a notice.

Furthermore, an Education Department representative highlighted that classes were being held within an unfinished building, lacking basic amenities like lights, fans, and proper divisions for different grade levels. Correspondingly, notices were sent to the Uttar Pradesh Education Board to withdraw recognition of the school.

The education department has said that it will relocate all 50 students of the school to a government school in the village or other schools within the district within a week.

The Muzaffarnagar School Incident

On August 25th, a video went viral on social media depicting a student being slapped by fellow students under the instructions of a teacher. This event occurred at Neha Public School in Khubbapur village, Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh.

Reportedly, the incident transpired on August 24th when a student made an error in a multiplication table. The teacher, identified as Tripta Tyagi, who is also the owner of the school, instructed other students to slap the student who erred. The video showed the distressed student being slapped one by one by his classmates, leading to his tears.

UP Muslim Boy Slapped By Fellow Classmates, Unable to Sleep, Say Parents

Tyagi's comments in the video, urging the classmates to hit the student harder, attracted attention. Moreover, she made reference to 'Mohammedan students.'

In response to the incident, the affected Muslim student underwent a medical checkup in Meerut on Sunday due to his emotional distress. His parents indicated that he was back home and in a stable state.

When questioned about reaching a resolution with Tripta Tyagi, the student's father expressed an unwillingness to compromise.

Meanwhile, education department officials mentioned that the student could be enrolled in a government primary school if his family agrees to the arrangement.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 8:50 [IST]
No Inclusion Of Mayawati's BSP In INDIA Bloc, Says Pawar

India

pti-PTI

Reacting to the inclusion of the Mayawati-led party in the INDIA bloc, National Congress Party President Sharad Pawar on Wednesday asserted that no decision has been taken yet until there is clarity on whose side she is on.

His remarks came at a joint press conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel amid speculation that Mayawati and the INDIA bloc could be in touch for a possible inclusion of the party, though sources on both sides have denied any such consideration.

"There is no clarity on which side Mayawati is. She has had a dialogue with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the past. I am not saying she would do that now either. But unless there is clarity on this, no decision can be taken," Pawar was quoted as saying.

Earlier in the day, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said all parties are eager for an alliance with the BSP but there is "no question" of her party joining hands with either the BJP-led NDA or the opposition's INDIA alliance.

Her remarks on the alliance on the platform X came a day ahead of the INDIA alliance's meeting in Mumbai during which the opposition leaders are expected to chalk out a joint campaign strategy to take on the BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Mayawati claimed that both the NDA and the INDIA blocs consist of parties most of which have "anti-poor, casteist, communal, pro-rich and capitalist policies" against which the BSP's struggle continues and hence question of contesting elections in alliance with them does not arise. She further to the media to stop propagating fake news.
Nuh Clashes: Cow vigilante Bittu Bajrangi Gets Bail

India

oi-PTI

Cow vigilante Bittu Bajrangi, arrested in connection with communal clashes in Nuh earlier this month, was granted bail by a court on Wednesday, police said.

Bajrangi was produced in the Nuh court on August 17 from where he was sent to a 14-day judicial custody in Neemka jail of Faridabad district.

After hearing Bajrangi's bail application on Wednesday, the court of judicial magistrate first class Sandeep Kumar granted him bail, Nuh police said.

Bajrangi alias Raj Kumar was arrested from Faridabad on August 15 after a fresh FIR was registered against him at Nuh's Sadar Police Sation on a complaint of Assistant Superintendent of Police Usha Kundu.

According to the FIR, Bajrangi, who was identified through social media posts, along with some of his unidentified supporters, had allegedly misbehaved with and threatened an ASP Kundu-led police team which had stopped them while they were carrying swords and 'trishuls' to Nalhar temple. Kundu said when the mob was challenged to stop, it started raising slogans against police, manhandled them, and even snatched back their weapons from police vehicles.

Bittu Bajrangi Had No Relation With Bajrang Dal: VHP Distances Itself From Arrested Cow Vigilante

Police said Bajrangi, the president of Goraksha Bajrang Force, was initially detained by the Crime Investigation Agency team of Tauru for questioning.

On August 1, Bajrangi was arrested by Faridabad police for allegedly making inflammatory speeches and brandishing weapons in public, a day after communal clashes erupted in Nuh on July 31.

So far, 60 FIRs have been registered and 305 people arrested in connection with the violence in Nuh. Furthermore, FIRs were registered against 11 people for spreading rumours on social media and one of them has been arrested, police said. The Vishva Hindu Parishad had issued a statement to clarify that Bajrangi "never had any relation" with its youth wing Bajrang Dal, or other VHP-linked organisations.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 16:41 [IST]
'Smile, Please!': Pragyan Rover Clicks Image Of Vikram Lander On Lunar Surface

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

The Pragyan rover of Chandrayaan-3 has successfully captured an image of the Vikram lander situated on the lunar surface at the Moon's south pole on Wednesday. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced this development in a recent mission update. The snapshot was taken using the Pragyan rover's Navigation Camera. Chandrayaan-3 made a smooth landing on the Moon on August 23, 2023.

''Smile, please! Pragyan Rover clicked an image of Vikram Lander this morning. The image was taken by the Navigation Camera onboard the Rover (NavCam). NavCams for the Chandrayaan-3 Mission are developed by the Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS),'' ISRO wrote on X (Formely known as Twitter).

Chandrayaan-3 made a smooth landing on the Moon on August 23, 2023. The image captured by the Pragyan rover shows the Vikram lander lying on its side.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:



Smile, please!



Pragyan Rover clicked an image of Vikram Lander this morning.



The 'image of the mission' was taken by the Navigation Camera onboard the Rover (NavCam).



NavCams for the Chandrayaan-3 Mission are developed by the Laboratory for pic.twitter.com/Oece2bi6zE  ISRO (@isro) August 30, 2023

The rover is now exploring the lunar surface and is expected to provide valuable data about the Moon. Earlier, ISRO had announced a major breakthrough: its Pragyan rover identified the presence of sulphur in the lunar surface at the Moon's south pole.

The discovery was made using the rover's Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) payload, which fires a laser at the lunar surface to create a plasma that can then be analyzed to identify its composition. In addition to sulphur, the LIBS measurements also revealed the presence of other elements, including aluminium, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen, and silicon.

ISRO's Aditya-L1 Mission To Study The Sun's Corona Gets Ready For Launch, Preparations On Track

The discovery of sulphur is significant for a number of reasons. First, sulphur is a rare element on the Moon, so its presence at the south pole suggests that there may be more to this region than meets the eye. Second, sulphur is commonly associated with volcanic processes, so its presence could indicate that the Moon's south pole was once more geologically active than it is today. Third, the discovery of sulphur could help scientists to better understand the Moon's history and composition.

The Pragyan rover is also on a mission to locate hydrogen on the Moon. Hydrogen is a highly sought-after element in space exploration, as it can be used to produce fuel and other essential materials. The detection of hydrogen on the Moon would be a major breakthrough, as it would open up new possibilities for space exploration and energy production.

The Pragyan rover is making steady progress at a pace of 10 cm/s. It is expected to continue its exploration of the Moon's south pole for the next few months.
Watch: School Girls Tie Rakhis To PM Modi On Raksha Bandhan

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, school girls tied rakhis to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Wednesday. The Prime Minister greeted the girls and wished them a happy Raksha Bandhan. He said that the festival is a symbol of the unbreakable bond between brothers and sisters.

The girls presented the Prime Minister with rakhis made of different materials, including thread, silk, and flowers. Modi tied the rakhis on the wrists of the girls and gave them gifts. He also interacted with the girls and asked them about their studies and future plans.

The Prime Minister said that Raksha Bandhan is a special occasion to strengthen the bonds of love and affection between brothers and sisters. He urged the girls to always take care of their brothers and to pray for their well-being.

#WATCH | School girls tie Rakhi to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, as they celebrate the festival of #RakshaBandhan with him. pic.twitter.com/Hhyjx63xgi  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023

Raksha Bandhan is a popular festival in India that is celebrated on the full moon day of the Shravan month. The festival marks the bond between brothers and sisters, and it is a time for them to reaffirm their love and support for each other.

Raksha Bandhan In 2023: On 30th or 31st August? When Is Rakhi? Date & Subh Muhurat

In this year, Raksha Bandhan is being celebrated on the night of August 30. The festival will be celebrated in different ways across India, but the common thread will be the love and affection between brothers and sisters.

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Story first published: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 11:33 [IST]
How BJP performed in these 10 big states in 2014 Lok Sabha elections

2024 Poll Prediction: Will PM Modi Get Third Term As PM? Here's What CVoter Survey Says

INDIA Bloc To Unveil Its Flag During Meeting In Mumbai

INDIA Bloc Resolves To Fight 2024 LS Polls Together 'As Far As Possible'

Will India Bloc Decide On A PM Candidate? Contenders Emerge Ahead Of Big Meet

India

oi-Sushmita Halder

A day left for the INDIA Bloc to reunite at a meeting in Mumbai and already some names for possible PM candidature have been floated by member parties. The recent contenders include Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav.

Earlier today while addressing a press conference at Mumbai's Grand Hyatt, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray took a jibe at the Centre by saying the INDIA Block has several choices for the PM candidature unlike BJP, which has only one choice.

"The INDIA Bloc has several choices. What choice does BJP have?" Thackeray was quoted saying while addressing the media during the press conference in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi also claimed that BJP has no choice except to nominate PM Modi. She further stated that the INDIA Alliance has different choices.

Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while addressing the media asserted that the Aam Admi Party would share its strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections at the third meeting of the INDIA alliance in Mumbai.

Before that, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the INDIA bloc has several faces for the PM post, however, the decision for the PM candidature has not been taken yet.

Just 2 days ago Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's name as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

63 representatives of 28 political parties are scheduled to attend the INDIA Bloc meeting on Thursday in Mumbai.
Shmyhal thanks head of EU Delegation Maasikas for efforts towards European integration of Ukraine

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal thanked head of the European Union Delegation Matti Maasikas for his personal efforts aimed at achieving significant progress on Ukraine's path to the EU.

"I met with head of the European Union Delegation Matti Maasikas, who is completing his tenure in Ukraine. Over the years of our close dialogue, Ukraine has made important progress in European integration and received candidate status. We appreciate the diplomatic efforts of Mr. Maasikas in this process," Shmyhal wrote on the Telegram channel on Wednesday.

The parties also discussed further cooperation, in particular, the European initiative Ukraine Facility, which provides funding in the amount of EUR 50 billion.

"We have coordinated preparations for winter. Thanks to the EU for the significant support during the last heating season. We are working to strengthen the protection of the Ukrainian sky," the prime minister wrote.

In addition, Shmyhal expressed gratitude to Maasikas for his personal efforts aimed at strengthening cooperation and achieving significant progress on Ukraine's path to the EU.
BA.2.86 Variant: 5 Early Signs And Symptoms Of New Covid-19 Viral Strains Pirola To Watch Out For

US First lady Tests Positive For COVID-19, But President Biden's Results Negative, So Far

Canada Reports 1st Case Of Highly Mutated Coronavirus Variant BA.2.86 | Should We Be Worried?

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Health authorities in Canada have reported the first case of COVID-19 linked to the highly mutated BA.2.86 variant of the Omicron strain. The new variant was found in a person in British Columbia who had not recently travelled outside the province.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has added the BA.2.86 variant to its list of monitored variants because of its distinctive mutations. The new lineage, named BA.2.86 was classified as a "variant under monitoring" last week by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Although the BA.2.86 variant is not currently driving the surge in infections in Europe, the United States, and Canada, some of its mutations have raised concerns.

Dr Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist in Toronto, said the mutations in the BA.2.86 variant resemble those in the earlier Omicron variant (BA.2) as well as mutations found in the Delta variant.

Will the BA.2.86 COVID-19 variant cause more severe illness?

Dr Bogoch told CTVNews.ca last week that it is too early to say what impact the BA.2.86 variant will have on the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

However, recent findings suggest that extensively mutated variants like BA.2.86 likely arise from persistent infections in individuals with weakened immune systems. In such cases, the virus persists within the body over an extended period, experimenting with novel strategies to evade the immune response.

The infected person, who is in the Fraser Health region of British Columbia, is not hospitalised and there is no evidence that the illness is more severe than other variants.

The health officials said British Columbia is continuing to monitor the virus through testing and wastewater analysis. They stressed the importance of maintaining preventive measures and vaccination as the primary defences against all variants of COVID-19.

Despite the fact that the risk assessment for British Columbians has not changed, the announcement is significant in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 situation in 2023.

It is worth noting that the province has not issued public statements about the detection of other Omicron subvariants, such as the XBB and EG.5 strains.

As Dix and Henry noted, the dominant subvariant in British Columbia remains XBB.1.5, and no other cases of the BA.2.86 variant have been identified in the province to date.

The health officials concluded their statement by urging the people of British Columbia to follow public health guidelines, such as staying home when sick, wearing masks when appropriate, practicing good respiratory etiquette, washing their hands, and keeping their vaccinations up to date.
International news brief: 28 dead as hurricane Julia drenches Central America with rainfall and more

Hurricane Idalia Turns To Category 4 Storm As It Makes Its Way Into Georgia

International

oi-Sushmita Halder

Hurricane Idalia which rapidly intensified into a major Category 4 storm made its way through Florida into Georgia. The hurricane which made landfall near Florida's Keaton Beach, crossed into Georgia, with top winds of 90 mph.

At least two people lost their lives in Florida as the storm approached rainfall as reported by the Florida Highway Patrol. A man died in Gainesville while driving in extremely rainy conditions, while another expired in Paco County as he lost control of his vehicle.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Idalia is all set to move near or along the coasts of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina late Wednesday or Thursday.

Idalia could move over southern parts of Georgia as a hurricane, and as it nears the Georgia and South Carolina coasts.

According to forecasters, areas from the Aucilla River, which leads to the Gulf at Apalachee Bay, to Yankeetown would see the highest storm surges, between 12 and 16 feet.

A post by the fire and rescue department in Cedar Key stated, "A National Ocean Service tide gauge there showed a surge nearly 9 feet higher than the predicted tidal level. We have multiple trees down, and debris in the roads, does not come. We have propane tanks blowing up all over the island."

County officials in Citrus County said, farther south, in more populated areas hit by storm surge, they used airboats and large trucks to rescue around 60 people. There were 3,300 without power. The city of St. Petersburg said 75 people were rescued.

State of emergency has been declared by Governor of Georgia Brian Kemp, and Governor of South Carolina Henry McMaster, freeing up state resources and personnel, including hundreds of National Guard troops.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, August 31, 2023, 2:48 [IST]
Vivek Ramaswamy Is Described As Amateur Obama, Rookie And A Guy Who Sounds Like ChatGPT

Vivek Ramaswamy Says He Would Fire 75 Per Cent Of Federal Workforce If Elected US President

Indian American Presidential Aspirant Vivek Ramaswamy Pitches For Stronger US-India Relationship

International

oi-PTI

Indian American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has called for stronger relationships with India, South Korea and Japan to reduce US' economic dependence on China and Taiwan.

Ramaswamy, 38, whose poll numbers have surged following the maiden Republican presidential primary debate last week, spelt out his plans and foreign policy views on Tuesday.

He attacked another Indian American Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who had slammed him for his inexperience on foreign policy issues.

"We will enter a stronger partnership with India that involves an Indian commitment to close the Malacca Strait in the event of a near-term conflict with Taiwan, and enter stronger partnerships with other allies including South Korea and Japan to reduce our economic dependence on China and Taiwan," Ramaswamy said.

Want Elon Musk To Be My Presidential Adviser, Says Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy

The entrepreneur-turned-politician Ramaswamy said he favours strategic clarity and advocated that the US must defend Taiwan vigorously until America achieves semiconductor independence, then resume the posture of strategic ambiguity when the stakes are lower for the US.

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US Presidential Race: Vivek Ramaswamy says US must defend Taiwan, attacks Nikki Haley| Oneindia News

"The American way of life depends on leading-edge semiconductors manufactured in Taiwan, and we can't risk China gaining near-total leverage over the entire US economy," he said.

"By saying that we will defend Taiwan, the US can strongly deter China from blockading or invading the island in the near term. Meantime, Taiwan should more than double its own military expenditures to a more rational level of 4 to 5 per cent of its gross domestic product," he said.

He said the US should rapidly arm and train Taiwan with Anti-Access/Area Denial weapons while running at least one Destroyer warship through the Taiwan Strait each week.

The US should also fortify its own homeland defence, which is at present dangerously vulnerable to major conflicts with China, he said, adding this includes improving nuclear, super electromagnetic pulse, cyber and space defence capabilities.

His campaign said that Ramaswamy is the only US Presidential candidate to date who has clearly stated that the US will defend Taiwan.

"I am the only Presidential candidate willing to state what is necessary: we will defend Taiwan. The US currently doesn't even recognise Taiwan as a nation. Democrats and Republicans both unquestioningly endorse the 'one China' policy and embrace "strategic ambiguity" toward the island," Ramaswamy said.

Hitting out at Haley, Ramaswamy's campaign in a statement said that in a desperate attempt to raise funds for her languishing establishment campaign, the former US ambassador to the UN was intentionally lying about Ramaswamy.

Haley has blasted Ramaswamy for not backing US allies.

According to his campaign, Haley flatly lied on Fox News that "Ramaswamy said he would abandon Israel, those were his words" and that "he wants to go and stop funding Israel."

"This is false," his campaign asserted in a late-night statement.

"We challenge the failing Haley campaign and any media outlet to find a single instance where Ramaswamy utters that he would not support Israel. They will not - because Ramaswamy never said it. Instead, they continue to recycle blatantly false headlines that they manufactured," the statement said.

Vivek Ramaswamy Hints At Joining Trump As His Running Mate In Next Year's Presidential Polls

Ramaswamy said that if Israel ever gets to the point that it no longer needs US financial support, that would be a mark of achievement - but that the US will never cut off aid to Israel until Israel says they are ready for it, his campaign said.

It all started about a week ago when Haley at the debate stage accused Ramaswamy of not having any foreign policy experience.

Since then the Ohio-based Indian American has been attacked both by the media and his political opponents for his inexperience on foreign policy.

On Tuesday, Ramaswamy used the 'Namrata Randhawa' name of Nikki Haley on his website.

"I'm not going to get involved in these childish name games. It's pretty pathetic. First of all, I was born with Nikki on my birth certificate. I was raised as Nikki. I married a Haley. And so that is what my name is.

"So he can say or misspell or do whatever he wants, but he can't step away from the fact that, he's the one that said he was going to abandon Israel," Haley told Fox News in response.

"Those were his words. Now he's wanting to walk it back. And the reality is, you have to understand the importance of our allies and those relationships. We can never be so narcissistic to think that we don't need friends," she said.

It is not that Israel needs America. America needs Israel too, Haley said.

"Israel faces genocidal threats from Hamas, from Hezbollah, from Iran, from Syria. You need a president that understands that that understands that Israel is the front line of defence when it comes to us dealing with Islamic terrorism in Iran," she claimed.

"And he just doesn't get it. So, look, I mean, I think you can tell a lot about the kind of leader someone will be based on how they run their campaign. And he's doing that all on his own," Haley said.

Later in the night, Ramaswamy's campaign issued a statement against Haley.

"We wish Ambassador Haley and her family well in their future careers in the private sector, noting that they rapidly generated an impressive fortune as military contractors following her short-lived stint as US Ambassador to the United Nations," the campaign said.

Ramaswamy said the US relationship with Israel is a model example of how international relationships should work.

Israel spends a greater percentage of its own GDP on defense than any major nation. Seventy per cent of the aid the US provides to Israel must be spent in the US, and by 2028 the mandate is 100 per cent. This is consistent with 'America-First' foreign policy objectives, he said.

"By the end of my first term, our relationship with Israel will be stronger than it has ever been. I will consummate Abraham Accords 2.0 by the end of 2025, adding Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Indonesia to the pact. We will work with Israel to ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon that advances US interests," Ramaswamy said.

"I won't end our aid to Israel until the day when Israel tells the US they are ready for it. That's what true friends do: they speak honestly and openly to one another. I will speak to Bibi and invite him to the White House, something that President Biden is shamefully frightened to do," he said.
The Gabala International Music Festival in Azerbaijan has been celebrating its 13th edition with a special focus on young..

euronews (in English) 28 Aug 2023
Rammstein's Till Lindemann faced serious allegations of sexual misconduct during concerts. Berlin's state prosecutor's office, however, found no evidence to back the claims.
North Macedonia has been waiting since 2005 for EU accession negotiations to begin. Greece finally lifted its veto in 2019, but Bulgaria continues to throw a spanner in the works.
Interpol says "someone, somewhere knows something" about the boy, whose body was found in Germany.

BBC News 29 Aug 2023
A direct link for immediate negotiations was established between the White House and the Kremlin in 1963 following the Cuban Missile Crisis. Little is known about how Washington and Moscow currently communicate.
The National Hurricane Center said Idalia is now forecasted to be at Category 4 strength at landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday, with winds that could reach at least 130 mph.
U.S. and Chinese officials expressed hope for positive economic relations as U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with Chinese leaders for a second day in Beijing.



Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Raimondo that sound economic relations and trade cooperation will not only be beneficial to our two countries, but to the...
Population has right to round-the-clock access to bomb shelters in Kyiv's educational establishments  Klitschko

The Defense Council of Kyiv has approved a decision that the local population should have round-the-clock access to bomb shelters on the educational establishments of the capital, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said.

"The heads of district administrations of the capital and educational establishments of Kyiv must ensure unhindered access of citizens to civil defense facilities during air raid alerts," he said on the Telegram channel on Wednesday.
Malappuram: A Maveli at a private Ayurveda hospital at Manjeri here has gone on viral on social media. A patient from Saudi Arabia has adorned the attire of Maveli in the Onam function of the hospital and the video he posted on his social media platform has brought accolades from the Middle East. Damam-based businessman, Jaber Saeed AlMarri surprised everyone as Maveli in the Onam celebration at the hospital.



Hospital management informed that Jaber has taken the initiative to don the costume of Maveli during the celebration. He was very much interested in adorning the attire of the Kerala king. Jaber enjoyed being in the crowd and being part of the celebration.

Though we are organising the Onam celebrations every season it was our first experience a person from outside India dressing up like Maveli. Jaber Saeed is aware of the Onam festival as he visited the hospital for treatment earlier. So he knew about the celebrations and when he heard about our plans to host a celebration he informed us that he would like to play the role of Maveli", Dr Lukumanul Hakeem, MD of the Hospital said.

The hospital had never thought the celebration would become so popular. The event has become equally popular in nearby places as the staff and invitees share the videos.

"We are happy that we have become a reason to celebrate the culture and the heritage of Kerala across the border. Jaber Saeed has taken the initiative to popularise the Kerala heritage in Saudi Arabia. He enjoyed the role and was keen on entertaining the gathering, P S Sreekrishnan, the hospital Operations Manager said.

The video has become very popular in Saudi Arabia as Jaber received calls from his friends and relatives inquiring about the festival.

It is really a different and fresh experience for me. I have received a lot of messages and calls back from home inquiring about the festival and my role. The Onam festival and the Maveli have become popular among my friends and relatives through videos and photographs. I really enjoyed the moment of being part of such a fabulous festival", Jabber Saeed told On Manorama.

The video has received more than 1.50 lakh views from the social media account of Jaber Saeed itself. It has also received many views through the social media handles of the staff and the guests who attended the function at the hospital.
Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator

The current government ruling Israel is the most far-right Jewish extremist in history. Senior members in power have been asking for the forced deportation of Palestinians, in a frightening echo of the Nakba of 1948, when three-fourths of the Palestinian population was expelled in a massive ethnic cleansing while the US and western nations stood by in silent complicity.

The Israeli Defense Forces have repeatedly attacked refugee camps in the West Bank, especially Jenin. Meanwhile, the Jewish citizens of Israel have been in the street protesting their own issues, which have nothing to do with the apartheid state of Israel, and the human rights abuses and war crimes committed almost daily by the Israeli government against the Palestinians held without any form of human rights or justice.

The UN and many members of the international community have voiced their support of the Palestinian cause and the right to resist occupation, and yet there is no end in sight, or even a peace plan to discuss.

In an effort to gain some insight into the present situation in the Occupied Territories of Palestine, Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Fra Hughes.

Hughes' book, 'My Walk With Palestine', catalogues the Palestinian solidarity work that he and others have been involved in since 2010, when he took a trip to Gaza. Hughes is a Belfast native, and felt similarities between Northern Ireland and Palestine. The siege-busting convoy to Gaza in 2010 is only really the beginning of Fra's story, and his work has seen him visit Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

#1. Steven Sahiounie (SS): The Saudi envoy to Jordan, Nayef Al-Sudairi, has been appointed to serve as the nonresident ambassador to the State of Palestine. In your view, what is the significance of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman's choosing to make this important appointment at the time?

Fra Hughes (FH): It's difficult to know for sure. While obviously a very important step, is it too little too late? What power does he have, what influence can he bring to bear on the continued illegal occupation of the West Bank Jerusalem? The ongoing ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population with the continued, indeed accelerated, construction of more illegal Jewish settlements, and the ongoing siege of Gaza and the apparent shoot-to-kill policy carried out on behalf of the Israeli government and by extension Israeli society who elected it. At this stage it is a symbolic appointment, but taken together with the Saudi-Iran rapprochement, the potential ending of the war in Yemen and Syria's inclusion into the Arab league, it certainly has America the EU and Israel concerned.

#2. SS: President Sisi of Egypt hosted King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Abbas of Palestine yesterday in a meeting to discuss the need to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine. In your opinion, is there international consensus on getting back to peace negotiations?

FH: There will never be real peace negotiations. The Israeli apartheid government talks peace as a stalling tactic to buy time while it attempts to absorb all of Palestine under its racist control.

If Sisi is real, he should open the Gazan border fully, and allow fuel, building equipment and medicine into Gaza.

Egypt must end the pivotal role it plays in forcing Palestinians to live under a blanket of fear, disease and poverty.

Abbas is unelected and in my opinion he is a collaborator with the occupation.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia wish to join BRICS and as they move away from the influence and control of the western hegemonic powers perhaps we are witnessing a renaissance of rapport with Russia, and by extension China, via the belt and road initiative, and a new energy cartel to rival OPEC.

#3. SS: The Palestinian resistance groups in Jenin have been repeatedly attacked by Israeli Defense Forces. After the massive destruction in Jenin, can you explain the status of Jenin now, and is there any help being offered?

FH: The Israelis achieved their short-term goals: not the extermination of the Resistance fighters, but the devastation of homes, centres of employment, and the destruction of the infrastructure leaving those living in Jenin in dire need of support from the international community. Help which I believe will not be forthcoming unless there are political strings attached.

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TalentSmartEQ, a leading provider of emotional intelligence solutions, is excited to announce the release of "Emotional Intelligence Habits," a new book by acclaimed author and co-founder Dr. Travis Bradberry. Following the tremendous success of his best-selling book, "Emotional Intelligence 2.0," Bradberry continues to revolutionize the field of emotional intelligence with this highly anticipated new release. "I'm thrilled to share 'Emotional Intelligence Habits' with readers who are ready to embark on a 
Dear Annie: My mother-in-law has been diagnosed with cervical cancer back in our home country. My husband planned to pay all the expenses for her care, including treatments, hospital visits and food.

His three older sisters live near his mom (one lives with his mom). He said his sisters are poorer than we are when comparing our hourly wages. I said the expenses should be divided by all the children -- or at least the richest sister who owns a house and a tourist van.

This has led to a major argument between my husband and me. He said that I am being selfish and cruel and that if it were my parents with cancer, he would sell our house to help them.

The sisters said the package for treatment was about $4,600. Then they rounded it up to $5,000, plus four injections afterward for an add of $400.

I told my husband to ask for proof of the receipts from all the bills. With the receipts, we would pay all the costs for mother-in-law treatments and hospital visits. Without receipts, we would pay $4,800, which is more than the treatment package cost of $4,600.

My husband said he would never ask for the receipts, since they are his siblings. I reminded him a few times about asking for receipts while we were on FaceTime with his family. He didnt ask. Then he would tell me he forgot to ask.

I told him he could come back home to take care of his mom and pay by himself, but he wouldnt want to go because he is worried about our monthly mortgage and our two daughters (4 and 17 years old). I told him Im able to take care of our monthly mortgage, bills and our children. We have been married for 19 years.

Am I overreacting or being selfish for wanting to know where our money is going to? -- Confused Wife in Oregon

Dear Confused Wife in Oregon: First off, I am sorry about your mother-in-laws diagnosis. That is hard for everyone involved, and your husband is kind to want to care for his mom. I think asking for receipts is a little petty, but if it will make you feel better about supporting his mom, then you can ask. But at the end of the day, I would look at your husband as a kind, generous and thoughtful son, which Im sure translates into the type of husband and father he is. Consider yourself lucky to be with such a kind man.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM
This week, hundreds of children in 20 Southeast Portland schools headed to new campuses, the most recent impact of a years-long effort to balance enrollment and remake middle schools citywide.

Few are happy about it.

The reshuffling had deep impacts on some of the citys poorest pockets, while leaving wealthier enclaves untouched. And the toxic politics surrounding the process left little appetite for tackling similar initiatives in the rest of the city, according to both longtime schools advocates and district board members.

That means the citys 11 remaining K-8s, which are mostly clustered in Northeast Portland, will stay unchanged for the foreseeable future, curtailing middle school offerings for those students, including many students of color. Enrollment is also out of whack at the citys high schools. Jefferson High School, for example, had 650 students last year, while four miles away, Grant High School had around 2,100.

Failing to address the disparities quickly could mean Portland Public Schools, given its declining enrollment, will have to close schools, an even more painful process that hasnt happened for a dozen years, as detailed in a pointed April 2022 memo written by 17 members of the group charged with making recommendations about the changes in Southeast Portland .

Every time you choose to delay, you make it that much harder, and the scale of the changes necessary to fix it gets even bigger and more destructive, said parent Andy Jacob, one of the signers of the memo. But the Southeast Portland Guiding Coalition wiped out the will for these broader conversations. When you leave it all to the end, the default solution is to ask the poorest communities to bear the burden.

A breakdown in Southeast Portland

The enrollment balancing process began in Southeast Portland in 2020 with some trepidation, given the districts fitful previous attempts at redrawing attendance boundaries. The problem at hand: The area still had too many K-8 schools, where middle schoolers werent getting access to as many electives and specialized courses as their peers at traditional middle schools Hosford, Sellwood and Mount Tabor. The opening of Kellogg Middle School in 2021 relieved some of those pressures, but not all; meanwhile, Lane Middle School, in the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood, was perennially under-enrolled.

But after months of debate, the group was never able to come to a consensus. In the end, only 13 of 32 committee members said they could support the recommendations that were presented to the school board; five backed an alternative scenario and 14 said they saw no viable proposal.

But the district, and the school board, pressed forward anyway, signing off on the recommendations in spring 2022 and working out the details over the last year. Among the biggest in a series of dizzying changes taking effect this fall:

Harrison Park, previously a K-8 in Portlands Jade District, is being converted to a middle school. Its K-5 students are relocating to nearby Clark Elementary School. That meant that the students attending the project-based Creative Science K-8, a high-demand school where students are accepted via lottery, got booted out of their former home at Clark.

Creative Science will now be at Bridger Elementary, perched on the southern edge of the Montavilla neighborhood. All Bridger students who want to remain there can do so, but those who want to stick with Bridgers Spanish language immersion program are getting rerouted to Lent K-5. Both school communities were ruffled by these changes. Creative Science families said they were promised that their school could move as an intact unit but complain beloved teachers were displaced in the change. Theyre mourning the loss of teaching expertise and worried about a tight squeeze in their new space. Bridger families, meanwhile, say theyve felt like an afterthought amid the loss of their neighborhood schools identity and the splintering of their community.

Lent K-5, in turn, is becoming a full-immersion Spanish language school, a change that families there protested fiercely. Students there who werent on a Spanish track will move to Marysville K-5, a mile and a half away. Its a major identity shift for Lent, one of the districts highest needs and most diverse schools.

Attendance boundaries are changing throughout Southeast Portland too, mostly east of Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard, both for elementary and middle schools. Affected schools include Arleta, Atkinson, Bridger, Creston, Glencoe, Lent, Lewis, Marysville, Vestal, Whitman, Woodmere and Woodstock K-5s and Hosford, Lane and Kellogg middle schools.

In a memo to the school board, former Deputy Superintendent for Business and Operations Claire Hertz said she saw strengths in the plan, particularly for its potential impacts on students of color and other historically marginalized groups.

But a majority of the redistricting committee didnt see it that way. They were frustrated about a smaller group of inner Southeast Portland schools that were left untouched by the entire process, schools that happen to skew both whiter and wealthier.

The group tried to lobby for an overhaul throughout Southeast, Jacob said, but got shut down, with district officials citing the need to limit student disruptions during the pandemic. The explanation seemed murky, he and others said, particularly since other students lives were clearly being upended.

We were overcrowded in inner Southeast and undercrowded in outer Southeast, he said. You have to shift some of that enrollment further out. Having us look at a bunch of schools that were already under-enrolled is not solving the actual problem.

Kellogg Middle School vice principal Claudia McClellan (right) speaks to students about hallway rules. Students returned from summer break to the SE Portland school for the first day of classes of the year this week. Kellogg is one of the district's newest comprehensive middle schools, but restructuring feeder patterns in Southeast Portland has brought consequences for the entire district.Dave Killen / The Oregonian

The unspoken subtext was that tackling a broader area would have brought a lot of political backlash, said Eddie Wang, a Harrison Park and Woodstock K-5 parent who was elected to the school board in May after serving on the Southeast Portland committee.

Historically, even small changes in school boundaries can ignite fierce, time-consuming opposition.

Families worry about breaking up cherished neighborhood school communities and about their children crossing busy streets on their way to school. In more well-heeled neighborhoods, meanwhile, homeowners will often mobilize, fearful that shifting school boundaries will make their homes less attractive to buyers.

Its worth noting, Wang observed, that despite initial pushback, after a few years of settling into a blended school community, people often say theyre happy with their new, bigger, more opportunity-rich schools.

Still, given the high odds for pushback and the already contentious process in Southeast Portland, there was a lack of energy for broader efforts, Wang said. Especially with the cascading disasters of the pandemic, the districts hands were full, the tables were overflowing.

Meanwhile, its not clear that all the changes will address declining enrollments, particularly given the one-two punch of Portlands high housing prices and declining birth rates among the families that do remain in city limits.

The districts ongoing efforts to lure back families who left the district could pay off, Wang said. And, he added, that makes it too early to start gaming out any potential closures.

But we always have to be willing to do what is best for kids, he added. If holding a lot of low enrollment schools open is not best for kids, then we have to talk about that.

The most recent PPS closures included a handful of small elementary schools and Whitaker Middle School in the mid-2000s and Marshall High School in 2011.

Firm enrollment numbers for the current year wont be available until October. But forecasters from Portland State University project that by 2036, there will be nearly 700 fewer middle schoolers in Southeast Portland than there are now, a drop of around 20%.

Unfinished business in Northeast Portland

Though the school board approved the changes to Southeast schools in mid-2022, the changes didnt really kick in until this fall, more than a year later.

In the meantime, Hertz, who had overseen the entire contentious process, retired. Her job sat vacant for over a year before this summer, when the district signed a one-year contract with Myong Leigh, a former administrator from the San

Francisco Unified School District, who left there under a cloud in 2022, after the botched rollout of a new payroll system overseen by his department. Leigh will serve in the role while the search for a permanent candidate continues, said Jonathan Garcia, chief of staff to Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero.

But district officials said there is currently no timeline for any future changes, either for converting the remaining K-8 schools, or balancing the lopsided enrollment at the districts high schools.

We continue to keep a critical eye on our shifting enrollment and plan to work with experts to establish a roadmap, understand the impacts of enrollment balancing, and execute on additional work, as needed, Garcia said. At PPS, we remain focused on providing every child access to a rich classroom experience, regardless of the school they attend.

In the 2010s, seven K-8 schools in Northeast Portland were converted back to elementary schools, and their students were sent to two newly converted standalone middle schools, Harriet Tubman and Roseway Heights.

But there are still six remaining K-8 schools in Northeast Portland: Astor, Faubion, Vernon, Beverly Cleary, Cesar Chavez and Laurelhurst. (Skyline K-8, in Northwest, is the seventh and final remaining neighborhood K-8 but given its remote geographic location miles from any other school, it is likely to stay that way.)

Astor is the smallest, enrolling just 368 students across its nine grades; Laurelhurst has nearly twice as many, at 675, and the rest fall in between.

The district has said that ideally, elementary schools should have at least 270 students, to offer at least two sections per grade, plus electives and support staff, like nurses, reading specialists, librarians and paraeducators. Right now, eight elementary schools fall under that threshold. All of them, save Arleta and Creston, are in North and Northeast Portland: Chief Joseph, Irvington, Peninsula, Rigler, Rosa Parks and Vestal.

Meanwhile, enrollment numbers at the majority of Northeasts comprehensive middle schools continue to languish. George, Harriet Tubman and Ockley Green Middle Schools, highly diverse schools that serve large numbers of lower-income families, all have fewer than 400 students.

Thats about 100 students less than the district says is ideal for an elective-rich, cost-effective middle school. Presumably, students at K-8 schools could boost those enrollment numbers, if their schools are converted to stand-alone elementary schools.

I really dont feel like it is fair to have to navigate the transfer process for PPS just to go to a standalone comprehensive middle school that has electives, said

Kristen Hagstrom, whose two children attend Vernon, one of the remaining K-8 schools in Northeast Portland. It should be a given that you have an option to go to a comprehensive middle school.

Instead of choosing among classes like band, choir and design, her son will get the same electives he had in elementary school when he starts sixth grade at Vernon this week, Hagstrom said. Her family loves the school, but the limitations are painful, and she worries that hell be unprepared to navigate a huge, comprehensive high school.

Michele Arntz, whose son will be a senior at McDaniel High School, was involved in the conversations about comprehensive middle school in the 2010s. Shes not surprised that the district is still struggling to find a resolution.

There are always going to be outspoken families who dont want to drive across a certain road, she said. Thats always going to be hard  so you need to practice change management. But the district doesnt do that. You have to be committed to change, which they are not.

[What about high schools? See: Portland Public Schools high schools remain another question mark]

 Julia Silverman, @jrlsilverman, jsilverman@oregonian.com
Thanks to capital bonds passed regularly by supportive voters, Portland poured money into refurbishing and rebuilding its high schools. Benson Polytechnic, which draws students from all over the city, is slated to open in fall 2024, and plans are underway to modernize Jefferson High School.

Cleveland and Ida B. Wells are the final two schools to be renovated.

So far, Portlands 10 high schools have been relatively untouched by the enrollment plunge. But high school enrollment levels likely peaked in the 2022-2023 school year, according to population experts from Portland State University. By 2036, they say, Portland could see 2,700 fewer high schoolers, down from about 14,000 today  even as Jefferson High is renovated to accommodate 1,700 students, about twice as many as attend school there currently.

Roosevelt High Schools enrollment grew considerably with the opening of its new building, jumping from about 900 students in 2016 to 1400 last year. But its unclear whether Jefferson would see the same bounce, especially since students living near the school can choose to either enroll there or attend either Grant, Roosevelt or McDaniel, depending on their home address.

Josh Cody, whose children attend Creative Science and who sat on the Southeast Portland Guiding Coalition, said he sees echoes of the fights in outer Southeast Portland brewing for the high schools.

Theres a lack of clarity about the source of these additional students, he pointed out. The current strategy is to resolve this issue a year before the schools reopening. But as weve seen [in Southeast Portland], that timeframe might not be sufficient to devise an effective plan.

Before she left the school board after two terms, Amy Kohnstamm issued a warning: If the district didnt confront its declining enrollment , the system could be in for a massive shock in just a few years and might find itself forced to close schools.

The high school piece is just as critical as the elementary piece. School boards hate to face these decisions, but its absolutely necessary, Kohnstamm said. The district is spending an estimated $366 million to renovate Jefferson High School, she added, but we have a lot of work to do in advance of opening this new school to figure out where the kids are going to come from.

 Julia Silverman, @jrlsilverman, jsilverman@oregonlive.com
Oregons extreme risk protection order law, also known as the red flag gun law, is one of the least used protective orders in the state, according to a report released Wednesday.

With firearm-related deaths on the rise, officials said they believe the small number of petitions in the state to confiscate a persons firearms over safety concerns may be a result of a lack of awareness.

Between 2018 and 2021, Oregonians submitted over 64,000 requests for protective orders, including against stalkers, perpetrators of domestic violence, people who abuse elderly relatives and more.

Less than 1% of those were red flag requests. Requests for family abuse prevention orders  which protect people and their children from imminent danger of domestic abuse  were the most common, accounting for over half of all protective orders.

The figures come from an advisory report from the Oregon Secretary of States audit division and suggest that the states extreme risk protection order law, which took effect in 2018, is seldom used five years later.

But its still a very important tool, said Andrew Love, an audit manager with the state who oversaw the report. In my opinion, it fills some of the gaps of the other more used protective orders.

The law gives judges discretion to temporarily take guns from people not convicted of a crime who are showing signs that they might shoot themselves or others. It aims to offer an alternative to traditional protective orders, Love said, and was tailored to protect people from others as well as themselves.

An analysis done by The Oregonian/OregonLive in 2018 found that the law was used in a variety of cases and in some instances likely prevented deaths from gun violence, including several suicides.

The firearm death rate in Oregon from 2018 to 2021 matched the average across the U.S., with roughly 13 firearm deaths per 100,000 residents, the report said. But differences emerge when researchers zoom in on those numbers. Oregons rate of homicides by firearm is below the national average, but its rate of suicide by firearm is 42% higher, according to the report.

While the law may help lower suicide deaths in Oregon, officials emphasized that the red flag orders should not be limited to situations related to mental illness.

These arent a tool specifically for people who have behavioral or mental health issues, Jonathan Bennett, a senior state auditor, said. We want to avoid stigma in that area.

From January 2018 to the end of June 2022, law enforcement requested roughly two-thirds of the red flag orders, the report said. More than 70% of the petitions involved people with a history of self harm or who were at risk of suicide. Family or household members can request this kind of protective order, but do so less often, as they may want to avoid conflict with the person. It could also be due to the lack of awareness and the fact that other protections also have firearm restrictions built in, officials said.

A majority of the people who face an extreme risk petition are white men between the ages of 18 and 45, according to one study of 105 cases, the report said. However, data collection is not required under the law. The lack of available data makes it difficult to determine how effective the red flag law has been, Bennett said.

The report also highlighted other discrepancies in Oregons law, including a vague stance on how firearms should be collected.

Other states  have a requirement that people submit their guns and sign an affidavit that theyve done so, Love said. That is not a requirement in Oregon. We found that counties and different circuit courts handle it differently across the state.

Twenty other states have similar red flag protections. Oregon has one of the highest burdens of proof, and outside of law enforcement the state allows only family and people living with the person to file requests, the report said. In other states, such as California, employers, coworkers and certain school personnel can petition for a protective order.

 Austin De Dios; adedios@oregonian.com; @austindedios; 503-319-9744

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe
A child died from drowning at an outdoor public pool in Northeast Portland, the parks bureau said Wednesday, marking the first fatal swimming accident at a city-run aquatic center in nearly four decades.

The episode occurred Friday evening at Montavilla Pool on Northeast Glisan Street and 82nd Avenue when a young girl was found unresponsive in the water, Portland Parks & Recreation said in a brief statement. Temperatures had topped 90 degrees in Portland earlier in the day.

Lifeguards performed rescue breathing and CPR before paramedics arrived to take over, according to a 911 call. Paramedics then rushed the girl to a hospital, and she died Monday, according to the bureau.

Parks officials did not disclose the name or age of the child out of respect for her family, the statement said. Mark Ross, a bureau spokesperson, told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Wednesday that two lifeguards were on duty when the girl was spotted just before the pool closed to the public for the night.

The Montavilla pool offers evening open swim hours between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. during weekdays throughout the summer. It can accommodate up to 308 people at a time.

I am devastated by this tragedy, said Commissioner Dan Ryan, who oversees the bureau. I know that the community and everyone within PP&R grieves as well.

Parks director Adena Long said her staff will partner with other city officials to participate in an investigation to see what we can learn from this tragic incident.

The parks bureaus goal is to provide the safest environment possible for the community, Long said.

No one has drowned at a Portland swimming pool since at least 1985, the parks bureau told The Oregonian/OregonLive last year.

Several children have survived close calls in more recent years, including a 13-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy at what was then Wilson pool in 2012 and 2002, respectively, and a 7-year-old boy at Peninsula Park pool in 2009.

Montavilla lifeguards had performed the third highest number of swimming rescues  75  among Portlands 12 indoor and outdoor pools between 2017 and May 2022, a newsroom analysis found.

All of Portlands outdoor pools closed for the season on Sunday, a week before Labor Day, the traditional end of summer.

Ross, the Parks Bureau spokesperson, said the pool would not have opened to the public without sufficient staffing.

Portland, like many other U.S. cities, has struggled with a lifeguard shortage in the wake of the pandemic, when training courses were suspended for new recruits. But Ross said that after a robust recruitment campaign that included bumping starting lifeguard pay to $18 an hour, the city had managed to hire 500 lifeguards and swim instructors to staff indoor and outdoor pools during the just-concluded summer season. Aquatics recruiters have previously said they had hoped to hire around 725 guards and instructors for the summer season.

The Parks Bureau is providing grief counseling for staff who are seeking help in response to the drowning, Ross added.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632

Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed further military support, expansion of the Ukrainian Formula Peace coalition and grain exports from Ukraine to African countries during the meeting.

"I was honored to be received by Emmanuel Macron following his contacts with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Discussed further military support, expanding the Peace Formula coalition and our grain exports to countries in Africa and beyond. I thanked him for reaffirming France's continued support," Kuleba said on Twitter.
Six people aboard a TriMet bus, including the bus driver, were transported to regional hospitals after the bus crashed into two trees in Northeast Portlands North Tabor neighborhood Wednesday morning.

The bus driver and one other person were admitted as trauma patients and four others had minor injuries, said Portland Fire & Rescue spokesperson Rick Graves.
Evan Martin makes his Martin Woods wines at the end of a long gravel road in the foothills of Oregons Coast Range. While his winery is only 10 miles from downtown McMinnville, the forested hillsides make you feel deep in a national park. The wines are worth the dusty drive.

Martin Woods is best known for: terroir-driven wines that Martin says are meant to be as refreshing as they are representative of where they come from.

Innovation: Martin Woods is also known for using Oregon oak barrels to age wines.

Martin points out that he is not the first winemaker to embrace Quercus garryana. Rick DeFerrari has been making Oregon oak barrels since the 1990s, and a handful of local wineries supported his efforts early on, Martin said.

Martin builds on those earlier efforts by working to determine which grape varieties work best in Oregon oak, how the barrels should be toasted and how long the wood staves should be aged. His work points toward chardonnay and syrah being excellent candidates for Oregon oak aging.

As for their impact on the wines, Martin described Oregon oak as being more reductive than French oak. It doesnt breathe as much and evaporates less water. Its just a slower evolution for the wine and theres a tautness, an energy thats maintained.

HERE IS OREGON: HereisOregon.com | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | TikTok

Martin also believes that Oregon oak barrels impart a saline texture to his wines, particularly the whites. He calls it a hunch that this might be due to where the trees grow. Martin said, These trees, especially in the western Willamette Valley, are growing in salt-laden air coming from the ocean. They might be absorbing that salt.

A final caveat  Martin looks at Oregon oak barrels as a single arrow in his quiver that is uniquely Oregon, not as a replacement for French oak barrels.

Even if we wanted to, theres not enough Oregon oak trees, Martin said.

Must try current release: 2021 Martin Woods Pearlstad Vineyard Chardonnay ($55  12.9% ABV).

This Eola-Amity Hills chardonnay aged in older Oregon and French oak barrels tastes like a chilled pear slice dusted in cinnamon. The wine possesses crisp acidity and the dynamic tension of a texture that crunches as you enjoy its salty ocean breeze and orchard fruit aromas.

History: Martin credits wanderlust for motivating him to leave Indiana and pursue a college education and the ski slopes out west. Martins travels eventually landed him in Walla Walla, Washington.

Martin worked harvests at Seven Hills Winery in 2004 and 2005 before leaving Walla Walla to hunt powder snow in assorted western locations. Eventually, he settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he worked for a restaurant and then as the wine buyer for a small shop and wine bar.

Despite his love of the wine world, Martin eventually returned home to study photojournalism at Indiana University in Bloomington. Earning money for photojournalism, however, turned out to be challenging.

To help finance his photography projects, Martin headed to the Willamette Valley in 2009 to work a harvest for Brian and Jill ODonnell at Belle Pente Vineyard & Winery in Carlton. Martin had discovered Oregon wines while working in Santa Fe and thought the region was filled with possibilities.

Martin returned to work harvest for the ODonnells in 2010 and 2011. Calling Belle Pente a great place to learn the craft of winemaking, Martin became the full-time assistant winemaker there in 2012.

In 2014, the ODonnells allowed Martin to use their winery to make the first wine for his Martin Woods label, a pinot noir. While continuing to make a pinot noir of his own at Belle Pente each year, Martin began making other wines, like riesling and gamay noir, at another winery.

Martin left Belle Pente in 2017 to transform Martin Woods into a stand alone venture.

What we dont know: Winemaking talent runs in the family. Michael Garofola, Martins cousin and fellow Indiana native, owns Cutter Cascadia Wine, an Oregon winery specializing in Columbia River Gorge wines.

Last record played: Martin loves vinyl with a passion, so I let him give two answers  Madison McFerrins I Hope You Can Forgive Me and Blowout Comb by Digable Planets.

Tasting tip: While tastings are available by appointment at the Martin Woods winery, you can also taste an assortment of Martins wines while enjoying great music at HiFi, his wine bar at 711 N.E. Third St. in McMinnville.

Where to buy: Division Wines and Flor Wines are excellent Portland locations to shop for Martin Woods wines.

Martin also suggested Catherine Store Wine & Liquor in Carbondale, Colorado, Bazaar Meat in Chicago, Illinois, The Four Horsemen in Brooklyn, New York, and just about any place where wine is sold in Santa Fe.

By appointment, 20500 S.W. Eagle Point Road, McMinnville, martinwoodswinery.com or info@martinwoodswinery.com.

-- Michael Alberty writes about wine for The Oregonian/OregonLive and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. He can be reached at malberty0@gmail.com. To read more of his coverage, go to oregonlive.com/wine
Volunteers of the Regional Disaster Response Teams of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) came to the aid of the wounded and injured as a result of debris from a Russian missile in one of the districts of Kyiv.

"Volunteers of the Regional Disaster Response Teams of the National Committee of the Ukrainian Red Cross provided first aid to the wounded and first psychological aid to the victims at the site of the fall of debris in one of the districts," the society said on Facebook.

As reported, air defense shot down about 20 air targets over Kyiv. As a result rocket fragments in different districts of the Ukrainian capital, two people died, three were injured of varying severity. In Shevchenkivsky and Darnytsky districts, fragments of rockets fell on the territory of non-residential buildings. Fires broke out in the places of the fall, and the State Emergency Service teams worked to put out the fires.
Libreville, Gabon (PANA) - Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who senior military officers said they ousted from power on Wednesdsay, has appeared in a video calling on "friends" of the Central African country "all over the world" to make noise
Photo: (Photo : Sean Thomas on Unsplash)

In a jaw-dropping event that is sending ripples through the international medical community, Dr. Hari Priya Bandi, a skilled neurosurgeon at Canberra Hospital, Australia, performed a highly unusual procedure last year, successfully removing a wriggling, 8-centimeter (3-inch) worm from a 64-year-old female patient's brain. What makes this case even more astonishing is that the worm was identified as the larva of Ophidascaris robertsi, an Australian native roundworm, a species never before documented as a human parasite.

Species Never Before Seen in Humans

Dr. Bandi was initially conducting a biopsy on the patient's brain, which involved drilling a hole into the skull to extract tissue samples for examination. "I remember thinking, 'What in the world is that? It made no sense. The creature was not just there; it was moving," said Bandi in an interview with The Canberra Times newspaper. The surgical team led by Bandi was equally taken aback by this unusual discovery, with many of them reportedly feeling "a bit sick" while observing the worm's vigorous movements.

Before this ground-breaking procedure, the female patient had been admitted to Canberra Hospital due to a series of worrying symptoms, including increased forgetfulness and a consistent degradation of her emotional well-being over a period of three months. Medical experts performed numerous scans that showed significant changes in her brain structure and function. Dr. Sanjaya Senanayake, a reputable infectious diseases physician also at Canberra Hospital, was equally puzzled by the case.

"I was on duty when I received an unexpected call stating, 'We have a unique patient issue here. We've just removed a live worm from her brain,'" Senanayake said, reflecting on the shocking moment. Remarkably, the patient had already been grappling with an array of mysterious symptoms for over a year. Previously, she had been admitted to a local healthcare facility in southeast New South Wales, where she presented with symptoms ranging from abdominal pain and diarrhea to a dry cough and night sweats.

"Everyone was baffled because we suspected an immunological disorder at first, but no parasite was found until this moment," Senanayake added.

During the procedure, expectations were geared towards finding either a cancerous growth or an abscess in the brain. "The entire team was stunned when Bandi's forceps revealed a living, wriggling entity instead," stated Senanayake.

After the surgery, the patient showed significant improvement. "She was so profoundly relieved to finally have an answer to the medical mystery that had been plaguing her for so long," Bandi recounted. The patient was subsequently sent home with a prescription for antiparasitic medication. Despite experiencing some residual neuropsychiatric symptoms six months after the procedure, she did not require further hospitalization.

Read Also: How Hot Baths, Worm Infestation May Help Autism Children Become More Social

Parasite's Natural Habitat, Transmission Theories

Ophidascaris robertsi worms are usually native to carpet pythons, and their life cycle involves their eggs being excreted in snake droppings. This, in turn, contaminates the grass that small mammals consume. Snakes then eat these mammals, completing the roundworm's life cycle.

The woman, who resides near a habitat favored by carpet pythons, regularly forages for warrigal greens, a native Australian plant. Although she had no direct interaction with the pythons, it's theorized that she may have consumed the parasitic eggs via contaminated vegetation or even from her hands.

This landmark case, meticulously documented by Dr. Bandi and Dr. Senanayake in the latest edition of the scientific journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, serves not only as the first recorded human infection by this specific Australian native roundworm but also raises significant public health questions. "Because this is a hitherto unknown infection in humans, we're monitoring her very closely," concluded Senanayake.

By shedding light on this new type of parasitic infection, the medical community gains crucial insights while also alerting the public to the potential health risks associated with environments that are home to specific animal species.

Related Article: Worm Therapy For Autism: 4-Year-Old Progressing After 'Eating Worms' For 2 Months
Photo: (Photo : Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

In a move that has garnered national attention, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has initiated legal proceedings against the Chino Valley School District. The lawsuit targets the district's recent gender identity notification policy, which mandates that parents be informed if their child wishes to be identified by a different gender or pronoun.

According to Bonta, this policy not only jeopardizes the emotional and mental health of transgender and non-conforming students but also raises questions about constitutional rights.

California Attorney General Targets Chino Valley School District's New Policy

In a groundbreaking legal action filed at the San Bernardino County Superior Court, California Attorney General Rob Bonta is challenging the Chino Valley Unified School District's Board of Education over its recently adopted gender identity notification policy, claiming it infringes on the civil rights of LGBTQ students.

Bonta, an active member of the Democratic Party, asserts that this Chino Valley school district policy poses significant dangers to the emotional, mental, and physical welfare of non-conforming students, especially in environments that are not accepting.

Andi Johnston, a spokesperson for the Chino Valley Unified School District, which is located approximately 35 miles east of Los Angeles and serves nearly 26,000 students, mentioned that they are currently working with legal consultants to evaluate the California Attorney General's lawsuit.

This is Bonta's first lawsuit of this kind, coming on the heels of similar parental notification policies being adopted in more conservative regions within his predominantly Democratic state of California.

Last month, the Chino Valley school board approved a policy requiring parents to be notified if their child wishes to be identified by a gender different from what's stated on their birth certificate or other official records.

The district, situated roughly 35 miles from Los Angeles, California, is now facing scrutiny not just for this gender identity notification policy but also for similar requirements concerning facility use and participation in sex-segregated activities.

Sonja Shaw, the Republican President of the Chino Valley School Board, has been an outspoken advocate for this controversial policy. She even made an appearance on Fox News to argue for parents' "right to be actively involved in the upbringing of their children."

Nationwide Context: The Larger Fight for LGBTQ Rights

The lawsuit filed by the California Attorney General is part of a broader wave of legislative action aimed at curtailing LGBTQ rights across the United States.

Nearly 500 state-level bills have been introduced this year to limit LGBTQ rights, with 228 of them focusing specifically on student rights, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Moreover, the Chino Valley School District is not the only educational institution facing legal challenges over a gender identity notification policy. Similar cases have arisen in states like Texas and New Jersey, making this a point of national concern.

Chino Valley School District President Sonja Shaw remains steadfast in opposing the lawsuit.

Shaw contends that the policy does not endanger students and instead argues that "if a child is coming to their teacher and asking to be called something other than what they were born as, they're already asking to be out in the public about it. The parent has every right to know about that."

Read Also: Alexandra Paul: Canadian Olympic Skater Tragically Killed in Car Crash, Infant Son Injured

Violation of California Constitution and Student Welfare at Stake

The suit from California's Attorney General argues that the Chino Valley School District's gender identity notification policy is in direct violation of the California state Constitution.

According to the document, this policy violates students' rights to privacy and an education free from discrimination.

Bonta elaborates in the suit that "these students are currently under threat of being outed to their parents against their will," stressing the potential harm this could cause.

Prior to filing the lawsuit, the California Attorney General had initiated a civil rights investigation into the Chino Valley School District's policy, even sending a letter in July to Superintendent Norman Enfield and the board of education.

This letter highlighted concerns about potential infringements on students' civil and privacy rights under the new gender identity notification policy.

Related Article: France Bans Abayas in Schools Stirring Debate on Muslim Identity, Laicite
Photo: (Photo : MEGAN JELINGER / Getty Images )

The Ohio Supreme Court has taken center stage in an unfolding legal drama over a citizen-initiated abortion referendum in Ohio, known as Issue 1.

Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights and five other petitioners have filed a lawsuit, challenging the Ohio Ballot Board's decision to use the term "unborn child" in the referendum's language, thereby intensifying the debate over reproductive rights in the state.

A Complex Legal Battle at the Ohio Supreme Court

The 137-page lawsuit lodged before the Ohio Supreme Court argues that the ballot language, approved by the Ohio Ballot Board and drafted by GOP Secretary of State Frank LaRose, is "irreparably flawed."

It asks the court to mandate the board to either adopt the full text of the constitutional amendment as the ballot language or revise it in a way that "properly and lawfully describes the amendment."

The Ohio Supreme Court's ruling could significantly impact how Ohioans interpret the abortion referendum come November 7.

Frank LaRose, who chairs the five-member Ballot Board and is also a Republican Senate candidate, has been vocal in his opposition to Issue 1.

The board's contentious decision came as a 3-to-2 vote, with LaRose among those in favor of the altered language.

The Controversial Term "Unborn Child" and Its Implications

The Ohio Ballot Board's revised language, including the term "unborn child," appears four times on the ballot.

This term, a rallying point for anti-abortion activists, was not in the original wording.

The lawsuit points out that adding "unborn child" veers the conversation toward an ethical debate on when life starts, diverting from the referendum's actual scope.

According to the plaintiffs, this altered language fails to capture the comprehensive reach of the constitutional amendment, which covers five categories of reproductive health decisions, not just abortion.

They argue that the term "unborn child" introduces an ethical judgment, a matter on which Ohioans are deeply divided.

Issue 1 seeks to establish "the right to reproductive freedom with protections for health and safety" in the Ohio Constitution.

It would guarantee residents the ability to make choices about contraception, fertility treatments, miscarriage care, and, of course, abortion.

However, the amendment also allows Ohio to prohibit abortion after fetal viability-generally around 22 to 24 weeks-unless the mother's life or health is at risk.

According to the Ohio Ballot Board's language, it would create legal protections for individuals or entities assisting someone in obtaining reproductive medical treatment, including abortion.

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Questioning the Legitimacy of Ballot Language

The lawsuit contends that the language crafted by the board is factually inaccurate and twists the amendment's text and meaning, making it unlawful. They assert that the complex wording is part of a "deliberate attempt to mislead and sway Ohio voters."

Interestingly, Ohio law allows for "condensed text" on ballots to describe a constitutional amendment. Yet, the full text of Issue 1 is actually shorter than the summary endorsed by the board-194 words compared to the summary's 203 words.

The push for this constitutional amendment began after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

If Ohio voters approve Issue 1, Ohio would join several other states, including traditionally red ones, in protecting abortion rights.

A July poll indicates that 58% of likely Ohio voters support the amendment, which requires only a simple majority for approval.

As the November 7 deadline approaches, the lawsuit at the Ohio Supreme Court epitomizes the broader, ongoing struggle over reproductive rights, not just in Ohio but nationwide.

The court's ruling on the term "unborn child" in the abortion referendum will set a precedent that may influence similar cases for years to come.



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Photo: (Photo : Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash)

Tensions between Japan and China are soaring after a wave of online harassment directed at Japanese citizens and institutions following the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The outrage on China's heavily censored internet became palpable when Japan began the wastewater release last Thursday. Several videos on Chinese social media showed callers from China angrily confronting Japanese businesses over the phone, asking, "Why do you release nuclear-polluted water into the ocean?"

The mayor of Fukushima, Hiroshi Kohata, revealed that the city's town hall received around 200 harassment calls in just two days, many of which originated from China's country code. These calls targeted not just governmental buildings but also schools, restaurants, hotels, and inns across the city. Kohata urgently called for the government to be informed and to take immediate action.

Japan's Official Response

Japan's foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador, labeling these incidents extremely regrettable and worrisome. They urged the Chinese government to take "appropriate measures immediately" to prevent escalation and to correct any misinformation surrounding the wastewater release. Japanese institutions in China have also been harassed, raising concerns about the safety of Japanese residents and diplomatic missions in the country.

The release of the wastewater has led to increased hostility in China as well. A stone was thrown into the grounds of a Japanese school in Qingdao when the release began, and eggs were thrown at a Japanese school in Suzhou the following day. Although no children were hurt, these incidents have added to the fear and anxiety among the Japanese community in China.

China has responded defiantly. On Monday, the Chinese embassy in Japan accused Tokyo of causing "unpredictable harm" to human and marine health while also claiming that it had received harassment calls from Japanese numbers. When asked about measures to curb the harassment, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that China has always protected the safety and lawful interests of foreign nationals according to the law.

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Economic Repercussions and Wider Boycotts

The situation has also had economic implications, with China announcing a ban on all seafood imports from Japan. On Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, calls for a broader boycott of Japanese products are circulating, including lists of brands ranging from cosmetics to food and beverages.

Some analysts outside China suggest that the backlash might be more politically motivated than scientifically grounded. Yasuhiro Matsuda, a professor of international politics at the University of Tokyo, noted that the release isn't a strategically important issue for China and may instead be an attempt to gain political leverage.

This latest episode is another hiccup in the often tumultuous relationship between China and Japan. The escalation comes at a time when both countries are grappling with various internal challenges, including economic pressures and the aftermath of the pandemic.

As the bilateral relationship undergoes another period of strain, the international community watches closely, concerned about the escalating tensions and potential for further conflict between two of Asia's most powerful nations.

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EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said Ukraine needs predictable and reliable assistance for military equipment, and proposed the establishment of a special fund of EUR 5 billion a year for this until 2027.

"I proposed a Ukrainian assistance fund for the period 2024-2027 to ensure the sustainability of our military assistance. This fund that will be linked to the European Peace Facility, should be a core element of our long-term contribution to the security for Ukraine, as European leaders agreed it in June," Borrell said at a press conference in Toledo on Wednesday following an informal EU Council at the level of defense ministers.

"The proposed fund will amount to EUR 5 billion every year. This should be the ceiling, not the spending target," the head of EU diplomacy said.

He said these funds are intended for planning EU military assistance to Ukraine in the medium term. According to him, the defense ministers have now taken up this issue. On Thursday, August 31, it will be discussed by the foreign ministers at their informal meeting, also in Toledo.

"And I hope that the agreement could be reached as soon as possible. I hope this will happen before the end of the year," the head of European diplomacy said.
As a young man, I served a two-year mission (1972-1974) in German-speaking Switzerland, where a temple has been located (in Zollikofen, just outside of the Swiss federal capital of Bern) since its dedication by President David O. McKay in September of 1955. Once, while I was serving in mission headquarters in Zurich at the end of my time there, I browsed through some of the materials relating to the announcement and construction of the temple.

There was, as there very commonly is, opposition to the building of the temple in Switzerland. I recall looking at one image  I cant recall whether it was published in a newspaper or as part of an opposition leaflet  that purported to show what the temple would look like when constructed, superimposed upon a photograph of the actual site.

It wasnt even remotely accurate. The temple shown was actually the Salt Lake Temple, which is quite unlike the temple in Zollikofen. Moreover, the superimposed image was of a building that was at least four or five times the size of the actual Salt Lake Temple  thus making its center eastern spire somewhere between one thousand and thirteen hundred feet high.

In large and very lurid letters adjacent to the image  photoshopped before photoshop was a thing  the publisher of the document demanded to know Do you want this in your neighborhood?

Well, of course, nobody would want such a monstrosity in his or her neighborhood! No sane person could possibly desire such a thing. So massive an object would probably alter the weather patterns and affect local gravity!

I couldnt help being reminded of that disingenuous old piece of propaganda when, looking this morning at the latest developments on the Facebook page of the group calling itself Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods.

I saw a nighttime image, first, of the pristine area in which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proposes to build the Cody Wyoming Temple on land that was donated to it for that purpose. That land, the critics say, should be left just as God created it  and God evidently created it zoned residential, with a dry gulch to the south, houses to the east and west, and, on the north, such natural features as a Hampton Inn and Suites, a Walmart Super Center, a Tractor Supply Company, Cassies Steakhouse, and Bubbas Bar-B-Que. (See https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/cody-wyoming-temple/aerial/.)

Then, someone offered up the same nighttime image again, but this time a temple had been photoshopped onto it. And not just any temple. No, in order to give an idea of what the Cody Wyoming Temple will look like when completed, the helpful photoshopper imposed an image of the Draper Utah Temple upon that rustic, unspoiled Wyoming scene. Thats the Draper Utah Temple, whose 58,300 square feet will make it roughly six times the size of the 9,950-square foot Cody Wyoming Temple. A valid and fair comparison, dont you think?

One other thought: Some  including some members of the Church  have wondered why the Church persists in seeking to construct a temple where at least some local residents oppose it. (From my vantage point, certainly, there is no way to determine whether the opponents represent a majority of the population of Cody or merely a vocal minority, perhaps even of a particular housing tract. There have been, so far as Im aware, no credible surveys or polls that would answer that question.)

Im not privy to whatever discussions of this matter might be occurring at the highest levels of Church leadership, but I can hypothesize the following:

Virtually every time we propose to erect a temple, there is opposition. As Brigham Young famously put it,

We completed a temple in Kirtland and in Nauvoo; and did we not hear the bells of hell toll at the time we were building them? They did, every week and every day . . . Do not pay tithing, unless you want to; do not help to build this Temple unless you want to; do not put forth your hands to one days work, unless you want to . . . If you grudgingly put forth your means to help to gather the Saints, it will be a curse to you; it will mildew, and every effort you make will wither in your possession . . . if you wish this Temple built, go to work and do all you can this season. Some say, I do not like to do it, for we never began to build a Temple without the bells of hell begining to ring. I want to hear them ring again. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:355-356)

If we were to capitulate to such opposition in every case, we would never build a temple. Nowhere. Not anywhere.

Now, are there potentially legitimate issues to be worked out? Can plans for lighting be modified, for example? Might the steeple be lowered? Certainly. And such compromises have been effected with regard to numerous temples in the past.

However, the Sixth Fleet of the United States Navy used to deliberately sail through the claimed territorial waters of Libya in order to demonstrate its right and its capacity to do so. (Libya claimed sovereignty over coastal waters extending two hundred miles into the Mediterranean  a claim that no other nation accepted.) Its not a precise parallel, but there is something to it: To acquiesce in an illegitimate claim is to grant it a kind of legitimacy, which will only grow with more cases of acquiescence and the passage of time. To cave in before opposition is to embolden and encourage opposition. Where there are legitimate issues, we should seek accommodation. Where the issues arent legitimate  where, for instance, they involve implicit or explicit religious bigotry (as some, at least, of the arguments against the Cody Wyoming Temple plainly do)  we should not, we cannot, surrender. Rights that go undefended are rights that will be difficult to reclaim.

Ive posted six prior comments here about the controversy that has been generated against the proposed Cody Wyoming Temple. (See, in chronological order, A small tempest about a small temple in Cody, In the world after the Fall, Once More, on the Conflict in Cody. An Update on the Continuing Crisis in Cody, Wyoming, Peggy Brown, Dale Brown, and the Cody Wyoming Temple, and My Last Comment on the Temple in Cody? (Probably Not). This is my seventh comment. And I doubt that there will be a great many more.
[see book and purchase information]

Francisco Tourinho is a Brazilian Calvinist apologist. He described his theological credentials on my Facebook page:

I have the respect of the academic community for my articles published in peer review magazines, translation of unpublished classical works into Portuguese and also the production of a book in the year 2019 with more than 2000 copies sold (with no marketing). In addition I have higher education in physical education from Piaui State University and theology from the Assemblies of God Biblical Institute, am currently working towards a Masters from Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary, and did post-graduate work at Dom Bosco Catholic University. Also, I am a professor in the Reformed Scholasticism discipline at the Jonathan Edwards Seminary in the postgraduate course in Philosophical Theology. [edited slightly for more flowing English]

My previous replies:

Justification: A Catholic Perspective (vs. Francisco Tourinho) [6-22-22]

Reply to Francisco Tourinho on Justification: Round 2 (Pt. 1) [+ Part 2] [+ Part 3] [7-19-22]

Biblical Justification: vs. Francisco Tourinho (Round 3, Pt. 1) [10-20-22]

Justification: vs. Francisco Tourinho (Round 3, Pt. 2) [8-23-23]

This is an ongoing debate, which we plan to make into a book, both in Portugese and English. I use Google Translate to render his Portugese text into English. Franciscos words will be in blue. Mine from my previous installment will be in green. I will try very hard to not cite my own past words much, for two reasons: 1) the sake of relative brevity, and 2) because the back-and-forth will be preserved in a more convenient and accessible way in the book (probably with some sort of handy numerical and index system).

In instances where I agree with Francisco, there is no reason to repeat his words again, either. Ill be responding to Franciscos current argument and noting if and when he misunderstood or overlooked something I think is important: in which case Ill sometimes have to cite my past words. I use RSV for all Bible passages (both mine and Franciscos) unless otherwise indicated.

At this stage of a very long, book-length debate, Im quite weary of repeated arguments and statements that I have already dealt with. Though its said that repetition is a good teacher, repeating a point doesnt make it any stronger than it was in the first place. I will only deal with fresh replies, for the sake of a better final product and the patience of our readers.

His current reply is entitled, Justificacao pela fe: perspectiva protestante (contra Armstrong): Rodada 3. Parte 3. [Justification by Faith: Protestant Perspective (Contra Armstrong): Round 3. Part 3.] (8-27-23). Note that he is replying only to Part 3 of my previous Round 2 reply. After I finish this counter-reply, the debate will be completed, by mutual agreement, except for brief closing statements. I get the (rather large) advantage of having the last word because Francisco chose the topic and wrote the first installment.

As regards justification beyond the initial instance, I have proven that with my 50 passages having to do with gaining salvation and entrance to heaven (in Part 1): all about works. Heaven and eschatological salvation constitute the ultimate absolution: so to speak, and works alongside faith play a key role in that. Moreover, an adult who gets baptized receives forgiveness of sins, regeneration, and justification (many biblical passages on that), or one might say, absolution after having decided to undertake the work / action of baptism:

I then provided eleven biblical prooftexts for the related aspect of baptismal regeneration, summarizing that baptism:

A) is a means from God of salvation (1, 2, 9-11)

B) regenerates and justifies us and raises us to a new life, just as Jesus was resurrected (2, 5-7, 10)

C) is Gods instrument to forgive our sins (1, 6)

D) washes away sins; cleanses us from them; thus is a means of sanctification (3)

E) is Gods means of us receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: which no unregenerate person could possess (1, 4, 8, 10-11)

F) brings about inclusion in the rank of saved souls (cf. Gal 3:27); membership in the Body of Christ (1, 8 ) G) causes us to be buried with Christ, and raised again [see B above] (5-6)

*

He states that, in adults, the action of wanting baptism is a work that absolves them.

It does so in the case of baptism by desire.

Certainly, in this context employed, the proposition is false. If wanting to be baptized already absolves, then baptism would become unnecessary to cleanse us from sin.

Its an exception to the rule. Such an exception doesnt disprove the rule or norm.

Francisco then (again, sadly) chose to not directly address my prooftexts for baptismal regeneration, which is a violation of our agreement to make point-by-point replies (I wont cite it again). He even chose not to reply to my summary of the passages (seen above, with the lettering):

Mr. Armstrong brought a series of biblical verses that I believe it is redundant to comment them one by one. The comments I have made cover all of them, . . .

Sorry; that wont do. Its evading the opponents argument: and directly from Holy Scripture at that. Protestants demand biblical proofs, and then when they are provided, Protestants  oddly enough, given their own stated great love for the Bible, supposedly far greater than ours  so often simply ignore them. This is most unimpressive, to put it mildly. Baptism, biblically speaking, simply cannot be separated from the issue of justification. And that fact doesnt go away when someone refuses to address the relevant inspired biblical passages.

Second: if baptism cleanses, it is also a fact that baptism is not a human work, but only a divine one. Baptism absolves sin without the concurrence of human faith, therefore apart from good works.

This is true only in the case of infant baptism; not adult baptism, which is the model directly referred to (with many examples) in the New Testament.

Francisco cites St. Augustine three times concerning the necessity of baptism for infants (from Against Julian). Augustine, however, took an excessively strict view of infant baptism, which was not followed by the Catholic Church. No Church father is infallible (i.e., they can be wrong on some matters). Protestants certainly agree with that principle. I recently dealt with this in reply to Francisco and a friend, in my article, Fate of Unbaptized Infants, Dogma, & Infallibility (8-11-23). St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa theologiae III q. 64 a. 7), on the other hand, wrote that God did not bind His power to the sacraments, so as to be unable to bestow the sacramental effect without conferring the sacrament . . .

Accordingly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states (#1257, first two instances are my italics; the third instance was in the original): Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. . . . God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.

Now, [if?] it is a fact that baptism saves a child regardless of any good work the child has done, why is it so difficult for a Roman Catholic to understand justification by faith alone without mention of any good work as the cause of salvation, when you are readily open to accepting baptism that saves without any good works?

Again, we agree that initial justification is salvific, but after the age of reason a man cooperates in justification / sanctification. An adult convert who agrees to get baptized is performing a work by consenting. Whether baptism is a work or not, the Bible says it is required for regeneration and justification, and provides many additional gifts and blessings.

But my opponent wont address the relevant verses. Why not? is my question to him, and to our readers. If someone wants to be a Bible person and be guided by Holy Scripture, they shouldnt be scared of it, or scared to exegete any part of it. I say, the more Bible the better. It all supports the Catholic position, so I, for one, am not scared of the Bible at all. I want to immerse myself in it; soak my thought in it. That can only be a good thing.

In that same dispute, I put the following argument:

But I continue: I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; but he who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 18:14 We see the publican coming down already justified, and the Pharisee thinking he could justify himself by his own works, without succeeding.

Mr. Armstrong said that this text deals with initial justification. I disagree with this approach, because the initial justification is the beginning of the justification, therefore, it is not the whole justification. The distinction between early and later justification is only didactic, so that if St. Luke says that the publican went down justified, then he was not only initially justified, but fully justified.

That doesnt follow. Simply saying he was justified doesnt mean that it was for all time, and could not be lost. Many biblical texts show that it can be lost, and that it is an ongoing process. So they have to be dealt with.

Francisco did at least, however, decide to bless us with a direct response to seven verses I produced that tie[d] in sanctification with justification and/or salvation:

Acts 26:18 to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. [Phillips: made holy by their faith in me]

There is a relationship between justification and sanctification, obviously, Ive never denied that, thats not the point, but if sanctification through good works justifies us, the text doesnt even address that.

Well, it does, in stating, sanctified by faith  since Protestants claim that we are justified by faith. Thus, it ties sanctification and forgiveness of sins, through faith, together in a way that is consistent with infused justification, not imparted, extrinsic justification. But as so often, Francisco only provides a cursory, inadequate response to the Catholic implications raised by the text. Its almost as if he is reluctant to do comparative exegesis.

Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.

I dont know what this text proves.

Francisco appears unable (or unwilling) to get out of his own Reformed epistemological bubble and try to conceptualize a text in the way that others see it (which is what any exegetical debate entails), and to grapple with it accordingly. Its not complicated. The text directly connects sanctification to eternal life, as its very end. This is utterly contrary to Protestant thinking, which makes eternal life contingent on imputed, declared justification, but not sanctification, which in the final analysis is regarded as optional in terms of it not having anything directly to do with salvation and attainment of haven. Thus, this is a classic Catholic verse, and as is usually the case, the Protestant confronted with it simply refuses to engage it and explain it in a way consistent with their own theology.

1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

It seems clear to me that justification is not the same as sanctification in this text, unless the apostle is using some rhetorical device. Is this text, according to Roman Catholic belief, about initial or later justification? Showing that there is a relationship between justification and sanctification does not prove that sanctification is justification.

*

Fernand Prat, S.J., in his two-volume book, The Theology of Saint Paul (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Bookshop, 1952; translated from the 11th French edition by John L. Stoddard) comments on this verse as follows:

Justification is . . . an act which confers the supernatural life. It alternates with regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, which are the fruit of baptism [Titus 3:5-7]. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of life [Rom 8:2], . . . * [W]e can very well establish a difference in definition and concept between justification and sanctification, but we cannot separate them, nor consider as separated these two inseparable things. . . . * Now this new man is created according to God in justice and sanctification [Eph 4:24: put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness]. Justice and sanctity, therefore, are two equivalent notions; so much so, that St Paul does not fear to reverse the order, and to say that Christ has become for us sanctification, justice, and redemption [1 Cor 1:30: our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; . .. * The unique moment of baptismal regeneration brings at the same time purification, sanctification, and justification [1 Cor 6:11], and this concluding gift is mentioned last to show that it is not merely a means of access to and, as it were, the vestibule of, the other two. * [Footnote: In regard to this text, Liddon [ Anglican ], with the approval of Sanday [ Anglican ] (The Epistle to the Romans, 1898, p. 38), writes that justification and sanctification can be distinguished by the scholar, as the arterial and the nervous systems are distinguished in the human body, but that in the living soul these are coincident and inseparable things.] (Vol. 1, 171-172) * It is in vain that excessively subtle exegetes labour to find a gradation in these three effects of the sacramental grace. It does not exist; but by placing sanctification between the other two fruits of baptism, St Paul shows that it is not posterior to them. (Vol. 2, 251)

The document Lumen Gentium from Vatican II stated:

The followers of Christ, called by God not in virtue of their works but by his design and grace, and justified in the Lord Jesus, have been made sons of God in baptism, the sacrament of faith, and partakers of the divine nature, and so are truly sanctified. They must therefore hold on to and perfect in their lives that sanctification which they have received from God. (40)

2 Thessalonians 2:13 . . . God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

In the next verse the apostle continues: For which he called you by our gospel, to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

*

That doesnt overcome my point in citing 2:13. If one is saved through sanctification, obviously it cant be separated from salvation.

*

The text shows that God elects, calls us to be saved through sanctification, that is, sanctification is a subordinate means of salvation.

*

The text doesnt claim that it is subordinate ; it simply states that were  saved, through sanctification. It couldnt be any more clear than it is. Yet Francisco attempts to wiggle out of the clear implications.

*

We were called to be saints, we were called to good works: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them Eph 2.10, not as causes of salvation, but as a consequence of it , for before we are created in Christ Jesus, that is, born again, regenerated, saved, to bring forth good fruit.

*

Initial justification and baptismal regeneration transform us and brings about good works, which are then part of our process of salvation, which they must be if we are  saved, through sanctification and if eternal life is the end of sanctification (Rom 6:22). All of these related passages have to be incorporated into an understanding of the scriptural meaning and nature and end of sanctification. Merely repeating Ephesians 2:8-10 endlessly doesnt solve the Protestants dilemma, which is highlighted by these passages that I brought to the table for discussion.

*

After such an encouraging trend of making some sort of reply (however weak) to four of my prooftexts, Francisco then reverts to his increasingly common tactic of ignoring the last three (violating our agreement to not pick-and-choose what we would reply to), by writing:

*

I dont know what these texts prove.

*

Here they are:

Hebrews 10:10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Hebrews 13:12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Of course what they all show (rather dramatically and definitively) is that sanctification is inextricably and organically connected to justification.

*

Pay close attention to the next point of contention. Notice how Mr. Armstrong simply did not respond to my argument.

*

He misses the high irony of just having ignored three of my relevant Bible verses and then accusing me of supposedly doing the same sort of thing. But its apples and oranges. I didnt respond because he was repeating himself again, and because I had already answered what he stated at this point, many times. He was simply doing the tired, timeworn, tedious, ultra-familiar Reformed talking points / playbook rhetoric and polemics and slogans schtick. I refuse to repeat my answers to what has already been dealt with. There is no point, and it bores readers, insults their intelligence, and taxes their patience. Hence I wrote:

*

We seem to be going round and round by this point. Again, Catholics agree as to initial justification. After that, we must cooperate with God and perform meritorious good works. The 50 passages about judgment prove that. Pauls exhortations to persevere and stand firm and to be vigilant show that its not a certainty or assured thing that we are saved. We must press on as he did.

*

He did choose to respond to the above response:

*

He says that the following texts deal only with an initial justification, lets see:

Luke 18:14 [his translation] I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; but he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Initial justification can be described as being justified just as we say of someone who got their license to drive a car for the first time: she got her license. But it has to be renewed (every four years in the US). So we get it more than once. We can also lose it due to drunk driving or excessive traffic violations (breaking of the law being similar to sins), and get it back again. In a past installment I wrote about the Bibles teaching that Abraham was justified more than once.

Romans 6:6-8 Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer serve sin. Because he who is dead is freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him;

Thats picture-perfect initial justification: from death to life.

Romans 8:10 [his translation] But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit lives because of righteousness.

This refers primarily to initial justification. The larger passage, however, refers to an ongoing nature of justification/sanctification, since Paul writes  in a remarkably unProtestant verse  that we will only be fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Rom 8:17). He goes on to talk about actual suffering in this life, in verses 18-23. Hes not merely referring to the death that we undergo in baptism (Rom 6:3-4).

Romans 5:19 [his translation] By the obedience of Christ we are made righteous

This doesnt work for Franciscos purposes. Romans 5:17-19 is about original sin, and then a parallel is made. I wrote about it in my 1996 book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism:

It seems unlikely, in light of the clear parallelism in verse 19 (made sinners . . . made righteous) that the righteousness is merely imputed, since all agree that original sin is actual. Likewise, verse 17 gives us a clue as to St. Pauls meaning, since it refers to a received abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness  phrases which are more in line with infused justification. (p. 46)

I noted in my article, Banzolis 45 Faith Alone Passages; My 200 Biblical Disproofs , that Paul wrote about justification by faith / belief without denying the place of good works in the overall equation five times in his epistle to the Romans (3:26, 30; 4:16; 5:1-2, 9). The same paper noted how he referred to initial justification seven times in the book (six of them from Romans 4: 4:3-4, 7; 4:5, 6, 9, 11-12, 22-24; 10:9-10). Moreover, Paul referred to justification by grace alone / rejection of salvation by works (Pelagianism) in Romans 3:22-24 and 11:6, and justification by faith rather than law (Rom 3:11; 4:13; 9:30-32).

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Paul refers to justification in part by works in Romans 1:17 and 4:2. St. Paul mentions working together with God (synergism: 8:28) and working to save ourselves (8:13) and working to save others (11:14; 15:17-18). He refers to faith and works / obedience of faith / keeping the commandments many times, too (1:5; 3:31; 6:17; 10:16; 14:23; 16:26), and baptismal regeneration (6:3-4). Paul is extremely Catholic; a quintessential Catholic.

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It makes no sense at all that texts dealing with a completed work only refer to the beginning of a work. The texts say that these men went down justified, were not partially justified, or began to justify themselves before God, no! The text is clear that he who died is justified, that is, he who is in Christ, dies with Christ, is justified. I do not deny that there is a sanctification, but that sanctification does not justify.

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My arguments above are strong, in my opinion.

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Second, Mr. Armstrong is simply silent on the main argument that has been made, the fact that Christ is in us, as Romans 8:10 says. If Christ is in us, all his merits, all his righteousness are in us. Mr Armstrong simply says that he does not deny this, but says that it forms only part of the beginning of justification. This does not proceed, for if it would mean that Christ would only be in us at the beginning of our justification, but this is not true, Christ is in us from now until eternity.

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Yes, He is in us (praise God) as long as we remain true to Him. But if we gravely sin (mortal sin: 1 Jn 5:16-17), we can separate ourselves from God. Several Bible passages teach this. 1 Samuel 11:6 states that the Spirit of God came upon Saul (KJV), but in 18:12 it also notes that the LORD . . . was departed from Saul (KJV). Hebrews 3:12 refers to departing from the living God (KJV). One cant depart from God if they were never ever with Him. 3:14 states that we are made partakers of Christ but there is a condition: if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end (KJV). Hebrews 6:4 refers to partakers of the Holy Ghost but also teaches that they can fall away (6:6, KJV; RSV: commit apostasy). We must follow biblical truth wherever it leads. I consistently offer far more biblical evidence for Catholicism than Francisco ever does for Calvinism.

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Lets go back to the text of Romans 6.6-8:  Because he who is dead is freed from sin. [his translation] Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him; The text says that whoever dies with Christ is justified, note well, he is not initially justified, but he is justified. Dying with Christ is equivalent to the act of conversion, and whoever is converted is also justified:

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Again, it can be referred to the same way. If I say, Joe was a visitor at the Grand Canyon in Arizona in 1965 there is no logical or grammatical exclusion of later possible visits. He was a visitor as of 1965. He may or may not have been a visitor at later dates. Likewise, I can say, I was a visitor at the Grand Canyon in 1977. That remains true even when I note that I visited it again (as I actually did) in 1978, 2006, and 2019. Analogously, the word justified by itself doesnt rule out losing said justification or regaining it back later. All of that has to be determined by taking into account all of the relevant passages. Franciscos irrelevant counter-proofs of Galatians 2:20 and 2 Corinthians 5:19 do not overcome what I have just shown.

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After this point of contention, we began to agree on many things; a rare moment, but it can be seen in Mr. Armstrongs response.

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Thats good, but doesnt surprise me at all. Ive always said that Protestants and Catholics, and specifically, Calvinists and Catholics, have a lot more in common than many on either side realize.

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In summary: we agree that the texts of Genesis do not present any good work as a justification for Abraham, this is very relevant.

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But James (2:21-24) does that, and the New Testament (being inspired) is an excellent commentator on the Old Testament. In my first reply I wrote:

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James 2:20-26 also refers back to Genesis 15:6, and gives an explicit interpretation of the Old Testament passage, by stating, and the scripture was fulfilled which says, . . . (2:23). The previous three verses were all about justification, faith, and works, all tied in together, and this is what James says fulfilled Genesis 15:6. The next verse then condemns Protestant soteriology by disagreeing the notion of faith alone in the clearest way imaginable.

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In the midst of these agreements, something caught my attention. Mr Armstrong said that after further reflection he decided to withdraw part of his argument which had been taken from another blog. . . .

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The honesty of Mr Armstrong is astonishing! Bravo ! I welcome the withdrawal of the argument, I will not refer to it from now on.

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Well, thanks! That was very kind of him to say. I would hope that all apologists (and all people whatsoever) would have the honesty to admit something they did or argued wrongly, and to retract, apologize, etc., as necessary. Ive never found it difficult to so, at least in the apologetics sense, because I want to always follow the truth, as best I can determine it.

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Francisco then cites at length my section where I argue that both faith and works can bring about justification . I offer ten Bible passages as proofs of this. I wont cite them again here, as Francisco already did.

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Mr Armstrong has made an excellent argument,

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Thanks!

yet I will show why it fails.

Why am I not surprised?!

Mr. Armstrong makes the connection between Psalms 106:30-31 [he mistakenly had 160], the text of Genesis 15:6 and several texts from Romans, Galatians and James that deal with justification by imputation. In Mr Armstrongs mind, if Phinehas, in Psalm 106, had righteousness imputed to him because of his good works, it follows that all texts dealing with imputation must be interpreted equally.

My point was not imputed righteousness, but the fact that works could reckoned as righteousness just as faith could be. This is not supposed to happen, according to Protestant theology!

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But this is not true. The connection that is made with Abraham is fallacious, for in Gen. 15:6 it says, And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. St. Paul, when dealing with this text, discards any work that Abraham had done to be justified. St. Paul interprets this text as follows:

Romans 4:2-7 [his translation and caps] For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS COUNTED UNTO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  Now to him that doeth any work, his reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, HIS FAITH IS COUNTED AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.  So also David pronounces blessed the man to whom GOD imputes RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHOUT WORKS, saying,  Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered.

St. Paul makes it clear that Abraham was not justified by any work, but by faith alone, for God reckons righteousness apart from works. St. Paul also takes Abrahams believing to be synonymous with faith, not works. Therefore, we discard such a connection. . . .

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Second, and now more important, as far as Rahab and Phinehas are concerned their works are not good works, Rahab lied and Phinehas committed murder.

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Rahab is included in the roster of the heroes of faith (Heb 11:31). Why? Its because she had given friendly welcome to the spies [in Jericho]. James says that she was justified by works because she received the messengers and sent them out another way (2:25). But alas, we have Francisco (contra the author of Hebrews and James) to tell us that the inspired revelation of the Bible is wrong about that, and that, in fact, her good works were not good works. As for me and my house we will choose biblical teaching rather than Franciscos, in cases where they conflict. Nothing personal against him!

King David committed murder, too, but it didnt stop God from making an eternal covenant with him, did it? Moses and Paul committed murder, and Peter denied Jesus. Yet they wrote much of the Bible. The righteous work of Phinehas, according to Psalm 106:30, was that he stood up and interposed, and the plague was stayed. But Francisco  oddly enough  tells us it wasnt a good work, so, I guess according to him, we are supposed to disbelieve inspired revelation and follow his counsel where they disagree. No way, Jose! I will never do such a thing!

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A just execution is not murder, anyway (and Francisco is indeed referring to and misinterpreting Numbers 25:7-8). Because of Phinehas good work, reckoned as righteousness, God made a covenant with him and his descendants, too (Num 25:10-13). Abel (Heb 11:4) and Noah (Heb 11:7) are also noted as ones who did works that were reckoned righteous by God.

According to Joshua 2[:3-7], Rahab lied to save the spies:

Then why is she praised in two NT books? Obviously the interpretation of what she did is a positive one. Catholic moral theology explains why. One is not always obliged to tell the truth in absolutely every situation. The classic example is when the Nazis in 1940 in occupied Europe came to someones door and asked if they were hiding Jews. If they were, and they lied and said no Catholic theology holds that this is not wrong; not a sin, and is praiseworthy. Thats why Rahab is regarded as a hero.

She is also an ancestor of David and is listed in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:5. She was also the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth. God blessed her offspring (which is how He blessed Abraham). But Francisco says no: she deserves none of that. She is only a prostitute and a liar, in his estimation. We must rip the three positive or neutral references to her out of the New Testament. Not me. I dont exclude any Bible verses unless they are determined by scholars to not be authentic passages, which case they are not part of the Bible; not inspired and inerrant.

I ask Mr. Armstrong: since when are lying and murder counted among the good works? What is the theological virtue in which they are framed?

And I answer: theyre not, and that what is in question here are neither acts of lying nor of murder, and these act are undeniably commended in the New Testament, and in the Old as well. Thats good enough for me. But Francisco has to get to work and makes his views line up with the Holy Bible (which is always good policy).

It was not the work that justified these men, but their faith alone, for the only thing virtuous in these events was faith, for works such as lying and murder cannot be considered virtuous in themselves to have a justifying power before God.

Thats simply not what the Bible teaches, as shown. Francisco is outrageously eisegeting. Rahab had faith, but what was reckoned to be righteous and praised was what she did (a work). I proved this above. Likewise, with Phinehas. Numbers 25:8 states that the plague was stayed from the people of Israel because of his killing of the man and the man (a just work of execution). God then uses that as His reason to make a covenant with him (Num 25:10-13). It cant possibly be classified as murder as a result.

This is terrible, inexplicable reasoning once again, and it borders on blasphemous because of its wanton disregard for plain (and repeated) biblical teaching. He must modify it, in order to hold to an inspired, inerrant revelation, which is what the Bible is. Or maybe Francisco denies its inspiration and inerrancy in parts that he cant bring himself to agree with? I sure hope not.

Now, if Rahab was justified by lying, then let us all lie a lot that we might all become holier and better men. It doesnt make any sense.

Mr. Armstrong used several times the distinction between works of law and works of charity, where works of law did not justify, but works of charity did. Considering that Phinehas and Rahab lived in the Old Testament, therefore, in the dispensation of the law, Phinehas specifically, as a priest, was under the law of Moses, I ask: in doing these works, were they fulfilling the law or not fulfilling the law? If they were fulfilling the law, then their works were works of the law, therefore they cannot justify, but if they were works of charity, then we must consider lying and murder as works of charity.

If thats what he believes, then he needs to tell us all how the Bible can praise her and make her out to be a hero. We can play word games all we like. In the end, the Bible says both were justified by the works they did, and that this was a good thing, not a bad.

Cardinal Newmans argument quoted by Armstrong makes no sense at all.

Well, thats a convenient way to get out of grappling with it, isnt it? But observant readers can and will see through it.

Lets not stop, because we must directly analyze the text of Psalms 106.30-31 [he again incorrectly lists it as 160]: So Phinehas arose and intervened, and the plague stopped. And it was counted to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever.

The work of Phinehas, like that of Rahab, was imputed to them out of justice, but not in consequence of any intrinsic merit of those works, as lying and murder cannot have an intrinsic merit, but owing to the faith which accompanied the act.

That would be moral madness and chaos. The Bible says that these acts were neither lying nor murder. Those words never appear, to my knowledge. There is no such thing as committing immorality, but with faith, so that God is sort of blindsided and renders His approval to murder or lying. I deny the premise!

The faith of these men made God count lying and murder as righteous works, not because of works, which are unrighteous in themselves, but because of faith alone. Lying and murder would have nothing to do with God if it werent for the faith of Phinehas and Rahab.

This is so outrageous that one wonders whether it is a self-parody. Could Francisco possibly be making such a morally absurd argument? Apparently so!

If lying and murder have nothing to do with God, neither can they justify us before God, so there is only faith left. . . . Faith made that unrighteous work righteous, no, the inherent righteousness of the work, therefore, righteousness was in faith alone.

Or there is confusion as to definitions and what is going on there in the first place. False Protestant doctrines unfortunately often have that effect on an otherwise cogent, sensible mind.

In other words, the text used as a proof for Roman Catholic doctrine is actually a proof for Protestant doctrine, for a work that is not righteous in itself, such as murder and lying, is declared righteous by God.

Yeah, thats Protestant doctrine alright. How sad.

Likewise we see the zeal of Elijah in killing the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18; 19:10, 14)

There is not the slightest hint in the text that God would have disapproved of this act.

and Mattathias in resisting the pagan reforms of Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Macc 2).

What he did was described as righteous anger (1 Macc 2:24) and also as follows:

1 Maccabees 2:48 They rescued the law out of the hands of the Gentiles and kings, and they never let the sinner gain the upper hand.

Again, I can find not the slightest hint that what he did was wrong. The Bible says that all Israel mourned for him with great lamentation (2:69). Francisco is whistling in the dark. Thats about the most charitable spin I can use to describe it.

It is important to note that Abraham lost faith in Genesis 16, and his wife even laughs at God in Genesis 18, which brings us to the need for a test of faith before men in Genesis 22.

I dont see that Abraham lost faith in Genesis 16. It was permitted for a concubine to bear a child in cases of infertility. Again, I see no hint of divine disapproval here, either. Did I miss something? The willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac wasnt before men, but before God. The angel of the LORD, speaking for God, or as God (both occur in Scripture) said about it: now I know that you fear God (Gen 22:12). No one else was around. If this was a way to impress men, it was pretty ineffective: alone on a mountaintop.

Francisco takes on St. Cardinal Newman (my long quote from him about justification from 1838):

Certainly, it does no good for Cardinal Newman to be a Protestant and defend Roman Catholicism.

Truth is truth. Newman had a lot of it in 1838; he had much more after 1845 when he became a Catholic.

The prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), even though he lost faith, never stopped being a son. The lost sheep (Luke 15.1-7) never stopped being a sheep, it is called a sheep, even when it is lost. Nor did the lost drachma lose its value when it was lost, but great was the joy when the owner found it (Luke 15.8-10). Before men a person can be lost, but before God it is impossible to lose the one he chose to be saved, for those whom he predestined, these he also called; and whom he called, these he also justified; and whom he justified, these he also glorified. Romans 8.30.

The actual elect cant be lost. No one disagrees with that. Our problem is that we cant be sure (from our fallible and limited human perspective) who is among the elect, and John Calvin agreed that we cant know that. A person who was saved and then fell away obviously wasnt one of the elect, by definition. Again, we dont know the future and dont know who will fall away. Only God knows.

If Abraham lost faith at some point, . . .

Where does it say in the Bible that he did so? And if it doesnt, where does this notion come from?

Well, if faith is an act of righteousness, then faith itself becomes a work, against all biblical theology that says that if it is by faith, it is no longer by works.

Initial faith or justification is not a work at all because it is monergistic, with God alone acting. Ive gone through the other stuff many times. Thank you, readers, for your longsuffering and patience.

I emphasize that I never denied the importance of good works.

We know that Protestants encourage good works, understood in their sense of sanctification (ultimately separate from salvation). Thats not the issue, because both parties (rightly understood) agree that far.

Bede himself explains that the big problem is antinomianism, that is, believing that we can live a depraved life supported by our belief in the name of Jesus, he says:

Although the Apostle Paul preached that we are justified by faith without works, those who understand by this that it does not matter whether they live evil lives or do evil and terrible things, as long as they believe in Christ, because salvation is through faith, have committed a big mistake. James here expounds how Pauls words are to be understood. Thats why he uses the example of Abraham, whom Paul also used as an example of faith, to show that the patriarch also performed good works in light of his faith. Therefore, it is wrong to interpret Paul in such a way as to suggest that it did not matter whether Abraham put his faith into practice or not. What Paul meant was that no one obtains the gift of justification based on merit derived from previously performed works, because the gift of justification comes from faith alone. (On the Epistle of St. James)

The Venerable Bede also wrote:

You must be pure and chaste in your minds, waiting for the Lord to come, for if someone is unable to please God now, it is certain that he will not receive the reward promised to the righteous when Christ comes again. (On 1 Peter)

This is infused justification and merit: both Catholic notions, and rejected by Protestants.

Francisco then makes many responses that are essentially repetitions of prior discussions in this very long debate. I am happy to let him have the last word with these, since very little is new. Therefore, I need not reply, having already done so.

Cardinal Newmans statements show how totally unaware Roman Catholics are of the significance of Christs work on the cross, as they seek self-righteousness when all our righteousness is in Christ.

This statement is its own refutation, and it sadly displays an anti-Catholic attitude that Francisco has avoided for the most part. In fact, St. Cardinal Newman stated (in one of my several citations of him):

[B]y Christs righteousness we are made righteous; made, not accounted merely. . . . In the original Greek the word means not merely made, but brought into a state of righteousness. . . . When, then, St. Paul says that we become righteous by Christs obedience, he is speaking of our actual state through Christ, of that internal nature, frame, or character, which Christ gives us, . . . Christs righteousness, which is given us, makes us righteous . . .

Francisco basically ignores almost all of the rich, in-depth arguments made by Cardinal Newman that I presented. Therefore, I am not obliged to interact with his mere summary statements and reiteration for the umpteenth time of Reformed talking-points. At length he came up with something new and fresh:

It must be remembered that this earthly perfection can remain with diverse desires and imperfections. It is said of Asa that his heart was perfect with God all his days (1 Kings 15:14), and yet he did not pull down the altars (2 Chronicles 15:17), and being sick in his feet, he put his trust in the physicians and not in the Lord (2 Chronicles 16:12).

Absolutely correct, as I have been saying.

If we can be just and perfect with imperfections and errors, it follows that perfection and justification are imputative, not transformative, for no one would be called perfect and wholly just if he had any imperfection in him. . . . this perfection does not mean a transformation, but if it can be called perfect and just to the detriment of having errors and imperfections, the only possible alternative is that this perfection and justice are imputed, not transformative.

That doesnt follow. All it proves is that we remain sinners, who struggle with concupiscence, and who fail to fully follow Gods commands and Jesus royal command: to love others as He loved us. None of this proves imputation. Rather, it demonstrates that its a process of transformation, not fully accomplished until the next life, where most of us will have to have our remaining sins removed in purgatory. 1 John notes the ideal of perfection in Christ, but at the same time notes that when we fall (which he assumes as a given), and confess and repent, God will graciously forgive and restore us.

We see Jobs own case, cited by the cardinal, who says that Job was perfect and upright, as an example of transformative justification, but forgets that Job himself said about himself:

Indeed, I know it to be so; for how can man be right with God? (Job 9.2).

To him, even if I were just, I would not answer him; before, I would ask my Judge for mercy  (Job 9.15).

What is man, that he should be pure? And what is born of a woman, to be fair? (Job 15.14).

Good point, and Catholics agree.

We can work on other examples cited by the cardinal, he cites the example of Moses saying: Moses was faithful in all the house of God. He cites Hebrews 3:5: Moses was faithful as a servant in all the house of God,

But he forgets that Moses was left outside the promised city because he transgressed the divine order: Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel, at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; for ye did not sanctify me in the midst of the children of Israel. Deuteronomy 32:51

Im sure cardinal Newman was aware that God didnt allow Moses to pass into the Promised land because he disobeyed Him at one point. But nice try . . .

Cardinal Newman cites the prophet Elijah as righteous, but forgets that Elijah was a fragile person like us. James 5:17, subject to the same passions, i.e. the same imperfections. Just but imperfect, as Luther would say: simul justus et peccator. Roman Catholic theology cannot explain these terms without falling into contradiction. The cardinal cites Zechariah as a righteous man, but forgets that he himself was punished by God for his lack of faith: Now you will be mute. He will not be able to speak until the day this happens, because he did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in the right time. Luke 1.20 The cardinal cites John the Baptist as an example of a just man, but forgets that John doubted what he himself said, that Christ was the Messiah (Luke 7:19), that is, he lacked faith.

Cardinal Newman was discussing whether the word righteous in all the instances he brought up was merely in an imparted sense, or whether it was actual, behavioral, infused righteousness. He never made an argument that any of the people he cites were sinless or absolutely perfect. Francisco misses his point, and just sees what he wants to see. So, for example, Newman wrote about merit in 1864, as a Catholic:

[O]f no one, (excepting the Blessed Virgin) are we able to say that he has lived without the commission of sin, nor has any one, (even the Blessed Virgin,) any merit at all in any one of his acts, except by virtue of the covenanted promise of God in Christ, who has condescended to give merit to that which has no merit taken apart from that promise, just as the signature on a Bank note makes a poor bit of paper worth 5 [pounds]. (Letter to John F. Perrin, 9 September 1864)

St. Cardinal Newman wrote about sanctification and this general subject matter in his Sermon 23, Grounds for Steadfastness in Our Religious Profession, 19 December 1841, while still an Anglican:

I am not at all denying the use of either of those arguments for religion which are external to us, or of the practice of drawing out our reasons into form; but still so it is, we go by external reasons, before we have, or so far as we have not, inward ones; and we rest upon our logical proofs only when we get perplexed with objections, or are in doubt, or otherwise troubled in mind; or, again, we betake ourselves to the external evidence, or to argumentative processes, not as a matter of personal interest, but from a desire to gaze upon Gods great work more intently, and to adore Gods wisdom more worthily. . . . But still it holds good, that a mans real reason for attachment to his own religious communion, why he believes it to be true, why he is eager in its defence, why he feels indignant at being invited to abandon it, is not any series of historical or philosophical arguments, not any thing merely beautiful in its system, or supernatural, but what it has done for him and others; his confidence in it as a means by which men may be brought nearer to God, and may become better and happier. . . . it is very difficult to draw out our reasons for our religious convictions, and that on many accounts. It is very painful to a man of devout mind to do so; for it implies, or even involves a steadfast and almost curious gaze at Gods wonder-working presence within and over him, from which he shrinks, as savouring of a high-minded and critical temper. And much more is it painful, not to say impossible, to put these reasons forth in explicit statements, because they are so very personal and private. Yet, as in order to the relief of his own perplexity, a religious man may at times try to ascertain them, so again for the service of others he will try, as best he may, to state them. (Sermons Bearing on Subjects of the Day [1831-1843 / 1869]; London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1902)

[T]the various examples cited reveal to us people considered righteous and perfect before God, but who fell into sins, that is, they were not perfect.

We totally agree. Much ado about nothing . . .

Roman theology divides Scripture and observes only what suits it. Observe the perfection of the character, without observing the imperfection of the character.

If Catholics supposedly ignore sin, why is it that we require confession for mortal sin and teach that if one fails to do so, his salvation itself is in danger, and he is separated from God and His grace? How does that fit in with this caricature that Francisco attempts to construct? Nothing is more concerned with sin than the Catholic Church. Its for this reason that we are so often maligned as having all these burdensome rules for conduct. Its precisely because we always have sin and its resolution in mind.

I agree that we already have enough arguments for readers to judge for themselves.

Good! Thats why I am trying to keep this last reply of mine as short as I can, with a minimum of repetition.

[T]he Catholic position is that justification is ongoing, and can be by faith or by faith + works (where works are mentioned as the cause, while assuming the presence of faith also). So the order is irrelevant. As Jimmy Akin argued, in my citation of his work, Abraham was justified in Genesis 12, again in Genesis 15, and in Genesis 22, by works. Genesis 12 is really by faith and works together. God told him to leave his home and trust him for the future, and he did so (a work): So Abram went, as the LORD had told him (12:4). Then he built two altars to the Lord (good works again): 12:7-8.

We are looking at the St. James argument, not Jimmy Akins argument. It is a fact that Abrahams first act of faith is in Gen 12, but Saint James argues based on Gen 15 and Gen 22, and if we want to know what Saint James wants to teach, we must stick to these two texts, because, Saint James being a great connoisseur of the Scriptures, he could very well use Gn 12, but he did not want to do so, therefore, this chapter is irrelevant in this context of debate on the letter of Saint James, since Saint James does not quote it, although it is relevant for a debate that explores the text of Genesis itself, which is not the case. When Saint James cites Abrahams justifying work, he does not quote Genesis 12, but Gen 22. James could deal with other works, but he decides to deal with the moment when Abraham was going to kill his own son: Perhaps our father Abraham was not justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? James 2:21

I ask Mr. Armstrong, in what moral or theological virtue does murdering ones own child fit? None! That work is not inherently good to justify before God, it is declared righteous by faith, rather than being unrighteous in itself.

It wouldnt be murder if God commanded it. But as it turned out, it wasnt Gods will. It was a test to see how far Abrahams faith would extend. Abraham passed with flying colors! God the Father agreed to sacrifice His only Son. Was that murder too? Or suicide, since Jesus fully complied in laying down His life? Franciscos moral categories and moral theology are thoroughly confused and unbiblical.

The same applies to Rahab, who Saint James also cites as a liar justified by good works,

James never calls her a liar, nor does anyone else in the Bible, that I can find. If Im wrong, then Francisco can direct me to a Bible passage which actually states what he does.

but when we look for good works, we see that she was a liar, she had nothing of a good work, that is, it was not a good work in itself, but was declared righteous by the faith of Rahab.

This is untrue, but weve been through this discussion already. Francisco is merely repeating himself, as he has so often done in this debate. And as Ive noted many times: repetition doesnt make a weak argument any stronger than it was the first time it was expressed.

The two examples, as well as that of Phinehas (a murderer),

More of the same wholesale distortion of what the Bible teaches . . . I know that Protestants routinely ignore large portions of Scripture that contradict their theology, but I am truly surprised to see such a wanton, breathtaking disbelief in or rejection of clear scriptural teachings. This is not consistent with a reverence for Holy Scripture and the God Who inspired it.

Hebrews describes this as By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go (11:8), so it was faith and works. Abraham had the faith to believe God (faith), and he obeyed Him (a work). Genesis 15 describes justification by faith, and Genesis 22, justification by works. Both/and.

The syllogism does not follow. Where in the text of Hebrews does it refer to justification and where is it written that it was works that justified Abraham? We cannot extract from the text what is not in it, it is an eisegesis.

Its strongly implied in context. Hebrews 11 is about the heroes of the faith. Faith is described as leading to men receiving Gods divine approval (11:2), which sounds a lot like justification to me. Abel received approval as righteous (11:4). According to Francisco, that must be imputed justification; otherwise, he couldnt be called righteous. Yet now he tries to argue that Hebrews 11 has nothing to do with justification. Enoch is described as having pleased God (11:5). Noah became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith (11:7).

Then Abraham is mentioned. The overall thought is obviously the same as what came before. Works with regard to Abraham, are mentioned by the text asserting, By faith Abraham obeyed (11:8) and By faith he sojourned in the land of promise . . . (11:9) and By faith Abraham . . . offered up Isaac (11:17). The Bible also refers twice to the obedience of faith (Rom 1:5; 16:26) and twice to work of faith (1 Thess 1:3; 2 Thess 1:11). Works are always present where true faith exists.

It is the blood of the lamb that justifies, not the size of faith, not the size of works, not your individual efforts, your penances, self-inflicted sufferings, none of that, but only the blood of the lamb that delivers us from all judgment. God didnt ask who had great faith, who had many works, who was better and who was worse, he simply looked at the blood of the lamb, and the only way we can have the blood of the lamb on us is through faith.

No works at all, huh? Lets see what Holy Scripture has to say about that:

Matthew 7:19-21 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:27 For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done. Matthew 25:20-21 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more. His master said to him, `Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master. Matthew 25:34-36 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Luke 3:9 (+ Mt 3:10; 7:19) Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. John 5:28-29 . . . the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. Romans 2:6-7, 10, 12 For he will render to every man according to his works:[7] To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life; . . . [10] but glory and honour and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. . . . [12] All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. [13] For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body. Hebrews 6:7-8 For land which has drunk the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed; its end is to be burned. 1 Peter 1:17 . . . who judges each one impartially according to his deeds . . . Revelation 2:5 Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Revelation 2:23 . . . I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. Revelation 20:12-13 . . . And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. [13] . . . and all were judged by what they had done. Revelation 22:12 Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done.

The Roman Catholic is totally unaware of what this grace is, this rest in the blood of the lamb.

Right. What arrogance; what ignorance! But we must be patient with the ignorant (as less culpable) and those who are slow to understand. So I carry on.

they do not believe that only a drop of the blood of Christ frees us from all guilt.

If we are free from all guilt as a result of one act of justification for all time, why is it that the following passage is in the Bible?:

1 John 1:8-9 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will [i.e., in the future] forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (cf. 2:1-2)

John, in the verse immediately preceding, had just written that the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. Yes, of course it does, but we have to learn how this forgiveness is appropriated to us. John explains it in the next two verses. Its an ongoing process, precisely as Catholicism also teaches, in harmony with Holy Scripture.

The text [Heb 11:31] cites the work as a consequence of faith, not as a source of justification.

I was commenting under James 2:24-25, where it does indeed say that. I referred to when the Bible (as opposed to only the book of Hebrews) described Rahabs justification, and mentions works. And so it does.

Francisco brings up the works of the law issue again (which involves the New Perspective on Paul). Ive already explained that. Briefly, though: Romans 2:13 doesnt involve Pauls specific use of the phrase works of the law, so there is no contradiction whatsoever between this text and James 2:21, in the Catholic understanding.

Mr Armstrong misinterpreted what I said. He did not say that the two events are the same, but that the first text in which justification by faith is mentioned is in Genesis 15. It is one thing when it occurred, another is when the term appears in Scripture.

Whether Paul uses the term justification for Genesis 12 or not, does not determine what is being described in Genesis 12. This is an important factor to consider. Francisco uses an argument from silence, which never holds any water. The argument about Abraham and justification is a deductive one, incorporating systematic theology. It doesnt only look for the words, justification or justified. As Francisco well knows, the word Trinity isnt in the Bible, either. It doesnt follow that the doctrine is absent.

So, getting past these irrelevancies and minutiae about words, what does Genesis 12 teach about Abrahams justification? Well, God says to him, I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great . . . by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves (12:2-3). Does Francisco wish to argue that God said all this about and to an unregenerate, unjustified, totally depraved heathen? That makes no sense. Jimmy Akin wrote in 1996 concerning Genesis 12:

Every Protestant will passionately agree that the subject of Hebrews 11 is saving faiththe kind that pleases God and wins his approval (Heb. 11:2, 6)so we know that Abraham had saving faith according to Hebrews 11. But when did he have this faith? The passage tells us: Abraham had it when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive . . .  The problem for the once-for-all view of justification is that is that the call of Abraham to leave Haran is recorded in Genesis 12:1-4three chapters before he is justified in 15:6. We therefore know that Abraham was justified well before (in fact, years before) he was justified in Gen. 15:6. But if Abraham had saving faith back in Genesis 12, then he was justified back in Genesis 12. Yet Paul clearly tells us that he was also justified in Genesis 15. So justification must be more than just a once-for-all event. Abraham also received justification afterward Gen 15:6, for the book of James tells us [so; James 2:21-23]

What I said was that due to the fact that the term appeared for the first time in Gen 15, this was the text chosen by St. Paul.

Yes, but this has no impact on the dispute at hand, because concepts are present in texts as well as words. The question is whether Genesis 12 describes a justified man who possesses faith or not. I say it clearly does do so. Therefore, Abraham must have been justified by then.

The point is that Jimmy Akin errs in wanting to extract the teachings of Genesis better than the apostle Paul.

Hes simply grappling in a straightforward manner with the texts, and applying logic and common sense to his exegesis, in light of what we can learn from cross-referencing.

By including the text of Genesis 12, apologist Jimmy Akin can broaden the Genesis debate, but he cannot include in the apostle Pauls exegesis a text that he did not quote, and still draw Pauline conclusions from it.

He didnt try to. His article wasnt about Pauline exegesis, but rather, the exegesis of Abrahamic texts in relation to the issue of justification.

Nor does it speak in favor of Mr. Armstrong if scripture reveals several moments of justification in Abrahams life, because, at no time, works appear as a source of this justification. . . . Mr. Armstrong describes Abrahams whole life, his travels, trying to demonstrate that works were justifying Abraham, but as is well known, every time the theme of justification comes up, it is only faith, never works. Where, Mr. Armstrong, is the text, not a single text, in the book of Genesis that associates any work with justification?

This is incorrect. In Genesis 12, Abraham was obedient and went, as the LORD told him (12:4). That was a good work of obedience, and as a result, God blessed him greatly (12:2-3). Faith is never mentioned in the chapter. I would say that Abraham clearly exercised it when he obeyed Gods instructions. But it seems to me that if the point of the narrative (as Francisco claims) is to highlight faith as opposed to works, its odd that Abrahams work is mentioned and commended, but not his faith.

In Genesis 15:6 Abraham was justified as a result of having believed the Lord. Akin believes that, so do I, and so does the Catholic Church. Justification doesnt appear there, but it does in Romans 4, where Paul offers an extensive interpretation of Genesis 15:6. Just as Paul does, so does James offer an authoritative interpretation of the events recorded in Genesis 22. Abraham was in the process of performing another work of obedience (sacrificing his son, per Gods command).

Francisco says at no time, works appear as a source of this justification. But the Bible states in context (God speaking through the angel of the LORD), because you have done this . . . I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants . . . because you have obeyed my voice (Gen 22:16-18). Thus, its firmly established in Genesis 22 that it was a work of Abraham that brought about Gods renewed covenant with him.

Knowing this, James simply called it what it was:, using different but conceptually equivalent terminology Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? (James 2:21). James  take note  doesnt deny that Abraham also had faith, which was part of his justification as well (2:18, 20, 22-24, 26). We already knew Abraham was justified by a work in Genesis 22 because God rewarded him for something he had done and because he obeyed him.

Also, God reiterates that works are central to Abrahams justification (and anyones)  without faith or belief being mentioned  in Genesis 18:

Genesis 18:17-19 The LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, [18] seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by him? [19] No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice; so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.

God repeats the same sort of thing again, in speaking to Isaac:

Genesis 26:3-5 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. [4] I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves: [5] because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Its interesting that Genesis never mentions the faith of Abraham (at least in terms of using that word), even though he is considered the exemplar and father of monotheistic faith. But it does mention plenty of his works. Nor does the entire Protestant Old Testament do so. But in the Deuterocanon it states:

1 Maccabees 2:52 Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness? 2 Maccabees 1:2 May God do good to you, and may he remember his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, his faithful servants.

The great faithfulness of Abraham is predominantly highlighted in the New Testament (Rom 4; Gal 3; Heb 11; Jas 2), which doesnt ignore the fact that works also played a key role in Abrahams justification.

But Francisco futilely tries to ignore all this and pretend that it doesnt exist, with his dismissive remark:

Whenever the term justification appears, it does not appear in conjunction with works. If the works do not appear, neither was it a process, but a didactic resource to teach us how to justify, by faith alone.

Not true at all, as I have just proven beyond all doubt.

Notice how embarrassing it is for Mr. Armstrong to try to find works as a source of justification in the book of Genesis.

Far from being supposedly embarrassing, I didnt have the slightest problem at all finding them, in the two out of three cases where they were central in Abrahams justification. If there is any embarrassment here, it would be in Franciscos case, having missed what was clearly there: which was highlighted and identified by yours truly. We all make mistakes and learn all the time. Nothing new there.

But the most important thing is admitting it and modifying our views, when the Bible requires it. Its when we ignore or reject what we have discovered in the Bible, that the trouble begins, and it only gets worse, the longer we allow it to continue. Francisco now knows more than he did before, and God will hold him accountable for it, particularly because he is teaching and influencing others, as I also am. Its no small thing. James states, Let not many of you become teachers, . . . for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness (3:1). Every apologist ought to have this verse next to his bed or above his computer, along with 1 Peter 3:15 and Jude 3.

If there are no works, where is the doctrine of Rome?

Good question! I just proved how there were, so the relevant question to be asked is actually, if there are works involved in justification [and salvation] where is the doctrine of Geneva and Wittenberg and Canterbury?

At all times there is only faith, this demonstrates Abrahams path of righteousness, walking from faith to faith, for the just shall live by faith, day by day, under the declaration of righteousness of the crucified Christ

This is incorrect as shown. I give Scripture and plausible exegesis; Francisco offers the usual Protestant slogans and talking-points, which amount to traditions of men, when Protestants are wrong about something. I trust our readers to know which approach is more compelling and effective in proving a point and arguing for a position.

Mr. Armstrong, to evade this objection, says that the word faith does not appear in Genesis, as if the Apostle Paul had erred in ascribing the act of believing to Abrahams faith and opposing it to any kind of good work.

Yes, because it isnt in the passages under consideration. But I also wrote above, regarding Genesis 12: Faith is never mentioned in the chapter. I would say that Abraham clearly exercised it when he obeyed Gods instructions. Catholics dont have to desperately resort to the old either/or dichotomous mentality.

It is true that I said that Abraham lost faith,

And he never showed us from Scripture (if I recall correctly) where it says that this happened.

. . . it would be more appropriate to say that Abraham weakened in faith.

Maybe, but where does it say that, either? Im not impressed by bald statements about something allegedly in the Bible, but not backed up by biblical proofs.

This has nothing to do with concubinage, but with not believing in the divine promise to grant her a son. Not only he, but also Sarah mocked the angel who announced to him the birth of Isaac, the son of old age.

Im not sure this is necessarily mocking. They simply found it implausible to believe that it could happen to a 100-year-old man and his ninety-year-old wife. Its a very common response from frail human beings, since miracles are so rare. Something very unusual, is, well, unusual, and we find that funny. When Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that she was pregnant, she naturally asked, How shall this be, since I have no husband? (Lk 1:34). That, too, was a very unusual childbirth event, just as it was for Abraham and Sarah.

Moses balked four times in response to God telling him to confront Pharaoh. He said, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh . . .? (Ex 3:11). Then he said, they will not believe me or listen to my voice (Ex 4:1). After God answered that, too, then Moses tried excuse #3: I am not eloquent . . . I am slow of speech and of tongue (Ex 4:10). Then it was excuse / attempted evasion #4: send, I pray, some other person (4:13). Then God got angry at him (4:14).

But in Genesis, the text (17:17-21) doesnt say that God became angry at Abraham, which stands to reason if Abraham was actually mocking God, as Francisco holds. He didnt get angry at Sarah, either. He simply said, Is anything too hard for the LORD? (18:11-15), just as He said to Job and his friends, and (in many ways) to Moses. Even Moses wasnt mocking God, but was simply afraid to do the momentous thing God told him to do (as virtually anyone would have been). Gods point was you can do anything with My help and power.

Hence there was a need of a test, to set forth and testify to the world that Abrahams faith was alive, that is, a justification before men.

The test wasnt because of this, I submit. It was simply another level of testing for a man whose faith was heroic and extraordinary, and Abraham passed the test and was rewarded for his being willing to do the inexplicable, heartrending work that God instructed him to do.

Mr. Armstrong failed to respond to a large part of my argument, claiming that he had already done so.

Yes, which is often the case, because my opponent keeps annoyingly repeating himself, and I refuse to subject our readers to tedium and the boredom of needless repetition.

As we will see later, this is not true, because now I will demonstrate that he did not even understand what I argued, not because of lack of intelligence, but because it is an argument and a truth of Scripture totally foreign to the religious experience of the Roman Catholic.

Right. Francisco forgets that I was a very committed evangelical Protestant for thirteen years. I was an apologist then, too (for nine years) and so I am familiar with most of the main outlines of Protestant theology and know the arguments well (not to mention, the past 33 years of debating Protestants). But if he wishes to delude himself by pretending that all of this (including religious experience) is foreign to me, no skin off of my back. It only helps my case all the more after I show that this assessment of what I know and have known is incorrect.

Francisco then wants to debate the meaning of 2 Corinthians 5:1: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

He denied the biblical text by saying that the apostle did not literally say that Christ was made sin, and then claim that Christ is without sin in any sense. Now, if it is not in any sense, then the apostle could not have made that statement in any sense, but he did. Blasphemy is the consequence of Roman Catholic teaching, for if they are consistent, they will have to assert that Christ inherently became a sinner, as I will prove below.

The point is that Christ does not become a sinner by infusion, but by declaration. Thus, Christ also became accursed, not inherently, but declaratively: It was Christ who redeemed us from the curse of the law when he became a curse for us, for as it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. . Gal 3.13.

But if Christ was made a sin and a curse, as the texts clearly affirm, it could only have been by imputation of our sins and our curse, never by infusion, since Christ is most holy and cannot be turned into a sinner. Therefore, a sinner is justified before God because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him. Now, if anyone says that man is justified by infused righteousness, then, for the same reason, he must say that Christ was made sin and accursed by the infusion of sin, and that, yes, is blasphemy. It is a necessary conclusion of Roman Catholic teaching, which, of course, will deny its consequence, but not without loss of coherence.

Or the Catholic teaching about this passage is different altogether from these straw men that Francisco sets up and then pulverizes with misguided confidence. He quotes a bunch of Church fathers to back up his contentions. In some cases they may actually do so. But theyre not part of the Catholic magisterium. Nor do Protestants regard them as infallible and incapable of error. This debate is not on patristics or patrology. So I will pass on interacting with all of that.

As we can see, Mr. Armstrong will have to anathematize a lot of people for blasphemy, but not me, because Reformed theology rests solidly on the great theologians. Christ became sin and accursed without being inherently sinful and accursed, and this situation can only be explained by imputation.

The Roman Catholic must live with this trilemma, between denying the biblical teaching that Christ took our sins upon himself, being declared sinful and accursed (which Mr. Armstrong declared damned and sinful), or fall into the blasphemy of asserting that Christ became a sinner by infusion of sin (which Mr. Armstrong denies).

Two of the three propositions are denied by Mr. Armstrong, therefore, it remains that he must deny, if he is to remain consistent, that justification is by infusion and accept the Biblical teaching that justification is by imputation.

Thats how Francisco concludes his entire portion of the debate. Now I will again cite Fernand Prat, S.J., who will show that our view is none of the above; hence, neither myself, nor Catholics as a whole are caught in the jaws of a horrendous internal dilemma, as Francisco vainly imagines:

[T]he whole text awakens, not the idea of substitution, but that of solidarity. For, in order that Jesus may associate us with his death, it is essential that we should be wholly one with him at the moment when he dies for us. No doubt we are associated with the dying Christ only in an ideal way, as our representative, but his death is realized in us mystically through faith and baptism, . . . By a sublime condescension on the part of God, the Just One becomes sin, in order that sinners may become justice. Here again, there is, properly speaking, no substitution of persons, but solidarity of action. Sin is not transferred from men to Christ, but it proceeds from men to embrace Christ as the representative of human nature, just as the justice of God is not transferred from Christ to men, but proceeds from Christ to embrace men, when the later, by filial adoption, are clothed with the divine nature. This idea is more clearly expressed in the second sentence, for we become the justice of God only in Christ; that is to say, only in so far as we are united with him; but the two parts of the phrase are parallel and are intended mutually to explain each other. . . . Jesus is neither a sinner nor sin, personally, but as a member of a sinful family, with which he identifies himself. It is in the same sense that he is made a curse, like a branch of an accursed tree. Similarly, on account of our union with him who is justice itself, we participate in his justice. (Prat, ibid., Vol. 2, 203-205)

Navarre Bible Commentary adds:

According to the rite of atoning sacrifices (cf. Lev 4:24; 5:9; Num 19:9; Mic 6:7; Ps 40:7) the word sin, corresponding to the Hebrew asam, refers to the actual act of sacrifice or to the victim being offered. Therefore, this phrase means he made him a victim for sin or a sacrifice for sin. It should be remembered that in the Old Testament nothing unclean or blemished could be offered to God; the offering of an unblemished animal obtained Gods pardon for the transgression which one wanted to expiate. Since Jesus was the most perfect of victims offered for us, he made full atonement for all sins. In the Letter to the Hebrews, when comparing Christs sacrifice with that of the priests of the Old Testament, it is expressly stated that every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, then to wait until his enemies should be made a stool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (Heb 10:1114).

And Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, 2nd edition, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000) observes:

Paul adopts the idiom of the Greek OT, where sin is a shorthand expression for a Levitical sin offering (Lev 4:21; 5:12; 6:25). Isaiah uses this same language for the suffering Messiah, who was expected to make himself an offering for sin (Is 53:10).

I shall conclude by citing St. Thomas Aquinas:

God made Christ sinnot, indeed, in such sort that He had sin, but that He made Him a sacrifice for sin: even as it is written (Hos. 4:8): They shall eat the sins of My peoplethey, i.e. the priests, who by the law ate the sacrifices offered for sin. And in that way it is written (Is. 53:6) that the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all (i.e. He gave Him up to be a victim for the sins of all men); or He made Him sin (i.e. made Him to have the likeness of sinful flesh), as is written (Rom. 8:3), and this on account of the passible and mortal body He assumed. (Summa Theologica 3, q. 15, a. 1, ad 4)

***

Afterword (to be added to the debate when it is published as a book):

I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to Francisco Tourinho for an excellent, in-depth, educational debate, that I think will be helpful to many. He has won my respect in two ways:

1) He conducted himself as a Christian gentleman the whole time, and never denied my sincerity nor my status as a Christian, and he never argued that Catholicism was not a Christian belief-system.

There were no personal attacks, even though prior to the debate we initially got off to a rocky start, for which I bear my share of the blame as well, since I can be too provocative at times.

2) He has been the only Protestant apologist  bar none  who has been willing to go toe-to-toe with me in a debate for three full back-and-forth rounds, since 1995 when I engaged James White.

No other Protestant apologist / critic of Catholicism I have encountered has ever done that. This includes James White, who is widely considered the most able critic of Catholicism, and others such as Jason Engwer, the late Steve Hays, Dr. Eric Svendsen, James Swan, Turretinfan, and Brazilian apologist Lucas Banzoli, who made a few replies (with numerous personal insults) and then decided to stop engaging me months ago.

So I highly commend him for having the courage of his convictions (as shown also by the decision to publish this exchange in a book).

And I think he argued about as well as a Protestant can, in defense of their understanding of justification. Obviously, I think I prevailed in the debate (particularly in my copious citation of Holy Scripture), but he made his case well.

I hope we can have many more such cordial dialogues on other topics in the future, and I wish my new friend the very best in all his endeavors.

Addendum

Francisco also offered an Afterword. Unsurprisingly, he also claimed victory in the debate on a couple of fronts, but he was gracious enough to refer to a productive debate from which we both developed intellectually, and stated that I debated well and positively surprised him. Moreover, he observed that I used good arguments on several occasions, and confirmed myself as an excellent apologist and that he hopes to be able to dialogue more often on other subjects.

***

Practical Matters: Perhaps some of my 4,300+ free online articles (the most comprehensive one-stop Catholic apologetics site) or fifty-three books have helped you (by Gods grace) to decide to become Catholic or to return to the Church, or better understand some doctrines and why we believe them. Or you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. Im always in need of more funds: especially monthly support. The laborer is worthy of his wages (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a full-time Catholic apologist, and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog. PayPal donations are the easiest: just send to my email address: apologistdave@gmail.com. Youll see the term Catholic Used Book Service, which is my old side-business. To learn about the different methods of contributing, including 100% tax deduction, etc., see my page: About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong / Donation Information. Thanks a million from the bottom of my heart! ***

Summary: This is my final reply (3rd round, part 3) in a meaty debate on justification and comparative soteriology, with Brazilian Reformed Presbyterian apologist Francisco Tourinho.
The 2023 edition of the Ghana Business Standard Awards was held last Friday at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra.



The awards ceremony, which was on the theme Celebrating Organizations Committed to Remarkable Business Standards Geared towards Sustainable Growth in Ghana, is organized annually to celebrate organizations committed to remarkable business standards in their sectors and industry leaders breaking barriers of excellence across the Ghanaian business region.



Admission World Consult Limited, an educational consultancy company which is based in Accra with operations in Ghana and Nigeria won the category of the educational consultancy company of the year.



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Admission World Company Limited (AWCL) is an educational consultancy company based in Ghana with operations in Ghana and Nigeria. They are made up of professionals who have experienced foreign education and travels and possess as well the expertise, qualifications and experience to guide students who seek study route to achieve their dream careers.



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Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) has backed the Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) Chapter of TUTAG on its ongoing industrial action.



The groups claim the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Samuel Alnaa, is seeking to vary portions of their retirement benefits against the approval by the Ministry of Finance. They also alleged ambiguities in the Technical Universities Act (2026), Act 922 as amended.



TUTAG in a press statement signed by the General Secretary, Dr Abubakari Zakari said that they therefore issue this solidarity statement in support of the ongoing strike action by the Bolgatanga Technical University Chapter of TUTAG, and warn that any attempt to victimise members of the above Chapter, especially the leadership, will incur the displeasure of the entire membership of the union across the length and breadth of the country.



Dr. Abubkari Zakari noted that the Act establishing Technical Universities in Ghana clearly acknowledged the continuous service of staff of the then polytechnics who smoothly went through transition processes as required by law to becoming staff of the newly established Technical Universities



He indicated that Section 42 (6) of the Technical Universities Act 2016 (Act 922) as amended stated that A person in the employment of a polytechnic in existence immediately before the coming into force of this Act, shall be deemed to have been duly employed by the respective Technical University established under this Act on the terms and conditions attached to the post held by that person before the coming into force of this Act.



It is therefore mind-boggling and absurd for any individual or group of individuals, who by virtue of accrued rights, are currently occupying positions of authority in the Technical Universities, to attempt to vary the conditions of service of staff of the universities, he added.



The BTU branch of TUTAG and the Technical University Senior Administrators Association of Ghana (TUSAAG) declared an industrial action on August 25, 2023.





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Source: Prince Baffour Asamoah/Peace FM Newsroom









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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 Controller and Accountant Generals Department (CAGD) has frozen the August salaries of members of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) following their ongoing strike.



The action was an implementation of an earlier directive by the Ministry of Education to CAGD to freeze the salaries of the striking teachers for the month of August.



The President of CETAG, Prince Obeng-Himah, who confirmed the story to the Daily Graphic yesterday, said members of the association faced the reality when they visited their respective banks to withdraw their August salaries.



Yes, there is evidence that the non-validation has taken effect.



When people went to the bank, they were not paid for the month of August, he stated.



Mr Obeng-Himah, however, described the action as unlawful, especially where it deprived members of their economic rights as workers in the country.



Due process

The National Labour Commission (NLC), he said, had not pronounced the industrial action of CETAG as illegal because we followed due process and so it is not in the place of the Ministry of Education to arrogate to itself the powers of the NLC to make pronouncements or determination on the legitimacy or otherwise of strikes.



The inaction of the Ministry of Education should not be tolerated in our labour system because it has no legs to stand on, he insisted.



Mr Obeng-Himah maintained that the strike embarked upon by members of CETAG was legitimate.



He said the matter would be dealt with step by step and that CETAG would go to the NLC tomorrow to listen to what the commission would say on the stalemate.



If the NLCs ruling is not satisfactory, we are open to several options, including going to the Appeals Court or Supreme Court.



So, we are determined to follow through to ensure that justice is served tutors of the colleges of education, he emphasised.



Mr Obeng-Himah said the association had reported the issue in writing to the NLC and therefore expected the commission to address it.



Apart from the arrears and conditions of service, he said, the association also expected the NLCs directive to the government some months ago to be complied with.



We have the legal right and economic right and that the Ministry of Education needs the teachers and the teachers also need the ministry and so there should not be a situation like somebody is showing someone where power lies.



We want to maintain that the inaction of the Ministry of Education is completely lawless and unacceptable and the earlier if rescinds its decision and pay the withheld salaries of the tutors, the better for all of us, he said.



Members of CETAG embarked on an industrial strike from August 1, 2023, to impress upon the government to adhere to their negotiated conditions of service.



But the Ministry of Education last week directed CAGD not to process the August salaries and allowances of members of CETAG, who are currently on strike.



A letter dated August 21, 2023, and signed by the Director of Administration of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Saaka Sayiti, to the CAGD said: "Any arrears before August 2023 should be validated and paid".



We write at the instance of the Minister of Education, requesting you not to pay monthly salary and allowances for the month of August 2023 to the teaching staff of all the 46 colleges of education.



However, a statement dated July 10, 2023, and jointly signed by the President of CETAG, Prince Obeng-Himah, and the acting Secretary, Thomas Amponsah, said the industrial action followed the non-compliance of the government to implement the National Labour Commissions (NLC) Arbitral Award Orders and the negotiated conditions of service since May 2, 2023.



The leadership of CETAG wishes to serve notice of our intention to withdraw our services across the 46 public colleges of education effective Tuesday, August 1, 2023, if by Monday, July 31, 2023, the government has not implemented our negotiated allowances together with the one-off payment of one months basic salary based on CETAGs salary grade as compensation for additional duty performed in 2022 payable to tutors per NLCs Arbitral Award Order given on May 2, 2023, it said.



The decision of the association, it said, had been necessitated by the fact that from August 2021, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), representing our employer, deliberately prolonged its negotiations for new conditions of service for more than a year till the NLC intervened with a compulsory arbitration following CETAGs strike in January 2023.



At the end of the compulsory arbitration, the statement said the NLC issued its Arbitral Award Orders on May 2, 2023, granting CETAG members a new condition of service with effect from January 1, 2023.



Following the NLCs Compulsory Arbitral Award, the parties proceeded to sign off the negotiation agreement, which has been communicated to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) by FWSC since May 26, 2023, for approval and implementation.



Surprisingly, the MoF has refused to act on the FWSCs letter, together with the NLCs Arbitral Orders, in spite of letters we have written to the MoF requesting the immediate implementation of the negotiated agreement. Practically, CETAG members cannot continue to survive on expired 2020 CoS in this biting economy of Ghana, it said.



It cautioned that at the beginning of the 2023/2024 academic year, its members would no longer continue with what it called the killer all-year-round academic calendar being implemented in the public colleges of education even if members were given all the money in the world as compensation.



It said the practice was softly killing teachers and that leadership is, therefore, calling on stakeholders to adopt the in-out-out-in system to let all cohorts of students remain in school and complete the academic year together to enable tutors to take their inter-semester break.



After all, no law says all tertiary students should be accommodated on campus, he added.

What Others Are Reading

Source: graphiconline.com









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Mr. Akwasi Addai, the founder of the now-defunct United Progressive Party (UPP), has expressed a feeling of vindication following the destoolment of four chiefs by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II due to various violations of traditional norms.



In August 2022, Mr Addai popularly known as Odike, faced banishment from Kumasi by the Ashanti Traditional Council due to his statements linking certain chiefs to illegal mining activities. He alleged that they were either involved in or tolerated such activities.



Odike now interprets the recent actions taken by Otumfuo Osei Tutu as validation of his earlier claims. He remarked that these recent events substantiate his assertion that specific chiefs are contributing to environmental deterioration and water contamination through their engagement in illegal mining.



In an interview with Citi FM, Odike stated, Today, Otumfuo Osei Tutus actions buttress my initial assertion that it is the chiefs who are being used to destroy our environment through land degradation and water pollution." He reiterated that his concerns are firmly rooted in truth and his commitment to the nation's security and future.



Reflecting on his previous experiences, he noted, "Of course, I feel vindicated, and I am happy because they nearly killed me in my office in Kumasi, and it was all over, CNN captured everything. And today if I were to be in my grave it is exactly one year but the almighty God who always fought for goodness sent unseen forces to protect me."



Odike underscored his intention to return to Kumasi, where he plans to campaign for votes ahead of the 2024 general elections. Despite his party's ban by the Electoral Commission, he aims to lead the Union Government movement, which he intends to launch.



He emphasized that he is not offering any apologies and restated his stance on the role some chiefs have played or enabled in the challenges the nation faces.







Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A man in Uganda faces the death penalty after being charged with "aggravated homosexuality".



His lawyer told Reuters the 20-year-old was the first to be prosecuted for the offence under tough new anti-LGBTQ legislation signed into law in May.



According to the charge sheet, he is accused of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 41-year-old man, although no further details were given.



"Aggravated homosexuality" can involve sex with children or vulnerable people.



It can also be deemed aggravated if someone is forced to have same-sex relations, is infected with a life-long illness including HIV or in cases of serial offenders.



The East African nation has among the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world, and anyone convicted of engaging in homosexual acts faces life imprisonment.



The legislation has drawn widespread criticism outside the country and prompted the World Bank to halt loans to Uganda earlier this month.



Several people have been arrested this month for allegedly engaging in same-sex activity.



The man charged with aggravated homosexuality appeared in court on 18 August in the eastern city of Soroti, Jacquelyn Okui, spokesperson for the state prosecutors, told the AFP news agency.



She told Reuters he will remain in custody until his case is heard by the High Court, given it was a capital offence.



His lawyer, Justine Balya, told Reuters she felt Uganda's anti-gay laws were unconstitutional and were currently being challenged in court.



She gave no further details of the case, except to say it was the first aggravated homosexuality charge before the courts.



Uganda has not carried out an execution since 2005, but capital punishment has not been abolished.

Source: BBC









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As part of the strategy to eliminate ghost workers from the public sector payroll, the Controller and Account General has asked all public sector workers to enroll for the Ghana Card.



To make this possible, the National Identification Authority has dedicated a 10-day period for the registration of only public sector workers.



However, two days into the mandatory and free biometric registration of public workers without Ghana Card, patronage of the service has been completely low inspite of the large number of public sector employees without Ghana Card.



The National Identification Authority (NIA), in fulfillment of government's quest to rid its payroll of ghost names, started a mandatory Ghana Card registration for all public sector workers without the card on Monday, August 28, 2023 and the limited exercise which also includes the registration of first-time applicants above 15 years is expected to last for 10 days.



The special exercise follows a biometric audit conducted by the Controller and Accountant General Department in collaboration with the NIA last year which revealed that, out of 601000 public sector workers screened through their Ghana Card registration, the data of about 148060 did not match any data held by the NIA, raising serious issues of ghost-name fraud or double identities on government payroll.



However, inspite of the huge numbers, the designated centres for the registration of public sector workers without the Ghana Card have been deserted across the country and officials believe many people are not showing up because they are afraid of being exposed over ghost names and double identities due to stringent measures put in place by the Controller and Accountant General Department for registration of public sector workers.



"It is quiet obvious that if you are involved in ghost name scam or you have double identity, you cannot come here because you will be exposed. It is a reason they are deserting the centres," a registration supervisor in Accra confirmed the low patronage.



The registration of public sector workers forms part of an upcoming registration of first-time applicants from age 15 years and above and made possible by the supply of some 484000 new blanks cards to the NIA to enable it fulfil its mandate.



Public sector workers are required to present a copy of their July payslips alongside other mandatory documents such as abirth certificate, a valid Ghanaian passport or a certificate of citizenship to get registered and be issued with a Ghana Card.



NIA oficials and the CAGD have explained that the payslip is essential because the name on the payslip is exactly what will be used for the Ghana Card to ensure uniformity and easy verification and also expose ghost names and double identity on the payroll.



Public sector workers who fail to register for their Ghana Card, after this window, risk forfeiting their monthly salary as the Ghana Card registration is a key requirement following revelation that ghost names on government payroll are costing the government millions of cedis every month.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Two persons have been shot dead while several others were injured in a gunshot battle at Adoagyiri in the Eastern region.



Report says supporters of Barima Adu Korkor lll had arrived from Kyebi after the new chief swore the oath of allegiance to the Okyenhene Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin on Tuesday afternoon.



The team were having a procession closer to the Palace of Barima Adu Korkor lll when supporters of the rival chief Okoanadwo Afutu Dompreh accosted them in a gun battle and in the process Richard Asirifi was shot in the chest and died on the spot. The second person died on arrival at the hospital.



One of the deceased Richard Asirifi believed to be 30 years of age was a part of the entourage of the newly installed chief of Adoagyiri Barima Adu Korkor lll.



Information available indicates that Odehye Asirifi is a cousin of Barima Adu Korkor lll.



Several others were injured during the incident, including one Daniel Okyere, who is feared to have lost his right eye.



James Afekye and Emmanuel Adu also sustained various degrees of injuries and are on admission at the Nsawam government hospital.



This is the second person to have been shot and killed in two months in connection to the chieftaincy impasse in Adoagyiri.







Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak discussed with diplomats the implementation of Ukraine's Peace Formula, the press service of the Office of the President has said.

More than 70 representatives of foreign states took part on the seventh meeting on the issue dedicated to the Food Security item of the formula that took place in the territory of a bread company in Kyiv region. The enterprise was hit by one of Russia's missile attacks last year.

Yermak said that in Africa alone 32 countries depend on Ukrainian grain export. He thanked the partners for ensuring the operation of the grain corridor in the Black Sea and for their support for the Grain from Ukraine humanitarian initiative proposed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which is aimed at delivering grain to the most vulnerable African countries.

"We understand how important it is to help people on other countries that also suffer from the war and the same aggressor as the citizens of Ukraine," Yermak said.

He thanked the foreign diplomats for their active involvement in the working groups on each of the items of the Peace Formula. Yermak recalled that the working groups are preparing the framework documents on each item of the formula that will contain detailed steps for the restoration of fair and sustainable peace in Ukraine and will be universal for any country.

According to Yermak, joint developments of the working groups will be used as a basis for the upcoming third meeting at the level of national security advisors. The decisions developed during these consultations will be submitted for consideration to the heads of states and governments at the Global Peace Summit.
The Global Evangelical Church (GEC) has called for the proper and legal interpretations of the annual ban on drumming and noise making imposed by the Ga Traditional Council (GTC) during the Homowo festival.



It said that would not only prevent potential conflicts between the GTC and other religious communities, but also reinforce the principles of religious freedom and peaceful coexistence which underpinned the nation's ethos.



The Moderator of the GEC, Rt Rev. Prosper Samuel Dzomeku, who made the appeal, said it had come to the churchs attention that the practice sometimes led to conflicting interpretations and inconveniences among different religious communities which could potentially disrupt the nations harmony.



By seeking clarity and consensus on this matter, we can work together to ensure that the ban is observed in a manner that respects the rights and practices of all stakeholders, he stressed.



He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the GEC 2023 Synod held in Accra last Friday.



Synod

The Synod is the highest decision making body of the church made up of delegates from the 14 presbyteries in Ghana, one presbytery in Togo and international branches of the church.



Their mandate is to decide on various issues affecting the church including doctrine, administration and, most especially, the decline in membership.



This years synod is on the theme: Be Holy In All You Do (1 Peter 1:14-16).



Some dignitaries present included the Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, who is a member of the church; the Minister of Chieftaincy And Religious Affairs, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, and representatives of sister churches, other denominations and para-church organisations.



Rev. Dzomeku stressed that through open dialogue and collaboration, all parties could arrive at a solution that stroke a balance between preserving cultural heritage and upholding the rights and practices of all religious groups.



We respect and honour the rich cultural traditions of our nation so we believe your leadership and wisdom are instrumental in guiding us toward a resolution that respects the traditions of our past while embracing the diversity of our present, the Christian cleric added.



The Moderator also touched on other socially relevant topics including education, health, illegal mining (galamsey), agriculture, same sex marriage and related matters, economy, good governance, tradition, peace, security and the 2024 general election, among others. He, also, intimated to the government to employ best practices to advance the welfare of all citizens in those respects.



Agent, Reawakening

The Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, pledged to act as agent and carry their concerns to the President and ensure that all the issues raised were treated with a sense of urgency.



He also lauded the church for the many projects it had embarked on to better the lives of, not only members of the church, but also citizens across the country, promising to lobby the government on its behalf, to ensure that the church achieved greater feats.



The General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr Cyril Fayose, said the church needed a reawakening of the significance of holiness in the lives of Christians because the centre of gravity for Christianity had moved from the global north to the global south of which Ghana was a pivotal member.



The colour of Christianity in this century will be determined by the global south so what kind of Christianity are we selling to the world when our churches are filled to capacity, but our way of life is nothing to write home about? Rev. Fayose stressed.

Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The former Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema East constituency, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover, has said among all the flagbearer aspirants of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) considers Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia a great threat.



According to Mr Glover, Dr Bawumia is the only candidate who can help the NPP break the eight.



Mr Glover, who is lending his support to the Vice-President, explained that: Hes the candidate the NDC fears most, of all the 10, when you look around, when you scout around who is the most attacked candidate amongst the 10. It tells you something.



When NDC [set] their eyes on you, consistently attacking you, then you are the one that they fear the most.



He also stressed the involvement of Dr Bawumia, in the NPPs performance in the Northern Region, describing it as phenomenal.



This is somebody who has sacrificed so much for the country, Im not saying the others havent sacrificed but when you look at the individual contribution, look at the days of the Supreme Court...I think that he has done his best.



He added: He [Dr Bawumia] has defended this party, he has sacrificed for this party, he is the candidate that the NDC fears so much.



Mr Glover said these to the media over the weekend during the Super Delegates Conference on Saturday, 26 August 2023 in Ho.





Source: class fm









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A government spokesperson and staunch member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kofi Tonto has chided the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for presenting former president John Dramani Mahama as flagbearer considering his failure in elections.



According to him, the NDC has no integrity to chastise the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for voting overwhelmingly for Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who won with 626 votes in the partys super delegates conference.



He bemoaned why the NDC is presenting John Dramani Mahama, who has been denied by Ghanaians twice as flagbearer for the 2024 general elections.



Speaking on a panel discussion on TV3s new day on August 28, 2023, the government spokesperson reiterated that Dr. Bawumia cannot be compared with John Mahama because he has not lost any major election yet, while the former president has lost twice.



He said this when NDCs Edudzi Tamakloe asserted that if the NPP elects Dr. Bawumia as its flagbearer, it would be an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians.



You [Edudzi Tamakloe] sit here and talk about insulting the intelligence of Ghanaians. You elected a candidate who has been voted out twice by Ghanaians, John Dramani Mahama. What more is insulting than that? Dr. Bawumia has not contested for Ghanaians to pass judgment on him, but John Mahama has, twice. Ghanaians have said, we don't want him, but yet you have elected him.



I'm telling you that if that [NPP electing Dr. Bawumia is an insult to the intelligence of state] is the case, then they [NDC] did it first. Because in Mahama's case, he has been denied twice by Ghanaians. How do you present a man who has been denied twice that is more of an insult to Ghanaians? If you don't care to know, you [Edudzi Tamakloe] sit here and talk about it, he said.



Background



Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has emerged as the leading contender of the New Patriotic Party Super Delegates Conference.



Per the results, Dr Bawumia garnered 629 votes representing 68.15 percent of the total votes cast. The results are based on figures collated by 17 out 17 voting centres across the country.



Behind him is Assin Central lawmaker, Kennedy Agyapong who polled 132 votes representing 14.30 percent while Alan Kyerematen polled 95 votes representing 10.29 percent in the elections which took place on Saturday August 26, 2023.



Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto secured the fourth spot for the partys presidential primaries with 36 votes representing 3.90%.



Boakye Agyarko and Francis Addai-Nimoh tied in 5th position with 9 votes each representing 0.98%.



Other candidates who contested in the elections were Joe Ghartey with 4 votes, Kwadwo Poku with 3 votes, Kwabena Agyepong with 5 votes while Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku failed to secure a single vote.



The Super Delegates Conference is aimed at reducing the pool of contenders vying for the party's presidential candidacy in the upcoming 2024 general election.



Ten candidates from the NPP participated in the race, with the objective of selecting five candidates who will proceed to another round of voting in November this year



The final round will determine the substantive candidate of the NPP for the presidential election ahead of the 2024 general elections.





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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Ghanaian musician Nicholas Omane Acheampong has a rather unexpected viewpoint concerning the frequency of music releases and its impact on an artiste's longevity in the industry.



The Aporsor hitmaker asserted that the rapid release of songs could contribute to an artiste's decline in popularity over time.



Akyeampong, whose career spans over two decades, has witnessed the evolution of the music industry firsthand.



He shared his thoughts on the changing landscape of the industry and the pitfalls that some musicians fall into in a recent interview on Kingdom FM.



According to him, the current trend of churning out songs at a rapid pace in an attempt to maintain visibility can ultimately lead to burnout and creative stagnation.



He explained that while frequent releases of songs might garner attention in the short term, they could dilute an artiste's brand and artistic identity over time.



"When you release a song more often, you lose your relevance when you become quiet just a year.



My songs do not make too much noise on air but Im one of the most champions in the industry. This means that it is the number of music you record that will keep you relevant in the industry. Just a single song can keep you in the industry forever."



Akyeampong urged fellow musicians to focus on the craftsmanship of their music, ensuring that each release resonates deeply with the audience rather than just filling the airwaves.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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 UFC returns to France this Saturday, with hometown heavyweight contender Ciryl Gane set to take on the surging Sergey Spivak in the events headliner.

Moving down the rest of the card, you will find nine other bouts scheduled to take place. We are breaking down some of the biggest fights on the card and providing our three favorite bets.

Who: Ciryl Gane vs. Sergey Spivak

What: UFC Fight Night

When: Saturday, Sept. 2 at 3:00 p.m. ET

Where: Accor Arena, Paris, France

UFC Fight Night: 3 best bets

Below, you will find our top three favorite bets to make for UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Spivak:

**All of the odds seen below were provided by DraftKings Sportsbook on 8/31/23**

No. 2 ranked heavyweight contender Ciryl Gane is fighting in his own backyard, making his first appearance since being submitted in the opening round of his title bout against Jon Jones.

No. 7 ranked heavyweight Sergey Spivak is riding a three-fight finish streak that includes an opening-round submission win over Derrick Lewis in his last outing.

This is a classic striker versus grappler matchup on paper. Clearly, the oddsmakers believe Spivak is a worthy opponent for Gane who has fought nothing but the divisions best for the past three years.

We believe that Ganes striking and movement will keep Spivak on the outside for the majority of this fight. Gane was handled by Jones in his last fight, leading us to believe he has focused more on wrestling since then. Spivak has been finished twice in his UFC career (both via TKO), and we could see Gane stopping him with strikes or out-pointing him en route to a decision win.

A $20 wager at -166 odds will yield a $32.04 payout.

This co-main event is a very intriguing womens flyweight matchup. Manon Fiorot is a perfect 5-0 inside the octagon, with a pair of unanimous decision wins over top-10 opposition her last two times out.

She is taking on former two-time womens strawweight champ Rose Namajunas, who is coming off of a split-decision defeat to Carla Esparza in her most recent bout. Namajunas will be making her flyweight debut this Saturday.

Fiorot will have a slight height and reach advantage. Both women are elite strikers, but Fiorot is a three-time K-1 national champion. The pairs last five combined bouts have gone the distance, so were taking Fiorot to pick up a victory on the scorecards in her home nation.

A $20 wager at +130 odds will yield a $46.00 payout.

One prelim matchup that were really interested in is a welterweight bout between Switzerlands Ange Loosa and Northern Irelands Rhys McKee.

Loosa is 1-1 in the UFC, with a solid decision win over AJ Fletcher in August 2022. He has also gone the distance against quality opposition in Mounir Lazzez and Jack Della Maddalena.

McKee is 0-2 in the UFC and is beginning his second stint with the organization. He was released after losing to Khamzat Chimaev and Alex Morono. Since then, he has earned three-straight finishes under the Cage Warriors banner.

We like McKee. Losing to Chimaev in his octagon debut and Morono via decision in his second outing doesnt cause us to lose faith in him. At +150, we like McKee to earn a victory this Saturday as the underdog.

A $20 wager at +150 odds will yield a $50.00 payout.

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If you have a gambling problem and are located in Pennsylvania, call 1-800-GAMBLER or contact the 24-hour helpline chat at https://www.pacouncil.com/chatline.
A Delaware County woman has been charged for fatally stabbing her longtime boyfriend in the midst of an argument.

The incident took place late Monday, when an argument led to 35-year-old Beth Peterson stabbing the victim, 39-year-old Matthew Wilcox, in the chest with a steak knife.

When responding authorities arrived at the home, located on Blackthorne Lane in Aston, she told officers that she ruined her life by stabbing her boyfriend of eight years, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Officers found Wilcox lying on his back in the kitchen of his home with a stab wound to his chest. He was transported to Crozer-Chester Medical Center and died sometime after.

The steak knife used in the killing was found, discarded, in the kitchen sink nearby.

According to what Peterson told authorities during an interview, Wilcox had returned home drunk hours earlier, and she called his mother to come over to help mediate an argument between the two.

After Wilcoxs mother left, he attacked Peterson. Thats when she stabbed him with the steak knife, the Inquirer said.

Wilcoxs mother later corroborated parts of Petersons story, claiming that she often had to get in between the two to defuse their disputes, calling their relationship toxic. She also added that she had previously seen signs of physical abuse on her sons body, which she deduced had come from Peterson.

Wilcoxs mother also claimed she overheard Peterson say that she wished her son, was dead or got into a car accident.

However, his mother told authorities that she had never heard her son threaten Peterson or seen him attack her. She said on the night of the attack, she talked to her son about his alcohol abuse at Petersons request and even though her son was argumentative, Peterson did not appear to be frightened or worried for her safety.

Peterson has been charged with first- and third-degree murder, the Inquirer reported.

She remained in custody Tuesday and was denied bail.

Read More:
A 21-year-old man was arrested in Texas and extradited to Lancaster County after police say he was involved in the shooting of a 16-year-old girl at a motel in 2022.

The shooting took place on Oct. 5, 2022, around 1:30 p.m. at the Budget Host Inn at 2140 Lincoln Hwy East in East Lampeter Township. Someone fired through her second-floor motel door, and a bullet hit her in the leg, police said. The wound was not life-threatening.

Two masked men fired 15 rounds through the closed motel room door from the hallway, according to an affidavit. Police say the men used a semi-automatic handgun and revolver during the shooting.

The 16-year-old victim told investigators the two men, who are part of the 300 gang, thought the victim spoke to police about them when she did not, the affidavit says.

The girl also told police she got a call from someone 15 minutes before the shooting asking why Coco, who was identified by the victim as Jorge Santiago, was looking for her motel room number.

Police identified one of the two gunmen, known as Jugg, as Joseph Angel Rivera Jr., police say. A car seen in video surveillance before the shooting was registered to Rivera Jr., according to court documents.

Police also listened to several phone calls Rivera Jr. made to the Lancaster County Prison where Rivera Jr. said he was in Texas and mentioned he hit that [expletive] like he was seeing through the wall.

The identity of the second gunman was not released by police. No charges had been filed against a second suspect. It remains an active investigation, according to police.

Detective Andrew Garman filed the criminal complaint and Rivera Jr. has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 3.

Police say Rivera Jr., who is from Cuero, Texas, was arrested about 30 minutes away in Victoria, Texas, on July 21, 2023, and is currently in the Lancaster County Prison after he was unable to post his $500,000 bail.

Rivera Jr. was charged with two counts of criminal attempted homicide, carrying a firearm without a license and shooting a firearm into an occupied structure.

READ MORE:

Pair found dead on deck of Poconos home: police

1 person dead in attempted murder-suicide in Pa.: reports
Charleys Philly Steaks is adding a second stop in Cumberland County.

One of the Philadelphia cheesesteak shops is coming to the Walmart Supercenter at 6520 Carlisle Pike in Silver Spring Township.

Charleys specializes in cheesesteaks, loaded gourmet fries and all-natural lemonades. The first one opened in the mid-1980s at Ohio State University. Today, the chain has grown to more than 630 locations in 46 states and in 17 countries.

Partners Nehal Patel and Hemal Desai, both Mechanicsburg residents, said they couldnt turn down an opportunity to bring a Charleys to their neighborhood. They also operate Charleys at Walmarts in West Manchester Township, York County and in Butler and Washington, outside of Pittsburgh.

On this project, they are joined by partner, Dip Shah.

Other Charleys operate at the Capital City Mall in Lower Allen Township and Park City Mall in Lancaster County. Recently, the chain inked a deal to bring its food to hundreds of Walmarts nationwide.

Cheesesteaks include traditional Philly style as well as chicken, bacon and three cheese, chicken buffalo, chicken California and chicken teriyaki. Wings sell from six to 50 count with 10 sauces such as Buffalo, bold BBQ, Korean BBQ and Thai chili.

The restaurants also carry milkshakes, coffee and hot and cold tea.

Diners can order their food to go as well as through third-party delivery platforms or take a seat in the casual, family-friendly dining room. Hours are 10 a.m.-9 p.m., daily.

READ MORE:
Walgreens will begin to sell the over-the-counter Narcan nasal spray in about a week. The pharmacy said the overdose antidote will be available nationwide on Sept. 7.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March approved selling naloxone without a prescription, making it the first opioid treatment drug to be sold over the counter.

Narcan is the name brand and best known form of naloxone. It also can reverse overdoses of street drugs such as heroin and prescription drugs including oxycodone.

Naloxone counteracts life-threatening depression of the central nervous and respiratory systems, allowing overdose victims to breathe normally again, Walgreens said.

We are committed to educating and making it easier for all Americans to have this life-saving medicine available in their first aid kits in case of an emergency, said Dr. Kevin Ban, executive vice president and Walgreens chief medical officer.

We all must recognize that overdoses can happen to anyone, regardless of age, background or other factors. As a leading healthcare company, providing access to OTC naloxone creates an opportunity for bystanders, friends and family members to potentially save a life. In the event of an overdose, every second matters.

The Narcan should be used as soon as a person shows signs of an opioid overdose.

It will sell for $44.99 at Walgreens.

Walgreens said it also will donate $100,000 to End Overdose, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending drug-related overdose deaths through education, medical intervention and public awareness.

Walgreens and End Overdose have created a video to explain how to use the nasal spray.

More:

Pa. counties face uncertainty as they grapple with how to spend opioid settlement funds

Gen Z, Vapes and THC: What parents need to know about the new era of cannabis potency
A drag bingo fundraiser planned at the Phoenix venue in Nazareth, Pa., was canceled by the Phoenix board president, according to the event organizer.

Event organizer April Gabriel-Ferretti said she was told Tuesday by Phoenix board president Frank Stampf that he was getting too much pushback over the event and couldnt allow it to take place.

No comment. Thank you, Stampf said when reached by phone Tuesday by lehighvalleylive.com.

The event has been moved to the Bayou restaurant in Easton, Gabriel-Ferretti said Tuesday evening.

This is the second LGBTQ-friendly event Gabriel-Ferretti has organized this year only to see it pushed out of the Nazareth area.

Nazareth Area Pride Day had to be relocated from Tuskes Park in Upper Nazareth Township to New Creation UCC Church in Palmer Township. Upper Nazareth Township Supervisors Chairman Scott Sylvainus said the event got too big too fast and needed more planning before it could come off in June, although Gabriel-Ferretti believes pushback was responsible for that event cancelation, too.

The drag bingo will raise money for the newly formed nonprofit organization Nazareth Together. The organization supports marginalized communities, including the LGBTQ community. Money raised from the drag bingo would go toward next years Nazareth Area Pride event.

The Phoenix venue was once part of the Holy Family Club, a social club with ties to the Holy Family Catholic Church in Nazareth. The club is still on the lower level of the building but the upstairs event hall was partitioned off to become an independent venue.

Gabriel-Ferretti was told theres still a spiritual connection between the venue and the parish, that members of the community have come out against the drag event and that its not acceptable for the venue.

She said Stampf didnt know the event was happening and was told it should have been approved by the board at the Phoenix. Its unclear whether the board approves every wedding reception or graduation party hosted there, Gabriel-Ferretti said.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com.
Tolentino to Brawner: Is military student exchange program with China still ongoing?

MANILA -- Senator Francis "Tol" N. Tolentino, who is also a member of the Commission on Appointments, clarified with CSAFP Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. if the exchange program with China is still ongoing.

During Gen. Brawner's confirmation hearing at the Commission on Appointments last Wednesday, August 30, Sen. Tol asked: "Tuloy ba 'yong exchange programs natin with the People's Republic of China? Intelligence course, mechanized division courses, airborne courses, etc.? Pangalawa, do we still accept students coming from the People's Republic of China?"

Gen. Brawner clarified that the exchange student program with China has been "covered under a Memorandum of Agreement on Defense Cooperation since 2004" to foster stronger military ties.

"We don't have any students right now who are studying in China. And we also don't have Chinese students studying here in the Philippines," Gen. Brawner added.

Brawner revealed that he has ordered the temporary stoppage of sending Filipino officers to China this year following the August 05 incident of Chinese coast guard ship water cannoning a Philippine supply boat in the contested West Philippine Sea.

Brawner has also ordered the further study of the Memorandum of Agreement on Defense Cooperation with China.

"So it's not just the sending of soldiers. Pero talagang pag-aaralan na po natin kung ano po yung magiging military relations natin with China, especially after the incidents that happened. Baka kailangan po i-revisit natin ito, baka kailangan natin ayusin yung ibang provisions dito, and to make sure that China agrees with that. So iyon po yung ating direction now," Brawner stressed.

With this development, Senator Tolentino urged Gen. Brawner to provide updates on the results of the study.
Interior Minister on incident in Dnipro: If citizens want to live in state of law, they must comply with law

The events in Dnipro require a balanced and objective approach, but there are also obvious things: if citizens want to live in a state governed by the rule of law, they themselves must comply with the law, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko believes.

"There are situations that need to be analyzed rationally. Death is always grief. But the events in Dnipro need to be sorted out objectively. The investigation is ongoing, which should provide answers to the main questions," he said in the Telegram channel on Wednesday.

At the same time, Klymenko said "there are obvious things. If citizens want to live in a state of law, they themselves must comply with the law, behave in accordance with established norms and definitely not beat the police. Moreover, teach their children to obey the law."

According to the Interior Minister, "this situation is a serious precedent. We live in wartime. Not always stable, but still controlled. Controlled precisely thanks to the efforts of law enforcement agencies."

"If individual citizens live in anarchy and consider themselves above the law, and the police cannot perform their functions, Ukrainian society will face very dark times," the interior minister said.

As reported, on August 29, in Dnipro, police began to pursue a car that violated traffic rules and did not respond to a request to stop. Patrolmen were able to catch up with the car, but the passengers refused to get out of it.

There was a woman, a man and two children in the car. A fight ensued, during which the man hit a female law enforcement officer in the face, and threw another policeman to the ground over himself. The officer then fired at the intruder. It turned out to be a local resident of Dzhumberi Silogava. The driver of the car died from the gunshot wounds he received.
F. Scott Fitzgerald. Dr. Seuss. J.D. Salinger.

These are just a few of an esteemed list of beloved American writers whom many in the country call their favorites. And a new study has found which is the most venerated in each state, Pennsylvania included.

StoicQuotes.com  a website which explains how it was created to provide a simple, comprehensive resource for individuals to learn more about the stoicism philosophy  was behind this study, which was aptly titled Literary Legends.

About 3,000 people across the United States were surveyed in order to see which author came out on top in each state, with Pennsylvanias turning out to be native James A. Michener.

The renowned author shared a notable association with the state of Pennsylvania, an accompanying press release reads. Born on February 3, 1907, Michener was raised Quaker by an adoptive mother in Doylestown.

This formative period of his life profoundly influenced his writing, as his experiences in Pennsylvania shaped his perspective on history, culture, and the human condition. Micheners deep connection to the state is evident, [as he took] a job teaching at the Hill School in Pottstown and later [worked] as an English teacher at George School, Newtown.

Indeed, among Micheners 40-plus works are books steeped in the countrys history such as The Springs of Fire  described by Wikipedia as a coming-of-age tale set around the nation  and Caravans.

As for the author with the most votes nationwide, that would be Hellen Keller.
Want a say in the news? Email Claudia at todayinpa@pennlive.com to have your thoughts on the stories covered here or on PennLive heard during Listening to Listeners, an original Today in Pa. segment that occurs every other Friday.

You can listen to the latest episode of Today in Pa at this link, or on any of your favorite apps including Alexa, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher. Episodes are available every weekday on PennLive. Feel free to subscribe, follow or rate Today in Pa. as you see fit!

Today in Pa. Daily Podcast | August 30, 2023

Pittsburgh would become a sanctuary city for gender-affirming care should a recent proposal come to pass. Lehigh County folks, be wary of scammers impersonating sheriffs officers. People might be allowed to hunt deer in some of Pittsburghs parks this fall. Finally, a rare blue moon rises tonight.

Those are the stories we cover in the latest episode of Today in Pa., a daily weekday podcast from PennLive.com and hosted by Claudia Dimuro. Today in Pa. is dedicated to sharing the most important and interesting stories pertaining to Pennsylvania that lets you know, indeed, whats happening today in Pa.

Todays episode refers to the following articles:

If you enjoy Today in Pa., consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on Amazon. Reviews help others find the show and, besides, wed like to know what you think about the program, too.

As sponsored by Renewal by Anderson of Central PA.
Highmark will begin requiring a large portion of its workforce to spend at least three days a week at the office beginning Sept. 5.

We pivoted in four days at the beginning of the pandemic to work from anywhere and the team did a really good job, CEO David Holmberg said. But now that were three years into this, we believe very strongly that were a people business, that our customers, our members, our patients need us to be engaged wholly  [in] certain positions where its important for individuals to be face-to-face.

The change will affect employees across the markets where Highmark does business, which include Pennsylvania and several nearby states, with some employees coming back to the office and some continuing to work from home. Highmark has about 3,500 employees in central Pennsylvania.

Holmberg stressed that about 22,000 Highmark employees who work directly with healthcare providers have been coming to the office throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Another 18,000 have been working from home since early in the pandemic, which began in early 2020. Roughly half of those employees will be required to return to the office during a transition beginning Sept. 5, Holmberg said.

Most will be required to spend at least three days at the office, he said.

Holmberg said Highmark did a thorough review of job categories, with many of those being called back to the office involved in leadership, mentorship, fellowship, thinking skills, problem-solving.

We think its important periodically for people to get into a room and work together, he said.

Pittsburgh-based Highmark sells health insurance and is involved with various other lines of business, including dental insurance, operating a western Pennsylvania hospital system, and a substantial financial investment and close partnership with Penn State Health in central Pennsylvania.

Many of Highmarks central Pennsylvania employees are based at the Highmark campus on Center Street near Camp Hill in Cumberland County.

In most cases, Holmberg said, employees will resume working at the location where they worked before the pandemic.

He said Highmark is taking into account individual circumstances such as child-related responsibilities. He noted that, even before the pandemic, Highmark had a substantial portion of employees who worked remotely and the policy will continue.
Pennsylvania bowhunters could have some new urban hunting grounds opening up if Pittsburgh City Council approves a request from the mayor.

Citing deer overpopulation in the city, Mayor Ed Gainey has proposed legislation that would create a pilot program for a one-day bow hunt in Pittsburghs Frick and Riverview parks, according to National Public Radio affiliate WESA-FM.

The station reported that Gaineys administration hopes that the council will approve the measure in time for bowhunting season this fall. Archery season for deer begins Sept. 30.

Gainey spokesperson Maria Montano told WESA that hunting is necessary because the size of the population is beyond the point where birth-control methods would be effective.

Montano said that municipalities around Pittsburgh have deer-management programs, but the city does not.

WESA reported that the mayors legislation says that there are about 51 deer per square mile of city parkland per the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the typically appropriate figure is 10 deer per square mile or fewer.

According to WPXI-TV, the legislation was submitted to the council on Tuesday and states that the white-tailed deer population in city parks has risen to levels that threaten the safety of residents and the ecological integrity of the parks.

Frick Park, on the eastern side of Pittsburgh, covers 644 acres while Riverview Park encompasses about 251 acres on the citys North Side.

There isnt enough food to sustain (deer), and they are causing long-term damage, eating saplings, before they take root, Montano told WESA. Were seeing soil erosion and soil destabilization, and it has an impact on our ability to control landslides.

She explained that the city would allow 30 eligible bowhunters who pass a skills test to participate in the one-day hunt. A maximum of 60 applications would be accepted.

Hunters will be required to take a doe first and donate the meat to a food bank. After that, additional deer can be taken.

Once the bow hunt is over, the USDA will send in hunters to further cull the deer population, which will cost the city about $10,000, WESA reported.
By State Rep. Nick Pisciottano

They were called Breaker Boys  boys as young as eight years old perched above fast-moving conveyor belts carrying tons of raw coal, picking slate out of the coal with their bare hands 10 hours a day, six days a week. They bled. Their young lungs were poisoned. They were caught in machinery and died.

They were garment workers  girls working 10-hour days, six days a week, sewing clothes they could never afford. They bled. They inhaled toxic chemicals. Infamously, 123 women died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire because management kept the exit doors chained shut to prevent unauthorized breaks from the endless hours of hazardous work. Two of them were only 14 years old.

These tragedies helped create Americas modern labor movement and the child labor laws we take for granted. It was a terrible sacrifice to get where we are today, and a shameful chapter of our past. But we decided kids should have a chance to grow up and go to school, not be forced into hard, dangerous work just to provide some meager wage for their family.

As a father, it chills my soul to think of any child being forced into the mines or the factories. And yet, in 2023 in the worlds only superpower, the richest, most powerful nation the world has ever known, we confront the reality of child labor again.

The endless pursuit of ever-larger profit by corporations monopolizing our economy means searching for ever-cheaper labor  and putting kids back in harms way.

Child labor violations are up nearly 300% since 2016. Right-wing extremists and their political allies are loosening laws protecting children to avoid paying adults competitive wages. Theyre taking advantage of immigrants facing language barriers and fear of retribution. Theyre putting parents in no-win situations for their familys survival. Theyre describing illegal underage employment as character-building.

Wisconsin advanced a bill to allow 14-year-olds to serve alcohol in bars. The same state where a 16-year-old was killed while working at a sawmill -- legal under Wisconsin state law -- and more than two dozen children were illegally working overnight cleaning slaughterhouses.

Arkansas removed work permit requirements and parental permissions for 14-year-olds.

Ohio wants to let 14-year-olds to work until 9 p.m.

Iowas governor bragged they allow young adults to develop their skills in the workforce while signing a law letting 16-year-olds work in factories. Only a last-second amendment removed language that would have allowed 14-year-olds to work in meatpacking plants or  yes  jobs that allow kids back down in the mines.

Kids deserve to go to school, get an education, and live their early lives as children. Sure, safe jobs can teach teenagers about adult behaviors and responsibilities. But kids dont need to risk their health and safety in the sawmill or the slaughterhouse just so big corporations can find cheap, exploitable labor.

I can guarantee that Pennsylvania will never be on the list of these other states rolling back protections against child labor.

Too often, fines for illegal behavior are seen as the cost of doing business, but in Pennsylvania, companies exploiting our children will be held accountable.

I wish it passed the House unanimously, but unfortunately 23 House Republicans voted against increasing penalties for child labor-law violators. If youre represented by one of those 23, you should ask them why theyre opposed to holding employers accountable who knowingly hire children to do dangerous jobs.

While youre at it, ask your state senator to support the bill as well. Taking action to prevent child labor should be one of the easiest votes of any elected officials career -- but the state senate hasnt even discussed the bill.

House Democrats have done more in the last six months for workers than was accomplished in the last 12 years, and were just getting started. We remember the history of the working class and you better believe we stand against all attempts to exploit children for the greater profits of the billionaire class.

The famous song Florence Reece wrote when she was only 12 years old during a coal mine strike in Harlan County, Kentucky asks which side are you on?

As we pause to celebrate Labor Day this weekend -- a pause we can enjoy thanks to the sacrifices of those workers who came before us and risked it all to do the right thing  its time to ask yourself the same question: Which side are *you* on?

Im proud to be on the side of letting our kids grow up, get an education, and avoid a childhood of backbreaking work in hard, dangerous jobs. I hope that you -- and the Pennsylvania state Senate - will join us.

Nick Pisciottano was elected to represent the 38th Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in November 2020.
By T.J. Rooney

Pennsylvania has the potential to be the global leader in the production and export of clean energy sources, but all the pieces are not currently in place to accomplish that status.

Today companies in the Keystone State are adept at discovering and extracting our abundant energy, but more can be done to help bring that energy to market. The construction of additional energy transportation infrastructure such as pipelines and liquefied national gas (LNG) terminals would be a welcome step that would both aid in accomplishing this goal and also help families and businesses in Pennsylvania with additional energy resources that would drive down prices.

The Port of Philadelphia could play an important part in reaching this goal. Thats why legislation like Act 133 of 2022, proposed by State Rep. Martina White of Philadelphia, is so critical. It creates a task force, chaired by Rep. White, to study making the Port of Philadelphia an export terminal for LNG.

In advance of the final report on Act 133, which is expected by November of this year, the Philadelphia LNG Export Task Force held an initial meeting and three public meetings to gather community input. The final meeting held on August 22 brought many opinions with proponents emphasizing the benefits of the influx of jobs and millions in tax revenue to the area.

Why is it so important that we study the Port of Philadelphias potential to export LNG? Obviously, any new development project would support skilled jobs and add an additional economic development engine to power the state and citys future. More than that, however, adding LNG export capacity would bring the U.S. one step closer to helping our allies abroad, particularly those in Europe who are at the moment largely beholden to Vladimir Putins stranglehold on the continents natural gas supplies.

To help break Russias grip on Europe, the U.S. has already pledged to help our European allies replace a substantial portion of the natural gas they now import from Russia. The additional natural gas the U.S. has committed to exporting to the European Union would nearly double the all-time high of American LNG exports to Europe and put a major dent in Russias market share, which in 2021 totaled 45 percent of imports across the continent. The U.S. can certainly afford to help supply Europe, as we are now the worlds largest natural gas producer and the largest LNG exporter.

In fact, U.S. LNG exports were shipped to 36 different countries in 2022, with Europe absorbing the majority share of U.S. LNG at 64 percent. As the momentum for more LNG exports grows, Pennsylvania sits in a prime position to benefit as the state is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the nation.

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania does not yet have an LNG export facility. But the Port of Philadelphia could be a viable option. This would help Pennsylvania realize its energy export potential and increase Americas geopolitical advantage in relation to adversaries such as Russia and OPEC, which is why the work of the Philadelphia LNG Export Task Force is so timely and critical.

As the Center for International and Strategic Studies explains, Energy security in Europeand globallynow rests on U.S. natural gas exports. Europes shift from Russian gas to other supplies has dramatically and permanently changed global gas trade and energy markets. They go on to reveal the chilling reality that Russia gas exports to Europe are now a quarter of what they were previously, and gas supply has become a geopolitical weapon. Pennsylvania, and the Port of Philadelphia specifically, can help neutralize that weapon and help free Europe from Russian coercion.

Our state and local leaders should support expanding the Port of Philadelphias capabilities to include LNG exports. The city and state stand to gain tremendously if this idea becomes reality, as do Americas friends overseas.

T.J. Rooney served as chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and is a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Hes now a principal at Tri State Strategies Pennsylvania and Rooney Novak Isenhour Group.
What a country!

Fellow Republican citizens, our former president got fingerprinted, and in Georgia, he had his mug shot taken in his fourth indictment. You may think that this situation is politically motivated: the Democrats are on a witch hunt, and election workers stole the 2020 election. How many of you read the indictments?

You and I think these are sad days in America. However, we have different reasons for our feelings. Can these differences be reconciled for the good of our country? If they cannot, I fear our country hangs in the balance.

John R. Heapes, Harrisburg, Pa.
By Bruce Ledewitz

On Aug. 14, Montana District Court Judge Kathy Seeley ruled in favor of several young climate activists in a landmark decision holding that a state prohibition on considering greenhouse gas emissions in environmental review violates the Montana Constitution. The case is one of few victories won in worldwide environmental trust litigation.

The question for Pennsylvania is whether state courts here might follow that lead in future litigation that will almost certainly be brought.

No one can be certain of outcomes in state constitutional cases. State judges often lack the ideological and methodological consistency of Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.

But in one way at least, in decisions regarding leasing state land for oil and gas production, Pennsylvania courts might even go further.

Pennsylvania constitutional law parallels the law of Montana in two important respects: standing and environmental constitutional protections.

One reason that climate change cases are sometimes dismissed is standing. Plaintiffs generally suffer the harms of climate change to the same extent as everyone else. Harms common to everybody are considered generalized grievances and do not permit plaintiffs to bring cases in federal court and many other jurisdictions.

But well-established Pennsylvania precedent relaxes standing requirements when, otherwise, unconstitutional action by state and local government would go unchallenged. That would be the case in a climate change case brought in Pennsylvania.

In addition, like Montana, the Pennsylvania Constitution specifically protects the right to a healthy environment and enjoins the state to protect that right. Art. I,  27 of our Constitution provides:

The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvanias public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.

In 2013, in Robinson Township v. Commonwealth, a plurality opinion by Chief Justice Ronald Castille found the state regulatory regime for oil and gas drillingAct 13unconstitutional under Section 27 both because it insufficiently protected the public environment and because it prohibited local governments from acting to protect the environment. In 2017, in Pa. Environmental Defense Foundation v. Commonwealth, a majority of the court essentially adopted the Castille opinion as the proper framework for analyzing claims under Section 27.

So it would not be much of a stretch for a Pennsylvania Court to hold that environmental review in Pennsylvania must take the incremental contributions that projects would make to climate change into account before approving new developments.

But, like the Montana decision, such a holding might have little impact. Judge Seeley did not require any more than consideration of climate change. The decision does not ensure any actual change in the outcomes of environmental reviews.

Similarly, even if a Pennsylvania court held that the government must take climate change into account in its decisions, there might be no effect on development in the state.

Something like this recently occurred in the Pennsylvania school funding litigation in which, after eight years of litigation, the school funding formula was found unconstitutional, but no specific remedies were imposed. There is no guarantee that anything will change.

But there is one area in which a Pennsylvania climate change decision might have an immediate and dramatic impact: oil and gas drilling on state land.

In the 2017 case, the court also held that the proceeds of oil and gas drilling are part of the trust created by Section 27. That meant that lease payments could not fund government operations generally but had to, in some way, contribute to the protection of the environment.

Under this reasoning, if a court were to find that all oil and gas production harms the environment due to its impact on climate change, a court might well order an immediate cessation of all such production on public land.

In that way at least, a Pennsylvania climate change decision would go substantially beyond anything the Montana case accomplished. Since 2008, lease payments for drilling on Pennsylvania state land have generated almost $2 billion in revenue and local government leases add to that total.

We cannot know that this will happen when a climate change case is brought, but we are not likely to have to wait long to find out.

_______________________________

Bruce Ledewitz is Professor of Law and holds the Adrian Van Kaam C.S.Sp. Endowed Chair in Scholarly Excellence, Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University.
Many items funded in Pennsylvanias enacted 2023-24 state budget require the General Assemblys further action in drive out dollars to certain programs or grant authorization to collect certain fees.

Here is a list of a dozen of not-yet-completed budget items, some more controversial than others:
Signboards voicing opposition to the Ontario Government's plans for the Greenbelt are seen outside homes withn the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, part of Ontario's Greenbelt, on May 15, 2023, THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell proposes to increase the number of Ukrainian sildiers trained by the EU training mission to 40,000.

He made the corresponding announcement at the end of an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Toledo (Spain) on Wednesday.

Borrell said initially the task was to train 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers, and at the end of October this figure will be 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers. "You know, I always say that we need to do more and faster. I still believe that we need to do more and faster, and "I proposed the ministers to raise the objective of the mission to 40,000 Ukrainian soldiers trained by the end of the year," the High Representative said.

EU Defense Ministers also welcomed the decision of the Netherlands and Denmark to provide Ukraine with F-16 aircraft. "We will explore the possibility of how we can integrate these F-16 pilot training modules inside our mission. Our mission should be also able to contribute to the training of these pilots for these planes," Borrell said.

He also elaborated on the issue of providing Ukraine with ammunition, recalling a three-track approach to resolving this issue: providing Ukraine with ammunition from existing stocks, which was implemented by the end of May, jointly purchasing ammunition from the European defense industry and increasing the production capacity of the military-industrial complex.

In addition, the ministers discussed the issue of the negative consequences of the withdrawal of Russia from the grain initiative.
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell hopes that the proposal to create a special fund worth EUR 5 billion per year for the next four years, within the European Peace Facility, intended exclusively for the military needs of Ukraine to reflect the Russian aggression, will be encouraged before the end of this year.

He said this in Toledo (Spain) on Wednesday at the end of an informal meeting of the Ministers of Defense of the EU member states, which were addressed via video link by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov.

Borrell recalled that he had previously proposed the creation of a fund to help Ukraine for the period 2024-2027, "to ensure the sustainability of our military assistance." "This fund that will be linked to the European Peace Facility, should be a core element of our long-term contribution to the security for Ukraine, as European leaders agreed it in June. The proposed fund will amount to EUR 5 billion every year. This should be the ceiling, not the spending target. If we could spend less, it will be much better, but this should be our ceiling in order to program in the medium term our effort to support Ukraine. And I hope that the agreement could be reached as soon as possible. I hope this will happen before the end of the year," the High Representative said.

He said "despite the global condemnation, Putin doesn't show any sign of letting up his aggression against the Ukrainian people." "I want to stress that our continuous support is important for the Ukrainian counter-offensive in response to the Russian invasion," Borrell said.

As previously reported, on July 20, Borrell announced that the EU is considering the possibility of creating a special fund in the amount of EUR 5 billion per year within the framework of the European Peace Facility for the next four years, intended exclusively for the military needs of Ukraine to repel Russian aggression as part of long-term obligations. EU in the field of Ukrainian security. "We propose to create a special section dedicated to (Ukraine) within the framework of the European Peace Facility to provide up to EUR 5 billion a year for the next four years for the needs of Ukraine's defense," he said.
Metinvest mining and metallurgical group will invest in a logistics center in Poland in order to increase the supply of Ukrainian metal products for export, the company's CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said in an interview with the leading Polish business publication Business Insider.

According to him, Zaporizhstal and Kamet Steel are currently operating at 65-70% and 75% of their capacity, respectively. About 25% of products are sold on the domestic market, the rest goes mainly to the EU. At the same time, steel is sold mainly in neighboring countries, such as Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Bulgaria.

The company also sells metal products to Italy, Germany or France.

Steel mills can hardly complain about the low level of sales, but iron ore enterprises were less fortunate. Here, in addition to domestic consumption, China was also a buyer. However, in the current situation, exports there are practically impossible, since the Black Sea ports are blocked, therefore, the border countries of the EU also remain buyers here. Iron ore enterprises now use about 35-40% of their capacity. We tried to send raw materials to China through Romanian and Polish ports. However, unfortunately, the economy of this logistics simply does not work in the current market," the top manager said.

He noted that at the same time, the coal production of the company in Ukraine operates at 100% capacity. The mined coal is supplied to the group's coking enterprises in Ukraine, and is also sold on the local market. The rest is sold abroad, mainly in Slovakia and Poland.

"In 2022, our steel production decreased by 69% compared to last year. This affected a number of financial indicators. For example, our profit in 2022 is 54% less than last year," the CEO said.

He also stated that Metinvest's strategy has not changed - the company wanted to connect Ukraine and Ukrainian iron ore with the European steel production chain. Therefore, the group continues to look for opportunities to acquire assets that would allow it to use the Ukrainian raw material base, produce products in the EU and supply them to European consumers.
Last Chance To Win Arlie Shaban's Philadelphia Live! Poker Package

August 30, 2023 Jon Pill Contributor

Three lucky players are going to Pennsylvania on PokerStars Ontario's dime next week. If you live in Ontario, you could be one of them.

While two of the three lucky players have been decided, the third slot is still up for grabs in an upcoming satellite event on the PokerStars Ontario platform.

The winner of the satellite will win a package to the $500,000 guaranteed Main Event of the PokerStars Summer Series 2023 hosted by the Live! Hotel and Casino in Philadelphia.

The previous two packages were won by "carsons1414" and "cravincards". Whoever ends up joining them will be chosen by a CA$50 satellite that kicks off at 18:25 on Sunday, September 3.

In the run-up to this main satellite, there are also multiple feeder satellites start with buy-ins as low as a toonie.

*Dollar amounts are in US dollars except where specified.

What's Included In the Package?

The package will include flights to Philadelphia, accommodation while there, and the buy-in to the $2,200 Summer Series Main Event. This $500,000 guaranteed event headlines three consecutive weekends of poker at the Live! casino.

PokerStars ambassador Arlie Shaban is hosting the online satellite and will join the fortunate winners in the City of Brotherly Love.

All you need for a shot at flying town to Philly is the CA$50 satellite buy-in, a PokerStars Ontario account, and a device to play on. Happy hunting!

What's On At The PokerStars Summer Series

The PokerStars Summer Summer Series 2023 is made up of three numbered events (and a few side events) held over the course of three weekends.

The main highlight of each weekend is:

on Weekend One which ran from August 24 to 27, Event #1: $550 No Limit Hold'em with a $200,000 guarantee;

with a $200,000 guarantee; on Weekend Two which ran from August 31 to September 4, Event #2: $1,100 No Limit Hold'em with a $300,000 guarantee; and

with a $300,000 guarantee; and on Weekend Three which will run from September 7 to 10, Event #3: $2,200 No Limit Hold'em with a $500,000 guarantee.

It is the Main Event on Weekend Three that the package winners will be attending.

For the players who attend the third weekend with Shaban, there are also two side events should they bust a little early from the Main Event). These events are an $80 satellite to the PokerStars PACOOP Main Event and a $330 no-limit hold'em turbo event.

Stick with PokerNews for Ontario news, views, and gossip, as well as all the info on the upcoming tournament series and poker festivals that are coming your way.

PokerStars US Summer Series 2023 Final Weekend Schedule

Date Time (EST) Buy-in Event 05/09/2023 15:15 $280 Satellite into Event #3: $2,200 NLH 06/09/2023 15:15 $280 Satellite into Event #3: $2,200 NLH 07/09/2023 11:15 $2,200 Event #3: No-Limit Hold'em $500K GTD Day 1A 07/09/2023 15:15 $280 Satellite into Event #3: $2,200 NLH 08/09/2023 11:15 $2,200 Event #3: No-Limit Hold'em $500K GTD Day 1B 08/09/2023 15:15 $280 Satellite into Event #3: $2,200 NLH 09/09/2023 11:15 $2,200 Event #3: No-Limit Hold'em $500K GTD Day 1C 10/09/2023 11:15 $2,200 Event #3: No-Limit Hold'em $500K GTD Day 2 10/09/2023 15:15 $330 NLH Turbo 10/09/2023 19:00 $80 Satellite to PokerStars PA COOP Main Event

This is an advertisement

Eligible iGames conducted and managed by iGO are only available to those physically present in the Province of Ontario. PokerStars Ontario operates pursuant to an agreement with iGaming Ontario. For more information, visit the Ontario Players Homepage

Sharelines Ontario players' have one shot to win a PokerStars Summer Festival Main Event package
The bubble was long on Day 2, but the 303 players remaining in the 5,300 Main Event at PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona have reached the money.

Now that this important step is behind them and everyone has locked up a minimum cash prize of 8,850, the next goal will be to run as deep as they can in the tournament when Day 3 kicks off at 12 p.m. local time. One of them will outlast the field of 2,120 entrants and take the 1,488,000 first-place prize.

Day 2 saw Eduard Barsegyan collect the largest stack in the room as he ended the day as the chip leader. He's joined at the top by Ioannis Zachmanidis and the 2,200 Estrellas Poker Tour High Roller runner-up Antoine Labat, who also finished among the big stacks.

Top 10 Chip Counts

Place Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Eduard Barsegyan Russia 835,000 209 2 Ioannis Zachmanidis Greece 802,000 201 3 Antoine Labat France 731,000 183 4 Petr Svoboda Czech Republic 724,000 181 5 Ezequiel Waigel Argentina 703,000 176 6 Jack Hardcastle United Kingdom 676,000 169 7 Claudio Di Giacomo Italy 657,000 164 8 Carl Shaw United Kingdom 577,000 144 9 Walid Salamoun Marwan USA 565,000 141 10 Daniyar Aubakirov Kazakhstan 558,000 140

Maria Ho

Many notable faces return to their seats today looking to climb the leaderboard, including Maria Ho, David Docherty, Patrik Antonius, Davidi Kitai and Romain Lewis.

Day 3 will begin with approximately 11 minutes remaining in Level 15 at blinds of 2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 big blind ante. A total of five 90-minute levels will be played today, with 20-minute breaks at the end of every level. Shot clocks will also be introduced so players will receive six time banks at the beginning of the day, each worth 30 seconds. The action will once again be streamed on the PokerStars YouTube and Twitch channels on a 30-minute delay.

Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we bring you the action from the tournament floor for Day 3!
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Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) are looking for ways to use legislation to fund the government to undermine the criminal prosecutions of Trump.

NBC News reported:

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is pushing to cut off funding for Smiths office, which has indicted Trump in the Jan. 6 criminal investigation and a Florida case over his handling of classified documents. The House of Representatives must defund Jack Smiths office and end the witch hunt, Gaetz said in a statement. Another Trump ally who has the ear of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is supporting that push.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is publicly calling for party leaders to insert provisions into government funding legislation that changes how the Justice Department can use money. That includes barring it from conducting a politically sensitive investigation  which includes political candidates and family  until the Department of Justice establishes a policy requiring non-partisan career staff to oversee such investigations.

This Is What Abuse Of Power Looks Like

It doesnt matter if people like Gaetz and Jordan face an uphill battle in using their power to hinder the prosecution of Donald Trump. There should be a bipartisan agreement that any member of Congress who would entertain the thought of using their power to interfere in a criminal prosecution does not belong in Congress.

This is not politics as usual or normal. Congress and members of Congress should never function this way. There are three separate branches of government by design. The legislative branch should not be meddling with the work of law enforcement.

Republicans do not want Trump to face a jury because they are afraid that he will be convicted, but those House Republicans who are trying to protect Trump by abusing their power are guilty of violating their oaths of office and betraying the American people.
As Idalia moved through Georgia en route to South Carolina and Aiken County braced for heavy rains, a number of schools announced schedule changes.

Aiken County Public School District announced Wednesday afternoon that students will not report to school on Thursday because of likely flooding in rural areas. Previously the district had planned for a two-hour delay. That day will be made up Oct. 20, which is a designated make-up day in the 2023-24 calendar.

This follows ACPSD announcement on Tuesday that its schools would dismiss two hours early on Wednesday. There will be no afternoon Career Center on Wednesday and no morning Career Center on Thursday. All of Wednesday's afterschool activities have been canceled.

Fox Creek High School in North Augusta announced Wednesday morning on social media that classes would dismiss at 1:10 p.m. All afterschool activities including aftercare, late pickup and tutoring are canceled. The school is on a two-hour delay Thursday. Drop-off will begin at 9:30 a.m. and classes will begin at 10:15. There will be no first-period class.

Edgefield County School District canceled all afterschool activities for Wednesday. ECSD will operate on a two-hour delay Thursday. Elementary schools will begin at 9:30 a.m. Middle schools will start at 9:45 a.m. and Strom Thurmond High School and Strom Thurmond Career and Technology Center will start at 10 a.m.

Barnwell County schools announced it would dismiss three hours early Wednesday, with Thursday acting as an e-learning day.

USC Aiken announced it would suspend all operations, including classes and on-campus events, from 3 p.m. Wednesday to 10 a.m. Thursday. Campus dining hall and university housing will continue to operate as normal, and university police will remain on-site.

Aiken Technical College reported it would follow Aiken County government operations and close campus on at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Classes will have a delayed start on Thursday and will start at 10:30 a.m.
Aiken Standard reporter

Bianca Moorman is a public safety and courts reporter for the Aiken Standard, with the occasional coverage of other community news and features.

She can be reached at @biancarmooman or bmoorman@aikenstandard.com.

To support local journalism, sign up for a subscription. See our current offers 
The property on Aikens Southside where Harrys Local Bar & Restaurant used to be located has a new owner.

Avery Zeigler purchased the 2,324-square-foot building and the land and on which it stands for $275,000 on Aug. 10, according to Aiken County land records.

The seller was Eleanor Manfredi.

We arent ready to discuss any plans yet, said Zeigler, who is a certified public accountant in Aiken, during a brief telephone interview Tuesday.

Harrys closed for good in January at 1208 Whiskey Road.

The reason for the restaurants demise was unforeseen and unavoidable issues with our building, according to a post on Harrys Facebook page.

Harry and Lorraine Myers established Harrys in 2004 after moving to Aiken from Pennsylvania.

Michael Stern, who featured the business in his Aiken Standard column, Taste of the Town, in 2022, described Harrys as a tavern where people come to crack crabs, hoist brews and let their hair down.

Diners there could enjoy seafood that was as good as anywhere in town, Stern wrote.

In addition to crab legs, the menus options included oysters and shrimp, and Stern singled out for special praise the haddock sandwichs moist, sweet, foot-long filet that was served broiled or fried.

Prime rib and salads also were available at Locals or Locals, the other names by which Harrys was known.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) on Wednesday on the activities of military medical commissions throughout the country.

"Held a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council. The topic is military medical commissions. The results of the inspection of the entire military medical commissions' system in the country. Reports on violations. Steps to prevent any corruption in this sphere," the president said on the Telegram channel.

In particular, according to him, as a result of the meeting, it was decided to conduct a comprehensive verification of the validity of those decisions of the military medical commission on disability and unfitness for military service, which were adopted in the period from February 24, 22 and may be related to corruption violations.

"In all cases where the decisions are clearly unfounded and illegal, law enforcement officers should deal with them," he said.

Based on the results of this verification, conclusions will be drawn regarding those persons who, on the basis of falsified decisions of the military medical commission, went abroad during the time from the start of full-scale aggression.

The participants of the NSDC meeting decided to intensify the expansion of opportunities to undergo military medical commission in the system of civilian health facilities. According to Zelenskyy, relevant statistics on the work of the regions in this direction were presented at the meeting.

"Some regions have ensured a 100% result of the expansion of the military medical commission's system to civilian health facilities, in some regions this expansion is slowing down. In all regions of Ukraine, the full expansion of the work of the military medical commission to civilian medical institutions must be ensured. The military command must fully cooperate with civilian doctors to resolve this issue," he said.

In addition, it was decided to complete the process of full digitalization of the entire work of the military medical commission.

"The state should put an end to any queues in which people are forced to wait for access to the military medical commission or the commission's conclusions," the head of state said.

The meeting's participants also decided to revise the system for determining fitness for military service in order to give commanders more opportunities to involve military personnel in the performance of tasks and to exclude manipulations with the concept of limited fitness.

The Cabinet of Ministers was instructed to ensure an appropriate level of efficiency in the work of the military medical commission, the barrierlessness of all components of its work and the involvement of professional staff, and law enforcement officers were instructed to continue checking the military medical commission's system and clearing it of those who use their positions against the security and defense of our state.

At the meeting, reports were delivered by representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigations, the military, representatives of the healthcare sector, the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Prosecutor General.
History buffs with a keen interest in the decades of Geronimo and Robert LeRoy Parker ("Butch Cassidy") had a local option to consider Oct. 28-29, with the annual Wild West Fest being held, offering a look at the customs of cowboy country from the late 19th century. Read moreWild West Fest wraps up with 'great day' in Aiken
When Aiken food oracle Robert Heilig, Jr. learned I went to The Monkey Store, he asked if I had come up with a word to describe the curiously named enterprise on Columbia Highway this side of Ridge Spring. Being a consummate wordsmith, he lamented, "'Unique' just doesn't have enough firepower." Read moreTaste of the Town: The Monkey Store offers a dining experience unlike any other
A note to readers This story is available to subscribers and nonsubscribers alike as a public service. If you wish to support our newsroom efforts to inform Aiken and surrounding communities, consider purchasing a subscription. See our current offers.

As Idalia caused a near-record-high tide in Charleston late Wednesday, the tropical storm's winds and rains had largely moved past Aiken and North Augusta by 10 p.m.

And around 11 p.m., the National Weather Service ended a tropical storm warning that stretched across much of the CSRA and Midlands, which included Aiken. The service's forecast left open the possibility that Aiken could see another half-inch of rain before daybreak Thursday, while North Augusta could get another quarter-inch.

Earlier Wednesday afternoon, Aiken County spent hours under a since-expired flood watch.

This is going to be a late evening and overnight event, so people really need to stay off the roads and shelter in place at home. That would be the best thing for them, Aiken County Emergency Management Director Paul Matthews said around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday. Earlier in the day, he participated in briefings with the South Carolina Emergency Management Division and National Weather Service.

His big takeaway: Little had changed from earlier forecasts.

"The main things we are looking at, obviously, are flooding and some wind," he said.

That possible flooding was enough of a concern that Aiken County Public School District announced Wednesday afternoon it would cancel classes Thursday. Because of concerns about possible road conditions, the Aiken Standard won't deliver Thursday's edition to a route that includes part of the Beech Island area.

Recent rains had already caused flooding concerns earlier in the week, with part of Aiken County spending three hours under a flash flood warning that started about 11 p.m. Sunday. From the same weather event, nearby Augusta Regional Airport at Bush Field recorded more than 2 inches of rain in a six-hour span. The same weather station at Bush Field recorded nearly 3 inches of rainfall Wednesday from Idalia.

When Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency at 3 p.m. Tuesday, he also warned about possible flooding in South Carolina.

Preparations in Aiken, Aiken County

We are ready for the storm based on the current conditions they are forecasting, Aiken City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh said Wednesday morning.

The City of Aikens offices were set to close at 3 p.m. Wednesday and reopen at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Prior to Wednesday, the City of Aikens staff inspected storm drains and cleaned out drains in preparation for abnormally high amounts of rainfall, Bedenbaugh said. We inspected city-owned dams and ponds as well. We also inspected our new construction projects and ongoing construction projects to make sure that mitigation efforts were in place to minimize stormwater runoff.

We inspected our generators and topped off fuel in all of them to ensure our water and sewer utility operations could continue as normal in the event of a sustained power outage, Bedenbaugh added. Weve been coordinating with the South Carolina Department of Transportation on [how to deal with excess water] in intersections and flood-prone areas. Were ready to coordinate with the [American] Red Cross should we need to open city facilities for shelters.

Bedenbaugh told the Aiken Standard that Department of Public Safety personnel were prepared to provide assistance as it relates to any issues caused by the weather and that the citys equipment for addressing any downed trees that might block roadways and so forth was ready for use.

If residents have concerns, they can phone 803-642-7620, but certainly if there is an emergency, they should call 911, Bedenbaugh said.

Another way for Aikenites to communicate with the city is TextMyGov.

They can opt-in by texting 803-989-7779, Bedenbaugh said.

The system only recognizes keywords and phrases. For best results, lengthy questions and statements should not be sent, according to cityofaiken.gov.

Matthews told the Aiken Standard Tuesday that the storm would mostly be a rain event for the area.

Low-lying areas that are prone to flooding may see some of that, and obviously, there could be localized flooding on roadways," he said. "We could have flash flooding as well.

Matthews has been busy coordinating the countys efforts ahead of Idalia moving through the area.

Were going through our regular preparedness process, he said. Weve done what we always do during a time like this. We go through our checklist and make sure our generators are ready to go  our county fuel islands are fueled up and our county vehicles are fueled up.

We check our communications gear to make sure the batteries are charged. We also do a communications check with the South Carolina Emergency Management Division, and thats through our satellite phones and our 800-megahertz radio system.

Matthews reported Thursday that the primary thing that weve been doing is looking at all of our missions, looking at all of our teams and looking at all of our plans to make sure that everybody is ready to go. Weve made sure that communications work. Weve made sure that everything is fueled up. All of that was done days ago, so were in good shape there.

Weve made sure our damage assessment team is ready to go, he continued. All of them have been briefed. We have no sheltering missions going on in the county. There are no coastal evacuations [in South Carolina].

Weve talked through plans. We have contingency plans, Matthews concluded. Weve made sure that everybody understands the threats and the probability of what we may be encountering. Unfortunately, the hard part is waiting to see what the impact is.

At aikencountysc.gov, there is a red banner at the top of the home page that people can click on to get information about Idalia.

Share your news If you have storm-related news to share, such as cancellations, closings or delays, or want to share photos or damage reports, email mhensley@aikenstandard.com.

Need to know

 A number of area schools announced schedule changes for Wednesday and Thursday.

 The Augusta GreenJackets have postponed Wednesday's game.

 At noon Wednesday, Fort Gordon implemented a "max telework and/or liberal leave for all non-essential workforce" and a delayed 10 a.m. start time for Thursday.

 Aiken County Best Friend Express buses will stop early Wednesday.

 The Salvation Army of Aiken is opening its shelter at 604 Park Ave. to anyone experiencing homelessness who needs shelter from the storm. For information, call 803-641-4149.

 Since South Carolina is under a state of emergency, the price-gouging law is in effect.

Helpful links

 Emergency preparedness checklist

 What to do in a hurricane watch or warning

 What to do for your pets when a hurricane comes

For the latest on Idalia and its potential statewide impact, visit postandcourier.com/hurricanewire/.
In anticipation of billing customers later for unexpected costs, Santee Cooper approved a plan this week that will let it push off another $47 million in expenses until after a rate freeze ends next year.

During its Aug. 28 meeting, the board of the state-owned utility agreed to use an accounting technique to delay until 2025 debts associated with a spike in fuel prices that followed four named storms and Russias invasion of Ukraine.

A similar move last year postponed $450 million in unbudgeted costs to 2025.

The bulk of the expenses are tied to the fuel that Santee Cooper needs to run its power plants. For instance, a fire that shut down a key coal supplier drove bills higher by forcing the utility to rely more on natural gas and to buy power at marked-up rates on the open market.

The accounting move approved this week lets Santee Cooper defer those kinds of expenses until it can collect the money it needs to pay them off, said Ken Lott, chief financial and administration officer.

Yet it's still unclear whether it will be allowed to recoup the money from ratepayers retroactively.

The Moncks Corner-based utility is prohibited from raising prices for most customers through 2024 under the so-called Cook settlement. The 2020 agreement ended a lawsuit that Santee Cooper had been facing for its role in the failed expansion of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station.

The utility is now seeking exceptions to the settlement that would enable it to defer just and reasonable costs that it accumulates during the rate lock. If approved, Santee Cooper would be able to recoup the expenses later, once the freeze is lifted.

Central Electric Power Cooperatives, Santee Coopers largest customer, and others have challenged the exceptions.
The median price of a house in South Carolina of $329,885 is 1.5 percent higher than in September a year ago, but down from the record set in June of $338,000. The price is now 51 percent higher than in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Read moreSC home sales continue slide as interest rates approach 8%
The Port of Charleston was being closed to vessel traffic ahead of Hurricane Idalia, joining seaports throughout the Southeast that are preparing for impacts from the storm.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it restricted all vessel movements in the Charleston area starting at noon on Aug. 30.

The port will continue to accept trucks receiving or dropping off cargo through 5 p.m. on Aug. 30 and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 31, according to a statement from the S.C. State Ports Authority.

All of the port's terminals had been cleared of vessels as of 7 a.m., according to the maritime agency. The Carnival Sunshine cruise ship, which calls Charleston its home port, departed Aug. 28 for a voyage to the Bahamas and is not scheduled to return until Sept. 2.

"We continue to closely monitor Hurricane Idalia," a SPA spokeswoman said. "All port operations have been prepared and secured for any adverse weather conditions."

Four ships are scheduled to visit the port Thursday, according to the SPA's website. Those calls could be delayed unless the Coast Guard lifts its restrictions.

The Coast Guard's office in North Charleston said all ship operators and owners of recreational boats "are responsible for ensuring their vessels are secured at berth and will not pose a hazard to surrounding vessels, the navigable channel or the environment."

A report by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday said Florida ports in Jacksonville and Cape Canaveral as well as Charleston's have been closed to inbound vessel traffic ahead of the storm.

"The Atlantic Coast stretching from Florida to Canada is one of America's busiest trade routes for all types of vessels such as boxships, tankers and bulk carriers," according to the report.

Charleston's port, for example, worked 101 vessels in June that loaded and unloaded 112,883 containers of varying sizes.
COLUMBIA  Police deemed the shooting death of a University of South Carolina student to have been justifiable, noting there are no plans to charge the shooter with a crime.

Nicholas Anthony Donofrio, 20, of Connecticut was shot and killed around 2 a.m. Aug. 26 outside a home on South Holly Street in the Rosewood neighborhood.

Columbia Police said they believe Donofrio, who lived on the same street, had mistakenly gone to the wrong house. He tried to enter by banging and kicking the door and fumbling with the front door handle, before allegedly breaking a glass window and reaching inside for the doorknob.

A woman inside called police for assistance while a male resident went to retrieve a firearm, police reported. While she was on the phone, the door window was broken. The man inside fired a single shot through it, striking Donofrio in the upper body.

Police officers arrived to find Donofrio dead on the front porch.

Police have not responded to Post and Courier requests for audio of the initial 911 call. They also have not released details such as the type of weapon fired or whether Donofrio had consumed alcohol prior to arriving at the house.

But the question of whether the resident who fired the fatal shot would be charged has been answered.

"After consulting with the Fifth Circuit Solicitors Office regarding the circumstances of the South Holly Street fatal shooting last weekend, charges will not be filed against the homeowner," a police spokesperson said in a news release. "As a result, the homeowners name will not be publicly released."

Police deemed the incident a justifiable homicide under the state's Protection of Persons and Property Act, which grants residents the right to use deadly force against an intruder or attacker while inside their homes, vehicles or places of business.
The sunflower is one of the more interesting, and important, plants native to North America. Found in the Asteraceae (the aster or daisy) family, this group of plants is found throughout North and Central America with a few species in South America. Read moreGardening column: The Lowcountry loves sunflowers
Filipino restaurants make up 1 percent of U.S. restaurants serving Asian food, according to a May analysis by Pew Research Center. In Charleston, however, more diners are becoming acclimated with dishes like pancit, adobo, kare kare and lumpia. Even Trader Joe's in Mount Pleasant sells ube ice cream.

When in search of those tastes and more, check out these four Filipino restaurants in Charleston.

650 College Park Road Unit D, Ladson

Set in a Food Lion-anchored strip center off College Park Road, Formosa Chinese Restaurant is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Before Rustica Pega took over the space and started cooking her native Filipino cuisine, it was operated by Taiwanese owners using the same name.

The only reason Rustica kept the name, her husband Mac told me during a recent visit, was because it was too expensive to replace the sign.

True to its name, Formosa serves an assortment of dishes most would expect to find at a Chinese restaurant in the United States. There are steamed dumplings, fried wontons and crab Rangoon, alongside entrees like beef with snow peas and chicken lo mein. While Im sure those plates are satisfying, I go to Formosa for the long list of dishes from the Philippines.

Pancit guisado, sisig, lechon kawali, pork adobo and tocino are among the Filipino dishes served at Formosa. Recently, I tried the kaldereta, a hearty Filipino stew.

The glistening brown stew features flavorful fork-tender beef, plump potatoes, green peppers and carrots. It was a warm day, but the stew still hit the spot, especially when scooped up with a spoonful of rice.
In honor of the significant date of July 4, 1776, the America 250 Commission is working towards celebrations of the 250th anniversary of independence. State 250 committees  37 so far - and local 250 committees are established or working towards being set up to have nationwide observances of historic events.
INTERSPORT Polska S.A. on Tuesday concluded with Epicenter K LLC (Kyiv) and its business partner, the Cypriot Paravita Holding Limited (Nicosia), an annex to the investment agreement on joint investment in a Polish company, in order to extend the approval period with the Polish antimonopoly regulator UOKiK from the original agreed deadline of August 31 this year.

"In accordance with the signed annex, the deadline for the investor and partner to receive the necessary permits from Prezesa Urzedu Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentow has been extended until September 30, 2023," INTERSPORT Polska said in a stock announcement on Tuesday.

At the end of the day, INTERSPORT Polska shares fell 2.7% to PLN 0.87 per share, which corresponds to a capitalization of PLN 29.69 million (about $7.63 million at the current exchange rate).

The Polish company recalled that on April 19 this year, it concluded an investment agreement with Epicenter K, which also operates stores under the INTERSPORT brand in Ukraine, and Paravita Holding, which provides for a total investment of the partner and investor of EUR 10 million. This amount is expected to be used, in particular, for the development of a Polish company by opening new and modernizing existing stores.

It was assumed that, based on the decisions of the general meeting of April 20, Paravita Holding would buy back shares of the new series I issue for EUR 7 million by October 7, 2023 in five tranches if the UOKiK deal is approved. However, it was assumed that, without the permission of the regulator, Paravita Holding could invest EUR 2.875 million in the company, provided that its share did not exceed the threshold of 19.9% of votes at the general meeting of shareholders.

In addition, the agreement provided for the purchase of Epicenter K by the end of this year of shares of a new issue for another EUR 3 million with payment in kind, including, in particular, construction materials.

"The agreement will automatically terminate if the preconditions are not met by August 31, 2023, in accordance with the terms of the agreement," the announcement dated April 19 this year said.
CLEMSON  A Chicago-based developer working on a project in Oconee County was back in front of the Clemson City Council last week to discuss changes to its proposed Uptown development.

Core Spaces took the feedback from the May presentation  mainly, Dont lead with student housing,  and showed renderings of an expanded Abernathy Park, pedestrian tunnel to access the lake from Wall Street and a restaurant-based retail section.

The designated Uptown area sits at the corner of U.S. Highway 123 and College Avenue, bordered by Keowee Trail on its third side.

The plan for Hub Clemson currently includes dock space on Lake Hartwell, expanded green space, office space, a hotel, townhomes and apartment buildings with seven floors of residential space over parking levels.

Townhomes would be better suited for full-time residents and the apartments are aimed at students with a by-the-bed rental agreement planned, developers said.

Theres a demand for housing in Clemson that isnt student-focused, Councilwoman Lillian Boatwright reminded the developers, and giving students the better views from the taller apartment buildings isnt ideal.

The point of this is to benefit the community as a whole, which includes the students, she said. We have a duty to both.

Councilwoman Catherine Watt chimed in, I dont want us to make the paper again for having students getting all lake front living.

Cores brand of the Hub at Clemson benefits the public with park, parking and tax base expansion, developers said. One of the first businesses that will be up and running would be a similar concept to Tylers, a restaurant at The Pier.

The Pier has about 25 percent of its expanded housing already constructed, Core Spaces said, and expanding a young entrepreneurs business at a subsidized restaurant ensures people have a reason to come to Hub Clemson.
Travelers can expect delayed flights and plans this week, as Hurricane Idalia disrupts the airline system in the Southeast.

All flights in and out of Charleston International will be halted at 6 p.m. Aug. 30 when the air traffic control tower is expected to shut down. Many were canceled Wednesday, ahead of the arrival of the named storm.

Flight traffic is expected to resume after 8 a.m. Thursday, according to airport officials.

On Wednesday, at least 49 flights were affected and at least 17 more on Thursday have been disrupted.

"Our airline partners are adjusting their flight operations, and it looks like the last arriving and departing flights will take prior to the tower closing today," airport spokesman Spencer Pryor said. "Travelers should contact their airline for any questions regarding delays, cancellations and rebooking."

The runways, which are owned and shared by the neighboring Air Force base, are closed when sustained winds reach 40 mph.

The storms winds are expected to pick up as Idalias path covers the Palmetto State coast with heavy rainfall and strong winds, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Visitor attractions and hospitality businesses were shutting down across the Lowcountry on Wednesday and Thursday, just ahead of the typically busy Labor Day weekend.

Idalia will cost many of them at least one day of revenue that can't immediately be recaptured.

The International African American Museum was among the many attractions that opted to close out of precaution. Ticketholders who had reservations for Aug. 30 or Aug. 31 will receive automatic refunds.

Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum along the Mount Pleasant waterfront also closed as Idalia passes. It plans to reopen at 10 a.m. Sept. 1.

Last year, hotels in the greater Charleston area were at 86 percent occupancy for Labor Day weekend, with more than 49,212 room nights sold between that Friday and Sunday, according to the College of Charleston Office of Tourism Analysis. Occupancy tends to spike around holidays, as travelers take advantage of the holiday to extend their trip.
Tropical Storm Ophelia moves towards North Carolina. South Carolina coast remains outside of storm's direct path, but is expected to experience gusty winds and rough surf conditions. Those located near the North Carolina border may experience rain. Read moreTropical Storm Ophelia moves toward North Carolina, brings rip currents for SC coast
Shontell Denise Mention, 38, of Kingstree died over the weekend in a single car accident. South Carolina Highway Patrol reports, the 2003 GMC Sedan Mention was driving was traveling west on US 521 near Nice Ave. when the car ran off of the road and struck a ditch. Read moreKingstree Woman Dies in Saturday Wreck
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Notorious ex-lawyer and convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has lost privileges behind bars after being found guilty of violating prison policies at the South Carolina correctional facility where he is serving a life term.

Murdaugh, 55, was convicted at an Aug. 28 disciplinary hearing of improperly providing information to be delivered to the news media for an interview and also using a fellow inmates PIN number to make a telephone call, according to S.C. Corrections Department release. As a result, he lost his telephone and canteen privileges for 30 days, prison officials said.

Prison officials accused Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin of helping his client record an interview to be used by Fox Nation for its upcoming docuseries "The Fall of the House of Murdaugh," which is slated to air Aug. 31 on the streaming service, according to an SCDC incident report. The three-part series also features the first interview with Murdaugh's surviving son Buster.

South Carolina prisons do not allow inmates to give media interviews and they prohibit inmates from sharing PIN numbers. His transgressions are not violations of law, but of prison policies, the agency noted.

Griffin could not immediately be reached for comment Aug. 30.

Murdaugh has been imprisoned since he was convicted in March of the June 2021 slayings of his 52-year-old wife Maggie and son Paul, 22, at the family's hunting estate in Colleton County. He also is awaiting trial on more than 100 other charges related to financial and drug crimes, as well as a staged suicide attempt.
An ex-Charleston County employee who was responsible for more than a decade for safeguarding the county in the face of emergencies was sentenced to state prison Aug. 30 for physically abusing his girlfriend.

Jason Ronald Patno, 48, served as the director of Charleston Countys Emergency Management Department from 2007 until June 24, 2021, when he was arrested by Charleston city police on charges of kidnapping, first-degree assault and battery and first-degree burglary.

The county immediately placed him on unpaid leave and fired him the following week.

The charges stemmed from a violent encounter on Easter Sunday on April 21, 2019, in which Patno pinned his girlfriend to the floor of her home over the course of 10 minutes. During the assault, which she recorded, he repeatedly struck her, suffocated her and threatened to kill her.

The victim at the time was an executive director of a Charleston area non-profit. She told a judge at the Aug. 30 hearing that the assault was one of numerous she endured during her three-year relationship with Panto.

The victim stayed in the relationship and did not report him to authorities until 2021. Patno ran the 911 center, she explained, and he told her that no one would believe her accusations against him because of his stature in the county's government.

Patno, in his role as emergency management director, was charged with overseeing Charleston County's preparedness, response and recovery planning for various emergencies, including natural disasters.

The morning of Aug. 30, as Hurricane Idalia battered the Lowcountry with rainfall and wind gusts, Patno slipped into a downtown courtroom to plead guilty to first-degree assault and battery and second-degree burglary.
On what would have been his 28th birthday, Alan T. Shao IIs family will mark the day without him.

His body was found in his King Street apartment on Jan. 31. But investigators, and his loved ones, believe he died days earlier from a fentanyl overdose.

The powerful synthetic opioid is 50 times stronger than heroin  the drug Shao thought he was buying the night he died.

Fentanyl is being laced into most illicit street drugs to increase the intensity of the high. But just trace amounts of the man-made powder can be lethal, leading to an unprecedented surge in deadly overdoses in South Carolina and the nation.

Fentanyl has no conscience, it has no eyes, it has no ears, said Shaos father at a recent Charleston City Council meeting where the opioid epidemic was discussed.

Fentanyl killed nearly 1,500 people statewide in 2021  more than guns or car crashes. It accounted for more than two-thirds of all fatal overdoses that year, according to the latest S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control data. Between 2014 and 2021, deaths from fentanyl skyrocketed more than 20 times.

A recent investigation by The Post and Courier found that reported overdose numbers still dont convey the true toll opioids have had here in the Palmetto state.

Shao was named after his father Alan, the former dean of the business school at the College of Charleston. Alan said he never shied away from his sons struggle with addiction while he was alive.

If you ignored it, it wouldnt go away, Alan said. Run toward it.

He hopes that by sharing his sons death, he can help remove the stigma for other families and prevent them from suffering the same grief.

My son was not a bad person, Alan said. He was a good person who had a bad disease.

Shao struggled with addiction nearly half his life. He started using in middle school after his parents first moved to Charleston in 2009.
WALTERBORO  Prosecutors elicited testimony on the first day of a murder trial Aug. 29 to cast Rita Pangalangan as a neglectful mother who intentionally left her 13-year-old disabled daughter inside a car for hours in the thick of summer.

The teen, Cristina Pangalangan, died of heatstroke on Aug. 5, 2019, inside a Volkswagen parked outside a residence on Lowcountry Highway in Colleton County.

Cristina was left in the car for five hours and 41 minutes after the mother and her then-boyfriend, Larry Eugene King Jr., placed the teen in the backseat while they were under the influence of methamphetamine, according to 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone, who is prosecuting the case.

Cristina suffered from cerebral palsy, which rendered her speechless and confined to a wheelchair. Her condition prevented her from opening the car door or shouting out for help.

Rita Pangalangan served as a schoolteacher for a quarter-century in Colleton County, where she was twice recognized as teacher of the year. She and King are standing trial in General Sessions Court this week on charges including murder, criminal conspiracy and unlawful conduct toward a child.

Despite her achievements teaching children, prosecutors contend Rita Pangalangan neglected her daughter.

Testimony from two women on Aug. 29 called into question the mothers parenting.

Lindsay Lewis was an 18-year-old aspiring nurse in the summer of 2019. Pangalangan, her teacher, thought Lewis could gain experience taking care of Cristina, Lewis testified.

Cristina died on a Monday. The prior Friday evening, Lewis testified, she agreed to watch Cristina alone so that Pangalangan could go on a date with King. It was the first time she looked after the girl on her own. To the 18-year-olds surprise, the mother did not return until Sunday evening, leaving her alone with the child all weekend. Rita Pangalangan told Lewis she was helping King recover from food poisoning.
Our society is facing many challenges, but one that seems to lie just beneath the surface is a decline in empathy. We don't understand one another. We just aren't able (as the saying goes) to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. We can't see what motivates others, what makes them tick. As sy Read moreStevens: We need more empathy, and reading more can help
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Azerbaijan imported 75,808 tons of liquid fuel for industrial use from Turkmenistan from January through June 2023, Trend reports.

According to the data of the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan, the value of Azerbaijan's imports of liquid fuel for industrial use from Turkmenistan exceeded $30.9 million.

Furthermore, Azerbaijan imported a total of more than 166,078 tons of liquid fuel for industrial purposes from January through June this year in the amount of $67.61 million.

Turkmenistan ranks among the world's leading countries in terms of oil and gas reserves. The country pays great attention to the construction of oil and gas processing plants and the export of energy resources to world markets.

Meanwhile, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan from January through June this year amounted to $485.46 million, which is 3.8 times more than compared to the same period last year ($125.91 million).
The Goose Creek Police Department was awarded four grants totaling nearly $600,000 recently through the South Carolina Department of Public Safety. The grants were subsequently accepted by the city of Goose Creek. Read moreGCPD gets nearly $600K in grants
HARTSVILLE  Just a year after kicking off its undergraduate nursing program, Coker University welcomed its first group of five students in its doctor of nursing practice program in early August.

Coker, a private college in Hartsville with more than 850 students, has made strides in its nursing program offerings since 2022.

Before 2022, the university did not offer a bachelors degree in nursing. Now, the university offers six nursing programs aimed at a variety of students. The doctor of nursing practice program is the first doctoral program at the university.

The rapid growth has been intentional, Dean of Nursing Carolyn Hart said.

We are making sure that our students are learning things that they need to not only just become nurses, but to excel as nurses, she said.

The doctor of nursing practice program is geared toward working nurses, Claudine Rayess, the coordinator of graduate nursing programs, said. The program is 100 percent online so nurses can balance the coursework with their existing job.

Students will be able to choose from an education or leadership track.

Giving students the ability to choose their track based on their career focus makes the program special, Hart said. If students are interested in teaching nursing in higher education programs, they can choose the education track. Nurses who are more inclined to pursue management in the field can choose the leadership track.

The more personalized approach is a hallmark of the programs design.

Rather than learning about content in the abstract, they're learning about content very concretely and as it applies to where they want their career to go, Hart said.

Cokers new nursing programs are aimed to help South Carolina address its growing need for healthcare workers, Hart said. South Carolina is expected to have an 11 percent shortage of nurses by 2035, according to data from the National Center of Health Workforce Analysis.
NORTH CHARLESTON  State Rep. Deon Tedder launched into his usual campaign spiel as a middle-aged woman opened her door and provided a much-needed blast of air-conditioning to the aspiring state Senate candidate knocking doors in 96-degree heat.

Then Tedder cut himself off. Did you know theres a special election? he asked.

No, the woman told him. I dont watch the news.

There are weighty issues facing state Senate District 42 as voters prepare to go to the polls Sept. 5 for the special election primary to replace former Sen. Marlon Kimpson, who resigned in June to take a job with the Biden administration.

The district, which stretches from downtown Charleston to North Charleston, has long been associated with the Black working class but is changing rapidly as new residents move in and the soaring cost of homes and redevelopment pushes others out.

The three progressives vying to represent the overwhelmingly Democratic district  Tedder and state Reps. Wendell Gilliard and JA Moore  all have ideas about how to tackle the districts woes from violence to education and gentrification.

Yet the trios biggest challenge may be getting voters to show up to the polls the day after Labor Day for a race thats been practically drowned out by the crowded mayoral and municipal contests in Charleston and North Charleston.
The following content is available to all readers as a part of our public service coverage of Idalias impact to South Carolina. We rely on the support of our subscribers to pay for important work like this. Please consider subscribing today.

ROCK HILL  Emergency management officials in York County said motorists should be on alert for flooding based on several days of rain preceding the expected arrival of the outer bands of Hurricane Idalia.

The National Weather Service on Aug. 30 issued a flood watch for the county. York County Emergency Management expected some rain and wind late on Aug. 30, then possibly up to 3 inches of rain on Aug. 31. Fallen trees and power lines could become a hazard for motorists, county officials said.

Beyond traffic warnings and the flood watch, no other Idalia advisories have been issued for York County.

"Even though it's not going to be a countywide event that we ramp up for, it only takes one tree falling into someone's roof to ruin someone's day," said Chuck Haynes, Emergency Management director, in a statement on York County's social media.

Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane in west Florida early Aug. 30 and is expected to cross into the southern and coastal areas of South Carolina.

While Idalia is not expected to have a severe impact on Rock Hill itself, officials are finding ways to help evacuees impacted by the storm's direct wrath.

Rock Hill Parks Recreation and Tourism announced that the BMX Supercross Track's RV lot will be available for anyone evacuating in a motorized home and needs electrical and water hookup. Each vehicle can stay at the site for up to a week.
EDISTO ISLAND  Sometimes a little museum in a remote place can pack a purposeful punch.

Take the Edisto Island Museum. It occupies a former home donated anonymously and expanded a bit to accommodate a lot of stuff. Since its opening in 1986, the museum emphasized the Antebellum South and the Civil War  from a White perspective.

The displays concentrated on the island's many former plantations, on the cultivation of sea-island cotton and on the lifestyles and contributions of the wealthy property owners. One could admire old furniture, old maps, old chinaware.

It was good, but it wasnt complete, Museum Director Gretchen Smith said. Now weve completed the story.

A new permanent exhibition which consumes perhaps 80 percent of the museums space is called From Africa to Edisto Island: The Gullah Story.

The degree to which the museum now emphasizes Black history is roughly commensurate with what used to be the Black population on this sea island, which was comprised mostly of African Americans until the middle of the 20th century.

According to the 2020 U.S. census, 1,884 people now call Edisto Island home; just 30 percent are Black.

The contributions of the islands Black residents over the centuries cannot be overstated, Smith said. Thats why she undertook this effort to adjust the museums focus, illuminating the large part of the historical stage that until now was obscured in shadow.

The effort coincides with a broad realignment. The National Park Service increasingly is drawing attention to Black history, including in Beaufort, now home to the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. A national campaign is underway to establish a noncontiguous Rosenwald schools park, and advocates in South Carolina have been busy restoring school buildings and recounting this unique partnership between businessman Julius Rosenwald and educator Booker T. Washington. The New York Times 1619 Project, drawing both passionate support and scathing resistance, has asserted the central role slavery played in the history of the nation.

Institutions devoted to the study of history are not the only ones on this bandwagon. In the Charleston area, governments and nonprofit groups are advocating for the protection of Black settlement communities; art museums are adjusting their permanent collections to include more works by Black artists; and educational institutions are reasserting their commitment to diversity and inclusion in the aftermath of the Supreme Courts recent decision striking down affirmative action.

Perhaps the most significant endeavor in Charleston to provide a meaningful encounter with Black history is the International African American Museum, which opened to the public in June. Overlooking Charleston Harbor, the museum interprets the transatlantic slave trade, the significance of Gadsdens Wharf, the African diaspora, Gullah culture, rice cultivation and the sustained effort to advance civil rights in South Carolina and beyond.

Inside the museum

At the Edisto Island Museum, visitors enter at the gift shop then encounter a small display about the indigenous people who once lived in the area. Paintings by Charleston Renaissance artist Faith Cornish Murray, her two daughters and her granddaughter are featured next. Turn the corner and you encounter an interesting panel describing the geological formation of sea islands along the coast. Then, quickly, the attention turns to the African American experience.

Emory Campbell, former director of the Penn Center and now a consultant, advised Smith and her colleagues, insisting that the exhibit should emphasize the connections between Western Africa and the Carolina Lowcountry. On the wall in the first room devoted to the Gullah show is a Yoruba proverb: However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source. Other advisors were Toni Carrier of Lowcountry Africana, Joe McGill of the Slave Dwelling Project, historian Bernard Powers and Smithsonian curator Mary Elliott.

Decoy carver Tom Boozer created a glass-encased diorama of a slave street, populated with tiny figures and rich in detail, made from the remnants of the old slave cabin found at Point of Pines Plantation and now installed inside the museum. (Another cabin, from the same plantation, now is on display at the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., thanks in part to the efforts of Smith and her allies.)

On Edisto Island, because of its close proximity to salt water, the main crop was sea-island cotton, a long-strand variety as fine as Egyptian cotton. On view at the museum are the accoutrements enslaved people used to manage the crops. A case by one wall is full of various banjos, which have their origin in Africa. One is made from a turtle shell.

Mounted on several walls are large information panels that describe traditional Gullah medicine, foods, basket weaving, music, religious practice, language, links to Africa, Jim Crow impacts and civil rights activism on Edisto Island, schooling and more.

A small display features objects from the historic Hutchinson house, recently restored and soon to open to the public. A Charleston slave badge also is among the objects on display.

Other items add context to the wealth of information on offer: school handbells, an old grammar book, goofer dust (graveyard dirt that can be used as a remedy for hexes), a rice trunk, mortar and pestle, and several historical photographs.

A side room soon will become an interactive space for children, featuring additional objects such as a replica of Edisto native and Motown musician James Jamerson's Fender bass.

It helps visitors connect the dots, Smith said, strolling through a room full of the trappings of the wealthy White elite. This didnt just happen, she added, pointing to the objects planters procured thanks to the forced free labor of their enslaved people.

Edisto Island history

Spanish settlers arrived on Edisto Island in the middle of the 1500s, and the English took control in 1674 when the island was deeded to the Lords Proprietors. Almost right away, enslaved Africans were present, first cultivating indigo, then cotton. The Hutchinson family traces its lineage to this period, back seven generations.

James Jim Hutchinson was born enslaved on Peters Point Plantation, the child of White planter Isaac Jenkins Mikell and his servant Maria. During much of the Civil War, Jim Hutchinson served in the Union Army, which maintained a presence on Edisto Island.

He and his first wife, Nancy, had two children together, Lewis and Henry, both born before emancipation.

After the war, Jim Hutchinson became a noted political leader and, later, a trial judge. He helped devise a system of cooperative land ownership, which enabled Black people to retain property even as the gains of Reconstruction eroded, then gave way to Jim Crow. A master entrepreneur, he also starting a ferry company.

In 1885, while he was visiting his son Lewis, Jim Hutchinson was shot dead by Frederick Barth, a White man on horseback who showed up unannounced, looking for conflict. Barth claimed self-defense, and the White jury acquitted him.

That same year, on property Jim Hutchinson procured, his son Henry built a house as a wedding present for his bride Rosa. Henry Hutchinson mostly grew cotton but also produce. He kept chickens and operated a cotton gin on site.

Today, the Edisto Island Open Land Trust is finishing its renovation of the house and developing its historical interpretation and programming.

Theresa Hilliard, an Edisto Island native and Hutchinson family descendant (Henry is her great-grandfather), worked with Smith to help secure the slave cabin for the Smithsonian and has watched as the little museum on the sea island transformed into a showcase of Black life and African American contributions to the economy, and to democracy in general.

This is the sort of truth telling thats needed, Hilliard said. And many visitors seem far more interested in Gullah history than in the fancy furniture imported from Europe by White landowners.

Now the focus of the museum is properly on the people who once were ignored or belittled.

I love what she has done, Hilliard said.

The full picture

Eric Esteves, another Hutchinson descendant and Boston resident, returns to the Lowcountry every year and has been involved in the Hutchinson House restoration project. He said he hopes that Edisto Island, still mostly poor and isolated, can benefit from better institutional collaboration and that new economic opportunities can be developed for its residents.

Entrepreneurship is needed, he said. There are certain types of businesses that dont exist here.

But it requires a balancing act, Esteves said. To ensure that Edisto Island remains an oasis among overdeveloped sea islands such as Hilton Head and Kiawah islands, it must be actively protected. The main drivers for that are the Open Land Trust and the Edisto Island Historical Society, he said.

The Historical Society does more than operate the museum, Smith said. It participates in cemetery preservation and cleanup, organizes an annual Plantation Tour fundraiser and presents community lectures that are free and open to all. All of it is done with a compelling idea in mind: Knowing history protects our present and prepares us for the future.

The new permanent exhibition serves as a reminder of Edisto Islands rural character, its history of oppression and fortitude, its cotton economy and its Gullah heritage. Its a reminder of what must be rejected, and what must be embraced.

I thought it was phenomenal, Esteves said. I like that it gives the full picture of Edisto.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 29. Azerbaijani Ambassador to France Leyla Abdullayeva issued an open letter in connection with the recent anti-Azerbaijani campaign carried out in France by a group of politicians, members of parliament, representatives of the regions, which serves to misinform the French public, Trend reports.

The letter draws attention to the attempts of these individuals, who position themselves as "friends" of Armenia, to denigrate Azerbaijan under the influence of the Armenian diaspora in France, and to the completely unfounded accusations against the country of allegedly creating a "humanitarian crisis".

The letter notes that, according to the famous French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "reality has boundaries, and the world of dreams knows no boundaries", and emphasizes that the boundaries of reality in the region are determined by international law, and according to international law, Karabakh is a sovereign territory Azerbaijan. The letter says that Azerbaijan has liberated its territories from 30 years of Armenian occupation and is carrying out restoration work in order to eliminate the consequences of unprecedented destruction there, as well as that Azerbaijan is the initiator of the process of normalizing relations with Armenia, about the current situation on the Lachin road, that, in accordance with the tripartite statement dated 10 November 2020, security measures have been taken along the entire length of the road.

It is emphasized that the statements of the French representatives, inspiring the Armenian separatists, are regarded as interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan, which is a violation of international law. It is noted that Armenians living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan are considered as citizens of the country and they will be able to enjoy the rights granted to all citizens by the Constitution of the country. The letter also emphasizes that the purpose of this appeal is for this group of French politicians to prefer to speak out for peace, reconciliation, reintegration and the normalization of relations based on the principles of international law.
We are observing the second anniversary of one of Americas worst foreign policy fiascos, the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. It was on August 26, 2021, when 13 American Marines and at least 170 Afghan civilians were murdered by a Taliban bomber at the Kabul airport. To say that the anniversary has passed quietly is an understatement.

A writer for the Atlantic, Franklin Foer, has an upcoming book on the withdrawal called The Last Politician. An excerpt was made public today, and several media outlets covered it.

Politico tries its best to uphold its partys line, but it isnt easy:

By the end of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, President Joe Biden was sure he made the right decision after watching the events unfold in the Situation Room. Biden didnt have time to voraciously consume the news, but he was well aware of the coverage, and it infuriated him. It did little to change his mind, though, Franklin Foer writes in his upcoming book, an excerpt of which was released Tuesday. In fact, everything hed witnessed from his seat in the Situation Room confirmed his belief that exiting a war without hope was the best and only course.

Nice try, but the question isnt whether it was appropriate to withdraw from Afghanistan. The question is whether the withdrawal was bungled, resulting in the needless deaths of Americans and Afghans. And it obviously was bungled: shutting down military operations and withdrawing soldiers first, and worrying about civilians afterward, was incomprehensibly stupid.

Politico cant entirely sugarcoat the disaster, and its account is harrowing:

In the excerpt, Foer depicts a scene that went viral of the withdrawal: when dozens of Afghans climbed onto the side of a jet to escape the country. Only after the plane had lifted into the air did the crew discover its place in history, Foer writes. When the pilot couldnt fully retract the landing gear, a member of the crew went to investigate, staring out of a small porthole. Through the window, it was possible to see scattered human remains.

But Politico never mentions the 13 dead Marines.

The New York Post reports on the same book excerpt, from a different perspective:

President Biden overestimated his own competence in foreign affairs ahead of the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, making unhelpful and impractical suggestions while displaying a swaggering faith in himself that left his administration unprepared for the devastating chaos of the evacuation of Kabul, according to a forthcoming book.

***

For a man vaunted for his empathy, he could be detached, even icy, when confronted with the prospect of human suffering, Foer wrote of Biden, who was caught apparently looking at his watch while attending the dignified transfer of 13 service members killed in an ISIS-K suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport and allegedly told the mother of one of the victims that her sons death was just like that of his late son Beau. When it came to foreign policy, Foer added, Joe Biden possessed a swaggering faith in himself.

Of course, the relevant issue is not empathy, but competence. And the senescent Joe Biden had no idea what he was doing, as both the Politico and Post accounts make clear. The Posts story is much longer. A brief excerpt:

As early as June 2021, national security adviser Jake Sullivan began to worry that the Pentagon had pulled American personnel and materiel out of Afghanistan too precipitously, according to Foer. The rapid drawdown of US forces in the country  which began that May  had allowed the Taliban to advance and win a string of victories against the Afghan military, which caught the administration by surprise. Gen. Frank McKenzie, then head of US Central Command, soon warned that evacuation efforts should begin sooner, filing an estimate that Kabul could be surrounded within about 30 days  a far faster collapse than previously predicted. But the Biden administration failed to heed McKenzies advice, with the State Department delaying the start of the evacuation mission to avoid cultivating a sense of panic in Kabul  a sentiment that Foer wrote was backed by the CIA. The pullout would not be declared until mid-August, after Milley begged Sullivan to push Biden to make the call with the Taliban under 100 miles from Kabul.

The disaster was compounded error by error, with the result that hundreds were needlessly murdered and, to this day, translators and others who helped our cause and were left behind are being hunted down by the Taliban. If Joe Biden has ever regretted the consequences of his incompetence, he has kept such concerns to himself.

Foers book includes this Biden quote:

According to Foer, everything [Biden had] witnessed from his seat in the Situation Room confirmed his belief that exiting a war without hope was the best and only course. As for the angry reaction, Biden considered it overheated, reportedly telling an aide that either the press is losing its mind, or I am.

Biden is so far gone that, not only does he not care about 13 dead American Marines, along with hundreds of Afghans, he cant understand why anyone else would care, either.
The corruption of every major American institution by the left has picked up speed under the Biden administration. In its morning newsletter, the Washington Free Beacon notes:

WHAT WERE WATCHING: Making plans for a symposium on deterrence, U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) decided that a top Iranian official cum Princeton professor, Hussein Mousavian, would make a good keynote speaker. Mousavian last made headlines when he was captured on Iranian television smirking about the regimes threats to assassinate U.S. officials. He showed up in Nebraska to lavish praise on the defunct nuclear agreement and urge mutual nuclear disarmament. Our Adam Kredo has the story.

The Beacons note draws attention to Adam Kredos story US Strategic Command Hosts Former Iranian Official Who Bragged About Efforts To Assassinate US Leaders. Subhead: Hussein Mousavian headlined STRATCOMs Deterrence Symposium.

I have posted the video of Mousavians talk below. The idea that military personnel sat there and listened to it at their invitation isdisturbing.

Quotable quote (former State Department Special Advisor for the Iran Action Group Gabriel Noronha): The decision to invite former Iranian ambassador Mousavian to speak to STRATCOM is unimaginably foolish. He is a pawn and propaganda agent of the Iranian regime, which explains why he is allowed to travel back to Iran.
In a Tuesday night letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), the Department of Justice denied permission for two subpoenaed FBI special agents to testify before Congress in the GOP investigation of potential Biden family corruption. The letter, obtained by the Washington Examiner, can be viewed below.

Jordan issued subpoenas on Aug. 21 to FBI special agents Thomas Sobocinski and Ryeshia Holley of the FBIs Baltimore Field Office, who had oversight responsibility for activity in the Wilmington Resident Office. According to the testimony of IRS Supervisory Agent and whistleblower Gary Shapley, the two were present at an Oct. 7, 2022 meeting during which then-Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss allegedly said he lacked the authority to bring cases in other jurisdictions.

If true, Weiss remarks directly contradict sworn testimony from Attorney General Merrick Garland who told Congress in March that Weiss had full authority  to bring cases in other jurisdictions if he feels its necessary.

DOJ Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte explained that Jordans subpoenas lack legal effect and cannot constitutionally be enforced due to House rules that prohibit DOJ lawyers from being present at depositions.

He wrote:

The subpoenas issued by the Committee prohibit the attendance of agency counsel at appearances by two FBI employees where the Committee has indicated it will ask questions regarding information they learned within the scope of their official duties, including regarding the ongoing criminal investigation.  The publics strong interest in the integrity of law enforcement work is one critical reason that counsel for the Department must be present when an agency witness appears before Congress. Excluding agency counsel in these circumstances undermine[s] the Executive Branchs ability to protect its confidentiality interests in the course of the constitutionally mandated accommodation process. In addition, the exclusion of agency counsel interferes with the Executive Branchs ability to protect potentially privileged information, including law enforcement sensitive information.

Citing the special counsel investigation into Hunter Biden and repeatedly affirming the DOJs openness to good faith negotiations in response to the Committees interest in this matter, Uriarte wrote:

We welcome the opportunity for continued discussions beyond our prior correspondence and staff-level discussions to identify any topics on which information can be shared, potentially through voluntary testimony from appropriate individuals, documents, or written responses to questions from the Committee.

Uriarte noted that, in his opinion, seeking to compel testimony from FBI agents directly involved in the ongoing investigation is premature. He pointed out that upon completion of his investigation, Special Counsel Weiss will submit a report to the attorney general which should explain his decision making process.

The most appropriate time for the Committee to depose DOJ officials, according to Uriarte, is once the special counsel investigation is complete.

As we and Mr. Weiss himself have noted, the most appropriate time for any testimony on the subject of any individual ongoing criminal investigation is after the matter is closed.

Naturally.

This letter shows precisely why Garland elevated Weiss to a special counsel. Following the spectacular collapse of Hunter Bidens sweetheart plea deal last month, he needed to put an additional layer of protection between Hunters wheeling and dealing and President Joe Biden.

Unless and until the House opens an impeachment inquiry, which would greatly enhance their powers to investigate, the obstruction on display in Uriartes letter will remain the norm.

But evidence of the presidents involvement in the family influence peddling business is piling up like snow. Theres way too much information out there for the DOJ to keep a lid on it now. And that evidence is slowly being corroborated by eyewitnesses and bank records. And the gatekeepers, including Garland, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and the entire legacy media are beginning to look like dopes.
 Feel good headline of the day:

CNN  The Environmental Protection Agency and US Army on Tuesday released a new rule that slashes federally protected water by more than half, following a Supreme Court decision in May that rolled back protections for US wetlands. The rule will invalidate an earlier definition of what constitutes the so-called waters of the United States, after the Supreme Court ruled Clean Water Act protections extend only to wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are waters of the United States in their own rights. It could impact up to 63% of US wetlands by acreage and around 1.2 million to 4.9 million miles of ephemeral streams, an EPA spokesperson told CNN. An ephemeral stream is one that typically only has water flowing through it during and immediately after rain events. The decision excluded wetlands and smaller tributaries from being protected as they had been for the last 45 years. The new rule will take effect immediately, according to a press release from the agencies.

Now, if only we can cut the EPA as a whole by half, wed be off to a good start. We can cut the other half hopefully after the 2024 election.

 Heres a rival feel good headline of the day:

Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the US government and replace it with Trumps vision WASHINGTON (AP)  With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own. Led by the long-established Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials, the far-reaching effort is essentially a government-in-waiting for the former presidents return  or any candidate who aligns with their ideals and can defeat President Joe Biden in 2024. With a nearly 1,000-page Project 2025 handbook and an army of Americans, the idea is to have the civic infrastructure in place on Day One to commandeer, reshape and do away with what Republicans deride as the deep state bureaucracy, in part by firing as many as 50,000 federal workers.

Firing 50,000 federal workers? Oh please dont tease me that way.

 To paraphrase JFK, behold the greatest assembly of pretentious mediocrities since John Kerry dined alone:

 I dont know if Ron DeSantis is going to be our next president, but I have spotted for sure who his FEMA director will be:

DESANTIS: As of this morning, we have over 25,000 linemen ready to go. By the time #Idalia hits, we will have between 30,000 and 40,000 linemen stationed and ready to immediately move in to restore power. pic.twitter.com/Cq7w3U3SZ9  DeSantis War Room  (@DeSantisWarRoom) August 29, 2023

 Looks like the residents of Washington DC are taking inspiration from Nevadas tribal police when it comes to climate cultists blocking roads:

VIDEO THREAD: On Saturday morning, @DecEmergency climate activists blocked a street in Washington DC again, their third time this week. This time, several drivers got out of their cars yelling "I wanna go to work!" and grabbing their banners out of their hands. : @wallendupraw pic.twitter.com/5p2qPcGjF8  Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) August 27, 2023

I have a suggestion: someone should blast an air horn in the face of climate protestors until they move.
Speaking to reporters in Covington, Kentucky, on Wednesday, Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 81, was asked if he plans to run for reelection in 2026.

After McConnell failed to respond, an aide repeated the question to him.

Im sorry you all, were going to need a minute, the aide said, winking at the group as McConnell remained silent.

The senator experienced a similar freeze in July during a Capitol Hill press conference. Following a 19 second silence, McConnell was escorted from the room. He returned about 12 minutes later, according to Reuters, saying, Im fine and answering reporters questions on other topics.

McConnells glitches are concerning. It is not normal for a politician to go silent in the middle of a news conference. Especially if it happens twice in a little over a month.

No doubt the calls for his resignation will increase after this second episode.

Although McConnell should probably step down from his leadership position in the Senate, he should not resign. Kentucky currently has a Democratic governor who would, no doubt, appoint a Democrat to replace McConnell until a special election could be held in the state.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is up for reelection in November and according to data from Fivethirtyeight.com, hes leading his Republican challenger, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron in the polls.

Senators in general have a long history of remaining in office long beyond their prime. Lets hope someone convinces old Mitch to pass the torch in 2026.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. The Western Azerbaijan Community has issued a statement on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Trend reports.

A large number of Azerbaijanis from Armenia went missing during ethnic cleansing as well as a result of Armenia's military aggression against Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty, the community noted.

"Acts of enforced disappearance committed by Armenia are a gross violation of human rights.

The right to protection from enforced disappearance is enshrined in various international human rights documents, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Armenia refuses to provide information on the fate and whereabouts of missing persons and to disclose the exact location of mass and other burials of murdered Azerbaijanis.

Addressing the issue of enforced disappearances is necessary to protect human rights, provide information to affected families about their missing loved ones, and ensure justice.

The Western Azerbaijan Community demands that the Armenian government clarify the fate of Azerbaijanis subjected to enforced disappearance, fully cooperate with Azerbaijan to locate the remains of the missing persons, and bring the perpetrators of acts of enforced disappearance to justice," the statement reads.
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Hagens Berman urges AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now.Expanded Class Period: Nov. 2, 2018 - July 26, 2023Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Sept. 26, 2023Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/t Contact An Attorney Now: T@ hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895AT&T Inc. (T) Securities Fraud Class Action:The complaint alleges AT&T made false or misleading statements and failed to disclose that AT&T: (1) owns cables around the U.S. that are highly toxic due to their being wrapped in lead, and which harm company employees and non-employees alike; (2) faces potentially significant litigation risk, regulatory risk, and reputational harm as a result of its ownership of these lead-covered cables and the health risks stemming from their presence around the U.S; and (3) was warned about the damage and risks presented by these cables but did not disclose them as a potential threat to employee safety or to everyday people and communities.Investors began to learn the truth after the Wall Street Journal published a series of articles spanning July 9 - July 26, 2023.These articles revealed that AT&T and others left behind toxic lead cables that they laid years ago. The WSJ also reported that independently tested samples from underwater cable sites revealed lead on the banks of the Mississippi, Willamette, and Passaic Rivers as well as in parts of Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere.The WSJ further reported that AT&T officials have known for decades that lead in its networks was a possible health risk to its workers, some workers have illnesses that can be linked to lead, and lead could leach into the environment.Finally, on July 26, 2023, the WSJ reported that the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency are investigating whether telecom companies knew of the potential risks posed by the abandoned lead cables.As a result, AT&T's stock has been downgraded by analysts and its price was inflated over the past five years."We're focused on investors' losses, AT&T's knowledge of potential liability stemming from its sprawling network of toxic lead-sheathed cables across the U.S., and whether the company historically understated its expenses," said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.If you invested in AT&T 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 AT&T 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 T@ 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 Sobol Shapiro LLP
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New Minority-Owned Venture PoziBands Aims to Empower Individuals to Embrace Positivity and Celebrate Their Uniqueness Through Its U.S.-Manufactured WristbandsSARATOGA SPRINGS, UT / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / PoziBands, a dynamic and vibrant wristband company dedicated to spreading positivity and color expression, announced its grand launch today as a new minority-owned business in the heart of Utah.PoziBands Product LaunchPoziBands Series 0 Launch PoziBands aims to empower individuals to embrace positivity and celebrate their uniqueness through its U.S.-manufactured wristbands. Each band is meticulously designed to embrace positive messaging, making the wearer feel uplifted and inspired every day. The company's commitment to quality and comfort ensures that every wristband is made with utmost care, keeping wearer satisfaction at the forefront."We are thrilled to launch PoziBands in Utah, where diversity and inclusion thrive. Our goal is to inject optimism into people's lives and uplift spirits through our colorful and meaningful wristbands," said Aaron L. Moore, founder and CEO of PoziBands.PoziBands understands the power of positivity, and the company's wristbands serve as a reminder to stay motivated and optimistic, even during challenging times. With trendy designs and inspiring messages, PoziBands intends to make a positive impact on every person who wears its wristbands."We firmly believe that positive messaging can change lives and create a ripple effect in society. Our wristbands are not just fashionable accessories, but subtle reminders to stay hopeful and spread positivity wherever you go," said Laura, an Affiliate for PoziBands.PoziBands' collection ranges from bold and vibrant designs to more subtle and elegant options, ensuring there's something for every individual's style and preference. The comfortable fit makes the bands perfect for everyday wear, reminding wearers to stay positive throughout their day.As a minority-owned business, PoziBands takes pride in its commitment to diversity and inclusivity. By providing a platform for greater representation, the company aims to inspire and support minority entrepreneurs in the state of Utah and beyond.For more information on PoziBands and our collections, please visit www.pozibands.com . To request an interview or media inquiry, please contact Aaron Moore at Aaron@ pozibands.com Contact InformationAaron MooreFounder / CEOaaron@ pozibands.com SOURCE: PoziBands
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / HenkelHome is where the heart is. And in the case of Habitat for Humanity homes, caring volunteers bring a lot of heart to every aspect of the building process. In Mississauga, Ontario (Canada), Henkel employees signed up enthusiastically to volunteer with their hearts and hands for a Habitat build.Approximately 120 employees work at the Mississauga facility - home to both Henkel business units - Adhesive Technologies and Consumer Brands.Lending Habitat a HandDonning hard hats, gloves and work boots, the Henkel crew gathered at the Habitat for Humanity Sherman Avenue build site in Hamilton, Ontario.Working in three teams - with support and direction from assigned Habitat Supervisors - each team was tasked with building a wall and installing a door.The work involved meticulous measuring of panels, cutting wood with a miter saw, creating and installing a door frame, and precisely leveling and securing the door - hard, but definitely rewarding. It was also a great way to get out of the office and for employees to develop stronger connections, while at the same time, giving back to the community.Tina Sanbalian, Human Resources Manager at Henkel CanadaSlated for completion in early 2024, the Sherman Avenue Build represents one of the Hamilton affiliate's most ambitious projects to date: a five-unit town house where five deserving families can start new chapters in their lives. Building more multi-family units is Habitat's strategy to combat extremely high housing prices in Hamilton.This build requires a true group effort from everyone in the community. Corporate partners like Henkel play an essential role in getting these affordable housing projects completed. The Henkel team was a fun, engaged, and hard-working group, and we really enjoyed working with them. We are very thankful for Henkel's contributions.Sean Ferris, CEO, Habitat for Humanity Hamilton25 Years of TomorrowsAlong with the sweat equity of our volunteers, Henkel provided a grant through its Make an Impact on Tomorrow (MIT) program to support the build.Celebrating its 25th year in 2023, the MIT program provides financial and other resources for charitable causes that Henkel employees support and are passionate about.Giving back is in our DNA at Henkel, and we all have causes that are close to our hearts. At a grassroots level, the MIT program helps us improve quality of life in our communities in diverse ways that are meaningful to us as individuals.Carolyn Newson, Human Resources Director for Henkel CanadaThe Gifts in Giving BackAs Henkel employees around the world have discovered first-hand, working together toward a worthy goal fosters pride, teamwork, camaraderie - even some friendly competition."Everyone felt a sense of pride throughout the day as we worked together on a project that is going to benefit multiple families in the future," says Sanbalian. "It also allowed me to learn new skills I might not have otherwise been exposed to." Working with corporate partners like Henkel, Habitat for Humanity offers hope for many. A refugee from El Salvador who will be housed in the Sherman Habitat build shared, "my son and I will have a safe place to call home for the first time." View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Henkel on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: HenkelWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/henkel Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Henkel
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DAVIDSON, NC / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Calhoun Community College, the largest two-year institution in The Alabama Community College System, and Trane - by Trane Technologies, a global climate innovator, celebrate the opening of Calhoun Community College's new building automation system lab. The lab is designed to give students hands-on experience that will help them bridge the gap between classroom instruction and the needs of employers.The immersive learning environment was designed to support the building automation system curriculum provided through the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3). Students will use the latest Trane controls and equipment to understand how a sophisticated building automation system works and gain practical experience using the data-driven technology to better control facility comfort and energy efficiency."The lab is just one way Calhoun Community College is fulfilling its commitment to provide students with a gateway to a better career, better pay, and a better life, said Dr. Jimmy Hodges, president, Calhoun Community College. "Our new building automation system lab offers our students a unique opportunity to learn using the latest HVAC technology and ensure that they are well-prepared to excel in the workforce." The need for skilled labor remains high across the United States and specialized roles like HVAC technicians are experiencing exceptional demand. Filling the talent pipeline with highly skilled technicians who understand the latest systems and controls is critical to maintaining and optimizing HVAC systems. Students completing the coursework will be eligible to test for five Building Automation System NC3 Certifications which demonstrate skills achievement."Trane is committed to uplifting and preparing people for in-demand careers in the HVAC industry - that includes working with leading organizations like Calhoun Community College and NC3 to create effective learning environments that prepare students for real-world applications," said Brian Thorstad, Alabama area general manager, Trane. "We are proud to support Calhoun's new building automation system lab, which will help advance career and technical education in the community and further develop the next generation of building automation system experts." "With the new lab and curriculum, Calhoun Community College is demonstrating their extraordinary commitment to their community, and the nation, by delivering world class education and skills sets that benefit everyone," said Roger Tadajewski, executive director, NC3. "We are proud to be able to make a difference in the next generation of skilled workers together with Calhoun and Trane." Students can begin enrolling in the new building automation system curriculum in November. For more information or to enroll, click here: https://calhoun.edu/technologies/ # # #About Calhoun Community CollegeThe largest of the two-year institutions comprising The Alabama Community College System, Calhoun is an open-admission, community-based, state-supported, coeducational, comprehensive community college dedicated to providing affordable, high-quality and accessible education to individuals in its four-county service area. Offering more than 100 associate degree and career/certificate programs, Calhoun serves approximately 10,000 students at its 110-acre Decatur campus; its Huntsville/Cummings Research Park site; and Alabama Center for the Arts in downtown Decatur. The college's faculty and staff are well qualified and remain current in their areas of expertise. Over 80 percent of the full-time faculty possess at least a master's degree, and approximately 15 percent hold the doctorate. For over 75 years, Calhoun has been an active member of North Alabama. Graduates of the college permeate the community, and many of them have gone on to complete baccalaureate degrees at other institutions in the area, or have entered the work force after successfully completing programs of study and training.About NC3NC3 was established to help build a workforce prepared to meet the needs of today's and tomorrow's industries by connecting employers and educational institutions in synergistic partnerships that foster effective training, elevation of skilled careers, and employment opportunities. Learn more at www.nc3.net About TraneTrane - by Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT), a global climate innovator - creates comfortable, energy efficient indoor environments for commercial and residential applications. For more information, please visit www.trane.com or www.tranetechnologies.com About Trane TechnologiesTrane Technologies is a global climate innovator. Through our strategic brands Trane and Thermo King, and our portfolio of environmentally responsible products and services, we bring efficient and sustainable climate solutions to buildings, homes and transportation. Visit tranetechnologies.com From L to R: Roger Tadajewski, Executive Director, National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3); Adam Sharp, former student, Calhoun Community College; Dr. Jimmy Hodges, President, Calhoun Community College; Victor Keeling, Senior Project Manager, Trane; John Holley, Dean of Technologies, Calhoun Community CollegeView additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Trane Technologies on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: Trane TechnologiesWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/trane-technologies Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Trane Technologies
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OTTAWA, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Calian Group Ltd. ("Calian" or the "Company") (TSX:CGY)(OTC PINK:CLNFF), is pleased to announce that the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "Exchange" or "TSX") has accepted a notice (the "Notice") filed by the Company of its intention to make a normal course issuer bid (the "NCIB"). In connection with the NCIB, the Company has entered into an automatic share purchase plan (an "ASPP") with its designated broker to allow for purchases of its common shares (the "Shares").The Notice provides that the Company may, during the 12-month period commencing September 1, 2023 and ending August 31, 2024, or on such earlier date as Calian completes its purchases or provides notice of termination, purchase up to 1,044,012 Shares in total, representing approximately 10% of Calian's public float of Shares as at August 22, 2023. As of the close of business on August 22, 2023, the Company had 11,837,580 Shares issued and outstanding. Except for block purchases permitted under the rules of the TSX, the number of Shares to be purchased per day will not exceed 2,057, which represents 25% of the average daily trading volume of the Shares on the TSX for the most recently completed six calendar months (being 8,230 Shares) prior to the TSX's acceptance of the Notice. The actual number of Shares which may be purchased under the NCIB and the timing of any such purchases will be determined by management of the Company, subject to applicable law and the rules of the TSX.Subject to any required regulatory approvals, all purchases of Shares under the NCIB will be conducted through the facilities of the TSX and/or alternative Canadian trading systems at prevailing market prices, or by such other means as may be permitted by the applicable securities regulator. All Shares purchased under the NCIB will be cancelled.Calian has entered into an ASPP with Desjardins Securities Inc. ("Desjardins") to allow for the purchase of Shares under the NCIB at times when the Company would ordinarily not be permitted to purchase Shares due to regulatory restrictions or self-imposed blackout periods.Pursuant to the ASPP, prior to entering into a blackout period, Calian may, but is not required to, instruct Desjardins to make purchases under the NCIB in accordance with the terms of the ASPP. Such purchases will be determined by Desjardins in its sole discretion based on parameters established by Calian prior to the blackout period in accordance with the rules of the TSX, applicable securities laws and the terms of the ASPP. The ASPP has been pre-cleared by the TSX concurrently with the initiation of the NCIB.The board of directors of the Company (the "Board") believes that the recent market prices of the Shares do not properly reflect the underlying value of such shares. As a result, depending upon future price movements and other factors, the Board believes that the purchase of the Shares would be a desirable use of corporate funds in the best interests of the Company. Furthermore, the purchases are expected to benefit all persons who continue to hold Shares by increasing their equity interest in the Company when such repurchased Shares are cancelled.To the knowledge of the Company, no director, senior officer or other insider of the Company or any of their associates currently intends to sell any Shares under the NCIB, however sales by such persons through the facilities of the Exchange or any other available market or alternative trading system may occur if the personal circumstances of any such persons change or if any such persons make a decision unrelated to these normal course purchases. The benefits to any such person whose Shares are purchased would be the same as the benefits available to all other holders whose Shares are purchased.About CalianWe keep the world moving forward. Calian helps people communicate, innovate, learn and lead safe and healthy lives. Every day, our employees live our values of customer commitment, integrity, innovation and teamwork to engineer reliable solutions that solve complex problems. That's "Confidence. Engineered". A global company with more than 40 years of steady growth, we have offices and projects spanning North American, European and international markets. Visit calian.com to learn about innovative healthcare, communications, learning and cybersecurity solutions.Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.Media inquiries:pr@ calian.com 613-599-8600 x 2298Investor Relations inquiries:ir@ calian.com ---Cautionary Note and Forward-Looking InformationThis press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information relates to future events or the anticipated performance of Calian and reflects management's expectations or beliefs regarding such future events. In certain cases, statements that contain forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking information in this press release includes statements with respect to the anticipated benefits of the NCIB and the number of Shares that may be purchased under the NCIB. By its very nature forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual performance of Calian to be materially different from any anticipated performance expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, the risks described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated December 19, 2022 for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2022 and other risks identified in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca The risk factors referred to above are not an exhaustive list of the factors that may affect any of the Com
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2023 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, a nationally recognized law firm, notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Comerica Incorporated ("Comerica " or the "Company") (NYSE:CMA) and certain of its officers.Class Definition:This lawsuit seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Comerica securities between February 9, 2021 and May 29, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm's site: www.bgandg.com/cma Case Details:The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose, among other things, that: (1) Comerica failed to provide meaningful oversight over the vendors to whom it contracted out day-to-day operations of the Direct Express program, a system through which it is contracted to provide federal benefits to millions of Americans without bank accounts; (2) as a result of violations in the day-to-day operations of Direct Express, including handling fraud disputes and allowing sensitive data to be handled out of a vendor's office in Pakistan, Comerica was not in compliance with the Federal Contract, and knew it was not in compliance; (3) Comerica knew and failed to disclose that it was in potential violation of Regulation E due to inadequate fraud prevention in the Direct Express program and responses to instance of fraud; and (4) as a result, Defendants' statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.What's Next?A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint, you can visit the firm's site: www.bgandg.com/cma or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Law Clerk and Client Relations Manager, Yael Nathanson of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 332-239-2660. If you suffered a loss in Comerica you have until October 20, 2023, to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.Why Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman:Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a nationally recognized firm that represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide.Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.Contact:Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLCPeretz Bronstein or Yael Nathanson332-239-2660 | info@ bgandg.com SOURCE: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
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TAMPA, FL / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / As part of the commitments laid out in its Twentyby30 sustainability program to help advance responsible supply chains, Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) (Crown) ( www.crowncork.com) has expanded its Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certifications into the Asia Pacific region. The Company's Nong Khae and Crown TCP beverage packaging plants in Thailand were recently awarded the ASI Performance Standard certification, bringing the total facilities in Crown's network with the designation to 12. Crown's operations in Brazil and Mexico have also achieved ASI Performance Standard certification.The ASI Performance Standard addresses environmental, social and governance principles for the aluminum value chain, confirming the recipient's production practices are responsible. Beyond meeting the required criteria as part of an independent, third-party audit, the recent certifications in Thailand can be linked to advancing employee training around biodiversity, safety and human rights."Achieving this ASI certification is another proof point of our dedication to maintaining reputable supply chain relationships and meeting the evolving needs of brands in the Asia Pacific market," said Carlos Baila, President, Asia Pacific at Crown. "We are committed to operating ethically and remaining accountable to our own standards, as well as those of our partners, as we continue to serve customers around the world." "We are proud to have two of our facilities in Thailand join their peers in Brazil and Mexico to achieve this certification," commented Martyn Goodchild, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing, Asia Pacific at Crown. "It reflects strong collaboration among our employees and proves how activities taking place on a regional level can help accomplish the Company's larger sustainability goals." To further expand its responsible and ethical sourcing program, Crown is pursuing ASI certification in other locations in its Asia, Europe and Middle Eastern operations."We warmly congratulate Crown Holdings, Inc. for achieving Performance Standard Certification at two of its plants in Thailand," said Fiona Solomon, Chief Executive Officer at ASI. "By training employees around vital sustainability areas such as biodiversity, safety, and human rights, Crown is driving positive change within its operations. Through this latest Certification in Thailand, Crown is extending its commitment to responsible practices and we look forward to the Company's continued pursuit of ASI Certification across its global operations." ASI is a global, multi-stakeholder, non-profit standards and certification organization which works to maximize the contribution of aluminum to a sustainable society. The independent, third-party audit of Crown's Thailand facilities was carried out by LiberoAssurance.To learn more about Crown's efforts around responsible material sourcing and its comprehensive Twentyby30 sustainability program, visit crowncork.com/sustainability About Crown Holdings, Inc.Crown Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a leading global supplier of rigid packaging products to consumer marketing companies, as well as transit and protective packaging products, equipment and services to a broad range of end markets. World headquarters are located in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit www.crowncork.com For editorial inquiries: Emily Hogan, Senior Account Executive, FINN Partners; Tel: (630) 248-5232; Email: emily.hogan@finnpartners.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsExcept for historical information, all other information in this press release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities law. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause the statements made in this release or the actual results of operations or financial condition of the Company to differ are discussed under the caption "Forward Looking Statements" in the Company's Form 10-K Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2022 and in subsequent filings. The Company does not intend to review or revise any particular forward-looking statement in light of future events.View original content here.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Crown Holdings, Inc. on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: Crown Holdings, Inc.Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/crown-holdings-inc Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Crown Holdings, Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-30 20:52:50

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Initiative Coordinated by Glam Body and Its Founder Targets Revenue and Opportunities for Black Entrepreneurs in the Beauty SectorHOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Danika Berry, the prominent publicist and beauty advocate, in collaboration with Glam Body, her upcycled body care and wellness line, today introduces National Black Beauty Founders Day. Scheduled for annual observance on August 30, the initiative aims to balance the scales in terms of revenue and opportunities for black entrepreneurs in the beauty industry, with a focus on greater diversity, inclusion, and equitable funding.Danika Berry, with over two decades of representing black beauty entrepreneurs and brands, and the founder of the upcycled body care and wellness line Glam Body, leads the initiative. "The debut of this new annual observance signifies a watershed moment for the beauty industry," states Berry. "It acts as a catalyst for productive discussions and concrete steps toward crafting a fair and equitable entrepreneurial landscape in beauty." A recent McKinsey & Company study underscores a troubling gap: Despite black consumers representing 11.1% of total spending in the beauty sector, black-owned brands generate only 2.5% of the industry's overall revenue. National Black Beauty Founders Day, initiated by both Glam Body and Danika Berry, aims to confront and rectify this inequality by championing fair representation and opportunities.Ongoing Initiatives for Sustained Impact:Support for Black-Owned Beauty Businesses: Led by Glam Body and Danika Berry, the initiative invites the public to discover and financially back black-owned beauty enterprises, contributing to their long-term viability.Social Media Advocacy: A synchronized social media campaign will spotlight the unique narratives and successes of black beauty entrepreneurs, thereby broadening awareness and acknowledgment.Promoting Industry-Wide Diversity and Inclusion: Through targeted advocacy and open discussions, the campaign-spearheaded by Danika Berry and Glam Body-aims to challenge existing stereotypes and foster positive change within the beauty arena.With the formal establishment of National Black Beauty Founders Day, Danika Berry and Glam Body take a monumental step toward creating a more inclusive and equitable beauty industry.About Danika BerryDanika Berry is an accomplished beauty publicist, TV producer, and beauty founder who has made a significant impact in the beauty industry. She represents top female-founded, black-owned beauty brands, elevating their global presence. Her career is a testament to resilience, innovation, and compassion. With over two decades in the industry, Danika has gained recognition through her work with major television networks and high-profile collaborations, appearing in prestigious publications like Forbes, Black Enterprise, Essence, Elle, Cosmo, and The Today Show. In 2017, she founded Glam Body, an upcycled body care and wellness brand that quickly became a symbol of empowerment and well-being. Inspired by her personal struggles with eczema, fibroids and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), Danika developed a range of upcycled coffee scrubs and body care products that have won a loyal global following. Beyond business, her dedication to uplifting others is evident in her establishment of National Black Beauty Founders Day in 2023. A single mother of three, Danika is deeply committed to helping others navigate life's challenges with grace and determination.Media ContactOrganization: Glam Body, LLCContact Person: Natalie RossiWebsite: https://www.iamglambody.com Email: press@ iamglambody.com City: SugarlandState: TexasCountry: United StatesSOURCE: Glam Body, LLC
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BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2023 / Stavis Seafoods announces a transition in leadership as David Lancaster steps down from his role as CEO. Soren Dalsager, CEO of Profand USA, will expand his current role to assume leadership of Stavis. This mutually agreed upon change in leadership comes as the company embraces an exciting future.Stavis Seafoods' significant investment in the 75,000-square-foot facility located at 1 Seafood Way in Boston's Seaport district, as well as a new ERP system, are investments to accommodate growth as well as improve customer service. This facility represents a significant milestone for Stavis to consolidate all Boston activities under one roof."Our decision to appoint Soren Dalsager as Stavis CEO reflects our commitment to a seamless transition and our enthusiasm for the bright future ahead for Stavis Seafoods," said Moises Rodriguez, General Manager, Profand Group. "We are grateful to David Lancaster for his valuable contributions and are confident that Soren's leadership will build upon our strong foundation, taking our company to new heights." About Stavis Seafoods:Stavis Seafoods is a premier provider of seafood products in the New England seafood industry since 1929. Stavis' rich heritage and global reach has positioned the company as a leader in the seafood industry, offering an extensive range of fresh and frozen seafood products sourced from the world's finest fisheries. The company's dedication to reliability, innovation, and environmental responsibility has established Stavis Seafoods as a trusted leader and preferred partner worldwide.Stavis Seafoods LLC is owned by Profand Group, a multinational fishing and seafood company based in Spain with more than 3,000 employees and business operations in Europe, USA, Asia, South America, and Africa. Profand markets around 120,000 tons of fish per year, owns 13 processing plants, 11 aquaculture facilities and 24 fishing vessels operating globally.Committed to quality and innovation, Profand Group takes care of the entire value chain from the origin, from integrating fishing and aquaculture to the processing and distribution of fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans. This relationship provides Stavis with a direct connection to harvesters throughout the world, giving the company true vertical integration and a simple, traceable sourcing solution.Profand also has a strong commitment to sustainability. Through its strategy Profand 4 Future, Profand develops its green visions for a blue future: contributions to community development, conservation and ecosystems, protection and respect of human labor rights, compliance, and good governance.Profand Group's North America branch Profand USA manages all U.S.-based subsidiary companies including Stavis Seafoods LLC, Seafreeze Ltd., and Worldwide Perishables Enterprises, LLC.Contact InformationMartha WilliamsMarketing Directormwilliams@ stavis.com 617-897-1234SOURCE: Stavis Seafoods LLC
PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-30 21:02:30

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Portable and uninterruptible backup power for indoor useCLEVELAND,OH / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Dory Power, a leading innovator in portable power solutions, is excited to announce its new trade-in program, allowing customers who previously purchased Dory-branded portable battery generators to upgrade to the latest models. This program is designed to provide existing customers with the opportunity to experience the advanced technology and enhanced features of Dory's latest offerings.Dory Sentry Portable Solar GeneratorClean and portable power for indoor use The trade-in program will initially be available for the Dory B2700 model. Customers who own the B2700 can now trade in their old model to acquire the new and improved Sentry model. The Sentry is a cutting-edge 3-in-1 system that seamlessly integrates solar generator capabilities, portable power station functionality, and uninterruptible power supply features. This upgrade represents a significant advancement in portable power technology and offers customers greater flexibility and reliability in various situations.Dory Power introduces the trade-in program as part of its commitment to delivering the best possible portable power solutions to its valued customers. The upgraded models in the trade-in program correspond to the old models as follows:Dory B2700 model corresponds to Dory Sentry modelDory B5000 model corresponds to Dory Sentry Pro modelDory B7000 model corresponds to Dory Sentry Pro Max modelWhile the trade-in program is currently available for the B2700 model, Dory Power plans to extend this offer to the B5000 and B7000 models in the near future, allowing customers to upgrade to the Sentry Pro and Sentry Pro Max models respectively. This phased approach ensures that customers can choose the right upgrade option that aligns with their specific power needs.Customers interested in participating in the trade-in program can visit the Dory Power website for more information on the products and contact Dory sales via sales@ dorypower.com on how to initiate the trade-in process.Dory Power, founded in 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, is a leading US technology company focusing on the design and manufacture of advanced lithium-ion battery power systems for energy storage and backup power supply.Contact InformationDory Power CompanySolar generator manufacturerservice@ dorypower.com 2163863953SOURCE: Dory Power
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan Republic General Colonel Zakir Hasanov has made a working visit to Turkiye at the invitation of Minister of National Defense of Turkiye Yashar Guler, Trend reports referring to the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.

Zakir Hasanov will take part in a number of events on the occasion of August 30 - Victory Day of Turkiye.

Within the framework of the visit, the Azerbaijani Defense Minister is also scheduled to participate in graduation ceremonies held at special purpose educational institutions under the jurisdiction of the National Defense University of Turkiye.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-30 20:01:28

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RADNOR, PA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP( www.ktmc.com) informs investors that a securities class action lawsuit has been against Shift4 Payments, Inc. ("Shift4") (NYSE:FOUR). The action charges Shift4 with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the company's business, operations, and prospects. As a result of Shift4's materially misleading statements and omissions to the public, Shift4's investors have suffered significant losses.CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR SHIFT4 LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/new-cases/shift4-payments-inc?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=four&mktm=r LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE:OCTOBER 19, 2023CLASS PERIOD: NOVEMBER 10, 2021 THROUGH APRIL 18, 2023CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:Jonathan Naji, Esq. at (484) 270-1453 or via email at info@ ktmc.com Kessler Topaz is one of the world's foremost advocates in protecting the public against corporate fraud and other wrongdoing. Our securities fraud litigators are regularly recognized as leaders in the field individually and our firm is both feared and respected among the defense bar and the insurance bar. We are proud to have recovered billions of dollars for our clients and the classes of shareholders we represent.SHIFT4'S ALLEGED MISCONDUCTThe Class Period begins on November 10, 2021, when Shift4 issued a shareholder letter before markets opened, announcing the company's Q3 2021 financial results. In the shareholder letter, the company recorded $19.3 million of customer acquisition costs in the investing activities section of its unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, as well as $25.6 million in net cash provided by operating activities, for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.On October 21, 2022, Shift4 disclosed in an SEC filing that certain of its financial statements should no longer be relied upon and would need to be restated because of a material weakness in the company's financial controls, which had caused it to incorrectly treat "customer acquisition costs" as cash used in investing activities rather than cash used in operating activities in its Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. As a result, Shift4 was forced to negatively revise its net cash provided by operating activities in certain past financial statements. On this news, Shift4's stock price fell $1.21 per share, or 2.67%, to close at $44.16 per share on October 24, 2022.Then, on April 19, 2023, market analyst Blue Orca Capital published a report alleging that Shift4 "engaged in a string of highly questionable and hyperaggressive accounting maneuvers seemingly designed to keep the stock afloat," including "cash flow manipulation" and "inexplicable distributor acquisitions that enabled it to capitalize a major component of COGS." The report also indicated that Shift4 engaged in unreported related-party transactions and that the company's questionable accounting maneuvers "inflated 2022 gross profit by 13%, Adj. EBITDA by 34%, and operating income by close to 3x."Following this news, Shift4's stock price fell $5.95 per share, or 8.68%, to close at $62.59 per share on April 19, 2023.WHAT CAN I DO?Shift4 investors may, no later than October 19, 2023, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff for the class, through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLPor other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages Shift4 investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information. The class action complaint against Shift4, O'Meara v. Shift4 Payments, Inc., et al., Case No. 23-cv-03206, is filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania before the Honorable Joseph F. Leeson Jr.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASEWHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLPKessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and other corporate misconduct. All of our work is driven by a common goal: to protect investors, consumers, employees and others from fraud, abuse, misconduct and negligence by businesses and fiduciaries. The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com CONTACT:Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLPJonathan Naji, Esq.280 King of Prussia RoadRadnor, PA 19087(484) 270-1453info@ ktmc.com SOURCE: Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP
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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, a nationally recognized law firm, notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. ("Hawaiian Electric" or the "Company") (NYSE:HE) and certain of its officers.Class Definition:This lawsuit seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Hawaiian Electric securities between February 28, 2019 and August 16, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Such investors are encouraged to join this case.Case Details:The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically,Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that:(1) Hawaiian Electric's wildfire prevention and safety protocols and procedures were inadequate to meet the challenges for which they were ostensibly designed; (2) accordingly, despite knowing the degree of risk that wildfires posed to Maui, the Company's inadequate safety protocols and procedures placed Maui at a heightened risk of devastating wildfires; and (3) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.What's Next?A class action lawsuit has already been filed. You may review a copy of the Complaint. You may also contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Law Clerk and Client Relations Manager, Yael Nathanson of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 332-239-2660. If you suffered a loss in Hawaiian Electric you have until October 23, 2023 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.Why Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman:Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a nationally recognized firm that represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide.Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.Contact:Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLCPeretz Bronstein or Yael Nathanson332-239-2660 | info@ bgandg.com SOURCE: Bronstein, Gewirtz and Grossman, LLC
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Hagens Berman urges Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) equity and bond investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now.Class Period: Feb. 28, 2019 - Aug. 16, 2023Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Oct. 23, 2023Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/HE Contact An Attorney Now: HE@ hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HE) Securities Fraud Class Action:The complaint alleges that, unknown to investors, (1) Hawaiian Electric's wildfire prevention and safety protocols and procedures were inadequate to meet the challenges for which they were ostensibly designed, and (2) accordingly, despite knowing the degree of risk that wildfires posed to Maui, the company's inadequate safety protocols and procedures placed Maui at a heightened risk of devastating wildfires.On Aug. 12, 2023 (after historic wildfires broke out in Maui, killing dozens of people and causing billions of dollars of damage), The Washington Post reported that "[b]efore the Maui wildfires, Hawaiian Electric did not have a plan - adopted widely in California and other states - to shut off power in certain lines in advance of dangerous winds." According to the Post "Hawaiian Electric was aware that a power shut-off was an effective strategy, documents show, but had not adopted it as part of its fire-mitigation plans, according to the company and two former power and energy officials interviewed by The Washington Post." Citing a former member of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, the Post reported that the decision to avoid shutting off power "is reflective of the utility's struggles to bolster its aging and vulnerable infrastructure against wildfires[.]"Then, on Aug. 16, 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hawaiian Electric is in talks with restructuring firms and is exploring options to address its financial and legal challenges arising from the Maui wildfires.The next day, the WSJ reported that, while knowing of wildfire threats, Hawaiian Electric spent less than $245,000 between 2019 and 2022 on Maui wildfire-specific projects.This news drove the price of Hawaiian Electric shares and bonds sharply lower."We're focused on investors' losses and proving Hawaiian Electric misled investors about its operational safeguards necessary to comply with state safety requirements," said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.If you invested in Hawaiian Electric 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 Hawaiian Electric 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 HE@ 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 Sobol Shapiro LLP
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HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / HNR Acquisition Corp (NYSE American:HNRA) (the "Company" or "HNRA") announces that on August 28, 2023, the Company signed an Amended and Restated Membership Interest Purchase Agreement ("A&R MIPA") to purchase all of the equity interests of a New Mexico based oil company and its subsidiaries (the "Target"), as the Company previously disclosed. The A&R MIPA replaces the previous membership interest purchase agreement that the Company executed in December 2022.Amended and Restated Membership Interest Purchase AgreementThe Company has signed the A&R MIPA with the sellers described therein ("Sellers") revising and replacing the terms of the prior agreement to purchase all of the equity interests in the Target. A copy of the A&R MIPA and a more detailed description of the A&R MIPA is included in the Company's 8-K filing dated August 30, 2023. Highlights of the A&R MIPA include revision of the purchase price to an aggregate amount of $63 million in cash plus (i) two million shares of a new class of Class B Common Stock of the Company which have no economic rights (voting only) and (ii) two million units in the Company's newly-formed subsidiary, HNRA Upstream, LLC ("OpCo"), which are exchangeable for two million shares of the Company's newly created Class A Common Stock. The cash required at closing can be reduced by $15 million payable through a promissory note to Sellers, and up to another $20 million through issuance of preferred units in OpCo, which convert into shares of the Company's proposed new Class B common stock in 2 years, at a conversion rate based on the Company's stock price at the time. Within one year thereafter, the Class B common stock may be converted into the proposed Class A common stock. At a minimum, the Company must pay the Sellers $33 million in cash at closing.In addition, in connection with the reduction of the purchase price due at closing, Target transferred a 10% overriding royalty interest in oil, gas and minerals in, under and produced from each lease of Target (the "ORR Interest") to an affiliate that will not be purchased by the Company. Then, in connection with the A&R MIPA, the Company will be granted a 12-month option to purchase the ORR Interest for $30 million.On August 28th the company signed a commitment letter with First International Bank & Trust (FIBT) for a senior secured term loan in the amount of $28 million to fund a portion of the purchase price, subject to a number of conditions set forth in the letter. FIBT is a 112-year-old commercial bank with offices in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Arizona, headquartered in Watford City, North Dakota. A detailed description of the commitment letter and term sheet is included in the Company's 8-K filing with the SEC dated August 30, 2023.Intent to purchase all equity interests in TargetThe Company previously announced its intent to purchase all equity interests in the Target, and thereby acquire the Grayburg-Jackson oil field in the prolific Permian Basin in Eddy County, New Mexico. The A&R MIPA confirms and formalizes this intent. The Target fields comprise 13,700 contiguous leasehold acres, 343 producing wells and 207 injection wells for a total of 550 wells on the properties. Current production is approximately 1,400 barrels of oil and oil equivalent per day. Management expects to increase daily production to nearly 4,000 barrels of oil and oil equivalent in the next three years in accordance with the reserve report by William Cobb & Associates, a third-party engineering firm retained by Target.About HNR Acquisition CorpHNRA is a blank check company (otherwise known as a special purpose acquisition company or SPAC) formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities.For more information on HNRA, the acquisition and the transaction, please visit the Company website: https://www.hnra-nyse.com/ Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release includes "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expected, including the funding of the Trust Account to further extend the period for the Company to consummate an initial business combination, if needed. Words such as "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "seeks," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "should" and variations and similar words and expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or future results, based on currently available information and reflect the Company's management's current beliefs. A number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events and results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors - including the availability of funds, the results of financing efforts and the risks relating to our business - that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on EDGAR (see www.edgar-online.com) and with the Securities and Exchange Commission (see www.sec.gov) . Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. In addition, please refer to the Risk Factors section of the Company's Form 10-K as filed with the SEC on March 31, 2023 for additional information identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.Investor RelationsMichael J. Porter, PresidentPORTER, LEVAY & ROSE, INC.mike@ plrinvest.com SOURCE: HNR Acquisition Corp
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New Educational Program to Build and Nurture the Next Generation of Podcasting InnovatorsPITTSBURGH, PA and NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Today, Liberated Syndication Inc. ("Libsyn"), the leading all-in-one podcasting platform for creators and advertisers, is proud to announce the launch of LibsynEDU, an innovative podcast educational program aimed at fostering excellence in podcasting and nurturing the next generation of podcasting talent."At Libsyn, we deeply value the educators' and institutions' crucial roles in shaping the minds of future generations. We recognize the significance of education and how it transforms lives. With this appreciation, we are proud to introduce LibsynEDU, our newest podcast educational program designed to support and empower educators and students in the podcasting space," John W. Gibbons, Interim CEO and Chief Product Officer, Libsyn.Revolutionizing Podcasting EducationLibsynEDU is set to redefine the educational landscape for aspiring podcasters, equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and connections required to thrive in the ever-evolving podcasting industry. As part of the program, Libsyn will equip academic institutions with discounted access* to its suite of industry-leading hosting and monetization tools and offerings. Students will also enjoy supplemental coursework developed by industry experts. This coursework will cover various aspects of podcasting, including production techniques, storytelling, marketing strategies, audience engagement, measurement, and monetization.In addition, LibsynEDU partners and participants will have the privilege of engaging with thought-leaders and influential figures in the podcasting realm through guest speaker sessions and on-campus events. These interactions will provide invaluable insights and foster connections with professionals at the forefront of the podcasting industry. Additionally, Libsyn will provide essential tutorials and recommendations for studio and recording equipment, ensuring that students have the necessary tools to create high-quality podcasts. Furthermore, participants will have access to industry research, empowering them to stay informed about emerging trends and best practices.As part of this transformative program, students will gain access to a wide array of resources, including a thoughtfully crafted supplemental coursework, industry-leading hosting and monetization tools, guest speaker sessions, and access to a vibrant community of podcasting enthusiasts.Creation of Libsyn Fellowship for NYU Graduate Journalism Podcasting StudentLibsyn is also announcing the creation of the Libsyn Fellowship, supported by a grant from Libsyn, for a student enrolled in the Podcasting and Audio Reportage master's concentration at NYU's Journalism Institute at the Graduate School of Arts & Science. The Libsyn Fellow will be chosen by a panel of NYU Arts & Science faculty, and conduct original research focused on podcasting in consultation with faculty. Libsyn selected NYU's Journalism Institute for its Libsyn Fellowship as it offers the first graduate-level journalism program specializing in audio podcasting."LibsynEDU provides educators with the supplemental tools and resources they need to help empower students to discover their voice and path in podcasting," said Andy Rogers, Senior Director of Partnerships at Libsyn. "The development of LibsynEDU and the Libsyn Fellowship exemplify our commitment to nurturing the growth of podcasting, supporting the visionary minds in podcast academia, and empowering the next generation of podcast creators." Sarah Morio, Director of Marketing Operations at Libsyn, added, "We look forward to building on our NYU relationship for years to come, while also providing students worldwide with invaluable resources and opportunities to succeed in their podcasting journey." LibsynEDU hosting plans are priced as low as 75% discount off regularly priced plans. The plan includes access to both Libsyn Connect, a comprehensive, feature-rich recording solution that provides creators with everything they need to remotely record the highest quality interviews, and Libsyn Studio, an all-in-one podcast creation platform for new creators to plan, launch, and distribute their content. Additional hosting plans like LibsynEDU+ and LibsynPro are also available at the enterprise and institutional level.For more information about LibsynEDU, podcast programs, and courses available from our partners and various student resources, academic institutions, educators, and students can visit https://libsyn.com/education/ or email us at education@ libsyn.com About Liberated SyndicationFounded in 2004, Liberated Syndication Inc. ("Libsyn") is the leading all-in-one podcasting platform for creators and advertisers to host, distribute, monetize, amplify, and measure their audio content. In 2022, the Company hosted over 75,000 shows and delivered over 8 billion downloads to listeners globally. Libsyn's AdvertiseCast marketplace combines an industry-leading ad buying and management platform with full-service capabilities that make it easy for podcast advertisers to initiate and manage highly targeted and measurable campaigns on over 3,000 shows. Based in Munich, Germany, Libsyn's Julep Media platform is the leading podcasting hosting platform and advertising marketplace in Europe. Libsyn also powers podcast membership platform,Glow, and web hosting platform, Pair Networks. Visit libsyn.com or investor. libsyn.com for more Company information.# # #Media Contacts: Ray Yeung + Nancy Zakhary | ray@ relev8.co + nancy@ relev8.co Investor Contact: investor@ libsyn.com SOURCE: Liberated Syndication, Inc.
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Not for release to US wire services or distribution in the United StatesANNOUNCEMENT TO THE TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE AND AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGESUBIACO, WESTERN AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / The Board of RTG Mining Inc. ("RTG", or the "Company") (TSX Code:RTG), (ASX Code:RTG) is pleased to provide this update on progress with respect to the development of the high grade copper-gold Mabilo Project located in Camarines Norte Province, Eastern Luzon, Philippines.As reported earlier this year, RTG agreed terms under a binding Memorandum of Agreement with the Villar Family's TVI Resource Development (Phils.) Inc. ("TVIRD") where RTG will continue to hold a 40% interest in the Mabilo Project and TVIRD will hold the remaining 60%. In addition to this, RTG will have a 2% net smelter royalty ("NSR") on the project and have US$27M of debt repaid from the proceeds of planned Stage 1 production.RTG is pleased to confirm that it has recently held its first project development meeting with TVIRD executives to undertake a detailed review of operational plans for the Mabilo Project, including a central focus on the start-up of the potentially highly profitable Direct Shipping phase. These latest discussions are considered a significant step forward for RTG and signal TVIRD's commitment to helping shift the focus for the Mabilo Project from corporate to operational matters.Given the Mabilo Project has been on care and maintenance for over two years, the initial meeting focused on important near-term initiatives including discussions on local issues such as the necessary Social Development and Management Programs and the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programs together with reviewing tree clearing permits as well as the port facility and the land acquisition program.A key outcome of the meeting was the agreement that the Management Committee, which has representatives of both project partners, will hold meetings every two weeks to work closely to advance development plans towards a targeted operational start-up as soon as possible.RTG is also particularly pleased to welcome the appointment of Mr Edsel Abrasaldo to manage the technical aspects of the Mabilo Project on the ground in the Philippines. Mr Abrasaldo is a highly experienced mining executive with extensive regional experience operating in the Philippines.Commentary:Commenting on these positive discussions held in the Philippines, RTG's CEO Justine Magee said: "This first project development meeting with TVIRD should be regarded as a key turning point for the Company and marks a profound shift in focus as we move past legal and corporate matters to now focus on activities which move Mabilo firmly forward into the project development phase. RTG has engaged in good and extensive discussions with TVIRD's executive team, which now includes the newly appointed technical executive, representing a clear focus on operational start-up as we work together to unlock the value of the high-grade Mabilo copper/gold project. TVIRD's shareholders share the same view as RTG's Board in that Mabilo is a hugely valuable high grade cooper-gold project, a significant mining project for the Philippines, and together we are intent on unlocking this value. RTG looks forward to providing further updates on operational strategy over the coming months." ABOUT RTG MINING INCRTG Mining Inc. is a mining and exploration company listed on the main board of the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange. RTG is currently focused primarily on progressing the Mabilo Project to start-up having now received a mining permit for the Project, with a view to moving quickly and safely to a producing gold and copper company.RTG also has a number of exciting new opportunities including the Panguna Project in Bougainville, which it remains committed to while also considering further new business development opportunities.RTG has an experienced management team which has to date developed seven mines in five different countries, including being responsible for the development of the Masbate Gold Mine in the Philippines through CGA Mining Limited. RTG has some of the most respected international institutional investors as shareholders including Franklin Templeton, Equinox Partners and Sun Valley.ENQUIRIESPresident & CEO - Justine MageeTel: +61 8 6489 2900Email: jmagee@ rtgmining.com US Investor Relations ContactJaime Wells: +1 970 640 0611jwells@ rtgmining.com Australia Investor and Media ContactSam Burns: +61 400 164 067COMPLIANCE STATEMENTDate: 30 August 2023Authorised for release by: By the Board of DirectorsCAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTSThe Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed nor does it accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.This announcement includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation including, among others, statements made or implied relating to the interpretation of exploration results, accuracy of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, parameters and assumptions used to estimate mineral reserves and mineral resources, realization of mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, estimated economic results of the Mabilo Project, future operational and financial results, including estimated cashflow and the timing thereof, estimated expenditures, expansion, exploration and development activities and the timing thereof, including expectations regarding the DSO, plans for progressing Stage 2 development, completion of a debt funding package, the negotiation of contracts for start up works and offtake arrangements and the completion of merged documentation, RTG's objectives, strategies to achieve those objectives, RTG's beliefs, plans, estimates and intentions, and similar statements concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, are forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements generally can be identified by words such as "objective", "may", "will", "expected", "likely", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "should", "plans", or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties and are based on certain factors and assumptions. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be
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RALEIGH, NC / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Newswire, an industry leader in press release distribution services, including content production, strategy, and planning, as well as media technology, is set to exhibit at the 2023 Small Business Expo on September 6 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. PDT at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport.This is the 15th year of the Small Business Expo, America's largest business-to-business trade show, conference, educational and networking event for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and start-ups.As an exhibitor (booth #134), Newswire will share information about its industry-leading and award-winning press release distribution services like its Press Release Optimizer (PRO), which helps companies around the globe leverage consistent press release distribution, targeted media outreach, in-depth data analysis and more to earn media mentions and expand reach."For small businesses especially, standing out in a crowded marketplace feels like an uphill battle. We understand this struggle, and that's why we've developed press release distribution services to help small businesses stand out and get the attention they deserve," said Jennifer Hammers, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Issuer Direct.Newswire offers a comprehensive host of press release distribution services that help small businesses distribute the right message to the right audience at the right time.These offerings include:Press Release DistributionPress Release OptimizerMedia DatabaseMedia MonitoringAnalyticsNewsroom"This is our first time at the Small Business Expo, and our team's excited to exhibit and meet with Los Angeles business owners who are looking to grow their businesses and improve their bottom lines," added Hammers.Attendees who stop by Newswire's booth (#134) will take home a Newswire toiletry bag.About NewswireNewswire is a media technology company that provides its clients with the Press Release Optimizer, which consists of press release distribution, media databases, media monitoring, and newsrooms that power the Media Advantage: greater brand awareness through earned media, increased online visibility through greater SEO recognition, and more sales inquiries through targeted digital marketing campaigns.Through its disruptive Press Release Optimizer, relentless commitment to customer satisfaction, and passion for customer performance, Newswire is automating media and marketing communications for large and small businesses seeking to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time for the right purpose.To learn more about Newswire and its Press Release Optimizer, visit Newswire.com and discover why our customers have named us #1 for Customer Satisfaction and Ease of Use for four years in a row. For more information, visit http://www.newswire.com Newswire is a wholly owned subsidiary of Issuer Direct, a leading communications and compliance company, providing solutions for both Public Relations and Investor Relations Professionals. For more information, please visit www.issuerdirect.com Contact InformationJennifer HammersExecutive Vice President of Sales & Marketing919.481.4000SOURCE: Newswire
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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Park Lawn Corporation (TSX:PLC, PLC.U) ("Park Lawn" or "PLC") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all the assets of Christy-Smith Funeral Homes located in Sioux City, Iowa (collectively "Christy-Smith"). The Christy-Smith acquisition expands Park Lawn's footprint in the Sioux City, Iowa metropolitan market through the addition of two (2) stand-alone funeral homes and is anticipated to close in mid-October 2023 following the receipt of regulatory approval."We are excited for the opportunity to further expand our operating position in the Sioux City metropolitan area through the strategic acquisition of Christy-Smith," said J. Bradley Green, Chief Executive Officer of PLC. Mr. Green continued, "These businesses will complement our recent Meyer Brothers acquisition and further our operational synergies in the market. We look forward to welcoming the Christy-Smith team into the Park Lawn family." Highlights of the transaction include:The addition of two (2) stand-alone funeral homes.The transaction represents 217 calls per year and is expected to be financed with funds from PLC's credit facility and available cash on hand.Following the closing and integration of the transaction, the Christy-Smith acquisition is expected to add approximately US$437,391 in Adjusted EBITDA annually.[1]For the 12 months ended December 31, 2022, PLC had Adjusted EBITDA of US$74,948,868 and net earnings of US$25,124,765.The agreed upon purchase price multiple for the transaction is within PLC's publicly-stated targeted Adjusted EBITDA multiple range for its historical transactions.About Park Lawn Corporation:PLC provides goods and services associated with the disposition and memorialization of human remains. Products and services are sold on a pre-planned basis (pre-need) or at the time of a death (at-need). PLC and its subsidiaries own and operate businesses including cemeteries, crematoria, funeral homes, chapels, planning offices and a transfer service. PLC operates in three Canadian provinces and nineteen U.S. states.Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking InformationThis news release contains forward-looking information (within the meaning of applicable securities laws) relating to the business of PLC and the environment in which it operates. Forward-looking statements in this news release are identified by words such as "believe", "anticipate", "project", "expect", "intend", "plan", "will", "may", "estimate", "pro-forma" and other similar expressions. These statements are based on PLC's expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections and include, without limitation, statements regarding PLC's expectation that the Christy-Smith acquisition will add approximately US$437,391 in Adjusted EBITDA; the acquisition will provide operational synergies for existing businesses in the market and the expected time of closing of the acquisition. The forward-looking statements in this news release are based on certain assumptions, including that PLC is able to obtain regulatory approval or satisfy regulatory requirements for the acquisition, the acquisition closes in the anticipated time frame, the acquisition will perform as expected following closing, PLC will be able to implement business improvements and achieve cost savings, PLC will be able to retain key personnel, there will be no unexpected expenses occurring as a result of the acquisition, the purchase price multiples for future acquisitions remain at or below levels paid by PLC for previously announced acquisitions, the acquisition and financing markets remain accessible, capital can be obtained at reasonable costs and PLC's current business lines operate and obtain synergies as expected, as well as those regarding present and future business strategies, organic growth initiatives, the environment in which PLC will operate in the future, expected revenues, expansion plans and PLC's ability to achieve its goals. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in PLC's most recent Annual Information Form and Management's Discussion and Analysis available at www.sedarplus.com . There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Readers, therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, these forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as expressly required by applicable law, PLC assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.NonIFRS MeasuresAdjusted Net Earnings is not a measure recognized under IFRS and does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. Such measure is presented in this news release because management of PLC believes that such measure is relevant in evaluating PLC's proposed acquisition of Christy-Smith. Such measure, as computed by PLC, may differ from similar computations as reported by other similar organizations and, accordingly, may not be comparable to similar measures reported by such other organizations. Please refer to pages 8, 9 and 21 of PLC's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ending December 31, 2022, which was filed on SEDAR+ on March 2, 2023, for how PLC reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to the nearest IFRS measure.Contact InformationDaniel MillettChief Financial Officer(416) 231-1462, ext. 221[1] Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS financial measure. Refer to the Non-IFRS Financial Measures section of this news release for more information on this non-IFRS financial measure.SOURCE: Park Lawn Corporation
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / EnbridgeAsking for help can be the most difficult step. A retired army Veteran living in the rural community of Suwannee Valley in northern Florida had been self-sufficient, managing a mortgage and living expenses without any support from Veterans programs.Then, the unexpected happened: he fell ill. Medical bills added up, then mortgage payments and utility bills. He struggled to care for his health and home, and was ultimately taking care of neither-he didn't have the resources.When he heard about MISSION UNITED, a new Veterans' program through the United Way of Suwannee Valley, he still didn't believe he was the kind of person who should accept help."He wanted the assistance to go to someone else who was more in need," says Jennifer Anchors, UWSV's executive director. "It was just this spiral that was going on for him." A caseworker was assigned to the gentleman, and he was connected with medical assistance through the Veterans Affairs hospital. MISSION UNITED helped him pay two months of his mortgage and one month of his electric bill. He also joined a local seniors' group for socialization and volunteering."He was able to get back on his feet," Anchors says. "And he just felt so good about himself." Although other programs for Veterans exist in the small community, people were falling through the cracks, Anchors explains, noting the region is home to approximately 11,000 Veterans."A lot of times people just don't know where to go when they need help. We serve as the hub that supports them . . . to help them navigate resources," she says.MISSION UNITED isn't funded by the workplace fundraising campaigns United Way organizations are known for; the program receives funding only through private foundations and grants.Enbridge was proud to be MISSION UNITED's first funder, awarding UWSV a Fueling Futures grant of $7,500 to help establish the program in 2021, as part of our commitment to build sustainable communities. We followed that initial funding with $7,500 in 2022 and $5,000 in 2023 to continue the work to support and empower Veterans and their families, and ensure they receive assistance when times are tough.Frequently, these Veterans offer to pay back the financial support they've received."For a lot of people, it's very difficult and embarrassing to ask for help, especially for Veterans," Anchors says. "We try to reassure them: No, this is not a loan. We're here to help you.' "It's just as the program's motto states: MISSION UNITED is proudly serving those who have served.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Enbridge on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: EnbridgeWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/enbridge Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Enbridge
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Acer Therapeutics buys Relief Therapeutics' stake in OLPRUVA worldwide, excluding geographical Europe, providing an upfront payment of $10 million in cash to Relief Therapeutics with the potential for an additional $46.5 million in milestone and royalty paymentsThe transition from a profit-based to a revenue-based royalty stream model is expected to deliver earlier returns and enhanced predictability to Relief TherapeuticsGENEVA, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA (SWX:RLF), (OTCQB:RLFTF, RLFTY) (Relief Therapeutics), a biopharmaceutical company committed to delivering innovative treatment options for select specialty, unmet and rare diseases, today announced it has entered into a new exclusive definitive licensing agreement with Acer Therapeutics Inc. (Acer Therapeutics) for the development and commercialization of OLPRUVA (sodium phenylbutyrate, ACER-001) for the treatment of certain urea cycle disorders (UCDs) and other potential indications. This agreement supersedes the March 2021 collaboration and license agreement between the companies, which has been cancelled as part of this new agreement."We are very happy to have re-structured our collaboration with Acer Therapeutics which includes provisions that we believe will benefit both parties, and ultimately those suffering from UCDs and otherpotential rare metabolic conditions," said Jack Weinstein, chief executive officer of Relief Therapeutics. "Our collective goal with Acer is to maximize the global commercialization of OLPRUVA to ensure as many patients as possible will access to this much needed, differentiated and convenient treatmentUnder the terms of the new agreement, Acer Therapeutics will retain development and commercialization rights for OLPRUVA worldwide for the treatment of UCDs and any potential additional indications in the U.S. and other countries worldwide, excluding geographical Europe. Acer Therapeutics will provide Relief Therapeutics with a non-contingent $10 million upfront cash payment and an additional non-contingent $1.5 million cash payment on the one-year anniversary of the agreement. Relief Therapeutics will also receive a 10 percent continuing royalty calculated on the net sales of OLPRUVA in the Acer Therapeutics territory, and 20 percent of any value received by Acer Therapeutics from licensing or divestment transactions relating to OLPRUVA, up to a cumulative amount of an additional $45 million. At the same time, Relief Therapeutics will retain development and commercialization rights for OLPRUVA in geographical Europe, which includes the European Union, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Vatican City, Norway, Iceland, Principality of Monaco, Andorra, Gibraltar, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia. Acer Therapeutics will receive from Relief Therapeutics a variable, continuing royalty up to a maximum of 10 percent of the net sales of OLPRUVA and 20 percent of any value received by Relief Therapeutics from sublicensing transactions relating to OLPRUVA in geographical Europe, which going forward exclusively remains Relief Therapeutics' territories to develop and commercialize OLPRUVA."Relief Therapeutics remains an ideal partner for OLPRUVA in Europe and we are eager to continue the development and commercialization of our innovative treatment option for those suffering from rare metabolic disorders like UCDs," said Chris Schelling, founder and chief executive officer of Acer Therapeutics.In addition to the immediate cash influx strengthening Relief Therapeutics' capital position, the transition from a profit-based model to a revenue-based royalty stream model is expected to offer Relief Therapeutics earlier returns, reduce certain associated risks and increase predictability in its royalty income. This will also support Relief Therapeutics' ongoing operations, extending the cash runway and bolster investments in the Company's pipeline, including its efforts to seek approval to commercialize OLPRUVA in geographical Europe.ABOUT OLPRUVAThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ACER-001 (sodium phenylbutyrate) for the treatment of certain UCDs in December 2022 and it is now marketed in the U.S. under the brand nameOLPRUVA. OLPRUVA is also being studied as an investigational treatment for patients with maple syrup urine disease (MSUD), a rare metabolic genetic disease that leads to toxic build-up of leucine and other branched-chain amino acids. Please see Important Safety Information and full Prescribing Information, including Patient Information.ABOUT RELIEF THERAPEUTICSRelief Therapeutics is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing treatment paradigms and delivering improvements in efficacy, safety and convenience to benefit the lives of patients living with select specialty and rare diseases. Relief Therapeutics' portfolio offers a balanced mix of marketed, revenue-generating products, our proprietary, globally patented Physiomimic and TEHCLO platform technologies and a targeted clinical development pipeline consisting of risk-mitigated assets focused in three core therapeutic areas, which include rare metabolic, rare dermatology and rare respiratory diseases. In addition, Relief Therapeutics is commercializing several legacy products via licensing to distribution partners. Relief Therapeutics' mission is to provide therapeutic relief to those suffering from rare diseases and is being advanced by an international team of well-established, experienced biopharma industry leaders with extensive research, development and rare disease expertise. Relief Therapeutics is headquartered in Geneva, with additional offices in Balerna, Switzerland, Offenbach am Main, Germany and Monza, Italy. Relief Therapeutics is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the symbol RLF and quoted in the U.S. on OTCQB under the symbols RLFTF and RLFTY. For more information, please visit our website www.relieftherapeutics.com or follow Relief Therapeutics on LinkedIn and Twitter.CONTACT:RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SACatherine DayVice President, Investor Relations & CommunicationsDISCLAIMERThis press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including (i) whether Relief Therapeutics and Acer Therapeutics will be successful in their respective development and commercialization eff
Press Release

August 30, 2023 Privilege Speech: On the IACAT Departure Guidelines

30 August 2023 Mr. President, I stand here on personal and collective privilege, as it already August 30, and I know this will be an issue three days from now, on September 3. Mr. President, last March, nag-viral po sa social media ang isang kababayan natin na dumaan sa talagang nakakapagtakang immigration interview. Matindi pa sa job interviewer itong immigration officer na ito, kasi hindi lang passport ang hanap, kundi pati daw yearbook at graduation photo. Napakahaba raw ng interview, pero hindi lang oras ang nawala sa ating kababayan. Ang masaklap, nawalan rin po siya ng Php19,000, na presyo ng ticket sa flight niya na hindi niya naabutan, dahil sa tagal ng tanong ng mga immigration officers na ito. And now, again, we are looking at the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking's new set of requirements for departing Filipino travelers, and we are left wondering: is all of this absolutely necessary, Mr. President. We are one with IACAT, of course, in finding ways to protect our people from being exploited, and finding themselves abroad with no proper employment, and no means of coming back home. And we know that the point of departure is a crucial stage where we can act on this, and prevent our people from leaving our care and becoming victims of trafficking. But there has to be a way to protect our people without also hampering their right to travel. This is a constitutional right, and I am glad that we have one of the bar topnotchers here and several lawyers, listening today. Nasa Article III, Section 6 ng Constitution po natin yan, "The liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon lawful order of the court. Neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health." The constitution is not recommendatory, Mr. President, it is mandatory. As may be provided by law, that is correct, to add to that. But I don't recall in our 25 years as a legislator, that we passed a law asking the people to submit their graduation certificate and their yearbook at the airport. It is the right of every Filipino to travel. And truth be told, we want more Filipinos to travel, domestically and internationally. Parang North Korea lamang po, Mr. President, and hindi pumapayag sa kanilang mga kababayan na mag-travel. Ang kaso lang, minsan mas mura pa ang tickets papuntang Hong Kong o Thailand kesa lumipad pa-Boracay o Bohol. Kaya rin marami nang mga Filipino tourists ang pumupunta abroad. If we want foreign tourists to come here, because this will boost our economy, then we also want Filipinos, who have the means, to travel abroad, because that is the sign of a healthier, more economically stable Philippines. If we are pushing, Mr. President, for a middle income economy by 2028, you have to remember na mas marami po tayong mga kababayan na mas malaki po ang spending power nila, mas malaki po ang savings nila, at baka naman gusto nilang makabiyahe sa ibang bansa kasama ang kanilang pamilya, para maka-enjoy kahit papano. The truth is that when a nation grows, it cultivates a growing middle class, with more spending power, more savings, and a larger capacity for travel. And since we are shooting for middle-income status by 2028, the Executive should be prepared for an increase of outbound Filipino tourists as well. The immigration policies of old, Mr. President, will need to be adjusted to accommodate this reality. Hindi na po siguro pwede 'yung nakasanayan po natin na immigration interview strategy ngayon, dahil hindi na po ata sapat ang number ng ating immigration officers sa dami ng mga Pilipinong palabas ng bansa. Kaya pag ba-biyahe po kayo, tignan niyo po yung airport, punong-puno ng tao doon sa immigration counters, on their way out. Ang kawawa po dito, karamihan sa kanila, na-offload dahil sa profiling. It's not racial profiling, it's economic profiling. Kung makita, hindi magaling mag-English, hindi maganda ang kasuotan, hindi pa nakaka-biyahe--automatic, 90% chance magkakaroon po ng second screening, at matataranta po yung mga pasaherong ito. At sa second screening, aabutin ng ilang oras, kaya minsan nawawalang-bisa na po yung ticket nila, at hindi lamang yun, pati 'yung bayad sa hotel--kasi ipapakita niyo po sa immigration officer na nakabayad na po kayo sa hotel sa ibang bansa. Eh kung na-offload po sila, edi wala na. Goodbye, Philippines na po yung hotel reservation nila. Add to that the ridiculous amount of requirements that our immigration officers have to inspect, eh talagang magkakaroon po ng delays at missed flights. We don't want to discourage our people from flying out, exploring other cultures, and enjoying the hard-earned fruits of their labor. Ayaw naman po natin maging North Korea, na sobrang higpit ng travel policy, at halos business travels na lang ang naaaprubahan. We have to find better, more efficient immigration strategies going forward-- strategies that protect our people, but don't curtail their constitutional right to travel. Look at what our neighbors in Thailand are doing, for instance. From January to October 2022, their Department of Employment reported only 383 workers denied departure to prevent them from working illegally overseas. That same year, our Bureau of Immigration offloaded a whopping 32,404 Filipinos. Granted, we have a larger population, but it is still worth asking: are we screening more strictly, or are they simply screening more efficiently? And I'd like to also provide guess that this may also cause alarm and contribute to corruption. Dahil ang balita sa amin, pagdating po sa secondary screening, private room na po iyan. Kung anu-ano pang transaksyon ang pwedeng mangyari sa private room na iyan. That is prone to so much corruption. Ang nakakasama pa po, pasok nang pasok tayo ng POGO workers, ng kung sino-sino pang mga misfits from other countries, but we don't even allow our dutiful Filipino citizens to travel when they want to. Kasabay po kasi ng screening ng Thailand sa kanilang borders, mismong mga recruitment agencies po ang target nila for inspection. Ito rin ang kailangan nating palakasin dito sa Pilipinas. We have to bear down on these illegal recruiters, because this is where the chain of exploitation starts. Hindi po tatayo sa immigration counters at lilipad sa ibang bansa ang mga trafficked persons kung hindi po inaya to ng mga illegal recruiters. 'Yan ang dapat hulihin, ang mga sindikatong iyan. Bago pa umabot sa airport ang mga kababayan natin dala ang pekeng mga dokumento galing sa kanilang illegal recruiters, nakuhanan na sila ng napakaraming pera ng mga recruiters na ito. 'Yan ang dapat targetin ng ating Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Labor and Employment. They don't become victims once they arrive abroad. They become victims as soon as these recruiters prey on them right here on our shores. I have a friend who went to Japan--first time traveler po--ang binanggit niya sa akin dito, he just barely missed his flight, tatlong oras po ang paghawak sa kanya ng immigration. Katakot-takot po na mga requirements ang hiningi, that he had to get from his family in the province to send to him by Viber, to show and present to the Bureau of Immigration. Hinanap pa po nila itong mga high school diploma and college diploma. Alam niyo po pagdating niya sa Japan, nag-smile lang po ang Japanese immigration officer, tinatakan siya, have a good day! All of two seconds. Napakadali po sa ibang bansa. Tayo dito, perwisyo ang tinatanggap ng ating mga travelers. Talagang perwisyo. So if we can cut the problem at the level of these illegal recruiters, then we would not have to ask for ridiculous requirements from every Filipino traveler before departure. Let us not victimize Filipino travelers with inefficiency. There are real perpetrators that we can target here, mainly illegal recruiters, and we must go after them, instead of burdening everyone else. Huwag nating iparamdam sa mga Pilipino na kailangan pa nilang patunayan ang lahat ng detalye ng buhay at kabuhayan nila para lang makalipad abroad. Karapatan po nating lahat ito, at hindi na po dapat tayo pahirapan para dito. Again, let me remind everyone, it is our constitutional right. and the constitution is not recommendatory, it is mandatory. Until the Bureau of Immigration can show me a law that we have passed that says that they need to submit all these requirements, I remain skeptical. And I'm asking our dear colleagues in this chamber to support us in this issue to be able to allow our kababayans the freedom to travel. Maraming salamat po, Mr. President.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan Republic Sabina Aliyeva has prepared a report on Azerbaijanis missing during the First Karabakh War, the Azerbaijani Ombudsman's Office told Trend.

The Report is addressed to relevant international organizations on the occasion of August 30 - International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

The main purpose of this report is to inform the international community about the fate of about 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis, to provide information about them, as well as appeals of their families.

As of today, several mass graves have been discovered in the territories of Azerbaijan liberated from occupation, and the identification of the found remains confirms their belonging to the missing Azerbaijanis. These facts testify to the war crimes committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan, cases of direct violation of the norms and principles of international law. The Ombudsman's report also touched upon this topic and emphasized the importance of the world community's appeals to Armenia to provide information about the missing Azerbaijanis.

The report, prepared in Azerbaijani and English, collects and summarizes information obtained in cooperation with national and international structures on persons who went missing during the First Karabakh war and the subsequent period. At the same time, the report reflects the meetings of Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva and staff of the Ombudsman's Office with family members of missing persons, as well as persons held hostage by Armenians and information provided by their relatives during these meetings. Also, the information published in local and foreign press about Ombudsman's activity in this sphere was summarized, relevant photo and video materials were used.

The full report is available here.
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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:SGQ)(HK:1878) ("SouthGobi" or the "Company") announces that reference is made to the Management Proxy Circular of the Company dated July 20, 2023 (Vancouver time) (the "Circular") and the announcement of the Company dated August 22, 2023 (Vancouver time) (the "Announcement"). Unless the context otherwise requires, capitalized terms used herein shall have the same meanings as those defined in the Circular and the Announcement.The Company is pleased to announce that the postponed Special Meeting of the shareholders of the Company (the "Shareholders") which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, August 23, 2023, was held on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. (Vancouver time), which is Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. (Hong Kong time) (the "Postponed Meeting") at the office of Dentons Canada LLP, 20th floor - 250 Howe Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The following sets forth a brief description of the matter which was voted upon at the Postponed Meeting and the outcome of the vote:The following ordinary resolution was passed by a majority of the votes cast by ballot. The result of the vote by ballot with respect to the above matter is shown below:ORDINARY RESOLUTIONFORAGAINST1.Approval of March 2023 Deferral AgreementThe disinterested Shareholders passed an ordinary resolution authorizing and approving the deferral agreement dated March 24, 2023 (the "March 2023 Deferral Agreement") between JD Zhixing Fund L.P. (the "Deferral Interested Shareholder"), the Company and certain of its subsidiaries as more fully described in the Circular.48,226,185(99.99%)4,200(0.01%)Notes:As more than 50% of votes cast were in favor of resolution number 1, the resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution at the Postponed Meeting.As at the date of the Postponed Meeting, the total number of issued shares of the Company was 295,277,779 Common Shares, and the total number of Common Shares entitling the holders to attend and vote on the resolution proposed at the Postponed Meeting was 209,563,585. The full text of the aforesaid resolution was set out in the Circular.Given that the Deferral Interested Shareholder is involved in and interested in the March 2023 Deferral Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereunder, the Deferral Interested Shareholder has abstained from voting at the Postponed Meeting on the resolutions approving them. Accordingly, the 85,714,194 votes attached to the Common Shares beneficially owned, or over which control or direction is exercised by the Deferral Interested Shareholder, were excluded from the vote to approve the March 2023 Deferral Agreement. Save as disclosed herein, there were (i) no Common Shares entitling the holders to attend and abstain from voting in favor of any resolution at the Postponed Meeting as set out in Rule 13.40 of the Hong Kong Listing Rules at the Postponed Meeting; and (ii) no Shareholder was required under the Hong Kong Listing Rules to abstain from voting on the resolutions at the Postponed Meeting and there were no restrictions on any Shareholder casting vote on the resolutions proposed at the Postponed Meeting.None of the disinterested Shareholders have stated their intention in the Circular to vote against or to abstain from voting on any of the resolutions proposed at the Postponed Meeting.The Company's share registrar, TSX Trust Company, acted as the scrutineer for the vote-taking at the Postponed Meeting.The executive Directors, Messrs. Ruibin Xu, Chen Shen and Ms. Chonglin Zhu attended the Postponed Meeting through the telecommunication facilities. The non-executive Directors, Messrs. Zhu Gao and Zaixiang Wen, attended the Postponed Meeting through the telecommunication facilities. The independent non-executive Directors, Mr. Mao Sun, attended the Postponed Meeting in person and Mr. Yingbin Ian He and Ms. Jin Lan Quan attended the Postponed Meeting through the telecommunication facilities.There were no further items brought before the Postponed Meeting and no amendments or variations were proposed at the Postponed Meeting.About SouthGobiSouthGobi, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange, owns and operates its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia. It also holds the mining licences of its other metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in South Gobi region of Mongolia. SouthGobi produces and sells coal to customers in China.Contact:Investor RelationsEmail: info@ southgobi.com Mr. Ruibin XuChief Executive OfficerOffice: +1 604 762 6783 (Canada)+852 2156 1438 (Hong Kong)Website: www.southgobi.com SOURCE: SouthGobi Resources Ltd.
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NEWPORT, KY / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / StandUp Wireless has announced a partnership with DAV (Disabled American Veterans), a more than century-old nonprofit veterans organization based in Erlanger, Kentucky. DAV is dedicated to empowering veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity.StandUp Wireless provides the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and Lifeline wireless services across the United States.ACP & Lifeline are government benefit programs that provide discounts on monthly telephone and internet service for eligible subscribers. Veterans on government assistance programs, such as SNAP, SSI, Federal Public Housing Assistance, or the Veterans Pension and Survivors Benefit, can receive a free smartphone and monthly service."Today, we're pleased to stand up for America's heroes by supporting DAV," said Nathan Stierwalt, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for StandUp Wireless. "DAV is a well-respected organization with a long history of connecting veterans, transitioning service members and their families with valuable resources. We are proud to support this deserving mission and hope to help bridge the digital divide for veterans." "Many of our nation's veterans benefit from StandUp Wireless' program to provide a free smart phone and plan," said DAV National Adjutant and CEO Barry Jesinoski. "It's an honor to partner with them to continue serving the veteran community." About DAVDAV empowers veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity. It is dedicated to a single purpose: keeping our promise to America's veterans. DAV does this by ensuring that veterans and their families can access the full range of benefits available to them, fighting for the interests of America's injured heroes on Capitol Hill, providing employment resources to veterans and their families, and educating the public about the great sacrifices and needs of veterans transitioning back to civilian life. DAV, a nonprofit organization with more than 1 million members, was founded in 1920 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1932. To learn more about DAV and its free programs and services, visit DAV.org About StandUp WirelessFor nearly 20 years, StandUp Wireless has connected hundreds of thousands of customers to what matters most, serving as a lifeline to family, employment opportunities, friends, healthcare providers and more. Licensed by the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Program in 44 states and Puerto Rico, StandUp Wireless operates on the nation's largest and fastest 5G network to bring free wireless cellphone and internet services to low-income Americans. Learn more at standupwireless.com CONTACT:Media contact:Jennifer Smith-Cooleyjsmith-cooley@ standupwireless.com SOURCE: StandUp Wireless
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HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Techwave, a prominent global IT and engineering service firm, is delighted to announce that the esteemed Houston Business Journal has included Techwave co-founder and CEO Raj Gummadapu as an honoree for its Most Admired CEO Awards.Mr. Raj Gummadapu, CEO, TechwaveThe awards acknowledge and celebrate CEOs for their outstanding contributions to company success, civic involvement, career achievements, and more. Among hundreds of nominated CEOs, a select group of 49 outstanding individuals has been chosen by the Houston Business Journal to receive this prestigious award. These honorees represent a diverse array of Houston's prominent industries, including technology, healthcare systems, law firms, real estate firms, arts organizations, and many other fields.With over 20 years of experience in the IT & engineering solutions business, Raj's dynamism and people-first approach have propelled Techwave to new heights. From its origins as a provider of SAP solutions, Techwave now offers end-to-end software and digital transformation services on a global scale. Raj's strong client focus and innovative business solutions drive organizations toward a data-driven, digital future. His passion lies in making digitalization accessible to enterprises worldwide, empowering them with powerful, secure, and affordable tech solutions.Beyond his achievements, Mr. Raj Gummadapu, embodies unwavering integrity and corporate accountability, leaving a substantial impact on the Houston community. Techwave actively engages in various initiatives that promote the welfare and prosperity of the community. An outstanding illustration of our commitment is our partnership with the Houston Food Bank and America's Grow-a-Row for a Seed to Table Program, an end-to-end hunger management relief initiative to serve families in need. The Food for Change program with Houston Food Bank is another example of an initiative to fight hunger. Passionate Techwavians enthusiastically volunteer to provide nutritious food to individuals in need, especially those grappling with chronic health conditions in the Greater Houston area."Receiving this award is an immense honor, and I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Houston Business Journal for bestowing this recognition," said Mr. Raj Gummadapu, Co-Founder & CEO of Techwave. "Being an integral part of Houston's culture of business innovation fills us with pride. This accolade stands as a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire Techwave team, whose unwavering commitment to excellence has made this achievement possible." About Techwave:Techwave is a leading global Information Technology and Engineering services and solutions company revolutionizing digital transformations. They believe in enabling clients to maximize their potential and achieve a greater market with a wide array of technology services, including, but not limited to, Enterprise Resource Planning, Application Development, Analytics, Digital, and the Internet of Things (IoT).Founded in 2004, headquartered in Houston, TX, USA, Techwave has a team of experts, leveraging Digital Transformation, Enterprise Application, and Engineering Services expertise, in 11 countries.Visit us on https://techwave.net/ Contact Information:Sravya PSr. Public Relations Executive6302616391SOURCE: Techwave
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The Haunted Attraction Network's Annual Hauntathon series returns, showcasing Haunted Houses daily from Sept. 1 - Oct. 31, 2023.LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Prepare for a spine-tingling Halloween season with the Haunted Attraction Network's "Hauntathon," a 61-day celebration of haunted attractions from Sept. 1 - Oct. 31. Tune in for the largest celebration of haunted houses anywhere, featuring videos, podcasts, and VIP in-person experiences.Hauntathon 2023The Haunted Attraction Network's Annual Hauntathon series returns, showcasing Haunted Houses daily from Sept. 1 - Oct. 31, 2023. The Haunted Attraction Network has gathered 13 ghoulish partners to bring viewers to 61+ haunted attractions worldwide. Hauntathon will explore some of the world's best and most mysterious haunted attractions, from the classic to the cutting-edge.What does it take to scare people? You'll find out. Haunters, those people who create haunted attractions, work year-round to hone their craft. However, few guests get to see more than a handful. In this year's Hauntathon, viewers will get an inside look at the creative process behind some of the world's most famous haunted attractions."We're excited to bring viewers to some of the most unique and creative haunted attractions in the world," said Haunted Attraction Network founder Philip Hernandez. "We have a real balance of theme park, independent, and home haunts this year." This year's title sponsor is Gantom Lighting & Controls, which manufactures the world's smallest intelligent spotlights for theme parks. Additional support is from Hauntpay and Froggy's Fog.Content Partners:Attractions Magazine, Creepy Kingdom, Freaks of HHN, HaunTopic Radio, Kevin Heimbach, Muse TV, OMNI Adventures, Scare Track, Sharp Productions, That Halloween Podcast, The Horror of Being Emily, The Scare Factor, Nick Pagliochini.DetailsVisit www.hauntedattractionnetwork.com Featured Theme ParksDark Nights at HersheyparkHalloween Horror Nights HollywoodHalloween Horror Nights JapanHalloween Horror Nights OrlandoHalloween Time at the Disneyland ResortHong Kong DisneylandHowl-O-Scream TampaHowl-O-Scream OrlandoHowl-O-Scream San DiegoOogie Boogie Bash at Disney's California AdventureSix Flags Fright FestFeatured Haunted Houses include:Bayville Scream Park (Long Island, NY)DARK at Fort Edmonton Park (Edmonton, Canada)Dark Hour Haunted House (Plano, TX)Deadmonton (Edmonton, Canada)Doncaster Fear Factory (Doncaster, UK)Doom Haunted Attraction (Idaho Falls, ID)Evil Intentions (Elgin, IL)Fear Factory (Salt Lake City, UT)Field of Screams (Mountville, PA)Hanna Haunted Acres (Indianapolis, IN)Haunted Overload (Lee, NH)Hundred Acres Manor (Pittsburgh, PA)Hush Haunted Attraction (Westland, MI)Lake Hickory Haunts (Hickory, NC)Markoff's Haunted Forest (Dickerson, MD)Mortem Manor (Kissimmee, FL)Nightmares on the Rogue (Medford, OR)Reaper's Revenge (Scranton, PA)Sacramento Scream Park (Sacramento, CA)Scarehouse (Pittsburgh, PA)Shaqtoberfest (Long Beach, CA)Sir Henry's Haunted Trail (Plant City, FL)Stanley Haus (Aliso Viejo, CA)Spooky World (Warrington, UK)Terror in the Corn (Denver, CO)Terror Isle (Lee, NH)Terror Roulette (South Barrington, IL)Terror Vault (San Francisco, CA)The Vault of Souls (Tampa, FL)Wicker Manor (Denver, CO)Woods of Terror (Greensboro, NC)Contact InformationPhilip HernandezFounder, Haunted Attraction Networkphilip@ hauntedattractionnetwork.com Related FilesHauntathon 2023 Full Press Release.pdf SOURCE: Haunted Attraction Network
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Members of USPA Nationwide Security's Nonprofit Wing are Assisting in the Search for Caitlyn Case, Missing for More Than a YearPARIS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2023 / USPA Nationwide Security has formally joined the investigation into the whereabouts of Caitlyn Case, a 33-year-old Louisiana woman who has been missing since Aug. 5, 2022.Caitlyn Case At the time of her disappearance, Caitlyn Case was working as a technical mechanic and living in Colorado. She had returned to her family home in Houma, Louisiana, to purchase a vehicle. Case was in the process of driving that vehicle back to Colorado when her parents lost contact with her on Aug. 5.Gordon Case, Caitlyn's father, was in touch with his daughter until about 5 p.m. on Aug. 5 when their call dropped."The setting of the case is simply harrowing: a woman traveling alone, lost on very remote stretches of highway, coming in and out of cell phone reception," said USPA's founder and investigative team lead Mike Evans. "This is any parent's worst nightmare. We believe that someone in the vicinity of Paris, Texas, knows what happened to Caitlyn." By Aug. 8, 2022, Caitlyn's parents Peg and Gordon Case, were able to obtain cell records placing Caitlyn's phone just north of Paris, Texas, in the vicinity of Hugo, Oklahoma. By Aug. 12, they were able to find the phone's precise location on the edge of a large private property in Hugo, along the Kiamichi River.Caitlyn's father, Gordon, was the first to arrive at the gated property and locate Caitlyn's vehicle. The vehicle had been driven down the private road toward the Kiamichi River and pushed over an approximately 75-foot embankment.The vehicle flipped and was stuck on two trees, never entering the water. Inside were all the clothes Caitlyn was wearing the day she left her parents, including her shoes, cell phone and other belongings. Only two of Caitlyn's fingerprints (in total) were found in the vehicle, suggesting that the vehicle had been wiped down.Following the discovery of the vehicle, witnesses came forward who saw two vehicles enter the gated, private property at approximately 11 p.m. on Aug. 5, 2022, with only one vehicle exiting at a high rate of speed.Nationally known crime reporter and analyst Nancy Grace is set to feature Caitlyn's story on her nationwide series "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace." The episode is anticipated to air in the coming days and includes USPA's Brian Fitzgibbons as a guest.According to Nic Huber at The Paris News, the local law enforcement agencies assisting OSBI include the Paris Police Department, Lamar County Sheriff's Office and the Lamar County District Attorney's Office.In its efforts to locate victims of human trafficking, Kingsman, USPA's nonprofit wing, employs security contractors, licensed private investigators, former detectives, special agents, and experienced military operators. It is primarily funded by donations derived from a profit share with its parent organization USPA Nationwide Security.Contact InformationAlbina BeiciCustomer Supportalbina@ uspasecurity.com 800-214-1448SOURCE: USPA Nationwide Security
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Herban Healing is dedicated to providing alternative healthcare options to combat the opioid crisisHOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 29, 2023 / VitalPoint Technologies, Inc. ("VPT") is thrilled to announce the successful completion of its second acquisition, Herban Healing, LLC ("Herban"), a Texas-based biopharmaceutical company focused on healthcare products beginning in 2019.Co-Founders Kyle Williams and Jennifer Gilleland, LVN, established Herban Healing with the goal of addressing the opioid epidemic that has plagued our nation. Their mission is to develop innovative healthcare solutions that offer alternatives to traditional opioid-based treatments.Kyle Williams, CEO and Co-Founder of Herban Healing, LLC, expressed his excitement about partnering with VitalPoint Technologies, stating, "Through VitalPoint Technologies, we are able to collaborate with academia and industry to expand research, raise awareness, and explore the potential uses of alternative medicine. While our initial focus has been on the hospice market, we are eager to expand our reach to the veterans community and addiction facilities, ensuring that those in need have access to the best options available." The Opioid EpidemicAccording to the CDC, "More than 1 million people have died since 1999 from a drug overdose. More than 75% of drug overdose deaths in 2021 involved an opioid. Opioids are substances that work in the nervous system of the body or in specific receptors in the brain to reduce the intensity of pain. The number of overdose deaths involving opioids, including prescription opioids, heroin, and synthetic opioids (like fentanyl), in 2021 was 10 times the number in 1999. Overdoses involving opioids killed more than 80,000 people in 2021, and nearly 88% of those deaths involved synthetic opioids." Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Mr. Williams and Mrs. Gilleland embarked on extensive research to combat opioid addiction and improve the lives of high-risk populations, including veterans, the elderly, and individuals with mental health issues. Herban Healing's beachhead market is hospice care, where patients are seeking holistic and alternative solutions to alleviate pain and enhance their quality of life during their final days.Addressable Market in Hospice CareAccording to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), "1.72 million eligible Medicare beneficiaries will choose hospice care in 2020. This is a 6.8% increase from 2019, representing the largest recent year-over-year increase in the number of Americans choosing hospice care, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage. With baby boomers retiring this number is expected to increase greatly." Over the course of three years, the Co-Founders of Herban Healing overcame supply chain challenges and barriers to entry to develop their proprietary blend of hemp-derived biopharmaceuticals. The positive results have led to increased orders, word-of-mouth recommendations, and numerous testimonials from healthcare professionals and patients. However, further research and potential clinical trials are necessary to support Herban Healing's bio-technology ambitions.Advancing Anti-Opioid ResearchThe National Library of Medicine published in Oct 22, that, "CBD has been reported to have several therapeutic properties including anxiolytic, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, anti-emetic, analgesic, as well as reduction of cue-induced craving for opioids, all of which are highly relevant to opioid withdrawal syndrome. In addition, CBD has been shown in several clinical trials to be a well-tolerated with no significant adverse effects, even when co-administered with a potent opioid agonist." Robert Yrshus, Chief Executive Officer of VitalPoint Technologies, emphasized the significance of this acquisition, stating, "This presents a unique opportunity for VitalPoint to address the crisis our nation is facing by providing more options for our elderly and veterans in need. We believe that these potential breakthrough alternative solutions will have a significant impact on individuals seeking alternatives to opioids and those struggling with addiction. By integrating Herban Healing into our platform, we gain valuable research and information, as well as a strong distribution channel with attractive returns." About VitalPoint Technologies, Inc.VitalPoint Technologies, Inc. was established to conduct research, develop solutions, and provide education on alternative healthcare options. VPT is a tech-enabled Innovative Healthcare platform focused on developing alternative solutions, including CBD and psilocybin, for PTSD, opioid addiction, and mental health. Founded in 2023 by veterans, medical professionals, and advocates from the financial community, VitalPoint's mission is to elevate the standard of care for veterans, hospice patients, and individuals with mental health issues through alternative solutions that address the epidemic of veteran suicides, opioid addiction, and treatment-resistant mental health conditions. VPT is headquartered in Houston, Texas, home to the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical city in the world, and the second-largest veteran population in the United States, with over 300,000 veterans.Corporate Website: https://VitalPointTech.com Herban Healing: https://Herban-Healing.com Contact:Peter Quinn, Senior AdviserAddress: 5318 Weslayan St. #152Houston, TX 77005Phone: 1-512-522-0360Email: Peter@ VitalPointTech.com Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements herein, including statements regarding the extent and timing of our production and other operations, and our liquidity, are "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. Various important factors could cause actual results to differ materially, including the risks identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. VitalPoint Technologies, Inc. disclaim any obligation to update this information. Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.None of the statements in this announcement or via any web sites linked herein have been evaluated by the FDA. Furthermore, none of the statements in this announcement or any web sites linked herein should be construed as dispens
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Common Impact:The incredible experience of our corporate volunteers showcase the lasting impact of skills-based volunteering. After participating in one skills-based volunteering event, Alexa Tang was encouraged to continue giving back meaningfully. As a Senior Product Manager at Arity, she utilized her specialized expertise and talent to optimize the operations of mission-driven organizations. By channeling her passion and curiosity into her volunteer work, she became a catalyst for change.I felt so energized after my first skills-based volunteering event that I signed up for every opportunity after that! It feels great to dedicate a day to working with a nonprofit.Common Impact was fortunate to have your perspective on a recent skills-based project with the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, a nonprofit on a mission to disrupt gender-based violence within AAPI communities throughout the U.S. and its territories. What was the challenge you collaborated on, and how did you use your professional skills to solve it?My most recent experience volunteering with Common Impact was through Allstate Foundation's Day of Service. My group was assigned to work with the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API-GBV) to improve its internal communications strategy to strengthen ties with other GBV organizations and the AAPI community.My experiences in both my professional and personal life helped me collaborate on this challenge with my team. Professionally, I've developed human-centered design thinking skills at Arity to lead with empathy when facilitating meetings. This helped me listen beyond the words of what our organization described as challenges and probe them deeper for what they wanted to accomplish. It also enabled our team to work together in a virtual environment, using online collaboration tools to chart what we heard and discuss possible solutions. In the past, I've also been a member of a performing arts group that's also a 501c3 nonprofit. My personal experiences with that group helped me understand API-GBV's challenges in setting up a strategy. I wasn't expecting to draw from these skills, but they were helpful throughout the day.From your experience, what sets skills-based volunteering apart from more traditional volunteer experiences?What's unique about skills-based volunteering is that it requires you to bring all of you to the experience. Traditional volunteering primarily requires you to invest time, and it's usually some task that needs extra hands. What's cool about volunteering with Common Impact is that it's helping organizations that need extra hands, minds, and hearts.What would you say to corporate leaders considering bringing skills-based volunteering to their company or participating in a project for the first time?I'd tell someone new to skills-based volunteering that you never know how much you have to offer until you do it. Initially, I felt self-conscious about the skills I'd be able to offer, but I've found that every experience you've had can translate into a skill. The diversity of experiences we had as a team helped the organizations we were paired with.How did you become interested in skills-based volunteering, and what motivated you?I wasn't convinced about skills-based volunteering until I heard about it through the Allstate Foundation's Day of Service. It seemed like a cool way to work with other people across the Allstate Corporation (not just my company), and it would let me contribute to a good cause. I felt energized after my first one and signed up for every opportunity after that. It feels great to dedicate a day to working with a nonprofit, meeting and working with people I don't usually get to, and seeing how I have more to offer than I thought. The day goes so quickly, and it's a lot of fun - it feels selfish even to call it volunteering!About Common ImpactCommon Impact is a national nonprofit that works to build a society in which individuals and businesses invest their unique talents towards a shared purpose: strengthening the local communities in which we live and work. Founded in 2000, Common Impact has partnered with Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of the country's leading nonprofit organizations to create transformational change through skills-based volunteering. Learn more about Common Impact's services, impact, and clients.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Common Impact on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: Common ImpactWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/common-impact Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Common Impact
Samsom Odeyemi wistfully recalls when he was a successful farmer in his native community of Itajirin in the Ogere Remo area of Ogun State. Mr Odeyemi earned millions of naira annually from his 15-hectare farm where he produced rice, vegetable and pepper. All that was lost about six years ago, when petrol started seeping into the farm from a vandalised pipeline of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), now Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

The contamination quickly destroyed the farm and Mr Odeyemi now ekes out a living by selling water in the community.

It was the same experience for Senanou Yaovi, whose seven-hectare maize and pepper farm was gutted by fire after oil spewed into it about five years ago, and Solaru Oluwole, a mother of five, whose farmland was also ravaged by wildfire in April 2018 after it was polluted by petrol.

In Itajirin, many others also abandoned farming after oil spills destroyed their farmlands. However, the experience is not peculiar to the Ogun State community.

Intractable problem

Between 2015 to 2022, Nigerias National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) recorded 4,440 combined oil spills. The spilt content (often crude oil but in some cases like in Ogun State, refined products like petrol) totalled 208,406.603 barrels. That is, about 1,257 tanker truckloads of petroleum products spewed into the environment. Many farmers, like the Messrs Odeyemi, Yaovi and Oluwole in Itajirin, have felt the direct impact of the oil spills on their livelihoods.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, recently said the petroleum company loses about 200,000 barrels of oil to pipeline vandalism on a daily basis. Data also indicates that apart from the economic sabotage, commercial farmers bear the brunt of the criminality.

About 850 pipeline points were vandalised between 2015 to 2018, data from the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) states. The monthly financial report also indicated that 1,161 pipeline points were vandalised across the country between January 2019 and September 2020.

Five pipeline axes between Port Harcourt, Mosimi-Ibadan, Gombe, Kaduna and Warri-River Niger were vandalised between January 2019 and September 2020. The Port Harcourt axis of the pipelines recorded the largest share of the damaged points with 538 points affected.

Closely following it is the Mosimi-Ibadan axis with 535 points damaged. 46 pipeline points were damaged in Gombe, 32 in Kaduna and 10 in Warri-River Niger.

Nnimo Bassey, the executive director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, said a few thousand barrels of oil can destroy about 20 hectares of land. Mr Bassey, whose foundation focuses on issues that affect the environment, stressed that if oil spills persist in an area, it may lead to food insecurity.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had projected that about 2.5 million people in Nigeria would face acute food insecurity during the June to August 2023 lean season. A quarterly report released by the global organisation shows that the figure projected is higher than the 19.45 million forecast in 2022.

The situation has been worsened by oil spills.

Mrs Oluwole told this reporter that the supply of cassava, yam and vegetables has declined in the Ogere area of Ogun State in the last five years.

We do not have enough yam, vegetable and cassava in the market again because many people have abandoned farming as a result of the oil spill, she said.

Oil spill

A pipeline of the NNPC runs across Wasan, Oke-pakala, Akonko, Shakara, Belefun and Obelu areas of Ogere Remo, Ogun State. These communities are largely dominated by farmers and fishermen but oil thieves frequently vandalise the pipelines to siphon petroleum products.

The oil spills have contaminated the environment, including rivers. The vegetation has turned pale and wild animals have fled the area.

Farmers are at the receiving end whenever oil thieves carry out operations on the NNPC pipelines.

How it happened

Mr Yaovi recalled how his seven-hectare farm of maize and pepper farm was burnt.

I was at home when one of my boys, who went to the farm to monitor what we planted, came back home to tell me that the whole farm had been burnt, he said.

On the seven hectares, we planted maize and pepper, so you can imagine what we lost, he added.

Unlike Mr Odeyemi who took to selling water after losing his farm, Mr Yaovi could not think of any other business than farming, so he moved to another community.

On the new farmland that he rented, Mr Yaovi cultivates rice, beans, maize and watermelon. But he has encountered another problem.

All the things I planted there are not doing well because of pests.

He appealed to the government agencies in the agricultural sector to assist him and other farmers whose businesses have been affected by the oil spills.

Explosion

In July 2018, Olalekan Ayinla was at his fish farm, in Ogijo, Ilara area of Ogun State, when he heard an explosion from a nearby pipeline that had just been vandalised by oil thieves.

The pipeline that passes through Ilara is about a one-hour walk from Mr Ayinlas fish farm but the contamination from the explosion killed all the fish.

When I heard the explosion I hurriedly left the farm because I was not sure what had happened. The fire raged everywhere and my farm was not spared, he said.

Solution

To check incessant pipeline vandalism, the Nigerian government has deployed different security outfits including the police and the civil defence (NSCDC). However, the crime still persists in many states such as Ogun.

Environmental advocates say to stop pipeline vandalism, the government must shift focus from oil production and transition to renewable energy.

Mr Bassey and Mayokun Iyaomolere, an environmental activist, also called on the government to compensate victims of oil spills.

On his part, Mr Iyaomolere said technology offers the best protection of pipelines from vandals.

The best way to protect the pipelines I think is to have some technology innovations that will help to monitor these pipelines such that if any illegal activity is going on there will be live coverage or something that will transmit a signal to a headquarters where it can be quickly monitored and the local forces will be quickly directed, he said.

This reporting was done with the support of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development.

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A Nigerian beauty entrepreneur, Stella Ndekile, the founder and CEO of Nuban Beauty and St Nika Apparel, a clothing line for women, has shared some trade secrets for other young entrepreneurs on charting their path to success.

Mrs Ndekile, a Medical Laboratory scientist-turned-entrepreneur, shared nuggets and her accomplishments in the beauty industry at a reading event to celebrate the launch of her debut book, Success Uncharted, held in Lagos on Saturday.

Attendees included the Relationship manager Zenith Bank Plc, Delta State, Nneka Nnebuzor, Nollywood stylist Yolanda Okereke, BellaNaija fashion journalist Mary Edhoro, and aspiring entrepreneurs, professionals, and beauty enthusiasts.

The book chronicles the authors humble beginnings to becoming a trailblazer in the Nigerian beauty industry.

She told the audience that the book answers questions that budding entrepreneurs ask about becoming successful in the beauty industry.

Sharing some of the secrets to a successful business, she cautioned against starting a business for business sake.

She said, Please dont start a business because everybody is doing it, and it looks lucrative. Start a business because you are passionate about it.

I say passion because, at the beginning, it will not be easy, or your passion keeps you going. Start a business because you are solving a problem; if you are not solving a problem, nobody will give you money for whatever you are selling.

Challenges

She only recounted the challenges she faced but shared the pivotal moments that shaped her trajectory.

My first experience with life hitting my business card was my first exhibition at the Lagos Makeup Fair in December 2015. While running the business alongside my day job, I requested my annual leave and used the time to prepare for the exhibition.

 I borrowed about N500,000 from a cooperative society I belonged to and bought products I thought we needed for the exhibition. I showed up at the exhibition with the brand name Stellar Makeovers, but by the time the event ended, all I had to show for my effort was N30,000, she recalled.

The mother-of-four also admonished young entrepreneurs to explore social media as her brand Nuban Beauty had over 30 distributors nationwide before they had a physical store.

The book

Mrs Ndekiles book delves into her unique approach to success  encouraging individuals to venture into uncharted territory and embrace uncertainty.

The 13-chapter book offers a refreshing perspective on navigating challenges, taking calculated risks, harnessing creativity to carve out a unique path to success, and the need for team building and mentorship.

The book mirrors the authors experience and provides an evaluation exercise after each chapter to enable readers to chart their path to success.

Beauty Industry and Stereotypes

Mrs Ndekile also called on financial institutions and other organisations to discover the large market in the beauty industry and start taking beauty entrepreneurs seriously.

She said, I have had to be in an environment where people dont take me seriously because it is beauty. When I introduce myself, they would say tiro, and in my head, I am like, really, before this, I was a Med-lab scientist, and I can meet you in any board room. We have serious conversations, so there is a lot of conversation behind people taking the beauty industry seriously. Even bank institutions are not taking us seriously because they feel it is just the makeup and beauty industry.

They forget that one of the richest companies in the world, the LVHM, and what gave them money is beauty and cosmetics. I wish people would open their eyes to the potential of the beauty market because the reason why International brands have their eyes on the Nigerian market is because we have the numbers. You cant stop women from being beautiful, and its either you join the bandwagon because you cant stop women from being beautiful.

The event also featured a free make-up tutorial and a networking platform. Also, guests went home with a signed copy of the new book.

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Nigerias ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has appointed the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, into its Bayelsa State Governorship Election Campaign Council.

Mr Wike, the immediate past governor of the neighbouring Rivers State, is number six on the list released by the APC National Organising Secretary, Suleiman Arugungu, on Tuesday.

The ruling party also released the list of the members of the campaign councils for the Kogi and Imo governorship elections all of which will be conducted by INEC on 11 November.

Curiously, Mr Wikes appointment came few days after the PDP also named him a member of its campaign council for the same Bayelsa poll.

Mr Wike, alongside other G5 governors, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and the current governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, openly rebelled against the PDP in the buildup to the 25 February presidential election.

The group came into existence after the PDP presidential primary election won by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

Atiku defeated Mr Wike and others to become the partys presidential candidate.

The G5, led by Mr Wike, demanded the resignation of the former PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to pave the way for a southerner to lead the party to achieve a regional balance. While making the demands, they openly opposed Atiku and refused to campaign for him.

Mr Wike, who was inaugurated as the FCT minister in the APC federal administration last week, has yet to defect from the PDP.

Ahead of the general election earlier this year, the former governor openly supported President Bola Tinubu and was later appointed minister by the president.

Following his appointment as Minister, Mr Wike claimed that he wrote letters to Acting National Chairman of PDP, Umar Damagun, incumbent governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara and Minority Leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives, seeking their permission to accept the offer.

This is not the first time the APC would include non-members of the party in its campaign council.

In 2022, the ruling party included Chimaroke Nnamani and Kassim Afegbua, both of the PDP, as members of its presidential campaign council.

However, it later dropped them following some protests.

Gov Yahaya leads Bayelsa campaign council

The APC Bayelsa campaign council is to be chaired by Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, while the Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume are to serve as co-chairpersons.

The council is charged with prosecuting the campaign for Timipre Sylva, who is running against the incumbent governor, Diri Douye, and others.

Abiodun, Otu to chair Kogi, Imo campaign councils

The ruling party also appointed the Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State as the chairman of the Kogi State campaign council.

Mr Abiodun will be assisted by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Governor Umar Bago of Niger State and Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State as co-chairperson of the campaign council.

The campaign council will be seeking to ensure victory for the governorship candidate of the party, Usman Ododo, who is up against Dino Melaye of the PDP, Muritala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Leke Abejide of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and others.

Meanwhile, the party also appointed Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State as the chairman of the Imo State Campaign Council.

Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ben Kalu, and the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, are also chairpersons of the council.

Hope Uzondinma, the governor of the state, is seeking re-election, and he is up against Athan Achonu of the Labour Party (LP), Sam Anyanwu of the PDP and others.

See the Full list of members of the Bayelsa, Imo, Bayelsa governorship campaign councils below:

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AGHDAM, Azerbaijan, August 30. Russian peacekeepers have been presented a quality certificate of flour products to be sent from Baku to Khankendi,said Jeyhun Mirzoyev, General Secretary of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, Trend reports.

"We are currently in standby mode, there are no changes so far," he added.

A convoy with humanitarian aid sent by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society to people of Armenian origin living in Karabakh has entered the Aghdam-Khankendi road. Currently, the representatives of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society are negotiating with the Russian peacekeepers regarding the passage of the humanitarian cargo.

President of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society Novruz Aslan earlier told journalists that other necessary goods may be delivered to the residents of Armenian origin in Karabakh in the future.

The remnants of the separatist regime in Karabakh have long been trying in various ways to convince the world public and international organizations that Azerbaijan, by establishing a border crossing point on the Lachin road, is allegedly "keeping the Armenian residents of Karabakh in a blockade", has created a "humanitarian crisis situation" for them, and that the Armenians are allegedly "facing food shortages". Armenia, which continues to manipulate the existence of an alleged "tense humanitarian situation" and "blockade" in the region, is slowing down the peace process instead of following the agreements reached to resolve the issues related to the use of Lachin and other alternative roads to meet the needs of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region.

The Azerbaijani side once again demonstrates its humanistic approach and sends humanitarian aid to the citizens of Armenian origin living in Karabakh.
Nigeria is bogged down by a myriad of spiralling security challenges. Almost all parts of the countrys six geopolitical zones are dealing with one security challenge or another.

While the country has yet to fully deal with the Boko Haram terrorism that has ravaged most parts of the North-east region, in the North-west region, terror gangs, locally called bandits, regularly attack rural communities, and engage in widespread kidnapping for ransom.

Thousands of people have either been killed, abducted, or displaced in the region.

In the South-east region, secessionist agitation is rife, and thousands of people have been killed by the separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other copycat criminal groups in the region.

Similarly, in the North-central region, tit-for-tat killings between pastoralists and farming communities have continued unabated for over three decades.

In parts of the region, specifically, in Niger State, Boko Haram has an active franchise, which has been blamed for several ambushes on security operatives, including the downing of two aircraft.

In the South-south region, sea piracy and oil theft have continued with the military accused of involvement in the theft.

In the South-west region, kidnapping, and armed criminality are on the increase.

A 2022 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report ranked Nigeria as the sixth most terrorised country in the world.

The Boko Haram conflict, for instance, has been for about a decade and a half and has caused the deaths of 35,000 people. More than 1.8 million people were displaced in the three states  Borno, Yobe and Adamawa  where the insurgency was primarily active.

While attacks by non-state actors have reduced in the North-east, insecurity has escalated in other regions.

A recent survey by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) revealed that 23 local government areas in Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kebbi are battling insecurity. According to the study, residents in these several communities in the states have either been forced to migrate, enter into agreements with the criminals or live a life of uncertainty under the control of non-state actors.

The new ministers of defence  Mohammed Badaru and Bello Matawalle, have been given the herculean task of rolling back these security threats.

Oil theft, other security challenges in the Southern region

The Nigerian government often blamed low crude production on large-scale oil theft of crude and the sabotage of crude pipelines. This damage has reduced exports, forced some companies to shut down production and crippled the countrys fiscal stability.

Last year, Nigeria lost $4 billion to oil theft at the rate of 200,000 barrels per day. In 2020, crude losses from theft and sabotage amounted to $1.63 billion at the average price of crude $41.65 per barrel, a PREMIUM TIMES analysis revealed. That was 6.10 per cent of the total production for the year.

Nigerias oil auditing agency, NEITI, indicated that in 2019, Nigeria also lost 42.25 million barrels of crude oil to oil theft, valued at $2.77 billion.

In 2018, about 53.28 million barrels of crude vanished from Nigerias resources. The new defence minister will have to address these gaps to allow the country to realise its full oil export potential in meeting its quota in the global market.

A leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), Asari Dokubu, accused the military of being complicit in crude theft.

Over 99 per cent of oil theft in the country was carried out by the army and navy, said Mr Dokubo after meeting behind closed doors with President Bola Tinubu, at the Presidential Villa.

Ordinary Niger Delta citizens who are often blamed for these criminal activities are not responsible as they do not have the wherewithal to perform the stealing, Mr Dokubo said.

But the army has denied the allegations and challenged Mr Dokubo to name the people involved. He has yet to do so.

Aside from oil theft, the south-west region also battles kidnappers, ritual killings and activities of cultists.

In the South-east, the new ministers must come up with a policy that will tackle the influence and activities of the outlawed separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The group has been blamed for dwindling economic activities in the region because of its weekly sit-at-home order. The group constantly attack security and government facilities. Thousands of people have been killed since 2020 when the group started its armed insurrection. About 287 people were killed from January to May 2022 in the southeast.

IPOB is agitating for the South-east to be carved out of Nigeria and become an independent state named Biafra.

The Director, of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, said the military has to review its terms of engagement if it hopes to be more efficient in the Niger Delta and stop oil theft.

The military was first sent to the Niger Delta in the early 1990s as agents of oppression and suppression. They were effective on that score going by public records of the horrible incidents recorded over time. They are not effective as anti-oil theft agents. It is doubtful whether that should be their job, in the first instance, Mr Bassey said from his base in Port Harcourt, Nigerias petroleum capital.

He said oil theft in the region is mainly done by organised criminal syndicates rather than ordinary residents of the region.

The basic truth is that oil theft is an industrial activity and cant be done by poor people. The communities are not the ones stealing the oil, it is being done by those who have technical knowledge of the sector, those with security, as well as political cover.

The bulk of what we are hearing is oil stealing from the high sea from where the oil is taken out of the country. No poor person can be engaged in that practice. There are loading vessels, barges, and ships. We heard of illegal pipes taking oil to offshore vessels, despite all the facilities the surveillance agents have, Mr Bassey said.

Its now a common conclusion that the oil theft is from the illegal refinery in the bush, which is a slight fraction. This narrative is the public relations stories baked and shared by polluting oil companies. The narrative is a cover-up strategy. The illegal refineries cannot refine the quantum of crude oil stolen in the country.

He also said the practice of burning vessels suspected to be carrying stolen oil and illegal refineries should be stopped immediately as it has far-reaching environmental implications.

What the Joint Task Force is doing in the south-south by burning down illegal refineries is something that must be condemned because when they burn boats or illegal refineries they are compounding the pollution problem. They are polluting the environment and slowly poisoning the people.

Illegal refineries can easily be dismantled without burning them because they are polluting the environment. Even ordinary ships are dismantled in specialised shipyards because some parts can create serious ecological problems.

Burning ships caught up with stolen crude oil is a horrendous activity. Where arrested, they should take it to designated places where the illegal crude is offloaded and never set the ships or boats on fire.

Overstretched military personnel and low morale

Due to the eruption of security concerns across the country, there is an unprecedented deployment of military personnel all over the country. Because of the incapacity of the police, the military is regularly deploying its personnel to carry out tasks that are traditionally those of the police.

The morale of military personnel is at an all-time low. Several soldiers are absconding from their duty posts while an unprecedented number are resigning.

In 2021, this newspaper reported how 356 soldiers exited the army formally while 24 others left to take traditional titles.

In February, the immediate former minister of defence, Salihu Magashi said the military is overstretched and does not have the required number to combat terrorism and other challenges.

As of 2022, Nigeria with an estimated population of about 220 million people has a total military strength of about 223,000 personnel.

This gives a ratio of military personnel to a population of approximately 11,000. This is lower than those of Nigerias neighbours except Niger (Republic), he said.

Mr Magashi suggested that about 12,000 soldiers should be recruited bi-annually to enhance the capacity of the military. This is the condition of the Nations defence backbone Mr Badaru is inheriting and working to address the challenges must be a priority.

The defence ministry needs to ensure good working conditions for the soldiers. When soldiers desert in the middle of a war, something goes wrong that needs to be addressed.

The allowances of soldiers should be paid as at when due, while the benefits of those who died in active service should be settled, good accommodation and welfare of the troops should also be ensured. I believe these are some of the first decisions the ministers should take, said Bala Hussaini, a security expert and a lecturer at the Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic.

Allegations of Human Rights Abuses

Defence ministers will also have to address the allegations of extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses by military personnel. The ministers must ensure that these allegations and thoroughly and independently investigated and those found wanted are punished accordingly.

Reuters reports claimed that the Nigerian Army was involved in forced abortions on women and girls impregnated by Boko Haram fighters and in the intentional killing of children including babies fathered by fighters, young boys who were fighters, or those perceived to be fighters of the insurgent group.

The reports alleged that children were smothered, poisoned, or shot. Nigerian authorities have denied the reports.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other groups have extensively documented abuses against citizens, including women and children, by Boko Haram and the Nigerian security forces since the conflict began in 2009. The Nigerian Army has been implicated in extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, and sexual violence, among other abuses.

A judicial panel was set up in 2017 to investigate humanitarian and human rights violations in the conflict, but its report was never made public.

Training, arms shortage

Soldiers fighting insurgents and other outlaws regularly complain of poor welfare and inadequate or non-supply of required equipment and ammunition this is despite the allocation of billions of naira in defence budget yearly.

In 2020, a military commander fighting Boko Haram in the northeast region, Olusegun Adeniyi, in a viral video, complained how the Boko Haram insurgents had more equipment than the soldiers.

The furious military officer made the video after several soldiers were killed in an ambush. He was later redeployed, and court marshalled for allowing the video meant for internal use to leak.

In 2019, a former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, made a similar claim that terrorists in Zamfara have superior firepower than conventional security operatives.

They (Terrorists) are in control of the kind of weapons that the security command in Zamfara does not have. In one armoury alone, they have more than 500 AK 47 rifles. We saw it.

Our people were even given the chance to take pictures. But when we said we would dialogue and offer them amnesty, if they surrendered their arms, they refused, Mr Yari said.

Analysts alleged the shortage of arms to fight the terrorist groups in Nigeria to the activities of corrupt government officials siphoning the funds meant for the purchase of arms to private pockets.

The problem is there have been allegations of diversion of money in the defence sector. So, these new ministers should investigate what happened. If the soldiers are saying they dont have enough arms it means someone is pocketing the money meant for procurement, Mr Hussaini said.

He said soldiers should be trained on the new tactics of war, different styles of combat, and equipped with the intelligence directorate to gather, analyse and work efficiently on threats,7among others.

The country is not safe as everyone knows, so the defence ministers need to start working as soon as he assumed office. He has to engage the governors, traditional leaders and other stakeholders in all the states because he needs to understand the situation first before acting. But above all, our security agents must be encouraged by the minister in addressing the crisis for us to win against terrorism, said Muhammadu Aliyu, a conflict and peace studies lecturer at Federal University Dustin Ma in Katsina State.

A retired army Lieutenant Colonel, Rabiu Yandoto, said rather than rush to repeat the same strategies that have yielded little results, the new defence ministers should first undertake a study of the security threats in each region with a view of understanding them well and proferring the right solutions.

They also need to reach out to various state governors because as you rightly pointed out virtually all the regions in the country have their own peculiar problems. So, the new ministers should reach out to the governors and other stakeholders in the area. Weve militarised the country and we need to look at other options. Im from the military but I believe in local solutions. The minister should forget about their differences with some state governors and work together that will give them the chance to know the issues very well before acting, Mr Yandoto said.

Edited By: Nicholas Ibekwe and Oluwaseyi Ayeni

Additional Reporting By: Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu and Muhammad Babangida

Page Planned and Produced By: Oladayo Ojo

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A 20-year-old woman has allegedly dumped her new-born baby boy in a pit toilet in Anambra State, South-east Nigeria.

The suspect, Chidinma Nwaedoka, was said to have intentionally carried out the act on Sunday in Otuocha, a community in Anambra East Local Government Area of the state.

Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, a media aide to the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare in the state, Ify Obinabo, disclosed this in a statement Tuesday.

Ms Ikeanyionwu said the baby had been rescued from the pit toilet, which was still under construction at the time of the incident.

Ms Nwaedoka, the suspect, hails from Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, another state in the South-east.

How the baby was rescued

In a video clip attached to the statement, Esther Omesi, a farmer and a friend to the suspect, told Mrs Obinabo that the suspect, who was pregnant, had requested to stay at her place for a few days because of a farming job she got.

Mrs Omesi said, after granting her request, the suspect told her on Sunday that she had been having stomach upset and, consequently, went to her pit toilet ostensibly to ease herself, but spent a lot of time at the pit.

After some time, she came out with blood dripping out of her body. I asked her what happened to her and she told me it looked like her baby shifted. I then called a nurse and told her that I dont know what was happening to my guest.

The nurse checked her and said there was no longer a baby in her stomach. I felt the baby probably died. She (the suspect) then said she wanted to leave today (Tuesday) to tell her village people what happened, she narrated in Igbo language.

So later today (on Tuesday) when I got to the pit toilet, which was uncovered, I heard a cry like that of a baby. I was surprised. I called my niece whom I stay with to check the pit to ascertain what cried out. I then peeped into the pit and saw it was a baby and began to shout for help, Mrs Omesi stated.

She said people gathered and helped to rescue the baby from the pit, adding that the suspect, on interrogation, admitted that she dumped the baby in the pit.

Commissioners intervention

Ms Ikeanyionwu said Mrs Obinabo, the commissioner, quickly intervened when her attention was drawn to the incident.

Mrs Obinabo immediately took the newborn to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Amaku, Awka for treatment and subsequently arrested the suspect.

The commissioner, according to the statement, decried the rising rate of crime among women in the state and maintained that the latest suspect would not go unpunished.

She stressed that the administration of Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has zero tolerance for such inhuman and dastardly act and assured that her ministry would handle the case appropriately.

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The federal government has mourned the death of the designer of the Nigerian national flag, Taiwo Akinkunmi, who died at the age of 84 at his family home in Ibadan after a brief illness.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, in a statement he signed on Wednesday, said he was particularly saddened by the news of the demise of Mr Akinkunmi, an icon whose contribution to national unity will remain indelible.

Mr Idris said the death of Mr Akinkunmi came at the time Nigeria was reinventing itself for peace, development and enduring national reconciliation.

The statement noted that the country would miss the contributions of the deceased, especially at this time when the federal government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is banking on the Renewed Hope Agenda to build on the national fervour that characterised Nigerias journey to independence.

The minister said he was confident that Mr Akinkunmi would continue to live in the minds of Nigerians for generations to come.

The National Flag, one of our revered national symbols, is an asset for which Pa Akinwunmi has etched his name in the annals of Nigerian history.

I, therefore, wish to use this opportunity to express my heartfelt condolences to his immediate family, praying that God will grant them the fortitude to bear this great loss, he said

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Troops of the Nigerian army have cracked down on an illegal oil camp belonging to suspected crude oil thieves in Obokofia, a community in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, South-east Nigeria.

The army spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr Nwachukwu, a brigadier-general, said the operation was carried out by troops of 33 Artillery Regiment on Monday as part of their anti-oil theft operations in the country.

In the crackdown, the vigilante troops intercepted 15 sacks and 13 jerry cans of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) concealed in the camp, he said.

Two pumping machines, three power generators, a hose, and a tool box used for hacking into oil pipelines were the items recovered from the suspects, according to the army.

The army spokesperson said, in response to a tip off on Tuesday, troops intercepted a wooden boat loaded with 110 sacks of illegally refined AGO concealed in the creeks of Egbema West in the same Ohaji/Egbema Council Area.

The vigilant troops equally intercepted two vehicles loaded with 18 sacks of illegally refined AGO within the same council area, he said.

Illegal oil refinery site in Delta

Mr Nwachukwu said, in a similar operation on Monday, troops of 3 Battalion clamped down on an active illegal refining site in Enokora, a community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, South-south Nigeria.

The army spokesperson said the refining site contained three cooking ovens and reservoirs.

He enjoined Nigerians to report to security agencies any suspected act of sabotage or criminality to enhance ongoing operations to curb oil theft in the country.

Source of concern

Oil theft and its negative impact on the countrys economy have been a source of concern to the Nigerian government over the years.

The Federal government in August 2022 awarded a pipeline surveillance contract reportedly worth N48 billion per year (N4 billion per month) to Government Ekpemupolo, who is popularly known as Tompolo, to check massive oil theft in the region.

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The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) on Tuesday expelled its Chairman of Board of Trustees (BoT), Boniface Aniebonam, and several other national officers over alleged anti-party activities.

The National Publicity Secretary, Agbo Major, and a host of other officials were affected by the sweep.

Its National Legal Adviser, Robort Hon, who said this at the partys National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja, accused them of sabotaging NNPP.

Mr Hon accused Mr Aniebonam of creating a parallel group within the party with a view to causing disaffection in the party.

At the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the NNPP held in Abuja today, August 29th, 2023, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, Agbo Major and several others were expelled from the party.

The NEC also moved several other motions relating to the Logo of the party, the amendment of the constitution, ratification of the state caretaker committees, and suspension of two Articles in the constitution of the NNPP 2022.

At the meeting were Gov. Abba Yusuf of Kano State; the Acting National Chairman, Malam Abah-Kawu Ali; the Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly; Engr. Buba Galadima and many others.

NEC noted that these suspended persons (now expelled) purportedly held a Board of Trustees meeting in Apapa, Lagos, this morning. Naturally, their meeting was null and void and had no effect, said the NNPP legal adviser.

He said that the partys NEC upheld motions to extend the tenure of the acting national chairman, Abah-Kawu Ali, and to redesign the partys logo.

In his remarks, Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State, said he would continue to work closely with Rabiu Kwankwaso in his efforts to reposition the NNPP.

Also addressing the NEC, the National Secretary of the party, Olayoku Dipo, said that the party was in the process of setting up a properly constituted BoT in line with its constitution.

Mr Dipo said that the partys leadership was planning to change NNPPs logo, adding that the partys fortune at the 2023 general elections was affected by the current logo.

Also, the NNPP BoT Secretary, Buba Galadima, commended the partys NWC for its role in stabilising the party.

Faction axed Kwankwaso earlier

Meanwhile, earlier in the morning, the factional BoT of the NNPP, led by Mr Aniebonam, suspended the partys presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, at its meeting in Lagos.

The Secretary of the BoT, Babayo Abdullahi, said that Mr Kwankwaso had been suspended for six months over anti-party activities, adding that it also suspended the NWC of the party.

Mr Abdullahi said that the suspension was put to a voice vote by members of the party at the special general assembly in Lagos.

The BoT also appointed new national officers headed by Dr Agbo Major as acting National Chairman and Comrade Ogini Olaposi as acting National Secretary, alongside about 18 others, he said.

(NAN)

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The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nyesom Wike, says the FCT Administration (FCTA) will pay N825.8 million as compensation for the construction of second runway for Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Mr Wike stated this in Abuja on Tuesday, while briefing journalists at the end of a closed-door meeting with members of the Jiwa community and other stakeholders.

He said that the amount would be paid through the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) for compensation and resettlement of the people of the community affected by the project.

He added that as part of the incentive, 12 people from the community would be employed by the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development and its agencies and 10 by FCTA.

He added that the government would also construct the Tunga Madaki bridge along with a five-kilometre road from the bridge to the community for easy movement of the people.

The minister explained that the project would be captured in the 2024 budget of the FCTA.

Mr Wike also said that FCTA would equally provide a modern health facility to provide quality health care services for people of the community.

He said that an undertaking would be signed based on the agreement between the government and the community.

He identified the signatories as the permanent secretaries of FCTA and ministry of aviation, the Chief of Jiwa, the Chairman, Abuja Municipal Council and the Commissioner, Public Complaint Commission.

If that is done today, and tomorrow or next tomorrow the money is paid to them, contractors will no longer delay. They have to move to the site immediately and commence work.

So, the second runway has come to stay, he said.

He said that the current administration was determined to ensure that the second runway was delivered.

He commended the Chief of Jiwa, Isa Idris, for mobilising his people to attend the meeting to resolve the crises.

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, said that he met the issue on his table, adding that the project ought to have been delivered in July.

Mr Keyamo said that the contractors could not be mobilised because of the issue of compensation.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Olusade Adesola, said that the completion of the project requires the support of all relevant stakeholders.

Mr Adesola commended Mr Wike for the intervention to ensure a quick resolution of the issue.

Emmanuel Meribole, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, said that the project was approved by the Federal Executive Council in March 2022.

Mr Meribole said that the project was awarded to four contractors in April, with CCECC Nigeria Limited as the major contractor.

He, however, said that the project was stalled because of the disagreement over compensation to the affected community members.

READ ALSO: FCTA demolishes illegal market used for criminal activities

Earlier, the Chief of Jiwa, said that the ministry of aviation through its consultant had earlier pegged the compensation at N2.5 million per hectare, for the 12,000 hectares allocated for the project.

Mr Idris further said that the amount was later reviewed downward to N700,000 per hectare when FCTA took over the discussion as the rightful authority to determine how much compensation to be paid.

He said that the community took the matter to the Public Complaint Commission with a view to resolve the issue amicably.

The community leader said that his people were concerned that the N700,000 being offered per hectare would not be enough for the affected persons to acquire another land.

(NAN)

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Some anti-corruption advocates have called on anti-graft agencies to probe the members of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee allegedly involved in extorting money from ministries, departments and agencies under the guise of investigating job racketeering.

They made the call in separate interviews with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday.

The 39-member committee, set up to investigate job racketeering in ministries, departments and agencies, has ironically been exposed for allegedly engaging in an extortion ring.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the committee demanded and collected money from tertiary institutions in exchange for a soft landing.

Trust deficit

The call for the involvement of anti-graft agencies is coming against the backdrop of the lukewarm attitude of the House to the corruption in its committee.

The lower chamber had on Tuesday promised to investigate the rot in its committee. However, the reaction from the House has been seen by many as more of knee-jerk.

In a statement issued by its spokesperson, Akin Rotimi (APC, Ekiti), the House said it would investigate while also defending the lawmakers in the same breath.

Its Committee on Ethics and Privilege is saddled with the responsibility of investigating the misconduct of members of the House.

However, according to the standing order of the House, the committee cannot probe any member unless a resolution of the House says so.

Order 18 rule (3 (7b)), gives the committee the power to investigate any alleged violation by a member of the Code of Conduct or of any law, rule, regulation or other standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such member and after notice and hearing, to recommend to the House by resolution or otherwise, such action as the Committee may deem appropriate in the circumstances;

Rule three (7c) further provides that the committee has the power to report to the appropriate Federal or State authorities, with the approval of the House, any substantial evidence of a violation by a member of any law applicable in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities, which may have been disclosed in a Committee investigation.

However, the committee cannot commence a probe of any lawmaker unless a complaint is filed and approved by the majority of the members during plenary.

(a) No resolution, report, recommendation or advisory opinion relating to the conduct of a member shall be made by the Committee on Ethics and Privileges and no investigation of such conduct shall be undertaken by such Committee unless approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the Committee.

With the House on break, Nigerians may have to wait till the resumption of the lawmakers to see any action taken.

Call for EFCC, ICPC to intervene

The Chief Executive Officer of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the law enforcement agencies also have the power to investigate the members of the Committee and its members and be prosecuted if found wanting.

He said ordinarily there would not have been any need to call for an investigation by anti-graft agencies because the House Committee on Ethics and Privilege should be saddled with the responsibility of investigating the members of the committee but that there is a big trust deficit in the legislature as an institution.

The National Assembly has built a notoriety and bad image for itself. Ordinarily, a House Committee is supposed to operate like a court of law. In other jurisdictions, House Committees are very powerful, Mr Onwubiko told PREMIUM TIMES.

Olanrewaju Suraj, chairman of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), said the PREMIUM TIMES report provided evidence to back what Nigerians have long been suspecting about lawmakers using investigative hearings to negotiate share of the national cake.

Mr Suraj said the civil societies in Nigeria must demand the investigation and prosecution of the lawmakers involved in the bribery scandal.

He said the anti-corruption agencies should use the information provided by the report to trace the flow of the money in the account.

It is also a welcome development because we have known for quite a while that many of those our honourable and those our members of the parliament are in the habit of convening public hearings and investigations, to the extent of not only correcting the anomalies but getting their own share of the cake or in the worst case, cementing the infraction of the public officials, he said.

The anti-corruption activist further stated that the investigation must extend to the agencies that paid money into the bank accounts provided by the lawmakers.

He further stated that in every corruption case, there are givers and takers, noting that coercion is not an excuse to give bribes.

Yes, I mean the law does not only deal with the receiver of the bribe but deals with the giver and the receiver. The investigation would have to cover that. It is not expected for anybody, even under any form of coercion to have gone ahead to give a bribe. They are expected to report to the law enforcement agencies, who would have given them either marked money or assisted them in tracing the flow of that money for the purpose of arresting the culprits, he said.

Eze Onyekpere, the executive director of the Centre for Social Justice (CENSOJ), said the oversight function of the legislature excludes the power to demand bribes, but because the victims of extortion are often violators of the law, it makes it easy for the lawmakers to engage in sharing of loots.

He said anti-corruption agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) must work with journalists to investigate the agencies.

It has become imperative for targeted victims of extortion to resist their oppressors. The power and duty of oversight excludes the power to demand gratification. The challenge most of the time is that the victims may have violated provisions of the law or mismanaged public resources, Mr Onyekpere told PREMIUM TIMES via phone.

He added: The oversight, therefore, becomes an opportunity to share the loot with the legislators. Investigative journalists should try and follow these stories to get the actual facts and expose and shame corrupt public officers.

It is expected that investigative journalists should collaborate with anti-corruption agencies, he said.

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The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), through its Media in Gender project, is calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to grant presidential assent to The Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions Prohibition Bill 2019, in light of recent events that underscore the urgent need for comprehensive legislation to address the prevailing sexual and gender-based violence (S/GBV) against students in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.

CJIDs recent research has shed light on the distressing prevalence of gender-based violence experienced by female undergraduates within Nigerian Tertiary Institutions. This study has unveiled alarming statistics, highlighting the extent of the problem and its deeply concerning implications for the welfare, education, and prospects of young women across the nation.

To investigate the occurrence and perception of gender-based violence, a cross-sectional survey approach was used in our Research. The study concentrated on female undergraduates from various tertiary institutions across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria and randomly sampled 160 students. In this survey, we asked some questions to know the different reported forms of violence prevalent in tertiary institutions, if students are aware of policies addressing cases of gender-based violence, who the perpetrators of gender-based violence are, what types of awareness are raised, and what is done to curb the menace of gender-based violence in schools.

From the responses gathered, the survey showed that 34.2 per cent of respondents agree that sexual violence is the most prevalent, about 25.5 per cent agree that psychological violence is the most pervasive, and 21.7 per cent agree that physical violence is the most prevalent in tertiary institutions, respectively.

About 50.9 per cent of survey respondents confirmed that they have a GBV reporting desk or office, and 49.1 per cent stated that they do not have a reporting desk, which points to an improvement in access to the response mechanism. The 49.1% is, however, an indication of a need to better institutionalise more reporting desks. The 92.5 per cent of respondents who said they have never reported any case of gender-based violence and (7.5%) who reported and never got action or justice against perpetrators is a pointer to a culture of silence. The aforesaid, among others, is one reason why the Bill should be assented to by the President.

Moreover, the recent suspension of a Dean at the University of Calabar, following multiple reports by female law students accusing him of sexual harassment, exemplifies the urgency of addressing the systemic issue of GBV within tertiary education institutions. Such incidents undermine the academic environment and perpetuate a culture of fear and vulnerability among female students, inhibiting their ability to learn and grow without the fear of harassment.

In the Survey, 37.3 per cent of perpetrators of violence identified by the respondents are fellow students, followed by academic staff, who made up 26.7 per cent. About 9.3 per cent agree that intimate partners and security agents are perpetrators of these forms of violence.

On the other hand, 8.1 per cent report that administrative staff are perpetrators of these forms of violence, while 6.2 per cent identify other community members as perpetrators of violence against female undergraduates. This indicates that perpetrators cut across male students, academic staff, administrative staff, security staff, intimate partners, and even male community members, including transport workers. Response interventions must consider this spread with target advocacy and the justice system to nip the problem in the bud.

The enactment of the Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions Prohibition Bill 2019 is a critical step towards eradicating sexual and gender-based violence and creating a safe and conducive learning environment for all students. When assented to by Mr President, this bill will help establish robust mechanisms to prevent, prohibit, and redress sexual harassment cases within tertiary institutions, outlining clear guidelines for investigation, disciplinary action, and victim support.

Section 15 (2) of the Bill states that when a student makes a Sexual Harassment Complaint against a lecturer, an institutions Independent Sexual Harassment Prohibition Committee established under this Bill shall investigate, determine, and render a final decision on the merits of the complaint in line with the provisions of this Bill.

Additionally, Section 17 (5) of the Bill also states that when a students complaint is supported by evidence, the Independent Sexual Harassment Prohibition Committee will consider the facts of the case and propose either the lecturers dismissal or a reduction in the perpetrators rank. This Bill, if enacted, will promote and protect ethical standards in tertiary education and the sanctity of the student-educator relationship of authority, dependency, trust and respect.

CJID recognises and commends the efforts made by the National Assembly in passing this bill, demonstrating its commitment to addressing this pressing issue. We now call upon President Bola Tinubu to expedite the process by granting his presidential assent to this remarkable legislation. Doing so would affirm Nigerias commitment to fostering an environment that upholds human rights, gender equality, and the principles of justice.

As an organisation dedicated to promoting human rights and democratic accountability, CJID believes that the enactment of The Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions Prohibition Bill 2019 will serve as a beacon of hope for numerous female students and a testament to Nigerias dedication to eradicating sexual and gender-based violence within its educational institutions.

Signed

Busola Ajibola,

Deputy Director, CJID

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The Zamfara State House of Assembly has called on the states Attorney General to take legal action against Anas Sani-Anka, the Managing Editor of Thunder Blowers, an online newspaper, for alleging some legislators collected bribes to frustrate the administration of the state governor, Dauda Lawal.

The journalist was purportedly heard in an audio saying a former governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari, gave him N100 million to bribe 17 of the 24 members of the House, to frustrate Mr Lawals administration.

Mr Lawal, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), defeated Bello Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in March, to emerge governor.

Messrs Yari and Matawalle have been political allies since 1999. Mr Yari was the top financer of the APC in the state.

The Assembly decided to sue the journalist after Bello Mazawaje, and his deputy, Rilwanu Nagambo, moved the motion on Tuesday.

The lawmakers unanimously agreed that Mr Sani-Anka was intimidating them and called for the immediate closure of his online newspaper, Thunder Blower, which, according to them, was established with the aim of witch-hunting people of proven integrity.

Later, Speaker Bilyaminu Ismail Moriki announced that the House has unanimously resolved to call on the State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice to take legal action against Anas Sani Anka for blackmailing the entire legislative Members in the state, the Assembly spokesperson, Bello Madaro, said in a statement.

Audio recording

In the four minutes, 13 seconds audio, a person who is purportedly Mr Sani-Anka, was telling two unidentified ladies that the tribunal judgement would be in the APCs favour. He then proceeded to say Mr Yari is sponsoring members of the state assembly.

The APC is challenging the emergence of Mr Lawal of the PDP as Zamfara governor at the governorship election tribunal.

Write it down, if were alive in the next one month, the court (tribunal) will give us the seat. (governor) Abdulaziz (Mr Yari) said to us Dr, you people should go back, I swear to God this judgement will be in our favour he told the ladies.

The discussion tilted towards the House of Assembly.

Listen, didnt you see that they (members of the State House of Assembly) have closed the house today? This night, I swear to God, Shehi (a nickname for Mr Yari in Zamfara) sent 100 million Naira to us to give to the 17 lawmakers. Yes, those 17 lawmakers. You know they are the ones who have formed a group (against the incumbent governor, Mr Lawal). Well give them the money this night I collected the money personallyI collected them in Dollars from Abuja, he said.

Mr Sani-Anka also said he could use his online television to insult whoever he wishes to insult. He told one of the ladies to come and be a guest on a programme and insult Mr Lawal so she could get money from the governor.

Mr Sani-Anka did not answer calls and SMS sent to him by this reporter. But in a now-deleted Facebook post, the journalist said he would not respond to calls over the audio because operatives of the State Security Service are investigating the matter.

APC, PDP react

The APC in the state has denied that Mr Sani-Anka is a member of the party.

The party also said the journalist confessed in the audio clip that he is a friend to the incumbent governor, Mr Lawal and did not mention he is a friend to any of APCs top members.

Moreso, Distinguished Senator Abdul Aziz Yari, who Anas claimed to have collected money from, has been out of the country for a long time now that the PDP will try to rub him in its mess, Yusuf Idris, the APC spokesperson in the state said in a statement.

Mr Idris alleged that the PDP is bringing up such issues to intimidate the Zamfara governorship election tribunal and blackmail the APC.

On its part, the PDP said its seeking an immediate investigation into the allegations made by the journalist.

Speaking to journalists in Gusau, the PDP chairman in the state, Moukhtar Lugga, said the party has every reason to doubt the credibility of a recent judgement by the tribunal that asked its member to vacate his House of Assembly seat for the APC candidate.

Mr Lugga said the PDP wants the National Judicial Commission and the Inspector General of Police to investigate the allegations raised in the audio clip.

We want to, as a matter of urgency, call on the former governor of Zamfara and distinguished senator of the federal republic representing Zamfara West (Mr Yari) to clear his name from the allegations of bribery, financial inducement and corruption levelled against him by Anas Sani-Anka, Mr Lugga said.

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Journalists and media scholars will meet on Thursday to brainstorm on the sustainability of the media in Nigeria. The meeting is coming at a time when media executives are looking at ways the media can remain viable in an age when technological disruptions have upended the business models for the sector.

The experts will converge ahead of the launch of The Levu project, a project that aims to create a Media Sustainability Index and a comprehensive Media Sustainability Report for Nigeria.

The goal of the project is to assess the current health and future viability of media organisations within the country, including newsrooms and schools of journalism.

The media industry in Africa, and indeed globally, is experiencing existential challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In the Nigerian context, the issues are also very real. Many media houses cannot pay salaries as and when due, or meet other equally pressing obligations.

Even though the sector has remained centrally critical in the consolidation and sustenance of the countrys democracy, the media continue to survive under dwindling advertising revenues, and prohibitive licence fees, among other issues.

It is expected that the index will serve as a critical tool for understanding the various elements contributing to media sustainability, helping stakeholders make informed decisions.

On Thursday, the panel of experts will brainstorm on the initiative and contribute to refining its data-gathering to ensure it is comprehensive and sensitive to the unique dynamics of the Nigerian media landscape.

At the meeting, conversations will be centred around the tools, techniques and frameworks that are shaping and reshaping contemporary Nigerian journalism: how news is produced, disseminated and financed in the wider context of broader dynamics of forces that are affecting the practice of journalism in our environment.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. A lot of work has been done in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to obtain information on missing Azerbaijanis, but the expected result has not been achieved, said the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva, Trend reports.

"Unfortunately, even today conflicts continue in the world, people go missing for various reasons and their fate is considered as a global problem. Thus, since it is not known whether these people are alive or dead, the families of the missing have to live with both constant psychological turmoil and resentment, as well as economic and other difficulties depending on the role of the missing person in the family. Family members of missing Azerbaijanis, of whom there are about 4,000, have been living this way for almost 30 years. There are families in which several people are missing at the same time," the report says.

The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan Republic Sabina Aliyeva has prepared a report on Azerbaijanis missing during the first Karabakh war. The report is addressed to relevant international organizations on the occasion of August 30 - International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The main purpose of this report is to bring to the attention of the international community the issue of the fate of about 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis, to ensure the provision of information about them, as well as the appeals of their families.
Nigerias President Bola Tinubu says autocratic contagion is spreading across Africa and he is committed to working with other heads of state in the continent to defend democracy.

Mr Tinubu stated this in his first response to the Wednesday coup in Gabon, according to a statement by his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how military officers in Gabon took over power in the central African country. They said they seized power because elections held over the weekend were not credible. They cancelled the elections, dissolved all state institutions and closed the countrys borders.

In his statement, Mr Ngelale said President Tinubu is watching developments unfolding in Gabon very closely and with deep concern for the countrys socio-political stability and at the seeming autocratic contagion appearing to spread to other parts of the African continent.

Mr Tinubu is leading ECOWAS efforts to reverse the coup in neighbouring Niger and has been reluctant to authorise the use of force as approved by the ECOWAS heads of government to restore constitutional order in Niger.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the coup in Gabon, a month after the one in Niger, is the seventh in Africa since 2019.

In a separate statement, on Wednesday, Mr Ngelale said President Tinubu held a substantive and extended discussion with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, where issues related to the crisis in Niger Republic and the unfolding situation in Gabon were discussed.

The two heads of state mutually agreed that the promotion and protection of constitutional democratic governance on the continent remains a paramount priority and that the people of Africa living in the Diaspora around the world, making a huge impact on the sociopolitical landscapes of countries around the world and the economies of countries around the world, continue to urge on the global community to advance the cause of democracy on the continent for the sake of the economic prosperity of all Africans.

He said Mr Tinubu will continue discussions on the topic with other heads of state in Africa and beyond on the

The president, as a man who has made significant personal sacrifices in his own life for the cause of advancing and defending democracy, remains steadfast in his unwavering belief that power belongs in the hands of Africas great people and not in the barrel of a loaded gun, Mr Ngelale wrote in his first statement.

The president affirms that the rule of law and a faithful recourse to constitutional instruments of electoral dispute resolution must not be allowed to perish from our great continent.

(Editors Note: Mr Ngelale sent an updated version of his first statement on the presidents reaction to the Gabon coup. The updated version and the second statement were used to update the story).

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Nigerians studying in Malaysia under the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Academic Staff Training and Development (AST&D) have written to the Fund seeking financial bailouts.

In a letter addressed to the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, the scholars in Malaysia said that fluctuations in the exchange rate, occasioned by the recent floating of the Naira and the continuous impact of COVID-19, have affected their upkeep.

The scholars appealed to TETFund to review their scholarship fund template to reflect the current economic realities and grant them a bailout that will enable the successful and timely completion of their programmes.

With a high sense of humility, patriotism, and respect, the TETFund scholars in various institutions in Malaysia under the TETFund Academic Staff Training and Development (AST&D) intervention write to make a passionate appeal for a bailout to ameliorate the financial constraints occasioned by the fluctuations in the exchange rate due to the new CBNs Naira floating policy, the impact of the pandemic, and the current economic reality, the scholars said.

TETFund speaks

In reaction to the letter, TETFund spokesperson Abdulmumin Oniyangi said the Fund is currently discussing issues arising from the unification of the exchange rate.

Mr Oniyangi said the Fund had, in the past few weeks, met with stakeholders to brainstorm on ways out of the challenges.

He noted that the commission would soon harvest recommendations and devise a solution to the challenge.

That was one of the reasons why we just had a stakeholder interaction not long ago. These are emerging issues we presented them before the stakeholders, telling them this is what has happened and all that. How do we move forward? he said.

So right now, as we speak, we are still harvesting suggestions from the people we are serving before we finally arrive at a point where it becomes policy on how to address it.

He explained that TETFund had met with its desk officers in all benefitting institutions and the chief executives of the institutions in the past weeks.

Mr Echono, the executive secretary, recently appeared before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged mismanagement of N2.3 trillion in tertiary education tax by TETFund.

At the hearing, he hinted that the government agency may suspend foreign scholarships due to the additional costs resulting from the fluctuating exchange rates.

Currently, as I speak, we are in consultation with all our stakeholders to suspend foreign training for a year or two this is because of the recent exchange rate adjustments, he said.

We are unable to continue based on our disbursement guidelines.

About TETFund

The Tertiary Education Trustfund was established in 2011 to manage and improve the disbursement of the Education Tax Fund to Nigerian universities that have witnessed several strikes by academic unions due to poor funding.

The main source of income for TETfund is the two per cent education tax paid from the assessable profit of companies registered in Nigeria.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe

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The Partnership for Inclusive Local Governance and Budget (PILGOB), a non-governmental organisation in Jigawa State, said it is monitoring the shocking revelation that 3.2 billion due from the State and Local Government Contributory Pension Scheme for local government workers was not remitted.

The PILGOBs administrative secretary, Ahmed Ilallah, on Wednesday, told reporters in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, that the reported non-remittance of the pension was the reason for the unusual delay in the payment of retirees entitlements in the state.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the 27 local governments in Jigawa State failed to remit at least N3.2 billion in statutory pension deductions and contributions for several years.

Official documents exclusively obtained by this newspaper revealed that the councils did not remit appropriate pension dues in 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

The documents also suggest that the failure of the councils to remit the funds as mandated by law has put the state contributory pension scheme in a bad state.

The document, a transitional committee report, lists the outstanding payment backlog of the 27 local government councils as the 17 per cent contributions from September 2014 to May 2015, which amounts to N1.25 billion.

Similarly, in 2019, the unremitted funds stood at N254.6 million, N795 million in 2020, and N920.9 million in 2021, totalling over N3.2 billion.

The reaction

Mr Illallah said the committee set up by the state government to assess the state of the pension scheme for civil servants did not speak truthfully about its findings to reporters.

Jigawa State Pension scheme (State and Local Government Contributory Pension) was eulogised when it was created in February 2001 by the administration of the former governor of Alhaji Saminu Turaki, the system has been functioning satisfactorily, but in recent years, when the scheme has been fully maturing, there is shivering of its sustainability in the future.

This is a result of many attributes, including the transparency of the system in terms of investing the contributed funds, the mode of payments to the pensioners, the contribution status by the state and local government, and the unclear policy of the state public service about pension benefits.

The Jigawa State Local Governments, who are the co-partners of the pension scheme, have failed to remit about N3.2B to the scheme, they have not made remittances for almost five years, which is contrary to the Jigawa State and Local Governments Contributory Pension Act, which clearly states in section 4, that (State and Local Government Contributory Pension) Contributory Pension Scheme law mandates each pensionable worker to contribute 8 per cent of their basic salary; while the state and local governments are to contribute 17 per cent of the basic salary of all the affected staff on their payroll.

For transparency and accountability of the governance, the State Governments and the local governments should come clean and clarify their stand over the allegation to clear the air and also prove the sincerity of the administration of reforming the scheme to be great again in sustainability.

If we can recall, just a week before the inauguration of Malam Umar Namadi (Jigawa State Governor), he already inherited a long queue of retired civil servants waiting to receive their gratuity and other pension benefits, some of these workers are getting to 10 months of their retirement, which is unusual in the state for long period.

The Governor inaugurated a committee, chaired by the State Head of Service, to look into the schemes problems and come out with a recommended solution to the government. However, after the completion of the Committee work, we have not heard of any remittance failure by either the state or the local governments.

In our stand on the Jigawa State Contributory Pension, the report of that committee is not enough to safeguard this system, A good pension system stands on its own, employment or no employment by the employer will not affect the individual contributor in regards to his pension benefits.

The problem with the Jigawa pension system is that the system uses a modern pension system in collecting contributions but making payments to beneficiaries using the old system of payment. For instance, a person can be appointed as a permanent secretary and retire in the following months, but his gratuity and pension are over 400% of the grade level he left days ago, while there is no justification for making this contribution.

There is a need for the government to take a stand on the allegations of non-remittance to earn and dismiss the fear of civil servants who have already been enveloped by the fear of dying of the pension scheme and to save her integrity and commitment to the retirees., Mr Ilallah said.

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Yet, the people selling jobs today went to school almost free of charge and joined the public service with ease. What a contradiction! I know integrity means nothing to the average Nigerian politician, but public servants have since joined in this show of shame. From the sad and depressing reality of vote buying and nepotism came the enraging matter of paying for jobs.

Nigeria has always been about influence peddling, nepotism and favouritism, with an insignificant mix of tokenism, which the authorities usually brandish to prove the point that merit matters. However, in the past eight years of the Buhari presidency, even that infinitesimal proportion (of tokenism) was supplanted by the influence of more money to buy jobs.

Hence, all the available jobs in the ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs) and even key political appointments were offered and bought by the highest bidders. It was an open secret. It was a topic for discussions at elite gatherings and relaxation spots. It was public knowledge that those close to power were buying big jobs and those in the middle were buying civil service jobs.

Now, we hear that even ministerial slots are paid for. As such, an issue that used to be discussed in hushed voices over the years blew open in a spectacular fashion. Because it is illegal, illegitimate and morally reprehensible, but quite ubiquitous, it recently jolted the nation when it became a matter of investigation at the National Assembly.

To show how widespread it was, some greedy unsuspecting individuals fell victims of the appointment sellers antics, sadly. As a matter of fact, I did experience this brazen antic in 2019 during Buharis second term in office, at a time ministerial positions and other appointments were being considered. Somebody impersonated the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha and reached out to me. Typically, someone called me and told me to hold on and speak to the SGF. He said they had seen my CV and were convinced that joining the administration would give it added credibility.

Just imagine! A poor journalist like me, who is non-partisan, non-aligned and did not participate in the electioneering campaigns. I knew he was a scammer but played along all the same. Anyway, the back and forth continued until he mentioned money. He started with N5 million and came down to N500,000 to serve as deposit. A whole SGF! When I wasnt forthcoming and didnt show any excitement, he saw through it, got angry over my unseriousness and stopped calling. Many who are not as discerning as I am and who probably have the money might have fallen victim to this scam.

The issue has become divisive and controversial between the FCC chairman, Muheeba Dankaka, and her former aide, Haruna Kolo, and with the victims who are serving as witnesses. The revelations so far, might just be tips of the icebag, considering the information many Nigerians have at their disposal. Besides, the concern is how children of the poor are expected to fare in an atmosphere of the monetisation of politics, appointments, and jobs.

Still, the level of desperation arising from unemployment can compel some to pay for jobs. There is virtually no home that does not harbour unemployed graduates who are hopeless, hapless and helpless. For those who can afford it, paying N1 million or N2 million for jobs could be a permanent solution to their jobless status. Therefore, I totally understand the situations of the young graduates who paid for jobs at the Federal Character Commission (FCC).

The issue has become divisive and controversial between the FCC chairman, Muheeba Dankaka, and her former aide, Haruna Kolo, and with the victims who are serving as witnesses. The revelations so far, might just be tips of the icebag, considering the information many Nigerians have at their disposal. Besides, the concern is how children of the poor are expected to fare in an atmosphere of the monetisation of politics, appointments, and jobs.

Yet, the people selling jobs today went to school almost free of charge and joined the public service with ease. What a contradiction! I know integrity means nothing to the average Nigerian politician, but public servants have since joined in this show of shame. From the sad and depressing reality of vote buying and nepotism came the enraging matter of paying for jobs.

Under Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, the chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee Investigating Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), on Mismanagement of Personnel Recruitment, IPPIS and Employment Racketeering, whose statement prompted this article, the lawmaker noted that the job market at MDAs has made it impossible for the children of the poor to get jobs. The common man is denied opportunity to get employment into MDAs through the use (abuse) of waivers. Should you be granted a waiver to employ, consider the injustice meted out to other states and address them so that there will be a sort of balance in terms of representation in that agency. Well compel you to advertise those slots so that the son of nobody will have the opportunity to apply. Perhaps, youll see him with a first class, and youll see his performance during his interview to be super and then youll recruit him in order to have the best in those agencies, he admonished, when the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) appeared before his committee. Even without this advice, the public service rule says all such vacancies should be advertised.

Malfeasances such as impunity, corruption and now job racketeering have always gone unpunished. Very soon this probe report will begin to gather dust on the shelves and subsequently die a natural death. If things continue like this, where lies the hope for the common man?

Meanwhile, in the ongoing bribery probe, most of the agencies invited by the Gagdi Ad Hoc Committee to appear simply refused to show up. Although the Committee chair has condemned the attitude of these agencies, he has no power of enforcement to compel them to appear before it. We have made our position very clear, and we have resolved to further communicate through newspaper communications  for these agencies to make sure they appear before this committee. And we are going to give the agencies the last warning and so on and so forth. How else do you gradually kill a nation where impunity and mediocrity walk hand in gloves.

The National Assembly can do their probes; they can even issue warrants of arrest, as they did on middleman Haruna Kolo in the FCC probe. They can take newspaper adverts to compel agencies indicted to appear before it. Anti-graft groups will protest, but in the end, nothing will happen. Even when those agencies show up and defend themselves, and whether they are guilty or not, the question is: Who will enforce the resolutions of the probe panels? All the people involved would take a cue from such past efforts that amounted to nothing and move on with their lives as if nothing ever happened.

After Gagdi revealed that 35 agencies defied or snubbed his probe committee, all he could muster sheepishly was, most of these agencies are not respectful of constituted authority. We are supposed to have the presence of 40 agencies but only four are here. The lawmakers are powerless because they too are not clean and lack political legitimacy too.

Malfeasances such as impunity, corruption and now job racketeering have always gone unpunished. Very soon this probe report will begin to gather dust on the shelves and subsequently die a natural death. If things continue like this, where lies the hope for the common man?

Zainab Suleiman Okino chairs the Editorial Board of Blueprint Newspapers. She can be reached via: zainabokino@gmail.com

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The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) said 4,204 children recruited by the Islamist group Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States in North-east Nigeria were released from detention on Wednesday in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The children, who were under military detention, were released and handed over to the governments of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States for reintegration into society.

The handover was done on Wednesday by the UNICEF Child Protection Manager, Maiduguri Field Office, Samuel Sesay, during a two-day task force meeting on the Handover Protocol implementation plan in Maiduguri.

The Handover Protocol is an agreement signed in 2022 between the Federal government and the United Nations to ensure children associated with armed conflict are removed from military facilities.

The Protocol is a step-by-step procedure to make sure that children who escape from the custody of armed groups or are released by the insurgents do not stay long in the military facilities.

The Protocol is about children who are affected by the armed conflict, when they are released, how they are released, how long they should stay with the military and, who to hand them over to and what to do with them, Mr. Sasey explained.

The children were handed over to officials of the Ministries of Women Affairs from the three states.

The Borno State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Zuwaira Gambo, was represented at the Handover Protocol by the ministrys acting Permanent Secretary, Mohamed Hamza.

The commissioner commended the actors for their commitment to putting in place the protocol and urged for proper implementation of the framework.

The Commissioner said the ministry, in the course of implementation, encountered challenges that include social integration of children associated with armed conflict and economic status for adolescents.

The stakeholders present were advised to ensure that all child protection concerns are addressed comprehensively with full respect to guiding principles of child rights.

The childrens best interest, non-discrimination, active participation of children, and their right to life and development are ensured.

Ensure that all children alleged to have been associated with armed groups are released to the Ministry for Women Affairs within the stipulated seven days and provide them with a comprehensive welfare package, she concluded.

READ ALSO: Army troops rescue 25 hostages from Boko Haram captivity

Present at the event were members of the armed forces, officials from the Federal Ministries of Women Affairs, Defence, Humanitarian Affairs, Office of the National Security Adviser, and the United Nations.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that thousands of children over the years were recruited or captured and integrated into striking forces by the insurgents in the northeast.

These children were captured or rescued by the military and non-governmental organisations or kept in the military barracks for safe custody.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. In the process of organizing work with the victims of the war at the initial stage, due to the aggression to which Azerbaijan was subjected and the resulting humanitarian problems, Armenians abused the situation and profited from it, said the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan, Sabina Aliyeva, Trend reports.

Dozens of Azerbaijani citizens, including the bodies of those killed, were returned by Armenians in exchange for a large sum of money, and in some cases, the families of the dead were subjected to fraud, the ombudsman added.

"Below are two facts provided by the State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Citizens of Azerbaijan:

 Isayev Jahangir Ismayil oglu, who was searching for his brother, Isayev Asker Ismayil oglu, who went missing on December 31, 1992, on the border with Armenia in the Gazakh region, and his sister's husband, Mamedov Mammad Garib oglu, went to the border territory of Armenia with Georgia on November 7, 1993. There they entered into negotiations with Armenians, after which they were deceitfully taken to Armenia under the pretext of meeting Asker Isayev and releasing him. At present, the fate of all three is unknown.

 In February 1993, the relatives of Guliyev Khagan Nureddin oglu, a serviceman of the Azerbaijani Army who disappeared in the battles for the Agdere district, while searching for him, established contact with Armenians living in Russia, who convinced them that Khagan Guliyev was alive. They said that they would release him for $25,000. Khagan Guliyev's brother, Mahir Guliyev, having collected the required sum with the help of close relatives, went to Russia in the summer of 1996. However, the Armenians killed Mahir Guliyev, took the money, and fled," the report says.

The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Sabina Aliyeva, has prepared a report on Azerbaijanis missing during the first Karabakh war. The report is addressed to relevant international organizations on the occasion of August 30, the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The main purpose of this report is to bring to the attention of the international community the issue of the fate of about 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis and to ensure the provision of information about them as well as the appeals of their families.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources issued 71 new mining licenses during July 2023, including 45 exploration licenses, 21 building materials quarry licenses, and 5 small mine and exploitation license, according to the report of the Ministry's the National Industrial Information Center.

Mining Key Indicators

The report mentioned the amount of active mining licenses in the sector by the end of July 2023 amounted to 2,348 licenses, taking the lead are building materials quarry licenses with 1,453 licenses, followed by 651 exploration licenses, 182 small mine and exploitation license, 37 reconnaissance licenses, and 25 excess mineral ores licenses.

Of the total active mining licenses, the largest number have been awarded to projects within the province of Riyadh with a total of 610 licenses, followed by 384 licenses in the Makkah region, 380 licenses in the eastern region, 265 licenses in the Madinah region, and 191 licences in the Asir region. Other regions to have been granted licenses include Tabuk 150, Qassim 84, Jazan 75, Hail 59, Najran 59, Al-Baha region 37, the Northern Borders 28, and Al-Jouf 26.

Saudi Arabia's Mining Investment Law offers six types of mining licenses such as, a reconnaissance license, which includes all types of minerals for a period of two years that can be extended, and a license to explore all types of minerals for a period of 5 years for minerals of the two categories (A) and (B), and a license for minerals listed in category (c) For a period of one year, a general purpose license linked to a mining or small mine license.

The Law also specified exploitation licenses, which include: a mining license for minerals of two categories (A) and (B), with a license period up to 30 years, subject to renewal or extension, and a license for a small mine for minerals of two categories (A) and (B), the duration of which is no more than 20 years, and the building materials quarry license for minerals of category (C) with a license period of up to 10 years that can be extended. The Law also includes a license for "surplus mineral ores in project sites or privately owned lands."

The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources aims to develop the mining sector in line with the objectives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and the National Industry Development and Logistics Program, with the goal of making mining the third pillar of the national industry. With mineral resources estimated to be worth around 5 trillion riyals, there is great potential for the sector to contribute significantly to the country's economy.

For more information on the Kingdom's mining licensing procedures, visit mim.gov.sa.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2196806/Mining_Key_Indicators.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2032760/4244400/Ministry_of_Industry_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources
77% professionals in Southeast Asia plan to upskill in 2023 vs 74% professionals globally.

The intent to upskill in 2023 is high among professionals in Southeast Asia, with 77% planning to invest time in upskilling themselves, whereas the global average stands at 74%. Notably, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines see the most demand for upskilling courses, showcasing a significant desire among professionals to enhance their skill sets and stay abreast of technological advancements.

Professionals with more than 12 years of experience invested the most in skill development in Southeast Asia.

One key finding of the report is that over 50% of learners who enrolled with Great Learning in 2022 from Southeast Asia had 12+ years of experience, indicating that individuals with extensive work experience invested the most in skill development. When surveyed, 76% professionals with more than 12 years of experience showed their intent to upskill in 2023.

Data science and Management were the most sought-after domains in 2022; this trend is set to continue in 2023

In Southeast Asia, Data Science was especially appealing in 2022. While the majority of learners had 15+ years of experience, the field was also favoured by professionals with under 3 years of experience. The intent to upskill in the domain in 2023 remains high across experience levels.

was especially appealing in 2022. While the majority of learners had 15+ years of experience, the field was also favoured by professionals with under 3 years of experience. The intent to upskill in the domain in 2023 remains high across experience levels. Management was the 2nd most sought-after field for upskilling in Southeast Asia , after Data Science. 50% of individuals pursuing new management skills had 15+ years of experience. This year as well, Management is the outright choice for professionals choosing to upskill. Artificial Intelligence was popular among senior professionals with 15+ years of experience, which accounted for about 60% of the learners who enrolled with Great Learning's AIML programs in Southeast Asia .

84% of individuals in Southeast Asia consider upskilling important to future proof their career compared to a global average of 76%

More professionals in Southeast Asia consider upskilling important compared to the global average of 76%. 64% professionals in the United States of America, 66% in the Middle East and 76% in Latin America consider upskilling to be vital to future proof their careers. The trend in India is similar to that of Southeast Asia as 85% professionals in India consider upskilling important.

Office work and Affordability are the biggest obstacles preventing professionals in Southeast Asia from upskilling in 2023.

In Southeast Asia, affordability and office work are the leading factors preventing professionals from upskilling with 20% and 19% professionals quoting these as hurdles. Nearly 11% of the professionals believe upskilling can compromise their social life, while 9% of the professionals do not feel the need to upskill in their current roles.

Arjun Nair, co-founder of Great Learning, said, "The job market in Southeast Asia for digital skills such as Data Science, AI, Machine learning is growing significantly. In addition, senior leaders are investing in developing their management skills to lead their organizations through digital disruption. We observe a strong willingness to upskill, with 77% of respondents planning to enhance their skills in 2023. As organisations continue to prioritise digital transformation and data-driven decision making, we anticipate a surge in professionals from Southeast Asia enrolling in programs that offer in-demand skills."

The Global Upskilling Trends Report 2023 serves as a valuable resource for professionals and enterprises, helping them navigate the evolving job market, anticipate future skills, and equip themselves with the necessary expertise to remain competitive in the rapidly changing landscape.

About Great Learning

Great Learning is a leading global edtech company for professional training and higher education. It offers comprehensive, industry-relevant, hands-on learning programs across various business, technology and interdisciplinary domains driving the digital economy. These programs are developed and offered in collaboration with the world's foremost academic institutions like Stanford Graduate School of Business, MIT Professional Education, The University of Texas at Austin, National University of Singapore, Wharton Online, The University of Arizona, Deakin University, IIT Madras, IIT Roorkee, IIIT-Delhi and Great Lakes Institute of Management. Great Learning is able to leverage the highly qualified, world-class faculty at these universities together with its vast network of 6100+ industry expert mentors to deliver an unmatched learning experience for over 8 million learners from 170+ countries around the world.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2196389/Intent_to_Upskill.jpg

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2196388/Importance_of_Upskilling.jpg

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2196390/Work_Experience_Split_of_Learners.jpg

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2196387/Hurdles_in_Upskilling.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1458111/2766407/Great_Learning_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Great Learning
ITALIAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE 2023

BERGAMO and BRESCIA, Italy, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovation and promoting awareness through different artistic languages to construct contexts more focused on the young: precisely the aim of the Bergamo Brescia 2023 festivals open to all in the coming months.

Brescia LeXGiornate Festival Fresu Sosa Food@Roberto-Cifarelli Bergamo Lanscape Festival Leonardo Tagliabue

In a time signed by climate change, the Landscape Festival invites reflection on the humankind-nature balance, harmonising the coexistence of humanity, architecture and nature, transforming a space into a place to live. For the first time, the Festival will be held in Bergamo and Brescia (7-24 September) with installations and seminars by international landscape artists.

Biodiversity is at the centre of Una sola terra (22-24 September), which will bring international scientists, journalist and activists to Brescia for workshops, shows and trips. For Librixia, Brescia's Book Fair, meetings will be organised with writers and science communicators.

Two touring concerts will be performed: Bergamo Brescia  Citta Degli Organi (22 September  29 October) celebrating the organ tradition with European and US musicians while the International Festival of Baroque Music, Alchemy of the Arts. Material and immaterial (23 September  30 October) will showcase artists who have worked in the territories to the music of Italian and international masters.

Art and technology feature at Zone Digitali (6-8 October) at Bergamo's Daste venue: three days of performances, installations and talks shining a light on the experimentation underway on the contemporary scene.

The Festival Le X Giornate (14-23 September in Brescia) offers a multidisciplinary approach to contemporary challenges with conferences and concerts with international authors for different perspectives on current changes.

Nobel Prize winners and world experts will enliven Bergamoscienza (29 September  15 October) dedicated to scientific culture with conferences, workshops and virtual tours. The event opens with the exhibition "Svalvolati" at Palazzo della Liberta, telling the history of heart treatments with multimedia devices.

All the events are available at bergamobrescia2023.it

The Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture 2023 event sees Intesa Sanpaolo and A24 take the role of Main Partners, Brembo as a System Partner, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane and SACBO as Area Partners. The Ministry of Culture and the Lombardy Region are institutional partners, together with Fondazione Cariplo, Fondazione della Comunita Bresciana and Fondazione della Comunita Bergamasca. The Sole 24 ore Group is the media partner.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2196559/1_Brescia_LeXGiornateFestival.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2196560/2_Bergamo_Landscape_Festival.jpg

SOURCE Italian Capital of Culture 2023
Fall Weather and Activities Draw 38 Million to RV Travel This Fall

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Of the 95 million leisure travelers in the U.S. planning to travel over Labor Day weekend, 16 million intend to do so in an RV, according to a survey conducted by the Cairn Consulting for the RV Industry Association. And while summer is most often thought of as peak time to RV, over 19% of leisure travelers intend to stay in an RV sometime during the fall  an increase over the 14% who planned to stay in an RV this summer.

Fall RV Travel by the Numbers - Out of the 95 million U.S. residents that will travel this Labor Day weekend, 16 million will take to the roads in an RV. The surge continues into fall with 19% of leisure travelers planning an RV trip.

"Fall typically means back to school for many, but for 38 million Americans it also means RVing as they plan to hit the road and experience RVing over the next few months," said RV Industry Association President & CEO Craig Kirby. "Because RVing is an affordable way to spend quality time with family and friends, interest is particularly high among Millennial travelers, 40% of whom say they will definitely take an RV trip this fall."

Sixteen million U.S. residents plan to go RVing this Labor Day weekend, a significant increase over the 12 million who intended to travel during Memorial Day weekend. Among the top reasons cited for fall RV travel are cooler weather, better outdoor recreation opportunities, fewer bugs and pests, Halloween celebrations at campgrounds, and fall foliage tours.

Work flexibility continues to be a major driver of RV travel with 19% of leisure travelers working from the road last year and 29% considering doing so over the next year. The highest interest in working from an RV is among Millennial travelers, 59% of whom plan to work from an RV in the coming year. Over a third of Gen Z and Gen X travelers also plan to work from an RV in the next year.

"Not only are more diverse and younger travelers gravitating toward RVs, but existing RV owners are also hitting the road with their units more often," said Kirby. "And with people wanting to avoid travel hassles and have more control over their vacation costs, RVing will continue to be a top travel choice this fall and well into the future."

About the RV Industry Association: With offices in Washington, DC and Elkhart, IN, the RV Industry Association is the leading trade voice of the $140 billion dollar RV industry, representing over 500 RV companies, including manufacturers and component part suppliers who together produce 98 percent of all RVs made in the United States, and approximately 60 percent of RVs produced worldwide.

Media Contact:

Monika Geraci

[email protected]

SOURCE RV Industry Association
DUBLIN, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "5G NR Benchmark Study Vol 34: 5G Uplink Carrier Aggregation" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This study is based on collaborations with Accuver Americas and Spirent Communications to conduct an independent benchmark study of 5G uplink carrier aggregation (CA), using T-Mobile's commercial 5G network in Seattle, WA, where Nokia is the RAN infrastructure supplier.

Highlights of the Report include the following:



Acknowledgements

This study was conducted in collaboration with Accuver Americas (XCAL-M and XCAP) and Spirent Communications (Umetrix Data). The publisher is responsible for the data collection and all analysis and commentary provided in this report.

Methodology

The publisher used two MediaTek M80 test platforms (provided by T-Mobile) with the M80 5G modem to test the uplink feature, which T-Mobile enabled for the benefit of the study on a few cells within its commercial network.

The publisher conducted stationary and drive tests while doing full buffer uplink data transfers. In addition to testing with a single test phone, additional testing was conducted in which each phone was locked to an individual band to determine the incremental benefits of uplink CA versus other device/network configurations.

The Timeline

Uplink CA is most likely in 2024 at which point it will be limited to one layer per band. In 2025, there will be support for uplink CA plus 3 layers, including 2 layers in the mid-band channel (n41 in the case of Tmo). With the test methodology, the publisher was able to show both the expected results for the 2024 CA functionality as well as what we can expect in 2025.

The Results are In

Uplink CA with two layers (one per band) will always outperform a single component carrier without uplink MIMO and almost always outperform a single component carrier with uplink MIMO. Almost all 5G networks and most 5G smartphones do not support uplink MIMO, which we view as a critical mistep by the industry.

With uplink CA and 3 layers the performance will always be better than uplink MIMO and substantially better than 1 component carrier with a single layer. The publisher provides the hard numbers in the full report.

Around the Corner

Future topics include 4 component carrier downlink and Open RAN (multiple studies, including scheduler efficiency).

Key Topics Covered:

1.0 Executive Summary

2.0 Key Observations

3.0 Detailed Results and Analysis

3.1 Stationary Test - 2CC Uplink with Intermittent 1CC Data Traffic

3.2 Drive Test - 2CC Uplink with 2 Layers and 1CC Uplink with 2 Layers

3.3 Drive Test - 2CC Uplink with 2 Layers Versus Band n25 Uplink with 1 Layer

3.4 Drive Test - 2CC Uplink with 2 Layers Versus Band n25 Uplink with 2 Layers

3.5 Comparative Results with all Possible Configurations

4.0 Test Methodology

5.0 Final Thoughts

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STAMFORD, Conn., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bill Gertz, a leader in the field of international education and Chairman of the American Institute For Foreign Study (AIFS), commemorates an extraordinary 50 year journey as a globetrotter, scholar, and advocate for cultural exchange by sharing, On a Whim, an article chronicling his journey.

From his beginnings as an unassuming young traveler to his pivotal role in shaping the landscape of educational exchange, Mr. Gertz's passion for exploration and his desire to foster cross-cultural understanding has made a lasting impact.

"The world is waiting to teach you its lessons, reveal its wonders, and connect you to the human experience. Just go." Post this Mr. Gertz with AIFS founder Sir Cyril Taylor in 2003. Mr. Gertz speaking at a cultural exchange conference in 2022.

Mr. Gertz's journey began in the summer of 1973 when, at the age of 21, he embarked on his very first international adventure to Europe. Armed with nothing but a student ID card and a curious excitement, Mr. Gertz explored the continent by rail, cherishing the freedom of spontaneous travel and immersing himself in a multitude of cultures. His stories from those early days reflect a newfound passion for exploration and an intrinsic belief in the life-changing impact of cultural exchange.

"In those formative years, I discovered a world beyond my borders that would forever change my perspective on life," reflects Gertz. "Travel became my teacher, my muse, and ultimately my life's calling."

Mr. Gertz's journey ultimately brought him to AIFS, where he took on the role of CEO in 2005, building upon the legacy of AIFS Founder Sir Cyril Taylor. With a strong sense of purpose, Mr. Gertz spearheaded initiatives that broadened the horizons of thousands of students, families and educators including the groundbreaking Au Pair in America program in 1985 and the influential Diversity in International Education workshop in 2010.

Throughout his career at AIFS, Mr. Gertz demonstrated innovation, dedication, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. He successfully guided AIFS through unprecedented challenges, including the turbulent COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the organization's resilience and growth. Moreover, his leadership extended beyond the confines of AIFS, as he fervently advocated for diversity, inclusion, and sustainability in the field of international education.

"In my heart, I knew that travel and cultural exchange were catalysts for positive change," says Gertz. "Through the years, I've witnessed firsthand the profound impact that these experiences have on individuals and communities alike."

Today, Bill Gertz is Chairman of AIFS. His enduring commitment to fostering global citizenship and empowering future generations continues to shape the trajectory of educational exchange. His dedication to breaking down barriers and building bridges across cultures remains at the forefront.

Reflecting on his half-century as a world traveler, Mr. Gertz offers this advice to aspiring adventurers: "Hop on the train. Embrace the unknown. The world is waiting to teach you its lessons, reveal its wonders, and connect you to the extraordinary tapestry that is the human experience. Just go."

To schedule an interview with Mr. Gertz about the many changes in the past 50 years in the field of educational exchange and travel, please contact Mike Liberty at [email protected]

About Bill Gertz:

Bill Gertz [linkto: https://www.aifs.com/president_ceo.asp) is a visionary leader in the field of international education, renowned for his role as Chairman of the American Institute For Foreign Study (AIFS). With over 40 years of experience, Gertz has led AIFS through periods of growth and challenges, leaving an indelible mark on the organization and the field. His dedication to educational exchange, diversity, and sustainability has shaped AIFS into a global leader in cultural understanding and cross-border learning.

American Institute For Foreign Study (AIFS)  1 High Ridge Park  Stamford, CT 06905  (800) 727-2437  aifsabroad.com

SOURCE American Institute For Foreign Study
ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) will be hosting its regularly scheduled quarterly management meeting on Wednesday, September 13, from 3:15 p.m. until approximately 5:00 p.m. CT. This quarter's meeting will take place virtually via conference call. During the call, the company's operating and financial leaders will present background information and commentary on the company's business operations and financial outlook, and will take questions from the investment community.

The conference call will be broadcast live through Gallagher's website at www.ajg.com/irmeeting, and a conference call replay will be available at the same link through September 20, 2023. Any information distributed in conjunction with this meeting will be available on September 13 at 3:00 p.m. CT at https://www.ajg.com/September13materials.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG), a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Gallagher provides these services in approximately 130 countries around the world through its owned operations and a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.

Contact:

Raymond Iardella

VP Investor Relations

(630) 285-3661/ [email protected]

SOURCE Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Armenian provocateurs have set up tents on the border with Azerbaijan's Lachin. The footage was published on social media, Trend reports.

Cars with 40 tons of flour are waiting at the post of Russian peacekeeping forces temporarily deployed in Azerbaijan on the Aghdam-Khankendi road.

The convoy with humanitarian aid sent by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society to people of Armenian origin living in Karabakh entered the Aghdam-Khankendi road. Currently, the representatives of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society are negotiating with the Russian peacekeepers regarding the passage of the humanitarian cargo.

President of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society Novruz Aslan earlier told journalists that other necessary goods may be delivered to the residents of Armenian origin in Karabakh in the future.

The remnants of the separatist regime in Karabakh have long been trying in various ways to convince the world public and international organizations that Azerbaijan, by establishing a border crossing point on the Lachin road, is allegedly "keeping the Armenian residents of Karabakh in a blockade", has created a "humanitarian crisis situation" for them, and that the Armenians are allegedly "facing food shortages". Armenia, which continues to manipulate the existence of an alleged "tense humanitarian situation" and "blockade" in the region, is slowing down the peace process instead of following the agreements reached to resolve the issues related to the use of Lachin and other alternative roads to meet the needs of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region.

The Azerbaijani side once again demonstrates its humanistic approach and sends humanitarian aid to the citizens of Armenian origin living in Karabakh.
Atomic will distribute their Ollitas Tequila line within the U.S. and strengthen presence moving forward.

MIAMI, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Atomic Brands, a fast-growing spirits producer, and Destileria Orendain, a renowned tequila distillery based in Jalisco, Mexico, announces their new partnership focused on distributing Ollitas Tequila in the U.S.

Atomic will distribute Ollitas Tequila by Destileria Orendain within the U.S. and strengthen presence moving forward. Post this Atomic Brands and Destileria Orendain announces their new partnership focused on distributing Ollitas Tequila in the U.S.

Destileria Orendain, established in 1926 by Don Eduardo Orendain, is distinguished as one of the four founding families of the modern tequila industry and an underlying force behind the establishment of The National Chamber of the Tequila Industry (CNIT) and the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT). Celebrating over 95 years of rich heritage and tradition, Orendain today is globally recognized as one of the most experienced and renowned pioneers of the category.

Ollitas is a triple distilled 100% agave tequila with no additives that represents the first-class quality and tradition of Orendain products. Following an artisanal process preserved over three generations, Ollitas Tequila honors Orendain's heritage and preserves the spirit of bringing people together to share good times. With Ollitas Tequila, consumers can "Celebrate Together, anywhere & anytime together happens."

"We're both excited and honored to work with Destileria Orendain and bring Ollitas Tequila to consumers in the U.S., where demand for the category has exploded," said Don Deubler, CEO of Atomic Brands. "Consumers are at the core of everything we do at Atomic. We're thrilled to partner with Destileria Orendain, who completely aligns with our passion in delivering premium products and experiences for consumers at an incredible value."

It's no secret that agave spirits are dominating the spirit industry. They contributed $1.6 billion in 2022 alone, reflecting 70% of the overall volume growth and 65% of overall value growth of total US spirits, according to IWSR. "Atomic is participating in every category driving industry growth from spirit based RTD to flavored whiskey, so it was a natural fit to step in and handle Orendain's distribution of Ollitas Tequila in the U.S. market," said Deubler.

Atomic Brands has established itself as a successful leader in the ready-to-drink space since 2012 with Monaco Cocktails, a 'top' spirit-based RTD and the #1 single serve. With plans to enter additional categories driving industry growth, Atomic continues to expand its presence and add new brands to its portfolio.

About Atomic Brands

Privately-owned Miami-based spirits company, Atomic Brands, was founded in 2006 with a focus on creating in-demand products with exceptional, uncompromised quality. With a portfolio of products including the award-winning artisan canned cocktail, Monaco Cocktails, and the premium coffee-flavored whiskey, Kentucky Coffee, Atomic Brands is committed to continually developing high-quality innovations across several drinking and lifestyle occasions.

SOURCE Atomic Brands
SMITHFIELD, N.C., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ava Gardner Museum has hosted a year-long Centennial Celebration in honor of the legendary actress, fashion icon, and humanitarian Ava Gardner, a North Carolina native who grew up just 7-miles east of Smithfield. This year's Ava Gardner Festival , scheduled for October 6-8, concludes the year-long festivities.

This year's Ava Gardner Festival, Oct. 6-8 in Smithfield, NC features new costume exhibits, special guests, and more. Post this The Ava Gardner Museum has hosted a year-long Centennial celebration in honor of the legendary actress, fashion icon, and humanitarian Ava Gardner, a native of Smithfield, NC. This years festival, scheduled for October 6-8, concludes the year-long celebration. The festival will include a multitude of exciting events, as the museum unveils new exhibits, conducts heritage tours, hosts special film and video presentations, and more. http://www.avagardnerfestival.com/

New exhibits will open featuring loans of Ava's movie costumes, and two newly recreated iconic gowns from Show Boat. World-renowned costumier James Kelly is traveling from London, England to Smithfield, NC to share more about his designs with festival attendees. The weekend will kick-off with an evening "Toast to Ava" reception at the Ava Gardner Museum, which Kelly will attend. In addition, the Town of Smithfield and the museum are hosting a free film screening of Show Boat at the newly renovated Neuse River Amphitheater.

"The opening night film screening of Show Boat, down by the Neuse River, seems a natural fit for a film about a riverboat", stated Lynell Seabold, Museum Director. "We are excited to offer this special event for all that want to come to Downtown Smithfield."

On Saturday the museum welcomes Victoria Price, daughter of Vincent Price, the acclaimed horror film actor and Ava's costar in The Bribe. Victoria will give a special presentation about her father's career and relationship with Ava. Victoria will hold a book signing event and will introduce a screening of The Bribe at Smithfield Cinemas at 7:30pm.

Also on Saturday, festival goers can enjoy the popular Heritage Tours, a one-hour guided trip through Ava's hometown. Participants travel to the Grabtown and Brogden communities where Ava was born and raised. The tour concludes with a visit to Ava's final resting place in Sunset Memorial Park. Heritage Tours are scheduled for 9:30am, 11:30am and 1:30pm, tickets are available for tours online and often sell out. Purchasing advance tickets is encouraged.

"The whole weekend will be filled with special guests and tributes to Ava as our Centennial program comes to an end. Stay tuned to our social media and website for all the latest updates about this year's festival", continued Seabold. On Sunday, both films The Bribe (1:30pm) and Show Boat (4pm) will screen again at Smithfield Cinemas.

Additional events will run concurrently in Historic Downtown Smithfield including 15% off for museum guests at The Gilded Pear & Brew House, a street festival on S. Third St., several local retail shops offering Ava-themed unique gifts for sale, and the historic Howell Theater will show The Great Sinner on Sunday night at 7pm.

The Ava Gardner Museum is located in Downtown Smithfield, at 325 E. Market Street, convenient to hotels offering special rates for the weekend. For more information call 919-934-5830 or email [email protected] and to purchase advance tickets, visit www.avagardnerfestival.com .

SOURCE The Ava Gardner Museum
NEW YORK, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AXA XL today announced that Lucy Pilko has been appointed Chief Executive Officer for the Americas region of its insurance operations, effective October 30, 2023.

Ms. Pilko assumes the role from Joseph Tocco who has decided to retire, after more than 12 years as a senior executive in the company's Insurance business, including his current position as Chief Executive for the Americas. He will remain as a special advisor through 2023.

Lucy Pilko, CEO Insurance Americas, AXA XL

Ms. Pilko will lead AXA XL's insurance business in the Americas, comprised of its U.S., Canada, and Bermuda operations. She brings over 20 years of insurance industry consulting experience, most recently as Managing Director and Senior Partner for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), leading its North American Insurance practice across Commercial Lines, Personal Lines, Brokerage, Individual and Group Life and Reinsurance. In this role, Ms. Pilko developed a particular focus on operating models and digital transformation and served on BCG's large-scale transformation and people and organization practices.

Commenting on Ms. Pilko's appointment, AXA XL CEO Scott Gunter said: "Given her decades of insurance industry consulting experience, Lucy brings a unique cross-industry perspective. Together with the Americas leadership team and our deep bench of underwriting, risk consulting and claims expertise, Lucy's experience will be valuable as we push forward on our strategy, building our recognition and positioning AXA XL for further growth across the Americas."

Mr. Gunter continued: "Lucy joins a very strong and determined team, thanks to Joe Tocco. Because of his leadership, our Americas region is well positioned for future success. All of us at AXA XL wish Joe a happy retirement and thank him for his commitment to serving our brokers and clients and his years of dedication in helping build our Americas operation to what it is today."

Follow AXA XL on LinkedIn.

ABOUT AXA XL AXA XL provides insurance and risk management products and services for mid-sized companies through to large multinationals, and reinsurance solutions to insurance companies globally. We partner with those who move the world forward. To learn more, visit www.axaxl.com ABOUT AXA XL INSURANCE AXA XL Insurance offers property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance solutions to mid-sized companies through to large multinationals globally. We partner with those who move the world forward. To learn more, visit www.axaxl.com

SOURCE AXA XL
In the just-published 2023 rankings of top schools, BASIS cements its status in the esteemed publication's rankings of charter schools, STEM schools, schools by state, and national schools

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. and SAN ANTONIO, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Educators across the nationwide network of BASIS Charter Schools have what they call a 'springtime tradition'  seeing how their schools, and thus their students and teachers, fare in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings.

This year, the usual April rankings were pushed to August  to the start of the school year, rather than the end.

"If BASIS were a state by itself, it'd be among the best U.S. states for top schools, and thus for student outcomes."  Dr. Craig R. Barrett, Chairman of the Board of BASIS Charter Schools. Post this For 25 years, BASIS has been raising the levels of the student outcomes it brings about to the highest international standards.

"It was well worth the wait," said BASIS Educational Ventures co-chair Dr. Peter Bezanson. "Different time of year, same old but meaningful tradition!"

The new 2023 rankings were published on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. Out of 25,000 schools assessed by US News and 18,000 schools ranked, the BASIS Charter Schools network has:

10 schools in the top 100 in the U.S.

3 of the top 10 STEM schools in the U.S., as well as 6 of the top 20, and 9 of the top 53

10 of the top 17 charter schools in the nation, as well as 3 of the top 5, and 6 of the top 10 charters

The top public charter school in three geographic locations ( Arizona , Texas , and Washington, D.C. )

"Powered by BASIS Charter Schools, Arizona is the top-performing state in America," said Dr. Craig R. Barrett, who is Chairman of the Board of BASIS Charter Schools. "If BASIS were a state, all by itself, it'd be among the best U.S. states for top schools, and thus for student outcomes."

Dr. Barrett added, "While this isn't new, as BASIS is the longstanding top charter network in the U.S., it's always incredible to see it yet again."

Peter Bezanson said he is proud not only that BASIS made Arizona the top state, but that the network again swept the in-state rankings, with BASIS campuses ranked numbers 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 in Arizona.

"We started in Arizona exactly 25 years ago," he said, "but as we've gotten bigger, we've also gotten better teaching our unique kind of advanced liberal arts and sciences academics. And we're continuing to grow  whether in Arizona, in Texas, or elsewhere!"

Speaking of Texas, BASIS San Antonio Shavano is celebrating the network's ten-year anniversary in the state as the #7 school of any type in Texas  and the only school in the Texas Top Ten that is open-enrollment and does not select its students.

"It's a pretty clean sweep," agreed BASIS Educational Ventures co-chair Patti Bezanson. "These new rankings, while they're called the '2023 rankings,' use AP Exam and state testing scores from two years ago  that was the peak of the pandemic. While test scores dipped at our schools during distance learning, (just as they were down nationwide), our teachers and students did what they could, even when they couldn't be face to face. And they have every reason to be proud!"

While BASIS is the top network nationwide, its top school in 2023 is BASIS Peoria. "What an incredible honor!" said BASIS Peoria Head of School Melissa Rankin, who has been with BASIS since 2015 and an educator since 2006. "We have an incredible group of smart teachers and staff, wonderful and supportive families, and a student body of eager and enthusiastic learners. They work very hard. They are very deserving!"

NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOL RANKINGS

This year, BASIS has the nine best charter schools in Arizona, the best charter school in the state of Texas (once again, like last year, it's BASIS San Antonio Shavano), and the best charter school in metro Washington, D.C (once again, like last year, it's BASIS DC).

"BASIS is the top charter school network in America  period," says Patti Bezanson. "BASIS has 10 of the top 17 public charter school campuses in the nation. The network is in a league of its own."

NATIONAL STEM SCHOOL RANKINGS

BASIS is once again the best network or district in the U.S. when it comes to assessing schools in science, technology, engineering, and math.

"Over 25 years,100% of our grads have been accepted to a four-year college or university," Peter Bezanson says. "We are a college prep network  and as such, in some ways, STEM rankings matter most, because they are the best way to recognize high-level college prep in the US News rankings."

BASIS has 3 of the top 10, 6 of the top 20, and 9 in the top 53 schools in the 2023 national STEM rankings.

STATE RANKINGS

Arizona

BASIS Peoria is the #1 school in Arizona -- charter or otherwise.

is the #1 school in -- charter or otherwise.

BASIS Charter Schools comprise 3 of Arizona's top 5 campuses of any type, 7 of the top 10, and 9 of the top 12 schools in the state.

top 5 campuses of any type, 7 of the top 10, and 9 of the top 12 schools in the state. Texas

BASIS San Antonio Shavano is the #7 school of any type in Texas , the #1 charter school in Texas , and the #1 school of any type in San Antonio . It is also the only non-selective school in the top 10 in Texas .

, the #1 charter school in , and the #1 school of any type in . It is also the only non-selective school in the top 10 in . Washington, D.C.

BASIS DC, the network's only school in the nation's capital, is the #3 school in the city of Washington, D.C. , the #9 school in the metro Washington area, and the #1 charter school in the District.

About BASIS Charter Schools

The network of BASIS Charter Schools is among the best in the United States, whether assessed by national rankings across myriad publications, OECD/PISA scores, AP Exam scores, college admissions, merit aid earned, or any other measure. Our passionate and knowledgeable Subject Expert Teachers serve students in kindergarten through grade 12 using the STEM-inspired, liberal arts-focused BASIS Charter School Curriculum. Our acclaimed programfounded in 1998 and cultivating excellence every school year sinceeducates students at the highest international levels, preparing them to be participants, not spectators, in the 21st century global workforce. In the 2023-24 academic year, there are 39 public charter school campuses managed by BASIS Ed, serving more than 22,000 students in Arizona, Louisiana, Texas, and Washington, D.C.

For more information, please visit enrollBASIS.com, enrollBASISTX.com, or basised.com.

SOURCE BASIS Ed
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Canyon Partners Real Estate LLC ("Canyon") and J.P. Morgan today announced they have co-originated a $174.6 million senior construction loan to a joint venture between GBT Realty Corporation and Koch Real Estate Investments for the recapitalization of One22One, a recently completed trophy office tower in Nashville, Tennessee.

One22One is a Class A, 24-story office building with 373,232 square feet of office space, 16,938 square feet of retail space, and 13 stories of parking totaling 930 spaces. The state-of-the-art tower has a wide range of amenities, including a conference center, outdoor terrace overlooking Downtown Nashville, tenant lounge, port cochere, and fitness center. The property features various post-pandemic safety features, including individual HVAC systems on each floor to enhance quality air circulation and touchless technologies such as keyless access to tenant suites and elevators.

"As Nashville continues to climb the ranks in growth and business demand, there is increasing appetite for well-located, modern office space in the market," said George Tomlin, President and CEO of GBT Realty Corporation. "We look forward working with Canyon Partners and J.P. Morgan on the recapitalization of One22One, positioning the property to take advantage of rising demand and provide the workspaces and amenities that today's companies are seeking in a post-pandemic environment."

"One22One demonstrates that new vintage state-of-the-art office continues to outperform and drive tenant and capital demand. We are pleased to have represented and advised GBT and Koch on this assignment and a special thank you to the Canyon and JPM teams on their ability to navigate a challenging capital markets environment," said Managing Director Matt Stewart of JLL's Capital Markets group.

Constructed in July 2022, the property is leased to major tenants, including Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, a national law firm, FirstBank, the third largest Tennessee-based bank which will also relocate its headquarters to One22One, and Slalom, a global management consulting company. Located in Nashville's Gulch neighborhood, One22One is conveniently near Music Row, the epicenter of Nashville's music industry scene, and Midtown, the home of Vanderbilt University. The property is adjacent to Interstate 40, providing easy accessibility for commuters.

Canyon has been an active provider of debt and equity in the Southeast and continues to invest in real estate projects in primary and secondary markets across the United States. Since its inception, Canyon has invested ~$2.0 billion in debt and equity to capitalize ~$6.2 billion of total projects in the Southeast.

About Canyon Partners LLC

Founded in 1991, Canyon Partners Real Estate LLC ("Canyon") is the real estate direct investing arm of Canyon Partners, LLC, a global alternative asset manager with approximately $24.5 billion in assets under management. Over the last ten years, Canyon has invested approximately $5.6 billion of debt and equity capital across over 200 transactions capitalizing approximately $21.3 billion of real estate assets, focusing on debt, value add, and opportunistic strategies. With 30+ years of experience, Canyon has established a broad menu of investment capabilities spanning property types, US regions, and project stages (including development, transitional, and distressed/workouts). For more information visit: www.canyonpartners.com .

About GBT Realty Corporation

Founded in 1987, GBT Realty Corporation develops virtually all types of retail and mixed-use developments throughout the United States from its headquarters in Brentwood, Tennessee, a suburban Nashville community. Since inception, GBT has been involved with the development, construction, leasing and management of over $8 billion of real estate totaling 40 million square feet of grocery-anchored, neighborhood and single-tenant retail; regional power centers; and mixed-use developments in 30 states. Currently, the company has $3 billion of commercial development in the pipeline or under construction by its shopping center, net lease, multifamily and diversified development platforms.

For more information visit gbtrealty.com.

About JLL

For over 200 years, JLL (NYSE: JLL), a leading global commercial real estate and investment management company, has helped clients buy, build, occupy, manage and invest in a variety of commercial, industrial, hotel, residential and retail properties. A Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of $20.9 billion and operations in over 80 countries around the world, our more than 103,000 employees bring the power of a global platform combined with local expertise. Driven by our purpose to shape the future of real estate for a better world, we help our clients, people and communities SEE A BRIGHTER WAYSM. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit jll.com.

Media Contacts

Kris Cole

Prosek Partners

(310) 614 9208

[email protected]

SOURCE Canyon Partners LLC
HOUSTON, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CB&I, McDermott's storage business, has received Approval in Principle (AiP) for its design of a liquid hydrogen (LH 2 ) cargo containment system from DNV, a leading classification society for shipping. CB&I collaborated with Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (Shell) to provide safe LH 2 shipping solutions that enable hydrogen energy supply chains.

Photo courtesy of Houlder Limited

The AiP confirms that the containment system aligns with applicable safety standards. These include class rules, the International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Liquefied Gases in Bulk (IGC Code), as well as the Interim Recommendations for Carriage of Liquefied Hydrogen in Bulk, Resolution MSC.420(97), issued by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). A Hazard Identification (HAZID) risk assessment was carried out as an integral part of the AiP process to ensure that the hazards and uncertainties associated with the containment system were identified and dealt with.

"Through collaboration with Shell and DNV, we're making large scale liquid hydrogen storage and transport more economical," said Cesar Canals, Senior Vice President of CB&I. "This approval is a major milestone in making this groundbreaking technology available to all companies looking to build LH 2 carriers, and we look forward to the possibilities this brings to advancing the hydrogen energy supply chain."

Steve Brown, Technology Manager at Shell emphasizes: "This is an important milestone, resulting from a lot of hard work and collaboration between companies working at the forefront of innovation in this sector. To support the role of liquid hydrogen in the energy transition it is critical that we demonstrate its potential as a viable energy carrier with urgency and achieving this AiP is a significant step in the right direction."

Ivar Haberg, Director of Approval, Ship Classification, DNV, said: "We are delighted to have been invited by CB&I to work on this AiP. Hydrogen, with its potential as an energy carrier and fuel, is likely to play a significant role in the energy transition. It is important for industries to confidently pursue new technologies while ensuring safety. An AiP serves to enhance this confidence by demonstrating the assessment of innovative solutions against established, independent and trusted standards."

The containment system design is based on CB&I's proven vacuum-insulated spherical technology for onshore LH 2 storage. CB&I has designed and constructed more than 130 large, field-erected LH 2 storage tanks worldwide over the past 60 years. This experience provides the energy transition industry an economical, low-risk shipping solution with the best available time to market. CB&I expects the design to be scalable to 40,000 m3 per tank, with estimated boiloff rates less than 0.1% per day for small tanks and less than 0.05% per day for large tanks. The combined cargo containment system and hull design effort aims to address the energy density challenge, benefitting from LH 2 's properties and achieving more energy onboard. The cargo containment system was integrated into a concept vessel design developed by Houlder, which includes a hull that is optimized for the low-density cargo around the three large tanks.

About CB&I

CB&I is the world's leading designer and builder of storage facilities, tanks, and terminals. With more than 60,000 structures completed throughout its 130-year history, CB&I has the global expertise and strategically located operations to provide its customers world-class storage solutions for even the most complex energy infrastructure projects. To learn more, visit www.cbi.com.

About McDermott

McDermott is a premier, fully-integrated provider of engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry. Our customers trust our technology-driven approach engineered to responsibly harness and transform global energy resources into the products the world needs. From concept to commissioning, McDermott's innovative expertise and capabilities advance the next generation of global energy infrastructureempowering a brighter, more sustainable future for us all. Operating in over 54 countries, McDermott's locally-focused and globally-integrated resources include more than 30,000 employees, a diversified fleet of specialty marine construction vessels, and fabrication facilities around the world. To learn more, visit www.mcdermott.com.

About DNV

DNV is the world's leading classification society and a recognized advisor for the maritime industry. We enhance safety, quality, energy efficiency and environmental performance of the global shipping industry  across all vessel types and offshore structures. We invest heavily in research and development to find solutions, together with the industry, that address strategic, operational or regulatory challenges. For more information visit: www.dnv.com/maritime

About Houlder Limited

Houlder has been a wholly independent provider of design, engineering services and equipment supporting a network of global projects for over thirty years. Houlder's project managers, naval architects, marine engineers, and consultants, support clients through the entire procurement cycle from conceptual ideas to through-life operations. Houlder employs 80 professionals across the UK and the company holds numerous business and industry awards for its innovation, design and business success. For more information on Houlder's latest projects, visit: http://www.houlderltd.com/

Forward-Looking Statements

McDermott cautions that statements in this communication which are forward-looking, and provide other than historical information, involve risks, contingencies and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about the expected scope of the project discussed in this press release. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. Those statements are made by using various underlying assumptions and are subject to numerous risks, contingencies and uncertainties, including, among others: adverse changes in the markets in which we operate or credit or capital markets; our inability to successfully execute on contracts in backlog; changes in project design or schedules; the availability of qualified personnel; changes in the terms, scope or timing of contracts; contract cancellations, change orders and other modifications and actions by our customers and other business counterparties; changes in industry norms; actions by lenders, other creditors, customers and other business counterparties of McDermott and adverse outcomes in legal or other dispute resolution proceedings. If one or more of these risks materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. This communication reflects the views of McDermott's management as of the date hereof. Except to the extent required by applicable law, McDermott undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.

Contacts:

Global Media Relations

Reba Reid

Senior Director, Global Communications and Marketing

+1 281 588 5636

[email protected]

Local Media Relations

Kristi Krupala

Global Corporate Communications Manager

+1 346 313 9636

[email protected]

SOURCE McDermott International, Ltd
The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, considered a testament to China's 5000-year-old civilization, have aroused the curiosity of young people worldwide. To unravel its mysteries, we will visit the site alongside local youth who have been promoting the Liangzhu civilization. Together, we will delve into the wonders of its prehistoric culture, exemplified by its jade artifacts, advanced water management system, and rice cultivation technology.

The mysterious and renowned jade artifacts of Liangzhu have ignited the curiosity of all. Zhang Zhihan, a doctoral student from the Seattle Campus, University of Washington, inquired, "Liangzhu's jade ware is unrivaled worldwide. Can I delve deeper into its jade craftsmanship?" In order to address this question, we will embark on an exploration of Liangzhu's ceremonial jade alongside Ai Meili and Chen Guanchen, students from Zhejiang University.

The magnificence of Liangzhu's water conservancy system has sparked curiosity among all. Chen Jiexiaoxue from Universite Lumiere Lyon 2 posed the question, "Liangzhu's water conservancy systems were constructed over 5,000 years ago, yet they continue to function today. Can I witness it firsthand?" Joining us on this journey are Ai Yuda from Communication University of Zhejiang and Cheng Long from Zhejiang University of Technology as we uncover this remarkable feat.

The visitors were also deeply intrigued by Liangzhu's rice-cultivating civilization. Xia Wangmingyu from the University of Cambridge expressed, "I've heard that the rice production in Liangzhu over 5,000 years ago was comparable to modern-day harvests. Can I gain a deeper understanding of the agriculture in this ancient city?" Let's accompany Weng Xin and Liang Chen from Zhejiang University as we unveil the secrets of Liangzhu's rice-cultivating civilization.

SOURCE CCTV+

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BEIJING, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to 17PR reports: the first English case studies collection in China's brand public relations and marketing industry, titled Public Relations Case Studies, compiled by the China Golden Flag Award Committee and published by McGraw-Hill Education, has gained recognition from prestigious business schools worldwide since its global publication in 2022. The collection has garnered significant interest from renowned universities in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Currently, 110 university professors have plans to acquire this collection to explore China's business environment and marketing system for brand marketing and international trade studies.

It carefully selects 24 brand public relations and marketing cases that received the Golden Flag Award's Gold Prize during 2019 and 2021. These cases cover various professional categories, including corporate social responsibility, brand communication, marketing effectiveness, public relations activities, and digital marketing.

These cases come from globally and nationally renowned enterprises and brands, including BMW, Huawei Cloud, ANTA, Lilly China, Joincare, Decathlon, ICBC Private Banking, Tang Wealth, University of New South Wales, Gui Zhou Xi Jiu, Laiyi, Caltrate, POER, Honor, TAILG, Happy Valley Group, Far East Group, Tencent, Baidu, JD.com, Bilibili, etc.

Dr. Hairong Li, a professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Michigan State University, believes that these cases are undoubtedly valuable additions to public relations theory and more broadly, to advertising, brand communication, and marketing theories. These cases have the potential to foster new theories. This collection should be considered essential reading for students in the field of public relations and related disciplines. The cases provide them with unique knowledge that goes beyond what traditional textbooks offer, as well as skills that can be applied to classroom projects and future professional careers.

Gregor Halff, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, expressed: "In this book, I see the creativity of the Chinese PR industry and the efforts it makes to have a broader impact in the social and economic fields. This book not only showcases the strengths of China's brand PR to the world, but also helps businesses, brands, and communication professionals worldwide gain a better understanding of China's PR industry."

Justin Green, President and CEO of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, believes: "This book is full of wonderful insights and can be considered the 'bible' of industry knowledge. Companies have shared their brand experience in the Chinese market and the process of shaping their corporate image. It is an important learning guide and a valuable reference tool."

Since this year, China's economic recovery has shown strong momentum, with European and American companies betting on China and expecting to ride the wave of China's economic revival to achieve growth in their performance. Official economic data released by China indicates that the national economy is steadily recovering, with impressive performance in the service consumption sector. In the first seven months of this year, service retail sales increased by 20.3% year-on-year. Consumption is a key engine for economic growth. The continuous recovery of China's consumer market has created new development opportunities for multinational enterprises. In this context, Public Relations Case Studies will provide valuable references for more brands and companies entering the Chinese market to understand such fields as communication strategies, marketing techniques, and media environment.

Currently, the e-book is available on the world's largest e-textbook platform, VitalSource. This platform provides online textbooks and course materials to thousands of institutions and millions of students in over 240 countries and regions.

The physical version will also be available for sale in English-speaking countries through chain bookstores such as Barnes & Noble in the United States, Waterstones in the United Kingdom, Indigo in Canada, and Popular in Singapore.

SOURCE 17PR
Series kicks off with deep dive on Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Use Cases

TORONTO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Converge Technology Solutions Corp. (TSX: CTS) (OTC: CTSDF) is pleased to announce the launch of "Coffee and Converge", showcasing the Company's services and solutions in a series of in-person and virtual events over the next several periods.

The inaugural event in the series will be held in downtown Toronto on Wednesday, September 13th at 8:30am ET and focus on Converge's Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity practices, with presentations led by two of Converge's most renowned experts in the field, Analytics Strategy Leader, Chris Foster and Cybersecurity Practice Leader, Shaun Bertrand. The intent is to highlight the reach, scale, and opportunity of the Company's evolution in becoming a leader in the software and services space. Showcasing how customers across financial services, automotive, and healthcare industries are seizing the opportunity to partner with Converge to help build and securely deploy the latest AI, such as IBM watsonx, and other language models and algorithms throughout their core infrastructures while, in parallel, establishing necessary frameworks and critical guardrails for the secure deployment of machine and deep learning tools.

"Our relationship with Converge, a long-standing IBM platinum partner, showcases the value of the IBM Ecosystem," said Kate Woolley, General Manager, IBM Ecosystem. "Converge is investing in IBM technology and skills across generative AI, such as watsonx, cybersecurity and hybrid cloud, to help deliver solutions that drive business outcomes for clients globally."

Converge will discuss client use cases and examples of how they are partnering and building solutions in the AI and Cybersecurity space with their strategic partners and clients such as the following:

"Converge is a trusted partner of Elevance Health (NYSE: ELV). We rely on their expertise to provide independent assessments of our systems, helping to keep them secure," stated one of the Elevance Health Cybersecurity Executives. "Converge has demonstrated true professionalism, elite skills, and excellent collaboration with multiple teams at Elevance Health."

The "Coffee and Converge" series will be broadcast live, and an archive of the webcast will be available by visiting the Company's website at https://convergetp.com/investor-relations/ .

Event D etails :

Date: Wednesday, September 13th, 2023

Time: 8:30 AM Eastern Time

Where: Scotia Bank Plaza, North Tower, Toronto

Live Webcast Registration Link:

https://onlinexperiences.com/Launch/QReg/ShowUUID=36716DCA-3A78-458A-8E05-6D2DFBDE6A07

In Person Registration :

Institutional investors wishing to attend in person will receive communications on how to register. Alternatively, institutional investors can reach out to [email protected] to obtain an in-person registration link.

About Converge

Converge Technology Solutions Corp. is a services-led, software-enabled, IT & Cloud Solutions provider focused on delivering industry-leading solutions. Converge's global approach delivers advanced analytics, application modernization, cloud platforms, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, and digital workplace offerings to clients across various industries. The Company supports these solutions with advisory, implementation, and managed services expertise across all major IT vendors in the marketplace. This multi-faceted approach enables Converge to address the unique business and technology requirements for all clients in the public and private sectors. For more information, visit convergetp.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation regarding Converge and its business. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected" "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts". "estimates", "believes" or intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could, "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. 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. Except as required by law, Converge assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

For a detailed description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's filings statement available on SEDAR under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com including its most recent Annual Information Form, its Management Discussion and Analysis and its Annual and Quarterly Financial Statements.

SOURCE Converge Technology Solutions Corp.
CTA Construction Managers recently completed construction of the new Ashland Public Safety Building.

ASHLAND, Mass., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CTA Construction Managers recently celebrated the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the Ashland Public Safety Building. CTA Construction was awarded the contract to build the new combined home for Ashland's Fire and Police departments in March 2021.

CTA Construction Managers Celebrates Completion of Ashland Public Safety Building

"For the fire department, the project included new apparatus bays and support spaces, staff living quarters, training mezzanine, offices, and building support spaces," said Pat Tompkins, Principal CTA Construction Managers. "For the police department, the project included operations spaces, personnel support spaces, and detention and administration spaces. There is also a shared training/emergency operations room, fitness room and dispatch services in the facility," he continued.

The new, 42,000 square foot facility, which was designed by HKT Architects is located on Union Street.

About CTA Construction Managers LLC

CTA Construction Managers is an award-winning construction management and general contracting firm specializing in municipal, academic, multi-family residential, commercial, and senior care facilities. Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, CTA Construction's portfolio of projects total over $1.5 billion. Founded in 2000, CTA has awarded over $100,000,000 in contracts to certified small, disadvantaged, minority, and women owned partners. CTA is a leader in green building, helping numerous clients build sustainably and meet LEED and MA-CHPS standards. For more information, please visit: https://ctaconstruction.com/

Press Contact:

Cori DiDonato, CTA Construction, 8662768981, https://ctaconstruction.com/

SOURCE CTA Construction Managers LLC
AGHDAM, Azerbaijan, August 30. A group of employees of Azerbaijani foreign media offices arrived at the Aghdam-Khankendi road, where a humanitarian aid convoy sent by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society from Baku to meet the needs of people of Armenian origin living in Karabakh stopped, Trends Karabakh bureau reports.

Representatives of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society are currently providing information to foreign media (Bloomberg, BBC, Reuters), who are familiarizing themselves with the situation in the territory where the trucks with humanitarian supplies are parked.

The convoy with humanitarian aid sent by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society to the people of Armenian origin living in Karabakh has entered the Aghdam-Khankendi road. Currently, representatives of the Azerbaijani Red Crescent Society are negotiating with Russian peacekeepers regarding the passage of the humanitarian cargo.

The President of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, Novruz Aslan earlier told journalists that other necessary goods may be delivered to the residents of Armenian origin in Karabakh in the future.

The remnants of the separatist regime in Karabakh have long been trying in various ways to convince the world public and international organizations that Azerbaijan, by establishing a border crossing point on the Lachin road, is allegedly "keeping the Armenian residents of Karabakh in a blockade", has created a "humanitarian crisis situation" for them, and that the Armenians are allegedly "facing food shortages". Armenia, which continues to manipulate the existence of an alleged "tense humanitarian situation" and "blockade" in the region, is slowing down the peace process instead of following the agreements reached to resolve the issues related to the use of Lachin and other alternative roads to meet the needs of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region.

The Azerbaijani side once again demonstrates its humanistic approach and sends humanitarian aid to the citizens of Armenian origin living in Karabakh.
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Ralph Thomas and Andrew Cardno, revered casino industry data scientists, are thrilled to announce the imminent release of their eighth book, "The Math That Gaming Made, 5th Edition." This groundbreaking edition is unique in that it will incorporate their previously celebrated work, "QCI Beginner's Guide to Database Marketing." The synergy of these two masterpieces promises readers an unparalleled dive into both the mathematical intricacies of gaming and the nuances of database marketing.

"The Math That Gaming Made, 5th Edition" offers a deep exploration into the symbiotic relationship between mathematics and the world of gaming. Building on the success of its previous editions, this book demonstrates how the evolution of gaming is profoundly influenced by mathematical principles. Moreover, it equips readers with the understanding of these concepts to herald future innovations.

"With the integration of our 'QCI Beginner's Guide to Database Marketing' into this edition, we are aiming to offer readers a holistic insight into the casino industry  bridging the mathematical intricacies with effective marketing strategies," expressed Dr. Ralph Thomas.

Andrew Cardno added, "This combined work epitomizes the marriage of gaming and math. Capturing the essence in its fifth edition, we aim to bridge the gap for both professionals and enthusiasts. From grasping game dynamics to predicting outcomes and sculpting triumphant strategies, 'The Math That Gaming Made' provides an exhaustive view of the industry's mathematical foundations coupled with its marketing prowess."

Buddy Frank, a long-time advocate of Dr. Thomas and Mr. Cardno's work, commented, "After their monumental guide on database marketing, 'The Math That Gaming Made' promises to be a pivotal read for anyone keen on understanding the analytical facets of gaming."

For those interested in securing a copy of "The Math That Gaming Made, 5th Edition", Dr. Thomas and Mr. Cardno will be showcasing their new book at the upcoming G2E gaming show in Las Vegas this October. This book reinforces their reputation as industry thought leaders, emphasizing their unwavering commitment to providing professionals with extensive knowledge and tools in the ever-evolving realm of casino gaming, data analytics, and marketing.

ABOUT Dr. Ralph Thomas

Ralph is a product visionary in applied analytics and the founder of two companies that deliver solutions in casino gaming, education, and adult learning. As a gaming industry veteran, Dr. Thomas has substantial experience implementing analytics into single and multi-property gaming companies to drive tangible and measurable gains to the bottom line and has built business intelligence tools for multibillion-dollar casinos. Dr. Thomas is co-author of seven books and over 80 articles on applied analytics and data science in gaming, an inventor on dozens of patents, and understands gaming from raw data up through casino operations, giving him a unique, 360-degree view of the industry.

ABOUT Mr. Andrew Cardno

Andrew is an established thought leader in visual analytics with over 25 years of experience in the field. He has led private Ph.D. and master's level research teams in visualization/development for over 20 years; this leadership won Andrew two Smithsonian Laureates and more than 50 innovation awards. In addition, he is an inventor with over 60 granted patents, has published over 100 industry and academic articles and is coauthor of seven books on applied analytics.

Media Contact: Andrew Cardno

(858) 299.5715

SOURCE Quick Custom Intelligence
The high-performance Apex.AI development environment enables the prototype functions developed by Krone and Lemken to be transferred to safety-certifiable products.

Krone and Lemken use Apex.Grace and Apex.Ida from Apex.AI to further develop the 'Combined Powers' project, an autonomous drive vehicle and attachments that can take on various field work.

The collaboration strengthens agile software development in the partner companies Krone and Lemken.

PALO ALTO, Calif. and ALPEN, Germany and SPELLE, Germany, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Apex.AI , a company that develops safety-certified software for mobility and autonomous applications, announced today a joint product development project for commercial-ready autonomous farming systems with Krone , a manufacturer of agricultural machinery and precision agricultural technology, and Lemken , a company that manufactures innovative machines for tillage, sowing and sustainable plant care. The 'Combined Powers' concept vehicle, which was developed by Krone and Lemken, is an autonomous drive unit that acts as a smart system that can plow, cultivate, sow, mow, turn and swath. The companies are now transitioning the concept carrier vehicle from the prototype stage to series production by leveraging Apex.AI's Software Development Kit (SDK), consisting of Apex.Grace and Apex.Ida.

Driverless in the field: Agriculture companies Krone and Lemken rely on software from Apex.AI for autonomous farming machines

The commercial-ready 'Combined Powers' vehicle, which has already proven its performance in the fields, will save farmers valuable time in the future while maintaining the precise quality of work. There is a shortage of skilled workers in agriculture as in many other sectors. Therefore, farmers are increasingly relying on digitization and automation in order to make optimal use of the available work capacity and are increasingly leveraging innovative technology including robots that assist in livestock breeding or machines that work the fields highly autonomously.

Key software functions of the 'Combined Powers' architecture are based on the Robot Operating System ROS, making it a logical decision to rely on Apex.AI products, which are also based on ROS. Unlike ROS, however, Apex.AI's products are certified by TUV Nord for applications with special functional safety requirements and are therefore suitable for commercial vehicle use. Due to the compatibility, the data obtained with the prototypes can be used directly in series development. This makes the Apex.AI software the ideal core component for the further development of the 'Combined Powers' products into series production.

"Apex.AI is establishing an operating software for the autonomous age. The partnership with Krone and Lemken is a win-win for all parties: Our development environment, consisting of Apex.Grace and Apex.Ida, is the perfect basis for the applications of Krone's and Lemken's carrier vehicles. We are now working closely with both companies on a first project to familiarize the teams from the agricultural technology manufacturers with the suitability for series production and the possibilities of the Apex.AI products and methods. We will also evaluate our software as the framework and middleware solutions as part of the implementation phase of the VTE concept," explains Jan Becker, CEO of Apex.AI.

"In working with Apex.AI, we see the opportunity to move from a development solution based on ROS and ROS 2 to a series solution based on Apex.Grace and being able to implement secure functions," explains Manuel Volk, developer at Krone, the partnership with Apex.AI, "I also expect a faster learning curve in the company, since many developers are familiar with the concepts and tools of the Apex.AI SDK from their previous work with ROS and ROS 2."

"Apex.AI enables us to develop applications that are largely independent of the hardware used. This accelerates the development process and reduces complexity," Michael Nienhaus, a developer at Lemken, explains the collaboration.

Apex.AI, a US company with German roots, is specialized in the development of operating systems for autonomous vehicles and has extensive knowledge in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence. Various partners in the agricultural and automotive world (e.g., AGCO , MOIA , Toyota) are already benefiting from the experience. Apex.AI's agile and iterative software development kit (SDK) enables customers to significantly increase the speed of software development and is tailored to individual applications.

About Apex.AI

Apex.AI is an international developer of safety-certified base software, enabling a faster transition to software-defined vehicles and software-defined mobility. The company's software products are based on proven open-source software, such as ROS or Eclipse iceoryx. Through a proprietary process, we add what is necessary to support commercial and safety-critical applications such as functional safety, real-time determinism and flawless performance. The company's headquarters is located in Palo Alto, CA, USA, with offices in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart in Germany, Gothenburg in Sweden, Tokyo in Japan and Pangyo in South Korea. To date, Apex.AI has raised over $75 million USD from world-class venture, financial and strategic investors including AGCO , Airbus Ventures , Canaan , Continental AG , Daimler Truck , HELLA Ventures , Jaguar Land Rover 's InMotion Ventures , Lightspeed , Orillion , Toyota Ventures , Volvo Group Venture Capital and ZF .

Find the Apex.AI Media Kit here: https://www.apex.ai/media-kit .

About Krone

The KRONE group, with its headquarter in Spelle, Germany, offers intelligent and sustainable solutions to the challenges posed by the megatrends of food supply and transportation. The family-owned business is a market leader in both business areas. The flagship products include the self-propelled high-performance mower conditioner BiG M and forage harvester BiG X. KRONE machines are currently operated in more than 60 countries globally.

Also broadly diversified is the product portfolio in the commercial vehicle segment ranging from semitrailers over refrigerated trailers to container chassis and the e-cargo bike Rytle. KRONE offers applicable solutions for all transport tasks with quality, ecology and economics.

About Lemken

LEMKEN is regarded throughout the world as a visionary and sustainable company that makes an important contribution to profitable agriculture. As a company with a long tradition, we have been applying our knowledge and passion for progress for 240 years. LEMKEN has its finger on the pulse of development and delivers smart solutions for the agricultural challenges of today and tomorrow. The interviews and pictures from the various divisions show what drives LEMKEN and how we meet the farmer's demand for quality and innovation.

Press contacts

Apex.AI

US: Stacy Morris, [email protected] , +1 310 415 9188

Europe: Christian Bangemann, [email protected] , +49 171 8398418

Korea: Desiree Park, [email protected]

Japan:  , [email protected] , +60 17 389 4304

Krone

Markus Steinwendner

Head of Marketing KRONE Agriculture

+49 5977 935 188 20

[email protected]

www.krone.de

Lemken

Marie Ehses

LEMKEN Marketing

+49 2802 81250

[email protected]

www.lemken.com

SOURCE Apex.AI, Inc.
MIAMI, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Inc. revealed that Evestar, the eCommerce Marketing agency based in South Florida, ranks No. 1573 on the 2023 Inc. 5000, its annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. The prestigious ranking provides a data-driven look at the most successful companies within the economy's most dynamic segmentits independent, entrepreneurial businesses. Facebook, Chobani, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other household name brands gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

Following a successful exit co-founding JetSmarter, a billion-dollar startup, Lolita Petrossov founded Evestar in 2018 to help other companies find their own profitable growth.

"It's a great honor to be recognized by Inc.on the incredible growth that we continue to experience. The pandemic shifted everyone's buying behavior where wholesalers and retailers had to quickly adapt to eCommerce. We were at the epicenter of this transformation when it all accelerated and are proud to have supported over 100 Direct-To-Consumer brands to this day, including Steve Madden, The Giving Movement and Hard Rock," says Lolita Petrossov, Founder & CEO of JetSmarter. "Today's focus is helping entrepreneurs around the world find incremental profitability, which has become a lot more challenging to businesses compared to 18 months ago."

About Evestar

Evestar is a full-service eCommerce marketing agency. From Paid Media Buying to Email Marketing, UGC Content, Website Design and anything in-between, Evestar works with DTC brands of all sizes to enable maximum growth and profits.

Media Contact

Lolita Petrossov

[email protected]

SOURCE Evestar
More than 64,000 customers without power as of 11:30 a.m. , with more outages, damage expected as the storm exits Florida

Crews respond to power outages in areas where weather conditions allow; nearly 70,000 restored so far

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Idalia has cut power to more than 64,000 Duke Energy Florida customers so far, with more power outages and damage likely to occur as the storm continues to exit the state.

"We are committed to working as quickly and safely as possible to get the lights back on for our customers," said Todd Fountain, Duke Energy Florida storm director. "Many of our customers are still feeling Idalia's impact. We thank all the first responders and the help we've received from other utilities. Our crews will continue to restore power where it is safe to do so."

Restoring power after a massive storm can be slowed by high winds and widespread flooding. Customers in areas hardest hit by Idalia should prepare for extended power outages and extensive damage.

The company will provide estimated power restoration times to customers once damage assessments are completed. The company also will provide regular updates to customers and communities through emails, text messages, outbound phone calls, social media and its website.

Important safety tips

Stay away from power lines that have fallen or are sagging. Consider all lines energized, as well as trees, limbs, fences or anything in contact with lines.

If a power line falls across a car that you're in, stay in the car. If you MUST exit the car due to a fire or other immediate life-threatening situation, do your best to jump clear of the car and land on both feet. Be sure that no part of your body is touching the car when your feet touch the ground.

A generator can be very useful during a power outage but remember to always follow the manufacturer's instructions to ensure safe and proper operation.

Please watch for utility crews and turn the generator off when crews are in your area. The electrical load on the power lines can be hazardous for crews making repairs.

If rising water threatens your home  or if you evacuate your home  turn off your power at the circuit breaker panel or fuse box.

If your home or business is flooded, Duke Energy cannot reconnect power until the electrical system has been inspected by a licensed electrician. If there is damage, an electrician will need to make repairs and obtain verification from your local building inspection authority before power can be restored.

Electric current passes easily through water, so stay away from downed power lines and electrical wires. Don't drive over  and don't stand near  downed power lines.

Downed lines will be hard to see in the rain and can potentially be hidden in standing water. If you encounter large pools of standing water, stop, back up and choose another path.

Outage reporting

To stay informed about the status of power outages, customers should sign up for Outage Alerts. If already enrolled, ensure all contact information is accurate and up to date using the Manage Alerts link at duke-energy.com/OutageAlerts.

Customers who experience an outage during a storm can report it the following ways:

Visit duke-energy.com on a desktop computer or mobile device.

Use the Duke Energy mobile app  Download the Duke Energy App from a smartphone via Apple Store or Google Play.

Text OUT to 57801 (standard text and data charges may apply).

Call the automated outage reporting system at 800.228.8485.

For storm or power restoration updates, follow Duke Energy on Twitter (@DukeEnergy) and Facebook (Duke Energy) or visit dukeenergyupdates.com, available in English and Spanish.

Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 10,500 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 1.9 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.

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: Audrey Stasko

24-Hour: 800.559.3853

Twitter: @DE_AudreyS

SOURCE Duke Energy
New Embraer E-Jet E2 full flight simulator and pilot training program to commence in 2023 at the Singapore CAE Flight Training centre

SINGAPORE, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Embraer (NYSE: ERJ) (B3: EMBR3) and CAE (NYSE: CAE) (TSX: CAE) announced today at the 2023 Asia Pacific Airline Training Symposium (APATS) that they are expanding their longstanding joint venture to include pilot and cabin crew training for the Embraer E-Jet E2 family of commercial aircraft.

Embraer-CAE Training Services (ECTS) will launch a new pilot training program and deploy a state-of-the-art E-Jet E2 full-flight simulator (FFS) at the Singapore-CAE Flight Training Centre where training is scheduled to begin in December 2023. E2 pilot and cabin crew training programs will be gradually expanded to strategic locations within CAE's global network to support aircraft deliveries.

"We are delighted to build on our offering and introduce the E2 pilot training program to support the growing number of APAC operators embracing the latest generation of platforms," said Johann Bordais, President and CEO, Embraer Services & Support. "We are more than ever committed to providing high-quality training programs available in locations close to our E-Jet E2 operators."

"Adding the E-Jet E2 platform to our existing joint venture is a natural next step in the partnership CAE and Embraer have built over the last 16 years," said Michel Azar-Hmouda, Vice President, Commercial Aviation Training, CAE. "Launching the new program in Singapore brings E2 training closer to our APAC customers and ensures their pilots are ready to take flight as E2 jets join their fleets."

Singapore has been chosen as the first location due to the growing E-Jet E2 fleet in the Asia Pacific region. The establishment of the full flight simulator and pilot training program enhances Embraer's value proposition in the APAC region.

ECTS' training solutions are a core offering of the Embraer Services & Support platform. The platform assembles the entire portfolio of products and solutions to deliver the best services and support experience, and leverages the after-sales business to intensify its presence and enhance support on a day-to-day basis, generating more value to customers. The E2 training program will feature CAE 7000XR Series full-flight simulators (FFSs), including the innovative CAE Tropos 6000XR visual system, as well as CAE XR Series' flight training devices (FTDs).

A photo is available at CAE's Multimedia Centre.

ABOUT EMBRAER

Embraer is a global company headquartered in Brazil with businesses in commercial and executive aviation, and defense & security. The company designs, develops, manufactures, and markets aircraft and systems, providing customer support and services.

Since it was founded in 1969, Embraer has delivered more than 8,000 aircraft. About every 10 seconds, an aircraft manufactured by Embraer takes off somewhere in the world, transporting over 145 million passengers a year.

Embraer is the leading manufacturer of commercial jets up to 150 seats. The company maintains industrial units, offices, service and parts distribution centers, among other activities, across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Follow us on:

Twitter: @Embraer

Embraer Contact:

Nilma Missir-Boissac

[email protected]

(W) +65 9012 8428

(M) +65 6305 9955

ABOUT CAE

At CAE, we equip people in critical roles with the expertise and solutions to create a safer world. As a technology company, we digitalize the physical world, deploying software-based simulation training and critical operations support solutions. Above all else, we empower pilots, cabin crew, airlines, defence and security forces and healthcare practitioners to perform at their best every day and when the stakes are the highest. Around the globe, we're everywhere customers need us to be with more than 13,000 employees in approximately 250 sites and training locations in over 40 countries. CAE represents more than 75 years of industry firststhe highest-fidelity flight, mission and medical simulators and training programs powered by digital technologies. We embed sustainability in everything we do. Today and tomorrow, we'll make sure our customers are ready for the moments that matter.

Follow us on:

Twitter: @CAE_Inc

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cae.inc

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cae

Hashtags: #CAE; #CAEpilot

Read our FY23 Global Annual Activity and Sustainability Report.

Read our Aviation Talent Forecast 2023

CAE Contacts

General Media:

Samantha Golinski, Vice President, Public Affairs & Global Communications

+1-514-340-7939, ext. 7939, [email protected]

Trade Media:

Jessica Shergill, Director, Integrated Marketing and New Adjacencies

+1-514-341-2000, ext. 6944, [email protected]

Investor Relations:

Andrew Arnovitz, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Enterprise Risk Management,

+1-514-734-5760, [email protected]

SOURCE CAE INC.
CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Enova International (NYSE: ENVA), a leading financial technology company powered by machine learning and world-class analytics, announced Enova's sponsorship of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's "America's Top Small Business" awards and small business summit. The annual event, held in Washington D.C., celebrates the innovation and entrepreneurship of small business owners from across the country.

Enova's OnDeck lending platform provides much-needed capital to small businesses. Joining the U.S. Chamber to support and celebrate small businesses goes hand in hand with Enova's commitment to fill the gaps left by traditional lenders and help small businesses grow and thrive.

"We're honored to partner with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for their flagship event that recognizes small businesses' vital role in shaping communities across America," said David Fisher, CEO of Enova. "Many small businesses struggle to obtain needed capital from traditional banks. Through our OnDeck lending platform, Enova is committed to providing the funding businesses need to grow."

In September, 70 of the most innovative, diverse, and successful small businesses from across the country will be recognized as honorees out of more than 3,000 America's Top Small Business applications. The highest-scoring businesses in each of the seven U.S. regions will be named finalists and be in the running for the title of "America's Top Small Business," which comes with a $25,000 cash prize.

In October, the thousands of applicants, 70 honorees, and seven finalists will be celebrated at an award ceremony at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's historic headquarters in Washington, D.C. and America's Top Small Business will be announced. The awards ceremony will follow a day-long summit that will bring together successful entrepreneurs and small business experts for advice, networking opportunities, and practical strategies for business owners.

"The resiliency, ingenuity, and creativity of our nation's small businesses is driving our economy forward. They are the core of our business ecosystem, working every day to provide jobs and services to our communities and push the boundaries of innovation," said Jeanette Mulvey, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, Small Business Products at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "The Chamber is thrilled to have Enova join us to celebrate their accomplishments and inspire the next generation of America's entrepreneurs."

At the summit in October, OnDeck team members will recognize the business named "America's Top Small Business" and discuss challenges and solutions associated with accessing working capital for small businesses.

Learn more about the "America's Top Small Business" awards and summit here.

About Enova

Enova International (NYSE: ENVA) is a leading financial services company with powerful online lending that serves small businesses and consumers who are underserved by traditional banks. Through its world-class analytics and machine learning algorithms, Enova has provided more than 8.6 million customers with over $51 billion in loans and financing. You can learn more about the company and its portfolio of businesses at www.enova.com.

About the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business organization representing companies of all sizes across every sector of the economy. Our members range from the small businesses and local chambers of commerce that line the Main Streets of America to leading industry associations and large corporations.

They all share one thing: They count on the U.S. Chamber to be their voice in Washington, across the country, and around the world. For more than 100 years, we have advocated for pro-business policies that help businesses create jobs and grow our economy.

SOURCE Enova International, Inc.
GULFPORT, Miss., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A federal court issued a final permanent injunction pursuant to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, requiring the State of Mississippi to provide its residents a religious exemption option for children to attend school without state mandated vaccines.

As a federal judge tasked with interpreting the United States Constitution, Judge Sul Ozerden issued a ruling recognizing that the First Amendment demands that a religious exemption option be provided where the the state offers secular exemptions. This final ruling reaches back to the very founding of our country and recognizes that religious freedom in America is a fundamental right that extends to every citizen, and this right does not depend on the shifting opinions of elected officials.

The final court order explained that because "Mississippi affords a discretionary medical exemption process by statute, it must similarly afford a religious accommodation process" and that not having a religious accommodation process, where it affords a secular one, is "unconstitutional." The court therefore entered a final order stating that Mississippi "shall be enjoined from enforcing the Compulsory Vaccination Law unless they provide an option for requesting a religious exemption" and that "while this permanent injunction remains in effect, a person may seek a religious exemption to the Compulsory Vaccination Law by requesting a religious exemption."

Mississippi was one of only six states that did not have a religious exemption for students to attend school. Numerous parents have sincerely held religious beliefs that prohibit them from vaccinating their children, including because of the involvement with and development of vaccines using the products of abortions and aborted fetal cell lines. Those parents were put in an impossible position by being forced to violate their sincere religious beliefs in order to send their children to school. The refusal to recognize religious exemptions has needlessly harmed these children by forcing their parents to homeschool or move out of the State, often directly across the border to attend school in a neighboring state while still otherwise effectively living their lives in Mississippi. Plaintiffs are incredibly heartened that a federal court agreed that the State cannot afford a secular exemption without affording a religious exemption and that doing so violated the First Amendment.

The six plaintiffs in the case include parents from across the State and include a pastor who had to exclude his own daughter from his own private Christian school because he could not accord his own religious convictions to let her attend.

Litigation funding for this lawsuit has been provided by Informed Consent Action Network.

Counsel for the plaintiffs are Aaron Siri, Elizabeth A. Brehm, Walker Moller, and Catherine Cline of Siri & Glimstad LLP and Chris Wiest, of Chris Wiest, Attorney at Law, PLLC.

SOURCE Siri & Glimstad LLP
PALM SPRINGS, Calif., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading physicians and researchers will present results from 20 clinical trials from Monday, October 30, to Wednesday, November 1, at the annual VIVA and The VEINS conferences at Wynn Las Vegas.

VIVA (Vascular InterVentional Advances) is a vascular education symposium that emphasizes innovation and multidisciplinary learning. The 2023 conference will mark VIVA's 21st anniversary as a premier educational event for peripheral vascular disease specialists.

The VEINS (Venous Endovascular INterventional Strategies) is a comprehensive symposium focused on the diagnosis, intervention, and management of venous disorders.

VIVA and The VEINS bring together an international, multispecialty faculty to provide a comprehensive learning experience featuring dynamic presentations and live cases, hands-on workshops, and in-depth expert discussion and debate. The conferences attract an audience of interventional cardiologists, interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons, and endovascular medicine specialists.

Media outlets are invited to attend the data presentations in person or virtually. Any members of the press planning to attend should contact [email protected].

To view the full schedule for both conferences, please visit https://viva-foundation.org/agenda23

Clinical trial results to be released (in presentation order):

The VEINS

1-Year Clinical Outcomes of Deep Vein Thrombosis Patients Treated With Mechanical Thrombectomy: Analysis of the CLOUT Registry

David J. Dexter, MD

Venous Stent for the Iliofemoral Vein Investigational Clinical Trial Using the DUO Venous Stent System: The VIVID Trial

Mahmood Razavi, MD

First-in-Human: Safety and Performance of the Akura Medical Thrombectomy System in Treating Venous Thromboembolism

Jay Mathews, MD, MS

Local Anti-Inflammation to Augment Deep Vein Thrombosis Intervention: 6-Month Results From the Open-Label Phase of the DEXTERITY-AFP Trial

David J. Dexter, MD

VIVA

12-Month Results From the PROMISE II U.S. Pivotal Trial of the LimFlow System

Daniel Clair, MD

Wearable, Non-Invasive Therapeutic Ultrasound to Increase Perfusion in Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia: An Early Feasibility Study

Mahmood Razavi, MD

1-Year Results of the DEEPER OUS Trial: The Bare Temporary Spur Stent System in Combination With a Paclitaxel-Coated Balloon

Thomas Zeller, MD

IN.PACT AV Access Trial Thrombosis Predictors

Robert Lookstein, MD, MHCDL

5-Year Outcomes of the Gore Viabahn Endoprosthesis for the Treatment of Complex Femoropopliteal Lesions in a Japanese Population

Osamu Iida, MD

Wound Assessment and Outcomes in the LIFE-BTK Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Esprit BTK Drug-Eluting Resorbable Scaffold

Raghu Kolluri, MD, MS

RESOLV FIH 6-Month Results by Rutherford Classification

Eric A. Secemsky, MD, MSc

Directional vs Orbital Atherectomy of Femoropopliteal Artery Lesions: Revascularization and Restenosis Rates at 24 Months

Anvar Babaev, MD, PhD

A Multicenter Trial Evaluation of the Neuroguard Carotid Artery Stent System With Integrated Embolic Protection: 30-Day Outcomes of PERFORMANCE II

William A. Gray, MD

Final Data From the SAFE-DCB U.S. Real-World Multicenter Registry

Nicolas Shammas, MD

30-Day Results From the C-Guardians Pivotal Trial of the CGuard Carotid Stent System

D. Christopher Metzger, MD

Stellarex Vascular E-Registry (SAVER) Gender Subgroup Analysis

Marianne Brodmann, MD

Clinical Outcomes of Sirolimus-Coated Balloons Compared With Standard Balloon Angioplasty for Patients With Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia

Edward Choke, MBBS, PhD

Acute Clinical and 90-Day Functional Outcomes in Pulmonary Embolism Patients Treated With Computer-Aided Thrombectomy: Interim Analysis of the STRIKE-PE Study

Ido Weinberg, MD

Compelling 36-Month Outcomes for the BioMimics 3D Stent in TASC-D Lesions: A Subgroup Analysis of the MIMICS-3D EU Registry

Robert E. Beasley, MD

Safety and Performance of Percutaneous Transmural Femoropopliteal Bypass With the DETOUR System: Pooled Analysis of DETOUR1 and DETOUR2 Studies

Sean P. Lyden, MD

About the VIVA Foundation

The VIVA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the field of vascular medicine and intervention through education and research, strives to be the premier educator in the field. Our team of specialists in vascular medicine, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and vascular surgery is driven by the passion to advance the field and improve patient outcomes. Educational events presented by the VIVA Foundation have a distinct spirit of collegiality attained by synergizing collective talents to promote awareness and innovative therapeutic options for vascular disease worldwide.

To learn more about the VIVA Foundation, visit https://viva-foundation.org/ .

SOURCE The VIVA Foundation
With the participation of all affiliated group entities

YONGIN, South Korea, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --All executives and employees of GC Biopharma, a South Korean biopharmaceutical company, rolled up their sleeves to practice ESG and social value.

On Aug. 30th, the company held the "Donate Blood with Love" campaign at its headquarters in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, Korea.

This was the final day of the company's extensive blood donation campaign that had been carried out across all its affiliated entities including the production plants in Ochang, Eumseong, and Hwasun that had kicked off the donation drive on 21st.

GC Biopharma's "Donate Blood with Love" is a blood donation drive that has drawn the biggest number of participations in Korea organized by a pharmaceutical company. The total cumulative donors over the past 30 years since the launch in 1992 reached near 15,000 employees.

The blood donation cards collected from the donor employees will be used to help childhood cancer patients. In fact, GC Biopharma has donated over 8,000 blood donation cards so far to hospitals and organizations for childhood cancer patients as part of its strive to share better life and practice corporate social responsibility.

"We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all employees, who took part in this meaningful campaign, Donate Blood with Love.", said an official from GC Biopharma and added that "the company will continue its footsteps towards spreading our ESG social values to the community".

GC Biopharma has been at the forefront of implementing various CSR activities of giving back to the community, including "Yearend 1% Salary Donation" and "Donate Your Salary Below 1000 Won" in order to realize its core corporate value of "Service and Care" and "Respect for Humanity".

About GC Biopharma

GC Biopharma (formerly known as Green Cross Corporation) is a biopharmaceutical company that delivers life-saving and life-sustaining protein therapeutics and vaccines. Headquartered in Yongin, South Korea, GC Biopharma is one of the leading plasma protein and vaccine product manufacturers globally and has been dedicated to quality healthcare solutions for more than half a century.

This press release may contain biopharmaceuticals in forward-looking statements, which express the current beliefs and expectations of GC Biopharma's management. Such statements do not represent any guarantee by GC Biopharma or its management of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. GC Biopharma undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement contained in this press release or any other forward-looking statements it may make, except as required by law or stock exchange rule.

GC Biopharma Contacts (Media)

Sohee Kim

[email protected]

Yelin Jun

[email protected]

SOURCE GC Biopharma
DUBLIN, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2018-2028F Segmented By Vehicle Type, By Powertrain, By Range, By Battery Capacity, By Region, Competition" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) market has witnessed remarkable growth in the year 2021, surpassing total sales from 2020.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles, featuring both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, are powered by gasoline and batteries respectively. The ability to charge PHEV batteries through regenerative braking, wall outlets, or charging equipment provides flexibility to users. These vehicles can operate purely on electric motors until the battery is depleted, automatically switching to the internal combustion engine. The market growth is further propelled by various components such as the battery pack, charging port, electric generator, electric traction motor, and more.

Steady Expansion of the Electric Vehicle Market

The global electric vehicle market has showcased significant expansion in 2021. The PHEV market has notably increased its share and is projected to exhibit gradual growth in the upcoming years. Alongside plug-in hybrid electric passenger vehicles, a diverse range of light-duty plug-in hybrid electric vehicle models are currently available in the market.

Challenges Faced by the Vehicle Industry

The automotive industry experienced a sales decline in 2020 and 2021 due to the impact of COVID-19, leading to weaker economic growth. Import restrictions from China impacted manufacturing plants and assembly lines worldwide, affecting vehicle production. The International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA) estimates a 13% decrease in global vehicle manufacturing in 2021 compared to 2019.

Growing Demand for PHEVs

The rising trend toward zero-emission vehicles, coupled with the need for short-range commutes of 40-60 km, has driven global demand for electric vehicles. Governments worldwide are focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting low-carbon energy alternatives. Electric vehicle technology advancements have contributed to the growth of the electric vehicle market, with over 6.8 million units sold in 2021. Notably, China's PHEV sales doubled in 2021 compared to 2020, exceeding 600,000 units.

Preference for Short-Distance Travel Boosts PHEV Demand

Consumer preference for electric vehicle range has led to a push for longer ranges by automakers. New plug-in hybrid vehicle models in 2021 showcased an 8.5% increase in average driving range, exceeding 60 km. This enhanced range caters to daily short commute travel needs, further driving demand for PHEVs. China, Europe, and the United States capture the majority of the global electric vehicle market, while developing nations are also witnessing growth. Total global plug-in hybrid vehicle sales grew by over 90% in 2021 compared to the previous year, with a significant portion attributed to China.

Challenges in Initial Cost

Despite their benefits, plug-in hybrid vehicles come with a higher initial purchasing cost due to larger batteries and advanced components. While maintenance costs are lower than internal combustion engines, the higher upfront cost slows down adoption in some regions. Fuel savings and incentives can offset these costs, but the overall cost difference remains a factor affecting the pace of market growth.

Leading Industry Players

Prominent players in the global PHEV market include Renault SA, Nissan Motor Corporation Ltd., Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Company Ltd., General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Daimler AG, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., and Toyota Motor Corporation.

In-Depth Segmentation

The comprehensive report encompasses several segments within the global PHEV market:

Vehicle Type:

Passenger Car

Light Commercial Vehicle

Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicle

Powertrain:

Series Hybrid

Parallel Hybrid

Combined Hybrid

Range:

Up to 40 km

40 to 60 km

Above 60 km

Battery Capacity:

Less than 10 kWh

10 to 20 kWh

More than 20 kWh

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/elpvyj

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov congratulated Turkiye on Victory Day, Trend reports.

"Today is the 101st anniversary of a great holiday, which is the embodiment of the glorious victory of fraternal Turkiye in the war for independence, achieved by its perseverance and heroism. I congratulate fraternal Turkiye on this event," said Bayramov on X (Twitter).

Victory Day and Armed Forces Day are celebrated in Turkiye on August 30.
DUBLIN, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Zeolite Molecular Sieves Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2018-2028 Segmented By Material (Artificial Zeolite and Natural Zeolite), By Application (Catalyst, Adsorbent, and Desiccants), By End User Industry, By Region, and Competition" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global zeolite molecular sieves market is poised for substantial expansion during the forecast period of 2028, driven by the increasing inclination towards cleaner fuels.

The rapid growth of the global zeolite molecular sieves market is attributed to the rising demand for advanced materials with diverse applications such as catalysis, separation, and adsorption. Zeolite molecular sieves, being an advanced material, possess a distinctive structure and chemical composition that facilitate the selective adsorption and separation of molecules based on their size and shape.

The market's impact on the petrochemical sector is significant. Zeolite molecular sieves find extensive use in the petrochemical industry, contributing to the production of high-quality fuels and chemicals. These sieves' unique properties make them an attractive choice for applications in this industry by selectively adsorbing and separating molecules based on factors like size, shape, and polarity.

Market players are actively investing in research and development to enhance the performance of zeolite molecular sieves across various applications. Recent advancements include the introduction of new ranges of sieves with improved selectivity, stability, and durability, fostering innovation and growth within the market.

Growing Petrochemical Demand Driving Market Growth

Zeolite molecular sieves play a pivotal role in the petrochemical industry, particularly in catalysis. They function as catalysts in various chemical reactions, essential for producing high-quality fuels and chemicals. The sieves also excel in molecule separation within the petrochemical sector. For instance, they are used to separate para-xylene from a mixture of xylene isomers, a crucial step in manufacturing PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic.

Zeolite molecular sieves offer several advantages in the petrochemical realm. They enhance reaction selectivity and efficiency, leading to higher yields of desired products. Moreover, they enhance product purity by eliminating impurities and contaminants. Additionally, these sieves contribute to eco-friendliness by reducing waste and by-products, further underlining their significance in the petrochemical industry. As demand for high-quality fuels and chemicals continues to surge, the demand for zeolite molecular sieves is expected to follow suit, fostering growth and innovation in the petrochemical sector.

Electronics Industry and Zeolite Molecular Sieves

The global zeolite molecular sieves market plays a pivotal role in the electronics sector as well. These sieves find applications in gas separation, purification, and the production of high-purity chemicals. Gas separation, a key application, involves the sieves selectively adsorbing and separating molecules based on size, shape, and polarity. This is crucial for producing top-tier electronics, as certain gases like nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide can negatively impact electronic components.

The sieves are also instrumental in purifying chemicals used in electronics manufacturing, ensuring the quality and reliability of electronic components. Furthermore, zeolite molecular sieves are used in producing high-purity chemicals, including semiconductor materials, essential for electronic component manufacturing. Their growing use in electronics manufacturing amplifies the demand for zeolite molecular sieves in the forecast period.

Pollution Reduction and Zeolite Molecular Sieves

The global zeolite molecular sieves market significantly impacts water treatment and air purification. Their applications span contaminant and pollutant removal from water and air. Notably, these sieves can selectively adsorb heavy metals and contaminants from wastewater, enhancing water quality and minimizing environmental pollution. In drinking water treatment, they improve impurity removal, taste, and odor.

For air purification, zeolite molecular sieves remove pollutants like nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air, enhancing indoor air quality and mitigating the adverse effects of air pollution on human health. Additionally, sieves contribute to efficient HVAC air filters, optimizing their functionality.

Their applications in water treatment and air purification offer multiple benefits, including improved water and air quality, reduced pollution's impact on health and the environment, conservation of resources through wastewater reuse, and enhanced treatment process efficiency. These advantages are anticipated to drive the demand for zeolite molecular sieves in the forecast period.

Companies Mentioned:

Arkema SA

Clariant AG

Tosoh Corporation

BASF SE

W.R. Grace & Co

Axens

Sorbead India

CWK Chemiewerk Bad Kostritz GmbH

KNT Group

Honeywell International Inc

Market Segmentation:

Zeolite Molecular Sieves Market, By Materials:

Artificial Zeolite

Natural Zeolite

Zeolite Molecular Sieves Market, By Application:

Catalyst

Adsorbent

Desiccants

Zeolite Molecular Sieves Market, By Product:

Oil and Gas Industry

Pharmaceutical Industry

Water Treatment Industry

Agricultural Industry

Chemical Industry

Construction Industry

Others

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/35pfcd

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
DESIGNATED NEWS RELEASE

VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Gold Royalty Corp. ("Gold Royalty" or the "Company") (NYSE American: GROY) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release dated July 31, 2023, it has completed the indirect acquisition of a 1.0% net smelter return (NSR) royalty (the "Royalty") on portions of the Cozamin Copper-Silver Mine, located in Zacatecas, Mexico, from Endeavour Silver Corp. and its subsidiary ("Endeavour").

Pursuant to the transaction, Gold Royalty indirectly acquired the Royalty for US$7.5 million in cash consideration.

Cozamin is a producing mine operated by Capstone Copper Corp. The Royalty applies to two concessions (Calicanto and Vicochea). Gold Royalty received the option to acquire a 1% NSR royalty on five additional concessions if such royalties are granted to Endeavour in the future. Pursuant to such option, Gold Royalty may acquire such additional royalties, subject to existing rights of first refusal, in exchange for US$300,000, in the case of the Mise concession and US$50,000 in the case of each other concession. Such option consideration may be satisfied, at the option of Gold Royalty, through the issuance of common shares of the Company.

As announced on July 31, 2023, the Company's board of directors suspended dividends under its dividend program in connection with the completion of the Cozamin royalty acquisition in order to focus capital on executing its strategic priority of growing cash flow and net asset value per share through accretive acquisitions.

About Gold Royalty Corp.

Gold Royalty Corp. is a gold-focused royalty company offering creative financing solutions to the metals and mining industry. Its mission is to acquire royalties, streams and similar interests at varying stages of the mine life cycle to build a balanced portfolio offering near, medium and longer-term attractive returns for its investors. Gold Royalty's diversified portfolio currently consists primarily of net smelter return royalties on gold properties located in the Americas.

Qualified Person

Alastair Still, P.Geo., Director of Technical Services of the Company, is a qualified person as such term is defined under National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed in this news release.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information:

Certain of the information contained in this news release constitutes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws ("forward-looking statements"), which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance and achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied therein. Forward-looking statements, which are all statements other than statements of historical fact, include, but are not limited to, statements respecting the Company's strategy and business plans. Forward-looking statements are based upon certain assumptions and other important factors, including assumptions relating to commodities prices and the business of the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including, among others, risks related to risks related to the operators of the projects in which the Company holds interests, risks related to exploration, development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties on any such projects, the influence of macroeconomic developments, the ability of the Company to carry out its growth plans and other factors set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F and its other publicly filed documents under its profiles at www.sedarplus.ca and www.sec.gov. 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. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Gold Royalty Corp.
Leaders Strategy investment accelerating growth behind leading compliance and supply chain management software provider

CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm, announced today that it has closed the acquisition of Once For All (the "Company"), a leading compliance and supply chain management software platform serving the built environment primarily in the United Kingdom and France, from Warburg Pincus.

As part of the Leaders Strategy, GTCR will partner with experienced software executive David Hornsby, who has joined Once For All as Chief Executive Officer to accelerate growth at the business through product innovation, go-to market strategy enhancements, and the expansion of geographical capabilities.

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Basingstoke, United Kingdom and Paris, France, Once For All serves as a SaaS-based network of over 150,000 construction and facilities management companies, enabling contractors and property owners to manage their supply chain of sub-contractors and ensure compliance with an increasingly complex set of public regulations and private standards. The Company's software suite also includes a two-sided marketplace that connects contractors and property owners with qualified suppliers looking to source new business opportunities.

Mr. Hornsby has a long-track record of value creation during his decades in the software sector. He served as CEO and subsequently Executive Chairman of Ideagen, a UK-based global provider of governance, risk and compliance ("GRC") software, from June 2009 through May 2021, during which time he led Ideagen through a sustained period of transformational growth. Over Mr. Hornsby's tenure, Ideagen grew through a combination of organic growth and consistent M&A, and fundamentally transformed its business model to meet client needs.

"Once For All has grown into a true market leader in the GRC space. We are excited to welcome David to the Company and believe he, along with the group of fantastic leaders at the Company today, are well positioned to accelerate the Company's growth trajectory," said Mark Anderson, Managing Director and Head of Technology, Media & Telecommunications at GTCR.

"I am thrilled to join the Once For All team and partner with GTCR to begin this next chapter of growth at the Company," said Mr. Hornsby. "This is a business with a deep network and innovative solution set that is helping solve some of the greatest challenges facing companies in the built environment today. I look forward to enhancing these capabilities through continued investment and expansion and believe we can further scale the business into new markets while continuing to provide an outstanding solution for our customers."

Jefferies served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins provided legal counsel to GTCR. Arma Partners and William Blair served as financial advisors for Once For All and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal advisor. Management was advised by Jamieson Corporate Finance and Macfarlanes as legal counsel.

About GTCR

Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm that pioneered The Leaders Strategy  finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. GTCR is focused on investing in transformative growth in companies in the Business & Consumer Services, Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare and Technology, Media & Telecommunications sectors. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $25 billion in over 270 companies, and the firm currently manages more than $35 billion in equity capital. GTCR is based in Chicago with offices in New York and West Palm Beach. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Once For All

Once For All is the European leader in supply chain risk management solutions for the construction industry. We help our customers source and track sales opportunities, manage risk and compliance, and provide tools to increase efficiency in their supply chains. Once For All has over 150,000 customers that use its single codebase SaaS solution to search, find and assess future business relationships based on skills, trades and ESG credentials. As a result, Once For All manages one of the largest proprietary ESG data sets in the world. Once For All has over 400 employees, is the market leader in UK and France and has operations in Belgium and Germany. For more information, please visit www.onceforall.com.

GTCR Contacts

Investor Relations

Jodi Rubenstein

312.382.2202

[email protected]

Media Relations

Andrew Johnson

212.835.7042

[email protected]

SOURCE GTCR
OREM, Utah, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Havenpark Communities, an operator and developer of manufactured home communities in Minnesota and across the country, awarded academic scholarships to four Minnesota students. The scholarships, worth up to $10,000 annually, are part of Havenpark's Annual Scholarship Fund for residents. In 2023, 38 residents from across the country were awarded scholarships to cover expenses for college, universities, trade, and vocational schools.

2023 Havenpark Minnesota Scholarship Winners Kylee Beilke, Allison Caballero, Katheryne Fierros, and Hannah Fredericks

"We are incredibly proud of our student residents and honored to provide them with critical financial assistance, support and encouragement as they attain their certificates and degrees," said J. Anthony Antonelli, chairman and co-founder of Havenpark Communities.

Havenpark's scholarships were awarded to the following students from its Minnesota communities: Allison Caballero and Katheryne Fierros, who will be attending Concordia University, St. Paul; Kylee Beilke, who will be attending Bemidji State University; and Hannah Fredericks, who will attend Hamline University in St. Paul.

"I'm grateful to have the support I need to succeed in college," said Kylee Beilke, who lives in Country Club Terrace in Hutchinson. "With the overbearing stress of finances removed, I will be able to focus and thrive in my studies."

Havenpark dedicates at least $500,000 annually to its Education Success Program. The initiative, which began in 2021, has awarded 59 residents with academic scholarships since its inception. In addition to awarding financial assistance, the program also provides mentoring and guidance for current and prospective students pursuing higher education.

"Havenpark is proud to provide our student residents with a support structure to help them achieve their dreams and realize their full potential," said Jason Hale, Havenpark's director of education success.

Havenpark is committed to enriching the lives of its residents; to learn more about the scholarship program or eligibility, visit Havenpark's website: https://havenparkcommunities.com/education/

Havenpark Communities is an operator and developer of manufactured home communities and makes caring communities attainable for responsible residents in Minnesota and across America. Since 2017, Havenpark has sourced and installed over 4,000 new factory-built homes, providing quality, affordable living to over 10,000 Americans across the country. Last year, Havenpark Communities added 870 new affordable homes across the country and has committed to adding another 800 in 2023. Havenpark believes in respectful and professional management, well-maintained communities, and attainable homeownership. Havenpark makes long-term investments in its communities, providing enduring value for current and future residents.

Contact

Bill McQuillen

mcquillen@invariantgr.com

SOURCE Havenpark Communities
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hirebotics, the leading provider of collaborative robots for welding and Universal Robots' (UR) top OEM award winner for 2023, today announced that it will be showcasing several new products and capabilities at the upcoming FABTECH trade show in Chicago on September 11 -14, 2023. The new products and capabilities include:

Hirebotics' Cobot Welder in action. Hirebotics' Cobot Cutter in action.

Cobot Welder utilizing the UR20 cobot from Universal Robots that increases the reach to handle larger parts that previously required multiple set ups.

utilizing the cobot from Universal Robots that increases the reach to handle larger parts that previously required multiple set ups. Cobot Cutter , a revolutionary new plasma cutting product that leverages the ease of use of the Beacon platform.

, a revolutionary new plasma cutting product that leverages the ease of use of the Beacon platform. Beacon Recommendations , which leverages AI to recommend welding and cutting parameters when setting up a part.

, which leverages AI to recommend welding and cutting parameters when setting up a part. BeaconCare , an uptime service for your Cobot Welder and Cobot Cutter that includes discounted repairs and loaner equipment if your cobot, welder, or plasma cutter needs to go in for repair.

, an uptime service for your Cobot Welder and Cobot Cutter that includes discounted repairs and loaner equipment if your cobot, welder, or plasma cutter needs to go in for repair. A flexible rental program that gives customers the ability to try a system before committing to a purchase or to flex their production by adding Cobot Welders to meet seasonal needs.

"We are excited to unveil our new products and capabilities at FABTECH," said Rob Goldiez, CEO of Hirebotics. "We are proud to offer the most advanced and user-friendly robotic welding and cutting solutions on the market. These game-changing tools and flexible solutions will enable our customers to more quickly and easily integrate our cobot welders to their manufacturing facilities."

The new Cobot Welder, Cobot Cutter, BeaconCare, and rental program will be available immediately following FABTECH. Beacon Recommendations is being released to new and existing customers over the coming months.

The Cobot Welder has been updated to utilize the new UR20 cobot from Universal Robots. The UR20 is a larger cobot that has a reach of 1.75 meters, making it ideal for welding larger parts. The UR10e version of the Cobot Welder remains available for customers with smaller parts or space constraints.

The Cobot Cutter uses plasma cutting technology and cutting software built on the Beacon platform making it easy to set up and use. Plasma cutting is a fast and precise cutting method that can be used to cut a variety of materials, including steel, stainless steel, and aluminum.

Beacon Recommendations is a new feature that uses AI to recommend welding and cutting parameters when setting up a part. This feature can help manufacturers save time and improve the quality of their welds and cuts.

BeaconCare is a new service that provides uptime support for Hirebotics' cobot welding and cutting systems. BeaconCare includes discounted repairs, loaner equipment, and 24/7 support.

The flexible rental program gives customers the ability to try a Hirebotics cobot welding or cutting system before committing to a purchase. This program is ideal for manufacturers who are not sure if robotics is the right solution for them or who need to flex their production by seasonally adding cobots.

Hirebotics will be exhibiting at Booth B13020 at FABTECH, which will be held from September 11 -14, 2023 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

About Hirebotics

Hirebotics is the leading provider of collaborative robots for manufacturing. The company's mission is to make robotics accessible and affordable to all manufacturers, regardless of their size or experience. Hirebotics offers a complete robotic welding and cutting solution, including robots, software, and services. The company's products are used by manufacturers in a variety of industries, including agriculture, automotive, and general fabrication.

For more information, visit www.hirebotics.com.

SOURCE Hirebotics
Global retailer's Indonesia division drives operational excellence with industry-leading frontline employee experience platform

NEW YORK, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- H&M Indonesia today revealed outstanding results from its partnership with YOOBIC , the leading employee experience platform for frontline teams in the retail and hospitality spaces. Adopted across the global retailer's more than 60 stores and 290 frontline staff in Indonesia, YOOBIC's all-in-one solution has significantly elevated employee engagement, communication, and productivity, as well as enhancing efficiency, compliance, and sustainability.

Recognizing the considerable progress made since rolling out YOOBIC in 2022, H&M Indonesia received the coveted "Project Launch of the Year" title at this year's YOOBIC Frontline Excellence Awards. The judges commended the retailer for achieving an impressive 99% user engagement rate and 97% compliance in operational, visual, and cash office standards since implementing the YOOBIC platform.

Achieving operational excellence with YOOBIC

The adoption of YOOBIC's comprehensive frontline employee experience platform has greatly improved communication within H&M Indonesia. With features like private messaging, video calls, and group chats, staff members can easily interact with each other, fostering a strong sense of community and teamwork. Social media-style newsfeeds further enhance this environment by providing a space for co-workers to share announcements, success stories, and sources of inspiration. Frontline staff can also use the platform to directly communicate with store managers and company leaders, sharing advice, concerns, and feedback.

Armed with YOOBIC's unified digital platform, H&M Indonesia's customer-facing staff also have the ability to automate and expedite manual tasks, enabling them to better manage their time and focus on higher value objectives, including building customer relationships. The clothing brand's retail leaders, meanwhile, have hailed YOOBIC's digitization of daily operations as a game-changer. Electronic checklists give store managers the ability to easily follow their team's task completion, while the inclusion of real-time analytics and automated dashboards allows for the tracking of key performance indicators (KPIs) and compliance by HQ, ensuring that shopper experiences consistently meet the highest standards across all locations.

YOOBIC's extensive L&D capabilities have proved a hit with H&M Indonesia as well, bolstering the company's dedication to ongoing employee growth. Store leaders can now seamlessly integrate training into their team members' workflows, delivering interactive courses directly to their mobile devices in easily digestible chunks. This microlearning approach is enriched with data, providing managers with comprehensive insights into their employees' progress and needs.

"With YOOBIC, we've been able to harness frontline digitization and real-time analytics to solve a number of stubborn operational challenges, including difficulties around communication, productivity, compliance, and training," said Karina Soegarda, Communications Manager, H&M Indonesia. "YOOBIC's digitization of manual processes has also allowed us to cut paper usage by 30%, boosting our company-wide commitment to greater sustainability."

"Through real-time data sharing and digital task management, H&M Indonesia boosted productivity, launched 25 campaigns in six months, and elevated decision-making with analytics, all while making a significant reduction to paper usage," said YOOBIC's Paul Mabire, Head of Sales, APAC. "We're proud to partner with a brand so committed to operational excellence and employee engagement  we can't wait to keep innovating together!"

APAC expansion

YOOBIC's collaboration with H&M Indonesia is an important element of the company's wider expansion strategy in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. According to the CBRE Asia-Pacific Retail Flash Survey report of January 2023, 71% of APAC retailers are planning to expand or open new stores this year. By 2025, retail sales in Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand are projected to reach $1.77 trillion, positioning the region as the fourth-largest global market by 2050.

YOOBIC stands ready to support APAC's retail boom, providing a mobile-friendly and digitally-enabled workplace experience that enables retail staff to excel while fostering engagement and loyalty. YOOBIC's comprehensive platform for frontline employee experience has been extensively tested and proven successful in hundreds of thousands of retail stores worldwide. Constantly evolving with product innovations and incorporating new technological features including AI features, YOOBIC effectively drives frontline employee communication, training, and operations, meeting the evolving needs of the industry.

About YOOBIC

YOOBIC is an all-in-one frontline employee experience platform. Our mobile app gives business leaders and frontline teams the performance tools they need to communicate, learn, and workall in one place. With streamlined communications, mobile learning, and digitized task management, YOOBIC drives operational excellence while drastically improving the frontline employee working experience. 350+ companies around the world including Boots, Flash Coffee, Lacoste, Lidl, and Logitech trust YOOBIC to improve operational consistency and agility, get real-time visibility into multi-location business execution, and improve customer experience. To learn more about YOOBIC, visit www.yoobic.com or follow us on LinkedIn .

SOURCE YOOBIC
Dr. Simon Khagi Brings Unique Expertise in Brain and Spinal Cord Tumor Diagnosis, Management and Research

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. , Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hoag is proud to announce that Simon Khagi, M.D., F.A.C.P., a renowned, triple board-certified medical oncologist and neuro-oncologist specializing in primary and metastatic brain cancers and spinal cord tumors, has joined the Hoag Family Cancer Institute as the director of neuro-oncology.

Under Dr. Khagi's leadership, Hoag's Brain & Spine Tumor program will further its offerings in diagnosis, management and research, rivaling major academic medical centers. Dr. Khagi's research in the areas of developing cancer vaccines, immunotherapy and precision/genomic-guided therapy will further complement Hoag's existing, multidisciplinary cancer care team that includes cancer site-specific oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, precision medicine, researchers, nurse navigators and more.

"Dr. Khagi brings specialized expertise and research accomplishments that few physicians in the country can offer," said Burton Eisenberg, M.D., Grace E. Hoag Executive Medical Director Endowed Chair, Hoag Family Cancer Institute. "His unique expertise in neuro-oncology is another example of how Hoag is highly committed to bringing the highest level of talent and innovation to our community."

Dr. Khagi joins Hoag after serving as regional medical director at Dartmouth Cancer Center in southern New Hampshire. He previously served as director of UNC Health's Comprehensive Brain Metastases and Neuro-Oncology Program. Dr. Khagi has conducted numerous clinical trials on glioblastoma, meningioma, advanced glioma, and brain metastases, among others. While at UNC, he led novel research protocols, including the first institutional use of a live virus delivered directly into the brain against brain tumors.

Dr. Khagi earned his medical degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in New Hampshire. He completed two fellowships--one in hematology and medical oncology at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, followed by the second in neurological oncology at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.

Having received multiple honors throughout his career and being inducted as a fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Khagi has also received the "Healthcare Hero Award" from the Head for the Cure Foundation and the "Exemplary Service Award" from the UNC Division of Medical Oncology along with multiple research grants. To date, Dr. Khagi has authored or co-authored over fifty book chapters, peer-reviewed manuscripts and abstracts.

Dr. Khagi feels strongly about raising awareness of the societal burden of cancer and speaks regularly at community outreach events, in addition to sitting on multiple organizational boards focused on improving cancer care.

"I am excited to join an institution that is patient-focused in its approach to research and innovation," Dr. Khagi said. "This is an impressive team, and I look forward to working alongside my colleagues to advance research and use innovative treatments to fightand beatbrain and spinal cord tumors in Orange County and beyond."

For more information, visit hoag.org/cancer or call 949-7-CANCER.

ABOUT HOAG

Hoag is a nonprofit, regional health care delivery system in Orange County, California. Delivering world-class, comprehensive, personalized care, Hoag consists of 1,800 top physicians, 16 urgent care facilities, 11 health & wellness centers, and two award-winning hospitals. Hoag offers a comprehensive blend of health care services that includes seven institutes providing specialized services in the following areas: cancer, digestive health, heart and vascular, neurosciences, spine, women's health, and orthopedics through Hoag's affiliate, Hoag Orthopedic Institute, which consists of an orthopedic hospital and four ambulatory surgical centers. Hoag is the highest ranked hospital in Orange County by U.S. News & World Report and the only OC hospital ranked in the Top 10 in California, as well as a designated Magnet hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). For more information, visit hoag.org.

SOURCE Hoag
NEW YORK, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Technavio has been monitoring the home beer brewing machine market and it is anticipated to grow by USD 12,239.23 during 2022-2027. The growth of the home beer brewing machine market is driven by factors like rising urbanization and evolving consumer lifestyles. Urbanization has increased demand for household appliances, with developing economies like China and India experiencing increased disposable incomes. Alongside this economic growth, consumers have shown a notable shift in preferences, favoring homemade products and do-it-yourself activities. This change has led to a surge in the adoption of convenient options such as automatic home beer brewing machines, catering to the busy modern lifestyle. The convergence of urbanization, disposable income growth, and shifting consumer preferences sets a promising trajectory for the home beer brewing machine market's growth during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Home Beer Brewing Machine Market 2023-2027

Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact.

The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will decelerate during the forecast period. The report includes detailed analyses of the competitive landscape of the market and information of companies including AIBrew Corp., Blichmann Engineering, Brew Driver, Chal Tec GmbH, Coopers Brewery Ltd., Craft a Brew, Craig Industries Inc., Keg King, Kegco, Micro Matic USA Inc., MiniBrew BV, NEWITY Ltd., Perlick Corp., Rahr Corp., Speidel Tank und Behalterbau GmbH, Spike Brewing, The Middleby Corp., True Manufacturing Co. Inc. and WilliamsWarn NZ Ltd. The introduction of innovative features will offer immense growth opportunities. To make the most of the opportunities, companies should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

Home Beer Brewing Machine Market 2023-2027: Segmentation

Home Beer Brewing Machine Market is segmented as below:

Type

Mini Brewer



Full-size Brewer

Distribution Channel

Online



Offline

Geography

North America



Europe



APAC



South America



MEA

To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample now

Home Beer Brewing Machine Market 2023-2027: Geographical Analysis

The geographical analysis of the home beer brewing machine market emphasize North America's prominence, expected to contribute 47% of global growth due to a thriving beer culture and consumer interest in homebrewing. Despite pandemic-related disruptions, the region's strong brewing industry, exemplified by PicoBrew, Brewie, and BeerDroid, has driven demand for diverse brewing machines. Europe and the APAC are also witnessing increased adoption, fueled by craft beer fascination, rising incomes, and cultural shifts.

Technavio provides a detailed report on home beer brewing machine market, buy the full report now

Related reports:

Home Draft Beer Dispensers Market: The Global Home Draft Beer Dispensers Market size is projected to increase by USD 9.05 million and the market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.57% between 2022 and 2027. In 2017 the size of the market was valued at USD 14.16 million.

Macro Brewery Equipment Market: The macro brewery equipment market share is expected to increase by USD 852.78 million from 2020 to 2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 2.36%.

Table Of Contents:

Executive Summary Market Landscape Market Sizing Five Forces Analysis Market Segmentation by Product size Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Market Drivers Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Vendor Analysis Appendix

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Data shows that many shoppers are drawing a hard line in the growing category of alternative proteins

BELLINGHAM, Wash., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the Non-GMO Project, as the market for plant-based foods matures, shopper preference is becoming clearer: There are limits to how much technological innovation is too much. Shopper behavior suggests that not all plant-based foods are created equal, and there is an emerging awareness that some plant-based foods may offer no real benefits over traditional, conventional products like meat, eggs, and dairy. For example, most shoppers wish to avoid GMOs  and that's especially true in plant-based options. This means a GMO ingredient may offset any perceived benefits of a plant-based product.

Continued shopper preference for non-GMO ingredients is an important part of the conversation about plant-based foods. Shoppers are drawing a line at genetic engineering, even as many plant-based foods have grown their shelf space in grocery stores.

Data supports a clear trend that consumers are looking to avoid GMOs in plant-based foods. 55% of all U.S. and Canadian shoppers believe plant-based foods are better for the planet, however 50% believe that GMO agriculture is harmful to the environment (Linkage Research, 2021). Thus, it's important that plant-based foods carry certifications like Non-GMO Project verification, USDA Organic and other meaningful indications that a product is produced in a truly sustainable manner.

The growth in the number of plant-based products at the retail level, paired with robust sales numbers, has allowed researchers to track this shopper preference for non-GMO options as it gets expressed at the check-out line.

Natural shoppers are even more committed to non-GMO. 8 out of 10 (82%) believe plant-based foods are better for the planet. 9 out of 10 of them prefer non-GMO options. (Linkage Research, 2021)

From 2019-2021, sales of Non-GMO Project Verified frozen plant-based meats grew 71%, compared to just 10% growth for plant-based meats that were not verified. ( SPINS, 2022 )

) During the same period, the sale of Non-GMO Project Verified plant-based cheeses grew 99%, compared to 17% growth for plant-based cheeses the Non-GMO Project did not verify. ( SPINS, 2022 )

Non-GMO Project Verified plant-based products now represent 57% of the share of sales of the total plant-based foods market (SPINS), a percentage that has grown year-over-year.

Despite the emerging clarity about shopper preferences for natural and sustainable non-GMO solutions, the biotechnology industry is rapidly accelerating its development of alternative proteins for consumer consumption, which are largely unregulated and unlabeled in the U.S. and Canada. (Meanwhile, Mexico has banned the cultivation of GMO corn and is working to restrict the import of corn for human consumption.)

"Shoppers are making their desires known by voting with their dollars, and it shows up every time a new food category or trend grows. In the innovative plant-based space, they are again saying that GMOs are not wanted or needed," said Megan Westgate, executive director of the Non-GMO Project. "We believe products should be labeled so that consumers have the freedom to choose non-GMO in every aisle of the grocery store. If GMOs aren't going to be labeled, then we're here to ensure eaters still have the right to avoid GMOs on their whole shopping list."

In September, the Non-GMO Project is educating shoppers and retailers about the use of GMOs in alternative proteins, including both plant-based foods and the emerging category of cell-cultivated meats. For more information, visit the Project's website .

About the Non-GMO Project

The Non-GMO Project is a mission-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to building and protecting a non-GMO food supply. The Non-GMO Project Verified seal remains North America's most trusted third-party verification for GMO avoidance. Backed by our rigorous Standard, the Butterfly label is a meaningful way for brands and retailers to show their commitment to non-GMO choices and the food transparency that shoppers seek. Learn more at www.nongmoproject.org .

Media Contacts: Hans Eisenbeis | press @nongmoproject.org | 360-255-7704 x4

Alexandra Tursi | [email protected] | 802-777-6737

SOURCE Non-GMO Project
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Russian peacekeepers offered to let 40 tons of flour be sent from Baku to Khankendi, but Armenian separatists in Karabakh did not accept their offer, said David Ishkhanyan, who calls himself the "speaker" of the so-called "parliament" of separatists in Karabakh, Trend reports.

According to him, the issue of the passage of humanitarian cargo sent from Baku to Khankendi was discussed yesterday with the command of Russian peacekeepers, but the negotiations did not bring results.

A convoy of humanitarian aid sent by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society to people of Armenian origin living in Karabakh reached the Aghdam district on August 29. Currently, representatives of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society are negotiating with Russian peacekeepers regarding the humanitarian cargo.

The President of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, Novruz Aslan, said that in the future, other necessary goods may be delivered to residents of Armenian origin living in Karabakh.

The remnants of the separatist regime in Karabakh, led by the Armenian authorities, have long been trying in various ways to convince the world community and international organizations that Azerbaijan, by establishing a border crossing point on the Lachin road, is allegedly keeping the Armenian residents of Karabakh under "blockade", has created a "humanitarian crisis situation" for them, and that the Armenians are allegedly facing "food shortages". Armenia, which continues to manipulate the existence of an alleged "tense humanitarian situation" and "blockade" in the region, is hindering the peace process instead of following through on the agreements reached to resolve issues related to the use of the Lachin road and other alternative roads to meet the needs of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region.

The Azerbaijani side once again demonstrates a humanistic approach and sends humanitarian aid to citizens of Armenian origin living in Karabakh.
ISTANBUL, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Regional G20 Interfaith Forum stakeholder meeting, "Partnerships in Action: towards One Earth, One Family, One Future", was held on the 28-29th of August 2023, in Istanbul, under the patronage of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, in partnership with the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities.

The regional stakeholder meeting in Istanbul gathered 30 participants, including senior Christian and Muslim faith leaders, along with select representatives from faith-based organizations. The meeting included participants from 15 countries including Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Greece, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Portugal, Singapore, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela.

With an aim to advance interfaith dialogue in the context of the G20 process, all discussions that took place echoed the themes of India's G20 Presidency, "One Earth, One Family and One Future", and looked ahead to the G20 India Summit in September 2023 and beyond.

The meeting, organized by the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities (IAFSC), was focused on the four C's - COVID, Climate, Conflict, Children, and covered topics such as development of a child-centered vision, food security, urgent humanitarian and peacebuilding action, action on climate change, among many other topics which are relevant to ensuring the inclusion and protection of the most vulnerable members of communities.

During the event, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew stressed the importance of not only reminiscing about shared past, but the imperative for faith communities to forge ahead, uniting in the face of present-day challenges:

"Dialogue must manifest in concrete actions. Words are but the beginning; the real testament of our commitment will be the projects we initiate, the communities we uplift, and the environment we safeguard. Through initiatives grounded in our shared values, we can inspire transformation on both individual and collective levels. To realize the vision of "One Earth, One Family, One Future," we must transcend mere tolerance. True dialogue entails deep respect, mutual understanding, and collective action. Our scriptures offer countless narratives that champion unity, respect, and cooperation. By immersing ourselves in these narratives, we can draw inspiration for our common journey."

His Eminence Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon also stated that by embracing the wisdom of the past and the energies of the present, interfaith communities can indeed steer the world towards a brighter, greener tomorrow:

"In an increasingly interconnected world, where the actions of one reverberate to affect all, Christians and Muslims are presented with an unparalleled opportunity. By joining hands in solidarity and recognizing our shared commitment to peace, respect, and environmental stewardship, both communities can look forward to a brighter future for all of humanity."

Speaking about the regional stakeholder meeting, Chief Executive of the IAFSC, Dana Humaid stated that:

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude to His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel, and our esteemed partners for their invaluable assistance in organizing this gathering in Istanbul. The past two days have underscored the immense importance of interfaith collaboration in bringing together individuals from all corners of the world. However, it is imperative that we transform our endeavors within these walls into tangible initiatives that resonate throughout society at large. Having borne witness to the dynamism, and determination of the participants in this meeting, I believe we can harmonize our voices and present actionable recommendations to inform the agendas of the upcoming G20 Summit in September."

Together with its global partners, the IAFSC has organized two major forums in India in support of India's G20 Presidency and are organizing similar events for 2024 in Brazil (the next G20 host country). These forums offer a platform for faith leaders, representatives of faith-inspired organizations, government officials, international organizations, academia and civil society to come together to share experiences and provide concrete, actionable recommendations. These recommendations will form the basis of global advocacy efforts aimed at shaping the agenda of the 2023 G20 Summit and beyond.

To ensure that regional perspectives and challenges are adequately captured in the recommendations and future advocacy efforts, a series of regional meetings are also being held in different parts of the world, covering Manila, New York, London, Sao Paulo, Istanbul and Nairobi.

The IAFSC was established to empower faith leaders to work for the safety and security of our communities, tackling issues such as child sexual abuse, extremism, radicalization and human trafficking. The IAFSC aims to facilitate the building of bridges between key stakeholders including faith communities, NGOs and experts in various domains. The IAFSC is conscious of the importance of empowering faith leaders, both at the institutional and grass-root levels, with knowledge, and to mobilize them to play a more active role in community safety.

SOURCE The IAFSC (Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities)
b, halfmoon maintains the heritage of B Yoga and Halfmoon, putting a strong emphasis on lifestyle

products supporting people on their wellness journeys

TORONTO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Today, Mindful Collective Co. announced the union of their two movement and meditation brands, B Yoga and Halfmoon, marking the official evolution into one new lifestyle brand, b, halfmoon. The evolved brand brings together the shared values of each, with an emphasis on inspiration drawn from nature, the power of the pause and encouraging people to live their truth. The brand will continue to offer core movement and meditation products while also expanding into new lifestyle categories.

The newly evolved b, halfmoon brand is deeply inspired by nature and all of its elements are grounded in nature as truth. The new brand places nature at the forefront of everything they do, believing that it grounds, inspires and guides in all areas of life. It is through nature that b, halfmoon believes their community can be inspired to discover their truth.

The brand ethos also draws inspiration from Ayurveda, the ancient Indian medical system that focuses on natural practices which create balance in all areas of life, including mind, body and spirit. These three elements inform doshas within the Ayurvedic framework and will form the foundation from which many of b, halfmoon's products are created.

b, halfmoon makes its debut with new product categories launching between now and the fall, including a new range of crystals and products established in partnerships with Zayat Aroma , Black & Blum , Verre Lune , Essentially High . Artistic product collaborations from Alessandra Olanow and Paige Jung will also be featured on select soft goods.

b, halfmoon also announced today that they have embarked on a journey to become B Corp certified, demonstrating their dedication to continuing to prioritize the environment while branching out into new categories.

Elevated in-person brand experiences will be a priority for b, halfmoon. The brand will open its first-ever gallery retail concept store in Biarritz, France tomorrow, followed by its first Canadian gallery in Quebec in the fall. Plans to further expand across Canada and into the United States are also in progress.

Full details here .

For inquiries, please contact:

Jessica Barcelos, rock-it promotions inc., jessica@rockitpromo.com

Natalie Foote, rock-it promotions inc., [email protected]

SOURCE b, halfmoon
NANJING, China, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- InxMed, a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicates on developing innovative therapies targeting drug resistance for hard-to-treat solid tumorsannounced today the first-in-class ADC OMTX705 has obtained the IND (Investigational New Drug) approval from China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) recently.

OMTX705 is a novel antibodydrug conjugate (ADC) molecule targeting fibroblast-activating protein  (FAP). FAP is a dimeric type II serine protease highly focal expressed in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) surrounding the tumor cells and microvasculature. InxMed' studies and other publications consistently show that FAP-expressing CAFs play important roles in tumor drug resistance.

InxMed has explored and demonstrated the potential antitumoral efficacy of FAP targeting treatment for various caner types, especially those with high incidence in Chinese population e.g., gastric cancer, esophagus cancer, etc. The company reached a collaboration with Oncomatryx, a company developing novel drugs targeting the tumor microenvironment, to co-research and develop OMTX705 preclinically and clinically, and own the commercialization rights of OMTX705 in Asia.

InxMed has been developing novel ADC drugs for hard-to-treat solid tumors since 2019. The company has demonstrated promising synergistic anticancer effects of combination therapy comprising various ADC drugs and its pivotal-trial stage drug IN10018 (Ifebemtinib), a highly potent and selective oral inhibitor of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), in animal models. InxMed is actively exploring and maximizing the potential of this treatment regimen through its own synergistic pipelines and partnering.

About InxMed

InxMed is a clinical-stage biotech company established in the end of 2018. The company dedicates on developing innovative therapies targeting stroma microenvironment and solid tumor resistance and metastasis, especially new drug development on anti PD-1/PD-L1 treatment drug resistance. InxMed committees to building an efficient engine for clinical translational science and proof of concept platform driven by in-depth understanding of disease biology and is committed to becoming a global leader in revolutionary cancer therapies.

InxMed has established translational medicine and clinical teams at Nanjing Shanghai and Beijing in China, and hubs in the United States, Canada and Australia. Through independent discovery research and development, and collaborative research and development, InxMed has built a unique and synergistic global pipeline. InxMed has completed several rounds of financing totaling more than 100 million US dollars. Its first novel drug, IN10018, a highly potent and selective oral inhibitor of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), received Fast-track Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the China National Medical Products Administration. The pivotal clinical trial supporting market approval is ongoing.

SOURCE InxMed Co., Ltd
Offers opportunity for greater public transparency

DES MOINES, Iowa, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) kicked off the first of three public input and discussion sessions ("charettes") to review state laws related to how utilities set their rates. These sessions will wrap up in early November and result in a set of legislative recommendations to be considered in the 2024 legislative session. This process stemmed from the passage this year of House File 617, which required the IUB to undertake this review with a focus on "ensuring safe, adequate, reliable, and affordable utility services provided at rates that are nondiscriminatory, just, reasonable, and based on the utility's cost of providing service to its customers within Iowa." The IUB has hired consulting firm London Economics to convene stakeholders and perform the required analysis in Docket No. NOI-2023-0001.

This is a critical moment for Iowa as the state has not reformed its regulations governing the energy sector since 2001. The 2001 law delivered a sea change in how the state regulated utilities and enabled the rapid expansion of wind energy in Iowa. However, massive transformations in energy markets and technologies have revealed shortcomings in Iowa's approach and led to questions about whether it is time to update Iowa's framework for regulating utilities.

"It's been more than two decades, and now is the time to adopt a future-focused approach to regulating utilities that can deliver clean energy at the lowest cost to ratepayers," says Kerri Johannsen, Energy Program Director with the Iowa Environmental Council.

In Iowa, electric utilities are monopolies  the State of Iowa allows them to be the only provider in an area in exchange for careful regulation to make sure their operations are efficient and rates are fair. This requires transparent and thorough oversight to balance the financial interest of the company and the customers.

"When it comes to monopoly utilities that serve Iowans, a robust and transparent planning process provides accountability and helps ensure the clean, low-cost options are not ignored in favor of expensive legacy fossil fuel generation," said Josh Mandelbaum, Senior Attorney with the Environmental Law and Policy Center. "Despite evidence of cost-effective and reliable alternatives, MidAmerican and Alliant have chosen to run costly, old coal plants at customer expense, prioritizing their own profits over the customers who have no choice in electricity provider."

Recent studies indicate that as of this year, 99% of all coal plants in the U.S. were more expensive just to operate compared to building new wind and solar. This is especially true for Iowa, where all coal used in power plants must be imported, costing ratepayers for both the cost of coal and its transport. At the same time, Iowa is one of the top five states in the U.S. for wind and solar generation potential due to the abundance of wind and sunshine. Battery storage technology is now widely available and can cost effectively balance wind and solar generation.

Additionally, the cost of wind energy dropped by 63% between 2009 and 2023 and utility-scale solar by 83%. Battery storage prices have dropped over 70% since 2015. For both the sustainability of the environment and the security of ratepayers' bank accounts, the transition to renewables is inevitable and necessary.

"Around the country, utility regulators are increasingly planning for a transition to a clean grid, recognizing that doing so can deliver reliable and affordable electricity, save customers money, and increase grid resiliency in a world of more extreme weather conditions," remarked Laurie Williams, Senior Attorney with Sierra Club. "If Iowa is to remain competitive with other states and continue to attract the big companies that demand clean energy, Iowa needs to be conducting the kind of best-in-class planning that is occurring in other states today."

In addition to the transparency in planning, advocates want to see a revival of energy efficiency programs that once positioned Iowa in the top 20 states for efficiency. These programs were gutted in 2018 when the state's monopoly utilities successfully lobbied for legislation that changed the programs, dropping Iowa to 35th in the nation in 2022. Energy efficiency is the most effective way to reduce energy consumption while maintaining amenities that ratepayers are accustomed to.

According to Johannsen with the Iowa Environmental Council, "There could not be a more important moment for Iowa advocates, utilities, and policymakers to be having this discussion. For us, it represents a moment of hope to restore balance between the utilities and Iowans. This means pushing for comprehensive planning and reinvesting in energy efficiency. These changes can bring down costs for Iowa customers while speeding our transition to clean energy."

The Iowa Environmental Council (IEC) is the state's largest and most comprehensive environmental alliance, comprised of diverse organizations and individuals working together to protect Iowa's natural environment. Through education, advocacy and coalition building, the Council raises awareness, generates action, and creates large-scale change. We work on federal, state, and local public policy issues to ensure a just, healthy environment and sustainable future for all Iowans. Learn more at iaenvironment.org.

The Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) is the Midwest's leading public interest environmental legal advocacy organization. We develop strategic campaigns to protect natural resources and improve environmental quality. Our multi-disciplinary staff employs teamwork approaches using legal, economic, and public policy tools to produce successes that improve our environment and economy. Learn more at www.elpc.org.

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information visit www.sierraclub.org.

SOURCE Iowa Environmental Council
Former Kirkland partners join forces at Phillips Lytle to offer clients an alternative to BigLaw for sophisticated litigation

CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Phillips Lytle LLP announced the continued expansion of its national litigation practice with the addition of Kirkland & Ellis partner Jaran R. Moten. Mr. Moten's move to Phillips Lytle reunites him with former Kirkland litigation partners Joel A. Blanchet, John R. Worth, and Peter A. Bellacosa. He joins Phillips Lytle's Chicago office, which Mr. Worth founded when he joined the esteemed Buffalo-based firm in July 2022.

Phillips Lytle expands national litigation practice by adding former Kirkland & Ellis partner Jaran R. Moten. Post this Jaran R. Moten

"While I will always be grateful for my time at Kirkland, discussions with people I trust, hours of due diligence, and a considerable amount of reflection led me to conclude that I could not pass on the chance to join my former colleagues at Phillips Lytle," said Mr. Moten. "Phillips Lytle's reputation, track record of success in high-stakes litigation and the caliber of its litigators are undeniable. The firm's client-first attitude and recognition that the practice of law is a profession first and a business second set it apart from other firms that do the same type of sophisticated work. Its partners practice law the same way I do  with grit and tenacious pursuit of results. That this move allows me to reunite with partners I trust and enjoy working with is just an added benefit."

"We have known and worked with Jaran for many years. He is a versatile lawyer, with a hard-earned set of litigation skills, great trial instincts and an easy charm that attracts people to him," said Mr. Worth. "Jaran's exceptional litigation abilities together with his proven leadership skills and entrepreneurial mindset  only strengthen further Phillips Lytle's reputation in Chicago and nationally."

"As we evolve as a firm, our talent-driven growth plans have expanded our capabilities and grown our presence across markets. Hiring an accomplished attorney like Jaran represents a significant early success in our efforts to support our clients through an expansion of the Chicago office," said Phillips Lytle Managing Partner Kevin M. Hogan.

Mr. Moten earned his law degree magna cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, where he served as senior editor of the Washington University Law Review. He attended college at the University of Kansas, where he graduated with honors in philosophy.

Phillips Lytle LLP is a premier regional law firm that is recognized nationally for its legal excellence. With offices across New York State and in Chicago, IL; Washington, D.C; and Canada, our attorneys serve a multinational client base, including Fortune 1000 companies, global and regional financial institutions, not-for-profit organizations, middle-market companies, startups, entrepreneurs and individuals on important matters affecting their businesses and personal wealth. For more information, visit www.phillipslytle.com.

Contact:

Tracey Mancini

Communications Manager

716-847-8340

[email protected]

SOURCE Phillips Lytle LLP
Kolker Law Firm Secures $1 Million Settlement for Victim of Tractor Trailer Accident

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kolker Law Firm, a leading personal injury law firm in Missouri, is pleased to announce a significant victory on behalf of our client who was severely injured in a tractor trailer accident in St. Charles, Missouri. Our firm helped to successfully negotiate a settlement of $1 million, the full amount of the insurance policy limits.

Kolker Law Firm Client Wins $1 Million Settlement

The client's vehicle was struck by a tractor trailer, resulting in serious injuries to his neck and back. Despite undergoing extensive therapy, injections, and ultimately neck surgery, the client found no relief from the persistent pain and suffering caused by the accident.

Our client's life was significantly altered as a result of this accident, and we were committed to ensuring he received the maximum compensation possible. This settlement is not just a victory for our client, but a message to trucking companies about the importance of safety and accountability.

The settlement came about as a result of intense negotiations with the trucking company's insurance provider. On the last day before a lawsuit was going to be filed against the trucking company, the insurance company agreed to pay the full $1,000,000 insurance policy limits.

Our firm is pleased that we could bring some measure of justice and financial relief to our client in this challenging situation. We will continue to fight relentlessly for victims of personal injury to ensure they receive the compensation they deserve.

Call (314) 684-8285 to Learn How We Can Help You

Kolker Law Firm is known for its commitment to protecting the rights of individuals who have been harmed due to the negligence of others. Our firm's dedicated attorneys have a proven track record of success in handling complex personal injury cases, including:

auto accidents,

bus accidents,

construction and agricultural accidents,

defective drugs and pharmaceutical negligence,

electrocution accidents,

head injuries,

bad faith insurance claims,

motorcycle accidents,

slip and fall accidents and other premises liability claims,

product liability claims, and

wrongful death claims.

Injured in a negligence-based accident? Contact our firm online or via phone at (314) 684-8285 to schedule a free consultation.

SOURCE Kolker Law Firm
CINCINNATI, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A coalition of law firms that have been working together for over a decade to lead litigation and secure settlements on behalf of those harmed by PFAS chemical contamination are pleased to announce several significant developments in the implementation of their new settlements with 3M and DuPont-related companies that will provide benefits up to $13.6 billion for public water providers across the country.

On August 29, 2023, the federal court in South Carolina overseeing the ongoing nationwide litigation over damage caused by PFAS in aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) granted preliminary approval of the settlement with 3M, valued at up to $12.5 billion. This follows the Court's similar preliminary approval of the settlement with DuPont and its related companies on August 22, 2023, valued at an additional $1.185 billion. Together, these settlements represent the largest drinking water settlements in US history.

On August 23, 2023, a new website for the DuPont and 3M settlements was published, available at www.PFASWaterProviderSettlement.com. The site provides additional information as to estimated ranges of potential recoveries by individual public water providers under both of the proposed settlements.

One of the coalition's lawyers, Rob Bilott, a partner with the law firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister, has been working on these PFAS issues for more than two decades when he brought the first PFAS case in the country in 1999. He continues his service through his current role in the case as the Court-appointed Advisory Counsel to the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee in the AFFF litigation. Bilott also serves as Class Counsel in a case brought by an Ohio firefighter on behalf of millions of Americans seeking medical monitoring and testing as a result of PFAS contamination in their blood.

Bilott noted that, "these new proposed settlements for public water providers in the AFFF litigation represent not only historic amounts of potential recoveries for victims of PFAS contamination, but also reflect the decades of work our team has undertaken to make sure the information these companies had  but withheld  as to the threat these 'forever chemicals' pose to human health and the environment is finally revealed to the public, and that the proper parties are held financially responsible for the enormous damage caused."

Other coalition lawyers, who also have been working with Bilott for more than a decade on PFAS litigation issues all across the country, include Michael London and Gary Douglas of the Douglas & London firm.

London, who serves as Co-Lead Counsel with Bilott in other multi-district litigation and trials against DuPont in Ohio addressing certain PFAS personal injury claims, and also serves as Court-appointed Co-Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee in the AFFF litigation, helped lead the historic settlement negotiations in that litigation, and will serve as Class Counsel for purposes of the new settlement.

"This landmark settlement is a victory for Americans who care about protecting our water supply so their families can rest at night knowing their water is being safeguarded," London said.

With release of the new data available on the settlement website, London noted that "public water systems across the United States can understand what the monetary aid they receive might look like and can plan accordingly."

Douglas, who is Class Counsel with Bilott in the Ohio medical monitoring case and has served as a lead trial lawyer in the DuPont trials in Ohio and in the AFFF MDL, added, "the combined settlements with 3M and DuPont represent the largest settlement of its type in history, but we know this is just a part of the larger solution. This record-setting settlement is just one of several funding sources for U.S. public water systems to deal with PFAS contamination, including federal government funding."

Lawyers at the Levin Papantonio law firm also have been key members of this national PFAS litigation team for more than a decade. Partners Mike Papantonio, Ned McWilliams, and Wes Bowden have helped lead trial teams and hold key leadership roles in multiple cases, including as Class Counsel in the Ohio medical monitoring case, and as members of the Executive Committee in the earlier DuPont personal injury cases and trials and the current AFFF litigation.

Kevin Madonna and lawyers at SL Environmental have also been instrumental members of the national PFAS litigation team for years.

Together, the lawyers and law firms that form this unique coalition not only led the first cases in the world addressing PFAS contamination, but have continued working together to pursue claims for an ever-expanding range of injured parties, and to resolve those claims through innovative and truly groundbreaking settlements.

The team's remarkable efforts in this regard have been the subject of both a feature-length documentary, "The Devil We Know," and a Hollywood film, "Dark Waters," in addition to the book, "Exposure."

The team is currently representing injured parties across the country, including more than 100 public water providers, in ongoing efforts to address unprecedented PFAS damages.

While the latest milestone settlements in the AFFF litigation move the needle significantly forward, the battle is far from over; the agreements would, if granted final approval by the Court, only resolve claims by public water providers for PFAS contamination.

The legal team will continue to pursue other claims  such as natural resource damages, personal injury cases, medical monitoring, private property damage, and more  that are unaffected by these settlements.

CONTACT:

[email protected]

SOURCE Douglas & London
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WRIGHT CITY, Mo., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With the cut of big scissors, Marthasville, MO became the first community to start benefitting from the $25 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant awarded to Gateway Fiber through a partnership with the state of Missouri to bring its revolutionary 100% fiber optic internet service to the area. The celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the beginning of a new era for Marthasville's residents and businesses alike.

Gateway Fiber Marthasville Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Gateway Fiber's fiber optic internet service brings speeds never seen in the Marthasville area. With bandwidth that exceeds traditional internet services, fiber internet provides ultra-fast symmetrical upload and down speeds allowing customers to seamlessly stream high-definition content, engage in remote work, and explore online educational opportunities without the slowdowns they experience with their current internet connections. Local businesses can also use the power of fiber to enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and explore new avenues for growth.

"Today, Marthasville residents are realizing a vision that has been years in the making," said Gateway Fiber CEO Heath Sellenriek. "Our 100% fiber internet service will now connect individuals, families, and businesses at lightning-fast speeds and open limitless opportunities for education, commerce, and community engagement. We are proud to bring this service to Marthasville, a community that has been asking for better internet connectivity for a very long time."

Gateway Fiber President, Chris Surdo, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the transformative impact of fiber optic internet on local businesses. "Marthasville's economic landscape is poised for success," Surdo said. "Our state-of-the-art fiber technology will enable entrepreneurs and businesses to compete both locally and globally. We are thrilled to be part of this journey with the town of Marthasville."

The ARPA grant project has played a pivotal role in making this ambitious endeavor a reality. The $25 million award has empowered Gateway Fiber to deploy a cutting-edge fiber network to Marthasville and beyond, creating a blueprint for surrounding communities to follow.

Residents and businesses can sign up for new internet service by visiting GatewayFiber.com or calling 888-201-4339.

About Gateway Fiber

Gateway Fiber is on a mission to positively impact communities through a better internet. As data requirements grow, Gateway is creating a leading, national fiber-to-the-home platform to serve this critical unmet need. Gateway provides faster, more reliable internet with a simple pricing model and industry-leading customer service. For more information, visit gatewayfiber.com.

For more information, press only:

David Workman

PR & Communications Manager

314-265-8974

[email protected]

SOURCE Gateway Fiber
CHINO, Calif., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CADUCEUS SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, CORP. (OTC Pink: CSOC), (Caduceus or the "Company"), the parent corporation of McLovin's Pet ("McLovin's"), a foremost player in the premium pet food and supply sector, reports an unparalleled upswing in revenue through its collaboration with key client, Trader Joe's. The updated orders will increase McLovin's sales across 564 Trader Joe's outlets in the United States, putting the company on track for exceptional financial performance in 2023.

Industry Overview

The global pet care industry, valued at a noteworthy $235.32 billion last year, is forecasted to grow to $368.88 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 5.92%. In the U.S. alone, sales are expected to reach $143.6 billion this year, with the pet food and treats segment contributing $62.7 billion. Within this expanding market, McLovin's occupies a vantage point for accelerated growth.

Key Achievements in 2023

As of this year, McLovin's has successfully negotiated profitable distribution agreements with several retail chains. However, the alliance with Trader Joe's stands as a hallmark accomplishment. Earlier in the year, sales with Trader Joe's exceeded $3.1 million. The additional seasonal orders for the upcoming Holiday will propel this figure beyond the $5.5 million threshold by year-end. Trader Joe's currently operates over 564 retail stores, offering McLovin's significant expansion opportunities in the near future.

Executive Commentary

David Ji, CEO of Caduceus, remarked, "The relationship we've cultivated with Trader Joe's has been extraordinarily beneficial. It has not only augmented McLovin's market reach but also enabled us to deliver top-tier pet products to an increasingly broad customer base. Attaining the projected $5.5 million revenue milestone is a clear indication of our dedicated team and the customer loyalty we have engendered."

Future Outlook

With strategic growth plans, McLovin's is geared to broaden its product line and explore new market segments. The updated orders with Trader Joe's act as a pivotal driver for a transformative year ahead for the company.

About Caduceus Software Systems Corp.

Caduceus Software Systems Corp is a Wyoming-based holding company with its wholly owned subsidiary McLovin's, a Pet Food and Pet Care company. The global pet food market was projected to grow from USD 115.50 billion in 2022 to USD 163.70 billion by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.11%. The global pet care market size was valued at $235.32 billion in 2022 & is projected to grow from $246.66 billion in 2023 to $368.88 billion by 2030. The Pet Food and Pet Care products include food, treats, toys and supplies. The Company is traded on the OTC Markets under the trading symbol "CSOC".

For more information:

OTC Markets: (OTC Pink: CSOC)

Website: https://mclovinscorp.co/

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: https://twitter.com/caduceuscorp

About McLovin's Pet

McLovin's Pet is a California company specialized in the manufacturing and distribution of quality pet foods. At McLovin's, our natural freeze-dried raw treats are made using only the freshest ingredients, responsibly sourced from farmers, ranchers, and fishermen we know and trust in the U.S. and Canada. McLovin's never adds hormones, antibiotics, or anything artificial. Our science-based approach to premium, biologically appropriate raw nutrition supports your pet's overall health and well-being.

Website: https://mclovinspet.com/

Forward-Looking Statements:

Safe Harbour Statement - In addition to historical information, this press release may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include the intent, belief, or expectations of the Company and members of its management team with respect to the Company's future business operations and the assumptions upon which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to, failure to complete anticipated sales under negotiations, lack of revenue growth, client discontinuances, failure to realize improvements in performance, efficiency and profitability, and adverse developments with respect to litigation or increased litigation costs, the operation or performance of the Company's business units or the market price of its common stock. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated within this press release can also be found on the Company's website. The Company disclaims any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements.

Media Contact Details: Email: [email protected]; +1 909-366-2028

SOURCE Caduceus Software Systems, Corp.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Activists of the Azerbaijani community in the Netherlands held a peaceful protest in front of the Peace Palace in The Hague, Trend reports.

The protest, organized by the European Association of Azerbaijani Women "Ana Veten" (Motherland) and supported by the Coordinating Council of Azerbaijanis of the Netherlands and Belgium, aims to raise awareness of Armenia's actions, which have been pursuing an occupation policy against Azerbaijan for 30 years. Additionally, Armenia is provocatively acting in the Azerbaijani area of Karabakh and attempting to use the international community as a tool for its manipulations.

During the protest, flags of Azerbaijan and Turkiye were waved, fragments of mughams and songs dedicated to Azerbaijan's Karabakh region were performed. The attention of the Dutch public was attracted by posters with slogans "Azerbaijan wants peace, Armenia wants war", "Armenia rejects peace, chooses war", "Armenia, sign the peace agreement!", "Armenia distorts facts and deceives the world community", "There should be no Armenian soldiers on the lands of Azerbaijan! ", "Armenia, stop the attack!", "Armenia, stop mining our lands!", "Armenia's mines kill civilians!", "Armenia's mines = war crimes!", "Armenia's environmental terror in the territories of Azerbaijan must end!", "Armenia destroys Azerbaijan's cultural heritage in Yerevan" and other slogans.

The participants of the protest demanded from the international community to put an end to Armenia's military and environmental terror in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region, to ensure the safety of Azerbaijani citizens in Karabakh, and to support the peace efforts of the Azerbaijani state. The protest ended under the slogan "Karabakh is Azerbaijan!".

Booklets with information about Armenia's war and environmental crimes were distributed to the residents of Hague who were interested in the action. The booklets stated, in particular, that mine terror by Armenia threatens the lives of Azerbaijani citizens, that the number of mine victims in Azerbaijan after the 2020 war has reached 303, that the refusal of official Yerevan to provide accurate maps of mines is a gross violation of human rights, and provided other information about Armenia's crimes.
Mercury offers tips to help auto and homeowners protect their families and property before severe weather arrives

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In anticipation of Hurricane Idalia, hurricane and tropical storm warnings have gone into effect for areas of South Georgia. Mercury Insurance (NYSE: MCY) is urging residents to take precautions and prepare themselves, their families and property in advance of Idalia's arrival.

Mercury customers can report their loss or damage online anytime through Mercury's automated digital experience by submitting a claim at https://www.mercuryinsurance.com/claims/ or by calling the claims hotline at (800) 503-3724.

"Hurricane Idalia is forecasted to bring severe wind and rain to South Georgia over the next 48 hours," says Bonnie Lee, Vice President of Property Claims at Mercury Insurance. "Now is the time to take action, before the storm hits. Create a plan with your family so everyone knows where to go, what to pack and how to get your home ready. This way, you won't be caught off-guard if the hurricane is heading your way and you're instructed to evacuate."

Lee advises homeowners to take the following steps to prepare their homes for a hurricane :

Pack a go-bag. There are several essential items to have at the ready in case of an emergency, especially if you need to leave your home quickly. A primary go-bag  or emergency kit  should be stored in an easily accessible place within your house or garage. Smaller kits can be kept in your car or at work. Take stock of your go-bag yearly to make sure your items are up-to-date, including:

There are several essential items to have at the ready in case of an emergency, especially if you need to leave your home quickly. A primary go-bag  or emergency kit  should be stored in an easily accessible place within your house or garage. Smaller kits can be kept in your car or at work. Take stock of your go-bag yearly to make sure your items are up-to-date, including: A three-day supply of water (one gallon per person), non-perishable food items and pet food, if applicable;



A battery-powered or hand-crank radio (and extra batteries);



A phone charger;



A flashlight;



A first aid kit;



A whistle to signal for help;



A can opener;



Gloves, face masks, hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes;



Blankets;



Pliers or a wrench to turn off utilities;



At least $200 in cash in small bills, as power may be out, making ATMs, debit and credit cards unusable; and

in cash in small bills, as power may be out, making ATMs, debit and credit cards unusable; and

Prescriptions for you, your family and your pets.

Create an emergency plan. Know where family members will meet if instructed to evacuate, as well as several options if routes are blocked. Establish a meeting point ahead of time. Staying with friends or family who live outside of the local area is a good option, but you should also research hotels and shelters.

Know where family members will meet if instructed to evacuate, as well as several options if routes are blocked. Establish a meeting point ahead of time. Staying with friends or family who live outside of the local area is a good option, but you should also research hotels and shelters. Reinforce your home. Close shutters or use plywood to board up windows and doors. Secure outdoor furniture, potted plants and other items that could become projectiles during the storm.

Close shutters or use plywood to board up windows and doors. Secure outdoor furniture, potted plants and other items that could become projectiles during the storm. Store important documents in a safe place. This includes copies of insurance policies, birth certificates, medical records and prescriptions, social security cards, important financial documents, passports and other identification, which should be stored in a waterproof container. Upload scanned copies of these documents to a cloud-based digital storage site so they're easily accessible from your smartphone or computer if needed.

This includes copies of insurance policies, birth certificates, medical records and prescriptions, social security cards, important financial documents, passports and other identification, which should be stored in a waterproof container. Upload scanned copies of these documents to a cloud-based digital storage site so they're easily accessible from your smartphone or computer if needed. Drive with caution. Water surges and strong winds may knock down power lines and block roads. Drivers should be extra careful when traveling through areas that may be impacted by severe flooding.

Water surges and strong winds may knock down power lines and block roads. Drivers should be extra careful when traveling through areas that may be impacted by severe flooding. Be aware of flood zones in your area. Hurricanes can cause high winds, flying debris and flash flooding. Get out of town and go to higher ground. If your home is located in a flood zone and you can't leave before the storm, remain indoors and get to the highest level possible.

"Homeowners insurance doesn't usually cover weather-related flooding, but flood insurance is available through the National Flood Insurance Program. If you live in a high-risk area, consider purchasing a policy," adds Lee. "Vehicle damage may be covered by your auto insurance policy if you carry comprehensive coverage, but it's best to make sure. Your local Mercury Insurance agent is able to help verify what is and is not covered in the event you're affected by a hurricane."

Auto and Homeowner policyholders affected by the storm can file a claim through Mercury's web-based app or by telephone. Drivers filing a claim digitally will be directed through a series of easily understood prompts. Customers will also be able to indicate where their vehicle was damaged as well as their location, along with any photos submitted from their smartphones, allowing them to file their claim quickly and accurately.

Mercury advises all policyholders to follow a few simple procedures to help speed up the claims process if your home or vehicle is affected by a hurricane.

When filing a claim

Contact Mercury immediately to report your loss.

Be prepared to provide your policy number.

Do not remove debris or damaged property that may be related to your claim.

Steps after filing a claim

Prepare a detailed inventory of destroyed or damaged property.

Offer photos or videos of your home and possessions to your claims representative.

Keep copies of communications between you and your claims representative.

Keep records and receipts for additional living expenses that were incurred if you were forced to leave your home, and provide copies to your claims representative.

Additional hurricane preparedness resources:

NOAA National Weather Service: www.weather.gov/safety.php

American Red Cross: www.redcross.org/getprepared

Federal Emergency Management Agency: www.ready.gov

Visit Mercury's Catastrophe Center to learn more about how to protect yourself, your family and your property before a natural disaster happens.

About Mercury Insurance

Mercury Insurance (NYSE: MCY) is a multiple-line insurance carrier predominantly offering personal auto, homeowners and renters insurance through a network of independent agents in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, as well as auto insurance in Florida. Mercury writes other lines of insurance in various states, including commercial, business owners and business auto, landlord, home-sharing, ride-hailing and mechanical protection insurance.

Since 1962, Mercury has provided customers with tremendous value for their insurance dollar by pairing ultracompetitive rates with excellent customer service. Mercury has earned "A" ratings from A.M. Best and Fitch, as well as "Best Auto Insurance Company" designations from Forbes and Insure.com. For more information visit https://www.mercuryinsurance.com/ or follow the company on Twitter or Facebook.

###

SOURCE Mercury Insurance
World's No. 1 Air Treatment Brand to Debut Matter-Certified Units of Flagship Product  the Midea U

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Midea, the World's No.1 Air Treatment Brand1, is set to release its first Matter-certified appliance, a version of the Midea U  the world's first U-shaped inverter window air conditioner. Matter is the Connectivity Standards Alliance's (CSA) initiative to ensure smart connectivity is both straightforward and dependable. Matter-certified devices communicate seamlessly through a universal standard for connectivity, promoting unity, security and speed.

The innovative design of the Midea U allows consumers to open and close their windows after installation, thus ensuring ultra-quiet operation as low as 32 dB. This is achieved as the design effectively insulates operating and compressor noises. Based on ISO 3744 testing, nine Midea U units generate less noise than some standalone traditional units. Furthermore, the Midea U was the first window AC to receive the ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2020 certification, with over 35 percent energy savings compared to regular air conditioners

"With the release of our first Matter-certified window AC, which is also the first on the market, Midea continues to spearhead innovative solutions," said Patrick Serrato, head of IoT, Midea America, Corp. "By offering a Matter-certified product, we reaffirm our commitment to providing reliable and user-friendly home appliances."

Matter-certified products ease major pain points for consumers. Having the Matter badge entails having the same setup process as other Matter-certified products, protection of home networks through one of the most secure connectivity standards in the market, and local WiFi network connectivity for speed and reliability. Matter enables smart devices to communicate regardless of their specific network protocols or ecosystems.

Kurt Jovais, president of Midea America, Corp. said, "In January of 2022, we expressed our support of Matter as we were confident it would drive product excellence and cultivate more efficient smart homes. Today, with the launch of our first Matter-certified product, we see this vision materialize."

To learn more about Matter and the value propositions it will deliver for consumers, developers, installers and retailers, please visit BuildWithMatter.com .

For more information on Midea and its full portfolio of appliances, please visit Midea.com .http://www.midea.com/

1. Euromonitor International (Shanghai) Limited; Consumer Appliances 23ed, retail volume sales in unit, 2017-2022 data

ABOUT MIDEA AMERICA

Midea America Corp. is a subsidiary within Midea Group, (SZ:000333), a publicly listed, Fortune 500 company and the world's leading manufacturer of home appliances.* With more than 166,000 employees and a presence in over 195 countries, including in the United States, Midea's products touch the lives of millions of people and families through air treatment, refrigeration, laundry, small and large kitchen appliances, water appliances, and floor care.

Midea America is headquartered in Parsippany, NJ and has a Research and Development Center in Kentucky. Midea understands that the home is a special place, and the moments people spend there are precious. The Midea brand's promise to all its U.S. consumers is to provide surprisingly friendly solutions to treasure those tiny moments at home. Therefore, the company creates home appliance innovations, that not only perform a function but have a meaningful impact for those who use them.

For more information, visit midea.com/us.

ABOUT MATTER

Matter is the foundation for connected things. This industry-unifying standard has a promise of reliable, secure connectivity  a seal of approval that devices will work seamlessly together, today, and tomorrow. Matter is creating more connections between more objects, simplifying development for manufacturers, and increasing compatibility for consumers. This collaborative breakthrough is built on proven technologies and guided by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, whose members come together from across industries to transform the future of connectivity.

About the Connectivity Standards Alliance

The Connectivity Standards Alliance, formerly the Zigbee Alliance, is the foundation and future of the Internet of Things (IoT). Established in 2002, its wide-ranging global membership collaborates to cerate and evolve universal open standards for products transforming the way we live, work and play. With its Members' deep and diverse expertise, robust certification programs, and a full suite of open IoT solutions, the Alliance is leading the movement toward a more intuitive, imaginative, and useful world. The Connectivity Standards Alliance board of directors is comprised of executives from Amazon, Apple, ASSA ABLOY, Comcast, Google, Huawei, IKEA, Infineon, The Kroger Co., LEEDARSON, Legrand, Lutron Electronics, NXP Semiconductors, OPPO, Resideo, Schneider Electric, Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), Silicon Labs, SmartThings, Somfy, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, Tuya, and Wulian. Find out more about the Alliance at www.csa-iot.org, and Matter at www.buildwithmatter.com; or follow us on: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.

SOURCE Midea
Projects mark pivotal step in diversifying region's energy supply

FAIRMONT, W.Va., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mon Power and Potomac Edison, subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), have received approval from the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) to construct three solar projects in West Virginia that will create the opportunity to purchase renewable energy and achieve sustainability goals.

Potomac Edison Logo (PRNewsfoto/FirstEnergy Corp.)

The construction phase follows the PSC's Aug. 23 decision to approve the companies' request to complete three of five planned solar sites. Ultimately, the five sites will collectively generate 50 megawatts of renewable energy. One megawatt of solar energy powers a national average of 173 homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The PSC previously granted initial approval for the construction pending final approval once the companies had subscribed enough industrial, commercial and residential customers to use approximately 85% of the renewable energy produced by the sites. The three sites planned in Monongalia, Marion and Berkeley counties have met this requirement. The companies plan to seek approval from the PSC to build the additional two solar sites once customers subscribe to the energy they will produce.

"Mon Power and Potomac Edison are committed to the environment and enhancing reliability for customers by bolstering and diversifying the region's energy mix," said Jim Myers, president of FirstEnergy's West Virginia operations. "Renewable energy is a large economic driver in attracting new industry to West Virginia so it is important to have this voluntary option available to customers."

The companies recently cleared brush, leveled the ground and installed roads and fences to prepare the initial site for solar panel installation in the near future.

The Commission also approved the construction surcharge requested by the companies, which is about a third of the amount originally proposed. Beginning in 2024, the average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month will pay an additional 14 cents each month. The companies anticipate the surcharge will remain the same for 2025 and is expected to reduce to 11 cents per month in 2026. All Mon Power and Potomac Edison residential customers will pay the surcharge for the construction of the three sites.

To subscribe or find out more about the solar program, Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers in West Virginia can submit their information through the website at www.firstenergycorp.com/WVSolar or by calling 1-800-505-7283.

Mon Power serves about 395,000 customers in 34 West Virginia counties. Follow Mon Power at mon-power.com, on Twitter @MonPowerWV, and on Facebook at facebook.com/MonPowerWV.

Potomac Edison serves about 151,000 customers in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Follow Potomac Edison at potomacedison.com, on Twitter @PotomacEdison, and on Facebook at facebook.com/PotomacEdison.

FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com and on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.
Investment agreement pairs global Home & Building Management leader with top technology investment firm

ODERZO, Italy, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nice, a global leader in Home Management and Building Management solutions, and BeNice Holding, the primary shareholder of Nice, have entered into a binding agreement with FSI, a leading Italian technology investment firm, concerning an undisclosed capital investment in Nice.

The partnership with FSI supports the next phase of development and growth for Nice through a shared path aiming to capitalize on the strong global leadership position achieved by the company, increasing market share in different sectors and geographies, important investments in value creation to accelerate organic growth, and combining synergies from both organizations to achieve strategic objectives.

Nice has entered a binding agreement with FS1 that will support its next phase of development and growth. Post this

Nice, headquartered in Oderzo (TV), Italy, employs over 2.800 team members across 5 continents and reported revenues of about 800 million Euro (about $900 million USD), is a global leader in Home and Building Management solutions, with a complete range of connected and integrated products for residential, commercial, and industrial applications, serving partners in over 100 countries.

"We are delighted to have identified the right partner for Nice. This partnership better enables us to make further investments in both markets and technologies strategic to our growth, thus improving people's quality of life and contributing to a better environment. These are the development directions in which we believe and in which we are ready to commit ourselves financially, both organically and through M&A, as we recently did with the important acquisition of Nortek Security & Control in the United States," underlines Lauro Buoro, Founder and Chairman of Nice.

"With this investment, FSI confirms its DNA to support the most foresighted Italian entrepreneurs in creating leaders, with strong R&D and global footprint. Our track-record in the technology industry, in which we invested a billion Euro in recent years, makes FSI the right partner to support the next phase of Nice growth," says Maurizio Tamagnini, CEO of FSI.

The deal involves an investment by FSI through a reserved capital increase for a minority stake in the company's capital. The transaction is subject to the signing of the final contractual agreements, expected by the last quarter of 2023, and the approval of the regulatory authorities.

Nice is assisted by Lazard and Legance Avvocati Associati law firms, while FSI is assisted by Ernst & Young and Bonelli Erede law firms.

For further information visit www.niceforyou.com

Nice

Founded in the early 90s, Nice is a global leader in the Home Management Solutions, with a complete offer of integrated solutions for the automation of gates, garages, solar shading systems, parking systems, wireless alarm systems and home security, for residential, commercial and industrial applications; smart and connected systems for residential and commercial applications, for the security, access control, AI (Artificial Intelligence), health & wellness, control and power / AV industries. Nice has started a strategic path towards growth and expansion of its portfolio of connected systems and platforms, to offer a wide choice of customizable solutions and ease of use for the final consumer. Added to this is the strengthening and expansion in markets with high growth potential; the expansion, as well as a renewed branding activity, to compete in new market segments. Nice today can count on an organization of over 2,800 people across 5 continents, equipped with a rich set of skills and different cultures, as well as 15 R&D centers and 13 production plants serving its partners and customers in over 100 countries around the world.

For further information visit www.niceforyou.com

LinkedIn I Facebook I Twitter I Instagram

#Nice #Niceforyou #Sustainability #NiceSmartHome #SmartHome #HomeSecurity #HomeAutomation

FSI (www.fondofsi.it), is a leading Italian institutional investor with over Euro 2.5 billion of growth capital raised from major Italian, foreign and sovereign institutional investors. FSI's investment policy focuses on investments in partnership with institutions, entrepreneurs, and Italian families. With its investments, FSI pursues value creation objectives through organic growth, acquisitions, and sector consolidation.

Contacts

Global Press Contact - BCW

Francesco Paolo La Bionda [email protected], +39 349.7668024

Brittany Gbur [email protected]

Nice Global Press Contact

Martina Tommasi [email protected]

FSI Press Contact

Community Group

Tel.: +39 0289404231

E-mail: [email protected]

Marco Rubino E-mail: [email protected]

Mob.: +39 3356509552

SOURCE Nice
ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NumbersUSA has appointed Andre Barnes as the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Engagement Director. In this role, Barnes will expand an existing NumbersUSA initiative that addresses the negative impact periods of high immigration have historically had and continue to have on Black citizens of the United States, notably the 88% of which are descendants of slaves.

"As the HBCUs Engagement Director, I will raise discussions that illustrate the negative results of massive immigration" Post this NumbersUSA (PRNewsfoto/NumbersUSA) Andre Barnes, HBCU Engagement Director

Barnes will coordinate efforts to form relationships with the administrations, faculties and student organizations of over 100 HBCUs. Involved in this coordination is a constellation of prestigious Black leaders representing three generations, as well as a nationally recognized author of the book, "Back of the Hiring Line - A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth."

"I have an opportunity to have an immediate impact through educating people about political actions and the untold history of the impact of immigration on Freedmen," says Barnes. "As the HBCUs Engagement Director, I will raise discussions based on the evidence of recurrent historical events that illustrate the negative results of massive immigration. These conversations will shape the decisions and policies of future leaders who will reconstruct our broken immigration system," Barnes indicated.

Barnes obtained a Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies from the University of Virginia and a Master in Education with a concentration on early childhood from Moreland University. Barnes previously served as Admissions Advisor to Moreland University, Arizona College of Nursing, and My Computer Career. He also served as Janitorial Staff Manager in Alexandria, VA and High School Mentor with the University of Virginia College Guides.

NumbersUSA Chief Executive Officer James Massa commended Barnes's appointment stating, "Andre has done what it takes to position himself as a change agent in our society. He is not only ready, but prepared to navigate the very challenging, complex waters of NumbersUSA's effort to support those who have been disproportionately impacted by immigration policies of the past, starting with those whose heritage is reflected in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities of our nation."

About NumbersUSA

NumbersUSA supports a balanced immigration system that welcomes the spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, is responsive to acute refugee crises, attracts those with extraordinary ability and talents, addresses temporary labor shortages, and protects the most vulnerable. NumbersUSA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that believes better immigration policy is needed and possible. As America's largest single-issue advocacy group, focused exclusively on immigration reform, NumbersUSA has 8 million grassroots supporters spread across every congressional district. Founded solely by Roy Beck in 1996 to promote civil debate on the immigration recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform - chaired by civil rights icon Barbara Jordan, NumbersUSA continues to advocate for sensible immigration policies that ensure Americans' safety, promote economic fairness, while protecting the environment and quality of life.

Emeline McClellan

[email protected]

SOURCE NumbersUSA.com
~ Study Reveals Alarming Disparities in Chronic Kidney Disease Testing and Highlights Path to Equitable Care for Americans living with Diabetes ~

NEW YORK, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Not enough diabetes patients are getting their recommended kidney health screenings, according to a new study by the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

"Kidney health testing is pivotal to ensuring timely diagnosis & equitable treatment of CKD," said Dr. Vassalotti, CMO Post this According to new data published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovation, Quality & Outcomes journal, less than 40% of patients with diabetes have been recommended at least annual kidney health screening tests.

According to new data published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes journal, less than 40% of patients with diabetes have been recommended at least annual kidney health screening tests. Diabetes raises the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD), a serious condition that often remains asymptomatic until reaching an advanced stage. Additionally, NKF and NCQA found concerning disparities in even lower fulfillment of recommended testing among Black/African Americans and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, underscoring the urgent need to address these disparities to ensure equitable care for all. NKF is calling on health professionals to prioritize kidney health screening for individuals with diabetes which is pivotal to ensuring timely diagnosis and equitable treatment of CKD.

At the heart of addressing this concerning issue lies the Kidney Health Evaluation Measure for People with Diabetes (KED), jointly developed by NKF and NCQA. Operating as a pivotal component of the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS), KED serves as a tool for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to pinpoint areas for improvement and set achievable targets for enhanced care.

The study, a collaborative effort between NKF and NCQA, looked at CKD testing based on KED criteria, examining data from a vast OptumLabs Data Warehouse encompassing over 7 million adults with diabetes. This analysis was made possible in part by a grant from the AARP Quality Measure Innovation program. Using claims and electronic health records data, researchers made several key findings, including:

Less than 40% of adults with diabetes received guideline-recommended testing for CKD in 2017 with low uACR testing as the primary limitation.

There was lower KED fulfillment in Black/African Americans and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups (Medicare-Medicaid dually eligible, lower neighborhood income, lower neighborhood education status) demonstrating disparity in lower testing for albuminuria.

KED fulfillment was associated with improved diabetes care, CKD diagnosis, evidence-based drug prescriptions for CKD, blood pressure and blood sugar control, and interdisciplinary care.

"Kidney health testing is pivotal to ensuring timely diagnosis and equitable treatment of CKD," added Joseph Vassalotti, MD, NKF Chief Medical Officer. "Based on this knowledge, we want healthcare professionals, policymakers, and communities to use KED guidance as an important step in the roadmap to counter the significant public health challenge posed by undetected and untreated CKD."

KED is built on the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and NKF recommendations. It requires that people with diabetes be tested for kidney disease at least annually using both a blood test to measure kidney function [or estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)] and a urine albumin test to measure kidney damage [or urine albumin-creatinine ratio (uACR)]. Additionally, the study highlights concerning disparities in KED fulfillment among Black/African Americans and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, underscoring the urgent need to address these disparities to ensure equitable care for all.

In the face of these findings, NKF is urging health care professionals to prioritize CKD testing for individuals with diabetes, as outlined by KED. Approximately 90% of people with CKD in the United States don't even know they have it.

"Lack of awareness among practitioners of the importance of routine kidney health evaluation in high-risk populations is an obstacle to patient engagement," added Silvia Ferre, PhD, Senior Director, Patient Outcomes Research at the NKF, "Timely diagnosis of CKD in people at risk will allow them to receive early support and education. NKF can connect people with CKD to a variety of patient programs, such as the NKF Patient Network, to empower them through education, peer-support, and participation in research."

Ultimately, professional education about guideline-recommended testing for CKD among people with diabetes should lead to timely and equitable CKD diagnosis and people-centered care.

The full study can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542454823000413

The video describing the study can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bMKLRBbIzI

About Kidney Disease

In the United States, 37 million adults are estimated to have kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney disease (CKD)and approximately 90 percent don't know they have it. About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. are at risk for kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family history. People of Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. Black or African American people are more than four times as likely as White Americans to have kidney failure. Hispanics experience kidney failure at about double the rate of White people.

About the National Kidney Foundation

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is the largest, most comprehensive, and longstanding patient-centric organization dedicated to the awareness, prevention, and treatment of kidney disease in the U.S. For more information about NKF, visit www.kidney.org.

About Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes

The journal is fully open access, meaning that anyone with an internet connection anywhere in the world can access and read this article for free. The journal is sponsored by Mayo Clinic and published by Elsevier.

Facebook.com

twitter.com/nkf

www.kidney.org



SOURCE The National Kidney Foundation
The New Mexico-located project is a major step in implementing Tri-State's Responsible Energy Plan to advance clean energy.

GRANTS, N.M., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Origis Energy today announced construction has begun on the Escalante Solar Project near Grants, N.M. The 200-megawatt solar project is at the site of the decommissioned Escalante Station, a 253-megawatt coal-powered plant that Tri-State closed in 2020. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association has entered into a power purchase agreement for the output of generation from the Escalante Solar Project.

Image is a representation of the Escalante Solar project upon completion.

"We are excited to help create a milestone for Tri-State in their renewable energy goals," said Tanya Sessions, vice president, business development of Origis Energy. "It's always a celebration when clean, reliable energy is meeting the needs of homes and businesses in a community."

"It's meaningful that the first solar project to start construction as part of the Responsible Energy Plan we announced in 2020 will be built alongside our retired coal plant," said Duane Highley, Tri-State's chief executive officer. "We continue to reinvest in the local community and advance our goal of having 50% of the energy used by our members coming from renewable resources in 2025 and meeting the 2030 renewable energy requirements of the Energy Transition Act five years early."

Origis Energy, one of America's leading renewable energy platforms, acquired the development rights for the Escalante Solar Project from TurningPoint Energy, which originally developed the project. The project, located in Continental Divide Electric Cooperative's (CDEC's) service territory, will serve all of Tri-State's members, including CDEC and its other ten members in New Mexico.

"It is gratifying to finally deliver on the commitment of this project we made to Tri-State and its members back in 2020," said Jared Schoch, president of TurningPoint Energy. "CohnReznick Capital helped engage us with Origis and we ultimately partnered with Origis on this project because they are uniquely qualified to deliver on utility-scale solar projects in today's business environment."

Gridworks, headquartered in Albuquerque, N.M., is providing construction services for the project, employing an estimated 400 people during that time. Upon completion in 2024, Origis Energy Services will provide operation and maintenance services for the project, employing approximately 4-6 on site jobs once the project is completed. Roughly 500,000 solar panel modules will be installed at Escalante Solar, powering an estimated 40,000 homes.

"Tri-State's investment in Escalante Solar is vital for the community," said Robert E. Castillo, CDEC chief executive officer and general manager. "While the solar project cannot replace jobs at the retired coal plant, the addition of new tax base for McKinley County and our local school district is impactful, and we appreciate Tri-State and the project partners for bringing Escalante Solar to our region."

By adding such a significant solar plant at the site of the former coal plant, a new tax base is being created for the area from power generation, while providing a stable cost of power for Tri-State's members. Additionally, the project negotiated an Industrial Revenue Bond with McKinley County, N.M., which documents the project will pay approximately $7,100,000 in taxes to the County and $2,400,000 in taxes to the School District over the life of the project.

For more information about the project, visit the project website.

About Tri-State

Tri-State is a wholesale power supply cooperative, operating on a not-for-profit basis, with 45 members, including 42 utility electric distribution cooperative and public power district members in four states that together deliver reliable, affordable and responsible power to more than a million electricity consumers across nearly 200,000 square miles of the West. For more information about Tri-State, visit www.tristate.coop.

About Origis Energy

Origis Energy is bringing clean and cost effective solar, energy storage and clean hydrogen solutions within reach for utility, commercial and industrial as well as public sector clients. The Origis team has worked to ensure the interests of all stakeholders are upheld in 170 projects worldwide totaling more than 5 GW to date of developed solar, energy storage and clean hydrogen capacity. Headquartered in Miami, FL, Origis Energy delivers excellence in solar, energy storage and clean hydrogen development, financing, engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) and operations, maintenance and asset management for investors and clean energy consumers in the U.S. For more information visit: www.OrigisEnergy.com.

SOURCE Origis Energy
PanCAN Has Invested More Than $208 Million Over 20 Years Aimed at Building the Field of Pancreatic Cancer Researchers and Finding More Breakthroughs for Patients

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), a leading nonprofit in the fight against pancreatic cancer, today announced its largest ever single-year research investmentmore than $34 millionwhich includes its large-scale scientific and clinical initiatives and nine new grants.

As the first organization dedicated to fighting pancreatic cancer in a comprehensive way, PanCAN has been leading a nationwide movement to tackle the disease from all angles for over two decades. The organization has invested more than $208 million into research and is poised to make even more breakthroughs for patients. These funds support PanCAN's priority of finding an early detection strategy and accelerating treatment options for people with pancreatic cancer.

"This year marks 20 years of PanCAN awarding research grants  and over that time we have established ourselves as the catalyst for change in the pancreatic cancer community. We fund bright and motivated scientists with innovative ideas and provide resources needed to attack this disease from every possible direction," said PanCAN Chief Science Officer Lynn Matrisian, PhD, MBA.

As the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States and with a five-year survival rate of just 12%, pancreatic cancer demands urgent action to save lives. There is currently no standard early detection test for pancreatic cancer and few effective treatments are available, making the ongoing funding of innovative research crucial to solving this challenging disease.

Throughout all 20 years of its research grants program, PanCAN has remained steadfast in its dedication to supporting early-career investigators by providing funding to kickstart their pancreatic cancer research focus. Since 2003, PanCAN has awarded 236 grants to scientists at 78 institutions around the country, building a comprehensive pancreatic cancer research community.

In 1999, when the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) was founded, there were only a handful of scientists focused on pancreatic cancer, and research funding opportunities were scarce. Today, there is a growing and robust pancreatic cancer scientific community that knows more about the disease than ever before. Additionally, grantees have been able to leverage the investment from PanCAN to expand and accelerate progress against this disease. Awardees across all PanCAN grant types go on to receive an average of $11.50 in subsequent pancreatic cancer research funding for each dollar PanCAN has invested. And this has resulted in scientific breakthroughs in new treatments, early detection, understanding the risk factors and illuminating the biology of pancreatic cancer cells.

"With the help of our generous donors, we are able to continue our commitment to advancing research to make progress against pancreatic cancer," said Julie Fleshman, JD, MBA, president and chief executive officer of PanCAN.

This year, four PanCAN Career Development Award ($250,000) recipients have been selected.

This grant is designed to support junior scientists at academic and medical institutions who are early in their careers in establishing independent labs with a focus on pancreatic cancer research:

2023 Career Development Award in memory of Llewellyn Bixby IV, through a gift made by his family

William Freed-Pastor, MD, PhD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Research: Immunopeptidomics to Accelerate Immunotherapies in Pancreas Cancer

Details: Dr. Freed-Pastor and his team plan to identify small pieces of proteins in pancreatic cancer cells that may be recognizable by the immune system and trigger an immune response.

2023 Career Development Award

Arjun Gupta, MD

University of Minnesota Medical School

Research: Medication-related Financial Burdens in Older Adults with Pancreatic Cancer

Details: The objective of Dr. Gupta's project is to understand the financial burdens of medications among older adults with pancreatic cancer using qualitative and quantitative methods. This work will improve pancreatic cancer care by supporting advocacy efforts to reduce drug prices, informing policy efforts to redesign insurance coverage of medications, and identifying medication overuse and underuse to optimize prescribing.

2023 Career Development Award, funded by Rick Star in memory of Janet Ranta Star

William Hwang, MD, PhD

Massachusetts General Hospital

Research: Mechanisms of Cancer-Nerve Dynamics in Pancreatic Cancer

Details: Dr. Hwang anticipates that this study will transform the understanding of how pancreatic cancer cells and the peripheral nervous system collaborate to promote tumor growth, survival, and dissemination, as well as guide prioritization for therapeutic intervention in the burgeoning cancer neuroscience field.

2023 Career Development Award

Ivana Peran, PhD

Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

Research: Role of Stromal Cadherin 11 in Chemotherapy Response in Pancreatic Cancer

Details: The goal of this project is to understand how inhibition of cadherin 11 might strengthen the immune system's response to the tumor and make standard-of-care chemotherapy more effective. These findings could be rapidly translated into a clinical setting to benefit pancreatic cancer patients.

PanCAN is also awarding one Catalyst Research Award ($225,000), one PanCAN Informatics and Data Science Research Fellowship ($177,000), and two PanCAN Fellowship Awards funded by the Francois Wallace Monahan Fund ($150,000):

2023 Catalyst Research Award in memory of Daniel J. Kobasic

Wansu Chen, PhD, MS

Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation

Research: Recent-onset Hyperglycemia and the Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: An Enhancement of the ENDPAC Model

Details: Dr. Chen's project will explore using a clinical parameter, hemoglobin A1c levels, to improve our ability to identify patients who are most at risk for pancreatic cancer and further enhance the risk prediction model used for the PanCAN Early Detection Initiative

2023 Cancer Informatics & Data Science Research Fellowship

Basil Bakir, MD, PhD

Columbia University

Research: Predictive Biomarkers For Chemotherapy Through Master Regulator Analysis

Details: This project will look at patient molecular data and clinical outcomes from PanCAN's

SPARK database to discover predictors that can help clinicians pair patients with the most appropriate chemotherapy.

2023 Fellowship, funded by the Francois Wallace Monahan Fund in loving memory of Michael Insel

Guillaume Cognet, PhD

University of Chicago

Research: Glycine availability in the PDAC tumor microenvironment as a driver of chemoresistance

Details: Dr. Cognet intends to determine how high levels of a nutrient, glycine, become present in the microenvironment of pancreatic tumors and its role in resistance to treatments.

2023 Fellowship, funded by the Francois Wallace Monahan Fund in loving memory of Michael Insel

Julien Dilly, MS

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Research: Understanding mechanisms of response and resistance to RAS-pathway inhibition in pancreatic cancer

Details: This research aims to explore and characterize the features of response and resistance to KRAS inhibitors in pancreatic cancer and elucidate new biomarkers (biological clues) and combination therapy strategies that will guide utilization of KRAS inhibitors in a clinical setting.

In 2022, PanCAN introduced the Therapeutic Accelerator Award to develop new investigational drugs that may be tested through the PanCAN Precision PromiseSM adaptive clinical trial. The organization continues to forge new partnerships in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors through a second annual award, to be announced later this fall.

All grantees are selected through a peer-review process and participate in PanCAN's Community For Progress, a collaborative strategy offering grantees professional support through networking, mentoring, and training opportunities. To learn more about PanCAN's research investments, visit pancan.org.

About the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) leads the way in accelerating critical progress for pancreatic cancer patients. PanCAN takes bold action by funding life-saving research, providing personalized patient services and creating a community of supporters and volunteers who will stop at nothing to create a world in which all pancreatic cancer patients will thrive. For 18 years in a row, PanCAN has earned a Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator  the highest rating an organization can receive. This rating designates PanCAN as an official "Give with Confidence" charity, indicating strong financial health, ongoing accountability and transparency.

Media Contact:

Jillian Scholten

Senior Manager, Public Relations

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

310-706-3360

[email protected]

SOURCE Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
PBNA, PepsiCo Foundation and its Food for Good platform donated backpacks with school supplies and healthy, shelf-stable meals to 260 students in the Philadelphia School District

PURCHASE, N.Y., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, the North Division of PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA) hosted a "Back-to-School PEP Rally" to help 260 underserved K-5 students at John Marshall Elementary School in Philadelphia, PA get a jumpstart on the school year by providing necessary school supplies, backpacks, and nutritious meals to fuel their minds and bodies. Philadelphia Eagles alum Jason Avant joined the event to get students motivated and excited for a fun and successful new school year.

PepsiCo Beverages North America teamed up with Philadelphia Eagles alum, Jason Avant, to distribute backpacks and school supplies to students at John Marshall Elementary School on August 29, 2023.

According to The National Retail Federation's 2023 back-to-school spending survey1, families with children in grades K-12 said they expect to spend an average of $890 on school items this year, about $25 more than last year. In addition, according to a report from the School Nutrition Association2, one in eight children in America live in food insecure homes. This can pose risks to a child's health and development, leading to long-term social and behavioral challenges. PBNA's Back-to-School PEP Rally events aim to address this urgent need and help provide children with the resources they need to thrive in a new school year.

Adelante, PBNA's Hispanic employee resource group, leveraged its members to volunteer at the event, providing backpacks and school supplies directly to students. In addition to the supplies, each student received a bag of shelf-stable meals provided through the PepsiCo Foundation's Food for Good program. Food for Good is the PepsiCo Foundation's global platform for advancing food security and ongoing commitment to make nutritious food accessible for more people.

"At PepsiCo, we are committed to supporting the communities where we live and work. During this pivotal back-to-school time, we want to make sure each student has what they need for a positive start to the school year," says Richard Glover, President, North Division of PepsiCo Beverages North America. "We are proud to be able to make a meaningful difference for families and hope it helps build a great school year ahead for these students."

During the Back-to-School PEP Rally, held at the John Marshall Elementary School in Philadelphia, children met with Philadelphia Eagles alum Jason Avant and enjoyed food from FoodChasers' Kitchen, a long-time PBNA foodservice partner and Black-owned restaurant in Philadelphia.

PBNA hosted its inaugural Back to School PEP Rally backpack distribution event in Miami in August 2023 and will be hosting additional events in the Northeast at schools in Cincinnati, Ohio; Newark, N.J., Pittsburgh, PA; and Boston, Mass. to benefit more than 2,000 students overall in these high need communities by September 2023.

Stay up to date on the latest PepsiCo news and products by visiting pepsico.com and following @pepsico on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $86 billion in net revenue in 2022, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo.

About the PepsiCo Foundation and Food for Good

Food for Good is the PepsiCo Foundation's global platform for advancing food security and making nutritious food accessible. As a contributor to meeting pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) commitments, Food for Good has delivered more than 270 million meals to more than 46 million people around the world. Learn more at www.pepsicofoodforgood.com.

Media Contacts:

Corey Manuel

[email protected]

Noelle Gorbunoff

[email protected]

1 Cullen, Katherine. (2023). Back-to-Class 2023. National Retail Federation.

2 (2023). School Meal Statistics. School Nutrition Association.

SOURCE PepsiCo
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. France should take into account the positions of both sides in its mediation efforts to normalize relations between Baku and Yerevan, said Spokesperson for Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova during a weekly briefing, Trend reports.

"On the one hand, we have repeatedly said that we welcome any initiatives that do not run counter to Russia's efforts to normalize relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, that do not duplicate and, moreover, do not undermine these efforts.

On the other hand, France's activity in this direction is well known to us. Azerbaijan and Armenia's respective viewpoints must be taken into consideration before anything else in the context of such mediation attempts, and this is of equal importance. And without this, it is pointless to expect any progress in the already tense situation's resolution. This is the central element of any form of mediation," she said.

During the ambassadorial conference on August 28, French President Emanuel Macron reiterated his biased views, which threaten the peace process while misrepresenting the regional reality and unambiguously backing Armenia, Spokesman for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Aykhan Hajizada said.

"Once again, expression of opinion by the French President based on the allegations regarding humanitarian situation in the region attests to the erroneous policy of this country.

Condemnation of the 44-day Patriotic War that resulted in the liberation of Azerbaijan's territories in accordance with the UN Charter, as well as the norms and principles of international law, with special emphasis on claims made about the humanitarian situation in the region by France, who has never condemned the acts of occupation and aggression committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan for almost 30 years and has remained silent about the humanitarian situation of up to 1 million refugees.

Expressions such as Lachin humanitarian corridor by French President, as well as coercive narrative is unacceptable, and is disrespectful for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.

France is aware of the daily passage of dozens of Armenian residents through the Lachin road and the border checkpoint, as well as the allocation of "Aghdam-Khankendi" and other alternative routes for the transportation of goods by Azerbaijan. On the other hand, Armenia and individuals posing as representatives of Armenian residents have politicized issues regarding the use of these roads. The views supporting Armenia's provocative actions are among the things that directly obstruct the fulfillment of the agreements made in this regard at the beginning of August, as opposed to encouraging it.

The question of why France did not come up with such initiatives for nearly 30 years, while the territories of Azerbaijan were under occupation, would be more helpful for France to address, as they claim that they were the authors of the EU mission and the initiative to recognize each other's borders under the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991 in Prague.

Azerbaijan is steadfastly opposed to any outside meddling that could jeopardize its efforts to maintain peace and security in the area," the statement said.
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PSG, part of Dover (NYSE: DOV) and a global pump, metering and dispensing-solution expert, recently announced the opening of its expanded facility in Grand Rapids, MI.

The grand opening caps off a nearly two-year-long construction and renovation project that added 56,000 square feet of new manufacturing, office, and R&D space. The new building and renovated facility also feature energy-efficient lighting, heating, air conditioning and manufacturing systems.

"Blackmer pumps have been manufactured at this location on Century Avenue in Grand Rapids since 1925," said Lara Kauchak, General Manager for PSG Grand Rapids. "Having outgrown our space for machining and assembly, this expansion helps us support our customers in industrial, defense and energy markets, and creates more jobs for our community."

The expansion of the PSG Grand Rapids facility was aimed at improving manufacturing capacity, scaling into new markets and bringing additional product lines to Grand Rapids. The company also wanted to upgrade employee facilities and amenities, including locker rooms, bathrooms, break rooms and parking.

"These changes have helped PSG Grand Rapids improve operations and optimize manufacturing," Kauchak said. "We look forward to this next chapter with enhanced efficiency and room to grow, which will enable us to continue providing exceptional pump and compressor products and services for our customers for years to come."

For more information on PSG, please go to psgdover.com.

About PSG:

PSG is the global pump, metering and dispensing-solution expert, enabling the safe and efficient transfer of critical and valuable fluids that require optimal performance and reliability in applications where it matters most. Additionally, PSG is a leading provider of flow meters designed to reduce waste and downtime while accurately measuring, monitoring and controlling the distribution of fluids. Headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, USA, PSG is comprised of several world-class brands, including Abaque, All-Flo, Almatec, Blackmer, Ebsray, em-tec, Griswold, Hydro, Malema, Mouvex, Neptune, PSG Biotech, Quantex, Quattroflow, and Wilden. PSG products are manufactured on three continents  North America, Europe and Asia  in state-of-the-art facilities that practice lean manufacturing and are ISO-certified. PSG is part of the Pumps & Process Solutions segment of Dover Corporation. For additional information on PSG, please visit psgdover.com. PSG: Where Innovation Flows.

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.

PSG Contact:

Christopher Walsh

(331) 277-8137

[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
BALTIMORE, Md., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- QDOBA, the leading fast-casual Mexican restaurant known for bringing flavor to people's lives, will open a new location at 426 W. Baltimore Street in Baltimore MD. The restaurant signed a lease with David S. Brown Enterprises for a position in the 400 W. Baltimore Street project.

QDOBA understands people's desire to save money and spend smartly and continues to provide high-quality food options that exceed customer expectations for flavor and everyday value. The restaurant is known for its use of ingredients that are freshly prepared in-house by hand throughout the day to create a variety of flavorful menu options. Guests can experience QDOBA's delicious offerings by enjoying one of its chef-crafted signature eats for convenience and ease, or by customizing their own burritos, bowls, tacos, quesadillas, nachos, and salads to suit their personal tastes and cravings. Premium toppings can always be added to entrees at no extra charge, including signature 3-cheese queso and hand-crafted guacamole. For five years running, QDOBA has been voted the "Best Fast Casual Restaurant" as part of the USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice Awards.

"Qdoba is a fabulous addition to our West side retail development. With their opening, it further strengthens our tenant roster at Baltimore Street with Nando's Peri-Peri, Starbucks and Rita's Italian Ice." stated Ken Bernstein, Senior Vice President of Retail Leasing. "Their desire to open on the West side furthers our belief that the area needs and can support quality retail establishments. We look forward to supporting them and their expansion at 400 W. Baltimore Street in addition to bringing more quality retail establishments to the community."

About 400 W. Baltimore Street

The 400 W. Baltimore Street project is in the heart of Baltimore's Educational and Cultural District next to University of Maryland Medical System and only blocks from Camden Yards, The Baltimore Convention Center, CFG Arena, and Lexington Market. The location delivers 12,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space with street level suites on both North and South sides of Baltimore Street. Current tenants include national retailers such as Starbucks, Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard, Nando's Peri-Peri and Taco Town.

About Qdoba

QDOBA is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant with more than 740 locations in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Committed to bringing flavor to people's lives, QDOBA uses ingredients freshly prepared in-house by hand throughout the day to create a variety of flavorful menu options. Guests can experience QDOBA's delicious offerings by enjoying one of its chef-crafted signature eats for convenience and ease, or by customizing their own burritos, bowls, tacos, quesadillas, nachos, and salads to suit their personal tastes and cravings. Premium toppings can always be added to entrees at no extra charge, including signature 3-cheese queso and hand-crafted guacamole.

Discover more at www.QDOBA.com or on the QDOBA app, which is available for download on the iTunes App Store or Google Play. Fans can also connect with QDOBA on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok .

About David S. Brown Enterprises, LTD.

Established in 1933 and headquartered in Owings Mills, Maryland, David S. Brown Enterprises is a full-service real estate company. Their mission is to serve the community through socially conscious development, high-quality construction, and innovative design. For additional information, please visit www.davidsbrown.com or connect on LinkedIn.

SOURCE David S. Brown Enterprises, LTD.
Celebrate One of The World's Most Iconic Cocktails With Proceeds

Benefiting Slow Food

NEW YORK, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Campari , the iconic Italian red aperitif, and Imbibe, the ultimate guide to liquid culture, come together September 18-24 for Negroni Week. For one week only, bars and restaurants around the globe will join forces to celebrate the iconic Negroni, while supporting Slow Food , a global movement of local communities and activists in more than 160 countries.

Campari, the iconic Italian red aperitif, and Imbibe, the ultimate guide to liquid culture, come together September 18-24 for Negroni Week.

Since its creation in 1919, Campari has been the red heart and defining ingredient in the classic cocktail. The Negroni's rise in popularity as the #1 best-selling cocktail worldwide* wouldn't have been possible without the limitless skill of bartenders sharing their talents across the globe. This year, Negroni Week will usher in the launch of a newly designed Campari bottle arriving stateside this fall, evoking the spirit of Milan and paying homage to the brand's home and birthplace of the aperitivo ritual.

Negroni Week leverages both the popularity of the cocktail, as well as the power of the bartending community, with Imbibe's global charity initiative raising more than $4 million for global causes in the past decade. Last year, 10,000 venues participated in Negroni Week, attracting thousands of consumers in over 80 markets, and Campari is looking forward to continuing to collaborate with even more venues this year in support of Slow Food's Negroni Week Fund .

Slow Food, the official giving partner for the second year, envisions a world where everyone can enjoy food and beverage that is good for them, good for the people who grow it, and good for the planet. With shared Italian roots and interest in a fair food and beverage system, Slow Food, Campari and the Negroni are the perfect pairing.

Slow Food's Negroni Week Fund will continue to directly support the hospitality community in 2023 and beyond, helping to preserve cultural and biological diversity, promote food and beverage education with knowledge exchange, and foster equity and justice. The inaugural 2022 Slow Food Negroni Week Fund enhanced Slow Food global programs and benefitted 33 local community-led projects, which are leading the transformation of the food and beverage systems in 23 countries worldwide. In North America, the Negroni Week Fund benefitted 11 projects in 2022 including Humble Eats in Virginia, which teaches inner-city youth about fresh produce and ingredients, as well as a farm dinner hosted by Slow Food Denver, raising awareness for a more sustainable food system while providing economic support to farmers. Campari will once again be making a $100,000 donation to kick off fundraising efforts for this important cause.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Throughout Negroni Week, consumers will have the opportunity to celebrate cocktail culture and show appreciation for the art of mixology, recognizing the dedication and skill of bartenders to create one of the world's most iconic and loved cocktails. You can find classic or creative new Negroni offerings at participating bars and restaurants near you .

Ahead of Negroni Week, Campari brought together pairs of top bartenders from across the globe to celebrate the bond between mixology and the classic Negroni with the release of The Timeless Bond Series on YouTube featuring some of the best bartenders from around the world, including Kate Gerwin of New Mexico and Christian "Suzu" Suzuki of San Francisco, both from Netflix's Drink Masters.

Campari will also host their annual Campari Day of Service in over 50 cities both in person and online. On Tuesday, September 19, Campari encourages the hospitality industry nationwide to get out into their communities to connect, give back and lend a hand. Last year, Campari saw 840 volunteers in 47 cities and this year, Campari has hit 900 volunteers and counting nationwide. Campari will also be hosting trade kick off events on Monday, September 18 for members of the industry in LA, NYC and Miami, as well as a special virtual class for trade members through the Campari Academy. " Thinking Inside the Negroni Triangle ", hosted by Campari Brand Ambassadors Alex Negranza and Olivia Cerio, will explore how constraint inspires creativity. The class - held online Monday, September 18 in celebration of Negroni Week - will demonstrate how three simple ingredients can yield infinite variations.

Consumers can craft an iconic Negroni at home by ordering the necessary ingredients - Campari, 1757 Vermouth di Torino Rosso and Bulldog Gin - through Drizly , ReserveBar and Instacart . For Negroni aficionados, The Negroni Week Shop is once again filled with a variety of creative vendors offering Negroni-inspired items all giving back to the Slow Food Negroni Week Fund.

Andrea Sengara, Campari America's Head of Marketing, commented: "The Negroni is consistently ranked as one of the best-selling drinks in the world, but the classic recipe  Campari, gin, and sweet vermouth  has been the starting point for countless Negroni variations. With the Sbagliato, Boulevardier, Oaxacan Negroni, Rosita and more, there's a Negroni variation for everyone. Negroni Week presents the perfect opportunity for consumers to get out in their community, enjoy classic or seasonal spins and support Negroni Week's official giving partner Slow Food. Please join us in supporting your local bars and restaurants this Negroni Week!"

Karen Foley, Imbibe Publisher, said: "Every year of Negroni Week gets better and better, and we're thrilled to continue partnering with Campari in support of Slow Food's mission to cultivate a more equitable and sustainable world of food and beverage. We can't wait to once again celebrate our favorite week of the year with bars, restaurants and Negroni enthusiasts around the world."

For more information about what's happening during Negroni Week 2023 visit Negroni Week.com and follow #NegroniWeek #Negroni @CampariUSA and @imbibe . Wherever you celebrate Negroni Week, Campari reminds you to please do so responsibly.

*Drinks International 2022

NOTES TO EDITORS

For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].

ABOUT CAMPARI

Campari, the iconic, unforgettable Italian red spirit sitting at the heart of some of the world's most famous cocktails. Campari was founded in Milan in 1860 by Gaspare Campari, and pioneered by his son, Davide, who created something so distinctive and revolutionary that its secret recipe has not been altered since. Vibrant red in color, Campari's unique and multi-layered taste is the result of the infusion of herbs, aromatic plants and fruit in alcohol and water. As well as being unique and distinctive, Campari is extremely versatile, offering boundless and unexpected possibilities. As a source of this passionate inspiration since its creation seen through its founders' creative genius, artists in different fields and the world's best bartenders, Campari stimulates your instincts to unlock your passions, inspiring limitless creations.

ABOUT THE NEGRONI

It was around the year 1919 in Florence when Count Camillo Negroni contemplated ordering an Americano cocktail, but decided it was time for a change. He requested it with a touch of gin instead of soda, inspired by his last trip to London and its prevalent gin scene. The bartender was pleased to honor Count Camillo Negroni's request and added an orange garnish rather than the lemon wedge of the Americano to signify the new drink he had created. In Florence, the Count's 'usual' became known as Count Negroni's Americano, or the "Americano with a touch of gin", and the Negroni was born. The Negroni is now one of the most famous contemporary classic cocktails. Anywhere you go in the world, you will find a mixologist who can make you the iconic Negroni. The original recipe, the perfectly balanced combination of equal parts of Campari, Red Vermouth and London Dry gin, is almost a century old and continues to be enjoyed today. The same classic recipe can also be enjoyed in the Campari Negroni Ready to Serve, an offering for cocktail aficionados to enjoy an expertly crafted cocktail at home or on-the-go. The International Bartenders Association (IBA) lists Campari as an official ingredient of the Negroni, and thus, there is no Negroni without Campari! For more information visit www.campari.com.

ABOUT CAMPARI GROUP

Campari Group is a major player in the global spirits industry, with a portfolio of over 50 premium and super premium brands, spreading across Global, Regional and Local priorities. Global Priorities, the Group's key focus, include Aperol, Appleton Estate, Campari, SKYY, Wild Turkey and Grand Marnier. The Group was founded in 1860 and today is the sixth-largest player worldwide in the premium spirits industry. It has a global distribution reach, trading in over 190 nations around the world with leading positions in Europe and the Americas. The Group's growth strategy aims to combine organic growth through strong brand building and external growth via selective acquisitions of brands and businesses. Headquartered in Sesto San Giovanni, Italy, Campari Group owns 23 plants worldwide and has its own distribution network in 25 countries. The Group employs approximately 4,300 people. The shares of the parent company, Davide Campari-Milano N.V. (Reuters CPRI.MI - Bloomberg CPR IM), have been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since 2001.

For more information: http://www.camparigroup.com/en.

ABOUT CAMPARI AMERICA

Campari America LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Davide Campari-Milano N.V. Campari America has built a portfolio unrivaled in its quality, innovation and style, making it a top choice among distributors, retailers and consumers. Campari America manages Campari Group's portfolio in the US with such leading brands as SKYY Vodka, SKYY Infusions, Grand Marnier, Campari, Aperol, Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon, American Honey, Russell's Reserve, The Glen Grant Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Forty Creek Canadian Whisky, BULLDOG Gin, Cabo Wabo Tequila, Espolon Tequila, Montelobos Mezcal, Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur, Appleton Estate Rum, Wray & Nephew Rum, Coruba Rum, Ouzo 12, X-Rated Fusion Liqueur, Frangelico, Cynar, Averna, Braulio, Cinzano, Mondoro and Jean-Marc XO Vodka.

ABOUT IMBIBE

Imbibe is multi-platform drinks destination, combining an award-winning print and digital magazine, website, podcast, newsletter, social media, books, and events, including Negroni Week. For more information, visit imbibemagazine.com and follow @imbibe and #imbibe.

ABOUT SLOW FOOD NEGRONI WEEK FUND

In September 2022, Slow Food was chosen as the official giving partner of Negroni Week, a global fundraising initiative presented by Imbibe and Campari to promote the power of food, beverage, and hospitality. Slow Food and Negroni Week joined forces to promote common values of cultivating community, fostering equity and justice, and seeking a better world for all through food and beverage. In 2022, in the framework of the Negroni Week, Imbibe and Campari selected Slow Food as its charitable giving partner for Negroni Week, directing all funds raised toward the vast and diverse networks and programs within the movement. This partnership nourishes heritage and local diversity to support emerging leaders and solutions for the future.

SOURCE Campari America
Retail investors are expanding their interests, diversifying across asset classes and strategies

Investors continue diversifying across asset classes, with megatrends and cultural moments sparking the discovery of new investment strategies and opportunities. Increased adoption of fixed-income strategies in 2023 balanced out growth plays that tracked trending sectors and companies.

Key insights:

Investors on the Public platform have increased the number of distinct asset classes (e.g. stocks, ETFs, T-bills, cryptos, and alts) owned by 25% year-over-year.





asset classes (e.g. stocks, ETFs, T-bills, cryptos, and alts) owned by year-over-year. ETF share of portfolio AUM on Public increased 4.4X year-over-year.





year-over-year. AI thematic ETFs saw a 34% YoY increase in net new investors, with Nvidia ( NVDA ) emerging as one of the most high-interest stocks on the platform by pageviews and trading volume.





YoY increase in net new investors, with Nvidia ( ) emerging as one of the most high-interest stocks on the platform by pageviews and trading volume. Cultural buzz, positive and negative, translated into newly converted retail investors. The total number of Public investors in Mattel ( MAT ) increased 6.6X following the success of "Barbie," and the total number of investors in Bud Light's parent company AB InBev ( BUD ) on Public increased 1.5X despite controversy beginning in April 2023 .

Retail investors are increasing their due diligence ands adopting new research methods like AI

Retail investors are increasing their focus on due diligence and closely vetting sources for trust and credibility. Nearly one-fifth of retail investors surveyed say they are already using AI for investment research.

Key insights:

When prioritizing sources offinancial information, 69.4% of retail investors say trust and credibility are more important in 2023 vs. 2022. A majority say that these factors are "significantly" more important.





of retail investors say trust and credibility are more important in 2023 vs. 2022. A majority say that these factors are "significantly" more important. 19% of retail investors already use AI for investment research, with most holdouts being investors interested in learning how to leverage AI to inform their portfolio strategies.





of retail investors already use AI for investment research, with most holdouts being investors interested in learning how to leverage AI to inform their portfolio strategies. The growing role of AI in investment research is balancing social media as a primary channel for decision-making. 16.4% of investors say social buzz is an 'important signal' in their decision-making; however, far fewer cited it as the most important signal.

Retail investors demonstrate changing attitudes about the economy & their roles as shareholders

Retail investors are entering the remainder of 2023 with confidence but have mixed feelings about the state of the economy. They are also grappling with their roles as shareholders and are divided on the importance of ESG.

Key insights:

Economic outlook is mixed: 59.9% of retail investors are optimistic or neutral about the economy and 40.1% are pessimistic.





of retail investors are optimistic or neutral about the economy and are pessimistic. 31.1% of investors say their risk appetite increased by the end 1H 2023, compared to 16.7% who reported an increased appetite for risk at the start of the year.





of investors say their risk appetite increased by the end 1H 2023, compared to 16.7% who reported an increased appetite for risk at the start of the year. ESG remains a cultural battleground, with 55% of investors representing anti-ESG sentiment and 45% representing pro-ESG sentiment.





of investors representing anti-ESG sentiment and representing pro-ESG sentiment. 27.3% of retail investors say they participated in a proxy vote so far in 2023, with the biggest points of friction being a lack of awareness of the vote and a lack of context around what's on the ballot.

Retail investor engagement remains strong in 2023, with investors focusing more on diversifying their investment strategies and looking at fixed income. Notably, the importance of research and information-gathering persists as investors now embrace technologies like AI to inform their choices before taking action.

Access and download the full report here .

Downloadable images here .

Quotes

"Many investors entered the markets in 2021 around the meme stock frenzy, but we are now seeing a long diversified approach as more investors are looking at fixed income, dividend investing, and AI as new emerging trends," said Katie Perry, GM of Investor Relations at Public. "If there is one thing that is clear from our survey and the data  it is that retail investors aren't slowing down, and they still have an appetite to participate in the markets."

"As scholars who advocate that high school students should be taught basic corporate governance because it is socially unacceptable that individuals are unaware of the power that holding and voting shares carry, we welcome Public's Retail Investor Report as the wakeup call that policymakers need," said Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci, UMKC School of Law, and Christina Sautter, SMU Dedman School of Law, who have co-authored multiple research papers on retail investor engagement. "Most retail investors who fail to vote their shares do so because they are unaware of their right to vote and of the impact their votes can have. The influence that corporations have on our life, our society, and our planet is comparable to that of governments. Policymakers should level up investing and corporate governance education for virtually everyone as well as promote policies aimed at making information provided by issuers more digestible for the lay person."

"Reports like these are critical for understanding the changing habits and behaviors of modern retail investors," said Alex Thaler, Co-Founder and CEO of Iconik, a shareholder engagement technology company. "Specifically, the insights strongly support the need to separate the purely financial aspects of the investing experience from the values-alignment aspects. At the deepest level, conviction to invest follows conviction about growth potential and profitability, and it's unclear to many investors whether ESG is about growth potential and profitability or values."

Contributors

This report includes commentary and inputs from:

Nick Einhorn , VP of Research, Renaissance Capital

, VP of Research, Renaissance Capital Jill E. Fisch , Saul A. Fox Distinguished Professor of Business Law, co-director, Institute for Law and Economics, University of Pennsylvania

, Saul A. Fox Distinguished Professor of Business Law, co-director, Institute for Law and Economics, Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci, University of Missouri: Kansas City School of Law

School of Law Christina Sautter , Southern Methodist University , Dedman School of Law

Methodology

Data from the Public platform informed this report via demonstrated behaviors and activities and qualitative surveys of verified retail investors on Public.

This report offers a directional perspective on the retail investor market, drawing from Public's community of investors. Insights shared are not investment advice or an endorsement of any particular investment strategies.

Qualitative research via Public verified investor surveys fielded Jul-Aug-2023 (n=1,015), Jun-2023 (1,005), and Jan-2023 (n=1,036). All surveys reflect the responses of individuals with approved/funded accounts on the Public platform, U.S. adults 18+.

About Public

Public is an investing platform that allows everyone to invest in stocks, treasuries, ETFs, crypto, and alternative assets, like fine art and collectiblesall in one place. We help people be better investors with access to custom company metrics, live shows about the markets, and insights from a community of millions of investors, creators, and analysts. Learn more at www.public.com.

Disclosures

Disclosures: Open To The Public Investing is a member of FINRA and SIPC. This content is not investment advice. Investing involves risk of loss.

Alpha is an experiment brought to you by Public Holdings, Inc. ("Public"). Alpha is an artificial intelligence investment exploration tool powered by GPT-4, a generative large language model offered by OpenAI. Given that Alpha is experimental technology, it may sometimes give inaccurate or inappropriate information. Any output generated by Alpha is not and should not be construed as investment research, investment advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell a security, nor should any output serve as the basis for any investment decisions. Alpha output is provided "as is" and Public makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy, completeness, quality, timeliness, or any other characteristic of Alpha output. We strongly recommend you independently evaluate and verify the accuracy of any Alpha output for your use case.

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Contact

Rachel Livingston

Director of Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Public
Funds will support Weed High School graduates pursuing next level of education

WEED, Calif., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Trial attorney Ben Crump and Roseburg Forest Products today announced a $250,000 Weed Community Scholarship Fund that will support Weed High School graduates pursuing their next level of education. The scholarship fund will be distributed and overseen by the Community Foundation of the North State.

The scholarship fund emerged during Mill Fire settlement discussions between Roseburg and Crump, when he suggested Roseburg issue a scholarship fund to support the long-term recovery of the Lincoln Heights, Weed and Lake Shastina communities and Roseburg readily agreed to provide one.

"Education is always what holds a community together and prepares its people for the future," Crump said. "This scholarship will provide Weed students opportunities to pursue their dreams and a foundation of what it means to be part of this great neighborhood, city and region."

Weed Mayor Ken Palfini, City Manager Tim Rundel, Roseburg General Counsel Matt Lawless, Siskiyou Union High School District Dean of Students Kelsea Ochs and Crump participated in the announcement ceremony held in front of Robert and Barbara Thomas' home, one of the first to be rebuilt in Lincoln Heights. Neighborhood residents, 96094 Collaborative survivors, Weed City Council members, school district leaders and Roseburg personnel attended the event.

In the year since the Mill Fire occurred on Sept. 2, 2022, the City of Weed and almost all impacted homeowners have received settlements with several homeowners nearing completion of new homes.

"It has been a year of recovery with this strong community persevering, coming together and being resilient," said Peter Hillan, Roseburg spokesperson. "We are grateful and humbled by the dedication of all those involved who have brought about today's commitment to the long-term success of the community."

About Roseburg Forest Products

Founded in 1936, Roseburg Forest Products is a privately-owned company and one of North America's leading producers of particleboard, medium density fiberboard and thermally fused laminates. Roseburg also manufactures softwood and hardwood plywood, lumber, LVL and I-joists. The company owns and sustainably manages more than 600,000 acres of timberland in Oregon, North Carolina, and Virginia, as well as an export wood chip terminal facility in Coos Bay, Ore. Roseburg products are shipped throughout North America and the Pacific Rim. To learn more about the company please visit www.Roseburg.com.

About Ben Crump Law

Through his work, nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump has spearheaded a legal movement to better protect the rights of marginalized citizens. He has led landscape-changing civil rights cases and represented clients in a wide range of areas including civil rights, personal injury, labor and employment, class actions, and more. Ben Crump Law is dedicated to fighting for a better world for all of our children. For more information, visit bencrump.com

Contact: Pete Hillan

[email protected]

831.227.5984

SOURCE Roseburg Forest Products Co.
SAN ANTONIO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sage Music , an award winning music school that transforms students into musicians, announces San Antonio Grand Opening Celebration.

Founded in New York City, Sage Music moved its headquarters to San Antonio during the pandemic and recently finished construction on its new headquarters: a gorgeous, landmark building conveniently located in midtown with dedicated parking and a concert stage.

Since the soft launch in May, Sage Music has earned 36 glowing five-star reviews on google, and continues to impress new students with their different approach to learning. Students have flown to Sage Music from as far as Australia to take lessons in this unique system.

Students include beginners and hobbyists to Saturday Night Live Cast members, professional Broadway performers, and Emmy winners coming from 46 US States and 16 foreign countries.

"We've always focused on giving excellent music lessons and client service, but we've been missing the community our brick and mortar locations provided. We're so grateful to have a new home so we can invite more great people into our musical community", says founder, Jason Sagebiel.

Members of the media and the general public are invited to attend the Grand Opening Celebration events:

Open House : September 9 , 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. - Tour the school and get free music lessons on any instrument with expert teachers.

: , - Tour the school and get free music lessons on any instrument with expert teachers. Grand Opening Concert : September 9 , 6:00 p.m.

: , 6:00 p.m. Grand Opening Celebration : September 9 , 7:00 p.m.

Due to limited availability, please RSVP at https://www.sagemusic.co/events/

About Sage Music

Sage Music is not your ordinary music school. With a goal of transforming students into musicians, the school's unique curriculum, technology, and Arpeggio music lesson system are derived from the science and psychology of learning, holistic approaches, and community.

ARPEGGIO was developed by Sagebiel after his experience of re-learning music after he suffered a brain injury in the Iraq War, where he served as a U.S. Marine Scout-Sniper. ARPEGGIO guarantees the best musical training and customer service is given for every lesson taught.

Mr. Sagebiel has been featured and made numerous media appearances including Houston Chronicle, New York Magazine, Washington Times, Fora.tv, WPAT 930AM Radio, WNYC's Soundcheck, KUHA's The Front Row, WQXR's New Sounds, NY1 News and many others! He has given 30+ world premiere performances, including works by Grammy and Emmy winning artists, and conducted at Carnegie Hall. He is the subject of two books: Martin Daughtry's Listening to War, and Jon Pieslak's SoundTargets.

Media Contact:

Jason Sagebiel

[email protected]

(210) 664-1100

SOURCE Sage Music
Seabourn Cruise Line's new expedition vessel Seabourn Pursuit debuts a 700-piece art collection all its own https://bit.ly/3MHbCqS

SEATTLE, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Seabourn, the leader in ultra-luxury ocean voyages and expedition travel, and renowned for creating exquisitely designed spaces aboard its ships that exemplify themes of exploration and adventure, has unveiled an extraordinary collection of custom art on board Seabourn Pursuit, its newly launched, purpose-built expedition vessel. The extensive, permanent installation includes more than 700 artworks and takes guests on a curated journey across the seven seas.

Seabourn Pursuit Atrium - Magical Sky Sculpture

Seabourn's expedition vessels, Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit, bear strong resemblance as sister ships that share the same DNA in design. However, art stands out as one of the most prominent and character-defining points of differentiation between them. Commissioned by Seabourn design partner, Tihany Design, led by Founder & Principal Adam D. Tihany and Partner Alessia Genova, the atelier engaged London-based curatorial studio Double Decker to develop a sophisticated, thoughtful and bespoke art collection exclusively for Seabourn Pursuit, as a completely unique, curatorial expression of the designers' vision: "an expedition of discoveries." It features custom art that masterfully celebrates the wonders of our planet and the great explorers of our time, infused with geographic inspiration. By intention, the resultbold, more colorful and playful with a modern attitudemarkedly contrasts with the more subtle, sophisticated storytelling of Seabourn Venture's art program by French studio Atelier 27.

Working with artists, designers and fabricators globally to conjure the vision and tell these stories, Double Decker co-directors Wilhelm Finger and Melita Skamnaki pursued elegant yet brave works that create a sense of connection with those who sailed before, to enhance the guests' own sense of discovery in the present moment. With hundreds of pieces on board, each conjuring a unique experience and connection with its surroundings, art invites passengers to be curious and treats them to powerful and unforgettable visual adventures along Seabourn Pursuit's dramatic routes. The ship itself has emerged as a new frontier of appreciation for art enthusiasts at sea.

"We had a vision to deliver a dynamic and harmonious experience of exploration by creating a unique synergy to unite the masterful interior design by Tihany Design and the bespoke art collection with the powerful, state-of-the-art capabilities on this purpose-built luxury expedition ship," said Natalya Leahy, president of Seabourn. "As a result, our guests will experience an unexpected layer of imaginative discoveries and be inspired by the smallest details, symbols, hidden messages in every corner to provoke a deep sense of personal exploration and appreciation. Seabourn Pursuit's art collection will elevate the onboard experience as guests embark on their own journey to interact with new environments that in some cases no humans have seen before."

Images are available here.

Among the many works and themes to captivate and catch the eyes of Seabourn Pursuit guests:



Magical Sky (Deck 4  Main Atrium)  Sculpture installation exclusively commissioned for Seabourn Pursuit, this captivating piece was envisioned and designed by curator Double Decker. inspired by their impression of the sky's alluring shapes and colors visible along the ship's journeys. The concave dome atop a plinth invites passengers to look inside and discover multiple layers and reflections within, connecting them in an abstract yet moving way to the sky under which they travel. Produced by custom fabricator Cory Barr .

DOUBLE DECKER 2023





(Deck 4  Main Atrium)  Sculpture installation exclusively commissioned for Seabourn Pursuit, this captivating piece was envisioned and designed by curator Double Decker. inspired by their impression of the sky's alluring shapes and colors visible along the ship's journeys. The concave dome atop a plinth invites passengers to look inside and discover multiple layers and reflections within, connecting them in an abstract yet moving way to the sky under which they travel. Produced by custom fabricator . DOUBLE DECKER 2023

Water Drops (Deck 9  Forward Stairs)  Newly commissioned pieces in a series featuring Murano blown glass from Milan -based 6:AM Glassworks bear the feelings of water, sea and ice.

6:AM GLASSWORKS 2023





(Deck 9  Forward Stairs)  Newly commissioned pieces in a series featuring Murano blown glass from -based 6:AM Glassworks bear the feelings of water, sea and ice. 6:AM GLASSWORKS 2023

0 SERIES (Deck 4  The Restaurant)  Stunning photographic collection showcases tropical flowers in ice to create unexpected, enchanting dialogue between Amazonian flora and Polar ice. Together with artist Tharien Smith, Boyd's extremely elaborate technique freezes flower arrangements in blocks of ice; after several days, they are put into rivers or lakes, and the process causes cracks and bubbles to form inside the ice blocks, the flowers part of an active transformation. Only then do Boyd and Smith begin taking photos. Randomness, intention, enchanting beauty and dynamic unpredictability are at play.

BRUCE BOYD 2023





(Deck 4  The Restaurant)  Stunning photographic collection showcases tropical flowers in ice to create unexpected, enchanting dialogue between Amazonian flora and Polar ice. Together with artist Tharien Smith, Boyd's extremely elaborate technique freezes flower arrangements in blocks of ice; after several days, they are put into rivers or lakes, and the process causes cracks and bubbles to form inside the ice blocks, the flowers part of an active transformation. Only then do Boyd and Smith begin taking photos. Randomness, intention, enchanting beauty and dynamic unpredictability are at play. 2023

Oscillation (Deck 5  Colonnade) - Renowned South African artist Chris Soal created the wall sculpture Oscillation as a sustainable work comprised of metal bottle tops, coiled in a rope-like pattern, and expanding out from a central point. From afar, this work has a strong luxury and design aesthetic, which becomes tactile as the viewer moves closer to discover its surprising details.

CHRIS SOAL 2023





(Deck 5  Colonnade) - Renowned South African artist Chris Soal created the wall sculpture Oscillation as a sustainable work comprised of metal bottle tops, coiled in a rope-like pattern, and expanding out from a central point. From afar, this work has a strong luxury and design aesthetic, which becomes tactile as the viewer moves closer to discover its surprising details. CHRIS SOAL 2023

Harvest (Deck 5  Colonnade) - Italian painter Gabriel Carucci encourages more discovery with seemingly simple, geometric block patterns, revealing on closer inspection carefully selected sections of intricate embroidery and other whimsical textile elements, creating subtle tonal shifts. Tessellations of flat tints of color occupy the surface of the paintings, merging with forms of intertwined threads giving rise to abstract motions. The labor-intensive nature of this practice deliberately evokes visual cues that direct the painted surface and subsequently the viewer's perception.

GABRIEL CARUCCI 2023





(Deck 5  Colonnade) - Italian painter encourages more discovery with seemingly simple, geometric block patterns, revealing on closer inspection carefully selected sections of intricate embroidery and other whimsical textile elements, creating subtle tonal shifts. Tessellations of flat tints of color occupy the surface of the paintings, merging with forms of intertwined threads giving rise to abstract motions. The labor-intensive nature of this practice deliberately evokes visual cues that direct the painted surface and subsequently the viewer's perception. 2023

Amazonia (Deck 6  Seabourn Square)  Exclusively commissioned for Seabourn Pursuit , the acrylic paintings of celebrated Brazilian artist James Kudo depict architectural spaces, animals, flora and fauna, in a vivid palette of acrylic paint. Composed of cleanly delineated forms, from a distance these pieces appear graphic, yet on closer inspection they unveil a painterly texture.

JAMES KUDO 2023





(Deck 6  Seabourn Square)  Exclusively commissioned for , the acrylic paintings of celebrated Brazilian artist depict architectural spaces, animals, flora and fauna, in a vivid palette of acrylic paint. Composed of cleanly delineated forms, from a distance these pieces appear graphic, yet on closer inspection they unveil a painterly texture. 2023

Canyon Fall II (Deck 6  Seabourn Square)  Celebrated London-based sculptor Joseph Harrington , created this cast glass sculpture to evoke an iceberg with brilliant intricacies within, to delight and intrigue the viewer, allowing texture, light and sense of mass to continuously play.

JOSEPH HARRINGTON 2022





(Deck 6  Seabourn Square)  Celebrated London-based sculptor , created this cast glass sculpture to evoke an iceberg with brilliant intricacies within, to delight and intrigue the viewer, allowing texture, light and sense of mass to continuously play. 2022

Blue & Green Anthropophora (Deck 9  Sky Bar )  Created from glazed stoneware with PVC rubber coating, this artwork presents a bold color and bulbous, textural style that grounds us back in the world of contemporary art. It plays its own game, mimicking the forms of ancient artefacts, such as a Greek amphora.

MAXWELL MUSTARDO 2022





(Deck 9  )  Created from glazed stoneware with PVC rubber coating, this artwork presents a bold color and bulbous, textural style that grounds us back in the world of contemporary art. It plays its own game, mimicking the forms of ancient artefacts, such as a Greek amphora. 2022

Beyond the Sky (Deck 9  Constellation Lounge) -- Up-and-coming artist Sogon Kim created twin glass pieces Beyond the Sky to reflect sea and sky. Incorporating silver leaf and metal oxides, this work explores glass as a conduit for color and light.

SOGON KIM 2022





(Deck 9  Constellation Lounge) -- Up-and-coming artist Sogon Kim created twin glass pieces to reflect sea and sky. Incorporating silver leaf and metal oxides, this work explores glass as a conduit for color and light. SOGON KIM 2022

Artifacts Collection (Seabourn Square and Suites)  An eclectic, mesmerizing collection that evokes unique wondrous wildlife and natural phenomena unearthed by pioneering expeditions.





(Seabourn Square and Suites) An eclectic, mesmerizing collection that evokes unique wondrous wildlife and natural phenomena unearthed by pioneering expeditions.

Etched Glass Mural Partitions (Expedition Lounge)  This set of commissioned glass installations  Amazonian Moon and Arctic Moon  celebrates the moon's resonating beauty, magic and enduring presence in night skies from the Amazon to the Arctic. Panels feature etched glass textures, colored glass, special finishes of gold and silver leaf, and the moon depicted in 3D with flower and silver-infused glass.





(Expedition Lounge)  This set of commissioned glass installations  and celebrates the moon's resonating beauty, magic and enduring presence in night skies from the Amazon to the Arctic. Panels feature etched glass textures, colored glass, special finishes of gold and silver leaf, and the moon depicted in 3D with flower and silver-infused glass.

Graphic Glass Panels (Atrium Staircase)  Inspired by the winding coastlines of Seabourn destinations. Commissioned to re-interpret the natural coastal geography seen on the vessel's voyages.

About Tihany Design:

Led by Founder and Principal Adam D. Tihany and Partner Alessia Genova, Tihany Design is a multidisciplinary, ever-evolving design atelier specializing in luxury hospitality, cruise, retail, residences, private clubs, yachting, spa and leisure. The visionary force behind stunning custom interiors since 1978, the NYC-based firm delivers inspired spaces around the globe that resonate elevated personalization, timeless elegance and an authentic sense of place, with the mission to elevate the luxury lifestyle and travel experience through its diverse and enduring catalog of work.

About Seabourn:

Seabourn represents the pinnacle of ultra-luxury ocean and expedition travel and operates a suite of seven modern ships. The all-inclusive, boutique ships offer all-suite accommodations with oceanfront views; award-winning dining; complimentary premium spirits and fine wines available at all times; renowned service provided by an industry-leading crew; a relaxed, sociable atmosphere that makes guests feel at home; a pedigree in expedition travel through the Ventures by Seabourn program and two new ultra-luxury purpose-built expedition ships, including Seabourn Venture that launched in 2022 and Seabourn Pursuit in 2023. Seabourn takes travelers to every continent on the globe, visiting more than 400 ports including marquee cities and lesser-known ports and hideaways. Guests of Seabourn experience extraordinary offerings and programs, including partnerships with leading entertainers, dining, personal health and wellbeing, and engaging speakers.

For more details about Seabourn, or to explore the worldwide selection of Seabourn cruising options, contact a professional travel advisor, call Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391 or visit www.seabourn.com.

Seabourn is a brand of Carnival Corporation and plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL andNYSE: CUK).

Find Seabourn on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.

Notes to Editors:

Seabourn is consistently ranked among the world's top travel choices by professional critics and the discerning readers of prestigious travel publications such as Departures, Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler. Its stylish, distinctive cruising vacations are renowned for:

Purpose-built expedition ships, PC6 ice-strengthened hull, with advanced maneuvering technology for superior stability, safety and comfort

World-class Expedition Team, delivering immersive experiences

All veranda, all ocean-front suites luxuriously appointed

Handcrafted itineraries developed for the expedition traveler to the most coveted and familiar remote destinations in the world

Intimate ships with a private club atmosphere

Intuitive, personalized service provided by staff passionate about exceeding guests expectations

Inclusive expedition experiences with Zodiacs, scuba diving and snorkeling

Optional expedition experiences with kayaks and custom-built, 6-guest submersibles giving the option to extend your expedition further for greater ocean exploration**

Welcome Champagne and complimentary in-suite bar stocked with your preferences

Open bridge policy*, hosted by members of the Expedition Team providing firsthand access to the ship's command center and officers navigating your journey

World-class dining venues are all complimentary, dine where, when and with whom you wish

Tipping is neither required, nor expected

Complimentary premium spirits and fine wines available on board at all times

Meticulous and purposeful adventurers' resort at sea designed for the luxury traveler with unique attributes and spaces to enhance your experience

Spa & Wellness with Dr. Andrew Weil , featuring an exclusive mindful living program**

, featuring an exclusive mindful living program** Committed to environmental stewardship and sustainability

* At the Captain's discretion

** Optional programs, for additional charge

IMAGES HERE

SOURCE Seabourn
INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Farm Aid's deadline to make advance requests for credentials to attend this year's music, farm and food festival is Wednesday, Sept. 6. After this date, media who apply for credentials will incur a $30 fee.

All media attending the festival are required to obtain Farm Aid-issued press credentials, which will only be distributed to working reporters and photographers. The credentialing applications for Farm Aid 2023 can be completed online at www.farmaid.org/media. Festival media policies are also available for download.

Farm Aid 2023 will take place in Noblesville, Indiana on September 23 (PRNewsfoto/Farm Aid)

Farm Aid 2023, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 23, at Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana, will bring together family farmers and musician activists, with performances by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), and Margo Price, as well as Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros featuring The Wolfpack, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson, Allison Russell, The String Cheese Incident, and Particle Kid.

Additionally, Clayton Anderson, The Black Opry featuring Lori Rayne, Tylar Bryant and Kyshona, The Jim Irsay Band featuring Ann Wilson of Heart, Native Pride Productions, and the Wisdom Indian Dancers will all join this year's star-studded lineup.

Members of the media who pre-register will receive credentials on the day of the festival at Ruoff Music Center. All freelance reporters and photographers must pre-register and provide proof of assignment. A limited number of credentials will be available at the venue for reporters only on the day of the show. Information about the time and location of media credentialing, as well as parking information and a schedule of events, will be made available to pre-registered media in September.

For event updates, follow Farm Aid on Twitter (@FarmAid), Facebook (facebook.com/farmaid) and Instagram (instagram.com/farmaid), and visit farmaid.org/festival. Festivalgoers are encouraged to use the hashtags #FarmAid2023 and #Road2FarmAid to join the conversation on social media around this year's festival.

Farm Aid's mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price host an annual festival to raise funds to support Farm Aid's work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. For more than 35 years, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $70 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.

SOURCE Farm Aid
The American Cancer Society's Dr. Lorelei Mucci stresses the need for early detection, screening, and prevention strategies, especially among at-risk communities.

ATLANTA, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the United States. According to the latest research from scientists at the American Cancer Society (ACS), more than 288,000 men will be diagnosed with the disease this year, with close to 35,000 deaths. Black men are two times more likely to die from the disease than White men and have the highest death rate for prostate cancer of any racial and ethnic group. However, when prostate cancer is detected early, the odds of survival are high. In fact, more than 3.5 million men diagnosed with the disease in the U.S. are still alive today.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the United States. According to the latest research from scientists at the American Cancer Society (ACS), more than 288,000 men will be diagnosed with the disease this year, with close to 35,000 deaths. Black men are two times more likely to die from the disease than White men and have the highest death rate for prostate cancer of any racial and ethnic group.

Renowned prostate cancer researcher Dr. Lorelei Mucci is the director of strategic research partnerships at the American Cancer Society. Her role includes leading an ACS initiative called IMPACT, or "Improving Mortality Toward Prostate Cancer Together" to address the alarming negative trends in prostate cancer incidence and disparities. For Prostate Cancer Awareness Month Dr. Mucci reviews the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer, including important information about risk factors, PSA screening, and more:

1-Why is it important every September during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month to help people learn about the disease?

Despite the alarming statistics concerning the disease, there are opportunities for prevention, early detection, and treatment to improve survival and survivorship and to reduce the burden this cancer has across the U.S. and the globe. Prostate Cancer Awareness Month is so important to have a focused time for men and their families to share knowledge, experiences, and state of science on this important cancer. It is also a time to reflect upon the people who have been impacted by prostate cancer and who have lost their lives to the disease. Also, Prostate Cancer Awareness Month can be an important stimulus to remind public health professionals and government leaders of the need to invest in prevention, early detection, treatment, and improving survivorship.

2- What are the warning signs of prostate cancer?

For some men, prostate cancer may lead to urinary problems, such as having difficulty starting urination or urinating frequently, or pain during ejaculation. This is because of the location of the prostate close to the bladder and urethra. These symptoms and signs also occur with non-cancer conditions, so it is important to follow up with a physician to find out what might be causing these symptoms. If a cancer has already grown beyond the prostate, there may be pain in the hips, back, or other areas that does not go away. For most people, however, there are no signs or symptoms indicating prostate cancer and the cancer is diagnosed with a biopsy following an abnormal blood test.

3- Who is at risk for prostate cancer? Anyone with a prostate is at risk of prostate cancer, and it is one of the most common cancers. There are some groups that are at higher risk of prostate cancer. For example, our latest research shows Black men and those of African ancestry are 70% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Also, the risk of prostate cancer gets higher with age. In addition, people with a family history of prostate cancer (such as in their brother or father) as well as a family history of breast cancer in a sister or mother, are at higher risk of prostate cancer. Part of the family history is due to inherited genetic factors or gene mutations that we now know about. An important note is that while age, family history, and race/ancestry are not modifiable factors (things you can change), there are other factors such as maintaining a healthy body weight, not smoking, and being physically active that can help to offset this higher risk.

4- What is the treatment for prostate cancer? Have there been any advancements in treating the disease? There are effective treatments for prostate cancer. When the cancer is still confined to the prostate (localized), surgery (radical prostatectomy) and certain forms of radiation are useful to treat and cure prostate cancer. For men who have a low risk of their prostate cancer metastasizing, active surveillance - in which a patient is closely monitored for signs of cancer progression - can also be an important treatment to consider. When the cancer is more aggressive, there are additional therapies that are used, including therapies that target hormonal pathways, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiopharmaceutical therapies. In fact, this is an exciting time in prostate cancer with substantial progress in the discovery and approval of new therapies over the past 5-10 years, as well as several other therapies being developed.

5- Is there a screening test for prostate cancer? Why is it important to catch it early?

Currently, the main screening test for prostate cancer involves taking a blood sample and testing it for the level of a marker called prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Higher levels of PSA in the blood can indicate prostate cancer, but also may be higher in benign conditions such as an enlarged prostate, so it is important to follow up with a doctor to discuss the results and the next steps. There is good evidence showing that regular PSA screening can reduce prostate cancer mortality, including from randomized trials. However, there is some controversy with screening for prostate cancer since the test can pick up slower-growing cancers that will never lead to harm. An area of active research now is aiming to do more effective screening approaches, targeting the men who are at the highest risk of prostate cancer and then also safely letting people know they can screen less regularly. The ACS launched the "I Love You, Get Screened" campaign to encourage everyone to talk to their loved ones about cancer screening.

6- What age should men be screened for prostate cancer?

The ACS recommends that men at average risk for prostate cancer discuss the benefits and limitations of screening with their healthcare provider at age 50. Men at high risk (which includes Black men in general and any man with a first-degree relative who had prostate cancer before age 65) should have the conversation at age 45. Black men with a family history of breast, ovarian, or prostate cancer, and men with more than one first-degree relative who had prostate cancer at an early age should discuss screening at age 40. Detecting prostate cancer early can lead to more effective treatment and improved outcomes.

7- What is the ACS doing to combat prostate cancer?

To address the burden of prostate cancer for all men and the large racial disparities that exist, we established the IMPACT initiative. This cross-institution initiative will address urgent unmet needs with the goals of significantly improving outcomes for all men including survivorship and survival; reducing disparities; improving diversity in prostate cancer clinical trials; accelerating engagement and awareness and accelerating the implementation of known prevention strategies into at-risk communities.

For more information on prostate cancer, go to https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/prostate-cancer.html.

About the American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society is a leading cancer-fighting organization with a vision to end cancer as we know it, for everyone. For more than 100 years, we have been improving the lives of people with cancer and their families as the only organization combating cancer through advocacy, research, and patient support. We are committed to ensuring everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer. To learn more, visit cancer.org or call our 24/7 helpline at 1-800-227-2345. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

SOURCE American Cancer Society
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING MATERIAL

MAUI, Hawaii, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Singleton Schreiber's team of Maui Wildfire Attorneys is taking Hawaiian Electric Company to task for admitting the utility company caused the Maui wildfire while pointing fingers at firefighters in an attempt to defer blame.

Hawaiian Electric Company released a statement on Sunday, August 27, acknowledging its power lines started a wildfire in Maui. However, it also blamed county firefighters for declaring the blaze was "contained" and leaving the scene prematurely.

"This is a truly unique failure of leadership," said Wailuku-based attorney Paul Starita. "Passing the buck is not what those impacted by the wildfires need right now. They need leaders who will take responsibility for what happened and work to ensure Maui is rebuilt for local residents."

In the statement, the utility giant claimed:

Maui County's lawsuit against it was "factually and legally irresponsible"

lawsuit against it was "factually and legally irresponsible" Blamed Maui County for most of the devastation

for most of the devastation Firefighters failed to put the fire out properly

"Hawaiian Electric Company's executives should be embarrassed by the statement and report they put out," said Singleton Schreiber managing partner Gerald Singleton. "To acknowledge they started the fire, only to attempt to backtrack and point fingers is making this process more difficult and creating turmoil at a time when that is the last thing the people need."

Singleton Schreiber attorneys currently have three lawsuits filed against Hawaiian Electric Industries, Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawai'i Electric Light Company, and Maui Electric Company, holding these utilities responsible for the injuries, wrongful death and severe environmental impact of the Maui fires. These lawsuits allege the utilities failed to properly maintain their equipment, failed to adhere to proper procedure and failed to react to the severe winds from Hurricane Dora.

Those lawsuits are:

Lawrence Michael Janto C, Individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Lawrenzo Mornaon Jantoc II v. Hawaiian Electric Industries, Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawai'i Electric Light Company, Maui Electric Company , Second Circuit Court of Hawai'i, Case No. 2CCV-23-0000237

, Second Circuit Court of Hawai'i, Case No. 2CCV-23-0000237 Darlene Gomes , Paula Jelsma , Anderson Byrne and Saif Shaban v. Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., Hawai'i Electric Light Company, Maui Electric Company , Second Circuit Court of State of Hawaii , District of Lahaina , Case No. 2CCV-23-0000225

, Second Circuit Court of , District of , Case No. 2CCV-23-0000225 Gilberto Sanchez et al. v. Hawaiian Electric Industries, Hawaiian Electric Company, Hawai'i Electric Light Company, Maui Electric Company, Second Circuit Court of Hawai'i, Case No. 2CCV-23-0000234.

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This is attorney advertising material. Paul Starita, Esq., a Hawaii-licensed lawyer, is responsible for the contents of this article.

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SOURCE Singleton Schreiber
Starting from September, the government's anti-corruption bureau will take on the role of overseeing party finances, a responsibility previously held by the audit function. Specifically, political parties will be obligated to submit detailed reports of their incomes, expenses, and political donations to the Anti-Corruption Bureau. These reports must comprehensively outline expenditures, income sources, and contributions.Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the Georgian Dream party, stated that this action aligns with the recommendations provided by the European Union."The European Union recommended consolidating anti-corruption functions within the anti-corruption service. This involved not only establishing a distinct service but also merging functions. One of these functions includes the oversight of party finances.Hence, in accordance with the European Union's guidance, this responsibility was transferred from the audit service to the anti-corruption service. In other words, this task will no longer remain under the audit service but will be shifted to the anti-corruption service," Kobakhidze stated.In response to Grigory Karasin's statement, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of 'Georgian Dream', dismissed the significance of such remarks, asserting that he doesn't lend weight to such comments.Grigory Karasin, who leads the International Committee of the Russian Council, conveyed to Sputnik that Russia is actively working towards garnering recognition of the so-called Republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by countries like China and India."We have heard such statements. The most important thing for us is that Georgia has successfully adhered to the non-recognition policy for all these years. Thanks to our government's non-recognition policy, the number of countries recognizing the so-called independence has not increased in all these years," Kobakhidze said."Despite these statements, we will continue our successful non-recognition policy. We have heard these remarks, but our non-recognition policy has been successful regardless. This is their business; I will not delve into their statements. I focus on understanding our non-recognition policy, and this policy is achieving significant success," he emphasized.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Armenia should provide information about the places of mass burial for casualties, the wife of the missing captain Aydin Rahimov, Shalala Rahimova told Trend.

Aydin Rahimov went missing on March 3, 1993, in the battles for Azerbaijans Aghdere.

"Armenia should provide us with information about the mass burial casualties. The International Committee of the Red Cross should also provide support in this matter. So far, no information has been provided to us on this matter," Rahimova said.

August 30 is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsperson) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Sabina Aliyeva has prepared a report on Azerbaijanis missing during the first Karabakh war, which was addressed to relevant international organizations.
SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Taejae University, Korea's first 4-year accredited university focused on nurturing future leaders, held an entrance ceremony for its first cohort of new students today in advance of the university's official opening in September. Only 32 students were admitted to the inaugural class, following a rigorous selection process to identify talented students with high potential to become thoughtful and innovative leaders.

Taejae University was founded with the express purpose of cultivating its students into the 1% of global leaders, capable of leading with empathy and critical thinking skills. To achieve this, the university has developed an innovative curriculum focused on fostering international cooperation between the East and West, with the use of a single language of instruction  English  and with a strong focus on the use of advanced digital tools and an educational program based on Environmental, Social, and Governance.

This innovative educational approach has already garnered significant attention from leading figures from the global education sector. Tony F. Chan, president of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, addressed students directly in a video message at the entrance ceremony, speaking supportively of the university's direction. "Taejae University's vital vision is to nurture future leaders, and each one of you holds extraordinary promise to contribute in your own unique way to the betterment of humanity," he said, adding that "The university I lead also looks to the future, searching for answers to humanity's greatest questions and challenges. In this way, I believe our schools share both an innovative educational approach, and a deep desire to serve humanity and our planet."

June E Huh, winner of the prestigious Fields Medal and professor of mathematics at Princeton University, also addressed students in a recorded message, advising them to "embrace uncertainty and stay present and open."

The entrance ceremony even received a variety of messages from high level global leaders, including former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Lee Ju-Ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education of South Korea, and Chey Tae-Won Chairman and CEO of SK Inc. In his video, Chey said the eyes of the world would be on Taejae University's first class, expressing his hopes and expectations for them to grow into global leaders of exceptional talent and capability.

Ban Ki-Moon spoke about Taejae University's leadership role. "Taejae University is a pioneer, a builder, and the presenter of a new paradigm in higher education for the 21st century marking a milestone on the long road to true higher education," he said, adding "I'm confident that Taejae graduates will be future global leaders who contribute to the building of a greater society."

Lee Ju-Ho talked about Korea's high hopes for Taejae University and its first class of students. "Society as a whole holds high expectations for you, recognizing your value as invaluable assets to propel Korea forward," he said, adding "we anticipate that you will amass knowledge, embrace diverse experiences, and develop into exceptional talent."

Taejae University President Yeom Jae-ho also addressed the students by looking ahead to their bright future. "Where will you stand in four years' time?" he asked them directly. "We are beginning something entirely new, and together I believe we will make a huge difference."

During their four years at Taejae University, students are expected to reside for periods of time with students from diverse backgrounds at residential campuses in Seoul, Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, and Moscow, as part of the school's Global Engagement Program. The goal is to immerse students into the local milieu while helping them develop global, field-oriented theoretical knowledge and practical problem-solving skills. Additionally, all classes are conducted in English and held online with 20 or fewer students. The program is designed to be highly interactive and discussion based.

To date, the university has received hundreds of applications from graduates of prestigious universities around the world, including Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Oxford, and Cambridge, to become professors at Taejae University. In addition to full-time professors, there are many adjunct professors with masters-level degrees coming from both academic and industry backgrounds. The university continues to invite distinguished faculty members to join in fostering future innovative talent.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197600/Taejae_University_Logo.jpg

PDF - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197601/2__Summary_of_the_1st_Taejae_University_Matriculation_Ceremony_Congratulatory_Remarks___About_Taejae.pdf

SOURCE TAEJAE University
The accolades are a testament to the leading global ESG firm's commitment to helping businesses take measurable, proactive steps in their sustainability journeys

CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sphera, a leading global provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and risk management software, data and consulting services, today announced that it has received a Sustainability Leadership Award from the Business Intelligence Group for the second consecutive year.

The Sustainability Awards honor those people, teams and organizations who have made sustainability an integral part of their business practice or overall mission. Sphera received this recognition for its efforts helping companies to understand, improve and report on their corporate sustainability performance. Sphera's combination of software, data and consulting services empowers businesses to set and achieve meaningful ESG and sustainability goals.

Sphera helps companies to understand, improve and report on their corporate sustainability performance. Post this

With a spotlight on sustainability and mounting investor and regulatory scrutiny, companies are under tremendous pressure to proactively reduce the environmental impact of their products. The ability to analyze Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions at the product level helps reduce the risk of shifting the environmental burden from one resource to another.

Sphera empowers businesses to measure their carbon footprint at the product level through innovative solutions. For example, Sphera's LCA Automation solution gives manufacturers with complex supply chains a complete view of their portfolio's environmental footprint, allowing them to minimize emissions and maximize sustainable production practices. Comprehensive LCAs allow businesses to systematically analyze the potential environmental impacts of their products during the entire life cycle and are a key part of any decarbonization strategy. However, traditional LCAs can take experts anywhere from 3-6 months or more to complete for a single product, so it can take years for a team of experts to complete LCAs for an organization's entire portfolio.

With over 15,000 annually updated data sets, Sphera's LCA Automation solution fully integrates with the customer's business systems and can consume differently structured data without needing customization, allowing the automatic import, conversion and use of product, production and supplier data to create the desired LCA output. This has an immediate impact on companies' ability to run LCAs at scale.

"We are honored to be recognized consecutively as a global sustainability leader by Business Intelligence Group," said Paul Marushka, Sphera's CEO and president. "Mounting regulations and pressures have necessitated progressively sophisticated and granular reporting and compliance tools. As companies work toward net-zero goals, they need solutions that provide standardization and digitalization of end-to-end sustainability data measurement and reportinga need Sphera delivers on. Enabling transparent ESG and sustainability reporting efforts that empower companies to make meaningful change is crucial to our mission of creating a safer, more sustainable and productive world."

"We are proud to reward and recognize Sphera once again for their sustainability efforts," said Maria Jimenez, Chief Nominations Officer, Business Intelligence Group. "It was clear to our judges that their vision and strategy will continue to support businesses in their sustainability journeys and deliver results toward a cleaner, more sustainable society."

About Sphera

Sphera is the leading provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and risk management software, data and consulting services focusing on Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability (EHS&S), Operational Risk Management (ORM), Product Stewardship and Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM). For more than 30 years, we have served over 7,000 customers and a million-plus users in 80 countries to help companies keep their people safe, their products sustainable and their operations productive. Learn more about Sphera at www.sphera.com. Follow Sphera on LinkedIn.

About Business Intelligence Group

The Business Intelligence Group was founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and superior performance in the business world. Unlike other industry award programs, business executivesthose with experience and knowledgejudge the programs. The organization's proprietary and unique scoring system selectively measures performance across multiple business domains and then rewards those companies whose achievements stand above those of their peers.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Evan Neville

[email protected]

SOURCE Sphera
Roster of speakers includes leading psychologist Carol Dweck, Gizmodo editor-in-chief Dan Ackerman, and executive director of The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program Josh Wyner

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- From topics on leaders as culture agents to Dungeons & Dragons as a teaching mechanism, SXSW EDU is excited to unveil the initial lineup of Featured Sessions selected for its upcoming conference and festival taking place from March 4-7, 2024. Reviewed and chosen via the PanelPicker process, these sessions were not only picked from what was a highly competitive submission pool this year but are also representative of the critical topics that the event will address, including the idea of the growth mindset, the impact of collaborative storytelling, and the critical importance of community colleges. These sessions all celebrate adventurous and less traditional routes toward learning.

"Education is a constantly evolving field with a breadth of influences that seem to expand by the day. We have seen this directly reflected in the sheer amount and variety of PanelPicker submissions this year. With this first round of Featured Sessions, we are already setting the stage for wide-ranging conversations that encapsulate the many facets of creating prosperous communities through education," said Greg Rosenbaum, senior director of SXSW EDU.

This year, SXSW EDU saw significant growth in both PanelPicker submissions and community voting. The conference and festival received 1,677 proposals, a 33% increase over last year, and proposed sessions received 53,878 public votes, a significant increase from last year's total of 39,639 public votes. The following Featured Sessions were selected to be a part of the growing lineup for both their continuation of the discussions started at the 2023 event, such as gamification in the classroom and alternative pathways, and their unique take on some of the 12 recurring and newly introduced tracks making up the 2024 conference and festival. Announced Featured Sessions include:

Does Your Classroom and School Have a Culture of Growth?  Global best-selling author Carol Dweck joins her protege, Mary Murphy , to launch and discuss Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Transforms Individuals, Teams, and Organizations , Mary's new follow-up to Carol's transformative book, Mindset . In this interview-style session, the two will cover the idea of mindset as culture and strategies and practices.

 Global best-selling author joins her protege, , to launch and discuss , Mary's new follow-up to Carol's transformative book, . In this interview-style session, the two will cover the idea of mindset as culture and strategies and practices. Takeaways From Our Freshman Year of D&D in Schools  In early fall 2022, teachers were able to download Dungeons & Dragons-inspired teaching kits at no cost. Now, the leaders behind Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast , Dan Rawson and Shelly Mazzanoble , along with Sioux Falls Public Schools educator Kade Wells , and Gizmodo editor-in-chief Dan Ackerman , will gather to examine the outcome. They will look at how students from all economic and cultural backgrounds were able to participate in developing storytelling, language arts, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills.

 In early fall 2022, teachers were able to download Dungeons & Dragons-inspired teaching kits at no cost. Now, the leaders behind Dungeons & Dragons, , and , along with Public Schools educator , and Gizmodo editor-in-chief , will gather to examine the outcome. They will look at how students from all economic and cultural backgrounds were able to participate in developing storytelling, language arts, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. Promise & Peril: The Potential of Our Community Colleges  Although low-cost, diverse community colleges educate 40 percent of undergrads, they face an array of challenges, such as dropping enrollment rates. The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program's Josh Wyner and Pascale Charlot come together with the Chancellor of Austin Community College District, Russell Lowery-Hart , to chat about the role these colleges play in advancing economic mobility and the ways they can advance forward.

To learn more about the exciting 2024 program, please visit sxswedu.com/program.

About SXSW EDU:

The SXSW EDU Conference & Festival is a reflection of the world's most critical social issues as seen through the lens of education. This year's event will bring together the learner, the practitioner, the entrepreneur, and the visionary to share their groundbreaking stories, tackle complex issues, and build reimagined paths forward. As a community of diverse people who are united around a like-minded vision for the future, SXSW EDU serves as a place for attendees to renew their purpose in practice from both a personal and professional perspective. It is a place to reinforce the core principles of teaching and learning as well as an opportunity to express your creativity and passion for education. Join the passionate and innovative community at SXSW EDU, March 4-7, 2024.

Contact:

Liz Stein

SXSW EDU Press & Publicity

[email protected]

240-461-3053

SOURCE SXSW EDU
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tenant, Inc., the only purpose-built SaaS technology platform company which offers a complete ecosystem tailored to the self-storage industry, will be exhibiting at Booth #361 of the Self Storage Association (SSA) Fall Conference & Expo.

This year's Self Storage Association (SSA) Fall Conference & Expo takes place September 5-8, 2023, at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The SSA Fall Conference & Expo is one of the largest annual self-storage events, with educational sessions and exhibits for self-storage operators and investors.

Visitors to the Tenant, Inc. booth will be able to see how Tenant, Inc.'s self-storage software platform performs as a turn-key, holistic system which facilitates anything from online rentals, promotions, and facility automation to protection plans and payment processing. The result is an easy-to-use property management and website experience to help self-storage owners reduce costs and increase profits.

Tenant, Inc. staff will be available to book in-person meetings and product demos both during and around regular trade show hours.

Attendees visiting the Tenant booth will also be among the first to see the newly released Revenue Management Automation features within Tenant's Hummingbird Property Management System, which allow self-storage operators to set rates and rents based on occupancy levels and other customizable factors.

"We created the Tenant, Inc., platform to integrate all the components a self-storage operator needs into an intuitive software platform, while simultaneously delivering a seamless consumer rental experience," said Lance Watkins, Tenant, Inc.'s CEO. "Our solution elevates self-storage operators out of the mode of buying one disjointed technology after another to run their business, in favor of a single solution that meets all their needs."

Tenant, Inc.'s goal has always been to provide its customers with freedom and choice in their software and to enable profitability. Tenant's open platform is designed to create customizable solutions through a suite of products that optimize how owners run their businesses, and customers always own their data.

Also featured at Tenant, Inc.'s booth #361 will be Storelocal, a membership community created and led by self-storage operators. Storelocal provides solutions for members to compete on a much larger scale, from community membership to brand licensing.

About the Self Storage Association (SSA)

For more than 40 years the Self Storage Association (SSA) has served as the official trade organization and voice of the U.S. and international self storage industry. The national SSA is formally affiliated with 40 state associations within the United States. In addition to its U.S. relationships, the SSA is affiliated with 9 international organizations representing another 12,000 self storage facilities worldwide. The SSA sponsors two national events each year. In September, industry professionals gather in Las Vegas for the SSA Annual Fall Conference & Trade Show, and the Spring Self Storage Conference & Trade Show located in various cities east of the Mississippi.

To learn more about the SSA Fall Conference, please visit selfstorageevents.org

About Tenant, Inc.

Tenant Inc. offers a cloud-based, all-in-one digital technology platform purpose-built for the self-storage industry. Tenant, Inc. provides a single platform of software as a service (SaaS) products, self storage website, and technology solutions that give self storage operators everything they need to run their business across point of sale, operations, and online rentals.

To learn more, please visit tenantinc.com

SOURCE Tenant Inc.
The Strongest Voice and Supporter of U.S. Women Entrepreneurs Is Bringing Its Signature Event to Austin



AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In a 2023 survey conducted by Bank of America, nearly two-thirds of women business owners across the country said they anticipate increased revenue over the next 12 months despite an ever-changing economic landscape. In fact, 44% said that they plan to expand their business in the year ahead. That's the kind of optimism and energy that will be in Austin, Texas at National Women's Business Conference hosted by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) this October 15-17, where Bank of America is the lead sponsor for the 11th consecutive year as well as this year's NextGen Forum presenting sponsor.

As the strongest voice and supporter of our nation's women business owners for nearly 50 years, NAWBO is proud to bring together hundreds of members and non-membersof all ages, sizes, stages and industriesto this signature event designed to power their dreams. There will be opportunities to:

Nearly two-thirds of women business owners said they anticipate increased revenue over the next 12 months Post this

connect with like-minded women

be inspired by amazing speakers

access valuable partner resources

network and shop in exhibit hall

celebrate remarkable women

enjoy food and music at receptions

participate in wellness activities

The keynote speakers are always a conference highlight, and for 2023, NAWBO is thrilled to have Dr. Martha Beck. The New York Times bestselling author has spent her career helping thousands of people create their best lives. Her published works include self-help books and memoirs, including her latest, The Way of Integrity: Find the Path to Your True Self.

Additionally, a panel of Texas women business owners will share how they're innovating and inspiring through big, bold moves, plus Sharon Miller and Mei Xu will engage in a fireside chat. Sharon is Bank of America's President of Small Business Banking and Head of Specialty Banking & Lending who was recently named to Forbes' 50 Over 50: Investment list, while Mei is a Chinese emigrant who innovated to become a multi-million-dollar business owner, then chose to start over.

For young women entrepreneurs, NAWBO is hosting a NextGen Forum on Day 2 of the conference. This event is designed to develop entrepreneurial curiosity, confidence and mindset through life-changing connections, education and resources. For those in high school, college or graduate school who already own a business, are on an entrepreneurship education track or are interested in starting a business in the next three years, apply for a scholarship here . The deadline has been extended into early September.

These events are only possible with sponsors who support NAWBO's mission. A special thanks to Bank of America, AARP, Dell, Cultivate Advisors, UPS, Wells Fargo, Master Your Card, Meta, TriNet, B2B Reviews, Frost Brown Todd, One Page Business Pan, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, United Franchise Group, Southwest Airlines and Enterprising Women, Texas CEO, Professional Women's and Latina Style magazines. Also, to FICO, a NextGen Forum partner, and Highnote, our print partner.

"Bank of America is thrilled to continue supporting the National Women's Business Conference," said Jill Calabrese Bain, Managing Director, Small Business, Specialty Banking & Lending, Bank of America. "Our partnership with NAWBO is critical to our work of helping women entrepreneurs nationwide access the tools, resources and expertise they need to make every move matter."

Registration is filling up for both the National Women's Business Conference and NextGen Forum. Learn more here and here and register to join us. For questions about advertising and sponsorship, please reach out to [email protected].

About NAWBO

Founded in 1975, NAWBO is the unified voice of America's more than 14 million women-owned businesses representing the fastest growing segment of the economy. NAWBO is the only dues-based organization representing the interests of all women entrepreneurs across all industries. NAWBO develops programs that help navigate women entrepreneurs through the various stages of their business growth. To learn more, please visit www.nawbo.org.

SOURCE National Association of Women Business Owners
NEW YORK, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tourettes syndrome drugs market size is expected to grow by USD 598.85 million during 2022-2027, progressing at a CAGR of 6.69%. North America is anticipated to contribute significantly during the forecast period, accounting for 43% of the global market growth. With a prominent share, North America emerged as the leader in the global Tourettes syndrome drugs market. This prominence can be attributed to factors like the region's increased incidences of Tourettes syndrome, a well-informed population, beneficial governmental initiatives encompassing reimbursements, and advanced healthcare infrastructure. The substantial growth of the market is also influenced by the positive impact of healthcare facilities in the United States, catalyzed by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. This shift has compelled medical providers to offer cost-effective technologies and services without compromising therapeutic efficacy. The rising awareness about Tourette syndrome will drive the growth of the global Tourette's syndrome drugs market. For more insights on market size - Request the Sample Report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Tourettes Syndrome Drugs Market 2023-2027

Tourettes Syndrome Drugs Market: Segmentation Analysis

Technavio has segmented the Tourettes syndrome drugs market by Product (Antipsychotics and Non-antipsychotics), Distribution Channel (Offline and Online), and Geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW)). The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all segments to the growth of the global tourettes syndrome drugs market.

For details on market drivers, trends and challenges, get the sample report here

Tourettes Syndrome Drugs Market: Company Analysis

The report further provides comprehensive evaluations of the market's competitive environment, along with insights on major companies in the market, including:

Asarina Pharma AB

AstraZeneca

Bausch Health Co. Inc.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Emalex Biosciences Inc.

H Lundbeck AS

Johnson and Johnson Services Inc.

Medtronic Plc

Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd.

Paragon Biosciences LLC

Questex LLC

Reviva Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Buy the full report now and make informed decisions

Related Reports:

Vertigo Drugs Market: The global vertigo drugs market size is estimated to grow by USD 551.42 million at a CAGR of 5.58% between 2022 and 2027. The growing demand for vertigo drugs in developing countries is a major factor driving the global vertigo drugs market.

Wilsons Disease (WD) Drugs Market: The global Wilson's disease drugs market size is estimated to grow by USD 179.97 million at a CAGR of 6.32% between 2022 and 2027. One of the driving factors for the growth of the market is growing awareness among individuals about the treatment of Wilson's disease.

Table of Contents:

1 Executive Summary

2 Market Landscape

3 Market Sizing

4 Historic Market Size

5 Five Forces Analysis

6 Market Segmentation by Product

7 Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

8 Customer Landscape

9 Geographic Landscape

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

11 Company Landscape

12 Company Analysis

13 Appendix

About Technavio

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.

Contacts

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
Transamerica accelerates growth to build America's leading middle market life insurance and retirement company.

The retirement plan provider enhances annual workplace benefits campaign to boost American workers' access to tax-deferred savings programs.

BALTIMORE, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Transamerica, renowned for its retirement, investment, and insurance solutions, today announces the return of its successful campaign targeted at helping small businesses gain a competitive edge in the job market. The decision to continue this initiative is based on its overwhelmingly positive response last year.

"At Aegon's recent Capital Markets Day, the company outlined plans to accelerate Transamerica's growth and build America's leading middle market life and retirement company. We are laser-focused on making that happen," said Phil Eckman, president of Workplace Solutions at Transamerica. "Our small business incentive campaign, called 401(k)ares, is designed for everyday Main Street employers seeking to attract and retain employees as they focus on growing their business."

Transamerica aims to grow its retirement business, providing recordkeeping and investment services for US defined contribution plans and advice to plan participants.

Beginning September 1, the campaign offers valuable incentives to encourage employees to save more towards retirement and medical costs. For the remainder of the year, small businesses that choose Transamerica as their retirement plan provider will have specific HSA/FSA administration and participant fees waived for two full quarters.

Additionally, Transamerica will offer its Plan Administration Service Support (PASS) communication services free of charge during the retirement plan's conversion period. This offer will be in conjunction with Transamerica's third party administrator partners, who as part of this campaign, will receive additional credits for transferring existing retirement plans.

New this year, TPA partners who transition an employer's SIMPLE retirement plan to a Transamerica retirement plan will receive a credit of $250 in addition to any credits they may already receive. The SIMPLE plan must terminate in 2023 and transition to the Transamerica plan in 2024 to qualify for the credit.

Health and medical savings accounts offer substantial tax savings, empowering employees to pay for current eligible medical expenses or invest and save for future health expenses in retirement. Employee contributions to these accounts accumulate and grow tax-free until used for allowable medical expenses, even during retirement years. This factor makes health savings accounts a powerful component to offsetting medical costs in retirement that Medicare does not cover.

"Transamerica is committed to helping everyone secure a financially stable future, and our special offering for small businesses reflects that pledge," said Eckman. We believe all American workers need access to tax-deferred workplace savings programs, and this opportunity helps both employers and employees build a more secure future."

Transamerica is a leading provider of financial services, including retirement plans, insurance, and investment solutions. With a long-standing commitment to innovation and customer service, Transamerica empowers individuals and businesses to build a better financial future.

Employers are encouraged to contact financial professionals for more information or call Transamerica at (888) 401-5826.

About Transamerica

With a history that dates back more than 100 years, Transamerica is a leading provider of life insurance, retirement, and investment solutions, serving millions of customers throughout the United States. Transamerica's dedicated professionals focus on helping people live their best lives through saving, investing, and protecting their loved ones. Transamerica is dedicated to building America's leading middle market life insurance and retirement company, providing a broad range of quality individual life insurance policies, workplace supplemental insurance benefits, workplace retirement plans, individual retirement accounts, and investment products, including mutual funds, annuities, stable value solutions, as well as investment management services.

In 2022, Transamerica fulfilled its promises to customers, paying more than $46 billion in insurance, retirement, and annuity claims and benefits, including return of annuity premiums paid by the customer. Transamerica's head office is in Baltimore, Maryland, with other major operations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Denver, Colorado. Transamerica is part of the Aegon group of companies. Each Aegon company is solely responsible for its own financial conditions and contractual obligations. Based in the Netherlands, Aegon is an international financial services holding company. Retirement plan products and services are offered through Transamerica Retirement Solutions, LLC. Health savings products and services offered through Transamerica Health Savings Solutions, LLC. All Transamerica companies identified are affiliated.

For more information, visit www.transamerica.com .

Media inquiries:

Email: [email protected]

Hank Williams

(319) 355-7789

Erin Yang

(303) 383-5295

SOURCE Transamerica
TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Partnering with Combat Medics Sergii Rotchuk and Yevhen Chudnetsov, both National Guard of Ukraine Azov Assault Brigade veterans who bravely survived the siege of Mariupol and the final stand at the Azovstal Steel Plant, Montgomery Leija as CEO of Delta Development Team is leading the effort to introduce Autonomous Portable Refrigeration Units (APRUs) to the front lines. Over the last year, DDT has been coordinating with organizations to donate several life-saving medical devices to the frontlines in Ukraine, including another just this month.

Life-Saving Devices to Ukraine's Frontlines Thanks to Tucson Arizona Team Post this The APRU heading to Ukraine's frontlines

Sergii Rotchuk and Yevhen Chudnetsov, combat medics with firsthand experience of the horrors of warfare, recognized the critical importance of innovative medical solutions to save lives in the heat of battle. Their experiences during the siege of Mariupol and the final stand at the Azovstal Steel Plant highlighted the urgent need for advanced medical tools that could make a difference in life-or-death situations.

Partnering with Monti Leija and his team at Delta Development Team was a natural fit. The collaboration has resulted in the successful fielding of APRUs, blood warmers, and Farma Field Transfusion Kits directly to the front lines, where medics and healthcare professionals are already utilizing them. These tools are designed to function optimally even in the most challenging and austere environments, ensuring medical personnel have the necessary resources to provide critical care without delay.

Monti's dedication to the project and his unwavering commitment to enhancing medical capabilities have been instrumental in turning this initiative into a reality. His experience as a former Green Beret and his leadership at Delta Development Team has contributed to successfully implementing these advanced medical solutions in a high-stakes and demanding setting.

Anastasia Zimina, an NAEMT TCCC Instructor and Farma Field Transfusion Kit user has also played a vital role in this endeavor. Her expertise in medical training and innovative kit development has further enriched the capabilities of the medical teams on the front lines, enabling them to provide life-saving transfusions with efficiency and precision.

Monti Leija's journey from the battlefield to the healthcare sector continues to inspire. His remarkable story of heroism, adaptability, and dedication is a testament to the impact individuals with a strong sense of purpose can make. With the successful deployment of APRUs, blood warmers, and Farma kits in Ukraine, Monti, along with his dedicated team and partners, ensures that those who bravely put their lives on the line have a better chance of coming home alive.

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE Delta Development Team
SINGAPORE, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- utu, a Singapore-based travel-tech company, today announced that it is adding TAP Miles&Go, the frequent flyer program of TAP Air Portugal, to its list of global partners. The deal aims to now bring utu's unprecedented value proposition of offering rewards for tax-free shopping to TAP Miles&Go members.

TAP Miles&Go members can now leverage utu's cross-border rewards system to receive an enhanced value of US$125 for every US$100 of tax refunds while shopping overseas. By utilising the utu Tax Free Card as their preferred method of receiving tax refunds, TAP Miles&Go members will earn a remarkable 3,546 miles, equivalent to an 'upsized' refund of US$125.

Upsized benefits in fifty countries

The process is simple. To begin, TAP Air Portugal frequent flyers must first download the utu Tax Free mobile app via Google Play or the App Store and activate their utu Tax Free Card. When completing their tax refund form or using a tax refund kiosk, members only need to provide their utu Tax Free Card number and select TAP Miles&Go as their desired refund method from the utu app.

This exceptional benefit is available in over 50 countries where VAT or GST refunds are offered, including prominent destinations such as Singapore, France, Italy, Germany, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates.

"We are excited to team up with utu to bring our members this exclusive deal as we continuously strive to enhance the TAP Miles&Go program," said Pedro Ribeiro, Loyalty Director, TAP Miles&Go Program "This partnership allows our members to unlock additional benefits through tax-free shopping, increasing the value they receive while exploring new destinations."

utu's partnership with TAP Miles&Go offers an unparalleled incentive for members of the loyalty program. By leveraging the utu Tax Free Card, TAP Miles&Go members can now maximise their tax refunds while simultaneously earning significant miles, providing them with even more opportunities to enhance their travel experiences.

"We are pleased to partner with TAP Miles&Go to offer this opportunity to the members of their esteemed loyalty program," said Sanjay Chinchwade, CCO, Partnerships & utu Miles of utu. "This strategic partnership further solidifies our commitment to enhancing the travel experience and providing innovative solutions for travellers worldwide."

TAP Air Portugal is the second European Airline carrier to join utu's tax-refund revolution following a partnership with Flying Blue, the frequent flyer program for Franco-Dutch airline group Air France-KLM, with more partners in aviation and hospitality to be announced soon. Visit www.utu.global for the latest news and announcements.

About utu

utu (pronounced "you-too") is transforming tax-free shopping worldwide by empowering travellers with the freedom to obtain a higher VAT refund by going beyond digitising refunds to re-engineer the tax-free shopping value chain to benefit travellers. The utu management team has deep domain knowledge in tax-free shopping developed over 25 years of refunding VAT and GST worldwide. By bringing the worlds of refunds and rewards together, utu unlocks new value in rewards from retailers, airlines, hotels, and others. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Singapore, utu's products can be used in over 50 countries.

About TAP

TAP Air Portugal is a Portuguese airline and member of the Star Alliance since 2005. Operating since 1945, TAP has its hub in Lisbon, at the intersection of Africa, North, Central and South America, and is the leading provider of flights between Europe and Brazil. This summer, TAP offers more than 1250 frequencies per week through the Company's destination network, which comprises seven airports in Portugal, 10 in North America, 12 in Central and South America, 14 in Africa and the Middle East and 43 in Europe (besides Portugal). TAP has made a clear commitment to modernise its fleet and offer its customers the best product in the sector. The Portuguese airline operates one of the youngest fleets in the world, with the latest generation Airbus NEO aircraft: A320neo, A321neo, A321LR and A330neo, with superior efficiency and reduced emission levels. TAP also operates Embraer and ATR aircraft in its regional fleet (TAP Express). The company is considered by Airline Ratings the safest airline in Europe and the fifth safest in the world. TAP Air Portugal is also recognized and awarded as Europe's Leading Airline to Africa, as well as Europe's Leading Airline to South America by the World Travel Awards in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

SOURCE UTU
CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vacuum Contactor Market is projected to reach USD 5.5 billion in 2028 from USD 4.1 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 6.1% according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The Vacuum Contactor Market has promising growth potential due to the rising production of electric vehicles, initiatives by government, growing R & D investment in lithium-ion batteries.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Vacuum Contactor Market"

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55 - Figures

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Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=122809245

Vacuum Contactor Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Size USD 5.5 billion in 2028 Growth Rate 6.1% of CAGR Largest Market Asia Pacific Market Dynamics Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities & Challenges Forecast Period 2023-2028 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered Configuration, application, voltage rating, end-user, and region Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa. Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Harnessing the Potential of Vacuum Contactors in Smart Grids, IoT, and Emerging Markets Key Market Drivers Empowering Electrical Control

By configuration, the contactor fuse combination is anticipated to rule the Vacuum Contactor Market during the forecast period.

The Vacuum Contactor Market is dominated by the contactor fuse combination. Contactor-fuse combinations are pivotal for circuit protection and control. Contactors act as switches for current flow, while fuses prevent damage from overcurrent and short circuits. Integrating these in the Vacuum Contactor Market provides benefits like equipment protection, reduced downtime, and extended component lifespan by maintaining proper operation.

By application, the Vacuum Contactor Market for motors is anticipated to have the highest market share.

Motors make up the largest portion of the Vacuum Contactor Market. Vacuum contactors control electrical current to motors, ensuring seamless start-up, operation, and shutdown of motor-driven systems. They provide precise motor control, optimizing energy usage and minimizing electrical issues. Vital for managing circuits in machinery and equipment, vacuum contactors enable controlled activation and deactivation.

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The Asia-Pacific region holds the dominant position in the Vacuum Contactor Industry.

North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East & Africa, and South America are the five geographic areas in which the Vacuum Contactor Market has been examined in this report. The Asia-Pacific region's economic growth has spiked demand for energy and electrical equipment, including vacuum contactors, vital for expanding manufacturing and infrastructure. Urbanization fuels projects like commercial buildings, homes, and infrastructure, necessitating dependable electrical systems where vacuum contactors excel in motor control and circuit safety. The region's thriving industrial sectors - manufacturing, mining, and construction - rely on motor-driven machinery, relying on vacuum contactors for accurate control and protection. The Vacuum Contactor Market in Asia-Pacific is also stimulated by both local and foreign investments across various sectors.

Key Market Players:

The report includes profiles of some of the leading players in the Vacuum Contactor Companies to help readers gain a thorough understanding of the market's competitive environment.

ABB (Switzerland), Siemens (Germany), Eaton (Ireland), Schneider Electric (France), GE (US), and Mitsubishi Electric (Japan) are a few of the major players. The market's top players are using a variety of tactics to gain market share for vacuum contactor.

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Recent Developments

In July 2022 , TDK collaborates with students across diverse universities to cultivate innovative and sustainable mobility visions for the future. Through its sponsorship initiatives, TDK is championing the advancement of concepts encompassing Hyperloop technology, solar-powered solutions, and electric vehicles. TDK's involvement extends beyond mere support, encompassing the provision of components, expertise, and financial backing. Presently, teams at prestigious institutions like ETH Zurich in Switzerland , Leuven University of Technology in Belgium , and Aalen University of Applied Sciences in Germany are reaping the benefits of this comprehensive engagement.

, TDK collaborates with students across diverse universities to cultivate innovative and sustainable mobility visions for the future. Through its sponsorship initiatives, TDK is championing the advancement of concepts encompassing Hyperloop technology, solar-powered solutions, and electric vehicles. TDK's involvement extends beyond mere support, encompassing the provision of components, expertise, and financial backing. Presently, teams at prestigious institutions like in , Leuven University of Technology in , and Aalen in are reaping the benefits of this comprehensive engagement. In January 2023 , TDK has revealed its acquisition of Qeexo, Co., a notable pioneer in the realm of automated machine learning (ML) platforms, particularly focusing on tinyML models tailored for low-power, persistent intelligent devices. This strategic acquisition underscores TDK's ambition to fortify its ML prowess and optimize the process of ML application development, positioning the company as a front-runner in furnishing intelligent edge solution.

, TDK has revealed its acquisition of Qeexo, Co., a notable pioneer in the realm of automated machine learning (ML) platforms, particularly focusing on tinyML models tailored for low-power, persistent intelligent devices. This strategic acquisition underscores TDK's ambition to fortify its ML prowess and optimize the process of ML application development, positioning the company as a front-runner in furnishing intelligent edge solution. In May 2023 , Ampcontrol, now under full ownership of investment firm Washington H. Soul Pattinson since 2022, has marked its inaugural acquisition by procuring Androck Engineering & Mining Pty Limited, a Hunter-based enterprise. This deliberate acquisition harmonizes seamlessly with Ampcontrol's strategic trajectory for amplifying its presence and influence in the renewable energy manufacturing arena. It serves as a tangible manifestation of Ampcontrol's dedication to facilitating the worldwide shift toward a low-carbon economy.

Browse Adjacent Markets: Energy and Power Market Research Reports & Consulting

Related Reports:

Switchgear Market - Global Forecast to 2027

Portable Power Station Market - Global Forecast to 2028

Vacuum Interrupter Market - Global Forecast to 2025

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AGHDAM, Azerbaijan, August 30. We can send help to the residents of Armenian origin in Karabakh tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, the President of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, Novruz Aslan, said, Trend's Karabakh bureau reports.

According to him, the Red Crescent Society has sufficient opportunities for this.

"Our main goal in sending two humanitarian convoys was to see what the situation was and what events were taking place here. So far, things are going well. If there is a positive result and an assessment is carried out, and people will need some food and supplies, then the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society is ready to help. We can send help tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Appropriate negotiations should be held and needs identified," he said.

A convoy of humanitarian aid sent by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society to people of Armenian origin living in Karabakh reached the Aghdam district on August 29. Currently, representatives of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society are negotiating with Russian peacekeepers regarding the humanitarian cargo.

Employees of Bloomberg, the BBC, Getty Image and other media structures arrived at the territory where trucks with humanitarian cargo are parked.

The remnants of the separatist regime in Karabakh, led by the Armenian authorities, have long been trying in various ways to convince the world community and international organizations that Azerbaijan, by establishing a border crossing point on the Lachin road, is allegedly keeping the Armenian residents of Karabakh under "blockade", has created a "humanitarian crisis situation" for them, and that the Armenians are allegedly facing "food shortages". Armenia, which continues to manipulate the existence of an alleged "tense humanitarian situation" and "blockade" in the region, is hindering the peace process instead of following through on the agreements reached to resolve issues related to the use of the Lachin road and other alternative roads to meet the needs of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region.

The Azerbaijani side once again demonstrates a humanistic approach and sends humanitarian aid to citizens of Armenian origin living in Karabakh.
Startup Showcase Live Pitch Competition Offers $500k Investment Prize;

Robert Herjavec of "Shark Tank" Delivers Conference Keynote Address

ATLANTA, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Venture Atlanta, one of the nation's most prestigious venture capital conferences, today announced the innovative companies to be featured at its 16th annual event taking place September 27-28 at The Woodruff Arts Center and Atlanta Symphony Hall. To view the list of 83 companies, go here.

With the theme of IGNITE INNOVATION, Venture Atlanta 2023 will host its first-ever pitch competitions between selected companiesincluding a "Startup Showcase Live" pitch event for pre-seed and seed-stage that will conclude the conference with the winner receiving a $500,000 investment.

"Venture Atlanta 2023 continues to bring attendees all the events they love, including informative panels, big-name keynotes, and networking opportunitiesonly this year, we're also adding high-stakes pitch competitions for early-stage, growth, and pre-seed/seed-stage companies," said Venture Atlanta CEO Allyson Eman. "We've reimagined our schedule to give even more stage time to promising tech companies and centered more of our programming around fostering connections."

Eman added that this year's Venture Atlanta has broken another record with 550 presenter applicationsa 15 percent increase over last year and the most applicants ever. Also this year, a significant portionmore than 60 percentof companies that applied are based outside of Georgia, reflecting the growing awareness and pull of Venture Atlanta.

Selected companies for this year's Venture Atlanta represent the following states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Twenty-eight percent of the companies are led by women founders and 39 percent are led by diverse founders.

Chief among the innovations represented by this year's companies are Agtech, B2B & B2C Marketplaces, Blockchain/Crypto, Consumer, Cybersecurity, Digital Health, Digital Media, Enterprise/B2B Software, Fintech, Gaming Tech, Real Estate & Property Tech, and Supply Chain & Logistics.

To date, Venture Atlanta has helped to launch 760 companies and raise $7.5 billion in funding, also spinning out $17 billion in successful exits. The conference boasts successful alumni that include Bitcoin Depot, CallRail, Car360, Clearleap, Flock Safety, Florence Healthcare, Kabbage, ParkMobile, Pindrop Security, Salesforce Pardot, Salesloft, SingleOps, Stax, and Terminus.

All-New Pitch Competitions Ignite Excitement at Venture Atlanta

This year, Venture Atlanta will host pitch competitions for early-stage and growth companiesas well as a "Startup Showcase Live" competition for pre-seed and seed-stage companies, with the winner of the latter receiving a $500,000 investment prize.

The $500,000 prize is being funded by BIP Ventures, Catalyst by Wellstar, Florida Funders, and Knoll Ventures.

The first round of pitches will be voted on by the Venture Atlanta audience, who will determine the companies that move on to be judged by an all-star panel of investors. To view the list of judges, go here.

"Even in the currently challenging fundraising environment, Venture Atlanta has amassed its most impressive roster of presenting companies yet and is on track for another sold-out event," said Nick Foreste, Partner at Morris, Manning & Martin and Co-Chair of Venture Atlanta's Recruiting and Screening Committee. "We take pride in our ability to curate an increasingly impressive lineup of innovative companies from the Southeast to showcase to high-profile investors, tech leaders, and visionaries from across the country."

Robert Herjavec of "Shark Tank" Delivers This Year's Keynote Address

Globally recognized businessman and investor Robert Herjavec of "Shark Tank" will deliver Venture Atlanta 2023's day two keynote address on September 28. Herjavec is the third "Shark" to speak at Venture Atlanta, with Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner delivering keynote addresses at past conferences.

"For 16 years, Venture Atlanta has been selecting the most promising tech companies and drawing in top investment firms from across the nation," said Emery Waddell, Principal, Vocap Investment Partners and Venture Atlanta Board Member. "This year, we're turning up the excitement even more with Robert Herjavec of 'Shark Tank' fame delivering the keynoteand by putting our selected companies in direct competition on stage. As always, our mission is to provide unparalleled access to connections and capital to catalyze the next wave of groundbreaking innovations."

Venture Atlanta 2023 Is Presented by Invesco

Venture Atlanta is the premier must-attend technology event due in part to the generous support of its sponsors. Invesco is once again the conference's Title Sponsor, with J.P. Morgan as Hall of Fame Sponsor and Headline Sponsors including Bank of America, Cherry Bekaert, ExtensisHR, Marketwake, and Morris, Manning & Martin.

There are more than 90 sponsors of Venture Atlanta 2023. For a complete list of this year's sponsors, go here .

Register to Attend Venture AtlantaBefore Last-Call Pricing Begins

Taking place September 27-28, Venture Atlanta 2023 is anticipated to be a sold-out event with over 1,400 entrepreneurs, founders, investors, and business leaders expected to be in attendance. It will again be held at The Woodruff Arts Center at 1280 Peachtree Street with keynotes, panels, and pitches in the beautiful Atlanta Symphony Hall that is part of the Woodruff campus.

For the full Venture Atlanta conference schedule, go here.

To register for the 16th annual Venture Atlanta before last-call pricing goes into effect on September 5 or passes are sold out, go here.

About Venture Atlanta

Venture Atlanta, the Southeast's technology innovation event, is where the region's most promising tech companies meet the country's top-tier investors. As the Southeast's largest investor showcase helping launch more than 760 companies and raise $7.5 billion in funding to date, the event connects the region's top entrepreneurs with local and national investors and others in the technology ecosystem who can help them raise the capital they need to grow their businesses. The annual nonprofit event is a collaboration of the Atlanta CEO Council, Metro Atlanta Chamber, and the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). For more information, visit www.ventureatlanta.org . For updates, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and visit our blog .

Contacts :

Allyson Eman Kathy Berardi CEO Media Relations Director Venture Atlanta Carabiner Communications 770.298.4202 678.644.4122 [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE Venture Atlanta
WINNEMUCCA, Nev., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Western Surgical Group is excited to announce a new partnership with Humboldt General Hospital that will enhance healthcare services for Winnemucca and surrounding communities. Effective September 31, 2023, Western Surgical Group will be providing advanced surgical care at Humboldt General Hospital, reinforcing its commitment to delivering exceptional medical services and expertise to patients in need.

Humboldt General Hospital has a history of providing quality healthcare services to rural Nevada. The collaboration with Western Surgical Group will further elevate the hospital's reputation for quality care and innovative medical solutions. This partnership aligns with the hospital's mission to be the leading provider of exceptional healthcare in rural Nevada.

Western Surgical Group is a highly regarded medical practice known for its exceptional surgical expertise and dedication to patient well-being. With a team of highly skilled surgeons, including Dr. Alvaro H. Devia, Western Surgical Group has consistently demonstrated its commitment to advancing medical care through innovation and excellence. Dr. Devia shared his thoughts on the partnership: "We are honored and excited to extend our surgical services to Humboldt General Hospital. This collaboration provides us with the opportunity to serve the Winnemucca community and surrounding areas, bringing our specialized skills and cutting-edge techniques to enhance patient care."

Robyn Dunckhorst, CEO of Humboldt General Hospital, expressed her enthusiasm about this new partnership: "We are happy to welcome the esteemed Western Surgical Group to our facility. This collaboration symbolizes a significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to offer the highest level of medical care to our community. By joining forces, we are confident in our ability to provide state-of-the-art surgical services that meet the evolving needs of our patients."

The goal of the partnership between Western Surgical Group and Humboldt General Hospital is to deliver advanced surgical solutions and comprehensive care to the local population. Together, they aim to provide a seamless and exceptional experience for patients requiring surgical interventions.

For more information about Humboldt General Hospital and Western Surgical Group, please visit their respective websites: www.hghospital.org and www.westernsurgical.com.

Please note that the information provided in this press release is accurate as of the publication date and may be subject to change.

Media Contact: Mark McDowell

(248) 880-0433

[email protected]

SOURCE Western Surgical Group
Award-winning VR experiences presented Sundays at dadaLab

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wonderspaces, presenters of immersive art in Austin since July 2020, announced the launch of several community initiatives including a new Sunday Virtual Reality (VR) Film Series.

After welcoming over one million visitors and being named USA Today 10Best's Best Immersive Art Experience for the second year in a row, Wonderspaces is focused on deepening ties within the Austin community.

VR Sundays

Wonderspaces is proud to present award-winning VR films and experiences every Sunday at immersive art studio dadaLab, with a new film each month.

Tickets are $16 for General Admission, $12 for children under 13, and $10 for Wonderspaces members. Showtimes start on the hour, 10am - 5pm.

The schedule:



September: Paper Birds by Frederico Carlini and German Heller

and

October: Gloomy Eyes Fernando Maldonado and Jorge Tereso



November: Spheres by Eliza McNitt



January: Madrid Noir by James A. Castillo

Tickets for the first four films will be on sale starting August 30 at https://austin.wonderspaces.com/tickets . Dates and films past January to be announced.

Images from the Wonderspaces VR Film Series at dadaLab. More information about the films is available here .

Updated membership

Wonderspaces refreshed its membership program to make it easier than ever to visit again and again. Under the new plan, membership offers unlimited visits for one year for the member, discounts on tickets for accompanying guests, at the bar, on merch, and on other Wonderspaces shows including the VR Film Series at dadaLab. At $60 per Annual Membership, Wonderspaces members can start saving before the end of their second visit to the ever-changing show.

Community fundraisers

Wonderspaces is committed to donating tickets to local 501c3 organizations looking to fundraise and is on track to help Austin non-profits raise over $10k by the end of the year. Any Austin-area 501c3 non-profits are welcome to reach out to [email protected] to participate.

ABOUT WONDERSPACES:

Wonderspaces Austin operates year-round with an evolving lineup of immersive and interactive art.

To learn more, visit wonderspaces.com , @wonderspacesaustin on social media, or contact [email protected].

ABOUT DADALAB:

Located at located at 2008 Alexander Ave in Austin, DadaLab is an immersive art studio and event space for people working at the intersection of art, design, and technology.

For more information, visit https://www.dadalab.art/ or @dadaLab.io on social media.

SOURCE Wonderspaces
Delivers Solid Revenue Growth of 18.0%, Steadily Advancing "AI + FMCG" Strategy

Achieved revenue growth of 18.0% to RMB 530.0 million (same below) in the first half of 2023

(same below) in the first half of 2023 The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of total core customers reached RMB 1.8 million ; Net Revenue Retention (NDR) for core customers improved to 121.4%

; Net Revenue Retention (NDR) for core customers improved to 121.4% SaaS customers continued to increase year by year, with a growth of 27.5% to 1,551, an increase of 335 compared to the same period last year

Attained the highest-level certification in the global software field - CMMI Level 5 Certification

Introduced the inaugural AIGC product "Intelligent FMCG Assistant". The "AI + FMCG" strategy is steadily advancing, driving a 50.0% year-on-year growth in Sales Cloud contract order value and achieving 13.8% revenue growth

The core product ICC (Integrated Communications Center) of the Marketing Cloud has achieved full domestic adaptation, resulting in a 61.9% revenue growth and propelling an 18.0% increase in the overall revenue of the Marketing Cloud

We have achieved business cooperation with a number of leading FMCG enterprises, such as Uni-president Enterprises( China )Investment Co.,Ltd. , Sichuan New Hope Dairy Co.,Ltd. and Nanjing Pepsi-Cola Beverage Co., Ltd.,

GUANGZHOU, China, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- China's leading domestic intelligent CRM service provider, Xuan Wu Cloud Technology Holdings Limited ("Xuan Wu Cloud" or the "Company," stock code: 2392.HK), announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2023 on August 29th. During the reporting period, the company achieved not only a solid year-on-year revenue growth of nearly 20.0%, but also expanded its presence in technology fields like AIGC, which will pave the way for future breakthroughs in its performance.

Data reveals that Xuan Wu Cloud recorded a revenue of RMB 530.0 million in the first half of the year, marking a 18.0% year-on-year growth. Notably, the revenue contribution from the high-margin SaaS segment accounted for 49.4%, generating RMB 261.6 million in revenue with a 17.9% year-on-year growth, demonstrating a steady upward trajectory.

Concurrently, the number of Xuan Wu Cloud's SaaS customers also exhibited rapid growth. During the Reporting Period, the number of Company's CRM SaaS customers base grew 27.5% to 1,551representing an increase of 335 compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the Company's Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) contributed by core clients increased by 28.2%, reaching RMB 1.8 million, and the core clients' net dollar retention rate improved to 121.4%.

Regarding the Company's performance in the first half of the year, Mr. CHEN YongHui, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Xuan Wu Cloud, said in the report that"As a leading intelligent CRM services provider, we always maintain the innovation vitality as a technology enterprise, and continue to dive deep into the track of facilitating enterprises to realise high-quality digital intelligent transformation. During the Reporting Period, we focused on our technology research and development ("R&D") investments on Artificial Intelligence ("AI") and Data Intelligence ("DI") ability, 5G message application and AI Internet of Things ("AIoT"), and empowered our" Three Clouds" (Marketing Cloud, Sales Cloud and Service Cloud) products to help our customers in their consumer business scenarios, and explored diversified application scenarios of AI Generated Content ("AIGC") in the FMCG industry. As our focus on SaaS pays off and our "AI + FMCG" second growth curve strategy continues to advance, we anticipate the company will turn losses into profits in the year of 2024."

Advancing Steadily with the "AI+FMCG" Strategy and Establishing AIGC Product Applications

In the current landscape, the digital economy has emerged as one of the key battlegrounds in the domestic economic market. Despite the realm of China's consumer goods sector has the immense potential of a market of RMB 44 trillion, businesses throughout the industry are contending with a range of challenges, such as low levels of digitalization and the intricate nature of lengthy marketing chains. These factors underscore the pressing need for a swift transition towards digital intelligent transformation.

In response to the current market landscape, Xuan Wu Cloudwhile focusing on SaaS , particularly positions its Sales Cloud, aligned with the "AI+ FMCG" strategy, as the company's second growth curve. Mr. CHEN YongHui stated, "For over a decade, FMCG have been a vital sector we have deeply cultivated. Building on this foundation, we have accumulated substantial industry expertise in the FMCG field. Presently, we are merging our practical experience with our self-developed AI technology to drive our intelligent CRM products and services. This synergy empowers our customers with stronger momentum for digital intelligent transformation and upgrade, ultimately capturing more market share."

Data reveals that the Sales Cloud achieved a revenue growth of 13.8% in the first half of the year. At the same time, its overall contract order value saw a 50.0% year-on-year increase, thereby establishing a robust foundation for revenue growth in the latter half of 2023.

Behind the steady revenue enhancement lies the driving force of Xuan Wu Cloud's technological innovation. According to the announcement, the Xuan Wu Cloud AI Lab, established as early as 2016, continues to exhibit strong research and development capabilities. During the Reporting Period, we have upgraded the R&D of multi-model infused video stitching technology, on-device AI model, and high precision price tag recognition technology, and the coverage rate of on-device model and the overall recognition rate of price tags can reach over 92.0%, which maintains leading position in FMCG vertical field, ensuring that the Sales Cloud products and solutions maintain a competitive edge in the market.

Taking the core product "Smart 100" under the Sales Cloud as an example, during the reporting period, Xuan Wu Cloud approached from the perspective of how customers can transform existing resources into incremental growth. The "Smart 100" was newly upgraded, starting with "Smart Store Expansion" and "Smart Direct Control," driving enterprises to efficiently expand high-value terminals, enhancing coverage of high-potential terminals, and establishing a high-quality brand terminal operation system. This truly embodies the role of digital intelligent transformation in boosting brand merchant marketing growth.

The driving force behind the continuous upgrading and iteration of products like"Smart 100" stems from the accumulated AI technology of Xuan Wu Cloud. As a pioneer among domestic CRM providers with a comprehensive self-developed AI technology stack, Xuan Wu Cloud not only empowers CRM products with AI but also strategically expanded into the AIGC technology application field in the first half of the year. We have recently launched"Intelligent FMCG Assistant", the first AIGC product of Xuan Wu Cloud, aiming to use the five AIGC generative functions to provide FMCG sales personnel with intelligent assistance and suggestions for the whole workflow, and at the same time, assisting FMCG enterprises in enhancing the manpower efficiency of FMCG sales personnel, reducing the waste of costs, improving the quality of terminal shop display.

Mr. CHEN YongHui Said: "The Intelligent FMCG Assistant , which infused with AIGC technological innovation, will help FMCG enterprises to manage the all-chain business in a closed loop and create a brand new example of intelligent FMCG industry."

Meanwhile, our AIoT intelligent fridge and solutions also made a push in the first half of the year.During the Reporting Period, we have achieved business cooperation with a number of leading FMCG enterprises, such as Uni-president Enterprises(China)Investment Co.,Ltd. , Sichuan New Hope Dairy Co.,Ltd. and Nanjing Pepsi-Cola Beverage Co., Ltd., which in turn constitute a new engine for our business development in the FMCG field.

In addition to advancements in products and technology, Xuan Wu Cloud established the Industry Research Institute last year, actively driving the digital intelligent transformation and innovative models in the FMCG industry, and is dedicated to establish this institute to become an influential research hub for the sector. During the reporting period, Xuan Wu Cloud Industry Research Institute published "Xuan Wu Cloud's White Paper on Omni-Channel Marketing and Digital Solutions in the Beverage Industry", providing comprehensive support for clients' digital intelligent transformations.

Mr. CHEN YongHui expressed, "With the advent of the new era of consumption, [omni-channel + digital intelligent transformation] represents the developmental trend and shared challenge facing China's FMCG enterprises. Our business empowerment through the expansion of AIGC technology applications, upgrades to core products, and the strengthening of the Industry Research Institute's intellectual resources, along with leading management reforms, enables us to create a"combination of market-winning punches". Based on this, while creating greater value for our clients, we are also enhancing our industry competitiveness, enabling business standardization, improving win rates, and fostering new momentum for an intelligent FMCG industry."

Benefiting from the surge of information technology application innovation(ITAI), revenue from our core intelligent financial products has grown by over 60%

While steadily advancing along the second growth curve of "AI+FMCG," Xuan Wu Cloud is also delving deeper into the realms of intelligent finance and public utility entities and government organisations (Government-related) sectors with its Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud. In the first half of the year, amid the substitution trend of information technology application innovation and localization, the company showcased commendable performance in the market. Data reveals that during the reporting period, its Marketing Cloud achieved a year-on-year revenue growth of 18.0%, while its Service Cloud witnessed a 26.6% increase compared to the previous year.

Aligned with the growth factors of the Sales Cloud, the revenue expansion of Xuan Wu Cloud's Marketing and Service Clouds also result from the intersection of technological innovation and insights into customer business needs. This continuous enhancement has augmented the market competitiveness of its products, earning the recognition of their clienteles.

In the realm of Marketing Cloud, the company is consistently enhancing its core product - the Integrated Communication Center (ICC) - through information technology application innovation and localization. Throughout the reporting period, ICC achieved full compatibility with operating systems, databases, middleware, cloud services, and other critical components, collaborating with major domestic manufacturers. Additionally, numerous customers have successfully undergone the upgrades in information technology application innovation. Concurrently, Xuan Wu Cloud has been deepening its collaboration with prominent players like Huawei Cloud, earning the "Outstanding Ecological Partner" award from Huawei Cloud during the reporting period.

In the meantime, we responded proactively to customers 'demands. The Rich Media message business module launched by ICC significantly enriched the forms of messaging, which pushed our overall contract winning rate to 74.0%. In addition, we adopting a product portfolio strategy of stacking multiple standardised messaging plug-ins, value-added business plug-ins and all-chain domestic substitution on a single base platform. The above initiatives have been effective in increasing ICC's multi-phase project tie-ups with existing customers, resulting in a rapid revenue growth of 61.9% during the Reporting Period.

During the Reporting Period, we have upgraded Service Cloud to a new generation in regards of contact centre, intelligent quality control, intelligent voice robot and other intelligent product matrix, while also actively explored the integration and innovation of the Company's Service Cloud products and AIGC. With the support of this innovative power, we reached a million level co-operation with a world's top 500 cosmetics group in the first half of 2023, and further achieved a breakthrough with banking and consumer finance customers in the financial sub-sector.

According to data from renowned consulting platform iResearch, the scale of China's information technology application innovation industry reached RMB 1.4 trillion in 2021, with a projected growth to RMB 3.7 trillion by 2027. This forecast indicates that Xuan Wu Cloud's SaaS product seriesMarketing Cloud and Service Cloudstand to benefit from the dividends of information technology application innovation and localization, poised for a new phase of rapid development.

Mr. CHEN YongHui remarked, "Since our inception, we have remained steadfast in our commitment to independent research and development of technology, amassing a wealth of technical accomplishments and successful experiences. In the current trend of information technology application innovation and localization within the SaaS industry, our deep-rooted strengths in sectors such as finance and Government-related will be further highlighted. In the domains of Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud, we are poised to amplify our product competitiveness through innovative research and development, empowering the intelligent transformation of industries like finance."

Notably, Xuan Wu Cloud has recently achieved the highest-level global certification in the software field - CMMI Level 5 Certification. This reaffirms Xuan Wu Cloud's position at the forefront of international standards in software development management systems, implementation and delivery services, project management capabilities, etc. Simultaneously, it signifies the company's elevation to a new level of technological innovation strength and product competitiveness, laying a solid foundation for accelerating future business expansion.

Continuing the Deepening of the "AI + FMCG" Strategy, Expect to Turn Losses into Profits by FY2024

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the digital economy has ascended to a national strategic priority with expansive developmental prospects. According to the Digital China Development Report released by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the scale of China's digital economy reached RMB 50.2 trillion in 2022, securing its position as the world's second-largest. In 2023, China's digital economy is poised to embark on a new decade of simultaneous quantitative and qualitative growth. As projected by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), it is estimated that by 2025, the scale of China's digital economy will surpass RMB 60 trillion, and by 2032, it will exceed RMB 100 trillion.

Returning to the business market levelIn the digital economyAI technology, as an important infrastructure as well as an empowering engine in the era of digital economy, will act as a core driving force for the transformation and upgrading of various industries and the development of digital economy in the PRC in the long term. According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), the scale of core AI industry in the PRC reached RMB508 billion in 2022, an increase of 18.0% year-on-year, and the number of AI patent applications accounted for 53.4% of the global amount.

Amid this backdrop, Xuan Wu Cloud, dedicated to providing high-quality digital intelligent transformation, is poised to seize an extended period of development opportunities through its stronghold in intelligent CRM.

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, for industries such as finance, in which the company has long been deeply engaged, Mr. CHEN YongHui said"We will strive to make breakthrough in ICC product matrix, and create a multi-phase project cycle through business optimisation and overlaying of standard products, to help our banking clients automise the management process of their marketing campaigns, and promote the modernisation, digitalisation and social-mediatisation of the communications between their end-users."

As for the company's second growth curve - "AI + FMCG", Mr. CHEN YongHui said, "We will continue to commit to the business and technology dual-wheel drive in the second half of the year, and steadily promote the "AI + FMCG" strategy. We will keep focusing on the following key areas: Firstly, vertically committing to major industrial clients, with business+technology as driven forces, assisting the brands to achieve all-chain digital intelligent transformation; Secondly, keep focusing on AI+FMCG and implementing more application scenarios of AIGC, and exploring a large-scale multi-modal FMCG model; Thirdly, building diversified product matrix of FMCG chain by promoting standardised products to mid-tier clients, and leading industry business and management model innovation; And expanding overseas market and deepening the strategic cooperation with Huawei Cloud and other parties to build the industrial collaboration ecosystem together. We anticipate to realise a steady and continuous growth in the revenue scale and gross profit margin by the aforesaid initiatives.

As of the disclosure date of this announcement, Xuan Wu Cloud has steadily embarked on its development roadmap for the latter half of the year. Firstly, in recent times, it has launched the standardized product of DI (Data Intelligence) Store Expansion System, which aids FMCG brand manufacturers in expanding into high-potential markets. Currently, this product boasts an actual recommendation rate for terminals exceeding 92%, positioning it at the forefront of the industry. Secondly, a strategic partnership has recently been established with TI Cloud, leveraging each other's resource advantages, particularly in AIGC technology research and development. This collaboration is geared towards jointly offering more comprehensive and superior digital intelligent transformation solutions to more corporate clients.

"We hope that through the initiatives mentioned above, we can further support the company in achieving stable and sustained growth in revenue scale and gross profit margin. As these measures continue to deepen, we anticipate the company will turn losses into profits in the year 2024," Mr. CHEN YongHui candidly stated.

Financial Results



Six months ended 30 June

2023 RMB'000 2022 RMB'000 Change % Revenue 529,963 448,992 18.0 Gross profit 100,611 109,562 (8.2) Operating (loss)/profit (19,612) (4,181) N/A (Loss)/profit before income tax (20,715) (5,704) N/A (Loss)/profit and total comprehensive (loss)/income (20,155) (3,410) N/A











Six months ended 30 June

2023 2022 Change

RMB'000 RMB'000 % RevenueBy Service Segment CRM PaaS 268,397 227,088 18.2 CRM SaaS 261,566 221,904 17.9 Total Group 529,963 448,992 18.0

About Xuan Wu Cloud:

Xuan Wu Cloud Technology Holdings Limited, the largest local intelligent CRM service provider in China(stock code 2392.HK), which was successfully listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on 8 July, 2022. The company's domestic operating entity is Xuan Wu Technology, which has established a marketing service system covering 34 provinces and cities across China. Xuan Wu Cloud has aPaaS, cPaaS, AI, and DI platform as technical base, with Marketing Cloud, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud as core SaaS product applications, aiming to provide customers with multi-touch, all-channel, entire business cycle management of intelligent CRM products and services.

SOURCE Xuan Wu Cloud Technology Holdings Limited
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August30. Azerbaijan Defense Minister Colonel General Zakir Hasanov`s working visit to Turkiye continues, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan told Trend.

As part of the visit, Colonel General Z. Hasanov visited the Turkish Military Academy of the Land Forces to take part in the next graduation ceremony.

Before the ceremony attended by the Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Turkiye, Yashar Guler, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Turkiye, Rashad Mammadov, and other officials, a memorial photo was taken at the academy's "Shehid qaps" (Martyr's door) in front of the plaque with the names of Azerbaijani and Turkish Shehid graduates.

The President of the Republic of Turkiye, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spoke at the ceremony and congratulated the graduates on the occasion of graduation.
AGHDAM, Azerbaijan, August 30. The Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society has sent humanitarian aid to Armenians in Karabakh, the President of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, Novruz Aslan, said, Trend's Karabakh bureau reports.

"If there are difficulties and the Armenians will not accept food aid, then many questions will arise," said Aslan.

"The first question is, if there is a need, then why is humanitarian cargo not accepted? The second question is: if we are people and if we have values, how long can this enmity last? This should be taken into account. As the Red Crescent Society of Azerbaijan, within the framework of our mission, we are ready to help all those in need all over the country, including in the Karabakh Economic Zone, in Khankendi," he said.

A convoy of humanitarian aid sent by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society to people of Armenian origin living in Karabakh reached the Aghdam district on August 29. Currently, representatives of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society are negotiating with Russian peacekeepers regarding the humanitarian cargo.

The President of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, Novruz Aslan, said that in the future, other necessary goods may be delivered to residents of Armenian origin living in Karabakh.

The remnants of the separatist regime in Karabakh, led by the Armenian authorities, have long been trying in various ways to convince the world community and international organizations that Azerbaijan, by establishing a border crossing point on the Lachin road, is allegedly keeping the Armenian residents of Karabakh under "blockade", has created a "humanitarian crisis situation" for them, and that the Armenians are allegedly facing "food shortages". Armenia, which continues to manipulate the existence of an alleged "tense humanitarian situation" and "blockade" in the region, is hindering the peace process instead of following through on the agreements reached to resolve issues related to the use of the Lachin road and other alternative roads to meet the needs of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region.

The Azerbaijani side once again demonstrates a humanistic approach and sends humanitarian aid to citizens of Armenian origin living in Karabakh.
AGHDAM, Azerbaijan, August 30. The Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society can assess the needs of Armenians in Karabakh, the President of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, Novruz Aslan, said, Trend's Karabakh bureau reports.

"This assessment can be carried out by specialists of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society if we are provided with access to the territory. I can do this assessment myself. We can involve our partners and foreign experts in this work. I don't see any problems here," Novruz Aslan said.

According to him, the key issue is building communication through dialogue.

"The most important thing is to demonstrate good will. The opinions of two or three people should not influence the population of Armenian origin in Khankendi. I believe that most of the population there is already tired of these processes, and they should demonstrate the principles of humanism to the whole world. If the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society came with good intentions, they should also treat it with respect and patience. We are not going to help anyone by force. This is a step forward, and everyone is obliged to welcome it, regardless of language, religion, race, or political affiliation. There are thoughts that if we have not received an appeal, why send help? Why should we expect an appeal? If it may be necessary, then we are taking this step," he said.

A convoy of humanitarian aid sent by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society to people of Armenian origin living in Karabakh reached the Aghdam district on August 29. Currently, representatives of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society are negotiating with Russian peacekeepers regarding the humanitarian cargo.

The President of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, Novruz Aslan, said that in the future, other necessary goods may be delivered to residents of Armenian origin living in Karabakh.

The remnants of the separatist regime in Karabakh, led by the Armenian authorities, have long been trying in various ways to convince the world community and international organizations that Azerbaijan, by establishing a border crossing point on the Lachin road, is allegedly keeping the Armenian residents of Karabakh under "blockade", has created a "humanitarian crisis situation" for them, and that the Armenians are allegedly facing "food shortages". Armenia, which continues to manipulate the existence of an alleged "tense humanitarian situation" and "blockade" in the region, is hindering the peace process instead of following through on the agreements reached to resolve issues related to the use of the Lachin road and other alternative roads to meet the needs of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region.

The Azerbaijani side once again demonstrates a humanistic approach and sends humanitarian aid to citizens of Armenian origin living in Karabakh.
Jerusalem, Aug 30 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked Saudi authorities for taking care of Israeli passengers whose flight had to make an emergency landing in Jeddah.

Due to a technical malfunction, Air Seychelles HM022, destined for Tel Aviv and carrying 128 Israeli passengers, was forced to land on Monday night in the kingdom, with which Israel doesn't have official ties, Xinhua news agency reported.

Later, a replacement flight was arranged to fly the passengers to their destination, said the Israeli foreign ministry in a statement.

Lisa Dvir, a spokeswoman for Israel's international airport of Ben Gurion, said the airplane landed safely at the airport outside Tel Aviv on Tuesday afternoon.

"I greatly appreciate the warm attitude of the Saudi authorities to the Israeli passengers whose flight was in distress and was compelled to make an emergency landing in Jeddah," Netanyahu said on Tuesday. "I am pleased that they are all coming home."

The incident marked the first time an Israeli flight made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia since Riyadh agreed in 2022 to open its airspace for Israeli flights, allowing flights departing from Israel to pass over the Gulf country.
Moscow, Aug 30 : A drone attack on Pskov city in northwestern Russia has reportedly damaged four heavy transport planes early on Wednesday.

"The defence ministry is repelling a drone attack in Pskov's airport," Regional Governor Mikhail Vedernikov wrote on social media, posting a video of a massive fire.

"I arrived on the site at the very start of the incident. According to preliminary information, there have been no casualties. The scope of damage is now being assessed," Vedernikov later wrote on his Telegram channel.

An unconfirmed Russian media report says four Ilyushin 76 transport planes were damaged at the airport, the BBC reported.

Pskov is more than 600km (372 miles) away from Ukraine, close to the border with Estonia.

Separately, the Russian Defence Ministry said early on Wednesday that an aircraft of its naval fleet destroyed four "high-speed military boats in the Black Sea carrying assault groups of the Ukrainian special operations forces comprising 50 men in total".
JERUSALEM, March 21, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement at his residence in Jerusalem on March 20, 2019. Netanyahu is seeking to be re-elected for a fifth term in the April 9 elections but he faces a tough. Image Source: IANS News

Jerusalem, Aug 30 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a revision to the procedures for confidential diplomatic meetings after his Foreign Minister sparked controversy by disclosing a closed-door meeting with the Libyan counterpart.

Netanyahu on Tuesday instructed all government ministers to seek approval from his office before conducting any confidential meetings, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement released by the Prime Minister's office.

In addition, public statements regarding such meetings would need to receive approval from the Prime Minister's office ahead of their publication, according to the statement.

The statement marks Netanyahu's first remarks on the case.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry revealed in an official press release on Sunday that Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush met in Rome last week.

Cohen said the meeting was "the first step" toward building future ties with Libya and their discussions encompassed preserving the heritage of the Jewish community in Libya and renovating synagogues there.

The two countries don't have official ties.

Shortly later, Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, Libya's Prime Minister in Tripoli, announced the suspension of al-Mangoush. The Libyan foreign minister fled to Turkey out of fear for her safety after the meeting triggered an uproar in Libya.
Kiev, Aug 30 : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has discussed security guarantees for his country during phone talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the president's press service said.

Zelensky on Tuesday praised the joint declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine adopted by the Group of Seven (G7), urging Japan to conclude bilateral agreements under the document, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We are ready to start this negotiation process with Japan as soon as possible," Zelensky stressed.

He invited Japan to participate in the next round of consultations on Ukraine's Peace Formula at the level of national security advisors and in the Global Peace Summit.

During the conversation, the parties also discussed the prospects for the extension of the Black Sea "grain corridor" for exporting foodstuffs from Ukraine by creating alternative routes.

Another topic of the talks was the preparation for the Ukraine Recovery Conference scheduled to take place in Japan early next year.
New York, Aug 30 : An Indian-American CEO of multiple software development and IT services companies in California has been sentenced to two years in prison for committing bank fraud and failing to pay over more than $2 million in employment taxes.

Kishore Kethineni from Dublin was handed down the sentence by US District Judge Edward J. Davila last week after he pleaded guilty to the charges on February 21.

Kethineni admitted that he conspired with his two brothers to engage in a scheme in which they fraudulently obtained over $3.1 million in loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

The PPP is a Covid-19 pandemic relief program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that provided forgivable loans through third-party lenders to small businesses for payroll and certain other expenses.

While Kethineni was the sole owner and CEO of four of the companies involved in the scheme -- BiteGate, Inc, Dinenamics, Inc, Neelinfo, Inc, TechPMC, Inc -- his brothers were owners of three other companies -- Boxstertech, Inc, Hiretechforce, Inc, and TechGlobalSystems, Inc.

From April 2020 through May 2021, Kethineni and his brothers submitted multiple PPP loan applications on behalf of their various respective companies, a release from US Attorneyas Office, Northern District of California, stated.

Via these applications, they made fraudulent representations and provided falsified payroll data and records to obtain loans and loan forgiveness under the program.

Collectively, Kethineni and his brothers submitted at least 12 PPP loan applications, which were sometimes virtually identical, on behalf of their seven companies.

The applications resulted in the approval and funding of nine loans totaling over $3.1 million in PPP funds.

Upon receipt of the PPP loan funds, Kethineni redirected significant amounts to himself and his family members instead of using the funds for payroll and other authorised business expenses under the program.

He also admitted to willfully failing to account for and pay over employment taxes that his company, Neelinfo, Inc, had withheld from the pay of its employees, incurring an employment tax liability of over $2 million over the course of five years -- from 2014 through 2018.

Kethineni acknowledged that he used a payroll service company to process Neelinfoas employee payroll and track its employment tax obligations.

Every quarter, the payroll service company provided Neelinfo with a prepared Form 941 that reflected the taxes withheld from Neelinfoas employees, which Neelinfo was required to pay over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Despite receiving these prepared tax forms each quarter, Kethineni did not file them with the IRS, nor did he pay over any employment taxes on behalf of Neelinfo, while still causing the company to make thousands of dollars in other expenditures.

At the end of each year, the payroll service also provided Neelinfo with its employeesa Forms W-2, which were used by the employees to file their personal income taxes.

However, due to Kethinenias failure to file any employment tax forms or pay over Neelinfoas employment taxes as required, some of the company's employees were subject to audits and inspection by the IRS after filing income tax returns based on income that the firm never reported.

On February 15, Kethineni was charged by Superseding Information with one count of failure to pay over employment tax and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

He pleaded guilty to both counts.

In addition to the prison term, Kethineni has been ordered to serve two years of supervised release -- to begin after the prison term -- to pay $3,295,514.25 in restitution, and to pay a $15,000 fine.

The court also ordered entry of a money forfeiture in the amount of $3,186,315.00.

--IANS

mi/ksk
Prayagraj, Aug 30 : The Allahabad High Court has granted bail to Atul Rai, the sitting BSP MP from the Ghosi Lok Sabha constituency, in a criminal case registered against him under the Gangsters' Act at the Lanka police station in Varanasi in 2021.

The single bench of Justice Raj Beer Singh granted bail to Rai.

According to the counsel representing the applicant, "a total of 24 criminal cases were filed against the applicant, out of which 12 cases have already resulted in acquittals, and in the remaining cases, the applicant is currently out on bail".

"The co-accused, Sujit Singh, was granted bail earlier through an order dated August 28 2022, as issued in Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 2629 of 2022," argued the applicant's counsel.

The applicant's counsel further stated that "the applicant's medical condition is of utmost concern, with his health deteriorating by the day".

"He is afflicted with Chronic Supportive Otitis Media with Mastoiditis, and medical professionals have recommended an operation for this ailment."

In response to allegations that Rai was being targeted due to political rivalries, the state government's counsel countered: "The applicant has a substantial criminal history spanning 24 cases, dating back to 2009. Hence, it cannot be claimed that these cases were fabricated during the present government's tenure.

"The assertion that the applicant is not receiving appropriate medical care during his detention due to political motivations is baseless. The applicant is consistently receiving the necessary medical attention. It is important to note that the applicant is categorised as a Gangster, and the FIR was lodged after obtaining gang-related approval."

After hearing the arguments, the court, while permitting the bail application, noted: "Medical reports indicate that the applicant is grappling with Coccydynia, Spondyloarthritis, low backache, Prolapsed Intervertebral Disc (PIVD), high blood pressure, excessive bleeding, vertigo, and nausea. The latest report, dated highlights the applicant's diagnosis of 'phaeochromocytoma/paraganglioma,' prompting an urgent referral to AIIMS, New Delhi, for treatment."

The court further observed: "It is evident that the applicant's health issues are chronic and have persisted for a considerable duration. Given the alarming state of his health, he urgently requires proper medical intervention."

Addressing the status of the ongoing trial against Rai, the bench said: "The records suggest that the applicant has already undergone nearly one year and nine months of detention, and only three witnesses have been examined thus far. Consequently, the trial is likely to extend for a substantial period."

This marked the second bail application submitted by Rai, following the initial rejection of his bail plea by the high court on March 3.
Prayagraj : , Aug 30 (IANS) A day after a 15-year-old student was beaten to death allegedly by his schoolmates outside his school in Pura Dattu village, the Prayagraj police commissioner has suspended two police officials, including Khiri station in-charge, for dereliction of duty.

In protest against the broad daylight murder of the student, identified as Satyam, hundreds of locals and his family members blocked the vehicular movement for hours at Khiri Bazar in trans-Yamuna area on Tuesday and vandalized a passing ambulance in protest

They alleged that the boy was murdered for stopping one of the accused, belonging to the minority community, from harassing his cousin sister studying in the same school.

Police denied the charge and claimed that the boy was beaten to death following a dispute with the accused over some issue.

However, unsatisfied by the police version, the agitating mob staged a protest demanding stern action against the culprits. They also demanded bulldozing the houses of the accused.

The locals claimed that one of the accused was being shielded by a village pradhan.

On the complaint of the boyas family members, an FIR was lodged against two named and three unknown persons.
One held at Trichy Airport for smuggling gold in dessert jar. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Aug 30 : Customs officials at Tamil Nadu's Trichy Airport have arrested a person smuggling gold by hiding it in a dessert jar, an official said on Wednesday.

A gold bar of 24 K purity weighing 149.000 grams worth Rs 8.90 lakh was recovered.

The official said that the gold bar was extracted from gold powder ingeniously concealed in a Nutella jar by a passenger who arrived from Kuala Lumpur on August 28.

The official further stated that the seized gold was taken under the provisions of section 110 of the Customs Act, and the passenger placed under arrest as per section 104 of the Customs Act.

Additional investigation into the matter is underway.
Musk's X to allow US political candidates, parties advertise ahead of election. Image Source: IANS News

San Francisco, Aug 30 : Elon Musk-run X (formerly Twitter) has announced that it will allow US political candidates and parties advertise on the platform ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

"Building on our commitment to free expression, we are also going to allow political advertising. Starting in the US, we'll continue to apply specific policies to paid-for promoted political posts," X said in a blogpost on Tuesday.

The policies will include "prohibiting the promotion of false or misleading content, including false or misleading information intended to undermine public confidence in an election, while seeking to preserve free and open political discourse".

Political ads were first banned on Twitter in 2019, after then-CEO Jack Dorsey argued that political message reach should be earned, not bought. Earlier this year, the company relaxed restrictions on "caused-based" ads, citing the importance of encouraging "public conversation around important

topics".

Moreover, the company said that it will also provide a global advertising transparency centre so that everyone can review political posts being promoted on X, in addition to robust screening processes to ensure only eligible groups and campaigns can advertise.

In addition, X mentioned that it is "expanding our safety and elections teams to focus on combating manipulation, surfacing inauthentic accounts and closely monitoring the platform for emerging threats".

Opening to political ads might also boost X's ad business, which has dropped 50 per cent since Musk took over the company last year.

Last week, former US president Donald Trump made a comeback on X after more than two years as he was banned in January 2021 on various social media platforms after the US Capitol riots.

Trump posted his first tweet on X with his mugshot, saying: "Election interference, Never surrender".

Musk also reacted to Trump with a quote post saying: "Next-level".
Canberra, Aug 30 : Remains of the three US Marines killed in a helicopter crash on an island off Australia's north coast have been recovered, the US Marine Rotational Force Darwin (MRF-D) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The MRF-D statement said the remains have been transported to Darwin, capital of Australia's Northern Territory (NT), reports Xinhua news agency.

Corporal Spencer R. Collart (21), Captain Eleanor V. LeBeau (29) and Major Tobin J. Lewis (37) were among 23 Marines on board the MV-22B Osprey when it crashed on Melville Island around 9.30 a.m. on Sunday during a training exercise.

Collart was the Osprey crew chief, LeBeau a pilot and Lewis the executive officer of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363 (VMM-363), their unit said on Monday.

The MRF-D said that, as of Tuesday night, two of the Marines who were injured in the crash remained in a stable condition in the Royal Darwin Hospital, but a third was in a critical condition and has been moved more than 3,000 km to Melbourne for treatment, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The cause of the incident remains under investigation," the statement added.

The helicopter that crashed was one of two US Marine Osprey aircraft that left Darwin on Sunday morning and flew towards the Tiwi Islands, about 80 km away, according to Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy.

The crash comes just a month following the death of four Australian army aircrew members after an MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crashed into the sea near Hamilton Island off the east coast of Australia during an exercise that was part of joint drills with the US.
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YICHANG, March 2, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on March 1, 2017 shows the transmission lines at the Three Gorges power plant in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province. The Three Gorges power plant, the world's largest hydropower project, has generat. Image Source: IANS News

Stockholm, Aug 30 : Due to a stoppage in Sweden's largest nuclear power reactor, the price of electricity in the most densely populated part of the country will be 60 per cent higher on Wednesday than it was the previous day.

The average price on the Nord Pool electricity exchange increased from 0.76 Swedish kronor ($0.069) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 1.22 kronor per kWh, Xinhua news agency quoted the Swedish television (SVT) as saying in a report.

The price hike is due to the reactor at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant being disconnected from the grid in the early hours of Tuesday following the discovery of a faulty component in the turbine, SVT reported.

The problem occurred as the reactor, which with a peak output of 1,450 megawatts is the largest in Sweden, was about to be re-started following a stoppage over the weekend, SVT reported.

Following the decommissioning of four reactors between 2017 and 2020, six reactors remain at three sites and account for around 30 per cent of the country's electricity production, according to the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority.

Since last summer, some of the remaining reactors have at times been offline for extended periods due to maintenance and technical problems, which has at times led to electricity price peaks.
Madrid, Aug 30 : Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck clinched the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana in a thrilling sprint finish.

The Australian delivered a powerful sprint on a slight uphill stretch to the finish line, overtaking Sebastian Molano of the UAE Team Emirates in the last moments to win by approximately two bike lengths, reports Xinhua.

Spanning 185 kilometers from Andorra la Velle to Tarragona, this stage was one of the limited opportunities for sprinters in this year's Vuelta. Though a trio broke away early on, their chance of success was slim.

The main group reeled in the breakaway 19 minutes from the finish. Boosted by a tailwind on the descent following the day's second short climb, the peloton's speed neared 60 kilometers per hour. As they approached the finish, sprinters' teams began setting up their primary riders, while teams focused on the general classification maintained a brisk pace to safeguard their top competitors.

Amidst the battle for position, a crash occurred just over 4 kilometers from the end due to a wheel touch. This unfortunate event took down several riders, including Cofidis' Bryan Coquard - a stage favorite.

Another top contender, Marijn van den Berg from EF Education-EasyPost, misjudged the final turn while leading and went down, leaving Molano and Groves to duke it out in the sprint. Although Molano initially seemed poised for victory, the final stretch was too much for him, allowing Groves, known for his uphill sprints, to seize the win.

The overall standings remained unchanged: Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-QuickStep retained the lead, trailed by Enric Mas of Movistar by five seconds and Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo Visma 31 seconds back in fourth.
Surat police summon man for claiming to have designed Chandrayaan-3. Image Source: IANS News

Surat, August 30 : Surat City Police's crime branch has arrested Mitul Trivedi on charges of falsely associating himself with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the US space agency, NASA Trivedi's claims of involvement in the design of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander have been debunked by authorities, leading to his arrest on Tuesday under Sections 468, 471, 419, and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Trivedi recently gained attention for his assertions of being a key figure behind the design of Chandrayaan-3's lander, boasting innovations that he claimed prevented the scattering of dust upon landing.

The police had initially summoned him for verification, but his inability to substantiate his claims prompted the involvement of the Crime Branch.

Ultimately, the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru confirmed his lack of affiliation with the space agency, leading to his apprehension.

This development prompted the police to further investigate Trivedi's educational background and qualifications.

His assertions extended to claims of academic achievements at esteemed institutions, including the Cambridge University for Quantum Physics and Oxford University for Anthropology and Vedant, culminating in a Ph.D.

Trivedi also boasted membership in the Archaeological Survey of India and an extraordinary proficiency in reading 45 ancient languages.

He was subsequently summoned by the Special Branch DCP of Surat Police, Hetal Patel.

Authorities had requested supporting documents for his assertions, a demand that Trivedi failed to fulfill.

This isn't the first time Trivedi has made extravagant claims.

Earlier, he had asserted the existence of a golden city named Dwarika in the sea near Olpad, South Gujarat.
Gabonese military officers claim they have taken power. Image Source: IANS News

Libreville, Aug 30 : Gabonese military officers have cancelled election results and dissolved state institutions, claiming that they have taken power, just hours after the country's poll body had announced that President Ali Bongo Ondimba was re-elected for a third term, local media reported on Wednesday.

The Central African nation's borders have been closed until further notice, Xinhua news agency quoted the reports as saying.

The local media added that gunfire was heard in the capital Libreville.

The officers said that the general election was not credible and the results stoodannulled.

Shortly before the coup announcement, the electoral commission had said that Ondimba from the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party had been re-elected for a third term in the August 26 election.

Ondimba's overthrow would end his family's 53-year hold on power in Gabon.

There was no immediate response by the government to the soldiers' announcement.

As in previous general elections in Gabon, there were serious concerns about the process in the August 27 vote, reports the BBC.

Main opposition candidate Albert Ondo Ossa complained that many polling stations lacked ballot papers bearing his name, while the coalition he represents said the names of some of those who had withdrawn from the presidential race had still been on the ballot sheet.

According to Reporters Without Borders, foreign media was banned from entering the country to cover the election.

As polls closed, the government announced a curfew and suspension of internet access for security reasons.

Ondimba came to power when his father Omar died in 2009.

In 2018, he suffered a stroke which sidelined him for almost a year and led to calls for him to step aside.

The following year, a failed coup attempt saw mutinying soldiers sent to prison.
Mumbai, Aug 30 : Actor Adhik Mehta has talked about playing a villain in the show 'Anupamaa' and also about domestic violence as the track currently airs the TV drama around the topic.

In the show, the character of Pakhi (Muskaan Bamne) daughter of Anupamaa (Rupali Ganguly) is facing bad times as she faces violence by her husband Adhik.

The 'Choti Sarrdarni' actor is happy to play a villain in the show.

He said: "The show 'Anupamaa' is all about seeing a mothers struggle and giving a positive perspective to people and me being the antagonist is a huge opportunity for me to showcase my talent as an actor. I have never ever played a negative role in my entire career but it's a great challenge as an actor to play a villain."

Then getting into the topic of domestic violence, he said: "I am so ashamed to agree that domestic violence exists in our society and is being neglected by people saying yeh to unke ghar ka matter hai (It's a personal call) until it happens with them or their family. But I'm a little relieved that our government has taken enough measures and made laws accordingly "

The show airs on Star Plus.
Mysuru: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati addresses during an election campaign rally in Mysuru on April 10, 2019. . Image Source: IANS News

Lucknow, Aug 30 : Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati has termed parties in the NDA and I.N.D.I.A as anti-poor, casteist, communal and pro-capitalist.

In a series of posts on X on Wednesday, she said that the BSP had been fighting against such forces and hence, there was no question of entering into an alliance with such parties.

She appealed to the media not to plant any fake news in this regard.

Mayawati said that her party would bring together weaker sections of the society and form an alliance with them for the upcoming state elections and the general elections.

She pointed out that all parties were keen to forge an alliance with BSP and when they did not get a positive response from her, they planted fake news.
New York, Aug 30 : Sleep is a critical part of a child's overall health, but it can also be an important factor in the way they behave, according to a study.

Researchers from the Youth Development Institute at University of Georgia, US, getting enough sleep can help children combat the effects of stressful environments.

"Stressful environments are shown to make adolescents seek immediate rewards rather than delayed rewards, but there are also adolescents who are in stressful environments who are not impulsive," said lead author Linhao Zhang, a fourth-year doctoral student in UGA's College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

"We looked at what explains that link and what makes some people differ from others. One mechanism we found is sleep," Zhang added.

Using information from 11,858 children from 9-10 years old, the researchers found that lack of sleep and long sleep latency -- the amount of time it takes to get to sleep -- had a significant link to impulsive behaviours down the line.

Sleep problems, such as sleep latency (the time it takes an individual to fall asleep) and impulsive behaviours, were checked at multiple time points over the course of two years.

When children got less than the recommended nine hours of sleep or took more than 30 minutes to get to sleep, there was a strong link to impulsive behaviours later down the line.

Some of these behaviours included acting without a plan, seeking thrills or sensations, and lacking perseverance.

Sleep was a mediator between these actions, however, and when sleep problems were absent during the study, impulsivity was also less likely to be observed in the future.

Neurological hyperconnectivity, wherein the adolescents' brains remained very active even when they were not actively engaged in tasks, also played a role, Zhang said.

This study looked at the default mode network, a brain network related to goal-directed behaviours.

When this network was hyperactive during resting-state, it could exacerbate the link between stressful environments, sleep and impulsivity.

This connection could be linked to ADHD, which Zhang would like to explore in future studies.

The findings not only highlight sleep's role in cognitive and behavioural development, but could also inform low-cost interventions to aid in the psychological development of children facing at-home stressors, Zhang said.

--IANS

rvt/ksk
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Around 10 crore shares of online food delivery platform Zomato, amounting to an 1.17 per cent of the company's equity, changed hands on Wednesday at a total deal value of around Rs 947 crore.

Japanese company SoftBankas SVF Growth Fund is the likely seller in this mega transaction, according to CNBC TV18.

The report had earlier said that SVF Growth Fund may sell 10 crore shares of the company or 1.17 per cent of the total equity via block deals at Rs 94 per share.

SVF Growth (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. had 3.35 per cent stake in Zomato, totalling around 28 crore shares.

Zomato shares reached near Rs 100 after the block deal, and were hovering around Rs 98.45 in morning.

The fresh block sale came after another foreign institutional investor, Tiger Global Management, offloaded its entire shareholding of 1.44 per cent in Zomato on Monday.

The deal earned Tiger Global a total of Rs 1,123.85 crore.

US-based investment major, via its VC fund Internet Fund III Pte Ltd, exited online food delivery platform Zomato.

The VC firm sold around 12.34 crore shares or 1.44 per cent stake in Zomato at an average price of Rs 91.01 per share.

Brokerage firm HSBC maintained its buy rating on Zomato and raised its price target to Rs 120 from Rs 102 earlier.

The note said that hyperlocal can become a much bigger business for Zomato in the long-term. Zomato's stock is likely to be volatile in the near term on account of market speculation around possible exits by some pre-IPO shareholders (VC/PE/Chinese investors) of the company as well as erstwhile shareholders of Blinkit who had received it under a share swap deal, JM Financial Institutional Securities had said in its recent report.

--IANS

na/ksk
Jaipur, Aug 30 : The BJP leadership has slapped a disciplinary notice on party MLA and former Assembly Speaker Kailash Meghwal for publicly terming Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal a "corrupt" leader.

On the instructions of State President C.P Joshi, the State Disciplinary Committee has issued a show cause notice to the Shahpura (Bhilwara) MLA seeking a reply within ten days.

"With such a statement, you have tarnished BJP's reputation. It comes under the definition of breach of discipline as per the party's constitution," the notice reads.

Meghwal had called the Union Minister "corrupt number one", adding that he will write to PM Modi seeking his expulsion from the cabinet.

He went to the extent of describing Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot as a better Chief Minister.

The reason behind Meghwal's outburst is apparently the possibility of tickets being cut from Shahpura this time.

He made the statement on Monday while participating as the chief guest in a programme of Mansoori Samaj in Kothia village of Shahpur.

His showering of praises on Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has triggered speculation of him switching over to the Congress soon.
Five Amarnath Yatris injured in road accident in J&Ks Udhampur. Image Source: IANS News

Chennai, Aug 30 : A man died and another suffered grievous injuries when a tanker lorry exploded in Coimbatore on Wednesday.

According to police, the deceased has been identified as Vakkil from Uttar Pradesh.

Ravi -- the injured person -- is undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Police said the incident took place when the two were engaged in welding the tanker lorry which was used to transport chemicals.

An investigation into the matter is underway.

Further details are awaited.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. The volume of gas transportation via the interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) in June stood at 1,178,785 MWh, as compared to 1,071,576 MWh in May, the ICGB, the pipeline operator told Trend.

As such, IGB saw a 10 percent increase in gas supplies month-on-month.

The table below shows monthly data for transported gas quantities in the first six months of 2023:

Month Volume of transportation (MWh) January 1,305,818 February 1,777,260 March 1,300,982 April 1,207,676 May 1,071,576 June 1,178,785 Total 7,842,099

The volume of transportation during this period peaked at 1,777,260 MWh in February, while the lowest level was recorded in May at 1,071,576 MWh.

The IGB gas pipeline connects with the Greek national gas transmission system (DESFA S.A.) and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini (Greece), and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system (Bulgartransgaz EAD) in the area of Stara Zagora. The total length of the gas pipeline is 182 km, the diameter of the pipe - 32'' - and a design capacity of up to 3 billion m3/year in the direction Greece - Bulgaria. Depending on the market interest for larger capacity and the possibilities of the neighboring gas transmission systems, the capacity of IGB is designed with the option for increase up to 5 billion m3/year with additional construction of a compressor station.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday celebrated the Raksha Bandhan festival with school girls here from different age groups.

The Prime Minister also interacted with the students.

On Wednesday morning, Modi took to X (formerly twitter) and greeted the nation on the auspicious occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

"Happy Raksha Bandhan to all my family members.This auspicious festival dedicated to the unbreakable trust and immense love between sister and brother is a sacred reflection of our culture.

"I wish, this festival deepens the spirit of affection, harmony and harmony in everyone's life," he said.
Guwahati, August 30 : Angkita Dutta, the expelled chief of the Youth Congress in Assam, has been summoned to appear before a CBI court on Wednesday in connection with the Saradha scam.

The CBI issued a summons to Dutta, the director of Anubhuti Printers and Publications Pvt Ltd, which was formed out of Saradha Publications Pvt Ltd, for printing a daily newspaper at Guwahati on behalf of the controversial chit fund group between 2012 and 2013.

In May, Angkita Dutta, the daughter of late Congress stalwart Anjan Dutta, was expelled from the Congress after she brought harassment allegations against the national youth president B.V. Srinivas.

She had also lodged a police complaint against him.

The case is being heard in the Supreme Court and Srinivas is on bail currently.

--IANS

tdr/ksk
San Francisco, Aug 30 : Elon Musk-run Tesla has been pulled up by the US road safety regulators to provide extensive data about its driver assistance and driver monitoring systems, known as 'Elon mode'.

The US National Highway Transportation Administration recently sent a letter to the electric car company, seeking to know more about a configuration for Tesla vehicles known as 'Elon mode'.

The agency has asked Tesla to provide data on how many drivers had this configuration enabled.

"NHTSA became aware that Tesla has introduced an Autopilot configuration that, when enabled, allows drivers using Autopilot to operate their vehicles for extended periods without Autopilot prompting the driver to apply torque to the steering wheel," the letter read.

NHTSA is concerned that this feature was introduced to consumer vehicles and, now that the existence of this feature is known to the public, more drivers may attempt to activate it.

"The resulting relaxation of controls designed to ensure that the driver remains engaged in the dynamic driving task could lead to greater driver inattention and failure of the driver to properly supervise Autopilot," the regulator asked Tesla.

With the 'Elon mode' configuration enabled, Tesla can allow a driver to use the company's Autopilot, FSD or FSD Beta systems without the so-called "nag."

Tesla was given a deadline of August 25 to furbish all the information required by the US agency. The company had replied but the information has been granted confidential treatment by NHTSA, according to reports.

Last weekend, Musk live-streamed a drive through Palo Alto, California holding a smartphone, which was an illegal act by law, showcasing the car's self-drive functionalities.

However, Musk was forced to stop his "Full Self Driving" system from running a red light partway through the livestream.

During the drive, Musk chatted with his passenger who was Tesla's head of Autopilot software engineering, Ashok Elluswamy.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who is currently hosting season 15 of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' has shared that social media has become a tool, but trust factor remains a big question.

Amitabh welcomed Sagar Mishra from Hisar, Haryana to the hot seat, in episode 12 titled as 'Rishtey Special' of the quiz-based reality show. He is the student of BBA, second year.

Talking to the contestant and the audience, Big B said: "The present generation, people of his (Sagar) age and younger, they are headstrong about what to do, which field to be in. We didn't know what to do, what not to do. Sagar, you've started your channel. And do you manage it yourself or do you have a team?"

Sagar said: "Sir, me and my mother manage it together. My brother also helps me create videos sometimes. But mainly, my mom helps me. If I'm the host of my channel, then my channel's producer, director, scriptwriter, everything is my mom. She gives me ideas for creating the thumbnails. She gives me ideas on what videos to make. So, she contributes more than 50 per cent in creating these videos."

The 80-year-old actor asked Sagar: "Are you familiar with social media?"

"Yes, sir, I'm familiar with it. I was born in this era," he said.

Then Amitabh said: "Because social media has become kind of a tool. The trust factor is a big question. l'd like to ask your mother. When you sit with him, What topics do you avoid? Or how do you choose a topic?"

Sagar's mother replied: "Sir, I watch videos and whatever I find interesting. I make recommendations to him according to that, so, that people find it interesting. Mainly, he listens to me. Sir, he is different from the present generation."

'Kaun Banega Crorepati 15' airs on Sony.
Washington, Aug 30 : At least 11 people were hospitalised for injuries they received due to severe turbulence on board a Delta flight travelling from Milan to Atlanta, an airline spokesperson said.

The spokesperson told CNN that the flight on Tuesday was carrying 151 passengers and 14 crew members.

The 11 people injured include crew members and passengers.

"Delta Care Team members are mobilising to connect with customers on Delta Flight 175 that experienced severe turbulence before landing safely in Atlanta Tuesday," the spokesperson told CNN.

According to the US Federal Aviation Agency, the flight was located about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport when the turbulence occurred, and it eventually landed safely.

It was the latest in a series of incidents this year in which people have been hurt when their flights hit severe turbulence.

In March, a person was killed when a Bombardier CL30 jet flying from Dillant-Hopkins Airport in New Hampshire to Leesburg Executive Airport in Virginia encountered severe turbulence, reports CBS News.

Also in March, several people were hospitalised after a Lufthansa flight from Austin to Frankfurt hit turbulence and was forced to make an emergency landing at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
Mysuru, : Aug 30 (IANS) AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday arrived in the city to attend the mega launch of the ambitious Griha Laxmi scheme in the state.

AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal, state Congress in-charge Randeep Surjewala have accompanied Gandhi and Kharge.

DyCM D.K. Shivakumar received the leaders at the Bengaluru International airport and travelled with them in a special flight to Mysuru.

At Mysuru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah welcomed the leaders. More than a lakh people are attending the mega event. Under the scheme, 1.10 crore women heads will get a monthly allowance through direct benefit transfer.

Ahead of the launch, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stated that crores of mothers of this land who have dedicated themselves to their families and making sacrifices will now step into the life of self respect through the Gruha Laxmi scheme.

"Our government will transfer Rs 2,000 for every woman head of family directly," he said.

This is a historical day. "I am eager to see the complacency and joy on the faces of mothers. Empowerment of women will help to create a powerful society. If equality of women is ensured that leads to creation of equality in the whole society," he stated.

The Congress government had implemented free travel for women in the state-owned buses, free rice scheme, and free power scheme in the state.

This is the fourth guarantee scheme. An assurance had also been made to provide a monthly allowance to unemployed fresh graduates and diploma holders for two years.
Sonia Gandhi to arrive in Mumbai on her 4th visit in 24 years. Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, Aug 30 : Congress leader Sonia Gandhi will arrive in Mumbai on Thursday, marking her fourth visit to the city in 24 years, to attend the two-day INDIA National Opposition Conclave.

Accompanied by her son and MP Rahul Gandhi, she will be received by top party leaders like Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, state chief Nana Patole and other senior state and central functionaries.

This will be Sonia Gandhi's first visit to Mumbai in nine years and just her fourth in 24 years to the country's commercial capital, making it "a very exciting and special occasion" for the state unit, high-level party sources said.

However, she has visited other parts of Maharashtra innumerable times in the past over three decades as she closely monitors the state politics despite her frail health, said a senior leader, requesting anonymity.

Incidentally, on all her previous tours to Mumbai, the Congress was in power in alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra.

But during her upcoming trip, her party is part of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) bloc.

On July 15, 2000, Sonia Gandhi had visited the victims of the devastating hillslide tragedy that struck in Ghatkopar's Azad Nagar slums following torrential rains.

The calamity claimed the lives of over 80 slum-dwellers, many of whom were buried along with their shanties.

Sonia Gandhi had flown down to inspect the disaster site, with the then Chief Minister, the late Vilasrao Deshmukh and other top leaders in tow, met the victims at the civic-run Rajawadi Hospital, and handed out compensation to them.

The second trip to Mumbai on July 30, 2009 was a happy occasion -- to inaugurate the country's first cable-stayed Bandra Worli Sea Link, which is named after her husband and the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

She was flanked by the then Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and other top leaders at the glittering function to launch the RGBWSL, a key north-south thoroughfare that has massively slashed the commute time.

Now, the RGBWSL is being extended to the north and south to decongest traffic and further speed up the commuting between south Mumbai and the northern suburbs.

The third time Sonia Gandhi came to Mumbai was for a sad occasion -- the death of a party veteran and former Union Minister, Murli S. Deora on November 24, 2014.

Deora's demise had admittedly plunged the party into grief and besides Sonia Gandhi, many top leaders from across the country had attended his funeral here that day.

The then Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, members of the Ambani family and other business honchos, leaders of different political parties and thousands of admirers had joined Deora's final journey.

The MVA ally, Shiv Sena (UBT) President and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is hosting the INDIA Conclave which will be attended by over 100 leaders of around 28 Opposition political parties from the country.

It is considered as the biggest political exercise of its kind for Mumbai.

The deliberations and brain-storming sessions here, in which Sonia and Rahul will participate, are expected to set the tone for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections when an aggressive INDIA hopes to dislodge the BJP from power.
Los Angeles, Aug 30 : Rapper Doja Cat has unveiled the trailer for her latest music video to her single 'Demons'.

In the video, the rapper has joined forces with actress Christina Ricci who will be making a surprise appearance in the video.

According to the Daily Mail, the video follows a spat Doja Cat had with her fans which saw her losing hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers.

The trailer for this, was unveiled during a screening of the classic '80s horror film 'Poltergeist', which was produced and co-written by Steven Spielberg and directed by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre filmmaker Tobe Hooper.

The clip appears to carry influence from directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's 2007 double-feature film event 'Grindhouse', borrowing the movie's emulation of the now long defunct American theatres, which from 1920's to the 1980's were known for featuring low budget horror films and exploitation films with overly sexualised nature.

The clip emphasised its retro nature by playing an old-school intro for 'Prevues of Coming Attractions' scored to Keith Mansfield's Funky Fanfare, which dates to the late 1960s and has been used to open numerous Tarantino films.

It further indicated that it's going to be horror themed from due to its opening image, in which the camera pushes in on a suburban house at night as lightning flashes in the distance and creepy synthesizers whine in the background.

The house has a 'For Sale' sign and a 'Sold!!' sign slapped on to it, indicating that the new owners might be in for an unfortunate surprise.

After this, the narrator begins an ominously sinister narration, which says: "In a neighborhood near you, moves inside the shadow-shrouded home, 'they thought they had just bought the home of their dreams" as the camera zooms into the murky dark and shadowy footage of a home clad in the dark of night.
Lucknow, Aug 30 : A cash reward now awaits those who provide information about electricity theft anywhere in Uttar Pradesh to the UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL).

The corporation may plan and announce a scheme in this regard very soon.

"People who share information about power theft on Bijli Mitra Portal must be rewarded with some cash incentive to encourage more people," said UPPCL chairman Ashish Kumar Goel.

He said a lot of people were giving information about power theft on the departmentas portal. He said the portal needed to be made more popular by announcing a cash reward on accurate tip-offs. Goel asked officials to make a policy in this regard very soon with the provision that names of informers did not come in public domain.

He also said there was a possibility of power theft on feeders with high power demand. He said a special watch should be kept on such feeders and action taken accordingly.

Goel stressed the need for designing a portal for displaying the amount of assessment in power theft cases to bring about a greater transparency. He asked officials to ensure rechecking of illegal power connections, snapped after raids.
Mysuru, Aug 30 : Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge arrived in Mysuru city in Karnataka on Wednesday to attend the mega event to launch the ambitious Gruha Lakshmi Scheme in the state.

Party General Secretary K.C. Venugopal, state Congress in-charge Randeep Surjewala also arrived with Rahul Gandhi and Kharge.

Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar received Rahul Gandhi and others at the Bengaluru International airport and travelled with them in a special flight to Mysuru.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah welcomed the leaders at Mysuru. More than a lakh people are attending the mega event. Under the scheme 1.10 crore women will get monthly allowance through direct benefit transfer.

The Chief Minister said, "Crores of mothers of this land, who have dedicated themselves to their families and are making sacrifices, will now step into the life of self respect through the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme

.

"Our government will transfer Rs 2,000 for every woman head of family directly and we are keeping the word," he said.

"This is a historical day. I am eager to see the complacency and joy on the faces of mothers. Empowerment of women will help to create a powerful society. If equality of women is ensured that will lead to the creation of equality in the whole society," he stated.

The Congress government had implemented free travel for women in state owned buses, free rice scheme, and free power scheme in the state. This is the fourth guarantee scheme. The assurance had also been made to provide a monthly allowance to unemployed fresh graduates and diploma holders for two years.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Azerbaijan and the World Bank (WB) have discussed priority directions for energy sector development, Trend reports.

According to the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan, the relevant discussions were held at the meeting of Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov with the new WB manager for Azerbaijan, Stefanie Stallmeister.

During the conversation, the implementation of projects in Azerbaijan with the technical and financial support of the World Bank was highly appreciated, and opinions were exchanged on cooperation with the Bank and priority directions for the development of the country's energy sector.

Information was also presented on energy transition, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, and energy projects realized from the Caspian Sea to Europe, including an assessment of wind energy potential in the Caspian Sea.

In addition, the meeting touched upon the preparation of a new World Bank Group Partnership Framework Document for Azerbaijan covering 20232028.

Stefanie Stallmeister took over the duties of WB Regional Manager for Azerbaijan on July 1, 2023. Prior to this appointment, she held the position of the World Bank's Country Manager for Vietnam, East Asia, and the Pacific.
United Nations, Aug 30 : The UN has carried out 200 cross-border missions to Syria since the first inter-agency visit to Idlib on February 14, following the devastating earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey, a spokesman said.

During the latest mission that took place on Sunday that crossed through Bab al-Salam, World Health Organization (WHO) personnel conducted monitoring visits to health facilities and warehouses in Afrin and Azaz and also met their local partners, Xinhua news agency quoted Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as saying on Tuesday.

"We and our humanitarian partners are continuing to deliver urgently needed aid through the Bab al-Salam and Al-Ra'ee crossings," he said.

"Today, 17 trucks carrying humanitarian shelter items from the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency crossed into the Northwest via Bab al-Salam."

Bab al-Salam and Al-Ra'ee, on the Turkish border, were opened for an initial period of three months in the aftermath of the February earthquakes.

The authorisation has been renewed several times.

Dujarric said the world body is yet to begin to make use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, which was the major route of cross-border aid delivery into Northwest Syria before the Security Council failed in July to reauthorise its use.

The Syrian government had since offered to grant permission for aid delivery through Bab al-Hawa, also on the Turkish border, and reached an understanding on August 7 with the UN on the continued use of the crossing for six months.

"What is going on is that we're still trying to work out the operational details on how to put the agreement to work," said Dujarric.

On February 6, two back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.8 anda7.7 on the Richter scale struck Turkey and Syria.

The confirmed death toll stood at 59,259 -- 50,783 in Turkey and 8,476 in Syria.

It was the deadliest earthquakes in both the neighbouring nations in recent history.
Kolkata, Aug 30 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is running a parallel probe along with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the multi-crore municipalities' recruitment case in West Bengal, on Wednesday served a notice to the Diamond Harbour Municipality seeking clarifications on certain hirings made back in 2016.

Sources said that the central agency has sought clarifications on the recruitment of 16 Group C staff in the municipality in 2016.

Confirming the receipt of ED's notice, the Diamond Harbour Municipality chairman Pranab Das said that they will respond to all the queries of the central agency.

Meera Halder, Diamond Harbour Municipality chairman in 2016, has claimed that the recruitment process of these 16 Group C staff then was absolutely transparent.

ED notice to Diamond Harbour Municipality comes just a day after the Calcutta High Courtas single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha, on Tuesday, said that from now onwards the central agency probe in the recruitment case will be totally court-monitored.

She also directed the central agencies to expedite the pace of investigation on this count and nab the kingpins behind the alleged scam.

The original order for the central agency probe in the municipalitiesa recruitment case was given by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court. However, later, the matter was referred to the court of Justice Sinha, who had also upheld the earlier order by Justice Gangopadhyay.

The state government challenged the order at the Supreme Court. However, recently, the apex court too upheld the Calcutta High Court orders and directed the central agencies to carry on with their investigation in the matter.
Mumbai, Aug 30 : Actor Amit Sadh, who is known for his work in 'Sultan', 'Jeet Ki Zid', 'Avrodh', 'Breathe' and others, is currently on a bike expedition covering the key points in India. The actor recently reached the national capital covering 1,500 kilometres on his bike.

His journey encompasses the route from Balasinor to Ahmedabad, Jodhpur, Jaipur, and finally, Delhi. In the spirit of celebrating Indian culture and the serenity of its landscapes, Amit Sadh embarked on this extraordinary adventure.

The actor hosted a press conference at the Press Club India in Delhi, to share insights into his bike trip, shedding light on the importance of biking and how it played a pivotal role in transforming his life.

He spoke about the challenges faced during the arduous Jaipur to Delhi leg of the journey, and how it was filled with demanding terrains and roads.

Talking about his incredible journey, Amit shared: "This expedition has been an experience like no other. Jaipur to Delhi was a challenging ride, but every moment on this journey has been a testament to the beauty of India and the warmth of its people. I'm overwhelmed by the love and support I've received throughout, and this reinforces my belief in the unity and diversity of our incredible nation."

The actor's journey will soon culminate in Leh Ladakh.
Raj Police detain three after car crushes two Dalit youths to death. Image Source: IANS News

Jaipur, Aug 30 : Three suspects have been detained after two Dailt youths were crushed to death by a car near Ranasar village in Rajasthan's Kuchaman.

Their bike was reportedly hit several times due to which the two youths died and one was injured, said police on Wednesday.

Details about the suspects were awaited.

The police HQ officials said the seriously injured youth has been rushed to Jaipur, and the senior police officials have also rushed to Kuchaman.

aIn the incident, Raju and Chunnilal, residents of Bidiyad village of Parbatsar, died on the spot and the third youth, Krishnaram, was seriously injured," the officials confirmed, adding that the state government has taken the killing of two Dalit youths in Kuchaman very seriously and instructions have been given to arrest the killers by taking effective action immediately.

ADG Crime Dinesh M.N. left for Kuchaman on the instructions of Director General of Police Umesh Mishra.

Top police officers of Kuchaman City, including IG Lata Manoj Kumar were present at the spot. Police were scanning CCTV footage of the entire area to find the accused.

Two Dalit youths were run over and another grievously injured shortly after they allegedly had an altercation with some unidentified men at a highway dhaba in Deedwana-Kuchaman district late Monday night.

Police are probing CCTV cameras in and around the location to trace the accused, said officials.

The accident fueled suspicion that the crash was deliberately caused. The crash was so horrific that the limbs of the victims were dismembered and were seen strewn along the Hanumangarh-Kishangarh Mega Highway, near Ranasar. The unidentified vehicle that killed Rajuram (22) and Chunilal (24) and injured Kishnaram (30) remained untraced.

Rajuram (22) and Chunilal (24) were from Bidiyad village, and Kishnaram from nearby Manglana. All worked as marble-fitting contractors.
Chandigarh, Aug 30 : In a stern warning, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday warned the staff working in the offices of the deputy commissioners and patwaris not to participate in any protest or they would face consequences of even losing their jobs.

Mann said the employees, who had threatened to sit on a pen-down strike in the coming days, could lose their jobs as there "are many unemployed people in the state whose services could be hired in place of them".

Official sources said the stringent warning by the Chief Minister comes in the wake of revenue staff currently busy in collecting field reports of damage to crop, livestock and houses in flood-hit areas and their proposed strike would hit the functioning.

It is learnt the strike call was given by the revenue employees in protest against the arrest of a patwari in a bribery case.
Jaipur, Aug 30 : A 93-year-old priest, Mahant Siyaram Das Maharaj, of Bhuriya Mahadev Baba Dham was murdered in Diggi town of Rajasthan's Tonk district sparking outrage and protests.

The police said he was murdered on Tuesday night.

The locals found the body on Wednesday when they went to the temple to worship, and soon a crowd gathered there.

People staged a protest outside the temple demanding the arrest of the killers. On receiving this information, Superintendent of Police Rajarshi Raj Verma reached the spot.

As per locals, the priest used to worship the ancient Bhuriya Mahadev Baba Dham in Diggi for the past 50 years. He lived alone in the temple.

As soon as the news of Mahant's murder spread in the town, people gathered in large numbers. Fury prevailed among the people and while raising slogans, they sat on a dharna outside the temple and closed the market.

A dog squad team has been called by the police administration to pick any clues.

SP Verma said that "it is murder. A team is being formed and the killers are being searched."

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, "It is very sad that the Mahant Saint Siyaram Das Baba Ji of Tonk region was brutally murdered. Why are saints and sages on the target of criminals in Rajasthan?

"This was not seen anywhere else in the country. The disregard of Sant Samaj is part of the appeasement policy of the Gehlot government.

"To maintain its vote bank, Congress encourages anti-social elements who harass saints and seers."

BJP State Vice President and Tonk MP Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria attacked the Gehlot government. He said that the administration was only engaged in the propaganda of the government. He said that such incidents happen in Malpura area due to the wrong policies of the state government.

--IAN

arc/dpb
Kolkata, Aug 30 : After a student's death in Jadavpur University campus, a complaint of ragging trauma has been made in Gurudas College, a prime college under the University of Calcutta.

The Kolkata Police have initiated a probe against two former students of the college under Section 4 of the Prohibition of Ragging Act 2011. The probe has been started after the requisite permission on this count from the office of an additional chief judicial magistrate in Kolkata.

The police have started the investigation after a student of the Gurudas College complained to the University Grants Commission (UGC) accusing two former students of indulging in ragging. In his complaint to the UGC, the student concerned also accused the general secretary of the studentsa union of Gurudas College, Sohom Chakraborty on this count. The latter, however, has denied allegations against him.

On receiving the complaint, UGC had sent an email to the college authorities seeking clarifications in the matter and also advised for immediate counseling of the student concerned.

UGC also directed the college authorities to take up the matter seriously and initiate a probe against the accused. The commission has directed that the identity of the complaining student should be kept secret.

The college authorities have, however, maintained total silence in the matter.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Dhruv Dhanraj Bahl, former COO of BharatPe who was recently reassigned as Chief Business Officer (CBO) for the company's merchant lending division, has stepped down.

In a statement to IANS, a company spokesperson said that "we would like to confirm that Bahl is moving on from BharatPe to pursue his entrepreneurial passions".

"He has been an integral part of the organisation and contributed to the growth of the company. We thank him for his contribution to BharatPe's journey and wish him all the best for future endeavours," the spokesperson added.

BharatPe Co-founder and former managing director Ashneer Grover on Wednesday took a dig at Bahl's exit in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Tweeting in Haryanvi language, Grover said: "Tau, You just cannot accomplish the task. The way you act is like a Chaudhary (strong man). Your kids have even fled the scene so you get back now."

In a strategic move to strengthen its merchant lending operations, BharatPe recently acquired a controlling stake in Mumbai's Trillion Loans, a non-banking financial company (NBFC).

"At BharatPe, the merchant lending business has grown significantly over the course of the last one year, under the able guidance of an experienced leadership team. BharatPe has a strong internal team that will continue to drive growth in the times to come," the company further said in a statement.

Bahl's exit came in the wake of a series of high-level resignations that the fintech firm has seen in recent months.

Chief Technology Officer Vijay Aggarwal, the Head of Consumer Product-PostPe Nehul Malhotra, the Chief Product Officer of Lending and Consumer Products Rajat Jain, and the Vice-President of Technology Geetanshu Singla, recently stepped down from BharatPe.

BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer had stepped down from his position in January.

Sameer was said to be starting a new venture capital (VC) fund and invest in at least 20 founder teams this year.

--IANS

na/ksk
Four Patna cops steal goods from mall, video goes viral. Image Source: IANS News

Patna, August 30 : Four Patna police personnel have been accused of stealing goods from a mall in Rajiv Nagar locality here, and a video of the incident has went viral on social media.

The accused deployed at DIAL 112 police van emergency services, reached Rapid Bazar mall under Rajiv Nagar police station around 10.30 p.m. on Tuesday, stole valuables and placed them in vehicle.

Some local residents spotted their act and intercepted them after a brief chase.

When Rajiv Nagar police learnt about the incident, they reached the spot and took accused into custody.

Patna SSP Rajiv Mishra sent the accused to police line and constituted a team headed by DSP, law and order, Patna, to investigate the incident.
Bhopal, Aug 30 : At least five persons were reported dead on Wednesday after inhaling toxic gas emanating from a tank at a food factory in Madhya Pradesh's Morena.

The gas leak occurred at a factory named aSakshi Food Producta in Morena district, the officials said.

As per the information, toxic gas started emanating from a tank at the factory around 11 a.m. and two labourers entered it to check it, but did not return. Subsequently, three more labourers went inside the tank and they also got affected.

The affected persons were labourers working in the factory. Due to inhalation of poisonous gas, they fell unconscious. Following which, they were rushed to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared them dead.

Around half a dozen more labourers were also suspected to have inhaled the toxic gas and they have been admitted at a hospital, Morena SDM Bhupendra Singh Kushwaha said.

Local police have reached the spot and a rescue operation was carried out.

Confirming more about the incident, Morena Superintendent of Police (SP) Shailendra Chouhan said the labourers died in the boiler of a cherry factory. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem.

The deceased persons have been identified as Ramesh Meena, Raju Meena, Mukesh Meena, Suresh Meena and Chhotelal Meena, according to the police.

Further details were awaited.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. The Center for Analysis and Coordination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has launched the project "Academy 4SI" (Fourth Industrial Revolution Academy), Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan Mikayil Jabbarov said, Trend reports.

"The "4SI Academy" (Fourth Industrial Revolution Academy) has been established by the Center for Analysis and Coordination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Up to 10,000 people can use this effort as a platform to advance their knowledge in Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, blockchain, cloud computing, programming languages, and other areas. The "Coursera" company will provide participants the chance to sign up for over 700 free courses. The project promotes the development of knowledge and expertise in the field of technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution as well as the education of skilled professionals to fulfill the demands of the labor market," said Jabbarov on X (Twitter).

With the help of more than 275 top businesses and colleges, "Coursera" provides flexible, inexpensive, and pertinent online training to people and organizations all over the world. The organization provides a wide range of training opportunities, including ready-to-work certificates and degree programs in addition to practical projects and courses.
Kolkata, Aug 30 : A Trinamool Congress worker was killed and two others were critically injured in a clash reportedly between two factions of the ruling party at Dhaparia area in West Bengal's Nadia district on Wednesday.

The deceased has been identified as Safezzal Dafadar.

Gulmish Bibi, a relative of Dafadar, claimed that the family was associated with Trinamool Congress. "However, there is a rival faction in the ruling party in the area and my family members are being constantly threatened by them," she said.

She alleged that the rival gang members suddenly attacked their residence with firearms and sharp weapons. "Safezzal was their main target. When his son and another member tried to rescue him, they were also attacked. Finally, the attackers started firing indiscriminately and in that process Safezzal was shot dead," Gulmish Bibi said.

Since the recently-concluded panchayat polls, the rival faction was accusing the family of clandestinely backing Congress in the elections. "They used this allegation as an excuse to harass us," she said.

An investigation has been launched in the matter.

However, Trinamool Congress MLA from Nakashipara Kallol Khan rubbished the allegations of internal infighting resulting in the tragedy.

"As far as I know, this was a fallout of a personal rivalry. There is no question of politics in the matter. The police are probing the matter. The truth will be revealed at the end of the investigation," he said.
Gandhinagar, Aug 30 : Prof Pankaj Khanna, a faculty member in Earth Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), has been handpicked as the sedimentologist from India to join an offshore research expedition.

This endeavor, titled 'IODP Expedition 389," is a part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and aims to investigate climate change patterns through the study of drowned reefs off the coast of Hawaii.

Prof Khanna's role scheduled to unfold from August 29 to November 1, places him amidst a cohort of 31 leading researchers hailing from various parts of the world. Their collaborative mission will centre on the meticulous drilling and analysis of fossilised coral reefs encircling the Hawaiian islands. This undertaking promises to unearth invaluable insights into the intricate interplay between global sea-level variations and the broader spectrum of climate change on a planetary scale.

Prof Pankaj Khanna, said, "The research cruise will provide critical datasets to dive deep into past sea levels and climate for the last five lakh years for which there are very limited records. The rocks collected through scientific drilling will give critical information on mechanisms that control abrupt climate change. I will be analysing the core samples that will be collected on the research expedition. I am looking forward to what the drowned reefs offshore Hawaii holds for us to expand our understanding."

At the heart of this enterprise lies the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), a far-reaching collaborative effort encompassing contributions from 21 countries, including India. Its goal is to delve into the annals of Earth's history, structure, and dynamics through the meticulous collection and examination of seafloor sediments, rocks, and sub-seafloor environments.

Within this framework, the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), a key component of IODP, oversees specialised missions such as the ongoing 'Expedition 389,' designed to probe submerged reefs off Hawaii's coastline.

Steered by Co-chief Scientists Prof Jody Webster from the University of Sydney, Australia, and Prof Christina Ravelo from the University of California, Santa Cruz, the expedition will unfold aboard the MMA Valour vessel.

Distinguished by its Benthic Portable Remotely Operated Drill (PROD5) system, the vessel will be home to scientific endeavors that span up to 11 distinct sites. These locales encompass fossil coral reefs encircling Hawaii and hold a treasure trove of climate data spanning significant epochs in Earth's history.
Six injured as two DTC buses collides head on in Delhi. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Aug 30 : Six people were injured after two Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses collided head on with each other at Sansad Marg in the national Capital on Wednesday, a police official said.

Sharing the details, a senior police official said that an information regarding the accident was received at Parliament Street police station at around 11:15 a.m. following which an emergency response vehicle was dispatched for the spot.

"Injured were taken to hospital from where they were discharged after the first aid," said the official.

The injured were identified as Sandeep Kumar (Bus Driver), Rupesh Kumar (passenger), Md. Tanvir (passenger), Jagdeep singh (conductor), Sanjay Kumar (Bus driver of another DTC) and Rahul (conductor of another DTC).

"We have initiated a legal action in the matter," the official added.

--IANS

ssh/svn
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asserted that women are the foundation of India and the country will be strong only after they are empowered.

He said that the party will launch the Karnataka's Gruha Lakshmi model across the country.

His remarks came after, he along with party President Mallikarjun Kharge, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and senior party leaders Randeep Saingh Surjewala and KC Venugopal on Wednesday launched the direct benefit transfer of Rs 2,000 directly into the bank accounts of women in the southern state under 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme.

After the programme, in a tweet in Hindi, the former Congress chief said, "The strength of a building lies in its foundation. Women are the foundation of India - the country will be strong only by their empowerment. Four out of five guarantees given to Karnataka are specially made for women."

"Gruha Lakshami Yojana, which will deliver Rs 2000 per month to bank accounts, is India's biggest money transfer scheme for women. And, we are now going to implement this Karnataka model  women-centric system all over India," Rahul Gandhi, who represents Kerala's Wayanad parliamentary constituency in Lok Sabha said.

"As we complete 100 days in Karnataka government, it gives us immense satisfaction to launch Gruha Lakshmi guarantee where Rs 2,000 per month shall be directly transferred to the accounts of more than one crore women," Kharge wrote on X.

"This would give them respite from the unprecedented price rise imposed by the Modi government and the BJP. BJP used every possible method to question and stall the implementation of our guarantees. The will of the people of Karnataka prevailed. Today crores are benefitting from these. Financial empowerment of women is the bedrock of progress, and we will continue to make women a central theme for the future of our people," Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said.

In the run up to the assembly elections in Karnataka, Congress had promised five guarantees in the state if voted to power.

The Congress had also launched a similar direct benefit transfer scheme for women in Himachal Pradesh after it won in the assembly elections in December last year.
New York, Aug 30 : The US Department of Labor announced it has recovered more than $71,047 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Florida-based Indian company, which denied overtime pay to 25 of its workers.

Patel Shippers LLC, which provides fruits and vegetables from India and Asia to grocery stores in 10 US states, paid straight-time rates for all hours worked, including for hours over 40 in a workweek, Labor's Wage and Hour Division found.

The employer also failed to pay three workers at least the federal minimum wage by not keeping an accurate record of hours worked, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The company was first registered to do business in Florida in 1985 and is run by president Ashish Patel and vice president Ramanbhai Patel, the Miami Herald reported, citing state records.

The company website describes Patel Shippers as an "Indian and oriental vegetable and fruit supplier".

"Employers have a legal obligation to pay workers for all the hours that they work. When they fail to do so they may owe back wages and liquidated damages," said Anthony Delgado, Wage and Hour Division Acting District Director, Miami.

"We remain committed to ensuring essential protections for workers, and to providing clear and confidential compliance assistance to any worker or employer with questions,' Delgado said in a statement released by the Department of Labor.

The company delivers fruit and vegetables to stores and grocers in Miami, Sunrise, West Palm Beach, Arizona, California, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

The investigators from the Wage and Hour Division learned of the Patel Shipper's malpractices via the Employment Education and Outreach alliance, which addresses the concerns of immigrants who aren't familiar with workplace rights in the US.
Hyderabad, Aug 30 : Students planning to go to the United States for higher education should be careful about what they post on social media or what they communicate with others, say educational consultants.

The students who discuss job opportunities with friends, relatives or others come under the scanner of US authorities.

A few days ago as many as 21 Telugu students were deported from the United States, sending concern among the Indian community.

The students who arrived from various parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were deported by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for violating immigration norms for technical violation.

According to UniversityHub CEO, Dr. Anil Palla, "Students were sent back following a document check at Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco airports. Major reasons for deportation include; not having sufficient funding for tuition fee, fraudulent documents, looking for jobs on social media, not landing in the location of the universities etc."

The consultancies who send students to these universities often do not share the details of the tuition costs as they assume they will be sending them to good institutions. Students would ideally need to be aware of the rules and costs before they make an informed decision, or else their foreign education can be at stake, he said.

According to the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) deportation was mainly due to students watching videos and reading documents on how to answer immigration questions. Reading such documents is illegal and can result in detainment of students. As students found there's lack of clear explanation behind authorities' actions, they shared that their mobiles and search engines were being checked.

When a student is seen to use social media for checking about availability of jobs or seen talking to their peers about job opportunities and found doing part-time work during studies, immigration authorities will raise many questions considering the student's intentions of going to the US.

According to the US laws, students are not legally allowed to undertake employment, anyone found doing so will face consequences that can result in losing their visas.

Talking about the myths that exist about education at non-profit universities, Dr. Anil Palla said, "Most of the consultancies send students to state and public institutions where the fees is very high and students find it hard to cope with the standard of education. Some institutions ask students to pay $3,000 before starting the first term and it can go as high as $12,000. Students would need to be aware of their affordability before they receive an admission in such institutions. Instead, there are good private and not-for-profit institutions at low costs that have excellent resources which students can also choose. Some students choose such institutions due to peer pressure. The strict US rules can lead to a 5-year ban for those who are deported, where results in repercussions like loss of time, resources and future prospects. This can affect the prospects of students receiving any admissions in foreign institutions as their passports will be questioned constantly for the deportation mark."

Consultancy companies prepare students for visa interviews. All their answers are recorded and typed in the applications. Immigration officers then check these answers and if there is any difference between what is being said and written, the candidate is immediately rejected or taken into charge. So candidates are advised to prepare the same answers throughout this procedure.

"When students give vague answers and search about how to pay their tuition fee through jobs, the officials don't give enough time for explanation and threaten imprisonment. A similar deportation has happened 4-5 years ago," he said.
Aizawl/Agartala, Aug 30 : The security forces have seized huge quantities of heroin worth Rs 15.59 crore and arrested seven drug peddlers during the past 24 hours in Mizoram and Tripura, officials said on Wednesday.

Mizoram Excise and Narcotics department officials seized 3,310 grams of heroin valued at Rs 13.34 crore from two places near Aizawl and arrested four persons on Tuesday.

The four drug smugglers, aged 25 to 40 years old, are residents of Karimganj and Cachar districts of southern Assam.

In Tripura, police and the Assam Rifles in a joint operation apprehended three youths with 558 gram heroin on Tuesday night at Kumarghat in Unakoti district.

The youths, who hailed from West Tripura and Sepehijala districts, were coming from southern Assam in a car along with the heroin, valued at Rs 2.25 crore.

Both the Mizoram and the Tripura police said that as per the preliminary information, the drugs were smuggled from Myanmar and through Mizoram, the heroin was being ferried to other parts of the country.

Tripura's 856 km border with Bangladesh and Mizoram's 510 km frontier with Myanmar becomes an easy corridor of drug smuggling in northeast India.

Besides various illicit drugs, foreign cigarettes, gold, arms and ammunition, exotic animals, and areca nuts are often smuggled from Myanmar into the northeastern states, especially Mizoram and Manipur.
Kerala: CPI-M legislator writes to ED, says can't appear before it. Image Source: IANS News

Kochi, Aug 30 : Senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) legislator and former Kerala minister A.C. Moideen has written to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), stating he would be unable to appear before the agency officials on Thursday.

On August 22, the ED conducted raids at Moideen's house in Trissur in connection with a money laundering case. Two days later -- on August 24 -- the ED asked him to appear on August 31 in its office for questioning.

The ED claimed that it has found out that through an illegal activity, Rs 150 crore was siphoned off from Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank Ltd in Trissur.

The ED investigation has revealed that on the instruction of certain persons, who were district level leaders and committee members of a "certain" political party, and held top positions in the bank, loans were disbursed by the Bank Manager through the agent in cash to "non-member benamis" by mortgaging properties of not so well-off indivduals without their knowledge.

It has come to light that many "benami loans" were disbursed on the instructions of Moideen.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, former manager of the Karuvannur Bank -- Biju Karim, and two other persons -- both middlemen, were questioned by the ED.

Kerala unit CPI-M secretary M.V. Govindan, defending the top party leader, said the raid was a politically motivated one ahead of the Puthuppally by-election.
Mumbai, Aug 30 : The Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre was forced to reduce the prices of domestic cooking gas cylinders thanks to the I.N.D.I.A. conclaves, the third of which will be held here on Aug. 31-Sep. 01, claimed Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut here on Wednesday.

He said that after the National Opposition bloc meetings in Patna and Bengaluru, the BJP was compelled to slash the rates of gas cylinders, and even West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a similar view.

Raut said that "Mumbai is immersed in the I.N.D.I.A. mood" since the past few days for the conclave hosted by the Shiv Sena (UBT), and will be attended by at least 28 parties over the next two days.

His comments came in the opening remarks of a joint press conference organised by the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT)-Nationalist Congress Party (SP), here this afternoon, ahead of the conclave to be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Santacruz.
New York, Aug 30 : While it may be healthy to discuss mental health challenges on social media platforms, it can affect the way potential employers view job applicants, according to a study.

Researchers from North Carolina State University set out to determine the extent to which posts about mental health on the job platform LinkedIn affected perceptions of an individual's personality and future performance in the workplace.

In the study, they involved 409 professionals with hiring experience and also made them hear an audio interview of the candidate, based on which they were asked about the job candidateas personality and future performance in the workplace.

The results, published in the Journal of Business and Psychology, showed that people who saw the LinkedIn post about mental health challenges viewed the job candidate as being less emotionally stable and less conscientious.

The interview also did not affect the views of participants about the job candidate's conscientiousness. In other words, the perceptions evaluators had after seeing the LinkedIn profile largely persisted throughout the interview, the researchers said.

"People are often encouraged to discuss their mental health struggles on social media with the goal of reducing the stigma associated with mental health challenges," said Lori Foster, co-author of a paper on the study and a professor of psychology at North Carolina State University.

"We think reducing stigma around mental health is extremely important, but our study suggests that mental health posts on platforms such as LinkedIn could have unforeseen consequences for people disclosing their mental health challenges."

According to Jenna McChesney, assistant professor of psychology at Meredith College: "It's important for people to take that into consideration when determining whether to share their mental health experiences online."

However, "our findings don't mean people should refrain from posting about anxiety and depression on LinkedIn," said McChesney, who worked on the study while a grad student at NC State.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V.K Saxena on Wednesday ruled that the benefits of Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) Scheme must be given to retired principals, EOs, DEOs, DDEs of the Education Department.

The L-G office said that they would be entitled to draw salary in the higher grade pay from the date of implementation of the scheme i.e. September 1, 2008 or their respective entitlement, whichever is later.

The L-G has also directed the Education Department to release the financial benefits to these retired officers, along with admissible arrears, immediately.

"This decision of L-G will pave way for grant of financial benefits to similarly placed employees of other departments also," the L-G office said.

It said that despite these retired officers being eligible for financial upgradation from year 2008 and their eligibility upheld by various courts and even by Supreme Court, these officers had to go through trauma and harassment all these years for no fault of theirs due to indifferent and inhuman attitude of the Education Department. They would now be getting their due benefits pending for 15 years.

"L-G overruling a file in this regard submitted for his approval to move the Supreme Court against the petitioner government servants, observed that once it is settled and agreed to grant benefits of financial upgradation under MACP Scheme w.e.f. a certain date, it is against the principle of natural justice and the MACP Scheme guidelines that actual benefits are denied by refusing arrears admissible in law."

The L-G office said that in order to provide relief to government employees due to stagnation in their post, government of India had brought MACP Scheme effective from 2008 under which financial upgradations are granted to government employees after completion of ten, twenty and thirty years of their service.

"The benefits under the scheme are granted from the date an employee becomes eligible and he is also eligible for arrears on the benefits in case of delays."

It is also noted that financial upgradation under MACP Scheme cannot be equated with prospective benefits of regular promotion as the benefits under MACP Scheme are incentives in nature where employees are entitled to the benefits from the date they become eligible or the date notified by the government for the implementation of the scheme, whichever is later.

The L-G officer directed that the administrative department may accordingly modify its SLP filed in the Supreme Court by limiting the same to the extent of admissibility of interest on arrears only and not the arrears.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Actor Manit Joura believes that Raksha Bandhan is about the loving bond between siblings, and sisters should be celebrated not just one day, but everyday.

Talking about the festival, the 'Kundali Bhagya' fame actor said: "Raksha Bandhan is all about siblings, and the loving bond they share. I believe that sisters should be celebrated not just one day, but everyday. The most remarkable and cherished aspect of my relationship with my sister is our togetherness during these special moments."

"Residing in different cities, our reunions are valuable presents for us. I don't confine my expressions of affection to a single day; I consistently strive to make my sister feel exceptional," Manit said.

The 36-year-old actor added: "While I won't be able to journey to Delhi this Raksha Bandhan due to my commitment to Kundali Bhagya's shoot, my sister might be visiting Mumbai this year. We're planning to indulge in some shopping, and I intend to gift her whatever she desires. Personally, I take great pleasure in pampering her in every conceivable manner. I consider myself truly fortunate to have such an adorable sister."

'Kundali Bhagya' is a romantic drama television series, which is a spin-off series of 'Kumkum Bhagya'. The show stars Shraddha Arya as Dr Preeta Arora Luthra, Shakti Anand as Karan Luthra, and Manit as Rishabh Luthra. It also features Paras Kalnawat, Baseer Ali, and Sana Sayyad. The show airs on Zee TV.

Manit made his film debut in 2010 Yash Raj Films' 'Band Baaja Baaraat', directed by Maneesh Sharma, starring Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh in the lead.

He was also seen in 'Naagin 6' as Professor Jeet Patel.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday targeted the Central government saying that the Delhi Services Act has granted officers the licence to openly rebel against the written orders of the elected government of Delhi.

"Delhi Services Act gives officers the licence to openly rebel against written orders of the elected government. Officers have begun to refuse to obey the orders of elected ministers. Can any state, country, or institution function under such circumstances? This Act will harm Delhi, and this is what the BJP wants. The Act needs to be struck down as soon as possible," Kejriwal posted on X.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Minister Atishi said that officials were openly rebelling against the Delhi government. While addressing a conference, Atishi said that the Chief Secretary had previously declined to act on their order, and now the Finance Secretary had written a 40-page letter refusing to comply with their directive.

"The statements previously made by officials about resisting orders now appear to be coming true. Following the Chief Secretary in Delhi, the Finance Secretary has also declined to adhere to the government's orders by composing a 40-page letter. With reference to the Delhi Services Act, there is an ongoing attempt to impede all government activities," she said.

"Iad like to inquire again: Has the Central government instructed officials in Delhi to reject orders from the elected government and undermine the democracy? Does the notion of the aTriple Chain of Accountabilitya mentioned in the Supreme Court's orders not hold any significance for them?" she asked.

Atishi said that the order given to the Finance Secretary pertained to a court case involving GST refunds. This order was initially issued by the then Finance Minister Kailash Gehlot and subsequently by her.

"Now, if officials do not comply with the elected government's orders concerning routine government processes, how will the government effectively serve the people's interests?" she asked.
K'taka: Two hotel owners arrested for serving beef instead of mutton. Image Source: IANS News

Chikkamagaluru : , Aug 30 (IANS) Karnataka police on Wednesday arrested two hotel owners in Chikkamagaluru district for allegedly serving beef to customers at their hotels instead of mutton.

The alleged incident took place under the limits of Chikkamagaluru City police station.

The arrested persons have been identified as Latif, the owner of Everest Hotel, and Shivaraj, the owner of Bengaluru Hotel.

Both Everest and Bengaluru are popular hotels in Chikkamagaluru City. It is alleged both the hotels served various dishes of beef claiming them to be mutton dishes.

The police had conducted raids after receiving complaints in this regard.

In another case, the police have seized 20 kg beef stored illegally at Nyamat Hotel in Chikkamagaluru. The police had raided the hotel after receiving a tip-off and arrested the hotel owner named Irshad Ahmad.
Mumbai, Aug 30 : Actress Kriti Sanon is celebrating Raksha Bandhan with her sister Nupur Sanon and has shared a video talking about how much they have bickered and argued, though at the end, they still have a strong and unbreakable bond.

Taking to Instagram, Kriti Sanon posted a reel of her YouTube video where the two narrate their relationship, with the two sisters wishing each other a "Happy Rakhi."

Kriti Sanon captioned: "The Sanon Sisters!! @nupursanon"

"Sistersss are the bestttt! Love you to the moon and back!"

"Happyy Rakhi!"

The two shared a montage of their relationship as Kriti Sanon says in the video: "So in the morning it was really funny, because I was like 'Oh yay today we're shooting together'!"

"We're gonna post some Instagram stories, and cut to she's already left!"

Nupur Sanon said: "I left early and her spot dada was 'Aap itne jaldi jaa rahe ho? Kyun?' So I said 'Mujhe time se pohachana hai'"

So they travelled in separate cars for the shoot, with ultimately Nupur revealing that she just planned all this because she does not like riding with her sister because she doesn't let her listen to her Punjabi songs.

Kriti Sanon in response said: "Oof! Tantrums!"

Then sharing snaps of her early make up, Kriti was not really much of a fan of her Vanity with Nupur saying that her sister wanted to actually keep her Vanity collection as she found it better.

Talking about their collective shoot, Kriti said: "You know it's really irritating at times, but in the end I still like shooting with her, because we also sort of break out into laughter."

Nupur who is gearing up for her debut said: "I usually just listen to my sister because she's smarter, obviously because she's worked on so much, so she knows much more."

The two tend to frequently annoy one another on set, though at the end, they have a strong bond which cannot be doubted, because even off-set the two are best friends, frequently playing pranks on one another, but also helping each other out and standing by their side when they need each other the most.
Ghaziabad, Aug 30 : A lawyer was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in his chamber in Sadar tehsil under the Sihani gate police station area in Ghaziabad on Wednesday.

The lawyer, identified as Monu Chaudhary, was having food in his chamber number 95 when the gunmen attacked him, police said.

The incident occurred around 2 p.m. and Choudhary's body was found in a pool of blood on his seat.

The police have sent the body for post-mortem and are examining CCTV footage to identify assailants.

Chaudhary had contested election for the Tehsil Bar Association.

In view of the statewide advocates' strike called by Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh today, police forces were deployed in courts and tehsils, but despite that the assailants committed the crime and fled the scene. The entire incident has raised questions over police security.
Mumbai, Aug 30 : Reiterating Congress' stand, the party's Maharashtra unit President Nana Patole said on Wednesday that China has captured Indian territories in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, and the Opposition will now protect the country from foreign aggression.

"As the I.N.D.I.A. alliance grows stronger and marches ahead, China will retreat from the Indian territories I.N.D.I.A. will protect and secure India," Patole told mediapersons here ahead of the two-day national Opposition bloc meeting on August 31-September 1 scheduled in Mumbai.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said that as many as 11 CMs and 63 leaders of 28 opposition parties will take part in the Mumbai conclave, up from 26 parties which had attended the second I.N.D.I.A. meeting held in Bengaluru in July.

Chavan also slammed the BJP for indulging in the politics of breaking parties and toppling elected state governments, which it did in Madhya Pradesh, Goa, and then even in Maharashtra, adding that the Opposition remains firm and strong, and will not be cowed by such threats.

The prominent parties which have confirmed participation in the I.N.D.I.A. conclave include Shiv Sena (UBT), which is hosting the bloc meeting, Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), Samajwadi Party, National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Janata Dal (U), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Trinamool Congress, DMK, and Peasants & Workers Party.

The others parties include Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, MDMK, Apna Dal, CPI, CPI (Marxist), Revolutionary Socialist Party, All India Forward Bloc, Indian Union Muslim League, Kerala Congress (M), KMDK, Kerala Congress (J), VCK and CPI(M-L), according to the organisers.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : With the arrest of three members of the infamous Tillu Tajpuria-Neeraj Bawana gang, a possible murder of an eyewitnesses in a murder case has been averted, Delhi Police's Special Cell said on Wednesday.

The arrested gang members have been identified as Rahul a.k.a Ranga, Rohit alias Janu, and Hariom a.k.a Ankit. One semi-automatic pistol, two single-shot pistols, and four live cartridges were recovered from their possession.

Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), H.G.S. Dhaliwal, said the accused were involved in several cases of murder, dacoity, robbery etc. in Delhi-NCR and Haryana.

The officer said that for the past few months, police teams have been working to track down and nab the members of the Tajpuria-Bawana gang.

"Information was continuously being received through reliable sources regarding their movements. To further develop such raw information, sources were carefully selected and deployed, and intensive surveillance was mounted. The team members were also stationed in the neighbouring states to gather precise inputs regarding the movements of the gang members," said Dhaliwal.

"On August 22, specific information was received that three members of the Tajpuria-Bawana gang -- Rahul, Rohit and Hariom -- would be coming to the Rohini to area to eliminate two persons named Preeti and Dinesh, both residents of Karala, on the direction of Rakesh alias Raka, and Mohit a.k.a. Chichad," Dhaliwal said.

According to the police, Preeti and Dinesh are eyewitnesses in a murder case.

A raid was conducted by the police which led to the trio's arrest.

The Special CP said that Rahul was arrested for the first time in an Arms Act case in 2017, when he was 16 years old.

In 2018, he was again arrested along with Mohit (his cousin brother) in a murder case.

"He was working with the Tillu Tajpuria gang, and used to collect extortion money on behalf of Mohit, especially from bootleggers and gamblers," said the Special CP.

"Rohit's elder brother was an active member of the Tillu Tajpuria gang, who is lodged in Tihar Jail for the last 3-4 years. Rohit too has been jailed a number of times," Dhaliwal said.

"Hariom was sent to jail for the first time in 2018 in a robbery case. He was again sent to jail in 2020 in a murder case," the officer added.
Bengaluru, Aug 30 : Former minister and sitting BJP MLA S.T. Somashekar on Wednesday celebrated the launch of the Griha Laxmi scheme in his Yeshwanthpur constituency in Bengaluru.

The Griha Laxmi scheme was launched by the Congress government which will provide Rs 2,000 monthly allowance to 1.10 crore women heads of the families in the state.

However, the BJP MLAs and leaders maintained distance from the launch of the Griha Laxmi scheme across the state.

"I am carrying out a little service to implement the Griha Laxmi scheme. This programme is to bring awareness among the beneficiaries," BJP MLA Somashekar said.

"I can't see any lacunae in the Griha Laxmi scheme. The women head of the families will get Rs 2,000 through the programme. Allow people to make any type of remarks but this is a government programme," MLA Somashekar said.

Sources said that BJP MLA Somashekar is all set to join the Congress. Most of his followers have already joined Congress and claimed that their leader will definitely join them soon.

Former minister M.P. Renukacharya had also met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar.

He had later said that if the present situation continued in the state, the BJP party would vanish from Karnataka.

Congress had mocked BJP leaders after they were not allowed to receive Prime Minister Modi nor were allowed to go near him during his visit to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in Bengaluru. The state BJP leaders also faced major embarrassment as PM Modi cancelled his roadshow.

Rahul Gandhi has said that guarantee schemes launched in Karnataka are role models for the country. He had also stated that they would be replicated in the rest of the country.

Congress government has said that the Griha Laxmi scheme is going to reach out to 1.10 crore women; Griha Jyothi scheme has reached 1.41 crore households and they have got zero electricity bills; 48.5 crore women have travelled in buses freely and 1.39 crore households are benefited by the free rice programme.

The Cauvery river dispute, announcement to scrap NEP, removal of texts of BJP's iconic freedom fighter Veer Savarkar and RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar have not impacted the Congress government either.

The grand old party has positioned itself in a dominating position in the state politics by not allowing BJP to play its Hindutva trump card. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and their entire cabinet has also visited the Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysuru and offered special prayers. The decision to stop funds for renovating temples was reversed in no time as it threatened to snowball into a major issue.

Also, the Congress high command has managed to ensure coordination and unity between the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar. On the other hand, the BJP high command seems to have lost interest in the Karnataka state party unit. The leaders in state are also clueless on the appointment of leader of the opposition.
Mumbai, Aug 30 : Setting the tone for the two-day I.N.D.I.A. Conclave starting here on Thursday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday that "the people of the country want a change", for which the Opposition leaders are gathering here.

Speaking at a joint media briefing, Pawar hinted at the possibility of discussing the prickly issue of seat-sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by the national Opposition parties.

The NCP chief said that the first two I.N.D.I.A. alliance meetings were very critical and now the joint strategy of the Opposition bloc to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to be discussed over the next two days.

He said a panel comprising some senior leaders may be formed and given the task of discussing the seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha polls at the state and local levels.

To a question on the allegations recently hurled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at various national Opposition leaders, Pawar dared the Centre that "if they have the courage, they should investigate the cases and bring out the facts" instead of just making such accusations.

On the likely stance of BSP supremo Mayawati, who is reportedly toying with the idea of joining I.N.D.I.A., Pawar said it remains to be seen, as "she is also having discussions with the BJP".

The 83-year-old leader was addressing a packed media conference on the eve of the two-day I.N.D.I.A. Conclave scheduled on Thursday-Friday to chart out the national Opposition parties' gameplan to dislodge the BJP from power.

So far, 28 Opposition parties have confirmed participation in the meeting from all over India. This is the first INDIA Conclave to be held in a state not ruled by any of the bloc's constituents, unlike the previous two meetings held in Bihar and Karnataka.
AFP: British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is visiting China today. According to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, he will raise human rights issues in relation to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet during talks with the Chinese side. Does China welcome discussion on these topics? Could you update us on the visit?

Wang Wenbin: I responded to a related question yesterday. As permanent members of the UN Security Council and major economies in the world, China and the UK shoulder the common responsibility of promoting world peace, stability and development. Maintaining and growing bilateral relations serves the common interests of the peoples of both countries.

During Foreign Secretary Cleverlys visit to China, the two sides will have in-depth communication on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest. We hope the UK will work with China to deepen exchanges and enhance understanding in the spirit of mutual respect, so as to promote the steady development of China-UK relations.

Affairs relating to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet are Chinas internal affairs, where other countries have no right to interfere.

Reuters: Facebook parent company Meta said in its security report that it had found links between people associated with Chinese law enforcement and the pro-China influence operation termed Spamouflage. What is the ministrys comment on Facebooks findings?

Wang Wenbin: Im not aware of what you mentioned. Some people and institutions have launched one rumor campaign after another against China on social media platforms and spread a tremendous amount of disinformation about China.

We hope that relevant company can uphold the principle of objectivity and impartiality, avoid applying double standards, truly differentiate rumors and lies from truth and facts, and take concrete steps to weed out disinformation on China.

Kyodo News: Regarding Chinas ban on all seafood imports from Japan, a Japanese government official said yesterday that the government might file a complaint to the WTO over that decision if the diplomatic channel doesnt work. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: Weve made clear our solemn position on the issue of Japans discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea on multiple occasions. The Japanese governments selfish and irresponsible ocean discharge has been widely criticized by the international community and relevant preventive measures have been taken. In accordance with Chinese laws and regulations and the relevant provisions of the WTOs Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Chinas competent authorities have taken urgent measures on aquatic products originating from Japan. This is completely justified, reasonable and necessary.

AFP: It was reported that Russian President Putin will attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in China in October. Can China confirm this?

Wang Wenbin: The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will be held later this year. China and BRI partners are in communication on this. We will release information in due course.

China Daily: According to reports, Indias External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said that India lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the standard map released by China and that such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question. Whats Chinas comment?

Wang Wenbin: On August 28, the Ministry of Natural Resources of China released the 2023 edition of the standard map. It is a routine practice in Chinas exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law. We hope relevant sides can stay objective and calm, and refrain from over-interpreting the issue.

Reuters: US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo remarked last evening that US firms have complained to her that China has become uninvestible and too risky. What is the ministrys comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: The Chinese side has released readouts on Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondos visit to China. You may refer to them. The Chinese side stated our position at relevant meetings and talks on such issues as bilateral relations and the economic and trade relations between China and the US. I would like to take this opportunity to share relevant information with you.

Premier Li Qiang met with Secretary Raimondo yesterday. During the meeting, Premier Li Qiang said that the economic and trade relations between China and the US are mutually beneficial and win-win in nature. Politicizing economic and trade issues and overstretching the concept of security will not only seriously affect bilateral relations and mutual trust, but also undermine the interests of enterprises and people of the two countries, and will have a disastrous impact on the global economy. Noting that China is the largest developing country and the US is the largest developed country, Li said the two sides should strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, reduce friction and confrontation, and jointly promote world economic recovery and cope with global challenges. Li said China is willing to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with the US on the economy and trade, and to promote the sound development of bilateral economic and trade relations. He said he hopes that the US will work with China in the same direction. China is actively advancing its high-level opening-up and making efforts to provide a world-class, market-oriented business environment governed by a sound legal framework, Li said. The country is also working to ease market access further, treat foreign companies in the same manner as domestic firms, and safeguard and promote fair competition, he said, adding that China will only open its doors even wider to the outside world. Mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation are the right ways for China and the US to get along. We hope that the US side will work with China to take more practical and beneficial actions to maintain and develop bilateral relations, he added.

Secretary Raimondo said that the Biden administration supports Chinas economic development and its improvement of peoples livelihoods, has no intention of containing Chinas development, does not seek to decouple from China, is willing to maintain communication and normal economic and trade relations, and is willing to promote the steady development of bilateral relations. The US side also stands ready to strengthen cooperation with China on artificial intelligence, addressing climate change, and combating fentanyl, she added.

Vice Premier and Chinese lead person for China-US economic and trade affairs He Lifeng also met with Secretary Raimondo yesterday. The two sides had candid, pragmatic and constructive discussions over implementing the important consensus reached at the Bali meeting between the two countries heads of state, as well as economic and trade issues of common concern. The Chinese side expressed its concerns over measures taken by the US, such as Section 301 tariffs, export controls against China and two-way investment restrictions. The two sides agreed to continue to maintain communication and support enterprises of the two countries in carrying out pragmatic cooperation.

China enjoys several distinct advantages: a socialist market economy in systemic terms, a supersize market in terms of demand, a full-fledged industrial system in terms of supply, and abundant, high-caliber labor force and entrepreneurs in terms of human resources. It remains a major destination for global investment. An AmCham China survey shows that 66 percent of US companies in China will maintain or increase investment in China in the coming two years. We hope that the US can work with China to put into practice its commitment of not seeking a decoupling from China and create a favorable environment for the sound development of China-US economic and trade ties.

AFP: Whats Chinas comment on the tense political situation in Gabon?

Wang Wenbin: China is closely following the developments in Gabon. We call on relevant sides in the country to proceed from the fundamental interests of the nation and the people, resolve differences peacefully through dialogue, restore order at an early date, ensure the personal safety of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, and safeguard the larger interests of national peace, stability and development.

TASS: A report by the UKs House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee says Taiwan is an independent country. Does the foreign ministry have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinas territory. The one-China principle is a universally recognized norm in international relations and the political foundation of China-UK relations. The relevant report of the British parliament blatantly referred to Taiwan as an independent country, which distorts the facts and is totally misleading. We urge the relevant committee of the British parliament to abide by the one-China principle, observe international law and the norms governing international relations, respect Chinas core interests, stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces, take concrete actions to fulfill the UKs political commitments on the Taiwan question and maintain the sound and steady growth of the China-UK relations.

Fuji TV: Regarding the harassing phone calls from Chinese numbers to Japanese nationals, earlier you said you were not aware of them. I wonder if you have any updates now?

Wang Wenbin: I would like to reiterate that China protects the safety of foreign diplomatic and consular missions and the lawful rights and interests of foreign citizens in China in accordance with law. We also urge the Japanese side to ensure the safety of Chinese diplomatic and consular missions, institutions, companies and citizens, including Chinese tourists, in Japan.

I also want to stress that the root cause of the current situation lies in the fact that the Japanese government, in disregard of the strong criticism of the international community, has unilaterally and forcibly started the discharge of the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, which has brought unpredictable risks to the global marine environment and the health of the whole humanity and sparked widespread indignation from the international community. The Japanese side should immediately stop releasing the nuclear-contaminated water into the sea and respond to the concerns of the international community in a responsible manner.
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, August 30. Kazakhstan supplied 390,000 tons of oil to Germany through the Druzhba pipeline from February through July 2023, Magzum Mirzagaliyev, the Chairman of the Management Board of KazMunayGas (Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company), said, Trend reports.

This announcement was made during a meeting between Mirzagaliyev and the State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany, Michael Kellner, along with the Chair of the Supervisory Board and Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor and Energy of the State of Brandenburg, Jorg Steinbach, in Berlin.

"In June of this year, as part of the visit of the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to Kazakhstan, KazMunayGas and Rosneft Deutschland (the managing company of the PCK Raffinerie refinery) signed a contract for the supply of crude oil. I am pleased to note that contract obligations are actively being implemented," Mirzagaliyev said.

He emphasized that, according to their plans, the total volume of deliveries to Germany in 2023 will amount to no less than 890,000 tons.

In turn, German officials expressed their interest in increasing the volumes of deliveries of Kazakhstani oil, including from other Kazakhstani oil companies.

In 2022, the German government requested the supply of Kazakhstani oil through the Friendship pipeline to the PCK Raffinerie refinery in Schwedt city.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : In a freak accident, a 20-year-old woman bus passenger died after her head was crushed by a vehicle coming from the opposite side as she leaned out of the window while vomiting, a Delhi Police official said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred on Wednesday in Delhi's Alipur area.

According to police, information was received from SRHC Hospital in Narela regarding admission of a patient after an accident.

"A police team was dispatched to the spot where Babli, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh district, was found dead," said a senior police official.

On inquiry it was revealed that Babli was traveling from ISBT Delhi to Ludhiana in a Haryana roadways bus, with her in-laws.

As the bus was nearing Khanpur (Alipur), Babli experienced a sensation of nausea and leaned out of the bus window to vomit.

"Tragically, during this moment, an unidentified vehicle approached from the driver's side and fatally injured her by crushing her head," said the official.

"Appropriate legal measures are being pursued to address this incident," the official added.

--IANS

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Chennai: Onions arrive at a wholesale market in Chennai on Dec 6, 2019. Onion prices have touched an all-time high with the vegetable being sold at Rs 140 a Kg in Chennai. . Image Source: IANS News

Kolkata, Aug 30 : After chilli and tomatoes, the rising prices of onions are now bringing tears to the middle-class people of Kolkata, with the price of the staple vegetable raging from Rs 45-50 a kg in the retail markets of the city.

According to a member of the task force constituted by the West Bengal government to keep a check on the prices of essential commodities in the retail markets, in the last couple of weeks, the average per kg price of onion has increased by Rs 10 to Rs 15.

"Even two weeks back, the price was ranging between Rs 25 and Rs 35 a kg," the task force member said.

However, the task force members said they are hopeful that the price of onion will come down in the coming days with the Union government imposing 50 per cent tax on export of onions.

The onion traders, though, feel that the prices will not scale down before the middle or end of September.

"Onion production in West Bengal is limited to certain pockets in North Bengal like Cooch Behar, which is not enough to meet the huge demand. The state has to largely depend on onions coming from Nasik in Maharashtra. This year, there has been a shortage in supply of onion from Nasik, which is probably scaling up the price in the retail markets," the task force member said.

He also did not rule out the possibility of hoarders artificially scaling up the price of onion in the retail markets.

"However, the members of the task force are keeping a close watch and making regular market visits to check the events of artificially soaring up prices," he said.
Chittoor : , Aug 30 (IANS) In another major instance of man-animal conflict, a couple was killed and another person injured in an attack by wild elephants in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district, near the Tamil Nadu border, on Wednesday.

The couple was trampled to death in 109 Ramapuram Village in Gudipala mandal abutting the Vellore highway.

Venkatesh, 50, and his wife Selvi, 48, died on the spot when the elephants attacked them as they were walking towards their fields.

In another incident in CK Palli, a youth was critically injured after a wild elephant attacked him.

He had gone into his agriculture field after learning that elephants had strayed into the area and were damaging crops.

The youth was admitted to CMC Vellore, where his condition is stated to be critical.

According to forest officials, the pachyderms entered the village around dawn. They killed cattle tied in front of the houses and then trampled a couple to death and injured a third person.

The aggressive jumbos created havoc in the village as people woke up on hearing the cries of the victims and ran helter-skelter.

On learning about the rampage by the elephants, forest personnel rushed to the village and launched an operation to contain them.

Chief Conservator of Forest P. Nageswara Rao, who rushed to the village from Tirupati, was monitoring the operation.

Residents of the nearby villages staged a protest on the highway leading to Chittoor town, demanding the authorities to take immediate steps to ensure their safety.

The incident occurred in Chittoor constituency close to Chittoor town, raising concern that the problem of wild elephants has spread in the region.

Attacks by wild elephants were reported in the past in and around Koundinya reserve forest spread across Palamner and Kuppam constituencies.

In May, two persons were trampled to death by wild elephants in two separate incidents in Mallanur and Sappanikunta villages under Kuppam mandal. The jumbos had entered from Tamil Nadu, where they had earlier killed a farmer.

Last year, three persons were killed by a herd of elephants in Chittoor district.

Wednesdayas incident is the latest major instance of man-animal conflict in undivided Chittoor district.

A six-year-old girl was mauled to death by a leopard on Alipiri trekking route on August 11.

The incident occurred when she, along with her parents, were walking to Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala.

Following the incident, forest personnel have trapped three leopards in the cages and shifted them to SV Zoo at Tirupati.

Loss of habitat and food resources are attributed for the increasing incidents of animals venturing into human habitations in the region.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Delhi PWD Minister Atishi inspected the Shantivan Road and Delhi Gate on Wednesday to inspect the preparedness of G-20 Summit.

Atishi said that heads of countries and senior officials from around the world were coming to Delhi for the G20 summit and Delhi is ready to welcome them.

"It is a matter of pride for both Delhi and the country that we are getting an opportunity to showcase our best to them. Preparations for the G20 summit are in full swing across Delhi, with beautification efforts also well underway.

"Today, I visited Rajghat, a location that many delegates and heads of countries will visit during the summit. Over the past year, the stretch from Rajghat to Red Fort has undergone a stunning transformation led by the PWD. This area has been enhanced with features such as fountains, contemporary street art, open seating spaces, lighting and many more," she said.

She said that the Rajghat, the memorial of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, is always a priority for any esteemed foreign delegation visiting India.

"As such, the memorial has undergone unique landscaping. It has been adorned with greenery all around, a 115ft Indian flag, lighting installations, and much more.

"Alongside the heads of state, numerous contingents representing political, administrative, social, and economic sectors are also visiting concurrently during the summit.

"Hence, we have revitalized the entire vicinity around Rajghat to offer them an unforgettable experience. Rajghat is the pride of the nation, and we aim for visiting delegates to carry back indelible memories," she said.
Amritsar, Aug 30 : Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday stopped his speech midway at a state-level function here after a woman approached the dais requesting to tie a rakhi on his wrist.

The Chief Minister was attending a function to mark the distribution of appointment letters to 5,714 women Anganwadi workers and helpers on the campus of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) here.

As he was highlighting the cultural significance of the 'Raksha Bandhan' festival, a woman from the audience came near the stage and requested the Chief Minister that she wanted to tie a rakhi on him to symbolise the love between a brother and a sister.

The Chief Minister politely accepted her request, stopped his speech midway, and asked her to come on the dais.

As the woman stepped up to tie the rakhi amid high security, Mann greeted her with an affectionate smile as the woman tied the sacred thread on his wrist.

The Chief Minister also blessed her by tapping her on the head. He also gifted her cash by borrowing it from someone sitting next to him.

"I don't carry cash," the Chief Minister said jokingly.

The Chief Minister was choked with emotion as he resumed his address.

Earlier in the day, Mann, taking cognisance of the proposed agitation by revenue officials in favour of corrupt colleagues, directed strict disciplinary action against them.

The Chief Minister said that inconvenience to the people on account of the whims and fancies of the revenue officials will not be tolerated at any cost.

He said the staff at the deputy commissioners' offices along with the revenue officials are free to go on strike, but any sort of inconvenience to the masses will not be tolerated.

Mann said these officials are free to go on pen-down strike, but the government will decide whether the pen will be given back to them.

The Chief Minister also said that there are many unemployed youth in Punjab who are ready to serve the state by taking the pen in their hands.

He then urged the officials to not go on pen-down strike for their vested interests or in support of those who are facing corruption charges.
Aizawl, Aug 30 : The Election Commission (EC) has asked all the security agencies to maintain strict vigilance during the Mizoram assembly elections along the Myanmar and Bangladesh international border as well as in inter-state bordering areas with Assam, Manipur and Tripura, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said on Wednesday.

The CEC, after holding a series of meetings with officials and political parties since Tuesday, said anti-drug operations, actions and activities would be intensified during the election process and any kind of drug peddling activities would be dealt with firmly.

"All enforcement agencies would remain extremely vigilant and for any laxity we would take stern action against the security agency and the individual," Kumar told the media.

The CEC specifically emphasised the need for vigilance in the inter-state check posts across the neighbouring states to ensure no cross-border movement of illicit cash, liquor, drugs, freebies takes place.

He said that to curb illegal transactions of money and inducement, the Reserve Bank of India and the State Level Bankers Committee have been given detailed instructions to maintain the restrictions of monetary dealings.

The CEC asked the officials to step up the seizures with support from adjoining border states and instill fear of administration amongst the violators to fulfill the Commission's resolve of an inducement-free election in the state.

He directed the Mizoram Police, central forces, state Excise and Narcotics Department and Narcotics Control Bureau officials to maintain strict vigilance and help curtail the drug menace. The full commission, led by CEC and accompanied by Election Commissioners -- Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel and 15 senior EC officials, arrived in Aizawl on Tuesday on a three-day tour to review poll preparedness of the state.

The 40-member Mizoram Assembly will go to the polls towards the end of this year along with Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Telangana.

The CEC said that the Commission has strictly asked the state and district level officials to maintain the level playing field and impartiality in conducting the elections.

While the EC officials would use social media to increase the participation of voters to cast votes and make people aware about the various facets of the elections, it stressed on maintaining vigilance on the misuse of social media as well.

Kumar said that the political parties during the meeting urged the Election Commission to increase the limit of election expenditure for the candidates, arrange transport for the voters and not to hold polling on Saturday and Sunday.

He said that there are 8.38 lakh voters in Mizoram, where final electoral rolls would be published on October 4 after the ongoing summary revision of the voters' list.

Of the total 1,276 polling stations, 95 polling stations would be all women-managed, 11 by otherwise-able employees, 40 by young polling personnel and 40 model police stations would be set up.

All basic facilities would be available in all polling stations, the CEC said.

The commission conducted a review meeting with District Election Officers (District Magistrates) and Superintendent of Police of all 11 districts and sought information from DEOs on their preparedness for the Assembly elections.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Digital healthcare platform MediBuddy on Wednesday said it has secured additional funding of $18 million from existing investors Quadria Capital, Lightrock and TEAMFund.

In February 2022, MediBuddy raised $125 million during the Series C funding.

The additional funding, said the company, will put it in a solid position to navigate the current landscape and achieve its ambitious growth targets over the next three years, driving strategic acquisitions and continued expansion.

"MediBuddy's growth trajectory has consistently achieved a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 95.5 per cent over the past three years. The additional funds will be critical in driving our strategic acquisition initiatives, further expanding our reach, and enhancing the depth and breadth of our services," said Satish Kannan, Co-Founder and CEO of MediBuddy.

Two of MediBuddy's recent strategic acquisitions, such as Clinix, an online medical consultation platform focusing on rural India, and US-based Aetna Inc's vHealth by Aetna business (Indian Health Organization Pvt Ltd), have further amplified its presence in the healthcare domain.

MediBuddy currently helps more than 35,000 users every day. It currently has an existing customer base of more than 3 crore and offers services in 16 Indian languages.

"As a participant in this funding round, we envisage MediBuddy to consolidate its market dominance and create significant value for its customers in the next chapter of its evolution," said Sunil Thakur, Partner, Quadria Capital.

--IANS

na/
Los Angeles, Aug 30 : The Abhishek Banerjee- starrer film 'Stolen' had earlier gained the distinction of being India's sole selection for the 80th Venice Film Festival impressing audiences. Director Karan Tejpal said that he chose a raw approach for the film, to depict life's many unseen realities.

Speaking to Variety, Tejpal said: "In crafting 'Stolen,' I deliberately chose to embrace a raw, unapologetic cinema verite style. By immersing the viewers in the experience alongside my characters, I aimed to engage them fully in the search for truth and justice."

"'Stolen' is my earnest attempt to bring to light the unseen realities that shape our society and to provoke introspection on the issues that matter most. I hope that this cinematic journey will not only entertain but also encourage meaningful conversations about the complexities of our world, ultimately paving the way for a better, more empathetic future," he added.

The film tells the story of the havoc that is caused by the collision of two opposite forces as two city men become embroiled in an impoverished mother's desperate journey to be reunited with her child.

'Stolen' marks the feature debut of Karan Tejpal who started his career working in large-scale Bollywood films; such as 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai' and '3 Idiots'.

Producer Gaurav Dhingra told Variety: "With 'Stolen,' we have distilled the art of producing an irresistible work of cinema which can be consumed globally, opening the IP to million possibilities. I co-wrote the film and evaded any external studio funding, purely to create the most veracious, hard hitting and immersive cinema as can be."

He concluded: "I'm positive that the success of 'Stolen' will pave the way to a new-wave of genre films from India aimed at a worldwide distribution."

Attesting to his statement, the movie's international sales have been boarded by the Paris-based sales company Charades. Carole Baraton, co-founder of Charades, said: "We are very excited to propose 'Stolen' to our distributors in Venice. The whole team was struck by this fast-paced, heartbreaking, unique story and impressed by such a well mastered debut. It shows a face of Indian society that most of us are totally unaware of and that should get international audiences drawn to."

The world premiere of 'Stolen' will take place on August 31, 2023.
Mumbai, Aug 30 : Actor Gagan Dev Riar, who will be soon seen essaying the role of convicted Indian counterfeiter Abdul Karim Telgi in the upcoming streaming show 'Scam 2003: The Telgi Story', has shared that he perceived the character as Robinhood.

He also shared that he was advised by the show's creative director Hansal Mehta to not to read the book on which the story and the character is based.

Talking to IANS, Gagan said: "Hansal sir told me not to read the book on which the story and the character is based or even the media stories on Abdul Karim Telgi because that would affect my process of understanding the character. He asked me to stick to the script."

The reason behind the same is that the character from its own point of view is very honest and that honesty needed to reflect in Gagan's performance because for Abdul, he himself is a hero.

Gagan told IANS: "I'm sure jab unhone bhi start kiya hoga toh wo villain nahi the, unki family ko kya kya nahi mila ya kya dukh dard jhele unhone. Wo toh baad mein jaake wo economical system ke liye problem ban gaye. Why he deceived the system, I also wanted to understand this. Hence, I stuck to the script and positioned this character in my mind as Robinhood."

'Scam 2003' is set to stream on Sony LIV from September 1.
Los Angeles, Aug 30 : Actors Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones are teaming up to bring true events to life in 'The Burial'. The two actors recently discussed working together and what appealed to them about the story.

'The Burial', which will have its world premiere on September 11 at the Toronto International Film Festival, follows the real-life story of Jeremiah Joseph O'Keefe's lawsuit against the Loewen Group, a Canadian funeral-home company, as documented by The New Yorker, reports 'People' magazine.

Asked about what drew him to 'The Burial', Foxx, who also co-produced the drama, told 'People' that it's "a great American story" and noted, "We actually heard about this project probably 15 years ago. So it tells you how projects can be special. You hear about it 15 years ago, but now, everything lines up".

"Maggie Betts lines up. [Producer] Datari Turner lines up. Everybody involved lines up, and then here we are embarking upon an incredible story, with an amazing character. It just feels good!" he said, adding that, upon learning Betts was involved as director, he was ready to "jump in."

Jones plays Mississippi funeral director Jeremiah O'Keefe, who, due to debts, is forced "to sell parts of his business to a corporation rapidly buying up funeral homes, cemeteries and insurance companies to profit from what its CEO, Ray Loewen (Bill Camp), refers to as 'the golden age of death,' " a synopsis from TIFF reads.

"I had a lot of fun working with Jamie," Jones said. "He's fun to be around, and every work day was highly energised. We did a lot of laughing and some pretty good work got done, too." And the feeling is mutual, as Foxx says of Jones, "When the artistic stars line up and certain people step into a role, it usually turns out really, really good. He's so special for the part."
Los Angeles, Aug 30 : The Taiwanese supernatural comedy mystery film 'Marry My Dead Body' Cheng Wei-hao has been selected as the official entry for the country's Oscar submission for the Best International Feature category for 96th Academy Awards.

The movie was selected by Taiwan's Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development (BAMID) as their Oscar entry. The film was one of Taiwan's biggest hits, with the supernatural comedy- crime thriller with its intriguing twist doing extremely well in markets of Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Philippines and the US as reported by Deadline.

BAMID, which is under Taiwan's Ministry of Culture, said that a total of nine films were submitted for consideration. The selection committee said it chose 'Marry My Dead Body' because the film "cleverly combines traditional customs with modern perspectives, has both humor and emotion, and showcases the characteristics of Taiwanese culture and life."

Starring Hsu Kuang-han, Austin Lin and Gingle Wang, the film tells the story of a homophobic cop who is forced into a same sex "ghost" marriage to appease the spirit of a man who has passed away.

Although terrified of both homosexuality and ghosts, he has no choice but to team up with his ghostly spouse to solve a long running drugs case. As such, the two partners need to overcome their differences and cooperate to solve the dead man's mysterious death.

The film, which is produced by Taiwan's Calendar Studios and Bole Film, also landed in Netflix's global top ten (non-English) chart during its first week of release on the platform. In addition, it also won best screenplay at the Taipei Film Awards.

Nominations for the 96th Academy Awards will be announced on January 23, 2024 with the winners to be unveiled on March 10, 2024. However, the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes present a likelihood that the Oscars too, may very well get delayed.
Mahendragiri warships: The last project will be launched on Friday. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, 30 August : Mahendragiri warships project, will be launched on 1 September. Mahendragiri, named after a mountain peak in Eastern Ghats located in Odisha, is the seventh ship of the Project 17A Frigates.

These warships are follow-ons of the Project 17 Class Frigates (Shivalik Class), with improved stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors and platform management systems, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said this on Wednesday.

Ministry of Defence said that the newly christened Mahendragiri is a technologically advanced warship and stands as a symbol of India's determination to embrace its rich naval heritage, while propelling itself towards a future of indigenous defence capabilities.

Under the Project 17A programme, a total of four ships by M/s MDL and three ships by M/s GRSE are under construction. The first six ships of the project have been launched so far by MDL & GRSE, between 2019-2023, the Defence Ministry official added.

According to the MoD, project 17A ships have been designed in-house by Indian Navyas Warship Design Bureau, the pioneer organisation for all warship design activities. Aligning with the country's resolute commitment to 'Aatma Nirbharata', a substantial 75 per cent of the orders for equipment and systems of Project 17A ships have been ordered on indigenous firms, including Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), official added.

The Ministry of Defence said that the launch of Mahendragiri is an apt testament to the incredible progress our Nation has made in building a self-reliant naval force.

Mahendragiri, the last Project 17A Frigate, will be launched by Dr Sudesh Dhankhar, wife of Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, at M/s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai on 01 Sep 23, the ministry official added.
Ichchapuram: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu addresses during an election rally at Ichchapuram in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh on March 30, 2019. . Image Source: IANS News

Amaravati, Aug 30 : The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has promised that if voted to power it will provide Rs.15,000 financial assistance annually for education of every child.

TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday announced that the money will be given to the mother of the child. The assistance will be provided without any cap for the number of children in a house.

Naidu unveiled Maha Sakthi Kavacha (shield) as part of the 'Babu Surety-Future Guarantee' programme after the Raksha Bandhan celebrations at the TDP headquarters here.

He promised that every poor family will get three free gas cylinders in a year. If necessary, we will provide a fourth cylinder as well, he said.

Stating that Public Private Partnership brought several changes in the lives of the people of state, the former chief minister said that with the same inspiration he has announced P-4 (Public, Private and People's Partnership) which is expected to completely transform the lives of the poor.

Naidu expressed confidence that he can certainly uplift the poor and bring them out of poverty.

Greeting the people on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, the TDP leader said that Rakhi festival signifies the relationship between brothers and sisters. Observing that he is fortunate enough to celebrate the festival among such a huge gathering, the former chief minister stated that Indian culture is very unique and superior.

Maintaining that parents always worry about the future and education of their kids, Chandrababu Naidu said that even American citizens are now praising Indian culture. The TDP is the only party that thinks about the future needs of women, he recalled that in 1986 itself the late NT Rama Rao had brought in a legislation providing rights to women on property.

Padmavathi University was established by the TDP exclusively for women and Rs 5,000 was deposited in the accounts of mothers if they gave birth to a girl child, the TDP supremo said. Stressing the need for a better share for women in politics, Naidu promised that the TDP will continue its fight for 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative bodies.

Pointing out that the TDP regime has provided 33 per cent quota for women in education and employment, the former chief minister felt that women got benefited from this quota. DWACRA groups were created for the financial independence of women. Salaries were paid to DWACRA members so that they should not depend on their parents or husbands or children.

Stating that free bus travel for women has already been promised, Chandrababu Naidu noted that when NTR has given self-respect for women he has created self-confidence among them.

"My sole aim is to transform women as a strong force," Naidu said and sought the blessings of women on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.
Bhopal, Aug 30 : A Gwalior-based couple on Wednesday sat in protest on a road outside Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's residence here on Wednesday, claiming they were fed up with the alleged 50 per cent commission being sought by government officials.

Identifying himself as Sanjay Mishra, the man said he had worked as a civil contractor in Gwalior. However, his bill, which stood around Rs 13 lakh, was not cleared by the Public Works Department (PWD) of the state government.

"When I asked for clearance of the bill, PWD officials demanded 50 per cent commission. I had written to CM Chouhan around four months back but no response was received. Today, I along with my wife, came to Bhopal to meet CM Chouhan but the police barred our entry. Hence, we are sitting outside," Mishra said in a video message.

He also threatened that if his dues were not cleared in the next four-five days, he along with his wife would be forced to end their lives.

As the alleged 50 per cent commission matter had been a main weapon of the Congress to target the ruling BJP in the run up to the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, the Opposition found yet another opportunity to target the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

Reacting to the development, Congress' Madhya Pradesh unit president Kamal Nath said: "The 50 per cent commission issue has now crossed all limits. Today, a contractor from Gwalior is sitting on a dharna along with his wife outside the Chief Minister's residence.

"Earlier, a contractor from Gwalior had written a letter to the High Court alleging 50 per cent commission. But, the Shivraj government became active against those who raised their voice, instead of providing justice to the people," a social media post by Kamal Nath read.

The post further added that Shivraj Chouhan had protected criminals involved in the Vyapam scam, and no action was taken till around 50 innocent people died suspiciously and the Supreme Court intervened.

"This 50 per cent commission matter is now becoming a life-threatening menace for the honest contractors and officers of Madhya Pradesh," it added.
New Delhi, August 30 : The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), in a resolution passed on Wednesday, condemned police baton charge on advocates in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur.

"The Supreme Court Bar Association strongly condemns the inhumane and violent act of police on advocates in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, where the women advocates were also not spared from the brutality," said a resolution issued under signature of Honorary Secretary Rohit Pandey.

It said that the baton charge on the advocates is a clear violation of their rights and the rule of law as they were protesting peacefully against the alleged high-handedness of the police.

The top courtas lawyers association said that it will not tolerate any attack on the prestige of advocates and demanded that the Uttar Pradesh government should investigate the incident and bring the guilty police officers to justice.

It also demanded compensation to the injured advocates and sought to censure the police officers responsible for the incident.

The SCBA said that the state government should introduce and implement the Advocates Protection Act for protection of advocates and their families against such brutal incidents. It asked the state government to take steps to improve the law and order situation in the state and to ensure that the police personnel are accountable for their actions.

The resolution also called upon the Bar Council of India and all other State Bar Councils to take steps to protect the rights of advocates to enable them to discharge their duties without fear of intimidation or harassment.

The Supreme Court Bar Association said that it stands in solidarity with the advocates of Hapur and pledged to do everything in its power to ensure that justice is served.

--IANS

puneet/vd
New Delhi, Aug 30 : The Delhi High Court has directed both the Centre and the AAP government in the national capital to take action against individuals involved in online sale of drugs without a valid licence.

The bench consisting of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula granted the Centre a period of six weeks to take appropriate measures and inform the court about its final stance on illegal sale of drugs online.

The Centre's counsel informed the court that discussions are still ongoing regarding the draft notification related to online sale of drugs.

The court granted time to the Centre to take necessary actions and subsequently provide information about its final position on the matter.

"In the interim, the Union of India and the state government are directed to take necessary action, in accordance with law, in respect of persons acting in violation of the interim order dated December 12, 2018, i.e., engaging in online sale of drugs without a valid licence," the court said.

The bench has put up the matter for next hearing on November 16.

Eatlier, the Central government had informed the high court that a proposal for framing rules to regulate e-pharmacies was under consideration and some more time was needed.

The Centre's response came after the bench had asked it to file a status report on a petition seeking a ban on illegal sale of drugs online.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's draft rules were challenged in the plea to further amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules.

The petitioner's lawyer had contended that the rules are being framed for the last 5-6 years but nothing concrete has been done yet.

The Ministry's August 2018 notification was challenged by South Chemists and Distributors Association in a petition saying that ignoring the health hazards caused due to online sale of medicines without proper regulations, the draft rules are being pushed through in serious violation of the law.

The petition sought contempt action against the e-pharmacies for continuing to sell drugs online despite a high court order staying such activity, and contempt action against the Central government for allegedly not taking any step against the defaulting e-pharmacies.

On December 12, 2018, the Delhi High Court had stayed the online sale of drugs without licence by pharmacies while hearing petitioner Zaheer Ahmed's PIL.
Patna, Aug 30 : A medicine shop owner was gunned down in Maner town on the outskirts of Patna on Wednesday, police said.

The deceased was identified as Gorakh Kumar, son of Dr Sanjiv Kumar, and running the chemist shop in Sarai Bazar under Maner police station in the district.

The police said that when Gorakh Kumar went to open the shop around 9 a.m., unidentified men opened fire on him. He sustained two to three gunshot injuries and collapsed on the ground.

The attackers, after committing the crime, managed to flee from the spot before other traders of Sarai Bazar assembled at the place.

Gorakh Kumar was taken to the nearby hospital where he succumbed due to injuries.

The reasons for his murder have not been ascertained yet but sources have said that he might be killed following an old property dispute in his village.

He was a native of Jamunipur Bela village under Neura police station in the district.

SDPO Danapur Abhinav Dhiman said: "Local residents rescued the victim and had taken to the hospital where he succumbed. The actual reason of murder is not ascertained yet. There is a theory emerging that Gorakh has an old property dispute in his village and he might have been killed over that. We are investigating all angles. We have taken the statements of the local traders of Sarai Bazar and scanning of CCTV is underway to find clues of the attackers. The accused will be put behind the bars soon."
Panaji, Aug 30 : A man was killed in Bicholim allegedly by his wife and her kin, with whom she reportedly had an illicit relationship, Goa police said on Wednesday.

The police said that both the accused have been arrested within eight hours of committing the crime.

Superintendent of Police (North Goa) Nidhin Valsan said that on Wednesday, the police found the body of a labourer named Ramesh Poshalappa Siddagoli (39), a native of Belgavi, Karnataka.

The semi-dude body was found under the New Bridge at Bicholim with multiple stab injuries on the back and buttocks.

The accused have been identified as Sangita Ramesh Siddagoli (29), and Ramu Shankar Gawali (50), both natives of Maharashtra.

"The accused duo was trying to board the train from Thivim railway station in North Goa after committing the crime. The police have arrested both of them," Valsan said.

The officer said the female accused in the case -- Sangita -- was in a relationship with Gawali, her sister's husband.

"On the night of the incident, an argument had broken out between the victim and the accused persons under the influence of liquor over the latter's relationship with Sangita. The accused then attacked the victim with a sharp-edged weapon, causing his death," the police said.

The deceased used to work as a scrap collector and was staying along the roadsides with his wife.

"Gawali used to visit them every evening as he was in a relation with the wife of the deceased person," the police said, adding that Gawali's wife stays in Maharashtra.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Homegrown quick-grocery delivery provider Dunzo, has yet again delayed salaries to the first week of October after being unable to raise funds, according to a report.

The startup had previously committed to make payments on September 4, from the earlier July 20.

"We sincerely apologise for this delay. Ensuring that you receive your due compensation as early as possible is our top priority. Please be assured that we are doing everything to make this happen, and we are confident that there will be no further delays after this," read the email, Moneycontrol reported.

The quick-grocery delivery provider has also promised employees to pay an interest of 12 per cent per annum on the salary component that it held back from June.

Earlier in August, it was reportedly in advanced talks to raise between $80-100 million in its series G round from its existing investors, including Lightbox and Lightrock, leading startup coverage portal Inc42 reported.

The funding round "mostly comprises equity funding and can have a small debt element", the report mentioned.

Since March this year, Dunzo has received legal notice from at least seven companies -- Google India, Nilenso, Clover Ventures, Facebook India Online Services Private Ltd, Cupshup, Koo, and Glance.

Overall, Dunzo's outstanding vendor debts total approximately Rs 11.4 crore, nearly double of Rs 5-6 crore previously estimated.

--IANS

rvt/vd
Mumbai, Aug 30 : A Mumbai court on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail application of 4B Networks Pvt Ltd founder Rahul Yadav, who is co-accused along with co-founder Sanjay Saini on charges of defrauding InterSpace Communications Pvt Ltd, of Rs 10 crore.

Yadav, who had founded housing.com a few years ago, and Saini had applied for a pre-arrest bail last week days after a Look Out Circular was issued against them, and their plea came up for hearing before the session court and was rejected.

Following a complaint by Inter Space Communications founder Vikas Omprakash Nowal earlier this month, the Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) lodged a FIR on August 19, and started a probe into the high-profile matter.

The duo has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and their homes and offices raided in Mumbai.

Nowal, who was paid only a part of his dues for a publicity campaign he ran for 4B Networks, hopes to recover the outstanding of Rs 7 crore plus interest piled up to over Rs 10 crore, pending for nearly 10 years.
Mumbai, Aug 30 : The third national Opposition parties conclave host ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the upcoming two-day INDIA bloc will fight to protect the motherland from autocracy, and safeguard freedom and democracy, here on Wednesday.

Addressing a joint media briefing, the Shiv Sena (UBT) President said that the country is under threat from totalitarianism and needs 'raksha' (protection).

"We are here against dictatorship and to protect India. We pledge not to allow a dictatorial regime to return to power again. We shall strive to safeguard the Constitution and not disrupt the federal democratic structure," declared Thackeray.

Slamming the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre, the Sena (UBT) leader said that the country needs a government that ensures the rights of women and cited the example of Manipur.

"The Central government is on gas... that's why after nine years, they are giving a gift to the womenfolk by slashing the price of domestic cooking gas cylinders. As INDIA marches ahead some more, they will start giving gas free to all. Public sab jaanti hai (people can understand)," said Thackeray, taking a swipe at the government.

To questions on who would be projected as the INDIA bloc Prime Ministerial candidate, Thackeray countered: "We have several choices here, but does the BJP have any choice apart from (PM) Narendra Modi?"

Responding to a query on who would be the INDIA bloc convenor, Thackeray shot back: "Can you tell us who is the convenor of the NDA? It has become like an amoeba with no shape or size."

He attacked the BJP for asking Muslim women to tie rakhis and said that this Rakshabandhan should be dedicated to protect the Motherland, and not allow her to be chained by an authoritarian regime.

Referring to the recent NITI Aayog moves, Thackeray alleged that "the conspiracy to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra has now been exposed".

"They didn't dare make any such proposal when the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was in power but we shall not allow it any cost and fight it," said Thackeray.

Setting the tone for the INDIA meet, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar said that "the people of the country want a change", for which the Opposition leaders are gathering this week.

He also dropped hints of the possibility of discussing the prickly issue of seat-sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by the National Opposition parties.

Pawar said the first two INDIA alliance meetings were very critical and now the joint strategy of the Opposition block to counter the BJP is likely to be discussed and finalised, while a panel of senior leaders may be formed and tasked with the seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls at the state and local levels.

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole pointed out how China has captured Indian territories in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, and the Opposition will now protect the country from foreign aggression.

"As the INDIA alliance grows stronger and marches ahead, China will retreat from the Indian territories. INDIA will protect and secure India," declared Patole.

Maharashtra ex-Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said that as many as 11 CMs and 63 leaders of 28 opposition political parties have participated in the Mumbai conclave, up from 26 which had attended in July in Bengaluru.

Chavan flayed the BJP for indulging in the politics of breaking parties and toppling elected state governments which they did in Madhya Pradesh, Goa, and then even in Maharashtra, but the Opposition remains firm and strong, and will not be cowed by such threats.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that "Mumbai is immersed in the INDIA mood" for the conclave that will be attended by at least 28 parties over the next two days.

Some of the major parties which have confirmed participation include: Shiv Sena (UBT) which is hosting the bloc meeting, Indian National Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), Samajwadi Party, National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Janata Dal (U), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, All India Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Peasants & Workers Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the Indian Union Muslim League, according to the organisers.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : Delhi Minister Atishi on Wednesday said that after the Chief Secretary now the Principal Secretary (Finance) has written a lengthy 40-page letter denying to comply the order of the elected government.

She said that two days ago the Principal Secretary Finance declined to adhere to her instructions. "If the elected government continues to face officers' refusals in its day-to-day governance activities, it will severely hinders the progress of the work for the people of Delhi."

"This situation is arising due to the unlawful and unconstitutional GNCTD (Amendment) Act, which poses a significant threat to our democracy," she said.

She said that by citing Section 45(J)5 of the GNCTD (Amendment) Act 2023, Principal Secretary Finance has blatantly refused to accept the orders of the Delhi Finance Minister.

"Today they are saying that if we will move application against L-G before any court, the L-G will select our advocate. He will decide it. Whereas the court had said Delhi government has right to choose advocate of its choice," she said.

"The GNCTD (Amendment) Act finishes the accountability of officers to the elected government of Delhi. Section 45(J)5 of this act grants the bureaucracy the authority to reject decisions made by ministers at their discretion. A few days ago, I presented a 10-page letter from Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, in which he refused to comply with my orders concerning the National Capital Civil Services Authority (NCCSA) meeting. This was the initial consequence of the GNCTD (Amendment) Act 2023, as I had forewarned," she said.

Atishi said that now, the Principal Secretary of Finance, Ashish Chandra Verma, wrote a 40-page letter asserting his refusal to accept her orders.

In relation to a letter written by then Kailash Gahlot on June 5, 2023, during his tenure as Finance Minister, and a subsequent letter from her as Finance Minister on July 12, 2023, the Principal Secretary of Finance has declined to accept the Finance Minister's directives.

Atishi said that due to the illegal and unconstitutional nature of the GNCTD Amendment Act, numerous officials have now begun to rebel against the elected government.

"The issue at hand, over which Principal Secretary Ashish Chandra has declined to comply, concerns the GST refund. The Delhi High Court has ruled against the Delhi Government in this matter. The elected government decided to challenge this ruling in the Supreme Court.

"On June 5, Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot issued instructions to appoint a Delhi government advocate and file a case in the Supreme Court, to avoid incurring losses to the public exchequer through the refund payment.

"However, subsequent to these instructions, officials within the Finance department passed the file amongst themselves without appointing an advocate or filing the case in the Supreme Court. When I received the file on July 12, I reiterated the same instructions," she said.
Delhi court denies anticipatory bail to man accused of defrauding people using guise of govt scheme. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Aug 30 : A Delhi court has granted bail to two senior Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs officials in an alleged bribery case, an official said on Wednesday.

The court said that the officials -- Manjeet Singh and Puneet Duggal, have clean backgrounds, and are unlikely to tamper with evidence.

The bail was granted by Special Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna stating that since the accused officials have already been suspended from their positions, they are unlikely to interfere with the judicial process.

The case pertains to an allegation that a bribe of Rs 4 lakh was paid to the accused officials by a co-accused in order to secure a favourable order related to Alok Industries, which was pending with the Ministry.

The CBI later, in an operation, caught the accused officials red-handed.

The court ruled that since the accused officials are government servants with roots in society, and there is no evidence to suggest they would tamper with evidence after suspension, they should be granted bail.

The CBI opposed the bail application, stating that the investigation was ongoing and evidence was still being collected.

However, the court granted bail to the officials and also observed that the trial process might take a significant amount of time to conclude.

As part of the bail conditions, the court ordered the officials to furnish a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each with one surety of the same amount.

They were also directed not to leave the country without the court's permission and to refrain from contacting any witnesses directly or indirectly.

They were further instructed to cooperate with the CBI's investigation as required.
Mumbai, Aug 30 : The third national Opposition parties conclave host ex-Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the upcoming two-day INDIA bloc will fight to protect the motherland from autocracy, and safeguard freedom and democracy, here on Wednesday.

Addressing a joint media briefing, the Shiv Sena (UBT) President said that the country is under threat from totalitarianism and needs 'raksha' (protection).

"We are here against dictatorship and to protect India. We pledge not to allow a dictatorial regime to return to power again. We shall strive to safeguard the Constitution and not disrupt the federal democratic structure," declared Thackeray.

Slamming the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre, the Sena (UBT) leader said that the country needs a government that ensures the rights of women and cited the example of Manipur.

"The Central government is on gas... that's why after nine years, they are giving a gift to the womenfolk by slashing the price of domestic cooking gas cylinders. As INDIA marches ahead some more, they will start giving gas free to all. Public sab jaanti hai (people can understand)," said Thackeray, taking a swipe at the government.

To questions on who would be projected as the INDIA bloc Prime Ministerial candidate, Thackeray countered: "We have several choices here, but does the BJP have any choice apart from (PM) Narendra Modi?"

Responding to a query on who would be the INDIA bloc convenor, Thackeray shot back: "Can you tell us who is the convenor of the NDA? It has become like an amoeba with no shape or size."

He attacked the BJP for asking Muslim women to tie rakhis and said that this Rakshabandhan should be dedicated to protect the Motherland, and not allow her to be chained by an authoritarian regime.

Referring to the recent NITI Aayog moves, Thackeray alleged that "the conspiracy to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra has now been exposed".

"They didn't dare make any such proposal when the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was in power but we shall not allow it any cost and fight it," said Thackeray.

Setting the tone for the INDIA meet, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar said that "the people of the country want a change", for which the Opposition leaders are gathering this week.

He also dropped hints of the possibility of discussing the prickly issue of seat-sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by the National Opposition parties.

Pawar said the first two INDIA alliance meetings were very critical and now the joint strategy of the Opposition block to counter the BJP is likely to be discussed and finalised, while a panel of senior leaders may be formed and tasked with the seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls at the state and local levels.

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole pointed out how China has captured Indian territories in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, and the Opposition will now protect the country from foreign aggression.

"As the INDIA alliance grows stronger and marches ahead, China will retreat from the Indian territories. INDIA will protect and secure India," declared Patole.

Maharashtra ex-Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said that as many as 11 CMs and 63 leaders of 28 opposition political parties would be participating in the Mumbai conclave, up from 26 which had attended in July in Bengaluru.

Chavan flayed the BJP for indulging in the politics of breaking parties and toppling elected state governments which they did in Madhya Pradesh, Goa, and then even in Maharashtra, but the Opposition remains firm and strong, and will not be cowed by such threats.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that "Mumbai is immersed in the INDIA mood" for the conclave that will be attended by at least 28 parties over the next two days.

Some of the major parties which have confirmed participation include: Shiv Sena (UBT) which is hosting the bloc meeting, Indian National Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), Samajwadi Party, National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Janata Dal (U), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, All India Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Peasants & Workers Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the Indian Union Muslim League, according to the organisers.
Patna, Aug 30 : Ahead of opposition grouping INDIA's third meeting in Mumbai, leaders of Bihar's ruling JD-U leaders once again claimed that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is "PM material ".

Liquor Prohibition Minister Sunil Kumar said: "All opposition parties will take the decision about the convener of INDIA but I want to say that Nitish Kumar is an eligible candidate having vast political experience. He has all the abilities of a prime ministerial candidate."

Minor Water Resources Minister Jayant Raj said: "When the leaders of opposition parties came to Patna for the first meeting, the people of Bihar were wanting a big role for Nitish Kumar in INDIA. In case of experience, Nitish Kumar has a huge political experience in the country."

After the formation of Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar a year ago, JD-U leaders are projecting Nitish Kumar as a prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. However, Nitish Kumar has repeatedly denied that he has any wish to get a post ahead of the general elections.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday said that it has conducted raids at multiple locations in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu regarding murder case of BJP leader Senthil Kumaran.

NIA said that the raids were conducted at premises of the key accused, including an undisclosed residential property of the main accused Niti alias Shri Nityanandam.

"A total of four premises were searched in Puducherry and Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. The raids lead to the seizure of digital devices (mobile phones), SIM cards, dongle, motorcycle and other incriminating documents," NIA said.

NIA said that the raids were part of the NIA investigation to untangle the conspiracy hatched by Nitiyanandam and others.

It said that the victim, Senthil Kumaran, was murdered in front of Hariharan Sweet Stall located at Villupuram by six bike-borne assailants, who lobbed a country-made bomb to stun the victim before hacking him with machetes.

The case was initially registered by Puducherry Police but was handed over to NIA.
Kolkata, Aug 30 : TMC Spokesperson Kunal Ghosh on Wednesday said that the Delhi Police has denied permission to the party to hold a rally in the national capital on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on October 2.

"We had applied, to hold a rally, with the Delhi Police as per the norms. The main rally was supposed to be on October 2 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. Besides we had also sought permission for a detailed agitation programme at Ramlila Maidan from September 30 to October 4. We wanted to make arrangements for accommodation of our workers. But Delhi Police has denied us the permission. The denial is merely on political grounds," Ghosh said.

He said that the formal application for the rally was sent to the Delhi Police on August 23.

"While denying the permission, the Delhi Police has informed us that we should have made the application much before," he said.

He said that they will not be able to suppress the voice of Bengal through such undemocratic means.

"The Union government is scared of the fact that Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee were supposed to be present at the rally. The permission for the rally has been denied out of that fear," Ghosh said.

The TMC had called for a rally in the national capital during party's annual Martyrs' Day rally on July 21.

The call for rally on October 2 was given as a mark of protest against the union government for holding back central funds due to the West Bengal government under various centrally sponsored schemes.
Chandigarh, Aug 30 : Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday announced that rural watchmen would get an honorarium of Rs 11,000 and uniform allowance of Rs 4,000 along with a bicycle after every five years.

Also, the watchmen will get Rs 1,000 annually for stick and torch batteries. At a meeting with representatives of village chowkidars from across the state, the Chief Minister said the government has done the work of transforming the system and has ensured that all sanitation workers and other workers get their honorarium on time every month.

"Works like making BPL ration cards, old-age pension and Ayushman Bharat Yojana cards are also being done through PPP (Parivar Pehchan Patra). This scheme is directly benefiting the villagers and there is a pleasant atmosphere among the people," said Khattar.

The Chief Minister said the rural watchmen are an important link in the rural areas. Apart from birth and death registration, now complete cooperation is taken from village watchmen in marriage registration work as well.

He said now the watchmen will get Rs 400 every month instead of Rs 300 for their cooperation in death registration work.

He said online arrangements will be made for the honorarium of watchmen.

For this, the watchmen have to ensure their attendance online in the village secretariat and 'panchayat ghar' so that they can get their honorarium on time every month.

The Chief Minister said the increased honorarium for watchmen will be implemented from October and will be given in the honorarium for November.
Kolkata, Aug 30 : Responding to the appeal of West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, a team from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is likely to visit Kolkata's Jadavpur University (JU) shortly to explore the possibilities of eliminating ragging from the campus by using technology.

The Governor had appealed to ISRO to check the possibilities of using technology to eliminate ragging from the university campus after the tragic death of a fresher on August 10.

The first year student of Bengali honours had died after falling from the balcony of a students' hostel. It is suspected that he became a victim of ragging.

The Governor even personally spoke to top ISRO officials on this matter, who assured him of considering his appeal.

Sources in the Raj Bhavan said they recently got a message from ISO stating that it has decided to send a team which will visit the JU campus, conduct a thorough review of the situation, and accordingly come out with suggestions to eliminate ragging through the use of technology.

Confirming the development, the interim Vice Chancellor of JU, Buddhadeb Sau, said that ISRO will be sending a team to the university shortly.

"However, the exact date of their visit is yet to be confirmed," Sau said.

Already, the JU authorities have taken the first step to install 26 AI-enabled CCTV cameras within the campus by floating tenders for the same. The JU authorities have also decided to include 30 retired army personnel in its security network for the university campus.
Patna, Aug 30 : With the third meeting of the national Opposition I.N.D.I.A. - commencing in Mumbai on Thursday - likely to discuss seat-sharing formula for next year's Lok Sabha elections, there is a buzz in Bihar that the Mahagathbandhan may opt for the formula adopted by the NDA in 2019.

At that time, JD-U was part of the NDA. In the general elections, the bigger parties like the BJP and the JD-U had contested 17 seats each in Bihar, while the Ram Vilash Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party were given the six remaining seats.

This time, the two big political forces in Bihar -- the RJD and the JD-U -- are in the camp of Mahagathbandhan and they may contest 17 seats each, with four seats going to the Congress, and one each to CPI and CPI-ML, the remaining constituents of the grand alliance.

Mahagathbandhan leaders are also waiting for Mukesh Sahani and Pappu Yadav to take a final call. If they join the I.N.D.I.A., the RJD and the JD-U will give one seat each from their share to them, sources said.

The sources also said that some of the MPs of the Pasupati Kumar Paras-led Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party are also in touch with Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar. If they also join I.N.D.I.A., they will be accommodated by the RJD and JD-U.
Imphal, Aug 30 : At least five persons sustained minor injuries in sporadic incidents of firing in different districts of Manipur while the combined security forces recovered five looted sophisticated arms, 31 different types of ammunition, 19 powerful bombs, three packs of explosives from Kangpokpi and Imphal West districts on Wednesday.

The firing incidents took place between rival armed groups in Bishnupur and adjoining districts.

A police officer said that combined search operations continued in vulnerable areas of Kangpokpi, Thoubal, Churachandpur and Imphal West districts to recover looted arms and ammunition.

Strict security measures are taken up in all vulnerable, mixed populated locations and a security convoy was provided in sensitive stretches in order to ensure free and safe movement of vehicles.

To restrict the movement of inimical elements and armed groups, 130 nakas/checkpoints were installed in different valley and hill districts and police detained 1,646 people in connection with violations of various law and government's instructions.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : In a shocking incident, a septuagenarian man was thrashed to death allegedly by his son in Delhi, a Delhi Police official said on Wednesday.

The deceased was identified as Nand Lal Arora, 75.

A senior police official said that at 8:26 p.m. on Tuesday, the Bindapur police station in Uttam Nagar area of west Delhi received information about the death of an person during a quarrel in Om Vihar.

According to police, Arora and his son Gaurav Arora, 37, who were both regular drinkers, resided together.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dwarka, M Harsha Vardhan, said that on the same Tuesday, a heated argument erupted between the father and son.

During this altercation, the son allegedly assaulted his father, causing a fatal injury to him.

Police have filed a case in connection with the incident, and the accused, has been apprehended, the official added.
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 30 : Renewing his attack on Kerala's ruling CPI-M in general and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in particular, first time Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnaden on Wednesday slammed its state Secretary M.V.Govindan for defending Vijayan's daughter Veena.

Kuzhalnaden said he has the highest regards for the CPI-M, but claimed that today it is pathetic that the entire aim of the party is to shield Veena Vijayan.

"If this continues, it will be not that far when the once prominent party will collapse and vanish away. With this defence, whatas actually happening is leaders like (Ernakulam district CPI-M Secretary) C.N.Mohanan and (Idukki district CPI-M Secretary) C.V. Varghese have amassed huge wealth.

"I challenge Govindan to tell to the people in these two districts if these two leaders have amassed wealth beyond their known sources of income," he said.

Kuzhalnaden also answered the questions posed by Govindan and said that he welcomes Govindan to come and inspect all his accounts statements.

"Also I again wish to ask Govindan to come out with the statements of Veena, her IT company Exalogic, and the GST filed. When I ask about Veena, I have placed all my accounts statement and am waiting for anyone from the CPI-M to come and have a look," added Kuzhalnaden and said he has not conducted any violation of the land and revenue rules of the state, while the state CPI-M headquarters is constructed violating all the rules.

Ever since a media report appeared last month based on a Income Tax report that Veenaas IT firm had collected Rs 1.72 crore from a Kochi based mining company a"CMRL, for no services done, Kuzhalnaden has been going hammer and tongs against her and the CPI-M.

Neither Vijayan nor Veena has commented on the reports, despite both the Congress and the BJP trying their best to get a response from the two.

--IANS

sg/vd
Bhopal, Aug 30 : Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday called state Cabinet minister Bhupendra Singh a "goon", accusing him of shielding those accused of killing a Dalit youth, Nitin Ahirwar, in Sagar district.

The senior Congress leader also held the police responsible for Ahirwar's murder, saying had the police taken unbiased action on the complaint registered by his sister Archana in 2019, her brother "would have been alive today on Rakshabandhan".

Singh made the remarks on Wednesday after meeting the victim's family during a visit to Sagar on Wednesday.

He claimed that those who killed Ahirwar belong to the youth wing of the BJP, and are Bhupendra Singh's supporters.

"They were the same persons who had molested Nitin's sisterin 2019. But the accused were not booked under molestation charges, because they are the minister's supporters. Had the police taken action on Archana's complaint, her brother Nitin would have been alive today on Rakshabandhan," he said while interacting with the mediapersons in Sagar on Wednesday.

He further said that Nitin's elder brother Vishnu Ahirwar was beaten up and forced to lick the shoes of the same accused.

"A video of that incident also surfaced on social media but the police did not take any action against the accused because they were the minister's supporters. This is how the Madhya Pradesh police work. This is shameful," he said.

Singh also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, saying building a temple of Sant Ravidas will not protect the rights of Dalit people.

"If PM Modi and CM Chouhan have faith for real in Sant Ravidas, they should remove Bhupendra Singh from ministerial position immediately," Singh added.

During a visit to Sagar on August 12, PM Modi laid the foundation of Sant Ravidas temple to be built by the state government at a cost of Rs 100 crore.

Nitin Ahirwar (20), a Dalit, was beaten to death by key accused identified as Vikram Singh (28) and eight others after Ahirwar refused to withdraw a sexual harassment case lodged by his sister.

The accused had also attacked Nitin's mother in his village in Khurai in Surkhi assembly constituency which is represented by state urban development minister Bhupendra Singh.

Nine accused involved in the matter have been arrested so far while some were still on run.
Patan : , Aug 30 (IANS) Three persons, heading to a temple for prayers, died after their car collided with a mini-truck in Gujarat's Patan district early on Wednesday, police said.

The trio was heading to Chotila town in neighboring Surendranagar district when the accident occurred on the Sami-Sankheshwar state highway around 3 a.m., a spokesperson from Sami police station said.

The impact was so severe that the front section of the car was badly mangled.

The bodies of the victims, identified as Hasmukh Thakkar, 36, Pintu Raval, 27, and Dashrath Raval, 26, were extricated from the wreckage and taken to a government hospital for post-mortem examinations.
Imphal, Aug 30 : Two days after the visit of Lt. Gen. R.P. Kalita, Chief of the Indian Army's Eastern Command, Lt. Gen. H.S. Sahi, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Spear Corps, visited the Red Shield Division of the Army in Manipur, defence sources said on Wednesday.

A defence spokesman said that Lt. Gen. Sahi reviewed the operational readiness of the Division, presently overseeing in the internal security situation in Manipur in the aftermath of the ethnic violence that broke out in the state May 3.

He was briefed on the ground situation and operations being undertaken by the formation.

During his visit, the GOC interacted with the troops and commended their unwavering dedication towards pursuance of the laid down operational tasks.

The officer also emphasised upon the importance of the role of the formation towards ensuring national security and appreciated the dedicated efforts and steadfast commitment of all ranks of the Division in bringing stability in the strife-torn state, thus reaffirming its pivotal role in fostering lasting peace, the defence PRO said.

On Monday, Lt. Gen. Kalita, accompanied by Lt. Gen. Sahi and Major General Ranjan Sherawat, Inspector General of Assam Rifles (South), had visited Manipur and held a meeting with Chief Minister N. Biren Singh where they discussed strengthening cooperation and ensuring security for the people of the state.
Bhopal, Aug 30 : Days after Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel administered the oath of office as minister to three legislators, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday allocated portfolios to the newly appointed ministers.

Rajendra Shukla, a four-time MLA from Rewa, has been given two key departments a" Public Relations and Public Health Engineering Department.

Shukla, who was a two-time former minister in the previous tenure of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, was heading the Public Relations department.

Gaurishankar Bisen, a seven-time legislator from Balaghat in the Mahakoshal region, has been alloted the Narmada Valley Development Authority.

He is also the chairman of the MP Backward Class Commission. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on August 26 expanded his Cabinet by inducting three BJP MLAs as ministers just months ahead of the State Assembly polls to be held by the end of the year.

Rahul Lodhi, the nephew of former chief minister Uma Bharti and first time MLA, who has been inducted as state minister. He has been given Cottage and Village Industries department.

Bisen (71) and Lodhi (46) belong to the Other Backward Class (OBC) community, which makes up more than 45 per cent of the population of Madhya Pradesh.

Shukla (59) has established himself as a key Brahmin BJP leader in Vindhya region, where the BJP had won 24 out of the total 30 assembly seats in the 2018 elections.

There are now 34 members in CM Chouhan's cabinet.
Bhopal, August 30 : Days after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced to make Pandhurna the 55th district of Madhya Pradesh by carving it out of Chhindwara, the largest district in the state, the locals of Pandhurna and Sausar tehsils, including those from his own party, have started protesting against the proposal.

Chhindwara is known to be the stronghold of state Congress President and fomer Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

The protesting locals, including politicians, government employees and advocates, have handed over a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to the local administration on this count.

The protests that began on Tuesday continued on Wednesday as people from different walks of life took to the streets in Sausar town, claiming that they were demanding to make Sausar (also part of Chhindwara) the 55th district of Madhya Pradesh, but the announced the name of Pandhurna instead.

Chouhan had made the announcement while addressing a public rally in Chhindwara on August 24, when he also laid the foundation for a 'Hanuman Lok' in Pandhurna.

The announcement is seen by many as a political tactic to breach the stronghold of Kamal Nath ahead of the Assembly polls scheduled later this year.

Residents of Sausar town, including politicians like sitting Congress MLA Vijay Revanth Chore and former BJP leader Pradip Thakre, took out a 3 km-long protest march from the Bharat Mata Chowk to Chhatrapati Shivaji Chowk in Sausar on Wednesday.

While some protesters were semi-clad, others wore black bands against the CM's announcement to create a separate Pandhurna district instead of Sausar district.

Addressing the protesters, Harish Batra, an advocate associated with the BJP, said, "CM Chouhan's announcement of making Pandhurna a new district has shocked all of us. I was present there and had clapped the announcement thinking that he was going to name Sausar as the new district, but instead he named Pandhurna, which, as per the government decision, will include Sausar and Pandhurna tehsils and the Nandanwadi sub-tehsil."

He also said that Chouhan made this announcement without consulting the people of Sausar.

Sausar tehsil, which exists since 1886, is the oldest among all the existing tehsils in Chhindwara district, while Pandhurna was carved out of Sausar only after 1965.

"Sausar has been housing the court since 1911, while Pandhurna got its court in 2006. Maximum revenues are generated by Sausar, owing to the presence of minerals (including Manganese). It is also home to a major part of orange cultivation. The population of Sausar too is more than that of Pandhurna. The protest against the CM's announcement will gain momentum in the coming days," Chore said.

Residents of both Sausar and Pandhurna tehsils have been demanding separate districts out of Chhindwara for long.

But the people of Pandhurna have been demanding a new district by combining the Pandhurna tehsil of Chhindwara district and Multai tehsil of adjoining Betul district.

Chhindwara, which has 13 tehsils, has seven Assembly segments, all of which were won by the Congress in 2018. The Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat has been won 11 out of 12 times since 1980 by Kamal Nath, his wife or their son.

Currently, the Chhindwara Assembly seat is held by Kamal Nath, while his son Nakul Nath is the lone Congress Lok Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, representing Chhindwara.
New Delhi, Aug 30 : A man, in his late 20s, was found dead with cuts on his neck at a house in south Delhi, a Delhi Police official said on Wednesday.

The deceased was identified as Alfaf Washim, a resident of a house opposite Makka Palace Hotel in Zakir Nagar.

According to the police, they received information on Wednesday regarding the presence of blood at a house near Batla House in Jamia Nagar.

On reaching the location, police discovered the dead body of a male with deep injuries on the neck.

"Both the crime teams from FSL Rohini and the local police have visited the crime scene. The deceased has cut marks on the neck," said a senior police official.

"The CCTV footage is being examined to gather any potential clues. According to information from his relatives, he had left his home around 11 a.m on Wednesday," the official added.

--IANS

ssh/vd
New Delhi, Aug 31 : Three persons have been arrested here on charges of fatally assaulting a person in a road-rage episode after the latter had inquired about the reason behind their altercation with a taxi driver, a police officer said on Wednesday.

The incident took place at IP Estate in central Delhi, a police officer said.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Satender Chauhan (42) and Taresh Shaliwan (44), residents of Ghaziabad, and Ravi Goswami (20), a resident of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.

Chauhan, who was found previously involved in one murder case in 2017, runs a 'Nasha Mukti Kendra' in Ghaziabad while Goswami and Shaliwan are drug addicts and reside in the Nasha Mukti Kendra.

On Tuesday, the police received information from Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, about the admission of Krishna.

"Acting swiftly, the police team arrived at the hospital, where one Kanhaiya recounted the events to them. Kanhaiya informed the police that on Monday night around 11.45 p.m., he, along with his friends Krishna and Sahil, was riding Sahil's Scooty.

As they approached MG Marg, they came across a Scorpio car and an Ola cab parked on the left side of the road," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar Sain.

Three individuals were engaged in a heated argument near these vehicles.

Upon witnessing the altercation, they brought their Scooty to a halt and inquired about the cause of the dispute.

Unexpectedly, the individuals near the Scorpio started verbally abusing them without any apparent reason. That escalated into a heated exchange of words during which one of the individuals from the Scorpio car fetched a knife and handed it to his associate.

Krishna was attacked with the knife which caused a deep injury to his neck.
New Delhi, Aug 31 : The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed authorities, including the Nainital district magistrate and the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board, to address the issue of unauthorised tree cutting in Nainital.

The directive came in response to a petition alleging that hotel owners in Nainital city's municipality area have been violating environmental norms by illegally felling endangered tree species, and that these actions are having detrimental effects on the local environment and ecology.

A bench comprising Acting Chairperson Justice S.K. Singh, Judicial Member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi, and Expert Member A Senthil Vel stated that there have been serious violations of environmental rules, and the relevant authorities have not taken appropriate action.

The tribunal found the penalty calculated by the divisional forest officer for unauthorised tree cutting to be insufficient.

It also criticised the regional officer for not effectively addressing the issue and encouraging violations.

The NGT ordered the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board to take disciplinary action against the regional officer for encouraging violations and non-compliance with rules.

It directed the forest department to take action to recover the cost of the illegally cut trees.

The State Pollution Control Board, district magistrate, and municipal corporation were instructed to address the issue of illegal tree cutting.

The NGT further mandated the planting of at least 10 times the number of illegally cut trees, using the appropriate species.

The green panel said that the authorities must submit an action-taken report within three months, outlining steps taken to prevent other environmental violations such as sewage discharge into Naini Lake, improper solid waste management, and encroachments.

The case is now scheduled for hearing next on November 28.
New Delhi, Aug 31 : The AAP government has hit out at Lieutenant Governor (L-G) office over latter's claim that "indifferent and inhuman attitude" of the Delhi Education Department was holding back the benefits of the Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme for retired officials of the department.

The Delhi government said that the L-G office was controlling everything and they were responsible for the delay of eight years.

Delhi L-G V.K. Saxena on Wednesday ordered that the benefits of the MACP scheme must be given to retired Principals, EOs, DEOs, DDEs of the Education Department.

"Despite these retired officers being eligible for financial upgradation from year 2008 and their eligibility upheld by various Courts and even by Supreme Court, these officers had to go through trauma and harassment all these years for no fault of theirs due to indifferent and inhuman attitude of the Education Department. With the decision of LG, they would be getting their due benefits pending for 15 years," the L-G office said.

The Delhi government said that for the last eight years, Raj Niwas has been "controlling" matters related to service across the national capital. "They (L-G office) should respond as to why this was not done earlier," the AAP government asserted.
New Delhi, Aug 31 : Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on Wednesday said that as many as 106 fully-equipped ambulances have been readied with all advanced facilities that will remain on 24-hour high alert to tackle any medical emergency during the forthcoming G20 Summit.

The Health Minister said this while chairing a meeting of top officials of the Delhi Health Department, and senior officials of the various hospitals under it, to review the healthcare arrangements being made for the summit.

aIn light of the G20 Summit, the Delhi government has placed five major government hospitals and three private hospitals on high alert to ensure the healthcare arrangements are in place. These include primarily Lok Nayak Hospital, GB Pant Hospital, GTB Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital, along with Primus Hospital Chanakyapuri, Max Hospital Saket, and Manipal Hospital Dwarka," he said.

Bhardwaj further said that the Lok Nayak Hospital has reserved 20 beds, GB Pant Hospital 10 beds, GTB Hospital 20 beds, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital 65 beds, and Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital has reserved 40 beds for addressing any situation that may arise during the summit.

He said that while this preparation is based on priority, all hospitals are also on alert in case any need arises.

The Health Minister noted that arrangements have been made for foreign guests coming for the summit to stay in various hotels across Delhi. "Keeping this arrangement in mind, 80 teams of doctors and nursing staff formed. These teams will serve all guests in these 25 hotels. Out of these 80 teams, 75 teams will work in shifts," he said.

Each hotel has been assigned three teams, each working in eight-hour shifts. These teams will remain dedicated to serving our incoming guests 24/7 according to their respective time schedules, Bhardwaj said.

"Not only hospitals and medical teams have been prepared for the health arrangements of incoming foreign guests for the G20 Summit, but also a total of 106 fully-equipped ambulances have been readied with all advanced facilities. These 106 ambulances will remain on 24-hour high alert," he added.

In case of any medical emergency, as soon as the information is received, these ambulances will promptly transport the patient to the hospital, Bhardwaj said.

The G20 Summit is scheduled to be held in Delhi on September 9 and 10.
Kiev/Moscow, Aug 31 : Ukraine has said that four Il-76 transport aircraft were destroyed during an overnight drone attack at Pskov airport in western Russia.

"Four Il-76 have been destroyed on Wednesday and cannot be restored. A few more (aircraft) units were damaged," Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence, told the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency.

He did not specify whether Ukraine was responsible for the attack, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian media reported that Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged during a drone attack at Pskov airport, citing the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Pskov Region Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said that there were no victims according to preliminary information, and the scale of the destruction was being specified.

According to the airport's website, Russia's 334th Military Transport Aviation Regiment armed with II-76 aircraft was stationed at the airport by the time of the drone attack.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a weekly briefing on Wednesday that Ukraine would not have been able to hit targets deep inside the Russian territory without satellite data obtained from the West.

Zakharova warned that Ukraine's actions will not be left unpunished.

Commenting on Kiev's recent drone attacks, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russian military experts were investigating the launch routes of the drones to prevent such situations in the future and Moscow will take all necessary measures.

Ukraine launched drone attacks on targets in seven Russian regions overnight.

Pskov is a city in western Russia, located 20 km east of the Estonian border.
Ukrainian border patrol troops guard the country's border to Hungary on Wednesday. Moscow is warning countries not to supply weapons to Kiev, amid an escalation in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Photo: -/Ukrinform/dpa/IANS. Image Source: IANS News

Kiev, Aug 31 : More than 20,000 Ukrainian military personnel have already received training in the UK, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has said in a statement.

Apart from training, the UK provided the Ukrainian soldiers with military items as part of the international training Operation Interflex, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the statement posted on Facebook on Wednesday.

In particular, Ukrainian troops received military uniform and footwear, bulletproof vests and helmets, as well as tactical glasses and gloves, first aid kits, and other types of equipment, it said.

According to the statement, the UK military support for Ukraine has exceeded 2.3 billion pounds (about $2.9 billion).

Launched in the summer of 2022, Operation Interflex is a UK-led international training program for Ukrainian recruits.
Its fall trade show season, and all the regional bookseller associations have been working hard to help booksellers and exhibitors make the best use of their trade show time. While 2022s excitement came from meeting in person after pandemic separation, 2023s focus is on adapting to a changing bookselling ecosystem.

Everyone has an agenda when it comes to the regionals, and the organizations hope to meet everyones expectations. Store owners and staff are eager to get up to speed on technologies and platforms such as Batch and Bookshop.org, discover titles from independent publishers, and gather with friends they havent seen in months. Many first-timers have joined association rolls, and new or aspiring owner-managers want to diversify their skill sets while making connections with more experienced booksellers. Publisher sales reps are honing their pitches and preparing to set up new accounts. And everyone is curious to meet the authors and get an early look at their forthcoming releases.

Though each gathering highlights regional vendors and specialties, bookstores nationwide share common business practices and concerns too. At every trade show, the American Booksellers Association will run a risk-mitigation session titled This Is a Fire Drill: Preparing for and Avoiding Crises. The presentation will troubleshoot cybersecurity issues, weather events, protests, break-ins, and other stressors that undermine retail operations.

New Voices and in-person locations

The fall regionals started with New Voices New Rooms, the joint conference of the New Atlantic Independent Boooksellers Association and the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, held in Arlington, Va., August 710. NVNR started from necessity as a virtual event in 2020 and 2021, and experimented with a hybrid format in 2022. This first in-person meeting drew close to 300 booksellers, including 33 new store owners, and programming included a keynote from Julia Fabris McBride of the Kansas Leadership Center.

Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association alternates between Oregon and Washington for its Fall Tradeshow, and this years gathering convenes in Portland. We get good turnout in Portland, says executive director Brian Juenemann, who calls the Columbia Riverfront host site a nice all-in-one facility that can cater to show needs from the exhibits to the education to the author parties.

Juenemann says PNBAs exhibition space is super full and estimates that bookseller attendance is 90% of prepandemic levels. PNBA now boasts 285 overall member entities, including 149 bookstores, along with industry affiliates including publishers, distributors, libraries, and authors.

California Independent Bookstore Associations Fall Fest converges on South San Francisco Conference Center, next to the San Francisco International Airport, to maximize convenience and member participation. The last time we were there was 2017, says coexecutive director Kristin Rasmussen. Its easy access: driving, flying, public transportation. And its a site that can hold everything we need to do, which is very rare up here.

The organization invited authors across all genres, Rasmussen notes, and we have packed these two days with talent. Practical bookstore matters are on the docket too, with sessions developed by the CALIBA education committee. Among the roundtable discussions is a session on Edelweiss tools and skills, which coexecutive director Ann Seaton calls politically important, because thats where the publishers see whats happening in any bookstoreits a great way to show the publishers what were actually selling.

Jam-packed schedules and surprise guests

New England Independent Booksellers Association will celebrate its 50th anniversary when it returns to Providence, R.I., in October (see NEIBA at 50, p. 54). Executive director Beth Ineson says that to honor the anniversary, were switching up the schedule a bit and holding a big party, in addition to hosting the New England Book Awards, unveiling the New England Childrens Book Advisory Councils list of diversity-focused Windows and Mirrors books for young readers, and bringing in surprise guests.

Ineson says she loves Providences perfect mix of space, affordability, transportation access, and great restaurants. We have so few affordable options in the region given the size of our exhibit space, so we try to strike the right balance.

As it has for many years, Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association will convene in a Denver hotel for its annual conference, drawing booksellers from 14 states across the West and Southwest. This years three-day gathering is jam-packed with education panels, networking opportunities, author presentations, and of course, Quiz Bowl. New this year, an Edelweiss intensive will take place the day before the conference officially kicks off at a local brewpub.

According to executive director Heather Duncan, FallCon has always taken place in Denver because it is so accessible from all points, whether people are driving there or flying into Denver International Airport, which is a major hub for U.S. airlines. She added that for many years, the majority of MPIBA members were in Colorado, and many in the Denver metro area.

As the number of Texas booksellers grew, however, MPIBA responded by adding SpringCon, which is held in the Lone Star State. Texas accounts for 33% of MPIBAs total 252 bookstore members, while Colorado accounts for 25% of MPIBA bookstore membership.

The fall trade show season will wrap up with the Heartland Fall Forum, Great Lakes and Midwest Independent Booksellers Associations annual mash-up. The two organizations are taking full advantage of this years Detroit location. The gathering will kick off with the Heartland Booksellers Awards ceremony at the conference hotel, hosted by the irrepressible Isaac Fitzgerald, before moving to Third Man Records, where a conversation between musician Jack White of the White Stripes and author and music critic Hanif Abdurraqib will take place. Drummer, journalist, and Third Man Records label executive Ben Blackwell, poet Caroline Randall Williams, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Adrian Matejka will also take the stage that evening.

The genesis for this event began almost a year ago when I set up a private tour of Third Man Records for the GLIBA board, says GLIBA executive director Larry Law. It gained traction during GLIBAs spring forum when we started brainstorming what would be the ultimate Detroit experience for our stores. Jack White in conversation with Hanif Abdurraqib has us reeling, but we are also just as excited to be together again.

Read more from our Fall Regionals 2023 feature:

Fall Regionals 2023: Programming Highlights

This years gatherings provide opportunities for booksellers to rub shoulders with authors and strategize about challenges facing the book world.

Fall Regionals 2023: NEIBA at 50

Sailing into a new decade, New Englands indie organization glances back and charts its course.

Fall Regionals 2023: Binc Expands Its Mission

Its been a busy year for the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, which is rolling out a series of new programs designed to diversify the industry.

Fall Regionals 2023: Bookshop.org Expands Its Reach

It's been more than three years since the launch of online retailer Bookshop.org, and the online retailer is eager to remove Amazons stranglehold on online sales.

Fall Regionals 2023: Booksellers Predict The Big Books of Fall 2023

Every fall season, bookseller enthusiasm builds for certain subjects, and novelsnotably high-stakes historical fiction and immersive work in translationare extra hot for 2023.
Ahmad Darwish, senior research associate at Purdue Universitys Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, prepares a microwave lyophilization experiment. A Purdue-led team has been awarded nearly $1 million to pursue a technology using microwaves to make the freeze-drying process twice as fast and more cost-effective. This could have a significant impact on the worlds vaccine supply chain. Like astronaut ice cream, many vaccines are made stable for transport and storage through freeze-drying, also known as lyophilization. (Purdue Research Foundation photo/Steve Martin)

Faster, more cost-effective process touted as significant advancement for the worldwide supply chain

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the vaccine supply chain and public health impact of vaccine stability. But Purdue University researchers have been working on the problem for years  using rocket science to advance a freeze-drying technology that lengthens product shelf life. And that technology could soon be available in the marketplace.

A Purdue-led team has been awarded nearly $1 million to pursue a technology of using microwaves to make the freeze-drying process twice as fast and more cost-effective. Like astronaut ice cream, many vaccines are made stable for transport and storage through freeze-drying, also known as lyophilization.

We want to push the technology further so that lifesaving treatments like COVID vaccines can easily reach every corner of the world, said project leader Alina Alexeenko, senior associate dean for undergraduate education and academic programs at Purdue University in Indianapolis and professor of aeronautics and astronautics and chemical engineering in Purdues College of Engineering. The conditions required for lyophilization are like those in outer space  it is a cold vacuum. We approach innovations in lyophilization equipment design and process the same way teams approach new spacecraft design. This time weve found a way to apply microwaves to get past some of the challenges the environment presents.

Alexeenko is co-founder and co-director of LyoHUB, a university-industry center that brings together academic and industry researchers, representatives from government agencies, equipment manufacturers, and end-product users to improve freeze-drying technology to make food, pharmaceuticals and biotech products safer and more affordable.

The standard freeze-drying process is very expensive, but Alexeenko said the new technology could be much more cost-efficient, with the potential for an immediate impact on lives and the worldwide supply chain.

Merck and IMA Life North America Inc. have partnered with Purdue on the microwave project, which is funded by The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL).

Merck is providing vaccine samples and leading development of benchmarks to compare the conventional and microwave lyophilization. IMA Life will lead integration of the new technology with the entire manufacturing process for sterile pharmaceuticals and vaccines.

This microwave technology promises to not only provide uniformity to the drug product but also accelerate the freeze-drying process, said Ernesto Renzi, president of sales and marketing at IMA Life North America.

In addition to Alexeenko, the research team at Purdue includes Eric Munson, the Dane O. Kildsig Chair and head of the Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy; Vivek Narsimhan, the Michael Ott Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering; Dimitrios Peroulis, the Reilly Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and senior vice president for Purdue University Online; and Qi (Tony) Zhou, associate professor of industrial and physical pharmacy.

This is a significant advancement of a technology that can have an immediate impact on lives and the U.S. supply chain, said Karen Plaut, Purdue Universitys executive vice president of research. Centers like LyoHUB are a great example of how we draw upon Purdues deep research strengths and state-of-the-art facilities, such as Birck Nanotechnology Center, and leverage the expertise of industry and government to improve our world.

Alexeenkos startup, LyoWave, is working with Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization to bring this technology to the marketplace.

This is yet another example of a Purdue innovation that can make an impact on the world, said Purdue Innovates senior vice president Brooke Beier. Purdue Innovates is focused on results: transforming research into intellectual property that can be licensed to startups and industries and, finally, products that can save lives.

About LyoHUB

LyoHUB (http://www.lyohub.org), a university-industry center at Purdue University, is advancing the science and technology of lyophilization in order to lower costs and improve the availability of lyophilized products. Though time-consuming and inefficient in its current state, lyophilization is a critical manufacturing process for the pharmaceutical industry. It is used in about 25% of new injectable drugs, vaccines and biological products. The need for advancements in this area is magnified as COVID-19 lyophilized treatments, such as Gileads remdesivir, diagnostic reagents and other countermeasures are being developed and evaluated.

In addition to enhancing vaccines, biopharmaceuticals and diagnostics, lyophilization is used in food products. It is a $30 billion-dollar part of the food and pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

LyoHUB was founded in 2014 with two member companies. Since then, it has grown to include 32 members. In 2017, it led the creation of the first lyophilization technology road map, which included more than 100 contributors from organizations across academic, industry and government institutions. LyoHUB also developed the first recognized consensus standard in lyophilization instrumentation issued by ASTM in 2021. The LyoHUB tech demo facility is located in the Birck Nanotechnology Center at Discovery Park District at Purdue.

About Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the universitys academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. In fiscal year 2022, the office reported 157 deals finalized with 237 technologies signed, 379 disclosures received and 169 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top 4 in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, with 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdues main campus has frozen tuition 12 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap, including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes, at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.

Writer: Elizabeth K. Gardner

Media contact: Dustin Grove, dmgrove@prf.org

Source: Alina Alexeenko, alexeenk@purdue.edu
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TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 30. Sanoat Energetika Guruhi (Saneg), largest private oil and gas company of Uzbekistan, increased its production from 378,000 tons per year in 2019 to 586,000 tons in 2022, Trend reports.

Key investments by the private company, exceeding $750 million, are directed towards the development of both oil and gas sectors.

As part of the exploratory activities on 103 oil fields, Saneg specialists identified areas of gas reservoirs on 78 fields, 33 of which are currently under development.

During the period from 2021 to 2022, the company managed to increase gas production by 3.5 times, from 389 million cubic meters to 1.4 billion cubic meters per year.

The primary growth driver was the implementation of a program to utilize associated petroleum gas released during oil production and preparation. Utilizing flare gas allows redirecting it for the needs of the population through the gas transportation system of "Uztransgaz" JSC.

"For 30 years, associated petroleum gas from the 'Severny Shurtan', 'Shirkent,' and 'Turt-sari' fields was burned in flare installations. The program for the utilization of flare gases envisions eliminating the use of flares and directing gas for preparation through separation and processing in zeolite purification units," said Saneg's Executive Director, Tulkin Yusupov.

The total volume of investments aimed at implementing the flare gas utilization program amounts to $12.5 million.

Saneg currently accounts for about 5 percent of gas production in Uzbekistan. Within the production program until 2026, the company plans to increase gas production to 3 bcm. This increase is primarily planned through the development of the Bukhara-Khiva oil and gas region, with the involvement of modern geological exploration technologies.

"At the moment, drilling ultra-deep wells to identify oil and gas potential in mostly new productive horizons is a promising direction. Conducting 3D large-scale seismic surveys on investment sites of the company, including in the Ustyurt region, is also a priority. With updated data, we can expand our operational activities and take the company to a new level of production capacity," noted Tulkin Yusupov.
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TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 30. A protocol aimed at improving the investment environment in Uzbekistan was signed during a session of the Foreign Investors Council in Tashkent, Trend reports.

The protocol included proposals for enhancing the investment climate in Uzbekistan. Additionally, an Agreement on Cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was adopted, aimed at providing technical and consultative support to enhance the national legislation.

The session of the Foreign Investors Council included discussions on practical aspects of investment activities in Uzbekistan.

Furthermore, global investment trends and key directions were discussed, and an assessment was given of Uzbekistan's efforts to improve the business climate in the country.

Minister of Investments, Industry, and Trade of Uzbekistan, Laziz Kudratov, Head of the EBRD Representation in Uzbekistan, Alkis Drakinos, representatives from the IFC, PwC Uzbekistan participated in the event.

Overall, more than 150 leaders of foreign investment companies, diplomatic missions, ministries, agencies, and representatives of international financial institutions took part in the session.

At the meeting, Kudratov emphasized Uzbekistan's commitment to the consistent improvement of the investment climate. The participants' attention was focused on Uzbekistan's active efforts to revise investment legislation, accelerate privatization processes, encourage public-private partnerships, and stimulate initiatives in the green economy sector.
The College Republicans of the University of Georgia met Wednesday to discuss the first Republican Presidential Primary Debate which took place on Aug. 23. As a critical demographic in a swing state ahead of the 2024 presidential election, attendees considered the range of candidates and their stances carefully.
UGA geography professor Amy Ross speaks to other protesters on the first day of the five day protest advocating for a vaccine and mask mandate for schools within the University System of Georgia (USG) on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021 at Tate Plaza in Athens, Georgia. Ross shared her experiences of teaching in person this semester and the split nature of those in her class who did and did not wear masks. (Photo/Katie Tucker ktucker@randb.com)
The banking system's liquidity slipped into deficit for the first time in the current financial year (2023-24) due to the imposition of the Incremental Cash Reserve Ratio (I-CRR) for banks and outflows from goods and services tax (GST) payments, according to dealers.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data shows it injected Rs 23,644 crore on August 21.

The last time liquidity was in deficit was on March 27, when the RBI injected Rs 45,575 crore.

There is an expectation in the market that the development could prompt the RBI to announce a variable repo rate (VRR) auction to infuse liquidity.

Apart from I-CRR and tax payments, we also think the RBI's intervention in the forex market (by selling dollars to protect the rupee from sharp depreciation) may also have played a role," a dealer at a state-owned bank said.

The RBI might know about some inflow into liquidity; thats why it has allowed negative liquidity.

"So, our market needs at least Rs 1 to 1.5 trillion of positive liquidity.

"It is quite unsustainable at this level, he added.

During the August 10 monetary policy review announcement, the RBI mandated all scheduled banks to maintain an I-CRR of 10 per cent on the increase in their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) between May 19 and July 28, effective from August 12.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had emphasised that the I-CRR move was temporary and that the central bank would ensure adequate liquidity to fund the economys credit needs.

The central bank will review the I-CRR decision on or before September 8.

Market participants estimate a total outflow worth Rs 1.5 trillion due to GST and around Rs 63,430 crore from auctions of state loans, treasury bills, and government securities.

A segment of the market believes that tight liquidity might continue till the end of the current month, and overnight rates could inch up by 10 bps.

Short-term rates should remain elevated, but there is some expectation of easing by the end of the month due to government spending.

"But, the overall system's liquidity should remain tight.

"Around September 15, well see advance tax payment outflows that will again put pressure on liquidity, Aditya Vyas, chief economist at STCI primary dealers, said.

Call rates and short-term rates should be trading roughly around the current levels, plus or minus 10 basis points, but the stress in liquidity should continue.

"The market is broadly expecting the I-CRR to be extended, and whatever is non-structural in nature will be fine-tuned by RBI through the VRR and variable rate reverse repo (VRRR) options, Vyas said.

The RBI has not conducted any VRRR auctions to suck out liquidity since August 11.

Overnight rates, including the weighted average call rate, were around 6.77 per cent on Tuesday.

Overnight rates have stayed above the repo rate (6.5 per cent) since the I-CRR norm came into effect.
Cryptocurrency exchange unicorn CoinSwitch laid off 44 employees from its customer support team earlier this month, citing redundancy in roles in the customer support team.

The move comes barely a week after fellow crypto unicorn CoinDCX laid off 12 per cent of its workforce  an estimated 80 employees  amid challenging macroeconomic conditions and regulatory uncertainty in the sector.

CoinSwitch has 519 employees, according to its LinkedIn profile.

This means around 8 per cent of its workforce were shown the door.

This is the first time that the Bengaluru-based firm has initiated the layoffs.

We continuously evaluate our business to stay competitive, prioritising innovation, value, and service for our customers.

"To that end, we right-sized our customer support team to align with the present volume of customer queries on our platform.

"This has impacted the roles of 44 members of our customer support team, who voluntarily resigned from their roles after a detailed discussion with their managers earlier this month, a CoinSwitch spokesperson told Business Standard.

CoinSwitch, along with its competitor CoinDCX, are the only two cryptocurrency unicorns in India.

The company crossed the $1 billion-valuation threshold back in October 2021, when it raised $260 million at a valuation of $1.9 billion.

The company is backed by the likes of Tiger Global, Peak XV Partners, Coinbase Ventures and Andeerssen Horowitz (a16z).

CoinSwitch said that over the last year, many of its support team members were absorbed into other functions based on the suitability of their skills for the other roles.

We are extending all our support to the impacted employees.

"As and when volumes grow and we open new roles, we will be happy to welcome back those impacted, the spokesperson added.

The layoffs come at a time when the crypto sector is reeling from a dip in trading volumes.

This has come by way of high taxation  a 30 per cent blanket tax on gains from virtual digital assets  and a one per cent TDS (tax deducted at source) charged on every crypto transaction over Rs 10,000 via exchanges.

Trading volumes have, consequently, dropped by almost 90 per cent, according to industry estimates.

Funding among cryptocurrency start-ups has fallen more than 95 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to $7.6 million across just four deals in 2023 so far, compared to $162.1 million across 17 deals during the same period last year, according to data from Tracxn  a market intelligence platform.

CoinSwitch has reportedly also laid off some members from its operations team.

The crypto major, however, denied these claims, saying that it does not have a separate operations team for its Virtual Digital Assets Business.

Meanwhile, the firm has hired over 60 people since April this year, sources said.

The company is well on track for its upcoming launches beyond cryptocurrency. These include a wealthtech platform and an expansion of its financial products to include mutual funds, bonds, fixed deposits, and stocks, among other asset classes.
Three senior executives have resigned from Byju's at a time when the most valuable edtech company has been trying to address challenges such as due diligence issues, legal battles with lenders, challenges in raising fresh capital, and a markdown in its valuation by investors.

Photograph: Courtesy, Byju's

Prathyusha Agarwal, the chief business officer of Byju's, has quit, according to sources.

They said Himanshu Bajaj, business head of Byju's tuition centres, and Mukut Deepak, business head for Class 4 to 10, have also moved on.

A Byju's spokesperson said that as Byju's continues to chart its path to profitability and sustainable growth, the firm has undertaken a restructuring of businesses and verticals, including the consolidation of four verticals into two key verticals - K-10 and Exam Prep.

"At present, two very seasoned and senior leaders lead both verticals - Ramesh Karra leads the K-10 vertical, while Jitesh Shah leads the exam prep business," said the spokesperson.

"And as a part of this reorganisation of businesses, Mukut Deepak, Prathyusha Agarwal, and Himanshu Bajaj will be moving on."

Last year in March, Byju's appointed Prathyusha Agarwal as chief business officer to lead the Early Learn Business vertical.

In this role, Agarwal's focus was on charting the Early Learn portfolio strategy, defining, designing, and delivering the holistic learning consumer offering and driving top-line growth for the Early Learn Business.

The Early Learn vertical aimed to offer personalised and interactive learning programmes across digital, physical and live classes for kids aged between 4 8 years.

Agarwal is an alumna of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Before joining Byju's, she was the chief consumer and data officer at ZEE, where she led the business transformation initiatives and the brand growth mandate across TV and OTT verticals.

In her 21-year career, she has launched Tata's e-commerce venture TataCLiQ as the head of marketing, worked with HDFC Life as the vice president of marketing and analytics, and led brand strategy for the Star TV network.

Agarwal was also the founder director of 'All OK Tech Support', worked with Market Gate Consulting, and honed marketing skills at HUL in various sales and marketing roles.

In December 2021, Byju's appointed Himanshu Bajaj as head of business to lead its Byju's Learning Centre.

In his role, Bajaj was responsible for the development and expansion of Byju's Learning Centre, along with providing strategic business growth and thought leadership direction for the brand and the business.

Before joining Byju's, Bajaj worked with consulting firm Kearney and led its Consumer and Retail practice across Asia Pacific.

He had also worked with FedEx in Singapore and Hong Kong and TSMG in Mumbai.

He is an alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering and IIM Ahmedabad.

In October 2021, Byju's announced the appointment of Mukut Deepak as head of business to lead its class 4 to 10 school segment.

In his role, Deepak was responsible for expanding and leading the flagship business for the class 4 to 10 segment.

Working in conjunction with the product, marketing, and sales teams, Deepak's role included forecasting, building and proposing strategies for the growth of his vertical, and establishing systems and operations to optimise the company's goals.

Before joining Byju's, Deepak was the chief business development officer at Tata Sky Limited and a director for Tata Sky's digital venture.

Cherian Thomas, Byju's senior vice president for international business, also quit recently and joined Impending Inc. as CEO.

Thomas' prior experience includes a pivotal role in establishing Byju's US operations, a leading edtech firm.

He was also at the helm of Byju's owned educational gaming firm, Osmo, as its CEO, achieving revenue in excess of $100 million in FY21.

As Byju's first international hire in 2017, he was instrumental in constructing the international organisation from scratch and spearheading acquisitions such as Osmo.

Byju's recently handed the pink slip to 100 employees in a fresh round of layoffs, post a performance review.

However, according to a media report, the edtech company has sacked about 400 people.

Earlier this year, Byju's handed the pink slip to 900-1,000 employees in a fresh round of layoffs, according to media reports.

However, sources in the company said the move was part of the "optimisation" strategy that the edtech giant had announced last year.

This included sacking 2,500 workers.

Besides other issues, on 22 July, Byju's auditor Deloitte Haskins & Sells resigned from its role as the company was delaying filing financial results.

Following the auditor's resignation, the firm's top-three investors - Prosus, Peak XV Partners, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative representatives - also resigned.

After these resignations, Byju's chief executive officer Byju Raveendran addressed shareholders and employees on the issue.

US-based asset management firm Baron Capital Group recently nearly halved the fair value of India's most-valued start-up Byju's in its books.

This happened following the resignations of its auditor and three key investor board members, according to the investor's June quarter report.

In its April-June quarterly report, Baron Capital cut the valuation of Byju's to $11.7 billion as of 30 June.

This is down 44.6 per cent from $21.2 billion as of 31 March.

Byju's was last valued at $22 billion when it raised $250 million from Qatar Investment Authority in October last year.

US asset manager BlackRock recently reduced the valuation of its share in Byju's this time to about $8.4 billion, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the March quarter.

Byju's latest valuation, as estimated by BlackRock, was around 62 per cent down from the peak of about $22 billion in April 2022.

Before this, BlackRock had reduced the start-up's valuation to $11.5 billion (as of 31 December 2022).
French banking major BNP Paribas is planning to sell its domestic retail broking unit, Sharekhan, according to news reports on Tuesday.

Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters

The reports even named leading financial institutions as possible suitors.

We would not be able to comment on the mentioned queries at this time, said a company spokesperson in response to a query from Business Standard

seeking clarification on the news item.

The Paris-headquartered bank had acquired 100 per cent equity in Sharekhan from a clutch of investors in 2015.

The deal size was not disclosed; however, industry players pegged it at around Rs 2,000 crore.

BNPs acquisition was completed in 2016 after receiving approvals from all regulatory authorities.

Sharekhan was founded in 2000 and was one of the first brokerages to offer online trading.

The company has 2.8 million customers and provides a range of investment services.

The company claims to execute nearly a million trades a day.

Before acquiring Sharekhan, BNP Paribas had picked up a 34 per cent stake in Kochi-based Geojit Securities in 2007, which is currently valued at Rs 1,300 crore.

After the advent of Covid-19, the investor count in India has more than trebled to 123 million amid the digital onboarding of clients, the proliferation of discount brokers, and a secular upturn in stock prices.

Last month, the average daily turnover for the equities cash segment stood at Rs 77,337 crore, while that for the derivatives segment hit a new record of Rs 307 trillion.
Interrupting a two-month streak of decline, outward foreign direct investment (FDI) rose sequentially to $1.85 billion in July over $1.07 billion in June, an increase of 73 per cent.

However, it was lower than the $2.18 billion in July last year, according to the Reserve Bank of India data.

Outbound FDI, expressed as financial commitment, has three components - equity, loans, and guarantees.

The commitments (under outward FDI) stood at $1.29 billion in May.

Outward FDI was $2.52 billion in April, the RBI data showed.

However, bankers said it was too early to come to a conclusion about changes in trends of decline seen through this calendar year.

The slowdown in global economic and business activities, especially in developed markets, has impacted direct investment flows, both inbound and outbound.

Showing the effect of global slowdown, net FDI in India declined sharply to $4.99 billion in the April-June quarter (Q1FY4) from $13.92 billion in the same period a year ago.

The moderation in gross inward FDI, coupled with a rise in the repatriation of investment from India, resulted in a decline in net FDI.

Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, Bank of Baroda, said while it would be premature to call the rise in outbound FDI a change in trend, Indian businesses were trying to go beyond the domestic market, where the scope for private investment had been limited.

Opportunities are opening up in developed markets and valuations are better for making investments in subsidiaries, joint ventures, and new investments.

Getting into the components of outbound FDI, the RBI data showed the equity commitment declined to $442 million in July from $488 million in June.

It was lower than the $629 million in July 2022.

The debt commitment rose to $605 million in July from $255 million in June.

However, it was over three times over the $180 million in July 2022.

The guarantees for overseas units grew to $806 million in July from $329 million in June.

However, they were much lower than the $1.37 billion in July 2022.

Key deals in July included a debt support by Tata Steel of about $361 million provided to Singapore-based ABJI Investment PTE Co Ltd, followed by Tata Chemicals guarantees of $160 million to its Singapore-based unit Tata Chemicals International.

India Inc filed ECB intents worth $2.55 bn in July.

Indian corporates have filed application with Reserve Bank of India in July 2023 for raising $ 2.55 billion through External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs).

This includes an intent by Reliance Jio Infocomm for $1.56 billion for local sourcing of capital goods (rupee expenditure).

According to Reserve Bank of India data Reliance Jio Infocomm would raise ECB money having approximate maturity of 121 months from commercial banks.

REC Ltd intends to raise $ 500 million from the overseas branch of Indian Commercial bank.

The maturity of ECB money is 60 months and would be used for on-lending purposes.
Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc are set to hold hectic parleys during a two-day conclave in Mumbai starting Thursday during which they will announce a coordination committee and a logo for the alliance.

IMAGE: Leaders from 26 Opposition parties at the INDIA conclave in Bengaluru on July 18, 2023. Photograph: Shrikant Singh/ANI Photo

They would chalk out a joint campaign strategy to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and iron out the differences among themselves.

The leaders are also likely to announce a few panels to draft a common minimum programme of the alliance, to frame joint plans for holding agitations across the country and for seat sharing.

"The Mumbai meeting shall come out with a clear-cut roadmap for providing a progressive alternative to the regressive policies of the current regime," Rashtriya Janata Dal's Manoj Jha told PTI.

The INDIA bloc is also likely to announce a secretariat for smooth coordination between the constituents and it is likely to be set up in the national capital. Besides, the members will also discuss the issue of having a coordinator or a chairperson to head the alliance.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the frontrunner for the convenor's post. There are also talks of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi being considered to head the alliance.

According to sources, while Kumar has already announced that he is not in the race for the convernor's post, Gandhi has privately expressed that she was against the proposal.

The leaders, some of whom have started arriving in Mumbai for the two-day conclave, will take forward deliberations on contentious issues such as seat sharing. RJD president Lalu Prasad and his son Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav are already in Mumbai.

There are speculations of some more regional outfits joining the 26-party opposition alliance at its Mumbai conclave which is the third in a series of meetings held in Patna and Bengaluru.

The INDIA bloc's first meeting was held in Patna in June, while the second one took place in Bengaluru in mid-July.

The Bengaluru conclave had finalised the name of the alliance -- Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

Ahead of the Mumbai meeting, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has reiterated that his drive to forge the opposition unity was not prompted by any "personal ambitions" and he would like someone else to be made convener of the opposition coalition.

"I have been maintaining since the beginning that I have no desire for myself... I have no personal ambitions... I don't want anything. Somebody else could be given the responsibility (convener post). My only wish is to unite the maximum number of parties (opposed to BJP) before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. I am working in this direction only," Kumar said.

He had on Sunday said that "a few more" political parties were likely to join the INDIA alliance during its Mumbai meeting. Kumar, however, did not reveal the names of the likely entrants to the bloc.

"We will discuss issues related to seat sharing and will also finalise several other agenda in the Mumbai meeting. A few more political parties will join the INDIA coalition and it will be announced in the next meeting," Kumar had said.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole has said that the INDIA bloc will coin the slogan "BJP Chale Jao (BJP Go Away)" at the meeting.

He said the grouping has many capable candidates for the prime minister's post and claimed that some parties which are currently constituents of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) may switch over to the INDIA bloc.

Ahead of the conclave, Congress leader Milind Deora said that seat sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls among alliance partners is more or less finalised in most states barring a few that require more time.

Deora, who is closely involved in organising the meeting, also hailed the "evolving chemistry" between the INDIA bloc partners and said the best example of that was in Maharashtra.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Shiv Sena-UBT, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress has formed several committees to plan various aspects of the meeting of the opposition bloc.

This is the first meeting of the opposition INDIA alliance in a state where none of the bloc members are in power. Unity would be the key focus of the meeting.

INDIA bloc constituent the RLD's chief Jayant Chaudhary has dismissed as "conjecture" the talks about the possibility of his party switching over to the NDA and said parties would not be comfortable in joining hands with the BJP which is "very effective" at steam-rolling dissenting voices.

In an interview with PTI ahead of the conclave, the Rashtriya Lok Dal leader also said the Congress has a "big role" going forward as it is a "well-understood brand" with many people across the country voting for the party for a long time.

At the conclave held in the Karnataka capital last month, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had said the opposition will fight the 2024 elections unitedly and succeed. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said their fight was against BJP's ideology.
Ahead of the crucial third round of discussions, the opposition INDIA bloc on Wednesday exuded confidence that it would provide a formidable alternative to bring political change in the country and asserted that it has several prime ministerial faces against BJP's only one.

IMAGE: Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar (right), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray (centre) and Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole address a press briefing on the eve of the two-day meeting of the INDIA alliance, Mumbai, August 30, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

The opposition alliance also expanded its ambit to 28 parties by including two regional outfits -- the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP), a Marxist political party in Maharashtra, and another regional outfit.

As many as 63 representatives from 28 political parties will attend the meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on August 31 and September 1 at Grand Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai.

The alliance leaders are getting together for the third round of the brainstorming session, after Patna and Bengaluru, to chalk out their common campaign strategy to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The alliance would announce a coordination committee, which could be of 11 members from principal opposition parties, and will unveil a logo for the bloc.

The opposition alliance is also likely to hold discussions on whether to have a convenor or not and whether there will be some sub-groups to handle seat sharing, agitational joint programmes, communication strategy and chalk out the common minimum programme.

Several chief ministers and senior leaders including Mamata Banerjee and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad have already arrived, besides former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, while Akhilesh Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Hemant Soren, M K Stalin, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann would arrive on Thursday.

Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge will also land in Mumbai on Thursday, after which they will attend a dinner hosted by Uddhav Thackeray.

Mamata Banerjee on her arrival in Mumbai tied Rakhi on Thackeray and Amitabh Bachchan.

To a query on who will be the INDIA alliance PM candidate, Mamata Banerjee said, "India will be our PM face. Our primary concern is to save the country," she said.

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, NCP leader Sharad Pawar said he has confidence that the opposition alliance will provide a formidable alternative to bring about a political change in the country.

He said there has been no discussion on seat-sharing within the INDIA alliance.

Pawar said there is no confusion over the NCP. People will teach those who have left a lesson, he added, targeting estranged nephew Ajit Pawar who joined the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra last month.

Asked about BSP chief Mayawati, Pawar said, "It is not known on whose side she is. Earlier she has had a dialogue with BJP."

On Muslim parties like the AIUDF not being part of the alliance, Pawar said, "They have spoken with me and are inclined to go with us. But I can't decide on this alone; we will have to speak with the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on this. There will be a collective decision on that and till then accepting their overtures is difficult."

He said there is no such proposal on the inclusion of Akali Dal, "but, if they are inclined we can think about it."

However, he said, it is not easy because we have Arvind Kejriwal whose party is ruling Punjab and the Congress party has a different policy there.

"That is why we will not do anything that enhances our differences," he noted.

"There are diverse parties but they can sit together, discuss and prepare a common minimum programme," Pawar added.

Former chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray said the alliance of opposition parties belonging to different ideologies has the common objective of protecting democracy and 'Bharat Mata'.

On the INDIA alliance PM face, Thackeray said, "We have a lot of choices, the question is what choice the BJP has."

"We have seen what has been done by the person who was there for 10 years, everyone has had his experience and now the question is before the BJP as they have to win elections," Thackeray said.

He said they saw what happened in Karnataka as they did not get any success despite bringing in Bajrang Bali, who did not give his aashirwad (blessings) to BJP.

"So the question is before them as to what choices do they have, who will become (PM)," he noted.

To a query on the issue of who will be the INDIA convenor, Thackeray asked, "Who is NDA's convenor?"

Taking a swipe at the Centre over its decision to slash the LPG cylinder price by Rs 200 as a 'Raksha Bandhan gift', he said as the INDIA alliance progresses, a time will come when the central government will provide gas cylinders free of cost. He claimed that the BJP-led government is running on gas.

"Was there no Raksha Bandhan during the last nine years? As INDIA (alliance) advances, LPG cylinders will be given free. No matter what they (government) do, people are smart and understand everything," Thackeray said.

On whether a convenor would be appointed for the INDIA alliance, the former Maharashtra chief minister said, "Let's wait for the meeting, let deliberations take place."

"Does anyone know who is the convenor of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)," he asked.

On being asked if he would be projected as the opposition's PM candidate, Thackeray said jokingly, "I will go and take oath tomorrow."

"Our ideology may be different but our objective is the same to protect the country," he noted.

Thackeray said the British were also doing development, but "Over the development is our freedom. We have come together to protect our freedom."

The former Maharashtra CM said he did not agree with the term 'Opposition', as "we have come together to protect the country, Bharat Mata. We are against dictatorship and jumlebazi."

He said that the INDIA alliance has helped reduce the price of gas cylinders by Rs 200.

"I feel that as INDIA keeps on progressing, one day will come the government will give the gas cylinder for free because the government is also running on gas," he noted.

About the NDA's meeting, he said they should not just oppose us but do something positive for people as there is a famine-like situation in Maharashtra. "He will come and will give some bhoolbhulaiya and leave, which will not amount to anything."

Former CM and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan said in 2019, non-BJP parties got 23 crore votes, while BJP got 22 crore. "If we work together, we can win," he added.

Chavan said Maharashtra has led many a revolution in the past and this time too it will lead the political revolution in the country, while referring to a change of guard in the country.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah said the Panthers Party from Jammu will also attend the alliance meetings on August 31 and September 1.

"The foremost agenda would be how to win polls, what will be our main plank on which we will contest elections. Discussions will also take place about how to save the Constitution, the feeling of brotherhood in the country, and how to bridge the rift created on religious lines," Abdullah said.

The opposition alliance would also chalk out a joint campaign strategy to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and iron out the differences among themselves to help further strengthen their body.
Seeking to fulfill another key pre-poll promise, the Congress government in Karnataka on Wednesday launched the 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme, offering a monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 to about 1.1 crore women who are heads of their households.

IMAGE: Congress chief M Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar at the launch of 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme in Mysuru. Photograph: @INCIndia/X

All India Congress Committee President M Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar were among those present at the public function on Maharaja College grounds, attended by tens of thousands of people.

"Gruha Lakshmi" scheme, rolled out amid fanfare, is one of the five pre-poll 'guarantees' of the Congress, which ousted the Bharatiya Janata Party from power in the May assembly elections.

Earlier, the CM had said that his government has already implemented three of the five 'guarantees' (pre-poll promises) -- 'Shakti', 'Gruha Jyothi' and 'Annabhagya' -- and noted that 'Gruha Lakshmi' is the fourth one.

The government has earmarked Rs 17,500 crore for the 'Gruha Lakshmi' programme in the current financial year.

The fifth guarantee 'Yuva Nidhi' (Youth Fund) promises to give Rs 3000 and Rs 1,500 a month to the unemployed graduates and diploma holders, respectively, who failed to get a job even after six months of clearing the exam in the 2022-23 academic year.

The scheme will be launched in December, officials said.
The coming assembly and Lok Sabha elections -- the choice of candidates, the campaign strategies and the negotiations with other Opposition parties -- represent the real test for Mallikarjun Kharge.

IMAGE: Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge during the 25th Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award at Jawahar Bhawan in New Delhi, August 20, 2023. Photograph: Ayush Sharma/ANI Photo

Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge is possibly the second leader in the history of independent India who has been the Leader of the Opposition in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and the president of a national party (L K Advani was the other).

This testifies to the breadth of political experience of the 81 year old.

This year, he made history for another reason. He became the first and only leader of Opposition to miss the Red Fort address of a prime minister, ostensibly for health reasons, something the Bharatiya Janata Party refused to believe.

During his reply to the vote of confidence, Prime Minister Narendra D Modi taunted the Congress for the lack of respect shown to the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, by his party.

Earlier, he had similarly attacked the Congress leadership/Gandhi family for disrespect to Mr Kharge.

Speaking at an election rally in Belagavi, Mr Modi said he respected the veteran leader but was dismayed that the Congress did not: 'Mallikarjun Kharge has served the public in whatever way possible ... I was disheartened to see how the most senior leader, the president of the Congress, has been disrespected by them ... The world knows who has the remote control.'

For reasons best known to the Congress, it refrained from retorting that the BJP would rather forget Atal Bihari Vajpayee than remember him, although there is ample evidence for this, both in foreign and domestic policy.

Mr Kharge's acceptability within the party lies in his career in politics.

He's had a good record of winning elections.

Barring the Lok Sabha election in 2019, when he lost his home borough, Karnataka's Gulbarga, to the BJP, he has never lost.

He won from the Gurmitkal assembly constituency in Karnataka nine times in a row before he plunged into the Lok Sabha poll arena in 2009.

He won from Gulbarga in 2014, when the tide was against the Congress.

Mr Kharge began life as a trade union lawyer and knows what it is to struggle.

What he really wanted was to become chief minister -- from 1972, when he won from the Gurmitkal assembly constituency and became a minister in the Devaraj Urs government in 1976.

He was a minister in the Gundu Rao ministry in 1980, the S Bangarappa cabinet in 1990, and in the M Veerappa Moily government from 1992 to 1994.

His role changed in 1994, when he became the Opposition leader in the assembly.

In 1999, he was among the contenders for chief minister, but was pipped to the post by S M Krishna.

In 2004, it was Dharam Singh who bested him. In 2013, the BJP government in Karnataka fell, but again Mr Kharge lost the chance. Siddaramaiah got the top job.

From 2014 to 2019, Mr Kharge fought insult and humiliation and, worse, on behalf of the Congress.

There are several committees on which the presence of the Leader of the Opposition is mandatory -- to select the chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the central vigilance commissioner, to name just two.

He boycotted the meetings to select the Lokpal because he was invited to participate as a 'special invitee' with no powers, since he was not recognised as leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The less charitable in the party say he owes his present appointment to the grace of Sonia Gandhi -- the family wanted someone who wouldn't talk back and would not exert himself too much -- basically an unquestioning, unthreatening loyalist.

His son Priyank is a minister in the Karnataka government, so the lineage is assured.

But Mr Kharge is no Manmohan Singh. The upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections -- the choice of candidates, the campaign strategies and the negotiations with other Opposition parties -- represent the real test for Mallikarjun Kharge.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
Call it the art of staying rooted yet bending with prevailing political winds.

With Telangana going to the polls in December, and assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra and Odisha scheduled next year, what factors have influenced parties' recent moves?

IMAGE: Union Home Minister Amit A Shah along with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurates several developmental projects in Bhubaneswar, August 5, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

In 2018, when the Telugu Desam Party from Andhra Pradesh unsuccessfully moved a no-confidence motion against the Narendra D Modi government over the delay in granting special category status to the state, neighbouring Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal staged a walkout, claiming that the four years of the National Democratic Alliance government were as bad as the previous Congress-led regime.

Fast forward to 2023, and the TDP, its rival and the ruling party in the southern state, the YSR Congress Party, and the BJD not only opposed the no-confidence motion moved by the INDIA bloc, but also favoured the Delhi Services Bill, a departure from the equidistance stance they claimed to maintain.

While the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana continues to remain 'equidistant', the other parties have readily supported the Bharatiya Janata Party's causes when needed.

This is significant as they together hold 50 of the 63 Lok Sabha seats in the three states.

With Telangana going to polls in December, and assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha slated simultaneously next year, what factors influenced these regional parties' recent moves in Parliament?

BJD's change of heart?

A couple of days after the BJD helped the Centre clear the Delhi Services Bill in the Lok Sabha, Home Minister Amit A Shah flew to Odisha to lay the foundation stone for a highway project, alongside Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Shah did not miss the opportunity to praise Patnaik for his 'constructive cooperation in upholding cooperative federalism'.

Making the stand clear over the no-trust vote, BJD leader Pinaki Misra said his party was 'grateful' to the Centre for fulfilling the 'just demands', such as mineral royalty revision, removal of export tax on iron ore and manganese, an international airport in Puri, and the Jagannath Puri Heritage Corridor.

Shah told BJP leaders during his visit that the Modi government sanctioned Rs 18.83 trillion as grants to the state, against Rs 2.93 trillion during the Congress regime.

Is the greater central assistance reason enough for the BJD's change of heart? Veteran journalist Sandeep Sahu partly agreed: "The fear of central agencies pouncing on BJD leaders is also a striking factor."

The renewed bonhomie, which became apparent when the BJD helped Ashwini Vaishnaw enter the Rajya Sabha as a BJP candidate in 2019, might not alter the electoral equation in the state, as Misra said the 'support for the Centre won't change the BJD's fight against the BJP in Odisha'.

Unlike the BJP, which lacks a robust electoral footprint beyond western Odisha (five of its eight MPs are from this region), the Congress has a statewide presence.

For the BJP, a BJD win comes with the silver lining that the Congress does not gain.

Rivalry plays out in Andhra

The Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP snapped ties with the NDA a year before the 2019 elections over 'injustice' meted out to the state.

Riding on the anti-incumbency and 'indirect help by the BJP', the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP formed the government with 151 MLAs in the 175-member assembly.

In the Lok Sabha polls, it secured 22 of the 25 seats, leaving the TDP with only three.

The TDP is seeking the BJP's support through Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan to prevent the Jagan government's return, but despite Naidu's meetings with the prime minister and Shah, the BJP is yet to allow its return to the NDA.

The YSRCP is not inclined to join the Congress-led alliance, given its not-so-positive experience in the past.

Speaking against the no-trust motion, YSRCP member P V Midhun Reddy argued his party did not want to engage in the 'tussle between two alliances'.

Political commentator Purushottam Reddy says the YSRCP's strategy was to support the Centre and secure maximum benefits for the state.

The Centre sanctioned Rs 10,460 crore (Rs 104.60 billion) in May, the highest for Andhra Pradesh since the bifurcation.

In June, it released Rs 12,911 crore (Rs 129.11 billion) for the Polavaram project.

The developments hinting at the YSRCP's pro-NDA stand might excite the BJP, which is trying to enter the state.

As in Odisha, so in Andhra Pradesh, a YSRCP victory ensures the Congress does not gain.

A lonely battle for BRS

In January, K Chandrasekhar Rao changed the name of his Telangana Rashtra Samithi to BRS and united some parties for a Third Front. His hope was, however, short-lived.

A landslide for the Congress in Karnataka in May 2023, to which Muslim vote consolidation contributed significantly, has given the BRS jitters in Telangana, where the community holds the key to at least 40 assembly seats.

With the Congress preparing to replicate its Karnataka performance and the BJP railing against the KCR government's 'pro-Muslim policies', the BRS is fighting a lonely battle, despite having 102 MLAs in the 119-member assembly and nine of the 17 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

While the BJP accused the state government of misusing Rs 5,221 crore (Rs 52.21 billion) of central funds, the BRS talked about a 'false assertion in the Lok Sabha' that the Centre provided Rs 86,000 crore (Rs 860 billion) for the Kaleshwaram project.

Meanwhile, the BJP challenge in Telangana has weakened because of infighting, and Rao's extensive campaigning in Maharashtra has had the Maha Vikas Aghadi parties term the BRS as the 'BJP's B-team'.

In Telangana, as in Odisha and Andhra, a comprehensive win for the BRS in a three-cornered contest splitting anti-incumbency votes would not only mean fewer gains for the BJP but also for the Congress.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
Noting that the Bahujan Samaj Party had held a dialogue with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the past, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said no decision on the Mayawati-led party's inclusion in Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc can be taken until there is clarity on whose side she is on.

IMAGE: Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray with NCP chief Sharad Pawar during a press conference in Mumbai on August 30, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

His remarks at a joint press conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai come amid speculation that Mayawati and the INDIA bloc could be in touch for a possible inclusion of the party, though sources on both sides have denied any such consideration.

Asked about Mayawati's statement that she is neutral, Pawar said, "There is no clarity on which side Mayawati is. She has had a dialogue with BJP in the past. I am not saying she would do that now also. But unless there is clarity on this, no decision can be taken."

Earlier in the day, BSP chief Mayawati said all parties are eager for an alliance with the BSP but there is 'no question' of her party joining hands with either the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance or the opposition's INDIA alliance.

She made the comments in a series of posts on microblogging site X, a day ahead of the INDIA alliance's meeting in Mumbai during which the opposition leaders are expected to chalk out a joint campaign strategy to take on the BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Mayawati claimed that both the NDA and the INDIA blocs consist of parties most of which have 'anti-poor, casteist, communal, pro-rich and capitalist policies' against which the BSP's struggle continues.

'That is why the question of contesting elections in alliance with them does not arise. Hence I appeal to the media: No fake news please,' she said.

Pawar also said that INDIA bloc has to take a 'collective decision' on the inclusion of new members, and added that parties like the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena need to be consulted over this.

The former Union minister was responding to a question on the possibility of outfits, such as the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), being brought into the alliance fold.

Pawar also did not seem enthusiastic about the prospect of the Akali Dal joining the grouping.

Asked about the possibility of the Punjab-based party making an entry into the alliance, he said there was no such proposal but it could be thought about in case the Akalis were inclined.

However, he said, "We can think about it but it is not easy because we have (Arvind) Kejriwal whose party (Aam Aadmi Party) is ruling Punjab. The Congress party has a different policy there. That is why we will not do anything that enhances our differences."

Asked why Muslim parties, such as Badruddin Ajmal's AIUDF, were not part of the opposition alliance and any possibility of their joining the front in the future, Pawar said, "They have spoken with me and are inclined to go with us. But I can't take a decision on this alone, we will have to speak with the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on this."

"There will be a collective decision on that and till then accepting their overtures is difficult," he said.

Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc are set to hold hectic parleys during the two-day conclave in Mumbai starting Thursday, during which they will announce a coordination committee and unveil a logo for the alliance.

They would chalk out a joint campaign strategy to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and iron out the differences among themselves.

The leaders are also likely to announce a few panels to draft a common minimum programme of the alliance, to frame joint plans for holding agitations across the country and for seat sharing.

Cong's cryptic message

All India Congress Committee spokesperson Pawan Khera on Wednesday said the number of parties under the INDIA bloc is increasing and so is their morale.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Khera said, "You will know that in the next two days, the number of parties, the level of confidence, and morale (of the opposition alliance) is going up. At the same time, there is fear in the Narendra Modi-led camp".

Queried on the possibility of Akali Dal and BSP chief Mayawati joining the opposition camp, Khera said the number of the constituent parties (under the INDIA bloc) has risen from 26 to 28 and in the coming days, more names will come.

"Many others who are now with NDA will join the INDIA alliance," he claimed.
About 80 per cent of Indians have a favourable view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and around seven in 10 Indians believe their country has recently become more influential, according to a survey by the PEW Research Center.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network Mission Control Complex to meet scientists of the ISRO team involved in the Chandrayaan3 mission, Bengaluru, July 26, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

The survey, released ahead of the G20 Summit, also noted that public opinion of India was generally positive across the world, with a median of 46 per cent reporting favourable views of India as compared to 34 per cent unfavourable views. Sixteen per cent did not share an opinion at all.

Views of India are most positive in Israel, where 71 per cent say they have a favourable view of the country, the report said.

Pew said the survey was conducted from February 20 to May 22, among 30,861 adults in 24 countries, including 2,611 from India, to examine global views of Prime Minister Modi, the scope of India's global power and Indians' views of other countries.

About eight in 10 Indians report 'favourable' views of Modi, including a majority (55 per cent) with a 'very favourable' view, according to the survey result released on Tuesday.

This is Modi's second term as Prime Minister and he is also seeking a third term in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Only a fifth of Indians expressed an unfavourable opinion of Modi in 2023, the Pew survey found.

Responding to the results of the Pew survey, the BJP said the popularity of Prime Minister Modi remained intact.

'The popularity of Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi certainly remains intact! Majority of people in India and across the world believe that India's global influence is getting stronger!' the official handle of BJP said in a post on platform X, formerly Twitter.

It added that the Pew survey 'stands as a testament to the above statements'.

'Indian adults are more likely to believe India's power is on the rise. Around seven in ten Indians believe their country has recently become more influential.

'This stands in comparison with a 2022 survey conducted across 19 countries, where a median of only 28 per cent said the same,' Pew said.

According to the report, about half of Indians (49 per cent) say that the influence of the US is getting stronger in recent years, and 41 per cent say the same about Russia.

Meanwhile, Indians' views on China's influence are somewhat more mixed, it said.

The G20 will be held in New Delhi on September 9-10.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted people on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan on Wednesday and was joined by girl students from different schools at his residence to celebrate the festival.

Dedicated to the unbreakable trust and immense love between sister and brother, this auspicious festival is a 'sacred reflection of our culture', he said on X and wished that it strengthens the feelings of affection and harmony in people's lives.

Students tied rakhi on Modi's wrist with the prime minister interacting with them on various issues.

'The children shared their positive feelings on the recent success of Chandrayaan-3 mission and expressed their enthusiasm about the upcoming Aditya L-1 mission,' a PMO statement said.

They also recited poems and sang songs during the interaction.

Impressed by their articulation, Modi encouraged them to explore writing poems on different topics including government schemes for the benefit of the public, it said.

Explaining the importance of self-reliance, Modi also advised the children to use Made-in-India products.

Various students, accompanied by their teachers, participated in the celebration. Representatives of NGOs, widows from Vrindavan, as well as other individuals were also present, it said.
A 36-year-old man, working as a senior manager with e-commerce giant Amazon, was shot dead in northeast Delhi's Bhajanpura area, the police said on Wednesday.

IMAGE: The site where Harpreet Gill was shot dead, New Delhi, August 29, 2023. Photograph: ANI on Twitter

The incident took place at around 11.30 pm on Tuesday when five unidentified people opened fire at Harpreet Gill (36) and his relative Govind Singh (32) in Subhash Vihar.

Shot in the head, Gill was pronounced brought dead by doctors at the Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital, while his relative was under treatment, the police said.

Gill was a resident of Bhajanpura and worked as a senior manager with Amazon. The bullet entered from the right side of his head behind the ear and exited from the other side, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said.

Singh lives in Bhajanpura too and owns an eatery in the area. He was also shot in the head and admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, the DCP said.

The duo was on a motorcycle when the assailants on a scooter and a motorcycle intercepted and opened fire at them, Tirkey said.

Footage from CCTV cameras of the area is being analysed to identify the attackers, the police said, adding that the reason behind the firing is being ascertained.

A case of murder has been registered, the police said.

According to the police, six teams have been formed to work on the case.

A preliminary probe has suggested that an argument broke out between the two sides before the shooting took place, the police said.

Singh told gthe police that the assailants appeared to be in the age group of 18 to 19 years.

During the investigation conducted so far, the name of a local criminal, Maya, has cropped up and he is one of the suspects, the police said.

Meanwhile, Gill's parents demanded justice for their son and strict action against his killers.

"At around 10.30 pm on Tuesday, Harpreet told his mother that he was going out and would have dinner later. My brother-in-law was also with him when the incident took place," Karnail Singh, the father of the deceased, said.

"My son had no enmity with anyone. He was a very hardworking man. I want my son back. We want justice for him," his mother said.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to resume hearing on Thursday a clutch of petitions challenging the remission granted to all 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Photograph: ANI Photo

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, which is hearing the final arguments on the pleas challenging the remission granted to the convicts, will hear for the seventh day the submissions of the accused who are defending their release.

While hearing the arguments on August 24, the top court had said, 'Law is supposed to be a noble profession', as it voiced surprise over how can one of the convicts in the case practise law after his conviction, the remission of his sentence notwithstanding.

The issue came to the court's notice when advocate Rishi Malhotra, defending the remission granted to Radheshyam Shah, told the bench that his client had served over 15 years of actual sentence and the state government gave him the relief after taking note of his conduct.

The Gujarat government had released all 11 convicts in the case on the basis of the 1992 remission policy and not the policy adopted in 2014, which is now in force.

Under the 2014 policy, the state cannot grant remission for a crime investigated by the CBI or where people have been convicted of murder with rape or gang-rape.

Besides the petition filed by Bilkis Bano, contesting the remission granted to them, several other PILs including one by Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma have challenged the remission. TMC Lok Sabha MP Mohua Moitra has also filed a PIL against the remission.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train-burning incident that left dead 59 people.

Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven of her family members killed in the riots.
NCP president Sharad Pawar may be busy getting ready for the INDIA Opposition bloc meeting in Mumbai with other Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents, but his close friend and industrialist Dr Cyrus Poonawalla has a piece of advice for the octogenarian leader.

IMAGE: NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. Photograph: ANI Photo

Poonawalla said on Wednesday that Pawar (82) had two opportunities to become the prime minister but things did not work in his favour. Now it is time for him to hang up his boots, he said.

My advice to Sharad Pawar... He had two opportunities to become the PM but he lost them. He is a clever person. He could have served well (as PM) but those chances are gone. I am also getting older and he is also ageing and therefore he should retire, said Poonawalla.

He was replying to a question about the split in the Nationalist Congress Party after Sharad Pawar's nephew and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led BJP-Shiv Sena government in the state last month.

The industrialist, whose Poonawalla group is the parent organisation of Covishield-maker Serum Institute of India (SII), was speaking on the sidelines of a meet and greet event connected with the Miss World 2023 contest, which is scheduled to take place in India later this year.

Sharad Pawar, who served as the chief minister of Maharashtra on four occasions, was also a Union minister. His NCP, the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) are partners in MVA. The third meeting of the INDIA alliance will be held in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1.

He also talked about SII being instrumental in bringing vaccines for malaria and dengue.
Former US President Donald J Trump's historic mug shot, posted by a Georgia courthouse, is being printed into T-shirts, mugs and other items by supporters and critics.

Trump was placed under arrest -- in connection with the Georgia election subversion case -- and booked at the Fulton county jail in Atlanta on the night of August 24.

He was released 20 minutes later on a bond after completing the booking process.

IMAGE: Store employee Becka heat presses a t-shirt with an image depicting the Trump mugshot at the Y-Que printing store in Los Angeles. All Photographs : Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

IMAGE: A hat with an image is heat pressed.

IMAGE: Coffee mugs.

IMAGE: Screen printing of a t-shirt taking place.

IMAGE: The final products.

IMAGE: Would you wear this t-shirt?

IMAGE: T-shirts and hats.

IMAGE: Products at the store.

IMAGE: Customers shop for products.

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
'When a Project Director is appointed, the whole organization -- including the Chairman ISRO -- works for his success. It is a lesson that has been of abiding value all through the other projects I have worked on,' recalls the late President, one of the earliest pioneers at ISRO.

IMAGE: ISRO launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Photograph: ANI Photo

In 1962, Dr Vikram Sarabhai and Dr Homi Bhabha were looking for a site to establish the space research station in the equatorial region.

Thumba in Kerala was found most suitable as it was near the equatorial region and was ideally suited for ionospheric research.

The locality, however, was inhabited by thousands of fishermen living in the villages there.

It also had a beautiful church called St Mary Magdalene Church and the Bishop's house.

As such, the acquisition of the land did not move any further.

Dr Sarabhai met the Bishop, His Excellency Reverend Dr Peter Bernard Pereira, on a Saturday and requested transfer of the property. The Bishop smiled and asked him to meet him the next day.

In the Sunday morning service, the Bishop told the congregation, 'My children, I have a famous scientist with me who wants our church and the place I live for the work of space science and research. Science seeks truth that enriches human life.'

'The higher level of religion is spirituality. The spiritual preachers seek the help of the Almighty to bring peace to human minds.'

'In short, what Vikram is doing and what I am doing are the same -- both science and spirituality seek the Almighty's blessings for human prosperity in mind and body.'

'Children, can we give them God's abode for a scientific mission?'

There was silence for a while followed by a hearty 'Amen' from the congregation which made the whole church reverberate.

IMAGE: Dr Homi J Bhabha, architect of India's nuclear programme, right, and Dr Vikram A Sarabhai, architect of India's space programme. Photograph: Kind courtesy Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Archives

It was indeed a great experience working with Dr Sarabhai from 1963 to 1971. As a young engineer engaged in the tasks of composite technology, explosive systems and rocket engineering systems at the Thiruvananthapuram space centre I drew tremendous energy from his leadership.

Though the nation was in its technological infancy, Dr Sarabhai was dreaming of developing our own satellite launch vehicles.

These would be used to launch from Indian soil remote sensing satellites in sun-synchronous orbit and communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

Today, his vision is almost realized with the launch of the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

ISRO has also operationalized the IRS and INSAT systems, thereby bringing the benefits of space to the common man.

There is an experience I would like to share with you in relation to Dr Sarabhai's vision for space programmes.

The design project of India's first satellite launch vehicle (SLV-3) was taken up at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).

The design of each stage of rocket, heat shield and guidance system was given to selected project leaders.

I was given the design project of the fourth stage of SLV-3, that is, the upper stage rocket, which would give the final velocity to put Rohini into orbit.

This fourth stage uses an advanced composite material that provides high strength with minimum weight. It also has maximum loading of high energy solid propellant.

While we were developing the design of this upper stage in 1970, I received a call from Dr Sarabhai from Ahmedabad stating that he would be visiting Thiruvananthapuram along with Professor Hubert Curien, chairman of CNES, the French space agency.

I was asked to give a presentation about the fourth stage to Professor Curien's team.

When the presentation was over, we realized that the SLV-3 fourth stage was also being considered as upper stage for the French Diamont P-4 launch vehicle.

The CNES needed an apogee rocket motor nearly double the propellant weight and also size of the stage that we had designed.

A decision was then taken in the same meeting that the fourth stage should be reconfigured to match and suit both Diamont P-4 and SLV-3.

I mention this episode because at the time this decision was taken, we ourselves were in the design stage!

IMAGE: A P J Abdul Kalam, left, then a young ISRO scientist, in conversation with Dr Sarabhai. Photograph: Kind courtesy ISRO

Such was Dr Sarabhai's confidence in the Indian scientific community. Development work on this stage started ahead of the other stages of SLV-3.

With our motivation thus boosted, work proceeded in full swing.

A series of reviews took place between the two teams and the fourth stage graduated from drawing board to developing stage.

Unfortunately in 1971, Dr Sarabhai passed away, and at the same time the French government called off the Diamont P-4 programme.

Once the fourth stage was developed and a series of tests was going on, a new requirement appeared on the horizon, in the form of India building a small communication satellite to be launched by the European Ariane launch vehicle.

For the APPLE -- Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment -- communication satellite, the SLV-3 fourth stage proved a perfect fit and it was included in the payload of the Ariane launch in 1981 from Kourou, French Guiana.

The vision seeded in 1970 by Dr Vikram Sarabhai was indeed realized when APPLE was placed in geostationary orbit and started communicating with our earth stations.

APPLE's success proved that a vision with committed scientific support will achieve its aim.

This achievement came as a fantastic fillip to the rocket technologists in the country.

The visionary may not be with us today but his vision gets realized.

IMAGE: ISRO's GSLV rocket carrying navigation satellite NVS-01 lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota, May 29, 2023. Photograph: R Senthilkumar/PTI Photo from the Rediff Archives

The dream of Dr Sarabhai was shaped into reality by Professor Satish Dhawan.

After he took charge of ISRO from 1972, Professor Dhawan structured and nurtured ISRO with a space profile and his work led to many significant accomplishments and benefits from a number of remote sensing and communication satellites.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle accomplished the feat of launching multiple satellites for India and other countries, injecting them in different orbits in a single mission.

I learned an important lesson in management from Professor Dhawan when I was appointed Project Director SLV-3 in 1972 to design, develop and launch the first satellite launch vehicle to inject Rohini into near earth orbit.

This was that when a Project Director is appointed, the whole organization -- including the Chairman ISRO -- works for his success.

It is a lesson that has been of abiding value all through the other projects I have worked on.

The other thing I have learnt after more than forty years of working in three departments in various projects and programmes is that you will succeed as a project leader as long as you remember that the project is bigger than you.

Wherever the project leader tries to make himself out to be bigger than the project, the enterprise suffers.

I recall my working at ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore, as Director, Launch Vehicle Programmes/ Systems, in the early 1980s, when we were debating the performance and cost-effectiveness of launch vehicles.

In 1981, the scientists of VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram, with the help of other ISRO centres, evolved a configuration of the PSLV core vehicle with two large strap-on boosters.

The PSLV weighed about 400 tonnes at take-off. Professor Dhawan wanted to study an alternative and simple configuration.

I and some of my colleagues, A Sivathanu Pillai, N Sundararajan and K Padmanabha Menon, carried out mission, technology and feasibility studies for the optimal configuration.

The team designed several options, including a unique core vehicle with an advanced solid propellant booster, using first stage rockets of SLV-3 as strap-ons.

This brought the PSLV weight down to only about 275 tonnes at take-off.

IMAGE: Dr Satish Dhawan, seen here with A P J Abdul Kalam, built ISRO into what it is today -- a global trendsetter in space programmes -- during his tenure as ISRO's chairman from 1972 to 1984. Photograph: Kind courtesy Srijan Pal Singh Kalam/Facebook.com

Professor Dhawan used to come almost daily to my small room, which was close to his office, and debate the possible configuration choice.

He was himself a foremost aerodynamic specialist with mathematics and system engineering background, and would illustrate his ideas on the blackboard and ask us to do more homework.

We also studied the growth opportunities of PSLV with cryogenic upper stage as a GSLV and the possibility of launching due-east geosynchronous missions.

Professor Dhawan put the two most favoured configurations up for discussion among the experts and the ISRO teams.

Detailed examination and debate, taking the long-term plans into account, took place and they chose the PSLV configuration as proposed by my launch vehicle team.

Professor Dhawan considered the future scenario of operationalization of PSLV and GSLV, bearing in mind the satellites and application programmes, and decided on this unique configuration and evolved the roadmap for ISRO for the next fifteen years.

I and Professor Narasimha brought out a book, Development in Fluid Mechanics and Space Technology, with Professor Dhawan's handwritten fifteen-year space profile, based on the chosen PSLV configuration.

A memorable day for me is 31 May 1982. Professor Dhawan gave me a send-off in an unconventional way.

He called an ISRO council meeting to discuss the future launch vehicle programme.

I made a presentation to the directors of the ISRO centres on performance and cost-effectiveness of our launch vehicles and the growth profile.

After the presentation, Professor Dhawan broke the news that he had given me to DRDO.

This decision indeed gave me a change that led to progress in a different field.

We see today self-reliance in launch vehicle technology with PSLV operational and GSLV getting ready to be operationalized.

This is close to the direction envisaged in the early 1980s by Professor Dhawan.

The recognition of ISRO as a successful organization was due to the strong foundation and space profile envisioned by him.

One test of leadership is also how well successors are able to carry forward a programme.

At ISRO, Professor U R Rao and Dr K Kasturirangan brought further success and glory to the organization.

After his retirement Professor Dhawan continued as a member of the Space Commission and in that capacity continued to help the organization which he built.

Remarkably, Professor Dhawan saw the space missions envisioned by him come into being in his lifetime.

He also saw in his lifetime many of those he had tutored emerge as strong technology leaders themselves who have contributed immeasurably to the country.

What a great personality he was!

Excerpted from Ignited Minds by the late President A P J Abdul Kalam, with the kind permission of the publishers, Penguin Random House India.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Despite facing two decades of deliberate sabotage at its industrial sites, Iran has successfully advanced its nuclear expertise, Mohammad Eslami, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said, Trend reports.

Despite the threats of adversaries targeting Iran's nuclear facilities, Eslami proudly declared that the nation's nuclear energy capabilities are now at their pinnacle.

He emphasized that the acquisition of all nuclear technologies has been a result of unwavering, round-the-clock efforts within the country.

Eslami underscored the AEOI's status as one of the leading producers of radiopharmaceuticals, attributing Iran's technological strides to the production of heavy water.

Simultaneously, on the same day, Eslami introduced a self-shielding gamma irradiation machine in Bonab, a northwestern Iranian city, with the capacity to process 20 metric tons of agricultural products daily.

Earlier Eslami reported that Iran continues to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding its nuclear program.

"As a result of the cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the nuclear program and a number of steps taken by Iran, it was able to prevent propaganda against Iran," he said.

In late 2020, the Iranian parliament decided to implement a strategic plan to tackle the sanctions, citing the non-implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and six countries and the imposition of sanctions on Iran. According to the decision of the Iranian parliament, as of February 23, Iran suspended the implementation of additional steps and an additional protocol provided for in the nuclear deal. As a result, the control mechanism of the IAEA decreased by 2030 percent. According to the decision of the Iranian parliament, 1,000 units of IR2M centrifuges have been installed.

On May 8, 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and the 5+1 group (Russia, China, the UK, France, the US, and Germany) and imposed new sanctions against Iran as of November 2018.

Over the past period, the sanctions affected Iranian oil exports and more than 700 banks, companies, and individuals. The sanctions have resulted in the freezing of Iranian assets abroad.

In the discussions, Iran is mainly trying to achieve the abolition of sanctions imposed by the US and Western countries, the removal of its funds frozen abroad, and the abolition of the restriction on the export of crude oil. In return, the US and Western countries want Iran not to acquire an atomic bomb, to keep its nuclear program under control, and to reduce the level of uranium enrichment.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High 51F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 34F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Iran's imports from France increased by 1.7 percent in value and 8.1 percent in volume, during the first four months of the current Iranian year (March 21 through July 22, 2023), compared to the same period last year, Trend reports.

As indicated in the statistics of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Iran imported nearly 2,910 tons of goods worth approximately $77 million from France in 4 months.

Meanwhile, in the same period last Iranian year, Iran's imports from France stood at 2,690 tons approximately worth $75.7 million.

Within 4 months, Iran mainly imported various types of equipment and spare parts, various industrial products, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, petrochemical products, etc. from France.

In the 4th month alone (June 22 through July 22, 2023), Iran imported about 615 tons of goods worth approximately $23.7 million from France.

Overall, Iran imported 11.8 million tons of goods worth $19.5 billion within the first 4 months of the current Iranian year.

This is an increase of 10.8 percent in value and 6.18 percent in volume compared to the same period last year.

---

Follow the author on Twitter:@BaghishovElnur
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. Another clash occurred during a briefing between representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Armenian journalists-provocateurs who declare anti-Azerbaijani statements, Trend reports.

An Armenian propagandist journalist, asking provocative questions, tried to get Spokesperson for Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, to make a statement against Azerbaijan, but did not achieve his goal.

The journalist asked a question about the recent detention of three Armenians at the Lachin border checkpoint, who mocked the Azerbaijani flag, while reproaching the Russian peacemakers for not intervening, adding with the claim that "people trusted them." In response, Zakharova said that it was inappropriate and wrong to assign responsibility to the Russian peacekeeping contingent.

The Armenian provocateur asked a question about the proposal of the Russian Federation to hold a meeting of representatives of Azerbaijan and the Armenian population of Azerbaijan's Karabakh , while raising the topic of ensuring guarantees that representatives of the Armenian minority will not be detained. Zakharova replied that the guarantee is the fulfillment of the agreements.

"There is no need to engage in interpretation, inventing new methods, involving third parties," she said.

According to her, if there is an incomplete implementation of the agreements, then there will be no guarantees. An Armenian journalist asked Zakharova which agreements Armenia had violated. Zakharova replied that she did not talk about violations, but only said that it was necessary to fulfill the terms of the agreements. Zakharova noted that Armenia's position has changed dramatically on a key issue for Yerevan.
Attack on Vatt Mony is the latest in a series of assaults on Khmer activists outside Cambodia.

Cambodian activist Vatt Mony stands in front of a Thai police station after filing a complaint over an attack on Aug. 29, 2023, by four men in the beach town of Pattaya.

An opposition party activist who is seeking asylum in Thailand said he was attacked on the streets of the beach resort town of Pattaya by four men  the latest assault against a Cambodian activist in the neighboring country.

Vatt Mony told Radio Free Asia that the attack on Tuesday happened as he was sitting on a motorbike. A white car pulled up and the four men got out and began beating him, he said.

I was shouting for help and ran toward a crowd, he said.

Vatt Mony, an official with the main opposition Candlelight Party, has been campaigning among Cambodian workers in Thailand to protest against Prime Minister Hun Manets newly formed government. He has also petitioned embassies in Bangkok to urge the Cambodian government to return to democracy.

The ruling Cambodian Peoples Party won 120 of 125 seats in the July 23 general election.

However, the Candlelight Party wasnt allowed to list candidates on ballots. The National Election Committee disqualified the party in May, citing inadequate paperwork in a decision that was widely criticized as politically motivated.

The ruling came after months of efforts by the CPP to intimidate or co-opt opposition party activists at the local and provincial level ahead of the election.

Dozens of opposition activists were persuaded to publicly switch their allegiance to the CPP. But at least 100 activists have fled to Thailand out of fear in recent months.

Hun Manet officially became prime minister on Aug. 22, just after the new National Assembly was formed.

It is not safe

Another activist who is seeking asylum in Thailand, Phorn Channa, told RFA last week that he was struck in the face by three men who tried to drag him into a car in Rayong, about 60 km (37 miles) east of Pattaya.

Phorn Channa said the newly appointed minister of Labor, Heng Suor, had tried to convince him to join the CPP. He said he declined because he believed that only an opposition party could bring respect for human rights to Cambodia.

I thought when I arrived in Thailand I would be safe, but it is not safe, he told RFA.

Vatt Mony has filed a complaint with Thai police. He said he believes Tuesdays attack was a premeditated attempt from the ruling party and the royal embassy in Bangkok.

They are unethical people who hurt innocent people to abuse peoples freedom of expression, he said.

RFA was unable to reach Cambodian embassy officials for comment on Wednesday. CPP spokesman Sok Ey San said his party hasnt sent anyone into Thailand to hurt opposition party officials.

This allegation is the culture of the opposition party, he said. They accuse the ruling party for any incidents. When they fall into wells or have car accidents, they accuse the ruling party.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
The conflict between mercenaries from the PMC "Wagner", acting there as "instructors", and local law enforcers - employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic, is escalating at the firing range of Volovshchina in Belarus. The main reason for the conflict is the prison past of the "Wagnerites".

ADVERTISIMENT

This was reported by the Center for National Resistance. It is noted that because of this, terrorists from PMCs began to leave Belarus.

Belarusian policemen refuse to work with former prisoners and criminals. The bloody approach to the fulfillment of tasks, which the "Wagnerites" teach Belarusians, scares even the "dogs of Lukashenko's regime"

Due to the escalation of the conflict, about 50 terrorist instructors from PMCs have already left Belarus. The main condition for departure is signing a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry and continuing participation in the war against Ukraine.

In addition, over the past three weeks, more than 1,500 "Wagnerites" have left Belarus for Africa, where Russia is also trying to expand its influence.

Recall, new passports for mercenaries of the Russian private company "Wagner" began to be issued in Belarus. The documents are authentic, but they are issued in other names. Such a trend poses a threat to European countries.

ADVERTISIMENT

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, after the death in a plane crash of the leadership of "Wagner" (leader Evgeny Prigozhin and his deputy Dmitry Utkin) and the news that the "Wagnerites" allegedly dismantle their camp on the territory of the Republic, there are still several thousand mercenaries of this Russian PMC in Belarus.

Dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko would like them to stay in the country, but he does not have enough financial resources to maintain a large group of militants. This was pointed out by Pavel Latushko, Belarusian oppositionist, head of the People's Anti-Crisis Board and deputy head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, in an interview with RAR. Latushko noted that some of the "Wagnerites" would probably go to Africa, others would sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, while the rest would leave the service or stay in Belarus.

ADVERTISIMENT

We have only verified information in our Telegram-channel Obozrevatel and in Viber. Do not fall for fakes!
Parent company Meta says Spamouflage operation has links to known Chinese law enforcement agents.

Meta says it has removed thousands of Facebook accounts originating in China for violating its policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior.

Facebooks parent company Meta has deleted thousands of accounts with suspected links to the Chinese government, describing them as the largest known cross-platform covert influence operation in the world.

The Chinese Communist Party had targeted more than 50 apps, including Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, TikTok and Reddit, the company said in an Aug. 29 blog post.

We were able to tie this activity together to confirm it was part of one operation known in the security community as Spamouflage and link it to individuals associated with Chinese law enforcement, it said, citing similar threats originating out of Russia.

China has been stepping up its efforts to influence and manipulate news and information worldwide, and has used an array of tools to project a positive image of itself abroad, the U.S.-based watchdog Freedom House reported in September 2022.

Meta said it had removed 7,704 Facebook accounts, 954 Pages, 15 Groups and 15 Instagram accounts originating in China for violating its policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior.

The network had targeted democratic Taiwan, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, as well as global Chinese-speaking audiences, the company said in its Adversarial Threat Report for the second quarter of 2023.

This network was run by geographically dispersed operators across China who appear to have been centrally provisioned with internet access and content directions, the report said.

The content included positive commentary about China and its actions in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, as well as criticisms of the United States, Western foreign policies, and targeted critics of the Chinese government, including journalists and researchers, it said.

The main battlefield is Twitter

Netherlands-based rights activist Lin Shengliang said pro-Beijing trolls are still going strong on X, formerly Twitter, however.

The Chinese Communist Party has always engaged in cultural penetration and narrative penetration overseas, Lin said. The main battlefield is Twitter.

Lin said many of the trolls are prisoners in Chinas carceral system.

It used to hire internet commentators in the early days, but it has started getting prisoners to work as trolls in groups, he said. They are more organized now, and sometimes pretend to be dissidents, and try to change the direction of the narrative at critical moments.

Many of the trolls China uses in its social media operations are prisoners, says Netherlands-based rights activist Lin Shengliang. Credit: Provided photo





Meta said it had identified multiple distinct clusters of fake accounts being run from different parts of China.

Their behavior suggested that they were operated by groups who may have worked from a shared location, such as an office, the Adversarial Threat Report said. Each cluster worked to a clear shift pattern, with bursts of activity in the mid-morning and early afternoon, Beijing time, with breaks for lunch and supper, and then a final burst of activity in the evening.

And while the accounts were geographically hundreds of miles apart, they often shared the same proxy infrastructure and posted identical content.

These clusters of activity ... shared identical content across many internet platforms  not just links and articles, but short, personal comments as well, the report said.

These comments were designed to appear unique and personal, using terms like I and we and referring to individual experiences and beliefs. However, hundreds of different accounts made the same personal comments on many different services and websites, it said.

Sometimes the comments would even have a number attached, indicating it had likely been copied and pasted from a numbered list.

Troll army of millions

Financial analyst Wang Jian said overseas social media platforms typically underestimate the scale of Chinas online troll army.

There are tens of millions in Chinas troll army, two million of whom are full time, Wang said. In addition to those two million, local governments and other institutions including colleges and universities have their own information officers or online commentators.

This is the 50-cent army, he said. If you post anything on X, they will come and curse you, quarrel with you and try to lead a trend.

The Chinese Communist Party relies on propaganda and brainwashing, Wang said. If it didnt, the people would rebel.

He said some social media platforms seem slow to take action, despite the growing evidence of coordinated action.

They all want to retain the possibility of doing business in mainland China, Wang said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.
Government says the months traditions are 'uncivilized,' and people should take better care of the elderly

A woman burns offerings for her dead ancestors during the Hungry Ghost Festival at a temple in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

Local governments across China have been clamping down on the country's folk religion, issuing bans on the burning of spirit money and other offerings during the Hungry Ghost Festival, and calling the practice "uncivilized."

"We must consciously resist worship activities with feudal superstitions, break old habits such as burning spirit money, setting off firecrackers and leaving offerings," the government of Yongren county in the southwestern province of Yunnan said in an Aug. 20 notice on its website.

Ghost Month, which began on Wednesday, is a period in the Chinese lunar calendar where many Chinese make offerings to their ancestors or to hungry ghosts.

Found in both Buddhist and Taoist traditions, the offerings involve burning spirit money or leaving offerings of food, wine and incense in public places. Some traditions also include floating candles across bodies of water to help the departed in the afterlife, including deceased people who have no living descendants to tend to their graves.

"Ronglong Community will resolutely end uncivilized behaviors such as burning ghost paper [items] and ghost money," said an Aug. 12 directive from a residential community in Changsha, Hunan province, while officials in Langzhong, Sichuan province tried to encourage people to make digital offerings instead.

"For more civilized ways to make memorial offerings, you can use the Cloud Offerings linked to the WeChat public account of the Langzhong Cemetery Management Office," the city government told residents in a statement dated Aug. 28.

"[You can] set up a [digital] memorial hall, bow to pay respects, offer flowers, send messages and express condolences," it said. "Do not burn spirit money or set off fireworks or firecrackers on streets, riverbanks or residential areas."

A woman burns joss sticks and leaves offerings for her dead ancestors during the Hungry Ghost Festival at a temple in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Credit: Peter Parks/AFP

But a Sina.com report about similar measures in the northeastern city of Liaoyangs Baita district said many people don't agree with the attempt to change traditional ways, despite the government's claim that they are "feudal superstitions."

"Many people are saying that this is part of tradition and a way of offering sustenance for deceased relatives, and they are questioning whether such law enforcement behavior is reasonable," the report said.

Offerings are based on the idea that the afterlife, much like the human world, requires a certain amount of money and status for people to exist without suffering too much.

Paper goods shops can offer all manner of effigies ranging from houses, Rolls Royce cars and Rolex watches to suits of brand-name clothes and bureaucratic paperwork to help the departed soul make its way in the afterlife.

Bad traditions

The move also comes against the backdrop of a campaign by the ruling Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping to encourage cremation rather than elaborate burials in expensive plots with good feng shui.

The district government in Guangzhou's Baiyun district called on party members and officials to lead the way in making only frugal and environmentally friendly offerings to the dead, calling on them to "change people's ideas, break with bad traditions and start a new trend."

Several government statements also said younger people should show their respect for their elders by taking better care of them and spending more time with them while they're still alive.

"People should show more filial behavior to the elderly while they're still alive, instead of vying with others when they die," according to the Langzhong municipal government.

A woman burns offerings for her dead ancestors during the Hungry Ghost Festival at a temple in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Credit: Peter Parks/AFP

The ruling party under supreme leader Xi Jinping is clamping down on all forms of religious belief and practice, insisting they comply with the government's "sinicization" program and serve its political agenda rather than pledging allegiance to forces or beliefs beyond the material world.

"Let the deceased rest in peace, and make sure the living have no regrets," the Yongren county government told residents.

Jiang Jiawen, a resident of Liaoning province, hit out at the crackdown on Ghost Month offerings in Liaoyang, which was widely reported in official media.

"The city government gets involved in stuff it shouldn't, indiscriminately," Jiang said. "They have destroyed the legacy left by our ancestors."

"They like to build Confucian schools, but they actually oppose [Confucianisms] traditional ways."

He said many people have taken to burning offerings in the middle of the night instead.

"The people don't like it, and they get up secretly to burn offerings at night or first thing in the morning," he said.

On X, formerly Twitter, some people marked the start of Ghost Month by posting generic photos of burning offerings, while others posted photos of actual people burning paper offerings at unnamed locations, suggesting that a blanket ban on the practice has yet to take effect.

"Today is the Hungry Ghost Festival," user @zhanglu wrote. "There is nowhere to light a fire in the capital, so people keep turning up at their local crossroads to burn a bit of paper money on the tarmac, sending it to relatives [in the afterlife]."

"The Hungry Ghost Festival used to be very lively, with every family cooking a large spread of dishes to honor their ancestors, and inviting relatives and friends to eat and drink with them," user @tuoxier wrote. "Now that circumstances have changed, things are easier and less complicated."

"I went down to the temple this morning to burn incense and pay my respects."

Lawyer Huang Hanzhong said the campaign appears to be highly political, with local governments competing to show loyalty to the latest ideology from Beijing.

"It's not surprising for people who have some kind of religious tradition to be suppressed at a time when the country is supposed to be on the path to the rule of law," he said. "It may be that this is some idea the local authorities have of political correctness."

"The city government gets involved in stuff it shouldn't, indiscriminately. They have destroyed the legacy left by our ancestors," says Jiang Jiawen, a citizen of Liaoning, China. Credit: Provided by Jiang Jiawen

According to new rules taking effect starting Friday, monasteries, temples, mosques, churches and other religious venues are required to support the leadership of the party and leader Xi Jinping's plans for the "sinicization" of religious activity.

The Chinese Communist Party, which embraces atheism, exercises tight controls over any form of religious practice among its citizens, including what clerics may or may not say in places of worship, on who may call themselves a religious follower, and where and with whom they may gather.

Local officials have also used brainwashing and torture to get Christians, Muslims and Tibetans to renounce their allegiance to any power other than Beijing.

Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie.
In the latest diplomatic mission, two sides agree on information exchange and tourism summit.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks at AmCham Shanghai's Women's Executive Network's 2023 WeForShe Conference in Shanghai on August 30, 2023.

United States Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo wrapped up a four-day visit to China on Wednesday with remarks at a conference for women executives in Shanghai in what some commentary suggested would highlight Chinas increasing paucity of gender diversity in politics.

In July, Chinese social media users attacked female economists online for eating dinner with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, even calling them traitors, in a social media outburst that was telling about Chinas complex feelings about the U.S. and the role of women in society.

Over the past 10 years of Xi Jinpings rule, the number of women in politics has fallen and feminist voices have been increasingly muzzled.

The fourth Biden administration official to visit China in recent months, Raimondo met with Premier Li Qiang, Vice Premier He Lifeng, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Culture and Tourism Minister Hu Heping.

U.S. readouts of Raimondos meetings with Li and He reveal the two sides attempting to find common ground  with some minor successes  while also stumbling on some details, with the U.S. commerce secretary saying on a high-speed train to Shanghai that many U.S. businesses consider China uninvestible.

Increasingly I hear from businesses, China is uninvestible because its become too risky, Raimondo told reporters.

There are the traditional concerns that theyve become accustomed to dealing with, she said. And then theres a whole new set of concerns, the sum total of which is making China feel too risky for them to invest.

The Chinese embassy in Washington spokesperson Liu Pengyu responded that 90% of the 70,000 U.S. firms doing business in China were profitable and wanted to stay as Beijing worked to make China even easier to invest in and operate in.

China is actively advancing its high-level opening-up and making efforts to provide a world-class, market-oriented business environment governed by a sound legal framework, he said. China will only open its doors even wider to the outside world.

As some observers cautioned  in line with earlier Biden administration visits this year  not to expect any significant breakthroughs, on Monday Raimondo showed off personal care products made by U.S. companies.

Some 99% of trade between the U.S. and China is not subject to export controls, she said, adding: No one can argue that health and beauty aids interfere in our national security.

Minor progress

Based on Chinese and U.S. readouts, the two sides appear to have spent much of Raimondos four days in China reaffirming commitments, although some minor progress was made.

That includes an information exchange on U.S. technology export controls. The discussions with Culture and Tourism Minister Hu led the U.S. and China to agree to a 14th China-U.S. Tourism Leadership Summit in China next year.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo (L) meets with Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping in Beijing on August 29, 2023. Credit: Andy Wong/Pool/AFP





Raimondo told reporters in Beijing that the launch of the information exchange would be a platform to reduce misunderstandings of U.S. national security policies, adding: Were not compromising or negotiating on matters of national security. Period.

Raimondo also told reporters that she had discussed the issue of Beijings effective ban on Micron Technology memory chips with Chinas commerce secretary, describing Chinas move as lacking transparency.

Theres been no rationale given around whats happened to Micron, she said. What theres no place for is arbitrary rules, lack of due process, lack of clarity, lack of rule of law, thats an unlevel playing field . . . and were going to stand up to them when they do that.

In an interview with RFA Mandarin, financial commentator Cai Shenkun said that the U.S. is controlling exports of sensitive technology to China but hasnt taken measures to block lower-end chips below government standards.

Overall, theres been a significant downward trend in overall trade between China and the U.S. I think the U.S. government, especially the secretary of commerce, doesnt want U.S.-China trade to experience a significant drop. Because a significant drop in trade will affect U.S. companies and the overall U.S. economy.

Cai said he believes that Raimondos visit to China is more about carrying out a special mission from the Biden administration.

The goal of establishing working groups between the two countries, Cai said, is to focus on U.S.-China business exchanges and to understand China's stance on U.S. business and trade since the Communist Partys 20th National Congress  to see whether there has been a significant shift in Chinas position.

Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visit an exhibition of armed equipment on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on July 27, 2023.

North Korea is considering supplying Russia with arms for use in Ukraine, and talks are actively advancing, a spokesperson for the White Houses National Security Council said on Wednesday.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently visited North Korea to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia, John Kirby said on a call with reporters. Since then, he said, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had exchanged letters pledging further cooperation.

Information further indicates that following Shoigus visit, another group of Russian officials traveled to Pyongyang for follow-on discussions about potential arms deals, Kirby said, adding that U.S. intelligence indicated more talks were planned on an arms deal.

Russia would receive significant quantities and multiple types of munitions from [North Korea], which the Russian military plans to use in the Ukraine. Potential deals could also include the provision of raw materials that would assist Russia's defense industrial base, he said.

Food for arms

In March, Kirby suggested Pyongyang was seeking to trade arms for Russian food supplies amid food shortages in North Korea.

But he said on Wednesday there was no evidence of that yet, and the United States was only certain the talks are focussed on artillery ammunition.

These are secret negotiations that these two countries are having, Kirby said, but there's no indications in the information that we have about these advancing negotiations that deal with food for fuel.

Amid poor harvests in North Korea, many North Koreans are again struggling to survive and put enough food on the table, with violent crime spiraling as people become increasingly desperate, RFA has reported.

A Russian attack drone, which Ukrainian authorities say is an Iranian-made Shahed-136, is seen over Kyiv, Oct. 17, 2022. (Roman Petushkov/Reuters)

Kirby said the prospect of a deal between Russia with North Korea  and Putins reliance on negotiating with rogue regimes for weapons and other defense supplies  spoke to Russias weak position.

He's going to Iran, hes going to North Korea to try to get artillery shells and the basic materials so that he can continue to shore up his defense industrial base, he said. There is no other way to look at that than [as] desperation and weakness, quite frankly.

U.S. officials have for months warned about Russias alleged efforts to secure weapons from North Korea, which has backed Moscows invasion of Ukraine as a response to a hegemonic United States. But both Russia and North Korea have denied theres any deal.

On Aug. 15, State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said any such deal would violate international sanctions.

An arms deal between North Korea and Russia would certainly violate a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions, Patel said.
More than 4,000 locals fled their homes ahead of the attack.

Residents of Wetlet township, Sagaing region flee junta raids on their homes in a photo taken in August 2023.

Junta troops killed two civilians in a raid on a village in Sagaing regions Wetlet township, residents told Radio Free Asia Wednesday.

Nearly 100 soldiers took part in Wednesdays raid on Hla Taw, locals said.

One of the dead was identified as 38-year-old Aung Naing Oo, according to a resident who didnt want to be named for security reasons. They said villagers couldnt identify the other man, thought to be in his 40s.

They were found near the road to the east of Hla Taw Village, the local said.

They were killed with shots to the chest and head. It is difficult to identify them by name because of their disfigurement.

More than 4,000 civilians from four villages in Wetlet township fled their homes ahead of junta raids, residents said.

They said the troops left Hla Taw village on Wednesday morning but then moved into nearby Kyay Zee Kone village.

On Saturday, troops raided Kyee Kan (North) village in Wetlet Township. They killed a woman in her 20s and three men in their 30s who were sheltering in a monastery.

RFA Burmese called the juntas spokesperson in the Sagaing region, Tin Than Win, to ask about the killings but nobody answered.

More than 4,000 civilians have been killed by the junta since it seized power in a February 2021 coup according to independent monitoring group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
More than 6,000 troops from seven nations will participate in Super Garuda Shield.

Indonesia will host its largest annual joint military drills with the United States, Australia and other countries that are set to kick off Thursday amid Sino-U.S. tensions in Asia.

The 2023 Super Garuda Shield exercise will run for two weeks in East Java province and consist of more than 5,000 Indonesian and U.S. troops, and 1,000 more from Australia, Japan and Singapore as well as new participants France and the United Kingdom. Another 12 nations will send observers.

This will be the largest. We can learn tactical methods of operation so that our soldiers become more professional, Rear Adm. Julius Widjojono, the Indonesian militarys spokesman, told BenarNews.

He said the exercises, which run through Sept. 13 in Surabaya and Banyuwangi, aim to enhance the national armys capabilities and strengthen regional security and cooperation.

This years iteration of Super Garuda Shield will involve about 2,000 more troops than last years exercise, which had been the largest ever.

The drills will include academic exchanges and professional development workshops, a command-and-control simulation, an amphibious exercise, airborne operations, an airfield seizure exercise and a combined joint field training that will culminate with a live-fire event, according to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.

This joint, multinational training exercise displays our collective commitment and like-minded unity, allowing for a stable, secure, and more peaceful, free and open Indo-Pacific, Gen. Charles Flynn, commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, said in the statement from the embassy.

Marines participate in an amphibious exercise on Singkep island, Indonesia, during the 2022 Super Garuda Shield involving U.S. and Indonesian troops, Aug. 3, 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Andrew King)





The multi-nation drills will be taking place against the backdrop of tensions between the U.S. and rival super power China over Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.

While China claims nearly all of the strategic waterway, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have contending territorial claims.

Indonesia is not a claimant, but tensions have arisen between Jakarta and Beijing over fishing rights around the Natuna Islands. Jakarta has expressed concern over Beijings expansive maritime claims that overlap with its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Earlier this week, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman called on the U.S. to stop meddling in the region. He was responding to a reporters question about an apparent joint statement from Indonesian and U.S. officials regarding Beijings South China Sea claims. Spokesman Wang Wenbin said the Indonesian officials had denied making the statement.

Countries in the region share common aspirations and interests to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea and work together for development, Wang said on Monday.

The U.S. needs to earnestly respect regional countries effort to uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea, stop meddling in South China Sea issues, stop sowing discords and creating trouble, and refrain from disrupting peace and stability in the region, he said.

New Chinese map

Also on Monday, China issued a new map that adds portions of Malaysian waters near Sabah and Sarawak, as well as disputed regions in India, Taiwan and the South China Sea to territory that Beijing claims. The map also covers maritime areas within the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The release of the map, published on Chinas Ministry of Natural Resources, prompted a diplomatic protest from India, the Associated Press reported.

Then-Indonesian military chief Gen. Andika Perkasa (left) and U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino arrive to observe a 2022 Super Garuda Shield exercise in South Sumatra province, Aug. 12, 2022. [M. Risyal Hidayat /Antara Foto via Reuters]





Discussing Super Garuda Shield, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think-tank in Singapore, said the increase in troops indicated the importance of defense cooperation for the region, especially in the face of rising geopolitical tensions.

The joint exercise is also a show of force by INDOPACOM, which is the U.S. military command for the region, to China, besides improving cooperation, readiness and interoperability among the countries involved, said researcher Fitriani, who goes by one name.

Khairul Fahmi, a military analyst at the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies in Jakarta, said that Indonesia would gain from having more countries participate in Garuda Shield.

For Indonesia, this joint exercise is beneficial for building trust, reducing fear, Fahmi told BenarNews. In terms of military diplomacy, Garuda Shield can also be seen as one of the means to realize national interests in defense and security. Its role is strategic in dealing with existing problems.

The exercise begins as regional leaders, including those from the U.S. and China, are scheduled to meet in Jakarta next week for the East Asia Summit, a forum on strategic, political and economic issues in the region. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to attend the summit, while Beijing has not revealed who will represent China, according to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.
Tibetans view the comments as part of further clampdown on the ethnic minority.

Chen Wenqing (R), Chinas minister of state security, attends a meeting of national security secretaries from Iran, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China and India, in Tehran in 2019.

Chinas security chief emphasized the importance of national security and the need to confront separatist elements during a visit last week to central Gansu province in what some Tibetans see as an indication of a further clampdown on the ethnic minority.

Speaking to a group of provincial security heads, Chen Wenqing, the former head of Chinas Ministry of State Security, said they must take a clear stand to safeguard the unity of China, oppose ethnic separatism and ensure national security, the South China Morning Post reported.

The Chinese government has long accused Tibetans and their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of wanting to separate the autonomous region from China, and has restricted Tibetans political activities and peaceful expression of their culture and religion.

Tibetans frequently complain of discrimination and human rights abuses by Chinese authorities and policies they say are aimed at eradicating their national and cultural identity.

Chen, a member of the ruling Chinese Communist Partys Politburo and chief of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, made the comments during a three-day visit last week to Gansu.

There are 10 Tibetan autonomous prefectures in Chinese provinces bordering Tibet, including Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan, where many ethnic Tibetans live.

Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, visits local residents in Nyingchi in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region, during an inspection tour of the region, July 25, 2023. Credit: Yan Yan/Xinhua via Getty Images

Chens visit to Gansu and his focus on the importance of national security and the need to confront separatist elements are an indication of a further clampdown not only in the Tibet Autonomous Region but across the two traditional Tibetan provinces of Kham and Amdo, said Dawa Tsering, director of the Tibet Policy Institute.

The institute is the official think tank of the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India.

Chinas policy of Sinicizing Tibetan Buddhism to control the Tibetan peoples religious beliefs has been going on since the time of Jiang Zemin; however, it has only gotten worse now, he said, referring to the former president of China from 1993 to 2003.

Commenting on Chens visit, columnist and analyst Adil Brar said the ultimate goal of the Chinese government is to somehow bring Tibet and Xinjiang into the Chinese state by Sinicizing religion and culture, and that push continues.

He noted that Wang Huning, a Chinese political theorist and one of the top leaders of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, visited the Tibet Autonomous Region, in late July, and said the purpose of such trips was to send a message that the process of ethnic unity and Sinicization must be advanced because Tibet still has significant cultural autonomy.

And the central Beijing government is not happy about that, Brar said.

Jayadeva Ranade, president of Indias Centre for China Analysis & Strategy, said Chinas apprehensions about stability in places like Tibet come amid increased concern that Beijing is becoming isolated and its relationship with the United States is deteriorating.

So, I think these factors have raised their concern about what they apprehend is foreign forces trying to stoke internal unrest, he said. And they have always looked at Tibet as a sensitive point, a place where such trouble can be stirred by countries like the U.S. and India.

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
Move is the latest in a campaign to silence bloggers and activists.

Vietnamese activist Tran Bang was arrested in 2022 for Facebook posts he made between 2016 and 2021.

A court in Vietnam on Tuesday upheld the eight-year jail sentence of democracy activist Tran Van Bang for anti-state propaganda during a brief hearing in which authorities dismissed the arguments of the defense and read the old verdict, according to family members.

Bangs conviction is the latest in Hanois ongoing campaign to silence bloggers and activists. Vietnam has convicted at least 60 such people for making, storing and disseminating materials against the State under the same Article 117 of Vietnams Penal Code, according to rights groups.

He is among six activists and journalists who have been convicted on charges of anti-state propaganda by the Vietnamese government since January.

The Superior Peoples Court in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday sided with the court of first instance, which in May sentenced Bang, 62, to eight years in prison and three years probation.

The decision prompted Western governments and international NGOs to call for his release, saying he was denied his right to freedom of speech.

One of Bangs siblings told RFA Vietnamese that Bang and his defense lawyer presented their argument for his innocence, saying his posts to social media were his own views and not intended to oppose the government.

However, [at the end] the Procuracys representative read the old verdict and immediately made a conclusion, saying that they did not accept the arguments of either the defense lawyer or Tran Bang, said the sibling, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal.

Authorities only allowed family members to view the proceedings on a closed circuit camera feed broadcast to a nearby room. Diplomatic representatives from foreign governments were also permitted to view the feed on Tuesday, after being barred from Bangs last trial.

Bangs sibling told RFA his family was surprised by how quickly Tuesdays proceedings took place and said Bang was not allowed to make a closing statement.

The judge read out the decision, saying my brother no longer had the right to appeal, and then tasked the police to execute the judgment. they said. Right after that, they took my brother away. Our family quickly ran out [of the room] to see him but couldnt make it in time.

Repeated calls by RFA to the Superior Peoples Court in Ho Chi Minh City for comment on the decision went unanswered Tuesday.

Problematic posts

Tran Van Bang, better known as Tran Bang, is a war veteran who fought during the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War. He had regularly participated in demonstrations against China for its controversial claims over territories in the South China Sea.

He was arrested in March 2022 for what was initially determined to be 31 Facebook posts between March 2016 and August 2021.

After a subsequent investigation, authorities found that he wrote 39 problematic posts between three Facebook accounts that that were seen as distorting, defaming and speaking badly of the peoples government; providing false information, causing confusion among the people; and expressing hate and discontent towards the authorities, Party, State, and countrys leaders, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported at the time, citing the indictment.

Prior to Tuesdays hearing, Bangs defense lawyer Tran Dinh Dung told RFA that his client had been suffering from a tumor in his groin that had not been determined benign or malignant, and that an operation to remove the growth had been delayed by red tape at his detention center. The state of Bangs health situation was not immediately clear.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Bui Tuan Lam and his beef noodle stall in front of his home in Danang, Vietnam.

A court in Vietnam on Wednesday upheld the five and a half year prison sentence for activist Bui Tuan Lam, known as Onion Bae, his wife Le Than Lam told Radio Free Asia.

On May 25, Bui was convicted of propaganda under Article 117 of the countrys Penal Code, after being found guilty of criticizing the government online.

Le told RFA Vietnamese she was not allowed to attend Wednesdays three-hour hearing at the Higher Peoples Court in Danang. but his lawyer Le Dinh Viet was permitted to represent him there.

However, the lawyer was not allowed to meet his client on Tuesday at the detention center where Bui is being held so they were unable to prepare for the appeal.

Le Than Lam said hundreds of policemen in uniform and plain clothes were deployed outside the court, filming her and others who had gathered there to wait for the outcome. She told RFA everyone stayed calm when the appeal was rejected, so the police had no reason to arrest them.

Bui, 39, ran a beef noodle stall in Danang. He achieved notoriety in 2021 after posting an online video mimicking the Turkish celebrity chef Nusret Gokce, known as Salt Bae.

The video, which went viral on social media, was seen as poking fun at To Lam, Vietnams minister of public security. To was caught on film being hand-fed a GBP1,450 (U.S.$1,830) gold-encrusted steak by Salt Bae at his London restaurant.

In Buis video clip, he dramatically sprinkles spring onions into a bowl of soup, mimicking the signature move of the celebrity chef.

Bui was summoned by Danang police for questioning and arrested and charged in September 2022.

Danang Peoples Procuracy claimed Bui posted articles on Facebook and YouTube, including content that was distorting, defaming peoples government and fabricating and causing confusion among people.

Article 117 of the countrys Penal Code criminalizes making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. It is frequently used by authorities to restrict freedom of expression and opinions deemed critical of the government.

On Tuesday, a court upheld the eight-year jail sentence of democracy activist Tran Van Bang, who was also convicted under Article 117.

He is among six activists and journalists who have been convicted on charges of anti-state propaganda by the Vietnamese government since January.

Vietnam has convicted at least 60 people under Article 117, according to human rights groups.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
LGBT activists say the return of the Taliban to power in 2021 in Afghanistan has resulted in discrimination, torture, and even murder. One gay man told RFE/RL that he had to quit school to protect his identity while another said he and his boyfriend were tortured by the Taliban.
Avi Loeb, an alien hunter from Harvard University in the US, claims to have found the first known sample of an object outside our solar system on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Moreover, he believes that the found fragment is a particle of extraterrestrial technology.

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This is stated in an unreviewed paper published on the university's website, as well as on Loeb's own blog, which tells the details. The physicist's article must be peer-reviewed by the scientific community, whether or not they recognize the conclusions Loeb has reached.

The scientist said in a blog post that he and his Galileo project have completed analyzing dozens of tiny fragments of "spherules" from the IM1 meteorite that fell into the Pacific Ocean in 2014. The meteorite is believed to originate from outside our star system.

Loeb became known to the general public when he suggested that Oumuamua, another interstellar object that flew past Earth in 2017, could be an alien craft. Since then, he has made a number of interesting statements about extraterrestrial technology, combining scientific facts with conjecture and sometimes even scientist's speculations. Despite the fact that Loeb's statements in the scientific world are perceived quite skeptically and with a certain irritation, because he allegedly denigrates serious science, it is thanks to his eccentricity physicist was able to make an expedition that allowed him to find a sphere in the ocean.

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During the expedition of the project "Galileo" off the coast of Papua New Guinea was collected more than 700 spherulas, 57 of which Loeb singled out for more detailed analysis. To catch them, the scientist used a large magnetic device to scour the ocean floor.

Five of these tiny orbs "emerged as molten droplets from the surface of IM1 when it was affected by the tremendous heat from the fireball generated by its friction against the Earth's atmosphere."

The physicist said that the five fragments "demonstrated the composition of elements outside the solar system" that had "never been seen before". If confirmed by independent experts, the discovery could have significant historical implications.

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The spheres found along the object's presumed path were rich in beryllium (Be), lanthanum (La) and uranium (U), and cosmochemist Stijn Jacobsen named the structure BeLaU.

"The measured contents of heavy elements other than lanthanum are consistently much higher than those of solar system-standard CI chondrites, suggesting that BeLaU spherules originate from outside the solar system," Loeb wrote.

He added that the source had a very low content of elements close to iron, such as rhenium (Re), and the birthplace of IM1 "could have been the differentiated crust of an exoplanet with an iron core and magma ocean."

In April 2022, the U.S. Space Command released a memorandum that, after years of speculation by Loeb, confirmed that IM1 did indeed originate from interstellar space. This conclusion was based on the speed at which it streaked across the sky in January 2014 before falling into the Pacific Ocean.

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At the same time, the mere fact of finding interstellar material was not enough for Loeb, so he traditionally suggested that the spherules could be of unnatural origin and part of alien technology.

"A more exotic possibility is that this unusual abundance pattern, where the uranium content is almost a thousand times the standard value for the solar system, may reflect an extraterrestrial technological origin," Loeb added.

Such speculation is traditional for Loeb, who seems to simply enjoy teasing his more cautious fellow scientists.

"People are sick of hearing about Avi Loeb's wild claims. It pollutes good science - mixing the good science we do with this nonsensical sensationalism and sucking all the oxygen out of the room," Arizona State University astrophysicist Steve Dash said earlier about Loeb's claims.

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Earlier OBOZREVATEL also told about Loeb's theory, according to which aliens in the solar system can launch probes to Earth.

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Encouraging students to hold unauthorized demonstrations.

Encouraging students to sing antiestablishment slogans.

Encouraging female students to remove their head scarves.

Undermining Islamic values and acting against the interests of the system.

These are the list of reasons the Iranian authorities are using to increasingly purge the ranks of university professors in the wake of nationwide protests that rattled the clerical establishment.

That is according to a long-tenured university professor who was recently suspended. The academic, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, came under intense scrutiny after students held demonstrations in solidarity with the nationwide protests.

The demonstrations broke out after the September 2022 death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained for allegedly violating Iran's hijab law on Islamic dress. The protests began as a rebuke against the brutal enforcement of the hijab, but soon snowballed into one of the most sustained demonstrations against Iran's theocracy.

As the anniversary of the start of the protests approaches and a new academic year begins, the authorities have made clear that they will not tolerate a repeat of the type of student demonstrations that shook universities across Iran last year.

In recent days and weeks, officials have warned that students and educators will be under increased scrutiny, and there has been a wave of professors being removed from their positions.

Most appear to have been fired for allegedly supporting student protests related to Amini's death and against the requirement that all women over the age of 9 wear the hijab, or hair-covering head scarf.

On August 29, at least 10 professors were fired, some of them by way of a telephone call in what student unions have described as a "new innovation in suppressing and dismissing university professors."

In the case of the professor who spoke this week to RFE/RL's Radio Farda, the pressure is nothing new, though. "The events in my case are not recent and have been happening since the beginning of the protests," the professor said. "I was the first member of the official faculty to make a statement in support of the students."

After contesting the university's legal right to invoke a suspension, the professor was brought before a disciplinary committee and informed that official complaints had been filed. More visits to various investigative committees followed.

The issue came to a head after student demonstrators at the campus were "brutally attacked" by university security personnel last year, according to the professor. That is when the professor was charged with five counts of "encouraging" the demonstrators, which the professor denied attending. Scores of students were also suspended by the university for participating in the protests, and the professor continued to support them.

"During this era of repression and intimidation, I stood by the students," the professor said, adding that most "professors have no desire to involve themselves with the students' issues."

"This is the ugly story and sadness of Iran's universities today," the professor added. "Scientists, experts, and professors whose responsibility is to protect the independence of the university and preserve the dignity of the youth...why are they asleep?"

"Every day when I think about this fact, tears flow across my face and in my troubled heart," the professor said. "It's really unfortunate."

'They Fear The Universities'

Universities have historically been a battleground in the fight for social and political reforms in Iran.

During the Islamic Revolution of 1979, university students played a prominent role, including the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. After the clerics came to power, the authorities instigated a mass purge of Iranian universities, firing hundreds of professors and altering curriculums to promote Islamic values.

Since the revolution, university students have voiced their opposition to the clerical establishment, including during a 1999 protest against the closure of a reformist newspaper, resulting in a raid on a dormitory at Tehran University that left one student dead.

The protests against Amini's death on September 16 led to renewed pressure against students, specifically female students who failed to comply with the hijab law.

The targeting of professors and students by the authorities, however, is seen as a risk as Iran reels from an education crisis fueled in part by the exodus of academics to the West. More than 60 professors have reportedly been dismissed over the past two years.

In an interview with Radio Farda on August 30, one suspended educator said that while the authorities seek to Islamicize universities and purge them of educators who might pose a challenge to the clerical establishment, they are wary of going too far.

"The past 44 years have demonstrated that a part of the establishment, and I'm not saying all of them, but a segment, is afraid of universities, especially of social sciences," said Dariush Rahmanian, an assistant history professor at Tehran University.

The Iranian Writers Association in a recent statement decried the moves against professors, warning that "the cycle of repression has become tighter and among the repressed are those who were the silent witnesses of previous repressions."

"If society remains silent in the face of what is happening in universities today, it is feared that the tragedy of the university purges of the [past] will be repeated," the statement added.

Michael Scollon contributed to this report.
In a major show of defiance, Iranians have staged new anti-government demonstrations in several cities to protest the death of Armita Garavand, who succumbed over the weekend to injuries suffered in an alleged confrontation with Iran's morality police in the Tehran subway over a head-scarf violation.

Hours after the student's funeral on October 29, which was marked by the violent arrest of several civil activists, anti-government slogans and graffiti in memory of Garavand again were observed in various cities including Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, Sari, and Shiraz.



In Tehrans Ekbatan neighborhood, which has been one of the epicenters of protests in the Iranian capital over the past year following the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for an alleged hijab violation, protesters chanted anti-government slogans from windows and rooftops and "Death to Khamenei, the murderer" and "Death to the dictator" -- references to Supreme Leader Ali Ayatollah Khamenei -- echoed through the streets.



Such slogans were also heard in several other neighborhoods in Tehran including Amirabad Tehranpars, and Zafar. Protesters also refuted the government's narrative regarding Garavand's death with slogans like "They killed our Armita and blamed it on the hijab."



Videos also showed some protesters writing the name "Armita Garavand" and the slogan "Women, life, freedom" on the shores of Bandar Anzali in the northern province of Gilan.



Meanwhile, reports of "violence" by security forces during Garavand's funeral have emerged.

Reza Khandan, a civil activist and husband of human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, confirmed his wife's arrest during the funeral. He said that during her arrest, she was severely beaten by security agents.



According to Khandan, many of those arrested during Armita Garavand's funeral were held at the Vozara detention center, "the same place where Mahsa Amini was killed by government agents last year."



The Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), confirmed Sotoudeh's arrest, claiming she was detained for "removing her hijab and acting against society's mental security."

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on October 30 that Sotoudeh was released after more than two hours of detention and slammed Iranian authorities for their treatment of those marking Garavand's death.

"Beating and arresting unarmed civilians for peacefully mourning yet another death of a young girl in state custody is a continuation of the atrocities the Iranian government is continuously inflicting upon the Iranian people," CHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi said.

"These activists were at the funeral because Iranian authorities operate with impunity, killing and detaining people including teenagers for entirely peaceful actions, like showing their hair in public, or raising their voices to demand fundamental rights," he added.

The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Unions reported the arrest of Masood Zeinalzadeh, a board member of the Tehran Teachers' Union, during the funeral. The association also announced that Mohammad Garavand, a teachers' rights activist, was arrested by security forces.

Rights groups and journalists say Garavand and two of her friends were confronted on October 1 by police officers for not wearing the mandatory hijab as they tried to enter a Tehran subway station.

One of the friends has said the officers physically assaulted Garavand, who later fell unconscious after entering a subway car. Officials have said Garavand suffered a sudden drop in blood pressure, fainted, and fell to the floor, hitting her head.

A source at Fajr Hospital, who spoke to Radio Farda on condition of anonymity due to security reasons, said shortly after the incident that Garavand suffered internal bleeding in the brain. She succumbed to her injuries on October 28.

Since Garavand fell into a coma, Iranian officials have pressured those around the 16-year-old student to avoid talking about the situation or later on commemorating her death.



Alborz Sadeghi, the son of Manzar Zarabi, a mother who lost four family members when the IRGC shot down a Ukrainian plane in January 2022, told RFERL's Radio Farda that his mother was arrested after being "severely beaten" during Garavand's burial.

Khandan said she had also been released.



Garavand's case, and suggestions of a cover-up by the authorities, has drawn parallels with the events leading up to the death of Amini.



In recent months, Tehran's municipality has deployed agents known as "hijab guards" in Tehran's subway to confront women and girls failing to wear the mandatory hijab.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
For two months after launching the greatest challenge to President Vladimir Putin in his 24 years as Russia's preeminent figure, Yevgeny Prigozhin was a man of mystery.

The Wagner Group chief darted in and out of public view, free from arrest, defying expectations that Putin would come down hard on him for the June 23-24 mutiny that brought his troops within 200 kilometers of Moscow. The day before his plane crashed north of the capital, he released a video purportedly shot in Africa, where he spoke of his expanding business empire.

The aura of mystery lingered after Prigozhin's death. It took four days after the crash for DNA analysis to confirm the identity of his remains; even then, jaded observers cautioned that the state authorities who made the announcement could not be trusted.

And then his funeral became a manhunt for journalists, scrambling to determine where and when and with what honors he would be laid to rest.

The Kremlin, apparently eager to keep its distance, professed not to know the timing or circumstances of the burial of a former ally who did much to undermine Putin's efforts to look like a steadfast wartime leader. The only thing it made clear was that Putin would not attend the funeral of the man whose mercenaries gave him a symbolic battlefield victory in Ukraine in May: the capture of the Donetsk region city of Bakhmut.

In the end, Prigozhin was not buried with honors. He was not buried in a military ceremony reserved for those who have been given Russia's highest medal. There was no public ceremony, with streams of mourners paying condolences during a live broadcast, as often accompanies prominent Russians' deaths. Instead of an honor guard, rifle salute, and military band, there were phalanxes of police officers and National Guardsmen who kept journalists away.

In fact, he was buried before most of the media knew about it. And on state TV, Prigozhin's death -- and the dramatic circumstances of an unexplained midair catastrophe that caused it -- was buried in the rundown.

"By creating just such a posthumous image of Prigozhin in the official media, the Kremlin showed that it would make no curtsies towards the audience of ultra-patriotic media and Telegram channels, for which the head of Wagner was a folk hero," Andrei Pertsev, a longtime observer of Russian politics, wrote in a column for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"The Kremlin has proven that it is still good at dealing with the challenges of popular populists," he added.

Days after the plane crash, Putin made comments that sounded vaguely like a eulogy, containing some positive notes. But he also said that Prigozhin had "made mistakes in life" and referred to his acquaintance of some 30 years only by his last name, omitting the name and patronymic that are an everyday expression of respect.

In the days prior to the funeral, rumors were rampant about how and where Prigozhin would be buried, and whether the state would accord him any accolades or honors. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters -- implausibly -- that the Kremlin had no knowledge of the funeral plans.

A day later, on August 29, Peskov added that Putin would not be attending his funeral, wherever and whenever it might be held. That same morning, journalists in St. Petersburg began furiously tracking funeral convoys, police detours, priests, gravediggers, flower sellers, and license plates on luxury cars at cemeteries in the city -- the hometown of both Putin and Prigozhin.

The St. Petersburg news outlet Fontanka hurried to try and identify mourners and the dead, thwarted frequently by police restricting entrances to cemeteries like Serafimovskoye, located in a northwestern district of the city. By early afternoon, reporters determined that one of Prigozhin's top lieutenants, Valery Chekalov, who handled many of the business operations for the Wagner Group, including in Syria, was the one being laid to rest at another cemetery, Severnoye.

At 5:20 p.m. local time, Prigozhin's press service released a short announcement on its Telegram channel, saying the Wagner chief had been buried about four hours earlier, at the Porokhovskoye cemetery. The funeral "took place in a private format."

The location was noteworthy. Located on the eastern outskirts of the city amid an industrial zone of decrepit lots frequented by homeless and drug addicts, Porokhovskoye is not known as a home for St. Petersburg's elite and revered.

And Prigozhin was a recipient of the Hero of Russia award, the country's highest state honor, meaning he was eligible for an honor guard, or even burial at one of Russia's most important military cemeteries, at Volkovskoye, outside Moscow.

"The Kremlin has broken all records of nastiness," Aleksandr Nevzorov, a well-known Russian TV personality who now lives outside the country, wrote on Telegram. "Spooked by [the prospect of] a powerful patriotic demonstration at the funeral, it began the morning with shell game and, of course, it won."

The cloak-and-dagger uncertainty surrounding the event prompted a popular quip to circulate among Russian journalists: just as the Ukraine war has been euphemized by the Kremlin as a "special military operation," Prigozhin's funeral should be considered a "special burial operation."

A day later, on August 30, journalists who were allowed access to the gravesite documented its adornment, including a traditional wooden Orthodox cross, flowered garlands and bouquets, and a framed poem from Joseph Brodsky, the St. Petersburg writer who was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1972. The grave of his father, Viktor, is alongside.

"The funeral...marked the culmination of a covert operation aimed at his elimination," veteran Russian political expert Tatyana Stanovaya said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. She alluded to widespread suspicion that Putin or the Russian authorities more broadly were behind the plane crash, which killed nine other people. "Conducted under the strict oversight of the security agencies, the entire process was shrouded in secrecy and involved deceptive tactics."

In the August 30 evening programs on state-controlled TV channels, where the vast majority of Russians get their news, there was virtually no mention of Prigozhin's funeral. Channel One's flagship evening program showed a 1-minute report, 47 minutes into the broadcast, and the other two main channels had no stories on it at all.

Sergei Kovalchenko, who used to run the St. Petersburg news agency Telegraf, said the uncertainty shrouding his burial reflected how the Kremlin hopes Prigozhin's aura slowly dissipate. "I think the propaganda message will be, 'Forget about him as soon as possible,' because the Kremlin thinks that if something is not shown on television, it doesn't exist. And the sooner they consign Prigozhin...and this myth to oblivion, the better," Kovalchenko told Current Time.

"The Kremlin knows how to play PR. Prigozhin is not Nemtsov," he said, referring to Boris Nemtsov, the opposition politician and vocal Putin critic who was shot dead near the Kremlin in 2015. His death prompted an outpouring of grief and mourners formed a long line to pay their respects.

"There won't be supporters who will support all this, or even throughout the country. A couple of months will pass, and all this will subside, everyone will forget about him. I think that's what they're thinking in the Kremlin," he said.
Keir Giles is an expert on Russian military transformation, a senior consulting fellow on Russia and Eurasia at the London-based Chatham House, and the author of works including Russia's War On Everybody: And What It Means For You.

He spoke with RFE/RL's Balkan Service about the consequences of the death last week of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. He also talked about early calls for revenge going quiet, the potential for "disruption" at the Belarusian-EU border by Wagner remnants, and the perception that suspicious deaths are simply "how everybody now thinks Russia does business."

RFE/RL: How do you see the backdrop of a plane crash in which Prigozhin died? Many estimated that following the failed mutiny two months ago that sooner or later, a similar scenario would happen because many suggest that Vladimir Putin doesn't forgive any betrayal. At the same time, the Kremlin adamantly rejected any involvement in this crash, so there are a lot of uncertainties, and it is unclear what is behind it, but many suggest that Putin himself and the Kremlin are.

Keir Giles: OK, well there are at least three different questions there. First of all, the Kremlin denials. Well, there is no reason for anybody to pay any attention to what official Russia says about this crash, because the problem in this is the problem they have created for themselves: that they so rarely tell the truth about anything that they are simply not a reliable source of information, and nobody would expect that if this was in fact organized by the Russian authorities that they would come out and say so. So that is not a useful datapoint at all. Neither, in fact, is the DNA analysis that has supposedly indicated that Prigozhin is in fact dead. There is no aspect in this investigation that would be transparent and reliable.

When we say, "the Kremlin was responsible for it," that may be a little misleading, because the Kremlin was not the only organization of state power within Russia that had a severe grudge with Prigozhin. He had offended far more people than just those sitting in the Kremlin. His main argument during the mutiny two months ago was actually with the Ministry of Defense. He is also extremely unpopular with the [Federal] Security Service, with the FSB. So there was no shortage of people in Russia that both wanted Prigozhin dead and had the means and the opportunity to bring that about.

So having him dead now corrects an anomaly for as long as he survived and remained unmurdered, this set a dangerous precedent within Russia because it showed that you could stand up to Moscow, you could confront Russian state authority, and not only survive but apparently be pardoned. For whatever reason, Prigozhin and his closest aides and lieutenants within the Wagner organization seemed to have been under the impression that they were now safe. And if so, that was a terrible miscalculation.

RFE/RL: So you are not buying into these conspiracy theories that actually Prigozhin is alive somewhere with a different identity, but you think that he is dead and that, broadly speaking, the Kremlin is behind it.

Giles: I think he's almost certainly dead. But because of this tradition of obfuscation, denial, and lies from the Kremlin, the conspiracy theories will never stop swirling about this.

RFE/RL: Now, speaking about the consequences: First is the question of whether the Wagner group would be decapitated, I mean its role. It started to [see a] decrease in influence since the failed mutiny, though some of the Wagner troops were moved to Belarus.

Giles: It's true that Wagner has been decapitated and that it is a less influential organization since the mutiny in June. But that's not the same as Wagner being disbanded altogether. Both of the efforts that the Russian state has made to try and neutralize the threat from Wagner, the threat from this well-organized, well-trained, and armed body of men that are extremely upset with Russian state power now have failed. Because the efforts to integrate them into Russia's regular armed forces did not succeed, and neither, it seemed, did the effort to pack them off to neighboring Belarus to get rid of the problem.

So, it remains to be seen how exactly Russia is going to be dealing with the intermediate commanders that are not as senior as those that were on the aircraft but still in positions of power within the Wagner organization, and the rank and file, the soldiers within Wagner. What exactly is Russia going to do to make sure that they do not pose a threat, in turn, to domestic security and stability in Russia?

RFE/RL: Some members of Wagner swear that they will retaliate in combination with a similar call from ultranationalists in Russia. Is this just an empty call or could they try to somehow avenge Prigozhin's death?

Giles: We did hear some calls for revenge early on; that seems to have gone a little bit quiet. Whether that's because of the countermeasures that have been taken by the Russian state or other events that have happened, we really can't tell. But, yes, what exactly Russia does to head off and neutralize and mitigate any such calls for retaliation is going to determine how this Wagner situation plays out over the next few weeks.

RFE/RL: At the same time, the prime minster of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, believes that after the death of Prigozhin in the plane crash, the danger arising from Wagner mercenaries deployed in Belarus remains in place. What is your position on that?

Giles: Well, that's absolutely correct. For as long as there is this armed group, which is technically, they would like to pretend, not beholden to the Russian or Belarusian state but actually takes orders from them, they are in a position to cause significant disruption. Now some people have characterized this as some sort of armed incursion into Poland. That seems possibly the least likely course of events. But as we have seen over the course of the last few years on that boundary between Belarus and Russia and its NATO and EU neighbors, there are so many other ways in which disruption can be caused.

RFE/RL: Who can replace Prigozhin? Apart from him, the military commander of Wagner, Dmitry Utkin, is also dead, and some other high-profile officials of the Wagner Group.

Giles: Whoever steps up to replace Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, the notional commander of the actual outfit group, will unlikely be as colorful and as dramatic of a figure as Prigozhin was. But who it is will depend on how exactly Russia decides to treat the problem of the Wagner remnant groups: whether someone will be installed to take command of the organization or whether it will be someone who steps up from its own intermediate commanders. That, too, will be an indication over the next few weeks of how exactly Russia is going to deal with this problem.

RFE/RL: You suggested that there are difficulties to incorporate the Wagner Group into the regular Russian Army. So overall, what would be the destiny of the group? Some of them are already deployed in Africa, some of them are in Belarus. Will Wagner simply fall into oblivion in the foreseeable future?

Giles: Part of the problem in assessing just how much of a problem this is for Russia is that we simply cannot see where those remaining Wagner individuals are. We do see that the numbers that arrived in Belarus were smaller than expected, and some of them have returned. We do see that there are small contingents scattered across Africa. But the rump, the remainder that is within Russia, seems for the time being to be more or less invisible.

RFE/RL: To what extent does the withdrawal of the Wagner forces from the Ukrainian battlefield following their failed mutiny in June further reduce the effectiveness of the operations of the regular Russian troops in Ukraine?

Giles: First of all, it's important to note that Wagner was withdrawn from the front line before the mutiny, not after it. They didn't pull out of the front line to do this. However, since then, of course, they have not returned, which means that a significant element of Russia's combat capacity of its ground forces has not actually been available to resist the Ukrainian counteroffensive. It may be that Russia in the future can reintegrate this pool of manpower into its armed forces, in which they represent some of the best-trained and most experienced of its infantry. But, of course, that remains in the future. And for the time being, we are still facing this open question of how exactly Russia is going to deal with these people.

RFE/RL: Meanwhile, Russia tries to fill this gap with other paramilitary groups. Could they be as successful as Wagner was?

Giles: We should remember that Wagner was an outlier; Wagner was an anomaly even within the constellation of the Russian private paramilitary companies. This was not an organization that arrived ancillary to a major corporation's activities or those of an oligarch; it's not a private army in that sense. Instead, it was an organization which existed for its own purposes and which actually had its own business aims and was used as means of projecting power in acquiring influence and economic leverage independent of any parent organization. So that means there is no direct equivalent among the other private military companies that could step in and replicate that role without significant transformation.

RFE/RL: Overall, Prigozhin is the last on the long list of Putin's opponents who were silenced, let's say. Does it suggest that any resistance to the Putin regime is still in vain, or does the Prigozhin mutiny, though unsuccessful, reveal cracks within the Kremlin and proves that Putin is no longer strong as many have believed?

Giles: I think it's far too optimistic to say that Prigozhin is the last on the list of Putin's opponents who will [allegedly] be murdered. Vladimir Putin has restored his position and his reputation as being a strong and ruthless leader against whom you should not stand. And anybody who was considering the example of Prigozhin and thinking they, too, might be willing to challenge Russian power because apparently you might survive it, will now be reassessing their risk calculations. So in that respect, Vladimir Putin has shut down a problem and tied off a loose end. And for the time being, it means that, domestically at least, his position is more secure.

RFE/RL: What do you think in the foreseeable future, what danger lurks that is biggest for Putin, because the fact that Prigozhin tried to somehow challenge his power reveals certain cracks within his very powerful power structure.

Giles: Again, we have to remember that Wagner was an anomaly, that Wagner was an outlier -- not just in the way that it was structured but also because this was an organization and a center of power that was outside the stable system of power with Russia; it was an external disrupter, and as such it was always going to pose a challenge to the stability of the established order. Since there is no other organization which fills that same role, and everything else is beholden to the system of power that it needs now to keep stable, there won't be a similar challenger emerging. And you might assume that President Putin has learned his lesson and won't create a similar one in the future.

RFE/RL: Do you think that, at the same time, Putin has sent a message to any potential opponent within the circle of the Kremlin not to dare to challenge his power or maybe some of his potential opponents who are dissatisfied with the way the war in Ukraine is progressed to see the chance in the future to try to stand up to Putin in different ways.

Giles: The theatrical manner of disposing of Prigozhin and the way in which this ruthlessly also [allegedly] murders innocent people sends a very deliberate message to those who might be thinking of standing against the Kremlin. Of course, one of the most striking and remarkable things about this is the way it has been accepted as normal and natural within Russia. It's been passed with a shrug of the shoulders and barely batting an eyelid, because this, it seems, is how everybody now thinks Russia does business. And that's an indication of just how far Russia has fallen from being a normal, civilized country now to a place where mass murder is a means of dealing with people who stand up to the regime instead of putting them on trial.

RFE/RL: And so, all in all, you think that Putin's power is unrivaled and that probably next year he will go to the elections, so his power is unrivaled for the foreseeable future?

Giles: Prigozhin did not directly challenge Putin. Prigozhin had an argument with the Ministry of Defense, and it was only indirectly that in doing so he stood up against Russian state power and had to be crushed as a result. No challenger directly to Putin is likely going to emerge in the near future.

RFE/RL: How will this situation influence the war in Ukraine?

Giles: It won't.

RFE/RL: Do you think Putin will continue more fervently to wage the war, or maybe reconsider the way these operations will be conducted in the future?

Giles: There is no reason to think that the Wagner episode will have any influence on how Putin is conducting the war in Ukraine.
Six Ukrainian soldiers were reported killed in a crash of two helicopters in the east of the country amid reports that Kyiv has stepped up attacks to unprecedented levels inside Russia and in the south of Ukraine.

Ukrainska Pravda reported on August 30 that the incident involved two Mi-8 helicopters near the frontline town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region on August 29.



A military spokesman confirmed the deaths to public broadcaster Suspilne but provided no details.



Some media reports said the incident occurred near Bakhmut, the Ukrainian town captured by Russian forces and the scene of continued heavy fighting.



The report comes as Ukraine appeared to increase drone attacks inside Russia, along with its drive in the south in the direction of the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

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 counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Moscow officials on August 30 reported what they said was one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian soil since the start of the war, with the reported strikes prompting Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova to say that the attacks "will not go unpunished."

The most devastating strike was reported in the western region of Pskov, some 660 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, where suspected Ukrainian drones struck a military airfield that houses military and civilian aircraft, destroying four giant Ilyushin-76 military transport planes, regional officials and the Russian state news agency TASS reported.



Regional Governor Mikhail Vedernikov posted on Telegram a short video in which a blast can be heard and a major fire can be seen over the Khresty airfield, leading to a suspension of airport operations.



Residents of the city reported explosions and gunfire overnight on August 30.



Vedernikov later said that an inspection of civilian infrastructure of the airport had been completed and that the facility would resume normal operations on August 31.

The Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) of Ukraine's Defense Ministry on August 30 confirmed that four transport planes have been destroyed in Pskov, without directly claiming Ukraine's responsibility for the attack.



"We confirm the destruction of four units of enemy Il-76 transport aircraft. This means that the damage inflicted does not allow the aircraft to be repaired and returned to action. They are used to transport occupying forces and their equipment. There is also information about damage to several more units," HUR spokesman Andriy Yusov told Ukrainian media.



Explosions were also reported in the Russian regions of Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan, and Moscow.



Ukrainian drones attempted an attack on a TV tower in the Bryansk region, regional Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said, adding that there were no victims.



Two Moscow airports -- Domodedovo and Vnukovo -- were briefly closed.

In Russia-annexed Crimea, a drone attack was carried out on Sevastopol Moscow-installed regional Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram, without giving other details.

The Russian military also said that one of its planes destroyed four Ukrainian attack vessels carrying some 50 troops in an operation on the Black Sea.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian military officials would probe how the drone attacks were carried out "in order to take appropriate measures to prevent these situations in the future.



The reports could not be independently verified, and Ukraine's Command of the Special Operations Forces mocked the claim in a Facebook post, calling it fake and warning that "to trust the Russians is to disrespect oneself."

Meanwhile, EU policy chief Josep Borrell urged member nations to order more ammunition for Kyiv to help the bloc reach a March goal of providing 1 million artillery shells within 12 months at a cost of about $2.18 billion.



"Now it is [left] to the member states to pass concrete orders inside these framework agreements with the industry," Borrell told reporters after an informal EU defense ministers meeting in the Spanish city of Toledo.



Even with the stepped-up Ukrainian attacks, the capital, Kyiv, also took new deadly hits.



A Russian attack killed at least two people and wounded three others, said Serhiy Popko, the head of the capital's military administration, adding that it was the most powerful on the city since spring.



Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the two people that were killed were security guards at an enterprise in the city's Shevchenkivskiy district.

The attack damaged several houses as well in the capital and also hit a cemetery, where it ignited a fire, authorities said.



In the northeastern region of Sumy bordering Russia, an 82-year-old woman was killed when a Russian shell struck her house in the village of Shalyhyne, the regional prosecutor's office reported on August 30.



In the Zhytomyr region, wreckage from fallen drones caused damage to railway infrastructure, regional Governor Vitaliy Bunechko said.



Ukrainian Commander in Chief Valeriy Zaluzhniy said that a total of 28 cruise missiles and 16 drones were launched by Russian forces in the latest attack on Ukraine. All cruise missiles and 15 Iranian-made drones were shot down by the Ukrainian air defense, Zaluzhniy wrote on Facebook.



On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces continued their offensive operation on the axis of the strategic southern city of Melitopol, the General Staff of Ukraine's military said on August 30. It said that a total of 35 combat clashes occurred along the front line over the past 24 hours.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
HULYAYPOLE DISTRICT, Ukraine -- "We see them, they see us, and only the animals in between our trenches move once in a while," said Grizzly, the deputy commander of a unit defending several positions on Ukraine's southern front.

Some of his soldiers had just returned from the so-called fire trench -- the first line of defense, and also a jumping-off point for a potential attack -- and joined others to train in a safe position a few kilometers deeper in Ukrainian-held territory.

They were assigned various roles during a drill simulating a trench assault, a type of warfare that is at the heart of Ukrainian attempts to break through Russian defenses. Some 30 men ran, crawled, jumped, hid, and covered their comrades under a burning sun typical of summer in the Zaporizhzhya region.

As the exercise concluded, the instructor, who did not want his name published, congratulated the tired and sweat-soaked soldiers, saying, "There's never too much training, but you all have long been ready."

The mixture of fighting and training -- and waiting -- has become a daily routine for soldiers from the 62nd Battalion of the 103rd Brigade, most of whom volunteered to fight at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. A year and a half later, many of them speak of exhaustion as they try to adapt to the prospect of a prolonged war whose end is not in sight.

Trenches And Drones

Yuriy, 31, and Bohdan, 22, have served as infantrymen for over a year now.

Yuriy is trying to cope with separation from his wife and young son, who have found refuge in Canada. He has seen them only once since he joined up -- when he was recovering from a wound. Bohdan left university to join the army and hopes to return to his studies. But both must continue their service -- there is no time limit to it under the general mobilization legislation adopted shortly after the invasion.

"War turns a man into an animal," Yuriy said. He told RFE/RL that he had enough of close combat, and decided to become a drone operator in order to "kill enemies more efficiently." Bohdan said that he finds flying a drone "much more interesting" than spending days in a trench.

Like many units in Ukraine, their battalion has received commercial drones built for aerial photography via a crowdfunding campaign and modified them for military use. "It's a cheap serial production that you can easily modify like Lego blocks," Bohdan said.

The buzzing of the drones flying over sunflower fields and tree lines that offer soldiers protection has become a constant feature of the war. Drones are often jammed by Russian electronic-warfare systems, Bohdan says, but some manage to fly over enemy lines and drop bombs.

According to Oleksandr, deputy commander of the 102nd Brigade, a unit deployed in the same area, who came to the training position to meet with the soldiers and assemble a group for a drone strike, drones are also crucial for gathering intelligence and correcting artillery fire.

'The Advantage Is Ours'

The front line around Hulyaypole hasn't moved much in over a year, Oleksandr told RFE/RL. The Ukrainian forces deployed here are holding back Russian attacks and exerting pressure on Russian units that could otherwise be used on sections of the front where the fighting is heavier.

After Ukrainian forces handed Russia several major setbacks last year, the war ground on over the winter and Kyiv launched a much-anticipated counteroffensive on parts of the 1,200-kilometer front in the east and south in early June.

Initial attempts to break through strongly fortified Russian defensive lines had limited success, and the pace of Ukrainian progress has been slow.

"The enemy is strong, well-prepared, well-equipped, and built an unprecedented defensive system," Oleksandr said, adding that both sides gather extensive intelligence and are aware of each other's movements.

Despite hopes placed on an influx of tanks and armored vehicles delivered by Ukraine's allies, he says, artillery continues to play a crucial role in the war on the southern front -- and more time is needed to prepare for a push southward.

The current status quo, Oleksandr says, lets Russian forces shell heavy equipment the instant it is brought onto the battlefield, and their advantage in planes and helicopters makes significant movement forward risky for Ukrainian troops.

Still, he said, "Every day, we destroy their artillery, ammunition depots, and logistics, so overall the advantage is on our side.... The weather in the south is good until late October, and fighting after that is also possible."

No Cakewalk

Twelve weeks into the counteroffensive, many in the West have grown worried about the prospects of Ukraine's push toward the Azov Sea, whose main goal is to cut the "land corridor" that Russian forces use to supply and fortify the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

Without citing specific sources, The Wall Street Journal reported on August 24 that "U.S. and Ukrainian officials have been engaged in an intense behind-the-scenes debate for weeks over the strategy and tactics for reviving Kyiv's slow-moving counteroffensive." It said the Ukrainian commander in chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhniy, has told U.S. officials that his forces are close to a breakthrough.

Ukrainian authorities are urging patience and stressing the gains made so far -- most recently the recapture of Robotyne, a village southwest of Hulyaypole, and in Urozhayne, to the east. Ukrainian troops have breached the first line of Russian defenses at those locations, and reports of Russia bringing in more troops suggest that a breakthrough is possible.

In an interview with RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said that the task of liberating all Russian-occupied territory was no "cakewalk" and that advances on the front were being "carried out in a way that allows us to keep the maximum possible number of our soldiers alive and unharmed."

As the prospect of a prolonged war looms over Ukraine, concerns about the number of casualties have grown. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy recently acknowledged that the military is voicing the need to mobilize more soldiers and vowed to "restore order" in military enlistment offices and military medical commissions amid evidence of corruption.

'Reaching The Limit'

For now, the grinding war is redefining every aspect of life in towns and villages along or adjacent to the front line that are full of soldiers coming back from battle for a break -- restaurants are crowded with them, markets do a brisk trade in military clothing, and mechanics keep busy fixing off-road vehicles used by the military.

The road from the city of Zaporizhzhya to Pokrovske, north of Hulyaypole -- part of a major route for supplies to the southern front -- is filled with run-down, speeding cars, jeeps, and trucks carrying men, weapons, ammunition, and food supplies.

Speaking over dinner in a village hut turned into military housing, Grizzly told RFE/RL that his view of the future was "less bright every month I keep fighting."

Grizzly, 34, whose real name is Roman, was an entrepreneur in the metalworking industry before he joined the army along with 25 of his 100 employees. It's not his first time at war: In 2015, he was mobilized to fight in the Donbas, where the conflict stoked by Russian incitement of anti-Kyiv sentiment erupted the previous year.

His unit has strong support from families of its members and from others in western Ukraine, as the 62nd Battalion was initially formed as a territorial defense unit in Lviv shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion. He said he had donated over $40,000 to the unit.

By the time it was transferred to Hulyaypole two months ago, its soldiers had already been through a lot: They took part in the fighting that drove Russian forces out of the northern Sumy region, in the defense of Kharkiv and the liberation of nearby Kupyansk, and in a deadly standoff in the Serebryanskiy Forest near Kreminna, in the Luhansk region, as well as other missions there.

"We have suffered substantial losses. Dozens have died, dozens have been wounded, some were transferred to the rear, and some abandoned the unit," Grizzly said. Some of the soldiers got out by obtaining fake documents or lying to him about their personal situation, he added.

Eighteen months after the full-scale invasion, the "patriotic potential of Ukrainian society is reaching the limit," and cases of corruption in the army leave many soldiers disillusioned, he said. "Many of my boys are brave and motivated to fight, but there are simply not enough of us."

On August 24, Grizzly woke up at 5 a.m. and went to join his soldiers at the unit's position, bracing for battle after he received information that the Russians would seek to escalate the fighting on the front on Ukrainian Independence Day.

"We all hope Zaluzhniy has a joker in his hand," a wild card that could tip the balance, he said the night before. "And what if the war drags on? I hope we make through it alive."
Sushi is an incredibly delicious delicacy, a favorite dish of many. However, not all Ukrainians know about the real Japanese culture of eating this dish. For example, many do not know how to use chopsticks, but are embarrassed to ask for a fork. Experts note: it is quite normal to eat sushi with a fork, it will not be a gross violation of etiquette rules.

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But rubbing chopsticks against each other is not recommended. Chefs and experts of Japanese culture explained how to eat sushi correctly, when to immerse it in soy sauce and whether it is possible to put ginger on top of fish.

Why you can't rub chopsticks

Kazunori Nozawa, co-founder of Sugafish restaurants, talked about a few important rules regarding Japanese food etiquette.

The first rule is that after separating the chopsticks, you should never rub them against each other. This is considered a sign of impoliteness and disrespect.

Is it possible to eat sushi with your hands

Naturally, sushi should preferably be eaten with chopsticks. But don't worry if you don't know how to use them. Kazunori emphasized that it is quite acceptable practice to ask the restaurant to bring you a fork.

Eating sushi should be done as soon as it is brought to you - this is important so that the fish and nori do not lose their delicate texture.

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Wasabi rules

Not all types of sushi harmonize with spicy wasabi. If you like to add wasabi to soy sauce, it is better to ask for another saucer of sauce without wasabi.

Where to put the ginger

Chef notes: never put ginger on sushi. Ginger is meant to cleanse the flavor in your mouth between courses. It can ruin the flavor of the sushi.

How to dip in soy sauce

If the sushi is already seasoned with sauce (e.g. unagi), it should not be dipped in soy sauce. When using nigiri, the rice, not the fish, is dipped into the sauce, and not much at all. This type of sushi should be put in your mouth immediately, without biting off.

If you order a handroll, take a bite, flip it over and take a bite from the other side. This way, according to Kazunori, the roll won't fall apart.

Andrea Fazzari, author of books on Japanese culture, and Tetsuya Hanada, founder and director of Sushi University, advise using a little soy sauce so as not to spoil the experience and enjoy the food. But there are also practical motives: rice absorbs liquid very quickly - if you dip the whole roll in the sauce, a piece will disintegrate.

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Sometimes in Japanese restaurants, green paste made of perilla leaves is added to the plates. It can be served as a garnish, but note that the paste leaves a strong flavor in the mouth, which can spoil the impression of the delicate texture of the fish.

Order of eating

Experts say that there is no specific order of eating dishes - eat as you like. Of course, the sweet taste of anago (eel) and tamagoyaki (egg roll) can be left for last.

Table etiquette

Tetsuya Hanada notes that in a Japanese restaurant, you should not put your phone on the table. Quality establishments choose authentic Japanese furnishings, such as cypress tables. They are not cheap, so it is better to put your smartphone on a napkin.

If you accidentally spill soy sauce, do not clean it up yourself - call a waiter.

Previously, OBOZREVATEL told how to properly hold glasses with drinks during parties.

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India's Pragyan spacecraft, which was delivered to the surface of the Moon by the Chandrayaan-3 mission's landing module, has transmitted data that confirms the presence of sulfur in the Moon's soil. On August 23, India became the fourth country to successfully land the Chandrayaan-3 mission on the Moon.

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This was reported by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISPRO) on X (formerly Twitter). The mission landed near the south pole of the moon.

"The Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) on board the lunar rover unequivocally confirms the presence of sulfur on the lunar surface near the south pole through the first ever in situ measurements," the statement said.

ISPRO added that as expected, aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen were detected on the surface of the satellite.

On August 23, India became the fourth country to successfully land the Chandrayaan-3 mission on the moon.

The mission landed near the moon's south pole and will study its surroundings for about one lunar day (about 14 Earth days).

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Earlier OBOZREVATEL spoke about the fact that NASA suggests that there may be life on the Moon.

Subscribe to OBOZREVATEL channels on Telegram and Viber to be aware of the latest events.
A BANK holiday police operation saw two domestic abuse suspects arrested and a third man located in relation to a robbery.

A BANK holiday police operation saw two domestic abuse suspects arrested and a third man located in relation to a robbery.

A 33-year-old man was held on suspicion of Section 18 assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, theft and criminal damage on Monday.

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A 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault, and a third man (32) was arrested on suspicion of robbery.

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All three have since been released on bail while enquiries continue, South Yorkshire Police said.

Chief Insp John Crapper added: Domestic abuse in any form can have a life-long impact on victims and coming forward takes courage and bravery.

!This is why we are committed to bringing those responsible to justice and supporting those affected.

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Operations like this are put together to bring those wanted on suspicion of these offences in for questioning to protect those in our communities who need our support.

We want victims of these horrendous offences to come to us and report what is going on so we can continue to execute operations such as this and bring those who are committing them to justice.

We are here, we will listen and we take all reports seriously.
Malaika Arora's Onam Celebration

Malaika Arora Took to Her Instagram Feed to Showcase the Joyous Moments

MUMBAI: Bollywood Diva Malaika Arora recently embraced the spirit of Onam by celebrating the festive occasion with her family in Mumbai. Sharing a glimpse on social media, Malaika provided fans with candid insights into her Onam festivities that included traditional rituals, delectable feasts, and heartwarming family moments.

Malaika Arora took to her Instagram to showcase the joyous moments shared with her loved ones. The actress, along with her sister Amrita Arora, enjoyed Onam celebration, as they are of half-Malayalee heritage through their mother, Joyce Arora, who hails from Kerala.

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The first image portrays the trio, Malaika, her mother, and Amrita, elegantly posed near a dining table adorned with traditional banana leaves, each hosting a delightful assortment of dishes. The essence of Onam radiates through the second picture, displaying a vibrant pookalam (floral rangoli) created to enhance the festive ambiance. Another picture showcased the scrumptious Kerala sadya (traditional feast) that adorned their dining table.

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Expressing gratitude for the heartfelt culinary endeavors of her mother, Malaika penned, "Happy Onam. Wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous Onam  Mom, you are the world's best cook, and feeding friends and family makes you the happiest."

Notably, Onam, an annual harvest festival deeply rooted in the culture of Kerala, pays homage to the legendary asura king Mahabali and signifies good governance. The vibrant celebration brings forth a sense of unity and cultural heritage.
Harpreet Gill

Further Investigation in the matter is underway

NEW-DELHI: The Bhajanpura area of Northeast Delhi is in shock following the alleged shooting of Harpreet Gill (36), a senior manager at E-Commerce giant Amazon. The incident, which took place on Tuesday night around 11:40 pm, has left the community in disbelief. Gill and his friend Govind Singh (32) were targeted by five unidentified assailants, resulting in Gill's tragic death and Singh's critical injuries.

The shooting occurred in Subhash Vihar, where the victims were riding a motorcycle. The assailants, riding on both a scooter and a motorcycle, intercepted them, opening fire without warning. The brutal attack left Gill with a fatal head wound, and he was rushed to Jag Pradesh Chandra Hospital. Tragically, medical professionals were unable to save his life, and he was pronounced dead upon arrival. Singh is currently receiving medical treatment for his head injury at Lok Naik Jai Prakash Hospital.

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Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East) Joy Tirkey provided additional details, stating that Gill was a resident of Bhajanpura and held a senior managerial position at Amazon. The gunshot had entered the right side of his head and exited on the other side. Similarly, Govind, a local dhaba owner, was shot in the head and is now fighting for his life in the hospital.

Notably, Police swiftly launched an investigation into the matter, utilizing CCTV footage from the area to identify the attackers. The motive behind the shooting remains unclear and is currently under investigation. A murder case has been registered in connection with the incident.

Preliminary findings suggest that a verbal altercation transpired between the victims and the assailants prior to the deadly shooting. Govind shared with the police that the attackers appeared to be young, around 18 to 19 years of age. One of the suspects identified is a local criminal named Maya, based on the ongoing investigation.

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The grieving family of Harpreet Gill is demanding justice and stringent actions against those responsible for his untimely demise. Karnail Singh, Gill's father, expressed their disbelief and anguish, recounting the last moments shared with his son. Gill's mother, too, emphasized his hardworking nature and called for justice to prevail.


Controversy

Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin are integral parts of India: Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar

China's recent release of the 2023 edition of its 'standard map' has provoked a sharp response from India, as it includes contentious territories such as Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as part of China's sovereign territory. The map, which also encompasses Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea, has drawn criticism from India, with Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar reaffirming the country's unequivocal stance on its territorial integrity.

China's official release of the map was met with skepticism by India, who promptly rejected its claims over the contested regions. Foreign Minister Jaishankar underscored the point that Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin are integral parts of India, dismissing the notion of drawing a map as irrelevant in the face of established sovereignty. "This government is very clear about what our areas are. Making absurd claims does not make other people's territories your own," he emphasized.

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The Map, revealed on Monday and made available on the website of China's Ministry of Natural Resources-owned Standard Map Service, is based on China's methodology for demarcating international borders. China's assertive cartography has been a contentious issue globally, particularly with its 'nine-dash line' claim over the vast expanse of the South China Sea.

Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin have historically been subjects of territorial dispute between India and China since the 1962 war. The opposition Congress party voiced its strong objection to China's portrayal of these regions, asserting that they are integral parts of India. The Congress criticized China for its repeated attempts to alter the names and boundaries of areas associated with other countries.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge remarked, "China has been a habitual criminal in the matter of changing the name of the areas associated with other countries and showing them on the maps."

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As diplomatic tensions escalate over the cartographic portrayal, the Congress has urged the Indian government to raise the issue of China's intrusion into Indian territory at the upcoming G20 summit. This move reflects the gravity of the situation and the Congress' commitment to defending India's territorial integrity on the global stage.
India Alliance Meeting

We currently want 'Punjab Bachau Front': SAD Leader Balwinder Singh Bhundar

MUMBAI: The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (India), a coalition of opposition parties, is set to convene its third meeting in Mumbai, Maharashtra, with the anticipation of welcoming new members into its fold. Notably, news has surfaced that the alliance has extended an invitation to the Shiromani Akali Dal to join its ranks, a development confirmed by Shiromani Akali Dal leader Balwinder Singh Bhundar. While discussions continue, the Akali Dal has expressed its primary focus on the 'Punjab Bachau Front', as indicated by Bhundar.

Sources suggest that Nitish Kumar of Bihar has been engaging with the Akali Dal in the context of this alliance. However, Akali leader Prem Singh Chandumajra offered a different perspective, asserting that the alliance appears unprincipled and inconsistent. Chandumajra emphasized that the Akali Dal would not align with an alliance that seemingly serves to protect a particular family and party. He further stressed that the Akali Dal is known for advocating the federal structure, contrasting with Congress' perceived disregard for it.

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Notably, Chandumajra made it clear that, at present, there is no likelihood of the Akali Dal aligning with the proposed alliance. The complexity of alliance dynamics is further evident in the stance of Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Waring. He categorically rejected the idea of an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal, describing it as an attempt by the latter to enhance its standing within the BJP's orbit. Raja Waring, in a tweet, expressed that the Akali Dal, having lost political ground, is now seeking relevance through the mantle of the I.N.D.I.A alliance.

It is worth noting that the 'India' Alliance, established with the aim of challenging the ruling BJP in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, has previously convened meetings in Patna, Bihar, and Bangalore, Karnataka. The third gathering, scheduled for August 31 and September 1 in Mumbai, is anticipated to witness the participation of several other political parties seeking to contribute to the coalition's mission.
Hot Air Balloons

The Ban is effective from August 29 to September 12 in the National Capital

NEW-DELHI: In Anticipation of the upcoming G-20 summit, Security concerns have prompted the Delhi Police to implement a ban on various airborne activities, including 'paragliders,' 'hang-gliders,' and hot air balloons, within the national capital. The ban, effective from August 29 to September 12, aims to ensure the safety of civilians, dignitaries, and vital institutions during the high-profile event. Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora issued the directive on Tuesday, emphasizing the need for heightened security measures.

The directive highlights that credible intelligence suggests the potential use of 'paragliders,' 'paramotors,' 'hang-gliders,' unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and remotely piloted aircraft by criminals, anti-social elements, or individuals with malicious intent. Additionally, concerns have been raised about the use of planes, hot air balloons, small vehicles, and 'para-jumping,' which could pose significant threats to public safety and security, as well as the integrity of key institutions.

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In light of these concerns, the city's top law enforcement official has enacted a temporary prohibition on the operation of such airborne vehicles within the national capital's jurisdiction for the duration of the G-20 summit. Violation of this ban is subject to legal action under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to disobedience to an official order.

"The order shall be effective starting from Tuesday and will remain in force until September 12," stated a police spokesperson. Notably, The G-20 summit, scheduled for September 9-10, is a significant diplomatic event that will bring together leaders and delegates from various nations. The heightened security measures underscore the importance of safeguarding the event's participants and the local populace.

It is worth mentioning here that to facilitate the transportation of delegates and other tourists arriving for the convention, the Delhi Police has established a digital help desk. This measure aims to enhance the overall experience of visitors and ensure their seamless movement within the city.
Ukraine is interested in the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, but intends to develop an alternative way to export agricultural products, which has already been used by two ships, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at a joint briefing with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna in Paris. The CTC writes that.

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"We are certainly interested in the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. But we have also, as a state, demonstrated that there is an alternative to the agreements with russia. There is a safe sea route, by which two ships left Ukrainian ports. This way will not be a hostage of Russian blackmail," he said. The head of the Ukrainian diplomacy noted.

He added that this way could be developed and strengthened. The minister said that he had discussed this issue with the French Foreign Minister.

In her turn, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna stressed that French support for Ukraine would be strengthened and would continue until Russian aggression was stopped. This support will not only continue, it will increase. It will continue for as long as it is needed to defeat Russian aggression," she said.
Morena

CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan Expresses Condolences & Grief over the demise of the Workers

MORENA: A Devastating incident unfolded at a food processing company in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh, claiming the lives of five workers, including three brothers, due to a suspected release of poisonous gas within the factory premises. The heart-wrenching event occurred at Sakshi Food Products in the Dhanela village of the district.

According to Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Bhupinder Singh Kushwaha, the distressing incident occurred around 11 am when noxious gas started leaking from a tank within the food processing facility. The initial exposure left one worker feeling unwell, and tragically, the toxic gas affected three more workers as it dispersed.

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Swift action was taken as all the affected workers were rushed to the district hospital. However, despite the efforts of medical professionals, Civil Surgeon Gajendra Singh Tomar was forced to declare all five workers deceased. Their bodies were subsequently transferred for post-mortem examination.

The factory, known for producing food processing products containing cherries and sugar-free chemicals, came under scrutiny after the incident. The victims have been identified as Ram Avtar Gujjar (35), Ramnaresh Gurjar (40), Veer Singh Gurjar (30), Ganesh Gurjar (40), and Giriraj Gurjar (28), three of whom were brothers. The unfortunate workers hailed from Tiktoli village.

The district administration, in response to the tragedy, promptly evacuated the factory premises as investigations into the incident are underway. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed his condolences and sorrow over the untimely demise of the workers.


BSF Seizes Heroin

Further investigation in the matter is underway

GURDASPUR: In a significant operation, the Border Security Force (BSF) successfully intercepted and recovered 6.3 kilograms of heroin concealed within a battery near the international border in the Gurdaspur sector on Tuesday evening. Acting on specific intelligence inputs, BSF personnel launched a thorough search operation near Dostpur village, under the jurisdiction of Kamalpur Jat post.

An official statement from the BSF confirmed that during the search operation, vigilant jawans uncovered six concealed packets containing narcotics. Upon closer inspection, the contents were identified as 6.3 kilograms of heroin.

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Significantly, The illicit substance had been ingeniously concealed within a 12-volt battery, revealing the sophisticated methods employed by traffickers to evade detection. Furthermore, amidst the recovered contraband, a separate packet weighing approximately 70 grams, suspected to contain opium, was also seized by the security personnel.


Gabon

Rebel Soldiers Announced the Coup shortly after President Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared Winner of the Presidential Polls

DAKAR: The military in Gabon has declared a coup, sending shockwaves through the Central African nation. The announcement was met with jubilant celebrations in the streets as rebel soldiers claimed power on state television. This dramatic move follows closely after President Ali Bongo Ondimba's victory in the presidential election results was announced.

The rebel soldiers announced the coup shortly after President Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, was declared the winner of the presidential election. The soldiers have revealed that President Ali Bongo Ondimba has been detained, and other government officials have also been arrested on various charges in the aftermath of the coup.

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This development carries significant weight due to the fact that the Ondimba family has held power in Gabon for the past 55 years. The abrupt shift in power signals a monumental change in the nation's political landscape.

Notably, The events unfolded rapidly, with reports of gunshots ringing out in the capital city of Libreville shortly after President Ondimba's victory was announced. Soon after, a group of soldiers claimed control of the government through a broadcast on state television. As news of the coup spread, citizens took to the streets in celebration, waving flags and singing the national anthem alongside the jubilant soldiers. The atmosphere was charged with emotion, reflecting a mixture of relief and anticipation for change.

Local citizen Yolande Okomo expressed her gratitude, saying, "Thank you army. Finally, we were waiting for this moment for a long time." The sentiment echoed the emotions of many who have been yearning for a shift in the nation's leadership.

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Fatal Accident in US

The News has engulfed Punjabi Community into deep sorrow

WASHINGTON, USA: The Punjabi community in both India and the United States is reeling from the heart-wrenching news of two fatal accidents involving residents who had embarked on journeys to America in search of a better life. Balwinder Singh, 42, hailing from Swajpur village near Patiala, and Inderpal Singh, 23, from Aadhi village in Jalandhar, both lost their lives in separate accidents in Washington.

In a sorrowful incident, Balwinder Singh's life was tragically cut short when two trolleys collided on a Washington road. Balwinder Singh had been eagerly anticipating a long-awaited reunion with his family. His wife, along with their 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, had recently left for the United states of America to meet Balwinder Singh after seven long years.

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In a separate incident, Inderpal Singh met with a fatal accident involving the trolley he was driving. The 23-year-old had made the journey to America six years ago, seeking opportunities and a chance to carve out a better future. Inderpal Singh was engaged in driving a trolley, a job that had become his means of livelihood. However, his aspirations were tragically cut short when his trolley collided with another, resulting in his untimely demise.


Sahilpreet Singh

Sahilpreet Singh Embarked on a Journey of Higher Education & Opportunities in Canada Four Months Ago

BRAMPTON: The Dreams of a young Punjabi student who ventured to Canada in pursuit of higher education and a brighter future have been shattered in a heart-wrenching accident. Sahilpreet Singh, a promising young man who embarked on a journey of opportunities four months ago, tragically lost his life on the morning of August 28 in a workplace incident.

Sahilpreet Singh, originally hailing from Punjab, India, had traveled to Canada with aspirations of achieving academic excellence and securing a better future. However, his dreams were abruptly cut short when he met with a fatal accident at Nexcycle Brampton, the workplace where he was employed. As per the reports, Sahilpreet was involved in an accident with a machine at Nexcycle Brampton. The tragic incident has left his family, friends, and the local community in shock and mourning.
Delivery Hero SE (DHER.DE, DLVHF.OB), a German online food delivery firm, on Wednesday posted a narrower loss for the first-half of 2023, amidst a rise in revenue, supported by the contribution of acquisition of Glovo.

For the six-month period to June 30, the company posted a net loss of 832.3 million euros, compared with restated 1.495 billion euros loss reported for the same period of 2022.

Pre-tax loss stood at 820.5 million euros as against previous year's restated 1.445 billion euros in loss.

Operating loss was at 461.2 million euros, compared with restated 1.041 billion euros in loss a year ago.

On adjusted basis, EBITDA was 9.2 million euros compared with previous year's loss of 323 million euros.

Revenue moved up by 26.8 percent to 4.839 billion euros from last year's restated 3.815 billion euros. Excluding the Glovo acquisition, revenue increase would have been 11.6 percent.

Looking ahead, for full year 2023, Delivery Hero, said:"We continue expecting adjusted EBITDA of the Segments to break even in 2023 and become positive for the entire year for the first time in the Group's history. As a result, we still expect an adjusted EBITDA/GMV margin of more than 0.5% for the full year 2023 and more than 1.0% in H2 2023"

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced the first 10 drugs selected for Medicare to negotiate with drug manufacturers to lower their prices.

These 10 drugs are taken by 9 million senior U.S. citizens, according to Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden. They cover chronic conditions like cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes that can cost up to $14,000 per month.

Lowering the cost of these drugs will help millions of Americans who struggle to afford prescription drugs. "Far too many Americans have to ration prescriptions, cutting a pill in half or taking a lower dose than they need, because their drugs are simply too expensive," Tanden said at a news conference.

An additional 15 drugs will be selected for negotiation each of the next two years and then 20 drugs a year going forward, Tanden told reporters.

It is estimated that one in five seniors in the United States struggle to pay for prescription drugs. Americans pay two to three times more for prescription drugs than citizens in other developed countries.

For example, more than half a million Medicare beneficiaries rely on Entresto to treat their heart disease. This drug costs less than $150 in Australia and more than $300 in the U.S.

Imbruvica, one of the selected drugs that treats cancer, costs $6,000 a month in France. In the United States, it's almost $14,000 a month  more than double.

Tanden said pharmaceutical companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to stop Medicare from negotiating lower costs which enabled them to charge whatever they can.

The 10 drugs covered under Medicare Part D selected for negotiation under the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program are Eliquis (Prevention and treatment of blood clots), Jardiance (Diabetes; Heart failure), Xarelto (Prevention and treatment of blood clots; Reduction of risk for patients with coronary or peripheral artery disease), Januvia (Diabetes), Farxiga (Diabetes; Heart failure; Chronic kidney disease)), Entresto (Heart failure), Enbrel (Rheumatoid arthritis; Psoriasis; Psoriatic arthritis), Imbruvica (Blood cancers), Stelara (Psoriasis; Psoriatic arthritis; Crohn's disease; Ulcerative colitis), Fiasp, Fiasp FlexTouch, Fiasp PenFill, NovoLog, NovoLog FlexPen and NovoLog PenFill (Diabetes).

The negotiations with participating drug companies for the selected drugs will occur in 2023 and 2024 with the negotiated prices coming into effect in 2026.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to publish the maximum fair prices that have been negotiated for drugs on September 1, 2024.

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Health News
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended marketing authorization for Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and BioNTech's (BNTX) Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted monovalent COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty Omicron XBB.1.5) administered as a single dose for individuals 5 years of age and older, regardless of prior COVID-19 vaccination history, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday.

The companies said that the Committee has also recommended the updated vaccine for children 6 months through 4 years of age as part or all of the primary three-dose vaccination series, depending on how many prior doses they received, or as single dose for those with a history of completion of a COVID-19 primary vaccination course or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The recommendation is based on pre-clinical data showing that the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted monovalent COVID-19 vaccine generates an improved response against multiple XBB-related sublineages, including XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, XBB.2.3, and EG.5.1 (Eris), which continue to dominate globally.

The European Commission will review the CHMP's recommendation and is expected to make a final decision soon. Following a decision from the Commission, the updated vaccine will be ready to ship to applicable EU member states immediately, the companies said.

Pfizer and BioNTech stated that they have also filed an application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting approval of their Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted monovalent COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 6 months of age and older. A decision is expected in the coming days. The companies have submitted data for the updated COVID-19 vaccine to other regulatory authorities around the world.

For More Such Health News, visit rttnews.com

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Business News
Japan is scheduled to release a batch of data on Thursday, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are July figures for industrial production, retail sales, construction orders and housing starts.

Production is expected to slip 1.4 percent on month after rising 2.4 percent in June. Sales are called higher by an annual 5.4 percent, easing from 5.9 percent in the previous month. Construction orders are tipped to add 2.1 percent on year, down from 8.6 percent a month earlier. Housing starts are expected to fall 0.8 percent on year after sinking 4.8 percent in June.

Australia will provide Q2 data for capital spending and July figures for private sector credit. Capex is expected to rise 1.1 percent on quarter, down from 2.4 percent in the previous three months. Credit is tipped to add 0.3 percent on month, up from 0.2 percent in June.

South Korea will release July numbers for industrial production and retail sales. Production is expected to sink 0.4 percent on month and 5.2 percent on year after falling 1.0 percent on month and 5.6 percent on year in June. Sales are called flat on month after rising 1.0 percent in June.

China will see August results for its manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite indexes; in July, their scores were 49.3, 51.5 and 51.1, respectively.

Hong Kong will release July numbers for retail sales; in June, sales were up 19.6 percent on year.

Thailand will provide July data for industrial production, current account, imports, exports and trade balance. Production is expected to fall 4.00 percent on year after dropping 5.24 percent in June. The current account surplus in June was $1.40 billion. Imports were down 9.3 percent on year in the previous month and exports fell 5.9 percent for trae surplus of $2.0 billion.

Finally, the in Malaysia are closed on Thursday for National Day and will re-open on Friday.

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Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Isivivane Fund recipient, Nokubonga Msweli

by Tanya Sylvia Mugwagwa

Nokubonga Msweli, a 3rd-year Bachelor of Pharmacy student at Rhodes University, is a beneficiary of a Clicks Foundation bursary through Rhodes University's Isivivane Fund. Originally from Mandeni in Kwa-Zulu Natal, Nokubonga expressed that her upbringing and background inspired her to choose a STEM-related profession.

"I decided to pursue a degree in Pharmacy as I grew up in a rural area with inadequate access to medicinal care. Seeing elderly people in my community relying on limited medication supplies for their health and well-being helped me see the significance of healthcare professionals in our communities," she said.

Nokubonga is a hardworking young woman who has maintained a solid academic record. "I always strive towards academic excellence," Nokubonga expressed. "I obtained an average of 82% for my Matric results, and I currently have a university academic record of above 65%."

According to Nokubonga, the bursary is a life-changing opportunity, as her parents do not have adequate financial resources to fund her degree. This opportunity lessens the financial burden on me significantly and allows me to focus on my studies," she said. Furthermore, being awarded this bursary has played a considerable role in getting her closer to her dream of being a pharmacist.

According to Nokubonga, the bursaries, such as the one offered by the Clicks Foundation, enable historically disadvantaged individuals like herself to have access to careers in STEM where women are underrepresented.

"I think it is vital for young women in our generation to be empowered and supported to pursue STEM careers to close the gender gap in these fields", she remarked. "A career in STEM not only provides women with economic security and independence, but it enables them to make invaluable contributions to the world of science and technology."

Nokubonga advises young women wishing to pursue a career in STEM to prioritise their education and take every opportunity to learn and grow. "I truly believe that education is the most powerful tool to enable young girls from underprivileged communities to empower themselves, to fulfil their dreams, and to make a difference in their communities," she said.

Nokubonga is a sterling example of what the ISIVIVANE Fund aims to achieve. Many young women from disadvantaged backgrounds in South Africa still face financial challenges and difficulties that inhibit them from pursuing careers in underrepresented fields in STEM.

We invite any contributions and donations to the campaign that'll assist the University to continue empowering young women to reach their goals. To read more about Rhodes University priority projects, including Isivivane and to make a donation, please click on the link below:

https://www.ru.ac.za/givingtorhodes/
The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court satisfied the claim of the Ministry of Justice for the recovery of assets belonging to the sanctioned senator of the Federation Council of the terrorist country of Russia Sergey Kalashnikov to the income of Ukraine. The matter concerns the nationalization of 100% of the authorized capital of the Motordetal-Konotop LLC in Sumy Region.

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This enterprise is one of the largest plants in Europe, where cylinder liners for automobile, diesel locomotive and ship engines are produced. This is reported by the press service of the SSU (Security Service of Ukraine).

Before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, the products of the Ukrainian Kalashnikov plant were supplied to Russia for the needs of the Russian military-industrial complex. In particular, the unique components of the Konotop plant were necessary for the Russians to produce their own warships.

In addition, Kalashnikov, a senator of the Federation Council from the Kostroma region, voted for the ratification of "treaties" recognizing the so-called "l/dpr".

After the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion, he supported the "annexation" of the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine to the aggressor country.

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As previously reported by OBOZREVATEL, SSU law enforcers conducted an operational detention and searches in the house of an Odessian who fought against our country as part of the terrorist group "LPR". In 2014, he fiercely supported the foreign policy of dictator Vladimir Putin, participated in the provocations on May 2 at Kulikovo Field in Odessa, and then left for Donbass to join the Russian army.
A portrait from an earlier 'My Body My Choice' campaign

By Lindsay Kelland

The Office of Equity and Institutional Culture is excited to announce the return of the 'My Body, My Choice' campaign to Rhodes University. The phrase, 'My Body My Choice,' originates in the women-led movement for reproductive rights in the United States but has been widely used by different activist collectives pursuing their rights to bodily integrity and self-determination. Rhodes University can boast a history of active feminist work on campus, including a decade's worth of photographic campaigns under the banner of 'My Body, My Choice' focused on the reclamation of embodiment.

In its early years, the campaign followed the annual 'Silent Protest'  an anti-rape protest designed at Rhodes University that stood in solidarity with survivors and aimed to raise awareness of both the extent of rape in our communities, as well as the inherently silencing nature and effects of rape and sexual violence. Sexual violence affects not only those who survive it but also their families, loved ones and society more broadly.

Occurring a month after the 'Silent Protest,' the 'My Body, My Choice' (MBMC) campaign was initially designed for survivors as an exercise of agency and empowerment. In later years, however, the movement broadened its scope to explore the various ways our bodiesall our bodiesare shaped and constrained by the world(s) in which we live.

As existential philosophers remind us, we are embodied subjects thrown into a world that imbues us with meaning, meaning that we come to objectively embody for ourselves and others but which we may not have chosen or identify with. This meaning can alienate us from ourselves and has real material consequences in our daily lives. Over the years, the RU|MBMC campaign has become a space where we reclaim ourselvesour embodimentand explore the meaning we attribute to ourselves and our relationships with our bodies as mediated by social norms and values in dialogue with others.

This year's photographer is a young, emerging South African artist and educator, CJ Chandler, who "aims to investigate the photographic medium while focusing on chance, process, ritual, identity, and the every day." CJ holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, Cape Town. He was a Tierney Fellow in 2017. In the Fall Semester of 2019, Chandler worked with Stephen Shore on an academic exchange at Bard College in upstate New York, USA. In 2021, he completed his MFA through HFBK Hamburg, Germany, under Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. He teaches photography part-time at the Michaelis School of Fine Art while pursuing his personal practice."

Born in Makhanda in 1992, CJ is excited to return to our small city to embark on this year's journey with participants.

Portraits from this year's RU|MBMC campaign  Reclaiming Embodiment'  will be exhibited at an event hosted by the Office of Equity and Institutional Culture and designed to open up conversations around embodied subjectivity in all its dimensions  gendered, raced, sexed, queered, classed, abled, medicated, aged, etc.

As an institution of higher learning committed to producing graduates "who are critical and democratic citizens and ethical leaders who are committed to the values of human understanding, social justice, human development and service to society," we must both acknowledge the necessity of creating spaces in which these difficult, sometimes controversial, conversations can take place and welcome the opportunity to engage in critical self-reflection on ourselves as individuals and as an institution, in conversation with others. In reviving the RU|MBMC campaign, we honour past members of our community who always pushed us to have these conversations.

For those who still want to sign up as participants, visit the RUConnected page and fill in the following form: https://forms.gle/KWkNtV3CoygufUV1A.

We look forward to welcoming all of you to the event.

.
As opposed to JDM-exclusive Century sedan with bespoke V12 engine, Toyota Century SUV could sport hybrid powertrains only

Luxury SUV rage has engulfed most of the automotive brands across the world. Legacy car brands have jumped in the pond too  Lamborghini has Urus, Ferrari has Purosangue, Bentley Bentayga, Aston Martin DBX, Porsche has Cayenne and even Rolls-Royce has Cullinan. Toyota has entered the chat with Century SUV.

Toyota Century SUV teased  The most luxurious Toyota ever!

Century is one of Toyotas brands that embodies the pinnacle of what this Japanese behemoth of a company can achieve in luxury arena. If youre unfamiliar with Century brand, theres a good reason for that as it always has been JDM exclusive. Now for the first time, Toyota is making Century brand global with its first ultra-luxury SUV.

Just recently confirmed, Toyota will unveil Century SUV on 6th September. Once debuted, launch could follow soon and there is a possibility of this hitting our shores as well. We say this because Toyota is making a habit of launching chauffeur-driven vehicles in India soon after their global debut.

We saw this trend with Toyota Vellfire and Lexus LM. If so, this will be the first Century vehicle to go on sale in India. In Toyotas grand scheme of things, Century brand slots above everything else in terms of luxury and opulence. Even above Toyotas premium brand Lexus.

Century brand first debuted in 1967. Since then, it has been a sedan-only bespoke lineup for JDM market. With Century SUV going global, Toyota is highly likely to leave the bespoke factor behind. Rumour mill suggests Century SUV will get same underpinnings as Toyota Grand Highlander. This is a monocoque platform and might sport hybrid powertrains from Grand Highlander too.

No more bespoke V12  Say hello to hybrids

If this is true, were looking at a big SUV with around 5.3 meters in length and 2 meters in width. Wheelbase will easily be greater than 3 meters. Exterior design will be stately and elegant, taking design cues from Century sedan. Were not so sure about Centurys Gold Phoenix logo on global models, which represents Imperial House of Japan.

On the inside, we can expect Century SUV to feature 2-row and 3-row seating layout options. Exquisite materials and skilled Takumi craftsmanship will be a standout attribute for Century SUV. We hope the collapsible front passenger seat backrest from Century sedan makes it here as well.

Powertrains with Century SUV might not be very bespoke, just like its platform. Possibility of a bespoke V12 gasoline engine is very thin. Hybrid powertrains shared with Toyota Grand Highlander could be a more sensible option. If launched in India, Toyota Century SUV will lock horns with Mercedes-Benz GLS, BMW XM, Land Rover Range Rover and the likes.
Mankind has suddenly entered a new phase of the space race, the goal of which, as 60 years ago, is to land on the Moon. After decades of oblivion, the Earth's satellite has suddenly become necessary for many world countries that want to get to the south pole of the Moon before others.

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The new era of the space race is described by Inverse. As in the 1960s, the space motives of world powers are not limited to scientific thirst.

Now it seems that all countries with some space weight are eager to land their vehicle on the south pole of the Moon. India recently carried out a successful moon landing, while representatives of the aggressor country Russia again proved the truth of the expression "haste makes waste". The Russian spacecraft did end up on the Moon, but there is a nuance.

The United States, unlike Russia, is working more thoroughly on its lunar program and plans to land a crew on the satellite in 2025. China is preparing to send its landing module there but without a crew.

Hardly the most important factor in this excitement is the discovery of water ice hidden in the shadows of deep craters near the moon's south pole. It is what makes lunar programs so attractive to many countries.

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In addition, NASA sees the Moon as a space outpost that will later help Americans make a manned mission to Mars. We are talking about the creation of two Gateway bases: one directly on the Moon and the second in its orbit.

At the same time, China, India and Russia, although they have more distant plans to go to Mars, also want to get to the Moon, but only to prove their space ambitions.

The situation is somewhat complicated by the fact that different countries are trying to land their vehicles in the same lunar zone, so whoever gets there first will have the best conditions.

Why is the south pole of the Moon so important?

The south pole region of the Moon has rugged terrain and is heavily dotted with craters. This sets it apart from the relatively smooth and flat expanses that Apollo astronauts landed on in the 1970s. It is these deep, shaded craters that contain the water ice essential to the existence of lunar bases.

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Ice is useful not only because it is water that can be drunk or used for base activities. It can also be thawed and then broken down into hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used for rocket fuel or, in the case of oxygen, to give astronauts something to breathe.

The existence of ice on the Moon simplifies logistics because it is not profitable to deliver water in large quantities from Earth. Water is very heavy, so shipping it would be expensive, both in terms of money (since it would take the place of cargo for which a profit could be made) and in terms of fuel.

Thus, getting water, rocket fuel and air from a neighboring crater is certainly more profitable than launching them from Earth.

Lunar ice, or rather its derivatives, could also be used by Martian missions, which wouldn't have to lift extra cargo to overcome Earth's gravity.

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Who is going to the Moon

The main participants in the space chase are the United States, China, India and Russia. These countries will perform not only their mission but will also deliver other countries' vehicles to the Earth's satellite. In particular, the Chinese spacecraft will have instruments from France, Italy, Sweden and Pakistan on board. India plans to conduct the next mission with Japan, while NASA will cooperate with the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as the space agencies of Germany, Israel, Italy and Japan as part of the Artemis program.

Plan for lunar missions through 2035

2024: Artemis II mission astronauts will orbit the Moon. China's Chang'e-6 lander will return rock and regolith samples from the far side of the Moon.

2025: NASA will launch the first two modules of the Gateway space station. Astronauts will land at the Moon's south pole as part of the Artemis III mission.

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2026: China's crewless Chang'e-7 mission will land near the Moon's south pole with a landing vehicle and drone.

2027: Russia's Luna-26 mission (if it continues after the Luna-25 accident) will fly around the poles of the Moon.

2026-2028: India's uncrewed Chandrayaan-4 mission will land a lunar rover at the Moon's south pole with cooperation wth Japan.

2028: China's uncrewed Changye-8 mission will land at the Moon's south pole and test technology to 3D print buildings from regolith. NASA's Artemis IV mission will land more astronauts on the Moon and deliver the main habitation module to the Gateway.

2029: The Artemis V mission will deliver more astronauts and a lunar lander to the Moon.

2029-2031: NASA will deliver four more modules to Gateway and land more astronauts on the Moon as part of the Artemis-VI manned mission.

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2035: China and Russia plan to establish a shared manned lunar base called the International Lunar Exploration Station.

Earlier OBOZREVATEL spoke about the fact that NASA suggests that there may be life on the Moon.

Subscribe to OBOZREVATEL channels on Telegram and Viber to be aware of the latest events.
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Santa Margarita River California Trout Conservation San Diego Illustration by Samantha Lacy

The low, concrete Sandia Creek Bridge over the Santa Margarita River isnt exactly guilty of murder. But it has the same effect on endangered Southern California steelhead living downstream as a mobster garroting a disloyal colleague with piano wire.Thats why people such as Mary Larson have spent the last 22 years buried in newspapers and microfiche archives, compiling evidence, like cold case detectives, to prove steelhead once flourished in places like the Santa Margarita. Confirm that, and the government will put money on the table to restore the river.With the help of Larson and others like her, CalTrouta conservation nonprofit dedicated to protecting Californias watershedssecured $18 million to erect a new, 20-foot-high steel bridge that clears a path for steelhead. Goodbye, low fish-blocking bridge. Hello, free-flowing Santa Margarita.

Santa Margarita River Dam California Trout Conservation San Diego Illustration by Samantha Lacy

Once Sandia Creek Bridge is eliminated, the Santa Margarita will become the first Southern California river freed of any human-made barrier from its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean. And steelhead will no longer be choked off from an extra 12 miles of pristine breeding grounds.Larson first started working for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1988. In 2001, she moved into steelhead restoration work. For her, that might mean scouring hand-scrawled records from the first missions that colonized California, searching for the word trucha (the Spanish word for trout), or cataloging an old fishing scrapbook full of Andy Griffithlike men proudly bearing their steelhead catch near a creek she studied along the Malibu Coast.Its a lot of work just trying to figure out where the fish were, Larson says. Some streams  were peoples secret fishing holes that they didnt tell anyone about.From a distance, the bend in the Santa Margarita which the new bridge will soon span lives quietly in a canyon bed protected by a privately managed preserve. On the winding drive there from Fallbrook, squatty coastal sage scrub fades into tall leaning oaks trellising the road, casting magical, dappled light across the water.

Santa Margarita River California Trout Conservation San Diego Illustration Illustration by Samantha Lacy

Nobody has reported seeing a steelhead here in recent memory. The fishs federally endangered designation carries such weight that casting a pole is prohibited in the whole Santa Margarita and any other rivers that might be home to a steelhead. But these special fish were recently detected another way.A geneticist by training, Sandy Jacobson tells me that new scientific technology sniffed out steelhead below Sandia Creek Bridge. Digital methods can pinpoint and amplify a small amount of steelhead DNA from a single water sample. Its one thing to find scrapbooks hinting steelhead thrived in these waters decades ago; quite another to locate their genetic material floating somewhere below the bridge.Jacobson directs the work of CalTrout in Californias South Coast and Sierra regions. She began her career in cancer research but is also a fly fisherwoman who wrote a grant to do genetic surveys for fish trapped behind barriers.I wanted to know where the native trout were, she says.As I reported this story, it finally dawned on me that steelhead and trout were being used interchangeably by my sources. Growing up, I thought trout belonged to my native Wisconsin. On the contrary, its progenitors are steelhead, these native Pacific Ocean residents who fight river currents to mate in the cool headwaters of Western rivers.These fish all began as ocean-dwellers, just as life itself is derived from the ocean, says Mark Capelli, the South-Central California steelhead recovery coordinator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. They evolved with the landscape of Southern California and use every part of the watershed, from the estuary or the rivers mouthto the farthest upstream tributaries.

For Southern California steelhead conservationists, old fishing scrapbooks are more than mere memoriestheyre evidence that the now-elusive fish once thrived in the Southern California rivers. A family shared these photos with the CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.

Thats the way it was until Californias settlers lined rivers with concrete and dammed them for drinking water. River habitat has been so destroyed that, though rainbow trout and Southern California steelhead are biologically the same fish, the latter has been on the federal list of endangered species since 1997.And thats also why, any time I wanted, I could glide my fingers over the embalmed scales of a 34-inch rainbow troutthe inland sister to the steelheadnailed to my fathers wall. Not because theyre native to the Midwest, but because they adapted to thrive all over the world.Steelhead were introduced on every continent except Antarctica, Capelli tells me. But they are truly native to Southern California.They are part of the SoCal story, he adds.But steelhead are an introverted fishyou might call them loners. Scientists dont know much about what adult steelhead do when they return to the ocean after mating in terrestrial waters. They dont school up and travel by the hundreds like Pacific salmon. No one is out trolling or casting off a pier, hoping for a strike from the salmon familys sleek, elusive cousin whose skin looks touched by a rust-red watercolor brush stroke.

Santa Margarita River California Trout Conservation San Diego Department of Wildlife Fly Fishing Photos

Steelhead are a keystone species, an animal whose well-being determines the health of its ecosystem. Theyre also tough. They can withstand low-oxygen environments and huge temperature swings and have even been found surviving in pools of water reaching 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Southern California steelheads endangered existence means the watersheds where they are born, mature, leave, and return to are also in peril from development and human-caused climate change.A lot of very experienced fish biologists who dont have much familiarity with Southern California are amazed the fish exists at all, Capelli says.Removing dams, low bridges, and barriers is essential for the survival of steelhead. And water quality in the Santa Margarita River is key not only for the health of its creatures, but humans, too. The growing city of Fallbrook, home to more than 32,000 residents, will soon be drinking from the Santa Margarita River as drought-parched Southern California towns search for more local water supplies. If steelhead are there, that means the water is healthier for humans. Getting rid of the low concrete bridge is a win for fish and people.On a brisk January morning, Larson stood a stones throw from the offending Sandia Creek Bridge, ready to bear witness to the fruits of her long labor. Construction workers, contractors, archaeologists, biologists, tribal representatives, and environmental activists stood in a large circle, gathered to plot the bridges demise.

The group trekked single-file to a meadow off De Luz Road where materials would be stored during construction. Bridge builders in fluorescent-orange-and-white hard hats watched uneasily as a biologist staked out patches of rare flowering plants with short, pink flagsindicating areas that should be preserved in the middle of their new work zone. The scene was emblematic of the historic conflict between development and wildlands in California.Everything is sensitive habitat now. Its been that way for a long time, says Bill Saumier, the cool-natured construction manager at Gannett Fleming and a former sport fisherman.But this project is different, Saumier says. He takes me to a high bluff and draws with his hands the outline of the new bridge that will free the Santa Margarita.So much going on with the environment is negative these days. Were building and think we have good intentions, he says.A lot of species are going extinct, Saumier adds. This time, were doing something good for our future.
Russian troops launched a new attack on Ukraine on the night of August 30. They launched 44 aerial targets at peaceful Ukrainian towns and villages: 28 missiles and 16 kamikaze drones.

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Air Defense Forces shot down 43 air targets. This was reported by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny.

"All 28 cruise missiles and 15 of 16 attack UAVs were destroyed. The enemy attacked the territory of Ukraine with cruise missiles and strike UAVs this night. A total of 44 enemy air targets were recorded: 28 X-101/X-555/X-5 air-to-air missiles were fired from 11 Tu-95ms strategic aircraft from the Caspian Sea and Engels area.16 Shahed strike UAVs were launched from the southern and northern directions (Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Kursk)," Zaluzhny said.

He added that the forces and means of air defense of the Air Force in cooperation with the Air Defense Forces of Ukraine destroyed all 28 cruise missiles and 15 strike UAVs over the Kyiv, Cherkasy, Odesa and Mykolayiv regions.

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The destruction of 43 aerial targets (air-to-air cruise missiles and attack drones) was also confirmed by the Air Forces of the AFU.

"All 28 cruise missiles and 15 of 16 attack UAVs were destroyed. The enemy attacked the territory of Ukraine with cruise missiles and strike UAVs this night. A total of 44 enemy air targets were recorded: 28 X-101/X-555/X-5 air-to-air missiles were fired from 11 Tu-95ms strategic aircraft from the Caspian Sea and Engels area.16 Shahed strike UAVs were launched from the southern and northern directions (Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Kursk). Air defense worked along the route of missiles and drones in several regions of Ukraine. Anti-aircraft missile forces, fighter aviation, mobile fire groups and other means of defeat were involved in repelling the air attack," the report said.

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The alarm began to spread across Ukraine after midnight. It continued throughout the night. The country was completely red at around 5 a.m.

Explosions were heard in the Cherkasy and Kyiv regions, where the air defense system was triggered.

They fought off the attack on the morning of August 30. According to local authorities, debris fell in two districts of the capital, mainly in the Darnitskyi and Shevchenkivskyi districts. It fell on non-residential buildings, particularly shopping centers. The debris also caused a fire in an open area of the Shevchenkivskyi district.

Two security guards of the enterprise in the Shevchenkivskyi district were killed and three people were injured. It is known about the victims in the Kyiv region as well. There were also damaged residential houses and fires as a result of falling debris.

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Infrastructure was damaged by debris in the Zhytomyr region.
The new national airline of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Air announced that it has partnered with Colleges of Excellence, a pioneer in providing both men and women with technical and vocational training in aviation maintenance engineering.

Read More: Riyadh Air Warns Job Seekers Against Fraudsters

According to officials, the partnership demonstrates the efforts made by the two institutions to increase women's participation in the aviation industry.

As part of Saudi Vision 2030, it will offer mentorship and on-the-job training for women, supporting in their empowerment.

Ayman Al Abdullah and Tony Douglas, the CEOs of Colleges of Excellence and Riyadh Air, respectively, signed the deal.

The program will teach trainees about advanced technologies and aircraft maintenance. Up to 700 pilots will be hired by Riyadh Air during the next three years. Riyadh Air was founded in March and intends to begin flying in 2025.
Russia launched a combined attack on Ukraine on August 30. The invaders attacked the Kyiv region with kamikaze drones and missiles, Air Defense Forces were working.

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Private houses, a two-story non-residential building and a cemetery were damaged in several settlements. This was reported by the head of the police of the Kyiv region Andriy Nebytov.

"The consequences of the night attack of the occupiers are being recorded by the police officers of the Kyiv region. Private houses were damaged as a result of debris fall. Fortunately, without casualties. The debris was also found on the territory of the local cemetery, where there was a fire, which was promptly extinguished by employees of the State Emergency Service," Nebytov said.

He also reported that a two-story building was damaged as a result of a kamikaze drone attack in another locality in the region. A fire broke out there. The watchman did not ignore the alert notification and made his way to the shelter, which saved his life.

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"Once again I urge citizens not to ignore the signals of the air alarm and head to the bomb shelters in time as your health and life depend on it," Nebytov wrote.

According to the head of the police of Kyiv region, more than six residential houses were damaged and there were wounded civilians.

"More than 6 private houses are damaged as a result of falling debris of missiles and drones in one more of the districts of the Kyiv region. A 69-year-old woman received burns. 43-year-old and 49-year-old men in one of the houses had minor cuts. Garage buildings and two cars were also destroyed." Nebytov said.

He added that private houses were also damaged in another of the districts of Kyiv region. The roofing and windows were damaged. There was also a fire in the grass deck, which the rescuers managed to extinguish quickly.

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"Emergency services are working at the sites. Police officers are inspecting and recording the consequences of the night enemy strike. I thank our air defense forces for the effective destruction of deadly weapons of the Russian Federation," Nebytov noted.

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Law enforcers are working at the wreckage sites.

According to the Main Department of the State Emergency Situations Service, there were fires, destruction of residential houses and burning of grass decking as a result of massive enemy attack and air defense work in the Fastivskyi and Buchanskyi districts of the Kyiv region on the night of August 30.

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"A total of 35 personnel of the State Emergency Situations Service and 8 units of special equipment were involved to eliminate the consequences of enemy attack. All fires were successfully extinguished", the rescuers said.

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The alarm began to spread across Ukraine after midnight. It continued throughout the night. As of 5 a.m., almost all regions of our country were red.

Explosions were heard in the Cherkasy and Kyiv regions, where the air defense system was triggered.

They fought off the attack in the morning of August 30. According to local authorities, debris fell in two districts of the capital, Darnytskyi and Shevchenkivskyi in particular. The debris fell on non-residential buildings, particularly shopping centers. There was a fire in an open area in the Shevchenkivskyi district.

Two security guards of the enterprise were killed in Shevchenkivskyi district. Three more people were injured with varying degrees of severity.

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The Russians are transferring additional units from the territory of the Russian Federation to the Kupinsk-Lyman direction. The enemy is trying to attack using armored vehicles, but the Defense Forces are holding them back, with the fiercest fighting taking place near Raihorodok and Kovalivka.

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Ukrainian soldiers are slowly moving forward in the Bakhmut direction. Colonel-General and commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky told the Military Media Center about the situation on the eastern front.

Syrsky noted that the situation in the east remains difficult. In particular, the enemy is increasing its efforts in the Kupiansk-Lyman direction.

"Our units continue to hold back the enemy's offensive in the Kupiansk-Lyman direction. The fiercest fighting is taking place in the areas of Raihorodok and Kovalivka settlements, where the enemy, despite losses, is trying to break through the defense of our troops, using assault squads on armored vehicles. At the same time, the enemy is regrouping and bringing in new units from the territory of the Russian Federation to increase the number and combat effectiveness of its troops," the commander of the Ground Forces said.

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No less fierce fighting is taking place in the Bakhmut direction. The Russians are trying to repel the lost positions at any cost. However, the defenders are slowly moving forward.

"There are daily hot battles in the Bakhmut direction. The enemy is trying to regain lost positions at any cost, attacking our units several times a day. We are taking all measures to disrupt the enemy's plans and are gradually moving forward. In particular, intensive fighting is taking place in the areas of Bakhmut, Kurdiumivka, Yahidne and Andriivka. Therefore, special attention today is paid to work in these areas," Syrsky said.

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He assured that he analyzes the situation together with the commanders of operational-tactical groups and brigades daily.

"We decide on the actions of our troops on the ground, as well as take all measures for the successful fulfillment of combat tasks. We are doing everything possible for the sake of our Victory. Glory to Ukraine!" Syrsky emphasized.

The General staff of the AFU reported that there were 35 military clashes on the front over the past day on August 30. The defenders continue to conduct offensive operations in the Melitopol direction, consolidate on the achieved borders and carry out measures of counter-battery warfare.

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The defenders also continue to inflict losses on the enemy. The AFU hit four enemy SAMs and Solntsepek the day before.
Participants at Ypsilanti PreK for All listening session.

Providers expressed concerns about wages, prep time, and the impact of 4-year-olds being moved out of existing childcare and preschool programs.

Across the state, early childhood education advocacy groups are holding listening sessions.

Michelle Richard, senior education advisor to Governor Gretchen Whitmer, wanted to hear both concerns and suggestions for the state's PreK for All roll-out.

Frances Einterz, Policy Equity Groups senior director of early childhood equity initiatives
Applications for new rounds of neighborhood and homeowner improvement grants are now available for targeted city of Muskegon neighborhoods.The grants are funded by a one-time award of $349,000 the city received from the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan.Fair housing centers across the country received settlement dollars from Fannie Mae  the government-supported residential mortgage institution -- from a lawsuit over foreclosed homes not being properly maintained in urban neighborhoods.The citys Fair Housing award is targeted to specific U.S. Census tracts in the Nelson, McLaughlin, Angell, Jackson Hill, Marquette, Steele, Sheldon Park, Marsh Field and East Muskegon neighborhoods. The citys Community and Neighborhood Services Department has a $295,000 Fair Housing Home Repair Program, a $25,000 Fair Housing Beautification Program and a $29,000 Fair Housing Neighborhood Grant Program for neighborhood associations.We want to provide support for our neighborhoods that have been underrepresented and address past wrongs in Fannie Maes handling of foreclosed houses, said Sharonda Carson, director of community and neighborhood services. We want to empower homeowners and have them take pride in their homes and their neighborhoods.The Fair Housing Repair Program is for those homeowners in the targeted census tracts with lower incomes for exterior repairs such as new roofs, siding, steps and ramps, among other items.Details of the program and an application can be found at Fair-Housing-Repair-Program-Application or at Muskegon City Hall, Community and Neighborhood Services, Room 202, 933 Terrace, Muskegon.The Fair Housing Beautification Program offers $200 Home Depot gift cards for homeowners in the targeted census tracts to improve the front of their houses by painting, landscaping, lighting or similar upgrades. Meanwhile, the third year of the citys $36,000 Homeowner Beautification Grant Program provides $200 Home Depot gift cards to owner-occupied homes for front yard improvements in the Angell, Mclaughlin, Marsh Field, Nelson, Marquette, Steele, Sheldon Park, Oakview and East Muskegon neighborhoods.
Jim LeBrecht, the filmmaker behind Crip Camp

I recently had a chance to spend some time virtually with Jim LeBrecht, an icon in the disability rights movement and a personal hero of mine.Lebrecht is a filmmaker, sound designer and disability rights activist. Hes the co-director of Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution," which is about his experience attending a summer camp that brought together people with disabilities who became civil rights leaders in the disability movement.Like me, LeBrecht was born with spina bifida and depends on a wheelchair for mobility.We were brought together thanks to the Holland Human Relations Commission. The HRC created a three-part community learning experience called Equity of Access: Understanding Disability, Equality, and Rights.The series included the showing of Crip Camp, a roundtable discussion, and a communitywide book reading.Crip Camp is about Camp Jared, a summer camp for teens with disabilities located down the road from Woodstock in upstate New York. Directed by LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham, the rousing documentary is about a group of campers turned activists who shaped the future of the disability rights movement and changed accessibility legislation. LeBrecht was one of those campers whose experience is shared in the film.I was thrilled when I was invited to be part of the roundtable discussion, where I had a chance to engage with LeBrecht, who joined us virtually from his home in Oakland, California. We discussed the challenges for and triumphs of people with disabilities.There's so much history about the disability rights movement that so many people didn't know about before the documentary. I love the way he has brought this topic into mainstream culture with his film.LeBrechts story is powerful, especially for people like myself, who didn't have to go through some of the discrimination that he and others of his generation faced, such as the recognition that they are capable individuals. Their victories paved the way for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.I'm 43 and haven't had to deal with some of the discrimination that these other individuals faced. For example, Judy Heumann,was told she couldnt be a school teacher because the school board believed she would not be able to get students or herself out in case of a fire. Fortunately, she was very vocal and knew that she had rights and that others with disabilities had rights.The final event of the series was a reading and discussion of Being Heumann: The Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist, by Heumann with Kristen Joiner. Heumann, who died in March, changed my life I commend the HRC for its mission to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and access, and for putting in the considerable resources to create this three-part series.We felt it was important for us as a community to understand that disability rights are civil rights, explains Catherine Ristola Bass, chair of the Human Relations Commission. The story of Camp Jened and the subsequent work of disability rights champions like Judith Heumann and James LeBrecht open our eyes to the truth that people with disabilities are not medical problems to be healed. This series explores how society can design our infrastructure and systems that meet the needs of persons with disabilities. Equity of access looks different for someone with a disability than for those without. It involves ramps, sign language interpreters, captioning, personal assistance, and so much more.Equity of Access was hosted by the Human Relations Commission in partnership with Disability Network Lakeshore, Hope Network, The Arc, Benjamins Hope, and Compassionate Heart Ministries.Im grateful for the nearly two dozen people who attended this amazing series. I only wished more had made time to attend and learn about the people who paved the way for the ADA.This article is a part of the multi-year series Disability Inclusion , exploring the state of West Michigans growing disability community. The series is made possible through a partnership with Centers for Independent Living organizations across West Michigan.
The 2nd Corp Comm Vision & Innovation Summit & Awards 2023 concluded with resounding success, bringing together esteemed leaders and visionaries from the corporate communication landscape. The event, held at Hyatt Centric Juhu Mumbai on 11th August 2023, showcased impactful Keynote session, insightful discussions and Awards & Recognition for outstanding achievers in the field of corporate communication.

Neeraj Jha's keynote session at the event was an eye-opener in every sense. With a refreshingly candid approach, he highlighted some thought-provoking aspects of the corporate communication landscape. Neeraj emphasized that we're not magicians; we're professionals with skills, attitudes, and experiences that shape the corporate communication role. He emphasizing that their role is not to conjure tricks but to manage and uphold reputation. Neeraj urged the audience to rethink the role's seniority, visibility, and integration within the organization. His casual yet impactful style left a clear message  it's time to step out of the shadows and redefine how to approach corporate communication.

The event proceeded with an engaging panel discussion led by Mr. Arun Om Lal, President of Corporate Affairs & Communication at Hexagon Nutrition Limited. The panel included distinguished individuals such as Akansha Pradhan, Head of Corporate Communications and CSR at DHL; Bibek Chattopadhyay, Head Of Communications at ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India; Minari Shah, Director of Corporate Communications Amazon APAC at Amazon's Mr. Lal emphasized the importance of aligning corporate communication with business strategy, underscoring how effective communication can significantly contribute to achieving organizational objectives.

The subsequent panel session delved into the intricacies of Aligning Corporate Communication with CEO and Board Expectations, moderated by Mr. Rohit Varier, Director of Communications at Deloitte. The panelists, including Radhika Trivedi from Alvarez & Marsal, Shweta Munjal from Lupin, Shalini Singh from RPG Group, and Yash Bhargav from Waterfield Advisors, discussed the challenges communication professionals face in meeting the expectations of CEOs and boards. The critical role of transparent and strategic communication in building trust and alignment was emphasized by Mr. Varier.

Moving on, the Fireside Chat Session 1, led by Moderator Nandini Chatterjee, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at PwC India, included panel members Janet Arole from Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd., Shilpashree Muniswamappa from Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd., Bindu Jayraj from bp, and Subrato Roy from HDFC Life. They deliberated on strategies and approaches to cultivate a forward-looking and adaptable corporate communication team capable of navigating the challenges and opportunities in the dynamic business environment.

In Chat Session 2, the transformative impact of social media on corporate communication practices was explored. The discussion, moderated by Samir Kapur, Director at Adfactors PR, included insights from Papiha Ghosh, Head of Corporate Communications at Revolut India and Debmalya Nandan, Content Lead, Corporate Communications at UltraTech Cement, on leveraging digital platforms for effective audience engagement and brand communication.

Chat Session 3, spearheaded by Shvetal Diwanji, Vice President of Group Marketing & Corporate Communications at Tata AutoComp Systems, along with Shakambhari Thakur from Bosch Group in India and Shweta Papriwal from blinkX by JM Financial, underscored the art of storytelling as a potent tool for corporate communication professionals. They highlighted its ability to resonate with audiences, foster brand affinity, and effectively convey organizational narratives.

The final session reiterated the continued significance of integrated communications in shaping the future of corporate communication. Led by Madhumita Phukan, Global Marketing Head of AI Businesses at Tech Mahindra, and joined by Kritika Saxena from Tata Consultancy Services, Ekta Bhatnagar from Teleperformance, Samriddh Tilwani from Artha Group, Masooma Pathre from Medtronic, and Srabani Sen from ZEE5 Global, the speakers discussed the pivotal role communication professionals play in orchestrating cohesive and impactful communication strategies.

A significant highlight of the event was the recognition of the Top 5 Great Indian Corporate Communication Leaders for their exceptional contributions to the industry. The esteemed awardees are:

Nandini Chatterjee - Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, PwC India Minari Shah - Director, Corporate Communications, Amazon APAC Shalini Singh - Group Head-Brand and Communications, RPG Group Srabani Sen - Associate Director- PR and Communications, ZEE5 Global Kritika Saxena - Head of Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, TCS

The 2nd Corp Comm Vision & Innovation Awards celebrated the achievements of industry leaders who have significantly contributed to the growth and advancement of the corporate communication community. Award winners include Concept PR, Glenmark, HDFC, Sociabble, Spark Minda and many others.

The event concluded on a positive note, leaving participants inspired and motivated to drive innovation and excellence in the field of corporate communication. For more information and updates on future events, please visit www.transformanceforums.com.
Raksha Bandhan is tying the knots of Rakhi thread with all heart and soul to remain together till the eternity.

"Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply" Jane Austen.

Bond of brother and sister is always different, unique and special. Undoubtedly, being brother and sister means being there for each other to irritate each other, kick each other, knock each other down, but can't live without each other. Although brothers and sisters will be aware of each other's faults yet they hold each other's hands and teach what is right and what is wrong. Brothers are there to chase the monsters away, whereas sisters pray that brother remains safe while chasing those monsters away. And when both brothers and sisters fight, even the wrestling looks like they are hugging. Today's fight will be tomorrow's playful days, life changes but blood, bond and beautiful memories will be the same. In the world everything can fade away and go against you but not your siblings.

Raksha Bandhan is a celebration of brothers and sisters celebrating their strong bond and relationship. This festival is observed on the full moon day (Poornima Tithi) of the Hindu month of Shravana which moreover falls in the month of August. This year the bond of love and protection between siblings will be celebrated on Wednesday, 30 August 2023.

Rakhi is a sacred thread of protection, where every brother takes an oath to protect his sister and promise her to safeguard and be the streetlight for the lifetime. This legacy of love and affection has its deep-rooted historical and mythological background and importance. In ancient times queens and other women in the society used to send across Rakhi to the neighbouring kings requesting them to protect from all the evils especially wars. This sacred thread is a symbol of alliance, care and protection.

Raksha Bandhan, the religious festival has many famous mythological tales that highlights the significance of Raksha Bandhan such as the story of Indra and Indrani, Lord Krishna and Draupadi, King Bali and Lakshmi, and many more. These tales convey a strong message that bonds and relationships are part and parcel of our life. This kind of feasts makes us stronger and keeps us united. Back in those days until today, Raksha Bandhan is more inclusive and harmonious. It also has a significance regarding the independence of our loved motherland India. Legend Poet and nationalist Rabindranath Tagore has used this festival as a symbol of friendship between the Hindus and Muslims during the Partition of Bengal in 1905 to demolish the ridge between the two religions which was tactically plotted by British, who captured India. He also composed Banglar Mati, Banglar Jol song as the anthem of this vehement opposition.

"Sky is blue, feel is hue, my love for you bhaiya is always true!" Happy Raksha Bandhan

Today this beautiful ceremony has transcended the boundaries of religion and people. In the modern era, this Hindu festival is no more a Hindu festival, in fact people from different religious and cultural background celebrate this festival. Tying Rakhi around the wrist is not just a thread; it is the emblem of love, protection, promise, wellness and goodwill. Here all the brothers are the epitome of protection and the Rakhi thread represents sister's prayers for her brother's life and wellbeing. It is believed that this thread has protective powers to guard against evil and danger. The Rakhi Thread is as strong as iron chains as it connect and binds both brothers are sisters in an inseparable bond of love, faith, trust and purity. The fact is the relationship of brother and sister is weaved with pure and pious thread, a thread which can never be broken.

This beautiful day not only unites all the brothers and sisters, it also unites the whole family creating the opportunity to come together, have sweets and spread sweetness among each other. This ceremony doesn't end with this note, it ends with gifts. All the brothers in return offer gifts to their sisters and take an oath to safeguard them from all the evils and protect them. To be precise, Raksha Bandhan is a day of promises between brothers and sisters that their bond will be tightly woven even though they are separated by distance they will be surely joined by love, memories and affection.
With the rise of online reviews and social media, managing your brand's image and online presence requires effective tools and strategies. In this article, we will explore the benefits and features of reputation management software, helping you find the best solution to monitor and enhance your online reputation.

Reputation management software is a powerful management tool designed to help businesses monitor, analyze, and improve their online reputation. With advanced features and capabilities, this software empowers businesses to proactively address customer reviews, manage their online presence, and protect their brand's image Whether you're a small local business owner or a marketing professional, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and tools to effectively manage your online reputation, monitor reviews across various platforms, and make informed decisions to enhance your brand's online presence.

Why Online Reputation Management Matters?

Reputation management has become a critical aspect for businesses striving to thrive and succeed. Your online reputation holds immense power, influencing how customers perceive your brand, make purchasing decisions, and interact with your business. Understanding the significance of reputation management and implementing effective strategies can make all the difference in building a positive online presence.

Reputation management has become a critical aspect for businesses striving to thrive and succeed. Your online reputation holds immense power, influencing how customers perceive your brand, make purchasing decisions, and interact with your business. Understanding the significance of reputation management and implementing effective strategies can make all the difference in building a positive online presence.

Improving your online reputation involves implementing proactive measures to enhance your brand image and mitigate any negative impact. It requires a multi-faceted approach, including actively engaging with customers, delivering exceptional products or services, and providing timely and helpful support. Additionally, employing strategies to encourage and collect positive reviews can help counterbalance any negative feedback and solidify your reputation as a reliable and trustworthy business.

Key Features and Benefits of Online Reputation Management Software

Reputation management software has emerged as a valuable tool for businesses seeking to effectively monitor, manage, and enhance their online reputation. These software solutions offer a range of key features and benefits that can significantly impact a company's online presence and reputation.

One of the primary advantages of using reputation management system is its ability to streamline the process of online reputation management. These tools provide a centralized platform where businesses can monitor and analyze online reviews, mentions and feedback across various channels. By consolidating this information, businesses can gain valuable insights into customer sentiments and take proactive measures to address any issues promptly.

Online reputation management tool also enables businesses to actively engage with customers and manage their online reputation on social networks. Through features such asonline media monitoring, review management and response systems, businesses can track and respond to customer reviews in a timely manner. This engagement not only shows a commitment to customer satisfaction but also allows businesses to address any negative feedback, resolve issues, and showcase their dedication to quality.

Choosing the Best Online Reputation Management Software

Choosing the right reputation management platform is crucial for businesses looking to effectively manage and enhance their brand's online reputation. With numerous options available, it's essential to consider key factors and features that align with your specific needs.

One reputable reputation management software is Podium, known for its comprehensive suite of tools designed to optimize online reputation management. It offers features such as review management, social media monitoring, and a review management platform that helps businesses monitor and respond to customer feedback in real-time.

Another noteworthy reputation management tool to consider is Repsense, which offers a comprehensive platform to monitor, analyze, and improve brand's online reputation. With its advanced features and intuitive interface, Repsense provides businesses with the all-in-one reputation feature and other measurable KPIs to effectively manage their brand's online presence and enhance customer sentiment.

When selecting the best reputation management software, it's vital to consider factors like the reputation score feature, which provides insights into your brand's online reputation performance. This feature allows you to monitor and track your business reputation metrics, such as customer sentiment, review ratings, and overall brand perception.

Additionally, a robust reputation management tool helps businesses effectively manage their social media presence by monitoring and engaging with customers across various platforms. Social media monitoring capabilities enable businesses to stay informed about online conversations and promptly address any issues or concerns raised by customers.

Ultimately, choosing the right reputation management software can significantly impact your brand's social and online reputation. By leveraging these tools, businesses can proactively manage customer feedback, maintain a positive brand image, and cultivate a strong online presence.

Not Yet Convinced?

According to the Local Consumer Review Survey conducted by BrightLocal, online reviews have a profound impact on consumer behavior and decision-making. The survey found that 98% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, while 76% read them regularly. This indicates that online reviews have become a fundamental part of the consumer research process.

More than 90% of consumers aged 18-34 rely on online reviews as much as personal recommendations, showcasing the significant influence of reviews on younger demographics. Furthermore, the survey reveals that consumers are more likely to choose a business with positive reviews, with 68% of consumers stating that positive reviews make them more likely to use a local business.

On the other hand, negative reviews can have a detrimental effect on a business's reputation. Data shows that 40% of consumers would avoid using a local business if it had negative reviews. This highlights the critical importance of maintaining a positive online reputation and actively managing negative feedback.

The Future of Reputation Management Tools

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, reputation management software is adapting to meet the changing needs of businesses. These advancements aim to provide more comprehensive and efficient solutions for managing online reputation. Here are some key future trends and innovations to look out for:

1. Advanced Reputation Management Platforms: Reputation management software is becoming more sophisticated, offering a wide range of features and capabilities. These platforms help businesses manage online reviews, monitor social media channels, and gather insights from various online sources. By consolidating data from multiple platforms, businesses can gain a holistic view of their online reputation and make informed decisions.

2. Integration with Review Management Software: As online reviews, particularly Google reviews, continue to play a crucial role in shaping consumer perceptions, reputation management software is integrating with review management tools. This integration allows businesses to streamline the process of collecting, monitoring, and responding to reviews across multiple platforms, ensuring a consistent and efficient approach to online reputation management.

3. Social Media Management Tools: Social media platforms have become significant channels for online reputation management. To address this, reputation management software is incorporating social media management features. These tools help businesses monitor and engage with their audience on social media platforms, ensuring a proactive and effective approach to managing their online presence.

4. Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Reputation management software is increasingly offering advanced analytics and reporting capabilities. These features provide businesses with valuable insights into their online reputation, such as sentiment analysis, review trends, and competitor benchmarking. By leveraging data-driven insights, businesses can make data-informed decisions to enhance their online reputation strategy.

5. AI-Powered Solutions: Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the field of reputation management. AI-powered reputation management software can analyze large volumes of data, identify patterns, and generate actionable recommendations. This automation helps businesses efficiently manage online reviews, track sentiment, and respond to customer feedback promptly.

Protect Your Online Reputation

In conclusion, harnessing the power of reputation management software will help build and maintain a strong online brand presence. The ever-expanding digital landscape and the influence of online reviews make it imperative for businesses to actively manage their online reputation. By utilizing the right tools and strategies, businesses can take control of their brand online and offline and drive positive results.

One of the key benefits of reputation management software is its ability to help businesses regain control of their online presence and build a reputation they thrive for. By monitoring and responding to customer reviews, businesses can shape their online image and establish trust with their audience. Additionally, reputation management software facilitates the process of collecting and managing reviews, allowing businesses to get more reviews and increase their social proof.

An all-in-one reputation management platform provides businesses with comprehensive tools to manage their reputation effectively. From review management and social media monitoring to advanced analytics, these tools offer a holistic approach to online reputation management. By leveraging the features and functionalities of the best online management tools, businesses can stay ahead of the competition and proactively address any potential issues that may arise.

A positive online reputation is essential for success. Reputation management software empowers businesses to take charge of their brand's online presence, build an online reputation, and get more reviews. By embracing these tools and utilizing the best online management practices, businesses can strengthen their online reputation, attract new customers, and foster long-term brand loyalty.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) app now supports Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Interoperability, according to a statement from YES Bank. Users will now be able to conduct transactions seamlessly by scanning any UPI QR code using the YES Bank Digital Rupee app, the bank stated in a statement. The bank's dedication to advancing digital innovations and offering a wide range of transactional alternatives for consumers across the country is underscored by this initiative, which is expected to greatly increase the reach of the Digital Rupee (e), according to the statement.

The first pilot in the Digital Rupee -Wholesale Segment (e rupees) commenced on November 1, 2022. It was followed by the first pilot for retail digital rupee (e rupee-R) was announced on December 1, 2022. Retail digital rupee offers features of physical cash like trust, safety, and settlement finality in digital mode. This initiative introduced a digital currency system built on a unique QR code mechanism for conducting transactions, it said.

As the realm of digital transactions evolves, the statement said, the need for flexibility and universal adaptability becomes very important, it said. By integrating CBDC with UPI QR codes, the e-rupee gains a broader platform to become a staple in daily transactions, it said, adding that this strategic move enhances not only the strengths of the e-rupee but also seamlessly integrates with the widely-adopted UPI system, presently having an overall merchant base of 150 million.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  In a scathing statement issued Wednesday, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon criticized Gov. Kathy Hochuls Interagency Task Force on Overdose Prevention for its lack of community members, elected officials and family members affected by drug abuse and overdose.

In June of 2022, Hochul vetoed legislation that would have created a state task force focused on combatting New Yorks fight against deadly fentanyl, but went so far as to promise the formation of a similar task force by herself.

Last year Governor Hochul made the inexplicable decision to veto legislation sponsored by then Assemblyman Cusick and then Senator Savino to create a statewide Fentanyl Task Force, McMahon said. We joined our neighbors in outrage, confusion, and impatience at the total dismissal of a drug epidemic that reached deadly new heights last year, killing over 100,000 Americans, among them 146 Staten Islanders; fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, friends and colleagues are no longer with us because of the scourge of opioids and fentanyl.

On Tuesday, Hochul announced the kickoff meeting for this task force.

In my 2023 State of the State address, I outlined our commitment to taking further steps to care for New Yorkers struggling with addiction across our state through the creation of the Interagency Task Force on Overdose Prevention, Hochul said. Turning the tide on illegal substance use requires full coordination across our agencies, and today we take the next step in this ongoing vital work.

The Interagency Task Force on Overdose Prevention will review the broad issue areas of illegal substance use prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction with attention to how substance users interact with education, health care, criminal justice, housing and other social service entities. The group will produce a report of their findings in the fall of 2023.

Chaired by Commissioners Dr. Chinazo Cunningham from the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports and Dr. James McDonald from the New York State Department of Health, the group includes experts across 17 state agencies and offices working collaboratively to combat the overdose epidemic in New York State.

McMahon says that since the governors veto, it was said that members of law enforcement, treatment providers, health officials families affected by addiction and overdose, would be part of a fentanyl task force formed by the governor, and that such a promise has been broken.

After months and months of lip service, the governor has taken the revolutionary step of instructing her own staff to simply do their jobs: Discuss the issue amongst themselves and audit their own performance on dealing with the overdose crisis before providing recommendations to her, he said. They will meet just a handful of times, yet conveniently still apart and removed from the pain and suffering of Staten Islanders except for a public listening session that will be treated as nothing more than checking a box.

For years, we have urged the state to make real, specific changes to our laws to allow us to hold drug dealers who peddle poison on our streets accountable, to innovate in measures to prevent fentanyl and analogues from entering our shores, and to invest in programs and staff that are proven to save lives and families instead of taxpayer funded injection sites that destroy public safety and quality of life while prolonging the pain and suffering of those suffering from addiction, McMahon said.

We are bitterly disappointed in this farce of a Task Force and hope that the governor quickly gets serious about this life and death issue on behalf of the people she represents, McMahon went on to say.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The Muslim call to prayer can now be heard within shouting distance of any mosque across the five boroughs under new guidelines announced Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams.

Mosques no longer will need a special permit to publicly broadcast adhan, or the Islamic call to prayer, on Fridays and at sundown during the holy month of Ramadan, the Associated Press reported. Friday is the traditional Islamic holy day, and Muslims break their fast at sunset during Ramadan.

The NYPDs Community Affairs Bureau will work with mosques to communicate the new guidelines and ensure that devices used to broadcast the prayer are set to appropriate decibel levels, Adams said.

Adams, flanked by Muslim leaders at City Hall, said New Yorkers will not live in the shadows of the American dream while I am the mayor of the city of New York.

The adhan declares that God is great and proclaims the Prophet Muhammad as his messenger. It calls men to go to the closest mosque five times a day for prayer, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Women are not required.

Officials in Minneapolis made news last year when they moved to allow mosques to broadcast the adhan publicly.

Currently there are at least 10 mosques on the Island, including several located across the North Shore, one in Dongan Hills and two positioned across the street from each other in Rosville, according to Google Maps.

On Staten Island, a bid in 2010 to open a mosque and community center in Midland Beach in a former convent owned by Margaret Mary R.C. Church ultimately failed as members of the community rallied against it.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  A team of New York first responders were sent to the South to assist in search and rescue efforts anticipated in the wake of Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall in Florida early Wednesday morning as a major system.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated Urban Search and Rescue New York Task Force 1 to Colombia, South Carolina, ahead of the storms arrival, according to New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM).

Idalia was carrying winds of 120 mph at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center, and was forecast to bring life-threatening storm surge to a wide swath of Floridas west coast.

When the federal government sounds the call for assistance, New York City is there to answer, said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Our NY-Task Force 1 team is on standby in Columbia, South Carolina as Hurricane Idalia intensifies.

The 46-member team is comprised of uniquely-trained responders from the FDNY, NYPD and NYCEM. The task force utilizes an 18-vehicle convoy that includes boats designed for water rescue.

While Idalia is not a major threat to New York, Adams said the city is prepared to lend our expertise and specialized skills to assist those in the storms path.

This is what it looks like when American communities stand together in times of adversity  a commitment that New York City upholds not just in words, but in action, said Adams.

New York Task Force 1 has been deployed in response to previous disasters, including Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017, Hurricane Florence in 2018 and Hurricane Ian in 2022, according to NYCEM.

Our NYPD members on the New York-Task Force 1 team stand ready at any time, to go anywhere, to help play a vital role in the public safety and security of people in harms way, said NYPD Police Commissioner Edward Caban.

New York Task Force 1 has been assembled & deployed by @fema for urban search & rescue efforts down south in anticipation of Hurricane Idalia.



Forty-six first responders from @FDNY & NYPD, including two K-9s will be on- hand & assisting with any aid needed. pic.twitter.com/aITA78CrGb  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) August 29, 2023

Meanwhile, the FDNY Incident Management Team was sent to Louisiana to support the states response to wildfire and heat. That force, a team of 10 members with expertise in incident command, finance, logistics, operations and planning, was summoned as wildfires reportedly tore through tens of thousands of acres in the state.

When the FDNY team arrives to Louisiana, it will collaborate with local officials to develop a response plan, said NYCEM. Then, the group is expected to remain in the state for several weeks to support the efforts.

The FDNY is proud to join NYPD and Emergency Management members to offer assistance in these dangerous times, said FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. The skill and expertise of this team is unmatched, and stands at the ready to provide whatever help is needed as hurricanes, wildfires and extreme heat threaten the South.

This is America at its finest, said NYCEM Commissioner Zach Iscol. In the face of crisis, New York City collaborates seamlessly with federal and state agencies, joining forces to unite in the singular mission of safeguarding our fellow Americans and their communities.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Support is building to improve a drug-ridden, trash-strewn step street in Tompkinsville, but one mystery needs to be solved: Who actually owns the property?

This has been utilized by the neighborhood, but we dont know if its actually private property or city property, said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis. It looks more like its private property, which complicates the issue.

The step street runs from residential Tompkins Circle to a commercial area on Victory Boulevard.

The so-called secret staircase has frequently been marred by open drug use and disorderly behavior and has been a dumping ground for garbage.

There have been efforts in the past to better police and clean up the staircase, including recent cleanups by the city Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and Borough Hall, but a permanent solution has proven elusive.

PAVILION HILL

City surveys show property called Pavilion Hill in Tompkinsville, including the staircase, being owned by the Pavilion Hill Corp.

Pavilion Hill Corp. built many of the homes on Tompkins Circle, according to Advance archives.

But Advance records contain conflicting information about the staircase itself.

Undated city survey shows property known as "Pavilion Hill," including Tompkins Circle step stairs. (Image courtesy of Office of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis)

An article from 2013 said that the stairs date back to 1907.

However, an Advance article from 1990 states that Pavilion Hill Corp. built the staircase in the 1920s and that deeds on Tompkins Circle make note that the staircase and a three-foot-wide adjacent strip of land are to be publicly owned by the residents there.

If theres no clear owner and no one has taken responsibility or wants to take responsibility for it, it makes sense for the city to somehow officially assume responsibility for that staircase, said Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Bklyn.) And that way, city resources can be used for it.

Officials, including Borough President Vito Fossella, have called for lighting to be installed at the site and for broken fencing along the length of the staircase to be repaired.

This Advance file photo shows discarded syringe that was found in an area off the 'secret staircase' in Tompkinsville. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)

Malliotakis said that there may be some way to also earmark federal money in addition to city funds to help improve the staircase.

Its a very local project, she said. Its possible that as part of a larger project in the neighborhood, we might be able to help.

Broken fence and trash-strewn wooded area off 'secret staircase' in Tompkinsville is seen in this Advance file photo. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)

I look forward to working with my colleagues in government to keep the Tompkins Circle staircase clean and safe for the community, said City Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks (D-North Shore) My office will partner with DSNY and the NYPD to increase clean-ups and patrols of the area.

Said Hanks, We will work to identify funding opportunities to install lighting and repair the fencing, along with other potential upgrades to improve safety and preserve the character of the stairs.

Fossella has visited the site and also organized a Borough Hall cleanup of the stairs. The NYPD has recently stepped up patrols of the staircase.

Borough officials, civic groups and neighborhood residents will meet on Sept. 12 to discuss the next steps to improve the property.

Hopefully something good will come from everyones efforts, said neighborhood resident Ann Marchesano, who has advocated for the stairs for years.

But she was discouraged to see that the stairs were again strewn with garbage recently, despite the efforts of Borough Hall and the Sanitation Department.

Those who uphold basic values of respect for self and others, and pay taxes for that purpose, should demand that the rules keeping together the fabric of society be respected and enforced, she said.

The Tompkins Circle Civic Association in 2013 called for the stairs, which neighborhood residents have used for decades as a shortcut to buses and shops on Victory Boulevard, to be landmarked by the city.

Step streets in other parts of the city have proven to be attractions, including the famous Joker Staircase, connecting Shakespeare and Anderson avenues in the Bronx, which was featured in the eponymous 2019 film starring Joaquin Phoenix.

MORE STATEN ISLAND STORIES FROM TOM WROBLESKI

Signs of hope for drug-ridden secret staircase step street on the North Shore

Staten Island secret staircase still plagued by heroin

Hey, Staten Islanders. Have you heard about the OTHER Verrazzano Bridge?
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Security has been stepped up outside the former St. John Villa Academy migrant shelter with surveillance cameras now adorning nearby utility poles.

The New York Post first reported on the new surveillance measures, and an Advance/SILive.com visit to the site Wednesday confirmed that at least two cameras had been installed along Landis Avenue outside the site.

While its not clear who exactly installed the cameras, city officials have implemented varying degrees of security measures in the surrounding neighborhood since they first confirmed the shelter on Aug. 21.

Things grew to a highpoint Friday when NYPD officers effectively locked down a portion of Arrochar drawing condemnation from locals and some of Staten Islands elected officials.

There are 100 police out there, and they blockaded the roads. Roads that these folks back here pay taxes for. The roads that lead to their house. The roads they need to go to market, to bring their kids to school, to live their lives, State Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-South Shore) said Friday following a tense verbal altercation with Assistant Chief Joseph Gulotta, the NYPDs top cop on Staten Island.

Security has been stepped up outside the former St. John Villa Academy migrant shelter with surveillance cameras now adorning nearby utility poles. The New York Post first reported on the new surveillance measures, and an Advance/SILive.com visit to the site Wednesday confirmed that three cameras had been installed along Landis Avenue outside the site. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)

When I spoke to [Gulotta] moments ago about what was happening here, he seemed to take ownership of this and thought it was a good idea, Lanza continued. If he thinks this is a good idea, hes not worthy of being the borough police commissioner here on Staten Island.

As of Wednesday, only metal barriers remain directly outside the school as an apparent precaution as tensions have flared among migrants, staff and protestors seeking to block the site that opened Friday.

Vitriol from migrant shelter protesters drew the ire of Mayor Eric Adams Tuesday with a call for unity as the city deals with the ongoing crisis.

Security has been stepped up outside the former St. John Villa Academy migrant shelter with surveillance cameras now adorning nearby utility poles. The New York Post first reported on the new surveillance measures, and an Advance/SILive.com visit to the site Wednesday confirmed that three cameras had been installed along Landis Avenue outside the site. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)

In response to a question from a New York 1 reporter about anti-immigrant sentiments, Adams pushed back against what he characterized as hateful comments.

I heard some commentary of hate and really racist comments coming from some of the protesters and it really was challenging to even hear during these times, he said, according to a City Hall spokesperson. My message to [New Yorkers] is dont let this divide us.

Since last week when the city announced that the former St. John Villa Academy would be used for a migrant shelter, massive crowds have gathered outside the Landis Avenue location to protest the situation.

While most of the protesters have focused on safety and quality of life concerns, some members of the crowds have lobbed insults at the arriving migrants and staff working at the new site.

Tensions among the groups have, in part, prompted the NYPD to cordon off the location with metal barriers and, according to City Hall officials, some of the 50 migrants who arrived at the shelter Friday requested to leave. As of Wednesday, only 18 people remained at the site, according to City Hall.

On Friday, some of the protesters at the scene chanted at the migrants to Go back home, and Go the f--- home.

The migrants arrived ahead of a hearing for an ongoing lawsuit against the city and state.

Initially, Staten Island Supreme Court Judge Wayne Ozzi sided with the Staten Islanders granting a restraining and vacate order against the shelter at the site, but a quick appeal from the city lifted those orders with a decision from the Appellate Division.

The next hearing for the lawsuit is scheduled for Sept. 6.

The city has owned the site since 2018 when it finalized a $20 million purchase from the Sisters of St. John the Baptist, and had promised to convert the former Catholic school into a public school.

More than 100,000 migrants have made their way to the five boroughs since April of last year with 60,000 remaining in the citys care prompting the creation of over 200 emergency shelters.

MORE LOCAL NEWS

Former Staten Island Catholic school to house up to 300 adult migrants in coming days

NYPD crackdown: 161 summonses issued for illegally parked trucks on Staten Island

Borough president calls for migrants to be housed in Washington, D.C.

NYPD keeps watch as tempers flare outside planned St. John Villa migrant shelter

Staten Island high school gets $1.2M for athletic field upgrades




The decision was announced today by Senator Dave Argall (R-29), the primary sponsor of the bill.



Senator Argall highlighted the motivation behind the bill, stating, I introduced this bill to give Pennsylvania voters a greater say in selecting their preferred candidate for President of the United States. As the fifth largest state in the country, we should have a stronger role in this election. In most Presidential elections, the outcome is largely decided before our voters have a chance to cast their vote.



Pennsylvania's current primary election date for 2024 is slated for April 23, but the proposed Senate Bill 224 seeks to reschedule it to March 19. This shift in timing could potentially align Pennsylvania's primary with those of other pivotal states like Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio.



During the committee meeting, Senator Argall also raised concerns about the existing primary date coinciding with Passover, a significant Jewish holiday. He pointed out that this scheduling clash could unintentionally disenfranchise many Jewish citizens due to traditional religious restrictions which prohibit activities such as writing, driving, or using electricity on this holy day.



The bill's passage through the Senate State Government Committee marks a significant step towards its implementation. However, it now faces the next hurdle in the legislative process as it advances to the full Senate for further deliberation and consideration.







In a move aimed at amplifying the voice of Pennsylvania voters in the presidential election process, the Senate State Government Committee has given its seal of approval to a bill that would advance the date of the state's 2024 primary election by five weeks.
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A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
The big-budget made-in-Queensland TV series Nautilus  which received more than $30 million in taxpayer subsidies  has been scuppered after its maker, Disney, decreed the show will not air on any of its streaming platforms.

Disneys decision to axe the show, which was commissioned by Disney UK and filmed in Australia last year with a local spend of $96 million, is all about the companys hard-nosed response to the stagnation of the crowded streaming market.

Disneys Nautilus will not screen on its streaming platforms. Credit: Internet

Were rationalising the volume of content we make, what we spend, and what markets we invest in, Walt Disney Co chief executive Bob Iger said just under three weeks ago, telling investors the company was on target to cut more than $US5.5 billion as it sought aggressive cost reductions across its sprawling empire, which includes theme parks and cruises, movies, and broadcasting.

Up to $US1.8 billion of that would come from axing or shelving content that had been destined for its streaming platforms, including Disney+, Hulu and Star.
The NSW corruption watchdog has found three former Sydney councillors engaged in serious corrupt conduct when they accepted trips to China and tens of thousands of dollars from property developers in return for supporting two large apartment projects.

One of the developers secretly filmed two of the then-councillors in the company of escorts during so-called boys weekends overseas, in what the Independent Commission Against Corruption said was a blackmail tactic.

Former councillors Vince Badalati and Con Hindi were investigated by ICAC.

The ICAC recommended criminal charges be considered against former Hurstville and Georges River councillors Vince Badalati and Con Hindi, and former Hurstville councillor Philip Sansom, over their receipt of the cash payments and benefits  including flights, hotel meals and luxury car transfers.

It has also recommended the Director of Public Prosecutions consider charges against property developer and real estate agent Ching Wah (Philip) Uy for making the payments and covering the councillors travel expenses, and against Uy, Badalati, Hindi and Hindis wife Mireille for giving false or misleading evidence to the commission.
A north shore community is on the hunt for vandals who poisoned, hacked and chainsawed 265 trees  some more than 80 years old  in what Willoughby Council has described as a large-scale environmental crime.

The 265 trees were killed in June and July this year at H. D. Robb Reserve on the waterfront edge of Castle Cove  one of northern Sydneys wealthiest suburbs. But despite the scale of the operation, authorities have no idea who is responsible.

The destruction of 265 trees in Castle Cove has exposed water views. Credit: Nick Moir

It still brings tears to my eyes, said Willoughby Mayor Tanya Taylor. Its just so unbelievable that someone could do this. Its large-scale tree vandalism.

Large Christmas bushes and Sydney red gums, with girths of more than three metres, have been poisoned. Banksia trees have been chainsawed down, leaving huge branches lying on the bush floor. And an old sign warning about vandalism of trees has been pulled out of the ground and thrown down the embankment.
Chinese premier meets U.S. commerce secretary, calling for enhanced cooperation

Xinhua) 08:05, August 30, 2023

Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with visiting U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with visiting U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Tuesday in Beijing, calling on both sides to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation.

Li said the economic and trade relations between China and the United States are mutually beneficial and win-win in nature. Politicizing economic and trade issues and overstretching the concept of security will not only seriously affect bilateral relations and mutual trust, but also undermine the interests of enterprises and people of the two countries, and will have a disastrous impact on the global economy.

Noting that China is the largest developing country and the United States is the largest developed country, Li said the two sides should strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, reduce friction and confrontation, and jointly promote world economic recovery and cope with global challenges.

Li said a sound and stable China-U.S. relationship benefits both countries and the world, and China is glad to see that the United States has recently repeatedly said it is committed to returning to the agenda set by the two heads of state in Bali.

"Mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation are the right ways for China and the United States to get along. We hope that the U.S. side will work with China to take more practical and beneficial actions to maintain and develop bilateral relations," he added.

Li said China is willing to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with the United States on the economy and trade, and to promote the sound development of bilateral economic and trade relations. He said he hopes that the United States will work with China in the same direction.

China is actively advancing its high-level opening-up and making efforts to provide a world-class, market-oriented business environment governed by a sound legal framework, Li said. The country is also working to ease market access further, treat foreign companies in the same manner as domestic firms, and safeguard and promote fair competition, he said, adding that China will only open its doors even wider to the outside world.

Raimondo said that the Biden administration supports China's economic development and its improvement of people's livelihoods, has no intention of containing China's development, does not seek to decouple from China, is willing to maintain communication and normal economic and trade relations, and is willing to promote the steady development of bilateral relations.

The U.S. side also stands ready to strengthen cooperation with China on artificial intelligence, climate change work, and combating fentanyl, Raimondo added.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Azerbaijan Culture Ministry's delegation is leaving for Albania to participate in the Azerbaijani Week.

An exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev will be held as part of the event, Azernews reports via the Culture Ministry.

Note that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has declared 2023 as the Year of Heydar Aliyev in Azerbaijan.

Recall that 2022 went down in the history of Azerbaijan as the Year of Shusha. The country's cultural capital turned 270 last year.

The cultural program also includes Natiq Rhythm Group's performance, film screening" Cloth Peddler", gala concert and dance programs.

Natiq Shirinov is a world-famous Azerbaijani percussionist and leader of the Natig Rhythm Group.

He has revolutionized naghara percussion technique by experimenting with hand drumming styles.

Natiq Shirinov is also notorious for being Azerbaijan's first rhythm composer.

His contribution to the Azerbaijani music has gained him a place among great musicians known to have set new musical trends for the 21st century.

The Cloth Peddler is a full-length Azerbaijani silent comedy based on Uzeyir Hajibayli's operetta.

It tells the love story of young Asgar, who wants to get married. He is a rich, successful businessman and has everything he could wish for except for one thing - a lovely wife. However, some old-fashioned traditions do not allow him to choose his own bride.

The film has been shown in 136 countries and translated into 86 languages. Furthermore, the motion picture was re-mastered and colorized in 2013 in Los Angeles at the expense of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

It is also planned to hold a number of meetings between the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry and the Albanian officials.
Indeed, to a certain extent his Honours actions displayed an almost contemptuous disregard for the rule of law, which of course involves due process and procedural fairness, Wigney said. Vasta, the Commonwealth and the state of Queensland were ordered to pay a combined $59,450 of the total to cover Stradfords personal injury and loss of earning capacity. Vasta and the Commonwealth were ordered to pay $35,000 for false imprisonment and deprivation of liberty, while Vasta and the state of Queensland were ordered to pay $165,000 for the same. It is highly unusual, at least in modern-day Australia, for a judge to be held liable for false imprisonment. Justice Michael Wigney Stradford launched proceedings against Vasta, the Commonwealth and the state of Queensland in the Federal Court in 2020 after the Full Court of the Family Court overturned Vastas 2018 order imprisoning him in that state.

The Full Court said in a scathing judgment in 2019 that it would be an affront to justice to leave in place the declaration that Stradford had committed a contempt of court and the order imprisoning him for a maximum of 12 months. It found Vasta had no power to make the declaration or order, and no factual basis for doing so. Loading Vasta has been the subject of a series of excoriating appeal judgments, and is facing a second lawsuit brought by another man he jailed for an alleged contempt of court. That case was paused pending the outcome of the Stradford case. The Federal Court heard Vasta told Stradford, whose former wife strenuously opposed him going to jail, to bring your toothbrush after he allegedly failed to hand over all his financial records in the family law case. Neither Stradford nor his former wife had lawyers acting for them in the property dispute and the man insisted he had in good faith tried to provide every aspect of my financial life.

Dont tell me I tried, Vasta told the man. Rubbish ... I didnt come down in the last shower. And thats the strange thing, is you really dont think that the court ever will jail you for contempt. Youre about to find that lesson is going to be a very hard one for you to learn. Stradford was held in custody for seven days, during which he said he was bashed in prison, became suicidal and woke up to his cellmate strangling him. He was eventually released from custody after obtaining a stay to prevent the order jailing him taking effect pending his court challenge. Wigney said Stradford spent five miserable days in a police watchhouse in Brisbane before being transferred to Brisbane Correctional Centre, run by the state of Queensland, where he spent another two difficult days shortly before Christmas 2018. Under the doctrine of judicial immunity, judges cannot ordinarily be sued for decisions they make, and Vasta sought to rely on this immunity in the Stradford case. Wigney, who examined hundreds of years of cases to determine the scope of judicial immunity available for judges in lower courts, found the immunity did not protect Vasta because he acted without, or in excess of, his jurisdiction.

He said Vasta had engaged in a gross and obvious irregularity of procedure and denied Stradford any modicum of natural justice or procedural fairness. Vasta was a Federal Circuit Court judge at the time he imprisoned Stradford and is now a judge of the Federal Circuit and Family Court, after the two courts were brought under one administrative umbrella. NSW, Victoria, South Australia, the ACT and Northern Territory have independent judicial commissions to receive and examine complaints about serving judges in those jurisdictions, but there is no equivalent for federal courts including the Federal Circuit and Family Court. Gabrielle Appleby, a professor of public law at the University of NSW, said the case reinforced that a federal judicial commission is urgently needed. She said the federal government had committed to supporting such a body, but we are yet to see it implemented. Federal courts currently handle complaints about judges internally, although the head of the court may refer those complaints to another party to investigate.
The federal governments blueprint to boost competition in the domestic aviation market to help drive down plane ticket prices will be released within days, with Qantas and Virgin in its sights.

A green paper on the future of Australian aviation to 2050 comes ahead of the formal white paper due by the middle of next year.

The domestic power of Virgin and Qantas will be at the centre of the aviation green paper to be released within days. Credit: Brendon Thorne

Competition across the sector will be at its centre, examining its role in boosting the standard of living for all Australians.

The government is under fire for its decision to reject a proposal by Qatar Airways to boost the number of seats between Europe, Doha and Australia by between 800,000 and 1 million.
Millions of consumers will be asked to accept tough new rules to protect food delivery drivers and other gig economy workers despite industry claims the changes will push up prices.

The national workplace regulator will gain full power to lift wages and set conditions for the workers in sectors ranging from food to healthcare and disability services.

Employment Minister Tony Burke will introduce the new draft legislation into parliament next week. Credit: James Brickwood

The new approach breaks with years of practice by creating a new class of employee-like workers who will gain the protection of the Fair Work Commission on minimum standards.

But it also widens a fight with employers over the next tranche of workplace reform when the Business Council of Australia and other peak groups are saying the changes will increase costs.
This is part of a series of opinions featured during the historic referendum campaign for an Indigenous Voice to parliament.

I will be voting Yes in the referendum on the Voice. Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is long overdue and has been a bipartisan policy objective for many years. Its time to get this done.

Six years ago, after long consultations, Indigenous Australians resolved that they wanted constitutional recognition to take the form of an entrenched Indigenous advisory council to be called the Voice. Since then, this particular amendment has been the singular focus of the constitutional recognition movement. If this is the form of recognition most Indigenous Australians want, the rest of us need a good reason to say No.

Then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull with Ngunnawal elders at an Indigenous function at Parliament House in February 2017. Credit: Andrew Meares

Back in 2017, when this idea was new and lacked detail, my government did not support it. We had two major concerns. First, we believed it had no chance of success in a referendum. The history of constitutional reform in Australia is a dismal one, and to date any proposal faced with concerted opposition has failed.

Our other major concern was that the Voice would create an institution in the Constitution, the qualification for which was something other than Australian citizenship. For me, as a republican prime minister, this was particularly important. I believe our head of state should be one of us: an Australian citizen, not whichever English aristocrat happens to be the king or queen of the United Kingdom.
A Melbourne woman whose daughter died during Victorias triple-zero crisis says shes angry innocent people had to die to trigger changes to the states emergency hotline.

The Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority, also known as ESTA, will become Triple Zero Victoria and more checks and balances will be put in place under draft laws introduced into parliament on Wednesday.

Jasmin Husseins daughter Alisha, 14, died while waiting for an ambulance. Credit: Simon Schluter

The changes, flagged last year, followed a series of articles in The Age that highlighted the number of people dying while waiting for an ambulance.

Jasmin Hussein, whose 14-year-old daughter Alisha died in 2021 after suffering an asthma attack, said she had mixed feelings about the changes.
Ugandan prosecutors have lodged charges of aggravated homosexuality against a 20-year-old man  a crime punishable by death  in one of the countrys first applications of a provision included in one of the worlds harshest anti-gay laws.

Same-sex acts had long been considered illegal under the countrys penal code, but a law enacted this year introduced far harsher penalties and vastly extended the range of perceived offences. Its passage drew condemnation from human rights groups and the United Nations, and the US government called it one of the most extreme anti-gay measures in the world.

A participant in a Mr and Miss Pride beauty contest prepares backstage at an undisclosed venue in Kampala, Uganda, in 2015. Gay Ugandans say they are living in fear of being arrested since a stricter law passed this year. Credit: Reuters

The measure, signed into law in May, called for life in prison for anyone who engaged in gay sex and allowed the death penalty for what it labelled aggravated homosexuality. That category included same-sex relations with disabled people, who were defined very broadly.

Prosecutors have now used the death penalty provision to charge a 20-year-old man with having sexual intercourse with a 41-year-old man with a disability in the city of Soroti, in Eastern Uganda, according to Jacquelyn Okui, a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution. (A separate case against a different man, lodged last month, involved an underage person, Okui said.)
Though half-expected, it was dramatic.

On Monday Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn, one of the worlds biggest electronics manufacturers, and a supplier to Apple and others, told a packed auditorium he was joining the race to be Taiwans next president.

Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn Technology Group, has grand plans for Taiwan. Credit: Bloomberg

Wearing his trademark navy-blue cap emblazoned with the Taiwanese flag, and giving military-style salutes, the 72-year-old billionaire said he would contest the election due next January as an independent.

Having failed for a second time this year to win the presidential ticket of the opposition Nationalist Party, known as the Kuomintang (KMT), he dedicated his candidacy to making Taiwan and China trust each other.
Orient Bay, St. Martin:---

The members of the Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset celebrated an auspicious moment as they held their 2023-2024 Board Installation Ceremony at Coco Beach Restaurant on Saturday, August 19th, 2023. Distinguished guests, such as the Past District Governor, Mr. Louis Wever, and his wife Rotarian Amanda Wever, Assistant Governor and Club member Elisia Lake and well-wishers gathered at the restaurant to share and engage in what was called a night of fellowship. The evening was filled with various special moments that made this event an unforgettable one.

Assistant Governor Elisia Lake proudly re-installed Rotarian Kimberley Duzong as the clubs President for the new Rotary year 2023-2024. Despite having to fulfill this role for a second year, President Kimberley took the helm with excitement to execute her task to her fullest potential with the assistance of her board and club members. Shortly after that, with the help of Assistant Governor Elisia Lake, the new board was installed, and President Kimberley Duzong affix the lapel pins on the collar of the board members.

The new installed board consists of: President Kimberley Duzong, President-Elect /Secretary Franklyn Salomons, Vice-President Alex Pierre, Treasurer Ahisha Nunes, Sergeant at Arms Fabiana Beauperthuy-Richardson, Youth Service Chair Charna Pompier, Service Projects Chair Jade Maccow, Membership Chair Sherbert Arrindell, Rotary Foundation Chair Marilyn Clarke, Public Image Chair Sabrina Vrutaal, Club Administration Chair Jason James, Fundraising Chair Patrice Gumbs, Disaster Relief Chair Linaisa Mardemborough, and Wellness Chair Michelette Rogers-Boasman.

The dynamic emcees for the evening were Ms. Luciana Raspail and Mr. Charles Rollan, who kept the audience entertained and involved. Other highlights of the evening included Kenyo Baly dominating the crowd with a beautiful rendition of the St. Maarten Song, followed by Rotarian Fabiana Beauperthuy-Richardson known as Just A Rose singing her groovy song Match Me Energy. Thereafter, Vice-President Alex Pierre highlighted the clubs signature projects that have made significant changes in our community, such as Reach One Feed One; the donation of maternity baskets; and Reading Slumber Fun, just to name a few.

During the evening, President Kimberley Duzong highlighted 21 chartered members of the club and thanked them for their continuous efforts and dedication towards the club. She also awarded several persons who displayed outstanding commitment throughout the Rotary year with the Presidents Awards in areas that included the Fellowship Award, which was given to Rtn. Franklyn Salomons; Service Above Self Award, which was given to Rtn. Elisia Lake; Board Member of the Year Award, which was given to Jason James; and Rotarian of the Year Award, which was given to Sabrina Vrutaal.

To conclude the evening, the Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset had several raffle prizes that were donated by businesses in the community. The funds raised from the raffles will be used to assist with the clubs service projects throughout the year. Lastly, we partied and fellowshipped to the songs and performance of Matthew Nicoise known as LYTE.

The Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset meets on the second and fourth Monday of the month at Carl N Sons Unique Inn and Conference Facilities in Cole Bay at 7:30pm. The club can be contacted via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via the official Facebook page at facebook.com/rotarysxmsunset.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Police Force Sint Maarten is deeply concerned by the recent incidents of school fights that have emerged at the outset of the 2023/2024 school year. Ensuring the safety and security of our youth remains KPSM's utmost priority. While we continue to dedicate our efforts to protecting and educating the students within our community, KPSM firmly believes that parents and guardians play an indispensable role in curbing this distressing phenomenon.

Over the years, the Police Force Sint Maarten has tirelessly initiated various programs aimed at altering both parental and student perspectives to combat the escalating issue of school fights. Regrettably, despite our sustained endeavors, we witnessed yet another disconcerting occurrence on August 29th, 2023, as captured in videos circulating across social media platforms. The acts of violence displayed by certain students have left us deeply alarmed.

We want to emphasize that any individuals found involved in violent activities will be held accountable and dealt with accordingly by law enforcement. However, it is imperative to recognize that this does not absolve parents and guardians of their responsibilities in the upbringing of their children. We firmly believe that parents should remain the primary educators and protectors of their children, and our role is to support and complement their efforts.

Both schools and the police force are institutions designed to provide a safe and conducive learning environment for our youth. They are not intended to act as substitutes for parental guidance. It is crucial for parents to instill in their children the values of respect, tolerance, and peaceful conflict resolution. Violence in any form will not be tolerated, and we implore parents to join us in conveying this message to their children.

The Police Force Sint Maarten encourages open communication between parents, schools, and law enforcement agencies. We are dedicated to working collaboratively to address this issue and ensure the safety of our community. By fostering an atmosphere of understanding and cooperation, we believe we can collectively create a positive change in the mindset of our youth.

We urge parents and guardians to actively engage with their children, monitor their activities, and guide them toward making responsible choices. Let us unite in safeguarding the future of our children and fostering a peaceful and productive learning environment.

KPSM Press Release.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The court of first instance granted NV GEBE its request to terminate its Human Resource manager Clifford Sasso who was placed on suspension.

The verdict was read in open court on Wednesday, August 30th 2023.

Based on the verdict GEBE is allowed to end its working relationship with Clifford Sasso since the company had issued several warning letters to Sasso prior to the last suspension.

NV GEBE must compensate Sasso for his years of service. He is to be paid NAF 264.801.00

Below is the decision of the court both in English and Dutch.

order

COURT IN THE FIRST INSTANCE OF SINT MAARTEN

Case number: SXM202300375

Decision dated 30 August 2023

regarding

the limited liability company N.V. COMMUNITY

ELECTRICITY COMPANY UPPERVVINDSE ISLANDS,

located in Sint Maarten,

applicant, also the defendant in the conditional counterclaim,

authorized representative: mr. Z.].A. BARY,

in return for

Clifford SASSO,

living in Sint Maarten,

defendant, the applicant in the conditional counter-application,

authorized representative: mr. C.H.]. MERX.

The parties will hereinafter be referred to as Gebe and Sasso.

1. flat process flow

1.1. Gebe filed a petition with exhibits on March 31, 2023.

On June 23, 2023, Sasso submitted a statement of defense, also a conditional counter-application,

with exhibits submitted. The request was processed on June 29, 2023.

During the oral procedure, the representatives have the floor conducted on the basis of pleadings submitted by them. Sasso also has in

Within the framework of the conditional counter-request, his claim is increased by deed.

The clerk took notes of what was discussed at the hearing.

1.2. The verdict has not yet been determined.

2. The facts

2.1. The following facts will be established between the parties in this proceedings marked. These facts appear from documents submitted and/or follow from statements of the parties insofar as these have been submitted by one party and by the other party have been recognized or have not been contested or have been contested with insufficient reason.

2.2. Sasso, born October 19, 1969, has been employed by Gebe since November 1, 2000, based on an employment contract, most recently as Human Resource manager at a salary of NAf14,883.50 gross per month plus 8.33 9'3 holiday allowance and a thirteenth month. Case number: SXM202300375 sheet 2

Judgment date: August 30, 2023 2.3. In a letter dated 12 April 2018, Gebe sent Sasso a written warning given for dereliction of duty, described as follows:

l t came to our attention that you, without the knowledge and consent of the Managing Board, subsequently, initiated and processed a lump sum payment for persons that were not included in the initial list that was provided by you and approved by the Managing Board and in turn the Supervisory Board of Directors, by way of an approved budget. you unilaterally instructed the Finance Department to process, with the payroll of March 25, 2018, lump sum payments, to persons whose contracts had ended or were terminated in 2017. By doing so you exceeded your authority. 

2.4. By letter dated 20 May 2021, Sasso was suspended by Gebe for a period of five days because he failed to inform management during the Covid-19 pandemic

and notify employees who have tested positive for the virus. The Interim Gebe's manager has the following accusation against Sasso described:

This is completely unacceptable. Management needs to be advised immediately of any positive COVID19 case(s) and possible exposures so that immediate and appropriate action can be coordinated through management and the affected departments. We have already lost a colleague to the virus, but even without that tragedy, i would assume that you would have taken immediate action by informing me."

2.5. The documents include an - undated - written statement from K. Chittick, former Chief Executive Officer of Gebe, in which he mentions of six incidents related to the functioning of Sasso. According to each time, Chittick has addressed Sasso on this statement and he has verbally warned about this.

2.6. By letter dated August 20, 2021, Gebe Sasso wrote again warned because he allegedly interfered in a dispute between Gebe and an employee, Ms. Daniel, on behalf of her in an e-mail statement about the progress of a particular telephone conversation with an official of Gebe, which Sasso would have witnessed. To compose

this e-mail by Sasso qualified Gebe in the letter of August 20, 2021 as a suspicious and colluding act against an employee". Gebe has the

added incidents mentioned in Chittick's statement, and further:

"Also, very concerning is that such suspicious and underhanded actions have been carried out by you and Ms. Daniel together in the past. Your apparent loyalty to Ms. Daniel and therefore a lack of trustworthiness and integrity as an internal employee of NV GE B E has been made very clear over the years on other occasions. [. . .] On March 31, 2021, you were asked about the absence of Ms. Daniel who had not been to work. Under questioning, you stated that you were in possession of the sick leave notice. When asked when the notice had been received, you stated that you could not recall, thereby, clearly not executing the matter according to the normal process within the Human Resources department where registering a date for incoming documents, by stamp, is customary. I. . .I Also, and very noteworthy to

mention is a letter in your file, wherein you were required by the then Managing Board, during the extension of your 2014 trial period, to focus on removing your perception of favoritism and to place total loyalty to the Managing Board. This statement underscores Case number: SXM202300375 sheet 3

Judgment date: August 30, 2023 your questionable character as an employee and manager within NV GEBE, and this latest incident shows that you have not improved on that topic. 

2.7. On September 3, 2022, Sasso helped Ms. Daniel with moving stuff (folders and bags) from her office on the grounds of Gebe in her (official) car. This was captured on video footage of Gebe. As a result, Gebe has launched an investigation into the significance of this event. Pending this investigation is Sasso by Gebe by letter dated 20 September Decommissioned in 2022.

2.8. Gebe has also commissioned a broader investigation into the functioning of its Human Resource Department by Development Consulting

Center Ltd. in Trinidad W.I. The conclusion in the (undated) audit report (40 pages) issued as a result of that investigation reads as follows:

During this audit, we examined all critical areas of HR Management, and while our Findings show severe weaknesses in the practice of HR within GEBE, we see real value in underscoring failures that are clearly beyond the HRD/HRM. We would be remiss in our duties if we did not highlight the shortcomings of senior/executive management, internal audit, and the supervisory board. From the poor selection/hiring of an inexperienced and unqualified (in HR) HRM, repeated six-month extensions of his trial period while not gaining the expected value added to repeated inaction on crucial matters. Not only is the HRM/HRD weak, but all those who were meant to hold them accountable must bear signicant culpability. That multiple managers, executives, C-suites, and boards allowed this situation to continue and fester for such a prolonged period is a cause of direct concern and immediate action. The crisis of recent years, particularly the ransomware incursion, has had the unintended consequence of triggering these and other audits/investigations. However, as difcult as these circumstances are, GEBE can capitalize on the crisis, as the conditions are ripe to articulate and develop a sense of urgency, which is a rst step on the transformation journey. Human Resources is the lifeblood of any organization; not only is it usually the costliest budget item, but also, the very survival and growth of the business depend on this all-important resource. Moreover, humans have the ability to learn and grow, as do organizations. Therefore, GEBE must act now to begin the process of change and transformation If it is to prevent an even worse decline and hold its cornerstone position within the community and economy of Sint Maarten. 

2.9. Gabe made the audit report available to on March 6, 2023, Sasso (and his agent) and she has tried repeatedly since then to discuss its contents with Sasso. Sasso refused flat.

2.10 Gebe informed Sasso on March 27, 2023, that the employment as far as she is concerned, cannot be continued with him.

The request 3.1. Gebe requests, essentially, that the Court by order de employment agreement between the parties will dissolve, primarily immediately due to a

(deferred) urgent reason and alternatively in the shortest possible term due to a change of circumstances without award of any compensation. Would it

The court is of the opinion that in the latter case, compensation should nevertheless be made granted, it must take into account all circumstances of the

case to be moderated considerably.

3.2. Gebe bases her request on the established facts. From that, she notes that virtually from the beginning of Sasso's appointment as Human

Resource manager have constantly been 'issues' for which he has several received written and verbal warnings. Sasso has insufficiently combated the favoritism within Gebe, in fact, he benefits from it. According to Gebe, Sasso's dysfunction follows further from the audit report. That shows that Sasso, contrary to his job description, has failed to develop policy in various areas. It also shows that at the employees of Gebe are dissatisfied with the helpfulness and reliability from Sasso. Gebe believes that Sasso has given her an urgent reason to submit the cancellation request. If the Court does not follow her in this, then there now we] there are changed circumstances because of an irreparable disruption in the employment relationship.

3.3. Sasso puts forward a motivated defence. According to Sasso, there is no sound grounds to terminate the employment contract because of his performance

are always well assessed. The audit report has no value because its name nor function in it comes to the fore. Sasso also strongly denies that there is any question

is for a (delayed) urgent reason.

4. The counter-request

4.1. Sasso requests, after an increase in the claim, that the Court, by order, for as far as possible from stock:

a. Gebe will order full compliance with the employment contract and be continue to pay salary;

b. upon dissolution of the employment contract to Sasso on the basis of the

subdistrict court formula will award him compensation of NAf 885568118 gross;

c. and in addition, upon dissolution of the employment contract, to a will award fair compensation of ANG 240,967.00 gross;

d. Gebe will order the costs of the proceedings, the subsequent costs, and the statutory interest about that.

4.2. Gebe has put forward a motivated defense.



5. The assessment

The counter request

5.1. There is reason to first assess the counter-application. That is rejected because the request to comply with the employment contract and to continue the salary

pay does not match an existing situation in which this is not the case, while before that after the dissolution to be pronounced - as will follow below - none

legal basis exists.

5.2. Furthermore, Sasso confuses a fee based on the subdistrict court formula with compensation in fairness, in the sense that they are in addition to

would exist together. That is not the case. Upon dissolution of the employment contract due to change of circumstances is only known by law

possibility of awarding compensation on an equitable basis. That compensation can be calculated here in the country applying the until 1 January 2015

The subdistrict court formula applicable in the Netherlands is something else. If, upon dissolution of the employment contract provides for compensation in fairness

clan to be known lies in the judgment thereon that this means an adequate manner the consequences of that dissolution are compensated. The law does not provide

in the claim to a surplus, such as compensation based on the kantom' however formula.

5.3. Gebe does not have a separate defense for the counter-application submitted, but the question of the (possible) severance payment has already been addressed

in her request. There is then 00k no reason for a cost order from Sasso.



5.4. The Court has verified that the request for dissolution of the employment contract is not related to the existence of any cancellation prohibition.

5.5. Gebe primarily has a delayed urgent reason for the request foundation laid. However, it failed to indicate which one in that connection

qualify facts as such. Instead, she apparently means it that all the facts and circumstances it has in the petition presented is appropriate. However, it doesn't work. For taking after all, an urgent reason is necessary "that there must be a case that is exceptionally serious".i The catalog of viewpoints held by the High Council

formulatedcl2 of facts and circumstances to be involved in the assessment whether an urgent reason arises, clan 00k starts with that having

must be based on the nature and seriousness of the grounds for dismissal used. This requires that Gebe does not turn her petition into a raffle, but specifically in it

1 prof. Mr. S.F. Sage], "The summary dismissal". Social Law Menograph no. 58, Kluwer 2013. p. 272

1 HR 12 February I999, NJ [999, 643 (Schn'Jver:'Van Essen)



indicates what she considers to be exceptionally serious during the employment. Gebe did not do that and that is why the primary

no basis for termination.

5.6. In addition, Gebe is making insufficient progress 5.7. The Court will dissolve the employment contract between the parties due to a change of circumstances, which consists of such a serious and permanently disrupted employment relationship that van Gebe in it cannot reasonably be required to allow the employment contract to continue, in combination with the fact that Sasso has not been able to provide sufficient content to his position as Human Resource manager. Lie down to the disturbance of multiple occurrences that have in common that Sasso acting selfishly. This reproach is also included in the reprimand of 12 April 2018

_ and the suspension of May 20, 2021. Sasso is against these disciplinary measures that did not arise at the time and the Court therefore assumes the correctness of the facts that Gebe has mentioned before. What Sasso opposes in these proceedings has contributed does not eat of it. From a Human Resource manager, Gebe

first of all expects him to understand the company's policy and the implement rules drawn up for this purpose and does not give its own interpretation to them.

Sasso we] did the latter. Illustrative of this is his omission, or refusal, to notify Gebe management of positive COVID-19-tested employees because this would be a health issue that not to be shared by those employees with anyone. Misunderstood with that Sasso that Gebe should ensure good order in the company, for the

health of its employees and that in addition to her a legal duty of care to ensure the safest possible working environment.

In addition, Sasso has proved too light for the tasks and responsibilities that arise from the position of Human Resource manager. The audit report

made sufficiently plausible by Gebe that he failed to fulfill this position and has failed to meet the job profile. Admittedly interim assessments have not been brought to light insofar as it should Prayer put the hand in your own bosom, but when it comes to asking or do employment contract with Sasso can be continued, it is understandable that Gebe '1 See prof. mr. E. Verhulp In 'Disfunctioning and misconduct of employees', Kluwer 2008, p. 86 about the dissolution due to urgent cause remarks: (..) but it is generally accepted that the gedachle dai it it is possible - without having further acne - to experience for some time after the withering behavior due to that behavior may still be ordered to be bound because of an urgent reason.



to put things in order now. There is even more reason for this now that Sasso is stubbornly refused to discuss the contents of the audit report with Gebe and apparently

is not interested in any feedback on the functioning of the department for which he is responsible.

5.8. The granting of a severance payment to Sasso is as follows judged. The parties take as a starting point the period until 2015

Subdistrict court formula applied in the Netherlands must be followed. The dish agrees in this case. This is the date of January 1, 2009

modified version of this formula A x B x C, where A represents the weighted

number of years of service, B concerns the remuneration and C expresses the correction factor is being brought. Assuming September 7, 2023 as the date of end of the

employment contract and November 1, 2000 as the date of commencement of employment weighted number of years of service (rounded) 30.5. The reward to be taken into account (including holiday allowance and thirteenth month) amounts to ANG 17,364.08 gross. Stays whether a correction factor, downward or upward, should be made applied. There is no sufficient basis for an upward adjustment. For a downward adjustment. The partly well-founded accusations that Gebe made to Sasso

makes and the fact that he has been repeatedly warned about this, give that reason for. The Court also takes note of the fact that Sasso's non-activity is already

continues for almost a year. Taking into account all circumstances of the case judged that applying a C-factor set at 0.5 is fair in this case.

This means that the severance payment to be awarded to Sasso amounts to ANG 264,801.00 gross (30.5 x 17,364.08 x 0.5). The (possibly) due to Sasso

cessantia payment is deemed to be included therein.

5.9. The dissolution of the employment contract will be pronounced per September 7, 2023. There is, unlike under the changed in 2015 in the Netherlands

dismissal law, not a rule of law that entails that this must be taken into account held with a notice period. The Court also takes the long-term one non-activity of Sasso into account. The decomposition thus continues an already long-standing factual situation and Sasso need not be the occasion provided for commanded to prepare for a situation in which he does not work for Gebe.

5.10. Gebe has yet to be given the opportunity to withdraw the request. If she does so, she must pay the costs of the proceedings. Continues withdrawal

if not, the costs of the proceedings will be compensated as stated below.

6. The decision



6.1. notifies Gebe of the intention to terminate the existing agreement with Sasso terminate the employment contract under the award of compensation to him

large ANG 264,801.00 gross and gives Gebe the opportunity to submit the request no later than 0pCase number: SXM202300375 page 8

Judgment date: August 30, 2023 September 6, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. by written statement to that effect

to be delivered to the registry with a copy to the other party;

6.2. if the cancellation request is not withdrawn in time:

dissolves the existing employment contract between the parties due to serious reasons consisting of changes in circumstances as of September 7, 2023,

with the award to Sasso at the expense of Gebe of a large compensation ANG 264,801.00 gross and with the stipulation that the (possibly) accruing to Sasso

cessantia payment is deemed to be included therein;

6.3. orders Gebe to pay the amount stated under 6.2 for '1 October 2023 and declare this payment order immediately enforceable;

6.4. if the application is withdrawn, orders Gebe to pay the costs of the procedure budgeted at ANG 2,500.00 for the salary of the authorized representative and compensates in the In the event of withdrawal, the costs of the proceedings shall be waived by each party

remains responsible for its own costs; on-the-counter request

6.5. dismisses Sasso's claims;6.6. compensates the costs of the proceedings in such a way that each party remains burdened with its own costs.

This decision was made by mr. G.A.F.M. Wouters, judge, and op

pronounced in open court on 30 August 2023 in the presence of the clerk.

Click here for the Dutch version of the court's verdict.
Superlatives in gold mining

Stories and facts about gold have always fascinated investors.

For example, there is the highest gold mine in the world. It is the La Rinconada mine, located at 5,100 meters in Peru. The Grasberg mine in Indonesia has the world\-s largest gold deposit; it mines gold and copper. It is also one of the largest and deepest gold mines on earth. The largest known gold enrichment in the world is in South Africa, in the Witwatersrand area. Gold and uranium exist there. The Witwatersrand Basin is about 52,000 square kilometers in size. Here, too, mines reach down to a depth of 4,000 meters.

One company with several mines in the Witwatersrand Basin is Sibanye-Stillwater  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/sibanye-stillwater-ltd/ -. The company produces not only gold, but also platinum and palladium, and is now also focusing on battery metals. Sibanye-Stillwater is active in South Africa and in North and South America.

The Muruntau mine in Uzbekistan is considered the largest open pit mine in terms of area. It is said to have more than 71 million ounces of gold reserves. The mine was discovered in 1958 and has been mined since 1969. Looking at the cost side, there are also big differences in how much has to be invested to produce one ounce of gold. Often the cost is between $750 and $1,000 per ounce of gold, but some are much less expensive. These are mainly gold mines in Russia. In addition to gold grades, mining conditions such as infrastructure and climatic conditions, as well as mining laws in the respective country, the development of a gold mine costs a lot of money.

This is where not only royalty companies help, but also financing companies such as Queen\-s Road Capital Investment  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/queens-road-capital-investment-ltd/ -. The mine operators receive financing with attractive conditions. And Queen\-s Road Capital Investment earns money in the process. Ultimately, the shareholders of Queen\-s Road Capital Investment profit with convertible bonds.

Latest corporate information and press releases from Queen\-s Road Capital Investment (- https://www.resource-capital.ch/en/companies/queens-road-capital-investment-ltd/ -) and Sibanye-Stillwater (- https://www.resource-capital.ch/en/companies/sibanye-stillwater-ltd/ -).

In accordance with A34 WpHG I would like to point out that partners, authors and employees may hold shares in the respective companies addressed and thus a possible conflict of interest exists. No guarantee for the translation into English. Only the German version of this news is valid.

Disclaimer: The information provided does not represent any form of recommendation or advice. Express reference is made to the risks in securities trading. No liability can be accepted for any damage arising from the use of this blog. I would like to point out that shares and especially warrant investments are always associated with risk. The total loss of the invested capital cannot be excluded. All information and sources are carefully researched. However, no guarantee is given for the correctness of all contents. Despite the greatest care, I expressly reserve the right to make errors, especially with regard to figures and prices. The information contained herein is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but in no way claims to be accurate or complete. Due to court decisions, the contents of linked external sites are also co-responsible (e.g. Landgericht Hamburg, in the decision of 12.05.1998  312 O 85/98), as long as there is no explicit dissociation from them. Despite careful control of the content, I do not assume liability for the content of linked external pages. The respective operators are exclusively responsible for their content. The disclaimer of Swiss Resource Capital AG also applies: https://www.resource-capital.ch/en/disclaimer/
Moreover, you do business with Goldman Sachs partly out of snob appeal. It becoming available to almost anyone was always going to dent that brand value. (There are bound to be Coutts clients still upset to discover they shared a bank with Nigel Farage.)
The airline said: During this traditionally very busy week for travel, options for returning to the UK are more limited on some routes and so easyJet will be operating five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days from Palma and Faro on August 30, and Tenerife and Enfidha on August 31, and from Rhodes on September 1.
Amanda McKinley, a lawyer at Simpson Millar, said: In this case the employment tribunal judge has ruled that the retailer failed in its duty under UK employment law legislation to carry out proper consultation with staff at risk of redundancies, and the outcome of the legal action now paves the way to secure a payout in the form of a protective award for our clients which is expected to be in the region of 860,000.
Employers must also make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to their employees health and safety whilst they are at work, and must review it when there is reason to suspect that it is no longer valid; or where there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates.
Robert Forrester, Chief Executive Officer of Vertu Motors, said: I am pleased to report that trading remains positive. The entire Vertu team has put in hard work and dedication once again, and I would like to thank them all. Used car pricing has remained firm and we have gained market share in the new car market. The performance of our high margin aftersales business has remained strong.
Britain is not a great military power like the US or an economic one such as the EU. Still, we must get our policy right. Is China a threat to the UK and our interests or a vital trading partner? If it is both, how can we ensure our supply chains are more resilient and our defences more secure? Until we comprehensively grapple with those questions, British policy will continue to appear haphazard.
So Boris Johnson tried to be his own foreign secretary, Theresa May her own home secretary and Gordon Brown his own chancellor. Liz Truss is, as ever, uncategorisable. Rishi Sunak, for his part, gives the impression of a man who enjoys nothing less than retiring to the upstairs flat with a can of coke and a Treasury red book, rather than obsessing over foreign affairs.
I found a side of myself writing it that was strong. This was the guy Id been looking for! Im as proud of [debut album] Hot Fuss as you can be for something you did when you were 20, but Im not 20. So Im thinking about the next phase of my life.
Ramaswamy has also promised to pardon Trump if he becomes president and has declared him the best president of the 21st century  there have only been three others. In fact, Ramaswamy appears to be running his campaign according to Trumps playbook. During the debate, he made much of his outsider status without going quite so far as leading the audience in a chant of drain the swamp  Trumps famous campaign refrain. I do think that it is going to take an outsider, he said. For a long time, we have had professional career politicians in the Republican Party who have been running from something. Now is our moment to start running to something  to our vision of what it means to be an American today.
Unfortunately, most symptoms associated with ALL tend to be quite vague. The best way to tell if symptoms are related to ALL is to seek medical attention. Symptoms of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia could include:
Help us to find this brilliant kind man, the type of man who you can ring at 3am when your back is hurting and you cant sleep. His future is so bright and we must rally together to bring him back to where he is loved and safe.
It is essential that the chair has the powers to compel witnesses to give evidence under oath, and to force disclosure of documents. Without these powers, the inquiry would have been ineffectual and our clients would have been deprived of the answers they need and deserve.
They added that last year the Office for National Statistics shows that 12,786 knife offences were carried out in the capital over the 12 months to the end of March, this sadly affects us as much as any community. We will continue to work hard with our partners to protect Notting Hill Carnival and the people who make it so special.
A murder investigation has been launched led by Detective Chief Inspector Neil John, who said: At this early stage we are establishing a timeline of events that led up to and immediately followed this murder. If you have information or dashcam footage, please do get in touch.
In the days after the stabbing, while in custody, Bowles issued prepared statements admitting being at the leisure centre, as well as his motivation for the attack and his rationale for the victim being his target - confirming that it was because he believes that the victim works at GCHQ, and he disagrees with the work that he says that they conduct.
It added: I am clear that there is much for us to do. I am sorry to all of the communities we have let down for the failings of the past and look forward to building a new Met for London, one all Londoners can be proud of and in which they can have confidence.
He said: You cant have it that every single year come Tuesday morning were contemplating these types of injuries, this numbers of injuries and sexual assaults and stabbings. It really is awful.
But we want to make sure that people know that the scheme is in place. As of today, you could be liable for a charge, so please do either pay your daily charge or sign up to auto-pay, to make sure that you dont receive a PCN [penalty charge notice].
The scheme will be rolled out gradually over the next two years across the borough, which will be divided into different lots or zones, Newham council said.
Im very hopeful that he will land those points about transnational repression. We all know we are seeing increased espionage on British shores and we are also seeing appalling human rights abuses against the Uighur, the Tibetans and many more, the senior Tory said.
He said: I do think we need an informed debate in this country about should the number of national legislators be entirely and exclusively linked to population, or actually is there a conversation to be had about what the appropriate number of TD is?
He explained: We know that  there are meetings that happen through the middle of the night and the following morning some Chinese students can get rung up by somebody at the cultural or education section of the embassy to ask them: Why did you say that? Why did you do that?
But Mr Khan has insisted at the election next year he will be judged on his record over a range of areas, including affordable housing provision and his decision to provide free lunches in all primary schools. When asked whether the anti-pollution policy may cost him his bid for a third term at City Hall, he said: My job over the next few months is to campaign on my track record.
The Government is going even further through our Illegal Migration Act which will mean that people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country.
He said: Both political parties are trying to outdo each other on who can be tough on crime, because theres no need for legislation actually, and the reason theres no need for legislation is because the courts have got the power to tell a governor that he wants a prisoner produced in his court.
He added that it had led to honeymoons and holidays ruined, babies forced to sleep on airport floors and one of the busiest weeks of the year scarred by an IT meltdown... the full cause of which has not yet really been explained.
EasyJet told PA: We have been doing everything we can to minimise the impact of the disruption, providing customers with information on their options to transfer their flight for free or receive a refund, securing hotel accommodation where possible and advising any customers who make their own accommodation or alternative travel arrangements that they will be reimbursed.
It was never discussed. I didnt really talk about it and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done, but then when it all came fizzing out, I was bouncing off the walls. I was like what is going on here? Im now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.
She said: There were some constituencies where the answer was clear enough when you looked at the boundaries but none of it was easy because obviously once you create one constituency it will have a domino effect on the ones around it.
The airline said: During this traditionally very busy week for travel, options for returning to the UK are more limited on some routes and so easyJet will be operating five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days from Palma and Faro on August 30, and Tenerife and Enfidha on Thursday August 31 and from Rhodes on Friday September 1.
I assured the family and I want to assure the community that local gardai here in south Tipperary are here to support them and the community, as we all come to terms with this tragedy over the coming days, weeks and months.
It was never discussed. I didn't really talk about it and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done, but then when it all came fizzing out, I was bouncing off the walls. I was like 'what is going on here? I'm now feeling everything as opposed to being numb'.
Asked about whether the level of charges or minimum emissions standards will be altered, Mr Khan said: No, this is the emissions stance that we have and we are not going to change the emissions standards. We want to give people that certainty.
Asked if he is calling for Mr Byrne to resign, Mr Clarke said: It is clear the officers dont have confidence and now politicians dont have confidence, and clearly the public wont have confidence, so I think if you work out the consequences from that, the only option open to Simon is to resign at this stage.
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Astronomer Professor Don Pollacco, from the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick, said: One of the flukes of nature is that the apparent size of the moon can be very similar to that of the sun.
You are closer to the entrance and exit and you do not have to walk with your bag or trolley through the whole plane. The only adult section is separated, so happy children and you stay happy.
Weve proven time and again that were not going to wash away. We may be a little uncomfortable for a couple of days, but well be OK eventually.
Several French companies said they were suspending operations and moving to ensure the safety of their staff, with one airport source saying flights had been cancelled on Wednesday. The private intelligence firm Ambrey said all operations at the country's main port in Libreville had been halted, with authorities refusing to grant permission for vessels to leave.
Some of the drones were said to have hit an empty oil reservoir, while another was said to have been heading for a TV tower.
The committee said last week it has opened a criminal case on charges of flight safety violation - a standard charge used in plane crash investigations in Russia when there is no immediate reason to suspect foul play.
Indigenous groups in Australia have faced considerable hardship throughout the centuries. Between 1910 and the 1970s, a third of Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families in an attempt to assimilate them into white society. In some families, children from three or more generations were taken. They are known as the stolen generation.
According to celebrity groomer Josh Knight, who works with the likes of Paul Mescal, Will Poulter and Corey Mylchreest, it can be used to create this latest trend-led styles: Right now, I love a mullet or Sixties mod haircut - anything with a lot of texture to it. I use a softer gel in curly hair to create more of a defined curl and a harder gel to create details with the hair - or if I wanted a really slicked look to stay in place.
The hunt for joggers is a hardship suffered by even the most famous of long-legged faces. Earlier this year, former Victorias Secret model Karlie Kloss took to Instagram to show off a sporty new look, consisting of cropped joggers that barely scaled the length of her 6ft1 frame. The same goes for 5ft9 Kaia Gerber, who marked her 21st birthday with a snoozy social media post in joggers that couldnt quite reach her ankles.
While were sad to see the end of summer (which could possibly be the bleakest British summer on record), these Oodies are making us super excited for the cooler months, where we can snuggle up in our blanket hoodies, throw on a film and eat snacks until our hearts content.
Moore said: Here we are 24 years on and still nobody has the answer to the question of who did this. I reported on it on the time. Her brother Nigel, who is also a journalist, feels that this could help bring somebody forward that might know something.
Not backing down, Murray replied: I was sent there by the chemotherapy dept because I was running a fever. Infections can be very dangerous when you are on chemo. If you have any more patronising advice, maybe you should keep it to yourself. Good health.
A convoy with 40 tons of humanitarian aid sent from Baku by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society for the needs of the Armenians living in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan has been waiting on the Aghdam-Khankandi road throughout the day, Azernews reports, citing Society.

Since yesterday, a column of two trucks with 40 tons of flour products has been on the Aghdam-Khankandi road near the post of Russian peacekeepers temporarily stationed in Azerbaijan.

Employees of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, and volunteers spent the night and rested in tents set up on the territory.

In connection with the delivery of humanitarian aid to Khankandi, employees of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society held talks with Russian peacekeepers and are waiting for a response from them.

Jeyhun Mirzayev, general secretary of the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, said that discussions with the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent are ongoing to create conditions for the delivery of the humanitarian cargo to Khankendi: "Discussions are underway now. We said that the issue would not be resolved this evening, and they asked us for time. We once again conveyed our humanitarian goal and mission to the command of the Russian peacekeepers. They said that if there is any change in the situation, we will be informed."

This once again proves that Armenia and the notorious regime created and supported by it in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan purposefully created artificial obstacles to the use of the Aghdam-Khankandi road.
88,433 natural, legal persons doing business registered in Romania in first seven months of 2023

The number of registrations of individuals and legal entities doing business in Romania decreased in the first seven months of 2023 by 1.88%, y-o-y, to 88,433, of which 56,619 were limited liabilities, according to data centralised by the National Companies Registry Office (ONRC), told Agerpres.

Most registrations occurred in the city of Bucharest, 17,996 (plus 8.7%, as against January-July 2022), and in the counties of Cluj - 4,810 (minus 14.52%), Ilfov - 4,660 (plus 0.69 %), Bihor - 4,162 (plus 30.80%) and Timis - 4,032 (-7.08%).

The lowest number of registrations was reported in the counties of Covasna - 562 (up by 14.46% as against the first seven months of 2022), Ialomita - 590 (-11.28%), Mehedinti - 600 ( -20.32%) and Tulcea - 606 (-5.16%).

According to ONRC, the business areas in which most registrations were made are wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicle and motorcycles (16,581; +5.62%, as against the first seven months of 2022), transport and storage (9,225; +5.28%) and construction (8,978; -6.96%).
In the current context, "in the face of threats to democracy and fundamental human rights, the book must be the shield that protects us from the toxicity of manipulative discourse, from mirages and the danger of returning to the totalitarian past, president Klaus Iohannis said Wednesday in a message on the occasion of the opening of the Bookfest Chisinau International Book Fair, read by presidential adviser Sergiu Nistor.

"In a context where the Moldovan society is more and more committed to the European path and the authorities are trying to counteract the effects of the aggression of the Russian Federation on Ukraine, the humanist values, which the book and the reading promote, take on a special significance. The dark years of communism taught us that in the book we find our guide to freedom!" president Iohannis says in his message, agerpres reports.

The Romanian president adds that, together with the president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, he granted the High Patronage to this year's edition of the Bookfest Chisinau International Book Fair.

"Thus we emphasize the importance of the book and the Romanian language in our common cultural heritage and show our appreciation for poets, writers and the reading public," adds Iohannis.He points out that Bookfest Chisinau, organized by the Association of Romanian Publishers and the State University of the Republic of Moldova, has become, since 2016, a "landmark of Romanian publishing life"."It is an event that periodically brings the book back into the spotlight, turning it into a genuine bridge of spirituality and solidarity between the two banks of the Prut," says the president.Iohannis recalls that Bookfest Chisinau 2023 starts on the eve of the celebration of the Romanian Language Day, both in Romania and in the Republic of Moldova."Through dialogue among authors and readers, through openness to young people, pupils and students, this event becomes a testimony of the role, mission and destiny of the Romanian language and literature, as well as of the growth of our contribution to the universal cultural heritage. I wish good luck to Bookfest Chisinau 2023! I am convinced that, through the efforts of the organizers and the enthusiasm of the reading public, the book will triumph! Happy birthday to the Romanian language and its lovers!" says the president.
Save Romania Union (USR) MEP Vlad-Marius Botos, vice-president of the Commission for Regional Development, made public, through a press release, that he sent a letter on Wednesday to Commissioner Elisa Ferreira, responsible for Cohesion and Reform within the European Commission, on the compliance with the requirements of safety regarding the Braila Bridge, built with European funds.

"The subject of this letter is compliance with construction safety standards regarding the Braila Bridge, a large infrastructure project financed with the contribution of European funds. Inaugurated with great pomp by the public authorities, the suspension bridge over the Danube in the eastern Braila area is the subject of some news and of some posts on the social media pages that show that it would have portions that are not in accordance with the safety that people have the right to expect," reads the press release sent by Vlad-Marius Botos, agerpres reports.

"Non-observance of safety measures, inadequate bolts, defective poured asphalt, could have disastrous effects on those who use the bridge. We need to know as soon as possible if the information that is now circulating in the media is true, if the bridge is a danger, in order to fix as much as possible the situation," said the USR MEP.

The director of National Road Infrastructure Management Company (CNAIR), Cristian Pistol, declared on August 11 that the irregularities in the asphalt on the suspension bridge over the Danube are generated by the non-compliance with the tonnage restrictions of 7.5 tons, imposed on hot days, and added that the verification of the tonnage of the vehicles traveling on the suspended bridge over the Danube belongs to the State Inspectorate for Road Transport Control (ISCTR).The Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu, declared on August 16, during a press conference, that the bumps on the Danube Bridge appeared especially on the direction from Tulcea to Braila. He emphasized that certain rules imposed by the National Road Infrastructure Management Company and other authorities must be respected. The Minister of Transport also said that the works are under warranty.The suspension bridge over the Danube in Braila - the largest suspension bridge ever built in Romania, the third in size in Europe and the last bridge over the Danube before it flows into the Black Sea - was inaugurated on July 6, 2023. The ceremony was attended by, among others, the President Klaus Iohannis, the President of the Senate, Nicolae Ciuca, the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, and the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Sorin Grindeanu, and the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean.The initial value of the project was 1.996 billion RON, without VAT, non-refundable external funds, and the builder is the Astaldi S.P.A. - IHI Infrastructure System Co. Ltd. association.
Over 125k persons, including about 14k Ukrainians, enter Romania on Tuesday

The General Inspectorate of the Border Police (IGPR) informs that 125,010 people entered Romania through the border crossing points on Tuesday, including 13,698 Ukrainian citizens, told Agerpres.

According to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday, about 307,000 people, Romanian and foreign citizens, with about 78,900 means of transport, have gone through the control formalities at the border points throughout the country, both on the entry and on the exit ways.

As of February 10, 2022 (pre-conflict period), 5,829,501 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania.

In the areas of jurisdiction, crossing points and the "green border," the police found 60 illegal acts (26 offences and 34 contraventions) committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens, and the amount of fines imposed amounted to 14,900 lei.

Goods worth approximately 350,000 lei were seized for confiscation.

On Tuesday, 23 foreign citizens were not allowed to enter the country because they did not meet the conditions provided for by law and 22 Romanian citizens were not allowed to leave the country for various legal reasons.
PM Ciolacu: I will propose the exclusion from the party of Crevedia mayor

The leader of the Social Democrats, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, announced Tuesday evening that he will propose to the PSD National Political Council that the mayor of Crevedia, Florin Petre, be excluded from the party, told Agerpres.

"I will propose the exclusion of the mayor of Crevedia in the next National Political Council meeting, at the end of the week. A mayor who 'didn't know' and who doesn't care about the tragedy the community that elected him is going through has no place in the PSD!," Ciolacu wrote on Facebook.

The mayor of Crevedia, Florin Petre, said on Tuesday that he did not know that the LPG station, where the explosions occurred, was still operating, after he was informed by the ISU three years ago that it had been closed, in his view guilty of the tragedy of Saturday night being ''the owner of the company."
The European Capital of Culture ECC2023 invites the public, in September, to stay connected to visual arts and symphonic music, European theater festivals, heritage conferences, vinyl fairs, the long-awaited Brancusi exhibition and the George Enescu International Festival.

The French Institute in Timisoara organizes, between September 1-3, the 12th edition of the Harababura Vintage Fair event, which includes an online platform for photography and sustainable fashion and a vinyl and book fair, with oriental concerts supported by the bands Ko Shin Moon from France and K not K from Romania and a contemporary dance performance Be The Storm, agerpres reports.

An absolute novelty for Timisoara, the George Enescu International Festival, opens on September 3, with Ensemble Intercontemporain, which will perform at the Capitol Hall of the Banatul Philharmonic. On September 4, during the festival, the public can enjoy a unique concert with the Fine Arts Quartet.

In a similar register, the Echo of the Synagogues will take place between September 4-7, in cities in the west of the country, where the Balanescu Quartet, together with the first cantor of the mosaic cult Emanuel Pusztai, will reach the public, through the Pantograf Association, which continues to bring in the foreground the stories and emotions that accompany synagogues and sacred spaces.On September 6, at the Banatul Philharmonic, the well-known Romanian Chamber Orchestra invites the audience to a unique experience, through a concert full of emotion and craftsmanship, addressed to families.Transitioning to a rock tonality, on September 6, as part of the Time to Rock 2023 project, Iulius Town will host a concert with the band Om la Luna, from Bucharest, followed by a concert by Fanfare Ciocarlia, a living legend of Balkan brass bands, returning to Timisoara through the Timis County Youth Foundation. Time to Rock will continue with other concerts on September 16, when the Omul cu Sobolani band will perform, and on September 28, Casa Tineretului will host a silent concert with the Eyedrops and Delta pe Obraz bands.In the preview of the Brancusi exhibition in Timisoara, for five months, every Thursday, in Piata Unirii, visual artist Mihai Donici creates a project of 20 ethno-sculpture exhibitions, which foreshadows the world of Brancusi forms. The exhibitions also have the role of preparing the local public and the cultural transit public for the contextualized reception of the exhibition Brancusi: Romanian Sources and Universal Perspectives, the expected opening of which will take place on September 30.Towards the end of the month, the TM2023 Hungarian Cultural Days will take place in Piata Victoriei, which brings Hungarian culture, music, gastronomy and traditions to the fore, celebrating, as every year, multiculturalism.The Sabotage Festival continues between September 22 and 24 with the same approach to growing the local electronic music scene, which is positioned on the border between music and art, and this year proposes three directions: music arena, with electronic music, sound art, experiment; knowledge arena, with workshops, discussions, conferences; technology arena, with multidisciplinary arts, video projections and interactive installations.From the series of theater festivals, EUROTHALIA European Theater Festival will take place between September 20-30, organized by the German State Theater of Timisoara and brings together theater performances, dance, theater-dance, documentary theater and puppet theater, non-verbal performances and productions with multimedia and animatronic elements from Germany, Spain, Greece, Belgium, North Macedonia, Latvia, Denmark, Bulgaria and Romania.
The exhibition "The Romanian Academy Library - a world of knowledge" opened at the "Theodor Pallady" Hall of the Romanian Academy.

Part of the exhibition, visitors will be able to see heritage pieces of universal value from the collections of the Romanian Academy Library, as among the exhibits there are charcoal seals from Alexander the Good (the oldest of them, dated 1429), Stephen the Great, Vasile Lupu, Ieremia Movila, the Proclamation of Islaz (programme of the 1848 Revolution in Romania, considered the first Constitution of Romania), but also the homage paid by four German artists to King Carol I of Romania, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his reign (dated 25 May 1891, in Munich), photographs taken by Franz Dushek the son, including the famous bridge of Cernavoda built by Anghel Saligny, agerpres reports.

"This extraordinary team has made a selection and I want to tell you that you will see documents with seals from Alexander the Good, Stephen the Great, Ieremia Movila, Vasile Lupu, the Proclamation of Izlaz, which is the first draft of the Constitution, it could not be approved then, but it is a draft Constitution drafted by the people of this country, not like the organic regulations that were approved by Kiseleff and the St. Petersburg Empire. We have four German artists paying homage to King Carol I, we have photographs of the famous bridge at Cernavoda, Anghel Saligny being both a member of the Academy and President of the Academy. We have the Voronetian Codex from the 16th century, Dosoftei's Psalter, Balcescu's manuscript - "Romanii supt Mihai Voievod Viteazul," Mihai Eminescu's rhyme dictionary given by Maiorescu, the oldest manuscript of the Academy Library from the 11th century, a Greek manuscript from the year 1000, then a Tetraevangeliary from the 12th century, the 'Book of Kings,' by Ferdousi, we have works by Albrecht Durer, Francisco de Goya, Rembrandt, Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse, Aman, Grigorescu, Andreescu, Tonitza, Petrascu, Corneliu Baba," Romanian Academy President Ioan-Aurel Pop said at the opening of the exhibition.

A special chapter is reserved for exhibits from the numismatic cabinet collection. The exhibition presents Roman gold coins from the collection of engineer Constantin Orghidan, dating from the time of the Principality, but also from the Late Roman Empire, from the Tetrarchy to the fall of Rome, and 11 Roman imperial cameos of Augustus, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Constantine the Great. Some of them are one-of-a-kind pieces in the world, the medallion from the time of Constantine the Great, minted in 326 and immortalizing the emperor's visit to Rome, stands out.The President of the Romanian Academy said that "the exhibition did not open at a random moment." "It opened at a critical moment for the Romanian Academy and for the Academy Library," said Ioan-Aurel Pop."The Romanian Academy is a main credit release authority, according to law, and it is a unique and independent institution, set up under the reign of Alexandru Ioan Cuza and officially opened as a Literary Society under the reign lieutenancy, Prince Carol had not yet arrived. This institution has therefore existed for almost 160 years. The authorities intend to bring it into line with the other academies. Not exactly with the academies of beauty or the Hagi Academy, but with the other academies, which are also branch academies - technical, agricultural, medical sciences - and there is another academy called the academy of scientists that people ask me 'at your Romanian Academy, are you people of art?.' We are also men of art, but the fundamental research institutes of this country are neither at the universities, nor at the Ministry of Research, they are at the Romanian Academy, and if someone says that fundamental research is no longer worthwhile, then we must all go somewhere else, as Goga said. So, if the Romanian Academy is put in line with the other academies and it is decided to reduce the staff of the academies by so much, then there is no point, because, I repeat, the Romanian Academy is an institution in this country. So is the Library and it tends to be in line with the other libraries, county or rich or beautiful all, but I want to tell you that the treasure of this nation is not in Cluj, Iasi or Craiova. There are fragments there," said Ioan-Aurel Pop.He said that "the treasure of this nation, its cultural treasure is in the Library of the Romanian Academy and we have been struggling for years to convince the authorities that the 14 million library items represent the national treasure and they must be known," stressed the President of the Romanian Academy.Nicolae Noica, honorary member of the Romanian Academy and Director General of the Library, appreciated that the exhibition "The Library of the Romanian Academy - a world of knowledge" is "an extraordinary exhibition" which presents "the treasure that is found in this Library of the Academy."The exhibition can be visited from 30 August to 1 September, from 9:00 to 14:00. Admission is free.
Because Rep. Jim Jordan, ROhio, cares deeply about the plight of the unfairly accused, he has launched yet another House GOP effort to protect Donald Trump from prosecution. The Judiciary Committee, which Jordan chairs, is demanding that Georgia prosecutor Fani T. Willis turn over documents related to her indictment of the former president over his insurrection attempt.

Jordan's game  using House investigations to protect Trump at all costs  is transparent. Yet if he really pursues this to a maximal extent, he will end up forcing many other Republicans to take difficult votes on future subpoenas  aligning them with Trump and putting their reelection at risk  without protecting Trump in any meaningful way.

It's highly unlikely GOP leaders  despite their public bluster on Trump's behalf  have any intention of letting things proceed that far. The whole project is almost surely a doomed charade at the outset.

To see why, consider this: In the spring, Jordan announced an investigation into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has indicted Trump over hush money payments to his mistress. Jordan demanded numerous internal communications from Bragg, who countered that he is legally constrained from divulging information involving ongoing criminal prosecutions.

Though Jordan secured initial cooperation from Bragg's office that revealed little, his committee has not obtained any of the sensitive documents it demanded from Bragg, according to Daniel Rubin, a spokesperson for Judiciary Committee Democrats. What's more, Rubin says, Jordan has still not issued a subpoena for them. (Jordan did get documents relating to federal funding of Bragg's office, but those are less sensitive.)

All this illustrates the problem Jordan faces with Willis, the Fulton County district attorney. Jordan is demanding internal communications between her and both the White House and special counsel Jack Smith, who has indicted Trump for charges related to his insurrection attempt and his harboring of classified documents.

To justify this, Jordan hints at nefarious coordination between Willis and Smith. But Erica Hashimoto, a professor at Georgetown Law, notes that federal and state prosecutors often confer on cases with violations of federal and state law. "It happens all the time," Hashimoto told me.

It's hard to imagine Willis will turn over any seriously sensitive information that compromises her case, which alleges a sweeping criminal conspiracy by Trump and numerous confederates to illegally corrupt the electoral process at many levels. Jordan may subpoena Willis, but she might well take that to court, says Hashimoto.

At that point the House might consider holding a full vote to enforce the subpoena. But vulnerable Republicans are already balking at voting for a symbolic measure expunging Trump's impeachments. A vote aligning themselves with Trump and against law enforcement on a matter involving an ongoing criminal prosecution of him would be much worse.

"The more votes you take on this, the more you're bonded as a marginal member to Trump," Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, told me. Swalwell thinks Republicans may opt not to do all it takes to get these documents, instead keeping everything in the realm of "innuendo and allegation."

Besides, even if Republicans did get everything they want, it's unlikely to reveal anything that would derail the prosecution of Trump in any case. Hashimoto told me: "There's not much that Congress can do, because this is a state prosecution."

To be sure, if Jordan can spread enough of a vague impression of wrongdoing related to the prosecutions, it might sow doubts in the minds of one juror on any given case. As Swalwell put it, the real goal of GOP efforts is to "tamper with the jury before they're seated."

For years now, a leading project of much of the GOP has been to treat Trump's unprecedented corruption as beyond reproach and accountability in every conceivable way. That strong-arming of the Ukrainian president? It wasn't extortion, just Trump setting foreign policy. That wide-ranging plot to corrupt the government in so many brazen ways to hijack a second term illegitimately? It was merely Trump exercising his legal options. That incitement of a mob to storm Congress? It was just a protest  or something akin to a tourist visit.

The idea that juries might eventually have their say on Trump's misconduct is anathema to his GOP supporters. When Republicans claim President Biden secretly orchestrated these indictments, it's a way of avoiding any acknowledgment that they were brought by grand juries made up of Trump's fellow Americans.

Trump is of course entitled to the presumption of innocence, and he might be acquitted of some or even all the charges against him. But if that is to be, it will be a decision that jurors make. It's something no amount of House GOP meddling can postpone forever.

"I don't know of any mechanism for Congress to prevent Trump from having to face a jury," Hashimoto told me. Even if that's the one thing Trump seems to want to avoid above all.

Greg Sargent@theplumlinegs
On August 30, 1958, Bill Wyatt and partner Don Kuehl opened the first McDonald's restaurant in Missouri, at 9915 Watson Road. The restaurant is still there today. Thirty years after the opening, we profiled the man who brought the Golden Arches to St. Louis. Here is the article from 1988.

Washington's Birthdays aren't memorable occasions for most people, but Bill Wyatt has vivid memories of Feb. 22, 1959. That was the time, a school holiday, when the noon crew didn't show up at his McDonald's.

Wyatt and partner Don Kuehl were six months into the ownership of the first McDonald's in the state of Missouri, a walk-up-service stand at 9915 Watson Road, and they were expecting one of their busiest times ever. Wyatt had the day shift.

''Five employees who were scheduled to come in at 11 a.m. were riding in the same car and they were involved in a collision,'' Wyatt said. ''One of the boys phoned. Nobody was hurt, but the car was wrecked and they didn't know how they'd get there.''

As expected, hordes of famished teen-agers attracted by the area's first Golden Arches started appearing at Wyatt's windows, calling orders from the limited menu of the time - hamburgers, French fries, milkshakes and sodas. Wyatt and a handful of employees tried to accommodate them.

''I was working frantically,'' he recalled. ''That first year as an owner was a tough one, seven days a week, and we were anxious to provide what McDonald's was known for - good, fast food. The bun man arrived in the middle of the rush and he felt sorry for me.

''He said, 'Is there anything I can do?'

''I said, 'Yeah, put on a cap and go to work!'

''He stayed for more than an hour, not sure what he was doing, but really helping. It would have been much worse without the bun man.''

Wyatt owns 21 of the 112 McDonald's franchises in metropolitan St. Louis. August 30 marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of the first one.

Wyatt described the long-ago Washington's Birthday fiasco over cheeseburgers at - where else? - a McDonald's, the one on Watson Road where it happened.

The building in Crestwood was replaced 10 years ago, and the new model bears little resemblance to the old place. It has a Bijou movie motif, with photos of 1930s film stars and art deco light fixtures over the booths, and a 22-person staff serving walk-in and drive-through diners.

Remember Dooley's and Dohack's? St. Louis restaurants we wish would come back Maybe you were a Parkmoor person, or perhaps it was the Libertine. See the restaurants we miss from years gone by.

The food list has undergone equally dramatic changes, including complex salads, a dozen varieties of sandwiches and a much-publicized breakfast menu.

All of the employees who were delayed by that car wreck three decades ago, by the way, were boys. One of the rules for holders of McDonald's franchises was that only males would work there.

Why?

''Ask Ray Kroc,'' Wyatt replied, smiling as he referred to the late creator of the McDonald's empire. ''Oh, I'm sure it was because he believed that if there were girls working, boys would start hanging around and that would create an atmosphere that might cause older customers to stay away.

''A franchise owner even had to get special permission to employ his wife or daughter.

''All that changed during the Vietnam War.''

Although women now make up the majority of McDonald's employees, the chain still has a policy that discourages extended stays. There are no jukeboxes and no telephones. (At McDonald's on interstate highways, an outdoor phone is provided.)

Wyatt knew Kroc, having been among the earlier franchise holders, and met him at management meetings at the company's Chicago headquarters. Kroc died in 1984.

The first McDonald's drive-in restaurant was opened in San Bernardino, Calif., in December 1948 by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. Six years later, Kroc became the franchising agent for the brothers, but it wasn't until 1961 that Kroc bought out the McDonalds for $2.7 million. There were more than 200 restaurants then.

Wyatt was trying to keep his own sandwich shop going at about the same time the McDonalds were starting out. That was in the middle stage of the St. Louisan's business career.

''I attended Blow School and Cleveland High, but when I graduated it was the middle of the Depression,'' Wyatt said, ''so there was no thought of college. Instead, I joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and was put to work cutting down trees.

''I only stayed with the CCC for six months, but it was a lifesaver because it got me and a lot of other unemployed people off the streets.''

Wyatt left to take a job with a bakery, slicing and wrapping bread, and later got a bread delivery route. Later he operated a sandwich shop for several years, but he was out of that and working as a journeyman machinist in 1956 when he and Kuehl heard about a new kind of restaurant chain that had originated in California. A McDonald's.

''The nearest one was in Champaign, Ill., so Don Kuehl and I drove there to see it,'' Wyatt said. ''We were impressed, so we drove on to Chicago and bought a franchise.''

The price then was $2,500. A franchise now costs about $22,000, and what buyers get, essentially, is a piece of paper entitling them to operate a McDonald's. Equipment and other start-up costs total about $400,000. The land and the store remain the property of the McDonald's Corp.

''It took two years to find a location and get the building up,'' Wyatt recalled. ''That first year was a struggle, because nobody knew us; we were just another hamburger place then.''

Wyatt had married in 1940 - ''The Japanese celebrated our first anniversary by bombing Pearl Harbor'' - and his wife, the former Verna Fett, was a schoolteacher. She taught for 12 years in the Hancock district and two years in Mehlville.

The Wyatts have a daughter, Lana, and three grandchildren.

It was six years before Wyatt and Kuehl opened their second McDonald's, at Gravois and Hampton, but others followed quickly. Tom Hillmeyer joined the group as manager and part owner of their third franchise; he now is Wyatt's general manager.

Kuehl wasn't actively involved in the company's operations in later years, and in 1987 he sold his share of the business to Wyatt.

One of the chief concerns for Hillmeyer and other McDonald's executives is personnel.

''The birthrate dropped in the '60s, and there will be a shortage of teen-agers until 1992,'' Wyatt said, ''so we've had to find alternatives. We hire a lot of housewives who help us through lunch time and go home in time to meet the school bus.

''Older citizens have also worked out well. You've probably seen our TV ad in which the older gentleman comes home from his first day as a McDonald's employee. His wife asks him how it went and he says, 'I don't know how they ever got along without me!'

''He isn't far from the truth. We depend on our older employees, especially to do the labor-intensive jobs in the back, such as preparing salads. The kids are a little faster up front.''

For all McDonald's employees, there is an emphasis on cleanliness. Every store manager is required to complete the courses at the company's ''Hamburger University'' in Chicago and then pass the word. Franchises can be revoked. (Thirty per cent of the world's 10,000 McDonald's are owned by the corporation.)

''There are two inspections a year,'' Wyatt said. ''One is announced ahead of time and the other isn't. They're intensive, white-glove checkups, where they examine everything from the air-conditioner to the temperature of the grill.''

Wyatt is in his office at 11422 Gravois Road every day, keeping himself involved in all phases of his 21 restaurants.

''If there is a new store ready or some promotion getting under way, I can't wait to get to the office,'' he said, smiling. ''Neither Ray Kroc nor I ever expected McDonald's to become the amazing success that it has, but one of Ray's secrets was that in awarding his franchises he went out and got fighters, guys who weren't afraid to work.

''I could have retired long ago. People ask me why I don't take time to smell the roses, and my answer is that these stores are my roses. They just come in different varieties for some people.''

Editors note: William C. Wyatt died on May 1, 1995, at the age of 80. At his peak he owned 21 McDonald's restaurants in Missouri. Today there are more than 350 in the state.
ST. LOUIS  Enterprise Holdings is kicking in nearly $5 million to help fund the ongoing effort to install turnstiles at MetroLink stations and make other improvements to beef up security on the light rail line.

The financial commitment by the Clayton-based car rental giant is by far the largest on a list of private donors to the $52 million MetroLink security effort. The list was released Tuesday by the Bi-State Development Agency, Metro Transits parent agency.

Were proud to support this initiative focused on providing a safer and more secure ride for residents and visitors who use our regions transit system, Enterprise spokeswoman Sara Miller said in a statement.

Enterprise and its founding family, the Taylors, have been prolific large donors to a wide range of causes across the metro area over the years. Among the beneficiaries have been the St. Louis Art Museum, Forest Park Forever and renovation efforts at the Gateway Arch and Soldiers Memorial.

Also high on the list of donors to the MetroLink security effort is Centene Corp., which is giving $2 million.

Centenes former CEO, Michael Neidorff, who died in 2022, had been outspoken on his concerns about the regions crime problems. Another leading donor was Edward Jones, which gave $1 million.

The $10.4 million private donor list also includes Express Scripts, $500,000; Ameren Corp., Nestle Purina PetCare and Schnuck Markets, $250,000 each; BJC HealthCare and Mercy, $200,000 each; the St. Louis Police Foundation, $100,000; and SSM Health, $25,000.

St. Louis University  whose president, Fred Pestello, is on Bi-States board  donated $300,000. Other education-related donors were the University of Missouri-St. Louis and St. Louis Community College, which gave $100,000 and $50,000, respectively.

These leaders in our regional community understand the essential role public transit plays on a daily basis for their employees and customers, Bi-State CEO Taulby Roach said in a statement.

The Regional Business Council played a key role in getting corporations involved in the effort and chipped in $150,000 itself.

Crime and public safety is a really important issue for the region, Kathy Osborn, the business councils president and CEO, said in an interview. We took it on ourselves to talk to a number of companies that would be interested.

The bulk of the $52 million is coming from government funds, including local money, federal American Rescue Plan Act money and proceeds from Bi-State bond refinancing.

Osborn said she and other business leaders decided to get involved a few years ago when MetroLink ridership was at a low ebb because of the pandemic and growing public concern about crime on the rail line.

Taulby had already been talking about the decrease in ridership and the perception and often the reality that it wasnt safe, she said. We were in conversations with him.

Bi-States board in November 2021 voted to authorize Roach to seek funding for the project, which also includes gates and improved camera monitoring.

The move also was backed by St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern, who head the three local governments that send millions of dollars in sales tax money to Metro every year.

It was a major change in policy for Bi-State and Metro, which had not used turnstiles since MetroLink began operating in 1993. Instead, riders have been required to produce tickets or passes when asked to do so on the trains by fare inspectors and police.

The move was made even though consultants hired by the East-West Gateway Council of Governments in 2018 to study MetroLink security didnt recommend turnstiles, instead focusing on increased patrols on the trains and better coordination among police agencies.

They said there wasnt much correlation between fare evasion and serious crime.

While Metro followed many of the consultants recommendations, Roach and his security chief decided that improving the perception of safety on the 46-mile light rail system was important as well  and that fare collection gates could achieve that.

When the plan was announced in 2021, Roach said $5.25 million in private sector funding already had been committed toward a goal of $13 million.

That was later pared back to the $10.4 million that was committed, most of which has since been received.

Metro earlier this month began seeking bids for fare collection gates and fencing at four MetroLink stations in East St. Louis, Washington Park and Belleville. That work is expected to be completed by next spring.

Similar installation is expected to be done by next summer at a second group of stations in St Louis.

Work at the remainder of the 38 stations will follow, with the program completed by the end of 2025. The system also will be installed at a new station at Mid-America St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah.

MetroLink is critical to reducing barriers and increasing access to jobs, health care, and other necessities for residents in our metro, said Jason Hall, CEO of Greater St. Louis, Inc.

The generous investments made by St. Louis leading businesses to strengthen MetroLink as well as the work of the business community to spearhead efforts in the state Legislature to secure a record level of state funding are perfect examples of how public-private partnership can work to make our community safer and more prosperous, Hall said in a statement.
Joe Holleman Metro reporter Follow Joe Holleman Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

In politics, a candidate can get endorsements ... or endorsements.

Candidates may pick up soft endorsements, which amount to political names to slap on flyers. But they also may get hard endorsements, where those names show up in the flesh and help rally support.

Any questions along those lines about the campaign of Lucas Kunce, a Democrat taking a second shot at the U.S. Senate, were answered Monday night.

About 250 people turned up at a rally at the Machinists Hall in Bridgeton  including several politicians whose early endorsements of Kunce took some political observers by surprise.

Not only did St. Louis County Council Chair Shalonda Webb and St. Louis Alderman Rasheen Aldridge show up at the rally, both gave short but lively speeches to help set the stage for Kunce.

Also in the house were St. Louis County Councilwoman Rita Heard Days, D-1st District, and state Rep. LaDonna Appelbaum, D-St. Louis County.

Add to that several handfuls of local union leaders, whose presence reflected the early endorsement Kunce received from the Missouri AFL-CIO.

Kunce leaned into the rally with a populists message that praised the solidarity of working-class Missourians.

We take care of one another because for us, its a matter of survival. And thats something that Josh Hawley doesnt understand, Kunce said, then paused for effect before adding that may be because Hawley is a rich spoiled bankers kid.

The speaking appearances of Webb and Aldridge answered any questions, quietly voiced by political players recently, about whether their endorsements of Kunce would remain solid after two local Black elected officials  St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell and state Sen. Karla D. May, D-St. Louis  entered the race after Webb and Aldridge, also both Black, already had given their endorsements to Kunce.

What is she doing here? Webb said, opening her speech by drawing laughs from the crowd.

She then told how she first met Kunce two years ago, when he showed up in the Castle Point area in north St. Louis County to help with a neighborhood clean-up project.

He showed up in work boots and jumped in, Webb said, then noted that he continued to work after the television cameras left.

We need someone who is there when theres no cameras, she said before urging the crowd to tell friends and neighbors to join Kunces camp.

Aldridge, who introduced Kunce, said he was impressed by Kunces willingness to go into low-income areas to knock on doors and talk to residents.

We wasnt afraid to go to north St. Louis, he wasnt afraid to go to south St. Louis ..., Aldridge said, then drew the nights biggest laugh by adding, He wasnt even afraid to go to Clayton.

Also making a pitch for solidarity, Aldridge noted that despite the white/Black, rural/urban differences between Kunce and himself, both woke up every day to achieve what we saw as the American dream.

The rallys goal of getting supporters fired up for Kunce seemed like a success, if Dr. Dee Garcias reaction was any indication.

Saying she was energized, University City resident Garcia, 69, took a Kunce campaign sign with her as she left and said, Were long overdue for a change in this country.
Joe Holleman Metro reporter Follow Joe Holleman Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican presidential candidate, has lost his table at a high-end local restaurant.

Olive + Oak, a Webster Groves restaurant, originally had reserved space Wednesday evening for Ramaswamy supporters to raise money.

But on Monday, the restaurant cancelled the reservation and took to social media to explain their reasons  stressing it was more than just disliking Ramaswamys politics.

Providing a bit more context to yesterday's news. While we admit the politics of Mr. Ramaswamy don't align well with the vast majority of our employees and community, there were other issues involved in the decision to cancel (a contract was never executed). (1/3) pic.twitter.com/ojU0g4LZuv  Olive+Oak (@oliveandoakstl) August 29, 2023

First conceding that Ramaswamys views do not align with that of the overwhelming majority of our staff and community, the post said there were other issues that effected our decision.

The post said the event originally was booked as a private (invite-only) fundraiser, but then it appeared to be promoted as a public event.

The post noted that the restaurant does not book any public political fundraisers, regardless of the candidates positions.

The event was billed as An Evening With Vivek Ramaswamy and carried a top donation amount of $3,300. There was no answer at the RSVP number included on the flyer.

KMOV (Channel 4) later reported that the event had been moved to an undisclosed location in downtown St. Louis.

Vivek talks a lot about being a self-funder and not being bought and paid for ... but a reminder that he is doing some high-dollar fundraisers just like everyone else.



Here's an invite for an event next week in St. Louis. pic.twitter.com/8OoRJIMYTC  Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) August 24, 2023

Ramaswamy recently has drawn attention, support and criticism with several controversial comments, such as calling climate change a hoax and raising questions about potential government-agent involvement in 9/11.

Most recently, he has drawn fire for comments about race relations that he made Sunday at an Iowa luncheon: Im sure the boogeyman white supremacist exists somewhere in America. Ive just never met him. Maybe Ill meet a unicorn sooner.
ST. LOUIS  Former St. Louis Public Radio general manager Tim Eby claims in a defamation suit filed Tuesday that newsroom staff falsely accused him of racism and financial mismanagement after he was forced to resign amid controversy nearly three years ago.

Eby served as general manager of the station for 11 years until September 2020, when he was ousted after employees publicly alleged he failed to combat systemic racism there.

In his lawsuit, filed in St. Louis Circuit Court, Eby claims that statements made in articles the station published after his departure included false characterizations that hurt his reputation.

Tim had worked in radio since he was in college and was passionate about his work, the suit claims, adding that as a result of the accusations he was unable to find a job in his chosen field.

The lawsuit names the University of Missouri Board of Curators as defendants.

The station  KWMU (90.7 FM)  is a National Public Radio affiliate licensed to the UM Board of Curators and operated by the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

A spokesman for the University of Missouri System on Wednesday said the university disagrees with the claims.

We are looking forward to responding to the lawsuit in court, the spokesman wrote in an email.

Rachel Lippmann, a member of the organizing committee for the St. Louis Public Radio Guild, said the groups members also dispute claims in the suit.

The St. Louis Public Radio Guild stands by the important reporting of its members, Lippmann said.

Ebys suit argues that staff resentment and financial strain both intensified at the station after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Corporate donations plummeted. Leadership had to cancel large fundraising events and the university forced wildly unpopular mandatory salary reductions that affected the majority of the stations staff. Eby, according to the suit, took a voluntary 10% pay cut amounting to about $15,000. He was paid about $142,000 at the time of his departure.

Then in July 2020, the suit says, 26 staffers frustrated with the lack of diversity and treatment of minorities at the station sent Eby and then-executive editor Shula Neuman demands for a list of changes, including more diverse hiring and the return of a Race, Identity, and Culture editor.

Ebys suit claims the station refused several of the demands that were financially impossible or would create illegal race-based hiring criteria.

The next month, a group of staff published a blog post on the website Medium under the byline STLPR Reporters and Producers of Color calling for the station to recognize systemic racism. The post said Eby chose to uphold white supremacy at the station by remaining complacent with the status quo.

Ebys suit argues that the claim is false and defamatory.

After the Medium post, Eby says he wrote a response but, he argues, his boss, Paul Herring, vice chancellor for advancement at UMSL and other university staff substantially edited the statement the station published in August 2020, before forcing him to resign for publishing it.

I am very sorry that I did not recognize the depth of the problems earlier and that staff have been hurt, the statement reads, in part. I take responsibility for creating a culture where they feel valued.

Shortly after the resignation, UMSL vice chancellor, Tanisha Stevens, headed up a probe into diversity, equity and inclusion practices at the station.

In a second online post, the group of journalists of color who criticized Eby said they had no confidence in the investigation and would not participate. Eby claims his public records requests for copies of the investigations results have been denied.

Eby was told on Sept. 22, 2020, over a video conference that he would be removed as general manager leaving him stunned, the suit states.

Staff again criticized the station when it agreed to grant Eby a six-month pay extension allowing him to maintain about $71,000 in salary, plus benefits, to stay on as a consultant.

As part of the contract, Eby agreed to waive his right to file any lawsuit or grievance. It also prohibited him from seeking publicity about the agreement or commenting in the media on the controversy with staffers.

Ebys suit claims, however, that the contract did not prevent him from suing for future defamation.

The suit focuses on instances when the station linked to the blog post from staffers and an August 2021 story on his replacement, Tina Pamintuan, that stated he resigned last year amid accusations from newsroom staff that he ignored problems of systemic racism at the station and mismanaged finances.

The suit refutes that by detailing Ebys financial accomplishments at the station, including growing donations and overseeing the acquisition of the St. Louis Beacon online news site and radio stations in Quincy, Illinois, and Rolla.

After his ouster, the suit claims Eby could not find any job for a significant period of time and was forced to take a significant reduction in pay.

Eby now serves as the executive director of the Special Education Foundation based in Maryland Heights, according to the groups website.

Attorney Christian G. Montry is representing Eby in the case, which seeks more than $100,000 in damages.
ST. LOUIS  A former Post-Dispatch reporter who was among dozens of people arrested by St. Louis police during a 2017 protest has reached an $180,000 settlement with the city.

Mike Faulk, who is now a deputy communications director for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, sued the city in 2018 alleging the police violated his rights, including his freedom of speech, rights against unreasonable search and seizure and civil rights protections, when he was caught in a mass arrest in 2017 while covering protests over the acquittal of former St. Louis police Officer Jason Stockley on first-degree murder charges.

Faulk said Wednesday in an interview it was a long six years waiting for a resolution.

It shouldnt have been that long for something that was so obviously, brazenly unconstitutional, amoral, brutal, he said.

Faulk was wearing his press credentials while on assignment covering the protests for the Post-Dispatch on Sept. 17, 2017, as police used a tactic called kettling to round people up at Washington Avenue and Tucker Boulevard.

Faulk said officers pushed him down and held him by putting a boot to his head then sprayed him in the face with pepper spray after his wrists were bound with zip ties. Faulk was issued a municipal summons for failure to disperse and released on a $50 bail after being held at the jail for 13 hours, according to the suit.

Faulk said Wednesday he hoped the city learned from the events of that night and understands and appreciates the deeper issues underlying what caused that night.

I really do want things to be better and hope that things are getting better now, he said.

The money for his settlement will come from a $5.2 million agreement reached between the city and members of a separate, class-action lawsuit, according to court documents.

To date, the total payout for police actions on Sept. 17, 2017, is more than $10 million. The city previously paid $5 million to Luther Hall, an undercover officer who said he was assaulted by fellow policemen.
CLAYTON  The mayor of Jennings filed suit against city council members who claim he is operating unethically and illegally, now accusing them of the same.

Jennings Mayor Gary Johnson filed suit on Tuesday against Jennings council members Terry Wilson, Alan Stichnote, Nadia Quinn, Jane Brown and Jeannie Roberts in St. Louis County. Those same council members signed a statement confirming a vote of no confidence against the mayor last week.

Recent resignations by top city employees and disagreements between the mayor and city council members on hirings, firings and other personnel matters have left Jennings city government on hold and in chaos for weeks. Approved construction for a new recreational center and city hall has stopped because of the disarray.

Now Johnson wants a judge to declare an emergency city council meeting held earlier this month invalid. The mayor tried to cancel the Aug. 18 meeting, before St. Louis County police intervened between the mayor and a city council member shoving each other over opening the door to city hall.

At that meeting, the majority of the city council voted to overturn employee terminations, which had been approved by the council earlier in the month.

Johnson argues in the petition that the Aug. 18 meeting was held in violation of state law and that the council had no authority to rescind the terminations  or for the city clerk, who had resigned, to preside over the meeting.

Both the former city attorney and clerk previously told the Post-Dispatch they resigned because the mayor created a hostile work environment.

Residents previously said the government turmoil is due to resentments over a close April election. Johnson received 37%, or 469, of the votes and his closest competitor, Yolanda Austin, received 35%, or 435, of the votes.
A federal judge in St. Louis said the reality star had squandered the opportunity to do some good with her celebrity status and instead repeat
UPDATED with mugshot

A St. Louis man was jailed Wednesday in Wisconsin after police say he stole a semi-truck last week, led police on a 52-mile chase and crashed after the truck caught fire.

Michael Steven Jones, 47, was captured Friday. A deputy at the Juneau County jail in Mauston, Wisconsin, said bail was set at $25,000 cash.

The Wisconsin State Patrol said Jones stole the semi-truck on Friday afternoon, and the truck company called police after using GPS on the truck to track its movements.

Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson with the Wisconsin State Patrol said the chase started on Interstate 94 near Warrens, Wisconsin, then headed east and onto Interstate 90/94 to just after the first Wisconsin Dells exit.

Online court records say Jones lives in the 3600 block of Ohio Avenue in St. Louis.

He is charged with four felonies and three misdemeanors. The felonies are first-degree recklessly endangering the safety, false imprisonment, eluding an officer, and taking a commercial vehicle without consent. Police say he took the semi-truck from Rands Trucking Inc.

The misdemeanors are obstructing an officer and two counts of property damage.
JEFFERSON CITY  Missouri Democrats are planning to open up next years party-run presidential preference primary to 17-year-olds who turn 18 by the November 2024 presidential election, according to draft plans out for public comment.

Missouri legislators in 2022 repealed the state-run presidential preference primary, with proponents arguing that political parties  and not taxpayers  should pick up the tab for the party contests.

Because an effort to reinstate the state-run primary failed this past legislative session, both the state Republican and Democratic parties are moving forward with plans for party-run contests in 2024.

In a 51-page draft released Tuesday, Missouri Democrats said their privately run primary, to take place March 23, would allow certain 17-year-olds to vote. That is despite Missouri requiring voters in official state elections to be 18.

To encourage participation by youth in the delegate selection process, any individual who will have turned eighteen (18) years of age by the date of the general election will be allowed to participate in the delegate selection process, the draft plan says.

The March 23 primary run by the state Democratic Party will be the first step in assigning Missouris 71 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, taking place between Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.

The party said each county will have a polling place and that there would be multiple locations in the St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas.

The draft plan would allow voters to cast in-person ballots between 8 a.m. and noon on the day of the primary.

The party plans to distribute mail-in ballots starting Feb. 12. The party will require mail ballot requests to be made by March 12.

The Democratic Party must receive the ballots back by 10 a.m. on March 23, the draft said.

The plan states that if two or more candidates make the ballot, the party will use a ranked-choice voting system to allow maximum engagement consistent with a traditional caucus method of achieving viability.

Delegates to the National Convention will be proportionally apportioned to fairly reflect the results, the draft said.

Party members will select or certify Democratic National Convention delegates and alternates at the state partys June 29 convention in Jefferson City.

The Democrats also said in their draft that the voter rolls for this process are registered voters of the state of Missouri who have declared Democrat as their party affiliation.

Legislators last year approved of Missouri voters declaring a political party, which has been seen as a precursor to a closed primary system.

But few voters have taken advantage of the new option.

According to a Post-Dispatch analysis of voter data from the secretary of state, fewer than 1% of registered voters had chosen to affiliate with a political party as of August.

The Democrats also said they are committed to an aggressive fundraising program for the party-run primary. The party said its delegate selection plan was estimated to cost between $250,000 to $475,000.

The party pegged the estimated cost of election administration at $175,000, which it hopes to raise by the end of the year.

If these fundraising goals are not met, the Missouri Democratic Party reserves the right to adjust planned investments in order to administer an election and/or seek an alternative method of voting, the draft says.

The draft is available online and the Democrats said Tuesday they are accepting public comments for 30 days.

The Missouri Republican Party has not yet announced its plans for its 2024 presidential nominating contest. The Missouri GOP state committee is scheduled to meet Sept. 9.

Josh Renaud of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
JEFFERSON CITY  A top Missouri Republican is calling for a change in state tax law that would end a discount given to businesses worth nearly $160 million.

In a new report, Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said lawmakers should place a cap on a 1940s-era tax policy that allows Missouri businesses to keep 2% of the sales taxes they collect if they remit them to the Department of Revenue in a timely manner.

I believe the discount serves a meaningful purpose as it allows businesses to recover some of the costs associated with collecting and remitting these taxes. However, as someone who believes in a low tax burden and allowing Missourians to keep more of their hard-earned dollars, I support a reasonable cap on the discount that would generate revenue the Legislature could then use to provide a tax cut for every Missourian, Fitzpatrick said.

The law dates from a time when accounting was done by hand. Now, companies use computers to instantly calculate whats owed to state and local jurisdictions.

Of the eight states bordering Missouri, seven either allow no discount or cap the amount. Illinois is the only bordering state that operates as Missouri does.

According to the Federation of Tax Administrators, 18 states have a cap to limit the amount of discount businesses can retain. Arkansas, for example, grants businesses a similar discount, but caps the amount at $1,000 per month.

Fitzpatrick said if Missouri had a similar cap in place it would have resulted in an additional $93.2 million in state and local tax revenue during fiscal year 2022.

The auditor said he wants to General Assembly to consider a cap when the House and Senate convene in January. He also said the Missouri Department of Revenue should be required to report the amount of the discounts retained by businesses on an annual basis.

The proposal likely will face opposition from business groups.

Ron Leone, who heads the Missouri Petroleum and Convenience Association, representing gas stations and convenience stores, said the discount is important to retailers.

We support the discount given the amount of work we do as the tax collector for the state of Missouri, Leone said. We earn every bit of that money.

Fitzpatrick is not the first to push for a change.

Former state Auditor Susan Montee, a Democrat, raised the issue in a January 2010 audit, saying the discount costs taxpayers $93 million.

In 2016, the Missouri Budget Project weighed in, saying the money could be used to boost spending.

Even simply capping the amount of the timely filing discount to a more reasonable level, as other states have done, would allow Missouri to make much needed investments in public services, the organization said.

A 2017 audit by Democrat Nicole Galloway also criticized the discount and in 2018 former Gov. Eric Greitens included an elimination of the discount in a sweeping tax package.

Although some tax reforms were enacted that year, the discount was not included in the final version approved by the Legislature.
Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont, commander of the Union's Department of the West in St. Louis from July 25 to Nov. 3, 1861. Fremont appeared to be the obvious choice when President Abraham Lincoln appointed him. Famous as the "Pathfinder" for his explorations of the far West, Fremont was married to a daughter of Missouri's lion, Senator Thomas Hart Benton, and had been the Republican Party's first presidential candidate in 1856. But he also had a vast ego and a penchant for keeping his own counsel. Fremont's wife, Jessie, was intelligent, witty, and she had learned the ways of national politics at her father's side in Washington. The Fremonts moved into a mansion on Chouteau Avenue that was protected by a 150-soldier body guard camped nearby. His staff of junior officers made it hard for anybody to see the Pathfinder, which went down poorly with Unionists in the sharply divided city. On Aug. 30, he issued a proclamation that all rebels caught in armed insurrection will be shot and their slaves "hereby declared freemen." Lincoln, who was desperately trying to keep the slaveholding border states in the Union, blew his top. Jessie Fremont took a train to Washington to set the President straight, but the meeting went poorly. Gen. Fremont resigned from the Army. Remaining popular among dedicated abolitionists, Fremont was the presidential candidate of the Radical Party in 1864, although he withdrew shortly before election day. After the war, he was governor of the Arizona territory. He died in 1890 in New York. (Missouri History Museum)
ST. LOUIS COUNTY  County health officials said Tuesday they've logged the first confirmed human case of West Nile virus in the county this year.

The county Health Department said the case is from North County but didn't release further details on the person involved.

That follows a confirmed case in St. Louis from Aug. 4, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services website. The state agency also listed two probable cases in recent weeks in the St. Louis area, in the city Aug. 4 and in St. Charles County July 19.

The virus, which most often is transmitted to people by mosquito bites, does not make most people feel sick, the St. Louis County department said in a news release.

However, about one in five people get a fever or other symptoms, such as a headache, body ache, joint pain, rash, vomiting or diarrhea. About 1 in 150 infected people get seriously ill; sometimes it is fatal.

"Even though serious West Nile virus cases in humans are rare, it's important to minimize our exposure," said the county health director, Dr. Kanika Cunningham.

Among recommended steps are wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants outdoors, using insect repellent and eliminating sources of standing water at least once a week.

Updated at 5:15 p.m. Thursday with information from state
ST. LOUIS  Ten people from Missouri are headed to Florida with the American Red Cross as Hurricane Idalia is expected to make landfall Wednesday.

Three of those people are from St. Louis, according to the American Red Cross.

"We are grateful to the volunteers who are willing to leave home and help those affected by disasters in communities around the country," said Beth Elders, executive director for the Greater St. Louis chapter of the American Red Cross.

Hurricane Idalia is expected to be a Category 3 storm when it lands in Florida on Wednesday. Forecasters expect the storm be deadly, bringing with it major flooding, wind damage and possible tornadoes.

The storm is also expected to hit the Carolinas on Wednesday into Thursday.

In addition to the help in Florida, the American Red Cross said 33 other disaster responders from Missouri are supporting wildfire relief efforts in Hawaii, California and Washington, as well as flooding in Missouri.
Wael Farouk, editor and founder of Jusur, a new cultural magazine, says it is designed to reflect all the elements that make up humanity.

Earlier this month, Wael Farouk launched the first issue of his most recent cultural project: Jusur (Bridges), a bilingual Italian-English magazine that discusses profound and complex issues of culture, religion and identity.

The launch of Jusurs first issue comes about two months after its 'zero issue' was released in June in New York, during a UN-sponsored conference dedicated to building bridges between East and West. With a wide range of contributions from high-profile Arab and European academicians and writers, Jusur in issues zero and one takes an untraditional approach to examine the possible paths for cultures to connect.

Jusurs zero issue examined the layered and often forgotten relations between faith and food. Without confining the discussion to Abrahamic religions, Jusur approaches food as a symbol of religious identity but also a function of benevolent connectivity that bypasses faith and all other forms of personal identity.

In his article published in this issue, French Islamologist and political scientist Olivier Roy reflects on the difference between eating halal or kosher food in a predominantly Muslim or Jewish setting as opposed to doing so in a Western secular context. According to Roy, it is in the second context that opting for this halal or kosher food becomes both a religious observation and a cultural statement.

Roy argues that the ability of both concerned individuals and communities or states to manage the issue of halal and kosher food in a way compatible with the faith and regulations of both sides could be seen as a bridge of communication.

Fasting is examined by Jusur as another manifestation of food as a cultural material. Contributions by Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist scholars show that the common thread of the different forms of food deprivation in all religions relates to the desire to control the body and allow for spirituality to override lust  or as specified in the Sokushinbutsu tradition: to allow for one to reach death without corruption in the flesh.

In the same issue, both Stefano Ardini, a professor of linguistics at the Link Campus University in Rome, and Haji Syed Salman Chishty, a member of the Sunni Sufi Chishti order, argue that when spirituality is involved, food passes from being a mere means of sustenance to become a functional unity of communication, a way of expressing love, and to cultivate a sense of gratitude for ones blessings.

Bridges in identity



With issue one, Jusur examined another central element of cultural dialogue: The face, identity and difference.

In this issue, Egyptian writer and translator Ahmed Abdel-Latif interviews prominent Argentine writer and critic Patricio Burn on the issue of identity, with Burn making his well-known argument that identity is a choice, not an obligation.

Iraqi novelist Inaam Kachachi shares her own experience as a bi-cultural or even trans-cultural citizen who one day explained to a French civil officer that in Iraq, women do not abandon their family names to carry those of their husbands. Adel El-Siwie, an Egyptian artist, approaches the face and the head as two distinct elements in defining identity.

The issue dedicates a dossier to discuss the works of King Charles III of England in promoting dialogue and cultural connectivity.

Jusur is a product of the Muslim World League. In an editorial that was published in the zero issue, Muhammad Bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, secretary general of the World Muslim League, writes, We live in a world that practices exclusion. According to Farouk, Jusur will work to promote inclusion rather than exclusion, and the creation of a shared path to the future which all can share.

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ST. CHARLES  Motorists whove seen one too many expired license plates or temporary tags on St. Louis-area roadways finally have an outlet beyond angry social media posts and after-the-fact barstool rants.

If your sighting happened to be in the city of St. Charles, leaders there say theyre looking for leads. And the temp tag tip line opened on Monday.

The tip line is actually a designated email account  temptag@stcharlescitymo.gov  and St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer suspects it will fill up fast with photos of expired temp tags.

We took this step to just show were taking positive action in St. Charles, Borgmeyer said Tuesday. I anticipate a very large response because people are angry about it.

The move  first reported by KTVI (Channel 2)  is a novel one in a region where grumbling about expired temp tags has grown in recent years. The proliferation of expired temp tags is attributed to high state and local sales tax rates and an antiquated state system that cant collect sales taxes at the point of purchase. Add in annual vehicle personal property taxes required to stay licensed and the hassle of getting to the DMV with the right documents every couple of years and the number of expired licenses grows higher still.

Borgmeyer said his constituents  at least the ones who pay their taxes  are fed up. He is, too.

I saw a guy driving a BMW today with a tag from 2020, Borgmeyer said. If you can afford a BMW you should be able to pay your sales tax.

The mayor said hes hoping to take some burden off of patrol officers and send citations to people through the mail once the St. Charles Police Department tracks down the owner of the expired tags.

But William Waller, managing attorney of criminal and municipal defense at public interest law firm ArchCity Defenders, said charging someone with driving with expired tags would require a photo of both the driver and the expired tag.

He suspects the city might use its municipal code to send nuisance citations to owners of cars with expired tags, similar to what cities such as Calverton Park have done. And then, the city could only cite people who store their vehicles in the city limits, rather than drivers passing through.

St. Charles officials might be surprised at the sheer number of residents with expired tags, Waller said. The tax on a new vehicle runs into the thousands of dollars, a hardship for many who cant roll the taxes into their financing.

In Missouri it costs a ton of money to keep your car legal, Waller said. And its not just people living at the poverty line.

Z Gorley, communications director for Arch City, said the extra scrutiny will disproportionately hit lower-income residents.

Weve seen this time and time again, how our municipalities in this region are continuing to interact with people who are living at the economic margins who might be living paycheck to paycheck, Gorley said.

Ferguson police Chief Troy Doyle, whose temp tag Tuesday enforcement program garnered similar attention, called St. Charles attempt to issue administrative citations without tapping into police resources an innovative approach.

But he said Fergusons approach isnt attempting to be punitive and is focused on encouraging compliance.

The Ferguson Police Department takes the enforcement of licensing requirements seriously, particularly because it has been a focus of community complaints, Doyle said in an email. However, its worth noting that weve issued more warnings than citations for these violations. Our approach reflects our commitment to ensuring that the laws are adhered to, while also displaying empathy for those who may face financial constraints.

Whatever photos residents send in to St. Charles will only serve as a starting investigation point for St. Charles police, said Chief Ray Juengst. Citations wont start flying out of St. Charles City Hall.

Its not as simple as, oh, they just send us the plate, Juengst said.

Rather, he said police will have to do some basic follow-up and can use the information to determine if some expired tags are on cars with a frequent presence in the city or whether the drivers are city residents. A St. Charles Police Department investigation already helped make a federal case that nabbed a counterfeit temporary tag operation in north St. Louis without any help from a temp tag tip line. Maybe the extra information will help other investigations.

Well try to just track some of them down and see whats in our reach, Juengst said. Im not sure where were gonna go with it.
It is  and it isnt  difficult for me to understand how Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and Attorney General Andrew Bailey can possibly state publicly that St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones proposal to make it illegal (especially for teenagers) to openly display war-type weapons on our streets should be construed as an attempt to prevent citizens from owning weapons as stated in the Second Amendment.

Never has she said that. As a compromise in not calling such comments from Parson and Bailey merely stupid, can we just say that they are a blatant political ploy to fool their base supporters and secure votes?

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence have declared that gunshots are the No. 1 killer of young children in the U.S. What more do you need to try to enact appropriate regulations to save kids lives?

The Republican Party has not come forth with any new plan to address the issue, and its pretty obvious that current crime prevention measures arent working. Instead, that party advocates forcing women to give birth, then taking away good literature and accurate history classes from those children and turning them loose to shoot each other.

What kind of crazy world do we have? Have the voters, as well as the Republican legislators in our state, just stopped caring? Based upon recent elections, it would seem so.

Ralf Lucas  Maplewood
Gen-X, LGBTQIA+ and Under-Represented U.S. Shoppers are Leading the Charge, Same Report Finds

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Three in 10 (31 percent) American consumers will boycott brands that are not committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) and this number increases to nearly four in 10 (37 percent) among under-represented U.S. consumers, according to a new, eye-opening, investigation into intersectionality in brand marketing by leading global market research agency Savanta.

Savanta: Americans Are Demanding Ethical Consumerism

Title Photo

The report also discovered that Gen-Z, along with LGBTQIA+ and under-represented U.S. communities, are championing for ethical consumerism with 37 percent of these consumers prepared to shop elsewhere to ensure they are not contributing to behaviors or causes that they disagree with.

Savanta's "Understanding Bias, Discrimination, and Its Impact on Society," researches the lived experiences of nearly 5,000 participants across the U.S. and Europe, to understand the discrimination felt by consumers, in an effort to raise awareness and fuel inclusivity from brands when marketing to their audiences.

According to Sadia Corey, vice president of Savanta's client development, the goal of the study was to "recognize the diverse ways groups are marginalized, so that brands can enhance authenticity and foster genuine connections with consumers."

Brand DE&I Efforts Impact on Consumer Behavior

In today's tight economy, price still reigns supreme when making purchasing decisions, particularly among women and Baby Boomers in all countries, with 73 percent reporting that value is the biggest buying factor. This is, naturally, followed by quality and convenience. However, Savanta's report shows that Americans' pursuit of ethical consumerism is gaining momentum. In fact, 31 percent of U.S. shoppers said that they will not buy from a brand that is not committed to DE&I and this number increases to 37 percent among under-represented communities and Gen-Z consumers.

Time to Take a Stand?

There is a perception that brands need to voice an opinion when it comes to important social issues. Remaining silent at important social moments has both pros and cons, but for the majority of consumers, it appears that it will have no effect on how they view the company. In fact, more than half (53 percent) of all consumers surveyed said that they would think neither positively nor negatively about a brand if it did not speak out.

However, "Understanding Bias, Discrimination, and Its Impact on Society" found that brands that take a stand do matter to many groups in America. With 28 percent of the LGBTQIA+ community, 31 percent of gender non-conformists, and 27 percent of those from the under-represented community reporting that their perception of a silent brand would be negatively affected, it can be determined that the old adage of "treat others as you would want to be treated" resonates with those who may have experienced discrimination, and it means that they want to support people like them.

How are U.S. Shoppers Showing Support?

Consumers are demonstrating their allegiance to the brands and stores that they align with in meaningful ways. In addition to shopping local, which 45 percent of the LGBTQIA+ community prefers to do, those from the under-represented U.S. community are significantly more likely to shop at minority-owned businesses than White or Caucasian people (35 percent versus 20 percent), as are those from within the LGBTQIA+ community (33 percent).

"As consumers increasingly demand authentic and inclusive brand experiences, those brands that fail to recognize the importance of intersectionality risk losing relevance, market share, and the opportunity to create a lasting impact," said Corey.

Methodology

Savanta conducted research for the report between May and June 2023. In total, 4,973 adults were surveyed across six countries, 29 percent of whom were based in the U.S. 53 percent identified as female, 45 percent identified as male, and 2 percent identified as gender non-conforming. Four generations were surveyed, including 17 percent Gen Z (age 18-25), 30 percent Millennial (age 26-40), 31 percent Generation X (age 41-59), and 22 percent Boomer II (age 60+). 85 percent surveyed identified as heterosexual, 11 percent as LGBTQIA+, and 4 percent preferred not to say. Race was reported as 74 percent White/Caucasian and 28 percent BIPOC in the U.S. and U.K. In addition to the quantitative survey conducted across markets, the conversational insights platform Voxpopme was used to collect qualitative data through 155 video responses to a variety of questions. This mix of both qualitative and quantitative research helped inform an array of rich findings on the topics Savanta focused on. Note: Ethnicity was only identified in the U.K. and U.S. due to Europe's ban on data collection by race.

To learn more about "Understanding Bias, Discrimination, and Its Impact on Society," or to view the report, visit Savanta Report.

Contact Information

Nicolette Sheil

[email protected]

1 347 533 1463

John Whittaker

[email protected]

+1 347.533.1463

SOURCE: Savanta

View source version on accesswire.com:
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Entergy Corporation



Entergy Mississippi presented a check to the Salvation Army before the Mississippi Braves game on July 29.

Mississippi summers are hot. While Mississippians know to expect a hot summer, the heat we have experienced over the past few weeks has been brutal. Scorching temperatures are uncomfortable for everyone, but they can be especially dangerous for older adults and disabled individuals. Having power for air conditioning and fans is a necessity, just like food and medicine.

With the rising cost of groceries and other essentials, some Mississippians have a hard time stretching their budget to cover all expenses. Extreme heat increases electricity use, causing power bills to rise and creating further strain on budgets. However, relief is available, even when there is no reprieve from the weather.

Entergy Mississippi has committed more than $528,000 from shareholders to The Power to Care program, which provides emergency bill assistance to older adults and customers with disabilities. The Salvation Army administers the program on our behalf to reach those in need.

"Many of our customers are having trouble making ends meet this summer," said Valarie Mabry, Analyst II, Public Affairs, Entergy Mississippi. "We are proud to partner with the Salvation Army to provide needed assistance to our elderly and disabled neighbors through The Power to Care program."

Entergy Mississippi customers can help their neighbors in need by donating to the program and have several options for how to offer their support. . Customers can make either a one-time gift by bank draft or add a monthly gift to their bill through logging in to myEntergy. Donations may also be made using a credit card through an online contribution system. To donate by check, donors should include their Entergy account number on the check and mail it to:

The Power to Care

Contributions Processing Center

P.O. Box 24568

Jackson, MS 39225-4568

All donations go directly to helping our customers make payments on their Entergy bill and are not used for fundraising or administrative purposes. When customers give, Entergy shareholders match your gift, up to $1 million, doubling the impact of a contribution. Donations to Entergy's Power to Care program are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. A summary of donations to The Power to Care program are included in the January bill for tax reporting purposes. Contributors should consult with their tax professionals.

Customers having difficulty paying their bill may also qualify for the LIHEAP program. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program provides money to help individuals with energy bills and other energy-related expenses. LIHEAP is funded through the federal government and works with community action agencies to qualify customers and distribute the funds. Visit the Entergy website for information on how to apply and access a list of LIHEAP agencies.

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: [email protected]

SOURCE: Entergy Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:
Unaudited Results for the three months ended 30 June 2023

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. (AIM:ECO)(TSXV:EOG), the oil and gas exploration company focused on the offshore Atlantic Margins, is pleased to announce its results for the three months ended 30 June 2023.

Highlights:

Financials (as at 30 June 2023)

The Company had cash and cash equivalents of US$2.4 million and no debt.

Eco has cash and cash equivalents of US$4.7 million as at 30 August 2023.

The Company had total assets of US$53.31 million, total liabilities of US$3.56 million and total equity of US$49.75 million.

Operations:

Guyana

Post Period end, on 10 August 2023, the Company signed a Sale Purchase Agreement for its wholly owned subsidiary, Eco Guyana Oil and Gas (Barbados) Limited to acquire a 60% Operated Interest in Orinduik Block, offshore Guyana, through the acquisition of Tullow Guyana B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil Plc. in exchange for a combination of upfront cash and contingent consideration.

Eco, via its wholly owned subsidiary Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc, currently holds a 15% working interest in the Orinduik Block. On completion of the Transaction, which is subject to certain market-standard conditions precedent, including customary Government and JV partner approvals, Eco, as operator and majority interest holder in the Orinduik Block, intends to drive the exploration process and focus on its strategy to attract new partners to join the license and proactively engage in drilling.

South Africa

Block 3B/4B

Post period end, on 17 July 2023, the Company issued 1,200,000 shares to the Lunn Family Trust in place of the US$500,000 cash consideration due in respect of the acquisition of the 6.25% interest in Block3B/4B from the Lunn Family Trust as previously announced on 27 June 2022.

On 11 July 2023, the Company signed a legally binding Letter of Intent with Africa Oil to farm out a 6.25% Participating Interest in Block 3B/4B, offshore South Africa for up to US$10.5 million in cash. On 14 August 2023, the parties signed the final Assignment and Transfer agreement. Additional US$2.5m cash consideration is expected to be received upon Government of SA approval of the transfer, with the initial consideration of US$2.5m already having been received.

In March 2023, Africa Oil released a New Competent Person's Resource Report confirming that the Block contains an estimated P50 Prospective Resources of approximately four billion barrels of oil equivalent ("BOE"), one Billion BOE net to Eco Atlantic prior to the sale of the aforementioned Participating Interest which is expected to complete shortly.

The JV partners continue to progress plans to conduct a two-well campaign on the Block in conjunction with progressing the collaborative farm out process, up to 55% gross working interest, with various potential parties.

Block 2B

On 15 November 2022, a Production Right Application to the Petroleum Agency of South Africa, for Block 2B, based on the existing oil discovery of AJ-1 and potential future operations was submitted by the JV Partners.

Eco continues to believe that Block 2B contains considerable hydrocarbon resources and looks forward to providing further updates as the Company looks to deliver value from the licence for all stakeholders.

Namibia

Following the significant drilling success in the area, Eco continues to receive third party interest in its strategic acreage position offshore Namibia.

The Company continues to assess farm out opportunities with its four licences in the region as it considers options for progressing exploration and commercial activity on its acreage.

Gil Holzman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, commented:

"Our Q1 results serve as an important opportunity to remind investors of the strategic work which is happening across all areas of the portfolio. Recently announced deals in both South Africa and Guyana are examples of the team's efforts to position the portfolio to continue creating high-impact catalysts for investors. I am excited for the future and look forward to progressing our work programmes across our entire Atlantic Margin portfolio.

The Company's unaudited financial results and Management's Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended 30 June 2023 are available for download on the Company's website at www.ecooilandgas.com and on Sedar at www.sedar.com.



The following are the Company's Balance Sheet, Income Statements, Cash Flow Statement and selected notes from the annual Financial Statements. All amounts are in US Dollars, unless otherwise stated.

Balance Sheet

June 30, March 31,

2023

2023 Assets



Current Assets



Cash and cash equivalents 2,445,863 4,110,734 Short-term investments 13,107 13,107 Government receivable 25,971 22,494 Amounts owing by license partners, net - 477,578 Accounts receivable and prepaid expenses 1,530,734 1,529,451 Total Current Assets 4,015,675 6,153,364

Non- Current Assets Investment in associate 8,446,043 8,612,267 Petroleum and natural gas licenses 40,852,020 40,852,020 Total Non-Current Assets 49,298,063 49,464,287 Total Assets 53,313,738 55,617,651

Liabilities Current Liabilities Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 3,371,460 4,416,789 Advances from and amounts owing to license partners, net 191,252 286,553 Warrant liability - 261,720 Total Current Liabilities 3,562,712 4,965,062

Total Liabilities 3,562,712 4,965,062

Equity Share capital 121,570,983 121,570,983 Restricted Share Units reserve 920,653 920,653 Warrants 14,778,272 14,778,272 Stock options 2,916,318 2,804,806 Foreign currency translation reserve (1,754,385 ) (1,458,709 ) Accumulated deficit (88,680,815 ) (87,963,416 )

Total Equity 49,751,026 50,652,589

Total Liabilities and Equity 53,313,738 55,617,651

Income Statement

Three months ended

June 30,

2023 2022 Revenue



Interest income 1,665 20,127

1,665 20,127 Operating expenses: Compensation costs 184,442 269,309 Professional fees 96,003 219,685 Operating costs, net 350,180 1,943,451 General and administrative costs 112,473 257,290 Share-based compensation 111,512 1,001,219 Foreign exchange loss (gain) (40,050 ) 284,427 Total operating expenses 814,560 3,975,381

Operating loss (812,895 ) (3,955,254 )

Fair value change in warrant liability 261,720 1,430,984 Share of losses of company accounted for at equity (166,224 ) (92,303 ) Net loss for the period from continuing operations (717,399 ) (2,616,573 ) Loss from discontinued operations, after-tax - (98,113 ) Net loss for the period (717,399 ) (2,714,686 )

Foreign currency translation adjustment (295,676 ) (111,630 ) Comprehensive loss for the period (1,013,075 ) (2,826,316 )

Basic and diluted net loss per share: from continuing operations (0.002 ) (0.009 ) from discontinued operations (0.000 ) (0.000 ) Weighted average number of ordinary shares used in computing basic and diluted net loss per share 367,348,680 293,654,835

Cash Flow Statement



Three months ended

June 30,

2023 2022 Cash flow from operating activities - continued operations



Net loss from continuing operations $ (717,399 ) $ (2,616,573 ) Items not affecting cash: Share-based compensation 111,512 1,001,219 Revaluation of warrant liability (261,720 ) (1,430,984 ) Share of losses of companies accounted for at equity 166,224 92,303 Changes in non???cash working capital: Government receivable (3,477 ) (25,774 ) Accounts payable and accrued liabilities (1,045,329 ) 1,681,064 Accounts receivable and prepaid expenses (1,283 ) 28,162 Reallocation to discontinued operations cashflows - (171,294 ) Advance from and amounts owing to license partners 382,277 1,175,612 Cash flow from operating activities - continued operations (1,369,195 ) (266,265 )

Cash flow from operating activities - discontinued operations - 104,919



Cash flow from financing activities Proceeds from private placements, net - 35,587,837 Cash flow from financing activities - 35,587,837

Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (1,369,195 ) 35,426,491 Foreign exchange differences (295,676 ) (111,630 ) Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 4,110,734 3,438,834

Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 2,445,863 $ 38,753,695

Notes to the Financial Statements

Basis of Preparation

The consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared on a historical cost basis with the exception of certain financial instruments that are measured at fair value. Historical cost is generally based on the fair value of the consideration given in exchange for assets.

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Critical accounting estimates

Estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognized prospectively from the period in which the estimates are revised. The following are the key estimate and assumption uncertainties considered by management.

**ENDS**

For more information, please visit www.ecooilandgas.com or contact the following:

Eco Atlantic Oil and Gas c/o Celicourt +44 (0) 20 8434 2754 Gil Holzman, CEO

Colin Kinley, COO

Alice Carroll, Head of Corporate Sustainability +44(0)781 729 5070 Strand Hanson Limited (Financial & Nominated Adviser) +44 (0) 20 7409 3494 James Harris

James Bellman Berenberg (Broker) +44 (0) 20 3207 7800 Matthew Armitt

Detlir Elezi Echelon Capital (Financial Adviser N. America Markets) Ryan Mooney

Simon Akit +1 (403) 606 4852

+1 (416) 8497776 Celicourt (PR) +44 (0) 20 7770 6424 Mark Antelme

Jimmy Lea

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended).

Notes to editors:

About Eco Atlantic:

Eco Atlantic is a TSX-V and AIM-quoted Atlantic Margin-focused oil & gas exploration company with offshore license interests in Guyana, Namibia, and South Africa. Eco aims to deliver material value for its stakeholders through its role in the energy transition to explore for low carbon intensity oil and gas in stable emerging markets close to infrastructure.

Offshore Guyana in the proven Guyana-Suriname Basin, the Company holds a 15% Working Interest in the 1,800 km2 Orinduik Block Operated by Tullow Oil. In Namibia, the Company holds Operatorship and an 85% Working Interest in four offshore Petroleum Licences: PELs: 97, 98, 99, and 100, representing a combined area of 28,593 km2 in the Walvis Basin.

Offshore South Africa, Eco is Operator and holds a 50% working interest in Block 2B and a 26.25% Working Interest in Block 3B/4B operated by Africa Oil Corp., totalling some 20,643km2.

Cautionary Notes:

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements", including, without limitation, statements containing the words "will", "may", "expects", "intends", "anticipates" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectations, assumptions, and beliefs, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, general economic and market factors, competition, the effect of the global pandemic and consequent economic disruption, and the factors detailed in the Company's ongoing filings with the securities regulatory authorities, available at www.sedar.com. Although forward-looking statements contained herein are based on what management considers to be reasonable assumptions based on currently available information, there can be no assurance that actual events, performance or results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements, and our assumptions may prove to be incorrect. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [email protected] or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: Eco (Atlantic) Oil and Gas Ltd.

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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / EnviroGold Global Limited (CSE:NVRO)(OTCQB: ESGLF)(FSE:YGK) ("EnviroGold Global" or the "Company"), a clean technology company accelerating the world's transition to a circular-resource economy, today announced that it will be presenting at the Planet MicroCap Showcase: VANCOUVER 2023 on Wednesday, September 6, 2023 at 2:30 PM (Local Time -PST). Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mark B. Thorpe will be hosting the presentation and answering questions at the conclusion.

To access the live presentation, please use the following information:

Planet MicroCap Showcase: VANCOUVER 2023

Date: Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Time: 5:30 PM Eastern Time (2:30 PM Pacific Time)

Webcast: https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2986/48835

If you would like to book 1x1 investor meetings with EnviroGold, and to attend the Planet MicroCap Showcase: VANCOUVER 2023, please make sure you are registered here: https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/signup

1x1 meetings will be scheduled and conducted in person at the conference venue: Fairmont Waterfront Vancouver (BC).

The Planet MicroCap Showcase: VANCOUVER 2023 website is available here: https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/

If you can't make the live presentation, all company presentations "webcasts" will be available directly on the conference event platform on this link under the tab "Agenda": https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/agenda

News Compliments of Accesswire

About EnviroGold Global

EnviroGold Global is a CleanTech company that uses proprietary technologies to reduce the environmental liabilities of wastes from mining projects while maximizing return for its shareholders. The company is dedicated to establishing ESG and circular economy leadership by profitably reprocessing and remediating mine waste (tailings) to recover precious, critical, and strategic metals - including gold, silver, copper, zinc and nickel.

About Planet MicroCap

Planet MicroCap is a global multimedia financial news, publishing and events company focused on news dissemination, providing information, data and analytics for the MicroCap investing community. We have cultivated an active and engaged audience of folks that are interested in learning about and to stay ahead of the curve in the MicroCap space.

If you would like to attend the Planet MicroCap Showcase, please register here: https://planetmicrocapshowcase.com/signup

Contact:

Name: Dr. Mark B. Thorpe - CEO

Phone: +1-416-777-6720

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: Company Name via Planet MicroCap

View source version on accesswire.com:
HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / HNR Acquisition Corp (NYSE American:HNRA) (the "Company" or "HNRA") announces that on August 28, 2023, the Company signed an Amended and Restated Membership Interest Purchase Agreement ("A&R MIPA") to purchase all of the equity interests of a New Mexico based oil company and its subsidiaries (the "Target"), as the Company previously disclosed. The A&R MIPA replaces the previous membership interest purchase agreement that the Company executed in December 2022.

Amended and Restated Membership Interest Purchase Agreement

The Company has signed the A&R MIPA with the sellers described therein ("Sellers") revising and replacing the terms of the prior agreement to purchase all of the equity interests in the Target. A copy of the A&R MIPA and a more detailed description of the A&R MIPA is included in the Company's 8-K filing dated August 30, 2023. Highlights of the A&R MIPA include revision of the purchase price to an aggregate amount of $63 million in cash plus (i) two million shares of a new class of Class B Common Stock of the Company which have no economic rights (voting only) and (ii) two million units in the Company's newly-formed subsidiary, HNRA Upstream, LLC ("OpCo"), which are exchangeable for two million shares of the Company's newly created Class A Common Stock. The cash required at closing can be reduced by $15 million payable through a promissory note to Sellers, and up to another $20 million through issuance of preferred units in OpCo, which convert into shares of the Company's proposed new Class B common stock in 2 years, at a conversion rate based on the Company's stock price at the time. Within one year thereafter, the Class B common stock may be converted into the proposed Class A common stock. At a minimum, the Company must pay the Sellers $33 million in cash at closing.

In addition, in connection with the reduction of the purchase price due at closing, Target transferred a 10% overriding royalty interest in oil, gas and minerals in, under and produced from each lease of Target (the "ORR Interest") to an affiliate that will not be purchased by the Company. Then, in connection with the A&R MIPA, the Company will be granted a 12-month option to purchase the ORR Interest for $30 million.

On August 28th the company signed a commitment letter with First International Bank & Trust (FIBT) for a senior secured term loan in the amount of $28 million to fund a portion of the purchase price, subject to a number of conditions set forth in the letter. FIBT is a 112-year-old commercial bank with offices in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Arizona, headquartered in Watford City, North Dakota. A detailed description of the commitment letter and term sheet is included in the Company's 8-K filing with the SEC dated August 30, 2023.

Intent to purchase all equity interests in Target

The Company previously announced its intent to purchase all equity interests in the Target, and thereby acquire the Grayburg-Jackson oil field in the prolific Permian Basin in Eddy County, New Mexico. The A&R MIPA confirms and formalizes this intent. The Target fields comprise 13,700 contiguous leasehold acres, 343 producing wells and 207 injection wells for a total of 550 wells on the properties. Current production is approximately 1,400 barrels of oil and oil equivalent per day. Management expects to increase daily production to nearly 4,000 barrels of oil and oil equivalent in the next three years in accordance with the reserve report by William Cobb & Associates, a third-party engineering firm retained by Target.

About HNR Acquisition Corp

HNRA is a blank check company (otherwise known as a special purpose acquisition company or SPAC) formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities.

For more information on HNRA, the acquisition and the transaction, please visit the Company website: https://www.hnra-nyse.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expected, including the funding of the Trust Account to further extend the period for the Company to consummate an initial business combination, if needed. Words such as "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "seeks," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "should" and variations and similar words and expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or future results, based on currently available information and reflect the Company's management's current beliefs. A number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events and results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors - including the availability of funds, the results of financing efforts and the risks relating to our business - that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on EDGAR (see www.edgar-online.com) and with the Securities and Exchange Commission (see www.sec.gov). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. In addition, please refer to the Risk Factors section of the Company's Form 10-K as filed with the SEC on March 31, 2023 for additional information identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor Relations

Michael J. Porter, President

PORTER, LEVAY & ROSE, INC.

[email protected]

SOURCE: HNR Acquisition Corp

View source version on accesswire.com:
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / The Watchlist by The Market Herald has announced the release of a new interview with Eloro Resources discussing their latest news.

The Watchlist by The Market Herald provides investors with a quick snapshot of what they need to know about the company's latest press release through exclusive insights and interviews with company executives.

Eloro Resources Announces Robust Initial Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 670 million tonnes containing 1.15 Billion In-situ Ounces Silver Equivalent for Iska Iska Project, Potosi Department, Southwestern Bolivia

Eloro Resources Ltd. (TSX:ELO; OTCQX:ELRRF) has announced the inaugural mineral resource estimate for the Iska Iska silver-tin polymetallic project in the Potosi Department of southwestern Bolivia.

For the full interview with Bill Pearson, Executive VP of Exploration, and to learn more about Eloro Resources' news, click here.

Interviews for The Watchlist by The Market Herald are released daily. To learn more about the companies featured in The Watchlist or to explore our other interviews visit The Watchlist by The Market Herald.

About The Market Herald

The Market Herald Canada is the leading source of authoritative breaking stock market news for self-directed investors. Our team of Canadian markets reporters, editors and technologists covers the entire listed company universe in Canada. We cover over 3,985 businesses, their people, their investors, and their customers. We write the stories that move the Canadian capital markets.

DISCLAIMER: Report Card Canada Media Ltd. ("Report Card") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market Herald Limited, an Australian company ("Market Herald"). Report Card is not an advisory service, and does not offer, buy, sell, or provide any other rating, analysis or opinion on the securities we discuss. We are retained and compensated by the companies that we provide information on to assist them with making information available to the public. All information available on themarketherald.ca and/or this press release should be considered as commercial advertisement and not an endorsement, offer or recommendation to buy or sell securities. Report Card is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority in any province or territory of Canada, will not be performing any registerable activity as defined by the applicable regulatory bodies and do not provide nor claim to provide investment advice or recommendations to any visitor of this site or readers of any content on or originating from themarketherald.ca. Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees may from time to time acquire, hold or sell securities and/or commodities and/or commodity futures contracts in certain underlying companies mentioned in this site and which may also be clients of Market Herald's affiliates. In such instances, Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees will use all reasonable efforts to avoid engaging in activities that would lead to conflicts of interest and Market Herald and/or its affiliates will use all reasonable efforts to comply with conflicts of interest disclosures and regulations to minimize any conflict. All the information on this document and/or the website - themarketherald.ca - is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. Report Card does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this document and/or website (themarketherald.ca) is strictly at your own risk. Report Card will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website. From our website, you can visit other websites by following hyperlinks to such external sites. While we strive to provide only quality links to useful and ethical websites, we have no control over the content and nature of these sites. These links to other websites do not imply a recommendation for all the content found on these sites. Site owners and content may change without notice and may occur before we have the opportunity to remove a link which may have gone 'bad'. Please be also aware that when you leave our website, other sites may have different privacy policies and terms which are beyond our control. Please be sure to check the Privacy Policies of these sites as well as their "Terms of Service" before engaging in any business or uploading any information.

CONTACT:

The Market Herald

[email protected]

themarketherald.ca

SOURCE: The Market Herald

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 30, 2023 / Courtney Dornell, Executive Director, Otis Americas Marketing & Sales, and Magnolia Ochoa, Commercial Director, Otis Mexico & Central America, have been named Woman on the Rise award recipients by Paradigm for Parity (P4P).

This annual award celebrates women who are breaking barriers in corporate leadership and promoting gender parity and racial equality in the workforce.

This year's nominees "not only excel in their day jobs," said P4P CEO Sandra Quinn, "but also, by example, promote diversity and inclusion and support a culture where all employees can show up, bring their authentic selves, and thrive."

This year's Woman on the Rise class includes approximately 25 recipients, all of which were nominated by their sponsors, mentors or colleagues for their influential achievements.

In 2020, Otis became the first in the vertical transportation industry to join the P4P coalition, pledging its commitment to achieve gender parity in its executive ranks by 2030. Through the end of 2022, 39.2% of Otis executives were female; an increase of 3.2 points from 2021.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Otis Worldwide on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Otis Worldwide

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/otis-worldwide

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: Otis Worldwide

View source version on accesswire.com:
Hotels and Recipients to be Honored at the 2023 Historic Hotels Annual Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner on October 12 at The Wigwam in Litchfield Park, Arizona (United States of America).

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Historic Hotels of America is pleased to announce the nominee finalists for the 2023 Historic Hotels of America Awards of Excellence.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830436631/en/

The Wigwam (1929) Litchfield Park, Arizona, is the host of this year's Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence Ceremony & Gala. Credit: Historic Hotels of America and The Wigwam.

The Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence recognize and celebrate the worlds finest historic hotels and hoteliers, through categories of excellence such as Historic Hotels of America Best Historic Resort, Historic Hotels of America Sustainability Champion, and Historic Hotels of America Legendary Family Historic Hoteliers of the Year.

The 2023 Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence Ceremony and Gala will take place at The Wigwam in Litchfield Park, Arizona, USA, on Thursday, October 12, 2023, at 7 p.m. The award winners will be announced in front of an audience of owners, general managers, senior decision-makers, and guests representing many of the finest historic hotels from around the world. The Wigwam, originally opened to guests in 1929 by The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, is an award-winning Arizona resort that offers an unparalleled experience, combining over a century of hospitality, southwestern charm, casual luxury, and rich history.

Nominee finalists are selected from nominations received from historic hotels, preservation supporters, prior award recipients, community leaders, and leadership from Historic Hotels of America. As an official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic Hotels of America provides the recognition to travelers, civic leaders, and the global cultural, heritage, and historic travel market that member hotels are among the finest historic hotels from around the world. The Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence program recognizes the pinnacle of this distinct group of nominees in a range of categories.

From more than 350 nominations received, the awards committee evaluated and after careful consideration selected the following 2023 Historic Hotels of America Awards of Excellence nominee finalists:

Historic Hotels of America New Member of the Year

Historic Hotels of America Best Social Media of a Historic Hotel

Historic Hotels of America Sustainability Champion

Historic Hotels of America Best Small Historic Inn/Hotel (Under 75 Guestrooms)

Historic Hotels of America Best Historic Hotel (76-200 Guestrooms)

Historic Hotels of America Best Historic Hotel (201-400 Guestrooms)

Historic Hotels of America Best Historic Hotel (Over 400 Guestrooms)

Historic Hotels of America Best City Center Historic Hotel

Historic Hotels of America Best Historic Resort

Historic Hotels of America Best Historic Restaurant

Historic Hotels of America Ambassador of the Year (Quarter Century of Service)

Historic Hotels of America Hotel Historian of the Year

Historic Hotels of America Legendary Family Historic Hoteliers of the Year

Historic Hotels of America Historic Hotelier of the Year

It is an honor to congratulate all the 2023 Historic Hotels of America Awards of Excellence Nominee Finalists, said Lawrence Horwitz, Executive Vice President, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide. The nominee finalists exemplify the finest historic hotels and hoteliers in the United States. The historic hotels nominated include historic inns, boutique hotels, lifestyle hotels, and legendary resorts. They represent small towns and large cities as well as national historic districts. We applaud the dedication and passion of the thousands of individuals working at these iconic and legendary historic hotels that keep the stories alive from the past and make staying or celebrating special occasions at these historic hotels memorable experiences.

Tickets for the 2023 Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence Ceremony and Gala are available. The 2023 Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence Ceremony and Gala will take place at The Wigwam in Litchfield Park, Arizona, United States of America, on Thursday, October 12, 2023, at 7 pm. Ceremony and Gala Tickets are $500. To register for the Ceremony and Gala ONLY, click here. To register for the full 2023 Historic Hotels Annual Conference, held October 9-12 and inclusive of the 2023 Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence Ceremony and Gala, click here.

Historic Hotels of Americas sister collection, Historic Hotels Worldwide, also announced its nominee finalists for the Awards of Excellence this week. See the news about those nominees here.

About Historic Hotels of America

Historic Hotels of America is the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for recognizing, celebrating, and promoting the finest historic hotels in the United States of America. The National Trust for Historic Preservation was chartered by U.S. Congress in 1949 and is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is leading the movement to save places where our history happened. To be nominated and selected for membership in this prestigious program, a hotel must be at least 50 years old; designated by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark or listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places; and recognized as having historical significance. Of the more than 300 historic hotels inducted into Historic Hotels of America from 45 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, all historic hotels faithfully preserve their sense of authenticity, sense of place, and architectural integrity. For more information, please visit HistoricHotels.org and sign up to receive future news, highlights, and advance notice of special offers from Historic Hotels of America.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830436631/en/

Katherine Orr

Historic Hotels of America  Historic Hotels Worldwide

Director, Marketing Strategy and Communications

Tel: +1-202-772-8337

[email protected]

Source: Historic Hotels of America
Algeria's foreign minister on Tuesday proposed a six-month transitional plan for neighbouring Niger, whose coup leader seeks a far longer timeline back to democracy.

Ahmed Attaf gave his suggested framework after a tour last week to three of Niger's neighbouring countries in the West African bloc ECOWAS, which has threatened to send a military force if Niger's new military regime fails to restore democracy.

Attaf reiterated Algeria's rejection of military intervention in Niger and said Algiers would not allow its airspace to be used to that end.

He proposed a half-year transitional phase to allow the neighbouring country to restore "the constitutional and democratic order".

In contrast, Niger's coup leader General Abdourahamane Tiani "has called for a transitional period that lasts for three years at most", Attaf said in a televised press conference.

"But in our view the (transition) process can be completed in six months" so the coup does not become a "fait accompli", he continued.

The transitional plan would aim to "formulate political arrangements with the acceptance of all parties in Niger without excluding any party" within the half-year period, the foreign minister of Africa's largest country said.

The process would be overseen by a "civilian power led by a consensus figure", he continued, without specifying who that might be.

Attaf's tour last week took him to Nigeria, Benin and Ghana, where he held talks against the backdrop of Algeria's repeated calls to prevent a military intervention in Niger.

The West African bloc has threatened to use force as a last resort to reinstate Niger's elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, who was detained by his guards on July 26.

Attaf's tour coincided with a visit by foreign ministry secretary general Lounes Magramane to Niger, where he met members of the military-appointed government including the prime minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine.

Attaf on Tuesday reiterated that a military solution would have "catastrophic consequences" for Niger.

He said neither Magramane nor Algiers' envoy in Niamey had met with Bazoum, though he did not indicate whether the ousted leader formed part of his country's vision for Niger's transition.

Asked whether Algeria would allow its airspace to be used for military intervention, he said: "We reject the military solution so how can we allow for our airspace to be used for a military operation?"

Algeria shares a 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) southern land border with Niger.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune previously said a military solution would be "a direct threat" to his country. He stressed "there will be no solution without us (Algeria). We are the first people affected".

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Technology Designed for Multiple Applications, with Initial Focus on Early Infection Detection and Treatment

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AION Biosystems, a medical technology company dedicated to dramatically expanding the use of remote patient monitoring, has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510 (k) clearance of its iTempShield device and software system. iTempShield is approved for use on adults and children five years of age and older in hospitals, out-patient healthcare facilities, remote patient monitoring environments, and for over-the-counter sale to consumers.

This quarter-sized, skin-wearable device is supported by cloud-based software and proprietary algorithms. The platform enables continuous measurement of body temperature for a variety of clinical applications such as oncology sepsis monitoring, post-surgical infection detection, long-term care monitoring, and consumer home health. AION Biosystems will primarily focus on early infection detection in cancer patients and long-term care residents.

Unlike any other skin-applied wearable, the low-profile iTempShield adheres to the surface of the skin of the chest. iTempShield can function without recharging for up to 60 days, aiding patient compliance. The battery life also makes iTempShield eligible for device reimbursement in hospital and health system environments via CMS approved remote patient monitoring CPT codes, which will generate recurring revenue for providers while benefitting patients.

Body temperature becomes elevated very early in patients who are developing an infection, and is the single most important physiologic parameter in predicting sepsis. As a result, AION BioSystems has intensely focused on measuring temperature more accurately than any other skin-applied device currently cleared by the FDA for medical and consumer use. iTempShield achieves this groundbreaking accuracy  it is 4x more accurate than an oral thermometer1  by calculating body temperature using a sophisticated library of AI-powered algorithms.

iTempShield is currently in use at Ellis Medicines Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The technology is also being deployed broadly across the City of Schenectady through an innovative Smart City program.

iTempShield has the potential to be a game changer for the management of cancer patients and other immunocompromised populations who are at heightened risk of infection, said Dr. Nicholas Montalto, chief medical officer, Ellis Medicine. By providing accurate continuous body temperature over a meaningful period of time, it allows us to keep our eyes on our patients wherever they are so that we can detect and treat infection before it becomes life-threatening.

The standard of care for cancer patients at risk for infection is to take their oral temperature when they feel unwell. By the time they take their oral temperature, infection has often significantly progressed. In addition, oral and other kinds of thermometers vary in accuracy, and many individuals do not know how to take oral temperature correctly. Early infection detection can mean life or death for severely immune compromised patients. For those with sepsis, every hour delay of antibiotics means an eight percent increase in the risk of death.2 In fact, 60 percent of cancer patient deaths are related to infection, and nine percent are caused by sepsis. 3, 4

Patients have already benefitted from iTempShield.

I was so fortunate to be able to use iTempShield while waiting for a bone marrow transplant. Because of its alert, I knew I needed to get to the hospital for IV antibiotics, said Thomas Reimer, a Boston-based leukemia patient who participated in early testing of the iTempShield technology. I literally think iTempShield helped save my life."

iTempShield is simple to use and fits seamlessly into the healthcare ecosystem. iTempShields accompanying remote monitoring platform ensures patients and their clinicians are alerted if their temperature exceeds a set threshold set by a healthcare professional over a given period. AION architected the platform to easily integrate into hospital or physician medical records systems and remote patient monitoring systems. Its unique adhesive is FDA cleared and is appropriate for use across the most sensitive patient populations.

Our iTempShield device and platform can literally mean the difference between getting an antibiotic prescription at home and a trip to the emergency room that ends in the ICU, said Samara Barend, AION Biosystems CEO. Our goal is to make remote patient monitoring so easy, accurate and cost-effective that anyone, anywhere can benefit from its life-saving capabilities.

AIONs iTempShield is immediately available at scale for the early detection of infection and sepsis. Healthcare providers interested in learning more about the remote monitoring device and platform can contact [email protected] or visit the companys website for more information.

This is a great day for the AION Biosystems team, who in under just two years brought a groundbreaking remote patient monitoring device and platform from concept to regulatory clearance, said Dr. Peter Costantino, founder and chairman of AION Biosystems. This milestone represents a significant increase in shareholder value and rewards our investors for the confidence they have shown in the company and its management team.

About AION Biosystems

AION Biosystems is a medical technology company dedicated to dramatically expanding the use and value of remote patient monitoring through a unique product and cloud-based software platform. Its first FDA-cleared offering is the iTempShield, a low-profile, skin-applied device that measures temperature accurately and continuously for up to 60 days. iTempShield leverages an AI-powered algorithm to maximize accuracy of its readings and improve remote patient monitoring. AION will continue to add more monitoring functionality to its devices over time, with the ultimate goal of delivering an AI platform that will become the standard for predictive health outcomes. For more information, visit aionbiosystems.com.

1 AION Biosystems data on file.

2 Anand Kumar et al. (2006) Duration of hypotension prior to initiation of effective antimicrobial therapy is the critical determinant of survival in human septic shock. Critical Care Medicine.

3 Yongqiang Zheng, et al. (2021) Fatal Infections Among Cancer Patients: A Population-Based Study in the United States. Infect Dis Ther.

4 Yurii B. Shvetsov et al. (2021) Association of Sepsis Mortality with Specific Cancer Sites and Treatment Type: The Multiethnic Cohort Study. J Pers Med.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830320704/en/

Sam Choinski

Pazanga Health Communications

[email protected]

860-301-5058

Source: AION Biosystems
KYOTO, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TOKYO: 6981) (ISIN:JP3914400001):

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829632176/en/

New building (Photo: Business Wire)

Murata Manufacturing Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Da Nang, Vietnam), a manufacturing subsidiary of Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has completed the construction of a new production building that had been under construction since June 2022. The completion ceremony was held on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. The new production building will provide the infrastructure necessary to respond to growing demand for inductor coils for cars and electronic devices in a medium- to long-term capacity.

Overview of the completion ceremony

Date and Time: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 9:30 a.m.  10:30 a.m. Location: Murata Manufacturing Vietnam Co., Ltd. Lot A1, Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone, Hoa Khanh Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District, Da Nang City, Vietnam VIP Guests (planned): Le Trung Chinh Deputy party secretary Chairman of Da Nang peoples committee Yoshinori Yakabe Consul General, Consulate General of Japan in Da Nang Attendees from Murata: Tsuneo Murata, Chairman of the Board, and others

Overview of the new production building

Structure and scale: Reinforced concrete construction, 4 stories above ground Total floor area: 22,637 m2 Building area: 5,486 m2 Purpose: Manufacture of coil products Completion date: Wednesday, August 30, 2023 Total investment: 4.32 billion yen (building only)

Murata Manufacturing Vietnam Co., Ltd.

Location: Lot A1, Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone, Hoa Khanh Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District, Da Nang City, Vietnam Established: November 2003 Representative: Hiroshi Nozaki, Managing Director Number of employees: 3,394 (as of the end of June 2023) Business description: Manufacture of coil products and other components

Murata in Brief

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of ceramic-based passive electronic components & solutions, communication modules and power supply modules. Murata is committed to the development of advanced electronic materials and leading edge, multi-functional, high-density modules. The company has employees and manufacturing facilities throughout the world. For more information, visit Murata's website at www.murata.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829632176/en/

For more information, please contact:

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Miyuki Ito, [email protected]

Corporate Communications Department

Source: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Reconstruction cost value of all homes in the August 29, 2023 areas of peak surge totals more than $238 billion

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released data analysis showing 808,321 single-family and multifamily homes along the Florida gulf coast with a reconstruction cost value (RCV) of approximately $238.4 billion are at potential risk of storm surge damage from Hurricane Idalia. These figures assume Hurricane Idalia makes landfall as a Category 3 hurricane and are based on the August 29, 2023 National Hurricane Center 5 a.m. E.T. forecast.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829402719/en/

Total Number & Reconstruction Cost Value ($ in millions) of Residential Properties at Risk of Hurricane Idalia Storm Surge Damage (Graphic: Business Wire)

Due to the sparsely populated forecasted impact area, there will likely be a lower insured loss ceiling from Idalia, compared to last years Hurricane Ian, said Jon Schneyer, Director of Catastrophe Response, CoreLogic. Even so, systems that make landfall along the Gulf Coast are likely to generate a more substantial storm surge than equivalent storms that hit the Atlantic Coast. As such, Hurricane Idalia is expected to bring hurricane-force winds, catastrophic storm surge of up to 15 feet, and widespread inland flooding across Florida and the southeastern U.S.

More on the storm surge risk figures

The chart is a breakdown of the residential single family and multi-family homes at risk of storm surge damage. As Hurricane Idalia approaches Florida, its path will become more certain and the below metropolitan areas at risk will narrow. For the most up-to-date storm surge exposure estimates, visit the CoreLogic natural hazard risk information center, Hazard HQ Command Central at www.hazardhq.com/.

The table indicates a subset of the total 808,321 buildings. A damaged structure may not sustain 100% loss up to the full RCV. The RCV figures presented above represent the cost of completely rebuilding the existing residential structure. The RCV amount includes the costs of materials, equipment and labor, but does not include the value of the land or lot.

Hurricane-driven storm surge can cause significant property damage when high winds and low-pressure cause water to amass inside the storm, releasing a powerful rush over land when the hurricane moves onshore. For a complete view of total storm surge risk for all Atlantic and Gulf Coast states metropolitan areas, download the 2023 CoreLogic Hurricane Risk Report.

Methodology

CoreLogic offers high-resolution location information solutions with a view of hazard and vulnerability consistent with the latest science for more realistic risk differentiation. The high-resolution storm surge modeling using 10m digital elevation model (DEM) and parcel-based geocoding precision from PxPoint facilitates this realistic view of risk. Single-family residential structures less than four stories, including mobile homes, duplexes, manufactured homes and cabins (among other non-traditional home types) are included in this analysis. Multifamily residences are also included. This is not an indication that there will be no damage to other types of structures, as there may be associated wind or debris damage and are not tabulated in this release.

Source: CoreLogic

The data provided are for use only by the primary recipient or the primary recipient's publication or broadcast. This data may not be resold, republished or licensed to any other source, including publications and sources owned by the primary recipients 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 [email protected]. 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 provider of property insights and innovative solutions, working to transform the property industry by putting people first. Using its network, scale, connectivity and technology, CoreLogic delivers faster, smarter, more human-centered experiences, that build better relationships, strengthen businesses, and ultimately create a more resilient society. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

CORELOGIC, the CoreLogic logo, PxPoint and Hazard HQ are trademarks of CoreLogic, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829402719/en/

Robin Wachner

CoreLogic

[email protected]

Source: CoreLogic
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Coursera, Inc. (NYSE: COUR) announces that Shravan Goli, chief operating officer, is scheduled to participate in a fireside chat at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference on Tuesday, September 5, 2023 at 3:45 p.m. PT / 6:45 p.m. ET.

A live webcast and archived replay of the fireside chat will be available on Courseras Investor Relations website at investor.coursera.com.

Disclosure Information

In compliance with disclosure obligations under Regulation FD, Coursera announces material information to the public through a variety of means, including filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), press releases, company blog posts, public conference calls, and webcasts, as well as via Courseras investor relations website.

About Coursera

Coursera was launched in 2012 by two Stanford Computer Science professors, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, with a mission to provide universal access to world-class learning. It is now one of the largest online learning platforms in the world, with 129 million registered learners as of June 30, 2023. Coursera partners with over 300 leading university and industry partners to offer a broad catalog of content and credentials, including courses, Specializations, Professional Certificates, Guided Projects, and bachelors and masters degrees. Institutions around the world use Coursera to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in fields such as data science, technology, and business. Coursera became a Delaware public benefit corporation and a B Corp in February 2021.

Source Code: COUR-IR

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830852366/en/

For investors: Cam Carey, [email protected]



For media: Arunav Sinha, [email protected]

Source: Coursera
BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Enviva Inc. (NYSE: EVA) (Enviva or the Company), the worlds leading producer of sustainably sourced woody biomass, today announced that Glenn Nunziata has been named the Companys Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830090441/en/

Glenn Nunziata (Photo: Business Wire)

We are excited to welcome Glenn to Envivas executive team at a time when our Company and the global biomass industry are serving an increasingly important role in the energy transition, providing energy security and defossilizing supply chains worldwide, said Thomas Meth, President and Chief Executive Officer. Following the difficult but necessary decisions we made in the first half of 2023, we have started to see improvements take hold in increasing production from our existing asset portfolio and reducing costs company-wide. In tandem with the constructive pricing environment for our product, we are on the path to rebuilding a strong financial foundation which is expected to support the significant growth ahead for us and increase shareholder value over time.

With deep expertise in finance, strategy, accounting, treasury, and risk management, Mr. Nunziata brings more than 20 years of strong leadership experience with a track record for implementing enterprise-wide changes and driving key financial and process improvements in large-scale organizations. Most recently, Mr. Nunziata served as the Chief Financial Officer of Smithfield Foods Inc., an $18 billion company that owns and operates processing facilities across the U.S. and works with thousands of farmers and landowners each year managing its diversified supply chain. Prior to his tenure at Smithfield Foods Inc., he held various positions of increasing responsibility at EY, most recently as a Partner in Assurance Services.

Mr. Meth added, We believe Glenn will play a key role in improving our financial processes as we continue to focus on the cost structure and profitability of our plants, contracts, and supply chain. Glenns value-oriented mindset, dedication to leading purpose-driven teams, and unwavering focus on our financial goals will make him an invaluable asset to our stakeholders, and we look forward to the contributions he will undoubtedly make as we high-grade our finance function and scale our back office to support the execution of our long-term growth strategy.

Mr. Nunziata holds a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Accounting from James Madison University. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of StoneBridge School and sits on the Board of Advisors for the College of Business at James Madison University.

Mr. Nunziata succeeds Shai Even, who held the role since 2018. I would like to thank Shai for his service over the past five years and wish him the best of luck in his future pursuits, concluded Mr. Meth.

About Enviva

Enviva Inc. (NYSE: EVA) is the worlds largest producer of industrial wood pellets, a renewable and sustainable energy source produced by aggregating a natural resource, wood fiber, and processing it into a transportable form, wood pellets. Enviva owns and operates ten plants with a combined production capacity of approximately 6.2 million metric tons per year in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi, and is constructing its 11th plant in Epes, Alabama. Additionally, Enviva is planning to commence construction of its 12th plant, near Bond, Mississippi. Enviva sells most of its wood pellets through long-term, take-or-pay off-take contracts with primarily creditworthy customers in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Japan, helping to accelerate the energy transition and to defossilize hard-to-abate sectors like steel, cement, lime, chemicals, and aviation. Enviva exports its wood pellets to global markets through its deep-water marine terminals at the Port of Chesapeake, Virginia, the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina, and the Port of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and from third-party deep-water marine terminals in Savannah, Georgia, Mobile, Alabama, and Panama City, Florida.

To learn more about Enviva please visit our website at www.envivabiomass.com. Follow Enviva on social media @Enviva.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward Looking Statements

The information included herein and in any oral statements made in connection herewith include 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 herein are forward-looking statements. When used herein, including any oral statements made in connection herewith, the words 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 managements 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, Enviva disclaims any duty to revise or 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 hereof. Enviva cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of Enviva. These risks include, but are not limited to factors, as described in Envivas filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), including the detailed factors discussed under the heading Risk Factors in Envivas Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, as supplemented in the Companys Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarters ended March 31 and June 30, 2023.

Should one or more of the risks or uncertainties described herein and in any oral statements made in connection therewith occur, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and plans could different materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact Envivas expectations and projections can be found in Envivas periodic filings with the SEC. Envivas SEC filings are available publicly on the SECs website at www.sec.gov.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830090441/en/

Kate Walsh

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

+1 240-482-3856

[email protected]

Source: Enviva Inc.
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Moody's Corporation (NYSE: MCO) will host an Innovation Open House with a spotlight on Moodys Analytics (MA). The hybrid event will take place at Moodys headquarters in New York City on Thursday September 14, 2023 and will welcome both in-person and virtual attendees.

Sections of the event will be broadcasted and will include discussions with management highlighting MAs innovation and GenAI strategy. Senior leaders will showcase how Moodys is embracing new and emerging technologies to help customers navigate and seize opportunities in a world of exponential risk. The event will reflect relevant information regarding the Company's strategy and is to be conducted in compliance with Regulation FD.

Broadcasted presentations will begin at 11:00 am ET and are expected to conclude at approximately 12:00 pm ET. Both the broadcast and its replay can be accessed through Moodys Investor Relations website, ir.moodys.com, within Events & Presentations.

For questions regarding in-person registration, please contact [email protected].

ABOUT MOODYS CORPORATION

Moodys (NYSE: MCO) is a global risk assessment firm that empowers organizations to make better decisions. Its data, analytical solutions and insights help decision-makers identify opportunities and manage the risks of doing business with others. We believe that greater transparency, more informed decisions, and fair access to information open the door to shared progress. With approximately 14,500 employees in more than 40 countries, Moodys combines international presence with local expertise and over a century of experience in financial markets. Learn more at moodys.com/about.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830576123/en/

Shivani KAK

Investor Relations

212.553.0298

[email protected]

MICHAEL ADLER

Corporate Communications

212.553.4667

[email protected]

moodys.com

ir.moodys.com/

moodys.com/innovation

moodys.com/sustainability

Source: Moody's Corporation
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

Press Release  Paris, 30 August 2023

Pernod Ricard (Paris: RI) has announced organizational changes to further reinforce its consumer-centric strategy and support its next phase of growth and ongoing transformation, which commenced in 2015. With its unique portfolio of brands, the most comprehensive route-to-market, and a highly engaging culture, Pernod Ricard is better positioned than ever to capture future growth opportunities.

The new governance and organization will ensure even greater efficiency at all levels of the company and a closer proximity and reactivity to the dynamic global marketplace.

The key changes announced include:

1/ A reinforced corporate governance, to ensure more efficient engagement and faster decision making

An Executive Committee is replacing the existing Executive Board. Composed of 9 positions, this committee is including EVP Global Brands, EVP Global Markets, North America CEO and Global Director of Operations. The Executive Committee is the permanent body responsible for directing the Group, in cooperation with the Chairman & CEO, whom it assists with his responsibilities.

Philippe Guettat, currently Chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard Asia, is appointed Executive Vice President Global Brands. Gilles Bogaert, currently Chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard EMEA/LATAM, is appointed Executive Vice President Global Markets. These appointments have been made following the retirement of Christian Porta, Managing Director Global Business Development, after a long and fruitful career.

The creation of a new Executive Leadership Team of 30 members, gathering key business leaders together with the Executive Committee members. The ELT ensures full alignment and effective deployment of the growth strategy and associated resources.

2/ A simplified organization, to align structures & accountabilities across all functions

A delayered organization removing the regional entities covering EMEA / LATAM and Asia to ensure faster execution and decision making at every level of the organization.

Regrouping all markets into 10 management entities, ensuring critical scale and fostering mutualisation.

Commenting on the changes, Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard, said:

At Pernod Ricard, we have brought together and nurtured some of the most iconic global spirits and wines brands in the world, while remaining true to our entrepreneurship spirit. In an increasingly complex and volatile environment, I am confident our new organization will allow us to successfully move to a new stage of sustainable, stretched, and profitable growth, benefiting to all our stakeholders.

In welcoming Ann, Gilles, Philippe and Maria-Pia, I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Christian Porta for his contribution to the Group after 35 years of unfailing commitment.

Appendix:

Members of the new Executive Committee, reporting to Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and CEO

Gilles Bogaert, currently Chairman & CEO of Pernod Ricard EMEA & LATAM, is appointed EVP Global Markets. Over the past 28 years of his international career with Pernod Ricard, Gilles has held various General Management and senior Finance roles in Latin America and France at Group, Regional and Market Company levels. After being Managing Director, Finance & Operations for the Group from 2009 to 2018, in 2018 he became Chairman and CEO of EMEA & LATAM.

Helene de Tissot, EVP Finance & IT. Helene spent the first 8 years of her career as an international tax lawyer at Arthur Andersen. In her more than 20 years of international career with Pernod Ricard, she has held several senior leadership positions in Finance at both Group level and in the Region at Pernod Ricard Asia, before being appointed EVP, Finance, IT & Operations in 2018.

Maria Pia De Caro, EVP Operation. During her more than 25-year international career in Supply Chain and Operations, Maria Pia has led engineering, manufacturing, M&A and supply chain transformation teams for a number of international FMCG companies. Prior to joining Pernod Ricard Group in 2023, she held several Operations leadership roles at Procter & Gamble, Mondelez, Unilever and Nomad Foods in Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, China, and UK.

Philippe Guettat, currently Chairman & CEO of Pernod Ricard Asia, is appointed EVP Global Brands. Over his career, Philippe has held several leadership positions across Markets and Brand Companies, including Chairman and CEO of The Absolut Company, Martell Mumm Perrier Jouet, and since 2015 of Pernod Ricard Asia. He has 31 years of international experience with the Group in Marketing, Sales & General Management across France, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Sweden.

Conor McQuaid, EVP Corporate Communication, S&R and Public Affairs. Over the past 25 years since joining the Group Conor brings a wealth of international experience in the industry and expertise in Marketing, Sales, Brand Development and General Management at Group, Market and Brand Company levels. Since 2022, he has been global EVP, Corporate Communication, S&R and Public Affairs.

Ann Mukherjee, Chief Executive Officer of Pernod Ricard North America. Ann has 31 years of extensive Marketing, Sales and General Management experience in FMCG companies including Kraft Foods Group, PepsiCo, and S. C. Johnson & Son. Prior to joining the Group as CEO of Pernod Ricard North America in 2019, she held global senior roles such as Global Chief Marketing Officer and Global Chief Commercial Officer at SC Johnson, and President, Global Snacks & Global Insights at PepsiCo.

Anne-Marie Poliquin, Group General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer. Anne-Marie has over 30 years of international experience within the legal departments of various large multinational groups, such as General Electric, Mars and JDE Peets. She has had global professional experiences in particular in Canada, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and has held senior executive roles both at global and regional levels before joining Pernod Ricard in 2021.

Cedric Ramat, EVP Human Resources. Over the course of his 32-year international career, initially at Microsoft and for the past 30 years in Orangina and Pernod Ricard, Cedric has held several HR senior leadership roles in France and Americas in addition to experiences in Sales, IT and S&R. Since 2016, he has been the Global EVP, Human Resources for the Group.

About Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard is the No.2 worldwide producer of wines and spirits with consolidated sales amounting to 10,701 million in fiscal year FY22. The Group, which owns 17 of the Top 100 Spirits Brands, holds one of the most prestigious and comprehensive portfolios in the industry with over 240 premium brands distributed across more than 160 markets. Pernod Ricards portfolio includes Absolut Vodka, Ricard pastis, Ballantines, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies, Jameson Irish whiskey, Martell cognac, Havana Club rum, Beefeater gin, Malibu liqueur or Mumm and Perrier-Jouet champagnes. The Groups mission is to unlock the magic of human connections by bringing Good Times from a Good Place, in line with its Sustainability and Responsibility roadmap. Pernod Ricards decentralised organisation empowers its 19,480 employees to be on-the-ground ambassadors of its purposeful and inclusive culture of conviviality, bringing people together in meaningful, sustainable and responsible ways to create value over the long term. Executing its strategic plan, Transform & Accelerate, Pernod Ricard now relies on its Conviviality Platform, a new growth model based on data and artificial intelligence to meet the ever-changing demand of consumers. Pernod Ricard is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI; ISIN Code:FR0000120693) and is part of the CAC 40 and Eurostoxx 50 indices.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830986324/en/

Investor relations

Florence Tresarrieu / Global SVP Investors Relations and Treasury

+33 (0) 1 70 93 17 03

Edward Mayle / Investor Relations Director

+33 (0) 1 70 93 17 13

Charly Montet / Investor Relations Manager

+33 (0) 1 70 93 17 13

Media

Emmanuel Vouin / Head of External Engagement

+33 (0) 1 70 93 16 34

Source: Pernod Ricard
CHARLESTON, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A federal district court in South Carolina granted preliminary approval today of a $12.5 billion class action settlement on behalf of public water systems nationwide over claims that major chemical manufacturer 3M contaminated water sources across the country with PFAS, also known as forever chemicals.

The settlement includes a fund of up to $12.5 billion to be distributed to any public water system that has detected PFAS in one or more of its water sources. Public water systems that have not yet detected PFAS but must test for contamination are also included in the settlement class. Allocation estimates detailing what public water systems can expect from the settlement were released early last week and are available at www.PFASWaterProviderSettlement.com.

The settlement is part of the multi-district litigation overseen by the Honorable Richard Gergel, who appointed a Plaintiffs Executive Committee to lead the litigation on behalf of public water systems, and includes Michael London of Douglas & London, Paul Napoli of Napoli Shkolnik, Scott Summy of Baron & Budd LLC, Elizabeth Fegan of Fegan Scott, and Joe Rice of Motley Rice LLC.

In response to the courts order, the above class counsel shared this statement:

Today marks a pivotal milestone in our ongoing efforts to ensure safe and clean drinking water for communities affected by PFAS contamination. The federal courts preliminary approval of 3M Companys settlement with the plaintiff public water systems brings us one step closer to allocating billions of dollars towards clean drinking water for countless Americans whose lives have been disrupted by this crisis. We are grateful to the dozens of firms that came together and are optimistic that the courts final decision will mirror this initial approval, bringing long-awaited relief and justice to communities in need.

The settlement was reached after a five-year legal battle that involved 37.4 million pages of discovery documents and more than 160 depositions. The agreement was reached just prior to trial. This settlement with 3M and the earlier settlement with DuPont are just the first efforts to hold polluters responsible for fouling our public water supplies. There are many others who will be held responsible by the states as well as thousands of personal injury victims awaiting their day in court.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829599578/en/

MEDIA CONTACT

[email protected]

Source: Fegan Scott
TWYMEEG sales in Japan for the last quarter (April-June) grew 23% over the prior quarter, in line with Sumitomo Pharmas FY 2023 forecast1, which would represent a 90% increase over the prior year sales

Company actively pursuing additional financing to initiate ALD Phase 2 Proof-of-Concept (POC) studies and execute its rare diseases strategy

As of June 30, 2023, cash and cash equivalents were EUR 7.6 million (USD 8.2 million)2; cash runway through Q2 2025, assuming full drawdown of the existing equity-linked financing facility with IRIS

LYON, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

POXEL SA (Euronext: POXEL - FR0012432516) (Paris: POXEL), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative treatments for chronic serious diseases with metabolic pathophysiology, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and rare metabolic disorders, today provided a corporate update and announced its cash position and revenue for the second quarter and first half of 2023.

Thomas Kuhn, Chief Executive Officer of Poxel, stated: During this past semester, we have diligently worked to improve our financial flexibility, and this has been a success through the combination of the restructuring of our existing debt obligations and the setup of a new equity-linked financing with IRIS. Now that our financial visibility extends through Q2 2025, we can concentrate on our strategy, which includes the launch of Phase 2 proof-of-concept studies in rare diseases, starting with adrenoleukodystrophy, subject to additional financing. The recent trajectory of TWYMEEG sales has also been key in the restructuring of our debt. Sumitomo Pharma, our partner commercializing TWYMEEG in Japan, recently reported gross sales for its Q1 2023, which shows a 23% increase over the prior quarter, and gives us confidence in the ability to meet Sumitomo Pharmas FY 2023 forecast.

Commercial Update

TWYMEEG (Imeglimin)

For the quarter ended June 2023, TWYMEEG gross sales in Japan increased 23% to JPY 1.16 billion (EUR 7.4 million)2 over the prior quarter sales of JPY 0.9 billion (EUR 6.2 million)2 as reported by Sumitomo Pharma (Sumitomo).

The sales in recent quarters have accelerated due to the end of initial launch year restrictions for TWYMEEG in September 2022, which limited new products to two weeks prescriptions, and Sumitomos commercial efforts to leverage TWYMEEGs potential. Thanks to its unique mechanism of action and safety profile, TWYMEEG can be used both as a monotherapy and in combination with other treatments, such as DPP4 inhibitors, the most prescribed treatment for Japanese Type-2-Diabetes patients, and SGLT2 inhibitors, which are growing strongly in Japan, and contributes to the increase in sales. These factors have resulted in a much higher increase in demand for TWYMEEG than expected by Sumitomo, and thus inventories are temporarily tight. Sumitomo is working diligently to increase the production and secure inventory capacity to meet this increasing demand.

For its FY 2023, Sumitomo announced a forecast for TWYMEEG of JPY 4.2 billion1 (EUR 28.9 million)3 which would represent a 90% increase over FY 2022 TWYMEEG gross sales.

For the Sumitomo FY 2023, as a conservative assumption in line with Sumitomos forecast, Poxel expects to receive 8% royalties on TWYMEEG net sales. As part of the Merck Serono licensing agreement, Poxel will pay Merck Serono a fixed 8% royalty based on the net sales of TWYMEEG, independent of the level of sales.

During Sumitomo FY 2024 (ending March 31, 2025), Poxel expects TWYMEEG net sales in Japan to reach at least JPY 5 billion (EUR 34.4 million)3 entitling Poxel to receive 10% royalties on all TWYMEEG net sales (on which the first 8% will still be paid to Merck Serono) and a sales-based payment of JPY 500 million (EUR 3.4 million)3. Beyond Sumitomo FY 2024, Poxel expects to receive escalating double-digit royalties as well as additional sales-based payments upon achievement of contractually based sales thresholds. As per the debt restructuring agreements established with its lenders in March, positive net royalties and sales-based payments will be directed to Poxel debt reimbursement until the loans are fully repaid (which Poxel expects in Q2 2029, at the latest). After this time, subsequent net royalties and sales-based payments will revert back to Poxel.

As part of the Sumitomos ongoing efforts to communicate TWYMEEGs unique mechanism of action and safety profile, 9 abstracts based on Imeglimin Phase 2b and Phase 3 clinical trials were accepted for oral presentations at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Diabetes Society (JDS), held in Kagoshima, Japan, May 11-13, 2023.

A Phase 4, 52-week, Open-label, Long-Term Study of Imeglimin in Japanese Type 2 Diabetic Patients with Renal Impairment is currently ongoing in Japan to strengthen TWYMEEG profile in this key subpopulation, and top line results are expected in 2024.

is currently ongoing in Japan to strengthen TWYMEEG profile in this key subpopulation, and top line results are expected in 2024. For territories not covered by its agreement with Sumitomo, Poxel is in ongoing discussions with various potential partners for Imeglimin, including in India, where local companies have recently received approval and have launched Imeglimin. At the date of this press release, no agreement has been established, and Poxel continues to be committed to asserting its rights in connection with its assets.

Rare metabolic diseases

In adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), PXL770 and PXL065 are prepared to advance, subject to additional financing, into two Phase 2 biomarker proof-of-concept (POC) clinical trials in male patients with adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), the most common ALD subtype. The 12-week studies will evaluate pharmacokinetics, safety and potential for efficacy based on relevant disease biomarkers, such as the effect on very long chain fatty acids (VLCFA), the characteristic plasma marker of the disease.

In line with its mission, Poxel aims to bring therapeutic options to treat ALD, and supported the Alex Leukodystrophy Charity during their Community Weekend, which took place from April 28th to May 1st in Birmingham, England. This event brings together leukodystrophy sufferers and their families, alongside doctors, researchers and scientists from around the world to discuss leukodystrophies.

On June 23rd and 24th, Poxel participated virtually at the ULF (United Leukodystrophy Foundation) Scientific Symposium and Family Conference in Itasca, Illinois, USA. Sophie Bozec, Poxel Senior Vice President, R&D Pharmacology and Scientific Communication presented Poxels status and plans for PXL770 and for the deuterium-modified TZD platform, using PXL065, based on robust scientific rationale and a complete preclinical package.

Corporate Update

On June 21st, the Company held its ordinary annual and extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. The shareholders approved all the resolutions that were recommended by the Board of Directors, including the renewal of Mr. Khoso Baluch, Mr. Thomas Kuhn et Ms. Pascale Boissel as Board members.

During the first semester, the Company pursued its corporate savings plan initiated in 2022 aiming at adapting the Companys resources to the current clinical development plan while preserving critical resources and competencies. At the date of this press release, there are 16 employees at Poxel compared to 37 at the end of December 2022.

At the end of June, Elizabeth Woo, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Communication, left the Company to pursue other endeavours.

Significant Events after the Period

On July 5th, Poxel was chosen as the winner of the 2023 edition of the I-nov contest for its program in ALD. Financed by the French State via the France 2030 plan, the prize of this contest includes a grant which will contribute in part4 in the financing of the two phase IIa proof-of-concept clinical studies for PXL770 and PXL065, which are ready to be launched, subject to additional funding, which the Company is actively working on.

In July 2023, the European Patent Office (EPO) granted Poxel a new patent for PXL065, a novel, proprietary deuterium-stabilized R-stereoisomer of pioglitazone, which describes a specific form of PXL065 with unique properties. This recently issued patent provides additional protection through 2041, with the potential for an additional 5 years through patent term extension. In 2022, Poxel had been granted the same patent for PXL065 from the US Patent Office.

Second Quarter and First Half 2023 Cash and Cash equivalents

As of June 30, 2023, cash and cash equivalents were EUR 7.6 million (USD 8.2 million), as compared to EUR 13.1 million (USD 14.0 million) as of December 31, 2022.

Net financial debt (excluding IFRS16 impacts and derivative debts) was EUR 37.7 million as of June 30, 2023, as compared to EUR 29.5 million as of December 31, 2022.

EUR (in thousands) Q2 2023 Q4 2022 Cash 7,599 13,058 Cash equivalents - - Total cash and cash equivalents 7,599 13,058 Unaudited data

On March 23, 2023, the Company finalized agreements with its lenders to restructure its existing debt facility and established a new equity-linked financing with IRIS, including an initial drawdown of EUR 3.5 million.

Based on:

this cash position on June 30, 2023, the full drawdown of the tranches available under the equity-linked financing with IRIS, the current research and development plan, excluding the initiation of Phase 2 clinical POC biomarker studies for PXL065 and PXL770 in AMN, and a strict control of its operating expenses,

Poxel expects that its resources will be sufficient to fund its operations and capital expenditure requirements through Q2 2025.

The full drawdown of the IRIS equity linked facility can be made subject to certain conditions described in the Companys Universal Registration Document. At the date of this press release and only based on the tranches already drawn5 or fully available6, the Company expects that its resources will be sufficient to fund its operations and capital expenditure requirements until January 2024.

Second Quarter and First Half 2023 Revenue

Poxel reported revenue of EUR 955 thousand for the six months ended June 30, 2023, as compared to EUR 83 thousand revenue during the corresponding period in 2022.

Revenue for the first half of 2023 reflects JPY 148 million (EUR 955 thousand) of royalty revenue from Sumitomo Pharma which represents 8% of TWYMEEG net sales in Japan. Based on the current forecast, Poxel expects to receive 8% royalties on TWYMEEG net sales in Japan through the Sumitomo fiscal year 2023 (April 2023 to March 2024). As part of the Merck Serono licensing agreement, Poxel will pay Merck Serono a fixed 8% royalty based on the net sales of Imeglimin, independent of the level of sales.

EUR (in thousands) Q1 2023 Q2 2023 H1 2023 Q1 2022 Q2 2022 H1

2022 3 months 3 months 6 months 3 months 3 months 6 months Sumitomo Pharma Agreement 449 506 955 32 51 83 Other - - - - Total revenues 449 506 955 32 51 83 Unaudited data

Planned Presentation and Participation at the Following Upcoming Event

23rd edition of the European MidCap Event, Paris, September 21-22

Next Financial Press Release: 2023 First Half Results, on September 26, 2023

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), Poxels 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 Companys 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 Companys control that could cause the Companys 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.

Glossary

You will find below a list of words and/or expressions that are used in this press release or in Poxels communication, with the aim to bring clarification and transparency:

Sumitomo Pharma fiscal year runs April to March. As an example, Fiscal Year 2022 is April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2023.

runs April to March. As an example, Fiscal Year 2022 is April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2023. TWYMEEG royalties: As per the Sumitomos agreement, Poxel is entitled to receive royalties from the sales of TWYMEEG (Imeglimin) in Japan TWYMEEG royalties are calculated on net sales, while Sumitomo Pharma communicates only TWYMEEG gross sales. Poxel entitled to receive escalating royalties of 8-18% on TWYMEEG net sales from Sumitomo Pharma.

As per the Sumitomos agreement, Poxel is entitled to receive royalties from the sales of TWYMEEG (Imeglimin) in Japan Positive net royalties: refers to royalties Poxel receives from TWYMEEG net sales after paying Merck Serono the first 8%, once Poxel starts to receive 10% royalties upon TWYMEEG net sales exceeding JPY 5 billion in a fiscal year.

1 As per Sumitomo Pharma FY23 forecast of JPY 4.2 billion published on May 15, 2023.

2 Converted at the exchange rate as of June 30, 2023.

3 Converted at the exchange rate as of March 31, 2023.

4 Up to 45% of the estimated eligible costs.

5 Since March 31, 2023, 2 additional tranches of EUR 600,000 each have been drawn in May and July.

6 At the date of this press release, the amount of redeemable bonds owned by IRIS is EUR 5,980,000, and the Group has the ability to drawdown EUR 1 020 000 under the additional tranches.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830205409/en/

Investor relations / Media

Aurelie Bozza

Investor Relations & Communication Senior Director

[email protected]

+33 6 99 81 08 36

NewCap

Nicolas Fossiez, Aurelie Manavarere / Arthur Rouille

[email protected]

+33 1 44 71 94 94

Source: Poxel
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sculptor Capital Management, Inc. (Sculptor or the Company) (NYSE: SCU) today responded to the Section 220 Demand for Inspection (Section 220) letter sent by Daniel S. Och, Harold Kelly, Richard Lyon, James OConnor, and Zoltan Varga (the Och Group) dated August 22, 2023.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829781225/en/

Mr. Och took home $3.3 billion since 2007 while the Company's stock price dropped by 96%. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Below is a cover letter and a Section 220 response letter delivered to the Och Group today.

Cover Letter

August 29, 2023

via Email

Daniel S. Och

Harold Kelly

Richard Lyon

James OConnor

Zoltan Varga

c/o Andrew J. Levander, Esq.

Dechert LLP

Three Bryant Park

1095 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10036

[email protected]

Re: Letter Seeking Inspection of Books and Records of Sculptor Capital Management, Inc.

Dear Messrs. Och, Kelly, Lyon, OConnor, and Varga:

We write to you (the Och Group) on behalf of Sculptor Capital Management, Inc. (Sculptor or the Company) in response to your letter dated August 22, 2023 to the Special Committee of the Board of Directors (the Letter) and Section 220 Demand for Inspection (the Demand). As set forth in the enclosed response to the Demand, the Company believes that your requests are improper as they continue to propagate and rely upon a false narrative as a cover for your true motives: to disparage the Company, its Board of Directors and management, and to make self-interested demands. This is demonstrated by the following points which are further detailed in our response:

The Demand appears to be improperly motivated by Mr. Ochs longstanding resentment from his having been exited from the Company.

While ostensibly requesting information about the sales process described in the Companys preliminary proxy statement, your Demand for books and records is set against historical context that makes clear that purpose is pretextual, and that the true purpose is the continuation of what the company views as Mr. Ochs well-publicized, years long smear campaign against the Companys management. The Company believes that campaign has been fueled by Mr. Ochs longstanding animus arising from his having been exited from the Company following the Africa bribery scandal that almost put the Company out of business seven years ago and for which Mr. Och personally paid $2.2 million to resolve a related SEC enforcement action. The Company believes that the Demand is just the latest salvo in Mr. Ochs efforts to seek retribution, which in recent years alone has included him, by all indications, engineering the noisy resignation of his Board designee, J. Morgan Rutman, on the basis of a misleading diatribe regarding management compensation, followed by a books-and-records lawsuit publicizing yet more false and disparaging information under the guise of seeking information that, in any event, Mr. Och already possessed.

The Och Groups professed concern for public stockholders cannot be reconciled with Mr. Ochs repeated efforts to undermine the Special Committees sales process.

Moreover, your stated concerns about seeking to protect the interests of all [Company] stockholders in respect of the Companys sales efforts rings particularly hollow considering all that you have done in recent months that seemed to undermine those efforts. After pledging to support the Special Committees sales process, you then dragged your feet for months on signing a standard non-disclosure agreement, depriving yourself of the facts. At the same time, you publicized baseless attacks about the process on Schedule 13D, seemingly ignoring contrary information provided to you in correspondence from the Special Committee and its counsel. And even worse, after signing the non-disclosure agreement, following what the Company viewed as disruptive behavior by you, a potential transaction for $12 per share with Bidder D.

In negotiations with Rithm Capital Corp. (Rithm), the Och Groups focus seems to have been on self-interested demands.

Your professed concerns for the Companys public stockholders is also belied by your more recent interactions with Rithm in which you appear to have focused on maximizing your own economic interests. For example, you requested that, as part of any closing, Rithm agree to accelerate tens of millions of dollars as a prepayment at a favorable discount rate of the Tax Receivable Agreement and pay you an additional $5.5 million in cash for your legal expenses supposedly incurred in connection with the Companys sales process, including costs for counsel that were negotiating for your own economic benefits. The transaction under discussion between the Och Group and Rithm would have included the option for a rollover in order to allow you to avoid recognizing significant taxable gain received in the transaction. Notably missing from those discussions were meaningful concessions by any of you for the benefit of public stockholders.

We believe that Mr. Ochs purported concern for public stockholders is in stark contrast to his record when running the Company.

Mr. Och took home $3.3 billion since 2007 while the Companys stock price dropped by 96%. [Please see accompanying chart]

The Och Groups attacks on the Special Committee process are rebutted by the facts of the robust and independent process the Special Committee ran.

The Company believes that the criticisms you seek to level against the Special Committees sales process do not have even the slightest merit. The Special Committee ran a robust sales process supported by world-class legal and financial advisors. They reached out to seventy potential acquirors and bidders, and management were appropriately instructed not to engage in any negotiations regarding managements go-forward employment until principal terms had been agreed.

The Och Groups misguided criticisms of the Rithm transaction are based upon distortions and misrepresentations.

Furthermore, the attacks on the Rithm transaction are equally misplaced. The suggestion that there were other credible bids that provided greater value and certainty of closing, with or without current management, is distorted - no such bid exists. Nor does Rithms bid crystallize supposed losses from the adoption of Mr. Levins compensation package. Mr. Levin has also agreed to substantial reductions in his compensation to support a Rithm transaction.

For all of these reasons and the others set forth in the response to the Demand, it is clear that you lack the proper purpose mandated by Delaware law to be entitled to books and records from the Company. To the contrary, we believe that you are abusing the process accorded to stockholders under Delaware law as a means of presenting false narratives about the Company while shielding your own undisclosed conflicts which put you at odds with the public stockholders. While this would justify the Company refusing your requests in full, in the interest of avoiding yet more unnecessary litigation, as set forth in additional detail in the Companys response, we are prepared to meet and confer with you regarding the production of the limited set of materials typically subject to requests under Section 220. This letter is without prejudice to the rights of the Company and the Board, all of which are preserved.

Very truly yours,

Jonathan Pickhardt

cc: Michael Carlinsky

Blair Adams

Brendan Carroll

Brock E. Czeschin

Full Response Letter

August 29, 2023

via Email

Andrew J. Levander, Esq.

Dechert LLP

Three Bryant Park

1095 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10036

[email protected]

Re: Letter Seeking Inspection of Books and Records of Sculptor Capital Management, Inc.

Dear Mr. Levander:

We write on behalf of Sculptor Capital Management, Inc. (Sculptor or the Company) in response to the August 22, 2023 demand (the Demand) from your clients, Daniel S. Och, Harold Kelly, Richard Lyon, James OConnor, and Zoltan Varga (the Och Group), to inspect Company books and records pursuant to 8 Del. C.  220 (Section 220) in regard to the proposed acquisition of the Company by Rithm (Merger) as detailed in the preliminary proxy statement filed by the Company on August 21, 2023 (the Preliminary Proxy).

The Och Group does not have any valid grounds under Section 220 to inspect Company books and records. While they profess to make the Demand in order to protect the interests of all [Company] stockholders, the Och Groups well-documented history makes clear that their actual motivations are otherwise and inappropriate. In reality, the Demand is nothing more than a pretext for Mr. Och and his colleagues to continue their years long campaign against the Companys current management while masking their own conflicts in having repeatedly demanded economic benefits for themselves.

The Company believes this campaign was borne out of Mr. Ochs resentment at being exited from the Companys helm following a highly-publicized Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) bribery scandal that nearly destroyed the Company seven years ago. Since then, Mr. Och has orchestrated a series of public attacks against the Companys management, the Demand being but the latest chapter. This included the January 2022 noisy resignation of Mr. Ochs designee to the Companys Board of Directors (Board), J. Morgan Rutman, a long-time employee of Mr. Ochs, regarding the compensation paid to the Companys CEO, James Levin, who seems to have been Mr. Ochs primary target ever since Mr. Levin supported the independent directors effort to exit Mr. Och from the Company. Later in 2022, notwithstanding Mr. Ochs already-extensive knowledge of Mr. Levins compensation arrangements, the Och Group initiated a Section 220 demand purportedly to obtain information about those arrangements, as well as follow-on litigation that served no apparent purpose other than to attack the Company, its Board and management despite the obvious potential for injury to the Companys business and prospects.

Now the Och Group has returned to the same playbook, seeking once again to use Section 220 as a rhetorical platform to attack the Company and its sale process, while masking the economic self-interest and personal vendettas that the Company believes motivate Mr. Ochs behavior, and presenting a false narrative to the Companys stockholders. Once again, the Och Group has no real need for the information demanded as they have been receiving information about the sales process for months from the Special Committee and its advisers pursuant to a non-disclosure agreement. This access included meeting with each of the two bidders that the Special Committee determined to have presented the best overall offers for purchase of the Company.1 Had Mr. Och actually had legitimate concerns about the process, including whether steps were taken to favor management (when, to be clear, no such steps were actually taken), he could have simply asked the bidders with whom he met. Given the multiple weeks of negotiation afforded Mr. Och with these bidders, he had multiple opportunities to raise his concerns. However, the Section 220 demand does not even make mention of an attempt by him to learn the facts. Instead, his Demand relies only on unfounded allegations stemming from purported conversations with third parties whose identities he has consistently withheld.

To the extent Mr. Ochs focus has extended beyond his continuing vendetta against the Company and Mr. Levin, it has been to negotiate for Mr. Ochs own economic interests stemming from his years running the Company. For example, Mr. Och proposed as a condition of supporting any transaction that Rithm provide him with acceleration of tens of millions of dollars as a prepayment at a favorable discount rate of a lucrative Tax Receivable Agreement (TRA) asset structured by members of the Och Group at the time of the Companys IPO. The Och Group also sought to structure any transaction to permit them to delay hundreds of millions of dollars of taxable income that they have already delayed for more than a decade and a half. In addition, the Och Group demanded payment of $5.5 million to cover legal fees incurred by them in connection with actions taken against the Company. The Och Group also sought, among other things, enhanced credit protection. It was only when Rithm refused to accede to Mr. Ochs demands that he chose to oppose the deal.

Moreover, the criticisms that the Och Group levels at the Special Committees process and the Rithm transaction itself are flatly false. As described in detail in the Preliminary Proxy, the Special Committeecomprised of two unassailably independent directorsimplemented and ran a robust sales process that was supported and validated by world-class financial and legal advisors. The suggestion of any interference in the process to entrench management and protect their supposedly outsized compensation has it exactly backwards. Nothing about the process required or even encouraged the retention of management which was entirely up to the bidders. Further, existing managementespecially Mr. Levinmade significant concessions in support of obtaining a deal with Rithm that would maximize benefits to stockholders. This included Mr. Levin agreeing to accept a cap on his annual compensation that would leave him earning less than what Mr. Och regularly paid him when Mr. Och was CEO of the Companyand a small fraction of what Mr. Och routinely paid himself. Indeed, the only current or former management stakeholders involved in the discussions who failed to provide meaningful concessions to improve the benefits of the Rithm transaction for stockholders are the Och Group members, who have not only proposed their personal stakes being paid in full but who have, in fact, sought preferential treatment.

As explained in further detail below, these considerations demonstrate that the Demand is pretextual, lacks a proper purpose and otherwise fails to comply with the requirements of Section 220.

1. The Demand Is Improperly Motivated by Longstanding and Well-Documented Animus.

Under Delaware law, a showing that a Section 220 demand is motivated by animus establishes an improper purpose. Compare Highland Select Equity Fund, L.P. v. Motient Corp., 906 A.2d 156, 167 (Del. Ch. 2006), affd sub nom. Highland Equity Fund, L.P. v. Motient Corp., 922 A.2d 415 (Del. 2007) (denying Section 220 demand where stockholders purported purpose in bringing the demand was a ruse and instead motivated by a desire to derive[] utility from the demand itself as a rhetorical platform), with Grimes vs. DSC Communications Corp., 724 A.2d 561 (Del. Ch. 1998) (ordering production of materials in response to Section 220 demand where there is nothing in the record to date suggesting that [the demand] is motivated by some improper animus).

Here, the Demand is just the latest installment in Mr. Ochs historical effort to harm the Company, its Board and its management. The genesis of Mr. Ochs animus has nothing to do with the transaction at issue or its terms, but rather traces back to the events leading up to his departure from the Company, when it was known as Och-Ziff. Mr. Och, as Chairman, CEO and controlling stockholder, built Och-Ziff into a hedge fund behemoth, but its success was squandered when, in September 2016, Och-Ziff was required to enter a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the U.S. Department of Justice (a serious sanction effectively serving as a form of probation for its multi-year duration) and its Africa subsidiary was forced to plead guilty to a criminal charge for conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for a bribery scandal that took place in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC) and Libya. The Securities and Exchange Commission brought related charges. In total, the Company was ordered to pay $412 million to resolve the matter. Mr. Och himself paid $2.2 million to resolve a related SEC enforcement action in which the SEC found Mr. Och had caused violations in two Och-Ziff transactions in the [DRC] and detailed how he had been aware of the risk of corruption in the transactions with [Och-Ziffs] DRC Partner and approved the use of Och-Ziff investor funds in those transactions even though proceeding with the transactions was contrary to the recommendation of his legal and compliance team. Faced with massive capital withdrawals in the wake of the scandal and restrictive regulatory penalties that barred the Company from key investor channels, the Company had no choice but to attempt to distance itself from Mr. Och, including by ultimately rebranding as Sculptor.

In December 2017, the independent directors of the Board unanimously voted to recommend that Mr. Och be removed as CEO. Mr. Och refused to recognize the idea that his continued presence at the Company was detrimental to its future success. Instead, he became enraged by the perceived disloyalty of Company executives and Board members who made this decision. Chief among those whom Mr. Och blamed for his exit from the Company is Mr. Levin, its current chief executive and chief investment officer, whom Mr. Och had previously anointed as his heir-apparent. Mr. Och contemporaneously instructed a group of his allies, including certain members of the Och Group and Mr. Rutman: We have to make clear that I/we will be the winning team and that Jimmy [Levin] cannot be the winning team.

Since that time, Mr. Och has repeatedly taken steps that have disrupted Sculptors business. These actions have peaked over the past eighteen months. Among other things, by all indications Mr. Och caused Mr. Rutmanhis hand-picked board representative and longtime president of Mr. Ochs family office (that manages his personal wealth) and to whom he has paid millions of dollarsto noisily resign from the Board in stated protest of a compensation package agreed with Mr. Levin at the end of 2021 (2021 Compensation Package). As part of his resignation, Mr. Rutman sent the Board a seven-page, single-spaced letter containing a diatribe against the Companys corporate governance process and decisions, including numerous disparaging remarks about the Company, its Board, and its officers. Mr. Och and Mr. Rutman were both well aware that Sculptor would be forced to disclose a letter of this type. The public resurgence of a dispute with Mr. Och had its obvious effect, negatively impacting Sculptors publicly traded share price and causing meaningful disruption among Sculptors clients and to its capital-raising efforts.

Mr. Och then used Mr. Rutmans resignation letter as a basis to demand books and records from the Company regarding the Boards process for approving Mr. Levins 2021 Compensation Package. The books-and-records requests were themselves a charade, largely targeting Board materials to which Mr. Och already had access through Mr. Rutman. While the Company was in the midst of diligently producing the requested documents, and without any warning or notice to the Company, Mr. Och used the books-and-records demand as an excuse to publicly file an unnecessary lawsuit filled with additional disparaging statements that were not even relevant to the demand for books and records. Although Mr. Och did not provide Sculptor with any advance notice of the Complaint, it seems he had his media relations team aggressively push it to the press.

Faced with Mr. Ochs disruptive and injurious behavior, the Company worked to find a solution. In mid-November, the Company was able to finally reach an agreement with Mr. Och to dismiss the books-and-records lawsuit in exchange for some additional documents in conjunction with the Board also announcing publicly that a Special Committee of the Board (which had been established months earlier) had been created to explore potential transactions (which could include a sale of the Company). Sculptor only agreed to announce the Special Committees ongoing exploration of potential transactions publicly because Mr. Och represented he would approach the process in good faith and without conditioning his consideration on any particular structure (such as the exclusion of existing management). This commitment was reflected in the public statement accompanying the agreement, where he stated: we will be supportive of a vigorous, independent, and thorough process that puts shareholders first.

Unfortunately, Mr. Och did not honor his commitments. Shortly after settling the Section 220 litigation, the Company sent Mr. Och a proposed non-disclosure agreement so that it could share information with him regarding the sale process. Mr. Och did not even provide comments on the draft for almost two months. Instead, Mr. Och used the interim period to spread a false narrative that the Special Committee was not running an open and transparent sales process. For example, Mr. Och filed a Schedule 13D containing materially incorrect statements such as that the Special Committee was implying to potential buyers that managements approval is effectively necessary for any deal and that the Special Committee was discouraging bidders from presenting certain types of offers for the Company. (January 27, 2023 Schedule 13D.) Mr. Och finally responded to the draft non-disclosure agreementshowing his first interest in learning the actual factson January 28, 2023, the day after he filed this Schedule 13D. That agreement was eventually signed on February 15, 2023.

As disclosed in the Preliminary Proxy, the Company believes that Mr. Och was also responsible for the collapse of a potential transaction with Bidder D earlier this year. By March 2023, the Special Committee was in advanced discussions with Bidder D, having agreed on price, a draft merger agreement, and all material conditions. As of March 27, 2023, the key gating item standing in the way of a definitive merger agreement with Bidder D was Bidder Ds desire to secure the Och Groups support for the transaction. Mr. Och sent two letters refusing to support the transaction without even engaging with Bidder D. Once Mr. Och eventually allowed his representative (Mr. Rutman) to meet with Bidder D, Bidder D became concerned that Mr. Och did not intend to engage in a constructive dialogue. Then, in the midst of the Companys discussions with Bidder D, Mr. Och wrote to the Special Committee on April 5, 2023, contending that the Company should abandon the sales process altogethereven though he had publicly pledged support just a few month earlier. A few weeks later, with no change in Mr. Ochs actions, Bidder D walked away, relaying to the Special Committees advisors that they had no appetite to engage further with the Och Group.

2. The Och Groups Supposed Concern for Protecting Stockholder Value Is Belied by Its Self-Interested Demands.

Given the experience with Bidder D, the Special Committee sought to re-engage with potential acquirors willing to consider a transaction that would not be conditioned on Mr. Ochs support. In late May 2023, Rithm provided an updated proposal to the Special Committee and confirmed that it did not intend to condition the signing or closing of the potential transaction on the support of Mr. Och. Through June 2023, the Special Committee negotiated with Rithm to improve its proposal (while also engaging with other potential bidders). In late June 2023, Rithm indicated that it wanted to have discussions with Mr. Och about the potential transaction before proceeding to execute a definitive merger agreement.

On July 6, 2023, the Och Group entered into a confidentiality agreement with Rithm so they could discuss a potential transaction. Over the next two weeks, Rithm responded to extensive requests for information from the Och Group and engaged with them on a number of issues they raised as conditions for supporting any transaction. The issues that Mr. Och raised in those discussions made clear to the Company that Mr. Ochs focus was on continuing to inflict additional pay cuts on Mr. Levin and on maximizing his own economic interests not shared with public stockholders.

For example, the Och Group focused heavily on the TRA asset that Mr. Och had bestowed on himself and the other Och Group members at the time of the Companys IPO in 2007. The TRA assets have allowed the Och Group to reap over $150 million in payments from the Company in connection with the use of certain tax assets that had been created at the time of the IPO. The TRA by its terms expressly contemplated change-of-control transactions such as the merger by providing for assumptions favorable to the Och Group in calculating TRA payments but did not provide for any required acceleration of those TRA payments, which instead would continue to be paid over a several years. Nevertheless, in his discussions with Rithm, Mr. Och requested that, as part of closing any transaction, Rithm agree to prepay a significant portion of the more than $170 million in estimated remaining TRA payments, a substantial portion of which would be paid to the Och Group. Moreover, the Och Group demanded a highly favorable discount rate on the prepayment. Similarly, the Och Group insisted as a condition of supporting any transaction that Rithm agree to pay them an additional $5.5 million in cash for legal expenses incurred in connection with the Companys sales process, including counsel costs related to negotiating for their own economic benefits.

The transaction under discussion between the Och Group and Rithm would have included the option for a rollover of the Class A Unit interests that they hold, in a fully tax-deferred transaction, which would allow them to avoid recognizing significant taxable gain in excess of proceeds to be received in the transaction (as a result of taxable gain attributable in large part to tax-deferred distributions previously received by the Och Group).

Finally, the Och Group even demanded that they be given personal consent rights over any press statements announcing the transaction, presumably to ensure they can continue their false narrative of being on the side of stockholders.

In contrast to the actions taken by the Och Group, Mr. Levin agreed to make significant modifications to his employment agreement that would materially reduce his overall compensation, including imposing an annual cap. Even with these concessions, Mr. Och still sought to insist that Mr. Levins compensation be reduced further as a condition of the Och Groups support for the Rithm transaction. Aside from ignoring the importance of Mr. Levin to investors, it is also inexplicable why Mr. Och feels the need to overturn the independent decision of a third party, i.e., Rithm, as to what is appropriate compensation for Mr. Levin going forward. Notably, when Mr. Och was CEO, he regularly approved compensation for Mr. Levin in excess of the cap agreed to by Mr. Levin.

Mr. Ochs behavior in his negotiations with Rithm is nothing new. Mr. Och has regularly focused on his personal economic benefits. For example, at the time of the Companys IPO, Mr. Och caused the Company to take on $750 million in debt with the majority of the proceeds going to fund a personal distribution to himself and members of his group. Thereafter, Mr. Och continued to distribute substantially all of the Companys earnings, with himself as the largest recipient, leaving the business with little retained earnings and saddled with debt. When this left the Company insufficiently capitalized to pay the $412 million penalty imposed as a result of the Africa bribery scandal, he conditioned providing any personal financing to the Company on receiving preferred interests in exchange that would ensure he got repaid ahead of public stockholders. Because no asset management company had ever had a DPA, there was a question about the Companys survival. However, when it came time to pay the penalty and there were no retained earnings to do so, Mr. Och insisted on receiving preferred interests that would pay him back completely before public shareholders would receive a penny in the event of a bankruptcy. Mr. Och also insisted as a condition of providing financing that he receive a broad-based release.

Mr. Ochs ability to bestow these benefits upon himself was enabled by his complete control over the Companyat the time of the IPO, Mr. Och awarded himself a voting proxy and certain other powers, giving him control over stockholder votes and Board decisions on material matters. These powers were removed and governance was democratized as part of Mr. Ochs exit from the Company. And current management has since diligently paid down the debt with which Mr. Och had saddled the Company.

3. The Och Groups Criticisms of the Special Committee Process and Proposed Transaction Are Based Upon Distortions and Misrepresentations.

Setting aside the Och Groups animus, the Demand does not identify a proper purpose for the books-and-records demand, as it must. Thomas & Betts Corp. v. Leviton Mfg. Co., 681 A.2d 1026, 1028 (Del. 1996) ([A] stockholder has the burden of showing . . . a proper purpose entitling the stockholder to an inspection of every item sought.). A stockholders obligation to identify a proper purpose is more than a mere speed bump that she must clear. Hoeller v. Tempur Sealy Intl, Inc., 2019 WL 551318, at *1 (Del. Ch. Feb. 12, 2018). According to the Demand, the Och Groups purpose for demanding books and records are to investigate potential breaches of fiduciary duty related to: (i) the sales process, including approval of the merger; (ii) the negotiation, execution, and approval of management compensation; (iii) the negotiation, execution, and approval of voting agreements; to investigate the possible aiding and abetting of those breaches by Rithm; to evaluate the fairness of the merger; to assess the veracity and completeness of the Companys public disclosures; and to communicate with other stockholders. Demand at 5. But all of these so-called purposes are underpinned by the baseless allegations of wrongdoing leveled by the Och Group in the Demand letter itself. Such allegations do not establish a proper purpose for inspection of books and records under Delaware law.

In the context of similar demands, the Delaware Supreme Court has held that stockholders seeking inspection under Section 220 must present some evidence to suggest a credible basis from which a court can infer that mismanagement, waste or wrongdoing may have occurred. Seinfeld v. Verizon Commcns, Inc., 909 A.2d 117, 118 (Del. 2006). A stockholder must do more than state, in a conclusory manner that a desire to investigate mismanagement or wrongdoing is a proper purpose. See W. Coast Mgmt. & Capital, LLC v. Carrier Access Corp., 914 A.2d 636, 646 (Del. Ch. 2006); see also AmerisourceBergen Corp. v. Lebanon Cty. Emps. Ret. Fund, 243 A.3d 417, 428 (Del. 2020) (stockholders cannot use Section 220 demands to engage in an indiscriminate fishing expedition). The Och Group has adduced no such evidence, and no credible basis to infer that mismanagement, waste or wrongdoing occurred in the sale process or anywhere else at the Company.

The Och Groups complaints about the Special Committee sales process are simply false. As disclosed in the Preliminary Proxy, the Board appointed a Special Committee composed of directors whose independence is unassailable. The Special Committee retained experienced world-class advisors, including Latham & Watkins as its independent legal advisor and PJT Partners as its financial advisor.2 The Special Committee reached out to seventy potential acquirors, twenty-five of which signed confidentiality agreements and commenced due diligence, and eleven of which submitted non-binding preliminary indications of interest. The Special Committee ran the process from start to finish, and instructed bidders and management, including in the bid process letters sent to interested parties, not to engage in any negotiations regarding managements go-forward employment until after the principal terms of any transaction had been agreed between the Company and the bidder.

The Demand asserts two arguments regarding the Special Committees independence, both of which are entirely without merit.

First, Mr. Och falsely accuses Marcy Engel, Chair of the Board, of being conflicted because her compensation for Board service increased during her tenure on the Board. That is false and outrageous. Ms. Engels compensation was increased when she assumed the Chair role, to the exact same amount that her predecessor as Chair receivedan amount that was proposed by one of Mr. Ochs designees. Notably, Mr. Ochs designee Mr. Rutman voted in favor of Ms. Engel becoming Chair, and approved her compensation. Other increases to Ms. Engels compensation were similarly based on her assuming additional duties, including as chair of certain committees, for which she also has been paid at levels consistent with her predecessors. The Och Groups suggestion that Ms. Engel is somehow beholden to Mr. Levin is even more absurd. It was Mr. Och himself who invited Ms. Engel to join the Board; she had no preexisting relationship with Mr. Levin, and did not even meet him until after she joined the Board. Mr. Och and his designee also supported Ms. Engels role as lead independent director while he was Chairman, and also voted to reaffirm Ms. Engels independence each year.

Mr. Och next argues that both Ms. Engel and Charmel Maynard were conflicted because they were subject to a potential lawsuit for approving the 2021 Compensation Package. That reasoning is equally specious. As described in the filings responding to the Och Groups prior Section 220 action, the Board followed a robust process in approving the 2021 Compensation Package; it was advised by leading compensation consultants, originally chosen by Mr. Och, who concluded it was reasonable for the Board to support that package. The Board exercised its business judgment to award a pay for performance package that also took into account managements continued efforts in addressing the ramifications of the Africa bribery matter, the DPA and the disputes and disagreements with Mr. Och and related publicity. Any possible claim based on that decision would also be subject to exculpation under Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Notably, in the 20 months since the 2021 Compensation Package was announced, and 18 months since Mr. Rutmans noisy resignation, no lawsuit has sought to question the Boards decisions regarding Mr. Levins compensation. Indeed, the only lawsuit filed relating to the 2021 Compensation Package was the Section 220 action that the Company believes Mr. Och filed in furtherance of his retribution campaign. There is no credible threat of liability for the 2021 Compensation Package vote, and accordingly there is no basis for alleging that the Special Committee members were conflicted in voting to approve the Merger.

The Demands other complaints about the Special Committees process or the Rithm transaction itself are equally unfounded.

First, the claim that there were other third-party bidders prepared to acquire the Company for greater value without current management is distorted. The Special Committee stood ready to entertain a transaction in any formwith or without current managementthat would maximize stockholder value. The Special Committee and its advisers are unaware of any such credible bid. Indeed, after Mr. Och made public comments suggesting that such bidders existed, the Special Committee repeatedly asked Mr. Och either to refer them to the Special Committee or identify them so that the Special Committee could deal with them directly. Despite stating in multiple SEC filings that he is in communication with bidders, Mr. Och has never identified a single interested party to the Special Committee.

Second, the price of $11.15 per share proposed for the Rithm transaction does not crystallize any losses attributable to supposed off-market terms in the 2021 Compensation Package. To the contrary, the market and the main analyst following the Company reacted positively to the Package when it was first adopted, undoubtedly recognizing that its performance-based metrics aligned Mr. Levins pay with the interests of Sculptors stockholders and clients. It was not until Mr. Och reignited his attacks on the Company at the end of January 2022 that the Companys stock price dropped, reflecting what the Company believes was the weight of concerns that the return of internecine squabbles with Mr. Och would impact the Companys ability to retain and grow its client base. The Company believes that Mr. Ochs decision to pursue his unnecessary Section 220 action last year, followed by repeated misleading public filings, only served to exacerbate the impact. The Company disclosed these impacts in a series of periodic filings with the SEC, detailing the elevated redemption requests and difficulty in raising new capital that the Company believes Mr. Ochs attacks had occasioned.

Third, the suggestion that Rithms bid was negatively impacted by the cost of Mr. Levins compensation package is false. As explained in the Preliminary Proxy, while Rithm did decrease its bid from $12 per share to $11.15 per share, that decrease had little to do with Mr. Levin seeking additional compensation. To the contrary, in his discussions with Rithm, Mr. Levin agreed to accept major cuts in his compensation as well as in the value of his equity interests. As described in the Preliminary Proxy, Rithm revised its offer price to $11.00 per share due to Rithms belief that it would need to spend more money than anticipated in the form of a long-term incentive plan and retention plan for the Companys senior leadership (excluding Mr. Levin, with whom Rithm intended to enter into revised employment agreement terms which substantially reduce his compensation). Rithm had concluded, following additional diligence and focus on the proceeds allocation among the key employees, that it would be required to spend more than was provided for in its original model in order to retain and incentivize key members of senior leadership of the Company (excluding Mr. Levin), particularly in light of the significant amount of equity incentives which would not receive any consideration in connection with the potential transaction. As a result, Rithm had agreed to establish (a) a long-term incentive plan and (b) a $30 million retention pool (in which Mr. Levin would not participate), also for incentive purposes. Rithm subsequently agreed to increase the retention incentive program from $30 million to $35 million and allocate $5 million of its retention incentive program to Mr. Levin, and the offer price was not reduced in connection with such revision to the retention incentive program; instead, Rithm subsequently increased its offer price to $11.15 per share.

Finally, the Demand falsely contends that the required stockholder vote has been skewed in favor of the Boards desired outcome of supporting the Rithm transaction. In support, the Demand cites to the fact that the Class A Unit Holders will be excluded from the majority-of-the-minority approval as supposed evidence that the Och Group is being disadvantaged. This is not accurate. Rithm and the Company provided for the required corporate approvalsa majority vote of all shareholders, including the Class A Unit Holders, in accordance with the Companys governing documents. But then in addition to, and not in lieu of, that vote, given the potential conflicts of interests attributable to both management and the Och Group, the parties opted to go a step further  which was not required  to provide even greater protection and provide that the deal must be approved by the truly disinterested stockholders in an additional majority of the minority vote. The reason the Class A Unit Holders are excluded from the majority-of-the-minority vote is because they are to receive interests different from public stockholders under the proposed Merger, namely the opportunity to rollover their Class A Units into Rithm stock, which gives them a right they demanded. Indeed, the need for a tax-free rollover opportunity has been a longstanding demand of the Och Group, as it will permit them to defer significant tax obligations. That the Och Group seeks to portray the unique benefits they have sought and are being accorded into an effort by the Company to disenfranchise them reveals the lengths to which they are prepared to go to distort the record.

4. The Och Groups Document Demands Are Impermissibly Overbroad

The Demand as drafted is also vastly overbroad, and improper for that reason as well. A Section 220 demand is not the equivalent of discovery in litigationwhich is precisely how the requests read. Indeed, the Demand seeks all documents and communications related to a litany of far-reaching, broad topicsincluding (but far from limited to) negotiation of the Voting Agreements, the treatment of the Compensation Package and compensation arrangements, and all communications with Rithm regarding the Merger.

Delaware courts have been clear: the scope of documents produced in response to a Section 220 request should be narrowly tailored to the documents that are truly necessary for the stockholders proper purpose. Helsman Mgmt. Servs., Inc., v. A & S Consultants, Inc., 525 A.2d 160, 167 (Del. Ch. 1987) (allowing inspection of only records that are essential and sufficient to the stockholders purpose); see also Se. Pennsylvania Transportation Auth. v. Facebook, Inc., No. CV 2019-0228-JRS, 2019 WL 5579488, at *6 (Del. Ch. Oct. 29, 2019), judgment entered sub nom. Se. Pennsylvania Transp Auth. v. Facebook, Inc. (Del. Ch. 2019) ([M]ere curiosity or a desire for a fishing expedition will not suffice.) (citation omitted). Indeed, the Och Group bears the burden of making specific and discrete identification, with rifled precision, . . . [to] establish that each category of books and records is essential to the accomplishment of their articulated purpose. Brehm v. Eisner, 746 A.2d 244, 266-67 (Del. 2000); accord Espinoza v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 32 A.3d 365, 31-772 (Del. 2011). Thus, even assuming the Och Group could state a proper purpose, the scope of its requests falls well short of the rifled precision standard that Delaware requires.

* * *

In sum, the Och Groups Demand lacks a proper basis under Section 220 because it is motivated by animus, lacks a proper purpose, and is impermissibly overbroad in its requests. It is evident that the Och Group seeks to abuse the process accorded to stockholders under Delaware law as a means of amplifying their unfounded accusations and to distract from their own conflicts, which put them at odds with public stockholders. The Company thus has no legal obligation to produce any books or records in response.

Nonetheless, in the interest of avoiding yet more unnecessary litigation, the Company is willing to meet and confer to discuss providing the Och Group with an appropriate production of materials typically subject to requests under Section 220, including the non-privileged portions of the relevant minutes of the Board and Special Committees meetings and the related presentations, following the execution of a satisfactory non-disclosure agreement.

I look forward to hearing from you regarding your availability to meet and confer, including to finalize the non-disclosure agreement related to production of materials. The Company reserves the right to supplement this response and it is without prejudice to the rights of the Company and the Board, all of which are preserved.

Very truly yours,

Jonathan Pickhardt

cc: Michael Carlinsky

Blair Adams

Brendan Carroll

Brock E. Czeschin

About Sculptor

Sculptor is a leading global alternative asset manager and a specialist in opportunistic investing. For over 25 years, Sculptor has pursued consistent outperformance by building an operating model and culture which balance the ability to act swiftly on market opportunity with rigorous diligence that minimizes risk. Sculptors model is driven by a global team that is predominantly home-grown, long tenured and incentivized to put client outcomes first. With offices in New York, London and Hong Kong, Sculptor invests across credit, real estate and multi-strategy platforms in all major geographies. As of August 1, 2023, Sculptor had approximately $34.0 billion in assets under management. For more information, please visit our website (www.sculptor.com).

Additional Information About the Transaction and Where to Find It

This communication relates to a proposed transaction between Rithm Capital Corp. and Sculptor Capital Management, Inc. (Sculptor). In connection with the proposed transaction, Sculptor filed a preliminary proxy statement on Schedule 14A on August 21, 2023 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Promptly after filing its definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A (the Proxy Statement) with the SEC, Sculptor intends to mail or otherwise provide to its stockholders such Proxy Statement. Sculptor may also file other documents with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION, SCULPTOR'S STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED TO CAREFULLY READ THE PROXY STATEMENT (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ANY OTHER DOCUMENTS THAT HAVE BEEN OR MAY BE FILED WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION OR INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE THEREIN BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND THE PARTIES TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of the Proxy Statement and other documents containing information about Sculptor and the proposed transaction filed with the SEC (when available) from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and Sculptor's website at www.sculptor.com. In addition, the Proxy Statement and other documents filed by Sculptor with, or furnished to, the SEC (when available) may be obtained from Sculptor free of charge by directing a request to Sculptor's Investor Relations at [email protected].

Participants in the Solicitation

Sculptor and certain of its directors, executive officers and employees may be considered to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Sculptor's stockholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be deemed participants in the solicitation of the stockholders of Sculptor in connection with the proposed transaction, including a description of their respective direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise are included in the preliminary proxy statement and will be included in the Proxy Statement when it is filed with the SEC. You may also find additional information about Sculptor's directors and executive officers in Sculptor's proxy statement for its 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 28, 2023. You can obtain a free copy of this document from Sculptor using the contact information above.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication is for information purposes only and is not intended to and does not constitute, or form part of, an offer, invitation or the solicitation of an offer or invitation to purchase, otherwise acquire, subscribe for, sell or otherwise dispose of any securities, or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction, pursuant to the proposed transaction or otherwise, nor shall there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities in any jurisdiction in contravention of applicable law. The proposed transaction will be implemented solely pursuant to the terms and conditions of the merger agreement, which contain the full terms and conditions of the proposed transaction.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The communication contains statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the proposed transaction. All statements, other than statements of current or historical fact, contained in this communication may be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words believes, anticipates, plans, expects, may, should, could, estimate, intend (or the negative of these terms) and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements represent Sculptors current expectations regarding future events and are subject to a number of assumptions, trends, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Sculptors control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements contained herein. For a discussion of some of the risks and important factors that could affect such forward-looking statements, see the sections entitled Forward Looking Statements, Risk Factors and Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in Sculptors most recent annual and quarterly reports and other filings filed with the SEC, which are available on Sculptors website (www.sculptor.com).

Factors that could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from any future results or outcomes expressed or implied include, but are not limited to, the following risks relating to the proposed transaction: the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement; the satisfaction of closing conditions to the transaction on a timely basis or at all, including the ability to obtain required regulatory and stockholder approvals; uncertainties as to the timing of the transaction; litigation relating to the transaction; the impact of the transaction on Sculptors business operations (including the threatened or actual loss of employees, clients or suppliers); incurrence of unexpected costs and expenses in connection with the transaction; and financial or other setbacks if the transaction encounters unanticipated problems. Other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include, but are not limited to, risks related to changes in the financial, equity and debt markets, risks related to political, economic and market conditions and other risks discussed and identified in public filings made by Sculptor with the SEC.

New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Sculptor to predict or assess the impact of every factor that may cause its actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this communication, and Sculptor expressly disclaims any obligation to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Sculptors expectations with regard thereto or change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.

_____________________________

1 The first bidder proposed a higher price per share but withdrew when faced with the Och Groups refusal to support the deal and their extensive demands for information.

2 JP Morgan was also involved in the process as the Companys financial advisor.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829781225/en/

Sculptor - Shareholder Services

Ellen Conti

Sculptor

212-719-7381

[email protected]

Sculptor - Media Relations

Jonathan Gasthalter

Gasthalter & Co.

212-257-4170

[email protected]

Source: Sculptor Capital Management, Inc.
The projects will provide clean energy to local residents at reduced rates through the Maryland Community Solar Program

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Summit Ridge Energy, the nation's leading commercial solar and energy storage company, today held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Rosedale, Maryland to celebrate the construction of six rooftop community solar projects across four industrial properties alongside LBA Logistics, a full-service real estate investment and management company, and Black Bear Energy, a commercial buyers representative specializing in onsite renewable energy and cleantech services. The initial project is scheduled to come online Q3 of this year, with the remaining five sites scheduled to commence in early to mid-2024.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830132073/en/

Summit Ridge Energy, Black Bear Energy and LBA Logistics Complete Rooftop Solar Project in Maryland Alongside Senator Ben Brooks and County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr (Photo: Business Wire)

Summit Ridge Energy is the market leader in Maryland's commercial solar industry, with more than 75 megawatts (MW) of rooftop community solar projects across the state.

Totaling over 17 MW, the six new rooftop-hosted solar projects in Rosedale and Belcamp, Maryland are part of the Maryland Community Solar program, which provides low-cost renewable energy to local residents. Developed and owned by Summit Ridge Energy, these sites will generate over 25 million kWh of electricity annually  the equivalent of powering more than 2,000 homes. The projects are located on the rooftops of industrial assets owned and managed by LBA Logistics.

Attended by Senator Ben Brooks, County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr, and representatives from Summit Ridge Energy, LBA and Black Bear Energy, the ribbon cutting ceremony in Rosedale, Maryland celebrated the companies investment in the Maryland economy and the energy savings the projects will provide for local residents.

After the ceremony, tenants who occupy and work in the LBA Logistics owned and managed buildings were invited to enroll in the Maryland Community Solar program, providing direct savings on their energy bills.

Were proud to expand our partnerships with LBA and Black Bear Energy to strengthen our community solar leadership in the great state of Maryland. These projects leverage unused roof space to drive local economic development and extend clean energy cost savings to families and businesses across the state," said Brian Dunn, Chief Operating Officer at Summit Ridge Energy.

"LBA is excited to celebrate the commissioning of these six community solar projects in Maryland. Our partnership with Summit Ridge Energy and Black Bear aligns with our goals of decarbonizing the built environment and delivering environmental solutions and benefits to the communities surrounding our real estate assets," said Perry Schonfeld, Principal and Chief Operating Officer at LBA Logistics.

"Facilitating this collaboration between LBA and Summit Ridge Energy is a source of pride for Black Bear Energy. These projects bring tangible benefits to the community, offering affordable, clean electricity to local residents and businesses unable to install solar on their own rooftops," remarked Drew Torbin, President and Founder at Black Bear Energy.

About Summit Ridge Energy

Launched in 2017, Summit Ridge Energy is the nations leading commercial solar company. Through its strategic partnerships and project financing expertise, the company develops, acquires, owns and operates energy projects within the rapidly growing commercial solar and battery storage sectors.

In the past six years, Summit Ridge Energy has deployed over $1.6B USD into clean energy assets. With a development pipeline of more than 2 GW, Summit Ridge Energy will have more than 400 MW of PV online by the end of 2023, providing solar power to 50,000 homes and businesses. Learn more at srenergy.com and connect with us on LinkedIn.

About LBA

LBA is a full-service real estate investment and management company with a diverse portfolio of office and industrial properties. LBA's industrial footprint spans the U.S. in major logistics markets throughout the country while their office portfolio is located in major Western U.S. markets.

About Black Bear Energy

Black Bear Energy, a Legence Company, is a technology-enabled, commercial buyers representative specializing in onsite renewable energy and cleantech services. In the past five years, Black Bear has helped its clients bid out over 1,000 clean technology projects in more than 20 states through its data driven process. For more information about Black Bear Energy, visit BlackBearEnergy.com. For press inquiries, contact [email protected].

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830132073/en/

Summit Ridge Energy Contact Information



For Business Development:

[email protected]

For Media:

Theo Carroll

[email protected]

Source: Summit Ridge Energy
NEWCASTLE & HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TechnipFMC (NYSE: FTI) announced today that Doug Pferdehirt, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, will address attendees on Tuesday, September 5, at 12:40 p.m. EDT at the following event:

Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference

September 5  7, 2023

Location: Sheraton New York Times Square, 811 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019

The live webcast and accompanying presentation slides will be available at the time of the event and can be accessed at the Investor Relations website. An audio replay of the webcast for the presentation will be available on this website for 180 days.

About TechnipFMC

TechnipFMC is a leading technology provider to the traditional and new energy industries, delivering fully integrated projects, products, and services.

With our proprietary technologies and comprehensive solutions, we are transforming our clients project economics, helping them unlock new possibilities to develop energy resources while reducing carbon intensity and supporting their energy transition ambitions.

Organized in two business segments  Subsea and Surface Technologies  we will continue to advance the industry with our pioneering integrated ecosystems (such as iEPCI, iFEED and iComplete), technology leadership and digital innovation.

Each of our approximately 20,000 employees is driven by a commitment to our clients success, and a culture of strong execution, purposeful innovation, and challenging industry conventions.

TechnipFMC uses its website as a channel of distribution of material company information. To learn more about how we are driving change in the industry, go to www.TechnipFMC.com and follow us on Twitter @TechnipFMC.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830217194/en/

Investor relations

Matt Seinsheimer

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development

Tel: +1 281 260 3665

Email: Matt Seinsheimer



James Davis

Director, Investor Relations

Tel: +1 281 260 3665

Email: James Davis



Media relations

Catie Tuley

Director, Public Relations

Tel: +1 713 876 7296

Email: Catie Tuley



David Willis

Senior Manager, Public Relations

Tel: +44 7841 492988

Email: David Willis

Source: TechnipFMC plc
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tekla Healthcare Investors (HQH), Tekla Life Sciences Investors (HQL), Tekla Healthcare Opportunities Fund (THQ) and Tekla World Healthcare Fund (THW), (the Funds) today announced that their joint first special meetings of shareholders (Special Meetings) were adjourned for a second time until September 12, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EDT due to lack of a quorum on the proposal to approve a new investment advisory agreement with abrdn, Inc. Shareholders as of the June 16, 2023 record date who have not yet voted on the Proposal are urged to do so promptly per the instructions below.

Please note that the shares that have been voted to date have been voted overwhelmingly IN FAVOR of the Proposal by the shareholders, but a quorum for the First Special Meeting has simply not yet been achieved.

TO VOTE, shareholders may use the Proxy Card or email with voting link previously provided or may vote in the manner set forth in the Proxy Statement located here: www.OkapiVote.com/TeklaSpecial. Shareholders who require voting assistance should call Okapi Partners, the Funds proxy solicitor, toll-free at (877) 285-5990. Representatives are available Monday - Friday 9:00am to 10:00pm (EDT).

About Tekla

Tekla is an asset manager primarily focused on healthcare investing. Since its inception, Tekla has maintained a singular focus on the asset class. Its expertise comes from a diverse team of individuals, many with advanced degrees in science and business, investing experience and industry experience that help drive investment decisions. For more information, please visit www.teklacap.com.

About abrdn

abrdn is a global investment company that helps clients and customers plan, save and invest for the future. abrdns purpose is to enable its clients to be better investors. abrdn manages and administers 500bn of assets for clients (as at 31 December 2022). abrdn is structured around three businesses  Investments, Adviser and Personal  focused on their changing needs. The capabilities in abrdns Investments business are built on the strength of its insight  generated from wide-ranging research, worldwide investment expertise and local market knowledge. abrdns teams collaborate across regions, asset classes and specialisms, connecting diverse perspectives and working with clients to identify investment opportunities that suit their needs. As at 31 December 2022, abrdns Investments business manages 376bn on behalf of clients - including insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, independent wealth managers, pension funds, platforms, banks and family offices. For more information, please visit www.abrdn.com.

Additional Information about the Funds and the transaction

This press release is not intended to, and does not, solicit any proxy from any shareholder of the Funds. The solicitation of proxies to effect the transaction described herein is made by a definitive proxy statement.

The Funds and their trustees and officers, Tekla and its officers and employees, and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies with respect to the approval of new investment management contracts described herein. Fund shareholders may obtain more detailed information regarding the direct and indirect interests of a Funds trustees and officers, Tekla and its officers and employees, and other persons by reading the proxy statement relating to the transaction that has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fund shareholders should read the proxy statement because it contains important information. The proxy statement is available for free at the Securities and Exchange Commissions website (www.sec.gov).

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond a Funds control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

 2023 Tekla Capital Management LLC | All rights reserved | Legal Disclaimer

The material contained on this website is not intended to be a recommendation or investment advice, does not constitute a solicitation to buy or sell securities, and is not provided in a fiduciary capacity. The information provided does not take into account the specific objectives or circumstances of any particular investor, or suggest any specific course of action. Investment decisions should be made based on an investors objectives and circumstances and in consultation with his or her advisors.

There can be no assurance that any closed-end fund will achieve its investment objective(s). Past performance does not guarantee future results. The net asset value of any closed-end fund will fluctuate with the value of the underlying securities. Historically closed-end funds have often traded at a discount to their net asset value. The distribution rate and income amounts reflect past amounts distributed and may not be indicative of future rates or income amounts. Distribution rates and income amounts can change at any time.

Investors should consider the investment objective and policies, risk considerations, charges and ongoing expenses of an investment carefully before investing. For more information, please contact your marketing and distribution agent, Destra Capital Advisors LLC at 877.855.3434.

NOT FDIC-INSURED | NOT BANK-GUARANTEED | MAY LOSE VALUE

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830725247/en/

Destra Capital Advisors LLC

877.855.3434

Source: Tekla Capital Management LLC
First half 2023 results

PORT-GENTIL, Gabon--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

TotalEnergies EP Gabon (Paris: EC):

Main Financial Indicator

Q2 23 Q1 23 Q2 23

vs.

Q1 23 H1 23 H1 22 H1 23

vs.

H1 22 Average Brent Price $/b 78.1 81.2 -4% 79.7 107.9 -26% Average TotalEnergies EP Gabon crude price (1) $/b 75.8 74.3 +2% 75.1 101.0 -26% Crude oil production from fields operated by TotalEnergies EP Gabon kb/d (2) 15.7 16.2 -3% 16.0 14.4 +11% Sales volumes (3) Mb (4) 1.33 1.32 +1% 2.66 2.63 +1% Revenues (5) M$ 107 105 +2% 212 265 -20% Funds generated from operations (6) M$ 63 58 +9% 121 134 -10% Capital Expenditures M$ 25 24 +4% 49 14 x3.5 Net Income M$ 17 22 -23% 39 24 +63%

(1) The crude price calculation excludes profit oil reverting to the Gabonese Republic as per production sharing contracts, these barrels being handed over in kind to the host state. (2) kb/d: Thousand barrels per day. (3) Sales volume excludes profit oil reverting to the Gabonese Republic as per production sharing contracts, these barrels being handed over in kind to the host state. (4) Mb: Million of barrels. (5) Revenue from hydrocarbon sales including profit oil reverting to the Gabonese Republic as per production sharing contracts. (6) Funds generated from operations are comprised of the operating cash flow, the gains or losses on disposals of assets and the working capital changes.

Second quarter and first half 2023 statements

Selling price

The selling price of the crude oil grade marketed by TotalEnergies EP Gabon averaged $75.8/b in the second quarter 2023, up 2% compared to first quarter 2023 due to more favourable market conditions for Mandji quality crude and lower sea freight rates.

In the first half 2023, the average selling price (75.1 $/b) decreased by 26% compared to the first half 2022 (101.0 $/b).

Production

TotalEnergies EP Gabon crude oil production amounted 15.7 kb/d in second quarter 2023, down 3% compared to the first quarter 2023 (16.2 kb/j), mainly due to Anguille five-year full field shutdown started in June 2023 and fields natural decline.

In the first half 2023, TotalEnergies EP Gabon crude oil production amounted to 16.0 kb/d, up 11% compared to first half 2022 (14.4 kb/j). This evolution marks a recovery compared to the first half of 2022 marked by the unfavorable impact of operational events, and more particularly by the Cap Lopez oil terminal incident having conduced to a shut down on all operated fields during nineteen (19) days.

Revenues

The 2023 second quarter revenues amounted to $107 million, up 2% compared to first quarter 2023, in line with crude oil grade marketed by TotalEnergies EP Gabon improvement. TotalEnergies EP Gabon crude oil sales volumes amounted 1.33 Mb, slightly up compared to first quarter 2023.

In the first half 2023, revenues reached $212 million, down 20% compared to first half 2022 mainly due to the decreasing trend of the average selling price over the period.

Funds generated from operations

Cash flow from operations amounted $63 million in the second quarter 2023, against $58 million in the first quarter 2023, impacted positively by the decrease in working capital between the two compared periods.

During the six first months of 2023 year, cash flow from operations reached $121 million, down 10% compared to first half 2022 ($134 million) due to the decline of average selling price over the period.

Investments

Capital expenditures amounted to $25 million in the second quarter 2023, growing 4% compared to first quarter 2023 ($24 million). They mainly include expenses related to workovers campaign, our projects aiming at reducing direct greenhouse gas emission, as well as integrity and improvement works performed during Anguille five-years full field shutdown.

In the first half 2023, capital expenditure amounted to $49 million, up compared to first half 2022 ($14 million), reflecting workovers campaign start, integrity works acceleration and our projects aiming at reducing direct greenhouse gas emission.

Net income

The net income amounted to $17 million in the second quarter 2023, down 23% compared to first quarter 2023 ($22 million). It is negatively impacted by the decrease in production and the increase in operating expenses partly due to higher activity related to the preparation of the Anguille field five-year full shutdown, and positively by the average selling price and volumes of crude oil marketed by TotalEnergies EP Gabon increase.

In the first half of 2023, net income was $39 million, compared to $24 million in the first half of 2022. It is positively impacted by the application of new tax terms in accordance with the agreements signed in December 2022 and by the improvement in the remuneration of cash positions over the period, and negatively by the decline in average selling prices and the increase in operating expenses.

Highlights since the beginning of second quarter 2023

Corporate governance

TotalEnergies EP Gabons ordinary shareholders meeting was held on May 31st, 2023, in Port-Gentil and approved the payment of a net dividend of $22.22 per share referring to the financial year 2022, representing $100 million.

This dividend was paid on June 09th, 2023, in an equivalent amount of 20.80 per share based on the European Central Banks rate of $1.07 for one euro on May 31st, 2023.

August 30th situation

Given the current context, TotalEnergies EP Gabon indicates that its priority is to ensure the safety of its employees and its facilities.

***

About TotalEnergies EP Gabon

TotalEnergies EP Gabon is 58.28% owned by TotalEnergies SE, 25% by the Gabonese Republic and 16.72% by the public.

About TotalEnergies

TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Its more than 100,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, cleaner, more reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people.

@TotalEnergies TotalEnergies TotalEnergies TotalEnergies

Cautionary Note

The terms "TotalEnergies", "TotalEnergies Company" and "Company" appearing in this document are used to refer to TotalEnergies SE and the consolidated entities that TotalEnergies SE controls directly or indirectly. Similarly, the terms "we", "us", "our" may also be used to refer to these entities or their employees. The entities in which TotalEnergies SE holds a stake directly or indirectly are separate and autonomous legal persons. TotalEnergies SE cannot be held liable for acts or omissions emanating from these companies.

This document may contain forward-looking statements. They may prove to be inaccurate in the future and are dependent on risk factors. Neither TotalEnergies SE nor any of its subsidiaries undertakes or assumes any commitment or responsibility to investors or any other stakeholder to update or revise, in particular as a result of new information or future events, any or all of the statements, forward-looking information, trends or objectives contained in this document. Information regarding risk factors that could have a material adverse effect on TotalEnergies' financial results or operations is also available in the most up-to-date versions of the Universal Registration Document filed by TotalEnergies SE with the Autorite des marches financiers and Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830453307/en/

Contacts TotalEnergies EP Gabon

[email protected]

Media Relations: +33 (0)1 47 44 46 99 l [email protected] l @TotalEnergiesPR

Investor Relations: +33 (0)1 47 44 46 46 l [email protected]

Source: TOTALENERGIES EP GABON
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- US-based medical device firm, Visioneering Technologies, Inc (ASX: VTI), announced the hiring of Dr. Juan Carlos Aragon as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, starting October 1, 2023.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830498188/en/

Dr. Juan Carlos Aragon, VTI CEO & Executive Director (Photo: Business Wire)

Bringing over 30 years of experience in the vision care sector, Dr. Aragon held high-ranking positions in global vision care companies, managing divisions in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe. He recently served as President of CooperVision Specialty EyeCare, overseeing products like orthokeratology, scleral lenses, and myopia management for global markets, including being one of the top providers in China.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, Visioneerings Chairman, Dr. David J. Mazzo, said:

We are delighted and extremely fortunate to have Dr. Aragon join the VTI team to help lead the Company through the next phase of its growth. With his background leading global businesses, expertise working with myopia management, and extensive experience with the China vision care market, he is ideally suited to propel Visioneering to future success. JC, as he is known by many, is well-recognized as a leader in the global vision care industry. We expect his reputation and extensive contacts will contribute greatly to creating new opportunities for VTI.

Dr. Aragon further affirmed the potential commercial growth and opportunities at VTI:

I have known VTI since its initial commercialization in 2016. In my view, NaturalVue Multifocal is an extraordinary product for managing both myopia and presbyopia. I have been impressed by the success to date of the highly capable team at VTI and very much look forward to working with them to achieve VTIs full potential in existing markets and new territories, especially in China. With the interim 1-year results of the PROTECT Clinical Study to be released in the coming months, I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to take the helm at VTI at this pivotal time for the Company.

Notably, Dr. Aragon was a board member and Chair of the Global Myopia Awareness Coalition (GMAC), emphasizing his commitment to vision care. He also chaired the Board of Optometry Giving Sight and served on the boards of various eye care foundations and organizations.

For the detailed release, click here. Visioneering Technologies Inc. (ASX: VTI) focuses on groundbreaking eye care solutions, with its flagship product being the NaturalVue Multifocal 1 Day Contact Lens. For more information, visit www.vtivision.com or call +1 844-884-5367, ext. 104.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830498188/en/

Layna L. Mendlinger

[email protected]

Source: Visioneering Technologies, Inc
Unifor, Canadas largest private union, announced this week that the labor force has selected Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) as their target in its negotiations with the Detroit Three.

Talks began with the car manufacturers, including General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), on August 10th. But on August 29th, Unifor announced that it's going to focus on working out a deal with Ford first.

Ford was selected as the target because we believe that the company is in the best position to reach an agreement that delivers on the needs of our members and sets a strong pattern for Canadas auto industry. Said Unifor president, Lana Payne.

Moving forward, the union's main attention will be on discussions with Ford before the contract expires on September 18th at 11:59 p.m. Unifor autoworkers voted overwhelmingly in favor of potential strike action if a deal isn't reached.

These negotiations are about reaching an agreement that reflects the historic nature of the transition to electric vehicle manufacturing. That means setting the highest possible standards that protect the livelihoods and job security of all autoworkers now and in the future.

Unifor also selected Ford for negotiations back in 2020. At that point, then-president Jerry Dias mentioned that Ford was chosen because the automaker was prepared to reward members, make assurances about ongoing manufacturing in Canada, and had a vision that the union believed aligned with the industry and the economy's best interests.

Unifor looks after 5,680 Ford employees across various locations, including the Oakville Assembly Plant, Annex Engine Plant, Essex Engine Plant, Bramalea and Paris Parts Distribution Centers, Casselman Parts Distribution Centre, Edmonton Parts Distribution Centre. Additionally, they also represent office and clerical workers in Windsor and Bramalea.

Shares of F are up 0.12% in mid-day trading Wednesday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX-V: AQS, OTCQB: AQSZF) (Aequus or the Company), a specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on developing, advancing, and promoting differentiated products, today reports financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 (Second Quarter 2023) and associated Company developments. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are in Canadian currency.

Doug Janzen shares that we are very optimistic with the launch of our newest product ZIMED PF this month as we move into a new chapter for Aequus. The financial results from the first half of 2023 are during a transitional period that we anticipated to be lower, mainly driven by the conclusion of the Sandoz contract last year and a reduction in the prescription portion of our business. The anticipated launch of ZIMED PF will fill an unmet need with clinicians and their patients as well as generate a significant revenue stream for the company starting in Q4 2023.

Subsequent to June 30, 2023, Aequus has paused sales in Canada for Evolve branded eyedrops. The Health Canada initiated pause was required due to the manufacturer, Medicom Healthcare (UK), changing their MDSAP provider. We believe that all related expenses to the sales pause are covered by the manufacturer. Sales are not expected to resume in 2023.

Financial Report Highlights

Aequus reported $98,409 in revenue during Second Quarter 2023 compared to revenue of $346,494 generated during the same period in 2022. During the six months ended June 30, 2023 (YTD 2023) Aequus achieved $190,660 in revenues compared to $648,774 generated during the six months ended June 30, 2022 (YTD 2022)  a decrease of $458,114, or 71%.

Net losses decreased by 9.22 % in Second Quarter 2023 compared to the same period last year, with the Second Quarter 2023 net loss of $700,875 versus a $772,100 loss in the three months ended June 30, 2022 (Second Quarter 2022). The loss for YTD 2023 was $1,445,198 which is 14.43% lower than the $1,688,995 loss YTD 2022 primarily due to a decrease of $789,365, or 34% in expenses offset by the reduction of $521,146 in gross income due to the end of the promotional services agreement with Sandoz at the end of 2022. General administration costs were 23% lower in Second Quarter 2023 and 36% lower in YTD 2023 when compared to the same periods last year.

Highlights from the quarter are as follows:

Sales and marketing costs for Second Quarter 2023 were $372,844 compared to $663,082 in Second Quarter 2022, a decrease of $290,238 or 44%. This reduction was mainly driven by a decrease in sales forces activities and lower products that require marketing initiatives.

The Company incurred research and development (R&D) expenses of $25,824 in Second Quarter 2023 compared to $7,945 in Second Quarter 2022. The Company incurred R&D expenses of $227,185 in YTD 2023 compared to $254,052 in YTD 2022. The $26,867 decrease in YTD 2023 was mainly to lower expenses related to the approval process for preservative-free bimatoprost 0.03% eye drops termed ZIMED PF.

General and administration (G&A) expenses were $353,584 in Second Quarter 2023 compared to $457,177 in Second Quarter 2022, a decrease of $103,593. G&A expenses were $598,826 in YTD 2023 compared to $933,005 in YTD 2022, a decrease of $334,179. The decrease was mainly driven by general cost-cutting measures and lower loan-related expenses.

ABOUT AEQUUS PHARMACEUTICALS INC.

Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX-V: AQS, OTCQB: AQSZF) is a growing specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing high quality, differentiated products. Aequus has grown its sales and marketing efforts to include several commercial products in ophthalmology and transplant. Aequus plans to build on its Canadian commercial platform through the launch of additional products that are either created internally or brought in through an acquisition or license; remaining focused on highly specialized therapeutic areas. For further information, please visit www.aequuspharma.ca.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT DISCLAIMER

This release may contain forward-looking statements or forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities legislation that may not be based on historical fact, including, without limitation, statements containing the words believe, may, plan, will, estimate, continue, anticipate, intend, expect, potential and similar expressions. Forward- looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as the factors we believe are appropriate. Forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements relating to: the implementation of our business model and strategic plans; revenue growth trends into the future; expected timing for product launches; the Companys expected revenues; the regulatory approval of its products; the Companys ability to attract international partners; and ongoing discussions with and the Companys ability to secure potential partners to further grow our product portfolio. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties and are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Aequus, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In making the forward looking statements included in this release, the Company has made various material assumptions, including, but not limited to: obtaining regulatory approvals; general business and economic conditions; the Companys ability to successfully out license or sell its current products and in-license and develop new products; the assumption that the Companys current good relationships with third parties will be maintained; the availability of financing on reasonable terms; the Companys ability to attract and retain skilled staff; market competition; the products and technology offered by the Companys competitors; the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on the Companys operations; and the Companys ability to protect patents and proprietary rights. In evaluating forward looking statements, current and prospective shareholders should specifically consider various factors set out herein and under the heading Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Information Form dated May 1, 2023, a copy of which is available on Aequus profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com, and as otherwise disclosed from time to time on Aequus SEDAR profile. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties, or a risk that is not currently known to us materialize, or should assumptions underlying those forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release and we do not intend, and do not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are inherently uncertain. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward looking statements.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Douglas JanzenDirector & CEO

CONTACT INFORMATION Aequus Investor Relations Email: [email protected] Phone: 604-336-7906

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange 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.

Source: Aequus Pharmaceuticals
Monroe, N.C., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Freedom Alliance, U.S. Bank and True Homes partnered Tuesday to honor one of our nations military heroes with the gift of a mortgage-free home.

U.S. Army Private Second Class Roy Garcia and his family were presented with the keys during a ceremony attended by local dignitaries and members of the community outside of the newly built Monroe home.

Roy Garcia served and sacrificed our country, said Freedom Alliance President Tom Kilgannon. He enlisted, deployed to the Kunar Province of Afghanistan, and was regularly engaged with the enemy. Today, he carries the unmistakable wounds of war, and we are honored, through this valued partnership, to give Roy and his family a place of security and comfort they can now call their home.

The life-changing gift is made possible by a donation by U.S. Bank through its Housing Opportunities after Military Engagement (H.O.M.E.) program, in conjunction with Freedom Alliances Heroes to Homeowners program. Since 2013, U.S. Bank has donated 22 homes valued at $4.8 million to deserving military families in thriving communities across the country.

In October 2008, Roy enlisted in the Army as an infantryman. He completed basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia (recently renamed Fort Moore) and was assigned to 3rd Platoon, D Company, 1/327th Infantry Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell.

In 2010, Roy and his unit deployed to the Kunar Province which, at the time, was among the most dangerous locations in Afghanistan. Here, Roy and his unit participated in Operation Bulldog Bite, a joint operation with Army Rangers and Afghan troops against the Taliban. The fighting was immediate and intense. Roys team was hit with gun fire, mortar rounds, and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Soon after the battle began, Roys unit lost their medic and within 24 hours their numbers were reduced from 22 platoon members to nine due to injuries requiring medical evacuation.

During his deployment in Afghanistan, Roy also helped build a school for Afghan children, provided security for election day voting, and established relations with village elders. Upon his return, he met Allison, and they married in 2012.

U.S. Bank is honored to partner with Freedom Alliance and True Homes to provide this mortgage-free home to U.S. Army veteran Roy Garcia and his family, said Len McMorrow, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Business Banking Default Operations at U.S. Bank. We cannot thank our veterans enough for their service and sacrifice and the gift of this home is a small way we can give back to our communities. This home will provide Roy and his family with stability and a place to put down roots for years to come.

The new home was constructed by Carolinas largest homebuilder, True Homes, which is consistently recognized as being one of the Best Places to Work in Charlotte.

We are so honored to partner with U.S. Bank and Freedom Alliance for this very special project, said True Foundation Program Director, Chelsea Mershon. As a company, we are committed to having a positive impact on the communities in which we build homes. With the help of our local partners, Beds for Kids and Ashley Furniture, as well as our associates, we were able to amplify our impact and provide a fully furnished brand new home to a very deserving family. We wish the Garcia family many years of happiness in their new home.

U.S. Bank, Freedom Alliance and True Homes are committed to honoring service members for their dedication and personal sacrifice. In addition to partnering with military service organizations such as Freedom Alliance and Operation Homefront, U.S. Bank supports veterans and military family members through Proud to Serve, an employee-led business resource group. Through Proud to Serve, each new veteran is personally welcomed by leaders who are also veterans. Employees are also encouraged to use internal social networking forums to connect, network, and share stories. The bank employs more than 2,000 veterans, including National Guard and Reserve members.

###

About Freedom Alliance: Freedom Alliance is a charitable organization providing help and support to wounded troops and military families. Freedom Alliance has awarded more than $23 million in college scholarships to children of heroes killed or disabled in military service and spent millions more helping injured veterans and their families with outdoor therapy trips, Heroes Retreats, care packages, mortgage-free homes, all-terrain chairs and more. Learn about Freedom Alliance at FreedomAlliance.org or facebook.com/FreedomAlliance.

Attachments

Julie Capobianco Vistra Communications 813.369.5187 [email protected]

Source: Freedom Alliance
Awilco Drilling PLC reports no contract revenue in the first half 2023, EBITDA loss of USD 11.2 million and a net loss of USD 11.1 million.

Please see attached for the Half-Year 2023 report.

A digital presentation will be held tomorrow, Thursday 31 August 2023, at 13:00 UK time (14:00 CEST / 08:00 EDT). The presentation will be available for download on the Investor Relations section (go to "Press Releases") at www.awilcodrilling.com prior to the meeting. There will be a Q&A session after the presentation.

To join the digital meeting, please click this link or copy and paste the following address into your browser:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MmNkMmVmMTktNTVlNC00NTk0LTljOGMtODVkNzJmZTgxMWRl%40thread.v2/0?context=%7B%22Tid%22%3A%2213406330-ee57-43ad-9fa7-ea6e572899d4%22%2C%22Oid%22%3A%22458b2508-72ce-45ca-8967-b3180623e08e%22%2C%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3Atrue%2C%22role%22%3A%22a%22%7D&btype=a&role=a

A replay of the presentation will be made available on the Company website after the event.

Aberdeen, 30 August 2023

For further information please contact:

Eric Jacobs, Interim CEO

Phone: +44 1224 737900

Cathrine Haavind, Investor Relations

Phone: +47 93 42 84 64

Email: [email protected]

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Attachment
GLEN MILLS, Pa., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Axalta (NYSE: AXTA), a leading global coatings company, has won a 2023 R&D 100 award in the Mechanical and Materials category. Axaltas next generation Imron is a coating technology that delivers sustainability benefits and improves production cycle time for transportation customers.



We are thrilled to once again accept a prestigious R&D 100 award, said Robert Roop, Axaltas Chief Technology Officer. This recognition demonstrates our ongoing impact from innovating smarter surface solutions for better living and a more sustainable future. Our next generation Imron exceeds current equipment manufacturer (OEM) requirements while providing sustainability benefits.

For decades, Imron polyurethane enamel has been the finish of choice for many transportation customers. Imron boasts excellent durability levels, outstanding performance on topcoats and clears, reliable corrosion protection, and excellent resistance to chemicals and weathering. These qualities make Imron one of the most widely approved and used coatings across the globe.

Since 1963, the R&D 100 Awards program has recognized the top 100 revolutionary technologies from the worlds leading Fortune 500 companies, federally funded research institutions, academic and government labs, and smaller companies. This years R&D 100 winners will be recognized at an awards dinner on November 16, 2023, in San Diego, California.

About Axalta

Axalta is a global leader in the coatings industry, providing customers with innovative, colorful, beautiful, and sustainable coatings solutions. From light vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish applications to electric motors, building facades and other industrial applications, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity, and enhance durability. With more than 150 years of experience in the coatings industry, the global team at Axalta continues to find ways to serve our more than 100,000 customers in over 130 countries better every day with the finest coatings, application systems and technology. For more information, visit axalta.com and follow us on LinkedIn , Facebook and @axalta on X.

Axalta Coating Systems

50 Applied Bank Boulevard, Suite 300

Glen Mills, PA 19342

www.axalta.com

Global Media Contact

Jessica McDuell

D +1 302-897-4486

[email protected]

Mobility Media Contact

Lisa Gentile

D +1 248-896-7783

[email protected]



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/de466150-bd8f-4836-a9d0-6d817656393a
OTTAWA, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Families are getting ready to head back to schooland this year, they may be returning with a prescription for a dose of healthy learning from their doctor.

Today, thanks to a new collaboration with PaRx, a nationwide nature-prescription program, doctors can prescribe patient visits to the Canadian Museum of Nature to improve their health.

Backed by hundreds of studies, research suggests that connecting to nature is one of the best things a person can do for their health, from lowering symptoms of depression and boosting immune function to reducing risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia. In fact, natural elements are so beneficial for mental health that just listening to recordings of birdsong or looking at photos of nature can measurably boost your mood.

When it comes to museum visits, a growing body of evidence suggests that spending time socializing among engaging galleries and interactive educational experiences can similarly improve conditions such as anxiety, stress and chronic pain.

The health benefits of nature are well-known, and through this partnership we can offer a great introduction to many natural-history wonders and to the health benefits of a museum visit, says Dr. Danika Goosney, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Nature. This connection can inspire a further interest in and appreciation of nature, which can lead people in many positive directions.

Another compelling side effect of nature prescriptions is the protection it inspires for our planet. Research shows that people who are more connected to nature are more likely to participate in pro-environmental behaviours that extend beyond support for conservation.

With exhibitions that feature awe-inspiring sights like the full skeleton of a blue whale, tactile experiences with real ice in the Canada Goose Arctic Gallery, or memorable educational interactions such as the Pacific Discovery Tank, the Canadian Museum of Nature has been inspiring respect and understanding of the natural world for generations.

The BC Parks Foundation launched PaRx in November 2020, starting in British Columbia then expanding to every province across the country by 2022. In under three years, over 11,000 healthcare providersincluding over five percent of all physicians in the countryhave registered to prescribe time outside for their patients health, helping to connect thousands of Canadians to nature. PaRx makes prescribing nature easy with a standard, evidence-based 2+ hours per week, 20+ minutes each time recommendation. PaRx has also been endorsed by more than 80 major healthcare organizations including the Canadian Medical Association.

PaRx has made international headlines for its innovative approach to improving access to nature for better health, including partnerships with nature-based organizations like Parks Canada that enable prescriptions for free national park passes.

Healthcare providers in the National Capital Region registered with PaRx can now prescribe admission passes to the Canadian Museum of Nature for patients who could benefit from them the most. Studies show that patients are more motivated to make a change when advice is written down as a prescription.

This is a critical decade for reversing climate change and biodiversity loss, as well as tackling mental health and chronic disease, says Andy Day, CEO of the BC Parks Foundation. Our goal is to connect Canadian families to nature in a consistent and meaningful way to benefit their mental and physical health and inspire a culture of environmental stewardship. Collaborating with the Canadian Museum of Nature is a new step in that direction.

This isnt the first time the Canadian Museum of Nature has shone a spotlight on Canadas national nature prescription program. Last November, Vancouver family physician and Director of PaRx, Dr. Melissa Lem, received the museums 2022 Adult Nature Inspiration Award for spearheading the ground-breaking initiative.

I was incredibly grateful for the Canadian Museum of Natures recognition last year of how much PaRx has changed the way we think about nature, biodiversity and health. And Im even more grateful for this next bold step were taking together to make the health and educational benefits of nature more accessible to families across the National Capital Region, said Dr. Lem.

As the first museum in Canada to join PaRxs mission, the Canadian Museum of Nature provides a unique experience for patients to be inspired by Canadas distinctive biodiversity and its geological underpinningsboth from inside and on the grounds of the museums historic castle-like building in downtown Ottawa.

Moreover, as PaRx continues to establish innovative partnerships with celebrated organizations like the Canadian Museum of Nature, Canadas role as a leader in the field of nature and health is steadily growing. This past June, PaRx was also named a key partner in a 6.3 million international project on nature-based therapies that will provide a road map for communities worldwide that seek to introduce nature as a health intervention.

The BC Parks Foundation invites other partners, governments and funders to engage and collaborate with PaRx as it continues its mission to connect people to nature for their health.

About the Canadian Museum of NatureSaving the world through evidence, knowledge and inspiration! The Canadian Museum of Nature is Canadas national museum of natural history and natural sciences. It provides evidence-based insights, inspiring experiences, and meaningful engagement with nature's past, present and future. It achieves this through scientific research, a collection of 14.6 million specimens and artifacts, education programs, signature and travelling exhibitions, and a dynamic web site, nature.ca.

Media contacts:

BC Parks FoundationJennie McCaffrey, Director of Engagement778-222-5543[email protected]

Canadian Museum of NatureDan SmytheHead, Media Relations613-698-9253[email protected]

Source: Canadian Museum of Nature
ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Edge Total Intelligence Inc. (TSXV: CTRL, OTC: UNFYF, FSE: Q5i)(edgeTI, we, our or the Company), a leader in real-time digital operations, announces operating and consolidated results for the second quarter 2023 (Q2-2023). Financial information is expressed in United States (US) dollars unless otherwise indicated. The Companys related financials and management discussion and analysis for the second quarter 2023 are posted on its profile on SEDAR+ (www.sedar.com) and OTC Markets.

Selected Financial Details for Q2-2023 and Six Month Ended Results

Subscription revenue grew 10% to $894,732 for Q2-2023 from $814,749 the quarter ending June 30, 2022 (Q2-2022) as six months ended subscription revenue reached $1,808,864.

Total revenue decreased 6% to $894,732 for Q2-2023 from $951,219 in Q2-2022 and total revenue decreased 5% for the six months ended as the Company shifts professional consulting services to partners and system integrators.

Operating costs were reduced 21% to $1,161,781 for Q2-2023 versus $1,472,503 in Q2-2022 and operating costs decreased 23% six months ended as the Company continues to march towards cash flow positive operations.

We earned key renewals in Q2 as our pipeline for Digital Twins, Data Mesh, and Intelligent Automation capabilities continues to gain traction with government, service providers, and AI entrepreneurs, said Jim Barrett, Chief Executive Officer. Our adoption programs and target use cases announced this first half are increasing growth potential as we landed our largest contract to date with the Veterans Administration.

Operational Highlights for Q2-2023

On April 25, 2023 the Company announced the general availability of its edgeCore platform 4.5 to empower its customers to rapidly compose and deploy secure, action-embedded apps that deliver the right information to the right people on the right device at the speed of relevance.

On May 9, 2023 the Company formed a strategic partnership with Grokstream, LLC ("Grokstream"), a leader in artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps). The strategic partnership leverages edgeTIs edgeCore platform to: a) expand integrations with enterprise IT management applications, b) orchestrate automation and workflow engines, and c) drive greater user acceptance through intuitive user experiences. The partnership is expected to increase edgeCore use throughout the Grokstream customer base.

On June 7, 2023, the Company announced that its shares trading on the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol "UNFYF" became eligible to be electronically cleared and settled in the United States through the Depository Trust Company ("DTC")  making the Company's stock more accessible to U.S. retail and institutional investors.

On June 12, 2023, the Company welcomed a new Chief Financial Officer, Geremy Connor, with broad experience in raising funds and capital markets.

On June 13, 2023, the Company announced its fast path to safe artificial intelligence ("AI") and four adoption programs to assist companies, governments, service providers and AI providers to deploy AI quickly and safely.

On June 15, 2023, Jacques Jarman, EdgeTI's Chief Revenue Officer, delivered a presentation entitled Digital Twin Solution Driving Increased AI/ML Accuracy and Time to Value at TechConnect World Innovation 2023 at the request of the show sponsor.

On June 30, 2023, the Company announced its intention to convert the principal amount plus interest accrued owed under its credit facility (the "Credit Facility") with Lotus Domaine III LP ("Lotus"), a private equity fund and controlling shareholder of the Company, to subordinate voting shares of the Company (the "Debt Settlement"). The Debt Settlement, which remains subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV"), is anticipated to consist of the issuance of an aggregate of 9,109,541 subordinate voting shares of the Company at a deemed price of CA$0.90 per subordinate voting share for the settlement of US$6,185,278.79, being the principal amount plus interest accrued as of June 30, 2023, owed under the Credit Facility. As of the date hereof, the Credit Facility and Debt Settlement remain subject to TSXV review and acceptance, and no shares have been issued to Lotus.

Subsequent Events to the Second Quarter

On July 11, 2023, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs selected the Company for a five-year contract extension to visualize and empower pharmacy monitoring automation valued at near $4.7 Million.

On August 16, 2023, edgeTI CRO Jacques Jarman delivered a presentation entitled, Digital Twins - Driven by a Secure COTS Cross Departmental Data Mesh at the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association International's (AFCEA) TechNet Augusta 2023 Conference.

On August 23, 2023, edgeTI CRO Jacques Jarman delivered a presentation entitled Energy and Logistics Situational Awareness Powered by a Proven Data Mesh Platform at the Operational Energy and Logistics Summit in Honolulu, Hi. at the request of the show sponsor.

On August 23, 2023, the shareholders elected three new independent board members at the Companys annual general and special meeting of the shareholders.

About edgeTI

edgeTI helps customers achieve the impossible with its real-time digital operations software, edgeCore. Global enterprises, service providers, and governments are more profitable when insight and action are united to deliver fluid experiences via the platforms low-code development capability. With edgeTI, customers improve their margins and agility by rapidly transforming siloed systems and data across evolving situations in business, technology, and cross-domain operations. Traded on: TSXV: CTRL, OTC: UNFYF and FSE: Q5i.

For further information contact:

Nick BrigmanEdge Total Intelligence Phone: 888-771-3343Email: [email protected]

Neither the TSXVnor 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.

Forward-Looking Information and Statements Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements or information for the purposes of applicable Canadian and US securities law, including statements regarding market projections, customer impacts of product deployment, the execution of the Company's growth and marketing strategies, the Company's expectations for its 2022 and 2023 monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and revenues, the Company's ability to enter into strategic partnerships and continue to develop easy to use products, and other matters. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "may", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intend", "believe" and "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. 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, including but not limited to, business, economic and capital market conditions.

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, including the demand for its products, anticipated costs, and the ability to achieve goals. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, the continued availability of capital and financing, the impact of viruses and diseases on the Company's ability to operate, competition and general economic, market or business conditions, the successful integration of edgeCore platform 4.5, acceptance by the exchange of the Credit Facility and Debt Settlement, the success of current strategic partnerships and the ability to enter into additional relationships going forward. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: Edge Total Intelligence Inc.
CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Helium Evolution Incorporated (TSXV: HEVI) ("HEVI" or the "Company"), Canadian-based helium exploration company focused on developing assets in southern Saskatchewan, today provides an update on the fifth farmout well at 6-13-5-7W3 (Test Well Area #2), on farmout lands within the McCord block in Saskatchewan.

Test Well Area #2 was drilled and fully funded by HEVIs farmout partner, North American Helium Inc. (NAH), pursuant to a previously announced farmout arrangement (the Farmout) (see news releases dated October 21, 2022, and June 28, 2022). After reaching total depth, NAH notified HEVI that Test Well Area #2 will be abandoned.

Upcoming Drilling Catalysts and Key Dates

On or before November 1, 2023 : The Mankota location selected at 5-36-3-9W3 ( Test Well Area #1 ) is scheduled to be spud by NAH; and

: The Mankota location selected at 5-36-3-9W3 ( ) is scheduled to be spud by NAH; and On or before March 31, 2024: The Fox location selected at 11-13-13-29W3 (Test Well #4) is scheduled to be spud by NAH.

NAH is responsible for 100% of the drilling costs for Test Well Area #1 and Test Well #4, while HEVI retains a 20% working interest in the wells, supporting the Companys continued financial flexibility and capital conservation.

Stay Connected to Helium Evolution

Shareholders and other parties interested in learning more about the Helium Evolution opportunity are encouraged to visit the Companys website, which includes the Companys current corporate presentation, and are invited to follow the Company on LinkedIn and Twitter for ongoing corporate updates and helium industry information. Helium Evolution also provides an extensive, commissioned deep-dive research report prepared by a third party whose background includes serving as a research analyst for several bank-owned and independent investment dealers. In addition to recent media articles, HEVI maintains a profile on the Investing News Network platform, where further information, editorial pieces and industry reviews are available.

About Helium Evolution Incorporated

HEVI is a Canadian-based helium exploration company holding the largest helium land rights position in North America among publicly-traded companies, focused on developing assets in southern Saskatchewan. The Company has 5.6 million acres of land under permit near proven discoveries of economic helium concentrations which will support scaling the exploration and development efforts across its land base. HEVIs management and board are executing a differentiated strategy to become a leading supplier of sustainably-produced helium for the growing global helium market.

For further information, please contact:

Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.

Forward-looking statements in this document include statements set forth under the heading "Upcoming Drilling Catalysts and Key Dates", the Company's expectations regarding the Company becoming a leading supplier of sustainably-produced helium, the Company's beliefs regarding growth of the global helium market and other statements that are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, among others: the Company or NAH may choose to defer, accelerate or abandon its exploration plans; the drilling date for wells identified in this news release; the Company and NAH may amend the Farmout; new laws or regulations and/or unforeseen events could adversely affect the Companys business and results of operations; stock markets have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the performance of companies and such volatility may adversely affect the price of the Company's securities regardless of its operating performance risks generally associated with the exploration for and production of resources; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to expenses; constraint in the availability of services; commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations; adverse weather or break-up conditions; and uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures.

When relying on forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and risks and other uncertainties and potential events. The Company has assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraphs will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. The 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. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, 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 accuracy of this release.

Source: Helium Evolution Incorporated
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ISM Resources Corp. (CSE: ISM) (OTC: ISMRF) (FRA: Q3Q0) (the Company or ISM), is pleased to announce that it plans to change its name from ISM Resources Corp. to Discovery Lithium Inc. (the Name Change) to reflect the Companys recent acquisition of the Lithium prospective Serindac Lake and Vaubert Lake mineral claims. The Company expects the Name Change to take effect at market open on Friday, September 1, 2023.

The Companys common shares (the Common Shares), which currently trade under the symbol ISM on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the CSE) and under the symbol ISMRF on the OTC in the United States, are expected to trade under the new symbols DCLI on the CSE and DCLIF on the OTC. There will be no change to the Companys symbol Q3Q0 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The new CUSIP for the Common Shares is expected to be 25472M107 and the new ISIN will be CA25472M1077.

In connection with the Name Change, the Companys subsidiary Discovery Lithium Inc. has changed its name to Discovery Lithium Holdings Inc. For more information, a new website will be available shortly at: www.discoverylithium.com.

Completion of the Name Change is subject to the receipt of all required regulatory approvals, including final approval by the CSE and OTC. Shareholders of the Company are not required to exchange their existing share certificates for new certificates bearing the Companys new name. The Name Change does not affect the Companys share structure or the rights of the Company's Shareholders.

Following the news release dated May 23, 2023, the Company has successfully completed the second Enzyme Leach Soil Sampling Program for its ESN project. The acquired soil samples have been submitted to the laboratory for analysis. Once the results are available, we will proceed with evaluating the next phases of the ESN project, drawing insights from the obtained findings.

About ISM Resources Corp. (CSE: ISM) (OTC: ISMRF) (FRA: Q3Q0)

ISM Resources Corp is a Canadian exploration company focused on advancing mineral resource projects in North America. It holds 100% interest in 1,675 mineral claims in Serindac Lake and 2,113 mineral claims in Vaubert Lake located in the under-explored Nunavik region of Northern Quebec. Additionally, the Company is actively advancing its ESN Project for gold exploration in Nevada and evaluating the Koster Dam Project in Central British Columbia through a joint venture with Cariboo Rose Resources.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,Michael Gheyle, President and Chief Executive Officer

The Company would like to welcome investors to visit our new website (coming soon) and join our mailing list at www.discoverylithium.com. By signing up, you will stay up to date on the latest news releases and advancements within our company.

For further information, please contact:ISM Resources Corp. 1450 - 789 West Pender Street,Vancouver, BC V6C 1H2 Canada Telephone: (800) 274-8143Email: [email protected]www.discoverylithium.com (coming soon)

The CSE has not in any way passed upon the merits of the matters referenced herein and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as anticipate, plan, estimate, expect, may, will, intend, should, and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves 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 information. The Companys actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, changes to the Companys strategic growth plans, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Companys expectations as of the date hereof and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation.

Source: ISM Resources Corp
PITTSBURGH, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Milan Eye Center recently announced that it suffered from a cybersecurity attack between May 18, 2020 to July 23, 2020, that impacted the personal information of thousands of individuals. The information potentially impacted in the breach includes individuals full names, dates of birth, telephone numbers, insurance coverage information, social security numbers, location where services were provided, dates of service, and health statuses.

Lynch Carpenter, LLP is investigating claims against Milan Eye Center related to this data breach. If you are a current or former patient or member that received services from Milan Eye Center on or before July 23, 2020, you may be entitled to compensation.

If you have received a notification from Milan Eye Center that your information was impacted, please call Patrick Donathen at (412) 322-9243, email him at [email protected], or fill out our contact form at www.lynchcarpenter.com/contact.

About Lynch Carpenter

Lynch Carpenter is a national class action law firm with offices in Pennsylvania, California, and Illinois. Our firm has represented millions of clients in data privacy matters for more than a decade and has earned national acclaim for complex litigation for plaintiffs across the country. To learn more, please visit www.lynchcarpenter.com.

CONTACT Jennifer Schlieper COMPANY Lynch Carpenter LLP PHONE (412) 387-7002 EMAIL [email protected] WEB lynchcarpenter.com

Source: Lynch Carpenter
Perth, Aug. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PERSEUS DELIVERS RECORD FY23 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE WITH $568.8M NET PROFIT BEFORE TAX - 103% INCREASE ON FY22

Perth, Western Australia/August 31, 2023/African focused gold producer, Perseus Mining Limited (ASX/TSX: PRU), has released its Annual Report for the financial year ending June 30, 2023 (FY23) which combines Perseuss Annual Financial Report and Sustainable Development Report for the first time. The report is available on www.perseusmining.com, www.asx.com and www.sedar.com.

highlights

financial performance

Revenue of $1 . 42 6 1 billion ( up 27 % ) 2 , EBITDA of $ 821 . 3 million ( up 4 6 % ) 2 and Profit before tax of $ 568 . 8 million ( up 10 3 % ) 2

Basic earnings per share of 31.27 cents per share ( up 67 % ) 2

Net cash inflows from operating activities of $ 648 . 3 million ( up 24 % ) 2 - 47 . 44 3 cents per share

Net Tangible Assets of $ 1 . 675 b illion or $ 1 . 2 2 per share per share including $ 728 . 9 million of cash

Final dividend of 2 . 48 cents per share including a bonus dividend of 1 .7 7 cents per share, for FY2 3 to tal dividend of 3 . 54 cents per share or 2 . 0 % yield 4

Future cashflows underwritten by price hedging for 24% of forecast gold production for next 3 years averaging US$2,008/oz

Sustainabilty performance

Total economic contribution of ~US$5 37 million to our host countries of Ghana, Cote dIvoire and Sudan

Stable Group rolling 12-month Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR) of 1.3

95% l ocal employment and 79% l ocal procurement

Zero significant environmental or community events recorded

Reduced emissions intensity for second consecutive year

Perseuss Managing Director and CEO Jeff Quartermaine said:

Record financial results for FY23 reflect our continued strong operating performance at all levels of our business. Combined, our three West African gold mines are producing above our targeted rate of production with 535,281 ounces of gold produced in FY23, at a weighted average All-in Site Cost of US$959 per ounce, a cost that is very competitive when compared to most of our global peers.

Our strong financial results have enabled us to add a bonus dividend to our final dividend for FY23, bringing our full year dividend yield to 2%, without materially detracting from our balance sheet or importantly, our ability to fund future growth. Since our maiden dividend distribution in August 2021, Perseus has returned nearly $100 million to its shareholders via dividends, and we have done this while investing record amounts of money in the economies of our host countries and host communities and paying bonuses to our local and expatriate employees who have delivered these outstanding results. In other words, we are delivering on our corporate mission of generating material benefits for all of our key stakeholders in fair and equitable proportions, and we look forward to continuing this in the years to come.

1. All references to $ and cents are Australian dollars unless noted otherwise2. % increases referenced against Financial Year end 30 June 22 (FY22)3. Operating cash flow per share is calculated as net cash inflows from operating activities divided by weighted average number of outstanding ordinary shares4. 2% yield is based on Perseuss 20-day volume weighted average price (VWAP) at 30 June 23 of $1.77

fy23 financial performance

UNIT 30 JUNE 2023 30 JUNE 2022 % VARIANCE Key Financials Revenue A$000 1,426,420 1,125,547 27 % EBITDA5 A$000 821,309 564,138 46 % Depreciation and amortisation A$000 (219,495 ) (215,003 ) 2 % Profit before tax A$000 568,778 279,714 103 % Profit after tax A$000 476,718 279,921 70 % Operating cash flow6 A$000 648,320 522,908 24 % Cash and bullion7 A$000 785,989 475,847 65 % Production Gold sold oz 537,564 481,075 12 % All-in site cost US$/oz 959 952 1 % Average gold price realised US$/oz 1,803 1,683 7 %

Earnings and Cashflow  The Group recorded a net profit after tax of $476.7 million for the year, compared to a profit after tax of $279.9 million in the previous financial year. This represents a $196.8 million (70%) improvement in financial performance over the past 12 months. The financial results are predominantly based on the following key items:

An increase in revenue resulting from higher gold prices, combined with higher gold production arising from increased production at Edikan and sustained strong performance from Yaoure;

A proportionately smaller increase in cost of sales due to the significant improvement from Edikan and continued strong performance from Yaoure, both of which have achieved excellent cash operating margins;

An income tax expense of $92.1 million compared to a $0.2 million benefit in the prior year due to improved profitability of Edikan, coupled with withholding taxes paid on intercompany dividends paid out of Cote d'Ivoire; Depreciation and amortisation expense of $219.5 million, which is consistent with the previous financial year (2% increase); A write down and impairment expense of $9.4 million was taken to account compared with $43.4 million in FY22. The conflict in Sudan resulted in $7.6 million of assets being damaged and consequently impaired in June 2023. The balance of the write down and impairment expense related to unsuccessful exploration of near-mine targets at both Sissingue and Edikan; and Finance costs decreased to $6.7 million from $9.7 million in the comparative period due to a reduction in interest expenses of $3.0 million as a result of the external debt being fully repaid.



A total of $648.36 million of operating cashflow was generated during FY23 translating into 47.44 cents per share and $1,2068 per ounce.

Balance Sheet - At June 30, 2023, the Companys net tangible assets amounted to $1,675 million, or $1.22 per share, approximately 41.1% more than at the end of FY22. Cash and bullion balance at year-end of $786.07 million, with no outstanding debt.

Final Dividend - The Directors have declared a final unfranked dividend of 2.48. cents per share (~$33.9 million) including a bonus dividend of 1.77 cents per share. Together with the interim dividend of 1.06 cents per share declared in February 2023, this brings the total dividend declared by Perseus in FY23 to 3.54 cents per share, which equates to an annual dividend yield of 2%.

Shares will go ex-dividend on September 12, 2023 and the record date will be September 13, 2023. Dividends will be paid to shareholders on October 12, 2023 and are unfranked and declared as Conduit Foreign Income (CFI).

5. Gross profit from operations before depreciation and amortisation6. Net cash inflows from operating activities7. Including cash, $729 million and 19,822oz bullion on hand, valued at $57 million8. Operating cash flow per ounce is calculated as net cash inflows from operating activities divided by Gold Sold (oz)

OUTLOOK for balance of 2023

Gold production and cost guidance for the December 2023 Half Year remain unchanged from that previously reported to the market, namely:

PARAMETER UNITS JUNE 2023 HALF YEAR (ACTUAL) DECEMBER 2023 HALF YEAR(FORECAST) 2023 CALENDAR YEAR (FORECAST) Yaoure Gold Mine Production Ounces 137,120 125,000 to 140,000 262,100 to 277,120 All-in Site Cost USD per ounce 786 850 to 950 818 to 864 Sissingue Gold Mine Production Ounces 25,838 27,500 to 32,500 53,338 to 58,338 All-in Site Cost USD per ounce 1,647 1,700 to 1,900 1,677 to 1,777 Edikan Gold Mine Production Ounces 103,952 90,000 to 100,000 193,952 to 203,952 All-in Site Cost USD per ounce 1,094 1,200 to 1,300 1,146 to 1,190 PERSEUS GROUP Production Ounces 266,909 242,500 to 272,500 509,409 to 539,500 All-in Site Cost USD per ounce 989 1,080 to 1,190 1,035 to 1,085

At the mid-point of the September 2023 quarter, Perseus is on track to comfortably perform within guided gold production and All-in Site Cost ranges.

fy23 sustainabilIty report performance

Through another year of excellent performance, Perseus increased investment in its host communities and focused on delivering a lasting and positive impact for the broader stakeholder community. It remains dedicated to the health and safety of its employees and contractors, with a particular focus on creating a safety culture centred around critical control management, visible leadership, care and accountability, and meaningful safety interactions. The roll-out of the Phase 2 of a Safely Home Every Day program will also be a priority for FY24.

In FY24, Perseus will also focus on refreshing its Sustainability Strategy and will conduct a comprehensive review of its materiality analysis to update material sustainability topics and ratings. Perseus will continue to strengthen its governance framework by implementing a revised Human Rights Policy with a key focus on Supplier Due Diligence programs, and by finalising and implementing a new Social Performance Policy and Standard. From an environmental point of view, Perseus intends to consolidate its water-related risk management system and will review its high-level decarbonisation plans and timelines, as well as submit its first response to the CDP Climate Change questionnaire. Perseuss strategy will continue to be underpinned by progressively extended third-party limited assurance on sustainability data to ensure its transparency and reliability.

This announcement was approved for release by the Board.

ASX/TSX CODE: PRUREGISTERED OFFICE:Level 2437 Roberts RoadSubiaco WA 6008Telephone: +61 8 6144 1700Email: [email protected] WWW.PERSEUSMINING.COM CONTACTS:Nathan RyanMedia Relations+61 4 20 582 887 [email protected] Jeff QuartermaineManaging Director & CEO [email protected]

Competent Person Statement

All production targets referred to in this release are underpinned by estimated Ore Reserves which have been prepared by competent persons in accordance with the requirements of the JORC Code.

Edikan

The information in this release that relates to the Open Pit and Underground Mineral Resources and Ore Reserve at Edikan was updated by the Company in a market announcement Perseus Mining updates Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves released on 24 August 2023. The Company confirms that all material assumptions underpinning those estimates and the production targets, or the forecast financial information derived therefrom, in that market release continue to apply and have not materially changed. The Company further confirms that material assumptions underpinning the estimates of Ore Reserves described in Technical Report  Edikan Gold Mine, Ghana dated 7 April 2022 continue to apply.

Sissingue, Fimbiasso and Bagoe

The information in this release that relates to the Mineral Resources and Ore Reserve at the Sissingue complex was updated by the Company in a market announcement Perseus Mining updates Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves released on 24 August 2023. The Company confirms that all material assumptions underpinning those estimates and the production targets, or the forecast financial information derived therefrom, in that market release continue to apply and have not materially changed. The Company further confirms that material assumptions underpinning the estimates of Ore Reserves described in Technical Report  Sissingue Gold Project, Cote dIvoire dated 28 March 2022 continue to apply.

Yaoure

The information in this release that relates to the Open Pit and Underground Mineral Resources and Ore Reserve at Yaoure was updated by the Company in a market announcement Perseus Mining announces Open Pit and Underground Ore Reserve update at Yaoure released on 23 August 2023. The Company confirms that all material assumptions underpinning those estimates and the production targets, or the forecast financial information derived therefrom, in that market release continue to apply and have not materially changed. The Company further confirms that material assumptions underpinning the estimates of Ore Reserves described in Technical Report  Yaoure Gold Project, Cote dIvoire dated 18 December 2017 continue to apply.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information:

This report contains forward-looking information which is based on the assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management of the Company believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made by the Company regarding, among other things: the price of gold, continuing commercial production at the Yaoure Gold Mine, the Edikan Gold Mine and the Sissingue Gold Mine without any major disruption, the receipt of required governmental approvals, the accuracy of capital and operating cost estimates, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain financing as and when required and on reasonable terms. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which may have been used by the Company. Although management believes that the assumptions made by the Company and the expectations represented by such information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. 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 anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, the actual market price of gold, the actual results of current exploration, the actual results of future exploration, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents. The Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the Companys ability to carry on its exploration and development activities, the timely receipt of required approvals, the price of gold, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain financing as and when required and on reasonable terms. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Perseus does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Source: Perseus Mining Limited
August 30, 2023

Amsterdam, the Netherlands  Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced the successful pricing of its issue of EUR 500 million fixed rate notes due 2031 (the Notes) under its European Medium Term Note (EMTN) program.

The issue of the Notes will have a debt-neutral effect. The net proceeds of the offering will be used for repayment of EUR 500 million utilized and outstanding under the credit facility entered into in Q4 2022 and for general company purposes.

The issue price for the Notes is 99.741% with a Coupon of 4.25%, resulting in a yield of 4.289%. The offering was 2.0 times oversubscribed.

Settlement and issue of the Notes is scheduled for September 8, 2023. Application has been made for the Notes to be listed on the Official List of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and to be traded on the regulated market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Philips is committed to maintaining a strong investment grade credit rating. Currently, the company has a BBB+ rating by Standard & Poor's, a Baa1 rating by Moody's and a BBB+ rating by Fitch.

For further information, please contact:

Ben Zwirs

Philips Global Press Office

Tel.: +31 6 1521 3446

E-mail: [email protected]

Derya Guzel

Philips Investor Relations

Tel.: +31 20 5977055

E-mail: [email protected]

THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT AN OFFER OF SECURITIES FOR SALE IN THE UNITED STATES. THE SECURITIES REFERRED TO HEREIN HAVE NOT BEEN, AND WILL NOT BE, REGISTERED UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE SECURITIES ACT), AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES ABSENT REGISTRATION OR AN APPLICABLE EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT. THERE IS NO INTENTION TO REGISTER ANY SECURITIES REFERRED TO HEREIN IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO CONDUCT A PUBLIC OFFERING OF SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES.

PROHIBITION OF SALES TO EEA RETAIL INVESTORS  The Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area (the EEA). For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, MiFID II); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2016/97, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II. Consequently no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended, the PRIIPs Regulation) for offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation.

PROHIBITION OF SALES TO UK RETAIL INVESTORS  The Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the United Kingdom (the UK). For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 2017/565 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (the EUWA); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of the provisions of the FSMA and any rules or regulations made under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended, the FSMA) to implement Directive (EU) 2016/97, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA. Consequently no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA (the UK PRIIPs Regulation) for offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the UK has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the UK may be unlawful under the UK PRIIPs Regulation.

In the UK, this press release is being distributed to, and is directed at, only (a) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments who fall within the definition of investment professionals in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the Order); or (b) high net worth companies, and other persons to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as relevant persons). The Notes are available only to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such Notes will be available only to or will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this press release or any of its contents.

Relevant stabilisation regulations including FCA/ICMA apply.

MiFID II and UK MiFIR professionals/ECPs-only/No PRIIPs or UK PRIIPs KID

Manufacturer target market (MIFID II and UK MiFIR product governance) is eligible counterparties and professional clients only (all distribution channels). No PRIIPs or UK PRIIPs key information document (KID) has been prepared as not available to retail in EEA or UK.

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and well-being through meaningful innovation. Philips patient- and people-centric innovation leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver personal health solutions for consumers and professional health solutions for healthcare providers and their patients in the hospital and the home. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, ultrasound, image-guided therapy, monitoring and enterprise informatics, as well as in personal health. Philips generated 2022 sales of EUR 17.8 billion and employs approximately 71,500 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter .

Forward-looking statements

This release contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Philips and certain of the plans and objectives of Philips with respect to these items. Examples of forward-looking statements include statements made about the strategy, estimates of sales growth, future EBITA, future developments in Philips organic business and the completion of acquisitions and divestments. By their nature, these statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements.
HENDERSON, Nev., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As part of Sunshine Minting, Inc.s (SMI) ongoing strategic plan to enhance its capabilities and services that are provided to their customers, SMI is pleased to announce the following:

Annex Plating, LLC

Effective August 1, 2023, SMI has acquired 100% ownership of Annex Plating, LLC, located in North Providence, Rhode Island. This is the culmination of over a 20-year history with Annex Plating, first as a Vendor for SMI, and since 2014, SMI has been a 50% stakeholder of Annex Plating. This final acquisition of the remaining 50% of the entity will allow Annex Plating to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMI.

Barry Fishback, the founder of Annex Plating, will remain with the company as its Vice President of Operations, ensuring a smooth transition and providing continuity for its existing customers. The operation will maintain the current facility located in North Providence and retain its highly skilled and dedicated employees.

Tom Power, Chief Executive Officer of Sunshine Minting, Inc., commented, The acquisition of the remaining ownership of Annex Plating will add more financial, technical depth, and support for the growth of Annex Platings operation which is key for customers currently using them as a vendor. We can now expand on their current capabilities and bring new product lines to our growing customer base.

Power continued, Annex Plating brings a unique set of skills for producing non-precious metal items such as Copper and Brass medals, medallions, and tokens, a full array of plating options such as Gold, Silver, Platinum, Rhodium, and Ruthenium, select Gold enhancements, antiquing and lacquering, as well as a full-service minting facility. These additional processes allow us to further expand our business lines deeper into the semi-numismatic, numismatic, and custom products in all materials. We are very excited about introducing our newest abilities to our customers!

Liberty Refiners, LLC

On August 25, 2023, SMI acquired the assets of Liberty Refiners, LLC located in Hayden, Idaho. Since the inception of Liberty Refiners in 2007, this company and its founder, Rick Hurt, have been able to service the needs of the Silver Valley mining companies, located in nearby Kellogg, Idaho, by providing a source of ethical refining and world class analytical capabilities. Liberty has been the main refining partner for SMI since that time. Liberty Refiners is renowned for its ability to provide ultra-high purity outturns to its customers with silver up to 9999+ purity and gold up to 99999 purity. Liberty Refiners will now become a fully integrated service department of SMI, providing a whole new dimension of capabilities to its customers.

Tom Power stated, I am very pleased to bring on board the capabilities of Liberty Refiners. This represents the next step in our desire to manage the full supply chain of precious metals processing for our customers. While SMI has always been a full-service minting company, we havent had the ability to deal with scrap materials from our customers or provide dedicated refining services for our clients. Now we can provide those services while maintaining the ultra-high standards we have developed for material processing all under one umbrella. Rick and his team have developed an impressive reputation for quality of materials and service, and now we get to add these capabilities to our portfolio. I am also pleased to announce that Rick is joining the SMI team in the role as Director of Refining Services. We are very excited to welcome Rick and the Liberty employees to our team.

About Sunshine Minting, Inc.

Sunshine Minting, Inc. (SMI) is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada and is one of the worlds largest suppliers of precious metal products for the minting and bullion industry globally. SMI has been supplying quality products and services to the mint industry (blanks, bullion, and custom minting) for over 30 years and has a proven track record for quality and innovation that has helped to re-define the standard around the globe. An ISO 9001:2015 Certified Company (certified by DNV), SMI manufactures and supplies fine silver and fine gold products, as well as platinum products, to government and private mints and to prominent, well-known financial institutions and marketing companies worldwide.

SMI currently operates four manufacturing facilities on two continents; Henderson, Nevada, Coeur dAlene, Idaho, North Providence Rhode Island in the United States and in Shanghai, China.

SMI produces products in accordance with the stringent specifications demanded by our government mint customers. Our proficient, up-to-date laboratory facility ensures that all products fulfill the specified requirements of our customers. Our customers are worldwide in North America, South America, Asia and Europe.

Our gold and silver bullion products are sold by most of the major bullion dealers, financial institutions, and distributors around the world. We have an established reputation for quality, consistency, and capacity as well as for embracing innovative concepts and technology in the precious metal industry. SMI silver bars and rounds range in weight from 1 gram to 500 ounces. Gold bars and rounds range from 1 gram to 1 kilogram and most of our gold product is packaged in customized Tamper Evident Packaging (TEP). All SMI Branded Bullion products contain our innovative MintMark SITM Anti-Counterfeit technology.

Sunshine Minting, Inc. is a brand that symbolizes precious metal fineness, exceptional quality, and service. We are the leading manufacturer of products for the minting and bullion industry, and we are committed to meeting customer requirements by providing quality products with cost-effective processes, innovative technology, and timely delivery.

SMI Strategic Consultant Contact:Rudy R. Miller, Chairman, President & CEOThe Miller Group(602) 255-0505[email protected]www.themillergroup.net

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/43fcf366-638d-4e28-bb6e-30ef53249fd9https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/25fbc8d6-1753-437c-ae40-a1ce88eabe06https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8fde9395-f977-4ec6-9a6c-3f6bd7b7273d

Plating Annex Plating, LLC Sunshine Minting, Inc. Tom Power, President & CEO Color Tokens Liberty Refiners, LLC

Source: Sunshine Minting, Inc.
BROWN DEER, Wis. , Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Traffic and Parking Control Co., Inc. (TAPCO), manufacturer, distributor and service provider of roadway safety innovations is excited to announce their latest partnership with SWARCO McCain, a transportation solutions provider.

Through this new collaboration, TAPCO will now offer SWARCO McCains expansive portfolio of traffic signal heads, cabinets and controllers. The products TAPCO will distribute include traffic signal cabinets and controllers equipped for seamless integration into smart city infrastructure. SWARCO McCains ATC and NEMA cabinets are engineered with safety and efficiency in mind, and their controllers are designed for effectively managing intersection operations.

"TAPCO is the perfect partner for SWARCO McCain," said Jimi Meshulam, President and CEO at SWARCO McCain. "Their stellar reputation and service-first approach ensure a higher level of care and support for our mutual customers."

Were thrilled to join forces with SWARCO McCain and expand our range of traffic signal cabinets and controllers, said Bryan Everard, Signal and Parking ITS Solutions Manager at TAPCO. This partnership allows us to enhance our commitment to roadway safety and continues to position TAPCO as a leading provider of advanced transportation solutions.

SWARCO McCain brings 30+ years of experience and a deep understanding of the traffic industry to their portfolio, ensuring transportation officials have access to high quality, reliable solutions. By partnering with SWARCO McCain, TAPCO will be able to provide communities in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky with some of the most advanced solutions in the signalized intersection market.

About TAPCO

As an industry-leading innovator, TAPCO manufactures, distributes and services a wide portfolio of traffic and parking safety solutions designed to increase safe travels for all. Since 1956, TAPCO has set the standard for delivering reliable, cutting-edge traffic safety enhancements. From wrong-way alert systems to preventative maintenance options, safety is at the heart of all TAPCO innovations. For more information, please visit their website and follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

About SWARCO McCain, Inc.

San Diego-based transportation technology firm SWARCO McCain, Inc. designs, develops, and manufactures intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and traffic control products to promote increased roadway safety, improved traffic efficiency, and more sustainable communities.

Charlie CollinsMarketing ManagerTraffic and Parking Control Co., Inc. (TAPCO)[email protected]414-640-2394

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9ea424b9-07cb-4d4b-8402-c42c891aa944

SWARCO McCain's ATC Cabinet Offering SWARCO McCain offers over 300 cabinets, including ATC cabinets.

Source: TAPCO Companies
All amounts are stated in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.

TORONTO, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Terra Firma Capital Corporation (TSX-V: TII) ("Terra Firma" or the "Company"), a real estate finance company, today announced its financial results for the three and six-month periods ended June 30, 2023.

Q2 2023 Financial Highlights:

Total Assets of $132.8 million

Total Investments (a supplementary financial measure)(4) of $101.8 million

Total Assets under management ("AUM," a non-IFRS financial measure) (3) of $105.7 million as compared to $131.4 million as at December 31, 2022

Future funding commitments of $56.8 million as compared to $109.0 million as at December 31, 2022

Book Value per share decreased by 0.5% to $7.93 (CA$10.50, translated to CA$ using the closing exchange rate of $1.3242) per share

CA$0.06 per share paid in dividends

Total Revenue decreased by 22.7%, as compared to Q2 2022, to $2.9 million

Net income and comprehensive income was $0.05 million, a decrease of 81.0% as compared to Q2 2022

Adjusted net income and comprehensive income (a non-IFRS financial measure)(1) of $0.04 million, a decrease of 95.1% as compared to Q2 2022

Basic and diluted earnings per share decreased by 80.0%, as compared to Q2 2022, to $0.01 (CA$0.01, translated to CA$ using the average exchange rate of $1.3430)

Adjusted basic and diluted earnings per share (a non-IFRS financial measure)(2) decreased by 92.3%, as compared to Q2 2022, to $0.01 (CA$0.01, translated to CA$ using the exchange rate of $1.3430)

Net income and comprehensive income attributable to common shareholders for the three months ended June 30, 2023, was $0.05 million or $0.01 per basic and diluted share compared with $0.3 million or $0.05 per basic and diluted share for the same period in the prior year. Net income and comprehensive income attributable to common shareholders for the six months ended June 30, 2023, was $0.6 million or $0.11 per basic and diluted share compared to $0.8 million or $0.15 per basic share and diluted share for the same period in the prior year. Overall, net income and comprehensive income was impacted by the Companys decision to pause business originations in the latter part of 2022 due to the market volatility, and by the Companys subsequent decision to explore strategic alternatives and to further increase the Companys liquidity.

For the three months ended June 30, 2023, the Company reported total revenue of $2.9 million compared to $3.8 million in the same period in the prior year, representing a decrease of $0.9 million or 22.7%. Revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2023, was $6.8 million as compared to $7.6 million in the same period in the prior year, representing a decrease of $0.8 million or 10.9%. The variance was due to the repayment for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, of $8.8 million and $19.8 million, respectively, on certain loan and mortgage investments which included partial and full repayments. These repayments were partially offset with the increase in funding related to existing loan and mortgage investments. The variance was also due to the Company recording an adjustment of $0.3 million related to an early repayment discount on one of its loan and mortgage investments during the three months ended June 30, 2023.

General and administrative expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2023, were $1.1 million compared to $1.0 million for the same period in the prior year. General and administrative expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2023, were $2.0 million compared to $2.1 million for the same period in the prior year. The variance was primarily related to an increase in professional fees arising from the previously announced review of strategic alternative with no similar expenses incurred in the prior period. Partially offsetting the increase was a decrease in salary and benefits as there was no incentive compensation recorded in the current period compared to the prior period. Additionally, the decrease in salary and benefits was impacted by a lower head count compared to the comparative period which included the departure of the Companys former Chief Financial Officer & Corporate Secretary due to health reasons in the second quarter of 2022.

At June 30, 2023, the Companys liquidity position included a cash balance of $25.2 million. During the second quarter of 2023, the Companys undrawn line of credit (LOC) matured. Subsequent to the second quarter, the Company, in accordance with its extension options, renegotiated its LOC for a maximum amount of up to $20.0 million including its accordion feature and a new maturity date of May 25, 2024. The Companys available capital is in excess of the Companys portion of the future funding commitments.

During the six months ended June 30, 2023, the Companys second debt fund (Debt Fund II) called additional capital of $3.2 million from its investors which has been fully funded. As at June 30, 2023, total contributions to Debt Fund II from investors and the Company were $43.8 million and $5.1 million, respectively. To date, two investments within Debt Fund II were fully repaid. As at June 30, 2023, Debt Fund II had a combined total of 11 active investments.

Subsequent to June 30, 2023, the Company returned capital on its first debt fund (Debt Fund I) for a total of $7.5 million to its investors and no further capital will be called on Debt Fund I. As at June 30, 2023, total contributions to Debt Fund I from investors and the Company were $22.3 million and $2.7 million, respectively. To date, four investments within Debt Fund I were fully repaid. As at June 30, 2023, Debt Fund I had a combined total of four active investments.

During the three months ended June 30, 2023, the Company continued with its review of strategic alternatives which includes consideration of merger and acquisition, privatization and liquidation alternatives. There is no definitive timeline of completion and there can be no assurance that the process will result in any transaction, or as to the timing of any such transaction. The Company does not intend to disclose developments related to the process unless and until the Company reaches a definitive agreement with respect thereto, or it otherwise determines that further disclosure is appropriate or required.

The Company's Management's Discussion & Analysis and Financial Statements as at and for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 have been filed and are available on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca).

About Terra Firma

Terra Firma is a full service, publicly traded real estate finance company that provides real estate financings secured by investment properties and real estate developments in Canada and throughout the United States. The Company focuses on arranging and providing financing with flexible terms to real estate developers and owners who require shorter-term loans to bridge a transitional period of one to five years where they require capital at various stages of development or redevelopment of a property. These loans are typically repaid with lower cost, longer-term debt obtained from other Canadian financial institutions once the applicable transitional period is over or the redevelopment is complete or from proceeds generated from the sale of the real estate assets. Terra Firma offers a full spectrum of real estate financing under the guidance of strict corporate governance, clarity and transparency. For further information, please visit Terra Firma's website at www.tfcc.ca.

Non-IFRS And Other Supplementary Financial Measures

In this press release, as a complement to results provided in accordance with IFRS, the Company discloses certain financial measures not recognized under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as prescribed by the International Accounting Standards Board, which do not have standard meanings prescribed by IFRS (collectively the nonIFRS financial measures). These nonIFRS and other supplementary financial measures are further described below.

Non-IFRS Financial Measures

1. Adjusted net income and comprehensive income, for the stated period, is calculated by adjusting the net income and comprehensive income for the following (as applicable and collectively called other non-operating items), irrespective of materiality:

foreign exchange gains/losses related to the Companys non-functional currency denominated net assets;

impairment losses/reversals;

net gains/losses on the disposal of equity-accounted investments;

share-based compensation;

non-recurring items;

severance cost; and

the income tax impact of the items listed above.

Three months ended Six months ended June 30,2023 June 30,2022 ChangeIncrease /(decrease) June 30,2023 June 30,2022 ChangeIncrease /(decrease) Net income and comprehensive income $ 49,027 $ 258,103 $ (209,076 ) $ 629,202 $ 835,679 $ (206,477 ) Recovery of loan and mortgage investment loss, - recovery of investment in finance lease loss (tax adjusted) (16,587 ) (12,524 ) (4,063 ) (45,549 ) (44,211 ) (1,338 ) Fair value adjustment - convertible note receivable (tax adjusted) 28,766 - 28,766 56,522 - 56,522 Fair value adjustment - portfolio investment (tax adjusted) - (136,758 ) 136,758 - (136,758 ) 136,758 Share based compensation (recovery) (tax adjusted) (6,725 ) 104,873 (111,598 ) 148,950 6,246 142,704 Foreign exchange gain (tax adjusted) (19,281 ) 129,742 (149,023 ) (20,403 ) 93,070 (113,473 ) Severance accrual (tax adjusted) - 381,128 (381,128 ) - 381,128 (381,128 ) Adjusted net income and comprehensive income(1) $ 35,200 $ 724,564 $ (689,364 ) $ 768,722 $ 1,135,154 $ (366,432 ) (1) Adjusted net income and comprehensive income is a Non-IFRS Financial Measure. See "Non-IFRS Financial Measures".

2. Adjusted earnings per share is adjusted net income and comprehensive income divided by the weighted average number of outstanding shares and adjusted net income and comprehensive income divided by the weighted average number of diluted shares outstanding.

3. AUM are the assets managed by the Company on behalf of the Companys syndicate investors, as well as the Companys assets, and do not include capital commitments that have not yet been funded.

June 30, 2023 December 31, 2022 Loan and mortgage investments(2) $ 34,353,065 $ 46,162,027 Investment in finance leases(2) 53,653,359 67,847,493 Portfolio investments 932,093 932,093 Investment in associates(1) 1,919,137 1,753,807 Investment property held in Joint Operations 1,673,841 1,636,518 Convertible note receivable 1,545,563 1,511,101 Syndicates investors' share of investment 11,600,000 11,600,000 Total AUM $ 105,677,058 $ 131,443,039 (1) Investment in associates includes investment in Lan Partnership and TFCC Royal Palm Beach Inc. (2) Before deducting the allowance for loan and mortgage investment loss at June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022 of $31,671 and $50,948, respectively and before deducting the allowance for investment in finance lease loss at June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022 of $25,172 and $67,866, respectively.

These non-IFRS financial measures are not defined by IFRS, do not have a standardized meaning, and may not be comparable with similar measures presented by other issuers. The Company has presented such nonIFRS financial measures which have been derived from the Companys financial statements and applied on a consistent basis because the Company believes they are of assistance in evaluating the underlying operational and financial performance of the Company. Non-IFRS financial measures are also commonly used by the financial community to analyze and compare the performance of companies engaged in the same industries. These nonIFRS financial measures should not be construed as alternatives to financial measures determined in accordance with IFRS as indicators of the Companys performance.

Supplementary Financial Measures

4. Total Investments (excluding cash) consist of the loan and mortgage investments, investment in finance leases, portfolio investments, investment in associates, convertible note receivable and an investment property held in Joint Operations.

Note that further information concerning such non-IFRS and supplementary financial measures can be found in the Companys Management's Discussion & Analysis for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023.

The TSX-V has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. The TSX-V does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Forward-Looking Information

This Press Release contains forwardlooking statements with respect to matters concerning the business, operations, strategy and financial performance of Terra Firma, and include statements concerning the strategy review process and the renewal of the LOC. These statements generally can be identified by use of forward-looking word such as "may", "will", "expects", "estimates", "indicates" "anticipates", "intends", "believe", should or "could" or the negative thereof or similar variations. The future business, operations and performance of Terra Firma could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such forwardlooking statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations, including the matters covered by any non-binding letters of intent that are not completed, as well as risks relating to market factors, competition, and dependence on tenants' financial conditions, environmental and tax related matters, and reliance on key personnel, as well as the risks discussed in Terra Firmas most recently filed annual Managements Discussion and Analysis, any subsequently filed interim Managements Discussion and Analysis or Terra Firmas most recently filed Annual Information Form. Forwardlooking statements are based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect, including the ability of the Company to adapt to any changes in government regulation and/or economic conditions; and the continued availability of equity and debt financing, and the risks referenced above. There can be no assurances that forwardlooking 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 forwardlooking statements. The cautionary statements qualify all forwardlooking statements attributable to Terra Firma and persons acting on its behalf. Unless otherwise stated, all forward looking statements speak only as of the date of this Press Release and Terra Firma does not assume any obligation to update such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable Canadian securities laws.

For further information, please contact:

Terra Firma Capital CorporationGlenn WatchornChief Executive OfficerPhone: 416.792.4702[email protected]

Terra Firma Capital CorporationInterim Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive IncomeFor the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022(Unaudited)

Three months ended Six months ended June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 Revenue Interest and fees $ 1,057,094 $ 1,900,132 $ 2,673,970 $ 3,660,538 Finance income 1,845,981 1,863,375 4,049,525 3,889,913 Rental 40,281 42,618 80,416 86,031 2,943,356 3,806,125 6,803,911 7,636,482 Expenses Property operating costs 13,621 14,553 27,132 29,624 General and administrative 1,124,597 958,192 1,995,494 2,061,728 Severance cost - 524,577 - 524,577 Share based compensation (recovery) (9,150 ) 142,685 202,653 8,498 Interest and financing costs 2,212,320 2,010,601 4,472,815 4,526,310 Allowance for (recovery of) loan and mortgage investment loss 111 (12,292 ) (19,277 ) (38,058 ) Recovery of investment in finance lease loss (22,678 ) (4,747 ) (42,694 ) (22,093 ) Realized and unrealized foreign exchange gain (102,658 ) (179,697 ) (92,438 ) (202,460 ) Fair value adjustment - convertible note receivable 33,160 - 65,155 - Fair value adjustment - portfolio investment - (186,065 ) - (186,065 ) Share of income from investment in associates (255,424 ) (183,066 ) (546,556 ) (418,136 ) 2,993,899 3,084,741 6,062,284 6,283,925 Income (loss) from operations before income taxes (50,543 ) 721,384 741,627 1,352,557 Income taxes (recovery) (99,570 ) 463,281 112,425 516,878 Net income and comprehensive income $ 49,027 $ 258,103 $ 629,202 $ 835,679 Earnings per share Basic $ 0.01 $ 0.05 $ 0.11 $ 0.15 Diluted $ 0.01 $ 0.05 $ 0.11 $ 0.15

Terra Firma Capital CorporationConsolidated Statements of Financial PositionAs at June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022(Unaudited)

June 30,2023 December 31,2022 Assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 25,237,791 $ 16,636,083 Funds held in trust 3,719,925 5,960,395 Amounts receivable and prepaid expenses 1,038,185 916,225 Loan and mortgage investments 34,321,394 46,111,079 Investment in finance lease 53,628,187 67,779,627 Portfolio investments 932,093 932,093 Investment in associates 9,632,852 9,228,257 Investment property held in joint operations 1,673,841 1,636,518 Convertible note receivable 1,545,563 1,511,101 Right of use asset 533,678 596,603 Income taxes recoverable 195,222 67,571 Deferred income tax asset 292,647 21,085 Total assets $ 132,751,378 $ 151,396,637 Liabilities Unearned income $ 60,050 $ 669,950 Loan and mortgage syndications 13,465,670 16,034,041 Loans payable 66,894,980 79,847,824 Mortgages payable 887,708 895,492 Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 6,577,023 9,221,168 Credit facilities - (50,000 ) Lease obligations 589,408 633,326 Total liabilities 88,474,839 107,251,801 Equity Share capital 25,364,104 25,364,104 Contributed surplus 3,610,540 3,607,129 Foreign currency translation reserve (6,885,398 ) (6,885,398 ) Retained earnings 22,187,293 22,059,001 Total equity 44,276,539 44,144,836 Total liabilities and equity $ 132,751,378 $ 151,396,637

Source: Terra Firma Capital Corporation
BEAMSVILLE, Ontario, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saskatchewans Ministry of Health is proposing amendments to The Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act. The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) supports the purposed changes which include increasing the minimum age to purchase from 18 years to 19, clarifications to the terms promote and advertise, and the removal of sampling at age restricted vapour product retailers.

Changes to restrict advertising in public view are a reasonable progression in regulation to protect young people from exposure and inducements to vape. The proposed amendment will enable the province to take enforcement action that is aligned with the federal Tobacco and Vaping Products Act.

The CVA encourages additional amendments to The Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act, these recommendations include:

Strengthen regulations around where flavoured products can be sold. Saskatchewan should limit flavoured product sales to age-restricted specialty stores. Specialty stores should be defined as: 85% or more of the stores sales are vape products. The store must have its own entrance to access vapour products (i.e., a room cannot be added to an existing store). The store must bar entry to anyone under 19 years old. Implement a licencing system and adopt more punitive penalties for regulatory violations.

These amendments would enable more proactive and stronger enforcement, while the consequence of losing authorization to sell vapour products would act as a powerful deterrent.

"The CVA commends Saskatchewan for aligning its marketing and promotional regulations with those of the federal government. With the world's most robust regulations protecting our youth, it's important for provinces to synchronize their legislative actions with the national standards, bolstering enforcement efforts and resources," said Darryl Tempest, Government Relations Counsel to the CVA Board.

Evidence clearly indicates that nicotine vaping markedly diminishes the risks associated with combustible tobacco. Saskatchewan has adeptly found a middle ground, ensuring the safety of its youth while preserving access to harm reduction options for adult smokers. The CVA hopes the province will consider some of its youth protection recommendations for future amendments.

Contact - Darryl Tempest, Government Relations Counsel to the CVA, [email protected]

Source: The Canadian Vaping Association
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Newmarket, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Advanced Mobility Products Inc. (AMP), in collaboration with Downsview Aerospace Innovation & Research (DAIR), is proud to announce its successful selection as a recipient of the innovative DAIR Green Fund for a project titled "Advancement of Reliable Lithium-ion Batteries for Solar-Powered Electric UAVs." The project's primary objective revolves around the creation of lithium-ion battery packs tailored for solar-powered electric drones, falling within the 25kg weight classification.

The DAIR Green Fund is a driving force behind the transformation of the southern Ontario aerospace sector, focusing on green and sustainable aviation technologies. Supported by a Government of Canada investment, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), this initiative aligns with DAIR's mission to propel innovation within aerospace and beyond. By empowering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with resources, technology, collaboration, and services, the DAIR Green Fund supports progress, moving the aerospace industry toward a more sustainable future.

"The DAIR Green Fund continues to provide valuable support to businesses that are leaders in creating sustainable innovations. Their hard work will help Canada's aerospace sector grow and thrive. The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the people and businesses working hard to find new ways to move toward a greener future for Canadians," says Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.

DAIR will be supporting 75 percent of total project cost, to a maximum of $75,000, and Advanced Mobility Products Inc. will contribute the remaining 25 percent of total project cost for a maximum cost of $100,000. The funding will be used to engineer and build demonstration battery packs for solar battery electric drones.

"DAIR is excited to provide Advanced Mobility Products with the funding and partnership opportunities to push this project forward and break boundaries in battery development," says Steven Cargnello, DAIR Green Fund Manager.

In the fall of 2022, DAIR issued a call for proposals, resulting in a rigorous assessment by a review committee. Projects were evaluated based on their viability to achieve set benchmarks. The committee scrutinized each project's potential for commercialization, collaboration, leveraging of support and industry impact within the realm of green aviation and sustainability.

Following the call for proposals, the first wave of eight (8) projects was unveiled in March 2023, benefiting from Green Fund support. Further funding from FedDev Ontario has subsequently facilitated the selection of an additional eight (8) projects. These initiatives, all led by SMEs from southern Ontario, are set to harness the potential of the Green Fund. AMP takes pride in securing a place among this selected group.

V-Bond, P. Eng., President of AMP, expressed his enthusiasm, stating, "The AMP team is thrilled to embark on the development of groundbreaking energy storage solutions for the aerospace sector. The support extended by the Government of Canada through DAIR will significantly aid AMP's drive to bring innovative concepts to the commercial forefront."

About Advanced Mobility Products Inc.

AMP is a privately owned Canadian engineering and consulting firm dedicated to sustainable electrification and inventive engineering solutions (website: www.advancedmobilityproducts.com). Leveraging over three decades of experience, AMP's highly qualified engineers have made notable contributions across diverse industries, including aerospace, automotive, e-mobility and power/infrastructure. Serving clients across North America and Europe encompassing enterprises in aerospace, automotive, and consumer products, AMP excels in delivering superior resolutions for intricate challenges. Infusing ingenuity into its approach, AMP provides unique and imaginative solutions, offering clients a distinct competitive edge.

About DAIR

DAIR, a not-for-profit organization, is committed to revolutionizing collaboration and innovation within the aerospace domain and beyond. DAIR facilitates its members with advanced equipment, infrastructure, and training solutions for cutting-edge research and technology adoption. By fostering partnerships between industry, academia, and government, DAIR advocates for the aerospace industry locally, nationally, and globally. For more information about DAIR, please visit www.dairhub.com.

About FedDev Ontario

For 14 years, the Government of Canada, through FedDev Ontario,has worked to advance and diversify the southern Ontario economy through funding opportunities and business services that support innovation, growth and job creation in Canada's most populous region. The Agency has delivered impressive results, which can be seen in southern Ontario businesses that are creating innovative technologies, improving productivity, growing revenues, creating jobs, and in the economic advancement of communities across the region. Learn more about the impacts the Agency is having in southern Ontario by exploring our pivotal projects,our Southern Ontario Spotlight, and FedDev Ontario's Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

.

Advanced Mobility Products Inc.

V-Bond Lee, P. Eng. President and Founder

[email protected]

Steven Cargnello

DAIR Green Fund Manager

[email protected]

Edward Hutchinson

Press Secretary

Office of the Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario

[email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179008
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Allied Merger Corporation ("AMC"), Allied (as defined below) and Mondavi (as defined below) are pleased to announce: (a) the closing of AMC's previously announced private placement financing (the "Financing") of Subscription Receipts (as defined below) for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately US$267 million, including the partial exercise of the Agents' (as defined below) option; (b) the execution of a business combination agreement (the "Business Combination Agreement") with Allied Gold Corp Limited ("Allied"), a Jersey-based private company which owns or controls three producing mines and several development and exploration projects in Africa, and Mondavi Ventures Ltd. ("Mondavi"), a British Columbia-based unlisted reporting issuer in the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, in connection with the previously announced business combination and reverse take-over transaction involving such parties (the "Transaction"); and (c) the receipt of conditional approval by the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") for the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares (as defined below) and the Resulting Issuer Debentures (as defined below).

Pursuant to the Financing, AMC issued 81,219,000 common share subscription receipts (the "CS Subscriptions Receipts") at a price of US$1.97 per CS Subscription Receipt and 107,279 convertible debenture subscription receipts (the "CD Subscriptions Receipts", and together with the CS Subscription Receipts, the "Subscription Receipts") at a price of US$1,000 per CD Subscription Receipt. The Financing was led by National Bank Financial Inc., Stifel GMP and Canaccord Genuity Corp., on behalf of a syndicate of investment dealers, including BMO Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, Cormark Securities Inc. and SCP Resource Finance LP (collectively, the "Agents").

The net proceeds of the Financing have been deposited into escrow or are being held in trust pending the satisfaction of certain escrow release conditions in connection with the Transaction (the "Escrow Release Conditions"), and, following the completion of the Transaction, will be used to carry out Allied's planned growth strategy, including its ongoing optimization and development work, as well as other general corporate purposes. Certain members of Allied management participated in the Financing and agreed to apply accrued bonus and other payments, including change of control payments, toward their respective subscriptions.

Each CS Subscription Receipt entitles the holder thereof to receive one common share of AMC (each, an "AMC Share"), which, after a consolidation of the AMC Shares on a 1:2.2585 basis, will be exchanged for one common share of the Resulting Issuer (as defined below) (each, a "Resulting Issuer Share") upon the satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions. Each CD Subscription Receipt entitles the holder thereof to receive one unsecured convertible debenture of AMC, which will be exchanged for one unsecured convertible debenture of the Resulting Issuer (each, a "Resulting Issuer Debenture") on an economically equivalent basis upon satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions. The Resulting Issuer Debentures will be convertible at the holder's option into Resulting Issuer Shares at any time following the issuance thereof during their five (5) year tenure at a price of US$5.79 per Resulting Issuer Share.

Concurrent with the completion of the Financing, AMC, Allied, Mondavi (as well as certain related entities of such parties) executed the Business Combination Agreement, pursuant to which, among other things, such parties agreed to consummate a series of transactions which will result in the reverse take-over of Mondavi by the shareholders of AMC and Allied, culminating in the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares and the Resulting Issuer Debentures on the TSX and a name change of Mondavi to "Allied Gold Corporation" (the "Resulting Issuer"), which will thereafter carry on the business of Allied. Subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions precedent set out in the Business Combination Agreement, the Transaction is expected to close during the first week of September 2023.

In addition, AMC, Allied and Mondavi are pleased to announce that the TSX has conditionally approved the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares (including those underlying the Resulting Issuer Debentures) and the Resulting Issuer Debentures, subject to the satisfaction of certain customary TSX listing conditions.

Following the completion of the Transaction, it is expected that the Resulting Issuer Shares will trade on the TSX in Canadian dollars under the symbol "AAUC" and the Resulting Issuer Debentures will trade on the TSX in U.S. dollars under the symbol "AAUC.DB.U". Trading is expected to commence on or around September 8, 2023, shortly following the anticipated closing of the Transaction.

In addition, AMC has received credit approvals from a group of prospective lenders for a three-year revolving credit facility totaling US$100 million that is subject to the completion of definitive documentation and conditions precedent. In addition to the Financing, the revolving credit facility will add to the financial flexibility of the Resulting Issuer. With cash flows, AMC expects that the Resulting Issuer's development stage projects will be fully financed, although the Resulting Issuer will continue to advance other forms of low-cost financings to increase its cash balances.

Advisors

Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP are acting as legal counsel to AMC. Allen & Overy LLP and McCarthy Ttrault LLP are acting as legal counsel to Allied. Borden Ladner Gervais LLP is acting as legal counsel to the Agents. Prest Law Corporation is acting as legal counsel to Mondavi.

About Allied Gold Corp Limited

Allied is a private company focused on gold mining asset transformation in Africa. Allied has three mines and several development and exploration projects in Africa where it has significant operating experience. Operations are located in Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Ethiopia and Egypt. Led by a team of mine developers with proven success in adding value to tier one assets, Allied aspires to become a mid-tier next generation gold producer in Africa and ultimately a leading senior global gold producer.

About Allied Merger Corporation

AMC is a company formed and capitalized by the former principals of Yamana Gold Inc., being Peter Marrone, Daniel Racine, Jason LeBlanc, Gerardo Fernandez and Sofia Tsakos, for the purposes of financing and assisting the development of high-quality mining opportunities.

About Mondavi Ventures Ltd.

Mondavi is an unlisted public company organized under the laws of the Province of British Columbia. The business of Mondavi is the investigation and evaluation of business opportunities.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Allied Gold Corp Limited

Stephan Theron

Email: [email protected]

Allied Merger Corporation

Gerardo Fernandez

Tel: +1 (647) 526-4258

Email: [email protected]

Mondavi Ventures Ltd.

Scott Ackerman

Tel: +1 (778) 331-8505

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in Canada, the United States or any other jurisdiction, nor may there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. The securities referred to in this news release have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States without registration under the U.S. Securities Act and all applicable state securities laws or compliance with the requirements of an applicable exemption therefrom.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking information is not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represents only Allied's, AMC's or Mondavi's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Allied's, AMC's and Mondavi's control. Generally, such 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 the negative or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information contained herein includes, but is not limited to, information concerning the Transaction, the Financing and the Business Combination Agreement, including the structure, timing, completion, and terms and conditions thereof; expectations relating to the satisfaction of Escrow Release Conditions and timing thereof; expectations relating to the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares and Resulting Issuer Debentures on the TSX and the satisfaction of the TSX listing conditions; the use of proceeds of the Financing; expectations for the effects of the Financing and the Transaction; and the business of Allied and the Resulting Issuer.

By identifying such information and statements in this manner, Allied, AMC and Mondavi are alerting the reader that such information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Allied, AMC or Mondavi to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information and statements. In addition, in connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Allied, AMC and Mondavi have made certain assumptions. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: the ability to consummate the Transaction on the proposed terms and on the proposed timeline anticipated, or at all; the ability to obtain all requisite regulatory, corporate, shareholder, and third-party approvals and consents, and the satisfaction of other conditions to the consummation of the Transaction on the proposed terms and schedule; the ability to satisfy TSX listing conditions; the potential impact of the announcement or consummation of the Financing and the Transaction on relationships, including with regulatory bodies, employees, suppliers, contractors and competitors; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; changes in applicable laws; and compliance with extensive government regulation. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

Although Allied, AMC and Mondavi believe that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is provided as of the date of this news release, and none of Allied, AMC or Mondavi undertakes to update any forward-looking information that is contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION DIRECTLY, OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179050
Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) ("Benton" or the "Company") announced on August 17, 2023 that it entered into a binding letter of intent ("LOI") with Spruce Ridge Resources Ltd. (TSXV: SHL) ("Spruce"), whereby Benton can earn an undivided 70% interest in Spruce's Newfoundland properties (the "Property") including the Great Burnt Copper deposit and South Pond Gold and Copper zones (the "Option"). The Company has received conditional approval by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") for the Option, pending this disclosure of the Net Smelter Return ("NSR") from previous operators/owners of the Property. Under previous agreements, there exists a 2% NSR royalty in favour of Glencore (as a successor to Noranda) on mining lease ML211 and part of Exploration Licence 21732M that was part of former Exploration Licence 10210M, which covers the area of the Great Burnt Copper Deposit. In addition, if commercial production commences from this lease, then a cash payment of $1,000,000 or the issuance of common shares representing equivalent value must be made to Glencore.

Under the agreement between Pavey Ark and Spruce, Pavey Ark will retain a 0.5% NSR royalty on any production from Mining Lease ML211 and that part of Exploration Licence 21732M that was part of former Exploration Licence 10210M. Pavey Ark will retain a 2% NSR royalty on any production from the Mineral Exploration Licenses numbered 6682M, 6683M, 9881M, 20961M and that part of 21732M that was not part of former Exploration Licence 10210M.

Highlights of the Option

Under the terms of the Option, Benton can earn a 70% undivided interest in the Property by:

making a $40,000 cash payment to Spruce upon receipt of final Exchange approval;

issuing to Spruce 15 million common shares in the capital of Benton ("Benton Shares") as follows: 5,000,000 Benton Shares subject to a four-month regulatory trading restriction; 5,000,000 Benton Shares subject to a four-month regulatory trading restriction plus an additional eight-month trading restriction; 5,000,000 Benton Shares subject to a four-month regulatory trading restriction plus an additional twenty-month trading restriction; and

completing $2.5 million in exploration expenditures on the Property within 36 months of the date of the LOI, of which $1.0 million must be expended by the first anniversary of the LOI, subject to the right of Benton to accelerate the completion of such expenditures and share issuances at its election.

Once a 70% interest in the Property is earned by Benton, the Property will be operated as a participating joint venture.

Company President and CEO Stephen Stares, stated, "This project provides Benton with another prospective opportunity in central Newfoundland, which is ranked one of the best mining jurisdictions worldwide. We're excited to be building off a great land position with many known zones that are open for expansion and the potential for new discoveries provides confidence for future exploration success. Benton will plan an aggressive exploration program that will commence as soon as possible."

Commenting on the Option, interim Spruce President and CEO, Steve Balch, explained that, "Spruce is very pleased to be partnering with Benton, a well-known exploration company with deep roots in Newfoundland. This agreement forms part of our plan to diversify our property obligations while acquiring additional critical mineral resources through a combination of expertise and leverage of our security portfolio, including our 5.5 million common shares of Canada Nickel Company Inc. We see this as a good time to expand and diversify our asset base."

Great Burnt Copper-Gold Project

The Great Burnt Main Zone has an NI 43-101 compliant resource prepared in 2022 for Spruce by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. of 667,000 Tonnes (47.2 Mlb) Cu at 3.21% (indicated) and 482,000 Tonnes (25.0 Mlb) Cu at 2.35% (inferred) contained within mining lease 211(10210M). The Copper resource remains open to the south and at depth. Highlights of the drill programs to date include:

GB20-05: 27.20 m of 8.06% Cu, including 7.75 m of 16.88% Cu

GB20-20: 22.75 m of 6.89% Cu, including 12.55 m of 10.59% Cu

GB18-05: 20.94 m of 6.21% Cu, including 6.98 m of 10.71% Cu

GB18-06: 9.97 m of 7.45% Cu, including 5.03 m of 11.42% Cu

GB16-08: 7.50 m of 9.45% Cu, including 3.00 m of 19.30% Cu

GB16-09: 5.75 m of 6.68% Cu, including 1.50 m of 11.70% Cu

Exploration at the South Pond Zone has identified potential for both copper and gold along several kilometers of strike. Highlights of the 2021 drill program include:

SP21-01: 1.69g/t Au over 51.00 m, including 3.19g/t Au over 11.00 m, within 10 m of surface

SP21-03: 2.36g/t Au over 15.00 m, including 11.33g/t Au over 1.00 m

SP21-08: 1.75g/t Au over 21.20 m, including 2.82g/t Au over 10.20 m

SP21-11: 1.34g/t Au over 17.60 m, including 2.48g/t Au over 4.20 m

SP21-14: 2.06g/t Au over 21.00 m

SP21-16: 1.72g/t Au over 10.00 m

Note: Widths quoted are true core length, true widths are estimated at approximately 70% of core lengths

QP

Stephen House (P.Geo.), Vice President of Exploration for Benton Resources Inc., the 'Qualified Person' under National Instrument 43-101, has approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release and prepared or supervised its preparation.

About Benton Resources Inc.

Benton Resources is a well-financed mineral exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol BEX. Following a project generation business model, Benton has a diversified, highly prospective property portfolio of gold, silver, nickel, copper, platinum group elements and, most recently, lithium and cesium assets. In addition, it currently holds large equity positions in other mining companies that are advancing high-quality assets. Whenever possible, BEX retains net smelter return (NSR) royalties with potential long-term cash flow.

Benton is also a 50/50 partner in a strategic alliance with Sokoman Minerals Corp. through three large-scale joint-venture properties, including Grey River Gold, Golden Hope, and Kepenkeck in Newfoundland.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Inc.,

"Stephen Stares"

Stephen Stares, President

Parties interested in seeking more information about properties available for option can contact Mr. Stares at the number below.

For further information, please contact:

Stephen Stares, President & CEO

Phone: 807-475-7474

Email: [email protected]

CHF Capital Markets

Cathy Hume, CEO

Phone: 416-868-1079 x 251

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.bentonresources.ca

Twitter: @BentonResources

Facebook: @BentonResourcesBEX

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements."

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179148
San Diego, California--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - BNB Syndicate and CEO Steven Billman announce the launch of an all-encompassing suite of services designed to assist and nurture those eager to dive into the Airbnb business. Recognizing the intricate dynamics and potential stumbling blocks of the short-term rental ecosystem, BNB Syndicate's new package promises a smoother entry into this realm. From scouting the ideal property, to mastering guest relations, their offerings amalgamate cutting-edge digital resources, in-depth training sessions, and one-on-one guidance from seasoned industry veterans. With this, BNB Syndicate reaffirms its commitment to bolstering entrepreneurship and reshaping the contours of the Airbnb landscape.





Steven Billmas



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BNB Syndicate, a pioneer in the Airbnb education sector, proudly unveils its expanded suite of solutions tailored for individuals eager to penetrate the Airbnb market. Recognizing the multifaceted challenges of the industry, BNB Syndicate's program is meticulously crafted to provide a 360-degree approach, ensuring participants are well-equipped to tackle every aspect of the Airbnb business.

The program's core offerings include:

Airbnb Arbitrage Mastery: Dive deep into the nuances of Airbnb arbitrage, understanding the intricacies of renting properties and subsequently subletting them on Airbnb.

Property Management Excellence: Beyond just listing a property, this segment delves into creating compelling narratives, optimizing pricing strategies, and ensuring seamless guest experiences. From handling challenging situations to maintaining stellar reviews, participants will be adept at managing properties with finesse.

Marketing and Branding Blueprint: In an ever-evolving digital landscape, standing out is paramount. This module imparts proven techniques to build a robust online presence, harnessing the power of social media, content marketing, and SEO to drive consistent bookings.

Financial Planning and Strategy: Navigate the financial intricacies of the Airbnb business. Learn about budgeting, forecasting, and ROI. Understand the tax implications and benefit from insider tips.

Legal and Compliance Guidance: Stay ahead of the curve with insights into local regulations, licensing requirements, and best practices to ensure Airbnb businesses operate within legal confines.

Community and Networking: Join a thriving community of like-minded entrepreneurs. Benefit from regular webinars, Q&A sessions, and networking events to share experiences, challenges, and success stories.

For a detailed overview of BNB Syndicate's offerings and to understand how they are reshaping the Airbnb entrepreneurial journey, please visit https://www.bnbsyndicate.org/.

About BNB Syndicate:

BNB Syndicate is a beacon of excellence in Airbnb education. With a commitment to offering actionable, in-depth strategies, the organization has been instrumental in guiding numerous entrepreneurs towards achieving remarkable success in the short-term rental arena.

Media Contact:

STEVEN BILLMAN

[email protected]

@stevenbillmas

BNB Syndicate

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178848
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Coloured Ties Capital Inc. (TSXV: TIE) (OTC Pink: APEOF) (FSE: 97A0) ("CTI" or the "Company"), today announced the preliminary results of its substantial issuer bid ("SIB"), pursuant to which the Company offered to purchase for cancellation up to $3,750,000 of its common shares ("Shares"). The SIB expired at 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on Monday, August 28, 2023.

In accordance with the terms and subject to the conditions of the SIB and based on the preliminary calculations of Computershare Investor Services Inc. ("Computershare"), as depositary for the SIB, the Company expects to take up and pay for approximately 2.5 million Shares at a price of approximately $1.20 per Share, representing an aggregate purchase price of $3,000,000.

An aggregate of approximately 2.5 million Shares were validly tendered and not withdrawn pursuant to auction tenders at or below the purchase price and purchase price tenders.

The number of Shares to be purchased, the proration factor and the purchase price referred to above are preliminary, remain subject to verification by Computershare and assume that all Shares tendered through notice of guaranteed delivery will be delivered within the two trading day settlement period. Upon take up and payment of the Shares purchased, the Company will release the final results.

The full details of the SIB are described in the offer to purchase and issuer bid circular dated July 18, 2023, as amended by the Notice of Variation dated August 9, 2023, as well as the related amended and restated letter of transmittal and amended and restated notice of guaranteed delivery, copies of which were filed and are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell the Company's shares.

For further information please contact:

Coloured Ties Capital Inc.

Kal Malhi Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179096
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Danavation Technologies Corp. (CSE: DVN) (OTCQB: DVNCF) ("Danavation" or the "Company"), the only North American-founded and headquartered technology company providing micro e-paper displays, is pleased to provide a corporate update highlighting some recent notable events and progress with installations that will help set the stage for 2024.

"Danavation has continued to make progress and secure new installation contracts as the hard work our team has put in over the last few years has really helped build momentum and propel the Company forward," said John Ricci, CEO of Danavation. "With multiple retailers recognizing the benefits of deploying our solution, we see the opportunity to continue securing full rollouts of our Digital Smart LabelsTM and feel we are well positioned with a low-risk, service-first value proposition driven by management's 25-plus year relationships with large retail and grocery brands across Canada and the US."

Since our go public event in early 2021, Danavation has continued to expand our presence across various markets, geographies and industries with the offering of our innovative Digital Smart Labels". Our sales team has been actively marketing the Company's platform-as-a-service ("PaaS") solution to prospective new clients and brands, and we have been successful in capturing additional market share across North America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Today, more than 35 retailers, brands and other businesses leverage Danavation's Digital Smart Labels" and PaaS technology to enhance their efficiencies, streamline logistics and control costs.

Setting the Stage for Incremental Growth

Danavation has continued to gain traction in new markets across North America and Mexico, and we have onboarded retailers that span in size from local family-owned businesses to large, multi-national corporations. The Company looks forward to further building on this momentum through 2024 as we drive towards the ultimate goal of positive cash flow and profitability.

We are pleased to provide updates on previously announced installations as outlined below.

Rabba Fine Foods - With 35 local markets across the GTA and a track record of serving over 100,000 verified customers daily, Rabba Fine Foods offers everything you'd expect and more within their 24-hour locations including fresh produce, deli counters, hot & ready foods, dairy, bakery and other essential supplies for home or work. Since late 2022, Rabba Fine Foods has benefitted from an initial partial installation of Danavation's technology solution within one of their 35 locations. Given the success and return on investment realized from only a partial installation of our automated and sustainable price label solution, Rabba has confirmed their intention to outfit the full store with our Digital Smart Labels" and PaaS technology. Based on the experience to be gained from this full store installation, Rabba will then determine the future rollout plan for the remaining locations in its portfolio.

Impulsora (Mexico) - We are pleased to confirm that the full roll-out of our technology solution continues across all Impulsora locations, as announced on November 30, 2022. Facilitated by our partnership with Unoretail, a marketing and distribution provider of networking and Point-of-Sale systems to retailers in Mexico, we anticipate finalizing the full roll-out within the first half of 2024. Impulsora is Mexico's largest distributor of electrical and lighting equipment and have a large and fast-moving inventory with more than 100,000 square metres of warehouse space located throughout Mexico. Impulsora has realized tangible benefits from using our Digital Smart Labels", which drove their decision to complete a full rollout to all stores across Mexico.

Nature's Emporium - Following our announcement on May 17, 2023 that confirmed Nature's Emporium was advancing the first of up to seven locations across southwestern Ontario, we are pleased to confirm installation is expected to be completed in early September, with Danavation's solution going live immediately thereafter. Predicated on success with this initial launch, we see potential for a full rollout to the six additional locations in the future. Nature's Emporium is a leading health food market with four locations in Ontario, Canada and two more opening before the end of 2023. As part of its mission to offer customers a wide variety of natural health foods, products and essentials, Nature's Emporium stocks a vast array of SKUs (stock keeping units) including natural and organic foods, vitamins, supplements, gluten-free offerings, traditionally raised grass-fed meats, natural skin care, cosmetics, home supplies and sustainable, eco friendly clothing.

Additional Notable Achievements

During our most recent fiscal year ended July 31, 2023 and through the first quarter of 2024 to date, we have successfully expanded our geographic reach to include new jurisdictions that include Mexico, Nova Scotia, the Yukon, Ohio, Texas, Arkansas, North Dakota and Missouri, among others, and Danavation plans to continue expanding our market presence across North America and around the world as part of our strategy execution. We are in the process of opening a new sales office in Chicago, Illinois which is designed to support further expansion into the US market, and we have continued to enhance our sales and marketing team with the addition of sales resources and more targeted campaigns.

Danavation intends to continue executing on growth opportunities that can help drive long-term value and remains focused on securing high-quality clients that offer access to multiple locations, which can enhance exposure and underpin our pursuit of long-term profitability. We will also continue to evaluate compelling new hardware and software solutions which can further contribute to Danavation's long-term portfolio value and help fuel our growth, sustainability and shareholder value creation into future years.

About Danavation

Danavation Technologies Corp. is the only North American-founded and headquartered technology company providing Digital Smart Labels" and a software Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution that enables companies across various sectors to automate labelling, price, product, and promotions in real-time. Danavation's Digital Smart Labels" enhance data accuracy and improve performance by removing high labour costs and low productivity typically associated with traditional labour-intensive workflows. Our goal is to create a sustainable and profitable business for shareholders while advancing sound environmental, social and governance practices, including by significantly reducing paper usage. Danavation has introduced its solution to retailers across North America, including big box and boutique grocers, while also targeting new markets including healthcare providers, manufacturing, and logistics companies. Learn more about the background of Danavation and our vision for the future on our website. As well, follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for more updates on how we are transforming the retail landscape.

For further information, please contact:

John Ricci

President & Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

Kyle Nazareth

Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 905-605-6702 | [email protected]

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward

Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward

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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178935
Jakarta, Indonesia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - ELITERY today announced that it has received the 2023 Google Cloud Public Sector Partner of the Year Award for APAC.

Elitery Google Cloud Partner APAC



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ELITERY was recognized for their achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping joint customers in Indonesia leverage Google Cloud's advanced services for seamless digital transformation and efficient management of mission-critical systems, benefitting millions of users daily.

"Google Cloud's partner awards recognize the significant impact and customer success that our partners have driven over the past year," said Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate Vice President, Global Ecosystem and Channels at Google Cloud. "We're delighted to recognize ELITERY as a 2023 Google Cloud Partner Award winner, and look forward to a continued strong partnership in support of our mutual customers."

Kresna Adiprawira, as the President Director of Elitery, said, "Winning the Google Cloud Public Sector Partner of the Year award for the Asia Pacific region is a significant achievement for Elitery, and it reflects the company's dedication and expertise in the field of cloud services and solutions for the public sector.

"Strengthened by our partnership with Google Cloud, we remain committed to serving public sector clients in implementing digital transformation across the Asia Pacific region. This recognition is a testament to our capabilities and serves as an inspiration for future endeavors in driving positive change through technology and innovation in the public sector."

Elitery Google Cloud Partner APAC



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ELITERY has a strong track record of delivering high-quality solutions to the public sector and empowering its customers with robust digital protection solutions to safeguard their data and operations. In 2022, Elitery supported numerous public sector clients by efficiently implementing and migrating their on-premise infrastructure, ensuring high capacity, uninterrupted access, and data confidentiality to enhance clients' efficiency and productivity.

About Elitery:

Elitery is a leading provider of innovative IT solutions and managed services, specializing in hybrid cloud management. With a focus on helping organizations optimize their cloud infrastructure, enhance operational efficiency, and achieve digital transformation goals, Elitery has extensive experience in hybrid cloud deployments. Under the leadership of CEO Kresna Adiprawira, Elitery is committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences and driving tangible business outcomes.

For further information, please contact:

Astrid Erawan

Corporate Secretary

PT. Data Sinergitama Jaya

The Manhattan Square Tower B Lt. 22,

Jl. TB Simatupang, RT.3/RW.3, East Cilandak, Pasar

Minggu, South Jakarta City, Jakarta 12560

Telephone: (021) 7511004

PR Agent:

Stankevicius MGM

business.stankeviciusmgm.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178983
Sells Interest in Oakley Project for US$1 Million Cash

Update on Convertible Debenture Restructuring and Asset Portfolio

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Excellon Resources Inc. (TSX: EXN) (OTCQB: EXNRF) (FSE: E4X2) ("Excellon" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Excellon Idaho Gold Inc. ("Excellon Idaho"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Excellon, has entered into a definitive agreement (the "Purchase Agreement") with Centerra (U.S.) Inc. ("Centerra"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centerra Gold Inc. to sell Excellon's remaining minority interest in the Oakley Project ("Oakley") for US$1 million in cash.

Highlights

Liquidity update: Sale of Oakley will provide Excellon with US$1 million in cash. Excellon expects to arrange an additional up to US$1 million in liquidity from non-dilutive sources, targeting early Q4 2023.

Debenture restructuring: Continuing discussions with debentureholders on a potential restructuring, repricing and extension of existing convertible debentures.

Excellon asset portfolio update: Oakley Project: Successful monetization through sale of remaining minority interest to Centerra. Kilgore Project: Update on 2022 drill results in Q3 2023 and reassess exploration program for 2024. Silver City: Creation of a new Europe-focused precious and base metals explorer, leading with the 340 km 2 Silver City land package, one of the largest mineral tenures in Saxony, Germany. Mexico Operations: Exploring strategic options following wind-down of Platosa.



Shawn Howarth, President and CEO of Excellon, commented, "First, we are pleased to reach an agreement with Centerra on the sale of Oakley. By selling Oakley, Excellon secures necessary financial liquidity in the short term while mitigating future cash outflows that would otherwise be required to maintain pro forma interest in the project."

Mr. Howarth added, "Excellon's future growth is currently underpinned by its core assets, the Kilgore and Silver City projects. The Company sees tremendous value potential in both assets and has invested significant capital and effort to advance these projects, at a time when the Excellon narrative was overshadowed by headwinds at our Mexican operations and the wind-down of Platosa. With Kilgore, we see significantly greater exploration potential and are excited to be able to announce 2022 drill results shortly. With Silver City, we see optionality in a district-scale exploration growth story, or the ability to capitalize on expected market trends as new Europe-focused exploration opportunities begin to emerge."

Sale of Oakley

Excellon Idaho, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Excellon, has entered into the Purchase Agreement with Centerra to sell its remaining 30% minority interest in Oakley for US$1 million paid in cash.

Immediately prior to the execution of the Purchase Agreement, Centerra had earned into a 70% interest in Oakley by spending US$7 million in exploration expenditures since 2020. As per the terms of the earn-in agreement with Centerra, Excellon would be required to fund future expenditures on a 70%/30% pro rata basis. If Excellon chose to waive its pro rata expenditures, the Company would be diluted to an effective 2% net smelter returns royalty on Oakley.

The completion of the transaction is subject to customary conditions for a transaction of this nature, including the receipt of necessary regulatory and third party approvals. The transaction is expected to close prior to September 30, 2023.

Debenture Restructuring Update

The Company is in advanced discussions with debentureholders representing approximately 662/3% of the aggregate principal amount of the 5.75% secured convertible debentures of the Company (the "Debentures") on a potential restructuring, repricing and further extension of the Debentures. While all parties are committed to seeing an agreeable outcome, there can be no guarantee such agreement will be reached, or the terms of such agreement.

The Company will continue to provide further updates when available.

Capital Resources, 12-month Outlook and Next Steps

Current Liquidity

By early Q4 2023, the Company expects to have up to US$2 million in liquidity available through the sale of non-core assets, German VAT receivables and other non-dilutive sources of financing under review.

These proceeds will be used to restructure accrued payables, unsecured liabilities and fund ongoing near-term working capital.

The following 12-month plan is subject to obtaining additional financial resources and therefore expectations for the projects may change based on market conditions. While the Company does not anticipate selling or liquidating further assets, there can be no assurance additional financing will be received, or the timing of obtaining additional capital.

12-month Outlook

Management believes in the value potential of the Company's core assets and that the following plans are executable and can return value to Excellon shareholders, upon successful completion.

Kilgore Project, Idaho

Kilgore is an advanced exploration-stage project located in Clark County, Idaho. A preliminary economic assessment was completed on Kilgore in 2019 that demonstrated potential as a low-cost, open pit, heap-leach mining operation1. The Company acquired Kilgore for approximately US$20 million in 2020 at a time when the average gold price was approximately US$1,600/oz.

Management sees greater upside potential for Kilgore in a renewed focus on exploration and the potential for mineralization growth. During the summer of 2022, Excellon embarked on a phase one drill program testing high-grade structure within the existing pit, and continuity of mineralization into the Aspen formation. The Company plans to release the remainder of assays pending by end of September. A second phase of the drill program will test known step-out areas and continue to refine targets for further mineralization growth.

Financing additional work at Kilgore is contingent on raising additional equity, proceeds from asset sales or an exploration joint venture on the project. The Company will provide further updates on financing in due course.

Silver City Project, Germany

Silver City, in the heart of the "Ore Mountains of Germany", is comprised of four mineral licenses totalling 340 km2. Excellon's focused drill program in 2021 and 2022 invested approximately C$8 million in exploration expenditures including over 22,000 metres.

Saxony Germany is an area incredibly rich in a wide range of mineralization including both precious and critical minerals such as lithium, graphite, cobalt and other EV minerals previously considered uneconomic. As modern mining and processing techniques are applied to these critical mineral veins, the exploration potential in Saxony Germany is shifting. The Silver City project is located at the heart of this activity.

Excellon was successful intersecting high-grade silver, lead and zinc epithermal vein mineralization. The potential exists, however, that additional mineralization could be discovered and modern exploration techniques allow the Company to efficiently explore beyond where historic regional mining took place.

Excellon believes this is an opportune time to be exploring for minerals in Europe. The European framework for minerals investment is rapidly changing to support domestic supply security2 and the new "Saxon Raw Materials Strategy" was recently published supporting the importance of promoting a local mining industry3.

Excellon will continue to assess the market for a spin-out of the project. Priorities with a spin-out are to raise sufficient capital to adequately fund the next exploration campaign and a valuation that justifies return on historical exploration capital. Excellon maintains excellent relationships with the local government and as the holding costs for Silver City are exceptionally low relative to other exploration jurisdictions globally, Excellon has the benefit of optionality and timing to successfully deliver the project into the capital markets.

Mexico Operations

The Company holds two mineralized properties in Mexico. The Platosa mineral concessions are located approximately five kilometres north of the town of Bermejillo and 45 kilometres north of the city of Torren. The historically mined deposit consisted of a series of high-grade carbonate-replacement deposits (CRD) occurring as mantos. The Evolucion Property covering 310 km2 covers a 17 km strike along the Fresnillo trend, hosting epithermal quartz veins proximal to the San Sebastian Mine.

As the Platosa Mine was placed on care and maintenance in early Q4 2022, the Company is assessing its strategic options, including the potential sale of select properties or complete divestiture of the Mexico operations. The Company will provide further updates on the Mexico operations as necessary.

Annual Meeting of Shareholders

The Company also announces that it has been granted a further extension by the Toronto Stock Exchange to hold its annual meeting of shareholders by no later than November 10, 2023. The Company will provide further details regarding its annual meeting in due course.

About Excellon

Excellon's vision is to realize opportunities through the acquisition of advanced development or producing assets with further potential to gain from an experienced management team for the benefit of our employees, communities and shareholders. The Company is advancing a portfolio of silver, base metals and precious metals assets including Kilgore, an advanced gold exploration project in Idaho; and Silver City, a high-grade epithermal silver district in Saxony, Germany with 750 years of mining history and no modern exploration.

Additional details on Excellon's properties are available at www.excellonresources.com.

For Further Information, Please Contact:

Excellon Resources Inc.

Shawn Howarth, President & Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained, referenced or incorporated by reference in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as: "actively", "advance", "anticipated", "assess", "believe", "cause", "commence", "completion", "conditions", "consideration", "continues", "development", "due course", "expectation", "exploration", "extend", "extension", "flexibility", "focused", "forbearance", "forward", "further", "future", "if", "implement", "liquidity", "looking", "maturity", "may", "negotiations", "occur", "opportunities", "options", "outcome", "outstanding", "potential", "providing", "reach", "restructuring", "risk", "subject to", "to be", "update", "vision", "waive", "when", "will", and "would", or variations of such words, and similar such words, expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results can, could, may, should, to, will, would (or not) be achieved, occur, provide, result, complete or support in the future or which, by their nature, refer to future events. In some cases, forward-looking information may be stated in the present tense, such as in respect of current matters that may be continuing, or that may have a future impact or effect. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the terms of and completion of the sale of its remaining interest in Oakley; the status of discussions with respect to a potential restructuring of the Debentures; liquidity initiatives and future financial health; interim financing options; corporate development and strategic opportunities (including divestitures, merges or spin offs of the Company's assets) and purpose or outcome thereof; the timing and ability of the Company to complete the sale of its remaining interest in Oakley; the timing and ability of the Company to receive necessary regulatory and third party approvals for the sale of its remaining interest in Oakley; Excellon's vision and advancement of its portfolio; and any updates to the market regarding any of the foregoing. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct, and any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future actions, results or performance. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions, which are considered reasonable and represent best judgment based on available facts, as of the date such statements are made. If such assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions prove to be incorrect, actual and future results may be materially different than expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors which may cause the actual results or performance of the Company to be materially different from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors include, among others, the failure to complete the sale of Oakley, the inability of the Company to satisfy the conditions precedent to the sale of Oakley, including the receipt of necessary regulatory and third party approvals, the termination of the Purchase Agreement, the inability of the Company to further advance discussions with respect to a potential restructuring of the Debentures, the "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated March 31, 2023 (the "2023 AIF"), and the risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors identified in this news release, the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis, and accompanying financial statements, for the year ended December 31, 2022 and quarters already ended in 2023, and the Company's other applicable public disclosure (collectively, "Company Disclosure"). The foregoing list of risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors is not exhaustive; readers should consult the more complete discussion of the Company's business, financial condition and prospects that is provided in the 2023 AIF and the other Company Disclosure. The forward-looking statements referenced or contained in this news release are expressly qualified by these Cautionary Statements as well as the Cautionary Statements in the other Company Disclosure. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release (or as otherwise expressly specified) and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

________________________

1 Source: Independent Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment, Kilgore Project, dated August 26, 2019.

2 European Critical Raw Materials Act, March 16, 2023 (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/document/print/en/ip_23_1661/IP_23_1661_EN.pdf)

3 Saxon Raw Material Strategy (https://publikationen.sachsen.de/bdb/artikel/29774/documents/43489)

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178970
The United States is closely watching the situation in Gabon following a military coup, the latest in a series of undemocratic power seizures in Africa, the White House said Wednesday.

"It's deeply concerning. We were going to watch this closely, and we're going to continue to do everything we can to support the idea of democratic ideals that are expressed by the African people," said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

Rebel officers in the oil-rich central African state announced earlier Wednesday they had seized power following disputed elections, in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba had been declared victor.

The political demise of Bongo -- who has been placed under house arrest along with other top officials, according to the new military regime -- fits a pattern of coups in French-speaking Africa in recent years.

In Mali, Burkino Faso and latterly Niger in the northwest Sahel region, new military governments have taken openly hostile positions towards France, tapping into resentment felt by many locals about the former colonial power and its ongoing influence.

"Official France -- its army, its diplomatic representatives -- are being literally chased out of countries in the Sahel," Jean-Herve Jezequel, an expert on the region at think tank the International Crisis Group told AFP.

In Gabon, the views and politics of the new military regime remain unknown, with the head of the Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, thought to be at its head.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online

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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Meryllion Resources Corporation (CSE: MYR) ("Meryllion" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a marketing consulting agreement as of August 28, 2023 (the "Agreement") with Jemini Capital ("Jemini"), a Canadian-based consulting firm, for corporate development, marketing and financing services. Pursuant to the Agreement, Jemini will provide investor relations, corporate communications and consulting services to the Corporation.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Jemini will receive a monthly retainer fee of CAD$4,000 and stock options to purchase 500,000 common shares of the Company at a price of CAD$0.07 per share for a period of 24 months. The Agreement term commences immediately and continues for a period of three months. The Agreement also remains subject to the final acceptance of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE"). Jemini is at arm's length to the Corporation, and neither Jemini nor any of its principals have an ownership interest, directly or indirectly, in Meryllion or its securities.

Jemini is a full-service merchant bank advisory firm with extensive experience in assisting natural resources and tech companies in marketing and financing. Since its inception in 2014, Jemini and its client issuers have been a part of CAD$400 million plus in debt and equity financings, acquisitions, and divestitures. The team consists of experienced former bankers, marketing specialists and professional investors with a broad range of skill sets that cater to the Company's advisory requirements. The group has a strong network of following of over 30,000 across North America, Asia, and Europe.

The Corporation also wishes to announce that it has borrowed the sum of AUD$50,000 (CAD$43,665) (the "Loan") from Croesus Mining Pty Ltd., a company controlled by Mr. David Steinepreis, a director of the Company. The Loan is unsecured, bears no interest and is repayable in full on or before August 28, 2024.

The Loan is a related party transaction pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). With respect to the Loan, the Company has relied on the exemption from the valuation requirement pursuant to Section 5.5(b) (issuer not listed on specified markets) of MI 61-101 and from the minority shareholder approval requirement prescribed by Section 5.7(1)(a) (fair market value not more than 25% of market capitalization) of MI 61-101.

There is no undisclosed material information by the Company. The Company has at least one independent director, and all independent directors have approved the Loan.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Richard Revelins

Director and Chief Executive Officer

Meryllion Resources Corporation

+1-310-405-4475

[email protected]

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Although Management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such.

Neither 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 release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179133
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Record Resources Inc. (TSXV: REC) wishes to reissue its press release from August 28, 2023 with certain clarifications. The company is pleased to report that it has entered into a non-binding and arm's length agreement to acquire preferred shares from a private equity fund that owns and is developing a gold exploration property in Djibouti, Africa.

The non-binding agreement is with the African Minerals Exploration & Development Fund III Sicar (AMED Fund III) registered in Luxembourg and Red Sea Gold B.V. and Nurtureex B.V., both of Utrecht, Netherlands. Red Sea and Nurtureex are AMED's operating entities and are the developers of the Djibouti gold project. These parties collectively control 69% of Thani Stratex Djibouti Limited (TSDL). It is TSDL that holds the mining claims in Djibouti.

AMED Funds is a group of private equity funds that have invested in various mineral projects in Africa, some of which have already been successfully sold to third parties. AMED Fund's team is composed of highly experienced professionals in the mining and exploration industry with an impressive track record and network of partners.

The sponsoring partner of AMED Funds is Rudolph de Bruin, an international mining industry veteran with decades of successful mining and exploration experience, who was recently involved in a consortium that acquired Canada Fluorspar (NL) Inc and its fluorspar mine in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland.

There are no finder's fees and new insiders being created. A definitive agreement, which may not occur, will need to be executed to complete the transactions between the parties.

Pursuant to the execution of a definitive agreement, Record will acquire half of AMED's preferred shares in the Djibouti project in return for investing US$7.5 million in exploration and development expenses over a three-year period. A first investment of US$2.5 million is due 12 months following execution of the agreement and at the two consecutive 12-month anniversaries thereafter.

In addition, a co-operatorship agreement, to govern the development of the property, will also be entered into following the execution of the definitive agreement and once Record has made a first investment of US$1 million. Record will also hold a First Right of Refusal on the asset enabling it to bid on a takeover before another party following the execution of the definitive agreement.

The preferred shares to be acquired by Record constitutes half of the preferred shares to be owned by AMED Funds. Following the transaction, AMED Funds will own 69 percent of the Djibouti project. Following the earning of its interest, Record will own half of the preferred shares and AMED Funds will own the other half. Furthermore, the preferred shares have a conversion feature which prescribes that the holder receive a maximum of two times their investment before a distribution is made to other shareholders at the time of a sale or buy-out and then convert into common shares on a 1:1 basis.

AMED and, in turn Red Sea Gold and Nurturex own 69 % of Thani Stratex Djibouti Ltd (TSDL) a private, British Virgin Islands registered company with Exploration and Reconnaissance Permits in The Republic of Djibouti. TSDL was formed by AMED and other investors to develop the Djibouti opportunity.

TSDL has built a portfolio of permits in the Republic of Djibouti and been successful at advancing their development quickly. According to James Wilson, (geologist, NMDG, Krugersdorp, South Africa) in a non-compliant NI 43-101 work report produced in 2022, indicated that US$11 million has been spent on the property to date and 15,000 metres of exploration drilling has been completed.

Kenogami East Transaction

Record Resources Inc. (formerly known as Record Gold Corp and Silk Road Energy Inc.) wishes to clarify omissions from its news release of August 10, 2022.

Omitted from the previous disclosure is that, as part of the Kenogami East transaction, Melba Mining Company Ltd. owns a 2% Net Smelter Royalty (NSR) on the asset. Half of this NSR can be purchased by Record Resources for $500,000.

The company stands by its original disclosure that the Kenogami East transaction with Melba Mining Company Ltd. constitutes an asset acquisition. The purchase price, as previously disclosed, is one million shares of the company and a cash payment of $50,000. This transaction has closed.

Grenfell Transaction and Special Meeting of Shareholders

On September 6, 2023 the company will hold a Special Meeting of Shareholders to approve: (1) The Grenfell Gold Property transaction; (2) The purchase price of the transaction.

As previously disclosed (February 23, 2023 news release) the non-arms-length transaction with Pelangio Exploration Inc is pursuant to a conveyance agreement executed on August 23, 2022. Record Resources has agreed to exchange its option agreement with Pelangio Exploration Inc. (PX.V) in return for 40 million shares of Record Resources at a price of $0.05 per share. The Grenfell transaction requires the approval of the company's disinterested shareholders. This vote follows the submission of the NI 43-101-compliant geological report to the TSX Venture Exchange and shareholders.

Qualified Person:

Edward Procyshyn, P.Geo, a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

For more information please contact:

Michael C. Judson, Chairman & CEO

Record Resources Inc.

T. +1-514-865-5496

Website: www.recordgoldcorp.com

Cautionary Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes", an or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would" , "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: approval of the Private Placement and obtaining a full revocation order. This forward-looking information reflects the Company's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to the Company and on assumptions the Company believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to: the market acceptance of the Private Placement; the ability of the Company to obtain a full revocation order and the receipt of all required approvals in connection with the foregoing. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; general capital market conditions and market price for securities; and the delay or failure to receive board, shareholder, court or regulatory approvals. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. 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 does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change.

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

The Units and the securities comprising the Units have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirement. This news 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 the Unites States, or any other jurisdiction, in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

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/179150
Soul Tribes One of Pioneers in Use of Psychedelics for Mental Health Therapy

Detroit, Michigan--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Soul Tribes International ("Soul Tribes" or "Organization") a 508(c)(1)(a) non-profit pioneer in the use of psychedelic therapy and spiritual healing to address the nation's mental health crisis, today announced that the grand opening of its first psychedelic church and sacrament dispensary in Michigan will take place this Labor Day weekend, September 2-4. The dispensary will one of the many features of the soon-to-be renovated 60,000 square foot Bushnell Congregational Church located at 15000 Southfield Road Detroit, MI 48223.





Bushnell Congregational Church in Detroit, Michigan

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9676/178999_08b667d124957bfb_001full.jpg

As the first of its kind in the Midwest, the new dispensary will provide individuals with access to safe and carefully curated psychedelic sacraments aimed at offering profound healing experiences. Soul Tribes firmly believes in the potential of these natural substances to address mental health challenges and promote personal growth. In fact, Soul Tribes' visionary founders played an integral role in the passing of Detroit's Proposition E (2021), which decriminalized plant-based medicines for therapeutic purposes and authorized the commercialization of related therapy services in Detroit.

"We are thrilled to unveil our first psychedelic church and sacrament dispensary in Detroit, representing a significant step forward in our mission to provide healing and transformative experiences to those in need," said Shaman Shu, Founder and CEO of Soul Tribes International Ministries. "There is significant research showing psychedelics can be highly effective in treating depression, addiction, trauma and anxiety, and we believe that by offering safe access to these sacred medicines, we can make a meaningful impact on mental health within our community."

The grand opening of the psychedelic church and sacrament dispensary in Detroit, MI, will bring together members of the Soul Tribes community, local leaders, and likeminded individuals dedicated to mental health and holistic wellbeing. Visitors can expect a welcoming environment staffed by knowledgeable experts committed to providing guidance and support throughout their healing journey.

Soul Tribes International Ministries invites all individuals interested in the therapeutic potential of psychedelic sacraments to join the grand opening celebration. The event promises to be a unique opportunity to experience firsthand the groundbreaking work being done by the institution.

About Soul Tribes International Ministries

Soul Tribes International Ministries (www.soultribes.org) is a 508(c)(1)(a) non-profit tax-exempt organization at the forefront of psychedelic therapy and spiritual healing for mental illness. We are dedicated to facilitating healing and growth within individuals and communities through traditional indigenous practices, including plant medicine, sound therapy, breathwork, and ceremonial work. We acknowledge the profound impact of trauma on the lives of millions of Americans and are committed to expanding access to scientifically and spiritually validated healing practices that empower individuals to overcome the debilitating effects of trauma through transformative, holistic experiences. For additional information please visit www.soultribes.org and join the tribe.

For investor or media inquiries, please contact:

Soul Tribes Investor Relations

Phone: 313-777-SOUL

Email: [email protected]

# # #

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178999
Scottsdale, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - TriStar Gold Inc. (TSXV: TSG) (OTCQX: TSGZF) ("TriStar" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed the first tranche of its non-brokered private placement previously announced on August 2, 2023 (the "Offering"). A total of 12,738,231 units of the Company were sold under the first tranche of the Offering, at a price of Cdn $0.13 per unit for gross proceeds to the Company of Cdn $1,655,970. Each unit is comprised of one common share of the Company and one-half of one transferable share purchase warrant. Each full warrant is exercisable for one common share of the Company at an exercise price of Cdn $0.20 per share and a three-year term-to-maturity.

The Company is also pleased to announce it has increased the size of the Offering to a maximum of up to 24,799,769 units, for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of up to Cdn $3,223,970. The Company paid no commission or finder's fees on the Offering.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to advance the permitting of the Company's 100% owned Castelo de Sonhos property and for general working capital purposes.

All securities issued in connection with the first tranche of the Offering are subject to a four-month hold period expiring on December 31, 2023 in accordance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). The Offering is subject to the final approval of the Exchange.

Nicholas Appleyard, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Company, and Jessica Van Den Akker, a Director of the Company, participated in the Offering by subscribing for 769,231 units by Mr. Appleyard and 77,000 units by Ms. Van Den Akker, which constitute related party transactions pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). There has not been a material change in the percentage of the outstanding securities of the Company that are individually owned by Mr. Appleyard or Ms. Van Den Akker as a result of their participation in the Offering. The Company is exempt from the requirements to obtain a formal valuation and minority shareholder approval in connection with the participation of the insiders in the Offering in reliance of the exemptions contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, respectively, as the fair market value of the insider participation does not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization as determined in accordance with MI 61-101. The Company obtained approval by the board of directors of the Company to the Offering, with Mr. Appleyard and Ms. Van Den Akker declaring and abstaining from voting on the resolutions approving the Offering with respect to each of their participation in the Offering. No materially contrary view or abstention was expressed or made by any director of the Company in relation thereto.

Early Warning Disclosure

Auramet Capital Partners, L.P. ("Auramet") acquired 1,400,000 units at a price of Cdn $0.13 per unit pursuant to the Offering, for a total subscription price of Cdn $182,000. As a result, Auramet acquired 1,400,000 shares and 700,000 warrants. Auramet is providing the following disclosure pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues ("NI 62-103") with respect to its ownership of more than 10% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company on a partially-diluted basis.

Immediately prior to the first tranche of the Offering, Auramet beneficially owned, and had control and direction over, 25,000,000 shares and warrants exercisable for 12,500,000 shares, representing approximately 9.80% of the outstanding shares on an undiluted basis and 14.01% on a partially-diluted basis, assuming the exercise of the warrants held by Auramet, based upon 255,128,672 shares outstanding prior to the first tranche of the Offering.

Immediately after the first tranche of the Offering, Auramet beneficially owns, and has control and direction over, 26,400,000 shares and warrants exercisable for 13,200,000 shares, representing approximately 9.86% of the outstanding shares on an undiluted basis and 14.09% on a partially-diluted basis, assuming the exercise of the warrants held by Auramet, based upon 267,866,903 shares outstanding upon completion of the first tranche of the Offering.

The units were acquired by Auramet for investment purposes only, and in the future, Auramet may acquire additional securities of TriStar, dispose of some or all of the existing securities it holds or will hold, or may continue to hold its current position, depending on market conditions, reformulation of plans and/or other relevant factors. Auramet intends to subscribe for an additional 12,061,538 units in the second tranche of the Offering.

An early warning report (the "Report") will be filed by Auramet pursuant to NI 62-103 on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca under the profile of TriStar. To obtain a copy of the Report, please contact Scott Brunsdon, Chief Financial Officer of TriStar, at TriStar's address at 7950 East Acoma Drive, Suite 209, Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 or by telephone at 480.794.1244.

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.

About Auramet

Auramet Capital Partners, L.P. is an investment affiliate of Auramet International, Inc. ("Auramet International"), one of the largest physical precious metals merchants in the world with over $20 billion in annual revenues and which provides a full range of services to all participants in the precious metals supply chain. Auramet International is a private company established in 2004 by seasoned industry professionals who have assembled a global team of industry specialists with over 350 years combined industry experience. Their business consists of three main activities: physical metals trading, metals merchant banking (including direct lending) and project finance advisory services. The company has built a consistently successful and prominent franchise in the metals space on the back of an experienced management team that has proven to be innovative and capable of delivering the highest quality service to participants in the sector. In fiscal year 2022 it purchased over 5 million ounces of gold, 78 million ounces of silver and 3.9 million ounces of PGMs, and has provided term financing facilities in excess of $950 million to date. Auramet is looking to grow its capital investment business in equity, royalties and streams in the precious metals and battery-related metals mining space. Auramet International is proud to have been awarded a Gold Medal for its ESG commitment by EcoVadis, the most trusted provider of ESG ratings with a network of more than 90,000 rated companies.

For more information on Auramet, please visit www.auramet.com.

About TriStar

TriStar is an exploration and development company focused on precious metals properties in the Americas that have the potential to become significant producing mines. The Company's current flagship property is Castelo de Sonhos in Par State, Brazil. The Company's shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol TSG and on the OTCQX under the symbol TSGZF. Further information is available at www.tristargold.com.

On behalf of the board of directors of the Company:

Nick Appleyard

President and CEO

For further information, please contact:

TriStar Gold Inc.

Nick Appleyard

President and CEO

480-794-1244

[email protected]

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements under Canadian securities legislation which are not historical facts and are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects" or "it is expected", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements in this press release include all statements regarding the planned use of proceeds of the Offering, final closing of the Offering and the total amount of the Offering. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's reasonable expectations and business plan at the date hereof, which are subject to change depending on economic, political and competitive circumstances and contingencies. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause a change in such assumptions and the actual outcomes and estimates to be materially different from those estimated or anticipated future results, achievements or position expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's plans to change include risks related to regulatory approval including obtaining the final approval of the Exchange to the Offering, changes in demand for and price of gold and other commodities (such as fuel and electricity) and currencies; changes or disruptions in the securities markets; legislative, political or economic developments in Brazil; the need to obtain permits and comply with laws and regulations and other regulatory requirements; the possibility that actual results of work may differ from projections/expectations or may not realize the perceived potential of the Company's projects; risks of accidents, equipment breakdowns and labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions; the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated expenses in development programs; operating or technical difficulties in connection with exploration, mining or development activities; the speculative nature of gold exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities of grades of reserves and resources; and the risks involved in the exploration, development and mining business. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/179093
Turnium announces full repayment of term loan to FirePower Capital, engagement of digital communications service provider Blue Summit Ventures and listing approval on Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "E48"

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 29, 2023) - Turnium Technology Group Inc. (TSXV: TTGI) (FSE: E48) ("Turnium" or "the Company"), an industry leader in cloud-native software-defined wide area networking solutions (SD-WAN), is pleased to announce its financial results for Fiscal Q3 2023. All financial information is provided in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

The Consolidated Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023, are available on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

Derek Spratt, CEO of Turnium commented, "In the third quarter of fiscal 2023, the Turnium team continued its focus on rightsizing the corporate balance sheet, repaying the approximate $2 million Term Loan in full to Firepower Capital and recapitalizing the business to execute on its growth strategy. We are very excited about Turniums future and remain focused in growing the customer base, introducing new products and expanding our geographic sales footprint, and managing costs in a fiscally responsible manner. I am happy to report that the many improvements to our business have translated to a record third quarter."

Fiscal Third Quarter 2023 Highlights:

Revenue in the third quarter increased to $1.48 million, compared to $1.12 million in the third quarter of 2022;

in the third quarter increased to $1.48 million, compared to $1.12 million in the third quarter of 2022; Gross Margin in the third quarter was $0.917 million, compared to $0.831 million in the third quarter of 2022;

in the third quarter was $0.917 million, compared to $0.831 million in the third quarter of 2022; Total Expenses in the third quarter decreased to $1.5 million, compared to $2.2 million in the third quarter of 2022;

in the third quarter decreased to $1.5 million, compared to $2.2 million in the third quarter of 2022; Net Loss in the third quarter decreased to ($0.75) million, compared to ($3.3) million in the third quarter of 2022;

in the third quarter decreased to ($0.75) million, compared to ($3.3) million in the third quarter of 2022; Number of Common Shares Outstanding (basic) at the end of the third quarter 2023 was 68,935,614.

Fiscal Quarter Financial Highlights:

The Company's key financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2023, are as follows:

Canadian Dollars For the three

months ended

June 30, 2023 For the three

months ended

March 31, 2023 For the three

months ended

December 31, 2022 For the three

months ended

September 30, 2022 Total revenue 1,476,342 1,185,056 1,293,613 1,370,438 Gross margin 916,845 886,540 926,400 1,038,438 Total Expenses 1,512,661 2,089,325 1,593,229 2,586,146 Net comprehensive

income (loss) (745,223) (1,201,843) (398,953) (1,315,884)

Weighted average number

of common shares

outstanding 68,935,614 68,865,009 68,865,009 61,613,713 Basic and diluted loss per

common share (0.01) (0.02) (0.01) (0.02)

Special Notes:

It is anticipated that revenues and expenses may vary, perhaps materially, from quarter to quarter due to several factors, including changes in product mix, costs related to planned increase in market share, global expansion costs and ongoing corporate development initiatives. Although revenues may fluctuate from quarter to quarter, and such fluctuations may be material, management expects that revenues will increase year over year.

There are no known trends or seasonal impacts on the Company's business although seasonal trends may develop as the Company grows.

Additional Fiscal Third Quarter 2023 Highlights:

May 25, 2023: Turnium and Damen IT Deliver a Disruptive Starlink Solution for Point-to-Point Communications across the Netherlands and Germany

Damen IT deploys Turnium to aggregate and bond multiple Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite links from Starlink with multiple LTE connections to deliver faster communications and operational continuity for businesses, field operations, and organizations operating in off-net, remote areas. Read Full Release

May 18, 2023: Turnium Technology Group Inc. Signs Amended Loan Agreement with FirePower Capital

Turnium announces it has entered into a fourth amending agreement with affiliates of FirePower Capital ("FirePower") to extend the maturity date of Turnium's FirePower Term Loan from March 31, 2023 to July 31, 2023. Read Full Release

May 17, 2023: Turnium Announces Closing of First Tranche of Unsecured Convertible Note Offering

Turnium closes first tranche of non-brokered private placement of unsecured convertible notes for aggregate gross proceeds of up to CAD$1,000,000 (the "Offering"). The first tranche closing of the Offering was comprised of the issuance of unsecured convertible notes in the aggregate principal amount of $276,500 (the "First Tranche Closing"). Read Full Release

May 5, 2023: Turnium Extends Exclusivity Period of Non-Binding Letter of Intent with ActivePort

Turnium announces that the counterparty to the Potential Transaction is ActivePort Group Ltd. (ASX: ATV), an Australian software company ("ActivePort"). The parties have extended the exclusivity period for negotiation of definitive documents through to May 31, 2023. Read Full Release

May 4, 2023: Turnium and Metro Lightspeed Announce New Partnership Agreement - Introducing Next Generation Internet Connectivity Solutions to the Malaysian Market and Asia Pacific Region

Metro Lightspeed SDN BHD, an existing Turnium Channel Partner signs a new 60-month licensing agreement, enhancing wireless, POS and business connectivity solutions for the Malaysian and Asia Pacific Market. Read Full Release

April 11, 2023: Turnium and Comms365 Announce Preferred Partnership Agreement - Introducing Next Generation Internet Connectivity Solutions to the United Kingdom Market

Comms365 Limited signs 24-month Preferred Partner licensing agreement with Turnium valued at over $500,000, enhancing managed service delivery, IoT applications and reliable connectivity for U.K. businesses. Read Full Release

April 3, 2023: Turnium Technology Group Creates Special Committee to Review Non-Binding LOI to Acquire the Shares of the Company

Turnium enters into a non-binding letter of intent (the "Non-Binding LOI") with respect to a potential share purchase transaction (the "Potential Transaction") with one of its publicly listed strategic partners. Final structure and terms of the Potential Transaction not yet been finalized. Read Full Release

Subsequent Highlights to the Fiscal Third Quarter:

August 22, 2023: Turnium Technology Group, Inc. Announces Closing of Second Tranche Non-Brokered LIFE Offering For Gross Proceeds of C$479,000

Turnium closes its Second Tranche non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") of 4,790,000 units of the Company (each, a "Unit") at a price of C$0.10 per Unit (the "Issue Price") for gross proceeds of C$479,000. The Offering was completed pursuant to the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption. Read Full Release

August 9, 2023: Bahrain's Gulf Wireless City Implements Turnium Software to Further Monetize AI, Smart Building Technology, Security, Home Automation, and Wireless Solutions.

Turnium announces that Gulf Wireless City has implemented Turnium's SD-WAN software technology to deliver business connectivity, high quality voice calls over internet, and reliable and secure multi-carrier managed connections in Bahrain. Read Full Release

August 3, 2023: Turnium Technology Group, Inc. Announces Closing of Brokered and Non-Brokered LIFE Offering For Gross Proceeds of C$3 Million

Turnium closes its brokered and non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") of 30,210,000 units of the Company (each, a "Unit") at a price of C$0.10 per Unit (the "Issue Price") for gross proceeds of C$3,021,000. The Offering was completed pursuant to the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption. Read Full Release

July 31, 2023: Turnium Technology Group, Inc. Provides Update Regarding Previously Announced Brokered LIFE Offering For Up to C$3.5 Million

Turnium files a Second Amended Offering Document with respect to its commercially reasonable efforts private placement basis offering (the "Offering") of units of the Company (each, a "Unit") under the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption. Under the final terms of the Offering, the Units will be issued at a price of C$0.10 per Unit (the "Issue Price") for gross proceeds of a minimum of C$3,000,000 and a maximum of C$3,500,000. Read Full Release

Engagement of Digital Communications Service Provider

Turnium also announces that it has entered into an agreement with Blue Summit Ventures, an arm's-length party to the company, to provide marketing services to enhance its social media and digital marketing functions.

Blue Summit will oversee the Company's social media campaigns, harnessing the power of various platforms to raise awareness of Turnium, engage with stakeholders, and communicate the Company's ongoing advancements in the SD-WAN market. Blue Summit has agreed to provide digital communications services to the company in exchange for an aggregate amount of $175,000 plus applicable taxes. The services will include continuing social media consultation regarding engagement and enhancement, social sentiment reporting, social engagement reporting, and corporate video dissemination.

The initial term of the Blue Summit agreement is for a period of six months. As of the date hereof, to the Company's knowledge, Blue Summit (including its directors and officers) do not own any securities of the Company.

Frankfurt Stock Exchange Listing

The Company announces that it has been accepted for listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange ('FSE"), under the symbol "E48". The FSE is one of the world's leading international stock exchanges by revenue, profitability, and market capitalization and is the largest of Germany's stock exchanges.

About Turnium Technology Group Inc.

Turnium Technology Group Inc. delivers its SD-WAN solution as a white label, containerized, disaggregated software platform that OEM channel partners host, manage, brand, and price. Turnium is also available to Resellers as a Turnium-branded managed service. Turnium SD-WAN solutions is sold through a channel partner program designed for Communications Service Providers, Internet and Managed Service Providers, System Integrators, and Value-Added Resellers.

For more information, contact [email protected], visit www.ttgi.io or follow us on Twitter @turnium.

About SD-WAN

SD-WAN is revolutionizing the networking and telecommunications industry by abstracting secure, high-speed networking and network control from underlying physical circuits. SD-WAN frees enterprises, small and medium businesses, cloud and managed services providers from the business and cost constraints imposed by traditional telecommunications companies.

# # #

Turnium Contact:

Investor Relations: Bill Mitoulas, Email: [email protected], Telephone: +1 416-479-9547

Media inquiries: please email [email protected].

Sales inquiries: please email [email protected]

www.ttgi.io, www.turnium.com

CAUTIONARY NOTES

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange 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.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain acts, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Some of these risks are described under the "Caution on Forward-Looking Information" section and "Risk Factors" section of the MD&A. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178952
Paid press release content from The Financial Capital. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation.

The expo will be organized by PetZONE360 (PZ3).



PetZONE360 (PZ3) announced the launch of PZ3 Live, a premier annual expo that provides an independent B2B program for attendees to engage in both the veterinary and pet technology markets.

PZ3 Live is an annual veterinary technology-focused expo providing a venue and a community to learn, network, collaborate, and discover the latest advancements in animal health technology.

PZ3 Lives core purpose is to foster technological innovation, discovery, and excellence for the benefit of the animal health industry. The event will offer a VIP & Press Event, followed by emerging technology sessions, an exhibit hall with live product demonstrations, and a capstone Technology & Innovation Awards Night. The conference program will focus on themes such as: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), Data & Communication, Telemedicine, and Practice Management Software.

This unique technology-focused event will take place April 26-28, 2024, at The Expo at World Market Center Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Veterinary professionals and technology businesses worldwide are expected to convene and explore exhibiting companies providing one-on-one and hands-on opportunities that highlights cutting-edge and transformative technologies.

According to CEO and Co-Founder of PetZONE360, Manolita Moore: PZ3 Live aligns with PetZONE360s vision to help improve the lives of animals everywhere. I have been fortunate to be associated with the veterinary industry for decades now, beginning at UC Davis (10 years), WVC now Viticus Group (16 years) and most recently at NAVC (5 years). One of PZ3 Lives goals is to help improve access and delivery of compassionate and thoughtful care in animal health services. I understand veterinary conferences and I want to be able to continue to bring the industry innovative technology solutions and more learning opportunities for the profession. I believe PZ3 Live provides additional value to veterinary professionals and fills this large gap in the market to help unleash access to care.

We invite all future technology-focused veterinary professionals, veterinary clinics, and hospital owners to attend and network with your colleagues who are also eager to discover trending technologies that can increase practice productivity. Attendee registration opens September 5, 2023.

All technology-related companies in the veterinary and pet space are welcome to join, network, and exhibit with us. Sponsorship and advertising opportunities are available. Start-up companies are encouraged. Space is limited. Exhibit registration opens September 5, 2023. Pre-signups are welcome.

A Call for Speakers is now open. Practice owners who want to share their experiences using emerging technologies are encouraged to apply.

Information on the technology awards categories and entry process can be found on our website at http://pz3live.com/technology_awards.

For more information about the event, please visit PZ3 Live or contact Lillian McAnally, PZ3 Chief Editor & Communications Officer at Phone: 800.746.8326, or Email: [email protected].

About PetZONE360

PetZONE360 (PZ3) is the first and most comprehensive marketplace and community platform dedicated to pet parents. It is Americas only platform that features pet shops and services, veterinary centers, and more, all in one place with various resources for pet lovers across North America. To learn more, visit www.petzone360.com.

Contact Info:

Name: Lillian McAnally

Email: Send Email

Organization: PetZone 360, LLC

Phone: 800.746.8326

Website: https://www.petzone360.com



Release ID: 89106180

Should there be any problems, inaccuracies, or doubts arising from the content provided in this press release that require attention or if a press release needs to be taken down, we urge you to notify us immediately by contacting [email protected]. Our efficient team will promptly address your concerns within 8 hours, taking necessary steps to rectify identified issues or assist with the removal process. Providing accurate and dependable information is central to our commitment.
PARSIPPANY, N.J. , Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CherryRoad Media Inc. announced today it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Hutchinson, Kansas , printing operations from Gannett Co., Inc. The printing operation currently prints most of CherryRoad Media's Kansas publications as well as numerous other newspapers in central and western Kansas . All current employees of the Hutchinson plant have been offered continuing employment.

This marks the first acquisition of a printing operation for CherryRoad Media, which entered the newspaper industry in late 2020 with the purchase of the weekly Cook County (MN) News-Herald. It has since grown to publish over 80 newspapers in 17 states, including more than 60 titles purchased from Gannett.

CEO Jeremy Gulban says the company wants to blend new technologies with traditional printed publications to help ensure the future of local newspapers.

"We are very excited to be to be acquiring the Hutchinson printing operation," said Jeremy Gulban , CEO of CherryRoad Media and CherryRoad Technologies. "For almost two years we have worked with the talented team in Hutchinson to print our newspapers. Now we welcome them to our organization. I wish to thank the leadership at Gannett for working with us to create a stable printing solution for newspapers in Kansas and Colorado . This is a good thing for the future availability of printed newspapers in the region."

CherryRoad Media is a wholly owned subsidiary of CherryRoad Technologies, a Parsippany, New Jersey - based technology company that has been in business since 1983. CherryRoad provides complex technical solutions and system integration services to large enterprise customers, particularly state and local government entities.

"We are pleased to have reached this agreement with CherryRoad Media," said Doug Horne , Gannett Chief Financial Officer. "This transaction ensures we continue our mission of providing essential, trusted journalism to the community and that our experienced team at the Hutchinson facility will continue their good work, bringing local news to our audiences."

The transaction is expected to close on September 1, 2023 . Specific terms are not being disclosed. The Hutchinson News is not included in the sale and will continue to be printed at the facility in Hutchinson .

MEDIA CONTACT:

Jennifer Fischer , Deputy Publisher

CherryRoad Media Inc.

732-580-2343

[email protected]

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cherryroad-media-acquires-hutchinson-kansas-printing-operations-from-gannett-301913196.html

SOURCE CherryRoad Technologies Inc.
ComplyCube launches Field Redaction for automated masking of sensitive fields in Document Checks, enhancing UX and privacy compliance.

For improved security, sensitive fields such as Dutch BSN, Singaporean NRIC, Korean RRN, and more can be redacted.

The state-of-the-art AI platform removes sensitive fields from documents, including within QR codes, visual and text elements, and barcodes, for heightened security.

ComplyCube has also recently rolled out Enhanced Document Liveness to combat Presentation Attacks such as screen replays and spoofs.

NEW YORK , Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ComplyCube, the leading global identity verification platform, enhanced its Document Checks solution with automated Field Redaction capabilities. This feature systematically masks sensitive Personal Identifiable Information (PII) fields, such as the Dutch BSN, to assist businesses with global data privacy regulations compliance while maintaining their frictionless user experience.

Based on a study conducted by Deloitte, 71% of businesses forecast a tightening of data protection regulations in the upcoming year. Given the escalating concerns surrounding sensitive data, it's becoming evident that organizations need to move beyond traditional encryption strategies and embrace advanced methods like redaction to ensure full compliance.

Examples of sensitive fields that can be redacted include, but are not limited to:

Dutch Burgerservicenummer (BSN) or Dutch Citizen Service Number

(BSN) or Singaporean National Registration Identity Card Number (NRIC)

(NRIC) Korean Resident Registration Number (RRN)

The National Registration Identity Card is the official ID for Singapore's residents and citizens. It contains sensitive personal data, including financial and criminal records. Each person has a unique nine-digit NRIC Number, essential for many services, such as opening a new bank account. Similarly, the Dutch BSN is a distinct personal identifier designed to facilitate interactions between Dutch citizens and their government. When a business onboards customers, the process can be slower as the user must manually hide these sensitive identifiers.

Sensitive field redaction harmonizes the tension between preserving individual privacy and meeting global compliance mandates. While the Dutch "Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens" (Wbp) and France's " Loi Informatique et Libertes" prioritize citizen data protection, entities such as FINRA and MiFID require comprehensive record-keeping. Redacting sensitive data allows businesses to keep essential records without infringing on privacy rights, bridging the gap between privacy and compliance.

The AI-powered verification platform says that snapshots of documents automatically undergo field redaction and data masking upon capture. Any instances of the fields, even those embedded in QR codes, are removed from the document. This includes areas such as the Visual Inspection Zone (VIZ), Machine Readable Zone (MRZ), and barcodes. For more granular data controls, businesses can customize their own field masking policies.

"In our commitment to user experience and compliance," remarks Mohamed Alsalehi , the CTO of ComplyCube, "we've ensured that sensitive fields are neither stored nor processed by ComplyCube. This approach not only improves the UX but also simplifies customer onboarding, all while strictly adhering to prevailing privacy regulations." During Document Check processing, any redacted text will be blurred out from the images across the API, Web Portal, and reports.

"Catering to our clients' diverse needs is paramount," stated Tarek Nechma, CEO of ComplyCube. "Our Premium and Enterprise Plans offer enhanced customization options, empowering subscribers to seamlessly integrate additional fields into their redaction policy. Our dedicated Support and Account Management teams stand ready to assist in tailoring these strategies, ensuring compliance remains both robust and flexible."

ComplyCube's update to its Document Checks solution comes off the back of the recent Document Liveness enhancement, marking yet another significant stride in their ongoing commitment to bolstering user privacy and efficiency. The Software as a Service (SaaS) company boasts that partner businesses can now expect an even more streamlined and secure experience.

About ComplyCube

ComplyCube is a leading SaaS platform for Identity Verification (IDV), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) & Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance, with a global customer base across financial services, transport, healthcare, e-commerce, cryptocurrency, FinTech, telecoms, and more.

ComplyCube's ISO-certified platform boasts the fastest omnichannel integration turnaround in the market with Low/No-Code solutions, API, Mobile SDKs, Client Libraries, and CRM Integrations.

Visit www.complycube.com to learn more.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197796/Complycube_PII_Redaction.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2148485/4246481/ComplyCube_Logo.jpg

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/complycube-introduces-advanced-pii-redaction-in-response-to-escalating-data-protection-concerns-301913792.html

SOURCE ComplyCube
HOUSTON , Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A notification program began today as ordered by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (the "Court") to alert those who purchased Magic Money for the Astroworld Festival 2021 of refunds available because of a class action settlement. More information is available in the notices and settlement agreement available on the website or by calling the telephone number listed below.

The lawsuit arose after the second day of the Astroworld Festival 2021, which was to take place on November 6, 2021 , in Houston, Texas , was canceled due to a mass casualty event the night before. Plaintiffs state Defendants owed them a refund and other damages because they purchased Magic Money intended for use during both days of the Astroworld Festival 2021. Magic Money was the only payment method for the rides and carnival games at the Astroworld Festival 2021. Plaintiffs asserted various claims against Defendants, including those for breach of contract and deceptive trade practices.

Defendants deny all of Plaintiffs' claims. Specifically, Defendants disagree with the allegations and maintain that they have many defenses and are not liable to Plaintiffs and that Plaintiffs are not entitled to any refunds or other damages. Nevertheless, because litigation would be time-consuming and result in high costs and expenses, Plaintiffs and Defendants have agreed to settle the lawsuit and provide refunds to those who purchased Magic Money for the festival.

Notices informing settlement class members about their legal rights are scheduled to be distributed to some members by email and to be published in the Houston Chronicle, leading up to a hearing on December 1, 2023 , when the Court will consider whether to grant final approval to the class action settlement.

The Court appointed Derek H. Potts , Potts Law Firm, LLP, of Houston, Texas as Settlement Class Counsel to represent settlement class members.

Those affected by the class action settlement can expect to receive certain refunds or reimbursements for their Magic Money purchases, if they are eligible and comply with the applicable claims or dispute processes. Certain deadlines and instructions are subject to change, and the website must be checked for updated information. Alternatively, settlement class members can request to be excluded from or object to the settlement. The deadline to be excluded or object is October 15, 2023 .

More information regarding the case ( Brenda Wong , et al. v. Magic Money LLC, et al., Civil Action No. 4:21-cv-04169, in the United States District Court of the Southern District of Texas) and class action settlement can be attained by calling the Potts Law Firm at 713-963-8881 or by visiting the website at www.magicmoneyrefund.com, where notices and the settlement agreement may be accessed. Those affected may also write to the Potts Law Firm at [email protected].

/URL: http://www.magicmoneyrefund.com

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SOURCE Potts Law Firm
DESIGNATED NEWS RELEASE

VANCOUVER, BC , Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Gold Royalty Corp. ("Gold Royalty" or the "Company") (NYSE American: GROY) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release dated July 31, 2023 , it has completed the indirect acquisition of a 1.0% net smelter return (NSR) royalty (the "Royalty") on portions of the Cozamin Copper-Silver Mine , located in Zacatecas, Mexico , from Endeavour Silver Corp. and its subsidiary ("Endeavour").

Pursuant to the transaction, Gold Royalty indirectly acquired the Royalty for US$7.5 million in cash consideration.

Cozamin is a producing mine operated by Capstone Copper Corp. The Royalty applies to two concessions (Calicanto and Vicochea). Gold Royalty received the option to acquire a 1% NSR royalty on five additional concessions if such royalties are granted to Endeavour in the future. Pursuant to such option, Gold Royalty may acquire such additional royalties, subject to existing rights of first refusal, in exchange for US$300,000 , in the case of the Mise concession and US$50,000 in the case of each other concession. Such option consideration may be satisfied, at the option of Gold Royalty, through the issuance of common shares of the Company.

As announced on July 31, 2023 , the Company's board of directors suspended dividends under its dividend program in connection with the completion of the Cozamin royalty acquisition in order to focus capital on executing its strategic priority of growing cash flow and net asset value per share through accretive acquisitions.

About Gold Royalty Corp.

Gold Royalty Corp. is a gold-focused royalty company offering creative financing solutions to the metals and mining industry. Its mission is to acquire royalties, streams and similar interests at varying stages of the mine life cycle to build a balanced portfolio offering near, medium and longer-term attractive returns for its investors. Gold Royalty's diversified portfolio currently consists primarily of net smelter return royalties on gold properties located in the Americas .

Qualified Person

Alastair Still, P.Geo ., Director of Technical Services of the Company, is a qualified person as such term is defined under National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed in this news release.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information:

Certain of the information contained in this news release constitutes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws ("forward-looking statements"), which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance and achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied therein. Forward-looking statements, which are all statements other than statements of historical fact, include, but are not limited to, statements respecting the Company's strategy and business plans. Forward-looking statements are based upon certain assumptions and other important factors, including assumptions relating to commodities prices and the business of the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including, among others, risks related to risks related to the operators of the projects in which the Company holds interests, risks related to exploration, development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties on any such projects, the influence of macroeconomic developments, the ability of the Company to carry out its growth plans and other factors set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F and its other publicly filed documents under its profiles at www.sedarplus.ca and www.sec.gov. 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. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gold-royalty-completes-acquisition-of-existing-royalty-on-producing-copper-silver-cozamin-mine-301914210.html

SOURCE Gold Royalty Corp.
ABOTA membership is by invitation and based on trial experience, reputation and character

HOUSTON , Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hicks Thomas LLP is pleased to announce that firm partner John B. Thomas has been elected to the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an exclusive group of the nation's leading trial lawyers and judges.

Mr. Thomas was voted into the organization at its national board meeting on August 19 . ABOTA membership is by invitation. Members must have extensive experience as a trial lawyer and have tried at least 10 civil jury trials to a conclusion. Members must also exhibit civility, integrity and professionalism.

"It is an honor to receive an invitation to join this very respected group of trial lawyers," said Mr. Thomas . "Nothing is more important than the preservation of our right to a civil jury trial, and it is something special to be invited to join an organization created with that mission in mind."

Mr. Thomas , who co-founded the firm in 1997, represents clients from a wide range of industries and backgrounds, including banking and finance, energy companies, health care, manufacturing, sales and transportation. He has earned recognition by The Best Lawyers in America for his work in commercial litigation, has been selected to Texas Super Lawyers every year since its inception and has earned repeat honors from Benchmark Litigation. Mr. Thomas has also been named to Lawdragon's list of 500 Leading Lawyers in America and 500 Leading Litigators in America. He is also listed as one of the leading lawyers in the country by the prestigious Chambers USA and has an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubble.

Founded in 1997, Texas -based Hicks Thomas LLP is a premier litigation firm representing plaintiffs and defendants across the nation. With offices in Houston , Austin , Beaumont , Amarillo , and Sacramento, California , the firm provides in-depth experience in cases involving oil and gas, environmental, complex commercial, toxic tort, construction, products liability, corporate governance, securities, banking, insurance coverage, transportation, trade secrets and business litigation. Visit the firm at http://www.hicks-thomas.com.

Media Contact:

April Arias

[email protected]

800-559-4534

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SOURCE Hicks Thomas LLP
Parker's appointment is a significant milestone as Kanarys strives to help organizations integrate their DEIB efforts into sustainable, impactful business practices.

DALLAS , Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kanarys, Inc. , a leading diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) technology company focused on providing the tools organizations need to create long-term systemic change around DEIB challenges, announces today the appointment of Melonie D. Parker , chief diversity officer at Google, Inc., to its Board of Directors.

Parker is an award-winning C-suite leader who brings more than three decades of experience delivering measurable impact and equitable outcomes for communities across the globe. As a dedicated advocate for diversity and inclusion in corporate environments, she has been the driver of Google's commitment to addressing the tech industry's talent pipeline in its workforce as well as fostering diversity amongst emerging entrepreneurs. Prior to Google, Parker was the first Black woman to serve as the Vice President of Human Resources and Communications at Sandia National Laboratories, and she held a variety of progressive leadership roles over a 17-year period at Lockheed Martin.

"As someone who has dedicated my career to fostering inclusion and empowering workplaces, I look forward to working with Kanarys to drive DEIB impact across industries on a global scale," said Melonie Parker , chief diversity officer at Google, Inc. and member of the board of directors at Kanarys. "With data being key to sustaining DEIB progress and commitment, Kanarys has set the standard in creating measurable DEIB solutions, by harnessing its data-driven approach to building a more equitable future for all workplaces."

"At Kanarys, our work is centered around the significance of a data-driven DEIB strategy because it enables organizations to identify and address systemic inequities, foster inclusive workplace environments, and drive meaningful change," said Mandy Price , co-founder and CEO at Kanarys. "With her expertise in leveraging data to propel Google's employee engagement strategy within DEIB, Melonie Parker brings invaluable experience and knowledge to our team. Under her expert guidance, we will further Kanarys' innovative data-driven platform and provide the framework that companies need to deliver comprehensive DEIB strategies that truly cultivate inclusive workplaces."

In just five years, Kanarys has grown from an idea to a category industry leader in DEIB used by notable companies such as Yum! Brands, Silicon Labs, the Chuck E. Cheese Corporation, 7-Eleven, Neiman Marcus, and several other Fortune 500 companies. The organization has also established strategic partnerships with leading national advocacy groups including INROADS, Prospanica, and the National Urban League. Despite Black women receiving, less than 1% of venture capital funding , Price has raised more than $10.5M in venture capital funding to help companies advance and measure DEIB within their organizations. With their Series A round closing in February 2023 , she joined less than 20 Black female founders who have raised more than $10M .

"Kanarys remains at the forefront of providing data-driven DEIB solutions for companies around the world," stated George Spencer III, senior managing director of Seyen Capital, the lead investor in Kanarys' Series A financing round. "As companies adapt to increased regulations and reporting standards around environmental, social, and governance (ESG) on a global scale, it's more critical than ever that companies have the necessary DEIB data to effectively support and retain their employees. With Melonie's impressive three decades of experience in leading DEIB initiatives, Kanarys is well-positioned to advance their data-driven solutions and provide the data that organizations need to comply with required ESG and DEIB disclosures."

"Kanarys' innovative data-driven approach to DEIB has fueled its impressive growth," said Chuck Stormon , managing partner for StartFast Ventures and Kanarys investor. "Adding Melonie to Kanarys' Board of Directors will propel the company forward in its mission to create more inclusive and accessible companies where everyone belongs. Her extensive experience and outstanding track record across multiple industries will play a crucial role in providing the necessary guidance to drive Kanarys forward."

About Kanarys

Kanarys is a technology company focused on providing the tools organizations need to create long-term systemic change around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) challenges. Working alongside mid-size enterprises and Fortune 500 companies, Kanarys transforms DEIB work with data by providing the framework, benchmarking, and data companies need to incorporate best-in-class DEIB into every area of the organization. Like a canary in the coal mine, Kanarys helps organizations ensure healthy work environments by revealing DEIB blindspots before they become a problem. For more information on Kanarys, visit www.kanarys.com .

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SOURCE Kanarys, Inc.
ST. LOUIS , Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kolker Law Firm has achieved a significant victory for our client, securing a $150,000 verdict in an auto accident case. The jury awarded the damages after a trial, marking a substantial win for the client who was injured in a collision caused by the defendant's reckless lane change.

The accident occurred when the defendant abruptly changed lanes, causing the plaintiff's vehicle to rear-end the defendant's. This collision resulted in severe shoulder injuries to the plaintiff, leading to surgery five years post-accident.

Despite the clear negligence of the defendant, the insurance company initially refused to pay the $100,000 policy limits. However, they offered to pay the full policy limits just before the trial. This offer was rejected, and the case proceeded to trial.

The jury's decision reaffirms the principle that negligent drivers must be held accountable for the damage they cause. We are pleased with the verdict and feel it accurately reflects the pain and suffering our client endured as a result of the defendant's negligence.

The jury recognized the long-term impact of the client's injuries and awarded $150,000 in damages, significantly more than the original policy limit offered by the insurance company.

This verdict is a testament to our unwavering commitment to fighting for justice for our clients and helping our clients obtain the best possible case results. We will continue to stand up against insurance companies and hold them accountable for fair compensation for accident victims.

How Our Personal Injury Attorneys Can Help You

When you've been in an accident or suffered an injury, the personal injury attorneys at Kolker Law Firm are your best ally. With over 30 years of collective legal experience, our attorney specializes in personal injury cases, including car accidents, slip and fall incidents, train accidents, truck accidents, and more.

We understand that each case is unique, which is why we provide personalized service to ensure that your needs are met. Our attorneys have experience that encompasses more than court trials; we also excel at negotiating with insurance companies.

Whether you need help negotiating or litigating your case, our firm is equipped to help you fight for your right to fair compensation. Trust Kolker Law Firm to help you navigate through this tough time, as we strive to protect your rights and secure the best possible outcome for your case.

Interested in retaining our experienced attorneys? Call (314) 684-8285 or complete our online contact form today.

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SOURCE Kolker Law Firm
CLEVELAND , Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland will showcase the agency's efforts to revolutionize air travel at a free event on Wednesday, Sept. 13 . NASA Aviation Day will be open to the public and take place from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the I-X Center.

This event will showcase a variety of aviation projects underway at Glenn and other NASA centers, including the Quesst mission with the X-59, electrified aircraft propulsion and other sustainable aviation technologies, and new ways to move people and cargo using advanced aircraft systems.

"NASA's research in aeronautics provides benefits for all humanity," NASA Glenn Aeronautics Research Director Tim McCartney said. "This event is an opportunity for us to share what NASA is doing to lead the way with sustainable aviation technologies and how we're partnering with industry to accomplish the aviation community's climate change agenda to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050."

Attendees will have the opportunity to explore innovative NASA-developed technology and hardware, as well as experience NASA Glenn capabilities firsthand through interactive displays. K-12 students will also be able to participate in STEM activities.

The event aims to connect with members of the public, including business professionals. NASA Glenn Technology Transfer Program representatives will be available to discuss opportunities for businesses and startups to license patented NASA technologies.

NASA Glenn's Pilatus PC-12 aircraft will also be on display during the event. The PC-12 and its crew are conducting research that will help pave the way for a safe and mobile future where air taxis and drones can occupy airspace with airliners and other aircraft.

Panel sessions will provide an overview of NASA's mission to advance future commercial air travel through ultra-efficient airliners, improved airspace safety, high-speed flight, and advanced air mobility. The event also will highlight how businesses, entrepreneurs, and college students can access NASA technologies through educational and business partnership opportunities.

NASA Aviation Day is part of the 2023 Energy & Mobility Conference and Expo, a NASA-supported event that brings together professionals from around the globe to focus on advancing the energy and mobility sectors with modern technology.

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SOURCE NASA
PBNA, PepsiCo Foundation and its Food for Good platform donated backpacks with school supplies and healthy, shelf-stable meals to 240 students in the Cincinnati Public School District

PURCHASE, N.Y., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the North Division of PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA) hosted a "Back-to-School PEP Rally " to help 240 underserved PK-6 students at William H. Taft Elementary School in Cincinnati get a jumpstart on the school year by providing necessary school supplies, backpacks, and nutritious meals to fuel their minds and bodies. Cincinnati Bengals alum Anthony Munoz joined the event to get students motivated and excited for a fun and successful new school year.

According to The National Retail Federation's 2023 back-to-school spending survey1, families with children in grades K-12 said they expect to spend an average of $890 on school items this year, about $25 more than last year. In addition, according to a report from the School Nutrition Association2, one in eight children in America live in food insecure homes. This can pose risks to a child's health and development, leading to long-term social and behavioral challenges. PBNA's Back-to-School PEP Rally events aim to address this urgent need and help provide children with the resources they need to thrive in a new school year.

Adelante, PBNA's Hispanic employee resource group, leveraged its members to volunteer at the event, providing backpacks and school supplies directly to students. In addition to the supplies, each student received a bag of shelf-stable meals provided through the PepsiCo Foundation's Food for Good program. Food for Good is the PepsiCo Foundation's global platform for advancing food security and ongoing commitment to make nutritious food accessible for more people.

"At PepsiCo, we are committed to supporting the communities where we live and work. During this pivotal back-to-school time, we want to make sure each student has what they need for a positive start to the school year," says Richard Glover , President, North Division of PepsiCo Beverages North America. "We are proud to be able to make a meaningful difference for families and hope it helps build a great school year ahead for these students."

During the Back-to-School PEP Rally held at the William H. Taft Elementary School in Cincinnati , children met with Cincinnati Bengals alum Anthony Munoz and enjoyed food provided by a local PBNA foodservice partner in Cincinnati .

PBNA hosted its inaugural Back to School PEP Rally backpack distribution event in Miami followed by an event in Philadelphia in August 2023 and will be hosting additional events in the Northeast at schools in Newark, N.J. , Pittsburgh, PA ; and Boston, Mass. to benefit more than 2,000 students overall in these high need communities by September 2023 .

Stay up to date on the latest PepsiCo news and products by visiting pepsico.com and following @pepsico on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $86 billion in net revenue in 2022, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo.

About the PepsiCo Foundation and Food for Good

Food for Good is the PepsiCo Foundation's global platform for advancing food security and making nutritious food accessible. As a contributor to meeting pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) commitments, Food for Good has delivered more than 270 million meals to more than 46 million people around the world. Learn more at www.pepsicofoodforgood.com.

Media Contacts:

Corey Manuel

[email protected]

Noelle Gorbunoff

[email protected]

1 Cullen, Katherine. (2023). Back-to-Class 2023. National Retail Federation.

2 (2023). School Meal Statistics. School Nutrition Association.

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SOURCE PepsiCo
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. , Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tenant, Inc., the only purpose-built SaaS technology platform company which offers a complete ecosystem tailored to the self-storage industry, will be exhibiting at Booth #361 of the Self Storage Association (SSA) Fall Conference & Expo.

This year's Self Storage Association (SSA) Fall Conference & Expo takes place September 5-8, 2023 , at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada . The SSA Fall Conference & Expo is one of the largest annual self-storage events, with educational sessions and exhibits for self-storage operators and investors.

Visitors to the Tenant, Inc. booth will be able to see how Tenant, Inc.'s self-storage software platform performs as a turn-key, holistic system which facilitates anything from online rentals, promotions, and facility automation to protection plans and payment processing. The result is an easy-to-use property management and website experience to help self-storage owners reduce costs and increase profits.

Tenant, Inc. staff will be available to book in-person meetings and product demos both during and around regular trade show hours.

Attendees visiting the Tenant booth will also be among the first to see the newly released Revenue Management Automation features within Tenant's Hummingbird Property Management System, which allow self-storage operators to set rates and rents based on occupancy levels and other customizable factors.

"We created the Tenant, Inc., platform to integrate all the components a self-storage operator needs into an intuitive software platform, while simultaneously delivering a seamless consumer rental experience," said Lance Watkins , Tenant, Inc.'s CEO. "Our solution elevates self-storage operators out of the mode of buying one disjointed technology after another to run their business, in favor of a single solution that meets all their needs."

Tenant, Inc.'s goal has always been to provide its customers with freedom and choice in their software and to enable profitability. Tenant's open platform is designed to create customizable solutions through a suite of products that optimize how owners run their businesses, and customers always own their data.

Also featured at Tenant, Inc.'s booth #361 will be Storelocal, a membership community created and led by self-storage operators. Storelocal provides solutions for members to compete on a much larger scale, from community membership to brand licensing.

About the Self Storage Association (SSA)

For more than 40 years the Self Storage Association (SSA) has served as the official trade organization and voice of the U.S. and international self storage industry. The national SSA is formally affiliated with 40 state associations within the United States . In addition to its U.S. relationships, the SSA is affiliated with 9 international organizations representing another 12,000 self storage facilities worldwide. The SSA sponsors two national events each year. In September, industry professionals gather in Las Vegas for the SSA Annual Fall Conference & Trade Show, and the Spring Self Storage Conference & Trade Show located in various cities east of the Mississippi.

To learn more about the SSA Fall Conference, please visit selfstorageevents.org

About Tenant, Inc.

Tenant Inc. offers a cloud-based, all-in-one digital technology platform purpose-built for the self-storage industry. Tenant, Inc. provides a single platform of software as a service (SaaS) products, self storage website, and technology solutions that give self storage operators everything they need to run their business across point of sale, operations, and online rentals.

To learn more, please visit tenantinc.com

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SOURCE Tenant Inc.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. , Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In an industry landscape marked by downsizing and challenges, The Money Store is breaking new ground with a strategic hiring initiative that positions it as a beacon of growth and innovation. This dynamic move welcomes John Palmiotto , a seasoned industry leader, to the company's C-suite as the Chief Production Officer.

John Palmiotto joins The Money Store with a distinguished career spanning 28 years, marked by outstanding leadership and accomplishments. His most recent role as the Chief of Retail Production at Guaranteed Rate showcased his ability to manage and inspire a salesforce of over 2,000 sales professionals for nearly 6  years. Prior to this, he made a profound impact during his 11-year tenure as Midstates Divisional President at Prospect Mortgage.

A driving force in the industry, John Palmiotto has consistently demonstrated his ability to lead teams and companies toward success. His vision aligns with The Money Store's commitment to providing a unique and thriving environment for loan officers to excel in current market conditions.

"I'm excited to be part of the Money Store and to help build upon the success of this storied franchise. I believe many loan officers are looking for a different experience to succeed in this market and the Money Store provides a great alternative for them. Excited to be part of the team!", John states.

With the strategic addition of John Palmiotto , The Money Store solidifies its position as an industry powerhouse, determined to attract top-level talent and steer the company toward an even brighter future.

About The Money Store

The Money Store is a direct mortgage lender located in Florham Park, New Jersey , and is licensed in 47 states. The company offers a wide range of mortgage programs to meet the needs of homeowners while also providing low rates and superior customer service. The Money Store's online-based service model includes a secure application process that tracks every step from inquiry to closing. Visit them online at www.themoneystore.com. For inquiries, contact Peter Alvarez ([email protected]) or call (973) 295-3511.

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SOURCE The Money Store
SHANGHAI , Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Yum China Holdings, Inc. ("Yum China" or the "Company") (NYSE: YUMC and HKEX: 9987) today announced that it will host an Investor Day on September 14-15, 2023 in Xi'an, China . The two-day event will feature presentations from the Company's management and question and answer sessions as well as visits to its restaurants, logistics center and digital center.

Presentations will begin at 8:30 a.m. Beijing / Hong Kong time on Thursday, September 14, 2023 ( 8:30 p.m. US Eastern time on Wednesday, September 13, 2023 ). A live webcast of the presentations will be available on the day of the event. For additional information and registration details, please visit http://todayir.com/webcasting/yumc2023/. A replay of the webcast and presentation slides will also be available on the Company's website at http://ir.yumchina.com following the event.

About Yum China Holdings, Inc.

Yum China is the largest restaurant company in China with a mission to make every life taste beautiful. The Company has over 400,000 employees and operates over 13,000 restaurants under six brands across 1,900 cities in China . KFC and Pizza Hut are the leading brands in the quick-service and casual dining restaurant spaces in China , respectively. Taco Bell offers innovative Mexican-inspired food. Yum China has also partnered with Lavazza to develop the Lavazza coffee concept in China . Little Sheep and Huang Ji Huang specialize in Chinese cuisine. Yum China has a world-class, digitalized supply chain which includes an extensive network of logistics centers nationwide and an in-house supply chain management system. Its strong digital capabilities and loyalty program enable the Company to reach customers faster and serve them better. Yum China is a Fortune 500 company with the vision to be the world's most innovative pioneer in the restaurant industry. For more information, please visit http://ir.yumchina.com.

Investor Relations Contact:

Tel: +86 21 2407 7556 / +852 2267 5801

[email protected]

Media Contact:

Tel: +86 21 2407 7510

[email protected]

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SOURCE Yum China Holdings, Inc.
Gabon President Ali Bongo makes a statement through a video message, after the Gabon military had seized power, at an unknown location, in this screen grab taken from a social media video released on August 30, 2023. Video Obtained by REUTERS/via REUTERS

By Edward McAllister

DAKAR (Reuters) - In an ornate chair, surrounded by expensive furniture and artefacts, Gabon's ousted President Ali Bongo pleaded in a video on Wednesday for allies to "make noise" after a military takeover that threatens to end his family's nearly 60 years in power.

Noise may be all he gets.

If successful, Wednesday's coup in Gabon would be the eighth in West and Central Africa in three years. The other seven have one thing in common: none have succumbed to international efforts to overturn them.

Widespread condemnation, or the threat of military intervention, have done little to unseat coup leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger and Chad since 2020. Sanctions on some of those countries have hit ordinary citizens and appear to have only hardened resistance to outside interference and bolstered popular support for the various juntas.

With world powers short of new ideas, and with Gabon's government already dissolved and its borders shut, security analysts see little chance that Bongo's pleas will come to anything. That, they say, might embolden other would-be military putschists in the region.

"The danger is that all these coups show the inability of the international community to restore democratic rule," said Maja Bovcon, senior Africa analyst at London-based risk firm Verisk Maplecroft. "I dont have much hope that this time round things will work differently."

Wednesday was supposed to be a day of celebration for Bongo.

Minutes before the coup announcement, Gabon's election authority declared him the emphatic victor of Saturday's election. The win would have handed him a third term in office and extended the Bongo dynasty, which began when his father Omar took power in 1967.

Instead, he appeared stuck, powerless, in his residence.

"Nothing is happening. I don't know what is going on. I am calling on you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise. I am thanking you," he said in the video.

COUP CONTAGION

How regional and international powers will react is not yet clear. The African Union and the United States said they are following events with concern. France condemned the coup.

But of the many high-profile international condemnations, none publicly called for Bongo himself to be reinstated - a stark difference to the aftermath of the July 26 takeover in Niger where some called for ousted President Mohamed Bazoum to be restored to power.

At home, anger towards Bongo, who was handpicked to succeed his father in 2009, had simmered for too long. Elections in 2016 were widely seen in the international community as fraudulent and sparked deadly violence.

Critics say Gabon's oil wealth circulated solely among the Bongo family and its allies while many lived in poverty, and that corruption was rife. Saturday's elections were followed by a shutdown of the internet and of international news stations.

The triggers for the Gabon coup were different to those in the Sahel countries further north, where insecurity caused by Islamist militants has done much to sway public opinion. But the impact is probably similar, in that it could lead to more coup attempts against long-standing rulers in the region.

In neighbouring Cameroon, President Paul Biya has ruled for over 40 years, maintaining his hold on power through sham elections and heavy-handed crackdowns on the opposition.

President Denis Sassou Nguesso has ruled Congo Republic for a total of 38 years. He changed the constitution in 2015 to extend term limits and was re-elected with 88% of the vote in 2021.

"If you look at some of the governments that have fallen to coups in Africa, these are undemocratic governments that are unpopular and that use the military to leverage power," said Ryan Cummings, director of analysis at South Africa-based Signal Risk.

"When you look around the region, a few other examples come to mind."

(Reporting by Edward McAllister; editing by Mark Heinrich)
FILE PHOTO: Bintou Keita, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Congo and Head of United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), pays tribute to the U.N peacekeepers

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - At least six protesters and one policeman were killed in the eastern Congolese city of Goma on Wednesday when a demonstration against the U.N. peacekeeping mission and other foreign organisations turned violent, the Congolese army said.

Since 2022, the United Nations MONUSCO mission has faced protests spurred partly by complaints that the peacekeepers have failed to protect civilians against years of militia violence.

Organisers had called for the demonstration to be peaceful, but images circulating on social media showed men and women in civilian clothes armed with sticks and stones beating a policeman tied up on the ground. Reuters was unable to verify the images and footage independently.

The Congolese army said in a statement that six protesters had been killed in the ensuing violence and 158 were arrested.

A U.N. source said the death toll was at least eight, including two soldiers and a policeman.

An anti-MONUSCO protest in July 2022 resulted in more than 15 deaths, including three peacekeepers in Goma and the city of Butembo.

Years of rebel conflict and recurrent natural disasters have helped fuel a humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo. Around 5.5 million are displaced in Goma's province of North Kivu and neighbouring provinces, according to U.N. figures.

(Reporting Djaffar Al Katanty, Erikas Mwisi Kambale and Fiston Mahamba; Writing by Sonia Rolley; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian and Grant McCool)
Rena Murshud

France, which has been pursuing a colonial policy for many centuries, is already experiencing the disintegration of its quasi-empire in modern era. This is especially noticeable among the African states that were once crushed under French rule.

It should be noted that France is the first country among several EU countries that formed the African colonial plan. And due to the colonial activity that it began in 1524, it kept under the wing of its empire more than 20 countries in the west and north of Africa. Thus, 35% of Africa remained under French control for 300 years. In addition to using people as slaves, the French exploited all the natural resources of the region. We will not be mistaken if we say that French colonialism is considered the largest genocide in the history of mankind. Because the name of France is in the first place among the countries in the West that cause the death of millions of people.

France is also one of the centers of such problems as racism, human rights violations, and religious intolerance. Even today, it continues to commit genocide against all Muslims on the basis of racism, in and out of its country.

For example, Ruhullah Mousavi Khomeini was brought to Iran by the hand of France. At present, in Iran, where there is arbitrariness, there is serious pressure on both the Turkish people and the Islamic religion.

In addition, Armenia puts pressure on Azerbaijan and Turkiye, as well as other Turkic states.

As for the countries of the West, a clear example of the disgusting actions of France are the anti-Islamic provocations committed in them (the burning of the Quran, the caricature of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.H), the murder of a Muslim migrant, etc.).

Talking on the above issue, Orientalist-Islamist, Doctor of Philosophy in Theology Mammadali Babashli told to AZERNEWS that the colonial policy implemented by France against the countries located in North Africa was indeed accompanied by great tragedies in human history.

"The first invaded country was Algeria in 1830. According to official figures, this colonialism in Algeria resulted in the murder of 1.5 million people. According to other sources, this number reached 2 million. This process of occupation later encountered resistance from the Algerian people until 1847. Abdul-Qadir, who at that time was a national hero of the Algerian people, led this uprising and fought against the French occupation. Unfortunately, this invasion was due to the weakening of the Ottoman state. France pursued a policy of assimilation with the aim of destroying the religious and national values of the people on the basis of racism and colonialism," the Professor said.

According to M.Babashli, Tunisia was the second country to be invaded by France in 1881. The same colonial policy was carried out there. 31 years later, Morocco became a protectorate under French control. During this period, the French pursued a policy of assimilation in both language and religion.

I want to note that France even issued a postage stamp depicting the massacre in Morocco. At the same time, the occupation policy pursued by Western countries against the Ottoman Empire after the First World War, and the participation of Senegalese soldiers in Istanbul was carried out by France. Unfortunately, France has not drawn and is not drawing any conclusions from all these tragedies. On the contrary, there is a phrase used by contemporary political scientists against Algerians: "You Algerians should be proud to be a colony of France," Babashli added.

The expert noted that, after England, France took second in terms of geographical area among the countries under its colonial rule. France controls a continent of 150 million people. Of course, the plans included the use of the French language in education.

I would like to emphasize that in 1984 when I went to Algeria as a translator, I encountered a strange moment like the concept of 5 years of Arabization. The implication was that under a law passed by France in the 1930s, Algerians who spoke Arabic were punished. Arabic was spoken almost at home or in mosques. For this reason, the population has reached the point that they have forgotten their native language. After Algeria gained independence in 1962, it had already adopted five-year Arabization plans and succeeded in bringing Arabic to the level of the official state language in the country. After the Second World War, during the time of Degol, these colonies began to be liberated. Unfortunately, America did not consider it desirable to completely withdraw France, fearing the strengthening of Soviet influence. It is no secret that France is involved in the state and military coups taking place on the African continent," the professor emphasized.

According to M.Babashli, in order to inform the whole world about these genocides committed by France, we need world historians. In this matter, they have a great responsibility. All these crimes should be investigated in the archives and made public.

"At the moment, work on this is underway. But it needs to be implemented faster and more accurately. On the basis of archival materials, the genocide and massacres organized by the French in these countries should be investigated and translated into different languages and brought to the world community. France should respond to the atrocities it has committed. France must recognize the genocides it has committed and pay compensation to these countries at least in the amount of the damage they have caused," the expert added.

In conclusion, speaking about the current collapse of the French quasi-empire, the expert noted that this is especially noticeable among the African states that were once crushed by French rule.

Undoubtedly, there are quite a lot of citizens in France from North African countries such as Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Instead of integrating them, they are being assembled. This, over time, causes legitimate objections from people. This is a serious problem for France itself, given that the wave of protests, swept in France, has engulfed mainly migrants of African origin. It is the bitter consequences of this colonial policy that France is facing today. To do this, these protests must lead to certain concessions from the state and government. France has no other choice. For the moment, the world community should not remain indifferent to this issue. The fate of these people, who came from former colonial countries, must remain in the spotlight," the expert concluded.
A view shows the grave of Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 30, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) -Followers of mutinous Russian mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin laid flowers, messages and poetry at his grave on Wednesday, hailing him as a fearless warrior after he was killed along with his inner circle in a yet-to-be-explained plane crash.

Prigozhin was buried at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in his home town of St Petersburg on Tuesday away from the glare of the publicity he had courted so ardently in life, after leading his fighters on a dash towards Moscow before turning back.

A man wearing the shirt of his Wagner mercenaries and a cap bearing the Russian flag was among those paying respects at the grave, where red roses and carnations graced a wooden Orthodox cross lablled "Prigozhin, Yevgeny Viktorovich 1961 - 2023".

One tribute beside flowers read: "To be a warrior is to live forever."

"It is a big loss for Russia," said Sergei Abeltsev, a former Russian lawmaker, who visited the grave. "We will feel that loss only later - as always - the realisation of the loss will only come later."

The private jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow killing all 10 people on board on Aug. 23, including Prigozhin, top Wagner commanders, his bodyguards and a crew of three.

The cause is still unclear, but villagers near the scene told Reuters they heard a bang and then saw the jet plummet to the ground.

The plane crashed exactly two months since Prigozhin took control of the southern city of Rostov in late June, the opening salvo of a mutiny which shook the foundations of President Vladimir Putin's Russia.

In life, Prigozhin liked to brag that he was one of the world's most feared mercenaries with the best fighting force.

Opponents such as the United State cast Prigozhin as a brutal commander who plundered African states and meted out sledehammer deaths to those who crossed him.

Though he won the bloodiest battle yet of the Ukraine war for Putin by capturing Bakhmut, Prigozhin became enraged with what he said were the treacherous failings of Putin's military - and warned that Russia could lose the entire Ukraine war.

MUTINY

After months of insulting Putin's top brass with a variety of expletives and prison slang over their perceived failures, Prigozhin marched towards Moscow before turning back 200 km (125 miles) from the capital.

Prigozhin said he simply wanted to settle scores with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, though he also dissected the very justification behind the Ukraine war.

Putin initially cast Prigozhin as a traitor whose mutiny could have tipped Russia into civil war, though he later did a deal with him to defuse the crisis.

The day after the crash, Putin sent his condolences to the families of those killed and said he had known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the chaotic years of the early 1990s.

"He was a man with a difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life," Putin said, while describing him as a talented businessman.

Before the mutiny, Prigozhin had quipped that his nickname should have been "Putin's butcher" rather than "Putin's chef" - a moniker acquired after his catering company won Kremlin contracts.

He said he always professed loyalty to Putin, while branding Shoigu as so incompetent he should executed for his treachery. Shoigu has not responded in public to those insults.

The Kremlin has rejected as an "absolute lie" the suggestion by some Western politicians and commentators - for which they have not provided evidence - that Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed in revenge.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he was not surprised by the death and that not much happened in Russia that Putin was not behind.

After Prigozhin's death, Putin ordered Wagner fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state - a step that Prigozhin had opposed due to his anger at the defence ministry that he said risked losing the Ukraine war.

A picture of Prigozhin frowning and the text of Joseph Brodsky's "Nature Morte" lay on the freshly dug ground of his grave.

"You are nailed to the cross. How will I go home?" the excerpt of the poem said. "Dead or alive - there are no differences."

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Baidu sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song

By Josh Ye and Urvi Manoj Dugar

(Reuters) -Five Chinese tech firms, including Baidu Inc and SenseTime Group, on Thursday launched their artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to the public after receiving government approval, as China's government pushes to widen the use of such products amid competition with the United States.

Baidu, China's leading online search provider, said in a statement that its ChatGPT-like chatbot, Ernie Bot, was now fully accessible to the public. A SenseTime spokesperson told Reuters via email that its chatbot, SenseChat, was also now "fully available to serve all users".

Three AI start-ups, Baichuan Intelligent Technology, Zhipu AI and MiniMax, also announced similar public launches on Thursday.

Shares in Baidu and SenseTime jumped in Hong Kong trade, gaining 2.1% and 2.3% respectively in a broader market that was trading 0.55% lower.

Unlike other countries, China requires companies to submit security assessments and receive clearance before releasing mass-market AI products.

Authorities have recently accelerated efforts to support companies developing AI as the technology increasingly becomes a focus of competition with the United States.

Chinese media reported that a total of 11 firms had received approvals from the government, including TikTok owner ByteDance and Tencent Holdings. Neither company immediately responded to requests for comment about their AI plans.

Baidu's CEO Robin Li said on Thursday that by making Ernie Bot widely available, Baidu would "collect massive amount of valuable real-world human feedback" to further improve the chatbot.

Baidu also plans on releasing a series of "AI-native apps", the company said.

EARLY MOVER ADVANTAGE

It is unclear whether Alibaba has received approval as of this week. But an Alibaba Cloud spokesperson told Reuters that the company had completed filings for its AI model, Tongyi Qianwen, and that the model was awaiting its official launch.

The person also said the company expected the regulators to release a list of companies with approvals within the coming week.

Being the first to market in China is considered critical for the country's cut-throat internet industry. Baidu's Ernie Bot topped the free app category on Apple's App Store in China on Thursday after the announcement.

"I think the ones that got approved have an early mover advantage to be able to fine-tune their product faster than competitors," Kai Wang, an analyst at Morningstar.

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft, is on track to generate more than $1 billion in revenue over the next 12 months, tech-focused publication The Information reported on Tuesday.

The approvals were widely anticipated after China published a set of interim rules aimed at regulating generative AI products for the public that went into effect on Aug. 15.

Previously, companies were only allowed to conduct small-scale public tests of AI products but with the new rules, companies have widened their AI product tests by enabling more features and engaging in more marketing. Prior government approval is not needed for products targeting businesses.

Shawn Yang, an analyst at Blue Lotus Capital Advisors, said the government's move to greenlight AI products could spark consolidation in the industry.

"Many people were rushing into the large language model business," he said, "But the industry may soon consolidate. Only those with data and tech capability will be able to push forward."

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru, and Josh Ye in Hong Kong; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Richard Chang, Brenda Goh, Miral Fahmy, Gerry Doyle and Alex Richardson)
FILE PHOTO: The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks next to Spain's Minister of Defence Margarita Robles (not pictured) at a press conference during the informal EU ministerial meeting on defence in Toledo,

By Andrew Gray and David Latona

TOLEDO, Spain (Reuters) - EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged member countries on Wednesday to order more ammunition for Ukraine, as figures showed the bloc is a long way from a March target of giving Kyiv a million artillery shells within 12 months.

Borrell said over-arching agreements, known as framework contracts, had been signed with arms firms to allow EU member countries to place joint orders for 155 millimetre rounds, urgently needed by Ukraine as it fights Russia's invasion.

"Now it's (up) to the member states to pass concrete orders inside these framework agreements with the industry," Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU defence ministers in the Spanish city of Toledo.

In a landmark step, EU countries agreed in March on a plan worth some 2 billion euros ($2.18 billion) to provide 1 million artillery shells or missiles to Ukraine within 12 months.

The first element involved countries digging into their reserves or buying stock from elsewhere. Borrell said that element had yielded about 224,000 ammunition rounds and 2,300 missiles, worth a total of some 1.1 billion euros.

That means the EU has not even reached a quarter of its target, more than five months after the initiative was launched.

The rest of the shells are meant to come from the second element of the plan - a joint procurement scheme that encourages EU member countries to place orders for Ukraine and to replenish their own stocks, badly depleted by donating to Kyiv.

But with no orders announced so far under the scheme, some EU members are urging the bloc to look at other options.

"We have to ask ourselves... can we do more? And my answer here is clearly that yes, we can," Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told reporters at the Toledo meeting, held at a former arms factory that is now a university building.

Pevkur said the EU needed to look again at digging into members' stockpiles, buying from countries outside the EU and embracing a proposal from Slovakia to refurbish old rounds.

The war in Ukraine has developed into an intense attritional conflict with both sides firing thousands of artillery shells every day, making such rounds a key element on the battlefield and meaning they now are in very short supply across the West.

Pevkur, whose government is a close ally of Ukraine, said Ukrainian forces were sometimes firing 6,000 to 7,000 shells a day but Russia was firing up to 10 times as many.

Slovakian Defence Minister Martin Sklenar said a company in his country was already carrying out refurbishment of artillery rounds that would otherwise be considered too old, and that such a scheme could be extended to other firms and countries.

"We have a small company, we can ... refurbish 12,000 of the ammunition pieces in a month, which could be probably further augmented with other companies getting involved," he told Reuters.

"The companies are able to do this at a rather rapid pace," he said.

With just six months remaining for the EU to hit its target, "we want to make sure that we use to the fullest the capacity that there is (to refurbish shells)," Sklenar said.

($1 = 0.9156 euros)

(Reporting by Andrew Gray; Editing by Nick Macfie)
FILE PHOTO: Passengers wait for their train in front of a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing a ballistic missile off its east coast, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, July 12, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

By Soo-hyang Choi and Josh Smith

SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea conducted a simulated "scorched-earth" nuclear strike on targets across South Korea, state media reported on Thursday, in reaction to allied exercises that it said amounted to plans for a preemptive nuclear attack by the United States.

The state media reports spelled out in unusual detail how the North envisions a potential war, including countering any attack by striking the South with nuclear weapons, then sweeping in to occupy its territory.

"The KPA staged a tactical nuclear strike drill simulating scorched-earth strikes at major command centers and operational airfields of the 'ROK' military gangsters on Wednesday night," the general staff of the North's Korean People's Army (KPA) said in a statement carried by KCNA news agency. ROK is the initials of South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, hours after the U.S. deployed B-1B bombers for allied air drills.

South Korea's presidential office convened a security meeting after North Korea's late-night launch, which followed its second failed attempt last week to put its first spy satellite into orbit.

"These conducts pose threats to peace and stability of not only our country, but of the region and international community, and cannot be tolerated," Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.

Japan will intercept North Korea's missiles if they fly over Japan's territory, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.

Pyongyang has vowed to try launching a satellite again in October. The United States, South Korea and Japan have condemned the space launch as a provocation and violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning the North's use of ballistic missile technology.

The launches late Wednesday came a day before South Korea and the U.S. were set to wrap up 11 days of combined military drills, which Pyongyang has long denounced as a war rehearsal.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday observed part of a drill that involved the commanding officers and staff sections of the entire army, aimed at preparing them for an all-out war with the South, KCNA reported.

The drill simulated repelling a sudden invasion, then launching a counter-attack to occupy "the whole territory of the southern half", the report said.

The simulation included frontline and strategic reserve artillery forces, plans for forming a front behind the enemy lines, disrupting the entrance of "outside armed forces" into the conflict, and "making simultaneous super-intense strikes at the pivotal military command centers, military ports, operational airfields and other important enemy military targets," KCNA said.

"We strongly condemn Kim Jong Un explicitly revealing his intention for a military attack on us using the annual defensive South Korea-U.S. combined drills as a pretext," Seoul's unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs said in a statement.

Kim has been urging his military to step up war preparedness, criticising leaders of the United States, South Korea and Japan as "gang bosses" who increase the risk of a nuclear war in the region.

The North's first missile reached an altitude of 50 km (31 miles) and flew 350 km, while the second one rose as high as 50 km and flew 400 km, Japan's defence ministry said.

(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi and Josh Smith in Seoul, Kantaro Komiya, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Satoshi Sugiyama in Tokyo; Editing by Stephen Coates and Gerry Doyle)
A logo of Salesforce is seen at its exhibition space, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

By Zaheer Kachwala

(Reuters) -Salesforce raised its annual revenue forecast on Wednesday and projected quarterly sales above estimates as it benefits from a recent price hike and resilient demand for its cloud and business software offerings in an uncertain economy.

Shares of the company rose 6% in extended trading.

The results fan optimism about a recovery in technology spending in the second half of 2023 after earnings from major cloud players including Amazon.com and Alphabet-owned Google suggested that the slowdown was nearing an end.

Salesforce has also tried to boost demand by integrating artificial intelligence into its offerings such as Slack and launching a generative AI product called Einstein GPT for salespeople, customer support agents and marketers.

The company expects revenue to be between $8.70 billion and $8.72 billion in the third quarter, compared with estimates of $8.66 billion, according to Refinitiv data. Its quarterly earnings per share forecast was also above estimates.

"Were leading our customers into the new AI era," CEO Marc Benioff said in a statement.

Salesforce also bumped up its annual revenue forecast to between $34.7 billion and $34.8 billion, from the $34.5 billion to $34.7 billion range given in May. It also raised its full-year adjusted operating margin forecast to 30% from 28%.

Salesforce is primed to capitalize on the surge in expected AI investment over the next 12-18 months and price hikes will help offset post-pandemic headwinds, according to Third Bridge analyst Charlie Miner.

Analysts are also optimistic about the boost from the company's first price hike in seven years, which raised prices of its major offerings by an average of 9% from August.

In the second quarter, revenue came in at $8.60 billion, beating expectations of $8.53 billion. Adjusted profit of $2.12 per share also topped estimates of $1.90.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, arrives at court as lawyers push to persuade the judge overseeing his fraud case not to jail him ahead of trial, at a courthouse in New York, U.S., August 11, 2023. REUTERS/Eduardo M

By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said on Wednesday he would consider delaying Sam Bankman-Fried's Oct. 3 criminal fraud trial, after the jailed FTX founder's lawyers complained he did not have enough time to review millions of pages of evidence to help build his case.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan raised the prospect of a five-month delay at a virtual hearing, after defense lawyers said officials at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center had not provided Bankman-Fried with hard drives containing evidence to review.

Bankman-Fried, 31, has pleaded not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the November 2022 collapse of his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange.

Kaplan jailed him on Aug. 11, finding that the former billionaire likely tampered with witnesses while confined to his parents' Palo Alto, California, home on $250 million bail. Bankman-Fried's lawyers asked that he be returned to his parents' custody, so he can prepare adequately for trial.

"If the defendant in good conscience feels that he needs a postponement ... they can ask," Kaplan said.

The judge said he was unlikely to delay the trial based solely on the volume of evidence, and the defense would need to demonstrate a "genuine and unanticipated need."

He suggested possibly combining the trial with a previously scheduled March 11, 2024, trial on charges brought after Bankman-Fried's December 2022 extradition from the Bahamas, including bank fraud and foreign bribery conspiracies.

Mark Cohen, a lawyer for Bankman-Fried, said he understood that any request to delay the trial should be made in the next few days.

Kaplan earlier rejected a defense request to bar prosecutors from using at trial approximately 4 million pages of documents stored on Google that the prosecutors turned over last week.

Bankman-Fried's lawyers said their client wasn't being given time to sort through the deluge, depriving him of his constitutional right to a fair trial.

While prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan turned over the materials only recently because Google delayed in responding to a subpoena, Kaplan said the majority came from Bankman-Fried's personal Google account, meaning he had access before his bail was revoked.

"There is just no evidence at all that the government didn't act in good faith," and any suggestion that prosecutors missed deadlines or broke promises to the defense is "very seriously exaggerated," Kaplan said.

Danielle Kudla, a prosecutor, said her office had delivered a hard drive with evidence for Bankman-Fried to the MDC earlier on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Seven & I Holdings is seen at its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

By Ritsuko Shimizu

TOKYO (Reuters) -Seven & i will sell department store unit Sogo & Seibu on Sept. 1, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, triggering a plan for a walk-out at a flagship store in what would be Japan's first major strike in decades.

Japan-based Seven & i, operator of the world's largest convenience store chain, agreed last year to sell loss-making Sogo & Seibu to U.S. fund Fortress Investment Group, but the deal has been delayed amid opposition from workers.

The union intends to carry out its threat for a strike at the flagship Seibu Ikebukuro store in Tokyo on Thursday, according to a union member.

Labour disputes are extremely rare in Japan, and strikes even more so. The last time workers walked out on a major department store was 61 years ago, and for less than a day, according to Japan's biggest industrial union, UA Zensen.

A person with direct knowledge of Seven & i's plan said its board would meet on Thursday to officially decide on the sale. The person asked not to be identified because the plan is not yet public.

Seven & I said nothing had been decided yet. Fortress said it had no immediate comment.

In its negotiations with management, Seibu & Sogo's union had given Seven & i an Aug. 29 deadline to drop its plan to sell the company on Sept. 1, the union member said.

The union received no reply and would therefore carry out the strike on Thursday at the flagship store, where about 900 union members are employed, he said.

Sogo & Seibu said it would temporarily close the store on Thursday.

Fortress had initially planned to spend around 250 billion yen ($1.71 billion) on the acquisition but is likely to have lowered that price to about 220 billion yen, the source said.

($1 = 146.1900 yen)

(Reporting by Ritsuko Shimizu and Kantaro Komiya; Writing by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A 42-year-old lawyer who was stolen at birth during the rule of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and raised in the United States has traveled thousands of miles to South America to meet his biological mother for the first time.

"She didn't know about me because they took me at birth and told her I was dead," Jimmy Lippert Thyden said in a TikTok video while on the plane to meet his mother for the first time. "When she asked for my body, they told her they had disposed of it."

"So we've never held each other, we've never hugged."

Walking down a street in mother's hometown of Valdivia some 740km (460 miles) south of the Chilean capital, with a bouquet of flowers in hand, Lippert Thyden tearfully hugged Maria Angelica Gonzalez, his biological mother, and told her he loved her.

He traveled to Chile with his wife and two daughters, who met their grandmother for the first time.

Lippert Thyden reconnected with his family thanks to a DNA tracing via MyHeritage.com and Nos Buscamos, a Chilean non-governmental organization which helps reconnect people separated during the 17-year dictatorship. Thousands of people were disappeared and tens of thousands tortured during Pinochet's rule, which ended in 1990.

Nos Buscamos founder Constanza del Rio created the organization after failing to find information about her own biological family. The NGO says it has managed to help some 400 people reconnect to their family.

"This case is one of hundreds or thousands of cases of child trafficking during the dictatorship and democracy," del Rio said. "These children were declared as dead and sold to foreigners for $10,000 or $15,000."

(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Fabian Cambrero and Sarah Morland; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
Tennessee State Senators on the chamber floor and advocates for gun law reform in the gallery pray during a special session on public safety to discuss gun violence in the wake of the Covenant School shooting, in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., August 29, 202

By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) - A special legislative session in Tennessee called by the state's Republican governor in response to a deadly school shooting ended on Tuesday with no progress on gun safety laws, capped by a brief scuffle between opposing lawmakers.

Governor Bill Lee, in the special session which opened on Aug. 21, asked lawmakers to consider a "red flag" law and a number of other public safety measures he pitched in the wake of the murder of three children and three staff members at The Covenant School in March in Nashville.

But fellow Republicans, who hold a supermajority in the state legislature, would not budge on their refusal to pass any laws they deem as threats to citizens' right to own guns under the U.S. Constitution.

Two Democratic lawmakers who had reclaimed their seats after being expelled over a protest from the House of Representatives floor against gun violence in April confronted House Speaker Cameron Sexton as Republicans voted to end the special session on Tuesday.

A brief scuffle between the two Democrats, Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, and the Republican speaker broke out, with shoves exchanged before other members stepped in to separate them.

Jones and Pearson, both of whom are Black members of the predominantly white House, have been outspoken proponents of new gun laws to help ease violence in the urban areas they represent.

After being expelled by Republicans from their seats in April, Jones and Pearson won back their seats in a special election.

Lawmakers did set aside extra funds for existing safety programs, prompting Lee, the governor, to say that "our state is safer today as a result of this session."

That sentiment was not shared by Sarah Shoop Neuman, the parent of a Covenant student who lobbied lawmakers for new gun laws. After the session ended, she told reporters it was difficult for her to comprehend that children were murdered at school, yet lawmakers "took no meaningful action."

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado; Editing by Donna Bryson and Leslie Adler)
FILE PHOTO: The office building of Zhongrong International Trust, a trust company partially owned by Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, in Beijing, China August 22, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China's Jingwei Textile Machinery Co - the biggest shareholder of troubled Zhongrong International Trust Co - saw its stock surge on Wednesday after offering to buy out investors who object to the firm's plan to switch bourses.

The price of Jingwei stock, which resumed trade following a two-day halt, jumped the maximum 10% to 8.86 yuan ($1.22) after the firm said it would buy shares for 9.24 yuan each from holders who did not wish to carry them over to another exchange.

Jingwei owns 37.5% of Zhongrong International Trust which has missed payments on dozens of investment products since the end of July, investor sources said, triggering contagion fear in an economy suffering from huge debt in the real estate sector.

Delisting from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange could shield public market investors from liquidity woes at Zhongrong, a major shadow bank with heavy exposure to real estate.

"Due to changes in market conditions, the company's operations face huge uncertainty that could have a major impact," Jingwei said in an exchange filing late on Tuesday.

Under a proposal from parent China Hi-tech Group intended to "protect the interest of small shareholders", Jingwei will withdraw its Shenzhen listing and seek to float on the New Third Board, a smaller equity trading venue in Beijing that has a high threshold for investor participation.

The proposal requires shareholder approval.

Asset manager Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, the second-biggest shareholder of Zhongrong International Trust, told investors at a videoed meeting this month that it is facing a liquidity crisis and will restructure debt.

($1 = 7.2869 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S. backed Syrian Democratic Forces led by Kurdish forces poured reinforcements in Syria's eastern Deir al Zor province on Wednesday to quell widespread unrest by rebellious Arab tribal clans who rose up in arms after the detention of an Arab renegade commander.

Witnesses and local sources said at least 40 fighters from both sides and another 15 civilians have been killed in battles raging since Sunday in a string of towns in a strategic oil belt in the heart of Arab tribal territory, east of the Euphrates River controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Fighting erupted last Sunday after the SDF arrested Ahmad Al Khubail, alias Abu Khawla, who headed its Deir al Zor Council. He also was leading Arab commander with the SDF, a U.S. formed alliance of militias whose backbone is the Kurdish YPG militia.

In its first comment on the situation, the SDF issued a statement saying Abu Khawla was arrested and dismissed from his post for complicity in multiple crimes from drug trafficking to failing to handle the Islamic State threat in the province.

Residents said the SDF has pushed new reinforcements as it shelled several towns and villages where armed Arab clans burnt tyres, ambushed vehicles and shelled SDF positions.

Tribal fighters took over several checkpoints and attacked patrols In several towns, including Shuhail near the al Omar oil field close to where U.S. troops are stationed.

Tribal figures and residents said mounting unrest triggered by the arrest of the Abu Khawla exposed deep anger at the Kurdish-led militia that controls a predominately Arab population in the oil-rich province.

Arab residents with poor living conditions complain the Kurdish-led administration does not give them their share of the oil wealth.

The Syrian YPG Kurdish leadership, whom the Pentagon equips with weapons, have long denied discriminating against Arabs and says it seeks to redress injustice against Kurds that denied them their culture before Syria's conflict began in 2011.

The YPG has been the main U.S. partner in Syria in ousting Islamic State from Deir al-Zor and beating the Syrian army and its Russian backers to lay hands on some of Syrias biggest oil fields.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by David Gregorio)
FILE PHOTO: Members of the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) stand together during Lebanese army media tour in disputed Bastra farms, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon, August 8, 2023. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A planned United Nations vote on Wednesday to renew approval for a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon has been delayed as France, the United States and the United Arab Emirates argue over the freedom of movement of U.N. troops, diplomats said.

The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) - established in 1978 - patrols Lebanon's southern border with Israel. The mandate for the operation is renewed annually and its current authorization will expire on Thursday.

The Security Council stalemate comes amid an escalating war of words between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon with each vowing to return the other to the "stone age" and preparing for possible conflict even as they deny seeking one.

France has drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution to extend the peacekeeping mission for another year, but the United States and the United Arab Emirates argue it has weakened some language on the ability of U.N. troops to move freely.

"UNIFIL's freedom of movement is absolutely paramount at a time when tensions in the area are rising to dangerous levels," said a UAE diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council in an Aug. 3 letter, seen by Reuters, that UNIFIL continued to face restrictions to its freedom of movement and delays in access to locations of interest.

"The Mission's ability to conduct patrols and activities independently must be maintained," Guterres wrote.

According to a draft resolution seen by Reuters, France has added language spelling out that peacekeepers should coordinate with the Lebanese government, and deleted text included in last year's council resolution that demanded all parties allow "announced and unannounced patrols" by U.N. troops.

'INK ON PAPER'

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said talks were continuing and that the United States wanted a resolution "that strengthens UNIFIL and provides UNIFIL with what it needs to continue to operate effectively."

The French U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Lebanon's demands to limit the freedom of oversight and monitoring of UNIFIL personnel regarding what is happening in southern Lebanon are not accepted," Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan told Israel's Army Radio on Wednesday.

Lebanon's caretaker foreign affairs minister Abdallah Bou Habib has said that the new Security Council resolution should stipulate that UNIFIL coordinate with the Lebanese army.

UNIFIL's mandate was expanded in 2006, following a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah, to allow peacekeepers to help the Lebanese army keep parts of the south free of weapons or armed personnel other than those of the Lebanese state.

That has sparked friction with Hezbollah, which effectively controls southern Lebanon despite the presence of the Lebanese army. Hezbollah is a heavily armed party that is Lebanon's most powerful political force.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned on Monday that even if the Security Council adopted the same language as last year on the freedom of movement of U.N. troops it would "remain ink on paper."

"The people will not allow (it)," he said in a televised address on Monday. "There is no intention to use weapons, but ... people in the south will not allow a decision to be implemented despite the Lebanese government's rejection of it."

In December, an Irish peacekeeper was killed when his UNIFIL vehicle came under fire in southern Lebanon. A Lebanese military tribunal has accused members of Hezbollah of involvement in the killing. Hezbollah has officially denied involvement.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Additional reporting by Dan Williams, Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily; Editing by David Holmes)
FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen outside of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, U.S., August 29, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

(Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday issued warnings to three infant formula makers to correct their manufacturing processes to better catch bacterial contamination, but added it does not expect any impact on the supply.

The regulator issued warning letters to ByHeart Inc, Reckitt Benckiser Group's Mead Johnson Nutrition and Perrigo's Wisconsin unit.

The FDA pulled up these companies for failing to establish processes to ensure infant formula does not become contaminated during manufacturing.

"We are in the process of carefully reviewing the FDA's letter and plan to work closely with the agency," a spokesperson for Perrigo said, adding all their infant formula products that were available to parents and caregivers comply with the FDA's food safety requirements.

The FDA's warning letters are not associated with any current recalls, and were related to observations following recalls by the three companies between December and March, the agency said.

The recalls were meant to remove products potentially contaminated with the bacteria cronobacter sakazakii, the FDA added.

"The agency... believes that the recalls were effective in removing the potentially contaminated batches of product from the market," the FDA said.

Infant formula manufacturing is under greater scrutiny following the shortage of the product last year due to a shutdown of Abbott Laboratories' unit in Michigan.

The formulas produced at Abbott's facility faced complaints of bacterial infections, leading to recalls and the shutdown.

Reckitt and ByHeart did not immediately respond to requests for a comment.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
FILE PHOTO: A smartphone with a displayed NVIDIA logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/File Photo

By Stephen Nellis and Max A. Cherney

(Reuters) -The U.S. expanded the restriction of exports of sophisticated Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices artificial-intelligence chips beyond China to other regions including some countries in the Middle East.

Nvidia said in a regulatory filing this week that the curbs, which affect its A100 and H100 chips designed to speed up machine-learning tasks, would not have an "immediate material impact" on its results.

Rival AMD also received an informed letter with similar restrictions, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the move has no material impact on its revenue.

U.S. officials usually impose export controls for national security reasons. A similar move announced last year signaled an escalation of the U.S. crackdown on China's technological capabilities, but it was not immediately clear what risks were posed by exports to the Middle East.

In a separate statement, Nvidia said the new licensing requirement "doesn't affect a meaningful portion of our revenue. We are working with the U.S. government to address this matter."

The Commerce Department, which administers licensing requirements on exports, said on Thursday through a spokesperson that the U.S. "has not blocked chip sales to the Middle East" and declined to comment on whether it had imposed new requirements on specific US companies.

Last September AMD said it had received new license requirements that would halt exports of its MI250 artificial-intelligence chips to China.

Nvidia, AMD and Intel have since then all disclosed plans to create less powerful AI chips that can be exported to the Chinese market.

Nvidia, which gave no reason for the new restrictions in the filing dated Aug. 28, last year said U.S. officials informed them the rule "will address the risk that products may be used in, or diverted to, a 'military end use' or 'military end user' in China."

Nvidia this week did not specify which countries in the Middle East were affected. The company derived most of its $13.5 billion in sales in its fiscal quarter ended July 30 from the United States, China and Taiwan. About 13.9% of sales came from all other countries combined, and Nvidia does not provide a revenue breakout from the Middle East.

"During the second quarter of fiscal year 2024, the USG (U.S. government) informed us of an additional licensing requirement for a subset of A100 and H100 products destined to certain customers and other regions, including some countries in the Middle East," Nvidia said in the Aug. 28 filing.

Last year's announcements came as tensions bubbled over the fate of Taiwan, where chips for Nvidia and almost every other major chip firm are manufactured.

In October 2022, the Biden administration went a step further when it published a sweeping set of export controls, including a measure to cut off China from certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with U.S. equipment. The move vastly expanded Washington's reach in its bid to slow Beijing's technological and military advances.

Japan and the Netherlands followed up with similar rules earlier this year.

Without American AI chips from companies like Nvidia and AMD, Chinese organizations will be unable to cost-effectively carry out the kind of advanced computing used for image and speech recognition, among many other tasks.

Image recognition and natural language processing are common in consumer applications like smartphones that can answer queries and tag photos. They also have military uses such as scouring satellite imagery for weapons or bases and filtering digital communications for intelligence-gathering purposes.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington, and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa and Stephen Nellis and Max Cherney in San Francisco; additional reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru Editing by Chris Sanders, Nick Zieminski, Matthew Lewis and Lincoln Feast.)
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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):

REVIV3 PROCARE COMPANY

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware 001-38112 43-1985966 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.)

901 Fremont Avenue , Unit 158 , Alhambra , CA 91803 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrants telephone number, including area code: (888) 638-8883

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 Exchange Act:

Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered None N/A N/A

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 5.05 Amendments to the Registrants Code of Ethics, or Waiver of a Provision of the Code of Ethics.

On August 24, 2023, the Board of Directors of Reviv3 Procare Company (the Company) approved a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics to assist its officers, directors, employees and other covered persons in guiding their conduct to enhance the reputation of the Company, and to help foster a culture of honesty and accountability.

The above description of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by the full text of such document, which is incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibit 14.1.

Item 8.01 Other Events.

On August 24, 2023, the Board of Directors of the Company (Board) established the following three (3) committees of the Board: (1) the Audit Committee, (2) the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and (3) the Compensation Committee. Jeff Toghraie, CEO and Chairman of the Board, was initially appointed as the Chairman of each Committee and will serve in such capacity until his resignation, removal or replacement is appointed to those roles. The Company anticipates that it will fill the vacancies on the various Committees during the next twelve (12) months. Additionally, the Board approved (a) the Charter of the Audit Committee, (b) the Charter of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and (c) the Charter of the Compensation Committee.

The above descriptions of the Charters of the Audit Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Compensation Committee do not purport to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by the full text of such documents, which are incorporated herein and attached hereto as Exhibits 99.1, 99.2 and 99.3, respectively.

Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits

(d) Exhibits.

-1-

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

REVIV3 PROCARE COMPANY Date: August 30, 2023 By: /s/ Jeff Toghraie Name: Jeff Toghraie Title: Chief Executive Officer

-2-

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EX-99.1 CHARTER

EX-99.2

EX-99.3

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XBRL LABEL FILE

XBRL PRESENTATION FILE

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Capt. Eleanor V. LeBeau, left, and Maj. Tobin J. Lewis were piloting an MV-22B Osprey when it crashed in northern Australia on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023, killing them and Cpl. Spencer R. Collart. (U.S. Marine Corps)

A pair of officers killed in an MV-22B Osprey crash in northern Australia were flying the tiltrotor aircraft when it went down Sunday morning, according to Marine Rotational Force  Darwin.

Both Maj. Tobin J. Lewis and Capt. Eleanor V. LeBeau were piloting the aircraft during the incident, rotational force spokesman Maj. Matthew Wolf said in an email Tuesday evening to clarify the accidents details.

The Osprey, assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363 from Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, went down with 23 aboard at 9:30 a.m. on Melville Island, north of Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The officers who died were both pilots; Lewis was the squadrons executive officer, Wolf said. Some reports had wrongly stated that LeBeau was the sole pilot, he said.

The remains of the three Marines who died in the crash, Lewis, 37, of Jefferson, Colo.; LeBeau, 29, of Belleville, Ill.; and crew chief Cpl. Spencer R. Collart, 21, of Arlington, Va., arrived in Darwin at approximately 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the rotational force said in a statement that evening.

One Marine remains in critical condition and has been transferred to The Alfred Centre hospital in Melbourne, the statement said. Two Marines remain in Royal Darwin Hospital in stable condition.

Then-Marine Corps Capt. Tobin Lewis discusses an MV-22 Osprey mishap in the Coral Sea, Aug. 7, 2017. (Sarah Villegas/U.S. Navy) U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Spencer Collart, 21, of Arlington, Va. (U.S. Marine Corps) U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Eleanor LeBeau, 29, of Belleville, Ill. (U.S. Marine Corps) U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Tobin Lewis, 37, of Jefferson, Colo. (U.S. Marine Corps)

The crash is the fourth fatal incident involving Marine Corps Ospreys since August 2017, when three Marines died after their tiltrotor crashed into Shoalwater Bay, Australia, during the Talisman Saber exercise.

In March 2022, four Marines died in Norway due to pilot error, according to a Marine accident investigation.

In June 2022, five Marines died when their Osprey went down in Southern California. The Corps blamed that incident on a faulty clutch, a problem the Marines, Navy and Air Force linked to the Osprey.

The cause of Sundays crash remains under investigation, the rotational force said in its statement.
A Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey flies aid supplies to Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea, on Aug. 12, 2023. Gen. Eric Smith, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, called for a servicewide safety review to be done by Sept. 15 following an Osprey crash this week that killed three Marines and left eight hospitalized. (J. R. Heins/U.S. Marine Corps)

The Marine Corps will undergo a servicewide safety review in September following an Osprey crash in Australia this week that killed three Marines and left eight hospitalized.

In an administrative message Tuesday, Gen. Eric Smith, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, called for a thorough and harsh review to be done by Sept. 15.

Commanders and supervisors will have to examine their units attitudes on safety, identify risks and come up with ways of mitigating them, Smith said. Their feedback must be submitted by Oct. 15.

Discussions will be held with junior service members, who are encouraged to provide input on perceived hazards.

I expect each unit to gather  to discuss, in detail, the elements of what it means to be a professional warfighting organization as it relates to the safe conduct of every event from training to combat, Smith said. Safety is not a peacetime concern; it is a warfighting issue.

Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith gives remarks at a ceremony on Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug. 18, 2023. In an administrative message Aug. 29, 2023, Smith, the acting Marine Corps commandant, called for a servicewide safety review to be done by Sept. 15, following an Osprey crash this week that killed three Marines and left eight hospitalized. ( Shaina Jupiter/U.S. Marine Corps)

The review is not a venue for lectures or for wagging our finger at a Marine or a command, Smith said.

Among the goals of the measure are ensuring that Joint Light Tactical Vehicle operators are getting adequate rest, that protective equipment is worn as required and that missions are reviewed beforehand, he said.

Smith framed the review as a means of providing room for improvement in the Corps. He said nearly a platoons worth of Marines and sailors are lost each year because of training accidents and off-duty occurrences.

Smith also holds the role of acting Marine Corps commandant. His appointment to the top officer job is one of about 300 senior military leadership positions being held up in Congress by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.

The cause of Sundays Osprey crash during a training exercise is still under investigation. As of Monday, eight of the 20 survivors remained in the hospital.

This was the latest in a string of fatal training accidents the Marine Corps has experienced in recent years.

In 2020, eight Marines and a sailor died when an amphibious assault vehicle they were riding in sank off the coast of California. Improper training and maintenance failures were listed as causes of the accident.

In 2022, a clutch problem caused another Osprey to crash in California, killing five Marines.
U.S. Space Forces Koreas deputy commander, Maj. Charles Taylor, right, and Master Sgt. Shawn Stafford speak with reporters at Osan Air Base, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (Christopher Green/Stars and Stripes)

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea  The U.S. Space Force is planning to expand its footprint in the Indo-Pacific region with a new subordinate command in Japan, a senior enlisted leader said Wednesday.

The service was boosting its space cooperation with allied forces, including Japan, where a new component command should be standing up [there] shortly, Master Sgt. Shawn Stafford of U.S. Space Forces Korea said during a news conference at Osan.

The Space Forces goal is to synchronize our efforts within the greater [area of responsibility] in the Indo-Pacific and to make sure that were getting the best possible picture to our alliance, he said.

Stafford and Space Forces Koreas deputy commander, Maj. Charles Taylor, said a small number of Guardians already work in Japan, but he declined to specify how many more are expected and where the new command will be based.

The Space Force held its first engagement talks with its Japan Air Self-Defense Force counterparts in July at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, according to a Space Force news release.

The US-Japan Space Engagement Talks represent a further expansion of our strong alliance into the space domain, U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific commander Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir, said in the release on July 18. Through these talks and space working groups to follow, we can build a roadmap for cooperation to ensure safety and security in space for our nations and all responsible actors.

News of the Space Forces plans in Japan come nearly two weeks after President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held a trilateral summit at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

The leaders agreed to enhance trilateral dialogue on space security cooperation, particularly regarding threats in the space domain, national space strategies, and the responsible use of space, according to a joint statement.

Space Forces Korea, the services first subordinate command in the Far East, was established in December at Osan. Its purpose is to coordinate space operations and services such as missile warning, position navigation and timing, and satellite communications within the region, U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement during its ceremonial opening.

One month prior, Space Forces Indo-Pacific was activated at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii.

Since Space Forces Koreas inception, U.S. and South Korean military commanders in the country have been more aware of what capabilities the service is able to provide, such as surveillance of the region, Taylor said.

We have an adversarial presence north of us, and so it is upon us to provide [that] expertise  integrated and synchronized with all components within this [area], he said.
The Bongo family has led Gabon, an oil-rich nation with a population of about 2 million, for 56 years and has been accused by critics of abusing its position to accumulate massive amounts of wealth. Bongo said in a video from his residence that he was under arrest and called on the international community to make noise. (Washington Post)

DAKAR, Senegal - A group of senior military officers in Gabon said Wednesday they were seizing power in this central African nation, overturning the results of a disputed presidential election shortly after the electoral committee announced that President Ali Bongo had won another term.

The Bongo family has led Gabon, an oil-rich nation with a population of about 2 million, for 56 years and has been accused by critics of abusing its position to accumulate massive amounts of wealth. Bongo said in a video from his residence that he was under arrest and called on the international community to make noise.

In a video on state television, the senior officers declared that borders were closed and that state institutions including the Senate, National Assembly and Constitutional Court were dissolved.

We have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime, one officer said, reading a joint statement on national television, surrounded by about a dozen others in military fatigues. We call on the population for calm and serenity.

Frustration with the Bongo regime ran deep, and recent elections, including the election Saturday in which Bongo won a third term, were marred by violence and allegations of rigging. As dawn broke, social media showed crowds of Gabonese on the streets celebrating the coup, waving Gabons flag, hugging, dancing, and singing the national anthem.

It is too early to say its good or not good, but it can be good, said Paulette Oyane-Ondo, a Gabonese human rights lawyer. If it means that things will change, it will be good.

In the video shared by BTP Advisers, the firm that advised Bongo during the election, the president appeared seated in his residence. My son is somewhere, my wife is another place, and Im at the [official] residence, he said. I dont know whats going on.

The coup marks the latest in a remarkable string of mutinies in West and Central Africa, including the most recent military takeover in Niger, which became a red line for democratically elected West African leaders. Since 2021, there have also been coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Chad and Sudan.

The officers have announced that Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema, who was head of the Republican Guard charged with protecting Bongo, is the leader of the new junta - much as in Niger, where the head of the presidential guard seized power last month.

In comparison with Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, where coups were fueled by fears over spiraling violence linked to Islamic extremism, Gabon is peaceful and was seen as relatively stable.

But the most recent election was widely seen as lacking credibility, Oyane-Ondo and others analysts said, citing the governments internet shutdown and a lack of observers. Bongo was declared the winner early Wednesday, with election officials saying he had won 65 percent of the vote, compared with 31 percent for his main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa. Shortly after that announcement, the military officers declared the coup.

Mucahid Durmaz, a senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, said that the military draws legitimacy from the recent electoral process, which was practically conducted behind closed doors and was driven by discontent among the people.

The Gabonese people havent benefited from the states vast oil and mining wealth while the Bongo family has enjoyed absolute control over the countrys economic activities and state bureaucracy, he said.

Some inspiration from the coup, he added, could have also come from the Sahel, where the failure of political elites and foreign powers to curb insecurity and improve governance triggered the wave of coups in recent years.

Bongo, who was elected in 2009, and his father, Omar Bongo, who ruled for 41 years before that, had been key allies to France, Gabons former colonial power, in a region in which anti-French sentiment is growing increasingly prevalent. As recently as June, Bongo had met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

On Wednesday, Olivier Veran, a spokesman for the French government, said that France condemns the military coup underway in Gabon and is monitoring developments in the situation with great attention.

France has also said that it does not accept the coup in Niger, where the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum remains under house arrest. The Economic Community of West African States, a 15-member bloc to which Niger belonged, has threatened military intervention to restore democracy. Analysts and regional leaders said such a reaction is unlikely for Gabon, which is not part of that group.

Human rights activist and former Nigerian senator Shehu Sani praised the coup on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, saying that Gabons father to Son Dictatorship has been overthrown.

Five decades of one family rule is not a democracy, Sani said. This is what happens when democracy is suffocated.

The Gabonese military officers who announced the coup called themselves the Committee of the Transition and the Restoration of Institutions and said that irresponsible, unpredictable governance had resulted in a deterioration of social cohesion. The officers said in the video that they respected Gabons commitments to the international community.

In 2019, Gabons government foiled an attempted coup against the president, who had suffered a stroke earlier that year and left the country for an extended period for treatment.

Oyane-Ondo, the human rights lawyer, noted that this coup appeared to be substantially more organized than the 2019 attempt, which was quickly shut down by authorities. On the streets in Libreville, she said, there was surprise and elation.

People are outside in the streets dancing, and they are very happy, she said, but its too early to tell the real vision of the situation.

Victoire Issembe Duboze, who unsuccessfully vied for the presidency in the most recent election, said: This military action is the best thing for Gabon because Ali Bongo was not elected by Gabon.

Our country is very rich. We have manganese, petrol and everything it takes to make every Gabonese happy, she said, but if you come to our country and you see the life of a Gabonese, its very bad.

The European Unions foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said Wednesday that the blocs foreign ministers would discuss the developments in Gabon, which he noted were part of a very difficult situation in the region.

The ministers, he said at a meeting of E.U. defense ministers in Toledo, Spain, have to have a deep thought on what is going on there and how we can improve our policy in respect to these countries. . . . This is a big issue for Europe.

Bisset reported from London and Ombuor from Nairobi.
Military officers in Gabon said they were seizing power Wednesday, just minutes after President Ali Bongo was declared the winner of a controversial election marred by violence and allegations of vote rigging.

The officers who appeared on state television Wednesday announced the closure of borders and dissolved state institutions including the Senate, National Assembly and Constitutional Court. They said in a later statement that Bongo was under house arrest.

Bongo, who was seeking a third term in office, came to power following the death of his father, Omar Bongo, in 2009, after more than four decades in power. Both men were key allies of the oil-rich countrys former colonial power, France, and the family is believed to have amassed significant wealth  which is the subject of a judicial investigation in France.

Gabon is generally considered more stable than other countries that have experienced unrest in recent years, but it now appears set to join a growing list of junta-led states - including Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Mali and Sudan  that create a geographical belt of turmoil across sub-Saharan Africa.

Niger

Rebel soldiers in Niger deposed the countrys Western-allied president, Mohamed Bazoum, on July 26 amid political upheaval, a rise in Islamist extremism and growing Russian influence across the region.

Britain, France, Germany and the European Union announced the end of aid to Niger after the ouster, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States could follow suit. So far, President Biden has not labeled the situation a coup.

A key regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said in August that it was prepared for military intervention and had decided on a D-Day for intervention - though it did not give a date and said diplomacy was still possible.

Coup supporters in Nigers capital, Niamey, as well as in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, have been spotted waving Russian flags, and experts say uncertainty around the coup leaders motivation may hamper Western attempts to restore Bazoum through diplomacy.

The coup has also thrust the fate of Nigers uranium to center stage as experts say European countries may have to grapple with the effects on the nuclear industry  especially in France, which evacuated European nationals from the country but has resisted an ultimatum from the coup leaders for its ambassador to leave.

Niger has been a key ally of the United States, which has deployed about 800 troops at a time to the country and operates drones out of a military base in Agadez. Shortly after Bazoums removal, Blinken confirmed communication with him and the Niger government and said that officials condemn any efforts to seize power by force.

U.S. laws prohibit military aid to junta regimes, and it is unclear what repercussions the ongoing events will have on U.S. military activity in the country.

Burkina Faso

Two coups occurred in the country within about eight months in 2022, beginning with Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Damibas overthrow of President Roch Kabore that January. Damiba promised to restore the countrys security after a rise in attacks by Islamist extremists.

The current leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traore, ousted Damiba in September after a mutinous group of military leaders saw no improvement in quelling the violence.

The Pentagon has stationed U.S. Green Berets in Ouagadougou, Burkina Fasos capital, and the State Department pays contractors to train the countrys forces, the Wall Street Journal reported, in the hope of countering a growing Islamist militant threat and the Russian mercenary Wagner Groups influence in the region.

Mali

Led by Assimi Goita, a group of Malian military leaders overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Aug. 18, 2020, after anti-government protests over corruption, pandemic management, the countrys poor economy and ongoing security threats.

International leaders and the U.N. Security Council condemned the coup, and the United States ended military assistance to Mali three days later.

In early January 2021, the junta backed out of a September 2020 agreement to transition the country back to civilian elections after Bah Ndaw was installed as interim president. In May 2021, Goita staged another coup and remains in power today.

Recent U.S. sanctions have targeted key junta leaders for their connections to the Wagner Group, which is believed to have 1,000 fighters in the country and has been accused of human rights violations against Malian civilians.

Guinea

Col. Mamady Doumbouya, the U.S.-trained commander of Guineas special forces, ousted the countrys first democratically elected president, Alpha Conde, in September 2021 after years of protests against Conde for altering the constitution to allow himself a third term and imprisoning opposition candidates.

The United States condemned the coup and terminated military assistance, which had included sending small teams of U.S. Special Forces to train Guinean special forces.

Amid criticism and ongoing violent protests, Doumbouya agreed to return the country to civilian rule with a 24-month transition beginning in early 2023.

Chad

After President Idriss Deby, who seized control in his own 1990 coup, was killed in a military operation against rebels on Chads northern border in April 2021, the speaker of parliament should have ascended to the presidency. Instead, a military council took control and installed Debys son, Gen. Mahamat Idriss Deby, as president, leading to deadly protests in the capital.

The elder Deby had been a Western ally against the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, and the United States did not formally impose sanctions on the country after the unconstitutional transition of power.

Sudan

Sudanese Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized control of the country in 2021, ending a precarious power-sharing agreement between Sudans government and military forces enacted after the military deposed President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2019 amid pro-democracy protests.

Tensions have risen this year as Burhans government struggles to transition to civilian rule, resulting in some of the worst fighting the country has ever seen between the Sudanese armed forces and paramilitary rebels.

In April, the Pentagon sent two warships to the Port of Sudan, and the United States evacuated hundreds of citizens from the devolving chaos that has resulted in hundreds of deaths and an impending human-rights crisis.
Internet cafes in the Philippines are now frequented by workers who sort and label data for artificial intelligence models. (Martin San Diego/The Washington Post)

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines  In a coastal city in the southern Philippines, thousands of young workers log online every day to support the booming business of artificial intelligence.

In dingy internet cafes, jam-packed office spaces or at home, they annotate the masses of data that American companies need to train their artificial intelligence models. The workers differentiate pedestrians from palm trees in videos used to develop the algorithms for automated driving; they label images so AI can generate representations of politicians and celebrities; they edit chunks of text to ensure language models like ChatGPT dont churn out gibberish.

More than 2 million people in the Philippines perform this type of crowdwork, according to informal government estimates, as part of AIs vast underbelly. While AI is often thought of as human-free machine learning, the technology actually relies on the labor-intensive efforts of a workforce spread across much of the Global South and often subject to exploitation.

The mathematical models underpinning AI tools get smarter by analyzing large data sets, which need to be accurate, precise and legible to be useful. Low-quality data yields low-quality AI. So click by click, a largely unregulated army of humans is transforming the raw data into AI feedstock.

In the Philippines, one of the worlds biggest destinations for outsourced digital work, former employees say that at least 10,000 of these workers do this labor on a platform called Remotasks, which is owned by the $7 billion San Francisco start-up Scale AI.

Scale AI has paid workers at extremely low rates, routinely delayed or withheld payments and provided few channels for workers to seek recourse, according to interviews with workers, internal company messages and payment records, and financial statements. Rights groups and labor researchers say Scale AI is among a number of American AI companies that have not abided by basic labor standards for their workers abroad.

Of 36 current and former freelance workers interviewed, all but two said theyve had payments from the platform delayed, reduced or canceled after completing tasks. The workers, known as taskers, said they often earn far below the minimum wage - which in the Philippines ranges from $6 to $10 a day depending on region - though at times they do make more than the minimum.

Scale AI, which does work for firms like Meta, Microsoft and generative AI companies like Open AI, the creator of ChatGPT, says on its website that it is proud to pay rates at a living wage. In a statement, Anna Franko, a Scale AI spokesperson, said the pay system on Remotasks is continually improving based on worker feedback and that delays or interruptions to payments are exceedingly rare.

But on an internal messaging platform for Remotasks, which The Washington Post accessed in July, notices of late or missing payments from supervisors were commonplace. On some projects, there were multiple notices in a single month. Sometimes, supervisors told workers payments were withheld because work was inaccurate or late. Other times, supervisors gave no explanation. Attempts to track down lost payments often went nowhere, workers said - or worse, led to their accounts being deactivated.

Charisse, 23, said she spent four hours on a task that was meant to earn her $2, and Remotasks paid her 30 cents.

Jackie, 26, said he worked three days on a project that he thought would earn him $50, and he got $12.

Benz, 36, said hed racked up more than $150 in payments when he was suddenly booted from the platform. He never got the money, he said.

Paul, 25, said hes lost count of how much money hes been owed over three years of working on Remotasks. Like other current Remotasks freelancers, Paul spoke on the condition that only his first name be published to avoid being expelled from the platform. He started tasking full time in 2020 after graduating from university. He was once excited to help build AI, he said, but these days, he mostly feels embarrassed by how little he earns.

The budget for all this, I know its big, Paul said, staring into his hands at a coffee shop in Cagayan de Oro. None of that is trickling down to us.

Much of the ethical and regulatory debate over AI has focused so far on its propensity for bias and potential to go rogue or be abused, such as for disinformation. But companies producing AI technology are also charting a new frontier in labor exploitation, researchers say.

In enlisting people in the Global South as freelance contractors, micro-tasking platforms like Remotasks sidestep labor regulations - such as a minimum wage and a fair contract - in favor of terms and conditions they set independently, said Cheryll Soriano, a professor at De La Salle University in Manila who studies digital labor in the Philippines. What it comes down to, she said, is a total absence of standards.

Dominic Ligot, a Filipino AI ethicist, called these new workplaces digital sweatshops.

Presented with The Posts findings about Remotasks, government officials in the Philippines said they were alarmed but admitted they werent sure how to regulate the platform. The Department of Information and Communications Technology, which regulates the tech industry, said it wasnt aware of how much workers make on micro-tasking platforms. Data annotation is an informal sector, said department head Ivan John Uy. Regulatory protective mechanisms are not there.

- - -

Overseas outposts

Founded in 2016 by young college dropouts and backed by some $600 million in venture capital, Scale AI has cast itself as a champion of American efforts in the race for AI supremacy. In addition to working with large technology companies, Scale AI has been awarded hundreds of millions of dollars to label data for the U.S. Department of Defense. To work on such sensitive, specialized data sets, the company has begun seeking out more contractors in the United States, though the vast majority of the workforce is still located in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Remotasks says on its website it has more than 240,000 taskers. But speaking to CNN in June, Alexandr Wang, Scale AIs 26-year-old chief executive, declined to confirm how many people label data for his company, saying only that he believes in AI that enables the collective expertise of as many people as possible.

People in the Philippines started working for Remotasks as early as 2017. In 2019, the company incorporated a legal entity in the country called Smart Ecosystem Philippines Inc. (SEPI), according to business registration documents. A year later, when the pandemic sent droves of workers home, Remotasks exploded in popularity.

In the southern region of Mindanao, where decades of political unrest have left economic opportunities lacking, young people gathered at internet cafes to work on the platform or were recruited by SEPI to work at crowded offices leased from local businesses.

In Cagayan de Oro on Mindanaos northern coast, SEPI has enlisted freelancers to work in at least seven locations. These included a room above a computer equipment store, a narrow five-story building where some 900 taskers worked in shifts and the corner unit of a strip mall, still adorned in July with banners advertising an official training boot camp for Remotasks. In 2021, according to financial statements, SEPI paid more than $2 million in rent in the Philippines.

Franko, the Scale AI spokesperson, said the company set up SEPI in the Philippines to operate Remotasks, which is separate to protect customer confidentiality.

Initially, taskers said, they could earn as much as $200 in a week. Then in 2021, around the time Remotasks expanded to India and to Venezuela, pay rates plunged, according to workers and screenshots of project assignments. Filipino freelancers went from earning $10 per task on some projects to less than 1 cent, according to a former SEPI staff employee who spoke on the condition he be identified by his nickname, Doy, to avoid retribution from the company.

By auctioning off work globally, Remotasks has created a race to the bottom for wages, said the owner of an outsourcing firm that has worked with SEPI. Its vicious competition, said the owner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect business interests.

- - -

Raising complaints

When freelance workers complete a project, it goes through several levels of review before its evaluated by teams in the United States, taskers said. If the work is approved, payments are supposed to be credited to workers through platforms like PayPal. But sometimes payments are withheld with no explanation, taskers said. And if the work is rejected, they said, the freelancers can be asked to redo the tasks, be given a compensation rate as low as 2 percent of the original payment or not be paid at all.

If you complain and raise your voice just a little, you get deactivated, said Joseph, a Cagayan de Oro tasker. In 2020, he said, he confronted his project supervisor about the number of tasks hed completed without receiving payment and was locked out of his account the next day.

Doy, who until recently worked as one of several hundred salaried employees at SEPI, said he and other staff have for years raised the taskers complaints to company managers and Remotasks executives. Sometimes, Remotasks executives would instruct SEPI employees to tell freelancers that the company was working on resolving the payment issues even if it never was, Doy said. Other times, the executives would tell SEPI employees to direct freelancers to the Remotasks help center, though it was well-known, he said, that filing a ticket went nowhere.

Franko said the company provides multiple channels for questions and support, including trained specialists who review and respond to pay disputes.

- - -

We dont have a choice

Last year, the Oxford Internet Institute, which scores digital work platforms on labor standards, highlighted Scale AI for obfuscating its labor process. In its assessment this year, the institute, part of Oxford University, gave Remotasks a score of 1 out of 10, failing the company on key metrics including its ability to fully pay workers.

Oxford researcher Jonas Valente said Scale AI profits by offering clients high-quality data while relegating much of the responsibility and cost of quality assurance to individual taskers. In its terms and conditions, Remotasks says it reserves the right to withhold payment, remove freelancers from projects or deactivate their accounts for work deemed inaccurate. This non-specified set of rules, Valente said, lets the company decide if and when it wants to pay them for work even after its already been done.

Franko said the company was disappointed in the Oxford report. At Scale, data annotation has always been designed as flexible, gig-based work, she said. Were proud of the work opportunities provided on Remotasks.

Labor groups in the Philippines blame the government for not regulating platforms like Remotasks. But officials say they worry about stifling such a new industry. Studies by online payment companies and the International Labor Organization (ILO) show that online freelance work is growing faster in the Philippines than almost anywhere else.

Globally, the data collection and annotation industry is expected to reach $17.1 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research, a market forecaster. According to a 2021 ILO study, the vast majority of online freelance work in the world is performed by workers in the Global South, nearly half in India and the Philippines alone.

Monchito Ibrahim, a former undersecretary for the Philippine Department of Information and Communications Technology, said micro-tasking cant be our future.

For young people in places like Mindanao struggling to find work, there are few alternatives. Scale AI can exploit Filipino workers, said Philip Alchie Elemento, 37, an ex-tasker, because they know we dont have a choice.

In July, Paul, the tasker from Cagayan de Oro, said hed made up his mind to quit Remotasks. He was fed up with not getting paid and anxious about how much he was drawing down on his savings. I know I deserve much better, Paul said.

A month later, he was still at Remotasks. He wanted to leave, Paul said. He just didnt know where else to go.

Bobby Lagsa in Cagayan de Oro contributed to this report.
Commerce Secretary Gina is in China in hopes of reviving chilly relations. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg)

SHANGHAI Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo arrived in China this week with a challenging brief: Her department has implemented the United States tough export controls against China, and she had to stand firm on that position. At the same time, the former venture capitalist was seeking to advance a political thaw and improve American companies access to the lucrative Chinese market.

For all the public smiles on both sides  including a surprisingly long meeting with Chinas premier  one word hung over Raimondos four-day trip: Uninvestible.

Speaking to reporters after her second day of meetings, Raimondo said Tuesday night that American businesses have complained to her that China has created an ever more difficult environment for them.

Increasingly I hear from American business that China is uninvestible because its become too risky, she said. So businesses look for other opportunities; they look for other countries; they look for other places to go.

Three years of COVID-related lockdowns snarled supply chains. Then came an unpredictable mix of raids on American businesses and opaque penalties  including the increasing use of exit bans against foreign business executives. Taken together, it has made foreign firms  not just U.S. ones  wary of continuing operations in China.

China badly needs foreign investment as its economy struggles to rebound from years of pandemic restrictions, amid a mounting real estate debt crisis, record youth unemployment and a consumer spending slowdown.

China needs to recognize that they can no longer rely on the sheer mass of their market to attract that type of foreign investment, said Naomi Wilson, vice president of policy, Asia and global trade at the Information Technology Industry Council. Even among Chinese companies, there have been efforts to relocate outside of China.

The Biden administrations hawkish approach, a continuation from the Trump era, has ensured that Beijing and Washington have kept up their escalating tit-for-tat over the supply chains for technologies that both sides claim are critical to national security. Last year the Biden administration tightened controls on exports of U.S. semiconductor chips to China, especially the advanced chips needed to power artificial intelligence systems. And just two weeks before Raimondo left for China, the White House issued an executive order banning U.S. companies from investing in Chinese tech that could have military or surveillance applications.

As if to make a point that American export controls couldnt keep Chinese companies down, Huawei Technologies rolled out a new 5G phone that experts think relies entirely on Chinese-made chips.

U.S. businesses want to do business here, but they need to have a predictable regulatory environment, Raimondo said at Boeings hangar at Shanghais Pudong Airport on Wednesday.

She has previously criticized Chinas Aviation Authority for blocking Chinese airlines from completing purchases of Boeings 737 Max after two fatal crashes in 2019 led to its global grounding, which has since been lifted. No movement on the issue resulted from Raimondos visit.

Still, Raimondo met with American executives and an array of senior Chinese officials during the trip, including Premier Li Qiang and Vice Premier He Lifeng, in an effort to stabilize relations between the worlds two largest economies.

The secretary spent more than an hour with the premier, who oversees the economy.

She also met with dozens of American business people at a reception in Beijing and spoke to an economics class at New York Universitys Shanghai campus, where she chatted with students from the United States, China and elsewhere about export controls, career growth and learning from each others differences.

Raimondo also took a spin through Shanghai Disneyland  where she was stopped for a hug by a chatty 7-year-old dressed as LinaBell, a smart pink Disney fox.

Both sides have described the visit as open and practical, a notable bright spot in an otherwise tense relationship plagued by disagreements over trade, technology and Taiwan.

Raimondo said she had a lot of candid dialogue on the trip. We have a moment now in this relationship, and we will see if there is action, she told reporters.

Raimondo and Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao agreed to establish a formal channel of communication on commercial issues, something Blinken has proposed for military matters but which Beijing has rejected.

The two sides also had the first meeting of an information exchange on export controls, carefully named to convey a focus on transparency  but not negotiation  on the escalating steps Beijing and Washington are taking to protect an expanding set of technologies they consider important to national security.

Chinese state media said the visit represented practical progress.

Sun Xingjie, a professor at the School of International Relations at Sun Yat-sen University, said in a television interview with Shenzhen Direct News that relations between that United States and China have entered a new stage, and that the establishment of the working group would allow the two sides to separate topics of mutual interest from hostility.

The deeply nested China-U.S. economic and trade relations are not a zero sum game, said Sun.

Pei-Lin Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
A Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile with Extended Range, or JASSM-ER, is released from an F-16 during testing over the Gulf of Mexico, Sept. 19, 2018. (Michael Jackson/U.S. Air Force)

TOKYO  The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of $104 million in extended-range, air-to-surface missiles and related gear to Japan, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced this week.

Japan wants to buy 50 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles with Extended Range, or JASSM-ER, from manufacturer Lockheed Martin, along with anti-jam receivers, training missiles, containers, spare parts and other equipment, the agency said in a statement Monday.

The JASSM-ER, which the U.S. Air Force plans to field across its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber fleet, has a range of about 600 miles, more than double that of the baseline JASSM, which can fly up to 250 miles, Lockheed states on its website.

"The Ministry of Defense welcomes this as it contributes to strengthening of our country's stand-off defense capabilities," Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said at a press conference Tuesday.

The ministry has allocated about $87 million for the missiles this fiscal year and has been coordinating with the U.S. government, he said.

Japans defense budget, which totals about $51.4 billion this fiscal year, is the nations largest ever and includes $1.59 billion to acquire U.S. Tomahawk missiles and $963 million to develop and manufacture improved surface-to-ship guided missiles.

The JASSM-ER sale would encompass training, software, technical documents and logistical, engineering and program support, the U.S. agency said in its statement.

This proposed sale will support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific region, the statement said.

The missiles will provide long-range strike capability for Japanese fighters, including but not limited to the F-15J Eagle, the agency said.

Japan will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces, the statement said.
Archie Kalepa sits in his backyard that abuts a home that was destroyed in the fire on Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. (Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times/TNS)

WAILUKU, Hawaii (Tribune News Service)  Maui County officials Tuesday again declined to release a timeline of their response and disclose when they knew that people had died in the Aug. 8 Lahaina fire, which took at least 115 lives and gutted the historic heart of Lahaina town.

Citing pending litigation, ongoing investigations and a county after-action probe, a detailed description of the county and state response to the Maui wildfires will not be available, county officials maintained.

Were still in the process of the response. There will be an analysis, a review of the early days and the hours following (the fire outbreaks), said Mahina Martin, county communications director, at a news conference. Speculating or guessing the hour and minute-by-minute blow here at the podium would not be correct. We would like to have accurate information available. Speculating is not a good thing for us right now.

Mayor Richard Bissen declined to answer questions from reporters about when he learned that people had died in the Lahaina fire. He also did not disclose why Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, the state adjutant general, had not been told the extent of the damage and deaths until Aug 9.

I cant speak to what or whose responsibility it was to communicate directly ... with General Hara, said Bissen. Im not going to speak to social media. I wasnt on social media. We didnt have time for that. I dont know who spoke to General Hara.

In response to a question from Hawaii News Now about who was in charge of the incident at the Maui Emergency Management Agency on Aug. 8, Bissen responded, Im not sure who was in charge.

He said he thinks Herman Andaya, who resigned citing health reasons shortly after defending his decision not to use civil defense sirens to warn people about the Lahaina fire, was in charge even though Andaya was attending a Federal Emergency Management Agency conference on Oahu with other federal, state and county emergency management officials.

Bissen said he didnt know the chain of command if Andaya was off island at the time.

Bissen said he had been in communication with the countys Emergency Operating Center during the fires, including a virtual meeting the morning of Aug. 8 because the Kula fire had started late the night before.

Hara, who was at the news conference, said hurricane-force winds Aug. 8 grounded helicopters traditionally used to fight wildfires.

In response to a question about how many people died waiting for government officials to respond to the catastrophe and whether the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency could have done more, Hara said, Personally, I dont think so.

The rate that the fire spread ... 60 to 85 miles per hour, you think about that. Thats a mile a minute. Even the Fire Department that was on the ground, that almost perished ... didnt know how deadly it was and how quickly it was going to spread, said Hara. That fire was so rapid, and by the time everyone had situational awareness, it was too late, unfortunately.

Maui Fire Chief Bradford Ventura said the department shares a 911 dispatch center with Maui police, and their radios were working during the critical two-hour period that communications were down in West Maui.

In Lahaina it took about 25 minutes for firefighters to transition from a field fire to the houses to start evacuating people, the fire chief said.

Bissen said now that 100% of the devastated area of Lahaina has been searched, the next part of the recovery will involve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers removing hazardous materials.

EPAs incident commander, Steve Calanog, told reporters that about 150 people are working on the debris and hazardous material removal. About 30% of the workers are local contract hires, and 25 cultural observers will monitor the teams as they move property to property removing hazardous household materials, mostly by hand.

They are pulling out by hand the hazardous materials they identify, said Calanog, noting that workers will use respirators and head-to-toe personal protective equipment.

One major concern is the presence of lithium ion storage batteries that kept energy generated by photovoltaic systems. There were many systems in Lahaina that were damaged by the fire and have to be handled like unexploded ordnance.

Lt. Col. Ryan Pevey, Honolulu District commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the cleanup efforts will respect the legal rights of residents and Native Hawaiian culture, history and traditions.

There is no intention to go in there and bulldoze stuff down, he said.

(c)2023 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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The 374th Medical Group cares for patients at Yokota Air Base, the home of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan  Patients may experience delays in appointments and services as U.S. military health care providers across the Indo-Pacific switch to a new electronic recordkeeping system in October.

Yokota, the headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo, warned of longer-than-normal wait times while Military Health System Genesis comes online and new personnel arrive.

Please be patient as we work through these challenges to make your future experience better, Yokotas 374th Airlift Wing announced Aug. 9 on its official Facebook page.

Once its up and running, MHS Genesis will allow patients to access their health records, provide more efficient management of chronic, complex and time-sensitive health conditions and allow patients to communicate directly with providers, according to a video posted Wednesday by Yokotas 374th Medical Group.

An advocate for civilian employees health care at Indo-Pacific bases advised that all military health care consumers should plan for the system update.

"The implementation of MHS Genesis across Asia will undoubtedly impact those seeking care from military treatment facilities, for both Tricare insured and space available patients, Robyn Penedo, a spokeswoman for Japan Civilian Medical Advocacy, told Stars and Stripes via Facebook Messenger on Aug. 17.

Defense Department civilian employees and contractors may make appointments at military hospitals and clinics on a space-available basis or find care at civilian providers in their host countries.

Until MHS Genesis comes online Oct. 28, Yokotas medical group suggests patients download their medical records and ensure they have enough prescription medication.

The medical group has scheduled a town hall meeting 4-6 p.m. Thursday at the base Officers Club ballroom to questions about the new system. The U.S. Army has already hosted town halls at Camp Zama, the headquarters of U.S. Army Japan, and at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, the home of U.S. Forces Korea, 2nd Infantry Division and Eighth Army.

Until October, patients can expect to experience reduced appointment availability and longer waits for lab and radiology results, according to information Yokotas medical group provided in an infographic.

DOD began electronic health care documentation in 1979, according to Health.mil, the official website of the Military Health System and the Defense Health Agency.

Deployment of MHS Genesis started in 2017 at military bases in the Pacific Northwest, followed by 25 military hospitals and clinics in the United States, according to Health.mil.

Penedo said the advocacy group is gauging the effect the new system will have on health care availability for DOD civilian employees already fighting to maintain their access to military hospitals and clinics.

We have also noticed that the switch to MHS Genesis has coincided with a switch in billing software, which is affecting each base differently, she said. We are tracking that this has had significant effects for Space A families on Yokosuka Naval Base, in particular. We are eager to hear from the affected community members so we can gather data for outreach to Congress as we continue to monitor and advocate for healthcare for the military community in Japan. Please send your experiences to info@JCMAdvocacy.org."
Vice Adm. Karl Thomas, center, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, and military leaders from the United States, the Philippines, Australia and Japan fly over the South China Sea in a Navy P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane, Aug. 26, 2023. (Belen Saldana/U.S. Navy)

The U.S. 7th Fleet commander met with military leaders from Japan, Australia and the Philippines in Manila over the weekend to discuss how to support a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific, according to the Navy.

Vice Adm. Karl Thomas joined his counterparts on Saturday and Sunday and for a flight over the South China Sea on a Navy P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane to observe the maritime environment, 7th Fleet announced in a news release Wednesday.

When we operate together, we demonstrate the importance of the freedom of navigation and reinforce the prosperity of all nations who rely on these critical waterways, Thomas said in the release.

Chinas aggressive behavior in the region must be challenged, Thomas told the Reuters news agency on Sunday.

You have to challenge people I would say operating in a gray zone, he said. When theyre taking a little bit more and more and pushing you, youve got to push back, you have to sail and operate.

Vice Adm. Karl Thomas, left, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, speaks with Philippine navy commodore Juario Marayag before boarding a Navy P-8A Poseidon in Manila, Philippines, Aug. 26, 2023. (Belen Saldana/U.S. Navy)

Thomas met with Lt. Gen. Greg Bilton, chief of joint operations for the Australian Defence Force; Vice Adm. Akira Saito, commander in chief of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces Self-Defense Fleet; along with Philippine navy representatives that included Vice Adm. Toribio Adaci, Philippine navy flag officer in command, and Philippine Fleet Commander Rear Adm. Renato David.

Our relationship with the Philippines is one of our most enduring, Thomas said, according to the Navy. Theres no country more aware of the threats being posed in the South China Sea. Every nation benefits from a free and open Indo-Pacific. We will continue to strengthen our partnerships and look for more creative ways to operate together.

Seventh Fleet spokesman Lt. Luka Bakic declined to share specifics about the visit but said Thomas and the leaders discussed ways to increase interoperability, preserve regional stability, and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, while flying aboard the Poseidon P-8A.

Interoperability is a term frequently used by the U.S. military to describe the ability to use another countrys equipment, training methods and strategies.

Chinese coast guard vessels on Aug. 5 used water cannons and maneuvers during an attempt to deter Philippine ships from resupplying troops stationed on Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.

In response, the Philippine government called for Beijing to restrain its forces, while U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the maneuvers undermined the status quo and threatened regional peace and stability.

The Spratlys, about 100 islands and other features, are claimed in full by China, Taiwan and Vietnam; portions are also claimed by the Philippines and Malaysia.

Around 45 islands are occupied by small contingents of military forces from all five countries. The Philippine military occupies Second Thomas Shoal and eight other features in the chain.
A radiological engineer gathers soil samples to be tested for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Aug. 19, 2020. (Christian Ayers/U.S. Marine Corps)

(Tribune News Service)  First-of-its-kind research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will explore how womens breast tissue is affected by exposure to so-called forever chemicals.

The research will be funded with a two-year, $405,000 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the university said in a statement Wednesday.

Our overall goal is to understand if PFAS contribute to breast cancer development, Katherine Reeves, the associate dean of graduate and professional studies and professor of epidemiology at UMass School of Public Health and Health Sciences, said in a statement.

State and federal lawmakers have been trying for years to get per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more widely known as PFAS chemicals, out of public water supplies and the supply chain. The chemicals do not break down naturally.

The chemicals are used for a variety of purposes, including making waterproof cosmetics, stain-resistant fabrics and carpeting and non-stick cookware. Theyre also used in fire-fighting foam at military installations, leading to contamination at scores of military bases.

The chemicals pose a significant public health risk. Theyve been linked to cancer and other serious health problems, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported in 2020.

Legislation now before the Massachusetts Legislature would ban the use of PFAS in most products to prevent new contamination, require sellers to inform customers if PFAS chemicals are present in their products, create new programs to clean up contamination that already exists, and would have the state regulate PFAS chemicals as one class rather than individually, State House News Service reported in June.

As long as we keep making and using things with PFAS, we will keep contaminating our bodies and the environment with ever-increasing amounts of PFAS. The only solution is to turn off the tap, Laura Spark, the senior policy advocate at Clean Water Action, told a legislative committee during a June hearing, according to State House News Service.

According to Reeves, nearly everyone in the U.S has some exposure to PFAS.

Were exposed to them in a variety of ways, Reeves said. Drinking water is certainly a very common one. Even though these chemicals are being phased out, were still using the consumer products that have these  think of the couch you bought 15 years ago that you Scotch-Guarded. Youre still being exposed. And the health effects are not entirely known.

Previous studies on animals have shown that the chemicals adversely impact mammary gland development and function, according to Reeves.

Some studies among humans have shown that women with higher exposure to PFAS chemicals breastfeed for a shorter period, possibly because their breasts stop producing milk, Reeves said.

In the new research, Reeves will use preexisting data and specimens provided by the Susan G. Kamen for the Cure Tissue Bank, which includes 9,000 breast tissue samples donated by healthy volunteers, along with their medical and reproductive histories, UMass said in its statement.

Reeves and her team will crunch data from 286 postmenopausal breast tissue donors who also provided a blood sample and gave access to their mammograms and measurements of their terminal duct lobular units. The ducts produce milk after childbirth, and the involution, or turning on of that process, happens naturally with aging, UMass said in its statement.

Most breast cancers come out of these terminal ductal lobular units, and a greater degree of involution is associated with a lower breast cancer risk, Reeves said.

Researchers will measure concentrations of the five most common PFAS chemicals in the blood serum samples and try to determine whether they see an association between the concentration of PFAS that women have circulating and the level to which there is involution of the breast, Reeves said.

Were expecting to see that PFAS concentrations will be associated with less involution, meaning that there is a higher breast cancer risk, Reeves said.

The researchers also will use the volunteers digital mammogram files to examine breast density, according to UMass.

Weve known for years that higher mammographic density is related to an increased breast cancer risk, Reeves says. And were going to ask the question, is PFAS concentration in the blood related to the density that we see in the breast.

According to Reeves, higher PFAS concentrations associated with greater breast density would point toward a higher risk for breast cancer, though its possible that PFAS exposure itself is associated with denser breasts, according to Reeves, who added that other factors, such as genetics and weight, are involved.

Were taking advantage of these well-established biomarkers of future breast cancer risk to look at associations between PFAS and those biomarkers, Reeves said.

According to UMass, the eventual findings from the research also likely will foreshadow the long-term effects of new, similar chemicals as the legacy PFAS chemicals are phased out. This information may inform public health guidelines and new policies related to these classes of chemicals.

Its too early for us to study the health effects of these newer chemicals, but the mechanisms involved with these legacy chemicals can shed light on the health effects that we might expect to see from the newer chemicals that are being introduced today, Reeves said.

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Members of the Florida National Guard prepare their equipment in Mayo, Fla., as they wait for instructions on where to respond, after the passage of Hurricane Idalia on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (Rebecca Blackwell/AP)

WASHINGTON  Military bases in South Carolina, North Carolina and other parts of the Southeast made last-minute preparations and fortifications Wednesday as they braced for the arrival of Hurricane Idalia  a major storm that caused heavy damage earlier when it made landfall in Florida.

Personnel safety is my top priority, said Capt. Ian Johnson, a Navy regional commander who oversees more than a dozen military installations in the Southeast. The forecast for Idalia remains uncertain, however personnel  are preparing for its arrival and will work to keep our personnel, assets and installations informed and safe.

The National Hurricane Center said at about 2 p.m. ET that the center of Idalia was located about 10 miles southwest of Waycross, Ga., in the southeastern part of the state, and about 100 miles southwest of the Georgia-South Carolina border. It was moving northeast at about 20 mph and had maximum sustained winds of about 80 mph, making it a Category 1 storm. The center said Idalia made landfall on Floridas Gulf Coast early Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane, which packs winds between 111 mph and 129 mph.

Joint Base Charleston in southeastern South Carolina, Shaw Air Force Base in the central part of the state and other bases in the region yet to be impacted by Idalia were busy Wednesday making final preparations, which included moving some ships and vehicles to safer locations or securing them if they couldnt be moved in time.

Aircraft will initiate evacuations from area airfields or be secured in hangars rated to withstand hurricane-force winds, Johnson said, adding the precautions will reduce the risk of severe damage to ships, planes and piers from the elements.

Joint Base Charleston was set to its Hurricane Condition of Readiness 2 early Wednesday, meaning destructive force winds of at least 50 mph are expected within 24 hours. Under that condition, military personnel are urged to take precautions such as boarding windows, closing shutters and drapes, and storing water. Service members were also encouraged to fill their bathtubs with water in case normal water service is affected for an extended amount of time.

Joint Base Charleston closed Wednesday morning, and Shaw Air Force Base said its airfield would close early Wednesday evening. The base said as many as 8 inches of rain are expected to fall in the Sumter area, where it is located. The storm is also expected to cause potentially severe flooding.

It is expected that Hurricane Idalia will impact Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and surrounding areas with periods of strong winds, heavy rains, flooding of urban and low-lying areas, potential flash floods and coastal storm surges, according to officials at the base, which is on the southeastern South Carolina coast.

According to the hurricane center, Idalia is projected to continue along a northeastern track across the South Carolina coastline on Wednesday and parts of North Carolinas southern coast on Thursday.

On the forecast track, the center of Idalia will continue moving across southeastern Georgia through [Wednesday] evening, near the coast of South Carolina tonight and just offshore the coast of southern North Carolina on Thursday, the NHC said. Idalia is then expected to move east-southeastward over the western Atlantic on Friday.

The hurricane center said Idalia should weaken to a tropical storm and lose strength later Wednesday as it continues to move over land. A hurricane becomes a tropical storm once maximum sustained winds fall below 74 mph.

Some military bases in Florida and Georgia saw severe rains and hurricane-force winds late Tuesday and into Wednesday, such as Moody Air Force Base in southern Georgia and MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla.

All base facilities are closed and will not reopen until recovery efforts are complete, officials at Moody AFB said. Only identified mission essential personnel are authorized on base during the closure.

[An] assessment team will reestablish security, assess damage and risks, and restore critical infrastructure and utilities, weather permitting, said officials at MacDill AFB, which is the headquarters for Central Command and Special Operations Command. Only the assessment team will be allowed on base.

MacDill AFB said it would remain closed until at least Thursday. Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle, which saw some effects from Idalias outer bands, said Wednesday that it has returned to normal operations. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, which lies on North Carolinas southeastern coastline, is in the path to see severe, but weakened, weather conditions Thursday.

Although Hurricane Idalia is expected to impact us as a tropical storm, we can still expect heavy rainfall between 6 to 8 inches to begin (Wednesday) evening and last into the afternoon Thursday, said officials at Camp Lejeune, which is headquarters for Marine Special Operations Command and the II Marine Expeditionary Force. Out of an abundance of caution, only essential personnel are required to report to work [Thursday].

The governors of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina declared states of emergency ahead of Idalias arrival, making them eligible for federal aid. By midafternoon Wednesday, President Joe Biden had approved Floridas emergency declaration.

If there is anything the states need right now, Im ready to mobilize that support, Biden said in a news conference, noting hes spoken to all four governors about coordinating relief efforts.
The Defense Department adjusted its special leave policy, limiting service members to 90 days of accrued leave. Changes include a 60-day cap on regular leave and a reduction in special accrual to 30 days. Leave days will have to be used within two years of completion of the relevant duty. (Dylan Bowyer/U.S. Marine Corps)

A new Defense Department regulation update cuts the time off from work that service members can collect, according to a recent Pentagon statement.

Under normal circumstances, service members are allowed to save up a maximum of 60 days of annual leave from one fiscal year to the next.

However, when deployments or critical duty assignments prevent them from taking time off, regulations permit special leave accrual.

Under the revised leave and liberty policy announced Friday, service members are limited to 90 days total. Accrual of regular leave is capped at 60 days, while special accrual leave is limited to 30 days.

Before the change, troops could squirrel away 120 days of leave, with an allotment of 60 days of regular leave and 60 days of special leave accrual allowed for when duty calls and prevents regular annual leave.

In addition, special leave accrual days now must be used within two years of completion of the duty that generated them.

Not all duty assignments linked to designated contingency operations qualify for special leave accrual, though.

Service members engaged in SLA qualifying duty, such as being assigned to a deployable ship, can hold onto a maximum of 90 days of earned leave, if provided with written authorization from the first general officer in their chain of command, the Defense Department said Friday.

Service members who saved up SLA days before 2023 will not lose their accrued time immediately and can retain it in accordance with the guidelines established by the services  for now at least.

Any SLA leave that exceeds 90 days on or before Sept. 30, 2026 will be forfeited, the Pentagon said Friday.

Enlisted personnel who prefer cash to days off are in luck, as up to 30 days of their SLA leave can be converted into cash. But this option can only be used once in a service members career.

Service members can check their special leave accrual balance in the remarks section of their leave and earnings statement, the DOD statement said.
The Collart family during a trip to North Carolina. (Family photo/The Washington Post)

Life for the Collart family had already been hard these past three years before they learned of the crash off the Australian coast on Sunday that took the lives of Cpl. Spencer R. Collart and two of his fellow U.S. Marines.

In March 2020, just when the coronavirus pandemic was settling in, the familys Virginia home burned down, leaving little more than embers.

Last week, the beloved family dog, Stella, died at age 12 from cancer that had quickly spread through her mouth.

Now, the family is mourning the loss of Spencer, 21, who went down with the Marine V-22B Osprey hybrid aircraft he was in when a routine training exercise suddenly went awry. The U.S. Marine Corps says the cause is still under investigation.

The grief upon grief is unbearable for the Collart family.

Were hoping this is the last one because we just dont know how much we could take, you know? his sister, Gwyneth Collart, 19, said Tuesday.

So far, what is known about the crash is the following:

At about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Spencer Collart and 22 other Marines were aboard the aircraft as it flew over a tropical forest on Melville Island off the coast of the Australian continent during a drill that included the militaries of Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.

Suddenly, the aircraft went down.

In his role as crew chief aboard the Osprey, Collart would have worked to secure the safety of everyone onboard while the aircraft failed.

Twenty of those passengers survived, with one still hospitalized in critical condition on Tuesday, while two others were in stable condition, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. The other two Marines who died were Capt. Eleanor V. LeBeau, 29, the pilot from Belleville, Ill., and Maj. Tobin J. Lewis, 37, the executive officer at the Darwin base in Australia, who is from Jefferson, Colo.

News of the crash triggered an outpouring of grief and messages of condolences, among them from President Biden and first lady Jill Biden. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D) on Tuesday called for a thorough investigation into what happened.

Some people on social media simply called the three deceased Marines heroes.

That description fits with what the Collarts know to be true about Spencer.

The lanky 6-foot-2 former defenseman on his high school lacrosse team loved being a Marine, said his father, Bart Collart. Spencer Collart announced that he planned to join the Marine Corps after taking an aviation course as a teenager, enlisting the day after he turned 18 with plans to become an aircraft crew chief and, then, a pilot.

When a local recruiter suggested that Collarts upper body was too slender for the pull-up requirements in boot camp, he practiced on the thick limb of a tree behind one of the rental houses the family stayed in after the fire. Eventually, he was able to do at least 11 pull-ups on that limb, Bart Collart said.

While in training to become crew chief on the Osprey, Spencer Collart called his dad to describe an exercise that involved having to find his way out of a cage that had been submerged upside down into a pool while strapped into a helicopter seat and wearing a full flight suit and boots.

And, after that, you do the whole thing again blindfolded, Bart Collart recalled his son saying. I said, Spencer, that just sounds like a horrible thing to go through. And he goes, Dad, its the coolest thing Ive ever done. I said, Youre in the right place, buddy.

Before Sundays accident, Spencer Collart was grieving the loss of Stella, disappointed that he wasnt around to say goodbye when the affectionate schnauzer had to be put down, his family said.

But he was also excited about the new house the family had built where their old home had burned down in Arlington, Va.

He had seen the nearly completed home during a visit in December from his base in Darwin  scoping out the bedroom in the front that would be his, Bart Collart said.

Every time we spoke to him on the phone, he would be adamant, saying: Dont you guys sell that house. Weve got to keep this house, Collart said. I think he had visions of one day coming back here and raising a family.

Spencer Collart never got to see the house when it was finished. But, the family said they believe that he spent his last hours feeling fulfilled.

He died doing what he loved and he died a hero, Gwyneth Collart said. We knew from the beginning that when he said he wanted to join the military that that was the perfect thing for him.
Pakistan has approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide relief to the public in electricity bills.

Interim Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar held a virtual conversation with IMF representative Esther Perez Ruiz where some suggestions were floated and the IMF asked for a written plan.

Sources in the Ministry of Finance said the two sides held talks about relief in the electricity bills.

The IMF was briefed on the situation arising after the hike in power bills, the sources added.

Various proposals were submitted to the IMF regarding provision of relief in electricity bills, the ministry sources said.

The IMF received a briefing on Pakistans stand for relief in electricity bills. It has sought a written plan for relief in power bills.

The written plan is likely to be sent to the IMF by the evening, the Finance Ministry sources said.

During the virtual communication with the IMF, the first-month performance of the Federal Board of Revenue was also reviewed, FBR sources said.

In the current fiscal year in July, taxes worth Rs538 billion were collected, which was Rs4 billion more than the target for the month.

The IMF reviewed the FBRs performance, the sources added. It also praised the bureau for achieving the tax target.
KSA MBS Muhammed bin Salman will arrive in Pakistan on September 10 and his stay in the country will be for around six hours, after which he will depart for India on a state visit for G-20 meeting.

During his short stay in Pakistan, the crown prince will hold meetings with caretaker prime minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir and state officials.

Amnesty International and five other rights organisations signed an open letter calling for an end to human rights violations in Kashmir and the release of jailed human rights defenders and political prisoners ahead of the G20 summit scheduled next month in New Delhi, India.

The letter, published on 23 August and addressed to representatives of G20 member countries, guest countries and invited international organisations, brought forth concerns regarding human rights violations occurring in Indian-administered Kashmir (IAK).

As your leaders prepare to attend the G20 Summit in September 2023, we urge your government to raise these issues directly and forthrightly with the government of India in accordance with your obligations under international law and call on India to adhere to its international legal obligations, the letter states.

The letter says that since 2019 - when India revoked Article 370A and Article 35A, stripping Jammu and Kashmirs semi-autonomous status - the government has continued its repressive policies including restricting freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association and failed to investigate and prosecute alleged violations committed by its military, paramilitary, police and other forces.

Since 1947, both India and Pakistan have asserted their rights to the contested territory, with each nation administering portions of it.
Hughes Foucart (51) had been at a friends birthday party when he got into a dispute with the womans group over something trivial and spilled a drink

An IT worker who punched a woman in the jaw when he lost his temper in a pub row has been given more time to take part in a restorative justice programme.

Hughes Foucart (51) had been at a friends birthday party when he got into a dispute with the womans group over something trivial and spilled a drink.

His defence said he may have been trying to hit someone else when he unjustifiably punched the woman, leaving her face swollen and bruised.

Foucart, of Arthur Griffith Park, Lucan, Dublin, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the woman at ONeills pub on Main Street in Lucan on June 17 of last year.

His case was heard previously and came back before Blanchardstown District Court for a restorative justice report. The accused may be spared a criminal record if this is favourable.

Judge Gerard Jones was told that the report was not as favourable as the defence had hoped but English was not the accuseds first language and he may not have fully understood the purpose of the programme.

He now understood the opportunity being given to him, his lawyer said.

Judge Jones put the case back to be heard again in October.
He is charged with harassment of three alleged victims - Nicola Tallant and Deirdre Reynolds of the Sunday World and another journalist.

A MAN accused of harassing female journalists sent them explicit sexual fantasy messages before threatening to shoot them and turning up at their office, it is alleged.

Mark McAnaw (51) initially asked them out on dates by email and social media before the unwanted messages became more sexualised and violent, the women told a court.

He allegedly told one journalist in a message he would pump her full of bullets and another that he would take pleasure in killing her.

Judge Brendan OReilly refused him bail and remanded him in custody for a week for the directions of the DPP.

Mr McAnaw, with an address at St Eunans Court, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, is charged with harassment of three alleged victims - Nicola Tallant and Deirdre Reynolds of the Sunday World and another journalist.

Objecting to bail, Detective Sergeant John Brady told Dublin District Court it was alleged Mr McAnaw sent emails to the first two women and the third was contacted by Facebook messages.

Ms Reynolds became "extremely anxious" after she allegedly received six sexually explicit and suggestive mails this month, the court heard.

They were sexual in nature and expressed his urge to take me out for a drink, she said in evidence.

He said he found me attractive and wanted to take me home and take my kit off and wanted to give me a good seeing to, she told the judge when asked about the sexual content.

The emails became more violent in nature, threatening that he would come to Dublin and shoot me, she said.

She was told if she ignored the mails it would be a life-threatening mistake for me, she said.

There were also alleged references to IRA Top Boy and Sinn Fein in the emails and a threat that Im going to pump you full of bullets.

The court heard the accused did come to the Mediahuis offices at Independent House on Dublin's Talbot Street on August 23, but neither journalist was there at the time.

He was refused entry by security and went to the Insomnia cafe across the road where took up position drinking coffee.

Ms Reynolds said after this, she felt there was a real and imminent threat to her.

Cross-examined by defence solicitor Alexander Rafter of Tracy Horan and Co, Ms Reynolds accepted she would get emails from readers that were not complimentary but said this was different.

Ms Tallant said she also began receiving emails earlier this month. She initially didnt pay a huge amount of heed to them but they became increasingly threatening and sexualised, culminating in a mail saying he was going to come to see her in the offices. She became concerned after learning he did arrive.

In the emails, it was almost as if he believed a relationship existed or that he was going to conduct a sexual relationship with me, she said.

He allegedly told her he was planning to go to her home and to get her to bring him to the third alleged victims home.

I was horrified by it, she said.

She told Mr Rafter she had got unsolicited emails from readers before but in the course of a 30-year career she had never received anything as threatening or sexualised.

Ms Tallant told the judge the sexual content was very specific.

It was a kind of fantasy that had been created in the individuals head involving a meal out in town and drinks, arriving back at my home and what was going to happen in my home, she said.

It then involved going to the home of the third alleged victim.

The third journalist alleged the accused had sent a ridiculous amount of Facebook messages.

His first contact was very nice to me, asking me out on dates but then he would get more frustrated because the messages were not being replied to, threatening serious violence to me, sexual in nature.

She alleged the messages stated he was going to stab her and put a bullet in your nut, and Im going to take pleasure in killing you.

She was sick when she went on Facebook and saw streams of messages" which referred to things he wanted to do to me.

She had been careful not to give away where she lived but after she mentioned a well-known Dublin pub in a post, it was obvious he had been following me and hanging around the pub looking for me.

She said the contact had changed my life and she was very scared of this man.

Detective Garda Declan OConnor read from a "sexual fantasy message" in which the accused allegedly told the third woman he would travel to Dublin, intercept Ms Tallant and convince her to show him where she lived.

The mail stated "Im going to get your kit off you on your front room floor," before detailing sexual acts.

Gardai asked the accused if he went to Independent House in an attempt to carry this out and he said my honest answer is yes.

Asked if he would have sex with the third journalist consensually or otherwise, Mr McAnaw said yes, the garda said.

Mr Rafter said none of the alleged victims had met the accused, who they did not know, and they could not authenticate the source of the messages.

He said they were seasoned journalists who would get a lot of spam emails.

The accused would undertake to have no contact with the women if bailed and would live 300km away in Donegal, he said.

Judge OReilly refused bail and ordered that the accused undergo a psychiatric assessment.
The nurse gave evidence that shortly before she was assaulted she had been changing Hepburns IV line

A sneering pervert pensioner who grinned after he sexually assaulted a nurse by grabbing her by the buttock was jailed for four months today.

Dismissing an appeal by convicted rapist Victor Hepburn at Antrim County Appeal Court, Judge Alistair Devlin said had the 76-year-old shown a different attitude to the victim and his offences before his 11th hour admission of guilt today or if he had a clear record I might have been persuaded not to jail the creep.

Highlighting that until today Hepburn had shown no remorse whatsoever and had even continued in his disgraceful victim blaming when interviewed by a probation officer, he told the court I am not persuaded there was anything inappropriate in the decision arrived at by the District Judge.

I fully appreciate hat he did and why he did it and the basis upon which he arrived at his decision, concluded Judge Devlin as he ordered Hepburn to be taken to the cells.

Victor Hepburn. Credit: Sunday World

Following a two hour contest last May Hepburn, from the Cloyfin Road in Coleraine, was convicted of a single count of sexual assault of a female on 4 December last year.

Filled with drama from start to finish with Hepburns defence counsel having to come off record because the defendant tried to surreptitiously record a legal consultation, the court heard that Hepburn was a patient at the Causeway Hospital being treated for an aneurysm and amputated toe when the assault took place.

The nurse gave evidence that shortly before she was assaulted she had been changing Hepburns IV line when he gave an indication of his lecherous character.

He made a comment of is that line kinked, do you like it kinky, said the experienced nurse, I immediately told him that is an inappropriate comment to make and why did he feel he could make a comment to that extent?

Later on she said she was standing at Hepburns bedside locker sorting out his medication when I suddenly felt his hand on the top of my right thigh, on my crotch, and it lingered there.

I told him to get off, declared the nurse, explaining to the prosecuting lawyer that Hepburn had to physically roll right overreach up and through the cot bars to grab her.

Giving evidence on his own behalf, claiming he did not know the meaning of the word kinky and declaring that he was telling the truth as he held the Bible aloft in both hands, Hepburn claimed he had been reaching for the handrail to manoeuvre himself in bed when she started screaming dont touch me, dont touch me! and the next thing I know theres two senior members of staff saying about zero tolerance and so on.

I totally and absolutely disagree with the nurses claims, Hepburn told the court describing her account as a bit exaggerated.

David Hepburn. Credit: Sunday World

Convicting Hepburn and jailing the rapist for four months, District Judge Peter King told the rapist his testimony had been an example of victim blaming and victim shaming, adding that I do not believe a word that Mr Hepburn has told me - his account was unsteady on a series of stilts.

Hepburn, who was jailed for 11 years in 2014 for an historic rape attack, was due to appeal but his conviction and sentence today with the nurse he groped set to have to testify again but his defence counsel said while its late in the day, the pensioner now accepts his conviction.

We say thats a very significant change in attitude, the barrister submitted, highlighting that the pensioner has significant and multiple health difficulties so any jail time will be all the more difficult for him.

One thing that should be said was that his conduct was completely unacceptable, he told the court, urging the judge not to send Hepburn straight to jail.

During his sentencing remarks, Judge Devlin explained he was approaching the case on the basis of the level of culpability, the harm caused and the risk posed by the sex offender.

The judge said he had absolutely no hesitation in concluding that culpability was high given the fact that the victim is a nurse who was providing a professional level of care to the pensioner in a hospital setting.

As regards the harm, Judge Devlin said while he was not going to fully open the victim impact statement he told the court she had written how seeing Hepburns sneering and grinning face, along with having to testify and be cross examined by the convicted rapist, was one of the most emotional and distressing day in may life and she had come close to giving up her 30 plus year nursing career as a result.

Hepburn himself, said the judge, had been assessed as posing a medium risk of harm and further offences and he told the pensioner his attitude to the offence and the victim up until today had been quite disgraceful.

Although he commended the defence for the plea which had left no stone unturned, Judge Devlin dismissed the appeal and affirmed the four month jail sentence which had been imposed by the lower court.

He also affirmed the Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) and Protection from Harassment Order for five years and ordered that Hepburn will have to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.
These were ecstasy worth 40,990, ketamine valued at 25,140, another 5,000 of the drug DMT and 440 of cannabis, the court was told.

A model citizen was caught red-handed with a variety of drugs worth over 70,000 in north Dublin, it is alleged.

Sam Collins (28), an electrician who was described in court as a working Joe, is accused of having drugs including ecstasy and ketamine following a garda search.

Judge Susan Fay granted him bail at Dublin District Court and adjourned the case for the directions of the DPP.

Mr Collins, with an address at Kilcross Drive, Sandyford, is charged with possession of drugs with intent to sell or supply. The offences are alleged to have happened at New Church Street, Dublin 7 and an apartment in the north of the city.

Objecting to bail, the prosecuting garda said it would be alleged Mr Collins was found in possession of drugs with an estimated street value of 71,570.

These were ecstasy worth 40,990, ketamine valued at 25,140, another 5,000 of the drug DMT and 440 of cannabis.

According to the prosecution, Mr Collins was caught red-handed and drugs were at an address where only he was residing.

Applying for bail, defence barrister Kevin McCrave said Mr Collins had no previous convictions.

Mr McCrave asked the garda if he would consider the accused a model citizen up to date and like other working Joes.

He was unknown to me, the garda said.

Mr McCrave said Mr Collins was presumed innocent, came from a good family background, his mother was in court to support him and he could live at her address in Co Wicklow.

He said being before the courts was very strange and unusual for Mr Collins.

Judge Fay granted bail in the accuseds own bond of 100 with an independent surety of 3,000.

Under conditions, Mr Collins must live at his mothers address, sign on weekly at Wicklow Garda Station, be contactable by mobile phone, surrender his passport and not apply for other travel documents.
No arrests have been made, gardai said.

Two brazen thieves snatched a motorbike in broad daylight from the front yard of a property in Rathmines, South Dublin on Friday.

It has been reported that the same bike was seen later that afternoon on the northside of the city.

Gardai confirmed they received report of the theft of a motorbike from Lower Rathmines Road in Rathmines, Co Dublin at approximately 3:45pm on August 25.

No arrests have been made, gardai said. Investigations are ongoing.

The thieves made their escape with the help of two riders on mopeds who pulled up beside them to assist them in their getaway.

One of the thieves jumped onto the back of one of the mopeds as it spend away into the traffic.

This is just the latest incident in a series of motorbike robberies in the city.

In June, we published a story about a similar incident when two thieves robbed an expensive motorbike in Dublins leafy business district as a bystander filmed the whole incident.

The hooded individuals were seen covering their faces as they tried to smash off the wheel lock system on the vehicle in broad daylight after it was parked outside FlyeFit in Dublins IFSC.

The man behind the camera tried to scare off the thieves but after being threatened he stood back. After a minute of trying to crack the lock the men managed to succeed and were quickly able to speed off on the stolen property
Fisola Akinfenwa, from Castleknock (centre) with Htoo Htoo Lar and Bernadette Griffin, both from Castlebar

Two of Irelands busiest hospitals have welcomed the first cohort of nursing students from Hibernia College, who are undertaking specialist nursing and midwifery placements as part of their BSc (Hons) in General Nursing degree.

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitals in Drogheda and Cavan & Monaghan Hospital, who are both part of the RCSI Hospital Group, are the lucky recipients of the latest batch of specialised medics.

As hospitals all over the country struggle to staff all departments the new college is a welcome relief on the health system.
Second-gen offering takes all the good things to make a great car at an affordable price

I actually feel sorry for the Kona because it has done nothing wrong at all, yet it is repeatedly overlooked for the Ioniqs and the all-conquering Tucson. And when I say overlooked, I mean it is almost forgotten about, despite the consistently good sales.

Throw in the regular fanboying of the i20 N and the obvious attraction to the Santa Fe for those on the lookout for a reliable, fun, safe and massive seven seater, and you can see why the Kona could have a serious inferiority complex.

It is the second-best selling Hyundai every single year since it launched at the tail end of 2017 and two months ago the Korean company launched the highly-anticipated 2nd-generation Kona.

Irish Hyundai bosses were rightfully confident at the launch as they took aim at Toyota with lots of slides about how the all-new Kona compares to cars like the CH-R and the Corolla Cross. And based on the slides there is no comparison, to be honest. It was a slam dunk for the Korean brand.

But we arent ones to just sit there and be won over by fancy slides and impressive numbers. We want to know how it drives. Now, for context, the company will predominantly be selling the hybrid powertrain and a full-electric is coming later in the year.

The interior of the all new Kona

But my test car is the N-Line 1.0litre 3-cylinder ICE version, which will not sell in their big numbers compared to the other two powertrains, but I am here to tell you why this is an option too while also telling you about the improvements from 1st to 2nd gen Konas.

Usually, I only prefer manual gearboxes in small little whippersnappers of cars like the MX-5 or a Ford Mustang. But this N-Line Kona (producing 120bhp and 172Nm of torque) was surprisingly nimble and perfect for the manual transmission.

Powertrain aside lets talk shape and chassis and space. This is huge. Almost completely unrecognisable as a Kona and definitely venturing into Tucson territory.

It even comes with the new Tucson-esque angled design on the doors, so to the uninitiated you could be forgiven for thinking this was actually the latest version of Irelands best selling car of the last seven years.

Basically, what I am saying is that the passenger room is far more comparable to some crossovers and SUVs in the class above. It is noticeably more spacious than before, easily accommodating adults in row 2.

There are two ISOFIX points and a relatively low transmission tunnel in the middle so a third rear passenger can fit in when required. In the Elegance model there are air vents in the rear.

Hyundai quotes a 466-litre volume for the boot, which is a staggering 100 litres more than the first generation.

The N Line is sportier and features a bespoke front and rear bumper design, side skirts, 18-inch alloy wheels, twin-exit exhaust tips, black door mirrors and roof, plus body-colour wheel arches.

Theres a new look in the cabin, too, with aluminium pedals, and heated N Line cloth seats front and rear. Ambient lighting, a powered tailgate, heated steering wheel and a wireless smartphone charging pad are also standard.

The Kona feels fast to drive (if you wish) but is perfectly at home taking in the urban commutes and school runs at pace and in comfort. Choosing Sport mode gives you a little more response and turns your instrument cluster red to complement your new driving experience.

But dont overdo it. Eco mode is perfectly good here and will help fuel economy.

And the best bit is yet to come! Irish prices kick off at 30,895, which is what you will have to pay for the entry-level Signature version of my car. My actual test car is closer to 34k but you do get 18-inch wheels, an even more distinctive exterior styling pack and an N-Line interior including a unique gear lever and seats.

The EV version is expected to offer a 500km range, but I dont have prices for that yet. Hopefully I will get into it later in the year and shall report back.

The car company has pretty much thrown out the old Kona playbook and started again here, taking the best bits of each model and housing it in a girthy and proud all-new Kona chassis. Its hard to sit here and tell you that the ICE powertrain is the way to go, but what I will say is that I had one of the best weeks of the year so far in it.

I also think Hyundai has solved any potential inferiority complex that Kona used to have. This is no longer going to meekly fade into the background.
Tragedy comes less than a week after four young people died in a crash in nearby Clonmel

The new garda age ceiling is thought likely to land between 45 and 50 years. Stock image

Gardai at the scene of the tragedy in Clonmel.

Two grandparents and their three-year-old grandchild died in a road crash in Co Tipperary on Tuesday evening, leaving the area reeling after the second multiple road tragedy to hit the county in under a week.

The single-vehicle collision happened on the Windmill Road, outside the town of Cashel, where gardai and members of the emergency services were still at the scene last night.

It is understood those travelling in the car were members of a family who live in the town.

Gardai have confirmed that the child who died was three years old, while a man and a woman in their 40s were also killed.

A spokesperson said: Their bodies have been removed to University Hospital Waterford where a post mortem will take place in due course.

The body of the infant boy has been taken to Tipperary University Hospital, Clonmel.

Meanwhile, a man and a woman in their 20s, who were front seat occupants of the car have been taken to Tipperary University Hospital where they continue to be treated for serious injuries.

RTE reports the two deceased adults were the tots grandparents while the injured pair are his parents.

It comes just days after four young people from the nearby town of Clonmel lost their lives on their way to a Leaving Cert party.

The single vehicle collision occurred shortly before 9pm this evening when a car hit a wall in the Windmill Knockbulloge area of Cashel, Co. Tipperary,gardai said in a statement issued shortly after midnight.

Gardai can now confirm three fatalities as a result of this collision. The adult male and adult female rear seat passengers were pronounced deceased at the scene,

An infant boy was also fatally injured during the collision; the body of the infant boy has been taken to Tipperary University Hospital, Clonmel.

Gardai said the adult male driver and adult female front seat passenger of the car were taken to Tipperary University Hospital, where their condition is described as serious.

News of the tragedy was only filtering through the area on Tuesday night, leaving local people reeling.

Co Tipperary-based priest Fr Michael Toomey offered his condolences to those affected.

Our Tipperary county suffers again. Thoughts and prayers for those who have died in tonights tragedy in Cashel, he wrote on social media.

Tipperary Sinn Fein TD Martin Browne said the news had shaken the community, doubly so coming in the wake of the deaths of four young people in Clonmel last week. He said his thoughts were also with the members of the emergency services who were working at the scene last night.

"Our thoughts and condolences are with the family at this time, he said.

Weve seen the way the community rallied around during the week for Clonmel, and I am sure the community in Cashel will rally around the family involved in this accident as well.

He added: There are sad days ahead for them all now.

Local Fine Gael councillor in Cashel and cathaoirleach of the Cashel Municipal District Cllr Declan Burgess said it was awful news.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families involved. It is a devastating blow for our community, he said.

Local Independent TD Mattie McGrath said: More heartbreak for our community as a number of people are believed to have been killed in a crash near Cashel. My thoughts and prayers are with all those involved, their families and the emergency services dealing with another tragic event.

The road in Windmill Knockbulloge remained closed to traffic with local diversions in place into Wednesday. It is not expected to reopen for some time.

Gardai, Cashel Fire Services and the HSE Ambulance Service remained at the scene, while Garda Forensic Collision Investigators (FCI) will conduct an examination of the scene on Wednesday morning.

An incident room has been established at Cahir Garda Station and a senior investigating officer has been appointed to lead the investigation, with gardai appealing for any witnesses to contact them.

Any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling in the Windmill Knockbulloge area near Cashel between 8.30pm and 9.15pm this evening are asked to make this footage available to gardai, they said.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Cahir Garda station on 052 617 7640, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.

The news comes just days after the nearby town of Clonmel was left reeling at the deaths of three Leaving Cert students and one of their brothers at the Mountain Road in the town on Friday evening.

Zoey Coffey, Nikki Murphy and Grace McSweeney (18) and Luke McSweeney (24) died when the car being driven by Luke overturned as they made their way to a celebration of the girls Leaving Cert results. Their funerals will take place in the coming days.
Few, if any, have heard of west Kerry man Patrick OConnor who led his troops into the largest massacre of Native Americans in US history

A plaque to mark the Bear River Massacre where 400 men, women and children of the Shoshone tribe were killed by the Army led by Kerry man Patrick O'Connor..

A photo of General Patrick Edward Connor (Patrick O'Connor) who was from Kerry and who led a massacre of Native American Indians in Idaho.

Jerry O'Sullivan with the statue to Patrick O'Connor from Kerry who led the largest massacre of native Indians. The Kenmare journalist has a new documentary on Spotify telling the story of the West Kerry man

There is a certain romanticism about the Irish who fled to America and the belief that they all went on to live great and virtuous lives but there are others who fled Ireland and played a significant role in the dark history of the US.

Few, if any, have heard of west Kerry man Patrick OConnor who led his troops into the largest massacre of Native Americans in US history on January 29, 1863. Over 400 men, women and children of the North West Band of the Shoshone Nation were killed at Bear River, near what is today Preston, Idaho. OConnor led the California Volunteers who had been stationed at Port Douglas.

The eldest son of Thomas O'Connor and Mary Sullivan, he was born in 1820 in Ballyferriter and the family emigrated to the US in the 1830s when Patrick was 12 or 16 (1832 or 1836), bound for New York in pre-famine times.

But who was Patrick OConnor and what did he do? Award-winning journalist Jerry OSullivan from Kenmare has put together a documentary on the extraordinary story of this Kerry man to tell the tale of a darker side of our emigrant history.

The statue of Kerry man Patrick O'Connor on the grounds of the Fort Douglas Military Museum.

Gloryhunter Kerry Indian Killer is now on Spotify and tells the chilling history of that fateful day and highlights the Kerry man behind the massacre of so many native Indians.

Jerry OSullivan, well-known presenter of Kerry Today, travelled to Salt Lake City in Utah to learn more about Mr OConnor and what his role was that day.

Speaking to historians as well as members of the Shonshone tribe, Jerry has a tale to tell that shines a new light on US and Irish history with a story he says must be told.

"For many Irish-Americans, history has a romanticism about it, the tired and poor huddled masses who left for American and rose up and out of the tenements of New York. What is less celebrated is the dark side of that story, like the actions of OConnor, says Jerry.

While many massacres of that era did make world-wide headlines, the story of Bear River went largely unspoken, partly because it was so bad it was not commemorated later. In fact, it took some time for its description to be changed from a battle to a massacre via Congress.

In fact, the land on which the bloodbath occurred is now back in the hands of that tribe and there are plans for an interpretative centre.

"It was so bad that even the Mormons [the established group there at the time] did not talk about it and Mr OConnor was not treated as a hero. It was buried to an extent, explains Jerry.

On arrival in the US, Patrick OConnor epitomised the American Dream and truly believed in being an American first, in joining the army and making a fortune in the gold rush. Anyone who got in the way of that dream for Patrick should be removed and that included native Americans. He too despised the Mormons seeing them as anti-American.

A photo of General Patrick Edward Connor (Patrick O'Connor) who was from Kerry and who led a massacre of Native American Indians in Idaho.

Jerry first came across the story of Patrick OConnor who changed his name P Edward Connor  he later became General Patrick Edward Connor of the US Army  when researching the controversy surrounding the removal of statues in 2017.

Jerry went in search of Irish with links to atrocities like the slave trade when he came across Mr OConnor and began researching  a difficult task given the lack of information on the Bear River Battle now the Bear River Massacre  but when he did he found that Mr OConnor had led his troops into this chilling battle, commanding them to kill all.

"It had emerged this was not a fair fight, it was an out and out massacre and a story that had to be told, said Jerry.

He got funding from the Sound and Vision broadcasting fund in 2020 but, due to the Covid pandemic, the documentary had to be put on hold. In June of this year Jerry travelled to Salt Lake City in Utah to finalise his research and speak with historians with a wealth of knowledge on the story.

A plaque to mark the Bear River Massacre where 400 men, women and children of the Shoshone tribe were killed by the Army led by Kerry man Patrick O'Connor..

Jerry visited the statue of Mr OConnor in place in a military cemetery, having been moved quietly from a more prominent position on the University of Utah grounds. The plaque is dedicated to him and the battle and how he was the father of Utah mining but not what he had done to the native Americans in that battle.

Now the story is being told by Jerry through Gloryhunter Kerry Indian Killer. The fascinating documentary aired on Radio Kerry during the August Bank Holiday Weekend and is now on Spotify.
A well known Whakatane accountant and business leader has also died after a horror smash that killed a husband and wife, and injured their three children near Dunedin on Monday.

John Banbury died in Dunedin hospital on Tuesday night after the vehicle he was driving collided with Andrew and Kreshar Sheehans car at about 12.15pm on SH1 between Titri and Bungards Rd, near Waihola, 30 minutes south of Dunedin.

While the Sheehans died at the scene, Banbury and three of the couples children were taken to hospital.

Banbury was a well known businessman in Whakatane having been the successful managing director of Prideaux & Co accounting firm for many years until he sold the practice to Rural Accountants Limited Partnership in 2018.

At the time Banburys partner Jane Tyson, who joined Prideaux & Co in 2005, said he was very much the leader of the business.

In 1990, the opportunity came for us to buy into Prideaux & Co in Whakatane which was exactly what John was looking for. Whakatane was always a good fit for us and especially for John who is very much into his hunting and fishing.

Banbury and Tysons two children have followed in their fathers footsteps and work for Rural Accountants as does Tyson as an accountant.

Rural Accountants director Shannon Harnett said Banbury was a very well respected and well liked accountant in Whakatane.

We would like to express our condolences to both families. Its a terrible tragedy.

On Tuesday night Kreshar Sheehans brother Jarrett Fitisemanu Fruean paid tribute to the beautiful couple and thanked friends and family for their overwhelming support.

It is with a heavy heart that we share the sudden passing of our beautiful Kreshar Dannielle Sheehan and our beloved Andrew Francis Sheehan, he wrote in a Facebook post.

We thank those who have reached out already and those who have kept our family in your prayers. It has been an overwhelming response and no words can articulate how grateful we are for the out pour of love and support.

We ask for your patience as we navigate the next few days as a family before we make an announcement of upcoming services.

Family have set up a bank account in both New Zealand and Australia for those that want to help support the surviving children financially.

Another family member said Kreshar had messaged her daily while they were overseas. She said she was devastated by the loss.

We talked regularly online send stupid memes and messages. She always made sure to think about the delivery of her messages and actions to her kids.  Its their little minds, Niv! They take on everything! 

Manuia lau malaga family dont know what to say

Others said they were praying for the children.

The couple lived with their children in Te Kuiti and were members of the Hamilton branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Stuff understands three of their children were in the car.

Just hours before the crash, the couple posted a photo of themselves at a ski slope on their combined Facebook page after Kreshar celebrated her birthday on Sunday.

The emergency response involved two helicopters, three ambulances and two rapid response vehicles, A Hato Hone St John spokesperson said.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand sent crews from Milton, Balclutha and Waihola to the crash.

Police confirmed The Serious Crash Unit is investigating the accident.

The crash occurred two days after the small lakeside town celebrated an extension of the Clutha Gold Cycle train from Lawrence to Waihola.

The stretch of highway has long been problematic with several fatal crashes occurring and has earnt the nickname death mile.

Police are seeking help from the public and are asking anyone who saw the crash, assisted at the scene, or who may have information that could help, to come forward.

Anyone with information can contact the police via 105 or online at police.govt.nz/use-105, using 'Update My Report', referencing file number 230828/5647.

-Nadine Roberts/Stuff.
Two people were reportedly "lucky to walk away unharmed" after a finding themselves trapped near the summit of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing yesterday afternoon.

According to a Facebook post by Bay of Plenty & Taupo police, the pair were on the third day of their hike around the Tongariro Northern Circuit and had successfully climbed to the Red Crater summit from Emerald Lakes, however on the descent to South Crater they found themselves in trouble on ice.

"The two called Police at around 2.40pm yesterday requesting assistance as they did not have sufficient equipment for the conditions," reads the post.

"Taupo Police quickly launched a mission using a helicopter from Taupo, and LandSAR rescuers - the pair were rescued a short time later."

Photo: Bay of Plenty & Taupo Police/Facebook.

"Thankfully, both trampers were uninjured.

"It is important to be equipped and prepare for the conditions when tramping.

"We are reminding trampers in the alpine environment to take and know how to use ice axes and crampons and wear suitable footwear.

"Police would like to acknowledge those involved in the rescue, including iwi and Land Search & Rescue New Zealand who helped lead to this positive outcome."
Calling all aspiring young Kiwi filmmakers  the submission deadline for the International Youth Silent Film Festival New Zealand Nationals 2023 is fast approaching, with entries closing this Friday!

Not only does the IYSFF give young filmmakers the chance to showcase their creativity, storytelling skills, and passion for film on the national stage, they also stand to win a share of NZD $3000 in cash prizes and 10 category awards, as well as go on to represent Aotearoa at the IYSFF Global Awards held in the US in 2024.

If film is something youd like to do in the future, this experience is life changing. You just have to get out and do it, set yourself a goal and aim high! says IYSFF Global Awards 2023 winner Ben Young.

The 13-year-old Auckland filmmaker was announced supreme winner of the international filmmaking competition at Junes IYSFF Global Awards in Portland, Oregon, US, for his film Crash.

He secured his spot at the Global Awards after Crash won first place at the IYSFF New Zealand National Awards Final 2022, along with a raft of Best Of awards for direction, editing, cinematography and production design.

It was the second year in a row a Kiwi filmmaker won top honours at the global competition, and on top of being crowned best of the best internationally, Ben also walked away with a cool cash prize of USD $3000 (NZD $4200).

Being in the audience at the Global Awards was amazing. I was blown away by the creativity, storytelling, and sheer production value of all the other filmmakers projects. From my time on the red carpet, to seeing the outstanding intro showcasing snippets from all the films from around the world, I loved every second of it!

The producers and directors I met in Oregon also showed me what film could look like as a career, and I cannot thank them enough.

The IYSFF challenges filmmakers, aged 22 years and under, from across the United States, Europe, Australia, United Arab Emirates and Aotearoa New Zealand to create a three-minute silent film, set to one of 10 musical scores composed specifically for the festival.

Once submissions close a panel will select the top 10 films to be screened and celebrated at the IYSFF NZ National Awards Final at Baycourt Community & Arts Centre in Tauranga on Thursday, November 2.

We love it when the entries start rolling in, and were blown away every year by the superb quality of the films. Ever since the IYSFFs New Zealand debut at our venue in 2016, the films and their stories have gotten bigger and bolder every year, said Baycourt manager Reena Snook.

Bens win at the Global Awards in June confirms the future of filmmaking in Aotearoa is brighter and stronger than ever. With two consecutive global wins under our belt, a New Zealand threepeat at the 2024 Global Awards is a very real possibility. Aotearoa is bursting with talent so its not surprising that our rangatahi are making serious waves on the world stage.

Submissions for the IYSFF New Zealand Nationals 2023 competition close at 11.59pm on Friday, Septembe 1. For rules, soundtracks, or to make a submission, visit www.makesilentfilm.com. To find out more about the NZ Nationals visit www.baycourt.co.nz/youth/iysff-nz-nationals

The IYSFF NZ Nationals 2023 is proudly delivered with support from major sponsors Priority One Tauranga, Tauranga City Council, and Bay of Plenty Actors Studios, and major media partner MediaWorks.
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Mario who owns a small souvenir shop in a side street of Calle San Miguel, in Torremolinos, has told SUR how many of his wares are now made in China in contrast to the locally handmade souvenirs of yesteryear.

Its early morning and Mario has just opened the shutters on his little shop. The morning is calm with a tourist popping in every now and then in search of a memento to encapsulate their memory of their Costa del Sol trip. His most popular selling items include the magnet. It is the cheapest," Mario said. The same goes for bracelets. Some include the name Torremolinos, others are just a nice handful of shells joined by a string that could well be sold in any coastal resort in the world.

In the late nineties, when Gift Souvenirs opened, it was his parents who ran the shop. Back then, the holiday reminders that tourists bought were very different from the ones they come looking for today.

Products carrying the name of the town. SUR

"Before, there were more handmade souvenirs, everything was more highly valued, whether they were made of wood or ceramics," Mario lamented, recalling a time when the fans he sold were painted by hand. He said that China has overrun the market and the artisans here hardly produce anything because you can't sell their product, it's impossible. You can't have an item whose production cost exceeds the current selling price". Mario said he does what he can to maintain the legacy of the old handmade souvenir business with "the few things that are still made in Spain".

Made in Spain. SUR

This season, Mario said, the star products are hats, mugs and thermometers. Last summer the most popular items were the beach bag, towel and apron. It is a fickle market and prices are radically competitive. Tourists wander from shop to shop to take photos, compare and grab the cheapest item. More than a few gift shops have closed in recent years.

The only way to keep up is to innovate and offer unique items, different from the rest of the shops. Maricarmen, from the nearby shop named Moling, has been doing very well lately with her pot-shaped magnets containing a small cactus. Some say "Malaga", others "The Costa del Sol", but if they didn't say anything, they would probably still sell. "You keep it on the fridge and, if you get fed up, you move it to a bigger pot so that it can grow," she explained to a customer, who ended up taking two. Maricarmen explained that she has to constantly think what to stock to differentiate her shop from her competitors. She feels she is onto a winner with the cactus and that it will not appear on other shelves soon. "There are many of us and we all have the same story," she said.

Following the stairs that lead to the promenade, there is a ceramic shop. "Business is bad, very bad," the owner said with a frown. "Twenty years ago there was much more movement. He said that now the wealthier tourists all go to Benalmadena. "Those who pass through here have just enough for the plane and the hotel," he said in reference to the many young Spaniards who only come to Torremolinos for a couple of days.

When I started working seven years ago, people took the products without looking at the price, said Barbara, from 'Souvenirs Daniela', a few metres from the beach. She inflates a swim mat worth a couple of euros for a customer. Watch out for jellyfish, here they are big and small, she warned the buyer. Her shop full of T-shirts from movies, series, and video games is on the verge of becoming a bazaar. They include 'Barbie', 'Roblox' or 'Fortnite', but they all have the name Torremolinos stamped on them.

At first we sold porcelain, castanets, explained the saleswoman. Now maybe they come looking for a superhero shirt, which is not something very traditional here. She was forced to reorient the business, which sells fewer and fewer souvenirs.

It seems that the handmade wooden and ceramic gifts that Mario's parents sold are, today more than ever, what they always were: memories.
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A Guardia Civil maritime service patrol boat recovered two dead bodies from the sea off the coast of Fuengirola on Tuesday (29 August). In the absence of an autopsy, investigators initially ruled out that they are the two friends who disappeared while paddle board surfing from a beach on the Costa del Sol, who have been missing since last Sunday.

The bodies were spotted floating in the water in front of the Fuengirola sailing school and the police patrol boat recovered them and transferred them to the town's port.

The case is in the hands of the Civil Guard and during the visual inspection of the corpses, the officers' impression is that they are not the missing paddle board surfers Emmanuel Soria (34 years old) and Maxi Ludvik (29). There is no physical resemblance whatsoever and, furthermore, the two bodies recovered were dressed, while the two friends - it is presumed - went into the sea in swimming gear.

One of the hypotheses being considered by police is that they could be two passengers from a 'patera' migrant boat, although at the moment there is no evidence that any of them are adrift or that they are looking for castaways from one of these boats used for irregular migration.

Meanwhile, the search continues for the two young Argentinians who left Huelin beach in Malaga on Sunday to watch the sunrise from an inflatable paddle surf board that they had bought on the internet continues.

Spain's coastguard and maritime rescue service Salvamento Maritimo is leading the search, which is mainly concentrated in the area from Malaga city to the border of the province of Granada. On Tuesday a search party combed an area to the south of Torrox, taking into account the route the paddle board surfers would have taken given the westerly wind that blew on Sunday. On Monday the paddle surf board, on which the two missing young men were riding, was found around 15 nautical miles off the Costa del Sol.
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Syracuse, N.Y.  A Syracuse University student filed a lawsuit this week against the school and a 22-year-old former student under the states Adult Survivors Act after she and her roommate were sexually assaulted in their dorm suite in 2020.

The lawsuit alleges that Syracuse University was insensitive and deceptive in its handling of the investigation after the student and her roommate reported the assault and allowed the attacker to remain in the same dorm building with them.

On Aug. 28, 2020, the female student bringing the lawsuit, who is only identified as Jane Doe, and her roommate were sleeping in their dorm when Jacob Cohen, who was 19 at the time, entered their room without permission and assaulted them.

Cohen was criminally charged in December 2020. In 2022, Cohen pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse and third-degree rape.

Cohen was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years of probation. A judge also ordered that he has to register as a sex offender for life. Cohen is living in Columbus, Ohio, according to state records.

Syracuse University spokesperson Chris Munoz Tuesday declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the university doesnt comment on active litigation.

The two students were attacked on the first weekend of the 2020 fall semester when both roommates were incapacitated by alcohol.

Cohen entered the students bedroom naked, according to the lawsuit. He yanked the victims pants down and began kissing her neck. She woke up and pushed Cohen away asking who he was and what he was doing in her room.

Cohen told the woman he was looking for something and she told him to leave, the lawsuit said. She left the dorm room and returned several minutes later with more people to confront Cohen.

When she returned, Cohen, still naked, was standing in the other bedroom of the suite having just raped the womans unconscious roommate, the lawsuit said. Cohen admitted in court to assaulting the victims who were physically helpless due to intoxication.

The two women reported the assault to the universitys Department of Public Safety.

The lawsuit says the university did not remove Cohen from the dorm building where he and the two women lived. DPS placed no restrictions on Cohens ability to return to the suite or to confront the women, the lawsuit charges.

This allowed Cohen to confront one of the victims multiple times on Aug. 29, according to the lawsuit.

A final confrontation ended with Cohen engaging in a physical fight with another male resident of the dorm. Cohen reported to DPS that he had been assaulted.

Cohen was moved to another dorm to protect him from further altercations, according to the lawsuit.

Cohen continued to make unwanted advances to female students in his new residence hall, according to the lawsuit. DPS received multiple reports of Cohens behavior at the new dorm, the lawsuit says.

After word of the multiple sexual assault allegations against Cohen was spread through the student body, students and parents demanded he be moved from the new dorm, the lawsuit says.

Cohen was moved to a third dorm rather than being removed from campus housing, according to the lawsuit. Cohen was removed from campus after Syracuse police opened a criminal investigation in September 2020.

In November 2020, the victim was contacted by Bernerd L. Jacobson, SUs Equal Opportunity & Title IX investigator. He asked the woman to meet with his office in a Zoom call to discuss the incident she reported, according to the lawsuit.

The woman was under the impression she would only be speaking to members of the office investigating the matter and did not ask to have a legal representative present.

Instead, the call included her roommate, Cohen and lawyers for both Cohen and her roommate. She was subjected to cross-examination by Cohens legal counsel. The call lasted for five and a half hours, according to the lawsuit.

During a break, the victim told a SU representative that she felt ambushed, the lawsuit said. The representative responded that they assumed she knew that Cohen and his lawyer would be present.

SUs deceptive and insensitive handling of the Zoom proceeding amounted to an unconscionable revictimization of Plaintiff which exacerbated her intense anxiety and regular panic attacks, the lawsuit said, and also caused her to develop distrust with SUs investigative protocols and other resources offered to victims.

The lawsuit alleges that the conduct by Cohen and the university has caused her to suffer both physically and mentally.

It also alleges that by not doing its due diligence to provide a safe environment or prevent students from being victimized after being sexually assaulted the university broke the contract it entered when it accepted the students tuition.

She is requesting a judge to award her with attorneys fees and costs and such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.

The Adult Survivors Act was adopted in May 2022 to allow victims of sexual offenses for which the statute of limitations has lapsed to file civil suits between Nov. 24, 2022, to Nov. 24, 2023. The act also allows survivors to file lawsuits against any institutions they argue perpetuated the abuse.

Staff writer Anne Hayes covers breaking news, crime and public safety. You can reach her at ahayes@syracuse.com.
Join NY Cannabis Insider for our next full-day conference on Sept. 21 at the Pearl Street Grill & Brewery in Buffalo. Tickets will sell out.

Jeffrey Hoffman is a New York City-based attorney who hosts Ask Me Anything about Cannabis Legalization in New York each week on LinkedIn. Hoffman and NY Cannabis Insider have partnered to bring those sessions into print in a Q&A format.

Hoffmans practice focuses on cannabis industry clients, including licensees in the adult-use market, practitioners in the medical cannabis space, and cannabis-adjacent product and service providers.

He has a particular interest in social and economic equity cannabis license applicants, and he also informs and assists those convicted of cannabis offenses in getting such convictions expunged from their record. He can be reached at info@420jurist.com.

The following AMA from August 16 has been edited for length and clarity.



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What is the status with the CAURDs given the veterans and ROs lawsuits?

We may be in for the long haul here if the cases dont get settled. Remember that the Variscite case was settled  we never got a decision on the merits. It appears there were some settlement discussions in these new cases but no dice. So, eventually, we go to trial. In the near term, it seems to me there are three buckets of folks in CAURD-land.

The first is the group which is already open. It doesnt appear that the injunction will impact them, at least not yet. The second group is the preliminary licensees who did not have clearance from OCM to open before the lawsuit was filed. This group is a wide continuum from folks almost ready to open, like my boys Jeremy and Joe up on Ditmars or Sohan out in Jamaica, to folks that havent done much towards opening. The judge is going to allow some of those stores to open in the very near term, while the rest will need to work with OCM on a case-by-case basis to attempt to get an exception from the judge. The third group is those that are still applicants. Their position is the most precarious, and at this time it is not clear what will happen with them. I wish CCB/OCM had just given them all licenses at the last board meeting.

What happens if they try to take away the CAURD licenses?

Irreparable harm. No bueno my friend. No bueno.

It was hard to follow what happened in the CAURD hearing  how can we understand what was happening there?

In general, I dont think we in the legal profession do a good job of helping the public understand what we do. Here are a few things to keep in mind. Really pay attention to what the judge asks. Remember that the attorneys have filed pages upon pages of briefs with him, so whatever he chooses to take from those briefs and ask in open court REALLY matters. And the most important question he asked was to the state: are there distance requirements between these dispensary locations?

So what does that tell you? Real estate, and the availability of it, is really important in this matter. And what is special about real estate in a legal sense? Its one of the few places where our system likes specific performance. And as a general rule, whomever gets asked more questions by the judge is losing. If you did a really good job in your presentation, addressed the law, addressed the facts, addressed how the facts arent matching the law, and addressed how you want the judge to make the facts look like the law, then there really isnt that much for the judge to ask you. But if you didnt, oh boy. Youre getting peppered with questions.

How was the NY Cannabis Insider event?

It was awesome. They had it at a really great space on the east side of Manhattan. Lot of folks hanging out and talking about cannabis. Everyone had a great sesh out front. The panel was solid with a focus on how New York interacts with the tribal nations and what that relationship may look like going forward. And as those of you who party with me at such soirees know, we of course made our way to after hours madness, this time at Izakaya Toribar.
Syracuse, N.Y.  Like the other politicians who visit the New York State Fair, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has a list of foods he must sample: a Gianneli sausage, Byrne Dairy chocolate milk or ice cream, Tullys chicken tenders.

But New Yorks senior senator has another stop each year. I always go to Tony Nescis memorial, he said while finishing up his Tullys meal at a picnic table on Tuesday.

Anthony C. Tony Nesci was a co-founder of the New York State Fairgrounds Veterans memorial. Funded through the nonprofit Nesci formed called the Eagle Association of Central New York, work on the memorial began in 1998, the year Schumer met Nesci while running for the U.S. Senate for the first time. The memorial opened a year later, and has undergone several expansions in the years since.

Nesci, a veteran himself who was a United Auto Workers union leader and a longtime New Process Gear plant worker, died in 2011 at age 70. A year later, a memorial plaque in his honor was unveiled by the Veterans Memorial at the fairgrounds.

He led the way serving our community and country to make it a better place, the plaque reads.

Schumer makes sure to see that plaque every year he visits the fair.

Tony Nesci was a friend of mine, and he did so much for veterans, Schumer said.

On Tuesday, he was greeted at the memorial by Joanie Antonacci, a longtime volunteer with the Eagle Association. As other fairgoers came up to ask for photos with the senator, he told them about Nesci. He helped us get this built years ago, he said.

Schumer got to his other planned stops on Tuesday, but he said his favorite part of coming to the fair is just meeting and greeting New Yorkers. Followed around by interns carrying Meet SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER signs, the senator greeted hundreds if not thousands of fairgoers.

Hello, everybody. Im Chuck Schumer, your senator, he said multiple times.

Schumer has been coming to the fair each year with the same approach  no formal announcements or press conferences, just lots of hand shakes, photos and some occasional autographs.

I love it, he said. Thats what I like to do.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer poses for a photograph at the New York State Fair on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.
Syracuse, N.Y.  U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants government leaders to focus on expediting work permits for the flood of newly arrived migrants who have been transported to New York City in the past year.

With the Biden administration, Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams blaming each other in the past week amid a struggle to provide housing and other support services for migrants, Schumer said Tuesday that streamlining the process for migrants to be able to work is his top priority.

I think everyone agrees that is the way to go, Schumer told syracuse.com as he was visiting the New York State Fair.

The federal governments work permit process for asylum seekers can take several months, but with the volume of arrivals in the past year, New York City has struggled to provide help for those who have come there. The city says more than 100,000 have arrived in the past year, and there are no signs that will slow down.

As a result, the city has been trying to send migrants to communities in upstate New York, prompting pushback from local leaders, including Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, who say they dont have the resources to serve migrants. In the past week, Hochul and Adams have criticized each others handling of the problem. Hochul chastised some of the city coordination efforts and Adams has said the governor should use executive power to force communities to take migrants.

The governor also spoke out last week against the response from President Joe Bidens administration. In addition to reiterating calls for faster work permit processing, she said the federal government needs to better address the situation at the southern border that is sending so many asylum seekers to the state and she called for more federal funding.

The Biden administration responded via a letter from the federal Department of Homeland Security that said the state and city have done a poor job processing new arrivals.

Schumer declined to weigh in on the public disputes, saying instead he wants all parties to unite around the need to speed up work permitting for migrants.

That way these guys can work, he said. Theyll have jobs, theyll have some income so they wont be a burden on the state. Thats the way to go, and were going to push the administration to do that.

The Biden administration has said the law limits its ability to speed up work permits, but Schumer does not share that view.

Were going to fight to get it, he said. They can do some of that on their own.

City reporter Jeremy Boyer can be reached at jboyer@syracuse.com, (315) 657-5673, Twitter or Facebook.
Vernon, N.Y.  Two people are in serious condition at a Syracuse hospital after a head-on crash in Vernon on Tuesday, troopers said.

Brycen W. Paver, 18, of Durhamville was driving a 2004 Chevrolet pickup at 7:40 a.m. on State Route 31 near the intersection with Stoney Brook Road when his vehicle crossed into oncoming traffic, troopers said.

The pickup hit head-on a 2016 Buick Lucerne driven by Christie L. Conley, 42 of Camden, troopers said.

Conley was airlifted by Mercy Flight to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse where she is in serious condition, troopers said. Paver was taken by ambulance to Upstate University Hospital and is also in serious condition, troopers said.

Staff writer Rylee Kirk covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, photo, question or comment? Reach her at 315-396-5961, on Twitter @kirk_rylee, or rkirk@syracuse.com.
To the Editor:

Our kids have faced enormous adversity over the past few years. While children and adolescents were less likely to get infected by Covid-19, the pandemic arguably had worse long-term physical, social and psychological consequences on them.

In December 2021, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a rare public health advisory on youth mental health. In his advisory, he cited that 1 in 3 high school students and half of all female students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. More disturbingly, in a new CDC report released in early August, among the almost 50,000 Americans who died by suicide, 13% were between 10 and 24 years old.

These heartbreaking statistics make it very clear: Our youth are suffering from a historic mental health crisis.

In this years state budget, we invested $30 million in youth mental health programs: $5 million for the HealthySteps program, $5 million for high-fidelity wraparound services for children, $10 million for youth suicide prevention, and $10 million to increase reimbursement rates for school-based mental health clinics.

While these investments in youth mental health are critical, I believe we must do more.

New York state does not mandate teachers and staff to undergo mental health and suicide prevention training. The New York State Department of Education only provides guidelines for how each individual school district should design its training program. It is not enough to only provide the school districts with simple guidelines. Because of this, I am proud to have introduced legislation requiring all public school educators and staff to undergo mental health and suicide prevention training.

Our children and adolescents spend a significant amount of time in the classroom and interact with their teachers and other school staff almost daily. Since teachers, aides and other school personnel are exposed to their students nearly every day, they are uniquely positioned to spot the early warning signs of a mental health issue. This legislation will not only help our children get the treatment they need; it will directly increase the likelihood of preventing child and adolescent suicides.

My bill is not a new concept; this legislation is identical to The Jason Flatt Act, passed in 21 other states, including California, Tennessee and Texas. Jason Flatt was only 16 years old when he took his own life. Since his tragic death, Jasons father created The Jason Foundation to educate communities nationwide about youth suicide. In the 21 states where the Jason Flatt Act has passed, each state teachers association has endorsed the legislation citing the value of having preventative training.

At a time when our politics can be very divisive, the health and well-being of our children is an issue I know every New Yorker agrees we need to do more. As lawmakers, we have a moral obligation to do everything in our power to solve the mental health crisis our youth is facing. I urge all my colleagues to advance my legislation and for Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign this into law.

My job is to ensure your voice is heard loud and clear in Albany, which is why I invite all questions, comments, and concerns about the legislation I have outlined. Please do not hesitate to contact my office at 315-449-9536 or HunterP@nyassembly.gov.

Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter

D-128th Assembly District

Syracuse

Related: Mental health, learning loss resources available to schools
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As Hurricane Idalia moves across Florida and north toward Charleston, S.C., there have been questions about how it was able to intensify so quickly. The low-pressure system started in the Caribbean Sea off Mexico then was upgraded to a tropical depression on Aug. 27. It grew into a major category four hurricane three days later with sustained windspeeds of 130mph.

It may break the record for how quickly it was able to intensify.

And its not the only unusual hurricane activity to hit the country in the past few weeks. Southern California was hit by Hurricane Hilary earlier this month, an infrequent occurrence. Hurricane Franklin, which did not make landfall in the U.S., is expected to run out of steam deep into the ordinarily frigid North Atlantic close to the southern tip of Greenland. Hurricanes dont usually make it that far in cold water.

So, whats going on?

Reckon spoke with Nan Walker, director of the Earth Scan Laboratory and professor at the LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, about how Idalia strengthened so quickly and other climate change issues caused by heat.

Reckon:

Even to an untrained observer of hurricanes like myself, Hurricane Idalia strengthened quickly. Why did that happen so unexpectedly?

Nan Walker:

The Gulf is about 90 degrees right now, and warm temperatures, among other things, fuel hurricanes. The temperature where Hurricane Idalia formed in the Western Caribbean Sea is the highest in the whole North Atlantic right now. Hurricane Idalia formed in the Yucatan Channel, where some of the warmest waters exist, but that warm water also goes very deep. The Yucatan currents are 2,400 feet deep and introduce a huge amount of warm water into the Gulf, which helps hurricanes strengthen.

Can you help us visualize how much warm water is pumped into the Gulf?

I think many people have a concept of how big the New Orleans Superdome stadium is. The Yucatan currents force seven Superdomes of water into the Gulf every second. Over a day, its over 600,000 Superdomes. Its one of the worlds biggest ocean current systems, and this warm water flux from the Gulf is happening continuously.

Theres been a lot of talk about how the El Nino climate pattern affects weather worldwide. How does it play into the unusual hurricane we saw on the West Coast, Hurricane Franklin out in the Atlantic, and now Idalia?

Its been explained that when we have an El Nino in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, the hurricanes will be bad on the west coast and not as bad on the East, including in the Gulf. Thats because El Nino produces high westerly winds that are supposed to blow the top off hurricanes so they cant develop. All of a sudden, that isnt happening over the Gulf.

Month-to-month and season-to-season statistical analysis tells us whats supposed to happen, but that can change very quickly on a day-to-day basis. Part of the reason were seeing unexpected conditions is because the Gulf is well beyond the temperature needed to support a hurricane. So, besides what happens with the El Nino, high heat can also make a difference. El Nino is one of the strongest fluctuations of temperature on the planet.

The gorilla in the room is off the coast of South America. On temperature maps, youll see big red areas that get very warm during an El Nino and produce conditions that can worsen the Pacific hurricane season than the Atlantic hurricane season.

Hurricane Ian made landfall on the west side of Florida in Sept. 2022. At the time, it was considered unusual. Hurricane Idalia also hit the west side. Are those occurrences unusual, and are the hurricanes attracted to that regions warm, shallow waters?

Its not as frequent that we get hurricanes on the western side of Florida. It usually means the hurricanes have to recurve quickly as they enter the Gulf. But this hurricane started in the Caribbean Sea, meaning it had a straight shot toward Florida. It also probably has to do with the average atmospheric currents, which are air circulation in the atmosphere. Those are also very important to how hurricanes behave.

The temperature of the Gulf of Mexico is much higher than in past years.

Were told that high temperatures heat the water in the Gulf, and it stays warm for longer periods throughout the year. Is that contributing to more intense hurricanes?

Its definitely a logical conclusion. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report categorically states that a warming world will be more conducive to stronger hurricanes. A majority of scientists agree with that statement.

This has been a very unusual summer over the North American continent, especially over Louisiana and the Southeast. Weve had high pressure that has sat over us for weeks and months. Its given us all this heat and drought.

The Gulf got very warm early this summer because of that high pressure, which means we didnt have a lot of clouds. Clouds reflect radiation and prevent it from being absorbed by water. That means we had less humidity but more evaporation, which is how hurricanes begin to form. So, logically, more heat means more hurricanes, even though atmospheric conditions also play a huge part.

In 2020, we had the most active hurricane season in history, and some experts said this would be the future. But the last two years have been a lot less active. People who dont believe in climate change have used those two years to dismiss climate change. How does one respond to them?

Some powerful hurricanes over the last two years have caused extreme amounts of damage. 2021 was very active, even though many storms didnt last long. Thats still important. Anyone who observes the weather must know that a lot can change from year to year. Theres also a lot of variability in the atmosphere, and as much as scientists try and predict, its still very much a challenge.

The butterfly effect is a good example of how things can change easily and quickly. In some conditions, a very small turbulence factor, as small as a butterfly, might influence the weather if all the conditions are favorable.

I also wanted to ask you about Hurricane Franklin, which is moving north through the Atlantic. Its predicted to run out of steam not far off Canadas Newfoundland coast and the southern tip of Greenland, partially in the Arctic Circle. How common is it for hurricanes to travel that far in the North Atlantic?

Franklin has shocked me. Its very unusual. I think the sea surface temperatures in that area are slightly warmer than normal but not warm enough to support a hurricane. Theres not a lot of heat in the ocean up there compared to the Gulf, Bahamas, or the coast of Florida.

Atmospheric circulation is also helping it sustain.

Another reason is it overlaps with the Gulf Stream. There are also some latency effects like it takes a while to spin down once it becomes a hurricane. Usually, that would mean hitting cold water or land. Anything that cuts it off from its source of warm water.

Overall, Franklin is a little bit surprising to me. Its also possible the prediction isnt going to hold. Well see where it ends up.

The image shows where global water temperatures have increased the most over the last 30 years. The higher latitudes, where ice and permafrost are located, are warming the most.

Youve mentioned heat quite a bit. How is that affecting other parts of our climate aside from hurricanes?

Most alarmingly, there is a climate change problem in the high latitudes, where the ice is melting. That can help CO2 and methane build up in the air. But you have to look at the patterns. What are the long-term patterns to understand whats going on? When we have warming at the poles or in the high latitudes, that decreases the change in temperature from the tropics to the poles, leading to extremes in weather, which is what weve been seeing.

Its interesting to see that were having these huge anomalies in the high latitudes, which is consistent with these extreme events weve been experiencing, like all the wildfires, droughts, and extreme temperatures. And were seeing that across the whole central U.S. up to Iowa. High-pressure systems over the central U.S. are unusual for summer.

Once the ice melts, its very unlikely that we will get it back. The ice caps reflect solar radiation, which helps to keep our planet cool. There are also huge areas of melting permafrost in Alaska. If that happens, methane is going to be released. Methane is about 30 times stronger as a greenhouse gas than CO2.
Bret Michaels performed almost exactly the same concert as he did at the New York State Fair six years ago. He played up his persona as the fierce-but-sensitive party rocker, decked in a red bandana (and later a cowboy hat) and a sleeveless T-shirt with his name on it.

But on Tuesday evening, he added a subtle twist: Parti-Gras. That meant he also wore Mardi Gras beads, and treated his hour-long performance at Chevy Court as more of a feel-good party than a rock concert.

Thank you for taking your time to party with us tonight, Michaels said, repeatedly showing his appreciation for the crowd. (NYS Fair officials estimated 6,300 fans.)

And it felt like a party, though its a little weird to hear Poison songs at 6:30 p.m. while the suns still out. Nothin But a Good Time and Talk Dirty to Me feel more appropriate in a bar, after dark.

But somehow Michaels made it all work.

He and his backing band were having so much fun jumping around on stage and pumping up the crowd that occasionally theyd miss notes or play out of sync. Michaels himself even played the wrong chord at the beginning of a song, and then restarted it. Unskinny Bop was a chaotic mess, but no one cared. We were having fun, too.

Michaels appreciated every moment and thanked the fans who have followed his decades-long career since glam metals heyday in the 80s. He pounded his chest to send love to each person who came in their own Bret Michaels costume (bonus points if they looked like a Rock of Love contestant) or bought his merch, and encouraged everyone else to join in on the fun, too. He dedicated his show to frontline workers and brought out military veterans on stage  the real rock stars  during Something to Believe In.

The crowd carried Poisons biggest hit, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, while Michaels seemed eager to get back to the party. He then invited a surprise guest, Tesla co-founder Brian Wheat, to join in on two final songs: Nothin But a Good Time and a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrds Sweet Home Alabama (the first song Michaels learned how to play on guitar).

The party can keep going, too. Michaels said on Instagram afterwards that hell be back in Central New York soon for a Holiday Parti-Gras concert at del Lago Resort & Casino in Waterloo; a date has not been announced.

Bret Michaels played to a packed Chevy Court at the New York State Fair on Tuesday. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)

Bret Michaels set list - Aug. 29, 2023 at New York State Fair, Chevy Court

Talk Dirty to Me

Look What the Cat Dragged In

Ride the Wind

Your Mama Dont Dance (Loggins & Messina cover)

Something to Believe In

Unskinny Bop

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Nothin but a Good Time

Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
Last year, one of the biggest acts in country music said they were taking a break. Theres still no sign Florida Georgia Line will get back together, but Tyler Hubbard seems fine with that.

Hubbard, 36, has embraced his role as a solo artist, emphasizing his own songs at Tuesday nights New York State Fair concert. An estimated crowd of 17,100 fans embraced him back at the NYS Fairs Suburban Park.

Its so good to be back at the New York State Fair, Hubbard said, remarking that its been 10 years since Florida Georgia Line performed their mix of country, hip-hop and rock to nearly twice as many people at Chevy Court. Were from Nashville. We came a long way to be here tonight.

Wait, Nashville? Yes, Hubbard is from Georgia (and his former bandmate Brian Kelley is the Florida half of FGL), but hes made Music Row his life for more than a decade, even paying tribute to the Tennessee citys drinking scene on Everybody Needs a Bar. (The song references Florida Georgia Line and other country stars who have opened their own bars in Nashville, and invites Carrie Underwood to open a karaoke joint dubbed Carrieoke Underwood.)

Hubbard played just two Florida Georgia Line songs, Cruise and Meant to Be (with the female audience singing Bebe Rexhas part), despite having more than a dozen No. 1 hits to choose from like bro-country favorites This Is How We Roll, Sun Daze and the Morgan Wallen collaboration Up Down.

Instead he played 13 songs from his debut solo album, including 5 Foot 9, Small Town Me and 35s. His new sound is less country and more bar rock, highlighted by great guitar solos on Out This Way and a cover of Jason Aldeans You Make It Easy (which Hubbard and Kelley co-wrote).

Hubbard also hinted at new music by playing the unreleased song Back Then Right Now. (Skip Clark, radio host at Syracuse country station 92.1 The Wolf, said while introducing Hubbard on stage that it would be released next month.)

Thank you for allowing me to have a great career for 10 years, Hubbard told the audience. And then have another one all over again.

In a way, hes right. When Kelley started releasing solo music in 2021, it forced Hubbard to essentially start all over again. That means playing to smaller crowds and building an audience, like when he played a surprise pop-up show Monday night at Orange Crate Brew Pub near Marshall Street on the Syracuse University Hill.

Hubbard further showed his departure from Florida Georgia Line with his style: A relaxed, vacation-ready shirt with brown pants tucked into his Doc Martens. No cowboy boots or hats. His backing band similarly looked like a casual group jamming on a bar stage, wearing T-shirts and jeans, though they sounded perfectly in sync and tight on every note.

Tyler Hubbard performs on the Suburban Park stage at the New York State Fair, Geddes, N.Y., Tuesday, August 29, 2023 Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com

Hubbard also sounded less interested in partying and more happy to talk in his aw shucks, yall voice about his wife, who inspired solo songs Me for Me (she loves me for me) and Inside and Out (youre beautiful, inside and out). It was sweet, and matched a crowd thats growing up from 2010s Party People and Dayum, Baby.

But dont be fooled: Hubbard still knows how to throw a great party, wrapping up his 75-minute set with solo hit Dancin In the Country.

Tyler Hubbard set list - Aug. 29, 2023, at New York State Fairs Suburban Park

Baby Gets Her Lovin

Im the Only One

Everybody Needs a Bar

35s

Cruise (Florida Georgia Line song)

5 Foot 9

Me for Me

Back Then Right Now

Meant To Be (Bebe Rexha / Florida Georgia Line cover)

You Make It Easy (Jason Aldean cover)

By the Way

Small Town Me

Way Home

Inside and Out

Out This Way

Tough

Dancin in the Country

Fans bring their horses as Tyler Hubbard performs on the Suburban Park stage at the New York State Fair, Geddes, N.Y., Tuesday, August 29, 2023 Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com



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Bret Michaels turns NYS Fair into a Party-Gras (photos, set list, concert review)
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Qabil Ashirov

The leader of separatists in Garabagh Arayik Harutyunyan revealed that he was considering stepping down from the self-styled position.

Addressing demonstrators Monday evening in Khankendi town, Arayik Harutyubyan said that his potential resignation was discussed during his latest emergency meeting with separatist officials on Monday.

He emphasized that he could resign in the coming days and join the militia serving in the outpost.

My possible resignation was also discussed, and a few days before I also wanted to resign. Tomorrow or the day after we will have another meeting in a narrow format, and in the event of a decision being made that I shall resign, I will go and serve in the outposts with the militia as early as this Sunday, Harutyunyan said.

Besides, it should be mentioned that the contention has been observed among the separatist leaders for the position in Garabagh. Russian Oligarch Ruben Vardanyan, who refused Russian citizenship in order to avoid the Western Sanctions and served as a state minister in Garabagh for several months, has lashed out at Arayik Harutyunyan and asked him to resign for several days. A few days ago, two people shot in the air in front of the office of the separatist leader, and they broadcasted the occurrence on the social network. Later, the separatists stated that these people had been detained and they had been drunk, and under the impact of alcohol they had done it. However, the statement was inconvincible for society and many interpreted it as a warning against Arayik.

In a comment on the issue, political analyst, and head of Azerbaijan-based think tank Samir Hummabatov noted that Arayiks resignation is inevitable. Because the region will come under the control of Azerbaijan.

It is inevitable that Arayik will step down, but when will he leave? Because after these areas come under control, Arayik will no longer be there. Arayik's hand was soaked in the blood of peaceful Azerbaijani citizens in the Second Garabagh War. According to Arayik's own words, the bombing of Ganja, Barda, and Tartar took place only on his instructions, Samir Humbatov said.

He said there could be internal pressure and Azerbaijans pressure on Arayik. However, he noted that there could be the third option.

I think both options can be here. Arayik Harutyunyan's resignation may be due to the pressure on him, and it may also be a guarantee of the separatist regime or its patrons, more precisely, Russia's plan for a compromise on Karabakh. this option is also expected. I think Russian peacekeepers could also be behind the pressure on Arayik. It seems that they feel the futility of Arayik Harutyunyan's acting in his so-called position and want to replace him with a person who can take 'stricter measures', he noted.

Answering the question of whether Arayiks stepping down is in favour of Azerbaijan or not, Samir Humbatov pointed out that it does not matter for Azerbaijan, because Azerbaijan is keen to remove all separatists from Garabagh.

Arayik Harutyunyan's removal from his 'position' has neither advantages nor disadvantages for Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is interested in the removal of the separatist regime and the full development of governance and jurisprudence there. From this point of view, it makes no difference to Azerbaijan whether it is Arayik Harutyunyan, Ruben Vardanyan, or someone else illegally occupying a position in Azerbaijan's Garabagh he added.
An Egyptian presence was strongly felt at the fourth Amman International Film Festival, with four films participating in the various competitions and many others emerging through the industry sections. Maggie Kamals Microbus and Kawther Youniss My Girlfriend both participated in the Arab Short Film Competition, where the latter won the Black Iris Award for Best Arab Short Film. Younis also won an award for her feature documentary project Waiting for Godot within the Film Projects in Progress section.

Hend Bakrs The Tedious Tour of M. participated in the Arab Feature Documentary Film Competition, and Mohammed El-Sammans Rat Hole participated in the Arab Feature Narrative Film Competition, winning a Special Mention for the First-time Lead Actress Rana Khattab. The iconic Egyptian director, Yousry Nasrallah gave a masterclass on film directing, moderated by Egyptian producer, Jehan El-Tahry, and Egyptian film critic Ahmed Shawky gave the Film Critic masterclass moderated by Tunisian director Mehdi Hamili.

Microbus and My Girlfriend explore gender boundaries in society. In Microbus 17-year-old Nour suddenly encounters the limits imposed on her by her gender as a female in a male-dominated society. Alone on the highway without the protection of her father, she realises for the first time that the strange man, the microbus driver, with whom she is, who a few minutes ago was only a service provider, is a threat. A girl coming of age loses her innocence as well as her trust in the world. She has the feeling that she doesnt deserve to live without that kind of fear. Maggie Kamal, the director, writer, and producer of Microbus, was able to adequately intensify the transitional moments affecting the life of the young woman, to conclude the situation with more questions than answers.

Maggie Kamal is an Egyptian-American writer, director and producer based in NYC. She was awarded the Ostrovsky Family Fund grant for her thesis screenplay Microbus, which later won the special judges award at City Visions. Microbus later had its European Premiere at Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival and won the best short film award at Festival De Cine Africano; it was selected for the Carthage Film Festival 2022 and had its US premiere at the Academy Award-qualifying Cinequest Film Festival; it continues to tour the global festivals circuit.

While the situation to which Nour is led in Maggie Kamals film is familiar, in My Girlfriend Kawthar Younis breaks into further horizons re-exploring gender boundaries and sexual identity. In just a few minutes the film raises several controversial issues: how two teens in love circumvent a society that besieges them, but with the same stifling tools; how the fathers, gatekeepers against wolves, can turn into wolves; and whether there is a solid boundary separating what is known as masculinity from what is known as femininity.

In Kawthar Youniss film, the main characters find themselves in the no mans land between collective consciousness and concrete reality, exposing the contradictions. My Girlfriend is about two young people who fall in love spontaneously, innocently and curiously, shaking the falsehood, pretence, and hypocrisy of a world besieging them. Cowritten by Ahmed Essam El Sayed and Kawthar Younis, it stars Marc Haggar, Ilham Safei El Din, Fadel El Garhi, and Sonia Farid. It had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and it won several awards including a special jury award at the Cairo International Film Festival, a best film, best director, best actress and best actor award at the Cairo Shorts and the Dublin International Film Festival.

Kawthar Younis is a Cairo-based filmmaker known for A Present from the Past. In addition to My Girlfriend winning the Best Arab Short Film Award at the Amman International Film Festival, Younis received a production grant of $4,000 for her next feature documentary project, Waiting for Godot. The project, which is being produced by director, writer and producer Ahmed Amer, is a continuation of Youniss first long documentary film A present from the Past, which was her Cairo Higher Institute of Cinema third-year project. While in her first film she was trying to bring a gift from the past to her beloved father, in her next film, she is trying to bring him a gift from the future.

In his feature length narrative film Rat Hole, the winner of a Special Mention for a First-time Lead Actress Rana Khattab, the writer-director Mohammed El-Samman follows the life of a telemarketer at a nonprofit organisation over the course of a day as she bounces from call to call in an attempt to amass enough donations to appease her manager, who agreed to lend her some money to relocate to a neighbourhood with better living standards if she hits her quota. The film stars Rana Khattab, Mohamed Yorka, Kamal El-Asnawy, and Hanan Helmy

El-Samman is also a novelist who wrote Unexpected Mr Right and Remonda, and a screenwriter who won the 2022 Best Script Sawiris Cultural Awards for Earthmen. As for her feature length documentary The Tedious Tour of M. by Hend Bakr, it participated in the Arab Feature Documentary Films competition. In this film Hend, the director, approaches the long forgotten but much respected novelist Mohamed Hafez Ragab in his simple apartment where he decided to live in seclusion in the 1980s. She is intrigued by the fact that Ragab decided to voluntarily end his career at the peak, feeling he could not be part of the cultural sphere in the metropolis.

Hend insists on investigating the reason behind this radical change in his path, until she uncovers the secret that Ragab believes that he is doomed never to write again. The film had the Jury Special mention of Gabes film festival, Tunisia.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 31 August, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Value of healthy hedgerows highlighted as National Hedgerow Week kicks off

National Hedgerow Week 2023 was launched yesterday, Tuesday, August 29th, in County Dublin. In a new partnership, Teagasc and the Heritage Council will jointly coordinate this years programme of events.

Pictured from left to right at the launch of National Hedgerow Week 2023 were: Dr. Stan Lalor, Director of Knowledge Transfer, Teagasc; Minister Pippa Hackett, Minister of State with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity; Virginia Teehan, Chief Executive of the Heritage Council; Minister Malcolm Noonan, Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform; and Doris Coyne, host farmer, Westmanstown, Lucan, Co. Dublin

Running from September 1st to 8th, Hedgerow Week provides an opportunity for farmers, ecologists and the public to collaborate and celebrate the versatility of our hedges.

While providing shelter and food for a myriad of species, hedges also capture and store carbon dioxide making them invaluable allies in the fight against climate change. From a farming perspective, they act as windbreaks, protecting crops and livestock, and prevent soil erosion.

Maximising the benefits of hedgerows is challenging, and many of the events taking place throughout the week are designed to address these challenges. Specialists will be on hand to provide machinery demonstrations at different locations across the four provinces, while farm walks and presentations have been organised to raise awareness and to inform the public.

National Hedgerow Week 2023 was launched by Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan T.D. and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett on the farm of Doris Coyne, Westmanstown, Lucan, Co. Dublin.

Speaking from the launch, Minister Malcolm Noonan said: "The dedication and hard work of local authority heritage and biodiversity officers in organising events to celebrate our hedgerows are commendable. Their efforts highlight the intertwined relationship between our cultural heritage and the natural environment."

Minister Pippa Hackett, Minister of State with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity, added: Hedgerows are essential features for biodiversity on our farms. They act as homes, food and shelter for wildlife, big and small, and provide safe corridors in which to travel and seek protection.

I urge all farmers and contractors across the country to think about the value of hedgerows on farms this season, and to remember wildlife when it comes to hedge management, particularly on internal hedges.

My Department is currently conducting a review of the Environmental Impact Assessment thresholds for the removal of these precious features, and I look forward to its completion in the coming weeks.

A video of both Minister Noonan and Minister Hackett speaking at the launch of National Hedgerow Week 2023 is available to watch below

Virginia Teehan, Chief Executive of the Heritage Council, remarked: "Hedgerows are an integral part of our cultural and natural heritage. Their proper management not only preserves the beauty of our landscapes, but also ensures a thriving ecosystem for future generations. The Heritage Council is delighted to partner with Teagasc for this important and valuable celebration of our farming heritage. Our network of local authority heritage and biodiversity officers across the country will be a key component of the success of this week in raising awareness of the value of hedgerows."

Dr Martina Maloney, Chair of the Heritage Council, added: "The intricate balance between preserving our heritage and ensuring sustainable agricultural practices is epitomised by hedgerows. Their significance transcends mere boundaries, serving as a testament to our commitment to both heritage and the environment. Agriculture and biodiversity are deeply interconnected. Hedgerows exemplify this relationship, offering multifaceted benefits from soil conservation to habitat provision. Their management is a shared responsibility, and the Heritage Council is dedicated to working with Teagasc in providing the knowledge and tools necessary for their optimal care."

Dr Catherine Keena said: We have a network of native hedges in the Irish countryside, estimated at 689,000km when using a very broad definition of hedgerow - ranging from woody vegetation on earth banks to stockproof hedges.

Welcoming the partnership between Teagasc and the Heritage Council in the development and delivery of Hedgerow Week 2023, Dr. Stan Lalor, Teagasc Director of Knowledge Transfer, said: Hedgerow Week 2023 serves as excellent avenue for the dissemination of knowledge in relation to the establishment, upkeep and protection of Irelands hedges.

Teagasc is pleased to partner with the Heritage Council to deliver this coordinated series of events, which will aid in the protection of our hedges and the numerous benefits they bring in terms of biodiversity.

Teagasc will host a number of these events at its research centres throughout the country, where the best practice in the establishment and management of hedgerows will be discussed. The theme of Hedgerow Week 2023 is How to plant and manage hedges.

Over the past few months, Dr. Catherine Keena, Teagasc Countryside Management Specialist, has led the engagement with a diverse range of hedgerow stakeholders. This has generated much debate and raised many issues. Most notably, however, it has highlighted the increasing interest in hedges; the common thread being the importance of our network of native hedges throughout the countryside and indeed in urban areas.

All native hedges are incredibly important for biodiversity, as they are generally 200 years old and, in addition to the hedge plants, the ground vegetation and soil may contain a diverse range of flowering plants, grasses and invertebrates at the hedge base in gaps and in earth banks.

A diversity of hedges including treeline hedges and topped hedges is desirable. The biodiversity of treeline hedges is primarily in the canopy - full of flowers and fruit. Topped hedges with a dense base or laid hedges provide nest sites for birds, with flowers and fruit on individual trees retained.

For more information on the events planned as part of Hedgerow Week 2023 visit: www.teagasc.ie/hedgerowweek
One of the most promising features of Bluetooths new audio standardnamely, the ability to transmit Bluetooth audio to an unlimited number of devices simultaneouslyis coming to Samsung TVs and earbuds next month.

Samsung says it will soon be releasing an update for its Galaxy Buds2 Pro and select high-end Samsung TVs that will enable Auracast, a feature in the new Bluetooth LE Audio standard that allows a Bluetooth transmitter to broadcast audio to an unlimited number of Bluetooth receivers, such as headsets.

The software update, which will arrive for Samsung 2023 Neo QLED 8K and 2023 Micro LED TVs alongside the Galaxy Buds2 Pro, will dramatically up the number of buds that can connect to those specific Samsung TVs simultaneously.

This news story is part of TechHives in-depth coverage of the best noise-cancelling headphones.

Hedging its bets, Samsung isnt promising that an unlimited number of Galaxy Buds2 Pro will be able to connect to, say, your Neo QLED 8K TV at the same time. Instead, Samsung uses the word multiple, while noting that the number of connected Buds may vary depending on factors such as distance or nearby obstructions.

Still, Samsungs Auracast update will certainly be an improvement over the current limit of two Bluetooth devices that can connect to a Samsung TV at once.

Samsungs implementation of Auracast offers just a taste of the technologys potential.

Originally called Bluetooth Audio Sharing when the Bluetooth LE Audio standard was first announced in 2020, Auracast broadcast audio could be used in a variety of heady scenarios.

For example, Auracast could allow hundreds of Bluetooth headset users to tune into the same Bluetooth transmission in a stadium or an auditorium, while travelers in an airport terminal could connect to an Auracast-enabled Bluetooth signal to hear updates from a specific gate.

There are also smaller-scale uses for Auracast, such as the ability to share a Bluetooth stream on your phone with a companion. (Apple devices can already perform this trick with AirPods, but Apple employs its own proprietary method.)

Besides Auracast, the Bluetooth LE Audio standard comes with a series of other enticing features, including LC3, a more efficient replacement for the SBC codec that delivers improved audio quality using the same amount of bandwidth.

LE Audio also offers multi-streaming, which allows for multiple audio streams between Bluetooth devices. That means (among other scenarios) that phones will be able to connect to wireless earbuds as a pair, rather than connecting to a single earbud that in turn connects to the second earbud.

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Alexa or Google Assistant? Thats the question that smart speaker users have long had to answer about which voice assistant they could install on their devices. But with JBLs latest smart speakers, you dont need to choose anymore.

Announced today at IFA in Berlin, the JBL Authentics 500, 300, and 200 arrive with a variety of features that pit them against Sonos new Era series, including Wi-Fi, multi-room playback, and Dolby Atmos support (on the larger 500 speaker).

Perhaps most notably, all three JBL Authentics speakers allow you to interact with Amazons Alexa and Google Assistant at the same time, meaning you could ask Alexa to turn up the volume and immediately follow up by asking Google Assistant to tee up a YouTube Music playlist.

This news story is part of TechHivee in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers.

Simultaneous Alexa and Google Assistant support on a smart speaker has been a long time in coming. Until now, all smart speakers that allowed for built-in Alexa and Google Assistant made you pick one or the other. On a Sonos smart speaker, for example, you can only have either Alexa or Google Assistant installed at any given time.

Amazon has previously lobbied other companies to make their voice assistants work together on the same device at the same time. Dozens of companies have signed on with Amazons Voice Interoperability Initiative, including BMW, Bose, Logitech, and Spotify, but Apple, Google, and Samsung have been notable holdouts.

While users havent previously been able to use Alexa and Google Assistant simultaneously on the same device, Alexa has been known to place nice with other voice assistants, such as Skullcandys.

Besides the ability to address either Alexa or Google Assistant, the new JBL Authentics speakers support universal device commands (or UDCs), meaning you can ask Alexa to set a timer and then tell Google Assistant to stop the same timer, rather than having to use the same assistant that initially triggered the action.

As for the JBL speakers themselves, the 270-watt JBL Authentics 500 packs three 1-inch tweeters and three 2.75-inch midrange woofers, along with a downfiring 6.5-inch subwoofer. Together, those drivers can deliver 3.1 channels of audio, including Dolby Atmos.

Meanwhile, the JBL Authentics 300 is a portable speaker offering eight hours of battery life, and the Authentics 200 offers stereo sound from a pair of 1-inch tweeters, a full-range 5-inch woofer, and a downfiring 6-inch passive radiator.

All three JBL Authentics speakers boast Wi-Fi support and work with Apple AirPlay, Spotify Connect, and Chromecast, and they also support Alexa Multi-Room Music functionality. EQ settings can be fiddled with using the JBL app.

The JBL Authentics 500, 300, and 200 will be available September 15 for $699.99, $429.99, and $329.99 respectively.
Artificial intelligence concerns more Americans than it excites, although few think the technology will have a significant impact on their jobs, according to a pair of studies released Monday by a Washington, D.C. think tank.

In an attitude survey of 11,201 U.S. adults, the Pew Research Center found that more than half of Americans (52%) feel more concerned than excited about the increased use of artificial intelligence. Thats 14 points higher than in December 2022, when AI concerned only 38% of surveyed Americans.

A 14-point movement in the span of eight months is a notable shift in public opinion, Pews Associate Director of Research Alec Tyson told TechNewsWorld.

Meanwhile, in an experience study of 5,057 adults, Pew found that five out of eight Americans (63%) who have heard of ChatGPT believe generative AI chatbots will have a minor impact (36%) or no impact all (27%) on their jobs.

The two surveys seem to offer contradictory findings, said Greg Sterling, co-founder of Near Media, a news, commentary, and analysis website.

Most people dont appear to be worried about their specific jobs, but Americans in general are worried about the broader impact of AI on society, he told TechNewsWorld.

I think the concerns partly stem from a lack of understanding or a lack of control, he said. AI has also been routinely portrayed in fiction and the movies as a malevolent influence.

Bad Press

The media has also contributed to stoking concern about AI, maintained Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at the Enderle Group, an advisory services firm in Bend, Ore.

It is the nature of news coverage to accentuate aspects of a product that create controversy, he told TechNewsWorld. You make money from attention, and articles that talk about risks pull better than articles that talk about benefits.

Daniel Castro, director of the Center for Data Innovation in Washington, D.C., a think tank studying the intersection of data, technology, and public policy, agreed.

Americans are concerned about AI because they mostly see negative headlines about the technology, he told TechNewsWorld. Most of the policy conversations in Washington are about the risks of AI, not the benefits.

Even the White House has been trumpeting this message about AI risks from its meetings with AI companies to its AI Bill of Rights, he said. It is also easy to imagine how things might go wrong. Indeed, many screenwriters and novelists have made careers out of imagining AI disasters.

While its reasonable for Americans to have concerns about the future, he continued, their concerns are not necessarily based on hard facts. Typically, peoples concerns about technology dissipate as they become more familiar with it, he said.

Familiarity Breeds Concern

However, that doesnt seem to be the case with AI. The rise in concern over the technology has taken place alongside growing public awareness about it, Pew noted. Nearly nine in 10 adults have either heard a lot (33%) or a little (56%) about AI.

If you put those two figures together, about 90% of the public has heard of AI, which is a large share, Tyson observed.

Theres been a seven-point increase in the share of the public who say theyve heard a lot about AI, so public awareness is growing, he added.

Castro acknowledged that Pews findings indicate concern about AI is increasing, not decreasing, over time but attributes that trend to changes in the technology.

The reason these concerns are likely increasing is that what people consider AI has continued to change over the years, he maintained. So even though the term itself is old, what people consider to be AI is new.

Nobody was asking consumers what they thought about large language models a few years ago, he said. When the survey asked consumers about AI in 2021, they were thinking about very different technologies.

Privacy Threat

Pew noted that despite growing public concern over the use of artificial intelligence in daily life, opinions about its impact in specific areas were a mixed bag. For example, 49% of respondents felt AI helps more than hurts when people want to find products and services they are interested in online.

On the other hand, 53% of Americans believe AI does more to hurt than help people keep their personal information private.

AI in the context of privacy appears as a kind of supercharged extension of the surveillance capitalism that has driven online profiling and personal data collection for the past 20 years, Sterling said.

The underlying fear is that AI will make profiling and surveillance more powerful and invasive than they already are, he continued. Technologies like facial recognition are part of this.

Any tool can be misused, added Enderle, and AI tools are particularly effective at breaching security or tricking users into volunteering information they should keep private.

More Chatbot Regulation Favored

Pew also found strong support for the government putting a leash on AI. Two-thirds (67%) of the survey subjects with knowledge of ChatGPT expressed concern that the government would not go far enough in regulating chatbot use.

That attitude was true for members of both political parties in the sample, although the concern was more common among Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents (75%) than with Republicans (59%).

Regulation must support individual privacy and protect against bias, Sterling said.

All kinds of decision-making is being turned over to AI  hiring, health care, insurance, loans, housing, he continued. In such sensitive areas, we must ensure that humans remain in control, and people have recourse where theyve been unfairly affected by AI determinations.

But that will be hard to enforce, he admitted.

Castro maintained that solons can address concerns raised by AI without targeting laws at the technology. Passing a federal data protection law would address most privacy concerns, he said.

Government needs to rapidly develop a core competence with generative AI, Enderle added, or they are likely to do more harm than good. Misunderstandings and ignorance could put the nation significantly behind China with regard to the effective use of this tool.
Forward-looking: Most exoskeletons target industrial workers and people with disabilities. However, one company recently debuted a model designed to assist nurses and other healthcare staff, highlighting the lack of attention they receive relative to the importance of their profession. The device helps with daily tasks and challenges that people not working in hospitals likely never consider.

European robotics firm German Bionic recently released the Apogee+, possibly the first exoskeleton specifically for healthcare staff. Similar to models targeting manual laborers, it eases the burden of physical tasks, but the company added unique design aspects with hospitals in mind.

The physical strain endured by nurses and doctors is something many might not consider, but it's substantial. German Bionic emphasizes that healthcare work often entails walking long distances, standing for extended periods, and lifting heavy objects, including patients. These demands were exacerbated during the pandemic, leading to a notable increase in early retirements within the industry.

To address these challenges, the Apogee+ facilitates walking and can assist in lifting weights up to 66lb (30kg). It also features rear grips for patients to hold while healthcare workers assist them. This power suit can aid nurses in repositioning immobile patients, transitioning them to and from wheelchairs, performing examinations, and conducting other tasks in uncomfortable postures.

The unit consists of a device that wraps around the wearer's sides and back, with straps attached to the thighs and a vest covering the torso. The slim design should maximize comfort and facilitate easy maintenance.

By employing a monocoque-based design, the Apogee+ boasts a reduced surface area compared to other exoskeletons. This makes it more resistant to germs and bacteria, streamlining the cleaning and disinfection processes  crucial in healthcare settings. Furthermore, German Bionic has ensured the device is dust-resistant and waterproof to IP54 standards, allowing workers to wear it even while cleaning patients.

The company hopes that its powered suit can make the healthcare profession more appealing, helping hospitals recruit and retain personnel after enduring the difficulties of the pandemic. German Bionic will demonstrate the Apogee+ at the MEDICA medical trade fair in Dusseldorf, Germany, which runs from November 13-16. While the company doesn't publicly list pricing, it claims to have generous lease and purchase options, and certain markets are eligible for financial assistance.
What just happened? At this year's Hot Chips conference in Palo Alto, California, Intel revealed a ton of information about its 2024 Xeon CPUs for data centers. The company also detailed how it is using AI technology to improve the power efficiency of its next-gen desktop processor lineup.

Starting off with the Xeon CPUs, Intel explained how workloads in modern data centers are becoming rather specific with every passing year, requiring different types of chips for different types of jobs. For example, some workloads like AI processing require high performance cores, while others may require trade-offs between core performance and core density.

To address the varying requirements in the sector, Intel's 2024 Xeon CPUs will come in two separate lineups with Performance Cores (P-cores) and Efficient Cores (E-Cores), respectively. While the former is codenamed Granite Rapids and is being optimized for compute-intensive and AI applications, the latter will be part of the Sierra Forest family for high-density and scale-out workloads. Both lineups, however, will share the same platform and software stack, meaning they will be compatible with one another.

Intel also announced that the 2024 Xeon platform will utilize modular SoCs for increased scalability and flexibility. The company believes that the new design will meet the processing and power efficiency needs for AI, cloud and enterprise installations. It will also offer support for up to 12-channel DDR/MCR (1-2DPC) memory and up to 136 PCIe 5.0 lanes with CXL 2.0 and up to six UPI links.

Intel further claimed that the Granite Rapids lineup will bring higher memory bandwidth, core count, and cache for compute intensive workloads, thereby offering 2-3 times better performance for mixed AI applications compared to the Sapphire Rapids family. As for Sierra Forest, Intel claims it will offer 2.5 times better rack density and 2.4 times higher performance per watt compared to Sapphire Rapids. Both will include several SKUs with variable core counts and TDPs.

Finally, Intel also announced that the Meteor Lake family will use AI to manage power to make them more efficient than their predecessors. As reported by PC World, the chips will have a VPU (visual processing unit) that will not only optimize AI workloads but also help improve the battery life of laptops. According to the company, the AI in the new chips will have the ability to decide when to shift between high power (performance) and low power (idling) states as part of a new feature that the company is calling 'Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling,' or DVPS.
What just happened? In news that illustrates the pressures involved in running a games company, Mimimi Games, creator of Desperados 3, Shadow Gambit, and Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, has announced it is closing down after 15 years. The studio said the shuttering was due to the personal toll that game development is having on the founders and their families.

The Germany-based independent studio has been behind some excellent, well-received games since it was founded. 2017's hardcore tactical stealth game Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun has an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam, as does the equally enjoyable (and difficult) Desperados 3 from 2020.

Mimimi Games explained in a post that working on increasingly ambitious titles over the last decade and a half has been challenging for those at the head of the company and their loved ones. Following the release of Shadow Gambit - its latest game - earlier this month, there was a decision made to prioritize "well-being and to pull the brakes instead of signing up for another multi-year production cycle."

"As founders and directors, we found it increasingly difficult to strike a balance between fulfilling internal expectations for the studio and being available for our young families. Meeting our goals of quality, company culture and management requires a constant level of energy that we simply can't provide anymore," wrote co-founders Dominik Abe and Johannes Roth.

The message confirms that while no production will begin on a new game, Shadow Gambit will continue to be supported; the team is working on a multi-platform patch and a large content drop is planned for later this year. The studio will be slowly ramping down over the next few months.

Thanks to the recent launch and success of Shadow Gambit, an all-new stealth strategy game set during an alternate history of the Golden Age of Piracy, all Mimimi Games employees will receive a bonus to help them during the transition. The company is also seeking opportunities for its current workers by reaching out to others in the industry who may be able to offer them similar jobs.

Since it was released on August 17, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew has been praised as Mimimi Games' best work to date, receiving high scores from reviewers and players alike. All of which makes the timing of the announcement particularly sad, especially for those employees who will be impacted by the decision.
Businesses require high-grade security to operate smoothly, especially those large in scale. Since everything has been digitized, it becomes crucial to have one virtual space where their files are stored, organized, protected, and, most importantly, accessible. Yet they can't settle for just any virtual space like a cloud-based drive. Businesses need virtual data rooms provided by the best and top-rated companies in the SaaS industry.

Clinked Ranks Among the Best Data Room Providers

Clinked ranks among the best data room providers. For 14 consecutive years, Clinked has been the world's leading client portal platform and secure document management software. The company has catered to over 3000 clients in 42 countries, where its software is available in 27 languages, making it accessible to the global market. However, that's not the only reason they qualify as one of the best.

Reviewers of G2, the go-to review platform of software users, have rated Clinked as one of the easiest to use and set up. Clinked also recently earned the title of High Performer this summer of 2023. Clinked is highly recommended but, most importantly, a credible platform that can provide the best virtual dataroom for your business needs.

How Does a Virtual Data Room Work?

A virtual data room offers advanced security, customization, and document control features, allowing businesses to protect all their files in one space or platform. Users can enable restrictions, collaborate openly, and maintain the organization of their most important files, especially those containing sensitive or confidential information.

It serves as the ideal platform, especially for security or finance organizations in need of data protection. But other sectors can also benefit from using a virtual data room like the one provided by Clinked for content organization and company branding.

Features

Below are the features of Clinked's secure virtual data room:

Project management

Clinked redefines project management, introducing unmatched efficiency. With Clinked, you can delegate tasks, establish timelines, and segment tasks into smaller actionable steps for precise tracking. It also offers tailored workflow customizations, making sure every project resonates with specific operational methodologies.

However, the magic of Clinked isn't just in task organization; it's in its adeptness at managing people. Delegate tasks to team members and clients, relying on automated notifications to maintain momentum. And, thanks to event calendars that flawlessly integrate with platforms like Google and Outlook, Clinked guarantees you never miss a meeting.

Clinked integrates with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. There are also other tools built into the virtual room data software like Zapier, Jotform, Adobe Acrobat Sign, and DocuSign that make work more efficient through their respective functions as app integrations.

And since security is the highest priority, businesses can also protect their sensitive documents with digital watermarking, an inclusive feature of the virtual data room.

Step into the world of precision management with Clinked.

Maximum Security

Data security is not an issue with the virtual data room software of Clinked. The platform is built with 256 bit-encryption, making it one of the most secure virtual data rooms. Clinked is also ISO 27001, ISO 9001, and HIPAA compliant, in addition to being the UK Government trusted supplier. It is PCI, FISMA, and FIPs certified and a member of the official G-Cloud framework. The security of your files in its virtual data room is unmatched and, as the company states, unbreakable.

Permission & Access

Businesses can set the proper authorization to grant permission and access to their virtual data room members. They may choose among basic, standard, or administrator that sets their level of access to the virtual data room.

Those members belonging to the administrator level can limit the time a document is accessible, set passwords to said document, or restrict access altogether. They can also track user activity and generate CSV reports from the member's usage of the virtual data room, thanks to its audit trail feature.

Other Security Measures

Clinked employs other security measures in place for users of its virtual data room software, like two-factor authentication, complex passwords, and automatic account lockout. These features ensure maximum security of the files stored in the virtual data room, reassuring administrators and other stakeholders that no one can easily access any confidential business information.

Top-grade Data Centers

Utilizing Clinked's data room software entails having access to its top-grade data centers. Clinked uses AWS, one of the world's top cloud providers. Businesses can choose between the cloud server located in AWS Ireland (EU) or Virginia (US) to match their needs and requirements as an organization.

They may also opt to combine the power of both public and private servers. It is recommended to choose based on performance, speed, access to groups by IP addresses, and geographical locations.

Moreover, there are tier ranges for Clinked's data hosting. The tier ranking methodology they employ determines the guaranteed uptime of the data center. And if your business requires virtual boundaries, Clinked offers geofencing to limit the accessibility of your organization's virtual room data based on someone's location.

Keep in mind that private servers and geofencing are optional features, along with the service level agreement (SLA) feature of Clinked's data center. Opting to add the SLA provides clear and measurable expectations on the use of the virtual room data. Businesses can negotiate their terms with Clinked regarding response times, availability, and resolution times of their respective data center.

All-around Customization

Clinked champions the essence of brand uniformity, evident in its white-label portal option. This facilitates companies to smoothly incorporate their individual brand touchpoints into collaborative platforms.

But it's not only about broad branding. Clinked offers the adaptability to modify and brand particular client or project spaces, guaranteeing that every interaction feels bespoke.

For businesses, the objective is to manifest a uniform, refined appearance to clients, cultivating confidence and mutual respect. With Clinked, clients are met with recognizable branding elements. Whether in the virtual data room or a client portal, they immediately feel both recognized and valued.

Furthermore, Clinked offers a fully customized version of its product, creating a custom portal or VDR tailored to your specific requirements.

Mobile App

And for additional convenience, Clinked also offers customization of its branded app so each member of the virtual data room can always be on track of their company's activities simply by accessing the Clinked app.

Businesses don't need to look further to locate the best virtual dataroom for their organization because choosing Clinked already entails having the best features for security, file management, and customization in one platform. Book a demo now and let their Customer Success Team assist you in setting up your Data Room. Maximize the software rated best by its users worldwide.

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A group of researchers in South Korea has developed soft robots that can self-destruct and dissolve into residue, leaving minimal traces behind. It is a significant advancement in the robotic field.

According to Science X Network, the Korean researchers have crafted robots capable of self-destructing, leaving behind nothing but an oily residue, thus opening up intriguing possibilities for various applications.

Soft Robots in South Korea Can Self-Destruct

The researchers reportedly spent two years working on flexible materials that could uphold a fully operational robot but can also disintegrate when specific substances interact.

Soft robots are usually adaptable and versatile which can mimic natural movements and behaviors. However, the ability to self-destruct has been unexplored until now.

Such a feature could allow these robots to dissolve into a liquid state and, in effect, disappear after completing a task. Thus, this new technology can be used in military operations for intelligence gathering.

These soft robots, which can be used for surveillance, scouting, and transport missions, can protect sensitive data integrated into them.

Enabling them to undergo self-destruction reduces the likelihood of critical data falling into the hands of adversaries or unauthorized individuals.

These robots can also be used for delicate tasks like search missions in dangerous or unreachable areas, where retrieval could be challenging or expensive.

Min-Ha Oh, a graduate student at Seoul National University who contributed to the project, said: "We have mimicked death in a life cycle where the robot could end itself."

Previous soft robots made with thermoset silicone elastomer faced obstacles to self-destruct. The material's resistance to heat, acids, and chemicals made it unacceptable for self-demolition.

On the other hand, thermoplastic elastomers could be melted, but they could reconstruct themselves as polyurethane. To overcome these challenges, the Korean researchers worked on a substance to silicone resin that, when exposed to UV light, releases fluoride ions.

The robot starts disintegrating when researchers trigger built-in UV LEDs to initiate the heating process. Within less than two hours, the robot decomposes, leaving behind an oily liquid residue.

"We fabricated a highly deformable and fully degradable gaiting robot and demonstrated it in a hypothetical scouting scenario," Oh noted.

"Under certain scenarios wherein disintegration is desired, including mission completion, discovery by enemies, or disposal requiring volume reduction, the robot can be exposed to UV light and disintegrate into an unrecoverable form," the Korean researcher added.

Read Also: This 3D-Printed Soft Robotic Gripper Can Operate Without Electronics - How Does It Work?

Self-Destructing Mechanisms

The concept of self-destructing mechanisms has yielded intriguing developments across various domains. Researchers from the University of Houston devised circuitry that self-destructs upon exposure to water molecules, finding applications not only in warfare but also in medical contexts.

Additionally, a collaboration between Cornell University and Honeywell Aerospace led to the creation of chemical packets embedded in processors that dissolve all chips upon receiving a remote "kill signal."

Such innovations are not confined to academia and research. The Pentagon has developed a glider capable of flying an impressive distance before disappearing within hours.

Amazon also ventured into the field, filing a patent for a self-destructing delivery drone. In the event of malfunctions, these drones would fly to remote areas and disintegrate into smaller pieces, reducing the risk of harm or property damage.

The findings of the Korean research team were published in the journal Science Advances on August 25.

Related Article: Scientists Create Pangolin-Inspired Medical Robot for Precise Stomach Surgeries

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
General Motors (GM) and Google Cloud have revealed new details on AI collaboration, which resulted in integrating conversational AI technology into GM vehicles, offering drivers a range of helpful features.

The partnership has harnessed Google Cloud's conversational AI technology to power GM's OnStar Interactive Virtual Assistant (IVA) since its launch in 2022. This AI-driven assistant assists OnStar Members by responding to common inquiries and providing routing and navigation assistance.

Google Cloud's AI in OnStar Service of General Motors

The deployment of Google Cloud's AI in General Motors' OnStar service has paved the way for further generative AI applications being jointly tested by GM and Google Cloud.

GM's focus on exploring broader generative AI applications in partnership with Google Cloud builds on their joint journey initiated in 2019 when GM introduced its first vehicles with integrated Google technology.

This collaboration has grown over time, expanding access to Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Google Play directly from GM vehicles' central displays. Subsequently, Google Cloud's conversational AI technology, Dialogflow, was integrated.

The technology empowered GM's OnStar virtual assistant to handle over a million customer inquiries per month in the US and Canada. This feature is available in most GM vehicles connected by OnStar from model year 2015 and onwards.

Mike Abbott, Executive Vice President of Software and Services at GM, emphasized the potential of generative AI to transform the customer experience and enhance product and service features.

He highlighted how their software-centric approach has allowed efficient service development, ultimately driving customer engagement.

In a statement, Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, expressed the company's enthusiasm for the partnership with GM and the potential of generative AI to reshape customer interactions and experiences.

"General Motors is at the forefront of deploying AI in practical and effective ways that ultimately create better customer experiences," said Kurian. "We're looking forward to a deepened relationship and more collaboration with GM as we explore how the company uses generative AI in transformational ways," he added.

Read Also: GM Recalls 300 Cruise Models After Bus Crash in San Francisco

OnStar Interactive Virtual Assistant

The OnStar Interactive Virtual Assistant (IVA), launched in 2022, relies on advanced AI-driven intent recognition powered by Google Cloud's Dialogflow.

This technology assists with routing, navigation, and responding to inquiries initiated through the non-emergency OnStar button in General Motors vehicles.

It not only addresses common inquiries but also identifies phrases indicative of emergency situations, promptly connecting calls to OnStar's specialized emergency advisors.

The integration of this technology has led to a more effective understanding of customer questions, resulting in timely, natural-sounding responses. The consistent "voice" of OnStar across both in-vehicle and phone interactions has been well-received by customers, reducing hold times.

According to GM, the assistance provided by OnStar IVA in navigation queries has allowed OnStar Advisors to dedicate more time to customer requests requiring human assistance.

Furthermore, Google Cloud's Dialogflow technology has enabled GM to deploy chatbots capable of conversational interactions to answer customer questions about GM vehicles and features.

These chatbots utilize technical information from GM's extensive vehicle data repositories to respond quickly and accurately.

GM's use of Dialogflow in its OnStar technology earned a recognition within the technology industry, receiving a "Talent Transformation" award at Google Cloud's annual Next event in San Francisco.

Related Article: Google DeepMind is Reportedly Developing Life Advice Giving AI

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Samsung is rumored to be releasing two Fan Edition smartphones for the last quarter of 2023.

According to the report, the information came from a reliable tipster who previously leaked the launch of other Samsung products.

Samsung Leaked to Launch Two FE Phones Soon

Phone Arena writes in its recent report that the newest Samsung Galaxy S23 FE phones are rumored to have a 120Hz refresh rate on top of its 6.4-inch AMOLED (FHD+ resolution).

Aside from that, it will boast a 10MP selfie camera, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, a 12MP telephoto lens, and a 50 MP primary camera with optical image stabilization.

When it comes to battery the Galaxy S23 FE will feature 25W charging courtesy of its 4500mAh battery.

The leak was posted by German tipster Max Jambor on X. He said that the Galaxy S23 FE is touted to have an IP68 rating which is guaranteed to protect it against dust and water.

Samsungs #GalaxyS23FE, #GalaxyTabS9FE and other FE products as well as other IoT products will be launched sometime later this year in Q4 and not at IFA (Internationale Funk Ausstellung) in Berlin as some might think - just keep that in mind pic.twitter.com/znTkb3DOQD  Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) August 29, 2023

The flagship look-alike versions will be arriving with four Android system updates, Android 13, One UI 5.1, and a new box. If the customers purchase them later this year, they will also get security updates until the fifth year.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Support Page Pops Out

In a previous report by Hindustan Times, the tech world was surprised to see that Samsung's support page was live, which means that Galaxy S23 FE is indeed coming.

According to the news outlet, one of the first markets where the Fan Edition devices will land is Kazakhstan. This was further supported by a claim that it was also posted on the Kazakh support page of Samsung.

Furthermore, the report claimed that the Galaxy S23 FE has made a mysterious appearance on the said website. Although the specs were not revealed at that time, the model numbers SM-S711B_DS, SM-S7110, SM-S711U1, SM-S711W, SM-S711U, and SM=S711B were spotted in the SIG certification database.

Related Article: Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Might Use Exynos Chips Globally

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Models

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is not the only lineup that is rumored to debut this year. Aside from that, the Galaxy Tab S9 and Galaxy Tab S9 Plus are also anticipated to make their grand entrance.

Several sources said that they will be powered by the Exynos 1380 AP chipset. For selfie lovers, a 12MP shooter is waiting for you.

When it comes to storage, you have two options to choose from: the 128GB + 8GB RAM variant and the 256GB + 12GB RAM variant.

Phone Arena says that four variants are rumored to be available for the tablets. These are the standard Galaxy Tab S9 FE, Tab S9 FE 5G, Tab S9 FE Plus 5G, and Tab S9 FE Plus.

The same claim from Jambor reveals that Samsung is not yet done with the 2023 FE and tablets since the company is also planning to bring the SmartTag 2 item tracker during Q4 2023.

Read Also: New iPhone 15 Pro Leak Reveals Interesting Box Pattern: How Does It Look?

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Japan's National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC), the very agency entrusted with protecting Japan against cyber threats, has fallen victim to a cyber attack that lasted for a staggering nine months.

This breach, potentially orchestrated by state-backed hackers from China, has cast a shadow over Japan's cybersecurity capabilities and raised concerns about its susceptibility to cyber warfare.

How the Breach Transpired

The intrusion into NISC, as reported by the Financial Times, commenced in the autumn of 2022 but went undetected until June 2023. During this prolonged period, sensitive data was left exposed, potentially compromising Japan's national security.

This breach has sent ripples of concern through both governmental and private sectors, as the breach targeted a core agency responsible for cybersecurity, and it raises questions about Japan's ability to protect itself from cyber threats.

Attribution of the attack has pointed fingers at state-backed Chinese hackers, with sources familiar with the situation indicating the involvement of China in orchestrating the breach.

While Japan asserts near certainty in this attribution based on the attack's style and the target's nature, China denies any involvement and shifts the blame to the United States, alluding to historical instances of cyber espionage by the U.S. against Japan.

Read Also: US, Global Authorities Dismantle Qakbot Malware Platform Used in Financial Crimes

What This Cyber Attack Holds

The incident takes on a broader geopolitical significance, considering Japan's ongoing efforts to strengthen its military collaboration with the United States and other regional partners.

Firstpost tells us that as Tokyo deepens its alliances, the breach's potential to disrupt intelligence-sharing between Japan and its partners becomes a cause for concern. This is particularly crucial amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Pacific.

This breach is not the first of its kind concerning Japan's cybersecurity. Reports of earlier cyber attacks on Japan's defense networks traced back to Chinese military hackers, have highlighted a persistent pattern of probing Japan's defense capabilities.

In fact, an incident involving the port of Nagoya earlier this year initially attributed to a ransomware gang, is now being viewed by experts as part of China's sustained efforts to test Japan's infrastructure defenses.

What's Next?

NISC's response to the breach has focused on notifying affected parties, both domestic and international, about the potential compromise.

The agency revealed that personal data linked to email exchanges between October of the previous year and June of the current year might have been accessed by unauthorized actors.

While NISC emphasizes that only their email system was compromised, an ongoing inquiry seeks to ascertain whether hackers had access to other highly sensitive servers within the same government building.

The incident has exposed Japan's challenges in the realm of cybersecurity. The country's efforts to bolster its digital defenses have been hampered by a shortage of cybersecurity personnel and expertise.

Financial Times notes that a stark contrast emerges when comparing Japan's cyber unit, comprising just under 900 members, to counterparts like the U.S. and China, with 6,200 and at least 30,000 members respectively.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Criminal Gangs Forcing Hundreds of Thousands of People Into Online Scams in Southeast Asia, UN Warns

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(Photo : Wearable Technology and AIs Healthcare Advancements Are Leading to Healthier Lifestyles)

From smartwatches to heart monitors and continuous glucose monitors, the advent of artificial intelligence has revolutionized the healthcare industry. Wearables have become less noticeable and more effective in monitoring patients. These advancements have helped bridge the gap between doctor and patient, while adding efficacy to remote patient monitoring.

Read on to learn how AI is improving the functionality of wearable devices in healthcare.

ECG Monitors That Leverage AI's Healthcare Potential Can Help Detect Abnormal Heart Rhythm

Heart rate monitors have become a common feature in fitness activity trackers and smartwatches. Wearable heart monitors, apps included, can share crucial information like abnormal heart rhythm, with a patient's doctor sooner, leading to better health outcomes.

Using the machine learning concept and complex algorithms, AI can detect potential signs of structural heart disease and arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation in an early phase.

AI is trained by using a deep neural network model and analyzing heart sound recordings. The machine can detect murmurs too faint for a human ear to detect when using a stethoscope. Case in point: The Food and Drug Administration recently cleared stethoscope maker Eko's AI-powered Eko Murmur analysis software. With the device and the AI working hand in hand, murmurs and the severity of them are more easily and speedily detected.



In 2022, Apple announced that over 100 million people worldwide own Apple watches. That's a lot of heart data thumping around. The devices have long implemented electrocardiogram technology and the power to detect irregular heartbeats. Since 2018, Apple has had approval from the Food and Drug Administration to help atrial fibrillation patients track the frequency of their irregular heart rhythm.

Leveraging AI's Healthcare Tools to Monitor Fertile Windows, Menstrual Cycles, and Pregnancy

The growing smart fertility tracker market is also getting an AI boost. Wearable medical devices gather information about body temperature, ovulation cycle, hormonal changes, and other physiological parameters. Cisgender women use the apps to plan or prevent pregnancy, or to monitor menstrual disorders and their symptoms.



Still, the devices and their correlating apps are best used by cisgender women with relatively regular menstrual cycles, somewhere between 23 and 35 days. If it's out of that frame, the data might become unreliable, but future versions of these wearables could improve that aspect.

Wearable technology and AI's healthcare capabilities could be combined to monitor pregnancy. The idea is the same: The device collects relevant data on parameters that change during pregnancy. Comparing it to the database can help detect risks at an early stage. For example, the device might warn about potential preeclampsia symptoms or premature birth risks based on the information provided. The healthcare provider will get actionable insights and can act accordingly.

Wearables Assist Healthcare Providers by Enabling Remote Monitoring and Reducing House Visits

The pandemic has accelerated the focus on telemedicine and the adoption of remote consultations and monitoring. Providers who rely on AI's healthcare-related data receive feedback from a patient about their health condition, but the information might be incomplete or not even totally accurate.

Wearable medical devices that monitor different parameters are far more reliable and are capable of catching changes that could point out potential health issues. Some London-area hospitals, such as Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, have already partnered with companies working on these AI-powered apps that provide detailed info about patient parameters.

The hospital focused on monitoring patients with chronic conditions after discharge. A smart device would collect information about the vitals and then compare them with the database. The initial results noted a 22% drop in unnecessary visits to the patient's home, which enables better focus on patients with actual risk. Patients who present with a high risk of falling or infection also benefit from the tech, and receiving at-home medical attention.

AI's Healthcare Edge: How Does Smart Activewear Work?

Activewear includes clothing pieces and wearables specifically designed for spending time outdoors, working out, or sports.

Some companies have developed activewear equipped with sensors that can detect even mild vibrations. A user's clothing can tell if they are striking the right position for a yoga pose, potentially avoiding strains and other injuries.

Gathering information about different aspects of exercise can also be essential to identify how to improve your body shape or workout aspects. FSR, or a force sensor resistor, uses electrical resistance to show the force applied to an object. This can help discover whether particular muscles or those on one body side are stronger than the other. You can also monitor how adjusting your body position affects the measurements received by FSR.

The Future Is Exciting for Wearable AI's in Healthcare

Wearable medical devices have already done a great job in promoting a proactive health approach. Fitness trackers monitor your heart rate and other parameters to help you get optimal exercise. Smart devices can assist in uncovering and improving your sleep patterns and remind you about taking medications, exercising, and other activities.

Gathering extensive information about heart rhythms, hormonal changes, and other parameters helps AI compare that data to the extensive database available. Thanks to AI's capabilities, that approach is used to detect and warn about any abnormalities. It can be a decisive factor in discovering health-related issues in the early stages. That actionable insight helps healthcare providers identify patients at actual risk and ensures they get the right care and treatment. The future is now with AI helping patients and their caretakers promote a healthy lifestyle worldwide.
The Pragyan rover snapped a stunning shot of the Vikram lander working on the Moon, marking a milestone for India's Chandrayaan-3 moon exploration. The Navigation Camera (often referred to as NavCam) aboard the rover captured this intriguing image, dubbed the mission's standout photograph.

The NavCams of Pragyan serve as essential equipment and are crucial in directing it during the expedition on the moon's surface. According to Firstpost, the Pragyan rover's "eyes," developed by Bengaluru's Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS), guide it across challenging lunar environments. They help the rover navigate and avoid obstacles as a lunar GPS.

A Historic Moment for India

Since its safe landing on the Moon on August 23, 2023, ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 has achieved a lot. This puts India in the company of four other nations that have landed on the moon.

Pragyan took the image following the rover's detection of sulfur near the Moon's South Pole. In addition to sulfur, the robot's sensors discovered aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon, and oxygen. These results were formally announced by ISRO, who emphasized their importance for lunar research.

The Chandrayaan-3 Rover's Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument has taken the first in-situ measurements of the lunar surface's elemental composition close to the south pole. "These in-situ measurements confirm the presence of sulfur (S) in the region unambiguously, something that was not feasible by the instruments onboard the orbiters," the space agency revealed in a statement, as reported by NDTV.

The lunar surface's elemental composition near the south pole was measured in situ by the rover's laser detector, according to information released by ISRO. This research found sulfur and oxygen in lunar soil. These results provided unmistakable proof that sulfur was present. Other elements like aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon, and oxygen were also found.

Read Also: US, Global Authorities Dismantle Qakbot Malware Platform Used in Financial Crimes

The ISRO also noted that "A thorough investigation regarding the presence of hydrogen is underway."

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:



Smile, please!



Pragyan Rover clicked an image of Vikram Lander this morning.



The 'image of the mission' was taken by the Navigation Camera onboard the Rover (NavCam).



NavCams for the Chandrayaan-3 Mission are developed by the Laboratory for pic.twitter.com/Oece2bi6zE  ISRO (@isro) August 30, 2023

An Important Achievement in Lunar Exploration

Notably, professionals in the space industry have praised Pragyan's results. According to NASA project scientist Noah Petro, the presence of sulfur in lunar soil has been recognized since the 1970s thanks to research on samples from the Apollo and Luna missions. But Pragyan's in-situ observations represent an important step forward in lunar study.

"I think ISRO is highlighting that it's in-situ - so it's important to have measured sulfur on the lunar surface," Petro said, as quoted by the BBC, in appreciation of ISRO's accomplishment, noting that sulfur is volatile without minerals. "So, if it's not part of a crystal, it's very cool to see it measured on the surface."

With its recent accomplishments, Chandrayaan-3 now stands as a monument to India's expanding expertise in space exploration and scientific research providing previously unheard-of information about the makeup and properties of Earth's natural satellite.

Related Article: India to Send Spacecraft to the Sun After Historic Landing on Moon's South Pole

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Scientists have successfully employed stem cell therapy to treat arthritis in a 46-year-old gorilla, Liesel, at Budapest Zoo. This pioneering effort offers hope for future advancements in animal care and human medicine.

Treating Liesel's Arthritis

At the venerable age of 46, Liesel, the oldest gorilla at Budapest Zoo, was facing an unexpected challenge - difficulty walking on her left leg.

Her caregivers, concerned about her well-being, suspected arthritis as the culprit.

Arthritis, a progressive joint disease that erodes cartilage and limits joint mobility, is commonly associated with aging, both in humans and in our primate relatives.

As IFLScience reports, recognizing the potential benefits of stem cell therapy, the zoo partnered with scientists from the University of Sheffield to undertake a revolutionary treatment.

First-of-Its-Kind Treatment

Liesel's arthritis treatment marked the first time mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were utilized on a gorilla.

These stem cells, sourced from a piece of fat tissue during a planned procedure on a younger gorilla named N'yaounda, held the potential to become various joint-related cells, including those that form cartilage.

A collaborative team effort ensued, led by Endre Sos, Chief Vet and Acting Director General at the Budapest Zoo, and Professor Mark Wilkinson, an Orthopaedic Surgeon renowned for his expertise in human arthritis treatment.

Liesel underwent a comprehensive assessment of her joints, after which MSCs were deployed to treat her hip and knee joints, significantly enhancing her quality of life.

A Unique Breakthrough

Osteoarthritis, the degenerative joint disease affecting Liesel, is notorious for its irreversible damage to cartilage. Current treatments focus on managing symptoms rather than repairing the damage, making the potential of stem cell therapy particularly promising.

Notably, researchers had previously explored stem cell therapy for osteoarthritis in other animals like rabbits, sheep, and dogs, but Liesel's case represented a unique breakthrough in primate care.

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Stem CellX

The collaboration extended beyond traditional boundaries, as Stem CellX, a company born out of a partnership between international scientists specializing in stem cells, regenerative medicine, and genetics, joined the effort.

Their involvement allowed for the isolation, purification, and culture of the MSCs from N'yaounda's fat tissue, creating a suspension that could be preserved until treatment.

With this success, the implications extend beyond animal welfare. The collaborative effort between Budapest Zoo and the University of Sheffield has ignited hope for similar advancements in human medicine.

The team is now engaged in a preclinical research program with the ambitious goal of developing a parallel treatment for humans afflicted with osteoarthritis.

As Professor Mark Wilkinson expressed, "This work is in its very early stages but hopefully will lead to a real solution for patients to the pain and suffering that arthritis causes."

This pioneering collaboration not only offers Liesel a new lease on life but also holds the potential to revolutionize arthritis treatment for all species, transcending the boundaries of age and species.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

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A mountainous area in Germany is now home to a somewhat unusual phenomenon: wild boars that have been turned dangerously radioactive by atomic bomb fallout from more than six decades ago.

These bristly-haired creatures, noted for their tusks and forest snuffling, have become a living witness to nuclear weapons testing's lingering effect.

Radioactive Boars

You might wonder: How can wild boars, trotting through German forests, end up radioactive?

A team of scientists embarked on an investigation, revealing a complex tale that involves both the Chernobyl disaster and nuclear weapons testing that took place during the Cold War.

These wild boars, scientifically referred to as Sus scrofa, are no ordinary forest inhabitants. They are living repositories of radioactivity, their bodies harboring dangerous levels of a radioactive element called cesium-137.

This startling revelation comes from a recent study published in Environmental Science & Technology, where researchers probed the depths of this enigma.

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The Chernobyl Factor

Initially, it was assumed that the radioactivity in Bavaria's boars was a direct result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. However, subsequent research has revealed a more intricate narrative.

Science notes that while the Chernobyl fallout did play a role in contaminating these creatures, the scientists discovered another key contributor: the nuclear weapons testing that reached its peak during the 1960s.

The Silent Fallout

Over 2,000 nuclear bombs were detonated globally during the Cold War, with 500 of them detonated high in the atmosphere, showering the earth with radioactive particles.

These particles settled into the soil and vegetation, remaining hidden until the wild boars unwittingly foraged them. This decades-old fallout is still present in the environment today, becoming an unexpected hazard for these forest-dwelling creatures.

Why were these wild boars particularly susceptible to radioactive contamination? The answer lies in their peculiar taste for truffle mushrooms.

Gizmodo tells us that these elusive underground fungi act as a repository for cesium-137, accumulating the radioactive particles over time. As the boars root out these truffles during their winter quest for sustenance, they inadvertently load up on radioactivity, creating a cascading effect that amplifies their contamination levels.

The Study's Shocking Revelation

Scientists collected boar meat samples across southern Germany, discovering that the majority of the samples exceeded safe regulatory limits for radioactivity.

By analyzing the isotopic signatures of cesium in the samples, researchers managed to distinguish between cesium-137 originating from Chernobyl and nuclear weapons testing.

Astonishingly, some boars exhibited contamination levels where the fallout from nuclear bombs alone rendered their meat too hazardous to consume.

What's Next?

The ramifications extend beyond the boars themselves. Consumption of wild boar meat, once a culinary delight, has dramatically decreased due to contamination concerns. No more Wild Boar Schweinebraten for Oktoberfest?

This altered dining preference can inadvertently lead to an uncontrolled boom in the boar population, threatening the delicate ecological balance of Bavarian forests and nearby farms.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

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A hacktivist collective, GhostSec, has claimed credit for successfully taking down Irans FANAP Behnama software, a privacy-invading tool allegedly used by the Iranian government for citizen surveillance.

This tool was initially launched as a native Iranian banking system but now has been expanded by the Iranian government to monitor and track its citizens, thereby shedding light on the countrys significant advancements in surveillance capabilities.

According to the hacking group, the breach exposed approximately 20GB of compromised software, including source code, relating to face recognition and motion detection systems from Iranian software company Fanap.

FANAP software, Behnama, was entirely breached, said GhostSec on its Telegram channel. A total of around 20GB [of] compressed [files] have been analyzed during the last two months.

GhostSec, says it plans to make the data public not just for the interests of the Iranian people but also for the broader implications this breach has on privacy worldwide.

The cybersecurity analyst firm Cyberint believes that GhostSecs actions are consistent with hacktivist principles, aiming to promote equality in the fight for human rights for privacy.

This exposure seeks to empower the Iranian populace to demand privacy rights in the wake of increased awareness about government surveillance. While GhostSecs actions align with hacktivist principles, they also position themselves as advocates for human rights, Cyberint said.

GhostSec says that its move is not just about technology but about the privacy of the people, civil liberties, and a balance of power.

To this end, the hacking collective has set up a dedicated Telegram channel called IRAN EXPOSED, which it plans to use to publish segments of the breached data. It has already uploaded portions of the compromised Behnama code, including configuration files and API data.

GhostSec says it will provide in-depth explanations about its findings and the justification behind its actions once all the data has been uploaded.

The uploaded data allegedly includes tools for facial recognition-based video surveillance (used in the Pasargad Bank Car GPS and tracking system), a Car number plate recognition system (which might have implications for hijab alerts), and an ID card printing face recognition system.

Moreover, even a system linked to the Single Sign-On (SSO) platform employed by the regime for online user authentication is connected to the FANAP system.

This integration compiles intricate aspects of citizens lives, not only to determine access privileges for services but also to construct a virtual profile for facial recognition, says Cyberint.

The group maintains that this evaluation is rooted in the software code, substantiating indisputable evidence of the softwares capabilities and deployment.

GhostSec alleges that the tools are actively utilized by the Iranian government, law enforcement agencies, and military personnel, marking a considerable advancement in the countrys enhanced surveillance capabilities.

Its important to note that GhostSec initially claimed responsibility for the shutdown of the fanap-infra.com website but later revealed that another website related to the FANAP software company was only accessible within Iran.

Meanwhile, the main GitHub repository of the company was made private, possibly in response to the GhostSec attack.

That mean[s], they are scared. That mean[s] its time to hit harder, says GhostSec.




Cyber attacks and Data breaches are pretty common these days. In the first half of 2022, businesses lost an average of $4.35 million. At the same time, there were around 236.1 million ransomware attacks, which are ever-increasing in 2023.

Once any cyber attack or data breach gets the hold of your company, the damage is always irreversible. These attacks can cause a ripple effect of detrimental outcomes on your business. Let's take a look at how companies suffer from these attacks.

Financial Loss

When a cyber-attack occurs, the initial and most serious impact is on your finances. Hackers or cyber criminals are intelligent and can get away with stealing your money. They may get their hands on your customers' details like their bank account or credit card information. This type of loss isn't small; it can quickly spiral out of control only to become unbelievably massive.

Is this where the financial trouble ends? No! The next step is recovering from a cyber attack that involves a lot of work and money.

Eventually, you will need cyber security experts to figure out how the attack happened and how to prevent it in the future. These experts are costly. On top of that, there is a legal fee, which means more expenses even after suffering a financial loss. Plus, there is accountability from customers.

Solution - Prevention is better than cure. Make sure you have the system for data backup and use strong VPN encryption to avoid data compromise in the first place.

Reputation Damage

Another adverse effect of a successful cyber attack on a business is damaging its reputation. Customers lose their trust once a hacker gets hold of sensitive data. Nobody comes back to the place where they are not secure enough.

Plus, the media coverage can mess up a business's reputation even more, leading to people protesting against the company and even boycotting it for the rest of their lives.

We can take the example of Facebook, where more than $119bn has been wiped off Facebook's market value after the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Solution - Password managers, strong firewalls, and Wi-Fi security can help you preserve your reputation and prevent cyber attacks.

Legal Consequences

When you run a business, it's your job to protect the data of all your customers and staff. There is no such thing as getting away with data compromise in this situation.

If a cyber attack leads to a data breach wherein customer or employee data is compromised, the company might face legal action due to inadequate data protection. Additionally, privacy regulations such as GDPR or CCPA often require companies to safeguard personal data, and non-compliance can result in legal consequences or fines.

Data Breaches can also comprise contractual obligations with partners, customers, or vendors, leading to legal conflicts. There can be lawsuits and penalties following a cyber attack on a company.

Solution - Artificial intelligence is the best answer to prevent the legal consequences of Cyber Attacks. AI does not rest and keeps monitoring the data that is viable in today's world.

Operational Paralysis and Decreased Market Value

Following the cyber attack, the operational disruption begins. As companies get busy tackling the issue, the normal functioning of the business is compromised. Orders are delayed, productivity is decreased, and revenue is lost.

Also, almost every business has a unique secret differentiating it from the rest. Because of the cyber attack, these trade secrets are compromised, and the uniqueness of the business is lost.

Solution - Data protection is the Ultimate weapon you can use to prevent the breach in the first place. If you are smart, you can prevent a cyber attack simply with the help of a dedicated IP address.

Long-Term Repercussions and the Disruption of Supply Chain

A successful business can only flourish with suppliers, trustworthy partners and vendors. If the Cyberattack somehow managed to steal the data of any of your suppliers, you'll lose a lot of money and customers due to supply chain disruption.

Even when a lot of time has passed after the cyber attack, the aftereffects stay intact. Most still don't trust Facebook because it made public 553 million users.

Following a cyber attack, your previous customers may never return to you, and new ones become conscious of never trusting you. Your potential partners who were once by your side may leave you for good, and this negative reputation may stop the new partners from collaborating with you.

Even the investors won't feel like being involved in your business because of the fear of loss due to another security breach. All this signifies the importance of data protection.

Solution - Do everything that you can, from using the VPN to using artificial intelligence to prevent the loss of data in the first place

Bottom Line

A cyber attack is a nightmare for anyone who holds an online platform of any kind, and it's especially a recurring nightmare for businesses. It's because they have a lot of sensitive data to protect, and attackers always try to find vulnerable spots.

As a business, ensure adequate security measures and rely on trustworthy and effective VPNs to encrypt your data.
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"A third fight is not needed": Sidelnikov on the rematch between Makhachev and Volkanovski, Yan's problems and career in boxing

Economic downturn: It's not just inflation and higher interest rates that weigh on the German economy

The Federal Customs Service called for more active use of barter transactions in Russia's foreign trade

National Energy Administration: China's new renewable energy capacity increased by 93% year-on-year in the first three quarters

The State lends 10,000 million to Social Security to be able to pay the extra pensions

Guilin rice noodles are fragrant at home and abroad to relieve homesickness, "homesick noodles" rejuvenate and achieve tens of billions of industries-Chinanews.com video

Roures did not want to sign Mediapro's note on his dismissal and denounces censorship of his position

Personal services: how Bercy intends to tackle fraud by limiting the immediate advance of tax credits

American rabbi: Israel is based on theft and we pray for its demise

Have you inherited a key before? A view of asylum - tent - and the pains of displacement in literature

Polish General Komornitsky: the defense line of the Russian Armed Forces has become a death zone for the Armed Forces of Ukraine

The opposition wants to bring forward the new Klitterbadet in Falkenberg

Foster father in Norrbotten is suspected of having molested a girl for several years

Storm Ciaran: Why it could look like the ones in 1999

The shooting in Umea: Here the shooter escapes  the electric scooter is crucial for the arrest

The police are looking for two suspects after the police presence in Birsta

Shor sharply criticized the decision of the Moldovan authorities to ban the broadcasting of a number of media outlets

TASS: DPR is looking for two men on suspicion of killing nine people in Volnovakha

Marjam Samadzade: State Secretary in Schleswig-Holstein has to leave early because of mail critical of Israel

Altitude record for mammals: mice lived at an altitude of more than 6000 meters in the Andes

The whole of Uppsala without district heating  the heating plant without electricity

What is the curse of the "eighth decade" that Ehud Barak feared and Abu Obeida waved?

ICC prosecutor: The people of Gaza deserve justice and what is happening cannot be tolerated

The Price of "De-Occupation": How the Utro Dagestan Telegram Channel Is Connected to Politician Ponomarev

In Moldova, they announced the blocking of more than 30 sites, including Russian ones

Matthew Perry's Estate: His Parents and Five Siblings, the Possible Heirs to His Million-Dollar Fortune

 Communities 2019 - Privacy

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Most Koreans would like the death penalty to stay on the books even if it is not enforced.

A survey of 1,000 adults published by the National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday found that 59 percent of Koreans believe grounds for capital punishment should remain constitutional but have reservations about actually enforcing it.

The figure is essentially the same as in a similar survey taken 15 years ago, and the proportion of those who are for scrapping the death penalty entirely fell from 34.1 percent to 20.3 percent.

Korea has not executed anyone since 1997, so international observers have classified it as a country that has technically abolished capital punishment.

But according to the survey, the biggest reason for keeping the death penalty is a perceived increase in brutal crimes, and respondents seem to believe that capital punishment could act as a deterrent. At the same time, 70 percent said the death penalty should be scrapped if there is an alternative, though it is unclear what that might be.

Human rights groups are calling for stronger efforts to promote public awareness of the issue. Some 140 countries have either abolished capital punishment or stopped enforcing it, with the U.S. a notable exception.
People in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida are preparing for the arrival of what forecasters expect will be a major hurricane when it makes landfall Wednesday.

Idalia reached hurricane strength early Tuesday, with the National Hurricane Center saying it expected the storm to rapidly intensify further during the day.

Hurricane warnings were in effect along a large stretch of Florida's Gulf Coast, including the city of Tampa.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un have exchanged letters and are pledging to deepen the relationship between their two countries, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday said arms negotiations between Moscow and Pyongyang have been actively advancing as Russia has sought to evade the US and western sanctions that have made it harder to prosecute the countrys ongoing war against Ukraine.

Mr Kirby added that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu recently travelled to Pyongyang in an effort to convince North Korean officials to sell Russia domestically-manufactured artillery shells, since North Koreas military equipment is largely Russian or Soviet-made.

Since that visit President Putin and Kim Jong-un have exchanged letters, pledging to increase their bilateral cooperation, Mr Kirby said, adding later that Mr Shoigus trip to North Korea was followed by a delegation of other Russian officials.

Following these negotiations, high-level discussions may continue in the coming months, he said.

Mr Kirby also explained that the deal would involve the transfer of significant quantities and multiple types of munitions from North Korea to Russia for use in Ukraine, as well as the provision of raw materials that would assist Russias defence industrial base.

Any arms deal between the DPRK and Russia would directly violate a number of UN Security Council resolutions ... we urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms production, he said.
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Two election workers in Georgia who sued Rudy Giuliani over baseless claims that fuelled threats of violence against them have been awarded a default judgment following the long-running defamation case against him.

Donald Trumps former attorney, who has also been criminally charged in connection with the former presidents attempts to upend the 2020 presidential election, is liable for defamation claims from Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, as well claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damages.

Mr Giuliani repeatedly sought to avoid further scrutiny in the case, and the judge overseeing the case previously reprimanded him for his seemingly incongruous and certainly puzzling caveats after he appeared to admit that he made false and defamatory statements about the two women in an effort to dodge the revelation of potentially damning evidence.

Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery, US District Judge Beryl Howell wrote on 30 August.

A trial will determine the amount of damages awarded, but Judge Howells order determines that Mr Giuliani is liable. He also is ordered to pay more than $132,000 in attorneys fees and other costs.

Just as taking shortcuts to win an election carries risks  even potential criminal liability  bypassing the discovery process carries serious sanctions, no matter what reservations a noncompliant party may try artificially to preserve for appeal, Judge Howell wrote in a 57-page opinion.

Mr Giulianis carefully worded stipulations  which he said were not his admission of lying  hold more holes than Swiss cheese, the judge added.

The bottom line, Judge Howell wrote, is that Mr Giuliani refused to comply with his discovery obligations and thwarted plaintiffs ... procedural rights to obtain any meaningful discovery in this case.

In their testimony to the House select committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, Ms Freeman and Ms Moss revealed the depth of abuse they endured, forcing them from their jobs and making them feel unsafe after the former president and Mr Giuliani promoted debunked conspiracy theories involving them.

Those claims also are included in a federal indictment accusing Mr Trump of three criminal conspiracies and obstruction surrounding his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. One of the six unnamed co-conspirators in the indictment is believed to be Mr Giuliani.

The former New York City mayor is also charged alongside Mr Trump and 17 other co-defendants in a criminal case in Fulton County, Georgia, which details the alleged pressure campaign targeting the two women.

During a committee hearing in Georgias House of Representatives on 10 December 2020, Mr Giuliani baselessly accused the women of quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine and suggested that they were criminals whose places of work, their homes, should have been searched for evidence of ballots, for evidence of USB ports, for evidence of voter fraud, according to the federal indictment. Federal prosecutors added that women received numerous death threats after the hearing.

Shaye Moss, left, and her mother Ruby Freeman were awarded Presidential Citizens Medal honours at the White House in January. (AP)

The Georgia indictment then details how several co-defendants traveled from out of state to harass Ms Freeman to intimidate her and solicit her to falsely confess to election crimes that she did not commit, according to the indictment.

What we went through after the 2020 election was a living nightmare, the women said in a joint statement shared with The Independent following the judges latest opinion.

Rudy Giuliani helped unleash a wave of hatred and threats we never could have imagined. It cost us our sense of security and our freedom to go about our lives. Nothing can restore all we lost, but todays ruling is yet another neutral finding that has confirmed what we have known all along: that there was never any truth to any of the accusations about us and that we did nothing wrong, they added.

A report from Georgias State Election Board following a year-long investigation also dismissed bogus claims of election fraud and cleared the allegations against the women.

In a statement shared with The Independent, Giuliani adviser Ted Goodman called Judge Howells ruling a prime example of the weaponization of our justice system, where the process is the punishment.

This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI, he added.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un denounced the leaders of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan as "gang bosses" when he made his first visit to the renegade country's Navy Command last Sunday.

The visit came shortly after the three leaders met at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David to present a united front against North Korea, China and Russia.

A Unification Ministry official here told reporters that this is the first time Kim has visited the Navy Command to celebrate the North's Navy Day.
Fortescue executive chairman Andrew Forrest has hinted that the shock exit of the miners chief executive Fiona Hick was linked to them not seeing eye to eye on the companys green road map.

Hicks departure, announced on Monday, came just under six months from her appointment at the helm of Fortescue.

Fortescue executive chairman Andrew Forrest. Credit: Bloomberg

Speaking at a conference in Perth on Wednesday, Forrest suggested that he and Hick did not agree on how to best help the company hit its aggressive target of zero emissions by 2030.

All I can say is that people evolve [and] there is a difference between where theyre going and the whole mission of the company before anyone joined, he said. You might want to take it a different direction, like put a handbrake on going green.
Motorists are warned that congestion will worsen on the Anzac Bridge, Victoria Road and the Western Distributor motorway for up to six months after an underground interchange in Sydneys inner west for the WestConnex toll road opens at the end of the year.

The NSW government has cited traffic modelling from the states transport agency that indicates traffic delays will add an extra five to 10 minutes to trips on Victoria Road through Drummoyne and over the Iron Cove Bridge during morning peaks.

Motorists are warned that congestion will worsen during morning peaks when the Rozelle interchange opens late this year. Credit: Dylan Coker

Traffic on a stretch of Victoria Road between the Iron Cove and Anzac bridges is expected to drop when a 1.1-kilometre tunnel bypass in Rozelle opens by December as part of the $3.9 billion interchange.

However, the NSW government warns that the modelling suggests some delays should be expected on Victoria Road, the Anzac Bridge and the Western Distributor until motorists become accustomed to new lanes and changes in traffic movements.
A turf war over the control of Melbournes tobacco trade is being fuelled by a rivalry between a notorious crime family and a convicted drug trafficker living in exile in Dubai.

Several shops selling tobacco products have been torched over the past few months. The firebombings flared up again early on Wednesday, with a second attack on a convenience store in the northern suburbs in less than 24 hours.

Police and arson investigators at the scene of the fire in West Street, Hadfield. Credit: Chris Hopkins

Police are investigating a fire at a shopfront on West Street in Hadfield that was lit on Wednesday morning. The site is just a kilometre away from a fruit and vegetable market that was set alight on Tuesday morning.

Emergency services were called to the West Street Convenience Store after the arsonists damaged a roller door and set the shop on fire just after 5am. The shop, which sells cigarettes and other tobacco products, was empty at the time.
The prime minister wore a black suit and sober tie and spoke without flourish.

He wanted Australians to know he was doing nothing more than proposing a law to alter the Constitution that was, he soothed again and again, simple, clear and straightforward.

If there was no accident in the choice of restrained, no-frills delivery, there was no mere chance in the choice of geographic setting for Anthony Albaneses appearance, either.

It was in the South Australian capital, Adelaide, where, as South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas was at pains to point out, its citizens had long demonstrated they were capable of making momentous decisions.
This is part of a series of opinions featured during the historic referendum campaign for an Indigenous Voice to parliament.

I was asked recently what question I think Australians should have front of mind when they head to the ballot box on October 14. My answer is a simple one: do you want Australians to be divided in our Constitution?

The prime minister is about to fire the starters gun on the most divisive referendum in our nations history. And make no mistake, it is divisive through and through. Its dividing experts, its dividing politicians, its dividing Australians. It rests on the premise that the Voice could effectively represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but its even dividing our communities.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price at the WA Liberals for No campaign launch in Perth last week. Credit: Trevor Collens

There will be a lot of noise over the next six weeks about how wonderful and unifying it would be, but strip back all the hype, the celebrity endorsements and corporate sponsorship and consider what were voting on.

If successful, it would insert into the Constitution a chapter and a new body for only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Korea will export 2,000 tons of beef to Cambodia over the next five years, up from 44 tons last year, amid a growing popularity for Korean barbecue in the Southeast Asian country.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the export deal on Tuesday.

The two countries completed negotiations over livestock quarantine in 2015, but exports of Korean beef did not start until recently. Korea already exports beef to Hong Kong, Macao and Malaysia.
Australias national shared equity scheme will not go far enough to make a serious dent in the housing shortage, and risks helping some people who had a chance of buying anyway, experts warn.

The new Help to Buy scheme will start next year and allow a home purchase with a low 2 per cent deposit. Under a shared equity model, the government co-purchases a 30 per cent to 40 per cent stake in the home, and the buyer takes out a loan for the rest.

Australias Help to Buy Scheme could push house prices higher, experts say. Credit: Peter Rae

Experts back the idea of a shared equity model to help those without intergenerational wealth transfer to achieve home ownership, but raised issues with the design. The program will cover 30 per cent of the cost of an established home, or 40 per cent of a new build for 40,000 home buyers, over the next four years.

University of Sydney economics Professor Stephen Whelan said this was only a modest number of people, and the scheme would not add major supply to the housing market.
Kyiv: Russia has targeted Kyiv with the biggest overnight missile attack in months, and accused Ukraine of targeting five Russian regions with a swarm of drones, including at an airport near Estonia.

In Kyiv, falling debris killed two people and injured another after Russia launched a massive combined attack on the Ukrainian capital using drones and missiles, head of the military administration Sergei Popko wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.

The airport reportedly burning in Russia. Credit: Twitter/OSINTechnical

In what Popko said was the biggest attack since the northern spring, Russia launched Shahed drones from various directions and then targeted the capital with missiles from Tu-95MS strategic aircraft. He said more than 20 rockets had been brought down by Ukraines air defences. It was unclear how many had been launched.

The deaths and injury occurred when debris fell on a commercial building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, Popko said.
The Process of Structured Settlements in Personal Injury Cases







Accidents are commonplace in the bustling Bronx, one of those boroughs often vividly depicted on the silver screen. When personal injury strikes, it swiftly ignites a domino effect of challenges, plunging the victim into emotional distress, financial worries, and legal intricacies. Amid such turmoil, it's paramount to understand the structured settlement process to swiftly and effectively secure rightful compensation. If you've recently suffered a personal injury and seek guidance in its aftermath, this blog is geared toward you.

The best thing for victims to do after seeking medical assistance is to visit this personal injury lawyer's site and consult competent legal aid. Professionals in the domain have the expertise and can provide accurate case-by-case assessments of the restitution process. However, before you reach out to a lawyer, learning more about the nuances of the settlement process will be beneficial. The following sections unpack secured settlements and how they apply to personal injury cases.

What is a structured settlement?

A structured settlement is an agreement between two parties where the defendant agrees to pay the injured party over time instead of a lump sum upfront. The terms and conditions of these payments are set out in detail and typically involve periodic payments that continue until some specified event or date.

Why choose a structured settlement?

 Steady Income: For those who have suffered debilitating injuries or disabilities, regular monthly payments from a structured settlement can provide stability and certainty, making planning for long-term care expenses easier while maintaining financial security.  Tax Benefits: Structured settlements also offer significant tax advantages because they are tax-free under federal law as long as they meet specific criteria in the Internal Revenue Code. In contrast, any interest earned on invested funds received through lump-sum payouts is subject to taxation.  Reduced Risk: Because there is no risk associated with investments or market fluctuations when receiving monthly payments from structured settlements, recipients have less concern about running out of money before insurance coverage runs its course.

How does the process work?

Once an agreement has been reached regarding liability, damages, and other trial preparation matters such as competent evidence discovery, one or both parties may propose structure-based solutions. These solutions could involve deferred annuity plans instead of traditional cash-out options through installment contracts. The parties may prefer to resolve the matter privately without involving court trials. Alternatively, they may formally present the relevant documents to a judge for approval if they believe the agreement is fair and equitable given the circumstances.

The amount to be paid annually is crucial in deciding whether to agree on a structured settlement. A financial planner can assist in calculating this amount. They have expertise in tax concepts and can help insurance companies and claimants optimize payment structures by considering taxation rules.

In addition, some individuals use legal funding services as intermediaries when considering settling injury claims through structured settlements. This is because of the technical issues involved, which require input from professionals. This helps all parties make informed decisions for the best possible outcomes without causing financial strain unless necessary.

The final steps include creating an annuity contract, depositing funds, and selecting beneficiaries. These steps are based on the agreed structure between the parties involved in these programs. It is important to periodically review the payment schedule to ensure its accuracy, similar to other agreements. Some modifications to the product may be allowed, but only with prior court authorization.

Additionally, it is crucial to carefully draft legal provisions that specify when injury-related payments will cease. A judge must fully endorse these contracts during court hearings for them to become enforceable under the current laws that govern such matters in all jurisdictions within the United States.

Conclusion

Structured settlements represent a vital and thoughtful approach to resolving personal injury cases. This well-defined process offers a range of benefits for both plaintiffs and defendants, providing financial security and stability for the injured party while offering cost-effective solutions for the responsible party. Through careful negotiation and legal proceedings, structured settlements ensure that the injured individual's future needs are met, guaranteeing long-term medical care, rehabilitation, and overall well-being. By embracing this method, the legal system demonstrates its commitment to achieving fair and equitable outcomes, fostering a sense of closure, and facilitating recovery for those affected by personal injuries
Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon recently told officials to inspect execution facilities in four correctional facilities across the country, it was revealed Tuesday.

Korea has effectively abolished the death penalty by not carrying out any executions since 1997. As a result, the execution facilities have fallen into disrepair.

Korea has four jails with execution facilities in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, and Daejeon. Last week, Han told them to "properly maintain the facilities since the death penalty still exists."

The last execution took place in December 1997, during the Kim Young-sam administration, involving 23 death row inmates.

But recent horrific crimes such as knife attacks at Sillim and Seohyeon subway stations and a sexual assault of a woman on a hiking trail in a park in Sillim-dong has led to fresh clamor to revive executions, which the government seems keen to appease with the gesture.

A ministry official explained that Han's intention is to ensure that the execution facilities are properly maintained as long as the death penalty is still in place.
The U.S. expressed concern Wednesday that Russia is nearing a deal to buy arms from North Korea to help bolster its war against Ukraine.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the U.S. believes that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are actively advancing. He said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently traveled to North Korea to try to persuade Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia.

In addition, Kirby said Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had exchanged letters pledging to increase their bilateral cooperation and that the U.S. had intelligence that indicated another group of Russian officials had traveled to Pyongyang after the defense minister's visit.

There has been no immediate comment on the matter from Pyongyang or Moscow. In addition to Russia buying North Korean arms, Kirby said the deals also could include raw materials that would help Russia's defense industrial base.
When a star arrives at the Venice International Film Festival, their presence brightens the entire day. In the morning, crowds gather early along the red carpet. At night, the clamor for autographs echoes throughout Lido Island in the Venetian lagoon. During press conferences, the actors often steal the focus, obliging moderators to redirect some attention towards directors and writers. Put simply, the actors tend to overshadow the filmmakers. It happens all the time at a film festival that has become like a second home for Hollywoods biggest stars. Until now.

The ongoing strike by actors and screenwriters in the United States, demanding fair treatment and more revenue from big studios and streaming platforms, as well as industry regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), has shifted the focus of the 80th edition of the Venice festival that starts on August 30. Usually, at this time, fans would be picturing Michael Fassbenders elegant tuxedo or looking forward to hearing what Emma Stone has to say about her characters exciting journey. Since the work stoppage prohibits any promotional activity by the striking actors and screenwriters, the focus in Venice is now on directors and their stories. How will the absence of its most popular faces impact the worlds oldest film competition? Why does the film industry place more emphasis on actors rather than creators? Could this be an opportunity to give filmmakers a greater voice?

This year, directors like Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Michael Mann, Pablo Larrain, Yorgos Lanthimos, Matteo Garrone and Ava DuVernay will screen their films in Venice, marking the start of the awards season and the path to the Oscars. Moreover, each one has a subject that is highly deserving of attention. Coppolas movie is about the life of Priscilla Beaulieu, Elvis Presleys wife, and Finchers is about a cold-blooded murderer whos having a crisis of conscience. Manns film is about Enzo Ferraris most turbulent year, and Larrains portrays former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet coming back from the dead as a vampire. The movie directed by Lanthimos depicts a creature as thirsty for pleasure as it is for power. Finally, Garrones movie is about the odyssey of two migrants and DuVernay tells the story of the origins of inequality in the U.S. Other renowned directors in attendance include Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, Celine Sciamma and J. A. Bayona, who will close the festival with a screening of Society of the Snow.

Scene from J.A. Bayona's 'Society of the Snow.'

Bradley Cooper directed and starred in Maestro, a film about the love between composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre. As one of the 160,000 actors participating in the strike, Cooper will not attend the festival. His film was produced by Netflix, a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is one of the main sources of the actors unions grievances. Over 350 production companies are members of the AMPTP, including behemoths like Sony, Warner, Disney, Paramount, Universal, HBO and other streaming platforms. This is why the Italian festivals 80th edition will spotlight the directors. However, the gray, rainy skies looming over Venice are sure to bring more uncertainty.

Nowadays, renowned filmmakers are also celebrities. The red carpet this year may not be as glamorous, but nothing has changed from an organizational perspective. Since the big studios and streamers with all their stars will be absent, we expect independent films to take the spotlight, said Alberto Barbera, artistic director of the film festival. This means Adam Driver (in Michael Manns Ferrari), Jessica Chastain (in Michel Francos Memory), and Caleb Landry Jones (in Luc Bessons Dogman) have confirmed their attendance.

A rainy day on the eve of the 80th Venice International Film Festival. YARA NARDI (REUTERS)

In late July, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) established a temporary agreement allowing its members to act in and promote movies not made by AMPTP member studios. Despite having a $90 million budget, Ferrari was made by an independent production company. Independent films can be produced and promoted, and the SAG strongly supports this. First, it helps actors earn a living, which is crucial after nearly 50 days of strike with no end in sight. Second, by participating in these projects, actors demonstrate that there are companies willing and capable of making films under the conditions that the major studios reject.

In the past, Alberto Barbera would spend a lot of time responding to inquiries on social media about the celebrities attending the festival. However, this year he has been less active because he is still unsure about many details. Nonetheless, he stressed that there has been no decline in ticket purchases and media accreditations. No film has given up on coming, except Challengers, by Luca Guadagnino. That was the movie that was slated to open the festival.

After the cancellation by Challengers (its release was postponed to April 2024), Comandante by Edoardo de Angelis was tapped as the festival opener. The substitution encapsulates, to some extent, the challenges faced by the entire festival: a potential Oscar contender featuring Zendaya replaced by an Italian film about the heroic commanding officer of a submarine in World War II. While the latter may have many merits, there is definitely a noticeable difference in their potential for grabbing the attention of viewers worldwide.

For the past 25 years, the red carpet has played a significant role in promoting big events, said Barbera. It has become a ritual that captivates much of the audience, especially the younger ones. The screenings themselves will still be the highlight, but there are also other important activities like the big stars arriving on vaporettos [water taxis], the photocalls and the interviews. Studios prioritize bringing their celebrities here, despite the high cost. We thought that might not happen this year, but fortunately, that hasnt been the case. However, those who choose to attend this year will get to enjoy much more time in the limelight.

Members of the U.S. screenwriters and actors unions demonstrate in front of Disney studios in Burbank, California. July 18, 2023. Chris Pizzello (AP)

Renowned filmmakers have long basked in the spotlight, but this year they dont have to share the stage quite as much. Among the esteemed yet less recognized directors at the festival are Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who won an Oscar for Drive My Car. Additionally, there are riveting narratives like the struggles of migrants caught between Belarus and Poland in Green Border by Agniezska Holland. Other stories shed light on lesser-known subjects like the discrimination faced by the Yenish people (an itinerant group in Western Europe), captured in Giorgio Dirittis poignant film, Lubo.

This years festival offers opportunities to those who dont often get a chance to speak. The agencies that inundate journalists with interview proposals these days have never provided such a wide range of producers, cinematographers and other technicians. The Venice International Film Festival will still serve up plenty of movie buzz this year, even in the absence of many performers who are busy engaging in a pivotal dialogue about the future of the entire industry.

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By Azernews

Abbas Ganbay

Armenia's provocative actions and policy of disseminating false information is faltering. Despite Azerbaijan's humanitarian and peacekeeping position, Armenia and separatists are constantly trying to hinder the peace process and foment revanchist tendencies. Relying on their patrons around the world, and most importantly on France, to assist their vassals, creating pressure and spreading false information in the world Internet network, Armenians are trying to create the illusion of an innocent sheep.

The attempts were crowned by the fact that the Azerbaijani government on the world arena gives a humane and provable to all the fact of false propaganda about the alleged blockade of Khankendi and humanitarian crisis. It is not a secret that often the majority of mass media, using their influence, under the pressure of geopolitics and separatism pull the masses of society into the abyss of disinformation, and it becomes more and more difficult for the society to distinguish reality, when what can be relied on is corroded by words and fake news.

Despite the Armenian side's refusal to use the roads offered by Azerbaijan to provide humanitarian aid to the population of Garabagh of Armenian origin, the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society is sending the first humanitarian aid convoy of 40 tonnes of flour products to the town of Khankendi, via the Aghdam-Khankendi road, on 29 August 2023, to put an end to the propaganda coming from the Armenian side. Will the Armenian side, the separatist regime, let the humanitarian aid from Azerbaijan through, after so many manipulations coming from the regime in Khankendi?

"The fate of the policy, that Armenia has been pursuing for the last 30 years and the fate of the separatist regime is at stake now, if they accept this, it means that they agree to start the process of establishing some kind of relations with the Azerbaijani government, and for some it is tantamount to defeat, and I think they will try to reject it, as this rejection will be the beginning of a deeper split between the society and the ruling regime."

This was told by Azerbaijani political scientist Zardusht Alizade in a comment for AZERNEWS.

According to him, the expected manipulation by the Armenians in this case is taking place, and in the case of the blockade of the Aghdam-Khankendi road, and the failure to allow humanitarian aid from the Azerbaijani Red Crescent Society to reach the population of Armenian origin, could halt the negotiations.

"This is due to the fact, that they categorically refuse to do any business with the government of Azerbaijan, they are ready to talk to Azerbaijan only on the terms they have already voiced, that is, with the participation of international mediators, within the framework of some international mechanism, which will consistently mean that they admit to undermining the negotiations. The Azerbaijani government does not accept these conditions." Alizade said.

The support and provision of humanitarian aid once again proves that Azerbaijan is not indifferent to the fate of the population of Armenian minority living in Garabagh.

"This demonstrates the readiness of the Azerbaijani government to start caring about the residents of Armenian origin in Garabagh. Any streams of speculation that this population is suffering terrible misfortune, lack of food, and talking about separatists inhabiting this population, it loses its credibility."

The pro-Armenian diaspora in France has a strong influence on terrorising with disinformation to divert and direct the attention of the masses to a particular moment in world events. The Armenian authorities vying for power in Yerevan continue to sow their propaganda policies, and in this the Armenians are often helped by French patrons such as the media.

According to the expert, Azerbaijan is completely cold-blooded about the French factor in this issue, and Baku does not need such mediators, but it matters to France.

"Yes it is a powerful country, it takes part in the settlement of conflicts all over the world, including Garabagh, which is not indifferent for the population of Armenia, not indifferent for Armenians all over the world, but here France always swooped, and all these years the French government has done nothing to really help. However, as soon as the real process of conflict resolution began, France showed its true face; being indifferent to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, France wanted to be a decisionmaker in the region. Azerbaijan will not allow this, and there are opportunities to completely ignore the position of France," the expert concluded.
Sometimes the most surprising archaeological finds do not require long and costly excavations, but rather a special ability to look at something that is already in plain sight from another angle. For 40 years it was thought that one of the pieces found on the Spanish galleon Santa Margarita, discovered in 1980 by the famous American treasure hunter Mel Fisher (1922-1998), was nothing more than a large copper pot the crew used to boil fish. Now, some of the archaeologists who participated in that expedition have dedicated themselves to investigating the matter from another point of view. Their conclusion is that this strange piece of copper  147 cm in diameter and dotted with rivets  is the upper part of a diving bell; perhaps the oldest submersible device ever discovered for which there is physical proof. The results of this research have been published in the latest issue of Wreckwatch magazine, which specializes in underwater archaeology and technology. If the researchers hypothesis proves to be correct, the discovery would place Spain among the pioneering nations in the history of diving, which until now has been almost exclusively attributed to British inventors.

Since its discovery, the copper piece has been on display at Mel Fischers museums in Florida  first in Key West and then in Sebastian  as part of the remains of the Santa Margarita, a galleon of the Fleet of the Indies that was wrecked in 1622 along with the Nuestra Senora de Atocha and the Nuestra Senora del Rosario in a devastating hurricane in the Florida Keys. The treasure the convoy was carrying was the cause of a years-long legal dispute that pitted Spain against Fisher and ended with the victory of the treasure hunter. Spanish officials still angrily point out the number of photos Fisher took of himself displaying gold medallions hanging from his neck. But that is another story.

The top of the diving bell that was originally salvaged by American treasure hunter Mel Fisher. The Mel Fisher Museum

In any case, the copper bell in question, according to researchers, would not have traveled in that convoy, but on one of the salvage ships sent to recover the cargo. The promoter of that expedition was the Spanish soldier and politician Francisco Nunez Melian, resident in Havana and treasurer of the Windward Islands at the time of the shipwreck. According to a document dated 1630 and consulted by the researchers, Melian was aware of the lost riches and obtained royal permission to send a frigate to the area of the shipwreck in August 1625, piloted by a certain Francisco de la Luz. The fate of that vessel, whose name remains unknown, is still a mystery, but everything suggests that it was lost off the coast of Florida with the diving equipment it was carrying to attempt to extract the precious cargo.

There is evidence that Nunez Melian launched a second expedition that returned to the area that same winter. In the 1630 document, it is noted that a new bronze diving bell was commissioned, weighing 700 pounds, standing 1.21 meters high and measuring 91 centimeters in diameter. That bell was probably built according to the 1606 prototypes designed by Jeronimo de Ayanz, which had been tested in the Pisuerga River in northern Spain. Air pressure maintained an air-filled chamber inside the bell. Fresh air was obtained through a tube connected to the surface that allowed two crew members to descend and supply air to another diver on the sea floor.

The second expedition proved successful and Nunez Melian was able to recover 350 silver ingots, 74,700 pesos in reals and eight cannons. Over the following two years, he managed to recover more of the sunken wealth. As a reward, and after much petitioning, Philip IV appointed him governor of Venezuela, a post he held from 1630 to 1637. He died in 1644 when he fell off his horse during a military parade.

The bulk of the treasure that Nunez Melian searched for would not be found until centuries later, when Fisher and his team found the remains of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha and the Santa Margarita. Among their discoveries was the huge copper piece, which they took to be a pan for stewing fish. The archaeologists recent deduction is overwhelmingly logical: if Nunez Melian sent a second expedition, it is because the diving equipment was lost on the first. The pan was actually the upper part of a diving bell, similar to the one used on the second trip, but much larger and probably made of a different material. Had it been made of bronze or copper, it would not have escaped the magnetometer deployed on underwater wreck-finding expeditions. For that reason, Im inclined to think that the first bell was made of wood with a copper dome fitting, says Sean Kingsley, one of the researchers and founder of Wreckwatch magazine.

A diagram explaining the operation of a diving bell invented by Edmond Halley in 1691.

Kingsley, who holds a Ph.D. from Oxford University and has explored some 350 wrecks, hands most of the credit for identifying the diving bell to Jim Sinclair and Corey Malcom, two of the experts on Fishers team who conducted the exploration of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha and Santa Margarita wrecks. Neither of them had been convinced by the cooking pan theory.

During the colonial era, Spain was a major naval power that conducted around 17,000 return voyages to the Americas, almost all of them loaded with gold and silver coins bound for the coasts of Andalusia in southern Spain. Some estimates indicate that 16% of those ships were lost due to bad weather. It is therefore logical to assume Spain made a virtue out of necessity and occupied a place in the history of submarine technology, even if until now it has been little recognized. Edmond Halley  the discoverer of Halleys comet  has generally been credited as the inventor of the diving bell, in 1691, and the forerunner of modern diving.

In the article in Wreckwatch magazine, whose latest issue is devoted to underwater technology, Sinclair and Kingsley walk through other human attempts to breathe underwater. Going into inner space  the depths of the sea  was for a long time one of the great tests of mankind, says Kingsley. As the Titan tragedy shows, we have not yet mastered the deep. Its tough and dangerous. Despite all the many drawings of historic diving bells that exist, there is not a single trace of a real-life machine. Thats why the Margarita bell is the rarest technological treasure. One big question remains to be solved: where was it made and what did the whole device look like? A lot of research remains to be done.

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On Aug. 15, a helicopter crew from the Wyoming Army National Guard, working alongside local agencies, recently completed

a challenging 24-hour rescue mission that spanned two days. Their impressive skills and perseverance showcased the exceptional rescue abilities of these Soldiers.

The harrowing incident unfolded at Box Elder Canyon in Converse County, Wyo., where Ray Daugherty and his companion DJ Gonzales found themselves in a dangerous situation. While ascending the canyon on the evening of August 14, Daugherty tragically lost his grip and plummeted approximately 12 feet onto a rock. Despite this daunting fall, he maintained consciousness and extracted himself from a pool of water below. Regrettably, his arm sustained severe damage due to the impact.

With a swift assessment of the situation, Gonzales quickly ascertained that their predicament required outside assistance. Leaving Daugherty, he climbed out of the canyon and promptly alerted relevant authorities, setting the wheels in motion for an intricate rescue operation.

A dedicated coalition of heroes responded to the call for aid, including Converse County Sheriffs Office personnel, Converse County Search and Rescue, Glenrock Volunteer Fire Department, Glenrock EMS, and the Wyoming Army National Guard. Their collaborative efforts led to Daughertys successful location in the early morning, nearly eight hours after the ordeal began.

Recognizing the necessity of a helicopter lift for Daughertys extraction, the Wyoming Army National Guard stepped up to the challenge. While Daughertys injuries were not deemed life-threatening, the decision was made to halt the operation until dawn to ensure optimal safety temporarily.

As the sun rose on August 15, a team of skilled guardsmen seamlessly executed an aerial evacuation, airlifting Daugherty to a designated staging area. From there, he was seamlessly transitioned to a Glenrock ambulance and subsequently transported to a hospital in Casper for further medical attention. Daughertys journey to recovery was marked by a six-hour surgery, during which his elbow was reconstructed.

The complexity of the operation underscored the dedication of the Wyoming Army National Guard and its commitment to safeguarding lives in challenging circumstances. Yet, the bravery displayed did not end with Daughertys rescue.

In a remarkable testament to the unwavering determination of these guardsmen, a subsequent incident unfolded as a first responder encountered distress during their ascent of the canyon. Once again, the Wyoming Army National Guard was called into action. Demonstrating their steadfast courage, they conducted an expedited airlift of the second patient from the canyon, ensuring timely access to medical care at a hospital in Casper.

This incident highlights the extraordinary capabilities of the Wyoming Army National Guard in conducting complex rescue operations alongside local emergency response units, underscoring the dedication and skills of its Soldiers. The guards commitment to the safety and well-being of its citizens remains unwavering, making Wyoming a safer place for all.
The Wyoming Public Charter School Association is proud to celebrate the opening of two new charter schools in Wyoming. Wyoming Classical Academy in Mills and Prairie View Community School in Chugwater represent a significant step towards increasing education freedom for students and families in the state.

Public charter schools are independent, public, and tuition-free schools that are given the freedom to be more innovative in exchange for being held accountable for advancing student achievement. Charter schools allow families to choose an educational option that best fits their child's learning needs.

Kari Cline, executive director of the Wyoming Public Charter School Association, said, We are thrilled about the expansion of public education options throughout Wyoming. These two schools are hopefully just the first of many. We can thank the strong collaboration between communities, parents, and legislators as a driving force behind this achievement.

Offering grades K-6, Prairie View Community School opened August 21, and Wyoming Classical Academy opened on August 28. With a combined capacity to accommodate approximately 300 students, these new public charter schools empower teachers to deliver innovative and top-notch instruction while creating personalized classrooms for students.

"We want to provide students a solid foundation of reading, writing, and math and want the feel of the building to be joyful as we approach the challenge of learning with a sense of purpose and wonder," said Matt Teterud, headmaster of Wyoming Classical Academy. We are excited about providing an exceptional American Classical education focused on reasoning skills and robust content using proven methods and materials.

Natrona County parent Senah C. Selby is excited to have two children enrolled at the Wyoming Classical Academy. The school aligns with her familys educational goals and places emphasis on the long-term personal success of their children.

She said, We are pleased that a new opportunity for an alternate educational model, founded on a long history of successful teaching methods, is available, offering parents and students another choice. We are eager to start the new school year.

Prairie View Community School director Bryce Cushman sees the opening as an opportunity to tailor an educational experience that fits the Chugwater community, the needs of the students and the parents.

"We can implement a project-based/place-based learning program that fits our students and demographics well and gets kids and families excited about coming to school," Cushman said. "This makes the school a center for ideas, for growth, and a safe place to challenge ourselves and explore the world around us."

Mike Van Why has children attending Prairie View Community School. He said, I believe that going to a charter school there is more transparency and accountability compared to the large schools. I believe that parents now have a say in our kids' education. I believe that my kids will thrive here, be challenged and become the best they can be.
The ceremonial center of Pacopampa, located in the province of Chota in the mountain region of Cajamarca, hides treasures that continue to astonish the world. In 2009, a priestess was found in a boot-shaped tomb along with grave goods of earmuffs, gold earrings, and a seashell necklace. She was nicknamed the Lady of Pacopampa and would have lived in the year 900 B.C. In 2015, new finds at the site included two high-ranking figures: one of them wearing a necklace with 25 gold beads and various pigments of mineral origin. In August 2022, another discovery revealed a person who lived 3,000 years ago and who was buried with pututos, large seashells that were used as musical instruments.

One year later, the latest archaeological find unearthed on Peruvian soil is the Priest of Pacopampa, another high-ranking leader who would have lived ariund the year 1,000 B.C. during what is known as the Pacopampa I phase. It is presumed that he was one of the first priestly leaders of the temples in the region. This find and the others have been published by the Pacopampa Archaeological Project, who oversee the work of the Japanese researcher Yuji Seki and the Peruvians Daniel Morales, Elio Perez, and Juan Pablo Villanueva, who have worked on the dig since 2005. These researchers have not stinted in their exploration of this site and have thus been able to tie up some of the loose ends in the research into ancient Peru.

There are several peculiarities of the Priest of Pacopampa: he was found in a tomb with a large circular hole of three meters in diameter and one meter deep with convex walls. The body, an adult, had open arms and crossed legs. He was lying face down. In 43 years of research in Peru, it is the first time I have seen that position, says Seki.

Some of the pieces found in the excavation. Ministerio de Cultura (EFE)

But not only was his posture striking, but he was buried with a succession of six layers of ash and black earth. As for the offerings, ceramic bowls with incised geometric designs have been unearthed, as well as seals that could be interpreted as painting techniques used in rituals for those who were part of the elite of their time. One of the seals features an anthropomorphic face looking to the east while the other has a jaguar design facing west. Another simply represents the five fingers of a hand. We have never had so many seals in a single grave. Therefore, we are thinking that he was a very, very important person, adds Seki.

The tomb also contained a pin made of bone called a tupu that was used to hold cloaks and ponchos. There were also deer bones as well as whole and broken ceramics. The Pacopampa archaeological complex, located at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 feet) extends for 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) and is made up of nine carved and polished stone buildings. The Priest of Pacompapa was found in the area known as La Capilla (The Chapel).

The researchers maintain that this place was a pilgrimage center where ancient Peruvians from faraway places came to participate in sacred rituals. The discovery reaffirms how vital the Pacopampa Archaeological Project is, whose excavations are part of a binational project between the National University of San Marcos of Peru and the National Museum of Ethnology of Japan.

The joint venture is demanding that a Pacopampa Interpretation Center be constructed soon, which would help not only to understand the Andean civilization, but also to be a tourist focus. There will be a complementary tour of the archaeological site, says Judith Padilla, a representative of the Ministry of Culture. Therefore, how the site is managed by the Regional Government of Cajamarca and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism will be decisive.
In early August, about 20 sea lions were found dead off the coast of Tierra del Fuego, in the southernmost tip of Argentina. Analysis confirmed that seven of these marine mammals were infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, or bird flu. Since then, the authorities have reported outbreaks in different provinces across the country. The virus has spread rapidly to the south of the continent ever since a case was detected in wild birds in Colombia in late 2022. Scientists are now studying the possible risks that could arise should it reach Antarctica.

The latest positive cases detected in Argentine sea lions were reported this past Monday. The authorities subsequently released a statement warning that the alert remains in place.

Samples were taken from mammals found dead in the cities of Claromeco and San Blas, in the province of Buenos Aires, as well as in the city of San Antonio Este, in the province of Rio Negro. Before this, scientists identified cases on different beaches and protected areas in the provinces of Tierra del Fuego, Rio Negro, Chubut and Buenos Aires.

This outbreak in sea lions began in Peru, then it passed to Chile and now its reaching Argentina, warns Pablo Plaza, a biologist and researcher at CONICET, the main organization dedicated to promoting scientific research in Argentina. The virus has affected, above all, the Otaria flavescens species  commonly known as the Patagonia sea lion  a brown carnivore that can weigh up to 800 pounds. There are two hypotheses here, Dr. Plaza explains: Either they were infected because they were in contact with infected birds  which is the most likely [scenario]  or the virus, in some way, underwent a mutation and is now being transmitted from sea lion to sea lion.

The bird flu currently circulating around the world  H5N1  was derived from a pathogen first detected in geese raised in China, back in 1996. Its a highly contagious subtype that has led to the unprecedented spread of the disease in birds. From Asia, it went to Africa and Europe  where more than 50 million poultry were slaughtered in a year to contain the outbreak  and, from there, it reached North America via Iceland, according to scientists. In October 2022, it was detected for the first time in wild birds in Colombia. It has now spread throughout South America.

From birds, the virus jumped to mammals. When it reaches the fauna, its a problem, because you cannot easily handle wild animals, Plaza emphasizes. In Peru and Chile  where the situation was especially serious  more than 15,000 infected sea lions died, according to the researchers data. Other estimates calculate that there were more than 20,000 deaths. In the coming weeks, well have more evidence of the real scope of this outbreak in Argentina, the biologist notes.

The southernmost case of H5N1 in a sea lion was detected back in June, in Puerto Williams, Chile. A report published on August 23 by the OFFLU  the global network of animal influenza experts  notes that theres a substantial risk that the spread will continue southward and reach Antarctica and its offshore islands, where the virus still isnt present. This risk may increase in the coming months, due to the spring migration of wild birds, the report reads. It warns that the negative impact of the virus on the ecosystem could be immense.

The whole world is on high alert with this virus, Plaza explains. A team of Peruvian and Argentine scientists, including Plaza, warned this past January that the arrival of the bird flu virus on the continent threatened protected birds in South America. With the mass death of sea lions, the same team published the first draft of research suggesting the possibility that the pathogen may have mutated, to now be transmitted from mammal to mammal. Its one more step [towards being a] risk for human beings, Plaza warns. However, he clarifies that the danger of this flu spreading between people is low  for now.

In January, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) published an alert about the unusual detection of avian influenza outbreaks in the Americas, along with confirmation, for the first time, of a case of human infection in the region. The analysis of that first case  which occurred in Ecuador  revealed the worrying lack of controls and surveillance. By the first week of July 2023, 16 countries registered cases in animals, while two had confirmed human infections (Ecuador and Chile), according to data from PAHO. Since 2003, the virus has jumped to humans nearly 900 times, killing more than half of those who have been infected.

To mitigate the spread, the Argentine authorities have recommended not handling dead animals or animals with suspicious symptoms, while avoiding direct contact (or pet contact) with these animals. Additionally, they have asked for citizens to notify them if they suspect that an animal may be infected with the virus. Dead animals that have been infected, or were suspected to have died from the virus, are buried by the authorities, so as to prevent any contamination or contagion from afflicting humans or other animals.

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Phoebe Calver named Spirits Writer of the Year

American Whiskey Magazine editor Phoebe Calver has won the inaugural Women of Whisky Award (WOW) for best Spirits Writer of the Year.

Calvers win, along with the announcement of nine other categories, took place at the Bourbon Women SIPosium on 25 August in Louisville, Kentucky. The evening brought together industry leaders to celebrate and support the achievements of women in the spirits world.

Peggy Noe Stevens and Susan Reigler, who both contribute to American Whiskey Magazine, including as its regular tasters, collected the award on behalf of Calver.

Calver has been editor of American Whiskey since September 2019, her first issue being number seven. Since taking charge, the magazine has rocketed in popularity, with a collection of impressive cover stars.

Following the announcement of nominations at the beginning of August, the winners in each category were determined by a small group of five industry experts. The judges remain anonymous and are not influenced by the companies and brands which support Bourbon Women, the Bourbon Women Foundation or the WOW awards.

Commenting on her win, Calver said: Im so incredibly proud to have been awarded this title in an industry that is full of such pure talent. Thank you so much to the Bourbon Women Association for all that they do and for putting on the brilliant Women of Whiskey Awards.



After nearly 15 years of building my confidence in writing, and studying an array of new spirits-related subjects to support that, this truly is a game-changing moment. Ill forever be grateful to the team around me and to American Whiskey Magazine for trusting me with its direction.

30 August 2023 - Bradley Weir
I did some digging and the bodysuit and dress she tries on in the video are, currently, not available here in New Zealand. Islah tried on the 'Sleeveless Luxe Cami Body Suit' and 'Sleeveless Luxe Maxi Dress', neither of which show up on the Kmart NZ website.
AFTER LUNAR SURFACE, INDIA FOCUSING ON UPPER ATMOSPHERE OF SUN





BY Girish Linganna

Primary scientific goals of Aditya L-1 mission encompass investigation of the dynamic processes in the solar upper atmosphere, including the chromosphere and corona

ADITYA L1, Indias inaugural solar study mission, is set for launch by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on September 2, 2023. Previously known as Aditya 1, the missions name, Aditya, has been derived from Sanskrit, meaning the Sun. Its L-1 designation refers to the Lagrange Point positioned around 1.5 million kilometers from Earth in the Sun-Earth system, where the missions halo orbit will be established. The primary scientific goals of the Aditya L-1 mission encompass investigation of the dynamic processes in the solar upper atmosphere, including the chromosphere and corona. The mission is planned for a duration of 5.2 years. At the heart of the solar system, the Sun reigns as a nearly flawless sphere of scorching plasma, a glow due to nuclear fusion reactions in its core. Emitting energy primarily as light, ultraviolet and infrared radiation, it stands as the vital life force for Earth. With a colossal radius of approximately 6,95,000 kilometres (4,32,000 miles)about 109 times that of our planetand a mass that dwarfs Earths by 3,30,000 times, making up 99.86% of the solar systems total mass, the Suns composition is dominated by hydrogen, comprising around 73% of its mass, alongside helium at about 25%, and trace amounts of other elements, such as oxygen, carbon, neon and iron. The Sun is made up of 7 parts. The inner layers are the Core, the Radiative Zone and the Convection Zone. The outer layers are the Photosphere, the Chromosphere, the Transition Region and the Corona. The temperature behaviour within the Sun poses a significant scientific puzzle.

While core generates extreme heat surpassing 15 million degree Celsius, the temperature diminishes as one moves outward, reaching around 5,500 degree Celsius at the photospherethe Suns visible surface. Intriguingly, the temperature surges again up to 2 Celsius within the corona, the outermost layer. Scientists are actively exploring the factors contributing to this intriguing temperature distribution in the Sun. The Corona is about 2,100 kilometres above the Suns surface (photosphere). Investigation of the dynamic processes in the chromosphere and corona involves studying such phenomena as chromospheric and coronal heating, the behaviour of partially ionised plasma, the initiation of coronal mass ejections and solar flares. Additionally, the mission aims to collect data on particle and plasma conditions around the Sun, contributing to the understanding of solar particle dynamics. Furthermore, the objectives encompass delving into the physics underlying the solar corona and its heating mechanism. This involves diagnosing the plasma properties of the corona and coronal loops, including temperature, velocity and density. The mission also seeks to understand the formation, evolution and triggers of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). It aims to map out the sequence of processes spanning various layersthe chromosphere, base and extended coronathat culminate in solar eruptive events. Another aim is to study the magnetic field topology and measurements in the solar corona, while also investigating the sources, composition and dynamics of the solar wind, which is a driver for space weather.

A Lagrange Point is a spot in space where the gravitational forces of two massive objectssuch as the Earth and the Moon, or Earth and the Sunproduce a stable gravitational balance. This allows a spacecraft to essentially hover at that point without needing constant propulsion. Within the Sun-Earth system, there exist five Lagrange Points denoted as L. The L-1 point, positioned about 1.5 million km from Earth, represents one of these points. Aditya L-1 is destined for placement at the L1 point due to the presence of a halo orbit encircling that location. This unique orbit grants spacecraft the valuable capability of uninterrupted solar observations, free from any occultation or eclipses. This positioning offers a distinct advantage for studying real-time solar activities and their impact on space weather. Aditya L-1s journey to reach the L-1 point spans approximately 125 days. The L-1 point serves as the designated parking position for the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite (SoHO), a joint venture between NASA and the European Space Agency. The Aditya L-1 space vehicle will transport seven payloads designed for the purpose of observing the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layers of the Sun (known as the corona).

These payloads encompass a range of detectors, including those sensitive to electromagnetic radiation, particles, and magnetic fields. Leveraging the strategic advantage of the L-1 vantage point, four of the payloads will directly observe the Sun, while the remaining three payloads will conduct in situ studies of particles and fields at Lagrange Point L-1. The paramount data will originate from the Aditya L-1 payloads instrumentation. These payloads are anticipated to furnish insights crucial for comprehending such issues as coronal heating, coronal mass ejections, pre-flare and flare activities, along with their distinctive traits. Additionally, they will aid in unravelling the dynamics of space weather, as well as the propagation behaviours of particles and fields.(IPA) (The author is a Defence, Aerospace & Political analyst based in Bengaluru)
Cabinet adopts resolution hailing soft-landing of Chandrayaan-3





NEW DELHI

Delhi Bureau and Agencies

THE Union Cabinet on Tuesday adopted a resolution hailing the soft-landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface, saying the success of the mission is a victory not just for the ISRO but a symbol of Indias progress and ascent on the global stage. It also welcomed that August 23 would be celebrated as the National Space Day. Briefing reporters, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said the Cabinet congratulated the ISRO on its efforts. It thanked the scientists and noted that India has become the first country to land near the Moons South Pole.

Landing on the moon, with predicted accuracy, in itself is a momentous achievement. Landing near the South Pole of the Moon, overcoming the arduous conditions, is a testament to the spirit of our scientists who since centuries have sought to push the boundaries of human knowledge, read the resolution. The Cabinet said it believes that Indias advancements in the space sector are more than just monumental scientific achievements. They represent a vision of progress, self-reliance, and global leadership. This is also a symbol of the rising New India.

This Cabinet commends and appreciates every individual who has contributed to this landmark mission, acknowledging that Chandrayaan-3 is a glowing testament to what India can achieve with passion, perseverance and unwavering dedication, the resolution said. The wealth of information being sent by the Pragyan rover from the Moon will advance knowledge and pave the way for ground-breaking discoveries and insights into the mysteries of the Moon and beyond, the resolution said. The Cabinet is proud to see that a large number of women scientists have contributed to the success of Chandrayaan-3 and Indias space programme in general. This will motivate several aspiring women scientists in the years to come, the resolution noted. It also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his visionary and exemplary leadership, and his unwavering commitment to Indias space programme for human welfare and scientific progress. His faith in the capabilities of our scientists and his constant encouragement have always fortified their spirit, the Cabinet resolution pointed out.
CM Shinde directs officials to speed up key infrastructure projects in Mah





MUMBAI,

MAHARASHTRA Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday directed officials to speed up key infrastructure projects by promptly tackling technical and administrative matters after he reviewed the status of 10 such works, officials said.

As per a release by the Chief Ministers Office (CMO), a detailed review of the projects, including Metro corridors in Pune, Nagpur, and Mumbai, irrigation works and economic zones along the Samriddhi Highway, was taken up during the meeting. Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar and Chief Secretary Manoj Saunik were among those who attended the review meeting at the war room in Mantralaya, the headquarters of the State Govt, here, it said. If these works are started in time, it will help the citizens of the State along with the industrial expansion as well as the development of the rural areas, said the release quoting Shinde.

Shinde also directed officials to speed up various infrastructure, Metro and irrigation projects in Maharashtra, it said.

In the meeting, Shinde directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to carry out a survey to use the new concept of twin tunnels, based on advanced technology, to solve traffic congestion in Mumbai, the release said. The CM also asked the civic body to install grade separators at places in Mumbai that see traffic jams to give respite to citizens, it said.
CONFUSION





WITH only two days to go before the Mumbai meeting of the I.N.D.I.A. grouping, the Opposition camp appears to be stuck in the slush of confusion and mutual distrust among leaders of different constituents. Even as speculations were rife about who would be made the convenor of the grouping, two Bihar politicians -- Chief Minister Mr. Nitish Kumar and former Chief Minister Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav -- have stated that none of them is gunning for any position and that unity of the Opposition camp is the real goal. Despite these disclaimers, those who understand intricacies of Opposition politics are conscious that the grouping is going to find it very difficult to arrive at a consensus arrangement about leadership. For, as most political observers believe, the assertion of Mr. Nitish Kumar and Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav that they are not after any leadership position, has little actual value in the internal pulls and pushes over the issue. The observers believe that the issue will prove too ticklish to be handled smoothly not just at the Mumbai meeting but also afterwards. Of course, speculations are also doing the rounds about possibilities of the grouping contemplating several region-wise convenors so as to assuage the hurt feelings of many leaders for not getting a leadership opportunity.

It is obvious that such an arrangement -- of multiple convenors -- will only create a greater confusion in I.N.D.I.A. grouping proving right and age-old adage that too many cooks spoils the broth. No matter the disclaimers by Mr. Nitish Kumar and Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, nobody in the grouping appears to be ready to believe in the statements of the two Bihari leaders. Thanks to their recent political machinations, both these leaders have lost their credibility. If there is a problem with Mr. Nitish Kumar And Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, there are problems with Mr. Rahul Gandhi, Ms. Mamata Banerjee and Mr. K. Chandrasekara Rao as well, leave aside others such as Mr. Akhilesh Yadav or Mr. M.K. Stalin -- not to forget the Left constituents that are unwilling partners in the I.N.D.I.A. grouping, mainly because of their obvious and stated reluctance to work in tandem with Ms. Mamata Banerjee. There is one important factor that cannot be brushed aside easily, and that is of Mr. Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party. Mr. Kejriwal is absolutely upset about the approach of the Congress party towards Delhi politics. It may be recalled that the Congress party has announced its plans of contesting all the Lok Sabha seats from Delhi.

That militates against the AAPs political plans. As a result, Mr. Kejriwal is quite likely to kick up a lot of dust in the Mumbai meeting, if at all he decides not to skip the same. Of course, for record, every I.N.D.I.A. leader is offering much lip service to the cause of Opposition unity. Yet, egotists as they are of a high-strung variety, most leaders are most likely to play their own political games that will actually impede a united effort to stand up to the challenge of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modis superbly well-coordinated organisational system that has made the Bharatiya Janata Party the biggest political entity in the world. With every passing day taking the country closer to the Lok Sabha elections in the summer of 2024, the BJPs organisational matrix is getting finer and stronger and more comprehensive. The I.N.D.I.A. grouping has nothing of that sort to claim. The difficulties before the grouping, therefore, are obvious. Political observers believe that the BJP will unleash its political games soon to ensure that the Opposition grouping does not stand together in the stated form -- troubled by many fault-lines threatening to tear it apart. The Mumbai meet will be held against this background.
India, Kenya agree to expand defence ties





NEW DELHI,

THE Goa Shipyard Ltd on Tuesday signed an agreement with the Kenya Shipyard Ltd for joint collaboration in ship design and construction, in reflection of growing defence cooperation between the two countries. Separately, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh presented to Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence Aden Bare Duale 15 pairs of parachutes manufactured by the Gliders India Ltd for use by the Kenyan armed forces. Singh gifted the parachutes to Duale after holding wide-ranging talks with him. The meeting was a testimony to the increasing depth in the India- Kenya defence partnership, the Defence Ministry said. Both the ministers agreed that the defence relationship between the two countries has evolved from being training-centric to include more strategic aspects, it said. Duale is currently on a three-day visit to India.

On the talks, the ministry said Singh underscored the importance that India attaches to the ties with African nations and that two sides concurred on the need for deeper cooperation in maritime security of the Indian Ocean region. It said capacity building and cooperation in defence industry and equipment was also discussed at length by the two sides. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Goa Shipyard Ltd and Kenya Shipyard Ltd in the field of capacity building and for collaboration in ship design and construction, it said. As a token of friendship, Rajnath Singh presented 15 pairs of parachutes (main and reserve) manufactured by the Gliders India Ltd to the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Defence for use by the Kenyan forces, the ministry said. It said India also extended support towards setting up of an advanced CT scan facility in Kenya.

On his part, Duale appreciated the growing prowess of the Indian defence industry, including the private sector, and highlighted the areas in which the Indian industry can support the requirements of the Kenyan Forces. He also suggested training of trainers of Kenyan forces by the instructors of Indian Armed Forces in order to maintain continuity and extract greater benefit out of such programmes. Both sides agreed for joint training in counter insurgency and UN peacekeeping domains. Other regional security issues of mutual interest were also discussed during the meeting, the ministry said. Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan and Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane also attended the meeting along with senior officials of defence ministry, external affairs ministry and defence PSUs.
Naibelys Veronica Noel Perez was sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder in Venezuela, despite the fact that it was her partner who murdered her son. CORTESIA

Naibelys Noel was separated from her son by her partner as a punishment. On Saturday, August 17, 2019, in the middle of a fight  sparked by the fact that she had decided to end the five-month-long relationship and leave him  he forced her to leave the house. While she was outside, Jose Teodoro Gonzalez beat her 18-month-old baby to death. Noel found her dead son in the hospital in Santo Domingo, a town in the Venezuelan Andean Mountains.

Teodoro Gonzalez left the baby at the health center and fled. He was caught a few days later, when he admitted his guilt. For this, his sentence was reduced. Since 2020, he has been serving a 15-year-long sentence for infanticide. However, Noel was detained the same day that she found her dead son in the hospital  the police took her away for interrogations related to the investigation.

Less than a month ago, Noel was given the maximum sentence possible in Venezuelas judicial system  30 years in prison  for supposedly committing the crimes of intentional homicide, complicity, neglect and omission. According to human rights organizations, she has been criminalized simply for being a mother.

Noels case has sounded the alarm among womens movements, including the Coalicion Feminista contra la Violencia Judicial, a local organization that fights judicial violence against women. This group has observed that there is a misogynistic pattern within the Venezuela judicial system that results in disproportionate sentences being imposed on women. The organization  made up of women released from prison as well as members of different human rights groups  has focused on tracking cases of mothers prosecuted for the death or injury of their descendants, when they didnt cause them harm. Such cases involve mothers being sentenced for complicity and imprisoned in the countrys five womens prisons. In Venezuela, the activists explain, Noels case is the first time that the maximum sentence has been applied for crime of omission  the failure to perform a legal duty when one has the capacity to do so. There are many cases similar to hers among the population of female prisoners in Venezuela and across the region. Hence, Venezuelan NGOs have allied with an anti-prison feminist network across Latin America and the Caribbean.

With delays and irregularities, the trial took place. Noels lawyers were convinced that there was no way that their client would go to prison, as there was no evidence against her. However, they were wrong. The judge and the prosecutor focused everything on gender stereotypes, explains lawyer van Toro  a member of the Human Rights Observatory at the University de Los Andes  who is assisting in the case. They [accused her] of giving her son to the murderer on a silver platter, for being in love [with a criminal]... that she was a bad mother. Those were the conclusions of the prosecutor. The judge imposed a 30-year sentence on her, because she had allegedly neglected the child.

The defense attorney points out that, by admitting his responsibility, the murderer himself had declared Noels innocence. However, trial hearings havent been recorded for several years in the courts of the Venezuelan state of Merida. This is due to a lack of resources that has plagued the entire Venezuelan judicial system. There was no record of testimony that could have been used in Noels case.

Toro points out that, during her trial, it was possible to prove that she was also a victim of the murderer, who used torture and physical, psychological and sexual violence during the time he lived with her. Yet none of this was taken into consideration by Judge Lucy Teran, who accepted all the accusations brought forth by Geraldy Gavidia, the prosecutor.

Noel is from the town of Cabudare, in the state of Lara, located about 200 miles away from where Jose Teodoro lived. From a poor household, she had a baby at the age of 21. After she met Teodoro, they lived together in the town of Santo Domingo for a month. She didnt like the way he treated her.

And what always happens, happened. The man promises to change and, in a situation of great vulnerability, the woman returns. Naibelys looked for a way to become independent from her family by leaving with him, just like many young women in Latin American neighborhoods, who look for a man to get out of their family conflicts, says a coalition activist who was in jail with Noel. According to what Noel told her, Teodoro would cut up her clothes so that she couldnt go out in public, took her phone away and kept her locked up in the house, which was located on a street with a single entrance. It was a form of kidnapping.

Her sons murderer was also violent. On at least two occasions, she tried to report this and couldnt get help  the authorities asked for forensic evidence that she couldnt provide. Relatives of Jose Teodoro also reported him to the police, given his violent actions against the woman and her child.

Noels case was presented at the last meeting of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in Geneva, Switzerland, by the University de Los Andes commission against gender violence. Amnesty International has also denounced that Noel was subjected to vicarious violence  any type of violence exercised against sons and daughters with the purpose of causing psychological damage to the mother  and that she has been revictimized during her judicial process.

This case is an example of how the authorities dont fulfill their duty to prevent, address and punish violence against women, who often suffer vicarious or family violence. In Venezuela, vicarious violence is not classified as a crime, despite the existence of cases that show [how it is clearly being committed]. This is the type of gender violence carried out by aggressors who  with the intention of inflicting more suffering on women  cause serious harm to their children and even death, read a statement by Amnesty, released when the sentence was handed down on July 19, 2023.

The activists who have been following Noels case point out that, since the murder occurred, the authorities have condemned her. Her police report photo was released by Douglas Rico  director of the Criminal and Criminal Scientific Investigation Corps  who, barely two days after her arrest, claimed that the case had been resolved. He told the media that Naibelys allowed her partner and stepfather of her [18-month-old son] to constantly mistreat him, to the point of causing him serious injuries on other occasions. Four years later, she was sentenced under that same premise.

In Santo Domingo, the case did not go unnoticed, but the community also reproached the mother for what happened. A local resident pointed out that this attitude is an example of machismo culture, as did certain media outlets.

Noels defense is preparing for a long road of appeals. The feminist coalition will also take the case to international bodies to achieve justice, while they make progress in researching the situation of other mothers who have been sentenced. In the prison where Noel is being held  the Andean Region Penitentiary Center, located in San Juan de Lagunillas  there are at least three other similar cases. Were watching with horror, as theres a [disproportionate number of these] crimes when it comes to women. We see a lot of improvisation in the judiciary and the influence of neoconservative groups in the countrys courts, says one of the coalition activists. In the case of Naibelys, theres been an attempt to create a kind of ontological responsibility  something that doesnt exist in law. You cant punish someone for being a mother, because then the childs father would be just as responsible as she is.
Mahua travels to Europe from Madhya Pradesh





Staff Reporter

Mahua, Madhuca Longifolia, from Madhya Pradesh is now gaining recognition as an ethnic food among Europeans. Mahua-based food products are visible in the European food market. They have become essential for every food-basket. The UK-based company O-Forest has introduced Mahua products in the market. Of them, Mahua tea, powder, and roasted Mahua snacks are now gaining popularity. O-Forest has undergone an agreement with the Government of Madhya Pradesh for purchasing 200 tones of Mahua. This will directly benefit the tribal families who are tragically involved in Mahua collection. Mahua is a sacred fruit for tribal communities. Mahua laddoos and traditional Mahua liquor are part of their heritage cuisine. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for the first time in the country declared the support price for Mahua along with other minor forest produce. With this, the tribal families doing Mahua collection have got rid of middlemen. They are also getting good prices in the market now. Going into the international market will fetch higher prices for Mahua collecting families. The support price for Mahua is Rs 35 per kilogram. With increasing demand for Mahua in Europe, they will get Rs 100 to Rs 110 per kilogram.

Mahua-rich State: Mahua is abundant in Madhya Pradesh. In one season, approximately 7.55 lakh quintals flowers are collected. A full-grown Mahua tree laden with flowers yields upto 100 kilograms of Mahua. About 3.77 lakh families collect Mahua to eke out living. Each family collects Mahua from at least three trees. They collect an average of two quintals of Mahua per year. Around 50 per cent of Mahua collection comes from the Umaria, Alirajpur, Sidhi, Singrauli, Dindori, Mandla, Shahdol, and Betul districts. Under the guidance of the Chief Minister, Mahua collectors have been provided a number of facilities. Meera Shah, co-founder O-Forest Company, observes that Mahua fruit is a gift of nature. We are extremely happy working with Madhya Pradesh Government as we have got an opportunity to celebrate the Mahua fruit and contribute to preserving it in tribal culture. She says that buying Mahua flowers at the support price is a bold step by the government. This will increase the importance of Mahua as a food item, and facilitate its access to larger markets. The income of Mahua collecting families will certainly increase and they will be inspired to conserve Mahua trees. She says that the value of Mahua flowers has increased several times with value-added food products.

When asked about the growing preference for ethnic Mahua-based food products in the European market, Meera Shah points out that millions of people move from one country to another. They want to be have flavour of culinary cultures of new country. In this way, Mahua-based food products from Madhya Pradesh are being tasted with interest. She says that the UK has a diverse population, so the cuisines and food products from every country in the world are available there increasing prospects of ethnic food items. Heritage Wine: The State Government has launched a policy to present traditional Mahua liquor as Heritage Wine. The Self-help Groups from tribal areas will be granted licenses to make it. Each self-help group can give its product a unique brand name. More than one self-help group in a district can also be granted licenses. At least 50 per cent of the members of self-help groups should be women.
Mayor announces free Metro bus service to women on Rakhi





Staff Reporter

A number of women and young girls tied the sacred thread Rakhi to Mayor Jagat Bahadur Singh to celebrate Raksha Bandhan, on Tuesday. Giving a gift to sisters, the Mayor on the occasion announced free metro bus travel on Rakshabandhan, that falls on Wednesday. The Mayors announcement brought wave of happiness among all the sisters. They also expressed their gratitude to the Mayor for the free metro bus service.

On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan festival, the Mayor announced a day in advance that metro bus services would
MLA Bhanot appeals State Govt to reinstate services of COVID warriors





Staff Reporter

Former Finance Minister and MLA Tarun Bhanot has on Tuesday accused the States Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare, Dr Prabhu Ram Choudhary and said the Government has forced hundreds of COVID warriors into unemployment. He has appealed to the Government to immediately reinstate their services under contractual appointment. Bhanot stated that during the global pandemic of COVID-19, frontline warriors in the healthcare sector, including doctors, nursing staff and hospital workers risked their lives day and night to serve COVID patients. The Government bestowed upon them the title of COVID warriors, showered them with flowers from helicopters, but as soon as the COVID situation was brought under control, they were permanently separated from the service, citing budgetary constraints.

Although the Government assured all temporary COVID warriors, including doctors and nursing staff that they would be given priority in the recruitment process under contract in the near future, hundreds of doctors and nurses in Jabalpur district continue to suffer from unemployment even after almost three years. Bhanot said during the COVID period, 132 nursing staff and 6 radiologists were temporarily appointed for Jabalpur Medical College and 77 doctors, 45 nursing staff and 20 supporting staff were appointed for Jabalpur District Hospital.
Purti Super Bazar holds AGM





Business Bureau

Purti Super Bazar, a unit of Central India Madhyawarti Multi-purpose Co-operative Society Ltd, Nagpur has recently organised its 24th annual general meeting (AGM) at Laxminagar in the city. On the occasion, Ravindra Boratkar, Chairman of the society, spoke about the journey of the society and highlighted some of the upcoming initiatives of the society. He also said that the new outlets of Purti at Manish Nagar and Laxmi Nagar have managed to face strong competition posed by various brands. Purti has a tradition of providing quality products due to which the customers have trust in the products, he added.

Boratkar also declared 10 per cent dividend to be distributed among the share holders of the society. Deepak Saptarshe, Treasurer; Vice President Devdatta Marathe; Joint Secretary Sandip Jadhav, Director Sumitra Lule, Girish Deshmukh, Gouri Chandrayan, Vimalkumar Shrivastava, Ram Munje, Yogesh Ban, Sanjay Girgaonkar, Anil Dandekar, Dhananjay Bapat, Sheshrao Kale, Vithal Bhede, Arvind Gadikar, Ramesh Dalal and others were present.
Race for Sun hots up: These are various solar missions





NEW DELHI,

AS THE Indian Space Research Organisation set to launch its solar mission Aditya-L1 on September 2, following are some important missions launched by space agencies of different countries exploring the Sun: United States (US): National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US space agency, launched the Parker Solar Probe in August 2018. In December 2021, Parker flew through the Suns upper atmosphere, the corona, and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. This was the first time ever that a spacecraft touched the Sun, according to NASAs official website. In February 2020, the NASA joined hands with the European Space Agency (ESA) and launched The Solar Orbiter to collect data to find out how the Sun created and controlled the constantly changing space environment throughout the solar system. Other active solar missions by the NASA are Advanced Composition Explorer launched in August, 1997; Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory in October, 2006; Solar Dynamics Observatory in February, 2010; and Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph launched in June, 2013.

Also, in December, 1995, NASA, ESA and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) jointly launched the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Japan: JAXA, the Japans space agency, launched its first solar observation satellite, Hinotori (ASTRO-A), in 1981. The objective was to study solar flares using hard X-rays, according to JAXAs official website. JAXAs other solar exploratory missions are Yohkoh (SOLAR-A) launched in 1991; SOHO (along with NASA and ESA) in 1995; and Transient Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), along with NASA, in 1998. In 2006, Hinode (SOLAR-B) was launched, which was the successor to Yohkoh (SOLAR-A), the orbiting solar observatory. Japan launched it in collaboration with the US and the UK. The objective of Hinode, an observatory satellite, is to study the impact of the Sun on the Earth. Europe: In October, 1990, the ESA launched Ulysses to study the environment of space above and below the poles of the Sun.

Other than solar missions launched in collaboration with the NASA and the JAXA, the ESA launched Proba-2 in October, 2001. Proba-2 is the second of the Proba series, building on nearly eight years of successful Proba-1 experience, even as Proba-1 was not a solar exploratory mission. On-Board Proba-2 were four experiments, two of them were solar observation experiments. Proba stands for Project for On-Board Autonomy. Upcoming solar missions of the ESA include Proba-3, scheduled for 2024 and Smile, scheduled for 2025. China: The Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) was successfully launched by National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), on October 8, 2022.
Simple, Twisted and Drishyam: Cops exploring three theories behind disposal of Sanas body





By Dheeraj Fartode

THE city police are still grappling with the disappearance of the dead body of Sana alias Heena Khan. As the exhaustive search operation, spanning over three weeks, yielded no results, police have expanded their search efforts across the Hiran and Narmada rivers. Now, the investigators are working in collaboration with experts to unravel the mystery surrounding disappearance of the dead body. Sana Khan, a 34-year-old functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Minority Cell from Awasthi Nagar, was murdered during a confrontation with her husband-turned-foe, Pappu Sahu at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on August 2. The incident is believed to have occurred around 9 am, with Sanas body allegedly being disposed of after 10.30 pm on the same date.

Pappu Sahu, with previous records of two murders, is aware of functioning of law enforcement agencies in murder cases. A cloud of doubt hovers over Pappus statements, as he provides varying accounts of the events in the murder. A police official privy to the investigation revealed that Pappus credibility is under scrutiny due to the conflicting information. As the crucial task of recovery of the dead body is still not accomplished, the police are working on three different theories. Theory I: The culprits account: According to Pappus initial account, Sanas body was allegedly tossed into the Hiran river after her murder. If this statement holds true, one would expect the body to be discovered downstream or by residents living along the river banks. Despite extensive searches conducted by the Nagpur Police and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in both Hiran and Narmada rivers, the body couldnt be found. The police are focussing on the possibility of the body getting stuck at the river banks or decomposed. One more idea is that local wildlife, such as crocodiles, might have eaten the body.

Theory II: Body cut into pieces: A new theory suggests that Sanas body might have been cut into pieces and scattered into the river. Investigators speculate that the body was at the house of Pappu for a long time (9.30 am to 10.30 pm). Pappu might have carried out the gruesome act of cutting it into pieces. This theory raises the possibility that various body parts, dispersed in the water, have decomposed unnoticed. As a result, the police face the challenge of retrieving these scattered remains. Theory III: The Drishyam mystery: Drawing from Pappus criminal history, his truthfulness is under scrutiny. Pappus statements to the police indicate that he tossed Sanas body into the river while leaving her bag near the bridge. The question is: why didnt he dispose of the bag in the same manner?
Union Territory status of J&K is not permanent thing: Centre tells SC





NEW DELHI,

THE Centre told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the Union Territory status of Jammu and Kashmir is not a permanent thing and that it will make an elaborate statement on the vexatious political issue in the court on August 31. The Central Governments response was conveyed to the court by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, after a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, hearing the pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370, asked it to set a specific time frame for restoration of electoral democracy in the erstwhile State. The Union Territory status of Jammu and Kashmir is not a permanent thing. So far as Ladakh is concerned, its UT status is going to remain for some time, Mehta said.

The top Government law officer said he will make an elaborate statement on the future of the Union Territory status of J&K and Ladakh before the bench, which also comprises Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant, on August 31. The bench, which was hearing Mehtas submissions defending the Centres decision to do away with the Special Status of the former State and its reorganisation, said, Democracy is important, although we agree that in view of the national security scenario, reorganisation of the State can be done. The court, however, said lack of electoral democracy cannot be allowed to go on indefinitely. This has to come an end... Give us the specific time frame as to when will you restore actual democracy.
Your mobile phone batteries could contain stolen lithium-ion!





Staff Reporter

Beware ! Your mobile phone battery could contain stolen lithium ions. Nagpur rural police have successfully dismantled a gang of battery thieves who specialised in stealing lithium-ion batteries from Jio mobile towers. The stolen batteries are sold to a Delhi-based gang, the members of which extract the lithium and supply it to battery manufacturing companies. The group consisted of five members, all of whom were arrested by the Local Crime Branch (LCB) of the Rural Police. The police found 82 stolen batteries in their possession. One of the key members of the gang hails from Delhi. Superintendent of Police (SP) Vishal Anand revealed that the gang had committed 27 thefts of mobile batteries from Jio towers. Out of these, 20 cases were reported in Nagpur rural areas, two in Nagpur city, and five in Wardha district.

The inter-state gang displayed a deep understanding of mobile tower setups. They specifically targeted isolated Jio towers to avoid immediate detection. SP Anand explained that Jio towers were their chosen targets due to the presence of lithium-ion batteries, each valued at around Rs 90,000. Of the gang members, Kalim alias Alim Sheikh Mehbub Sheikh (34) and Najim alias Aklak Yusuf Pathan (26), both residents of Kondhali, used to steal batteries from towers in isolated locations. They would gain access by breaking the latch of tower doors. They would then sell the batteries stolen to a scrap dealer Farukh Sheikh Noor Sheikh (38), residing in Budhwar Peth, Kondhali. Such batteries are mostly produced by Costlight and VRLA companies.

Farukh had a connection with Aman Mehrajudddin Malik (22), from Chaman Park, Mustafabad, Delhi, another accused in the case, who facilitated extraction of lithium from the stolen batteries. The extracted lithium was then supplied to battery manufacturing companies. Additionally, police identified Sushil Jamunaprasad Shahu (30), a resident of Binaki Mangalwari, Nagpur, as another accomplice in the theft. The successful arrest of the gang was due to over two months of dedicated efforts by the LCB, said SP Anand. Led by SP Vishal Anand and Addl SP Dr Sandip Pakhale, the arrest was executed by various officers including PI LCB Omprakash Kokate, APIs Rajiv Karmalwar, Anil Raut, ASI Chandrashekhar Ghadekar, Dinesh Adhapure, Dhnyaneshwar Raut, Pramod Tabhane, Nilesh Barve, Iqbal Sheikh, Ashish Bhure, Pramod Bhoyar, Nitesh Piprode, Ranjit Jadhav, Vipin Gaidhane, Umesh Fulbel, Nilesh Inglkar, Amol Kuthe, Mukesh Shukla, Satish Roath and several others.
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori and former First Lady Susana Higuchi during Independence Day celebration in July 1994. Marcelo Salinas (AP)

What Peru suffered during the last two decades of the 20th century is still a matter of fervent discussion. It remains an open wound caused by an accumulation of bloody events that resulted in the death of 69,000 Peruvians and the disappearance of over 19,000 more. Families were broken apart in the middle of a crossfire that made the country unlivable. Twenty years have passed since the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR), the most solid and concrete initiative to date on the part of the Peruvian state in its attempt to understand a tragic period where human rights were repeatedly violated. It was a titanic effort that must be acknowledged, despite not having unanimous support from the population.

On the occasion of this anniversary, the National Security Archive, a U.S. non-governmental organization that has worked to access confidential U.S. government documents for 38 years, has posted a collection of 22 cables and declassified intelligence reports dating from the days of the internal armed conflict in Peru. They are new pieces that will help put together the puzzle of a story that remains incomplete to this day.

The first documents show that the CIAs National Foreign Assessment Center underestimated the terrorist group Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) in the first five years of the 1980s to the point of assuming that they were only a minor threat to citizens and the government of Fernando Belaunde, while predicting that the army would easily destroy the insurgents. There is also a very revealing report by the U.S. State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research Assessment dated October 3, 1984 that accurately predicted what later happened: The armed forces do not appear capable of winning militarily and may be tempted to try physically annihilating Sendero Luminoso by eliminating everyone suspected of being a member or sympathizer.

Another declassified document, dating from May 24, 1988, leaves Armando Villanueva del Campo, a long-standing politician of the Peruvian APRA Party, in a very bad light. The newly installed prime minister in the first administration of President Alan Garcia met with high-level military officers and drafted a communique backing the military version that a massacre had not taken place at Cayara, Ayacucho. A week earlier, 39 people had gone missing in a community in the Ayacucho region in retaliation for an ambush that killed four soldiers. The event is known as the Cayara case.

According to the document, Villanueva reportedly remarked that he did not care if the army executed every Sendero Luminoso guerrilla it captured as long as such executions were accomplished discreetly. Moreover, he allegedly assured that any opposition investigation into the Cayara case would be immediately defeated. This month, 35 years later, the people of Cayara have found some justice: the individuals accused of the massacre were sentenced to between eight and 15 years in prison.

The hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, carried out by members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), kept the country and the international community on tenterhooks from December 1996 to April 1997. But the exemplary strategy demonstrated by the military operation that achieved the release of the hostages was overshadowed by rumors of executions of the defeated terrorists. A cable by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency dated June 10, 1997, and based on unknown sources, recounts the extrajudicial execution of two MRTA members after they had surrendered at the end of the hostage crisis, and states that the order to take no MRTA alive was given by President Alberto Fujimori.

According to the NSA, The message describes how one of the military commandos in the rescue operation recognized MRTA member Roli Rojas (El Arabe) among the hostages being led out of the residence, detained him, took him into the house, and shot him in the head. He then placed his body next to the fallen MRTA leader Nestor Cerpa, who had been killed during the crossfire. The cable also notes that a female MRTA member was executed after surrendering to security forces..

Another confidential cable from April 18, 1997 provides details on the murder, dismemberment and decapitation of Army Intelligence Service (SIE) agent Mariela Barreto, said the NSA. Barreto was killed by her former colleagues from the La Colina death squad, a paramilitary group. Last June, Alberto Fujimoris presidential adviser, Vladimiro Montesinos, was sentenced to 23 years in prison when it was determined that he was behind the crime, using someone else as a tool to perpetrate it.

In a U.S. Embassy cable dated August 27, 2003, on the eve of the original release of the CVRs final report, an embassy officer wrote that the ultimate goals of the document were to encourage Peruvians to confront their countrys recent violent past, come to terms with what occurred, and take the necessary measures to ensure that history does not repeat itself. But the NSA notes that the current political crisis in Peru, where the government of Dina Boluarte faces a wave of popular protests, demonstrates that the problems and legacies of Perus violent past are still very present today.
Marcos Curty has a doctorate in telecommunications and doesnt own a cell phone. He says that it is a deliberate and personal choice. Curty aims to transform his hometown, Vigo (northwest Spain), into a global center for security in quantum computing, a significant challenge for this technology. Throughout his international academic career, this professor of signal theory and communications has collaborated with top experts in the field. Together, they have established the Quantum-Safe Internet network, a cybersecurity training center, and the Quantum Communication Center at the University of Vigo. These research initiatives involve companies and universities from various countries, and aim to position Vigo as a key player in the quantum world. The Quantum Communication Center has received nearly $11 million (10 million) in funding from Spains Ministry of Science, the regional government of Galicia, and various European research funds, as well as support from companies like Cisco.

Question. Is our current system secure?

Answer. To ensure the security of our communications, we rely on cryptographic techniques. These methods are commonly used in applications that connect to the internet and banking services. Whether its in government, business or military communications, confidentiality is crucial to prevent unauthorized access. With the increasing volume of transmitted information over open networks, protecting data has become more critical than ever. Currently, public key cryptography methods are predominantly used, relying on complex mathematical problems for security. With the advent of quantum computers, many complex problems will become easier to solve, including functions used in cryptography.

Q. Thirty years ago, Peter Shor, a mathematician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cautioned that a quantum computer could efficiently solve factorization problems.

A. His statement implies that with a quantum computer, all the cryptography currently used on the internet could be broken. One example is factorization, which is a fundamental part of many cryptographic systems. There are other math problems used in cryptography that can also be compromised by a quantum computer. Thats why the concept of a Quantum-Safe Internet is important  it focuses on developing strong cryptographic methods to address this challenge.

Q. Is the current development of new security technologies also leading to the emergence of new forms of attack?

A. With increased computing power, previously challenging problems can become more manageable. Post-quantum cryptography explores tasks that quantum computers may struggle to efficiently solve. Certain algorithms have already been identified and are set to become standard soon, though we cant yet provide guarantees.

Q. In fact, some of the latest algorithms designed to prevent quantum computer attacks have been defeated using classic computers and even laptops.

A. Yes, those algorithms have advantages, as they enable us to continue using our current infrastructure. However, its possible that in the future, someone might develop a highly efficient algorithm that can access past data retroactively. Therefore, these solutions are more suitable for short-term applications.

Q. Is there another way?

A. An alternate solution is based on quantum communications, which offers security against any computer and enables fully secure communications. When you send information over a communication channel that you dont control, it can be copied. However, in quantum mechanics, this isnt possible. When information is encoded in elementary particles in specific states, any attempt to copy it introduces detectable noise. Additionally, unlike conventional methods, there is no certainty that a reproduced copy is authentic. This level of security is independent of computational capacity.

Q. And that's where the University of Vigo comes in?

A. Weve begun a research initiative in Spain and have formed two highly esteemed international groups at the Quantum Communication Center. One group, led by Professor Hugo Zbinden from the University of Geneva, has been at the forefront of quantum communications since the 1990s. They have achieved remarkable breakthroughs and established the current record for maximum transmission distance. The other group, headed by Professor Vadim Makarov of the Quantum Hacking Lab, specializes in certification standards for quantum communication equipment and hacking concerns. While quantum cryptography is absolutely secure in theory, it must be developed very carefully. Makarov is a renowned international expert in identifying and resolving vulnerabilities in these systems.

Q. Is Vigo going to be the capital of quantum security next year?

A. Id love to say so. Currently, there are very few or no initiatives in the field of quantum communications that match the talent we have at the University of Vigo.

Q. Could the participation of experts from nations in conflict pose a security issue?

A. Our work involves conducting research that will be publicly available in scientific publications, so I see no problem with having an international team.

Q. Will there be quantum communications from space?

A. The European Space Agency has various programs focused on low-orbit satellites. In Spain, the University of Vigo collaborates with Hispasat [the operating company for a number of Spanish communications satellites that cover the Americas, Europe and North Africa] to assess the potential of quantum communication links using high-orbit satellites.

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African Gold Acquisition Corp (NYSE:AGACF  Get Free Report)s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $10.99 and last traded at $10.99, with a volume of 0 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.99.

African Gold Acquisition Stock Performance

African Gold Acquisition Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

African Gold Acquisition Corporation is a blank check company. It intends to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or related business combination with one or more businesses. African Gold Acquisition Corporation is based in New York.

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Shares of Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT  Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the fifteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $128.25.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CPT. Bank of America cut shares of Camden Property Trust from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their target price for the company from $132.00 to $121.00 in a report on Monday, May 15th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Camden Property Trust from $132.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, May 19th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Camden Property Trust from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Monday, May 15th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Camden Property Trust from $124.00 to $126.00 in a report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Camden Property Trust in a research note on Monday, August 21st. They issued a hold rating on the stock.

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Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on CPT

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Camden Property Trust

Camden Property Trust Stock Up 0.4 %

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CPT. ING Groep NV grew its position in Camden Property Trust by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 18,715 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,962,000 after buying an additional 603 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Camden Property Trust by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,646 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $3,205,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Camden Property Trust by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,364 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $2,726,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. HRT Financial LP raised its stake in Camden Property Trust by 168.9% in the 4th quarter. HRT Financial LP now owns 28,673 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $3,207,000 after purchasing an additional 18,009 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Camden Property Trust by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,497,064 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $279,372,000 after purchasing an additional 947,742 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shares of CPT opened at $108.30 on Friday. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $108.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.56 billion, a PE ratio of 56.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.79. Camden Property Trust has a 1 year low of $97.74 and a 1 year high of $136.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.14.

Camden Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 29th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Camden Property Trusts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 208.33%.

Camden Property Trust Company Profile

(Get Free Report

Camden Property Trust, an S&P 500 Company, is a real estate company primarily engaged in the ownership, management, development, redevelopment, acquisition, and construction of multifamily apartment communities. Camden owns and operates 172 properties containing 58,961 apartment homes across the United States.

Further Reading

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Former president Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departure from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, on Aug. 24, 2023, in Atlanta.

Some Republicans in Washington and Georgia began attacking Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis immediately after she announced the Aug. 14 indictment of former President Donald Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. But others, including Gov. Brian Kemp, have been conspicuous in their unwillingness to pile on.

Kemp, who had previously survived scathing attacks from Trump over his refusal to endorse the former presidents false claims about the election, declined to comment on the indictment of Trump and 18 others at a conservative political conference hosted by radio host and Kemp ally Erick Erickson.

Noting that he had been called before a special grand jury to testify during the investigation, Kemp stated forcefully that Democratic President Joe Biden was the rightful winner of Georgias 16 electoral votes and said swinging the spotlight to Trumps legal troubles would be a mistake.

Democrats want us to be focused on things like this, so were not focused on Joe Bidens record, Kemp told Erickson on Aug. 18.

Trump, meanwhile, has kept up a withering assault on both Willis and Kemp. Governor Kemp of Georgia is fighting hard against the impeachment of the crooked, incompetent & highly partisan D.A. of Fulton County, Fani Willis, who has allowed murder and other violent crime to MASSIVELY ESCALATE, the former president wrote Aug. 21 on his Truth Social platform. Crime in Atlanta is WORST IN NATION. She should be impeached for many reasons, not just the Witch Hunt (I did nothing wrong!)

Theres little evidence to support Trumps claim that crime is escalating  the number of homicides has fallen sharply in Atlanta this year.

Other Georgia Republicans didnt hesitate to assail Willis, with some joining Trump in the call to impeach the Atlanta-based prosecutor.

Fani Willis should be ashamed of herself, and shes going to lose her job, said Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Well make sure of that.

Greene spoke to reporters last Thursday outside the Fulton County Jail, shortly before Trump arrived by motorcade, to submit to booking and a mug shot. That same day, House Republicans in Washington announced their own investigation of Willis.

By then, a few GOP lawmakers in Georgia were calling for a special session to impeach and remove Willis or defund her office. Others proposed amending the state constitution to let Kemp pardon Trump.

Both are longshot prospects. Georgias General Assembly hasnt impeached anyone in more than 50 years, and with Republicans holding less than the required two-thirds state Senate majority to convict Willis, they would have to persuade Democrats.

Colton Moore, a Republican state senator whose purist brand of conservatism wins him few allies, launched a petition for lawmakers to call themselves into special session, requiring signatures by three-fifths of both houses. That too would require some Democratic support.

Georgia voters amended the state constitution to shift pardon power from the governor to a parole board in the 1940s after a governor was accused of selling pardons. It would take a two-thirds vote of both houses to put a measure before voters to change that status, again requiring Democratic support.

And its not clear Kemp would pardon Trump even if he had that power. Kemp and Trump were on bad terms even before Kemp spurned Trumps calls to overturn Georgias 2020 presidential election. And relations grew icier after Trump recruited former Sen. David Perdue for an embarrassingly unsuccessful Republican primary challenge to Kemps reelection in 2022. Kemp, like some other Republican governors, now openly argues that his party needs to move on from Trump.

At least one other top Georgia Republican, state House Speaker Jon Burns, is siding with Kemp in opposing a special session. In a letter to fellow Republicans, he squelched talk of a special session, writing that he wants to look toward a positive vision that prepares for the bright future our children and grandchildren deserve.

All those charged are innocent until proven guilty, and I am certain both sides will ensure this matter is exhaustively considered through the courts, Burns wrote, saying he wouldnt comment further.

Burns comments drew the scorn of Amy Kremer, a suburban Atlanta Republican activist who helped organize the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally in Washington that spawned the assault on the U.S. Capitol.

We need to flip these corrupt RINO seats to true conservatives who will actually work and fight for the people, Kremer wrote on social media. So embarrassing.

Looking for other options to go after Willis, some Georgia Republicans are coalescing around a plan to seek her removal by a new state prosecutorial oversight commission that begins work on Oct. 1.

The Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission was created with the aim of disciplining or removing wayward prosecutors. Republicans fought hard for the law because they said some Democratic prosecutors were incompetent or coddling criminals, improperly refusing to prosecute whole categories of crimes, including marijuana possession.

Democrats retorted that Republicans were the ones politicizing prosecutions, and some viewed the law as Republican retribution against Willis. She criticized the measure as a racist attack after voters elected 14 nonwhite DAs in the state.

The law lets the commission sanction prosecutors for willful misconduct in office or undue bias or prejudice against the accused or in favor of persons with interests adverse to the accused. Its unclear how the commission will interpret those terms, because it hasnt created rules yet.

Kemp, Burns and Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones name the commissions five-member investigative panel to examine complaints. They also name a three-member hearing panel that decides on charges filed by the investigative panel.

Some district attorneys, not including Willis, are already suing to overturn the law. Barring court intervention, people can begin filing complaints on Oct. 1 for alleged misconduct occurring after July 1.

Such complaints could relieve political pressure on Georgia Republicans.

District Attorney Fani Willis has demonstrated that she is nothing more than a liberal activist attempting to bend the law to fit a narrative that she has spent an egregious amount of taxpayer resources to craft, state Sen. Jason Anivitarte wrote on social media, encouraging people to bring complaints.

But if the commissions first act is to pursue Willis, critics say that will prove that its nothing but a political tool to enforce GOP rule in Georgia.

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston, a Democrat and plaintiff in the suit challenging the law, told The Associated Press Monday that using the commission against Willis would confirm that its what its opponents warned it would be  an assault on prosecutorial independence and the latest attempt to subvert democracy in Georgia.

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PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (OTCMKTS:PECGF  Get Free Report) and Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund (OTCMKTS:CGIFF  Get Free Report) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad and Chemtrade Logistics Income Funds net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad N/A N/A N/A Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund N/A N/A N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

47.5% of Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad 0 0 1 0 3.00 Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund 0 1 2 0 2.67

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad and Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund has a consensus price target of $9.04, suggesting a potential upside of 47.50%. Given Chemtrade Logistics Income Funds higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund is more favorable than PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad and Chemtrade Logistics Income Funds top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad N/A N/A N/A $0.30 3.81 Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund N/A N/A N/A $0.03 176.92

PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 17.4%. Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 19.6%. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad pays out 66.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund pays out 3,463.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund beats PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad

(Get Free Report)

PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad, an investment holding company, engages in production and delivery of energy and solutions business. The company operates through Olefins and Derivatives, Fertilisers and Methanol, Specialties, and Other segments. It offers polymers comprising HDPE blown films, blow moulding, and pipes; linear low density polyethylene; and homopolymer, copolymer, and terpolymer polypropylene. In addition, the company offers ethylene, propylene, ethylene glycols, butyl carbitol and cellosolve, butanol, butyl acetate, polyethylene glycols, tergitol, nonylphenol ethoxylates, ethanolamines, and gas treating solvents; methanol, paraxylene, benzene, methyl tertiary butyl ether, and butadiene; ammonia; PETRONAS Aireblue, a diesel exhaust fluid; oxo-alcohols; and water-based mud additives. Further, it engages in processing feedstock into syngas, carbon monoxide, ethylene oxide derivatives, propylene derivatives, and related chemical products. Additionally, the company owns, operates, and manages Kertih marine facilities; processing natural gas into urea and ammonia; reselling, formulating, and manufacturing silicones, lube oil additives, and chemicals; and real estate business. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad operates as a subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Berhad.

About Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund

(Get Free Report)

Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund offers industrial chemicals and services in Canada, the United States, and South America. It operates through two segments, Sulphur and Water Chemicals (SWC) and Electrochemicals (EC). The SWC segment markets, removes and/or produces merchant, regenerated and ultra pure sulphuric acid, sodium hydrosulphite, elemental sulphur, liquid sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, sodium bisulphite, and sulphides. This segment also manufactures and markets various inorganic coagulants used in water treatment, including aluminum sulphate, aluminum chlorohydrate, polyaluminum chloride, and ferric sulphate; and specialty chemicals, including sodium nitrite and phosphorus pentasulphide. The EC segment manufactures and markets sodium chlorate and chlor-alkali products, including caustic soda, chlorine, and hydro-chloric acid for the pulp and paper, oil and gas, and water treatment industries. It also offers industrial services, such as processing by-products and waste streams. Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AHT  Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,980,000 shares, an increase of 50.0% from the July 31st total of 1,320,000 shares. Currently, 5.8% of the companys stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 602,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ashford Hospitality Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ashford Hospitality Trust in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $138,000. Ergoteles LLC bought a new stake in Ashford Hospitality Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $127,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Ashford Hospitality Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $88,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in Ashford Hospitality Trust by 589.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 13,642 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 11,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ashford Hospitality Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,000. 32.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Ashford Hospitality Trust Stock Up 1.5 %

Ashford Hospitality Trust stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $3.05. The stock had a trading volume of 397,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 605,784. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.82. The company has a market cap of $105.02 million, a PE ratio of -0.58 and a beta of 2.24. Ashford Hospitality Trust has a fifty-two week low of $2.58 and a fifty-two week high of $10.48.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Ashford Hospitality Trust ( NYSE:AHT Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.88) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($1.29). The business had revenue of $375.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $361.41 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ashford Hospitality Trust will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Separately, StockNews.com raised Ashford Hospitality Trust to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Ashford Hospitality Trust

About Ashford Hospitality Trust

(Get Free Report)

Ashford Hospitality Trust is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing predominantly in upper upscale, full-service hotels.

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Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM  Free Report) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 276,660 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,138 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank owned approximately 0.05% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $22,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 71.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,699 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,688,000 after purchasing an additional 7,821 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the first quarter valued at about $277,000. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the first quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. grew its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 22.0% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 31,004 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,798,000 after acquiring an additional 5,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.1% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 459,907 shares of the companys stock valued at $41,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.73% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Archer-Daniels-Midland

In other Archer-Daniels-Midland news, insider Fruit Molly L. Strader sold 1,455 shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.80, for a total transaction of $126,294.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,809 shares in the company, valued at $938,221.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of ADM opened at $81.61 on Wednesday. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $80.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.82. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52-week low of $69.92 and a 52-week high of $98.28.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.30. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 17.52% and a net margin of 4.14%. The business had revenue of $25.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $25.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.15 earnings per share. The firms revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 7.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 15th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. Archer-Daniels-Midlands payout ratio is presently 24.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on Archer-Daniels-Midland in a report on Thursday, June 22nd. They issued a buy rating and a $92.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Thursday, June 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $97.50.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Archer-Daniels-Midland

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company Profile

(Free Report)

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company procures, transports, stores, processes, and merchandises agricultural commodities, products, and ingredients in the United States, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Ag Services and Oilseeds, Carbohydrate Solutions, and Nutrition.

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Vinva Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Ingersoll Rand Inc. (NYSE:IR  Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,722 shares of the industrial products companys stock, valued at approximately $787,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ingersoll Rand by 12.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 15,601 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ingersoll Rand by 47.6% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 9,880 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Ingersoll Rand during the 1st quarter valued at about $327,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Ingersoll Rand by 62.2% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,937 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,457,000 after purchasing an additional 11,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ingersoll Rand by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 57,771 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $2,909,000 after buying an additional 988 shares during the period. 94.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Cfra upped their target price on Ingersoll Rand from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $67.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ingersoll Rand from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, August 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ingersoll Rand presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $69.36.

Ingersoll Rand Stock Performance

Shares of Ingersoll Rand stock opened at $69.97 on Wednesday. Ingersoll Rand Inc. has a 1 year low of $42.20 and a 1 year high of $70.32. The firms 50-day moving average is $66.04 and its 200 day moving average is $60.72. The stock has a market cap of $28.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.68, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.62.

Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR  Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.11. Ingersoll Rand had a return on equity of 11.20% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.58 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ingersoll Rand Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingersoll Rand Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.11%. Ingersoll Rands dividend payout ratio is currently 4.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ingersoll Rand

In related news, insider Gary E. Gillespie sold 27,487 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.73, for a total value of $1,669,285.51. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,234 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,564,870.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Vicente Reynal sold 27,169 shares of Ingersoll Rand stock in a transaction on Friday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $1,765,985.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 73,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,802,005. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Gary E. Gillespie sold 27,487 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.73, for a total value of $1,669,285.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,234 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,564,870.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 58,659 shares of company stock valued at $3,685,458. Insiders own 0.83% of the companys stock.

About Ingersoll Rand

(Free Report)

Ingersoll Rand Inc provides various mission-critical air, fluid, energy, specialty vehicle, and medical technologies in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through two segments, Industrial Technologies and Services, and Precision and Science Technologies.

Featured Articles

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Vinva Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ  Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,841 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,089,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairbanks Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Constellation Brands by 5.6% in the first quarter. Fairbanks Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,225 shares of the companys stock worth $1,180,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Constellation Brands by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the companys stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Constellation Brands by 521.0% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 621 shares of the companys stock worth $140,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Constellation Brands by 83.2% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 174 shares of the companys stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Constellation Brands by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 121,298 shares of the companys stock worth $27,399,000 after acquiring an additional 14,517 shares during the last quarter. 88.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on STZ. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Constellation Brands from $293.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Constellation Brands from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Constellation Brands from $273.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Constellation Brands from $265.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, July 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Constellation Brands in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $266.24.

Constellation Brands Price Performance

NYSE:STZ opened at $261.27 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $259.59 and a 200 day moving average of $239.04. Constellation Brands, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.12 and a 52 week high of $273.65.

Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ  Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 30th. The company reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.47 billion. Constellation Brands had a positive return on equity of 22.32% and a negative net margin of 3.14%. Constellation Brandss quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.66 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Constellation Brands, Inc. will post 11.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Constellation Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 10th were issued a $0.89 dividend. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 9th. Constellation Brandss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -194.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Constellation Brands

In other news, CEO William A. Newlands sold 49,425 shares of Constellation Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.90, for a total transaction of $13,240,957.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,316 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,495,756.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO William A. Newlands sold 49,425 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.90, for a total value of $13,240,957.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,495,756.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ernesto M. Hernandez sold 5,086 shares of Constellation Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.00, for a total value of $1,368,134.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,649 shares in the company, valued at $981,581. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 100,819 shares of company stock valued at $27,054,755. 16.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Constellation Brands Company Profile

(Free Report)

Constellation Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, imports, markets, and sells beer, wine, and spirits in the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and Italy. The company provides beer primarily under the Corona Extra, Corona Premier, Corona Familiar, Corona Light, Corona Refresca, Corona Hard Seltzer, Modelo Especial, Modelo Negra, Modelo Chelada, Victoria, Vicky Chamoy, and Pacifico brands.

Further Reading

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A resident wades through floodwaters after having to evacuate her home during Hurricane Idalia on August 30, 2023, in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

Tropical Storm Idalia descended on the Carolinas on its way out to the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, leaving a trail of flooding and destruction throughout the Southeast that stretched back to its landfall as a hurricane in Florida. Rescue and repair efforts continued in the areas the storm passed Wednesday and there was no immediate word on the toll from the ferocious winds and inundating waters, but authorities counted at least one death.

The storm left as many as a half-million customers without power in Florida and other states at one point as it ripped down power poles and lines. Still, it was far less destructive than feared, providing only glancing blows to Tampa Bay and other more populated areas as it came ashore with 125 mph (201 kph) winds in rural Florida.

The weakening storm still packed winds of up to 60 mph (96 kph) as it blasted through Georgia and South Carolina on Wednesday evening. It was expected to reach the North Carolina coast Thursday and roll off into the ocean through the weekend.

Preliminary data showed the Wednesday evening high tide reached just over 9.2 feet (2.8 meters), more than 3 feet (0.9 meters) above normal and the fifth-highest reading in Charleston Harbor since records were first kept in 1899. President Joe Biden called the governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina on Wednesday and told them their states had his administrations full support, the White House said.

Idalia made landfall Wednesday in Florida as a Category 3 storm and unleashed devastation along a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast, submerging homes and vehicles, turning streets into rivers, unmooring small boats and downing power lines before sweeping into Georgia.

Almost 438,000 customers in Florida and Georgia lost power while rushing water covered streets near the coast. As the eye moved inland, high winds shredded signs, sent sheet metal flying and snapped tall trees.

Idalia came ashore in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. It made landfall near Keaton Beach at 7:45 a.m. as a high-end Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph (205 kph).

As of midday Wednesday, there were no confirmed storm deaths in Florida, although fatal traffic accidents in two counties may end up being storm-related, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference.

A 59-year-old man driving a pickup truck in heavy rain veered off the road outside Gainesville. In Dade City, north of Tampa, a 40-year-old man lost control of his pickup and crashed into a tree, authorities said.

State officials, 5,500 National Guardsman and rescue crews were in search-and-recovery mode, inspecting bridges, clearing toppled trees and looking for anyone in distress in one of Floridas most rural regions.

Because of the remoteness, search teams may need more time to complete their work compared with past hurricanes in more urban areas, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Department of Emergency Management.

You may have two houses on a 5-mile (8-kilometer) road, so its going to take some time, Guthries said.

On the island of Cedar Key, downed trees and debris blocked roads, and propane tanks exploded.

RJ Wright stayed behind on Cedar Key so he could check on elderly neighbors. He hunkered down with friends in a motel and when it was safe, walked outside into chest-high water. It could have been a lot worse for the island, which juts into the Gulf, since it didnt take a direct hit, he said.

It got pretty gnarly for a while, but it was nothing compared to some of the other storms, Wright said.

The system remained a hurricane as it crossed into Georgia with top winds of 90 mph (150 mph), after drenching Florida mostly to the east of Tallahassee. Forecasters said it would punish the Carolinas overnight as a tropical storm.

Some models had predicted that Idalia could circle southward toward land again after that, but the National Hurricane Center predicted it would move deeper into the Atlantic this weekend.

In the town of Perry, the wind blew out store windows, tore siding off buildings and overturned a gas station canopy. Interstate 275 in Tampa was partially flooded, and toppled power lines closed northbound Interstate 75 just south of Valdosta, Georgia.

About 200 miles to the south of where Idalia made landfall, the roads around the chic shops and restaurants of St. Armands Circle in the Sarasota area were underwater.

Astounded by the flooding that turned Tampas Bayshore Boulevard into a river, Bill Hall watched a paddleboarder ride along the major thoroughfare.

This is actually unbelievable, Hall said. I havent seen anything like this in years.

In Tallahassee, Floridas capital, the power went out well before the center of the storm arrived, but the city avoided a direct hit. A giant oak tree next to the governors mansion split in half, covering the yard with debris.

If they do cut down the whole tree, that is more room for my kids to hit baseballs, DeSantis said.

Storm surge could rise as high as 16 feet (4.9 meters) in some places. Some counties implemented curfews to keep residents off roads.

Diane Flowers was sound asleep at 1 a.m. Wednesday in her Wakulla County, Florida, home, but her husband was up watching the weather on TV when he got a text from their son after the storm was upgraded to a Category 4. Hes a firefighter/EMT in Franklin County, which is also along the Gulf Coast.

He said, You guys need to leave, Flowers said. And hes not one for overreacting, so when he told us to leave, we just packed our stuff, got in our car and got going.

They quickly packed a few clothes, medicine, food for their two border collies, a computer, important documents and a bag of Cheetos. Motels were packed all the way into Alabama, where they ended up finding a room in Dothan.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia an unprecedented event since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend. The state, still dealing with lingering damage from last years Hurricane Ian, feared disastrous results.

Idalia grew into a Category 2 system on Tuesday and then a Category 3 storm on Wednesday before peaking as a Category 4 hurricane. It then weakened slightly.

More than 30,000 utility workers in Florida were gathering to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricanes wake. Airports in the region, including Tampa International Airport, planned to restart commercial operations either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday.

In Valdosta, Georgia, Idalias fierce winds uprooted trees and sent rain flying sideways, toppling a large tree onto a house and mangling the awning. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters that there were no confirmed reports of injuries.

As he finished tying down about 20 sailboats and motor yachts docked on Wilmington Island east of Savannah, Georgia, Brandon Long said his biggest worry was that the storm surge was forecast to coincide with a higher-than-normal tide.

If these docks float off their pylons or come apart because of the violent current and the choppy waters, then thats what destroys a marina, said Long, owner of the Bull River Marina.

Officials in Bermuda warned that Idalia could hit the island early next week as a tropical storm. Bermuda on Wednesday was being lashed by the outer bands of Hurricane Franklin, a Category 2 storm that was on track to pass near the island in the North Atlantic Ocean.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday called DeSantis to let him know that federal support would be available to deal with any destruction from Idalia. The Republican governor and GOP presidential candidate indicated that the states needs were currently being met, said Deanne Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, is set to unveil an over 1.6 trillion ($2.1 billion) pipeline of 30 projects at the first State Investment and Economic Growth Stakeholder Roundtable, on Friday.

Also, the governor is scheduled to launch the Enugu State Integrated Sector-Based Productivity Growth Strategy. This was disclosed in a statement released by the Secretary of the State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia.

According to him, the Investment and Economic Growth Roundtable, which is a precursor to the launch of the maiden multi-stakeholder and fully transactional Diaspora and Investment Forum scheduled for the second quarter of 2024 will hold in Enugu and also draw investors from across various industries locally and internationally.

He said, The over 1.6 trillion ($2.1 billion) project pipeline spans several sectors, including transport, energy, information and communications technology, water and sanitation, Agriculture and Agro industrialisation, industries, healthcare and financial services.

Senior executives from the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank Group, the International Finance Corporation, the African Export-Import Bank, the United Kingdom Department for Trade and Business, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), as well as the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund, commercial banks, corporate pension funds, private equity funds, infrastructure funds, and other domestic financial institutions will convene in Enugu to discuss investment opportunities in the State and chart a course for effectively mobilising private capital for large-scale infrastructure projects, including climate resilient and sustainable infrastructure projects pipeline that can unlock Enugu States and South-Eastern Nigerias economic potential.

The Roundtable discussion aims to uncover barriers to investment and economic growth in the state; improve investors confidence and the states understanding of investors risks and return preferences; and identify partnership opportunities for project preparation and co-investments of critical infrastructure investment projects in the State."

Prof. Onyia also disclosed that this is in line with Governor Mbahs determination to grow the Enugu State economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion.
Many Nigerians have taken to their social media platforms to react and pay tribute to late Pa Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi, the designer of the Nigerian flag.

It was gathered that Pa. Akinkunmi, aged 87, died in the early hours of Tuesday after a brief illness.

This was made known on Wednesday after Pa Akinkunmis son, Akinkunmi Akinwumi Samuel, took to Facebook to announce his fathers death.

He wrote, Life is indeed transient; I can say boldly you lived a life with a landmark. Continue to rest on, my father! Pa Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi (O.F.R) Great Man has gone.

Akinwumi, who hails from Owu in Abeokuta, Ogun state, was born on 10 May 1936.

Below are some of the reactions from Facebook and X, formerly Twitter.

A Facebook user, Gabriel Olamide, wrote, May his soul Rest In Peace. He was a man that wrote his name in gold.

Another user, Afuye Oluwasanmi, wrote, The Lion has gone to rest. May God continue to comfort those he left behind. Baba has fulfilled his mission and contribution to the nations development. We are all going to miss baba.

Life is full of ups and downs Pa Taiwo Akinkunmi indeed Iives a well-deserved life though denied many he labored for from the corrupt Nigerians looters, but yet in his obscurity impact with little he can.. We will surely miss you, sir. I met him in person during my undergraduate days in 2008. Rest on, sir, till we meet again . Sylvanus Lekan wrote.

Oyeniran Bayo wrote, He lived a life well spent; may his soul continue to rest in eternal peace. May God grant the entire family the fortitude to bear the loss.

Reacting to the death on X (Formerly Twitter), a user @the_beardedshina tweeted, I do hope he is immortalized on some of our Nigerian relics. A start can be the Nigerian currency. PA Akinkunmis memories will be interred on the tablets of our hearts.

Hope our government will give him a befitting burial and honor him subsequently. Rip. @CopticPharoah.

These are the true heroes. But instead, we reward and pay pensions to thieving politicians,@Enenali.

I wished Nigeria can take care of these men: Flag designer (too late), National Anthem composer, and Coat of Arm designer'@Mr_yatt1

Thenk you Pa. M . T Akinkunmi (OFR). Rest in peace, @tosinnimo.

I remember the number of times I was asked who designed the Nigerian flag back then. may his soul rest in peace @Official_OGEh.
Stakeholders in Nigeria have called on Federal Government to demonstrate political will to end Tuberculosis (TB) in the country by 2030.

Addressing press conference in Abuja, on Tuesday, a legal and human rights-based organisation in Nigeria, Lawyers Alert in collaboration with Debriche Health Development Centre called for the adaptation of the TB Key Ask.

Both organisations are supported through the Stop TB Partnership Genevas Challenge Facility for Civil Society Grant Mechanism.

They called for Nigeria's commitment towards the political declaration at the United Nations High-Level Meeting (UN HLM) on TB Care and Preparedness billed for New York in September.

The Stop-TB Partnership grantees in Nigeria called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to personal attend UNHLM on TB in the New York.

The organisations sought federal governments supports, inclusion and participation of the TB program, parliamentarians, Civil Society Actors, and TB Affected Communities in its official delegation at the UNHLM to show the inclusiveness of addressing the issues.

According to the statement, "The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs should intervene on the issues of visas to non-government delegates willing to attend the UN HLM in New York."

"That in the post Political declaration, the government should develop a roadmap as was done in 2018 for the actualisation of the commitments in Nigeria."

The organisations said adopting the TB key asks would significantly contribute to Nigeria's efforts to end the TB epidemic, saying that the recommendations in the key asks address critical gaps in TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care that continue to hinder Nigeria's progress.

Lawyers Alert and Debriche Health Development Centre maintained that rallying support for Nigeria's adoption of the TB key Asks and its commitments at the UNHLM requires a coordinated effort among key stakeholders and effective communication strategies.

"By adopting the TB Key Asks, Nigeria can accelerate efforts to end the TB epidemic and improve the health and well-being of millions of Nigerians affected by the disease", the organisations noted.
Without being in support of the perpetration of coup in African countries, there is no denying the fact that whenever coup d'etat occur in any African country that not a few self-acclaimed democrats resort to running their mouths in condemnation of the undemocratic take-over ofgovernment. Unfortunately, while the basis for the condemnation is always candid, crystal clear and convincing, the point remains that democrats often miss the point by not taking cognizant of the fact that coup in the continent are often necessitated by fraudulent electoral processes, abuse of term limits, legitimacy, performance and accountability in political and economic governance.In fact, whoever makes any attempt to justify would tongue-in-cheek be told that The worst democratic government is better than the best military government.

Given the foregoing backdrop, there is no denying the fact that the wind of coup that is sweeping across the African continent coupled with the associated diplomatic impasse foretells grave consequences of continued military incursion into the political arena in the West African sub-region. The undemocratic trend clearly demonstrates the fact that both the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are faced with frightening challenges ahead considering the complexities of military coups which are better prevented through commitment to the deepening of democracies within the continent.

Opinionating in this context from the perspective of the Coup that occurred in Gabon on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, it is expedient to urge both ECOWAS and AU to synergistically move to sanction leaders perpetrating seeming monarchical government in African political culture.

Without any iota of exaggeration, it is expedient to opine that the time has come for both supranational bodies to discourage the political culture that allows succession to presidency by virtue of birth, rather than by competition.

To buttress the foregoing view, a peep into succession politics across African countries will reveal that the incumbent President of Togo, Faure Gnassingbe, who became president of Togo in 2005 after succeeding his late father, Gnassingbe Eyadema was reelected in 2010, 2015, and 2020. He became had ruled the country since 1967.

Though it can be argued that Political dynasties exist around the world but that should not justify its entrenchment or perpetuation in Africa. For instance, inthe United States in 2001, George W. Bush became the first modern president whose father (President George H.W. Bush) had also been elected president. (The sixth president, John Quincy Adams, served from 1825-1829 and was the son of the second president, John Adams.) Bush also became the first U.S. president to hold the position for longer than his father. In East and South Asia, there have been many daughters of heads of state who have been elected to the same position, such as South Korean President Pak Geun-hye, former Philippines President Corazon Aquino, and former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In Pakistan, in a rare occurrence, a husband took over from his wife, Benazir Bhutto. At this juncture, it is expedient to advise that Africans should be cautious of characterizing political dynasties as an African phenomenon. However, given the vastly male-dominated world of African politics, what do we know about African father-son presidential transitions and legacies?

Despite the foregoing abnormalities being experienced in the U.S., the Philippines, and South Korea, there is no political justification for such mode of succession to the presidency to be replicated in African countries, particularly as obtained in Gabon, and which was linked to be the principal cause of the putsch that occurred in the early morning of today. The reason for the foregoing cannot be farfetched as Africans are averse to such succession plan, and are not willing to cede presidency to any given family. Rather, they yearn for a president to emerge through a contested process and based on an individuals merit, and not to elect family members of former heads of state.

Though, there are exceptions to the foregoing argument as three sons of a founding father (the first president or prime minister after independence) had being in power in Botswana, Kenya, and Mauritius. The instances are that of President Ian Khama, President Uhuru Kenyatta, and Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, respectively. In the case of all three, the succession took place over a decade after the father left office: In Botswana, Khama was elected 27 years after his father left office, while in Kenya, Kenyatta was elected 34 years after his father, and, in Mauritius, Ramgoolam was elected 13 years after his father. Therefore, enough time had elapsed in which citizens could assess the impact and results of the fathers leadership and make an informed decision regarding the son. By the time the sons became president, the three countries had a history of contested elections, and each one took over in generally peaceful elections and under stable constitutions. Malawis President Peter Mutharika similarly was elected president years after his brothers death in office.

On the other hand, some sub-Saharan countries have experienced immediate succession by the son of the head of state after his fathers death, often leading to decades of rule by a single family. With President Gnassingbes reelection, his family will have run Togo for over 87 percent of its 55-year post-independence history, with five more years to go. Gabon has a similar experience: With a father and son at the head of the country for over 86 percent of the countrys post-independence history (1967-2009 and 2009-2015)47 out of almost 55 yearsand the son is still in power.

In the DRC, President Joseph Kabila came to power in 2001 immediately following the untimely assassination of his father. Altogether, the Kabilas have ruled the DRC for a third of the countrys post-independence historyalmost 18 years.

The Rangoolam family of Mauritius has similarly ruled the country for over half of its independence history, for 20 out of 39 years. However, as noted above, succession was not immediate from father to son but rather through a contested process with two leaders in between.

Without a doubt, no one or family in Africa has a monopoly to perpetrate political dynasty. However, to guard against the creation of birth-right dynasties as opposed to so called merit-based family political dynasties, recent events suggest that countries should, and must have clear constitutional processes for succession as well as open transparent freely contested elections.

Finally, it is expedient to advise that before democrats condemn the coup in Gabon, that they should tell the world if succession to presidency is by birth or competition.
Steve Ekiri-Mekiriuwa Ashien, Publisher, Ika Weekly Newspaper, has described as befitting the latest appointment of Barrister Chiedu Ebie, the new Board Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), adding that under his watch, NDDC will achieve its core objective of attracting a democratized infrastructural development of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

This was contained in a statement dated Wednesday, August 30, 2023, personally signed by him and made available to newsmen in Agbor, Delta state.

According to the statement which was issued on behalf of the Editorial Board and entire management and staff of Ika Weekly Newspaper, a community based Newspaper in Agbor, Delta state, the latest appointment of Barrister Chiedu Ebie perfectly qualifies as the famous round peg in a round whole, noting that Chiedu Ebie is an astute leader whose performance remains both exemplary and legendary.

Ashien posited that the appointment stands as one of the best decisions President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led Federal Government has made in recent time. Ebies latest rise to grace further confirms as true the time honoured saying that a golden fish has no hiding place.

Giving details as to why the appointment of the legal luminary is fitting, the Ika Weekly Newspaper Boss described Ebie as one of few authentic public office holders in the country that demonstrated passion for their purpose, practiced their values consistently and led with their hearts as well as their heads.

An indigene of Agbor Ika South of Delta state, Chiedu Ebie is a 52-year-old lawyer, oil and gas executive, entrepreneur and public servant. He served as the former Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education in Delta State.

He attended the University of Benin and the Nigerian Law School. He thereafter practiced law as a corporate and commercial lawyer in Lagos. He worked briefly in the legal department of Broad Bank of Nigeria and as company secretary of the holding company for one of the countrys major newspapers. And went ahead to become a partner at the law firms of Okonjo, Odiawa & Ebie, and Punuka Attorneys & Solicitors.

While at these firms, he also served as a part-time managing director for Millennium Oil and Gas Company Limited, eventually transitioning to a full-time role. Subsequently, he took on the position of managing director and chief executive officer of Millennium Oil and Gas.

As part of his new role in the oil and gas industry, he oversaw a Nigerian indigenous hydrocarbon exploration and production company, which maintains offices in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

Ebie has been extensively involved in the development of this asset, with plans for commercial production from the Oza asset commencing in Q1 2015.

In view of the above facts, it is obvious that he is qualified for the job and the appointment eminently desirable. He understands the terrain and that makes him the best man for the job. The statement concluded.
KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2023 - 20:50 | All, Japan

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday that operations at all 14 of its vehicle assembly plants in Japan have resumed after a system failure led to their suspension the previous day.

A malfunction on Monday in the system that processes orders for vehicle parts has been temporarily resolved by activating an interim system, Toyota said.

The world's largest automaker said it restarted production at 12 of the plants on Wednesday morning and the remaining two in the evening.

The suspension has also impacted some Toyota parts factories, as well as the group's truck manufacturer Hino Motors Ltd., whose plant in Ibaraki Prefecture halted production on Wednesday after the malfunction caused inventory shortages.

The Japanese company is continuing to investigate the cause of the problem, while denying the possibility of a cyberattack.

In March last year, Toyota shut all of its domestic plants after domestic supplier Kojima Industries Corp. suffered a system failure caused by a cyberattack.

Related coverage:

Operations at all Toyota plants in Japan halted after system failure

Hacker group attacks Japan nuclear websites over Fukushima water plan
Australian tourist dies in jump from airport carpark

PHUKET: A 50-year-old Australian tourist has died after jumping from the sixth floor of the airport car parking building, police have confirmed.

deathpolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Wednesday 30 August 2023 09:56 AM

Photo: Sakhu Police

Capt Suphon Muangkhai of the Sakhu Police was called to the airport at about 8:55pm last night (Aug 29).

He was joined by Sakhu Police Chief Col Salan Santisatsanakul along with Lt Col Kraisorn Chomchuen and Pol Lt Boonchai Charoenhattakij.

The body of the Australian man was found on the ground near the motorcycle parking area.

His body taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Police said that from their investigation they had confirmed that the Australian man went to the sixth floor of the building, walked up to the balcony, and jumped.

Police said the man had arrived in Phuket on April 11 on Jetstar Flight JQ-0017. He left on Apr 23 via Jetstar Flight JQ-0018.

He then returned to Phuket last Thursday (Aug 24) on Jetstar Flight JQ-0017.

As of last night police said they were working with the Australian Embassy in order to inform the mans family of his death.

However, the mans family learned through a post on a Thai-language Phuket news media site, clearly reporting him to be Australian national Justin Beasley, 50.

The family had posted a notice on a local Phuket Facebook group, saying they were concerned about Mr Beasleys welfare, as he had not been heard from in days. He was last known to be staying on Nanai Rd, Patong.

If you or someone you know needs help or feels sad, you can call the Samaritans Society of Thailand Hotline at 02-113-6789 (English & Thai). You can also call the Mental Health Hotline at 1323 (Thai). They are open 24/7.
Phuket airport chief confirms app taxis welcome from Sept 1

PHUKET: Monchai Tanode, General Manager of Phuket International Airport, today (Aug 30) announced that taxi drivers who are hired through ride-sharing apps will be allowed to pick up passengers at Phuket International Airport, starting this Friday (Sept 1).

tourismtransport

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 30 August 2023 05:15 PM

The move follows the visit to Phuket by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and Airports of Thailand (AoT) President Dr Keerati Kitmanawat last Friday (Aug 25), Mr Monchai said.

The move also marks a historical milestone in allowing tourists to Phuket to use taxi services at the airport that are not exclusively controlled by co-operative drivers who pay AoT millions of baht a year for the privilege of serving passengers at the airport.

Phuket Airport has been directed to introduce new modes of travel to enhance public convenience. This move aims to cater to both domestic and international tourists, aligning with the evolving travel landscape, Mr Monchai told the press gathered at the airport for the announcement.

Phuket Airport will embrace app-based taxi services to streamline passenger transportation within the airport premises. The move comes as part of a broader strategy to accommodate the growing number of Thai and foreign tourists entering the region, he added.

So far the operators of four taxi apps  Grab, Asia Cab, Hello Phuket and AirAsia SuperApp  have formally requested to pick up passengers at Phuket airport, Mr Monchai explained.

Grab has received the green light to commence operations first, while other applications are still undergoing evaluation," he said.

Passengers opting for these app-based services will be able to request rides from a designated waiting area situated between the domestic and international terminals.

This central location will serve as a pickup point, ensuring seamless access for travelers, Mr Monchai noted.

App taxis must comply with the fares already set out by the Ministry of Transport, Mr Monchai confirmed.

Phuket MP Somchart Techathavorncharoen, the successful Move Forward Party candidate for Phuket District 1, shared the official list of fares for app taxis early last week.

Of note, the Phuket branch of AoT, headed by Mr Monchai, and the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) both have yet to post any public notices about allowing app taxis to operate at the airport, or the fares they must charge.

Regardless, Mr Monchai today said, It is important to note that drivers providing taxi services through these applications must possess valid public driving licenses and adhere to all registration requirements. This stringent oversight ensures the safety and quality of transportation services offered to passengers.

This advancement is poised to enhance the overall travel journey for both local and international travelers visiting the region. Passenger safety and convenience are our top priorities, he added.
PM discusses tourism boost with airlines

BANGKOK: Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has met with representatives from the aviation sector to prepare for the high tourism season which is expected to peak in the last quarter of 2023.

tourismtransporteconomics

By National News Bureau of Thailand

Wednesday 30 August 2023 09:20 AM

Photo: NNT

Mr Srettha said his administration once in office will first prioritise tourism rejuvenation, reports state news agency NNT.

The meeting saw representatives from the Airports of Thailand (AoT), operators of key international airports in the country, and CEOs of eight air carriers in attendance. Prior to the meeting, the Prime Minister introduced to participants key candidates for the ministerial positions in his Cabinet, who would be responsible for the countrys economy.

The PM said he would immediately start working on tourism upon his inauguration, as the final quarter is considered an important time for economic push and a peak travel season.

AoT President Kerati Kijmanawat said the AoT had discussed with delegates from other organisations, following his meeting with the PM on Friday (Aug 25), particularly regarding the shortage of flights serving airports in Bangkok and Phuket.

The sector needs to prepare flight slots for future flights from China and other countries at six airports in Thailand, Mr Kerati said.

Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, CEO and President at Bangkok Airways and President of the Airlines Association of Thailand, expressed his willingness to cooperate and reaffirmed that his airline was well prepared for the upcoming peak travel season.
Thaksin prepares bid for royal pardon

BANGKOK: A lawyer for Thaksin Shinawatra is preparing all necessary documents to seek a royal pardon for the former prime minister.

politics

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 30 August 2023 08:55 AM

Thaksin: Serving sentence in hospital. Photo: Bangkok Post

Winyat Chartmontree, the lawyer, added that the date has yet to be scheduled. Normally, inmates who have served one-third of their sentence or been imprisoned for at least eight years can submit a request for a royal pardon, reports the Bangkok Post.

Thaksin, 74, returned to Thailand after 15 years in self-exile and was sent to a quarantine area of the Bangkok Remand Prison on Aug 22 after the Supreme Court sentenced him to eight years in prison.

Within 13 hours, he was transferred to the Police General Hospital suffering from chest pain, hypertension, and low blood oxygen saturation.

Thaksins youngest daughter Paetongtarn, visited her father on Monday afternoon and yesterday morning. She said that she was most worried about his heart condition.

She told reporters at the Pheu Thai Party headquarters yesterday that her father was exhausted but could still talk to her.

I am worried about his heart. He also has a lung illness, but that is an old issue and should not cause any acute problems. I am more worried about his heart, Ms Paetongtarn said.

Ms Paetongtarn said Thaksin had earlier caught COVID-19 before there was specific medication for it. He was kept in an intensive care unit for nine days and remained in hospital for a month.

There were still traces of the illness in his lungs, she said, but added that his morale remained strong.

Ms Paetongtarn confirmed that her father would remain at Police General Hospital and said there was no plan to move him to a private hospital.

Asked how long Thaksin would need to remain hospitalised, Ms Paetongtarn said she had asked doctors the same question but there was no answer yet because there are many factors.

She denied he was in a VIP room at Police General Hospital. The view from the room was the Royal Thai Police Office, she said.

Asked about a possible request for a royal pardon, Ms Paetongtarn said her father would make that decision himself and the family would back him.

The Department of Corrections reported earlier that Thaksin had four critical ailments - heart disease, lung disease, high blood pressure and a herniated lumbar disc.
KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2023 - 20:01 | All, Japan, World

Australian fighter jets arrived in central Japan on Wednesday to take part in the first joint exercises in the country with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces since their new bilateral treaty to strengthen security cooperation took effect.

Nine Royal Australian Air Force aircraft, including six F-35A fighters, and about 140 personnel are joining the drills, officially scheduled from Aug. 23 to Sept. 15, in the sky around Komatsu Air Base in Ishikawa Prefecture, according to Japan's Air Self-Defense Force.

From Japan, six F-35As and other 21 airplanes such as F-15 and F-2 fighter jets are set to participate, the ASDF said.

On Aug. 13, the Japan-Australia Reciprocal Access Agreement came into effect after being signed by the two governments in January 2022, as they seek to boost their security partnership amid China's growing military presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Much like Japan's existing Status of Forces Agreement with the United States does, the first RAA for Tokyo is expected to facilitate the forces' quicker unit deployment between the two sides.

The pact will also ease restrictions on the transportation of weapons and supplies for joint exercises and disaster relief operations.

Kimi Onoda, parliamentary vice defense minister, and Peter Roberts, minister and deputy head of the Australian Embassy in Japan, welcomed the Australian planes at the Komatsu base.

"Reinforced Japan-Australia cooperation is directly connected to peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific," Onoda said in an address, while Roberts highlighted the importance of relations with Japan, calling it an "indispensable partner."

On Monday, Tokyo and Canberra conducted their separate fighter jet drills in Australia, with F-35A fighter jets of the ASDF making their first-ever overseas visit, according to the Australian government.

Related coverage:

Japanese F-35 fighter jets visit Australia in 1st deployment abroad

Japan to design new missile for next-gen fighter jets: source

U.S. approves potential sale of air-to-surface missiles to Japan
The Organic links between C3C and Manipur conflict Why they helped : A cause & effect study

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This above statement was given by the CNF leader in response to Indias 51 million USD armed supplied to the SAC (Junta) from February 2021 to December 2022 and the CNF is affiliated with the NUG. This could be the geo-political embryonic link which consequently influenced the local agendas for brewing up the components of the May 2023 conflict in Manipur.

Bhavananda MayengbamContd from previous issueOn the other hand, India told the UN rapporteur that the arms supplied to Myanmar (SAC) were part of commitments made to the civilian regime prior to 2021 coup and were exported in the light of domestic security concerns (Scroll 18 May 2023).Aside from India, countries like Russia 406 million USD; China 267 million USD; Singapore 254 million USD and Thailand 28 million; also supplied arms to the SAC from February 2021 to December 2022 as per the UN Special Rapporteur (UNHRC 2023).Further, in response to the 51 million USD arms supplied to the SAC by New Delhi, Moe Zaw Oo a Deputy Foreign Minister of the NUG told DW that The people of Myanmar will remember that and it will have impact on the long-term relations of the two countries. Indias Government should seriously take into consideration of our peoples desire and will rather than short- sighted business interests (DW 2023).The dual track strategies employed by New Delhi to save the hearts and minds investments of Act East Policy (AEP) in Myanmar has not gone down well especially with the NUG and EROs after the 51 million USD armed supplied to the SAC.India has invested nearly 1.75 billion USD in infrastructure projects in Myanmar with incomplete projects in hand. Further, a Line of Credit for 500 million USD is provided to Myanmar for undertaking various projects. (India Myanmar Bilateral Brief 2022).While the AEP funded Sittwe port in Rakhine State of Myanmar has begun operations, the 68-mile stretch of highway passing through Chin State in Myanmar remains unfinished. Much of this stretch is in conflict and controlled by the EROs and completion of the project require negotiations with them (Hmung & Indergaad 2023)The Kuki EAOs and the meso-structure see the above situation as opportunity and strength for pursuing their local agendas. Further, they have received advantage from the current geo-politics around the region and support from Chin EROs of Myanmar; which are to be supported directly by various member States as per the UN Special Rapporteur (UNHRC 2023).New Delhi has options, leave it to Nay Phi Taw for security of the projects under the AEP and execute under their cover or negotiate with the concerned EAOs (Myanmar) and EAOs which will not be easy under the current situation. Alternatively, engage with China and Myanmar jointly and avoid the free rider problem.Nay Phi Taw (SAC) has managed a truce with Arakan Army (AA) and three other related groups with the Chinese intervention and to protect international investments in their regions including Rakhine areas (Datta 2020) (Padmanabhan 2023) where Chinese projects like Kyaukphyu deep-sea port and Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (KPSEZ), Shwe gas field, and China-owned oil refinery in Maday Island are located. The SAC has also managed truce with Wa National Army (WNA) in Shan State.Furthermore, Chinas investments in Chin State are Mwetang Nickel Mines, Tiddim Township with 20% share with Myanmar Government and remaining with China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) (Dunn, Ji and Peng 2016) where the Chin EROs are active. Since 2021 coup, China has invested nearly 7.1 billion USD in Myanmar (Banerjee and Rajaura 2021).On close study of the chain of events and geo-politics around the region citied above; and other archival records on Indias 51 million armed supplied to the SAC and subsequent response by the concerned stakeholders; the organic links between the present armed conflict in Manipur, India and the CNF which is one of the components of the C3C cannot be ignored.Further to illustrate the typology of the Manipur armed conflict 2023, these links can be compared with the above outlined instance of conflict between Isarel and Lebanon and how UNHRC established the organic links between Hezbollah and Lebanon government, even though, the Lebanese armed forces have not involved in the 2006 attack.ConclusionIn this armed conflict in Manipur, more than 100 people died and scores others have been injured; and more than 50,000 are internally displaced since 3rd May 2023 (Amnesty International 2023). Many Indian civilians injured and died from Advanced Sniper Rifles (ASR) gun shots from the Kuki militants which is believed to have organic links with the CNA (Mazumdar 2023) which is the armed wing of the CNF; and the CNF is a component of the C3C (UN Special Rapporteur 2023). Without this organic link, the armed conflict in Manipur could not have sustained for so long.New Delhi in spite of casualties on its citizens has not responded like the Israel retaliated on 12th July 2006 by launching a ground, air and sea offensive on Lebanon. However, the presence of organic links between present armed conflict in Manipur and the C3C cannot be fully ruled out.The dual track strategies adopted by New Delhi in Myanmar, whether it will hold water or not only future will reveal.The writer is an alumnus of Erasmus University, the Netherlands and a NFP scholar.
Where have the guns come from ? Answers awaited

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It was with a reason why The Sangai Express used the term terrorists to refer to the armed persons who fired on totally unarmed, harmless farmers who were out on the field to tend to their work and in the process killing one of them. Not the first time that such attacks have been launched, and the right questions ought to have been raised a long time back. It certainly was not a rag tag group of armed persons who opened fire at the farmers, but had all the markings of persons trained in jungle warfare. People trained to take long range shots and obviously no one armed with just single barrelled guns or country made guns would have had the audacity to fire long range shots on farmers who were out working in the fields. Where did the sophisticated guns come from ? Who wields such sophisticated guns ? Can a single barrelled gun or a country made gun fire the type of bullets that killed the farmer and injured scores of others ? It is from this premise that the Government should build a water tight case that there are trained militants, who have morphed into plain terrorists, and ignited the clash on May 3. This is where questions should be raised on the much tom tommed buffer zones and the large scale deployment of Central security forces ever since Manipur went up in flames from the evening of May 3. Where were the security forces when the well armed militants opened fire at the farmers tilling the field ? Can a village volunteer fire with such precision that he or she can hit the target with such deadly accuracy ? How long does it take the police or the Army or the Central Para-Military force to train its jawan to fire the gun accurately ? A reply to this should answer the question of how the man tilling the field was shot dead with such deadly accuracy. New Delhi and Imphal have rung the alarm bell over the number of arms looted from different police armouries ever since the clash started, but the troubling point is nobody has ever bothered to question why certain people felt it necessary to arm themselves. Has any attempt been made to sincerely answer this question ? No doubt it is dangerous to let arms fall into the hands of the civilians, particularly at a time like this when two communities are literally gunning for each other, but why have no questions been raised on from where the guns fired from atop the hills have come ? How about the endless rounds of ammunition ? Where have they come from ? The clash should be seen in its totality and silencing just one side will not help resolve the matter at hand.

It is more than obvious that the Government, either at Imphal or Delhi, is just not ready to deal with the situation sincerely. It is like striking the pose, Let them kill each other and when they are tired, things will cool down, and this is what Manipur has been experiencing since May 3. This is where New Delhi would need to move from the observation made on the floor of Parliament by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the large scale infiltration from across the border. The first step obviously would mean taking up the needed steps to implement the National Register of Citizens in Manipur with the base year set at 1951. Such a move would go a long way in cooling down the frayed nerves of the people in the valley and it would be an extension of what the Union Home Minister admitted on the floor of Parliament. The very fact that the proposal to implement the NRC here has been opposed by some people should more than reflect the reality and how some have capitalised on it. Arguments or debates will be there on how it has not worked in Assam, but that should be of no import at the moment, for NRC is the first step towards putting the illegal migrants in their right places. Next should be to announce steps on how to deal with the large scale drug business. Long before May 3, The Sangai Express had been demanding that the State Government should name the druglords and not be merely satisfied with arresting the petty drug pushers here and there but to go after the big fishes. Now is the time for the Government to show more substance to its War on Drugs slogan and accordingly take up steps to unmask those in the drug trade.
NNPGs slams NSCN (IM)

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KOHIMA, Aug 30 : At a time when the NSCN (IM) is engaged in serious discussion with the Government of India, the Working Committee of the NNPGs has lashed out at it on multiple issues.

In a strongly worded statement, the NNPGs slammed the NSCN (IM) accusing it of opposing the Registration of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland or RIIN and selling the Naga integration formula. In a statement, the NNPGs also slammed the alleged yes-men mindset of the Nagas from Nagaland within the NSCN (IM) fold.

Not only this, in a big attack on Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio, the NNPGs also asked as to who was running the Nagaland Government.

The NNPGs stated that Manipur Nagas in NSCN (IM) are not letting the Nagaland Government count the number of babies born since Nagaland attained Statehood or in other words are opposing the Registration of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland.

The WC and NNPGs while asking as to who is running the Government said that on August 23 leaders of NSCN (IM) expressed their opposition to RIIN and termed it as acting against the social and political interest of Nagas.

The NNPGs said that such intrusive statements destroy people-to people bonding, adding that uttering a word against RIIN implementation is not their business and is also against Naga tradition to comment on another family or clans decision on land and membership.

The NNPGs said that the NSCN (IM) should question eight Manipur Naga MLAs demanding NRC along with the valley MLAs. Let NSCN (IM) leaders handle the Manipur Naga problem and Nagaland will take care of itself, the NNPGs said.

The NNPGs also slammed the Nagaland Nagas within the NSCN (IM) questioning what it termed as their abject slave mentality. The NNPGs also took strong exception to the decision of the NSCN (IM) to allegedly go back on the joint declaration of January 2023 which was a follow-up of the September concordant.

The NNPGs also raised several issues related to the Manipur unrest which it felt may have an implication on Naga integration. North East Live


A chronological report on Manipur violence 2023 from May 3 : Part II (June)

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Takhellambam Geetchandra Meitei

Contd from previous issue

The Speaker of Manipur Legislative Assembly Th Satyabarta Singh stated No immediate plan to convene Special Session of the Assembly in the side-lines talk with media persons at Opening Relief Camp at Wangkhei Modern High School, Imphal. One person killed while another suffered injuries in a firing attacked by unknown miscreants at Heirok Part II Ngarouthel, Thoubal district.

9th June 2023 The Naga MLAs of Manipur conducted Press Conference at Dimapur, Nagaland after meeting with Union Home Minister on 6th June 2023 at New Delhi, Minister Awangbow Newmai stated we conveyed him clearly that in the event of any arrangement for separate administration (as demanded by Kuki MLAs), and our Naga areas should not be touched. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under a DIG rank officer to probe six cases of Manipur violence referred to it by the state government. At least 3 individuals were killed and 2 others injured in attacked by suspected Kuki militants at Sangaithel and Khoken Village in the adjoining of Imphal West and Kangpokpi Districts. Assam Rifles seized a truck along with 350 no.s of ammunition in Champhais Zotlang area of Mizoram to be moving across the border towards Manipur.

10th June 2023 The Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU) Sadar Hills re-imposed blockade of the National Highway no. 2 in Kangpokpi District sector aftermath of the firing incident on 9th June 2023 Khoken Village which 3 persons including an elderly woman were reportedly killed and 2 others injured. Ministry of Home Affairs constituted a Peace Committee with the state Governor Anusuiya Uikey as the Chairperson, including Chief Minister, Ministers, MPs, MLAs, Leaders from different political parties, former civil servants, educationalists, litterateurs, artistes, social workers and representatives of ethnic groups. Government Spokesperson Minister Dr. Sapam Ranjan conduted Press meet at DIPR auditorium, Imphal publicized 349 relief camps are opened and 50,648 displaced persons in the state affected by crisis.

11th June 2023 Involvement of heavily armed Kuki militants in the on-going violence has clearly established from the footages of drones suspected to be utilised and handled by volunteers of Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF). One suspected KRA cadre along with other person were round up by people of Ichum Kom Keirap and Waroiching Leimaram and handed over to Police for further investigation. A group of armed miscreants attacked trucks and robbed all cash from 25 trucks, which are moving along with security convoy, in Nungkao area of National Highway No. 37. The Chairman of the Privilege and Ethics Committee of Manipur Assembly said No response from Kuki MLAs on the show cause notice issued to them over separate administration demand.

12th June 2023 The Chief Minister of Manipur N. Biren Singh conducted a Press Conference at CM Secretariat, Imphal stated Government to construct 4000 pre-fabricated housed for displaced persons, No work-no pay system for government officials, Centre already sanctioned Rs. 100 crore (approx.) relief packages, 30000 Metric ton rice for distribution to the affected people, over 40000 paramilitary forces deployed, Centre repeatedly assures Manipur territorial integrity will not be disturbed, State is committed to safeguarding Manipurs integrity. At least 9 persons injured after a gunfight between suspected Kuki militants and a group of Meitei Villagers near Khamenlok Village. One suspected Kuki militant was killed in an encounter between state forces and Kuki militants at Govindpur village, Bishnupur District. One individual injured in a bomb blast suspected to trigger by Kuki Militants during search of a missing person at Sugnu Nazareth.

13th June 2023 Two persons sustains injury after Rapid Action Force (RAF) started pelting stones at houses and vandalising vehicles parked on road, fired tear gas shells at Moirangkhom, Imphal West. Violence continued for second day near Khamenlok Village between Kuki militants and Meitei villagers. Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh conducted Press Conference at CM Secretariat, Imphal informed 1040 arms, 13601 ammunition and 230 bombs of different types recovered from various Districts of state.

14th June 2023 Nine people were killed and 13 injured in a gunfight between Kuki Militants and Meitei Village Guard Volunteers at Aigejang Village near Khamenlok. A large number of people clad in black outfits were captured in a drone footage moving toward Torbung and the valley from Churachandpur. A mob tried to set ablaze the official residence of Commerce and Industries Minister Nemcha Kipgen located at Lamphel, Imphal West District, the house was saved from devastation due to timely arrival of fire tenders.

15th June 2023 One civilian injured in a gunfight at Phoubakchao Ikhai Awang Leikai between Kuki militants and village volunteers after the Kuki launched an offensive from the nearby hills. Tension erupted in New Checkon, Imphal East District after 2 houses and 3 shops set on fired by unknown miscreants, as security forces several tear gas shells to disperse the crowd, many including women injured. NSCN IMs Collective Leadership Member Rh Raishing in a statement stated Refugees nomadic people and immigrants do not have politics of their own and people cannot imagine politics without land. A status report furnished by Chief Secretary and Commissioner (Home) Govt. of Manipur to the Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) stated Article 355 has not yet been imposed in Manipur.

16th June 2023 A large numbers of mob vandalised and ablaze the residence of Union Minister of State for External Affairs Dr. Rk. Ranjan Singh located at Kongba, Imphal East District. React to the incident Dr. Rk. Ranjan Singh stated The law and order situation in Manipur has totally failed, the state government couldnt maintain the law and order situation despite the centre providing large numbers of central forces. Fresh gunfights broke between the secutity forces and Kki militants at adjoining areas of Vaiphei Village in Churachandpur and Phoubakchao Ikhai Awang Leikai in Bishnupur District. One Kuki men held involved in arson at New Checkon, Imphal East. A delegation of Manipur Political parties including Indian National Congress (INC), Janata Dal (United), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), All India Trinamool Congress, All India Forward Bloc, Shiv Sena (UBT), Revolutionary Socialist Party of India, Socialist Party of India, Aam Aadmi Party, National Congress Party reached New Delhi to meet Prime Minister.

(To be contd)


Questions asked during Sheridan County Commission vacancy interviews

 What is the source of authority for a county commissioner?

 What is the most important role of a county commissioner?

 What do you hope to accomplish as a commissioner? What is your agenda?

 What do you think the commissioners' role is in community engagement?

 What can you tell me about your educational experience?

 Do you think the commission should take a position on various social issues?

 Are you familiar with the Sheridan County comprehensive plan? What is your opinion of the plan?

 What do you think is the most important personal training or knowledge, skills or abilities that a commissioner should have and why?

 What can you tell me about the community involvement you've had?

 Do you think a commissioner has individual authority to issue orders to a staff member or an elected official?

 What do you believe a commissioner does day-to-day?

 What role would local political party politics play in your time as a commissioner?
Qabil Ashirov

Azerbaijani community activists operating in the Kingdom of the Netherlands held a peaceful protest in front of the Hague Palace of Justice, Azernews reports.

The action, organized with the support of the Coordination Council of the Netherlands-Belgium Azerbaijanis and the Organization of the European Union of Azerbaijani women Motherland, was carried out in order to protest against the attempts of Armenia, which has pursued an aggressive policy against our country for 30 years, to turn the world community into an instrument for a campaign.

During the action, the flags of Azerbaijan and Turkiye were waved, and mugham pieces and songs dedicated to the Garabagh region were performed.

With the slogans "Azerbaijan wants peace, Armenia wants war", "Armenia rejects peace, chooses war", "Armenia, sign the peace agreement!", "Armenia distorts the facts and deceives the world community", "There should be no Armenian soldiers on Azerbaijani lands!" "Armenia, stop the attack!", "Armenia, stop the mining of our lands!", "Armenian mines kill civilians!", "Armenia's mines = war crimes!", "Stop the perpetration of environmental terrorism in the territories of Azerbaijan!" "Armenia destroys the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan in Yerevan", "Stop the looting of Azerbaijan's natural resources!", "Stop the irreparable damage to the environment!" protesters drew the attention of the Dutch public.

The participants of the action demanded that the international community put an end to the military and environmental terror of Armenia in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan, ensure the security and human rights of Azerbaijani citizens in Garabagh, and support the peace efforts of the Azerbaijani state.

The action ended with the slogan "Garabagh is Azerbaijan!" chanted by the members of the community.

Booklets reflecting Armenia's military and environmental crimes were distributed to residents of The Hague who were interested in the action. The booklets show that landmines planted in Azerbaijani territories threaten human life, the number of mine victims in Azerbaijan since the 2020 war has reached 303 people, that official Yerevan's refusal to provide accurate mine maps grossly violates human rights, that the Armenian media disseminated retail evidence of ill-treatment of Azerbaijanis contradicts the III Geneva Convention, that several Azerbaijani soldiers were subjected, The fact that gold and copper-molybdenum deposits were illegally exploited in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, more than 60 thousand hectares of forest were destroyed, our rivers were polluted and other facts were taken into account.
KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2023 - 19:44 | All, Japan

Workers represented by a labor union at Japanese department store operator Sogo & Seibu Co. will go on a rare strike at its flagship store in Tokyo, as its parent company remains committed to selling the chain to a U.S.-based investment fund despite their opposition to the buyout, the union said Wednesday.

In the first such action by a major department store union in 61 years, around 900 union members at the Seibu Ikebukuro store will refrain from working on Thursday, the union said.

In remarks to reporters, union head Yasuhiro Teraoka sought understanding from shoppers and business partners to "please allow the store to close for just a day" to ensure the ongoing survival of Sogo department stores.

Despite the union's concerns about its members' future, parent company Seven & i Holdings Co. plans to approve the sale of the struggling department store chain at a board meeting on Thursday to Fortress Investment Group LLC, sources close to the matter said.

The business is expected to sell for over 200 billion yen ($1.36 billion) on Friday once Seven & i's board finalizes the sale plan at its meeting. Seven & i President Ryuichi Isaka has said that "speedy completion of the sale will lead to dispelling employees' concerns."

The store, located in Ikebukuro in Tokyo's Toshima Ward, will be closed for the day, according to Sogo & Seibu. The company has seen a decline in store numbers in recent years, with its 28 outlets nationwide in September 2009 now down to 10.

Union members had demanded that the parent company not force through the sale as a condition for calling off the strike.

The Japanese retail giant first announced the sale in November and planned to complete the transaction in February, but twice postponed the move as stakeholders, including the local government, signaled their disapproval.

The union is worried that the U.S. fund's plan to make its partner electrical appliances retailer Yodobashi Camera Co. a major tenant of the Seibu Ikebukuro store would force out current tenants and reduce its store space.

The store is a leading profit maker among the chain's major outlets, and concerns have mounted that if the plan goes ahead, the employees at the location could lose their jobs if sales subsequently fall due to the changes, the union said.

The labor union notified management on Monday that it would take industrial action after balloting its members in July.

According to industrial union UA Zensen, the last strike by a major department store union in Japan was held in 1962.

Strikes in Japan have been decreasing since hitting a peak in the mid-1970s.

The number of strikes lasting more than half a day has stood at 50 or less a year since 2009, making the planned strike a rare case, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Rarity of industrial action in the country led to surprise at the news from young shoppers in Ikebukuro. University students Mai Wakiya and Kyoko Kondo, both 19, said they were shocked industrial action was going ahead because they had "only read about strikes in textbooks before."

But they did not criticize the move itself. "It's the last resort for the workers who think they could lose their jobs. It's understandable they'd choose to strike," they said.
Throughout his 50 years as publisher of the Toronto Star from 1899 to 1948, Joseph E. Atkinson developed strong views on both the role of a large city newspaper and the editorial principles it should espouse. These values and beliefs now form what are called the Atkinson Principles. For more than a century, they have provided the intellectual foundation on which the Star has operated and have given the paper its distinctive voice.

The editorial principles Atkinson espoused were founded on his belief that a progressive newspaper should contribute to the advancement of society through pursuit of social, economic and political reforms. He was particularly concerned about injustice, be it social, economic, political, legal or racial.

Fundamental to his philosophy was the belief that the state has the right, and duty, to act when private initiative fails. While Atkinson's beliefs were never codified in any set form, the central Principles can be summarized as follows:
Revised May 2019

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AgroupofRajbanshileaders led by Banshi Badan Barman, belonging to the Trinamul Congress camp, today demanded that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee apologise for her statement, on the Rajbanshi community.

Rajbanshi people were hurt and humiliated as Chief Minister yesterday made an insensitive remark about them. If she doesnt apologise, we will begin a democratic movement against her comment, Banshi Badan Barman said today. Addressing the reporters in Cooch Behar, Mr Barman said:Addressing the foundation day of her partys students organisation in Kolkata yesterday, Mamata Banerjee compared the Hindu and Muslim as her hands but she compared Rajbanshi people as her leg. It may be her slip of the tongue, but she will have to apologise since Rajbanshi people feel humil- iated for her comment.

Speaking to the reporters, Mr Barman also said:  Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has done lot for Rajbanshi people by setting up Rajbanshi Bhasha Academy, Rajban- shi Development Board and other projects including in education sector, but it does not mean she would describe us as her leg.

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I will step down from my post in the body consti- tuted by the state government if she doesnt express her regret on this issue, Mr Barman said.

Notably, CM Miss Baner- jee yesterday expressed her feelings in a good sense about the people, belonging to differentcommunities,and described them as even important parts of her body.

When asked to comment on newly elected Rajya Sabha member from Rajbanshi community in Cooch Behar, Nagendra Roy alias Ananta Maharaj, Rajbanshi leader Banshi Badan Barman said: The BJP has projected him and he has become Rajya Sabha member. Now it is his duty to fulfill the demand and aspirations of Rajbanshi people.
KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2023 - 21:42 | World, All

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Wednesday expressed hope for "some results" in the next few months on issues such as export controls, having agreed with her Chinese counterpart to launch dialogue platforms.

Speaking to reporters in Shanghai before wrapping up her four-day visit to the Asian country, Raimondo said she hopes the new mechanisms will increase transparency and channels of communication and allow American companies in China to "compete in a fair and predictable business environment."

She also said although protection of U.S. national security is "not negotiable," Washington does not intend to decouple from China or work to "hold back" the world's second-largest economy.

Raimondo agreed with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Monday to establish a platform to exchange information on export control enforcement, covering semiconductors and advanced technology such as artificial intelligence. Its first meeting was held on Tuesday.

The two also agreed to launch a new working group to seek solutions on trade and investment issues and committed to holding in-person meetings at least once a year to facilitate discussions on commercial and economic issues.

Bilateral tensions have grown recently over tit-for-tat export control measures on items related to semiconductors.

The commerce secretary's visit, following a series of recent China trips by senior U.S. officials, came as Washington and Beijing explore a potential summit between President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, later this year.

Increased communication has been taking place between the two countries, even though significant disagreements persist across nearly all major political and economic matters.
In its issue dated August 23, The Statesman had carried an interview by this correspondent of Chandra Kumar Bose (CKB), the grandnephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and grandson of Sarat Chandra Bose, who in spite of being in the BJP backed his political rival, Trinamool chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on a particular issue of concern. He told The Statesman that he was completely on the same page with Didi on her rejection of the idea that June 20 should be celebrated as Bengal Foundation Day as was done at Raj Bhavan, Governor House, on that day, that is June 20. CKB said that June 20 in fact, was a black-letter day for Bengal because it was on that day that the final decision was taken to divide Bengal permanently.

Five days later, this morning, CKB received a letter from the West Bengal chief minister asking him to join her in a discussion about the controversial decision taken by the central government to celebrate June 20 as Bengal Foundation Day without so much as bothering to inform the state government. Pointing out that there was no previous history of such a celebration, the West Bengal chief minister in her letter, written in Bengali said, There was never any tradition of such a celebration taking place.

Didi further stated in her letter, I have, of course, already submitted a written communique to the Honorable Governor expressing my objection to the celebrations and other activities that took place that day as Bengals Foundation Day. The main reason for our protest and objection is that we are not at all clear on why they had decided to choose that date as a day to celebrate the day that Bengal was founded. The central government did not hold any discussion on this matter with us. The Honorable Governor did not clarify anything. West Bengal has never celebrated this day. We have never heard of or even read anything anywhere about this date, June 20, having any special significance as a day that can be considered Bengals Foundation Day. Therefore, the central governments unilateral decision to suddenly celebrate this date as the day when Bengal was founded is shocking and disturbing.

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Inviting CKB to attend a meeting at Nabanna, the state secretariat, in the afternoon of Tuesday August 29 in order to further discuss the matter and come up with a plan to deal with issue, Didi wrote that she would be grateful if he would express his views on the matter.

I will of course express my independent views on the matter, CKB told The Statesman. In my politics I try to take forward the philosophy of my granduncle Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and my grandfather Sarat Chandra Bose who rejected the idea of the division of Bengal. A number of politicians of the day at that time had felt that if Bengal was not divided, the Bengali Hindus would be persecuted in the Muslim majority of then East Pakistan and they advocated partition of Bengal. These politicians included Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor to the Bharatiya Janata Party. But what was not taken into account was that more than twenty-two percent of the Hindus of Bengal nevertheless were left behind in the part that was divided out. CKB further points out that the division of Bengal served the vested interests of a number of politicians who feared that Bengal, undivided, would become a powerful state, commanding as it would a large number of Members of Parliament. This idea did not suit a number of politicians, CKB told The Statesman.
Kolkata Metro Railway is set to become a member of an elite Metro club.

The Railway, Indias first Metro built by Indian Railways on 24 October 1984, has been serving as a lifeline for Kolkata, the city of Joy for nearly 40 long years.

In Kolkata Metro Railway, the power to Metro Rake is supplied to rolling stock at 750V DC through steel Third Rail. The Third Rail Current Collector (TRCC) made of steel fitted on a metro rake collects the current from the Third Rail.

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The Kolkata Metro Railway has been using steel Third Rail for the last 40 years. It has now decided to use composite Aluminium Third Rail in all the upcoming corridors being undertaken for construction along with retrofitment in the existing corridor with steel Third Rail. With this Metro Railway, Kolkata would become a member of an elite club of London, Moscow, Berlin, Munich, and Istanbul Metro which have also shifted from steel Third Rail to Aluminium Third Rail.

In this regard, Metro Railway Kolkata has floated a tender for the replacement of the existing Third Rail, in the first phase to cover the section between Dumdum to Shyambazar. In the second phase, work would be taken up from Shyambazar to Central and J D Park to Tollygunge. In the third phase, the section between Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) to Kavi Subhash (New Garia) shall be taken up. A total 35 RKm main line steel Third Rail shall be replaced in stages.

The obvious advantages of aluminium composite Third Rail over steel Third Rail are as under:

 Reduction in resistive current loss and improved Traction voltage level as the resistance of steel Third Rail is around six times higher than composite Aluminium Third Rail;

 On an average, for 10 km corridor with use of Aluminium composite Third Rail would require 01 no. less Traction Substation compared to steel Third Rail i.e. a straight saving of approx.210 Crores capital investment for a 35 km of Metro corridor;

 The reduced voltage drop shall facilitate achieving faster acceleration with the same rake available with Kolkata Metro Railway;

 Reduced maintenance and life cycle costs. The requirement of painting the Third Rail every 5 years may not be needed anymore. The frequency of measurement of the Third Rail dimension may reduce significantly. There may be no possibility of damage due to rusting etc;

 Improvement in the efficiency of train operations;

 Huge improvement in Energy Efficiency and reduction in carbon footprint;

 Estimated energy saving using composite Aluminium Third Rail may be about 6.7 million units per annum; and

 Improved headway of the trains.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has lodged an FIR of loan fraud of Rs 167 crore against a Mumbai based firm Varron Auto Kast Ltd and its directors.

A senior CBI official said that a written complaint in this respect was received from State Bank of India (Mumbai) against Varron Auto Kast Ltd. (Promoted by Shrikant Pandurang Sawaikar, since deceased), Pramod Madhukar Papani (director) (since deceased), and Sanjiv Vishvambhar Pophale (director).

It was alleged in the complaint that Varron Auto Kast Ltd. was a new venture of Varron Group. It was sanctioned term loan of Rs 167 Crores by the SBI and Rs 155 Crores each by Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank (Consortium Members) out of total project cost of Rs 721.54 Crores, for the purpose of setting up an auto component manufacturing complex at Nagpur.

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The company diverted funds to individuals for civil and construction work not backed by invoices thereby causing wrongful loss to the State Bank of India to the tune of Rs. 167 Crores to the SBI and corresponding wrongful gain to the company and its Directors, reads the FIR.

The official said that after receiving the complaint they filed an FIR under sections 120-B read with sections 420, 467, 468, 471 IPC and section 13(2) read with sections 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act.

Further investigation in the case is underway.
In Delhi, a manager for the online retailer Amazon was murdered treacherously. Harpreet Gill,36, was travelling with a companion on a bike when five persons allegedly opened fire, according to the police. The incident happened in the late hours on Tuesday night.

The two were allegedly being followed by the attackers while riding a motorcycle close to Subhash Vihar in the Bhajanpura neighborhood.

Gill was shot in the head and killed, while Govind Singh, a friend of Harpreet, was wounded in the right ear. One of the bullets hit Gill s head and he collapsed on the spot.

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Gill was employed at Amazon as a senior manager. Singh, 32, resides in Bhajanpura and runs a restaurant there named Hungry Momos. At the moment, he is getting treatment at LNJP hospital.

When the five attackers on a scooter and a motorcycle caught up with the pair and started shooting at them, the duo were riding a motorcycle.

Police are searching footage from nearby CCTV cameras to identify the offenders as all of the suspects are on the run.

The gruesome shootout is another grim reminder of crimeinfested national capital and how the criminals operate freely. A 22-year old man was stabbed to death in Central Delhi after entering into a quarrel. A 7-yr-old was sexually assaulted by her neighbour in Lodhi colony by a 50-yr-old man. A counsellor from the Delhi commission for Women was roped in who interacted with the mother and the child. The accused has been sent to judicial custody.

A Delhi woman lost about Rs 1.7 lakh to a Insta friend whom she had befriended recently. The man told her that he could help her alleviate her financiual condition. She got a fake call from the Customs Dept to pay for converting a gift with US dollars amounting Rs 80 lakh.
The New Zealand government on Tuesday announced its plans to ban bottom fishing from the vast bulk of the Hauraki Gulf to better protect the 1.2-million-hectare marine park.

Options announced showed bottom-trawling and Danish seining could be banned from up to 89 per cent of the Hauraki Gulf marine park, reports Xinhua news agency.

Currently, only 27 per cent of the gulf is closed to bottom trawling and Danish seining.

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Aucklanders and others have called for greater protection for their beloved big blue backyard, the Hauraki Gulf, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Rachel Brooking said before a public consultation opening on Wednesday.

The gulf has great ecological, historical and social significance and is a vital part of New Zealands tourism, transport and seafood sectors, with an economic value of NZ$100 billion ($59 billion), Brooking said, adding that the right balance needs to be made to ensure it is healthy and available for future generations.

The new Hauraki Gulf Fisheries Plan, the countrys first area-specific, ecologically-based fisheries plan, was also released, which overturns the presumption that bottom-trawling and Danish seining can be used everywhere except in specified areas.

Instead, they will be banned everywhere except in very specific and limited places, called trawl corridors, or Bottom Fishing Access Zones, said the minister.

Sedimentation, nutrient run-off and climate change all threaten the health of the gulf, she said, adding that new rules requiring farmers to manage their land better, offer the tools to help stop soils and fertilizers washing into the sea.

The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park covers an area of more than 1.2 million hectares. There are more than 50 islands within the park, many of which are public conservation lands.

The marine park lies on the east coast of the Auckland and Waikato regions, and includes the Waitemata Harbour, Firth of Thames and eastern coastline of the Coromandel Peninsula.

Most islands are open to the public, but some are sanctuaries for endangered species and a permit is required to visit.

Five marine reserves are also included within the park.
Indias digital transformation, vibrant democratic traditions, artistic splendour and street food will be among the countrys key highlights at the G20 Summit next month which will be held under New Delhis presidency and see a host of international leaders attending a gala dinner on September 9. Giving details about the governments preparations, Muktesh Pardeshi, Special Secretary and the head of operations and logistics of Indias G20 secretariat Wednesday said that foreign dignitaries will get a glimpse of Indias diverse culture during the two-day summit.

Speaking to the news agency ANI, Pardeshi said a separate programme will be held for the spouses accompanying leaders and a craft bazaar showcasing crafts from different states and union territories will also be organised. The G20 summit will be held on September 9 and 10 at the newly constructed Bharat Mandapam in Delhi.

On September 9, there will be a Gala dinnerwe will have craft bazar, showcasing crafts from different states and UTsthat will be open as an exhibition and shopping experiencewe will be having a separate programme for the spouses accompanying leaders, they will be taken to Rajghat and they will visit Pusa Institute. As part of the programme, theyre likely to visit the National Gallery of Modern Art, he was quoted as saying by ANI.

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PM Modi to hold bilateral meetings with some leaders

Pardeshi also confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral meetings with some of the leaders on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. While he didnt disclose the names of the leaders, UK PM Rishi Sunak is expected to have delegation-level talks with PM Modi. During the meeting, India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is likely to be finalised. The prime minister may also hold a separate meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Were proceeding towards the culmination of the G20 process, which started on the first of December last year. The summit will be on September 9 and 10, there will be 3 sessionssome of the leaders will have a bilateral meeting with PM Modithe leaders of the delegations will visit Rajghat and pay respect to the father of the nationthere will be a symbolic tree plantation event at the Bharat Mandapam, these tree saplings will represent different countries, he said.

Millet dishes will be served to guests

The senior official said that there will be about 40 delegations at the leaders level and a variety of dishes will be served and millets will have a prominent place on the table.

He said chefs are working to develop different kinds of regional cuisines and the idea is to give delegates experience of different regional cuisines of India.

From the Government of India, we will be providing meals at the convention centrevariety of dishes will be served but millet will find a prominent place on the menuchefs are working to develop different kinds of regional cuisinesoverall philosophy is we should have exposure to street foods of India, millets and delegates should also experience different regional cuisines of India, he said.

(With ANI inputs)
Bittu Bajrangi, a cow vigilante, was given bail by a Nuh court on Wednesday. He had been arrested on August 15 in relation to communal tensions that broke out in Haryanas Nuh district on July 31.

Bajrangi alias Rajkumar was questioned in relation to a new FIR that had been filed against him at Nuhs Sadar police station, after a complaint was made by Assistant Superintendent of Police Usha Kundu. After being questioned, he had been taken into custody and sent to Neemka jail in Faridabad for a period of 14 days. Police claimed they found eight swords in Bajrangis possession during a one-day police detention.

According to the police, the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) squad of Tauru initially apprehended and questioned Bajrangi, the leader of a group known as the Goraksha Bajrang Force.

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Earlier, on August 1, Faridabad police filed a police report (FIR) against Bittu Bajrangi in relation to a viral video in which he could be seen wearing saffron while a song with vicious lyrics played in the background. After being detained by the Faridabad police, he eventually joined the inquiry and was released on bail.

He asked for bail in a city court on August 25, but the court denied his request. Bajrangi was granted bail by the court of judicial magistrate first class in Nuh on Wednesday after it had heard his bail application.

Bittu Bajrangi has been granted bail today by a Nuh court, according to Nuh police spokesperson Krishan Kumar. In the Braj Mandal violence case, he said, 60 FIRs have been filed thus far, and 305 suspects have been taken into custody. Eleven persons have had FIRs filed against them for distributing false information on social media, and one suspect has been taken into custody.

Bittu Bajrangi, also known as Raj Kumar, is a fruit and vegetables trader at the Gazipur market and Dabua maket in Faridabad. He is believed to be running his cow vigilante group for the last three years.
An alleged criminal was injured after an encounter took place between the police and miscreants in Uttar Pradeshs Etawah, a senior police officer said.

It was later discovered that the injured criminal had been absconding from the Kannauj district and many cases under the Gangster Act were registered against him.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sanjay Kumar, the accused sustained a bullet injury after an encounter took place with the police in Etawah in the late hours of Tuesday.

Giving information about the incident, the SSP said that a police party was on routine checking near Chaubia area in Etawah police station limits when the two men arrived in a two-wheeler.

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The police asked the bike riders to stop, but one of them started firing on the police.

The police retaliated and opened fire, during which one of the miscreant sustained a bullet injury.

During the encounter, the other accomplice took advantage of the darkness and managed to escape from the spot, said police.

Police further said that the injured miscreant was later sent to a nearby hospital for treatment.

A bike, pistol, cartridges and a mobile were recovered from the possession of the accused, said police.

The whole matter is being investigated, and further details into the matter are underway, added police.
Haryana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister JP Dalal on Wednesday said Opposition leaders are trying to mislead farmers about the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the government sponsored crop insurance scheme.

Speaking to reporters, the minister said farmers have understood that this scheme is in their interest and the number is constantly enhancing every year of farmers getting insurance done under the scheme.

Opposition have realized that they cannot come in power without farmers support, so they have begun to mislead them, but the farmers know that the present state government has taken several unprecedented decisions in the interest of farmers and will continue to take such decisions, Dalal said.

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The minister said ever since the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana was implemented, the Opposition has always criticised it while stating that this scheme will harm the farmers and benefit the insurance companies. But the reality is far from this wrong notion, he said.

The Agriculture Minister said that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is completely voluntary and farmers get insurance as per their own wish and they are also drawing benefits under this scheme.

Ever since this scheme has been implemented in Haryana, a premium of Rs 1,943 Crore has been taken from the farmers and claims worth Rs 8,388 Crore have been given to the farmers, he added.

Taking a dig at the Opposition, Dalal said farmers were exploited during their tenure. Farmers were given cheques of mere Rs Two and Rs Four each. While they were in power, they kept giving the farmers share of crop procurement to others and exploited them. They even supported those who exploited the farmers, so the Opposition parties should apologize to the farmers, he said.

Dalal said that ever since Manohar Lal Khattar government came to power, it has taken numerous welfare decisions in the interest of farmers.

Farmers have been empowered. The amount is paid directly to the farmers account within 48 hours of the procurement of the crop through DBT. Apart from this, micro irrigation projects were implemented, budget was increased for canal strengthening projects and many other unprecedented decisions were taken, he said.
Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadans legal firm, KMNP Law has served a legal notice to CPMs Ernakulam district committee secretary CN Mohanan over his allegations against the firm.

In the legal notice, KMNP Law owned by Mathew Kuzhalnandan and his friends demanded Mohanan to either issue a public apology or pay Rs 2.50 crore for defaming the firm by raising baseless allegations against it.

The notice, issued by Supreme Court lawyer Rohan Thawani on behalf of the KMNP Law, is in the wake of allegations raised by Mohanan against the law firm. The complaint has been filed before the Delhi High Court. As per the legal notice sent to C N Mohanan, he has to respond to the notice within seven days after receiving it. If he refuses to obey any of the conditions, the court will initiate proceedings against him.

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CN Mohanan, during a press meet in Kochi on 15 August, made allegations against the law firm KMNP Law, owned by Mathew Kuzhalnandan and his friends. He alleged that Kuzhalnadan has been using the offices of the law firm for money laundering.

The CPM leader came out with serious allegations against Kuzhalnadan days after he leveled serious charges against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayans daughter Veena Vijayan in the Masappady(Monthly pay-off) controversy.

Mohanan also alleged that Kuzhalnadan committed several violations, including establishing a resort at Chinnakanal in Idukki when rules prohibit such constructions.

He said Kuzhalnadan and his wife purchased assets worth Rs 30.5 crore during a period between 2016-17 and 2020-21, whereas the income of both of them for the five years was only Rs 95.86 lakh. The documents submitted by Kuzhalnadan in his election affidavit show that he has acquired assets that are 30 times more than his known sources of income, said Mohanan.
KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2023 - 20:31 | All, Japan, World

The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States, Australia and India are arranging to hold a meeting in New York next month, diplomatic sources said Wednesday, amid China's expanding military and economic clout in the Indo-Pacific region.

The ministers from the four-way grouping, known as the Quad, would gather on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly's annual general debate session starting from Sept. 19 to reaffirm their cooperation on security and other areas, according to the sources.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar are expected to attend their first meeting since meeting in March in New Delhi.

The participants are expected to release an outcome document after talking about issues including economic security and climate change, the sources said.

The four Indo-Pacific democracies have been ramping up their collaboration in various areas in recent years, expressing opposition to "any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo" in the face of Beijing's assertive behavior in the region.

Russia's war against Ukraine will be among other topics discussed, with the ministers set to demand a peaceful resolution in accordance with a U.N. Charter banning the use of force against territorial integrity, according to the sources.

India, a member of the BRICS forum also comprised of Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa, has maintained a friendly relationship with Moscow even after the launch of its invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Hayashi will likely call for support from his counterparts for Japan's release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear complex into the sea, the sources said.

The water discharge from the Fukushima plant, crippled by a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in 2011, had been met with strong opposition from China even before it commenced last Thursday. Soon after the discharge began, Beijing imposed a comprehensive import ban on Japanese seafood.

The International Atomic Energy Agency concluded in a report last month that the water release plan aligns with global safety standards and would have a "negligible" radiological impact on people and the environment.

Related coverage:

FOCUS: Japan still faces diplomatic challenge in Fukushima water release

Japan, India vow to promote free, open Indo-Pacific amid China's rise
Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Wednesday arrested three persons including two former Army personnel for impersonating as Vigilance officials and taking a cheques of Rs 25 lakhs from a resident of Bhaini Salu village in Ludhiana district.

The arrested accused persons have been identified as Manjeet Singh, resident of village Bhaini Salu, Paramjeet Singh of village Mehlon (Ludhiana) and Parminder Singh, resident of Akash Colony, Hoshiarpur.

Manjeet Singh and Parminder Singh are ex-Army personnel. Parminder Singh is in-charge of World Human Rights Corporation of Punjab.

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Revealing details, an official spokesperson of the VB said that Palwinder Singh, resident of village Bhaini Salu, lodged a complaint that he had sold 18 acres of his ancestral land a few months ago.

Days after that, he received a Government notice regarding selling a Panchayat land, following which, three unknown persons came to his house on August 12 and introduced themselves as officials from the Vigilance Department at Sector-17, Chandigarh.

The complainant alleged that they demanded Rs 50 lakh from him to sort out the matter of selling Panchayat land as they cited that the inquiry is pending at Chandigarh office and a case will be registered against him in this regard.

In fear, the complainant agreed to pay Rs 25 lakh and the accused persons convinced him to sign two cheques  Rs 15 lakh and Rs 10 lakh  with a guarantee to return them back once receiving the amount of Rs 25 lakh in cash.

One of the accused persons also took Rs 27000 from Palwinder Singhs pocket and went away after getting his phone number.

Thereafter, the complainant has been receiving threat calls on WhatsApp for registration of a criminal case against him in case the former fails to give promised Rs 25 lakh cash, he said.

The spokesperson said following the complaint, under Sections 7, 7-A of Prevention of Corruption Act and 384,120-B of IPC has been registered against Manjeet Singh of village Bhaini Salu and three unknown persons at Police Station VB, Ludhiana Range.

Accused Manjeet Singh and Paramjeet Singh of village Mehlon were arrested on Monday, and now they both are on police remand till 31 August.

Parminder Singh, a resident of Akash Colony Hoshiarpur, was also arrested on Tuesday. The VB has also nominated four more persons in the case and a manhunt has been launched to arrest the remaining accused.

Accused Manjeet Singh and Paramjit Singh had made recee of the house of the complainant and Parminder Singh is one of those three accused persons who went to the house of complainant on August 12, the spokesperson said.
China is building bunkers and underground facilities in Aksai Chin around 70 km from the Line of Actual Control, according to reports citing Maxar Technologies satellite images. The Chinese have also ramped up construction in the region in an effort to better protect its military facilities and personnel from ariel strikes. The analysis of the Maxar satellite images has revealed that China has constructed reinforced personnel bunkers at four locations and tunnels are being dug at three more locations. A few portals, probably tunnel openings, are also visible in the satellite images.

The comparison between satellite images of August 2021 and August 2023 also shows large structures have been built in the area in the last two years. There is a separate entry and exit area and the pre-existing road has also been widened. China has also increased the deployment of military personnel in the area and erected several tents.

According to military experts, the Indian Air Force has an extra advantage over China in the Aksai Chin region and the dragon is trying to take that away by constructing reinforced personnel bunkers and tunnels. Beijing wants to better protect its military assets in the region in the event of an aerial strike by India.

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India and China have been locked in a territorial dispute over Aksai Chin since the 1950s. While Aksai Chin is part of India, China falsely claims it falls in their territory. In May 2020, the two nuclear-armed neighbours came to the brink of a full-fledged war after their armies indulged in a melee along the LAC. Several Indian and Chinese soldiers were killed during the standoff.

Both countries claim they want a peaceful resolution to the Ladakh border dispute, but Chinas absurd claims on Indian territories are undoing the efforts.

Distorted Beijing map shows Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as Chinese territories

On Tuesday, China released its official map which included Indias Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as Chinese territory. The absurd territorial claim on Indian territories was called out by India. Reacting to the distorted Chinese map, Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said such claims have no basis.

Terming the country, a habitual offender, the Opposition Congress also slammed China over its false claims on Indian territory. However, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the Narendra Modi government over Chinese incursions in Ladakh. People of Ladakh know that China has illegally occupied our lands, he said.

Distorted map surfaces days after Modi-XI talks

These developments have come just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a brief conversation about the pending border issues during the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.

During the conversation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, that PM Modi highlighted Indias concerns about the unresolved issues along the LAC in the western sector of the India-China border. PM Modi told the Chinese President that respecting the Line of Actual Control was essential for normalisation of India-China bilateral relations.

The two leaders agreed to direct relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation, the foreign secretary added.
Condemning China for incorporating Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin in its new map, Member of Tibetan Parliament-in-exile, Dawa Tsering, said, China can never be trusted.

China on Monday released the 2023 edition of its standard map, which shows the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory.

China always says that it wants friendship with you but Chinas malice is concealed behind its sweet talk. Never trust Chna and its leaders, because they can never be anybodys friends, Tsering told ANI.

Xi Jinping should never-ever be trusted, he stressed. He also urged, All South Asian countries to stand against the Chinese expansionist policy. It has to be condemned.

Another Tibetan MP in exile, Yeshi Dolma called Chinas act provocative.

She said that China wants to provoke India ahead of the G20 Summit next month.

China illegally invaded Tibet in 1959, and now it is trying to encroach the border of neighbouring country India, Dolma told ANI.

The two Tibetan MPs in exile made these remarks while interacting with ANI during the Jammu chapter of their visits to different Indian states. A delegation of 11 Tibetan MPs in exile is on an India tour, visiting leaders and intellects of different states to make them aware of the situation in Tibet.

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In Jammu, they also met with strategic analyst, Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma, who also expressed his opinion on Chinas expansionist policy and called the new standard map of China, absolutely wrong.

China is an expansionist country and its first example is Tibet which was an independent kingdom and was captured by China in 1950. After that China started spreading all around and they came to Aksai Chin as well.now they are spreading their legs everywhere in Taiwan, Lt Gen Sharma told ANI.

This is absolutely wrong. All historical records show that Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh along with McMahon line, were given to India, he said.

He also said that China wants to come and sit in Tibet because it wants to put a tight knot over our Himalayas, over our necks.

Meanwhile, India has lodged a strong protest against China, while rejecting claims made by Beijing in the so-called standard map.

The Ministry of External Affairs has said that China has no basis to claim Indias territory, adding that such steps from the Chinese side would only complicate the resolution of the boundary question. In response to media queries on Tuesday, MEA Official Spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi said: We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory.

We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question, he added. The map released on August 28 by Beijing shows Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. The map also stakes claim over Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea. The map also incorporates Chinas claims over the nine-dash line thus laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei have all claims over the South China Sea areas.

It was released by Chinas Ministry of Natural Resources during the celebration of Surveying and Mapping Publicity Day and the National Mapping Awareness Publicity Week on Monday in Deqing County, Zhejiang province, as per China Daily newspaper.

This is not the first time that Beijing has employed such tactics. In April this year, China had unilaterally renamed as many as 11 Indian locations, which included names of mountain peaks, rivers and residential areas.
Saint-Laurent, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Snow this morning will give way to showers of rain and wet snow this afternoon. High around 40F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precip 100%. Snow accumulating 1 to 3 inches..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 30F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Theres no backflow valve that can handle the influx of inadequate sewers says Grostern (L). It's hard to accept, said Vodanovic, but "there will have to be changes done to the actual building that you will be responsible for."
KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2023 - 11:15 | Feature, All, Japan

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of people from the small Himalayan nation of Nepal working in Japan over the past decade, owing in part to labor shortages in the service industry caused by the graying of society.

Many in the Nepalese labor force, which had surged 13-fold to 120,000 nationwide in 2022, work as rafting guides, hotel employees, airport staff and other behind-the-scenes workers at bustling holiday destinations. Even so, there are hurdles to expanding their employment and calls for regulatory changes that loosen restrictions.

On a summer afternoon riding through a gorge on the Yoshino River in Miyoshi, Tokushima Prefecture, rafting guide Milthun Shrestha sings popular Nepali tune Resham Firiri ("Silk Fluttering in the Wind") as he navigates his raft and its Japanese customers down the whitewater rapids on the island of Shikoku.

Shrestha, 33, came to Japan from a suburb of Nepal's capital Kathmandu. He has worked for the Big Smile Rafting tour company in Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture, since 2018 and gives rafting instructions in Japanese. He is also a whitewater guide in his home country and comes to Japan to work every year during the Himalayan monsoon.

His home in Nepal was damaged by the 2015 Nepal earthquake. "I still have a loan to repay for rebuilding my home. My salary in Japan is five times as much as it is in Nepal," he said.

Roughly 60 percent of Big Smile's employees are Nepalese -- approximately 60 people in total. Company president Akihiko Uyama said the Nepali "culture of respect for elders makes it easy to do business (with them)."

Nepal's gross national income per capita was $1,230 (about 180,000 yen in 2021), or one-30th that of Japan.

There has been a demographic shift caused by a fall in the number of Chinese and South Korean students in Japan with the economic development of those countries, while Nepalese students have rushed to fill the void. After completing their studies in Japan, more and more are finding jobs using their Japanese language skills.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Nepalese comprise the fifth largest group of foreign workers in 2022. "They support Japan's labor shortages" in hotels, convenience stores, factories and restaurants, one human resources broker said.

During the summer vacation season at Narita airport near Tokyo, Nepalese employees can be seen engaged in various jobs, such as providing passenger information and custodial work. They are also involved in the hotel industry which is recovering from the pandemic downturn.

Elina Parajuli, 28, works the reception desk at the Chino Station Hotel in Chino, Nagano Prefecture, a summer resort in central Japan. She was hired two years ago after coming to Sendai from Nepal to study at a Japanese language school in 2017, and also attending a vocational school there. "I fell in love with customer service through my part-time job at a convenience store," Parajuli said.

A dozen of the employees of Ikenotaira Hotel & Resorts, located near Lake Shirakaba in Chino, are Nepalese.

Still, there are challenges to expanding employment. Many Nepalese students are employed part-time, but even if they are highly valued for their work, it is difficult for them to find full-time employment due to bureaucratic barriers.

Yoshiharu Komiyama heads the International Human Resource Network Organization Foundation in Tokyo, which provides scholarships to international students.

"If Nepalese students who can understand Japanese can be utilized more, it will help alleviate the labor shortage," he said, appealing for a loosening of employment restrictions.

Related coverage:

FEATURE: Rise in Japan's unmanned rail stations creating concerns

FEATURE: Struggling Japanese dairy producers betting farm on new markets

FEATURE: American-Danish-Korean actress championing diversity in the arts

FEATURE:Korea boom in Japan sparked by drama 20 yrs ago kept going by young
Saint-Laurent, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Cloudy with occasional showers this afternoon. High 41F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Evening clouds will give way to clearing overnight. Low 31F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.
Have an interesting bit of news youd like to see mentioned in the Along the Way column? Email it to Natasha Connolly at news@thesunchronicle.com.
KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2023 - 10:59 | All, Japan

A Japanese government subcommittee proposed legal revisions Tuesday that would allow for joint parental custody of children after divorce, marking the first shift toward introducing a system that is common practice in many other countries.

The proposal comes amid increased attention on bitter custodial battles between divorced parents, with many former spouses unable to see their children under Japan's current policy of sole custody.

The draft proposal on post-divorce childcare presented by the family law subcommittee of the Justice Ministry's Legislative Council recommended that parents decide together on whether they have sole or joint custody of their children, with family courts only intervening if there is a dispute.

Proponents of joint custody argue that the system is more relevant in light of diversifying family relationships by enabling both parents to be involved in their child's upbringing following divorce.

But concerns persist that the system could also perpetuate domestic violence or abuse by forcing ongoing contact with a former spouse.

An interim draft last November also included the option of maintaining the current system of sole parental custody, meaning the latest proposal could still see changes following further discussions by the subcommittee.

Many countries already recognize joint custody of children in the event of their parents getting divorced, and there are calls within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for legal reforms to be discussed in the ordinary parliamentary session next year.

The draft proposal suggests that if parents cannot reach an agreement on the custody of their children, the matter will be decided by family courts based on the dynamics within each family, with cases of domestic violence and abuse factored into the decision.

Under joint custody, both parents have the right to make day-to-day decisions concerning their child, such as those concerning their education and medical treatment.

The proposal also suggests the introduction of a mandatory child support payment scheme and the provision of better legal mechanisms for seizing assets in certain cases.
Job Title: EFM  Security Escort (Fresher Jobs)

Organisation: United States US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

Salary: USD $32,357

Position Number: Kampala-2023-069

About US Embassy:

The United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda has enjoyed diplomatic relations with Uganda for over 30 years. Ambassador Natalie E. Brown currently heads the U.S Mission to Uganda. The Mission is composed of several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the direction of the Ambassador.

Among the offices operating under the U.S Mission to Uganda are:

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Peace Corps

Job Summary: The EFM  Security Escort performs all duties of a security escort by monitoring and escorting non-cleared visitors and personnel while in controlled access areas (CAA) or in other locations within mission facilities and grounds. The position is either full time, part time, or on an as needed basis, some after-hours, weekend and holiday work may be required. This position is directly supervised by the Facilities Manager. The incumbent must be able to obtain and hold a Top-Secret clearance.











Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

NOTE: All applicants must address each selection criterion detailed below with specific and comprehensive information supporting each item.

The applicants for the United States US Embassy EFM  Security Escort job opportunity should have completed high school or equivalent diploma. Required.

EXPERIENCE: One year of general work experience in an office, management or security related environment is required.

Broad knowledge and understanding of post-specific security access procedures; the proper use of security-related equipment (radio, destruction, etc.); familiar with the general layout of mission grounds and facilities.

Basic keyboard skills and computer literacy.

Must be observant, flexible and service oriented. Duties include prolonged periods of standing/walking and somewhat physically demanding activities to include climbing, working in cramped spaces and at times working in inclement weather. Incumbent will regularly be required to move or lift objects when escorting.

Language: Level 3/3 fluency in English, both spoken and written, is required.

How to Apply:

All those interested in working with the United States Embassy, US Mission in Kampala should send their applications online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 22nd September 2023

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
If you are planning to book flights around Diwali, Christmas, New Year or a cousin's wedding, Google Flights will help you find best deals ranked based on price and convenience as well as track the price.

Google stated, If you want to save money on flights this holiday season, or any time of year, a little bit of planning can go a long way. Most of the time, its better to book on the early side, especially when your plans arent very flexible. But flight prices do change frequently, and there are often low fares to be found with the right tools (and some perseverance).

Here are three ways you can find great deals using Google Flights.

Upgraded insights

Google Flights will now provide upgraded insights to help you decide whether to book your flight now or wait for ticket prices to come down. These insights will let you know if the best time to book your is a month or two before your journey or if the fares could come down just before takeoff.

Price tracking

If you plan to wait for ticket prices to drop before booking, turning on the price tracking feature on Google Flights will automatically notify you if flight fares are significantly low. The feature can be used only if you log in to your Google account. You can track prices for specific dates like the week before Diwali or for a close friend's wedding. If your dates are not specific, enable Any dates feature to receive emails about deals anytime in the next three to six months.

Guarantee badge

If you come across a colourful price guarantee badge while searching for flights, it means that Google Flights is confident the ticket fare wont get any lower before your journey. When you book one of these flights, Google says it will monitor the price every day before takeoff. However, if the fares go down despite the guarantee, the price difference will be paid back to you via Google Pay.

Price guarantee badges are part of a pilot program currently available only for select Book on Google itineraries departing from the US. The feature will be rolled out to other countries, including India, later.

Other trends

Besides the above tools, Google Flights will also provide you booking trends to help with your budget travel. In 2022, Google shared money-saving tips based on historical pricing trends and the tech giant says most of the insights from the previous year are relevant in 2023 as well. For example, Google suggests that taking a layover or avoiding weekend departures will help you save flight fares.
The BJP leaders and activists should tie Rakhis to Bilkis Bano, women of Manipur who were paraded naked and the women wrestlers who are agitating, said Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, while taking potshots at the ruling party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

Thackeray was addressing a press conference in Mumbai ahead of the third meeting of INDIA alliance that is scheduled to take place on August 31 and September 1.

Thackeray was referring to Prime Minister Modis appeal to party workers that they should tie rakhis to Muslim women on this RakshaBandhan. If you care about women, tie rakhis to Bilkis Bano, women of Manipur and women wrestlers who were protesting. Women are not safe in your rule, neither in the state nor at the Centre, said Thackeray. He also said that the NDA has been reduced to the level of an amoeba now.

Speaking on the occasion, NCP founder Sharad Pawar said that a common minimum programme could come up for discussion during the deliberations at INDIA alliance meeting. Before seat sharing we have to first chalk out a common minimum programme, he said.

Apart from Thackeray and Pawar, the briefing was attended by Congresss Ashok Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat, Nana Patole, NCPs Supriya Sule and Jayant Patil and Shiv Sena (UBT)s Aditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut. A number of other leaders from MVA were also present on the occasion.

Thackeray said that their ideologies may be different but they have come together to save our country. We have formed the alliance to save democracy and save our Constitution. We will defeat the fascist forces.

Thackeray also said that the central government has reduced the price of LPG because of the INDIA alliance. They are afraid of us. Today they have reduced Rs 200. If we continue our united march aggressively, the Centre will be so worried that it will be forced to give it free, stated Thackeray.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan pointed out that 28 parties and 11 chief ministers are part of the INDIA alliance. In 2019 elections, the BJP polled less votes than all our votes together. All these parties which are part of INDIA polled 23 crore 40 lakh votes whereas the BJP got 22 crore 90 lakh votes. The BJP came to power because we were not together, said Chavan.

The BJP also toppled our MVA government in the state but we are confident that we will come back to power in the next elections, he added.
A month after he first claimed China did grab Indian land near LAC, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday reiterated his stance, saying "the entire Ladakh knows that China has transgressed."

His statement comes as Beijing released an official "standard map" showing the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin plateau as its official territory. "I have been saying this for many years. I have just returned from Ladakh. What the Prime Minister has said...that not an inch of land has been invaded..it is totally false," he told reporters at Delhi airport.

"The question of the map is a very serious one. But they (China) have captured our land. The Prime Minister should also speak on this issue," he told ANI.



Rahul, during his recent visit to Ladakh, claimed that China has taken away Indias land and people are not allowed to graze their cattle there. "Here the people say that Chinese forces entered and their grazing land has been taken away, and (now) they cant go there. People are clearly telling here. Prime Minister says that not an inch of land taken away, which is not correct. ask anyone here and they will tell you," he told reporters after paying tributes to his late father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary days ago.



Meanwhile, reports claim Beijing is building tunnels and reinforced bunkers for soldiers and weaponry in Aksai Chin. These reports, based on satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies, added that the area where China is scaling up construction is located about 70km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC).



India has long claimed rights over the territory but it is held by China.



According to satellite images accessed by Hindustan Times, the construction seems to have started post-2021. The satellite images show personnel bunkers designed to protect soldiers from aerial attacks. Earth-moving machinery, new roads and multiple entrances for the tunnels are also visible in the images.



"Analysts believe the underground facilities are meant to protect sensitive equipment, ammunition and command posts from air or missile strikes during potential hostilities," added the Hindustan Times report.



India on Tuesday registered a strong protest against China's 2023 edition of its "standard map" that claimed Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China as its territory. The "map" also incorporated Chinas claims over the estranged island of Taiwan and the nine-dash line claiming a large part of the South China Sea.


Military negotiations at the senior commander level may have resolved five of the seven friction areas in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)with only Demchok and Depsang remainingtwo major legacy territorial disputes stay in the back-burnerthat of Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin.



These two disputes are considered outside the pale of the day-to-day border relationship till China looks for an opportune time to rake them up.

And no time is more conducive than just before a major interaction between the top-level political leadership of the two Asian giants on the sidelines of the upcoming G-20 Summit.

And that is why on Monday, China released the 2023 edition of its standard map which depicts Indias Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin across Ladakh as part of China.

The map was published on Monday by Chinas Ministry of Natural Resources to mark the Surveying and Mapping Publicity Day and the National Mapping Awareness Publicity Week.

While there is nothing new for India in the China map, what is interesting is the timing of the maps release with Chinese President and communist party supremo Xi Jinping expected to arrive in New Delhi for the G-20 Leaders Summit scheduled from September 9-10.

Highlighting the territorial dispute now would enable China to negotiate from a position of strength to gain an upper hand in the bilateral meeting likely during the G-20 Summit.

On August 23, Indian PM Modi and President Xi met for an informal conversation in the leaders lounge during the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg where the two leaders are reported to have exchanged views on the current India-China relations and other questions of shared interest.

The two had also interacted person-to-person for a brief chat on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali in November.

If President Xi lands in New Delhi as expected, it will be his third India visit.

The first visit was in September 2014 a few months after the Narendra Modi-led government swept to power.

Just days before the 2014 visit, about 200 PLA soldiers had made an incursion into the Indian side near Chumar in eastern Ladakh with earth-cutting and earth-moving equipment to build a road in a stretch that India considered its territory.

The second visit was in October 2019. The trip was organized in the shadow of Chinas open support to Pakistan which had opposed the August 5, 2019 abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir while China opposed Exercise Himvijaya huge Indian military war games in Arunachal Pradesh held just days before Xis visit. Notably, the then-Pakistan PM Imran Khan had also visited Beijing just before the Chinese leader embarked on his India visit.

That the two neighbours are keen to disengage, de-escalate and de-induct in eastern Ladakh is evident from the fact that the recently-concluded 19th round of military talks continued for two days and then continued by talks at the major-general levelan indicator that the border conflict is being evaluated at the operational level.

Arunachal Pradesh is an Indian state while China occupied Aksai Chin in 1962 and stayed put henceforth despite a longstanding Indian demand seeking a vacation of the cold desert region by China.

The current ongoing border conflict in eastern Ladakh began in April-May 2020 which climaxed in a brutal border fight in Galwan on June 15, 2020, that claimed a total of at least 24 lives on both sides.
Five workers, including three brothers, were killed after suspected toxic gas inhalation in a food processing factory in Noorabad of Morena district in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday.

The factory, Sakshi Food Pvt. Ltd, in Jaderua Industrial area close to Dhanela village of Noorabad, reportedly prepares jelly and tutti frutti (colourful confectionery used in bakery items) out of fruit pulp.

One of the workers had gotten down into a storage room where fruits, mainly Papaya pulp, were stored, to clean it. When he fell unconscious, four others got down to the tank one by one and fell unconscious and were reported dead when they were taken to hospital, Bamor sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Deepali Sinduria told THE WEEK.

Though there were reports that other workers in the factory had also taken sick and were taken to the hospital, the SDOP said apart from the four deceased, no one else was affected.

The district administration sealed the factory after evacuating it and the forensic team of district police was on the spot to find the reason for the incident. The postmortem of the deceased was also going on, the officer said.

She, however, added that there is suspicion of the presence of toxic gas in the underground storage room as a very bad smell was reported from the site. The deaths might have been due to inhalation of the toxic gas, but would be confirmed only after investigations, Sinduria said.

The deceased have been identified as Ramavatar Gurjar (35), Ramnaresh Gurjar (40), and Dheer Singh Gurjar (30), all sons of Ramkishan Gurjar of Tiktoli village, and Ganesh Gurjar (40) and Giriraj Gurjar (28) of Ghuraiyya Vasai village.

The SDOP said a case will be registered in connection with the incident and action will be taken as per facts emerging from the investigation. The factory belongs to a Goyal family, sources said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan condoled the deaths, though there has been no announcement of compensation yet. My heart is pained by the accident due to leakage of poisonous gas in Dhanela village of Morena. My thoughts are with the bereaved family members in this difficult situation of grief. I pray to god to give place to the departed souls in his holy feet and strength to the family members to bear this deep sorrow, Chouhan posted on social media platform X (formerly, Twitter).
Four of the five guarantee schemes of the Congress party in Karnataka are focussed on women and it is for a reason. A tree cannot grow taller without strong roots. A building cannot stand firm without a strong foundation. Likewise, no society can grow stronger without the support of its women folk, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who inaugurated the 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme (Rs 2,000 monthly allowance to woman head of the family) along with AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Mysuru on Wednesday.

The Congress government led by Siddaramaiah symbolically rolled out 'Gruha Lakshmi' - it's fourth guarantee scheme (after Shakti - free bus travel for women, Gruha Jyoti - free power, and Anna Bhagya - free rice) across five districtsMysuru, Mandya, Chamrajnagar, Hassan and Kodagu. Of the 1.21 crore eligible beneficiaries for the cash dole-out, 1.10 crore have registered so far.

Gandhi, who simultaneously transferred Rs 2,000 to the bank accounts of one lakh beneficiaries through direct benefit transfer (DBT) at one go by pressing a button on the tablet, expressed happiness over the Congress government fulfilling at least four promises made to the people of Karnataka within 100 days of forming the government.

"This scheme was not conceived by the Congress thinktank or the capitalists. It was designed by you(people). You showed us the path," said Gandhi, adding that the guarantee schemes were a result of the feedback he got from the common men during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"I walked almost 600 km in Karnataka and during my interactions with the women, I realised the price rise and the soaring cost of petrol, diesel and LPG were hitting the households and the women hard. The Gruha Lakshmi scheme is being implemented on the occasion of Rakshabandhan as a fulfillment of our promise made to the women of Karnataka," said Gandhi.

Further, Gandhi asserted that the five guarantee schemes were not merely schemes but a "governance model" of the Congress party in Karnataka, which needed to be replicated across the state.

"It is a fashion today for the government in Delhi (Centre) to work for capitalists. They have 2-3 friends and all the development is happening only for them. But the Congress party believes in working for the development of the poor and the weak. No one should be left behind and taken along the path of development irrespective of the caste, religion or language. Our opponents, including the prime minister had said the five guarantees cannot be implemented. But today, Gruha Lakshmi is the biggest cash transfer scheme in the country," asserted Gandhi.

Kharge said the Congress leaders in different parts of the country were keen to replicate the 'Karnataka model'.

He took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for criticising the guarantee schemes as "bogus and as detrimental to the economy.

"Modi and Shah had claimed the schemes were freebies which would burden the economy. They said it was impossible to deliver them. Today, I hope the PM is watching it or gets information from his Intelligence about the scheme successfully being implemented. He has a tendency not to acknowledge the contribution made by others. The BJP is always targeting the Congress and asking us what the Congress has contributed in the last 50 years. Let me tell you, the literacy rate which was 18% in 1947 was increased to 74% by 2014, female literacy rose from 7% to 65%, average lifespan increased from 32 years to 71 years due to better healthcare and nutrition. We increased the number of primary schools from 2 lakh to 8 lakh. It was the Congress government that brought in NREGA and Food Security Act. Rajiv Gandhi gave voting rights to 18 year olds and the idea of adult franchise came from Congress. Nehru was responsible for unification of princely states, Nehru and Ambedkar gave the Constitution of India, which is the reason some people are occupying high posts. People, like the Congress party, must help save the Constitution," said Kharge.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the five guarantees would cost the exchequer Rs 56,000 crore every year and his government had managed to implement four schemes despite the Centre refusing to help procure rice for Anna Bhagya scheme. "We have implemented four schemes as promised. The Yuva Nidhi (unemployment benefit of Rs 3000 for fresh graduates and Rs 1500 for diploma holders) would be launched in December or in January 2024. In contrary to the claims made by our political rivals and critics, our government has successfully implemented the guarantee schemes without stopping any of the regular programmes. Karnataka has not gone bankrupt as they had predicted," said Siddaramaiah.

Women and child welfare minister Laxmi Hebbalkar expressed happiness that the Congress government had implemented the scheme as promised to the women during the polls.
As protest brews over China's "standard map" that lays claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin, satellite images have shown that Beijing is building tunnels and reinforced bunkers for soldiers and weaponry in Aksai Chin.

The area where China is scaling up construction is located about 70km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC). India has long claimed rights over the territory but it is held by China, according to satellite images accessed by Hindustan Times.



The constructions seem to have started post 2021. The satellite images by Maxar Technologies seemed to show personnel bunkers designed to protect soldiers from aerial attacks. Earth-moving machinery, new roads and multiple entrances for the tunnels are also visible in the images.



"Analysts believe the underground facilities are meant to protect sensitive equipment, ammunition and command posts from air or missile strikes during potential hostilities," added the Hindustan Times report.



This comes as India registered a strong protest against China's 2023 edition of its "standard map" that claimed Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China as its territory. The "map" also incorporated Chinas claims over the estranged island of Taiwan and the nine-dash line claiming a large part of the South China Sea.



Meanwhile, Tibetan Parliament-in-exile MPs have hit out at China's expansionist policy, stating that the country "can never be trusted."

Dawa Tsering MP said China is nobody's friend. "China always says that it wants friendship with you but Chinas malice is concealed behind its sweet talk. Never trust Chna and its leaders, because they can never be anybodys friends," Tsering told ANI. "All South Asian countries to stand against the Chinese expansionist policy. It has to be condemned."



Another Tibetan MP in exile, Yeshi Dolma too called China's act "provocative". She said that China wants to provoke India ahead of the G20 Summit next month. "China illegally invaded Tibet in 1959, and now it is trying to encroach the border of neighbouring country India," Dolma told ANI.



External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar rejected China's "standard map" on Tuesday, stating that Beijing had even put out such maps in the past claiming territories that are not theirs and that it is "an old habit" of China.



"China has even in the past put out maps which claimed the territories which are not China's, which belong to other countries. This is an old habit of theirs," Jaishankar said. He made the comments while replying to a question on the 'map' at an event hosted by the NDTV.



"It is not something which is new. It started in the 1950s. So just by putting out a map claiming territories some of which are part of India.. I think this doesn't change (anything). These are very much part of India," he said.



"We are very clear what our territories are. This government is very clear about what we need to do to defend our territory. You can see that on our borders. I think there should be no doubt about that," Jaishankar said.



"Just making absurd claims does not make other people's territories yours. Let's be very clear on that," he added.


KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2023 - 16:43 | All, Japan

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and several ministers ate seafood sourced from the sea off Fukushima Prefecture on Wednesday, against the backdrop of the ongoing controversy over Japan's release of treated radioactive water from the compromised nuclear power plant into the ocean.

The lunch meeting was apparently aimed at dispelling concerns about the possible negative impact of the discharged water on human health and the reputational damage to fishery products from the areas around the northeastern Japan prefecture.

Following the gathering at the prime minister's office, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, responsible for nuclear policy, said that Kishida ate sashimi consisting of sea bass, flounder, and octopus, alongside rice harvested in Fukushima.

We "need to inform people both at home and abroad" of the safety of seafood caught in the sea near the Fukushima nuclear complex, Nishimura told reporters following the meeting, which was not open to the media.

Last Thursday, Japan began releasing the treated water into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, wrecked by a devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March 2011, despite resistance from local fisheries and China.

Japan has claimed that most radionuclides, except tritium, are removed from the water through a purification process before it is discharged.

Tritium is known to be less harmful to human health than other radioactive materials, such as cesium and strontium, as it emits weak radiation and does not accumulate in the body, analysts say.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said Japan's water release method aligns with global safety standards and would have a "negligible" radiological impact on people and the environment.

But China, which has strongly criticized the water discharge, swiftly imposed a blanket import ban on Japanese fishery products after the discharge commenced.

Kishida has said the government will unveil a rescue plan package for domestic fishers by the end of this week that may reel from China's import ban.

The Kishida administration has already set up two separate funds, one amounting to 30 billion yen ($205 million) and the other to 50 billion yen, to address any damaging rumors and assist local fishermen in maintaining their businesses.

Related coverage:

Reputational damage over Fukushima water feared to widen in China
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, on Wednesday, announced the date for Australians to vote on a proposed law to create a so-called Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the nation's first referendum since 1999.

The referendum, which will be held on October 14, would give the nation's most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy. Albanese announcing the date for voting on the referendum triggered intense campaigning by both sides of the argument.

Voting yes to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament would give Indigenous people a say in policies that affect their lives and would lead to less disadvantage. If a majority voted yes on the referendum, it would mean modifying the constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia.

The First Peoples of Australia are groups of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups, with each group having their distinct culture, language, beliefs and practices. They were present in Australia thousands of years before colonisation.

Post the vote, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice body would be created. The body will be able to make representations or make official complaints on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth.

This will also enable the Parliament to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in accordance with the consitution.

If a majority votes yes on the referendum, the parliament will design the Voice via legislation. In the meanwhile, the Australian Electoral Commission is urging voters to register or update their details on the electoral roll in order to be eligible to vote.

The Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, has said she will ask the Voice to prioritise Indigenous health, housing, education and jobs, the Guardian reported. Critics have said the Voice could spur court challenges.

Its about drawing a line on the poor outcomes from the long legacy of failed programs and broken policies, and listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Burney told the Guardian.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice body, which will be chosen by First Nations people based on the wishes of local communities, will give independent advice to parliament and government.

The body will be accountable and transparent; it will also be empowering, community-led, inclusive, respectful, culturally informed, gender balanced and include youth.

The voice will be designed in a manner that will allow it to function coherently with existing organisations and traditional structures. The Calma-Langton co-design report has recommended that members of the board serve four-year terms with half of the membership determined every two years. There would be a cap of two consecutive terms for each member. It would have two members from each state. Five more members will represent remote areas, with one member each from the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales.

The Calma-Langton model recommended an ethics council; also two co-chairs-- one of each gender will be selected by members of the voice every two years. There would be local and regional voices to provide advice to governments at all levels regarding policy and programs.
The Nigerian police arrested at least 67 people after it raided a supposedly 'gay wedding'. The tipoff about the ceremony came during police interrogation on August 27 of a male cross-dresser, who was dressed as a female, Delta police spokesman Edafe Bright said in a statement late on Tuesday, a Reuters report said.



At least 200 people were said to be attending the event and 67 of them were being investigated. Homosexuals in Nigeria can face up to 14 years in prison under the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act. The law came into force under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.

Amnesty Internationals Nigeria office condemned the arrests and called for an immediate end to this witch-hunt.

In a society where corruption is rampant, this (same-sex) law banning same-sex relationships is increasingly being used for harassment, extortion and blackmail of people, Isa Sanusi, the organisations director in Nigeria, told The Associated Press.

We are in Africa and we are in Nigeria. We cannot copy the Western world because we dont have the same culture, state police spokesman Bright Edafe said. Efforts are underway to arrest those who fled the scene, he added.

One of the arrested had said that he was at the hotel for another engagement and not the wedding. The hotel was thoroughly searched. The latest African nation to criminalise same-sex relations is Uganda.
Sanit Dokmai, a Thailand man has been charged with premeditated murder after the police found the bodies of his wife and two sons, who were 9 and 13, with slash wounds on Monday. The family was living in a house in Samut Prakan province, Bangkok's eastern suburb.

After killing his family, the man tried to kill himself. Dokmai was the victim of a loan scam. The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) has found evidence of transactions made by Wipaporn Racha, Dokmai's 44-year-old wife.

Dokmai is a debt guarantor for his friend for 400,000 baht ($11,400). The friend ran away and left Sanit to pay off the debt, then his wife tried to take out a loan to help and got scammed, said provincial police chief Pallop Araemlah, an AP report reads.

The police are trying to track the 11 people suspected to be involved in the loan scam. Dokmai's wife transferred money to the scammers, who claimed it to be different processing fees. She filed a complaint last week saying that she lost over 1.7 million baht ($48,000), Local chief Rangsan said. Reportedly, the money was withdrawn and transferred to an account abroad.

The Thai police said that they had received over 200,000 online reports of scams totalling more than 30 billion baht ($855 million). Arrest warrants have been issued against the five suspected to have opened the mule accounts. Dokmai is in critical condition and unable to speak owing to multiple slash wounds at his throat.
MUMBAI, India, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Netcore, an AI-powered Customer Experience & Personalisation platform for Ecommerce, announced its Netcore Unbxd ecommerce search solution has been recognised as a leader in Commerce Search and Product Discovery in The Forrester Wave: Commerce Search and Product Discovery, Q3 2023.



Pavan Sondur, Founder & CEO of Netcore Unbxd, reflected on the acknowledgment, stating, "We are thrilled to be recognized as a Leader in Commerce Search and Product Discovery in The Forrester Wave Q3'2023 report. To us, this placement reflects our dedication to empowering ecommerce providers with innovative tools that drive customer engagement, boost conversions, and elevate the overall shopping experience."

Download the whole report here - LINK



Named as a Leader in The Forrester Wave for Commerce Search and Product Discovery, Netcore Cloud was previously acknowledged as a contender in The Forrester Wave: Email Marketing Service Providers, Q1 2022, and was positioned among 15 top providers in The Forrester Wave: Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs, Q1 2023.



About Netcore Cloud



Netcore Cloud is an AI-powered Customer Experience & Personalisation platform for Ecommerce and Retail businesses. It leverages Customer Intelligence obtained through the integration of Customer and Catalogue data to enable seamless shopper experiences and drive conversions within channels through Inbox Commerce. Netcore is trusted by 6,500+ global brands across 40+ countries including Crocs, Pepe jeans, Nykaa, Plumgoodness, Woodland, and McDonald's trust Netcore Cloud to improve retention and conversion. Netcore is also recognised as a leading partner for Retail by Google Cloud.



About Netcore Unbxd



Netcore Unbxd is a cutting-edge AI-powered product discovery platform, the ecommerce experience with personalized interactions. By providing a range of solutions including contextually relevant Search, Personalization, and Product Recommendations, alongside an intelligent Product Information Management (PIM) platform and an intuitive merchandising console, Netcore Unbxd offers brands the tools to optimize their e-commerce objectives. Noteworthy global brands such as Advance Auto Parts, MattressFirm, Dillard's, The Children's Place, HSN, Wex, Unilever, and many more have placed their trust in Netcore Unbxd. Across the world, Unbxd consistently delivers exceptional shopping journeys to countless online visitors at scale.



For more information, visit www.netcoreunbxd.com



For media queries, please contact:

Nicholas Einstein

nicholas.einstein@netcorecloud.com



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PWR
BENGALURU, India, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bengaluru, organized KAPRASCON '23  The 3rd Annual Conference of Karnataka Association of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgeons, at Shangri-La Bengaluru No. 56, 6B, Palace Road, Abshot layout, Vasanth Nagar, Bengaluru- 560001, Karnataka. The two-day event saw the enthusiastic participation of leading experts and upcoming practitioners in Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic surgery in huge numbers.



Dr. Anantheswar Y N, President KAPRAS and Consultant  Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgeon, Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bengaluru, opened the conference by welcoming all the participants and expressed his pleasure of having the chance to host the prestigious annual event here at Bengaluru. Addressing the gathering, he said, "It gives me immense pleasure to invite you all to KAPRASCON 2023 held at Bengaluru on 26th and 27th August 2023. The Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgery, Manipal Hospital, Old Airport Road, Bengaluru, is proud to host the 3rd KAPRAS meet at Hotel Shangri La, Bengaluru." He emphasized the conference was an excellent platform for the participants to gain knowledge, share their professional experiences, and have interactive and thought-provoking scientific sessions.



Dr. Srikanth V, Consultant  Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgeon, Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bengaluru, said, "The participation of eminent plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgeons from across the country and Karnataka in an impressively large number has truly overwhelmed the organizing team. The attendance of more than 185 out of the 235 plastic surgeons registered with the Karnataka Association of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgeons  KAPRAS (accounting for about 80% of all the registered plastic surgeons) at the conference hosted by the department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgery, Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road, in itself is the testimony to the commitment and dedication of Manipal Hospitals towards the field."



Emphasizing the department's services in providing a full range of plastic surgeries, Dr. Ashok B.C, Consultant  Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgeon, Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bengaluru, said, "Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road, Bengaluru, takes pride in being one the oldest departments of plastic, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgery in Karnataka. The department is equipped with all the latest and cutting-edge technology and is constantly at the forefront of innovation. The highly skilled and experienced senior plastic reconstructive and aesthetic surgeons offer a full range of plastic surgeries." He also stated that the department has been undertaking various teaching programs, including fellowships and DNB, for over fifteen years.



With an exciting line-up of scientific lectures and master classes, discussion forums, and case presentations, the conference was an excellent platform for scientific deliberation. It was an opportunity for all the eminent Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgeons from all over Karnataka and India and the team at Manipal Hospitals to come together to exhibit and exchange their knowledge about the latest breakthroughs in plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgeries. Imparting more valuable insights for emerging and established practitioners, the esteemed plastic surgeons also shared their experiences of challenging cases and success stories. The participants also had an excellent chance to showcase their knowledge and share their experiences through scientific paper and poster presentations.



The two-day conference was a grand success and highlighted the efforts of the organizing committee, where the team from Manipal Hospital Old Airport Road Bengaluru had left no stone unturned in giving the participants a memorable conference that was in the best of their academic interest and also doubled as a social platform for them to indulge in meaningful interactions.



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Mumbai, Aug 30 (PTI) Aviation watchdog DGCA has suspended simulator training activities for A320 pilots at Air India's facility in Hyderabad, close on the heels of suspending the training activities for Boeing pilots at the Tata Group-owned airline's facility in Mumbai, according to sources.

The two decisions by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in a span of just three days could pose operational challenges for Air India as currently the carrier cannot train narrow-body and wide-body pilots at its own training facilities.

"The DGCA has now suspended the simulator training activities at Air India's facility for A320 pilots as well owing to certain lapses observed during an inspection," one of the sources told PTI on Wednesday.

There was no comment from Air India on the regulator's decision.

Regarding the inspection findings, a senior Air India official said that "whatever advice has been given by the regulator in its observations, we are looking into it and taking corrective measures".

There was no immediate comment from DGCA.

The sources said DGCA's decisions came against the backdrop of alleged lapses noticed during inspection of the airline's training facilities.

Air India has two major simulator training facilities in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The Mumbai facility is for imparting simulator training to pilots of its wide body fleet -- Boeing 777 and B787 aircraft. The Hyderabad facility is for similar training for pilots of the narrow-body fleet, A320 planes.

Recently, a two-member DGCA inspection team found lapses in the airline's internal safety audit reporting and the issues are being investigated by the regulator.

Air India, which is on the revival path, has placed orders for 470 narrow-body and wide-body planes, and is also hiring people at various levels as the carrier expands its operations.
New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) As many as 32 companies, including big names like Foxconn Group, HP, Dell and Lenovo, have applied for incentives under the Rs 17,000-crore Production Linked Incentive IT hardware scheme for manufacturing laptops, PCs and servers, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.

Others who have thrown their hat into the ring include Flextronics, Dixon, Acer, Thompson, VVDN, HP Enterprises and Asus, Vaishnaw, who is Minister for Electronics and IT, said terming the response from companies as "fabulous". Cupertino, California-headquartered Apple has, however, not applied so far.

PLI for IT hardware covers laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, servers and ultra-small form factor devices.

India is wooing global IT and electronics players with policy sweeteners and incentive schemes, making a push to position itself as a global powerhouse for hi-tech manufacturing.

Vaishnaw said 32 companies have applied under the PLI scheme for IT hardware "which is a very good response, much more than we had anticipated".

Foxconn Group, HP, Dell and Lenovo, too, have applied under the ambitious scheme.

"India is emerging as a trusted supply chain partner and value added partner...companies are happy to come to India for manufacturing and design work," the Minister said at a media briefing.

Electronics manufacturing in India has witnessed consistent growth with 17 per cent Compounded Annual Growth Rate in the last 8 years. This year it surpassed a major benchmark in production - USD 105 billion (about Rs 9 lakh crore).

India has emerged as the world's second-largest manufacturer of mobile phones. Exports of mobile phones crossed a major milestone of USD 11 billion this year (about Rs 90,000 crore).

The budgetary outlay of the PLI scheme for IT hardware is Rs 17,000 crore, with six-year tenure. The expected incremental production under the scheme is pegged at Rs 3.35 lakh crore, and the incremental investment is Rs 2,430 crore, and the scheme is seen generating 75,000 direct jobs, and potential for indirect employment is three times that.

"Dixon will have one plant in Noida which will have 20,000 employees," Vaishnaw said adding that the facility has been constructed already and it soon start functioning.

The window for submission applications for PLI IT hardware scheme closes tonight at 1159 hours, though Apple has not yet put in its application under the incentive scheme.

Many players are investing resources in designing as well. "Many people are investing in design services also...they would like to have the design also done in India, that build on value addition further," he said.

Most companies will begin production from April 2024, and the rest from 2025.

India has scripted a success story in mobile phone production and a similar Make in India success story is expected to play out in the manufacturing of laptops, PCs and servers.

Many of these applicants will be using semiconductors manufactured in India, bolstering an end-to-end ecosystem framework.

The Minister said that applicants and companies are not concerned about the import licence move.
Jammu, Aug 30 (PTI) An international team of scientists began field trials to study the potential impact of 'bio-fertiliser' on saffron cultivation and its growth in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district. A distinguished international team of scientists and biotechnologists from Austrian Agency of Food Safety (AAFS) and the University of Jammu led by Micha Horacek and Jyoti Vakhlu embarked on a significant expedition to district Kishtwar, officials said.

The team, acknowledging the significance of saffron cultivation, initiated demonstration trials at the Saffron Development Farm (SDF) in Berwar area of the district, an official spokesman said.

"These trials aim to study the potential impact of the bio-fertiliser on saffron growth before the transplanting phase", he said.

The trials are being conducted with the application and utilization of a bio-fertilizer developed at the University of Jammu, he said.

The team also visited various saffron growing belts of dedicated farmers, he said.

Apart from Kashmir's Pampore areas, saffron is grown in Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mumbai, Aug 29 (PTI) Superstar Aamir Khan will return to the big screen with his new feature project on Christmas 2024, the actor's spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The untitled project, which will go on floors in January 2024, will be produced by the actor's banner Aamir Khan Productions.

"Aamir Khan has locked Christmas 2024 for his next which will be Aamir Khan Productions, production No. 16th. The untitled film will star Aamir Khan in the lead," Khan's spokesperson said in a statement.

"The pre-production of the film is currently in progress and the film is set to go on floors on 20 January 2024," he added.

Khan's last big screen release was "Laal Singh Chaddha", an official remake of critically-acclaimed Hollywood movie "Forrest Gump".

The film, which was released in theatres across the country in August 2022, also featured Kareena Kapoor Khan, Naga Chaitanya and Mona Singh.

In November 2022, Khan had said that he will be taking time off from acting and spend time with his family after continuously working for over 35 years.
Mumbai, Aug 29 (PTI) He became a household name with Devon Ke Dev - Mahadev but actor Mohit Raina says he took a break from television as he felt his creative hunger was getting lost there.

The actor, who is known for his performance across the three mediums: TV, films and OTT such as Devon Ke Dev - Mahadev, 21 Sarfarosh - Saragarhi 1897, Uri: The Surgical Strike, Shiddat, Kaafir, Bhaukaal, and Mumbai Diaries 26/11, said the goal now is to find work that excites him.

"When I took a break from TV, I realized that there is a long format where the creative hunger was getting a little lost. I was financially safe. So, I decided to go to OTT so that I could satisfy my creative hunger, which wasnt getting satisfied on TV.

"When I started doing OTT, my creative hunger and need was taken care of, so there was no need for me to do something else, or films just for the sake of it or just to be part of bigger films," Raina told PTI in an interview.

The actor, who started off as a model, said his goals changed with time.

"When I started in the industry the mission was to meet the monthly financial expenses that I achieved with modeling. Im not a trained actor, so then the mission was learning as much as I can when I was working...I do work that excites me. Thats the mission," the actor said.

Raina, whose Disney+ Hotstar series "The Freelancer" will see him as an Indian mercenary on a rescue mission in war-torn Syria, said he is drawn to tales that feature unsung heroes.

Citing the example of his 2018 blockbuster Uri: The Surgical Strike, Raina said he accepted the offer to play a small part in the Vicky Kaushal-headlined movie because he wanted to portray the role of an army officer.

He also added that doing Uri wasnt a "great career choice" but he did it because of emotional reasons.

"I come from Kashmir, so I never had the superhero image in my mind that there's superman or batman as a hero. As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw these people wearing uniforms outside my house, so for me they are the superheroes, he said.

As an actor, Ive never worked for big or small scenes. I work for the story, and Uri was a deliberate choice. If you see from a career perspective, it wasnt a great choice, it wasn't a debut that anyone would want. It was more of an emotional and friendly gesture because I love the uniform and I love the impact it would leave, Raina, who wanted to join National Defence Academy (NDA) but couldnt because he was short-sighted, said.

Having played a Sikh soldier in the TV series "21 Sarfarosh - Saragarhi 1897" and a cop in the OTT drama "Bhaukaal," the actor said it's nice to see more narratives being created around men in service.

"Ill do any role for the uniform, he said, adding, There are so many stories of these officers, and jawans, thanks to the digital revolution these stories are coming out. Otherwise, there were limited stories that were coming out on the big screen. We owe them a lot because they are the ones taking care of the borders and keeping us safe.

In action-thriller series The Freelancer, Raina plays Avinash Kamath, an assistant sub-inspector in Mumbai police. The show is created and showrun by filmmaker Neeraj Pandey and directed by Bhav Dhulia.

It is based on Shirish Thorats book A Ticket to Syria and the actor said he not only read the book but also met the writer to get a better understanding of the world and his character.

The Freelancer, also featuring Anupam Kher, Sushant Singh, Kashmira Pardeshi, John Kokken, Gauri Balaji and Navneet Malik, is set to premiere on September 1 on Disney+ Hotstar.
KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2023 - 18:17 | World, All, Japan

China on Wednesday defended its ban on seafood imports from Japan after Tokyo hinted it would file a complaint to the World Trade Organization over the step introduced following the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press conference Beijing's measure is "truly legitimate and necessary" as it is in accordance with the country's laws and regulations, as well as a WTO agreement concerning the application of food safety and animal and plant health regulations.

Describing the Fukushima water release that commenced last week as an "irresponsible and selfish act," Wang noted that the international community has criticized this action and taken precautionary measures in response.

The two Asian neighbors have been at odds over the safety of the water being released from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, severely damaged by a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami, further straining their already unstable bilateral ties.

Related coverage:

Japan PM eats Fukushima seafood with ministers to dispel concerns

Reputational damage over Fukushima water feared to widen in China
Washington, Aug 30 (PTI) Indian American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has called for stronger relationships with India, South Korea and Japan to reduce US' economic dependence on China and Taiwan.

Ramaswamy, 38, whose poll numbers have surged following the maiden Republican presidential primary debate last week, spelt out his plans and foreign policy views on Tuesday.

He attacked another Indian American Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who had slammed him for his inexperience on foreign policy issues.

We will enter a stronger partnership with India that involves an Indian commitment to close the Malacca Strait in the event of a near-term conflict with Taiwan, and enter stronger partnerships with other allies including South Korea and Japan to reduce our economic dependence on China and Taiwan, Ramaswamy said.

The entrepreneur-turned-politician Ramaswamy said he favours strategic clarity and advocated that the US must defend Taiwan vigorously until America achieves semiconductor independence, then resume the posture of strategic ambiguity when the stakes are lower for the US.

"The American way of life depends on leading-edge semiconductors manufactured in Taiwan, and we cant risk China gaining near-total leverage over the entire US economy," he said.

By saying that we will defend Taiwan, the US can strongly deter China from blockading or invading the island in the near term. Meantime, Taiwan should more than double its own military expenditures to a more rational level of 4 to 5 per cent of its gross domestic product," he said.

He said the US should rapidly arm and train Taiwan with Anti-Access/Area Denial weapons while running at least one Destroyer warship through the Taiwan Strait each week.

The US should also fortify its own homeland defence, which is at present dangerously vulnerable to major conflicts with China, he said, adding this includes improving nuclear, super electromagnetic pulse, cyber and space defence capabilities.

His campaign said that Ramaswamy is the only US Presidential candidate to date who has clearly stated that the US will defend Taiwan.

I am the only Presidential candidate willing to state what is necessary: we will defend Taiwan. The US currently doesnt even recognise Taiwan as a nation. Democrats and Republicans both unquestioningly endorse the one China policy and embrace strategic ambiguity toward the island," Ramaswamy said.

Hitting out at Haley, Ramaswamy's campaign in a statement said that in a desperate attempt to raise funds for her languishing establishment campaign, the former US ambassador to the UN was intentionally lying about Ramaswamy.

Haley has blasted Ramaswamy for not backing US allies.

According to his campaign, Haley flatly lied on Fox News that "Ramaswamy said he would abandon Israel, those were his words and that he wants to go and stop funding Israel.

"This is false," his campaign asserted in a late-night statement.

We challenge the failing Haley campaign and any media outlet to find a single instance where Ramaswamy utters that he would not support Israel. They will not  because Ramaswamy never said it. Instead, they continue to recycle blatantly false headlines that they manufactured," the statement said.

Ramaswamy said that if Israel ever gets to the point that it no longer needs US financial support, that would be a mark of achievement  but that the US will never cut off aid to Israel until Israel says they are ready for it, his campaign said.

It all started about a week ago when Haley at the debate stage accused Ramaswamy of not having any foreign policy experience.

Since then the Ohio-based Indian American has been attacked both by the media and his political opponents for his inexperience on foreign policy.

On Tuesday, Ramaswamy used the 'Namrata Randhawa' name of Nikki Haley on his website.

I'm not going to get involved in these childish name games. It's pretty pathetic. First of all, I was born with Nikki on my birth certificate. I was raised as Nikki. I married a Haley. And so that is what my name is.

"So he can say or misspell or do whatever he wants, but he can't step away from the fact that, he's the one that said he was going to abandon Israel, Haley told Fox News in response.

Those were his words. Now he's wanting to walk it back. And the reality is, you have to understand the importance of our allies and those relationships. We can never be so narcissistic to think that we don't need friends," she said.

It is not that Israel needs America. America needs Israel too, Haley said.

"Israel faces genocidal threats from Hamas, from Hezbollah, from Iran, from Syria. You need a president that understands that that understands that Israel is the front line of defence when it comes to us dealing with Islamic terrorism in Iran, she claimed.

And he just doesn't get it. So, look, I mean, I think you can tell a lot about the kind of leader someone will be based on how they run their campaign. And he's doing that all on his own, Haley said.

Later in the night, Ramaswamy's campaign issued a statement against Haley.

We wish Ambassador Haley and her family well in their future careers in the private sector, noting that they rapidly generated an impressive fortune as military contractors following her short-lived stint as US Ambassador to the United Nations, the campaign said.

Ramaswamy said the US relationship with Israel is a model example of how international relationships should work.

Israel spends a greater percentage of its own GDP on defense than any major nation. Seventy per cent of the aid the US provides to Israel must be spent in the US, and by 2028 the mandate is 100 per cent. This is consistent with 'America-First' foreign policy objectives, he said.

By the end of my first term, our relationship with Israel will be stronger than it has ever been. I will consummate Abraham Accords 2.0 by the end of 2025, adding Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Indonesia to the pact. We will work with Israel to ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon that advances US interests, Ramaswamy said.

"I wont end our aid to Israel until the day when Israel tells the US they are ready for it. Thats what true friends do: they speak honestly and openly to one another. I will speak to Bibi and invite him to the White House, something that President Biden is shamefully frightened to do, he said.
Washington, Aug 30 (PTI) The US has underscored the significance of holding "timely" and "free and fair" elections in Pakistan, as the possibility of a delayed poll until the next year looms in the cash-strapped country.

The US State Department in a press statement on Tuesday said acting Deputy Secretary of State and Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland had a telephonic conversation with acting Pakistani Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani.

During the conversation held on Tuesday, Nuland congratulated Jilani on his appointment as the foreign minister and discussed broadening and deepening the US-Pakistan partnership on issues of mutual concern, it said.

They also discussed matters related to Pakistans economic stability, prosperity, and continued engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Nuland and Jilani also "discussed the importance of timely, free and fair elections" in Pakistan, Miller said.

General elections are scheduled to be held in Pakistan within 90 days after the dissolution of the National Assembly, which was prematurely dissolved on August 9.

However, the polls meant to be held within 90 days are likely to be delayed as the government has announced that the elections could take place only after a new census was completed and new constituency boundaries are drawn.

The exercise could take about four months to complete, meaning that polls may be delayed till next year.

The US has recently been quite active in commenting on the political developments in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar assured the US of "a free and fair election process" in the country, in response to a congratulatory tweet by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Congratulating Kakar for becoming Pakistan's interim prime minister, Blinken tweeted, "As Pakistan prepares for free and fair elections, in accordance with its constitution and the rights to freedom of speech and assembly, we will continue to advance our shared commitment to economic prosperity."

Previously also Blinken issued a statement after cash-strapped Pakistan managed to secure a standby agreement with the IMF.

"We stand by the Pakistani people during these hard times and welcome the International Monetary Fund's approval of a program to support Pakistan. We urge Pakistan to continue working with @IMFNews toward macroeconomic reforms and sustainable economic recovery," Blinken tweeted after the Washington-based global lender agreed to give a USD 3 billion bailout to Pakistan on June 29.

Jailed prime minister Imran Khan has been alleging the US of hatching a conspiracy to topple his government.

Khan, 70, was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership. He alleged that the US targeted him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan. The US has repeatedly dismissed his allegations.

A trial court in Islamabad convicted and sentenced Khan to three years in prison on August 5 in the Toshakhana corruption case. On Tuesday, the Islamabad High Court suspended his three-year sentence.

However, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief remains in Attock jail and cannot contest the upcoming general elections as his conviction and disqualification in the Toshakhana corruption case remain intact, legal experts opine.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
Dakar (Senegal), Aug 30 (AP) Mutinous soldiers who led an attempted coup in Gabon say President Ali Bongo Ondimba is under house arrest after a coup in the African nation.

The statement, carried on state television, added that other people in the government have been arrested on various charges.

The coup happened Wednesday, after election results were announced saying Ondimba would remain in power, continuing his family's 55 hold on power. (AP) MRJ

MRJ
London, Aug 30 (PTI) Britains Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, is in Beijing on Wednesday to manage the countrys relationship with China and raise human rights concerns as well as the countrys support for Russian President Vladimir Putins actions in the conflict with Ukraine.

The first high-level visit in over five years comes amid strained UK-China relations but the British government stressed that the visit aligns its goals of cooperation with allies in the Indo-Pacific and that global issues of concern such as climate change cannot be tackled without engaging with Beijing.

Cleverly is scheduled for bilateral meetings with Chinas Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi, and Vice President Han Zheng.

It is important we manage our relationship with China across a range of issues, said Cleverly.

No significant global problem  from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic instability to nuclear proliferation  can be solved without China. Chinas size, history and global significance means they cannot be ignored, but that comes with a responsibility on the global stage. That responsibility means China fulfilling its international commitments and obligations, he said.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said Cleverlys trip to Beijing is aimed at strengthening channels of communication to further and protect British interests.

The Foreign Secretary will say that Chinas global significance comes with a responsibility on international security  helping to end Putins invasion of Ukraine, diffusing tensions in the South China Sea and ceasing malign activity in cyberspace, FCDO said.

During his visit, the Foreign Secretary will raise Beijings human rights obligations, including in relation to communities in Xinjiang and Tibet. He will also challenge China on the erosion of autonomy, rights and freedoms in Hong Kong under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, as well as other UK interests including the sanctions placed on UK MPs, it said.

Speaking to the BBC in Beijing, Cleverly said his visit was an opportunity to speak "directly and unambiguously" on areas of disagreement and "work together where it is in our mutual interest to do so".

"I'm realistic that one phone call, one visit, one meeting isn't going to fundamentally change the direction of travel...(but) patient, consistent and reliable communication could have an effect. That is why I bring up issues around human rights, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and indeed individual cases every time I have meetings with representatives of the Chinese government," he said.

The British government has criticised China for its treatment of Uyghur Muslims living in the country and in 2021 it banned the Chinese company Huawei from UK's 5G infrastructure citing security concerns. The same year, China banned five British MPs  including former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith  accusing them of spreading "lies and disinformation".
Shanghai, Aug 30 (AP) Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Wednesday said she warned Chinese leaders that US businesses might stop investing in their country without prompt action to address complaints about worsening conditions due to raids on firms, unexplained fines and unpredictable official behaviour.

Raimondo's comments add to pressure on Chinese leader Xi Jinping's government, which is trying to revive investor interest and reverse an economic slump. Business groups say confidence among foreign companies is at an all-time low. Official figures show foreign investment plunged in the latest quarter.

Raimondo visited Beijing as part of US efforts to restore relations that plummeted to their lowest level in decades due to disputes about technology, security, Taiwan and other issues.

She called her meetings with China's No. 2 leader, Premier Li Qiang, and other officials very productive but said she didn't pull any punches in conveying business complaints.

Raimondo said CEOs ahead of her trip told her they face increased pressure from Beijing's expansion of an anti-spying law this year, raids on some firms, tighter controls on data and lack of information about rule changes.

My point was US business needs to see some action taken to address these issues. Otherwise, they will deem it as just too risky and, as I said, uninvestable, Raimondo told reporters at a Boeing Co. joint venture in Shanghai's eastern district of Pudong.

Foreign direct investment in China fell 89% from a year earlier in the three months ending in June, according to official data. Most investment is believed to be brought into the country by Chinese companies disguised as foreign money to get tax breaks and other incentives, but business groups have warned foreign companies are withholding new spending until their status is clearer.

Patience is wearing thin, Raimondo said. She said conditions for companies that have complained for years about technology theft and official favouritism toward Chinese competitors are becoming in some ways even tougher.

Economic growth slid to 0.8% compared with the previous quarter in the three months ending in June from the January-March period's 2.2%. That is equal to an annual rate of 3.2%, which would be among China's weakest in decades.

Despite that, Li, the premier, has expressed confidence the economy can hit the ruling party's annual growth target of about 5%.

Raimondo said she welcomed moves such as the ruling party's announcement of a 24-point plan to improve conditions for entrepreneurs. She said the party secretary for Shanghai, Chen Jining, told her Wednesday the city was considering creating a hotline to receive business complaints.

We have to see the situation on the ground match the rhetoric, Raimondo said.

Raimondo's visit produced the most substantial results of a series of trips to Beijing over the past three months by US officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last month.

The two governments announced Monday they would form two groups to reduce trade tension by sharing information about US export controls on technology that irritate Beijing and discuss other commercial disputes. They also agreed to have officials meet to discuss protection of trade secrets and to hold a travel and tourism summit".

Beijing broke off dialogue with Washington over military, climate and other issues in August 2020 in retaliation for a visit to Taiwan by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The ruling party claims the self-ruled island democracy as part of its territory and objects to foreign official contacts.

Relations already were strained by a tariff war launched by then-President Donald Trump over complaints including that Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology.

Li appealed to Raimondo on Tuesday for concrete actions by Washington to improve relations, a reference to Chinese pressure for changes in US policy on Taiwan, technology and other issues.

Washington has blocked Chinese access to processor chips and other technology on security grounds. That threatens to hamper the ruling party's ambitions to create artificial intelligence and other industries. Xi accused Washington in March of trying to block China's development.

The group held its first meeting Tuesday. Raimondo said it would meet several more times. She said the meetings are intended to provide information and won't result in changes to US export controls.

We were able to clarify in the first meeting that we're not targeting China, Raimondo said. We're targeting action and behaviour which undermine US national security, and we sought to begin clarifying our procedures.

Export controls will continue to be the area of the most disagreement, but communication can only help, Raimondo said.

Conditions for foreign companies have worsened following the expansion of an anti-spying law that some say leaves them unclear about what consumer and other information they can gather.

A research firm, Mintz Group, was fined $1.5 million this month on charges it improperly gathered data. China ordered makers of some data equipment to stop using products from the biggest US maker of memory chips, Micron Inc, on security grounds.

The secretary said she raised the status of Visa and Mastercard as an example of the need to treat each other's companies the same way. The credit card issuers have waited for years for approval of applications to operate in China, while Chinese payment services Alipay and UnionPay operate freely in the United States.

We did not resolve anything, but I thought that it was important to put the issue on the table, Raimondo said. And I did feel heard.

In a phone call later with reporters, Raimondo said she mentioned to Chinese officials that her own emails were stolen by computer hackers. She said nothing about the source, but The Washington Post reported in July that she and Blinken were targets of state-backed Chinese hackers.

I mentioned that as an action that erodes trust," she said. (AP) SCY

SCY
Lahore, Aug 30 (PTI) Pakistan's Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on Wednesday said it has unearthed a cross-border drug smuggling network to India via drones which is being operated by the Lahore police anti-narcotics wing head.

Last week, the Pakistan Rangers claimed to have arrested six Indian nationals inside Pakistani territory for allegedly trying to smuggle narcotics, weapons and ammunition into Pakistan.

Four of these alleged smugglers belong to India's Firozpur, namely Gurmeet Singh, Shinder Singh, Juginder Singh, and Vishal Jagga. Rattan Pal Singh belongs to Jalandhar and Garvender Singh belongs to Ludhiana.

According to the Punjab police, Lahore police anti-narcotics wing head Mazhar Iqbal is accused of smuggling drugs, especially heroin to India via drones. Iqbal has made billions of rupees through smuggling and action against him has been initiated in the light of statements of the Indian smugglers arrested recently, senior police officials said.

"An FIR has been registered against Lahore police anti-narcotics wing head Mazhar Iqbal for his alleged involvement in cross border (India) smuggling of drugs through drones. We could not arrest him as he has secured a pre-arrest bail," Lahore Deputy Inspector General (Investigation) Imran Kishwar told Dawn.

"We have constituted a high-powered committee of senior police officers to further expand the scope of the investigation into the illegal cross-border smuggling of the drug, he said.

According to the initial Investigation, Iqbal and his network would smuggle drugs from Kasur to India through drones. "The investigation reveals that Mazhar Iqbal is involved in transporting over 30kg of heroin to India through drones. He used to receive payment for his services in Dubai," a senior officer of Punjab police told PTI Wednesday.

He said Iqbal has made billions of rupees in assets. "Besides, he has a fleet of luxurious cars and lives in a four-kanal house in posh Defence Housing Authority Lahore. He is also fond of collecting weapons from different countries, especially the US," the officer said.

He added some top police officers knew Iqbal had been involved in cross-border smuggling for years but he managed to grease their palms to get away from his crime.

"After the arrest of six Indian nationals, the matter was discussed at the highest level after which action was initiated against Iqbal," the officer said.

Police said that a drone could carry up to six kilograms of drugs, which would be delivered at a given location in Indian Punjab after flying across the border.

It is expected that police might arrest other members of the network in Lahore.
Washington, Aug 30 (AP) The White House on Wednesday said that it has new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for the war in Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the latest finding just weeks after the White House said that it had determined that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent visit to Pyongyang called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow for its Ukraine war.

Kirby said that Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other basic materiel to shore up its defence industrial base.

He added that the letters were "more at the surface level but that Russian and North Korean talks on a weapons sale were advancing. The leaders exchanged the letters following Shoigu's visit, he said.

Following Shoigu's visit another group of Russian officials traveled to Pyongyang for follow-on discussions about potential arms deals between the DPRK and Russia, Kirby said, using the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Kirby declined to detail how US officials had gathered the intelligence.

Shortly before the White House unveiled the new information about North Korea and Russia's weapon talks, North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters, according to South Korea's military. The missile test came just hours after the US flew at least one long-range bomber to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against the North.

The Biden administration has repeatedly made the case that the Kremlin has become reliant on North Korea, as well as Iran, for the arms it needs to fight its war against Ukraine. North Korea and Iran are largely isolated on the international stage for their nuclear programmes and human rights records.

In March, the White House said it had gathered intelligence that showed that Russia was looking to broker a food-for-arms deal with North Korea, in which Moscow would provide the North with needed food and other commodities in return for munitions from Pyongyang.

Late last year, the White House said it had determined that the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company, had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces fighting in Ukraine on behalf of Russia.

Both North Korea and Russia have previously denied the U.S. allegations about weapons. North Korea, however, has sided with Russia over the war in Ukraine, insisting that the hegemonic policy of the US-led West has forced Moscow to take military action to protect its security interests.

President Donald Trump traded letters with Kim during his administration in an unsuccessful bid to encourage the North Korean leader to abandon his nuclear weapons programme. (AP)



GRS

GRS
Dhaka, Aug 30 (PTI) Concerned over the several court cases against Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, more than 170 global leaders, including former US president Barack Obama, have urged Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to suspend all legal actions against the pioneer of microfinancing.

Yunus, 83, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his anti-poverty campaign, earning Bangladesh the repute of being the home of microcredit through his Grameen Bank, which he founded in 1983.

More than 170 global leaders and Nobel laureates wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Hasina, urging her to suspend legal proceedings against Yunus.

The signatories included Obama, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and more than 100 Nobel laureates.

"One of the threats to human rights that concern us in the present context is the case of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus. We are alarmed that he has recently been targeted by what we believe to be continuous judicial harassment, the letter said.

We are confident that any thorough review of the anti-corruption and labour law cases against him will result in his acquittal, it added.

Clinton reinforced her support for Yunus, urging the international community to wage a campaign for an end to his persecution as the economist faces several court cases on charges of violating financial and labour laws.

In her post on the social media platforms Facebook and X on Tuesday, Clinton wrote, Stand with me and more than 160 other global leaders to support great humanitarian and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus in his moment of need.

"Join the movement to demand an end to his persecution," wrote Clinton, wife of former US president Bill Clinton.

In a quick response on Monday, Hasina suggested that international dignitaries send experts to review allegations against Yunus.

Asserting that she believed the expert's review would reveal more allegations against him, the prime minister added that Bangladeshs judiciary was independent.

Accusing Yunus of begging for the statement, she said, If the gentleman (Dr Yunus) had so much self-confidence that he had committed no crime, he would not be begging for a statement at that international level.

The economist was on a protracted row with the incumbent government due to obscure reasons. The Hasina-led administration began a series of investigations against him after coming to power in 2008.

Many people believe that Hasina became enraged when Yunus announced he would form a political party in 2007 when the country was run by a military-backed government, and she was in prison.

However, Yunus did not follow through on the plan, but criticised politicians in the country, alleging they were only interested in money.

Hasina's government began a review of the Grameen Bank's activities in 2011 and fired Yunus as its founding managing director on charges of violating government retirement regulations.

He was put on trial in 2013 on charges of receiving money without government permission, including his Nobel Prize award and royalties from a book.

Hasina called Yunus a bloodsucker" and accused him of using force and other means to recover loans from poor rural women as head of Grameen Bank.

After his prolonged efforts to settle disputes with the government, Yunus blasted the government for paving the way for the destruction of the pioneering micro-lending bank he founded.

Earlier this month, 18 former Grameen Telecom workers filed a case against Yunus, accusing him of siphoning off their job benefits. Yunus counsels called the case harassment and vowed to fight the allegations.

Separately, Yunus went on trial in August 2022 on charges of violating labour laws.

The economist and 13 others were also named in a case brought by the Anti-Corruption Commission accusing them of embezzling funds from Grameen Telecom.

In September 2019, a Dhaka court issued a warrant to arrest Yunus as he failed to appear in person over a case relating to the firing of three employees of the IT company that he heads as the chairman.

He was later granted bail after his court appearance.
KYODO NEWS - Aug 31, 2023 - 08:29 | All, World, Japan

North Korea launched two ballistic missiles Wednesday night as part of a tactical nuclear strike drill in response to the deployment of U.S. strategic bombers to the Korean Peninsula during an exercise with South Korea, the country's state media reported.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday a missile unit of the Korean People's Army "fired two tactical ballistic missiles northeastward" and "correctly carried out its nuclear strike mission."

North Korea slammed the U.S.-South Korean exercise as a "serious threat" and tantamount to plans for a pre-emptive nuclear strike by the United States, according to KCNA.

The projectile launches came after U.S. B-1B bombers were deployed to the region for a joint exercise with South Korean forces on Wednesday as part of the countries' annual Ulchi Freedom Shield large-scale military exercise from Aug. 21.

KCNA also reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the training command post of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army on Tuesday and observed a command drill involving the whole army.

The drill was "aimed at occupying the whole territory of the southern half by repelling the enemy's sudden armed invasion and switching over to an all-out counterattack," KCNA reported.

North Korea has criticized joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises as rehearsals for invasion.

Related coverage:

North Korea's Kim says nuclear weapons to be deployed to navy

Citizens of North Korea allowed to re-enter with 1-week quarantine

North Korea fails in military satellite launch, vows to try again in October
Mumbai, Aug 30 (PTI) The Mumbai police have arrested a 23-year-old man for allegedly duping holidayers on the pretext of online booking of villas and bungalows, an official said on Wednesday.



Akash Wadhwani, a resident of the eastern suburb of Ghatkopar, was taken into custody from a hotel in Juhu on Monday. He would often stay put in luxury hotels to evade arrest, the official said. He faces nearly 20 such cases, said the official.

Wadhwanis arrest came on a complaint filed last week by an employee of a private firm located in the business hub of Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC).

The complainant told the police that she was cheated of Rs 90,000 after she tried to make an online booking for a villa at Alibaug for a vacation.

According to the complainant, she came across a website vistarastays.com when she was searching online for villas and bungalows at Alibaug for a vacation.

After she contacted the website, the woman was asked to pay Rs 90,000 to book a villa in the coastal town, the official said citing her complaint.

However, closer to the booking date, the person she was in touch with became unreachable, the official said.

Sub-inspector Rajesh Garad from BKC police station said, With the help of technical evidence, we nabbed Wadhwani from a hotel in Juhu. He created a fake website and cheated many people. He has been named in nearly 20 such cases.

Wadhwani has been booked under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act, the official added.
Patna, Aug 30 (PTI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's party JD(U) on Wednesday asserted that the "desperation" felt by BJP ahead of assembly polls in a number of states has caused the Centre to slash cooking gas prices by Rs 200 per cylinder.

JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh "Lalan" also claimed that once the polls were over, the Narendra Modi government may announce a "Rs 600 per cylinder" hike.

"Why did they (the Centre) not announce the cut earlier? It has become a habit of the BJP to make promises during elections and go back on these afterwards, claiming these were a rhetoric (jumla), Lalan told PTI Video.

The central government on Tuesday announced a Rs 200 per cylinder cut in prices of domestic cooking gas.

The JD(U) chief claimed the BJP-led NDA was rattled by the momentum gained by the opposition coalition INDIA, "for which the initiative was taken by Nitish Kumar".

"This desperation manifested in the NDA meeting headed by the Prime Minister in July, on a day (opposition bloc) INDIA too was holding its meet in Bengaluru. No one except the PM, who had not cared to hold NDA meetings since taking over in 2014, was allowed to speak," alleged Lalan.

The JD(U) chief also mocked the BJP-led coalition for "counting on parties which do not have a single member in any assembly or Parliament" and claimed the "desperation" had prompted NDA allies in Maharashtra to call yet another meeting coinciding with that of INDIA in Mumbai.

"It is the same desperation that has led them to cut gas prices. They should know that prices are so high that 95 per cent of Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries are unable to get refills for their cylinders. They may raise the price again after polls by Rs 600 per cylinder", alleged Lalan.

Lalan ducked a query about speculations that Siromani Akali Dal and Indian National Lok Dal, both led by people having excellent relations with Nitish Kumar, may attend the INDIA meeting later this week.

"We will see what happens," quipped the JD(U) president, replying to a query on new entrants, the possibility of which was hinted at by the Bihar CM recently.

Lalan also alleged that the Centre's submission before the Supreme Court on caste survey has "exposed the BJP's anti-OBC and anti-reservations" stance.

He also charged the BJP, the main opposition party in Bihar, with trying to trigger a "religious frenzy" by raising objections to "curtailed Hindu festival holidays" in schools run by the state government.
Kolkata, Aug 30 (PTI) West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has announced a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh for students of the state who excel in The Indian Navy Quiz 2023 (ThinQ 23), Raj Bhawan officials said on Wednesday.

According to the officials, Rs 50,000 will be awarded to the West Bengal school team that reaches the finals and the remaining Rs 50,000 will be given to the student who gets selected into the 'India team' which will participate in the international round.

West Bengal has shown tremendous enthusiasm in registering for the contest with 1,340 schools set to participate, the highest in the country, officials added.

This is the second edition of the Indian Navy Quiz and is being hosted by Navy Welfare and Wellness Association (NWWA) under the aegis of the G20 Secretariat.

The top eight teams will vie for the national crown in the final scheduled on November 18 at the iconic Gateway of India in Mumbai.

The Indian team, comprising two main quizzers and a standby, will be selected by a distinguished jury.

The International Round will feature invitees from G20 (+09) nations, with each country nominating a team of two students from Classes IX to XII and their equivalent.

The quiz will be conducted in English and will conform to international standards. The international final will be held on November 22 at the iconic India Gate in Delhi.
Patna, Aug 30 (PTI) Smoke from a parcel containing sulfuric acid triggered panic at the General Post Office here on Wednesday, police said.

The parcel was sent from Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, they said.

After a thorough investigation, it was found that the package contained sulfuric acid, which resulted in the smoke. The parcel was to be delivered to a Patna-based scientist for research work, SSP (Patna) Rajeev Mishra told PTI.

Mishra also said it was not a case of a blast as reported by a section of the media.

No case has been registered by the police, the SSP added.
Bhubaneswar, Aug 30 (PTI) Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate of Police on Wednesday called for sharing IP addresses of private CCTVs with law enforcers to fight crime.

Commissioner of Police S Priyadarshi, while launching the 'Sahabhagita' (participation) initiative in Bhubaneswar, appealed to business establishments, apartments, shopping malls and others to install at least one camera focused towards public roads.

He said the move was aimed at preventing and curbing crime incidents.

The initiative, which was earlier launched in Cuttack, will now be implemented in Bhubaneswar.

Noting that CCTV cameras play an important role in surveillance, fight against crime and traffic management, he said that the 'Sahabhagita' initiative was launched in Cuttack city in July last year, and till now 600 community (private) CCTV cameras have been linked to the police control room.

"We appeal to CCTV camera owners of shopping malls, markets, business houses, jewellery shops, banks and apartments to link their CCTV footage with police by sharing their IP addresses and keep at least one camera facing the road which can help track the movement of the people," the CP said.

He also assured the CCTV camera owners that their identities would remain confidential. He asked them to contact the local police station and share their IP addresses.
New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) The foreign ministers of the Quad countries are likely to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month with a focus on expanding overall cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The Quad, comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia, has been focusing on practical cooperation to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's increasing military muscle-flexing in the region.

The Quad foreign ministers are expected to deliberate on ways to further boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific under the framework of the coalition, the people cited above said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi last held talks in India in March.

In the meeting, they reaffirmed the grouping's commitment for a free and open Indo-Pacific and said it strongly supports the rule of law, sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful settlement of disputes.

The ministers also vowed to work closely to align and complement Quad's agenda with Japan's presidency of the G7, India's presidency of the G20 and the United States' APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) "host year" in 2023.
Anantnag, Aug 30 (PTI) PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti Wednesday called for the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley, saying the atmosphere of gloom in the union territory will end only after that.

"The atmosphere of gloom will not end in the Kashmir Valley until Kashmiri Pandits return to their homes and live with dignity and joy," Mufti told reporters at Thajiwara in Bijbehara area of south Kashmirs Anantnag district.

She attended a special prayer meet at the temple here in which scores of Kashmiri Pandits participated.

Mufti, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said she prayed for the return of the Pandits to the valley.

"I wish and pray to God, and I prayed here as well, to end our miseries and bring a day when, like today we see Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims brothers and sisters enjoying here, our Kashmiri pandit brethren who are in Jammu or Delhi or anywhere else, return to their homes and live their life with dignity like the yesteryears," she said.

Meanwhile, Mehbooba's daughter Iltija Mufti accused the BJP of spreading venom in the minds of children.

"It is very unfortunate that they are trying to spread this venom among the children now. I have seen many videos on social media where children are shouting disgusting slogans," Iltija told reporters at Thajiwara in the Bijbehara area of south Kashmirs Anantnag district.

She was reacting to a question about a social media video that showed a teacher asking Class 2 students to slap a classmate in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar.

She accused the BJP of "plunging the whole country into darkness".
Ghaziabad (UP), Aug 30 (PTI) A lawyer was shot dead in his chambers on the tehsil court complex in this Uttar Pradesh district, police said on Wednesday.

Manoj Chowdhary alias Monu Jaat was having lunch in his chambers around 2 pm when two assailants entered the room and fired at him. He died on the spot, they said.

Shortly after the shooting, a police team arrived at the spot with forensic experts. After completing the legal formalities, Chowdhary's body was sent for post-mortem, they added.

Police teams are obtaining CCTV footage from cameras installed on the court premises, Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Nipun Agarwal said.

At the time of the attack, other lawyers were holding a meeting to chalk out their strategy about a strike, called by bar associations in western Uttar Pradesh in support of their colleagues in Hapur, the police said.
Jaipur, Aug 30 (PTI) Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra on Wednesday said the people of the state are happy with his party's government and its plans.

He said the proposed 'Parivartan Yatra' of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will prove to be a "super failure". "BJP's 'Aakrosh Yatra' has failed, this 'Parivartan Yatra' will be superfail because it is a fight for supremacy, not a yatra," said Dotasra when asked about the BJP's proposed 'Parivartan Yatra'.

Dotasra said the Congress will repeat its performance in the state. "But the people will not change the government in Rajasthan. They are happy with the government, happy with its schemes. All the workers of the Congress party are happy, enthusiastic," he said.

The assembly elections will be held in Rajasthan later this year and the BJP has announced to take out four 'Parivartan Yatras' in the state. The first yatra will start from Ranthambore, Sawaimadhopur, in September. Dotasra accused the central government of misusing constitutional institutions.

"The way the central government is misusing the constitutional institutions and trying to crush the people, there is a discussion not only in the country but also abroad whether democracy in India is weakening because efforts are being made to crush democracy," said Dotasra.

About gathering of potential candidates for the upcoming elections at the Congress headquarters in the state, he said it is the election season and there is a lot of enthusiasm among the people. Dotasra said the people of our screening committee is continuously meeting the workers and prominent leaders.

"Tomorrow the committee will meet the people of Banswara and Udaipur divisions to take their feedback," he added. The Congress leader said there is no "anti-incumbency" regarding the government.

"There is enthusiasm among the people due to the government schemes. There is a good atmosphere in the Congress right now," he added. In view of the upcoming assembly elections, a large number of prospective candidates thronged at the party's state headquarters. Congress' screening committee chairman Gaurav Gogoi is meeting with the division-wise leaders here.

The committee held a face-to-face meeting with party leaders from Ajmer, Bikaner, Sikar and Jaipur divisions here on Tuesday.
Amritsar, Aug 30 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday handed over appointment letters to 5,714 anganwadi workers of the social security, women and child development department.

The role of anganwadi workers is vital as they play a crucial role in the overall development of children, he told a gathering at a function at the Guru Nanak Dev University campus here.

On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, an anganwadi worker tied 'rakhi' on the wrist of the chief minister.

Mann assured that the state government will take initiatives for the welfare of anganwadi workers in the forthcoming days to ensure that they do not face any hardship while discharging their duties.

The chief minister also highlighted that the Punjab government has given jobs to more than 35,000 youths in the state. The entire recruitment process has been carried in a transparent manner and jobs have been given to them on merit, he said.

Noting that women and girls are proving their mettle in every field, the chief minister said that it is the duty of the state government to empower girls by opening new vistas of education and employment for them.

The chief minister said that his mother likes to live in their native village in Sangrur and it has been over 40 days since he has met her.

However, he said this has not deterred him to serve Punjab with diligence as all elderly women of the state are his mother and their blessings are with him.

Mann said whenever his mother watches him visiting villages, meeting the elderly and touching their feet, she feels proud that her son is working tirelessly for the welfare of the state and bringing back its lost glory.
By Takuya Karube, KYODO NEWS - Aug 30, 2023 - 09:47 | World, All

China, Japan and South Korea are seeking to hold by year-end their first trilateral summit in about four years, a top envoy said Tuesday.

The South Korean ambassador to the United States, Cho Hyun Dong, said at a think tank event in Washington that his country, the current chair of the three-way framework, is making every effort to realize the plan.

Cho said the reaction from Tokyo is "always positive" while Beijing too has been "quite forthcoming," adding that South Korea is looking forward to hosting a trilateral meeting at some point in the near future.

The last time the three countries held such a summit was December 2019. The hiatus was largely due to a low ebb in relations between Japan and South Korea over wartime issues, but the two have made dramatic progress in mending ties this year and held a three-way summit with the United States in mid-August near Washington.

In recent years, the coronavirus pandemic has also hindered engagements between China, Japan and South Korea. The three had agreed in 2008 to hold summits on an annual basis.

Past summits have focused on economic cooperation, such as an envisaged free trade deal among them, rather than hot-button political issues, and China has been represented by its premier instead of its president.

The revelation by the South Korean envoy comes at a time of heightened tensions between Japan and China after Tokyo went ahead with its decision to start releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

China has reacted sharply to the discharge that began Thursday, banning all imports of seafood products from Japan.

Also, countless nuisance phone calls from China and other acts of harassment against Japanese nationals have been reported since then, although the release was approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency and many countries as aligning with global safety standards.

At the event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the South Korean envoy also addressed China's reaction to South Korea and Japan deepening their cooperation with the United States.

"To me, their reaction is more rhetoric than substantive," Cho said. "My personal feeling is their reaction is quite reserved."

His remarks were made in the presence of Japan's ambassador to the United States, Koji Tomita, and Kurt Campbell, coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the U.S. National Security Council, as they came together to review the recent three-way summit at Camp David.

At the U.S. presidential retreat, the leaders agreed to meet at least once a year, as well as boost security and all kinds of cooperation in the midst of China's rise and the growing missile and nuclear threats from North Korea.

Tomita said, "Although we have sent a very clear message about some aspects of Chinese behaviors which we found troubling...we also have made it very clear that we will continue to work to find a constructive and stable" relationship with China.

On the incidents of harassment after Japan started releasing the treated radioactive water, such as Japanese schools in China being pelted with rocks and eggs, Tomita said he hopes the Fukushima issue will not stand in the way of efforts to stabilize bilateral ties.

"We want to see more responsible action taken by the Chinese government," he added.

Campbell said he believes the United States, Japan and South Korea are more aligned with respect to how they see the challenges following their first standalone summit at Camp David.

"The challenges that Russia presents to Ukraine, the provocations of North Korea and the desire to have a steady predictable relationship with China, but also concern about increasing provocations and uncertainty emanating from Beijing," he said, citing some of them.

Related coverage:

Japan to expand ASEAN aid, focus on food security at special summit

FOCUS: Japan has long way to convince skeptics on Fukushima water release

China bans Japan seafood after water release, rallies in H.K., Seoul
Banihal/Jammu, Aug 30 (PTI) A woman and her two children were killed in a fire that engulfed three huts in a village in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district on Wednesday, a police official said.

The woman's husband and mother-in-law suffered injuries in the incident in Hummar Gali in the upper reaches of Pogal Paristan, he said.

The huts belonged to members of the Gujjar community and according to preliminary information, Najma Begum (25) and her daughters asma Bano (6) and Iqra Bano (2) were killed in the fire, the official said.

Najma's husband Ibrahim and mother-in-law Mirja Begum suffered serious burn injuries. They were admitted to a public health centre in Ukheral, he said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, the official said.
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 30 (PTI) After a long dry spell, rains have arrived back in Kerala again with the India Meteorological Department on Wednesday predicting moderate to light rainfall in one or two places in various districts of the state.





The Met department said moderate rainfall was likely to occur at one or two places in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts of the state.







Besides that, light rainfall was likely to occur at some places in the Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Thrissur districts of Kerala, it said.







Rains have come back after more than a month-long gap to the state which this year has seen a shortfall in monsoon rainfall.







According to the Met department, the deficiency in seasonal rainfall this year from June 1 to August 29 was 48 per cent.







The deficient rainfall has affected the agricultural sector and also resulted in reduction in power generation as many hydro-electric dams were forced to conserve water in their reservoirs.







The low rainfall also resulted in shortage of water in many places in the state with household wells drying up.
Westerly, RI (02891)

Today

Cloudy skies with a few showers this afternoon. High around 60F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low near 40F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.




An Israeli man was stabbed in the back by a Palestinian terrorist near the Shivtei Yisroel light rail station in Yerushalayim on Wednesday night.

The victim subsequently fled to Shimon HaTzaddik Street, where medics began treatment. Magen David Adom Ambulance service transported the 25-year-old victim to Shaarey Tzedek hospital in moderate condition.

The Palestinian terrorist was confronted by Israeli security forces at the light rail station, who shot and killed him.

Further details to follow.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




In a new verbal barrage targeting President Joe Biden and others, former President Donald Trump delivered a stark warning to be careful what you wish for in relation to his ongoing criminal and civil trials.

The focal point of Trumps ire is Federal District Judge Tanya Chutkans decision regarding the trial date for the case involving Trumps alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

Special Counsel Jack Smith and Trumps legal team held opposing views on the trial date. While Smith proposed a trial to commence in January, Team Trump advocated for a later start in 2026. However, Judge Chutkan ultimately set the trial to take place on March 4, 2024.

In an early morning post on his Truth Social account, Trump reiterated his allegations that Bidens administration and other adversaries are pursuing a partisan vendetta against him, leveraging the Department of Justice and the FBI for their agenda, which he deems illegal.

These indictments and lawsuits are all part of my political opponents campaign plan. It is Election Interference, and they are going to use the DOJ/FBI to help them, which is illegal. Crooked Joe pushed this litigation hard to get it done. This is a new low in Presidential Politics. To the Democrats, I say, be careful what you wish for,' Trump wrote.

The menacing undertone of the warning is hard to ignore. Given Trumps historical reliance on his supporters as a force to be reckoned with, particularly if he were to face imprisonment for the charges against him, one might wonder if it was more of a veiled threat than a warning.

During a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Trump discussed the possibility of a civil war and invoked the fervor of his followers present on January 6. Trump said the sentiments in the crowd that day was a blend of patriotism, peace, and love  and a healthy dose of anger over what they perceived as wrongs done to the nation.

Asked directly whether he thinks there will be a civil war, Trump said: I dont know, because I dont know what it you know, I can say this. Theres a level of passion that Ive never seen. Theres a level of hatred that Ive never seen. And thats probably a bad combination.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




In a recent appearance on Steve Bannons War Room podcast, Georgia state Senator Colton Moore (R) has sparked controversy by asserting that street confrontations could erupt if the prosecution of former President Donald Trump and his 18 alleged co-conspirators on charges related to a supposed fake elector scheme proceeds. Moores comments have ignited concerns about the escalating tensions surrounding the legal proceedings.

During the podcast, Moore expressed his concerns, saying, Weve got the ability to subpoena documents, to subpoena witnesses, and at the end of the day, weve got the legislative authority to call in the state troopers and bring these people in, in reference to the prosecutors.

Moore further urged Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA) to convene a special session of the Georgia legislature with the aim of defunding the office of prosecutor Fani Willis on the state level. He also advocated for Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) to intervene at the federal level in Washington.

Moores statement continued: I mean, now that weve got 19 people who are facing the rest of their life in prison because they spoke out against an election? Weve got to put our heads together and figure this out. We need to be taking action right now. Because if we dont, our constituencies are gonna be fighting it in the streets. Do you want a civil war? I dont want a civil war. I dont want to have to draw my rifle. I want to make this problem go away with my legislative means of doing so.

According to Moore, the first step toward resolving the situation is defunding Fani Willis of any Georgia tax dollars. He expressed hope that Representatives Jordan and Biggs would follow suit in Congress and strip her of federal funding as well. Moore argued that Willis is not upholding her oath to the Constitution, leading him to call for such drastic measures.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




Former President Donald Trump, fired off an angry response to a segment on the show America Reports. While he notably skipped the initial Republican primary debate on Fox News, citing a perceived hostility towards him, Trumps attention remained fixated on the channel.

In a recent episode of America Reports, GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie took center stage. The shows host, John Roberts, questioned Christie about the trial date set by a federal judge, Tanya Chutkan, for Trumps indictment in Washington, D.C. This indictment was related to Trumps alleged involvement in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Roberts posed a pointed query to Christie regarding the implications of the March 4 trial date, a day ahead of the Super Tuesday primary. Supporters of former President Trump are looking at this saying that timeline seems to clearly be designed to interfere with the primary process. What do you say? asked Roberts.

Christie, a former New Jersey governor and presidential candidate, responded with candor, stating, What interferes with the primary process is Donald Trumps conduct and his insistence on continuing to run for president of the United States despite the fact hes been indicted in four different jurisdictions and hes out on bail in four different jurisdictions in this country. Whether you believe the charges are just or not, they are here.

The conversation proceeded with Christie emphasizing his credentials and asserting that Trumps chances against President Joe Biden were bleak. Roberts countered, Well, I mean, he is still the frontrunner by a longshot. He dropped a little after the first debate but still has a leg up on everybody else. Well see how this continues to go.

Unsurprisingly, Trump did not remain silent in the face of this exchange. Taking to his Truth Social platform, he unleashed a two-part response targeting both Christie and Roberts.

Trump lambasted Christie, writing, Sloppy Chris Christie, who was rated the Worst Governor in the History of New Jersey, had the lowest approval rating, 8%, had 11 straight downgrades of New Jersey Bonds, a record, was thrown out of New Hampshire after his last debate, and endlessly suffered from the horrible and never-ending Bridgegate scandal, SHOULD DROP OUT OF THE RACE. HE IS GOING NOWHERE AND IS VERY BAD FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!

He then shifted his focus to Roberts, criticizing his interpretation of polling data. Would somebody please tell RINO John Roberts of FoxNews that my poll numbers went up after the last debate, they didnt go slightly down. I am leading DeSanctimonious by more than 50 Points, and Crooked Joe Biden by a lot. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




A Boro Park yungerman made a tremendous kiddush hashem this week when he returned money inadvertently given to him by employees of Chase Bank.

YWN has learned through a third party that the story occurred on Monday, when a kollel yungerman withdrew $5,000 in cash at the Chase Bank branch at 13th Avenue and 48th Street in Boro Park.

Upon returning home, the man counted up the bills and quickly realized that he had been handed $6,000  not the $5,000 he had withdrawn. He checked the receipt which confirmed that he had only taken out $5,000 from his account.

The next morning, the Jewish man returned to the bank and handed a teller $1,000 in cash, explaining that he had been given more money than he had withdrawn.

The bank employees were stunned. They told him that they had noticed the missing money, but were utterly flummoxed by it. They certainly were not expecting a customer to return that money to them.

The yungerman didnt stay around to be praised. He left the bank and went back to learning in kollel, completely uninterested in the attention that would have surely come his way.

Mi KAmcha Yisroel.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
Qabil Ashirov

We are also planning to hold TEKNOFEST in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,Azernews reports, citing Selcuk Bayraktar, the Chairman of Baykar Company of Turkiye.

"TEKNOFEST was previously held in Azerbaijan. In addition, there were requests from Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and Indonesia," he stressed.

Selcuk Bayraktar also said that there will be participants from 120 different countries at TEKNOFEST to be held today.

"There is a great interest in this festival in Ankara, there will be three times more participants than the TEKNOFEST we organized in Istanbul," he added.

To recall, Aerospace and Technology Festival (TEKNOFEST), is the largest aviation, aerospace, and technology festival that holds in Turkiye. The festival is held in collaboration with private companies, ministries, and academic institutions. The purpose of the festival is to raise public awareness about technology in society and to draw attention to the importance of national production. The Festival is filled with seminars, technology competitions, and exhibitions of domestic technology enterprises. Apart Turkiye, TEKNOFEST was held in Azerbaijan in 2022.
BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- China has issued an inter-agency guideline to kickstart an action plan on improving basic education in the new era, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Wednesday.

The guideline, jointly released by the MOE, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance, aims to increase the fairness and quality of the country's basic education.

The guideline focuses on deepening the supply-side reform of basic education, further expanding quality education resources, and accelerating the construction of a high-caliber basic education system, said MOE official Tian Zuyin.

By 2027, a provision and adjustment mechanism for primary, secondary school and kindergarten enrollments will be basically established in alignment with the country's new urbanization drive and demographic changes in the school-aged population, according to the guideline.

The coverage of kindergartens will be further elevated, with the ratio of government-funded kindergartens surpassing 60 percent. All counties nationwide with a population of more than 200,000 will be equipped with special education schools, and the quality of inclusive education will be substantially raised, according to the guideline. 




Members of the right-wing Im Tirtzu organization on Wednesday morning held a protest of shame against a leader of the campaign of the recent relentless harassment of government officials and their families in Israel and abroad.

Nava Rozolyo, a resident of Tel Aviv, manages a Whatsapp group with thousands of members with the sole purpose of stalking and harassing government officials. Members of the group are informed in real-time of the location of government members, including during their private family or vacation time, and are encouraged to storm the area. It was her actions that resulted in an angry mob storming a hairdresser in Tel Aviv in March after she informed members that Sara Netanyahu was inside.

On her social media accounts, she calls herself a protest group of one woman and calls her group The Guards of Bushah. She proudly boasts about her harassment of publicly elected officials and engages in radical incitement on the level of Ehud Barak, and in fact, she shared the same radical video comparing Prime Minister Netanyahu to Hiter that Barak recently shared. Although, by profession, Rozolyo, a single 37-year-old, is a lawyer and accountant, she currently dedicates all her time to her new profession of stalking public officials.

An Im Tirzu leader said: Nava Rozolyo and her friends operate in a method that threatens elected officials while completely subverting the values of democracy. As a result of these actions, the State of Israel has deteriorated into anarchy and the voices of millions of citizens are silenced. The neighbors of elected officials also have rights, not only anarchists

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




An attempted ramming attack took place on Wednesday morning at a military position near the yishuv of Beit Chagai, near Chevron.

A terrorist accelerated toward soldiers standing at a checkpoint. Fortunately, they reacted in time, opening fire at the driver and neutralizing him. BChasdei Hashem, there were no major injuries among Israeli security forces, with only one soldier suffering a minor injury. He received emergency medical aid at the scene and was evacuated to the hospital for further treatment.

The terrorist was evacuated to Soroka Hospital in a military intensive care unit.

Following the attack, the residents of Beit Chagai said: Ten days have passed since the severe attack in which Batsheva Nigri, Hyd, was killed and Aryeh Gottleib was seriously injured, and now the terrorists once again provide a painful reminder that terrorism continues and that additional more creative actions are required in order to suppress terror activity. Our demand for the immediate closure of the checkpoints from Chevron has been strengthened in the wake of this attack and we demand that the army officials do so as soon as possible in order to prevent further deaths and injuries.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




Just in time for Rosh Hashanah, thousands of Lomdei Oraysa from around the globe will be celebrating the completion of Maseches Rosh Hashanah with the Oraysa Amud VChazara program that has revolutionized the Torah world.

Mere days before the exalted day of Yom Kippur, the lomdim will begin toiling over Maseches Yoma. Beginning this particular Masechta right before the exalted day that it expounds upon, will surely give them an added layer of appreciation for the holiest day of the Jewish calendar and will uplift their avodas hayom.

It is very notable that many of the original lomdei Oraysa, who joined the program upon its inception approximately four years ago, are still keeping up with the program, having completed Berachos, Shabbos, Eruvin, Pesachim and now Rosh Hashanah. This is a testament to how doable the program is and how it has made the goal of completing and thoroughly knowing entire Masechtos an attainable one.

Participants describe the immense satisfaction and sipuk hanefesh that they receive from the innovative program that calls for studying one Amud a day, 5 days a week, in a thorough manner. Each day, one new Amud is learned and yesterdays Amud is reviewed, with Friday and Shabbos dedicated to reviewing the 2-and-a-half blatt learnt over the week. With this format, each Amud of Gemara is learned, understood, and mastered.

Scores of men say that the program has changed their lives and raised the bar of their learning to new heights. Many have joined Oraysa with each new Masechta, with new chaburos and shiurim forming in more and more locations and cities around the globe.

As one Lomed Oraysa succinctly put it, Oraysa has literally rejuvenated my learning and granted me a level of enjoyment in a blatt Gemara that I havent felt since I was in Yeshiva. I am proud to say that I not only learned several Masechtos and reviewed them several times, I truly feel like I acquired them and know them well.

In addition to the geshmak of the learning program itself, the many resources offered by Oraysa have shown to be a valuable companion to enhance the learning and bring it to the next level.

The shiurim available on Oraysas website and hotline featuring top-notch Magidei Shiur in English, Yiddish and Hebrew either on pshat in the Gemara or more in-depth analyses of the sugya has also proven to be a major attraction. Several new Magidei Shiur have been added to the platform in recent months, all of whom add their own unique style catering to the specific style of learning of each lomed.

The handy Oraysa calendar is a user-friendly tool that many carry around that helps lomdim stay up-to-date and keep track of what theyve learned and is just one of the many resources offered by Oraysa.

On a more local level, Oraysa has helped organize shiurim, chaburos and chavrusos in dozens of communities across America, Canada, Eretz Yisroel, Europe and beyond. Lomdei Oraysa know that wherever they find themselves in the world, they are more than likely to find an Oraysa chaburah to join for the day.

Participants also have the option of taking an optional bi-monthly bechina, which is given every other Sunday on the five blatt learned over the course of the past two weeks . The Mivchanei Oraysa test has become a valuable tool for testing ones knowledge and promoting retention, motivating participants to do additional, pre-bechina reviews at the end of each two weeks.

It has become a common sight to see lomdim toting around the extremely popular Yalkut Oraysa. This booklet is a masterfully created work of marei mekomos, explanations, daily quizzes and halacha lmaaseh which are utilized as important aids to enhance the learning of thousands of avid Lomdei Oraysa. It is now found in batei medrash all over the world and has become an invaluable resource for so many.

For anyone thinking of joining and becoming part of this massive Torah movement, the start of Masechtas Yoma is a great time to get on board and to benefit from all Oraysa has to offer! For anyone looking to acquire a Masechta and get a daily satisfaction and simcha in learning, Oraysa just may be the program you are looking for!

To join for Maseches Yoma or for more information to set up or join a shiur or chaburah in your neighborhood, please contact Oraysa at 914.8.ORAYSA or email [email protected].
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The charity workers in Israels north have been shocked in the face of one of the most alarming cases to emerge in recent years.

Mrs. Rivka Shoshana, an Orthodox Jewish woman, tragically passed away at the young age of 40.

She was suffering from severe malnourishment.

The story began a few years ago when the family immigrated to Israel from the USA and settled in a community up north.

Click here to help>>

However, everything changed drastically one day. The father unexpectedly left, abandoning his wife, her elderly mother, and their four children at home.

Sadly, this struggling family went unnoticed and received no attention as they endured a gradual decline. Their economic situation worsened, leading to food shortages and the familys desperate struggle to acquire bread. The children resorted to waiting in line at a specialized facility, pleading for food.

Upon recognizing the severity of their hunger, the staff at the facility started providing them with double portions so they could also have something for the evening.

Click here to help>>

However, the children were unable to communicate their dire circumstances properly as nobody seemed to notice their plight. Their mothers health deteriorated rapidly, and it was only when the oldest daughter realized her mother had completely stopped functioning that she knew it was time to seek help.

With no one to turn to, she desperately recalled the name of the generous man who had helped them nearly for her little brothers Bris Milah.

The girl roamed the streets, asking people if they knew how to reach the kind-hearted man. After numerous unsuccessful attempts, she finally encountered an individual who had the mans contact information!

Click here to help>>

Upon hearing the distress in her voice, the man promised to visit their home and assess the situation. Upon entering the house, his heart sank. There was an awful smell, indicative of neglect and severe deprivation. The small office refrigerator in the house was also empty. Completely empty!

Realizing the urgency, he immediately called for an ambulance to aid the poor, exhausted, and helpless mother lying in bed. Tragically, it was too late. Despite the doctors efforts during her prolonged hospitalization, she could not be saved.

The cause of death: malnutrition!

Today, the children and their grandmother are living in this mans house. They eat like children after the Holocaust, as described by those involved. The situation is dire, and the family needs urgent help.

Click here to help>>

Charity workers are overcome with sorrow when discussing this case, acknowledging their collective responsibility. We cannot absolve ourselves of this tragedy, they speak on behalf of the entire community, We never thought such a situation could arise in our time, yet it unfolded here, in the heart of a thriving city.

It is imperative that we make every effort to rectify this situation, or at least alleviate it to the best of our ability. We must support the children, establish a fund for their aid and support, provide them with the necessary rehabilitation, and assist them in building their futures since they no longer have parents.

Please consider making a donation to support the children of this family who have been tragically orphaned due to their mothers untimely death from hunger. Your support will make a huge difference in their lives!

Click here to help>>

All contributions are Tax-deductible 501c3




When retired estate agent Chrissie Fraser received a text from her adult daughter, Camilla, asking for a 1,209.78 loan to pay a debt she owed bailiffs, she immediately sprang into action.

The worried mother logged on to her mobile banking app and made the payment right away.

The 74-year-old had become comfortable making large payments on her daughter's behalf to help with the sale of her flat in Fulham, West London, over the preceding months.

Anything that would have jeopardised the sale  including having bailiffs knocking at the door  would have been disastrous.

But in less than three hours, Chrissie's decision would cost her more than 4,400 in a vicious scam.

Cruel trick: Chrissie Fraser was tricked into handing over 4,403 to a scammer who was impersonating her daughter

Her daughter Camilla, 38, a teacher who lives with her Australian husband and toddler in Chicago, had texted from a new number.

'Mum it's me,' said the message. 'My phone has water damage, that's why I'm using this temporary number.' Chrissie had replied 'that's frustrating', and went on to fill her daughter in with details about the progress of the sale of the flat, which Chrissie was managing for her back in the UK.

Her daughter asked a few questions about the property and how her mother was.

Half an hour after that first message, Camilla asked for a loan.

'She said she was anxious because she had bailiffs chasing her. The emotions set in and I panicked,' says her mother.

Chrissie, who retired last year, made a first payment of 1,209.78. Then Camilla told her she needed money to cover a separate late payment fee of 983.20, which her mother also sent.

'She said she would pay me back,' Chrissie says.

Minutes later, her daughter said she needed a further 2,210.44 to pay the bailiffs.

'As an estate agent I knew that if bailiffs were sent to the flat then there would be a cloud over the sale of the property: it would hold everything up.'

Confused about why her daughter owed so much, Chrissie asked what the loan was for.

She was told: 'For a subscription I done a while ago by accident.'

'Good god what for?' Chrissie asked again. But no answer came, just a request for more money.

Concerned about her daughter, Chrissie tried to call the number she had been using for the Whats-App messages. 'There was a loud squealing noise on the other end and Camilla said her speaker was broken,' she says.

Her daughter then sought to reassure her via text that her debt problems would be solved now, thanks to her mum's help.

The messages read: 'Bailiff company I've paid before so I know it's all legit xx' and 'Once I appeal it I will get all the money back.'

By this point, Chrissie had made three transfers totalling 4,403.42. But as she tried to make a fourth payment, her bank, Santander, froze her account due to unusual, suspicious activity.

She says: 'Camilla wanted one last payment of 720 but I couldn't send it. She started to pressure me into using my other bank account, saying she would miss the deadline with the bailiffs if I didn't.

'That's when I realised it wasn't my daughter I was speaking to because she wouldn't use that language and warn about missing deadlines. I was being duped.

'I felt like an idiot. It's dreadful but I would do anything for my children.'

Chrissie wasted no time in confronting the scammers, saying: 'You scum. I'm calling the police.'

Within seconds, her phone lit up with the message: 'Die b***h'.

She replied to warn again that she was calling the police. But, unfazed, the brazen crook taunted Chrissie with a picture of himself out browsing sportswear: 'Going shopping with your money x.'

Chrissie says: 'I was shaking when I saw the picture. These are nasty and frightening people. You may as well be mugged on the street  it really shook me.'

The mother of three had fallen victim to one of the most common cons sweeping Britain. Parents are being bombarded with WhatsApp messages from crooks posing as their children pleading for money.

Money Mail exposed the trick  dubbed the 'Mum and Dad' scam  more than 18 months ago. But it is still rife today.

Typically, the first message says the child has lost or broken their phone and is using a temporary number.

But these texts are, in fact, being sent by crooks who then supply bank account details for payments to be made into  and disappear with the cash.

Chrissie says: 'I'm technologically-savvy  I'm not some poor old lady. But the scammers are so believable.'

Wayne Stevens, national fraud lead at charity Victim Support, says fraud can undermine victims' self-confidence and trust in others, causing long-lasting damage.

Imposter: Artificial intelligence is allowing fraudsters to clone voices, including those of a targeted victim's friends and family

He says: 'Fraudsters often work by preying on people's goodwill, deceiving them into believing they are passing over money to help someone they love. This can be harmful to victims' sense of self and can lead to feelings of shame.'

After speaking to Santander, Chrissie was refunded half the amount she had lost. When Money Mail took up her case, a bank spokesman said it would review the reimbursement.

'I've been a Santander customer for 40 years. You turn to the institutions when something bad happens but then don't get the care you expect,' Chrissie says.

'They clearly saw a red flag because they froze my account. But they only paid back half of what I lost. It's a disgrace.'

Banks usually want to see evidence that victims took reasonable steps to question the person they were messaging.

The most common advice from the banks is to try to call the number and speak to the friend or relative who claims to need your help before sending any money.

But new technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) could make even phone calls unreliable.

Cutting-edge software is allowing fraudsters to clone voices. They then call using the voice of their target's family member and pretend to be in trouble, before begging for cash for help.

This is already happening in the U.S. and security software firm McAfee has warned it could spread to countries such as the UK.

Scammers can need as little as three seconds of audio, which can easily be extracted from a social media clip, to clone a person's voice, McAfee's study found.

Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director at Lloyds Banking Group, says the fraud carried out on social media is not opportunist.

'Almost all scams are perpetrated by organised criminal gangs running their operations like a business, to fund terrorism, the drugs trade and other criminal enterprises,' she adds.

Double check: Banks usually advise hanging up and calling the number back to speak to your relatives before sending money

Money Mail's Stop the Social Media Scammers campaign is calling on the tech giants to take responsibility for fraud on their platforms and share the cost of reimbursing victims.

Earlier this month, we revealed that as many as 1.1 million people a year are falling victim to scams that originate on social media platforms run by tech giant Meta.

Ms Ziegler says these platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, provide an open door through which fraudsters reach their victims  with nearly 80 pc of scams starting online.

'It's high time the tech and social media companies shared responsibility for protecting their customers, stopping scams at source and contributing to refunds when their platforms are used to defraud innocent victims,' she says.

More than half of people in Britain have been targeted by impersonation scams, with the number receiving texts rising 77 per cent in the year to September 2022, according to Santander.

Jim Winters, director of economic crime at Nationwide Building Society, says fraudsters tend to send out a large number of messages randomly in the hope that someone will identify with it.

He believes tech companies, including WhatsApp, should take more responsibility for reimbursing victims but also help prevent the scams at the outset.

He adds: 'Controls on social media platforms are yet to catch up with other industries [like banking], allowing criminals to all but freely target victims.'

Before sending any money, you should call your family member on the original number you have for them. If you fail to reach them, call the number they are texting you from, says Mr Winters.

Fraudsters will typically find an excuse not to speak on the phone, so look out for this red flag. Above all, do not rush into anything.

A WhatsApp spokesman said: 'WhatsApp protects our users' personal messages with end-to-end encryption, but we can all play a role in keeping our accounts safe by remaining vigilant to the threat of scammers.

'We recommend that all users set up two-step verification for added security and never share their six-digit PIN with others.

'If you receive a suspicious message  even if you think you know who it's from  calling or requesting a voice message is the fastest and simplest way to check whether someone is who they say they are.'

Have you been a victim of an AI scam? Tell us at: moneymail@dailymail.co.uk
Romance scam cases have soared in recent years

One in three people have been targeted by romance con artists, research finds.

The number of reported cases of this type of scam has soared in recent years, with 31 per cent of adults being approached by tricksters, according to a survey by Santander.

This sophisticated trick involves fraudsters luring their prey into a trusting online relationship, often via social media, then extorting them for cash.

Victims typically lose an average of 2,331 to scammers. Banks say these types of scammers stole 31.3 million in 2022, but Action Fraud believes the true figure is closer to 95 million a year.

Chris Ainsley, Santanders head of fraud risk, says: Its important to ask yourself whether the romance is real, particularly when finances come up.

As well as being guarded against sweet-talk, never sending money to someone youve only just met and checking in with a trusted friend or family before making any payments can also help protect you.

j.beard@dailymail.co.uk
Owners up and down the land will tell you that a house is not a home without a dog. But the cost of keeping our best friends in the comfort to which they are accustomed is soaring.

Owning a mutt now costs an extra 256 a year  bringing the figure up to 2,500  analysis by Money Mail of data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and charity Battersea Dogs & Cats Home finds.

This means families can expect to pay as much as 27,800 over the average lifetime of their pooch, with price rises over the past 12 months adding 2,867 to the overall cost of upkeep.

The cost of pet care has increased by 12.8 per cent overall in the past year, according to the ONS.

Dogs are often treated as another member of the family, with money spent on fresh food, regular grooming and the best medical treatment.

Expensive: Sonali Saujani with her French bulldog Luna who costs 1,740 a year to insure

But with households already squeezed, rising numbers of the UKs 17 million dog owners are struggling.

New figures from the charity Dogs Trust today reveal four in five people are financially worried about looking after their dog. And almost one in ten say they are very worried.

But how much you spend will depend on the size and breed of your dog. Some families will spend more than 39,078 during the pets lifetime, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home reports.

Expensive grooming treatments, dog walking services, treats and kennels for when you are on holiday can easily add on extra costs.

According to a survey by ferry operator Red Funnel, one in eight owners spend more than 500 a year just on dog sitting services.

One-off expenses in the first year, such as vaccinations, a collar and lead, toys and a bed add another 755.

In comparison, the price of basic needs for a child has increased by 3.6 per cent in the past 12 months.

It now costs 3,864 a year to cover the essentials for a child from birth until the age of 18, according to the charity Child Poverty Action Group.

Meanwhile, a basic standard of living in retirement costs 829, on average, a month  and that includes all housing, food, transport and leisure costs, according to the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association. This sum has increased by 19 per cent in just a year.

Doggy Salon

Over the course of their lifetime, a dog will rack up 7,800 on average in grooming fees, including trims, washes and nail cutting, according to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

Pet care costs have soared 12.8 per cent, official data shows. This has added 54 a year to the bill at the doggy salon.

Prices vary depending on the location and breed of dog. For example, Tunbridge Wells Grooming Centre in Kent charges 36 to 102 for full grooming, with bath and blow drying services.

Extra costs: Expensive grooming treatments, dog walking services, treats and kennels for when you are on holiday can easily add up

At luxury salon London Dog Grooming Company in the upmarket department store Liberty, clients can expect to pay up to 150 for a full groom.

Polly Arrowsmith, 56, from Islington, North London, spends more on haircuts for her poodle Hattie each year than for her own.

The marketing director forks out up to 55 a month on a trim, blow dry and fur washing for her beloved pet, which she bought almost 12 years ago. However, Polly, spends only 80 a year on her hair.

Poodles need more grooming than other dogs as their hair can become matted and tangled. Weve tried to groom her ourselves, but she gets upset and sometimes tries to bite, she says.

In total Polly spends around 417 a month on Hattie, including 240 on doggy daycare and 65 on insurance.

Since the pandemic there are more puppies, which means costs have gone up. Ive had to make cutbacks to afford Hattie, such as getting my hair cut less frequently or buying fewer luxuries or going out less, Polly adds.

Although shes expensive I wont compromise on things for Hattie.

Four ways to bite back Buy food in bulk. At Pets at home, a 2kg bag of Complete Nutrition Dry Puppy Food costs 3.89, equivalent to around 1.95 per kg. But buying a 15kg bag for 18.89 reduces the cost per kilogram to 1.26, saving you 10.35. Shop around for insurance. It can save you thousands if your dog is ill, but do your reseach before buying. For example, it costs 197.21 a year to insure a five-year-old Labrador with Puffin insurance, but 292.68 to insure the same dog with Argos, according to Comparethemarket. Check if your pet is eligible for subsidised care. Charities such as the RSPCA, Blue Cross and PDSA subsidise vet bills for owners who receive certain benefits and live within their catchment areas. Buy medication online  from websites such as petdrugsonline.co.uk or petremedies.co.uk for a fraction of the price youd pay at the vet. Make sure you buy from a reputable company.

Vet fees

Pet insurance is the most expensive cost, with bills as high as 720 a year, according to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

Maximum benefit insurance (covers injury or illness up to a specified pre-set limit) cost an average 144 a year in 2023, according to price comparison site Comparethemarket.

However, the price can be much higher for older dogs, with some owners spending at least 120 a month on pets with a history of problems.

Health cover: Pet insurance is the most expensive cost, with bills as high as 720 a year, according to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

Anna McEntee, director of insurance at Comparethemarket, says: Older dogs are typically more expensive to insure as they tend to need more medical care.

With the cost of vet treatments and procedures on the rise, its possible some pet owners, particularly those with older pets, could see their renewal increase.

On average, the cost of medical treatment has soared by 13 per cent in the past year, the ONS reports. This would add 41 to household bills, Money Mail analysis reveals.

Sonali Saujani, 35, has been forced to make cutbacks in order to be able to afford her beloved five-year-old dog, Luna. The holistic healer, from Offenham, Worcestershire, now spends 1,740 a year insuring Luna  564 more than four years ago.

Luna is my biggest expense. French bulldogs are notorious for health issues. Lunas breathing problems, skin condition and allergies make her more expensive to insure than other breeds, says Sonali.

I probably spend about 500 a month on Luna, which includes her daycare, supplements and physiotherapy.

But Id rather sacrifice clothes or very expensive holidays in order to pay for her.

Lifetime cost: Families can expect to pay as much as 27,800 over the lifetime of their pooch, with price rises over the last 12 months adding 2,867 to the overall cost

Food & snacks

The average cost of dog food has risen by 21 per cent in the past year, adding 76 to annual household bills, according to the ONS. Meanwhile, the price of dog treats has risen by 16 per cent year on year, it suggests.

But in the most extreme cases, costs have risen by almost 58 per cent in the past year, according to The Grocer magazine. Food and treats can easily add up to 960 a year, according to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.

As costs rise, more families are opting for own-brand food for their dogs, according to supplier Pets at Home.

Our own-label products are considerably cheaper than equivalent branded goods, and weve seen them grow in popularity as discretionary spending has come under pressure, a spokesman tells Money Mail.

a.cooke@dailymail.co.uk
I am 80 years old and care for my husband, who has Alzheimers.

In January this year, he had a hearing test at Boots Hearing Care in Stockport, Greater Manchester, and was advised to have a pair of aids at a cost of 3,345.

We were told that if he couldnt cope with them, they could be returned within three months and wed get our money back.

I persevered in trying to get him to wear them but to no avail. I kept finding them in various places and pockets. It all came to a head when we were on holiday recently in France with family and he flatly refused to have anything more to do with the aids.

As it was getting close to the three-month deadline to return the hearing aids for a refund, I rang Boots Hearing Cares head office in Llandudno and asked if it would extend the deadline for three days as I was on holiday but would take them in person to where we purchased them as soon as we got back.

Denied refund: A reader's husband has refused to have anything to do with his expensive hearing aids - but Boots has refused to refund the 3,345 cost

The person I spoke to flatly refused and said I must post them back to her with a tracking number and she would then refund the money.

My son-in-law stepped in to ask if they could be more flexible as, over many years, we have spent thousands of pounds on spectacles and my own hearing aids, but to no avail. She was adamant they must be posted.

We then wasted half a day of our holiday finding a post office and spent 100 (86) in postage and insurance. But the aids went missing. Now I fear we wont get our refund and its money we can ill afford to lose.

J. M., Manchester.

Sally Hamilton replies: What a classic jobsworth response you received when you made the perfectly logical suggestion to return the unwanted hearing aids safely, in person, even if that meant overshooting the refund deadline by three days.

The extra costs and hassle you then faced to package up and post the aids from France to the UK were irritating enough. But, unfortunately, the items never made it to Boots head office.

It turned out the packet got stuck at Folkestone port, from where, after a few days of sitting around on a sorting room shelf, it was mystifyingly returned to France. Perhaps customs staff believed duty should be paid on the contents of your parcel.

You were naturally upset and thought you wouldnt see the hearing aids again  and would wave goodbye to your refund.

When you updated the same woman at Boots who had been so adamant about you posting the devices, she had a sudden attack of common sense and told you the company would extend the deadline after all, to give you time to track down the parcel.

You were exasperated (and I expect a few choice words were muttered). You tried to trace the hearing aids via French postal operator Chronopost, which informed you the package had been returned to sender: you. This didnt add up, since you knew it had been returned to France.

Since then, despite numerous phone calls at considerable cost and the emailing of documents and proof of postage, along with tracking numbers, to Chronopost, the package has remained missing. The language barrier added to your troubles, making it difficult to progress a claim with the French insurer.

It seems clear to me that the aids were lost in the post through no fault of your own, so I asked Boots to investigate. Its response was quick and decisive. Before the end of the day, it confirmed your 3,345 would be reimbursed.

A Boots spokesman says: We are pleased to confirm that this issue is now resolved, with J.M. receiving a full refund. We are committed to providing all customers with exceptional customer service and are sorry that our high standards were not met on this occasion.

It has also given you Boots loyalty points equal to the 100 postage costs.

Straight to the point In April I bought two battery-operated rise and recline chairs as my husband has Parkinsons and we were worried that cables could be a trip hazard. I spent 200 on two batteries for the chairs from DFS but they have never worked. Please help. P. G., Devon. DFS apologises for the inconvenience. An engineer has visited your home and fitted new batteries. DFS will be in touch within ten days to ensure you are happy with the resolution. *** My energy supplier Ovo keeps pestering me to get a smart meter, but I do not want one. Is there any way to get it to stop sending me these letters? S. F., Dorset. Ovo says that due to regulatory targets, suppliers are required to contact customers to offer them a smart meter. It has put communications with you on hold and apologises for not resolving this issue sooner. *** In June, Morrisons sent me a voucher which entitled me to 1,000 More points if I spent 10 in store. I did so, but the points were never added to my account. Since then I have not earned any points from my food shop or petrol. B. J., Peterborough. Morrisons apologises for the delay. The points have now been added to your More Card. *** I made a booking with Pink Moon Camping for Leeds Festival. I needed to cancel and did so at shorter notice than the terms and conditions allowed to get a full refund. I lost my deposit of 452. Can you help? A. H., via email. Pink Moon Camping says you cancelled after the deadline to get your deposit back. But the deposit will be discounted from any future bookings you make as a gesture of goodwill.

Can't get a refund for Abba tickets

Earlier this year I booked tickets for my husband and me and two friends to attend the Abba Voyage show in London on August 6, at a cost of 417.

Tragically, our friends grown-up son passed away suddenly in July. With no cause of death established yet, the funeral cannot be arranged, and their life is in total limbo.

They are in no fit state to talk to us right now about anything, let alone discuss moving the date of the concert.

I contacted the agent, Ticketmaster, through its chatline to see if I could get a refund in this most extreme of circumstances, but it insisted that without insurance this was not possible. We did not consider insurance as we could not have imagined such a situation occurring.

The best I could get from the agent was the offer to re-book for a future date. I have no idea as to when, or if, our friends are going to be ready to do this. Nor are we, as we are also devastated by events.

The chatline was unhelpful, with no compassion shown whatsoever. I cant seem to find any other means of contacting an actual human being at Ticketmaster to speak to. I hope you can help.

Name and address supplied.

Sally Hamilton replies: You expected some sensitivity from Ticketmaster when broaching this most difficult request but were sorely disappointed.

You even suggested on the websites online chat that the company could just give you a credit and earmark the 417 for an unspecified date in the future.

Unfortunately, the chat service did not provide you with this kind of help or flexibility. You might have had better luck asking an Abba avatar for assistance.

I contacted the ticketing firm and requested it use its discretion in the circumstances and make things as simple as possible for you by just refunding the money.

I am pleased to say it responded quickly, and this time without hesitation it agreed to reimburse you in full.

A spokesman says: This is not the standard of service we aim to deliver. Our teams are reviewing our process to ensure it does not happen again.
A struggling Swiss fund managers entire board plans to resign after a takeover bid by UK rival Liontrust collapsed under pressure from a rebel investor group.

Ailing GAM said that the activist group  which includes Rock Investment and wealth manager Bruellan and are headed by French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel  will propose new board directors at an emergency general meeting in September.

Shareholders rejected the Liontrust deal last week, with just 33.5 per cent voting in favour.

The group led by Niel had criticised the offer, saying it undervalued GAM and did not recognise the value a turnaround could generate for shareholders.

GAM has faced a tumultuous few years after its involvement in a scandal at collapsed lender Greensill Capital in 2018.

French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel (pictured) - is leading a rebel investor group which is set to propose new GAM board directors at an emergency general meeting in September

This led to a multi-million-pound fine and the exit of former star manager Tim Haywood and chief executive Alexander Friedman.

GAM had insisted that the success of the Liontrust offer was essential to continue as a going concern as it urged shareholders to support the proposals.

All of GAMs board members are planning to quit when the new directors are elected at the end of next month.

It said the existing board recommends that shareholders approve the election of the proposed directors.

Following the failure of the takeover deal, GAM will have to repay a 8.9million loan, plus interest, to Liontrust within 30 days.
Bunzl boss Frank van Zanten (pictured) said the FTSE 100 company had no current plans to move its main listing to Wall Street

Britain must create the right environment for international business if it is to avoid more firms switching to the US stock market, the boss of Bunzl warned.

Frank van Zanten said the FTSE 100 distribution and outsourcing giant had no current plans to follow the likes of chip designer Arm or building materials firm CRH in moving its main listing to Wall Street.

But van Zanten, 56, said the 9billion-valued company  which supplies everything from safety gloves and toilet roll to face masks and coffee cups  was watching developments closely.

He told the Daily Mail: Currently, its not on the boards agenda but obviously we want to make sure we do the right thing for all our stakeholders including our shareholders.

So nothing planned  but were monitoring closely whats happening. What is important is the Government and other bodies need to make sure that the climate in the UK is such that its the right environment to be in for international business.

Van Zanten said that meant supporting growth, supporting the right things for business, [being] a business-friendly environment.

But he would not be drawn further on what he meant by that and whether it included tax cuts, adding: Im not a politician.

Van Zanten made the comments as Bunzl reported a rise in first-half profits to 438million as sales climbed to 5.9billion and lifted its guidance for the full year.

That cheered investors, lifting shares by 3.1 per cent, or 84p, to 2808p.

Van Zantens remarks come at a time of soul searching in the City and Whitehall about the decisions by the likes of Arm  which recently formally announced its plans for a New York float  to shun the London Stock Exchange.

As part of efforts to stop the rot, regulators have shaken up listing rules.

Reforms designed to unlock more UK capital to invest in companies are also in train.

Yesterday, David Schwimmer, boss of the London Stock Exchange Group, played down fears of the London markets demise.

He told the Evening Standard: The City has a way of reinventing itself. It has done so over hundreds of years.

Bunzl, which makes 60 per cent of its revenues in North America, has expanded through a series of acquisitions, most recently in Poland, and now operates in 32 countries.
A senior manager with Winsing, a leading animation company in China, has said that the upcoming China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) will offer a platform to showcase the progress in China's animation industry.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Arista Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of cloud networking solutions and software-driven platforms. With a mission to redefine networking infrastructure for the digital age, Arista Networks offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services that enable data centers and enterprise networks to operate at scale with superior performance, agility, and reliability.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Arista Networks serves a wide range of customers, including global internet companies, service providers, financial services firms, and large enterprises. The company's innovative solutions address the growing demand for high-speed, cloud-native networking solutions in an era driven by data-intensive applications, virtualization, and the increasing adoption of cloud computing.

Arista Networks' flagship product, the Arista EOS (Extensible Operating System), is a state-of-the-art software platform that provides a consistent and programmable network architecture. The platform empowers customers to automate and scale their networks, enhancing operational efficiency and reducing capital expenditures. Additionally, Arista Networks offers a range of switches, routers, and software applications that complement the Arista EOS, providing customers with end-to-end network solutions.

Key achievements of Arista Networks include being recognized by industry leaders and analysts for its outstanding performance and innovative products. The company has received numerous awards, including the "Leader" designation in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Center and Cloud Networking and recognition as a Forbes Cloud 100 company.

Arista Networks boasts a highly experienced and talented management team, driving the company's success and growth. The team comprises individuals with diverse backgrounds and expertise, led by Chief Executive Officer Jayshree Ullal, who has over 30 years of experience in the technology industry.

Jayshree Ullal has been instrumental in shaping Arista Networks' strategic vision and driving its expansion into new markets. Under her leadership, the company has achieved remarkable milestones, including exponential revenue growth and successful market penetration.

Arista Networks has demonstrated impressive financial performance over the past few years. In its most recent fiscal year, the company reported that total revenue increased by approximately 20%. The company's profit margins have remained consistently strong, with a gross margin of around 60% and an operating margin of roughly 25%.

Arista Networks' financial success can be attributed to its ability to deliver innovative and reliable networking solutions, strong customer base, and expanding market reach. The company has managed its debt levels prudently, maintaining a healthy balance sheet and financial flexibility.

Arista Networks' valuation metrics reflect its position as a market leader in the cloud networking industry. The company's price-to-earnings ratio is lower than industry peers suggesting that the stock is currently trading at a relatively attractive valuation. This favorable valuation is driven by Arista Networks' robust financial performance, consistent growth, and positive market sentiment.

In recent months, Arista Networks' stock has exhibited strong performance, reflecting investors' confidence in the company's growth prospects. The stock has experienced significant price movements, with an upward trend driven by positive earnings surprises and strong demand for its products.

Arista Networks operates in the highly competitive and rapidly evolving cloud networking industry. The proliferation of data-intensive applications has driven the demand for cloud-native networking solutions, the rise of virtualization, and the need for scalable and agile network infrastructure. As a result, the industry has witnessed significant technological advancements and intense competition.

Arista Networks faces competition from both established players and emerging startups in the networking industry. Competitors include industry giants such as Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks and other networking companies that offer cloud-centric solutions. The industry is characterized by rapid innovation, and companies must continuously invest in research and development to stay ahead.

One advantage distinguishing Arista Networks from its competitors is its focus on software-driven networking solutions. With its open architecture and programmability, the company's Arista EOS platform provides customers with flexibility, scalability, and automation capabilities. This unique approach has gained Arista Networks a loyal customer base and has positioned the company as a leader in cloud networking.

Regulatory and political factors also play a role in the industry. Governments worldwide are increasingly focused on data privacy and security, which can impact the design and implementation of networking solutions. With its commitment to data integrity and security, Arista Networks is well-positioned to address these concerns and comply with evolving regulations.

Arista Networks has several growth opportunities that can drive its future success. One key opportunity is transitioning to 400 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) networking solutions. As the demand for faster and more scalable networks increases, Arista Networks is well-positioned to capture market share with its high-performance switches and routers.

The company has expanded its product portfolio to cater to emerging edge computing and artificial intelligence trends. By offering solutions tailored to these growing areas, Arista Networks can tap into new markets and diversify its revenue streams.

While Arista Networks has demonstrated impressive growth, the company faces risks and challenges inherent in the dynamic technology industry. One challenge is the potential for emerging disruptive technologies, which could reshape the industry landscape. Arista Networks must continue to innovate and adapt to evolving customer needs to stay ahead of the competition.

Additionally, geopolitical factors and trade tensions can impact the global supply chain and create uncertainties for technology companies. With its global customer base and supply chain, Arista Networks needs to monitor and manage these risks effectively.

Another risk is the intense competition in the cloud networking space. Competitors may introduce new products or technologies that could erode Arista Networks' market share. The company must invest in research and development, focus strongly on customer needs and continue delivering innovative solutions to stay competitive.
Eli Lilly and Company is a US-based multinational pharmaceutical company. It is the 12th largest pharmaceutical company by revenue and has offices in 16 countries. Its medicines are sold in at least 125 countries including its 8 blockbuster drugs. The company is a member of the S&P 500 and S&P 100 indices, it brought in roughly $5.5 billion in revenue for 2021 and employs more than 35,000 people across its network of research and production facilities.

Eli Lilly and Company was founded in 1876 by Colonel Eli Lilly. The colonel, a veteran of the Civil War, had recently dissolved an unsatisfactory partnership and set on his own to produce and develop medicinal chemicals. Colonel Lilly remained as president until his death in 1898. His charge to his family, company and coworkers was to take what you find here and make it better and better. The company is well-known for many drugs, including the first mass-marketing of quinine to treat malaria.

The company brought in $4,470 in its first year and saw that figure grow 10X over the next 3. Among the many innovations during this time period is the addition of gelation coatings for pills which helped set the company up for rapid expansion. The company was incorporated in 1881 as Eli Lilly and Company issuing stock to family and friends. The 1900s brought about more change for the company, change in the form of expansion which included international markets.

Advancements during the war years included increases in efficiency due to increased automation and the development of precision technologies. Among the technologies was pill manufacturing which included injecting medicines directly into a gelation capsule. This method allowed for more exact dosing, setting the standard for modern production. The company produced capsules for itself and sold excess capacity to competitors. Other major advancements include fruit flavorings in medicine, straight-line manufacturing and a method of blueprinting manufacturing tickets to prevent errors.

The modern period saw the company grow and discover new, world-class pharmaceuticals. Today, the company is engaged in the discovery, development and marketing of human pharmaceuticals. It offers a wide range of treatments, including Prozac but is perhaps most noteworthy for its work with insulin. The company is the first to mass produce insulin and has made numerous advances in treating diabetes in the time since. While other drugs are more widely known, its diabetic drugs Basaglar, Jardience, Trulicity, Humalog and Humulin are its top-sellers and contribute the bulk of revenue and cash flow.

Along with Diabetic research, the company also focuses on Alzheimer's, Oncology, Immunology, Obesity and Pain care. At the end of 2022, the company pipeline had 23 compounds in Phase 3 clinical trials and 1 in review. There were another 18 in Phase 2 trials and more than 2 dozen in Phase 1 trials. The average cost to discover a new drug was running at $2.6 billion with a 10-year discovery-to-patient timeline.
BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out search and rescue of the people missing in the recent flood disaster in southwest China's Sichuan Province in an instruction.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, also demanded comprehensive investigation and strengthened safety supervision to ensure the safety of the people's lives and property.

A brief bout of heavy rain on Aug. 21 triggered a natural disaster at a highway construction site along a river in Jinyang County in Sichuan's Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

In his instruction, Xi called for ensuring appropriate measures to console the families of the victims.

He has asked the State Council to dispatch a task force to conduct a thorough investigation into the disaster and take stern actions against those responsible in accordance with the law.

Lessons must be learned from the disaster and comprehensive checks must be carried out to address problems and risks and ensure that all parties involved earnestly perform their duties, Xi said.

Premier Li Qiang has also issued an instruction, urging prompt efforts to ascertain relevant facts and information, as well as an all-out search and rescue of the missing.

Li called for efforts to identify the cause of the disaster, draw lessons from it and punish those responsible.

Following the orders from Xi and Li, the Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched a work group to the site to oversee search rescue operations.

Local authorities in Sichuan and Liangshan are also mobilizing rescue forces for relief work. 
Two years since the last U.S. troops left Afghanistan, the U.S. presence still has a negative influence on the nation's economy. Its invasion and occupation have created a "black hole" in Afghanistan's economy by sucking up wealth that now remains unaccounted for.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
TAIYUAN, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- 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, on Wednesday met with Andrew Hsia, vice chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, in the city of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province.

At present, "Taiwan independence" separatist forces are colluding with external forces to take provocative actions designed to divide the country, which harms the interests of Taiwan compatriots and undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, Song said.

Taiwan is faced with a major choice between peace and war, and between prosperity and recession, he noted.

Song said the mainland side will work with the KMT and other relevant political parties, organizations and people from all walks of life on the island, on the common political foundation of adhering to the 1992 Consensus and opposing "Taiwan independence," to bring cross-Strait relations back to the right track of peaceful development and contribute to national rejuvenation.

Hsia said that, on the political basis of upholding the 1992 Consensus and opposing "Taiwan independence," the KMT is willing to continue strengthening exchanges and cooperation with the mainland and promoting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, thus benefiting compatriots on both sides of the Strait. 
Parent and toddler groups in Tipperary have been awarded 11,100 in grant funding.

The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic OGorman made the announcement today, which will help 11 groups across the Premier County.

Silver Arch groups in Borrisoleigh, Borrisokane, Ballina, Thurles, Newport and Nenagh received 1,100 each.

Groups in Glengoole and Lattin Cullen were allocated 800 each, with a group in Spafield approved for 700.

Finally Carrick-on Suir and Killea were approved for 1,100 each.

A spokesperson from the Department told Tipperarylive that the groups were important for the communities they support.

"The annual Parent and Toddler grant recognises that Parent and Toddler Groups are providing informal support to parents, grandparents and childminders, as well as to young children. These groups are an important source of social contact especially for new parents and families new to an area."

This year there were two strands of funding available.

One was for traditional parent and toddler groups while the second was for buggy walking groups.

"All eleven successful recipients in Tipperary received funding for parent and toddler groups. In addition, the funding for eight groups (Silver Arch Borrisoleigh, Silver Arch Borrisokane, Silver Arch Ballina, Silver Arch Thurles, Silver Arch Newport, Silver Arch Nenagh, Killea and Carrick on Suir) includes support for buggy walking groups," said the spokesperson.

The Parent and Toddler Grant Initiative provides money for a range of group needs, including, toys, equipment, storage, training, leaflets and activities.

Limited funding is available for insurance or rent.

NATIONAL

370 Parent and Toddler Groups across the country received grants in today's announcement.

250,000 was allocated for groups this year.

However, due to a high demand, the Minister increased the funding by an additional 100,000.

City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) work directly with Parent and Toddler Groups in the administration of the grants.

This year, the emphasis was on supporting Parent and Toddler Groups that offer a welcome to families who are newly arrived in Ireland and particularly to families from Ukraine.
August 30, 2023





Imagine we did not need a license to drive cars. Anyone could pick up car keys; it would be fine even if they did not know how to drive. It would be pure chaos, and there would be so much loss. The importance of a license in many human endeavours cannot be overstated. It removes the need for blind trust. You can easily verify if someone is permitted to do something especially risky. You can hold them responsible through this license.







Everyone knows handling money is serious business, whether fiat or digital money. Banks and other centralised financial institutions need licenses to operate; the same is required in cryptocurrency. In other words, you need a crypto license to operate in any capacity on the business front.

However, getting a license is not a one-size-fits-all thing. Your European driving license may not be accepted in Asia. This is also the case in obtaining a crypto license. There are different jurisdictions and practices. The laws are different, as are the requirements to get a crypto license in several places. For the sake of this article, we will be focusing on Poland. We will examine what it takes to get a crypto license in Poland. Lets get into it.

Do You Need A crypto License In Poland In The First Place?

The Polish law says yes. You need a crypto license to provide crypto services in Poland. The Anti-Money Laundering Act answers the question. The Act provides services related to virtual currency activities, including cryptocurrencies.

Hence, anyone who wants to deal in digital currency activities and services in Poland is expected to get a Polish Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license. This license covers exchanges between fiat and digital currencies, exchanges between digital currencies, and owning or conducting exchange transactions.

One must apply to the appropriate authorities to procure the license. The authorities review the application and then approve or denies at their discretion. It is not an express application.

In summary, you need a license to deal in crypto in Poland.

How Do I Get A Crypto License in Poland?

Fortunately, there is a straightforward path to obtaining a cryptocurrency license. The following steps will help get Poland's virtual asset service provider (VASP) license.

1.Register a physical office address in Poland.

Creating a physical presence in Poland through a registered office address is a strategic step for businesses aiming to establish credibility and accessibility in the region. By securing a registered office, companies can comply with legal requirements, establish a local point of contact, and facilitate smoother communication with authorities and clients. In this context, we will delve into the steps and considerations necessary to successfully register a physical office address in Poland, outlining its benefits and the procedural insights required for a seamless setup.

2.Submit copies of documents

for company owners, directors, and senior managers with impeccable reputations and no convictions for law violations. By presenting clear evidence of their clean records, businesses aim to establish trust and uphold their reputation in the eyes of clients, partners, and regulatory bodies. In the following section, we will explore the types of documents required, the significance of this practice, and its implications for maintaining ethical standards within the corporate landscape.

3.Deposit the minimum required authorised capital.

Depositing the minimum authorised capital is a pivotal milestone in establishing a company. This financial commitment demonstrates the company's financial stability and ability to meet its obligations. By adhering to this requirement, businesses ensure they have the necessary resources to commence operations and fulfil their responsibilities to stakeholders, creditors, and regulatory bodies. In the ensuing discussion, we will explore the significance of depositing authorised capital, elucidating its role in shaping a company's financial foundation and broader implications within the business landscape.

4.Establish clear rules for risk management and develop AML/KYC policies

Establishing clear rules for risk management and developing Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Know Your Customer (KYC) policies are critical components of responsible business operations. These measures are vital in safeguarding a company's integrity, complying with legal requirements, and mitigating potential risks associated with financial misconduct and illicit activities. In the subsequent dialogue, we will delve into the importance of robust risk management, the significance of AML/KYC policies, and how they collectively contribute to fostering transparency, security, and ethical conduct within a company's operations.

5.Identify and verify clients before setting up business relationships or for transactions exceeding a certain amount.

Identifying and verifying clients before establishing business relationships or conducting transactions exceeding a certain threshold is essential to due diligence and regulatory compliance. By implementing these practices, businesses aim to prevent financial crimes, such as money laundering and terrorist financing, while upholding the highest ethical business conduct standards. In the upcoming discussion, we will explore the significance of client identification and verification, its benefits to businesses and stakeholders and its pivotal role in fostering a secure and trustworthy business environment.

6.Prepare and submit activity reports to the regulatory authority.

Preparing and submitting activity reports to the regulatory authority is a fundamental obligation for businesses operating within a regulated environment. These reports provide a comprehensive overview of the company's operations, financial activities, and compliance with relevant regulations. By fulfilling this requirement, businesses demonstrate transparency, accountability, and adherence to regulatory standards. In the subsequent conversation, we will delve into the importance of activity reports, their role in maintaining regulatory compliance, and how they contribute to fostering trust and credibility in the eyes of regulatory bodies and stakeholders alike.

SUMMARY

Obtaining a crypto license is crucial to the survival of your business. It also protects your business from litigation. There is no downside to registering your cryptocurrency business and obtaining a license. The steps listed above are feasible and acceptable in Poland. However, obtaining a license in any other place might require different procedures. It is always advised to research the licensing practices wherever you intend to conduct your business operations.
August 30, 2023





Millions of students from all over the globe actively use various kinds of custom writing agencies. Those agencies do real miracles and help with the most complicated assignments. When you leave an online request similar to do my essay for me, you surely hope to get professional essay writing help. It is commonly provided by custom essay writing services. They have experienced and skilled writers who seem to be perfect with whatever paper must be written. We all got used that they are working on their own, looking for data, editing, improving, etc. Today, they can use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their skills and get the results they need.







Is AI that perfect? We can bet its not. In the meanwhile, we cannot deny the impressive dividends it brings to all who use it properly. This informative article focuses on the best ways AI can enhance the efficacy of custom writing agencies. Read on, as its going to be interesting and useful.

Speeding Up

Every essay writing service can save a lot of precious time if it lets its writers use the right writing tools. The tools like ChatGPT help to save a lot of time because they can generate any part of the text or write it instead of you. There will be no need to write for an hour a text that can be written in about 35 minutes (depending on its length).

Of course, must give heed to such issues as creativity or plagiarism. AI does not sound like a real human. Multiple studies prove that. If you are experienced in writing and reading, you will quickly spot that. Besides, it simply generates texts by using the direct sentences of the already existing texts. So, every text must be edited before it is published or submitted. Nonetheless, these texts can be used as the outline for your own texts.

AI generates a clear structure of several ideas. For example, the essay will be divided into 5 points. You can use them as your sub-theses to write your own essay according to your needs. You wont forget about something vital or wont spend time looking for great concepts. Moreover, AI may provide you with the points of view you might have missed by now. So, it really speeds up the process of creation.

Boosted Editing

Its necessary to check your own texts even if you are confident that your skills are excellent. You should understand that excellent doesnt mean perfect. You surely make some mistakes, so you must check the text. This process can be also sped up and simplified with the help of the right tool based on AI. Here are smart editing decisions it can provide:

Parts of the text are hard to read.

Too long sentences or paragraphs.

Overuse of the passive voice.

Overuse of adjectives or adverbs.

The wrong words.

Words with a simpler meaning, etc.

You can use these and other tips to check yourself. Some AI apps provide analysis instead of you while youre writing. They provide corrections, and you only need to agree with them to let the app correct your mistakes automatically. This function depends on the kind of editing tool you intend to use. Its better to try various kinds to see which one works for you better.

Great Research Support

Any topic must be researched. Students do not commonly like this process as it takes a lot of time and effort. They must use various search combinations, check various sites, and read a lot of articles to find the right data. Essay writers do not differ from students in this aspect. They also do not like this aspect of writing academic papers and happily use AI when they can.

AI helps to find the right data much faster than any browser. How is that possible? When you open the AI-writing app, you need to mention the title. The machine writes an essay or any other piece of writing you need according to the number of words you request. Thus, you get a solid text. Yes, it is plagiarized and doesnt always sound human-like. Nevertheless, you get the data you require. Start analyzing it straight away and generate your own text. Its a great way to quickly deal with the research process.

Experience a unique assortment of superior writing services, designed precisely to cater to your requirements.

Automation of Various Processes

Another great benefit is the ability to automate various processes that help to write great essays and other pieces of writing. You can customize the tool according to your writing needs. For example, it may analyze the text, make it personal (according to your style and tone), and something of the kind. It offers convenience to writers, and thus custom writing services win again. Their writers start working faster and more productively to bring the desired results.

Cost-Efficient

There is one more thing we need to focus on. Its the cost of AI tools. How much do they cost? It depends on the concrete type of the tool you intend to use. Yet, their cost is commonly quite cheap. Moreover, many of them can be used for free! Thus, any custom essay writing service wins again. It can support its writers without spending a dollar for that. Of course, a paid version commonly offers more functions and benefits. Yet, a gratis version may be effective enough as well.

Finalizing the Article

Now, its necessary to summarize this informative article. Do custom essay writing agencies win when they use ChatGPT and similar tools? They win to a definite extent. We think this will be the fairest statement. They cannot use AI tools and replace all their writers because artificial texts are not creative and unique. Yet, they offer:

Enhanced speed

Automation of vital processes

Editing assistance

Simplicity in the research process

Besides, they dont cost much or can even be used for free. If these tools are used wisely, they sufficiently simplify the job of custom writers and ensure excellent outcomes.
[August 29, 2023] PopReach Announces Second Quarter 2023 Results Tweet

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO US WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA/ Revenue of $39.1 million - 89% growth year-over-year and 7% sequential growth Adjusted EBITDA2 of $4.0 million - 43% growth year-over-year and 33% sequential growth Adjusted Free Cash Flow2 of $3.7 million - 75% growth year-over-year and 50% sequential growth (All figures in US dollars, unless otherwise indicated) TORONTO, Aug. 29, 2023 /CNW/ - PopReach Corporation ("PopReach" or the "Company") (TSXV: POPR) (OTCQX: POPRF), a multiplatform digital technology company, announced its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023. "We delivered another quarter with strong and consistent growth in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted free cash flow while completing two acquisitions that further diversify our revenue streams and customer base," said Jon Walsh, CEO of PopReach. "This has provided the business with greater stability in a challenging macroeconomic environment, and the breadth of the full stack digital offering we provide to advertisers sets us up for a seasonally strong second half of the year." Financial Highlights for the Second Quarter 2023 Revenue of $39.1 million , compared to $36.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and $20.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022 .

, compared to for the three months ended and for the three months ended . Revenue of $40.2 million was flat year-over-year on a Pro Forma Consolidated 1 basis due in part to changes in the commercial terms of some significant customer contracts resulting in revenue being recorded on a net basis during the second quarter that would previously have been recorded on a gross basis.

was flat year-over-year on a Pro Forma Consolidated basis due in part to changes in the commercial terms of some significant customer contracts resulting in revenue being recorded on a net basis during the second quarter that would previously have been recorded on a gross basis. Gross profit of $16.2 million (41% of revenue), compared to $13.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 (38% of revenue) and $10.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022 (51% of revenue).

(41% of revenue), compared to for the three months ended (38% of revenue) and for the three months ended (51% of revenue). Adjusted EBITDA 2 of $4.0 million , compared to $3.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and $2.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022 .

of , compared to for the three months ended and for the three months ended . Adjusted Free Cash Flow 2 of $3.7 million (91% Adjusted Free Cash Flow conversion rate), compared to $2.4 million (81% Adjusted Free Cash Flow conversion rate) for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and $2.1 million (74% Adjusted Free Cash Flow conversion rate) for the three months ended June 30, 2022 .

of (91% Adjusted Free Cash Flow conversion rate), compared to (81% Adjusted Free Cash Flow conversion rate) for the three months ended and (74% Adjusted Free Cash Flow conversion rate) for the three months ended . Net loss of $5.0 million , compared to a net loss of $4.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and $1.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022 due to increased financing costs and amortization of intangibles.

, compared to a net loss of for the three months ended and for the three months ended due to increased financing costs and amortization of intangibles. Cash as at June 30, 2023 was $8.4 million compared to $4.7 million at March 31, 2023 . The increase was largely due to funds received from the closing of the Syndicate Facility discussed below.

was compared to at . The increase was largely due to funds received from the closing of the Syndicate Facility discussed below. Total debt as at June 30, 2023 was $67.0 million , including $56.5 million of senior lender debt, $9.0 million of convertible debt, and $1.5 million in a vendor take-back loan, compared to $52.1 million in total debt as at December 31, 2022 .







1 Please refer to "Selected Unreviewed and Unaudited Pro Forma Consolidated Financial Information" section of this press release 2 Please refer to "Non-IFRS Measures" section of this press release



Significant developments in Q2 2023 and subsequent to quarter end On April 18, 2023 , the Company acquired 100% of the shares of Schiefer Media, Inc. (" SCS "), a brand transformation company, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $14.9 million .

, the Company acquired 100% of the shares of Schiefer Media, Inc. (" "), a brand transformation company, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately . On April 26, 2023 , the Company acquired 100% of the membership interest of OpenMoves LLC (" OpenMoves "), a performance and growth marketing company, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $7.5 million .

, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interest of OpenMoves LLC (" "), a performance and growth marketing company, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately . On May 25, 2023 , the Company closed a US$115 million syndicated credit facility (" Syndicate Facility ") led by Bank of Montreal (" BMO ") and including National Bank of Canada , Export Development Canada and Toronto Dominion Bank to replace and increase the Company's previous US$43 million senior secured credit facility with BMO to support the continued execution of the Company's acquisition strategy.

, the Company closed a syndicated credit facility (" ") led by Bank of (" ") and including National Bank of , Export Development Canada and Toronto Dominion Bank to replace and increase the Company's previous senior secured credit facility with BMO to support the continued execution of the Company's acquisition strategy. On August 15, 2023 , the Company announced the integration of its subsidiaries SCS and Crucial Interactive Holdings Inc. ("Contobox") to realize sales and operational synergies and provide a full funnel marketing solution to retailers and brands that combines personalized ad tech with campaign creation, strategy and delivery. Selected Unreviewed and Unaudited Pro Forma Consolidated Financial Information The Pro Forma Consolidated Revenue provided above is presented as if the reverse takeover transaction between PopReach and Federated Foundry Limited and the acquisition of each of Q1Media, Inc. ("Q1Media"), NotifyAI, LLC ("NotifyAI"), Contobox, Ubiquity Agency, LLC ("Ubiquity"), SCS and OpenMoves were completed at the beginning of 2022. The unreviewed and unaudited Pro Forma Consolidated Revenue provided above (the "Pro Forma Revenue") is derived from the Revenue figures presented in PopReach's financial statements, and Management's Discussion and Analysis, filed on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for the applicable periods ("As Reported Revenue") after taking into account the following adjustments: (i) As Reported Revenue for the three month period ending June 30, 2023 increased by $1.1 million to reflect Pro Forma Revenue for the period of $40.2 million; and (ii) As Reported Revenue for the three month period ending June 30, 2022 increased by $19.5 million to reflect Pro Forma Revenue for the period of $40.2 million. Non-IFRS Measures The Company prepares its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). However, the Company considers certain non-IFRS financial measures as useful additional information to assess its financial performance. These measures, which it believes are widely used by investors, securities analysts and other interested parties to evaluate its performance, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other publicly traded companies, nor should they be construed as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with IFRS. Non-IFRS measures include "Adjusted EBITDA" and "Adjusted Free Cash Flow". Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash Flow Consolidated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("Adjusted EBITDA") is a non-IFRS measure of financial performance. Company management defines Adjusted EBITDA as IFRS Net income (loss) adding back finance costs, income taxes, depreciation amortization, gain/loss on disposal of assets and extinguishment of loans, fair value gain/loss on financial liabilities and contingent consideration, and excludes discontinued operations and the effects of significant items of income and expenditure which may have an impact on the quality of earnings, such as impairments where the impairment is the result of an isolated, non-recurring event. It also excludes the effects of equity-settled share-based payments, foreign exchange gains/losses, changes in deferred revenues, changes in deferred cost of sales, and other extraordinary one-time expenses, such as transaction costs and other severance and restructuring costs. See reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA in the table below. Company management defines "Adjusted Free Cash Flow" as Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures, such as acquisition of property and equipment and additions to intangibles, and income taxes paid during the applicable period. Similarly, Company management defines "Adjusted Free Cash Flow conversion rate" as Adjusted Free Cash Flow divided by Adjusted EBITDA. See reconciliation of Adjusted Free Cash Flow in the table below. The presentation of these non-IFRS financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation from, as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS and may be different from non-IFRS financial measures used by other companies. Management believes Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash Flow are useful financial metrics to assess its operating performance on a cash basis before the impact of non-cash and extraordinary one-time items. The following tables presents the Company's calculation of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash Flow for each period:



For the three months ended





June 30,



March 31,



December 31,



September

30,





2023



2023



2022



2022

Net loss

$ (4,979)



$ (4,204)



$ (17,974)



$ (1,886)

Add:























Finance costs



3,359





1,269





1,274





688

Income tax expense



80





91





526





282

Depreciation and amortization



3,523





3,183





3,698





3,070

Impairment loss on intangibles and goodwill















17,548







Fair value loss (gain) on financial liabilities









1,782





(530)





(33)

Loss on disposal of property and equipment















1







Loss on modification/extinguishment of loan



1,129



















Share-based compensation expense



296





400





386





353

Change in deferred revenue of in-app purchases



(56)





126





225





268

Change in deferred cost of sales



6





(45)





(110)





(56)

Extraordinary one-time expenses



576





184





187





245

Foreign exchange loss (gain)



89





229





(95)





39

Loan forgiveness















(617)







Non-recurring income















(2)







Adjusted EBITDA2

$ 4,023



$ 3,015



$ 4,517



$ 2,970

Less:























Acquisition of property and equipment



(36)





(34)





(38)





(21)

Additions to intangible assets



(305)





(521)





(544)





(466)

Taxes paid



(32)





(22)





(76)





(27)

Adjusted Free Cash Flow2

$ 3,650



$ 2,438



$ 3,859



$ 2,456





For the three months ended





June 30,



March 31,



December 31,



September

30,





2022



2022



2021



2021

Net loss

$ (1,443)



$ (820)



$ (1,736)



$ (46)

Add:























Finance costs



673





688





864





506

Income tax expense (recovery)



(356)





(672)





275





(53)

Depreciation and amortization



2,396





1,718





1,623





1,035

Fair value loss (gain) on financial liabilities



(5)











33





(313)

Gain on disposal of property and equipment















(1)







Loss on extinguishment of loan



1,216



















Share-based compensation expense



131



















Change in deferred revenue of in-app purchases



(62)



















Change in deferred cost of sales



(100)



















Extraordinary one-time expenses



469





518





1,688







Foreign exchange gain



(110)





(37)





44





108

Non-recurring income









(378)











(11)

Adjusted EBITDA2

$ 2,809



$ 1,017



$ 2,790



$ 1,226

Less:























Acquisition of property and equipment



(13)





(15)





(6)





(6)

Additions to intangible assets



(202)



















Taxes paid



(510)











(11)







Adjusted Free Cash Flow2

$ 2,084



$ 1,002



$ 2,773



$ 1,220



Financial Statements and MD&A PopReach's Financial Statements for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2023, and Management's Discussion and Analysis for the same period, are posted on its corporate website at www.popreach.com and available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . About PopReach Corporation PopReach, a Tier 1 Issuer on the TSX Venture Exchange, with shares also trading on OTCQX Best Market, is a multi-platform technology company focused on assembling the most effective and complete suite of advertising, marketing and monetization solutions for brands, advertisers and publishers. We acquire, optimize and scale market-leading digital technology businesses providing cross-platform, performance-driven advertising and data solutions to attract, engage and monetize high-value consumers. Our portfolio includes: PopReach Games, a free-to-play mobile game publisher; NotifyAI, a push notification advertising platform; Q1Media, an industry-leading advertising and media service provider; Contobox, a leading edge customer engagement platform; Ubiquity, a data driven user acquisition and marketing technology platform; SCS, an integrated agency powering brand performance with data and creativity; and OpenMoves, a Google Premier Partner driving creative and growth across pay-per-click advertising and search engine optimization. Additional information about the Company is 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. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements and forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking information"). Forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to and the business, financials and operations of the Company. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. Forward looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements and future events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the public documents of the Company available at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Investors are cautioned that undue reliance should not be placed on any such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of the Company. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law. SOURCE PopReach Corporation

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[August 29, 2023] AT&T SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS INVESTORS WITH LOSSES IN EXCESS OF $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuits Against AT&T Inc. - T Tweet

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until September 26, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in securities class action lawsuits against AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), if they purchased the Companys securities between November 2, 2018 and July 26, 2023, inclusive (the Class Period). These actions are pending in the United States District Courts for the District of New Jersey and Southern District of New York.

Get Help AT&T investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-t-2/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options. About the Lawsuit AT&T and certain of its executives are charged with failng to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.



The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) the Company owns lead-wrapped cables nationwide that are highly toxic and harmful to Company employees and non-employees alike; (ii) the hazards caused by the lead cables pose not only health risks to employees and the public, but also potentially significant risks to the Company from litigation, regulatory measures, and reputational harm; and (iii) as a result, AT&Ts statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. The case is Brazinsky v. AT&T Inc., et al., No. 23-cv-04064.

A subsequent case was filed, General Retirement System of the City of Detroit v. AT&T Inc., et al., No. 23-cv-07351. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.



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[August 29, 2023] HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS INVESTORS WITH LOSSES IN EXCESS OF $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. - HE Tweet

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until October 23, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HE), if they purchased the Companys securities between February 28, 2019 and August 16, 2023, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Get Help Hawaiian Electric investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-he/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options. About the Lawsuit Hawaiian Electric and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.



The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) the Companys wildfire prevention and safety protocols and procedures were inadequate to meet the challenges for which they were ostensibly designed; (ii) accordingly, despite knowing the degree of risk that wildfires posed to Maui, the Companys inadequate safety protocols and procedures placed Maui at a heightened risk of devastating wildfires; and (iii) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. The case is Bhangal v. Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., et al., No. 23-cv-04332.

About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.



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[August 29, 2023] BAXTER SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS INVESTORS WITH LOSSES IN EXCESS OF $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Baxter International Inc. - BAX Tweet

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until September 11, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX), if they purchased the Companys securities between May 12, 2022 and February 8, 2023, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Get Help Baxter investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-bax-4/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options. About the Lawsuit Baxter and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.



On February 9, 2023, pre-market, the Company announced its Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2002 earnings results, disclosing that, despite its prior assurances, the problems with its supply chain and the resulting effect on its operations was not under control, that it did not meet its earnings guidance for the year, and that earnings guidance going forward would have to be lowered for the first quarter of 2023. On this news, shares of Baxter fell from $45.68 per share to $41.01 per share, on unusually heavy trading volume.

The case is Kelley v. Baxter International, Inc., et al., No. 23-cv-04497. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com .



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ISLAMABAD, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- A policeman was killed in a terrorist attack in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, police said on Wednesday.

The policeman was on his way home in the early hours of Wednesday after performing night duty when some unknown armed man opened fire on him in the Sariab road area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan province, the police officials in the area told media.

The injured policeman succumbed to his injuries on his way to a nearby hospital, police said, adding that the attackers sped away on their motorcycles after launching the attack.

Following the incident, police and security forces reached the spot and cordoned off the site. A search operation is underway to arrest on-the-run culprits.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Earlier on Monday, two policemen were killed and three others injured in an attack in the country's northwestern Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. 
[August 29, 2023] RTX CORPORATION SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS INVESTORS WITH LOSSES IN EXCESS OF $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against RTX Corporation f/k/a Raytheon Technologies Corporation - RTX Tweet

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until October 2, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against RTX Corporation f/k/a Raytheon Technologies Corporation (NYSE: RTX), if they purchased the Companys securities between February 8, 2021 and July 25, 2023, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Get Help RTX investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-rtx/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options. About the Lawsuit RTX and certan of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.



The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) the Companys Geared Turbofan (GTF) engine that powers hundreds of aircraft across many airlines had been affected by a quality control issue from at least 2015-2020; (ii) the quality control issue would require the Company to recall and reinspect many of its GTF airplanes, affecting customers and harming its business; and (iii) as a result, RTXs statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. The case is Peneycad v. RTX Corporation f/k/a Raytheon Technologies Corporation, et al., No. 23-cv-01035.

About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.



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[August 29, 2023] SHIFT4 PAYMENTS SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER REMINDS INVESTORS WITH LOSSES IN EXCESS OF $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Shift4 Payments, Inc. - FOUR Tweet

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until October 19, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE: FOUR), if they purchased the Companys securities between November 10, 2021 and April 18, 2023, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Get Help Shift4 investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-four/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options. About the Lawsuit Shift4 and certain of its executives are charged ith failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.



On April 19, 2023, Blue Orca Capital reported that Shift4 [is], in reality, a roll-up of low-tech POS systems and payment processors which is substantially less profitable, generates far less cash, and is materially more levered than investors are led to believe, and that in 2022, the Company engaged in a string of highly questionable and hyper-aggressive accounting maneuvers seemingly designed to keep the stock afloat, from cash flow manipulation to inexplicable distributor acquisitions that enabled it to capitalize a major component of COGS [cost of goods sold]. On this news, shares of Shift4 fell $5.95 per share, or 8.68%, to close at $62.59 per share on April 19, 2023.

The case is O'Meara v. Shift4 Payments, Inc., et al., No. 23-cv-03206. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.



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[August 29, 2023] CherryRoad Media Acquires Hutchinson Kansas Printing Operations from Gannett Tweet

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CherryRoad Media Inc. announced today it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Hutchinson, Kansas, printing operations from Gannett Co., Inc. The printing operation currently prints most of CherryRoad Media's Kansas publications as well as numerous other newspapers in central and western Kansas. All current employees of the Hutchinson plant have been offered continuing employment. This marks the first acquisition of a printing operation for CherryRoad Media, which entered the newspaper industry in late 2020 with the purchase of the weekly Cook County (MN) News-Herald. It has since grown to publish over 80 newspapers in 17 states, including more than 60 titles purchased from Gannett. CEO Jeremy Gulban says the company wants to blend new technologies with traditional printed publications to help ensure the future of local newspapers. "We are very excited to be to be acquiring the Hutchinson printing operation," said Jeremy Gulban, CEO of CherryRoad Media andCherryRoad Technologies. "For almost two years we have worked with the talented team in Hutchinson to print our newspapers. Now we welcome them to our organization. I wish to thank the leadership at Gannett for working with us to create a stable printing solution for newspapers in Kansas and Colorado. This is a good thing for the future availability of printed newspapers in the region."



CherryRoad Media is a wholly owned subsidiary of CherryRoad Technologies, a Parsippany, New Jersey- based technology company that has been in business since 1983. CherryRoad provides complex technical solutions and system integration services to large enterprise customers, particularly state and local government entities. "We are pleased to have reached this agreement with CherryRoad Media," said Doug Horne, Gannett Chief Financial Officer. "This transaction ensures we continue our mission of providing essential, trusted journalism to the community and that our experienced team at the Hutchinson facility will continue their good work, bringing local news to our audiences."

The transaction is expected to close on September 1, 2023. Specific terms are not being disclosed. The Hutchinson News is not included in the sale and will continue to be printed at the facility in Hutchinson. MEDIA CONTACT: Jennifer Fischer, Deputy Publisher

CherryRoad Media Inc.

732-580-2343

[email protected] View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cherryroad-media-acquires-hutchinson-kansas-printing-operations-from-gannett-301913196.html SOURCE CherryRoad Technologies Inc.

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[August 29, 2023] MGBF PLAYS A STRATEGIC ROLE IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, POLICY ANALYSIS AND SUPPLY CHAIN-BASED INVESTMENT PROMOTIONS Tweet

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF) hosted a high-level industry dialogue themed 'The Two-Wheeler Market  Mobility, ESG and the ASEAN Supply Chain' as part of the Kuala Lumpur Bike Show 2023 (KLBS'23) held at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTC KL). During the moderated panel discussion, industry experts shared their insights on the strategic opportunity for Malaysia to be a greater player in the two-wheeler industry in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as business prospects for Malaysia especialy in the context of the regional supply chain.



It was also identified that with technology trends capturing the media narratives, especially as electric vehicles and reduced emissions technology become more commonplace, the trade and investment opportunities are what business leaders need to understand. The ASEAN two-wheeler market represents at least 25 per cent of the global market and growing exponentially. From urban planning to environmental, social and governance (ESG), the two-wheeler industry can contribute to this trend and ultimately to the nation's economy.

The National Automotive Policy 2020 which projects Malaysia's ambition outward to 2030 mentions motorcycles briefly. This bias towards cars in the policy may need further evaluation as it does not take into consideration the high growth market of the motorcycle market. Nordin Abdullah, founding chairman of MGBF, said, "We recommend that the National Automotive Policy be more reflective of this opportunity especially because it will allow the SME manufacturers and distributors to play a more integrated role in the ASEAN two-wheeler supply chain. At the same time, with the ASEAN free trade agreements that are in place, the government has already done part of its work." "Success lies in the nation's ability to be focused and create high value leverage points for investors that compete in a global marketplace. Malaysia must compete and win as an investment destination, and leveraging demands of the two-wheeler industry, this is one sector to pay special attention to," concluded Nordin. "Another area we identified is the opportunity in education and safety because it is such a huge challenge. If Malaysia can solve this internally, it could be a leader in ASEAN in this critical issue. This can be an area for export of intellectual property. But any solution needs to be tech-based, private sector driven, public sector endorsed and people-friendly especially in terms of cost to consumers," said Rizal Kamaruzzaman, co-chairman of MGBF who delivered the welcoming address at the start of the MGBF Industry Dialogue. Speakers include Dato' Indera Dr Ahmad Sabirin Arshad, FASc, president and group chief executive officer of SIRIM Berhad; Murugason R. Thangaratnam, executive director of Novem-ESG; and Rob Cayzer, executive director of Yasaar Global and board member and shareholder of Kitaran Tabah. The discussion was moderated by Gerard Ratnam, TV host and producer of Bernama TV. The session included special remarks from the inaugural Kuala Lumpur Bike Show 2023 organiser, Farouk Nurish, who is the director of Moventuum Sdn Bhd. The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF) empowers stakeholders at the intersection of international and Malaysian business. Through government relations, business intelligence, advocacy, media engagement, market research, networking, advisory and business matching, MGBF delivers results for individuals, corporations, trade and business associations, as well as national and state governments. For more information, visit www.malaysiaglobalbusinessforum.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/mgbf-plays-a-strategic-role-in-economic-development-policy-analysis-and-supply-chain-based-investment-promotions-301913221.html SOURCE Malaysia Global Business Forum

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[August 29, 2023] eCloudvalley's Strategic Expansion into Australia Empowering Australian Businesses in Their Digital Transformation Endeavors Tweet

SYDNEY, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- eCloudvalley Digital Technology(ECV), a born-in-the-cloud Amazon Web Services(AWS)premier partner with a decade of experience officially expands the roadmap to Australia, providing more local services. We continue to deliver innovative cloud solutions and exceptional customer experiences globally. Earlier this year, AWS launched a new region in Melbourne with a plan to invest $6.8 billion by 2037 to power even more Australian lives. This year, eCloudvalley is celebrating its 10th anniversary and we believe Australian's rich culture of innovation is highly consistent to our core value. ECV eagerly anticipates enhanced engagement within this community, fostering mutual business growth. "When sourcing cloud partners, enterprises should keep three points in mind: technological capability, credibility, and experience. With over 650 employees and 14 offices across ASEAN, GCR and the U.S., this expansion ensures that we understand the market from a more localized point of view." Said Annie Liao, Head of Business Development for ASEAN and HKT at eCloudvalley Digital Co., Ltd. Since starting their collaboration with AWS in 2014 and becoming an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner in 2017, ECV has become a comprehensive digital technology provider offering robust cloud solutions to more than 5,000 businesses globally. ECV is a committed partner of AWS demonstrating its strong cloud capabilities and dedication to its customers across the region. This year, ECV won three categories at the AWS ASEAN Partner Awards  including ASEAN Services Partner of the Year, AWS Partner of the Year in Malaysia, AWS Partner of the Year in the Philippines on top of winning the ASEAN Services Partner of the Year award, as well as Partner of the Year for the Philippines for three consecutive years and Partner of the Year of Malaysia for two consecutive years.



ECV announced a multi-year Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with AWS in May 2023. Both parties aim to drive innovation, boost cloud capabilities, and help more businesses transform digitally. This is the affirmation from AWS to assist ECV better meet the market's demand. "We are here to help Australian businesses realize and utilize the power of cloud to its full potential. Our AWS certified and recognized core competences are in cloud migration, data & analytics, Security, machine learning and managed services. That said, ECV aims to drive success at every step of clients' migration and modernization journey." said Arman Obeidy, the Business Development Director of eCloudvalley.

About eCloudvalley eCloudvalley is a leading global cloud solution provider. As a born-in-the-cloud partner focused entirely on AWS, eCloudvalley is a one-stop shop for cloud solutions, including Cloud consulting, Cloud migration, Big Data and Analytics, Cloud Native Application Development, Cloud Managed Services, DevOps, and Automation. We have over 650 employees with geographic presence worldwide, including Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, United States and Australia. Learn more about eCloudvalley: https://www.ecloudvalley.com/en/p/about-ecloudvalley View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/ecloudvalleys-strategic-expansion-into-australia-empowering-australian-businesses-in-their-digital-transformation-endeavors-301913233.html SOURCE eCloudvalley Digital Technology

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[August 30, 2023] School of Technology, Woxsen University's Cyber Suraksha workshop empowers Nearby Villages and Schools Tweet

HYDERABAD, India, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In association with the Computer Society of India (CSI), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and G20, the School of Technology, Woxsen University has organised a workshop themed 'Cyber Suraksha in Rural India' in July. 'Cyber Suraksha in Rural India' is an initiative of CSI, in collaboration with MeitY and G20, aimed at promoting cybersecurity awareness and practices in rural areas of India. CSI offers guidance on cybersecurity best practices, technical workshops and training materials. MeitY is a government ministry that helps in shaping policies and regulations to facilitate cybersecurity awareness & digital literacy in rural areas. "In today's digital age, ensuring cyber safety is not just a choice, but a necessity. Our initiative to bring 'Cybersuraksha' to rural India aims to empower every individual with the knowledge and tools they need to navigate the online world securely," said Wing Commander Srinivasu (Retd), CSI Member. The Cyber Suraksha workshop was hosted at Aroor Village & Karuna High School, Sangareddy and saw active participation from a diverse group of villagers & girls between the age group of 13-15 years. Ms. Rama Patnaik and Wing Commander Srinivasu (Retd), member of CSI have served as the workshop's resource persons, educating staff and students focussing on Common Cyber Threats, Protecting Personal Information, Password Management, Identifying Cyber Scams, Social Media Security and reporting Cyber Incidents.



In the age of increasing digital penetration into all arenas of daily life, the significance of such an effort is paramount, especially in rural areas where exposure to digital technology might be nascent. The workshop did not merely address the potential dangers but also encouraged the secure usage of Government Apps. This approach caters to the government's push for digital India, ensuring that even rural communities can leverage internet platforms without falling prey to cyber threats. Moreover, the workshop underlined the significance of ethical and responsible behaviour on social media platforms. This interactive part of the workshop focused on how rural users could make the most out of these platforms, striking a harmonious balance between optimal usage & ethical behaviour.

The Assistant Professors from School of Technology- Dr. Ravilisetty Revathi, Dr. S Bhanu Prakash, Dr. Sarah Mariam Roy and Mr. Sudan Guru along with student volunteers from Woxsen University facilitated the smooth conduction of the event. The successful conclusion of this workshop has motivated the organizers to extend this program to more rural villages in the future. "Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility that transcends geographical boundaries. Through our event, we're sowing the seeds of cyber consciousness, ensuring that rural India becomes a bastion of digital security."  Dr. Kiran Kumar Ravulakollu, Dean, School of Technology. About Woxsen University, Hyderabad: Woxsen University, located in Hyderabad, is one of the first private universities of the state of Telangana, India. Renowned for its 200-acre state-of-the-art campus and infrastructure, Woxsen University offers new-age, disruptive programs in the fields of Business, Technology, Arts & Design, Architecture, Law, Liberal Arts & Humanities, Sciences. With 100+ Global Partner Universities and Strong Industry Connect, Woxsen is reckoned as one of the top universities for Academic Excellence and Global Edge. Woxsen is Ranked #1, All India Top Emerging Engineering Colleges, Outlook I-Care 2023, Rank #12, All India Top 100 B-Schools by Times B-School Ranking 2023, Rank #15, All India Top Pvt. B-School, BusinessWorld 2022, #16 Top 50 Business schools for Research in India, IIRF 2023. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2196675/CSI_Members.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/school-of-technology-woxsen-universitys-cyber-suraksha-workshop-empowers-nearby-villages-and-schools-301913279.html

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[August 30, 2023] Elliptic Labs Launches on OPPO Find N3 Flip Smartphone Tweet

Elliptic Labs (OSE: ELABS), a global AI software platform company and the world leader in AI Virtual Smart Sensors currently deployed in over 500 million devices today, is announcing the launch of its AI Virtual Proximity Sensor INNER BEAUTY with OPPO's Find N3 Flip smartphone. OPPO, the world's fourth largest smartphone maker in the world, is releasing the Find N3 Flip smartphone for the global market. Elliptic Labs' partner MediaTek is driving the Find N3 Flip with its flagshi Dimensity 9000+ chipset. The contract for this launch was previously announced by Elliptic Labs.



"OPPO choosing the AI Virtual Proximity Sensor INNER BEAUTY for their flagship foldable Find N3 Flip smartphone speaks to Elliptic Labs' position as innovation leaders for the smartphone industry," said Laila Danielsen, CEO of Elliptic Labs. "Elliptic Labs continues to add market-leading smartphone makers as customers, like OPPO, the fourth largest smartphone maker in the world. With this ever-increasing market exposure, we strive to accomplish our mission as the best smartphone OEMs continually select Elliptic Labs to empower their devices to be greener, smarter, and more human-friendly." AI Virtual Proximity Sensor INNER BEAUTY

Elliptic Labs' AI Virtual Proximity Sensor detects when a user holds their phone up to their ear during a call, allowing the smartphone to turn off its display and disable its screen's touch functionality. This keeps the user's ear or cheek from triggering unwanted actions during the call, such as hanging up or dialing numbers. Turning off the screen also helps conserve battery life. Proximity detection is a core capability that is used in all smartphones, but Elliptic Labs' AI Virtual Proximity Sensor is a unique, software-only solution that delivers robust proximity detection without the need for a dedicated hardware sensor. By replacing hardware sensors with software sensors, the AI Virtual Proximity Sensor reduces device cost and eliminates sourcing risk. INNER BEAUTY is a registered trademark of Elliptic Labs. AI Virtual Smart Sensor, AI Virtual Proximity Sensor, and AI Virtual Smart Sensor Platform are trademarks of Elliptic Labs. All other trademarks or service markets are the responsibility of their respective organizations. About Elliptic Labs Elliptic Labs is a global enterprise targeting the smartphone, laptop, IoT, and automotive markets. Founded in 2006 as a research spin-off from Norway's Oslo University, the company's patented software uses AI, ultrasound and sensor fusion to deliver intuitive 3D gesture, proximity-, presence-, breathing- and heartbeat-detection experiences. Its scalable AI Virtual Smart Sensor Platform creates software-only sensors that are sustainable, human-friendly and already deployed in hundreds of millions of devices around the world. Elliptic Labs is the only software company that has delivered detection capabilities using AI software, ultrasound, and sensor fusion deployed at scale. The company joined the Oslo Brs main listing in March 2022. Elliptic Labs is headquartered in Norway with presence in the USA, China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Its technology and IP are developed in Norway and are solely owned by the company. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829606654/en/

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[August 30, 2023] TopGear low-Carbon Speed Week to be held at GotlandRing Tweet

LONDON and VISBY, Sweden, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TopGear will host its first low-carbon Speed Week at Sweden's GotlandRing, the world's most sustainable race circuit, from August 31 - September 3, 2023. The event is the first of its kind and will feature test drives of the latest and greatest performance cars launched in the last 12 months  including petrol, hybrid and pure-electric models  culminating in the crowning of a 2023 performance car of the year. All tests will be conducted by teams from TopGear Magazine and TopGear.com, who are also the organizers of Speed Week. Jack Rix, Editor-in-chief TopGear, said: "We had the idea to create an event with embedded sustainability throughout, that lost none of the drama and excitement associated with TopGear's world famous Speed Week. All the fun, a lot less carbon. We couldn't think of a venue that is more suitable than GotlandRing, which, for the past twenty years, has been a sustainability forerunner in its field and beyond."



Located on the historic, Swedish island of Gotland and within an official eco-region, GotlandRing is a 4.53 mile (7.29 km) eco-friendly race and test circuit that utilises 100 percent renewable energy. It is also praised for pioneering sustainability and e-mobility iniiatives such as SmartRoad Gotland, the world's first electric road system with dynamic charging, and various supercharging solutions, launched in cooperation with its Nordic partners Kempower, Nimbnet and Virta.



TopGear's Speed Week will run parallel with GotlandRing's 20-year anniversary, which will be celebrated on September 2 and 3. Alec Arho-Havren, Founder and Chief Circuit Architect, GotlandRing, said: "We are pleased and honoured to work with TopGear on this trailblazing event, and the timing of the production and GotlandRing's anniversary makes it even more special. The enabling driving environment will provide versatile activities and a creative ambiance."

To ensure that TopGear's Speed Week is as sustainable as possible, electric and bio-fuel trucks will be used for transportation, EVs will be charged on 100 per cent renewable energy produced on-site, and combustion engines will be powered by biofuel. Locally sourced partners will also be enlisted for accommodation and food. About GotlandRing GotlandRing, built in 2003, is the world's most sustainable race circuit as well as the longest circuit of modern standard. The 4.53 mile (7.29 km) island-based race and test circuit is located within the Eco-Region of Gotland, which is the most popular tourist destination in Sweden. As of August 2023, the complex also offers EV supercharging with 100 percent renewable energy. GotlandRing and its strategic partner World Ecological Forum are also the initiators behind the SmartRoad Gotland project, the world's first electric road system with dynamic charging on a public road. The project was realized in cooperation with Electreon and the Swedish Transport Administration between 2019 and 2023. For more information, go to gotlandring.com. Press Contact:

Jenny Harler

+46 (0)73-904 85 85

jenny.harler@scencia.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/topgear-low-carbon-speed-week-to-be-held-at-gotlandring-301912918.html

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[August 30, 2023] utu and TAP Miles&Go Partner to Bring 'Upsized' Tax Refund Benefits to Air Portugal Frequent Flyers Tweet

SINGAPORE, Aug. 30, 2023 /CNW/ -- utu, a Singapore-based travel-tech company, today announced that it is adding TAP Miles&Go, the frequent flyer program of TAP Air Portugal, to its list of global partners. The deal aims to now bring utu's unprecedented value proposition of offering rewards for tax-free shopping to TAP Miles&Go members. TAP Miles&Go members can now leverage utu's cross-border rewards system to receive an enhanced value of US$125 for every US$100 of tax refunds while shopping overseas. By utilising the utu Tax Free Card as their preferred method of receiving tax refunds, TAP Miles&Go members will earn a remarkable 3,546 miles, equivalent to an 'upsized' refund of US$125. Upsized benefits in fifty countries The process is simple. To begin, TAP Air Portugal frequent flyers must first download the utu Tax Free mobile app via Google Play or the App Store and activate their utu Tax Free Card. When completing their tax refund form or using a tax refund kiosk, members only need to provide their utu Tax Free Card number and select TAP Miles&Go as their desired refund method from the utu app. This exceptional benefit is available in over 50 countries where VAT or GST refunds are offered, including prominent destinations such as Singapore, France, Italy, Germany, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates. "We are excited to team up with utu to bring our members this exclusive deal as we continuously strive to enhance the TAP Miles&Go program," said Pedro Ribeiro, Loalty Director, TAP Miles&Go Program "This partnership allows our members to unlock additional benefits through tax-free shopping, increasing the value they receive while exploring new destinations."



utu's partnership with TAP Miles&Go offers an unparalleled incentive for members of the loyalty program. By leveraging the utu Tax Free Card, TAP Miles&Go members can now maximise their tax refunds while simultaneously earning significant miles, providing them with even more opportunities to enhance their travel experiences. "We are pleased to partner with TAP Miles&Go to offer this opportunity to the members of their esteemed loyalty program," said Sanjay Chinchwade, CCO, Partnerships & utu Miles of utu. "This strategic partnership further solidifies our commitment to enhancing the travel experience and providing innovative solutions for travellers worldwide."

TAP Air Portugal is the second European Airline carrier to join utu's tax-refund revolution following a partnership with Flying Blue, the frequent flyer program for Franco-Dutch airline group Air France-KLM, with more partners in aviation and hospitality to be announced soon. Visit www.utu.global for the latest news and announcements. About utu utu (pronounced "you-too") is transforming tax-free shopping worldwide by empowering travellers with the freedom to obtain a higher VAT refund by going beyond digitising refunds to re-engineer the tax-free shopping value chain to benefit travellers. The utu management team has deep domain knowledge in tax-free shopping developed over 25 years of refunding VAT and GST worldwide. By bringing the worlds of refunds and rewards together, utu unlocks new value in rewards from retailers, airlines, hotels, and others. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Singapore, utu's products can be used in over 50 countries. About TAP TAP Air Portugal is a Portuguese airline and member of the Star Alliance since 2005. Operating since 1945, TAP has its hub in Lisbon, at the intersection of Africa, North, Central and South America, and is the leading provider of flights between Europe and Brazil. This summer, TAP offers more than 1250 frequencies per week through the Company's destination network, which comprises seven airports in Portugal, 10 in North America, 12 in Central and South America, 14 in Africa and the Middle East and 43 in Europe (besides Portugal). TAP has made a clear commitment to modernise its fleet and offer its customers the best product in the sector. The Portuguese airline operates one of the youngest fleets in the world, with the latest generation Airbus NEO aircraft: A320neo, A321neo, A321LR and A330neo, with superior efficiency and reduced emission levels. TAP also operates Embraer and ATR aircraft in its regional fleet (TAP Express). The company is considered by Airline Ratings the safest airline in Europe and the fifth safest in the world. TAP Air Portugal is also recognized and awarded as Europe's Leading Airline to Africa, as well as Europe's Leading Airline to South America by the World Travel Awards in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/utu-and-tap-milesgo-partner-to-bring-upsized-tax-refund-benefits-to-air-portugal-frequent-flyers-301912153.html SOURCE UTU

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[August 30, 2023] Slenergy Strengthens its Local Presence in Europe Tweet

FRANKFURT, Germany, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Enthusiastic feedback flooded in from local partners during Slenergy's recent Partner Training & Guidance Tour in Germany, affirming the distinct advantages of the company's iShare-Home system: "Slenergy's one-stop solution greatly alleviates stock capital concerns, accelerating the circulation." "Slenergy's system supply chain eliminates the need to manage multiple suppliers for different system parts." "Slenergy's marketing support helps to boost our sales significantly." "Slenergy's one-stop concept is the ultimate fix for current installation challenges, a rarity in the industry!" Slenergy, a leading innovator in the renewable energy industry, is cementing its local presence in Europe, particularly in Germany, through diverse channels like installation training tours and one-stop salons. The company introduced its groundbreaking iShare-Home one-stop residential solar energy solution in Munich this May, with over 1000 kits sold across the continent in just three months. During the recent and successful month-log Partner Training & Guidance Tour in Germany, Slenergy's engineers traversed cities like Salzwedel, Leipzig and Hamburg, delivering specialized training sessions tailored for prioritized channel partners. These courses offered a comprehensive insight into the iShare-Home solution, along with detailed on-site installation training and guidance.



Meticulously customized to meet clients' demands, the courses ensured flawless installations. Beyond collecting positive feedback on its one-stop solution, the tour enabled engineers to receive first-hand constructive suggestions. For example, a partner in Delitzsch appreciated the convenient organization of accessories within a single box but proposed a refinement. In response, Slenergy's Product Director promptly adjusted the packing design for the next shipment, aligning with the company's commitment to perfection in every detail. Recognizing the importance of a robust local presence, Slenergy has invested significantly in comprehensive local support for pre-sales, sales, after-sales, and product service. A one-stop salon for clients was organized at the Radisson Blu Hotel Frankfurt on August 29, offering insights into the company and the iShare-Home system.

With its promising sales trajectory in Germany, Slenergy strives for excellence across Europe. The expansion into Italy, Spain and the Netherlands is planned for the next month. An official launch event is scheduled in Milan, Italy, this October. As a visionary player in the new energy industry, Slenergy aims to upgrade the sector with precision manufacturing standards and innovative technologies. The company actively broadens its market reach, making green energy benefits accessible to a wider audience, fostering energy independence and cultivating a sustainable future for all. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/slenergy-strengthens-its-local-presence-in-europe-301913601.html SOURCE SLENERGY

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BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities on Wednesday issued a yellow alert for possible geological disasters triggered by heavy rainfall in parts of southwest China.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and the China Meteorological Administration have warned of the risks of rain-induced geological disasters in western parts of Yunnan from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Thursday.

Residents have been advised to take precautions, especially in areas with potential dangers.

China has a four-tier, color-coded warning system for geological disasters, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue. 
[August 30, 2023] Azul Enhances ReadyNow to Solve Java's Warmup Problem, Simplify Operations and Optimize Cloud Costs Tweet

Azul, the only company 100% focused on Java, today announced ReadyNow Orchestrator (RNO), a new feature of Azul Platform Prime powered by ReadyNow technology that slashes warmup time for Java applications, enabling significant improvements to operational efficiencies and optimization of cloud costs. Available now, ReadyNow Orchestrator requires no changes to Java applications and is included at no additional charge for Azul Platform Prime customers. Any company that uses Java for its business-critical workloads faces the Java warmup problem. When a Java application is launched, the JVM is responsible for compiling it into a form that can be executed by the machine or device running it. As the application continues to run, the JVM will recompile and further optimize important parts of the application's code to improve performance, essentially "warming up" over time before it reaches peak performance. "Java's warmup problem has long been an issue in ensuring peak application performance. Organizations should consider ways to reduce operational friction by automating the selection of the best optimization patterns for container-based applications while also improving elasticity to control cloud costs," said William Fellows, Research Director at 451 Research. 1 Azul Platform Prime's ReadyNow technology helps some of the world's largest companies ensure their Java workloads start fast and stay fast. ReadyNow records information about an application's optimization profile and then uses that profile to shorten the warmup time the next time the application is run. Generating and distributing ReadyNow optimization profiles across fleets of applications has become increasingly complicate - especially in containerized environments.



ReadyNow Orchestrator (RNO) automates profile distribution by delegating all profile collection to a dedicated, customer-managed service. Instead of collecting profile information on just a single JVM, RNO monitors entire fleets of JVMs, learns from application usage what the best optimization profile is, and then automatically serves the profile to any JVM that requests it so that Java applications warm up much more rapidly with no human intervention. This newest feature of Azul Platform Prime builds on Azul's efforts to help businesses optimize rising cloud costs. DevOps teams can scale down the number of cloud compute instances they use to run Java applications during off-peak times and then rapidly scale them back up to meet demand - knowing that ReadyNow and ReadyNow Orchestrator will ensure those instances are warmed up immediately to take traffic with no disruption to customers. By doing so, organizations can reduce the average number of compute instances they are using, lowering their cloud compute costs.

"Azul has a distinguished history of delivering pioneering technology for Java applications, such as eliminating Garbage Collection pauses and offering the highest application performance with the world's best Just-in-Time compiler," said John Ceccarelli, Sr. Director Product Management for Azul Platform Prime. "With ReadyNow and ReadyNow Orchestrator, we're now solving Java's warmup challenges and providing a novel way for enterprises to improve developer and operational efficiencies and reduce cloud costs." Azul CTO and co-founder Gil Tene will join William Fellows of 451 Research for a free webinar on "Cloud Cost Optimization for Java Workloads" at 12:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 26. To learn more about Azul Platform Prime and its unique capabilities of improving performance and carrying capacity for Java applications and optimizing cloud costs, visit azul.com/products/prime. 1 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, Application Modernization: It Takes a (Cloud) Village, 2022. About Azul Systems Inc. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Azul provides the Java platform for the modern cloud enterprise. Azul is the only company 100% focused on Java. Millions of Java developers, hundreds of millions of devices and the world's most highly regarded businesses trust Azul to power their applications with exceptional capabilities, performance, security, value and success. Azul customers include 27% of the Fortune 100, 50% of Forbes top-10 World's Most Valuable Brands, all 10 of the world's top-10 financial trading companies and leading brands like Avaya, Bazaarvoice, BMW, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Telekom, LG, Mastercard, Mizuho, Priceline, Salesforce, Software AG and Workday. Learn more at azul.com and follow us @azulsystems. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830629915/en/

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[August 30, 2023] SAP, OneRail, Kinaxis, Manhattan Associates and Other Supply Chain Leaders to Showcase Latest Innovations at Visibility 2023 Tweet

Leading supply chain visibility provider FourKites today announced that the world's top supply chain technology innovators will gather at Visibility 2023 to demonstrate the power and value of sharing real-time visibility data across supply chain ecosystems. FourKites technology partners, integrators and consultants will demonstrate to attendees the vast potential for real-time data to drive greater collaboration and smarter, faster decision-making across the end-to-end supply chain - from manufacturing, sourcing and planning, to the yard, distribution and end consumer. The logistics industry has long been hamstrung by siloed data trapped in an increasingly complex stack of supply chain systems - enterprise resource planning databases, demand planning systems, transportation management systems, control towers, data lakes and BI solutions, to name just a few. FourKites and its technology partners are breaking down these silos, making the world's largest supply chain dataset available to every critical system, application and user. Armed with massive volumes of real-time internal and external supply chain data - including port delays, GPS, traffic, weather and terminal events - FourKites is layering on market-leading AI and machine learning to provide customers with deep, actionable insights. Together with ecosystem partners, FourKites can further contextualize this data to improve an array of different supply chain processes and wokflows.



For example, SAP Business Network for Logistics leverages FourKites to help customers better plan warehouse deliveries, take action on delayed shipments and make more informed decisions across their entire supply chain. Likewise, leading provider of supply chain management solutions, Kinaxis Inc., combines its patented technique of concurrency with real-time visibility data to improve end-to-end orchestration across supply, demand, inventory, orders, scheduling transportation and more. "With the integration of FourKites' real-time insights and visibility data into Kinaxis' platform, we're helping customers become more nimble and agile within their supply chain management and execution processes," said Vijay Natarajan, vice president of business consulting at Kinaxis.

FourKites' annual Visibility user conference convenes over 700 of the world's most preeminent supply chain leaders. This year's event is held against a backdrop of accelerating innovation and an industry-wide focus on enhancing real-time supply chain execution capabilities, with investments in the latter projected to increase fivefold in the next three to five years. Visibility 2023 is highly curated to give attendees the opportunity to connect, learn and innovate so that they can harness the full power of the FourKites network with downstream customers, upstream suppliers and ecosystem partners. "FourKites' Visibility conference brings together not only the world's premier shippers and carriers, but also the technology innovators and consulting partners they rely on for their transformations," said Fab Brasca, Chief Strategy Officer at FourKites. "There is no silver bullet for every supply chain problem. Rather, shippers are building out a tech stack to digitize their entire supply chain. And at the center of the ecosystem, there must be actionable insights powered by real-time visibility data." The FourKites partners and solution providers sponsoring Visibility 2023 include: Platinum: Justransform

Justransform Gold: Manhattan Associates

Manhattan Associates Silver: Autoscheduler.AI, Kinaxis, OneRail, Relex, SAP, SMC3, SPS Commerce and Zebra Technologies

Autoscheduler.AI, Kinaxis, OneRail, Relex, SAP, SMC3, SPS Commerce and Zebra Technologies Additional Sponsors: Amazon AWS and Pando Visibility 2023 will kick off on September 6 with a networking happy hour welcoming all participants, and will conclude on September 7 with a reception at Navy Pier. About FourKites Leading global supply chain visibility platform FourKites extends visibility beyond transportation into yards, warehouses, stores and beyond. Tracking more than 3 million shipments daily across road, rail, ocean, air, parcel and last mile, and reaching over 200 countries and territories, FourKites combines real-time data and powerful machine learning to help companies digitize their end-to-end supply chains. More than 1,200 of the world's most recognized brands - including 9 of the top-10 CPG and 18 of the top-20 food and beverage companies - trust FourKites to transform their business and create more agile, efficient and sustainable supply chains. To learn more, visit https://www.fourkites.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829050500/en/

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[August 30, 2023] Knowles Precision Devices introduces a medical-grade capacitor catalog for implantable device applications Tweet

The MD Series features up-screened components and detailed specs to ease the selection process CAZENOVIA, N.Y., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Knowles Precision Devices, a division of Knowles Corporation, recently introduced the MD Series, a range of medical-grade capacitors for implantable designs. The MD Series encompasses C0G, X7R and X5R monolithic ceramic chips. We wanted it to be easy for design teams to identify medical-grade components and the screening they've undergone. "With clear, comprehensive specifications, the series is designed to offer the broadest variety of medical-grade capacitors, so engineers can have confidence in the compatibility and quality of their selections" said Shiraz Vakharia, Director of Hi-Rel Products. Currently, there is no distinct specification for passive devices in medical implantables. However, Knowles Precision Devices has built a legacy in testing and screening military-grade reliability specifications (MIL-SPECS) for defense and military applications. We have adopte that same rigor for medical applications, and the MD Series can be screened using two long-standing MIL-SPECs: MIL-PRF-55681 (Group A) and MIL-PRF-123 (Group A).



"Our in-house engineers know how helpful it is to have comprehensive specifications readily available. It saves a lot of time in ordering and sourcing, which expedites the overall production process," said Victor Lu, applications engineer, Knowles Precision Devices. "We wanted it to be easy for design teams to identify which components are medical-grade and what screening they've undergone. Ultimately, engineers should feel assured that these components will serve their designs and meet their high-reliability requirements." In addition to the MD Series distinction, the catalog indicates chip size, dielectric, capacitance, tolerance, voltage VDWC, termination, high-reliability testing, packing option(s), and screening. Beyond Group A, all screening options are tailored for selectable-combination testing. This reduces or eliminates the cost associated with developing and maintaining device-specific documentation packages and better preserves each component's performance integrity through design and manufacturing.

Leveraging decades of industry knowledge and expertise, Knowles Precision Devices has a proven heritage of designing high-reliability capacitors for medical applications. To learn more about Knowles Precision Devices medical-grade capacitor offerings, visit knowlescapacitors.com. About Knowles Precision Devices: Knowles Precision Devices is a division of Knowles Corporation (NYSE: KN). Headquartered in Cazenovia, New York, Knowles Precision Devices produces a wide variety of highly engineered RF and microwave components, and high-performance capacitors for use in critical applications in military, medical, electric vehicle and telecom market segments. For more information, visit knowlescapacitors.com or follow Knowles Precision Devices on LinkedIn. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/knowles-precision-devices-introduces-a-medical-grade-capacitor-catalog-for-implantable-device-applications-301913280.html SOURCE Knowles Precision Devices

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[August 30, 2023] Liberty Defense Launches HEXWAVE Product for Commercial Applications Tweet

First systems manufactured in the Wilmington, MA facility will be delivered to customer sites in the coming weeks. WILMINGTON, Mass., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - August 30, 2023  Liberty Defense Holdings Ltd. ("Liberty" or the "Company") (TSXV: SCAN) (OTCQB: LDDFF) (FRANKFURT: LD2A), a leading technology provider of AI-based next generation detection solutions for protecting secure locations against prohibited weapons and other threats, is pleased to announce that it has completed production of the first HEXWAVE systems, capable of detecting non-metallic and metallic threats, including 3D printed ghost guns and liquid, powder, or plastic explosives, without having to stop or remove common items like cell phone, keys, and jackets while going through the HEXWAVE portals. Over the past several months, the Company has seen significant demand for the HEXWAVE technology and its backlog is growing, receiving orders from high profile customers like Los Alamos National Labs, Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Elkhart County Courthouse, Smiths Detection, Linev US, and the first international sale to GRASP, Amsterdam. The demand is coming not only from the US aviation employee screening initiative but also from prisons, museums, stadiums, warehouses, government buildings, and other public venues. "This is a significant milestone and accomplishment for the Company," said Bill Frain, CEO of Liberty Defense. "We've had great support over the years from MIT Lincoln Labs and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to finalize the design and define performance requirements, but it would not have happened without the expertise and experience of our engineering and operations team in Atlanta and Boston. Years of effort went into developing this truly next generation screening technology, and it is great to know it will be at customer sites soon to protect the public." The Company has also signed distribution agreements with key strategic partners for increased market penetration in the aviation and urban security markets. "Our mission is not done, and we will continue to enhance the software algorithms and AI capability to stay ahead of new threats like 3D printed guns, suicide vests, and other explosive materials that can do harm in public spaces," added Frain. "We like to think our system is future proof, as we can seamlessly send software updates to our customers once the HEXWAVE is deployed in the field." In other news, Liberty Defense will participate in a live investor webinar showcasing the future of the defense and security industry on August 30 at 10 am Eastern Time/15:00 UK time. More information can be found at: https://www.lsegissuerservices.com/spark/IDG/events/1d868557-b091-49cd-8242-47c853e56e6f



For updates and news, please visit the Company website to subscribe to email alerts or follow Liberty Defense on social channels. On Behalf of Liberty Defense

Bill Frain

CEO & Director

About Liberty Defense Liberty Defense ( TSXV: SCAN , OTCQB: LDDFF , FRANKFURT: LD2A ) provides multi-technology security solutions for concealed weapons detection in high volume foot traffic areas and locations requiring enhanced security such as airports, stadiums, schools, and more. Liberty's HEXWAVE product, for which the company has secured an exclusive license from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as a technology transfer agreement for patents related to active 3D radar imaging technology, provides discrete, modular, and scalable protection to provide layered, stand-off detection capability of metallic and non-metallic weapons. Liberty has also recently licensed the millimeter wave-based, High-Definition Advanced Imaging Technology (HD-AIT) body scanner and shoe scanner technologies as part of its technology portfolio. Liberty is committed to protecting communities and preserving peace of mind through superior security detection solutions. Learn more: LibertyDefense.com FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS When used in this press release, the words "estimate", "project", "belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or "should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. Although Liberty believes, in light of the experience of their respective officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate, that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and information in this press release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the parties can give no assurance that such statements will prove to be correct. Such statements and information reflect the current view of Liberty. There are risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause Liberty's actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by forward-looking statements and information. Such factors include, among others: currency fluctuations; limited business history of the parties; disruptions or changes in the credit or security markets; results of operation activities and development of projects; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; and general development, market and industry conditions. The parties undertake no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of their securities or their respective financial or operating results (as applicable). Liberty cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. When relying on Liberty's forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Liberty has assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraph will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents the expectations of Liberty as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Liberty does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/liberty-defense-launches-hexwave-product-for-commercial-applications-301913410.html SOURCE Liberty Defense Holdings Ltd.

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[August 30, 2023] From HITECH to the COVID-19 PHE: These Real-World Data Technologies are Helping Define Evidence-Based Care Tweet

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The mass digitization of healthcare records over the past decade has led to an explosion of new, highly-valued clinical data assets. According to the latest research report from Chilmark Research, Getting Real with Healthcare Data: Real World Data and Evidence Enabling New Models of Research and Care Delivery, a health data goldrush has been catalyzed by a combination of macro trends across the industry, with three being particularly notable: near-universal adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) following the HITECH Act, public health surveillance during the COVID-19 PHE, and pharma's urgent need to reduce the costs of new filings. These trends are leading to a rapidly growing market, which this report forecasts will experience an average 14.6% CAGR through 2030, roughly tripling today's addressable market from $4.6B to $13.6B USD. This forecast anticipates demand will continue to inrease as the success of numerous modernization priorities rests upon the insights contained within these data, including value-based care, clinical decision support, personalized medicine, population health management, post-market outcomes, supplemental new drug applications, and public health research, to name a few.



'Real-world data' (RWD) has been used in a variety of research purposes to develop 'real-world evidence' (RWE) for decades, but never to the extent that is occurring today. Only in recent years have digital health strategies been adopted broadly enough to start collecting and analyzing RWD at population scale, leading to novel opportunities for data-driven value creation and advancements in medical science. However, nearly 80% of healthcare data is still in unstructured formats, necessitating specialized solutions that can help process this data so it can be applied effectively. When combined with the historic lack of interoperable data standards and siloed systems in health IT, the result is the convoluted RWD/RWE market we have today with dozens of solutions aggregating, repackaging, and selling slices of health data. To better understand these nuances, Getting Real with Healthcare Data provides detailed definitions of the major categories of vendors offering solutions, types of data assets being leveraged, and current approaches to data aggregation and normalization.

"This research underscores the significance of fostering collaborations among healthcare organizations, technology providers, and regulators as a fundamental step towards unlocking the full potential of Real-World Evidence," according to analyst Joshua McHale. "By working together, they can overcome barriers such as data fragmentation, data quality concerns, and regulatory uncertainties. This collaborative approach allows for the establishment of a robust ecosystem that maximizes the potential of RWE to improve healthcare outcomes, accelerate medical research, support drug development, and inform health policy decisions." As RWD/RWE offerings quickly become fundamental tools for enabling healthcare informatics, established entities will continue to enter this space by leveraging their unique data (ie Epic, PointClickCare), creating joint ventures with other organizations (Truveta, McKesson/HCA), or acquiring organizations that complement a core strategic initiative (ie Invitae, ThermoFisher). This is also an appealing opportunity for new entrants with novel data acquisition and/or processing models that can expose different insights than legacy solutions. The research is relevant to any healthcare stakeholder looking to leverage real-world data for evidence-based decision making. Providers and payers will appreciate the comprehensive overview of market solutions and vendor types, with the follow-on Buyers' Guide providing more specific recommendations. Technology vendors and investors will find valuable the detailed discussion of which trends are impacting buyer behavior and the Buyers' Guide Preview introducing how solutions will be evaluated in the next phase of this research. Finally, life sciences companies will benefit from the in-depth examinations of what's changing as new solutions come to market, and which partners are best aligned for their needs in trials recruitment or regulatory filing. Overall, the report provides valuable insights into the current and future state of the RWD/RWE market. As healthcare enterprises continue to seek out new sources of data to inform decision-making, RWE is likely to play an increasingly vital role in improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs. Vendors mentioned in this report: Aetion, Arcadia.io, Carevive, Cerner Enviza, Clarify Health Solutions, Epic Cosmos, Eversana, Evidation, Flatiron Health, Inovalon, Invitae (Ciitizen), IQVIA, Komodo Health, Optum, Picnic Health, Pluto Health, PointClickCare, Quantiphi, Syapse, Tempus, TriNetX, Truveta, Veradigm, Verana Health, Verantos, ThermoFisher. About Chilmark Research

Founded in 2007, Chilmark Research brings more than 15 years of in-depth research and analysis to the world of healthcare IT, empowering some of the largest brands in the industry to be confident in their strategic decisions. Our services enable vendors, retailers, and healthcare providers to act on rich insights that deliver deep understanding of an ever-growing and shifting market. Through written research, our Advisory Service, and on-demand consulting, Chilmark's array of services facilitate valuable industry knowledge for any healthcare organization. To learn more, visit chilmarkresearch.com. Media Contact:

John Moore III

617.823.7623

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/from-hitech-to-the-covid-19-phe-these-real-world-data-technologies-are-helping-define-evidence-based-care-301912992.html SOURCE Chilmark Research

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[August 30, 2023]

SPARC Research Establishes Propulsion Research and Development Agreement with Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake, CA

WARRENTON, Va., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SPARC Research of Warrenton Virginia and the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) at China Lake CA have agreed to cooperate in the areas of improving the performance of solid rocket motors and airbreathing engines. The objective is to provide increased range and capability for missile systems delivered to the warfighter.

NAWCWD and SPARC Research formalize a three-year cooperative research and development agreement.

Ths relationship was formalized in a three-year cooperative research and development agreement, or CRADA, between NAWCWD and SPARC Research. "We are pleased to enter this agreement and leverage the strong capabilities existing at each organization for the betterment of the Department of Defense", said Kevin Bailey, Director of Programs at SPARC Research. Matt Cornwell, SPARC Research President added "I view this CRADA as the start of a longer-term relationship to jointly develop and demonstrate prototype advanced propulsion systems".







Matthew Gross, the Principal Investigator at NAWCWD also said "We are honored to be working with SPARC Research to enable us to cooperatively develop, build, test, and effectively transition emerging propulsion technologies to future weapon development programs".

About SPARC Research:

SPARC Research was founded to advance the state-of-the-art in rocket and airbreathing technology development, preliminary design, and prototype demonstration using modern multiphysics modeling tools. For more information, visit www.sparcresearch.com or contact: SPARC Research, [email protected].

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sparc-research-establishes-propulsion-research-and-development-agreement-with-naval-air-warfare-center-at-china-lake-ca-301913164.html

SOURCE SPARC Research
[August 30, 2023] VTX1 Internet and Tarana Cover 2M Locations in South Texas with Ultra-Fast Internet Tweet

VTX1 Internet and Tarana today announced the deployment of a next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) network that is making affordable, high-speed broadband service available to more than 2 million homes and businesses across 40,000 square miles of southern Texas. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830843550/en/ VTX1 Internet and Tarana today announced the deployment of a next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) network that is making affordable, high-speed broadband service available to more than 2 million homes and businesses across 40,000 square miles of southern Texas. (Photo: Business Wire) Mark Castillo, Director of Network Operations at VTX1, was the first on his team to hear about Gigabit 1 (G1) - Tarana's unique ngFWA broadband platform - when it launched commercially in October of 2021. With astonishing claims about reliable performance in heavily-used unlicensed radio spectrum and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) connections, Castillo was immediately intrigued and began further research. He knew that convincing VTX1 CTO Sebastian Ivanisky (who he called "the biggest skeptic in our company") to try a new product would be challenging. Ivanisky attended Tarana's first Seeing is Believing demo event in Mascoutah, Illinois, just two months after the launch of G1. That evening Castillo texted him, "Has it knocked your socks off?" Ivanisky responded, "I don't even have feet after what I've seen today." Since the event, the VTX1 team has become one of Tarana's biggest supportes. They were among the first few internet service providers (ISPs) to adopt G1, a solution now embraced by more than 200 ISPs in 21 countries. Through a combination of new market expansion and swapping their legacy fixed wireless equipment for ngFWA, the company has already added thousands of subscribers and is still actively rolling out their new G1 network. Tarana upgrades are enabling them to successfully compete with Spectrum, an incumbent cable provider, in many parts of their coverage area.



Ivanisky stated, "I thought Tarana's claims were impossible - that they were just another vendor claiming what they do without showing me how they do it, or proving sustainable, repeatable performance. But this is not another fly-by-night product. We've never been able to offer 400 Mbps over wireless - and now we're delivering that regularly." Castillo is also one of the many happy customers on their Tarana-backed service. Residing in a rural area 4 miles outside of town, he's had fixed wireless broadband for the last 13 years, but it wasn't until he had a 5 GHz G1 radio on his home that he truly experienced high-speed internet. Now he consistently sees 500+ Mbps when checking on his service. He shared, "I never worry if I'll have enough bandwidth to play Call of Duty when my kids are watching HD videos on their tablets and my wife is video conferencing."

The VTX1 team reports dozens of saved customers and glowing reviews from end-users on G1. Although the team was initially skeptical, Castillo said, "Once we began deploying G1, we couldn't believe how quickly the product took a foothold in our network, how quickly our sales team was able to take advantage of the product, and how quickly the upgrade orders came in." Tarana CEO, Basil Alwan, added, "The journey to turn the VTX1 team into believers has been rewarding. They were one of the first ISPs to build with us, and it's been great to see it pay off for them. We are very proud to support their growing ngFWA network as they accelerate their business and deliver fast, reliable broadband to their customers." About VTX1 Internet Beginning as the Valley Telephone Cooperative in 1952, the organization combined its holdings - VTXC Communications and VTX Telecom - in 2013 to form VTX1 Companies. VTX1 Internet is now a leading broadband service provider offering internet and telephone services to approximately 20,000 customers in south Texas. Established to serve its rural communities on the principals of excellence and value, VTX1 is still moving forward to an exciting future, upholding its mission to provide exceptional customer service and support. Learn more about VTX1 at https://www.vtx1.net/. About Tarana Tarana's mission is to accelerate the deployment of fast, affordable internet access around the world. Through a decade of R&D and more than $400M of investment, the Tarana team has created a unique next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) technology instantiated in its first commercial platform, Gigabit 1 (G1). It delivers a game-changing advance in broadband economics in both mainstream and underserved markets, using either licensed or unlicensed spectrum. G1 started production in mid-2021 and has since been embraced by over 200 service providers in 21 countries and 45 US states. Tarana is headquartered in Milpitas, California, with additional research and development in Pune, India. Visit https://www.taranawireless.com for more on G1. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830843550/en/

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[August 30, 2023] Verasonics to Launch the Vantage NXT Research Ultrasound System at the Upcoming IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium Tweet

Verasonics, Inc., the leader in research ultrasound, today announced it will launch the Vantage NXT, the successor to Verasonics' industry-leading Vantage Research Ultrasound System. The Vantage NXT Research Ultrasound System features a proprietary transceiver design that was specifically engineered to provide the next level of transmit and receive fidelity required for cutting-edge ultrasound research. Researchers will gain access to several enhancements including expanded frequency bandwidth, enhanced arbitrary waveform generation and improved high frequency performance and imaging. Vantage NXT also provides a new integrated help system for improved ease of use. Verasonics will debut Vantage NXT at the upcoming IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium September 3-8 in Montreal, Canada in booth 29. "Over the past 15 years, our team has delivered unparalleled ultrasound technology to the scientific research community," said Jon K. Daigle, President, and CEO of Verasonics. "The Vantage System is recognized for its superior performance and flexibility enabling researchers and developers to explore and innovate a broad cope of applications in biomedical engineering and materials science."



"We listened to our customers, and Vantage NXT is the result of several years of dedicated work from our product development teams. Not only does it preserve the flexibility and versatility of the Vantage System programming model that our customers desire, it also delivers enhanced performance and additional software features that will allow for continued advancements in research. We are excited to see where researchers and developers will take this innovative technology." Vantage NXT will be commercially available later in 2023.

About Verasonics, Inc. Verasonics is a privately held company founded in 2001, with headquarters in Kirkland, Washington, USA. Verasonics is the leader in research ultrasound and is focused on providing researchers and developers with the most advanced and flexible tools enabling them to develop new algorithms and products used in biomedical ultrasound, materials science, earth sciences, and the physics of acoustics and ultrasonics. Verasonics also licenses its technology to companies for use in their commercial products. Researchers in nearly 40 countries across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania routinely use Verasonics product solutions to advance the art and science of ultrasound through their own research efforts. Learn more by visiting the Verasonics website or following us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830370774/en/

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[August 30, 2023] Versa Networks Wins 2023 SC Award for Industry's Best SASE Solution Tweet

Versa Networks, the global leader in AI/ML-powered Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), today announced it has won a 2023 SC Award in the Trust Award category for the industry's Best SASE Solution. The SC Awards program is cybersecurity's most prestigious and competitive program, recognizing the solutions, organizations, and people driving innovation and success in information security. "We are honored for Versa Unified SASE to be named as the Best SASE Solution by the cybersecurity industry's most important annual awards program," said Dan Maier, CMO for Versa Networks. "Forward-leaning organizations around the world are deploying SASE solutions from Versa that converge their networking and security functions, accelerate their ability to support hybrid work and cloud services, reduce the complexity and increase the reliability of their infrastructure, and enhance their security. Versa SASE offers customers a future-ready framework that addresses both the current and emerging networking and security challenges faced by modern businesses." Winners are featured on SC Media's website with editorial coverage that celebrates the innovative technologies and solutions that support the ongoing efforts of the cybersecurity community. According to SC Magazine, "Versa Networks won this category for offering a unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture for enterprises that offers protection and connectivity for users, devices, and sites to workloads and applications. The platform promises to simplify how companies secure and connect their assets, improving their security posture, user-to-application experience, and operational efficiency. Versa SASE offers consistent policies to optimize network performance and secure application access anywhere, at any time, through a cloud-based, on-premises, or hybrid approach." Now in its 26th year, the 2023 SC Awards are highly coveted and draw a continued record number of entries each year. This year, SC Media evolved its recognition program with the introduction of new award categories and several modified categories to the competition. The Trust Awards included 21 categories recognizing outstanding echnology solutions in API, cloud, data security, managed detection, and more. Hundreds of entries for the Trust Awards were judged by a world-class panel of independent industry leaders, from sectors including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, consulting, and education.



"This year's SC Award winners reflected our industry in flux," said Tom Spring, SC Media's editorial director at CyberRisk Alliance. "Winners demonstrated uncanny market agility and brought innovative solutions to help their customers stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated adversaries and emerging threats. The innovative strategies and technologies demonstrated by all our SC Award participants truly encapsulated the remarkable innovation within the cybersecurity industry this year." Also a 2023 Cloud Computing Security Excellence Award Winner

Versa also announced today that TMC, a global, integrated media company, has named Versa Zero Trust Everywhere as a 2023 Cloud Computing Security Excellence Award winner. The Cloud Computing Security Excellence Award, presented by Cloud Computing magazine, recognizes companies that have most effectively leveraged cloud computing in their efforts to bring new, differentiated offerings to market. About Versa Unified SASE Versa's AI/ML-powered single-vendor Unified SASE delivers organically developed best-of-breed functions that tightly integrate and deliver services via the cloud, on-premises, or as a blended combination of both, managed through a single pane of glass. Versa delivers SASE services such as Secure SD-WAN, Next-Generation Firewall, Next-Generation Firewall as a Service, Cloud Network Firewall, Unified Threat Management (UTM) including Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI), and User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA). Versa's single-vendor Unified SASE platform goes above and beyond management console automation by providing the ability to integrate networks, points of presence, policy definitions, application definitions, agent logic, and data lakes. About CyberRisk Alliance CyberRisk Alliance (CRA) is a business intelligence company serving the high growth, rapidly evolving cybersecurity community with a diversified portfolio of services that inform, educate, build community, and inspire an efficient marketplace. Its trusted information leverages a unique network of journalists, analysts and influencers, policymakers, and practitioners. CRA's brands include SC Media, Security Weekly, ChannelE2E, MSSP Alert, InfoSec World, Identiverse, Cybersecurity Collaboration Forum, its research unit CRA Business Intelligence, the peer-to-peer CISO membership network, Cybersecurity Collaborative, the Official Cyber Security Summit, TECHEXPO Top Secret, and now LaunchTech Communications. Click here to learn more. About Versa Networks Versa Networks, the leader in single-vendor Unified SASE platforms, delivers AI/ML-powered SSE and SD-WAN solutions. The platform provides networking and security with true multitenancy, and sophisticated analytics via the cloud, on-premises, or as a blended combination of both to meet SASE requirements for small to extremely large enterprises and Service Providers. Thousands of customers globally with hundreds of thousands of sites and millions of users trust Versa with their mission critical networks and security. Versa Networks is privately held and funded by Sequoia Capital, Mayfield, Artis Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Comcast Ventures, BlackRock Inc., Liberty Global Ventures, Princeville Capital, RPS Ventures and Triangle Peak Partners. For more information, visit https://www.versa-networks.com or follow Versa Networks on Twitter @versanetworks. Versa Networks, VOS, the Versa logo, and Versa Titan are or may be registered trademarks of Versa Networks, Inc. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830492892/en/

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[August 30, 2023] As Industries Rush to Adopt AI, Digital River Survey Finds Online Shoppers Remain Skeptical Tweet

Digital River, an experienced global commerce enabler directly connecting brands and buyers, today released findings from its most recent consumer survey aimed at helping brands navigate emerging technologies and changing consumer expectations. The survey data was collected from 3,000 total respondents equally spread across the US, UK, and Germany. US shoppers are the slowest to embrace emerging tech Cultural differences are apparent in consumer attitudes toward AI, with US shoppers less likely to know about and/or engage with the tech than British and German counterparts. Consumers in Germany (33%) were most likely to be familiar with AI prior to taking the survey, outpacing the US (24%) and UK (23%). Germans (38%) were also more likely to allow AI to automate routine orders for them than those in the UK (31%) and US (28%).

Just 15% of German consumers say that chatbots are not helpful, significantly fewer than in the UK (27%) and US (26%). Misinterpreting queries (42%), inability to handle complex requests (37%), and difficulties in escalating to human support (33%) were among the top reasons for this lack of popularity.

72% of Americans expressed that interacting with a human representative was important to them, slightly above the overall figure of 70%. Shoppers want personalization, and reluctantly see AI's potential in providing it Consumers across geographies have not been eager to integrate AI into their shopping experiences, but they see its appeal when it comes to enhanced personalization. However, concerns around security and control have stemmed the tide of widespread adoption. Just 27% of consumers expressed that they were familiar with AI prior to the survey. However, those who were familiar cited enhanced search and filtering capabilities (36%) and prsonalized product recommendations (34%) as its most impactful use cases.

Data security (54%) and privacy (49%) remained among the top concerns for consumers, outweighing convenience. With regard to AI, 29% of shoppers pointed to these areas as the top reasons for being uncomfortable with the tools.

Only 32% of consumers said that they would allow AI to automate routine consumers goods orders, expressing a desire to have control over purchasing decisions (42%), a lack of faith in AI's ability to understand preferences (29%), and a desire to change orders based on shifting needs (28%).



Omnichannel appeals are centered on convenience Shopping preferences have shifted toward an omnichannel experience in the wake of the ecommerce boom, with consumers seeing in-person and online formats as complementary, but also geared towards different types of purchases.

A majority of consumers surveyed expressed that they prefer to shop in person (63%) rather than online (32%), with those in the US (70%) more likely to say so than the UK (60%) and Germany (59%).

51% of those who prefer ecommerce cited its convenience, with the ease of locating sales (37%), personalized recommendations (29%), and user-generated content (26%) named as its most enjoyable aspects. When asked where they begin the shopping process, 38% of consumers say online, while 22% said some combination of online and in-person.

Shoppers indicated a desire to shop for things like groceries (80%), toiletries (70%), and clothing/accessories (56%) in person, citing the able to view (67%) and try on (56%) products. Meanwhile, lower variance items like books and media (58%) and electronics (51%) proved most popular online. "It's no surprise to see that shoppers have been slow in embracing AI in its nascency, especially given hesitations around data security and surrendering control," said Ted Rogers, Digital River's Chief Marketing Officer. "It takes time for new innovations to be widely adopted, but brands should be proactive in honing their approach to AI and identify potential use cases to stay ahead of the curve." To see the complete survey results, please visit here. About Digital River Digital River empowers ecommerce brands to confidently accelerate growth in more than 240 markets worldwide. The company connects brands and buyers directly, staying behind the scenes to manage international payments, tax, fraud, compliance, and localization. Digital River customers also leverage Digital River's robust global logistics network to enable fast, low cost, local and cross-border shipping and returns. The chosen partner of thousands of brands across the Americas, Europe and Asia, Digital River is global commerce growth, simplified. Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices across the U.S., Asia, Europe, and South America. For more details, visit DigitalRiver.com. Digital River is a registered trademark of Digital River, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks, registrations, or copyrights of their respective owners. ### View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830063297/en/

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Construction of a water supplying network has been completed and inaugurated in the Zhari district of south Afghanistan's Kandahar province, state media reported on Wednesday.

The contraction project was completed at a cost of 8,113,000 Afghanis (about 100,000 U.S. dollars); the network will provide clean drinking water to about 100 households, the state-run news agency Bakhtar added.

Similarly, Afghan authorities opened six water supply networks in west Afghanistan's Farah province on Monday.

As part of efforts to rebuild war-torn Afghanistan, the Afghan caretaker government, besides launching some development projects, has also called upon national and international companies to invest and create job opportunities for the poverty-stricken Afghans. 
[August 30, 2023] Build Your Cloud with Mythics at Oracle CloudWorld 2023 Tweet

Mythics, LLC Sponsors Oracle's 2023 CloudWorld event in Las Vegas VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mythics, LLC, an award-winning Oracle systems integrator located in Virginia Beach, VA, will be attending Oracle CloudWorld - the premier conference for cloud technology - from September 18-21, 2023, at The Venetian in Las Vegas as a Silver level sponsor. With an impressive track record of success, Mythics has transformed numerous organizations in the public sector, higher education, healthcare, and commercial industries, helping them harness the true potential of cloud-based environments. "We are excited to be sponsoring this year's CloudWorld event and look forward to discussing our approach to customer modernization, including developing modernization roadmaps, and helping customers migrate their applications into the cloud," said Paul Seifert, Mythics' Chief Executive Officer. "By showcasing our expertise in driving cloud success across public sector, higher education, healthcare and commercial organizations, Mythics has the opportunity to connect with decision makers and technology innovators from all over the country." During the event, Mythics and some of our customers will be represented during speaking sessions, including: Department of Energy Moves to Cloud ERP and HCM from EBS and PeopleSoft [LRN4426]

Multicloud Management with Ansible [THR1608]

Flexible Disaster Recovery for All Oracle and Non-Oracle Workloads on OCI [LRN1807]

Automate Your IT Operations and Boost Productivity for Multicloud Environments [LRN2783]

Do This, Not That: Top 10 Tips to Monitor Oracle Database, WebLogic, and More [LRN2379]

Stay Ahead of Infrastructure Cyberthreats with Oracle Linux and Oracle Ksplice [LRN3065]

Choose Your Path: Multiple Ways Public-Sector Agencies Have Moved to the Cloud [PAN4421] "We're excited that many of our customers will be presenting in sessions, showcasing their projects and successful moves to the cloud this year," said Aaron Cornfeld, Mythics' Chief Technology Oficer. "From migrations of Oracle and 3rd party applications for large states to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), to SaaS implementations of Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite for major public sector agencies, we're proud to be involved in these projects and look forward to sharing their stories."



CloudWorld brings together Oracle customers and partners, providing them with the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge from experts, connect with peers, and explore innovative solutions that address complex business challenges. Whether you are interested in Oracle's infrastructure, databases, or applications, CloudWorld is the best place to learn from the people who build and use them. "CloudWorld is a pivotal event for Mythics, serving as a platform to connect with industry leaders, showcase our expertise, and gain valuable insights into the latest advancements in cloud technology," said Doug Altamura, Mythics' Chief Revenue Officer. "Participating in CloudWorld allows us to share our knowledge of Oracle products and services with our customers and is a great way to reaffirm our commitment to staying at the forefront of innovation and delivering optimal cloud solutions to our valued clients."

To learn more about how you can build your cloud with Mythics, or to sign up to meet with Mythics during this year's CloudWorld event, visit www.mythics.com/cloudworld. About Mythics, Inc.

Mythics is an award-winning Oracle systems integrator, consulting firm, managed services provider and member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork representing Oracle product lines across cloud, software, support, hardware, engineered systems and appliances. Mythics delivers technology solutions serving the Federal Government, State and Local Governments, Commercial, Higher Education, Utilities and Healthcare sectors and is a trusted partner to organizations worldwide. For more information or to place an order, contact Mythics at 866-698-4427; email [email protected] or visit https://www.mythics.com or @mythics on LinkedIn and Twitter. About Oracle PartnerNetwork

Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) is Oracle's partner program that provides partners with a differentiated advantage to develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracle's products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracle's growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to be recognized and rewarded for their investment in Oracle Cloud. Partners engaging with Oracle will be able to differentiate their Oracle Cloud expertise and success with customers through the OPN Cloud program  an innovative program that complements existing OPN program levels with tiers of recognition and progressive benefits for partners working with Oracle Cloud. To find out more visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners. Trademarks

Oracle, Java, MySQL and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. NetSuite was the first cloud company--ushering in the new era of cloud computing. Contact Information

Amanda Noon

Mythics, LLC

(757) 748-3984

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/build-your-cloud-with-mythics-at-oracle-cloudworld-2023-301912881.html SOURCE Mythics, LLC

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[August 30, 2023] ThisWay Global Announces FloCareer as Inaugural UIP Partner Tweet

Harmonizing HR Apps: FloCareer Joins UIP to Accelerate the Hiring Process by Streamlining Candidate Data Flow AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ThisWay Global , the leader in AI bias-removal and talent acquisition sourcing technology, announced FloCareer as the inaugural partner of its Universal Integration Platform (UIP), a cloud-based module unveiled last month. UIP streamlines and fast-tracks integration and business automation for most top HR applications in companies of all sizes. UIP enables HR tech vendors to seamlessly integrate their products and services so employers can work with a unified platform to manage their HR tech stack more efficiently. Large companies typically integrate, on average, 20 or more core HR systems; ThisWay's UIP dramatically reduces complexity, time, and integration costs. With UIP, ThisWay Global is advancing the ecosystem to enable HR tech solutions to exchange information more synergistically. UIP aligns with the industry's push toward merging talent and technology, helping businesses advance the future of talent acquisition and management. FloCareer is a leading HR tech company that provides the leading Interview as a Service pltform which helps clients hire faster, smarter and better at scale. The company's global senior software developers complete 20,000 technical interviews a month for clients across the globe, helping clients achieve a 70% reduction in their hiring turnaround time. It also offers a positive experience for job candidates. Currently, FloCareer's candidate satisfaction rate on post-interview surveys is 94%., FloCareer delivers a more efficient, unbiased, and user-friendly hiring experience for employers and candidates alike.



"Becoming an early partner with ThisWay's UIP, we're breaking new ground in hiring efficiency. We can integrate our interview evaluation platform with our clients' existing Application Tracking Systems and other HR technologies to optimize the recruitment procedures, improving the hiring experience for companies and candidates alike," said Mehul Bhatt, FloCareer CEO and CoFounder. "We're delighted to welcome FloCareer as our first UIP partner," said Angela Hood, CEO of ThisWay Global. "Together, we're enabling HR tech vendors' solutions to work together more seamlessly through UIP's automation."

About ThisWay Global

ThisWay Global is an award-winning, Google-accelerated, venture-backed leader in the HR tech industry. The company's commitment to bias removal, candidate-to-job matching technology and certified diversity supplier (WBENC) status gives it a significant lead over its competition. ThisWay is an IBM Silver Partner and the initial go-to-market partner of Watson Orchestrate. ThisWay Global's proprietary network has more than 8,500 unique diversity-based partners, providing companies and governments with a unique database of highly-skilled candidates, reducing bias and increasing diversity across all industries. ThisWay's team includes industry leaders from Indeed, Walt Disney, Nerd Wallet, Marriott, Jobcase, Recruitology, Mya Systems, Jive, Radancy, CareerBuilder, Circa, USMC, ARMY, Bering Sea Eccotech, Dept. of Defense, and many more recognized brands. The privately-held company's headquarters are in Austin, Texas. About FloCareer

Since 2019, FloCareer has been empowering startups and enterprises to scale their R&D organizations through its Interview-as-a-Service platform which enlists freelance software developers to conduct technical interviews. Since its founding, FloCareer has conducted over 500,000 interviews all over the world. Its mission is to help its clients hire faster, better, and at scale by providing a robust and diverse pipeline of freelance software developers and empowering them to deliver a rigorous hiring process across a wide variety of technology roles. The privately-held company's headquarters are in Boston. Press Contact:

Carmen Hughes

Ignite X

[email protected]

650.576.6444 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thisway-global-announces-flocareer-as-inaugural-uip-partner-301913300.html SOURCE ThisWay Global

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[August 30, 2023] Farm Credit Illinois Elevates Agricultural Lending Prospecting with CamoAg's Client Intelligence Product Tweet

CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Farm Credit Illinois (FCI) cooperative announced its selection of CamoAg's Client Intelligence product to assist in its goal to provide more farm families in the southern 60 counties of Illinois with reliable, consistent credit and financial services. The innovative solution provides FCI loan officers, crop insurance agents, and appraisal staff with deep, contextual farmer and landowner insights at the touch of a button, in one place. From mortgage data and UCC filings to farmland values and market trends, CamoAg's Client Intelligence tool delivers a 360-degree view of the cooperative's marketplace. It also reduces manual data entry and improves market knowledge, allowing FCI staff to better serve current and prospective farm families. CamoAg's recent integration with AgWare demonstrates its dedication to serving ag lending and Farm Credit Associations as they deliver exceptional member experience and make more informed business decisions. "CamoAg's Client Intelligence product will be an effective sales tool for our team and fill a gap in our marketplace knowledge," said Shaun Murray, Farm Credit Illinois chief marketplace officer. "Our team will leverage its detailed farmer and landowner insights to improve relaionships and support our core purpose of Helping Farm Families Succeed."



CamoAg CEO, Corbett Kull, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration: "We're honored to be selected by Farm Credit Illinois. Our Client Intelligence product is designed to consolidate data and provide actionable insights to ag lenders and agribusinesses, and we believe it will be a valuable addition to Farm Credit Illinois' operations." FCI's selection of CamoAg's Client Intelligence product is a testament to the transformative impact of technology on the ag lending and agribusiness sector. The Association is well-positioned to enhance member experience and grow its ag lending portfolio in Illinois with the help of CamoAg's expertise and innovative tools.

For more information about Farm Credit Illinois's selection of CamoAg's Client Intelligence product or to learn more about CamoAg's solutions, visit CamoAg's website . About Farm Credit Illinois: Farm Credit Illinois (FCI) is an agricultural lending cooperative owned by 18,000 farmer, rural landowner, and agribusiness voting stockholder members in the southern 60 counties of Illinois. Dedicated to Helping Farm Families Succeed, FCI provides competitive and flexible financing, crop insurance expertise, and Rural 1st country life lending. FCI manages a $6 billion loan portfolio, sells 1.5 million acres of crop insurance coverage, and employs 280 staff in the Mahomet headquarters and 14 regional offices. The Association returned $40 million of 2022 earnings as cash patronage to member-borrowers in 2023. The U.S. Farm Credit System is a network of locally owned cooperatives supporting rural communities, farm families, and agriculture with reliable, consistent credit and financial services today and tomorrow. About CamoAg: CamoAg is a software company based in Illinois that offers software solutions to agricultural businesses to solve data management problems, improve internal workflows, and service customers through digital experiences. Contact:

Kristi Bjornaas

(512) 422-3195

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/farm-credit-illinois-elevates-agricultural-lending-prospecting-with-camoags-client-intelligence-product-301912827.html SOURCE CamoAg

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[August 30, 2023] Bethany Children's Health Center finds gold standard in MEDITECH Expanse Tweet

Bethany Children's Health Center (Bethany, OK), an innovative leader in pediatric rehabilitation and 24-hour complex care, has selected MEDITECH Expanse to integrate patient records across their 160-bed hospital, outpatient clinics, and rehabilitation services. Expanse will be hosted on the cloud-based MEDITECH as a Service (MaaS) platform, enabling them to focus less on IT and more on delivering exceptional care to its young patients. "MEDITECH Expanse will permit us to have a single, integrated, enterprise-wide solution that will dramatically improve our care delivery to all patients," said Bethany CMO Michael Johnson. "By offering a technically sophisticated, customizable, and user-friendly solution, our staff will be able to devote more time to doing what we're called to do - maximizing the potential of every child." Bethany Children's offers pediatric care throughout Oklahoma and beyond, including outpatient services, transitional care, rehabilitation, and complex care. When the organization began to look at the prospect of implementing a new, integrated EHR, leaders knew that it had to have the capacity to support varying and complex needs. Over nine months, Bethany Children's completed a full workflow analysis, examining their staff's challenges. They emerged from this process with a clear idea for what Bethany Chief of Clinical Innovation Dr. Darrin Brannan called the "gold standard" of an EHR platform. "After having completed an evaluation of our current workflows and pain points, we were able to define 237 discrete requirements for our new EHR system," he said. "The next step was to design a model patient to represent our most complex patient. We used this to test the limits of the candidate EHR systems to find a reliable, optimizable, user-centric, transparent, and evolving platform. This process led us straight to MEDITECH Expanse." The Expanse EHR will supply Bethany Childrn's with all the necessary functionality wrapped in one integrated EHR platform. Patients will benefit from a centralized patient portal with easy access to virtual visits and remote patient monitoring solutions. And Expanse's mobile, personalized user interface will empower care teams with even greater efficiency from their touch-based devices.



"We are honored that Bethany Children's selected MEDITECH Expanse to meet the complicated, intricate, and often very involved needs of their pediatric patients," says MEDITECH Executive Vice President and COO Helen Waters. "Our partnership promises to bring innovative solutions to match the innovation of this institution, as well as fully support their staff and community." About MEDITECH

MEDITECH empowers healthcare organizations everywhere to expand their vision of what's possible with Expanse, the world's most intuitive and interoperable EHR. Expanse lays the foundation for the next digital era, enabling care across delivery settings with cloud-based systems that drive better outcomes and provide mobile, personalized solutions to improve efficiency for an overburdened workforce. See why thousands of healthcare organizations in 27 countries and territories choose Expanse to meet the challenges of a new era in healthcare, boosting the productivity and satisfaction of their physicians, nurses, and staff. Expand your possibilities. Visit ehr.meditech.com, find MEDITECH Podcasts on your favorite platform, videos on our YouTube channel, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. About Bethany Children's Health Center Bethany Children's Health Center (formerly The Children's Center Rehabilitation Hospital) located in Bethany, Oklahoma is an innovative leader in the field of pediatric rehabilitation and 24-hour complex care. The ACHC accredited hospital offers inpatient and outpatient services for children (ages 0-21) and is the only inpatient pediatric rehabilitation facility in Oklahoma. Our CARF accredited multidisciplinary team works with patients and their families to maximize the patient's physical and cognitive potential, and ensure the family has the training and resources needed for a smooth transition from hospital to home. For more information, please call the hospital at (405) 789-6711 or visit www.bethanychildrens.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830220679/en/

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[August 30, 2023] Major Logistics Client of AITX's Subsidiary, Robotic Assistance Devices, Expands with Order for 38 RIO Solar-Powered Security Towers Tweet

August 2023 and Q2 of FY 2024 Closing Strong for AITX Detroit, Michigan, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions, Inc., (the Company) ( OTCPK:AITX ), a global leader in AI-driven security and productivity solutions along with its wholly owned subsidiary, Robotic Assistance Devices, Inc. (RAD), today announced that it has received an order for 38 of its increasingly popular RIO solar-powered security towers. Not named due to nondisclosure agreements, the Company noted that this direct client is a prominent shipping and transportation company with over 250 distribution centers throughout the United States. This client has thoroughly tested RAD through 9 devices previously ordered and deployed at 2 locations. These newly ordered 38 RIO devices, completing their first phase of planned rollouts, consisting of 24 RIO 360 units, and 14 RIO 180 units will be deployed at 10 of the clients distribution centers. The Company also noted that additional expansion orders of a similar quantity are expected as part of the second phase of rollouts, and that the client may be named in a future press release and case study. In a press release dated August 10, 2023, RAD, in anticipation of increased RIO demand, expanded its current RIO production run to 200 units. The Companys Detroit factory, affectionately referred to as the RAD Excellence Center (or REX) can produce up to 100 RIO units per month without impacting currently anticipated ROSA and AVA demand. The Company clarified that a ROSA 360 includes two ROSA DC units, while a ROSA 180 includes a single ROSA DC unit. However, many ROSA units that are mounted on a RIO are counted as a single device for unit device counting purposes. The validation of RAD as a major enterprise supplier has our entire firm buzzing with excitement and anticipation of where well take this and similar clients, said Steve Reinharz, CEO of AITX and RAD. RIO is on track to being a solid performer for RAD and our clients. Plus, RIO is our highest revenue generating stationary solution that were building right now and its an ideal combination of volume and revenue. We want to share this moment of accomplishment with our team. From the developers to the engineers, to the implementation folks, to the business development team, to sourcing. It takes a coordinated team to prove to a Fortune 100 company that we should be their partner, and we won, said Mark Folmer, CPP, PSP, FSyI, President of RAD. Now were going to outperform and earn a lot more business from this client while we replicate this victory across all the players in this vertical market. Reinharz added, This single expansion order will add approximately $60,000 to RADs (recurring monthly revenue (RMR) once deployed. Current deployments with this client earn us approximately $9,000 in RMR from this clients earlier deployments. Its big orders, from great clients like this, and others that were expecting to close soon. RIO 360 is a versatile solar-powered security tower configured with dual ROSA devices. RIO 360 offers the marketplace two valuable benefits. The first is the unmatched performance of the dual ROSA devices that sit atop the units mast. There is no device in the market that can erform ROSAs extensive list of autonomous actions. ROSA is RADs best-selling and a multiple award-winning device. The second critical differentiator is RIOs value pricing. RIOs pricing competes favorably against the leading solar tower manufacturers. RIO 180 utilizes much of the same hardware and software platform as RIO 360, but ships with a single ROSA device and fewer solar panels.



Recurring Monthly Revenue (RMR) is money earned from customers who pay for a subscription to a service or product. RADs solutions are generally offered as a recurring monthly subscription, typically with a minimum 12-month subscription contract. As stated, sitting atop a standard RIO 360 configuration are dual ROSA units. ROSA is a multiple award-winning, compact, self-contained, portable, security and communication solution that can be installed and activated in about 15 minutes. ROSAs AI-driven security analytics include human, firearm, vehicle detection, license plate recognition, responsive digital signage and audio messaging, and complete integration with RADs software suite notification and autonomous response library. Two-way communication is optimized for cellular, including live video from ROSAs high-resolution, full-color, always-on cameras. RAD has published four Case Studies detailing how ROSA has helped eliminate instances of theft, trespassing and loitering at multi-family communities, car rental locations and construction sites across the country.

AITX, through its subsidiary, Robotic Assistance Devices, Inc. (RAD), is redefining the $25 billion (US) security and guarding services industry through its broad lineup of innovative, AI-driven Solutions-as-a-Service business model. RAD solutions are specifically designed to provide cost savings to businesses of between 35%-80% when compared to the industrys existing and costly manned security guarding and monitoring model. RAD delivers these tremendous cost savings via a suite of stationary and mobile robotic solutions that complement, and at times, directly replace the need for human personnel in environments better suited for machines. All RAD technologies, AI-based analytics and software platforms are developed in-house. RAD has a prospective sales pipeline of over 35 Fortune 500 companies and numerous other client opportunities. RAD expects to continue to attract new business as it converts its existing sales opportunities into deployed clients generating a recurring revenue stream. Each Fortune 500 client has the potential of making numerous reorders over time. About Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions (AITX) AITX is an innovator in the delivery of artificial intelligence-based solutions that empower organizations to gain new insight, solve complex challenges and fuel new business ideas. Through its next-generation robotic product offerings, AITXs RAD, RAD-M and RAD-G companies help organizations streamline operations, increase ROI, and strengthen business. AITX technology improves the simplicity and economics of patrolling and guard services and allows experienced personnel to focus on more strategic tasks. Customers augment the capabilities of existing staff and gain higher levels of situational awareness, all at drastically reduced cost. AITX solutions are well suited for use in multiple industries such as enterprises, government, transportation, critical infrastructure, education, and healthcare. To learn more, visit www.aitx.ai, www.radsecurity.com , www.stevereinharz.com, www.radgroup.ai, www.raddog.ai, and www.radlightmyway.com, or follow Steve Reinharz on Twitter @SteveReinharz . CAUTIONARY DISCLOSURE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS The information contained in this publication does not constitute an offer to sell or solicit an offer to buy securities of Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions, Inc. (the Company). This publication contains forward-looking statements, which are not guarantees of future performance and may involve subjective judgment and analysis. As such, there are no assurances that the Company will meet its expectations with respect to its future sales volume or becoming cash flow positive. The information provided herein is believed to be accurate and reliable, however the Company makes no representations or warranties, expressed or implied, as to its accuracy or completeness. The Company has no obligation to provide the recipient with additional updated information. No information in this publication should be interpreted as any indication whatsoever of the Companys future revenues, results of operations, or stock price. ### Steve Reinharz

949-636-7060

@SteveReinharz



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[August 30, 2023] Laminar Expands Data Security Platform with Support for Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive Tweet

TEL AVIV and NEW YORK, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Laminar, the leading data security posture management (DSPM) company, recently acquired by Rubrik , the Zero Trust Data Security Company, today announced that it has added support for Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive. Customers can now use Laminar to continually discover overexposed and unprotected sensitive data in OneDrive and Google Drive, enabling proactive risk remediation and data leak detection. With this expanded support, organizations can safeguard sensitive data across their entire digital landscape, including major cloud service providers Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure as well as Snowflake, BigQuery, and other SaaS applications. As organizations increasingly leverage cloud file-sharing services like Google Drive and OneDrive for seamless data sharing and storage, the potential risks associated with data breaches, unauthorized access, and compliance violations have grown significantly. Data security and governance teams limited visibility into the contents of these files can lead to unprotected sensitive data. Additionally, unintentional file sharing and incorrect permissions can lead to oversharing internally and externally. To address hese challenges, the Laminar Data Security Platform takes an agnostic approach to data security; discovering, classifying, and securing sensitive data as it moves across an organizations digital environment, including collaborative cloud-based services. Laminar provides secure scanning, ensuring data is not removed from the customer environment. With the platform, data security and governance teams can see and secure enterprise data consistently across the entire digital landscape.



"Todays businesses are powered by cloud file-sharing services, which enable easy and rapid collaboration. This is why it is so critical to have a comprehensive approach to data security, so as to not leave these important files unprotected. With the integration of Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive support into the Laminar Data Security Platform, we believe this is a giant step towards solving this sensitive data security challenge," said Amit Shaked, CEO and co-founder at Laminar. "We recognize that data security is a collective responsibility, encompassing every individual within an organization. Laminar is now positioned to provide an agile platform that safeguards sensitive information, no matter where it resides or whether it's utilized by developers, data scientists, or any employee across an organization." The news follows the acquisition of Laminar by Rubrik, the Zero Trust Data Security Company. Together, Rubrik and Laminar create the industrys first complete cyber resilience offering of its kind bringing together cyber recovery and posture across enterprise, cloud, and SaaS.

To learn more about the Laminar Data Security Platform, visit https://laminarsecurity.com . About Laminar

Laminar, a Rubrik company, combines cloud-native design with deep security expertise to provide the visibility and control organizations need to protect their most sensitive data. The Laminar Data Security Platform continuously discovers and classifies cloud data, structured and unstructured, across managed and self-hosted data stores, including unknown shadow data, without the data ever leaving your environment. It analyzes access, usage patterns, and security posture, and provides actionable, guided remediation for data security risk. Together, Rubrik and Laminar enable organizations to be even more proactive in the fight against cyberattacks and provide businesses with a complete cyber resilience solution. About Rubrik

Rubrik is a cybersecurity company. We are the pioneer in Zero Trust Data Security. Companies around the world rely on Rubrik for business resilience against cyber attacks, malicious insiders, and operational disruptions. Rubrik Security Cloud, powered by machine intelligence, enables our customers to secure data across their enterprise, cloud, and SaaS applications. We automatically protect data from cyber attacks, continuously monitor data risks, and quickly recover data and applications. For more information please visit www.rubrik.com and follow @rubrikInc on X (formerly Twitter) and Rubrik on LinkedIn. Contact

Kelsey Shively

Sr. Director of Global Communications, Rubrik

[email protected]



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[August 30, 2023] New Study Confirms KinderCare Students Outperform Their Peers Tweet

Newly-released results from the 2022-2023 BRIGANCE annual study show that for the ninth year in a row, children enrolled in KinderCare's early learning and school-age programs performed ahead of age expectations and hit development milestones earlier than a national sample of same-age children. The study also found that the longer that children are enrolled in KinderCare's programs, the better they perform. BRIGANCE is a national observational tool, developed by Curriculum Associates that assesses whether children are meeting developmental milestones around the expected age, as established by a nationally normed sample. The screener covers development in four key areas: physical, language, academic and cognitive, and self-help and social-emotional skills. KinderCare voluntarily conducts annual assessments to ensure it continues to deliver the best possible high-quality early learning programs. This year's assessment results found the following: Children enrolled in KinderCare's programs performed ahead of age expectations. On average, children under KinderCare's care started a week ahead of age expectations on average in the fall. By spring, their scores increased to a month-and-a-half ahead of age expectations. Students enrolled in Champions, KinderCare's before- and after-school programs also performed ahead of age expectations. Champions students started the year a month-and-a-half ahead of age expectations on average in the fall. By spring, their scores increased to over two months, four months ahead of age expectations. Overall spring scores are consistent with the 2021-2022 school year, suggestng pandemic-related delays are no longer on the rise.



Children benefit from longer enrollment in KinderCare's programs. Children enrolled in KinderCare's programs for a year or longer performed significantly better than children who were enrolled for less than a year. "These results illustrate the tangible benefits of placing children in KinderCare programs, whether that's our early learning centers or our school-age programs," said Dr. Marquita Davis, KinderCare's Chief Academic Officer. "High-quality programs such as ours give children the opportunity to learn and grow with support and guidance. As we look ahead to a new school year, we're giving parents the confidence that their children are well-prepared for school and later life."

About KinderCare Learning Companies A leading provider of early childhood and school-age education and care, KinderCare builds confidence for life in children and families from all backgrounds. KinderCare supports hardworking families in 40 states and the District of Columbia with differentiated flexible child care solutions to meet today's dynamic work environment: In neighborhoods, with KinderCare  Learning Centers that offer early learning programs for children six weeks to 12 years old and with Creme de la Creme  , which offers a premium early education model using a variety of themed classrooms;

that offer early learning programs for children six weeks to 12 years old and with , which offers a premium early education model using a variety of themed classrooms; For work, wherever employees work, offering customized employer-supported child care benefits at more locations than any other provider, and

In local schools, with Champions before- and after-school programs. KinderCare programs meet the highest standards, validated by independent, third-party evaluation including: Gallup , measuring workforce engagement,

, measuring workforce engagement, National Association for the Education of Young Children , ensuring individual early learning center quality,

, ensuring individual early learning center quality, Cognia , accreditation for before- and after-school programs

, accreditation for before- and after-school programs BRIGANCE  and TerraNova  assessments of children's academic progress and achievement, and

assessments of children's academic progress and achievement, and WELL Health-Safety Rating, validating health and safety practices in our facilities. Headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, KinderCare operates more than 2,300 early learning centers and sites. In 2023, KinderCare earned its seventh Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award - one of only four organizations worldwide to achieve this milestone for seven consecutive years. To learn more, visit KC-Learning.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830241697/en/

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[August 30, 2023] Five William Mills Agency Clients Selected to Demo at FinovateFall, Six Clients Named Finovate Award Finalists Tweet

William Mills Agency, the nation's largest independent public relations and marketing firm specializing in the financial industry, announces that five active clients have been chosen to demonstrate their fintech solutions live at FinovateFall starting September 11th in New York City. Mahalo Banking, SRM Key Moments, True Digital Group, Union Credit and Wealth Access have been chosen by the Finovate staff to demo at the FinovateFall for the first time. The FinovateFall fintech demo expo will include more than 70 companies of all sizes showcasing several types of technologies and solutions for financial services. The short-form demo style also provides a fast-paced environment and the opportunity to network with key industry influencers. Additionally, six WMA clients are Finovate Award finalists: Arteria AI, intelliflo, Teslar Software, Mahalo Banking, Union Credit and True Digital Group. Finovate will recognize 25 companies as winners of the 2023 Finovate awards in a variety of categories including consumer lending, digital banking, SMB/SME, payments, ID management and many others. Award winners will be announced on September 12, 2023.



"Finovate is the place to see and hear about the latest innovations in financial technology demonstrate their technology live. With no slides and no pre-recorded video, attendees see real products live onstage as they are used in the financial industry. It's fantastic to see so many William Mills Agency clients involved with our efforts this year, both as demo companies and recognized as Finovate award finalists," said Greg Palmer, VP, Finovate. "Finovate sets a very high bar for selecting financial technology solutions to demonstrate at FinovateFall. In years past, less than half of the organizations that applied have been chosen so we are thrilled to have so many of our clients selected for the live demo expo. And, having six clients recognized as Finovate awards finalists is stellar and we are honored to be their public relations agency," said William Mills III, CEO, William Mills Agency. "I've participated in 31 Finovate events over the years, and I know what a great event this is and the high caliber of knowledgeable fintech professionals it draws from around the world."

Please connect with William Mills III, CEO, WMA and Heather Sugg, Executive VP, WMA at FinovateFall to talk about communication strategies for your organization. The fintech conference will take place in New York City at the Marriott Marquis Times Square on September 11-13, 2023. About Finovate The Finovate Group is a research and events firm focused on innovation in financial and banking technology. Its team runs the Finovate conference series and authors the popular Finovate blog. Finovate is the only conference series focused exclusively on showcasing the best and most innovative new financial and banking technologies. Finovate conferences consistently attract large, high-impact audiences of senior financial and banking executives, venture capitalists, press, industry analysts, bloggers, regulators and entrepreneurs. Finovate's annual events include FinovateFall (New York), FinovateSpring (San Francisco), and FinovateEurope (Berlin), as well as regional events in Singapore and Dubai. https://finovate.com/ About William Mills Agency William Mills Agency is North America's largest public relations and marketing firm serving the financial technology industry with an emphasis on fintech providers. The agency has established its reputation through the successful execution of media relations, marketing services and crisis communications programs. The company serves clients ranging in size from small start-ups to large, publicly traded companies. For more information, please visit www.williammills.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830341558/en/

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[August 30, 2023] ComplyCube Introduces Advanced PII Redaction in Response to Escalating Data Protection Concerns Tweet

ComplyCube launches Field Redaction for automated masking of sensitive fields in Document Checks, enhancing UX and privacy compliance.

For improved security, sensitive fields such as Dutch BSN, Singaporean NRIC, Korean RRN, and more can be redacted.

The state-of-the-art AI platform removes sensitive fields from documents, including within QR codes, visual and text elements, and barcodes, for heightened security.

ComplyCube has also recently rolled out Enhanced Document Liveness to combat Presentation Attacks such as screen replays and spoofs. NEW YORK, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ComplyCube, the leading global identity verification platform, enhanced its Document Checks solution with automated Field Redaction capabilities. This feature systematically masks sensitive Personal Identifiable Information (PII) fields, such as the Dutch BSN, to assist businesses with global data privacy regulations compliance while maintaining their frictionless user experience. Based on a study conducted by Deloitte, 71% of businesses forecast a tightening of data protection regulations in the upcoming year. Given the escalating concerns surrounding sensitive data, it's becoming evident that organizations need to move beyond traditional encryption strategies and embrace advanced methods like redaction to ensure full compliance. Examples of sensitive fields that can be redacted include, but are not limited to: Dutch Burgerservicenummer (BSN) or Dutch Citizen Service Number

(BSN) or Singaporean National Registration Identity Card Number (NRIC)

(NRIC) Korean Resident Registration Number (RRN) The National Registration Identity Card is the official ID for Singapore's residents and citizens. It contains sensitive personal data, including financial and criminal records. Each person has a uniqu nine-digit NRIC Number, essential for many services, such as opening a new bank account. Similarly, the Dutch BSN is a distinct personal identifier designed to facilitate interactions between Dutch citizens and their government. When a business onboards customers, the process can be slower as the user must manually hide these sensitive identifiers.



Sensitive field redaction harmonizes the tension between preserving individual privacy and meeting global compliance mandates. While the Dutch "Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens" (Wbp) and France's "Loi Informatique et Libertes" prioritize citizen data protection, entities such as FINRA and MiFID require comprehensive record-keeping. Redacting sensitive data allows businesses to keep essential records without infringing on privacy rights, bridging the gap between privacy and compliance. The AI-powered verification platform says that snapshots of documents automatically undergo field redaction and data masking upon capture. Any instances of the fields, even those embedded in QR codes, are removed from the document. This includes areas such as the Visual Inspection Zone (VIZ), Machine Readable Zone (MRZ), and barcodes. For more granular data controls, businesses can customize their own field masking policies.

"In our commitment to user experience and compliance," remarks Mohamed Alsalehi, the CTO of ComplyCube, "we've ensured that sensitive fields are neither stored nor processed by ComplyCube. This approach not only improves the UX but also simplifies customer onboarding, all while strictly adhering to prevailing privacy regulations." During Document Check processing, any redacted text will be blurred out from the images across the API, Web Portal, and reports. "Catering to our clients' diverse needs is paramount," stated Tarek Nechma, CEO of ComplyCube. "Our Premium and Enterprise Plans offer enhanced customization options, empowering subscribers to seamlessly integrate additional fields into their redaction policy. Our dedicated Support and Account Management teams stand ready to assist in tailoring these strategies, ensuring compliance remains both robust and flexible." ComplyCube's update to its Document Checks solution comes off the back of the recent Document Liveness enhancement, marking yet another significant stride in their ongoing commitment to bolstering user privacy and efficiency. The Software as a Service (SaaS) company boasts that partner businesses can now expect an even more streamlined and secure experience. About ComplyCube ComplyCube is a leading SaaS platform for Identity Verification (IDV), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) & Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance, with a global customer base across financial services, transport, healthcare, e-commerce, cryptocurrency, FinTech, telecoms, and more. ComplyCube's ISO-certified platform boasts the fastest omnichannel integration turnaround in the market with Low/No-Code solutions, API, Mobile SDKs, Client Libraries, and CRM Integrations. Visit www.complycube.com to learn more. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2197796/Complycube_PII_Redaction.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2148485/4246481/ComplyCube_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/complycube-introduces-advanced-pii-redaction-in-response-to-escalating-data-protection-concerns-301913792.html SOURCE ComplyCube

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[August 30, 2023] Food Compost Waste Program Diverts 94,000 Pounds in Food Waste, Wins 'Sustainability Initiative of the Year' Award Tweet

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, SPX FLOW's Food Compost Waste Program was awarded "Sustainability Initiative of the Year" by Business Intelligence Group. The 2023 Sustainability Awards recognize people, teams and organizations who have made sustainability an integral part of their business practice or overall mission. Launched in 2019, the company has composted 94,000 pounds (nearly 42 tons) in food waste from its corporate Marketplace cafeteria in Ballantyne: https://youtu.be/zfU5H1wc1Xo "We are proud to reward and recognize SPX FLOW for its sustainability efforts," said Maria Jimenez, Chief Nominations Officer, Business Intelligence Group. "It was clear to our judges that their vision and strategy will continue to deliver results toward a cleaner, more sustainable world. Congratulations!" Highlights on the Program:

This year alone, the SPX FLOW Food Compost Waste Program has collected approximately 26,262 pounds in food waste. The Program prevents organic food material from going to landfill, reducing non-decomposing waste and methane emissions.

With vendor Earth Farms Oranics, excess food is collected at the close of each business week from the Marketplace cafeteria and broken down into nutrient-rich, soil-enhancing compost.

The compost is then sold to local North Carolina farmers who use the prepped dirt to sow life back into their soil.



Charlotte facilities team and our Marketplace staff for their continued commitment to the environment," said Tracy Beaudry , SPX FLOW Vice President of Enterprise Safety, Quality & Sustainability. SPX FLOW's sustainability focus has expanded to offer biodegradable cups, utensils, food containers and straws to Marketplace patrons. To learn more about SPX FLOW's commitment to sustainability, visit https://www.spxflow.com/about/earth-day-every-day.

About Business Intelligence Group The Business Intelligence Group was founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and superior performance in the business world. Unlike other industry award programs , business executivesthose with experience and knowledgejudge the programs. The organization's proprietary and unique scoring system selectively measures performance across multiple business domains and then rewards those companies whose achievements stand above those of their peers. About?SPX FLOW, Inc.

Based in Charlotte, N.C., SPX FLOW, Inc. improves the world through innovative and sustainable solutions. The company's product offering is concentrated in process technologies that perform mixing, blending, fluid handling, separation, thermal heat transfer and other activities that are integral to processes performed across a wide variety of nutrition, health, and industrial markets. SPX FLOW has operations in more than 25 countries and sales in more than 140 countries. To learn more about SPX FLOW, please visit www.spxflow.com . Media Contact:

Melissa Buscher, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/food-compost-waste-program-diverts-94-000-pounds-in-food-waste-wins-sustainability-initiative-of-the-year-award-301912555.html SOURCE SPX FLOW, Inc.

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SUVA, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Japan's dumping of nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean "is indeed downright vulgar, crude and irresponsible," said Mesake Koroi, board director for Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, on Wednesday.

Japan maintains that the dumped water is safe, so why can't they use it to irrigate their rice farms, Koroi said while addressing the second High-level Forum on Sustainable Development of Small Island States held in Suva.

"For us in the small Pacific Island nations, Japan's move is unacceptable," Koroi said, adding that nuclear wastewater is dangerous, as the toxic substances associated with the manufacture of nuclear power cannot be eradicated completely.

"They talk of the level of toxicity contained in the wastewater as acceptable. But my simple mind tells me that the accumulation of toxic waste in the ocean for 30 years would be dangerous," he said, noting that these toxic substances would be drifting in the ocean for marine life to swallow.

"I am sure it will affect their lifestyle to the detriment of the human race. This uncanny Japanese decision to pollute the Pacific Ocean will definitely upset nature and human equilibrium," Koroi said.

Struck by a massive earthquake and an ensuing tsunami in March 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered core meltdowns. It generated a massive amount of water tainted with radioactive substances from cooling down the nuclear fuel. 
[August 30, 2023] SME Announces New Initiative in Partnership with Community and Technical Colleges to Address the Manufacturing Industry's Workforce Shortage and Skills Gap Crisis Tweet

SME, the national nonprofit committed to accelerating new manufacturing technology adoption and building North America's manufacturing talent and capabilities, announced a new initiative today involving a partnership with community and technical colleges to address the urgency of revitalizing manufacturing's industrial base, growing the industry's talent pipeline, and enhancing the skills and productivity of manufacturing workers. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830193913/en/ Jeannine Kunz, Chief Workforce Development Officer, SME (Photo: Business Wire) The Manufacturing Imperative - Workforce Pipeline Challenge (MI-WPC) launches this fall and combines the industry and workforce expertise of SME with the educational programs and innovations of a select group of U.S. community and technical colleges. The initiative builds awareness of careers in manufacturing, optimizes workforce systems and accelerates the education and skill development needed to place individuals in jobs making family-sustaining wages. "I am pleased to celebrate SME's newest initiative, the Manufacturing Imperative - Workforce Pipeline Challenge to help address the national workforce crisis facing our manufacturing sector," said U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary Amy Loyd. "We appreciate SME's leadership and willingness to bring together the national voice of manufacturers alongside our nation's community and technical colleges to address local and regional labor market needs and support efforts to invest in America and prepare youth and adults for good jobs." Through the Workforce Pipeline Challenge, SME will work with schools to conduct a labor analysis of the local, regional, and state landscape; develop and expand sector strategies to attract new populations - particularly those under-served and under-represented in the workforce; and implement new programs, curriculum and applicable certifications to develop skilled individuals that are ready to hire for the vast array of growing, unfilled positions in manufacturing. Jeannine Kunz, SME's chief workforce development officer, explained the key motivation behind launching the initiative: "SME, along with many other industry organizations, understands that manufacturing is a critical engine of America's economic strength and national security, playing a role in almost every sector of our economy. I is our responsibility to support the development of a diverse and qualified talent pool by stepping up our efforts and investments to strengthen the manufacturing supply chain with technically skilled individuals. Only then can we ensure our industrial base remains resilient now and into the future."



The Workforce Pipeline Challenge is a three-year pilot program with a goal to attract 1,000 individuals at each of the initial 25 participating community and technical colleges annually, resulting in 75,000 or more qualified workers in pursuit of manufacturing careers. The estimated economic impact of growing the industry's workforce in this way is $6 billion. Best practices identified throughout the program will be shared nationally to help other programs implement innovative solutions to grow local economies, reduce barriers to employment, and fill vacant manufacturing jobs. The partnership between SME and the initial institutions will leverage a strong alliance with the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers (NCATC). Craig McAtee, NCATC's executive director shares that "any advanced manufacturing, workforce development initiative led by SME is top-notch and impactful for education, students, and employers across America - NCATC is inspired to be a partner on the SME Manufacturing Imperative - Workforce Pipeline Challenge."

"It is our pleasure to work with educational partners, specifically our community and technical colleges who are the workforce engines of our communities. Currently these institutions enroll more than 40% of all undergraduate students in higher education, as well as engage hundreds of thousands of adult learners in non-traditional programs," stated Dr. Debra Volzer, government and workforce partnerships director for SME, who is leading this initiative. "We are excited and humbled that these institutions have accepted the challenge to work together in addressing the industry's imperative. We will leverage the ideas and welcome the support from this dedicated cohort and others in our collective manufacturing community as we set out to solve our nation's workforce crisis." Just a few of the institutions selected to participate in the challenge include Wallace State and Calhoun Community Colleges (AL), Daley College from the City Colleges of Chicago (IL), WSU Tech (KS), Grand Rapids and Schoolcraft Community Colleges (MI), Wake Tech Community College (NC), Columbus State and Lorain Community Colleges (OH), Tulsa Community College (OK), Greenville Technical College (SC), Pellissippi State Community College (TN), Lone Star Community College (TX) and Patrick & Henry Community College (VA). These colleges have committed to a specific set of requirements, demonstrating commitment to this national approach to pipeline development and to implementing innovative solutions to address long-standing industry challenges. Their collective voices will also inform legislation, policy and funding. Based on the program's collective success, SME looks forward to expanding this initiative beyond the initial 25 pilot institutions as there are many outstanding programs throughout the United States making a difference every day. Dr. Sheree Utash, president of WSU Tech's National Center for Aviation and upcoming chair of the MI-WPC President's Council expressed her excitement around this program. "WSU Tech is proud to support the Manufacturing Imperative-Workforce Pipeline Challenge in partnership with SME," she said. "Creating an educated workforce to meet the needs of our manufacturing industries across the nation is a challenging issue and critical to our national security. We are proud to continue to engage in this work of building a qualified talent pipeline with others across the nation in this crucial initiative." Dr. Vicki P. Karolewics, president of Wallace State Community College added, "there is not a more critical time to be actively involved in igniting the manufacturing workforce pipeline. Wallace State is actively engaged with SME and NCATC to redesign and expand programs and career pathways to develop, upskill, and retool the manufacturing pipeline of tomorrow. Industry 4.0 is creating rapid change in manufacturing environments, and community colleges are on the leading edge of developing the workforce of the future." "We are honored to partner with these forward-thinking educational institutions to address the multifaceted manufacturing challenges at the local, regional, and state levels," said Dr. Timothy Wilson, SME's research lead for the program. "Through this strategic collaboration, we aim to integrate SME's national insights with the invaluable local and regional expertise of the colleges and their community-based allies. Our goal is not just to enhance the workforce and its system, but to truly understand and uplift the unique strengths of each institution. By identifying, refining, and disseminating best practices, we hope to address a pressing national imperative: to cultivate and sustain a resilient manufacturing workforce." For more information on the Workforce Pipeline Challenge, or to learn more about opportunities to engage and support the program, visit https://train.toolingu.com/MI-WPCPR. About SME Established in 1932 as a nonprofit organization headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, SME leads the ecosystem by elevating manufacturers, academia, professionals, and the communities in which they operate. We accelerate new technology adoption and inspire and build North America's talent and capabilities. We believe in technology's power and humanity's innovation to advance our society and meet many national challenges. We design new ways to understand and solve problems, and our solutions advance the next wave of innovation and growth. Learn more at sme.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830193913/en/

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[August 30, 2023] Culture Amp announces partnership with Pave: Elevating compensation management for businesses worldwide Tweet

MELBOURNE and SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK and LONDON, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Culture Amp, the leading employee experience platform, today announces a partnership with Pave, the category-leading compensation management software company. This strategic alliance marks a significant leap in the world of compensation management, allowing businesses to connect performance data to compensation decisions with precision and transparency. Compensation has long been recognized as a critical factor in attracting and retaining top talent, while also being a key pillar of a company's financial planning. However, constructing fair, data-driven, and scalable compensation processes has remained a formidable challenge for HR teams and practitioners. In response, Culture Amp and Pave are partnering to bring about a much needed change. This partnership is the latest addition to Culture Amp's partner ecosystem launched in June, which provides its customers with a curated selection of consultancy and technology partners to elevate their employee experience and drive better business outcomes. "Organizations are acutely aware of the critical role compensation plays in shaping their success," said Rich Anstett, Chief Revenue Officer of Culture Amp. "Our partnership with Pave allows our customers to seamlessly integrate performance data with compensation decisions, thereby fostering equitable, informed, and sustainable practices." The Culture Amp and Pave partnership: Empowers Data-Driven Decisions: By seamlessly connecting Culture Amp'sperformance data with Pave's comprehensive compensation suite, organizations can make informed decisions that optimize costs while fostering a culture of excellence.



Fosters Transparency and Trust: This partnership addresses the common challenge of opacity in compensation decisions. Employers can now correlate performance with compensation packages, nurturing a sense of fairness and appreciation. Elevates the Employee Experience: Integrating Culture Amp's robust performance management with Pave's compensation expertise enhances the overall employee experience. It creates a holistic approach that enhances engagement, performance, and loyalty.

Streamlines Decision-Making: The alliance simplifies the complex process of compensation management. Leaders can now analyze compensation benchmarks, performance scores, and company budgets within a unified framework, resulting in more efficient decision-making. Nick Salzman, Head of Partnerships at Pave said, "We are thrilled to partner with Culture Amp, embarking on a journey that places customer success at the forefront of our collaboration. This partnership signifies our dedication to delivering best-in-class solutions and underscores the essence of integrating top-tier performance management with compensation systems." In an era where employee experience and compensation strategy have significant impact on the trajectory of businesses, the Culture Amp and Pave partnership emerges as a collaboration that organizations can use to navigate the complex compensation landscape with confidence, agility, and integrity. About Culture Amp

Culture Amp revolutionizes how over 25 million employees across 6,500 companies create a better world of work. As the global platform leader for employee experience, Culture Amp empowers companies of all sizes and industries to transform employee engagement, develop high performing teams, and retain talent via cutting-edge research, powerful technology, and the largest employee dataset in the world. The most innovative companies across the globe, such as PwC, KIND, SoulCycle, and BigCommerce depend on Culture Amp everyday. Culture Amp is backed by over 10 years of innovation, leading venture capital funds, and offices in the U.S, U.K, and Australia. Culture Amp was recognized as one of the world's top private cloud companies by Forbes and one of the most innovative workplace companies by Fast Company. Learn more about how Culture Amp can help you create a better world of work at cultureamp.com About Pave

Pave is the leading data-driven compensation management platform that helps companies benchmark, plan, and communicate compensation. Pave is powered by the largest real-time compensation database for private companies. With Pave, leaders can access real-time compensation benchmarks with global coverage, manage compensation bands, run merit cycles seamlessly, and empower employees to understand the full value of their compensation. Pave is trusted by more than 6,000 of the world's most innovative companies. Learn how Pave can help you make more accurate and equitable compensation decisions at pave.com . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/culture-amp-announces-partnership-with-pave-elevating-compensation-management-for-businesses-worldwide-301913942.html SOURCE Culture Amp

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[August 30, 2023] X-Caliber Affiliates Close a $33.5MM Transaction for California Almond Processing Facility Tweet

X-Caliber, a national, direct commercial real estate lender focused on impact lending, announced its affiliate companies, X-Caliber Rural Capital (XRC) and CastleGreen Finance (CastleGreen), closed a $33.5MM combined transaction for a refinance, a new facility construction, and a renewable energy system for California Custom Processing (CCP) in Madera, CA. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830317573/en/ Rendering of California Custom Processing's Expanded Facility (Graphic: Business Wire) XRC provided $29.5MM through the USDA's Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program and CastleGreen provided $4MM of Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing through the California Statewide Communities Development Authority - Open PACE Program ("CSCDA" or the "Program"). X-Caliber is the only lender in the country that offers a powerful combination of long-term, competitive financing, leveraging both C-PACE and USDA loans. The loan was originated by X-Caliber's Mike Hammond, Executive Managing Director, Origination. The current CCP almond processing facility is 65,000 square-feet. The USDA loan will be used for the refinance of the property owner's debt and to finance the new facility construction of an adjacent 52,500 square foot building. "We are pleased to provide long-term financing for our partners at CCP to support the growing almond industry," says Jordan Blanchard, X-Caliber Rural Capital Co-Founder and Executive Manager. "The combination of this USDA Food Supply Chain Loan plus C-PACE financing is a winning formula that delivers a competitive financing package for our client while supporting the environment and the retention of permanent jobs in Madera and surrounding communities." The C-PACE structure will finance the renewable energy improvements, including a rooftop solar array and battery storage on the existing facility, as well as seismic resiliency improvements for the facility expansion. The solar is estimated to produce 1.5 million kWh annually, which is equivalent to a CO2 emissions reduction of 1,067 MT/yr. Electricity bill savings are projected to be over $14.3 million over the lifetime of the system. "CastleGreen is pleased to help support California's vital almond industry by teaming up with its USDA affiliate, X-Caliber Rural Capital, and with an industry leader in the almond processing business to provide an effective capital structure that supports a sustainable energy design and significantly reduces operational costs," said Sal Tarsia, Managing Partner at CastleGreen Finance. "Combining a USDA and C-PACE structure under one roof provides an innovative, long-term financing solution that delivers strong economic and positive environmental impact." California produces 80% of the world's almonds and CCP provides a wide range of almond processing services including, but not limitedto, blanching, steam pasteurization, dry roasting, slicing, slivering, and flour production.



CCP Chief Financial Officer Leighton Allen says the hybrid financing provided a competitive long-term solution, with significant overall operational savings. "A strategic blend of a C-PACE structure and a USDA loan created a powerful hybrid financing solution, delivering both long-term competitiveness and remarkable operational savings. It's a smart move that brings significant financial benefits while supporting our environment and local jobs market."

The new expansion is slated to be completed by 2025 and is expected to retain 48 full-time jobs. This is the second combined transaction that supports the almond industry. In October 2022, XRC and CastleGreen closed on a combined $52MM transaction that paired a USDA Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan with a C-PACE financing for the construction of a new 254,000 square foot cold storage facility in Madera. About USDA Lending and C-PACE Financing USDA loans offer innovative solutions to eligible borrowers in rural areas with competitive terms through four, dedicated, flagship programs that support infrastructure improvements, business expansion, community facilities, public safety, renewable energy, and more, with the goal of increasing private investment in rural America. A rural area is defined as those with populations of 50,000 residents or less based on the last census and not contiguous with an adjacent populated area. C-PACE financing provides property owners funding to finance projects that include energy efficiency, renewable energy, water conservation, and resiliency improvements. The unique C-PACE financing allows borrowers to repay the cost of eligible improvements over time through a voluntary tax assessment. This structure provides a long-term, low-cost financing option coupled with the ability to transfer repayment of the assessment to the next owner. About X-Caliber X-Caliber is a nationally recognized commercial real estate finance franchise whose affiliate companies provide direct mortgage lending, servicing, advisory, and investment opportunities leveraging expansive and innovative lending platforms that offer FHA, bridge, USDA, and C-PACE financing. X-Caliber is focused on providing clients with the best capital solutions available to achieve their business goals, while focusing on some of the nation's greatest challenges - affordable housing, the environment, care for our seniors, and rural businesses. X-Caliber has executed billions in loan transactions and has several business lines including X-Caliber Capital LLC, the FHA lender and servicer; X-Caliber Funding LLC, a bridge to HUD platform; CastleGreen Finance, focused on Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing; X-Caliber Rural Capital, a USDA-licensed lender; X-Caliber Investment Management, a specialist investment firm; and X-Caliber Advisors, a commercial real estate advisory firm. X-Caliber and its affiliates have team members located in 11 states across the country. About CastleGreen Finance CastleGreen Finance is a private capital source focused on Commercial PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing. CastleGreen brings experience in commercial real estate across a broad range of financial disciplines. The real estate experience of the CastleGreen team, combined with its core C-PACE capabilities, provides its clients with the knowledge and resources to create a superior capital stack that meets all its needs and helps to unlock the potential of their commercial real estate. We understand that the most important part of any real estate transaction is showing up with the capital at closing. Our team focuses on the details of every deal to ensure we can get our clients to the finish line. About X-Caliber Rural Capital X-Caliber Rural Capital is an affiliate of X-Caliber Holdings, a national real estate lending and investment firm. X-Caliber Rural Capital is a national, licensed and approved U.S. Department of Agriculture lender that provides financing for rural business and economic development projects under four flagship programs that fall under the OneRD Guaranteed Loan Initiative. The Company is dedicated to creating attractive solutions for its borrowers that meet the needs of rural communities throughout the country. About California Custom Processing Since 2012, California Custom Processing (CCP) has provided expanding options for almond growers, distributors, and end users for processing their harvested almonds into finished products. The various treatments and finishes available at CCP, coupled with an experienced team, deliver industry-leading commodity processing. California Custom Processing offers a one-stop location for all manufacturing needs including, but not limited to; blanching, steam pasteurization, dry roasting, slicing, slivering, and flour production. CCP specializes in providing low moisture blanched almonds for use in the almond milk and almond butter industries. CCP processed almonds can be found in products around the globe. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830317573/en/

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[August 30, 2023] CYBER.ORG Partners with Amazon to Improve Diversity in the Cybersecurity Industry, Build the Talent Pipeline Starting with K-12 Tweet

CYBER.ORG - a workforce development organization funded through the Cybersecurity Education and Training Assistance Program (CETAP) grant from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) - today announced a $50,000 donation from Amazon to fund Project REACH cybersecurity summer camps nationwide to improve diversity in the cybersecurity industry. Launched in 2022, Project REACH (Realizing Equitable Access to Cybersecurity in High School) began as a feeder program to educate minority K-12 students on cybersecurity and provide pathways to cybersecurity and computer science programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to close the diversity gap in cybersecurity. As a result of CISA's support, the program has expanded to include minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Through Project REACH's summer camps, CYBER.ORG facilitates relationships between high school classrooms and their local education institutions through cybersecurity activities, classroom support, campus visits, industry mentorship and more. "CYBER.ORG is making a significant impact in expanding access to K-12 cybersecurity education nationwide and diversifying the talent pool pursuing cybersecurity careers," said Jenny Brinkley, Director, Amazon Security. "Amazon is committed to improving access to STEM and cybersecurity careers. We're proud to partner with CYBER.ORG to bild the next generation of cybersecurity talent."



Amazon's contribution of $50,000 helped fund 14 Project REACH events in nine states during June, July and August of 2023. Participating high schools include A.H. Parker High School, Birmingham City Schools, Caddo Parish Schools, Capitol City High School, Clyde C. Miller Career Academy High School, Columbus High School, Jefferson City High School, Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School, Richmond Public Schools, Sumter Career and Technology Center and The SEED School of Maryland. Participating MSIs include Grambling State University, Shaw University, South Mountain Community College, Stillman College and Virginia State University. "Through Project REACH, we're proud to spark minority students' interest in cybersecurity careers and cybersecurity or computer science degree programs," said Linda Avery, a cybersecurity teacher at the Sumter Career and Technology Center. "We've seen firsthand the positive impact the programming offered by CYBER.ORG has made on our students. With nearly 7,000 open cybersecurity positions in South Carolina alone and even more across the country, we encourage all schools to join the effort to expand cybersecurity education."

"Innovative programs like Project REACH that partner higher educational institutions with K-12 schools are critical to bringing more minority students into the cybersecurity field," said Laurie Salvail, executive director of CYBER.ORG. "We are extremely grateful to Amazon for its support and partnership as we work together to ensure that future cybersecurity careers are accessible to all students. Expanding Project REACH and our partnerships is pivotal to diversifying the industry." To learn more about Project REACH and become a partner, visit www.cyber.org/initiatives/project-reach. About CYBER.ORG CYBER.ORG is a cybersecurity workforce development organization that targets K-12 students with cyber career awareness, curricular resources, and teacher professional development. The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) supports CYBER.ORG through a grant from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to develop and distribute cybersecurity education content to educators across the country at no cost. Currently, more than 30,000 teachers across all 50 states and four U.S. territories are enrolled in the CYBER.ORG content platform. For more information, please visit http://www.cyber.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830471885/en/

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[August 30, 2023] Middle Georgia State University Selects YuJa Video Platform to Serve Students at Five Campuses and Online Tweet

Middle Georgia State University (MGA), which serves over 7,600 students on five campuses, has selected the YuJa Enterprise Video Platform to provide a comprehensive video and media creation, hosting, storage and distribution solution for instructors and students across campuses. Initially, the institution was looking for a video platform that could serve a health-related program, but after learning more about the Video Platform's capabilities, college leaders elected to adopt the Video Platform across the institution. In addition to integrating with MGA's learning management system, D2L Brightspace, YuJa will enable instructors to add captions, video quizzing, and share content among a variety of audiences, as well as provide comprehensive analytics, gradebook integration, adaptive bitrate streaming, device compatibility, and other features that enable success for instructors and students. >



ABOUT MIDDLE GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Middle Georgia State University (MGA) serves 7,600+ students on campuses in Macon, Cochran, Dublin, Eastman, and Warner Robins. Students can choose from more than 65 areas of study that lead to bachelor's degrees. MGA also offers professionally oriented master's degrees as well as a doctorate in IT. About 20 MGA degrees are offered entirely online. The University is home to Georgia's flagship aviation school - based on the Eastman Campus - and a four-year degree in flight. ABOUT YUJA, INC. YuJa is a leader in ed-tech solutions. Our platforms provide organizations of all sizes with the tools to educate, engage, inspire and collaborate. We serve learning enterprises within all sectors, including higher-ed, K-12, government, healthcare, non-profit and corporate. We have legal headquarters in Delaware with primary U.S. offices in Silicon Valley, California, and Canadian offices in Toronto. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830822185/en/

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[August 30, 2023] MAtv Montreal to cease operations to maintain the viability of TVA local news Tweet

MONTREAL, Aug. 30, 2023 /CNW/ - Against a backdrop of fierce media competition and major financial challenges for the entire television industry, Quebecor and its Videotron subsidiary today announced the closure of MAtv Montreal in order to maintain the viability of local news coverage on the over-the-air TVA channel. Videotron customers in the Montreal area can continue watching MAtv Montreal until the summer of 2024. Until then, the channel will broadcast programming produced in recent months. By consolidating its spending on local news, Quebecor will continue meeting its regulatory obligations, as stipulated by CRTC policy since 2016. "Our steadfast support for MAtv over the years demonstrates our commitment to community TV in Quebec's regions," said Pierre Karl Peladeau, President and CEO of Quebecor. "However, media outlets are opeating in a precarious competitive environment and financial resources must be consolidated to protect the long-term viability of our business. We have made this decision on MAtv Montreal in order to support the local news programs produced by our over-the-air TVA channel for the benefit of the public.



"I would like to thank all the contributors to MAtv Montreal, which has been an important meeting place for the Montreal community and a springboard for many talented artists who are now known across Quebec." MAtv to continue operations outside Montreal

MAtv will pursue its mission by maintaining its operations in the rest of Quebec. MAtv channels in Bas-Saint-Laurent, Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Granby, Outaouais, Quebec City, Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Sherbrooke and Sorel-Tracy will continue broadcasting. The closure of MAtv Montreal will result in the elimination of the equivalent of five positions. MAtv has also been forced to cut three positions at its other stations. About MAtv MAtv, an exclusive service for Videotron customers, serves the community by reflecting Quebec's diversity. It gives all citizens access to a vehicle of free expression and outreach that promotes public participation. MAtv carries useful, informative, educational programming focused on topics of local interest and fosters the emergence of new talent. MAtv is broadcast on channel 9 (Helix and illico) and channel 609 in HD (illico). It is also available on video on demand and online at MAtv.ca. SOURCE Quebecor Media inc.

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[August 30, 2023] The Money Store Welcomes John Palmiotto as Chief Production Officer in Strategic Hiring Initiative Tweet

FLORHAM PARK, N.J., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In an industry landscape marked by downsizing and challenges, The Money Store is breaking new ground with a strategic hiring initiative that positions it as a beacon of growth and innovation. This dynamic move welcomes John Palmiotto, a seasoned industry leader, to the company's C-suite as the Chief Production Officer. John Palmiotto joins The Money Store with a distinguished career spanning 28 years, marked by outstanding leadership and accomplishments. His most recent role as the Chief of Retail Production at Guaranteed Rate showcased his ability to manage and inspire a salesforce of over 2,000 sales professionals for nearly 6  years. Prior to this, he made a profound impact during hs 11-year tenure as Midstates Divisional President at Prospect Mortgage.



A driving force in the industry, John Palmiotto has consistently demonstrated his ability to lead teams and companies toward success. His vision aligns with The Money Store's commitment to providing a unique and thriving environment for loan officers to excel in current market conditions. "I'm excited to be part of the Money Store and to help build upon the success of this storied franchise. I believe many loan officers are looking for a different experience to succeed in this market and the Money Store provides a great alternative for them. Excited to be part of the team!", John states.

With the strategic addition of John Palmiotto, The Money Store solidifies its position as an industry powerhouse, determined to attract top-level talent and steer the company toward an even brighter future. About The Money Store The Money Store is a direct mortgage lender located in Florham Park, New Jersey, and is licensed in 47 states. The company offers a wide range of mortgage programs to meet the needs of homeowners while also providing low rates and superior customer service. The Money Store's online-based service model includes a secure application process that tracks every step from inquiry to closing. Visit them online at www.themoneystore.com. For inquiries, contact Peter Alvarez ([email protected]) or call (973) 295-3511. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-money-store-welcomes-john-palmiotto-as-chief-production-officer-in-strategic-hiring-initiative-301913994.html SOURCE The Money Store

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[August 30, 2023] University of Phoenix Vice Provost Dr. Marc Booker Is a Featured Guest on the AACRAO Transfer Tea podcast Tweet

University of Phoenix is pleased to share that Vice Provost of Strategy, Marc Booker, Ph.D., was a featured guest of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) podcast, Transfer Tea. The podcast, dedicated to exploring and improving student transfer, is sponsored by AACRAO and hosted by Assistant Director for Transfer Recruitment at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. "I appreciate AACRAO for keeping the focus on this important topic, and University of Phoenix for giving me the opportunity to share insights around why transfer students are a critical focus area for higher education," states Booker. "Transfer credit, and the acceptance of that credit, is really an equity issue because not all students have the same opportunities. We need to explore ways we can recognize learning from all learners, whether that's transfer credit or credit for prior learning, to break cycles and better support student mobility and degree completion." The episode focused on transfer admissions and articulation as a critical part of the transfer students' academic journey. Dr. Booker explored the ways in which equitable transfer policies can help institutions become more transfer friendly, and how those policies can positively impact a student's experience. In addition, Booker shared knowledge gained through more than twenty years of experience as a transfer advocate and examined some of the ongoing trends in transfer admissions. AACRAO is a non-profit, voluntary, professional association of over 11,000 higher education professionals representing about 2,600 institutions in over 40 countries. Its commitment to the professional development of its members includes best practice guidance on admissions strategies to meet institutional diversity objectives,delivery of academic programs in innovative ways to meet the needs of a changing student body, and exemplary approaches to student retention and completion.



Booker also recently served as a speaker on credit for prior learning at the AACRAO 2023 Technology & Transfer Virtual Summit, a three-day event focused on the technology of transfer and meaningful data exchange, and the ways in which institutions can remove transfer barriers and speed processes that support student decision-making. As one of the driving forces behind transfer policy as well as skills-aligned learning and badging initiatives at University of Phoenix, Booker brought a wealth of experience to the podcast.

University of Phoenix offers generous credit transfer possibilities: credit transfers can cover up to 75% of a bachelor's degree. On average, University of Phoenix students save $11,000 and eliminate one year off their undergraduate degree with eligible transfer credits and relevant work experience. Master's degree students can save up to nine credits and $6,800 off their degree. While the transition between institutions can be complex, the University of Phoenix works to make the process of transferring credit straightforward for students: Simplifying the college credit transfer process: knowledgeable staff provide supportive guidance and academic advising, request transcripts from prior institutions on students' behalf, and specially trained transfer evaluators review all prior credit;

Earning life and work experience credits: earning college credit for prior learning is an assessment process, offered at no cost, that allows individuals to demonstrate learning gained from work and life experience that may count towards a degree. The assessment includes evaluation of on-the-job training, workplace certifications, military service, and other life experiences Additionally, University of Phoenix offers the opportunity to apply for a Transfer Student Scholarship of up to $3,000, for new students with at least 13-60 combined transfer credits from accredited institution(s) pursuing their bachelor's degree at University of Phoenix. Applicants must be continuously enrolled and maintain a 3.0 GPA (Grade Point Average). The University of Phoenix Savings Explorer tool helps individuals understand opportunities to save time and money, providing information of how transfer credit, work and life experience, and other savings opportunities can help students when beginning their program of study at the University. The University of Phoenix has long used the innovative approach to flexible, adaptable online learning to support an equitable environment. The skills-mapped approach to curriculum supports equitable access to progress; when learners obtain skills in weeks, they gain more immediate value from their education and do not have to wait years for a degree before making career decisions that can be built on skills they are already acquiring. As Vice Provost for Strategy at the University of Phoenix, Booker oversees critical path academic initiatives to improve the student experience such as learning platform implementations, curricular enhancements, and developing empathetic solutions to drive improved student outcomes through data. Booker also serves as dean of the Pacific Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (PACRAO) Leadership Development Institute and was President of PACRAO in 2016. In 2020, Booker received a Hall of Fame recognition from Blackboard for his contributions in providing thought leadership and innovation in education. Booker has been an employee of the University of Phoenix since 2001. About University of Phoenix University of Phoenix innovates to help working adults enhance their careers and develop skills in a rapidly changing world. Flexible schedules, relevant courses, interactive learning, skills-mapped curriculum for our bachelor's and master's degree programs and a Career Services for Life commitment 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/20230830216869/en/

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[August 30, 2023] KBRA Assigns Ratings to New York State Energy Research and Development Authority Residential Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Financing Green Revenue Bonds, Series 2023A Tweet

KBRA assigns preliminary ratings to a term bond issued by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority Residential Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Financing Green Revenue Bonds, Series 2023A ("NYSERDA 2023A"), a consumer solar loan and home improvement loan ABS transaction. NYSERDA will issue a $6.59 million term bond and nine serial bonds which total $12.315 million. The serial bonds have maturity dates ranging from 2024 through 2032 and the term bonds mature in 2038. The NYSERDA 2023A Bonds are not guaranteed by NYSERDA and are non-recourse. The transaction is structured with all bonds supported by overall enhancement of 44.38% (overcollateralization plus amounts deposited into the reserve account). The credit enhancement levels are sufficient to cover KBRA's corresponding stressed cash flow assumptions for the rating on the bonds. This transaction represents New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's ("NYSERDA" or the "Authority") first term ABS securitization of 2023 and fifth KBRA-rated securitization. NYSERDA is a public benefit corporation created in 1975 pursuant to Title 9, Article 8 of the Public Authorities Law of the State of New York. NYSERDA was formed to develop and encourage the use of energy conservation technologies by developing and implementing new energy technologies consistent with economic, social and environmental objectives. Although the Issuer is not structured as a special purpose vehicle, under current law, NYSERDA is not authorized to seek protection from its creditors pursuant to the United States Bankruptcy Code. KBRA applied the General Global Rating Methodology for Asset-Backed Securities as well as its Global Structured Finance Counterparty Methodology and ESG Global Rating Methodology as part of its analysis of the portfolio pool data, underlying collateral pool, and capital structure. KBRA considered its operational reviews of NYSERDA, as well as periodic due diligence calls with the Authority. Operative agreements and legal opinions were reviewed prior to closing. To access ratings and relevant documents, click here.

Click here to view the report.



Related Publications General Global Rating Methodology for Asset-Backed Securities

Global Consumer Loan ABS Rating Methodology

Global Structured Finance Counterparty Methodology

ESG Global Rating Methodology Disclosures

Further information on key credit considerations, sensitivity analyses that consider what factors can affect these credit ratings and how they could lead to an upgrade or a downgrade, and ESG factors (where they are a key driver behind the change to the credit rating or rating outlook) can be found in the full rating report referenced above.

A description of all substantially material sources that were used to prepare the credit rating and information on the methodology(ies) (inclusive of any material models and sensitivity analyses of the relevant key rating assumptions, as applicable) used in determining the credit rating is available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) located here. Information on the meaning of each rating category can be located here. Further disclosures relating to this rating action are available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) referenced above. Additional information regarding KBRA policies, methodologies, rating scales and disclosures are available at www.kbra.com. About KBRA

Kroll Bond Rating Agency, LLC (KBRA) is a full-service credit rating agency registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an NRSRO. Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited is registered as a CRA with the European Securities and Markets Authority. Kroll Bond Rating Agency UK Limited is registered as a CRA with the UK Financial Conduct Authority. In addition, KBRA is designated as a designated rating organization by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus. KBRA is also recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830051396/en/

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This week started with local seniors hopeful about property tax relief from the courthouse only to confront disappointment and vague promises of help sometime in the distant future.

However . . .

Thanks to our TKC blog community we have a bit of perspective that most other news outlets are missing.

The basics . . .

FORMER SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS DOMINATE JACKSON COUNTY'S LEGISLATURE & THEY'RE HESITANT TO CUT ANY CASH FROM FORMER COLLEAGUES!!!



As always trusted insiders help explain the sitch . . .



"Legislators need to decide if their allegiance is to their school boards or seniors. It's as simple as that."

Pause for a quick bit of background . . .

Jackson County Legislative Chair Daron McGee formerly served as President of the Hickman Mills C-1 School District school board.

Along with her service as a Marine, Megan Marshall was elected to Lee's Summit Board of Education in 2020.

Donna Peyton is a retired employee of the Hickman Mills C-1 School District.

Finally . . .

Manny Abarca formerly served as the Treasurer of the Kansas City Public School Board.

And all of this might help explain why Legislators haven't been more "enthusiastic" about tax relief options for seniors approved by the Missouri General Assembly.

There's also a partisan angle . . . Property tax help for seniors is GOP legislation and Democratic leaning Jackson County seems hesitant to enact any tax break that originated with opposition across the aisle.

Still . . . In the aftermath of property tax assessment crisis, insiders fault the Legislature for their FAIL in even attempting legislation that likely would have been confronted veto from the Exec.

Here's the word . . .

"The schools are taken care of . . . They have been flush with cash for years and it hasn't improved their situation. Meanwhile, you have hundreds of seniors in Jackson County who could lose their homes because of this debacle and the Legislature has decided to nothing rather than risk offending their school board connections. That's unacceptable in a crisis like this . . . Let the school board put a tax increase on the ballot if they need more money . . . What shouldn't happen is that the courthouse sits on their hands while there are tools to provide their constituents desperately needed tax relief."



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

What you should know about Missouri's senior tax freeze Missouri's senior homeowners would be spared from rate hikes on property taxes under a bill that went into effect Monday.

How counties are approaching new Missouri law offering property tax relief to seniors A new law in Missouri giving seniors relief for income and property taxes took effect on Monday, Aug. 28.

Property tax 'mistake' is ignored by Jackson County More than 500 Jackson County property owners were given the exact same property value.

Legislators in Jackson County put the brakes on property tax freeze for seniors A new law gives Missouri counties the authority to implement the tax relief measure. In Jackson County, that appears uncertain.

Developing . . .


SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Four domestic and foreign carmakers in South Korea will voluntarily recall some 213,000 vehicles for manufacturing defects, the transport ministry said on Wednesday.

Hyundai Motor will recall 159,212 units of Tucson for faulty direction indicators, 20,455 units of four models, including Palisade for defective oil pump control system, 19,755 units of Avante HEV for integrated control software error, and 271 units of Universe for retarder software error, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Kia Corp. will recall 2,782 units of Seltos for poor manufacturing of electric trunk support devices, 4,881 units of K5 for faulty oil pump control system and 33 units of Granbird for retarder software error.

Mercedes-Benz Korea will recall 5,349 units of 13 models, including E250, for software error in the rear radar control system, while Porsche Korea will recall 1,054 units of Cayenne for inadequate safety standards in parking lights and emergency flashing lights.

Vehicle owners can visit repair and service centers to replace faulty parts free of charge. 
In this post we share more than a few local links we've been looking at related to crime reporting, close calls, gunfire and law enforcement community outreach.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Elderly man scammed out thousands, KCPD gives advice to protect family members The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department says scammers took thousands of dollars from an elderly man, but it could've been much worse.

Johnson County DA: Police officers were justified in deadly shooting of Olathe man Two officers who shot and killed a man in June in Olathe won't face charges in the incident, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced Tuesday.

Police locate shooting victim with life-threatening injuries near 29th, Prospect The shooting was reported just before 4 p.m. in the area of E. 29th Street and Prospect Avenue.

Widow agrees to civil settlement with man who killed her KCMO police officer husband in car crash The widow of Kansas City, Missouri, police officer killed in an on-duty car crash filed an agreement Jackson County Court to settle her civil lawsuit with the man who caused the crash.

Have you seen this minivan? Kansas City police look for tips to solve fatal hit-and-run The pedestrian was fatally struck late Sunday on U.S. 71. Police are searching for a tan or silver Saturn Relay with front-end damage.

Grandfather mourns loss of Kansas City infant while supporting mother accused in case A grandfather is now left mourning the loss of his infant granddaughter while also supporting his daughter, who has been charged in the case.

KCPS SRO lends hand to students as new year begins As kids are heading back to school, there's no doubt some of the students will remember lessons learned from their teachers for their whole lives. But it's not just teachers who can make a big impact on children.

Developing . . .
Right now we pay tribute to an exceptional online company that inspires our latest check of pop culture, community news and top headlines.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Cowtown Real Estate Slumps

New listings down 18% in May: Kansas City housing market update Fewer homes were added to the market this year than amid pandemic lockdowns in May 2020.

Heatwave Postscript

Unhoused Kansas Citians, service providers navigate hot weather By Abby HooverManaging Editor As temperatures soared last week in Kansas City, the metro's cooling centers, homeless shelters and public [...]

Kansas Battery Life Improves

Panasonic makes De Soto footprint even bigger Panasonic announced it will lease 509,760 square feet in the Flint Commerce Center, roughly a mile from its $4 billion electric vehicle battery plant that is currently under construction.

Show-Me Work At Home Redux

Missouri lawmakers taking aim at St. Louis City earnings tax If you live or work in St. Louis City, you're on the hook for the City's earnings tax.

Westside Bridge Party Celebrated

'Great big block party': On First Fridays, KC highway underpass teems with Latino life A Hispanic group created a monthly vendor, food and music event under an Interstate 35 bridge off Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City.

Smut Star Dreams Of Baller Life

'I'm a porn star who's bonked over 4,000 women - but I'd trade it for Derby' Keiran Lee has made more than enough money during his time stripping off but there's one thing that keeps him going that infuriates his cast and crew members on set

Tell-All Reports White House Regret

Biden privately admitted feeling 'tired' amid concerns about his age, book says Franklin Foer, author of The Last Politician, also says experience and calming presence make US president 'a man for his age'

MAGA On The Move

Confused about Trump's legal problems? Read this. Donald Trump has a busy schedule for the next year.

Meet The Underboss?!?

Trump open to Vivek Ramaswamy as vice president Trump called Ramaswamy "smart" and "young" and "full of talent."

Soon To Be Humbled . . .

Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio to be sentenced today in Jan. 6 case Prosecutors are seeking 33 years for Tarrio. Also set to be sentenced later this week are Tarrio's codefendants: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.

Gunfire Aftermath

UNC shooting suspect Tailei Qi complained about victim online before attack - live Tailei Qi, a PhD student majoring in applied physical sciences major, was arrested on a first-degree murder charge over the deadly shooting at the Chapel Hill campus

Landfall Worries

Idalia Could Become Another Multibillion-Dollar Superstorm The Category 3 hurricane could expose insurers and their customers to huge losses across a wide stretch of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Fast Life Tragedy . . .

Maryland teenager fatally stabbed over dipping sauce dispute, 16-year-old suspect charged with murder A Maryland teenager was fatally stabbed near a McDonald's in Washington, D.C., early Sunday morning, when a dispute over the restaurant's sweet and sour dipping sauce turned physical.

Sabotage Realized

Kremlin says Prigozhin plane may have been downed on purpose The statement was the Kremlin's first explicit acknowledgement that he may have been assassinated.

Defending Trade Game

Disengaging with China not credible, says James Cleverly The foreign secretary defends his visit to China, but one MP likens it to "appeasement".

Growing Season Explained

Australian neurosurgeon finds parasitic worm in woman's brain while investigating 'mystery illness' A 64-year-old patient is doing well after Australian doctors removed a 3-inch parasitic worm from her brain, and doctors are continuing to monitor her.

Diva Shares South Of Border Love

Taylor Swift Says Her First-Ever Concerts in Mexico on Eras Tour Were 'Unforgettable' "Feeling so grateful for the memories we're making together on this tour," wrote Taylor Swift on social media after four shows at Foro Sol in Mexico City

Brit Pastime ALMOST Explained

Frisky sex positions to spice up Bonk Holiday that promise amazing orgasms It's Bank Holiday Monday and to celebrate the occasion, we're giving you some seriously frisky sex positions to try. That way you'll be calling it Bonk Holiday...

Payback Ahead

Kansas City-area student loan borrowers share plans ahead of payments restarting soon Through the COVID-19 pandemic, student loan borrowers didn't have to pay off their federal loans, that's about to change. Payments are due starting in October.

Super Bowl Team Followup

5 things to note about the Chiefs' initial 53-man roster Now that the Kansas City Chiefs have turned in their initial 53-man roster for the 2023 season, what stands out the most?

Forecast For Now . . .

Sunny and hazy conditions for your Wednesday Heat and humidity creeping up for Labor Day

USHER, Summer Walker, 21 Savage - Good Good is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
For those who haven't read this already . . . Here's a peek at the sausage-making of public policy and how many progressives view this upcoming 2024 push . . .



Meanwhile, abortion-rights groups fight over language themselves while they look for the strongest changes they can make and still convince a majority of Missouri voters to cast yes ballots.



Of the 11 versions of the petition submitted to Ashcroft, abortion-rights supporters appear focused on six of them.



One would promise the right to abortion flat out. The others would give state lawmakers room to regulate. Three versions would let the General Assembly ban abortion after fetal viability (a point thats coming earlier in pregnancy with medical advances). Two other versions would protect the right of abortion at least up to 24 weeks of gestation, three weeks before the end of the second trimester.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Missouri groups looking for the strongest abortion rights that voters would back Missouri organizers haven't decided which version of the abortion rights initiative petition they want to put to voters.

Related . . .

Jay Ashcroft wins latest legal fight over push to restore abortion rights in Missouri The Missouri Secretary of State has been in the middle of arguments over proposed ballot initiatives seeking to restore abortion rights.

Developing . . .
It was easy to write-off striking workers in Hollywood but an autoworker strike might hit locals where it hurts . . . In their car.

Moreover . . . With two major auto manufacturing plants in the Kansas City metro . . . A historic strike would CERTAINLY impact the local discourse.

Still, there's a bigger picture coming into focus . . .



Read the deets closely, this strike seems like part of the effort to redefine work and raise demands for labor across the nation.

If this strike happens . . . It could be part of another paradigm shift that transforms the American workplace.

For now, this paragraph sums it up best . . .



The UAW strike is not only about raising individual standards of living but also looking forward to the effect that technology could have on jobs in that sector. As the industry shifts from combustion engines to battery-powered electric cars, manufacturing will need fewer workers with different skills, as Michigan State University professor of employment relations Peter Berg told Michigan State University Today.



The moment is right for labor to try and claw back losses of the past few decades and try to gain protection and benefits for the future; there is a tight labor market, an aging workforce, high consumer demand, and political and popular support for trade unions. These strike actions on the part of labor unions [are saying], Alright, we have to renegotiate the fundamentals of how work is done, Berg said, and using their power to redefine the working conditions going forward.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

What a UAW strike could mean for labor Auto workers at the "Detroit Three" auto companies could stop work on September 14.

32-hour work week, double-digit wage increases among 'ambitious list' of UAW demands for Big 3 Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis collectively made $20.7 billion in net profits in the first half of this year - a core part of the argument the UAW's president will use during negotiations.

UAW pushes for 4-day workweek - Marketplace The UAW recently voted to authorize a strike. Among their demands is a transition to a 32-hour workweek at full-time pay.

Uncertainty surrounds UAW-automaker negotiations, but local union leaders say a strike is likely General Motors workers in Fort Wayne and more than 100,000 union auto workers nationwide voted to authorize a strike last week. To prevent a strike from actually happening, the big three major automakers and the United Auto Workers must reach tentative contract agreements by September 14.

UAW votes to authorize a strike if no deal reached with Big 3 US automakers The UAW voted to authorize a strike against the Big Three U.S. automakers -- General Motors, Ford and Stellantis -- if no deal is reached amid contract negotiations.

Developing . . . . . .
What began as Etobicoke Historical Societys investigation into vandalism of a South Humber Park monument is being celebrated as an answer to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canadas Calls to Action.

Concerned citizens flagged the graffiti-tagged Etienne Brule Monument in September 2020 to the non-profit society, which had been unaware of its existence.

EHS research soon showed the 1967 monument dedication fell short of its intent  to honour the Humber River and Indigenous portage route. Instead, the final inscription commemorated Brule, an interpreter and guide who came to New France with Samuel de Champlain in the early 1600s.

Mireille Macia, EHS president, said while at the time of the 1967 dedication Brule was believed to be the first European to see Lake Ontario, in the decades since, explorations around the Great Lakes have come under increasing scrutiny.

New evidence is pointing that Brule wasnt actually on the lower Humber, Macia said.

Additionally, and importantly, commemorating Brule ignores the history of Indigenous Peoples use of the Humber River portage route or Carrying Place Trail and creation of villages on its banks for millennia.

To have created this monument  called 'Discovery Point, Etienne Brule, the first white man, saw Lake Ontario  is painful because it was patronizing, colonial language and its probably not correct.

EHSs chief historian Richard Jordan reached out to Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and La Societe dhistoire de Toronto to create a committee to craft new language, with consensus it should honour the Humber, Macia said.

The Humber River is a significant north-south Indigenous trail used for trade, farming, leisure. Its not surprising when the French, English and others arrived, they also followed. We want to make sure people understand it has a history that goes back further in time than just the last couple hundred years, Macia said.

The Etobicoke Historical Society, in partnership with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and La Societe dhistoire de Toronto, has redesigned the South Humber Monument. They will rededicate it in early September. | Etobicoke Historical Society photo

The following is the South Humber Monument plaques more-appropriate, inclusive and accurate inscription written in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), French and English:

Over thousands of years, the Humber and its valley provided Indigenous peoples  the Wendat (Huron), the Onondowagah (Seneca) and the MichiSaagi (Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation) among others  with water, food and shelter, and with means for travel and trade via the Toronto Passage. French explorers and traders made good use of this route and the Humber River provided a source of power for the settlers who followed. Today the Humber valley affords much-needed recreation space for our city. Remember its history. Protect its future. The Etobicoke Historical Society.

City Parks, Forestry and Recreation staff installed the plaque in May.

In early September, EHS is holding an invitation-only rededication ceremony.

EHS encourages the public to visit the monument on their own or assisted by a self-guided tour package available through EHS in September, posted on its website, Facebook and Instagram pages.

Directions to the monument site:

 Enter a footpath off High Street north of The Queensway toward the filtration plant. Walk to the left a couple hundred metres to a small hill then another approximately 700 metres.

 Enter South Humber Park on Stephen Drive. Follow the Humber River Recreational Trail path to the Oculus Pavilion. The monument is across from the Oculus up a steep hill. Street parking is available on Cloverleaf Road, Cannon Road and Waniska Avenue.

 Enter the Pan Am bike path into South Humber Park from Trillium Terrace off Stonegate Road to the Oculus Pavilion. The monument is just across the trail from the pavilion.

Erma Ferrell, councillor with Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, worked with the Etobicoke Historical Society on more-appropriate, inclusive and accurate language for the redesigned South Humber Monument. | Ward P. LaForme Jr. photo

Erma Ferrell, councillor with Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, worked on the project, taking recommendations back to her council for feedback.

We really appreciate the fact (EHS) looked at the language and made a decision the language really wasnt appropriate for today; the fact many First Nations people were here prior to the gentleman whose name was on the original plaque.

The project is a tangible example of acting on the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, Ferrell said.

This is part of reconciliation that is happening across Canada, Ferrell said. We cant change the past, but we can move forward to a better future by bridging bridges and building friendships.

The council agreed with the language  I dont know if even one or two words were changed, Ferrell said  then enlisted a Mississaugas of Curve Lake First Nation translater to translate the English into Ojibwe closest to their dialect.

Rolande Smith with La Societe dhistoire de Toronto said in a statement the organization is pleased to be associated with strengthening the recognition of Indigenous Peoples and protecting our shared historical and natural heritage. May everyone know how to enjoy it and protect it for future generations.
The 17th annual Nuit Blanche Toronto is set to again transform the citys neighbourhoods and streets with groundbreaking art.

From 7 p.m. on Sept. 23 to 7 a.m. on Sept. 24, the all-night celebration of contemporary art will feature installations and exhibitions in Etobicoke, downtown Toronto and Scarborough, with over 80 art projects from almost 250 artists from a variety of disciplines. Entry will be free for the public to engage with the art projects.

This years Nuit Blanche theme, "Breaking Ground," encouraged exploration within the arts community to focus on issues related to nature and pioneering change, according to a City of Toronto news release.

Specifically, "Breaking Ground" invites artists to explore themes of climate change, the impact of urban development on communities and collective responsibilities around land and stewardship.

Three Toronto-based curators will stage unique exhibition areas with their unique perspectives:

 "Shoaling," curated by Lillian OBrien Davis: This Etobicoke multivocal exhibition is sponsored by Humber College and focuses on connections between land and water that link threads of memory, climate, race and labour through performance, video, sculpture and technologies.

 "Disturbed Landscape," curated by Kari Cwynar: A downtown exhibition that unearths centuries of development within Torontos financial district, as artists enact a series of creative reversals and disruptions to our built environments.

 "In the Aggregate," curated by Noa Bronstein: The Scarborough exhibition is sponsored by Scarborough Town Centre and explores ideas of togetherness, friendship and collectivity that point to Torontos unique urban topography and public spaces transformed through the assembly of shared experiences.

The goal of Nuit Blanche, according to the city, is to uncover and highlight artists that challenge the status quo through form or content media to transform public spaces and inspire audiences to experience Toronto in new and meaningful ways.

Nuit Blanche will feature works from award-winning artists, Divya Mehra, Bonnie Devine and Alvin Luong, along with emerging talent including Joy, Par Nair and Tristan Sauer.

Notable artworks include:

 Leeroy News "Balangay Starfleet" reimagines ancient Philippine boats into futuristic bamboo and plastic vessels suspended mid-aerial encounter.

 "Caementarium," a multimedia installation by Dana Prieto and Reza Nik, engages with the former site of the Mimico Asylum, now Humber Colleges Lakeshore Campus.

 "Wellspring," by Jenine Marsh, upends Nathan Phillips Square, revealing the forgotten space beneath.

 "Your Wish is Your Command," by Divya Mehra, pokes at colonial underpinnings in the Financial District with a magic lamp.

 Suzanne Morrissettes light and screen installation urges visitors to pause and observe the shapes of leaves and movement of trees as they trace the movement of wind.

 "Lifelines" showcases work by the Black Arts Fellowships inaugural cohort at the Wildseed Centre for Art & Activism.

I look forward to Nuit Blanche Toronto every year and the creative energy it brings to our streets, said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.

Its a celebration of contemporary art that is accessible and enjoyable for all, while showcasing the remarkable talent we have in our city. I invite everyone across Toronto to participate in the Nuit Blanche festivities.

More information about Nuit Blanche and a complete list of art projects can be found on the Nuit Blanche website.
Uzbekistan Airways has received the next A320neo aircraft for its fleet at Tashkent International Airport, Azernews reports, citing Kun.uz news agency.

The medium-haul airliner was purchased from China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Limited (CALC) on a long-term lease basis. Airbus A320neo with 168 seats arrived from Kuala Lumpur to Tashkent in the traditional livery of Uzbekistan Airways.

The aircraft is the beginning of a long-term cooperation between the national air carrier and the leasing company CALC. The airline plans to use the new aircraft in its flights from Tashkent city and republic regions.

This type of aircraft is one of the most popular and best among mid-range liners and offers the highest level of safety and economy. Compared to the previous generation of airliners, the level of carbon dioxide emissions has been reduced by 50%, making it the most environmentally friendly among the aircrafts competitors, the report reads.

With our global presence and large fleet of aircraft, we see new opportunities to continue our growth path in the coming years as an active aerospace supplier in the region, Mike Poon, CEO of CALC, said.

Today, the airline is successfully using 19 aircraft belonging to the Airbus A320neo family, and in the near future we plan to fill the fleet with two more airliners of this type. During 2023, the fleet will be expanded with five Airbus A320neo and two LET L-410 aircraft, Shukhrat Khudaykulov, chairman of Uzbekistan Airways JSC, said.

For reference, China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Limited includes traditional functions such as aircraft operating leasing, purchase and leaseback, and structural financing, as well as value-added services such as fleet planning, renewal, aircraft dismantling and spare parts sales.

It should be recalled that the first A320neo aircraft was delivered in the spring of 2019. During 2022, the company received five A320neo aircraft.
YANGON, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar earned 214.42 million U.S. dollars from the exports of fishery products in the first four months of the present fiscal year 2023-2024, according to the Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday.

The revenue from exports of fishery products between April 1 and Aug. 18 this year was down, compared to 239.821 million U.S. dollars earned in the same period of the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the ministry's data showed.

During the period, the country's total export was valued at over 5.93 billion U.S. dollars, down 640 million dollars year-on-year, according to the ministry's figures.

The country's total trade value amounted to over 12.58 billion dollars during the period, down over 388.77 million dollars year-on-year. About 70 percent of the country's trade with foreign countries during the period was done through sea route, while its border trade was conducted with China, Thailand, Bangladesh and India, official figures showed.

Myanmar mainly exports agricultural products, animal products, marine products, minerals, forest products, manufacturing goods and others to foreign countries, while it imports capital goods, intermediate goods and consumer goods. 
An exhibitor shows a slice of Iberian ham during a pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 29, 2023. A pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicked off in Shenzhen on Tuesday, building a platform for communications among over 200 enterprises of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and about 60 exhibitors from Intelligent Industry and Information Technology, Food and Agricultural Products and Trade in Services exhibition areas of the CIIE. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

An exhibitor shows a soap made from goat milk during a pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 29, 2023. A pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicked off in Shenzhen on Tuesday, building a platform for communications among over 200 enterprises of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and about 60 exhibitors from Intelligent Industry and Information Technology, Food and Agricultural Products and Trade in Services exhibition areas of the CIIE. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

An exhibitor (L) introduces imported blueberries to a purchasing agent during a pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 29, 2023. A pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicked off in Shenzhen on Tuesday, building a platform for communications among over 200 enterprises of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and about 60 exhibitors from Intelligent Industry and Information Technology, Food and Agricultural Products and Trade in Services exhibition areas of the CIIE. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

A staff member of the Polish investment and trade agency (front, L) introduces beer to a purchasing agent during a pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 29, 2023. A pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicked off in Shenzhen on Tuesday, building a platform for communications among over 200 enterprises of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and about 60 exhibitors from Intelligent Industry and Information Technology, Food and Agricultural Products and Trade in Services exhibition areas of the CIIE. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

This photo taken on Aug. 29, 2023 shows a signing ceremony during a pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. A pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicked off in Shenzhen on Tuesday, building a platform for communications among over 200 enterprises of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and about 60 exhibitors from Intelligent Industry and Information Technology, Food and Agricultural Products and Trade in Services exhibition areas of the CIIE. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

A purchasing agent (R) learns about foods from northern Europe during a pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 29, 2023. A pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicked off in Shenzhen on Tuesday, building a platform for communications among over 200 enterprises of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and about 60 exhibitors from Intelligent Industry and Information Technology, Food and Agricultural Products and Trade in Services exhibition areas of the CIIE. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

This photo taken on Aug. 29, 2023 shows a microscope system exhibited during a pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. A pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicked off in Shenzhen on Tuesday, building a platform for communications among over 200 enterprises of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and about 60 exhibitors from Intelligent Industry and Information Technology, Food and Agricultural Products and Trade in Services exhibition areas of the CIIE. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

This photo taken on Aug. 29, 2023 shows a scene during a pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. A pre-exhibition supply and demand matchmaking meeting for the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicked off in Shenzhen on Tuesday, building a platform for communications among over 200 enterprises of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and about 60 exhibitors from Intelligent Industry and Information Technology, Food and Agricultural Products and Trade in Services exhibition areas of the CIIE. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)
Three men who police believe are responsible for the quadruple murder of the Peterkin children as they slept in their home in the Heights of Guanapo, are now in custody.

The men were held in a police exercise in the Heights of Aripo on Monday evening.

Details in the TV6 News@7.
Missile debris crashed in two districts of Ukraines capital Kyiv amid the Russian strike overnight Wednesday.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko wrote about this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

"Debris fell on the roof of a commercial building in Darnytskyi district. Debris also fell in the Shevchenkivskyi district. All emergency services arrived at the scene," Klitschko wrote.

He added that medics scrambled to respond to reports at two addresses in the Shevchenkivskyi district.

More details are yet to be reported, Klitschko noted.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, overnight Wednesday, Russias Tu-95 strategic bombers launched missiles at targets across Ukraine.

This is an illustrative photo
The Russian side returned only 5-7% of Ukrainian requests for information regarding Ukrainian servicemen who had gone missing in action.

Thats according to Dmytro Lubinets, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

According to the official, a meeting was held at the Commissioners Office with the families of the captured defenders from Military Unit A2167. The office was represented by Yuriy Kovbasa, chief of the Department for Rights Monitoring in the Defense Sector and the Rights of Veterans and Servicemen, Prisoners of War and Their Family Members.

One of the urgent issues was related to the relevance of information about the missing servicemen and their likely captivity.

Read also: Ukraine returns bodies of 84 fallen defenders

Kovbasa noted that official correspondence with the Russian side has been going on for about a year. Certain agreements were reached regarding the possibility of inquiring and receiving information about missing military personnel.

According to him, the agreements on the Russian part turned out to be empty words as the Ukrainian side received a response to only 5-7% of all inquiries. However, pressure on the Russian side to obtain the necessary information is constantly exerted.

It was also recalled that the Memorandum had been signed with the Kyiv Research Institute of Forensic Expertise under the Ministry of Justice, the purpose of which is to verify reports on Ukrainian military personnel held captive on the territory of the Russian Federation.

As noted in the Commissioner's Office, the procedure has a certain algorithm. First of all, relatives turn to the Commissioner's Office with inquiries about their missing loved ones.

"After such inquiries are received from relatives, we forward them to the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Examinations. The institute conducts an examination based on the information provided and hands down the results of such examination. The results may include the identification of persons, as well as an assessment of moral and psychological damage as a result of being held in captivity," noted the official.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Office of the Commissioner for Missing Persons has created an action algorithm to streamline procedures for determining the fate of missing soldiers and is working on the possibility of family members participating in procedures for identifying their missing relatives.

Photo: Getty Images
Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to carry out offensive operations south of the city of Bakhmut.

"The Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to carry out offensive operations in Bakhmut and Melitopol directions. In the directions of Novodanylivka, Novoprokopivka, Mala Tokmachka, and Verbove. They have had success and gain a foothold on the achieved lines. They inflict combat damage with artillery on identified enemy targets. They carry out counter-battery combat measures. In Bakhmut direction, the defense forces continue to carry out offensive operations south of the city of Bakhmut. They gain a foothold on the reached boundaries," Andriy Kovaliov, the spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said during the United News nationwide telethon, Ukrinform reports.

He noted that the enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive operations in the areas of Krasnohorivka and Maryinka in Donetsk region.

Moreover, the defense forces continue to hold back the advance of Russian troops in Kupyansk, Lyman, and Bakhmut directions.

Photo: ZelenskyyUa
Russian courts try about 100 soldiers every week for refusing to fight in Ukraine, which indicates the poor morale of the Russian army.

The British Ministry of Defense reports this on social network X (Twitter), citing intelligence data, according to Ukrinform.

Russia was convicting close to 100 soldiers a week for refusing to fight. If this trend continues, there will be approximately 5,200 convictions a year for refusing to fight, the report says.

Also noted that the high rate of convictions demonstrates the poor state of morale in the Russian Army and the reluctance of some elements to fight. Refusal to fight likely reflects the lack of training, motivation and high stress situations Russian forces face along the entire Ukrainian frontline, British intelligence added.

Read also: Territorial defense soldiers destroy Russian stronghold with a drone

Although some soldiers have refused to fight and attrition rates remain high, Russia highly likely mitigates their loss by committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline.

Since Russia's September 2022 partial mobilisation, Russia has adapted its approach to warfare by utilising sheer mass for offensive and defensive operations, noted in the intelligence.

Read also: Territorial defense soldiers destroy Russian stronghold with a drone

As reported, the Ukrainian Defense Forces eliminated about 262,410 Russian invaders from February 24, 2022, to August 30, 2023, 570 of them in the last day.
Romania and the Netherlands have signed a letter of intent to establish a base for training of F-16 pilots and related maintenance of these aircraft at one of the training centers in Romania, which will be a contribution of these countries to strengthening Ukraine's air defense.

Kajsa Ollongren, the head of the Dutch military department, said this in Toledo before an informal meeting of EU defense ministers, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

The Dutch Defense Minister said that today, during the informal Defense Ministerial, they will start with Ukraine. It is extremely important for the Netherlands to continue to demonstrate their unity and support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. The Netherlands and Romania signed a letter of intent yesterday to provide training and maintenance for F-16s at a training center in Romania. This is a concrete step towards strengthening Ukraine's air defense from two European countries, and certainly from all European countries that are members of the F-16 coalition.

She noted that European officials will also discuss ways to strengthen European defense and joint work within the framework of the EU Strategic Compass, which was agreed by member states more than a year ago.

As reported, a meeting of EU defense ministers has begun in Spain, with the main topics being the continuation of military assistance to Ukraine and the situation in the Sahel region of Africa. Tomorrow, the discussion of these topics and other international security issues will continue during an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, which will also take place in Toledo under the auspices of the Spanish EU Presidency.
Mohammad Nasim (C) is seen with his family members in Chaparhar district in east Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province, May 15, 2023. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

CHAPARHAR, Afghanistan, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Living in a slum house in Chaparhar district in east Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province, Mohammad Nasim, a former Guantanamo prisoner, said that he has not lived a good life since his release from the notorious prison.

Nasim has been suffering from psychological diseases since he was arrested by U.S. troops and then apprehended in the infamous Guantanamo Bay detention camp for five years.

"Everything is out of order. My brain does not work when I sleep, or I jump, and my mental system is in disorder," he told Xinhua in his mud dwelling recently, attired in tattered clothes.

Terming the U.S. claim for defending human rights as a joke, Nasim said that his being jailed without proof demonstrates the U.S. so-called defense of human rights a complete lie.

Nasim could not remember the exact date when his ordeal started. He recalled that the security forces of the erstwhile U.S.-backed regime arrested him in late 2001 or early 2002 and handed him over to the U.S. troops on the charge of having relations with the Taliban.

"About 60 security personnel surrounded my house and broke into the house. We were eating our dinner," said Nasim.

"They tied my hands from back and arrested me in my home."

According to Nasim, the soldiers also arrested his brother but set him free after hours.

Nasim was not that lucky. He was sent to Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangarhar, and was kept there for six nights before being shifted to Bagram, a U.S. main military base, where Nasim was held for about four months.

Recalling his nightmare in Bagram, the former prisoner lamented that American soldiers, after receiving him from the helicopter, threw him away to the dogs arrogantly.

Nasim said that the soldiers would do interrogations several times at midnight, which ended up destroying his mentality.

"They wore a bag on my head, kicked me, pulled me down, hit my head to the wall, chained my hands, and pulled me down again. They hanged me for seven days and nights, and a soldier shocked me and said, 'No sleeping,'" he said.

However, Nasim did not realize the real cruelties of life until he was shifted to Guantanamo.

The first thing that jumps into his mind when Nasim recollects his Guantanamo memories is the two-month confinement in a cell.

"I spent two months in a room and could not see the sky and sun," he said.

"They (Americans) kept repeating words, such as 'you were with the Taliban, and you fought against Americans.' I told them they arrested me at home, not from the battleground," said Nasim.

Nasim soon realized that his defense was meaningless.

"When we were sleeping, they washed us with water from the pipe and did not allow us to sleep at night. They threw away the Quran (Muslim holy book) just to torture us," he said.

"However, the worst torture was to keep us awake the whole time."

In a block, 40 prisoners were held, according to Nasim. At night whenever the patrolling soldier shifted, and another soldier came, who would take all the prisoners from one cell to another every 20 or 30 minutes just to keep them awake.

"They tied our hands, chained our feet, and took us from one room to another at night," Nasim said.

"Some even pleaded, 'Either kill us or let's live in our cell,'" he said, adding that many prisoners later got mad and kept shouting.

"Five years in jail is a long time. Let alone being tortured all the time," he said.

Nasim recalled a mad prisoner shouting and making noises in their cell. "The Americans came, asked some questions like what the nightmare was, and then injected (medicine), and the men fell asleep for four to five days. After recovery, he shouted again, but the Americans again made injections to the man," he said.

Some five years later, Nasim was released back to Afghanistan. He now feeds a 14-member family on a piece of farmland. The outcome of languishing in the U.S. military jail means nothing more than poverty to him and his family as a whole.

"They (Americans) shifted me there (Guantanamo). I was jailed for five years, but no compensation, why? I am indebted and now work to return my owes. Do I have no right to ask for compensation?" Nasim said.

"They are liars and deceiving the people," he said.

Commenting on the brutality of U.S. forces, Qurishi Badlon, the head of the information and culture department of Nangarhar province, told Xinhua that the U.S. forces during the occupation of Afghanistan brutally dropped bombs in the province and even killed 30 civilians from one family, and there were also families losing 20 members in the attacks.

"The occupation of Afghanistan by America is part of our country's black history, and our people won't forget such oppression," Badlon told Xinhua. 

Mohammad Nasim (1st L) works in a field in Chaparhar district in east Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province, May 15, 2023. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

Mohammad Nasim tells about his sufferings at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp during an interview in Chaparhar district in east Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province, May 15, 2023. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

Mohammad Nasim works in a field in Chaparhar district in east Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province, May 15, 2023. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

Mohammad Nasim tells about his sufferings at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp during an interview in Chaparhar district in east Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province, May 15, 2023. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

Mohammad Nasim tells about his sufferings at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp during an interview in Chaparhar district in east Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province, May 15, 2023. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs invites the Vatican's representative in Lithuania for talks because of Pope Francis' statements during a teleconference with St. Petersburg, in which he praised the greatness of the Russian Empire.

This was reported by Ukrinform citing the national broadcaster LRT.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited the Apostolic Nuncio for an interview in early September, when Archbishop Petar Rajic returns from vacation," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Paulina Levickyte.

As reported, the Pope, in a speech to Russian Catholic youth on August 25, urged them not to abandon their imperialist heritage.

Read also: Yermak notes constructive relations between Ukraine and Vatican

"You are the descendants of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, that empire - great, enlightened, great culture and great humanity," the pontiff said at the time.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry rebuked Pope Francis for supporting Russian great-power ideas among the youth of the aggressor country.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained in Odesa a spy of the Russian terrorist group "Prizrak" (Ghost), who participated in the capture of Lysychansk and other settlements of Luhansk region.

As the SBU reports, the offender is a local resident, an ideological supporter of the Kremlin regime. During the mass riots in Odesa on May 2, 2014, he took an active part in provocations in favor of the Russian Federation.

Then, in order to avoid responsibility for his crimes, he fled to the temporarily occupied part of Luhansk region where he joined the ranks of militants.

As the Prosecutor General's Office reports, from June 2014 to 2016, the offender fought against the Ukrainian law enforcement officers and service members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine involved in the Anti-Terrorist Operation, took part in the armed confrontation in Lysychansk to keep the city under the control of illegal armed formations of the Russian Federation and in the capture of settlements, buildings and other objects in Luhansk region.

As a result of the successful completion of the tasks assigned to him, the man was appointed as " the commander of the reconnaissance company of the 14th territorial defense battalion "Prizrak".

Since that time, the offender with the call sign "Santa" fought against Ukrainian troops in the east of Ukraine, including in the area of the Bakhmut highway.

However, later the militant decided to leave his leaders and covertly left for the Ukraine-controlled territory and returned to Odesa city.

During searches of the offender's places of stay in Odesa, photos with evidence of his membership in the LPR terrorist organization were discovered.

SBU investigators served him with a notice of charges under Part 1 of Art. 258-3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (participation in a terrorist group or terrorist organization).

He is in custody and faces up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The investigation is ongoing to establish all the circumstances of the crimes, including the contacts of the former militant with active members of the Russian Federation invading groups.

Photos: SBU/PGO
The authorities of Montenegro refused to extradite to the Russian Federation the former senior operative with the Russian FSB, Dmitry Senin.

Thats according to RFE/RL, Ukrinform reports.

"The Montenegrin authorities have refused to extradite former FSB colonel Dmitry Senin to Russia," the report reads.

This was announced after the meeting of the Military Court in Podgorica, which is hearing Senin's case in absentia.

Dmitry Senin, who was arrested on an international warrant in June 2021, was granted political asylum in Montenegro, as he had been allegedly persecuted in the Russian Federation on political grounds.

In Russia, Senin is accused of desertion, which entails punishment of up to seven years in prison.

Senin crossed out of Russia in February 2017 amid fear of arrest in connection with the criminal inquiry into his friend and relative, police Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko. He left the country under the false name of Timur Kudasov through the Russian-Georgian border on February 23, 2017.

Russian media reported that after his disappearance, the security service either did not know or pretended not to be aware of their former colleagues whereabouts for nearly three years. Only in December 2020 did the FSB find out that their compatriot was using a passport issued in a different name.

Later, on June 28, 2021, the fugitive's name was added to the international wanted list, and on September 4, 2022, Senin was detained in Montenegro.

Russian prosecutors filed an extradition request but Montenegro refused to proceed as the former FSB colonel had already acquired refugee status.
The National Anti-Terrorist Center of the Czech Republic is investigating the activities of the Austrian Raiffeisenbank group in Russia.

Czech Television reported this, Ukrinform saw.

The complaint against the bank was filed by the Association of Citizens' and Entrepreneurs' Rights, which suspects the financial institution of supporting terrorism and financing aggression as it remained in the Russian market and pays taxes there.

The Austrian banking group Raiffeisenbank International is the largest European bank still operating in Russia.

The bank's Russian representative office reported a nine percent increase in profits in the first half of 2023. Libor Malecek, the initiator of the complaint, draws attention to this.

How is it possible that we suddenly find in the accounting documents that they give hundreds of millions to terrorism, to support the military machine? Malecek said.

In addition, a group of the bank's clients in the Czech Republic launched a petition for the bank's withdrawal from Russia.

The idea of paying with the same payment card as, figuratively speaking, a supplier of military equipment for the Russian army is unbearable for us, the author of the petition, Ladislav Pelcl, a client of the bank, said.

The Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank International says it is set to further reduce its business activity in Russia but is delaying it in every way possible. In early August, RBI CEO Johann Strobl said that he believes it is possible to separate its subsidiary bank in Russia from the parent group no earlier than the end of December, although earlier it was said to be the end of September. In addition, Strobl said that RBI is still considering the option of selling its Russian subsidiary.

Earlier, Kyiv added Raiffeisen Bank to the list of international sponsors of war. The European Central Bank also insists on its withdrawal from Russia, and the group's activities are being investigated by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Raiffeisen Bank is included in the list of systemically important banks in the list of the Russian central bank. Last year, it earned a profit of about EUR 3.8 billion, of which 2 billion were in Russia.
The European Commission is ready to provide proposals on the use of frozen Russian assets in the interests of Ukraine.

European Commission spokesman Christian Wiegand spoke of this with journalists on Tuesday, Ukrinform reports.

"We stand ready to present a legal proposal taking into account the discussions with the member states," Vigard said.

Wiegand recalled that the leaders of EU states and governments discussed the topic at the latest meeting of the European Council at the end of June.

"We are working with the Spanish Presidency on exploring a step-wise approach and we are supporting discussions. We also sent the paper in that regard to the Spanish presidency at the end of July," he said.

According to him, the European Commission is ready to provide a detailed proposal, taking into account the discussions with the member states. Intensive work is also underway with partners from the G7.

"It is very important for us to coordinate this internationally," the spokesman added.

Earlier, the EU stated that they had no legal justification for the confiscation of Russia's frozen assets.
In the first quarter of 2023, international partners reimbursed priority expenditures of the Ukrainian budget in the amount of $4.3 billion within the framework of the World Banks project "Supporting public expenditures to ensure sustainable public administration in Ukraine" (PEACE in Ukraine).

Under the PEACE in Ukraine project, international partners have already provided USD 4.3 billion to reimburse priority expenditures for the first quarter of 2023. Of these, more than 93% are grants from the United States of America, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine reports.

In addition, Ukraine received USD 15 million in grant aid from Finland and a loan of USD 272 million (EUR 222.3 million) from the World Bank.

In total, in the first quarter of 2023, UAH 171.9 billion (USD 4,7 billion) of State Budget expenditures were made that are subject to reimbursement by Ukraine's international partners under the PEACE project.

In particular, UAH 105.7 billion (61.5%) in social sector expenditures, including assistance to 2 million internally displaced persons (UAH 18.6 billion), and housing subsidies (UAH 9.6 billion) to 1.9 million people were reimbursed.

Another UAH 25.8 billion (15%)  healthcare expenditures to pay salaries to more than half a million healthcare workers.

UAH 25 billion (14.5%) expenditures in the education sector, including salaries for half a million secondary school teachers and 135 thousand employees of higher education institutions, were reimbursed.

UAH 8 billion (4.7%) was directed to pay salaries for 57,000 rescuers of the State Emergency Service.
There is no reason to believe that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will not behave differently during the negotiations than he did with the leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin

This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at a joint briefing with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna in Paris, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"As for the calls for negotiations with Putin, anyone who asks about this should ask not us, but Mr. Prigozhin. He had a conflict with Putin, he held successful negotiations with Putin, ended this conflict, agreed on security guarantees, and then Putin killed him," the head of Ukrainian diplomacy said.

Kuleba emphasized that there is no reason to believe that Putin will behave differently in any other negotiations.

As reported, on August 23, a private plane with Prigozhin on board, according to preliminary information, crashed in the Tver region of the Russian Federation. On August 27, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation confirmed Prigozhin's death in the plane crash.

After the unsuccessful rebellion of the Wagner Group against the Russian military leadership, the mercenaries went to Belarus. At the same time, the founder and head of the Group, Prigozhin, was free to move around the territory of both Belarus and Russia
Fox News expert and Washington Post columnist Mark Thiessen called out the foreign policy views expressed by Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the GOP candidates for the upcoming presidential elections in the U.S. as criminally stupid.

Thiessen referred to Ramaswamys theses on Russia as "utterly disqualifying" for a potential GOP nominee for the top post, according to a posting on X (former Twitter), reports Ukrinform.

"This by Vivek Ramaswamy is criminally stupid: I will accept Russian control of the occupied territories and pledge to block Ukraines candidacy for NATO in exchange for Russia exiting its military alliance with China. I will end sanctions and bring Russia back into the world market. In this way, I will elevate Russia as a strategic check on Chinas designs in East Asia. Thiessen wrote.

"Like a freshman foreign policy paper. Utterly disqualifying," stated Thiessen.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Vivek Ramaswamy wrote in The American Conservative magazine he was in favor of handing over the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia and that he stood against Ukraine joining NATO. This is also what he said at the debate between the Republican candidates on August 23.

Fox News is a media platform that traditionally supports the Republican agenda.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha has met with the representatives of the Parliament of Canada. The parties discussed the situation on the battlefield, the training of the Ukrainian military, and the operation of the Black Sea grain corridor.

The meeting was attended by Vice-Chair of Canadas House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence James Bezan and Member of Canadas House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence Pat Kelly, who are paying a visit to Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports, referring to the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Sybiha praised the current support for Ukraine from the Parliament of Canada and expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister of Canada and the Canadian people for the comprehensive assistance to the Ukrainian people, especially defense and financial, in the struggle against Russian invaders.

The Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine briefed the interlocutors on the situation on the battlefield and stressed the importance of strengthening Ukraines air defense before the winter period, namely to protect the countrys energy infrastructure, as well as increased and accelerated arms supplies for Ukraine.

Sybiha mentioned that Canadas active involvement in the training of Ukrainian servicemen is extremely important and expressed hope that the Canadian side would also contribute to the training of Ukrainian pilots in the future.

Separately, the parties considered food security issues and the importance of ensuring the uninterrupted operation of the Black Sea grain corridor in this regard.

Canadian representatives assured the Ukrainian side of further unwavering support for Ukraine from both the governing coalition and the opposition forces of Canada.

Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine
n the Kherson region, 17 out of 49 communities have been de-occupied. Since the beginning of the large-scale invasion, the region has been experiencing Russian terror and shelling, and the enemy added to the trouble by blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. We talked to the first deputy chairman of the Kherson Regional Council, Yuriy Sobolevsky, about the life of the free right bank of the region and the left bank temporarily occupied by Russians. We remind you that Mr. Sobolevsky is one of the representatives of the local government who stayed in the occupation to organize peaceful resistance, and he is currently working in Kherson and keeping in touch with the communities in the Russian-occupied territory of the region. We are talking about why the regional council is needed in the current situation, where the deputies are, how the state can help businesses, and the situation on the left bank - how people are surviving and a little bit about corruption and looting in the enemy's camp.

WE HAVE REFORMATTED THE COMMITTEES AND ARE PREPARING A SESSION OF THE REGIONAL COUNCIL FOR SEPTEMBER

- Your colleague, MP Serhii Khlan, is demanding that the regional council's activities be suspended, and he has also appealed to the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration to terminate the powers of the regional council's leadership. What is your opinion on this?

- The regional council did not suspend its activities at all. And, if you remember, we held an online session even under occupation, deciding not to recognize any "referendums" on changing the territorial status of the Kherson region. Now the council continues its activities in the same way, it is authorized, of course, subject to the requirements of the legislation in force during martial law. In general, Khlan's position is strange, because he participated in all these sessions. Budgetary issues are really within the competence of the regional military administration.

Given the security situation, we are forced to hold sessions online. And I want to note that Mykolaiv Regional Council and Odesa Regional Council are now working in the same mode, at least these two councils are also working online.

- But it has been a long time since the Kherson Regional Council has met for a session, since the end of April 2023.

- If we recall the sessions before the large-scale invasion, the regional council did not meet every month. This is not a local government body like a city council, where there are a lot of economic issues of life and therefore they hold sessions on average once a month. We hold sessions on average once a quarter. And this year we have already had a session.

We are currently preparing material for the next session, which is scheduled for September. We already have the issues that need to be considered.

By the way, we have reformatted the standing committees of the regional council, taking into account the deputies who are actively involved and those who are not, who have been served with suspicions. That is, we have fully functional commissions, we have reduced their number and optimized them.

- Still, there is a certain logic in Khlan's accusations - I mean, the money spent on salaries for the regional council leadership...

- One can only believe that there is logic in this if one believes that Ukraine does not need local self-government. Then there is indeed logic, we can abandon all local governments, it will save the budget. Then we don't need communities, we don't need regional councils, local councils, mayors, military administrations will be enough.

- Well, in Kherson City Council, the secretary was fired...

- This council did not resume its activities. Indeed, when a local government body has not resumed its activities, the military administration is responsible for resolving the issue on its own. But in other regions, despite the martial law, local councils are holding meetings. In fact, it is very important to keep a balance in the government system.

ABOUT COLLABORATORS AND THOSE WHO WENT ABROAD

- How many members of the regional council do you not know the whereabouts of? Do you know for sure how many of your colleagues are abroad, how many are in the occupied territory, and who is in the territory controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine?

- We have information about our MPs, but we cannot give it officially because we do not have the authority to establish the whereabouts of a person. And none of the MPs have officially informed us of their whereabouts.

I know exactly where the MPs from the Servant of the People are, who all participate in the sessions, except for two. We have initiated the use of a peremptory mandate against them. These people have lost contact with the political force that delegated them, so we initiated this procedure in order to make a legal change in the deputy composition so that the Servant of the People faction could fully work and fulfill its obligations to the voters. Unfortunately, other political forces did not do so.

- Speaking of the regional council members who have been notified of suspicion of collaboration, according to the updated data, how many have already been notified and how many, according to your information, are "on the way".

We can now say that three members of the regional council have received suspicions - Valerii Litvin, Eduard Repilevsky and Vitalii Bulyuk. As for the others, we will wait for the position of law enforcement agencies. Because even a suspicion is not an admission of guilt, there must be a court verdict.

- Well, can we at least talk about the number of people who, in your opinion, deserve to be notified of suspicion?

- I don't want to disseminate information if there is no suspicion at least. I think it's wrong.

- If we are not talking about collaborators, but about those who went abroad. Did you communicate with them or persuade them to return?

- We appeal to all our deputies to work directly in the region. Because their voters and their responsibility are here. Of course, deputies are people too, and they have different situations: some of them have health problems and are undergoing treatment, some have health problems with close relatives and cannot leave them.

There are people who are not physically located in the de-occupied Kherson region, but they are very active in helping the region, our Defense Forces, and participate in humanitarian aid to the region, and their contribution is very significant.

As for those who do not work and are not currently in the Kherson region, there are questions, but they must answer them personally to the voters.

- Is there any plan to hold an offline session instead of an online one, even if it is not in Kherson?

- I am ready to hold it even in Kherson, despite the security situation. But this question is really for the deputies who are not here. The council should work anyway, do its job and make decisions that are important for our region.

- For example?

- You can take the agenda of our last session and see the decisions that were made. There are some that cannot be made public. I would also note that the political activity of the regional council is very important. This is what the regional council does to help our country on the international front, the diplomatic front. We meet representatives of international organizations, and it is not a matter of distrust of government agencies, but they want to communicate with people who were elected by the residents of Kherson region.

- There is also the situation with the deputy chairman of the regional council, Yurii Vlasov. According to Khlan, he allegedly had a business in Nova Kakhovka, worked under the Russians for quite some time, was there himself, and at the same time received a salary from the regional council.

- Vlasov has been on leave since the beginning of the large-scale invasion. He can only be dismissed by the session according to the procedure, it should be a secret vote, but at least he should submit a letter of resignation. There are no legal grounds for dismissing him from his job right now.

- Does he get in touch?

- He participates in the sessions.

- Is he not currently in the occupied territory?

- According to him, yes. But I can't confirm this, because I'll point out once again that there is no official letter from any deputy of any faction, including the faction headed by Khlan, where they are.

- And which faction has the most traitors in it?

- Buliuk is "Nash Krai", Repilevskyi is "OPFL", and Litvin is Bloc Saldo. OPFL and Bloc Saldo are banned parties, there can be no such factions. "Nash Krai"... is a working party.

COMMISSIONS FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF HUMANITARIAN AID SHOULD CONSIST OF VOLUNTEERS

- You have stated that officials should not be involved in the distribution of humanitarian aid at this stage. What mechanism do you propose?

- As for the organization of humanitarian aid, of course, at the first stage it could not work properly without the help of the administration. The military administrations did a great job in setting up humanitarian centers, steadfastness points, organizing the supply and distribution of humanitarian aid. They were in communication with other regions that sent the goods, and in order for Ukrzaliznytsia to transport them free of charge, the military administration had to be the recipient. But as of now, everything has been worked out, and a transparent system of accounting for humanitarian aid has been created, both for what comes in and what is distributed. Therefore, I believe that for greater efficiency and for greater public trust, this should not be done by the administration.

The mechanism is very simple. It is proposed that humanitarian aid distribution commissions consist either entirely or in a significant majority of volunteers and representatives of charitable organizations.

Of course, military administrations will continue to help support the software, solve logistical and other organizational issues. However, the decision on whether this equipment will go to this community or that community, to which settlement, to which category of people or for which humanitarian center should not be made by officials. Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Regional Military Administration, shares the same opinion. "We are already working on creating this mechanism. And a large number of volunteers are ready to take responsibility and get involved in these processes.

In general, unfortunately, I hear from our benefactors and volunteers (we worked with many of them during the occupation, they are really great guys and girls) about people's negative attitudes towards those who are engaged in humanitarian work. There are always dissatisfied people: last time you gave us this, and this time you're giving us something worse, you must have stolen what was supposed to be. Or someone suspends humanitarian aid to a certain category of citizens for some reason, and it's immediately negative - you've stolen everything.

DEBTS AND PAYMENTS

- What are the current problems on the right bank, in particular, as a result of the Russians' blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station?

- The fact that we are in a war zone legally restricts certain procedures to inspect damaged buildings. This issue is being addressed by the military administration together with the central authorities.

As for individuals, there are assistance programs in place, they are working, and if there are any problems, there is no doubt that they will be resolved.

I believe that more attention should be paid to the business that existed before the invasion in Kherson region. They really need help now. There are issues of energy debts that arose during the occupation. From what has already been done, the regional council has already appealed to the entities involved in the regulatory process [Kherson Regional Council appealed to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada and the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities to prevent disconnection from the power grid due to debts of subscribers - legal entities in the de-occupied territories]

Now there is a mechanism for individuals, but only for those who have left the occupation and registered as IDPs - they do not have to pay payments accrued before de-occupation. Our vision of resolving the situation is to cancel payments for all individuals, both those who left and those who remained under occupation.

But a compensation mechanism is needed because energy companies have to work. This is complicated by the fact that these are private companies, if we are talking about Khersongaz, regional power distribution companies. As far as I know, regional power distribution companies are in the process of nationalization. That is, it will be easier after this process is completed.

- But does this mean that all utility debts will be written off to taxpayers, not to Russia?

- This should certainly be taken into account when making reparations later. But people need support now, immediately. People should not be put in a situation where they have to wait for victory and then receive these reparations; I believe that the people of Kherson deserve better.

- On the eve of September 1, let's talk about education. Are there any debts to educators?

- As for the debts, as of now, we need to reconcile with the education department - the situation is dynamic. But the problems that existed earlier regarding the debt have been resolved, the region received a subvention that closed the issue [on May 16, the government approved a decree to pay off salary arrears to teachers in Kharkiv and Kherson regions.]

- The Regional Military Administration reported that 190 schools in the region would be open.

- Yes, 166 schools were open last school year, and 190 this year. This is at least, and I actually expect that there will be a little more, that several schools will join during the school year.

- Are you in favor of restoring the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant? I ask because there is a discussion on this issue.

- Before any large-scale project, you need to prepare, analyze, think about the consequences, and assess resources. If the hydroelectric power plant is not restored, our farmers will face a very big problem in a large area of the region due to the lack of an irrigation system. I also hear environmentalists say that nature knows better how things should be. This is a complicated issue. I still believe that our region and our farmers really need this hydropower plant. Kherson region is a very cool agricultural region, and we need to take into account a possible food crisis in the world in the future.

UNDER OCCUPATION, THERE IS TREMENDOUS PRESSURE ON PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT ISSUED A RUSSIAN PASSPORT

- Left bank - what is happening there after the attack on the hydroelectric power station, do you know the number of victims?

- The occupation authorities made every effort to hide the consequences of their crime. They did not register any deaths as a result of the flooding, they wrote that a person died of heart disease or for some other reason, just to avoid admitting that the reason was the attack on the hydroelectric power plant. And, unfortunately, there are still missing people. The bodies were taken away by Russians - groups traveled around collecting them and taking them to an unknown destination. Therefore, we will be able to find out the number of victims when the left bank is de-occupied.

The water has receded, but the occupiers have not yet pumped out water from some facilities, we have this information. The Russian Emergencies Ministry made a picture like this. Like on the right bank, no work was done to eliminate the consequences of the flooding on the left bank. The occupiers left the local population on the left bank to fend for themselves. When the evacuation did eventually begin, Russians came to the temporary accommodation centers to put pressure on the evacuees to obtain Russian passports. They said that if they wanted to receive financial assistance and compensation for their losses, they had to get a Russian passport. The invaders also used this tragedy, this terrorist attack that they committed, to force passportization.

- If we have already mentioned the forced passportization. Do people at this stage actually have the opportunity to survive without a Russian passport? Do residents of the left bank have access to medical services without Russian documents?

- It's very difficult because the pressure on people who have not issued this passport is insane. And because of restrictions on medical services. And because of the increased checks at checkpoints, because if a person presents a passport of a citizen of Ukraine, they are treated accordingly and asked why they haven't received a Russian passport yet. So more and more people are forced to take that passport. They are intimidated, afraid that the occupiers will come to their house and take them away.

Now it is still possible to receive medical services with a Ukrainian passport, but in some medical institutions we know of refusals, such information is received. People are also told: next time don't even come without a Russian passport, we won't treat you. This is especially true for those doctors who came from the territory of the Russian Federation. Local doctors have a different attitude, but these "medical tourists" - I'll call them that - have a completely different attitude towards our people.

The same pressure is being exerted on farmers and land share owners. I informed the SBU about such facts that I learned about. I was approached by one of the farmers, I won't say which district it was. His farm was completely arrested by the occupiers because he refused to re-register his business under Russian jurisdiction and continued to support his employees, shareholders, by providing them with agricultural products. The invaders came and said that all this was the property of the Russian Federation, ordered not to give anything to anyone, and that they would sort it out themselves. The Russians explained that payments would be made to the shareholders on Russian passports to bank accounts in a Russian "bank".

- On the left bank, the occupiers are particularly active in propaganda aimed at young people and children. Are the Ukrainian authorities monitoring this situation and do they know the specific criminals involved in such propaganda?

- Unfortunately, this is a systematic work of the Russians, it is complex and has a certain effect on our population, on our children. The occupation "education", Russian law enforcement agencies, and the Russian army are involved in these processes. The occupiers are creating the so-called youth army (a kind of militaristic teenage units), taking children to training grounds where the Russian military gives them weapons, all with the propaganda of the Russian army; representatives of the Investigative Committee demand that teachers gather children for such "events" despite the fact that it is now vacation. This is all done by Russian citizens, with collaborators involved as technical staff in these processes. The Russians brought textbooks to educational institutions that simply rewrote the history of the Russian Federation, the USSR, Ukraine, and in general - they have a completely different alternative history, which is now being brainwashed to children in the same way. In addition, they try to take children to the territory of the Russian Federation, to different regions, as much as possible. These are elements of the integration process, so that children can form social ties with children from the Russian Federation. During the so-called rehabilitation, the same propaganda pumping - the Russian anthem, stories about "great Russia," about "great history," about Ukraine being a vassal of the United States, in short, all this nonsense that they pump into their own audience - is being done to our children. Of course, all those involved in such Russian propaganda aimed at our children are recorded by law enforcement agencies so that they can be brought to justice, including at the international level.

- What about forced mobilization in the temporarily occupied territories?

- Legally, the occupiers cannot mobilize unless a person has received a Russian passport, which is why we said from the beginning that this passport poses a significant threat, especially to men of military age.

Why, in my opinion, is there no mass mobilization yet? Firstly, they feel the real mood of the people and are afraid to give weapons to the people of Kherson. And secondly, the level of passportization was very low because of the quiet resistance of the population, people were forced to take passports. But it's only a matter of time before they will conduct such a forced mobilization.

We know of cases where residents of the Kherson region traveled to the territory of the Russian Federation with Russian passports and received summonses there. They cannot get out of Russia now, as they are included in the relevant databases. The risks that these people will end up in the enemy army are very high.

I just remembered that the occupiers created their own "Margelov volunteer battalion" about a year ago, but it is now used exclusively for propaganda purposes. According to my information, it does not take part in hostilities because it is not staffed. It is a fake unit, it exists on paper - a certain number of collaborators were recruited and a picture was made, but there are very few of them and the combat capability of these people and the "unit" in general is very doubtful.

- Speaking of collaborators, do they have any rotation, or are the Russians trying to keep them in the region?

- Collaborators can leave the region, but when they ask for "warm" jobs in government agencies in the Russian Federation, they are usually denied. We know this for sure. Russians are not interested in them, they do not want to see them as officials in Russia. They are needed as low-level officials in the TOT, because the occupiers cannot fill everything with Russian citizens, and there are not many people willing to go to Kherson region. But if the collaborators want to leave and just live in the territory of the Russian Federation, do not ask for positions for themselves, the Russians let them go, they say, live your life somehow.

HOW PEOPLE SHOULD BEHAVE DURING THE SO-CALLED "LOCAL ELECTIONS"

- The occupiers are planning to force residents of the de-occupied territory of Kherson region to vote in pseudo-elections on September 2, the so-called "local elections". What advice do you have for people under occupation, how should they behave?

- There are two stories here. The first story is participation in the preparation of this show, and this is 100% treason. There will be criminal liability for it, it's only a matter of time.

- By the way, in your opinion, aren't the court verdicts in these cases too lenient?

- In my opinion, yes, and I have already said so. But I would like to emphasize that our courts are independent and should remain so, they should not be influenced by statements of politicians or officials. But I, like all the other residents of the region, including those who went through the occupation, want maximum responsibility for all traitors.

- If we return to the "elections" on the left bank...

- Yes, participating in the preparation of the "elections" is one hundred percent treason. Participation in the show itself, simply as a "voter," is another. If it is possible, then, of course, we should avoid these processes, not to create a picture of "democracy" for the occupiers, which, of course, does not exist even in Russia, let alone in the occupied territories. But I understand that sometimes a local resident cannot avoid participating in this farce from the Russians. When a "bun" comes to your yard with a ballot box, a Russian soldier with a machine gun stands next to you, and you have children in your house, then, of course, you will take this "ballot" and put a tick in the box - no matter for whom. I understand this perfectly well. In our country, human life and health are the highest value. If there is no other way out, there is no need to create additional risks for yourself, for your loved ones, for the population under duress. As for the "elections" themselves, neither Ukraine in particular nor the civilized world in general recognizes them.

- Have you analyzed the lists of so-called candidates - are they just collaborators or are there Russian citizens?

- I can tell you who analyzes them very carefully: our Security Service of Ukraine. Therefore, every Ukrainian citizen who wanted to take part in that show as a "candidate" should be prepared for the consequences.

- As well as Russian citizens?

- This is a matter of legal qualification. If the law enforcement agencies see signs of a crime in such actions, they will also be brought to justice.

- Terror - at the beginning of the invasion, the Russians kidnapped those who disagreed, not even hiding behind any legal norms. Now, Russian publics are reporting on the detention of people in Kherson region who disagree with the occupation and are being prosecuted under Russian law. Do we know whether the Russians have given up abductions without any legal justification? Or are these processes going on in parallel?

- They haven't given up, they are going on in parallel. Yes, they create a picture of some legal procedures, a certain number of people are indeed prosecuted under their laws, although this is illegal, of course. But there are people who are taken away without any legal justification.

We see more and more reports that indicate that for Russian law enforcement agencies, detention in the TOT is just a business. That is, they are looking for people whose families have money and are solvent, they detain them, invent the story that they are extremists, cooperate with the SBU, and provide information to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And then the Russians are just waiting for one of the relatives to come and actually ransom the prisoner, pay them to release the kidnapped person.

- What do you know about the Russian military on the left bank, who are they - Kadyrov's men, prisoners, mobilized, or a mix? There have also been reports of mass looting in settlements such as Oleshky, do you have any similar information?

- There is a mix. But without details, because at the request of the country's military leadership, we are in silence. That is why we do not comment on the actions of our military or on the Russian army. But we promptly provide the information we receive from the occupied territory to both our military and the Security Service of Ukraine - we have maintained communication with the communities. And everyone who helps us on the left bank with such information is a real hero, and they are in mortal danger.

As for looting by the Russian military, it is on a fantastic scale. And some Russian military units have even organized mini-smelters, right in their locations, to extract circuit boards from stolen computer equipment, and then send it all to Russia for sale. Those who do not share with the management are sometimes caught and punished for show, although not for what they do, but for didn't take a "share".

- Do international organizations monitor the situation in the TOT, or do you pass on information to them as a representative of the regional council?

- I personally cooperate with international institutions that are involved in establishing such crimes in the occupied territories. But I can't provide details... I can't yet, let's say, because of the request of these international organizations. But the work in this direction continues.

Iryna Staroselets
Chen Liangdong presents harvested rice seeds in a hybrid rice seed breeding base in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 26, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong talks with a harvester driver in a hybrid rice seeds field in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 26, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong wipes sweat while working in a hybrid rice seeds field in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 29, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong loads harvested rice seeds onto a truck in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 26, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

This combo photo shows Chen Liangdong showcasing germinated rice seeds on April 6, 2023 (upper L), transplanting rice seedlings on May 29, 2023 (upper R), inspecting rice pollination on Aug. 1, 2023 (lower L) and displaying harvested rice seeds on Aug. 26, 2023 in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong checks on the drying condition of hybrid rice seeds at a processing workshop in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 26, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong (L) checks on the drying condition of hybrid rice seeds at a processing workshop in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 26, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

This combo photo shows (from L to R) Chen Liangdong leveling the field on April 6, 2023, transplanting rice seedlings on May 29, 2023, holding a bamboo pole to pollinate the rice for seed production on Aug. 1, 2023, and showcasing harvested rice seeds on Aug. 26, 2023, in a hybrid rice seed breeding base in Xinchang Village of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

This combo photo (from top to bottom) shows villagers planting seeds on April 7, 2023, transplanting rice seedlings on May 29, 2023 and manually pollinating hybrid rice on Aug. 1, 2023 in Chen Liangdong's hybrid rice seed breeding base in Xinchang Village of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

This aerial photo taken on April 6, 2023 shows a hybrid rice seed breeding base in Xinchang Village of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong and his daughter-in-law load harvested rice seeds onto a truck in Xinchang Village of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 26, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong soaks rice seeds to prepare for hybrid rice seedling cultivation in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, April 6, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong (front) and villagers transplant rice seedlings in a hybrid rice seed breeding base in Xinchang Village of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 29, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong arranges harvested hybrid rice seeds at a processing workshop in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 26, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

This photo taken on April 6, 2023 shows the hybrid rice seeds prepared by Chen Liangdong for seedling cultivation in Xinchang Village of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

This aerial photo taken on Aug. 26, 2023 shows harvesters working in a hybrid rice seeds field in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong (front) and villagers level the field at a hybrid rice seed breeding base in preparation for planting in Xinchang Village of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, April 6, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong checks on the growth of seeds at a hybrid rice seeds field in Cengong County of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 26, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Chen Liangdong manually pollinates hybrid rice in the seed breeding base using bamboo poles in Xinchang Village of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 1, 2023.

As autumn arrives, the rice fields turn golden. Chen Liangdong has invited a professional harvesting team from Henan Province to harvest the hybrid rice seeds on his farm. Looking at the abundant rice seeds, he was overjoyed.

Chen, who is 61, is a major producer of hybrid rice seeds in Cengong County. He used to work as a construction worker in the county for many years. In 2012, Chen returned to his village and took over the idle land of the villagers to produce hybrid rice seeds. From spring to autumn, he is busy with tilling, sowing, mulching, transplanting, fertilizing, pollinating, and other tasks. Every year, he provides jobs for more than 100 households in the surrounding villages.

Cengong County is a national rice seed production county with 47 years of history in hybrid rice seed production. As part of its rural revitalization efforts, the county has designated the hybrid rice seed planting as a leading industry. Every year, the county supplies over 8 million kilograms of high-quality rice seeds to the market, effectively boosting the income and employment opportunities of local farmers. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba discussed military support for Ukraine, the Peace Formula, and the Ukrainian grain exports with President of France Emmanuel Macron during a meeting in Paris.

I was honored to be received by Emmanuel Macron following his contacts with President Zelensky. Discussed further military support, expanding the Peace Formula coalition and our grain exports to countries in Africa and beyond. I thanked him for reaffirming Frances continued support, Kuleba posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).

During his visit to France, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba discussed cooperation projects with French Land Defence and Security Industry Association (GICAT) members on Tuesday, August 29.

This week, Kuleba pays visits to the Czech Republic, France, and Spain.
A deputy of the city council of the German city of Baden-Baden, who painted swastikas and insults on the vehicles with Ukrainian license plates, has resigned from his post.

This was reported by Spiegel, Ukrinform saw.

The offender was identified as Martin Kuhne with the radical right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

For his act, he received a fine in the amount of 50 daily wages. The ruling is yet to enter into force.

Earlier this week, the public prosecutor's office in Baden-Baden pressed charges against the elected official for using Nazi symbols, which is prohibited by German law.

The politician did not comment on the accusations against him either to the public or to his fellow party members. In total, there were three deputies from the AfD in the city council of the resort town.

As reported, the incidents happened back in January and March of this year, the politician vandalized two cars with Ukrainian license plates, drawing swastikas on them and writing an explicit "F*ck UA" in capital letters. For his offense, the deputy was fined 50 days' salary (the exact figure has not been published) "for using paraphernalia of anti-constitutional organizations" and public insult, the Baden-Baden prosecutor's office reported on Monday, August 28.

The Baden-Baden City Council consists of The Greens, Christian Democrats, Free Citizens of Baden-Baden, Social Democrats, Free Democrats, and representatives of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany. The rest of the factions condemned the act of their former colleague.
| By Andrew Tie

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has renewed its funding for the University of Maryland Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (M-CERSI) under a new five-year, up to $50 million cooperative agreement.

M-CERSI is a partnership between the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and is led by James Polli, PhD, the Shangraw/Noxell Endowed Chair in Industrial Pharmacy and Pharmaceutics in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (PSC) at UMSOP, and William Bentley, PhD, the Robert E. Fischell Distinguished Professor and director of the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices at UMCP. The FDAs Office of Regulatory Science and Innovation collaborates with M-CERSI on its activities.

The renewal of M-CERSI demonstrates the impact and innovation that the center has had on regulatory science and recognition from the FDA of that work, said Sarah L.J. Michel, PhD, interim dean and professor of the school and a principal investigator of two projects funded by M-CERSI.

M-CERSI is one of only five FDA-funded CERSIs in the country and is the oldest CERSI, established in 2011.

We are honored by the FDAs decision to renew M-CERSI for another five years and reinforce its commitment to advancing regulatory science, Polli said. M-CERSI has continued to establish great partnerships with UMCP, the FDA, and pharmaceutical industry partners. Our work in evaluating the safety and efficacy of new drugs, biologics, and medical devices will continue to benefit society and health care as a whole.

Since the last funding renewal in 2018, M-CERSI has continued its mission of modernizing and improving the ways in which drugs, biologics, and medical devices are reviewed and evaluated. It has supported research projects and hosted conferences and workshops on topics related to its priority areas.

I am truly excited that our efforts to bridge disciplines and campuses to develop the science that underpins regulatory practice have been recognized, not only by our students, faculty and staff, but also by the FDA, Bentley said. It is my hope that the next five years will bring us to even greater heights as a nexus for health-related activities between the campuses and the FDA.

M-CERSI is currently collaborating with the FDA on approximately 30 research projects across several FDA product centers, such as those for drugs, biologics, medical devices, and tobacco. Examples include:

Maureen Kane, PhD , professor of PSC and director of the schools Mass Spectrometry Center , is leading an investigation to develop diagnostic biomarkers for traumatic brain injury.

, professor of PSC and director of the schools , is leading an investigation to develop diagnostic biomarkers for traumatic brain injury. Danya Qato, PhD, PharmD, MPH , an associate professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research , is leveraging data-informed models to identify optimal opioid use disorder treatment trajectories.

, an associate professor in the , is leveraging data-informed models to identify optimal opioid use disorder treatment trajectories. Stephen Jay, PhD, associate professor of bioengineering at UMCP, is working to apply additive manufacturing for continuous production of extracellular vesicle products.

Sarah Murthi, MD, professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), and Amitabh Varshney, dean of the College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences and professor of computer science at UMCP, are assessing safety and performance issues with extended reality tele-mentoring of image-guided, clinically important procedures.

Generous funding support through M-CERSI has allowed for rich interdisciplinary research and multi-sectoral engagement between regulators and health services researchers, Qato said. M-CERSI has also helped enhance the relevance of basic science research and health services research to regulatory policy.

There have been 76 M-CERSI workshops since 2012, with almost 25,000 attendees. Recent topics have included quantitative systems pharmacology-informed rare disease drug development, artificial intelligence for precision medicine, biosimilars, and co-processed active pharmaceutical ingredients. Many workshops have resulted in reports to guide subsequent research aims.

M-CERSI also holds an annual student competition, Americas Got Regulatory Science Talent, to promote student interest in regulatory science. A group of clinical laboratory science graduate students at UMSOM took the top prize at the 11th Annual Americas Got Regulatory Science Talent competition in February 2023.
| By Brittney Brookins

On Aug. 19, the University of Maryland School of Social Works (UMSSW) Center for Restorative Change, in partnership with Bethel AME Church, celebrated a highly successful Second Annual Back to School Bash at Booker T. Washington Middle School/Renaissance Academy in the Upton Druid Heights neighborhood of Baltimore.

The block party-type event drew over 400 attendees and served not only as a celebration but also as a powerful testament to the impact of community building and positive change. It also aims to unite the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) community with surrounding neighborhoods, fostering connections and nurturing a sense of unity and shared responsibility for the success of Baltimores youth.

"We have all of these great resources and people dont always know we exist or how to reach us, said Stacey Wilson, MSW, clinical instructor, UMSSW. As the School of Social Work, its important for us to be at community events like this so that there is that connection.

The Center for Restorative Change, formerly known as the Social Work Community Outreach Service, is the community outreach arm of UMSSW. The organization, which is committed to fostering healing and growth within communities, played a pivotal role in planning the Back to School Bash. This year, the event provided an opportunity for community members to connect with valuable resources, engage with local organizations, and support youths as they embark on a new academic year. Bethel AME Churchs generous contributions ensured the event was not just enjoyable but also meaningful.

Cynthia Foote, president of the Kings Table ministry at the church, spoke about its ongoing commitment to the community. Every month, we try to give something back to the community members who are in need, she said. This month, we partnered with the Center for Restorative Change to give away student uniforms and 1,000 pounds of groceries.

Supporting youth and their families as they embark on a new school year is a critical aspect of community building. Events like the Back to School Bash play a significant role in this endeavor, not only providing essential resources but also offering a platform for engagement and empowerment to ensure a successful and rewarding academic journey for young students.

The Back to School Bash offered a dynamic mix of activities including live music, games, resource booths, and outdoor yoga. Attendees had the opportunity to learn about local services, such as Bmore for Healthy Babies and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The event also showcased performances by local youth groups, including the Royal Sound Marching Unit.
This aerial photo taken on Aug. 10, 2023 shows tourists visiting a car trunk fair and a wharf for sightseeing boats in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Shao Rui)

XI'AN, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- At 5:30 p.m., when the sun was yet to set, Li Jiarong opened her car trunk and began to decorate her stall. Next to her car, there was a small wooden table with Thai-style beverages and snacks ready to be sold.

Li, who is in her 30s, runs a makeup business and sets up the stall after work in the evenings in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

"It's not all about the money. I can make friends here and it is more interesting than playing on my mobile phone and watching TV at home," Li said, adding that she has joined an online group of more than 200 friends with the same interest. "Sometimes, we meet and ride together."

Situated next to the Bahe River, this area in the Chanba Ecological District of Xi'an has become a popular spot for young people like Li. Every evening, they gather to set up stalls and create a car trunk fair, injecting vitality into the city's night economy.

Tourists buy goods at a car trunk fair in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Shao Rui)

The fair was later operated by a company responsible for brand introduction, food safety and other aspects.

Wang Yi, manager of the company, said the fair now has 180 tenants, mostly young people, and receives up to 30,000 visitors a day.

Wang, who has been engaged in the night consumption sector for many years, said more and more young people have transferred their night consumption means from sightseeing to social interactions.

"They come here at night not just for tours, but for a relaxing, romantic and unique experience," he said.

Tourists visit a car trunk fair in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Shao Rui)

While some young people engage in social interactions for fun at the car trunk fair, others see it as an entrepreneurial experiment.

Wang Shihao, who works at a construction company, registered a catering business before deciding to set up a hamburger stall at the fair. He meticulously checked every detail in person, ranging from the stall layout and raw material procurement to taste research and development.

"Through the stall, I can learn the most practical lessons with the least expense," said the 27-year-old.

Cui Yan, a professor engaged in cultural tourism research at Xi'an University of Science and Technology, said the new consumption scenarios like the car trunk fair have displayed the attitudes toward employment and life of the young generation.

"To a certain extent, it also provides opportunities for some young people to find flexible employment and explore their entrepreneurial dreams," said Cui. 
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng meets with James Cleverly, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom, in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 30, 2023. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met with James Cleverly, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Han said China and the UK have established diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level for more than half a century and achieved positive results in practical cooperation in various fields.

Faced with the risks and challenges of the current international situation, the two sides, as permanent members of the UN Security Council and major economies in the world, should uphold the spirit of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns, maintain communication in international and regional affairs, and jointly promote world peace and development, he added.

"Economic and trade cooperation is the foundation for the sound and steady development of China-UK relations," Han said, adding that the two governments should create a sound business environment and actively explore new growth points for practical cooperation.

Noting that China is an important country with global influence and is playing an increasingly important role in international governance, Cleverly said the UK appreciates China's important contribution to the world economy and poverty reduction.

The UK is willing to strengthen high-level exchanges and strategic communication with China to build consensus and deepen cooperation, said Cleverly. 

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng meets with James Cleverly, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom, in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 30, 2023. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)
Geneva, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2023 ) :An alleged former member of a Belarusian elite police unit will stand trial in Switzerland next month, accused of participating in the disappearances of three political opposition members, a Swiss NGO said Wednesday.

Yury Garavsky, a "former member of President Alexander Lukashenko's SOBR unit, will stand before a criminal court in St. Gallen, Switzerland on 19-20 September", said the TRIAL International organisation, which fights against impunity for war crimes.

Regional authorities in the northeastern Swiss canton of St. Gallen confirmed to AFP that Garavsky's trial would begin on September 19, but have not commented on his whereabouts or other details about the case.

According to TRIAL, he is not currently in custody.

The NGO said Garavsky stands accused of having participated in the enforced disappearances of three major political opponents of Lukashenko in 1999: former interior minister Yury Zakharenko, along with former deputy prime minister Viktor Gonchar and his close friend, the businessman Anatoly Krasovsky.

Zakharenko vanished in May 1999. Then in September that year, Gonchar and Krasovsky were abducted.
(@FahadShabbir)

New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2023 ) :Jessica Pegula said lessons she learned while dealing with injuries early in her career have helped shape her into a player targeting a deep run at the US Open as the world number three.

Now 29, Pegula was languishing outside the top 100 until February 2019, with just one Grand Slam win to her name, her progress stalled by knee and hip injuries which prompted serious soul-searching.

She suffered five successive first-round exits at majors before making the third round of the 2020 US Open, but has since developed into one of the most consistent performers on the women's tour.

Pegula won the WTA 1000 title in Montreal earlier this month and her 42 match wins this year are third most behind Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, the world's top two players.

Her latest came on Tuesday, a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italy's Camila Giorgi taking Pegula into the second round in New York and a meeting with Romania's Patricia Maria Tig.

"You know, I don't think, if I didn't get injured I don't think I'd be where I am today. That sounds corny and cliche, but it's really true," said Pegula after beating Giorgi for the ninth time in 11 attempts.

"I learned so much from those injuries and when I was hurt that I became, like, I don't know why, but I became obsessed with getting better.

"I just wanted to do everything possible I could to try to make sure that I wouldn't get hurt again. That was my main goal." "Then I just worked really hard at it. I think I became a lot more confident in who I was around 24 years old," she continued.

"I think I took ownership I think of my career, and I was really, like, this is what I'm going to do. If I mess up it's on me, but this is my decision.

"I think all those things kind of played into my success." Her belated climb towards the top contrasts sharply to that of Coco Gauff, Pegula's doubles partner who shot into the public eye aged 15 when she reached the Wimbledon fourth round in 2019.

Pegula is the higher ranked of the two, but sixth seed Gauff is the one filling many of the column inches as she dreams of continuing Serena Williams' legacy over the next fortnight.

Not that Pegula is one to complain about being overshadowed by the 19-year-old Gauff, who is coming off the biggest title of her career in Cincinnati.

"I don't mind. She's been winning a lot. I think she deserves a lot of that attention. She's obviously very young. She's been playing really well. She's super electric to watch," said Pegula.

"It's nice that even though I am the top American, I can't imagine carrying a ton of pressure if it was only me." Pegula leads the group of 24 American women who started in the draw and believes the strength in depth can only serve the host nation well.

"It's nice that there is a lot of us that are doing well and that have chances to go deep here," said Pegula, who has made five quarter-finals in the past seven Grand Slams but never gone further.

"I mean, I'd take it, but at the same time it's kind of nice too not feeling like I have to be the one that has to win the US Open when there are six other girls that could do it."
The U.S. flag flies over Camp VI, a prison used to house detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, in this March 5, 2013 file photo. The facility is operated by the Joint Task Force Guantanamo and holds prisoners who have been captured in the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere since the September 11, 2001 attacks. (Xinhua)

Terming the U.S. claim for defending human rights as a joke, Nasim said that his being jailed without proof demonstrates the U.S. so-called defense of human rights is an outright lie.

CHAPARHAR, Afghanistan, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Living in a slum house in Chaparhar district in east Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province, Mohammad Nasim, a former Guantanamo prisoner, said that he has not lived a good life since his release from the notorious prison.

Nasim has been suffering from psychological diseases since he was arrested by U.S. troops and then apprehended in the infamous Guantanamo Bay detention camp for five years.

"Everything is out of order. My brain does not work when I sleep, or I jump, and my mental system is in disorder," he told Xinhua in his mud dwelling recently, attired in tattered clothes.

Terming the U.S. claim for defending human rights as a joke, Nasim said that his being jailed without proof demonstrates the U.S. so-called defense of human rights is an outright lie.

Nasim could not remember the exact date when his ordeal started. He recalled that the security forces of the erstwhile U.S.-backed regime arrested him in late 2001 or early 2002 and handed him over to the U.S. troops on the charge of having relations with the Taliban.

"About 60 security personnel surrounded my house and broke into the house. We were eating our dinner," said Nasim.

"They tied my hands from back and arrested me in my home."

According to Nasim, the soldiers also arrested his brother but set him free after hours.

Nasim was not that lucky. He was sent to Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangarhar, and was kept there for six nights before being shifted to Bagram, a U.S. main military base, where Nasim was held for about four months.

Recalling his nightmare in Bagram, the former prisoner lamented that American soldiers, after receiving him from the helicopter, threw him away to the dogs arrogantly.

Nasim said that the soldiers would do interrogations several times at midnight, which ended up destroying his mentality.

"They wore a bag on my head, kicked me, pulled me down, hit my head to the wall, chained my hands, and pulled me down again. They hanged me for seven days and nights, and a soldier shocked me and said, 'No sleeping,'" he said.

Protesters dressed as detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp rally to demand the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp outside the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 11, 2018 (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

However, Nasim did not realize the real cruelties of life until he was shifted to Guantanamo.

The first thing that jumps into his mind when Nasim recollects his Guantanamo memories is the two-month confinement in a cell.

"I spent two months in a room and could not see the sky and sun," he said.

"They (Americans) kept repeating words, such as 'you were with the Taliban, and you fought against Americans.' I told them they arrested me at home, not from the battleground," said Nasim.

Nasim soon realized that his defense was meaningless.

"When we were sleeping, they washed us with water from the pipe and did not allow us to sleep at night. They threw away the Quran (Muslim holy book) just to torture us," he said.

"However, the worst torture was to keep us awake the whole time."

In a block, 40 prisoners were held, according to Nasim. At night whenever the patrolling soldier shifted, and another soldier came, who would take all the prisoners from one cell to another every 20 or 30 minutes just to keep them awake.

"They tied our hands, chained our feet, and took us from one room to another at night," Nasim said.

"Some even pleaded, 'Either kill us or let's live in our cell,'" he said, adding that many prisoners later got mad and kept shouting.

"Five years in jail is a long time. Let alone being tortured all the time," he said.

Nasim recalled a mad prisoner shouting and making noises in their cell. "The Americans came, asked some questions like what the nightmare was, and then injected (medicine), and the men fell asleep for four to five days. After recovery, he shouted again, but the Americans again made injections to the man," he said.

Some five years later, Nasim was released back to Afghanistan. He now feeds a 14-member family on a piece of farmland. The outcome of languishing in the U.S. military jail means nothing more than poverty to him and his family as a whole.

"They (Americans) shifted me there (Guantanamo). I was jailed for five years, but no compensation, why? I am indebted and now work to return my owes. Do I have no right to ask for compensation?" Nasim said.

"They are liars and deceiving the people," he said.

Photo taken on June 25, 2022 shows Afghan officials in Kabul, Afghanistan welcoming an Afghan released from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (Xinhua)

Commenting on the brutality of U.S. forces, Qurishi Badlon, the head of the information and culture department of Nangarhar province, told Xinhua that the U.S. forces during the occupation of Afghanistan brutally dropped bombs in the province and even killed 30 civilians from one family, and there were also families losing 20 members in the attacks.

"The occupation of Afghanistan by America is part of our country's black history, and our people won't forget such oppression," Badlon told Xinhua.
Kyiv, Ukraine, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2023 ) :Two people were killed by falling debris after a missile strike on Kyiv, the local military administration said on Wednesday.

"As a result of debris falling in Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv... 2 people died, according to initial reports," Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram.

Another person was injured and was being given medical assistance, he said.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that "two dead men were found" in a non-residential building in Shevchenkivskyi district.

He did not specify how they died nor whether they were the same two reported by the city's military administration.

The regional military administration had earlier warned of a missile attack and said air defences were operating.

An AFP reporter heard at least three loud explosions in the centre of Kyiv around 5am local time (0200 GMT).

Emergency services had also deployed to the southern Darnytskyi district, where debris had fallen onto a commercial building, Popko wrote on Telegram.
Beijing, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2023 ) :British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he had raised human rights concerns at "every single one" of his meetings with top Chinese officials, as he made a state visit to Beijing on Wednesday.

Cleverly, the first UK foreign minister to visit China in five years held talks with Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng and top diplomat Wang Yi.

The foreign office previously said his talking points would include China's crackdown on freedoms in the former British colony of Hong Kong as well as Beijing's alleged rights abuses in the Xinjiang and Tibet regions.

"I've had a number of conversations with senior representatives of the Chinese government and I have raised human rights in every single one of those meetings," Cleverly said Wednesday.

"This is an issue that is discussed extensively not just bilaterally, but at the United Nations," he said.

"I think the Chinese government understands the UK is consistent in our approach... and I will keep raising these issues with (them)." Meeting Cleverly at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, top diplomat Wang said China has "always attached importance to Britain's status as a great power and your unique role".

"Dialogue and cooperation are the key words... of China's policy towards the UK," Wang said.

But he also said that "We have also noticed that there are noises in the Sino-British relationship from time to time, and some people even question your trip to Beijing".

China last month accused the United Kingdom of giving protection to fugitives after Cleverly blasted the Hong Kong government for offering bounties for information leading to the capture of prominent democracy activists based overseas.

- 'Fundamental disagreements' - Cleverly has called for a pragmatic and united Western approach to China's rise, acknowledging the need to partner with Beijing on global issues.

But a critical report by British MPs on Wednesday said London's line on China lacked clarity and needed a "coordinated, whole-of-government approach".

The 87-page report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee also labelled China "a threat to the UK and its interests" and urged London to boost "deterrence diplomacy" to counter threats from Beijing.

Hawkish elements in the United Kingdom's ruling Conservative party have urged Cleverly to act tougher on China.

Cleverly said Wednesday that "attempts to distill the UK's relationship with China down to a single word or a soundbite are fundamentally flawed".

China's size, influence and complexity mean Britain's relationship with Beijing will be "complicated and sophisticated", he said.

"We are clear-eyed about the areas where we have fundamental disagreements with China, and I raise those issues when we meet," Cleverly added.

"We will pursue a pragmatic working relationship, but that does of course mean raising the issues where we disagree."
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Wednesday directed the power distribution companies (DISCOs) to improve their performance in 15 days and submit a report in that regard

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2023 ) :The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Wednesday directed the power distribution companies (DISCOs) to improve their performance in 15 days and submit a report in that regard.

"NEPRA will conduct a hearing after three weeks to review the performance of DISCOs", a news release said.

NEPRA heard the request of Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPAG) regarding monthly fuel adjustment charges of Rs 2.07 per unit for the month of July. However, during the hearing the CPPAG reviewed its request from Rs. 2.07 to Rs. 1.57 per unit raise on account of FCA.

The Authority asked as to why the cost of electricity production with coal was higher despite the decrease in the price of coal while asking the CPPGA to submit performance report of coal power plants.

It observed that some expensive power plants were being run due to low capacity of Gatti and some other grids for last few years.

The Authority asked National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) to submit a report as to why the capacity of Gatti and some other grids was not increased.

NEPRA also directed the DISCOs to take action for reducing line loses and stopping electricity theft.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said on Wednesday he "strongly condemns" what he described as an attempted coup in Gabon

Addis Ababa, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2023 ) :The head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said on Wednesday he "strongly condemns" what he described as an attempted coup in Gabon.

Rebel officers in the oil-rich central African state announced earlier Wednesday they had seized power following disputed elections, in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba had been declared victor.

Bongo, 64, whose family has ruled Gabon for over 55 years, was placed under house arrest and one of his sons arrested for treason, the coup leaders said.

"(Faki) is following with great concern the situation in the Gabonese Republic and strongly condemns the attempted coup d'etat in the country as a way of resolving its current post-electoral crisis," he said in a statement published on the AU website in French.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

France condemned the toppling of Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba on Wednesday which could represent another setback for Paris in Africa where friendly governments have been falling in an "epidemic" of coups

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2023 ) :France condemned the toppling of Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba on Wednesday which could represent another setback for Paris in Africa where friendly governments have been falling in an "epidemic" of coups.

France "condemns the military coup that is under way in Gabon", government spokesman Olivier Veran told reporters in Paris after military officers announced on television that they had overturned the government.

Veran said that France was following events "with a lot of attention" and that it "reiterates its desire to see the results of the election respected," referring to Saturday's disputed presidential polls in the West African country.

Gabon's electoral authority had announced earlier Wednesday that Bongo, a French ally whose family has ruled oil-rich Gabon for 55 years, had won a third term with 64.

27 of the vote.

France has around 400 soldiers permanently deployed in the country for training and military support, including at a base in the capital, and has extensive economic ties to the country in the mining and oil sectors.

The political demise of Bongo -- who has been placed under house arrest along with other top officials, according to the new military regime -- fits a pattern of coups in French-speaking Africa in recent years.

In Mali, Burkino Faso and latterly Niger in the northwest Sahel region, new military governments have taken openly hostile positions towards France, tapping into resentment felt by many locals about the former colonial power and its ongoing influence.
Stokes: Studying Philosophy at USM Changed Me Fundamentally

Wed, 08/30/2023 - 12:01pm | By: David Tisdale

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.  Aristotle

Michael Stokes earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy from USM in May 2019, which he said changed his life fundamentally and prepared him to succeed in law school.

Michael Stokes enrolled at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) as a transfer student in the spring semester of 1997 to pursue a degree in philosophy.

But his head wasnt really in it.

I was not a good student, the Laurel, Mississippi native recounted. I wasnt motivated to study, and I had a couple of bad semesters before I gave up on college.

After dropping out of USM, Stokes held a variety of jobs, including work on oil rigs across the country for several years. But the idea of continuing his education was never far from his mind as he toiled with crews drilling for black gold, thinking more and more as the years passed about finishing his undergraduate degree and then going to law school.

Nearly two decades after his first attempt, he returned to USM in the fall of 2015. He was on academic probation for his first two semesters until he improved his grade point average (GPA), but he pressed forward, earning a bachelors degree in philosophy and graduating with honors in May of 2019.

One thing I was certain about from the beginning was that I wanted to major in philosophy, Stokes said. I liked the idea of struggling with philosophical concepts, even if it would be many years before I came back to USM and actually did so.

Stokes cashed that second-chance check with a vengeance, earning the Outstanding Philosophy Undergraduate award for the 2016-17 academic year and the Forrest Wood Philosophy Scholarship for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 academic years. In further sharp contrast with his previous stint as a USM student, he made the Presidents List with a GPA of 4.0 for eight semesters, from fall of 2015 to spring of 2019.

A cadre of supportive faculty guided Stokes, armed with his newfound attitude about his future, to the finish line and his diploma.

I was very fortunate to study in a small department under professors who were generous with their time, he said. Dr. Sam Bruton mentored me and was instrumental in my academic development. I was able to do independent studies under him and Dr. Michael DeArmey, and those experiences were some of the most valuable of my college career.

Dr. [Paula] Smithka helped me through my capstone project and was always patient with me, and Dr. Amy Slagle remains one of my favorite people at USM.

Stokes cited the works of German philosopher and political theorist Carl Schmitt, whose writings and research centered around the idea of human tribalism, as being of particular interest to him in the discipline.

His work gave me a framework of analysis to apply to our modern, hyper-polarized politics, Stokes explained. I dont believe Schmitt was always correct, but the ideas from his writing helped me better understand politics in the internet age on a more intuitive level. I still read Schmitt and think about his ideas often.

He also studied German extensively at USM under Dr. William Odom, earning him induction into the Tau Psi chapter of Delta Phi Alpha National German Honor Society. He (Dr. Odom) is someone I respect and admire greatly, Stokes said. I think I took more classes under him than anyone else aside from Dr. Bruton, and I loved every one of them.

Tending to legal matters

After graduating from USM, Stokes enrolled at the University of Mississippis Law School, made the Deans list all six semesters and graduated summa cum laude. He earned the Bobby Wood Clinical Programs Award for his work with the George C. Cochran Innocence Project during his final year of law school.

Michael Stokes, left, celebrates with fellow student Ileana Jimenez in 2018 following an awards program at USM during their undergraduate studies in the School of Humanities.

He also received the Outstanding Student Award for the highest grade in Law 707: Incarceration Law in the fall of 2022, served as the Student Bar Associations director of communications, and was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, the nation's oldest, largest, and most selective honor society for all academic disciplines.

The job of a lawyer in our legal system is to advocate for a client by contradicting the opposing side, demonstrating there is another way to view facts and legal principles, Stokes said. The correct answer is the one that best supports the position for which one is advocating. Doing this is a challenging exercise of ones wits, especially when the argument is one that must be made quickly.

And so, studying philosophy at USM helped me understand my academic strengths and weaknesses, but also helped me develop the ability to get to the heart of an issue quickly and identify any areas of weakness or flexibility. This is especially helpful when reading, or drafting, statutes and regulations. I dont know that there is any academic discipline that can prepare someone more effectively for the study of law than philosophy.

Entering law school having a system in place  his USM education  helped Stokes cope with the demands of his coursework. Many people struggle with imposter syndrome in law school, the feeling that you dont belong or that you arent good enough to be there, he noted. I had already faced my inadequacies as an undergraduate student, so I was able to focus on reading and learning the material and not be sidetracked by worries like that.

Studying logic at USM also helped him score high on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and secure grants to help pay his tuition. But more than that, understanding logic and logical fallacies has helped me be a better thinker and a more reasonable person in general, he explained. I think every undergraduate degree program should require a logic class.

Pursuit of true justice through the Innocence Project

Stokes met Tucker Carrington, director of the George C. Cochran Innocence Project at the University of Mississippi School of Law when Carrington came to USM to give a lecture. The project is affiliated with the national Innocence Project, with the goals of freeing innocent, wrongly convicted individuals and advancing more equitable systems of justice across the country to prevent future wrongful convictions.

I was familiar with his work (Carringtons) prior to that, having read his book The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist about Dr. Steven Hayne and Hattiesburg dentist Dr. Michael West, and their work on cases that resulted in wrongful convictions, Stokes said.

That encounter placed his view of legal education in a frame focused on equity, specifically for those maligned with incarceration by the system either through error or, too often, in the cause of expediency. He enthusiastically joined Professor Carrington at the Innocence Project over the summer after his second year of law school, archiving records, and worked in the projects clinic during the fall of 2022. Stokes continued with the initiative this summer, while also assisting Professor Hans Sinha in collecting information about jails, prisons, and inmate deaths in Mississippi for the Mississippi Prison Project website to be launched in the fall.

The [Innocence] project has both a classroom component, studying fundamental criminal law, and a clinical component, Stokes explained. The clinic advocates for incarcerated people who have meritorious claims of innocence. Students in the clinic do the nuts-and-bolts work of screening applications from potential clients, among other tasks. Innocence litigation takes a long time, so the work that students do depends on the needs of the [individual] cases.

Our system favors finality over fairness, unfortunately. When an innocent person is wrongfully convicted, it is very hard to fix. For example, a claim of innocence is not on its own an issue that an appellate court will hear; it must be brought with some other defect in the trial process, such as ineffective assistance of counsel. To litigate innocence cases takes a special kind of person, one who has the stomach for it and the patience to keep going against all odds. Professor Carrington is one such person, and its been a real honor to work with him.

Along with Carrington and Sinha, two other law school faculty members who shaped Stokes legal education included former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Randy Pierce and Rankin County Chancery Court Judge Troy Odom, both USM alums.

Judge Pierce is one of the kindest people I know, and Judge Odom is a great lecturer with an uncommon wit, he said of his former law professors.

Dr. Bruton, who advised Stokes on his undergraduate honors project, described him as every professors dream student.

He was exceptionally hard-working and conscientious, whip smart, wide-ranging in his interests and curiosity, and a joy to work with, Dr. Bruton continued. Im thrilled, but hardly surprised by his success in law school  he worked towards the goal for years, studying day and night for months to ace the LSAT test, for example  and has made the most of his opportunities.

USM alumnus Michael Stokes celebrating graduation from law school with his daughter, Cora.

Michael is also an uncommonly generous person. He was always quick to assist classmates who were struggling with class materials and anyone else in need of help, for that matter. He is motivated by deep and sincere concerns about injustice in the world. I am excited to see where his post-law school pursuits will take him and have no doubt that he will continue to be a credit to USM.

For now, Stokes is keeping his career options open, even considering working in higher education one day, as he now ponders pursuing a Ph.D. - inspired by the example his USM professors set for him - now that his head is in it.

My years at USM studying philosophy changed me fundamentally and gave me tools to do better in life, Stokes said. I doubt any other subject matter could have been more rewarding.

The USM Philosophy and Religion Program is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences School of Humanities.
For anyone ready to improve skills to start or grow a small business, advice and assistance are available from a full roster of business experts during a daylong conference Thursday, Sept. 14.

A Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network conference titled Small Business Skill-Building Workshop - Casper is scheduled 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Best Western Downtown Casper Hotel, located at 123 W. E St. To register, go here. The cost is $49 and includes all workshops, a continental breakfast and buffet lunch.

The Wyoming SBDC Network offers business expertise to help Wyoming residents think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their businesses. 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.

Workshops and presenters for the conference include:

-- Setting and Achieving Realistic Business Goals, presented by Kassandra Vaughn-Worsley, CEO of SK Media LLC.

-- Increase Profits Through Financial Management: Straightforward Cash Flow and Analysis Strategies, presented by Rob Condie, Wyoming SBDC Network regional director for Lincoln, Sublette, Sweetwater and Uinta counties, and a former banking industry professional.

-- Creating Compelling Social Media Messaging, presented by Audie Cunningham, Wyoming SBDC Network regional director for Fremont and Teton counties, and an entrepreneur.

-- Develop Your Greatest Asset: Attract and Retain Quality Staff, presented by P.J. Burns, Wyoming SBDC Network regional director for Campbell, Crook, Johnson, Sheridan and Weston counties. She also chairs the board of the Powder River Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management.

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.
The rock layers surrounding Natrona Countys Alcova Reservoir are not only breathtaking to see; they also are windows to a portion of Earths history.

Stephen Whitaker, a senior petroleum geologist with the University of Wyomings Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute (EORI), has studied that history extensively as part of EORIs mission to provide information to oil and gas producers. In a new publication, he shares insights and observations for members of the public interested in Alcovas fascinating geology.

The new Guidebook to the Geology of Lake Alcova, Natrona County, Wyoming -- which is available online here -- provides a lay audience with photos, graphics, charts and a brief explanation of what the areas geology reveals.

The guidebook provides details on the rock layers visible at Alcova in relation to the history of the North American continent, from Precambrian granite formed around 2.8 billion years ago to sandstone and volcanic ash deposited around 35 million years ago.

Alcova Reservoir offers spectacular views of well-exposed rock outcrops representing a vast expanse of geologic time, Whitaker says. This guidebook is meant to help those touring the lake by boat to appreciate, and perhaps better understand, what the colorful rock layers are indicating about the evolution of this part of Wyoming.

For its part, EORI shares the guidebook as part of its commitment to facilitating technology transfer through publications and oral presentations. The institutes primary mission and focus are to facilitate meaningful, measurable and economically viable solutions to increase recoverable reserves and production of oil and natural gas in Wyoming that otherwise may not be realized.
LUSAKA, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Several people have been injured in tribal violence in Zambezi district in northwestern Zambia, the police said on Tuesday.

Danny Mwale, the police deputy spokesperson, said police received reports of conflicts in which several structures were destroyed and people injured during clashes between the Lunda and Luvale people.

"Police in the area have recorded 25 different cases ranging from assault, malicious damage to property, arson and unlawful wounding," he said in a statement.

The injured are being treated in a local hospital, he noted, adding that more police officers have been dispatched to the area to maintain law and order while no arrests have so far been made. 
"China's changes really are a miracle. And I hope by writing these stories, it will help foreigners and Chinese better appreciate the whole country." A U.S. professor has toured China and recorded the development.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service




Historic rivals Greece and Turkey are stepping up efforts to improve ties after the two countries leaders received strong election mandates this year. Next week, Turkish and Greek foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Turkey, but analysts warn substantial obstacles remain between the neighbors. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
Hate speech is becoming the new norm in Malaysia, says a media organization that monitored online posts during state elections this month.

Based in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) set up teams to monitor social media sites over four weeks.

Focusing on key areas of race, religion, royalty, gender, sexual orientation, and migration, the CIJ teams spent hours poring over activity from politicians, political parties, media outlets, government agencies and key opinion leaders.

Their preliminary findings: Hate speech has become "normalized."

One aspect the researchers saw consistently was offensive or discriminatory language being used, said CIJ Executive Director Wathshlah Naidu.

"That is very worrying because we are now normalizing it, and by normalizing it there is a huge potential for it to escalate," Naidu told VOA.

The month-long monitoring project "Say No To Hate Speech" began on July 24 as six Malaysian states geared up for elections.

The vote was seen as a referendum on newly elected Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the strength of Malaysia's Islamic opposition.

Anwar was appointed prime minister in November's general elections and after a hung parliament formed a unity government.

During that election and others, the CIJ had seen a surge in hate speech and disinformation.

"We saw a pattern in the last few elections, where race and religion is often used as a tool," Naidu said. "What we decided was to see how these different issues basically are used to influence voters to see to what extent does the narrative escalate to hate speech."

Monitoring and measuring

To do that, the center collaborated with the University of Nottingham Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Universiti Sains Malaysia, involving dozens of monitors.

"We got people to come into the office, in shifts of two. All day, 12 hours of monitoring. And we had a team of 26 monitors over the weekdays and then another set of monitors over the weekend that was 20-plus monitors," Naidu said.

The teams measured the severity of hate speech on four levels through social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

The levels ranged from speech defined as disagreements and non-offensive language to language or content that could be deemed as incitement.

The project used artificial intelligence developers to track hundreds of keywords and scrape data. But when it came to defining what constituted hate speech, it fell to the monitors.

"The most important thing they do is they are the ones who take the severity level. That requires a lot of human touch," Naidu explained.

And if the team detected anything of concern, their response would always depend on the level of the issue.

"The purpose of the rapid response is actually not really focused on countering anything but making sure that you're able to reduce the impact," said Naidu. "For example, when we see a racist post coming up, and we see people online who are affected, we reach out to a couple of them to see how they're doing, and then talk to them and try to understand their perspective."

The center established the rapid response system with its partners, including Architects of Diversity, Beyond Borders, Justice for Sisters, KRYSS Network, North South Initiative, Sisters in Islam, Pusat Komas and Persatuan Sahabat Wanita.

The monitors also flagged hate speech incidents with the social media platforms.

With a population of more than 33 million, Malaysia is predominantly Muslim.

It also has a history of political divisiveness, says Niki Cheong, a lecturer in digital culture and society at Kings College in London who researches online disinformation.

"Hate speech is fairly prominent in Malaysian politics ... of course, what qualifies as hate speech is often debated. That's why projects like CIJ's monitoring project is useful because they break down the different types and level of 'severity,'" said Cheong, a former journalist.

"Political rhetoric in Malaysia has a history of being divisive, and this tends to be more pronounced in anticipation of elections, even before any dissolution parliament or state legislature," he told VOA via email.

Addressing hate speech

Naidu said that the center's findings point to a "normalization" of attacks and a lack of accountability.

"People online find some level of anonymity and comfort and being able to say these things with impunity, because very often, they are not necessarily censured by the other followers. So that's our biggest concern."

As the team works through the findings, Naidu also said CIJ plans to share the research with Malaysia's government.

"We've submitted position papers to how can they deal with a speech right away," Naidu said. "There has to be more strategic change at a very practical policy level."

But Cheong has called for more public access.

"It is important that there is historical record of hate speech, especially in the context of democratic practice. And the report will be useful for various groups including the media, civil society and hopefully, politicians themselves," he said.

"It is one thing to get the public interested in why this sort of monitoring is important, it's another to work with them on how they themselves can navigate and perhaps call out or take seriously such practices," he said.
Chinese martial artists perform kung fu in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Aug. 30, 2023. A week-long series of cultural events promoting north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region kicked off here on Wednesday. The culture week aims to deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Mongolia and enhance bilateral traditional friendship, according to the organizers. (Photo by Suriya/Xinhua)

ULAN BATOR, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- A week-long series of cultural events promoting northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region kicked off here on Wednesday.

The "Feel China" culture week, co-organized by the information office of the regional government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, the Chinese embassy in Mongolia, Mongolia's Ministry of Culture and relevant others, aims to deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries and enhance bilateral traditional friendship, according to the organizers.

At the opening ceremony of the culture week, a group of Chinese martial artists put on a show of Chinese Kungfu at the Central Cultural Palace in Ulan Bator, winning applause from the audience.

Other events of the week include cultural and martial art performances, a Chinese song singing contest, free health checkups and free screenings of Chinese movies on Mongolian TVs and at cinemas. 
The South China Sea has seen an increase in military activity in recent weeks.

The U.S. and its allies conducted several joint military exercises near the Philippines. The drills come amid growing regional tension following the latest territorial standoff between China and the Philippines earlier in August.

Analysts say Washington and its allies are showcasing an inter-alliance cohesion through these coordinated activities.

What I think the U.S. would like to do is to send China a message that the alliance is in lockstep with each other, Euan Graham, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told VOA in a phone interview.

Forces from Australia, the Philippines, and the United States conducted a series of military exercises beginning Aug. 21, carrying out mock beach landing and air assault maneuvers in areas near the South China Sea. Its the largest military drill involving Canberra and Manila, which are both critical of Beijings increasingly aggressive posture in the disputed water.

In addition to the trilateral exercises, the Japanese Defense Ministry shared that Japan, Australia, the United States, and the Philippines held joint naval drills on Aug. 24.

Following the joint exercises, military leaders from the four countries held talks in Manila.

In a statement, U.S. 7th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Karl Thomas characterized the joint efforts as a commitment to "maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region while adhering to the Law of the Sea."

U.S.-led deterrence could make China more "confrontational"

After the Philippines accused Chinese coast guard ships of spraying Filipino supply vessels with water cannons in early August, some observers said the U.S.-led efforts to increase its presence in the South China Sea were to uphold the rules-based order.

"These drills are the U.S. and its like-minded partners way of exercising deterrence against China," Eleanor Hughes, a nonresident fellow at the Chicago-based research and policy analysis organization Econvue, told VOA in a Zoom interview.

While Washington and its allies hope to shift China's aggressive behaviors in the South China Sea through deterrence and other means, some defense experts say Beijing may view these moves as an intensification of U.S.-led efforts to contain it.

"I think the U.S. and its partners are trying to shift Chinas behavior for the better, but my concern is how can they do it to the extent in which they wouldnt push China to the corner," Collin Koh, a defense scholar at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, explained to VOA.

He adds that some developments in recent years suggest China could be pushed to adopt a more confrontational approach. As Beijing struggles to address unprecedented domestic political and economic problems, Koh thinks China may adopt what he describes as "a policy of externalization," where authorities try to distract the public from domestic challenges.

"China could undertake more confrontational and more aggressive actions with respect to flashpoints like the South China Sea or even Taiwan," he said. "I dont think thats what the U.S. and its allies want to achieve."

Commenting on the water cannon incident, the commander of the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet Vice Adm. Karl Thomas said on Aug. 27 that China's aggressive behavior in the South China Sea must be challenged and checked.

"There's no better example of aggressive behavior than the activity on 5 August on the shoal," Thomas said. "You have to challenge people I would say operating in a grey zone."

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said U.S. warships have been flexing muscles and sowing discord in the disputed water, which qualifies as "aggressive behavior."

"China Coast Guard takes necessary measures to safeguard China's sovereignty and maritime rights and interests," he said during the daily press briefing on Aug. 28. "This is beyond reproach. The US has no right to interfere."

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, an assertion rejected internationally, and Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan, and the Philippines have various claims to certain areas.

South Korea may look to become more involved in the South China Sea

Apart from efforts to establish deterrence through joint military drills with partners in the South China Sea, some analysts say South Korea, another key U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific region, may be setting its sights on being more involved in Southeast Asia.

"For the most part, Seoul has been quite quiet when it comes to the South China Sea, but in recent times, this seems to have changed," said Singapore-based defense expert Koh. "Following the water cannon incident, the Korean embassy in Manila issued a statement criticizing China. Its quite rare for the Koreans to be so open about it."

While Seouls level of commitment to the South China Sea remains unclear, Koh thinks some signs suggest South Korea may want to be more visible in Southeast Asia, with the South China Sea in mind. "There is a more robust set of alliance relationships that underpin the U.S. approach in the South China Sea against China," he told VOA.

For the most part, analysts think Beijing, Washington, and its allies will continue to keep their activities in the South China Sea "under the threshold of an armed conflict." However, they say Beijing will continue to press its claims over the South China Sea.

"If they dont have success against Manila, they will probably try Vietnam, and if Vietnam pushes back, they might try Malaysia," said Graham from Australian Strategic Policy Institute. "There are many opportunities for Beijing to press its claims. Thats why the most important challenge is to get a cohesive response not just from the U.S. allies but also from Southeast Asian countries.
Millions of children across Ukraine and in seven neighboring asylum countries are being deprived of an education and the skills needed to help Ukraine recover from the devastation caused by Russias invasion of their country, according to the United Nations Childrens Fund, or UNICEF.

Inside Ukraine, attacks on schools have continued unabated, leaving children deeply distressed and without safe spaces to learn, said Regina De Dominicis, UNICEFs regional director for Europe and Central Asia.

Not only has this left Ukraines children struggling to progress in their education, but they are also struggling to retain what they learned when their schools were fully functioning, she said at a Tuesday briefing.

De Dominicis visited Ukraine last week and met several teachers there who she said were injured in an attack on a civilian area in the northern city of Romny.

The attack ripped through a school where teachers were preparing lessons for the new school year. On the same day, a kindergarten in Kherson city was hit in another attack, she said, noting that such attacks are not anomalies.

An assessment by UNICEF and the Ukrainian Ministry of Education reports that Russian attacks have destroyed more than 1,300 schools, and that others are damaged and not ready to open for the academic year, which begins this week.

These senseless and reckless attacks have left many of Ukraines children deeply distressed and without a safe space to learn, De Dominicis said. As a result, children in Ukraine are showing signs of widespread learning loss, including a deterioration in learning outcomes of the Ukrainian language, reading and mathematics.

According to the latest UNICEF survey data, up to 57% of teachers report a deterioration in students Ukrainian language abilities; up to 45% report a reduction in mathematics skills; and up to 52% report a reduction in foreign language abilities.

Another UNICEF survey finds that just one in three schoolchildren in Ukraine are learning in person full time, and that three-quarters of children of preschool age in front-line areas are not attending kindergarten.

This war is layering crisis upon crisis, De Dominicis said. It is leaving children grappling with mental health problems. It is denying millions a chance to be educated.

As for Ukraines refugee children, UNICEF reports that they, too, are missing out on an education, noting that more than half of children from preschool to secondary school age are not enrolled in the national education systems of their host countries.

De Dominicis cited language difficulties as one of the main reasons children do not attend school.

In Poland, in Czech Republic, in Moldova  very often, the family were hoping to go back after a couple of months, she said. So, they prefer to be hooked to the online Ukrainian language system. Unfortunately, we see that they will reside in these countries for longer, because the war is still ongoing. Many of them are facing difficulty in not having teachers to support their children in preparing them to attend classes in their host countries.

De Dominicis said that children are resilient and can learn multiple languages, even at a young age.

So, we hope they will see a richness in actually being included in host country education without losing their right to their culture, to their language, she said.

UNICEF said schools provide far more than a place of learning in times of crisis or war. They can provide a safe space where children can escape violence, make friends and create a sense of normalcy in an otherwise uncertain environment.

The war in Ukraine has become a war on children, De Dominicis said.

When the war ends and the children grow up, they will be essential to the countrys recovery and future. This will require a workforce that is both highly educated and healthy, she said.

Investing in education for Ukraines children, no matter where they reside, is the best investment we can make in the countrys future, De Dominicis said.
Myanmars ruling junta expelled Timor-Lestes charge daffaires  the island nations top diplomat in the country  over Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Hortas contact with Myanmar's government in exile.

In July, Ramos-Horta met in Dili, Timor Lestes capital, with Zin Mar Aung, the shadow National Unity Governments foreign minister.

Myanmars military rulers regard the National Unity Government as a terrorist organization.

Such irresponsible actions of the government of Timor-Leste are not only harming the bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries but also encouraging the terrorist group to further committing their violations in Myanmar, Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on August 27.

That is misleading.

The Peoples Defense Force, a collection of armed groups created or recognized by the National Unity Government, has been accused of bombing government targets and killing members of Myanmar government-aligned forces and alleged government collaborators, among others.

The attacks started after Myanmars military violently suppressed protests against its ouster of the countrys democratically-elected government in a February 2021 coup. The U.N.s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar accused Myanmars military of launching a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population.

No other state has accepted the juntas designation of the National Unity Government as a terrorist group.

The National Unity Government, in turn, designated Myanmars military junta, formally called the State Administrative Council, as a terrorist organization in June 2021, citing its mass killings of civilians and involvement in arbitrary detentions, torture and sexual violence.

According to the U.N.s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the State Administrative Council is not a legitimate government and should not be recognized, or engaged with, as such, arguing it has no democratic or constitutional legitimacy and lacks effective control of the country.

The rapporteur called on U.N. member states to recognize the National Unity Government as the legitimate representatives of the people of Myanmar.

The European Union has recognized the National Unity Government and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw  an exiled legislative body comprised of parliamentarians pushed out of Myanmar during the 2021 coup  as the only legitimate representatives of the democratic wishes of the people of Myanmar.

Analysts and rights groups note that Myanmars junta has long employed a strategy of collective punishment against civilians for their alleged support of armed resistance groups.

They also say the junta has committed war crimes that dwarf in nature and scale the anti-junta forces alleged terrorism.

The militarys strategy is to punish the civilian population for any perceived support of the opposition, Anthony Davis, an analyst for the Janes group of military publications and an expert on Myanmars military, told The New York Times. "Its about burning villages, bombing villages and forcing the civilian population out of villages.

The junta has particularly targeted ethnic minority states in Myanmar that are opposed to military rule.

As the juntas ability to establish control over the country has flagged, it has ratcheted up attacks against civilians.

The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, mandated by the United Nations to collect evidence of the most serious international law violations in the country, reported that between July 2022 and June 2023, Myanmars military and affiliated militia groups engaged in three types of war crimes with increasing frequency and brazenness.

Those crimes were the indiscriminate or disproportionate bombing of civilians, killings of civilians or combatants detained during operations, and the large-scale and intentional burning of civilian dwellings and other civilian buildings.

In July, Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said his office had recorded a 33% increase in indiscriminate airstrikes in the first half of 2023 year-on-year, with rising attacks on civilian targets, including villages, schools, hospitals and places of worship.

According to the U.N., Russia supplied and maintained jets and helicopters used in those attacks.

My Office also continues to document repeated violations of the most brutal forms: sexual violence, mass killings, extra-judicial executions, beheadings, dismemberments, and mutilations, Turk said.

The New York Times reported on July 31 that the juntas brutality against civilians was escalating.

For example, on April 11, Myanmars military dropped what Human Rights Watch identified as a thermobaric munition on the village of Pa Zi Gyi in central Myanmars Sagaing Region.

The military claimed it had killed terrorists from the Peoples Defense Force.

The Washington Post, however, found that at least 25 children were among the 157 people killed.

Sagaing, Myanmars historical heartland, has been the site of repeated massacres by junta forces.

Junta forces and affiliated militias have also disproportionately targeted Sagaing with arson attacks.

Data for Myanmar (D4M), an independent organization that has compiled data on arson attacks, reported in August that, since the February 2021 coup, junta forces had torched nearly 75,000 homes in six regions and seven states.

Sagaing region accounted for 77% of all the homes torched.

The National Unity Government has accused the junta of killing at least 1,595 civilians in 144 mass killings between February 2021 and July 2023.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), run by Myanmar citizens in exile, said on August 28 that 4,009 people had been killed in the post-coup crackdown.
Human Rights Watchs Tara Sepehri Far on Iran increasing harassment of families of slain anti-government protesters ahead of first anniversary of Mahsa Amini protests. Darian Dalili on his phone call with U.S. Special Envoy for Iran to appeal for help in securing release of his U.S. resident father Shahab Dalili from prison in Iran. TankerTrackers.com co-founder Sam Madani on why Irans oil exports have surged this month despite U.S. sanctions.
Powerful Hurricane Idalia slammed into the southeastern U.S. on Wednesday, flooding Gulf of Mexico coastal cities in the state of Florida before its winds weakened over land and it moved rapidly northeast toward the neighboring state of Georgia.

Authorities reported at least two people were killed in car crashes related to the storm and more than 250,000 people were left without electricity.

Storm surges pushed the coastal surf to nearly 2 meters higher than normal at Cedar Key, near where Idalia made landfall, but the hurricane came ashore at low tide, minimizing an even worse surge of floodwater.

Still, Idalia tied with an 1896 hurricane as the strongest ever to hit Floridas Big Bend area, where the peninsular state curves to meet its panhandle region to the west.

The storm, as it tracked northward in the early hours Wednesday, flooded many coastal areas along Floridas western shoreline. It packed 195-kph winds when it came ashore, but by afternoon winds had diminished to 150 kph.

Forecasters said a large swath of the region could get 10 to 20 centimeters of rain, and isolated areas up to 30 centimeters.

Hurricane-force winds extended 35 kilometers outward from the center of the storm, the National Hurricane Center said, and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 370 kilometers.

Although Idalia will weaken further while the center is inland, it is still expected to be a hurricane through [Wednesday afternoon or evening] while moving across southeastern Georgia and southern South Carolina, the hurricane center said. Idalia is forecast to be a tropical storm while moving near the coasts of northeastern South Carolina and North Carolina [Wednesday night] and on Thursday.

Authorities ordered mandatory evacuations in eight Florida counties in the storms path, with people in 14 other counties encouraged to leave.

In preparation for rescue and repair efforts, about 5,500 National Guard troops were activated, and more than 30,000 utility workers stood by ahead of the storms arrival.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
The apparent military coup in Gabon Wednesday is raising concern about the future of countries in the Central African economic bloc CEMAC, which has some of the world's longest serving leaders.

Several dozen youths, a majority of them students from the University of Yaounde, watch attentively as soldiers declare on Gabonese TV that the military, united in a transitional committee, is putting an end to the leadership of President Ali Bongo.

The 64-year-old Bongo has ruled Gabon, an oil-producing nation, since succeeding his father Omar Bongo, who died in 2009 after 42 years in power.

Gabon held elections on August 26 with Ali Bongo running for re-election. But contested results indicate 69-year-old Albert Ondo Ossa, a former minister and university professor, won the poll. Ondo said Ali Bongo wanted to steal his victory.



Anong Jacob, a secondary school teacher in Yaounde, says post-election confusion in Gabon has given the military an opportunity to seize power, claiming that they want freedom for civilians, just like the militaries of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.

"It is a shared feeling with those in Niger who are thinking at the moment that the time is now or never. They have all the resources, gold, diamond, timber and all of that, but we don't have any of the industries or factories that can process these materials, all are transported to the West and we have little or nothing to benefit from it," he said.

Gabon is a member of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CEMAC, an economic bloc that has some of the worlds longest serving leaders.



Eighty-one-year-old President Teodora Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea won elections for a sixth term in 2022. Obiang came to power in a 1979 military coup and is the world's longest-serving head of state.

In the Republic of Congo, 80-year-old Denis Sassou Nguesso has been president for all but five of the last 44 years.

And in Cameroon, 90-year-old Paul Biya has been the president for 41 years, since 1982.

Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera hasnt been around as long but recently extended the presidential term from five to seven years and did away with the two-term limit for presidents. The C.A.R. opposition says Touadera created a life presidency for himself.

Langeh Ngah Derick, lecturer at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, says these leaders desire to hang onto power is causing systematic problems and widespread frustration.



"Something has to be done especially in French tropical Africa, ex-French colonies, particularly where egoistic interest frustrates most of the youths," he said. "You come out from the university, policies do not favor your integration into the system and to help build your nation especially in some of these Francophone African countries."



Ngah said if the opposition in French-speaking central African countries remains fragmented and leaders keep their strong grip on power, the trend of militaries taking power  as happened in Gabon Wednesday  may spread even further.
India said on Tuesday that it had lodged a "strong protest" with China a day after Beijing released the 2023 edition of its standard map showing Aksai Chin  an area of Kashmir mostly controlled by China  and the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh within Chinese territory.

The map was released Monday on the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources standard map service website, just days after the two nations agreed to work to ease tensions at their disputed border.

The map also includes Taiwan and the South China Sea as Chinese territory.

On Tuesday evening, India's Ministry of External Affairs announced it had contacted its Chinese counterpart to object.

"We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 'standard map' of China that lays claim to India's territory," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

Just last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met at a BRICS summit in South Africa and agreed to "intensify efforts" to reduce tensions along the border. Both countries announced the agreement as a major step toward improved relations.

The release of the map also comes ahead of the multinational G20 or Group of 20 nations' summit, which is being hosted by India in New Delhi on Sept. 9 and 10 and is scheduled to be attended by Xi and other global leaders.

Manish Tewari, a member of parliament from the opposition Congress party, said Tuesday that the Modi government should seriously consider whether to host Xi at the summit.

Ill-defined border

Nuclear-armed India and China lay competing claims to vast swathes of territory along their ill-defined border  called the Line of Actual Control or LAC  which runs for more than 3,500 kilometers from Ladakh in the northwest to Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast.

The border, running through remote, rugged and snow-covered Himalayan ranges, was never clearly demarcated by India's former British colonial rulers. After independence in 1947, India and China failed to agree on a common frontier, and the border dispute has continued.

The dispute escalated into a full-fledged war in 1962 when, according to India, China occupied 38,000 square kilometers of Aksai Chin. India still claims the China-occupied region as part of its Ladakh territory while China insists that Aksai Chin was long part of the ancient Chinese empire.

China claims that India occupies some 90,000 square kilometers of its territory in India's northeast, including Arunachal Pradesh, which it views as southern Tibet. But New Delhi, which controls Arunachal Pradesh, insists it is part of India.

In April, China issued a statement declaring that it had "standardized" the names of 11 places in the region, also called "Zangnan" by China. India rejected the Chinese claim and MEA's Bagchi asserted: "Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral part of India."

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in April at a regular news briefing in Beijing that the southern Tibet region was indeed a part of Chinese territory.

Dialogues fail to resolve dispute

Diplomatic ties between the two nations have remained frosty since their soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat in the Himalayan region of Ladakh in 2020. India reported 20 of its soldiers had been killed, and China later acknowledged the deaths of four Chinese soldiers.

Since then, the countries have held more than a dozen diplomatic and military-level dialogues trying to resolve the border dispute but with limited success.

On Tuesday, spokesperson Bagchi said that China's claims to Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh have "no basis" and that steps like the release of the map "only complicate the resolution of the boundary question."

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told Indian television channel NDTV that claiming parts of Indian territory was an "old habit" of China.

"These [territories] are very much part of India. This government is very clear [about] what our territories are. Making absurd claims doesn't make others' territories yours," he said.

Congress leader Tewari said that China must end its occupation of Indian territory.

"Today, the real issue between India and China is that they have transgressed along the Line of Actual Control at multiple points on a theater level. Analysts believe that the Chinese are currently in occupation of 2,000 square kilometersof Indian territory. This is the territory that the [Indian] government needs to get vacated," Tewari said.

"Under those circumstances, the government should seriously introspect  though the G20 is a multinational forum  whether it would be in accordance with India's self-respect to be feting a person in Delhi, Xi Jinping, who is in illegal occupation of 2,000 square kilometers of Indian territory."
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The United States announces new aid package for Ukraine. Extreme weather across the globe as a massive wildfire in Greece burns for anYeleventh day and Florida prepares for dangerous hurricane. Technology experts work on ways artificial intelligence can help with real-world problems.
The trial has begun in Iran of the lawyer for Mahsa Amini, the young Iranian Kurdish woman whose death last September triggered a widespread protest movement, a media report said Wednesday.

Saleh Nikbakht is charged with "propaganda against the system," the daily Etemad reported.

The first hearing "was on Tuesday and he was notified of the charge of propaganda activity against the regime for having spoken to foreign and local media, concerning the Mahsa Amini affair in particular," it said.

Nikbakht's trial begins nearly a year after the death in custody last September 16 of 22-year-old Amini, after she was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic's strict dress rules for women.

If convicted, he faces a prison term of between one and three years.

Etemad reported that Nikbakht's lawyer urged his acquittal, saying that in interviews he "only criticized the running of the country by the authorities."

At the end of September 2022, Nikbakht indicated that the Amini family had filed a complaint against the police officers who had arrested her.

Dozens of police officers were among the hundreds of people killed during the Amini protests, which Tehran labeled riots fomented by foreign governments.

Authorities made thousands of arrests among protesters and their supporters.

Nikbakht, who comes from the western Kurdistan province, has represented several Iranian personalities during his lengthy career, including acclaimed film director Jafar Panahi.
Christian Glass was a geology geek, a painter and a young man beset by a mental health crisis when he called 911 for help getting his car unstuck in a Colorado mountain town last year.

When sheriff's deputies arrived, he refused to get out of the car after saying that supernatural beings were after him, body camera video shows. The officers shouted, threatened and coaxed. Glass made heart shapes with his hands and prayed: "Dear Lord, please, don't let them break the window."

They did, and the 22-year-old grabbed a small knife. Then he was hit with bean bag rounds, stun gun charges and, ultimately, bullets that killed him and led to a murder charge against one deputy and a criminally negligent homicide charge against another.

As part of a $19 million settlement this spring with Glass' parents, Colorado's Clear Creek County this month joined a growing roster of U.S. communities that respond to nonviolent mental health crises with clinicians and EMTs or paramedics, instead of police.

The initiatives have spread rapidly in recent years, particularly among the nation's biggest cities.

Data gathered by The Associated Press show at least 14 of the 20 most populous U.S. cities are hosting or starting such programs, sometimes called civilian, alternative or non-police response teams. They span from New York and Los Angeles to Columbus, Ohio, and Houston, and boast annual budgets that together topped $123 million as of June, AP found. Funding sources vary.

"If someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, law enforcement is not what they need," said Tamara Lynn of the National De-Escalation Training Center, a private group that trains police to handle such situations.

There's no aggregate, comprehensive data yet on the programs' effects. Their scope varies considerably. So does their public reception.

In Denver, just an hour's drive from where Glass was killed, a program called STAR answered 5,700 calls last year and is often cited as a national model. Its funding has totaled $7 million since 2021.

In New York, a more than $40 million-a-year program dubbed B-HEARD answered about 3,500 calls last year, and mental health advocates criticize it as anemic.

Representatives from some other cities were frank about challenges  staffing shortages, acclimating 911 dispatchers to sending out unarmed civilians, and more  at a conference in Washington, D.C., this spring.

Still, officials in places including New York see no-police teams as an important shift in how they address people in crisis.

"We really think that every single B-HEARD response is just a better way that we, the city, are providing care to people," said Laquisha Grant of the New York Mayor's Office of Community Mental Health.

Federal data is incomplete, but various studies and statistics show that mentally ill people make up a substantial proportion of those killed by police. Often, the dead are people of color, though Glass was not.

Calls for change

The alternative approach dates back decades but gained new impetus from calls for wide-ranging police reform after the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. There also were specific pleas for better responses to psychiatric crisis after such tragedies as the death of Daniel Prude that year in Rochester, New York. Prude was just out of a psychiatric hospital and running naked through snowy streets when he was suffocated by police who had been called to help him. He was Black, as was Floyd.

Reports of mental distress made up about 1% of police calls in a 2022 study involving nine police agencies; there's no nationwide statistic. A long-established civilian response program in Eugene, Oregon, says it diverts 3% to 8% of calls from police. The Vera Institute of Justice, a police reform advocacy group, suggests alternative teams could handle 19% if homelessness, intoxication and some other troubles were included.

In Denver, STAR teams arrive in vans stuffed with everything from medical gear to blankets to Cheez-Its. In one recent instance, they spent three hours  more time than police could likely have spent  with a Denver newcomer who was living on the streets. The team helped him get a Colorado ID voucher, groceries, and medications and took him to a shelter.

"It's really about meeting the needs of the community and making sure we are sending the right experts, so we can actually solve the problem," says Carleigh Sailon, a former STAR manager who now works elsewhere.

STAR responded to 44% of calls deemed eligible last year, said Evan Thompkins, a STAR program specialist.

A Stanford University study found that petty crime reports fell by a third and violent crime stayed steady in areas that STAR served in its earliest phase. Throughout the program's three years, police have never been called for backup due to safety concerns but have helped direct traffic, Thompkins said.

Identifying callers' needs

Some observers wonder if safety worries will grow as non-police programs do. While there's an appeal to the idea of pulling cops out of psychiatric crisis calls, "the challenge is identifying those calls," said Stephen Eide, a senior fellow specializing in mental health issues at the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank.

In New York, dispatchers must gauge the potentially life-or-death risk of "imminent harm" while deciphering sometimes frantic 911 calls that often come from bystanders or relatives, not the person in crisis.

Officials say B-HEARD answered 53% of eligible calls in the last six months of 2022, the most recent data available. But that was 16% of all mental health crisis calls within the program's limited territory.

Combined, staffers citywide answered about 2% of the 171,000 such calls throughout last year.

"Very unimpressive," says Ruth Lowenkron, an attorney involved in a federal lawsuit that seeks changes in B-HEARD.

Grant says the city is exploring whether more calls could qualify. Meanwhile, officials note that B-HEARD's social workers and EMTs resolve about half of calls by talking to people or taking them to social service or community health centers, rather than the hospitals where armed officers have traditionally brought people in crisis. Plans call for extending B-HEARD citywide.

Grant credits the program with "providing people with more options and letting people know that they can stay safely in their homes, in their communities, with the connection to the right resources."
The company is also entering into two deals to modernize its communications infrastructure for $222 million, Azernews reports, citing Kun.uz news agency.

Uzbektelecom is attracting a new foreign loan for a large amount, it follows from the data of the Unified Portal of Corporate Information.

The loan is provided by Deutsche Bank to increase the liquidity of the state-owned telecom operator and replenish its working capital. The corresponding decision was approved at the meeting of shareholders of the company, held on August 16.
HONG KONG, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Wednesday signed a comprehensive avoidance of double taxation agreement (CDTA) with Bangladesh, a move conducive to economic and trade development for both sides.

The CDTA is the 47th agreement that Hong Kong has concluded, signifying the HKSAR government's sustained efforts in expanding Hong Kong's CDTA network. It sets out the allocation of taxing rights between the two jurisdictions and will help investors better assess their potential tax liabilities from cross-border economic activities.

Under the Hong Kong-Bangladesh CDTA, Hong Kong companies can enjoy double taxation relief in that any tax paid in Bangladesh, whether directly or by deduction, in accordance with the CDTA, will be allowed as a credit against the tax payable in Hong Kong in respect of the same income, subject to the provisions of the tax laws of Hong Kong.

Moreover, the Hong Kong-Bangladesh CDTA also provides the following tax relief arrangements: Bangladesh's withholding tax rates for Hong Kong residents on dividends will be capped at 10 percent or 15 percent (depending on the percentage of their shareholdings); and on interest, royalties and fees for technical services will be capped at 10 percent; and Hong Kong residents deriving profits from international shipping transport in Bangladesh will enjoy 50 percent tax reduction in Bangladesh in respect of the profits subject to tax there.

Christopher Hui, secretary for financial services and the treasury of the HKSAR government, said that this CDTA will further promote economic and trade ties between Hong Kong and Bangladesh, and offer additional incentives for the business sectors of both sides to do business or make investment.

This CDTA will come into force after the completion of ratification procedures by both jurisdictions. 
Gay rights activists in Nigeria are criticizing the arrest and detention this week of dozens of people who attended a same-sex wedding. It is one of the biggest mass arrests in recent years targeting the countrys LGBTQ community.

A Nigerian police spokesperson said 67 people remained in custody on charges they broke the law by attending the same-sex wedding in the Delta state town of Ekpan.

The Delta state police said they received information about Mondays wedding after officers on routine patrol Sunday randomly stopped one of the invited guests and interrogated him. It was not clear if he was stopped based on what he was wearing.

The police raided the wedding venue on Monday and rounded up the two grooms, along with guests.

Authorities also paraded the defendants before the media and said the accused will be made to face the law.

"We already have the remand warrant from the court to still have them in custody because we still have more evidence to bring up together, Bright Edafe, the Delta state police spokesman, told VOA by phone, but by the end of this week, they'll be charged to court."

Edafe said police recovered materials, including hard drugs and gay marriage ceremonial dresses, during the raid.

If convicted, the defendants face 14 years imprisonment, according to an anti-homosexuality law that went into effect in 2014. Police said others accused in the case will be jailed for 10 years if convicted.

The latest arrests come five years after police raided a hotel in Lagos and arrested 57 men for homosexuality.

But criticism has been growing following the latest incident. Rights group Amnesty International condemned the arrests in a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and asked authorities to "put an immediate end to this witch-hunt."

The group said that the arrests discriminated based on perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, and that Nigeria's law was being increasingly used by officers to harass, blackmail and extort victims.

"Basic rights of privacy, freedom of association has been rolled back, and it's worrying because you don't see public pushback against this, said Kayode Somtochukwu Ani, founder of Queer Union for Economic and Social Transformation. And because these human rights abuses are launched on minorities, particularly minorities  the state knows that they can drum up moral panic about [it]."

Edafe said he disagrees with activists defending the detainees.

"If Amnesty International knows what they're doing, they'll know that there's a law in this country that prohibits gay marriages, so calling the same government who put that law in place to take action, I wonder what kind of action they're requesting, he said. This is Nigeria, and whomever must live in this country must live by the laws of the land."

Homosexuality is widely viewed as a Western import in many parts of Africa, including Nigeria.

In May, Uganda passed a law that punishes homosexuality by imposing the death sentence, despite pressure from Western governments and rights organizations. Two men this week were charged under the new law for what authorities called "aggravated homosexuality."
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People across Pakistan are hailing local zipline expert and volunteer rescuer Sahib Khan for saving school children trapped in a cable car over a ravine in the mountainous Allai valley region of northern Pakistan. Over generations, Sahib Khan's family has built a reputation as lifesavers. Ihsan Muhammad Khan reports from Pakistan
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Gotion Inc. is the US subsidiary of a Chinese EV battery maker. It plans to build a plant on a parcel of farmland in Michigan. But thats dividing local residents. VOA's Carolyn Calla Yu reports from Green Charter Township, Michigan. Camera: Songlin Zhang, Contributor: Bo Gu
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Allegations of crimes against humanity continue to surface from Western Darfur. In one refugee camp, on Chad's border with Sudan, VOA spoke to widows who claim ethnic militias are targeting men for ethnic cleansing. (Camera and Produced by: Henry Wilkins)
The recent killing of three Black people in Jacksonville, Florida, has drawn attention to a grim reality that researchers have long documented: Black Americans are the most frequent victims of racially motivated hate crimes in the United States.

A new report released Tuesday confirms the trend, showing that Black people were the targets of more than one-fifth of all hate crimes reported in major U.S. cities last year, the highest share of any group.

The report, based on police data analyzed by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University San Bernardino, found that hate crimes targeting Black people fell by an average of 6% last year, after surging in the previous two years.

But the trend was not uniform across the country, and many cities and states reported their worst numbers ever.

Out of 42 cities surveyed by the center, more than half showed an increase in anti-Black hate crimes, with some reaching historic highs. New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, Texas, and Sacramento, California, all set modern records.

Five states  Colorado, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Utah  also broke their records for anti-Black hate crimes, while incidents in California and New York state  both with large Black populations  surged by more than 20%, according to the report.

Historically, African Americans have been the most frequent victims of hate crimes in the U.S., and that did not change last year.

The report found they were the targets of 22% of all hate crimes in 2022, the highest share of any group. In 2021, the share was as high as 31%.

Jews came in second last year, with 16% of all hate incidents, followed by gay men, with 12%, and white people, with 8.5%, according to the report.

Overall, hate crimes reported to police in the 42 U.S. cities rose 10% in 2022. That's on top of a nationwide increase of nearly 31% seen in 2021.

Frequent targets of hate crime

The report comes just days after a white gunman killed two Black men and a Black woman at a Florida variety store in a hate-fueled rampage.

The 21-year-old shooter, who took his own life after the killings, left behind a racist screed in which he expressed hatred for Black people. One firearm he used in the attack had swastikas drawn on it.

"Blacks remain the most frequent target not only for these extremist killers but have been the most frequent target for overall hate crime for every year since data has been collected, right up through our partial 2023 totals," said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and the lead author of the report.

The FBI, which has been collecting hate crime data since 1991, said it was investigating the Jacksonville shooting as an anti-Black hate crime.

"From everything we know now, this was a targeted attack  a hate crime that was racially motivated," FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday during a call with civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials.

The shooting was not the first of its kind in Jacksonville this year.

In May, three white men were charged in connection with the shooting death of a 39-year-old Black man in downtown Jacksonville.

'Replacement' theory

Levin said the vast majority of racially motivated homicides over the past five years have been carried out by white supremacists and right-wing ideologues.

The cycle is being repeated this year, he said.

"We expect this killing cycle to continue, especially as we enter a volatile election season," Levin said. "These atrocities are often carried out by angry young adult males who make recent weapon acquisitions, act within their home state, and who reference the 'replacement' doctrine statements of previous killers."

The replacement theory, which asserts that non-white immigrants are being brought into the U.S. to "replace" white people, inspired a white gunman to shoot and kill 10 Black people in May 2022 at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

While the total number of extremist-motivated homicides fell last year, the figures "ignore the numerous plots and thwarted attacks which unfortunately could have driven the death count substantially higher," Levin said.

He attributed the surge in hate crimes to several factors, including the proliferation of online and political rhetoric that promotes bigotry, stereotypes and conspiracy theories.

"The ubiquity and seepage of hateful rhetoric of various depths now in the mainstream of sociopolitical discourse demonizes whole groups of people and creates a deep well," Levin said.
A journalist who defied Iran's strict dress code and was freed on bail this month has been rearrested for not wearing the headscarf in public, a news agency reported Wednesday.

"Nazila Maroufian has been arrested for wearing inappropriate clothing in public places, and for publishing these photographs on social media," the Tasnim agency reported.

Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, women in Iran have been required to wear scarves to hide their hair in public. But over the past year, more and more women have been appearing bareheaded in major cities.

Maroufian last year interviewed the father of Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, 22, whose death in police custody last September for allegedly violating the dress code sparked months of protests.

In the interview, Amjad Amini accused authorities of lying about the circumstances of his daughter's death.

Iranian authorities have indicated she died because of a health problem, contesting accusations from the family and activists who have said she suffered a blow to the head while in custody.

Maroufian was released on bail on August 13 from Tehran's Evin prison after spending more than a month behind bars.

She had again posted on social media a photo of herself without a headscarf, in defiance of the dress code.

Maroufian, a Tehran-based journalist from Amini's hometown of Saqez in Kurdistan province, was first arrested in November 2022.

She was later released but in January said she had been sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for five years, on charges of propagandizing against the system and spreading false news.

On Wednesday, the daily Etemad newspaper reported the trial had begun for Amini's lawyer Saleh Nikbakht, who was charged with spreading "propaganda against the system."

Nikbakht's trial and Maroufian's rearrest came just days ahead of the first anniversary of Amini's death on September 16.
Ukraine launched a wave of drone attacks on Russia early Wednesday, likely Kyivs most extensive assault on Russian soil since the 18-month conflict between the two countries began.

The Ukrainian drones were aimed at six Russian regions, with one of them hitting an airport near Russias border with Estonia and Latvia. That drone ignited a huge blaze and damaged four Il-76 military transport planes, which can carry heavy machinery and troops, the Russian news agency Tass reported, quoting emergency officials.

The nighttime drone attacks lasted more than four hours, officials said, although no injuries were reported. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, but Kyiv rarely takes responsibility for attacks inside Russia.

Meanwhile, Moscows forces hit Kyiv with drones and missiles during the night with what Ukrainian officials described as a massive, combined attack that killed two people with falling debris.

Sergei Popko, the head of Kyivs military administration, described Russias attack on the Ukrainian capital as the biggest since the spring, even as Ukraines air defenses shot down more than 20 drones and missiles.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that the falling debris caused fires and damage in several districts.

Ukraine has recently stepped up its attacks inside Russia, even as it has pursued a counteroffensive against Russian strongholds in eastern and southern Ukraine.

The airport in the Pskov region of Russia, about 700 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, was the hardest hit in the overnight drone attacks Wednesday. All flights to and from the airport were canceled for the day so damage could be assessed.

The Ukrainian drones also targeted the Oryol region, about 400 kilometers south of Moscow, as well as Ryazan and Kaluga, which are both 200 kilometers south of the Russian capital, and Bryansk, which borders Ukraine. Russia said it shot down some of the drones.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military would undoubtedly analyze "how this was done in order to take appropriate measures to prevent these situations in the future."

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine was relying on foreign help because the drones "simply would not be able to fly such a distance without carefully researched information from Western satellites."

The Russian military said its forces repelled an attack by a sea drone near Sevastopol, the port city in the annexed Crimean Peninsula that is the base of Russias Black Sea fleet.

In an unspecified part of the Black Sea, Russia also said Wednesday it destroyed four Ukrainian military boats that were carrying Ukrainian troops.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said military operations against al-Shabab will not stop until final victory is achieved.

He was speaking Tuesday, a day after government troops retreated from several towns following a deadly al-Shabab attack on soldiers in Cowsweyne village on Saturday.

"Whether one battlefield is lost or someone spreads misinformation, the fight is going to continue. It will not stop, we are not turning back from where we are," he said. "We will achieve the final victory that we seek. The importance is achieving a final victory. A final victory is near."

He praised government soldiers who dislodged the militants from vast areas since the offensive was launched last year, and paid tribute to those soldiers and local fighters who participated in the operations.

"Al-Shabab today is weaker, smaller in number," he said. "We are more experienced, more in number, better equipped, more encouraged, and we have a victory which the enemy lacks. Victory is in our grasp."

Mohamud denied al-Shabab's claim that 178 soldiers were killed in the Cowsweyne attack. Instead, he said that al-Shabab lost the most and buried their dead in mass graves.

"The correct information about Cowsweyne has to be this conclusion  that the number of soldiers al-Shabab claimed to have killed is false," he said, explaining that the group lost 190 fighters and buried them in mass graves.

"They have finished off their own wounded, [because] they don't have hospitals, they don't have medication for them," he said. "The army will reach those mass graves and investigate them."

Casualty claims by both sides have not been independently verified. Al-Shabab claims 'historic victory'

The al-Shabab militant group claimed the attack on Cowsweyne was a "historic victory."

As a result of the attack, government forces retreated from four towns that al-Shabab claimed to have recaptured on Tuesday.

The former president of Somalia, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, called for an investigation into how military operations at the Cowsweyne frontline were managed. He urged the parliamentary subcommittee for defense to investigate the attack.

Mohamud in his remarks promised to correct "mistakes" and vowed accountability.

"It's time to reward heroes among the soldiers; and to hold those abusing their responsibilities, committed treason or undermining the army accountable," he said.

He promised that any mistakes made by a soldier, an officer, or anybody else would be corrected. Al-Shabab official surrenders

Meanwhile, the Somali government on Tuesday displayed a mid-level al-Shabab official who surrendered to government forces near the town of Wisil in Mudug region.

The minister of interior, federal affairs and reconciliation, Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, identified the official as Nur Abdullahi Maalinguur, also known as Nur Deeq.

Fiqi said Nur Deeq was the commander of al-Shabab militias in the Mudug area and was involved in heavy battles in the region.

Nur Deeq also used to make threatening phone calls to the business communities, traditional elders and other community members, Fiqi said.

Somali intelligence agencies said al-Shabab commanders call businesses and other community members to demand donations, extortions and other contributions to their fight.
Hokule'a, a traditional Polynesian deep-sea canoe, is on a four-year-long voyage around the Pacific Ocean to raise awareness about climate change. During its stop in the U.S. state of Washington, local Native American tribes welcomed members of the crew. Natasha Mozgovaya has the story from Seattle. (Camera: Natasha Mozgovaya; Produced by: Natasha Mozgovaya, Jason Godman)
Two Ugandan males have become the first people who may face the death penalty under Ugandas new anti-homosexuality law.

Prosecutors accuse Julius Byaruhanga in the eastern district of Jinja of performing a sexual act with a boy aged 12.

Another man, 20-year-old Michael Opolot allegedly performed an unlawful act of sexual intercourse with a 41-year-old male in the eastern city of Soroti.

Justine Balya, a lawyer from the group Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum, is defending Opolot. She said her client was reportedly seen engaging in a sexual act in a public space with a person who has a disability.

Opolot now faces a possible death sentence if convicted under the anti-homosexuality law that took effect in June.

Having the death penalty on the books, that changes significantly the protections that one is entitled to while they are waiting for trial," Bayla said. "And it certainly makes trial remand a punishment in and of itself.

Because the case involves a capital offense, Opolot will probably have to wait between three and four years for his case to be heard.

Balya said several other cases involving alleged homosexuality are waiting to go to trial in Ugandan courts.

We also have a case of a lady who has been charged with promotion of homosexuality and homosexuality because of what they allege people were doing at a massage parlor that she owns. And of course, theres a host of other cases that are not in court but where people have been charged formally with homosexuality, promotion of homosexuality, even child grooming in one case.

Frank Mugisha, a lawyer and activist, said these cases are textbook examples of a witch hunt for lesbian, gay and transgender people.

Those people have not identified themselves as LGBTQ," Mugisha said. "But the fact that theres an assumption that they were engaging in same-sex acts. And then they are saying one person is living with disability. Which automatically the prosecution will have to prefer the death penalty under aggravated homosexuality. Its exactly as activists what weve been saying that this law can be wrongly interpreted.

Uganda last hanged a convict in 1999 and in 2005 formally scrapped the death penalty.

But the anti-homosexuality law reintroduced the death penalty for the offense of aggravated homosexuality, a move that gay rights activists have strongly criticized and are challenging in the courts.

During the passing of the law, government authorities argued that they were protecting the moral values and principles of the Ugandan society against what they termed corrupt Western values.

Meanwhile, journalists and media houses in Uganda say they fear heavy fines or the loss of their registration if they are somehow found guilty of promoting homosexuality, a term critics say has been vaguely explained in the law.
DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities on Wednesday announced a new crackdown on illegal firearms, demanding those owning the arms illegally should voluntarily surrender them to the police within two months from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31.

Home Affairs Minister Hamad Masauni said in a statement that owners of illegal firearms who fail to surrender them voluntarily during the said period will be prosecuted.

The statement said the police will launch a crackdown after Oct. 31, adding that those found in possession of the firearms will face the full force of the law.

Regional commissioners and district commissioners who are chairpersons of defense and security committees should coordinate the voluntary surrendering of the weapons, said the statement.

According to the statement, illegal firearms pose a threat to the security of civilians as some of them are used in armed robberies.

In November 2022, the police destroyed 6,208 firearms that were surrendered by citizens who owned them illegally. The firearms, including pistols, rifles, shotguns, and sub-machine guns, were surrendered in a crackdown from Sept. 5 to Oct. 31, 2022. 
Intensifying clashes between U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and one of its local affiliates in eastern Syria have left at least 28 people dead, according to local news reports.

The violence in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour erupted Monday after the SDF launched a campaign to target what it called criminal elements, a reference to some leaders within the Deir al-Zour Military Council, the SDFs local affiliate.

The clashes have spread to several towns and villages in the restive province, where the Islamic State terror group ruled from 2014 until 2019, when the SDF, supported by a U.S.-led global coalition, ousted the militants.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has researchers on the ground, said the fighting in Deir al-Zour has killed more than 28 people and wounded many others.

Siyamend Ali, a media officer with the Peoples Protection Units, a main group within the SDF, told VOA that the dead include five SDF fighters.

The campaign aims at reinforcing security in Deir al-Zour because the province has been experiencing a growing level of instability, and unfortunately, there are some elements of the local military council that contribute to that instability, he said.

The SDF said in a statement Wednesday that it had removed the commander of Deir al-Zour Military Council, Ahmed al-Khubail, better known as Abu Khawla, from his post.

The SDF said Abu Khawla, along with four other leaders from the local council, were dismissed over their involvement in multiple crimes and violations such as drug trafficking and mismanaging of the security situation.

The U.S.-backed group said that Abu Khawla was in communication and coordination with external entities hostile to the revolution, a tacit reference to the Syrian government and Iranian-backed militias.

The SDF is a Kurdish-led alliance that has been a major U.S. partner in the fight against IS militants. The group and its local affiliates are now in control of much of the territory that IS once controlled.

But the negative role of local military leaders has allowed IS remnants to step up their terror activity in the Arab-majority province, according to the SDF.

There are currently 900 U.S. troops in the region as part of a global coalition to assist and advise the SDF in its counter-IS operations, according to U.S. military officials.

The U.S.-led coalition against IS has not commented on the developments in Deir al-Zour.

Experts say that if the fighting between two U.S.-backed forces is not contained, IS and other elements in the region could take advantage of the situation.

IS cells, the Syrian regime, Iran-backed militias will immediately benefit from the ensuing security chaos, said Omar Abu Layla, director of Deir Ezzor 24, a news and research network focused on eastern Syria.

He told VOA that the United States and other members of the anti-IS coalition need to intervene not only to stop the current fighting but also to find a long-term solution to the power dynamics in eastern Syria.

They need to bring and support legitimate local leaders who are not corrupt and who understand the tribal dynamics of this part of Syria, said Abu Layla. Otherwise, worse scenarios could emerge when it is too late.

This story originated in VOAs Kurdish Service.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo wrapped up a four-day visit to China on Wednesday in the latest move by U.S. President Joe Bidens administration to stabilize commercial and trade links between the worlds two largest economies.

In public remarks Wednesday, Raimondo said that she is hopeful about holding regular and direct talks with Chinese officials, but that she is very clear-eyed and does not expect every issue with Beijing will be resolved overnight.

Earlier in her visit, she said American companies have told her that Chinas unlevel playing field and unpredictable regulatory environment with steep penalties have made the country uninvestible.

Raimondo said the two sides planned to hold meetings with technical experts to talk about disputes over protecting trade secrets as well as sharing information about export controls.

We are not returning to the days when we had dialogue for dialogues sake, but shutting down communication and de-coupling services is neither in our economic or national security goals, Raimondo told reporters during a phone briefing.

While the United States and China maintain more than $700 billion in annual trade, escalating tensions in recent years have made it more challenging for U.S. firms to operate in China.

I did mention that my own emails had been hacked, she said, and I mentioned that as an example of an action that erodes trust at a time that we are trying to stabilize the relationship and increase channels of communication.

U.S. officials have said Washington is not seeking a de-coupling with the Beijing government, but focusing on de-risking. Biden signed an executive order earlier this month to restrict U.S. investments in some sensitive and high-tech industries in China, including in semiconductors, microelectronics, quantum computing and certain artificial intelligence capabilities.

In Beijing, Chinese officials said the United States was engaging in "de-coupling" under the guise of "de-risking." Chinas Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Aug. 10 that the U.S. decision seriously disrupts the security of global industrial and supply chains.

The two countries have traded other restrictions in recent months.

In May, Chinas Cyberspace Administration banned its corporations from buying memory chips from U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc., as the U.S. works with its allies to ensure that advanced semiconductor manufacturing stays out of the reach of the Chinese industry.

In March, Chinese officials closed the Beijing offices of the U.S. due diligence company Mintz Group and detained five of its employees, accusing the firm of doing unapproved statistical work. With 18 offices worldwide, Mintz Group specializes in background checking, fact gathering and internal investigations.

Raimondo visited Shanghai Disneyland and a Boeing facility, as well as New York University's campus in Shanghai on Wednesday, after meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Tuesday. She held meetings with Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao on Monday.

Although Raimondo agreed to launch an information exchange on export control enforcement and a new working group on commercial issues, Congressional critics are skeptical about Washingtons ability to work constructively with Beijing.

Congressman Michael McCaul, a Republican who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, accused the Biden administration of being at best naive in starting a working group with China.

McCaul said it is a dangerous move because the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, steals U.S. intellectual property and hacks the emails of senior government officials, including Secretary Raimondo. The administration must stop treating the CCP as anything other than an adversary who will stop at nothing to harm our national security and spread its malign authoritarianism around the globe.

Raimondo's visit follows recent trips by other senior U.S. officials, including CIA Director Bill Burns in May and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June, as well as separate trips by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and U.S. Special Envoy on Climate John Kerry in July.
President Joe Biden met with Costa Ricas leader Tuesday to talk about concerns near and far, including the toll that irregular migration is taking on the small Central American nation and the challenges posed by Chinas increased global ambitions, which rely on semiconductors.

Biden was quick to praise the relationship the U.S. and Costa Rica have built in the past year.

"Just over a year ago in California, we stood together with partners across the region for the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection," Biden said from the Oval Office, where he met with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves on Tuesday afternoon. "You've done an incredible job since then, been a great partner."

Chaves echoed the warm sentiments.

"Costa Rica has been, and shall remain, one of the strongest allies in the world regarding your economic and security interests that are ours," he said.

The White House says the two nations align ideologically as well.

"Costa Rica has been a regional leader," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "They are a strong democracy with a thriving economy and leading by example on migration management."

The leaders had serious issues to discuss, like the challenges posed by a flood of migrants streaming through Costa Rica en route to the U.S. Earlier in the year, Chaves said his nation needed help.

"What we have to do is to ask countries like the United States to help us to fulfill what we want: to be good international citizens, good citizens of the world, a country that continues to be generous, but the costs are becoming immense," he said. "Let there be clearer signals in the United States."

And analysts say the small coastal nation  famed for its beaches and biodiversity  also has a role to play in countering Chinas economic ambitions.

A program funded by Biden's 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to counter China, is looking to Costa Rica as a partner in the manufacture of semiconductors: the chips so small they measure in nanometers but that power machines that can fly to the moon.

"Recently, the United States announced that Costa Rica would receive funds from the so-called ITSI Fund, which is part of the CHIPS and Science Act, to help it build out some parts of its semiconductor supply chains," said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He noted that Costa Rica is not new to the industry.

"Intel, specifically, has an operation in Costa Rica," he said. So we're not trying to build something from scratch. There is a foundation there to build on. And I think much of the proof will be in the pudding of the actual training programs themselves, whether Costa Rica can build out the human capital to attract more spending in that space."
The United States is providing up to $250 million in additional military aid for Ukraine in a package that includes more rockets for HIMARS and AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles that can be used to defend Ukrainian skies. This is the first time the U.S. has provided Ukraine with Sidewinders, which can be used for short range, air-to-air attacks. The aid also includes mine-clearing equipment and anti-tank weapons such as TOW missiles and shoulder-fired Javelins.

The latest aid package marks the 45th authorized presidential drawdown of military equipment from Defense Department inventories since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Once again, long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems known as ATACMS were not included in the package, drawing criticism from analysts such as retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, who served as the commanding general for U.S. Army forces in Europe from 2014 to 2017.

"Unfortunately, the Ukrainians are going to continue to suffer a lot of casualties because we, the West, have not provided capabilities that they need," Hodges told VOA on Tuesday. "And I'm talking specifically about long-range precision weapons."

Moscow began a renewed offensive in Ukraine earlier this year that has stalled.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has characterized the current counteroffensive against Russian forces as slow but steady, with Ukrainian forces inserting reserve troops and breaking through some elements of Russian forces' southeastern defensive lines this month.

"Ukraine continues to get after it and fight," Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder told VOA in a briefing at the Pentagon last Thursday. "They are making some progress along the front line, but it's going to be tough."
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Wednesday that a referendum on enshrining Indigenous rights in the constitution will be held on Oct. 14.

The referendum calls for the creation of a "Voice to Parliament," a committee that will advise lawmakers on laws that affect its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people.

Indigenous Australians make up more than 3% of the countrys nearly 26 million population, but are not mentioned in the constitution despite inhabiting the continent for over 60,000 years.

They were marginalized by British colonial rulers and not granted voting rights until the 1960s, and continue to track below national averages on most socio-economic measures.

"Voting 'no' closes the door on this opportunity to move forward," Albanese said in his speech announcing the referendum date in the city of Adelaide. "Dont close the door on the next generation of Indigenous Australians."

Public support for the referendum has declined since the measure passed overwhelmingly in the Australian Senate in June amid heated debate. Opponents say the referendum will divide Australians along racial lines.

The referendum will need to be approved by both a majority of the national vote and a majority of Australias six states. The last constitutional referendum passed in 1977.

Phil Mercer in Sydney contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
Washington is following events in Libreville very, very closely, the White House said Wednesday, hours after military officers in the West African nation of Gabon seized power from the family that has ruled the nation for more than half a century.

The White House also defended U.S. commitments to Africa after being asked whether a wave of coups in the region was a sign that Washington has taken its eye off the resource-rich, volatile continent.

It all kind of unfolded overnight, said John Kirby, director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, during a virtual briefing with reporters.

Gabons longtime President Ali Bongo Ondimba released a video confirming his house arrest, just hours after he was confirmed the winner of a recent election that observers said was marred by irregularities.

He took office after the death of his father in 2009 and weathered a coup attempt in 2019. The Bongo family has led the former French colony continuously since 1967 and has been accused by rights groups of becoming fabulously wealthy in a nation that is rich in resources, but where average citizens struggle to survive amid high unemployment.

It's deeply concerning to us, Kirby said of the events. We will remain a supporter of the people in the region, supporting the people of Gabon and their demand for democratic governance, of course. But we're going to also stay focused on continuing to work with our African partners and ... all the people on the continent to address challenges and to support democracy. So, again, we're watching this closely.

Since 2020, military officers have toppled regimes in Sudan, Mali, Chad, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger.

'Contagion effect'

Analyst Vanda Felbab-Brown of the Brookings Institution said Wednesday that the events illustrated the contagion effect in full swing, and she described the power seizure as another big blow to the United States, France and the Economic Community of West African States.

She added: Each additional one, any single one is harder to reverse as focus & resources of [international] democracy supporters [are] divided.

Kirby said the White House was not ready to reach the same conclusions.

I think its just too soon to do a table slap here and say, Yep, we got a trend here going, or, Yep, there's going to be a domino effect, he said.

On the Africa in Transition blog maintained by the Council on Foreign Relations, analyst Ebenezer Obadare pointed to a worrying trend in the region.

The gangsta militariat (more gangsta than militariat) is the logical outcome of the African militarys involvement in politics, insofar as the latter has resulted in the militarization of politics, the politicization of the military, and subsequently the de-professionalization of the armed forces, he wrote.

Kirby also batted away claims that Washington is not invested in the continent.

I don't think any measured consideration of the president's foreign policy goals over the last two and a half years would lead anybody to conclude that we're walking away from Africa or that we haven't been paying attention to it, he said.

We are very focused on the continent on many different levels, including investment in infrastructure and economic development, again announcing millions and millions of dollars to help bolster African infrastructure and investment, and that's on top of all the security cooperation that we have with African partners.

At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the world body was trying to gather facts before acting. Gabon currently holds a seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Until we know what exactly is happening on the ground, we wont take any actions, she said. But let me just say clearly: We condemn any efforts by militaries to take power by force.

VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden is set to visit Vietnam on Sept. 10 following his summit with G20 leaders in New Delhi, India.

"As the United States looks to deepen our ties with the region, Vietnam is a key partner in doing that," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told VOA during her briefing for reporters on Tuesday.

Biden is skipping two key regional meetings that Jakarta is hosting just days earlier: the U.S.-ASEAN summit and the East Asia Summit, which brings the ASEAN countries together with partners including the United States, China and Russia. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend those meetings in his place.

Indonesia is this year's chair of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the group's country coordinator of U.S.-ASEAN relations. Diplomatic sources who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations told VOA that Jakarta had taken steps to align ASEAN's meeting calendar with Biden's travel to India in the hopes of securing his attendance.

U.S. officials insist the decision to skip is not a sign of disrespect for Jakarta.

"The president actually was in Indonesia less than a year ago for the G20 and for a substantial bilateral program with [President] Joko Widodo," national security adviser Jake Sullivan told VOA in a recent press briefing.

Still, a visit by an American president signals the strategic value Washington attaches to a country and the level to which it wants to elevate bilateral ties.

Both Vietnam and Indonesia are key players in the U.S.-led bid to counter China in the region, so why is Biden is favoring one over the other?

Vietnam agreeing to upgrade ties with US

While Indonesia has been a U.S. strategic partner since 2015, Hanoi only now appears ready to upgrade ties after 10 years of comprehensive partnership.

Diplomatic sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly told VOA that to buffer against Chinese aggression over their maritime disputes in the South China Sea, Vietnam is willing to go even further  straight to comprehensive strategic partnership. This would put Washington at the same level with four other countries  China, Russia, India and South Korea

Harris offered to upgrade relations when she visited Hanoi in August 2021, but Vietnam had been hesitant to accept, mainly due to concerns of potential backlash from China.

The upgraded partnership would bolster Vietnam's efforts to develop its high-technology sector in areas including semiconductor production and artificial intelligence  both key industries in the U.S.-China strategic rivalry.

Beijing more assertive in South China Sea

Despite being ideologically aligned, Vietnam's relationship with China has been undercut by maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Beijing says it has sovereignty over almost all the waters, overlapping claims by Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

As Beijing grows more assertive, Hanoi is protecting its territorial rights by diversifying diplomatic partnerships and strengthening capabilities. It's planning its own military buildup in the waters after satellite images showed China reportedly building a runway on a disputed island.

Biden spelled out the reason for the visit during a campaign reception earlier this month.

"They want relationships because they want China to know that they're not alone," he said.

Washington is happy to oblige. In the past few years, under its Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy, the administration has supported Vietnam's maritime security and monitoring capabilities by providing two former U.S. Coast Guard cutters  the most significant major defense transfer between the two countries.

Jakarta drifting to Beijing?

Constitutionally, Indonesia is bound by its "independent and active" foreign policy, under which it seeks to play a role in regional affairs but avoid great power rivalries. But under its "4 + 1 priorities" doctrine for the 2019-2024 period, the country places "economic diplomacy" above all other foreign policy goals.

Because of his national development agenda, Widodo is pragmatic in his engagement with Beijing and is inviting more Chinese investment, said Yeremia Lalisang, who teaches Chinese foreign policy at the University of Indonesia.

"This is all happening at the expense of Indonesia's traditionally close engagement with the United States," he told VOA.

The region in general has expressed a growing preference to align with Washington rather than Beijing, according to the latest survey by the ASEAN Studies Centre at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. However, Indonesians were among the outliers, together with citizens of Malaysia and Brunei.

When forced to choose, more Indonesians believe ASEAN should choose Beijing over Washington. The percentage of Indonesians choosing the U.S. fell from 64.3% in 2021 to 46.3% in 2023, while those choosing China rose from 35.7% to 53.7%.

The "biggest homework" for the Widodo government is finding balance between the superpowers, said Rangga Aditya Elias, head of the international relations department at Binus University in Indonesia.

"Otherwise, Jakarta to some extent will become a second-tier partner compared to Vietnam," he told VOA.

One way for Jakarta to maintain balance is to look to Washington to provide arms. Last week, Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto met his American counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in Washington. The pair announced their mutual intention to increase Indonesia's defense capabilities.

Not much ASEAN progress

Under Jakarta's chairmanship there has not been much progress on ASEAN's two key regional security issues  human rights atrocities in Myanmar since its 2021 military coup and South China Sea disputes, said Idil Syawfi, director of the Parahyangan Centre for International Studies at Parahyangan Catholic University, Indonesia.

As chair, Indonesia is focused on economic growth and not investing much on geopolitical and security issues, Syawfi told VOA. So, for Biden, "There's nothing to do in Indonesia in September."

Compared to its chairmanship at the 2022 G20, observers say Jakarta is spending considerably fewer diplomatic resources on ASEAN this year, partly because it's domestically focused on its 2024 presidential elections. While Widodo cannot run for a third term, he is consolidating his legacy as a champion of infrastructure projects, including the massive move of the Indonesian capital from crowded Java to Borneo.

Anita Powell, Thuc Pham (Vietnamese Service) and Nova Poerwadi (Indonesian Service) contributed to this report.
Army officers in the central African nation of Gabon said they seized power Wednesday and have placed President Ali Bongo under house arrest.

The officers announced the coup on national television just moments after the nations election commission declared that Bongo had won a third term in Saturdays general elections.

The officers said that the election results were invalidated, all state institutions dissolved and all borders closed until further notice.

We have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime, one of the officers said.

It was not immediately clear who led the coup attempt. However, video on state television showed a man in fatigues being carried by soldiers shouting, "Oligui president," a possible reference to Brice Oligui Nguema, the head of Gabon's Republican Guard.

Bongo later appeared in a video calling on friends of Gabon to make some noise to support him. The 64-year-old president, seated in a chair, said he was at his residence and that his wife and son were in other places.

French government spokesman Olivier Veran said France condemned the coup and restated its commitment to free and transparent elections.

But crowds that poured into the streets of the capital, Libreville, celebrated the news of the presidents removal, with several demonstrators saying they were glad the Bongo family was out of power.

Bongo first took office in 2009 after the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who had ruled the oil-producing country for the previous 42 years.

Opponents say the family has failed to share the countrys oil and mining wealth with its 2.3 million people.

Gunfire was heard throughout Libreville after the officers initial television appearance. The U.S. Embassy has advised Americans in the capital to shelter in place and limit unnecessary movements.

Flights out of Libreville have been canceled, and the citys port has halted operations.

Saturdays elections were overshadowed by a lack of international observers, raising concerns about transparency.

Afterward, Bongos government curtailed internet service and imposed a nightly curfew across the nation, saying it was necessary to prevent the spread of misinformation.

Internet access seemed to be at least partially restored after the coup announcement.

The declared coup comes on the heels of last months military overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger, the latest in a series of coups across West and Central Africa since 2020. Bongo survived an attempted military takeover in January 2019 as he was recovering from a stroke.

Some information for this report came from Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has condemned the abduction and torture of an opposition activist, Nelson Mukwenha, who was seized by suspected state security agents in Harare on Saturday.

In a statement to mark International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the lawyers group strongly condemned his abduction

While the prohibition of enforced disappearances and torture should be absolute under all circumstances, it is disconcerting that in Zimbabwe, this core principle continues to be undermined as on the eve of commemorations to mark International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the family of Nelson Mukwenha, a Harare resident, was struggling to ascertain the whereabouts of a family member, after he was forcibly abducted and disappeared on Saturday 26 August 2023 by about four unidentified men from his residence in Highfield high-density suburb and bundled into a Toyota Hilux vehicle with no registration number plates.

The lawyers group said Mukwenha was located Monday after he was severely tortured and dumped as some place in Mashonaland West province and had to be hospitalized after his horrendous ordeal.

It said almost 50 people were abducted by unknown assailants in Zimbabwe in 2019 and none has been arrested in connection with the incidents.

The group added that while in Section 53, the Constitution of Zimbabwe expressly outlaws torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the lack of legislation that criminalises abductions and enforced disappearances has created a gap in domestic law and has fuelled impunity.

This buttresses the urgent need for Zimbabwean authorities to create a legal framework to prevent the commission of this grave human rights violation, including providing redress for victims and survivors and implementing real and practical measures to hold perpetrators accountable and provide access to justice to victims and their families.

Reacting to reports that Mukwenha was allegedly abducted by state security agents, Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson, Paul Nyathi, dismissed the suggestions, noting that its far from the truth as they are no known abductions of government opponents in the country.
Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairperson of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), delivers a speech at the 2023 annual CCICED meeting in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 30, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also chairperson of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), delivered a speech at the 2023 annual CCICED meeting on Wednesday.

Ding, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the Chinese government will support the CCICED's development and support it in playing a bigger role, as always.

Ding said he hopes attendees will strengthen research and exchanges, provide suggestions on promoting China's environment and development, and contribute more wisdom and strength to building a clean and beautiful world.

Themed "Green Empowerment and High-Quality Development," the meeting attracted about 500 attendees from home and abroad, and focused on biodiversity conservation, climate change, green Silk Road construction and green finance innovation. 
Emily the Criminal. Photo: Roadside Attractions/Vertical Entertainment

This article is regularly updated as movies enter and leave Netflix. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.

Every week, as big-budget and star-studded productions like The Gray Man and Heart of Stone get pushed to the homepage by Netflix, dozens of smaller, quality films get buried by the algorithm. How do you find the movies lost in the streaming machine? Were here to help with this rotating list of 20 hidden-gem films on the streaming giant that you probably havent seen. None of these films have ever won Best Picture at the Oscars. And they probably didnt play theatrically in almost any city other than New York or Los Angeles, becoming easy to miss in the increasingly crowded streaming landscape. Whatever the case, theres not a bad movie in here. Watch them all. (And dont skip our list of the best movies on Netflix overall, either.)

6 Balloons

Year: 2018

Runtime: 1h 15m

Director: Marja Lewis Ryan

Dave Franco isnt the first actor that people think of for an addiction drama, but hes excellent in 6 Balloons as Seth, a young man who has relapsed into his addiction and only his sister Katie, played excellently by Abbi Jacobson of Broad City fame, can pull him out of his latest spiral. After premiering at SXSW in March 2018, this character piece was quickly shoved down the list of new releases on Netflix almost as soon as it came out. But its a strong drama about family, addiction, and the ties that both pull us down and save our lives.

6 Balloons

Blue Jay

Year: 2016

Runtime: 1h 20m

Director: Alex Lehmann

Another tender character study that hasnt gotten the attention it deserves just happens to contain one of the best career performances of the award-winning Sarah Paulson. Ryan Murphys BFF stars as Amanda, who runs into her old high-school boyfriend Jim (excellently sketched by Mark Duplass) when he happens to be home selling his late mothers house. Duplass and Paulson have excellent chemistry, completely believable as a long-ago couple wondering if they may have let their perfect match go.

Blue Jay

Christine

Year: 2016

Runtime: 1h 59m

Director: Antonio Campos

The director of The Devil All the Time and Maxs The Staircase helmed this unforgettable showcase for one of the best actresses of her generation: Rebecca Hall. The consistently great performer plays Christine Chubbuck, who became the first person to ever die by suicide on live television, the unforgettable act taking place during a news broadcast in Florida in 1974. Hall embodies a woman emotionally torn apart by the world around her until she feels like she has no other choice. Its one of the best performances of the 2010s.

Christine

*Copenhagen

Year: 2014

Runtime: 1h 38m

Director: Mark Raso

Barely released in theaters, this indie film made its premiere at the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival, the low-budget cousin of Sundance that takes place at the same time. Its a smart character study, the story of a man-child named William (Gethin Anthony) who meets a girl named Effy (Frederikke Dahl Hansen). Theyre both at very different crossroads in their life, but its one of those meetings that sends their lives off in new directions. Copenhagen may be talky, but its undeniably engaging.

Copenhagen

*Descendant

Year: 2022

Runtime: 1h 49m

Director: Margaret Brown

History isnt really history in this excellent documentary that graced the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Its the story of Africatown in Alabama, a community near Mobile that was founded by a group of West Africans brought to this country on the last slave ship, the Clotilda. As wreckage of the ship is excavated from the Mobile River, it brings with it ghosts that haunt this region to this day. A sharp dissection of this countrys racial wounds, its a timely, powerful piece of work.

Descendant

*Disobedience

Year: 2017

Runtime: 1h 54m

Director: Sebastian Lelio

The director of the Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman co-wrote and directed this adaptation of Naomi Aldermans 2006 novel of the same name. Its a platform for a pair of fantastic performances from Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams. Weisz plays a woman who returns to her Orthodox Jewish community, where she falls in love with a woman named Esti, played with nuance by McAdams. Its partially a commentary on acceptance but also a film that feels true to its characters, and a reminder that the Rachels always deliver.

Disobedience

*Emily the Criminal

Year: 2022

Runtime: 1h 36m

Director: John Patton Ford

Aubrey Plaza did her best film work to date in this 2022 thriller that did kinda pop when it dropped on Netflix but still deserves a bigger audience. The White Lotus star plays Emily, a victim of the gig economy who finds an unusual job working a credit scam in Los Angeles. As she gets closer to physical danger, Emily almost seems to get stronger. Fords film is both a tense thriller and a commentary on what people have to do to survive the brutal, unforgiving economy of the 2020s.

Emily the Criminal

*Heavy

Year: 1995

Runtime: 1h 44m

Director: James Mangold

Long before he made blockbusters like Logan and Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny, James Mangold made his directorial debut with this tender character study that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It centers a fantastic performance from Pruitt Taylor Vince as an overweight cook who struggles through life. He sees hope in the form of a new waitress (Liv Tyler) at the bar owned by his mother (Shelley Winters).

Heavy

His House

Year: 2020

Runtime: 1h 33m

Director: Remi Weekes

The pandemic likely pushed this film too far down the Netflix algorithm. Its one of the best horror movies of the 2020s so far, the story of a refugee couple who discover that its not places that are haunted but people. Wunmi Mosaku of Lovecraft Country and Sope Dirisu of Gangs of London play a Sudanese couple trying to adjust to life in England, but there is something malevolent not only in their new home but carried with them from their old one.

His House

*Im Thinking of Ending Things

Year: 2020

Runtime: 2h 14m

Director: Charlie Kaufman

The writer of Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind proved a perfect fit for the adaptation of 2016 surreal thriller of the same name by Iain Reid. Jessie Buckley rocks as a woman who goes with her boyfriend (Jesse Plemons) to meet his parents for the first time, played by Toni Collette and David Thewlis. Or does she? Could she not even exist? As Kaufmans film gets more and more surreal, it becomes increasingly rewarding, a study of identity, loss, and regret wrapped up in a rivetingly made film.

Im Thinking of Ending Things

The Kindergarten Teacher

Year: 2018

Runtime: 1h 37m

Director: Sara Colangelo

Maggie Gyllenhaal does the best film work of her underrated career in this remake of the 2014 Israeli film of the same name. She plays Lisa Spinelli, an average Staten Island kindergarten teacher who becomes convinced that one of her students is a master poet. What would you do if you thought you had stumbled onto a true artistic prodigy? What boundaries would you cross? This is a challenging, fascinating character study.

The Kindergarten Teacher

*Living

Year: 2022

Runtime: 1h 42m

Director: Oliver Hermanus

Bill Nighy earned his first Oscar nomination for this moving drama, but it still feels like hardly anyone has seen this movie. Cinephiles may have avoided it because its a remake of an undeniable masterpiece, Akira Kurosawas Ikiru. While remaking classics generally leads to disaster, Oliver Hermanuss approach here is moving and confident. It helps to have a nuanced script by the great Kazuo Ishiguro, who also landed an Oscar nod for this tale of a bureaucrat who learns how to live when hes told hes going to die.

Living

Mr. Roosevelt

Year: 2017

Runtime: 1h 31m

Director: Noel Wells

One of the featured players on Saturday Night Live in the 2010s, Noel Wells released this one-woman show in 2017. She wrote, directed, and stars as Emily Martin, a young woman who comes home to deal with her dead cat and finds herself forced to deal with some of the people she left behind. Its a smart semi-rom-com that also allows itself to be a little silly. We just wish Wells would make another film soon.

Mr. Roosevelt

*The Mustang

Year: 2019

Runtime: 1h 36m

Director: Laure de Clermont-Tonnere

Matthias Schoenaerts stars in this drama about an inmate who finds himself through a program built around training wild horses. Yes, the metaphor is a bit overdone, but Schoenaertss grounded performance anchors the melodrama, ably assisted by Jason Mitchell, Gideon Adlon, Connie Britton, and Bruce Dern in supporting roles. Its also based on an actual program that unites convicts and horses in Nevada.

The Mustang

Outside In

Year: 2018

Runtime: 1h 49m

Director: Lynn Shelton

The fantastic Lynn Shelton left us way too early in 2020, but it feels like her filmography can still be discovered by thousands of viewers. This is possibly her most underrated drama, a 2017 film about two people who form a very unlikely and uncertain bond. Jay Duplass plays a man released from prison after serving two decades behind bars for murder. He decides to find one of the final supportive people in his life, his high-school teacher, played perfectly by Edie Falco.

Outside In

*Prayers for the Stolen

Year: 2021

Runtime: 1h 50m

Director: Tatiana Huezo

Life is deadly, especially for young women in many small villages in Mexico, especially near the border. Tatiana Juezos excellent drama tells the tale of girls in San Miguel, Jalisco, and what they are forced to do to avoid being kidnapped by the drug cartel and sold into the human-trafficking network. Their mothers hide them in holes in the ground and cut their hair to make them look more like boys. Its a shattering piece of dramatic work, a blend of nonfiction storytelling and melodrama thats unforgettable.

Prayers for the Stolen

Private Life

Year: 2018

Runtime: 2h 4m

Director: Tamara Jenkins

Pregnancy isnt easy for everyone. In fact, there are thousands of couples who struggle with the painful and expensive fertility process, as captured in this stellar drama that should have landed its stars Paul Giamatti and especially Kathryn Hahn Oscar nominations. They play Richard and Rachel, an NYC couple who are trying so hard to have a baby that it becomes a landscape-shifting factor in their relationship. This is smart, empathetic filmmaking that you really should see.

Private Life

*To Leslie

Year: 2022

Runtime: 1h 59m

Director: Michael Morris

One of the most shocking Oscar nominations of all time for Andrea Riseborough likely led thousands more people to this film than would have otherwise seen it, but it still feels underseen enough to qualify for this list. Ignore the controversy and just admire Riseboroughs genuine, lived-in performance as Leslie, a woman who won the lottery and then lost everything to alcoholism. There are some cliches, but they all fall away under the truthful gaze of Riseboroughs performance.

To Leslie

*We the Animals

Year: 2018

Runtime: 1h 33m

Director: Jeremiah Zagar

Zagar adapted Justin Torress acclaimed novel of the same name into this dreamlike coming-of-age feature about a group of brothers growing up in the wilderness of upstate New York. A challenging examination of family, sexuality, maturity, and violence, We the Animals was shot on 16-mm. film, giving it an added layer of truth. And yet Zagar also blends a poets eye with the truth, which makes his film feel like memory as much as reality  the kind of memory that shapes us for decades to come.

We the Animals

*The Wonder

Year: 2022

Runtime: 1h 49m

Director: Sebastian Lelio

What would you do if you suspected an actual miracle might be happening? What if the alternate explanation is even more horrifying? Florence Pugh is excellent as an English nurse who is asked to study a young woman who claims to be surviving without sustenance. Is she being used by her parents and the community? Or could she be a real wonder? This is a powerful period piece that didnt get enough attention when it dropped in late 2022.

The Wonder
Justified: City Primeval The Question Season 1 Episode 8 Editors Rating 4 stars * * * *  Previous Next  Previous Episode Next Episode  Photo: Chuck Hodes/FX/Photographer: Chuck Hodes

Who is Raylan Givens now? Justified: City Primeval has spent time trying to answer that, and the finale, The Question, ends with a seemingly definitive take as we see the man in the hat turn in his badge and his gun. He has been doing this for a couple of decades, killing and saving and lawman-ing, and City Primeval declares that its finally the Detroit case and the Oklahoma Wildman who tip Raylan into the person he doesnt want to be. Hes no longer that guy, the one who would do something ethically murky and think nothing of it; hes no longer an end-justifies-the-means person. Hes now Tommy Lee Jones in No Country for Old Men, exhausted and weary. Remember Ed Tom Bells speech: The crime you see now, its hard to even take its measure. Its not that Im afraid of it; I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But I dont want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I dont understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard.

So let me ask you another question: Do you buy this for Raylan? Take into account Clement and Carolyn, Judge Guy and the Detroit Police Department, Willa and the Albanians, Sandy and Sweety. Based on City Primevals writing of Raylan, these characters, and this case, can you accept this conclusion for Harlans most conflicted son? I keep going back and forth on this because I honestly dont think what happens in Detroit, or even how Clement is killed, is special or unique enough to warrant this kind of reaction from Raylan. We saw him go through worse and do worse in the original Justified run, and I remain unconvinced of this being his turning point.

Especially in this episodes final act, City Primeval skimps a bit in clarifying if Raylan is repelled/ashamed of his own actions and what they say about his old nature peeking through or disgusted by/disinterested in facing other criminals as reckless and as ruthless as Clement. Of course, it could be both, and maybe City Primeval doesnt come down hard one way or another because it wants to nod at Raylans previous experiences and how they could have affected him now. I will give the show the benefit of the doubt there because I am a benevolent recapper. And regardless of that noncommittal writing, Timothy Olyphant is so good that he sells Raylans disquiet and fatigue, whatever their cause. The look on his face when he gets that breaking-news alert about Boyds escape (yes, thats me you heard screaming) and the immediate call from the Marshals office? Raylans dumbfoundedness and maybe, just maybe, eagerness were excellently modulated by Olyphant, and if that had been the starting point of City Primeval, man, we would have been cooking with gas. (Or with  coal? That they dug together? Im sorry, Im sorry!)

Lets rewind and discuss The Question chronologically because there are a number of story lines to get through before were tempted with a Raylan-Boyd reunion. We pick up where the penultimate episode, The Smoking Gun, left off with Raylan and Clement being transported by Toma and his Albanian crew  to Skenders apartment and panic room, where Carolyn is waiting. Not only was she serious about no longer being Clements lawyer, but she has made a deal with Toma: Theyre going to lock Clement up in the room where he shattered Skenders leg, and theyre never going to let him out. And Raylan, sick and tired of Clements shit, helps lower the door to the soundproof panic room, where Clement will starve and die. This is vengeance for Skender and Sweety, and the worlds better off, Carolyn says.

While Clement is destroying things in the panic room and showing his first real sign of, well, panic, Carolyn and Raylan are both making moves, the former by visiting Michigans lieutenant governor and making the case for why she should get Judge Guys seat (because shes not dirtier than the Playboy Mansion Jacuzzi) and the latter by joining the DPDs Wendell and Bryl to take on Maureen. But Maureen turns out to be just as petulant as Clement, essentially throwing a temper tantrum in the meeting with Internal Affairs and laughing at how her comrades have nothing on her except for some scribblings in some bullshit book. Kudos to City Primeval for letting women be awful too  a win for feminism, I guess!  but Maureens meltdown here just raised more questions for me, especially because The Question doesnt clarify what happens to her, to Judge Guys book, or to the corruption plaguing the DPD. Maybe I missed it, but in our flash-forward, Raylans time in Detroit is described as only a big pile of shit. Would it have been fulfilling to get a little full-circle conclusion here? Probably!

Instead, The Question spends its middle portion with Clement, described by Bryl in his best moment as this jerk-off, Jack Whitewannabe asshole. Although Clement was surely going to die in that makeshift cell, Skender gets his masculinity and honor all in a twist and decides to kill his attacker, a choice that leaves him beaten to death and Clement free from captivity. When Raylan comes to the panic room to let Clement out  because his own moral code, to Carolyns Goddamn it, Raylan, wouldnt allow him to let Clement die like that  he comes across Skenders body and realizes that Clement is now going to hunt down Carolyn, Toma, and him. Raylan calls Carolyn in time to get her out of the house, but theres no such luck for the Albanians, many of whom (including Toma) get massacred by Clement in the Venus. And then its time for our long-awaited Clement and Raylan confrontation, which is  fine?

Look, I agree that Clements awful music needed to stop being spread through this world; Raylan arguably did a civic duty by shooting him before Clement could play that cassette. And City Primeval has spent a good amount of time showing us how much Raylan cares about Carolyn, so coupled with the grudge he already had against Clement for manipulating Willa, I believe that his literal trigger would pop off. But there was something about this scene that buried the importance of this moment  maybe Raylan and Clement should have chatted more? Maybe Clements music-career desire never felt that serious? Maybe the pacing was off or Carolyns return to her home in time to see Clement die felt too tidy? Either way, Clement leaves this world asking Raylan, Whatd you kill me for?, and that query weighs on Raylan six weeks later when hes back in Miami and attending the retirement party of his former boss, Marshal Dan Grant (Matt Craven). Grant knows theres something different about Raylan after Detroit, but what he takes as a newfound maturity that would benefit Raylan as chief is belied by Raylan turning in his gear. Hes quitting the Marshals Service, and he doesnt tell Dan, Carolyn, Willa, or his ex-wife, Winona (Natalie Zea), why.

If you couldnt do it for me, Im glad you could do it for her, Winona says to Raylan, but is he really doing this for Willa? Theyll get more father-daughter bonding time now, but I didnt understand Raylans actions as having anything explicitly to do with the worst teen to drive since Cher Horowitz. And whether Raylan will actually stick to his retirement now that Boyd has engineered an escape from Tramble during a hospital transfer, racing off to Mexico in his customary buttoned-to-the-neck shirt and with a besotted prison guard by his side  I doubt it. We can all argue, a la Inceptions spinning-top ending, what happens with that phone call. But remember this, especially with the events of City Primeval to consider: Raylan Givens always gets his man.

Cat Videos, Mostly

 Original-Justified-cast-member-cameo count: Four! After seven episodes, finally theyre here! Im not kidding about screaming when Walton Gogginss Boyd Crowder showed up  because he is a man to whom I would devote my whole life. What a character! Before Boyd, we also got some of Raylans colleagues from the Miami office (Cravens Grant and Deputy Gregg Sutter, played by David Koechner) and a disappointingly underused Zea as Raylans ex. I suppose its consistent that Winona was, as she always had been in the original Justified, wearing an Express going-out top and a pencil skirt in her appearance here, but I wish she hadnt just been relegated to concerned nag. Remember when Winona stole all that money from the evidence room? She was so much more interesting than this brief scene suggested! Also, whos her new guy? Thats a story thread I would have liked to close, since if you remember how terrible her husband after Raylan was, theres only one way up from Gary Hawkins.

 A note on my rating for this episode: Until the last 15 or so minutes, when Raylan decides to hang up his hat and then gets the phone call about Boyds breakout, this was a solid three-star finale. The reintroduction of Raylan-Boyd tension is what bumped it up to four stars for me, and if you want to read more of my and fellow Vulture TV critic Kathryn VanArendonks thoughts on that final reveal, you can do so here.

 How did this finale episode compare with Elmore Leonards book? A fair amount of the Toma-Carolyn solution to the Clement problem is copied exactly, and dialogue is lifted entirely, including Tomas This way satisfies both of us. For me, its like Skender doing it to him, which is much better. For you, it seems the only way youre going to get this man who kills people. But a major change is that in the book, Detective Raymond Cruz lets Clement out of Skenders secret room (That wasnt the way to do it, he admits) without the Skender complication and then challenges him to a shoot-out. And remember in the episode You Good? when Paul Calderons Cruz told Raylan that he once killed a man reaching for a bottle opener because he thought he was reaching for a gun and doesnt regret it? Thats actually the end of the book, tweaked here for Raylan (and his later guilty conscience) when Clement reaches for the cassette tape. I will say I love how nonchalant Book Cruz is about it; that little cleaning-his-nails detail is a perfect Leonard accent.

Clement said, I dont believe it  what did you kill me for?

Raymond didnt answer. Maybe tomorrow hed think of something he might have said. After a little while Raymond picked up the opener from the desk and began paring the nail of his right index finger with the sharply pointed hooked edge.

 Also from the book: After Cruz and Carolyn sleep together, they talk about Clement and Judge Guys book  and Carolyn suggests, hypothetically but with a little bit of implied truth (By some stretch of the imagination, she says), that her name might be in it. I was a big fan of Carolyns ambiguity and her indifference to Cruzs shock, and while I enjoyed Aunjanue Elliss version of Carolyn, I also thought the show did a little too much in emphasizing that she was really a good person who just got a little dirty while advocating for Judge Guys seat, which she would then use to do more good. Some of her bad choices, being separate from Jamal or from Sweety, would have been welcome.

 Carolyns nickname for Raylan: Ray. Im not sure I like it! Are two syllables really that much effort to say?

 Does anyone know what Skender was watching on his tablet? Was that Tony Goldwyn?

 Could we see a second season of City Primeval? I really have no idea; my understanding was that this was a limited series, but weve seen other limited series turn into regular ol dramas once their first seasons did well. If youre looking for a Timothy Olyphant fix right now, though, you should watch Steven Soderbergh and Ed Solomons Full Circle, on Max, in which he is very un-Raylan and very good in a different way.

 Thank you all for reading and joining me for this season of Justified: City Primeval!

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Photo-Illustration: Vulture. Photo: Paramount Pictures

The Italian Job wasnt just a job for Seth Green  it was the job that paired him with a distinguished Hollywood veteran, three current A-listers, a rap legend, and the Transporter himself, Jason Statham. While we were rehearsing, Statham was like, Hey, Ive got a premiere tonight, does anybody want to go? Green recalls of the action superstar, who, to that point, had only been in a handful of films. I was like, Yeah, Im going to check out your movie. And it was the fucking Transporter. So now I see this guy who Ive spent the last two weeks rehearsing with as a literal Superman, jumping out of helicopters and fighting a trainful of soldiers. I was like, Oh my God, I better be nice to this guy!

Directed by F. Gary Gray (Friday, Straight Outta Compton), The Italian Job  a remake of Michael Caines 1969 film  follows a group of thieves as they seek revenge on a former member of their crew who betrayed them and left them for dead. The all-star cast includes Donald Sutherland as John, the teams leader who is killed during the double cross; Mark Wahlberg as Charlie, Johns mentee who emerges as the new head honcho; Edward Norton as Steve, the aforementioned trader; Charlize Theron as Stella, professional safecracker and Johns daughter-in-mourning; Statham as Handsome Rob, a charming driver and seducer; Mos Def as Left Ear, a stylish explosives expert; and Green as Lyle, the tech wiz and resident man in the van.

Originally a child actor, Green was starting to hit his career groove when he booked Italian Job, having spent the previous few years starring in Cant Hardly Wait, Rat Race, Party Monster, and the Austin Powers franchise. Already experienced in delivering tech jargon thanks to roles in movies like Tony Scotts Enemy of the State, he was drawn to Lyle, who dreams of proving that he  and not his college roommate, Shawn Fanning  is the true inventor of Napster and buying a speaker so loud that it blows womens clothes off. (Thats 2003 for ya!)

What intrigued you about the film and the character of Lyle?

I liked this guy. I had done a bunch of stuff like this, the guy in the van, the tech specialist. I had studied tech jargon the same way people studied Shakespeare, so that it rattles off your tongue like its something youve organically thought about. For me, the biggest thing was that he had to be able to hang with a world-class crew. It didnt mean that he was cool, it just meant that he could fit in with this group without seeming like a sore thumb.

When I got it, I talked to Gary Gray about what he would wear and how he would seem, and I said, This guy has made all the same money that any of these other thieves have made, so its not like he cant buy cool stuff. I loved the idea of Lyle being able to shop anywhere, see any fashion magazine, travel around the world, and be like, Im going to buy those boots, but then he just didnt wear them well. Thats where the gag with the bike came up. Because Gary was like, Everybody should roll up in some kind of awesome thing, and Im like, Well, you know this guy wouldve bought a motorcycle. The first thing he would do is buy a motorcycle; he just doesnt know how to ride it.

I love a great assemble the team sequence in a heist movie, and that one in The Italian Job definitely fits the bill. How much of that was you with the motorcycle?

We had to do stunt driving and everything from rappelling to buddy-breathing underwater; we all had to practice because we were going to have to do it on film. That day we did the drive-up, I had already spent a couple days on that bike, and when we were just rehearsing, I had no trouble riding it. It was a little bit taller than my inseam, and so they lowered the seat as much as they could, but even still, its a 700-pound machine. And so I drove it, cutting the turn, shifting the gears, no trouble. And then, as I brought it up to the start of the track and just sort of rested in place, I couldnt get the kickstand down fast enough and the whole thing just fell over. It was a bike that they had borrowed from one of the stunt captains, and the mirror came off when it hit the ground. It was so embarrassing.

But I told Gary, I feel like this is a thing, and he said, What if when you pull up, you cant control the bike? And I was like, I fucking love this. Its the perfect introduction, because he looks so cool, sort of, and then hes just not cool at all. I even got to say, Can you help me get my bike up? All of that stuff is so important for that character. It makes him somebody who you care about, that you feel bad for, that you can empathize with, when all these other supercool characters exist in the movie. Youre like, Oh, maybe thats the guy Im the most like.

Okay, so you had to do the car training with everyone else, but in the film Im not sure we ever see you behind the wheel. Were you bummed to not have that opportunity, or were you happy to go sit in the back of the van at a chill location while the rest of the cast had to, like, wait around Hollywood Boulevard to film these big chase sequences?

Thats actually exactly what happened. In an earlier draft of the script, my character drove the panel van on Hollywood Boulevard, and then at some point they realized that they needed my character to be in a central space where he would be guiding the operation. So they cast that additional guy, Franky G, and he wound up being the other driver. Gary says to me about a week in, Hey, Seth, were rewriting a bunch of this stuff, and it doesnt look like youre going to be driving the car. Are you cool with that? And I said, What you actually said to me is that Im going to have about six weeks off in the middle of this production while everybody else is filming all the coverage around the heist. I came back after being off for six weeks, and everybody in the crew was exhausted. Id been working out, I was eating great, I was buzzing with energy. We spent less than two days shooting all of my stuff in Union Station, and I am on fire in those scenes [laughs]. You can see me; Im vibrating so high because Ive just been resting and exercising. But then we went directly to Italy and shot for 14 days straight, up super-early in the morning, trying to catch the sun, trying to match that with the tides in Venice. The speedboat, the heist, the van going into the water, shooting all that was the last two weeks of the movie  it was wild.

Sounds like the Italian part of the job wasnt as glamorous as youd hope!

What was cool about it was we were up in Canazei in the Alps, and it was the only time I got to work with Edward, and Im obviously such an enormous fan of his. I was so excited that he was doing this movie, even though by all accounts he got forced into it. But he was awesome; he really made a lot out of the role. Were staying up in this mountain chateau thats typically occupied during the summer, so theres literally nobody there except the cast and crew of this movie. And one night, probably the first night that we got there, the cast all went down to a game room, shot a bunch of pool, drank a little bit, smoked a little bit, and Jason and Edward went back and forth with jokes. And Ive never been more impressed by two people, like the fact that they each had 40 jokes in their quiver. Just bang, bang, bang, tit for tat. It was one of the coolest nights.

What was it like shooting that opening heist, with you and Statham just riding a speedboat through the canals in Venice? It probably wasnt the easiest logistical thing to pull off.

We had spent all that time training on these cars and boats, so Jay was like, Well, Im obviously going to drive this. The tide was rising every second in the canals, and we had an incredibly limited time, like less than 45 minutes each day to be able to shoot before it was too dark or the tide was too high. And there was a point where our DP, Wally Pfister, we were shooting and I just remember seeing the first camera assistant looking behind and literally ducking Wallys head so he didnt get his skull crushed by one of these bridges. And going under the bridge, it took his hat off, and you can almost see it, because they kept the shot in the film. Watch my face when were in the two-shot with that speedboat  you see a look of shock on my face, like, Oh my God, and what Im reacting to is the DP nearly getting decapitated.

Rewatching the film, its funny to think that someone in their 20s right now might have no idea what Napster even is. But, in the moment, that was such a timely bit to include, so what do you remember from that story line, including Shawn Fannings flashback cameo?

Shawn was supercool. All of his intentions with creating that platform were pretty altruistic, despite the fact that you could share music, potentially, illegally. Like, it helped write law with respect to how artists collect royalties on sales and plays. But I just thought that it was hilarious. I loved the fact that Lyle had that level of pettiness. But I rooted it in the idea that this whole gang is supercool, and he really feels like a kid among them, so it felt okay to have him be childish and demand a bit of respect, or at least acknowledgment, for his role.

Weve talked about some of the names, but, at the time, did you realize how cool a cast you were working with?

Its great casting. Sheila Jaffe also cast Entourage, and she was somebody Id read for dozens of times. That was her intent, like, What about Mos Def? What about this guy? Hes just starting to pop. And while we were shooting that movie, Charlize and I watched the Aileen Wuornos documentary [The Selling of a Serial Killer], and she told me about how fascinated she was with that project; that was before she got Monster off the ground. I definitely was aware of how good a cast this was just within the first couple days of us all working together. Everybody was there for it, putting everything into it. It was really fun. I brought a backgammon kit to the set all the time, because these guys like really quick games and it brings out everybodys competitiveness. You probably know this already, but Charlize is absurdly competitive.

Maybe the biggest laugh in the movie is courtesy of Lyle doing his Handsome Rob impression. Was that something you had in your pocket, or did you just find it on the day?

Gary Gray is awesome and so much fun. I was like, How big do you want me to get? Hes like, Say whatever you want. Thinking about it now, when we made that movie, improvisation wasnt really a thing. Not that it wasnt a thing, but weve hit a really nice heyday in the last 20 years of actors being allowed to improv, being encouraged to improv. And Im a mimic, so I cant help but come up with some kind of impersonation. It just sort of happens the longer I spend with someone, and Jason is so cool and so imitable that it made sense for Lyle to be almost obsessed with him. You see me in scenes with Mark, or any of these other guys, and Im a little puppy dog about it. Like, when theyre walking, Ill try to walk the way that they walk. I just liked the idea that this character spends all his time behind a computer screen and approaches behaving like a normal human like someone on the spectrum who is self-aware enough to observe other people and then try to be them. So I was workshopping a Handsome Rob voice for a while, and when Gary and I were doing that shot, he was like, Why dont you just be him? So we shot about three takes of it, all improvised, and then he put the best stuff from those takes into one scene.

So whats the deal with the infamous Brazilian Job? Was there ever serious talk of doing a sequel, or is it just an internet dream?

Who have you talked to? [Laughs]

I havent talked to anybody! Honestly, its been one of those things that Ive seen sitting on The Italian Job Wikipedia page for probably the last decade, and Id always be like: Stop teasing me, is this happening or not?!

Well, the biggest why not is that theres been four different heads of studio at Paramount since we made this movie. But what happened was, those last two weeks of shooting were up in the Alps of Canazei and it was below freezing everywhere; were sitting there and rubbing our hands together, and the producer, Donald De Line, says, We ever make a sequel to this, we should do it somewhere exotic. Im pretty sure he was the one who said, We can call it The Brazilian Job. And we all laughed. Everybody laughed because the Brazilian job is obviously a double entendre having to do with feminine grooming, and nobody thought that was serious. And then the movie blew up, and all of a sudden Paramount was hiring the powers that be to write a Brazilian Job movie. [Laughs] Id say, over a five-year period, I read three different drafts, and Id run into Mark wherever, or Id see Donald, and they were like, This is going to happen. But I dont think I ever talked about it with anybody else.

So there was talk of an Italian Job sequel, and then all of a sudden F. Gary Gray is directing The Fate of the Furious with Charlize and Statham. What was your reaction to learning that?

I guess Im just never the person who watches anything and says, Hey, why am I not in that?! But I did like that they made a nod at one point in Jays spinoff [Hobbs & Shaw], and  hes Hobbs, right?

Hes Shaw! Deckard Shaw!

Yeah, hes Shaw. So theyre in Shaws super-garage, and hes got a Mini in there, and then the Rock goes, Whats up with this one? And he goes, Oh, its from another life. [Laughs]

In case we never get The Brazilian Job, what do you think Lyle would be up to nowadays?

I guess its not a spoiler to say, but one of the drafts presumed Lyle had gotten to work in quantum computing. Because it was early internet, the presumption was that Lyle had created some new tech or had some algorithm or compression program. He made money legitimately in the tech sector but was still down to take over a traffic-control system or some kind of missile guidance.

It feels like we no longer get the likes of The Italian Job, a sub-$100 million action movie that relies more on the charisma of its cast than the special effects.

Because modern audiences have gotten so accustomed to just repeating an experience, if a movie works, everyones like, I need this sequel so that I can feel those feels again. I find that to be a really fascinating evolution, but I love that this movie has that kind of place in pop culture. We had such a blast making it, and it is such a rare thing. The first time I went and did ADR, it was so funny. I was like, This movies pretty good, and Garys like, Yeah, I think its pretty good!
Visitors view exhibits during an itinerant exhibition of Chinese Dehua white porcelain in Frankfurt, Germany, Aug. 29, 2023. An exhibition of the famous Chinese Dehua white porcelain is in full swing at the Stadthaus in Frankfurt, Germany. Over 90 items of Dehua white porcelain, known to European customers as "Blanc de Chine", are on display at the exhibition. (Photo by Li Shuai/Xinhua)

FRANKFURT, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition of the famous Chinese Dehua white porcelain is in full swing at the Stadthaus in Frankfurt, Germany.

Over 90 items of Dehua white porcelain, known to European customers as "Blanc de Chine", are on display at the exhibition.

The items, produced in Dehua County in China's Fujian province, include tea services, vases and effigies.

The Frankfurt show is the first leg of an itinerant exhibition which will visit around 20 countries around the world over the course of five years.

White porcelain produced in Dehua hit foreign markets as early as the Song Dynasty, and became popular in Europe during the Ming Dynasty.

The aim of the itinerant exhibition, which was initiated by white porcelain producers in Dehua and kicked off in Beijing, is to promote the industry and explore opportunities for cooperation with foreign partners.

The exhibition in Frankfurt will last till Wednesday. 

Visitors view exhibits during an itinerant exhibition of Chinese Dehua white porcelain in Frankfurt, Germany, Aug. 29, 2023. An exhibition of the famous Chinese Dehua white porcelain is in full swing at the Stadthaus in Frankfurt, Germany. Over 90 items of Dehua white porcelain, known to European customers as "Blanc de Chine", are on display at the exhibition. (Photo by Li Shuai/Xinhua)

A visitor views an exhibit during an itinerant exhibition of Chinese Dehua white porcelain in Frankfurt, Germany, Aug. 29, 2023. An exhibition of the famous Chinese Dehua white porcelain is in full swing at the Stadthaus in Frankfurt, Germany. Over 90 items of Dehua white porcelain, known to European customers as "Blanc de Chine", are on display at the exhibition. (Photo by Li Shuai/Xinhua)

A visitor views an exhibit during an itinerant exhibition of Chinese Dehua white porcelain in Frankfurt, Germany, Aug. 29, 2023. An exhibition of the famous Chinese Dehua white porcelain is in full swing at the Stadthaus in Frankfurt, Germany. Over 90 items of Dehua white porcelain, known to European customers as "Blanc de Chine", are on display at the exhibition. (Photo by Li Shuai/Xinhua)

Visitors view exhibits during an itinerant exhibition of Chinese Dehua white porcelain in Frankfurt, Germany, Aug. 29, 2023. An exhibition of the famous Chinese Dehua white porcelain is in full swing at the Stadthaus in Frankfurt, Germany. Over 90 items of Dehua white porcelain, known to European customers as "Blanc de Chine", are on display at the exhibition. (Photo by Li Shuai/Xinhua)
BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday evening issued a blue alert for mountain torrents in parts of the northern and northwestern regions of the country.

From 8 p.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Thursday, mountain torrents will likely occur in the northeastern part of Hebei and the northeastern parts of Qinghai, said the alert, which was issued by the Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration.

Local authorities are advised to strengthen real-time monitoring and flood warning procedures amid measures to prepare for evacuation.

China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow, and blue. 
Police shot and wounded man who attempted to run over Don Coluccia.

An Italian priest known for taking a stand against organised crime was almost run down deliberately by a motorcyclist during a candle-lit rally against drug dealing in the Tor Bella Monaca suburb of Rome on Tuesday night.

Don Antonio Coluccia, who is accompanied everywhere by a police escort, was protected from the attack by officers who shot and wounded the driver of the scooter in the arm.

In his attempt to target the well-known priest, who has stood up against criminality for the past 25 years, the motorcyclist collided with a police officer.

The attacker, reportedly a 28-year-old from Belarus with a criminal record, is currently under armed guard in hospital.

An investigation is underway into the attack which police believe may have been "commissioned" by criminals that control drug trafficking in Tor Bella Monaca.

Father Coluccia, 48, leads regular "marches for legality" through the streets of the east Rome suburb which is synonymous with the drug trade.

Gravissima laggressione a Don Coluccia durante la marcia della legalita a Tor Bella Monaca. Lho chiamato per esprimergli la vicinanza di tutta #Roma e augurare pronta guarigione allagente di scorta ferito. Violenza e mafie vanno contrastate con ogni mezzo.  Roberto Gualtieri (@gualtierieurope) August 29, 2023

There was solidarity and support for the priest from politicians including Italy's interior minister Matteo Piantedosi who also telephoned Rome's chief of police to ascertain the condition of the injured officer.

Italy's deputy premier and leader of the right-wing Lega party Matteo Salvini expressed his solidarity with "a man of the Church who fights all kinds of drugs to save young people. Good luck to the wounded officer, all my contempt for the vile injured criminal".

Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri said he called the priest to "express the closeness of all of Rome and wish a speedy recovery to the injured police officer", adding that: "Violence and mafia must be opposed by all means."

"Don Coluccia's efforts must give a lot of annoyance to the mafia clans who control the drug dealing in Tor Bella Monaca", said Nicola Franco, the mayor of the local Municipality VI borough.

Photo ANSA
This video screenshot shows Gabonese President Ali Bongo delivering a speech on Aug. 30, 2023.(Xinhua)

LIBREVILLE, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Brice Oligui Nguema, commander-in-chief of the Gabonese Republican Guard, was named as the transition leader of the Central African country on Wednesday night following a coup.

The national electoral body announced earlier in the day that President Ali Bongo had won a third term. However, the military declared on state television that the election results were canceled and placed Bongo under house arrest.

Leaders of the Gabonese military agreed by unanimous vote to appoint Nguema as president of the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI), said Ulrich Manfoumbi Manfoumbi, the committee's spokesperson.

Nguema ordered the reconnection of the optical fiber and the restoration of radio and television signals. He stressed the need to maintain calm and serenity in the country and preserve stability and dignity, according to the spokesperson.

Traffic restrictions between 6 p.m., local time, Wednesday and 6 a.m. the following day remain in effect until further notice, the spokesperson said.

Earlier in the day, a group of officers claimed, on behalf of the CTRI, to have seized power to "put an end to the regime in place." The announcement came after Gabon's national electoral body said on the same day that Bongo from the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party was reelected for a third term in Saturday's election.

In a televised statement, the officers said the election results were canceled, state institutions dissolved, and all borders closed until further notice.

In another statement released Wednesday, the military said, "President Ali Bongo is kept under house arrest, surrounded by his family and his doctors." The officers said the son of the president, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and several other senior officials close to Bongo were arrested.

In a video clip released Wednesday afternoon, Bongo said he is at his residence while his wife and son are in other places.

"Nothing is happening. I don't know what is going on. So I am calling on you to make noise, make noise, make noise really. I'm thanking you," said Bongo in his first public appearance after the coup.

According to local media, gunfire was heard in the capital of Libreville.

Ali Bongo, 64, once served as minister of defense and other posts in the government. He was elected president of the Gabonese Republic in 2009 and was reelected in 2016.

In January 2019 when Bongo was in Morocco recovering from a stroke, a group of soldiers broke into the national radio station in Libreville and announced the establishment of a "national council of the restoration." The government foiled the coup attempt as security forces soon took over the radio station and detained the soldiers.

The international community has voiced concerns over Wednesday's coup in Gabon.

In a press statement, Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission Moussa Faki expressed great concern over the situation in Gabon and strongly condemned the coup attempt as a way to solve the post-electoral crisis. He called on all political, civil and military actors in Gabon to give priority to peaceful political avenues, and a rapid return to democratic constitutional order in the country.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said France is following the situation closely. Spokesman of the French government Olivier Veran has condemned the coup, noting that France "reiterates its desire to see the results of the election respected."

Russia also expressed its concerns over the situation in Gabon. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that it is hoped that the situation in Gabon will return to stability. She also advised that Russians temporarily refrain from traveling to this country, if there is no urgent need.

Namibian Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation Executive Director Penda Naanda said in a statement that Namibia has been following with concern about the evolving political situation in Gabon, and Namibia remains resolute in its stance on zero tolerance on acceding to power through unconstitutional means.

Ajuri Ngelale, the spokesperson for Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, said the president, who chairs the Economic Community of West African States, a regional bloc, would consult with other heads of state and government in the AU on the Gabon crisis with a view to determining the way forward for the central African country. 
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Chinese regulators have sought for years to get to grips with the $2.9 trillion trust industry, a corner of the countrys shadow banking sector that offers bigger returns than regular bank deposits but can be fraught with risk. Their fears were underlined in August, when financial giant Zhongzhi Enterprise Group Co. and its affiliate, Zhongrong International Trust Co., missed dozens of payments on several high-yield investment products. China then was said to have asked two of the nations biggest financial firms to examine Zhongrongs books, potentially paving the way for a state-led rescue. The revelations come at a sensitive time, with investors alert for signs that a weakening economy and troubles in the property industry are spreading deeper into the financial sector.

1. What are these trust companies?

They are loosely regulated firms that pool household savings to offer loans and invest in real estate, stocks, bonds and commodities. No other Chinese financial companies operate across all of these asset classes. The sector was once seen as a safe place for wealthy Chinese to park their money for heftier returns. But trust firms have defaulted on billions of dollars of investment products in recent years and the industry has shrunk by about 20% from its peak in 2017, when regulators began clamping down on the nations shadow-banking excesses.

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2. What is Zhongzhi?

Zhongzhi is a shadow banking giant, with interests in trust companies, wealth management and private equity. The Beijing-based firm was founded in 1995 by Xie Zhikun, who built it into a sprawling empire. Xie died of a heart attack in 2021, just as the Covid-19 pandemic slowed Chinas economy and increased volatility in its capital markets. Today the firm manages about 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) in assets. One of its most important investments is a 33% stake in Zhongrong Trust, which has 270 products totaling 39.5 billion yuan coming due this year, according to Use Trust data. The average yield on those products amounted to 6.88%, compared with the benchmark 1.5% one-year deposit rate paid by banks.

3. Whats gone wrong at Zhongzhi and Zhongrong?

Three clients said on Aug. 11 that they had failed to receive payments on products issued by companies linked to Zhongzhi, including Zhongrong. Wang Qiang, board secretary of Zhongrong, later told investors that the firm had missed payments on a batch of products on Aug. 8, adding to delays on at least 10 others since late July, according to people familiar with the matter. At least 30 products are now overdue and Zhongrong also halted redemptions on some short-term instruments, one of the people said. In one unverified letter circulated on social media, a wealth manager at Zhongzhi apologized to his clients, saying the groups wealth arms had decided to delay payments on all products since mid-July. The situation involves more than 150,000 investors with outstanding investments totaling 230 billion yuan, according to the letter.

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4. Whats the significance of all this?

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The troubles at Zhongzhi feed perceptions that poorly regulated parts of Chinas banking industry may be ill-equipped to cope with a weakening economy and the problems in real estate. The risk is that an upset in one area of the finance sector quickly cascades and cause a broader crisis of confidence. Many trust products are backed by property projects run by struggling developers such as China Evergrande Group, and some have defaulted as a result of the real estate crisis. Real estate accounted for 11% of Zhongrongs 629 billion yuan of trust assets under management, according to its annual report. Last year, it was among firms that bought stakes in at least 10 property projects, betting that unfinished homes will eventually yield cash to pay off some of the $230 billion in property-backed funds they have issued to investors. The hoped-for real estate market rebound has so far failed to materialize.

5. What is the government doing about it?

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People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News that Citic Trust Co., a unit of state-owned conglomerate Citic Group Corp., and CCB Trust Co., backed by state-owned China Construction Bank Corp., will lead an effort to stabilize operations at Zhongrong. A similar examination by Citic of Huarong Asset Management Co. led to a $6.6 billion bailout of the bad-debt manager in 2021. Chinas banking regulator, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, had earlier set up a task force to gauge the outstanding debt and risks at Zhongrong, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

6. Why does it matter to China?

President Xi Jinpings government is under pressure to shore up confidence in the economy. Investors have been alarmed by the countrys slow pace of recovery from Covid-related restrictions and persistent weakness in its giant real estate sector. Loans extended by Chinese banks fell to the lowest level since 2009 in July, in a sign of waning demand from businesses and consumers.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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Unlike some other former British colonies, Australia doesnt have a treaty with its Indigenous population, collectively known as First Nations. There isnt even a mention of them in the countrys constitution. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is staking part of his legacy on changing that. He has set a referendum for Oct. 14 that would give Indigenous Australians an official voice  not a veto  in the nations politics. But theres opposition from several sides, including some prominent Indigenous activists who view it as a threat to their deeply felt claim to sovereign status.

1. Who are Indigenous Australians?

They are the continents original inhabitants and one of the oldest continuing cultures in the world. There is archaeological evidence that Aboriginal people on the mainland and Torres Strait Islanders off the northern coast have been around for more than 60,000 years. Following the arrival of the First Fleet of British colonizers in 1788, the Indigenous population rapidly shrank as a result of disease, dispossession from the land and killings perpetrated by settlers. But they never formally ceded sovereignty. In 1948, they became Australian citizens along with everyone else as the new countrys ties with the UK dwindled. Today they make up 3.2% of Australias 25 million people, or about 800,000. On average they are the countrys poorest and most disadvantaged group: they die earlier, leave school at a younger age and are more likely to spend time in prison.

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2. What is being considered?

A new advisory body, composed of a small number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, called the Voice to Parliament. This group would give its opinion on matters that affect Indigenous Australians, with an aim to improve their lives. What those exact areas might be has yet to be decided. The group would be subservient to the Parliament, in Albaneses words, with no veto power. The proposal came out of a historic meeting of more than 250 Indigenous leaders to discuss constitutional reform in 2017. It was held in central Australia at the sacred site of Uluru, previously known as Ayers Rock.

3. Are First Nations consulted now?

Not collectively. Currently eight out of 76 senators and three out of 151 members of the House of Representatives identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, including Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney. Thats the highest total in Australian history. There are also lawmakers with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage in state and territory parliaments, while advocacy groups for Indigenous communities lobby to influence government policy.

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4. Whos in favor? Opposed?

Advocates such as Pat Anderson, one of the architects of the Uluru statement, say enshrining the Voice in the countrys constitution would provide official recognition for the First Peoples of this beautiful continent of ours. A poll in April showed most Australians in favor, but by August support had slipped to 43%, with the No vote rising to overtake it at 47%. The No camp says that the change will become divisive and make little practical difference in the lives of Indigenous Australians. Conservative political parties have so far refused to support the proposal. There has also been pushback from some Indigenous leaders such as Senator Lidia Thorpe, who said she couldnt support the Voice unless she was convinced it wouldnt cede Indigenous sovereignty. On Australia Day this year, which marks the landing of the First Fleet from Britain on Jan. 26, 1788, thousands of demonstrators in major cities called for a vote against the Voice, saying it would undermine their claims to sovereignty while failing to give Indigenous people real power.

5. When is Australias referendum? How does it work?

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The center-left Labor government set it for Oct. 14. Any change to Australias constitution must be approved in a referendum. The bar for success is high: The measure must be approved by at least half of Australians who are eligible to vote, as well as at least four of the countrys six states. (Australia has held 44 referendums in its history and only eight have passed). If theres a positive result, details such as how members are chosen and consultations would function will be decided by Parliament.

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6. Whats at stake for Albanese?

If the referendum passes, it will be a major win for Albanese and his government, which has been riding high in the polls since winning power in May 2022. It could also set him up to move ahead with a second referendum  on whether Australia should cut ties with the British monarchy and become a republic  in a second term, should he be reelected. (He has said Indigenous recognition must come first.) But if it fails, he will lose a lot of the political capital and momentum that he has staked on the vote, weakening his position ahead of a likely general election in 2025.

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7. How does this compare to Indigenous rights in other former British colonies?

 In Canada, the 1982 Constitution recognizes the right to Indigenous self-determination and sets out a nation-to-nation relationship. There are three main national Indigenous organizations: the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Metis National Council. Between 2007 and 2015, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigated the impact of Canadas assimilationist school system for Indigenous children, finding that it constituted cultural genocide.

 New Zealand ensures parliamentary representation for its Indigenous Maori citizens through designated electorates. But its recent efforts to include Maori leaders in some decisions on managing public assets  a concept called co-governance  have proved politically contentious. An example is the governments Three Waters proposal to transfer water-related infrastructure from local councils to publicly owned entities to oversee major upgrades. Government critics have labeled co-governance as anti-democratic and shorthand for giving Maori preference in decision-making roles. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who took over from Jacinda Ardern in January, has said he will review some co-governance initiatives as he seeks to reclaim center-ground voters ahead of an election in October  though he must do so without angering the Maori members of his caucus.

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8. What about in the US?

Native Americans are mentioned in the US Constitution: Article 1, Section 8, for example, gave Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among states and with the Indian Tribes. Hundreds of treaties were signed between the US and sovereign tribes until 1871, when Congress stopped recognizing them as independent nations. While existing treaties remained in force on paper, history is littered with broken promises. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a branch of the Department of the Interior that dates back to 1824, the guiding principle today in federal relations is that tribes retain inherent powers of self-government. For those tribes who hold land in reservation status, that means laws and regulations can differ on tribal soil from those elsewhere in a state.

--With assistance from Stephen Wicary and Matthew Brockett.

(Updates with date set)

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Six months after Louisville bank employee killed five co-workers and wounded eight others, survivors, victims families and his parents wonder why it was so easy for a troubled young man to get a rifle. Some are planning to sue the gunmaker.
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Tunisia has overtaken Libya as the preferred route for sub-Saharan migrants trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean. The cash-strapped North African nation is ill-equipped to cope, and many of the migrants have been subjected to racist attacks by the local population and abuse by police. President Kais Saied, struggling to revive an economy still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and Russias invasion of Ukraine, has condemned the migrants as a threat to national security. His governments treatment of them has drawn condemnation from human rights groups and complicated efforts to secure an international bailout.

1. What do the numbers show?

More than 2,000 migrants have lost their lives crossing the central Mediterranean this year. Of the 112,000 who made it to Italy between January and late August, more than half had set off from Tunisia. That marks a reversal from the same period of 2022, when Libya was the main departure point. Since then, the number leaving from Tunisia has grown fourfold. Most are from impoverished sub-Saharan countries such as Cote dIvoire, Guinea, Senegal, Mali and Chad. Some are Tunisians fleeing hardship, and Italy has voiced concern that the countrys economic plight will only lead to more northward migration.

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2. What explains the switch from Libya?

Departures from Tunisia began surging in 2020, three years after Libya struck a deal with Italy to train Libyas coastguard and provide its officers with equipment to intercept boats illegally ferrying the migrants. The deal allowed for migrants to be returned to detention centers in Libya where, according to rights groups, they are at risk of abuse or people trafficking. The UNHCR reported that the price demanded by people smugglers for a sea crossing is lower in Tunisia, at between 500 and 600, compared to between 800 and 900 in Libya.

3. What is life like for the migrants in Tunisia?

International agreements allow EU governments to return asylum seekers to a safe third country. Rights groups say thats no way to describe Tunisia, where Black migrants have been subjected to repeated racist attacks, evicted from their homes and left without shelter or food. Some have been arrested for demonstrating against their treatment and said they were tortured and abused during their detention. Others complain of sexual violence, forced labor and illnesses brought on by poor living conditions.

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4. What explains the harsh treatment?

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Tunisia has taken an authoritarian turn in recent years as President Saied pushed through sweeping constitutional changes that reversed many of the democratic gains from the countrys 2011 Arab Spring uprising. In February, he ordered security forces to crack down on irregular migration, speaking of a conspiracy to change Tunisias demographics. This was followed by a surge in hate speech, discrimination and attacks, according to Human Rights Watch. Advocates for the migrants say they are a convenient scapegoat in a country gripped by mass unemployment and a cost of living crisis. The pandemic, Russias invasion of Ukraine and the smallest grain harvest in 20 years have inflated food prices, adding to the desperation felt by much of the population. Political infighting and an impasse with powerful labor groups have hamstrung efforts to solve the countrys economic problems.

5. What is the EU doing about migration from Tunisia?

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Italys right-wing Prime Minister Georgia Meloni led talks with Saieds government that resulted in a July deal under which Tunisia would improve border controls and curtail migration in exchange for EU aid. The bloc has pledged to invest more than 100 million in the country in 2023, almost three times the amount provided in the previous two years. It held out the prospect of a further 900 million loan if Tunisia manages to conclude negotiations with the IMF on a $1.9 billion economic rescue package.

6. Is the migrant situation affecting those talks?

The IMFs help depends largely on Tunisia completing various economic reforms. However, Saieds remarks on migrants, and his insistence that the country wont by swayed by foreign diktats, have undermined the confidence of investors. In June, Fitch Ratings cut Tunisias credit rating to junk. Failure to secure IMF help could lead to a default that would send the economy into a tailspin. The World Bank briefly suspended assistance to Tunisia over the migrant issue. It agreed in late May to restart the program with a new partnership agreement. But the bank made clear that future disbursements would depend partly on Tunisia complying with its environmental and social requirements.

--With assistance from Tarek El-Tablawy.

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Barely a month after Nigers military toppled its president, Gabons army seized power, bringing to nine the number of military coups across sub-Saharan African since 2020. International sanctions have been imposed to try to nudge these countries back to democracy, with little success. With more of the regions elected governments at risk of violent overthrow, French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that all the presidents across the region are more or less aware of the fate that awaits them unless democracy is restored.

1. What happened in Gabon?

Four days after the central African nation held disputed presidential elections that incumbent Ali Bongo was reported to have won, army officers appeared on state television to announce theyd canceled the Aug. 26 vote and dissolved the countrys institutions. Bongo first took office in 2009, succeeding his late father, who had held power since 1967. While the oil producer hasnt had to deal with the jihadist attacks or spreading insecurity thats dogged much of West Africa, the ruling familys grip on power has come under pressure in recent years. Soldiers already launched a failed coup in 2019, months after Bongo suffered a stroke that sidelined him for several months.

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2. And in Niger?

General Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of Nigers presidential guard, appeared on state television on July 28 to name himself leader two days after his soldiers said they had detained President Mohamed Bazoum. The head of the army backed the coup, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed. The coup there created a belt of military-run countries stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea  most of which are more closely aligned to Russia than to the West. The Economic Community of West African States, a 15-nation regional bloc, condemned the takeover and threatened to use force to restore the democratically elected leader, but hasnt followed through. The country has been a linchpin in the fight by Western and African forces against the spread of Islamist militancy across the Sahel region. The US has a military drone base in the country, which it used to target insurgents affiliated with al-Qaeda and Islamic State in cooperation with the French military. The European Union also saw Niger as an ally in its efforts to tackle illegal immigration from Africa, some of which passes northward through the country en route to the Mediterranean.

3. Why has West Africa been so prone to coups?

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The events in Niger followed two coups each in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso and another in nearby Guinea. The leader of Sudan in the eastern Sahel was overthrown in 2021, the same year Chads military replaced its late president with his son, an army general. All these takeovers have been rooted in economic malaise and weak governance that have fed frustration among civilians and  in West Africa in particular  the spread of extremist violence. However, despite claims by the new strongmen that they are tackling insecurity, the number of people killed in the Sahel region surged in the first half of the year.

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4. What are the implications for the Sahel and the fight against terrorism?

The coups in Mali and Burkina Faso saw their governments replaced by juntas that are hostile to ex-colonial power France, which had led the fight against extremism in the region for a decade. Mali and Burkina Faso kicked out French troops and hired mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group. Niger has seen its role as the Wests most important regional ally grow as a result  but the new junta has severed its security ties with France. The allegiances of Gabons new leaders remain unclear.

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5. What are the economic stakes?

Gabon, which rejoined OPEC in 2016 after a 21-year hiatus, pumps about 200,000 barrels of crude a day. Global oil markets are unlikely to be substantively affected if its production is interrupted because it is a relatively small producer. More important is its role in the production of manganese, used to produce some of the hardest forms of steel. Niger is Africas second-biggest uranium producer, and exports most of its output to France, according to the World Nuclear Association. It produced 2,020 tons of the metal last year. Most countries that have suffered military coups in the region in recent years havent seen major disruption to mining operations despite the changes in power.

--With assistance from Katarina Hoije.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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Photo taken on Aug. 30, 2023 shows the site of a knife attack at a light rail stop near East Jerusalem. A Palestinian dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem on Wednesday before being shot and killed by the Israeli police. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

JERUSALEM, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem on Wednesday before being shot and killed by the Israeli police.

The police said in a statement that a knife attack occurred at the Shivtei Israel light rail stop near East Jerusalem, and the suspect was shot and killed by a border police officer in the area.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said the stabbed was a 25-year-old man and had been transported to a hospital.

Israel's Channel 12 TV news reported that the suspect was dressed as an ultra-religious Jew and was wearing a Yarmulke, a skullcap traditionally worn by Jewish males. 

Israeli security forces work at the site of a knife attack at a light rail stop near East Jerusalem, on Aug. 30, 2023. A Palestinian dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem on Wednesday before being shot and killed by the Israeli police. (Photo by Muammar Awad/Xinhua)

Israeli security forces work at the site of a knife attack at a light rail stop near East Jerusalem, on Aug. 30, 2023. A Palestinian dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem on Wednesday before being shot and killed by the Israeli police. (Photo by Muammar Awad/Xinhua)

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man walks past the site of a knife attack at a light rail stop near East Jerusalem, on Aug. 30, 2023. A Palestinian dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem on Wednesday before being shot and killed by the Israeli police. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of a knife attack at a light rail stop near East Jerusalem, on Aug. 30, 2023. A Palestinian dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem on Wednesday before being shot and killed by the Israeli police. (Photo by Muammar Awad/Xinhua)

Israeli security forces work at the site of a knife attack at a light rail stop near East Jerusalem, on Aug. 30, 2023. A Palestinian dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem on Wednesday before being shot and killed by the Israeli police. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)
Employees prepare for the opening ceremony of the 80th Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Aug. 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Jin Mamengni)

This year, 23 movies are vying for the Golden Lion. Some 19 fiction films and documentaries, two television series, and a short film will play out of competition.

VENICE, Italy, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The 80th annual Venice International Film Festival kicked off here on Wednesday evening, with a diverse line-up of movies competing for the prestigious Golden Lion prize.

This year's event runs from Aug. 30 to Sept. 9 at the Venice Lido, opening with Italian director Edoardo De Angelis' film "Comandante."

The international jury for the main competition is presided over by Damien Chazelle, best known for directing "Whiplash" and "La La Land."

People walk past signs of the 80th Venice International Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Aug. 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Jin Mamengni)

Consisting of nine experienced filmmakers, screenwriters and actors, the jury will assign the Golden Lion for Best Film and other official awards to the feature films in the main competition. This year, 23 movies are vying for the Golden Lion.

Chinese actress Shu Qi, a multiple winner of the Hong Kong Film Award and Golden Horse Award, is a member of the jury for the main competition.

Actress Shu Qi attends China Institute's China Fashion Gala in New York, the United States, May 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Meanwhile, Italian director Liliana Cavani was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on the festival's opening night. Actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai of Hong Kong, China, will also be presented with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement later this week, according to the schedule of the festival.

In addition to the films shown in the main competition, some 19 fiction films and documentaries, two television series, and a short film will play out of competition. A rich variety of works representing new aesthetic trends and creative virtual reality technology will also be shown in the Horizons category.

People are seen in front of the Palazzo del Cinema in Venice, Italy, on Aug. 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Jin Mamengni) 
Fire Rescue Victoria said the car was reversed into the two-storey building housing the Hadfield Finest Fruit & Veg store just after 3am, warping the stores door and breaking the windows. Firefighters discovered an LPG tank in the back of the vehicle. The syndicate has spread to extorting shop owners nationwide, including in South Australia and Western Australia. The trade is estimated to be worth millions  even tens of millions  of dollars each year to the racketeers. And these profits are being ploughed back into criminal activities like drug trafficking and money laundering, six police and underworld sources say. The racket exploded into public consciousness following more than a dozen arson attacks on tobacco shops stretching from Hoppers Crossing to Wangaratta since late March.

Police are investigating the cause of a suspicious fire at a tobacconist on Young Street in Moonee Ponds. Credit: Nine News No one has been injured in the firebombings yet, but police say thats down to sheer luck. Once a fire is started, its impossible to control. Its a real worry. These fools, without any planning, are setting shops on fire. It could be the family upstairs asleep that dies, Detective Inspector Chris Murray, from Victoria Polices arson and explosives squad, told The Age. The market is being cornered by different players, including well-known Middle Eastern crime gangs and outlaw motorcycle clubs, who see these isolated tobacco shops as soft targets that can be easily exploited. The shakedowns have been running for more than a year, but largely flew under the radar until the gangs began torching recalcitrant retailers and the protected shops of their rivals.

A Moonee Ponds tobacco and vape store linked to Sam The Punisher Abdulrahim was set alight on three separate occasions in late May and early June. Abdulrahim has previously denied his connection to the business despite promoting it on social media before the attack. The Age is not suggesting that Abdulrahim is himself part of any crime gang or involved in the illegal tobacco trade, only that a shop linked to him was a victim of recent attacks. A tobacco shop linked to a notorious crime family that operates in Melbournes western and northern suburbs was also torched earlier this month. Members of the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang were recently arrested after attempting to stand over a shop owner in Eltham. Victoria Police has had no interest in the illegal tobacco trade until now, Murray said. But when we start to see serious crime emanating from what is essentially a turf war about who is going to dominate the illegal tobacco market, we become very interested. If its a gap that serious and organised crime think they will be allowed to fill, then think again. Stupidly, they are turning a spotlight on themselves.

The gangs have been drawn into the market by the massive profits that can be made with relatively low risk compared to drug trafficking. The underworld source said a full-sized shipping container, which can hold up to 15 million cigarettes, is worth about $4 million in profit. A packet of cigarettes bought for $2-$5 overseas and smuggled into Australia can be sold for $16 to $20 each when a legally purchased packet costs $30 to $40 or more. With the price of cigarettes in Australia to increase by 5 per cent in September, law enforcement agencies say the illicit market will only become more alluring.

The aftermath of a suspicious fire in Melbournes northern suburbs. Credit: Nine You can make money easier with cigarettes than drugs. Whats the penalty for getting caught making $4 million on tobacco compared to $4 million on cocaine or meth? More than a decade in jail, the underworld source said. Historically, illicit tobacco trafficking has been viewed as a victimless crime, federal law enforcement authorities say. Loading The discrepancy between the prison sentences for importing hard drugs as opposed to tobacco is a major concern among state and federal law enforcement agencies, which have been lobbying the government to increase the penalties.

There needs to be tougher penalties, said Murray. Its low risk, high reward. Looking through their eyes, they see it as very low risk. Australian Border Force officers intercepted more than 120,000 shipments of illicit tobacco at the border in the past financial year alone, the equivalent of $3.5 billion in lost government revenue. Deputy Commissioner Tim Fitzgerald said the agency had fought to increase penalties for tobacco smuggling to include custodial sentences of up to 10 years, but it was ultimately up to judges and magistrates to dish out tougher penalties. Loading Were still in the process of educating the courts around the ramifications of tobacco, how organised crime is involved in using it for drug trafficking and money laundering, Fitzgerald said.

In 2018, property developer turned cigarette smuggler Nabil Grege received a four-year jail sentence with a minimum of 18 months for illegally importing 18 million cigarettes worth $6.2 million in lost taxes. Last year, a Victorian man was jailed for a minimum of 18 months on a three-year sentence for evading import duties worth $8.5 million on 10 million cigarettes. Fitzgerald said more work was needed to further regulate the market and give additional powers to his agency to tackle the illicit trade. Victoria is among the last jurisdictions in Australia that do not require traders to obtain a licence to sell tobacco products. We need to do more work on the licensing regime associated with tobacco and vaping, he said. These criminal syndicates are sophisticated and run like a business, so theyll do whatever it takes to ensure that they continue to bring a profit at the expense of legitimate business owners and obviously the wider Australian community.
A continuation of delays and disruptions to new energy projects will impose perilous risks of power outages as soon as the coming summer, amid escalating closures of ageing coal-fired power plants and unexpected blowouts to the deadline and cost of the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro scheme.

The independent energy grid operator said state and federal government schemes to encourage investment in preparing the grid for its transition to clean energy, coupled with private projects under development, should be enough to prevent blackouts if all goes to plan.

The Victorian and NSW governments are nervous about energy security and the risks of blackouts as the grid is weaned off fossil fuels. Credit: Getty Images

However, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said in its annual Economic Statement of Opportunities report that delays to any projects have the potential to result in periods of high risk throughout the 10-year horizon. The report is designed to send an investment signal to the energy market to spur new projects where needed.

This is an ominous warning targeted at state and federal governments, following frequent setbacks on a number of critical energy projects.
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 Australians are being asked to choose between two futures in a decision on national power that will be shaped by a ruthless personal contest between two leaders. Anthony Albanese begins the formal campaign for the Indigenous Voice with a bid to cement the reform, trounce his opponents and finish a personal mission from the night he won office last year. Peter Dutton heads toward the referendum with an opportunity to defeat the Voice, diminish the prime minister and turn the No voters against Labor on other fronts. For both leaders, this campaign is about defining their legacies as well as shaping the nations furure. Credit: Fairfax Media The personal contest will shape the race to the referendum  expected to be October 14  because the prime minister and opposition leader so easily dominate daily media coverage. The Voice is bigger than both leaders because it is, or should be, about the best way to help some of the most disadvantaged people in Australian society. Voters are accustomed to the campaign drumbeat of a federal election in which the attention on the two leaders can give way at times to a dispute over competing policy details.

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The policy debate on the Voice, however, has been narrowed from the start. The fundamental strategy for the Yes side, agreed by Albanese with Indigenous leaders, is to seek approval for the Voice in theory before deciding how it works in practice. How will First Nations people choose the members of the Voice? How many members will there be? How many staff will those members have? Will there be local and regional Voices beneath the peak national body? Once the Constitution specifies that the Voice must exist, how will federal legislation determine how the Voice offers its opinions to parliament and government? The referendum campaign will be clouded by the mystery over how the Voice might work. The Yes campaigners want to keep the debate on high principle without venturing any opinions on what comes after the vote. Who do they want to be on the Voice? They would prefer to take that question later.

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The No campaigners use the mystery to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt. One peak group, Fair Australia, claims the Voice will be expensive when this is impossible to know because the size and cost of the new body has not been decided. It claims it will be a Canberra politicians voice when the location and composition of the body are not known. Loading Fair Australia also says the Voice opens the door to separate parliaments and Indigenous-only seats in parliament when this can only be speculation. The compulsory vote asks Australians to choose between two paths whether they are ready or not. The deadline forces a decision on history even if voters cannot be sure if the Yes side has a plan that works or the No side has a plan at all. The compulsory vote asks Australians to choose between two paths whether they are ready or not. Albanese seeks to reassure Australians by calling the referendum a modest request that offers a better way to consult on policy. He links the Voice to the core issue: the entrenched disadvantage for First Nations people. He argues for consultation with the Voice to help close the gap in the outcomes on health, education, life expectancy, incarceration and more. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the official opening of this years Garma festival. Credit: Rhett Wyman

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When you listen to people about matters that affect them, you get better results, the prime minister told an FM radio station on Tuesday. Thats all that this is about. An advisory group, a Voice, so that can get better results. Dutton says No to a constitutional Voice because the change would be permanent and the government cannot be trusted. The Voice is in the Constitution, it cant be abolished. If the government gets it wrong  as many people believe they will  you cant undo the Constitution, he said in Brisbane on Monday. Dutton argues for local and regional voices without any detail on how they might work as an alternative to the government model. The Coalition party room is divided on the basic concept of whether a national Voice should be set up in legislation without being in the Constitution. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton with the newly promoted Kerrynne Liddle (left) and Jacinta Nampijimpa Price on Tuesday, April 18, two weeks after announcing the Liberal party would formally oppose the Voice. Credit: AAP Both sides say they want to close the gap. Which side has a better way? This is an essential question in the campaign to come. The evidence shows the old way of doing things has failed to lift First Nations people out of their poverty, which means a Yes vote would start a debate in parliament on the federal legislation needed to build a new approach to consultation.

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A No vote, however, would be followed by a policy vacuum. How could Albanese set up a legislated Voice if a constitutional Voice had just been rejected at the ballot box? Would Dutton bother with proposing a policy at all? Defeat at the referendum would also mean defeat for Indigenous recognition in the Constitution, and Yes campaign leader Noel Pearson has described this as a setback for reconciliation that would last a generation. A No vote, however, would be followed by a policy vacuum. I shudder to think of an Australia that rejects recognition. All I can see is a future of perpetual protest and struggle, Pearson wrote in January. Loading This seemed to be a dire forecast at the time, when support for the Voice was at 58 per cent in the Resolve Political Monitor. That support fell to 46 per cent in the latest survey. Defeat for the Voice is now the more likely outcome  and this has implications beyond the Voice itself.

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Cedar Key, Florida: Hurricane Idalia has made landfall on Floridas west coast as a dangerous Category three storm on Wednesday unleashing potentially life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.

More than 200,000 customers were without electricity as trees snapped by strong winds brought down power lines and water submerged streets.

Along the coast, some homes were submerged to near their rooftops, and structures along the ocean crumpled in the surge. As the eye moved inland, destructive winds shredded signs and rooftops.

We have multiple trees down, debris in the roads, do not come, posted the fire and rescue department in Cedar Key, which was taking some of the biggest storm surge. The departments post said most of the streets around the downtown area were underwater.
Washington: Hurricane Idalia unleashed devastation in the US state of Florida after making landfall as a Category 3 storm, submerging streets and homes, sparking widespread power outages and resulting in at least two deaths from car crashes.

But after lashing sparsely populated stretches of Floridas Gulf Coast in the morning, it weakened to Category 1 strength by afternoon as it made its way towards Georgia and the Carolinas.

US President Joe Biden used the latest weather disaster  which comes after record bushfires in Canada and Hawaii  to highlight the impact of climate change.

I dont think anybody can deny the impact of a climate crisis anymore, he said at the White House.
BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with James Cleverly, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China has always attached importance to the UK's status as a great power and its unique role, committed itself to stable and mutually beneficial China-UK relations, and always believed that China-UK cooperation has global influence.

Noting that dialogue and cooperation are the keywords and main tone of China's policy towards the UK, Wang said amid the volatile international situation, China and the UK should show their responsibilities as major countries to work together to cope with global challenges and safeguard world peace and stability, and push China-UK relations forward rather than backward.

Wang elaborated on China's position on the Taiwan question, stressing that "Taiwan independence" is incompatible with the stability across the Taiwan Strait, and the UK should earnestly respect China's core interests and abide by the one-China policy.

Cleverly said a positive UK-China relationship will benefit both peoples and the world. The British government's position on the Taiwan question remains unchanged. The British government adheres to the one-China policy.

The UK is committed to strengthening communication with China, taking positive actions to resolve difficulties, enhance understanding, and embrace opportunities, Cleverly said, adding that British enterprises look forward to more cooperation with China and exploring the Chinese market.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukrainian crisis and the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. 
Washington: Three US marines who were killed when their aircraft crashed off the coast of the Northern Territory over the weekend have been identified, but it is still not clear what caused the tragedy.

The three decorated marines who died were Corporal Spencer Collart, 21, Captain Eleanor LeBeau, 29, and Major Tobin Lewis, 37.

Major Tobin Lewis, 37, Osprey pilot Captain Eleanor LeBeau, 29, and US Corporal and crew chief Spencer Collart, 21.

They were among 23 marines on board an MV-22B Osprey aircraft when it crashed while transporting troops during a routine training exercise on Melville Island, about 80 kilometres northwest of Darwin.

According to a statement by the Marine Rotational Force - Darwin (MRF-D), three other Marines injured in the crash remained under the care of Royal Darwin Hospital in Darwin, one in critical condition and two others in stable condition.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday condemned the coup attempt in Gabon.

The secretary-general is following the situation in Gabon very closely, and notes with deep concern the announcement of the election results amidst reports of serious infringements of fundamental freedoms, said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesman, in a statement.

Guterres "firmly condemns the ongoing coup attempt as a means to resolve the post-electoral crisis," Dujarric said.

The secretary-general reaffirms his strong opposition to military coups, and calls on all actors involved to exercise restraint, engage in an inclusive and meaningful dialogue and ensure that the rule of law and human rights are fully respected, said the spokesman.

Guterres also calls on the Gabonese national army and security forces to guarantee the physical integrity of the president and his family, said Dujarric.

"The United Nations stands by the people of Gabon," he said. 
Abbas Ganbay

TEKNOFEST festival dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Republic of Turkiye is being held in Ankara today, Azernews reports.

It should be noted that the contract signing ceremony for the Su-25 (Lachin) modernization project between the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkish company TUSA? was held on July 26 in Istanbul within the framework of the 16th International Defence Industry Exhibition IDEF-23.

The Republic of Turkiye is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and the Aviation, Space, and Technology Festival, TEKNOFEST, is joining in the festivities. TEKNOFEST is the largest aviation, aerospace, and technology festival of Turkiye, and it is being held in Ankara today.

TEKNOFEST is organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3) in collaboration with private companies, ministries, and academic institutions. The primary goals of the festival are to raise public awareness about technology in society and to draw attention to the importance of national production.

The festival is filled with seminars, technology competitions, exhibitions of domestic technology enterprises, Take Off ?nternational Startup Summit, and numerous attractions, such as aviation demonstrations including parachuting, air shows of "Solo Turk", "Turkish Stars", and many international aerobatic teams.

Technology competitions are organized in 12 different categories. People of all ages from primary school students to entrepreneurs can take part in the competitions with their projects and also benefit from the technical equipment support.

For the contest "The HackIstanbul 2018 Capture the Flag", organized in cooperation with the European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ECSO) and Romanian Government, computer hackers from all over the world competed. Winners were awarded money.

Another award-winning competition is the "World Drone Cup" race. The festival was planned to be held in Istanbul between September 21-26. The newest competition categories were added to the festival to be held this year in areas such as simulation, artificial intelligence, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Over 5 million TL of material support will be provided to teams who pass the pre-selection stage. Winner teams will receive a total of over 5 million TL in prizes.

The festival was held in 21 different technology categories in Gaziantep on September 17, 2020. This year, the festival provides for holding 41 main competitions in 102 subcategories. Among them, are "Design of flying cars", "Educational technologies", "Robotaxi", "Agricultural technologies" and "Robotics". Unlike the previous year, for the first time, there will be a competition in the field of technological applications in psychology. The prize fund in TEKNOFEST contests will be over 13 million Turkish liras.

TEKNOFEST is the largest technology competition with the largest prize pool in the history of Turkiye. They are conducted in all technical fields: from missiles to autonomous systems, from agriculture to submarines, from unmanned aerial vehicles to artificial intelligence. It is organized under the leadership of the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) and the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkiye in cooperation with public and media organizations and universities.

This year, TEKNOFEST will be held in Izmir from March 16 to 19, in Istanbul from April 27 to May 1, and from August 30 to September 3 in Ankara.
CAIRO, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on Wednesday approved the establishment of a unit at the cabinet's headquarters to facilitate the country's cooperation with BRICS countries, the cabinet said in a statement.

The unit, which is located in the northern coastal city of New Alamein, "will be responsible for any work related to promoting cooperation with the BRICS group," the statement read.

The unit will comprise ministers and officials who are concerned with BRICS, an acronym for a bloc of emerging economies that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the statement added.

On August 24, BRICS countries agreed to invite six countries, namely Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to join the group as of Jan. 1, 2024.

Egypt officially submitted its application to join the BRICS group in June. 
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Cloudy with bouts of showers and light rain, mainly during the morning through midday. Seasonably cool and drier later in the afternoon with perhaps a few breaks of sun. It will turn breezy as well..

Tonight

Becoming partly cloudy and colder overnight. Still breezy.
HANOVER TWP., Pa.  Majestic Realty offered a public presentation of its proposed "master-planned flex center" at Hanover Township Community Center in Northampton County on Tuesday night, and it quickly became an opportunity for concerned residents to push back on the plan.

The Los Angeles-based developer's flex center calls for the construction of 10 multi-use buildings on 300 acres of land off Airport Road  a site which sits near Lehigh Valley International Airport and is owned by the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, or LNAA.

As they did at the Aug. 8 Hanover Township Planning Commission meeting, Joseph Uliana and Majestic Senior Vice President Ed Konjoyan explained that the 10-building proposal was ultimately smaller and less impactful than a separate 28-building proposal that could possibly be constructed within the township's Aircraft Flightpath Highway Business District, or AFHBD.

+2 Hanover Township planners recommend Majestic Realty zoning amendment to supervisors The development, known as the Majestic Hanover Flex Center (MHFC), calls for the construction of 10 multi-use buildings near the Lehigh Valley International Airport.

"We view this as a classic master-planned development with an attractive, unified site plan," Uliana said. "Not one-off buildings that are done, but something that is coordinated to look consistent and to meet a pre-planned look.

Because of the development's location within the AFHBD, Konjoyan and Uliana said its possible uses were limited by federal building height regulations. Uses such as mini-storage facilities, data centers, indoor agriculture and airport-related functions were likely, while uses that draw large tractor-trailer traffic like cold storage facilities would be prohibited, Konjoyan and Uliana said.

However, most residents were not convinced by the developer's assurances.

Resident Monica Beaky accused Majestic of writing the zoning text amendment recommended by the township planning commission for its own benefit  and to the "detriment" of Hanover Township residents. The developer should instead work within the framework of existing township ordinances, Beaky argued.

"You have written this text amendment for your own benefit, to the detriment of citizens, and to the detriment of people who will live basically on top of this," Beaky told Konjoyan, to which the latter disagreed. "Why would you write a text amendment to a township and propose it if it wasn't for your benefit?"

Resident Jennifer Levins cited an agreement between Majestic and the LNAA in which profits from the development would be split 60% to 40%, respectively. Since such an agreement would not at all benefit residents, Levins argued, the developer should consider building a park or other green space that would offer some upside for the surrounding community.

"I don't see anything in either one of these plans," Levins said. "You're not building a park... What services are you providing us?"

Resident Jerry Landi expressed his preference for the 28-building plan that Majestic said would be currently permitted, since the many smaller buildings in that plan would make developing traffic-generating warehouses more difficult. The over-development of warehouses in the Lehigh Valley has left many of them sitting empty with no benefit to communities, Landi said to applause.

"That plan sounds good to me," Landi said of the 28-building alternative that Majestic used as a point of comparison. "But you know what? You won't fill them (multi-use warehouse buildings)."

The current AFHBD zoning ordinance allows up to 25% of a building's square footage to be used for warehouses, which increases to 50% if a developer obtains conditional use.

As part of its proposed text amendment, Majestic is seeking to expand that proposed conditional use threshold from 50% to 100% for buildings in its flex center that have a 500-foot setback from residences, which Konjoyan said would qualify seven out of the 10 proposed buildings.

No formal action on the flex center was taken at Tuesday's presentation. The Hanover Township Board of Supervisors will next meet on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
LOWER SAUCON TWP., Pa.  After nearly two hours of public comment overwhelmingly against it and a further four-hour public hearing on Wednesday, the Lower Saucon Township Council passed a controversial rezoning plan by a 3-2 vote  paving the way for the Bethlehem Landfill Co. to propose land development that would expand its operations.

The plan, formally known as Ordinance 2023-05, changes the classification of 275.7 acres of woodlands from Rural-Agricultural to Light-Industrial under Lower Saucon Townships zoning code. The land is north of the Bethlehem Landfill Co. at 2335 Applebutter Road, east of Steel City, south of the Lehigh River, and west of the Route 33-Interstate 78 intersection.

Wednesdays six-hour meeting began at 9 a.m. Its ultimate vote followed the councils July 11 decision to advance rezoning and the Lower Saucon Township Planning Commissions recommendation of the proposal last Thursday.

About 30 residents passionately raised various concerns about the landfills potential expansion into the rezoned Light-Industrial area.

Victoria Opthof-Cordaro  a leader in Citizens for Responsible Development LST's pending lawsuit against the township over the rezoning plan  said that two of the three largest rezoned parcels are part of the Redington Historic District. Opthof-Cordaro said that residents should be allowed to provide more testimony about such impacts, beyond three-minute public comment sessions permitted at council meetings. CRD argues much of the land that was rezoned is protected by conservation easements. "We have 201 acres of property that our council members, back in 1994, put under conservation so that our residents, and the Lehigh Valley as a whole, could benefit from the beautiful air, and the water, and the pristine nature of that forest," said Opthof-Cordaro. Opthof-Cordaro said they're currently supporting eight homeowners who are suing the township for trying to violate those easements. "Despite that case being pending, our township council will consider releasing it. They think they have the ultimate authority to just let them go away," said Opthof-Cordaro. Several Council members argued they didn't have to abide by those easements because there was no third-party listed to enforce them. Despite people holding signs calling for him to resign, Council President Jason Banonis said the expansion should go forward to keep the money from the landfill. "Do you want to pay another $500 per month? That's a car payment. It's probably more than your electric bill. It's a lot of money that we're trying to not have Lower Saucon Township taxpayers put out," said Banonis. Banonis also argued the township could be sued by developers for not having enough industrial land available. "If Lower Saucon Township does not have enough space that's zoned for light industrial, then we could have a substantive validity challenge that would expose this township to litigation," said Banonis.

Resident and Lafayette College geology professor Dru Germanoski said that a wise council once studied the environmental impacts of potentially altering a landscape permanently. Because a landfill expansion would destroy hydrology forever, Germanoski argued that its potential long-term effects could be even worse than those of mining operations in Kentucky or West Virginia.

Resident Frank Palumbo and others spoke about the perceived corruption of Banonis and Carocci, who they said received $100,000 in campaign contributions from a political action committee affiliated with the Bethlehem Landfill Texas-based Waste Connections owner of the Bethlehem Landfill Co.

Clearly, money is ruling this township, Palumbo said.

Banonis and Carocci later denied the allegations. The former responded that they only received about $17,500 in mostly small donations from township residents for their council campaigns.

I will attest and swear on a Bible that I have not received anything of any value from Bethlehem Landfill or anyone affiliated with the Bethlehem Landfill, Banonis said.

Some residents grew raucous when the council refused to allow Bethlehem Township Board of Commissioners vice chairman John Gallagher to speak against the plan because he is not a Lower Saucon Township resident, but nearly permitted Bethlehem Landfills attorney Maryanne Garber to speak  before she was later denied but allowed to hand the council a written statement. In total, interruptions led Banonis to recess the meeting three times throughout the day.

As they did on July 11, council president Jason Banonis, vice president Mark Inglis, and member Tom Carocci voted in favor of the zoning change. Members Priscilla deLeon and Sandra Yerger voted against it.

In defense of the decision, Banonis argued that the Bethlehem Landfill Co. provides $2.6 million in annual revenue to Lower Saucon Township. This money is 30% of the townships total revenue and eases the tax burden on local residents, Banonis said.

If we take out the $2.6 million that comes to the township, this does not create an economically sustainable model for the townships future, Banonis said.

Carocci claimed that no residents opposed to the rezoning plan had proposed an alternative plan to Lower Saucon waste that ends up in the landfill.

No one has said what were supposed to do with more trash, Carocci said. Its just a not in my backyard argument.

In opposition to the plan, deLeon argued that potentially expanding the landfill would worsen waste runoff impacts on Riverside Drive during inclement weather.

Banonis and Carooci disputed this assertion, citing a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection study that concluded that landfill runoff was not responsible for last months flooding and pollution on Riverside Drive. Several students from Lehigh University were in the audience to watch the political process play out. We got some of their reactions to the back and forth. "I saw some really disrespectful behavior from the council members, and to me it just seems like they're taking money over the interests of their constituents," said Junior Ciaran Vuitrheo. "The council not being receptive whatsoever, they're very disrespectful, that's putting it lightly," said Junior Dylan McFarland.

After the vote, township solicitor B. Lincoln Treadwell noted that the approved rezoning was just on paper. Any potential landfill expansion would have to go through the townships land development process, Treadwell said. The homeowners told us the fight is not over. "There will of course be appeals on the zoning, underlying that it's not appropriate," said Opthof-Cordaro. The Bethlehem Landfill's attorney, Maryanne Garber, sent us a statement, saying "We are confident that today's votes will result in long-lasting advantages for Lower Saucon Township and its residents for many years to come."
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Pennsylvania's Department of Human Services Secretary made a stop in Allentown Wednesday, talking about Medicaid coverage renewals.

Doctor Val Arkoosh met with medical professionals at the Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley.

During the pandemic, people were allowed to stay on Medicaid, even if they were no longer eligible.

That continuous coverage ended back in March.

Now, people must renew their coverage, and the state is working to determine eligibility.

"We want to ensure that every person has the dignity and security of being able to get health care for themselves and for their family members whenever they need it," Arkoosh said.

Arkoosh is the former chair of Montgomery County's Board of Commissioners.

Nearly 3.6 million of Pennsylvania's 13 million residents are on Medicaid.
MEDIA, Pa. - Wawa is helping teachers return to class with some extra school spirit by providing free coffee starting Friday.

The convenience-store chain is giving free hot coffee to teachers and school administrators every day from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30. Every day, not just school days.

Wawa's "Cheers to Classrooms" recognizes "teachers and school administration who educate, guide and inspire children," according to a company statement. Eligible teachers and administrators can pick up their hot coffee, any size, and when they get to the register, share with the staff that they are eligible.

The offer of free caffeine is for Lehigh Valley educators, along with any in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Wawa is also contributing $50,000, in a partnership with Donor's Choose, to support schools. Teachers can submit a project at the Donor's Choose website. Schools that meet Wawa's funding criteria may receive matching funds.

Donor's Choose raises funds for schools, matching donors with teachers in need of books, supplies, support for school trips and more. Since 2000, the website says it has raised $1.51 billion for education and funded 2.69 million projects.

The start-of-the-school year initiative's goal is "to put a smile on the faces of teachers and administration that work so hard to do the same for our children in our community," Dave Simonetti, senior director of store operations for Wawa, said in a statement.

Wawa is a privately held company that is based in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It operates more than 950 stores and employs more than 35,000 people, according to its website.
BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. - The Yurconic Agency has acquired the assets of Bev's Auto Tags location in Bethlehem Township, expanding the company's reach to 14 locations.

Yurconic, founded in 1969, will now provide insurance, vehicle registration, notary and other services at the 2910 Easton Ave. office. That location is in the Shops at Bethlehem, the center on the Bethlehem Township/Bethlehem City border that is anchored by a Giant grocery store.

More acquisitions are being considered, according to John T. Yurconic, chief executive officer of the agency.

"We are actively looking to grow," Yurconic said Wednesday. "We are looking to expand in our region."

The Yurconic Agency region extends from the Lehigh Valley north to Palmerton, Lehighton and Pottsville, and into Reading and Sinking Spring in Berks County.

Bev's Auto Tags had been serving customers for 30 years. The Yurconic Agency took over the business effective Aug. 1.

"We thank all our customers who supported us over the past 30 years," Bev Godeny said in a statement on the Yurconic website.

"Bev operated a great shop," Yurconic said. "We've always wanted to be operating in that region. We now have 14 locations and we're looking for more."

The Yurconic Agency offers insurance for autos, homes and businesses, and medical malpractice, life, health and disability insurance. It also provides vehicle registration, driver's license, vehicle-title transfer and notary services at 12 of its 14 locations.
BARRETT TWP., Pa. - Police in part of Monroe County are investigating after they say two people were found dead at a home Monday.

The Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department said officers were sent to the 100 block of Diane Lane in Barrett Township shortly before 9 p.m. for a report of two deceased people on a deck.

Family friends found the bodies of Deborah Oliver, 68, and Michael Oliver, 69, when they went to the home following a request by family to check on their well being, according to a news release from the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department.

Police and investigators arrived on scene to find the two had suffered from apparent gunshot wounds, according to the news release.

Police say that all evidence located and the scene indicate that this is an isolated incident and is being investigated as a domestic event.

The public is not considered to be in danger at this time, police said.

Autopsies for the Olivers are scheduled for Wednesday, and the investigation will remain open pending the results, according to police.
UNION TWP., N.J. - A Texas man who had admitted to shooting and killing another man in Union Township, New Jersey, has learned his sentence, according to a news release from the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office.

David L. Rodriguez, 47, of Alamo, Texas, was sentenced Wednesday to a 20-year state prison term subject to the No Early Release Act, the prosecutor's office said.

Rodriguez will have to serve 85% of his sentence, 17 years, before he is eligible for parole, according to the news release.

The prosecutor's office said he will be supervised on parole for five years after his release from prison.

On January 23, 2021, Rodriguez fired several shots at Ricardo Menezes De Castro, 43, of Deerfield Beach, Florida, during an argument at the Pilot Travel Center in Union Township, subsequently killing him, the prosecutor's office said.

On June 22, 2022, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter.
LIBREVILLE, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Gabonese military have canceled presidential election results and dissolved state institutions, officers said Wednesday, claiming that they have taken power and put President Ali Bongo under house arrest.

In a televised statement, a group of senior Gabonese officers said they seized power after Bongo, the incumbent president, was announced to be re-elected in a contested election. The election results were canceled, state institutions dissolved, and all borders closed until further notice, they said.

Gabon's national electoral body said earlier in the day that Bongo from the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party was re-elected for a third term in Saturday's election. However, the officers said the election was not credible.

According to local media, gunfire was heard in the capital Libreville.

"In the name of the Gabonese people ... we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime," the officers said on national television. They read a statement on behalf of the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions.

"All the institutions of the republic are dissolved, in particular the government, the Senate, the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, the Gabonese Center for Elections," read the statement.

Ali Bongo, 64, once served as minister of defense and other posts in the government. He was elected president of the Gabonese Republic in 2009 and was re-elected in 2016.

In another statement released Wednesday, the military said, "President Ali Bongo is kept under house arrest, surrounded by his family and his doctors."

The officers said the son of the president, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and several other senior officials close to Bongo were arrested.

In a video clip released on Wednesday afternoon, Bongo said he is at his residence while his wife and son are in other places.

"Nothing is happening. I don't know what is going on. So I am calling on you to make noise, make noise, make noise really. I'm thanking you," said Bongo in his first public appearance after the coup.

In January 2019 when Bongo was in Morocco recovering from a stroke, a group of soldiers broke into the national radio station in Libreville and announced the establishment of a "national council of the restoration." The government foiled the coup attempt as security forces soon took over the radio station and detained the soldiers.

The international community has voiced concerns over the coup.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said France is following the situation closely. Spokesman of the French government Olivier Veran has condemned the coup, noting that France "reiterates its desire to see the results of the election respected."

Russia also expressed its concerns over the situation in Gabon. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that it is hoped that the situation in Gabon will return to stability. She also advised that Russians temporarily refrain from traveling to this country, if there is no urgent need. 
TRIPOLI, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah on Wednesday stressed the need to hold general elections in the country as soon as possible.

Dbeibah made the remarks during a meeting with the Special Envoy of the French President for Libya Paul Soller in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, where they also discussed political developments in Libya and neighboring countries, said a statement issued by the government's information office.

Dbeibah stressed the need to hold elections as soon as possible in accordance with fair and impartial laws to end the transitional stages in Libya.

The French envoy expressed his country's support for the Government of National Unity and its efforts in pushing for the elections, it added.

Soller on Tuesday met with President of Libya Presidency Council Mohamed Menfi, discussing elections, uniting the military institutions, and achieving national reconciliation in Libya.

Libya failed to hold general elections in December 2021 as previously scheduled, due to disagreements over election laws among the Libyan parties.

Ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, Libya has been struggling to make a democratic transition amid escalating violence and political division. 
Genomics research in Africa will improve global health

African populations are the most genetically diverse in the world, with thousands of different ethnolinguistic groups across the continent.

Harnessing Africas unprecedented genetic diversity could provide clues to physiological adaptation and mechanisms of disease and identify new drug targets. Yet, Africa remains underrepresented in genomic studies.

Nephrologist Dr June Fabian, Research Director at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (WDGMC), says that because of the lack of data, care for African patients can be compromised, with significant consequences in already constrained public health systems. Furthermore, the benefits of focusing on genomics research in Africa extend to global populations, all of whom have their origins in Africa.

We have had a Eurocentric lens on precision medicine, which discounts the broad genomic diversity on this continent, says Fabian. Precision medicine individualises diagnosis and treatment for improved health. It considers genetic, biological and phenotype variations, which have been well-researched in the Global North. However, these genomic profiles cannot be applied to all healthcare contexts. Now, African clinicians and researchers are advocating for medical treatment beyond a one size fits all approach.

Fabian and Professor Michele Ramsay, Director of the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience (SBIMB) at Wits delivered the Faculty of Health Sciences annual Prestigious Research Lecture, titled Unlocking the Potential of Genomics for Precision Medicine at the Wits School of Public Health Auditorium on Tuesday, 1 August 2023.

Build local capacity to research non-communicable, rare diseases in Africa

Ramsay said there was an urgent need for local data and research to make medical treatments and treatment approaches fit for purpose on the continent. The underrepresentation of African genomics in reference and disease-associated databases make it difficult to interpret the potential phenotypic consequences of DNA sequencing data.

The good news is that Wits is building the necessary research and clinical capacity. One example is an African longitudinal study cohort with over 12,000 older adults from four sub-Saharan African countries. The study, referred to as the Africa Wits-INDEPTH Partnership for Genomic Research (AWI-Gen), examines genetic and environmental contributions to cardiometabolic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes. It is a partner of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa, the Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa) and other international consortia.

We use this data to demonstrate population sub-structure in Africa and its impact on disease-associated traits. In particular, we're looking at the genetic factors in cardiometabolic diseases and their interactions with environmental factors and behaviour. Since they all contribute to health and disease, we need more comprehensive data and innovative analysis approaches to understand them better, said Ramsay.

There has been a significant increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa in the wake of increased urbanisation and Western lifestyles (in parallel with the persistent burden of infectious diseases). African genomic data will be a critical piece of the puzzle that seeks to understand the complex interplay between genetics, lifestyle, and the environment. African genome diversity can help to interpret the impact of genetic variation on the phenotype, she said.

Unlocking the potential of genomics in Africa can drive research and innovation in precision medicine. It can foster collaborations between African scientists, international researchers, and pharmaceutical companies, leading to advancements in diagnostics, therapeutics, and preventative strategies. This will undoubtedly improve healthcare globally.

Why we need African genomic data

Fabian discussed her research on chronic kidney disease in African populations. One study focuses on genetic mutations that cause steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome in black South African children with focal glomerulosclerosis (a condition in which scar tissue develops in the kidney, causing impaired function). Screening for this mutation helps clinicians to identify a subgroup of children that dont respond to treatment, thus sparing them from unnecessary side effects.

Fabians other study examines the association between apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) genetic variation and kidney function in African populations. Variants of the APOL1 gene were first identified in African Americans and traced back to West Africa, where the variants protect against African sleeping sickness. The downside of these variants is that they also cause kidney disease, explaining the increased risk for kidney disease in those of African ancestry. Fabian and Ramsay found that patterns of APOL1-associated kidney disease in African populations differ from that in the USA highlighting the need to validate research in African populations, rather than assume findings are the same.

Political will, equitable access key to improving African-centered healthcare

Professor Amanda Krause, head of the Division of Human Genetics at the National Health Laboratory Service and the Wits School of Pathology responded to Ramsay and Fabian's presentations. The overarching message of this lecture is that we need to translate this research potential into clinical settings.

This capacity-building requires political will (including government and multinational funding), equitable access, health systems infrastructure, drug development and clinical trials, and committed industry partnerships.

Krause echoed the concluding statement from the lecture: To improve individual and public health outcomes, genomics research must be done in African populations, led by African investigators.

New information uncovered by African genomics will undoubtedly lead to improved outcomes for Africans and populations worldwide.

Professor Shabir Madhi, Dean of Wits Faculty of Health Sciences commended Ramsay and Fabian on their research, particularly at the start of National Womens Month in South Africa. We have a powerhouse of female researchers doing this work. Were immensely grateful and proud, he concluded.
Renowned medical oncologist to Chair Ethics Committee

Emeritus Professor Paul Ruff was appointed Chairperson of the Wits Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC): Medical, effective 1 August 2023.

The Wits HREC: Medical oversees medical research studies and projects, including higher degrees, and local and international collaborative research, as well as commercial clinical trials.

Wits Ethics Committees are registered with the National Department of Healths National Health Research Ethics Council (NHREC), ensuring highly ethical and top quality research.

As Wits HREC: Medical Chair, Ruff is determined to maintain an excellent, highly efficient, and transparent approval process, and he is keen to engage with applicants to ensure ongoing quality and ethical research.

Ruff says, I envisage ongoing excellence and efficiency in considering the ethics of proposed research at the University that involves human participants. Im determined to run a transparent and efficient ethics approval process and I am open to engaging with applicants to ensure that good quality research continues at Wits.

Furthermore, he is keen to cooperate with other HRECs throughout the country, a process that has recently commenced.

A Witsie with extensive clinical, research experience

Ruff has an enduring association with Wits, having earned his MBBCh in 1979. As Professor and Specialist Medical Oncologist, he served as Head of Medical Oncology at the University from 2002 until 2021.

Since 2018, Ruff has chaired the Clinical Trials Committee of SAPHRA (South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, which replaced the old Medicines Controls Council (MCC) whose Clinical Trials Committee he chaired from 2015.

He has been Principal Investigator (PI) of the Wits/South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Common Epithelial Cancer Research Centre (CECRC) since 2015, and Co-PI, with Columbia University in New York, of National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded grants in HIV and breast cancer.

A leader locally and abroad

Ruff has filled many leadership positions within Wits, at the Universitys circuit of teaching hospitals, and outside Wits, both nationally and internationally. He is a member of the Research Committee of the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), and he previously chaired the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Cancer Control and Prevention and the National Tertiary/Quaternary Essential Medicines Committee.

On the international stage, he is the Chair of the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Council of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), having previously been a member of ASCOs International Affairs Committee, International Clinical Trials Workshop, and International Quality Steering Group.

Ruff has published extensively in the field of oncology with over 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals, particularly in the field of colorectal cancer. He is the recipient of many awards for research and clinical excellence during his career, including the A.G. Oettle Medal from CANSA in 2020.

Ruff says, I am very pleased and honoured to take over as the Chair of this important University committee. Thank you to my predecessor, Dr Clement Penny, for his excellent work and commitment in the past.

Meet the Chairs of Wit Universitys Ethics Committees

The University has ethics committees which are responsible for quality and ethical research.

The Wits HREC: Non-medical committee is chaired by Professor Jennifer Watermeyer and co-Chairs Professor Jasper Knight, Associate Professor Edmarie Pretorius, and Dr Shalini Dukhan. All research activities by staff and students at Wits requires ethics clearance from the HREC: Non-medical if it involves human participants, and if the research includes social, educational and/or psychological behaviour or perceptions, personal data required by an institution. This excludes research activities at a medical facility.

Professor Frederic Michel chairs the Wits Animal Research Ethics Committee (AREC), which is responsible for ethical research and teaching activities at Wits that involves animals.

Professor James Larkin chairs the Wits Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC). Biosafety is concerned with the containment methods required when managing parasites, infectious agents and infected or potentially infected animals, tissues, or other materials. The purpose is to reduce exposure of laboratory workers, other persons, and the outside environment, to potentially hazardous agents.
A worker polishes a yacht under construction at a workshop along the Nile River in Damietta Governorate, Egypt, Aug. 22, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

DAMIETTA, Egypt, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- In Egypt's northern coastal city of Ezbet al-Borg, where the Nile River meets the Mediterranean Sea, dozens of workers were busy putting the final touches on a luxurious tourist boat before exporting it to Cyprus.

The city, located in Damietta Governorate, some 190 km north of the capital Cairo, has been leading shipbuilding in the North African country for decades.

Once you step into the workshops' area along the Nile, hundreds of under-construction boats and ships can be seen lined up with dozens of skilled laborers making up an anatomy of collaboration similar to an anthill or a beehive.

"This fancy yacht will sail to its owner in Cyprus in days ... it took us six months to build it," Ahmed al-Etreby, owner of a shipbuilding workshop in the city, told Xinhua.

Inheriting the trade from his forebears, the man in his middle years highlighted shipbuilding as a time-honored industry deeply rooted in Egypt's history, with Ezbet al-Borg standing out of Egypt's shipbuilding cities as the prime hub.

He revealed that the city is home to tens of workshops that build fishing and tourist boats of various kinds and sizes, in addition to medium-sized cargo and oil ships, noting that they also do ship repair and maintenance work.

In addition to building fishing boats for local fishermen, Al-Etreby said the workshops also make tourist yachts of all sizes for exports to countries such as Greece, Cyprus, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Tunisia, Sudan, and many other countries.

"Most of the ships built here are made of fiber-coated wood, fiberglass, and steel, but buyers prefer those made of fiber-coated wood because they are cheaper and easier to repair," al-Etreby said.

He explained that creating a ship involves a series of steps. It begins with designing the ship's structure and crafting the frame from iron or wood. After that, the ship's body is constructed, followed by the installation of the engine and tanks. The process continues with painting, setting up internal equipment, installing electrical systems, and concludes with testing work.

"Our skilled workers and the experience we have gained throughout history granted us a global position in shipbuilding ... ships, yachts and boats made in Ezbet al-Borg have set sail in oceans and seas around the globe," al-Etreby proudly said as he carefully watched his workers testing the boat's electric network.

Al-Etreby noted that shipbuilding is almost available in all Egyptian coastal cities, "but Ezbet al-Borg is unique for its high-standard manufacturing skills and successful marketing methods."

"The industry brings in foreign currencies that would back the national economy," he said.

Not far away from al-Etreby's workshop, Mohammed Abu-Ataia, owner of another shipyard, was giving instructions to his workers who just started to build a new 36-meter-long steel fishing vessel.

"Ezbet al-Borg can compete with European countries, although the workshops here still adopt some traditional manual methods," Abu-Ataia said.

Abu-Ataia, whose family has been in this trade for decades, pointed out that the local shipbuilding industry is advancing and expanding. Shipbuilders are embracing new technologies, driving progress in the industry.

"The sea is a lifeline for the city's residents as most of them work in fishing-related jobs such as fishing, shipbuilding, and fish trade, which made the unemployment rate here close to zero," Abu-Ataia said, noting that Ezbet al-Borg has the largest fishing fleet in Egypt, with thousands of fishermen working in the industry.

The 46-year-old man also expected the whole industry in Egypt will develop further as the country is working to localize and modernize the industry of shipbuilding.

In recent years, the Egyptian government has been exerting efforts to develop shipbuilding and ship repair capabilities, including investing in new infrastructure and attracting foreign investment.

Meanwhile, Abu-Ataia said the business has slumped over the past two years due to the global economic recession, adding that the demand has declined because of the price hikes in raw materials used in the industry.

"Like many other industries, we face challenges. However, the industry is expected to continue to grow," Abu-Ataia said. "We will keep making ships and boats for local use and exportation as well. We will also help the government modernize and develop its ship fleet," he added. 

Workers work on building a ship at a workshop along the Nile River in Damietta Governorate, Egypt, Aug. 22, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

A man works on building a ship at a workshop along the Nile River in Damietta Governorate, Egypt, Aug. 22, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

This photo taken on Aug. 22, 2023 shows ships under construction at a workshop along the Nile River in Damietta Governorate, Egypt. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
BlackRock Debt Strategies Fund, Inc. is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by BlackRock, Inc. The fund is managed by BlackRock Advisors, LLC. It invests in fixed income markets of the United States. The fund primarily invests in a diversified portfolio of companies' debt instruments, including corporate loans, which are rated in the lower rating categories of the established rating services (BBB or lower by S&P's or Baa or lower by Moody's) or unrated debt instruments, which are in the judgment of the investment adviser of equivalent quality. It was formerly known as Debt Strategies Fund Inc. BlackRock Debt Strategies Fund, Inc. was formed on March 27, 1998 and is domiciled in the United States.
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American Express Company is a multinational financial services company based in New York City. The company provides credit cards, charge cards, traveler's cheques and other financial services to individuals and businesses worldwide.



Founded in 1850, American Express has been a pioneer in the credit card industry and has developed a reputation for offering premium products and services that cater to high-income consumers. The company operates in over 130 countries and employs over 75,000 people globally.

Stephen J. Squeri has served as American Express Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 2018, succeeding Kenneth I. Chenault. Squeri joined the company in 1985 and has held various leadership positions.



He is credited with leading the company's digital transformation and developing new partnerships with technology companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon. Other key management team members include Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey C. Campbell and Vice Chairman Douglas E. Buckminster.

American Express has consistently generated strong financial results, with revenue increasing consistently over the past few years. The company's net income has also grown during this same time frame. The company's profit margin has remained relatively stable at around 14%.



American Express has maintained a strong balance sheet, with a debt-to-equity ratio and a price-to-book ratio consistent with industry averages. Over the past couple of years, American Express' stock has performed well, leading its industry peers.

The credit card industry is highly competitive, with a few prominent players dominating the market. American Express competes with other major credit card companies, such as Visa and Mastercard and banks that issue private-label credit cards.



The industry has been growing steadily, with global credit card transactions expected to reach $8.8 trillion by 2025. However, the industry faces several challenges, including increasing regulatory scrutiny and the threat of disruption from fintech startups.

American Express has several growth opportunities, including expanding its presence in international markets and developing new partnerships with technology companies. The company has made significant progress in these areas, with global revenue growth from 2016 to 2022.



American Express has also partnered with companies such as Uber, Marriott and Delta Airlines to offer unique benefits to its cardholders. Additionally, the company has been investing in its digital capabilities by launching its digital wallet and mobile app.

Despite its stable financial performance and growth opportunities, American Express faces several risks and challenges. The company's high-end products and services may be vulnerable to changes in consumer preferences, and the company may need help to appeal to younger generations who prefer debit cards and mobile payments.



Additionally, American Express is subject to increasing regulatory scrutiny, with regulators monitoring the company's anti-money laundering practices and compliance with consumer protection laws. The company's debt levels and dependence on the global economy also pose risks, as a recession or economic downturn could impact its profitability.

Another major challenge for American Express is the increasing competition from fintech startups, disrupting the traditional credit card industry by offering innovative products and services. These startups are often more agile and adaptable than established companies like American Express and may be able to offer more attractive rewards and lower fees to customers.



To stay competitive, American Express must continue to innovate and develop new products and services that cater to changing customer preferences.
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 crude oil, and bitumen. The Downstream segment is involved in the transportation and refining of crude oil, blending of refined products, and the distribution and marketing of refined products. It also transports crude oil production and third-party crude oil to refineries by contracted pipelines, common carrier pipelines, and rail; owns and operates refineries; maintains a distribution system to move petroleum products to market by pipeline, tanker, rail, and road transport; owns and operates fuel terminals, natural gas liquids, and products pipelines in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario; markets petroleum products under the Esso and Mobil brands; and sells petroleum products, including fuel, asphalt, and lubricants for industrial and transportation customers, independent marketers, and resellers, as well as other refiners serving the agriculture, residential heating, and commercial markets through branded fuel and lubricant resellers. The Chemical segment manufactures and markets various benzene, aromatic and aliphatic solvents, plasticizer intermediates, and polyethylene resin; and markets refinery grade propylene. The company was incorporated in 1880 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Imperial Oil Limited is a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation.
Deere & Company, a global leader in manufacturing and distributing agricultural, construction, forestry and turf care equipment, is headquartered in Moline, Illinois. With over 185 years of experience, the company has established a strong reputation for quality and innovation.

Deere & Company operates through four segments: small agriculture and turf, production and precision agriculture, construction and forestry and financial services.

The small agriculture and turf segment offers a variety of equipment, including utility tractors, riding lawn equipment, commercial mowing equipment and implements for various outdoor power applications. This segment also resells products from other manufacturers.

The production and precision agriculture segment provides equipment for grain growers, including mid-size tractors, combines, cotton pickers and strippers, sugarcane harvesters and harvesting front-end equipment. It also offers application equipment, such as sprayers, nutrient management systems and soil preparation machinery.

The construction and forestry segment provides various machines and service parts used in earth moving, construction, material handling, road building and timber harvesting. Its products include crawler dozers, backhoe loaders, motor graders, four-wheel-drive loaders, excavators, articulated dump trucks and milling machines, to name a few.

The financial services segment finances sales and leases of agriculture and turf, construction and forestry equipment. It also offers wholesale financing to dealers, extended equipment warranties and retail revolving charge accounts.

Deere & Company is known for its innovative products, including the John Deere Autonomous 8R Tractor, See & Spray and E-Power Backhoe. These technology-enabled products help farmers, construction workers and forestry professionals operate more efficiently and sustainably.

Its logo and slogan reflect the company's commitment to innovation and sustainability. The leaping deer logo has been used for over 155 years and has become synonymous with the company's commitment to quality and reliability. The slogan "Nothing Runs Like a Deere" reflects the company's commitment to building long-lasting and reliable equipment that helps its customers achieve their goals.

Deere & Company has a solid financial position with a global presence. Deere & Company has a vast distribution network and operates in over 160 countries. Its commitment to quality and innovation has earned it a loyal customer base, and it continues to be a leader in the industry.

Deere & Company is a global leader in the manufacturing and distributing of agricultural, construction, forestry and turf care equipment. With a commitment to innovation and sustainability, the company offers customers a wide range of products and services worldwide.
Morgan Stanley is the 6th largest financial institution in the US. The company is ranked 61st on the Forbes Fortune 500 list and is the 39th largest bank in the world. A financial holding company, Morgan Stanley provides a full range of financial services to clients around the world.

Morgan Stanley was formed in 1935 as a result of the Glass-Steagall Act. Glass-Steagall separated commercial and investment banking in a way that forced the then-largest bank J.P. Morgan & Co to split into two groups. J.P. Morgan & Co. chose to retain the commercial side of the business while partners Henry S. Morga, grandson of J.P., and Harold Stanley took the investment end. In its first year, Morgan Stanley did 24% of the IPO business and maintains a lions share of the market to this day.

The original company existed and grew through acquisitions until 1987 when it merged with Dean Witter Discover & Co. The new Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover & Co existed for 14 years until 2001 when the name was shortened back to Morgan Stanley.

The bank is credited in part with both beginning and ending the financial crisis of 2007/2008. The Process Driven Trading unit lost $300 million in one day due to a short-squeeze that popped the bubble in the housing market. After teetering on the brink of failure Morgan Stanley agreed to become a bank holding company regulated by the Federal Reserve, a key factor in the original decision to split from parent J.P. Morgan & Co. Ironically when given the chance, present-day J.P. Morgan refused to buy Morgan Stanley but that was for the better.

Today, Morgan Stanley operates through three segments via offices in 41 countries and employs more than 75,000 people. Revenue in 2021 topped $49 billion and total assets topped $1.15 trillion.

The operating segments are Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments. The Institutional Securities segment is by far the largest and most profitable. It offers a range of services and products for businesses, institutions, and entities that include capital raising, strategic advisory, underwriting, advice on M&A, restructuring, and real estate. The Wealth Management segment provides brokerage and investment advisory services for individuals and employers. The services include brokerage, financial planning, company stock-plan administration, insurance, mortgage loans, lines of credit, and retirement planning. The Investment Management segment provides investment products to a range of institutions, organizations, corporations, and governments.
Uber Technologies Inc. is a San Francisco-based company providing mobility, food and package delivery services and freight transport. Uber operates in approximately 10,500 cities in 72 countries. The company sets fares based on local supply and demand at the time of booking and receives a commission from each booking. The company has 131 million monthly active users and 5.4 million active drivers and couriers worldwide.

Uber was founded in 2009 by Oscar Salazar Gaitan, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp and was initially named Ubercab Inc. The idea for Uber came about after Camp and Kalanick spent a pricey $800 hiring a private driver on New Year's Eve, and Camp needed help finding a taxi on a snowy night in Paris. Camp, Oscar Salazar and Conrad Whelan built the prototype for Uber's mobile app, with Kalanick as the chief advisor to the company. Ryan Graves became the first Uber employee in February 2010 and was named CEO in May 2010. In December 2010, Kalanick succeeded Graves as CEO, and Graves became the chief operating officer. Uber's current CEO is Dara Khosrowshahi, who replaced co-founder Travis Kalanick of Uber in August 2017.

Uber debuted in San Francisco in 2011, opening its services and mobile app to the public after beta testing in May 2010. Initially, the application hailed black luxury cars, which cost about 1.5 times as much as a regular taxi. In response to San Francisco's taxi operators' objections, the company changed its name from UberCab to Uber in the same year. Uber's early team consisted of talented individuals from various fields, including a computational neuroscientist and a nuclear physicist who worked on enhancing the accuracy of Uber's car arrival predictions beyond what Google APIs offered.

In the summer of 2012, Uber rolled out UberX. This budget-friendly alternative permitted drivers to use their cars provided they passed background checks and met insurance, registration and vehicle quality standards. UberX expanded to 35 cities within a few months, demonstrating its popularity among cost-conscious riders. In August 2014, Uber extended its services by introducing Uber Eats, a food delivery platform. It also unveiled a carpooling feature in the San Francisco Bay Area, which soon spread to other cities globally, enabling passengers to share rides and save on fares.

Uber has faced legal action in several jurisdictions due to its classification of drivers as gig workers and independent contractors. Ridesharing companies like Uber have disrupted taxicab businesses and allegedly caused increased traffic congestion. Additionally, Uber has been criticized for various unethical practices, such as ignoring local regulations, some of which were revealed by the leak of the Uber Files between 2013 and 2017 under the leadership of Travis Kalanick.

In August 2016, DiDi acquired Uber's business operations in China, and in exchange, Uber obtained an 18% equity stake in DiDi. DiDi also pledged to invest $1 billion in Uber as part of the agreement. Later that year, Uber purchased Ottomotto, a startup specializing in developing autonomous trucks. The acquisition was valued at $625 million, and the founder of Ottomotto, Anthony Levandowski, was previously accused of stealing trade secrets from his former employer, Waymo, to establish the company. In the same year, Uber also bought Geometric Intelligence, the cornerstone of "Uber AI," a department dedicated to exploring and researching AI technologies and machine learning. The Uber AI project disappeared in May 2020.

Despite the controversies, Uber has committed to carbon neutrality globally by 2040, and by 2030, in most countries, rides will move exclusively to electric vehicles. The company has also formed various partnerships and acquisitions, such as with IT Taxi in Italy, Cornershop for grocery delivery and Postmates for alcohol delivery. Uber continues to expand its services and develop new offerings, such as Uber Works, Uber Green and Uber Eats. The company has recently announced plans to become an emission-free platform and is investing in self-driving cars.
CAIRO, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's nuclear regulatory authority granted on Wednesday permission to establish the fourth and final unit at the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant, with a generating capacity equivalent to 1200 megawatts.

In a statement, the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) said it approved the construction process after a comprehensive inspection from July 30 to Aug. 2.

According to the results of the review, evaluation and inspection, the safety of the fourth unit was verified, and it was not proven that there were any risks threatening humans, the environment and property, said the statement.

In July 2022, Egypt began constructing the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant, the country's first nuclear power station, which is located in the Mediterranean province of Matrouh, some 300 km northwest of Cairo.

The program is based on an agreement between Egypt and Russia that entered into force in December 2017, with the building of 4 reactor units, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, at a total construction cost of 28.75 billion U.S. dollars.

About 25 billion dollars, or 85 percent of the budget, is financed by Russia through a 22-year repayment loan. Egypt bears the remaining 15 percent in the form of installments. 
Photo shows the Palace Museum in Beijing. [People's Daily Online/Ding Bangxue]

In Beijing, there is a north-south axis known as the Beijing Central Axis, or Zhongzhouxian, running through the city.

First created in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the 7.8-kilometer central axis serves the function of a "book spine", forming a unique Beijing city pattern of bilateral symmetry and solemnity.

It stretches from the Yongding Gate in the south of the city and the Drum Tower and Bell Tower in the north, crossing the Wanning Bridge, the Jingshan Mountain, the Palace Museum, the Duanmen Gate, Tian'anmen Square and its adjacent areas, the Zhengyang Gate, and the street remains of the southern section of the central axis.

The Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Altar of Land and Grain, the Temple of Heaven, and the Temple of Agriculture sit symmetrically in the west and east wings of the central axis.

As the best preserved core area of the old city of Beijing, it contains the essence of ancient architecture of Beijing, and carries on the memorable moments of the Chinese civilization.

It connects many historical sites, including 3 World Heritage Sites and 11 major historical and cultural sites protected at the national level, which embody the great creativity and outstanding talent of the Chinese nation in urban planning and construction.

Today, with the rapid development of science and technology, the ancient central axis is better protected and inherited, blossoming with dazzling brilliance.

As night fell, in front of the Yongding Gate, a vehicle equipped with a laser modeling system slowly drove by, meticulously measuring and recording details about the Beijing Central Axis roadway and neighboring structures.

People visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. [People's Daily Online/Liu Xianguo]

At daybreak, surveying and mapping engineers had already positioned equipment before a hall of the Temple of Agriculture, collecting statistics and portraying each facet.

The greatest feature of the Beijing Central Axis is that it has an undulating layout and maintains mirror symmetry on its east and west sides, said Tao Yingchun, director of the big data center of the Beijing Institute of Surveying and Mapping, adding that it is impossible for a visitor to get an overview of the entire central axis at any one heritage site.

However, digital products can break through the limitations of time and space, allowing people to appreciate the unique charm of the central axis, Tao noted.

In 2020, the Beijing Institute of Surveying and Mapping established a technical team of nearly 200 members to carry out ultra-fine surveying and 3D modeling for heritage elements along the central axis. For the first time, the central axis was digitally duplicated with digital twin technology.

The team has collected over 1TB of data, including information about the main roads within the heritage area, Tian'anmen Square and its adjacent areas, the Yongding Gate, the Drum Tower and Bell Tower, and the Temple of Agriculture.

So far, the first phase of the digital twin project has been completed. The final digital twin of the central axis will provide a complete spatial database for monitoring, managing, protecting and utilizing the central axis heritage.

"From paper maps to digital maps and real-scene 3D products, our surveying and mapping of the central axis is becoming more and more refined. Overlaying historical and present images through modern technologies, we can see that the central axis has been 'growing' all along." said Tao.

As the sunshade curtains lowered and the lights dimmed, the first-floor central archway of the Drum Tower was turned into an "immersive theater," where visitors could experience the changes of the central axis through shifts in light and shadow.

Photo shows a night view of the Zhengyang Gate in Beijing. [People's Daily Online/Zhang Jun]

This was a digital light show that utilized projection distortion correction technology and spatial sound zoning to combine music, drum beats, and images with the majestic architectural space, fully demonstrating the architectural beauty of the Drum Tower and presenting cultural relics and historical sites in a brand new way.

"The history of Drum Tower and Bell Tower is an epitome of Beijing's urban history. It carries warm and intimate memories for urban residents," said He Yan, leader of an exhibition team for the Beijing Central Axis. The team collected over 300 old photos of the Drum Tower and Bell Tower from different periods of time, along with various sounds related to the central axis, to evoke citizens' cherished memories of old Beijing.

The archway of the Drum Tower once served as a gift shop. After vacating and renovating work, the time-reporting facility of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties (1271-1911) restored its original appearance.

Along the central axis, a series of historic buildings have been repaired and renovated, adding to the dignified and majestic old-city style of the city.

The Zhengyang Gate is an important heritage site along the central axis. During the restoration process of the gate's Arrow Tower, great efforts were made to retain as much historic authenticity as possible. The restoration kept the same materials, forms, artisanal techniques, and methods that were originally used, in every detail.

"We for the first time applied intelligent construction technologies in ancient building renovation," said Li Wanbo, head of the ancient construction division of Beijing Construction Engineering Group No.6 Construction Engineering Co., Ltd.

Using architectural information modeling, 3D scanning, panoramic imaging and other technologies, engineers can make more science-based renovation plans, Li said.

"For example, if a part of a building's wall is bulged, it is very difficult to determine the cause by the naked eye. A 'CT scan' allows us to clearly see the 'health status' of the cultural relics, and precisely implement 'minimally invasive surgery' on the damaged part, achieving minimum intervention for the ancient building renovation," Li explained.

A child experiences virtual drumming at an exhibition held at the Drum Tower in Beijing. [People's Daily Online/Du Jianpo]

The Zhengyang Gate tower is one of the major stops for Beijing swifts, which fly from Africa to Beijing every year to nest and breed. The scene of Beijing swifts flying around the Zhengyang Gate has lasted for over 600 years.

When the Arrow Tower of the Zhengyang Gate was renovated, these swifts were carefully protected.

"Ancient architectures are tangible cultural heritage, and swifts are living 'cultural heritage.' Both of them need protection. We waited for the swifts to fly away before erecting scaffolding to minimize disturbance to them," said Guan Zhanxiu, director of the heritage conservation center of the Beijing Central Axis.

The Wanning Bridge, built in the Yuan Dynasty, is at the intersection of the central axis and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

A mobile app has been developed to guide tourists to the site with augmented reality. In the app, a cute "water dragon" would lead tourists into the bustling market, learn kite-making techniques and watch how Beijing-style Qipao, a traditional wearing of Chinese women, is made.

This app is a part of a "digital central axis" project built by the culture and tourism bureau of Beijing's Xicheng district. Relying on large-scale 3D map construction, high-precision spatial computation and other technologies by Beijing-based tech firm Hereto, the project digitally restores historical scenes and disappeared architectures along the central axis, providing the public with an immersive experience.

"The Beijing Central Axis embodies concepts such as centrality, harmony, uprightness, and unity of man and nature," said Chen Mingjie, director of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau.

"We must use digital technology and other means to turn the ancient into the fashionable, make the profound Chinese culture more accessible, interpret the value of the central axis, and protect, inherit and utilize this unique cultural heritage," Chen added.

(Source: People's Daily Online)
Weather Alert

...FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM CDT /10 PM EDT/ THIS EVENING TO 9 AM CDT /10 AM EDT/ TUESDAY... * WHAT...Sub-freezing temperatures between 23 and 29 degrees expected. * WHERE...All of southern Illinois, southwest Indiana, western Kentucky and southeast Missouri. * WHEN...From 9 PM CDT this evening to 9 AM CDT Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Frost and freeze conditions will kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...This will end the growing season. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. To prevent freezing and possible bursting of outdoor water pipes they should be wrapped, drained, or allowed to drip slowly. Those that have in-ground sprinkler systems should drain them and cover above- ground pipes to protect them from freezing. &&
KABUL, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- A total of 75 Afghan inmates imprisoned in Pakistan have been set free and returned to their homeland Afghanistan through the Torkham border on Tuesday, the state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported on Wednesday.

So far, Pakistan has handed over around 2,516 Afghans jailed in Pakistani prisons to Afghan authorities through the Torkham border, according to Bakhtar.

Weeks ago, the ministry also reported that 52 Afghan detainees had been released from Pakistani jails and returned home. 
In the first hundred days of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnsons administration, the crisis in the city has intensified. Recent weeks have seen an 11-day strike by Loretto Hospital staff, several days of wildfire-related air quality emergencies with no meaningful response from the city, and the expiration of the contract for 7,500 school staffers in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders stumps for Democratic Chicago mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson at the University of Illinois, Chicago, on March 30, 2023. [Photo: Brandon Johnson/@BrandonJohnson]

Migrant families continue to be bussed in by the fascistic Republican governors of Texas and Florida, leaving more than 1,600 migrant men, women and children to sleep on the floors of Chicago police stations and at OHare Airport, according to Chicago Public Television station WTTW. Thousands of others are being housed in makeshift shelters in the city, forced to rely on charity organizations to provide food and clothing.



As the school year began last week, extreme heat exacerbated the lack of air conditioning and ventilation in many school buildings, under conditions of an upsurge in the COVID-19 pandemic and the spread of new and more infectious variants. Once again, the indifference of the ruling class and the Democratic as well as the Republican Party to life-threatening dangers to the health of both students and staff was on display.

Some thousands of CPS students, the exact figure has not been revealed, are without school bus service. Students as young as eight, usually from areas where neighborhood schools are severely underfunded, are being encouraged to use public transit to travel across the city to attend magnet and selective enrollment schools.

Johnson, a former Cook County commissioner and Chicago Teachers Union legislative representative, took office in May after defeating right-wing Democrat Paul Vallas in an election marked by an aggressive emphasis on crime and public safety. With the Democrats right-wing political agenda clearly on display early on in the election campaign, the World Socialist Web Site warned that the supposed progressive Johnson, if elected, would carry out a reactionary law-and-order policy, already indicated by his slogan of a better, stronger, safer Chicago.

Speaking recently to the local CBS affiliate about his first 100 days in office, Johnson said, As you know, public safety is top of mind for everyone.



During his first weeks in office, Johnson selected a candidate for Chicago Police Department superintendent. According to In These Times, a publication closely aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the trade union apparatus, he held joint meetings of anti-police violence activists and cops.

Since taking office, Johnson has gone out of his way to ingratiate himself with the Chicago Police Department (CPD). The CPDs Fraternal Order of Police backed his opponent in the election, and the fascist FOP president, John Catanzara, warned that there would be mass resignations of police and blood in the streets if Johnson were elected. The mass resignations have to date not taken place.

The official demands for more aggressive policing are aimed above all at countering growing working class militancy. During the mayoral election campaign, Johnson never once challenged the demands for law and order by other Democrats as well as the media. Instead, he effusively disavowed his previous calls for defunding the police.

As recently as December 2020, Johnson called defunding the police an actual real political goal. At a March 2023 mayoral forum, he demurred: I said it was a political goal. I never said it was mine. Johnson went on to pledge that he wouldnt reduce the CPD budget by one penny. In 2022, the city allotted $1.9 billion for the CPD, considerably more money than budgeted for the Chicago Housing Authority ($1.2 billion), which, according to official figures, provides housing for 63,000 families.

On May 3, Johnson named Fred Waller as interim police superintendent, replacing former superintendent David Brown. Johnsons pick drew praise from right-wing alderman Ray Lopez, who backed Johnsons opponent, Paul Vallas, in the election.

Lopez said, Waller will be a great pick. He understands the department, he understands Chicago, he understands neighborhoods, and I think he will hit the ground running, which is exactly what we need as we enter the summer months.

Waller, who retired in 2020 as the CPDs third in command, was a close associate of Ronald Watts, a CPD officer convicted on corruption charges in 2012 for running an extortion racket at the Ida B. Wells housing project. Waller worked alongside Watts in the CPD Public Housing Section, and then became commander of the police district in which Watts and his team of gangsters worked from 2010 to 2013. Watts demanded protection money from residents, and at least 220 people were sentenced to prison on bogus charges due to the machinations of Watts and his gang.

At the press conference announcing Wallers appointment, Johnson refused to answer questions about Wallers association with Watts, saying only, I am confident that Chief Fred Waller is the best person to serve as the interim police superintendent.

The search for police superintendent was led by Anthony Driver Jr., executive director of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Illinois State Council, appointed by Johnson to lead the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.

For the post of permanent police superintendent, Johnson has nominated CPD veteran Larry Snelling. Starting out as an officer in Englewood and Morgan Park in 1992, Snelling was involved for a time in tactical and gang squads. Since October 2022, he has been chief of the Bureau of Counterterrorism, which oversees gang and narcotics investigations as well as the CPDs notorious SWAT teams. He has been named in 21 complaints over the years.

From 2000 to 2019, Snelling taught courses on the use of force at the departments police academy, including physical holds, firearms use and report writing. His expertise in the use of force has led to Snelling being called as an expert witness in dozens of civil and criminal trials of police officers, including several cops who were tried for the police murder of Laquan McDonald in 2014.

In the McDonald case, the actions of the officers involved were so flagrantly illegal that Snelling was forced to admit in court that the 17-year-olds shooting was not justified, saying, If there was a movement in furtherance toward the officer that you could actually see in the video, then it would rise to the level of deadly force, but I cant see it in the video.

Upon naming Snelling to become permanent police superintendent, Johnson said, Today, a new chapter begins in our journey to create a better, stronger and safer Chicago...

Snellings appointment was immediately hailed by Fraternal Order of Police President Catanzara, who said, Congratulations to Chief Larry Snelling on his recommendation to be the new superintendent. Hopefully, City Council does the right thing September 13.

In These Times signaled the support of pseudo-left factions within the Democratic Party such as the DSA, uncritically quoting Johnson as saying: Weve laid a real clear foundation that were going to need in order to build a better, stronger, safer Chicago, and weve done that in the collaborative spirit which we promised we would do.
Join the weekly international autoworkers rank-and-file online forum on the 2023 Detroit Three contract fight, Sundays at 3 p.m. Eastern. Register here to attend.

In his effort to maintain credibility among autoworkers who have voted overwhelmingly to strike in the looming contract battle, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain has claimed that the new UAW has broken decisively with its decades of company unionism.

This is a simple truth that every unionist knows: When were working together with management, it does not work, he declared during a Facebook Live event last Friday. We have sat by for decades while these companies continued to just take and take from us, he said, adding, This is our time to take back what were owed.

Despite the rhetoric, Fain and the UAW bureaucracy he oversees have no intention, let alone strategy, to mobilize autoworkers to win back past gains and defeat new attacks. That is why workers must organize rank-and-file committees and put the power and decision-making into the hands of shop floor workers.

The global auto companies are using the transition to electric vehicle production to launch a worldwide assault on jobs, with Ford CEO Jim Farley declaring that EV production will require 40 percent fewer workers. The auto companies are seeking deals with the UAW that will clear the way for a jobs massacre and the creation of a cheap labor workforce in the EV plants.

Fain and the UAW bureaucracy have already agreed to this. If they are demanding anything from the companies, it is to make sure that these low-paid workers will be paying dues to the UAW.

Laborby which he means the UAW bureaucracycannot be left out of the equation, Fain said regarding the EV transition. Labor has to have a seat at the table. The workers cant be left behind. Thats whats happening in this transition so far, and its up to the Biden administration and our people in Congress to fix those things when it comes to our tax dollars going to those companies with no conditions.

In other words, the UAW bureaucracy wants a seat at the table to maintain its lucrative relations with the auto corporations.

Douglas Fraser: Enforcer of historic attacks on jobs and wages

In this regard, it is noteworthy that last week the UAW Communications Department tweeted a glowing tribute to Douglas Fraser, the UAW president from 1977 to 1983. With time ticking down on the contract expiration, the social media post might have been seen as a obscure historical reference. In fact, it must be taken as a serious warning to rank-and-file autoworkers.

Tweet (X) from the UAW Communications Department last week

The vast majority of autoworkers would not knowand the UAW Communications Department did not inform themthat Fraser was the first leader of a major union in US history put on the board of directors of a major corporation. This occurred during the first bailout of Chrysler in 1979-80, overseen by the Democratic administration of President Jimmy Carter, and had devastating consequences that autoworkers are still paying for to this day.

Appointed to the board of directors by Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca in 1980, Fraser imposed nearly half a billion dollars in wage cuts on Chrysler workers. This amounted to a pay cut of nearly $10,000 a year for every Chrysler workeror around $40,000 in todays dollars.

The UAW bureaucracy claimed the measures were necessary to save the company and workers jobs. If Chrysler takes a tumble, whats the use of having a contract that pays $25 an hour? Fraser told the New York Times at the time.

Fraser assisted Chrysler in closing or consolidating 20 plants and eliminating 57,000 jobs, including 30,000 in Detroit alone. A congressional report had identified Detroit as having one of the most troublesome and unreliable workforces in America. To address that, Fraser and other UAW officials specifically targeted factories, including Dodge Main, with the most militant workers and used plant closures and mass layoffs to blackmail other workers into submission.

Dodge Main workers at a mass rally to protest the closure of the plant in January 1980

What UAW officials claimed would be temporary concessions to save one company would be extended throughout the auto industry and the entire US economy. The Chrysler bailout, Reagans firing of over 11,000 striking air traffic controllers in 1981 and the massive deindustrialization and union busting of the decade marked the definitive end of the period of relative class compromise that had characterized the post-World War II economic expansion. Confronting the loss of its once dominant position in the world market and facing a powerful economic challenge from Japan and Germany, American capitalism embarked on a program of class warfare.

This period also saw the development of transnational corporations and the globalization of capitalist production, which enabled the American ruling class to shift production to lower wage regions. In the face of this, the trade unions, which were rooted in the national industries and labor market, abandoned any resistance to the corporate onslaught on the working class and were transformed from organizations that pressured corporations for concessions to organizations that pressured the working class for concessions.

On the part of the UAW bureaucracy, pro-corporate policies went hand in hand with filthy Buy American nationalist campaigns that blamed Japanese workers for the destruction of jobs. One result of the racist agitation by the UAW and other unions was the 1982 murder of Chinese American engineer Vincent Chin in Highland Park, Michigan.

At its 27th Constitutional Convention in May 1983, the UAW explicitly adopted corporatism, the doctrine of unrestrained class collaboration based on the supposed harmony of interests between the capitalist owners and the working class, as its official program.

The present-day UAW Communications Department conceals all of this.

UAW President Douglas Fraser (right) presents Democratic President Jimmy Carter (center) with a birthday cake in 1980 [Photo: Walter P. Reuther Library]

Instead, it attempts to portray Fraser as an early opponent of labor-management collusion, pointing to his 1978 decision to quit Carters Labor-Management Group, where he and other labor leaders colluded with the heads of GM, US Steel and other corporations. But Frasers tactical decision to quit the group was not taken out of principled opposition to such collusionproved by his subsequent actions at Chryslerbut because of the mass opposition of the working class to Carters pro-business policies. Just four months before Frasers resignation from the Labor-Management Group, 150,000 striking coal miners defied Carters Taft-Hartley back-to-work order.

The 2009 restructuring of the auto industry

Twenty-nine years after the first Chrysler bailout, during the Obama-Biden administrations restructuring of GM and Chrysler in 2009, the corporations and another Democratic administration would once again rely on the UAW bureaucracy to impose historic concessions on workers.

In exchange for sanctioning plant closures and mass layoffs, the halving of wages and elimination of pensions for new hires, the abandonment of COLA and other concessions, the UAW bureaucracy was given a seat at the table again. This included positions on the boards of GM and Fiat Chrysler, billions of dollars in corporate shares and control of the massive retiree healthcare trust.

As a member of the 2009 UAW-Chrysler Negotiating Committee, Fain fully supported the concessions. It was hard to swallow the cuts, but we have to preserve jobs and the future, Fain told the Kokomo Tribune. Were not happy about it, but you have to do what you have to do. Hopefully we can get back to selling cars, and this will be a bad memory like 1979 and 80.

But 1979-80 and 2009 are not just bad memories. They are part of the four-decade-long collusion with the auto companies which have devastated the jobs, living standards and communities of workers. Since 1979, the number of UAW members in the Detroit Three auto companies has fallen from 1 million to about 150,000.

During this period, the UAW bureaucracy found new sources of income to offset the loss of dues-paying members. This included billions of dollars in direct corporate funding funneled through joint training programs and other corporatist schemes, not to mention the direct bribing of UAW negotiators, like Fains former boss Norwood Jewell.

According to its latest financial filing with the US Department of Labor, the UAW had assets of more than $1.1 billion in 2022 and received more than $20 million from the companies through various labor-management bodies. For all of his talk about ending company unionism, Fain has not and will not dismantle the various corporatist schemes that are the source of his $275,000+ salary and the privileged lifestyles of the whole bureaucracy.

UAW's Labor Department filing showing payments from various labor-management bodies

Fain, Fraser and the DSA

Why is the Fain administration promoting Fraser now? The fact is the current UAW president shares his political outlook and is preparing a betrayal of even greater magnitude.

Like Fraser, Fain rails against corporate greed and suggests that if only corporate executives had a conscience and shared the wealth, the profit system could work for everybody. This conceals the fact that the working class in the US and internationally are in a battle against capitalism, which subordinates every aspect of life to corporate profit.

Fraser was one of the most prominent trade union leaders in 1973 who joined Michael Harrington to found the Democratic Socialists Organizing Committee, the predecessor of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The economic nationalism and support for imperialism which characterized Harringtons politics, and the subordination of the working class to the Democratic Party at all costs, are at the center of Fains and the DSAs politics today.

Far from fighting for socialism and the political independence of the working class, the DSA is a faction of the Democratic Party, which supports the capitalist and pro-war policies of the Biden administration. Its anti-working class character was on full display last year when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other DSA members in the US Congress voted to ban the strike by 110,000 railway workers.

The Socialist Equality Party and the World Socialist Web Site have an unbroken record of fighting the betrayals of the UAW bureaucracy. In a 1983 pamphlet, Corporatism and the UAW, the Workers League, the predecessor of the SEP, explained, The DSA attempted to cover up the betrayal of the Fraser leadership in the UAW by portraying the concessions contracts and Frasers entry onto the board of Chrysler as steps towards industrial democracy ... and democratic planning.

In opposition to the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs, the Workers League called for the nationalization of the auto industry, and all basic industry, together with the banks, under workers control and without compensation to the owners. In addition, the Workers League called for the reopening of every closed plant, the control of safety and working conditions by committees elected from the shop floor, the reopening of all the contracts in the auto and auto parts industry and the restoration of all concessions.

[I]t is not a question of convincing the UAW leadership or any other section of the trade union bureaucrats of the wisdom of this program, the Workers League wrote, but building a new, revolutionary leadership in the working class.

The globalization of capitalist production, which has been used against the working class for so long, has also vastly expanded the numbers of workers globally, linking them in an international web of production. This processalong with the extension of mobile devices, the internet and social media to virtually every corner of the worldprovides workers with an unprecedented opportunity to unite their struggles against the global corporations.

The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), with which the Autoworkers Rank-and-File Committees Network is affiliated, is fighting to transfer power and decision-making from the union apparatuses to workers themselves. Such a program is the only means through which workers can unite and utilize their immense strength against the attacks of the global automakers and capitalist exploitation.
Join the next international autoworkers rank-and-file online meeting, Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern, to discuss how to fight the jobs massacre in the auto industry. Register here to attend.

Sign up for text message updates on the Detroit Three contract fight by texting AUTO to (866) 847-1086.

Workers at the Stellantis Detroit Assembly Complex - Jefferson [Photo by Stellantis]

As the contracts expire for 170,000 autoworkers in the US and Canada, an urgent warning must be made: What is being prepared is not a contract, it is a death warrant for hundreds of thousands of auto jobs in North America and millions around the world. To oppose this, workers must have all the facts so they can develop a strategy to defend jobs and living standards.

Most workers have heard of the transition to electric vehicles, but very few understand its implications. The UAW bureaucracy speaks vaguely about a just transition but is hiding the sobering reality from the membership: This once-in-a-century industry transition threatens to eliminate half or more than half of all auto jobs in the US in the next five to 10 years, according to industry reports and research by experts.

The companies have already drawn up lists of plants that will be shuttered, and many workers already have targets on their backs without even knowing it.

In an interview at Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky on August 28, UAW President Shawn Fain admitted that there are many plants where we dont know down the line whats lined up for them. Many plants have an unsecure, unstable future, he said, though he did not answer a question about plans to secure future work beyond claiming we will secure that in bargaining.

Autoworkers from the Big Three to the parts suppliers want to know: Which plants are slated for closure? Has a decision already been made to eliminate my job?

Workers must understand the facts in order to prepare for the fight over the future of the global auto industry.

The coming transformation of the auto industry

By 2040, more than half the market for global auto production is projected to be in EV. World EV sales nearly quadrupled from 3 million in 2020 to over 10 million just two years later in 2022. By 2030 the International Energy Agency predicts global sales will more than triple to over 35 million. Annual US EV sales are estimated to increase from 300,000 in 2020 to 1.7 million per year by 2023.

World EV car sales, 2010-2022 [Photo: International Energy Agency]

If the corporations have their way, this shift will come at the expense of workers who produce cars and vehicles with an internal combustion engine (ICE). Because EVs require far less labor time than ICE vehicles, corporate management plans to carry out this transition by slashing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US and Canada and millions of jobs worldwide.

Former Ford CEO Jim Hackett said in 2017 that electric vehicles will mean auto factories can have a final assembly area that is half the size, requires half the capital investment and 30 percent fewer labor hours per car. Current CEO Jim Farley said earlier this year, We absolutely have too many people in some places, no doubt about it.

According to Reuters, Volkswagens top labour representative Bernd Osterloh said electric car powertrains have only a sixth of the components when compared to combustion-engined variants. Citing Osterloh, Reuters wrote, A battery factory requires only a fifth of the workforce when compared with an engine plant.

According to a 2021 report from the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, 500,000 autoworkers are going to lose their jobs in Europe alone by 2040, including 121,000 in Germany, 74,000 in Italy, 72,000 in Spain, and 56,000 in Romania. A separate consulting group, Ifo Institute for Economic Research, predicted 215,000 job losses in Germany by 2030, accounting for 40 percent of the countrys autoworkers. The analytical firm Arthur D. Little Japan predicts 84,000 workers will be fired by 2050, and a top union official at the South Korean company Hyundai predicts that 70 percent of all autoworkers there will soon lose their jobs.

The impact on the US will be devastating. Brett Smith, director of technology at the US-based Center for Automotive Research, said, The industry is going through a transition unlike anything weve ever seen. Theres a pretty strong chance that there will be fewer people building these cars, fewer people building the parts to these cars, and that will create challenges in some automotive communities.

Fewer is an understatement. Massive numbers of US autoworkers, regardless of whether they work for a Big Three company or are members of the UAW, are at risk of losing their jobs in the immediate future.

Predictions range from bad to worse. One optimistic study by the Economic Policy Institute said 75,000 auto jobs may be cut in the US alone in the next seven years, including 33,000 assembly jobs and 41,000 parts jobs.

2021 estimate of EV-related US job losses by 2030 [Photo: Economic Policy Institute]

But if producing EVs takes 30 percent less labor hours, and if building a battery requires only 20 percent of the number of workers it takes to build an engine, then job cuts in the US are likely to be closer to 500,000 in the coming years. In either case, mass layoffs will create a race to the bottom over jobs at EV plants. The rise in unemployment will drive downward pressure on wages not just in the auto industry, but throughout the economywhich is precisely the goal of the American ruling class.

Moreover, the attacks on jobs will be combined with brutal cuts to labor costs, as the Big Three seek to compete with newer EV makers in the US, such as Tesla, where wages and benefits are much lower.

Why havent workers been warned?

The UAW has known for years that this has been coming, and it is now hiding from workers the urgency of the risk to their jobs and livelihoods.

UAW Research Director Jennifer Kelly put it bluntly in 2018: The workers who are making engines and transmissions today, their jobs will be eliminated when we make a transition to electric vehicles. Were looking at a considerable net job loss just in that technological transition.

According to the UAWs 2020 White Paper on EVs, workers at powertrain and engine plants will be first on the chopping block. The shift to EV powertrains also presents a challenge to the employment of workers currently making ICE engines, transmissions, exhaust systems, and fuel systems, the white paper states, adding, A UBS-commissioned teardown of a Chevy Bolt found that the EV powertrain had over 80% fewer moving parts than a comparable ICE powertrain and improved technology and design will allow for greater EV powertrain integration, leading to even fewer parts.

Engine and machine assembler employment by US state, as of May 2022 [Photo: US Bureau of Labor Statistics]

If this is the case, why has the UAW bureaucracy allowed the companies to close plants like the Romeo engine plant in Michigan and Belvidere Assembly in Illinois?

The UAW bureaucracy has made plain it wont fight factory closures. For decades the bureaucracy agreed to plant closure after plant closure, and now there are more to come across the industry.

Automotive News explains that although engine and assembly workers are at the highest risk of losing their jobs, those who produce many critical parts will also be fired. Electric vehicles are driven by e-axles, which consist of motors, inverters and other components, the publication explained. Because e-axles are less stuffed with parts than engines are, the rise of EVs will minimize the importance of the auto industry pyramids and lower the barrier to entry by newcomers from other sectors.

The CEO of Bosch said in 2021 that the transition to EV may mean nine of 10 workers manufacturing some parts are going to lose their jobs worldwide. According to the Japanese business news outlet Nikkei, While it takes 10 people to make a fuel-injection unit for an engine, it takes a single person to produce a motor, said Volkmar Denner, CEO of German auto supplier Robert Bosch. Volkswagen and Daimler will cut factory staff as part of their embrace of EVs.

The reality is that no autoworkers job is safe from the rounds of layoffs that are on the horizon in the coming months and years.

Global competition and the race to the bottom

To the political establishment, the transition to electric vehicles is necessary to drive up profits and outcompete US corporations rivals in Europe, Japan, South Korea and especially China.

The Financial Times warned on August 28 that Chinese EV battery makers have raced ahead of battery rivals in South Korea and Japan, leaving the US and Europe contemplating how to stoke an electric car industry without relying on China for the most important and costly piece of the puzzle.

This drive to undermine their global competitors and maintain their massive profits pushes the US auto companies to dramatically intensify their exploitation of autoworkers.

According to a July report in Bloomberg, in this years contract, Ford will seek leeway in its $50 billion plan to boost EV production 15-fold to 2 million models a year by the end of 2026. The company wants the ability to move workers to factories building the most in-demand models, whether theyre powered by electricity or traditional internal combustion, according to Ford sources who requested anonymity discussing internal matters. The current union contract restricts Fords ability to flex production, they said.

This means the Big Three have no intention of ending tiers or temporary work. Instead, they are trying to transform the entire auto industry into a flexible, Uber-like workforce with little to no job security, subject to being moved from city to city and plant to plant according to what makes the company the most money.

Preparations for war

The US government has supported the corporations in this race to the bottom and encouraged it with billions in free loans. For example, the Biden administration loaned Ford $9.2 billion to build battery factories with SK On, a South Korean company, in the South.

The Biden administration has touted its role in accelerating the EV transition, passing legislation requiring two-thirds of domestic cars be EV by 2040 and giving money to companies producing lithium and other critical minerals required for EVs and microchips. In October 2022, Biden called the transition critically important because Right now 75% of battery manufacturing is done in China. Biden accused China of undercutting U.S. manufacturing with their unfair subsidies and trade practices and seizing a significant portion of the (battery) market.

President Biden at the GM Factory Zero in Detroit-Hamtramck in 2021 [Photo by General Motors / CC BY-NC 3.0

The US government views the effort to build a domestic supply line for EVs and secure access to critical minerals required for the production of microchips and semiconductors as a matter of military necessity, so that it does not have to rely on China to produce military equipment and maintain an industrial base. The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act passed by Congress was aimed at undermining Chinas domination of rare earth metals, microchips and EV production.

Under capitalism, the drive of the ruling class to dominate the world markets and subdue its competitors leads inevitably to imperialist war. Preparations for war against China are so advanced within the military-intelligence apparatus that four star Air Force General Michael Minihan said in a January 2023 memo that he believed the US would be engaged in a full-scale war with China by 2025. Such a war between nuclear-armed powers would likely mean the end of human civilization.

The role and goal of the UAW bureaucracy

The UAW bureaucracy is approaching this critical juncture not from the standpoint of how to defend workers jobs, but from the standpoint of how to defend its own privileges, which it derives from workers dues money and from its cozy relationship with management. The UAW has over $1.1 billion in assets which it uses as a personal slush fund to pay hundreds of bureaucrats six-figure salaries.

UAW President Shawn Fain (center). Back row from left, UAW vice presidents Mike Booth, Rich Boyer and Chuck Browning [Photo: UAW]

The UAW claims it wants the transition to EVs to be a just transition, but this is not possible under capitalism, which upholds the right of private corporations to shut plants, move production and impoverish workers.

Fain does not challenge this so-called right, and the new UAW administration did nothing to challenge the Belvidere plant closure. As Illinois radio station WJBD wrote in April, Asked if closing the Belvidere plant was a red line for the union that would provoke a strike, Fain said he didnt want to talk about the unions plans.

The UAW is, however, interested in accessing the dues money of workers, and in many cases corporations are willing to bring the UAW apparatus in to help discipline the workforce. For example, EV battery company The Metals Company signed a neutrality agreement with the UAW in September 2022, a move which the UAW noted would bolster the critical mineral supply chain and...lay the groundwork for sustainable production of electric car batteries while creating a path to more good union jobs in the United States.

The UAW bureaucracy also agreed to exclude Big Three joint venture battery plants from the national contract in exchange for a temporary agreement at the Ultium Cells plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The UAWs interim agreement with GM-LG Energy joint venture accepted poverty wages which lag far behind pay at the shuttered Lordstown Assembly plant, which employed 4,500 workers before it was closed in 2019.

GM-LG Ultium Cells battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio

These moves are encouraged by the Biden administration, which also views the union bureaucracies as necessary to prevent strikes and increase productivity. On August 28, the Treasury Department issued a report which describes how a policy of strengthening unions could support broader economic growth and lead to increased productivity while addressing the pervasive sense of the deterioration of living conditions among broad sections of the population.

In whose interest will the transition to EV be carried out?

Critical conclusions flow from this reality. The rank and file confront a jobs massacre that will eviscerate entire cities and towns if it is allowed to happen.

The corporations and the Biden administration are working together to boost profits at workers expense, while the UAW bureaucracy is not negotiating with the companies on behalf of workers, but only on behalf of securing its own parasitic interests and securing new sources of dues money.

Republican opponents of the switch to EV, including Trump and figures close to Trumps fascist advisor Stephen Miller, oppose the transition not because of its negative impact on workers, but because they oppose any restriction on the right of corporations to make profit and exploit the workforce. These agents of the corporations downplay the significance of climate change, which has had a devastating impact on the working class and threatens the world with extreme weather and disaster events for which working class communities are left unprepared.

Trump and other Republican politiciansruthless defenders of the profit systemhave absolutely no concern for the jobs and well-being of workers. Rather, they are seeking to capture the widespread anger in the working class over job cuts and divert it in a right-wing, nationalist direction.

There can be no just transition to EVs under capitalism. What is required is for the auto industry to be taken out of the hands of the corporations and placed under public ownership and workers democratic control. Rank-and-file autoworkers must run the auto industry without the executives and shareholders, to ensure that global vehicle production is organized to meet human need, not to generate private profit. This requires the international unity of autoworkers across the world, who confront the same enemies in the worlds transnational auto companies.

Striking auto parts and other workers in Matamoros, Mexico, in 2019

All the life-and-death issues workers are confrontingthe threat of mass unemployment, nightmarish working conditions, irreversible damage to the climate, world warare the product of the global crisis of the capitalist system. None of them can be resolved on a national basis or without confronting head-on the wealth and privileges of the ruling class. That requires workers to adopt a socialist and internationalist strategy.

The transition to EVs cannot be allowed to take place at workers expense. Social ownership and workers democratic control of the auto industry are needed so that this transition can be carried out through a massive improvement of workers living standards and working conditions throughout the world.

Under capitalism, advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and other labor-saving technologies are used to throw workers onto the unemployment line. But if they are controlled by workers and directed in their interests, the advances in humanitys productive capacity can be used to lessen the physical toll on workers, shorten the workweek and guarantee a high standard of living for everyone.

The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees calls for:

Immediate release of the list of planned plant closures!

Not a single job loss or plant closure in the transition to EV!

If EVs require less labor time to produce, then reduce hours and increase pay!

Unite across borders to prevent a race to the bottom!

Place the auto industry under social ownership subject to democratic worker control!

Workers must organize themselves in each plant and warehouse to fight for these demands. Form rank-and-file committees, educate your coworkers about what the transition to EV means and why it should be carried out in the interests of the working class, not the CEOs, shareholders and affluent UAW bureaucrats.
In recent weeks, the reality that the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing and remains very dangerous has broken through the propaganda of governments, public health agencies and the corporate media, which have falsely proclaimed the pandemic over.

At last weeks World Health Organization (WHO) press briefing, COVID-19 Technical Lead Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove was forced to admit that millions of people across the globe are being infected each week, based on the limited data available on cases and hospitalizations. Just three months after the WHO unscientifically ended the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) declaration, which prompted numerous countries to dismantle their surveillance systems, Dr. Kerkhove warned that tracking emerging threats will become much more difficult, if not impossible, while noting that the virus will continue to mutate and could become more lethal.

According to the WHO briefing, only 103 out of 234 countries and territories are reporting COVID-19 cases, 54 are reporting deaths, 19 are providing hospitalization data and 17 are reporting intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. Additionally, according to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), in the month of August, global genomic surveillance produced less than 7,000 sequences of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, just 1.6 percent of all cases sequenced in August 2022.

Presently, the Omicron EG.5 subvariant, nicknamed Eris, is dominant globally. In China, it now accounts for 71.6 percent of all sequenced cases, up from less than one percent in April. In the United States, Eris and FL.1.5.1, another concerning variant, now make up 34 percent of all sequenced cases and are expected to dominate all other variants in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Omicron BA.2.86, dubbed Pirola, which many scientists are deeply concerned about because it possesses more than 30 new mutations on its spike protein, has been labeled a Variant Under Monitoring (VUM) by the WHO. Just in the past two days, the variant has been detected in Germany, Spain and Portugal, bringing the total number of countries where it is known to be spreading to 10.

Given the collapse of surveillance globally, the only available means to estimate the ongoing impact of the pandemic are wastewater tracking, official hospitalization figures and excess death estimates, which collectively provide only a pale reflection of reality.

In the US, wastewater figures have more than tripled over the past two months, with one scientist calculating that roughly 580,000 Americans are now being infected with COVID-19 each day. Weekly hospital admissions for COVID-19 were over 15,000 for the week ending August 19, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This figure is nearly triple the low of 6,461 just six weeks prior, and will continue to rise in the weeks ahead.

Globally, there continue to be 11,100 excess deaths attributable to the pandemic each daya 42 percent increase in the past four monthswith the cumulative total now standing at a staggering 24.8 million, according to The Economist.

The latest summer COVID-19 surge is now intersecting with the global reopening of schools after summer and winter breaks, which will only fuel community transmission. Combined with influenza and RSV, there will likely soon be a deluge of reports of this triple viral threat inundating hospitals, which are already operating with dangerously low staffing levels and exhausted workers.

School districts in Kentucky and Texas have had to close their doors a few days or weeks after reopening due to large numbers of students and educators infected with COVID-19. Hospitals and colleges have been compelled to reintroduce mask mandates in Georgia, New York, California and other states.

In this context, and over two months after this major pandemic wave began, the New York Times published an article Monday headlined, Not Over Yet: Late-Summer Covid Wave Brings Warning of More to Come.

The article was a form of damage control, as the Times has been at the forefront of downplaying the ongoing dangers of COVID-19 and almost entirely dropped coverage of the pandemic after the WHO and the Biden administration ended the PHEs in May.

Needless to say, the Times neglected to remind its readers that just over a month ago it published an article by David Leonhardtamong the most notorious pandemic minimizersfalsely claiming that the pandemic is finally over. As with that article, the latest piece by Julie Bosman omits the critical terms variant, viral evolution and Long COVID.

In opening her article, Bosman acknowledges that a late-summer wave of coronavirus infections has touched schools, workplaces. Noting the recent rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations, she adds that local government experts warned the public to brace for even more COVID-19 spread this fall and winter.

The article furthers the Times role in downplaying the ongoing dangers of the pandemic, in particular for hundreds of millions of elderly and immunocompromised people globally.

Ignoring the fact that the overwhelming majority of schools still lack adequate ventilation systems to protect against COVID-19 and therefore remain centers of viral transmission, Bosman cites Hedy N. Chang, the executive director of Attendance Works, who opposes the basic public health practice of keeping sick children at home. Chang states, We actually have to shift norms again, to being judicious and thoughtful about when we keep kids home, and only keeping them home if we think its truly a problem.

This dovetails with the criminal policy now in place in Los Angeles schools, in which children sick with COVID-19 and other illnesses are being encouraged to attend school.

Finally, as if bringing an expert witness to the stand to justify their crimes, Bosman quotes Northwestern Memorial Hospital pulmonologist Dr. John M. Coleman, who states on cue, Moving forward, we have to learn to live cohesively with Covid. Covid is always going to be around.

The Times then advances the essentially eugenicist policy of the Biden administration, in which millions of elderly and immunocompromised Americans are being left to fend for themselves. Summarizing the sage wisdom of Dr. Coleman, Bosman writes, People who are hospitalized for Covid now tend to have pre-existing conditions or suppressed immune systems that make them more susceptible to severe symptoms.

For these tens of millions of at-risk individuals, the Times and their learned doctor give the following medical advice: Particularly for people who already have health risks, he said, it is crucial to receive the new booster this fall, wash hands frequently and wear a mask if feeling unwell.

In other words, amid a major wave of the pandemic, the Times is telling its readers to get a booster shot that will not be available for weeks, wash their hands to protect against an airborne pathogen, and wear a mask once infected instead of to prevent such infections. Such patently unscientific advice only underscores the newspapers role as a purveyor of propaganda.

Furthermore, the attempt to downplay the dangers posed by COVID-19 by suggesting only those with pre-existing conditions or suppressed immune systems are susceptible to more severe forms of COVID-19 is not only eugenicist, but patently false.

In a recent report by Harvard biostatistician Dr. Edward Goldstein, PhD, published in Epidemiology and Infection, comparing Omicron infections and influenza in the same period in late 2022 and early 2023 in France, he found the risk of death from SARS-CoV-2 to be four times higher.

Just days before the Times article was published, noted Long COVID researcher Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly and his team at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri published their latest study, focusing on the impacts of Long COVID two years after infection.

They found that in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients, risk of death remains elevated for up to six months and risk of hospitalization for 19 months. Two years in, coagulation disorders, pulmonary disorders, fatigue, gastrointestinal disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes and other sequelae (aftereffects) remain increased, suggesting a longer lasting risk horizon for these organ systems, according to Al-Aly.

For those who were hospitalized for their infection, risk of death and hospitalizations remained elevated compared to non-infected controls at two years. Of the 80 types of sequelae being measured, which involved every organ system, 65 percent remained at elevated risk after two years.

The authors conclude, Measures to reduce the risk of postacute and long-term sequelae in people with SARS-CoV-2 infections should remain the foundation of public health policy.  It is clear that the burden of health loss will not only impact patients and their quality of life, but also potentially contribute to a decline in life expectancy, and may impact labor participation, economic productivity and societal well-being.

The horrific realities of the forever COVID policy are becoming increasingly evident to masses of people globally, as hundreds of millions of working people and their families face an array of health consequences and maladies that not only shorten their life spans, but make miserable the years that are afforded them. Their ranks will only grow with each new wave of the pandemic.

The emergence of the highly mutated Pirola variant demonstrates that SARS-CoV-2 remains quite fit to continue mutating. The unprecedented spread of this virus into nearly 8 billion hosts in just over three years underscores the critical point that the pandemic has far more breathing room than most were willing to imagine at the outset.

Fundamentally, the virus is only a biological entity without consciousness. If it has evolved to this point in time in history, it is a function of capitalist relations that insist profits will always remain a priority over the well-being of the working class.

The abandonment of public health and renunciation of the social contract between governments and their populations is in keeping with the terminal phase of capitalisms death agony. This diseased and dying social order must be replaced with a planned world socialist economy, in which social needs and public health take precedence over the profit interests of a tiny financial oligarchy.
MOSCOW, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged during a drone attack at Pskov airport in western Russia on Wednesday, local media reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Pskov Region Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said that there were no victims according to preliminary information, and the scale of the destruction was being specified.

Pskov is a city in western Russia, located 20 km east of the Estonian border. 
More than three months after Thailands May 14 general election, a new prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, a wealthy property magnate from the Pheu Thai Party (PT), was chosen on August 22 with the backing of a coalition that includes both the countrys pro-military parties. The Pheu Thais embrace of the military, which ousted it in two coups in 2006 and 2014, marks its complete abandonment of any pretentions to represent a democratic alternative.

Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, arrives at Pheu Thai Party headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. [AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit]

The entire election process under the constitution imposed by the military junta in 2017 was anti-democratic from beginning to end. The prime minister and therefore the government is not chosen by the elected lower house, but by a joint sitting with the upper house appointed entirely by the military. The Move Forward Party, which won most seats, was blocked by the military appointees and its leader subjected to trumped-up charges in the Constitutional Court.

Similar moves were taken against Pheu Thai which won a majority of seats in the 2019 election. The protracted mass protests dominated by young people, which erupted after the 2014 coup leader Prayut Chan-o-cha was reinstalled as prime minister and targeted the opposition parties, were suppressed by force.

That the military has allowed its bitter political enemy, Pheu Thai, to form government speaks to the fear throughout ruling circles that a repeat of the 2020-21 protests would involve sections of the working class under conditions of deepening economic and social crisis. The party has now ditched campaign promises not to form a coalition with the militarys parties and will work with them to impose an agenda of austerity on working people and suppress any opposition.

As for the Move Forward Party, which capitalised on the previous protests, and advanced, at least in words, proposals for limited democratic reforms, it has accepted its sidelining with barely a murmur of protest. While it formally voted against the new prime minister to maintain its oppositional posturing, Move Forward mobilised no opposition or demonstrations to the anti-democratic outcome of the election.

Both Pheu Thai and Move Forward have done their utmost to confine any opposition within the straitjacket of parliament and the courtsa system rigged by the military to favour Thailands traditional elites centred on the monarchy. Both parties were founded by business tycoons and represent dissident sections of the Thai capitalist class seeking to assert their interests against the stifling domination of the conservative establishment.

For many young people, workers and rural poor who voted for Pheu Thai and Move Forward in the hope that they represented a progressive alternative that would guarantee democratic rights and improve living standards, the election outcome is a bitter disappointment. It is necessary to understand why this has occurred and, above all, what is the political road forward.

In his Theory of Permanent Revolution elaborated more than a century ago, Leon Trotsky explained that no section of the bourgeoisie in countries of a belated capitalist development, including its so-called democratic and liberal wings, was capable of leading a political struggle for the basic democratic aspirations and social needs of the masses.

Unlike the classic bourgeois democratic revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe and America, the weak capitalist class in countries like Russia confronted a powerful working class that threatened its very existence. Invariably, when confronted by a mass movement, even the liberal bourgeoisie sides with reaction against working people.

Trotsky established that as a result of this, the democratic tasks necessarily fall to the working class, leading the rural masses. The working class carries this fight using its own class methods as part of the struggle for socialism. That political struggle on the national arena necessarily extends internationally as a component part of the world socialist revolution.

The Theory of Permanent Revolution provided the theoretical basis for the 1917 Russian Revolution led by Trotsky and Lenin that brought the first workers state to power and provided an enormous impetus to the fight for socialism internationally. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 was bound up with its degeneration under the Stalinist regime that usurped power from the working class and, based on the anti-Marxist perspective of Socialism in One Country, was responsible for terrible defeats of the international working class.

Permanent Revolution was confirmed in the negative countless times in the course of the 20th century, not least in Asia, where the Stalinist parties repeatedly subordinated the working class and peasantry to one or other supposedly progressive wing of the bourgeoisie. The Stalinist two-stage revolutionfirst the democratic revolution under the leadership of the bourgeoisie, then the fight for socialism in the distant futureinevitably produced a disaster.

Nowhere were the consequences more tragic than in Indonesia where the Stalinist Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) promoted the peaceful road to socialism and kept workers shackled to President Sukarno by promoting the illusion that he would defend their democratic and social rights.

Yet, as the Theory of Permanent Revolution explains, this progressive bourgeoisie was incapable of defending democratic rights. In promoting Sukarno, the PKI opened the door for the 1965-66 CIA-backed military coup that resulted in the systematic slaughter of up to a million workers, peasants and PKI members.

Thailand is no exception. Time and again, the weak and venal ruling class has resorted to the military to crush any threat to its rule by the working class and rural masses. On each occasion, the parties representing the so-called progressive wing of the bourgeoisie shamelessly capitulated leaving working people to their fate.

Billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra established Pheu Thais forerunner, Thai Rak Thai, in 1998 as a political vehicle to prosecute his interests and gained a following by pledging to ameliorate the impact of the Asian Financial Crisis on working people. He came to power in 2001 and provided hand-outs to villages and state-funded health care. Thaksin rapidly came into conflict with the conservative establishment concerned that he was stoking demands for social improvements that could not be met and which he would be unable to control.

The Thai Rak Thai government was ousted by the military in 2006 which Thaksin did little to oppose. He fled the country after he was convicted on trumped-up corruption charges. The coup opened up a period of political instability which continues today. Popular opposition to the persecution of Thaksin and his party and the continuing attacks on basic democratic rights erupted in protracted mass demonstrations in 2010 of his Red Shirt supporters to which the military ultimately responded by firing on a mass protest in Bangkok, killing 91 people and injuring thousands more.

The military and its backers will not hesitate to do so again. The flagging Thai economy and growing social tensions, which are part of the global crisis of capitalism, will inevitably lead to an eruption of the class struggle as is the case around the world. At this stage, the ruling class is relying on Pheu Thai to use its residual political influence to contain the opposition as it emerges. If it fails to do so, other means including the use of military force will be used.

The working class cannot rely on Pheu Thai, Move Forward or any other capitalist party to defend its class interests. Workers and youth who are disgusted and angry at the outcome of this years election need to draw the necessary political conclusions. The fight for democratic rights is indissolubly connected to the struggle for socialism.

Moreover, it is increasingly evident that none of the issues confronting working peoplethe growing dangers of world war and catastrophic climate change as well as the relentless assault on basic living standardscan be resolved on a national basis but require a unified international movement of the working class.

What is necessary is the construction of a political party of the working class in Thailand based on socialist internationalism and the Theory of Permanent Revolution, as a section of the International Committee of the Fourth Internationalthe only political organization that fights for this perspective.
A New Zealand criminal investigation and government inquiry have been forced after dozens of migrant workers were discovered crowded inside a squalid three-bedroom home in south Auckland earlier this month.

New Zealand Immigration Minister Andrew Little speaks to a group of migrant workers stranded without jobs at a meeting in Auckland. [Photo: Facebook/Labour MP Phil Twyford]

Newshub reported on August 14 that the workers paid thousands of dollars for employment agreements with local recruitment contractors, but since arriving three months ago they had received no work or pay. The men called police after their food ran out and they had to resort to begging.

Forty men were crammed into the filthy, overcrowded three-bedroom home in Auckland for months on end, sharing a single shower and cooking over one stove, the report stated. Three days, we dont have nothing to eat, only just drinking water. No food, nothing, Indian migrant Prasad Babu said.

The men paid tens of thousands of dollars each for job offers and signed contracts with New Zealand recruitment contractors. [They] took $20,000 from us to get a job. Why did [they] promise us you can give a better life here? There is no better life here, Babu said. Like beggars, we are going to the temple and eating the food there, he explained.

Following the initial report, several similarly horrific stories emerged. Immigration officials began investigating four more Auckland properties housing dozens more victims. In Papakura, Newshub reported, at least 20 more migrants were shoved into a grotty, run-down three-bedroom property. There was an overflowing rubbish bin, one toilet, and one shower.

A total of 115 migrants from India and Bangladesh have so far been found living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in six houses across Auckland. In one case, a business couple have been using their former home to house up to 30 migrant workers. The tenants, who rent beds at $160 each per week, said there were no smoke alarms and sometimes no electricity. The wealthy owners of the $2.97 million property are reportedly major donors to the conservative opposition National Party.

Elsewhere, Karen Gibney, president of the Latin American Community in Tauranga, told the New Zealand Herald on August 22 that about 200 people from Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia had paid between $4,000 and $10,000 for visas and employment agreements to work with construction company Buildhub. Many have received hardly any work or pay since arriving and some said they are living like strays and begging for food.

Two Chinese building workers interviewed by TVNZ last week said they had paid $16,000 to an agent to be employed on the redevelopment of Waikeria Prison near Hamilton, with promises they could eventually qualify for residency and bring their families. The pair were paid just $25 an hour and after eight weeks were suddenly sacked by the subcontractor via text message while still owed pay.

The migrants all entered the country through the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme, introduced under pressure from big business last May, following the abandonment of COVID public health measures, to boost the labour supply. The Labour government boasted that its immigration reset would help build a high wage, high skill economy.

AEWV was, officially, meant to streamline the work visa system by inviting employers to apply for accreditation to hire overseas workers. Immigration NZ (INZ) then issues visas for workers who are linked with an approved employer. INZ has approved nearly 81,000 visas among about 27,900 accredited employers.

Under the scheme, migrants are tied to particular employers, creating the conditions for mistreatment and even slave-labour conditions. Unable to quit for fear of invalidating their visas and often with no avenue of complaint, they are frequently forced to work and live in illegal and subhuman conditions.

Immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont told Radio NZ that employers only had to self-declare they were financially sustainable and operating proper wage and time records. So you can make one dollars profit, and then bring in $600,000 worth of migrants, who are then dumped on the street with no jobs and no income, he said.

According to a Stuff article on August 23, concerned INZ staff said employers were being allowed to bring in migrants without any paperwork or financial checks, even when immigration officers feared jobs may be fake, paid for with illegal premiums, or the migrants were at risk of exploitation.

Stuff was told only two employers have been declined accreditation. One INZ worker said: Now what we have is thousands of migrants exploited and potentially thousands of businesses that shouldnt have got accreditation.

INZ currently has 164 active investigations underway. After initially denying any links between the Auckland cases and increased migrant exploitation, following serious concerns raised by an INZ whistleblower, Immigration Minister Andrew Little ordered a review of the scheme. Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes promptly declared the assurance review would only check the policy was working as intended, rather than assessing the policy itself.

Migrant exploitation is an entrenched feature of New Zealand capitalism. Economics commentator Bernard Hickey has called the proliferation of scams a sign of the countrys churn and burn economy, describing it as the Dubai of the South Pacific for allowing fraudulent agents and fly-by-night firms to bring in desperate and poor workers with suggestions of high-paid jobs and residency, only to pull the rug out from under their feet and leaving them indebted and even more desperate.

Workers in the Recognised Seasonal Employer program, introduced by the then Labour government in 2007, which brings Pacific Islanders in on temporary visas to work in the horticulture industry, were subjected to conditions akin to modern slavery, according to a Human Rights Commission report last December. The report cites numerous instances of basic human rights breaches, including in workers dire accommodation and authoritarian employer supervision.

At the same time, politicians continually scapegoat migrants for social problems including the housing crisis, inequality and pressure on public services. Labour assumed office in 2017, in coalition with the anti-Asian NZ First, promising to halve immigration numbers, then around 70,000 a year.

Labour has continued a cruel policy of deportations, including for people who overstay the term of their visa or who commit trivial breaches of their visa conditions. In early 2021, thousands of migrants and their supporters held a series of protests, including in India, over the governments inhumane policies.

The systemic exploitation of immigrant workers is a vast global enterprise under capitalism, carried out by ruthless employers and unscrupulous agents, imposed by accommodating governments of all stripes. In the interests of profits, low pay, temporary work, summary sackings, ditching of basic rights and miserable living conditions are all on the agenda of every ruling elite as the economic crisis intensifies.

The international working class needs to come to the defence of immigrant workers. Workers must take a warning that these conditions are being imposed everywhere to set a precedent to be used as a battering ram against all workers in the coming period. The unification of struggles of workers globally, whatever their national origins or ethnicity, across all borders is an urgent necessity.
The following lecture was delivered by Keith Jones, the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (Canada), to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.

The opening report by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman and SEP National Chairman David North, Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the Epoch of Imperialist War and Socialist Revolution, was published on August 7. The second lecture, The Historical and Political Foundations of the Fourth International, was published on August 14. The third lecture, The Origins of Pabloite Revisionism, the Split Within the Fourth International and the Founding of the International Committee, was published on August 18. The fourth lecture, The Cuban Revolution and the SLLs opposition to the unprincipled Pabloite reunification of 1963, was published Aug. 25. The WSWS will be publishing all of the lectures in the coming weeks.

Introduction

In January 1961, the British Trotskyists initiated the struggle against the US Socialist Workers Partys increasingly explicit adoption of Pabloite positions and organizational overtures to the Pabloite International Secretariat.

Key among the points they made in a letter to the SWPs leadership were:

First, that Any retreat from the strategy of political independence of the working class and the construction of revolutionary parties will take on the significance of a world-historical blunder on the part of the Trotskyist movement.

And second, and very much flowing from the first, It is time to draw to a close the period in which Pabloite revisionism was regarded as a trend within Trotskyism.[ 1 ]

In the two-and-a-half years between its January 2, 1961 letter to the US Socialist Workers Party National Committee and the June 1963 Pabloite reunification congress, the Socialist Labour League (SLL) amplified and theoretically elaborated these warnings: The SWPs unprincipled reunification with the Pabloites would, it asserted, result in political disasters for the working class.

This assessment was to be vindicated, tragically, just 12 months later, in the form of the Great Betrayal in Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka. On June 9, 1964, amidst a massive crisis on the island pregnant with revolutionary possibilities, the Pabloite Lanka Sama Samaja Party, or LSSP, entered into Madame Sirimavo Bandaranaikes Sri Lanka Freedom Party government. This was the first time that a party claiming to be Trotskyist and historically associated with the Fourth International had entered into a bourgeois government.

The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) immediately recognized the world-historic significance of this betrayal. Gerry Healy traveled to Colombo and sought to intervene in the June 1964 LSSP Congress that decided for coalition.

In a July 5, 1964 statement, the ICFI drew the following seminal conclusion as to the counterrevolutionary role of Pabloism and the urgency of placing the struggle against its liquidationist politics at the center of the fight to resolve the crisis of revolutionary leadership through the building of revolutionary working class partiesthat is, sections of the ICFI.

The entry of the LSSP members into the Bandaranaike coalition, it declared, marks the end of a whole epoch of the evolution of the Fourth International. It is in direct service to imperialism, in the preparation of a defeat for the working class that revisionism in the world Trotskyist movement has found its expression.[ 2 ]

The lessons of the struggle against reunification and its vindication in the negative in Ceylon were necessarily at the heart of the further development of the ICFI and led directly to the founding of new IC sections in the US and Sri Lanka, respectively, the Workers League and the Revolutionary Communist League (RCL).

The roots of the Workers League can be traced back to the minority in the SWP led by Tim Wohlforth that, beginning in 1961, collaborated with the ICFI and worked under its discipline in opposing reunification with the Pabloites. But the events in Sri Lanka and their lessons were, as we shall show, pivotal in the political clarification and crystallization of the pro-ICFI minority and the founding of the Workers League.

The SWP had opposed Pablo in 1953, only to break with the ICFI and reunite with the Pabloites in 1963, based on a common anti-Trotskyist perspective and the suppression of all discussion of the differences that had led to the split a decade earlier. In Ceylon, by contrast, there had never been an IC section or sympathizing section. In 1953-54, the LSSP had taken an ambivalent stand on the fight against Pablo, ultimately choosing to remain within the Pabloite Fourth International and lend its prestige to Pablo and the International Secretariat in exchange for freedom to pursue increasingly explicit national-opportunist politics.

In both the US and Sri Lanka, the SLLs intervention would prove decisive in rallying and providing a genuine Trotskyist orientation and program to forces repelled by the Pabloites betrayal of the permanent revolution and the struggle for the political independence and hegemony of the working class. In both cases, a period of political clarification and separation from petty-bourgeois forces that claimed to oppose reunification in the case of the SWP and the Great Betrayal in the case of Sri Lanka was necessary before new Trotskyist partiesthe Workers League and the RCLcould emerge.

The first part of this lecture will examine the roots of the LSSPs Great Betrayal in Pabloite opportunism, its impact and significance, and the ICs struggle to draw its lessons for the Sri Lankan and world working class.

A second, shorter part, will review the origins of the US Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in the emergence, political differentiation and crystallization of a pro-IC minority in the struggle against the SWPs capitulation to Pabloite opportunism.

In this, the Ceylonese eventstheir roots, import and political lessonswere critical. They were critical, as this lecture will show, to both the formation of the American Committee for the Fourth International in 1964 and the Workers League, which became the Socialist Equality Party in 1995, two years later.

In July 1964, the aforementioned Wohlforth and eight others, including Fred Mazelis, who remains a leader of the US SEP to this day, were expelled from the SWP for calling for an internal party discussion of the events in Ceylon/Sri Lanka and their significance for the world Trotskyist movement. They would form the American Committee for the Fourth International. In November 1966after a further period of political differentiation from another group that had emerged in the SWP and claimed agreement with the ICFI, the petty-bourgeois nationalists of the Spartacist Leaguethe American Committee for the Fourth International became the Workers League.

Before examining the Pabloite betrayal in Ceylon/Sri Lanka, I want to make one further point. The LSSP played a major role in reunification. In the late 1950s, it served as an instrument for the Pabloites to politically probe the SWP. In the early 1960s, as Hansen and the SWP leaders sought to stampede the membership behind the reunification with the Pabloites, they touted the LSSP as the exemplar of the mass Trotskyist parties they were seeking to build in opposition to the sectarians and conservative dogmatists of the ICFI.

Permanent revolution and the principled foundations of Trotskyism in South Asia

The emergence of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party as a Trotskyist party and the principal party of the Ceylonese working class is a complex question. This history is necessarily discussed at length in the Sri Lankan SEP Historical and International Foundations document, which I strongly urge comrades to carefully review.

Here, I can only make some brief but critical observations. At its founding in 1935, the LSSP was a radical nationalist organization opposed to British imperialisms rule over the island with the complicity of the venal national bourgeoisie. It was led by young people, many of them sympathetic to Trotskyism, who had encountered Marxism and revolutionary politics while studying abroad. Chief among these were Colvin de Silva, Philip Gunawardena, Leslie Goonewardene and N.M. Perera.

The rapid descent toward world war in the late 1930s and the Stalinists counterrevolutionary Popular Frontist politics, which included blatant appeals for the colonial peoples to accommodate themselves to the British and French empires, impelled the LSSP leadership to turn more explicitly to Trotskyism and the Fourth International.

Trotskys July 1939 Open Letter to the Workers of India was written in response to the efforts of the LSSP leaders sympathetic to the Fourth International (known as the T group) to establish direct contact with Trotsky. It would be his last major elaboration of the perspective of Permanent Revolution as regards India, which Trotsky had elsewhere described as the classic colonial country.

Leon Trotsky, founder of the Fourth International

Anticipating that the coming Second World War would give a mighty impulse to the democratic revolution in India, Trotsky declared:

The Indian bourgeoisie is incapable of leading a revolutionary struggle. They are closely bound up with and dependent upon British capitalism. They tremble for their own property. They stand in fear of the masses. They seek compromises with British imperialism no matter what the price and lull the Indian masses with hopes of reforms from above.  Only the proletariat is capable of advancing a bold, revolutionary agrarian programme, of rousing and rallying tens of millions of peasants and leading them in struggle against the native oppressors and British imperialism. The alliance of workers and poor peasants is the only honest, reliable alliance that can assure the final victory of the Indian revolution. [ 3 ]

Trotskys Open Letter provided a strategic orientation to the best elements within the LSSP. Over the next two-and-a-half years, the LSSP would be politically reforged and refoundedtransforming itself from a Ceylonese-based radical nationalist organization into a genuine Trotskyist party fighting to win the working class across South Asia to the program of Permanent Revolution.

The pivotal first step in this process was the expulsion of a pro-Stalinist faction in its ranks in December 1939. The LSSP leaders subsequently elaborated the program of Permanent Revolution in a series of documents. They insisted that the basic tasks of the democratic revolution in the Indian subcontinent, or as it is now more commonly known South Asia, could only be realized through a working class-led socialist revolution, which would rally the rural and urban toilers against imperialism and the national bourgeoisie and orient to the world socialist revolution.

As part of this process of redefining the LSSPs strategic class axis, the Ceylonese Trotskyists came to recognize that there would not, nor could there be, any true settling of accounts with imperialism within the framework of the island of Ceylon. On this basis, they developed the strategic conception of an all-India party and spearheaded, politically and organizationally, the fight to merge various groups proclaiming support for Trotsky and the Fourth International in disparate parts of India into a single party based on adherence to the Fourth International and the program of Permanent Revolution.

As a result of this struggle the LSSP was fundamentally transformed and then subsumed in April 1942 into a new all-India party that immediately sought admission to the Fourth International, the Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma, or BLPI.

BLPI journal "Permanent Revolution"

The BLPI combined illegal work on the island during the Second World War with an audacious turn to what it recognized was an impending revolutionary explosion in British India. There is truly a heroic element to this story. Time does not allow me to elaborate on it, but having won over a prison guard to Trotskyism, several of the principal Ceylonese Trotskyist leaders escaped in April 1942 from the jail cells to which they had been confined for opposing the war. They then crossed the Palk Strait to India so that they could then lead the BLPIs intervention into the 1942 Quit India movement.

For Gandhi, the Quit India movement was a political gesture aimed at ensuring the bourgeois Indian National Congress control over rising mass discontent amid the war. But it quickly escaped the control of the Congress leadership and in much of the country became a national uprising against British rule. While the Stalinists scabbed on the Quit India movement, on the grounds that it jeopardized the war effort of the Soviet Unions British imperialist allies, the BLPI fought for the working class to intervene independently in the struggle against British rule and provide revolutionary leadership to the insurgent rural masses.

The British, albeit not without difficulty, were able to suppress the Quit India movement. However, with the end of the war, Indiaas much of the worldwas convulsed by a revolutionary crisis. This included a mutiny by Royal Indian Navy (RIN) sailors, peasant rebellions and, most importantly, a massive strike wave through which the working class strove to assert its independent class interests.

The BLPI helped precipitate a general strike in Bombay in support of the mutinying RIN sailors. Gandhi and Nehru denounced the uprising, which united Hindu, Muslim and Sikh workers and sailors.

The emergence of the working class drove the Gandhi-Jawaharlal Nehru-led Indian National Congress to intensify its efforts to reach a settlement with British imperialism.

If the Congress Party was ultimately able to retain political control, it was largely because of the role of the Stalinists, who over the preceding decades had systematically ceded leadership to the national bourgeoisie and subordinated the working class to it on the grounds that it was the rightful leader of the national-democratic revolution. The Communist Party of India endorsed the transfer of power agreement between Britains Labour government, the Congress, and the communalist Muslim League, which partitioned the subcontinent along communal lines into a predominantly Hindu India and an expressly Muslim Pakistantruly one of the great crimes and tragedies of the 20th century.

In a 1948 speech, BLPI leader Colvin da Silva trenchantly indicted the national bourgeoisie for its abortion of the mass anti-imperialist movement. He explained how, through the bloody partition of the subcontinent, communalism had been built into the very state structures of South Asia and new chains forged thereby for the imperialist domination of South Asia.

Colvin da Silva said:

The partition of India, so readily attributable to the Muslim League alone, was fundamentally due not to League politics but to Congress politics. The politics of Congress in relation to British imperialism was not the politics of struggle but the politics of settlement. And the politics of settlement inevitably fed the politics of partition in as much as it also left the initiative with British imperialism.

Pointing to the imminent danger of war between India and Pakistanand three-quarters of a century on there have been numerous wars between what are today nuclear-armed rivalsda Silva advanced as a strategic imperative the fight for the voluntary socialist reunification of the subcontinent, declaring:

Whom the bourgeoisie have torn asunder reactionarily, only the working class can unite progressively.[ 4 ]

The analysis that the BLPI made of the 1947 settlement has more than stood the test of time. There is a direct line between it and the 1987 ICFI statement, The situation in Sri Lanka and the Political Tasks of the Revolutionary Communist League, which makes a seminal evaluation of the entire post-World War II experience of decolonization and the character of the states to which it gave rise.[ 5 ]

The postwar settlement and the dissolution of the BLPI

Critical as the BLPIs analysis was, it did not remove the immense pressures bearing down on the Trotskyist movement. While in no way solving the burning problems of the masses, formal independence did open up new possibilities for the national bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie.

Significant divisions had already emerged among the original core of LSSP leaders who had broken with its radical nationalist conceptions, turned to the Fourth International and the perspective of Permanent Revolution and founded the BLPI. In 1943, in the aftermath of the Quit India movements defeat, Gunawardena and Perera had urged the BLPI to dissolve itself into the Congress Socialist Party, a petty-bourgeois radical organization within the Congress Party, very much akin to what the LSSP had been at its founding in 1935.

Like much of the BLPI leadership, Gunawardena and Perera were captured by the British authorities in India in 1943 and again imprisoned. On their release in 1945, they launched a new organization in Sri Lanka, which they called the LSSP. It claimed to be Trotskyist and to support the Fourth International, but it was politically and organizationally distinct from the BLPI.

Various organizational differences, of an entirely secondary and largely subjective character, were advanced by the LSSP leaders to justify its separate existence. In reality, there were major political differences, rooted in different class orientations. The BLPI recognized this. It condemned the renegacy of the LSSP leaders and warned that their split was the manifestation of a non-proletarian tendency, which, if not checked, would develop into full-blown opportunist politics.[ 6 ]

These differences were graphically illustrated in the opposed positions the BLPI and LSSP took on the legislation enshrining the settlement that had been reached between British imperialism and the national bourgeoisie in Ceylon to establish Ceylon as a formally independent state. This was a process from which the masses had been entirely excluded.

BLPI leader Doric de Souza correctly characterized it a conspiracy against the people. Da Silva, meanwhile, explained that only the forms of imperialist domination were being altered, with the native bourgeoisie given greater responsibility for administering the state machine that ensured its profits and those of its imperialist patrons. The BLPI voted against the 1947 Ceylon Independence Bill in parliament, boycotted the formal handover ceremony in 1948, and mobilized tens of thousands of workers in Colombo in opposition to the fake independence.

By contrast, the LSSP characterized the British handover as a step forward, abstained on the vote on the independence legislation and denounced the BLPIs plans for an opposition rally as exhibitionism.

The reactionary character of the independent rule of the Ceylonese bourgeoisie was quickly demonstrated. As one of its very first acts, Ceylons new independent government stripped the Tamil plantation workers, the largest section of the working class, of their citizenship rights in a direct continuation of the divide-and-rule politics of the islands former British colonial overlords. The BLPI vehemently condemned this, warning that in defining the nation in racial terms, the Ceylonese ruling class and its state were adopting the language of fascism.

Based on the struggle for the program of Permanent Revolution, the BLPI had established a powerful presence in the working class, especially on the island of Ceylon, where it led major strike movements in 1946 and 1947. But over the next two years, and as part of a growing crisis within the Fourth International, the BLPI would be liquidated.

Organizationally, this took place in two steps. In the fall of 1948, little more than one year after Indias independence, the Indian wing of the BLPI voted to dissolve and enter the petty-bourgeois nationalist Congress Socialist Party, which had been renamed the Socialist Party after being excluded from the Gandhi-Nehru Indian National Congress as the latter assumed the reins of power.

The BLPIs liquidation into the Socialist Party in India was soon followed by the merger of its remaining Sri Lankan section with the LSSP at a unity congress held on June 4, 1950. This merger was motivated and publicly justified in crass pragmatic and, frankly, electoralist terms: competition between the two parties in a 1949 by-election had enabled the right-wing UNP governments candidate to win. The failure to discuss the prior political differences, explains the Sri Lankan SEPs founding document, demonstrated the real relations in the new party: the right wing headed by N. M. Perera was in charge, while the former BLPI leaders provided him with Trotskyist credentials.[ 7 ]

In 1948, the Fourth Internationals international leadership had urged the BLPI not to proceed with its entry into the Socialist Party of India without further discussion. However, in 1950, when a section of the Indian Trotskyists, having concluded that their entry into this increasingly right-wing organization was a disaster, sought the Internationals support in resuming independent revolutionary political activity, Pablo was adamantly opposed.

Similarly, the Pablo-led International Secretariat gave its blessing to the BLPIs dissolution in Ceylon. Rather than intervening to oppose this unprincipled merger, which represented a major retreat toward the radical nationalist traditions of Sama Samajism, it immediately accepted the united LSSPs application to succeed the BLPI as the Ceylonese section of the Fourth International.

Pablo and Mandel did this because the BLPIs liquidation conformed with the liquidationist perspective they were now elaborating with ever greater explicitness. This would soon result in a universal call for Trotskyists throughout the world to forego, as Pablo put it, all organizational considerations, of formal independence or otherwise, to pursue real integration into the mass movementthat is, adaptation to the Stalinist, social democratic and, in the lesser developed countries, national bourgeois leaders wielding influence over the working class and politically smothering it.[ 8 ]

LSSP leader N.M. Perera addressing a mass protest in Colombos Galle Face Green during the 1953 hartal.

The orientation of the united LSSP was centrist and increasingly focused on parliamentary and trade union politics, not the class struggle. This was underscored by the LSSPs response to the 1953 hartal, or all-island general strike. The LSSP leaders were taken back by the enthusiastic response to their call for a one-day nationwide protest on August 12, 1953 against brutal government austerity measures. The working class, which came out in force, was joined by broad sections of the rural masses. In some parts of country the hartal movement lasted for several days, forcing the prime ministers resignation and threatened to bring down the government.

Despite the hartals resounding success, the LSSP and LSSP-controlled unions did not follow it up with calls for further mass action. They did not initiate a fight to build action committees to expand the struggle, organize defence against state repression, draw the rural masses under the leadership of the working class, and politically prepare for a struggle for power. Rather, they joined the Stalinists and the other groups that had initiated the hartal in calling for it to end and focused on efforts to bring down the government through a non-confidence motion in alliance with other opposition parties in parliament.

The LSSP stands with Pablo against the ICFI

I have spent some time tracing the evolution of the BLPI/LSSP prior to the formation of the ICFI in November 1953.

First, it is important to understand why the LSSP had considerable stature within the Fourth International. Even if the real reasons why the Ceylonese Trotskyists had emerged as the principal working class party on the islandits internationalism and revolutionary opposition to Stalinism and the national bourgeoisiewere increasingly obscured with mere references to its mass work.

Second, such a review demonstrates that by 1953 the LSSP was in profound political crisis and that this crisis was very much part of the crisis then engulfing the Fourth International. This crisis, as has been elaborated in the preceding lectures, was rooted in the emergence of a powerful liquidationist current nurtured by the restabilization of global capitalism and encouraged and given systematic theoretical expression by the Pablo-Mandel-led International Secretariat.

This brings us to the crucial point: Whatever its previous retreats and political backsliding, the decisive turning point in the evolution of the LSSPthat which consummated its break with Trotskyism and rapidly accelerated its descent into national opportunism, paving the way for the Great Betrayal of 1964was the stand that it took in 1953-54 in response to Cannons Open Letter and the founding of the ICFI as the political and organizational center of opposition to Pabloite liquidationism.

The LSSP leaders claimed to share many of the ICFIs objections to the most explicit pro-Stalinist formulations in the documents being produced by the Pabloite International Secretariat. Moreover, the LSSP had had itself to combat a pro-Stalinist faction. In the fall of 1953, virtually contemporaneously with the issuing of the Open Letter, a sizeable section of the LSSP leadership broke away to join the Stalinists.

Yet the LSSP rushed to issue a statement in December 1953 that denounced the ICs formation on organizational-procedural grounds, based on the claim that the Open Letter, in publicly attacking what was the elected leadership of the Fourth International, violated democratic centralist principles. Ignored in all this was the Open Letters trenchant critique of the liquidationist politics of the Pablo-led International Secretariat and its abuse of its authority to silence and expel those who upheld the historic program of Trotskyism.

In its initial statement denouncing the formation of the ICFI, the LSSP leaders declared that they had yet to consider, and here I cite directly, the political issues involved in the split. This refusal to address the substantive political issues would long continue, with the LSSP leaders instead casting themselves as mediators between the IC and the Pabloite liquidationists. In the name of forestalling what they termed a catastrophic split and preserving the unity of the Fourth International, they pressed the IC to conciliate and compromise with the Pabloites. That is, to conciliate and compromise with those Cannon had rightly indicted for seeking to overturn the Trotskyist program and destroy the historically assembled world Trotskyist cadre. Ultimately, the LSSP participated in the Pabloite Fourth World Congress, lending its political support and prestige to the International Secretariat.

Whatever their differences with Pablos pro-Stalinist formulations, the LSSP leaders recoiled from the ICFIs unequivocal defence of the political foundations of the Trotskyist movement and its declaration of war on opportunism. They correctly perceived the ICFIs defence of orthodox Trotskyism as cutting across their own centrist politics and increasingly opportunist focus on electoral and trade union politics.

James P. Cannon

Cannon expended considerable energy in seeking to convince the LSSP leaders of the gravity of the issues at stake and their political obligations to the world movement. In a lengthy February 1954 letter, he reviewed key experiences in the history of the Trotskyist movement that demonstrated that procedural-organizational questions had always been understood to be subordinate to political ones: The first concern of Trotskyists always has been, and should be now, the defense of our doctrine, he asserted. [ 9 ] Cannon pressed the LSSP leaders to fulfill their internationalist obligations by opposing pro-Stalinist forces and open or covert manifestations of Stalinist conciliationism not only in their own party, but throughout the world movement.[ 10 ]

Cannons letter to the LSSP is a powerful affirmation of proletarian internationalism as the Fourth Internationals strategy, program and first principle in organizing and conducting its work. Wrote Cannon:

We are fighting now in fulfillment of the highest duty and obligation which we undertook when we came to Trotsky and the Russian Opposition 25 years ago. That is the obligation to put international considerations first of all and above all; to concern ourselves with the affairs of the international movement and its affiliated parties; help them in every way we can; to give them the benefit of our considered opinions, and to seek in return their advice and counsel in the solution of our own problems. International collaboration is the first principle of internationalism. We learned that from Trotsky. We believe it, and we are acting according to our belief. (Emphasis in the original) [ 11 ]

Cannon was aware of the political pressures placed on a revolutionary party as it engages in mass work and assumes direct responsibility for providing leadership to the working class. He concluded his letter with a prescient warning:

The LSSPmore than any other party, I venture to sayrequires an international leadership which will be a source of strength and support to its Trotskyist orthodoxythe sole condition for its survival and eventual victoryrather than an organizing center of creeping liquidationism and disruption. [ 12 ]

It is precisely this international collaboration that the LSSP leaders rejected. Had they, or even a section of them, particularly the ex-leaders of the BLPI like Colvin da Silva, Leslie Goonawardene or Doric de Souza, rallied to the ICFI, conditions would have been created for a political rearming of the Trotskyist movement in Ceylon and South Asia.

Having resisted and broken free from those forces represented and led by the ICFI that were defending the historic program of the Fourth International and were committed to fighting Pabloite opportunism, the LSSP veered sharply to the right. It pursued an increasingly unrestrained national-opportunist politics. In short, it orientated ever more openly to direct political alliances with the national bourgeoisie.

Before documenting this and its culmination in the Great Betrayal, I need to make one further point. The pro-Stalinist faction expelled from the LSSP in 1953 was not the only right-wing grouping to emerge from its ranks in this period. In 1950, Philip Gunawardenawho you will recall had played a pivotal role in the retreat from the perspective of Permanent Revolution incarnated in the BLPIbroke from the LSSP to found the VSLP, which later became the MEP. Suffice it to say here that in their descent into unrestrained nationalist, class collaborationist and racialist anti-Tamil politics, the VSLP and then the MEP would foreshadow the evolution of the Pabloite LSSP itself.

The LSSP and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party

As previously discussed, the LSSP responded to the 1953 hartal in an opportunist, rather than a revolutionary, manner. This provided a political opening for a savvy bourgeois politician, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, to make an appeal to the discontented Sinhalese rural masses. Bandaranaike had held leading positions in Ceylons right-wing, pro-imperialist United National Party government until 1951, when he quit to found his own party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, or SLFP.

Bandaranaike had opposed the hartal outright, but in response to the explosive state of class relations it had laid bare, he and his SLFP adopted a radical pose, combining phony anti-imperialist and socialist phrase-mongering with virulent anti-Tamil chauvinism.

Rather than resolutely exposing the capitalist and chauvinist politics of the SLFP, the LSSP adapted to Sinhala populism. One expression of this was its opposition to making a Marxist class evaluation of the SLFP, based on its origins, program and social base.

It described the SLFP as centrista term Marxists employ to denote socialist organizations that use revolutionary rhetoric, while shying away in practice from assisting the workers in drawing revolutionary conclusions, in particular by waging war against the opportunist misleaders of the working class and the bureaucratic organizations they head.

At other times, the LSSP touted the equally, utterly fraudulent claim that the SLFP was a petty-bourgeois party, based on the fact that its electoral base was among the rural masses and urban petty bourgeoisie.

In fact, the SLFP drew substantial support from the Ceylonese bourgeoisie. This was for two basic reasons. Because they hoped to strike a better bargain with imperialism under conditions of the postwar boom and by exploiting the possibility of maneuvering with the Stalinist regimes in Moscow and Beijing. And, second, because they saw the SLFPs Sinhala populist demagogy as a useful instrument for harnessing the working class to their class aims and dividing it along communal lines. In its calls for select nationalizations and the closing of foreign military bases, the SLFPs program was not substantially different from that being implemented by Nehrus Congress Party in India or the Nasser regime in Egypt. If anything, it was more timid.

In 1956, just two years after breaking with the genuine Trotskyists of the ICFI, the LSSP supported the coming to power of Bandaranaike and his SLFP. Employing a prize subterfuge of opportunists everywhere, the LSSP invoked the threat from the most open and ruthless political representatives of the ruling class to subordinate the working class to those who don progressive garb and use populist appeals. On the grounds that the UNP was evolving in a fascist direction, the LSSP entered into a no-contest electoral pact with the SLFP.

When the SLFP and its ally, the Gunawardena-led VSLP, formed the government, the LSSP adopted what it called a policy of responsive cooperationwhich is nothing more than a polite way of saying it offered the government its close collaboration. In line with this policy, it voted for the governments Throne Speech outlining its legislative agenda.

In lending support to the SLFP, the LSSP helped legitimize its vile communal politics. A key plank in Bandaranaikes program was a Sinhala-only policy, to make Sinhalese, the mother tongue of the Sinhalese majority, the countrys sole official language. This anti-democratic, chauvinist policy found support among sections of the petty bourgeoisie because it would increase their opportunities for public sector employment and reduce the Tamil minority effectively to the status of second-class citizens, thereby asserting Sinhala dominance.

The LSSP opposed the SLFP governments Sinhala only policy. However, unlike the opposition it had mounted to the stripping of the Tamil plantation workers citizenship rights in 1948, it did not do so from the standpoint of socialist internationalism and the struggle for the unity of the working class. Rather, the LSSP denounced it on the grounds that it weakened the nation, that is, the Sri Lankan capitalist state.

These retreats and betrayals elicited no opposition from the Pabloite International Secretariat.

The International Committee, by contrast, was keenly aware of the LSSPs role. In 1956, when an advocate of conciliationism with Pabloism within the ICs ranks enthused over the LSSP being the only Trotskyist party in the world with a mass base, US SWP General Secretary Farrell Dobbs rightly rebuked him.

The LSSPs politics were, he affirmed, national opportunist. Preoccupied with the problems of their own mass movement, he continued, the LSSP is disinterested in the crisis confronting the Fourth International, and wished to be left alone. [ 13 ]

In March, 1957, the SWP newspaper The Militant published an editorial that sharply criticized the LSSP for having refused to demand the release of the jailed Chinese Trotskyists when its representatives visited China as guests of the Mao regime. Shortly thereafter, Gerry Healy, in a letter to Cannon, noted, Pablo is well aware of the opportunism of our Ceylonese leadership and true to type he is pushing them along. It is impossible for us to remain silent on this matter. Furthermore we have to take into account that the LSSP leaders have moved further away from the orthodox Trotskyist position since 1954. [ 14 ]

The 1960 elections and the Pabloite Internationals response to the LSSP leaderships first coalition attempt

Growing opposition within the working class compelled the LSSP to distance itself from the SLFP-VSLP government in the final years of the decade. This included organizing a one-day general strike in opposition to the governments attack on workers democratic rights.

Sections of the ruling class, for their part, became concerned about the ability of the SLFP to advance its interests under conditions of growing class struggle and, as a result of the SLFPs own promotion of Sinhala chauvinism, anti-Tamil communal riots. In 1959, Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Sinhala extremist Buddhist monk.

As the March 1960 election approached, the LSSP, responding to the growing militancy in the working class, made a show of fighting for power. Declaring that the UNP and SLFP were both discredited, it launched a campaign for a Samasamajist government.

But far from advancing a revolutionary strategy for the working class based on the class struggle and the program of Permanent Revolution, this campaign was conceived of entirely in electoral terms. The International Secretariat enthusiastically embraced the LSSPs parliamentary road to socialism, declaring that its Sri Lankan section was engaged in a decisive struggle for power.

Underscoring that the LSSP was, in fact, turning further to the right and being transformed into a reformist party that would act as the principal social prop of Sri Lankan capitalism, its electoral platform watered down its opposition to Sinhala only and its support for citizenship rights for the Tamil plantation workers.

The election results were a bitter disappointment for the LSSP opportunists. It won substantially fewer seats and only marginally more votes than in 1956, despite standing many more candidates. Perera, the leader of its most right-wing elements, responded by passing a resolution at a party conference authorizing the LSSP to enter into a coalition government with the SLFP, which was trying to cobble together majority support in a hung parliament.

By the early 1960s, the LSSP was deeply mired in opportunism and parliamentarism. Above, LSSP leader N. M. Perera (stranding on the left) engages with US President John F. Kennedy during a June 14, 1961 Sri Lankan parliamentary delegation visit to the White House. [Photo: Abbie Rowe. White House Photographs. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]

Pereras coalition policy was overruled by the LSSP Central Committee, but the differences of many of those who voted against joining the government were merely tactical. When a second election had to be held in July because no stable government could be formed, the LSSP entered into a no-contest agreement with the SLFP as it had in 1956, and once the SLFP won office, the LSSP voted for its Throne Speech and first budget.

The resolution Perera introduced in March 1960 to authorize forming a coalition government with the capitalist SLFP argued in explicitly Pabloite terms. It asserted that the SLFP was a petty-bourgeois party, and as suchcontrary to everything Trotsky wroteof a fundamentally different character than a capitalist party. Based on this false premise, it then claimed that in becoming the SLFPs junior partner in government, the LSSP would be conducting a form of entry, akin to that which the Pabloites were carrying out in reformist social-democratic parties.

Admittedly, the resolution continued, we are taking entryism a stage further by accepting office. But is this not the best way of taking the masses through the experience necessary to dispel their illusions, and creating confidence in our genuineness. A few bold progressive measures sponsored by us will enable them to learn more than years of propaganda by us. [ 15 ]

Six months later, in September 1960, and with the aim of covering its own tracks, the Pabloite International Secretariat wrote a lengthy document to the LSSP. It made limited criticisms of the Perera leaderships unbridled opportunism, while, in fact, giving the LSSP political license to continue its maneuvers with the capitalist SLFP. The Pabloite leadership endorsed collaboration with a capitalist government in implementing progressive measures or defending gains, when the masses are not ready to launch an anti-capitalist movement on a revolutionary political basis. In other words, precisely what Perera claimed the LSSP was doing.

We accept, the International Secretariat letter went on to declare, that it is possible for a revolutionary party to give critical support to a non-working class government (whether middle class or capitalist) in a colonial or semi-colonial country. [ 16 ] The Pabloite world leadership thus left the door wide open for its Sri Lankan section to collaborate with the SLFP government, paving the path for its eventual entry into the cabinet just four years later.

In keeping with its opportunist-coalitionist orientation to the Sinhala chauvinist SLFP and its friendly relations with Gunawardenas VSSP, which had quit the government in 1959 and renamed itself the MEP, the LSSP continued to adapt to and make far-reaching concessions to the communalist agitation against the Tamils.

In a letter written by Healy to the SWP National Committee in June 1963 condemning its reunification with the Pabloites, he pointed with bitterness to a report in The Militant lauding the joint May Day rally the LSSP had held with Stalinists and Gunawardena. To its eternal shame, wrote Healy, the LSSP had bowed to Gunawardenas demand that representatives of the Tamil plantation workers be excluded from the rallys platform. It is now freely admitted in the LSSP that the leaders are prepared to make real and large concessions on the question of parity of status for Tamil and Singhalese. This is the logic of the capitulation which has led them to support the capitalist government of Mrs. Bandaranaike. [ 17 ]

Shortly thereafter, the United Secretariat gave its blessing to the LSSPs support for negotiations between the Ceylonese and Indian governments to repatriate in truth, expelhundreds of thousands of Tamils whose ancestors had been brought to Sri Lanka in the 19th century to serve as plantation labourers.

The United Left Frontor how the Great Betrayal was prepared

The 1963 May Day rally in Colombo referenced by Healy was preparatory to a new maneuverthe creation of a Popular Front-type alliance, formally called the United Left Front, between the LSSP, the Ceylonese CP and Gunawardenas MEP.

The Pabloite reunification Congress, as was discussed in the preceding lecture, explicitly renounced the program of Permanent Revolution. It hailed the bourgeois nationalist Cuban revolution as opening a new path to world socialism, extolled the revolutionary capacities of the petty bourgeoisie, and renounced the need for revolutionary proletarian parties. The weakness of the enemy in backward countries, it declared, has opened the possibility of coming to power with a blunted instrument. [ 18 ]

Fittinglyor to be more precise, in accordance with this perspectiveit also gave its blessing to the LSSP-CP-MEP alliance. The LSSP, the Pabloite Congress asserted, has correctly raised the question of a United Left Front, both to arrest the movement to the right and to help these masses to move towards an alternative left. [ 19 ]

Shortly thereafter, in August 1963, the United Left Front, or ULF, was officially inaugurated. The ULFs very name was a deceit. It had nothing to do with the united front tactic as elaborated by Trotsky, who had always insisted on the political independence of the revolutionary party and that any joint action with opposed tendencies must be for specific immediate goals and involve no mixing of programs or banners.

Rather, as the Sri Lankan SEP explained in an important series of articles published in 2014, the United Left Front replicated the Stalinist Popular Fronts of the 1930s formed on the basis of a common political program with opportunist and bourgeois parties that shackled the working class to the bourgeoisie, private property and the state, and blocked its independent revolutionary activity. [ 20 ]

The ULFs 16-point program called for various reforms, including nationalizations of the tea and rubber plantations but in no way went beyond the framework of capitalist politics. This was exemplified in its acceptance of the SLFP governments communalist anti-Tamil policies.

It was on the basis of the United Left Front that the unionsmany of them directly led by its three constituent elementsthen formed an alliance around 21 points. Major struggles were to erupt under the banner of the 21-point alliance. But the ULF and the unions worked in tandem to politically defang the swelling mass working class upsurge.

Through the combined mechanisms of the United Left Front and the 21-point movement, the working class was confined to militant trade union struggles, while the LSSP and its allies maneuvered in parliament and the broader arena of Sri Lankan capitalist politics through the ULF. The Stalinists and the Gunawardena-led racialist MEP were, it need be emphasized, even more oriented toward an alliance with the SLFP than the LSSP. In keeping with the Stalinist-Menshevik canard of the two-stage revolution, Stalinist parties throughout Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa were vociferous advocates of the subordination of the working class to the supposedly progressive, anti-imperialist wing of the national bourgeoisie.

Within the LSSP there was a left wing that opposed the United Left Front and warned that it was a stepping stone toward coalition. However, the Pabloite United Secretariat suppressed criticism of the LSSP leadership. It justified this by citing the purported need in the aftermath of the 1963 reunification to relax discipline. The LSSP leaders, it said, had to be given the chance to prove in action the sincerity of their stand. To deliberately heat up the atmosphere in the LSSP would be injurious and imperil the unity of the partythat is, its domination by a virulent national-opportunist right wing. [ 21 ]

In April 1964, just two months before the LSSPs Great Betrayal, the United Secretariat sent a letter to the LSSP leadership in which it hailed the ULF, saying that it could provide another Cuba or Algeria and prove to be of even greater inspiration to revolutionary-minded workers throughout the world. [ 22 ]

By then, Perera had already entered into back channel talks with the prime minister, Madame Bandaranaike, who had assumed the leadership of the SLFP in the wake of her husbands assassination.

Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike

In a May 10, 1964 speech, Bandaranaike outlined the acute crisis facing the Sri Lankan bourgeoisie and consequently why the LSSP leaders needed to be brought into government so as to tame and politically suppress the working class. Some, she explained, feel that these [strike] troubles can be eliminated by the establishment of a dictatorship. Others say that the workers should be made to work at the point of gun and bayonet. Still others maintain that a national government should be formed to solve this problem. I have considered these ideas separately and in the context of world events. My conclusion is that none of these solutions will help to get us where we want to go.  Therefore, gentlemen, I decided to initiate talks with the leaders of the working class, particularly Mr. Philip Gunawardena and Mr. N.M. Perera. [ 23 ]

The Pabloite United Secretariat responded to the LSSPs impending entry into a capitalist government by appealing to the LSSP to instead advocate for a United Left Front government and to remain faithful to its long tradition of uncompromising struggle against imperialism and the national bourgeoisie. [ 24 ] This was asked of a party that, with the United Secretariats connivance, had for years adapted to Sinhala populism and repeatedly blocked openly with the capitalist SLFP in the name of fighting imperialism and the right.

The Great Betrayal

On June 9, 1964, the LSSP formally joined the government, with Perera named finance minister and two other LSSP leaders awarded cabinet posts.

At a party conference held June 6-7 to ratify entry into the government, three resolutions were presented: 1) that of the Perera-led right wing, which hailed the SLFP for leading a national struggle, won 501 votes. 2) that of a so-called center faction led by former BLPI leaders Colvin R. de Silva and Leslie Goonewardene called for the LSSP to hold out for a coalition agreement between the SLFP and the United Left Front as a whole, claiming this would provide better grounds for achieving a progressive solution to the crisis beyond the framework of capitalism.[ 25 ] It received 75 votes. 3) 159 delegates voted for the resolution of the Revolutionary Minority, which unequivocally condemned any coalition with the SLFP. A coalition, it warned, would result in open class collaboration, disorientation of the masses, (and) the division of the working class, and thus strengthen the very right-wing forces the proponents of coalition claimed to be fighting.[ 26 ] Upon its rejection, they walked out of the Congress and proclaimed the founding of a new party, the LSSP (Revolutionary).

Gerry Healy

The ICFI had been closely following the developments in Ceylon, recognizing their historic character for the world Trotskyist movement. Healy flew to Colombo but was denied entry into the LSSP congress on the grounds that he was not a member of the Pabloite United Secretariat. Healy, however, did engage outside the congress venue with workers and youth opposed to the coalition. And the Pabloites efforts both in the immediate and longer term to prevent the ICs exposure of the criminal role of the LSSP and the United Secretariat from reaching the most advanced elements failed.

On July 5, 1964, the ICFI issued the statement which I cited in introducing this report. It drew the essential lessons of the Great Betrayal the Pabloites perpetrated in Ceylon for the international working class. That betrayal, it concluded, marks the end of a whole epoch of the evolution of the Fourth International. It continued: It is in direct service to imperialism, in the preparation of a defeat for the working class that revisionism in the world Trotskyist movement has found its expression.

The next passage is no less pivotal. It reads:

The task of reconstructing the Fourth International must be undertaken from the firm basis of constructing revolutionary proletarian parties in every country in struggle against the bureaucratic and opportunist servants of imperialism and against their defenders, the revisionists who usurp the name of Trotskyism and the Fourth International. [ 27 ]

In addition, Healy wrote a comprehensive analysis of the LSSPs political degeneration that highlighted the role the international Pabloite leadership had played in it, titled Ceylon: The Great Betrayal. It observed that the future of the LSSPs revolutionary wing depends mainly now on a serious study of this relationship and of the ICFIs struggle against Pabloism. [ 28 ]

The response of the Pabloite United Secretariat to the entry of their Ceylonese section into a capitalist government was an utterly cynical washing of its hands. It expelled the 501 LSSP members, who had voted for Pereras coalition resolution. For months, however, it took no disciplinary action against the so-called center, which had advocated the ULF enter the government en bloque and remained loyal members of the LSSP as it assumed direct responsibility for managing the affairs of the Sri Lankan bourgeoisie and suppressing the working class.

Hansen and the SWP leadership, meanwhile, responded to the demand of the partys pro-IC minority for a discussion of the events in Ceylon and their meaning for the world Trotskyist movement by immediately suspending all its members.

The catastrophic consequences of Pabloite opportunism

This school appropriately began with a tribute to Comrade Wije Dias, who for 35 years served as the general secretary of the Sri Lankan section of the ICFI. Wije entered political life through the LSSPs Youth Leagues, after entering university in 1962. He was attracted to what he thought was a Trotskyist party in the leadership of a growing movement of the working class and fighting to impart to it a revolutionary-socialist direction. In fact, what the LSSP leaders were preparing was a historic betrayal.

The IC statement announcing his death at age 80 states:

Wije was an implacable protagonist of the socialist internationalist program of Permanent Revolution and fighter for the political independence of the working class. He was unyielding in his defense of Marxist and Trotskyist principles because he had witnessed the catastrophic consequencesin the form of political disorientation, reaction and tragic loss of lifethat result from their abandonment and betrayal. [ 29 ]

The Pabloite betrayal in Sri Lanka has had horrific consequences for the workers and toilers of the island and, indeed, all South Asia. Today, six decades later, the Sri Lankan and South Asia working class and our party are still labouring under its impact.

The whole tortured history of Sri Lanka over the past six decadesincluding an ethno-communal civil war which led to more than 100,000 deathsattests to what was and is at stake in the struggle against Pabloite revisionism and all forms of national opportunism. The LSSPs transformation into the principal social prop of bourgeois rule on the island opened the door for the rise of the petty-bourgeois JVP. It won a following among impoverished rural Sinhala youth by preaching the armed struggle on the basis of a mixture of Maoism, Castroism and Sinhala chauvinism.

At the same time, the LSSPs counterrevolutionary alliance with the party that had championed Sinhala first chauvinism shattered the confidence of the Tamil masses that they could look to the working class, under revolutionary socialist leadership, to defend their democratic rights. Ultimately, this would lead to the emergence of the LTTE and like-minded Tamil nationalist-separatist groups from among the student youth of the Jaffna Peninsula.

The SLFP-LSSP coalition government established in June 1964 did not long endure after carrying through its principal task, derailing the working class upsurge around the 21 demands.

But in 1970, the LSSP was the SLFPs principal partner in a second SLFP-led coalition government. With Perera as its finance minister until 1975, the SLFP-LSSP-Communist Party government would carry out massive attacks on the working class and oppressed toilers. In 1971, it brutally suppressed a JVP-led uprising, killing 15,000 rural youth.

Following the well-trodden path of Sri Lankan bourgeois politics, the coalition supplemented its savage suppression of the youth uprising with a constitutional reform that enshrined key Sinhala chauvinist principles in the islands fundamental law. Authored by Colvin da Silva, who had once powerfully articulated the perspective of Permanent Revolution, it imposed discriminatory job and education quotas on the Tamil minority and made Buddhism the state religion and Sinhalese the sole official language.

The impact of the LSSPs Great Betrayal reverberated far beyond the island. Throughout Asia and around the world, the LSSPs betrayal gave a political boost to increasingly discredited Stalinist and Maoist parties. The Indian Stalinists were roiled by crisis throughout the 1960s as a result of the Sino-Soviet split, the Communist Party of Indias support for the Indian bourgeoisie in the India-China border war, and growing opposition within its ranks to its close ties with the ruling Congress Party. But because the Trotskyist movement in South Asia had been liquidated by the Pabloites in the 1950s, a process that culminated in the Great Betrayal of 1964, the warring Stalinist factions were left unchallenged and able to retain their political control over the working class. The Naxalite movement that came to the fore in this period pointed to the LSSPs betrayal to justify their Maoist, anti-working class politics of protracted peoples war and a new democratic revolution in alliance with the reputed anti-imperialist, anti-feudal wing of the bourgeoisie.

The political struggle that led to the emergence of the RCL

Healys June 1964 trip to Sri Lanka was the opening salvo in the struggle to draw out the significance of the Great Betrayal for the global working class, above all, regarding the struggle to resolve the crisis of revolutionary leadership through the building of the Fourth International. A key element in this was the fight to clarify those revolutionary-minded elements in Sri Lanka who were repelled by the LSSPs actions and groping to find a way forward amid the confusion and disorientation the betrayal and political suppression of the working class produced.

From the beginning, the central point made by Healy and the ICFI was that the betrayal was politically prepared by the Pabloite world leadership in Paris. It was the outcome of a longstanding crisis in the world Trotskyist movement, intensified by the SWPs desertion to the Pabloites in 1963, which could only be overcome through a global offensive against Pabloite revisionism.

The LSSP (Revolutionary) was still-born from the standpoint of revolutionary politics because it refused to break with the United Secretariat. At its very first conference, its entire leadership combined to block a resolution introduced by an ICFI sympathizer to debate the international questionthat is, the ICFIs struggle against Pabloite opportunism.

The Sri Lankan SEPs Historical and International Foundations document discusses at length the process of political struggle and differentiation whereby, under the influence and guidance of the British Trotskyists, a group of extraordinary young people broke from the political orbit of the LSSP (R) and its orientation of pressuring the LSSP and Stalinist leaders and undertook to build a new revolutionary party of the Sri Lankan working class based on the lessons of the ICFIs struggle against Pabloite revisionism. Chief among these were Keerthi Balasuriya, who was just 19 years old when elected the general secretary of the Revolutionary Communist League (RCL) at its founding congress in June 1968, and Wije Dias.

RCL General Secretary Keerthi Balasuriya addressing an RCL meeting in early 1970. Tragically, Comrade Balasuriya died in 1987 at the age of just 39.

A key issue at the RCLs founding congress concerned the continuity of the struggle for Trotskyism. As the SEP Sri Lanka has explained, Comrade Keerthi opposed a tendency that viewed the congress as the unification of a national Sri Lankan revolutionary current that traced its history through the LSSP, LSSP (R) and Shakthi (a left grouping in which many of the RCL leaders had participated) with the ICFI. [ 30 ] The congress unanimously adopted a resolution for affiliation with the ICFI based on the understanding that its struggle against Pabloite revisionism had ensured the continuity of the Fourth International and its lessons were critical to resolving the crisis of proletarian leadership. This Congress, it declared, dedicates firmly to the task of building the party of the proletarian revolution in Ceylon as a section of the ICFI in an intransigent struggle against all forms of revisionism and declares that this task is inseparably bound up with active intervention in the class struggle to the maximum possible extent in every place and under all circumstances. [ 31 ]

Because they were basing themselves on a fight to assimilate the lessons of the ICFIs struggle to defend and develop the historic programme of the Fourth International, the RCL leadership, and especially Comrade Keerthi, were acutely sensitive to any retreat from the program of Permanent Revolution. It goes beyond the scope of this lecture, but it should be noted that even before the founding of the RCL, this leadership had taken issue with Bandas glorification of Maoist armed struggle. And in 1971, the RCL sought to reverse the line of critical support for Indias December 1971 war on Pakistan which the SLL had advanced in the name of the ICFI on the basis of an acceptance of Indira Gandhis cynical claims that New Delhi was intervening to support the Bangladesh liberation struggle. However, in a sign of the growing crisis within the SLL, the RCLs criticisms were suppressed and never discussed in the IC.

Pabloism, the Great Betrayal and the struggle for Trotskyism in the US

As previously noted, precisely one year before the entry of the Pabloite LSSP into Ceylons capitalist government, the Socialist Workers Party voted to reunify with the Pabloites, forming the so-called United Secretariat.

At the SWPs June 1963 congress, held just days before the Pabloite world congress that formalized and implemented reunification, a minority led by Tim Wohlforth and working in conjunction with and under the political direction and discipline of the IC voted against reunification.

Significantly, a second grouping, a minority led by James Robertson that claimed to sympathize with the ICFI and would go on to form the Spartacist League, abstained. The Robertson group claimed all sorts of differences with the SWP leadership. Yet on the central question facing the world Trotskyist movement, one that had rightly been the subject of a fierce political battle during the preceding two-and-a-half years, the Robertson group refused to side with the ICFI. In 1953, in initiating the founding of the ICFI, Cannon had declared that the lines of cleavage between Pabloite revisionism and orthodox Trotskyism are so deep that no compromise is possible either politically or organizationally. [ 32 ]

Ten years later, when called upon to declare whether it agreed with the SWP leadership that the differences that had led to the 1953 split had been superseded by subsequent eventsespecially the SWP and International Secretariats common evaluation of the Cuban revolutionand that all discussion of the 1953 split should be suppressed so as to press forward with reunification, the Robertson group abstained.

At the urging of the British Trotskyists, the pro-IC minority remained within the SWP after it broke with the IC and rejoined the Pabloites. It did so in order to continue the fight for political clarification within the SWP on the central questions pertaining to world revolutionary perspectives and the fight to resolve the crisis of revolutionary leadership through the building of the Fourth International. This was a correct decision, very different from politically endorsing or participating in reunification. It was born of a correct appraisal of the central task facing the supporters of the IC under conditions where the SWP, the historic party of Trotskyism in the United States, was in the process of liquidating itself into petty-bourgeois radicalism, and on the conviction that events would vindicate and clarify the decisive significance of the ICs struggle against reunification.

Although a secondary matter, it should also be noted that it was the SWP leadership that was most insistent that there could be no discussion of the 1953 split. This was because it could not politically explain, from the standpoint of the struggle for the historical program and principles of Trotskyism, its own trajectory. Instead, it suppressed all discussion of 1953. At the same time, it mendaciously asserted that the SWP had been right in initiating the ICs founding a decade before, but that since then the Pabloites had come over to its positions. This Mandel and his supporters vehemently denied.

Remaining inside the SWP meant the pro-IC minority was subjected to the SWP leaderships factionally motivated maneuvers and compelled to forego certain opportunities in public party work. But the Wohlforth-led minority did so because it recognized the importance of its role in the ICs struggle to clarify the SWP cadre and the international Trotskyist movement.

The events in Sri Lankathe entry of the official section of the United Secretariat into the islands bourgeois governmentwas, of course, another matter. It was a historic betrayal which, as this lecture has shown, had the hands of the international Pabloite leadership in Paris all over it and which the SWP had abetted.

The Wohlforth-led pro-IC minority responded in a principled fashion. It demanded an internal party discussion of the LSSPs historic betrayal and its meaning for the world Trotskyist movement. On June 30, 1964, it issued a mimeographed statement, distributed exclusively to party members, outlining why such a discussion was urgently needed. For this crime, Wohlforth, Fred Mazelis and seven others were suspended from SWP membership 10 days later.

The statement issued by the minority merits citing at some length. It reads in part:

During the whole period from 1961 to 1963 we reiterated time and time again, in political solidarity with the International Committee, that a reunification of the Fourth International without the fullest political discussion prior to the actual reunification could only lead to disaster and the further disintegration of the international movement and the party here. Our position has been fully vindicated.  There can no longer be any further refusal to face up to the political, theoretical and methodological crisis tearing apart our party and the international formation to which it is presently in political solidarity. For the very survival of the party a thoroughgoing discussion of these questions must be organized immediately in all branches. We are well aware that such a discussion in between preconvention periods is an extraordinary step. We are demanding such a discussion precisely because we face a crisis of the most extraordinary character. Leninists are never fetishistic over organizational matters. They willingly make adjustments in organizational forms to fit the political needs of the movement. To perpetuate a sterile discussion during a period when the party has important external work to do is a criminal act against the Bolshevik party. Not to organize a discussion when a deep political crisis tears apart the party and the international movement is at least as criminal an action. Those who counterpose pressing and necessary party building work to a process essential to the very survival of the party itself are in no sense of the term Leninists. (Emphasis in the original.) [ 33 ]

The members of the pro-IC minority responded to their suspension by forming the American Committee for the Fourth International (ACFI). Its break with the now-Pabloite SWP was thus over the most fundamental international and historical questions.

This was not accidental, nor incidental. It arose out of the ICs approach to the fight against reunification and the agreement, on that basis, that it secured with the Wohlforth-led minority.

As the US SEP Historical and International Foundations document emphasizes:

The greatest strength of this tendency was its recognition that the political crisis of the SWP had to be approached as an international problem. The struggle within the SWP, therefore, could not be conducted from the standpoint of obtaining a tactical advantage in the discussion of one or another political issue. Instead, the basic aim of the discussion was to achieve political and theoretical clarification of the central problems of revolutionary perspective in the Fourth International. [ 34 ]

Here again was a fundamental difference with the Robertson group. Initially, Robertson and his supporters were part of a single minority with Wohlforth, Mazelis and others that professed support for the IC. But they refused to work under the discipline of the IC, decrying it as bureaucratic centralism. Consequently, the pro-IC minority inside the SWP had to be reorganized in early 1962.

In striking contrast with the IC supporters, whose exclusion from the SWP revolved around the most important issues of political principle, the Robertson group was expelled from the SWP in late 1963 over its violation of SWP discipline to pursue what it perceived as opportunities in building its faction through external or public work. This was bound up with its contention that the key issue was the SWPs stand on what it termed the central problem of the American revolutionthe fight against racial segregation and the oppression of the African American minority.

Nevertheless, following the establishment of the ACFI and under conditions where the Robertson group, now known as Spartacist, continued to claim that it was in political sympathy with the IC, Healy and the British Trotskyists sought to put this claim to the test by encouraging the two self-avowed pro-IC tendencies in the US to work toward a principled fusion. As a result, an invitation was extended to Spartacist to participate in the ICFIs 1966 congress.

Some comrades are no doubt familiar with Robertsons provocative conduct at the congress, whose discipline he flouted. This was entirely in keeping with the Robertson groups previous actions and served to demonstrate that its political physiognomy as a petty-bourgeois nationalist clique focused around Robertson had become fixed.

Important as this was, an even more substantive issue was Robertson and Spartacists opposition to the ICs assessment of the counterrevolutionary role of Pabloite opportunismin which the roots and world-historic significance of the LSSPs Great Betrayal of 1964 was an important element.

In April 1966, less than two years after the Sri Lankan section of the United Secretariat had been called to government to rescue the bourgeoisie, as Madame Bandaranaike had herself explained, Robertson took the floor of the ICs Third Congress to challenge the ICFIs evaluation of the counterrevolutionary role of Pabloism and the urgency of the struggle against it.

Robertson took specific issue with the ICs insistence that world imperialism was increasingly dependent on the Pabloite revisionists, who served to prop up Stalinism and social democracy and in the countries historically oppressed by imperialism, the national bourgeoisie. The Spartacist guru declared, We take issue with the notion that the present crisis of capitalism is so sharp and deep that Trotskyist revisionism is needed to tame the workers, in a way comparable to the degeneration of the Second and Third Internationals. Such an erroneous estimation would have as its point of departure an enormous overestimation of our present significance, and would accordingly be disorienting. [ 35 ]

As the US SEP founding document observes:

All that divides Marxism, theoretically and politically, from petty-bourgeois radicalism was summed up in this statement. In essence, Robertson denied the objective social and political significance of the conflict within the Fourth International. The lessons of Lenins struggle to build the Bolshevik Party in the struggle against revisionism, and, later, of Trotskys struggle against Stalinism and various forms of centrism, were ignored. The struggle against Pabloism within the Fourth Internationalso clearly connected to major political and social processes in the aftermath of World War IIwas derided by Robertson as a subjectively motivated squabble between various individuals. [ 36 ]

The political differentiation and separation from the petty-bourgeois nationalist Spartacist clique were a critical element in establishing the internationalist character and proletarian class orientation of the tendency formed by the American supporters of the ICFI.

The subsequent evolution of the Spartacist League as a virulent pro-Stalinist Pabloite group, characterized by extreme subjectivism and hostility to the ICFI, the Workers League and the SEP, is beyond the scope of this lecture. Here I will only reference Globalization and the International Working Class: A Marxist Assessment, which, through a dissection of the nationalist politics of the Spartacist League, further elaborated the seminal analysis the ICFI had made of capitalist globalization, adding new succulence and concreteness to the program of world socialist revolution. Not coincidentally, it was published in 1998 as the ICFI was founding the WSWS.

In November 1966, based on the lessons of the Third IC Congress, the ACFI transformed itself into the Workers League. Thus, as a result of the struggle led by the SLL against the SWPs embrace of Pabloite liquidationism, the historical continuity of the Trotskyist movement in America, the center of world imperialism, was preserved.

Conclusion

Changing what needs to be changed, the Great Betrayal in Ceylon was the August 4, 1914 of Pabloite revisionism, where the full consequences of its abandonment of the program of the Fourth International and descent into national opportunism were laid bare.

It demonstrated incontrovertibly the counterrevolutionary role of Pabloite revisionism. The events in Sri Lanka foreshadowed the role the Pabloites would play as a secondary agency of imperialism in assisting Stalinism and social democracy in politically suffocating the worldwide revolutionary offensive of the working class between 1968 and 1975.

But it is not only the betrayal that we must remember. The politics that led to it were opposed. In the fight against the unprincipled reunification of 1963, the British Trotskyists and their supporters in the pro-IC minority in the SWP warned repeatedly that it would lead to political disasters. In the aftermath of the Great Betrayal, the IC fought to transform it into a strategic experience for the world working class and place its lessons at the heart of the fight to build the Fourth International.

The SWP leaderships accelerating political retreat, beginning in the mid-1950s and its ultimate succumbing to Pabloite opportunism and 1963 break with the ICFI, pushed the genuine Trotskyists onto the defensive.

However, under the leadership of the SLL, the IC mounted a counteroffensive. In so doing, it struck powerful political-theoretical blows in which the key issues of program and perspective were clarified. This included laying the foundations for the building of new sections in two countries critical to the history of the Fourth InternationalAmerica and Sri Lankaand two parts of the world, North America, the center of world imperialism, and South Asia, today the worlds most populous region, that are key battlegrounds in the world socialist revolution.

There was nothing inevitable about the role that the Workers League and RCL would play in the 1982-86 split with the WRP and its immediate aftermath. However, the leading role that they did play was bound up with the powerful Trotskyist traditions that had been laid at their foundation, as a result of the ICs struggle against reunification and the Great Betrayal.

On July 20, 2022, the Sri Lankan SEP issued a critical statement titled For a Democratic and Socialist Congress of Workers and Rural Masses in Sri Lanka! It outlined a revolutionary strategy to guide the struggle for workers power in response to the mass upsurge that earlier that month had chased the hated President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from power and created the revolutionary crisis that continues to grip the island. One crucial passage reads:

In refusing to take part in the talks on forming an interim government, the SEP drew on the bitter political lessons of the Lanka Sama Samaja Partys catastrophic 1964 betrayal of the essential political principles of Trotskyism.  The entry of the LSSP into the bourgeois Sinhalese First government of Bandaranaike not only marked the end of the 21 demands movement. It demoralised the masses, promoted ethno-linguistic strife over class struggle, and paved the way for the domination of reactionary communal politics and decades of civil war. The SEP has not and never will go down the LSSPs road of betrayal. We reject all forms of direct and indirect support to capitalist governments. [ 37 ]

In its analysis of the development of the class struggle, the temper of the masses and the tasks of the party, the statement also makes explicit reference to the experience of the 1917 October Revolution and the Spanish revolution. It is, of course, animated by the ICs analysis of the systemic crisis of world capitalism and our understanding that this is the fifth phase in the history of the Trotskyist movement.

This statement was the outcome of intense international collaboration and was the last on which Comrade Wije worked. It embodies the ICFIs approach to the history of the Fourth International and the strategic experiences of the world working class, which must animate the work of all of its sections and supporting sections in providing revolutionary leadership to the growing global working class upsurge.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The United States announced on Tuesday an additional package of military assistance to Ukraine worth 250 million U.S. dollars.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the new package includes AIM-9M missiles for air defense, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, and over 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition.

The latest assistance is executed under a previous directive from President Joe Biden using the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA). Weapons and equipment being provided through this approach are drawn directly from the Department of Defense's (DoD) inventories for Ukraine.

This is the Biden administration's 45th PDA-related military aid to Ukraine since August 2021, according to a DoD list of the latest weapons heading to Ukraine.

The United States has committed more than 43.7 billion dollars in military assistance to Ukraine since the Biden administration took office, including more than 43 billion dollars since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, according to the DoD.

With the conflict still grinding on, there has been growing domestic opposition, especially from the Republican Party, to using U.S. taxpayer money to increase the funding to Ukraine indefinitely.

During the first GOP primary debate on Aug. 23, several of the party's candidates for the 2024 presidential election voiced their frustration over the Biden administration's policy of supporting Ukraine militarily for "as long as it takes."

"I would not. And I think that this is disastrous," businessman-turned-political-candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said when asked during the debate whether he would support the current White House's approach to arming Ukraine. "We have to put the interests of Americans first, secure our own border instead of someone else's," he said.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, also running for president, said U.S. aid to Ukraine should be conditioned on European countries providing more funding.

"I will have Europe pull their weight. Right now they're not doing that," DeSantis said. 
Boom of traditional culture drives museum craze in China

Xinhua) 08:19, August 30, 2023

TAIYUAN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Booking a museum ticket, during this hectic summer vacation in China, is not easy. Aspiring visitors may be disappointed by the fact that tickets for the entire week might be fully booked.

In response to the "heated-up museum fever during the summer vacation," Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau, in a rare move, announced on Aug. 18 that 46 museums in the city would cancel their Monday closures until Aug. 31, allowing visitors to visit museums every day.

The surging demand is also visible in packed museum halls across the country. To many museum staff, the crowds they see this summer were rarely seen before, and the hustle-and-bustle museum scene is a total novelty.

Looking into the causes behind this "museum craze," Guo Sike, curator of the Confucius Museum in Qufu City, east China's Shandong Province, pointed to the "craze for traditional culture," or a growing fascination with traditional Chinese culture, particularly among young Chinese.

"Young generations have cultural confidence and love the splendid traditional Chinese culture," said Guo, adding that modern technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), have diversified the means by which traditional culture is presented, and enabled it to be presented in a more lovable and lively image.

A tourist visits an exhibition at a Qinqiang opera art museum in the Yisushe Theater cultural block in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

RISING DEMAND FOR MUSEUM TOURS

On a Sunday morning in August, the Shanxi Museum in Taiyuan City, capital of northern China's Shanxi Province, drew a long line of visitors before its opening hour. "A large number of bronzes, Buddha statues, artifacts from traditional residential courtyards and ancient opera stages are displayed here," said Wang Bin, a tourist from Beijing. He was visiting the museum together with his wife and son, dragging suitcases with them.

Visitors wait to enter the Shanxi Museum in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, Aug. 6, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Xuetao)

"The visit will leave my kid a general impression of the long history of Shanxi Province, its history of ethnic integration, the culture of Shanxi merchants and local ancient architectures, which helps to broaden his horizon and enrich his knowledge," said Wang.

As of Aug. 15, the Shanxi Museum had welcomed a total of 1.11 million visits this year, among which, 400,000 visits, or more than one-third of the total, had been recorded during the period from July 1 to Aug. 15. The number of visits to the museum for the entire year 2019 was tallied at 1.41 million.

To satisfy the needs of visitors, the Shanxi Museum extended the opening duration by one hour on Saturdays and Sundays during the summer vacation, and increased the number of free guided tours to almost five times more than non-holiday time, according to Zhang Huiguo, deputy curator of the museum.

The Shaanxi History Museum in the city of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, also saw growing enthusiasm from visitors, and their tickets are highly sought-after during the summer vacation. Despite a daily maximum capacity of 12,000 visitors, the museum's ticket booking platform receives more than 600,000 clicks each day, and tickets are fully booked the moment they become available for reservation.

In response, the museum called off its Monday closures and prolonged opening hours on Sundays, during the summer vacation.

INCREASING CHARM OF TRADITIONAL CULTURE

At the Confucius Museum in Shandong, Du Pengfei, a secondary school student from Heze City, was "enthralled by the charm of brilliant traditional culture," after completing his visit.

"I did my homework before coming here, and I knew that the Kong family boasts a long history of book printing, and many of the books displayed were made by woodblock printing," said Du, referring to the ongoing exhibition in the museum on books and documents of the Kong family (Kong is the family name of Confucius). "Woodblock printing was an important invention of the ancient Chinese people," said Du.

Students pose for a photo in front of the statue of Confucius during a study tour in Qufu City, east China's Shandong Province, June 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

The growing popularity of study tours focusing on traditional culture has also attracted huge crowds to museums, as museum visits usually constitute an integral session of the tour.

Catering to the needs of these study tours, the Confucius Museum, for example, has launched a variety of exhibitions and activities apart from its regular exhibitions themed on Confucius, including the ones showcasing the Kong family's customs, rituals, daily etiquette, as well as calligraphy and aesthetic education summer camps.

In Xi'an, the traditional Qinqiang Opera, a local folk opera genre added to the country's intangible heritage list in 2006, has become a popular subject of study tours.

Local museums themed on Qinqiang Opera offer participants of the tours opportunities to learn the culture not only by the book but also hands-on -- donning the performers' costumes, learning to sing a classic excerpt of the opera, drawing Qinqiang Opera masks and joining a shadow puppet performance.

Children learn Qinqiang Opera at the Yisushe Theater cultural block in Xi'an City, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 6, 2023. (Xinhua)

"Compared to being a passive recipient in traditional sightseeing tours, people love the more interactive and hands-on travel experiences," said Yang Rong, director of the study tour sub-branch of the Shaanxi Tourism Association, "students traveling to the historic city of Xi'an would love to learn a few lines of Qinqiang Opera, to try repairing an artifact, or to learn the performance of shadow puppetry."

"Museums are bridges connecting the past, present, and future. The 'museum craze' is propelled by a renaissance of Chinese traditional culture in recent years. More and more people wish to learn more about the profound Chinese civilization and the historical heritage of the Chinese nation through visiting museums," said Yang Chaoming, professor at the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies, Shandong University.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Qabil Ashirov

Garabagh Missing Families Public Union released the statement on the occasion of International Day of Missing Persons, Azernews reports, citing the release of the organisation.

The statement reads:

In the 90s of the 20th century, 20% of Azerbaijan's territory recognized by international law was invaded by the Armenian armed forces, as a result of which nearly four thousand Azerbaijani citizens went missing in the First Karabakh War. Unfortunately, as a result of the military aggression, more than seven hundred civilians, including children, women, and the elderly, have disappeared along with the soldiers.

Of the total number of missing persons, 872 people, including 29 children, 98 women, and 112 elderly people, were taken hostage or remained in the occupied territories, confirmed by witness statements.

In a number of cases, people disappeared along with their family members and relatives, and entire families and generations were destroyed. Research confirms that 2 to 7 members of 61 families went missing during the first Karabakh war and no information was given about them during these years. This situation is disrespectful not only to the families of the missing Azerbaijanis but to all humanity.

Facts and eyewitness accounts confirm that during the occupation of the sovereign territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the Armenian military in the first Karabakh War, the norms of international humanitarian law were grossly violated and civilians were targeted, elderly people who could not leave their homes were burned, beaten, severely tortured, hanged from trees or shot during unexpected attacks.

According to the requirements of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, which are its main source, the right of their families to receive information about persons missing during armed conflicts is unequivocally recognized. However, family members of missing Azerbaijanis have been deprived of this right for more than 30 years. Armenia's refusal to provide information about the missing Azerbaijanis condemned their families to suffer. As a result of the non-humanist position of Armenia, thousands of missing families have been forced to live with the pain of this terrible tragedy for 30 years and have not been able to get information about their loved ones.

It is known that the territories of Azerbaijan occupied in the First Karabakh War were under the control of the Armenian army for 30 years. For this reason, all missing persons, including detailed information about their burial places, are on the Armenian side. The interview given to Armenian mass media in December 2021 by Lieutenant General Gagik Melkonyan, deputy of the Armenian Parliament, and former Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia, confirms this once again.

In that interview, Gagik Melkonyan stated that the corpses of hundreds of servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army who died in 1994 remained on the battlefield and Armenians buried them. Although Azerbaijan made an official appeal to Armenia through the mediation of international organizations regarding the issue, no response was received.

In September 2020, the Azerbaijani Army, which carried out a counter-offensive operation related to the provocation of the Armenian armed forces, liberated the homeland from occupation and implemented the resolutions adopted by the UN in 1993. However, the excessive pollution of territories [with landmines] by Armenia during the occupation did not allow the people expelled from there, including their missing families, to go to their homelands. In addition, Armenia does not provide Azerbaijan with accurate mine maps or information about the mass graves of the missing. More than three hundred Azerbaijani citizens have become victims of mine explosions in the last three years due to the lack of mine maps.

In recent years, the steps taken by the relevant state institutions of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the field of clarifying the future fate of the missing, including taking biological samples from families, extracting DNA profiles, and conducting excavations in the territories freed from occupation, create great hopes in the families of the missing. However, the discovery of 10 mass graves in a short period of time and the fact that our loved ones were killed by torture and buried in an inhumane manner saddens our hearts.

Analyzes, including G. Melkonyan's information, show that new mass graves will be discovered. Killing people with torture and mass burial and losing their traces is a disrespect for all human values.

We, as a public organization uniting the family members of nearly 4,000 Azerbaijanis who went missing as a result of Armenia's military aggression against Azerbaijan, demand the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, to provide information about missing Azerbaijani citizens and mass graves to the Azerbaijani side.

G. Melkonyan belongs to the political party headed by the Prime Minister of Armenia, and therefore, N. Pashinyan can at least provide the information about the location of the mass grave, which G. Melkonyan stated in his interview, to the Azerbaijani side.

We, also call on the President of the Council of the European Union, Mr. Charles Michel, and the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to put pressure on Armenia to release information about the fate of missing ones and the mass graves to the Azerbaijani side.

We call on the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Commission on Missing Persons to increase their efforts in this area.

The problem of missing persons is not relevant only to Azerbaijan, it is of global issue. Therefore, we call on the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, to appoint a UN Special Rapporteur on missing persons.

We, the Azerbaijani families of the missing, wish that all the armed conflicts in the world will end soon, that peace and tranquility will be established in the world, and that no person, regardless of their national identity, will go missing.
KIEV/MOSCOW, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine said Wednesday that four Il-76 transport aircraft were destroyed during an overnight drone attack at Pskov airport in western Russia.

"Four Il-76 have been destroyed and cannot be restored. A few more (aircraft) units were damaged," Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence, told the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency.

He did not specify whether Ukraine was responsible for the attack.

Earlier in the day, Russian media reported that Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged during a drone attack at Pskov airport, citing the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Pskov Region Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said that there were no victims according to preliminary information, and the scale of the destruction was being specified.

According to the airport's website, Russia's 334th Military Transport Aviation Regiment armed with II-76 aircraft was stationed at the airport by the time of the drone attack.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a weekly briefing on Wednesday that Ukraine would not have been able to hit targets deep inside the Russian territory without satellite data obtained from the West.

Zakharova warned that Ukraine's actions will not be left unpunished.

Commenting on Kiev's recent drone attacks, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russian military experts were investigating the launch routes of the drones to prevent such situations in the future and Moscow will take all necessary measures.

Ukraine launched drone attacks on targets in seven Russian regions overnight.

Pskov is a city in western Russia, located 20 km east of the Estonian border. 
KIEV, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- More than 20,000 Ukrainian military personnel have already received training in the United Kingdom, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement on Wednesday.

Apart from training, the UK provided the Ukrainian soldiers with military items as part of the international training Operation Interflex, according to the statement posted on Facebook.

In particular, Ukrainian troops received military uniform and footwear, bulletproof vests and helmets, as well as tactical glasses and gloves, first aid kits, and other types of equipment, it said.

According to the statement, the UK military support for Ukraine has exceeded 2.3 billion pounds (about 2.9 billion U.S. dollars).

Launched in the summer of 2022, Operation Interflex is a UK-led international training program for Ukrainian recruits. 
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 is heading home soon, wrapping up a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), according to NASA.

The Crew-6 consists of NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. They spent months on the orbiting lab conducting scientific investigations and technology demonstrations that help prepare humans for future space missions and benefit people back on Earth.

Crew-6 is the sixth crew rotation flight of a Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

The mission launched on March 2 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and successfully docked to the ISS on March 3.

The Crew-6 carried out experiments including studies of how particular materials burn in microgravity, tissue chip research on heart, brain, and cartilage functions, and an investigation that would collect microbial samples from the outside of the space station, according to NASA. 
Airbnbs cancellation rules have angered users who learned they wouldnt be getting their money back after having to cancel their Florida stays because of Hurricane Idalia.

The hurricane has begun to impact the Sunshine States west coast, which sits in the eye of the storm. With winds forecasted to exceed 110 mph, the Category 3 hurricane is expected to hit multiple cities and potentially hit areas of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina before it calms down.

While the damage caused by the storm is to be determined, The Weather Channel anticipates that rising water levels will result in a storm surge of 10 to 15 feet high around the Big Bend region, where Floridas Gulf Coast curves west into the Panhandle. On X, formerly known as Twitter, The Weather Channel cautioned: This is a life-threatening situation. Heed all warnings.

In the post, a map accompanied The Weather Channels warning, illustrating what would happen if storm surge levels hit their peak at high tide. If the storm surges occur when ocean levels rise and push inland, it may indicate a potential threat of flooding on each coast.

Two dozen cities have since enforced evacuation orders, including warnings to non-Floridians who planned on vacationing on Floridas West Coast. However, the realisation has caused frustration among Airbnb users, who learned that the travel companys policy does not allow for refunds due to hurricanes. One user took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to write, Can you believe Airbnbs policy does not allow you to cancel or modify our reservation due to a hurricane causing our flight to be cancelled due to TIA shutting down?

According to Airbnbs Extenuating Circumstances Policy, which serves to explain to customers how cancellations are handled when unforeseen events beyond your control arise after booking and make it impracticable or illegal to complete your reservation, customers are not entitled to a refund because of one specific caveat. While the website does include a list of potential events on its website, including government-declared local or national emergencies, as well as natural disasters, acts of God, large-scale outages of essential utilities, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and other severe and abnormal weather events, weather or natural conditions common in an area like hurricanes are in Florida means that customers are ineligible for a refund.

The website explicitly refers to hurricanes occurring in Florida during hurricane season as foreseeable circumstances. This condition doesnt just affect Florida Airbnbs, as the entirety of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean islands are subject to this rule from June through November.

Sooo ... you can be instructed by authorities to evacuate a hurricane zone, but @Airbnb wont refund you for the extra nights? another user wrote on X. Seems surprising and off-brand to prioritise profits over guest safety.

Hey @Airbnb and @AirbnbHelp the management company wont return my messages and a hurricane during hurricane season is not a refundable event? another user chimed in. So my family is expected to drive into the eye of the storm tomorrow over $2,000? You really want that liability?

One user highlighted the fact that hundreds of listings in Florida are allegedly still up on the website despite evacuation orders, even in areas like the Keys, which have been predicted to be highly impacted by the hurricane. The user wrote on X: There are 126 places available in #CedarKey which is facing deadly 10-15 feet storm surge inundation - thats just one area in the #Idalia danger zone.

While Airbnb policy states that under these circumstances they will not automatically give refunds to customers if they cancel, Bloomberg reported that individual hosts can make the personal decision whether or not to fully refund the customers. Hosts also can be reportedly penalised if they cancel a booking, facing fees between $50 and $1,000.

An Airbnb spokesperson told Insider that guests who are searching for hosts with more flexible cancellation policies can use the websites search filter to find those listings.

A spokesperson from Airbnb told The Independent that they are closely monitoring the situation and that as of now, Hosts with eligible reservations in areas of Florida anticipated to be impacted can cancel those bookings without fees or other consequences, and this includes a full refund for their guests.

The spokesperson also noted that, as of now, its extenuating circumstances policy is currently not in effect.
Justified: City Primeval may not be the show some expected to find Aunjanue Ellis in this summer. But the draw in playing attorney Carolyn Wilder was not the Justified brands cult status. Instead, the original source material is what intrigued her most.

Im always interested in stories in film and television that have been adapted from books. So this was from Elmore Leonard originally [and] Im always fascinated by characters who have novel beginnings, she told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Unlike Justified, where Harlan, Kentucky is the center, with Timothy Olyphants Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens dishing out his own unique blend of tough justice, Detroit is the setting for this FX offshoot. Traveling with his daughter Willa, played by Olyphants actual child Vivian, Raylan gets detoured in Detroit and tasked with catching sociopath Clement Mansell (an impressively charismatic performance by Boyd Holbrook fresh off playing Klaber in this summers Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny).

Mansell, who serves as the Boyd Crowder (Walter Goggins) of City Primeval, is the reason Raylan and Carolyns paths cross and keep crossing; Carolyn is such a good lawyer she keeps Mansell free despite his many heinous deeds. Raylan has never really dealt with a woman like Carolyn, Ellis said of her characters chemistry with Olyphants. Carolyn is from Detroit, and I think she just introduces something new to his world.

Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens with and Aunjanue Ellis as Carolyn Wilder in Justified: City Primeval.

Capturing Raylan off-guard is very much the point of the revival series, City Primeval co-showrunners/executive producers/writers Dave Andron and Michael Dinner, the latter who also directs the Aug. 29 finale, explained earlier in the year at the 2023 Winter TCA in Pasadena.

We were excited to embrace it as a character in this piece  Putting Raylan as a stranger in a strange land, shared Andron. Its also the land of Elmore, right? City Primeval is his first crime novel, and he really embraced Detroit. Its a big part of the piece, and we wanted it to feel that way in this.

And that was music to Ellis ears. Im not trying to be invisible voluntarily, shared the actress, who earned Emmy nominations for her powerhouse roles in Ava DuVernays When They See Us and the Misha Green-created Lovecraft Country, along with an Oscar nomination for playing Williams family matriarch Oracene Price in King Richard last year. Sometimes, you gotta fight those battles. But thankfully I was working with a team of folks who didnt want that.

Walter Mosley, with whom Andron worked on Snowfall, the show he co-created with John Singleton and Eric Amadio for FX that wrapped its sixth and final season back in April, joined the team as a consulting producer. Justified creator Graham Yost, who initially adapted Elmores work for the beloved series, welcomed Mosley. Walter is one of the biggest Justified fans Ive ever met. I joke that I think hes seen the episodes more than I have, he shared back in January. But also, hes one of Americas great crime writers and loves Elmore.

City Primeval is actually set 10 years after Raylans final Justified scene in 2015. Because of that timing, Raylan and Carolyn have more in common than looks suggest. Its her job to represent bad guys but I think what makes her interesting in this world of Justified is [Raylan] sort of operates outside the lines and I think Carolyn operates outside of the lines, and really sometimes operates outside of the lines of the law and recognizes that just because something is legal does not necessarily mean that its just.

On top of that Carolyn is kind of symbolic of the city itself, Ellis shared. It has been through a lot and yet still thrives. And I think its interesting to see two people who would never cross lines, never collide in any other environment, to see them collide in this way and see how they change each other. Of course, theres romance there in the story a bit, but I just think its interesting to see how these people who are so different change each other.

Ellis with Vondie Curtis-Hall as Sweety in City Primeval.

While Olyphant and Holbrook helped make City Primeval an actors playground, Ellis smiled in her delight of working alongside Vondie Curtis-Hall who plays Sweety, a bar owner and hustler caught in Mansells inner circle. I just think Vondie Curtis Hall is one of the best actors to ever act, period. So working with him and doing scenes with him was a clinic, raved Ellis, who also co-stars with him in director Tina Mabrys upcoming feature The Supremes at Earls-All-You-Can-Eat.

As viewers discovered, Carolyns investment in Mansell has absolutely nothing to do with him and everything to do with Sweety, his main accomplice who has championed her since childhood. Hes a father figure, but not her father, she explained. She is in a position where she wants to save him but saving him also means moral compromise.

Though actually filmed in Chicago, City Primeval was a rare opportunity for Detroit native Curtis-Hall to represent his hometown. [I]t was great to be able to see through my character or in my character people that I had grown up with from Detroit  you know, the musicians and con artists, hustlers and the middleclass Black folks  and bring that all to fruition in this through Sweetys character was just, really, a great journey. And then to have Aunjanue to bounce off of in terms of our familiar relationship was just magic, he shared back in January.

Olyphant also raved about Ellis performance. They should just back up the truck with all the trophies and give them to Aunjanue, he has said.

Still fan satisfaction was not completely lost on Ellis. I understand the loyalty, she said, while also hoping that Justifieds fans had an appetite, a hunger, to go on another journey with Raylan. (Dinner previously told THR he hopes to do another chapter.)

Not in doubt, however, was how pleased she was to go the distance herself. I just found it to be a joy. It was a great working experience all the way around.

The finale of Justified: City Primeval airs Tuesday at 7 p.m. on FX.

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Bill Skarsgard knows his way around villains, as evidenced by performances like Pennywise in the IT movies, Kro in Eternals and, most recently, the Marquis Vincent de Gramont in John Wick: Chapter 4. With that last example, it was the Marquis whom led the charge to kill Keanu Reeves title character for defying the High Table. Along with being a sharp dresser, the Marquis stood out for his distinct accent, but that aspect of the character caught flak from audiences, so much so that director Chad Stahelski has responded to the criticism.

In addition to addressing the prospects of John Wick: Chapter 5 happening while visiting the Happy Sad Confused podcast hosted by Josh Horowitz, Stahelski spent some time clearing up just what was going on with Skarsgards accent in the 2023 new movie release. As youll read below, the filmmaker clarified that the actor wasnt trying to do a standard French accent for the Marquis, but something a little different:

He came to be, he goes, 'I want to do a little bit like fucked up French, like Cajun accent.' Im like, 'I have no idea what that sounds like.' Some people gave us shit a little bit because its not a good French accent. Im like, 'Guys, its not supposed to be French.' Like, he wasnt trying to be French, hes a guy that speaks French.

Its hardly shocking that this man who holds the Marquis rank speaks French, but per Chad Stahelskis discussions with Bill Skarsgard, Vincent de Gramont doesnt actually hail from France. Thats not to say that you still cant take issue with the way he sounds, but it was never their intention for the character to sound like a French native, only that he spoke the language well. So those of you who watched Chapter 4 and were dissatisfied with Skarsgards French accent can rest easy now knowing thats not what he was going for, although it certainly would have been nice if the movie had made his Cajun background more explicit.

Skarsgards involvement in John Wick: Chapter 4 was first reported in June 2021, and the following month, he explained that he joined the sequel because hes a fan of these kinds of over-the-top, exploitive action movies. Unfortunately for the Marquis Vincent de Gramont, he learned the hard way that one should never cross John Wick under any circumstances, regardless of his circumstances.

The Marquis foolishly agreed to take Caines place at the end of a duel against John, one in which all of the main protagonists obligations to the High Table would be wiped away if he won. After Caine severely injured John with one of his shots, the Marquis swooped in to administer the killing blow, not realizing John hadnt fired his gun yet for that round. The main antagonist paid for his overconfidence with his life.

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However, John Wicks victory also came with a seemingly fatal cost, as following the duel, he succumbed to his many injuries, including Caines final fired shot at him. By the end of John Wick: Chapter 4, Ian McShanes Winston and Laurence Fishburnes Bowery King are shown visiting Wicks gravesite, thus bringing an end to the John Wick saga. Or at least, thats how it seems by the end of the movie, but with John Wick: Chapter 5 still potentially on the table, well have to keep waiting to learn if John is indeed dead or he faked his demise. Its probably safe to assume, though, that the Marquis Vincent de Gramont is resting six feet under, weird accent and all.

Bill Skarsgards next movie, Boy Kills World, will premiere September 9 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and hes also attached to lead The Crow reboot and play Count Orlok in Robert Eggers Nosferatu remake. As for the John Wick franchise, it will expand this fall with The Continental event series accessible to Peacock subscribers, followed by the Ballerina spinoff hitting theaters next summer.
Those dwelling in downtown Indianapolis and fancying meals from one or two or more Cunningham Restaurant Group concepts will soon be able to order for delivery.

The Indianapolis-based restaurant group is preparing to offer select menu items from across its portfolio via its ghost kitchen called CRG Delivery.

Bru Burger, Nesso Italian and more

That could mean a burger from Bru Burger Bar, pasta from Nesso Italian Kitchen, and/or soups from Cafe 251 with a single order. Even empanadas from the Latin American-inspired Livery, which landed on Yelps list of top 100 restaurants in the nation for 2023, might be among the curated items.

There will be no on-premise dining, though.

The bao bun, which includes slaw, miso aioli and pork belly cooked on a special Japanese robata grill at Modita on Thursday, April 1, 2021. The Asian-inspired Modita operates out of the Bottleworks facility in downtown Indianapolis and is one Cunningham Restaurant Group concepts likely to be represented in the upcoming CRG Delivery service.

Were looking to pull some of the best recipes from our concepts and use those in this setup, said Carissa Newton, director of marketing for the restaurant group. When you go to CRG Delivery, you're basically going to see all these different dishes; but you're going to see, that this one came from Bru; this one's from Union 50; this one's from Mesh.

CRG Delivery is expected to launch this fall, operating out of the old Gibson Co. Building, 433 N. Capitol St. to provide the taste of Cunningham.

That space had housed Sahms Tavern, which failed to reopen after a temporary closure at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dishes prepared and served from the kitchen will be delivered to downtown homes and offices.

Cunningham Restaurant Group has more than a dozen restaurant concepts in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, including Boulder Creek, Stone Creek Dining Co.; Provision and the upcoming Theos Italian in Plainfield and The Bemberg private club in Indianapolis.

CRG is using the tech of ClusterTruck, a delivery-only restaurant that launched in downtown Indy in 2016 before expanding to other locations in the Indianapolis area and out of state.

ClusterTruck, which delivers, at no additional cost, cooked-to-order pizza, burgers, salads and salmon to addresses within a six-minute radius, recently launched its Empower Delivery business to license the technology to allow restaurants to host their own delivery services.

The system also allows for group orders, with individuals able to add their request from a different device.

ClusterTruck has highlighted some of Cunningham's dishes in the past, including the Chicken White Bean Chili currently on its menu. Bru Burger is the only Cunningham brand that has delivery out of its restaurants, but that's only with three towns  Lafayette, South Bend and Evansville  and through a partnership with DoorDash.

People are really getting used to that model of being able to take food away and have it at home. I think there is still an attraction for delivery, which is why we're exploring the delivery kitchen concept, Newton said.

CRG Delivery might also allow for pickup, Newton said.

Unlike the 10%-15% markups found on third-party delivery platforms, the CRG Delivery prices are expected to be not much higher than those at the traditional restaurants. There will be a delivery fee, and customers are expected to tip drivers, who will be contracted with CRG.

The difference between this and our participation in any third-party marketplace is that we have control over our own brands. And we have control over the drivers and the delivery experience, Newton said. One of the reasons why we've been so hesitant to just go gangbusters on jumping into any third-party delivery is that once you partner with a third-party service, you're handing off your customer experience; and that's everything to us.

Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on Twitter:@cherylvjackson.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis food delivery gets a boost with new ghost kitchen
The main competition section of the Busan International Film Festival is set to showcase two new features from Bangladeshi directors, the feature debut of Japanese documentary maker Mori Tatsuya and ruminations on Hong Kong by mainland Chinese director Choi Ji.



The festival on Wednesday unveiled its New Currents competition section, reserved for films by directors making their first or second works of fiction, as well as its Jiseok section, a showcase for somewhat more established Asian auteurs.



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In addition to the Bangladesh duo, New Currents includes two films from Japan, two from Korea and one each from China, Thailand, Malaysia and India.



From Bangladesh, Iqbal H. Chowdhurys The Wrestler sees an old fisherman challenge a wrestling champion to combat, and in The Stranger Biplob Sarkar tells a coming-of-age, gender-identity tale.



From Japan, Mori recounts the events of the Great Kanto earthquake in September 1923, while Yamamoto Akira delves into profound and shocking love in After the Fever.



New Currents Korean contributions come from Lee Jong-su, whose Heritage tracks a man who opts out of military service and his supervisor, and Sohn Hyun-lok, whose That Summers Lie blurs truth and fiction in memories of a past romance.



Indias Rajesh S. Jala (Children of the Pyre) is another documentarian turned fiction filmmaker and will present his The Spark. Choys Borrowed Time presents a fluid blend of past, present, reality and fantasy as a protagonist wanders around Hong Kong.



Thailands Patiparn Boontarig, previously AD on award-winning Manta Ray, takes a step up with Solids by the Seashore. Oasis of Now, by Malaysias Chia Chee Sum, previously part of Busans Asian Film Academy, tells a tale of a girl who cannot reveal her identity. The film was developed at the now-defunct SEAFIC lab.



The Jiseok section, named after former Busan program director Kim Jiseok, will present awards to two of its ten selected films.



Competing are: Toda Akihiros Ichiko, in which another woman is forced to conceal her identity; Ishii Yuyas The Moon, a mental health drama starring Miyazawa Rie and Odagiri Joe.



Sri Lankan veteran Prasanna Vithanaga presents a tale of political societal and emotional misunderstandings in Paradise, while Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and Nusrat Imrose Tisha, deliver the festivals third film from Bangladesh. Their co-written Something Like an Autobiography sees the real-life couple blur the boundaries between reality and fiction.



Kirghiz director Mirlan Abdykalkov (Running to the Sky) delivers a harrowing real-life tale in Bride Kidnapping. Thailands Nontawat Numbenchapol examines the underbelly of Chiang Mai in Doi Boi. Indonesian auteur Yosep Anggi Noen delivers 24 Hours With Gaspar. And Philippines veteran Brillante Mendoza shares tragic drama Moro.



Two films from Korea round out the section: Lee Sangcheols Blesser is a heartfelt tale about a former journalist bringing up a disabled child; while Ahn Sunkyeong (Pascha) examines the filmmaking process in At the End of the Film.



The Busan festival runs Oct. 4-13. Its related markets run Oct. 7-10.

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The county of Changshan hopes to encourage age-appropriate marriage and childbearing by offering 1,000 yuan ($137) in an effort to boost wedding numbers

Local Chinese officials are offering money to newlywed couples who tie the knot within a certain timeframe, according to multiple reports.

The county of Changshan in the Zhejiang province announced on its WeChat official account last week that it would give 1,000 yuan ($137) to couples who wed when the bride is 25 or younger.

The notice said the reward  only for first-time marriages  aims to encourage age-appropriate marriage and childbearing, per WeChat. There are Policy Targets, which include At least one of the men and women is registered in Changshan County" and both parties are the object of the first marriage," according to the notice.

To address the demographic crisis in China, where the population dropped last year for the first time in 60 years, officials from different levels of government have been trying out various ways to encourage more births, according to NBC News.

Related: Derek Houghs Groomsmen Included Sister Juliannes Ex-Husband Brooks Laich and Mark Ballas: See the Pic!

Fighting to slow the rapid population growth China has been facing since the late 1970s, the government enforced a one-child policy that restricted the number of births per couple, according to the outlet. This policy was abolished seven years ago. Since 2021, couples have been permitted to have up to three children.

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

Despite the governments efforts, Chinas fertility rate reached a record low of 1.09 last year, per NBC News. According to the China Population and Development Research Center, the country has the lowest number of children per woman among every country with more than 100 million people, according to the outlet.

Related: Serena Pitt Launches Line of Travel Accessories Ahead of Wedding to Joe Amabile: Felt Like the Perfect Fit

In June, Chinese news outlet Yicai reported only 6.8 million couples married in China last year  the lowest number of marriages since 1986, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Young people now pursue a life that revolves around their own personal development and pleasure, instead of a life that revolves around a child, Yuan Xin, vice-president of the China Population Association said, according to Firstpost, adding, If starting a family stands in the way of their own development and happiness, they will opt out of giving birth, or even marriage.

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Read the original article on People.
Newly announced CNN CEO Mark Thompson acknowledged that TV journalism is in peak disruption in his first note to the staff, but stressed his aim to not only survive but thrive in this new era as he takes the reins of the cable network.

We face pressure from every direction  structural, political, cultural, you name it, the former New York Times Company CEO said. Like many other media organizations, CNN has recently felt some of the uncertainty and heartache that comes with all of that.

Thompson stressed that, given his experience, hes keen on not only getting CNN through this particularly rough media patch, but coming out ahead.

Theres no magic wand that I or anyone else can wield to make this disruption go away, he continued. But what I can say is that where others see threat, I see opportunity  especially given CNNs great brand and the strength of its journalism.

The new CEO, who formally begins the job on Oct. 9, also said he values collaboration, signaling he doesnt intend to bark orders. It wont be my plan that wins the day but our plan, the plan we devise and implement together.

Thompson also thanked the interim team who has been running CNN since CEO Chris Licht was fired  Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, David Leavy and Eric Sherling  and the quartet released their own memo to staff saying theyre committed to a smooth transition and praising Thompson as a journalist first and foremost.

As an interim leadership team, we remain committed to making this transition period as smooth as possible, and look forward to working with Mark to take this great organization to the next level, the four said in a statement. For the last few months our goal has been to remove barriers, refocus on the unparalleled journalism the organization produces every day, and move CNN confidently forward. Thanks again for all that you do to make CNN the most influential news organization in the world.

Thompsons hiring comes three months after Licht was fired, and shortly before CNN is due to launch CNN Max, the cable networks second stab at entering the streaming world. This time, CNN Max will be integrated into the existing Max app and will focus heavily on news programming instead of expanding into lifestyle. The CNN Max beta launches Sept. 27.

Read Thompsons full note to staff below.

Dear all, No doubt youve heard the news and read David Zaslavs message confirming that Im to be CNNs next Chairman and CEO. I just wanted to add a few words of my own. I cant tell you how pleased and proud I am to be joining you after so many years of watching  and envying  your work from the outside. Over the decades, Ive bumped into CNN teams on story after story from Washington, DC to Tiananmen Square. Two months ago I spent a day watching CNNs spell-binding coverage of the Wagner rebellion, and I watched and read our major competitors too. That day confirmed an old truth to me: when it matters most, CNN is the best place to find out whats happening. You always rise to the occasion. As everyone knows, TV journalism is approaching peak disruption. We face pressure from every direction  structural, political, cultural, you name it. Like many other media organizations, CNN has recently felt some of the uncertainty and heartache that comes with all of that. Theres no magic wand that I or anyone else can wield to make this disruption go away. But what I can say is that where others see threat, I see opportunity  especially given CNNs great brand and the strength of its journalism. Ive spent most of the past twenty years figuring out with colleagues at some of the worlds other great news operations not just how to survive the revolution, but to thrive in it and gain new audiences and revenue streams. I aim to do the same at CNN. It wont be my plan that wins the day but our plan, the plan we devise and implement together. Which is why, particularly in the early weeks, youll find me doing a lot more listening and learning than holding forth. I want to add my personal thanks to the interim leadership team. Amy, David, Virginia and Eric have done a terrific job steering the ship over the past couple of months and I look forward to working with them. My first official day in the office is 9 October but Im planning to pop in a few times before then. So if you see a tall figure with an English accent and a loud laugh, youll know who it is. All the best, Mark

The post New CNN CEO Addresses TV Journalism Disruption in Note to Staff: I See Opportunity appeared first on TheWrap.
Peoples Party 2024 presidential candidate Cornel West stopped by The Hills Rising web series Tuesday and took a hard swipe at Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  and the Democratic Party as a whole.

In a conversation about Sanders endorsement of President Joe Biden, West insisted in part the Democratic Party is beyond redemption at this point when it comes to seriously speaking to the needs of poor and working people.

West didnt limit his condemnation to just the party. On Monday, Sanders told CNNs Dana Bash of likely Republican nominee former President Donald Trump, Were taking on the  former president, who, in fact, does not believe in democracy  he is an authoritarian, and a very, very dangerous person.

Cornel West calls Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez window dressing, at worst for Democrats https://t.co/p1q3266liz pic.twitter.com/rGGloxmraN  The Hill (@thehill) August 29, 2023

Be that as it may, West made it clear he doesnt think Sanders statement is convincing. While he acknowledged that the Vermont senator has consistently spoken out against Trump, West added, You know, he said that all along, and I can understand the argument. I think its a plausible argument. I just dont think its a persuasive one.

West, who recently visited Mississippi on a campaign trip, further accused the Democratic Party of being unwilling to address issues the state (and the United States as a whole) faces frequently, such as poverty and intense police brutality. West spoke to crowds at the National Summit Against Police Brutality and Injustice in Rankin, Mississippi, and also spoke at the Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church in Brandon on the commemoration of the 68th anniversary of Emmett Tills brutal murder in the state.

When it comes to Sanders endorsement of Biden, he concluded, So I think in many ways Brother Bernie is making a plausible argument, but I think deep down in his heart he knows that the Democratic Party has no fundamental intention of speaking to the needs of poor people and working people.

They are dominated by the corporate wing, theyre dominated by the militarists when it comes to foreign policy, West continued, and that he and AOC and the others are going to be, in a certain sense, window dressing at worst and, at best, people to appeal to every four years.

Wests decision to run as the Peoples Party candidate in 2024 has elicited mixed reactions and some have worried that his candidacy will hand a victory to Trump, should he secure the Republican nomination.

When he announced his plan to run on June 5, West noted that his platform includes a focus on ways to end poverty, mass incarceration, ending wars and ecological collapse, guaranteeing housing, health care, education and living wages for all, all of which is aligned with the values of the Peoples Party.

He is also no stranger to controversy and public dislike. In 2010, West wondered to NPR if President Barack Obama had a double standard for black critics as opposed to white critics and if Black Americans who supported the president were becoming well-adjusted to injustice.

Still, West also has a history of having earned respect from the revered academic institutions he worked for. Before exiting Princeton to further his own intellectual pursuits, West was awarded the first Fields Memorial Award for Social Justice.

In 2021, West ended a five-decade-long association with Harvard University amid a tenure dispute; while speaking to The Harvard Crimson, West demanded, What the hell is so controversial and fraught about giving tenure to somebody who you gave a university professorship to 20-something years before?

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have yet to respond to Wests comments.

The post Cornel West Lambasts Democratic Party as Beyond Redemption appeared first on TheWrap.
Fans of the Korean drama series The Devil Judge have been curious about whether or not it is getting a second season ever since it last aired in 2021. The story of The Devil Judge is set in a bleak version of South Korea, where people hate and resent their leaders and live in total chaos. Additionally, trials are held through a courtroom live show that airs on television, where three judges come together to ensure peace and justice.

Heres all The Devil Judge Season 2 release date information we know so far, and all the details on when it is coming out.

Is there a The Devil Judge Season 2 release date?

At the time of writing, The Devil Judge Season 2 does not have an official release date.

The ratings for the first season of The Devil Judge look positive, which seems like enough incentive for the tvN network to renew the dystopian drama for another season. However, there is a great chance that The Devil Judge will not return for a second season, given how K-Dramas usually do not get new seasons for their shows, unlike Hollywood projects.

The Devil Judge revolves around a chief judge who does not believe in justice and only makes judgments that the crowd will be satisfied with. This does not sit well with his assistant judge, who questions his motives and tries to uncover the truth behind the current justice system they are working for.

The Devil Judge cast includes Ji Sung, Kim Min-jung, Jinyoung, Park Gyu-young, Jang Young-Nam, Kim Jae-Kyung, Ahn Nae-sang, Chun Young-min, and Kim Soo-ha, among other cast members.

Where is The Devil Judge Season 2 coming out?

The Devil Judge Season 2 isnt confirmed to air on TVN or stream on Netflix, anytime soon.

The official synopsis for The Devil Judge reads:

The court system is corrupted and old-fashioned. People desire a new system that can satisfy the crowds. However, are the crowds always correct? The drama shows how judges discover the truth about people in court. It centers around a chief judge who doesnt believe in justice but only makes judgments that the crowds will be satisfied with. An assistant judge starts to question his motives and tries to find the truth.

For more K-Drama content, check out which show beat out The Mandalorian in Asia as the most-watched Disney Plus series.

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The post The Devil Judge Season 2 Release Date Rumors: Is It Coming Out? appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
BUDAPEST, Hungary  Hungarys nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban, said in a sprawling interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the only path to ending the war in Ukraine would be the reelection of Donald Trump to the presidency. Trump is the man who can save the Western world, he said in the interview, which prompted a thank you from Trump on Truth Social. (Watch the video below.)

The four-times-indicted former president shared a segment of the conversation.

Orban praised Trumps foreign policy while blasting the administration of President Joe Biden and its approach to the war in the interview, posted Wednesday on Carlsons page on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He said that Trumps return to office would be the only way out of the conflict, and that any suggestion that Kyiv could win the war against Russia was a lie.

The Russians are far stronger, far more numerous than the Ukrainians, Orban said. Call back Trump.  Trump is the man who can save the Western world  and probably the human beings in the world as well.

The 30-minute video interview, filmed Aug. 21 on the opulent terrace of the prime ministers office overlooking Budapest, was the second in two years between Carlson and the right-wing leader. While visiting Hungary in 2021, Carlsons program on Fox News broadcast for a week from the capital, where he praised Orbans self-styled illiberal democracy  a system that eschews traditional liberal values in favor of conservative Christian rule  as a model for the United States to follow.

Orban, in office since 2010, has long been criticized for overseeing an increasingly autocratic political system. The European Union, as well as the U.S. State Department and numerous international observers, have alleged that Orban has rolled back minority rights, seized control of the judiciary and media and manipulated the election system to ensure his hold on power.

Then-President Donald Trump shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a meeting in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019.

Then-President Donald Trump shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a meeting in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019.

Yet in the interview, Orban slammed the multiple federal indictments of Trump  including for allegedly mishandling classified documents and for attempting to overturn the 2020 election  as a misuse of U.S. state power, something he said was unthinkable in Hungary.

To use the justice system against the political opponents  in Hungary, I think its impossible to imagine, he said. That was done by the Communists. Its a very Communist methodology to do that.

He also bemoaned efforts by Bidens State Department to get Hungarys government to improve its rule-of-law and human rights record, saying that despite Hungary being a NATO member and U.S. ally, we are worse treated than the Russians. Whats that about?

Since Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Orbans government has maintained its close ties with Moscow, and has threatened to block EU sanctions on Russia.

Known as Russian President Vladimir Putins closest ally in the EU, Orban has refused to allow the transfer of Western weapons across Hungarys shared border with Ukraine, and called for an immediate cease-fire and peace talks in the conflict, but without providing a vision of what that would mean for Ukraines territorial integrity.

Since Carlsons last visit to Hungary in 2021, he was ousted by Fox News after the network agreed to pay more than $787 million to settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over airing of false claims following the 2020 presidential election.
An article claimed that Whoopi Goldberg had been hired by Bud Light to be its brand ambassador. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Claim:

Bud Light suffered billions of dollars in losses immediately after appointing Whoopi Goldberg as its brand ambassador.

Rating:

Rating: Originated as Satire

On Aug. 25, 2023, the USA World News website on faithhopel.info published a story with the headline, "Breaking: Bud Light Suffers Billions in Losses Immediately After Appointing Whoopi Goldberg as Their Brand Ambassador." It was also posted on lajthiza.info, usacommunity.live, moralstory.press, and potentially other websites.

The article about Bud Light purportedly having hired "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg began as follows:

In an already tumultuous year for Bud Light, the brand finds itself in another quandary. Only days after announcing Whoopi Goldberg as their new brand ambassador in an audacious attempt to revive flagging sales, the beer giant is now reporting a staggering loss of billions in market value. Bud Light's decision to bring on board Goldberg, an award-winning actress, comedian, and 'The View' co-host, was a bold move that was met with mixed reactions. Lauded by some for its audacity, it was also seen by others as a desperate attempt to revive a brand beleaguered by controversy and declining sales. However, no one could have predicted the catastrophic financial blow that was to follow this high-profile announcement. Bud Light's market value plummeted drastically within days of the announcement, with the company reportedly losing billions. Although it's challenging to attribute this sharp decline to a single event conclusively, the timing of the loss with Goldberg's appointment has raised eyebrows.

A search of Facebook showed that users were placing blind faith in the article, despite the fact that a quick Google search for this supposedly "breaking" story produced zero results from any credible news websites.

Variations of the phrase, "Go woke, go broke," turned up in the comments of several Facebook posts. The mentions of "woke" or "wokeness" refer to a politically tinged controversy surrounding Bud Light's previous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which made headlines earlier in 2023.

The truth was that the "breaking news" about Bud Light hiring Whoopi Goldberg appeared to have simply originated on another website as content labeled "satire."

Apparently, in the hours before USA World News published its story, the website chimniii.com posted an article with the headline, "Raise a Glass: Bud Light Taps Whoopi Goldberg to Drive Sales Revival."

Later on the same day, chimniii.com put out another story titled, "Unexpected Outcome: Bud Light's Choice of Whoopi Goldberg Leads to Billions in Losses." Both articles were filed under the website's category of "satire."

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.

Sources:

Mikkelson, David. "Why We Include Humor and Satire in Snopes.Com." Snopes, 15 Aug. 2019, https://www.snopes.com/notes/why-we-include-humor-and-satire-in-snopes-com/.
Gabrielle Union and Tia Mowrys dance skills have never been better.

Union, 50, took to TikTok on Tuesday, August 29, to show off her stellar choreography with BFF Mowry, 45. In the clip, the duo smiled for the camera while Mowry blew a kiss. They then stepped away and danced together, matching each other's every move.

Union and Mowry swung their hips to the beat of Christina Aguileras Come On Over. At the end of the social media video, they leaned against each other and posed before excitedly clapping and celebrating their moves.

For the routine, both Union and Mowry went barefoot and opted for vibrant dresses and hoop earrings. Mowry slayed a ponytail that trailed down to her knees and Union looked gorgeous with loose curls.

Established in 1997 South of France Edition #blackgirlstravel #wadeworldtour2023, Union captioned the post, tagging Mowry.

The pals are vacationing in the South of France as part of Unions ninth wedding anniversary celebration with Dwyane Wade. The couple has shared multiple snaps throughout the trip, including romantic boat rides, sweet moments with daughter Kaavia, 4, festive dinners and more. (Along with Kaavia, Wade, 41, also shares son Zaire, 21, and daughter Zaya, 16, with ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches and son Xavier, 9, with Aja Metoyer.)

Courtesy of Gabrielle Union/TikTok

Union and Mowry have been friends for decades. They met in 1997 when Union played a recurring character on Mowrys show Sister, Sister  which also starred Tias twin, Tamera Mowry  and have remained close ever since. The besties have even set up playdates for their daughters.

Just like their moms, Kaavia and Tias daughter, Cario, 5, are best buddies. In 2021, Tia opened up to Us Weekly about the little ones close bond.

Gab and I always say seeing them together brings us so much joy, she said at the time. And the joy that I'm talking about is this beautiful Black girl magic. [Their friendship] is about inspiring and its about building at such a young age.

When asked what she and Union do while their kids are bonding, Tia answered with a laugh. Girl, we drink wine! she teased. We just sit back, we drink wine, we talk about motherhood, we talk about life.

Tia gushed about Union, adding, Shes such an incredible, inspiring person. Shes such a wonderful mom, shes a hard worker and she has a beautiful heart.

That same year, Union took to Instagram to share the sweet moment her daughter met Tias. The playdate we've all been waiting for  When @kaaviajames met Cairo!!! Bringing the girls together was magic and pure sweetness and comedy! she captioned a video of the girls driving a toy car.
Oprah Winfrey has received mixed reviews in regards to her buying acres of land in Maui and her response to the Maui wildfires that began on Aug. 8.

Residents blame Oprah Winfrey for the Maui wildfires following backlash for buying acres of land months ago and reports about her growing social media presence. (Photos: @oprah/Instagram)

The media mogul, who has purchased more than 2,000 acres of land in the tourist destination, showed up to provide aid to those who were without food and shelter during the deadly four-day fire that burned down homes, businesses, and land.

But now she and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are being blamed for the aftermath residents have had to endure.

A video clip from a Maui County Council meeting last Tuesday, Aug. 22, has now gone viral after a woman known as Auntie complained about the lack of urgency to put the fires out.

Nobody called us! Our phones didnt work from 5 in the morning. The fire was not until 10 oclock when I went to work, she stated, noting that there was no water for hours and no warning from the government.

The woman also doesnt believe its a coincidence that the satellite city has been destroyed  possibly driving down the value for others to purchase the land.

Everybody talking about the satellite city before the fire. Lahaina gonna be the first satellite city! the resident says before taking aim at the two billionaires. Well, hey, Jeff Bezos, you got what you wanted, Oprah, you got what you wanted  fk us over!

She continued, Thats what happened. We need help in Lahaina. Whose gonna come now and ask us can I pray for you?

The woman added that residents received nothing but a $700 check, but they have no clue who to call or anything. Its culturally insensitive in that zone.

RELATED: Oprah Winfrey Faces Backlash on Social Media Amid Reports She Was Told to Leave Camera Crew Outside of Maui Shelter Following Deadly Wildfire

Thousands are still left in the crosshairs of the mayhem that claimed the lives of over 115 people. According to the Lahaina news outlet KITV 4, over 2,170 acres of land are estimated to have burned, and over 350 individuals have been unaccounted for. Meanwhile, there are 4,725 people spread between 19 hotel shelter locations.

Aside from the backlash, Winfrey has received some growth on social media after gaining almost 110,000 new followers between Instagram and TikTok.

However, two conspiracy theories have circulated online, fueling the boost in her followers.

One conspiracy implies the former talk show host has only been helping the locals for publicity after bringing a camera crew to a shelter in Maui, who were told to wait outside.

Another theory alleges Winfrey is somehow connected to the start of the fires  noting that her properties were not burned in the blazes.

X user Matt Wallace has fueled the latter theory, implying that she might have started the fire.

Oprah Winfrey Has Been Buying Up Land in Maui Like Crazy, Wallace posted, along with a breakdown of how much land she has bought in total.

IN THE LAST FEW YEARS SHE HAS GONE FROM ABOUT 100 ACRES OF LAND IN MAUI TO OVER 1000 ACRES! Then All of A Sudden Out of Nowhere A Fire Comes And Destroys Many Homes Near Her But Her Land Remains Untouched!

Oprah Winfrey Has Been Buying Up Land in Maui Like Crazy



520-acre plot for $3.89 million (2023)



330 acres for $2.47 million (2023)



Two 10-acre swaths of land for $100,000 each (2022)



IN THE LAST FEW YEARS SHE HAS GONE FROM ABOUT 100 ACRES OF LAND IN MAUI TO pic.twitter.com/a6kIrnJWh0  Matt Wallace (@MattWallace888) August 14, 2023

Wallace then mentioned another deadly fire that destroyed homes near Oprahs flood-ravaged mansion in Montecito in 2017.

BUT HER PROPERTY REMAINED UNTOUCHED!!!!! he shared, adding that she continued expanding the land to over 70 acres despite damage from mudslides just weeks later.

He also posted that the government is trying to hide information regarding Winfreys connection to the burning.

Despite the chatter and posts like this, Winfreys Instagram leaped up 92,000 and her TikTok shot up 20,000 over the last 30 days, Newsweek reports. She did, however, during the same time lose over 60,000 followers on her X account.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO.

Part of the rise may be influenced by images of the philanthropist actually helping the people in Hawaii in need.

Days after the fire started to ravage the community and burn peoples homes, Winfrey went to the sites most impacted to see what the needs of the displaced and impacted really were.
Grado recalls how he found out he was being brought in for AEW All In.

Ahead of AEWs debut in the United Kingdom, Jeff Jarrett made several media appearances. He memorably smashed Grado with a guitar during an appearance for talkSPORT, leading many to think they would have a match at the pay-per-view. Instead, Grado made an unannounced appearance on the Zero Hour pre-show, where he smashed Jarrett with a guitar.

Speaking with Cultaholic, Grado was asked to describe when he found out he would brought in for AEW All In.

I got [called] probably Thursday night to come to Wembley. But nothing was ever confirmed. I had people congratulating me after the talkSPORT spot and people going, Oh my god, youre wrestling at Wembley, its you against Jeff Jarrett. People were making graphics. I felt so uneasy. I never tweeted anything since the Jeff Jarrett thing with talkSPORT. It was like, I am staying out of this because I dont want to soundpeople were criticizing me, saying Why did you not jump on the whole hashtag Book Grado. I felt so uneasy.

For The Best

Grado also made it clear that he was thankful for the fans support online, as he stated that it likely played a large part in him getting used for the show.

I need to thank everybody that sent a heartwarming, positive Grado tweet in the last seven days because I reckon it had a big part to play in the fact that I ended up being at Wembley. The way its worked out was probably for the best. That was just amazing.

At the end of the day, its an AEW show. Those are guys that have worked hard for years and years to get on a show like that, that are on the AEW roster. I always knew, if it doesnt happen, I dont really deserve to be at the show, so Im just gonna go with the flow and hope for the best.

Dont Piss Him Off

Jeff Jarrett recently spoke with WrestleZones Bill Pritchard while promoting the new WrestleQuest video game. Jarrett explained his side of things, explaining that hed considered Grado a friend but he heard enough.

Sometimes life imitates art and art imitates life. I had a day in it, Jarrett explained. Me and Grado go back years and years and years. A good buddy. Hes been to my house with my kids. Weve stayed in contact. And so he texted me and said hey, Im actually going to be in London. Why dont we hang out? I said were Ive really got a busy schedule, so he said, Dont worry about it. Well hang out. So Grado hung out with me and just about every media interview we did.

He ended up kind of chirping and chiming in and I finally had about all I wanted to hear out of Grado and his little one-liners. He got the guitar shot and boy it was a good one. Bill, I dont know if you saw it but the talkSPORT is kind of their version in the UK of talk radio, its their version of ESPN and Fox SportsNet all combined into one, Jarrett said. So it made a lot of noise. Ill say this, to the very highest levels of talk sports. So it was a good one. They put together a nice little video piece. Ill just say that.

Read More: Jeff Jarrett, Mega Cat Studios Detail The Road To WrestleQuest

If you use any of these quotes, please credit the original source and link back to WrestleZone with an h/t for the transcription.

The post Grado Had Short Notice About All In Appearance, A Match Was Never Confirmed appeared first on Wrestlezone.
Royalist is The Daily Beasts newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday.

Prince Harry said he turned to therapy after serving in Afghanistan triggered memories of losing his mother at a young age, a trauma he said was not discussed at the time, in an apparent swipe at his father.

He said serving on the front lines in Afghanistan prompted an unraveling, in the course of which he found himself lying on the floor in the fetal position.

Harry made the comments in his new documentary series, Heart of Invictus, which tracks the progress of six competitors as they prepare for the 2016 Invictus Games, the Paralympics-style event for wounded veterans that he founded. The five-part show, which prominently features Harry, dropped Wednesday morning on Netflix, ahead of the 2023 Invictus Games, which kick off in Dusseldorf next week.

From my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012, flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unraveling, he said

And the trigger to me was returning to Afghanistan, but the stuff that was coming up was... from the age of 12.

Can Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Reinvent Themselves This Fall?

Losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had I was never really aware of.

In what some interpreted as a criticism of his family, he said, It was never discussed. I never really talked about it and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done.

He added: But when it all came fizzing out I was bouncing off the walls. Like, What is going on here? Im now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.

The biggest struggle for me was no one around me really could help.

I didnt have that support structure, that network, or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me.

Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you really consider therapy is when youre lying on the floor in the fetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously.

Thats what I really want to change.

Ive always wanted the Invictus Games and the support that comes with that all year round to be a net to catch those individuals.

The show is being seen by many as a make-or-break moment for Harry, giving a steer on whether he can attract big audiences for the streaming giant without serving up scandalous revelations about his family.

Netflix Reportedly Tells Harry and Meghan What They Must Deliver for $50 Million

However, it is inevitably Harrys personal anecdotes that are leading news feedsand dominating social media coverage of the show Wednesday.

In one segment, Harry speaks about trauma to Canadian rower and veteran Darrell Ling, who tells Harry: Im glad youve been through this stuff and know how we feel.

Harry replies: I cant pretend to know what youve been through, but I had that moment in my life where, I didnt know about it, but because of the trauma of losing my mum when I was 12, for all those years, I had no emotion, I was unable to cry, I was unable to feel.

I didnt know it at the time. And it wasnt until later in my life aged 28 there was a circumstance that happened that the first few bubbles started coming out, and then suddenly it was like someone shook and it went poofand then it was chaos.

My emotions were sprayed all over the wall, everywhere I went, and I was like, How the hell do I contain this? Ive gone from nothing to everything.

Harry said he had been advised to cope by imagining he had put himself in a glass jar to which he left the lid open, explaining: My therapist said, You choose what comes in, and everything else bounces off.

In the opening moments of the show, Harry was asked by an interviewer: Whats your name?

He replied: My names Harry.

The interviewer asked: What do you do, Harry?

Harry replied: What do I do? On any given day? Im a dad of two under 3-year-olds, I have got a couple of dogs, Im a husband, and Im the founding patron of the Invictus Games Foundation. Theres lots of hats that one wears, but I believe today is all about Invictus.

Meghan Markle makes a few brief appearances in the film.

In one section she is seen reassuring him before he makes a speech to veterans in New York in November 2021.

Harry explains in another section that he decided to found the Invictus Games partly as a result of encountering severely wounded soldiers as he was being evacuated from Afghanistan after press reports of his presence there surfaced and he was pulled out.

He said: To suddenly be on the way home I was angry. But it was important for everyone around me, their safety, to remove me.

My own experience in Afghanistan was really affected by that flight home.

As we took off, the curtain in front of me blew open. And all you could see was the air hospital. Three young British soldiers all wrapped in plastic and their bodies in pieces.

I saw what most people have only heard about. That was the real triggerto see the real cost of war. Not just those individuals but also their families and how their lives would change forever.

Stepping off the plane, I was angry at what happened to these guys, I was angry that the media werent covering it.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The theme of the 25th Milwaukee International Short Film Festival  legacy  came about by accident.

Half our films are primarily from people who have submitted to us before, and so that  helps to celebrate the festival a little bit and honor the filmmakers who have been with us in the past, said Milwaukee filmmaker Ross Bigley, the festival's founder.

The 2023 edition of the Short Film Festival  Sept. 8-9 at the Avalon Theater  will include 49 short films, 21 by filmmakers who have been part of the festival before and three that have screened in past years.

About 80% of the more than 500 movies submitted for this year's festival were by Wisconsin filmmakers. It's a reflection, Bigley said, of how much movie-making has grown in the state.

And that includes film festivals  Wisconsin is home to 17 of them.

Thats an insane amount of film festivals for a state that people dont really consider a filmmaking hub, Bigley said.

Milwaukee has more than its share, with six taking place during the fall. Here's a look at what they're showing and when.

Milwaukee International Short Film Festival

The Milwaukee International Short Film Festival returns to a two-day, in-person format for its 25th year. The short films  49 in all  are being shown in five blocks of programs, each including filmmaker Q&As. Among the blocks is "Voices Heard," a juried program of shorts by filmmakers of color at 9:15 p.m. Sept. 8, and juried selection of works by young filmmakers at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 9. (Other programming blocks are at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 8, and 6:30 and 9:15 p.m. Sept. 9, with an awards ceremony afterward.)

When: Sept. 8-9

Where: Avalon Theater, 2473 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.

Tickets: $11 per program

Info: mkeshortfest.blogspot.com

Hispanic Heritage Month movies at Oriental Theatre

Milwaukee Film's Cine Sin Fronteras program, which presents screenings and events exploring the life and humanity of the Latino diaspora, has a quintet of movies planned for Hispanic Heritage Month. The lineup includes "Cassandro the Exotico!", a portrait of lucha libre star Cassandro, one of the industry's first openly gay wrestlers (Sept. 19); the seventh annual Femme Frontera Filmmaker Showcase (Sept. 16); and "Hummingbirds," a coming-of-age documentary exploring teenage life in a small Texas town (Oct. 12).

When: Sept. 15-Oct. 15

Where: Oriental Theatre

Tickets: $12

Info: mkefilm.org/cine-sin-fronteras

Cultures & Communities Festival

Milwaukee Film's Cultures & Communities Festival is a mix of movies, forums, speaker events and in-person performances designed to reflect and celebrate diverse voices and issues. The movie lineup is being announced in September; the festival's live performances include an opening-night party featuring DJ Spinderella at The Cooperage (Oct. 5); comedian Janelle James at the Pabst Theater (Oct. 8); a "Battle of the Chefs" at the Pritzlaff Building (Oct. 6); and more.

When: Oct. 5-12

Where: Screenings at the Oriental Theatre; live performances and other programming at other venues

Tickets: To be announced

Info: mkefilm.org/ccf

RELATED: Comedian Janelle James and DJ Spinderella will headline Cultures & Communities Festival in Milwaukee

Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival

The 26th annual Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival offers a quintet of movies depicting different aspects of the Jewish experience, in America and around the world. Several of this year's titles also will be available on demand. Among the 2023 festival's offerings: the Milwaukee premiere of "Remembering Gene Wilder," a documentary about the life and career of the actor born in Milwaukee.

When: Oct. 15-29

Where: Marcus Theatres' North Shore Cinema and online via mkejewishfilm.eventive.org

Tickets: $12

Info: mkejewishfilm.eventive.org

Milwaukee Muslim Film Festival

Milwaukee Film and the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition puts together an impressive lineup of more than a half-dozen movies reflecting the diversity of the Islamic experience in America and around the world. The 2023 festival's highlights include "Wisconsin Life: The Wisconsin Muslim Project," a new PBS Wisconsin production.

When: Oct. 19-22

Where: Oriental Theatre

Tickets: TBD

Info: mkefilm.org/mmff

Kenosha's community of horror TV hosts, including the late Deadgar Winter (played by Curt Meyer, left) and Storm Winter, is the focus of the new documentary "I'm Your Host," premiering at the Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival in October at the Times Cinema.

Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival

The eighth Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival is expected to feature a broad range of shorts and features reflecting the diversity of the horror genre. The 2023 lineup is still being finalized; among the movies premiering at the festival is "I'm Your Host," a new documentary by Milwaukee artist and filmmaker Alicia Krupsky about the horror hosts on Kenosha public-access cable (BFA).

When: Oct. 20-22

Where: Times Cinema, 5906 W. Vliet St.

Tickets: To be announced

Info: twisteddreamsff.com

RELATED: What's new in movie theaters in Milwaukee

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about Milwaukee's fall film festivals
The powerful storm came ashore near Keaton Beach on Wednesday morning

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning.

The powerful storm came ashore near Keaton Beach as a Category 3 storm after having intensified in the Gulf of Mexico this week. It was expected to be a Category 4 storm, but was downgraded less than an hour before hitting land.



That doesn't mean Idalia isn't dangerous. As the storm made its way to shore on Wednesday morning, it was moving at 18 mph as a hurricane, with wind speeds upwards of 125 mph and a storm surge upwards of 16 ft. It's the strongest storm that has made landfall in the Big Bend region in more than 125 years, according to CNN.

Upwards of 18 million people have been impacted by the hurricane storm warnings, with approximately 161,000 people are without power, according to poweroutage.us. The storm's expected path is along the north, through Tallahassee. Tornado warnings are also in effect.

Joe Raedle/Getty

Weather experts say it'll likely be a tropical storm by the time it hits Charleston, South Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is ready and waiting to react to the impacts, FEMA officials saying in a release they're "ready to move to the most impacted areas immediately after the storm passes" with "warehouses filled with commodities like food, water, blankets, and medical supplies that ready to rapidly move into the impacted area at the states request."



Joe Raedle/Getty Vehicles sit in a flooded street caused by Hurricane Idalia passing offshore on Aug. 30 in St. Petersburg, Florida

Prior to making landfall, the storm passed over western Cuba on Monday, then passed by the southeastern Gulf of Mexico the following day, according to the National Hurricane Center. More than 10,000 people in Cuba left their homes for safety as up to 4 inches of rain was recorded, reported the Associated Press.

The storm strengthened on Tuesday into a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds on Tuesday, according to CNN.

Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty

Related: 5.1-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Ojai as Southern California Experiences Hurricane Hilary Tropical Storm

As of Tuesday, evacuation orders had been issued in 22 counties as of Tuesday, according to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' office, A state of emergency was also declared in 49 counties.

Idalia was "predicted to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane," the governor's office said at the time, adding that "life-threatening storm surge and dangerous winds are becoming increasingly likely for portions of Floridas Gulf Coast."



"Everybody on the Gulf Coast from Tampa Bay to northwest Florida must be vigilant," DeSantis said at a Tuesday news briefing, per USA Today. "You're going to see some nasty weather."

Yamil Lage via Getty Flooding from Tropical Storm Idalia in Cuba

Related: Hurricane Hilary Headed For Southwest with Residents Bracing For 'Catastrophic and Life-Threatening Flooding'

CBS affiliate WFOR-TV previously reported that the worst of the bad weather is likely to affect South Florida on Tuesday and Wednesday, as heavy rain could lead to localized flooding. About 1 to 2 inches of rain could fall, accompanied by potential wind gusts measuring 25 to 45 miles per hour.

Conditions were also predicted to deteriorate in the Tampa Bay region on Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Times reported, with strong winds and 6 to inches of rain expected in some areas.

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.

Juan Manuel Barrero Bueno/Bloomberg via Getty Florida residents fill sandbags to ward off flooding ahead of Hurricane Idalia on Tuesday

A major hurricane is classified as Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. A Category 3 hurricane will bring forth devastating damage at sustained winds of 111129 mph, while a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 157 mph or higher will wreak catastrophic damage.

Idalia is expected to head to Georgia over South and North Carolina next. Both Georgia and North Carolina are under states of emergency.

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Read the original article on People.
Abortion-rights supporters counter-protest in front of anti-abortion activists picketing, Thursday, June 23, 2022, at the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City, Iowa.

A group of young Iowa City feminists responded to the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision by founding Iowa's first women's health clinic, dedicated to abortion access and support.

Fifty years later, the mission at the Emma Goldman Clinic remains the same.

Several events are planned over the Labor Day weekend throughout Iowa City to commemorate the groundbreaking clinic's 50th anniversary, highlighted by a rescreening of the documentary "From One Place to Another: Emma Goldman Clinic Stories.

The showing will be held Sunday, Sept. 3 at FilmScene in the Chauncey building.

Documenting local history

LeAnn Erickson, an MFA student at the University of Iowa in the 1990s, didn't set out to make a documentary about Roe v Wade, instead aiming to highlight a group of women who formed a socialist collective. They strove to offer various women's healthcare services and empower those same women to take charge of their health.

Erickson and her creative partner, Camille Seaman, spent four years making the documentary and started working on the film just after the clinic's 20th anniversary in 1993.

Abortion-rights supporters counter-protest in front of anti-abortion activists picketing, Thursday, June 23, 2022, at the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City, Iowa.

The Emma Goldman Clinic celebrates 50 years with documentary rescreening at Filmscene at the Chauncey.

The film, initially released in 1996, follows the founders and members of the collective who share the clinic's story, highlighting the struggles and triumphs at one of the first feminist reproductive healthcare clinics in the United States.

We wanted to honor the politics of the collective in the beginning, the whole idea was every person had an equal voice. Every decision was made by complete consensus, which is very hard to do, Erickson said. We thought long and hard about the structure of this film, to somehow reflect the politics that the collective.

Emma Goldman Clinic is pictured Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019 at 227 N Dubuque Street in Iowa City, Iowa.

The clinic has evolved in the five decades since its inception, though the 50th anniversary arrives with the country in transition and the right to abortion in question.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision in 2022, overturned Roe v. Wade. In July, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, and the Emma Goldman Clinic filed a legal challenge to block the state of Iowa's six-week abortion ban, which ensures that abortion remains legal up to 20 weeks.

"A female body has always seemed to be up for political control. And this is not new," Erickson said. "And what's shocking to me is 50 years and 30 years after this film, that we're still talking and struggling over the same issues for women to have control of their own reproduction."

Though reproductive rights have been challenged across the nation, the Emma Goldman Clinic has promised to maintain its feminist approach to healthcare.

"We are committed to the safety of our staff and clients, and the Emma Goldman Clinic is taking measures to ensure both," the establishment said in a statement on its website. "We plan to continue to provide reproductive healthcare to those who are in need until it is recommended or required that we stop."

Erickson, originally from Waterloo, is a professor at Temple University. She considers herself a feminist and LGBTQ filmmaker and believes women's stories are and always will be important to share.

Francine Thompson, executive director of the Emma Goldman Clinic, speaks during a Bans Off Our Bodies protest in support of abortion rights, Saturday, May 14, 2022, in Iowa City, Iowa.

"This documentary proves these young people have something to learn from the kind of things that these women did 50 years ago, that they should be using now because the fight is still [ongoing]," Erickson said.

A story nearly lost

Sunday's screening almost didn't happen.

Erickson thought she had lost all her copies but found "From One Place to Another: Emma Goldman Clinic Stories" on a VHS tape while working on another project. She quickly digitized it to make sure the film was never lost for good.

I'm really happy to have it available again, Erickson said.

A Q&A session with Erickson will be held after Sunday's screening, featuring a few women in the film.

Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and business reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@presscitizen.com.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa's first women's health clinic celebrates 50 years
Since Sam Asghari filed for divorce on August 16 after 14 months of marriage, Britney Spears' behavior has sparked concern. Shes posted Instagram videos of herself dancing in a thong, writhing topless in bed, and being carried by four shirtless men (while another guy licked her leg!)  and thats just what the public has seen.

There are many red flags. Her behavior is more troubling than ever, says a Life & Style insider, adding that Britney, 41, is surrounding herself with people who may not have her best interests at heart. Loved ones are poised to help her, but so far shes not accepting it.

Jamie Lynn Spears

After publicly slamming sister, 32, claiming the Zoey 101 actress never showed up for [me] during the conservatorship, Britney confirmed a thaw in June, sharing on Instagram that it was nice to visit my sister and that Britney had missed her. Jamie Lynn has since shown support by liking a post announcing her siblings separation from Sam. Jamie Lynn has made it clear shes on Britneys side in this, says the source. She is ready to be a sympathetic ear.

Has Jamie Lynn Spears Received Plastic Surgery? What the Actress Has Said About It

Sean and Jayden

If anyone can get through to Britney, its her boys, the source says of the pop stars sons with ex-husband Kevin Federline, Sean Preston, 17, and Jayden James, 16. Earlier this summer, Britney approved her sons request to move to Hawaii with their dad, and after months of estrangement, the teens spoke to her in July, Kevins attorney confirmed.

Jamie Spears

Britney has branded her father  who oversaw the conservatorship that ruled her life from 2008 to 2021  an abuser. But Jamie, 71, has long maintained he loves his daughter with all my heart, adding that he doesnt know if shed be alive if he hadnt stepped in amid her mental-health crisis. In a shocking twist, Britney reportedly is now open to a reconciliation.

Britney Spears Trial, Los Angeles, USA

Cade Hudson

He has served as Britneys manager since 2022. Hes also been a part of her inner circle for years. Hes her best friend. Britney trusts him, says the source, noting that the former talent agent earned Britneys respect when he supported her efforts to end her conservatorship. Post-split, says the source, Cade offered his home to her, but she says shes enjoying her newfound freedom.

Lynne Spears

In May, Britney revealed she and my sweet mama had reconciled when Lynne, 68, visited her in LA for the first time in three years after an estrangement. Lynne, says the source, wants to get Britney out of Hollywood and back to her hometown in Louisiana so she can process issues, including her split from Sam, in private. Lynne thinks being home would help Britney heal, says the source.

Sam Asghari

Stranger things have happened. We will hold onto the love and respect we have for each other, Sam, 29, vowed in a statement following his divorce filing after 14 months of marriage, adding, I wish her the best always. Hes protected her for many years, so to see the individuals shes let into her life lately really upsets him, insists the source. Theyre using her.

Britney Spears and Sam Asghari
NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Justified: City Primeval finale, "The Question."

Having captured Mansell (Boyd Holbrook), Toma (Terry Kinney) and Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) take him to Skender's (Alexander Pobutsky) building. At gunpoint, Besnik (Yosef Kasnetzkov) and the other Albanians usher Mansell into a safe room. Carolyn (Aunjanue Ellis) is there with more of the Albanians. She reminds Toma they had a deal.

Toma takes Judge Guy's book from Mansell. One of the Albanians breaks the interior control panel so the door can't be opened from the inside. Mansell is unnerved, tries to surrender himself to Raylan, but Raylan pushes the button to slowly lower the door, locking Mansell inside the safe room. Toma tells Raylan this will satisfy them both. Toma gets justice for Skender, Raylan gets Mansell off the street.

Mansell can't handle captivity. He gets claustrophobic and rips the room apart trying to find a way out. Then he destroys most of the contents in the room. But it's no use. There's no way out for Clement Mansell.

Maureen faces accountability

The next morning, Norbert (Norbert Leo Butz), Robinson (Victor Williams) and Raylan show up at Maureen's (Marin Ireland) door as she's getting ready to leave for work. They don't want to question her in front of her family, so they take her to the police station where an investigator from Internal Affairs questions her. She's in Judge Guy's book because she took bribes to testify against defendants in cases presided over by the judge. Maureen is angry and isn't going down without a fight.

Meanwhile, Carolyn goes to Lansing to meet with the Lieutenant Governor (Audrey Francis) and lobby to be appointed to Judge Guy's seat on the bench.

Skender ruins everything

That night Carolyn and Raylan have an intimate evening. Carolyn falls asleep, but Raylan can't. His moral compass won't let him leave Mansell to die. He drives back to Skender's.

Skender, recuperating in Toma's nursing home, is dreaming of revenge. He leaves to kill Mansell. But when he opens the door Mansell attacks him in a frenzy. Mansell beats Skender to death, steals his gun and drives to Toma's nursing home.

Raylan arrives to find the safe room door open, the room destroyed and Skender's badly beaten body on the floor. Raylan calls Robinson and tells him to get to the nursing home. But when Robinson and Norbert arrive it's too late, Mansell has killed all the Albanians, including Toma. Raylan calls Carolyn and tells her to leave the house immediately. Then he races to her house, predicting that's where Mansell will go next.

End of the line

Timothy Olyphant in Justified: City Primeval

Carolyn leaves, but Raylan arrives and waits in the kitchen for Mansell to show up. Mansell kicks in a window and enters the kitchen. He sees Raylan waiting for him. Mansell starts telling his usual colorful stories. He walks to the fridge, takes out a beer and leans on the fridge, still talking. He reaches into his jacket and Raylan shoots him without hesitation. Mansell, shocked, falls against the fridge. A cassette tape falls out of his hand. He was reaching for a cassette of him singing, not a gun.

Carolyn comes in and makes a call. Mansell, clinging to life, asks if she called an ambulance. She said she called the morgue. Mansell dies. The scene fades out.

Some familiar faces, finally

Six weeks later, Raylan is back in Miami at a retirement party for his boss, Dan Grant (Matt Craven). Greg Sutter (David Koechner) gives a speech and talks about how he used to discourage his daughter from becoming a Marshal when she was young, the same story he told Raylan in the original Justified series.

Raylan approaches Dan at the bar. Dan says he'd be happy to recommend Raylan for a promotion to the director's job. But Raylan quits instead.

In the next scene, Raylan is happily painting his house. A package arrives with a note and a bottle of booze from Carolyn. She's now Judge Wilder, but still thinks about Raylan. Willa and Winona (Natalie Zea) arrive with Willa driving, as she just got her learner's permit. Raylan tells them both he's retired. Winona is shocked.

The return of Boyd Crowder

No Justified series could end without an appearance by Boyd Crowder (Walter Goggins). At Tramble Penitentiary in Kentucky, Boyd is preaching once again. He's been a model inmate, but he has a mysterious illness that requires a trip to the hospital. He's guarded by Officer Ramirez (Luis Guzman) and Officer Gerret (Ahna O'Reilly).

When the transport van gets to a familiar railroad bridge in Harlan County, Boyd starts banging on the wall of the transport cell and screaming. Just over the bridge, Officer Gerret pulls off to the side of the road. Ramirez gets out to check on Boyd. It's then that Gerret pulls a gun on him and locks him in the transport cell.

Gerret and Boyd have planned his escape carefully. She has a car waiting and brought Boyd his signature outfit of black pants, a white button-down shirt and a black vest. They take off for Mexico.

Back in Florida, Raylan and Willa are talking when Raylan's phone starts buzzing with an alert about a prison escape in Kentucky. Then his phone starts ringing. He tries to ignore it, but Willa tells him to answer it. He picks up the phone and the credits roll.

Will there be another Justified limited series where Raylan goes after Boyd? If anyone can catch Boyd Crowder its Raylan Givens. After all, they dug coal together.

All episodes of Justified: City Primeval are available to stream on Hulu in the US.

More on Justified: City Primeval
Kim Kardashian donned a kimono during a recent visit to Japan.

The 42-year-old reality star took to Instagram on Tuesday, August 29, to share snaps taken by her 10-year-old daughter, North West. In the photos, Kardashian sported the traditional Asian garment, which featured metallic silk detailing. Kardashian complemented the dress with a shaggy updo that was finalized with metal chopsticks.

As Kardashian gave the camera a number of different poses, North, as well as Kourtney Kardashians daughter, Penelope, 11, and Tracy Romulus daughter Ryan, 9, could be seen holding up an iPhone and a ring light.

Kardashians fans quickly flooded the comments section, praising the TV personalitys parenting skills. Mom of the year, wrote one fan as a second added, What a hype team. A third social media user gushed, Not the kids holding up the ring light and the phone. This is how you parent.

Kim Kardashian Wears White Kimono in Japan

Others took the opportunity to remind Kardashian of a past controversy. This is when you can use Kimono, a social media user suggested in reference to Kardashians previous plans to name her popular shapewear label Kimono.

Kardashian was accused of cultural appropriation in June 2019 after announcing the brands original moniker. Amid increasing concerns over the use of Kimono, Kardashian explained her decision in a statement to The New York Times.

I understand and have deep respect for the significance of the kimono in Japanese culture and have no plans to design or release any garments that would in any way resemble or dishonor the traditional garment, she told the publication. I made the decision to name my company Kimono, not to disassociate the word from its Japanese roots but as a nod to the beauty and detail that goes into a garment.

Kim Kardashian Wears White Kimono in Japan

Filing a trademark is a source identifier that will allow me to use the word for my shapewear and intimates line but does not preclude or restrict anyone, in this instance, from making kimonos or using the word kimono in reference to the traditional garment. My solutionwear brand is built with inclusivity and diversity at its core and Im incredibly proud of whats to come, she added.

Kardashian eventually renamed the company as backlash continued.

Being an entrepreneur and my own boss has been one of the most rewarding challenges Ive been blessed with in my life, she wrote in a July 2019 Instagram post.

Whats made it possible for me after all of these years has been the direct line of communication with my fans and the public. I am always listening, learning and growing  I so appreciate the passion and varied perspectives that people bring to me. When I announced the name of my shapewear line, I did so with the best intentions in mind. My brands and products are built with inclusivity and diversity at their core and after careful thought and consideration, I will be launching my Solutionwear brand under a new name. I will be in touch soon.

A month later, Kardashian shared that she had settled on the name Skims.

My fans and followers are a huge inspiration to me, she said via Instagram. Im always listening to their feedback and opinions, and am so grateful they shared their ideas for a new brand name.

She added of the name Skims: I love the idea that the pieces will be the closest thing to someones skin, skimming with amazingly soft and supportive fabrics which accentuate the best parts of our bodies.
The pop star opened up about writing her first album 'Meet Miley Cyrus ' in the same house when producer Matthew Wilder was its owner

Miley Cyrus is looking back on her earliest memories in the Malibu house she shared with ex-husband Liam Hemsworth.

In a TikTok shared on Tuesday as part of a series celebrating her new song "Used to Be Young," the pop star opened up about writing her first album Meet Miley Cyrus with producer Matthew Wilder in the Malibu home she'd later share with Hemsworth  until it was destroyed by wildfires in 2018.

"The Meet Miley Cyrus record was really where I started writing my own songs as a solo artist, and so I was working with a producer in Malibu that lived in a house in Ramirez Canyon, which I would've never known 15 years later I would be living in that house, which would eventually burn down," said the 33-year-old singer-songwriter.

"That house had so much magic to it," Cyrus added. "It ended up really changing my life."

Related: Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth Planned to Wed in Malibu Home Before It Was Destroyed by Wildfire

The "Wrecking Ball" musician lived in the Malibu house with Hemsworth, 33, until the structure was burned down by the devastating California wildfires in November 2018. The following month, a source told PEOPLE the couple planned to wed in the ocean-side home before the fires. (Ultimately, they married at Cyrus' Nashville home before separating the following year and finalizing their divorce in 2020.)

When the flames engulfed the home, Cyrus was in South Africa filming Black Mirror, and then-fiance Hemsworth was home and rescued their many pets.

She spoke about the experience to Vanity Fair in 2019, revealing that the property was purchased years prior by Hemsworth  and that she'd recorded Meet Miley Cyrus there when it belonged to Wilder.

Related: Miley Cyrus Thinks Her Singing Voice 'Changed a Lot' After Malibu House Fire: 'I Could Sing Better'

Vijat Mohindra/NBC via Getty Miley Cyrus

"I'll never be happy that all those memories and pictures and things that I've loved are gone," Cyrus said. "But to have an experience like this  I find myself feeling more connected to being human again."

Elsewhere in the TikTok posted Tuesday, she spoke about the inspiration behind releasing Meet Miley Cyrus as a two-disc album packaged with Hannah Montana 2  the Disney Channel series' season 2 soundtrack  in 2007.

"This is the album cover for my first solo record as Miley. The smartest thing to do was to put it on a double disc, so Hannah would be on the other side because at the time I wasn't valued in the way that Hannah was," explained Cyrus.

"The magic was more in her, and so this was a way that we could help people put the two and two together that really the voice behind Hannah was always me. If you haven't seen the finale of Hannah Montana, sorry to blow it for you," she quipped.

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Read the original article on People.
Nexstar Media Group said it promoted Tracy Rogers to senior VP and regional manager at its broadcasting division, effective September 5.

Rogers has been VP and general manager of Nexstars station in Nashville, WKRN-TV since 2017.

She is replacing Julie Pruett, who retired, and will report to Andrew Alford, president of Nexstars broadcasting division. She and her family will be moving from Nashville to Dallas.

Nexstar said it is looking for a new GM for WKRN.

Tracey has done an outstanding job with WKRN-TV, spearheading a consistent improvement in ratings, revenue and profitability, said Alford. She has consistently demonstrated the ability to lead highly-effective and successful management, sales and news teams that deliver impactful results for our advertisers, marketers, and the local communities we serve. Im proud to promote her to this new position and I look forward to her continued contributions to the Nexstar management team.

Before WKRN, Rogers was a GM at WMC-TV, Memphis and KAIT-TV, Jonesboro, Arkansas. She also served as a news director at WMC, WAFF-TV, Huntsville, Alabama and WPSD-TV, Paducah, Ky.

Nexstar Nation is comprised of a special group of people who have worked tirelessly to build the most respected media company in the country, said Rogers.

I have had the great fortune to be part of this team over the past six years and have worked alongside the best in the media business at WKRN-TV in Nashville. I got my start in small market television. I am looking forward to getting back to my roots and working alongside the incredible General Managers and their teams in the markets that make up the backbone of Nexstar Nation, she said.  I am excited to work with Andy and the broadcast management team as Nexstar continues to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving media environment.
Justin Theroux and Nicole Brydon Bloom were seen at dinner together in New York City in August 2023

Gregory Pace/Shutterstock ; Taylor Hill/FilmMagic Nicole Brydon Bloom and Justin Theroux

Justin Theroux may have found a new romance with actress Nicole Brydon Bloom.

The pair were first spotted in February 2023 at an event before photos surfaced of the two showing off some PDA six months later. In October 2023, Bloom and Theroux stepped out together in New York City, but they have yet to confirm their relationship.

A New York-based actress, Bloom portrayed Caroline Stuyvesant in season 2 of The Gilded Age. She's also appeared in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and 1BR.

Theroux was previously married to Jennifer Aniston from 2015 until their divorce in February 2018. He has since spoken about enjoying not being in a public relationship and all the attention that comes with it.



"There's something to, once you're out of that, where I want all of my relationships to exist within the four walls of whatever room we're in," the actor told Esquire in May 2023.

"I'm not trying to be evasive, but I talk to Jen  I don't talk about Jen. People will always want to gossip and say things, but you have to find that balance," he added. "And having been in a public relationship, it's much more fun not being in a public relationship."

Theroux has stuck to his word and largely kept his personal life private, including his romance with Bloom.

So, who is the actress spotted kissing Justin Theroux? Heres everything to know about Nicole Brydon Bloom and her possible relationship with the actor.

She attended Elon University

Nicole Brydon Bloom Instagram Nicole Brydon Bloom in 2018

Bloom graduated from Elon University in 2017 with a degree in acting. She originally entered college as a journalism major but changed her mind after she saw an Elon production, she told Today at Elon in 2022.

Bloom also shared how the program shaped her into the actor she is today. They were so encouraging of me taking risks as an actor. In auditions it is really easy to fall into, What do I think casting directors are looking for and how do I fit into that. And that can be very limiting, she said. Elon was so good about emphasizing finding a way to make the character you, instead of what you think it should be.

She has a string of TV credits

Bruce Glikas/Getty Nicole Brydon Bloom at the opening night of the new play 'This Beautiful Future' in 2022

While her post-grad career started on the stage in regional theatre in Kentucky, Bloom soon moved in front of the camera, appearing in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Affair and 1BR.

Her latest credit, as Caroline Stuyvesant in season 2 of The Gilded Age, was a dream come true for the young actress. The show was created by Julian Fellowes, the mind behind Downton Abbey and a personal favorite of Blooms.

I loved Downton Abbey and Julian Fellowes work. I was still in college when I heard the rumors that he was making a new show like the New York version of Downton Abbey,  she told Today at Elon. I emailed my agent, and I was like I have to be in this. I told my agent, If this comes up, I would love the opportunity to read for them. 

Though she didnt score a role in the first season, her chance came along again during auditions for season 2. As for how she deals with the inevitable string of nos in the industry? Find other outlets, she said, before adding that living in a place she loves also helps her in difficult times.

Her dad died while covering the war in Iraq in 2003

Nicole Brydon Bloom Instagram Nicole Brydon Bloom and her father

Bloom was just 9 years old when her father, David Bloom, who was a well-known NBC News journalist, died suddenly in April 2003 as he was covering the war in Iraq. A clot that started as a deep vein thrombosis traveled from his leg to his lungs, where it lodged in an artery, resulting in his death.

We had braced ourselves for all the war-related dangers that that assignment entailed, Blooms mother, Melanie Bloom, told TODAY.com 10 years after his death. But when I got that call, I had never heard of DVT myself and I dont think David ever had. The more I learned, the more shocked I was. It wasnt an IED or a bomb that took his life. It was this DVT.

Bloom has kept her fathers memory alive since, regularly posting tributes on her social media. On the 20th anniversary of his death in April 2023, she posted an ode to her father, reminiscing on their time together.

20 years ago today my dad died while covering the war in Iraq. Forever proud of him, endeared by his sense of humor and in awe of his intelligence and commitment to the truth, she wrote in the caption. We miss you every day Dad  Thank you for being such an incredible role model and father. Very grateful for the time we had.

She was first spotted with Theroux in February 2023

Slaven Vlasic/Getty Justin Theroux, Tan France, Louisa Jacobson and Nicole Brydon Bloom attend the 'Next In Fashion' Tastemaker Event in 2023

In February, Bloom and Theroux were spotted at a Netflix event at the N.Y.C. social club Zero Bond.

The pair were photographed with Tan France and actress Louisa Jacobson, who is Blooms castmate on The Gilded Age.



She was seen kissing Theroux in a N.Y.C. restaurant

Nicole Brydon Bloom Instagram Nicole Brydon Bloom in front of a flower wall.

Six months after they were first seen together, the two packed on the PDA at Altro Paradiso, a restaurant in N.Y.C. The duo were spotted getting dinner with another couple and shared a quick kiss.

The outing also included a stop at Ray's Bar, which Theroux co-owns with Succession star Nicholas Braun.

She loves to travel

Nicole Brydon Bloom Instagram Nicole Brydon Bloom in Paris.

Bloom has traveled all over the world, including extensive trips to European destinations like Barcelona and Paris. Shes also traveled with Logan Lerman and Joey King, her costars in We Were the Lucky Ones, an upcoming film based on the book of the same name

She posted pictures from Bucharest, Romania, and Malaga, Spain, with Lerman and King in May 2023. The latter commented, Oh, Us? Babes. We are babes."



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One of Oklahoma City's top attractions is ready to cowboy up with its most comprehensive capital campaign since the 1990s.

Visitors to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum will begin seeing big changes starting this fall as the venerable institution puts the spurs to a $40 million capital campaign.

Construction already has started on "The Code of the West," a new interactive exhibit scheduled to open in November in the museum's East Hallway.

The immersive experience where people can "see themselves through the ethos of the American Cowboy" is the first of many improvements planned under the three-year "Live the Code" campaign devised to modernize, enhance and continue the legacy of the almost 60-year-old institution.

This is a transformational moment for The Cowboy, Larry Nichols, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum board member who is chairing the "Live the Code" campaign, said in a statement. This campaign will strengthen our position as the premier institution of Western history, art and culture while also championing the values so important to the West.

"The Origins of the West 360 Cinematic Experience" is planned at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. It's one of several improvements planned as part of the three-year, $40 million "Live the Code" capital campaign at the venerable Oklahoma City museum.

How much money has the National Cowboy Museum's capital campaign raised so far?

Since the board approved it in April, $7.2 million already has been pledged or awarded through the "Live the Code" campaign, said Seth Spillman, the museum's chief marketing officer. After a "quiet phase" of planning and targeted fundraising, the campaign entered its public phase last week.

The campaign will fund changes ranging from cutting-edge exhibits and parking improvements to upgrades to the museum's storage areas and enhanced accessibility to its vast Dickinson Research Center.

Over the past few years, the National Cowboy Museum has introduced several improvements designed to provide more interactive experiences, modernize its galleries and tell more diverse stories of the West. In 2020, the attraction unveiled both its new $15 million outdoor children's expansion Liichokoshkomo and the revamped exhibit space for its permanent collection in the William S. and Ann Atherton Art of the American West Gallery.

"We've been stewards of these materials and these stories since the beginning. But the way that you tell those stories and engage with the audience ... changes over time. We're talking about the first effort like this in the last 30 years, and there are technologies that exist now that didn't exist last year, let alone 30 years ago," Spillman told The Oklahoman.

"Live the Code" is the most comprehensive capital campaign for The Cowboy since 1992's "Visions of the West" $35 million campaign was launched to expand the museum to more than 230,000 square feet and add the Sam Noble Special Events Center, complete with Oklahoma Cultural Treasure Wilson Hurley's five large-scale triptych paintings titled "Windows to the West."

Construction is underway at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum on "The Code of the West," an interactive exhibit scheduled to be unveiled in November. It's one of several improvements planned as part of the three-year, $40 million "Live the Code" capital campaign at the venerable Oklahoma City museum.

What improvements are planned at the OKC museum, and when will they debut?

After "The Code of the West" interactive exhibit opens this fall in the East Hallway, work is set to begin in early 2024 on "The Immersive Orientation Experience," which will convert the museum's West Hallway into a theater that will give visitors a high-tech preview of what they will see in the galleries.

Work also is scheduled to start in the first quarter on the museum's parking lot, which will be reinforced and repaved to maximize parking options and improve entry into the building. An additional gate will be built to provide parking lot access via Grand Boulevard.

These visionary enhancements will showcase The Cowboys world-class collection while allowing us to tell the stories of the West better than any other institution," museum President and CEO Pat Fitzgerald said in a statement.

Other improvements planned for the three-year campaign:

 The debut of "The Origins of the West 360 Cinematic Experience," a cutting-edge exhibit devised to showcase the diverse landscapes, history and people of the West.

 The expansion of the museum's Art and Artifacts Vault and Dickinson Research Center Vault to include high-density storage to maximize the use of the facilities. The Art and Artifacts Vault will expand into the lower-level staff parking lot as originally designed by the buildings architect, and a new HVAC system and plumbing will ensure proper environmental standards will be maintained to protect the museums massive collection.

The Art and Artifacts Vault main storage area houses more than 25,000 items.

"People don't really understand that ... what they see on exhibit throughout the museum, I don't even want to say it's the tip of the iceberg. It's a couple of cubes on the tip of the iceberg of what we have here," Spillman said.

 The move of the Dickinson Research Center from the basement to the ground floor and the addition of an interactive experience to provide researchers and the public greater access to its collection of 3 million items.

The Dickinson Research Center storage space houses 800,000 photographs, 45,000 books, 3,000 audio-visual objects and 800 archival collections.

"The court transcripts that are discussed in 'Killers of the Flower Moon' are in our archives, so we had people involved with the film who were here at the museum doing that research. That's the sort of thing that the public doesn't understand  and why would they?" Spillman said.

"The Immersive Orientation Experience" is intended to transform the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museums West Hallway into an immersive orientation theater to give guests a preview of what they will see in the sprawling museums galleries. It's one of several improvements planned as part of the three-year, $40 million "Live the Code" capital campaign at the venerable Oklahoma City museum.

Why are the improvements to the National Cowboy Museum important for OKC?

Despite the construction, the museum is maintaining a robust schedule of exhibits and events. Autumn art shows include "American Farmer," a traveling exhibit by celebrated portrait photographer Paul Mobley; "Nations at War! Field Sketches of a Pawnee Warrior," featuring drawings by Brummett Echohawk, a Pawnee soldier who served with the 45th Infantry Division during World War II; and "Black Cowboys: An American Story," which showcases artifacts, photos and documents depicting the work of African American cowboys.

Annual favorites Small Works, Great Wonders and the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association Exhibition & Sale also are still on for fall.

Visit Oklahoma City President Zac Craig said the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum has been a "cornerstone of Oklahoma Citys visitor experience" since 1955.

That's the year OKC was selected over Dodge City, Kansas, and Colorado Springs, Colorado, to become the home of what was then called the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum. OKC's central location and proximity to the historic Chisholm Trail gave it an edge over other cities.

A huge fund drive was launched to raise $1 million to buy the land and start building the hall, and the groundbreaking took place on Jan. 7, 1958, with dignitaries from all 17 states represented in the museum attending.

On June 26, 1965, John Wayne led the parade that wound through downtown OKC and out to the museum on Persimmon Hill to mark the grand opening of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. ("The Duke" was a member of the museum's board of trustees from 1968 until his death in 1979, the same year the John Wayne Collection came to The Cowboy.)

The museum acquired iconic artworks like James Earle Fraser's "End of the Trail," survived the 1980s oil bust and changed its name in 2000 from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center to the current moniker, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

"While The Cowboy has drawn scores of national and international visitors to town, they also experience other attractions, stay in our hotels and eat out at our many restaurants while here. The Cowboy has contributed greatly to the growth of OKCs visitor economy, and these improvements will ensure that The Cowboy continues to be the premier institution for Western art and artifacts," Craig told The Oklahoman in an email.

"OKCs tourism industry generates $4.3 billion annually, and we expect this economic impact to continue climbing as attractions like The Cowboy elevate and expand their world-class experiences.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Big changes are planned at OKC's National Cowboy Museum: What to know
Artist David Onri Anderson's The Electric Shed is an underground art gallery in Nashville that exhibits artists whose work may not fit in the commercial gallery landscape. The current exhibition is a multimedia piece called "Timestamp(s)..." It's a 53-minute video loop of digital visual manipulations involving documents from the artist, Morgan Higby-Flowers, as well as audio collected from a long drive on the highway.

The artist David Onri Anderson grew up in Nashville. He studied at Watkins College of Art before it was taken over by Belmont University. He has seen many classmates leave Nashville, drawn to larger cities to pursue their art.

Honestly, I think they would have stayed if there were larger entities or institutions that could give you something to aspire to, he said.

Anderson did stay, making paintings that swirl with color and are both mystical and mischievous. And he used what he had to support other artists. At his South Nashville home, he turned a detached garage into the Electric Shed gallery. In the cozy space with a high vaulted ceiling and unfinished rafters, he let artists he admired carry out any crazy idea they had. The first show, in 2018, was detritus gathered from construction sites bound together with stretch silicone.

The Electric Shed is an underground art gallery behind artist David Onri Anderson's home that exhibits artists whose work may not fit in the commercial gallery landscape.

While Anderson supports Nashville, he does not feel like the city supports him and his work.

Other galleries in other cities keep me alive, he said.

Nashville has art museums. Cheekwood. The Parthenon. The galleries at Vanderbilt and Fisk. The Frist Art Museum.

But Fisk Univeristy's gallery has space to show only a fraction of its art, which includes paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe, Paul Cezanne and an unrivaled collection of 20th century African American works.

The Frist puts on wide ranging exhibits, from watercolors by the children's book author Beatrix Potter to collages by contemporary Black artists. But the Frist, unlike most regional museums, does not have its own collection. The Birmingham Museum of Art, for example, has a collection of nearly 30,000 works.

Nashville has galleries. But many in the art scene say there are not enough. The city has collectors, but often they buy their art elsewhere.

Guests visit the Beatrix Potter exhibit at the Frist Museum of Art in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Aug. 14, 2023.

Nashville has art, but insiders say the city's scene is fragmented. Some look with envy to Dallas, with its multiple museums and lively art scene, or Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the annual ArtPrize festival draws hundreds of thousands.

"I'm a little shocked that a city this size doesn't have lots of public institutions to serve the arts community," said Amanda Hellman, who arrived from Atlanta last year to run Vanderbilt University's gallery. "I want, and I think others are going to want that, too, as the city changes."

Plans are taking shape, though, for new art festivals and museums. The people behind those projects can see a day when Nashville draws tourists who spend their vacations taking in art.

A different place

When Seth Feman was growing up in Nashville, he didnt see many opportunities for someone like him interested in visual arts.

The Frist Art Museum didnt yet exist, Feman said.

Now, Feman is the director of the Frist, which opened in 2001. He was appointed last year.

The Frist, Feman said, plays a crucial role in Nashville today. It shares art with the city, but in a changing city it is also a space where everyone, newcomers, natives and tourists, can meet.

Because the Frist does not have its own permanent collection, it neither takes donations from collectors nor buys works from contemporary artists. Collectors in Nashville might look to museums outside the city when they want to donate a piece. And Nashville artists miss out on the prestige of having their work in a local museum.

Portrait of Director Seth Feman at Frist Museum of Art in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Aug. 14, 2023.

Feman, however, believes the Frist is better off without its own collection.

Its part of what attracted me to coming here. We are not defined by the content, because the content changes every three months, he said.

Feman is thrilled with how Nashvilles art scene has grown since he left. But its not enough.

Twenty years ago, it would have been hard to imagine Nashville was big enough for even one major art museum, he said. Now I think the city can sustain much more arts activity.

Art where you live

The Zeitgeist gallery, now in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood, opened in 1994. Lain York, the contemporary gallerys director, has seen Nashville, and its art scene, rise and fall over the years.

Traditionally, this was a very affordable and quiet place to make your work. And then you got out of town, he said.

Green's Your Color by Karen Seapker is on display at Zeitgeist Gallery.

Today, he sees artists everywhere in Nashville  mainly out of necessity. Rising real estate prices have pushed artists out of neighborhoods where they used to cluster. He questions if Wedgewood-Houston, once a haven for artists, is still a creative district. He even wonders how long Zeitgeist can stay in the neighborhood. He sees a good side, however, to the change wrought by Nashvilles rapid growth.

Any neighborhood could host an art crawl. The artists are working in their bonus rooms and garages, he said. The meat of the conversation is what creatives bring to communities for everyone. Its really exciting.

Samantha Saturn thinks Nashville developers and artists can work together. She co-founded Artville, a new art festival coming this fall to Wedgewood-Houston. For sponsors, she signed up prominent developers like AJ Capital Partners, the company behind May Hosiery Mills and Merritt Mansion.

Artville aims to connect Nashvillians with artists and galleries across the city, not just in Wedgewood-Houston.

We need to create a story where people can build a relationship with Nasvhille as a visual arts city, Saturn said. Why cant we compete on that level as a city now? Its just very fragmented.

Jami Creel has plans for a year-round addition to Nashville: a museum dedicated to contemporary art.

If you look at similar cities in the South, they have contemporary art museums. They have more spaces and places for people to show their work, she said. Were losing that opportunity for our community.

Creel began the process of creating the Museum of Contemporary Art Nashville, MOCAN, in 2018. Since then, the museum has hosted pop-up exhibits, like the just closed Traveling Museum Project exhibit at Merritt Mansion. She wants MOCAN to have a fixed home by 2030.

A 'breathtaking' collection

The most ambitious project, one that could make Nashville an arts destination, is taking shape at Fisk University. The historically Black university wants to raise $35 million to build a new art museum.

Portrait of Jamaal Sheats, the director of the Van Vechten Art Gallery, at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023.

Throughout the 20th century, Fisk supported leading African American artists such as Aaron Douglas, Henry Ossawa Tanner and Elizabeth Catlett, appointing them as faculty, hosting them for lectures and collecting their work. Pieces by those artists are the core of the school's permanent collection.

Its a truly breathtaking collection, said Feman of the Frist Museum.

Fisk's current gallery can only display a fraction of the collection. Today, most of its paintings rarely leave storage, except when they are loaned to museums outside Nashville. The Fisks collection tells a story about Black culture in America that other museums ignored for years but now embrace.

The purpose of a collection like ours, as it was being formed, was the deconstruction of the caricatures of Blackness, said Jamaal B. Sheats, the director and curator of the Fisk gallery.

The Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023.

The Fisk collection also includes works by European and American modernists, who were inspired by African art and in turn inspired Black artists. A museum large enough to show the breadth of the schools collection, which has roughly 4,000 pieces, would let visitors see this aesthetic exchange that played out across continents. A museum for the Fisks collection would draw visitors from around the world.

For Sheats, creating a museum for Fisk is a near sacred calling. The art in the schools collection needs to be shared with the Nashville community.

These institutions are repositories for the visual representation of the soul of humanity, he said.

Todd A. Price writes about culture across the South. He can be reached at taprice@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Visual arts in Nashville: A fragmented group of museums, galleries
Prince Harry said he experienced an "unraveling" after his military service in his new Netflix docuseries ' Heart of Invictus '

Prince Harry is getting candid about his time in the military.

Speaking in his Netflix docuseries Heart of Invictus, the Duke of Sussex opened up about how he experienced an "unraveling" after returning from his tour of duty in Afghanistan  and how that triggered the trauma of losing his mother, Princess Diana.

I can only speak for my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unraveling and the trigger to me was actually returning from Afghanistan, the 38-year-old said.

"But the stuff that was coming up was from 1997, from the age of 12, losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had I was never really aware of, it was never discussed.

"I didn't really talk about it," Harry continued. "I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done  but then when it all came fizzing out I was bouncing off the walls, I was like, What is going on here? I am now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.' "

JOHN STILLWELL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Prince Harry serving in Afghanistan in 2012

Related: Prince Harry Told Friends Car Chase Was 'Closest I Have Ever Felt' to Understanding How Princess Diana Died

The British Army veteran went on to discuss how his "biggest struggle" was that "no one around me could really help."

I didn't have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me," he said.

"Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you really consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the fetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously, and thats what I really want to change."

Anwar Hussein/Getty Prince William, Princess Diana and Prince Harry

Related: Prince Harry Slams 'Dangerous Lie' That He 'Boasted' About Number of People He Killed in War

The five-part docuseries, released on Wednesday, follows Invictus Games competitors  wounded, sick and injured servicemen and women  from around the world. The Invictus Games was founded by Harry, with the first Games taking place in March 2014.

The prince served in the military for 10 years and undertook two tours of Afghanistan. He first served in Helmand Province in 2007 and 2008, but his tour was abruptly cut short after a media outlet broke a news embargo and revealed his presence in the warzone. He later returned for a second tour in 2012.



Speaking in Heart of Invictus, Harry described how he was angry at being sent home but how he also knew it was important for everyones safety.

John Stillwell - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan

He also discussed how his flight home affected him after he saw the air hospital onboard the plane.

As we took off the curtain in front of me blew open and all you could see was the air hospital, he said. Three young British soldiers all wrapped in plastic and their bodies in pieces. I saw what only people had talked about.

That was the real trigger for Im now seeing the real cost of war. Not just those individuals but also their families and what that would mean and how their lives would literally change forever.

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Adding how the flight made him realize he needed to help, he continued, At that point, it wasnt clear to me what needed to be done. All I was trying to work out and try to navigate was, OK, Ive got this platform, Ive just had this experience, what more can I do with this. 

Harry has been very open about his mental health over the years and wrote about his experiences in his 2023 memoir, Spare.

Detailing his struggles in his book, he told PEOPLE in January, This book and its truths are in many ways a continuation of my own mental health journey. It's a raw account of my life  the good, the bad and everything in between."

"My hope has been to turn my pain into purpose, so if sharing my experience makes a positive difference in someone's life, well, I can't think of anything more rewarding than that.

Harry added of losing his mother, who died in a 1997 car crash in Paris, "I struggled for years to accept or even speak about my mother's death. I was unable to process that she was gone. I'm not sure anyone can ever truly have closure when they lose a parent, or anyone for that matter, especially when that grief may be the only thing left of them.

"The healing process has allowed me to get to a place where I now feel the presence of my mum more than ever before. She's with me all the time  my guardian angel.



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Princess Sofia bid farewell to her parents and the family dog before jetting off to "Hippie Hogwarts"

Princess Sofia of Spain is heading to a new adventure!

On Tuesday, Queen Letizia and King Felipe of Spain sent their younger daughter off to UWC Atlantic college in Wales. Sofia, 16, enrolled as new pupil in the International Baccalaureate program and will study there for two years, Hola! reported. The send off officially made Letizia, 50, and Felipe, 55, empty nesters, as their elder daughter Princess Leonor currently is currently training at General Military Academy of Zaragoza for three years of study with the Spanish armed forces.

In photos the Spanish royal family shared to X (formerly Twitter), Princess Sofia shared one last chat with her parents at home and pet the family dog Jan. The relatable back-to-school scene was made complete with her suitcases stacked in the car.

Related: Queen Letizia and King Felipe of Spain Are All Smiles on a Sunny Summer Vacation with Daughters

Casa de S.M. el Rey/Twitter Princess Sofia says goodbye to Jan, who is reportedly the family dog.

A few hours later, Casa Real shared shots of Sofia exploring the school's scenic grounds (backpack slung over shoulder!) and posing outside St. Donat's Castle, which dates back to the 12th century. Sofia follows in Leonor's footsteps by attending UWC, which is nicknamed Hippie Hogwarts and has taught other royals including Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Princess Raiyah bint Al Hussein of Jordan.

Sofia was at UWC with her family not long ago for a sweet reason  Leonors graduation! The future queen of Spain graduated from the elite boarding school in May, where Princess Alexia of the Netherlands (King Willem-Alexanders daughter) was one of her classmates.

La Infanta Sofia, en el @UWCAtlantic College de Gales pic.twitter.com/JDhP3ADm8d  Casa de S.M. el Rey (@CasaReal) August 29, 2023

A few weeks and family vacation in Mallorca later, Leonor started her studies at the General Military Academy in Aragon. Her parents and sister dropped her off at school on Aug. 17, and courtiers released shots of the princess shaking hands with an official, hugging her mom and wheeling her suitcase towards check-in.

The Royal Household of Spain announced in March that Princess Leonor would begin three years of military training after graduating from UWC Atlantic, with plans to train at the General Military Academy of Zaragoza as a Lady Cadet for the 2023-2024 academic year.



The following year, Princess Leonor will move to the Navy, working as a Midshipman at the Marin Naval Military School and on board the Juan Sebastian de Elcano Training Ship. After that, the royal heir will complete her courses with the Air and Space Army, attending the San Javier General Air Academy as Ensign Student from 2025 to 2026.

Toni Galan/Getty Images Princess Leonor, King Felipe, Queen Letizia and Princess Sofia at the General Military Academy of Zaragoza.

Related: See the Name on Princess Leonor of Spain's Army Uniform  and How It Relates to Prince William and Prince Harry

The intense program is par for the course for the heir to the Bourbon throne, as King Felipe also studied at multiple military academies and earned Helicopter Pilot Wings from the Army and the Navy.

After she got settled, Casa Real gave a glimpse of the princess in camouflage with her classmates. Her uniform featured the Spanish flag and a name tag that read "Borbon Ortiz." The double surname combines of her royal line, the House of Bourbon, and her mothers name before marrying into the royal family.

Prince William and Prince Harry similarly got creative when it came to their last name while serving in the armed forces. Instead of their royal titles, they went by "William Wales" and "Harry Wales," using their father King Charles' title at the time  the Prince of Wales  as their surname.

Casa de S.M. el Rey Princess Leonor sports her Army Uniform while in military training.

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Princess Leonor will be Spains first queen regnant since Queen Isabella II (who reigned from 1833 to 1868) when she accedes to the throne, and with it, the responsibility of serving as supreme commander of the Spanish armed forces.

Speaking about the significance of Princess Leonors military training when the plans were announced, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said, Its an essential step in the life of Her Royal Highness  toward the leadership of our country, CNN reported.



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Rudy Giuliani has been found liable for defaming two Georgia election workers he claimed were part of a conspiracy to rig the 2020 presidential election.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell also ordered that a trial be held on proposed damages to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the election workers that the former New York mayor had accused of manipulating votes.

More from Deadline

The judgment came in response to the plaintiffs motion for sanctions against Giuliani for failing to comply with his discovery obligations in the case. Giuliani was a key figure in advancing then-President Donald Trumps unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

In her opinion, Howell noted that Giuliani had turned over a single page of communications, blobs of indecipherable data, a sliver of the financial documents required to be produced, and a declaration and two stipulations from Giuliani, who indicates in the latter stipulations his preference to concede plaintiffs claims rather than produce discovery in this case. As part of her order for sanctions against Giuliani Howell also entered a default judgment against him for his liability for plaintiffs defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damage claims.

In a filing in D.C. federal court last month, Giuliani had conceded that the statements he made against Freeman and Moss carry meaning that is defamatory per se and that such actionable statements were false. He had accused them of manipulating votes.

Giulianis filing stated that the concession was made solely for the purposes of this litigation, and that it was made because he was desirous to avoid unnecessary expenses in litigating what he believes to be unnecessary disputes. Giuliani also continued to contest whether Freeman and Moss suffered any damages, while they testified before the January 6th Committee last year that they received harassment and physical threats after the accusations were made.

Howell wrote, The reservations in Giulianis stipulations make clear his goal to bypass the discovery process and a merits trialat which his defenses may be fully scrutinized and tested in our judicial systems time-honored adversarial processand to delay such a fair reckoning by taking his chances on appeal, based on the abbreviated record he forced on plaintiffs. Yet, just as taking shortcuts to win an election carries riskseven potential criminal liabilitybypassing the discovery process carries serious sanctions, no matter what reservations a noncompliant party may try artificially to preserve for appeal.

Giuliani was among the 19 defendants, including Trump, named in a criminal indictment brought last week by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Giuliani faces state racketeering charges and other claims.

Herring Networks, the parent company of One America News Network, was named as another defendant in the defamation case, but reached a settlement with Freeman and Moss last year. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Following the settlement, OAN tweeted out a clip from a broadcast in which the network said that Georgia officials have concluded that there was no widespread voter fraud by election workers who counted ballots at the State Farm Arena in November 2020. The results of this investigation indicate that Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Shaye Moss did not engage in ballot fraud or criminal misconduct while working at State Farm Arena on election night.

Giuliani also was ordered to pay attorneys fees and costs of almost $90,000, and his businesses were ordered to pay almost $44,000.

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Simu Liu Channels Ken with Shirtless Photo During Thailand Vacation: 'One of the Most Beautiful Places'

The 'Barbie' actor has been documenting his time in Thailand through several Instagram posts

Simu Liu is channeling his inner Ken on vacation.

The Barbie actor, 34, shared a shirtless shot of himself in the pool among other photos from his recent Thailand excursion on Instagram Tuesday.

Thank you very much! Liu wrote in Thai and then continued in English, chiang mai was such a dream. thank you @fschiangmai for the exquisite hospitality!! truly one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Liu included several snaps of the lush scenery at the Four Seasons resort, as well as picturesque photos of him standing poolside.

He rounded out the carousel with a pic of an albino water buffalo, which he joked he was managing at the end of his caption, ps i now manage gary the buffalos socials dm me for inquiries.

Simu Liu/Instagram

Over the weekend, the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star posted a number of photos with my childhood friend in Phuket! as he put it in Thai in his caption. The series consisted almost entirely of the two exploring the city, as well as scuba diving and hanging out at the beach.



Related: Simu Liu Celebrates First Christmas with Girlfriend Allison Hsu

This bros trip is absolutely gilded thanks to the wonderful hospitality of our guides and the unique vibrancy of the island. thank you phuket for everything!! he wrote.

A few days earlier, Liu shared vibrant underwater images and videos of the turtles and seas of fish he encountered on his scuba diving adventure. I will never phuket this day, he cleverly captioned his post.



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Last week, the Marvel actor first revealed he was in Thailand with snapshots of himself performing Muay Thai and checking out the exquisite architecture and food of Bangkok.



Peter and I have been talking about taking this trip for over 10 years, he began. Thats over a decade weve been dreaming of night markets and pad thai, krapow and kicking the s--- out of each other. long overdue but we finally made it and it was so much better than we could have imagined.

Before venturing to Thailand, Liu enjoyed a Mexican getaway at the Four Seasons resort in Punta Mita with girlfriend Allison Hsu.

He posted several photos of himself at the beach during the day before ending the series with a nighttime snap of Hsu, 27. Necesita relajacion, he captioned the post, which translates to need to relax.

Related: Simu Liu Shares Holiday Pictures with Girlfriend Allison Hsu: 'You're Simply Breathtaking'

In August, the actor opened up to PEOPLE about his relationship with Hsu, whom he was first linked to in late 2022.

"I think she really just has taught me the value in so many things. She's absolutely changed my life, so I'm very, very grateful to have her," Liu said.

"She's really taught me that you have to fight for the time with the people that you love, she's really taught me that you need to be intentional and tend to each and every one of the relationships that matter to you," he continued.

Liu then noted that "life, work and the hectic chaos of all of these different schedules and different people's agendas moving you around applies a lot of pressure on you."

He added, "It really is up to everyone to choose how to spend their time when they can, and to be intentional about just fighting for the ones that they love."



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Read the original article on People.
Trader Joes has recalled its sixth food item in five weeks.

The latest food to make the list is the grocery stores Texas Tamale Company gourmet black bean tamales, which were recalled on 22 August. According to Trader Joes website, the company was alerted by its supplier that tamales with a best before date of 19 June 2025 and Lot code 17023 - sold only in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas stores - may contain undeclared milk.

This means that the presumed vegan items sold in those specific states may contain milk. No illnesses have been reported to date, and all potentially affected products have been removed from sale, Trader Joes announcement read.

The recall warned consumers who did purchase the tamales not to eat them. Trader Joes urged buyers to either throw the tamales away or return them to the store where they will receive a full refund.

Just a few days before this recall announcement from Trader Joes, another item was recalled. On 17 August, Trader Joes announced a recall of its multigrain crackers with sunflower and flax seeds. According to the announcement on its website, products with Best If Used By dates between 1 March and 5 March 2024 may contain metal. Similar to the tamales, no injuries were reported and all product that may have been affected was removed from sale and destroyed.

Other recalled items include: Fully Cooked Falafel, Almond Windmill Cookies and Dark Chocolate Chunk, Almond Cookies, and Unexpected Broccoli Cheddar Soup. The falafel was recalled because it may have contained rocks, and the broccoli cheddar soup was pulled because it may have contained insects. The cookies were also recalled because they may have contained rocks.

Customers with questions are encouraged to contact the stores customer relations department or email Trader Joes via the product feedback section of its website.

Some frequent Trader Joes shoppers have taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to talk about their concerns with the increase in recalls. I was gonna go to Trader Joes today and then I heard about all the recalls, one tweet read.

The news media is just catching on to this, due to recent Trader Joes incidents that rose to the level of mass recalls. But its been an issue Ive been noticing since the pandemic... Trader Joes has never been great at consistent quality control, its just noticeably worse, another person pointed out on the platform.

According to Trader Joes website, it doesnt take any chances when it comes to product safety and quality.

We err on the side of caution and are proactive in addressing issues. We voluntarily take action quickly, aggressively investigating potential problems and removing the product from sale if there is any doubt about its safety or quality, the grocery store chain said.

It continued: We value information and clear communication. Should a recall become necessary, we waste no time in providing our customers details. Our recall-related communications go well beyond regulatory requirements: we share news through in-store signs, on our website, and through email alerts.

The Independent has contacted Trader Joes for comment.
Twitter podcaster Tucker Carlson is pounding home the theory that Democrats and the D.C. establishment are plotting to kill Donald Trump , this time claiming that were speeding toward assassination because permanent Washington has decided they just cant have Trump as president again.

Appearing on anti-woke comedian Adam Carollas YouTube show this week, Carlson weighed in on his sitdown with Trump that aired on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, last week. That interview was planned by both Carlson and Trumpboth of whom have their own grievances with Fox Newsas counter-programming to the right-wing networks GOP presidential primary debate that Trump skipped.

At one point, Carolla asked the former Fox News star what the future holds and whether they are going to let Trump be president, prompting Carlson to begin raging about the impeachments and criminal indictments the ex-president has faced. And, of course, Carlson also tossed in some Jan. 6 trutherism for good measure.

They protested him, they called him names. He won anyway. They impeached him twice on ridiculous pretenses, the far-right nationalist pundit exclaimed. They fabricated a lot about what happened on January 6 in order to impeach him again. It didnt work. He came back. Then they indicted him. It didnt work. He became more popular. Then they indicted him three more times. And every single time his popularity rose.

 Tucker Carlson Says They Will Do Anything to Stop Trump From Being President Again



"If you begin with criticism, then you go to protest, then you go to impeachment, now you go to indictment and none of them work...What's next? Graph it out. We are speeding towards pic.twitter.com/U29a7vMiUe  Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) August 30, 2023

According to Carlson, the only thing left for the so-called ruling class to do is kill Trump.

If you begin with criticism, then you go to protest. Then you go to impeachment. Now you go to indictment and none of them work. Whats next? Carlson said, purely just asking questions. I mean, you know, graph it out, man! Were speeding toward assassination, obviously, and no one will say that!

He added: I dont know how you cant reach that conclusion. You know what its been like. They have decidedpermanent Washington. Both parties have decided that theres something about Trump thats so threatening to them, they just cant have it. Carlsons assertion that Washington elites are conspiring to murder the current GOP presidential frontrunner comes after he posed that very same question to Trump during their friendly Twitter chat.

They started with protests against you, massive protests, organized protests by the left, and then it moved to impeachment twice, Carlson proclaimed to Trump. And now indictment. I mean, the next stage is violence. Are you worried that theyre going to try and kill you? Why wouldnt they try and kill you? Honestly.

Since his abrupt ouster from Fox News, the one-time most-watched host on cable news has at times struggled to retain his cultural relevancy as hes been shunted off to the hinterlands of Elon Musks social media platform. For instance, a gushing biography of him barely made a whimper on the best-seller charts, selling a mere 3,000 copies in its first week.

At the same time, though, Carlson has already pulled in investors to his new media venture, and nabbed seven-figure ad deals. And besides his chummy interview with Trump, Carlson has leaned further into controversy while posting obsequious sitdowns with Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban and accused human trafficker Andrew Tate.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The writers and actors strikes in Hollywood were always going to play a major part in the 2023 Venice Film Festival  the biggest film event since they started and where numerous big name stars with films in the lineup wont be attending in accordance with strike rules. But few would have anticipated them showing up in the very first question in the first press conference.

At the media meet for the jury heads ahead of the opening night on Wednesday, Damien Chazelle  who chairs the main jury  showed up wearing a t-shirt in support of the WGA strike, as did his fellow jury members Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras, both sitting in the audience.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Asked about the t-shirt, Chazelle pushed back against the idea that each piece of art is just a piece of content, which is Hollywoods favourite word, to be put into a pipeline. He said that the issue of art over content and renumeration were the core issues for him. People need to be remunerated for each piece of art that is made.

Venice Film Festival jury members Laura Poitras and Martin McDonagh

As for the t-shirt, Chazelle said that there were a lot of people who would have loved to have been here that are not  its a difficult time in Hollywood, especially for working writers, actors and crew, so he wanted to find some way to acknowledge that.

Alongside heading Venice juries for 2023 are French director Alice Diop for the fests Luigi De Laurentiis Award for best debut film, and Italys Jonas Carpignano for the Horizons section for more cutting-edge works.

Venice kicks off tonight with the world premiere of Italian WWII submarine drama Commandante. Other films in the lineup include Michael Manns Ferrari, Sofia Coppolas Priscilla, Bradley Coopers Maestro, Luc Bessons Dogman and Yorgos Lanthimos Poor Things.

Best of The Hollywood Reporter

Click here to read the full article.
Revellers played in tomato pulp during the annual food fight festival La Tomatina in Spain on Wednesday 30 August.

The tomato-throwing festival takes place in the village of Bunol, near Valencia in Spain, on the last Wednesday of August each year, and this year the festival is celebrating its 76th anniversary.

Thousands of people from all over the world gather to take part in the festival where people throw old, overripe and low-quality tomatoes at each other for fun. Some people wear goggles to help protect their eyes from the pulp.

La Tomatina begins when a truck containing the tomatoes rolls into the Plaza del Pueblo around 11am. Next, the festival is supposed to start when someone has climbed to the top of a two-story high, greased-up wooden pole in order to grab some ham at the top. However, as this can take a long time, often the food fight starts when the water cannons start spraying.

After one hour of tomato-fighting, no more tomatoes can be thrown and the cleaning begins. This involves using fire engines to spray down the streets, and locals using brushes to clear the tomato pulp off houses and streets.
The 51-year-old man was operating the forklift when it struck part of a stationary structure attached to a service entrance outside Terminal C, authorities said

A man was killed on Tuesday after suffering severe injuries in a forklift accident at Logan International Airport, authorities said.

The 51-year-old man from Winthrop, Mass., was pronounced dead at Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts State Police said in a news release.

The accident happened at about 3:30 p.m. in a loading area outside Terminal C at the airport, in an area without public access, MSP said.

The victim  whose name has not been released but was identified as an employee of a JetBlue sub-contractor  was operating a forklift when it struck part of a stationary structure related to a service entrance, causing the machinery to overturn on top of him, per MSPs news release.

Related: American Airlines Employee Killed After Service Vehicle Strikes Jet Bridge at Austin Airport

The forklifts backrest extensiona part of the equipment that attaches to the front and is designed to keep loads stable and protect the operator from loads falling toward himwas raised, police said in the release. The forklifts extended backrest was too high to clear the lateral beam over the service entrance. The extended backrest collided with the beam, causing the forklift to tip over and come to rest on top of the victim, who had been ejected to the pavement.

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.

A JetBlue employee who heard the crash and other co-workers used an aircraft tow bar to lift the forklift off the man., per the release. MSP troopers, Massport Fire and Boston EMS responded and transported the victim to hospital where he died, police said.

Related: Ground Crew Member at Alabama Airport Killed After Being 'Ingested' Into Engine of Parked Plane

Jennifer Mehigan, a spokesperson for Massport, which manages Logan, told The Boston Globe that the man was doing maintenance work for the airline, and that there were no aircraft in the area at the time of the accident.

Massachusetts State Police patrols, detectives and crime scene personnel are currently investigating the accident.



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Read the original article on People.
It's been hard for the wrestling world following the passing of hardcore legend Terry Funk and the unexpected death of Bray Wyatt. With that said, the WWE had a bright moment on Monday Night Raw worth celebrating, though viewers at home didn't get a chance to see it. Former wrestler and commentator Jerry "The King" Lawler made an off-air return following a stroke earlier this year, and the crowd went absolutely nutso.

Jerry Lawler would get a loud pop in just about any arena in the United States, but I don't think any pro wrestling crowd would be able to deliver an ovation like the people of his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. Check out this video and the response Lawler received after stepping out during a commercial break alongside Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens:

That's quite a response, but considering how beloved Jerry Lawler is, it's no surprise. It's good to see the WWE Hall of Famer on the mend after a stroke in February of this year. Lawler underwent surgery and had paralysis on the left side of his body, but according to reports at the time, he was expected to make a full recovery.

The stroke occurred just months after the superstar celebrated the 10-year anniversary of surviving a heart attack during Monday Night Raw. Though his stroke didn't occur during a WWE event, it still had to feel great for Lawler to stand in front of an arena after once again overcoming a medical ailment. No disrespect to the late, great Jerry Springer, but this is the epitome of all "Jerry" chants.

Raw marks the first time Jerry Lawler has appeared in person in the WWE since his medical incident, but not the first time we've seen him. Lawler sent along a video message in honor of Andy Kaufman's Hall of Fame induction in March, but could not attend the ceremony in person while still recovering from his stroke. It's good to finally see him doing well enough to come back out in front of a crowd and get that kind of response.

Jerry Lawler has served as a member of the WWE's pre-show commentary team in recent years, but there's no word at this time as to when he might return to the table, or if he'll still need more time to recover. The fact that Lawler did not address or speak to the crowd and deferred to Sami Zayn might indicate that he's not ready for that type of mic work yet, which is obviously fine. This past year has certainly shown that WWE superstars, active or not, should be prioritizing their health above anything else.

If and when the commentator is able to return, no doubt the WWE will want to find a slot to use his services. Though it's been a while since he's done full-time commentating duties for Monday Night Raw, he has filled in when the company was in a pinch and needed someone for an event. I know I'd be up for seeing him again, especially with the frequent reminders that our time with our favorite wrestlers may be limited.

Jerry Lawler could be present for one or more upcoming WWE event in the future, but even if not, audiences can already watch some of his greatest matches right now with a Peacock Premium subscription. Here's wishing the best for Lawler after his big ovation, and that fans will get another chance to see him again soon.
WASHINGTON  The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a $250 million military aid package for Ukraine that includes equipment to clear Russian minefields that have stalled Ukraines counteroffensive.

The shipment also includes additional ammunition for air defense to counter Russian drones and missiles. The Pentagon will also send artillery shells and three million rounds of small-arms ammunition.

Since Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration has provided more than $43 billion in military aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian troops, using western armored vehicles, trucks and artillery, have made limited gains in taking back Ukrainian territory from Russia.

On Monday, William LaPlante, the Pentagons top weapons buyer, said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, consider the effect of each military aid package on the U.S. military readiness.

So, by definition, if its taken of out of drawdown, the assessments been made (that) we can do it and we can manage the risk, LaPlante said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine aid: Biden White House pledges $250 million in military aid
DEBARY, Fla.  Anyone keeping tabs on Hurricane Idalias path might be doing a double take at a few of the computer models predicting a loop in the Atlantic Ocean and a return to Florida for a second landfall next week.

At least two models have shown runs that include a loop back toward Florida after the tropical cyclone emerges into the Atlantic Ocean, said Gus Alaka, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

If that sounds familiar, Hurricane Ivan followed a very similar path in the midst of the wild 2004 hurricane season that saw Florida struck four times.

"The most famous (or infamous) looping storm has to be Ivan," said Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University.

Like Idalia, Ivan moved between Cuba and the Yucatan and traveled north in the Gulf of Mexico. After making landfall in Alabama and pushing through the Carolinas, Ivan traveled southward in the Atlantic then crossed over South Florida as a tropical depression, and made a third landfall in Louisiana.

Hurricane Ivan in 2004 made three landfalls in the United States, striking Alabama, then making a loop in the Atlantic Ocean to make a landfall first in South Florida, then in Texas. A few hurricane models suggest a weaker Idalia could take a similar track.

Ivan and Co.

Ivan wasnt the only hurricane to accomplish a loop during the hectic 2004 season. Hurricane Jeanne did a loop in the Atlantic before its eventual landfall in Stuart in South Florida.

Klotzbach's personal "loopy" favorite is Hurricane Ginger in September 1971. It traveled east of Bermuda, completed two loops in the Atlantic, and eventually made landfall in North Carolina.

At least nine other storms since 1963 have made some kind of loop as prevailing currents pushed them around, either before landfall or after returning to the ocean. That doesn't include storms that looped around over land while dissipating.

On Tuesday, the more pressing question on the minds of Floridians was just where Idalia would wind up along Floridas Gulf Coast Wednesday morning and how strong it would be.

What is Idalia's track forecast?

The hurricane is expected to take advantage of extremely warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico and rapidly intensify before a potentially historic strike along Floridas Big Bend region with a catastrophic storm surge of up to 15 feet and winds of up to 115 mph.

As Idalia crosses over Florida into Georgia and South Carolina and emerges into the Atlantic, it could be moving so quickly it might retain its hurricane status, the National Hurricane Center said in a Tuesday afternoon forecast discussion.

Beyond Friday, the center shows Idalia as a tropical storm drifting nearly stationary between the U.S. and Bermuda.

HURRICANE SEASON: Idalia's path goes through hot waters in the Gulf of Mexico. That's concerning.

What happens after Idalia moves back into the Atlantic?

One model, the Global Forecast System, commonly known as the GFS, has consistently shown Idalias remnants moving back over south or central Florida. Alaka said that particular model has made similar projections before.

"Its very rare" for a storm to make landfall in the Gulf and then emerge into the Atlantic, then circle back, he said. "But its certainly something to watch for next week."

One ensemble model, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model, has several members showing the remnants or a weak tropical storm version of Idalia drifting toward the south and essentially hanging out there or curving back toward Florida, Alaka said. "Its on the table, but that forecast is still five days away."

Even if Idalia does slide back toward Florida, Alaka said "theres no indication it would re-intensify because of the unfavorable wind shear" in the Atlantic.

A Canadian Meteorological Centre model run also shows the remnants moving over South Florida. Other models show the remnants moving southward or dissipating, but forecasters say it's too soon to say what could happen.

An unlikely scenario

It's hard to forecast further than a week out, and errors grow as the forecast time lengthens, said Kole Fehling with the National Weather Service office in Melbourne, Florida. "Right now, given the time that its a week or so out, (our) confidence is pretty low."

Some of the model solutions take the remnants "back into the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which is the last place we want to see anything at this point," said meteorologist Josh Nagelberg of Perry Weather.

Whatever happens off the East Coast could be influenced by Hurricane Franklins passage, Nagelberg said. It's likely Franklin's passing would cool the surface waters in the ocean, providing an additional obstacle to Idalia's future.

'KIND OF USED TO IT': Not everyone chooses to flee possible monster Hurricane Idalia

Other hurricanes and tropical storms with looped tracks

A search of NOAA's database reveals a little history behind the tracks of nine other storms:

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Idalia forecast: Could storm make a second trip to Florida?
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy lambasted each other at last week's GOP presidential primary debate, and the feud is only getting fiercer.

The two have tangled over their names, foreign policy and more, with no end in sight.

Meanwhile, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez suspended his own presidential campaign Tuesday, making him the first presidential candidate of note to pull out of the race.

Here's what you need to know from the campaign trail.

What's in a name?

PHOTO: Republican presidential candidates, Vivek Ramaswamy (L) and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on August 23, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)

Haley and Ramaswamy made headlines at last week's debate after they sparred over foreign policy -- with Haley criticizing Ramaswamy for his lack of experience, and Ramaswamy returning fire by suggesting Haley is running to earn a seat on the board of a defense contractor.

MORE: 7 takeaways from the 1st GOP primary debate

The attacks have gotten more personal in the days since.

Ramaswamy launched the first volley of round two of the fight by addressing her by her government name on his newly launched "TRUTH. Over Myth" page.

"Keep lying, Nimarata Randhawa," he said of Nikki Haley for criticizing his stance on Israel. She was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa; Haley is her married name.

MORE: Eminem tells Vivek Ramaswamy to stop using his music after viral rap performance

It's unclear why Ramaswamy, who, like Haley, is Indian American, would use her legal name, though it could be part of an effort to cast her as inauthentic.

Haley Monday swatted away the remark, telling Fox News. "I'm not going to get into the childish name-calling or whatever, making fun of my name that he's doing."

"How is he making fun of her name? His name is Vivek Ramaswamy," Ramaswamy campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told ABC News.

Haley returned fire again Tuesday, knocking him on his remarks and his foreign policy on Israel after he said he would usher in further peace deals with other historically hostile nations while pulling back on U.S. support for Jerusalem by 2028.

"@VivekGRamaswamy's attacks & desperate attempts at damage control dont change how he treats our friend Israel & how his dangerous policies make America less safe. Israel faces genocidal threats from Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, & Syria. Our next president must understand that," Haley wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "Vivek said we should abandon Israel after 2028. Those are HIS words."

MORE: Ramaswamy breaks from GOP orthodoxy on foreign policy, sparks pushback ahead of first debate

Ramaswamy previously told actor and activist Russell Brand that he wants "to get Israel to the place where it is negotiated back into the infrastructure of the rest of the Middle East" and that "there's no North Star of commitment to any one country other than the United States of America."

His website now reads, "By the end of Viveks first term, the US-Israel relationship will be deeper and stronger than ever because it wont be a client relationship, it will be a true friendship," and that he wouldn't cut aid to Israel "until Israel tells the U.S. that it no longer needs the aid" because "that's what true friends do."

Miami mayor takes the heat

Suarez announced Tuesday he's suspending his campaign, ending a bid that never fully got off the ground and did not get enough polling support to qualify for the first debate last week.

"While I have decided to suspend my campaign for President, my commitment to making this a better nation for every American remains," Suarez wrote on X.

"I look forward to keeping in touch with the other Republican presidential candidates and doing what I can to make sure our party puts forward a strong nominee who can inspire and unify the country, renew Americans trust in our institutions and in each other, and win."

PHOTO: Miami Mayor and Republican presidential candidate Francis Suarez speaks at the Republican Party of Iowa's Lincoln Day Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, July 28, 2023. (Scott Morgan/Reuters)

Suarez had previously said that he had qualified for the first debate last week and that anyone who didn't qualify should drop out of the race. However, the Republican National Committee ended up saying that Suarez did not meet its polling threshold, keeping him off the debate stage.

MORE: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez suspends 2024 Republican primary campaign

Suarez, whose job as Miami mayor is largely symbolic and powerless, consistently polled in the low single digits, if he registered at all.

X marks the spot (for political ads)

X announced Tuesday that it will allow political ads back on the platform for the first time since 2019.

X said it was allowing the ads back to support "people's right to accurate and safe political discourse," but insisted guardrails would remain on what could be posted on the platform.

"This will include prohibiting the promotion of false or misleading content, including false or misleading information intended to undermine public confidence in an election, while seeking to preserve free and open political discourse," the company said in a blog post.

MORE: Elon Musk's Twitter rebranded as X. Here's why

X said it will also beef up its safety and elections teams to curtail the reach of manipulated media and fake accounts. It didn't offer details on what the teams' expansion would look like.

X head Elon Musk has faced backlash for removing some moderation procedures, which critics have said has allowed more hate speech on the platform, and allowing previously banned figures such as former President Donald Trump back on the platform.

The age-old question

Democrats have publicly and privately fretted that voters think President Joe Biden is too old for a second term -- and a new poll confirms they have something to worry about.

MORE: Biden is widely seen as too old for office, an AP-NORC poll finds. Trump has problems of his own

Seventy-seven percent of Democrats under age 45 and 62% of Democrats over 45 said they believe Biden is too old to serve a second term, according to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. And in a sign of waning enthusiasm by younger voters, only 34% of Democrats under the age of 45 want Biden to run at all.

And when all adults surveyed were asked for the first word they think of when they think of Biden, 26% cited his age, and another 15% mentioned words associated with being slow and confused.

Biden, 80, is only three years older than Trump, his likeliest general election opponent, yet voters don't view Trump's age as big of an issue.

But the poll isn't all roses for Trump.

When asked for the first word that came to voters' minds when thinking about Trump, 23% mentioned words associated with corruption, crime, lying or untrustworthiness.

Haley vs. Ramaswamy ramps up while Suarez winds down, and other campaign takeaways originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
As Hurricane Idalia barrels across the Gulf of Mexico, the west coast of Florida is bracing for impact with widespread evacuations.

It could be the next hurricane to join 2022's Ian and 2017's Irma in the "terrible I's." Since 1954, more hurricane names starting with the letter I have been retired due to their widespread destruction than any other letter of the alphabet.

Hurricane name lists are repeated every six years, but the World Metrological Organization retires a name if "a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity," according to the National Hurricane Center.

A man carries a dog while walking through a flooded street in Batabano, Mayabeque province, Cuba on August 29, 2023, during the passage of tropical storm Idalia. Tropical Storm Idalia strengthened into a hurricane this Tuesday and forecasters are forecasting it to become "extremely dangerous" before making landfall on Wednesday in Florida, US. (Photo by YAMIL LAGE / AFP) (Photo by YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty Images)

Here are all 14 hurricanes starting with the letter I that have been retired:

Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Ida

Hurricane Iota

The Category 4 Hurricane had only just cooled off from a Category 5 hurricane when it made landfall in Nicaragua on Nov. 17, 2020.

Damage estimates are $1.4 billion, according to NOAA.

NOAA also estimated 67 direct deaths and 17 indirect deaths from the hurricane.

Iota was the strongest hurricane ever recorded so late in the year.

Hurricane Irma

Hurricane Ingrid

Hurricane Ingrid made landfall as a Category 1 storm in northeastern Mexico on Sept. 16, 2013.

Insured property damage from Ingrid was estimated to be $230 million, according to NOAA.

32 deaths were reported as a result of Ingrid, many from heavy rains and mudslides.

The same day, Tropical Storm Manuel hit Mexico's Pacific coast.

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm on August 27, 2011, according to NOAA.

The next day, it made landfall again near New York City, sending rare tropical storm conditions through the Northeast and New England.

44 people died in Hurricane Irene.

It caused an estimated $6.5 billion in damages.

Hurricane Igor

Hurricane Igor blew by Bermuda as a Category 1 hurricane before hitting Newfoundland on September 21, 2010.

Early estimates put the damage in Newfoundland at $200 million. Bermuda reported less than $500,000 in damages.

A National Hurricane Center report said a few people died from being swept away by strong waters.

Igor was the most damaging hurricane to hit Newfoundland in 75 years.

Hurricane Ike

After hitting several islands on the way from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Ike made landfall in Texas as a Category 2 hurricane on Sept. 13, 2008, according to the National Weather Service.

Total damage estimates in the U.S. were estimated at $29.52 billion.

Ike was responsible for 103 deaths across the U.S., Cuba and Hispaniola.

Cuba estimated an additional $3-$4 billion in damages.

Hurricane Ivan

The Category 3 hurricane made landfall near Gulf Shores, Ala. on Sept. 16, 2004, according to the National Weather Service.

Damage was estimated near $14 billion.

Eight deaths were reported in the Florida Panhandle.

At the time, it was considered the strongest, most destructive storm since 1926.

Hurricane Isabel

Hurricane Isabel was a Category 5 hurricane before downgrading to Category 2 ahead of its landfall in North Carolina on Sept. 18, 2003, according to a National Weather Service report.

Isabel caused $1.7 billion in damages.

The storm was responsible for 17 deaths.

At the time, it was the most significant hurricane to affect North Carolina and Virginia in nearly 50 years.

Hurricane Isadore

Hurricane Isadore had weakened to a tropical storm by time it made landfall in Louisiana on Sept. 26, 2002, according to the National Weather Service.

Damage in the U.S. was estimated at $330 million.

8 deaths occurred as a result of Isadore, direct and indirect.

Hurricane Inez

Hurricane Inez developed in the Atlantic moving towards the Gulf of Mexico between Sept. 21 - Oct. 11, 1966, archival records show. It hit Cuba, spun off a tornado in the Bahamas, and traveled directly over the Florida Keys.

Estimated death totals were approximately 1,000.

Hurricane Ione

Hurricane Ione made landfall in North Carolina as a "minimal hurricane" on September 19, 1955, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm caused more than $600 million in damage.

Ione killed seven people in North Carolina.

It was the fourth hurricane to make landfall in North Carolina within a year.

Hurricane Idalia tracker

Contributing: Jennifer Borresen, Carlie Procell, Doyle Rice, Dinah Voyles Pulver, Kyle Bagenstose, USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'I' named Hurricanes are often retired: Will Idalia be the latest?
A Massachusetts judge ruled that defrocked Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial in a sex abuse case.

He was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy in Massachusetts decades ago.

Dedham District Court Judge Paul McCallum dismissed the case against McCarrick in a Wednesday hearing.

MORE: Former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick defrocked by Vatican over sex abuse claims

Dr. Kerry Nelligan, a forensic psychologist, testified that McCarrick has dementia and suffers significant cognitive deficits.

Nelligan said McCarrick had an "inability to learn and retain information."

Nelligan testified that she does not think accommodations could be made to help McCarrick participate in his trial due to his dementia.

PHOTO: In this March 4, 2015 file photo Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick speaks during a memorial service in South Bend, Ind. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP, FILE)

"These deficits are not going to get better," Nelligan said.

"There is no cure. There is no medication that can improve the symptoms," she added.

Pope Francis officially defrocked McCarrick -- the disgraced former cardinal of Washington, D.C. -- in 2019, following a secret Vatican tribunal into allegations that he molested a 16-year-old boy decades ago.

MORE: Pope Francis expelling the former archbishop of Washington, DC

McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals in 2018 at the pope's insistence, but only after an accusation that he molested a 16-year-old altar boy while serving at the Archdiocese of New York was found credible by the church.

In April, McCarrick was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault in Wisconsin for an incident that occurred in 1977.

McCarrick is accused of "repeated sexual abuse of the victim over time," according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Judge finds defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick not competent to stand trial for sexual assault originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Vladyslav, a 23-year-old sergeant in the Ukrainian military, still remembers the day when the missiles started falling on Feb. 24, 2022.

"On the day of the invasion, I was at work in Odesa, on the night shift. I experienced the beginning of the war second by second, in a company of rockets and explosions that were hitting the oil refinery," he told ABC News. "At the time of [Russias] invasion, I hadn't even finished my university studies yet. I have completed university now, dates change, but time is still frozen in that moment."

Despite being outside of Ukraines conscription age, which is 25-60 years, he voluntarily went to the front. Vladyslav quickly learned to fight and survive  something he never needed in his quiet hometown of Kobeliaky.

"Life in Kobeliaky isn't dynamic or exciting  life here flows from weekend to weekend, and you create your weekends yourself," he explained.

PHOTO: Soviet-style houses that usually belong to grandparents in Kobaliaky, July 15, 2023. (Dasha Sviachena/ABC News)

Kobeliaky, a cozy town in eastern Ukraine, is home to around 10,000 people. Many residents say the town hasnt changed, yet most will admit it isnt the same anymore.

"In Kobeliaky, the population has decreased due to people leaving but it has also increased due to the displaced people. They have sad, contemplative and empty eyes. The gaze is heavy," said 18-year-old Yaroslava, who grew up in Kobeliaky and returned there to escape the shelling in Kharkiv, where she was studying.

Even though the location changed, her fear still remained. "I slept dressed, in case something happened ... but it didnt last long. You get used to it quickly," she said.

PHOTO: A playground next to a school in Kobeliaky, July 2, 2023. (Dasha Sviachena/ABC News)

Yaroslava started volunteering and took up a job to pay for her donations to the Ukrainian army. These activities were a way for her to calm her mind while supporting her boyfriend at the front.

"Every siren ... deep down you think, OK, now it's going to hit," said Yaroslava. "I used to weave camouflage nets. I rubbed my fingers to blood. I could spend 12 hours there just to distract myself."

MORE: After a Russian missile took her leg, young Ukrainian gymnast fights for her passion

Located about 112 miles from the closest front line, Kobeliaky itself has never been bombed, an uncommon sight these days in Ukraine. Yet the scars of war are still visible throughout the town.

"We don't have graduations at all. No first bells, no last bells  there are no children near the school. The school is mainly remote. There are no discos at all ... you can see that everyone is chronically exhausted," she said from a coffee shop that opened several months ago to help boost the local economy.

PHOTO: River Vorskla and the Dnipro bridge, June 17, 2023. (Dasha Sviachena/ABC News)

There are also older volunteers like 50-year-old Serhiy Sribnyi, who cannot enlist due to health issues. He runs an outdoor equipment store in Kobeliaky and has donated almost all of his inventory to the Ukrainian army since last year.

PHOTO: Serhiy Sribnyi in his shop with some of his inventory. (Dasha Sviachena/ABC News)

Every day he makes hoes, mills, feeders, potbelly stoves and troughs as presents for Ukrainian soldiers. He said he's helped "thousands" of soldiers since the war began. Whenever a soldier passes by his store, Sribnyi stops to give them a gift.

"Right now, I'm weaving nets. My hands are almost numb due to arthritis. But I'm weaving, and it feels good in my soul," Sribnyi told ABC News.

He went on, "The more you help, the more you want to."

Sribnyi already has big plans for expanding his charity after the war ends: "I won't stop helping, it's in my blood now."

PHOTO: Some of the inventory in Serhiy Sribnyi's shop. (Dasha Sviachena/ABC News)

These same nets and equipment that Sribnyi makes end up being used by soldiers like Vladyslav to defend the front lines. The contrast between Vladyslavs quiet hometown and the hell of Marinka, where he is currently stationed, is stark, a place that he describes as smelling like gunpowder, blood and dust. Nonetheless, he wants to stay and fight for whats been taken away.

"Whatever I could miss, I don't have. Russian aggression didnt leave me anything except the desire to fight it and defeat it," said Vladyslav, who does not regret enlisting despite being shot at by Russian forces and suffering shrapnel wounds and contusions. "I went not to war, but to defend my home."

PHOTO: Central Park in Kobeliaky (Dasha Sviachena/ABC News)

These days, Vladyslav only returns home when hes injured. One day he may actually come home to live.

"This horror will end and, against the background of civilian, peaceful life, I will ultimately understand what has changed," he said.

Life in a 'safe' Ukrainian town as war grinds on originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Night clubgoers just went out to have a good time in New York City, then woke up confused and in strange places, finding themselves in cold back seats or on cold floors  or they weren't waking up at all.

Many of them were gay men being drugged and robbed, in a series of disturbing incidents that began two years ago. Police initially believed victims had overdosed on recreational drugs, but then launched an investigation. It would take authorities months to indict a ring of alleged criminals.

Now, the families of three of the slain victims  Katie Gallagher, Julio Ramirez and John Umberger  are sharing their stories and looking back on the investigations in interviews with ABC News' "Nightline."

Gallagher, a 35-year-old fashion designer, died last July after she was allegedly drugged outside her apartment in what police say was an attempted robbery. Her parents  Debra, a retired nurse, and Barry, a retired high school history teacher  live in suburban Pennsylvania.

"It shattered my life," Debra told "Nightline."

Gallagher was an up-and-coming designer who, over the years, would show her dresses at New York Fashion Week. For her parents, the magazine photos of the clothing she designed mean a lot more to them now. Still, on the night Katie died, they say she was still having trouble paying her rent and had little to steal.

PHOTO: The parents of slain fashion designer Katie Gallagher are seen during an interview. (ABC News)

"I would tell her, someday your ship will come in, who knows, maybe be just a little design that you have that might just take off," Barry said.

Police initially told the Gallaghers that their daughter had died of an overdose, but they say that just didn't make sense to them.

"When I heard the overdose thing, all these things went through my mind, like, is there something I don't know about my daughter? How could this be true?" Debra said.

MORE: Robberies affecting NYC's gay nightlife scene illuminated by grieving mom

Three months before Katie's death, authorities were at first telling the family of 25-year-old Julio Ramirez that he also died the same way. Ramirez, a social worker, lost his life in the back of a cab after he was seen leaving a bar with three men.

"[Police said] it was an accidental overdose. And that, you know, that it was hard to prove that someone did this to him," Julio's brother, Carlos Ramirez, told "Nightline."

"I knew for a fact that, you know, someone did this to him," Carlos said.

PHOTO: Carlos Ramirez, the brother of slain social worker Julio Ramirez, is seen during an interview. (ABC News)

Carlos Ramirez says it took nearly a year to get the toxicology report, and it confirmed what he knew in his heart  his brother's death was a homicide. Three days after Julio Ramirez died, police say his bank accounts were drained. Officials found multiple drugs, including fentanyl, in his system.

But it was the death of 33-year-old John Umberger last June that's now leading to real answers, and it's largely because his mother Linda Clary, from outside Atlanta, has loudly refused to believe that her son died of an accidental overdose after a night on the town.

Police found Umberger dead in a New York apartment after he was seen leaving a bar with at least two men on a Saturday night. He, too, had fentanyl in his system, police said.

But this time, investigators tracked an SUV, a red Dodge Durango seen outside the apartment that led them to one of the alleged killers. Police say the big break was two cell phone videos showing Umberger as he lay dying.

For Clary, that was difficult to process.

"They recorded the video of my child, my son John, dying. And not only do they record it and they do nothing, but they snicker in the background," Clary said.

PHOTO: Linda Clary, whose been fighting to find answers about the death of her son John Umberger since last year, speaks to reporters about the case. (ABC News)

Three men, 35-year-old Jayqwan Hamilton, 30-year-old Jacob Barroso and 24-year-old Robert Demaio, are facing murder charges for the deaths of Umberger and Ramirez. Police say the three men, plus two others are part of a ring tied to at least 17 drugging and robbery cases.

Hamilton, Barroso and Demaio have all pleaded not guilty. Attorneys for Hamilton and Demaio did not respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Barroso says he "has always maintained his innocence in this case."

Police also arrested two more suspects, 34-year-old Kenwood Allen and 26-year-old Sean Shirley, who are facing murder, robbery and larceny charges stemming from 26 alleged robberies that occurred between March and December of last year. Five people died, one of whom was Katie Gallagher. Allen is accused of second-degree murder in Gallagher's death.

Attorneys for Allen and Shirley did not respond to requests for comment.

MORE: Indictments obtained in drugging deaths of 2 men in New York City: Sources

"We arrested people numerous times on the grand larcenies and the robberies, they just got right back out," former NYPD chief detective James Essig told ABC News.

"It wasn't until we were able to charge them with the homicides, too, with the robberies, that we were able to keep them in jail," Essig said.

For the grieving families, the arrests offer some relief, but still can't bring back their loved ones.

"I can't forgive right now. Maybe in time. I even told the priest that. I'm sorry but, I just can't do it right now," Debra Gallagher said.

"Our daughter, her whole future, our future with her. How do you forgive that?" she said.

ABC News' Mack Muldofsky contributed to this report.

'It shattered my life': Victims' families still grieving after arrests in NYC druggings originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Ugly shoe? Says who?

It wasn't that long ago that Birkenstocks were considered the epitome of the anti-fashion shoe. But in recent years, the German brand  which has roots back to the 18th century  has become more popular than ever, cementing its status as both a classic and a status pick. In addition to being worn by influencers and stylish celebs alike, the brand has also collaborated with the likes of Dior, Fear of God, Valentino, and Manolo Blahnik.

If you're here, there's a good chance you own a pair, or two, or five. But one of the great things about a pair of Birkenstocks is that there are always new ways to style them. These shoes are as versatile as they are comfortable, so you'll have outfit inspiration for days.



Types of Birkenstocks

One visit to the Birkenstock site and you'll see hundreds of shoe styles, but a small number of main silhouettes from which they're based. Here are some of the most popular:

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Boston: The brand's signature slip-on clog, it notably features a buckle detail across the top of the foot. Oh, and they're selling out everywhere.

Arizona: The signature two-strap slide sandal is popular in leather as well as the lightweight and weatherproof EVA material. When it has an added strap at the ankle, it's known as the Milano sandal.

Madrid: This slide sandal features one strap across the top of the foot and a large buckle detail.

Ahead, see how celebrities and street style stars alike wear these styles as we share 16 of the best ways to wear Birkenstocks.

With a Classic Black Dress

Streetstyleshooters/Getty Images

A midi black dress could easily read formal for everyday. But when layered over a white tee and paired with Black Boston clogs, the look feels more down to earth, and still just as polished.

With a Slouchy Cardigan

BAUER-GRIFFIN

Bootcut jeans don't necessarily have to be worn with boots. Just ask Kendall Jenner, who wore hers with Boston clogs for a low-key vibe, plus a cropped T-shirt and multicolored grandpa cardigan.

With Head-to-Toe Black

Gotham/GC Images

Tracee Ellis Ross demonstrates how Birks can look surprisingly upscale. Pair black sandals, like her 1774 Arizona style, with a coordinating outfit and they're office-ready.

With Sweats and Socks

Gotham/GC Images

We've said it before and we'll say it again: We're firmly team socks and sandals. Get inspired by Gigi Hadid's look and try cozy knee-high socks with yours; add a neutral sweatsuit, and it's the perfect vibe for a fall coffee or errands run.

With Dressed-Up Shorts

RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Gwyneth Paltrow had a rare colorful moment in this bright red cardigan and Bermuda shorts. Thanks to the gold hardware, the Birkenstocks are sophisticated enough to match.

With a Full Skirt

Jason Howard/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Sarah Jessica Parker gave Birkenstock Madrid sandals a whirl while in character in And Just Like That. (See what we mean about socks and sandals? If Carrie Bradshaw is on board, there's no reason you can't be too.)

With an Easy Jumpsuit

Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Just ask Jennifer Garner: A utilitarian jumpsuit and Birkenstock sandals is the ultimate no-brainer outfit for a day of running errands.

With a Cable-Knit Sweater

Christian Vierig/Getty Images

Shearling Birkenstocks pose a styling conundrum: The sandal silhouette says warm weather, while the fuzzy material says cold. If you're unsure when to wear the shoes, take a cue from this look and pair them with an equally cozy sweater and black pants on a brisk fall day. Too chilly? Throw on a pair of  you guessed it  socks.

With Black and White

Jean Catuffe/GC Images

Time and time again, black and white has proven to be the color combination that can do no wrong. With her oversized blazer and white cropped jeans, Julianne Moore demonstrates that fact yet again, and keeps things relaxed with her Arizona sandals.



With Jeans and a Crop Top

Gonzalo Marroquin/WireImage

In case it wasn't already 100% obvious that Y2K is here to stay, this look on Kate Bosworth should bring you right back in time. Her green crop top, jeans, and Birkenstocks outfit is straight out of a Delia's catalogue, in the best way.

With a Leather Jacket

Melodie Jeng/Getty Images

Historically, Birkenstocks have been associated with more laid-back, granola vibes. But as model Lauren Chan proves here, they can have an edge too; her Arizona sandals fit right in with her head-to-toe black 'fit.

With Athleisure

Getty Images

Slipping on a pair of Birkenstocks with leggings and a cropped sweatshirt is the outfit equivalent of a security blanket. For an added layer of sleekness, borrow Lucy Hale's technique and color-coordinate your shoes to your top.

With a Matching Set

Edward Berthelot/Getty Images

When we'd rather be wearing pajamas, there's nothing like throwing on a matching set for an easy, put-together look. The accessories keep it from feeling too leisurely, from the statement bracelets to the crossbody to, yes, the black Birkenstocks.



With a Printed Midi Dress

Matthew Sperzel/Getty Images

A breezy dress and sandals is always a go-to for breezy days, but there's something to be said for swapping a strappier style for Arizonas. This look easily transitions from the farmer's market to rooftop drinks, no shoe change required.

With Crisp Separates

Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images

This outfit is a good reminder that sometimes the simplest pieces still make a statement. An airy button-down shirt and khaki pants is a classic combination that's only made more so with the addition of Boston clogs.

With Cargo Pants

Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images

Crop top, cargo pants, Birkenstocks  most of the elements of this outfit would be equally at home at the turn of the millennium as they are now. But aside from the fact that all these pieces are safely back in style right now, the addition of the of-the-moment Coperni bag keeps the look current.

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What matters more to you? Hiking deep into the wilderness and experiencing deep truths about the Earth, or getting sick Gorpcore fits off? Either way, the outdoor-obsessed Esquire team is here for you. We've done all the hiking. We've done all the camping. We've pitched a million tents, just as many tarps, and we've brewed gallons of camp coffee. We've bought a lot of cool shit. We've bought a lot of dumb shit. And most importantly of all, we've spent weeks, months, years of our lives obsessing over what we're wearing on the trails. We've gone way beyond REI and Patagonia.

While those are still great options, but we're deep in the mud here. We're traveling to buy gear and using VPN's to buy Japan-exclusive clothing. We obsess over it, so you can read a little story and obtain all our knowledge. These are the garms we're tossing in our packs. This is what you should buy.

And Wander

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Launched in 2011 by two Issey Miyake alums, And Wander has pretty quickly become the darling of fashion outdoors types, and it's because of the marriage of form and function. No matter how wild the concepts getasymmetrical zippers, attachable pouches, etc.they're always born out of real functional needs. It's all whimsical, but nothing is done for the sake of doing it. Also, the little poem tagline is better than any other brand manifesto:

to be rained upon

caught in wind

or simply trekking

the mountain is fun

Shop Now And Wander matchesfashion.com $307.00

The North Face

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Before terms like gorpcore and techwear existed, people just wore The North Face. No single brand can be credited for sending down puffers mass market, but The North Face comes as close as any. And to this day, that's what we like to get therewhether it's a classic Nuptse for the city or this Breithorn mid layer.

Shop Now The North Face $350.00

Smartwool

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This is the purchase that probably most differentiates real outdoorspeople from people that like outdoor clothing. If you're doing any outdoor sport, your base layer is maybe your most important piece of clothing. It's should keep you warm and drytrapping body heat while wicking sweat. For that, there's no better natural material than merino wool (often it's even better than synthetics). And for wool base layers, we're always going to go Smartwool.

Shop Now Smartwool amazon.com $109.25

Patagonia

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There's no way I couldn't mention Patagonia. Not breaking any news here, but the brand has a pretty good hold on the American Outdoors look in 2023. Even if you don't want to go full head-to-toe and look like a software developer in the Bay Area, there are jackets, tees, and, of course, Baggies that you deserve space in your closet.

Shop Now Patagonia patagonia.com $65.00

Columbia

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If head-to-toe Patagonia makes you look like a Silicon Valley bro, head-to-toe Columbia makes you look like a Southern dad fishing off the Florida panhandle. Still! For affordable outdoor clothing, no one can really beat the brand. Look for performance shirts, hiking pants, hiking shorts, and a bunch of dirt-cheap favorites.

Shop Now Columbia amazon.com $41.25

C.P. Company

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We love Stone Island around here, but C.P. Companythe older sibling of the Massimo Osti-founded brandshas remained more true to the visionary creator's original designs. And now with his son Lorenzo Osti as president of the company, it seems that will remain the case. Though it's more military-inspired fashion, not super tech-y outdoor clothing, C.P. Company makes plenty of outdoor ready products. Catch me on the trails rocking the classic goggle jacket.

Shop Now C.P. Company ssense.com $1085.00

Ten C

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While we're talking C.P. Company, we've gotta talk Ten C. Founded by former C.P. Company designer Alessandro Pungetti, Ten C makes even more elevated takes on old-school Italian military surplus outdoor clothing. We're talking artisanal Japanese fabrics, hand-stamped garments, and the biggest fucking parkas you've ever seen. You might not want to wear a $2,000 jacket camping, but trust us: It's the only way to pay respect to the craftsmanship.

Shop Now Ten C farfetch.com $326.00

South2 West8

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A Japanese fly-fishing brand from Hokkaido, South2 West8 is part of the Nepenthes family of brands, so it has been adopted by Japanese-influenced streetwear heads. But even without that associated hype, the brand should be at the top of your radar. The materials are killer. The jackets are sick. And, every piece has a shit ton of pockets for carrying fishing line and multi-tools.

Shop Now South2 West8 endclothing.com $949.00

Grundens

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If you're more concerned about catching fish than getting fits off, Grundens is as high-performance as it comes. The brand is loved by working fishermen for its commercial-grade products. For part-time anglers, no one makes better waders, jackets, or fishing shirts.

Shop Now Grundens grundens.com $599.99

Goldwin

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A lot of outdoor gear is bright and garish, because if search and rescue is chasing after you, it's safer to have something they can see from a mile away. But that doesn't work for putting a fit together. So for hiking apparel in understated colors, we always go Goldwin.

Shop Now Goldwin mrporter.com $550.00

Salomon

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Go to an artisanal coffee shop in any major city, and you'll see a million pairs of XT-6's. Fashion's favorite sneaker has stayed relevant a lot longer than anyone expected. But dig a bit deeper into Salomon's catalog, and you'll find some of the best hiking boots, approach shoes, and trail runners on the market.

Shop Now Salomon salomon.com $200.00

ROA

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But if you want to look like you really know what's going on, Italian-brand ROA is making some of the best fashion hiking shoes on the market. Bonus: The brand is building out a nice apparel line to match.

Shop Now ROA mrporter.com $563.86

Danner

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Full leather construction has fallen out of fashion in hiking boots, but if you're a "buy less, buy better" type, nothing is going to last you as long. Buy one pair of Danner Gore-Tex boots, and you'll never have to buy anotheronly replace the Vibram soles when the time comes.

Shop Now Danner amazon.com $439.95

Keen

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If you actually want affordable hiking boots, sandals, and water shoes, Keen is the way to go.

Shop Now Keen keenfootwear.com $97.50

Arc'teryx

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Like Salomon shoes, Arc'teryx shells are inescapable. Though there's a longer, cooler history of people wearing them, they've fallen into the same category of meme-wear. That shouldn't be the case, though! Arc'teryx makes the best rain gear on the planet. If you need anything water-resistant, go to Arc'teryx.

Arc'teryx System_A

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And while Veilance gets a lot of the hype from techwear minimalist dudes, I think System_Athe more streetwear-focused Arc'teryx linehas a better look. The baggy pants, bright colors, and weird cuts are a lot more trail-ready than Veilance's slim, minimalist look.

Snow Peak

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Snow Peak is better known for its gear, but the brand has a lovely line of clothing. With generous unisex cuts and a bunch of calm neutrals, it's a look that works for anyone.

Shop Now Snow Peak snowpeak.com $449.95

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This article originally appeared on Outside

In his book, How To Prepare For Climate Change: A Practical Guide To Surviving The Chaos, science writer and television presenter David Pogue explains the ways in which you and I can prepare our homes and daily lives for wildfires, hurricanes, and other forms of extreme weather made worse and more frequent by the effects of human-caused climate change. "And now the climate disaster is upon us," Pogue tells me over the phone. After a summer full of wildfires, flooding, and--a new one for me--heat domes, I asked him what lessons all of us need to take away.

The Climate Disaster Is Upon Us

"It gives me a weird feeling, because this book is two years old, and the book is describing this summer," Pogue says. "I feel like if everybody had taken the advice, we would have saved ourselves a lot of death and destruction."

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It's difficult to think of a part of the world that hasn't been impacted by extreme weather in recent months. Smoke from the wildfires spanning the breadth of Canada is sporadically blowing into the United States, making it dangerous to breathe the air for days at a time across the eastern seaboard. Nearly half our country's population has spent the summer enduring oppressive, never-ending heatwaves. A tropical storm hit southern California. A fire destroyed Lahaina. Floods caused $5 billion of property damage in Vermont. The situation in parts of Europe and China may be even worse.

"What everybody has been predicting is now happening," says Pogue.

It's Not the End, But It Does Need to Be a Beginning

"This isn't an extinction event. I do not believe that," Pogue explains. "But we do need to make some adjustments."

In his book, Pogue details ways in which all of us can identify threats to our homes and ways of life, then reduce the risk we face. Removing all flammable plants and materials from within 100 feet of your home, for instance, is necessary if you hope to save it from a wildfire. Strapping your roof beams to your foundation and backing your car up to make contact with your garage door may save your house during a hurricane. Adopting more resilient building standards when we build new homes may actually now cost home buyers less money long term, thanks to savings on insurance. And all of us should be stockpiling essential supplies like drinking water.

"I'm astonished there is so little talk of adapting," Pogue tells me. "The message in the book is, 'bad stuff is here.' Until now, the action message has only been, lower your carbon footprint. Yeah, we should still be doing that. But, it's too late to have that be the only message. We need to start adapting."

It's Up to You

"The government is, in fact, behind the curve," Pogue says. As we saw in Lahaina, everything from building standards to infrastructure to evacuation procedures, and even warnings are not able to match the scale of the threat we face.

Pogue suggested there were good examples, like the city of Chicago handing out barrels so residents can collect their own rain water. But then I reminded him that heavy rains caused manhole covers to explode out of city streets during an ill-fated attempt to host a NASCAR race in the city. "If you want protection, you need to protect yourself," he responded.

In the book, Pogue offers another great example. Homeowners who spend $10,000 extra bringing their house up to the voluntary 2018 International Residency Code standard with things like stronger foundations, better drains, and safer electrics can expect to save $110,000 in costs over their home's lifetime, and receive an 11-to-1 return on their investment. Yet in many areas of the country, no residential building codes are enforced at all.

Nowhere Is Safe

"The most popular chapter of my book is 'Where To Live,'" says Pogue. "One of those places was Vermont. Yet, look at the flooding that occurred there in July. Nobody saw that coming."

In what the National Weather Service is now calling, "The Great Vermont Flood of 2023," over nine inches of rain fell in under 48 hours, leading to catastrophic flash flooding throughout towns and communities across the state. Two people were killed, and more than 4,000 homes and 800 businesses were damaged or destroyed.

"I got some angry emails from readers about that," Pogue laments. "We're never going to look out the window again and see the same weather we saw as kids, no matter where you are. It's like we're on a new planet, we have to adapt to new conditions."

You Can Create Change

"The number one thing that any individual can do is change the system," Pogue says passionately. "Make the country or your community more aware and more resilient. You don't need to wait for a Presidential election, you can create change in your school or your company. Everybody, top to bottom, needs to be convinced it's time to act. Institutions are made up of people, convince them."

"I reject the notion that we should feel helpless," he continues. "If every person would begin to take the action possible in their church, their synagogue, their school, or their community, things will change. You actually do have power."

What Pogue is calling for isn't necessarily just a reduction in carbon emissions, but an investment in resiliency and disaster response. "For a long time, people thought that adaptation was a dirty word because it meant throwing in the towel," Pogue says. "That's why homes in San Fransisco don't have air conditioners. We thought wed have more time. Now we know we don't. We need to start adapting."

Information Is Key

I asked Pogue what visitors to Western Maui could have done to be more prepared for the wildfire. Initially stumped, we adapted some of the advice from his book to that scenario.

Pogue recommends a free smartphone app called Emergency, created by the Red Cross. "Just put your address, and any other homes or family members you want to look out for into it, then close it and forget about it," he says. In the event of a natural or manmade disaster, the second an alert for that area is issued, it'll sound an alarm and push a notification through to your phone, along with information about local shelters and instructions from first responders and disaster managers. By temporarily adding any travel destinations to it, you'll get notifications for those areas, too. That could give you valuable time to flee--Pogue reminds you not to forget your go bag--seek shelter, or take other action. At the very least, you'll know why your resort's smoke alarms are blaring.

The same solution--information--applies to other risks, both immediate and long term. Pogue uses the example of people in California driving through flood waters from Tropical Storm Hilary as an example. "18 inches of water is enough to float your car," he says, highlighting why you should never drive through a flood.

"The heatwaves of 2023 are [about] pure life saving through information," he also offers. "Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are more or less invisible unless you know what [signs] you're looking for."

It's Not Too Late

"I wrote this book during the Trump administration," Pogue says. "Since that time, we did in fact elect a government who does mention climate change in every speech, who did pass the largest climate action bill in history. Major changes are taking place. All the things that are going to get us out of this mess are finally under way."

In his book, Pogue acknowledges the same reality reported by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) last year: a certain level of devastation is now all but guaranteed, and we must adapt to that new reality. But, at the same time, taking worldwide steps to eliminate carbon emissions as soon as possible will mitigate the severity of the climate disaster.

"If there's an upside to this summer, it's that more eyes are open, and more action is being taken," Pogue concludes. "We won't go back to the weather of our youth, but we do have a solid chance of heading off the worst."

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In this article, we will look at the 15 Highest Paying Countries for Economists. We have also covered key trends and companies for economists with an in depth analysis. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, head straight to the 5 Highest Paying Countries for Economists.

Why are Economists Important?

In the intricate dance of world economies, economists serve as the choreographers, the maestros who orchestrate the symphony of fiscal policies, trade dynamics, and financial systems. Their profound impact on shaping the economic destinies of countries and guiding economic growth renders them indispensable figures on the global stage. While their roles in shaping economic policies is pertinent, universities and research groups are the largest employers of economists followed by the government. To read more about the impact economists have, do check out our article about the most influential economists in the world.

Economists are also the architects of economic blueprints that steer corporations toward prosperity. They analyze data, predict trends, and devise strategies to mitigate crises and hence, foster stability and growth. For instance, when Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) launched the iPhone X in 2017 with a price tag of $999, economists likely conducted extensive market research to assess consumer demand at that price point. By analyzing factors like income distribution, consumer preferences, and price elasticity of demand, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) could gauge how the market would respond to the premium pricing. This helped Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) maximize profits without alienating its customer base.

The complexity of the jobs of economists is matched only by the impact of their decisions. It's no wonder that their high salaries reflect their mastery of numbers. Speaking of high salaries, financial economics is one of the highest paying fields in economics but as far as highest paying jobs in economics are concerned, chief economists are economists with the highest salaries in the world. While economists usually love their jobs, some may consider it to be one of the most boring jobs that pay $100,000 or more.

Story continues

Occupational Outlook

Speaking of numbers, the figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics provide a solid grounding for understanding the occupational outlook of economists. As of 2021, the median annual salary for economists was $105,630. Moreover, to pursue a job as an economist, a master's degree is usually mandatory. What's remarkable is that, unlike some professions, economists don't necessarily require prior work experience in a related occupation which make it accessible to fresh minds brimming with economic acumen. With a projected job growth of 6% between 2021 and 2031, the US predicts addition of 1,000 new jobs during this period.

Emerging Trends Economists Must Note

The world of economics is in a state of constant evolution, deeply influenced by technological advancements, globalization, and shifting socio-political dynamics. The rise of behavioral economics that studies the psychological factors driving economic decisions, has injected a human-centric dimension into the field for businesses.

A small example of behavioral economics is the idea of "girl math, as highlighted by the viral Tiktok trend. This concept underscores how people find clever ways to make expensive buys seem reasonable. In their heads, consumers use discounts or other tricks to make spending on luxury items make more sense. This trend clearly highlights how behavioral economics is getting more influential. While our life is constantly changing because of technology, globalization, and other factors, "girl math" shows how consumer psychology plays a far bigger role in how they spend money than they anticipate.

The OECD Economic Outlook, June 2023 has highlighted key insights for economists. Global GDP growth is projected to be 2.7% in 2023, rising modestly to 2.9% in 2024 which reflects a fragile improvement and below-trend performance. Despite a decline in headline inflation due to the energy price downturn, core inflation remains high, with OECD projecting a shift from 6.6% in 2023 to 4.3% in 2024.

The report underscores the impact of high inflation and modest wage increases on falling real wages in 2022 and prompts governments to provide extensive support to mitigate cost-of-living pressures. Additionally, governments are advised to maintain restrictive monetary policies to combat inflation and phase out fiscal support while targeting vulnerable households. Emphasis is placed on pro-growth spending and structural reforms to address high public debt levels, budget deficits, and pressing future challenges.

The Impact Economists Create for Corporations

Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)s incorporation of over 150 PhD economists into its workforce revolutionized its decision-making processes. These economists play a pivotal role in the Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s operations, influencing choices with data-driven insights. For instance, economists shape pricing strategies and leverage advanced algorithms to determine optimal price points. Additionally, their contribution to inventory management has led to impressive improvements which has reduced fulfillment costs by 5% in a year for Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN). Economists also played a key role in Amazon's Prime offering, determining which benefits most attract customers. Such data-backed decisions have significantly contributed to Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s unparalleled growth, with revenue reaching $386 billion in 2020a stark increase from $61 billion in 2012, largely attributed to their economist-guided strategies.

Similarly, economists have also proven to be indispensable assets to Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER)'s strategic evolution. The company has recognized the value of economic research in shaping its policies and decisions. With the addition of five full-time staff economists, these economists have played a pivotal role in quantifying and analyzing aspects like business optimization, marketplace dynamics, and policy impact. Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER)s move towards economic rigor is evident in its exponential growth, with a valuation soaring to $120 billion in 2020 from $70 billion in 2017. By employing economists to inform business directions and policymaking, Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) also demonstrated a shift towards a more transparent and informed approach.

Economists have also wielded significant influence in shaping the trajectories of technology giants like Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and International Business Machine Corp (NYSE:IBM).

For instance, at Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Chief Economist Hal Varian played a pivotal role in designing the auction model for the company's initial public offering (IPO) and navigating antitrust challenges. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)s inclination to utilizing economics in its decision-making is evident in its employment of approximately 300 economists and statisticians who empower data-driven decisions. Furthermore, their economic insights have enabled Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)s continued dominance in the digital advertising sector, contributing to the company's impressive annual revenue of over $279 billion.

Similarly, at International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM), economists have been instrumental in revolutionizing business strategies. Martin Fleming, Chief Economist at International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM), highlighted the transformative power of data analysis and artificial intelligence in achieving a forecast accuracy of up to 90% in predicting retail performance. This economic rigor has enabled International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM) to optimize resource allocation, refine pricing strategies, and improve customer satisfaction.

Highest Paying Countries for Economists

Photo by Kaleidico on Unsplash

Our Methodology

To list the highest paying countries for economists, we identified the countries with the highest demand for economists and then made a list for 27 countries with the average salaries for economists. Of those 27, the 17 with the highest average salaries were selected and have been ranked. We acquired the data for average salaries of economists for each country from ERI Economic Research Institute. The list is presented in ascending order.

Here is a list of highest-paying countries for economists.

15. New Zealand

Average Salary: $86,722

Becoming an economist in New Zealand offers opportunities to contribute to policy decisions, and address the socio-economic challenges with competitive salaries. Notable economists like Brian Easton and Ganesh Nana have shaped the countrys economic discourse.

14. Austria

Average Salary: $88,692

Austria's membership in the EU fosters exposure to various economic systems and with institutions like the Austrian Institute of Economic Research, economists are offered avenues for impactful research and policy analysis. It is one of the highest paying countries for economists.

13. United Arab Emirates

Average Salary: $92,461

UAE has a strategic location while being a global business hub with a tax-free environment and strong emphasis on innovation. Thus, the UAE provides a dynamic platform to study and shape economic policies in a stable and multicultural setting. UAE is one of the highest paying countries for economists in Asia.

12. Norway

Average Salary: $92,858

With its abundant natural resources, progressive policies, and emphasis on renewable energy, Norway stands as a model for economic stability and environmental consciousness. It is one the best countries for economists.

11. Netherlands

Average Salary: $92,901

Becoming an economist in the Netherlands opens doors to a dynamic economy known for its strong global trade ties and innovative industries like agriculture, technology, and energy. It is one of the highest paying countries for economists in Europe.

10. Finland

Average Salary: $93,385

Finlands commitment to research and development, along with a strong emphasis on work-life balance, creates a conducive environment for economists to thrive and contribute to sustainable economic growth.

9. Ireland

Average Salary: $96,993

Ireland has a resilient economy known for its multinational corporations, research centers, and promising financial sector. As an economist, one can actively contribute to shaping Ireland's economic policies with a strong focus on sustainability and innovation. Notable institutions like Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, and the University of Limerick offer exceptional economics programs that can position one for a rewarding career in economics. It is also one of the highest paying countries for dentists.

8. Australia

Average Salary: $99,413

Economists in Australia are usually employed in institutions like the Reserve Bank, Australian Bureau of Statistics, and consulting firms like Deloitte and PwC. The country offers competitive salaries, with an annual average salary around $99,413. Australia's immigration processes, like the skilled visa program, facilitate individuals from around the world to pursue careers in different fields, including economics. It is one of the highest paying countries for economists.

7. Canada

Average Salary: $99,786

Becoming an economist in Canada can be a hot career choice owing to the strong economy, vast industries, and excellent education systems in the country. With top universities like the University of Toronto and UBC offering world-class economics programs, Canada is a popular country for economics degrees.

6. Belgium

Average Salary: $99,980

With esteemed institutions like KU Leuven and Universite catholique de Louvain, one can access top-notch economics education. Belgium's economy thrives on trade and finance, that presents a plethora of opportunities for economists. Its presence as a key player in international organizations such as the EU and NATO further enhances prospects for economists in policy-making, research, and consultancy roles.

Click here to see the 5 Highest Paying Countries for Economists.

Suggested Articles:

Disclosure: None. 15 Highest Paying Countries for Economists is originally published on Insider Monkey.
Two men visiting Antelope Island had a shock after getting too close to one of the state park's hundreds of free-roaming bison recently. The pair came across the animal on a trail, and rather than turning back or finding a different route, one man decided to approach it while the other recorded the encounter on his phone. Predictably, the animal reacted to the intrusion, charging both men and forcing them back.

The video, which you can watch below, was shared via Instagram account TouronsOfNationalParks, which calls out bad behavior at sites of natural beauty, such as visitors trying to pet bison, chasing bears, and poking moose.

Despite the pair's giggling, the encounter could have ended very differently. Bison can be extremely dangerous when provoked, and two women were hospitalized with serious abdominal injuries after getting too close at US National Parks this summer. Last year, three people were gored at Yellowstone within a month.

A post shared by @touronsofnationalparks A photo posted by on

Antelope Island is surrounded by saltwater, but its springs provide enough fresh water to support a huge population of animals including mule deep, bighorn sheep, pronghorns (antelope), and bison  as well as thousands of birds and small desert animals.

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Twelve bison were brought to the island in 1893, and today the herd numbers between 550 and 700 individuals. State park officials round up the animals for an annual census and health check, and some may be sold to help keep the population under control.

"Approaching any animal can be dangerous to you and stressful to the animal," warns Utah State Parks. "Feeding, touching, teasing, or intentionally disturbing any wildlife is prohibited except as approved for authorized hunting. Disturbing is any activity that causes the animal to change their behavior."

It's safest to view large mammals like bison and elk from inside a vehicle, and if on foot, you should stay at least 25 yards (23 meters) away at all times. For more advice, see our guides how to avoid being gored by a bison and wildlife safety: eight tips for unexpected encounters.

The best binoculars: enjoy watching wildlife from a safe distance
Temu's sister company Pinduoduo may have a "9127" culture, Bernstein analysts wrote.

This is a play on "996" work culture, which encourages work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

The death of two Pinduoduo employees made headlines in 2021.

Temu's sister company, Pinduoduo, is known for having an exceptionally intense workplace culture, Bernstein analysts wrote in a note published this week.

China-based PDD Holdings, which also owns online retailer Pinduoduo, launched Temu in the US in September 2022, emphasizing low prices and lightning deals. Temu is quickly taking off with US shoppers.

The Bernstein analysts wrote in their report that Temu's performance has been far exceeding their expectations, reaching an estimated $13 billion in gross merchandise value for this year, double what they had forecast in January. Temu's performance and strategy are reminiscent of Pinduoduo's early days  perhaps in more ways than one, the analysts wrote.

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"We doubt PDD's hyper-aggressive workplace culture will [win] many best employer awards  its brand of '996' can often be more like '9127,' and staff turnover is known to be high," they wrote. "But the combination of a very lean organizational structure (enabling best-in-class agility of execution) and the fact PDD has staffed its A-team on Temu means we expect the company to be a force to be reckoned with globally in the coming years."

"996" refers to a work culture that encourages tech employees to work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. That grueling schedule has been endorsed by Chinese tech executives like the Alibaba cofounder Jack Ma and the JD.com founder Richard Liu Qiangdong, but it's grown controversial in China and elsewhere. Bernstein analyst Robin Zhu said the "9127" reference, which would mean 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. seven days a week, was meant to be a joke, but added that the company's work culture is very aggressive in general.

Representatives for Temu did not return Insider's request for comment.

In 2021, the deaths of two Pinduoduo employees made international headlines. One died by suicide, while the other collapsed after walking home from work after midnight. Local officials in Shanghai said at the time that they would investigate Pinduoduo's working conditions.

Pinduoduo launched in China in 2015. It's known for pioneering a group-purchase model , incentivizing buyers by offering a discount if multiple parties place an order together.

Meanwhile, Temu emphasizes rock-bottom prices, often drawing comparisons to Shein. While Shein remains ahead of Temu in terms of buyer awareness, Temu sees high buyer-retention rates, the Bernstein analysts noted.

"Compared with peers like Shein for example, Temu spends a greater proportion of its investment dollars creating mind share in everyday value, as opposed to on influencer marketing," they wrote. "Merchants we speak with have generally been highly complimentary of Temu's execution.'"

Got a tip? Contact this reporter at mstone@insider.com, mlstone@protonmail.com, or on the secure messaging app Signal at (646) 889-2143 using a non-work phone.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Chrome Hearts has no love for Shein.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California last week, the Los Angeles-based jewelry and accessories brand accused the ultra-fast-fashion juggernaut of trademark infringement and unfair competition, which it said has caused monetary and reputational harm.

More from Sourcing Journal

The lawsuit named Zoetop Business Co., the Hong Kong-headquartered entity that owned Sheins website and trademarks Roadget Businesss incorporation in 2021, and Shein U.S. Services, the Chinese-founded e-tailers Delaware-registered subsidiary, though Chrome Hearts said that it is unaware of the names and true capacities of [the] defendants, whether individuals, corporate and/or partnership entitiesand therefore sues them by their fictitious names.

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The Laurie Lynn and Richard Stark-owned company, however, is clearer about the cause of its consternation, charging Shein with the manufacture, production, marketing, distribution, advertisement, offering for sale and/or sale of handbags and accessories that bear marks identical with, substantially indistinguishable from or confusingly similar to one or more of Chrome Hearts federally registered marks, including its cemetery cross patch, its CH Plus cross and a dagger design.

Registrations for the Chrome Hearts marks are valid, subsisting and incontestable, said the label, which handcrafts most of its products, including clothing and denim, in Los Angeles. Chrome Hearts was also able to obtain the trademark registrations for the Chrome Hearts marks without proof of secondary meaning and thus they are inherently distinctive. Through longstanding use, advertising, and registration, the Chrome Hearts marks have achieved a high degree of consumer recognition in the United States and the world over and constitute famous marks.

Three of Chrome Hearts marks.

With the CH Plus cross in use since 1988 and the cemetery cross patch and dagger design since 1989, the Chrome Hearts marks have been a source identifier on various goods for more than three decades, achieving widespread acceptance and recognition amongst the consuming public and trade throughout the United States, the complaint said.

But Chrome Hearts said that it has not granted Shein, which in 2016 began hawking branded merchandise after an eight-year run as a seller of third-party products, a license or any form of permission to use its intellectual property, including the Chrome Hearts marks. This resulted in products that very likely caused confusion for consumers, including Chrome Hearts own, it added.

Chrome Hearts purchased and inspected the accused products and confirmed they did not originate from Chrome Hearts or contain authentic Chrome Hearts marks, the lawsuit said of Shein, which manufactures most, if not all, of its products, in China. Defendants used the Chrome Hearts marks on the accused products without Chrome Hearts permission.

The new Forever 21 stakeholders actions, the lawsuit alleged, are deliberate in their intention to confuse the public, to injure Chrome Hearts and to reap the benefit of Chrome Hearts goodwill associated with the Chrome Hearts marks. In addition to injunctive relief barring Shein from the use of its marks, plus the destruction of any remaining inventory, Chrome Hearts is seeking three times the profit that the ultra-fast fashion purveyor has derived from using its marks, along with costs and attorneys fees to the fullest extent allowed. Alternatively, it will accept up to $2 million per trademark infringed upon per type of good.

Defendants misappropriation of Chrome Hearts common law trademarks was intended to capitalize on Chrome Hearts goodwill for Defendants own pecuniary gain, the complaint said. Chrome Hearts has expended substantial time, resources and effort to obtain an excellent reputation for itself and its family of Marks. As a result of Chrome Hearts efforts, Defendants are now unjustly enriched and are benefiting from property rights that rightfully belong to Chrome Hearts.

Examples of accused products from Shein that Chrome Hearts alleges infringe its intellectual property.

Shein said that takes all claims of infringement seriously. It is not our intent to infringe anyones valid intellectual property and it is not our business model to do so, a spokesperson told Sourcing Journal. Shein suppliers and marketplace sellers are required to comply with company policy and certify their products do not infringe third-party IP. We continue to invest in and improve our product review process.

Still, the complaints keep coming. In July, a class-action lawsuit filed by three designers, also in California federal court, alleged the Singapore-headquartered firms egregious copyright infringement constitutes racketeering and is therefore a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a.k.a. RICO. The same month, H&M Group duked it out with Shein in Hong Kongs High Court over multiple cases of copyright violation, based on a writ of summons that was first filed in July 2021. Last year, Florida artist Maggie Stephenson sued the company for $100 million, alleging that it copied her artwork without permission. Dr. Martens, Ralph Lauren, Stussy and sunglasses maker Oakley have also sued Shein for selling products that they claimed violated their intellectual property. Meanwhile, social media is replete with small designers criticizing the $64 billion company for so-called copycat behavior.

In March, Shein turned the tables on the pervading narrative by suing its rival Temu for copyright infringement. The latter hit back by pointing to its more established adversarys legal troubles, however.

Since inception, Temu has been named as defendant in only one lawsuit alleging intellectual property infringement, which Temu strongly and categorically rejects all allegations and is vigorously defending its rights, a spokesperson told Sourcing Journal at the time. Coincidentally, this [is the] only case [that has been] brought by Shein, which has been named as [a] defendant in more than 70 intellectual property infringement cases by international rights holders and independent artists since 2019.

Click here to read the full article.
Eating just two weed gummies can put small children at risk of "severe and prolonged" toxic effects.

These toxic effects include dangerous slowing of the heart rate, plummeting blood pressure, seizures, unresponsiveness and respiratory failure, according to a new study published Monday (Aug. 28) in Pediatrics , a journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The research, conducted using medical records from the Children's Hospital Colorado Network, aimed to pinpoint what dose of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the high-inducing ingredient in cannabis, puts young children at risk of concerning symptoms that require medical attention, and particularly symptoms that last more than six hours.

That threshold turned out to be fairly low: 1.7 milligrams of THC per 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) of body weight, regardless of the child's age or sex. A typical cannabis gummy contains 10 mg of THC, meaning a toddler weighing 25 pounds (11.3 kg) would exceed that threshold after eating only two gummies.

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Related: Delta-8 marijuana products can be dangerous, health officials warn

"With widespread cannabis legalization, we've seen a rise in unintentional cannabis exposures in children," Dr. Lesley Pepin , a medical toxicology fellow at Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety in Denver and co-author of the report, said in a video accompanying the study. This trend has been particularly striking in children under 6 since 2017 . "In young children, these exposures are largely attributed to edible cannabis products," such as baked goods, chocolates and gummies, Pepin said.

The trend isn't unique to U.S. states that have legalized edibles; Canadian provinces that allow the sale of THC-infused snacks have also seen upticks in pediatric hospitalizations for cannabis poisonings .

Kids who get mildly sick after consuming THC may be drowsy, have poor balance and coordination, or vomit. But in a small proportion of severe cases, THC can lead to dangerously low blood pressure, coma, respiratory depression and seizures. In many cases, the THC dose kids are exposed to is unknown. These factors have made it difficult to determine what dose predictably leads to bad outcomes in this age group, Pepin said.

To pin down a number, Pepin and her colleagues reviewed medical records for edible cannabis ingestions in children ages 6 and younger logged between January 2015 and October 2022. Across four pediatric hospitals with emergency departments and three urgent care centers, the team identified 80 cases of kids eating edibles where the cannabis product and THC dose were known.

The median age of the affected children was 2.9 years, and the THC doses consumed ranged from 0.2 mg/kg of body weight to 69.1 mg/kg. Nearly 90% of the cases involved the child finding the edible at home, and in a handful of cases, an adult mistook the edible for a non-cannabis product and gave it to the child.

Eight of the children showed no symptoms, but the remainder generally started showing symptoms about an hour after ingestion, with the most common symptoms being sedation or lethargy. Thirty-four kids required no medical treatment, and of these, most had consumed 2 mg/kg of THC or less.

"Based on our findings, a 10 mg THC ingestion would be unlikely to cause severe toxicity in most young children," the report authors wrote. However, "with each additional 1 mg/kg of THC, the odds of severe or prolonged symptoms triple."

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Thirty-seven children experienced at least one severe toxic effect after consuming a median of 5.4 mg/kg of THC. In these children, symptoms lasted for a median of 20.3 hours. Some cases involved kids falling into a coma, experiencing seizures, requiring supplemental oxygen from a ventilator or needing blood-pressure-raising drugs.

"However, these manifestations were rare," the researchers wrote of the most severe cases. "The dose range to induce these symptoms was 2 to 69 mg/kg. This wide range suggests other patient characteristics may contribute to the risk of these effects."

(The report doesn't specify what these characteristics might be, but ingested cannabis is metabolized mostly in the liver, so differences in liver function could influence how it impacts different people, for example.)

To prevent kids from eating edibles, caregivers should store the products in childproof packaging and keep them locked in out-of-reach places, Pepin told U.S. News & World Report. Family and friends outside the household should also be educated about how to safely store edibles around children, she added.
Web browsers like Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox may be forced to block websites at a software level if the French government has its way.

In a blog post penned by Firefox's parent company Mozilla, the firm warned on the potential chilling effects the so-called SREN Bill currently travelling through the French regulatory system could have on web browsers, and the free internet at large too.

Article 6 of the bill describes the French government's desire to force web browsers to bake in tools that would function as filters, acting as a mandatory content blocker for a government-backed list. It's not as if these sorts of laws haven't existed previously. Totalitarian-leaning states like Russia and China already have pervasive internet control tools, but even self-described democracies like Australia and the UK have some over-reaching laws revolving around government snooping and censorship on the web. I distinctly remember my UK ISP blocking Pirate Bay with a big red warning label at one point, although the ban seems to have been relatively short-lived (since it's once again available now).

What's different here is the mechanism being sought after by the French government. By operating at a browser level, it would give the government a disturbing amount of power, while putting pressure on web browsers to fund systems that could be exploited by totalitarian states.

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"In a well-intentioned yet dangerous move to fight online fraud, France is on the verge of forcing browsers to create a dystopian technical capability. Article 6 (para II and III) of the SREN Bill would force browser providers to create the means to mandatorily block websites present on a government-provided list. Such a move will overturn decades of established content moderation norms and provide a playbook for authoritarian governments that will easily negate the existence of censorship circumvention tools."

Mozilla elaborates that, while on the surface, it might not seem wildly different from tools like Microsoft Smart Screen which automatically blocks sites reported as being hotspots for phishing and malware attacks, the key differentiator is that Smart Screen and other similar tools can be bypassed easily by users if necessary. These mechanisms sought after by the French government would simply be a permanent block on any website or platform they see fit.

Analysis: Dumb governments with dumb ideas

While these kinds of features may be well-intentioned (seriously giving the benefit of the doubt here), having these sorts of systems in place allows future potential governments to exploit them for political gain while remaining within "legal" definitions. Perhaps more crucially, they also never really work in practice. The idea that the French government could somehow prevent the free flow of information this way is asinine, and likely serve only to give browser firms a big headache. The open-source community would have forked versions without government controls prepped in minutes. And then, the potential for legitimate users getting caught out by actual malware would undoubtedly increase, if they had to seek open tools from perhaps less-than-legitimate sources.

The UK is also pushing similar bills through its parliament at the moment. The so-called "Online Safety Bill" would force companies like Microsoft to bake in government-mandated back doors into apps with end-to-end encryption. It would kill apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and other services that rely on strong encryption methods to keep user data private. Firms like WhatsApp and Signal have even threatened to exit the UK entirely over the bill. The government often says these bills are about preventing crime, but when governments have a monopoly on violence and incarceration, the definition of crime can shift very quickly. You need only look at the complete and total erosion of free speech in nations like Hong Kong and Russia, where, increasingly, criticism of the government can land you with lengthy prison terms (or worse). Both the UK and French governments have earned themselves a lot of criticism lately ...
Experts share the symptoms, causes, and treatments for a sore throat in pregnancy.

bojanstory / Getty Images

Medically reviewed by Alyssa Dweck, MS, MD, FACOG

Getting sick is likely at the bottom of any persons to-do list. Lets be honest: Its likely not even on your to-do list at all, especially if you are pregnant. But sick happens, including sore throats during pregnancy.

Illnesses in pregnancy often hit harder and last longer than in the non-pregnant state, says Monica A. Buescher, MD, the chief of the department of OB-GYN at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center.

Theres a reason for that. The immune system is toned down as a normal response to the pregnancy, making pregnant patients more prone to infectious conditions, says David Caiseda, MD, an OB-GYN at the University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical GroupWomens Health.

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And when it comes to sore throats, some other pregnancy-related symptoms may contribute to or exacerbate the issue. The nasal sinuses can get swollen in pregnancy and can cause worse congestion than you would typically experience when you are not pregnant, says Ankita Langan, MD, an OB-GYN with Novant Health.

Aside from swollen nasal sinuses, a few factors may cause sore throats in pregnancy. Experts explain the causes and solutions of sore throats in pregnancy, plus when to get medical help on the line ASAP.



Related: Why You May Feel Cold During PregnancyAnd What To Do About It

Causes of a Sore Throat in Pregnancy

There are numerous causes of sore throat in pregnancy, and the differences between them will inform treatment, explains Meleen Chuang, MD, the medical director of womens health at the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone. Dr. Chuang says the primary causes of a sore throat during pregnancy include:

Common colds and viruses

Heartburn, which often causes sore throat, burning, and cough with acid reflux

Morning sickness-related vomiting

Bacterial infections such as strep throat

Congestion, which leads to a stuffy nose, post-nasal drip, and sore throat (sometimes associated with nose bleeds)

Seasonal allergies from pollen, dust, and dander

Symptoms of a Sore Throat in Pregnancy

Generally speaking, sore throat symptoms during pregnancy are similar to the ones you experienced before conceiving.

Symptoms of a sore throat include inflammation, redness, and pain, says Monte Swarup, MD, FACOG, an Arizona-based board-certified OB-GYN and founder of the leading vaginal health information site Vaginal Health Hub. This can cause trouble with swallowing.

Though a sore throat can have many benign causes, like allergies or pregnancy-related swollen sinuses, a bacterial infection like strep can be especially painful. "It is a sore throat but on steroids, Dr. Caiseda says.

The good news? In general, strep throat is a mild disease, Dr. Chuang says. However, left untreated, it can cause significant issues for the pregnant person and fetus. Strep throat should be diagnosed and treated with an antibiotic because it can cause rheumatic fever, which is damage to the heart valves, and kidney damage as a late complication of the bacterial infection, says Dr. Buescher.

And, since its a bacterial infection rather than a viral one like a cold, strep throat requires antibiotic treatment. Therefore, experts share its important to distinguish between the two.

Strep throat symptoms

Strep throat is a mild and common disease that requires medical attention. Dr. Chuang says strep throat symptoms may include.

Fever

Pain when swallowing

Sore throat that can start very quickly and may look red

Red and swollen tonsils

White patches or streaks of pus on the tonsils

Tiny, red spots on the roof of the mouth, called petechiae

Swollen lymph nodes in the front of the neck

Virus symptoms

If a virus is causing a sore throat in pregnancy rather than strep throat, Dr. Chuang says symptoms will likely include:

Cough

Runny nose

Hoarseness or a raspy-sounding, strained voice

Conjunctivitis



Keep in mind, COVID can be a viral cause of a sore throat during pregnancy. This can be diagnosed with culture and may have specific nuances and potential complications as related to pregnancy. That's why it's always a good idea to check with your health care provider if you are experiencing a sore throat when pregnant.

Related: Is It Allergies or a Cold? Here's How to Tell the Difference

At-Home and OTC Treatments for Sore Throat in Pregnancy

Experts share that pregnant people should always feel comfortable discussing concerns with their health care provider. However, some sore throat treatments during pregnancy can be done at home or using over-the-counter (OTC) medications.

Warm salt water gargles are a safe mechanical strategy for symptomatic relief, says Dr. Buescher. The use of room vaporizers can also decrease the tendency to drying with mouth breathing.

Dr. Langan agrees and adds that hot tea with honey can be soothing for sore throats and congestion.

Are you headed to a pharmacy? You will generally have options. Safe OTC remedies for a sore throat during a pregnancy include Tylenol, most cough medicines, cough drops, and menthol rubs, says Dr. Swarup.

If its reflux-related, Dr. Chuang suggests Pepcid or Tums. However, she cautions pregnant people should always consult their provider first. Always consult your obstetrician to provide personalized advice based on your specific circumstances and medical history, Dr. Chuang says.

Whats more, some medications should definitely be avoided for a sore throat during pregnancy.

Avoid medications that contain pseudoephedrine, Dr. Chuang says. This can cause vasoconstriction of the blood vessel in the placenta, causing severe hypertension, or placental abruption, which happens when the placenta separates from the uterus and will cause significant bleeding from the maternal-fetal blood supply.

Dr. Chuang points out Dayquil contains pseudoephedrine.

When Pregnant People Should Seek Medical Attention for Sore Throats

If in doubt, call your health care provider if you are concerned about a sore throat during pregnancy. Medical providers also share signs that you should never wait. Dr. Chuang says these include:

Difficulty swallowing or breathing

Sore throat is severe or lasts more than three days

Chronic heartburn or reflux

Since strep throat requires antibiotics and can cause kidney and other damage if left untreated, Dr. Buescher advises all pregnant patients to seek medical attention if they suspect they have the infection. Fever and swollen lymph nodes together with a sore throat should provoke a diagnostic evaluation, adds Dr. Buescher.

Whether pregnant people think they have strep or not, they should call the health care provider if their fever reaches 100F or higher. This advice is consistent with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommendations for assessing and treating influenza in pregnancy.

Will a Sore Throat in Pregnancy Affect a Baby?

Generally, no.

Most of the time, cold symptoms and feeling out of it for a few days will resolve with some basic self-care and rest, says Dr. Chuang. Your baby will be fine. Its important to continue to take your prenatal vitamin and hydrate.

However, in severe circumstances, a sore throat can harm a fetus. Severe infections that make you lose weight affect your bloodstream; becoming a systemic infection could affect your babys growth, Dr. Chuang says. Of course, this is a severe circumstance.

In other words, your health are provider is your best resource for personal insights and concerns. But know that rest and self-compassion are essentialand deservedwhen battling a sore throat in pregnancy.

Growing a baby is so much work, and we often do not give ourselves enough credit during pregnancy, Dr. Langan says. It is important to give yourself grace during pregnancy and allow yourself to rest and recuperate, especially when you are sick.



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Three hunters from South Carolina face federal charges for bringing home a CWD-infected buck from Kansas. A laboratory confirmed the test results in 2019, The State reports, marking the first and only time the disease has been verified in a deer that was transported into South Carolina. The three men were arraigned in a U.S. District courtroom in Lexington County on Aug. 29, where a judge set their bond at $20,000 apiece. If convicted of the charges, they could spend up to five years in prison.

Court documents name the three men charged as Sean Robert Paschall, Chad Caldwell Seymore, and Justin Grady LeMaster. Seymore was charged with two federal counts of unlawfully transporting wildlife, while Paschall and LeMaster each face one count. The charges stem from a hunting trip the men took to Kansas four years ago. Theyre the most recent (and severe) example of states cracking down on the transportation of deer parts due to fears of CWD.

In May, the Kentucky Department of Wildlife Resources filed a lawsuit against a hunter for bringing the head of a CWD-infected buck from Wisconsin to a taxidermist near his home in Kentucky. It was the first time that any state has sought civil damages from a hunter for importing a diseased deer carcass. But the $1,900 in damages that KDFW sought from the Kentucky hunter pale in comparison to the federal charges that Paschall, Seymore, and LeMaster now face in South Carolina.

The three hunters broke a state law when they decided to bring the buck they killed in Kansas back home to South Carolina. That law prohibits hunters from bringing whole or field-dressed deer carcasses, along with deer heads, necks, or spines from states that are known to harbor CWD. Although that law has been on the books since 2004, state lawmakers stiffened the penalties for violating it in September 2022, after neighboring North Carolina confirmed its second known case of CWD within 75 miles of the South Carolina border.

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The disease is slow to advance and infected deer may appear healthy, making proper transport or disposal important, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources explained in a news release that called attention to the stiffer penalties. An infected carcass part, if not disposed properly, can contaminate the environment, persist for years and potentially infect deer in the area.

The DNR did not immediately respond to requests for comment and clarification around this case.

Read Next: Should Kansas Ban Baiting for Deer?

Seymores lawyer argued on Tuesday that the men were ignorant of the states rules surrounding the transportation of carcasses and other deer parts across state lines. He told The State that the hunters just wanted a big Kansas buck and had no idea these rules were in place. He said they thought about getting the buck processed and mounted in Kansas but then realized it would be cheaper to get it done in South Carolina.

In doing so, they compounded their legal troubles. As soon as they left Kansas and transported the deer carcass across state lines, the three men violated the Lacey Act and opened themselves up to federal charges.

SCDNR official Charles Ruth signaled that the case against the three hunters is an example of how adamant they are about preventing CWD from spreading into the state. South Carolina is now one of only three Southeastern states (along with Georgia and Kentucky) without a confirmed case of CWD. The fatal neurological disease that affects whitetails and other cervids has now been confirmed in 31 other states.

Read Next: Florida Records Its First Case of Chronic Wasting Disease

This particular case demonstrates why we have regulations prohibiting these carcass parts from being imported from states, Ruth told The State on Tuesday.

According to current South Carolina regulations, whitetail deer hunters can bring the following into the state, regardless of where the deer was killed:

Quarters (hams and shoulders) or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached

Meat that has been boned out

Hides with no heads attached

Clean skulls with no meat or tissue attached, clean skull plates with antlers attached, antlers detached from the skull plate and finished taxidermy heads
Ahead of Hurricane Idalias expected landfall early Wednesday morning, ports in Florida are closing up shop while those in Georgia and the Carolinas are mulling their optionspotentially leading to multi-day supply chain disruptions in the southeastern U.S.

Impacts from the hurricane are expected to include three to six inches of heavy rainfall on average, with some localized areas experiencing as much as eight inches, according to Jon Davis, chief meteorologist at Everstream Analytics.

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Max winds are expected to be 100 mph, Davis said, or higher in areas near the landfall location in Floridas Big Bend north of Tampa, where peak storm surges are forecast to exceed 12 feet. Inland locations will likely have winds at tropical storm strength ranging between 50 and 60 miles per hour.

Business operations are likely to be severely disrupted for several days as workers experience difficulties making it to work due harsh travel conditions, Davis told Sourcing Journal. Additionally, loading/unloading of freight and intermodal ramp operations are likely to be disrupted/delayed in the impacted areas. Rail operations will also be impacted as some tracks may be flooded.

As of 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Port Tampa Bay closed its waterways, but kept its landside operations open. The port has not yet indicated whether it will shutter landside operations.

We will work with our fuel terminal operators and partners to ensure gas and other fuels move out of our port and to consumers as long as possible, Port Tampa Bay said in a statement. Additionally, port staff will continue to work round-the-clock so we can re-open to full operations as soon as safely possible to support the community and region we serve.

The port is coordinating closely with federal, state and local agencies, as well as the maritime community to prepare for and respond to the impacts of Hurricane Idalia. The Coast Guard set port condition Zulu, an indicator that sustained gale force winds (39 to 54 miles per hour) will likely enter the Bay within 12 hours of the advisory. While port condition Zulu is in place, no vessels may enter or transit within these ports without permission of the Coast Guard.

On the other side of the state, the Port of Jacksonville was open and operational throughout much of Tuesday, but is expected to fully close by 5 p.m. The gateway will remain closed throughout Wednesday.

Port operations are winding down. All inbound trucking lanes will close at 3 p.m. this afternoon, said Chelsea Kavanagh, chief communications officer, the Port of Jacksonville, told Sourcing Journal. We anticipate reopening on Thursday, pending storm impacts and once reopening safety protocols are completed.

The Coast Guard set port condition Yankee effective at noon, which indicates that the sustained gale force winds are anticipated within 24 hours. Jaxport will enter port condition Zulu at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Because the Florida ports terminal operators establish their own operating hours at their gated facilities, drivers seeking to pick up or drop off a load are encouraged to check with their terminal operator for their specific hours of operation. The port recommends shippers to reach out to their terminal operator to track their cargo.

The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) says it will have normal operating hours at all terminals Wednesday across its four ports: the Port of Charleston, the Port of Georgetown, Inland Port Greer and Inland Port Dillon. SCPA will confirm Thursdays opening time at Charleston and Georgetown by 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Inland Port Dillon will operate normal hours on Wednesday and will open at 1 pm on Thursday, while Inland Port Greers gates and train service will operate as normal.

And the Port of Savannah will remain open and working Tuesday, although vessel activity will cease temporarily at night. The port is expected to remain open and working Wednesday based upon National Weather Service data, which forecasts sub-tropical winds for Savannah.

Truck gates and rail operations are expected to remain open and operating. To help customers during their storm preparation the Georgia gateway is offer extended gates for truckers today, in which truckers can pick up cargo by 8 p.m. and drop it off by 8:15 p.m.

Georgias other major seaport, the Port of Brunswick, will close Mayors Point, one of its two terminals, on Wednesday.

All North Carolina ports are open and operating on a normal schedule Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, the Port of Morehead City will be closed for commercial operations and tenant access, while the Port of Wilmington will be closed to general cargo traffic and tenant access.

North Carolina State Ports Authority is planning for an operational assessment and communication by 10 am on Thursday, with a target of opening container operations and Wilmingtons South Gate at 1 p.m.

The Charlotte Inland Port will remain on a normal operating schedule.

Click here to read the full article.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - RXTCapital LTD Hong Kong in collaboration with RXT Malaysia SDN BHD are working together to hold the first RXT Connect 2023 in Kuala Lumpur. As well as commemorating the one year anniversary of the RXT (Rimaunangis) Token, the Hong Kong Company is holding an Educational Seminar on the use of Blockchain technology for the world of Agriculture, Property and Infrastructure. This event was attended by delegations from various countries and was full of conviviality and liveliness. Many questions were answered by various parties, from the UAE, Indonesia, Iran, USA, Singapore, South Africa, India, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Figure 1

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Figure 2

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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CEO of Farming Online from the UAE Mr. Khalifa AlJaziri Alshehhi gave an overview of how important Food security is for all countries. Desert countries like the UAE need assistance from agricultural countries to help achieve sustainable food security. Conversely, countries like the UAE can provide capital for farmers to increase their production.

Figure 3

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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CEO of Farming Via NFT from Malaysia, Mr. Halim Nayan, along with his staff, Mr. Shahril Aziz and Mr. Zulkefli Kamarudin also explained how blockchain technology, especially NFTs, can help become a bridge for farmers to get capital.

Figure 4

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Figure 5



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Story continues

This event was also closed with a Ministry Award for Members of Farming Via NFT, who succeeded in providing inspiration. At the Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur Hotel, RXT Capital Hongkong hopes that this education can help the wider community become more familiar with Blockchain, not just cryptocurrency, but also technology that can be used in various sectors.

Together with this event, the latest project RXT Capital LTD Hongkong together with RXT Malaysia SDN BHD was announced to start soon, BITCOIN LAND (https://www.bitcoinland.com) together with GDP Architecture Malaysia officially started.

A Smart City based on Blockchain technology, which will be assisted by the largest Crypto Bank in Europe, namely BankTO (https://bankto.io), also RXT Capital LTD Hong Kong will soon issue the world's first Cryptocurrency-based Bond of 500,000,000 USDT. This Mega Project will be the first in the World, and it is estimated that Bitcoin Land will be fully ready in 2028.

John Henderson

RXT Capital LTD

Hong Kong

admin@rxt.world

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/178619
LONDON  This summer, Kenya Hunt, the editor in chief of Elle U.K., had a full-circle moment since she joined the magazine in March 2022.

I cant say Im new in the role anymore, or anything like that. Shortly after the September issue hit newsstands, I left and went on holiday, to have time to step away from it  to pause and reflect on everything, she said during an interview at Dover Street Markets Rose Bakery.

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Hunt isnt new to Elle U.K. She joined the glossy magazine in 2015 as its fashion features director under then-editor Lorraine Candy, then was promoted to deputy editor under Candys successor, Anne-Marie Curtis, followed by a short interim period as editor until Farrah Storr, editor of Cosmopolitan in the U.K., took the reins in 2019 before resigning in 2021.

Cara Delevingne on the cover of Elle U.K.s September issue.

Before the appointment of Storr, staffers at Elle U.K. had always bet on Hunt to become editor. She was popular among senior and junior members of the team; well-connected and liked in the fashion sphere, and her attitude to magazine-making didnt run on the steam of the glory days of fashion publishing.

Before her anticipated return to Elle U.K., Hunt took the position of fashion director and deputy editor at Grazia U.K. in November 2020 and published a collection of personal essays, Girl: Essays on Black Womanhood.

Even though I have worked within womens media for the vast majority of my working life on a pretty linear track, Ive always come at it from the point of view of an outsider for a range of reasons, whether it be my experience as a transplant to New York, having come from Virginia; as a woman of color working in predominantly white spaces, and as an American, having moved to the U.K. and crafted a life for myself, explained Hunt, about what it means to be in the hot seat at Elle U.K.

You have to be really creative to envision a place for yourself, in spaces where you dont naturally see yourself reflected, she added.

Hunt is acutely aware of the ever-changing media landscape. She recently came back from Cannes Lions, where the big debate was artificial intelligence, but she remains optimistic as she reminisces about the digital disruption that was taking place during her coming of age in her career.

The [role] models that I had when I was coming up, that era is over and gone with, but I think the beautiful thing is that were in this new chapter where things are evolving and changing, said Hunt.

Hunts generation of magazine editors has set ambitions and numerous side hustles. Her collection of essays is being taken to the small screen by FilmNation TV UK; shes keen to write another book, and is an active mentor to those coming up in the fashion industry via R.O.O.M Mentoring, a program that advocates for greater diversity within the creative industries.

Since joining the magazine, a number of new projects have been brewing at the title, including Why I Move, a podcast in partnership with Nike thats been renewed for a second season; the return of the Elle Style Awards on Sept. 5, that last took place in 2017; Elle Collective, a new subscription platform for readers to interact with the making of the magazine, and the launch of a new newsletter.

Before even setting foot back in the building, I knew I wanted to bring back the Elle Style Awards because its such a core part of who we are and having that opportunity to celebrate the best of British fashion, said Hunt about the upcoming project, where Tiffany & Co. is a headline partner.

Ncuti Gatwa, Florence Pugh and Gemma Chan on the cover of Elle U.K.s October issue.

The return of the awards is being commemorated with three special covers in the October issue featuring Gemma Chan, Ncuti Gatwa and Florence Pugh, who will be honored with the British icon award. Other notable names in the issue include Alexander McQueens Sarah Burton, Dior and Fendis Kim Jones and Martine Rose.

Were moving to a place where we want everything that we do to feel like an event and a moment, rather than just like those isolated issue moments per year or that one moment per month where the issue hits. We want to create that sense of occasion as much as possible, said Hunt, explaining that magazines can no longer just rely on September issues.

The landscape has changed so radically and the meaning of that [September issues] has evolved. Even with these brands, its not really just about the print product anymore, or just about that one moment, she added.

Under Hunts editorship, the magazine has returned to its remit of covering womens issues at large with a lighthearted and intelligent tone, from womens reproductive autonomy to the pay gap issue within the intersection of fashion, beauty and culture.

It was important for Hunt that her magazine reflect the 2020s and create a world where sustainability and identity are woven in rather than used as throwaway concepts.

Particularly during the Lorraine Candy years, they [Elle U.K.] really cultivated a readership who really cared about social issues. When I joined Elle, feminism was a really big campaign at the time and cover stars like Emma Watson were high performers, she said.

Hunts cover faces so far have included Haim, Yasmin Finney, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hunter Schafer, Emma Corrin, Micheal Ward and Daryl McCormack.

But Elle U.K. is as much a business as it is a project of love for Hunt.

Sometimes you think that all of that talk around profit and revenue cannot coexist with feelings of love and passion for what you do, but Ive always loved this brand and it always felt like my magazine that I loved to read coming up and partly because I tended to see Black and Brown women more than in some of other media, she said.

As editor in chief, Hunt, like many other editors in her remit, has had to have a tighter grip on all the moving parts rather than just focusing on the print product.

In July, Hearst Magazines, the publisher of Elle, Harpers Bazaar and Cosmopolitan in the U.S., restructured its operations, cutting 41 staffers.

The 2021 edition of Hunts book of essays, Girl Gurl Grrrl: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic.

According to inside sources, a similar restructure is imminent at Hearst U.K.

Elle U.K. reaches an audience of 2 million across print and digital each month, according to the Publishers Audience Measurement Company. The magazine has a total following of 9 million social media followers across all of its channels.

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I was 12 when Miley Cyrus performed at the VMAs in 2013. What I remember most, besides thinking the giant dancing teddy bears and her matching onesie weren't great design choices, was moving closer to the television screen, almost trying to physically shield Cyrus from the criticism I knew would be coming from my horrified family members, and then the world. In the moment, I tried, unconvincingly, to defend her on feminist grounds: Cyrus was a young woman expressing her sexuality and there was nothing wrong with that! It's totally fine! I don't see anything wrong with 20-year-old Cyrus, wearing a latex bra and underwear set, twerking on 36-year-old Robin Thicke while he sings a song about date rape. But, please, don't look at the TV. Maybe now is a good time to refill your soda.

We all remember what happened next. Cyrus became a controversial media fixture for the coming years. She received backlash for both her performance and appearance, became the butt of jokes and received an open letter from a concerned Sinead O'Connor after releasing the music video for "Wrecking Ball" a few weeks later. At the time, Cyrus was already three years into her campaign to break out of her Disney Channel box, a career challenge that often draws curious onlookers wondering if a former teen idol can parlay their early success into an adult, mainstream career.

Cyrus' first big declaration to the world that she was growing up was her 2010 single "Can't Be Tamed." In the music video for the song, Cyrus is a rare bird breaking free from a cage. She's wearing dark eye makeup and a sexy outfit. It's decisive and makes a statement, but it doesn't quite feel like it's hers. Cyrus was so trapped in her former image that she projected one in the complete opposite direction, leaving any remnants of her girlish "Hannah Montana" days behind. The only way to be free was to use as much force and fanfare as possible, leading her to that VMAs stage singing "We Can't Stop," which is another song that's clearly a young person's take on asserting themself as an adult.

After the VMAs, Cyrus had accomplished her goal of moving past "Hannah Montana," but whatever kindness we would have given a young Disney performer was replaced with the disdain and spectacle reserved for the young women who won't meet our double standards. Like Britney Spears, she was deemed another Disney starlet gone mad; another beautiful young role model turned into an unwieldy woman. Like Spears and Paris Hilton, Cyrus was pushed to a public tantrum and became an open target for criticism. What followed was bleached hair and albums about partying and doing drugs and then headlines basking in the horror of it all.

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Cyrus' contemporaries, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato, also struggled with moving past Disney Channel. At 18, Gomez mostly drew attention for her dating life, specifically her relationship with Justin Bieber. Her music got more mature and her participation in the R-rated film "Spring Breakers" drew concerned critics just like with Cyrus. Lovato continued releasing music, but was suffering quietly at the time with a drug addiction that began while she was on Disney, something that she has now spoken at length about. In recent years, both Gomez and Lovato have spoken out about the toll that being in the spotlight has taken on their mental health.

It's been 10 years, and Cyrus, Gomez and Lovato have gone through many transformations since. Cyrus' music feels a lot more authentic (and a lot less racist) than her "Bangerz" era, and her latest single "Flowers" broke multiple Spotify records. Cyrus is 30, and I'm 22. I've watched Spears and Hilton and Megan Fox get their redemptions, and Gomez and Lovato tell the truth about how navigating Hollywood in their 20s has hurt their mental health. Spears received widespread public support and eventually was freed of the conservatorship she was involuntarily placed under in 2008. Hilton spoke out about the horrific abuse she endured as a young person placed into the troubled teen industry. Fox was welcomed back after being blackballed in an industry where she was hypersexualized and spoke against it. For all three of these women, we've been able to look back, acknowledge what they had to endure and celebrate who they are today.

Amid these changes, Zendaya was the next star to go from Disney Channel to the big screen. Like most other things, she did it flawlessly. There were no public drug scandals or partying or even boys. (Zendaya's parents had a rule that she wasn't allowed to date until she was 16, helping to avoid another Justin and Selena media frenzy.) Even when she came out with her big adult project "Euphoria," Zendaya was one of the few cast members who didn't do nude or sex scenes. She has always been a poised, graceful and talented person  and also one of the few Black stars to transition from her Disney show to an acclaimed actress due to Disney's lack of onscreen diversity earlier on. Her growing up was a lot less reckless than Cyrus', but we know that Black women and women of color need to be near-perfect in order to avoid scrutiny, so she had significantly less room to experiment.

Today, the next generation of Disney stars are growing up. But, for Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter, the circumstances don't look the same. We've learned lessons from those who came before them. Now, Rodrigo and Carpenter don't have to be so quick to forget they are young. Rodrigo can go from wearing leather-heeled boots to babydoll dresses, from singing about eating strawberry ice cream to ending up in her ex-boyfriend's bed after lying to her friends about where she was going to spend the night. Carpenter can sing NSFW outros to her song "Nonsense" that get her performances removed from the BBC's website while wearing soft pinks and tutus. They're able to live in that "not a girl, not yet a woman" space that Spears sang about in 2002. Plus, in a moment when "Barbie" had the highest opening of the year and people are finding joy talking about "girl dinner" and "girl math" online, there's a resurgence in celebrating things that keep you connected to being young. From watching the older generations go through it (live, on stage at the Barclays Center while we try to convince our families that Cyrus isn't being completely embarrassing), Gen Z isn't so concerned with proving how grown up we are.

On the 10-year anniversary of her 2013 VMAs performance on Aug. 25, Cyrus released her latest single "Used to be Young," and gave her perspective on one of the most controversial moments of her career. The video for "Used to be Young" resembles "Wrecking Ball," another scandalized Cyrus track. Instead of swinging naked from a piece of heavy machinery, this time she's wearing a sparkly red leotard over a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. The video consists of a close-up shot of Cyrus, who is in tears while she sings, "I know I used to be crazy / I know I used to be fun / You say I used to be wild / I say I used to be young."

In hearing "Used To Be Young," I realized why I felt so compelled to defend Cyrus that fateful VMAs night: I was watching a young person embarrassing themself, and that is something that is totally fine. Excluding, of course, the elements of Cyrus' performance and music at that time that were downright problematic (which being young is not a satisfactory excuse for), young people do cringey things and act out and make mistakes, especially when they're in the public eye. They try to express their sexuality and find ways to get attention for who they're becoming, even if they're not quite sure who that is yet. What's different for young women like Cyrus is there is only a narrow acceptable path to transition from girlhood to adulthood without drawing scrutiny, and this scrutiny can cause you to act out or impact your mental health. May we never do that to another young woman again.

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Its European train travel at its most stunning.

It's now possible to take a trio of stunning Norwegian train rides all on one luxury trip. Sustainable upscale tour company Up Norway is offering an extension on its already spectacular Arctic Circle Express tour. It allows travelers to go even further north to Lofoten and Narvik, and experience the Ofoten Line (Ofotbanen)  one of the nations standout railways in addition to Flam and Rauma, both also on the itinerary.

This enhanced 15-night itinerary invites discerning travelers to embark on an immersive adventure through Norway's captivating Northern landscapes, unveiling hidden gems and rich cultural experiences along the way, the company said in a release provided to Travel + Leisure. In Lofoten, with the added trip extension, travelers can enjoy remote villages, a dramatic scenic route, adrenaline-pumping arctic surfing, and international art collections.

Kylling Bru/Leif Johnny Olestad

Travelers will then head to Narvik for a private tour of a World War II museum and ride the Narvikfjellet Cable Car with panoramic views of the city, fjords, and mountains. But the highlight is riding the Ofoten railway itself. Referred to as The Arctic Train, this railway line traverses Norway's stunning fjords and mountains through a rugged and untamed landscape from Narvik towards Sweden, Up Norway said on its site.

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The new extension latches onto the end of Up Norways existing 11-night trip that runs from May through September, starting in Oslo and taking the Oslo-Bergen Railway to the Flam Railway. The latter is not just the steepest line on the continent, but one of the most spectacular traveling through different microclimates and endless gasp-worthy viewpoints.

After visits to Bergen and Alesund, its then time to board the Rauma Railway from Andalsnes to Dombas. There will then be time in Trondheim before getting on the Nordland Railway, which is nicknamed The Polar Express since it crosses the Arctic Circle into Bod  which is slated to be one of the European Capitals of Culture in 2024, along with Austrias Bad Ischi and Estonias Tartu.

Along the way, the accommodations range from boutique stays to those in a traditional fishermans cabin. Staring for 2024 departures, there's also the chance to stay in Narvikfjellet Mountains Basecamp Narvik.

Every step of the journey is carefully curated by the team at Up Norway, starting with a pre-trip digital guide filled with advice, details, and around-the-clock access to chat with the team. (T+L can especially vouch for the tours since Up Norways founder Torunn Tronsvang is a T+L Top Travel Advisor and Norway specialist.)

The complete journey with the new extension starts at $6,587 per person when booked in pairs, or $4,639 per person for the original 11-night version. For more details, visit upnorway.com.

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Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
Paris Texas just unveiled its Pre-Fall 2023 campaign, lensed by British artist, photographer and filmmaker Nadia Lee Cohen.

Lending her unique femme vision to the Italian footwear brand, Cohen's distinctive aesthetic permeates the campaign, adding a layer of intimacy and empowerment to the visuals. Presented as part of Paris Texas' "Through Her Lens" series, in which the brand taps female artists to create their own unique imagery, Pre-Fall 2023 sees Cohen interpret the collection on a journey to Los Angeles.

Fusing the brand's "seductive Parisian soul" with a "wild Texan spirit," the campaign spotlights the house's icons: the Stiletto Boot, the Rosario Texan and the Lidia Mules. With the classic boot a fan favorite of celebs like Emily Ratajkowski, Kylie Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Kourtney Kardashian, the new iterations act as an evolution of the cult-loved silhouette, arriving in new heights and colorways.

Elsewhere, the campaign features the Croco Anja Boot, Over-the-Knee Boot and Python-Printed Slouchy Boots in new autumnal hues and textures.

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Take a look at Paris Texas' Pre-Fall 2023 collection above, and head to the brand's website to shop the new styles.

In other news, Hailey Bieber stars in Saint Laurent's Fall 2023 campaign.
one piece netflix glhf (6)

Its hard to believe that Netflixs live-action One Piece is just about to be released. It feels like it was just yesterday we were hearing about its existence and all sweating profusely about how terrible it could be. Recent trailers seem to have proved us wrong though, and despite some concerns, the live-action One Piece does look pretty good.

With the series set to kick off this week, we thought wed take a look at when you can expect to watch the first season, how many episodes are included, and what you can expect from the first season of One Piece.

Netflix One Piece: Release Times

Netflixs One Piece, like most other Netflix shows, will be released at midnight in Pacific Time, on August 31, 2023. This means that if youre in the US, youll either have to stay up late to watch it, or risk being spoiled on Twitter  not the biggest deal for a story thats over 20 years old, but still a bit of a bummer if youre looking forward to it.

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In other regions, the time is a lot more reasonable. The UK gets it at 8am, Central Europe an hour later at 9am, and most places west of that in the afternoon. Japan, Australia, and New Zealand in particular get some pretty great viewing times for it, at 4pm, 5pm, and 7pm respectively, which should allow for some great prime time viewing.

Here are the release times for major time zones, all on August 31, 2023:

PT  12:00 midnight

ET  3:00am

BST  8:00am

CEST  9:00am

IST  12:30pm

JST  4:00pm

AEST  5:00pm

How Many Episodes Are In Netflixs One Piece Season 1?

The first season of Netflixs live-action One Piece will have eight episodes, each of which will be about an hour long. The Australian Classification Board says the entire season runs for 438 minutes all up, which is an average of 55 minutes per episode.

All eight episodes will be available at once, rather than being released weekly, so if you really want, you could watch all eight(ish) hours of the first season back-to-back. We wouldnt recommend it  for this or for any show  but hey, you do you. Live your life.

What To Expect In One Piece Season 1

The first season of One Piece looks like it will cover up to and maybe including the Arlong Park Arc, which means it will tell the story of roughly 95 chapters of manga or roughly 44 episodes of anime. It might sound like the live-action is cutting a lot out to squeeze all that into eight episodes, but with some snappy editing and the removal of filler and unnecessary moments, we think it should just about work out without any pacing issues or feeling rushed. The episode descriptions tell a similar story, though it does seem like some things have been changed around a little bit. Time will tell though.

One thing that should be noted, as pointed out by the Australian Classification Board again, is that there are some pretty heavy scenes that might not be appropriate for younger or vulnerable people. The ACB says that the first season includes strong self-harm, and if its the scene were thinking of from the manga/anime, it could be somewhat distressing. There are, of course, fight scenes as well, and some characters will be getting injured and hurt, as well as at least one clown, so if youre sensitive to that, you might want to give it a miss.


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Welcome to Nice Saves, BAZAARs destination for the best editor-approved sales from across the internet each week. Here, I'm dedicated to uncovering can't-miss deals for the good of your closet.

During my morning commute, I've been reading A Harvest of Thorns by Corban Addison, a fictional expose of the global fashion supply chain based on real-life interviews Addison conducted with the survivors of a 2010 factory fire in Bangladesh. The book is an absolute must-read, and it's why all thirteen of this week's Nice Saves are from eco-conscious brands that factor in both people and planet because true fashion lovers care about the story behind every item they own, including who made it, what it's made of and where it was purchased.



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I'll save you the hours-long lecture on sartorial sustainability and geopolitics and offer you a challenge instead. Rather than loading up on trendy fast fashion pieces, I propose you use this year's Labor Day sales (of which there are many) to expand your fall wardrobe wisely while supporting sustainable designers. Nordstrom's Sustainable Style section and Net-a-Porter's NET SUSTAIN line have a treasure trove of organic, recycled, and responsibly sourced sale items just waiting to be discovered and at MatchesFashion, you can use the promo code EXTRA20 for an extra 20 percent off select sale styles, including dozens from forward-thinking brands like Stella McCartney, Ganni and The Elder Statesman.

From discounted designer handbags to half-price cashmere sweaters, there's no shortage of eco-conscious fashion brands to choose from this Labor Day weekend. Perhaps you're after a new Farm Rio blouse, a Mara Hoffman top, or a pair of Adidas sneakers or maybe you've got your eye on one of the last Gabriela Hearst-era Chloe bags. Personally, I'll be spending the weekend stocking up on DL1961 denim, Everlane tees, and Reformation dresses while their end-of-season sales are ripe for the picking. Happy hunting, whatever it may be!

Joya Ribbed Organic Cotton-Blend Tank

Though brands' greenwashing marketing campaigns would like you to believe otherwise, only 1 percent of cotton grown worldwide is organic. It's a stat that sustainably-minded labels like Mara Hoffman are looking to change by using strictly organic, recycled, and regenerative cotton to make far-from-boring basics like this rib-knit tank. I've been eyeing a long-sleeved Mara Hoffman top and midi dress with the same piping detail that are on sale, too.

Shop Now Joya Ribbed Organic Cotton-Blend Tank net-a-porter.com $237.00 Net-a-Porter

Vista Striped Upcycled-Cashmere Sweater Vest

I fell in love with The Elder Statesman's tie-dye prints and upcycled knits years ago as a fashion closet intern. I've been hunting sale sections religiously for the label's luxuriously soft fabrics ever since. At 65 percent off, this layerable sweater vest is what early fall dreams are made of.

Shop Now Vista Striped Upcycled-Cashmere Sweater Vest matchesfashion.com $313.00 MATCHESFASHION

The Italian Leather Day Glove

Everlane more specifically, the Everlane sale section is my go-to spot for no-frills wardrobe staples like these cult-favorite Day Glove flats that are 30 percent off over Labor Day weekend. While most footwear brands are secretive about sourcing and production, Everlane shares exactly where each pair is made and even offers a glimpse inside its factories. On top of excellent fits and fabrics, it's this transparency that's kept me a loyal Everlane customer for years.

Shop Now The Italian Leather Day Glove everlane.com $95.00 Everlane

Eden Denim Jacket

Denim production is notorious for its excess water consumption, so as of late, I've been making a conscious effort to shop at sustainability-minded denim brands like DL1961. While a conventional pair of jeans can require up to 1500 gallons of water, DL1961's waterless system uses less than 10 gallons per pair. The promo code LABORDAY23 will earn you even deeper discounts on fall essentials like this light-wash denim jacket.



Shop Now Eden Denim Jacket dl1961.com $100.20 DL1961

Arco Cashmere Sleeveless Turtleneck Sweater

Reformation doesn't have sales often, so when they do, items go fast. I'm making a bee-line to this chocolatey sleeveless turtleneck made with 90 percent recycled cashmere. Its timeless, versatile silhouette makes it the ideal layering piece for transitional early fall outfits.

Shop Now Arco Cashmere Sleeveless Turtleneck Sweater thereformation.com $74.00 Reformation

Chain-Embellished Leather Tote

The clock's ticking, Chloe fans! There's little time left to grab Gabriela Hearst-era pieces like this sleek chain-embellished tote bag. Her three-year tenure at the French house proved that it's possible for luxury brands to take radical steps toward sustainability, and it's safe to say Hearst 's Chloe pieces will soon be as covetable as Phoebe Philo's Celine.

Shop Now Chain-Embellished Leather Tote net-a-porter.com $1410.00 Net-a-Porter

Jozey Wide-Leg Jeans

Ganni's responsible sourcing, carbon offsets, and re-sale program prove that progress, not perfection, is what truly matters in 2023. These high-rise black jeans are made from organic cotton and cut with a dramatic ankle-length flare to show off your favorite summer sandals now and fall boots come October.

Shop Now Jozey Wide-Leg Jeans matchesfashion.com $76.00 MATCHESFASHION

Fringed Intarsia Cashmere Scarf

Don't let the beach weather this weekend fool you, scarf season will be here before we know it. Knit from a kaleidoscope of responsibly sourced cashmere yarns, this cozy Gabriela Hearst scarf will be your new favorite statement piece come November.

Shop Now Fringed Intarsia Cashmere Scarf net-a-porter.com $595.00 Net-a-Porter

Ultraboost Light Shoes

Made with recycled polyester and Parley Ocean Plastic, these Adidas by Stella McCartney Ultraboost sneakers prove that sustainable footwear can, in fact, be quite stylish. A subtle cheetah print sole gives this all-black colorway just the right amount of pizzaz.

Shop Now Ultraboost Light Shoes adidas.com $175.00 Adidas

Lace Inset Blouse

Though Farm Rio is best known for its bold colors and tropical prints (many of which are on sale, too), it's the Brazilian label's attention to detail with understated pieces like this lace-inset blouse that really makes me swoon. As does Farm Rio's commitment to reforestation and meeting the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Shop Now Lace Inset Blouse nordstrom.com $93.50 Nordstrom

Mixed Media Asymmetric Sweater Dress

This fall, do your skin (and the ocean) a favor by ditching polyester and acrylic sweaters for Naadam's responsibly sourced cashmere. Unlike most brands, the materials used to make Naadam's versatile basics like this mixed-media sweater dress can be traced back to the exact Mongolian goat farm.

Shop Now Mixed Media Asymmetric Sweater Dress https://www.neimanmarcus.com $257.00

Jessica Rodriguez Duck Tote

It's much easier to remember to bring a reusable bag when it's as cute as this Baggu Duck Tote designed by Jessica Rodriguez. Designed with organic cotton canvas, sturdy top handles and an adjustable shoulder strap, it can go anywhere and carry anything.

Shop Now Jessica Rodriguez Duck Tote baggu.com $29.00 Baggu

Marlin V-Knit Sneakers

I've been itching to buy a pair of Veja sneakers, and I'm not too proud to admit it's because they're worn by celebrities like Emma Watson, Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton, and Emily Ratajkowski. With ten pairs on sale at Net-a-Porter for under $125, I think it's time to take these affordable eco-friendly sneakers (They're made from 100% recycled plastic bottles!) for a test drive.

Shop Now Marlin V-Knit Sneakers net-a-porter.com $117.00 Net-a-Porter

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We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community who have changed careers and are happier now to tell us what job they left, what job they ended up landing, and what their journey was like. Here's what they shared:

1. "I stuck it out working in public relations for about five years in NYC shortly after obtaining a bachelor's degree in marketing. I graduated in 2009 during the recession and somehow landed a job at a top PR firm. Most of the kids I graduated with could not get jobs at all, so I guess I considered myself lucky. The money when you start out in that industry is terrible, and you are treated horribly. It's a very frivolous and cutthroat industry. It relies heavily on the 'hierarchy model,' and you are made to feel lucky to even work in the field. If you're unhappy, you're told that someone is right behind you and is ready for your job."

"I bounced around through three different firms thinking the grass would eventually be greener. On one of my final days, I was getting screamed at in front of my entire office over a bracelet that I forgot to send out to a celebrity, and in my mind, I was like, 'People are dying, and you're worried about this?' It was then and there I got my ish together, moved back home to the Jersey suburbs, and started nursing school. I started right before the pandemic as an RN in the ER. I have learned so much, and the job is super rewarding. Hardest/best decision I have ever made. My friends always joke that my autobiography should be titled 'From PR to the ER.'"

Anonymous

2. "I was a teacher and loved, loved, loved it! But, it was like being in a toxic, abusive relationship. Long hours, extreme workload, low pay. I was sick all the time and could never afford to take a vacation, even while having summers off. I still wanted to work with kids, so I became an occupational therapist. I make double what I did as a teacher and work half as much. I miss teaching so much, but Im mentally and physically healthier."

Anonymous

Fatcamera / Getty Images

3. "I got my degree in print journalism and promptly got a newspaper job. This was the mid '00s, and the industry started crashing within a couple of years. Seeing the writing on the wall, I transitioned to TV news. It was the absolute worst job experience of my life. Abusive management, horrible hours, worse pay, and unreasonable work/life expectations. I barely got out with my sanity. I now work for an amazing company in their marketing department. I still use my journalism skills, so my degree isn't wasted. But, after working more than 10 years of holidays, nights, overnights, and weekends, doing a 95, MondayFriday job is glorious. Even more so now that my company made work-from-home permanent. I don't LOVE my job (though I do love my company); it's fine. But, the most important thing is that I also don't wake up dreading having to go to work. I'm content with my work life, and that's a win!"

winterwednesday9

4. "I was really interested in medicine in high school, but chose to major in civil engineering. I worked for an engineering consulting firm for four years before realizing how unhappy I was. I liked the engineering part of the job, but unfortunately, I hated the business development and project management aspect. I found out about post-baccalaureate programs to complete pre-med classes, and enrolled while working mostly full-time as an engineer and volunteering at a hospital. This hospital happened to have a general practice dental residency program, and I asked to be placed there for a few weeks to check it out. I ended up spending a year there, and it was such a great experience that it led me to apply to dental schools instead of medical."

"Today, Im so much happier as a dentist because I get to talk to my patients and provide guidance and care. Plus, theres no late office nights or urgent emails while Im out of the office. I learned a lot about what satisfies me as a professional through this process, and Id encourage anyone reading this to figure out what you like, but more importantly, what you DONT like in a job/profession, to guide your search."

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Anonymous

Tom Werner / Getty Images

5. "I worked in hospitality for over 16 years (a combo of waiting tables, bartending, and retail). I got a call from a friend one day who had their own automotive and marine upholstery shop, and they asked if I was interested in a job. I figured they needed a receptionist or something along those lines, so I was like, heck yeah! A pay increase, a set schedule, and weekends off? Sign me up! Little did I know, they actually needed a new industrial seamstress! I had never even touched a sewing machine in my life up until that point, but I was willing to give it a shot. I put my blood, sweat, and tears (literally) into learning the new skill. I then took a job with another upholstery company that taught me the actual upholstery side of things. Here I am seven years later, and I own and operate my own upholstery business from home, and Im so glad I took the leap and was willing to learn a completely new skill!"

user1982

6. "For most of my young life, I was very passionate about music and was a talented artist. I was in a performing arts group in my youth, then did musical theater and choir in high school. I also aced my arts classes, but I wasnt quite as invested in them as I was in music. I had really wanted to pursue singing as a career, but my parents basically threatened to disown me if I didnt go to college. So, I went to college for music, and honestly, it made me hate it. I didnt feel like I learned anything relevant, as it was all rooted in classical music. I dropped out when I couldnt get through some of the more difficult gen-ed classes."

"I ended up getting into office work so I could move out on my own and support myself (I am at least proud I was able to do that). It was fine at first, but after a few years, I felt like Id lost my soul and sense of self just clicking away at a computer for corporate America. I'd always had an eye for aesthetics, color, and design as well, but I didnt lean into it as hard, so I never thought to pursue it. It took me nearly dying in an unrelated incident to decide I needed to change my career path for my own wellbeing because we never know how much time we have. I chose interior design. I make more money than I ever did doing office work, and I have a chance to be creative, which feeds my soul."

Anonymous

Nickylloyd / Getty Images

7. "Former teacher here. I worked several teaching positions inside and outside of the classroom until I left the field in 2018. Managing student behavior was so stressful, and I felt like I was terrible at it. I switched to healthcare to pursue my goal of becoming a physician. My first healthcare job was as a receptionist at a multidisciplinary mental health clinic, and I stayed in this role for two years. About a year and a half after starting that job, I went back to school to take the science courses required to apply to medical school (my BA is in English, so I didnt take the required science courses in undergrad). I'm currently a scribe at a urology practice where I have been for three years. I finished all the pre-reqs last year and am taking the MCAT next month. While this path hasnt been easy, Im happier in healthcare than I was teaching."

leager129

8. "I was a bartender making good money in a tourist town, but I had no insurance, retirement plan, or overall stability. I loved it in my 20s, but it was wearing down my body and my mind. I have herniated discs in my back and an ankle injury, and dealing with people in that capacity post-COVID was absolute hell. Most customers became entitled, ill-mannered, and just terrible. Head to toe, Id given it all I had and couldnt physically do my job anymore. My mom went to the eye doctor and randomly asked the tech about her job and training, then told me about it. I had a couple of friends who worked in the industry, so I did my own research and decided that it could be a good fit for me."

"I quit my bartending job and started training as an ophthalmic technician. I love it! It can be challenging, like any job, but being able to help people is incredibly rewarding for me. I work for a top LASIK and cataract surgeon, and being able to be a part of a patients sight journey is amazing! I get goosebumps every time I see patients post-op because theyre so happy to see better than they have in years, or ever. I took almost a 50% pay cut for this job, but I have health insurance, benefits, a 401k, a regular schedule, weekends off, and overall job stability. My partner and I want to start a family, so it really made sense for me to do this for our future. Im so happy I made the change. It was scary, but Ive never been happier!"

embneal

Eyecrave Productions / Getty Images

9. "Being neurodiverse, its fairly normal to switch jobs. I started as a journalist, then went into retail, then telecommunications, and then healthcare. At the beginning of the pandemic, I went on LinkedIn, found a gap in content, and created a post connecting job seekers to recruiters. In two years, it put job seekers in front of 5.7 million people and was the start of a 12k-person private community. I got hired by Amazon as a technical recruiter based on that. Oh, now Im a professional speaker and DEI PM."

danroth1

10. "I switched from corporate management to an administrative/receptionist job with a very small family-owned business. It was honestly the best decision of my life. The pay may not be what it was, but it's enough for me, and I actually have a work-life balance that I didn't even know was possible. It's been two years now, and I've knocked four travel destinations off my bucket list (compared to the one trip I'd managed to take in the last five years at my old job). It also makes a HUGE (wild how huge) difference as a woman to be working at a woman-owned company versus the heavily male-dominated field I was in before. I'm thought of as assertive and forward-thinking, as opposed to a bitch."

Anonymous

Willie B. Thomas / Getty Images

11. "I went to school for IT engineering and realized that it was not for me, but I couldnt really change my major, so I finished that degree while figuring out what I really wanted to do. I ended up falling in love with design and got my master's. Now, I work as a product designer, and I am so glad to not be in a coding role. Being a designer just works so well with my personality, lifestyle, and goals. I would never go back to a coding job, but I learned a lot about myself through that experience."

google_101581609938348549728

12. "I started as a high school math teacher and barely made it through a year dealing with the teenage monsters. I was also broke since teaching pays nothing, so I felt like garbage having to rely on my parents to make my car payments and keep me on their car and health insurances. I quit, went to graduate school, got a degree in engineering, and now I'm happily working as a data analyst making 5x what I did as a teacher, plus infinitely better benefits. I'm also way less stressed and far less likely to have a work-related mental breakdown. Plus, I don't have to deal with kids at all, and I don't even work directly with customers. I get to hide behind my computer and enjoy doing my work (from home)!"

Anonymous

Nitat Termmee / Getty Images

13. "I was a preschool teacher for 20 years. I came down with COVID, along with my husband. He passed away after seven weeks in the hospital. I made a full recovery. When autumn came around and it was time to return to teaching, I could only do it for about five months. I turned in my resignation and took a job helping people with physical and mental delays. The new job was a real change for me. I have never regretted it. I have been with my new job for a little over a year!"

Anonymous

14. "I fell into working in corporate finance after undergrad. It was fine, and it paid decently, but it was dreadful. So boring and so much unnecessary work being done. Then, 9/11 happened, and I reevaluated what I wanted. I went back for my master's in library science. I had plans to take that back to the corporate world, but ended up in higher education. I love working with students and faculty and helping them make connections. I mostly manage people and services these days, and I find it incredibly fulfilling to help people find ways to work that are satisfying to them, while also genuinely making a difference."

Anonymous

Ika84 / Getty Images

15. "I was an RN. After traveling to California to help with COVID patients, I got diagnosed with PTSD. I switched to a desk job, and Im happy I did. I have more mental bandwidth to focus my energy and talents on things I have control over and that make me happy."

Anonymous

16. "I was a teacher for almost 10 years and entered the profession through Teach for America. 5060-hour weeks are tough (yes, even with summers off) under the best of circumstances, but I never had the best of circumstances. As a young teacher, I was once assaulted by a student and then forced to allow them back to my classroom. The student was later expelled for making death threats. I was encouraged to pass students who had not turned in any assignments, including opportunities to make up missed work. I was expected to have students 'college ready,' but prohibited from assigning homework. My students were not allowed to bring supplies to school, and I mostly provided them myself with no financial reimbursement from my school/district (which is true for so many teachers)."

"I developed a severe anxiety disorder, as well as other long-term health issues because we were prohibited from taking restroom breaks during or between classes. I am glad I was able to support some of my former students, but none of those positive experience outweighed the negatives. This career choice was the worst decision of my life. As a former teacher, even though I basically project-managed and collected/analyzed data every day, I'm not viewed as particularly hirable in other fields. Even still, in my crappy call center job where I make $5,000 a year less than I did as a teacher, I know leaving teaching was the best and only choice for me. Now, I get to leave my work at the end of the day. If something doesnt go well, I dont worry that someones life will be forever impacted because of it. I can call out when Im sick. Even on a bad day, I am not attacked at every turn. I dont feel pressured to be closeted. All in all, I am so much happier now."

Anonymous

Maskot / Getty Images

17. "I worked for a long time at a large services company that painted a pretty picture of your future if you rose through the ranks. After nearly a decade of rising, I found myself resentful of the sales team, as they made it difficult on the service teams with the way they presented the truth to gain the sale. I worked at several locations in two different countries, and the sales people were the same everywhere. And, they were the ones making the real money. I became friendly with a sales team member and learned more about their compensation. It convinced me I needed to look elsewhere. I left to become a sales rep for a large company that provided a service completely new to me and to a market of people I didn't know."

"I quickly learned about the product and the real value of the sales rep to that industry. I treated all the customers like they were my best friend, and I made enough money in eight years to retire. I couldn't be happier."

Anonymous

18. "I worked in the cannabis industry for over a decade. It was as fun as it soundssometimes. I learned A LOT, and I had some really cool opportunities come my way, but most of what I got was spending my 20s busting my butt and compromising my sanity while making a bunch of money for other people. I got laid off after developing a ton of IP for a big corporation (corporate weed is the WORST), and it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Ive since taken all my operations management experience, drive, and passion to a nonprofit dedicated to children. I now have a work/life balance, and I feel really good knowing that the work I do actually matters."

Anonymous

Sdi Productions / Getty Images

19. "I spent 15 years in retail management. I totally drank the Kool-Aid and was all about sales, customer service, blah blah blah. I did great for the first 10 years, and then the burnout hit me hard. In retail management, they love to say, 'Where else are you going to be able to make this kind of money without a college degree?' Well, it turns out that all my time in management prepared me for a great position in benefits administration. I make the same money; however, I have a regular schedule, get to enjoy the holidays, and have so much less stress."

Anonymous

20. "When I was working in television news, there was no work/life balance. I was working 10+ hours every day, and then turning around and doing it again the next day. I moved to the corporate world and now work 7:304:30 and have a very flexible position that allows me to take care of my toddler. That never would've happened in my old job. I'm happier now than I have been in a long time."

Anonymous

Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images

21. Finally: "I never really knew what I wanted to do and kept going for jobs that were way below my skills. With low self-esteem, I didnt think I was worth more, even though I had a masters degree and eventually a lot of experience in things from journalism to marketing. I ended up working as an English teacher, teaching adult learners at a private language school. It was a total dead-end job that was making me depressed, but I got comfortable. Also, in your 30s, its hard to do something youve never done before. When the pandemic started, I lost my job and realized they didnt care about me at all. It was just about money, and once we couldnt teach, we were all let go. I did some soul searching and realized Id always wanted to work in healthcare."

"It was too late to try to go to med school, but I ended up starting a master's in public health in the middle of the pandemic. I got a job in epidemiology right after graduation. Im not rich, but Im making more than I ever have before. My job is super challenging (which I love), and I feel like Im learning something new every day, which keeps me motivated and fulfilled. Im so glad I did a total 180 and followed my heart, but I also wish Id done it 15 years prior. I'd be further along in my career now that Im about to turn 40."

Anonymous

If you've ever changed careers, what's your story? Are you glad you did, or do you wish you'd stayed in your original industry?

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Facebook said Tuesday it has identified a sprawling online propaganda effort: a pro-China campaign that had a presence on more than 50 websites.

The campaign appears to be the largest known cross-platform covert influence operation in the world, Meta said in a report. The researchers said the broadly coordinated postings of pro-China images, videos, comments and audio files were part of a yearslong operation that researchers had previously dubbed Spamouflage.

The findings underscore the potential for internet propaganda campaigns to attempt to exploit internet platforms to influence the U.S. election in 2024. Since 2016, Russia, Iran and to a lesser extent China have all launched covert online efforts to influence U.S. voters.

Despite its scope, the campaign received little engagement and rarely gained much traction beyond its initial posts. Online propaganda campaigns have struggled to replicate the success of early influence efforts, such as Russias efforts to sow discord ahead of the 2016 election.

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The content mostly consisted of positive commentary about China, defense of its policies, and criticism of the U.S. and other Western countries, the report said.

Meta said it took down 7,704 Facebook accounts and 954 pages linked to the campaign, though much of the content on other websites is still accessible.

In a call Monday previewing the report, Ben Nimmo, Facebooks global threat intelligence lead, said those posting the material appeared to be more intent on filling quotas than deeply convincing users to Chinas views.

We saw hundreds of accounts on dozens of platforms, making what were likely meant to be personal comments, but it was the same comment from many different accounts day after day, as if they were copy-pasting from a list or a spreadsheet, Nimmo said. Some of them even put numbers in front of these apparently personal comments, as if theyve copied them from a numbered list and forgotten to proofread them before they posted.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., didnt immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

Despite the campaigns apparent ineffectiveness, its notable for the sheer number of websites on which its operators tried to share the material. It includes TikTok, the video-sharing site Vimeo, LiveJournal, Reddit, Medium, Tumblr and the audio platform SoundCloud.

A Reddit spokesperson said in an email that the company regularly bans accounts tied to Spamouflage.

TikTok, Vimeo, Medium, Tumblr and SoundCloud didnt immediately respond to an email requesting comment. LiveJournal could not be reached for comment.

The material was often remarkably unconvincing, Nimmo said.

There was one case where the operation replied to a question on Quora, which was about losing belly fat in English, with a post in Chinese about why Taiwan should surrender. So it doesnt look like this has been a high-precision effort, or heavily focused on actually attracting a real audience, he said.

Quora didnt respond to an email requesting comment.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The flight must be booked between now and Sept. 4.

Low-cost Icelandic airline Play is celebrating the end of summer with a flight sale to the UK and Europe starting at just $129.

The flights, which must be booked between Aug. 20 and Sept. 4, is valid on flights from the United States to Iceland, Copenhagen, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, and Glasgow from October through March 2024, the airline shared with Travel + Leisure. One-way flights to Iceland start at just $129, while one-way flights to other destinations start at $159.

Summer is winding down and now is the perfect time for travelers to book a shoulder season getaway to look forward to this fall or winter, Birgir Jonsson, the CEO of Play, told T+L. With PLAYs flights to popular European destinations under $160, travelers can save on airfare and book the vacation of their dreams in the off season, avoiding crowds and saving their budget for the experiences that will make the trip memorable.

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Travelers can book flights from several of Plays U.S. gateway airports: Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Boston Logan International Airport, New York Stewart International Airport, or Washington Dulles International Airport.

The sale is not valid on flights booked during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The flight prices include all taxes, fees, and carrier charges.

Play first started operating flights in Europe in 2021 and launched its first flight from the U.S. the next year. The low-cost airline operates a "hub-and-spoke model" in which all flights connect through Reykjavik before heading on to other European destinations or back to the U.S.

The sale follows an extremely costly summer for international travel, especially when it comes to flights to Europe. In fact, airfare to Europe remains 7 percent higher than before the pandemic, according to travel app Hopper.

Beyond travel to Europe, airfare costs for domestic flights are actually expected to drop 2 percent this month and remain low through mid September.

For more Travel & Leisure news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
In this article, we will take a detailed look at the 25 Most Civilized Countries in the World, with insights into factors that make a country civilized, as well as a look into the uncivilized nations in the world. For a quick overview of the top 10 civilized countries, read our article 10 Most Civilized Countries in the World.

Civilized countries can be great places to live, work, and peacefully raise families in. They offer top-notch quality of life, excellent chances for education, and a safe, secure atmosphere to thrive in. Advanced and developed countries play a key role in the economic development of the world. For example, the United States is not only known for its cultural influences but also for various renowned tech giants and information technology (IT) houses. Apple (NASDAQ: APPL ), a multinational technology company, is a prominent player in the US tech industry. Apple's (NASDAQ:APPL) current market cap stands at around $2.7 trillion and the company plans to invest $ 430 billion in the US economy.

Japan, a cultured global powerhouse, supports flourishing businesses through careful planning, clear rules, and a solid commitment to efficient operations. Exemplifying this prowess, Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM), with a current market cap of $222.4 billion, leads the list of Japan's largest companies . Back in 2022, Toyota (NYSE:TM) declared to invest up to 730 billion Yen (approximately USD 5.6 billion) in Japan, aiming to begin battery production between 2024 and 2026. In the same year, Toyota (NYSE:TM) teamed up with 7 other Japanese companies to make next-generation chips.

Canada is considered another civilized country and is home to many successful businesses, including Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BN), one of the world's leading alternative investment companies. Brookfield (NYSE:BN) has a current market capitalization of $13.01 billion. The company invests in various sectors, including real estate, infrastructure, renewable energy, and private equity. One of Brookfield's (NYSE:BN) most notable achievements is creating the world's largest renewable energy platform. In 2022, the company invested $2 billion in wind and solar projects worldwide. This investment has helped to make Canada a leader in the fight against climate change.

Story continues

The UK, another prominent civilized nation, is home to some of the world's many successful businesses. Shell (NYSE:SHEL), headquartered in London, is one of the world's leading oil and gas companies. The company has a current market capitalization of $203.85 billion and operates in over 70 countries. Shell (NYSE:SHEL) employs over 40,000 people in the UK, generating billions of pounds in revenue annually. Building upon its substantial low-carbon energy investments, Shell UK (NYSE:SHEL) also aims to channel up to 25 billion into the country's energy system.

Most Civilized Countries in the World

saiko3p/Shutterstock.com

Methodology

To rank the 25 most civilized countries in the World, we analyzed their HDI (Human Development Index), Rule of Law, Education & Literacy Rates, and Human Rights and Civil Liberties of some of the top countries in the world.

To understand these crucial metrics, we referred to rankings and reports by UNDP, US News, and Vision of Humanity. We started by scoring countries on each individual index from 1 to 25 (25 being the highest civilized and 1 being the lowest in our study).

We then generated weighted average rankings using the weighted scoring system. Each index was given a specific weight, reflecting its relative importance:

HDI: 0.3

Rule of Law: 0.3

Education and Literacy Rights: 0.2

Human Rights and Civil Liberties: 0.2

We then ranked the countries in descending order from 25 to 1 (based on the weighted average results), with 1 representing the highest rank and 25 representing the lowest on our list.

25 Most Civilized Countries in the World

Based on our analysis, here are the 25 most civilized countries in the World.

25. China

China has made remarkable inventions and advancements in several fields of technology and education.

24. Greece

Because of its multicultural population and generous welfare system, Greece is often cited as an example of a well-developed society. It is especially known for its healthcare, schooling systems, and its historical contribution to literacy and education.

23. Uruguay

When it comes to democracy, gender equality, and environmental preservation, Uruguay is an exemplary civilized society. Free public schools and universal health care are some of the many social initiatives contributing to the high quality of life in the country. The crime rate in Uruguay has declined by 9.69% from 2002 to 2021.

22. Spain

Spain's commitment to maintaining the rule of law for a just society promotes accountability and fairness. The rule of law in the country has improved by 0.4 points from 2019 to 2020. Spain is putting significant focus on accessible and comprehensive schooling and education to make it available for everyone in the country.

21. South Korea

South Korea is renowned for its commitment to upholding the rule of law, which fosters a fair and just society. The country boasts a robust legal framework that promotes accountability, safeguards individual rights, and maintains social order.

20. Czechia

Germany is now Europe's emerging economy because of its dedication to technological innovation and lean production.

19. Slovenia

Slovenia's high HDI reflects its commitment to improving the well-being of its citizens. With factors such as life expectancy, education, and income considered, Slovenia consistently ranks among the top countries in overall development.

18. United States

Because of its multicultural and technologically advanced nation and economically powerful democracy, the United States of America represents a remarkable synthesis of civilizations. The quality of life is high, the healthcare is excellent, and the education system is on par with the finest in the world, notwithstanding some socioeconomic gaps. The United States is also considered a civilized country due to its commitment to freedom, human rights, and equality.

17. Taiwan

Taiwan is frequently held up as an example of a progressive society because of its reputation as one of the world's most sophisticated nations. The people of Taiwan have built a community that others may learn from by putting human rights, the rule of law, and the betterment of healthcare and education at the top of their agendas. The country's global financial and commercial leader status indicates its progressive culture and economy.

16. Singapore

Singapore is known as the economic hub globally. The low crime rate, non-corrupted government, and strategic positioning made Singapore a worldwide economic hub. The government is quite concerned about the healthcare system, high standards of education, and low racial discrimination. Law and order are well observed in the country.

15. Austria

Austria's high standard of living and top-notch education system are unparalleled. This country is constantly ranked at the top positions in environmental protection and safety surveys. Austria gets over 80% of its power from renewable sources, which contributes to its environmental protection. The cultural traditions are well preserved in Austria.

14. Japan

Japan is famous for its technological innovations. The health care system, education system, and the rule of law in Japan are also of high standards. Japan advocates a healthy environment to provide its citizens with a healthy mind and soul.

13. United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, three main components of a civilized country are visible, i.e. living standards, culture, and law enforcement. The city's educational and healthcare facilities are among the best in the world. The United Kingdom's success as a global financial center and a significant actor in international affairs reflects its importance of peaceful negotiation.

12. Canada

Canadas diverse population and high standard of living make it an exemplar of a well-functioning civil society. Both the healthcare and schooling systems in this nation are world-class. Canada protects nature well; it has one of the highest forest cover rates, at over 40%. It is considered one of the most civilized nations because of its commitment to respect other cultures and personal freedoms.

11. New Zealand

New Zealand stands apart for several reasons, including its strong democratic traditions, peaceful culture, and its dedication to the rights of indigenous Maori people. The government's dedication to environmental sustainability, good educational standards, and excellent healthcare system exemplify civilized governance. The sophisticated level of this civilization may be seen in its commitment to fairness and equality.

Click to continue reading and see the 10 Most Civilized Countries in the World.

Suggested Articles:

Disclosure. None. The 25 Most Civilized Countries in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey.
Back in 2021, Joshua Leonard and Alison Pill fell in love with a home in New Yorks Hudson Valley that immediately struck them as a weird, rundown, hodgepodge of styles and eras.

The married actorshe probably most known for The Blair Witch Project, and she The Newsroomwound up purchasing the 200-year-old property for a mere $718,900, and subsequently renovated and updated the place to suit a new generation of tastes; now, two years later, the couple is putting their fully transformed compound up for sale, asking just over $4.2 million.

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When I first laid eyes on Breezy Hill, none of it really made sense, says Leonard, who recently retired from a 25-year stint in the film industry to pursue his passion for building. From the early 19th-century stone house, built with bluestone excavated on site, to the civil war-era post-and-beam barnto the two 1950s-era boarding houses. It was magical and derelict, but even in its rawest state, I could feel the generations of hands and hearts that had gone into building it.

It spoke to melike when you meet a lover whos weirdest, most hidden parts are what you actually find the most appealing, he adds. I knew how epic the property could be with the right stewardship, and believed (for better or worse), that I was the one to do it.

Much of the stone used in the renovation was excavated on the property.

During the construction process, Leonard says protecting the marks of craftsmanship that came before him was just as important as updating the property with his own twist, which included the challenging task of bringing all of the infrastructure and creature comforts up to modern-day standards. Per The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the sale, the multi-seven-figure project encompassed raising the ceilings and exterior stone walls, adding a cupola, reconfiguring the floor plan and building an 1,800-square-foot addition onto the main house.

The result is a stunningly reimagined property sited on a 20-acre parcel of heavily wooded land in the rural community of Accord, about 90 miles north of Manhattan. Included is a 19th-century stone house, plus two newly rebuilt guesthousesfor a total of six bedrooms and an equal number of baths in around 5,000 square feet of living space spotlighted by stone excavated from the property. There also is the aforementioned barn and a detached one-car garage.

Especially standing out in the three-story main house is a sitting room featuring reclaimed wood and the original stone, which opens to a spacious kitchen outfitted with white oak floors, custom cabinetry, an under-lit marble island, a built-in butcher block and top-tier stainless appliances, as well as a window-lined breakfast nook and French doors spilling out to a veranda.

Other highlights include a newly enlarged 1,000-square-foot primary bedroom suite resting behind a sliding wood barn door, and holding French doors leading to a private balcony, a walk-in closet, and spa-inspired bath equipped with radiant-heated floors, dual vanities, a soaking tub and large glass-encased shower.

Perhaps the most special part of the property, though, are the secluded and picturesque grounds, which are laced with rolling hills, a spring-fed pond and streams with seasonal waterfalls. Then theres the beautifully restored barn, which flaunts the stained-glass windows, along with a hand-chiseled chestnut staircase and massive wrought-iron chandelier salvaged from a circa-1860s hotel in Manhattan.

The teal-hued kitchen sports white oak floors, custom cabinetry, an eat-in island and top-tier stainless appliances.

Whats next for Leonard now that hes completed his first professional renovation? Im excited to spend this next chapter of my life building in the Hudson Valley, he says. I just contracted myself out to a client for the first time to design and build a house that I think will be very special. I also want to keep building/rebuilding/imagining/reimagining my own projects. I dont have a specific agenda, but am very excited for all the possibilities that this area and its community have to offer.

One of the most expensive homes currently on the market in Ulster County, the home is listed by Robert Airhart with the Clement, Brooks & Safier Team of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hudson Valley Properties.

Click here for more images of Joshua Leonard and Alison Pills Breezy Hill compound.

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Click here to read the full article.
Meet Bleetary, a Zimbabwean travel blogger based in Finland. A versatile traveler who loves exploring various travel styles, she enjoys a range of experiences, from budget solo adventures and group trips to indulgent luxury stays and baecations. In June, she visited Prague, Czech Republic on a solo trip, spending three nights in the European city.

Prague is an ideal travel destination due to its rich history, stunning architecture and vibrant culture, Bleetary told Travel Noire. What I liked most about the city was the seamless blend of old-world charm and modern cosmopolitan vibes, making every corner a picturesque delight.

During her time in the city, she stayed at A & O Prague, which she considers a fantastic accommodation choice for budget travelers seeking comfort and convenience. She booked a double room that ensured her a cozy and affordable stay without compromising on quality.

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With its friendly staff, excellent amenities and strategic location about 2.3 km from the city, A & O Prague provides a comfortable base to explore the city without breaking the bank, she said.

One of the highlights of her trip was a medieval five-course dinner. This immersive experience transported her back in time with a delightful feast and captivating performances. Another memorable activity she enjoyed was a vintage car city tour.

I felt like royalty as I explored the citys historic landmarks in style, she said. Both activities added a touch of magic and made my time in Prague truly unforgettable.

Heres her full three-day itinerary of things to do in Prague, Czech Republic.

Day 1: Exploring Pragues Highlights

Start your Prague adventure with a vintage old car ride city tour, a fantastic way to soak in the citys charm. She booked this delightful tour through Get Your Guide, which made the whole experience seamless. They also provided pick-up from her hotel.

After the tour, she headed to the Dancing Building, also known as the Fred and Ginger House. This architectural gem stands out with its curvy, unconventional design. Its a must-visit for architecture enthusiasts and offers fantastic photo opportunities.

To unwind, she made my way to Cafe Chloe. It is a cozy cafe with a warm ambiance. She ate red velvet cake and sipped on fragrant Czech coffee, while soaking up the relaxed atmosphere.

Day 2: Immerse in History and Culture

In the morning, she ventured to the Book Library. She described the vast collection and tranquil atmosphere as the perfect environment for browsing or delving into a good book.

For an extraordinary evening, she dined at a medieval experience that she booked through Get Your Guide. The experience transported her back in time. She had a delectable feast and was entertained by medieval performers.

A trip to Prague is complete without exploring Prague Castle. The magnificent complex that towers over the city was her next stop. The intricate architecture, stunning views and deep-rooted history make it a must-see attraction.

Day 3: Hidden Gems and Cultural Delights

She sought out the Bubble Point View, which is a hidden gem offering breathtaking panoramic vistas of Pragues skyline. Its a serene spot to soak in the beauty of the city and capture some incredible photos.

Afterward, she went to St. Vitus Cathedral, located within the Prague Castle complex. It took six centuries to complete, and its stunning stained glass windows depict biblical scenes. The Gothic architecture and intricate stained glass windows left her in awe of the craftsmanship. She described it as a spiritual and architectural masterpiece that should not be missed.

Tips for Visiting Prague

Bleetary recommends that travelers keep some cash on hand while in Prague. She also suggests combining a trip to Prague with visits to neighboring Vienna and Budapest.

The bus or train rides are three hours or less, she said. It is much cheaper for people who are doing Europe tours. It saves you airport hustles and provides great views along the journey.

To get around within the city, Bleetary says a combination of Uber, walking and riding the public trams works well.

Uber is so affordable there, she explained. The trams are [also] cheap and interesting to use if you are interested in seeing more rather than being taken from one point to the other. Most tourist sites are pretty close to each other, so walk and discover hidden gems.
As we all know, cats are pretty smart and can learn new tricks, just like dogs can. But since they're careful hunters, they know how to be discreet.

Oklahoma TV reporter @kweaves_ shared a video, posted on August 29, of a kitty at a local business in Downtown Tulsa that takes your money! See for yourself!

View the original article to see embedded media.

Meet "Cashnip Kitty."

His given name almost sounds like the nickname of a gangster who takes money from locals and businesses as a protection racket.

But don't be alarmed; Cashnip Kitty is harmless and doesn't even steal your pocket cash but demands you give it to him directly through a slot by the entrance.

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And how could you say "no" to a cute cat like Cashnip Kitty?

After inserting the cash, he playfully grabs the money and brings it to his owner, creating a delightful and memorable experience for visitors.

What makes this story even more heartwarming is that the money collected by Cashnip Kitty isn't for personal gain.

Instead, the owners of the business generously donate the collected funds to a local homeless shelter. This thoughtful act of charity demonstrates how a simple yet creative idea involving a furry friend can have a positive impact on the community.

As this story continues to unfold, it showcases how small gestures can lead to significant positive changes, highlighting the unique and heartwarming bond between animals, businesses, and the community they serve.

So if you're planning on visiting Tulsa anytime soon, make sure to give Cashnip Kitty a visit in the East Village area of Downtown Tulsa, but don't come empty-handed.

Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos. Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips.

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A kayak fisherman in New Zealand had a chilling brush with a great white shark over the weekend, and he captured it all on video. Greg Potter, who lives on the North Island, was jigging for tuna in Waihau Bay on Aug. 26 when he suddenly found himself caught between a hungry shark and a fleeing seal. The shark rammed Potters kayak twice, nearly knocking him overboard and into the action.

A sponsored kayak angler and YouTuber, Potter shared footage of his close call with the shark on his GP Fishing Adventures channel. The video was filmed off the East Cape of New Zealand roughly six miles from the nearest coastline, according to The New Zealand Herald.

In the videos caption, Potter explains that he was focused on fishing when he noticed a feeding shark on the waters surface. He says he thinks it was a great white, but that he cant be 100 percent sure it wasnt a mako. Regardless, he quickly realized that the juvenile shark was hunting a seal, and he sat there filming from a distance while the seal swam for its life.

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Towards the beginning of his video, the seal jumps and jukes as its chased by the shark. Around the 40-second mark, the shark attacks its prey from below and the seal flies completely out of the water, spinning and backflipping through the air. Thats when it notices Potters kayak, which is the only shelter in sight amid the open ocean.

The distance I had between myself and the shark was quickly closed, Potter explains, when the seal decided my kayak would be a good hiding spot.

Read Next: Hawaiian Angler Missing at Sea After Being Pulled Overboard by a Giant Tuna

The seal then swims directly at and under Potters pedal-drive kayak while the shark follows close behind. Caught between predator and prey, Potter gets rammed twice by the shark. He has to brace himself with one hand so he doesnt end up in the water. Looking a bit like a seal himself wearing black neoprene, Potter then hops on the pedals and gets out of there as quickly as he can.

"If it had managed to get me out of the kayak, that could have been a pretty disastrous ending, Potter told The Herald. I was dressed in full black, pretty much  I can only imagine what the shark would have made of my legs thrashing around.
The South Shore will honor the memories of those lost to overdoses with a butterfly release in Braintree and candlelight vigils in Weymouth and Quincy on Thursday.

In Quincy, Baystate Community Services will host "An Event of Remembrance and Hope" at New Way Peer Recovery at 85 Quincy Ave. at 4 p.m. The event, which will be open to the public, will feature speakers sharing their experiences of loss due to overdoses.

At 7 p.m., Quincy will host its 13th Annual Candlelight Vigil on the Hancock Adams Common. The event is "in memory of all those lost to overdose and substance abuse disorder," the city wrote in a social media post.

The Braintree Community Partnership on Substance Use and The Sun Will Rise Foundation will hold an International Overdose Awareness Day observance at 10 a.m. outside Braintree Town Hall, 1 John F. Kennedy Memorial Drive. The ceremony will conclude with a butterfly release.

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On a fence next to town hall, 2,367 purple flags are on display to signify all the overdose deaths in Massachusetts during 2022. There are 10 white ones for the Braintree residents who died.

The Weymouth vigil will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Bradford Hawes Park, 167 Lakehurst Ave. It is sponsored by the Town of Weymouth Prevention Alliance and Community Partners.

Purple ribbons at Braintree Town Hall signify the loss of lives to drug overdoses.

Keryn Jacobs, the town's substance use prevention coordinator, said 24 Weymouth residents died from overdoses in 2022.

"We continue to work with health care systems, community organizations, first responders, schools and residents to create a healthier community by implementing harm reduction strategies, recovery programming and increasing access to mental health resources," Jacobs said.

The mission of the prevention alliance is to create a strong and healthy community by changing the social norms and minimizing the impact of substance misuse.

Jacobs said the alliance is working with Building Up Youth, a regional substance use prevention grant program involving Braintree, Milton, Quincy, Randolph and Weymouth. They are also part of the HEALing Communities Study with Boston Medical Center. The program tries to bridge the gaps that prevent people addicted to opioids from getting quality care and treatment.

For more information, contact Jacobs at 781-340-5008.

Staff writers Fred Hanson and Peter Blandino contributed to this report.

If you know of other South Shore events happening for International Overdose Awareness Day that you'd like added to this story, email Fred Hanson fhanson@patriotledger.com.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Here is our latest offer.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Overdose Awareness Day: Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth plan ceremonies
Four Texas family members have died in an apparent murder-suicide shooting in a Dallas suburb just weeks after the family's 4-year-old daughter drowned.

On Monday morning, Allen police responded to a wellness check initiated by a family member who was locked out of the house, police Sgt. Jonathan Maness told USA TODAY.

When police officers entered the home, they found four people dead in a shooting from a handgun, Maness said.

Police believe the daughters previous death was a factor, Maness said. A suspect in the latest deaths has not been confirmed, he said.

The Islamic Association of Allen announced in a post the identities of the deceased family members: Farman Sherwani, father; Layla Sherwani, mother; Shaheen Sherwani, 12-year-old son; and Mateen Sherwani, 2-year-old son. Police confirmed the identities.

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Murder-suicide: Texas leads the nation in 'family annihilation' cases, study finds

Family buried with deceased daughter

Before sunset Tuesday evening, the family members, who were Kurdish Iraqi, were buried at the Denton Muslim Cemetery, shortly after officials released their bodies, in accordance with their faith, Imam Abdur Rahman Bashir told USA TODAY. "When someone dies, they should quickly be buried and move on in the process in moving to their creator," he said. He added that the family were congregants of the Islamic Association.

In early August, the Sherwanis' daughter drowned in a pool at a family gathering. Her parents and brothers joined her at the same cemetery as their daughter.

This is something that is really hard for us to even begin to imagine how to process, Bashir told mourners at the familys funeral prayer Tuesday evening.

The Islamic Association worked to help people grieving or those in crisis with counselors, sessions and suicide-prevention hotlines.

We are all one ummah (community), we are all one body, Bashir said. It is our job to be there for each other wherever we can, whenever we can, however we can.

Another murder-suicide in the community

Bashir said there was another murder-suicide of a family in the community. In 2021, an Allen family of six died after two brothers killed their parents, sister and grandmother, before killing themselves.

Allen mass shooting: Gunman kills 8 in rampage at Texas outlet mall in nation's 200th mass shooting of 2023

Allens latest murder-suicide on Monday comes as the U.S. has seen a recent spate of "family annihilations," when someone kills at least two kinds of family members. Such killings typically occur about every five days. Texas leads the nation in family annihilations, according to a report published by the Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network.

On Monday, New York City Police found a family of four dead after the father, a building superintendent, was suspected of fatally stabbing his wife and two toddler sons before turning the knife on himself. On Sunday, sheriffs deputies in Florida say a mother fatally shot her son and daughter and then killed herself. Earlier in August, an Ohio family of five and an Oklahoma City family of five also died in murder-suicide shootings.

In May, Allen also saw nine people die, including the white supremacist perpetrator, in a mass shooting at the city's outlet center. Monday's murder-suicide of the Sherwani family occurred about three miles from the mass shooting.

If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) any time day or night, or chat online.

Eduardo Cuevas covers health and breaking news for USA TODAY. He can be reached at EMCuevas1@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Police: Texas family of four dies in murder-suicide in Dallas suburb
Another 51 asylum-seekers arrived in Rochester from New York City on Monday night, according to a statement from Monroe County.

They were brought to the same Holiday Inn on State Street that gave shelter to the first group of asylum-seekers who were relocated to Monroe County in early August.

DocGo, the company contracted by New York City for placements, shared the following information about the new arrivals:

There are 12 families. One family is from Haiti, one from Jamaica, seven are from Venezuela and three from Ecuador.

The group consists of 28 children and 23 adults.

Their primary languages are English and Spanish.

Asylum-seekers from New York City are staying at a downtown Rochester hotel, pictured in this file photo. The housing, food and support services will be paid by New York City.

Why are asylum-seekers being relocated to Monroe County, NY?

Last year, Republican governors of Texas and Arizona started busing asylum-seekers from the southern border to more liberal cities, including New York City. Some other states followed suit and created their own relocation programs.

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Past coverage: Texas, Arizona bus migrants to U.S. cities, and now Chicago. Here's what could happen next

More than 100,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in New York state over the last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a recent speech where she called on President Joe Biden to direct federal resources to provide aid.

"These individuals are literally fleeing for their lives  political strife, gang violence, extreme poverty and persecution," Hochul said.

"I do believe we have a moral imperative to help these new arrivals."

Since busing began, New York has exhausted its shelter space for asylum-seekers, according to its mayor, Eric Adams. As of May, New York City has relocated hundreds of asylum-seekers to hotels in at least seven counties around the state.

Among the 77 adults and children became the first wave of asylum-seekers to reach Rochester earlier this month was a Venezuelan woman who gave birth during her journey to the southern border.

'A humanitarian crisis': NYC mayor declares state of emergency over migrants bused from Texas, Arizona

'People were dying all around us': Angolan family seeking asylum in Rochester shares story

How are Monroe County governments, New York City and New York state providing resources to help asylum-seekers?

Monroe County has said that New York City is paying for related food, shelter and health needs.

Rochester and Monroe County leaders have expressed their desire to assist the families in transit while ensuring that local taxpayers don't bear the cost.

"The county of Monroe, the city of Rochester, these nonprofits do not have a bottomless pit of resources," Rochester Mayor Malik Evans said at an Aug. 8 news conference.

Previous coverage: Scared asylum-seekers reach Rochester. Officials offer help, but won't spend tax money

In her recent speech, Hochul said the influx is a "crisis that originated with the federal government, and it must be resolved through the federal government." Her administration has asked for a federal designation that would allow asylum-seekers already in New York to work and support themselves and their families, Hochul said.

"What we've said all along is just let them work and help us out financially," she said.

Watch Hochul's full speech:

How can people donate to help asylum seekers in Rochester, NY?

At this time, people should avoid sending items directly to the Holiday Inn.

The Ibero-American Action League has made available two drop-off locations in Rochester to those who want to donate:

Community Resource Center, 216 Clifford Ave.

Main Office (Planet Aid White Box at the back entrance), 124 Evergreen St.

More information is also available on the United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes website.

This story included reporting by Justin Murphy.

Contact Robert Bell at: rlbell@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @byrobbell & Instagram: @byrobbell.

Maryann Batlle (she/her/hers) is Emerging Audiences Editor at the Democrat and Chronicle. Reach her by email: mbatlle@gannett.com.

This coverage is only possible with support from our readers

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: As Rochester NY accepts new group of asylum-seekers, Hochul appeals to Biden for aid
Handcuffs at the Oquirrh 1 housing facility at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Wednesday, March 5, 2014. An arrest warrant has been issued for an Arizona man accused of sending a death threat to a Utah judge. | Ravell Call, Deseret News

An arrest warrant has been issued for an Arizona man accused of making a death threat against a southern Utah judge.

Jeffrey Victor Mindock, 50, of Tempe, Arizona, was charged Thursday in 5th District Court with making threats against judge, a third-degree felony; plus electronic communication harassment and making a threat of violence, class B misdemeanors.

On Aug. 16, Mindock sent an email to both a 5th District Court judge and an attorney involved in a separate stalking injunction case against Mindock. In the email, Mindock calls the judge a "race traitor" and said he "will die," according to charging documents.

"I want the court to schedule a hearing/execution date where I will execute zionist sympathizer (judge) for his crimes against his own race. He has decided to aid the Israelites in persecuting me with this injunction. He will hang from the gallows for this crime," the email states, according to the charges.

A warrant was issued Friday for Mindock's arrest for failing to show up for a scheduled court hearing in St. George.
Ohio Rep. Bob Young continues to serve as chairman of a House committee despite his recent arrests.

Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens called on Republican Rep. Bob Young to resign after Young's first arrest but has not stripped Young of a committee leadership position that comes with a pay bump.

Young, R-Green, serves as chairman of the House Pension Committee, which comes with an additional $9,000 above the $69,876 base salary for state lawmakers. Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, controls who serve as chairs and vice chairs of House committees.

Asked about Young's chairmanship, Stephens spokesman Aaron Mulvey replied: "The speaker stands by his original statement."

Young is accused of assaulting two relatives, slapping one and charging at another, on July 7, according to police reports. The altercations occurred shortly after a July 6 Republican fundraiser that Stephens attended. Young has pleaded not guilty to domestic violence and assault, both first-degree misdemeanors.

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"I was disappointed and shocked to hear what allegedly transpired sometime after I had left the Young house," Stephens said in July. "Although I believe that people are innocent until proven guilty, I asked Bob for his resignation as state representative so he can focus on his family at this time."

On Monday, Young was arrested again, this time for "recklessly" violating the terms of a protection order. He pleaded not guilty to the new charge Wednesday.

More: After second arrest, judge orders state Rep. Bob Young to wear GPS monitor to leave jail

The second arrest prompted Democratic Reps. Tavia Galonski, of Akron, and Rep. Casey Weinstein, of Hudson, to ask Stephens to remove Young from the chairman position and sanction him.

"We have a responsibility to represent our constituents and our state with just and moral behavior. Rep. Young has unfortunately failed to live up to that responsibility," Galonski and Weinstein said in a joint statement.

Stephens, as leader of the Ohio House of Representatives, has the authority to appoint lawmakers to or remove them from leadership positions in the chamber's more than two dozen standing committees. These legislators run the committees, which review bills on certain topics, such as insurance, public utilities or transportation.

The speaker can change chair and vice chair positions at any point, for any reason. For example, Stephens removed Rep. Derek Merrin, a Republican rival for the speaker's job, from vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this year. GOP Reps. Ron Ferguson, of Wintersville, and Jena Powell, of Arcanum, also lost leadership roles. A House GOP spokesman told Cleveland.com at the time that the three were removed to make room for newly appointed lawmakers.

Stephens also removed Rep. Scott Wiggam, R-Wooster, from the House Constitutional Resolutions Committee, which was overseeing a proposal to make it harder to amend the state constitution.

Akron Beacon Journal reporters Doug Livingston and Bryce Buyakie contributed to this article.

Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Arrested Ohio Rep. Bob Young keeps chairmanship, pay bump
After experimenting with nostalgic films for its summer Bama Art House series, in place of the usual new indie, foreign or art films, the Arts Council is bringing the idea back for fall, with four comedy, fantasy and horror-related oldies leading up to the Halloween season, broken up Oct. 3 by the annual Manhattan Short Film Festival.

More: United Way of West Alabama sets ambitious fundraising goal

Screenings will be 7 p.m. Tuesdays from Sept. 12-Oct. 24, with the exception of Sept. 26 and Oct. 17, at the Bama Theatre. The doors, box office and Bama Bar open at 6. Admission is $10 general, $9 for students and seniors, and $8 for Arts Council members. Season pass punch card tickets will be on sale for $70, good for any 10 films, in any upcoming series.

Ghostbusters

Sept. 12: "Ghostbusters" (1984), rated PG, 1 hour 45 minutes. Directed by Ivan Reitman ("Meatballs," "Stripes," "Kindergarten Cop"). Original of the much-remade/revisited tale of out-of-work academics who set up a ghost-removal service when their parapsychology funding falls through. Starring Dan Akyroyd (Ray Stantz) and Harold Ramis (Egon Spengler), who wrote the script with uncredited help from Rick Moranis (Louis Tully), and Bill Murray as Peter Venkman. Also featuring Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson and William Atherton. Rotten Tomatoes score: 95% Fresh from 79 reviews; 88% audience score, from 250,000 plus ratings.

Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Dan Akyroyd star as the original three in 1984's "Ghostbusters."

Sleepy Hollow

Sept. 19: "Sleepy Hollow" (1999), rated R, 1 hour 45 minutes. Directed by Tim Burton, based on "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. Constable Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is sent to investigate a series of decapitations credited to a mysterious Hessian and/or Headless Horseman (Christopher Walken). Also featuring Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Christopher Lee and Jeffrey Jones. Rotten Tomatoes score: 70% Fresh from 125 reviews; 80% audience score, from 250,000 plus ratings.

Christopher Walken plays the Hessian Horseman in the 1999 "Sleepy Hollow."

Manhattan Short Film Festival

Oct. 3: "26th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival." Global film festival in which more than 100,000 viewers in more than 500 cities over six continents view and vote on finalists. At the Bama Theatre, patrons will get a voting card and official program, voting for one actor and film as their favorite. Votes are tallied then emailed to NYC headquarters.

"Love, Dad" and "Don Vs. Lightning" are among the entries in the 2023 Manhattan Short Film Festival. The Bama Theatre will again be one of 500 venues showing it worldwide; patrons can vote on favorites.

The Fog

Oct. 10: "The Fog" (2005), rated PG-13, 1 hour 40 minutes. Remake of John Carpenter's 1980 thriller, directed by Rupert Wainright ("Stigmata"), about a mist filled with vengeful spirits terrorizing an Oregon coastal town. Starring Tom Welling, Maggie Grace, Selma Blair. Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%, from 69 reviews; 19% audience score, from 100,000 plus ratings.

Tom Wellington and Maggie Grace star in the 2005 remake of "The Fog."

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Oct. 24: "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992), rated R, two hours eight minutes. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on Stoker's novel "Dracula" (1897), in which the centuries-old vampire travels to England to court new blood. Starring Gary Oldman as the head bloodsucker, Winona Ryder as Mina Murray, Anthony Hopkins as Professor Van Helsing, Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker, Richard E. Grant as Dr. Seward, Sadie Frost as Lucy Westenra, Cary Elwes as Lord Holmwood, and Tom Waits as Renfield. Rotten Tomatoes score: 78% Fresh, from 67 reviews; 79% audience score, from 250,000 plus ratings.

Gary Oldman stakes out the title role in "Bram Stoker's Dracula."

The Bama Theatre is at 600 Greensboro Ave., downtown Tuscaloosa. For more, call 205-758-5195, see www.tuscarts.org, or see Bama/Arts Council presences on Facebook and Instagram.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Bama Art House fall series will have Halloween flavor
Abbas Ganbay

US-funded non-governmental organization Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) has handed over five more bomb disposal dogs to Azerbaijan

The U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan said Wednesday that the Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) has handed over five more bomb-detection dogs to Azerbaijan. This is the 300th bomb-sniffing dog transferred by MLI to mine-affected countries, of which 81 bomb-sniffing dogs were sent to Azerbaijan. This support is particularly significant as it follows a previous phase in which MLI transferred 6 demining dogs to Azerbaijan, Azernews reports, citing MLI.

MLI is a US-funded non-governmental organization working to reduce the impact of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) around the world. Together with local partners, the organization provides rescue dogs, mine risk education, and victim assistance programs. MLI has been working in Azerbaijan since 2001, providing mine detection dogs and training to the Azerbaijan National Mine Action Agency (ANAMA).

The U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan reported the news on social networking site X (Twitter), noting that the transfer of scout dogs is an important step in helping to reduce the impact of landmines and ERW in Azerbaijan. The scout dogs will help detect and defuse mines, making it safer for people to live and work in affected areas.

The U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan expressed its gratitude to MLI for its continued support and assistance in making Azerbaijan a safer place.

Azerbaijan has made demining its top priority as hundreds of thousands of former internally displaced persons (IDPs) hope to return to their homes and rebuild destroyed towns. The region was once known for its agricultural products.

This urgent need to demine the liberated territories is one of Azerbaijan's "most important issues", as reiterated by President Aliyev during a speech at the Azerbaijan Global Media Forum last month. Addressing hundreds of international delegates in the city of Shusha - which is also in an area still heavily contaminated by mines - some 300 Azerbaijanis have been killed or injured by landmines since Azerbaijan reclaimed the region.

Azerbaijan's National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA), established in 1998 with a mandate to demine the country with United Nations support, has developed innovative approaches to demining. It has also been supported by the US government over the years. Today, the agency is training new IDP volunteers.
Former Chief of Staff for Idaho Department of Education Joins EdTech Leader to Expand Advocacy Initiatives

LOS ANGELES, August 30, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Age of Learning, leading education technology innovator and creator of the widely popular ABCmouse Early Learning Academy, today announced it has appointed former Chief of Staff for the Idaho Department of Education Luci Willits as Vice President of Public Policy. Willits will focus on expanding the availability of Age of Learnings evidenced-based school solutions My Math Academy and My Reading Academy, by overseeing collaborations with public policy leaders and organizations at the local, state, and national levels.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830180653/en/

Luci Willits, Age of Learning, Vice President of Public Policy (Photo: Business Wire)

In her role at the Idaho Department of Education, Willits advised the elected superintendent on multiple policy initiatives designed to improve public education, including academic standards, teacher compensation, graduation requirements, and federal law. She also worked closely with lawmakers to create and execute legislative strategies, helping to pass significant education legislation in Idaho.

Prior to joining Age of Learning, Willits served as Senior Vice President of Government Relations at MetaMetrics, where she oversaw the companys state portfolio, leading engagement with policymakers and state education departments nationwide. She has also held leadership positions at Curriculum Associates, where she established a national governmental affairs division, and at Smarter Balanced, where she oversaw the successful rollout of online testing for the nations largest testing consortium.

"Luci has a proven track record of achievement and brings invaluable insight into how effective education policy is shaped, thanks to her extensive experience as a public sector leader," said Sunil Gunderia, Chief Innovation Officer at Age of Learning. "Age of Learnings personalized math and reading solutions are dramatically improving outcomes for young students, and with Luci joining our team we have the opportunity to increase the scale of this impact."

Story continues

"Age of Learning stands out for its best-in-class programs and unparalleled evidence of the effectiveness which is a priority for policymakers," said Willits. "Students using My Math Academy and My Reading Academy are showing strong academic gains across the U.S. I look forward to working with Sunil and the world-class Age of Learning team to develop new partnerships and collaborate with education stakeholders to help more learners benefit from My Math Academy and My Reading Academy."

Age of Learnings My Math Academy and My Reading Academy adaptive, personalized solutions are based on learning science principles and are supported by a body of ESSA-aligned research demonstrating their effectiveness. To date, the company has received 10 ESSA-aligned validations for My Math Academy and My Reading Academy.

About Age of Learning

Age of Learning is the leading education technology innovator, creating engaging and effective learning resources to help children build a strong foundation for academic success and a lifelong love of learning. The companys research-based digital education programs have been developed by an experienced team of education experts and have proven efficacy in increasing childrens learning gains. Age of Learnings flagship product, ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy, is an award-winning comprehensive curriculum for children. The companys school solutions programs include My Math Academy, an adaptive, personalized program proven to significantly accelerate math learning outcomes, and My Reading Academy, an adaptive program designed to help young learners build a foundation for reading comprehension and literacy and become fluent readers. With over 11 billion learning activities completed by more than 50 million children worldwide, Age of Learning is a global leader in efforts to advance equity, access, and opportunity for all children. To learn more about Age of Learning, visit www.AgeofLearning.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830180653/en/

Contacts

Jennifer Reza

media@aofl.com


On Monday night, Laura Ingraham touched on how climate activists are carrying out their protests and Rachel Maddow discussed the potential danger of referring to a mass shooter as a lone wolf.

Fox News  Climate activists are behaving like toddlers

On the Ingraham Angle Monday night, Laura Ingraham spoke to journalist Michael Shellenberger on how climate change activists are behaving like toddlers.

As thousands were traveling through Nevada to attend the Burning Man Festival, festivalgoers were halted by a trailer blocking the two-lane road with climate activists chained to it and linking their arms together with PVC pipes, causing traffic to be backed up, all in the name of climate change.

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Clearly, the Nevada Rangers were very moved by the impassioned protesters, Ingraham said. All the tolerance of fanatics and all the peace, love and understanding folks, I think they were really appreciative of the Nevada Rangers clearing those protesters out.

Shellenberger, whose writing focuses on topics such as the intersection of politics, climate change and the environment, said, What weve seen is climate protesters becoming more infantile in their protest over the last year. ... These are behaviors of toddlers, of people who were not raised right, and now its been up to law enforcement to deal with their tantrums.

Shellenberger also claimed that, more often than not, fanatics have nothing else going on in their lives and are usually failed artists themselves.

Burning Man is a big hippie gathering, he said. I will say theres some really great art there, and these are people that are probably not capable of doing anything really creative or beneficial to society, so they find themselves just engaging in destructive behavior.

Related

MSNBC  Lone wolf mass shooters

On the Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow spoke to Kathleen Belew, an associate professor of history at Northwestern University, about Jacksonvilles official plan to release the shooters manifesto in the interest of transparency.

A gunman shot and killed three people at a Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday afternoon before killing himself, Deseret News previously reported. The shooter, identified by authorities as 21-year-old Ryan Christopher Palmeter, came armed with a handgun, AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a bullet-resistant vest, officials said.

We see these manifestos ending up in the hands of future attackers, Belew said. That is a huge problem, and authorities are absolutely right to be cautious in how they circulate.

However, Belew said that those who study violence acted out in this way are limited to their research without having the manifesto. Without the manifesto, were just working with a lot less information, she said.

Maddow mentioned that the Jacksonville sheriff has said that he doesn't believe the shooter was part of a larger organized group and that he acted alone. Maddow asked Belew why it would be wrong to dismiss the shooter's crimes as a lone wolf event just because he acted out his crimes alone.

This is why we need the manifesto, Belew said. When we consume stories about white power violence as single events as a lone wolf attack, we are consuming them as if they are existing without connection to each other, without an ideological basis. So this is how we get stories about Jacksonville as something separate from other mass shootings.

She added that these types of attackers are united through social ties, theyre united ideologically, they share information about weapons and tactics and strategies and they are all working for the same purpose.
CaroMont Health Chief Strategy Officer Del Murphy listens to Project Analyst Cynthia Bradford as she opens the Public Hearing Friday morning, August 18, 2023, at the Gaston County Citizens Resource Center in Dallas.

CaroMont Health is pursuing large-scale expansions for both its Gastonia and upcoming Belmont hospital locations that would take place in coming years.

The organization has filed the application with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services after the departments annual N.C. State Medical Facilities Plan determined a need for 48 additional acute care beds in Gaston County, according to DHHS Certificate of Need Section representative Cynthia Bradford.

DHHS does not pay for approved changes, rather, it determines changes are necessary.

At a public hearing held in Dallas on Aug. 18, CaroMont Health Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Del Murphy presented the hospitals request to Bradford.

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CaroMont requested the ability to upfit of the third floor at their Gastonia location, to include 24 additional acute care beds, nurse stations, a medication room, clean and soiled rooms, consult rooms, a staff lounge with lockers, a family room, a conference room, and administrative support rooms.

The cost of this 33,366-square-foot upfit would come to a total of about $28.01 million.

Requested additions to CaroMonts currently unfinished Belmont location include all of the requested additions to the Gastonia location, plus an observation room, on-call rooms, a third generator, a third chiller/boiler system, a secondary power feed, a gift/coffee shop/hot bar, modified roofing over tapered insulation, and the enlargement of four emergency treatment rooms by 25 feet.

The 36,490-square-foot upfit of the Belmont locations fourth floor would cost about $43,9. million.

The Belmont location has been in progress for more than a year and was projected to be complete by late 2023.

Construction continued Wednesday, April 27, 2022, at the site of CaroMont Regional Medical Center-Belmont on Beatty Drive.

This new location sits right off of exit 27 on Interstate 85.

Murphy listed five reasons the organization needs these updates.

Firstly, Murphy noted that the 2023 State Medical Facilities Plan formula found Gaston County to be one of only five counties in the state that is in need of more than 40 additional acute care beds.

Secondly, Murphy stated that from 2018 to 2023, Gaston Countys population grew by 18,000 people.

Murphy said that the population in Gaston County is expected to grow by another 9,000 people from 2023 to 2028, and that the fastest growing population within those increases are people ages 65 and over.

According to Murphy, the 65 and over age group uses hospital services more frequently than those aged 64 and below.

Murphy sites economic development trends as the third reason for these expansions.

Economic growth and updated infrastructure require up-to-date medical facilities, according to Murphy.

Another reason Murphy offered is the health status of Gaston Countys population.

Out of 100 counties in North Carolina, Gaston County ranks 58th in health outcomes and 54th in health factors, according to Murphy.

Murphy also stated that Mecklenburg County, in comparison, ranks 6th in health outcomes and 9th in health factors.

Lastly, Murphy cited CaroMonts growth as an organization from 2017 to 2022.

If approved, the additions at both locations are set to be completed by July 1, 2026.

The DHHS Certificate of Need Section has until Nov. 27, 2023, to inform CaroMont of their decision, according to Bradford.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: CaroMont Health looks to add beds, spend millions on upgrades
A Columbus man has been arrested on charges in connection with two men who were killed earlier this month on the Near East Side.

Anthony Bogins, 32, was arrested on warrants for having weapons under disability (being a convicted felon illegally in possession of a firearm) and tampering with evidence, according to Columbus police homicide detectives, who are continuing to investigate the double fatal shooting. Bogins' residence is listed by detectives as "streets of Columbus."

The victims in the case are Nicholas L. Ealy, 41, and Alberto C. DeLeon, 69. The two were shot and killed on the afternoon of Aug. 6 on the 1400 block of East Mound Street.

Police got reports of a shooting shortly after noon that day, and responding officers found the Ealy and DeLeon suffering from gunshot wounds.

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Ealy was taken by medics to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he died at 1:01 p.m., Columbus police Sgt. Joe Albert said. DeLeon went by himself to Ohio State University East Hospital, where he died at 1:14 p.m.

A preliminary investigation has shown that an argument took place before the shooting that included the victims, detectives said.

Authorities ask that anyone with information about the shootings call the Columbus police Homicide Unit at (614) 645-4730, or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-TIPS (8477).

dking@dispatch.com

@DanaeKing

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Police arrest Columbus man in connection with fatal double shooting
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department says scammers took thousands of dollars from an elderly man, but it couldve been much worse.

KCPD says a gas station clerk called 911 Monday afternoon to report the man was putting hundreds of dollars into a Bitcoin machine and was on the phone with someone.

Four hospitalized after crash involving KC bus near 12th, Chestnut

Within minutes, police detectives arrived as the man was still putting money into the machine. Police said scammers disconnected the call once officers introduced themselves.

KCPD said the man believed he was talking to the bank and was moving his money to keep it safe.

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Police called the mans daughter, who met officers at the gas station and then went to her fathers bank.

New Northland restaurant will be first of its kind in Missouri

At the bank, officers met with the manger and said moving forward, the bank will call the mans daughter when large withdrawals are being attempted.

KCPD said if youre concerned about a family member falling victim to this type of scam, consider getting on the bank account to be notified for large withdrawals.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy may be a fan of famed rapper Eminem , but the feeling, it appears, is not mutual.

The Daily Mail reported Monday that the rapper has objected to Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur who lives in Upper Arlington near Columbus, using his music on the campaign trail. Ramaswamy grew up in the Cincinnati suburb of Evendale and attended Princeton Junior High and St. Xavier High School.

Ramaswamy went viral earlier this month after he rapped Eminem's 2002 hit "Lose Yourself," his favorite campaign walk-out song, at the Iowa State Fair during an appearance with Gov. Kim Reynolds .

Music licenser BMI sent a letter to a Ramaswamy campaign lawyer that says Eminem's works are no longer part of a music licensing agreement following a request from Eminem, according to Daily Mail.

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More: Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?

"Vivek just got on the stage and cut loose. To the American peoples chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to the real Slim Shady, Ramaswamy campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.

Ramaswamy has risen in national polling for the 2024 Republican presidential primaries in recent weeks, with a current average of about 10.1%, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Former President Donald Trump still dominates in polls, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ramaswamy.

In Iowa, Ramaswamy polled at 4% in a recent Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll, behind six other candidates.

More: Trump declares Ohioan Vivek Ramaswamy winner of GOP debate for singing his praises

He barnstormed the state in recent weeks following a high-profile appearance at the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee last week.

Chris Higgins covers the eastern suburbs for the Reg

Get more political analysis by listening to the Ohio Politics Explained podcast

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Eminem tells Vivek Ramaswamy to stop performing his song
William Jason Lamont Bell Jr. was struck by a semi-truck wheel and rim as he helped his dad change a tire in Indiana

A 15-year-old boy was killed after a freak accident as he helped his father change a tire during a family road trip.

On Thursday, CBS affiliate WBBM-TV spoke with William Jason Lamont Bell Sr., who confirmed his son, William Jason Lamont Bell Jr., died after spending days on life support.

The teen was struck by a wheel and tire rim of a semi-truck on I-80 in Northwest Indiana earlier this month.

"He wore his heart in his face," Bell Sr. told the station.

Related: Mo. Woman Dies After Tire Smashes Through Car, Hits Her in the Head: Almost Impossible to Believe

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"Hes always Baby Boy, Junior," Bell Sr. added while looking at a handful of photos of the 15-year-old.

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.

Bell Jr. and his family were heading to Kentucky when the vehicle they were traveling in caught a flat tire, WBBM-TV reported. "Without having to ask him, I wanna help. He wanted to help," Bell Sr. said.

In a press release shared about the accident, Sgt. Glen Fifield of the Indiana State Police said the teen was struck by a wheel and tire rim of a semi truck on I-80 in Northwest Indiana on Aug. 15.

Related: Mystery of Deadly Tesla Crash Solved as Authorities Share Why No One Was in Driver's Seat

While Bell Sr. and his son were attempting to repair the flat, a semi operated by PDQ Trucking LLC of Mendota, Illinois, passed by, and one of its rear wheels dislodged from the truck and struck the south barrier before striking Bell Jr., the release added.

PEOPLE could not immediately reach PDQ Trucking LLC for comment.

Master Trooper Lawrence McFarrin was dispatched to the scene of the accident at around 10:30 a.m. local time, state police added. The teen was brought to a local medical facility but then transported to a hospital in Chicago and treated for "potentially life-threatening injuries."

At the time, the release said that drugs and alcohol were not believed to be a factor in the accident. However, the semi-truck driver was taken to a local hospital for toxicology tests, which authorities say are standard. The vehicle was impounded as well for a post-crash inspection to be completed.

Related: 6 Oklahoma High School Students Killed in Crash with Semi Truck: 'Our Hearts Are Broken'

Speaking with WBBM-TV, Bell Sr. admitted he initially did not realize his son had been struck by the tire and rim because "it happened all too fast." The father added that his faith is helping the family through the ordeal. "It is only by the grace of God that I can sit here," he shared.

"Losing my son was tragic. He is in a much, much better place that were trying to get to," Bell Sr. added. He said that in addition to relying on prayer, they also find comfort in knowing that Bell Jr.s heart still beats because the teens vital organ was donated to someone in need.

He continued, "If he were still alive, he still would be giving of himself and what better way to give than to give part of you?"

Bell Jr. just turned 15 years old late last month. In a sweet social media post at the time, Bell Sr. wished his "firstborn son" a happy birthday.

"Though I'm a day late, help me wish him a happy birthday!!!" the overjoyed father said in the tribute. "Thanking God for this young man of God who, many of you know, is a kid magnet, has a great sense of humor, loves God, and is intrigued by the things of God, and just started working his first job with After School Matters!!!" Bell Sr. said in the July 25 Facebook post.

"I'm very proud of you son and so is God!!! Love you," Bell Sr. added.

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Read the original article on People.
As the state's electrical grid copes with demand created by frequent record heat this summer, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas has issued multiple voluntary energy conservation notices and conservation appeals in August and September.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with relevant information for Wednesday's conservation notice.

For the eighth time since mid-August, the agency that runs Texas power grid asked residents and businesses to lower their energy use Wednesday as high temperatures persist.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is asking the public to reduce electricity use, if safe to do so, from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. The agency said an unexpected loss of thermal-power generation and low wind-power generation will result in low reserves for the Texas power grid during that period. ERCOT is not experiencing emergency conditions, but forecasts show a potential to enter emergency operations Tuesday evening, according to an agency news release.

Since last Thursday, the ERCOT has called on Texans to reduce electricity usage every day except for Monday.

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Temperatures in Austin are expected to continue to exceed 100 degrees this week, and little, if any, rain is expected in the next seven days, according to the National Weather Service.

ERCOT is requesting all government agencies, including city and county offices, to implement all programs to reduce energy use at their facilities.

The agency said any power outages are local and not related to overall grid reliability, and that residents should check with their electric providers for more information.

A request for the public to conserve energy is the step before ERCOT enters energy emergency levels, according to its website. The third and highest emergency level involves controlled outages.

For individual customers, controlled outages typically last up to 40 minutes before the outage is rotated to another location, according to a news release.

"While the recent conservation appeals may appear repetitive, they are a critical tool ERCOT has to manage the grid and must be taken seriously," Watson said in the release. "We want people to know about this possibility."

How to conserve energy

To save energy at home during the summer, ERCOT recommends residents:

Raise your thermostat by a degree or two, if safe to do so.

Avoid using large appliances, such as a washer or dryer.

Turn off and unplug nonessential lights and appliances.

Set pool pumps to run early in the morning or overnight and shut off during peak hours.

Commercial businesses are advised to turn off any lights and office equipment (or place in sleep mode) when the space is not in use and to turn off air conditioning outside of business hours.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: ERCOT once again asks the public to reduce energy use Wednesday
Instead of soaring above the clouds at several hundred miles per hour, he plods along on the ground. The roar of jet engines is replaced by the rattle of a metal beverage cart rolling over bumpy roads  300 miles of them.

Through cities, small towns and vast, empty rural areas, Paul Veneto travels step by step, yard by yard, mile by mile to make a point: The four flight crews who came under attack on Sept. 11, 2001, were that terrible days first victims of terror.

In Venetos estimation, they were too quickly forgotten.

This is why the retired United Airlines flight attendant is crisscrossing Pennsylvania on his third journey to pay tribute to all the flight crews lost that day. His first trek, from Logan International Airport to Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers once stood tall, took place on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

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In an interview with PennLive during a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts in Lemoyne, Paul said he got the idea for the beverage cart tribute way back on the terror strikes first anniversary. Thats when he first sensed that the story of the flight attendants  the beginning point of the tragedy  were already being lost.

It took him 20 years and his retirement for the Boston-based former flight attendant to finally pull it off. His beverage cart trek has become known as Paulies Push.

Veneto worked nearly another decade after 9/11. But serving passengers was never the same. He and many of his airline colleagues traumatized by 9/11 were convinced it was only a matter of time before the terrorists tried it again.

Paul said he was ready. His eyes roamed the cabin looking for anything  anyone  unusual.

You couldnt drop a pin on a plane without me knowing about it, he said. I was like a cat on the plane.

Paul said he almost welcomed another attack.

I was waiting every single time I got on a plane. I wanted revenge, he said.

But wired and hypervigilant was no way to work  or live. I wasnt too stable, Paul recalled. I dont know how I lasted another 10 years working.

Retired flight attendant Paul Veneto, of Paulies Push, is pushing an airline beverage cart 300 miles from New Jersey to Shanksville, Pa. to honor Flight 93 and the flight crews who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

At one point, Paul said he reached for prescription painkillers to numb it all away. As he plunged into addiction, all his plans for the beverage cart tribute seemed to fade away, too.

In the end, Paul said he realized painkillers werent the remedy for his emotional pain. Purpose was.

When I put that stuff down, I knew I was going to do this. I just knew, he said.

A clean-and-sober Paul phoned up a group of grade school buddies, letting them know the beverage cart tribute was back on  just in time for the two-decade anniversary in 2021.

Is this for real? Stephen Lynch, one of Pauls friends from the Boston area, shot back. I didnt believe it.

These days, Lynch trails behind Paul as he pushes the beverage cart, driving an RV emblazoned with words and images commemorating the four flight crews and Paulies Push to honor them. The RV was donated by one of Pauls many supporters after his first trek to honor United Flight 175.

This maiden voyage was the one most personal to Paul. As he puts it, he got off the same plane the night before. The doomed crew, most of whom Paul knew, replaced him the next morning. For the rest of his working life, he kept a collage of their pictures taped to the carry-on bag he rolled through airports before his every trip.

After retirement, it was time to roll his beverage cart for another, much deeper reason: To remember the crews who went to work like any other day, only to have it cost them everything.

Paul says a new generation of flight attendants will never know what it was like in the weeks, months and years following the trauma of 9/11. The skies were never friendly again. Potential terrorists seemed to be everywhere  and nowhere.

These days, flight crews seem to have more to fear from unruly passengers and embarrassing social media posts. No wonder the airports where he departs for each of his beverage cart tributes make a big ceremony of it. The airline industry remembers its own, even all these years later.

I understand these new flight attendants, theres no way they can begin to comprehend it, Paul said.

This years journey began early this month at Newark Airport, where United Flight 93 originated on that brilliantly blue Tuesday morning. Paul calls it his most challenging trip yet  some ten times longer than last years 30-mile sojourn from Dulles Airport to the Pentagon to mark American Flight 77. Next year, Paul plans to complete his honoring of the four flight crews with a final trip from Boston to Ground Zero to commemorate American Flight 11.

The roads and hills of Pennsylvania are giving the 64-year-old a workout. Hes sunburned and pealing. The rattle of the beverage cart vibrates up his arms  a feeling that lasts long after hes done pushing for the day.

Im not an athlete, trust me, he said. Its a mental thing.

He rolled through Harrisburg Monday, including a stop at the Capitol. He planned to push on from Lemoyne bright and early Tuesday. Paul said he likes to log a dozen miles a day, except for certain designated rest days.

As he looks ahead to his expected arrival at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville in time for yet another somber commemoration of 9/11, Paul said hes ahead of schedule. But his trip is about the journey, as much as it is the destination.

The sight of Paul pushing the cart, plus all the images and signs emblazoned on the RV that trails along behind him, brings it all back for so many who lived through 9/11.

People have been fabulous out there, he said. The people that come out of their homes, or drive up beside me, or come down their driveways and wait for me  Oh, I get emotional.

Pauls voice breaks then. He falls silent. Clearly, his long slog behind the beverage cart isnt the only thing thats draining.

And when he finally reaches Shanksville for 9/11, the emotional part will be only beginning.
Sidney Powell , an attorney who worked on former President Donald Trump 's 2020 campaign, is pictured in mug shot provided by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office in Atlanta on Aug. 23. Photo via Fulton County Sheriff's Office/UPI

Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Sidney Powell, an attorney who worked on former President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, waived her right to arraignment and pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Georgia's election interference case.

According to the court filing, Powell waived her right to hear the charges against her before entering a plea. Arraignment for all of the defendants in the election case is scheduled Sept. 6.

Powell, along with Trump and 17 other co-defendants, was indicted Aug. 14 for an alleged criminal racketeering conspiracy to change the outcome of Georgia's presidential election.

She faces seven charges, including violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations -- or RICO -- Act.

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Powell was charged with conspiracy to commit election fraud, computer crimes, trespass and invasion of privacy, as well as conspiracy to defraud the state. She surrendered at the Fulton County Jail last week and was released on $100,000 bond.

Attorney Sidney Powell, who is facing seven charges in Georgia's election interference case, waived her right to arraignment Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. File photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE

Powell is one of three defendants to waive their right to an arraignment.

Defendant Trevian Kutti, who is accused of harassing an election worker, also waived arraignment Tuesday and entered a not guilty plea, according to a court filing.

Trevian Kutti has been charged in Georgia for alleged attempts to overturn the results of the state's 2020 presidential election. On Tuesday, she waived her right to arraignment and pleaded not guilty. Photo via Fulton County Sheriff's Office/UPI

Ray Smith, a Georgia-based lawyer who worked for Trump, waived his arraignment and entered a not guilty plea to 12 counts in the indictment, according to a court filing from Monday.

While Powell is the third defendant to have already entered a plea, she is the second to request a speedy trial. Attorney Kenneth Chesebro faces an Oct. 23 trial date for allegedly drafting the fake electors memo.

The remaining 16 defendants in the case, including Trump, still face arraignment Sept. 6.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan set Trump's trial date for March 4, which is the eve of Super Tuesday, when many states hold their 2024 presidential primary elections.

Trump, who is running for the Republican Party's nomination, has argued that all criminal cases against him should be delayed until after the 2024 election.
The parents of a public school teacher killed by a utility pole in Wagener, South Carolina have spoken out for the first time since their daughter's death, requesting a settlement from utility companies that would go toward providing scholarships for Aiken County students.

Jeunelle Robinson, 31, a social studies teacher at Wagener-Salley High School, was on her lunch break when a tractor-trailer hit overhead utility lines, pulling eight "defective" utility poles out of the ground, according to previous reporting.

While Robinson lost her life prematurely, the family said her legacy can live on.

Bamberg Legal shared photos of Jeunelle Robinson, 31, who was killed after being struck by a flying utility pole on Aug. 23.

Robinson's parents are requesting a commitment to invest $20 million in Wagener infrastructure, a $10 million trust for an annual scholarship in Robinsons name which would be granted to Aiken County students going to college to become public school teachers, and $100 million in financial compensation.

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Robinson's mother, Andrea Julian, said her daughter's life mission was to help students and the settlement would allow for that to continue.

"Our daughter had struggles with her education, her whole time of schooling," Julian said. "When she was in sixth grade, there was some some talk about having her tested for learning disabilities. My husband and I opted to not let that happen, only because we felt that with the right type of help, meaning our own, we could school her ourselves."

Julian said her daughter struggled, but she persevered.

Bamberg Legal shared photos of Jeunelle Robinson, 31, who was killed after being struck by a flying utility pole on Aug. 23.

"Jeunelle was like two years behind most of the students in her class, from the age of 11 on up to adulthood," she said. "But she worked really hard. When it was time for her to study to be a teacher, she failed her practice test several times but she just would not quit. She was determined to become a teacher."

Her parents said they asked her why she wanted to be a teacher, out of all of the things she could do.

"She said because she knew what kids needed to be able to learn, because of her experience," Julian said. "Education was important to her. Kids being able to to reach their goals and their dreams was most important to her. Teaching was her calling, so that is why the scholarship idea is so important to us."

While Robinson loved her time in the classroom, she also was very spiritual, according to her parents.

'My stomach knotted up': $130 million lawsuit threatened after utility pole falls on teacher

"Her favorite verse was 'I am fearfully and wonderfully made,'" Julian said. "Every time she went through anything, she would always recite that scripture. ... I want her legacy to be to speaking through that scripture  there's nothing that you can't do. There are so many haters and so many doubters that told her what she couldn't do, but she wanted to teach."

Robinson's father, Donovan Robinson, said he will always remember his daughter as his "girly" who loved Harry Potter and her family.

"She was a light taken too soon," he said. "Her name means young girl, and she kept that youth with her. She wasn't a quitter and she loved her students."

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Parents of South Carolina teacher killed by utility pole speak out
(Bloomberg) -- Artificial intelligence startup Cohere, backed by investors including Oracle Corp. and Nvidia Corp., is working with banks to raise a fresh round of financing, just a few months after its last one, according to people familiar with the matter.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Toronto-based Cohere is being advised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on the potential round, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

Talks are early and details of the round, such as what amount the company is seeking, havent been set.

Cohere, a competitor to OpenAI, raised $270 million in June from a mix of investors at a valuation of up $2.2 billion, Bloomberg News reported. The company is seeking a higher valuation in the current round, one of the people said.

Representatives for Cohere, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. People familiar with the Coheres thinking said that, even with the last round being oversubscribed, the company hopes that hiring bankers will make the fundraising process more efficient.

While many tech startups have seen their values fall and have been forced raised funds at reduced valuations, AI-focused companies are riding a wave of interest in the technology. Tel Aviv-based AI21 Labs announced Wednesday that it has raised capital from investors including Nvidia and Google at a $1.4 billion valuation.

Founded in 2019, Cohere builds large language models  software trained on massive swaths of the internet to analyze and generate text  and customizes them for users. Companies can use its models to do things like summarize customer emails or help write website copy.

Cohere co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Aidan Gomez previously worked at Google, where he was a co-author of a 2017 landmark paper in AI research titled Attention is All You Need, which led to advances in the ways computers analyze and generate text.

Story continues

The Information reported on Aug. 22 that Tiger Global Management was close to selling a stake in Cohere in a deal that would have valued the company at about $3 billion.

(Updates with AI21 funding round in sixth paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
In preparation for Hurricane Idalia, Fayetteville residents are encouraged to prepare for the potential impacts of the storm.

"The City is taking measures to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of services like filling vehicles and preparing equipment if the need arises to respond to resident requests," a news release said.

The National Weather Service expects heavy rainfall and gusty winds across portions of the Sandhills on Wednesday evening and Thursday. Weather-related information will be shared on the citysFacebook and Twitter accounts during severe weather events, the release said.

To minimize the risk of flooding, residents are encouraged to check storm drains near their homes and either remove obstructions and debris or report it using the FayFixit App. the release said. For ways to prepare for flooding, visit FayettevilleNC.gov/Flood.

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WEDNESDAY UPDATES: Live Hurricane Idalia updates for Fayetteville: Light rain expected to 'pick up in intensity'

Anticipated rain totals for the region through late Thursday.

More on the forecast: Weather Permitting: Here's the latest on what Fayetteville can expect from Hurricane Idalia

Information on adverse weather preparedness can be found at fayettevillenc.gov/storm or faypwc.com/Storm-Central/.

Residents are encouraged to download the ReadyNC app and FEMA app, which have preparedness tips to create a 72-hour emergency kit, the release said. The website includes public service announcements, storm preparation links, utility contacts, social media links, power outage information and the N.C. Department of Transportation Road Status database.

PWCs outage map is available at: https://www.faypwc.com/electric-outage-map/. Customers should call 1-910-483-1382 to report outages or downed power lines.

Residents are also encouraged to sign up for Cumberland Alerts, an emergency notification system, to receive critical weather information. Sign up by visiting cumberlandcountync.gov/emergencyservices and clicking on Cumberland Alerts.

Residents can call 910-433-1FAY (1329) or visit the city website for answers concerning service delays or City office closures.

At this time, the city's buses, Fayetteville Area System of Transit, and Solid Waste routes will operate as normal.

TheFayetteville Regional Airport will operate on a normal schedule. Flight cancellations will be on a case-by-case basis determined by the carrier. Visit flyfay.com for updated airport information.

Emergency shelters will be initiated by Cumberland Countys Emergency Services, should the need arise, the release said. For information about emergency shelters, visit cumberlandcountync.gov/emergencyservices then click the Emergency Shelters button.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville prepares for Hurricane Idalia's approach
Roger Bryant, a product design student at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, draws a sketch of a former tavern on East Erie Street that was also used as MIAD's student union. The building's owners want to demolish it for redevelopment while historic preservation folks have argued it has value and should be saved,

Two development firms are proceeding with their plan to demolish a Historic Third Ward building that has been vacant since a 2013 fire.

The Miller Tavern/Catherine Foley Building, 266 E. Erie St., has major structural damage, according to owner GenCap Triangle LLC, an affiliate of General Capital Group LLP and Joseph Property Development LLC. Also, long-term settling has affected the building.

Preservationists say the building is an important part of the neighborhood's history. It survived an 1892 fire that destroyed most of the Third Ward.

The demolition request says the building's condition makes restoration infeasible.

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"Any attempt at reconstruction will result in a building that is a facsimile of the current building," said the petition. "The replication contradicts the integrity of historic preservation, instead creating a 'Disney' like imitation, rather than a legitimate historic 'restoration.'

The building has a significant place in Milwaukee's LGBTQ history because it housed the Wreck Room, a popular gay bar, from 1972 to about 1995, activist Don Schwamb said. But he agreed the structure is in bad shape.

"It's a loss, but some buildings cannot be saved," said Schwamb, Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project Inc. founder.

The owners of a former tavern on East Erie Street that was also used as MIAD's student union before it was damaged by a fire want to demolish it and redevelop the property

A public hearing on the building's future could come at the Historic Preservation Commission's Sept. 11 meeting. GenCap Triangle is seeking commission approval to demolish it  and could appeal a denial to the Common Council.

Built in 1884 and expanded in 1912, the Cream City Brick building was originally a saloon and boarding house run by widowed Irish immigrant Catherine Foley. Miller Brewing Co. later operated it as a tavern.

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design bought the building and converted it into a student union in 1996. MIAD sold the fire-damaged building to the developers in 2014  after which the commission designated it as historic.

The petition says demolition "presents the opportunity to build a new structure that is sympathetic in scale, integrity, and longevity."

General Capital and Joseph Property Development have considered a four-story office building with street-level commercial use for the site, the petition said.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Developers seek to raze long-vacant historic Milwaukee tavern
When you're buying a used car, it pays to do your homework. There's always a risk that someone's trying to sell you something that isn't really theirs. However, sometimes, you do all the checks and still get burned, as this harsh tale of a used Ford Bronco demonstrates.

As reported by AZ Family, an Arizona buyer was looking for a Ford Bronco on the used market. They spotted a solid-looking example on Craigslist. It wore Alaskan plates, with the odometer recording a few thousand miles as you'd expect. The buyer, known as "Nick" in the article to protect his identity, didn't just fork over $75,000 without making some inquiries. He first secured a Carfax check, which came back clean, and he ran the title through a Motor Vehicle Division office run by a third-party company in Phoenix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuLc2J3ka0A

If there was any issues, the VIN would have flagged - Im assuming in the system that they have. And it didnt, Nick told AZ Family. Despite doing his due diligence, all was not well with Nick's purchase. This came to light just three weeks later, when Nick decided to trade the Bronco for a pickup truck at a dealership. An employee at the dealership noticed a discrepancy with the vehicle's VIN, with further investigation revealed that the Bronco's VIN had been switched.

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The Bronco was reportedly one of several vehicles recently stolen from a Ford factory lot in Detroit. Police ended up seizing the car, and Nick says he's now out the $75,000 he spent on the vehicle. Several other buyers have also fallen victim to this scam according to AZ Family, in New Mexico, Arizona, and Tennessee.

Police in Michigan have recently arrested seven individuals connected to the factory lot thefts. Reports note that some of the vehicles had titles created with stolen identities with addresses in Alaska.

Most people would expect that checking a car's numbers via both Carfax and a local government registry would be enough. What's odd is that a dealership was so easily able to uncover the issue that was missed by the third-party MVD office in Arizona. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Arizona Attorney General's Office has recently been critical of the Arizona Department of Transport and its weak oversight of third-party MVD operations. Several recent cases involved individuals receiving licences, ID cards, or vehicle titles without proper documentation or authorization.

Overall, it's a bitter pill to swallow for the aggrieved buyer. It's a lesson we all learn at some pointCraigslist can be a wild place, and you need to do whatever you can to vet what you're getting before you hand over the money. If you're looking at buying used, be sure to check the VIN in multiple places on the vehicle, and don't skimp on the background checks.

Got a tip? Let the author know: lewin@thedrive.com
Town workers scrambled Wednesday to bulldoze sand off Times Square on Fort Myers Beach before the afternoon high tide, when the beach was expected to see flooding again.

The Gulf of Mexico washed up and onto the island overnight as Hurricane Idalia moved northward just offshore.

Many residents and business owners on the island are still in shock from Category 4 Hurricane Ian, which pounded the island and Southwest Florida coast on Sept. 28.

Town spokeswoman Jennifer Dexter said the emergency berm that was placed along the beach after Ian worked, that the pile of sand combated the rising seas and protected the town from even more flooding.

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"The berm did well," Dexter said of the 6-foot structure. "It helped absorb the impacts of the surge."

Much of the berm was washed away by Idalia, and it seemed like the sea turtle nests that were left have been lost to the storm.

Sand at least 1 foot deep spread across parts of Times Square, the pedestrian shopping area near the north end of the island.

Employees for the Fort Myers Beach Town Public Works clean up Times Square after storm surge from Hurricane Idalia washed on shore on Wednesday, Aug. 30 2023. The island sustained minimal storm surge flooding.

"There was a lot of wind and rain and a lot of storm surge, but the island fared extremely well," Dexter said. "The emergency berm held really well."

Dexter said she had not heard of any injuries related to the storm surge.

Flooding from a high tide can be seen underneath the Fort Myers Beach bridge con Wednesday. Hurricane Idalia passed by the area last night.

Jules Veerbeck, of San Carlos Park, sat on a bench near what's left of the beach's fishing pier.

"I just came from an AA meeting, and I thought I like to be here," said the retired postman and Vietnam veteran. "This is awful, what happened here. I like to come here and park my motorcycle and just sit here and breath."

Fort Myers Beach sustained minimal storm surge from Hurricane Idalia as it pass through the area on Wednesday, Aug. 30 2023.

More: Fort Myers Beach declares local emergency ahead of Hurricane Idalia; beach begins to flood

Veerbeck said he moved to Southwest Florida in 1970, shortly after returning from Vietnam.

He said the Fort Myers Beach pier was his favorite spot in the area and that he's been hanging out at that beach for more than 50 years.

Fort Myers Beach sustained minimal storm surge from Hurricane Idalia as it pass through the area on Wednesday, Aug. 30 2023.

Some of the emergency food pantries at churches such as First Baptist Church were left in tatters, with tarp-like walls ripped apart by heavy winds.

Flood waters that had piled up Tuesday and Tuesday night had receded by morning, but an afternoon high tide is expected to bring more ocean water onto the island.

Connect with this reporter: Chad Gillis on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Weathered and waning, hard-hit Fort Myers Beach weathers Idalia
Women wait in line before voting for the first round of the presidential election at a polling station Sunday, April 10, 2022, in the Malpasse northern district of Marseille, southern France. Frances education minister announced on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023 that long robes in classrooms would be banned starting with the new school year, saying that secularism in the nations schools is being tested via the garments, worn mainly by Muslims. | Daniel Cole, Associated Press

On Sunday, the education minister of France, Gabriel Attal, said students would be prohibited from wearing abayas, the loosefitting, full-length robes worn by some Muslim women, to state-run schools when the new school year begins on Sept. 4.

The school of the Republic was built around strong values. Secularism is one of them.  When you enter a classroom, you shouldnt be able to identify the religion of pupils, Attal said in an interview with French TV channel TF1.

France has enforced a strict ban on religious signs since 19th-century laws removed any traditional Catholic influence from public education, reports Reuters.

Laicite, which does not have a direct English translation, but is often described as secularism, guarantees freedom of conscience but also the neutrality of the state and of some public spaces, writes The New York Times. Laicite applies to numerous public institutions  public hospital employees, for instance, cannot wear religious clothing  and there is strong cultural aversion to public expressions of faith, but the focal point has traditionally been in schools.

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In 2004, France banned religious symbols in schools, including headscarves, large crucifixes and Jewish kippahs, or yarmulkes. In 2010, it passed a ban on full face veils in public, angering some in its 5 million-strong Muslim community, reports the BBC.

Defending secularism has become a rallying cry in France that cuts across the political spectrum, from left-wingers upholding the liberal values of the Enlightenment to far-right voters seeking a bulwark against the growing role of Islam in French society, reports Reuters.

Related

However, the abaya ban was met with both applause and criticism. The union of school principals welcomed the decision, saying what it needed above all was clarity from the government, its national secretary, Didier Georges, told Reuters.

What we wanted from ministers was: yes or no? Georges said of the abaya. Were satisfied because a decision was made.

But many on the left criticized the move, including Clementine Autain, an MP for the hard-left France Insoumise. How far will the clothing police go? she asked on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. She said it was a move characteristic of an obsessional rejection of Muslims.

The abaya, typically associated with Muslim believers, falls into a gray area. While it is popular in the Gulf and in some Arab countries, it does not have a clear religious significance, reports The New York Times.

The French Council of the Muslim Faith rapidly condemned this decision, saying the abaya is not a religious garment but a form of fashion, writes Euronews.

Ismail Ferhat, a professor at the University of Paris-Nanterre who has studied laicite in schools, said students often wore abayas against their parents will and noted that factors like social media fads or the teenage desire to challenge school authority also played a role.

The announcement is the first major policy decision by Attal, who was appointed Frances education minister by President Emmanuel Macron this summer at the age of 34, reports the BBC.

Holly Richardson is the editor of Utah Policy
At least two Michigan lawmakers included errors about their academic degrees in their online biographies, an investigation by the Detroit Free Press found.

Reporters attempted to verify the higher education credentials claimed in caucus biographies by 148 state lawmakers  38 senators and 110 representatives  charged with representing Michiganders in creating state policy and setting the state's budget. The Free Press was able to verify credentials for all but two lawmakers.

Claims made by two House Republicans in their legislative biographies turned out to be false.

The Detroit Free Press set out on a challenge: verify the educational credentials of all 148 state lawmakers in Michigan.

State Rep. John Roth, R-Interlochen, claimed in his biography to have received a degree in marina management from Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City. The college confirmed that Roth attended a recreational boating management program from fall 1988 to fall 1991, but said Roth never earned a degree.

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Roth's lack of a verifiable degree was news to him  he said he received a diploma, and had photos of himself at a commencement ceremony.

"I was definitely under the impression that I had graduated for 34 years, until now," Roth said.

Behind the story: Why the Free Press decided to verify Michigan lawmakers education credentials

State Rep. Gina Johnsen, R-Lake Odessa, claimed in her legislative biography to have master's and bachelor's degrees in economics from Wellesley College in Massachusetts. But a spokesperson for the college said that the school's records indicated that Johnsen just graduated with a bachelor's degree and a double major in Russian area studies and economics. Wellesley is an undergraduate institution where students can earn a four-year bachelor's degree in over 50 majors, according to the school's website.

Johnsen's legislative director said the addition of a master's on her biography was an error and that the biography was changed after a Free Press reporter inquired.

The Free Press' check of academic credentials was spurred by a rash of media reports around falsified academic credentials: U.S. Rep. George Santos is now infamous for lying about, among other false boasts, earning degrees from Baruch College and New York University. Closer to home, Shannon Mayfield, a former East Lansing High School principal, was found to have fabricated transcripts showing he earned a doctorate from Wayne State University.

Largely, state lawmakers are telling the truth about where they attended college and graduate school, if they claimed a degree. At least 20 did not claim any degree in their biographies, and a college degree is not a requirement for state office. The analysis of degrees by the Free Press also captured a snapshot of the Legislature as a whole, showing trends in where lawmakers received their degrees.

False claims and gray areas

The Free Press used both Roth's and Johnsen's biographies on their House Republicans page, a website maintained by the GOP caucus of the state House.

House GOP spokesman Jeremiah Ward said the biographies on the caucus website are compiled with input from lawmakers. Spokespeople for other caucuses explained similar processes.

"Our team puts those together in consultation with the legislators and the legislators sign off on the final product," he said.

Roth's biography page read, "Roth graduated with a degree in marina management from Northwestern Michigan College." Similarly, Roth's campaign website claims he graduated with a degree in marina management in 1989.

Roth wrote in an emailed statement through Ward that he used his expertise from Northwestern Michigan College to start a marina management company in northern Michigan, where he has been a harbor master for 29 years.

He said he spent an hour and a half at the college trying to sort out confusion over his degree, and believes the error has something to do with transfer credits not transferring properly. He's working with the college to resolve the issue, he said.

Johnsen's biography page, before Free Press reporters reached out, read: "Johnsen holds a bachelors and masters degree in Economics from Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA." On other websites, Johnsen does not make the same claim. Her LinkedIn page declares a bachelor's degree and does not mention a master's.

Johnsen's legislative director, Josh Haley, said that Johnsen received a bachelor's from Wellesley and thanked the Free Press for bringing the mistake to their attention. He said a former staffer put the biography page together.

One lawmaker's education claim also represented a gray area for Free Press reporters.

The caucus biography for state Rep. Ken Borton , R-Gaylord, says he "studied Biblical counseling at Liberty University." His office provided copies of two diplomas, one from the Liberty Home Bible Institute and one from Liberty University presented "upon the recommendation of the Liberty Home Bible Institute," which is a discontinued home study certificate program.

A spokesperson for Liberty University said there is no record of Borton attending the university, but the university no longer has access to records from the Bible Institute and Borton's diplomas look like those the Bible Institute used to confer.

In a statement emailed by Ward, Borton wrote, "I studied Biblical counseling through Liberty Universitys Liberty Home Bible Institute. The university recognized my achievement with a diploma of advanced Biblical studies, and Ill always be grateful for what I learned through the program.

Borton's office also provided photos of his diplomas. When somebody raised it on Facebook in 2017, he responded with photographs of himself at what appeared to be a graduation ceremony.

Others were more precise in writing about their education if they studied in a program outside a university's traditional credit system.

State Rep. Greg Alexander, R-Carsonville, claims in his caucus biography that he earned "certificates of completion" from Hillsdale College, a private Christian college in southern Michigan. A college spokesperson said it could not confirm Alexander's certificates, adding that those certificates are earned for completing free, not-for-credit online courses.

Alexander said he took the free online courses focused on the U.S. Constitution and American history about a decade ago. The courses entailed watching a series of presentations from a professor followed by a quiz and then a test at the end of the course to receive a certificate.

He said he didnt think anyone would have the impression that he attended Hillsdale College as part of a degree program but that it was important for voters to know he took the online courses. No one had ever asked him about the certificates mentioned on his bio before the Free Press reached out.

I dont think anybody takes it for more than a certificate, he said. It just shows youre committed to understanding.

Where did lawmakers get their degrees?

Lawmakers attended schools across the world, from England (Rep. Natalie Price, D-Berkley) to California. But the majority  nearly 100 out of 138 lawmakers  attended a Michigan university, college or community college at some point.

In the rivalry between blue and green, more Michigan lawmakers earned degrees from Michigan State University than the University of Michigan: 27 hold degrees from MSU, 19 hold degrees from University of Michigan. Some of the lawmakers counted hold degrees from both schools.

Law degrees, by the way, are popular among politicians: At least eight lawmakers have their Juris Doctor.

Eleven attended a community college at one point in their postsecondary career.

Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com and Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Free Press review surfaces errors in degree claims by 2 state lawmakers
Gabon President Ali Bongo appealed for support in a televised statement from house arrest Wednesday. His plea came after men appearing to be Gabonese army officers claimed Wednesday that they had taken control of the country and would nullify the results of its election while closing its borders. Photo by Stringer/EPA-EFE

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba, in a Wednesday statement from house arrest, appealed to his supporters to "raise your voice" against a military coup after army officers took over the government earlier in the day.

"My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place ... Nothing is happening. I don't know what is going on," Bong said in English before again asking for help.

Bong's son was arrested by the military junta, which said he will be investigated for treason.

The president's appeal comes as men who claimed to represent "defense and security forces" announced in a TV broadcast Wednesday that they had nullified election results by military force, dissolving Gabon's government, Senate and National Assembly.

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Gabon army officers said on Wednesday that they had taken control of the country after its election commission said President Ali Bongo Ondimba had won re-election.

The army took control after Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba won re-election amid allegations of fraud from the opposition. The African Union called Wednesday for "a rapid return to democratic constitutional order" in Gabon. File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI

Coup leader Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema told French newspaper Le Monde that the military coup will elect a new leader and said he hadn't "yet" declared himself president.

African Union Commission Chair H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemned the "attempted coup d'etat" in a statement and called for a rapid return to democratic constitutional order in Gabon.

He said it constitutes "a flagrant violation of the legal and political instruments of the African Union, including the African Charter on Elections, Democracy and Governance."

In a brief statement late Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Biden administration is "deeply concerned" over the events in Gabon and remains "strongly opposed to military seizures or unconstitutional transfers of power."

"We urge those responsible to release and ensure the safety of members of government and their families and to preserve civilian rule," he said, while calling on all involved to show restraint and respect for human rights "and to address their concerns peacefully through dialogue."

He continued that the United States notes with concern the lack of transparency and reports of irregularities with the recent election, while stating, "the United States stands with the people of Gabon."

Men who claimed they represented "defense and security forces" announced in a televised broadcast Wednesday that the election results would be nullified and the country would close its border.

"On behalf of the Gabonese people and guarantor of the protection of institutions, CCTRI [the Committee for the Transition of Restoration of Instiutions] has decided to defend peace by putting an end to the regime in place," they said in the broadcast.

"All the institutions of the republic are dissolved: in particular the government, the Senate, the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court, Economic and Social and Environmental Council and the Elections Council of Gabon."

Ali Bongo was declared the winner of a disputed election in the oil-rich central African nation. His father had been in power there for 41 years before this election.

Bongo was educated in France and his father's government was pro-French despite high levels of resentment against France in Gabon.

Duke University African studies expert Professor Stephen Smith said the popular perception in Gabon is that the French are still "pulling the strings" in Gabon.

An unnamed junta spokesperson also said during a state TV broadcast that Bongo was being kept under house arrest and surrounded by his "family and doctors."

Gunfire was heard in the streets of the capital following the announcement as celebrations also took place.

Opponents of Bongo argued that the election, where the president won nearly two-thirds of the vote, was fraudulent.

The main opposition challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, had rejected the voting results, citing what he called election irregularities despite officially getting 30.88% of the vote.

If the coup is successful, it would break 53 straight years in power for Bongo's family.

Bongo's father, Omar Bongo , came into power after Gabon won its independence from France in 1967 and stayed in control of the country until his death from cancer in 2009. His son served as the country's defense minister and foreign minister before taking over as president upon his father's death.

Gabon, poverty-stricken yet oil-rich, would become the eighth former French colony in Africa to experience a coup over the past three years.

Gabon's upheaval comes on the heels of Niger's military taking control of that country last month. In that instance, the African Union suspended Niger's membership in the group of 55 member states. It also closed its borders after the coup.

Niger's coup leaders said earlier this month that the country could return to democracy after three years following a meeting with a delegation of West African leaders who have threatened military intervention.
HONOLULU, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Alaska Airlines has promoted Daniel Chun to regional vice president  Hawai'i, in a move that underscores the airline's enduring commitment to the Aloha State. In this newly created role, Chun serves as the senior executive for Alaska Airlines in Hawai'i, leading the long-term strategy for the company's growth in the Islands and continuing to deepen Alaska's longstanding support and engagement within the local community. Alaska started service to the Hawaiian Islands in 2007 and operates the most flights between Hawai'i and the West Coast than any carrier.

Daniel Chun

"Alaska Airlines is proud and humbled to have served Hawai'i for over fifteen years, and Daniel's leadership has helped us to do so in a way that reflects our values, including our emphasis on care and stewardship," said Ben Minicucci, Alaska Airlines CEO. "As we continue to support the relief and recovery efforts on Maui, we are committed to serving the community in Hawai'i now more than ever and are thrilled to recognize Daniel's leadership with this new role. Anyone who knows Daniel appreciates his kindness and integrity, and we are grateful to have him as a member of our leadership team."

Chun joined Alaska Airlines in 2011 and most recently served as the Hawai'i director of sales, community and public relations, leading the airline's public affairs and community outreach efforts throughout the state of Hawai'i. Through his 12 years of leadership at the company, Alaska has provided nearly $5 million in cash and in-kind support to over 200 local community organizations in Hawai'i, with a focus on youth, education, and the environment. In addition, Chun serves on the board of the Alaska Airlines Foundation, which has awarded funding support to Hawai'i nonprofits since 2015.

"For over a decade, I have had the great privilege of serving our community and supporting Alaska's culture of care in Hawai'i," said Chun. "Alaska has always had a deep sense of stewardship and kuleana for all those who depend on us, and I am humbled by the opportunity to continue to grow our presence and impactful work here in the Islands."

Story continues

Chun has over 20 years of experience in Hawai'i's tourism industry and is a former board member of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority. Born and raised on the island of O'ahu, Chun is a graduate of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, with a Bachelor of Science degree in travel industry management. He is active in the Hawai'i community and currently serves on the boards of the Public Schools of Hawai'i Foundation, Aloha United Way, Hawai'i Lodging & Tourism Association, Diamond Head Theatre, and the University of Hawai'i Alumni Association.

About Alaska Airlines

Celebrating over 15 years in Hawai'i, Alaska Airlines and our regional partners serve more than 120 destinations across the United States, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico. We strive to be the most caring airline with award-winning customer service and an industry-leading loyalty program. As a member of the oneworld alliance, and with our additional global partners, our guests can travel to more than 1,000 destinations on more than 25 airlines while earning and redeeming miles on flights to locations around the world. Learn more about Alaska at news.alaskaair.com and follow @alaskaairnews for news and stories. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alaska-airlines-appoints-new-regional-vice-president-for-hawaii-301913124.html

SOURCE Alaska Airlines
The Buckeye Ranch President and CEO Vickie Thompson-Sandy, from left, U.S. Rep. Mike Carey, and Grove City Mayor Richard Ike Stage speak Aug. 23 at an event during which Google announced a $250,000 grant to support The Buckeye Ranch's efforts to build a youth mental health facility in Grove City.

The Buckeye Ranch has gotten some support from Google to open a new youth mental health center in Grove City.

The Buckeye Ranch is a private nonprofit with six central and southwest Ohio locations that provide emotional, behavioral and mental health services for children and families. It supports more than 2,000 youth locally.

It announced last week that Google will grant $250,000 to the organization to support the center, which it plans to open in 2025.

The new project comes as experts have been noting for years that young people need more access to mental health care than is available.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy talks with Dispatch reporters about youth mental health Oct. 18.

When U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy visited Columbus in October, he described youth mental health as "the defining challenge of our country."

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Expanding access to mental health services is key for the next generation to thrive and succeed, said U.S. Rep. Mike Carey, R-Columbus, in a statement.This partnership between Google and the Buckeye Ranch will help bolster youth mental health treatment across central Ohio at a time when its needed most.

In Ohio, suicides among residents 19 and younger spiked from 90 in 2016 to a high of 135 in 2018, marking a 45% increase, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health. After 2018, suicide among Ohio youth declined until 2020, when numbers began to rise again.

More on youth mental health: Is suicide on the rise among Ohio kids? Here's what parents need to know

The 57,000-square-foot center include 48 beds for children who are leaving the hospital before they return home. The Google money will help expand clinical support for young people in residential treatment who have both mental health diagnoses and substance use, according to The Buckeye Ranch.

Helping a youth live a quality life despite their mental health needs helps all of us," The Buckeye Ranch President and CEO Vickie Thompson-Sandy said in a statement. "A recent study revealed that 50% of parents have missed work due to their children's mental health needs. Investing in our youths mental health today is an investment in our community for years to come."

Google has given more than $5 million in grants to Ohio organizations since 2006, with its employees locally giving another $1 million.

We are focused on being the best community partner in our home state of Ohio, said MJ Henshaw, of Google Public Affairs, in a statement. Google is committed to the long-term growth of communities in Ohio. Not only do we support future tech innovators, but we know increasing access to mental health resources has a significant short and long-term positive impact on the next generation.

dking@dispatch.com

@DanaeKing

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Google gives $250,000 for Grove City youth mental health facility
To understand the demographic changes taking place on Cape Cod look no further than the public schools.

Four years ago, English was not the first language for 19.8% of the students in the Barnstable Public School district. In the 2022-23 school year, that number jumped to 33.4% of the 4,838 students attending the district's nine schools.

Over the last couple of years, Cape Cod public schools have been enrolling a growing number of multilingual students, according to data from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Though the change is more evident in some districts than others among the 11 public school districts, Barnstable, Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket public schools have the highest numbers of multilingual students.

The diversity that we are experiencing in our schools represents the world, said Barnstable Schools Superintendent Sara Ahern. We have so many languages and countries represented, all students benefit from the diverse experiences, learning from different cultures enriches everyone and it is going to help build skills that they'll need for their future.

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Ahern said the changing demographic is welcome.

We live in a very interdependent and interconnected society, so the diversity we have is a strength, she said.

State Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, agrees.

Diversity on Cape Cod is 'one of the few silver linings,' says Cyr

"It's reflective of the changing landscape of our workforce, as Cape Cod has become more unaffordable for people to live here," said Cyr. "We've become more dependent on seasonal workers who come here through various visa programs; they can legally stay, get green cards, and build lives with their families. The diversification of Cape Cod is probably one of the few silver linings in what's been an otherwise pretty dire narrative."

Embracing diversity also means focusing on inclusion in the educational system. Each public school district on the Cape and Islands has a specific curriculum and various English Language Learning (ELL) programs in place, to help multilingual learners gain proficiency in English.

Leah Palmer, director of the English Language Learner program for Martha's Vineyard Public Schools.

We are very proud of our diverse population. We respect their bilingualism, their cultures and we are dedicated to supporting them to learn English so they can be successful in this country, but we do so along with honoring their identities, said Carina Da Silva, director of the program for multilingual learners in Barnstable public schools.

Outer Cape has a lower percentage of multilingual students compared to Mid-Cape and Islands

In Bourne, students whose first language is not English make up 2.5% of the enrollment. Truro has a 1% rate. Wellfleet doesn't have any multilingual students in their public school system, according to the state data.

In nearby Provincetown, 21.1% of the K-8 student population of 142 are multilingual. Orleans and Nauset have 9% and 7%, respectively.

According to Gerry Goyette, Provincetown schools superintendent, in his district Spanish is the most common language for bilingual students, along with Jamaican Creole.

Provincetown Schools is one of the most diverse (districts) on the Cape, said Goyette. Provincetown's K-8 enrollment is the smallest on the Cape.

According to the state numbers, 9.7% of Falmouth's students are non-native English speakers. Mashpee has a 12% rate and Sandwich has a 3.1% rate for students whose first language is not English.

Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District has a total number of 2,857 students enrolled this year in its six public schools, for nearly 23% of them English is not their first language.

Marthas Vineyard, Nantucket have a larger, more diverse population

Among all public school districts in the region, Nantucket has the highest percentage of students whose first language is not English, 46.5%. The total number of students enrolled in its four public schools this year is 1,712.

Our demographic right now is mostly Spanish-speaking students, but we also have a significant number of students from Brazil, said Elizabeth Hallett, Nantucket schools superintendent. We also get a smattering of languages from different cultures and different countries from Eastern Europe, China, Thailand, Nepal. Our Hispanic population is from Central and South America.

In the 2022-23 academic year, on Marthas Vineyard, at the Edgartown school, 40.8% of students are non-native English speakers. In Oak Bluffs, that number is 33%. In Tisbury, the number is 56.6%.

Across the island's schools there are currently over 430 English learners, with 94% of the students having Portuguese as their native language, said Leah Palmer, ELL Director for PreK-Adult for Martha's Vineyard Public Schools.

According to Palmer, in 2016, Marthas Vineyard Public Schools had 210 English learners and last year, the number came in at 428.

"We have a growing number of multilingual students within our school system and it is such an amazing asset for the island community, Palmer said.

On Marthas Vineyard, the most common languages for multilingual learners are Portuguese and Spanish.

"The diversity we see across the region is reflected in our workforce, and our schools tell the most honest story about what the composition of our communities are like," Cyr said.

Each school district has its own state-approved ELL programs

On Marthas Vineyard, there are separate ELL programs at Edgartown School, Tisbury School, West Tisbury School, Oak Bluffs Elementary School and Marthas Vineyard Regional High School and each school has its own ELL budget, ELL teachers, along with interpreter ESP (English for specific purposes) teaching assistants. Chilmark Elementary School doesn't have an ELL program.

The interpreter ESPs are multilingual teaching assistants who work as liaisons with families. The ESPs go into classes to support students and also help keep connections between schools and families.

According to Barnstable's Silva, her district has been hiring a lot more ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers to accommodate the need and there are many open positions still available.

We are always looking for more ESL teachers and welcome opportunities to bring people into the district and help them grow as educators because we definitely have a need for more teachers to support our growing population, Ahern said.

Barnstable also has a Seal of Biliteracy program in place to encourage multilingual students. The State Seal of Biliteracy is an award provided by state-approved districts to recognize high school graduates for their proficiency in English and another world language or languages.

Multilingual learners are achieving proficiency more than ever, but there are still challenges

The Barnstable district had 45 English learners complete the program this year. According to Silva, that is a high number and students typically complete the program within three years of starting.

To participate in the ELL program, students are usually removed from other classes during the day, which can create problems such as students falling behind in the classes they miss.

This summer, the Martha's Vineyard district provided training for ESL teachers to be co-teachers with other content teachers.

Instead of pulling students out of their core content, we are bringing the ESL teachers into a collaborative model of co-teaching, said Palmer.

We're moving to a much more inclusive way and we're hoping that there's a better understanding and collaboration between our native English speakers and our multilingual learners.

According to Palmer, multilingual learners face many challenges and often work full time, along with their school schedule. Though the students are making significant progress, theres still a lot more to do.

In Nantucket public schools, a lot of the multilingual students are also working full time, or in various ways contributing to the family economy, which provides a greater challenge for them to attain proficiency in English.

A lot of the students are working after school and dont have much time for studies and we have to meet them where they are, said Hallett. We have to do everything we can to make sure that they are getting the best education possible, even if it's challenging for them to actually graduate.

According to Hallett, despite the challenges, most ELL students on Nantucket graduate.

Students can stay in the ELL program until they are 22, which allows them to complete all their classes and graduate with a certificate of participation.

For the students who enter school in kindergarten, first or second grade, its usually easier to learn English for them as they have a higher linguistic ability than students in middle schools and high schools, said Hallett.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect quote from state Sen. Julian Cyr, and incorrectly labeled what is a Martha's Vineyard school district ESL teacher training program.

Rasheek Tabassum Mujib writes about health care and education. Reach her at rmujib@capecodonline.com.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: There are more ESL students in Cape Cod schools. Here's what it means.
Idalia was a Category 3 hurricane as it slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday, and as life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds continued to pummel the state throughout the day, many New Jerseyans will likely be seeking ways to help Floridians displaced by the storm.

We did some of the work for you. Continue reading to learn more about organizations seeking donations specifically to support recovery and rescue efforts in Florida areas hit hardest by Hurricane Idalia.

But also beware of scammers prying your wallet open amid calls for donations to support Idalia recovery efforts just as they have for the Maui wildfire victims earlier this summer and prior natural disasters.

Projected path of Hurricane Idalia 5 a.m. Aug. 30, 2023.

Natural disasters such as the one in Hawaii bring out the best in people, as we seek to help others in their time of need," New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said after the Maui fires devastated parts of that Hawaiian island. "But for the con artist, this tragedy is just another means to defraud the public. Donors need to be wary of potential scams that divert relief funds into the pockets of fraudsters.

Agencies working on the ground in Florida to help Idalia victims

American Red Cross  The national organization has deployed volunteers from across the country, including New Jersey, to provide on-the-ground support in Florida. New Jersey volunteers are already building shelters for evacuees in Tallahassee, and more are driving down the coast soon. Those volunteers will help assess damage, distribute meals and supply cleanup kits after the storms have passed. Visit redcross.org to donate or sign up to volunteer.

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Samaritans Purse  The international nonprofit plans to deploy staff members after Idalia passes. Their volunteer teams will clean up debris, tarp roofs and other home repairs. People can sign up on their website, spvolunteers.org, to be notified when Samaritans Purse needs volunteers.

Florida Disaster Fund  Floridas official private fund supports the nonprofit Volunteer Florida Foundation. Funds are distributed to service organizations providing disaster response and recovery support during and after an emergency or disaster. People can donate by mailing checks or online at volunteerflorida.org/donatefdf.

Project DYNAMO  The Tampa-based nonprofit is gearing up to assist Floridians in need after Idalia, much like the organization supported local communities two years ago following Hurricane Ian. The group also recently brought supplies to people impacted by deadly wildfires in Maui. They are funded entirely by donations, which people can send on its website, projectdynamo.org. People can also request an evacuation from various locations including Florida at projectdynamo.org/evacuation-request.

Feeding Tampa Bay  The nonprofit plans to distribute food to the most vulnerable communities impacted by the hurricane. Volunteers will host public food distributions after the storm passes. Its website advises people to check the distribution calendar for updates on cancellations and closures affecting mobile pantries and food services, or sign up for text updates. People can donate to help fund meals, or find food distribution sites, at feedingtampabay.org.

Tips to sniff out scam donation requests

Platkin offered some tips to notice fake donation requests and identify real organizations you can support:

Donate to charities you know and trust. If a charity is new to you, learn as much as you can about it before forking over your cash.

Ask questions to learn exactly how a charity plans to use your donation, and how that follows its stated mission. Dont let a fancy name or impressive website fool you. Find out if the charity uses a professional fundraiser, and if so how much of your donation benefits the fundraiser.

Find the charity on New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs charity search webpage or call the divisions hotline, 973-504-6215. The Divisions website will also show the charitys most recently reviewed financial information, including the amount of the charitys annual expenses that went to actual charitable programs, as opposed to fundraising or management expenses.

Dont give in to pressure. Legitimate organizations wont force you to donate immediately.

Look closely at unsolicited emails asking for credit card information, and dont provide those details if youre unsure about its validity. You can call the organization that allegedly sent the email to confirm it sent the email and keep your identity safe.

Is your New Jersey-based organization raising funds or collecting items for victims of Hurricane Idalia in Florida? Contact reporter Sammy Gibbons at sgibbons@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: How to help Hurricane Idalia victims in Florida, from NJ
John Eastman, a Trump-allied lawyer indicted in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, is among more than 100 of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ' former law clerks defending Thomas' integrity in an open letter.

The undated letter, which appears to be in response to the fallout from a bombshell ProPublica article about lavish trips taken by Thomas and funded by a billionaire GOP donor, calls Thomas' character "unimpeachable."

"Different paths led us to our year with Justice Thomas, and we have followed different paths since. But along the way, we all saw with our own eyes the same thing: His integrity is unimpeachable," said the letter, which Fox News first reported Tuesday.

Lately, the stories have questioned his integrity and his ethics for the friends he keeps, the letter said. We are proud to have been his clerks and to remain his friends, and we unequivocally reject attacks on his integrity, his character, or his ethics.

John Eastman in Los Angeles (Jae C. Hong / AP file)

The letter bears the names of 112 people identified as Thomas former law clerks. Eastman clerked for Thomas during the Supreme Court term that started in 1996.

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Reached for comment, Eastman attorney Harvey Silverglate said: "John Eastman was a law clerk for Justice Thomas. There is obviously a cordial relationship between them."

A spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter Tuesday evening.

Other names on the letter are those of John Eisenberg, who was deputy counsel in the Trump White House and a top lawyer for the National Security Council, as well as John Yoo, a Justice Department official during the George W. Bush administration who crafted the so-called torture memos that empowered Bush to order enhanced interrogation of terrorism suspects. Yoo expressed grave concerns about Mr. Trumps uses of presidential power in a New York Times op-ed shortly after Trump took office.

The letter surfaced days after Trump and his 18 co-defendants surrendered in Georgia. Eastman, who is accused of crafting a memo that falsely suggested that then-Vice President Mike Pence could overturn Joe Bidens 2020 election victory, agreed to a $100,000 bond as part of his surrender.

Silverglate has argued that Eastman was providing legal advice and guidance to Trump while he was president and didnt do anything wrong.

Eastman also faces disbarment proceedings in California, where counsel for the state bar has asked a court to revoke his law license in the state over his alleged involvement in a plot to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A Franklin County jail inmate was seriously injured Tuesday after she jumped out of a moving vehicle, according to Frankfort police.

Brianna Hollon, 21, was sent to Frankfort Regional Medical Center with life-threatening injuries after she jumped out the window of a transport vehicle while it was moving, Frankfort police say.

Hollon was charged with first-degree possessing a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and buying or possessing drug paraphernalia in April, according to court records. She was being held on a $10,000 bond.

Hollon was arrested after drugs were found in her purse, according to court documents. Police were called out to a dollar store in Frankfort after the store owner believed Hollon was stealing items, and when an officer confronted Hollon she opened up her purse to the officer to show she didnt have any stolen items.

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The officer didnt see any stolen items but did see a ball of aluminum foil inside a bag, according to court documents. The officer suspected there were drugs inside the aluminum foil, which was confirmed after Hollon was transported to the jail.

Hollon also had a warrant out for her arrest prior to the officer finding drugs in her purse, according to court documents.
Lawsuits stemming from former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey 's placement of shipping containers at the Arizona-Mexico border are expected to come to a close following a payment by the state to the federal government, according to recent court filings.

Starting with just 42 shipping containers in August 2022, Ducey's project grew to thousands of containers by the end of the year. In December 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Arizona, Ducey and other state officials over the attempt to create a makeshift border wall. Ducey, in October 2022, had sued the federal government after federal officials sent the state a letter saying the container project violated federal law.

The federal government said the land where the shipping containers were placed could only be used by Arizona if the state was authorized to do so by the U.S. government and the state had no such permission.

Additionally, the federal government's lawsuit alleged that "the hundreds of double-stacked multi-ton shipping containers" damaged federal lands, threatened public safety and hindered the abilities of federal agencies to do their jobs.

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Arizona officials were informed the state was trespassing on federal lands before the U.S. government filed its lawsuit, according to court records. The federal government asked Arizona to stop its operations, according to court filings, but the state continued to bring shipping containers to the area.

Ducey's administration began dismantling the wall under pressure from the DOJ lawsuit. The job was finished after Gov. Katie Hobbs took office in early 2023. Hobbs called the makeshift barrier a "publicity stunt."

Where did they go? Shipping containers used for Arizona's makeshift border wall are now for sale, but buyer beware

The federal land near the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise and Yuma counties is now clear of the containers, and "extensive remediation efforts" have been undertaken to reverse environmental damage caused by the project, according to a joint status report filed Aug. 23 by the federal government, Arizona and the Center for Biological Diversity, which intervened in the suit Ducey brought.

Arizona has agreed to pay the U.S. Forest Service for additional remediation efforts, according to the joint status report.

The Forest Service sent a bill for about $2.1 million to the state on Aug. 22, according to Judy Kioski, a spokesperson for the states Division of Emergency Management.

Once Arizona has paid the outstanding bill, the federal government and state expect the cases to be dismissed, according to the joint status report.

As of late June, the makeshift wall had already cost Arizonans more than $194 million, according to state financial records.

The lawsuits will stay in effect until Sept. 26, and if they are not withdrawn by then, the parties will file another joint progress report to the court.

Reach the reporter at morgan.fischer@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona agrees to pay $2.1M over shipping container border wall
A woman has claimed that Delta Air Lines staff allegedly lost her dog. Now, shes taken to social media in a desperate bid to find her missing pup.

Former passenger Paula Rodriguez has claimed that Delta staff allegedly lost her dog, Maia, last Friday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia.

Rodriguez was reportedly flying in from the Dominican Republic when she was denied entry to the United States by US Border Control officials. In an interview with Atlanta News First, Rodriguez explained: They told me very kindly, Were so sorry but you dont meet the requirements to enter the US. Youve been denied entry, and you need to be sent back home to Santo Domingo.

Rodriguez added: They told me, Youre going to have to sleep in a detention centre, and your dog cant come with you.

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After spending a night in a detention centre separated from her beloved pet, Rodriguez was set to take a flight back home on Saturday morning. But when she was prepared to board her flight, her dog was reportedly nowhere to be found. Rodriguez said that she was in tears as she told border officials that she wouldnt board without her dog, but they allegedly informed Rodriguez that by law, they couldnt have her in the airport for more than 24 hours.

When she arrived in the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez explained that she tried to get answers from Delta officials. I started making calls, I started making claims, nobody knew where she was, Rodriguez told Atlanta News First.

Rodriguez revealed that she had finally heard back from a Delta representative the following Monday, but they told her that Maia had broken out of her kennel and was reportedly missing since Saturday. After that, Delta hasnt called me once or emailed me about the whereabouts of my dog, Rodriguez claimed.

She also informed the Atlanta-based outlet that she had rescued Maia from the streets and shes had her since shes been one month old.

Andrew Gobeil, the senior director of communications for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, explained to Atlanta News First: ATLs operations teams conduct runway and airfield inspections throughout the day. At this time they have not encountered the dog, but will continue to remain vigilant should she appear. If she is seen, ATLs staff will attempt to capture her and return her to the airline and her owner.

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Meanwhile, representatives from Delta Air Lines have told Atlanta News First that they remain dedicated to finding the dog. However, the company denies Rodriguezs claims that they have not been in contact with her since she lost her dog.

Delta teams have been working to locate and reunite this pet with the customer and we remain in touch with the customer to provide updates, a Delta representative said. Delta people feel deeply concerned for the customer and the dog and were committed to ongoing search efforts, working closely with the City of Atlanta Department of Aviation and other stakeholders.

The Independent has contacted Delta and Rodriguez for comment.
Never one to shy away from bright colors, dazzling jewels, or luxurious furs, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark knows how to turn heads. Starting from her 2004 wedding to Prince Frederik, Mary has truly been dressing the part of the future queen. Read on to check out some of her most grand fashion moments.

August 13, 2023

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the town of Christiansfeld, a UNESCO World Heritage site, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary traveled to the city. Mary selected a Raquel Diniz dress and a floral fascinator for the occasion.

CLAUS FISKER - Getty Images

June 15, 2023

It was all glamour at a dinner at Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen, when Crown Princess Mary wore a long, tiered gown in a blushing champagne hue.

MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN - Getty Images

May 6, 2023

At the coronation of King Charles, Mary went for a monochrome look in a truly regal purple hue paired with a veiled headpiece, a turquoise brooch, and matching earrings.

Mark Cuthbert - Getty Images

May 5, 2023

Ahead of the coronation of Britain's King Charles III, Princess Mary and Prince Frederik attended a gala at Buckingham Palace. A pro at shopping her own closet, Mary rewore the bright, balloon sleeve dress that she chose for her daughter, Princess Isabella 's confirmation earlier int he year.

Chris Jackson - Getty Images

January 3, 2023

At the New Year's reception for the diplomatic corps at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Mary glammed it up in a cornflower blue down with a printed skirt.

LISELOTTE SABROE - Getty Images

June 21, 2022

To visit the Willem-Alexander Childrens Hospital in Leiden, Mary opted with a classic, belted shirt dress is a warm cream shade, and snake print pumps.

Patrick van Katwijk - Getty Images

June 20, 2022

For a dinner celebrating Dutch-Danish trade at The Hague, Princess Mary wore this gorgeous, lacy navy dress with sheer details and a bright yellow shoe.

Patrick van Katwijk - Getty Images

April 30, 2022

For the confirmation of her daughter, Princess Isabella at Fredensborg Palace, Mary went for a bold papaya-hued dress with a gem-studded belt and a veiled headband.

Patrick van Katwijk - Getty Images

February 23, 2022

When Kate Middleton came to visit Queen Margrethe at the Christian IX Palace in Copenhagen, Crown Princess Mary wore a simple and chic black and white combo, pairing a white boucle coat with a black turtleneck, skirt set, and tights.

Samir Hussein - Getty Images

January 14, 2022

On the 50th anniversary of Queen Margrethe's accession, Mary wore this all-over camel ensemble to visit the tomb of Frederick IX of Denmark, father of Margrethe, in Roskilde, Denmark.

MARTIN SYLVEST - Getty Images

November 2, 2019

Crown Princess Mary donned a one-shoulder, dusty rose gown for the Crown Prince Couples Prize Awards. She paired her formal dress with dangly earrings and a floral bouquet.

Ole Jensen - Getty Images

October 22, 2019

During a trip to Japan, Princess Mary chose a blue-grey gown with an attached cape. She complemented the look with a turquoise sash, ceremonial brooches, and a purple hat with a large blue flower.

Chris Jackson - Getty Images

October 8, 2019

For a grand dinner in Paris, Princess Mary chose a blue and white lace look with matching pumps. She topped off the outfit with a romantic updo.

Pierre Suu - Getty Images

October 8, 2019

The Princess remained chic throughout her 2019 Paris trip, posing in front of the Arc de Triomphe while wearing a long-sleeved white, tweed dress. She matched her pumps with a flattering navy belt.

Pierre Suu - Getty Images

June 15, 2019

Princess Mary chose a red, silk dress with a teardrop cutout for the 800 year anniversary celebration of the Danish flag. The Princess accessorized with flowers in her hands and on her hat.

Ole Jensen - Getty Images

March 12, 2019

During a trip stateside, HRH Mary attended a Houston, Texas gala wearing a teal "cold shoulder" gown.

Bob Levey - Getty Images

January 1, 2019

The Princess chose a formal look, with a patterned gown and glittering tiara to be accompanied by her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, so celebrate the new year.

Ole Jensen - Getty Images

August 29, 2017

Always one to accessorize with a bouquet, Princess Mary attended the opening of the National Care Center in Copenhagen with flowers in hand. Her crisp look included a tea-length, polka dot skirt and snakeskin pumps.

Patrick van Katwijk - Getty Images

May 10, 2017

The rain didn't stop Princess Mary as she and her husband donned formalwear to attend the King and Queen of Denmark's joint 80th birthday party. Mary opted for a striking formal gown with a waist-accentuating belt.

Nigel Waldron - Getty Images

March 28, 2017

For a State Dinner, Crown Princess Mary glittered in gold and jewels. She paired her metallic gown with a burgundy sash, opulent necklace, and a dazzling tiara.

Ole Jensen - Corbis - Getty Images

June 15, 2016

Princess Mary wore this fun look to the Royal Ascot horse race in the United Kingdom. The Princess clearly loves a flowered hat, so she opted for this detailed cream version, which she wore along with a red puff-sleeved dress.

Max Mumby/Indigo - Getty Images

April 30, 2016

HRH Mary stepped out in a camel robe-style coat and her signature pumps. She also coordinated her plum-colored pillbox hat with matching leather gloves.

Julian Parker - Getty Images

April 13, 2016

At a State Banquet, the Princess pulled out all the stops, with her red, ruffled gown, mustard sash, and stunning accessories. Her delicate crown and bouffant hairstyle topped off this formal look.

Julian Parker - Getty Images

April 13, 2016

Earlier that day, Mary showed that outerwear doesn't have to be dull. Her belted ombre coat paired nicely with her black pumps and pillbox hat.

Julian Parker - Getty Images

June 13, 2015

The royal couple wowed while attending the wedding of Prince Carl Philip of Sweden. Crown Princess Mary shined in a periwinkle ballgown and dainty tiara.

Julian Parker - Getty Images

April 8, 2015

Accompanied by her daughter, Princess Isabella, Mary chose a simple yet formal look with a black velvet gown. Her statement necklace adds some sparkle to the outfit.

Julian Parker - Getty Images

November 13, 2014

Princess Mary stole the spotlight at the 2014 Bambi Awards in Berlin. This sparkly, off-the-shoulder gown was complemented by her dazzling statement earrings.

Franziska Krug - Getty Images

June 11, 2014

While attending a lunch at a French chateau, the Princess looked stylish and breezy in this bright green maxi dress and barely-there sandals.

Mark Cuthbert - Getty Images

June 8, 2013

At the wedding of Swedish Princess Madeleine, Mary wore this opulent coral outfit complete with a cape and a floral tiara.

Vittorio Zunino Celotto - Getty Images

April 29, 2013

The princess glowed in silver and blush at a formal dinner in Amsterdam. The gown's illusion neckline and detailed embroidery add to its beauty.

Michel Porro - Getty Images

January 3, 2013

For a formal event in Copenhagen, Princess Mary donned a black tie dress and jacket set. Her blue sash coordinates nicely with her husband's larger version.

Danny E. Martindale - Getty Images

January 1, 2013

The Princess was a vision in orange at Queen Margrethe of Denmark's 2013 New Year's Banquet. Her elaborate silver jewelry added to the striking look.

Danny Martindale - Getty Images

October 20, 2012

For the wedding of Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg, Crown Princess Mary donned an asymmetrical grey hat and a tailored skirt suit.

Sean Gallup - Getty Images

March 24, 2012

The Princess wore this floral, springtime look to greet Prince Charles at the Copenhagen airport. The elegant jacket and dress combination looked put-together and fresh for a crisp March day.

Chris Jackson - Getty Images

January 14, 2014

The Princess sported a long black embroidered gown and delicate tiara at a Copenhagen gala. The dress proved perfect for a formal night on the town.

Chris Jackson - Getty Images

November 23, 2011

During a trip to Australia, Princess Mary looked effortlessly chic in a white pantsuit and Christian Louboutin pumps.

Pool - Getty Images

October 21, 2011

Their Royal Highnesses attended the American Scandinavian Foundation's Centennial Ball in New York. The Princess shined in a sparkly, shoulder-baring, complete with a brooch and dangly earrings.

Neilson Barnard - Getty Images

July 2, 2011

Never one to shy away from bright colors, the Princess chose this eye-catching hot pink gown for Prince Albert II of Monaco's wedding weekend. She accessorized with a tiara, a brooch, and pink jewels.

Mark Cuthbert - Getty Images

July 2, 2011

Earlier that day, Crown Princess Mary stuck with the bright colors, wearing a blue tie waist dress to the Monaco wedding's religious ceremony. She also donned a hat that she continues to wear through 2020.

Venturelli - Getty Images

September 27, 2010

Always a fan of statement outwear, the Princess chose a stunning floral coat and matching burgundy headpiece during a royal visit to northern Germany.

Pool - Getty Images

June 19, 2010

While posing with her son at a Swedish royal wedding, Crown Princess Mary glowed in a muted green gown. Naturally, she accessorized with her tiara, blue sash, and brooches.

Pool BENAINOUS/HOUNSFIELD - Getty Images

June 18, 2010

Before the Swedish wedding, the Crown Princess wowed in this strapless, cream gown. The subtle embroidery and embellishments on the dress' bodice add lovely detail to this elegant outfit.

Adam Osterman - Getty Images

January 1, 2009

Crown Princess Mary always has the most elaborate New Year's outfits. To ring in 2009, she chose a silver gown, accessorizing with diamonds and fur.

Julian Parker - Getty Images

September 12, 2007

For the Brazilian President's state visit to Denmark, the Princess sported this blue gown with an elegant v-shaped neckline. She complemented the look with her tiara and powder blue sash.

Mark Cuthbert - Getty Images

September 12, 2007

Denmark can get chilly in September, and this white overcoat is the perfect transition piece from summer to fall. The Princess topped off the outfit with a black and white hat.

Mark Cuthbert - Getty Images

February 23, 2007

For the King of Norway's 70th birthday, Princess Mary chose a simple black gown paired with a luxurious fur jacket. This look was sure to keep the Princess warm and stylish in the midst of an Oslo winter.

Julian Parker/Mark Cuthbert - Getty Images

June 30, 2006

Crown Princess Mary sparkled in this embellished, beige cocktail dress. She wore this summery look to the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg's silver wedding anniversary celebration.

Pascal Le Segretain - Getty Images

May 14, 2004

One of the Princess's all time greatest looks is her wedding outfit. The stunning off the shoulder gown, detailed with white lace, proved perfect for a royal wedding, along with her lace veil and bountiful floral bouquet.

Pool BENAINOUS/TRAVERS/DUCLOS - Getty Images

May 11, 2004

At a celebratory dinner for her wedding, Princess Marry wore a silver, patterned ballgown paired with an elaborate necklace and tiara. She and her husband-to-be coordinated their light blue sashes.

Sean Gallup - Getty Images

May 5, 2004

Leading up to her wedding, the future princess sported a vibrant red gown with an oversized bow and train. Her floral tiara with red gemstones complemented the formal look.

Lalo Yasky - Getty Images

October 8, 2004

At the announcement of her engagement to Prince Frederik, then Mary Elizabeth Donaldson wore a sophisticated light brown dress to make her public debut. The chocolate brown detailing accentuates Mary's waist and adds to this classy look.

Scott Barbour - Getty Images

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Boom is making some serious supersonic strides.

Shortly after announcing that its bonkers Overture concept is moving closer toward reality, the Colorado-based firm has shared that its one-third-scale demonstrator jet is nearing takeoff.

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The XB-1, which first rolled out of Booms Colorado hangar in 2020, was recently moved to the Mojave Air & Space Port in California for ground testing. Last week, the supersonic jet completed taxi testing and received an experimental airworthiness certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

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The recent progress made towards XB-1s first flight reflects the teams collective efforts to build and safely fly the worlds first independently developed supersonic jet, Booms founder and CEO Blake Scholl said in a statement.

The XB-1 is undergoing testing at the Mojave Air & Space Port in California.

The aircraft features a carbon-composite and titanium fuselage and a 17-foot ogive (modified delta) wing that can withstand supersonic speeds. It is also equipped with three General Electric J85 engines that can produce a combined maximum thrust of 12,300 pounds.

In addition to the FAA certification, Boom has also secured letters of authorization that will allow test pilots Bill Doc Shoemaker and Tristan Gepetto Brandenburg to fly XB-1 over the Mojave desert. Coincidently, this airspace is where Charles Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 in 1947.

Im looking forward to flying XB-1 here, building on the achievements of other talented engineers and pilots who inspire us every day to make supersonic travel mainstream, Shoemaker adds.

Booms supersonic Overture airliner.

XB-1 was developed as a way to fine-tune the design of the larger Overture airliner. The supersonic aircraft is designed to fly 65 to 80 passengers at Mach 1.7, or about 1,300 mph, which is about twice the speed of todays fastest airliners. To put that into context, Overture will be able to fly from London to New York in three and a half hours. Even better, the airliner will run on 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Boom says XB-1 has validated its approach to airplane design and enabled engineers to leverage the advanced tools that are critical to Overtures development. A number of aerospace analysts believe Overture will never hit the skies, but it looks like XB-1 definitely will.

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Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.
By Hannah Lang and Chris Prentice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A court ruling siding with Grayscale Investments is a big boost for the cryptocurrency industry's decade-long effort to launch an exchange-traded fund that tracks bitcoin, even if it does not immediately open the floodgates for such products.

A three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in Washington on Tuesday ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission was wrong to reject Grayscale's proposed bitcoin ETF without explaining its reasoning, in a case that has been closely watched by the industry.

The ruling requires the SEC to review Grayscale's application, meaning there is no certainty it will reach a different conclusion and greenlight the product. And the regulatory agency, which on Tuesday said it was studying the ruling, could appeal.

Still, it endorses the rights of the cryptocurrency industry - which is reeling from a massive SEC crackdown - to due process, and offers more clarity on how it can meet the SEC's investor protection bar, said executives and lawyers.

It's the second major industry victory after a federal judge in New York ruled in July that Ripple Labs did not violate the law by selling its token on exchanges. The SEC will appeal that case, which is on shaky ground after a subsequent ruling questioned its approach.

"This decision represents another instance of U.S. courts pushing back against what is widely seen as regulatory overreach by the SEC in the digital asset space," said Christopher LaVigne, co-chair of the cryptocurrency practice at the Withers law firm.

The SEC declined to comment on Wednesday. "Its a huge victory for us, for our investors, for, really, the crypto community and the investment community as a whole," Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein told CNBC on Wednesday. Bitcoin jumped around 7% on Tuesday, although it pared some gains Wednesday. It was last at $27, 206.

A spot bitcoin ETF would give investors exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization without having to own it. The SEC has denied all spot bitcoin ETF applications, saying applicants have not shown they can protect investors from market manipulation.

Story continues

It has, though, approved bitcoin futures ETFs based on a market surveillance arrangement with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), where most bitcoin futures trade. Grayscale argued the same setup should be satisfactory for its spot ETF, since both products rely on bitcoin's underlying price.

The appeals court ruled that the SEC arbitrarily denied Grayscale's application because it "never explained why Grayscale owning bitcoins rather than bitcoin futures affects the CME's ability to detect fraud." The CME did not immediately comment on the decision.

Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, the UK-regulated index provider for other proposed bitcoin ETFs, said the ruling clarified that crypto firms seeking to launch regulated products "should be afforded exactly the same due process and consideration" as if they were offering established securities.

'POTENTIAL ROAD MAP'

The court's endorsement of the CME arrangement also offers a potential path to meet the SEC's bar for investor protection.

"It won't be immediate, but this is significant in that it may give a potential road map for a successful product," said Joseph Toner, a former SEC official and a lawyer at WilmerHale.

Other firms have spot bitcoin ETF applications with the SEC, including asset management giant BlackRock, Fidelity and WisdomTree. They have proposed a surveillance arrangement with Coinbase Global, the largest U.S. crypto exchange.

The CME arrangement may be more attractive after Tuesday's ruling, said some executives.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of the applicants trying to switch their surveillance agreements to CME," said Seth Hertlein, global head of policy at crypto wallet Ledger.

BlackRock and Fidelity declined to comment. "While we are closely following the news, we are hyper-focused on our own meaningful and collaborative conversations with regulators," said Ryan Louvar, WisdomTree's chief legal officer.

Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase, said the Grayscale ruling was an "important step toward the clarity the industry needs." Coinbase intends to pursue its proposed surveillance sharing agreement for firms that have applied for a spot bitcoin ETF, according to a person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity.

Lawyers cautioned that the SEC may appeal, which would send the case to a review by the entire appeals court or by the Supreme Court, dragging a final decision out for years. And if the SEC does not appeal, it could offer a more specific reason to again reject Grayscale's application or other similar ones, said Withers' LaVigne

"We may find ourselves back on this same merry-go-round," he added.

(Additional reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York and Tom Wilson in London; Editing by Michelle Price and Jonathan Oatis)
A 911 call reporting a break-in led to two fatalities Wednesday morning in Caddo Parish.

Deputies responded to the 4800 block of Old Mooringsport Road at approximately 1:54 a.m. According to the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office, a suspect opened fire on the officers from behind an adjacent home. During an exchange of gunfire, the suspect was killed.

During a search of what is believed to be the suspect's home, deputies found a female deceased inside.

Detectives with the Caddo Parish Sheriffs Office and investigators with the Louisiana State Police are investigating both the officer-involved shooting and the homicide.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Louisiana State Police, Caddo Sheriff's Office investigates homicide
A convicted rapist who authorities say used a jet ski during an escape from an Arkansas prison last year was arrested Tuesday in West Virginia, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Samuel Paul Hartman, 39, was arrested along with his wife, his mother and his mother's boyfriend at a hotel in Lewisburg, the Marshals Service said in a news release.

The women are accused of helping Hartman escape in August 2022 from the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys, 96 miles east of Little Rock.

Hartman was on a work detail in a field near the detention facility when a pickup truck with the women inside approached. Several gunshots were fired at a corrections officer from the waiting vehicle as Hartman ran to it. The vehicle fled to two jet skis staged near the Mississippi River not far from the prison, the statement said.

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Police have said the abandoned jet skis were found on the Mississippi side of the river and that a witness reported seeing one man and two women riding them.

Investigators later determined that Hartman's mother had ties to West Virginia. Making the arrests Tuesday were U.S. marshals and officers with the West Virginia State Police, the Lewisburg Police Department and the Greenbrier County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities released a collage of the four arrested, with Hartman's photo appearing to show blood on his face.

Joe Profiri, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, said investigators "followed hundreds of leads over the course of the last year" before the arrests were made.

Arrested along with Hartman were his wife, 39-year-old Misty Hartman; his mother, Linda Annette White, 61; and Rodney Trent, 52, identified by the Marshals Service as White's boyfriend.

"Today's announcement is the culmination of a year of outstanding, dedicated work by our heroic law enforcement officers. Now that they have brought this dangerous fugitive to justice, all Arkansans can sleep safer at night," Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

Trent faces felony charges of harboring a sex offender and of assisting Hartman and the two women, the Marshals Service said. The service did not say what charges Misty Hartman and White would face.

An Arkansas Department of Corrections spokeswoman said she expected the suspects to be extradited to Arkansas as soon as possible.

Hartman, 39, was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 for a rape conviction out of Franklin County, Arkansas.

Hurricane Idalia downgraded to Category 1 storm, headed for Georgia

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Washington  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze again during an exchange with reporters at an event in his home state of Kentucky on Wednesday. The incident comes about a month after McConnell stopped speaking mid-sentence for several seconds during a press conference.

The incident occurred after McConnell, 81, was asked about running for re-election in 2026 during an event in Covington, Kentucky. The Republican leader acknowledged the question, but trailed off shortly after and stopped speaking. McConnell began to stare ahead and after roughly 10 seconds, an aide stepped in and asked whether he heard the question. McConnell replied, "yes," but continued to look off into the distance, prompting the aide to say, "we're going to need a minute."

She then asked for assistance from what appeared to be a member of McConnell's security detail. The senator appeared to regain his composure after roughly 30 seconds of silence, clearing his throat and stating, "OK." McConnell answered two more questions from reporters, though his aide relayed the topics to him. He then left the gathering.

A spokesperson for McConnell said he felt "momentarily lightheaded and paused" during the press conference. An aide to the senator said though he feels fine, "as a prudential measure, the leader will be consulting a physician prior to his next event."

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President Biden told reporters after delivering remarks on the federal response to Hurricane Idalia and the wildfires on Maui that McConnell is a "good friend," and said he is going to try to get in contact with him.

McConnell attended an event in Louisville Wednesday evening with Republican Rep. Jim Banks , who is running for Senate in Indiana. Banks posted a photo on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying he "Enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion with Leader McConnell this evening about the future of our country. I look forward to working with him on issues confronting our bordering states."

Enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion with @LeaderMcConnell this evening about the future of our country. I look forward to working with him on issues confronting our bordering states. pic.twitter.com/gJcJMPJO31  Jim Banks (@Jim_Banks) August 31, 2023

The first instance of McConnell freezing occurred during a press conference in the U.S. Capitol on July 26, when he stopped speaking mid-sentence while delivering opening comments and appeared unable to continue with his remarks for roughly 15 seconds.

Sen. John Barrasso, a GOP senator from Wyoming who is a physician, approached McConnell to ask if he was OK and escorted him from the podium. The senator returned to answer questions and told reporters he was "fine." An aide to McConnell later said he "felt lightheaded and stepped away for a moment."

The July incident prompted a wave of concern for McConnell's health from his fellow senators and Mr. Biden, who called the senator to check on him. McConnell said he told the president he "got sandbagged," a reference to when Mr. Biden tripped over a sandbag during the U.S. Air Force Academy's commencement ceremony this summer.

Republicans offered continued support for McConnell after the July episode, and a spokesperson told CBS News that the leader "plans to serve his full term in the job they overwhelmingly elected him to do."

The freezing incidents come after McConnell tripped at a Washington hotel, where he was attending a dinner event, and suffered a concussion in March. He was hospitalized for several days and received additional treatment at an inpatient rehabilitation facility. McConnell returned to the Senate more than a month after the fall.

McConnell has served as the top Senate Republican since 2007, and he became the longest-serving Senate leader in history when the new Congress began in January. He fended off a leadership challenge from Florida Sen. Rick Scott in November, the first of his tenure as party leader.

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Concerns over Mitch McConnell's health after second apparent freezing incident
Memorial services for former U.S. Congressman and Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist will start in Memphis on Thursday, according to county historian Jim Rout.

Sundquist and his wife, Martha Sundquist, moved to Memphis in 1972 and raised their three children in Shelby County. He passed away Sunday in Memphis at Baptist East Memorial Hospital following a surgery and short illness.

The "Celebration of Life" service will be held at Christ Church Memphis, 4488 Poplar Ave. A short visitation will start at 10 a.m. and will be followed with the "Celebration of Life" service at 11 a.m.

Per Sundquist's request, the service will be led by longtime family friend James Latimer, the senior pastor of Redeemer Evangelical Church in Germantown. Kellye Cash-Sheppard, the 1987 Miss America, and Maxine Dunnam, the minister-at-large for Christ Church, will also be participating in the service.

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Overflow parking for the service will be available at Oak Court Mall, and Memphis police will be on hand to assist with pedestrian traffic.

Funeral arrangements for Sundquist are not yet finalized, though it is known he will lie in state in the capitol building in Nashville. According to Rout, the former governor will be interred in Townsend, Tennessee, where he and his wife lived for several years.

Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Services announced for former TN Gov. Don Sundquist start in Memphis
James M. Harvey, former Shelby County Commissioner and current business owner, is one of 17 candidates left on the ballot for the city of Memphis Mayor. Harvey believes he will bring more leadership experience than any of the other 17 candidates.

Harvey, a native Memphian, said that Memphis no longer needs a "manager" that everyone likes but someone who will lead the city. As the current owner of Fidelity Employment Staffing and having held numerous leadership positions in various companies like FedEx and UPS, Harvey believes he understands all the ins and outs of leadership.

"I have a track record of hands-on leadership, and many of them have a track record of either working for somebody or working under somebody or working through somebody and you know, it's a huge difference," Harvey said.

James Harvey, city of Memphis Mayoral Candidate.

Harvey said bringing economic development will be important in his administration, but the only way to do so is to get a grip on crime. Crime starts at home, Harvey said, but it then spreads to all facets of the community.

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"I believe that crime starts at home. Then it goes to the schools. Then it goes to the streets, then it comes in our back door," Harvey said.

To address juvenile crime, Harvey suggested having children who are suspended from school more than twice in a single school year be put on a virtual learning program and not be allowed back in school. Harvey said it is giving the power of discipline back to the teachers and staff at school, and also not letting ill-behaved children influence others in the classroom.

"I think it gives those students a chance to have it to not be disturbed in their desire to be taught at school, without the disruptions, without the bullying, without the constant interruptions by students," Harvey said.

The crime in Memphis is different than the crime in different parts of Tennessee, Harvey said, and addressing it will look different as well. Using his stature as mayor if elected, Harvey said he hopes to work with state officials to propose legislation that would combat crime and also meet with local officials to be tougher on repeat offenders.

"I also believe that we need to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with the district attorney and the judges, to not be so lenient with the criminals that are coming in and out of our system without any consequences," Harvey said.

As for the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the Memphis Police Department, like many other elected officials, Harvey welcomes it, hoping it will help remove "bad apples" in the department. Harvey said the culture of MPD needs to change and said the investigation has been a "long time coming."

Memphis voter guide 2023: The hub for mayoral, City Council election coverage

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at Brooke.Muckerman@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: James Harvey in Memphis elections: Get to know the mayoral candidate
Ukrainian drones hit targets deep inside Russia in a wave of overnight strikes, officials said Wednesday, in what appeared to be the biggest attack on the country since it launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than 18 months ago.

Four military transport aircraft were reportedly damaged at an airfield near the border with Russias Baltic neighbors as strategic sites were set ablaze across the country  the latest signal that the war is increasingly playing out on Russian soil.

Drone attacks have become an almost daily occurrence within Russia in recent months as Ukraine seeks to turn the tables on its invader in the air while pressing a counteroffensive on the battlefield. They have not led to significant damage or loss of life, but the attacks are posing a growing challenge for the Kremlin, making it difficult to keep the war distant for the Russian population.

Ukraine stuck to its policy of not taking public responsibility for attacks inside Russia, while decrying an overnight missile and drone attack on its capital, Kyiv, that officials said left two people dead.

Nighttime barrage across Russia

Russia woke Wednesday to news that at least six regions had come under attack.

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Four Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged, with two engulfed in fires, after drones struck a military airport in Russias western Pskov region, the state news agency Tass reported.

Pskov Gov. Mikhail Vedernikov shared a video on the Telegram messaging app that showed a massive plume of smoke and the sounds of an explosion in the background, saying the Russian Defense Ministry was deflecting a drone attack on the citys airport. He canceled all flights to and from the airport Wednesday until the damage could be assessed. He said there were no casualties, and that firefighters were tackling the fire.

The Pskov branch of Russia's emergencies ministry said on its website that it received overnight reports of Il-76 aircraft "on fire." It did not mention the number of planes that were reportedly burning, or any drone attacks.

Pskov sits near the Russian border with Estonia and is quite far from the front lines, some 520 miles north of Kyiv.

Smoke billows over the city of Pskov, Russia, on Tuesday night. (Ostorozhno Novosti via AP)

The Russian Defense Ministry made no mention of the attack on the Pskov airport in its official statements, but reported drone attacks in the Ryazan, Kaluga and Orlov regions in a series of late-night messages on Telegram. It said all drones were intercepted and did not comment on any damage or casualties. These regions lie relatively close to Ukraine but not in the immediate vicinity of the border.

Kaluga Gov. Vladyslav Shapsha reported on Telegram that one of the drones in his region hit an empty tank for storing petroleum products, but that there were no casualties. He reported another drone attack in daytime, several hours later, but said the drone was destroyed and debris fell outside residential areas.

Orlov Gov. Andrei Klychkov said on Telegram two drones hit his region. There was no information about casualties or damage. He reported another drone attack in the region Wednesday afternoon.

The Defense Ministry also reported drones destroyed in the Moscow region, in a district west of the Russian capital.

Drones were also downed in the region of Bryansk, which lies on the border with Ukraine, according to the ministry. Gov. Aleksandr Bogomaz reported seven destroyed drones in four separate attacks since midnight, one of which he said targeted a television tower. There were no casualties, but an administrative building was damaged, he said.

Around midnight, the ministry also reported destroying four high-speed military boats, carrying 50 Ukrainian special operations forces, in the Black Sea. It later also reported destroying a similar boat near Snake Island, an important Ukrainian outpost in the Black Sea. In the occupied Crimean city of Sevastopol, Gov. Mikhail Razvozhaev reported an attack by drones from the sea in the harbor area.

While Russia was facing its biggest aerial onslaught of the war, Ukraines capital faced its most intense attack in months. Two people were killed and three others were injured in a missile and drone attack on Kyiv on Wednesday morning, local officials reported, calling it the most powerful attack since spring.

The exchanges Wednesday came exactly a month after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to return the war to Russia  to its symbolic centers and military bases.

Russia blames all drone attacks on its soil on Kyiv, which normally doesnt acknowledge responsibility. There was no official reaction in Kyiv after the drone attacks Wednesday, but Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on X, formerly Twitter, that the attack on Kyiv was revenge for growing accidents in the [Russian Federation] itself.

Ukraine Russian Drone Attack Kyiv (Anatolii Stepanov / AFP - Getty Images)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that Ukrainian attacks on peaceful civilian facilities on Russian territory will not go unpunished, adding that the attacks confirm the terrorist nature of the Kyiv regime.

Moscow normally calls all attacks on Russian soil terrorism, but brands its own attacks on Ukraine as aimed only at military installations, despite evidence that thousands of civilian sites have been hit in Ukraine since last February. Zakharova also said that Ukrainian drones would not be able to fly this far without help from Western satellites.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian military experts were investigating the launch routes of the drones to take appropriate measures preventing any further such attacks. He also said the majority of the drones were targeted at civilian infrastructure and vowed that Russia will continue its special military operation in Ukraine in order to eradicate such threats.

Russian state TV barely touched on the drone attacks in daily newscasts Wednesday. But the 60 Minutes analytical show on Russia 1 opened with the attacks in a special episode, running eyewitness video. Its host mocked Western reports that the attacks are meant to put psychological pressure on Russian people, while pundits accused Western intelligence of helping Kyiv attack Russian territory.

Meanwhile, Ukraine pushes on with a counteroffensive that has struggled to make a breakthrough but does seem to have achieved some progress in the south in recent days. The U.S. announced a new package for Kyiv on Tuesday, providing $250 million in military aid, which includes more missiles for air defense.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey appeared on two shows this week hosted by a co-defendant of former President Donald Trump in the Georgia election interference case to tout the states new law restricting some forms of health care for transgender youth.

Bailey, a Republican, was interviewed twice by Jenna Ellis , a former lawyer to Trump who is under felony indictment over allegations she solicited public officials to violate their oaths of office by unlawfully appointing fake presidential electors. Trump, Ellis and 17 others have been accused of a sprawling conspiracy in Georgia to overturn the former presidents 2020 loss in the state.

During a podcast posted online Monday and a radio appearance Tuesday, Bailey and Ellis spoke about a St. Louis judges decision on Friday that allowed a new Missouri law restricting gender-affirming care to go into effect while a legal challenge against it proceeds. Neither commented on the Georgia case during the interviews.

But Baileys decision to go on the podcast is remarkable. Missouris chief legal officer, a role that at times involves prosecuting criminal cases, is appearing with an individual accused of committing a felony to advance a conspiracy to overturn a presidential election in another state.

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It is not often that you see the top law enforcement officer of a state appearing with someone credibly alleged to have participated in a racketeering entity and indicted on multiple felony counts related to overthrowing an election in particular, Anthony Michael Kreis, an assistant professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law, wrote in an email.

But this is no ordinary case and some partisan players, including elected officials, are liable to turn to their tribal allegiances because of the politics of the moment. One would hope that rather than circling the wagons with political allies, a state attorney general would want to wait and assess the evidence presented in a court of law, Kreis wrote.

He added that theres surely a political benefit to anyone eyeing a higher officer by playing to the base rather than waiting for facts to emerge.

Asked whether he had any concerns about the appropriateness of appearing with an individual under felony indictment, Bailey responded in a statement that he is more concerned with the medias presumption of guilt when everyone knows the criminal justice system requires a presumption of innocence.

The media should be reporting on the obvious two-tiered criminal justice system, with different standards being applied to Joe Biden s political opponents, Bailey said.

Bailey was appointed attorney general by Gov. Mike Parson after working as his general counsel and took office in January. He is locked in a competitive fight for the Republican nomination for attorney general with Will Scharf, a former federal prosecutor.

Bailey has pursued an agenda seemingly designed to delight conservative primary voters, including attempting unsuccessfully to restrict gender-affirming care through regulations and trying to slow down an initiative petition to restore access to abortion.

And like many GOP officials, Bailey has been dismissive of the latest indictment of Trump.

After a Georgia grand jury indicted Trump, Ellis and others earlier this month, Bailey attempted to paint the indictment as a First Amendment violation. He also promoted Missouris lawsuit alleging the White House violated the First Amendment by working with social media companies to suppress conservative viewpoints  part of a larger effort by Republicans to cast Biden and Democrats as attempting to muzzle them, whether through investigations or on social media.

The Georgia indictment brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleges that in early December 2020, Ellis  along with Trump lawyer and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, conservative lawyer John Eastman and Georgia-based attorney Ray Stallings Smith  solicited and requested Georgia state senators to unlawfully appoint presidential electors during a Georgia Senate Judiciary subcommittee meeting.

The indictment describes Ellis as urging state lawmakers in Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania to appoint fake presidential electors. It also alleges Ellis wrote a memo on Dec. 31, 2020, to Trump outlining a strategy for disrupting and delaying the Jan. 6, 2021 joint session of Congress to count electoral votes by urging Vice President Mike Pence to not open any of the votes from Georgia and six other states.

Pence resisted pressure from Trump and others to block the certification, ultimately leading Trump supporters to erect a gallows and search for the vice president when they stormed the Capitol that day.

The Democrats and the Fulton County DA are criminalizing the practice of law. I am resolved to trust the Lord and I will simply continue to honor, praise, and serve Him, Ellis tweeted following the indictment.

Ellis was censured in March by Colorado legal officials after admitting to making 10 misrepresentations on television and Twitter during Trumps fight to stay in power following his 2020 election loss. In one instance, Ellis falsely said on Fox News that we have over 500,000 votes (in Arizona) that were cast illegally.

Republican lawmakers generally havent shied away from Trump in the aftermath of his four indictments, particularly as his legal troubles have appeared to draw increased support from the conservative base of the Republican Party. Among Missouri voters who dont support President Joe Biden, 52% said they are most likely to support Trump, according to a Saint Louis University-YouGov poll released last week. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis comes in next, at 17% likely support.

Most lawmakers have defended Trump against the charges, calling the indictments politically motivated. Missouris U.S. Senators, both of whom served as Missouri attorney general before taking office, have repeatedly stood by the former president.

I think Andrew Baileys doing the correct thing and hes following in the footsteps of his predecessor in that office, state Rep. Brian Seitz, a Branson Republican, said.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, who has endorsed Trump, has been dismissive of the cases, saying he believes lawyers are protecting Biden while prosecuting Trump. There are open Department of Justice investigations into Hunter Bidens business deals and into Bidens handling of classified documents.

Sen. Josh Hawley, who has said he believes Trump is the likely Republican nominee in 2024 but has not formally endorsed him, has openly accused the FBI and Department of Justice of a political attempt to take down the former president.

Baileys appearances on Elliss podcast, The Jenna Ellis Show, and on her radio show, Jenna Ellis in the Morning, came amid a victory tour touting the decision by St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer to deny a motion for a preliminary injunction blocking SB 49, the new state law restricting gender-affirming care.

Ellis said on the podcast that Missouris success offered a blueprint for other states to follow.

I think that all 50 states should take your lead, Ellis told Bailey.

The Associated Press contributed reporting
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appeared to freeze up and was unable to speak with reporters at an event in Kentucky on Wednesday, just a month after a similarly scary episode on Capitol Hill.

McConnell, 81, didnt respond when asked about running for reelection in 2026, prompting an aide to repeat the question.

What are my thoughts about what? McConnell said, before freezing up.

Did you hear the question, senator? an aide asked the senator, before telling reporters, Im sorry all, were going to need a minute.

BREAKING NEWS: Sen. Mitch McConnell appearing to have another scary episode in the media gaggle in Covington today. Aides had to step in to help him out and repeat questions. He was eventually lead away. We'll have the full video on @WLWTpic.twitter.com/q9ex5MHxLV  Hannah Thomas (@HannahPThomas) August 30, 2023

A McConnell spokesperson said the senator felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today. An aide for the senator said he would be consulting a physician prior to his next event.

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McConnell had no trouble speaking while delivering remarks moments earlier at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Government Forum. The senator called the status of government funding talks a pretty big mess and even cracked a few jokes, including about his role as leader of the Senate GOP.

Ive frequently been asked, Whats it been like to be the leader of your party in the Senate? McConnell said at the event. I finally came up with the perfect answer: Its a little bit like being a groundskeeper at a cemetery. Everybodys under you but nobody is listening.

After last months freeze-up, McConnell said he was fine and his aides insisted he simply felt lightheaded after he was unable to speak for about 20 seconds at a press conference on Capitol Hill. McConnells GOP colleagues downplayed any talk of health issues, calling him sharp as ever.

McConnell was hospitalized for a concussion and broken ribs after falling earlier this year. The longtime Kentucky Republican senator, who had polio as a child, has slowed noticeably since then. He walks more slowly in the Capitol and has trouble hearing.

GOP senators have reportedly expressed concerns in private about McConnells health, noting that he doesnt speak or answer questions at weekly policy lunches as often as he used to.

People think that hes not hearing well, one GOP senator told NBC News. I think that he is just not processing.

President Joe Biden said he planned to reach out to McConnell on Wednesday.

Mitch is a friend, as you know. Not a joke, Biden said at the White House. I know people dont believe thats the case ... Im going to try and get in touch with him later this afternoon.
Within the first few weeks of school for central Indiana, students have been found on school grounds with guns or firearm paraphernalia more than half a dozen times.

The students range in age from as young as an elementary student in the Clark-Pleasant Community Schools district to high school students in multiple schools in Marion County.

State data shows that in recent years more students are carrying guns with them to school, raising concerns about students' safety and the availability of firearms to children.

Those who work closely with at-risk youth in high-crime areas of Indianapolis say that they believe the problem has only gotten worse in recent years.

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Its to the point where even our college-bound students are protecting themselves, said Anthony Beverly, the director of Stop the Violence Indianapolis, a group centered on empowering youth in high-crime and high-poverty areas of the city.

IndyStar tracking every homicide: Indianapolis killings in July 2023

Valerie McCray, a clinical psychologist who provides counseling to the youth in the Stop the Violence Indianapolis group, said she believes that schools are not providing students with the tools they need to succeed after graduation.

These kids are not being prepared for life, said McCray, a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. These are grown men who grow fast but then dont have the skills that match that, and the skills they do have are guns and learning how to do the streets.

Two of the incidents this school year involved Indianapolis students having guns with machine gun conversion devices attached, also more commonly known as a Glock switch. One of those incidents occurred at North Central High School and another involved two students at KIPP Legacy High School

Devin Murrell works with the Stop the Violence Indianapolis group to help other at-risk youth and told IndyStar that kids carry guns so they can feel safe and because they want to seem cool.

Thats what kids see as cool nowadays because of music, the culture and social media glorifies it, Murrell said.

A Warren Township student was arrested on Aug. 15 for having a gun on school property after students shared with school police photos that the student had posted on social media of him posing with the gun.

When questioned by police, the student said the gun belonged to his friend and he took the picture because he thought the gun was beautiful, according to a probable cause affidavit.

On Aug. 10, a student at the Sidener Academy for High Ability Students in the Indianapolis Public Schools district which serves students in second grade through eighth grade  the districts highest performing school  was found with an empty gun clip at school.

Increase of guns in schools in Marion County

Firearms have increasingly been found on school grounds in Marion County.

According to student discipline data from the Indiana Department of Education, the number of incidents involving students disciplined for having a firearm at school rose from around 40 per year in Marion County schools from 2018-2020 to 57 last year.

State law prohibits guns on school campuses, but Beverly said Indianas permit-less gun carry law  which has now been in effect for a little over a year  has played a role in the increase of guns in schools.

(The youth) think that it's okay now, that everybody can have a gun, Beverly said.

Recent Ed News: Small-group reading tutoring coming to Indy area schools with goal of reaching 800 kids

Lawrence Central High School senior Kai Clements said these recent incidents have caused him to start thinking more about the issue of guns in school.

Instead of just continuing to focus on my educational goals, I have to be thinking what can I do for safety in the back of my mind, Clements told IndyStar.

How to stop the problem

Most of the incidents of guns being found in schools result in the students being disciplined with out-of-school suspension or expelled from the school.

Many of Marion Countys school districts' student codes of conduct require that students be expelled for one year if they are found with a firearm or any other deadly weapons that could be used to cause serious bodily injury on school property.

The rise in guns on school campuses has led some school districts to enact policies to try to prevent guns from ever getting into schools.

Recent Crime news: No 'reason for this to end bad': Witness says police didn't need to kill mentally ill man

In Perry Township the district bought a $1.5 million AI weapons detection system to use in both of their high schools. Decatur Township students are required to use clear backpacks starting this school year.

Lawrence North High School senior Kye Benford understands that preventing gun violence can be difficult but said he thinks state legislators have a role to play in keeping students safe.

I think we should rely on the state government to make stricter gun laws that make it harder for people to obtain (guns). That way it significantly reduces the risk for shootings, Benford said.

Schools are not the only places where Indianapolis youth have access to guns, which at times has led to deadly consequences.

Just last week an 11-year-old accidentally shot and killed himself on the east side of Indianapolis. The shooting follows what police have said is a skyrocketing number of accidental shootings this year, with one-quarter of non-fatal, unintentional shootings by mid-year involving juveniles.

Through his years of work with helping at-risk kids in Indianapolis, Beverly said the most effective strategy he has seen is listening to the kids directly affected by the gun violence.

Its about allowing the kids to be the experts, Beverly said. We have to listen to what their heart's desire is, and ask creative questions that help to draw out of them what they already know.

Police and the Marion County Sherriffs Office have given away about 100 free gun locks on July 2 and Indianapolis Public Library branches also offer gun locks during regular hours.

IndyStar reporter Sarah Nelson contributed to this reporting.

Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy.

Carolines reporting is made possible by Report for America and Glick Philanthropies. As part of its work in Marion County, Glick Philanthropies partners with organizations focused on closing access and achievement gaps in education.

Report for America is a program of The GroundTruth Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening local newsrooms. Report for America provides funding for up to half of the reporters salary during their time with us, and IndyStar is fundraising the remainder.

To learn more about how you can support IndyStars partnership with Report for America and to make a donation, visit indystar.com/RFA.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: As school year begins, more guns show up in Marion County schools
North Carolina is home to the best high school in the nation, a new report finds.

The Early College at Guilford in Greensboro ranks No. 1 on a list of public schools that boast top-notch test scores and excel in preparing students for college, according to results published Tuesday, Aug. 29.

To create the list, U.S. News & World Report said it studied thousands of high schools across the country. It used data from the federal government and other sources as it focused on six categories: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, graduation rates, outcomes for underserved students, and performance and proficiency on state tests.

In all, nearly 18,000 U.S. schools were ranked based on metrics from the 2020-21 school year, when COVID-19 forced many students to learn virtually, The Charlotte Observer and the The News & Observer reported.

How did the NC school rank No. 1?

The Early College at Guilford was the only high school in North Carolina to rank among the nations top 10. Though it landed at No. 35 last year, reading proficiency and Advanced Placement classes helped the school make its mark in 2023, according to results published online and shared with McClatchy News via email.

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The Greensboro school is part of Guilford County Schools, a district that serves children in pre-K to 12th grade. The school has a partnership with Guilford College, giving high schoolers the chance to earn up to two years of credit from the four-year liberal arts institution, officials said.

The curriculum is writing intensive, and students in the ninth and 10th grade take honors and Advanced Placement courses, U.S. News wrote on its website. Students in 11th and 12th grade take college courses with undergraduates taught by college professors, including organic chemistry, linear algebra, modern art, health economics and more.

So, how did other schools in North Carolina fare? In addition to the national rankings, U.S. News shared a separate statewide list. The other schools that followed The Early College at Guilford in the top five:

STEM Early College at N.C. A&T in Greensboro at No. 2

Onslow Early College High School in Jacksonville at No. 3

Wake STEM Early College High School in Cary at No. 4

Raleigh Charter High School at No. 5

Two NC cities rank among best places to live in Southeast. What makes them special?

Best hospitals in North Carolina? These are top places to receive care, report finds
Most readers would already be aware that Archer-Daniels-Midland's (NYSE:ADM) stock increased significantly by 16% over the past three months. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. Specifically, we decided to study Archer-Daniels-Midland's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

View our latest analysis for Archer-Daniels-Midland

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE can be calculated by using the formula:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations)  Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Archer-Daniels-Midland is:

16% = US$4.2b  US$25b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.16 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. Assuming everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics.

A Side By Side comparison of Archer-Daniels-Midland's Earnings Growth And 16% ROE

To start with, Archer-Daniels-Midland's ROE looks acceptable. Especially when compared to the industry average of 13% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Archer-Daniels-Midland was able to see an impressive net income growth of 24% over the last five years. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

Story continues

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Archer-Daniels-Midland's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 8.7% in the same period, which is great to see.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. Its important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Archer-Daniels-Midland's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Archer-Daniels-Midland Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Archer-Daniels-Midland's three-year median payout ratio is a pretty moderate 31%, meaning the company retains 69% of its income. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the high growth we discussed above, it looks like Archer-Daniels-Midland is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Moreover, Archer-Daniels-Midland is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 34%. However, Archer-Daniels-Midland's future ROE is expected to decline to 11% despite there being not much change anticipated in the company's payout ratio.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with Archer-Daniels-Midland's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.

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.
SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) -North Korea fired at least two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, hours after the U.S. separately deployed B-1B bombers for allied air drills.

Japan's defence ministry also reported that at least one suspected ballistic missile was launched, while Japanese media reported that two missiles were fired and landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

"Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for additional provocations, and is maintaining full readiness through close cooperation between Korea and the United States," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The launch comes a day before South Korea and the U.S. wrap up 11 days of combined military drills, which Pyongyang has denounced.

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The B-1B bombers conducted separate air drills with warplanes from South Korea and Japan earlier on Wednesday.

North Korea's ballistic missiles are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions that have imposed strict sanctions on the nuclear-armed country.

The U.S. is concerned that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are actively advancing, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told a briefing on Wednesday, noting that any arms deal would violate sanctions.

Kirby said Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had recently travelled to North Korea to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries want to more closely integrate their systems for tracking North Korean missile launches, an effort that may soon include more cooperation with Japan as well, U.S. Space Force officials said on Wednesday.

U.S. President Joe Biden agreed with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at an Aug. 18 summit that by the end of this year the three countries would share North Korea missile warning data in real time.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo and Josh Smith in Seoul; Editing by Alison Williams, Alex Richardson and Josie Kao)
A group trying to eliminate qualified immunity, allowing citizens to sue police officers and other public employees who violate their constitutional rights, has repeatedly hit a brick wall.

A group trying to eliminate qualified immunity, allowing citizens to sue police officers and other public employees who violate their constitutional rights, has repeatedly hit a brick wall in Ohio.

The Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity hasn't been able to clear the first hurdle to make the November 2024 ballot. For the third time, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost , a Republican and former county prosecutor, rejected the group's summary of its proposed constitutional amendment. Yost rejected a predecessor's attempt three times, too.

Yost's role is to certify that the proposed summary of the amendment is a "fair and truthful representation" of what the measure would actually do. Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity spokesman Kyle Pierce says Yost is nit-picking.

"The continued obstinacy from AG Yost's office suggests a lean towards obstructionism rather than genuine understanding," the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity wrote in a statement. "We remind the AG's office that the purpose of these processes is to further democratic participation, not hinder it."

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But Yost spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle said the group's mistakes, not any bias on Yost's part were to blame for their struggles.

"The attorney general has approved ballot language for multiple petitions with which he did not agree. The petitioners should consider hiring counsel that is familiar with this area of law to assist with drafting," McCorkle said. "In addition, if they feel there has been a legal error, they have a clear path for review at the Supreme Court of Ohio.

The group plans to revise its summary and try again in September. Advocates are considering whether to take the issue to the Ohio Supreme Court.

"That's something we're looking into as an idea of interest, but it's not something we've made any decision on," Pierce said.

What would the proposed amendment to end qualified immunity do?

Under the proposed amendment, Ohioans could sue police officers, prosecutors, prison guards, judges or other public employees for violating their constitutional rights. They could also sue the state, city or other government body that employed them. The employers would be responsible for any fines or financial penalties, Pierce said.

Under current law and judicial doctrine, these actions are protected by "qualified immunity," a legal concept that prevents government employees from being sued unless they violate "clearly established law," which is a high bar to clear.

Mike Weinman, director of government affairs for the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, says those protections are needed for officers to avoid financially devastating lawsuits for split-second decisions. "We dont want police officers to lose their houses," he said.

Weinman said the results can be deadly if officers overthink or delay a decision because of concerns about a future lawsuit.

The proposal would require the government employer, if they were found liable, to take steps to prevent a similar rights violation in the future. Firing the employee who violated someone's rights wouldn't prevent a lawsuit.

What problems did Yost find?

Yost cited several problems with the proposed language, including that the summary wasn't short enough and it could confuse people about which public employees could be sued.

"Upon review of the summary, we identified omissions and misstatements that, as a whole, would mislead a potential signer as to the actual scope and effect of the proposed amendment," Yost wrote in a letter explaining the summary's deficiencies.

Past summaries were rejected because they didn't explain how and where someone could sue, didn't make clear that terminating the employee isn't required and didn't state that Ohio employees could be sued as well.

Weinman said the summaries so far have been deceptive and have not explained the full scope of the constitutional amendment.

How did the measure get started?

Cynthia Brown has been fighting to end qualified immunity since Columbus police fatally shot her nephew, Kareem Ali Nadir Jones, on July 7, 2017. The two officers were not charged, and an internal review found they did not violate the department's use-of-force policy.

The idea received national attention after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd. While the legal doctrine wasn't used as a defense in the lawsuit Floyd's family filed against Minneapolis, it sparked a debate about qualified immunity across the United States.

When Democrats controlled the U.S. House, they passed the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act, which would have ended qualified immunity for police officers. But it never cleared the divided Senate, where GOP Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina, called the qualified immunity a "poison pill" for the bill.

Several states, including Colorado and New Mexico, have passed laws allowing citizens to sue police in state court for constitutional violations. There is a national campaign to end qualified immunity in other states.

In Ohio, Democrats in the super-minority of the state's Legislature have proposed restrictions on qualified immunity, but they have seen little to no movement. That led Brown and others to push for a constitutional amendment instead.

Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio proposal to end qualified immunity struggles to clear first step
More than two dozen people are seeking a spot on the Peoria Unified School District's governing board following the resignation of a board member.

Rebecca Hill, who joined the board in January 2021, resigned on Aug. 14 to move out of state to be closer to family. She spearheaded an unsuccessful effort to create a policy restricting transgender students' access to bathrooms and received legal warnings for quoting Bible verses during meetings. Her last board meeting was on Aug. 24.

Maricopa County School Superintendent Steve Watson will appoint someone to serve until Dec. 31, 2024  the remainder of Hill's term. According to Arizona law, the school district has 30 days from the notice of vacancy to submit three choices to Watson, who is not obligated to pick from those selections. Watson did not select from the district's choices for a recent vacancy on the Mesa Public Schools governing board, which yielded 49 applicants.

Peoria Unified accepted applications from Aug. 21 until Aug. 28.

Mikah Dyer, a junior at Ironwood High School, speaks in support of transgender students during an April 27 Peoria Unified School District governing board meeting.

During the weeklong window, the district received 26 applications. Educators from several districts across the Valley threw their hats in the ring, as did a dispatch supervisor for the Phoenix Fire Department, a former dance studio owner, a CEO of an IT services company, an adoptions case manager for the Arizona Department of Child Safety, an Arizona Department of Education director who works on student assessment, a health unit coordinator for Banner Thunderbird Medical Center and an occupational therapist, among others.

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Peoria Unified is accepting public input on the 26 candidates through Sept. 4. The governing board will then review those comments and submit its three choices to Watson.

The public can view applications and provide feedback at peoriaunified.org/boardfeedback.

Individuals who didn't apply through the district's process can still submit applications directly to Watson's office at schoolsup.org/governing-board-appointments.

Madeleine Parrish covers K-12 education. Reach her at mparrish@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @maddieparrish61.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Peoria schools governing board vacancy yields 26 applicants in a week
A Rockford man was sentenced to 50 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for murdering his wife in 2015.

John Boose was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2021.

On Jan. 30, 2015, Boose beat his wife, 46-year-old Regina Poe. Police said Poe's body was found inside the home the couple shared the following day.

A child who witnessed the attack testified during the trial that Boose beat Poe with his hands and a broom handle inside her home on Van Wie Avenue, according to the Winnebago County State's Attorney's office.

An autopsy indicated Poe died from blunt-force trauma.

More: 'It shouldn't take 5 years to get justice'

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First-degree murder is a Class M felony punishable by 20 to 60 years in the Department of Corrections.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford man John Boose sentenced for murdering wife Regina Poe in 2015
Ron DeSantis is back in Florida after a long stretch of campaigning, but the governor is hardly returning home for rest.

His state faces two simultaneous crises: the aftermath of a racist shooting in Jacksonville and the onslaught of a hurricane churning through the Gulf of Mexico, which is expected to make landfall in Florida. For the first time since announcing his presidential bid, DeSantis governing responsibilities will take precedence to campaigning  making this both a moment of potential political danger and a unique opportunity to demonstrate competence on the fly in a primary that features only one other sitting governor.

And it means pressing pause on DeSantis near-constant war of words against President Joe Biden and embracing him as a partner  if only for the moment.

News of the shooting in Jacksonville reached DeSantis as he drew toward the end of a two-day bus tour of northwestern Iowa. Dressed in a casual shirt and campaign-branded vest, DeSantis greeted potential caucusgoers at an event in Garner, but the glad-handing soon finished and DeSantis spoke by phone with Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters that evening, according to the governors office administration schedule.

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Less than 24 hours later, he stood before Jacksonvilles Black community in a suit, next to his wife, Casey, at a community vigil in memory of the shooting victims.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Idalia continued to strengthen as it crept toward Floridas Big Bend, and DeSantis campaign canceled two events so he could stay focused on storm preparations from Tallahassee.

Speaking from the states emergency operations center Monday, the pugilistic candidate had been replaced by a sober executive. And one of DeSantis favorite campaign-trail punching bags, Biden, was instead a partner in government.

On the stump, DeSantis seems to take pleasure in his attacks on Biden, often mocking the president for everything from the cocaine found in the White House to his son Hunters artwork.

Im going to run him ragged all across this country  the American people are going to see a sharp contrast between somebody whos not even up to the job versus somebody who is energetic, vigorous and has a record of achievement, DeSantis said to sustained applause at a campaign event Saturday in Algona, Iowa.

By Monday afternoon, that tone had changed.

I think he appreciated that this is going to be a major hurricane and thats something thats significant, DeSantis said, adding that the president had assured that the federal government is ready to assist state authorities.

A statement the White House released earlier that morning said Biden also expressed support for Jacksonville following Saturdays attack.

On the campaign trail, DeSantis runs on his record. At the center of his pitch for the White House is his belief that his accomplishments in Florida  reshaping the states education system, lowering Floridas debt and taking on woke corporations  proves that he could do the same nationally.

Now, the compounding emergencies in his state may bring that record under further scrutiny.

DeSantis was greeted by boos and heckles during his introduction at the Jacksonville vigil, loud enough that a local leader interrupted the governors speech to settle the crowd.

Many in Floridas Black community and beyond have opposed the governors efforts to wipe out higher education diversity programs and change the teaching of institutional racism to public school students. DeSantis redistricting plan also eliminated northern Floridas only congressional seat with a Black incumbent, which included the city of Jacksonville.

And Floridas insurance reforms, which critics say are responsible for skyrocketing prices, will be front and center as the state recovers from Idalias potentially destructive flooding and winds.

In the face of the tragedy in Jacksonville and the impending major hurricane, Ron DeSantis is focused on leading his state through these challenging moments, DeSantis campaign press secretary Bryan Griffin said in a statement, adding that the governors attention to both crises is emblematic of the strong leadership in times of crisis that Americans can expect from a President DeSantis.

DeSantis is hardly the first presidential hopeful who had to manage a crisis at home and a campaign simultaneously.

Pete Buttigieg, then the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, temporarily left the campaign trail behind in 2019 as his community dealt with the aftermath of a police shooting.

Only a few months later, several of his Democratic competitors were summoned back to Washington to serve as jurors in Donald Trumps first Senate impeachment trial, just weeks before the Iowa caucuses.

Stumping in the candidates stead Monday, Florida first lady Casey DeSantis stood behind a lectern onstage at GOP Rep. Jeff Duncans Faith and Freedom barbecue in Anderson, South Carolina. Her husband had spent the day traveling Floridas west coast, holding news conferences and meeting with emergency officials, and she was there to deliver DeSantis key campaign themes peppered with her own policy points on parents rights. DeSantis wanted badly to attend the barbecue, she told the crowd before her.

But, she assured them, her husband was where he needed to be.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) will be hosting its regularly scheduled quarterly management meeting on Wednesday, September 13, from 3:15 p.m. until approximately 5:00 p.m. CT. This quarter's meeting will take place virtually via conference call. During the call, the company's operating and financial leaders will present background information and commentary on the company's business operations and financial outlook, and will take questions from the investment community.

The conference call will be broadcast live through Gallagher's website at www.ajg.com/irmeeting, and a conference call replay will be available at the same link through September 20, 2023. Any information distributed in conjunction with this meeting will be available on September 13 at 3:00 p.m. CT at https://www.ajg.com/September13materials.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG), a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Gallagher provides these services in approximately 130 countries around the world through its owned operations and a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.

Contact:

Raymond Iardella

VP Investor Relations

(630) 285-3661/ ray_iardella@ajg.com

Cision

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arthur-j-gallagher--co-to-host-regularly-scheduled-quarterly-investor-meeting-with-management-301914129.html

SOURCE Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
The four elected Presidents of Singapore: (from left) Ong Teng Cheong , S R Nathan, Tony Tan and Halimah Yacob . (FILE PHOTOS: Reuters)

SINGAPORE  Before presidential elections in Singapore were introduced following a constitution amendment in 1991, the city-state's Parliament was in charge of electing and appointing the country's head of state.

Four presidents were appointed in that manner: Yusof Ishak (1965 to 1970), Benjamin Sheares (1971 to 1981), Devan Nair (1981 to 1985) and Wee Kim Wee (1985 to 1993).

Following the constitutional amendment to allow the president to be elected via popular vote for a six-year term, Singapore has held five presidential elections prior to this year. Of those five elections, only two were contested, while the other three saw a presidential candidate being elected unopposed.

Here's how the five previous presidential elections transpired:

1993 Election

Candidates who applied for certificates of eligibility: Ong Teng Cheong, Chua Kim Yeow, JB Jeyaretnam, Tan Soo Phuan.

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Eligible candidates (percentage of valid votes): Ong Teng Cheong (58.69 per cent), Chua Kim Yeow (41.31 per cent).

Candidate elected: Ong Teng Cheong.

By virtue of the transitional provisions in the Constitution of Singapore, Wee Kim Wee performed all the duties of an elected president from 1991 to 1993. When the time came for the first presidential election, Wee decided not to seek re-election, paving the way for a new president.

Ong Teng Cheong was the deputy prime minister then, and was known for being the key advocate behind the construction of the MRT train network. He resigned from the Parliament as well as the People's Action Party (PAP) to run for the election.

Workers' Party secretary-general JB Jeyaretnam and party member Tan Soo Phuan had also applied for the certificates of eligibility, but both were rejected.

Some PAP and cabinet members preferred Chua Kim Yeow, Singapore's first auditor-general, but Chua was a reluctant candidate and had to be persuade to run so that the first presidential election would not be a walkover. Chua finally agreed, but frequently said during the campaigning period that Ong was the better candidate.

Even so, he garnered a respectable 41.31 per cent of the votes, as Ong won 58.69 per cent at the elections and was sworn in as Singapore fifth President on 1 September 1993.

Singapore President S R Nathan is greeted by supporters after his re-election for a second term in 2005. (PHOTO: Reuters/Luis Enrique Ascui)

1999 Election

Candidates who applied for certificates of eligibility: S R Nathan, Ooi Boon Ewe, Tan Soo Phuan.

Eligible/elected candidate: S R Nathan (unopposed)

Ong decided not to run for a second term as president in 1999 partially because of the death of his wife. During his tenure, he had also run into a dispute with the government over access to information about Singapore's financial reserves.

S R Nathan, who had served as Singapore's High Commissioner to Malaysia and Ambassador to the United States, came forward to announce his intention to run, and was supported by then-senior minister Lee Kuan Yew as well as former president Wee.

Presidential elections were scheduled to be held on 18 August, but other than Nathan, two opposition politicians - Ooi Boon Ewe and Tan Soo Phuan - had their applications for certificates of eligibility rejected.

Therefore Nathan was elected in an uncontested election, and was sworn in as Singapore's sixth President on 1 September.

2005 Election

Candidates who applied for certificates of eligibility: S R Nathan, Andrew Kuan, Ooi Boon Ewe, Ramachandran Govindasamy Naidu.

Eligible/elected candidate: S R Nathan (unopposed)

After his first six-year team, Nathan decided to seek re-election for a second presidential term.

Elections were scheduled to be held on 17 August, and four candidates submitted the application forms of certificates of eligibility, including Nathan.

One of them was Andrew Kuan, former chief financial officer of Jurong Town Corporation (JTC). However, JTC came out to say that his work had been unsatisfactory and he had been asked to resign twice in 2003 and 2004.

Eventually, Kuan's application was rejected - along with those by Ooi and Ramachandran Govindasamy Naidu - with the presidential elections committee (PEC) saying that Kuan's seniority and responsibility were not comparable to those required by the Constitution.

Nathan was thus re-elected unopposed for his second presidential term. His subsequent 12-year tenure made him the longest-serving President of Singapore.

The four candidates for Singapore's 2011 presidential election: (from left) Tan Jee Say, Tan Cheng Bock, Tan Kin Lian and Tony Tan. (PHOTOS: Reuters/Tim Chong and Edgar Su)

2011 Election

Candidates who applied for certificates of eligibility: Tony Tan, Tan Cheng Bock, Tan Jee Say, Tan Kin Lian, Andrew Kuan, Ooi Boon Ewe.

Eligible candidates (percentage of valid votes): Tony Tan (35.2 per cent), Tan Cheng Bock (34.85 per cent), Tan Jee Say (25.04 per cent), Tan Kin Lian (4.91 per cent).

Candidate elected: Tony Tan.

With Nathan declining to seek re-election at age 87, the scene was set for a new president to be elected in 2011. And when the PEC approved four applications for certificates of eligibility, Singaporeans were faced with an unprecedented four-way contest to select the country's seventh President.

Coincidentally, all four candidates are surnamed Tan. Tony Tan had been the Deputy Prime Minister and PAP chairman; Tan Cheng Bock was a former PAP Member of Parliament; Tan Jee Say was an ex-civil servant and Singapore Democratic Party member; and Tan Kin Lian was the ex-chief executive officer of NTUC Income.

The campaign period saw well-attended rallies as well as a televised forum, as the four candidates were engaged in a close contest, especially since this presidential election was held just three months after the 2011 general election, where the ruling PAP garnered its lowest percentage of votes since Singapore's independence (60.1 per cent).

Sure enough, the polling results threw up such a narrow margin between the top two candidates that a recount was required. Eventually, it was Tony Tan who emerged victorious with 35.20 per cent of the votes, just 0.35 per cent more than Tan Cheng Bock (34.85 per cent).

Singapore's president-elect Halimah Yacob greets supporters as she leaves the nomination centre during Nomination Day in 2017. (PHOTO: Reuters/Edgar Su)

2017 Election

Candidates who applied for certificates of eligibility: Halimah Yacob, Mohamed Salleh Marican, Farid Khan, Shirwin Eu, Ooi Boon Ewe.

Eligible/elected candidate: Halimah Yacob (unopposed)

Amendments to the Constitution of Singapore in 2016 resulted in the 2017 president elections being reserved for candidates from the Malay community. This meant that incumbent president Tony Tan could not seek re-election; neither could Tan Cheng Bock, who narrowly lost the 2011 election.

With the likes of former Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Tarmugi and incumbent minister for communication and information Yaacob Ibrahim declining to be candidates, it was Halimah Yacob who emerged as the key candidate from the public sector, having served as an MP since 2001 and the Speaker of Parliament from 2013 to 2017.

Two potential candidates emerged from the private sector. Mohamed Salleh Marican was the founding chairman and CEO of 2nd Chance Properties, the first company owned by a Malay-Muslim to be listed in Singapore. Meanwhile, Farid Khan was the chairman of Bourbon Offshore Asia Pacific, an offshore oil and gas marine provider in the region, and founder of Bumi Subsea, an undersea operation firm.

However, both of them fell short of the criterion of holding a CEO position in a company with a shareholders' equity value of $500 million. As a result, Halimah was declared winner in an uncontested election to become Singapore's eighth President, but her walkover victory generated controversy over the electoral process.

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.

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When Wagener Mayor Mike Miller was 8 years old, he nailed soft drink bottle caps from his grandfather's grocery store to utility poles in downtown Wagener. More than 60 years later, the poles donning Miller's decorations remain standing, which some say highlights a now-deadly infrastructure issue.

Attorneys representing the family of Jeunelle Robinson, a 31-year-old social studies teacher who was killed on Aug. 23 by a falling utility pole in Wagener, South Carolina, said her tragic death last week was the result of utility companies putting profit above the lives of people who rely on them.

The old, crooked utility poles had sagging power lines which, when snagged by a tractor-trailer on Aug. 23, sent eight poles flying through the busiest road in town.

One of the poles struck Robinson as she was walking along Main Street during her lunch break. She later died from her injuries.

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Teacher killed: Wagener-Salley High School teacher killed by falling utility pole in Aiken County

The family released a graphic video of the incident Monday night, which appears to be taken from a business security camera.

"The decision was made to release the video because people need to understand shes not just some teacher," attorney Justin Bamberg said during a press conference Tuesday morning.

Robinson's parents looked away as Bamberg played the video.

"My stomach knotted up the first time I saw this," he said. "It's obvious that she heard something or noticed something was afoot, but didnt have any time to react."

It was later learned that the poles that fell were so rotted, they appeared to be hollow on the inside, according to Bamberg.

"This is a utility pole with no wood," he said. "I wouldn't even call that mulch... The poles are supposed to hold the lines, the lines are not supposed to hold up the poles."

Bamberg claims the utility companies, specifically naming Dominion Energy, knew the utility poles needed repair or replacement, but instead looked the other way.

"Dominion Energy has a project in the works called the Wagener Connection; it's all public on their website," he said. "It is a project fixing and improving electrical infrastructure in Wagener. Dominion publicly acknowledged the equipment life span is 60 years and said [the poles in Wagener] needed to be replaced."

The poles that fell are estimated to be 70 to 80 years old, according to Bamberg.

"It costs about $5,000 to put up a new pole  we had eight poles fall, that's $40,000," he said. "This absolutely could have been prevented if people had done their job the day before, 10 years before 20 years before. ... Unfortunately, it is something that rural parts of this state and small towns have struggled with for a very long time. [Companies] try to stretch out the lifespan of their utility infrastructure as long as they can [because there are less ratepayers]. That's how this happened."

Bamberg Legal shared photos of Jeunelle Robinson, 31, who was killed after being struck by a flying utility pole on Aug. 23.

Photos displayed during the press conference showed structural or maintenance issues with the poles dating back to 2013.

The family is demanding the utility companies involved pay $100 million in compensation, $20 million to start a trust fund in Robinson's name for scholarships and $10 million to repair or replace the remaining poles that pose a threat to the community.

"This is not right. What happened to her is not right," Bamberg said. "We're going to fight and we're going to push to make sure this doesnt happen again in Aiken County or any of our rural communities."

Bamberg said if the companies refuse, a lawsuit will be on the table.

He confirmed Bamberg Legal has not yet had any communication with the utility providers regarding a settlement.

In a statement to media, Dominion Energy said, "[We] extend our deepest condolences to the family of Jeunelle Robinson. Because the investigation regarding this accident is ongoing, it is too soon to provide any related details."

Looking at how the state can get involved, South Carolina state Sen. Brad Hutto (D-Orangeburg) also spoke at the press conference, promising to review how utility companies operate and expressing the need for legislation that will hold utility companies accountable for maintaining their infrastructure.

Video released of teacher's death: Family of South Carolina teacher killed by utility pole claims incident was 'avoidable'

"We need a system that makes [utility companies] do routine inspections," Hutto said. "Then, we need to create an agency that monitors the results."

Bamberg, who is also a South Carolina state representative, said right now, utility companies only need to seek approval with the state for rates.

"In terms of their own infrastructure, it belongs to them," he said. "No one can make them do anything."

Bamberg said the legislation would eliminate the risk of utility companies forgetting to make repairs or deciding not to do so. He added Robinson would "definitely" be part of the discussion.

"The general assembly limited the practice of naming laws after people with rare exception. However, that is definitely something that we will be looking at," he said. "I know that Sen. Hutto, Sen. [Nikki] Setzler (D-Aiken) and a lot of others are going to be working together to try to fill what is an obvious gap in our our state system of utility infrastructure."

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Family of SC teacher killed by utility pole threatens $130 million suit
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN)  After the special session on public safety ended in chaos, lawmakers are reacting to the altercation between lawmakers and the session at large.

Following a contentious adjournment, House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Rep. Justin Pearson were involved in a skirmish on the floor of the House. Pearson and Sexton got in each others faces as Sexton was leaving the House floor, and the two were separated by lawmakers.

RELATED: Special session ends in chaos on TN House floor

After the session, Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones took to the Capitol rotunda to join protestors, saying the session achieved nothing. Pearson also took the time to recount the situation.

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I was pushed by Cameron Sexton and by other folks on his team, and then he started to yell and scream as though we had done something, he told the crowd. Rep. Jones was pushed by Rep. Cepicky as well, because we were holding signs and demanding that we protect kids and not guns. This is where we are.

Pearson said the authoritarian actions of the House, like banning all signs, were devolving into physical violence.

They are hurting our communities. William Lamberth, he started to scream. He wouldnt let me walk past him, either, Pearson added. There is something going on in this institution that is allowing this bad behavior to persist. It is racism and white supremacy.

VIDEO | Justin Jones bangs gavel during session ending

Pearson called for Sexton to resign, as well as these other leaders that allow for that behavior to happen and persist.

These folks who support white supremacy and patriarchy to the detriment of all of our health and all of our children, they have to go, he said.

Pearson said he would be filing an ethics complaint against Sexton for the incident.

Sexton also spoke with media following the events, along with Republican leadership. During a press conference, Sexton said his memory of the situation was he was being led along by his security when he was corralled by Democratic lawmakers.

My security put their hand on my back, which knocked me forward, and I thinkI cant rememberthere was a photographer to my left, so we moved right, and that then at that point we keep walking and then Rep. Pearson comes in and pops me from the right side, the Speaker said of the start of the skirmish between him and the freshman legislator.

VIDEO | Chaotic ending to TN special session on House floor

House Majority Leader William Lamberth said he was right there when things happened and stepped in with other lawmakers to prevent anything else from happening.

Whatever happened up to that point, Rep. Pearson became very irate and angry. At that junction circled around, and other members, myself and others, just kind of blocked folks off, he said. Theres no reason for any of that. But theres no doubt in my mind he was very angry and aggressive toward the Speaker specifically. Theres just no need in that. We can handle issues in a passionate way without getting physical or up in each others face or yelling and screaming at each other. Weve always done that in an orderly society, and specifically within the legislature. Ive been very passionate on lots of issues. Im very disappointed that we didnt get more done in this special session.

Lamberth said the lawmakers were not convened for a bunch of yelling and screaming and folks getting up in each others faces.

Its passionate issues, but we can do that in a professional way, I think, he said.

House Majority Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison (RCosby), who a week ago brought an ostrich egg to the Senate chamber, said the situation lacked real maturity, saying the actions were beneath the level of a representative.

Read the latest from the TN State Capitol Newsroom

It lacks real maturity to go get in somebodys personal space, and the fact that they would go and surround the Speaker and get in their personal space, try to get in their face when emotions are already high, thats a prescription for disaster. That shouldve never been.

Faison also took issue with Jones for going up to the Speakers podium and banging the gavel after the confrontation with Sexton and Pearson.

Its very obvious that they are wanting to not be statesmen, not wanting to make sure the will of the people are done, he said. Theyre wanting to make sure that theyre seen. Theyre wanting to put the attention on themselves and take it away from everything else and what weve done today.

Find the latest news from the Tennessee State Capitol as WKRN News 2 brings you coverage of the special session. Click here to read more.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
Voters in a small pro-Trump county in Iowa have voted out an election auditor who repeatedly shared conspiracy theories, including about QAnon and the 2020 election. Then they replaced him with a Democrat.

Warren County voted 57.3 percent for Donald Trump in 2020, slightly higher than the overall state outcome. The countys all-Republican board of supervisors appointed David Whipple as county auditor in June. Iowas county auditors oversee elections.

Whipples appointment quickly sparked outrage after his social media activity came to light. After the 2020 election, Whipple made multiple posts on Facebook insisting that the vote had been fraudulent, despite widespread evidence disproving that claim. He also shared conspiracy theories from QAnon and about the 9/11 attacks.

In the two weeks following Whipples appointment, county Democrats petitioned to force a special election. They gathered 3,400 signatures, about 1,000 more than they needed. Democratic deputy auditor Kimberly Sheets announced she would run against Whippleso he placed her on leave.

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Sheets handily defeated Whipple on Tuesday, winning 66.5 percent of the vote. Whipple walked away with just 33.4 percent.

Sheetss victory is an unusual plot twist in Iowa, which has been moving decidedly rightward in recent election cycles. But it reflects a larger trend that was seen during the 2022 midterms. Voters rejected conspiracy theorists across the country, resulting in major local Democratic wins.
A prominent pollster told Republican donors that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has surged in polls in Iowa after Wednesdays Republican presidential debate, Axios reported Tuesday.

Tony Fabrizio , who was the lead pollster for former President Donald Trump s last two campaigns for president, also said in a memo that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis , polling a distant second behind Trump, had flatlined.

DeSantis has flatlined, Haley has surged, and [Vivek] Ramaswamy is seen as last weeks debate winner, the memo read, according to Axios.

Fabrizio added that Haley and Ramaswamy are essentially tied with DeSantis in New Hampshire, as well. The memo was reportedly sent to fundraisers and allies of former President Trump. Fabrizio is also involved in a pro-Trump super PAC.

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The Hill Elections 2024 coverage

However, the memo also reportedly noted DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy are still far behind the former president in both early voting states.

According to FiveThirtyEight, Trump leads DeSantis, the next-highest average polling candidate in the Republican primary race, by an average of 34.4 percent in national polls.

The Hill has reached out to Fabrizio for comment about the memo.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A pet dog mauled two brothers at a Houston-area home, then was shot and killed by first responders, Texas officials say.

Deputies responded to the home in the Highlands community at about 7 a.m. Aug. 30, after two men were attacked by an aggressive dog, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a news release.

@HCSOTexas deputies responded to the 1100 blk of N Battlebell. Preliminary: A loose pit bull attacked two adult males. Lifeflight has been requested for one of the victims. Upon arrival, a Sgt shot the aggressive dog. #HouNews pic.twitter.com/b5BlZ0Noki  Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) August 30, 2023

When first responders arrived, the dog was loose outside the home, Gonzalez said.

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A sergeant with the sheriffs office ultimately killed the dog, as it was blocking the door when EMS workers were trying to take the injured men from the home and to the hospital, officials told KTRK.

Bottom line is, we know the dog was aggressive. It had attacked two individuals, critically injuring one. And so, our priority is human life over all situations, Lt. Al Blenderman told the outlet. And so, the sergeant, the supervisor, took appropriate action to make sure we got the individual to the hospital to get medical care.

According to family members, the brothers were playing with the dog when it suddenly turned aggressive, the sheriffs office told KHOU.

The dog, which they had bought three months ago from a neighbor, mauled one brother in the face and neck and bit the other in the leg, the outlet reported.

Both men are hospitalized in stable condition, officials told the station.

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Days before the effective date for a law that would significantly change how school districts acquire books for their libraries, book sellers and state agencies await a legal decision that could stop the new rule in its tracks.

A U.S. district judge heard arguments Monday from lawyers for several Texas book sellers  including Austins BookPeople and Houston-based Blue Willow Bookshop  who have asked for a legal pause to House Bill 900, a new law that limits books with sexual content in school libraries.

The lawyers for the bookshops argued that the newly mandated rating system created an expensive, impossible burden for businesses, while state attorneys insisted the law wouldnt infringe on the vendors rights.

The legal battle is unfolding as school districts around Texas raise questions about House Bill 900, the new book bill from state Rep. Jared Patterson , R-Frisco.

Gov. Greg Abbott congratulates state Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, after the governor signed into law House Bill 900, which prohibits sexually explicit material in Texas public school libraries, at the Capitol on June 12.

The law mandates that vendors selling library materials to school districts create a system for rating books that are "sexually relevant" or "sexually explicit." Districts will be prohibited from buying books from vendors that dont follow the ratings. The law bans sexually explicit materials from school libraries and requires a parent's note before a student may check out sexually relevant materials.

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The law distinguishes between the two terms  sexually relevant or explicit  largely based on what is patently offensive, but librarians have argued that this definition is too open to interpretation.

During the legislative session, Patterson and other Republicans said the law would keep pornography out of school libraries.

However, many school administrators and book vendors worry that the new law is confusing and creates excessive and expensive work for businesses.

The bookstores filed the lawsuit July 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas against the Texas Education Agency, State Board of Education, and Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

During arguments Monday at the federal courthouse on Fifth Street, lawyers for the book vendors told U.S. District Judge Alan Albright that their clients could spend hundreds of millions of dollars trying to review each book and assign a rating.

More: Texas law banning sexually explicit material in school libraries lacks clear guidance

The state isnt requiring all vendors to complete this rating because the state doesnt require businesses to sell to schools, said Christina Cella, a senior attorney with the office of the attorney general.

They can always just take their business somewhere else, Cella said. They dont have to sell in public schools.

The two sides also disagreed about how vague the law was.

Laura Lee Prather, an attorney with Haynes and Boone LLP representing the book vendors, brought in a copy of the Texas classic Lonesome Dove to illustrate that two people could interpret passages from the book differently.

Your rating might be different than my rating, Prather said. Does this mean the school district can purchase this book from me because I said it was sexually relevant but not from you because you said it was sexually explicit?

Cella argued that the TEA would review vendors ratings and smooth out any discrepancies.

Prather also argued that HB 900 was forcing speech onto the book vendors by requiring the businesses to rate books with a system they dont agree with.

TEA forces the vendor to accept the rating as their own, and the TEA publicizes them as the vendors ratings, Prather said.

Cella argued that the law doesnt compel speech because the rating is the governments own speech.

Albrights ruling could come as early as this week, but the judge also indicated he might need more time to make his decision.

The law is set to take effect Friday, but state lawyers insisted it wont be enforced until April.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas vendors, school districts, state agencies await HB 900 decision
The Detroit Free Press set out on a challenge: verify the educational credentials of all 148 state lawmakers in Michigan.

The Free Press set out on a challenge: verify the educational credentials of all 148 state lawmakers in Michigan.

The idea was inspired by high-profile stories revealing leaders at the national and local levels had lied about their resumes. And it seemed especially important in Michigan, where the lawmakers have placed an emphasis on education  from passing a state budget that temporarily expands a tuition-free path to higher education to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's move to establish a new education department with an emphasis on lifelong learning.

More: Free Press review surfaces errors in degree claims by 2 state lawmakers in bios

Embattled U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-New York, lied about his education and other aspects of his resume. In Michigan, the state's education department launched an investigation into the former East Lansing High School principal who resigned after revelations that he lied on his resume and fabricated transcripts showing he earned a doctorate from Wayne State University.

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There is no requirement that lawmakers hold a higher education credential, but many claim one. Was it possible any Michigan lawmakers were lying about their credentials or perhaps exaggerating them?

Why verify education credentials?

Most Michigan lawmakers have earned a higher education degree, according to the Free Press review.

On its face, verifying education credentials seemed simple. It's an ostensibly straightforward part of a lawmaker's resume to vet and see whether any were fibbing to voters.

But verifying the degrees claimed by lawmakers entailed reaching out to colleges and universities  including public institutions  that could provide information to the Free Press.

How easy was it to verify lawmakers' degrees?

Michigan has 38 state senators and 110 state representatives.

Some attended the same schools. For instance, 27 lawmakers claimed degrees from Michigan State University, including some who were also among the group of 19 lawmakers who claimed degrees from the University of Michigan. Still, the Free Press had to navigate a lot of different educational institutions during its verification process. In total, the Free Press reached out to more than 70 educational institutions.

What reporters encountered was a patchwork system for verifying lawmakers' credentials.

Some colleges and universities quickly provided information confirming whether a Michigan lawmaker attended and received a degree from the school. Others were slow to do so.

Institutions were, in some cases, barred from releasing any information about former students who asked that it be kept confidential or required the permission of a former student in order to release information.

The Free Press was able to verify that state Rep. Phil Green, R-Millington, had a bachelor's degree and master's degree from Pensacola Christian College only after Green gave his written permission for the college to release the information, for example.

One school refused to provide information. Valparaiso University, a private university in Indiana, refused to verify a degree claimed by state Rep. Regina Weiss, D-Oak Park. Cassie Hopkins, a spokesperson for the university, initially cited a federal law that protects the release of student educational records as the reason she could not confirm anyone's attendance to the university. When a reporter pointed out that they were not requesting records of any kind, just confirmation that Weiss received a degree, Hopkins wrote, "University policy is to not release this information without consent."

After the university denied the request, the Free Press reached out to Weiss who provided a photo of her degree. The Free Press was also able to verify her degree by obtaining personnel records from when Weiss was a teacher through a Freedom of Information Act request.

In a handful of cases where universities declined to provide information, the Free Press asked lawmakers for copies of their degrees and compared them to publicly available examples from the universities.

Confusion over national clearinghouse

Multiple universities attempted to refer reporters to the National Student Clearinghouse's DegreeVerify system, which subsequently declined to provide information to reporters.

Kathy Dugan, a spokeswoman for the clearinghouse, wrote that only employers and schools are permitted to use the system, suggesting that reporters contact university media offices, the very offices they'd first contacted.

These restrictions mean neither voters nor reporters can legally access the national database for verifying people's degrees.

What we learned

Most lawmakers provided accurate information to voters and constituents about their degrees, a Free Press review found. But the exercise underscored how difficult  and time-intensive  it can be to verify basic details about candidates and elected officials.

While reporters  including those at the Free Press  attempt to background check candidates as much as possible during election seasons, scrutinizing the resumes of every candidate on every ballot in Michigan is a monumental task. Voters are often asked to trust candidates with no way to verify key parts of their background.

Ahead of statewide elections, the Free Press asks candidates to self-report relevant biographical information in its voter guide, which contains information about hundreds of office-seekers at the state and local levels.

Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan lawmakers education, verified
Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly prepared to venture out for his first foreign trip since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued his arrest warrant for alleged war crimes.

Putin will be making his visit in China for the Belt and Road Forum in October, according to a Bloomberg report.

The ICC issued Putins arrest warrant in March over his alleged involvement in abducting and illegal deporting children from Ukraine, reportedly causing panic inside the Kremlin about the stability of Putins rule and whether the warrant was tantamount to calling for regime change.

Putin has kept a lower profile in recent months in order to avoid travel to countries that could enforce the arrest warrant. He did not attend the BRICS summit in person in South Africa last week after months of back and forth debates over whether it would be safe for him to do so.

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Instead, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traveled to Johannesburg, while Putin virtually attended, in a decision that has been seen as an attempt to avoid international scandal over the arrest warrant.

Leakers Reveal Kremlin Secretly Panicking Over Putins Arrest Warrant

Putin has been shirking from other international travel as well. The Russian president informed Indias Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, this week that he will not be traveling to India next month for the G20 summit. A Kremlin spokesperson has said Putin is too busy to attend.

China has run a delicate balancing act since Putin invaded Ukraine last year. China and Russia share what they call a no-limits partnership. But Xi was caught off guard when Putin invaded Ukraine, according to a U.S. intelligence community assessment. Even so, Beijing has refused to condemn Russias actions, and has continued to spend billions of dollars spreading pro-Russia disinformation about the war in Ukraine.

The visit to China will come months after President Xi Jinping visited Russia in March, where he praised Putin for his strong leadership.

During the visit, Beijing worked to portray itself as a constructive partner, sharing details about a proposed peace plan for Ukraineone that leaned pro-Russiaall the while claiming it held an impartial position on the war. Xi signaled at the time that China and Russias partnership would continue with a shared aim of countering U.S. influence on the world stage.

Much has changed since that trip. Putin has fended off a staged revolt from Wagner boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the largest challenge to Putins hold on power in years. Prigozhin has presumably died after a mysterious plane crash that Russia watchers have said was a likely assassination orchestrated by Putin himself in an attempt to shore up power.

Wagner Founder Prigozhin Reported Dead in Fiery Plane Crash

Beijing, too, has been experiencing some turmoil among senior officials in recent weeks. First, Chinas foreign minister, Qin Gang, went missing, only to later be ousted. Then earlier this month, Beijing replaced the head of Chinas rocket force unit, General Li Yuchao, and his deputy, in a sign Xi may be feeling uneasy about his sense of control over his regime, as The Daily Beast reported.

The meeting also comes as Russia prepares to take chairmanship in January of the BRICS group, at a time when the cluban acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africais eyeing adding new members to grow their collective political and economic influence on the world stage.

For Russia, changing the groups membership is likely seen as a way to stymie Moscows isolation in the international arena while Putin continues to wage war in Ukraine.

For China, some of the changes on the horizon could be a way to show unity and support for Beijing after alienating allies with its no-limits partnership with Moscow, even as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, The New York Times reported.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.

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The Systeme de Combat Aerien du Futur is likely to cost billions of euros - YOAN VALAT/AFP

Fighter jets are among the most expensive weapons a nation can build, with costs running into tens of billions. Each new model costs more than the last.

No wonder, then, that Europes superpowers are squabbling over money when it comes to the latest jet project.

Development of the Systeme de Combat Aerien du Futur (SCAF)  or the Future Combat Air System in England  is increasingly opening up a rift between Paris and Berlin.

Germany and France, who together with Spain are developing the SCAF, are increasingly at odds over how to fund the project, where it should be built and who the jets should be sold to.

One or two of these issues on their own is fine, says Rym Momtaz, a fellow of European Foreign Policy and Security at the IISS think tank. But all of these combined are just making for a difficult moment and the Franco German relationship.

The SCAF project has its roots in a 2001 effort to find a successor to todays fighter technology but it began in earnest in 2017. SCAF aims to have a working warplane by 2040.

The forthcoming jets will be more like a flying supercomputer than the flying gunners of the past. As well as carrying munitions, they will capture pictures, radar data and radio traffic, interpreting it at a thousand miles per hour. As a result, development costs are high.

There is no set budget yet, but the cost is likely to be comparable to the 72bn Anglo-Italia Tempest project, meaning it will be in the tens of billions of euros. The budget for the prototype alone is 3.2bn. France, the EUs only nuclear-armed power, has typically taken the lead on military projects such as these.

Yet the war in Ukraine has prompted Germany to reassess its long-standing pessimism. Berlin has vowed to up its defence spending to meet the NATO target of 2pc of GDP.

This has put noses out of joint. Berlins decision to launch a new missile defence programme last year took France by surprise and became one of the major points of contention between Paris and Berlin since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, according to Le Monde.

Story continues

Now, Germany is reportedly wavering on its plan to legally commit itself to the NATO military spending target, which would be worth about 77bn annually based on last years economic output.

Instead it may commit to a 2pc average over five years, offering more wiggle room, according to Reuters, but also raising the possibility of less weapons spending in the near term.

However, the biggest bone of contention between Paris and Berlin is who to sell the future fighter jets to.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters at a NATO summit last month that its block on the export to Saudi Arabia of Eurofighter Typhoon jets would not end anytime soon.

Germany continues to oppose sale of Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Saudi Arabia - Cpl Cathy Sharples/614 Squadron Royal Air Force

The comments are a very bad signal for future exports of the European SCAF programme, financial newspaper La Tribune bemoaned.

Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest defence spenders in the world and France has typically built its defence industry around exports.

However, Germany is more gung ho about issues of human rights, says Momtaz.

Francis Tusa, an independent defence expert, says: I am a SCAF pessimist.

An underlying theme is the shift in the balance of military power in Europe, which France is struggling to deal with, he says.

Another long-running source of tensions is French insistence that a home-grown European defence industry must be cultivated.

France is a country for which exporting big military systems is an important part of its economy, says Momtaz. Its an important part of its diplomacy.

Belgium is currently trying to join the SCAF project but the chief of Frances lead contractor on it, Dassault, has publicly objected to Brussels involvement.

I dont see why I would give work to the Belgians today, Dassault boss Eric Trappier told the French Senate in a hearing about the project in May.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been more diplomatic but just as clear. He said in a recent speech: What Ukraine shows is that we can only give Kyiv what we have and produce.

What comes from non-European countries is less manageable. It is subject to timetables, priorities and sometimes even authorisations from third countries.

Berlin takes a different view. Germanys European Sky Shield initiative, the missile defence project of which the UK is a member, will use US and Israeli-made Patriot and Arrow missiles.

Other rifts include strategy. Germany has been cautious on making supportive statements on Ukraines Nato membership to avoid antagonising Russia.

Momtaz says: The French thought it important strategically to send a different message to Russia, that Ukraines path to NATO was a credible one.

Unlike French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany has been cautious in showing support for Ukraines accession to Nato - SARAH MEYSSONNIER/Reuters

These differing views on defence manufacture, sales and political approaches are starting to pile up.

However, there are reasons for optimism about Franco-German relations in general and SCAF in particular, insists Lucie Beraud-Sudreau, programme director of the Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme at the SIPRI think tank.

While a number of projects between the nations have been fraught with delays and rows, some have borne fruit.

He points to the A400M transport plane made by Airbus and, more broadly, the success of Airbus, which is largely a German and French enterprise.

There is also plenty of time to iron out any problems, she adds, since the SCAF jet is not expected to take to the skies for almost two decades.

Its a long timeline, she says. Things can change, things can evolve.

And while Germany is sceptical about selling to Saudi Arabia, it is not a shy arms dealer. Beraud-Sudreau says: If you look at the outcome, the level of arms exports, they still are one of the biggest arms exporters in the world.

Germany exported 9.35bn worth of arms in 2021, led by sales to Egypt. It is the fifth-biggest seller of weapons in the world after the United States, Russia, France and China.

In the end, necessity is likely to mean Scholz and Macron will find a compromise on SCAF and weapons-buying in general, says IISSs Momtaz.

There cant be this kind of division and difficulty between Germany and France, which are, by far, the most important two powers in the EU, given the war in Ukraine.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.
How can scientists in a laboratory setting simulate the immense gravitational forces of a submarine-launched ballistic missile in flight?

Try mounting a payload at the end of a centrifuge arm more than 50 feet long  then spinning it around so fast inside a circle-shaped building that it generates more than 25 times the force of Earth's gravity, described Stephen Rusinko, Draper director of operations and production.

Draper, which designs guidance systems for U.S. Navy missiles, is building one of the world's largest centrifuge facilities in Titusville.

Tuesday morning, roughly 90 people gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony for the roughly $50 million future Strategic Enhanced Ground Test Facility. Draper CEO Jerry Wohletz said the centrifuge campus will employ 150 highly skilled workers.

This artist's rendering depicts Draper's future facility in Titusville. The rounded portion of the building will contain the centrifuge.

The 36,000-square-foot facility should open in 2026, Rusinko said.

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As the Navys strategic guidance prime contractor, Draper has designed and supported the guidance system for every fleet ballistic missile deployed since the program began in 1955, a company press release said.

Scientific research conducted in Titusville should save the nation hundreds of millions of dollars in flight-testing costs, said Robert Bacon, Draper vice president of Navy strategic systems.

More: Retired Space Force Col. Robert Long selected to become president and CEO of Space Florida

In late June, the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, Massachusetts, bought 5.3 acres of land for the future facility for $2.2 million. Located near the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum, this site near the intersection of U.S. 1 and State Road 405 lies just shy of the NASA Causeway, which leads toward the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

A site plan displayed during Tuesday's event depicted an elevated platform with a loading monorail that leads to the centrifuge, which will be flanked by a pair of control rooms.

Draper will build its facility near the southeastern intersection of U.S. 1 and State Road 405 in Titusville.

"We have this exquisite instrumentation that needs to be able to operate under high Gs and maintain its precision. So as our missiles and rockets launch, they go under extreme G-forces," Wohletz said, minutes before walking outside to pose for photos holding a gold-painted shovel.

Wohletz said the Titusville centrifuge will replace Draper's aging unit in Bedford, Massachusetts. Once built, he said it will join Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico as America's premier national-defense centrifuges.

Draper operates Florida campuses in Cape Canaveral and St. Petersburg, and the Titusville location will be the company's 10th nationwide. The company also is a partner in Blue Origin's $3.4 billion NASA contract to develop a lunar lander system to carry Artemis astronauts to the moon's surface.

More: 'We are opening space': Space Perspective's Titusville space-balloon factory dedicated

Christyl Johnson, NASA Goddard deputy director for technology and research investment, said her agency will partner with Draper.

"Goddard Space Flight Center has a centrifuge  but that centrifuge is being sunsetted. And so, we are beyond excited to have this facility come up and come on board," Johnson told the audience.

A Trident II D-5 ballistic missile launches from the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS West Virginia in the Atlantic Ocean during a missile test.

North American Properties, which plans to develop surrounding acreage near NASA Causeway, sold the parcel to Draper. Now, NAP will serve as the project developer by designing and building the facility, said Shawn McIntyre, managing partner.

NAP built the six-story, 245-unit Luna apartment complex next to The Avenue Viera, which opened to tenants in March. Next, McIntyre said he hopes to break ground in the third quarter of 2024 on a large-scale apartment complex in downtown Melbourne at the site of the former Orange Court Apartments.

Afterward, McIntyre said his company will pursue construction of Nova, a seven-story 226-unit apartment complex near Luna in Viera.

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/X: @RickNeale1

Support local journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: 'World-class centrifuge': Draper building Navy missile test facility
Yakima County and 21 other counties are suing Washington's Department of Social and Health Services over mental health failures at facilities like Western State Hospital in Lakewood, pictured here on May 25, 2023. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)
Betaworks is no stranger to investing in artificial intelligence and machine learning, but the latest cohort of their Camp "thematic accelerator" indicates a confidence in the field beyond the present fascination with chatbots. Founder and CEO John Borthwick described the firm as being "rabidly interested" in the field of AI as augmentation rather than just a product in itself.

They're not the only ones, either: "This particular Camp had twice the applicants as last year," Borthwick told me. "The fun part of these is that you put out an open call, and under that banner, that thesis, you get more diversity than you expect. We believe that over the next two-three years, we're going to see an incredible amount of companies building and using AI models to augment human workflows and behaviors."

It is perhaps ChatGPT's most universally useful quality that (assuming you can tell when it's putting you on) it can quickly and satisfactorily answer a question on nearly any topic, or give a reasonable answer to something like a coding problem. Few talk with AIs just for the pleasure of it (though there are those who do); if it can make your work easier, why not let it?

Borthwick noted that Betaworks has been investing in AI and ML since 2016, when it was far more rudimentary.

"We started by going systematically through the intersection of ML and a particular modality: machine learning and audio, synthetic media, all those different objects of data or media," he said. "Over the last year or two we've been thinking about the role of AI as it relates to human workflows, and we firmly believe, and want to invest in and move the market towards augmentation."

This is like thinking of AI as "a bicycle for the mind" rather than a purely generative or self-contained product. That's visible in the selected companies, many of which are or use AI to speed up or improve existing processes rather than do something completely new. Each will receive $500,000 in funding, in addition to anything they've already raised.

Story continues

"We're looking across the AI stack; certain things in this Camp are almost apps, then there are things that are much more in the middleware category," Borthwick continued. "The program is really about finding product-market fit and developing a product roadmap, it's less about performative fundraising exercises. About half of the companies do their raise before or during the program."

They brought in three co-investors this year: Greycroft, Differential and Mozilla, all of which will make co-investments and make their resources and networks available to the startups. Betaworks still does all the actual accelerator stuff.

Here are the 12 companies in this year's cohort, summarized from summaries they sent over; I asked each company the most obvious question I could think of (in italics) after hearing what they're trying to do. In the interest of brevity I have also summarized their sometimes extensive answers. There's more detail on each, including founders and their backgrounds, over at Betaworks.

Armilla Assurance: A service for assessing the quality and reliability of AI systems. The company then offers insurance against losses due to AI performing below its assessed level. What metrics are used to assess AI risk and fitness, and if they're industry standard, why would the company not just assess them internally? Armilla uses both industry standards and proprietary testing methods to provide an objective measure of quality and a performance warranty, though they are no substitute for including these measures in the development process.

Bionic Health: Preventative healthcare using an AI-driven model trained on data ("real-world practices, protocols and workflows of doctors, practitioners and patients") from their own clinic in North Carolina. Has also built a smarter electronic health record system that uses embeddings for improved search and insights. $3.5 million already raised in a seed round. Why I would want to use an AI model based on decisions by doctors and health specialists, rather than asking a doctor or other accredited health specialist? The system is assistive to doctors, not a direct to consumer thing, and the improved EHR should reduce clerical work in this setting, allowing doctors and patients to focus on making well-informed care decisions.

Deftly: An ML platform that aggregates and synthesizes customer feedback and other signals into more easily actionable product changes and features. How would an early-stage startup come by "troves of dispersed product feedback" to aggregate and synthesize? Not directly answered, but what data there is in any feedback forms, meeting notes and other channels is ingested and shared in a dashboard for easier interpretation by product teams.

Globe: Creates large language models for teams that need to "gather, exchange, and understand complex information," like in large-scale studies or product development. The LLM ingests all relevant documents and can be consulted at any level of detail, from overview to technical details or exact quotes from relevant documents. Given LLMs' limitations, why would I trust one to provide multiple levels of detail of complex data or projects? Surfacing useful information, and specifically information that one may not have been aware of to begin with, is the goal -- as opposed to distilling new information out of it. It seems to act more as a semantically enhanced search.

GroupLang: Working on software that allows LLMs to interact with groups of people instead of individuals, a task that involves redefining user preferences, privacy and other interesting questions. What's an example of a group having to interact collectively with an LLM? It's more that collective use could be beneficial, they say, such as a shared complex task where a central system is tracking information important to all involved.

Open Souls: Aims to create conversational AI models that "autonomously think and behave like real people," complete with feelings and personalities and internal complexity. This is quite a claim. But doesn't it more or less amount to a fine-tuned model with an artificial persona loaded via initial instructions? Fine-tuning personas primarily produces a change in speech patterns but not how the model operates internally. Their approach is to augment LLMs with extra non-visible processes to simulate "rich inner monologues" that inform behavior.

Pangaea: Using AI and some custom back-end tech to build games faster and take on time-consuming tasks, with first-party development of a rogue-lite battle royale (Project Rise) with procedurally-generated maps. Competitive multiplayer games require careful gameplay and map balance. How can that be achieved with this level of procedural generation? Some games are more about perfect balances than others, and in this case it's more important to make sure it's "fair" and that loss doesn't result directly from bad proc gen. There will be hand-designed rooms, challenges, levels and rules to make sure the experience is well tuned. Plus if you die you are reborn as a monster and keep some of your progress.

Plastic Labs: Aims to improve LLM viability by "securely managing the flow of intimate psychological data between users and models." So you get customization across different agents without it having to learn and stash your various preferences and tendencies every time. What does this framework actually consist of, and how can it remain effective if the AI apps in question all use different foundation models or tuning processes? A "secure middleware relay." Certain approaches work across LLMs because all the foundation models seem to share an ability to "construct and comprehend predictions about internal mental states." What exactly this ability amounts to is not clear (though the team has their theories) but they claim it enables their portable personalization.

Shader: A social camera app that lets users create AR filters using a simple, no-code interface including voice and simple taps and swipes. What does the process of creation look like and how can the filter be shared to proprietary platforms like Instagram or Snapchat? You describe what you want with a traditional prompt like "cyberpunk elf face" and then it can be mapped onto your face live. The filter itself stays on Shader, you'll have to export videos to other services. There are several examples on their IG and Tiktok.

Unakin: Also aiming to reduce development time with AI code assistants. First is a UI programming agent that builds functioning game interfaces with text or visual prompts, with more to come. Does the proposed agent exist, and what specifically is it capable of right now compared to other code-generating LLMs? They're using it internally for improved code search, code generation (not yet benchmarked but expected to be competitive in UI creation in particular) and an image-to-code process whereby Figma and Adobe files can be turned directly to in-game UI.

Vera: Helps workplaces adopt AI by filtering what goes in and out of the models, according to rules set up by the company. It's basically the kind of oversight IT gets for other business software, but for generative AI. So this records all inputs and outputs from AIs used by an enterprise and allows closer controls over what is asked or answered? Basically yes  it addresses security and privacy concerns by making the interactions observable and intercepting things like sensitive info before they get sent to the LLM. Responses can also be checked for consistency and errors.
The big decision: Should I stay with original Medicare or choose a Medicare Advantage plan? Here's why one expert says 1 of those options is the clear worse choice for seniors

As you approach age 65, youll have some decisions to make about medical coverage. On one hand, you can enroll in Medicare. But you may be tempted to choose another option instead: a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan instead.

If you've seen the advertisements for MA plans, you might think they're more cost-effective and comprehensive than Medicare. But according to Keith Armbrecht, Founder of Medicare education company, Medicare on Video, that's not necessarily true.

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"I would never choose a Medicare advantage plan," he says in a YouTube video entitled "Why Medicare Advantage Is The Worst Choice For Seniors."

Heres why hes not a fan of these plans.

What is a Medicare Advantage plan?

Medicare Advantage plans are alternative insurance plans to Medicare, and they're offered by Medicare-approved private companies. These plans are sometimes called Part C or MA," and they include Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) and Part B (medical insurance).

Those interested in MA have more than 40 different plans to choose from. The main reasons to explore them include:

The potential for lower premiums compared to Medicare. In 2022, the average premium was $58, according to 2022 data from the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.

Out-of-pocket costs may be capped. In 2023, the maximum was $8,300 for approved services.

Most plans include dental, vision, hearing and fitness benefits.

That being said, there are a few downsides to Medicare Advantage plans. Here are some important things to consider before locking into an MA plan.

Story continues

Limited choice

If you opt for an MA plan, your choice of doctors can be limited and you're likely to face obstacles in getting approved for procedures or seeing specialists.

"The primary reason I would absolutely choose original Medicare and would never choose Medicare Advantage is because I want control over what I do," says Armbrecht. With an MA plan, he warns, you can face wait times of "weeks, even months," to get referrals or have procedures authorized.

You're typically limited to doctors in the plan network and service area, as well, according to the governments Medicare website.

Read more: This janitor in Vermont built an $8M fortune without anyone around him knowing. Here are the 2 simple techniques that made Ronald Read rich  and can do the same for you

Deceptive marketing

The Medicare Advantage plan industry has a history of deceptive practices.

In 2022, the Majority Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance found that Medicare beneficiaries were being inundated with aggressive marketing tactics, false and misleading information and overall predatory marketing from MA providers. According to the report, deceptive Medicare Advantage marketing practices are, "widespread, not isolated events."

According to a 2022 review from the New York Times, four out of five of the largest MA providers (UnitedHealth, Humana, Elevance and Kaiser) have faced federal lawsuits for fraud and at least eight providers overbilled, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.

Denied claims

Multiple studies have shown MA plans have a pattern of denying claims that should be covered.

A 2022 review from the Inspector Generals office found that MAs denied 13% of prior authorization requests that met Medicare coverage rules. Essentially, these claims would have been approved under original Medicare. The most commonly denied requests were imaging services, stays in post-acute facilities and injections.

Go to the source

"Medicare is probably the only government program that does exactly what it's supposed to do and does it very well," says Armbrecht. In other words, original Medicare is likely your best choice. If you're nearing 65 and considering your options, you can visit Medicare.Gov for accurate and up-to-date information so you can make the right decision for your health insurance needs.

For now, you have lots of time to consider: General enrollment for Medicare is between Jan. 1 and March 31 each year.

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
Today

Sunny and windy. High around 80F. Winds N at 25 to 35 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph.

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 58F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.

Tomorrow

Mainly sunny. High 82F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph.
Un barbat a murit in timp ce incerca sa intre fara bilet la un meci, in Italia. Cadavrul lui a fost descoperit intr-o parcare

Un barbat a murit, dupa ce ar fi incercat sa ajunga fara bilet la un meci, in Napoli. El ar fi vrut sa se strecoare in stadion, unde avea [citeste mai departe]
Burger King is the latest fast-food chain to be targeted in a string of lawsuits.

A judge has ruled that Burger King must face a class action lawsuit accusing the chain of false advertising, joining the ranks of other fast-food giants like McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell.

The latest in a line of similar legal actions, the lawsuit was originally filed in March 2020 and accused the burger chain of falsely inflating the size of its signature Whopper sandwiches in promotional materials.

The suit claims that Burger King made Whoppers appear twice as large as they actually are in advertisements, while the actual burgers served to customers are 35% smaller than those marketed.

"Burger King advertises its burgers as large burgers compared to competitors and containing oversized meat patties and ingredients that overflow over the bun," said the filing.

"Although the size of the Whopper and the beef patty increased materially in Burger King's advertisements, the amount of beef or ingredients contained in the actual Whopper that customers receive did not increase," it said, accusing Burger King of "materially overstating the size of nearly every menu item in its current advertisements."

Lawsuit hits Taco Bell: Taco Bell sued over amount of meat, beans in Mexican pizzas, crunch wraps

Consumers claim false advertising

The suit was brought by Florida attorney Anthony Russo, representing plaintiffs from Florida, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

The plaintiffs claim they were "disappointed" after purchasing Burger King products based on their appearance in photos, only to find they were smaller when actually served. The complainants say they would not have purchased the food items had they known they did not look like the advertised images. They say they were deceived, according to court documents.

Burger King denied the claims and asked for a judge to dismiss the case, saying reasonable consumers have long been aware that food is styled in ads to make it appear "as appetizing as possible" and they are not required to serve burgers that look "exactly like the picture."

Story continues

Buffalo Wild Wings lawsuit: Buffalo Wild Wings sued by Chicago man because their 'wings' are breast meat

"BKC makes very clear how much beef the Whopper contains," the company said in the filing.

Quoting its own marketing materials, Burger King pointed out that the asterisk that accompanies the claim that its Whopper Sandwich is " lb* of savory flame-grilled beef" points to a disclaimer clarifying that the weight refers to that of the precooked patty.

"Plaintiffs do not and cannot contend that BKC delivered them less than a quarter pound of beef with any Whopper or Big King," Burger King said. "They argue, instead, that they 'expected' more beef, ostensibly because of the protruding patties in the pictures."

Judge gives the go-ahead

In a ruling last Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Roy Altman agreed to dismiss the claims that Burger King's television and online advertisements misled customers, as well as accusations the company violated consumer protection laws.

He determined, however, that other components of the lawsuit, alleging negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and unjust enrichment, could go forward, saying the court is not in the position to determine if the difference between products received and advertised were "enough to alter the purchasing preferences of reasonable American consumers."

Instead, he said, it's better "to leave that determination to the consumers themselves, who  if the case survives that far  will get to sit in the jury box and tell us what reasonable people think on the subject."

A Burger King spokesperson told USA TODAY in a statement after the judgment: "The plaintiffs claims are false. The flame-grilled beef patties portrayed in our advertising are the same patties used in the millions of Whopper sandwiches we serve to Guests nationwide."

The plaintiffs' attorney, Anthony Russo, did not immediately return request for comment.

Fast-food lawsuits

The lawsuit is the latest in a string of recent litigation against chain restaurants over their food.

Last month, a New York man sued Taco Bell for false advertising, claiming its Mexican Pizza had only about half of the beef and bean filling that he expected.

In March, a Chicago man sued Buffalo Wild Wings, saying the companys boneless wings arent wings at all but actually cheaper chicken breast tenders. Buffalo Wild Wings has denied the allegations and is asking a judge to dismiss the case, saying that boneless wings wouldnt mislead reasonable consumers.

McDonalds, Burger King and Wendys were all sued last year over the size of their cheeseburgers.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Burger King lawsuit alleges Whoppers are smaller than advertised
Opposition Jobbik-Conservatives has called on Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to summon Russias ambassador over a textbook recently published in Russia, in which Hungarys 1956 anti-Soviet revolution is described as a fascist revolt.

Jobbik deputy group leader Koloman Brenner also called on the minister to protest in a memorandum against the textbook, stating that it echoes the ideology of communist Soviet Union.



Brenner said the government would need to take serious steps of distancing itself from the textbook.



This could at last restore the equilibrium of Hungarys foreign policy, he added.



Brenner noted that in 2016, when the Russian side referred to developments in 1956 as a pogrom, Szijjarto summoned the Russian ambassador.
Cameron is a seasoned hotelier with over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a strong commitment to delivering exceptional service through his effective leadership.

His extensive background has provided him with a deep understanding of the intricacies of the hotel business, allowing him to consistently uphold high standards and create memorable guest experiences.



Cameron's passion for the industry and his dedication to fostering a culture of excellence have made him a respected figure in the world of hospitality.



1. When did you arrive in Hungary and what brought you here?

Arrived last October to begin the Pre-Opening process for our soon to open Dorothea Hotel, Budapest, Autograph Collection in Vorosmarty Sq. a stunning new luxury product in the heart of Budapest, a brand which is part of Marriott International.



2. Have you ever been an expatriate elsewhere?

I left South Africa in 1993 and have moved to several countries, UK, Russia, Georgia.



3. What surprised you most about Hungary?

The beauty of the country, I was not sure what to expect prior to arriving, yet in a small area there are such outstanding landscapes.



4. Friends are in Budapest for a weekend - what must they absolutely see and do?

A walking tour by locals to ensure you see all the hidden gems of the city, also a trip to a vineyard is a must.



5. What is your favourite Hungarian food?

Halaszle.



6. What is never missing from your refrigerator?

Champagne. Never forgot to celebrate great times in life.



7. What is your favourite Hungarian word?

Igen. Always looking to say yes rather than no!



8. What do you miss most from home?

Friends, but its great that they come and visit to reconnect.



9. What career other than yours would you love to pursue?

Architecture, I love and am fascinated with the design of buildings and structures.



10. What's a job you would definitely never want?

Anything that does not challenge me or is mundane.



11. Where did you spend your last vacation?

South Africa on Safari, I have a lot of family in South Africa so it was wonderful spending time seeing them and having some quality time with them.



12. Where do you hope to spend your next holiday?

Would like to explore a new country, perhaps within South America.



14. What was your favourite band as a teen?

I always enjoyed many genres of music but would say U2.



15. Red wine or white?

Red predominately, I enjoy a good South Africa Pinotage or Italian Amerone



16. Book or movie?

Both, movies for some escapism and books with regards to life experiences and learnings.



17. Morning person or night person?

Enjoy getting up early due to my profession and have been known to be a night owl



18. Buda or Pest side?

Buda, both sides certainly have their own merits, but I like the tranquillity of Buda and the more greener part of Budapest.



20. What would you say is your personal motto?

Keep busy and be useful!
AURORA  Ground was broken earlier this month for a $20 million plant that will be built on the south side of Aurora, along Nebraska 14 and not far from Interstate 80.

The Specialty Ag Formulations production facility, which will total 100,000 square feet, is a joint venture between a company called Brandt and Frenchman Valley Co-op, which is based in Imperial.

The plant will produce agricultural nutrition products, mostly foliar micronutrients that are applied over the top of cops, said Bill Engel, Brandts executive vice president. The product is primarily used on row crops, such as corn and soybeans, but also specialized crops, including fruit and vegetables.

The Aurora plant will give Brandt better access to the Great Plains, said Rick Brandt, the companys president and CEO.

Brandt, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, does business in 49 states and more than 80 countries.

From Aurora, Brandts products will be distributed to about six states, said Rod Schroeder, one of the speakers at the groundbreaking. He described the Aurora location as being in the western corn belt.

Two years ago, Brandt opened a state-of-the-art production plant in Brazil. Rick Brandt has been assured the Aurora plant will be even better.

The company has facilities in Avon Park, Florida; Pleasant Plains, Illinois; Logan, Utah; and two California cities  Fresno and Visalia.

Brandt was formed in 1953 by Ricks father, G.B., and Ricks aunt, Evelyn, who turned 100 on Aug. 25.

G.B., who passed away in 2020, would have loved to see the Aurora plant, Rick said.

He always enjoyed getting a plant tour, especially in his later years, whenever he got the chance, Rick said.

Referring to Aurora, Kelsey Bergen said opportunity grows here. She is the executive director of the Aurora Development Corp.

Schroeder, a former Aurora resident, introduced the Brandt company to Aurora.

He told the Aurora Development Corp. that Brandt is a longtime family business that is held in high esteem. He then told Brandt executives Aurora is a great community in which to do business.

You come here and you will be successful, Schroeder told the Brandt people. All the infrastructure is here. People are great. And because of that, this is going to be a win-win.

Schroeder then got out of the way, and let the deal come together.

John Bender of Frenchman Valley thanked Schroeder, who now lives in Ashland, for bringing the parties together. He also thanked the Aurora Development Corp. for a job well done.

When we came up here and did our tour, I didnt know if we were looking at sites or if they were trying to sell me a timeshare. But it was well done, Kelsey. And were here, Bender told Bergen.

Bender became familiar with the Brandts about 10 years ago. They were a competitor of mine, said Bender, who says hes competitive himself. I dont like competitors. But I did like Brandt. They were a tough competitor because they were honest.

Gov. Jim Pillen attended the groundbreaking. Another speaker was Sen. Loren Lippincott.

The quarter section of land has been annexed into the city of Aurora. A soybean field stands not far from the groundbreaking site.

Aurora leaders conducted a serious recruitment of the project partners, showing them the value of our site, Mayor Marlin Seeman said in an interview.

Once they began to show an interest, all of the partners in our community began to focus on how to bring this soybean field to life as a building site, Seeman said.

Aurora Development Corp. and the city played a major role. The county and the school district are also cheerleaders when a large project is a possibility, Seeman said.

Seeman believes the operation will grow in the future and we believe they will be a partner with the ag industry thats already here.

The plant will begin with 15 employees. The number will gradually increase to between 40 and 50, Engel said.

Auroras current population is 4,678.

Rick Brandt said he was excited to see the project come together and he promised that well be a good neighbor.

Brandt is also looking forward to deepening our relationship with Frenchman Valley, he said.

Jim Ediger, president of the Aurora Development Corp., said it took a lot of people to bring the project to Aurora. Some good connections were made and we always thought we had a great piece of property here.

The area is full of farmers, so it makes sense for Specialty Ag Formulations to manufacture its products in Hamilton County, Ediger said.
Nepal's national flag carrier on Tuesday started operating weekly flights from the Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa to Delhi and Hong Kong via Kathmandu but due to no bookings, both the flights took off without passengers. The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) operated the flights to Delhi and Hong Kong from Bhairahawa, making Kathmandu a transit point.

Both the Bhairahawa-Delhi and Bhairahawa-Hong Kong flights operated without any passengers, according to airline sources. Nepal Airlines, the national flag carrier, announced the booking of the ticket for Delhi and Hong Kong from Bhairahawa just two days before the flight schedule.

Also read: Delta Air Lines Milan-Atlanta Flight Suffers 'Severe Turbulence', 11 Hospitalised

Bhairahawa, situated 400 km Southwest of Kathmandu, is neither a business center nor a big city. The Gautam Buddha International Airport was upgraded into an international airport recently. All these factors were cited as the reason for not having a single passenger for NA's first flight.

Air flights from Bhairahawa-Delhi and Bhairahawa-Hong Kong via Kathmandu have been operated from NAC's aircraft arriving in Bhairahawa from Malaysia once a week, General Manager of the Gautam Buddha International Airport, Hansa Raj Pandey, was quoted as saying by the government-run Gorkhapatra daily.

He admitted that no passengers boarded the plane from the Bhairahawa-based airport for Tuesday's flights. Passengers heading towards both Hong Kong and Kathmandu are sent to their destination via Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu.

In the beginning, there will be Bhairahawa-Hong Kong and Bhairahawa-Delhi flights via Kathmandu every Tuesday. The number of flights will be increased based on demand, according to Nepal Airlines spokesperson Ramesh Paudel.

The NAC opened ticket booking for both routes on Sunday. It started the Malaysia-Bhairahawa route on June 13 and has so far conducted a dozen flights. The Gautam Buddha International Airport was put into commercial operation on May 16, 2022.
For the second time on Tuesday within a span of a few hours, an IndiGo flight experienced a mid-air glitch. This incident involved one of the aircraft's engines shutting down, yet the Kolkata to Bengaluru flight managed to land safely.

"IndiGo flight 6E 455 from Kolkata to Bengaluru returned to Kolkata after take off due to a technical issue. The pilot followed standard operating procedures and landed back in Kolkata. An alternate aircraft is being arranged to bring the passengers to Bengaluru. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers," an airline spokesperson said.

Also read: UK ATC Fixes Technical Problem That Resulted In Delays, Cancellations Of Flights

Earlier in the day, an IndiGo flight from Madurai landed safely at the Mumbai airport on Tuesday despite one of the aircraft's engines shutting down. Given that twin-engine planes can safely operate on a single engine, the Airbus A321 safely landed in Mumbai.

"IndiGo flight 6E-2012 operating from Madurai to Mumbai had a technical issue prior to landing in Mumbai. The pilot prioritised the landing in Mumbai. The aircraft is held at Mumbai and will be back in operations after necessary maintenance. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers," said the airline spokesperson.

Tuesday's development comes after the aviation regulator, DGCA had said earlier that subsequent to the announcement made by Pratt & Whitney regarding material anomalies on the PW1100G engines worldwide affecting approximately 200 engines, the aerospace manufacture issued the Service Instructions (SI) enlisting the serial numbers of the engine series which are required to be removed for performing Angle Ultrasonic Scan Inspection during shop visit and accordingly are required to be removed before September 15.
New Delhi: If you are a rural or village dweller, there is are rural entrepreneurship ventures that aligns financial success and at the same time provides huge earnings opportunities. Among several rural business proposition, Animal Feed Making Business could be one option that promises substantial year-round revenue. This business also has consistent demand across all seasons.

You can make animal feed by utilizing agricultural remnants like maize husks, wheat bran, grains, cakes, and grass to turn it into high-quality animal feed.

Animal Feed Making Business Licenses

However, be mindful that before initiating this venture, you will be required to acquire the necessary licenses. Apart from the license, there are many other rules for this business. You have to comply with requisite regulations and strictly adhere to industry standards.This business holds significant potential, particularly for dairy livestock.

Animal Feed Making Business Registration

First, you have to choose the name of Animal Fodder Farm, and then registration will have to be done as per the Shopping Act. After this, you have to acquire Food License (FSSAI Food License) from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Additionally, enlisting for GST registration is mandatory for tax compliance. For the production process too you will require a vast spectrum of Animal Fodder Machines, each playing a pivotal role in crafting top-notch animal feed.

After the above criteria has been met, you will require environmental clearance. You have to secured an NOC from the Environment Department, and this is mandatory. Simultaneously, a license from the Animal Husbandry Department is also mandatory.

If you want to start the business of making animal feed under the name of your brand, then a trademark will also have to be taken. According to the ISI standard, BIS Certification will also need to be made.

Animal Feed Making Business Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana Loan

For these businesses numerous state governments extend loans for self-employment ventures. Alternatively, under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, you can get loans of up to Rs 10 lakh. These funds can finance the acquisition of critical machinery such as feed grinders, cattle feed machines, mixers for blending, and precision weight scales.

Animal Feed Making Business Robust Profit

This enterprise holds immense promise where you can tap the vast demand from the flourishing livestock sector. Additionally, the exponential growth of animal husbandry in rural economy can give you immense opportibuties. Once established, this business venture has the potential to generate substantial monthly profits. You can earn lakhs every months with constant influx of orders for fodder.
New Delhi: The union government on Tuesday announced to reduce the cost of cooking gas LPG cylinders by Rs 200 for all households using them.

The government also said that it will provide 75 lakh new connections to the Ujjwala scheme. This means that more than 10 crore people all over the country will now benefit from this scheme. The Ujjwala scheme gives free LPG connections to women in rural households.

As of now, the price of domestic LPG, which is used in the kitchen for cooking purposes, is Rs 1,103 per 14.2-kg cylinder in New Delhi. This will now come down by Rs 200 per cylinder to Rs 903. The prices of domestic LPG cylinders were last changed on March 1, when they became Rs 50 more expensive.



Who Will Get LPG Gas Cylinders By Rs 400 Cheaper Price?

People who are a part of the Ujjwala Yojana will get even more benefit due to the latest government decision. These beneficiaries used to get Rs 200 less on a cylinder because of the government subsidy. Hence they had to pay Rs 903 for per bottle of LPG cylinder. But now, with this new decision, they will pay Rs 200 less on top of that. This means Ujjwala beneficiaries will now pay only Rs 703 for a cylinder

By providing Ujjwala connections to 75 lakh families, the total number of people benefitting will become 10.35 crore. This decision by the government to decrease the price of domestic LPG cylinders by Rs 200 has triggered a new political debate in Madhya Pradesh, where elections are sheduled by the end of the year. In MP, the Congress has promised to provide the cooking gas cylinder at Rs 500.

Meanwhyile the central government's decision is being touted as a gift from the Modi government to women for Onam and Raksha Bandhan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the reduction in prices of cooking gas cylinders by Rs 200 for all connection holders will give a lot of convenience to all "my sisters and family members on the occasion of Rakshabandhan."
Pune: Four members of a family, including two minors, were killed after a fire broke out at an electric hardware shop in Pimpri Chinchwad town of Maharashtra's Pune district on Wednesday morning, fire officials said. The incident took place at 5.25 am in the shop located in Pooja Heights building at Purna Nagar in Chikhli area of Pimpri Chinchwad, they said.



"So far, bodies of four people, who were sleeping on the mezzanine of the hardware shop located on the building's ground floor, have been recovered, a fire official from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation said.



The blaze has been extinguished and cooling process is on, he said. Officials said a short-circuit may have caused the fire. However, an investigation is on, they added



The deceased have been identified as Chimnaram Chowdhary (48), Namrata Chimnaram Chowdhary (40), Bhavesh Chowdhary (15) and Sachin Choudhary (13), the officials said.
New Delhi: Chinese forces are learnt to have ramped up construction of reinforced bunkers and underground tunnels in Aksai Chin, according to reports citing data from satellite imagery. As per the reports, construction activities are taking place in Aksai Chin, a territory held illegally by China, but historically claimed by India. The reports further said that Chinese forces have started carving tunnels and shafts alongside a narrow river valley, to construct bunkers and shelters.

The development has come on the heels of China releasing a "standard map" showing parts of Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh under its jurisdiction, on Monday. Reacting to the map, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday that "China has put out maps with territories (that are) not theirs. (It is an) old habit.

"Just by putting out maps with parts of India... this doesn't change anything. Our government is very clear about what our territory is. Making absurd claims does not make other people's territories yours," he added. Also on Tuesday, India lodged a strong protest with China on the release of a so-called "standard map".

"We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so called 2023 standard map of China that lays claim to Indias territory," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

"We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," he added. The release of the map comes just days before the G20 summit, which is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on September 9 and 10.

Last week during his informal conversation with China's President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit in South Africa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had conveyed New Delhi's "concerns over unresolved issues along LAC and other areas along the India-China border".
Bahrain Development Bank (BDB) has announced the launch of a new feature available on tijara, the banks digital platform designed to support startups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

The new feature tijara call account enables users to open an account online and access the tijara platform within a few minutes, without the need to visit a physical branch.

This service is the latest addition to the digital platform tijara, which offers a profit that is accrued on a daily basis and paid into a users account post the last day of the month at a rate of 3.5%. In addition, this service enables users to transact 24/7, access accounts balance, statements and transaction details, an unlimited number of withdrawals and deposits, local and international money transfers. It also enables them to add and modify beneficiaries, generate account reports, free monthly e-statements and SMS alerts Additionally, it provides direct digital access to financing options including support to cover operational expenses, bill payments and salary transfers.

Empowering SMEs

BDB Group Chief Executive Officer Dalal Al Qais said: BDB has always been keen on encouraging the startup and SME ecosystem and empowering them with tools to help them grow and prosper. Accordingly, this new feature comes in line with our commitment towards digital transformation and providing our customers with simple, efficient and accessible banking solutions to meet their financial needs.

The bank has recently launched a customer centricity policy, which aims to raise the level of customer satisfaction pre and post service, to ensure our customers receive a unique banking experience. The tijara call account is a step towards a series of initiatives and services we aim to roll out in line with our efforts to continuously provide our customers with the highest quality of banking services.

The tijara platform will enhance the banking experience for customers from the startup and SME sector, as it provides easy, efficient and smart banking solutions, with simplified transactions. It adopts an integrated digital model to facilitate access to financial support, in addition to innovative banking products in favor of empowering startups and SMEs and providing them with flexible and easy financing solutions.-- TradeArabia News Service
(Bloomberg) -- BYD Co. remains confident of selling 3 million clean cars this year despite economic challenges and an intense price war in the worlds second-biggest economy, founder and Chairman Wang Chuanfu told analysts at a briefing Tuesday, according to people who were present at the event.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Chinas best-selling auto brand also signaled solid profits will continue in the second half of 2023, further boosting the outlook for the company, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the analyst meeting was private.

Read More: BYD Powers Through Chinas Auto Price War to Post Soaring Profit

The Shenzhen-based market-leader on Monday unveiled a 145% increase in second-quarter profit to 6.8 billion yuan ($934 million), and a 67% jump in revenue to 140 billion yuan after selling a record number of cars in a three-month period.

A price war started by Tesla Inc. at the start of the year has squeezed other EV manufacturers. Both Xpeng Inc. and Nio Inc. this month reported wider-than-estimated second-quarter losses. BYD, however, has resisted joining the price war, instead relying on its broad range of models and price points to attract buyers.

For BYD the clear message is theyre not going to cut prices, Yuqian Ding, HSBC Qianhai Securities head of China autos research, told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. The upgraded product mix could help them mitigate largely from the pricing side so they stay more resilient and disciplined, she said.

The Warren Buffett-backed clean car giant has sold 1.5 million fully-electric and hybrid passenger vehicles this year through July, half way to its annual target.

BYD shares rose 4.4% as of 11.50 a.m. in Hong Kong, taking its gain since the earnings report to 10%.

Story continues

--With assistance from David Ingles and Yvonne Man.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
NEW DELHI: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge will attend the mega launch event of the Griha Laxmi Guarantee Scheme on Wednesday under which women heads of BPL families will get Rs 2,000 monthly allowance. Speaking to reporters on Monday, CM Siddaramaiah stated his government had implemented three guarantee schemes during elections and the fourth one Griha Laxmi will be launched on Wednesday (August 30) in Mysuru city. People from Mandya, Mysuru, Hassan, Chamarajanagar and Coorg districts will participate in the programme.

"More than a lakh people will attend the launch programme. Rahul Gandhi is attending the programme as an MP and Kharge in his capacity of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. Kharge will inaugurate the scheme and I will preside over the function in the presence of Rahul Gandhi," he explained.

"This is a big project in the country. For one year, the government is spending Rs 32,000 crore and for this year the government is incurring Rs 18,000 crore of expenditure. Woman heads of 1.33 crore families will get Rs 2,000 monthly allowance," CM Siddaramaiah stated.

With the implementation of guarantee schemes, every family will get Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 in their hands. From this, the purchasing capacity in the society will go up and it will contribute to the growth of economy and GDP. It will also create jobs, CM Siddaramaiah maintained.

What Is The Griha Laxmi Guarantee Scheme?

The Griha Lakshmi scheme, which was announced by the Congress in the run-up to the assembly elections in Karnataka earlier this year, is the worlds biggest Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme for women. According to the Congress party, the scheme is likely to benefit around 1.11 crore women in the state.

Under the scheme, Rs 2,000 each will be transferred to 1.11 crore women heads of families. Next year the number of beneficiaries is expected to go up to 1.3 crore, and the party has readied Rs 30,000 crore for the DBT scheme.

Though women from families below and above poverty line are eligible, a new clause says it can be availed only by those families that do not file goods and services tax (GST) and income tax returns. Antyodaya cardholders are also eligible. The Antyodaya scheme gives subsidised food to the poor.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had earlier said that the scheme is expected to cost the state Rs 30,000 crore. The BJP has questioned the viability of the funding source. The Siddaramaiah government has already started a free bus services for women, payment in lieu of 5 kg rice, and 200 units of free power to households.
Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar's recent strong rebuke against China's purported 'standard map,' which includes claims over the Indian territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, underscores India's resolute stance on territorial sovereignty. Amidst the ongoing controversy over China's map, Jaishankar's unequivocal message emphasizes that unsubstantiated claims do not alter the reality of other nations' territories. This response comes as China released its 'standard map' for 2023, revealing its territorial assertions. The situation has raised concerns about the delicate balance of territorial sovereignty and international relations between the two nations.

China's Map: Unfounded Claims and Historical Pattern

Foreign Minister Jaishankar dismissed China's recent map claims by highlighting China's historical pattern of issuing maps that assert territories it does not possess. This behavior dates back to the 1950s, reflecting a consistent approach of making baseless claims. The map's portrayal of the South China Sea as part of China's territory raises alarm, as it contradicts international norms and agreements. Jaishankar's remarks expose the fallacy of China's territorial assertions and underline India's commitment to upholding its borders.

India's Unambiguous Standpoint on Sovereignty

Jaishankar reiterated India's clear position on territorial sovereignty, asserting that India is fully aware of its borders and the regions it rightfully holds. He emphasized that China's actions of making unsubstantiated claims through maps do not alter the status of disputed territories. Jaishankar's remarks highlight the need for factual and evidence-based claims in international discourse, indicating India's commitment to a transparent approach.

India's Diplomatic Protest and Border Security

In response to China's map release, India lodged a formal diplomatic protest, categorically rejecting the unfounded claims. India's response reflects its commitment to preserving its territorial integrity and protecting its borders from any erroneous assertions. Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for India's Ministry of External Affairs, reaffirmed that China's actions complicate border issues and underscored the need for China to adhere to international norms and standards.

Maintaining Bilateral Relations Amidst Controversy

As tensions arise over the territorial dispute, India's strong response underscores its unwavering commitment to safeguarding its territorial sovereignty against any attempts to encroach upon it. Diplomatic engagement remains paramount in addressing contentious issues and maintaining peace along the border areas. Jaishankar's resolute stand and India's diplomatic protest reflect the nation's dedication to upholding its territorial integrity while navigating complex international relations.


Ghaziabad: A lawyer was shot dead in his chambers on the tehsil court complex in this Uttar Pradesh district, police said on Wednesday. Manoj Chowdhary alias Monu Jaat was having lunch in his chambers around 2 pm when two assailants entered the room and fired at him. He died on the spot, they said.

Shortly after the shooting, a police team arrived at the spot with forensic experts. After completing the legal formalities, Chowdhary's body was sent for post-mortem, they added.

Police teams are obtaining CCTV footage from cameras installed on the court premises, Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Nipun Agarwal said.

At the time of the attack, other lawyers were holding a meeting to chalk out their strategy about a strike, called by bar associations in western Uttar Pradesh in support of their colleagues in Hapur, the police said.
Bengaluru: The Congress government in Karnataka is all set to launch the 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme, offering monthly aid of Rs 2,000 each to about 1.1 crore women heads of family, at a function in Mysuru on Wednesday. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and MP Rahul Gandhi will be arriving in Karnataka shortly for the grand inauguration event of the Gruha Laxmi scheme which aims to provide a monthly allowance of Rs 2,000 to women heads of families living below the poverty line (BPL).

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar offered prayers on Tuesday at the famous Chamundeshwari temple in the district headquarters town of Mysuru, where the scheme would be launched by AICC President M Mallikarjun Kharge at the function that would also be attended by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

"As many as 1.1 crore women heads of households will be given Rs 2,000 every month," Siddararamaiah told reporters in Mysuru, his home district on Tuesday. The government has earmarked Rs 17,500 crore for 'Gruha Lakshmi' programme in the current financial year. 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme is one of the five pre-poll 'guarantees' of the Congress, which ousted the BJP from power in the Assembly elections held in May.

Around one lakh people are expected to gather at the public function to mark the launch of the flagship scheme. The CM had stressed that it would be a government function in which Kharge and Gandhi would take part in their capacity as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and as Lok Sabha members, respectively.

CM Siddaramaiah highlighted the Gruha Laxmi scheme as a significant project for the nation, with a budget allocation of Rs 32,000 crore for the year. The government is set to incur an expenditure of Rs 18,000 crore for this fiscal year alone. Approximately 13.3 million families, led by women, will benefit from the Rs 2,000 monthly allowance, he said, as per IANS.

With the implementation of guarantee schemes, every family will get Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 in their hands. From this, the purchasing capacity in the society will go up and it will contribute to the growth of the economy and GDP. It will also create jobs, CM Siddaramaiah maintained.

The state government has already implemented three of the five 'guarantees' (pre-poll promises) -- 'Shakti', 'Gruha Jyothi' and 'Anna Bhagya' -- and 'Gruha Lakshmi' is the fourth one. The fifth one is the 'Yuva Nidhi' scheme that promises to provide unemployment allowance to the state's youth. The Congress government in Karnataka also completed 100 days on August 27.

What Is The Gruha Laxmi Guarantee Scheme?

The Griha Lakshmi scheme, which was announced by the Congress in the run-up to the assembly elections in Karnataka earlier this year, is the worlds biggest Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme for women. According to the Congress party, the scheme is likely to benefit around 1.11 crore women in the state.

Under the scheme, Rs 2,000 each will be transferred to 1.11 crore women heads of families. Next year the number of beneficiaries is expected to go up to 1.3 crore, and the party has readied Rs 30,000 crore for the DBT scheme.

Though women from families below and above the poverty line are eligible, a new clause says it can be availed only by those families that do not file goods and services tax (GST) and income tax returns. Antyodaya cardholders are also eligible. The Antyodaya scheme gives subsidised food to the poor.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had earlier said that the scheme is expected to cost the state Rs 30,000 crore. The BJP has questioned the viability of the funding source. The Siddaramaiah government has already started a free bus services for women, payment in lieu of 5 kg rice, and 200 units of free power to households.
NEW DELHI: In a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, it has been revealed that a substantial 80% of Indians hold a favourable opinion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with a significant majority of them observing a tangible enhancement in India's international influence in recent times. The study, spanning from February to May, engaged more than 30,800 adults across India and 23 other nations, and it offered insights into global perspectives on India's geopolitical status, perceptions of PM Modi, and attitudes towards other countries.

While Indians as a whole (79 per cent) had a favourable opinion of PM Modi, 55 per cent of the respondents expressed a ''very favourable'' view of their Prime Minister, who has held office since 2014 and is currently seeking re-election for a third term in the upcoming national elections next summer. In stark contrast, merely a fifth of those surveyed held a negative perspective of the leader. These findings were unveiled just ahead of the forthcoming Group of 20 leaders' summit set to take place in New Delhi next month.

'India's Global Stature Has Risen'

The research further illuminated that 68% of Indian participants believed that India's global influence had surged in recent years, while only 19% perceived a decline. Within the G20 nations, India garnered favorability in the eyes of the majority, though the survey indicated that the positive sentiment towards India had diminished within European countries over the past 15 years.

The Pew survey unveiled a median of 46% favorability towards India worldwide, with 34% holding an unfavourable opinion. Additionally, participants from 12 of the surveyed countries were asked about their confidence in Prime Minister Modi's capacity to navigate international affairs. The results demonstrated that 40% lacked faith in his decision-making, while 37% expressed confidence.

World Divided On PM Modi's Leadership: Survey

It's noteworthy that Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, all G20 members, were not included in the survey pool, which primarily focused on India. While the survey pointed out that India's image generally leaned toward favorability rather than negativity, the popularity seemed to have waned across most European nations. Notably, in France, India's favourable rating had plummeted from 70% 15 years ago to a mere 39% in 2023.

In terms of bilateral relations, Israel emerged as a notable exception. A substantial 71% of Israeli respondents viewed India favourably, the highest figure among all surveyed nations. Interestingly, despite this favourable perception, a marginal discrepancy was noted in the confidence levels towards PM Modi, with 42% of Israelis lacking confidence compared to 41% who expressed confidence.

In the realm of global dynamics, nearly half of Indian respondents believed that the United States had augmented its influence in recent years, likely influenced by the strengthening strategic partnership between India and the US as they collectively addressed the challenge posed by China's ascent.

Similarly, 41% of Indian participants noted Russia's growing influence, while 21% thought it had diminished. Conversely, India's opinion of China was predominantly critical, with 67% expressing an unfavourable view, the highest among all nations surveyed. This sentiment resonates against the backdrop of the ongoing border tensions between the two nations since 2020.

Of all the public surveyed, Indians are the ones who are most likely to believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin will do the right thing in regard to international affairs. Similar to how India (65 per cent) views the United States more highly than many other nations surveyed by the Pew Research Center.

In general, young Indians are more inclined to express an opinion about India. A quarter or more of Indians have no opinion on Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the two leaders of the Indian National Congress (INC), according to a Pew Research Center survey.
New Delhi: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday reiterated his claims about China "invading" Indian territory in Ladakh. The Congress leader termed the matter of China including Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as a part of its territory in its latest edition of the 'Standard Map" as a "serious issue".

Speaking to the media ahead at the Delhi Airport, Gandhi said, "I have been saying this for many years... What the prime minister has said, I have just returned from Ladakh... What the prime minister has said...That not an inch of land has been invaded..it is totally false". The Congress leader claimed that all the people of Ladakh know that China has "intruded upon" Indian land.

#WATCH | Delhi | While leaving for Karnataka, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi speaks on China government's '2023 Edition of the standard map of China'; says, "I have been saying for years that what the PM said, that not one inch of land was lost in Ladakh, is a lie. The entire Ladakh pic.twitter.com/NvBg0uhNY1  ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2023

Answering a question from news agency ANI on China incorporating Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin in its new map, Rahul Gandhi said," The question of the map is a very serious one. But they (China) have captured our land. The prime minister should also speak on this issue".

The former Congress president was on his way to Mysuru in Karnataka where he along with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will attend the launch event of the State Government's Gruha Lakshmi scheme. This scheme will be rolled out at a public function in Mysuru in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramiah and senior leaders of the party.

Under the scheme, one among five poll promises made by Congress during its election campaign, the state government will provide Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of the BPL family.

China on Monday released the 2023 edition of its standard map, which shows the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory. Earlier this month, during his visit to Ladakh, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Centre, saying that its claim that not an inch of Indian land was taken by China's People Liberation Army (PLA) troops "is not true".

The Congress MP claimed the locals, too, contend that Indian territory was intruded upon and taken by the Chinese troops, adding that it was a matter of concern. "The locals here are concerned about China taking our land. They have said that the Chinese troops took away their grazing land. However, the PM says not an inch of land was taken away. This is not true, you can ask anyone here," Rahul had said.

However, India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with China over the map issue and said such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question. "We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 'standard map' of China that lays claim to India's territory," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

"We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," he added.

Later, speaking to a private TV news channel, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar rejected China's so-called "standard map" that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as regions within its borders. The EAM said Beijing had even put out such maps in the past claiming territories that are not theirs and that it is "an old habit" of China.

"Just making absurd claims does not make other people's territories yours. Let's be very clear on that," he added.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday celebrated Raksha Bandhan with children at his 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence in Delhi. The children tied Rakhi to Modi, who interacted with them on various issues.

The kids shared their positive feelings about the recent success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission and expressed their enthusiasm about the upcoming Aditya L-1 mission. The children also recited poems and sang songs during the interaction.

Taking to his official X account, Modi shared several pictures with kids and said that he had 'a very special' Raksha Bandhan celebration.

"My young friends and I talked about so many subjects. They shared their joy on Chandrayaan-3 and Indias strides in space. They also recited wonderful poetry," he said.

Had a very special Raksha Bandhan celebration at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. My young friends and I talked about so many subjects. They shared their joy on Chandrayaan-3 and Indias strides in space. They also recited wonderful poetry. pic.twitter.com/JNbNxbWiE6 August 30, 2023

Here are some more glimpses from the Raksha Bandhan programme. pic.twitter.com/ep47ddkRP7  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 30, 2023

Impressed by their articulation, Prime Minister Modi encouraged them to explore writing poems on different various topics including government schemes for the benefit of the public. Explaining the importance of Aatmanirbharta, he also advised the children to use Made in India products.

Various students, accompanied by their teachers, participated in the celebration. Representatives of NGOs, widows from Vrindavan, as well as other individuals were also present

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi greeted people on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.



Dedicated to the unbreakable trust and immense love between sister and brother, this auspicious festival is a 'sacred reflection of our culture', he said on X and wished that it strengthens the feelings of affection and harmony in people's lives.
New Delhi: Popular Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, who made her sensational debut in Bollywood with Raees in 2017 opposite Shah Rukh Khan recently made a heartfelt revelation about battling manic depression. Talking to FWhy Podcast, she opened up on facing severe backlash over her leaked smoking pictures with Ranbir Kapoor in New York.

MAHIRA KHAN ON DEPRESSION

Reflecting back to the 2017 viral photo fiasco, Mahira said, "That (backlash) brought out the anxiety and depression hidden inside me. That was a hard time for me. I felt attacked. The constant backlash You are getting mean tweets, and comments on their channels (Indian channels). That was a time my faith broke and I developed severe anxiety to the point that one day I had a panic attack and fainted. That was the first time I went to therapy. But that didn't work out, as I went to several therapists... that year was rough... I couldn't sleep, my hands used to shake."

"I ended up in a psychiatrists office." Adding more, she said, "Well talk about everything later, but I need you to know that you have manic depression. This is the first time Im saying that, I dont know if I should. Its been six-seven years, Ive been on anti-depressants. I tried leaving them in the middle, and I went into a very, very dark space."

"Yes, everyone has sad times and happy times and success and failure, but clinical depression is real, she said, noting that while she experienced triggers, a lot of it is also genetic. She also shared her experience of feeling low at times, adding, "Last year, I was bad, I was in bed I remember, very well, that I couldnt even get up from my bed to go to the bathroom. I was that bad, it was that dark. I remember praying, I promise you Allah, if you show me even this much hope or light, I will take it and I will run with it. And when he did, and when I went back on my medicines, I woke up feeling like, Oh my god, I feel like I can smile, feel lighter."

MAHIRA KHAN ON 2016 URI ATTACKS

Mahira Khan also talked about the 2016 Uri Attack and Raees controversy. She said, "I had finished the film (Raees) and everything was going fine and then suddenly this attack (Uri attack) happens. Politically everything gets messed up. With India, it is always political. But the fact that it could get this messy! I was not scared, but I was threatened. Constant tweets, in fact, I would get calls, and very scary ones. The only thing I wanted was that 'Okay fine I can't go to India to promote it (Raees), but I hope it releases in my country because I knew people would rush to watch it as he (Shah Rukh Khan) is loved here (in Pakistan)."

On the work front, Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, Sanam Saeed will be soon seen in Netflix's first Pakistan-themed original titled Jo Bache Hain Sang Samait Lo. The series is an official adaptation of Farhat Ishtiaq's bestselling 2013 Urdu-language novel of the same name.
New Delhi: Raksha Bandhan is a Hindu festival that celebrates the bond between siblings, particularly the protective relationship between brothers and sisters. The festival is marked by the tying of a rakhi, a sacred thread, around the brother's wrist by his sister. This act symbolizes the brother's promise to protect his sister from harm. As the festival approaches, it brings with it a season of festivity and celebration.

This year, why not take the tradition of Raksha Bandhan to the next level by giving your sisters something truly special? A gift that not only stands out but also ensures their future. If you're planning to give any financial gifts then this article is a must-read for you. (Also Read: Innovative Business Idea: Invest Rs 5,000 To Rs 10,000 And Earn Rs 1800 To Rs 3000 Per Day - Unlocking Daily Dividends)

You can show your sisters how much you care about their well-being by giving them something unique. There are several options available that can keep your sisters safe in many scenarios. (Also Read: 8 Alternative Methods For ATM Cash Withdrawal Without A Debit Card)

So, this Raksha Bandhan, go above and beyond traditional gifts and give your sisters something that genuinely reflects the spirit of the festival - a gift that shows your commitment to their security and well-being. Here are 5 unique gifts you can give to your sister on the auspicious occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

5 Raksha Bandhan Financial Gifts To Secure Her Future

This Raksha Bandhan, there are many unique and innovative gift options available that can help safeguard your sister's financial well-being and provide them with true freedom. Here are some ideas to consider:

Insurance Policy: One of the nicest gifts is an insurance policy. There are numerous plans, ranging from life insurance to health insurance, that can operate as a financial cushion in the event of an unexpected financial emergency. With Raksha Bandhan, you can assist your sister in selecting and purchasing an insurance policy, Also medical emergencies can occur without warning, and the costs of treatment can be expensive. Buying health insurance provides a safety net against such situations, and gifting your sister coverage can ensure her protection against ailments.

Fixed Deposit (FD): For those who prefer traditional financial instruments, FDs are a low-risk option that can serve a variety of future purposes, from funding education to building a home. Indeed a small contribution you can make towards your sister's future ambitions.

Digital Gold: As a country that values gold, consider gifting digital gold this Raksha Bandhan. It offers both ornamental and financial value, is easy to liquidate, and eliminates worries about theft or depreciation.

Mutual Funds: For those who cannot afford a lump-sum FD investment, mutual funds offer an attractive alternative. Investments over time could result in significant assets, adapting to your sister's financial goals.

Stocks: Directly gifting shares is another innovative option. With a quick demat account setup, you can purchase and gift shares of promising companies. Buying stocks means that this could become a habit of investment and you can gift stocks anytime you desire.

SIP (Systematic Investment Plan): You can assist your sister with setting up a SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) and making contributions on a monthly basis. SIP is a means of investment where you can assure a fixed sum in a mutual fund scheme and you continue paying as per your convenience. Investing patiently develops financial discipline, which has the ability to generate wealth and aid in the achievement of financial objectives.

This Raksha Bandhan, make the decision to give your sister the gift of a better future, supporting her ambitions. As a brother, consider giving her one of these 5 unique long-term financial gifts that provide guaranteed returns over time. Instead of a typical gift, give her something extraordinary that she will always remember during this festive season.
New Delhi: A viral message is doing the rounds in the social media that says that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) claims to offer Rs 4 crores 62 lakhs to people on payment of Rs 12,500.

In the viral message that purportedly is being sent by the RBI via an email. It says that the Foreign Remittance Department Online Banking unit has identified the reciever of the email as per their file records and asks them to pay Rs 12,500 for which they would get a fund of Rs 4.62 lakh.

PIB has tweeted:

An e-mail allegedly sent by RBI claims to offer _4 crores 62 lakhs on payment of _12,500.#PIBFactCheck:



__This e-mail is #Fake



__@RBI does not send emails asking for personal information



Read here: https://t.co/yALF1xDLPN pic.twitter.com/N2zD5NRQtE August 29, 2023

Meanwhile, the PIB has redirected netizens towards an RBI page that states, The Reserve Bank of India never "contacts the public via unsolicited phone calls or emails asking for money or any other type of personal information. The Reserve Bank does not maintain/give money/foreign currency or any other type of funds to individual or opens accounts for/in the name of individuals. The Reserve Bank has urged the public to remain alert and not to fall prey to frauds or scams perpetrated by individuals who impersonate to be employees of the Reserve Bank of India."

The only official and genuine website of the Reserve Bank of India is (www.rbi.org.in) and the public may be careful and not get misled by fake websites with similar addresses beginning with Reserve Bank, RBI, etc., along with fake logos.

Inform local police or cyber crime authority about such frauds.

The Reserve Bank of India has, on several occasions in the past, cautioned the members of public not to fall prey to fictitious offers / lottery winnings / remittance of cheap funds in foreign currency from abroad by so-called foreign entities/ individuals or to Indian residents acting as representatives of such entities/individuals.

How to get messages fact-checked by PIB

If you get any such suspicious message, you can always know its authenticity and check if the news is for real or it is a fake news. For that, you need to send the message to https://factcheck.pib.gov.in. Alternatively you can send a WhatsApp message to +918799711259 for fact check. You can also send your message to pibfactcheck@gmail.com. The fact check information is also available on https://pib.gov.in.
Chase bank opened its doors at two new Memphis-area branches Wednesday, with Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland joining the JPMorgan Chase team for the celebration.

While Chase has had a commercial banking office in Memphis since 2016, these locations will allow it to expand its personal banking presence in the area.

The ribbon-cutting happened at the location at 557 S. Highland St. The second location that opened Wednesday is at 7708 Poplar Ave. in Germantown.

Memphis Chase branch manager Christian Torres introduces his team members during a grand opening celebration for Chase's new branch at 557 S. Highland St. in Memphis on Aug. 30, 2023. The plan is to have at least seven Chase branches in the Memphis area within the next two years.

Weve worked hard to improve the Highland Strip," Strickland said. "With Chase banks presence here, we are going to take it up a notch. Thank you for your investment in Memphis.

The bank plans to open at least another five locations over the next two years. The five locations to come are at:

1035 W Poplar Ave., Collierville

7945 Winchester Road, Memphis

4558 Poplar Ave., Memphis

4910 Raleigh Common Drive, Memphis

253 Goodman Road West, Southaven.

MEMPHIS BUSINESS NEWS: Are new Grand Hyatt plans in the works for Downtown Memphis? Developer says yes

Chase bank plans to have eight to 10 employees for each branch. It plans to have these employees come from the local area rather than bringing people in from outside Memphis. Employees will start making a minimum of $20 an hour with full benefits.

The new branches are designed to create a space for the community. There are booths, meeting pods, an open living room and a digital access bar patrons can use.

Chase opened a new Memphis branch at 557 S. Highland St. on Aug. 30, 2023. It is one of seven planned to open in the area in the next two years.

"Its important to Chase to have connections with local government and community groups," said David Howell, the market director for West Tennessee and Arkansas. "Mayor Strickland and his team have been more than helpful.

In a news release, JPMorgan Chase touted its partnerships with people in communities to support the areas they open their banks in. In 2019, the firm selected Memphis as a PRO Neighborhoods winner and awarded a $3 million grant to the Memphis Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Network. The groups focused on advancing homeownership and small business growth in the Frayser and Whitehaven communities. The commitment increased access to capital for local small businesses, created and preserved affordable housing units, provided consumer loans and developed financial wellness programs.

Jordan Green covers trending business news for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached via email Jordan.Green@commercialappeal.com or on X/Twitter, @_green_jordan_

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Chase bank opens Memphis branches; more in the works
New Delhi: In an effort to thwart a Chinese misinformation campaign, Meta has deleted several Instagram profiles as well as thousands of Facebook accounts. One of the largest networks of fraudulent accounts ever found by the business, Meta erased 7,704 Facebook accounts, 954 Pages, 15 Groups, and 15 Instagram profiles in total.

Meta began looking into this operation after the attack on a non-governmental organisation in the latter part of last year. Later investigations revealed connections between this network and an earlier influence operation known as "spamouflage," according to Bloomberg. (Also Read: Innovative Business Venture: Invest Rs 5,000 To Rs 10,000 And Earn Rs 1800 To Rs 3000 Per Day - Unlocking Daily Dividends)

Ben Nimmo, the leader of Meta's global threat intelligence, told The New York Times that this was the largest takedown of a single network they had ever carried out. We concluded that it was the biggest covert campaign we were aware of when we put it all together with the activities we tracked across the internet.

According to Meta representatives, the Spamouglage networkwhich is present on more than 50 platforms and forums, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X (previously Twitter)has grown to be the largest cross-platform influence operation to date.

According to Meta, the 'Spamouflage' network initially started posting on bigger sites like Facebook, YouTube, and X, but recent activity reveals that it has increased its presence on smaller platforms like Medium, Reddit, Quora, and Vimeo.
Taking action against cybercrime cases, Faridabad police have issued a warning against the ongoing fake e-challan scam. Based on the information shared by the police department, the scammers are trapping the citizens by sending phony links disguised as a link for e-challan. Furthermore, these links direct the users to a web page that appears to be a government website. To spread awareness about the scam, the information was also shared on social media by the authorities.

The authorities shared the information on social media in the form of an infographic picture, with the text, saying, "If you receive a link for a traffic challan, don't click these links. By clicking upon these links for payment, fraudsters can hack your bank account."

Also read: 2023 Hero Karizma XMR Launched In India, Priced At Rs 1.73 Lakh: Check Details

Fake e-Challan Scam: How it works

Citizens have been cautioned by Faridabad Police not to click on any links they get in the form of an e-challan. According to the authorities, fraudsters only need a click on one of these bogus URLs to gain access to your bank account.

Anytime a vehicle owner clicks on the link and inputs their bank account number and credit card information, fraudsters hack the person's phone first and then, after some time, empty their account of all available funds.

Fake e-Challan Scam: Message

The authorities also informed that the text message sent by the scammers will end with a link. For example, "Your challan No. is XXXXXXXX for PB08DJXXXX having a total challan amount as Rs 500. For online payment visit: https://echallanparivahan.in/ you can also contact RTO office for disposal of challan. Regards, RTO."

Fake e-Challan Scam: Link Identification

To help the citizens have a better understanding, the police department shared an example to show the difference between a real e-challan link and a fake one. It is to be noted that the official e-challan link with always end with ".gov.in." For instance, "https://echallan.parivahan.gov.in/." However, the fake challan link won't have the "gov.in." For example, "https://echallan.parivahan.in/"

The citizens are advised to file a complaint if they fall victim to the scam. Authorities halt the withdrawal of funds from your account as soon as the victim complains. Aside from this, victims can also visit their local police station or a cyber help desk.
Older women who sustained a stable weight were 1.2 to 2 times more likely to achieve longevity compared to those who experienced a weight loss of 5 per cent or more, said researchers from the University of California, San Diego.

In the study, published online in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, researchers investigated the associations of weight changes later in life with exceptional longevity among 54,437 postmenopausal women.

Throughout the follow-up period, 30,647, or 56 per cent of the participants, survived to the age of 90 or beyond.

Women who lost at least 5 per cent of weight were less likely to achieve longevity compared to those who achieved stable weight.

For example, women who unintentionally lost weight were 51 per cent less likely to survive to the age of 90.

However, gaining 5 per cent or more weight, compared to stable weight, was not associated with exceptional longevity.

"Our findings support stable weight as a goal for longevity in older women," said first author Aladdin H. Shadyab, Associate Professor at UC San Diego.

"If ageing women find themselves losing weight when they are not trying to lose weight, this could be a warning sign of ill health and a predictor of decreased longevity."

The findings suggest that general recommendations for weight loss in older women may not help them live longer. Nevertheless, the authors caution that women should heed medical advice if moderate weight loss is recommended to improve their health or quality of life.

The data expands on the growing research linking the relationship between weight change and mortality. Notably, this is the first large study to examine weight change later in life and its relation to exceptional longevity.
In a harrowing turn of events that has rattled Delhi's Bhajanpura locality, a senior manager from Amazon was tragically shot and killed. The incident also left a colleague injured and has prompted swift investigations by local authorities to uncover the truth behind the distressing incident.

The Unfolding Horror: Fatal Shooting and Injury

Harpreet Gill, a 36-year-old senior manager at Amazon, was simply riding his motorbike when he was suddenly confronted by a group of five individuals on a scooter and bike. This seemingly ordinary commute took a horrific turn, leading to a confrontation that escalated to gunfire. Gill tragically suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head, while his riding companion, Govind Singh, sustained injuries. Both victims were quickly rushed to a nearby hospital for urgent medical attention.

Seeking Motive and Answers: Grief and Questions

The incident has left the community grappling with shock and a multitude of unanswered questions. The motive behind the attack remains unclear, and while authorities are actively investigating the case, speculation looms. Family and friends of Harpreet Gill are struggling to comprehend the senseless violence, emphasizing that he had no apparent adversaries and was simply on his regular route when tragedy struck. Gill's uncle, Akshay, has appealed for a thorough review of the CCTV footage to shed light on the incident's circumstances.

Law Enforcement's Pursuit: Seeking Justice

Delhi's law enforcement agencies have taken swift action in response to the incident, diligently analyzing the available CCTV footage to identify and apprehend the culprits behind the violence. The event has sparked discussions on public safety, law enforcement efficacy, and the need for enhanced security measures within the city. Amid the ongoing investigation, a grieving family and community are left to mourn the loss of Harpreet Gill and hope for Govind Singh's recovery.

Confronting a Heartbreaking Reality: Striving for Closure

The tragic shooting of an Amazon senior manager in Delhi has cast a somber shadow over the city, prompting conversations on safety, justice, and the unforeseen nature of such events. As authorities continue to probe the incident's motives, it underscores the imperative of ongoing efforts to ensure public security and uphold principles of fairness and accountability.


New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday slammed the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government for shortening the vacations for Durga Puja, Diwali, and Chhath Puja in its new holiday calendar for state-run schools. Releasing a video statement on his official X account, BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that the decision to curtail the holidays was 'against the interest of Hindus'.

"The Education Department is going through a state of chaos. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should immediately withdraw the anti-Hindu order," Sushil Kumar Modi said.

The RJD, which is a part of the Mahagathbandhan, however, said there was nothing wrong with the order.

"The decision to reduce the holidays was taken with an aim to increase the number of working days in government schools. There is nothing wrong with it. The BJP, which is against imparting quality education to school students, is unnecessarily trying to give it a political colour," RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary told the news agency PTI.

Bihar govt reduces holidays for Diwali, Chhath, Durga Puja in new calendar for schools

The Education Department of the Bihar government has published a new holiday calendar for state-run schools, in which it has shortened the vacations for Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath Puja, to increase the number of working days as stipulated under the Right to Education Act.

The number of festive holidays was slashed to 11 from 23 between September and December, according to the calendar issued in a notification on Tuesday.

The government also sought to bring uniformity across the state and asked the district education officers (DEOs) to announce additional holidays with permission from the Education Department, officials said.

Raksha Bandhan on August 31 has already been declared a 'restricted' or optional holiday, they said.

The decision to reduce the number of holidays is part of the slew of reforms that the government has undertaken to improve the standard of education in the state, they added.

The Durga Puja holidays have been shortened to three days from the earlier six, and only one-day holiday each will be given for Diwali and Chitragupta Puja, and two days for Chhath Puja. Earlier, schools had a nine-day vacation from Diwali to Chhath Puja, according to the notification.

"The Right To Education Act 2009 stipulates that classes I to V (primary) should have 200 working days and classes VI to VIII (upper primary/middle) 220 working days per academic year. But the academic activities in the schools get affected due to elections, political activities, festivals, issues related to law and order, recruitment examinations, disaster management activities, etc.," it said.

"Besides, there is no uniformity in holidays across the state. Keeping the above issues, including uniformity in holidays, in mind, the department has now decided to revise the list of holidays for the remaining academic days in primary and middle schools in the state," it added.
Patna: The Nitish governments decision to cancel 15 holidays in the government schools of Bihar has drawn criticism from the BJP, who expressed their displeasure with the move. The state education department had issued a notification on Tuesday, stating that the holidays of Raksha Bandhan, Teej, Jiutia and others in government schools have been cancelled. The Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh slammed the Nitish government for this decision and said: This time the state government has cancelled holidays on Hindu festivals, who knows if Sharia law is imposed in the state tomorrow.

The notification said that the aim is to increase the number of working days for primary schools to 200 and for middle schools to 220 in a year, but due to various factors like elections, examination, law and order situation, festivals, flood, natural calamity and others, the students education gets affected, according to news agency ANI.

 ,    ,           

                   August 30, 2023

Therefore, the education department has reduced the number of holidays from 23 to 11. The holidays that have been cancelled are Raksha Bhandhan, Krishna Janmastami on September 7, Hartalika Teej on September 18 and 19, Jiutia on October 6. The holidays for Durga Puja have been cut down from six days (October 19 to 24) to three days (October 22 to 24). Chitragupt Puja, Bhaiyaduj have been clubbed into one day on November 15. Gurunanak Jayanti and Kartik Purnima have been merged into one day on November 27.

The notification also mentioned the holidays that have been granted by the education department. They are Chehallum on September 6 (Wednesday), Anant Chaturdasi/Birth anniversary of Hazrath Mohammad on September 28 (Wednesday), Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti October 2 (Monday), Durga Puja October 22 to 24 (Sunday to Tuesday), Diwali on November 12 (Sunday), Chitragupta Puja/Bhai Duj November 15 (Wednesday), Chatth Puja November 19 and 20 (Sunday and Monday) Christmas Day December 25 (Monday).
New Delhi: The 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme, one of the five poll promises made by the Congress during its election campaign, was launched by the Karnataka government led by Congress in Mysuru on Wednesday. The party leader Rahul Gandhi, who was present at the launch event, said that "the 5 'guarantees' of Congress in Karnataka are not just schemes, but they are the governance model." "We had assured you before the elections that the Congress party and its leaders keep their word. Today, when we press this tablet, Rs 2000 will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of crores of women," Gandhi said.

"From today onwards, crores of women will receive Rs 2000 every month in their bank accounts through direct transfer method," he added. "We had also promised you that after elections women in Karnataka will travel for free on buses. The scheme was named 'Shakti' and we have fulfilled it," Rahul Gandhi said. He said that four out of the five schemes were aimed at empowering women." There is a deep idea behind this".

The scheme will provide Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of BPL families. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and former president Rahul Gandhi were among those who attended the launch event in Mysuru, Karnataka.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said that today crores of women had received Rs 2000 directly into their bank accounts.

KC Venugopal, Congress General Secretary, said that it will be the "world's largest-ever welfare scheme for women".

1.28 crore female family heads in Karnataka are expected to benefit from this scheme, which will deposit the money directly into their bank accounts from today. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said on Tuesday that his government has the political will to implement the five guarantees that were announced to the people in the state by Congress.

The Karnataka CM had said that the annual cost of implementing the five schemes will be around Rs 50,000 crore.

Earlier Congress had declared the five main guarantees to the people of Karnataka during its poll campaign this year.

The five 'main' guarantees are 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti); Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi); 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya); Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (Yuva Nidhi) and free travel for women in public transport buses (Uchita Prayana).
In the digital age, education has gone beyond the traditional classroom walls, reaching global audiences through the power of the internet. Leading American universities have harnessed this potential, offering a treasure of free online courses that span numerous disciplines. These courses not only equip learners with valuable skills but also open doors to impressive academic institutions, all from the comfort of one's own home.

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However, the only thing you need is a laptop or mobile and a reliable internet connection to learn from these online courses. If you are looking for one, we recommend Mediacom for its fast-speed internet and stable connectivity. With this, say goodbye to buffering, slow connections, and interruptions that hinder your online courses. So call Mediacom customer service 24/7 and get the plan that fulfills your needs.

Now, here are the most sought-after courses in 2023. Read on to learn more about them.

Harvard's Digital Haven

At the forefront of this movement stands Harvard University, a mainstay of knowledge that offers over 600 free online courses. With the click of a button, learners can delve into courses like "Shakespeare's Life and Work," exploring the bard's plays and his historical context.

"Justice" introduces the complexities of moral and political philosophy, while "Health Effects of Climate Change" tackles the pressing issue of our times.

California Dreaming with UC Irvine

With its diverse offerings, the University of California, Irvine contributes to this intellectual landscape. "Better Business Writing in English" empowers learners to master communication skills essential for the corporate world. Meanwhile, "Introduction to Electronics" interprets the fundamental components of this technology-driven era. "

Engineering the Future at Georgia Tech

Georgia Institute of Technology, a pioneer in online education, lays out a pathway to excellence. "Business Data Analytics" unravels the mysteries of data interpretation, while the "Innovation Leadership Program" shapes the leaders of tomorrow. "Supply Chain Principles" uncovers the workings of this industry, nurturing careers in this dynamic field.

Ecole Polytechnique's French Connection

Ecole Polytechnique, a renowned French institution, crosses borders with its offerings. From "Introduction to Probability" to "How to Write/Publish a Scientific Paper," these courses bridge language divides while enriching minds. "From Particles to Stars" takes learners on a cosmic journey, unraveling the universe's mysteries in the French language.

A Multifaceted Canvas at Michigan State

Michigan State University paints its canvas with offerings that cater to diverse passions. "Become a journalist: Report the News" shapes aspiring storytellers, while "Write a Feature-Length Screenplay for Cinema or Television" nurtures the screenwriters of the future. "Art for Games Specialization" shows creativity in the digital realm.

Exploring Arts and More at CalArts

The California Institute of the Arts emerges as a hub for creative expression. "Graphic Design Specialization" offers insights into visual communication, while "Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop" polishes the skills of budding poets. "The Language of Design" evaluates graphic design with a sharp eye, enlightening the intersection of aesthetics and meaning.

Global Insights at HKUST

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a well-known institution offering a variety of courses. "Introduction to Fintech" explains financial technology, while "Making Sense of News" sharpens critical thinking in the era of information overload. "State, Law, and the Economy" offers an economics primer with global implications.

UCL's Diverse Bouquet

University College London (UCL) brings a bunch of offerings. "An Anthropology of Social Media" examines the impact of digital connectivity, while "Citizen Science and Scientific Crowdsourcing" introduces participatory research. "Culture, Health, and Well-Being" nurtures wellness initiatives within cultural contexts.

Benefits of Online Courses

Flexibility: Online courses offer the freedom to learn at your own pace and schedule, making them suitable for individuals with busy lives or unconventional schedules.

Accessibility: Geographical barriers are eliminated with online courses, allowing learners from around the world to access courses from prestigious institutions without relocating.

Diverse Options: A vast array of subjects and courses are available, allowing learners to pursue niche interests or specific skills that might not be offered locally.

Cost-Effective: Online courses are often more affordable than traditional classroom-based education, as they eliminate expenses related to commuting, housing, and campus fees.

Self-Paced Learning: Learners can progress through courses at their own speed, giving more time to challenging topics and accelerating through familiar ones.

Skill Enhancement: Online courses provide practical skills and knowledge that can directly translate into career advancement or personal development.

Interactive Learning Tools: Many online courses include engaging multimedia elements, interactive quizzes, and discussion forums to enhance the learning experience.

Balancing Priorities: Online courses allow individuals to balance work, family, and education, promoting healthy work-life-study stability.

Global Networking: Discussion forums and collaborative projects enable learners to interact with peers from diverse backgrounds, fostering a global network.

Conclusion

Lifelong learning is becoming a necessity in a rapidly changing job market. Online courses empower individuals to continuously upgrade their skills, ensuring they remain adaptable and capable of meeting evolving industry demands. By upgrading skills through online courses, individuals can enhance their resumes and stand out to potential employers. In short, online courses are an invaluable tool for anyone looking to continuously upgrade their skills and knowledge.

References:

https://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/distance-learning/9-top-universities-offering-free-online-courses

https://www.distancelearningportal.com/articles/1307/10-us-universities-offering-top-distance-education.html

https://scholarships365.info/10-top-universities-free-online-courses

(This article is part of IndiaDotCom Pvt Ltds Consumer Connect Initiative, a paid publication programme. IDPL claims no editorial involvement and assumes no responsibility, liability or claims for any errors or omissions in the content of the article.)
By David Shepardson

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo talked up American firms' desire to do business in China and her hopes for further engagement with Chinese officials on market access on Wednesday, after earlier comments over China being "uninvestible."

At a press conference in Shanghai, Raimondo said she had not expected any breakthroughs on issues affecting U.S. firms such as Intel, Micron, Boeing, Visa and Mastercard in her first meetings with Chinese officials, but did hope to "see some results" in the next few months as a result of her four-day visit to Beijing and Shanghai.

Raimondo said there was strong appetite among U.S. businesses to make the relationship work and that, while some actions of the Chinese government have been positive, the situation on the ground needed to match the rhetoric.

"There is appetite among U.S. business to continue to do business (in China). The market is enormous," she said. "U.S. businesses want to do business here but they need to have a predictable regulatory environment."

The commerce secretary is the latest Biden administration official to visit China in a bid to strengthen communications, particularly on economics and defence, amid concern that friction between the two superpower could spiral out of control.

Raimondo insists the U.S. does not want to decouple from China. "I am leaving with some optimism," Raimondo said of agreements to continue dialogue on a lot of tough issues. "We can't drift to a place of greater of conflict. It's not good for the U.S., it's not good for China, it's not good for the world."

On Tuesday she had told reporters on a high-speed train to Shanghai from Beijing that American companies had complained to her that China has become "uninvestible," pointing to fines, raids and other actions that have made it risky to do business in the world's second-largest economy.

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On Wednesday she said: "For U.S. business in many cases patience is running thin and it's time for action."

Raimondo said she had raised with Chinese officials that her emails had been hacked and said that was an "action that erodes trust." Reuters reported in July that Raimondo was among a group of U.S. officials whose emails were hacked earlier this year by a group Microsoft says is based in China.

Her comment on the difficulties U.S. businesses face has shone a harsh light on trade and investment flows between the geopolitical rivals.

"The essence of China-U.S. economic and trade relations is mutual benefit," Wang Wenbin, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Wednesday, citing Premier Li Qiang's remarks during his meeting with Raimondo on Tuesday.

"Politicizing and securitising economic and trade issues not only seriously affects the relationship and mutual trust between the two countries, it also harms the interests of their businesses and peoples," he added.

Companies have been at the center of a power struggle between the two countries for several years. China has criticised U.S. efforts to block China's access to advanced semiconductors through export controls.

Raimondo said export control dialogue was to reduce misunderstandings.

"We were able clarify at the first meeting that we are not targeting China," she said. "We're targeting actions and behaviour that undermine U.S. national security." She reiterated on Wednesday that the United States is not willing to negotiate or change export controls.

INVESTMENT FLOWS

The two biggest economies in the world used to be each other's largest trade partners, but Washington is now trading more with neighbouring Canada and Mexico, while Beijing is trading more with Southeast Asia.

Global investors, who have been spooked by unpredictable crackdowns in China on sectors from e-commerce to education in recent years, have also been streaming out of Chinese assets lately.

Foreign net selling of 82.9 billion yuan ($11.4 billion) in Chinese stocks this month is a record outflow. Corporate investment is also going missing, with foreign direct investment (FDI) at its lowest since records began 25 years ago.

Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said businesses had been "very clear" in making their concerns known to the Chinese government.

"Certain actions, including raids on companies and restricting data flows, are not conducive to attracting additional FDI," Hart said.

That sentiment was echoed by Jens Eskelund, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, who said "'uninvestible' is not a term we would use to describe China," instead describing it as "under-invested".

'WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF CHALLENGE'

Raimondo said U.S. firms were facing new challenges, among them "exorbitant fines without any explanation, revisions to the counterespionage law, which are unclear and sending shockwaves through the U.S. community; raids on businesses  a whole new level of challenge and we need that to be addressed."

Raimondo, in opening remarks at a meeting on Wednesday morning with Shanghai Communist Party Secretary Chen Jining, struck a positive tone, saying she wanted to discuss "concrete ways that we can work together to accomplish business goals and to bring about a more predictable business environment, a predictable regulatory environment and a level playing field for American businesses."

Chen said a stable relationship between China and the United States was crucial for the world, adding that Shanghai had the highest concentration of U.S. businesses in China.

On Wednesday afternoon, the commerce secretary visited Shanghai Disneyland and a Boeing facility in the city, touting two prominent American exports.

Disney has emphasized its Chinese links since Shanghai Disneyland - a joint venture with state-owned Shendi Group - opened in 2016.

Raimondo, who has said China was blocking tens of billions of dollars in deliveries of Boeing airplanes to Chinese airlines, on Tuesday said she raised the airlines' refusal to accept delivery of Boeing 737 MAX airplanes but won no commitments.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Shanghai; additional reporting by Nicoco Chan and Jason Xue in Shanghai and Joe Cash, Martin Quin Polland, Yew Lun Tian and Laurie Chen in Beijing; Editing by Sandra Maler, Robert Birsel, Alex Richardson and Daniel Wallis)
China and the United Kingdom agreed to maintain communication to try to stabilise relations on Wednesday, as London sought to re-engage with Beijing after years of strained ties.

Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng told visiting British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly that the relationship could be improved based on pragmatic cooperation and mutual respect.

Cleverly is the first senior UK official to visit China since Jeremy Hunt travelled to Beijing as foreign secretary in 2018. Relations have taken a nosedive since then over issues such as Beijing's human rights record in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, as well as growing tensions between China and the Group of Seven advanced economies, to which Britain belongs.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng meet in Beijing. Photo: AP alt=British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng meet in Beijing. Photo: AP>

In their meeting, Han said China and the UK, as permanent members of the UN Security Council and major economies, must take care of each other's "core interests" and concerns in the face of global risks and challenges.

"China and the UK need to ... maintain communication in international and regional affairs to jointly promote development of global peace," Han said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

"Economic and trade cooperation is the foundation for the healthy and stable development of China-UK relations. The two governments should create a good business environment for enterprises and actively explore new growth points for practical cooperation," Han added.

Cleverly noted China's role in international governance and agreed to strengthen high-level exchanges and strategic communication with Beijing to build consensus and deepen cooperation, according to CCTV.

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The British foreign secretary later met top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, with the two sides agreeing to keep a "direct and honest" channel of communication open to move forward bilateral ties, CGTN reported.

Wang said China had always been committed to the UK relationship but there had been "disturbances", even during Cleverly's visit. "Dialogue and cooperation are the keywords and the main tone of China's policy towards the UK," he said.

Cleverly said there would be opportunities for both countries if they could keep the relationship "positive".

Speaking to international media in Beijing, Cleverly said he had raised issues where the two countries had "disagreements", including those related to human rights, while stressing the need to engage with China and maintain a "pragmatic working relationship".

"I am clear-eyed ... that we are not going to change China overnight and we are certainly not going to do it in one individual meeting. But it is important that we maintain regular dialogue," he said in footage aired on Sky News.

Cleverly's one-day trip to Beijing comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government is under mounting pressure from hawkish lawmakers in the country to get tough on China.

Meanwhile, the UK reportedly plans to invite China to a global summit on artificial intelligence safety in London in November, despite opposition from the US, Europe and Japan.

Before Cleverly left for Beijing, the British foreign ministry said he would be looking to cooperate with China on global problems such as climate change. It said he would also seek to promote British national interests and urge Beijing to fulfil its international commitments and obligations, including helping end Russia's invasion of Ukraine, defuse tensions in the South China Sea and cease malign cyberspace activity.

The ministry said the aim of Cleverly's trip was in line with the country's plans to take a "multifaceted approach" towards China - by protecting national interests whenever Beijing posed a threat and working with allies to uphold international law, while also engaging directly with Beijing to stabilise relations.

It comes amid wider debate across Europe about de-risking the relationship with China, and as Sunak is said to be considering following the United States in limiting outbound investments to China.

China is among the UK's top trading partners, with total volume crossing US$100 billion in 2022. Direct investment from Britain posted the second highest growth between January and July this year, only behind France, according to the Chinese commerce ministry.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University, said Britain still wanted to do business with China, and Cleverly's visit was "very important" with bilateral ties at a critical juncture.

"It occurs against the backdrop of the prolonged conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Britain's economic difficulties in the post-Brexit era and an expected general election next year in the UK," he said. "On top of those challenges, the UK needs to strengthen diplomatic coordination with China ahead of the Cop28 climate talks to be held in Dubai at the end of the year."

Ding Yifan, a senior fellow at the Development Research Centre of the State Council, China's cabinet, said the visit would likely pave the way for the first one-on-one meeting between Sunak and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi next month.

A meeting between the two leaders during November's G20 summit in Bali was called off at the last minute. But The Times newspaper has reported that Britain is making preparations for possible bilateral talks on the sidelines of the upcoming G20 gathering.

Ding said that given the deterioration of the bilateral relationship, it was unrealistic to expect a rapid rapprochement or major progress on thorny issues, including Beijing's sanctions against some British politicians.

"Progress on the sanctions issue will depend largely on the outcome of specific negotiations," he said. "But it is unlikely China would immediately accept the British request and remove the sanctions."

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
(Bloomberg) -- Chinese electric carmaker Nio Inc. reported a wider-than-estimated loss in the second quarter as vehicle deliveries came in at the low end of the companys target.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The automaker posted a net loss of 6.06 billion yuan ($831 million) in the three months ended June 30, it said in a statement Tuesday. That was wider than the average analyst estimate of 4.73 billion yuan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and more than double a 2.76 billion yuan loss in the same period last year.

Revenue dropped 14.8% to 8.77 billion yuan, as quarterly deliveries fell 6% to 23,520 vehicles, at the bottom of the companys forecast. Gross margin continued to drop, down to 1% from 13% a year earlier and 1.5% in the previous quarter.

Nios US ADR shares fell as much as 14% after trading began Tuesday morning in New York.

While senior executives earlier this year claimed to be very confident of doubling sales to 250,000 vehicles in 2023, Nio only managed to ship 54,561 cars in the first half  just over 20% of its annual goal. It also missed its annual target last year, and has been forced to delay investments in fixed assets, postpone research and development plans, and be more cautious on its overseas expansion.

Nios sluggish sales and unsatisfactory earnings have raised concerns over the future of the company, which three years ago was on the brink of collapse before a local government rescue. Now analysts are wondering how long a $738.5 million investment from Abu Dhabis CYVN Holdings LLC might last.

More recent figures point to some improvement. Nio delivered a record 20,462 units last month after the company cut prices, joining the price war engulfing the Chinese market, and rolled out two new versions of its cars in the space of a month. More than 10,000 of the cars shipped in July were the revamped ES6 unveiled in late-May.

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Attributed to the product transition based on the NT2.0 Platform, coupled with the expansion of our power network and the strengthening of our sales capabilities, we expect a solid growth in vehicle deliveries in the second half of 2023, Chief Executive Officer William Li said in the statement.

The company said it plans to deliver 55,000 to 57,000 vehicles in the third quarter, which will generate a revenue of between 18.90 billion and 19.52 billion yuan.

(Updates with US share move in fourth paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
FILE PHOTO: United Steelworkers sign is seen in front of the U.S. Steel Great Lakes Works plant in Ecorse, Michigan

(Reuters) - U.S. steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs Inc said on Tuesday it had reached a tentative agreement with the United Steelworkers (USW) union on a new 3-year labor agreement for its Northshore mining operations.

The agreement will cover about 430 workers at Cliff's Northshore Mine in Minnesota and is pending ratification by USW's local union membership, the steel producer said in a statement.

The company did not disclose additional details on the labor agreement pending ratification.

(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
KYOTO, Japan, August 30, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:6981) (ISIN:JP3914400001):

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829632176/en/

New building (Photo: Business Wire)

Murata Manufacturing Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Da Nang, Vietnam), a manufacturing subsidiary of Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has completed the construction of a new production building that had been under construction since June 2022. The completion ceremony was held on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. The new production building will provide the infrastructure necessary to respond to growing demand for inductor coils for cars and electronic devices in a medium- to long-term capacity.

Overview of the completion ceremony

Date and Time: Wednesday, August 30, 2023, 9:30 a.m.  10:30 a.m. Location: Murata Manufacturing Vietnam Co., Ltd. Lot A1, Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone, Hoa Khanh Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District, Da Nang City, Vietnam VIP Guests (planned): Le Trung Chinh Deputy party secretary Chairman of Da Nang peoples committee Yoshinori Yakabe Consul General, Consulate General of Japan in Da Nang Attendees from Murata: Tsuneo Murata, Chairman of the Board, and others

Overview of the new production building

Structure and scale: Reinforced concrete construction, 4 stories above ground Total floor area: 22,637 m2 Building area: 5,486 m2 Purpose: Manufacture of coil products Completion date: Wednesday, August 30, 2023 Total investment: 4.32 billion yen (building only)

Murata Manufacturing Vietnam Co., Ltd.

Location: Lot A1, Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone, Hoa Khanh Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District, Da Nang City, Vietnam Established: November 2003 Representative: Hiroshi Nozaki, Managing Director Number of employees: 3,394 (as of the end of June 2023) Business description: Manufacture of coil products and other components

Murata in Brief

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of ceramic-based passive electronic components & solutions, communication modules and power supply modules. Murata is committed to the development of advanced electronic materials and leading edge, multi-functional, high-density modules. The company has employees and manufacturing facilities throughout the world. For more information, visit Murata's website at www.murata.com

Story continues

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230829632176/en/

Contacts

For more information, please contact:

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Miyuki Ito, prsec_mmc@murata.com

Corporate Communications Department
A U.S. bankruptcy court judge in New Jersey has dismissed the bankruptcy claim the owners of the Latitude Five25 apartments filed earlier this year after the city of Columbus cleared out the Near East Side towers because of poor living conditions.

The Columbus City Attorney's office said that the Aug. 30 decision clears the way for a receiver to take control of the property to fix it, and pursue the $4.3 million in fines Franklin County Environmental Judge Stephanie Mingo levied in February after holding the owner, New Jersey-based Paxe Latitude, in contempt, for not following court orders.

The decision also includes a $1.5-million settlement for tenants, the office said.

The closed Latitude Five25 apartments on Columbus' Near East Side.

"I really don't think this could have gotten any better," City Attorney Zach Klein said in an interview Aug. 30.

"The contempt fine is still on the books. We're going to have a responsible and local receiver take care of the property," he said.

And Klein said his office is looking into filing lawsuits for personal liability against individuals within the company, calling their conduct negligent and reckless.

"They demonstrated time and time again they cared about profits over the people who lived there," Klein said.

The two towers at 525 Sawyer Blvd. were evacuated on Christmas Day after heat problems and burst pipes, displacing 154 households. The buildings also had problems with non-working elevators and other code issues.

In February, Mingo fined New Jersey-based owner Paxe Latitude $4.3 million for violating provisions in a January court order and holding the company in contempt of court, saying that the problems at Latitude Five25 were "completely preventable."

Paxe Latitude then filed for bankruptcy in New Jersey, days after Mingo's ruling. The city in March filed a motion in federal bankruptcy court there to dismiss the filing, saying Paxe Latitude was just trying to avoid paying the judgment.

Melissa Benson, managing attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus, which has been representing more than 100 Latitude Five25 tenants, said Lument Finance Trust agreed to the $1.5 million, the amount Paxe Latitude and attorneys for the tenants worked out. Lument is the financial institution that held the mortgage on the apartments

Story continues

Steve Tigges, Lument's attorney, said the money will come from insurance proceeds to pay tenants.

"They lost almost everything," Tigges said. "Lument wanted to be a good corporate citizen."

Benson said there were multiple proposals going back and forth.

"This isnt something the bank had any legal obligation to do," she said.

Hannah Jones, deputy director of community development with the city of Columbus, said in an email that three former Latitude Five25 residents remain in a hotel, with one approved for a unit under construction and another recently signing a lease for a rental unit.

On Aug. 11, Mingo issued orders that Paxe Latitude had to fix the problems at the property and bring it up to code, maintain the property and provide adequate security. Thieves and vandals have gotten into the buildings, according to the court orders.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Latitude Five25 tenants to share $1.5 million settlement in court case
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Skytower Investment Company, aiming to develop a zero carbon industrial park within the city.

KAEC said this partnership seeks to harness the expertise and resources of both parties to develop and enhance sustainability in the kingdom in line with Saudi green initiatives, said a Saudi Press Agency report.

It also indicated that such collaboration will attract numerous investments and provide an opportunity to explore the investment prospects present within the city.

KAEC strives to attract major corporations, relying on its strategic location, advanced and distinctive infrastructure and connectivity through highways and railways.

The planned zero-carbon industry park is set to cover a range of advanced high-tech sectors, including carbon, hydrogen and silicon materials and clean energy technologies such as solar and wind energy innovations.

Located north of Jeddah, KAEC is a 185 sq km city anchored by King Abdullah Port and KAEC Industrial Valley.
Bitcoin, Ether, and all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies gained in Wednesday afternoon trading in Asia, as traders celebrated digital currency asset manager Grayscales victory against U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The market boost follows last weeks largest outflows of digital asset investment products since March, in what has been an unusually low trading volume market. In the non-fungible token (NFT) market, the Forkast 500 NFT Index fell as traders gauged the latest SEC charges against an NFT project operated by media company Impact Theory for breaching securities laws.

See related article: Hong Kong grants SEBA Bank in-principle approval for crypto trading

Beacon of hope

Bitcoin gained 5.54% to US$27,434 in 24 hours to 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, bringing its weekly gains to 5.32%, according to CoinMarketCap data. The largest cryptocurrency in the world had traded under US$27,000 since Aug. 18 as macroeconomic developments in the U.S. and China weigh on the crypto market.

Ether, the worlds second biggest cryptocurrency, gained 4.31% to US$1,717 and posted a 4.45% gain on the week.

All other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptos rose after a favorable verdict for Grayscale Investments in its ongoing legal dispute with the SEC.

The market boost follows last weeks record outflow of digital asset investment products  totaling US$168 million  the largest outflow since the U.S. regulatory crackdown on exchanges in March, according to a report by European cryptocurrency investment firm CoinShares.

This Augusts outflows now total US$278 million in what has been an exceptionally low trading volume market, with investment products trading US$1.3 billion for the week, 16% below the year average. This negative sentiment we believe is due to the increasing acceptance that a spot-based ETF for Bitcoin in the U.S. is likely to take longer than many expect, with recent delays being announced by the SEC, CoinShares said in an emailed report on Tuesday.

Story continues

Crypto markets picked up on Wednesday after the District of Columbia Court of Appeals overturned the SECs earlier refusal to allow the companys Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, known by its ticker GBTC, to become an exchange-traded fund (ETF). Grayscale first sued the SEC in June, 2022. The digital asset manager said that the regulator failed to provide clear explanations for the rejection of its ETF application, violating the Administrative Procedure Act. The company added that the SECs refusal was inconsistent with its approach to other Bitcoin futures ETF applications.

The market reaction to Grayscale winning the lawsuit against the SEC shows that the digital asset industry is held back due to a lack of regulatory framework, Shivam Thakral, chief executive of Indian digital asset exchange BuyUcoin, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

The wave of positive developments has come as a fresh lease of life for the crypto industry which has been battling hostile regulations, dampened investor mood, and crypto winter. We are optimistic that Grayscale getting court approval for Bitcoin ETF will work as a template for similar financial products around the world, Thakral said.

Grayscales legal victory against the SEC marks a significant shift in digital assets, Caroline Bowler, chief executive of Australian digital asset exchange BTC Markets, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

Its important to clarify it is not a ruling in favor of converting its fund into a spot Bitcoin ETF, as some might have anticipated. Instead, the presiding judge granted Grayscales petition for review and simultaneously vacated the commissions order. This development underscores the complexity of regulatory dynamics in the crypto space, where legal battles can shape the path of innovative financial instruments, Bowler explained.

The ruling is seen as a beacon of hope for Grayscale and is expected to chart the course for other financial giants, such as BlackRock and Fidelity, who have also filed spot Bitcoin ETF applications with the SEC and are waiting for an approval.

Its excellent that the judge in the Grayscale vs SEC case was able to see the obvious correlation between Bitcoin futures and spot price, Greg Moritz, chief operating officer at AltTab Capital, said in an emailed statement.

Products like Grayscales holdings have converted to ETFs in other commodity markets, and it makes no sense to treat crypto differently. Rules for financial markets need to be based on data, not arbitrary and capricious sentiment toward a legitimate and growing asset class, Moritz said.

Mahin Gupta, founder of Liminal, a wallet infrastructure and custody solutions platform, said he is particularly excited about the implications of this ruling for the custody industry. The approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF is expected to create a demand for custody solutions which is likely to boost the custody industry and help accelerate adoption of digital assets by institutional investors.

If approved, family offices and funds from around the world will have access to a regulated digital asset financial product to invest their wealth in a truly borderless and international asset class. I feel this is one of the most significant developments in the digital asset industry in the past decade, Gupta said.

However, Its also crucial to recognize that the price of Bitcoin is subject to extreme volatility and rapid changes regardless of individual news events, pointed out Rania Gule, market analyst at multi-asset brokerage firm XS.com.

The impact of this news depends on various factors, including general economic conditions, developments in regulations related to cryptocurrency markets, and technical factors within the market, Gule added.

Among the top 10 cryptos, Toncoin, the native token of proof-of-stake blockchain TON, led gains on Wednesday. It rose 15.13% in the past 24 hours to US$1.72 and posted a weekly gain of 23.74%. The Telegram messaging application introduced the TON blockchain in 2018 but severed ties in 2020 due to increasing regulatory pressure from the SEC. The blockchain said it has seen a 102% increase in developer involvement within the last year.

In July, Telegram also launched its Wallet Pay service, which allows users to pay merchants directly on the app using crypto. The service supports Toncoin, Bitcoin and Tether stablecoin payments.

Memecoin Dogecoin rose 4.12% to US$0.06563 in the past 24 hours, and gained 2.68% in the past seven days. Long-time Dogecoin advocate Elon Musk, the chief of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), had much to cheer after Rhode Islands state regulators granted X a currency transmitter license, which will allow X to exchange, custody, and transfer digital currencies.

The news of Elon Musks X obtaining a license to facilitate U.S. crypto payments amplifies the ongoing transformation of the crypto landscape. Endorsements from prominent figures like Musk lend credibility to the sector and hold implications for international marketsThe impact is likely to fuel interest and confidence in cryptocurrencies, said Bowler of BTC Markets.

Total crypto market capitalization rose 4.35% to US$1.09 trillion, while crypto market volume surged 130.25% to US$55.38 billion in the past 24 hours.

NFT traders cautious after SEC attack

The indexes are proxy measures of the performance of the global NFT market. They are managed by CryptoSlam, a sister company of Forkast.News under the Forkast.Labs umbrella.

The Forkast 500 NFT index fell 1.34% to 2,197.55 in 24 hours to 7.20 p.m. in Hong Kong, bringing its weekly losses to 4.05%. At the same time, Forkasts Ethereum, Polygon and Solana indexes posted gains.

NFT traders are starting to factor in the SECs lawsuit against Impact Theory, reflected in a steep decline in the Forkats 500 NFT Index, said Yehudah Petscher, NFT strategist for Forkast Labs.

The SEC charged Los Angeles-based media company Impact Theory on Monday with offering and selling its Founders Keys NFTs as unregistered securities. This marked the first direct enforcement action by the regulator against an NFT project.

Impact Theory co-founder Tom Bilyeu tweeted to confirm that the company has reached a settlement with the SEC.

Although we are disappointed that the SEC has chosen to broadly question the exciting technical innovations that make digital assets possible through the lens of the securities laws, we remain optimistic for the future of this industry in the United States, and hope we remain the global home of innovation, Bilyeu said.

Meanwhile, total NFT sales volume rose 8.04% to US$11.36 million, while the number of NFT buyers declined 4.08% to 51,362 in the past 24 hours, according to CryptoSlam data.

Among blockchains, Ethereum topped rankings as its sales volume grew 10.34% to US$6.28 million, followed by ImmutableX.

Among collections, ImmutableX-based Gods Unchained topped rankings by sales volume, rising 63.36% to US$979,148. This was followed by Ethereum-based Bored Ape Yacht Club whose sales volume gained 61% to US$836,849.

European bourses in the red on inflation fears; Asian equities, U.S. stock futures gain

Image: Envato Elements

Most Asian markets rose at the close of trading hours on Wednesday. Chinas Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component Index, Japans Nikkei 225, and South Koreas Kospi all closed the day in the green. Hong Kongs Hang Seng index dropped.

China has been announcing measures to support its property sector as well as to boost investor confidence and capital markets. The worlds second largest economy halved stamp duty on stock transactions to 0.05%, and lowered margin requirements for buying securities to 80% from 100%.

Given still-weak house price momentum and continued distress affecting confidence, we may still not be able to see a property recovery soon, said Michelle Lam, Greater China economist at Societe Generale, according to a Bloomberg report.

U.S. stock futures strengthened as of 8.15 p.m. in Hong Kong on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, the S&P 500 futures, and the Nasdaq 100 Futures were all in the green.

The U.S. saw the Labor Statistics Bureaus Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for July fall to 8.82 million, from 9.17 million in June. This is the lowest monthly level since 2021, which points towards a gradual cooling of labor demand and a fall in job openings.

The Fed is concerned that rapid wage growth might stoke inflationary pressures in 2024, but wage growth is likely to slow in coming months with workers seeing fewer opportunities to raise wages by switching jobs, said Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, according to a CNBC report.

The U.S. central bank last raised its interest rate to between 5.25% and 5.50% in July, the highest level in 22 years.

European bourses dropped on Wednesday, with the benchmark STOXX 600 and Germanys DAX 40 falling during afternoon trading hours in Europe. Data shows inflation increasing across Germany and Spain, which means the European Central Bank may raise interest rates further to tackle stubborn inflation.

(Updates with equities section.)
(Bloomberg) -- Dating apps are embracing AI and expanding their subscription plans, hoping new premium and discount tiers will court more paying users  particularly Gen Z  as growth slows.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Match Group Inc. has seen significant demand for its new weekly subscriptions  the number of UK-based Gen Z women switching to a paid Tinder plan jumped 73% since the April launch, and the boost to Hinge was similar. Match is also exploring a $500-a-month version, due to launch in the fall. Bumble Inc., which already has a weekly offering, will start testing a premium tier later this year, alongside a cheaper option specifically aimed at Gen Z. Grindr Inc. said its new weekly option is also driving monetization, and its looking at cheaper options and a premium tier.

The premium offerings are targeted at people who want a more curated, match-making style experience. They feel that the relative value of $40 or $50 a month for their special someone feels exceptionally low, Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said on a recent earnings call. The cheaper options are explicitly targeted at Gen Z. If you think about Gen Z, not everyone has disposable income, Herd said.

Match, the largest dating-app maker, is struggling with a decline in paying users  growth abruptly stalled at the end of 2021 and users have now fallen for three straight quarters. Bumbles paying users continue to grow.

The dating companies are also looking to generative artificial intelligence to entice users with new features. Bumble sees it as a way to curate match recommendations, Match hopes it can help eliminate awkwardness, and Grindr sees new use cases for engagement.

Theyre also tinkering with the apps themselves  Grindr, now facing competition from Matchs new Archer app for gay, bisexual or queer men, plans to build out more adult features in its new web-browser version. Archer is currently only offered in New York City with plans to expand nationwide by the end of the year.

Story continues

The focus on Gen Z isnt without its downsides. Match said weekly subscriptions make it hard to forecast subscriber numbers: Its newer. Its harder to manage, Chief Financial Officer Gary Swidler said on a recent earnings call.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Long-established in the Banks industry, M&T Bank Corp (NYSE:MTB) has enjoyed a stellar reputation. However, it has recently witnessed a decline of 1.15%, juxtaposed with a three-month change of 2.71%. Fresh insights from the GuruFocus Score Rating hint at potential headwinds. Notably, its diminished rankings in financial strength, growth, and valuation suggest that the company might not live up to its historical performance. Join us as we dive deep into these pivotal metrics to unravel the evolving narrative of M&T Bank Corp.

Decoding M&T Bank Corp (MTB)'s Performance Potential: A Deep Dive into Key Metrics

Understanding the GF Score

The GF Score is a stock performance ranking system developed by GuruFocus using five aspects of valuation, which has been found to be closely correlated to the long-term performances of stocks by backtesting from 2006 to 2021. The stocks with a higher GF Score generally generate higher returns than those with a lower GF Score. Therefore, when picking stocks, investors should invest in companies with high GF Scores. The GF Score ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 as the highest rank.

Based on the above method, GuruFocus assigned M&T Bank Corp the GF Score of 69 out of 100, which signals poor future outperformance potential.

Snapshot of M&T Bank Corp's Business

M&T Bank Corp, with a market cap of $21.03 billion, is one of the largest regional banks in the United States, with branches in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. The bank was founded to serve manufacturing and trading businesses around the Erie Canal and is primarily focused on commercial real estate and commercial-related lending, with some retail operations also present. The company reported sales of $9.53 billion, but its operating margin is currently not applicable.

Story continues

Decoding M&T Bank Corp (MTB)'s Performance Potential: A Deep Dive into Key Metrics

Financial Strength Breakdown

M&T Bank Corp's financial strength indicators present some concerning insights about the company's balance sheet health. The bank's financial strength rank of 4/10 suggests potential vulnerabilities that could impact its ability to meet financial obligations and weather economic downturns.

Conclusion

Despite M&T Bank Corp's historical performance and established presence in the banking industry, its current GF Score of 69 out of 100 signals potential underperformance in the future. The company's financial strength, profitability, and growth metrics, as highlighted by the GuruFocus Score Rating, suggest potential challenges that could limit its growth. Therefore, investors should exercise caution and conduct thorough research before making investment decisions.

GuruFocus Premium members can find more companies with strong GF Scores using the following screener link: GF Score Screen

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Deep-South Resources Inc

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deep-South Resources Inc. ("Deep-South" or the Company) (TSX-V: DSM) announces the appointment of Matthew Starnes as an independent Director.

Mr. Starnes is a lawyer with over 25 years of experience. Mr. Starnes is currently a consultant Peerpoint lawyer with Allen & Overy in Tokyo specializing in mining law. He acts as senior external counsel to Base Resources Toliara Sands project in Madagascar. Prior to this he was legal counsel in Sumitomo Corporation's Mineral Resources Division in Tokyo, Japan. Among other things, he was responsible for legal aspects of Sumitomo's investment in the multi-billion Sierra Gorda copper project in Chile and was also part of the team for the multi-billion Ambatovy nickel and cobalt project in Madagascar. Prior to joining Sumitomo Mr. Starnes was the General Counsel and Deputy President of the Ambatovy project during its construction phase where, among other things, he was responsible for closing a $2.1 billion financing. Mr. Starnes has also practiced as a corporate lawyer with major law firms in Montreal. He is a Director of Critical Elements Corporation that is developing a lithium project in Quebec. He holds a B.A. in English and History from McGill University in and a joint LLB/BCL from McGill University in Montreal.

Mr. Pierre Leveille, President & CEO of Deep-South stated that: We are very proud to have Mr. Starnes joining our Board of Directors. His appointment is a very strong move into the development of the company. His vast experience in the mining industry and his qualifiquations add considerable strength to Deep-South.

The appointment of Mr. Starnes is conditional to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Deep-South Resources Inc.

Deep-South Resources is a mineral exploration and development company. Deep-Souths growth strategy is to focus on the exploration and development of quality assets in significant mineralized trends and in proximity to infrastructure in stable countries. The company holds an interest in the Haib Copper project in Namibia and in three exploration projects in the heart of the Copperbelt in Zambia. In using and assessing environmentally friendly technologies in the development of its copper projects, Deep-South embraces the green revolution.

Story continues

More information is available by contacting Pierre Leveille, President & CEO at +1-819-340-0140 or at: info@deepsouthresources.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.




MANILA, Philippines, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The winners of the prestigious HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia Philippines 2023 awards have been announced by HR Asia, a leading publication in the human resources industry. In its sixth year, the 2023 Philippines programme has recognised 50 outstanding organisations that have excelled in creating exemplary work environments for their employees.

Congratulations to the Winners of HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2023 Philippines

This year's theme is "Celebrate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion." HR Asia has taken a significant step forward in recognising and promoting workplaces that foster diversity, equity, and inclusion by placing these values at the forefront of the selection process.

This year's nominations saw a significant increase, with 205 companies competing for the coveted title of Best Companies to Work for in Asia Philippines 2023. Furthermore, a staggering 13850 survey participants shared their insights and experiences, emphasising the region's extensive participation and engagement. When compared to the 2022 edition, this represents a 11% increase in nominations and a 17% increase in survey participants.

"We are thrilled to witness such overwhelming enthusiasm and support for the HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia Philippines 2023 awards," said William Ng, Editor-in-Chief of HR Asia. "The increased number of nominations and survey participants demonstrates the commitment of organisations in the Philippines to prioritise employee satisfaction and well-being."

Three new categories were added this year to reflect the organisation's commitment to recognising excellence and innovation in the human resources domain. The HR Asia Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awards seek to recognise organisations that have made significant strides towards creating diverse and inclusive workplaces. The HR Asia Most Caring Company Awards recognise organisations that have demonstrated exceptional care for their employees, particularly during difficult times. Finally, the HR Asia Digital Transformation Awards recognise organisations that have successfully used technology to transform their human resource practices.

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The HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia Philippines 2023 award winners have shown an unwavering dedication to employee satisfaction, welfare, and development. These organisations have set the standard for others to follow by fostering a positive work environment that promotes growth and excellence.

One of the highlights of this year's event was the recognition of the 3 Gold winners, who have been consecutive winners for five years or more. These exemplary organisations have consistently demonstrated their commitment to creating a remarkable workplace environment. The 3 Gold winners for HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia Philippines 2023 are Everise Philippines Ltd., Monocrete Construction Philippines, Inc., and Puregold Price Club, Inc.

HR Asia is grateful to its official partners, Human Resource Educators' Association of the Philippines, Inc. (HREAP) whose contributions helped make this event a huge success. Their dedication to promoting workplace excellence aligns perfectly with the program's mission to recognise outstanding companies and inspire others to achieve greatness.

The award covers fifteen markets across the region including mainland China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam making this the largest recognition programme and survey in the region for employee engagement. For more information about the HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia Philippines 2023 awards and a complete list of winners, please visit https://hr.asia/awards/

LIST OF WINNERS OF HR ASIA BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN ASIA 2023 (PHILIPPINES EDITION) IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

ABBVIE PHILIPPINES INC. Aboitiz Land, Inc. B&M GLOBAL SERVICES MANILA, INC. Back Room Offshoring Inc. CARGILL PHILIPPINES, INC. CEVA LOGISTICS PHILIPPINES CHEVRON HOLDINGS INC CITICORE RENEWABLE ENERGY CORPORATION CLOUDSTAFF MODERN WORKFORCE Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. COCOLIFE COLLINS AEROSPACE PHILIPPINES DDB GROUP PHILIPPINES ECOLAB AND NALCO PHILIPPINES EMAPTA EVERISE PHILIPPINES LTD. FOPM (First Oceanic Property Management Inc.) Foundever GCASH GLAXOSMITHKLINE CONSUMER HEALTHCARE PHILIPPINES, INC. Globe Telecom, Inc. HEALTH CAROUSEL PHILIPPINES, INC HINDUJA GLOBAL SOLUTIONS HITACHI SOLUTIONS PHILIPPINES CORPORATION HSBC GLOBAL SERVICE CENTRE PHILIPPINES LAZADA PHILIPPINES LENOVO PCCW SOLUTIONS Lexmark Research and Development Corporation LOUIS VUITTON (PHILIPPINES), INC. MAKATI DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION MANULIFE PHILIPPINES MEGAWORLD CORPORATION MONDELEZ PHILIPPINES MONOCRETE CONSTRUCTION PHILIPPINES, INC. Omni Channel Solutions PH Inc. PHILIPPINE MANUFACTURING CO. OF MURATA, INC. PROCTER AND GAMBLE PHILIPPINES PUREGOLD PRICE CLUB, INC. SANDOZ PHILIPPINES SERVIER PHILIPPINES, INC. SM SUPERMALLS SMARTSOURCING INC. STARTEK PHILIPPINES, INC. THE INSULAR LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY, LTD. TORRE LORENZO DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION TTEC Union Bank of the Philippines Universal Robina Corporation USANA Philippines VENA ENERGY PHILIPPINES

WINNERS OF HR ASIA DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION AWARDS 2023

ECOLAB AND NALCO PHILIPPINES EVERISE PHILIPPINES LTD. Foundever HINDUJA GLOBAL SOLUTIONS MANULIFE PHILIPPINES STARTEK PHILIPPINES, INC.

WINNERS OF HR ASIA DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AWARDS 2023

CLOUDSTAFF MODERN WORKFORCE FOPM (First Oceanic Property Management Inc.) HSBC GLOBAL SERVICE CENTRE PHILIPPINES MAKATI DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION PUREGOLD PRICE CLUB, INC. THE INSULAR LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY, LTD.

WINNERS OF HR ASIA MOST CARING COMPANY AWARDS 2023

CITICORE RENEWABLE ENERGY CORPORATION DDB GROUP PHILIPPINES GLAXOSMITHKLINE CONSUMER HEALTHCARE PHILIPPINES, INC. PHILIPPINE MANUFACTURING CO. OF MURATA, INC. TORRE LORENZO DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION VENA ENERGY PHILIPPINES

About BUSINESS MEDIA INTERNATIONAL

Business Media International is a subsidiary of Audience Analytics Limited (1AZ.SG), a regional leader in promoting growth for companies in Asia through data-driven brands and initiatives. We own renowned media brands such as SME Magazine, HR Asia, Capital Asia, Energy Asia, Logistics Asia, TruthTV, and CXP Asia as well as business impact assessment brands such as SME100, HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia, Golden Bull Awards and CXP Asia Best Customer Experience Awards. We organise various exhibitions and have the proprietary software-as-a-service  Total Engagement Assessment Model  in our portfolio.

Adrian Cheng

Marketing Manager

Business Media International

Mobile No.: 012-2692701

Email: adrian@businessmedia.asia.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/diversity-thrives-inclusion-prevails-hr-asia-best-companies-to-work-for-in-asia-philippines-2023-honors-50-champions-of-an-inclusive-workforce-301913269.html

SOURCE Business Media International
For beginners, it can seem like a good idea (and an exciting prospect) to buy a company that tells a good story to investors, even if it currently lacks a track record of revenue and profit. Sometimes these stories can cloud the minds of investors, leading them to invest with their emotions rather than on the merit of good company fundamentals. Loss-making companies are always racing against time to reach financial sustainability, so investors in these companies may be taking on more risk than they should.

Despite being in the age of tech-stock blue-sky investing, many investors still adopt a more traditional strategy; buying shares in profitable companies like Kori Holdings (Catalist:5VC). 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.

View our latest analysis for Kori Holdings

How Fast Is Kori Holdings Growing Its Earnings Per Share?

Kori Holdings has undergone a massive growth in earnings per share over the last three years. So much so that this three year growth rate wouldn't be a fair assessment of the company's future. Thus, it makes sense to focus on more recent growth rates, instead. Impressively, Kori Holdings' EPS catapulted from S$0.012 to S$0.027, over the last year. Year on year growth of 126% is certainly a sight to behold.

It's often helpful to take a look at earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company's growth. The music to the ears of Kori Holdings shareholders is that EBIT margins have grown from 12% to 27% in the last 12 months and revenues are on an upwards trend as well. That's great to see, on both counts.

You can take a look at the company's revenue and earnings growth trend, in the chart below. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers.

Since Kori Holdings is no giant, with a market capitalisation of S$16m, you should definitely check its cash and debt before getting too excited about its prospects.

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Are Kori Holdings Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

Many consider high insider ownership to be a strong sign of alignment between the leaders of a company and the ordinary shareholders. So those who are interested in Kori Holdings will be delighted to know that insiders have shown their belief, holding a large proportion of the company's shares. To be exact, company insiders hold 62% of the company, so their decisions have a significant impact on their investments. Intuition will tell you this is a good sign because it suggests they will be incentivised to build value for shareholders over the long term. Of course, Kori Holdings is a very small company, with a market cap of only S$16m. So despite a large proportional holding, insiders only have S$10m worth of stock. That's not a huge stake in absolute terms, but it should help keep insiders aligned with other shareholders.

It means a lot to see insiders invested in the business, but shareholders may be wondering if remuneration policies are in their best interest. Well, based on the CEO pay, you'd argue that they are indeed. For companies with market capitalisations under S$271m, like Kori Holdings, the median CEO pay is around S$481k.

Kori Holdings offered total compensation worth S$420k to its CEO in the year to December 2022. That comes in below the average for similar sized companies and seems pretty reasonable. 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.

Is Kori Holdings Worth Keeping An Eye On?

Kori Holdings' earnings have taken off in quite an impressive fashion. An added bonus for those interested is that management hold a heap of stock and the CEO pay is quite reasonable, illustrating good cash management. The drastic earnings growth indicates the business is going from strength to strength. Hopefully a trend that continues well into the future. Kori Holdings certainly ticks a few boxes, so we think it's probably well worth further consideration. Before you take the next step you should know about the 2 warning signs for Kori Holdings (1 is potentially serious!) that we have uncovered.

The beauty of investing is that you can invest in almost any company you want. But if you prefer to focus on stocks that have demonstrated insider buying, here is a list of companies with insider buying in the last three months.

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.
Key Insights

Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Deleum Berhad fair value estimate is RM0.93

Current share price of RM0.93 suggests Deleum Berhad is potentially trading close to its fair value

Analyst price target for DELEUM is RM1.14, which is 22% above our fair value estimate

Does the August share price for Deleum Berhad (KLSE:DELEUM) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example!

We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. 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 Deleum Berhad

Step By Step Through The Calculation

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 start off with, we need to estimate 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.

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:

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10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM44.5m RM42.1m RM41.0m RM40.7m RM40.9m RM41.5m RM42.3m RM43.4m RM44.6m RM46.0m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ -9.14% Est @ -5.33% Est @ -2.67% Est @ -0.80% Est @ 0.50% Est @ 1.42% Est @ 2.06% Est @ 2.50% Est @ 2.82% Est @ 3.04% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 13% RM39.3 RM32.9 RM28.3 RM24.8 RM22.1 RM19.8 RM17.8 RM16.2 RM14.7 RM13.4

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM229m

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 (3.6%) 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 13%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033  (1 + g)  (r  g) = RM46m (1 + 3.6%)  (13% 3.6%) = RM496m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM496m ( 1 + 13%)10= RM144m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM374m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of RM0.9, the company appears about fair value at a 0.04% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

dcf

Important 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. 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 Deleum 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 13%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.406. 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 Deleum Berhad

Strength

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded its 5-year average.

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market.

Weakness

Earnings growth over the past year underperformed the Energy Services industry.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the Malaysian market.

Looking Ahead:

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. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. For Deleum Berhad, we've put together three important factors you should further examine:

Risks: For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Deleum Berhad that you should be aware of before investing here. Future Earnings: How does DELEUM'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 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!

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.



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russian gas

Europe is spending record amounts on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) even as the bloc tightens sanctions against the Kremlin, new analysis shows.

Global Witness said EU nations led by Spain and Belgium had spent nearly 5.3bn (4.5bn) so far this year buying just over half of all Russias LNG stocks.

The campaign group said these countries were effectively funding warmongering regimes through the purchases of natural gas cooled into its liquid form.

The EUs increase in LNG purchases stands in contrast to the UK, which has not imported any LNG from Russia so far this year.

The EUs growing reliance on LNG risks undermining the blocs pledge to end its use of Russian fossil fuels by 2027.

The bloc has already banned seaborne Russian crude and oil imports and the flow of Russian gas via pipelines has been sharply curtailed.

However, purchases of LNG are not restricted and are running well above levels seen before the invasion of Ukraine.

EU countries bought 22 million cubic meters of LNG between January and July, according to Global Witness analysis based on data from industry analytics company Kpler. This is up 40pc compared with the same period in 2021.

EU countries now buy the majority of Russias LNG supply. Spain and Belgium were only beaten by China as the worlds biggest importers, with France, the Netherlands and Greece also big customers.

Jonathan Noronha-Gant, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, described the findings as both a climate disaster and security risk, funding warmongering regimes and fuelling deadly extreme weather.

He said: Buying Russian gas has the same impact as buying Russian oil. Both fund the war in Ukraine, and every euro means more bloodshed. While European countries decry the war, theyre putting money into Putins pockets.

These countries should align their actions with their words by banning the trade of Russian LNG that is fueling both the war and the climate crisis.

Kadri Simson, the EUs energy commissioner, has urged member states and companies to stop buying Russian LNG, calling it a reputational risk.

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Spanish energy minister Teresa Ribera has also pleaded with corporations not to sign new Russian LNG contracts. But she said that unless there were sanctions, EU companies that stopped buying Russian LNG could be forced to pay penalties for breaking their existing contracts.

I think it should be part of the discussion in a sanctions package, because otherwise the situation is quite absurd, Ms Ribera said in March.

Analysts have also warned that enforcing a ban would be challenging as it would be difficult to determine if LNG cargoes from other countries contained Russian gas.

Suppliers could also be deterred from sending cargoes to Europe if they were forced to provide documents proving their LNG is not Russian, potentially pushing up prices.

The EUs 2027 deadline to end the use of Russian fossil fuels is intended to give some countries more time to wean themselves off, given Europes historic dependence on the countrys supplies.

In Britain, the US supplied half of the UKs LNG in 2022, official data show, ending Qatars 13-year period as the largest LNG import source.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.
Michigan's fastest-growing auto insurer that doesn't use credit scores when pricing customer rates and crusades against what it considers predatory towing and repair shops has opened its first physical office in Detroit.

New Jersey-based CURE auto insurance, which arrived in Michigan in July 2021, in the wake of the state's controversial no-fault overhaul, is a new tenant in the former UAW-GM training center building on Detroit's east riverfront, which is now known as The Icon and owned by Dan Gilbert's Bedrock.

The not-for-profit insurer has about 60 employees in the office who work hybrid in-office/remote arrangements, and anticipates growing to more than 100 employees within two years. All of CURE's Michigan workforce previously worked remotely.

After just over two years in Michigan, CURE says it now insures about 75,000 vehicles in the state  58% of them belonging to Detroit residents. It has done significant marketing on billboards and TV and is a Detroit Pistons sponsor.

From left to right, Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield, Cure Auto Insurance CEO Eric S. Poe, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation CEO Kevin Johnson and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan cut the ribbon for the opening of the new CURE offices in Detroit on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023

CURE is one of the few auto insurers in the state  possibly the only one  to not use a credit score-like metric known as an "insurance score" when pricing rates. Instead, CURE relies primarily on driving history. This approach is a big deal in Detroit, where many have less-than-perfect credit.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was among the officials on hand Wednesday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for CURE's new office space at 200 Walker St.

"If you have a sub-700 credit score, the average car insurance carrier in the country will charge you twice the rate of the exact same person, same car, same driving record," CURE's CEO Eric Poe told the group.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan talks about changing the high auto insurance in Detroit at the ribbon cutting for the new offices of CURE Auto Insurance near downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. CURE is the fastest-growing auto insurer in Michigan that doesnt use credit scoring, with most of their customers being Detroiters.

Promises made

Poe was an adviser to Duggan back in 2015, when the first-term mayor was researching ways of reducing Detroit's highest-in-the-nation auto insurance rates. Some of his suggestions, such as introducing cost controls for medical services, were in the statewide 2019 no-fault overhaul law.

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I made him a promise eight years ago, that if he could help the Legislature pass a bill to put fee schedules and caps into place, that we would expand our business into Michigan," Poe said. And that mission on our side was to come into this state and not use what the rest of our industry uses, which is credit scores, education, occupation, income proxies, and give real meaningful affordable rates to Michiganders under that new law.

CURE's CEO Eric Poe, right, was an advisor to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan back in 2015, when the mayor was researching ways to reduce Detroit's highest-in-the-nation auto insurance rates and are seen together at the ribbon-cutting for CURE's new Detroit offices on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

According to a survey of over 21,000 CURE applicants, the average savings per six-month policy was $736 compared with what the drivers paid before. And 40% of CURE customers were not insured before signing up.

CURE is one of several auto insurers that began doing business in Michigan for the first time after the 2019 overhaul that aimed to reduce the cost of insurance. CURE waited to write its first Michigan policy until July 2021, which is when the new cost controls on no-fault medical services took effect.

Prior to the overhaul, an estimated 60% of all Detroit drivers lacked insurance and were driving illegally. It was common for Detroiters to pay well over $200 a month for car insurance  oftentimes significantly more.

More: Michigan no-fault auto insurance: How to pick the cheapest options

More: Auto insurer goes after metro Detroit towing, repair shops over big bills

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled last month that the new medical cost controls don't apply to accident victims whose injuries predate the 2019 overhaul. Prior to that ruling in Andary v. USAA, the cost controls were widely interpreted by state regulators and insurance companies as applying to everyone. The justices left the controls in place for accidents that happened since the overhaul.

The Andary case really hurts the rest of the industry a lot worse than it hurts us," Poe told the Free Press. "Thats why I wouldnt step foot in the city of Detroit or the state of Michigan until July 1 of 21 because there could be a Supreme Court ruling like that."

Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield presents a Spirit of Detroit award to CURE Auto Insurance CEO Eric Poe at the ribbon-cutting for CUREs new Detroit offices on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

Poe said a major reason why CURE can afford to offer reasonable rates to drivers is that it doesn't have to pay out for pre-reform no-fault claims.

The average PIP, or Personal Injury Protection, claim for a CURE customer insured in Michigan is under $8,000, he said. Prior to the cost controls, industry data put the average Michigan PIP claim at about $56,000, according to Poe.

So do we do things differently than everyone else? We do," he said. "But we also dont have legacy claims.

PIP choice

The 2019 no-fault reform also gave Michigan drivers a first-ever choice in the amount of no-fault medical coverage to buy. Previously, all auto policies came with unlimited lifetime no-fault medical coverage and in-home assistance, regardless of whether the driver had health insurance that covers auto accidents.

Every Medicare recipient in this state was spending $1,000 for unnecessary duplicative coverage," Duggan said Wednesday, "including my mother, who thinks the auto insurance bill has been the best thing that I have done.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan talks about changing the high auto insurance in Detroit at the ribbon cutting for the new offices of CURE Auto Insurance near downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. CURE is the fastest-growing auto insurer in Michigan that doesnt use credit scoring, with most of their customers being Detroiters.

Unlimited medical is still available and is the default option when no PIP option is selected. But few CURE customers are choosing unlimited PIP.

According to CURE, 94% of its customers choose one of the reform's newly available coverage options: $0 PIP, $250,000 PIP or $500,000 PIP, or just for Medicaid recipients, a $50,000 PIP option. Generally speaking, lower PIP coverage has a lower price tag.

Detroit Economic Growth Corporation CEO Kevin Johnson introduces Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan at the ribbon cutting for the new offices of CURE Auto Insurance near downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023

However, like most other auto insurance companies, CURE has raised Michigan premiums in recent months in response to higher costs for vehicle parts and repair.

Predatory towing alleged

For Poe, the biggest surprise about the car insurance business in Detroit was the discovery of widespread extortionate pricing scams by some metro Detroit towing businesses and collision repair shops.

These businesses take in a CURE customer's vehicle after a crash and refuse to release it until CURE pays an extravagant amount for towing, storage and miscellaneous fees, sometimes totaling $5,000 or more for a single vehicle.

The scammers essentially sidestep the Detroit Police Department's program for "authorized" towing and impounds, under which firms are generally prohibited from charging more than $125 per tow and $15 per day for storage.

Bedrock Chief Operating Officer Ivy Greaner speaks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new CURE Auto Insurance offices near downtown Detroit on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. After just over two years in Michigan, CURE says it now insures about 75,000 vehicles in the state, 58% of them belonging to Detroit residents.

The scammers are charging "like $300 a day to stow a car in an unsecured lot in Detroit with no fencing, barbed wire or anything," Poe said. The scammers also make it difficult for CURE to locate and retrieve the vehicles, which runs up storage fees even more, he said.

About 30% of CURE's average claim in Detroit is for towing and storage fees, Poe said.

CURE has filed lawsuits against about 20 businesses for the alleged scams. It also has been working with Detroit police to make drivers aware of the possibility of exorbitant fees if they choose to go with non-authorized tow providers who show up at accident scenes.

We realize that they were unaware that about 70% of all of the tows in the city limits of Detroit were non-police authorized tows," he said.

Reciprocal exchange

Michigan is the third state after New Jersey and Pennsylvania where CURE sells insurance, and it is now the insurer's biggest state market.

CURE is a not-for-profit reciprocal insurance exchange, which is when a group of people with similar backgrounds pool their premiums and share the combined risk to reduce everyone's premiums. The company was started in 1990 by Poe's mother, an insurance actuary, and his stepfather, a former New Jersey insurance commissioner.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Auto insurer that doesn't use credit scores opens Detroit office
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has announced that work is moving at a steady pace on the fourth phase of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world, with its completion likely in Q1 next year.

Giving a project update, Dewa said the first phase has been fully completed, covering 100% of the 100MW from the solar tower, 200MW from the parabolic basin complex, and 217MW from photovoltaic solar panels.

The second phase, with 200MW from the parabolic basin complex, is 98.5% complete, while the third phase, comprising 200MW from the parabolic basin complex and 33MW from photovoltaic solar panels, is 87.1% ready.

The project is being implemented by Noor Energy 1, a consortium comprising Dewa and Saudi utility developer Acwa Power along with the Chinese Silk Road Fund.

Once completed, the fourth phase of the project, which has a capacity of 950MW, will provide clean energy to over 320,000 homes, it stated.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dewa, inspected the work progress on the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

This phase uses the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model with investments up to AED15.78 billion ($4.3 billion). It is set to provide clean energy for approximately 320,000 residences and reduce carbon emissions by 1.6 million tonnes annually.

Al Tayer was later briefed by Noor Energy 1 officials on the work progress in the 4th phase, which is the largest single-site project that combines Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and photovoltaic technology.

During the visit, Al Tayer was accompanied by Nasser Lootah, Executive Vice President of Generation; Hussain Lootah, Executive Vice President of Transmission Power; Yousef Jebril, Executive Vice President of Power, Water & Planning; Mohammad Jame, Acting Vice President of Clean Energy and Diversification, as well as other Dewa officials.

Dewa and the Acwa Power-led consortium, established Noor Energy 1 as a project company to design, build, and operate the 4th phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. Dewa holds a 51% stake in the company, while Acwa Power holds 25%, and the Chinese Silk Road Fund owns 24%.

"The commissioned solar energy projects within the park currently total 2,427MW, contributing to approximately 16.3% of Dubai's energy mix. This percentage will increase to 24% by 2026 upon the completion of the Sixth Phase and the ongoing construction of subsequent phases," stated Al Tayer.

According to him, the 4th phase of the solar park uses three hybrid technologies to produce clean energy: 600MW from a parabolic basin complex (three units of 200MW each), 100MW from the worlds tallest solar power tower at 262.44 metres (based on Molten Salt technology), and 250MW from photovoltaic solar panels.

"So far, 717MW have been commissioned from this phase, which will have the largest thermal storage capacity in the world of 15 hours, allowing for energy availability round the clock. The 4th phase will provide clean energy for around 320,000 residences and reduce 1.6 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year," explained Al Tayer.

The 4th phase included the installation of more than 790,000 photovoltaic solar panels and more than 63,600 parabolic trough collectors (PT). The project integrates 70,000 mirrors (heliostats) that track the sun's movement, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
A Crown Point woman is accused of healthcare fraud and aggravated identity theft in federal court, after allegedly using a false identity to establish Sanctuary Health LLC and attempt to bilk Indiana Medicaid and other insurers out of more than $135,000 in reimbursement payments over two years.

Christine L. Reese of Crown Point has a probable cause and detention hearing scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday before U.S. District Magistrate Judge John E. Martin at the U.S. District Courthouse in Hammond after she was held on the charges Aug. 23 following an FBI raid of her Crown Point home and practice.

A complaint filed in federal court by FBI Special Agent William Powell lays out what he described as a scheme to use another individuals Indiana Professional Licensing Agency identification number to impersonate a licensed psychologist for the purpose of operating a psychology clinic she was not licensed to operate and allegedly seek reimbursement from Indiana Medicaid and other insurance providers for services Reese could not legally provide.

According to court records, state law requires psychologists be licensed by the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, which requires applicants to show they have a doctoral degree in psychology.

Christine Reese has never been licensed as a psychologist by the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, the document reads.

Reese was granted a federally appointed defender and has been held without bond pending the hearing to allow for pretrial services to prepare a report and home assessment of the defendants residence.

Her attorney, federal public defender Peter Boyles, declined to comment on Tuesday.

In documents, Powell laid out a timeline showing that on or around Feb. 27, 2020 Reese applied for a clinical psychologist job with a comprehensive mental health service company in Munster which was an authorized Medicaid Provider. She allegedly represented herself as a clinical psychologist with a doctoral degree in psychology, according to the documents.

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Her application included a copy of a fraudulent diploma which falsely claimed that Reese obtained a doctor of psychology degree from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in August 2018.

In reality, Reese does have a masters degree in psychology from the University of Phoenix, the documents continue.

Reeses application to Company A also included a copy of a fraudulent license claiming she was licensed as a clinical psychologist with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. She also allegedly submitted an IPLA identification number and falsely claimed it was hers.

The identification number that Reese used in her employment application really belonged to another individual, C.R., who was a licensed nurse in Indiana, the affidavit continues.

The individual, identified as C.R. in court documents, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Reese was successful in her application to company A and was hired around March 20, 2020 as a contract clinical therapist where she worked full-time and would treat up to 51 patients including Medicaid recipients during a standard two-week period, according to court documents.

During Reeses employment at Company A, Indiana Medicaid paid more than $36,000 for services Reese claimed she provided. Reese was terminated from her job around Sept. 24, 2021.

Just five days later, the IPLA issued a telehealth facility license to Sanctuary Counseling LLC, a business owned and or operated by Reese and Roy C. Reese Jr., who at the time was a boyfriend/business partner. They married Oct. 4, 2021, according to the affidavit.

On Aug. 24, Reese Jr., who resides in Chicago, was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a Level 4 felony, and he bonded out of the Lake County Jail Tuesday by posting $2,500 bail. He has a court hearing in his case set for Wednesday.

The IPLA could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

A biography on the Sanctuary Counseling website under one of Reeses aliases, Dr. Christine Lang, identifies her as a licensed clinical psychologist and the clinical executive director. The biography reads she obtained her Illinois State Clinical Psychology license in 2019 and a masters degree in clinical mental health counseling from Northwestern University, then received a doctorate in clinical psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. It also lists a variety of professional associations.

The address listed on Sanctuary Counselings website  18125 Roy St., Suite 402, in Lansing, Illinois  is actually the location of the U.S. Post Office.

According to the court records, in November 2021, Reese used fraudulent and stolen information to enroll Sanctuary Counseling as an Indiana Medicaid Provider. On the application the complaint alleges she falsely identified herself in print and handwritten signature as Dr. Christine Reese. On a second form for Sanctuary Counseling she used the name of a licensed psychologist, identified as M.O. in the court documents, and claimed that M.O was a rendering provider for the clinic.

According to the complaint, that individual never worked for the clinic and denied signing the application bearing her name and said she never game anyone permission to put her signature on the document. In another alleged misdeed, Reese submitted an IPLA identification number and falsely represented it was hers on a Medicaid enrollment form. The IPLA number belong to a psychologist who never worked for Sanctuary Counseling.

Then, using the fraudulent information, Reese successfully was able to enroll Sanctuary Counseling as an Indiana Medicaid Provider. During a period beginning in November of 2021 and ending in January 2023, Reese through Sanctuary Counseling submitted about 506 claims for reimbursement to Indiana Medicaid for approximately 18 individual Medicaid recipients.

In total Reece billed Medicaid and attempted to collect approximately $135,350 for mental health services purportedly rendered to Indiana Medicaid recipients, the documents allege.

All of Reeses electronic claim submissions were incomplete and subsequently denied.
Genitourinary syndrome of menopause, urinary incontinence or vagina laxity can imply serious problems in terms of Women's quality of life and sexual health. Nowadays, beyond creams, moisturizers and lubricants, there are new relevant solutions, that can help treating these pathologies, such as laser treatments.

LIMA, Peru, August 30, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), previously known as atrophic vaginitis or vulvovaginal atrophy, affects more than half of postmenopausal women. GSM is caused, among other reasons, by low estrogen levels and can lead to vaginal dryness, itching, dyspareunia, urinary urgency, increased urinary frequency, and urinary tract infections, as stated in various scientific publications.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230811500137/en/

Dr. Juan Salinas during a Workshop (Photo: Business Wire)

"As women are taking more and more care of themselves, gynecologists and doctors, in general, are facing an increase in the care of pathologies that were already known before but are now emerging differently," affirms Dr. Juan Salinas, a specialist in lower genital tract pathology, regenerative medicine, and gynecological laser and among the greatest Quanta System users worldwide." Genitourinary syndrome of menopause, together with urinary incontinence and vaginal laxity syndrome, can imply serious problems in terms of Women's quality of life and sexual health."

The Women's EMPOWER survey interviewed 1858 women residing in communities in the United States and found that women do not discuss the topic with their healthcare professionals due to embarrassment or the belief that it is inappropriate. However, most would be willing to try a product for symptom relief and would appreciate information and treatment suggestions from their healthcare professional.

"This means that we, gynecologists or healthcare professionals, must actively inquire about these types of problems and refer women to specialists who can help them. Women need to know that beyond creams, moisturizers, and lubricants, there are new therapeutic alternatives that can help them overcome these types of issues," says Dr. J. Salinas.

Story continues

"One of these alternatives is the Youlaser MT from the Italian company Quanta System. It is a state-of-the-art laser with 2 wavelengths: 1540 and 10.600 nm. Youlaser MT works with simultaneous emission that induces tissue contraction in-depth, stimulating the cells that produce new collagen (fibroblasts) and elastin while increasing vascularization of the vagina to restore its functionality," explains Dr. J. Salinas.

For almost forty years Quanta System, a 100% Italian company distributed worldwide, is the reference point for the research, designing and manufacture of cutting-edge laser systems for surgery, dermatology and aesthetic medicine. Designed to be used by doctors, specialised operators and restorers, today Quanta System lasers represent the "Gold Standard" thanks to a vast range of applications.

Youlaser MT can be used for vaginal atrophy but can also improve urinary incontinence with noticeable changes from the first session. This deep tissue contraction can also tighten the vagina and aid in postpartum recovery.

The hybrid laser Youlaser MT is useful for another common pathology like vulvar lichen sclerosis, a chronic inflammatory dermatological condition whose untreated progression could lead to scars and vulvar adhesions that could impact sexual relations. The laser helps regenerate vulvar tissue and improve the symptoms of lichen sclerosis.

"When we perform laser treatments, the only thing we use is an anesthetic cream at the entrance of the vagina or the vulva," says Dr. Salinas. "Laser treatments are definitely non-painful, fast, and efficient procedures, and they are real solutions to return to a normal and better life."

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230811500137/en/

Contacts

Carolina Crepaldi  carolina.crepaldi@quantasystem.com
FinVolution Group (NYSE:FINV) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript August 29, 2023

Operator: Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for participating in the Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call for FinVolution Group. [Operator Instructions] Today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Jimmy Tan, Head of Investor Relations for the company. Jimmy, please go ahead.

Jimmy Tan: Hello, everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2023 earnings conference call. The company results were issued via Newswire services earlier today and are posted online. You can download the earnings release and sign up for the company e-mail alerts by visiting the IR section of our website at ir.finvgroup.com. Mr. Tiezheng Li, our Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Jiayuan Xu, our Chief Financial Officer, will start the call with their prepared remarks and conclude with a Q&A session. During this call, we will be referring to several non-GAAP financial measures to review and assess our operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

TaLaNoVa/Shutterstock.com

For information about these non-GAAP measures and reconciliation to GAAP measures, please refer to our earnings press release. Before we continue, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties are included in the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law.

Story continues

Finally, we post a slide presentation on our IR website providing details of our results for the quarter. I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Mr. Tiezheng Li. Please go ahead, sir.

Tiezheng Li: Thanks, Jimmy. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our earnings call. This is Tiezheng Li, CEO of FinVolution Group. We are happy to speak with you today. Since our expansion into the Indonesian market back in 2018, we have continued to execute our local focus, global outlook strategy in the Pan-Asian region with unwavering determination. To date, we have cumulatively served our 28 million borrowers in China, Indonesia and the Philippines. By integrating our local business focus with an international perspective, we are able to leverage our expertise and insights derived from diverse markets to drive growth and foster innovation within our organization. We expect this strategy to produce further benefits as we expand into additional countries and strengthen our presence in our existing markets.

As China transitions into the post-COVID era, our recent July macroeconomic data continue to be challenging with pockets of improvement in the certain areas. However, macroeconomic data from the Asian markets in which we operate currently pens a more positive picture, reflecting growth across different operational metrics. Given these circumstances, we are adopting a strategy of progressive growth in the China market while pursuing rapid growth in the international market. While we await the domestic macro environment recovery from the current challenges, we have been continuously investing in R&D. We have substantially enhanced our technology, enabling us to streamline our processes, upgrade our customer experience and achieve improvements across the various markets in which we operate.

We are pleased to share that FinVolution's total transaction volume in the second quarter increased to RMB 47.3 billion, while our outstanding loan balance reached RMB 63.7 billion, up 14% and 13%, respectively, year-over-year. This growth validates our company's ability to efficiently adapt to the challenging economic landscape. We are continuing to meet the needs of our customers across our markets in the Pan-Asian region. Technological innovation continues to be the core of our mission and the primary source of our competitive advantage. In July, we hosted the Eighth FinVolution Technological Competition. Our annual events showcasing and are cultivating technological talent and creativity. This year's event focused on the development of automatic speech recognition, ASR, to improve the technology's growth of Chinese [deadlines] and the language, aiming to increase chatbot's efficiency and accuracy when communicating with customers from different regions.

Our commitment to innovation was recently recognized as the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, whereas the [CCTV] demand in the cooperation with University of Jiao Tong. Top message, Unifying Random Dropping for Graph Neural Networks was nominated for the outstanding thesis award. Our investment in AI and the machine learning began years ago with R&D spanning across different product categories such as self-health services, chatbots, data analytics and credit risk assessment. Over the past several years we have been training our model utilizing billions of dollars of transaction data, steadily increased their accuracy. We currently employ a fully automated loan approval process with all of our funding partners, and our automated chatbot resolves about 80% of customer inquiries on average.

We consistently embrace new technologies and deploy it into our daily operation to deliver a more personalized and tailored experience for our users. Along with the use of chatbots in customer service and to address early days delinquencies in the loan collection process, we have also upgraded to and streamline the user experience by automating self-op -- self-help functions and providing instant response for our users. In addition, we have incorporated AITC into our advertisement for our overseas business, increased our campaign audience targeting accuracy and achieving greater visibility on leading social media platform such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. As a result, during the month of July, our followers at TikTok rose to around 700,000, while followers on Facebook and Instagram reached 967,000 and 220,000, respectively.

Furthermore, we strove to advance our commitment to promoting financial inclusion during the quarter. Aligning our ESG efforts with this business goals through better borrowing rates, we further optimized our average borrowing rate in China to 22.3%, ensuring our services are accessible and affordable for our borrowers. On a related note, I would like to share some updates on our ESG progress. We recently placed our 2022 ESG Report, the fifth in our company's history, demonstrating our dedication to transparency and sustainability. Responsible ESG reporting allow us to showcase our strong governance practice and our actions addressing the environmental and social issues affecting our industry. We are also empowering us to design effective future initiatives.

For instance, since the launch of our entry-free loan for eligible small business owners in China, we have cumulatively supported over 11,000 small business owners in pursuit of their dreams. Our subsidiaries in the Indonesian and Philippine markets are also proactively engaging in ESG works, such as conducting cost management workshop to educate borrowers and launching a large-scale integral trade planting project to improve people's livelihoods in their local community along other activities. We firmly believe that aligning our ESG and the business goal will ultimately create long-term value for our stakeholders while achieving a positive social -- societal impact. Before we move on to additional operational and financial metrics with our CFO, I'd like to share that FinVolution celebrated its 16th anniversary during the second quarter, a milestone that affords us to a glimpse of our future outlook as an enterprise with sustainable growth.

As we have grown and built the business throughout the years, we have accumulated a suite of technologies, skill sets and the capabilities that enable us to navigate and succeed in all the markets in which we operate. We will remain committed to our vision of leveraging innovative technology to make financial services better, propelling FinVolution's long-term sustainable growth along the way. With that, I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Jiayuan Xu, who will discuss our operational and financial results for the year.

Jiayuan Xu: Thank you, Li, and hello, everyone. Welcome to our second quarter 2023 earnings call. In the interest of time, I will not go through all of the financial line items on this call. Please refer to our earnings release for further details. As Li mentioned, the domestic macro environment continued to be challenging with pockets of improvements in certain areas. The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index came in at 49.3 points in July compared to 49 points in June, and 48.8 points in May, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on July 31, 2023. Meanwhile, total social financing data in July increased by just RMB 528 billion, below market expectation. Total retail consumption in July only increased by 2.5% compared with the same period last year.

However, despite the challenging macro environment, we are encouraged by the strong operational and financial results we delivered in the second quarter of 2023. Driven by our stable and better quality borrower base, we achieved solid operational metrics in the second quarter in the China market. Cumulatively, we have served over 24 million borrowers in China, with the number of unique borrowers at around 2.3 million or 5% sequentially. Additionally, our China transaction volume reached RMB 45.5 billion, while our outstanding loan balance reached RMB 62.6 billion as of June 30, 2023, both up 12% on a year-over-year basis. Bolstered by our prudent approach to risk management with proven fraud detection technologies, we have maintained a stable risk level.

In the second quarter of 2023, our day 1 delinquency rate was around 5.6%, and the vintage delinquency rate is expected to be around 2.3% for the quarter. Finally, thanks to our loan collection team's impressive efforts, our loan collection recovery rate maintained stable at around 90%. As we continue to fine tune our strategy of serving bad quality borrowers, our proportion of category A and B borrowers in the China market further expanded to 80% of our total borrowers in the second quarter compared with 74% in the same period last year. Furthermore, our transaction to bad quality borrowers help us to further optimize our funding costs during the quarter. We have also expanded our number of cumulative funding partners to 82 financial institutions and our pipeline of potential partners remains robust.

All these operational improvements enable us to maintain a healthy take rate of around 3.1% during the second quarter. As a company deeply committed to social responsibility, we continue to support small business owners during this challenging period. We have also noticed that our Small Business Owners segment has been recovering at a healthy pace. Most of borrowers from this segment are focusing on wholesale, retail, food and beverage industry. During the quarter, we served around 459,000 small business owners and facilitated RMB 11.5 billion of loans for them, representing an increase of around 11% compared with the same period last year and up 12% sequentially. Now I'd like to share some additional details on our international expansion efforts.

Indonesia, our largest overseas market, recorded continued growth in its macro economy during the second quarter. Notably, on a monthly basis, the manufacturing PMI grew by 2.2 points to 52.5 points, and the business confidence index reached 99%. Indonesia economy continued to remain robust in the second quarter and has maintained growth of 5% over the past several quarters. Going forward, Indonesia economy is expected to maintain growth of around 5% in 2023. We anticipate that its domestic consumption will remain robust. We are excited about the progress we have made in our overseas markets across multiple operational and financial metrics. Cumulatively, we have served over 4 million borrowers in Indonesia and the Philippines and continue to demonstrate significant growth in these countries.

With the number of unique borrowers served during this quarter, reaching a new high at 786,000, up 22% from the same period last year. International transaction volumes sold by 100% year-over-year during the second quarter, reaching RMB 1.8 billion, while we set a new record in our outstanding loan balance at RMB 1.1 billion, up 131% year-over-year. Our operations in the Philippines have also exhibited stronger-than-expected growth across numerous operating metrics. On a year-over-year basis, the number of unique borrowers, transaction volume and outstanding loan balance all grew by several times compared with the same period last year. Alongside these impressive operational metrics, international revenue maintained its robust growth trajectory reaching RMB 503 million, an increase of 112% year-over-year and contributed around 16% of total revenue in the second quarter.

We have consistently strengthened our relationships with both local traditional financial institutions such as Bank Permata and OCBC Bank, as well as innovative Internet banks such as Bank Jago and SeaBank. Thanks to this [ flourishing ] partnerships and our partners validation of our technologies and operational capabilities. Our percentage of loans in the second quarter facilitated by these institutions reached 65% compared with 39% in the same period last year. Going forward, we will further deepen our relationships with these institutions to increase our proportion of facilitation by local institutions and expand our network of local partners in the region. Driven by our ongoing investments in technology and our strategy shift towards serving bad quality borrowers, our net revenues for the second quarter rose to RMB 3.1 billion, up 15% year-over-year.

Net income for the second quarter reached RMB 590 million, up 1% year-over-year. Our leverage ratio, which is defined as risk-bearing loans divided by shareholders' equity remained stable at 4.3x. Recent times of uncertainty, our strong balance sheet and liquidity position continued to provide confidence to all our stakeholders and support the business growth for all our markets. In particular, our cash position remains robust with over RMB 8.2 billion of cash and the short-term liquidity as of the end of June 2023, representing an increase of 58% year-over-year and 6% quarter-over-quarter. We also remain committed to optimizing shareholder value through our annual dividend policy and a share repurchase policy. We believe the current macro environment offers an attractive opportunity to return value to shareholders.

And as such, during the first half of the year, we deployed around USD 46 million to repurchase our stock from the secondary market. As of June 30, 2023, we have cumulatively returned the USD 491 million to our shareholders through our dividend and stock repurchase programs. In addition, our Board of Directors has also approved a new share repurchase program of USD 150 million, reflecting our strong commitment to enhancing shareholder value. On a related note, our Chairman, CEO and other senior management have also expressed their confidence in the company through personal share repurchase totaling around 630,000 ADS in the first half of 2023. Given favorable macroeconomics conditions in our international markets and the progress we have made across numerous operational metrics for our international business, the company has increased its international transaction volume guidance for the full year of 2023 to RMB 7.7 billion, representing year-over-year growth of around 80%.

Taking the current China macro environment into consideration, the company's 2023 guidance for its China market remains unchanged at between RMB 189 billion to RMB 205 billion, representing year-over-year growth of between 10% to 20%. Before I conclude my remarks, let me provide some additional color on our biggest outlook for the third quarter of 2023. Despite some uncertainties in the macro environment, our business trajectory remains solid. We expect our transaction volume in China for the third quarter of 2023 to be around RMB 49 billion, representing an increase of around 10.4% year-over-year. We expect our transaction volume in international markets for the third quarter to be around RMB 1.9 billion, representing an increase of around 73% year-over-year.

In summary, our outstanding performance in the second quarter of 2023 underscores our dynamic business model, technological know-how and the dedication to advancing our international initiatives. Entering into the second half of 2023, we remain focused on refining our risk assessment and management framework, expanding our healthy customer base and optimizing our product mix. Looking ahead, we believe that we are well positioned to capitalize on the massive opportunities in both China and international markets, driving growth while creating greater value for our customers, shareholders and all of our stakeholders. With that, I will conclude my prepared remarks. We will now open the call to the questions. Operator, please continue.

See also 10 Technology Stocks with Insider Buying and 15 Most Shorted Stocks That Are Loved by Analysts.

Q&A Session

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question will come from Yada Li of CICC.

Yada Li: I'll then now do my translation. This is Yada with CICC. And my first question today is about the asset quality trend. Considering the current macroeconomic conditions, what is the latest trend of leading indicators like day 1 vintage delinquency in July and August, and what can we expect going forward and how to affect our provision strategies? And my second question is related to the international business. And could you please give us more color on the updates such as the progress of business expansion in new countries, business model and long-term strategic focus?

Jiayuan Xu: [Foreign Language]

Jimmy Tan: This is Jimmy. Let me do the translation for Alexis. Your first question is related to our risk assessment performance. As mentioned, our vintage delinquency performance is around 2.3% and it has always been around at 2.3% levels over the past few years, and our 30-day loan collection recovery rate is around 90%. And over the last few quarters, this metric has been relatively stable. And our vertical delinquencies has -- is at 1.68%, which is also at a low level. From observation, the current macro environment is relatively weak with recovery below expectation. And from observation, the credit market is doing okay, and we expect that it is going to maintain stable going forward, with risk performance staying stable as well. We have been through multiple credit cycles, including the COVID and the lockdowns, and we have proved that throughout all these cycles we have successfully navigated them and succeed after all these cycles.

Jiayuan Xu: [Foreign Language]

Jimmy Tan: Let me do the translation for Alexis. As you know, we are already in leading positions in the Indonesia and the Philippines market. And apart from these 2 countries, we are also looking at opportunities in other countries in the Southeast Asia and also looking at -- for high-growth opportunities in countries such as the Africa and Latin America. Our business model is not only restricted to online lending. We are also looking at opportunities -- for example, we're also looking at opportunities in Indonesia for off-line consumption scenarios. And as you know, the populations in Indonesia is young, and we are working with leading mobile phone brands in the Indonesia market to target these borrowers for mobile -- offline mobile phone consumption.

Jiayuan Xu: Okay, Yada, do you have any further questions?

Jimmy Tan: Our CEO would like to add a few more lines.

Tiezheng Li: [Foreign Language]

Jimmy Tan: Let me translate for Mr. Tiezheng. As you know, FinVolution was established 16 years ago, and we are very experienced in different business models such as online, offline and have very good working relationships with different partners. Some of the business models might not work in China market, but these are very useful experience for us when we penetrate into other countries. As you know, we are also not the earliest company to venture into overseas market, but we are in leading positions in Indonesia and the Philippines because of our tech capabilities, our operational capabilities. And also, we have a huge base of talent pools. And with these advantages, we are able to leverage the capabilities and [indiscernible] in our overseas market. And going forward, we are confident and expect further success in all these international markets.

Operator: Our next question will come from Frank Zheng of Credit Suisse.

Frank Zheng: The first one is a follow-up on the international market. From a medium-term perspective, for example, 1 years' time, how would you foresee the profitability of international market operations? And the second question is on domestic market. Do we have plans to further tap into prime customers with APR less than 18% in order to further expand the volume as well as improve the risk performance?

Jiayuan Xu: [Foreign Language]

Jimmy Tan: Let me do the translation for Alexis. In the midterm, regarding our international market profitability, our international business is already profitable in the second quarter, but it is too relatively small compared to the China market. There are several reasons for this. Number one, it is affected by the rapid growth for our international business as we need to invest continuously. For example, our percentage of new borrowers in the Indonesia market is around 37%. And also, it has been affected by the deferred revenue because all these loans are conducted in installment loans.

Jiayuan Xu: [Foreign Language]

Jimmy Tan: Let me translate for Alexis for this question. In the second quarter, we further optimized our pricing to 22.3% from 22.7% in the first quarter. As you have seen, we are continually trying to explore to acquire better quality borrowers. Through our historical experience, lower pricing helped us to attract better quality borrowers, and better quality borrowers will have a higher level of stickiness on our platform. And if you observe, we have also -- our ROE is also higher compared to the industry average. And in the second quarter, our ROE from our reported earnings was about 3.7%, and we have also optimized our funding cost structure by around 30 bps -- refunding 30 bps in the second quarter, and going forward, we will consider a balance between pricing and our ROE.

Operator: The next question will come from Alex Ye of UBS.

Alex Ye: So my question is on the shareholders' return. So we are happy to see management announced USD 150 million of share buyback plan, which showcased management's focus on improving shareholder value. So if we look back to your track record on this buyback, how should we consider your pace on deploying such filter going forward? Should we consider the $150 million quota to be deployed over to your horizon as indicated by your authorization period? And also, is there any target payout ratio if we take into account both your dividend and buyback?

Jiayuan Xu: [Foreign Language]

Jimmy Tan: Hello, Alex. Let me do the translation. Our share repurchase and buyback programs began in 2018, and we already have a few years of track record. And cumulatively we have returned about USD 260 million in the form of dividend to our shareholders and $230 million for share repurchases. In total, it is about $500 million returned to our shareholders. And the payout ratio if you calculate is around 30% to 40%. In terms of absolute amount, we are ahead of our peers. In the first half of 2023, our buyback amount is close to $50 million, and the payout ratio for our annual dividend was 18.5%. So the payout ratio for 2023 is likely to be higher than our average historical years. And as long as the market conditions allow and is favorable, we will continue to return value to our shareholders as validated by our past historical performance.

Operator: And our next question will come from Thomas Chong of Jefferies.

Thomas Chong: My question is about the competitive landscape in overseas market. Can management share your thoughts about the future outlook? And on marketing spending, given we talk about Facebook is one of our channels, can you comment about the customer acquisition cost in overseas versus domestic market?

Jiayuan Xu: [Foreign Language]

Jimmy Tan: Hello, Thomas. Let me do the translation. As you have known, our operations are mainly in the Indonesia and Philippines market and the macro environment in these countries are relatively positive. For example, in Indonesia, the GDP growth has been growing at over 5% for the last 7 quarters. And in 2023, the GDP growth is expected to maintain at around 5%. The Philippines market is slightly slower compared to the Indonesia market, but the GDP growth is still growing at around 4.3%. And the reason why we are able to maintain our leading status positions in these countries are because we have deployed our technology capabilities and operational capabilities into these countries. And in the second quarter, our number of unique borrowers has also reached a new high at 786,000 and we are constantly among the top 3 players.

These markets, Indonesia and Philippines, are huge markets and are at early stages for us. So we will continue to invest and maintain leading positions into these countries as supported by our technologies and operational capabilities. Our efforts and capabilities has also been recognized by local financial institutions. For example, this can be validated by the increase in the proportion of loans funded by local partners from 65% in the second quarter compared to only 39% in the same period last year. For sales and marketing, the amount we spent is around RMB 80 million has been invested into sales and marketing in the second quarter. And apart from Facebook, we are also investing into TikTok. We believe all these information fixed channels will be good channels for us to acquire our new borrowers going forward.

Jiayuan Xu: Do you have any other questions?

Thomas Chong: Thanks, management, for taking my second question. My question is about AI. In the prepared remarks, we talked about we have been investing in AI for many years and apply AI in different scenario. Given LLM, it's such a hot topic in the Internet sector these days, and people talk about LLM or industry LLM, I just want to get some thoughts from management with regard to this area, whether we are thinking of developing our own LLM or we are seeking a partnership with the top players.

Tiezheng Li: [Foreign Language]

Jimmy Tan: Hello, Thomas. Let me do the translation for Mr. Tiezheng. Honestly, the generative data model is not for a company of our size as it needs to be at a country level where that the huge resources are required for development. Our focus is on the implementation of AI models into our operations and to our daily operations in order -- in an attempt to increase our efficiency. And also, we will be looking at specific opportunities that are suitable for us for deployment into our business where we can also consider to work with other partners to increase our efficiency.

Operator: And the next question will come from Cindy Wang of China Renaissance.

Cindy Wang: This is Cindy from China Renaissance. So I have 2 questions. The first question is related to the overseas institutional funding. So we've seen the institutional funding testing going up pretty quickly. So in the midterm, what's the percentage contribution will be contributed from the institutional funding? The second question is related to provisions. So we see the asset quality has been improving in the second quarter. However, the provision compared to first quarter has been slightly up. So can we talk about what's the difference between here and whether we have any write-back in the second quarter? And how do we foresee the provision in the second half of this year?

Jiayuan Xu: [Foreign Language]

Jimmy Tan: Let me do the translation. We have -- as mentioned, we have around 65% of funds -- 65% of the loans in Q2 was funded by local Indonesian partners in the second quarter, and we expect this amount to be around 80% by the end of the year. Going forward, we still think that there is opportunity for us to further increase this proportion, but our next focus will be on the funding cost where we need to do some optimization on our funding cost for the international markets. Going to the next question, when we did a look at the provisions, we need to divide into domestic and international provisions. The main reason is because our international business is growing at a very rapid rate. This is the reason for the provision levels to be higher.

In the first quarter, there was a write-back. And now if you take a look at the domestic China recovery, the recovery is still weak and bit slightly below expectations. So we don't have any plans to write back at the moment, but all these will change when the economy is recovering at a faster pace. And there -- we believe there will be opportunities for write-back going forward.

Operator: At this time I would like to turn the call back over to the Company for closing remarks.

Jimmy Tan: Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me or my Investor Relations team. Thank you so much.

Operator: This concludes this conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.
Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business

Fall is upon us, and with it, MBA application season. The latest leading U.S. business school to open their 2023-2024 app season is Georgetown McDonough School of Business, which announced significant changes to its process this year, including three new essay prompts.

Accepting applications to its full-time MBA, Flex MBA, and Flex MBA Online program applications for the fall 2024 semester, Georgetown today (August 29) announced that its new application includes two new written and one new video essay prompt  opportunities, the school says, for prospective students to share their unique experiences, passions, and personal interests. The B-schools Round 1 deadline  its only deadline before the close of 2023  is October 2, with decisions for that round promised by December 7.

The new essay prompts allow prospective students to dig deeper into their story and share more about the unique experiences and perspectives that shape who they are, says Shelly Heinrich, Georgetown McDonoughs associate dean for MBA admissions and director of marketing. Grounded in the Jesuit tradition, McDonough strives to educate the whole person  and that starts with telling your authentic story and what you hope to bring to the Georgetown community.

GEORGETOWN McDONOUGH 2023-2024 MBA APPLICATION DEADLINES

Application Round Application Deadline Decision Notification Deposit Due* Round 1 October 2, 2023 December 7, 2023 February 1, 2024 Round 2 January 4, 2024 March 18, 2024 April 18, 2024 Round 3 March 26, 2024 May 1, 2024 May 13, 2024 Round 4 April 30, 2024 May 29, 2024 June 5, 2024

All applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on the deadline day.

* To formally accept an offer of admission, an initial, non-refundable $2,000 deposit is required to reserve a seat in the class. Admits should expect a second deposit requirement.

OCTOBER 2 DEADLINE IS SHARED BY 3 TOP NORTH AMERICAN B-SCHOOLS

Georgetowns first-round deadline in early October puts it firmly in the middle of the pack of North American B-schools in terms of application timelines. The McDonough School shares a first (or early) round deadline with Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business, Michigan State Broad College of Business, and Toronto Rotman School of Management. Georgetowns Round 1 deadline is sandwiched between October 1 deadlines for Minnesota Carlson School of Management and Arizona State Carey School of Business and October 3 deadlines for Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, SMU Cox School of Business, and Washington Foster School of Business.

Story continues

By the time Georgetowns first round closes, most top European B-schools will be on their second round or later, having generally opened MBA applications earlier than their U.S. peers. London Business School, INSEAD, and IESE in Spain each have first-round deadlines in September for entry to fall 2024 cohorts.

Learn more about Georgetowns MBA application process here.

MORE ABOUT THE ESSAYS

Georgetowns written essays include three topics: focusing on Georgetowns Jesuit value of Magis or achieving more or greater excellence; fostering a diverse community; and the legacy one hopes to achieve on the Hilltop. As with previous years, students select one of the three to complete in 500 words, which, double-spaced, is approximately two pages.

The video essay is a different animal altogether, seeking to look beyond professional and academic achievements and give applicants the opportunity to highlight their interests outside of work. In it, prospective students will share five to 10 random facts that are not on their resume that contribute to who they are as a professional and leader.

The video essay builds upon the written essay options, which help the admissions team curate a unique portfolio of students who bring varying personal and professional life experiences to the program, the school states.

Learn more about the McDonough Schools essays click here.

DONT MISS GEORGETOWN McDONOUGHS DEAN: 4 AMBITIOUS GOALS FOR THE NEXT 5 YEARS and HOW GEORGETOWN BECAME A LEADER IN SUSTAINABILITY

The post Georgetown Opens 2023-2024 MBA Applications With 3 New Essay Prompts appeared first on Poets&Quants.
Vancouver --News Direct-- Golden Shield Resources

Golden Shield Resources executive chairman Leo Hathaway joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share significant developments that the company is gearing up to launch a drilling program at the Marudi Mountain gold project located in southwestern Guyana.

This decision follows the release of compelling results from grab samples, indicating the presence of promising mineralization.

Hathaway highlighted the outcome of assay results from grab samples taken during grid-traverse mapping near the historically drilled Marudi North prospect. These grab samples displayed assays greater than 1.0 gram per tonne (g/t gold), ranging between 1.2 g/t and an impressive 37.6 g/t, with an average of 5.8 g/t gold. Notably, 187 grab samples were collected across an area measuring 300 meters by 110 meters.

Given the high-grade nature of these assays, the Marudi North Prospect has been designated as Priority #1 for reverse circulation (RC) drilling, which is scheduled to commence in early September.

Furthermore, Hathaway outlined the company's comprehensive plans for surface work, including trenching, grab sampling, and mapping, to be executed in the coming months. These efforts are aimed at enhancing the understanding of the project's geology and mineralization potential.

Following the receipt of results from the RC drilling program, Golden Shield Resources is poised to initiate diamond drill testing in the most promising RC anomalous areas.

These developments underscore the company's proactive and systematic approach to exploration and resource development.

The decision to prioritize drilling in high-grade areas is indicative of Golden Shield Resources' commitment to unlocking the full potential of the Marudi Mountain gold project. By leveraging a combination of sampling, mapping, and drilling techniques, the company positions itself to enhance its understanding of the project's mineralization and make informed decisions about its future development.

Story continues

Contact Details

Proactive Investors Canada

+1 604-688-8158

na-editorial@proactiveinvestors.com

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/golden-shield-resources-begins-drilling-at-marudi-mountain-project-as-grab-samples-point-to-priority-targets-690358640
HANOI, Vietnam, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Great Place To Work announced its 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia. The list is based on confidential survey data, with 2.1 million individual responses representing the experiences of 5.9 million employees from across the region. Employees reported their experiences of trust, innovation, company values, and leadership, and these rankings are based on that feedback.

(PRNewsfoto/Great Place to Work, Singapore)

Companies are also evaluated on how well they are creating a For All workplace experience, where all employees feel included no matter who they are or what they do. At the Best Workplaces in Asia, more employees reported high levels of care, both from their managers and from co-workers.

As a result, these companies have impressive employee engagement with 90% of employees reporting that people give extra effort on the job.

With these more positive workplace experiences, employees were also more likely to want to stay with their company. For employees at the Best Workplaces, 90% want to stay at their company, compared to just 58% at the typical workplace.

"When you show employees how much you care, they will reward you with hard work, higher innovation rates, and higher productivity," said Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work.

"The Best Workplaces in Asia demonstrate the value of investing in your employees and creating an equitable environment where everyone can succeed."

"Southeast Asia is a diverse and vibrant market. Despite economic challenges in the macro environment, many economies in this region continue to report on low unemployment rates. There have also been recent reports of workers guilty of 'performative work' in this region. Companies placed on the 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia List however swim against the tide," said Evelyn Kwek, Managing Director, Great Place To Work ASEAN and ANZ.

"90% of their people are willing to give extra and stay at the company. Companies will see a return on their investment when they genuinely care for their people and build a culture where employees can thrive in the workplace."

Story continues

Companies recognized as 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia in the Small and Medium Category exemplify these values. With people-centric leadership, SMG Swiss Marketplace Group Vietnam has established an exciting workplace grounded in 3 core values of #AimHigh, #ActResponsibly and #BetterTogether. Open Government Products, a modern tech team within the Singapore Government that builds technology for the public good, shows care for its employees through a culture of belonging. Its Donut bot automatically pairs employees bi-weekly to have a meal or coffee together.

Jack Madrid, President and CEO of the Philippines' IT & Business Process Association (IBPAP), also a list-maker in the same category, said: "The award reaffirms our commitment to nurturing an exceptional workplace environment within IBPAP, radiating excellence through our people, and in turn, delivering world-class quality service to our valued members and stakeholders." IBPAP is the primary trade body and advocacy group of the IT and Business Process Management sector in Philippines.



Telkom Indonesia, a multinational telecommunications conglomerate, and a list-maker in the Large category is the only Indonesian state-owned enterprise achieving this award for the second consecutive year. It reinforces their commitment to provide a collaborative, inclusive and employee-oriented work environment.

The top 30 in the multinational category:

1. DHL Express

2. Hilton

3. Cisco

4. Maersk

5. Servier

6. Deloitte

7. Medtronic

8. Chalhoub Group

9. Ericsson

10. Cadence

11. Teleperformance

12. Schneider Electric

13. HP

14. Apparel Group

15. Accenture

16. Al Dabbagh Group

17. Hilti

18. Capella Hotels and Resorts

19. Coats

20. Salesforce

21. Red Hat

22. Dow Chemical

23. American Express

24. Landmark Group

25. Adobe

26. Stryker

27. Takeda

28. AstraZeneca

29. Alphasights

30. Thoughtworks

The 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia List is published here:

https://greatplacetowork.com.vn/best-workplaces-in-asia-2023-small-and-medium-category/.

About the 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia List

Great Place To Work selected the 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia List by analyzing companies' workplace programs and surveying 2.1 million employees across multiple countries in Asia and the Middle East. The responses represent the experience of 5.9 million employees across the region.

To be considered, companies must first be identified as outstanding in their local region by appearing on one or more of our 2023 Best Workplaces Lists in Bahrain, Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, UAE, or Vietnam during 2022 or early 2023.

Companies rank in three size categories: small and medium (10499 employees); large (500+ employees); and multinational. Multinational organizations are also assessed on their efforts to create great workplaces across multiple countries in the region. They must appear on at least two national lists in Asia and the Middle East, and have at least 1,000 employees worldwide with at least 40% (or at least 5,000) of those employees located outside the headquarters country.

About Great Place To Work

Great Place To Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, it has surveyed more than 100 million employees around the world and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Great Place To Work helps organizations quantify their culture and produce better business results by creating a high-trust work experience for all employees. Their unparalleled benchmark data is used to recognize Great Place To Work Certified companies and the Best Workplaces in more than 60 countries, including the World's Best Workplaces lists published annually in Fortune.

To learn more, visit greatplacetowork.com.vn and read " A Great Place to Work For All ." Join the community on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/great-place-to-work-announces-the-2023-best-workplaces-in-asia-representing-5-9-million-employee-experiences-301909774.html

SOURCE Great Place to Work, Vietnam
MANILA, Philippines, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Great Place To Work announced its Best Workplaces in Asia for 2023. The list is based on confidential survey data, with 2.1 million individual responses representing the experiences of 5.9 million employees from across the region. Employees reported their experiences of trust, innovation, company values, and leadership, and these rankings are based on that feedback.

(PRNewsfoto/Great Place to Work, Singapore)

Companies are also evaluated on how well they are creating a For All workplace experience, where all employees feel included no matter who they are or what they do. At the Best Workplaces in Asia, more employees reported high levels of care, both from their managers and from co-workers.

As a result, these companies have impressive employee engagement with 90% of employees reporting that people give extra effort on the job.

With these more positive workplace experiences, employees were also more likely to want to stay with their company. For employees at the Best Workplaces, 90% want to stay at their company, compared to just 58% at the typical workplace.

"When you show employees how much you care, they will reward you with hard work, higher innovation rates, and higher productivity," said Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work.

"The Best Workplaces in Asia demonstrate the value of investing in your employees and creating an equitable environment where everyone can succeed."

"Fair pay, appreciation and recognition, and training and development will always be prerequisites for creating a great employee experience. However, today's employees need more, especially in these challenging times. They need holistic care," said Antoniette Mendoza-Talosig, Managing Partner, Great Place To Work Philippines.

"Leaders of Best Workplaces care for their people as an individual and not just as an employee. They take every step possible to provide their employees with a psychologically and emotionally healthy environment. In return, these companies reap the benefits of having engaged and productive employees that bring their whole selves to work."

Story continues

Companies recognized as 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia in the Small and Medium Category exemplify these values. With people-centric leadership, SMG Swiss Marketplace Group Vietnam has established an exciting workplace grounded in 3 core values of #AimHigh, #ActResponsibly and #BetterTogether. Open Government Products, a modern tech team within the Singapore Government that builds technology for the public good, shows care for its employees through a culture of belonging. Its Donut bot automatically pairs employees bi-weekly to have a meal or coffee together.

Jack Madrid, President and CEO of the Philippines' IT & Business Process Association (IBPAP), also a list-maker in the same category, said: "The award reaffirms our commitment to nurturing an exceptional workplace environment within IBPAP, radiating excellence through our people, and in turn, delivering world-class quality service to our valued members and stakeholders." IBPAP is the primary trade body and advocacy group of the IT and Business Process Management sector in Philippines.

Telkom Indonesia, a multinational telecommunications conglomerate, and a list-maker in the Large category is the only Indonesian state-owned enterprise achieving this award for the second consecutive year. It reinforces their commitment to provide a collaborative, inclusive and employee-oriented work environment.

The top 30 in the multinational category:

1. DHL Express 17. Hilti 2. Hilton 18. Capella Hotels and Resorts 3. Cisco 19. Coats 4. Maersk 20. Salesforce 5. Servier 21. Red Hat 6. Deloitte 22. Dow Chemical 7. Medtronic 23. American Express 8. Chalhoub Group 24. Landmark Group 9. Ericsson 25. Adobe 10. Cadence 26. Stryker 11. Teleperformance 27. Takeda 12. Schneider Electric 28. AstraZeneca 13. HP 29. Alphasights 14. Apparel Group 30. Thoughtworks 15. Accenture

16. Al Dabbagh Group



The Best Workplaces in Asia List is published here:

https://www.greatplacetowork.com.ph/best-workplaces-in-asia-2023-small-and-medium-category/.

About the 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia List

Great Place To Work selected the 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia List by analyzing companies' workplace programs and surveying 2.1 million employees across multiple countries in Asia and the Middle East. The responses represent the experience of 5.9 million employees across the region.

To be considered, companies must first be identified as outstanding in their local region by appearing on one or more of our Best Workplaces Lists in Bahrain, Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, UAE, or Vietnam during 2022 or early 2023.

Companies rank in three size categories: small and medium (10499 employees); large (500+ employees); and multinational. Multinational organizations are also assessed on their efforts to create great workplaces across multiple countries in the region. They must appear on at least two national lists in Asia and the Middle East, and have at least 1,000 employees worldwide with at least 40% (or at least 5,000) of those employees located outside the headquarters country.

About Great Place To Work

Great Place To Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, it has surveyed more than 100 million employees around the world and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Great Place To Work helps organizations quantify their culture and produce better business results by creating a high-trust work experience for all employees. Their unparalleled benchmark data is used to recognize Great Place To Work Certified companies and the Best Workplaces in more than 60 countries, including the World's Best lists published annually in Fortune.

To learn more, visit greatplacetowork.com.ph and read "A Great Place to Work for All." Join the community on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Cision

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SOURCE Great Place to Work, Philippines
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Great Place To Work announced its 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia. The list is based on confidential survey data, with 2.1 million individual responses representing the experiences of 5.9 million employees from across the region. Employees reported their experiences of trust, innovation, company values, and leadership, and these rankings are based on that feedback.

(PRNewsfoto/Great Place to Work, Singapore)

Companies are also evaluated on how well they are creating a For All workplace experience, where all employees feel included no matter who they are or what they do. At the Best Workplaces in Asia, more employees reported high levels of care, both from their managers and from co-workers.

As a result, these companies have impressive employee engagement with 90% of employees reporting that people give extra effort on the job.

With these more positive workplace experiences, employees were also more likely to want to stay with their company. For employees at the Best Workplaces, 90% want to stay at their company, compared to just 58% at the typical workplace.

"When you show employees how much you care, they will reward you with hard work, higher innovation rates, and higher productivity," said Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work.

"The Best Workplaces in Asia demonstrate the value of investing in your employees and creating an equitable environment where everyone can succeed."

"Southeast Asia is a diverse and vibrant market. Despite economic challenges in the macro environment, many economies in this region continue to report on low unemployment rates. There have also been recent reports of workers guilty of 'performative work' in this region. Companies placed on the 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia however swim against the tide," said Evelyn Kwek, Managing Director, Great Place To Work ASEAN and ANZ.

"90% of their people are willing to give extra and stay at the company. Companies will see a return on their investment when they genuinely care for their people and build a culture where employees can thrive in the workplace."

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Companies recognized as 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia in the Small and Medium Category exemplify these values. With people-centric leadership, SMG Swiss Marketplace Group Vietnam has established an exciting workplace grounded in 3 core values of #AimHigh, #ActResponsibly and #BetterTogether. Open Government Products, a modern tech team within the Singapore Government that builds technology for the public good, shows care for its employees through a culture of belonging. Its Donut bot automatically pairs employees bi-weekly to have a meal or coffee together.



Jack Madrid, President and CEO of the Philippines' IT & Business Process Association (IBPAP), also a list-maker in the same category, said: "The award reaffirms our commitment to nurturing an exceptional workplace environment within IBPAP, radiating excellence through our people, and in turn, delivering world-class quality service to our valued members and stakeholders." IBPAP is the primary trade body and advocacy group of the IT and Business Process Management sector in Philippines.



Telkom Indonesia, a multinational telecommunications conglomerate, and a list-maker in the Large category is the only Indonesian state-owned enterprise achieving this award for the second consecutive year. It reinforces their commitment to provide a collaborative, inclusive and employee-oriented work environment.

The top 30 in the multinational category:

1. DHL Express

2. Hilton

3. Cisco

4. Maersk

5. Servier

6. Deloitte

7. Medtronic

8. Chalhoub Group

9. Ericsson

10. Cadence

11. Teleperformance

12. Schneider Electric

13. HP

14. Apparel Group

15. Accenture

16. Al Dabbagh Group

17. Hilti

18. Capella Hotels and Resorts

19. Coats

20. Salesforce

21. Red Hat

22. Dow Chemical

23. American Express

24. Landmark Group

25. Adobe

26. Stryker

27. Takeda

28. AstraZeneca

29. Alphasights

30. Thoughtworks

The Best Workplaces in Asia List is published here:

https://greatplacetowork.co.id/best-workplaces-in-asia-2023-small-and-medium-category/.

About the 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia List

Great Place To Work selected the 2023 Best Workplaces in Asia List by analyzing companies' workplace programs and surveying 2.1 million employees across multiple countries in Asia and the Middle East. The responses represent the experience of 5.9 million employees across the region.

To be considered, companies must first be identified as outstanding in their local region by appearing on one or more of our 2023 Best Workplaces Lists in Bahrain, Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, UAE, or Vietnam during 2022 or early 2023.

Companies rank in three size categories: small and medium (10499 employees); large (500+ employees); and multinational. Multinational organizations are also assessed on their efforts to create great workplaces across multiple countries in the region. They must appear on at least two national lists in Asia and the Middle East, and have at least 1,000 employees worldwide with at least 40% (or at least 5,000) of those employees located outside the headquarters country.

About Great Place To Work

Great Place To Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, it has surveyed more than 100 million employees around the world and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Great Place To Work helps organizations quantify their culture and produce better business results by creating a high-trust work experience for all employees. Their unparalleled benchmark data is used to recognize Great Place To Work Certified companies and the Best Workplaces in more than 60 countries, including the World's Best Workplaces lists published annually in Fortune.

To learn more, visit greatplacetowork.com.id and read " A Great Place to Work For All ." Join the community on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Cision

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SOURCE Great Place to Work, Indonesia
Leaders Strategy investment accelerating growth behind leading compliance and supply chain management software provider

CHICAGO, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm, announced today that it has closed the acquisition of Once For All (the "Company"), a leading compliance and supply chain management software platform serving the built environment primarily in the United Kingdom and France, from Warburg Pincus.

As part of the Leaders Strategy, GTCR will partner with experienced software executive David Hornsby, who has joined Once For All as Chief Executive Officer to accelerate growth at the business through product innovation, go-to market strategy enhancements, and the expansion of geographical capabilities.

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Basingstoke, United Kingdom and Paris, France, Once For All serves as a SaaS-based network of over 150,000 construction and facilities management companies, enabling contractors and property owners to manage their supply chain of sub-contractors and ensure compliance with an increasingly complex set of public regulations and private standards. The Company's software suite also includes a two-sided marketplace that connects contractors and property owners with qualified suppliers looking to source new business opportunities.

Mr. Hornsby has a long-track record of value creation during his decades in the software sector. He served as CEO and subsequently Executive Chairman of Ideagen, a UK-based global provider of governance, risk and compliance ("GRC") software, from June 2009 through May 2021, during which time he led Ideagen through a sustained period of transformational growth. Over Mr. Hornsby's tenure, Ideagen grew through a combination of organic growth and consistent M&A, and fundamentally transformed its business model to meet client needs.

"Once For All has grown into a true market leader in the GRC space. We are excited to welcome David to the Company and believe he, along with the group of fantastic leaders at the Company today, are well positioned to accelerate the Company's growth trajectory," said Mark Anderson, Managing Director and Head of Technology, Media & Telecommunications at GTCR.

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"I am thrilled to join the Once For All team and partner with GTCR to begin this next chapter of growth at the Company," said Mr. Hornsby. "This is a business with a deep network and innovative solution set that is helping solve some of the greatest challenges facing companies in the built environment today. I look forward to enhancing these capabilities through continued investment and expansion and believe we can further scale the business into new markets while continuing to provide an outstanding solution for our customers."

Jefferies served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins provided legal counsel to GTCR. Arma Partners and William Blair served as financial advisors for Once For All and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal advisor. Management was advised by Jamieson Corporate Finance and Macfarlanes as legal counsel.

About GTCR

Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm that pioneered The Leaders Strategy  finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. GTCR is focused on investing in transformative growth in companies in the Business & Consumer Services, Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare and Technology, Media & Telecommunications sectors. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $25 billion in over 270 companies, and the firm currently manages more than $35 billion in equity capital. GTCR is based in Chicago with offices in New York and West Palm Beach. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Once For All

Once For All is the European leader in supply chain risk management solutions for the construction industry. We help our customers source and track sales opportunities, manage risk and compliance, and provide tools to increase efficiency in their supply chains. Once For All has over 150,000 customers that use its single codebase SaaS solution to search, find and assess future business relationships based on skills, trades and ESG credentials. As a result, Once For All manages one of the largest proprietary ESG data sets in the world. Once For All has over 400 employees, is the market leader in UK and France and has operations in Belgium and Germany. For more information, please visit www.onceforall.com.

GTCR Contacts

Investor Relations

Jodi Rubenstein

312.382.2202

jodi.rubenstein@gtcr.com

Media Relations

Andrew Johnson

212.835.7042

andrew.johnson@gtcr.com

Cision

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SOURCE GTCR
Even when a business is losing money, it's possible for shareholders to make money if they buy a good business at the right price. For example, although Amazon.com made losses for many years after listing, if you had bought and held the shares since 1999, you would have made a fortune. But the harsh reality is that very many loss making companies burn through all their cash and go bankrupt.

So should Hartshead Resources (ASX:HHR) shareholders be worried about its cash burn? In this report, we will consider the company's annual negative free cash flow, henceforth referring to it as the 'cash burn'. We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.

See our latest analysis for Hartshead Resources

How Long Is Hartshead Resources' Cash Runway?

A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. As at December 2022, Hartshead Resources had cash of AU$8.9m and no debt. Importantly, its cash burn was AU$6.1m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of approximately 17 months from December 2022. Notably, one analyst forecasts that Hartshead Resources will break even (at a free cash flow level) in about 2 years. Essentially, that means the company will either reduce its cash burn, or else require more cash. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.

How Is Hartshead Resources' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Because Hartshead Resources isn't currently generating revenue, we consider it an early-stage business. Nonetheless, we can still examine its cash burn trajectory as part of our assessment of its cash burn situation. During the last twelve months, its cash burn actually ramped up 58%. While this spending increase is no doubt intended to drive growth, if the trend continues the company's cash runway will shrink very quickly. Clearly, however, the crucial factor is whether the company will grow its business going forward. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.

Story continues

How Hard Would It Be For Hartshead Resources To Raise More Cash For Growth?

While Hartshead Resources does have a solid cash runway, its cash burn trajectory may have some shareholders thinking ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future growth. By looking at a company's cash burn relative to its market capitalisation, we gain insight on how much shareholders would be diluted if the company needed to raise enough cash to cover another year's cash burn.

Hartshead Resources' cash burn of AU$6.1m is about 8.7% of its AU$70m market capitalisation. That's a low proportion, so we figure the company would be able to raise more cash to fund growth, with a little dilution, or even to simply borrow some money.

So, Should We Worry About Hartshead Resources' Cash Burn?

Even though its increasing cash burn makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Hartshead Resources' cash burn relative to its market cap was relatively promising. One real positive is that at least one analyst is forecasting that the company will reach breakeven. Considering all the factors discussed in this article, we're not overly concerned about the company's cash burn, although we do think shareholders should keep an eye on how it develops. Taking a deeper dive, we've spotted 4 warning signs for Hartshead Resources you should be aware of, and 3 of them don't sit too well with us.

Of course Hartshead Resources may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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.
The COP28 Presidency has called for urgent steps to strengthen global adaptation action at all levels to strengthen resilience for vulnerable communities, ecosystems and economic sectors at the Korea Global Adaptation Week 2023.

During the opening session of the Global Adaptation Dialogue, Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, Director-General and Special Representative of COP28, reiterated the Presidency's commitment to prioritise adaptation and resilience.

The COP28 Presidency has positioned adaptation and resilience firmly in our Presidential Action Agenda, said Ambassador Al Suwaidi. Under the focus of putting people and communities back the heart of climate action, we are working to deliver on the Global Goal on Adaptation, and to elevate issues across food, health, water, nature and relief and recovery.

He added the forthcoming Global Stocktake at COP28 will enable a thorough assessment of successes and gaps, representing a significant moment to raise ambition and action for adaptation.

The COP28 Director-General said there is an urgent need to adopt a framework on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), ensuring that it is complemented by a robust, differentiated, and actionable agenda for building resilience.

The GGA framework must help reduce vulnerability, build adaptative capacities, and strengthen resilience for the most vulnerable populations, ecosystems, and economic sectors. And it must be both comprehensive in outlook, but also flexible in details to reflect the diversity of challenges and capacities inherent to our global community, said Ambassador Al Suwaidi.

Ambassador Al Suwaidi called on developed countries to uphold their commitment to doubling adaptation finance by 2025, a pledge made at COP26. Multilateral development banks (MDBs) and development finance institutions (DFIs) were also urged to scale up adaptation finance.

He pointed to the Presidencys focus on championing solutions at the intersection of climate and nature, such as ecosystem-based approaches such as restoring wetlands and ecosystems that protect against storms and sea surges, and forest conservation to stabilize soil and run-off during floods.

Ambassador Al Suwaidi also emphasised that food systems transformation will feature prominently on COP28s agenda, inviting governments to join the first-ever Leaders Declaration on Food Systems, Agriculture and Climate Action. The declaration will call on governments to make commitments on the mitigation and adaptation potential of their food systems and food supply chains.

On COP28s water agenda, the Presidency plans to give unprecedented attention to water risks and opportunities, prioritising the conservation and restoration of freshwater ecosystems, enhancing urban water resilience and bolstering water-resilient food systems.

For the first time, COP28 will host a Health/Relief, Recovery, and Peace Day on December 3 as part of its two-week thematic programme. The day will spotlight how climate change is impacting human health, causing displacement of vulnerable communities and leading to increased fragility which compromises peace. Together with the World Health Organization, COP28 will also co-host the inaugural climate-health ministerial to scale investment and policy priorities. - TradeArabia News Service
Catastrophe investments arent new, but investors are now flocking to securities that can help limit potential risks from hurricanes, wildfires, pandemics, earthquakes and other disasters.

Im a Self-Made Millionaire: Here Are 5 Stocks Im Never Selling

More: 3 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000

The catastrophe bond was created after the 1992 Hurricane Andrew hit Florida and the Gulf Coast, causing $27 billion in damages, of which $15.5 billion was covered by insurance, according to a letter from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. This led to the failure of eight insurance companies. As a result, insurers reevaluated their risk exposure and created the cat bond.

The cat bond is a security that pays the issuer when a pre-defined risk is realized, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said. The first cat bonds were issued in 1997, giving insurers greater access to the financial markets and offering institutional investors the chance to earn a return on their investment in return for assuming catastrophe insurance risks.

The cost of these threats has pushed insurers and public agencies to share the financial burden with Wall Street, The Washington Post reported. John Seo, managing director of Fermat Capital Management in Westport, Connecticut, told The Washington Post that he helps investors transform the risk of multi-billion natural disasters into securities  but investors must make the right bet on exactly how bad itll be.

Most participants are hedge funds, pension plans and high-net-worth investors. So far this year, the market now exceeds $41 billion, almost double the 2013 level, according to Artemis, an investment data firm, and as reported by The Washington Post. Its a way for insurers and other agencies to limit damage bills, but individuals worth at least $100 million can also buy cat bond funds.

Its a great investment, Florian Steiger, an investment manager with Twelve Capital in Zurich, explained to The Washington Post. But it is by no means risk free. It is a very risky asset class. You get the big Cat 5 (hurricane) in Miami, were talking about double-digit losses.

Story continues

Im a Self-Made Millionaire: These Are Investments Everyone Should Avoid During an Economic Downturn

But The Washington Post reported that investors can expect a return of about 12% up to 15% for riskier investments. So far this year, investors have not had to pay out for the costliest U.S. natural disasters.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Should High Net Worth Investors Consider Catastrophe Bonds Amid Continuing Natural Disasters?
(Bloomberg) -- HP Inc. fell the most in more than three years after cutting its profit outlook and acknowledging that a rebound in personal-computer demand isnt coming as quickly as hoped.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The Palo Alto, California-based computer supplier pared back its adjusted profit forecast to a range of $3.23 to $3.25 a share, down from $3.30 to $3.50. It also reduced its outlook for full-year cash flow. Shares plunged as much as 11% as trading got underway on Wednesday, the most since May 2020. They regained some of those losses and were down 8% at 10:28 in New York.

Demand is not improving as quickly as we were expecting, Chief Executive Officer Enrique Lores said in an interview. An inventory glut weighed on computer prices and businesses were putting off purchases amid job cuts and a broader pullback in spending, Lores said. He also cited weaker demand in China.

PC makers have been struggling to stage a comeback since sales fell off a cliff in a post-pandemic bust. HP had been hoping for a more robust recovery in the second half of 2023 with back-to-school and holiday seasons bolstering sales. Tuesdays outlook cuts have instead thrown the timing of any significant rebound into question.

Fiscal third-quarter revenue dropped 9.9% to $13.2 billion, falling short of analysts estimates. Consumer PC sales were better than anticipated, but sales to businesses disappointed with a decline of 11%.

The commercial results reinforced concerns about tighter corporate spending, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Woo Jin Ho said in a note after the results. Morgan Stanley said the companys report points to renewed headwinds for its print business, calling the segment most concerning and warning that it might limit earnings growth.

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Printing revenue fell 7% to $4.3 billion. Analysts, on average, expected $4.57 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Despite being in a tough market environment, Lores touted a report from industry analyst IDC showing HP gained on its rivals in the quarter. The rebound has started to happen, he said. It just will be less accelerated than we expected a quarter ago.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., which was created in 2015 when the original HP split its operations in two, was more optimistic about business spending. HPE, which sells enterprise products and services, boosted its annual profit outlook in announcing results on Tuesday. But it saw difficulty in computing sales, as its also navigating a challenged corporate IT spending environment, according to Bloomberg Intelligences Ho. The shares were little changed at $16.82 in New York at 10:20 a.m.

(Updates to add results from HPE in final paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Healthcare veteran brings deep experience to support national expansion of PayMedix

Milwaukee, WI --News Direct-- HPS|PayMedix

Health Payment Systems, Inc. (HPS)/PayMedix announced today the appointment of Al Martino to its Advisory Board. Martino joins as the company continues to build momentum around the national expansion of PayMedix, which is dedicated to solving the problem of high out-of-pocket costs for all by guaranteeing upfront payments to all in-network providers and little to no interest credit for all patients regardless of their individual credit histories.

Martino brings over 30 years of healthcare experience to HPS/PayMedix and has occupied senior leadership and executive positions across the insurance and pharmacy benefits management industries. Prior to serving on the advisory board for HPS/PayMedix, Martino served as Senior Vice President at OptumRx where he was responsible for actuarial, pricing, and underwriting operations across all market segments on a national basis. In addition, he served as Senior Vice President of UnitedHealthcare overseeing their National Accounts, Public Sector, Private Exchange, and Student Resources businesses. Hes also held various leadership roles with Cigna Health.. In his role as an advisory board member, he will advise on new product development, pricing, and provide insight related to key business development initiatives.

Als expertise in the healthcare industry will be invaluable as we continue the national expansion of PayMedix, said Tom Policelli, CEO of HPS/PayMedix. His keen understanding of the complex nature of underwriting and pricing across both the insurance and pharmaceutical industries will be instrumental as we continue our work to simplify our broken healthcare payments system. His leadership and industry insight will be key as the PayMedix brand continues to grow.

PayMedix is solving the problem of cost and complexity as it relates to healthcare billing with true intention, Martino says. Now more than ever the industry is looking for solutions that work and work for everyone. PayMedix is doing just that and Im excited to be a part of that process.

Story continues

About PayMedix

PayMedix, which began as the financing arm of Wisconsin-based HPS over a decade ago, is the only company solving the problem of high out-of-pocket costs for everyone: providers, patients, employers and TPAs. By guaranteeing payments to providers and credit for all patients, PayMedix is changing the way people access, use, and pay for healthcare. PayMedix has processed more than $5 billion in medical payments for hospital systems and physician practices and can be implemented in conjunction with any PPO or HMO network.

About HPS

Health Payment Systems (HPS) is a privately held healthcare technology and services organization with solutions that reduce the cost and complexity of the healthcare payments process to benefit providers, employers, patients and TPAs. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, HPS has an independent network of 96 hospital facilities and 27,000 individual providers.

Contact Details

Kaitlynn Cooney

+1 609-351-5944

kcooney@brodeur.com

Company Website

https://paymedix.com

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/hps-paymedix-establishes-advisory-board-names-al-martino-first-member-686520613
By Cassandra Garrison and Kylie Madry

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico's government plans to cap flights at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) to 43 an hour, according to an internal government document order seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The resolution, sent by the Transportation Ministry to the airport, is expected to be published in Mexico's official gazette soon, a source familiar with the matter said.

An internal airport planning committee is expected to meet with airline representatives on Thursday to discuss the changes, the source added.

The cuts follow previous flight caps at the airport last year, as the government attempts to reduce saturation in the Mexican capital's airspace.

Earlier on Wednesday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged Mexico to take alternative measures to its plans to announce flight reductions at AICM.

The IATA said in a statement to Reuters that it could not accept "any unilateral and uncoordinated decisions" that would hamper connectivity.

"Given the impact that this measure could have on passengers, air connectivity and tourism, we hope that the authorities will consider alternatives," IATA said.

According to the document, the measure is set to take effect once the winter season begins, which IATA defines as the last Sunday of October to the last Saturday of March.

While flights have been reduced in the past, the Mexican government has not yet announced a fresh round of cuts at the busiest airport in Latin America.

Officials have previously capped flights at the airport in an attempt to reduce saturation of the capital's airspace.

AICM director Carlos Velazquez told Reuters earlier this month that flight cuts were being considered, among other measures.

Mexico's Transportation Ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Mexico last year moved to diversify its airspace around the capital, opening the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA) north of Mexico City and turning back to the largely forgotten Toluca airport to the west of town.

Story continues

However, those two airports still move just a fraction of the traffic seen at the AICM.

The government has increasingly intervened at the AICM since ruling earlier this year by decree that cargo airlines had to stop operating out of the hub.

Peter Cerda, IATA's regional head, cautioned that any decision to reduce capacity at the AICM must be made through "collaborative and open processes among all stakeholders."

Mexico's air transportation chamber, CANAERO, said earlier in the week that the sector had not been consulted in recent discussions regarding potential flight cuts.

Instead of cutting flights, the aging hub "urgently" needs funds destined to carrying out repairs, the chamber said.

While the AICM's airport usage tax is one of the highest in Latin America, the funds go to paying off some $4.2 billion in outstanding bonds for the canceled, partially built Texcoco airport meant to alleviate traffic at the AICM.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador canceled the project after his election, slamming it as too expensive and stained by corruption.

Lopez Obrador instead moved to convert a military base on the northern outskirts of the city into the AIFA.

(Reporting by Kylie Madry and Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Leslie Adler and Stephen Coates)
NORTHBROOK, Ill., August 30, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) announced today the appointment of Allison S. Lausas as interim Chief Financial Officer of the company, following the resignation of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer William K. Grogan who is leaving IDEX to pursue a new professional opportunity. Both changes are effective September 15, 2023.

Ms. Lausas joined IDEX two years ago as Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, and she will continue to serve in the role as well during this interim period. Prior to joining the company, from 2011 to 2021, Ms. Lausas held positions of increasing responsibility at SunCoke Energy, Inc., including most recently as interim Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Controller. Earlier in her career, she worked for KPMG for nine years, where she developed an extensive business and accounting background. Ms. Lausas received her Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy, Master of Accounting Science and MBA from Northern Illinois University and is a certified public accountant.

"I have great confidence in Allisons expertise to lead our financial functions during this interim period. She has made great contributions in her time with IDEX, and we are fortunate to have her as an essential member of our talented finance team," IDEX CEO and President Eric Ashleman said.

Mr. Ashleman also thanked Bill, saying, "I hired Bill initially as my operating finance partner within a small piece of IDEX. Over almost twelve years of service, seven years as CFO, he has helped our broader team create tremendous value for stakeholders. Most importantly, he has led by example and built a high-performance finance organization grounded in our cultural values."

"As both a colleague and a friend, I wish him nothing but great things as he takes this next step in his career," Mr. Ashleman said.

IDEX has begun a search to consider both internal and external candidates for the Chief Financial Officer role.

Story continues

About IDEX

IDEX (NYSE: IEX) makes thousands of products and mission-critical components that improve everyday life all around you. If you enjoy chocolate, it quite possibly passed through a Viking internal gear pump at the candy factory. If you were ever in a car accident, emergency workers may have used the Hurst Jaws of Life rescue tool to save your life. If your doctor ordered a DNA test to predict your risk of disease or determine a course of treatment, the lab may have used equipment containing components made by IDEX Health & Science. Founded in 1988 with three small, entrepreneurial manufacturing companies, were proud to say that we now call over 50 diverse businesses around the world part of the IDEX family. With more than 8,500 employees and manufacturing operations in more than 20 countries, IDEX is a high-performing, global company with over $3.1 billion in annual sales, committed to making trusted solutions that improve lives. IDEX shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "IEX."

For further information on IDEX Corporation and its business units, visit the companys website at www.idexcorp.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830763722/en/

Contacts

Investor Contact

IDEX Corporation

Allison Lausas

Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer

+1 847-498-7070

investorrelations@idexcorp.com

Media Contact:

IDEX Corporation

Mark Spencer

+1 847-457-3793

mdspencer@idexcorp.com
The board of Imdex Limited (ASX:IMD) has announced that it will be paying its dividend of A$0.021 on the 12th of October, an increased payment from last year's comparable dividend. This takes the annual payment to 2.3% of the current stock price, which unfortunately is below what the industry is paying.

View our latest analysis for Imdex

Imdex's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

If it is predictable over a long period, even low dividend yields can be attractive. Prior to this announcement, Imdex's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This indicates that a lot of the earnings are being reinvested into the business, with the aim of fueling growth.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 73.7%. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 29%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Dividend Volatility

The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. Since 2013, the dividend has gone from A$0.029 total annually to A$0.036. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 2.2% a year over that time. Modest growth in the dividend is good to see, but we think this is offset by historical cuts to the payments. It is hard to live on a dividend income if the company's earnings are not consistent.

Imdex May Find It Hard To Grow The Dividend

Growing earnings per share could be a mitigating factor when considering the past fluctuations in the dividend. Earnings have grown at around 3.8% a year for the past five years, which isn't massive but still better than seeing them shrink. The company has been growing at a pretty soft 3.8% per annum, and is paying out quite a lot of its earnings to shareholders. This isn't bad in itself, but unless earnings growth pick up we wouldn't expect dividends to grow either.

An additional note is that the company has been raising capital by issuing stock equal to 28% of shares outstanding in the last 12 months. Trying to grow the dividend when issuing new shares reminds us of the ancient Greek tale of Sisyphus - perpetually pushing a boulder uphill. Companies that consistently issue new shares are often suboptimal from a dividend perspective.

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Our Thoughts On Imdex's Dividend

Overall, it's great to see the dividend being raised and that it is still in a sustainable range. While the payout ratios are a good sign, we are less enthusiastic about the company's dividend record. The dividend looks okay, but there have been some issues in the past, so we would be a little bit cautious.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For example, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Imdex that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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.
CoinSwitch, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange backed by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital, has laid off 44 employees from its customer support team due to a drop in customer queries with falling trading volumes, business news site Moneycontrol reported on Monday.

See related article: India crypto industry on Stairway to Heaven as government ignores requests in Budget

CoinSwitch said it is open to welcoming back the employees it fired if trading volumes were to return.

Over the last year, many support team members have been absorbed into other functions based on the suitability of their skills for the other roles. We are extending all our support to the impacted employees, CoinSwitch said in a statement.

CoinSwitch hasnt disclosed its exact employee count, but according to its LinkedIn page, it has 518 employees.

Last week, CoinDCX, a crypto exchange known for being Indias first crypto unicorn, said it laid off 12% of its staff due to the impact of a prolonged bear market and local tax rules. CoinSwitch became Indias second crypto unicorn in October 2021 after a US$260 million Series C round.

According to research by Esya Centre, a technology policy think tank in India, the current cryptocurrency tax structure may lead to a loss of approximately US$1.2 trillion of local exchange trade volume in the next four years.
Key Insights

Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Arbonia fair value estimate is CHF15.59

Arbonia is estimated to be 42% undervalued based on current share price of CHF9.06

The CHF10.75 analyst price target for ARBN is 31% less than our estimate of fair value

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Arbonia AG (VTX:ARBN) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!

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. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for Arbonia

Is Arbonia Fairly Valued?

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. 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, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (CHF, Millions) CHF43.5m CHF45.2m CHF54.8m CHF63.2m CHF69.0m CHF73.4m CHF76.7m CHF79.2m CHF80.9m CHF82.2m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x2 Analyst x2 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 9.18% Est @ 6.43% Est @ 4.50% Est @ 3.15% Est @ 2.21% Est @ 1.55% Present Value (CHF, Millions) Discounted @ 6.8% CHF40.7 CHF39.6 CHF45.0 CHF48.6 CHF49.6 CHF49.5 CHF48.4 CHF46.7 CHF44.7 CHF42.5

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = CHF455m

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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 (0.01%) 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 6.8%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033  (1 + g)  (r  g) = CHF82m (1 + 0.01%)  (6.8% 0.01%) = CHF1.2b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= CHF1.2b ( 1 + 6.8%)10= CHF626m

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 CHF1.1b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of CHF9.1, the company appears quite good value at a 42% 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. 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 Arbonia 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 6.8%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.359. 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 Arbonia

Strength

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Building market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Swiss market.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Dividends are not covered by earnings.

Annual revenue is forecast to grow slower than the Swiss market.

Next Steps:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" 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. Why is the intrinsic value higher than the current share price? For Arbonia, there are three further items you should further research:

Risks: You should be aware of the 3 warning signs for Arbonia (1 can't be ignored!) we've uncovered before considering an investment in the company. Future Earnings: How does ARBN'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 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!

PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the SWX every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks 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.
Key Insights

Koninklijke BAM Groep's estimated fair value is 2.66 based on Dividend Discount Model

Koninklijke BAM Groep is estimated to be 27% undervalued based on current share price of 1.96

Peers of Koninklijke BAM Groep are currently trading on average at a 30% premium

Does the August share price for Koninklijke BAM Groep nv (AMS:BAMNB) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. Our analysis will employ 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.

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for Koninklijke BAM Groep

The Calculation

We have to calculate the value of Koninklijke BAM Groep slightly differently to other stocks because it is a construction company. In this approach dividends per share (DPS) are used, as free cash flow is difficult to estimate and often not reported by analysts. This often underestimates the value of a stock, but it can still be good as a comparison to competitors. The 'Gordon Growth Model' is used, which simply assumes that dividend payments will continue to increase at a sustainable growth rate forever. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a company's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In this case we used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (0.5%). The expected dividend per share is then discounted to today's value at a cost of equity of 6.4%. Compared to the current share price of 2.0, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 27% 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.

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Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate)

= 0.2 / (6.4%  0.5%)

= 2.7

dcf

The Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the 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 Koninklijke BAM Groep 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 6.4%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.176. 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 Koninklijke BAM Groep

Strength

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.

Debt is well covered by earnings.

Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market.

Weakness

No major weaknesses identified for BAMNB.

Opportunity

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Paying a dividend but company has no free cash flows.

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. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. 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. Can we work out why the company is trading at a discount to intrinsic value? For Koninklijke BAM Groep, there are three relevant elements you should look at:

Risks: As an example, we've found 3 warning signs for Koninklijke BAM Groep (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that you need to consider before investing here. Future Earnings: How does BAMNB'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 Dutch 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.
HealthPlus Fertility, Mubadala Health partner, has announced the launch of its 5th HealthPlus Middle East Fertility Conference taking place at The Address, Dubai Marina from September 1 to 3.

With the theme Preserving Hope and Empowering Fertility Choices, the annual industry event is set to witness the participation of leading experts, researchers, and practitioners in the field of fertility from around the world.

With a dedicated focus on advancing knowledge, sharing best practices, and fostering collaboration, the conference is poised to address the latest developments and challenges in fertility treatments and reproductive medicine.

Learning opportunities

Dr Walid Sayed, Group Medical Director, HealthPlus Fertility said: Having successfully concluded last years edition, we are back with more exciting sessions around breakthrough treatments from some of the industrys brightest minds. As HealthPlus, we are invested in making sure that the medical community has the opportunity to build on their skills and deliver better care to their patients, which at the end of the day, is the most important task at hand. Having carved out a name for ourselves in the healthcare community, we are now looking forward to providing learning opportunities for all those who are interested in brushing up on their knowledge about fertility solutions.

The events agenda will feature inspiring discussions, interactions, debates, and workshops featuring speakers from prestigious institutions based in the UK, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Germany, Canada, India, Columbia, and Egypt. The conference also includes speakers from several recognisable healthcare entities in the UAE and other M42 partners.

Ahmed Elbohoty, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Consultant Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Medicine/Fertility (IVF), HealthPlus Fertility Centre, and Conference Chair, said: This event presents a perfect opportunity to network with peers and explore new areas of research into the emotive area of fertility. Our ultimate objective is to pave the way for more couples to fulfill their dream of having a family while also enhancing a process that can be very stressful and emotionally turbulent. The conference is set to offer promising insights into the topic of fertility, and I urge all those vested in the field including IVF specialists, obstetricians, gynecologists, IVF laboratory technicians, embryologists, urologists, endocrinologists, nurses and pharmacists to join us and register for the event.

Packed agenda

With a packed agenda featuring all-important topics in the field, intercepted with question-and-answer sessions, the event is set to expand and illuminate various key topics. The first days sessions will encompass topics such as reproductive surgery, optimising IVF outcomes, infertility and beyond and reproductive challenges. There will also be a stimulating debate which is sure to spark lots of interest as it delves into ethical and legal issues in IVF.

Day two will focus on topics under the themes of fertility preservation, oncofertility, genetics and stem cell therapy and new frontiers in embryology. Fascinating debate sessions include Social Egg Freezing: For Unmarried Women Between 30 to 35 Years and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).

The final day will see workshops on ovarian tissue cryopreservation - transplantation, fetal surveillance, colposcopy, aesthetic gynecology, and an experiential workshop for IVF procedures.

The event is accredited with 23 CME hours from the Department of Health  Abu Dhabi (DoH).-- TradeArabia News Service
By Giselda Vagnoni

ROME (Reuters) - Piero Cipollone, Italy's choice for the European Central Bank's executive board, has a reputation for discreetly helping Rome's eurosceptic government rub along with EU institutions and brings skills in economics, particularly in digital money, tempered with pragmatism, people who have worked with him say.

Cipollone, a three-decade veteran of the Bank of Italy, was the only candidate proposed to replace Fabio Panetta when nominations closed on Wednesday, the head of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers Paschal Donohoe said.

Each of the euro zone's three biggest economies - Germany, France and Italy - have traditionally had one representative on the six-member panel, and the Italian seat will fall vacant on Oct. 31 when Panetta moves to head the Italian central bank.

Cipollone, 61, has been part of the Panetta-led task-force studying the creation of a digital euro, a project on which the ECB is expected to decide in October whether to push ahead.

People familiar with him say the deputy governor of the Bank of Italy is a moderate and following in the footsteps of former ECB president Mario Draghi, often called the "saviour of the euro", Cipollone is attentive to the real-world impact of policy as well as economic theory.

"Piero is from the same brood as Draghi and would bring to the ECB analytical and objective reasoning, devoid of ideological biases," former general director of the Bank of Italy Salvatore Rossi told Reuters.

Like Draghi in the late 1980s, Cipollone spent four years at the World Bank where he supervised Italy, Albania, Greece, Malta, Portugal, San Marino, and Timor-Leste between 2010 and 2014.

According to Rossi, their experiences in Washington gave both Draghi and Cipollone "a pragmatic approach that has deepened their understanding of the impact of economic decisions on families and businesses in different countries".

Born in 1962 in Cese di Avezzano, a village in the central region of Abruzzo, Cipollone obtained a master's degree in economics from Stanford University after graduating from "La Sapienza" University of Rome.

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In 1993 he joined the prestigious economic research department of the Bank of Italy, where he remained for 15 years before moving to Washington.

"A CERTAIN MR. CIPOLLONE"

Back in Italy, Cipollone was relatively unknown until 2018 when the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement formed a government with the eurosceptic League party, spooking investors with the idea the Italy could exit the euro.

He came to the fore when then-prime minister Giuseppe Conte, a lawyer with no previous political experience, asked Cipollone to advise him on economic matters.

"From the first time Conte spoke before parliament, I realized that he was not adhering to our programme," anti-euro League senator Claudio Borghi, who participated in the drafting of the coalition's political platform, told Reuters.

"After phone calls with coalition partners, it came out that his speeches were reviewed by a certain Mr. Cipollone," he said, adding that he realised it would as a result be difficult to pursue an aggressively anti-EU stance.

Conte is now 5-Star's leader. His press office declined to comment on Cipollone's time as his economic adviser.

After the sudden collapse of Conte's "yellow-green" government, Cipollone was promoted by Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco as one of his deputies in 2020.

Since then, he has specialised in digital currencies, supporting the idea that central banks need to prepare for a future when cash is out of favour and the private sector competes with central banks for the control of money.

In a rare public speech in Milan in 2021 Cipollone said that to prevent depositors fleeing to the safety of their digital euro accounts if their bank or country ran into trouble, the digital euro "should be defined in such a way that it is used mainly as a means of payment and not as an investment or a store of value".

(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Mark John, Catherine Evans and David Evans)
With the business potentially at an important milestone, we thought we'd take a closer look at Keypath Education International, Inc.'s (ASX:KED) future prospects. Keypath Education International, Inc. designs, develops, and delivers career-relevant online education solutions in North America, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. On 30 June 2023, the AU$96m market-cap company posted a loss of US$20m for its most recent financial year. The most pressing concern for investors is Keypath Education International's path to profitability  when will it breakeven? We've put together a brief outline of industry analyst expectations for the company, its year of breakeven and its implied growth rate.

View our latest analysis for Keypath Education International

Consensus from 4 of the Australian Consumer Services analysts is that Keypath Education International is on the verge of breakeven. They anticipate the company to incur a final loss in 2025, before generating positive profits of US$3.4m in 2026. Therefore, the company is expected to breakeven roughly 3 years from today. What rate will the company have to grow year-on-year in order to breakeven on this date? Using a line of best fit, we calculated an average annual growth rate of 74%, which signals high confidence from analysts. Should the business grow at a slower rate, it will become profitable at a later date than expected.

Given this is a high-level overview, we wont go into details of Keypath Education International's upcoming projects, though, take into account that generally a high forecast growth rate is not unusual for a company that is currently undergoing an investment period.

Before we wrap up, theres one aspect worth mentioning. Keypath Education International currently has no debt on its balance sheet, which is quite unusual for a cash-burning growth company, which typically has high debt relative to its equity. The company currently operates purely off its shareholder funding and has no debt obligation, reducing concerns around repayments and making it a less risky investment.

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Next Steps:

There are key fundamentals of Keypath Education International which are not covered in this article, but we must stress again that this is merely a basic overview. For a more comprehensive look at Keypath Education International, take a look at Keypath Education International's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also compiled a list of essential factors you should further examine:

Valuation: What is Keypath Education International worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Keypath Education International is currently mispriced by the market. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business  take a look at who sits on Keypath Education Internationals board and the CEOs background. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks 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.
Summit strengthens collaboration among Open Testing and Integration Centers and members of the global Open RAN ecosystem

Summit workshop identifies the need for high quality O-RAN Certificates and Badges

Keysight demonstrates leadership in 5G and Open RAN security, energy savings, RAN intelligent controller optimization, and non-terrestrial networks

SANTA ROSA, Calif., August 30, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) co-organized the first Global Open Testing and Integration Centers (OTIC) Summit with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in close partnership with O-RAN ALLIANCE. The event, which took place August 23-24, aimed to foster collaboration with the OTICs and accelerate innovation and adoption of O-RAN solutions by sharing visions, roadmaps, plans, and best practices.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830700433/en/

First Global OTIC Summit (L-R): Ivan Seskar, North American OTIC (COSMOS); Yu Shi, Asia & Pacific OTIC by ritt7layers; Prof. Chen BinBin, Asia & Pacific OTIC in Singapore, SUTD; Peng Cao, VP/GM, Wireless, Keysight; Dr. Aloizio P. da Silva, North American OTIC (Virginia Tech); Dr. Alex Choi, Chairman of O-RAN ALLIANCE, SVP Group Technology, Deutsche Telekom; Julie Kub, 5G Challenge Program Leader, NTIA, ITS; Selena Hsu, Auray OTIC and Security Lab; Dr. I-Chih Lin, Co-Chair of TSC O-RAN ALLIANCE, Chief Scientist of China Mobile; Mark Poletti, Kyrio OTIC; Mitsuhiro Kuchitsu, Japan OTIC; Prof. Tony Quek, Director of FCP, SUTD; Prof. Chong Tow Chong, President, SUTD; Dr. Michele Polese, North American OTIC (Northeastern University); Dr. Ong Chen Hui, Assistance Chief Executive, BizTech Group, IMDA; Koo Eng Wei, Dir. of Tech., Keysight; Nga Chee Wei, Director of Emerging Tech Office, IMDA; Dr. Sadayuki Abeta, Global Head, Open RAN, NTT DOCOMO; Jun Chie, VP/GM, Asia Pacific Sales, Keysight. (Photo: Business Wire)

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O-RAN ALLIANCE has approved 15 OTICs globally with the intent of leveraging their expertise and state-of-the art lab testing facilities to accelerate Open RAN technology adoption and commercial deployments. SUTD hosts the Asia & Pacific OTIC in Singapore with the other OTICs located in the rest of Asia, Europe, and U.S.

Keysight co-facilitated a workshop at this summit in which leading operators provided their feedback on the OTICs, O-RAN Certification, and Badging. High-quality certificates and badges with repeatable and consistent test results were among few of the key expectations identified, as this will provide operators with confidence that the O-RAN network functions are adhering to O-RAN specifications and supporting multi-vendors interoperability.

Keysight showcased its leading 5G and Open RAN test solution portfolio in collaboration with partners to help demonstrate vendor solutions maturity and deployment readiness:

5G and O-RAN Security  Keysights Security Test Suite was used to perform automated 3GPP Security Assurance Specification (SCAS) testing and reporting with Quanta Cloud Technologys commercial gNodeB.

O-RAN Energy Consumption  Keysights Energy Plane Test Suite was used to perform automated energy consumption measurements and characterization of LITEONs O-RAN Radio Unit (O-RU), leveraging ETSI standardized methodology and reporting, RAN energy consumption measurements, and characterization.

O-RAN RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC)  Keysights RIC Test Suite was used to perform closed loop automated verification of Juniper Networks RIC, including the AI/ML-enabled RAN Admissions Control xApps/rApps.

5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN)  Keysights End-to-End (E2E) NTN test bed was used to demonstrate 3GPP Release 17 NTN NR technology in a live-to-lab setup where an entire NTN communications network was emulated with Keysights UE emulator (UeSIM), channel emulator (PROPSIM), and base station emulator (UXM). Each of these Keysight products can be used for testing the NTN base stations and NTN devices separately.

More than 190 participants from 12 countries representing network operators, government agencies, vendors, lab operators, academia, and O-RAN ALLIANCE leadership team attended the event.

Peng Cao, Vice President, and General Manager for Keysights Wireless Test Group, said: "Open RAN is making significant progress with increased lab testing, more field trials, and widespread global deployment plans. Keysight sees the OTICs playing an instrumental role in enabling the Open RAN ecosystem with its world-class test and integration lab capabilities and expertise. Keysight co-organized this first global OTIC summit with SUTD, IMDA, and O-RAN ALLIANCE with the goal of strengthening collaboration among OTICs and Open RAN ecosystem partners to accelerate multi-vendors Open RAN deployments."

Dr. Alex Choi, Chairman, O-RAN ALLIANCE and SVP Group Technology, Deutsche Telekom, said: "The first Global OTIC Summit in Singapore marked a watershed moment in collaboration, uniting OTICs for the first time. This summit not only provided a unique platform for the exchange of knowledge, insights, and best practices but also, with Keysights invaluable support, showcased the forefront of technology with Singapore's FCCLab emphasizing its O-RAN R&D and testing process."

Dr. Chih-Lin I, Chief Scientist of China Mobile and Co-Chair of the Technical Steering Committee of the O-RAN ALLIANCE said: "Congratulations on the successful organization of this landmark event addressing the critical topic of testing and integration in Open RAN. This event was held at just the right time, when OTICs began to flourish globally. Keysight has been among the most valuable members of the O-RAN ALLIANCE, providing active contributions and leadership. I really appreciate their effort, with the support of IMDA and the partnership of SUTD in jointly organizing this event. I am so pleased to see the key stakeholders gathered together, sharing their ideas, experience, and deep thoughts with each other. This endeavor will no doubt greatly accelerate the momentum and maturity of both Open RAN technology and its ecosystem."

Prof. Tony Quek, Director of Future Communications R&D Programme (FCP) and Head of Pillar, Information Systems Technology and Design at SUTD, said: "Together with IMDA and Keysight, SUTD is glad to organize the first Global OTIC summit aimed at bringing together different stakeholders and OTICs from around the world to strengthen collaboration and share expertise to make Open RAN a success."

Jun Chie, Vice President, and General Manager for Keysights Asia Pacific Sales, said: "This summit was a great opportunity to showcase Keysights 5G and Open RAN test solution portfolio in collaboration with our partners. The successful demonstrations strengthen Keysights position at the forefront of Open RAN technology adoption and commercial deployment."

Dr. Sadayuki Abeta, Global Head of Open RAN Solutions, NTT DOCOMO, Inc., said: "5G is expected to not only be an extension of previous wireless generations, but also to create a whole new world, where we can directly affect and help solve social issues with 5G services. Open RAN is one of the keys to realizing various types of deployment scenarios. This event accelerates the collaboration of OTICs in order to expand the Open RAN ecosystem."

Mike Yang, President of Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT), said: "QCT, as a data center and 5G solution provider, is pleased to provide its gNB with the Keysight Test Suite for security assurance validation. The test results show that QCT is not only a trustworthy partner, but also resilient in keeping the integrity and confidentiality of data over 5G Next Generation RAN. Moving forward, QCT will continue to drive the evolution of industry standards as a leading contributor to Open RAN."

Anson Chiu, President of LITE-ON Technology Corp., said: "At LITEON, we set a high bar on quality. That's why we have validated the energy plane test with Keysight's test equipment to demonstrate that LITEON's products are ETSI standardized. We believe that in-depth collaboration with Keysight will accelerate the development of the Open RAN market."

Arda Akman, Senior Director of Software Engineering, Juniper Networks, said: "Juniper Networks would like to congratulate O-RAN ALLIANCE, Keysight Technologies, SUTD, and IMDA for the successful organization of the first Global OTIC Summit. We are excited to demonstrate Juniper Networks RAN Intelligent Controller and Admissions Control application through our strategic partnership with Keysight Technologies at this event."

Dr. Aloizio P. da Silva, Director of CCI xG Testbed, Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Virginia Tech, representing North American OTIC in Washington DC/Arlington VA (Virginia Tech), said: "As a leader for the Washington DC metro area USA OTIC host, I see the OTIC Summit as a great initiative to learn about the activities of other OTICs and define a joint path for reliable and best practices on O-RAN testing."

Mark Poletti, Director, Wireless, CableLabs, representing Kyrio O-RAN Test and Integration Lab, said: "CableLabs appreciates the opportunity to be included in the first Global OTIC Summit in Singapore and to be part of ongoing industry leadership and development of Open RAN. It is very beneficial to share learnings and test methodologies with other OTIC labs to establish improvements to test capabilities and common test approaches that offer better alignment with operator needs. We look forward to continued collaboration with the OTIC and O-RAN community with our neutral 5G and Open RAN test lab to help accelerate Open RAN adoption and commercial deployment."

Yu Shi, Director, Business Development of 7Layers, representing Asia & Pacific OTIC by ritt7layers, said: "The first OTIC Summit has resulted in valuable innovations to overcome the challenges of the Open RAN industry and move towards commercial deployments. I hope this event is a start of consistent collaboration among industry partners."

Dr. Michele Polese, Principal Research Scientist at the Northeastern University Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT), representing North American OTIC in the Boston Area (Northeastern University), said: "The Northeastern University Open6G OTIC is leading research and development in automated testing for energy efficiency and AI/ML in Open RAN. We are happy to join the first Global OTIC Summit to push forward discussions on continuous testing for Open RAN, a key element for a successful transition to more open, programmable, and intelligent cellular networks."

Selena Hsu, Vice President of Auray OTIC and Security Lab, Auray Technology Corp., said: "It is my pleasure to join the first OTIC Summit workshop in Singapore and to gain a better understanding of challenges and solutions among OTICs and operators. I am looking forward, with support from O-RAN ALLIANCE, to having operators share current and future profiles with OTICs after this event."

Ivan Seskar, Chief Technologist of WINLAB, Rutgers University, representing North American OTIC in NYC Metro Area/East (COSMOS), said: "The OTIC Summit offered a distinct opportunity to both understand the capabilities of fellow OTICs worldwide and to share our own experiences. Furthermore, the event fostered a dynamic exchange of ideas between OTIC representatives and the O-RAN leadership. Such interactions are pivotal in aligning the vision and strategies of research centers with the broader objectives of the O-RAN ALLIANCE."

Resources

About Keysight Technologies

At Keysight (NYSE: KEYS), we inspire and empower innovators to bring world-changing technologies to life. As an S&P 500 company, were delivering market-leading design, emulation, and test solutions to help engineers develop and deploy faster, with less risk, throughout the entire product lifecycle. Were a global innovation partner enabling customers in communications, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, automotive, semiconductor, and general electronics markets to accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Learn more at Keysight Newsroom and www.keysight.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230830700433/en/

Contacts

Paul Erwin

Americas/Europe

+1 248 430 9075

paul.erwin@keysight.com

Fusako Dohi

Asia

+81 42 660-2162

fusako_dohi@keysight.com
Key Insights

Lockheed Martin's estimated fair value is US$637 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Current share price of US$448 suggests Lockheed Martin is potentially 30% undervalued

Analyst price target for LMT is US$499 which is 22% below our fair value estimate

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) 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. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example!

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for Lockheed Martin

Step By Step Through The Calculation

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, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF ($, Millions) US$6.46b US$6.46b US$6.81b US$7.19b US$7.43b US$7.64b US$7.85b US$8.05b US$8.25b US$8.44b Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x11 Analyst x10 Analyst x3 Analyst x2 Est @ 3.29% Est @ 2.95% Est @ 2.71% Est @ 2.54% Est @ 2.42% Est @ 2.34% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 6.4% US$6.1k US$5.7k US$5.6k US$5.6k US$5.4k US$5.3k US$5.1k US$4.9k US$4.7k US$4.5k

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$53b

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The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. 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 2.2%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 6.4%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033  (1 + g)  (r  g) = US$8.4b (1 + 2.2%)  (6.4% 2.2%) = US$201b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$201b ( 1 + 6.4%)10= US$108b

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$161b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of US$448, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 30% 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

Important Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the 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 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 6.4%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.858. 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

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.

Debt is well covered by earnings and cashflows.

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 earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the American market.

Next Steps:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Can we work out why the company is trading at a discount to intrinsic value? For Lockheed Martin, there are three essential elements you should explore:

Risks: To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Lockheed Martin . Future Earnings: How does LMT'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 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!

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.
University students help improve international companies' diversity, equity and inclusion programs and business operations at the inaugural Diversity Champion Internship Program in Singapore

SINGAPORE, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- University students from diverse backgrounds in Hong Kong and Singapore have recently completed the challenge of developing recommendations for how corporations could strengthen their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs to further enhance their business operations. The assignment is the core focus of this year's Diversity Champion Internship Program (DCIP), which is co-organized by Manulife, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Hyatt, which offers participants real-life experiences for their future career development.

Manulife Logo

Now in its third year in Hong Kong and held for the first time in Singapore, students were tasked with identifying the workplace challenges that employees face and suggesting solutions that could potentially address their concerns from a DEI perspective. They were immersed into the operations of Manulife, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Hyatt to experience first-hand their operations  ranging from job-shadowing and simulation activities to workshops and lectures  all while gaining a deeper understanding of the insurance, professional services, and hospitality industries to identify areas where employees could better leverage resources within the companies to help them excel at their jobs.

Students presented their findings and insights at the program's graduation ceremony to executives from Manulife, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Hyatt, who will consider their input for potential deployment at their companies in the future.

Sudesh Thevasenabathy, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Asia, Manulife, said: "The Diversity Champion Internship Program has been incredibly transformative for both Manulife and the students involved, and we are thrilled to have brough this program to Singapore this year. By providing such a unique opportunity for students from diverse backgrounds, it helps to further remove systemic barriers and promote greater equity and access in the workplace. At Manulife, our mission is to drive inclusive economic opportunities, accelerate a sustainable future, and empower health and well-being for everyone in the community. We are proud to be a co-organizer of the program, and we look forward to taking it to more markets in Asia in the coming years."

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Simon Chapman KC, Partner and Regional Head of Disputes, Herbert Smith Freehills, said: "At Herbert Smith Freehills, it's part of our strategic vision to be the leading international law firm for diversity and inclusion. Programs like this allow us to take a step forward and say to our clients and communities that we're committed to working together to achieve our vision for a more diverse and inclusive world. We are proud to have supported these inspiring future leaders to take the first steps in their careers. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Hyatt and Manulife as we develop the program in Hong Kong and Singapore."

Gordon Chan, Senior Vice President of Legal, Asia Pacific, Hyatt, said: "We at Hyatt believe that inclusion and diversity is a vital cornerstone of business and is fundamental to helping us achieve our purpose, of caring for others so they can be their best. We are proud to continue our collaboration with Manulife and Herbert Smith Freehills for a third year and to expand this Diversity Champion Internship Program into Singapore, offering students industry knowledge and experiences that they can use in their future careers. The passion and perspective the interns brought to the program has been inspirational. We look forward to continuing to invest in and grow this unique and meaningful initiative, engaging more promising young talent, and continuing to foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce of the future."

The DCIP is an interactive, multi-industry placement opportunity for university students who face advancement challenges through their race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic background and/or disability. The goal is for co-organisers to leverage the academic and life experiences of students to further enhance their respective diversity, equity and inclusion programs, while at the same time provide students with the opportunity to potentially realize their ideas in the corporate world.

All three companies are committed to creating an inclusive work environment for both interns and staff, and that includes making accessibility adjustments to their workspaces, from accessibility bathrooms, flexible working arrangements, and assistive technology where needed. From the application process to the program itself, it was ensured that the interns would be accommodated according to their needs.

Damaen Tan, a second-year Data Science & Analytics student from National University of Singapore, said: "The Diversity Champion Internship Program allowed me to explore the many opportunities in the workforce, about which I had little or no knowledge previously. It made me realize the potential impact that DEI programs have on improving the overall business operations of companies."

Jing Xuan Goh, a second-year Communication Studies student from Nanyang Technological University, added: "When passionate individuals come together, it is not just about working towards achieving a business objective at work. It is about creating a more diverse and inclusive environment where people can contribute ideas that can contribute to a more sustainable future for employees, customers, and society as a whole."

Manulife, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Hyatt worked with SGEnable to identify and recruit student candidates for the DCIP. Students were selected based on their merit and the opportunities that they have had throughout their studies but, most importantly, their understanding of DEI.

About Manulife Singapore

Established in 1899, Manulife Singapore provides insurance, retirement and wealth management solutions to meet the financial needs of our customers across their various life stages. Customers can readily access our solutions through our extensive multi-channel distribution network. In addition to our established agency force, we distribute our products through a number of specialist partners, including banks and financial advisory firms. For more information on Manulife Singapore, visit manulife.com.sg.

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.

Media contact: Carl Wong, Carl_kk_wong@manulifeam.com; Belinda Wong, Belinda_sj_wong@manulife.com

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SOURCE Manulife
Investor sentiment was indifferent towards the historic announcement Tuesday by the Biden Administration, which revealed the first 10 drugs that would face Medicare price negotiations next year under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Stocks for all the US-publicly traded companies on the list  Bristol-Meyers Squibb (BMY), Eli Lilly (LLY), Merck (MRK), AstraZeneca (AZN), Novartis (NVS), Amgen (AMGN), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), AbbVie (ABBV), and Novo Nordisk (NVO)  were either flat or up at the end of trading Tuesday.

Most experts weren't surprised by the drugs on the list, and prices don't go into effect until 2026. But analysts are eagerly awaiting final prices, which have yet to be negotiated.

In a note Tuesday, Goldman Sachs analysts said the minimal impact to the companies' stocks was because much remains unknown.

"We see relatively limited scope for stocks to react materially to the contents of [yesterday] mornings announcement, given that in our view, potentially the more impactful update will come with the potential disclosure ... of [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)]' initial maximum fair price offer," the analysts said.

In lawsuits filed by companies to block or delay negotiations, plaintiffs allege there is uncertainty around what the CMS will determine to be a fair price.

Medicare Director and CMS Deputy Administrator Dr. Meena Seshamani told Yahoo Finance that the agency intends to engage in a "true back-and-forth process" for negotiations.

Farxiga, Xarelto, Entresto, and Eliquis at the New City Halsted Pharmacy on Aug. 29, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. These are 4 of 10 prescription drugs that will be subject to Medicare price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act. The other drugs include Jardiance, Enbrel, Januvia, Imbruvica, Stelara, and Fiasp. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The goal, she said, is to figure out what the real-world impact is for the drugs, so that can be taken into consideration for the price of medications.

Analysts have repeatedly said that while the CMS data shows that these drugs account for $50.5 billion, or about 20%, of Part D spend inclusive of out-of-pocket spend, some of the drugs are not necessarily top sellers for the drug manufacturers.

"Overall, [yesterdays] update was largely expected, with key drugs included for price negotiations consisting of Eliquis (BMY) and Imbruvica (ABBV), although the inclusion of Stelara was somewhat unexpected. With biosimilars expected in 2025, however, we do not see this having a large impact on JNJ [Johnson & Johnson]," JPM analyst Chris Schott said in a note to clients.

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"The rest of the drugs, meanwhile, are relatively small revenue/EPS [earnings per share] contributors to their respective stories, and we do not see any meaningful impact to our estimates from todays update," he added.

The list included heart disease and diabetes drugs, including insulin from Novo Nordisk (NVO), some cancer drugs, and J&J's autoimmune disease treatment Stelara. The latter was a surprise to experts, in part because it will face generic competition before 2026.

Senior administration officials told reporters Tuesday there could be some adjustment to the price based on generic or biosimilar competition hitting the market before September 2024, when the prices are published, but the list would remain the same through 2026 at the least.

Leerink Partners estimates the limited impact is also due to the prices only lasting a year, before CMS begins the process again for 2027.

"JNJs Xarelto and NVSs Entresto will only be affected for 1 year since they are both expected to lose exclusivity in 2027. If generics are approved for Xarelto or Entresto prior to Mar. 31, 2027 then either would be deselected on Jan. 1, 2028. MRKs (Graybosch, OP) Januvia and AZNs Farxiga both have [patents expiring] in 2026, thus minimizing the price control impact of these products given the likelihood of imminent generic entry," Leerink analysts said in a note.

Meanwhile, until Medicare negotiations start in February, there are several lawsuits that have been filed by drug companies and trade groups calling the process unconstitutional, in hopes of delaying or derailing negotiations.

Neera Tanden, domestic policy adviser to President Joe Biden, told reporters Tuesday that the government's health agencies negotiate prices for other parts of the healthcare system all the time.

"The only reason why Medicare has not been negotiating drug prices is because pharma got a sweetheart deal decades ago to basically prohibit negotiations. Negotiations are part of market systems; it's very normal," Tanden said.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates $90.5 billion in savings over 10 years to the Medicare program through these negotiations. Analysts expect roughly 40% reduction in prices for drugs from the negotiations.

In response to the companies trading flat on the news Tuesday, Seshamani said, "I think we know that the pharmaceutical industry is strong and thriving and innovates and will continue to innovate."

Follow Anjalee on Twitter @AnjKhem.

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
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF) hosted a high-level industry dialogue themed 'The Two-Wheeler Market  Mobility, ESG and the ASEAN Supply Chain' as part of the Kuala Lumpur Bike Show 2023 (KLBS'23) held at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTC KL).

From left: Gerard Ratnam, TV host and producer of Bernama TV; Farouk Nurish, director of Moventuum Sdn Bhd (organiser of the Kuala Lumpur Bike Show 2023); Rizal Kamaruzzaman, co-chairman of the Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF); Dato' Indera Dr Ahmad Sabirin Arshad, FASc, president and group chief executive officer of SIRIM Berhad; Murugason R. Thangaratnam, executive director of Novem ESG Sdn Bhd; and Rob Cayzer, executive director of Yasaar Global and board member and shareholder of Kitaran Tabah. | Photo by MGBF/KLBS23

During the moderated panel discussion, industry experts shared their insights on the strategic opportunity for Malaysia to be a greater player in the two-wheeler industry in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as business prospects for Malaysia especially in the context of the regional supply chain.

It was also identified that with technology trends capturing the media narratives, especially as electric vehicles and reduced emissions technology become more commonplace, the trade and investment opportunities are what business leaders need to understand.

The ASEAN two-wheeler market represents at least 25 per cent of the global market and growing exponentially. From urban planning to environmental, social and governance (ESG), the two-wheeler industry can contribute to this trend and ultimately to the nation's economy.

The National Automotive Policy 2020 which projects Malaysia's ambition outward to 2030 mentions motorcycles briefly. This bias towards cars in the policy may need further evaluation as it does not take into consideration the high growth market of the motorcycle market.

Nordin Abdullah, founding chairman of MGBF, said, "We recommend that the National Automotive Policy be more reflective of this opportunity especially because it will allow the SME manufacturers and distributors to play a more integrated role in the ASEAN two-wheeler supply chain. At the same time, with the ASEAN free trade agreements that are in place, the government has already done part of its work."

"Success lies in the nation's ability to be focused and create high value leverage points for investors that compete in a global marketplace. Malaysia must compete and win as an investment destination, and leveraging demands of the two-wheeler industry, this is one sector to pay special attention to," concluded Nordin.

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"Another area we identified is the opportunity in education and safety because it is such a huge challenge. If Malaysia can solve this internally, it could be a leader in ASEAN in this critical issue. This can be an area for export of intellectual property. But any solution needs to be tech-based, private sector driven, public sector endorsed and people-friendly especially in terms of cost to consumers," said Rizal Kamaruzzaman, co-chairman of MGBF who delivered the welcoming address at the start of the MGBF Industry Dialogue.

Speakers include Dato' Indera Dr Ahmad Sabirin Arshad, FASc, president and group chief executive officer of SIRIM Berhad; Murugason R. Thangaratnam, executive director of Novem-ESG; and Rob Cayzer, executive director of Yasaar Global and board member and shareholder of Kitaran Tabah. The discussion was moderated by Gerard Ratnam, TV host and producer of Bernama TV. The session included special remarks from the inaugural Kuala Lumpur Bike Show 2023 organiser, Farouk Nurish, who is the director of Moventuum Sdn Bhd.

The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF) empowers stakeholders at the intersection of international and Malaysian business. Through government relations, business intelligence, advocacy, media engagement, market research, networking, advisory and business matching, MGBF delivers results for individuals, corporations, trade and business associations, as well as national and state governments. For more information, visit www.malaysiaglobalbusinessforum.com.

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SOURCE Malaysia Global Business Forum
Lifting off into the clear pre-dawn sky, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket arced over the Atlantic Ocean early Saturday with an international crew of four destined for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

At 3:27 a.m. EDT, the 230-foot rocket topped with SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endurance soared away from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center with NASA's Crew-7, a mission of significance that included a series of firsts for the astronauts and the rocket.

Though SpaceX's eighth human spaceflight under contract with NASA, it's the first of the agency's Commercial Crew Program to fly with only one U.S. astronaut aboard and the first time a European Space Agency astronaut piloted a Dragon.

It was also the first of two Falcon 9 missions that SpaceX scheduled to fly from Florida on the same day.

Crew-7 achieves several firsts for NASA's Commercial Crew Program

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, Crew-7 commander, was accompanied by representatives of the agency's international partner agencies of Japan, Russia, and Europe  European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov.

"SpaceX, thanks for the ride. It was awesome," Moghbeli said just after entering orbit. "On behalf of Andy, Satoshi, Konstantin, and I, we'd like to thank the multitude of people who led us to this unique moment."

"We may have four crew members on board from four different nations  Denmark, Japan, Russia, and the U.S.A.  but we're a united team with a common mission," Moghbeli said. "Human spaceflight requires an unparalleled level of vigilance and rigor, and we thank all those who prepared not only us but also this truly impressive spacecraft for flight."

The members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station suited up and participating a dry rehearsal before their actual launch.

Moghbeli and Crew-7 Mission Specialist Borisov are both first-time space flyers.

Mogensen is the first astronaut from a foreign space agency to pilot a SpaceX Crew Dragon. Saturday's flight adds to his list of firsts. In 2015, aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, he became the first Danish person to go to space for a 10-day mission to the ISS.

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Mission Specialist Furukawa from Kanagawa, Japan, is also a veteran space flyer. In 2011, he last spent 165 days in space, during which he helped to support NASA's final space shuttle mission.

Rocket launch schedule: Upcoming Florida launches and landings

Meet the Crew: NASA's SpaceX Crew-7 features diverse crew from space agencies around the world

Aside from the crew, Saturday's launch also featured firsts for the flight hardware.

The 160-foot Falcon 9 first-stage booster that supported Saturday's mission in what was the 43rd launch from Florida's Space Coast this year was brand new  a rarity amongst SpaceX's fleet of reusable rockets, of which some have flown a record 15 times.

The Dragon Endurance spacecraft previously flew the Crew-3 and Crew-5 missions. Crew-7 marks SpaceX's 11th human spaceflight mission overall, including three that flew private astronauts  Inspiration4, Axiom-1, and Axiom-2.

Showcasing SpaceX's reusability and ability to maximize the performance of its launch vehicles, following stage separation and a dramatic somersault, about eight minutes after liftoff, the booster touched down at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Landing Zone 1, sending that familiar sonic boom across the Space Coast. That was the first time SpaceX did that for a Commercial Crew mission.

Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX's vice president of build and flight reliability, told reporters in May, "We've always had this kind of capability before. We just weren't sure that we would always get the performance."

"The number of Falcon flights we've flown have allowed us to say that performance is available and can be used where it's needed to be used moving forward," Gerstenmaier said.

Largely harmless, but often startling, sonic booms generated by the booster's return trip as it guided itself back toward the Cape surely woke some residents across central Florida.

The astronauts of NASA/SpaceX mission Crew-7 lift off from Kennedy Space Center, FL Saturday morning, August 26, 2023. The four astronauts, representing four different countries, are headed for a six-month stay on the International Space Station. Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK

What's next for Crew-7?

Crew-7 will spend nearly 30 hours in orbit "chasing" the space station before an anticipated autonomous docking attempt, which is expected to occur at 8:50 a.m. EDT Sunday.

Spectators at Veterans Park on the Indian River Lagoon in Titusville watch the NASA and SpaceX Crew-7 mission launch at 3:27 a.m. EDT from KSC pad 39A.

The quartet will remain at the station for about 190 days, including an initial five-day handover period with the members of Crew-6.

That crew of four is set to depart the station about five days after Crew-7's arrival for a splashdown landing somewhere off the coast of Florida. Weather conditions will determine a landing location either in the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean.

When are the next rocket launches from Florida?

SpaceX isn't expected to stand down from the launch action for very long. The next Falcon 9 mission slated to fly from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station was set for as early as 9:05 p.m. EDT Saturday, a little less than 18 hours after Crew-7's liftoff.

That mission, dubbed Starlink 6-11, is planned to carry another batch of the company's internet-beaming satellites to orbit from the Cape's Launch Complex 40 during a launch window that extends until 11:04 p.m. EDT.

An updated weather outlook from the Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron last predicted conditions for that liftoff to be 95% "go." A slight chance for cumulus clouds around the spaceport was listed as the primary concern.

Aside from SpaceX missions, United Launch Alliance teams at the Cape's Launch Complex 41 are preparing an Atlas V rocket with a classified payload for the U.S. Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office to launch early next week. Liftoff of the NROL-107 mission is slated for 8:34 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, August 29.

If schedules hold, these missions would become the Space Coast's 44th and 45th launches this year.

For the latest schedule updates, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Follow FLORIDA TODAY's Space Team live launch coverage of each of these missions beginning 90 minutes before liftoff.

Contact Jamie Groh at JGroh@floridatoday.com and follow her on X.com at @AlteredJamie.

Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX's pre-dawn liftoff Saturday sent NASA's Crew-7 to the ISS
NP Digital

Frederic Joseph

Frederic Joseph has been appointed as Managing Director to lead growth efforts of the American agencys French subsidiary

Former Performics EMEA CEO Frederic Joseph has been appointed as Managing Director to lead growth efforts of the American agencys French subsidiary

PARIS, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NP Digital, a global leader in end-to-end performance marketing, today announces a major expansion in Europe with the opening of its France office under the leadership of Frederic Joseph. NP Digital's French expansion follows enterprising growth in Europe, including offices in Italy, Germany, and Spain this year and the U.K. in 2021.

The new region aims to meet strong demand from French brands eager to benefit from the specialized expertise at NP Digital on an international scale. NP Digital France will focus on providing customized solutions for B2B and B2C brands with a commitment to ethical and sustainable development. It will partner with startups, growing businesses, and established brands seeking to further penetrate the French market. With a team of experienced specialists and senior strategists in social media, paid media, and business development, the new office will be perfectly positioned to meet the diverse needs of brands.

Josephs impressive global track record includes prestigious roles such as Global Chief Digital Officer of ZenithOptimedia WW, CEO of Performics EMEA (acquired by Publicis), and Global COO and later CEO, Americas, at Locala (S4M). In 2018, he returned to London as Director of the Data Marketing structure at Artefact. His journey reflects his constant desire to take on new challenges and propel the field of digital marketing to new heights.

"Frederic is one of the most respected entrepreneurs in digital marketing in France and internationally, with extensive management experience and proven expertise in creating top-performing marketing structures," said Mike Gullaksen, CEO of NP Digital. "We are delighted that Frederic has joined us; he will be a major asset for the development of our entrepreneurial culture and for the success of NP Digital in France."

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The launch of NP Digital France represents a key milestone in Joseph's entrepreneurial journey. His unparalleled experience and innovative spirit will be instrumental in redefining the standards of responsible and ethical digital marketing and sustainable product development.

"With my expertise in performance marketing and ethical and positive impact entrepreneurship, I am confident in the unique opportunity for NP Digital to make its mark in the French market; we know digital marketing will continue to grow with an increased focus on data, content, and technology, and these dimensions must be understood within the necessary ethics and impact to ensure responsible growth," said Joseph. "NP Digital has an exceptional opportunity to assist French brands in their performance marketing strategies by leveraging best practices, insights from search technologies and NP Digital's international marketing expertise."

NP Digital continues to grow globally, with the opening of new offices in different countries, including recently in Germany, Spain, Singapore, and several others across Latin America.

About NP Digital:

NP Digital is a performance marketing agency focused on enterprise and mid-market challenger brands. Underpinned by its proprietary technology division and platform Ubersuggest, 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, DTC challenger-type organizations. NP Digital spans across the globe with 750 employees in 17 different countries and 40 of the 50 U.S. states. For more information visit npdigital.com.

Kimberly Deese

Associate Director

Digital PR

kdeese@npdigital.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4708a5a3-6862-41a6-9488-753fbadf3b95




Tanmiah Food Company, a market-leading provider of fresh and processed poultry and other meat products, has seen its attributable first-half net profit rise 2.2% YoY from SR31.7 million in H1 2022 to SR32.4 million ($8.8 million).

Revenues increased 26.6% YoY from SR776.7 million to SR983.1 million, supported by a 22.2% rise in fresh poultry sales. Gross margin was steady at 23%, while EBITDA of SR119.2 million (+45.4% YoY) yielded a margin of 12.1%.

Zulfiqar Hamadani, CEO of Tanmiah, commented: Tanmiah achieved sustained revenue growth during the first half of 2023, with fresh poultry, animal feed and health, and food franchise operations all charting their upward trajectories. Our position as a prominent industry player, coupled with our collaborative association with globally renowned brands, have bolstered this performance.

Consumer preference

With a commitment to operational excellence reflected in our sustainability and innovation initiatives, we are delighted to have been honoured with esteemed awards such as Forbes' Top 10 Innovative Companies in Sustainability and 2023's Product of the Year. These accolades mirror the growing consumer preference for our nutritious, high-quality products, produced and delivered sustainably by our dedicated team that is guiding the companys path to success.

Looking ahead, we remain focused on spearheading innovation and sustainability in the food sector, which will further enhance our positioning in the market, and enable Tanmiah to unlock a multitude of opportunities and reach new and exciting horizons.

Ahmed bin Sharf Osilan, Executive Board Member and Managing Director of Tanmiah said: Our progress during the first half of the year speaks to our dedication to fortifying the domestic food sector and supporting Saudi Arabia's journey towards becoming a global Halal hub. Our strategic partnership with Halal Products Development Company (HPDC), a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, is an exciting step toward reinforcing the Halal industry whilst enhancing its efficiency and innovation. Aligned with our commitment to supporting the kingdom's food security objectives, this partnership underscores our dedication to both domestic and international impact in the Halal sector.

We look forward to continuing to collaborate with prominent public and private sector organizations and through our unwavering focus on elevating our operational efficiencies, underpinned by our circular economy model, we aim to enhance the competitiveness of our products, and grow our market share, whilst generating sustainable returns for shareholders.

Revenue analysis

Tanmiah reported 1H2023 revenues of SR983.1 million, up 26.6% YoY from SR776.7 million in 1H2022, primarily due to continued growth across all segments, particularly fresh poultry. Food franchise operations also achieved a substantial improvement in revenues from SR9.8 million to SR37 million.

Fresh Poultry sales, the key contributor to Tanmiahs revenues (84%), increased 22.2% YoY in 1H2023 to SR825.7 million from SR675.9 million. The growth in revenues can be attributed to a continued rise in sales volumes as well as an increase in production capacity during the period, from 456,000 birds per day as of December 31, 2022, to 500,000 birds per day as of June 30, 2023.

Animal Feed and Health revenues increased 32.4% YoY to SR120.5 million from SR91.0 million, as a result of rising demand for animal health products and equipment.

Food franchise operator revenues nearly quadrupled from SR9.8 million to SR37 million in 1H2023, and during the period, Tanmiah opened 11 POPEYES stores in the kingdom, bringing the total to 31 operational outlets as of June 30, 2023.

Income statement analysis

Cost of Sales increased 26.8% YoY to SR757.2 million in the first half of 2023, compared to SR597.1 million, as Tanmiah ramped up production and expanded its market reach.

Meanwhile, gross profit increased 25.7% YoY to SR225.9 million, from SR179.7 million, in line with the continued rise in sales volumes; however, during the second quarter the Gross Profit faced pressure due to efforts for ramping up production and distribution capacity, which, despite improved volumes during the quarter had an impact on profits.

EBITDA increased from SR82.0 million in 1H2022 to SR119.2 million in 1H2023, supported by the strong revenue performance, which has outweighed the 12.7% YoY rise in selling, general, and administrative expenses.

Balance Sheet analysis

Tanmiah ended the period with a cash position of SR285.0 million, compared to SR267.1 million as of December 31, 2022.

Total borrowings increased from SR308.4 million to SR449.5 million as of June 30, 2023.

Capex increased from SR41 million in 1H2022 to SR71 million in 1H2023. Planned capital expenditure in the next few years will focus on ramping up primary processing, feed milling and hatching capacities, in addition to expansion of food franchise operations, thus enabling the Company to seize new growth opportunities.

Growth strategy

Tanmiahs fully integrated and highly efficient business model positions it for growth on local, regional, and global fronts, underpinned by favourable market trends. The global halal food market is expected to grow at an estimated CAGR of 10.8% during 2023-2028, according to industry reports.

The domestic operating environment is indeed conducive to growth and is driving the successful execution of the companys expansion plans. Saudi Arabia is looking to make investments valued at $20 billion by 2035 to boost the domestic food sector. By the end of the first half of 2023, the Agricultural Development Fund approved a significant number of credit facilities worth more than SR4.2 billion, that will primarily be allocated to reinforcing the kingdoms food security goals and ensuring the stability of food supply chains, in addition to developing the domestic agricultural sector.

Such strategic initiatives that are targeted at boosting the domestic food sector are placing Tanmiah on a solid path to capture several growth opportunities and further enhance its positioning in the market.

Diversification initiatives by the company include the growth of Tanmiahs food franchise vertical, which was launched in 2021, underpinned by the Companys strategy of expanding the footprint of POPEYES across the kingdom.-- TradeArabia News Service
Value-focused investors are always on the hunt for stocks that are priced below their intrinsic value. One such stock that merits attention is NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG). The stock, which is currently priced at 37.12, recorded a loss of 1.28% in a day and a 3-month increase of 10.46%. The stock's fair valuation is $57.16, as indicated by its GF Value.

Understanding the GF Value

The GF Value represents the current intrinsic value of a stock derived from our exclusive method. The GF Value Line on our summary page gives an overview of the fair value that the stock should be traded at. It is calculated based on three factors:

1. Historical multiples (PE Ratio, PS Ratio, PB Ratio and Price-to-Free-Cash-Flow) that the stock has traded at.

2. GuruFocus adjustment factor based on the company's past returns and growth.

3. Future estimates of the business performance.

We believe the GF Value Line is the fair value that the stock should be traded at. The stock price will most likely fluctuate around the GF Value Line. If the stock price is significantly above the GF Value Line, it is overvalued and its future return is likely to be poor. On the other hand, if it is significantly below the GF Value Line, its future return will likely be higher.

NRG Energy (NRG) Stock: A Hidden Value Trap? Unpacking the Risks and Rewards

The Potential Risks of NRG Energy

However, investors need to consider a more in-depth analysis before making an investment decision. Despite its seemingly attractive valuation, certain risk factors associated with NRG Energy should not be ignored. These risks are primarily reflected through its low Piotroski F-score of 1, Altman Z-score of 1.04, and a Beneish M-Score of 59.36 that exceeds -1.78, the threshold for potential earnings manipulation. These indicators suggest that NRG Energy, despite its apparent undervaluation, might be a potential value trap. This complexity underlines the importance of thorough due diligence in investment decision-making.

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Understanding Piotroski F-score, Altman Z-score, and Beneish M-score

The Piotroski F-score, created by accounting professor Joseph Piotroski, is a tool used to assess the strength of a company's financial health. The score is based on nine criteria that fall into three categories: profitability, leverage/liquidity/ source of funds, and operating efficiency. The overall score ranges from 0 to 9, with higher scores indicating healthier financials. NRG Energy's current Piotroski F-Score, however, falls in the lower end of this spectrum, indicating potential red flags for investors.

Before delving into the details, let's understand what the Altman Z-score entails. Invented by New York University Professor Edward I. Altman in 1968, the Z-Score is a financial model that predicts the probability of a company entering bankruptcy within a two-year time frame. The Altman Z-Score combines five different financial ratios, each weighted to create a final score. A score below 1.8 suggests a high likelihood of financial distress, while a score above 3 indicates a low risk.

Developed by Professor Messod Beneish, the Beneish M-Score is based on eight financial variables that reflect different aspects of a company's financial performance and position. These are Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), Gross Margin (GM), Total Long-term Assets Less Property, Plant and Equipment over Total Assets (TATA), change in Revenue (?REV), change in Depreciation and Amortization (?DA), change in Selling, General and Admin expenses (?SGA), change in Debt-to-Asset Ratio (?LVG), and Net Income Less Non-Operating Income and Cash Flow from Operations over Total Assets (?NOATA).

NRG Energy: A Comprehensive Overview

NRG Energy is one of the largest retail energy providers in the U.S., with 5.5 million customers. Its 2023 acquisition of Vivint Smart Home adds 1.9 million home services customers. NRG also is one of the largest U.S. independent power producers, with 13 gigawatts of coal, gas, and oil power generation capacity primarily in Texas. NRG exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a stand-alone entity in December 2003.

NRG Energy (NRG) Stock: A Hidden Value Trap? Unpacking the Risks and Rewards

Analysis of NRG Energy's Profitability

Firstly, let's address profitability. One significant component of the F-Score is a positive return on assets (ROA). A closer look at NRG Energy's ROA reveals a worrying trend of negative returns. This indicates the company's inability to generate profit from its assets - a fundamental concern for any investor.

Let's delve deeper into NRG Energy's financial health by examining the decline in its return on assets (ROA) over the past three years. The data indicates 2021: 6.67; 2022: 12.59; 2023: -6.65, when expressed in percentages. Such a decrease is concerning, as the Piotroski F-Score penalizes companies with lower current ROA compared to the previous period. This ongoing decline highlights another potential risk associated with investing in NRG Energy.

Observing the financials of NRG Energy, it's important to note that the cash flow from operations over the trailing twelve months (TTM) stands at $-3857 million, whereas the net income in the same period is significantly higher at $-2055 million. The Piotroski F-score considers this discrepancy as a potential red flag. The rationale behind this is that a company's operating cash flow is a more direct and less manipulated measure of its cash-generating ability than net income. Net income, while important, is susceptible to accounting treatments and non-cash items which can distort the true cash profitability of the company. If a company consistently shows lower cash flows from operations relative to its net income, it could indicate that the earnings quality is poor and the company might have difficulties sustaining its operations or financing its obligations, a fact which could negatively impact its financial stability and investor confidence.

Leverage, Liquidity and Source of Funds: A Worrying Trend

NRG Energy (NRG) Stock: A Hidden Value Trap? Unpacking the Risks and Rewards

Examining NRG Energy's financial stability, there's a notable decrease in its current ratio over the past three years, as shown by the data 2021: 1.24; 2022: 1.29; 2023: 1.02, which is expressed as percentages. The current ratio is a key indicator of a company's short-term financial health, as it gauges the ability to cover short-term liabilities with short-term assets. A declining current ratio suggests that NRG Energy's liquidity and capability to manage immediate financial obligations are deteriorating.

Operating Efficiency: A Darker Picture

Lastly, concerning operating efficiency, the Piotroski F-score examines changes in gross margin and asset turnover. Regrettably, NRG Energy follows a discouraging trajectory with a decrease in gross margin percentage over the past three years, as demonstrated by the data provided: 2021: 25.95; 2022: 25.45; 2023: 0.22 (expressed in percentages). This contraction in gross margin suggests that NRG Energy is grappling with either an escalation in the cost of goods sold or dwindling prices - both of which are inauspicious indicators for profitability.

While the Piotroski F-score is not the only lens through which to view a potential investment, it is a robust and comprehensive tool for evaluating a company's financial health. Unfortunately for NRG Energy, its current score suggests potential troubles.

NRG Energy's Low Altman Z-Score: A Breakdown of Key Drivers

A dissection of NRG Energy's Altman Z-score reveals NRG Energy's financial health may be weak, suggesting possible financial distress:

When it comes to operational efficiency, a vital indicator for NRG Energy is its asset turnover. The data: 2021: 1.13; 2022: 1.06; 2023: 0.99 from the past three years suggests a recent decline following an initial increase in this ratio. The asset turnover ratio reflects how effectively a company is using its assets to generate sales. Therefore, a drop in this ratio can signify reduced operational efficiency, potentially due to underutilization of assets or decreased market demand for the company's products or services. This shift in NRG Energy's asset turnover underlines the need for the company to reassess its operational strategies to optimize asset usage and boost sales.

The days sales outstanding (DSO) is an important financial metric that denotes the average time a company takes to collect payment after a sale is completed. Looking at the historical data from the past three years (2021: 1.13; 2022: 1.06; 2023: 0.99), there appears to be a rising trend in NRG Energy's DSO.

An uptick in DSO might indicate aggressive revenue recognition practices, and in some cases, potential earnings manipulation. To explain, when DSO increases, it means the company's receivables are growing. This could be a result of sales being recorded before customers have paid, which inflates the revenue figures. In extreme cases, a company may even recognize revenue from sales that may never be collected, an action that is considered earnings manipulation. A rising DSO figure warrants scrutiny as it can signal financial distress or questionable accounting practices within the company. Therefore, investors should closely monitor such trends for early detection of any potential financial risks.

The Gross Margin index tracks the evolution of a company's gross profit as a proportion of its revenue. A downward trend could indicate issues such as overproduction or more generous credit terms, both of which are potential red flags for earnings manipulation. By examining the past three years of NRG Energy's historical data (2021: 25.95; 2022: 25.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Midtown construction workers stiffed out of 1,800 hours pay recouped their hard-earned wages Wednesday at the Manhattan district attorneys office.

The seven workers made whole at the DAs first wage-repayment event were owed about $50,000 from Ampak Electrical Services for electrical work they performed at British billionaire Richard Bransons hotel on W. 30th St and Broadway in 2021.

They were repaid with cash from DA Alvin Braggs Stolen Wage Fund in an initiative with the state Department of Labor and the city Department of Investigation.

It is painful it ended this way, said one of the workers, Anthony Kodjo, 47. I felt like we just worked for free because we dont know who to ask [for] the money.

The DA said an estimated $1 billion in wages is stolen from New Yorkers annually.

It comes down to power and power disparities. This is not happening to high-powered lawyers and captains of industry. This is happening in low-wage jobs, medium wage jobs as well, Bragg told the Daily News, noting a majority of victims are undocumented immigrants.

At its core is power disparity  employers who are just cheating the system, who might not go out and take $1,000 out of someones pocket but are literally taking it out of their pocket through their wages, he added. What were saying is, its the same, and it has to be treated as such and prosecuted as such.

Ampak Electrical Services is now defunct. Neither Branson nor his hotel were not accused of any wrongdoing.

Manhattan workers still waiting to be paid within a year of the resolution of their employers criminal case are eligible for compensation from Braggs fund. Its also set up to help those employed by bankrupt businesses unable to cough up payment. The Labor Department vets and calculates the claims distributed by the DA.

The program is still in the pilot phase. If its determined to be successful after one year, the DA will inject another $500,000 in funds.

New Yorkers who believe they are a victim of wage theft can call the DAs Worker Protection Unit at (646) 712-0298.
AntonioGuillem / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Rent prices arent falling in most places  but they are rising by less. According to the 2023 National Rent Report from Zumper, the largest privately owned rental platform in North America, the national median rent for a one-bedroom is up 3.9% year-over-year. Thats the smallest increase in more than two years.

Housing Market 2023: These 15 Cities Are Poised for the Most Stable Growth and Are Likely To Keep Their Value

Learn: What To Do If You Owe Back Taxes to the IRS

But thats cold comfort for the many renters who earn too little to contend with their citys rent-to-income gap. Heres what you need to know about the gap, where it can work in your favor and how to strike a deal with your new landlord when you get there.

You Shouldnt  and Often Cant  Spend More Than 30%

Experts have long agreed that you should keep your housing costs below one-third of your income, but it was mostly just a guideline.

Today, its often a mandate.

This is a situation where, especially in the current economy, landlords are taking this decision out of renters hands, said Leonard Ang, the CEO of iPropertyManagement Leasing. Its a good idea to spend no more than 30% of your total income on housing in any given month. Landlords are increasingly making this a requirement to approve rental applications. Different areas have different income thresholds, but most require that your rent amount to no more than 40% of your income. This is pricing people out of areas where they might have been able to scrape by in years past and making roommates more and more of a necessity.

Find Out: 7 Frugal Habits That Arent Actually Good for Your Finances

The 30% Rule Has Not Kept Up With Housing Costs

No matter your landlords policy, keep in mind the 30% standard emerged when income growth tracked closer to cost-of-living increases.

The notion that about 30% of your monthly income should cover your rent was hatched in a different era, and its high time we recalibrate our thinking, said Adrian Pedraza, licensed real estate agent and owner of The California Homebuyer. In cities where the skyline seems to be made of gold, like San Francisco or Los Angeles, that old 30% rule might be more fiction than fact.

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Its not just the big cities where rents are notoriously high, and its not just the cost of housing. You get less for more with the other 70%, too.

Necessities like groceries and transportation have also been increasing in cost, which makes it difficult for both individuals and families to be able to afford their rent, said Alex Veytsman, real estate market expert and founder of The Offer Sheet, a listing service for short-term rental investment properties. Therefore, this 30% estimate doesnt always work for everyone.

Thats especially true for people whose situations are already precarious.

Lets not forget those financial curveballs like student loans or lingering credit card debt, said Pedraza. They can easily add layers of complexity to an already delicate balancing act.

The Widening Income-to-Rent Gap Makes 30% Impossible in Some Cities

A Chamber of Commerce analysis found that youd need $139,800 a year to afford the $3,495 median rent for a one-bedroom in New York City  yet the median income in the Big Apple is just $65,317.

While New York has the highest rent in America, the city is hardly an outlier.

The Chamber report found that 66 of the 119 cities it analyzed now suffer from rent-to-income gaps. The smallest is in Greensboro, North Carolina, where the gap is just $60  the median earner would have to get a $60 annual raise to afford the $1,062 median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment.

In Miami, where the gap is widest, its $78,713  thats how much more the median earner would have to make per year to afford Miamis $3,000 median monthly rent.

The Least-Forgiving Cities Are Concentrated in a Few States

Of the 31 cities with rent-to-income gaps of $10,000 or more, all but three are in Florida, New York, California, New Jersey or Massachusetts.

The most challenging of the bunch are:

Miami: $78,713

New York: $74,483

Hialeah, Florida: $47,531

Oxnard, California: $44,049

Santa Ana, California: $41,945

Twenty-nine other cities have rent-to-income gaps of between $1,018 (Arlington, Texas) and $9,717 (Fayetteville, North Carolina). Five others have negligible gaps of a few hundred dollars per year, followed by No. 66, Greensboro.

Go Where the Gap Works in Your Favor

Although the majority of the 119 cities the Chamber analyzed had detrimental rent-to-income gaps, 53 favored the renter. Twenty-two have median incomes at least $10,000 higher than is needed to afford the median monthly rent.

The best cities for renters are:

Frisco, Texas: -$29,546

Seattle: -$18,754

Minneapolis: -$17,845

Wichita, Kansas: -$17,631

Huntsville, Alabama: -$17,537

Think Like a Landlord When Negotiating Rent

While many landlords dont allow you to spend more than 30% of your income, some might agree to less  if you understand the priorities and concerns of investment property owners.

For many landlords, its consistency, collecting rent on time every month and never having to chase down delinquent tenants, said Brian Davis, real estate investor and founder of SparkRental. For others, its renting to tenants who will treat their property with kid gloves and not inflict any damage or wear and tear. Others want long-term tenants who will stay for years, so they dont have to hassle with a turnover again for a long time.

Tips on Getting a Lease for Less

A long-term commitment can be a hefty bargaining chip if youre looking for a break on the rent.

Some tenants have approached me willing to sign longer lease agreements, such as two or even three years, said Richard Mews, CEO of Sell With Richard. This provides me with a stable income stream and, in return, Ive agreed to a slightly lower monthly rent.

Other landlords pay their renters back for referrals.

Some tenants brought in friends or family to fill vacant units, and I offered them a referral bonus or a reduction in their own rent for helping find new tenants, said Mews.

And remember, there are few things more tempting to landlords than the guarantee of cash in hand.

Paying several months rent in advance or offering a larger security deposit can sometimes lead to a rent reduction, said Mews, who also suggested being flexible with your move-in dates.

Finally, you might get a break if you have the talent and will to save the landlord money and time on maintenance.

A few tenants who possessed handyman skills offered to take care of minor repairs and maintenance themselves, said Mews. In exchange, I reduced their rent slightly to account for their efforts.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: One Major Sign You Are Overpaying for Rent in Your City  and How To Negotiate It Down
Key Insights

Pelikan International Corporation Berhad's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public

The top 4 shareholders own 54% of the company

28% of Pelikan International Corporation Berhad is held by insiders

If you want to know who really controls Pelikan International Corporation Berhad (KLSE:PELIKAN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 30% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And individual insiders on the other hand have a 28% ownership in the company. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Pelikan International Corporation Berhad.

View our latest analysis for Pelikan International Corporation Berhad

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Pelikan International Corporation Berhad?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Pelikan International Corporation Berhad. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Pelikan International Corporation Berhad's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Story continues

Pelikan International Corporation Berhad is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd, with ownership of 26%. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 13% and 9.1% of the stock. Hooi Loo, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.

Our research also brought to light the fact that roughly 54% of the company is controlled by the top 4 shareholders suggesting that these owners wield significant influence on the business.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Pelikan International Corporation Berhad

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Pelikan International Corporation Berhad. Insiders own RM143m worth of shares in the RM519m company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 30% stake in Pelikan International Corporation Berhad. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 15%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Pelikan International Corporation Berhad that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.
Petrobras (PBR), Brazils state-owned oil and gas company, signed a strategic cooperation with China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) in order to expand the latters presence in Brazil's deep-water pre-salt basins, per media reports.

The deal, according to CNOOC, is a milestone in the development of the cooperation and has major implications for the Belt and Road Initiative and international energy cooperation. Most of the Chinese oil and gas companies, according to an analyst, have recently expanded domestic production while purchasing stakes in other oilfields as the country has been strengthening its energy security by diversifying its procurement.

According to an analyst at BloombergNEF, CNOOC's oil and gas production is anticipated to increase more than 6% annually between 2022 and 2024. According to the data published by BloombergNEF, pre-salt oil production in Brazil has increased dramatically over the previous 10 years, increasing from 70,000 barrels per day (b/d) in January 2011 to 2.3 million b/d by the third quarter of 2022. Brazil's pre-salt oil projects are extremely cost-competitive and such projects only need to attain a break-even status on a project level at a price of $35 per barrel.

CNOOC has a strong foothold in Brazil's oil and gas industry, with a 7.34% stake in an integrated development project, the deepwater Buzios field, and a 9.65% stake in the Mero oilfield development. In Brazil, CNOOC is the first foreign company to achieve autonomous natural gas sales.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Currently, Petrobras carries a Zack Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked players in the energy sector are USA Compression Partners, LP USAC, currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and Global Partners GLP and Evolution Petroleum Corporation EPM, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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USA Compression Partners is one of the largest independent natural gas compression service providers across the United States in terms of fleet horsepower. USAC has witnessed an upward earnings estimate revision for 2023 and 2024 in the past 30 days.

Global Partners is a Delaware limited partnership, formed by affiliates of the Slifka family. The partnership owns, controls or has access to one of the largest terminal networks of refined petroleum products in New England. GLP is one of the largest wholesale distributors of distillates. It has witnessed an upward earnings estimate revision for 2023 and 2024 in the past 30 days.

Evolution Petroleum is an independent energy company. It was formed to acquire and develop oil and gas fields, and apply both conventional and specialized technology to accelerate production, particularly in low-permeability reservoirs. EPM has witnessed an upward earnings estimate revision for 2024 in the past 60 days.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (PBR) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Global Partners LP (GLP) : Free Stock Analysis Report

USA Compression Partners, LP (USAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Evolution Petroleum Corporation, Inc. (EPM) : Free Stock Analysis Report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

Zacks Investment Research
The board of PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad (KLSE:PETDAG) has announced that it will be paying its dividend of MYR0.18 on the 26th of September, an increased payment from last year's comparable dividend. This takes the annual payment to 2.8% of the current stock price, which unfortunately is below what the industry is paying.

View our latest analysis for PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad

PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad's Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

The dividend yield is a little bit low, but sustainability of the payments is also an important part of evaluating an income stock. Prior to this announcement, PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad's dividend made up quite a large proportion of earnings but only 33% of free cash flows. In general, cash flows are more important than earnings, so we are comfortable that the dividend will be sustainable going forward, especially with so much cash left over for reinvestment.

Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 11.8%. If recent patterns in the dividend continues, the payout ratio in 12 months could be 83% which is a bit high but can definitely be sustainable.

Dividend Volatility

The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. Since 2013, the annual payment back then was MYR1.05, compared to the most recent full-year payment of MYR0.62. The dividend has shrunk at around 5.1% a year during that period. Generally, we don't like to see a dividend that has been declining over time as this can degrade shareholders' returns and indicate that the company may be running into problems.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve

Given that the track record hasn't been stellar, we really want to see earnings per share growing over time. It's not great to see that PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad's earnings per share has fallen at approximately 2.7% per year over the past five years. A modest decline in earnings isn't great, and it makes it quite unlikely that the dividend will grow in the future unless that trend can be reversed. However, the next year is actually looking up, with earnings set to rise. We would just wait until it becomes a pattern before getting too excited.

Story continues

Our Thoughts On PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad's Dividend

Overall, we always like to see the dividend being raised, but we don't think PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad will make a great income stock. In the past, the payments have been unstable, but over the short term the dividend could be reliable, with the company generating enough cash to cover it. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. For example, we've picked out 1 warning sign for PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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.
Allied Market Research

The global portable ultrasound scanner market is driven by factors such as a rise in prevalence of chronic diseases, technological advancement in the portable ultrasound scanners, and surgein adoption of intraoperative ultrasound by surgeons.

New Castle, Delaware, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, Portable ultrasound scanner Market by Type (Mobile Ultrasound Scanners and Handheld Ultrasound Scanners), Applications (Radiology and General Imaging, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cardiology, Urology, Vascular, And Others) End User (Hospitals and Clinics, Diagnostic Labs, Maternity Centers, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, And Others) Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20232032". According to the report, the portable ultrasound scanners market was valued at $2.4 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach $4.1 billion by 2032, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.7% from 2023 to 2032.

A portable ultrasound scanner, alternatively referred to as a handheld ultrasound device or a portable ultrasound machine, is a medical imaging apparatus that permits medical practitioners to observe internal body structures by utilizing high-frequency sound waves. These tools are crafted to be small, lightweight, and conveniently movable, rendering them appropriate for on-the-spot imaging across diverse medical environments.

Request Sample of the Report: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/4321

Prime determinants of growth

The Portable ultrasound scanner market has experienced significant growth due to a rise in prevalence of cardiovascular disease, technological advancement in portable ultrasound scanners, high adoption of diagnostic ultrasound devices in obstetrics and gynecology field and rise in adoption of intraoperative ultrasound. The compact size of portable ultrasound scanners does not compromise their imaging capabilities. These devices often come equipped with advanced technology, producing high-quality images that aid in accurate diagnoses and treatment planning.

Story continues

Report coverage & details:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 20232032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $2.4 billion Market Size in 2032 $4.1 billion CAGR 5.7% No. of Pages in Report 280 Segments covered Type, Application, End User and Region. Drivers Rise in prevalence of chronic diseases.



Technological advancement in portable ultrasound scanners.



Rise in adoption of intraoperative ultrasound by surgeons. Opportunities High growth potential in developing economies. Restraints Lack of skilled person to perform ultrasound. Limited battery life of hand-held ultrasound scanners.

COVID 19 Impact Analysis

The pandemic had a significant impact on the portable ultrasound scanner market.

There was a surge in demand for portable ultrasound scanners to conduct quick assessments of lung conditions and monitor the progression of the disease, aiding in timely and accurate decision-making.

On the other hand, the supply chain disruptions have led to the shortage of portable ultrasound scanners.

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The mobile ultrasound segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on type, the mobile ultrasound segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the portable ultrasound scanner market revenue, owing to high adoption of mobile ultrasound devices. However, the handheld ultrasound scanners segment is expected to register the fastest growth of 6.2% during the forecast period, owing to the ability of handheld ultrasound scanners to diagnose a wide range of diseases.

The radiology/general imaging segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on applications, the radiology/general imaging segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly two-fifths of the portable ultrasound scanner market revenue and is expected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period. This is attributed to the surge in prevalence of chronic diseases. The same segment would cite the fastest CAGR of 7.0% from 2023 to 2032.

The hospitals and clinics segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on end user, the hospitals and clinics segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than half of the portable ultrasound scanner market revenue and is estimated to rule the roost throughout the forecast timeframe. This is attributed to the high adoption of portable ultrasound scanners for diagnosis of patients in hospitals and clinics. The same segment is projected to showcase the fastest CAGR of 7.0% from 2023 to 2032.

For Purchase Inquiry: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/4321

The North America segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on region, the North America segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than one third of the portable ultrasound scanner market revenue and is expected to dominate the market in terms of revenue during the forecast time period. This is attributed to the high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and well-developed healthcare infrastructure. Asia Pacific, on the other hand, is estimated to showcase a notable CAGR of 6.6% during the forecast period.

Leading Market Players:

Fujifilm Corporation

Mindray Medical International Limited.

Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Samsung Healthcare

Canon Medical Systems Corporation

Zimmer Medizinsysteme Gmbh

Siemens Healthineers Ag

Butterfly Network

Hitachi, Ltd.

Iljin Group

Browse More Trending Reports in Healthcare Industry By AMR

The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players in the portable ultrasound scanner market. These players have adopted different strategies such as product launch 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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We have also published few syndicated market studies in the similar area that might be of your interest. Below are the report title for your reference, considering Impact of Covid-19 Over This Market which will help you to assess aftereffects of pandemic on short-term and long-term growth trends of this market.

About Allied Market Research:

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domains. AMR offers its services across 11 industry verticals including Life Sciences, Consumer Goods, Materials & Chemicals, Construction & Manufacturing, Food & Beverages, Energy & Power, Semiconductor & Electronics, Automotive & Transportation, ICT & Media, Aerospace & Defense, and BFSI.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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British insurer Prudential reported strong first-half earnings as new policy sales to mainland Chinese visitors surged as they returned to Hong Kong to buy insurance products after the border reopened earlier this year.

Adjusted net profit for the first six months of the year came in at US$947 million, compared with a loss of US$1.5 billion a year earlier, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday. Operating profit rose 6 per cent to US$1.46 billion.

Prudential adopted the new IFRS17 accounting standard this year and adjusted the figures from a year earlier for comparison purposes.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

The value of new business, a key measure of sales and future growth, surged 39 per cent to nearly US$1.5 billion.

The number of mainland Chinese tourists to Hong Kong stood at 10 million in the first half. Photo: Edmond So alt=The number of mainland Chinese tourists to Hong Kong stood at 10 million in the first half. Photo: Edmond So>

"In the first half of 2023, in Hong Kong, both domestic and Chinese mainland visitor segments performed particularly well," Anil Wadhwani, the new CEO of Prudential, who joined the insurer in February from rival Manulife, said in the earnings statement.

"Our agency channel has rebounded strongly in all segments as Covid restrictions ended, reporting 89 per cent growth in new business profit on an ex-economics basis.

"Over the next five years to 2027 we will look to grow new business profits across all our markets more consistently, with an objective of 15 to 20 per cent compound annual growth from the level of new business profits achieved in 2022."

Wadhwani will meet the media on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the earnings.

The insurer said 13 of the 22 markets it operates in Asia and Africa achieved strong growth in new sales, with Hong Kong seeing the highest growth at 68 per cent, as mainland visitors returned after the border reopened between Hong Kong and mainland China in January.

Story continues

In the first half, 13 million travellers visited the city, including more than 10 million from mainland China, according to government data.

New sales in the first half rose 42 per cent in Indonesia, 31 per cent in Africa, 13 per cent in the Philippines and 12 per cent in Malaysia. However, they fell 5 per cent in Singapore and 31 per cent in Vietnam.

In June, Prudential made a foray into the Macau market, setting up its first branch there and completing its presence in all 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area. As the 13th life insurer to operate in Macau, Prudential competes with AIA, AXA and FWD among others.

Prudential's asset-management arm, Eastspring, saw funds under management rise 3 per cent to US$227.7 billion at the end of June, from US$221.4 billion at the end of last year, as a result of higher insurance and retail fund sales.

Prudential's shares rose 1 per cent to HK$98.35 on Wednesday morning before the results announcement at the lunch break, while the broader Hang Seng Index added 0.5 per cent.

The insurer declared an interim dividend of 6.26 US cents per share, 9 per cent higher than its target.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sharjah Media City (Shams) has signed an agreement with Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), a leading TV and radio broadcasting company in South Korea, to strengthen cooperation in the global media industry.

MBC Korea's terrestrial operations has a nationwide network of 17 regional stations and is headquartered in Digital Media City, Mapo District, Seoul.

The partnership aims to deepen ties between Shams and MBC Korea through enhanced media content business development and exchange of knowledge and expertise between both parties, said a statement.

The partnership serves to accomplish common goals and improve media content in both countries in accordance with regulations and legislation, the statement added.

Rashid Abdullah Al Obed, Managing Director of Sharjah Media City, and Hyoung-Mun Choi, Director of Business Centre and Head of projects at MBC, signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in a ceremony held in Shams Business Centre on Wednesday (August 30, 2023).

Al Obed said the bilateral cooperation demonstrates Shams eagerness to continue building a network of cooperation and partnership with various international media companies for the future of the media sector and to establish a sustainable model of professional international cooperation.

Hyoung-Mun Choi, Director of Business Centre and Head of all MBC projects said the signing of the MOU with Shams was an influential step forward, owing to Shams long history and good standing in the media industry. MBC Korea strives to strengthen the frameworks of joint media cooperation to bilaterally enrich media and achieve globalisation. - TradeArabia News Service
'It was really a nightmare': This Manitoba man ditched his family's electric truck on road trip from Winnipeg to Chicago after it failed to charge  here's why EVs still struggle

As summer winds down, this may be the time to take that final family road trip before school starts, and what better way to do it than in an environmentally-friendly electric vehicle (EV)?

Except, perhaps, if youre Dalbir Bala of La Salle, Manitoba. Bala abandoned his Ford Lightning electric truck midway through his family road trip after the vehicle failed to charge at two separate charging stations in Minnesota. He was forced to rent a gas-powered vehicle to complete their drive to Chicago.

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He purchased the truck earlier this year for CA$115,000 (about $85,000); it had a full battery when he and his family left their home near Winnipeg. Bala had already mapped out a series of faster level 3 charging stations along his route. The first stop went smoothly, but when he attempted to plug his truck in at his second stop, he got a faulty connection message.

He called the number listed on the charger for help, but no one answered. He still had a bit of charge left in his battery so he headed over to a nearby station, only to find it didn't work either.

Down to 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) left in his truck's battery and no other fast chargers within range, Bala chose to abandon his new truck and rent a Toyota 4Runner to finish his trip.

"It was really a nightmare," Bala told CBC News, adding that he wants no more distraction or frustration on his future roadtrips.

Bala isn't alone in his ire. A recent survey by J.D. Power of U.S. EV owners' experiences charging their vehicles at public stations found that customer satisfaction at both level 3 and the slower level 2 charges is on the decline. In fact, level 2 satisfaction reached its lowest point this year since the study began in 2021.

Story continues

Yet EVs continue, if you will, to be on a roll. Electric vehicle sales reached an all-time record in the second quarter of 2023 with nearly 300,000 sold in the U.S. alone, according to Cox Automotive. The International Energy Agency expects to see a whopping 14 million EVs sold around the world by the end of 2023.

Which way to drive, then? Here are three reasons EVs arent likely to overtake gas-powered cars just yet.

Relying on charging stations isnt ideal

The U.S. has an average of 104 gas pumps per 1,000 road miles compared to only 22 EV charging stations. This can make topping your battery on a long trip much harder than filling a gas tank.

Bala's experience also highlights the importance of regular maintenance and support at EV charging stations. Unlike gas stations, theyre often unmanned, which in the event of a malfunction forces frustrated customers to call the company running them for help  and they don't always answer, as Bala will tell you.

Read more: Here's how much money the average middle-class American household makes  how do you stack up?

Theyre not as green as youd hope

A key selling point for EVs is that they reduce emissions over their lifetime. But creating electricity still generates emissions. In areas heavily dependent on conventional electricity generation, this benefit over gas-powered or hybrid vehicles may not be as great as you'd hope.

For instance, in Wyoming, EV-related emissions coming from the production of electricity run at close to 90% of hybrid emissions.

On top of that, their batteries don't last forever. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that today's EV batteries may last only up to 15 years in moderate climates and 12 years in extreme climates.

Lower towing range

If you like to use your vehicle for towing, EVs may not be for you. While models such as the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T are capable of towing, doing so will reduce the vehicle's range. Car and Driver found that towing a 6100-pound camper cut the range on both of these vehicles by nearly two-thirds.

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This janitor in Vermont built an $8M fortune without anyone around him knowing. Here are the 2 simple techniques that made Ronald Read rich  and can do the same for you

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - August 30, 2023) - Record Resources Inc. (TSXV: REC) wishes to reissue its press release from August 28, 2023 with certain clarifications. The company is pleased to report that it has entered into a non-binding and arm's length agreement to acquire preferred shares from a private equity fund that owns and is developing a gold exploration property in Djibouti, Africa.

The non-binding agreement is with the African Minerals Exploration & Development Fund III Sicar (AMED Fund III) registered in Luxembourg and Red Sea Gold B.V. and Nurtureex B.V., both of Utrecht, Netherlands. Red Sea and Nurtureex are AMED's operating entities and are the developers of the Djibouti gold project. These parties collectively control 69% of Thani Stratex Djibouti Limited (TSDL). It is TSDL that holds the mining claims in Djibouti.

AMED Funds is a group of private equity funds that have invested in various mineral projects in Africa, some of which have already been successfully sold to third parties. AMED Fund's team is composed of highly experienced professionals in the mining and exploration industry with an impressive track record and network of partners.

The sponsoring partner of AMED Funds is Rudolph de Bruin, an international mining industry veteran with decades of successful mining and exploration experience, who was recently involved in a consortium that acquired Canada Fluorspar (NL) Inc and its fluorspar mine in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland.

There are no finder's fees and new insiders being created. A definitive agreement, which may not occur, will need to be executed to complete the transactions between the parties.

Pursuant to the execution of a definitive agreement, Record will acquire half of AMED's preferred shares in the Djibouti project in return for investing US$7.5 million in exploration and development expenses over a three-year period. A first investment of US$2.5 million is due 12 months following execution of the agreement and at the two consecutive 12-month anniversaries thereafter.

Story continues

In addition, a co-operatorship agreement, to govern the development of the property, will also be entered into following the execution of the definitive agreement and once Record has made a first investment of US$1 million. Record will also hold a First Right of Refusal on the asset enabling it to bid on a takeover before another party following the execution of the definitive agreement.

The preferred shares to be acquired by Record constitutes half of the preferred shares to be owned by AMED Funds. Following the transaction, AMED Funds will own 69 percent of the Djibouti project. Following the earning of its interest, Record will own half of the preferred shares and AMED Funds will own the other half. Furthermore, the preferred shares have a conversion feature which prescribes that the holder receive a maximum of two times their investment before a distribution is made to other shareholders at the time of a sale or buy-out and then convert into common shares on a 1:1 basis.

AMED and, in turn Red Sea Gold and Nurturex own 69 % of Thani Stratex Djibouti Ltd (TSDL) a private, British Virgin Islands registered company with Exploration and Reconnaissance Permits in The Republic of Djibouti. TSDL was formed by AMED and other investors to develop the Djibouti opportunity.

TSDL has built a portfolio of permits in the Republic of Djibouti and been successful at advancing their development quickly. According to James Wilson, (geologist, NMDG, Krugersdorp, South Africa) in a non-compliant NI 43-101 work report produced in 2022, indicated that US$11 million has been spent on the property to date and 15,000 metres of exploration drilling has been completed.

Kenogami East Transaction

Record Resources Inc. (formerly known as Record Gold Corp and Silk Road Energy Inc.) wishes to clarify omissions from its news release of August 10, 2022.

Omitted from the previous disclosure is that, as part of the Kenogami East transaction, Melba Mining Company Ltd. owns a 2% Net Smelter Royalty (NSR) on the asset. Half of this NSR can be purchased by Record Resources for $500,000.

The company stands by its original disclosure that the Kenogami East transaction with Melba Mining Company Ltd. constitutes an asset acquisition. The purchase price, as previously disclosed, is one million shares of the company and a cash payment of $50,000. This transaction has closed.

Grenfell Transaction and Special Meeting of Shareholders

On September 6, 2023 the company will hold a Special Meeting of Shareholders to approve: (1) The Grenfell Gold Property transaction; (2) The purchase price of the transaction.

As previously disclosed (February 23, 2023 news release) the non-arms-length transaction with Pelangio Exploration Inc is pursuant to a conveyance agreement executed on August 23, 2022. Record Resources has agreed to exchange its option agreement with Pelangio Exploration Inc. (PX.V) in return for 40 million shares of Record Resources at a price of $0.05 per share. The Grenfell transaction requires the approval of the company's disinterested shareholders. This vote follows the submission of the NI 43-101-compliant geological report to the TSX Venture Exchange and shareholders.

Qualified Person:

Edward Procyshyn, P.Geo, a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

For more information please contact:

Michael C. Judson, Chairman & CEO

Record Resources Inc.

T. +1-514-865-5496

Website: www.recordgoldcorp.com

Cautionary Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes", an or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would" , "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: approval of the Private Placement and obtaining a full revocation order. This forward-looking information reflects the Company's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to the Company and on assumptions the Company believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to: the market acceptance of the Private Placement; the ability of the Company to obtain a full revocation order and the receipt of all required approvals in connection with the foregoing. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; general capital market conditions and market price for securities; and the delay or failure to receive board, shareholder, court or regulatory approvals. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. 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 does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change.

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

The Units and the securities comprising the Units have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirement. This news 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 the Unites States, or any other jurisdiction, in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

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/179150
ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon, an RTX business, has been awarded $7 million to advance development and assessment of the company's GhostEye MR radar, an advanced medium-range sensor for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS.

GhostEye MR is an advanced 360-degree surveillance and fire control sensor designed for NASAMS that can detect, track, and identify a wide variety of threats.

These are the first government contracts for GhostEye MR, a multi-mission radar designed and developed by Raytheon via internal research and development investments. Funding will support continued radar development and then an operational assessment at White Sands Missile Range later this year.

"This government support confirms the growing relevance and demand for the capabilities of GhostEye MR, as nations around the globe look to bolster their air defense," said Tom Laliberty, president of Land & Air Defense Systems at Raytheon. "Partnering with DoD, Air Force, and Kongsberg, we will showcase the sensor's range of capabilities against a multitude of emerging threats."

The experiment at White Sands will assess the operational performance of GhostEye MR, with the radar providing effective surveillance cues and integrating with the combat-proven NASAMS air defense system. This follows the Strategic Developmental Planning & Experimentation (SDPE) office's successful air base air defense experiment in Andya, Norway, last September, which showcased NASAMS' ability to engage and intercept various advanced aerial threats using multiple Raytheon missile types and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace's Fire Distribution Center, or FDC. The operational assessment in September will build upon the capabilities demonstrated in Andya by utilizing the U.S. Air Force's relevant command and control to link GhostEye MR with NASAMS' FDC.

Funding consists of a contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Lab's SDPE office and the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Rapid Prototyping Program (RPP).

A member of Raytheon's GhostEye family of sensors, GhostEye MR is an advanced medium-range multi-mission radar for NASAMS. The radar, introduced in 2021, provides increased range and altitude coverage to expand the defended-area capabilities of NASAMS. Additionally, GhostEye MR leverages commonality with the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) that Raytheon is building for the U.S. Army.

Story continues

About RTX

RTX is the world's largest aerospace and defense company. With more than 180,000 global employees, we push the limits of technology and science to redefine how we connect and protect our world. Through industry-leading businesses  Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon  we are advancing aviation, engineering integrated defense systems for operational success, and developing next-generation technology solutions and manufacturing to help global customers address their most critical challenges. The company, with 2022 sales of $67 billion, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

For questions or to schedule an interview, please contact:

Nick Garrison

corporatepr@rtx.com

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rtx-receives-dod-funding-for-ghosteye-mr-radar-development-and-experimentation-301909739.html

SOURCE RTX
Wolf Creative founder Serena Wolf was on last year's list of top recruiters Wolf Creative

Insider is seeking nominations for its list of top headhunters for the ad industry.

This list showcases outside recruiters helping ad firms find C-level execs, AI talent, and more.

Submit your nominations via the form below by September 15.

After a rough start to the year, the US ad industry's hiring picked up significantly during the middle of the year, and the rise of AI-driven tools will further reshape advertising roles, according to Insider Intelligence.

From C-levels to AI-talent, advertisers, ad agencies, and adtech companies are turning to top recruiters to find the talent who can help lead their companies into the future.

Insider is seeking nominations for outside recruiters, both independent and at agencies, with experience helping ad industry clients staff up. Check out our previous list here.

Please submit your nominations via this form by 5 p.m. ET September 15. We'll publish the list in late September.

Read the original article on Business Insider
FILE PHOTO: The logo for SentinelOne Inc, a cybersecurity firm, is displayed on a screen during the companys IPO at the NYSE in New York

(Reuters) - SentinelOne said on Wednesday it had terminated a partnership with cybersecurity startup Wiz, citing "lack of execution".

The termination comes less than a week after Wiz said it was considering a bid for SentinelOne, which offers artificial intelligence-backed cybersecurity products.

SentinelOne, launched in Israel in 2013, also said the partnership has not been productive for its business.

Wiz, founded in 2020 and backed by Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners and Blackstone, offers products to detect and respond to threats to cloud systems.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
Short-selling legend Jim Chanos had a few choice words for VinFast Auto, the wunderkind car stock from Vietnam, shortly before it tanked by more than 40% in Tuesdays trading session.

The speculator, who famously made a fortune betting against Enron before its demise, branded the electric vehicle newcomer a $200 billion meme stock only hours earlier.

Retail is buying a stock that options traders think will drop 50%in the next three weeks, he tweeted on Musks rebranded X site, citing the implied price based on put options set to expire on Sept. 15.

Its unclear whether Chanos was signaling he himself was taking on a short position in VinFast just as he has with EV rival Tesla, but investors follow the Wall Street veteran for trading advice.

Either way, shares in VinFast plummeted thereafter.

Chanos could not be immediately reached for comment, while representatives from VinFast did not respond to a request by Fortune for comment.

The Vietnamese carmakers debut as a publicly traded company marked something of a fairy tale for the startup.

Eschewing a conventional and more rigorous IPO, it listed earlier this month through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

In a matter of days, it had overtaken almost the entire car industry in market value.

If $VFS (Vinfast) is lucky, they will do 40K units this year. Toyota will do 40K units in the next 40 hours. Market cap, $200B. When things act like this, one has to wonder. About everything.  Drew Dickson (@AlbertBridgeCap) August 28, 2023

This is despite the fact that VinFast is just a six-year-old carmaker that sold only 18,700 electric vehicles to date and hails from a country that built half as many cars as Morocco last year.

Story continues

Worse, what notoriety it had won came from building the worst new EV to be launched in the U.S. market this year.

Customers were so furious it quickly rushed out in June a policy to compensate owners for their troubles.

VinFast losing over $80 billion in market cap on a single Tuesday and still ranking as the worlds third most valuable carmaker, after Tesla and Toyota, highlights the companys significant overvaluation at the beginning of the week.

High stock price based on VinFasts thin free float

To truly grasp the astonishing scale of VinFasts market capitalization, lets compare it with its automotive peers.

According to Morningstar data cited by Yahoo Finance, Toyotas market cap is less than its trailing 12-month revenue. This is a reasonable valuation for a mature industry leader. In contrast, GM and Ford face more substantial discounts from investors.

In the realm of growth stocks, electric vehicle manufacturers like Rivian, Nio, and Xpeng are valued at up to six times their respective revenue figures. Tesla, under Elon Musks leadership, commands an even higher premium as investors anticipate a greater share of high-margin earnings from its self-driving software, FSD.

In stark contrast, VinFast was trading at a staggering 350 times its annual sales. This raises serious questions about its market valuation.

Yet as much as it may be tempting for short-sellers to place sizable bets on the air eventually being let out of its inflated valuation, its not that easy.

For Chanos or anyone else willing to place a bearish wager, simply locating a prime broker able and willing to loan out the shares could prove extremely challenging.

Thats because 99% of the stock is held by one man: chairman and founder Pham Nhat Vuong, who at one point this week was Asias second richest tycoon on paper thanks to VinFast.

Moreover, since the bet could quickly go south at the slightest buying pressure, the collateral requirements that come with shorting VinFast could prove prohibitively high.

For anyone willing to risk money on such a volatile stock, it may be easier to take Chanoss indirect suggestion and simply look for opportunity in the options market.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

More from Fortune:

5 side hustles where you may earn over $20,000 per yearall while working from home

Want more for your money? These 9 savings accounts have rates of 5.00% APY (and higher)

Buying a house? Here's how much to save

This is how much money you need to earn annually to comfortably buy a $600,000 home
The Department of Education is discharging $72 million in student loans for over 2,300 former students who attended Ashford University after the department found the online for-profit school made "substantial misrepresentations" that harmed borrowers.

The action applies to borrowers who enrolled in Ashford from March 1, 2009, through April 30, 2020, and filed for a borrower defense loan discharge, a legal ground borrowers can take against a school that engaged in misconduct related to the loan or the educational services it provided. These borrowers will receive emails from the Department of Education in September and no further action is needed.

Borrowers who attended Ashford but did not file a borrower's defense discharge will need to complete an application on the Federal Student Aid website.

This discharge comes after litigation on behalf of the California Department of Justice against Ashford and its parent company, Zovio Inc., resulted in a judgment against both entities in March 2022.

James Kvaal, under secretary of the Department of Education, listens to opening statements during a House Committee on Education and the Workforce on May 24 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

"As the California Department of Justice proved in court, Ashford relied extensively on high-pressure and deceptive recruiting tactics to lure students," James Kvaal, the Department of Education under secretary, said in a statement. "Today we are protecting the students who were cheated by Ashford, and we will also hold the perpetrators accountable, protect taxpayers, and deter future wrongdoing."

The Department of Education said Ashford told students that they could work as teachers, social workers, and nurses, but the institution never obtained state approval or accreditation for these programs. Ashford also misrepresented the cost of attendance and the amount of financial aid students would receive, saying the amount of loan debt would only be around $50 to $75 per month, the department said.

Ashford told students it had an accelerated degree path that was faster than a four-year school when its programs were structured for five years. It also exaggerated the transferability of credits to other institutions, according to the Department of Education.

Story continues

Only 25% of borrowers graduated from Ashford within eight years of enrolling.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta fields questions during a news conference Aug. 28 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

"What Ashford University did to its students was unconscionable and illegal," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press release. "Thats why the California Department of Justice took Ashford and its parent company to court. Ultimately, we prevailed, securing more than $22 million in penalties."

The University of Arizona acquired Ashford University in August 2020 and rebranded it the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC). Direct ownership was completed in June 2023. In acquiring Ashford, UAGC assumed any liability from Ashford.

The Department of Education is seeking to recoup costs for the borrower's defense discharge from the University of Arizona.

The University of Arizona had no prior knowledge of todays announcement by the Attorney General of California and U.S. Department of Education of $72 million in borrower defense to repayment discharges for more than 2,300 students who attended Ashford University (Ashford) and applied to the Department for relief, a media spokesperson for the University of Arizona told Yahoo Finance. The University of Arizona is reviewing the Departments action and related information and will be assessing its options. These actions of Ashford and Zovio occurred well before The University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) acquired Ashford University.

However, when a school acquires another school they agree to accept the liability from the school theyre acquiring, according to senior officials from the Department of Education.

"I want to thank the Biden-Harris administration for changing the lives of thousands of former Ashford students today," Bonta said. "They have lived a nightmare for too long. I encourage other individuals who took out federal student loans to attend Ashford and were subject to its deceptive or misleading tactics, to apply for relief from the US Department of Education as soon as possible."

Any student loan borrower who believes they were defrauded can apply for a borrower's defense discharge on the Federal Student Aid website.

Read more: Worried about when student loan repayments resume? These programs could help

Ronda is a personal finance senior reporter for Yahoo Finance and attorney with experience in law, insurance, education, and government. Follow her on Twitter @writesronda

Read the latest personal finance trends and news from Yahoo Finance.

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Flipboard, and LinkedIn
Summit Credit Union's Vice President of Branch Sales and Services Viki Ryan, center left, and Oneida branch manager April Adasiewicz, center right, cut a ribbon Tuesday at the credit union's new branch, 2350 S. Oneida St. in Ashwaubenon.

ASHWAUBENON  A new credit union has arrived in northeastern Wisconsin.

Summit Credit Union on Tuesday opened a new branch at 2350 S. Oneida St.

Kim Sponem, CEO and president of the credit union, said in a news release the company opened a second branch in Howard.

"We are eager to share our various financial tools and offer our expertise to the people of Green Bay," Sponem said.

The branch in Howard is located at 2673 Lineville Road, next to Zesty's Frozen Custard & Grill.

Summit Credit Union is headquartered in Cottage Grove and has 56 locations across Wisconsin, according to its website, with most of them in the Madison area, Milwaukee and Waukesha.

These are the first two in the northeast, with the next-closest locations in Fond du Lac and Sheboygan.

Ariel Perez is a business reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach him at APerez1@gannett.com or view his Twitter profile at @Ariel_Perez85.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Summit Credit Union opens new branches in Howard and Green Bay
Sunshine Minting, Inc.

Plating

Annex Plating, LLC

Sunshine Minting, Inc.

Tom Power, President & CEO

Color Tokens

Liberty Refiners, LLC

HENDERSON, Nev., Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As part of Sunshine Minting, Inc.s (SMI) ongoing strategic plan to enhance its capabilities and services that are provided to their customers, SMI is pleased to announce the following:



SMI





Annex Plating, LLC

Effective August 1, 2023, SMI has acquired 100% ownership of Annex Plating, LLC, located in North Providence, Rhode Island. This is the culmination of over a 20-year history with Annex Plating, first as a Vendor for SMI, and since 2014, SMI has been a 50% stakeholder of Annex Plating. This final acquisition of the remaining 50% of the entity will allow Annex Plating to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMI.

Barry Fishback, the founder of Annex Plating, will remain with the company as its Vice President of Operations, ensuring a smooth transition and providing continuity for its existing customers. The operation will maintain the current facility located in North Providence and retain its highly skilled and dedicated employees.

Tom Power 2023





Tom Power, Chief Executive Officer of Sunshine Minting, Inc., commented, The acquisition of the remaining ownership of Annex Plating will add more financial, technical depth, and support for the growth of Annex Platings operation which is key for customers currently using them as a vendor. We can now expand on their current capabilities and bring new product lines to our growing customer base.

Power continued, Annex Plating brings a unique set of skills for producing non-precious metal items such as Copper and Brass medals, medallions, and tokens, a full array of plating options such as Gold, Silver, Platinum, Rhodium, and Ruthenium, select Gold enhancements, antiquing and lacquering, as well as a full-service minting facility. These additional processes allow us to further expand our business lines deeper into the semi-numismatic, numismatic, and custom products in all materials. We are very excited about introducing our newest abilities to our customers!

Story continues





Color tokens Picture

Liberty Refiners, LLC

On August 25, 2023, SMI acquired the assets of Liberty Refiners, LLC located in Hayden, Idaho. Since the inception of Liberty Refiners in 2007, this company and its founder, Rick Hurt, have been able to service the needs of the Silver Valley mining companies, located in nearby Kellogg, Idaho, by providing a source of ethical refining and world class analytical capabilities. Liberty has been the main refining partner for SMI since that time. Liberty Refiners is renowned for its ability to provide ultra-high purity outturns to its customers with silver up to 9999+ purity and gold up to 99999 purity. Liberty Refiners will now become a fully integrated service department of SMI, providing a whole new dimension of capabilities to its customers.

Tom Power stated, I am very pleased to bring on board the capabilities of Liberty Refiners. This represents the next step in our desire to manage the full supply chain of precious metals processing for our customers. While SMI has always been a full-service minting company, we havent had the ability to deal with scrap materials from our customers or provide dedicated refining services for our clients. Now we can provide those services while maintaining the ultra-high standards we have developed for material processing all under one umbrella. Rick and his team have developed an impressive reputation for quality of materials and service, and now we get to add these capabilities to our portfolio. I am also pleased to announce that Rick is joining the SMI team in the role as Director of Refining Services. We are very excited to welcome Rick and the Liberty employees to our team.

About Sunshine Minting, Inc.

Sunshine Minting, Inc. (SMI) is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada and is one of the worlds largest suppliers of precious metal products for the minting and bullion industry globally. SMI has been supplying quality products and services to the mint industry (blanks, bullion, and custom minting) for over 30 years and has a proven track record for quality and innovation that has helped to re-define the standard around the globe. An ISO 9001:2015 Certified Company (certified by DNV), SMI manufactures and supplies fine silver and fine gold products, as well as platinum products, to government and private mints and to prominent, well-known financial institutions and marketing companies worldwide.

SMI currently operates four manufacturing facilities on two continents; Henderson, Nevada, Coeur dAlene, Idaho, North Providence Rhode Island in the United States and in Shanghai, China.

SMI produces products in accordance with the stringent specifications demanded by our government mint customers. Our proficient, up-to-date laboratory facility ensures that all products fulfill the specified requirements of our customers. Our customers are worldwide in North America, South America, Asia and Europe.

Our gold and silver bullion products are sold by most of the major bullion dealers, financial institutions, and distributors around the world. We have an established reputation for quality, consistency, and capacity as well as for embracing innovative concepts and technology in the precious metal industry. SMI silver bars and rounds range in weight from 1 gram to 500 ounces. Gold bars and rounds range from 1 gram to 1 kilogram and most of our gold product is packaged in customized Tamper Evident Packaging (TEP). All SMI Branded Bullion products contain our innovative MintMark SITM Anti-Counterfeit technology.

Sunshine Minting, Inc. is a brand that symbolizes precious metal fineness, exceptional quality, and service. We are the leading manufacturer of products for the minting and bullion industry, and we are committed to meeting customer requirements by providing quality products with cost-effective processes, innovative technology, and timely delivery.

SMI Strategic Consultant Contact:

Rudy R. Miller, Chairman, President & CEO

The Miller Group

(602) 255-0505

rrmiller@themillergroup.net

www.themillergroup.net

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/43fcf366-638d-4e28-bb6e-30ef53249fd9

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/25fbc8d6-1753-437c-ae40-a1ce88eabe06

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8fde9395-f977-4ec6-9a6c-3f6bd7b7273d




Kia Middle East and Africa has hosted an exclusive preview of the all-new 2024 Kia EV9, a groundbreaking three-row all-electric SUV, set to make its debut across the Mena region by Q4 2023.

The event took place at the Caesars Palace Dubai, where guests were given an exclusive opportunity to immerse themselves in the future of sustainable mobility.

Kia's relentless dedication to sustainable mobility solutions shines through in the flagship 2024 all-electric Kia EV9, a testimony to the brand's commitment to shaping a greener automotive landscape.

The all-electric SUV showcases Kias seamless integration in crafting exceptional SUV models, further cementing its leadership within the electric vehicle landscape.-- TradeArabia News Service
(Reuters)  Federal prosecutors are looking into Tesla (TSLA) performance claims after Reuters reported the electric carmaker exaggerated the potential driving distance of its vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Reuters reported in July that Tesla cars often fail to achieve their advertised range estimates and projections reported by the cars' own equipment, citing experts who tested or studied them. The company wrote algorithms about a decade ago to create "rosy" in-dash driving range estimates, Reuters reported a source as saying, and set up a "Diversion Team" to cancel range-related service appointments.

The Austin, Texas-based electric carmaker deployed the team because its service centers were inundated with appointments from owners who had expected better performance based on the companys advertised estimates and the projections displayed by the in-dash range meters of the cars themselves, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Tesla faces many probes, including federal auto safety regulators looking at its Autopilot driver assistance product.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan also is investigating Tesla's use of company funds on a secret project described internally as a house for Chief Executive Elon Musk, the Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. A spokesperson for the federal prosecutors' office declined to comment on the Journal report on the probes.

Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

No dollar figures were disclosed regarding the probe of the house, which the newspaper said was near Austin, Texas.

The Journal reported in July that Tesla board members had investigated whether company resources were misused on the effort.

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk in Beijing

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also opened a civil probe, the Journal reported. An SEC spokesperson said the agency does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation.

Story continues

The probes are in their early stages and may not lead to charges, the Journal said.

Prosecutors focused on the house project were seeking information about personal benefits to Musk, the world's richest man, as well as how much Tesla spent on the project and what it was for, the Journal reported.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru, Luc Cohen in New York and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker)
When close to half the companies in Malaysia have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 15x, you may consider Meta Bright Group Berhad (KLSE:MBRIGHT) as a stock to avoid entirely with its 54.1x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

For example, consider that Meta Bright Group Berhad's financial performance has been poor lately as its earnings have been in decline. It might be that many expect the company to still outplay most other companies over the coming period, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

Check out our latest analysis for Meta Bright Group Berhad

Although there are no analyst estimates available for Meta Bright Group Berhad, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Does Growth Match The High P/E?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Meta Bright Group Berhad would need to produce outstanding growth well in excess of the market.

Taking a look back first, the company's earnings per share growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 25%. Unfortunately, that's brought it right back to where it started three years ago with EPS growth being virtually non-existent overall during that time. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 14% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this information, we find it concerning that Meta Bright Group Berhad is trading at a P/E higher than the market. 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 earnings trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

Story continues

The Bottom Line On Meta Bright Group Berhad's P/E

Using the price-to-earnings 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.

We've established that Meta Bright Group Berhad currently trades on a much higher than expected P/E since its recent three-year growth is lower than the wider market forecast. When we see weak earnings with slower than market growth, we suspect the share price is at risk of declining, sending the high P/E lower. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 2 warning signs for Meta Bright Group Berhad (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that you need to be mindful of.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Meta Bright Group Berhad, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
A new Cookies marijuana dispensary is taking shape at 1209 E. War Memorial Drive in Peoria Heights.

Two new businesses are expected to open this year along the heart of War Memorial Drive in Peoria Heights  a Cookies marijuana dispensary and a Beck's Oil gas station.

Both projects are still under construction but are expected to open their doors in the coming months.

Here's what we know about both projects as progress continues.

When is the Cookies dispensary scheduled to open?

The Cookies marijuana dispensary, located at 1209 E. War Memorial Drive, is the first cannabis dispensary to open in Peoria Heights. Construction on the site, is just about done, according to Conor Johnston, a partner with Project Equity Illinois Inc., which is opening three Cookies stores in Illinois.

Johnston said the site is currently in the final stages of getting its electric and fiber optic hook-ups in place.

He said the store plans to open sometime around Halloween this year.

'New chapter': Coffee business moving to closed Peoria Heights performing arts center

Construction at Beck's Oil going 'very well'

Work continues on the new Beck's Oil gas station and convenience center on War Memorial Drive in Peoria Heights.

A lot of progress has been made on the development of a Beck's Oil gas station and car wash located on the 900 block of War Memorial Drive.

The main building has a structure, and construction is progressing "very well" on the site's drive thru car wash as well, said Peoria Heights community development director Wayne Aldridge.

Aldridge said Peoria Heights is still working with the Illinois Department of Transportation on plans to improve the intersection at War Memorial Drive and Central Avenue.

The gas station, which is slated to include a restaurant as well, had a target opening month of November when construction began.

More: What will happen to the vacant Pump House building in Peoria Heights? Here's what we know

Construction continues to progress on the new Beck's convenience center next to Super Liquors on War Memorial Drive in Peoria.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Two new businesses under construction on War Memorial in Peoria, IL
MarketAxess Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MKTX) has recently been in the spotlight, drawing interest from investors and financial analysts due to its robust financial stance. With shares currently priced at $243.46, MarketAxess Holdings Inc has witnessed a decline of 1.18% over a period, marked against a three-month change of -12.35%. A thorough analysis, underlined by the GuruFocus Score Rating, suggests that MarketAxess Holdings Inc is well-positioned for substantial growth in the near future.

Unveiling the Investment Potential of MarketAxess Holdings Inc (MKTX): A Comprehensive Analysis of Financial Strength and Growth Prospects

Decoding the GF Score

The GF Score is a stock performance ranking system developed by GuruFocus using five aspects of valuation, which has been found to be closely correlated to the long-term performances of stocks by backtesting from 2006 to 2021. The stocks with a higher GF Score generally generate higher returns than those with a lower GF Score. Therefore, when picking stocks, investors should invest in companies with high GF Scores. The GF Score ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 as the highest rank.

MarketAxess Holdings Inc has been assigned the following ranks:

Each one of these components is ranked and the ranks also have positive correlation with the long term performances of stocks. The GF score is calculated using the five key aspects of analysis. Through backtesting, we know that each of these key aspects has a different impact on the stock price performance. Thus, they are weighted differently when calculating the total score. With high ranks in financial strength, profitability, and growth, and decent ranks in GF value and momentum, GuruFocus assigned MarketAxess Holdings Inc the GF Score of 97 out of 100, which signals the highest outperformance potential.

Understanding MarketAxess Holdings Inc Business

Founded in 2000, MarketAxess Holdings Inc is a leading electronic fixed-income trading platform that connects broker/dealers and institutional investors. The company is primarily focused on credit based fixed income securities with its main trading products being U.S. investment-grade and high-yield bonds, Eurobonds, and Emerging Market corporate debt. Recently the company has expanded more aggressively into Treasuries and municipal bonds with the acquisitions of LiquidityEdge and MuniBrokers in 2019 and 2021, respectively. The company also provides pre- and post-trade services with its acquisition of Regulatory Reporting Hub from Deutsche Borse Group in 2020 adding to its product offerings.

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Unveiling the Investment Potential of MarketAxess Holdings Inc (MKTX): A Comprehensive Analysis of Financial Strength and Growth Prospects

Financial Strength Breakdown

According to the Financial Strength rating, MarketAxess Holdings Inc's robust balance sheet exhibits resilience against financial volatility, reflecting prudent management of capital structure.

The Interest Coverage ratio for MarketAxess Holdings Inc stands impressively at 871.49, underscoring its strong capability to cover its interest obligations. This robust financial position resonates with the wisdom of legendary investor Benjamin Graham, who favored companies with an interest coverage ratio of at least 5.

With an Altman Z-Score of 14.98, MarketAxess Holdings Inc exhibits a strong defense against financial distress, highlighting its robust financial stability.

With a favorable Debt-to-Revenue ratio of 0.11, MarketAxess Holdings Inc's strategic handling of debt solidifies its financial health.

Profitability Rank Breakdown

The Profitability Rank shows MarketAxess Holdings Inc's impressive standing among its peers in generating profit.

The Piotroski F-Score confirms MarketAxess Holdings Inc's solid financial situation based on Joseph Piotroski's nine-point scale, which measures a company's profitability, funding and operating efficiency.

MarketAxess Holdings Inc's strong Predictability Rank of 5.0 stars out of five underscores its consistent operational performance, providing investors with increased confidence.

Growth Rank Breakdown

Ranked highly in Growth, MarketAxess Holdings Inc demonstrates a strong commitment to expanding its business.

The company's 3-Year Revenue Growth Rate is 12.3%, which outperforms better than 59.59% of 678 companies in the Capital Markets industry

Moreover, MarketAxess Holdings Inc has seen a robust increase in its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) over the past few years. Specifically, the three-year growth rate stands at 12.2, and the rate over the past five years is 15.2. This trend accentuates the company's continued capability to drive growth.

Unveiling the Investment Potential of MarketAxess Holdings Inc (MKTX): A Comprehensive Analysis of Financial Strength and Growth Prospects

Conclusion

Given the company's robust financial strength, profitability, and growth metrics, the GuruFocus Score Rating highlights the firm's unparalleled position for potential outperformance. MarketAxess Holdings Inc's impressive GF Score of 97 out of 100 signals a high potential for outperformance, making it a compelling investment opportunity for value investors.

GuruFocus Premium members can find more companies with strong GF Scores using the following screener link: GF Score Screen

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


Verde AgriTech Ltd

New research shows that Verde's Products may undergo Enhanced Rock Weathering faster than other minerals

SINGAPORE, Aug. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verde AgriTech Ltd (TSX: NPK) ("Verde or the Company) is pleased to announce that its K Forte and Super Greensand (Products) undergo mineral dissolution in only a matter of months to a year from its application to soils, faster than the most rapid reacting silicate minerals (forsterite), which takes years to decades for a similar dissolution. Mineral dissolution is directly correlated to the capture of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the atmosphere, the faster the dissolution the faster the absorption of CO 2 . The conclusion was reached by a commissioned study conducted by Phil Renforth, Ph.D., at Heriot Watt University, based on peer-reviewed publication and commercial data (the Study).



Speed of Enhanced Rock Weathering

Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) refers to a suite of techniques aimed at accelerating natural rock weathering, which involves the breakdown of minerals and the absorption of CO 2 from the atmosphere. In nature, the process takes centuries as the rocks surface is gradually weathered down and reacts with CO 2 to form new stable carbonate minerals or bicarbonate ions, effectively removing CO 2 from the atmosphere and storing it for thousands of years.

By crushing and grinding such minerals and spreading it over large areas, ERW significantly accelerates the absorption of CO 2 . The speed of mineral weathering can be calculated using a shrinking core model, which assumes that the reaction occurs at the surface of the mineral so that the unreacted core gradually shrinks over time.

To calculate the Products speed of weathering, Verde engaged Dr. Renforth, who leads the carbon dioxide removal research group Heriot Watt Universitys Research Centre for Carbon Solutions. Dr. Renforth is a widely respected specialist in enhanced weathering. He is co-chief editor for Frontiers in Climate: Negative Emission Technologies, the worlds first dedicated publication in this space; Dr. Renforth was a contributing author to Chapter 12 of the Working Group IIIs 6th Assessment Report from the IPCC; he is also one of 12 judges for the Carbon Removal XPrize, the largest incentive prize in history.1 Dr. Renforth has extensive research and publications on enhanced weathering, negative emission technologies and alkaline waste.2

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Dr. Renforth applied the shrinking core model to Verdes Products to calculate the speed of its dissolution. The shrinking core model considers various factors that inuence weathering, such as particle size and surface area of the minerals, temperature, and the rate of mass transfer. By incorporating these parameters into the model, it is possible to estimate the rate at which minerals within Verdes products dissolve through enhanced weathering.3 Relating mineral dissolution to carbon dioxide uptake is a challenge for enhanced weathering projects who are implementing a range of strategies from modelling to gathering empirical evidence. A shrinking core model does not simulate complex environmental chemistry but is the first step in understanding the relationship between mineral weathering and CO 2 uptake.

The model results projected two scenarios, reflecting different external factors such as temperature and soil pH, resulting in both a fast and a slow dissolution. The results of the modelling on Verdes Products suggest that under the fast reaction scenario its dissolution will reach competition on the order of several months, and for the slow reaction scenario its dissolution will reach competition in slightly over 1 year. When applied to olivine, a mineral commonly considered for ERW, the fast scenario took years and the slow scenario spanned decades to reach competition.

Dr. Renforth commented: "To meet their Paris climate targets,4 governments need scale up methods to curb greenhouse emissions and develop those that remove of atmospheric carbon dioxide, ERW may be a scalable and relatively low-cost tool in this process. Verde AgriTech overcomes two of the major obstacles for ERW at scale: first, consistent production of fine milled material and, secondly, uses a mineral that can rapidly dissolve."

Globally, there are several different ERW initiatives , though none stemming originally from a plant-nutrition focus such as Verdes. These include Carbfix,5 from Iceland, which utilizes industrial processes to lock CO 2 into basaltic rocks; Project Vesta,6 which spreads olivine-rich minerals on beaches and coastal environments to facilitate carbon sequestration; and UNDO,7 in the UK, that uses crushed basalt applied to farmland.

While we salute all ERW initiatives, we need to move with all deliberate speed to help mitigate the buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. In a matter of months, Verdes Products capture 1 tonne of CO 2 for every 8.3 tonnes applied to fields and may be significantly faster than any other major ERW project globally. Verdes Products have a distinguished role to play, a role which is already in progress and will only grow as we increase our output, commented Cristiano Veloso, Verdes Founder and CEO.

About Verde AgriTech

Verde is an agricultural technology Company that produces potash fertilizers. Our purpose is to improve the health of all people and the planet. Rooting our solutions in nature, we make agriculture healthier, more productive, and profitable.

Verde is a fully integrated Company: it mines and processes its main feedstock from its 100% owned mineral properties, then sells and distributes the Product.

Verdes focus on research and development has resulted in one patent and eight patents pending. Among its proprietary technologies are Cambridge Tech, 3D Alliance, MicroS Technology, N Keeper, and Bio Revolution.8 Currently, the Company is fully licensed to produce up to 2.8 million tonnes per year of its multinutrient potassium fertilizers K Forte and BAKS, sold internationally as Super Greensand. In 2022, it became Brazil's largest potash producer by capacity.9 Verde has a combined measured and indicated mineral resource of 1.47 billion tonnes at 9.28% K 2 O and an inferred mineral resource of 1.85 billion tonnes at 8.60% K 2 O (using a 7.5% K 2 O cut-off grade).10 This amounts to 295.70 million tonnes of potash in K 2 O. For context, in 2021 Brazils total consumption of potash in K 2 O was 6.57 million11.

Brazil ranks second in global potash demand and is its single largest importer, currently depending on external sources for over 97% of its potash needs. In 2022, potash accounted for approximately 3% of all Brazilian imports by dollar value.12

Corporate Presentation

For further information on the Company, please view shareholders deck:

https://verde.docsend.com/view/zmsspzpkh2hq4mnx

Investors Newsletter

Subscribe to receive the Companys updates at: http://cloud.marketing.verde.ag/InvestorsSubscription

The last edition of the newsletter can be accessed at: https://bit.ly/InvestorNL_July2023

Cautionary Language and Forward-Looking Statements

All Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resources estimates reported by the Company were estimated in accordance with the Canadian National Instrument 43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Definition Standards (May 10, 2014). These standards differ significantly from the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

This document contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements" are made as of the date of this document. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect current estimates, predictions, expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to:

(i) the estimated amount and grade of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves;

(ii) the estimated amount of CO 2 removal per tonne of rock;

(iii) the PFS representing a viable development option for the Project;

(iv) estimates of the capital costs of constructing mine facilities and bringing a mine into production, of sustaining capital and the duration of financing payback periods;

(v) the estimated amount of future production, both produced and sold;

(vi) timing of disclosure for the PFS and recommendations from the Special Committee;

(vii) the Companys competitive position in Brazil and demand for potash; and,

(viii) estimates of operating costs and total costs, net cash flow, net present value and economic returns from an operating mine.

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 "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "envisages", "assumes", "intends", "strategy", "goals", "objectives" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.

All forward-looking statements are based on Verde's or its consultants' current beliefs as well as various assumptions made by them and information currently available to them. The most significant assumptions are set forth above, but generally these assumptions include, but are not limited to:

(i) the presence of and continuity of resources and reserves at the Project at estimated grades;

(ii) the estimation of CO 2 removal based on the chemical and mineralogical composition of assumed resources and reserves;

(iii) the geotechnical and metallurgical characteristics of rock conforming to sampled results; including the quantities of water and the quality of the water that must be diverted or treated during mining operations;

(iv) the capacities and durability of various machinery and equipment;

(v) the availability of personnel, machinery and equipment at estimated prices and within the estimated delivery times;

(vi) currency exchange rates;

(vii) Super Greensand and K Forte sales prices, market size and exchange rate assumed;

(viii) appropriate discount rates applied to the cash flows in the economic analysis;

(ix) tax rates and royalty rates applicable to the proposed mining operation;

(x) the availability of acceptable financing under assumed structure and costs;

(xi) anticipated mining losses and dilution;

(xii) reasonable contingency requirements;

(xiii) success in realizing proposed operations;

(xiv) receipt of permits and other regulatory approvals on acceptable terms; and

(xv) the fulfilment of environmental assessment commitments and arrangements with local communities.



Although management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect. Many forward-looking statements are made assuming the correctness of other forward looking statements, such as statements of net present value and internal rates of return, which are based on most of the other forward-looking statements and assumptions herein. The cost information is also prepared using current values, but the time for incurring the costs will be in the future and it is assumed costs will remain stable over the relevant period.

By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that estimates, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions do not reflect future experience. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of important factors could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates assumptions and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These risk factors may be generally stated as the risk that the assumptions and estimates expressed above do not occur as forecast, but specifically include, without limitation: risks relating to variations in the mineral content within the material identified as Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves from that predicted; variations in rates of recovery and extraction; the geotechnical characteristics of the rock mined or through which infrastructure is built differing from that predicted, the quantity of water that will need to be diverted or treated during mining operations being different from what is expected to be encountered during mining operations or post closure, or the rate of flow of the water being different; developments in world metals markets; risks relating to fluctuations in the Brazilian Real relative to the Canadian dollar; increases in the estimated capital and operating costs or unanticipated costs; difficulties attracting the necessary work force; increases in financing costs or adverse changes to the terms of available financing, if any; tax rates or royalties being greater than assumed; changes in development or mining plans due to changes in logistical, technical or other factors; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; risks relating to receipt of regulatory approvals; delays in stakeholder negotiations; changes in regulations applying to the development, operation, and closure of mining operations from what currently exists; the effects of competition in the markets in which Verde operates; operational and infrastructure risks and the additional risks described in Verde's Annual Information Form filed with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com) for the year ended December 31, 2021. Verde cautions that the foregoing list of factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive.

When relying on our forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to Verde, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Verde does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by Verde or on our behalf, except as required by law.

For additional information please contact:

Cristiano Veloso, Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +55 (31) 3245 0205; Email: investor@verde.ag

www.verde.ag | www.investor.verde.ag

1 For details, see link: $100M Prize For Carbon Removal | XPRIZE Foundation

2 For a list of Dr. Renforths publications, see: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=TaWhvvgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

3 See Palandri, J. L. & Kharaka, Y. K. A Compilation of Rate Parameters of Water-Mineral Interaction Kinetics for Application to Geochemical Modeling. in (2004). doi:10.3133/ofr20041068.

4 The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, on 12 December 2015. It entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its overarching goal is to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Source: United Nations Climate Change. Available at: https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement

5 https://www.carbfix.com/

6 https://www.vesta.earth/

7 https://un-do.com/

8 Learn more about our technologies: https://verde.docsend.com/view/yvthnpuv8jx6g4r9

9 See the release at: https://investor.verde.ag/verde-starts-ramp-up-of-plant-2s-second-stage-to-reach-production-of-2-4mtpy/

10 As per the National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects within Canada (NI 43 -101), filed on SEDAR in 2017. See the Pre-Feasibility Study at: https://investor.verde.ag/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NI-43-101-Pre-Feasibility-Technical-Report-Cerrado-Verde-Project.pdf

11 Source: Brazilian Fertilizer Mixers Association (from "Associacao Misturadores de Adubo do Brasil", in Portuguese).

12 Source: Brazilian Comex Stat, available at: http://comexstat.mdic.gov.br/en/geral




Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett talks to reporters while holding an ice cream at a trade show during the company's annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska May 3, 2014. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Investing icon Warren Buffett turned 93 on Wednesday, August 30.

The Berkshire Hathaway CEO may be celebrating his Apple bet, charity work, and remarkable career.

Here are six of Buffett's best comments and stories about birthdays.

Warren Buffett turned 93 on Wednesday, August 30.

The investing icon and Berkshire Hathaway boss, already the oldest and longest-serving CEO of a S&P 500 company, has plenty to celebrate:

In recognition of Buffett turning 93, here are six of his best comments and stories about birthdays:

1. Aiming for 100

Geico, one of Buffett's oldest and most lucrative investments, has surpassed rivals such as Progressive and Allstate in terms of premium volumes over the years. Buffett wants the auto insurer to be number one in 10 years' time.

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"On August 30, 2030  my 100th birthday  I plan to announce that Geico has taken over the top spot, " Buffett said in his 2015 shareholder letter. "Mark your calendar."

Buffett reiterated his goal at Berkshire's 2016 annual meeting, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense/Sentieo.

"I hope on my 100th birthday that the Geico people announce to me that they passed State Farm," he said. "But I have to do my share on that, too, by getting to 100."

2. Candles on a cake

Buffett is never thrilled to see another year pass by, but he's not averse to making light of his advanced age.

"At my last birthday, somebody asked me how old I was," the investor recalled during Berkshire's annual shareholders' meeting in 1998. "And I said, 'Well, why don't you just count the candles on the cake?' And he said he was driven back by the heat."

Buffett has added more than 25 additional candles to his birthday cake since then, meaning his well-wishers could face a raging inferno this year.

3. Huggins' Law

Buffett and his business partner, Charlie Munger, acquired See's Candies for $25 million in 1972 and immediately put Chuck Huggins in charge.

In his 1999 shareholder letter, Buffett credited Huggins' "fanatical insistence on both product quality and friendly service" for See's generating $857 million in pre-tax income since Berkshire took over.

See's pre-tax profit in millions was about 10% of Huggins' age when he took over aged 46, Buffett said in the letter. That ratio soared to 100% by the time he turned 74, the investor continued.

"Having discovered this mathematical relationship  let's call it Huggins' Law  Charlie and I now become giddy at the mere thought of Chuck's birthday," he joked.

4. Buying a furniture store

Buffett received a particularly nice birthday gift in 1983 when Mrs B, the 89-year-old owner of Nebraska Furniture Mart, agreed to sell the company to him.

"I think back to August 30, 1983  my birthday  when I went to see Mrs B (Rose Blumkin), carrying a one and a quarter-page purchase proposal for NFM that I had drafted," he recalled in his 2013 shareholder letter.

"Mrs B accepted my offer without changing a word, and we completed the deal without the involvement of investment bankers or lawyers," Buffett continued.

"Though the company's financial statements were unaudited, I had no worries," he added. "Mrs B simply told me what was what, and her word was good enough for me."

5. Business at a party

Buffett shared an example of Berkshire's "carefully crafted and sophisticated acquisition strategy" in his 1996 shareholder letter.

The investor tried to get out of attending the 40th birthday party of his nephew's wife, Jane Rogers, but agreed to go after learning he would be sitting next to Jane's dad, Roy Dinsdale.

During the party, Dinsdale revealed he had attended a directors' meeting at Kansas Bankers Surety, an insurance firm that Buffett had long admired. Buffett told Dinsdale to let him know if the company ever came up for purchase.

Buffett received a letter from Dinsdale a couple of weeks later that contained KBS's financial information. He called Dinsdale the next day to offer $75 million for the company, and the pair soon struck a deal.

"I'm now scheming to get invited to Jane's next party," Buffett joked.

If anyone owns a company that meets Berkshire's requirements "and if I fail to make the next birthday party you attend ... give me a call," he added.

6. 'I'm really good at this'

Buffett famously hires and trusts top-notch managers to run Berkshire's various businesses, freeing him to focus on allocating capital across the company.

He illustrated the point in his 1990 shareholder letter, using a story about his granddaughter Emily's fourth birthday party a few months earlier.

Beemer the Clown asked Emily to wave a magic wand over a box of wonders.

"Loose handkerchiefs went in and, upon a magisterial wave by Emily, emerged knotted," Buffett said. "After four such transformations, each more amazing than its predecessor, Emily was unable to contain herself."

"Her face aglow, she exulted: 'Gee, I'm really good at this."

"That sums up my contribution to the performance of Berkshire's business magicians," Buffett added, listing several superstars including Mrs B's family and Huggins.

"They deserve your applause."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Lawyers whove defended clients before Tanya S. Chutkan, the judge assigned to Donald Trumps Jan. 6 election conspiracy case, have some advice for the former president and his attorneys: buckle up.

Far from the more indulgent Aileen Cannon, the judge overseeing Trumps Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, attorneys tell Rolling Stone that Chutkan is perhaps the toughest judge he couldve gotten in the Washington, D.C., district court.

Its probably the worst draw for Trump. Shes the worst judge he couldve gotten handed, one attorney with experience representing a January 6 defendant tells Rolling Stone. Shes pleasant, shes nice, and shes fair, but shes a tough judge with these Jan. 6 cases.

Chutkans record of tough sentences in Jan. 6 cases has driven Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham to make cartoonish pronouncements about the supposed bias against the former president. The judge in this case hates Trump, he told Fox News on Wednesday evening.

Rolling Stone spoke with attorneys who had represented defendants in Jan. 6 cases and asked their thoughts on what the former president and his attorneys could expect. Attorneys  some of whom asked to remain anonymous in the event they appear before Chutkan in court again  praised her fairness and politeness. But they also describe a judge whos not afraid to hand down at times surprisingly stiff sentences in cases involving Jan. 6 rioters.

Chutkan, an immigrant from Jamaica, worked as both a trial attorney in private practice and a public defender in Washington, D.C., before she was appointed to the bench by President Obama in 2014. (She was confirmed 95-0, including support from a pre-MAGAfied Sen. Graham.)

Since 2021, like many Washington, D.C., District Court judges, Chutkan has overseen several cases related to the efforts to overturn the election. Most of them involve charges against individual rioters or involved Trumps own effort to block the National Archives from transferring records to Congress Jan. 6 Committee (Chutkan sided with the committee).

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Now, shes overseeing the biggest Jan. 6 trial of all: Special Counsel Jack Smiths case against Donald Trump. Trump faces three counts of conspiracy and one count of obstructing an official proceeding in connection with his attempts to disrupt the count of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021. The appointment of Chutkan as a judge in the case could affect his legal teams strategy to try to delay special counsel criminal cases until after a hoped-for election victory as lawyers say Chutkan tends to move faster on trials than Trumps team would prefer.

Throughout the course of those trials, Chutkan has repeatedly voiced her disgust for the actions of rioters on Jan. 6. Every single time that I see videotape or hear recordings of what happened that day, I am struck anew with both the horror of what was going on that day and how close we came  how close we came to not fulfilling one of the basic functions of our democracy, which is a peaceful transfer of power, which we lecture other governments all over the world on and were supposed to be an example of, and we were not that day, Chutkan said during the trial of Christine Priola, a rioter who appeared smiling on the Senate floor on Jan. 6. (Chutkan sentenced Priola to 15 months in prison.)

Chutkan also criticized those in high office in this country whove claimed the rioters were just visitors exercising their First Amendment rights. The statement was an implicit rebuke of Republicans who have argued that rioters were merely tourists at the Capitol. But Trump and his attorneys have also relied on First Amendment arguments in defending him from lawsuits and criminal charges related to the insurrection, claiming that his efforts to incite the riot and disrupt the count of electoral votes were protected speech.

Lawyers with experience in her courtroom are quick to warn others not to underestimate Chutkan, who can be obliging on procedural matters and empathetic with defendants but firm when it comes to handing down sentences.

John R. Osgood represented Kasey Hopkins, a Kansas City, Kansas, contractor who marched from a Stop the Steal rally into the Capitol and Sen. Jeffrey Merkleys office. Osgood thought Chutkans background as a public defender meant that his client had a better shot at avoiding prison and seeing his punishment limited to probation.

Osgood was wrong: At first I thought well Ill probably get a decent sentence. My client got four months, he tells Rolling Stone.

She was quite nice and polite. She let me do everything by Zoom. She granted a motion, an extension on time to report because of [my clients] job. But she is of the opinion that these people need to go to prison, he says.

In the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, Trump and his attorneys have sought to slow the trial down as much as possible in hopes of pushing it back after the election and, in Trumps belief, his victory in the presidential race. But others whove argued before Chutkan say the case might move quicker than some expect.

Judge Chutkan is an extremely competent judge who is fair to both sides in my experience. She is not swayed by partisan interests, public clamor, of fear of criticism, says Charles R Haskell, an attorney who has represented Jan. 6 defendants in her courtroom. I would expect the case to move quickly.

One attorney who has tried Jan. 6 cases and other criminal cases before Chutkan offered blunt advice to the Trump legal team. Be prepared. Chutkan, in the attorneys experience, can be very fair in sentencing but does not suffer fools gladly and sets high expectations for the counselors who appear before her.

But as Chutkan herself points out often in sentencing, theres always the danger of reducing a defendant to a series of calculations and numbers, and the same is true of her experience in Jan. 6 cases. The judge herself is more complex than a handful of stiff sentences in insurrection cases, also showing moments of empathy, compassion, and humor.

In handing down sentences, Chutkan frequently takes pains to insist that shes not sentencing defendants for their political beliefs, only their actions. You could support the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or whatever your political beliefs are, Chutkan told Robert Scott Palmer, a Florida man convicted of assaulting police officers and sentenced to five years in prison for his actions on Jan. 6.

She frequently describes sentencing as the hardest part of my job and the part I like the least. I see these cases and people on the outside who arent in the system see these cases and they are like, Oh, they are all traitors, lock them up. They are all drug dealers, lock them up. Its not that simple. Everyone is complicated.

Chutkan made those comments in February while sentencing Jeffrey Finley, a West Virginia member of the Proud Boys. And in that case, she demonstrated that, for her, contrition matters.

Chutkan sentenced Finley to 75 days in prison and allowed him to serve the sentence in West Virginia, to be close to his home, his mother, and his community, noting during the sentencing that he displayed genuine remorse for his actions.

Trump continues to insist the 2020 election was stolen and that he did nothing wrong. He has suggested hell pardon Jan. 6 rioters if he retakes the White House in 2024. And after the indictment came down on Tuesday, his campaign put out a statement comparing it to Nazi Germany.

More from Rolling Stone

Best of Rolling Stone

Click here to read the full article.
Worthington Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WOR) will increase its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 29th of September to $0.32. Although the dividend is now higher, the yield is only 1.7%, which is below the industry average.

While the dividend yield is important for income investors, it is also important to consider any large share price moves, as this will generally outweigh any gains from distributions. Investors will be pleased to see that Worthington Industries' stock price has increased by 35% in the last 3 months, which is good for shareholders and can also explain a decrease in the dividend yield.

Check out our latest analysis for Worthington Industries

Worthington Industries' Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

While yield is important, another factor to consider about a company's dividend is whether the current payout levels are feasible. Before making this announcement, Worthington Industries was easily earning enough to cover the dividend. As a result, a large proportion of what it earned was being reinvested back into the business.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 30.1%. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 20%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Worthington Industries Has A Solid Track Record

The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. Since 2013, the dividend has gone from $0.52 total annually to $1.28. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 9.4% over that duration. The growth of the dividend has been pretty reliable, so we think this can offer investors some nice additional income in their portfolio.

Worthington Industries Could Grow Its Dividend

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. We are encouraged to see that Worthington Industries has grown earnings per share at 9.9% per year over the past five years. Growth in EPS bodes well for the dividend, as does the low payout ratio that the company is currently reporting.

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Worthington Industries Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, we think this could be an attractive income stock, and it is only getting better by paying a higher dividend this year. The company is easily earning enough to cover its dividend payments and it is great to see that these earnings are being translated into cash flow. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. As an example, we've identified 1 warning sign for Worthington Industries that you should be aware of before investing. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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(Bloomberg) -- Xiaomi Corp. reported better-than-expected profit after cost-cutting efforts and a focus on more expensive mobile devices helped buoy margins and offset a moribund smartphone market.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Net income more than doubled to 3.67 billion yuan ($503 million) in the three months ended June, versus the average estimate of 3.16 billion yuan. Revenue slid a less-than-projected 4% to 67.4 billion yuan, narrowing declines from previous quarters when the smartphone market slump was at its worst.

Beijing-based Xiaomi has been steadily working through a glut of smartphone supply, while spending cuts helped stabilize the bottom line during Chinas faltering economic recovery. The domestic mobile market  the worlds largest  is now showing signs of bottoming out. Xiaomi also sold more premium smartphones, cushioning margins: Its average selling price in China climbed more than 24%.

Executives acknowledged uncertainties facing the global economy but asked for patience, reaffirming Xiaomis intention to expand in regions such as Latin America and Europe and into new arenas such as services and electric vehicles. Its also awaiting a bottom in India, where its grappling with a regulatory probe into alleged forex violations.

As a consumer electronics player, Xiaomi has to scale up in global markets, President Lu Weibing told reporters after the results were released. Xiaomi will firmly proceed the legal actions in India. Weve actually seen a pretty big improvement in Indian business, I believe you will see some indexes showing the change soon.

As the smartphone market gyrates, billionaire Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun has turned his attention to a $10 billion electric car venture, which recently won approval from Chinas powerful state planning agency, Reuters reported last week. With the first vehicle planned for next year  pending a full set of regulatory licenses  the EV business could contribute as much as 5% of Xiaomis 2024 revenue, Bloomberg Intelligence estimates. Xiaomi would then go up against a crowded field spanning brands from Xpeng Inc. and Nio Inc. to Tesla Inc.

Story continues

While expenses slid in the quarter, Xiaomi boosted its research spending by 21% to 4.6 billion yuan, of which more than a third went toward its EV project. It also hired some 3,000 people to propel AI development, joining a nationwide investment spree that accelerated this year with the advent of ChatGPT.

Shipment remains soft given inventory digestion but likely reaching a healthier level, Citigroup analysts including Kyna Wong and Andre Lin wrote ahead of the earnings release. Xiaomis internet of things and services businesses showed signs of silver linings, they added.

Read more: Phone Maker Xiaomi Plans to Plow $10 Billion into Electric Cars

Read more: Phone Maker Xiaomi Plans to Plow $10 Billion into Electric Cars

(Updates with details on research and expansion from the first paragraph)

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2 giant panda cubs born in Malaysia return to China

Xinhua) 08:33, August 30, 2023

Giant panda Yi Yi waits to board a plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.

At a brief ceremony held at the Giant Panda Conservation Center in Zoo Negara, Deputy Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Huang Tiong Sii said Yi Yi, who is now five years old, had been scheduled to return in 2020, but this was postponed due to the pandemic.

"Considering that Sheng Yi also reached 24 months of age last May, the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) has agreed to Malaysia's proposal to send the third Giant Panda cub back together with Yi Yi," he said.

He also commended the important role the giant pandas, including their parents, have played in fostering closer ties between China and Malaysia.

"Yi Yi, meaning friendship, and Sheng Yi, meaning peace and friendship, have been chosen as the names for the two Giant Panda cubs born to the loving pair Xing Xing and Liang Liang, who arrived in Malaysia on May 21, 2014. These meaningful names reflect the significance of friendship and peace, and symbolize the strong bond between Malaysia and China," he explained.

The cubs are the second and third cubs born in Malaysia: Yi Yi was born on Jan. 14, 2018, and Sheng Yi was born on May 31, 2021. The first cub born in Malaysia, Nuan Nuan, traveled back to China in November 2017.

Their parents Xing Xing and Liang Liang, who celebrated their 17th birthday last week, will stay on in Malaysia for the time being.

Zoo Negara said in a statement that the cubs would remain in their hearts and minds through good memories and strong bonds that have been developed between the zoo's staff, handlers and visitors and the giant panda family.

"Their playful antics, gentle roars and endearing presence have seamlessly woven themselves into the very fabric of our zoo's identity. From their first hesitant steps to their mischievous adventures, every moment was a testament to the sheer joy and wonder these pandas brought to all who crossed their path," the statement said.

Chin Chet Mooi, a volunteer who has dedicated her time and effort to the bears since Xing Xing and Liang Liang first arrived in Malaysia in 2014, said the moment of farewell is one of bittersweet memories and she understood the need for them to return home.

"Their future is in China. We have done our best to take care of them. They are going back to fresh air and snow. I am really looking forward to seeing photos and videos of them playing in the snow in China," she said, adding that she hoped to be able to make a trip to China to see Yi Yi and Sheng Yi as she had previously made a trip to see Nuan Nuan.

Giant pandas Yi Yi and Sheng Yi board a plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

Giant panda Sheng Yi waits to board a plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

Giant panda caretaker Akmal Hadi Samsuddin feeds giant panda Yi Yi at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

Staff members take photos of giant panda Yi Yi at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

Giant panda Yi Yi eats at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Aug. 29, 2023. Giant panda cubs Yi Yi and Sheng Yi returned to China late on Tuesday, bringing their stay in Malaysia to a close as they reach maturity.(Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Bleisure tourism combines business and leisure travel, and is quickly positioning itself as not only popular but also an economically prudent idea, a travel management platform in the region, has revealed.

Musafir Business, an all-in-one corporate travel management platform in the region by musafir.com, says this shift is evident as individuals extending their business trips by one to two days for leisure, and vice versa, has become increasingly common.

Forecasts predict these trips will span more destinations extending to longer durations. Larger international companies are quick to adopt this trend, while smaller-scale and local firms, which are not multinational corporations, may take more time to embrace it.

Statistics echo this sentiment, with 'bleisure' tourism accounting for 30-35% of the global business tourism market and boasting a staggering worth of $500 billion (Dh2 trillion) in 2022. The upward trajectory is set to keep rising, with a projected growth rate of 20% over the ensuing decade.

Sachin Gadoya, CEO and Co-Founder of musafir.com and Musafir Business, said: "Following the pandemic, the sphere of 'bleisure' travel is witnessing a significant upswing in the region, with nearly 20% of corporate travellers thoughtfully weaving leisure experiences into their business journeys. Projections indicate that this number is destined to rise further by 15% in the times ahead."

The average ticket price for corporate travel within the GCC ranges from Dh3,500 to Dh4,000, and this trend is expected to continue through 2024. Amid the scorching summer heat, corporate travel primarily entails outbound trips from the UAE.

Prominent business travel destinations like Europe, the USA, and South East Asia proficiently address the diverse demands of corporate globetrotters, with ticket prices ranging between AED 5,500 to 6,000 for these regions, says Musafir.

Additionally, there is also a marked rise in preference for business and first-class travel in the evolving landscape of business travel.

"Musafir Business has also observed a remarkable 25% increase in average corporate transaction value, even surpassing pre-pandemic levels. This growth underscores our commitment to elevating customer experiences, embracing digital innovation, and gaining invaluable insights into our customers' preferences, said Gadoya.

With a proven track record of delivering substantial savings for Middle Eastern organisations, having processed over 600,000 transactions in 2022, we are resolutely focused on sustaining this momentum in 2023. Our goal is to achieve approximately 1.1 million transactions, solidifying our position as a leader in corporate travel solutions. - TradeArabia News Service
[Source]

Broadway star Zachary Noah Piser has withdrawn from the leading role in the musical Tiananmen: A New Musical, just weeks before its debut in Phoenix, Arizona.

Pisers withdrawal announcement: The Chinese American actor took to Instagram to announce his withdrawal last Friday without offering any explanations. The announcement came as the actor was reportedly on a concert tour in China.

I have withdrawn from the musical Tiananmen, Piser wrote in a brief signed statement.

Speculations about Pisers decision: Although Pisers manager Dave Brenner told CNN that creative difference caused the actor to quit the Tiananmen musical, it is speculated that pressure from Chinese authorities might have played a role.

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Wuer Kaixi, a protest leader who worked on the musical as a conceiver and creative consultant, believes the actor departed due to fear.

I believethe reason for his withdrawal is not creative difference, rather, simply fear. He was given pressure by Chinese authorities, Kaixi said. After 30 some years of censoring any information about Tiananmen, the Chinese government today is still extremely afraid of mentioning the atrocity they conducted.

A day before Pisers withdrawal, he was quoted on Playbill saying, I am zproud to bring this powerful story to life on stage. Having helped develop this piece since 2015 makes originating this role that much more meaningful.

More from NextShark: Good Samaritans Protect Asian Man Body Slammed in Broad Daylight in NYC

About the musical: The Tiananmen musical, which is directed by Darren Lee with Music Director Kevin White, is about the bloody 1989 crackdown on democracy protesters in Beijings Tiananmen Square that resulted in hundreds  if not thousands  of deaths. According to a press release, the musical is a vital reminder of the fragility of human rights and the importance of bravery and self-determination in the face of totalitarianism.

Story continues

Jason Rose, the musical's lead producer, confirmed that the show will proceed as planned from Oct. 4 to 29 at The Phoenix Theatre Company.

This story needs to be told and will be told. Censorship and pressure will not carry the day. Our celebration of bravery for lovers of freedom will, Rose told CNN.

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About Piser: Piser previously made Broadway history for becoming the first Asian American actor to take on the title role of Evan full-time in Dear Evan Hansen. Last year, he starred in the Broadway musical KPOP.

Pisers recent announcement highlights the complexities Western celebrities face when dealing with political sensitivities related to China.

More from NextShark: Man Who Attacked 2 Asian American Women in Baltimore Charged With Hate Crimes
On Tuesday, Richmond crews removed the concrete barriers and 8-foot fence surrounding the land that once hosted the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

With around 6,000 plants and 28 trees already placed inside the circle, the barrier removals cleared the way for the city to finalize its temporary landscaping plan.

The Lee statue had stood largely undisturbed after it was unveiled in 1890. But just months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the statue became covered in graffiti by protestors rallying against police brutality and racial inequalities.

Protestors worked on reclaiming the space around the monument, turning it into their own version of a community center.

Some began referring to Lee Circle as Marcus-David Peters Circle, a nod to the teacher and Virginia Commonwealth University alum who was shot and killed by Richmond police during a mental health crisis in 2018.

Concrete barriers were placed around the circle in June 2020 to prevent vehicles from driving in during that summers protests. The state installed the fence around the circle in January 2021, effectively ending public gatherings at the space.

Later in 2021, the state took down the Lee statue and base, the last of the four Confederate statues to be removed from Monument Avenue.

Following the removal, Virginia transferred ownership of the circle to the city of Richmond just before Gov. Glenn Youngkin succeeded Ralph Northam in the statehouse.

Some Richmonders wanted to convert the circle into a community space similar to what had been put together during the 2020 protests.

Last fall, however, the city approved a temporary landscaping plan that would serve as a placeholder until a permanent solution was put in place.

The $100,000 worth of plants and trees were installed this summer by YME Landscape, providing fresh visuals at the grounds that were barren for nearly two years.

It gives it a little more light, YME Landscape Owner Earl Gary said about the fence removal. Its going to be nice scenery and increase the citys visual acuity. I like it; I think it looks really good.

PHOTOS: Monument Avenue statue unveilings from the Valentine's Archives
A celebration of life service for Braven Grey Boschult, 15 months, was held Aug. 21, 2023, at Hope Evangelical Free Church in Onawa, Iowa. Braven Grey was taken home to be with Jesus on August 14, 2023.

Braven Grey was born on May 28, 2022, at 10:26 p.m. to Jesse and Josi Boschult. He weighed 7 lbs 12 oz. and was 21 inches long.

Family members said Braven was so full of love and smiles throughout his whole short-lived life. He was always smiling at people and running around so happy! He also loved when his daddy would be listening to Christian music while in the shower and could always be found dancing!

Braven loved spending time with his mommy especially when he was nursing. He also loved playing with his older brother and sister and could always be found on the trampoline with them. He also loved riding on his corn popper and you could find him cruising around on his fire truck!

He was preceded in death by his great-grandpa Ron Boschult and Rickey Hawkes.

Braven is survived by his parents, siblings Kyrie and Mercy Boschult; grandparents Curt Boschult, Erin and Marta Ross, Kim Yunker; great-grandparents Ray and Julie Metcalf, Maurice Boschult and Barry and Rita Pitzer.

Memorials are suggested to Light of the World Gospel Ministries in Walthill.

Pelan Funeral Services was in charge of the arrangements.
The Nebraska Department of Transportation is giving U.S. 275 a whole new look through Fremont and beyond.

For several years now, the highway has been buzzing with construction crews  expanding parts of the highway, building new interchanges, rebuilding bridges, reconfiguring ramps.

In July, a new interchange was opened to the brand-new Fremont Southeast Beltway, a 3.2-mile expressway connecting U.S. 275 with U.S. 77, streamlining access to the Costco chicken plant and other industrial sites in southeast Fremont.

Heading north, bridges are under construction at Morningside Road and several other interchanges, channeling traffic down to a single lane on the shoulder. Over the summer, the exit and entrance ramps have been resurfaced at 23rd Street and Military Avenue, as well as Morningside. Lane closures and ramp closures can be expected as this section of the project moves toward completion this fall.

Traffic has also been narrowed to one lane in segments from Luther Road west to the interchange that ties together Highways 275, 30 and 77 at the north end of the city.

Fremont is a very busy place right now, said Barbara Gerbino-Bevins, NDOT district construction engineer.

The biggest transformation along U.S. 275, though, is occurring farther north. An 18-mile stretch of the highway from just north of West Point to just east of Scribner is being widened from two lanes to four.

NDOT kicked off the expansion project in 2021. Since then, bulldozers and road graders have slowly built the future southbound lanes that will connect the two towns. The project includes a bypass road around Scribner, and construction on existing levees that protect West Point and Scribner from the nearby Elkhorn River.

The current focus of construction is between Scribner and the Cuming County line, where there are periodic lane closures with flaggers to guide traffic.

Theyre working to get the southbound lanes done and traffic moved over  hopefully, this fall, Gerbino-Bevins said.

After that, both lanes of traffic will move to the new lanes while the existing ones are resurfaced and reconfigured for future northbound traffic. She said that will most likely happen next spring and continue into the fall of 2024.

The completion of the $141.5 million project will bring more of U.S. 275 into the Nebraska Expressway system, a network of four-lane highways connecting all Nebraska cities with more than 15,000 residents to the Interstate highway system.

The Legislature laid out plans for the expressway system in 1988, encompassing 600 miles of expanded roadway along 16 existing highway corridors.

But funding for the expressways lagged until the passage of the Build Nebraska Act in 2011, which earmarked  cent from the state sales tax to complete the network by 2033.

There is still more work to be done on U.S. 275, though. The highway remains two lanes from north of West Point to west of Pilger. The 27-mile segment is now being designed. It is scheduled for construction between 2025 and 2029.

Once that is complete, four-lane travel will be possible all the way from Omaha to Norfolk  something northeast Nebraska travelers have dreamed of for decades.

Great routes for a weekend cruise in Nebraska Brownville to Edison on Highway 136 Highway 30 across Nebraska Loup Rivers scenic byway Outlaw Trail scenic byway Sandhills Loop Platte River loop Grand Island Loop Loup River Loop Beatrice Loop
Representatives from the Town of Monument held a listening session Tuesday evening to weigh if there was interest for the residents of Gleneagle to have their community annexed into Monument.

It didn't take a good listener to discern that there is no interest.

Every resident who spoke was against the annexation, with the opposition ranging from disinterest to anger.

"I am not inspired by what the Town of Monument has done with the downtown area," Gleneagle resident Peggy Sherick said. "I don't want to join this party.

"What I'm seeing is, the Town of Monument has allowed developers and builders to infest this town like locusts."

Other commenters expressed similarly negative views, with one calling Monument "overextended and out of control." Others expressed concern that an annexation would be a water grab.

The Monument contingent of Town Manager Mike Foreman, Mayor Mitch LaKind, Fire Chief Andy Kovacs, Police Chief Patrick Regan and Assistant Public Works Director Jermiah Reichert presented facts and figures related to what annexation would mean, both pro and con, for Gleneagle residents, who are currently in unincorporated El Paso County.

LaKind and other staff said they had fielded inquiries about annexation over recent months and decided to hold the listening session to gauge if the interest was genuine and widespread.

"The staff has been working on this for a while with other governmental agencies," Foreman said. "We decided, 'let's stop talking about this among ourselves and talk to the citizens and see what they want.' Is this a real thing; is this something they want to do?

"We heard tonight exactly what they don't want to do. That gives us direction so we can start working on other things."

Since annexation would only go forward if Monument was approached by the residents of Gleneagle, the topic, at least for now, is a dead end.
A Marine from Colorado was killed when an MV-22B Osprey crashed Sunday on Melville Island north of Australia during a training exercise.

Maj. Tobin Lewis, 37, from Jefferson in Park County was among the three who died in the crash.

Fellow Marines Capt. Eleanor LeBeau, 29, an osprey pilot from Belleville, Ill., and Cpl. Spencer Collart, 21, an osprey crew chief from Arlington, Va., also died in the crash.

Five more were injured. The aircraft was carrying 23 people, according to a news release.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, the release said.

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Lewis was the executive officer of the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363 based in Hawaii and an experienced osprey pilot and instructor.

His official biography said he grew up in Conifer before going on to study at Liberty University in Virginia. He commissioned in 2008 and served in Pensacola, Fla., Corpus Christi, Texas, Jacksonville, N.C., and Okinawa, Japan.

The commanding officer of the Marine Rotational Force in Darwin, Australia, where Lewis was serving said in a release the force was saddened by the loss of the three killed in the crash and the focus is on the ongoing recovery and investigative efforts.

Marines have been rotating through northern Australia for 12 years for training to support the partnership between the U.S. and Australia, the news release said.
The estate of a man found dead at the El Paso County jail will receive several million dollars after reaching a settlement with the county, officials said Tuesday.

William Johnson, 36, was found unresponsive "during a routine welfare check" around 8 p.m. on Sept. 27, 2021, according to previous reporting by The Gazette. Deputies and medical staff at the jail attempted to revive Johnson but were unsuccessful, officials said.

The county Coroner's Office determined Johnson died of a "seizure disorder" associated with epilepsy, polypharmacy  or the simultaneous use of multiple drugs to treat a condition  and COVID-19, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said in a statement Tuesday.

In the settlement reached with the county, Johnson's estate is expected to receive a total of $3 million, $2.5 million of which will be paid by Berkley Public Entity, a New Jersey-based insurance company, and Gemini Insurance Company, the county's excess insurance carrier.

El Paso County will pay the other $500,000, the statement said.

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The county commissioners voted 3-0, with commissioners Holly Williams and Carrie Geitner absent, to approve the settlement at its regular meeting Tuesday without discussion.

According to meeting documents, the county agreed to the settlement "for the sole purpose" of avoiding litigation costs and said the agreement "does not establish any admissions" of liability in Johnson's death.

The El Paso County Sheriffs Office would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Mr. William Johnson," Sheriff's Office public information officer Cassandra Sebastian said in a statement. "We hope this agreement allows the Johnson family to begin their process of healing from their loss."

The county has faced several lawsuits in recent months, including one brought in June by a man alleging he was attacked by a psychotic cellmate after deputies refused to move him to another location during his time at the county jail last year.

The county in April agreed to pay $25,000 in damages to a man who was arrested by immigration authorities and then detained for four months after he posted bond, ending a five-year legal battle for compensation.
A man accused of shooting a woman in the neck while she was driving in Colorado Springs has been arrested in Oklahoma, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.

On July 1, city police received reports of a shooting downtown. Officers found a woman had been shot while driving her vehicle, and she was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said.

The vehicles passenger, 36-year-old James Boswell, was in possession of a firearm but was released that night after being questioned by police.

CSPDs Assault Unit took over the investigation, and police determined Boswell intentionally shot the driver, investigators said.

On July 10, police obtained a warrant for Boswells arrest on charges of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault.

The Assault Unit, Violent Armed Offenders Unit and the Fugitive Unit searched for Boswell, and on Aug. 18 he was arrested in Mannford, Okla., after leading officers on a "short pursuit" in which he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a field.

After a brief foot chase, Boswell was taken into custody and is currently being held at the Creek County Sheriff's Office in Oklahoma, police said.
Mountain Ridge Middle School has placed a custodian on leave and barred him from having contact with children out of abundance of caution after Academy School District 20 says he was arrested on suspicion of crimes that were sexual in nature, according to a news release from the district on Tuesday.

The district learned on Monday that Jose Garcia, who has worked in D-20 schools since 2019, was arrested on suspicion of violating Colorado child sexual assault laws as a person in a position of trust. The law defines violators as having supervisory responsibilities over a child under 18 and engaging in sexual contact with the child.

No further details of Garcias arrest were immediately available because they are protected by the court due to their sensitivity, according to the release.

The district's public statement about the arrest notes that all district employees are given a criminal background check before being hired.

Parents or those with information to report about Garcia should contact Director of Security Rich Payne at 719-234-1200 or richard.payne@asd20.org.
After a video spread Tuesday of a Colorado Springs school administrator allegedly explaining to a mother and her son that the boy could not return to class unless he left his backpack, which had a Gadsden flag patch on it, the schools board of directors called an emergency meeting to walk back that decision.

The students family was notified on Tuesday that he may continue attending with the flag displayed on his backpack.

From Vanguards founding we have proudly supported our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the ordered liberty that all Americans have enjoyed for almost 250 years. The Vanguard School recognizes the historical significance of the Gadsden flag and its place in history. This incident is an occasion for us to reaffirm our deep commitment to a classical education in support of these American principles, the board wrote in an email to Vanguard families.

The term "Gadsden flag" was trending on X as a video spread on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, garnering nearly 5 million views by Tuesday afternoon. The Gadsen flag was designed in 1775 during the American Revolution, featuring a rattlesnake with a yellow backdrop and the words "DONT TREAD ON ME."

"The reason we do not want the flag displayed is due to its origins with slavery and the slave trade," Beth Danjuma, assistant principal of the junior high building at The Vanguard School, said in the video.

When the mother responded that the Gadsden flag was a symbol of the Revolutionary War against Britain and not the Confederacy, the administrator responded, I am here to enforce the policy that was provided, by the district, and definitely, you have every right to not agree to it.

But that's not the whole story, said Harrison School District 2, home of Vanguard, a public charter school at the center of the viral moment, in an emailed news release.

"There has been National media attention on our charter school, The Vanguard School, related to a student having the Gadsden flag on his backpack. Unfortunately, this story is incomplete. The patch in question was part of half a dozen other patches of semi-automatic weapons. The student has removed the semi-automatic patches. As a school district, we will continue to ensure all students and employees can learn and work in a safe and nurturing environment."

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"The student returned to class without incident after removing the patches of semi-automatic weapons from the backpack," District 2 said in an email.

Vanguard acted in accordance with the districts direction, the board of directors said.

D-2 administrators reviewed the students patches last week and requested Vanguard tell his parents the Gadsden patch must be removed due to district-wide policy, according to Vanguards email to parents. When the student returned to school Monday with the patch still visible on his backpack, Vanguard pulled the student aside.

Vanguard has zero-tolerance on racial issues and takes those concerns very seriously, Danjuma said in a recent interview with The Gazette. Theres a lot of different circumstances that our code of conduct handles nicely, then we decide upon a consequence. We always, always try to make our consequence a learning experience, beneficial for the student. Thats what we want to have happen so that they learn from it.

Gov. Jared Polis, in Colorado Springs on Tuesday for an event celebrating the start of free universal preschool, said "I think its great when students express themselves in different ways as long as you're not creating a disruptive environment. Certainly, the Gadsden flag is a great, iconic American flag. Other kids have LGBT flags on their backpacks, others have flags of major political parties or flags that support whatever causes they do, and thats part of learning from one another, and I think its a great teaching moment to really reflect on what that history means and how it can be part of the healthy school environment.

This isn't the first time the Gadsden flag has garnered attention in Colorado.

In 2014, in Denver, a U.S. Postal Service maintenance mechanic filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against a fellow employee who wore a hat with the Gadsden flag on it, the Washington Examiner reported. According to the aggrieved employee, the Gadsden flag is a historical indicator of White resentment against Blacks stemming largely from the Tea Party.

No other racial harassment was alleged in the complaint.

The EEOC said that, after a thorough review of the record, it is clear that the Gadsden Flag originated in the Revolutionary War in a nonracial context, but the EEOC allowed the suit to go forward because whatever the historic origins and meaning of the symbol, it also has since been sometimes interpreted to convey racially tinged messages in some contexts.
In a major move, the Department of Culture and Tourism  Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has made necessary changes to its holiday homes policy to include farmhouses, thus unlocking new economic advantages for farm owners.

With this, farmhouse owners will now able to obtain licences to transform their properties into holiday homes.

The update is designed to diversify accommodation offerings available in the emirate and unlock new economic advantages for farm owners.

The expansion of the policy is in alignment with recent decisions by the Abu Dhabi Government which facilitates farm owners to secure licences for economic activities, reported Wam.

DCT Abu Dhabi's updated holiday homes policy now includes farm stays, caravans and RVs, allowing landlords and residential unit owners to obtain more than one holiday home licence for multiple units, presenting a key opportunity for investors and property management firms.

Saleh Mohamed Al Geziry, Director-General for Tourism at DCT Abu Dhabi said, Our expansion of Abu Dhabis holiday homes licensing policy to allow farmhouses to offer guest accommodations will support both Abu Dhabis hospitality and agri-tourism sectors."

"As the emirate witnesses substantial tourism growth, it is imperative that we continue to offer visitors unique and sustainable experiences that reflect our rich heritage and renowned Emirati hospitality," he added.
Gov. Jared Polis visited Colorado Springs classrooms on Tuesday in celebration of the states universal preschool rollout this month.

Polis has touted universal preschool as a way of breaking down barriers for low-income families who otherwise might struggle to afford early childhood education. More than 37,000 4-year-olds have enrolled statewide, about 4,500 of which are in El Paso County preschools.

Reading The Color Monster by Anna Llenas, which helps students sort and identify their variegated emotions, Polis shared an emotion of his own: I have happiness because every kid in Colorado can go to preschool this year, he told Jackson Elementary preschoolers seated on the carpet before him. That makes me happy.

But emotions elsewhere have proven less classroom-friendly as school leaders and preschool providers say theyre frustrated and unhappy with bumps in the rollout process. Two education groups and six districts, including local Harrison School District 2, filed a lawsuit on Aug. 17 requesting more access to the states software that matches families with providers. Theirs was the third in a string of lawsuits against the program.

Seat at the table

The program guarantees 15 weekly hours of free preschool to all Colorado 4-year-olds and some 3-year-olds. Others are eligible for up to 30, depending on certain qualifying factors.

School leaders agree the effort is a noble cause worthy of support, but not all are on board with the states approach.

Suing districts say universal preschool did not solicit enough feedback and offer satisfactory seats at the program development table, leading to a flurry of functional deficiencies that have allegedly left some low-income and special needs families in the dust and caused a rift between schools and parents.

Those involved in its creation disagree.

Melissa Mares, the director of early childhood initiatives for the Colorado Childrens Campaign, says she was among the group of diverse voices consulting on the programs development. Mares was one of 31 Preschool Policy Leadership Committee members who regularly met in 2020 and 2021 to first offer design ideas, then explore governance and funding.

A preschool policy advisory group, consisting of nearly 250 participants from school leaders to policy experts, solicited feedback from community members to address participants expectations for the program.

Mares ran 61 community outreach listening sessions and talked to more than 800 people who would be directly impacted by preschool changes, such as teachers and families. In an analogy that stuck with her, Mares said one parent likened the former preschool application process  which sent parents across multiple websites in their attempts to find the right program for them  to baking a pizza without instructions and having to run to a different store for each ingredient.

There was fear that paying for extra hours would only further muddy an already confusing process.

You cant just say, Heres 10 more hours; you go figure it out, Mares said. This is where were lucky to have leaders that heard that message loud and clear.

The state attempted to address this concern by streamlining all providers under a single application, whether that provider is a school, a child care center or a local community partner. Then, parents will be given options to select from that best fit their childs needs as theyve described on the application. This approach is known as mixed delivery, according to Mares, and maximizes parental choice without bogging down the application process.

But deficiencies persist, according to leaders at CPCD, a preschool provider partnered with several districts in the region.

There is not enough clarity that the placement application is separate from the enrollment application, they say, leading to confused parents getting lost halfway through the process and showing up to classes for which their children are not properly enrolled.

Families just showing up, very common now. It has never happened until this year, I will be quite honest, said CPCD Child Development Director Shana Lacowicz. It is always going to be a dual-enrollment system, so if you enrolled once, youre halfway there. You are never going to be done with one.

CPCD Chief Development Officer Marty Kemmer-Contreras said the applications terminology is not family-friendly enough, leading to further confusion on critical topics like individual education plans, which are legally required special support plans for children with special needs. Some parents fail to accurately fill out individualized education program (IEP) information, leading to faulty placement with private schools that are not legally required to support children with special needs and often lack the resources to do so.

This is all supposed to be choice. Parents are supposed to have choice of where their children go, but not all providers provide services for an IEP, Kemmer-Contreras said.

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Harrison D-2, one of the plaintiffs, is currently missing 23 students with known IEPs from its state-provided list, according to a spokesperson.

Mixed reception

By and large, Polis says the program has seen enormous success in its first year. The state experienced a 43% increase in 4-year-old preschool enrollment over last year, representing 64% of all eligible 4-year-olds.

Weve gotten great reviews from parents, which in some ways are the most important constituency because it has to be easy for them to enroll their kids. We want to make it easier of course for districts and providers, but they, you know, they have IT people. They can figure it out, Polis said. I think the fact that so many parents were able to enroll their kids  over 40,000 preschoolers  is good success for the first year.

Three-quarters of parents matched with their first-choice school under BridgeCare, the software used by the state. Thats a promising stat for parents holding out for their dream school.

Those who arent paired with their first-choice are still able to find room elsewhere, Polis said. Some districts have seen 20%-40% increases in enrollment as a result of the program, he said.

In Colorado Springs School District 11s Jackson Elementary, where Polis visited Tuesday, classrooms doubled from one to two this year in response to the increased access.

The district has seen a 20% increase in enrollment so far this year, according to Superintendent Michael Gaal, which is a big step for a district that for years has been hemorrhaging students. That could also have significant implications on future achievement.

The long-term return on investment here is very clear. Our reading scores will increase by our ability to get, retain and matriculate our [universal preschool] kids, Gaal said. We have to continue to invest in stronger early education.

Whereas D-11 experienced wait lists for its pre-kindergarten programming last year, Gaal said they spent the time leading up to the universal preschool rollout planning and ensuring their schools could accommodate the anticipated influx. The school board set aside money to support the district in its preparations by way of furniture, staffing and classroom conversions. Their rollout was relatively smooth, he said.

D-2 has not fared quite as well.

In an Aug. 17 press conference, school leaders said they lack proper access to BridgeCares matching software and are often unequipped to field parents frustrations.

The districts special-education director has 17 different lists in Bridgecare, according to an email response from D-2 spokesperson Christine OBrien: one for each preschool site, another with matches and one for 3-year-olds. The special-education director is only able to view those lists, so when discrepancies occur  such as the 23 missing IEP students  she must spend significant amounts of time on the phone with CDEC (the Colorado Department of Early Childhood) to have the lists updated.

To effectively serve families, district leaders say they need additional BridgeCare access to see which resident children with special needs were matched with out-of-district schools to ensure their children will receive the support they need at their placement.

She needs real-time live access to the system in order to be able to efficiently and accurately make sure that all the students enrolled with us are on the lists and in the right placement. She also needs to be able to see any student that resides in (our) boundary and where they have been matched, OBrien said.

BridgeCare founder and CEO Jamee Herbert said the pushback is part of the process as people advocate for what they feel is right, but her company has unfairly been caught in the middle of the struggle. Though BridgeCare has not been named a defendant in any universal preschool legal case, districts have lobbed harsh words at the educational software provider, which Herbert said is operating exactly as its client, the state of Colorado, intended.

Bridgecare can address any functional or access concerns should the state request them.

We have from the beginning iterated on the solution and responded to feedback, Herbert said. Ultimately, we are just the software vendor, so everything we do is guided by instruction from the client, and its ultimately their choices on how they implement their program, but when they come with a challenge, we support them in solutioning.

The state will wait to receive all of the recommendations before committing to any particular improvement or tweak to its matching software, according to Polis. Once all input is solicited, the state will next consider feasibility.

I think a lot of it will hinge on what additional functionality they want us to build into the software for next year, which were very excited to kind of see what those ideas are and how we can make it even more convenient, Polis said. Were going to really assemble what we want this to do, how we want this to function, what can we accomplish in the nine-month period until enrollment begins next year.
The El Paso County Sheriffs Office on Tuesday introduced the two newest four-legged members of its law enforcement team.

Styx and Dex, both Belgian Malinoises, will try to fill the large paw prints left by their predecessors, both of whom made an indelible mark on the Sheriffs Office. Taz, one of the departments most successful K-9s, recently retired after suffering on-duty injuries, and Jinx was killed in the line of duty in 2022.

Deputy Nick Witherite, Dexs two-legged partner, was also Tazs handler. Because Taz now spends his days protecting Witherites home, and handlers typically live with their active K-9s, the deputy and his family now live with two police dogs.

You can tell that Taz is a little jealous that Dex gets to go to work with me every day, and that used to be his job, said Witherite, who has built a shed to accommodate both dogs. But they get along, kind of like brothers.

At 90 pounds, Styx is big for a Belgian Malinois, which typically run in the 60- to 70-pound range. But Deputy Ronnie Hancock, Styxs partner, said the K-9s bloodlines made him a good fit for the team.

Both Styx and Dex are dual purpose dogs, meaning they are qualified for drug detection and criminal apprehension. The Sheriffs Office also has two single-purpose dogs that primarily conduct narcotics searches, Undersheriff Jeff Kramer said.

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The most recent K-9s have been given names that end with the letter x to honor the service and sacrifice of Jinx, the agency's fallen police dog.

On Tuesday, sheriff's deputies put their newest K-9s through agility, detection and vehicle release drills. Like any law enforcement officer, a police dog undergoes training throughout their career, sharpening their skills and acquiring new ones, Hancock said.

Kramer, himself a former K-9 handler, praised the animals for willingly running toward danger and the human partners who, quite literally, take their work home with them each day.

The animals themselves are impressive, Kramer said. Theres a high level of responsibility that we place on the handlers, and they do a phenomenal job. Im proud of the handlers individually, Im proud of the K-9 teams collectively, and Im proud of what they contribute to the organization.
From the all-things-are-racist movement comes something we missed in third grade. The Gadsden Flag  with the DONT TREAD ON ME snake  is racist.

It is so offensive a Colorado Springs School District 2 educator acted to protect us. Upon spotting a Gadsden Flag patch on a 12-year-old's backpack, she banished him from class at the prestigious Vanguard School.

The reason we do not want the flag that way is due to its origins with slavery and the slave trade, says the district employee in a videotaped conversation (gone viral) with the boy and his mother.

Upon hearing this, the boy sits with a polite look of doubt.

The Gadsden Flag? the mother asks.

The dont tread on me, the employee responds.

Which is the Gadsden Flag, the mother explains.

OK, says the educator, looking puzzled.

Whats going to happen if he doesnt take it off? the mother asks.

The educator explains the boy may return to class by unpacking his backpack and leaving it behind. She expresses concern about the child missing too much class because of the patch.

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The bag cant go back because it has that patch on it and we cant have that in and around other kids, she says.

It has nothing to do with slavery, the mother responds. Thats the Revolutionary War patch that was displayed when they were fighting the British Maybe youre thinking of the Confederate Flag?

Frustrated, the mother mentions a lawsuit and describes the irony of her son's predicament.

We teach him to always stand up for what he believes, the mother said. Youre going over the Revolution in seventh grade  I mean the founding fathers stood up for what they believed in against unjust laws, so this is unjust.

The Gadsden Flag's meaning is and always has been clear. Brigadier Gen. Christopher Gadsden designed it to warn the British against violating the freedoms of colonists.

The flag conflict manifests after years of universities, the National Education Association and other unions pushing Critical Race Theory, "America is racist" lectures, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ideology. This trend of anti-academic junk distorts history for political motives.

This country defends free speech, which includes wearing a harmless patch on public school property. Heres what Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said when The Gazette asked about the boy and his flag.

The Gadsden flag is a great, iconic American flag, the governor said. Other kids have LGBT flags on their backpacks, others have flags of major political parties or flags that support whatever causes they do, and thats part of learning from one another, and I think its a great teaching moment to really reflect on what that history means and how it can be part of the healthy school environment.

Well said. Teach these children the truth. Teach them how Americas founders won this country through combat  like Native Americans before them and settlers of nearly all societies. Teach them how and why the United States ended slavery, which continues around the globe. Teach them how the United States pressures foreign despots to stop tormenting individuals for immutable traits. Teach them why people risk their lives sneaking into this country.

Teach the children their country promotes civil rights, diversity and all that facilitates freedom  the cause for which it was founded. We have this country because strong people stood up, saying dont tread on me.
The federal appeals court based in Denver declined on Tuesday to suspend a trial judge's order preventing Colorado from enforcing a new law that increased the firearm purchase age from 18 to 21.

Previously, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer granted a preliminary injunction to two Colorado residents who challenged the constitutionality of Senate Bill 169, a Democratic-backed law that would have taken effect this month. Brimmer found the plaintiffs had shown they are likely to succeed on their claims under the new Second Amendment test the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority laid down in 2022.

Brimmer refused to suspend, or stay, his ruling while Colorado appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The government then asked the 10th Circuit to stay the injunction itself.

Brimmer allegedly lowered the burden for the plaintiffs to establish that SB 169 injured them, Colorado argued, and improperly rejected the government's historical evidence that 18- to 20-year-olds have been subject to restrictions on firearm possession.

"Most troubling, the district courts injunction takes effect the same month that schoolchildren across Colorado will be returning to the classroom to start the new school year. The lower courts injunction allows some of those schoolchildren to purchase guns, contrary to the will of the people of Colorado," wrote the Colorado Attorney General's Office. "Coloradans will undoubtedly be harmed."

In a brief order from the 10th Circuit, Judges Carolyn B. McHugh and Nancy L. Moritz denied the government's request for a stay, finding the state is not entitled to one under the legal criteria. Both are appointees of Barack Obama.

The parties will now file their briefs in the underlying appeal.
Hadlie Gabel, who hails from Eaton in Weld County, is just 11 years old and in the fifth grade. But she's in her third year of showing steers  and for someone so young, she's already a champion.

Gabel's crossbred steer, Baxter, which weighs in at 1,347 pounds and is 18 months old, was the big winner on Tuesday at the Junior Livestock Auction at the Colorado State Fair.

Baxter was awarded Grand Champion Market Steer and was sold at the auction for $50,000 to the Sam Brown family of Pueblo, philanthropists who have for many years entered the winning bid for the grand champion steer.

The auction features the work of 4-H and Future Farmers of America exhibitors, who spend the year raising their livestock in preparation for county and state fair.

Gabel told Colorado Politics that raising cattle is a lot of hard work.

"But you can never give up. If you give up, you can't accomplish your dreams," Gabel said.

The grand champion award is the biggest thing she's ever won, she said.

Baxter was among 108 livestock animals auctioned on Tuesday to groups, such as the Denver Rustlers, the Pikes Peak Posse of El Paso County, and the Pueblo-based Fair Ladies and the newest coalition, the Bidder Critters.

The auction raised $470,000, slightly below previous years' records, due to a change in the rules around the auction.

State Fair General Manager Scott Stoller said that in previous years, all livestock animals that won awards were auctioned, but for animals in the final placings, it meant the price was often well below what it cost to raise the animal.

So, for 2023, only the top five in each category was required to be auctioned, and the exhibitor that showed an animal that placed below the top five could choose whether to auction the animal. That led to about 50 fewer livestock animals available for auction on Tuesday.

Stoller said they hoped the rules change might drive up the prices for the livestock animals that did go to auction on Tuesday. That wasn't quite the case.

Last year's total for 138 animals auctioned was $491,000.

Bidder Critters, which was at the auction for the ninth year, hoped to come home with two steers. Their mission is to process the animals they buy and then give the meat to various charities, such as the local YMCA, soup kitchens or others who just need some good meat.

They started with $5,000 nine years ago. On Tuesday, they were ready with $12,000.

An elated Kallene Faris, who founded the group, bounced over to where they would meet their exhibitor and animal after meeting their goal of winning bids on two steers.

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The largest groups that attended the auction, and which engage in a good-natured rivalry, were the Denver Rustlers and the Pikes Peak Posse, although the Rustlers have demonstrated much larger purses over the years.

"I've got to be meaner," joked Posse buyer and co-founder Scott Smith.

Tuesday, the Rustlers' wins included the Reserve Grand Champion Market steer, for which they paid $17,500. They also won the Grand Champion Market goat, shown by Karsyn Fetzer of Weld County ($5,000) and the Reserve Grand Champion Market lamb, shown by Cal Sidwell of Weld County ($7,000).

The Posse had winning bids on the Reserve Grand Champion Market turkey shown by Dakota Potton of Douglas County ($1,000) and Reserve Grand Champion chickens shown by Mason Massey of Yuma, who also had the Grand Champion chickens. Both were sold at $2,000 each.

Joining the Rustlers this year on the trip to Pueblo were Republican state Reps. Mike Lynch, Ryan Armagost, Lisa Frizell and Anthony Hartsook; lobbyists RD Sewald and Josh Hanfling, who manage the Rustlers event each year; former state agriculture commissioner and Rustlers co-founder Tim Schultz; lobbyist Ted Trimpa; University of Colorado Regent and former state House Speaker Frank McNulty; and Adam Frisch, a Democratic candidate in the 3rd Congressional District. The group held a send-off before hitting the road to Pueblo at Shanahan's in the Tech Center, where Denver Mayor Mike Johnston joined them.

Then it was off to Pueblo and a meet-up with the Posse at a rest stop on the El Paso-Pueblo county line, where six officers from the Pueblo County Sheriff's office, including Sheriff David Lucero, gave the entourage an escort to the fairgrounds. The trip took a little longer than one might expect as the sheriff's vehicles took a circuitous route around Pueblo, showing off the downtown, before heading out to the fairgrounds.

Among the dignitaries with the Posse were El Paso County Commissioners Cari Bremer and Longinos Gonzalez Jr.; former Colorado Springs City Councilman Wayne Williams; Colorado Springs real estate legend Steve Schuck; and Republican Sen. Bob Gardner.

Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade later joined them at the auction.

Annabelle Moore of Colorado Springs  the 4-H liaison to the Posse and who is a first-year student at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, where she studies biology, and in her ninth and final year of 4-H  has raised companion and livestock animals, including dogs, llamas (considered a companion animal), cashmere fiber and market goats and rabbits.

She told the Posse at Tuesday's kickoff that she's proud to be a 4-H member.

"There's a lot of pride in what we do," from raising livestock to leading and public speaking, she said. "4-H is putting in the work" to produce good quality animals.
Denver voters are evenly divided over whether the city is headed in the right direction or is on the wrong track, according to a poll released Tuesday by a new nonprofit that aims to provide nonpartisan public opinion research.

The survey conducted by the Colorado Polling Institute found that 44% of likely voters think Denver is generally moving the right way, while 44% say things are going in the wrong direction, with about 13% unsure.

Homelessness and housing affordability top the list of priorities voters said the city needs to address, followed by crime and public safety and the cost of living.

The poll found that more than two-thirds of those surveyed said they feel safe in Denver, and about the same share of voters support the city's homeless encampment sweeps.

In addition, nearly two-thirds of voters support reducing the number of terms the city's elected officials can serve from three to two. The voters who have an opinion on ranked-choice voting support the voting method by roughly two-to-one for municipal elections.

Conducted jointly by Democratic polling firm Aspect Strategic and Republican pollster Cygnal, the poll surveyed 414 likely 2024 general election voters in Denver on Aug. 17 and 18 using live calls and text-to-web questionnaires. Its margin of error is plus-or-minus 4.72%.

Pollsters noted that the survey's results differ somewhat from other recent polling in Denver because the sample included likely voters in next year's fall election, rather than likely voters in this spring's municipal election, which was a much smaller group.

Colorado Polling Institute Denver survey August 2023

Colorado Poling Institute was founded by entrepreneurial investor David Carlson. Its advisory board members are TeRay Esquibel, the founder of a nonprofit that organizes Denver Public Schools alumni; former Denver City Councilwoman Kendra Black; Republican political consultant Tyler Sandberg; and Democratic political consultant Curtis Hubbard.

The nonprofit plans to conduct additional polling in coming weeks, Carlson said, and intends to provide "relevant, actionable, nonpartisan public opinion research on issues in Denver and across the state we love."

Addressing homeless was called a priority by 51% of those surveyed and was the leading issue for most groups of voters, only slipping to second place behind housing affordability among voters age 18-29. Overall, 41% listed housing affordability, with 34% identifying crime and public safety as a top municipal concern and 32% picking cost of living. None of the other options  from traffic and road quality to climate and the environment  broke out of single digits.

Newly elected Mayor Mike Johnston, who took office in July with a pledge to end homelessness in his first term, is viewed favorably by 46% of voters and unfavorably by 22%, though 28% had no opinion and 3.5% were unfamiliar with him.

Johnston's homelessness plans get positive marks from 34% of voters and negative marks from 20%, though 41% haven't formed an opinion.

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It is noteworthy that voters' top concerns revolve around the city's housing challenges," said Aspect Strategic pollster Kevin Ingham. "The mayor made homelessness a central issue in his campaign, and voters clearly support that priority. Yet, many are feeling burdened by their own housing costs and these results indicate they want the city to approach the housing issue with a wide angle lens.

The cost of housing puts a financial strain on 65% of voters, the pollsters found, with 88% of renters saying housing costs are responsible for "some" or "significant" financial strain.

Voters said they're more pessimistic than optimistic about the progress being made to revitalize Denver's downtown, with 45% giving thumbs down and 30% saying they think things are going well.

As we saw in polling during the mayoral election earlier this year, Denverites are strongly in favor of forcefully addressing the homelessness issue, Cygnal's Brent Buchanan said. The fact that homelessness is still the top issue by far could be the reason voters are pessimistic about the progress being made on downtown Denvers recovery.

The poll also asked voters to rate other Denver institutions.

Denver City Council was viewed favorably by 38% and unfavorably by 34%, with the remainder having no opinion or saying they'd never heard of the institution.

Voter opinion was also split over the Denver Police Department, with 51% expressing a favorable view and 43% an unfavorable view.

Denver International Airport, however, is broadly popular, with 71% holding a favorable view and 23% an unfavorable one.

The Regional Transportation District also was in solidly positive territory, with 55% favorable and 30% unfavorable.

The election-related questions found that 63% of voters prefer tightening term limits for municipal officeholders  including the mayor, auditor, clerk nd recorder and city council members  from the current three consecutive terms they can serve to two consecutive terms. Reducing the allowed number of terms is opposed by 18% of voters, and 15% said they neither support nor oppose the move.

A solid plurality of voters supports using ranked-choice voting to conduct municipal elections, with 48% in favor of the plan and 24% opposed, though a sizable share of voters are undecided or don't have an opinion.

Under the proposal, instead of holding a general election and then a run-off election between the first rounds top two vote-getters, voters would be able to rank candidates in order of preference, with the lowest-ranked candidates being eliminated until one candidate receives a majority of the votes.
More longtime restaurant owners are set to step away from the kitchen. This time its three beloved restaurateurs on the Front Range.

Sadly, Marina La Riva, owner and chef of La Rosa Southwestern Dining, 25 Colorado 105, Palmer Lake, has said a fond farewell to her many loyal customers.

With the news, we made one last visit to the eatery to enjoy La Rivas famous braised lamb shank, slowly cooked in mild New Mexico red chili. La Riva was there bustling around the packed dining room.

Ive been looking for someone who might take over and keep a menu like I make, she said. But that didnt happen.

Instead, new owners expect to open in the space as Sundance Pit BBQ in October.

However, La Riva is thinking of keeping her hand in the food business, at least a little bit.

I might sell jars of salsa, she said. And I might consider doing some other things.

In a letter to her Facebook fans she said, I dont call it retirement  I call it moving on to other interests and exploring them further. I may consider selling some La Rosas Chile; a few customers have asked me to compile a cookbook  we will see. I would also consider to coming your home for a small dinner party.

Follow her on Facebook to keep up with her exploration of other interests and to stay in touch.

Near the same time as La Riva is moving on, another longtime Palmer Lake restaurateur, Kenneth Trombley (aka KT), owner and chef of Bella Panini, 4 S. Colorado 105 (across the street from La Rosa), has sold his eatery to Imran Cooper.

He has been a personal chef and has managed several different coffee shops, Trombley said. This is his first restaurant ownership but has always wanted to own a restaurant.

Trombley, a veteran restaurateur, opened Bella Panini in 2002, where he won a strong customer base. Trombleys excellent Italian dishes were always a treat, especially the shrimp scampi cartoccio. The generous serving arrives at the table as a pouch of parchment paper. When the pouch is carefully opened, large shrimp on penne pasta are revealed. The crustaceans swim in a heavenly scampi butter cream sauce redolent with the aroma of garlic.

Cooper has been working along side of Trombley, perfecting the dishes on the current menu.

Im not planning to change anything, Cooper said.

Cooper has started serving lunch. New hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The kitchen stops taking orders 15 minutes before closing. Details: 719-481-3244, facebook.com/bella.panini

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A little farther north, in Castle Rock, Jeff and Jeryn Richards, husband and wife owners of Crave Real Burgers, 3982 Limelight Ave., sold the restaurant to business partners Aletha Roundy and Sal Olguin in February. The Richardses have moved to south Texas, where Jeff has bought a boat and intends to fish every day. Hes left the restaurant in good hands. Both of the new owners have been employees at Crave a few years learning the ropes.

I have worked with Jeff since 2013 and Sal has been here since 2010, Roundy said. Sal and I are really good friends and have been a dynamic team, especially working at Crave.

That team effort was evident at the recent Taste of Douglas County. Their booth was one of the most popular, with long lines waiting to nab a wedge of the burger places Nutty Professor burger.

The regular Nutty Professor has regular bacon on it, Roundy said. For the Taste of Douglas County, we gave it a spin and called it the Berry Nutty Professor. We added candied bacon and raspberry BBQ.

Hours are 11a.m.-8:30 p.m. Mondays and Sundays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Details: 303-814-2829, facebook.com/CraveRealBurgersCastleRock

.

Wine festsHere are a few fall wine events to get set for:

 The Grand Tasting at the Denver Food + Wine Festival (DF+WF) by the Colorado Restaurant Foundation at Tivoli Quad, Auraria Campus, 1000 Larimer St., Denver, noon to 4 p.m. Sept. 9. The Grand Tasting is the decadent afternoon, showcasing local award-winning chefs, mixologists and wine professionals. More than 700 wines, spirits and other beverages and more than 30 food vendors offering samples. Tickets are $95, of which a portion supports the restaurant workers of our communities. Visit tinyurl.com/2p9epk2p.

 Colorado Wine Week in Palisade starts Sept. 11 and concludes with the Colorado Mountain Winefest on Sept. 16. For 32 year the Colorado Association of Viticulture & Enology has presented the celebration of all things Colorado wine. This year more than 50 of the states wineries will be offering samples, and there will be educational seminars, live music and a grape stomp. Tickets are $75 at coloradowinefest.com

 Winery at Holy Cross Abbey Harvest Festival and winemakers dinner are hot tickets and sell out quickly. The dinner is held at Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 22. Tickets go on sale Sept. 1 and are required for attendance. The Harvest Festival is held at the winery, 3011 E. Colorado H50, Canon City, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 23 and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 24. Discover the Abbey Winerys award-winning wines including the limited release of Harvest Fests Riesling. Shop at over 40 various artisan booths featuring jewelry, art, clothing, woodworking and much more. Enjoy food selections from local produce and cheeses to wood-fired pizzas, fajitas, roasted chiles and freshly baked breads. The event is free but wine tasting is $12 ,which includes a commemorative logo wine glass and five tasting tickets totaling 5 ounces of wine. Additionally, tasting tickets can be purchased ($8 for five tickets) and bottle service is available. No reservations are necessary. This event is not pet-friendly and only service animals are allowed entry.

End of veggie season

Food to Power Hillside Hub Harvest Celebration, 1090 S. Institute St., 5-8 p.m. Sept. 23 will have live local music, food from women-owned restaurants, drinks and a silent and live auction. Cost is $35. Tickets at foodtopowerco.org/harvest.

Contact the writer: 636-0271.
El Paso County officials are preparing for a long, expensive recovery across parks and trails damaged by heavy rains this summer.

A department manager, Jason Meyer, said $8.5 million in repairs have been estimated across 16 locations, from south around Fountain, north around Black Forest and east around Peyton.

Meyer said damage has been surveyed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and now the county is waiting to see what financial assistance may come from the government. President Joe Biden recently issued a disaster declaration for Colorado and opened FEMA funds to the state.

The countys estimated cost for recreation areas poses a steep challenge for the parks department alone. For 2023, the countys general fund allocated $5.1 million to the department, which spreads that money across staff, maintenance and capital projects.

Meyer said the vast majority of damage is along the southern reaches of Fountain Creek Regional Trail, from the Hanson trailhead.

Floodwaters blew out a bridge, collapsed land, dislodged riprap, and wrecked other features that were part of a long, multimillion-dollar mitigation project that finished only a couple of years ago. Funded by FEMA, the county and other partners, that job was in response to storms from 2015.

The improvements were beautiful, what they did to shore up the banks and the new bridge, (Meyer) was so very proud, said Susan Davies, executive director of Trails and Open Space Coalition. And it took so dang long to get all the parts and pieces together. ... To have to start from square one has to be soul-sucking.

It was disheartening and sad, Meyer granted. But he was looking on the bright side  he wouldnt be starting from square one, he said.

Overall, I think were better situated now than if we didnt do any work down there at all, he said. We can really focus now and come back and repair specific areas. Were hoping our repair costs are lower because of the work we did last time.

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The repairs begged the question in Davies mind: How far would the time and money go this time?

Do we want to go through this again and then go through it again in eight years or whatever? Because we know were going to see this again. Fountain Creek is what it is.

It was a difficult area, Meyer said. No matter what we do down there, youre going to see damage. Its just how much repair is there going to be.

Along with damage to Fountain Creek Nature Center that temporarily closed the facility, the county has also noted trail washouts nearby at Willow Springs Ponds and south through Clear Spring Ranch Park.

Other damage has been tracked at Falcon Regional Park and Homestead Ranch Park near Peyton. Near Black Forest, the county gated Pineries Open Space in July.

Meyer said historic Civilian Conservation Corps dams built around the forested property had overflowed and groundwater swelled.

It is just so saturated up there that you cant even walk along the trails without sinking in, Meyer said. Being that we have conservation easements out there, and its a relatively remote place where, if someone was biking along and hit a section and got stuck or injured, itd be really hard for us to get them out.

Opening Pineries was an early priority, he said, while other damage could wait to be addressed pending funds.

Davies said she worried what repairs could mean for the overall outlook of the department with limited staff.

It does make it difficult when you look at long-range capital planning, Meyer said. We just maybe have to put a project or two on hold so that we can allocate the resources to get the work done.
Each month, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation updates its list of the Top 100 Most Wanted Sex Offenders.

The Top 100 Most Wanted Sex Offenders is the agencys ongoing effort to highlight the most dangerous sex offenders at large.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation Sex Offender Fugitive Unit provides analytical and investigative assistance to any local, state, or federal law enforcement agency regarding the identification, location, and apprehension of convicted sex offenders out of compliance with registration requirements, the bureau said on its webpage.

This is the current list as of Aug. 29:

No. 1 on the list is 57-year-old David Joseph Mack, who was convicted of attempted sex assault on a child.

A warrant for his arrest was issued in El Paso County on May 10.

To report a crime or provide any information, a 24-hour tip line is available and tipsters can call 303-239-5732 or email CDPS_CBI_FugitiveTips@state.co.us.
Vulnerable populations in Colorado Springs  those who feel helpless or hopeless, and those who are hurting  can count on The Salvation Armys services to improve their lives. Programs and services for those facing a variety of challenges are available, including:

Casework services.

Community recreation and education programs.

Disaster services.

Emergency assistance.

Emergency shelter.

Food and nutrition programs.

Licensed after school program.

Mens and womens ministries.

Youth character-building programs.

Youth music and arts programs.

Senior citizen residences.

Summer day camp.

Veteran Sheltering and Housing.

Visitation services.

Worship services (all ages).

The Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign needs you!

Every day in a number of ways, The Salvation Army answers the call to meet human need and invites you to join the cause as a bell ringer. You can participate as an individual, as part of a group or virtually by asking your friends and family to donate to an online Red Kettle.

Every ring makes a difference  locally. Your generosity of time will help provide food, shelter, and restore hope for struggling men, women and children right here in our community.

Volunteer or become a group leader by visiting RegisterToRing.com.

Rising to the occasion at the 5th Annual Labor Day Lift Off

The Salvation Army continues its uplifting the community at the 5th Annual Colorado Springs Labor Day Lift Off, a free family event at Memorial Park during the Labor Day weekend, as a sponsor of the Labor Day Lift Off Official Photo Contest. Spectators are invited to snap and submit their best photos over the three-day period, September 2-4. Check out the balloons lifting off in the morning at 7 a.m. or on weekend evenings, when balloons will take flight with evening glows captured at 7:30 p.m.

Share your photographs of the balloons as part of the Colorado Springs landscape until Sunday, September 10 at gazette.com/laborday.

The first prize winner will be up, up and away on a beautiful balloon ride for two. Second-place prize is a $100 Amazon gift card, and the third-place winner will receive a $50 Amazon gift card.

Be the change you want to see

What goes into the areas red kettles stays right here in Colorado Springs, said Captain Doug Hanson, The Salvation Army El Paso County Coordinator. Everyone who supports the kettles helps The Salvation Army meet human needs without discrimination. Because everyone needs a helping hand some time.

You can help change a life in a few short hours.

Learn more about The Salvation Army at HelpColoradoSprings.com.
When they first arrived in America as slaves in the 1600s, Africans joined a society that was divided between master and white servants brought from Europe. In most parts of the South, some of these first African slaves became free either through escape or through emancipation by their owners. It is therefore a misconception that all African Americans in the pre-Civil War South were slaves. Many researchers have also assumed that these free African Americans were the offspring of white slave owners who took advantage of their female slaves. However, these cases represent only a small minority of free African Americans in the South. Most free African Americans were actually the descendants of African American men and white servant women.



In fact, despite the efforts of the various colonial legislatures, white servant women continued to bear children by African American fathers through the late seventeenth century and well into the eighteenth century. It appears that such births were the primary source of the increase in the free African American population for this period. Over two hundred African American families in Virginia descended from white women. Forty-six families descended from freed slaves, twenty-nine from Indians, and sixteen from white men who married or had children by free African American women. It is likely that the majority of the remaining families descended from white women since they first appear in court records in the mid-eighteenth century, when slaves could not be freed without legislative approval, and there is no record of legislative approval for their emancipations.



The history of free African Americans families in colonial New York and New Jersey, by contrast, is quite different from that of free African Americans in the South. Most were descended from slaves freed by the Dutch West India Company between 1644 and 1664 or by individual owners. Researchers have studied these families, especially a group of fourteen families that scholars have traced through at least three generations. None of the fourteen families appears to be descended from a white servant woman and an African American man. However, Lutheran church records from the eighteenth century show that a few such couples had children baptized.



Show Spoiler C

[1] The author of the passage is primarily interested in



(A) defending an accepted position on colonial history

(B) analyzing an unproven hypothesis regarding slavery

(C) presenting an alternate view of a historical period

(D) critiquing an outdated theory of colonial development

(E) describing the culmination of a historical trend.





Show Spoiler E

[2] The passage suggests which of the following about African American families in colonial New York and New Jersey?



(A) They were not descended from white servant women and African American men.

(B) They were less numerous than African American families in the colonial South.

(C) Most of them were started between 1644 and 1664.

(D) They began with an initial group of fourteen families.

(E) Some of them may have descended from white servant women.





Show Spoiler B

[3] Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?



(A) No free African Americans in the American colonies were the offspring of white slave owners.

(B) Some colonial legislatures passed laws to prevent interbreeding between white colonists and African Americans.

(C) White servants were not as numerous as African American slaves in early America.

(D) Most African Americans in the South were born into slavery.

(E) Records exist to document all births of free African Americans in colonial America.





Show Spoiler A

[4] According to the passage, which of the following is a difference between free African Americans in colonial New York and New Jersey and free African Americans in the colonial South?



A. Those in New York and New Jersey were primarily descended from freed slaves while those in the South were primarily descended from white women.

B. Those in New York and New Jersey were primarily descended from white women while those in the South were primarily descended from freed slaves

C. Both groups of African Americans were primarily descended from freed slaves, but those in the North had been freed earlier.

D. Both groups of African Americans were primarily descended from freed slaves, but those in the South had been freed earlier.

E. Those in the South could be freed only with legislative permission. (A) defending an accepted position on colonial history(B) analyzing an unproven hypothesis regarding slavery(C) presenting an alternate view of a historical period(D) critiquing an outdated theory of colonial development(E) describing the culmination of a historical trend.(A) They were not descended from white servant women and African American men.(B) They were less numerous than African American families in the colonial South.(C) Most of them were started between 1644 and 1664.(D) They began with an initial group of fourteen families.(E) Some of them may have descended from white servant women.(A) No free African Americans in the American colonies were the offspring of white slave owners.(B) Some colonial legislatures passed laws to prevent interbreeding between white colonists and African Americans.(C) White servants were not as numerous as African American slaves in early America.(D) Most African Americans in the South were born into slavery.(E) Records exist to document all births of free African Americans in colonial America.A. Those in New York and New Jersey were primarily descended from freed slaves while those in the South were primarily descended from white women.B. Those in New York and New Jersey were primarily descended from white women while those in the South were primarily descended from freed slavesC. Both groups of African Americans were primarily descended from freed slaves, but those in the North had been freed earlier.D. Both groups of African Americans were primarily descended from freed slaves, but those in the South had been freed earlier.E. Those in the South could be freed only with legislative permission.
One of the reporters who works at the small Kansas newspaper that was raided by authorities earlier this month filed a federal lawsuit against the police chief Wednesday.

Deb Gruver believes Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody violated her constitutional rights when he abruptly snatched her personal cellphone out of her hands during a search where officers also seized computers from the Marion County Record's office, according to the lawsuit. That Aug. 11 search and two others conducted at the homes of the newspaper's publisher and a City Council member have thrust the town into the center of a debate over the press protections in the First Amendment.

Cody didn't immediately respond to an email or text message from The Associated Press on Wednesday seeking comment. He has said little publicly since the raids. In court documents he filed to get the search warrants, he argued that he had probable cause to believe the newspaper and City Council member Ruth Herbel, whose home was also raided, had violated state laws against identity theft or computer crimes.

But the newspaper's publisher, Eric Meyer, has said he believes the identity theft allegations provided a convenient excuse for the search, and the police chief was really upset about Gruver's investigation into his background with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department before he was hired in Marion earlier this year. Meyer has said he plans to file his own lawsuit.

Gruver said in a statement that by filing her lawsuit Im standing up for journalists across the country.

It is our constitutional right to do this job without fear of harassment or retribution, and our constitutional rights are always worth fighting for, Gruver said.

The police department's investigation of the newspaper began after a local restaurant owner accused reporters of improperly using personal information to access details about the status of her driver's license and her record that included a DUI arrest.

The lawsuit says the warrant expressly said that the search was supposed to focus only on equipment that was used to access those records, which was done by another reporter at the paper. But after Cody handed Gruver a copy of the warrant and she told him that she needed to call the publisher, he quickly grabbed her personal phone and took it.

In seizing Ms. Gruvers personal cellular phone despite the seizure exceeding the scope of the unreasonable and unlawful search warrant, Chief Cody acted in unreasonable and unnecessarily violent fashion, causing injury to plaintiffs Gruvers rights and her person, the lawsuit said.

One of the officers even read Gruver, another reporter and an office administrator their Miranda rights even though they were never arrested before forcing them outside in the heat to watch the three-hour search.

After the search of the newspaper office, officers went on to search the home Meyer shared with his 98-year-old mother. Video of that raid shows how distraught his mother became as officers searched through their belongings. Meyer said he believes that stress contributed to the death of his mother, Joan Meyer, a day later.

Legal experts believe the raid on the newspaper violated a federal privacy law or a state law shielding journalists from having to identify sources or turn over unpublished material to law enforcement.

Authorities returned the computers and cellphones they took during the raids after the prosecutor decided there was insufficient evidence to justify their seizure. A judge ordered investigators Tuesday to also destroy electronic copies they made of the newspaper's files.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is looking into the newspaper's actions, but it hasn't provided any updates on its investigation.
Helena-area entries were among the 44 statewide and regional winners of the Montana Meth Projects Paint the State art contest.

The three grand prize winners will each receive $10,000 and the 44 other winners will share more than $100,000.

In the Helena area, a team from Helena High School was the southwest Montana region teen division winner. Helena Girl Scout Troop 3846 was the fourth-place winner of the southwest Montana region teen division, Rachel Twoteeth-Pichardo and Joseph Pichardo finished seventh in the adult division and Elkhorn Treatment CenterTeam 3 from Jefferson County won eighth place in the adult division.

Cindy Galbavy was the team leader for the Helena High entry and Adara Partridge and Sabrina Braden were the artists for the Meth NOT EVEN ONCE in High School. The art piece, on the back of a shed outside the welding shop in the Helena High School parking lot, depicts what will happen to a high school student who tries meth once.

Helena Girl Scouts Troop 3846s entry included team leader Katie Goodhart and artists Joelle Tooke and Sophie Clark.

The Meth Flatlines Life mural, on trap club property by Interstate 15, was inspired by horrific stories about the effects of methamphetamine on family and friends.

Break the Chains, Be the Change by Rachel Twoteeth-Pichardo and Joseph Pichardo shows a woman in different stages of her life, in which she was a user who breaks free and is on the path of sobriety. The mural is at the Helena Indian Alliance, 501 Euclid Ave.

Elkhorn Treatment CenterTeam 3 was the eighth-place winner of the statewide adult division.

The team was led by Shanna Peterson and artists were Nissi Plainbull, Lindsay Casebolt, Tara Littlelight, Michelle Laviolette, Lindy Johnson, Jody LaPlant, Deidra Joseph, Odessa Cottier, Nancy Morning and Tia Hayden.

The mural, Red Road, depicts Native American women in recovery and is across from the fairgrounds in Boulder.

The three statewide grand prize winners include:

Julianne Landgren from Musselshell County, winner of the teen division, whose mural Life is Beautiful without Meth includes a rendering of the Montana state flower and bird.

Casandra Lamas from Hill County, winner of the adult division, whose mural features a giant butterfly and the Cree words Nah-wah-so-nah Pi-mah-ti-si-win (Nawasona Pimatisiwin) meaning Choose Life.

The Valier Middle School team from Pondera County, winner of the Peoples Choice Award, whose mural Get Hooked on Montana, Not Drugs mural was created by seventh and eighth grade students.

Teens and adults were encouraged to inspire drug-free lives in their communities.

The winning artwork and the Paint the State 2023 entries can also be viewed at PaintTheState.org.

The teen and adult division winners were selected by judges including Cmdr. John Herrington, the first Native American astronaut in space from Marion, Montana; Kira Fercho, an impressionist artist from Billings; and Caleb Meyer, an oil painter from Missoula.

Paint the State is supported by private funding. Supporters include the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation, Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, Gianforte Family Foundation, Stockman Bank, Town Pump, Gilhousen Family Foundation and Pennmont Foundation. Donations can be made at MontanaMeth.org.

Since its founding in 2005, first-time teen Meth use in Montana has declined 77%. The nonprofit was founded by philanthropist Tom Siebel as a private-sector response to Montanas critical public health issue. It has been named the third most-effective philanthropy in the world by Barrons.
A water-quality monitoring device worth more than $10,000 turned up missing Aug. 25 from its installation point in the Big Hole River near the Jerry Creek Fishing Access Site.

Separately, reports have surfaced that vehicles and boat trailers owned by fishing guides, and perhaps others, have been tampered with at fishing access sites where theyve been parked.

Lug nuts have been loosened. Hitch pins have been removed. Reports of the incidents have been received by the Beaverhead County Sheriffs Office. Sheriff David Wendt could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Wade Fellin, an owner of the Big Hole Lodge and a fishing outfitter, said he has fielded reports about tampering from guides who work for the lodge or work elsewhere.

It does seem specific to guides, Fellin said, adding the caveat that it might be happening to other anglers, too.

People are playing a dangerous game, he said. Its one thing to be upset, and its another thing to put human lives at risk.

Fellin is also involved with Save Wild Trout, the nonprofit that hired scientist Kyle Flynn, Ph.D., to conduct water-quality research as one contribution toward understanding why trout populations have been declining in the Jefferson River Basin.

The submerged water-quality monitoring device, known as a sonde, had been anchored on the river bottom by being zip tied to cinder blocks. When Flynn and Fellin went to retrieve the sonde it was gone  as was the data it had collected since Aug. 15.

Save Wild Trouts science team lead has nearly two decades of experience monitoring water quality in Montana and never had a sonde go missing, Fellin said.

Its unfortunate a costly tool went missing now when we are trying to collect valuable data to better understand what is driving the historic decline in wild trout numbers, he said.

Water-quality challenges along the Big Hole River and elsewhere in the Jefferson River Basin often elicit strong feelings. Changes in fishing regulations, such as eliminating the use of treble hooks in some reaches of river, can also stir resentment.

In early August, Gov. Greg Gianforte led a roundtable discussion in Wise River about declining trout numbers. The panel included representatives from the agricultural community, the fishing community, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and others.

The ranching community, which tends to zealously guard its water rights for irrigation withdrawals, clashes sometimes with fishing guides and outfitters when river flows drop and water temperatures rise.

No one is speculating in any official way about the motivations driving the vehicle tampering. There were similar incidents last year, Fellin said, that targeted fishing guides. One guide discovered holes had been drilled in his vehicles gas tank.

Its extremely dangerous, puts lives at risk, and its not how our community treats our neighbors or visitors, Fellin said. After speaking to the sheriffs office yesterday, they confirmed they would increase patrols in the area, and remember to check your vehicle and trailer before you leave.

He added that anyone with information about the fate of the sonde should alert Save Wild Trout or authorities. If nothing else, the valuable data might be retrievable, Fellin said.

Meanwhile, he emphasized that healthy rivers in southwest Montana benefit everyone, and it makes sense to embrace rather than hobble the quest for answers to declining populations of trout.
MONTICELLO  Blayton Cota, who took part in the shooting death of a 65-year-old Hammond man while burglarizing his home, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Cota, 21, of Granite City, received his sentence at a Piatt County Circuit Court hearing Tuesday after being convicted of murder following a jury trial in July. The prison term was ordered to be served at 100 percent, which means the killer will be almost the same age as his victim  Michael Brown  when he is released.

Brown was killed on Jan. 26, 2021 after going outside of his South C Street home, armed, around 3 a.m. because his security cameras had picked up masked intruders peering into his garage through a window.

A confrontation had followed and Brown would later die from his wounds. Cotas half-brother, Jerome Schmidt, 17-years-old at the time, had been tried as an adult for murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison in February after being convicted in a bench trial.

A third defendant, a 16-year-old boy, was tried as a juvenile and later convicted of residential burglary. This defendant, who testified at the trials of the two men, was sentenced in January to be on probation until the age of 21, the maximum term permissible.

Asked if she was pleased with the outcome of the case, Piatt County States Attorney Sarah Perry told the Herald & Review: Very much so, yes.

She said Browns family had been present for Cotas sentencing and noted they had been waiting  a long time for the case to finally be resolved.

The investigation into Browns murder had become a major police operation with all three arrests coming some nine months after the crime. Illinois State Police investigators had been assisted by, among others, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the sheriffs offices of Logan, Menard, Piatt and Sangamon counties, and the Lincoln, Petersburg and Springfield police departments.

2023 mugshots from the Herald & Review Lourash Hirstein Phillip Gehrken Joseph A. Williams Jetrevius O. Jarrett Edwards King-Woods Wilson Derrickson Colby J. Park
Now a senior at Eisenhower High School, he's still impressed with its size and the growth.

It just seems to be it's gotten bigger over the years, Spence said. It's great seeing everybody out here, from our community and from out of state. Everybody's just coming here and having a good time.

It's an amazing experience, said fellow Eisenhower senior Isaiah Bradford, who, like Spence, has been in FFA and the ag program since he was a freshman. I look forward to it every time. We have ties to agriculture outside of school. We work on our school farm.

Every year it grows substantially, Bradford said.

They saw plenty of interesting things, but both of them were especially fascinated by a display of classic cars among the tractors.

Decatur Public Schools' Dwayne O. Andreas Ag Academy has new headquarters, the FFA Ag Education Center on U.S. 51 south, built with funds from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. Junior and senior students from both Eisenhower and MacArthur High Schools are bused to the newly opened building for a half day devoted to ag education, while younger students and students who don't have room in their schedules for a half day of agriculture can still take introduction to agriculture and ag biology at their high school, said Scott Davidson, one of the ag teachers.

If their class requirements or course load is too heavy to miss a half day for ag classes, they still have an opportunity at the schools, he said.

Davidson shepherded groups of students in the morning and afternoon programs to the Farm Progress show to let them get a sense of the size and scope of agriculture and business. He wanted them to focus on booths related to what they're studying in their classes, but it was easy to get distracted by so much to see.

And an important aspect of Farm Progress is showcasing what's new in every facet of the ag industry, after all.

That tire is taller than you are, Kylar Dick, a MacArthur High School senior, joked to classmate Anthony White, a junior, as they stopped at the John Deere booth to look at tractors.

One of the things that struck Yasalin Gaona-Willis, a junior at MacArthur, was how important technology has become in agriculture, she said. The varied uses of technology in every aspect of agriculture was what struck her the most.

I just see all the technology that farmers are using nowadays and how they use that technology for crops for us humans, she said.

Close 1. Easton Corbin The country singer with hits such as "A Little More Country Than That" and "Roll with It" is set to perform at 5 p.m. Wednesday evening. The concert will be free - thanks to sponsorship from Ram Trucks - with parking and shuttles available at the northern part of the event grounds. 2. Horse Training Demonstrations For the first time since 2009, the Farm Progress Show will feature horse training demonstrations. The demonstrations, done by veteran horsemen Ray Ainsworth, will occur every day at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at lot 1009. 3. Ride 'n' Drive Two areas will be designated for Ride 'n' Drive, where attendees can try out everything from ATVs to new pickup trucks. Photo: The Extreme Flotation tire Ride 'N' Drive during the Farm Progress Show Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013. 4. Demonstrations Each day will allow companies to display their wares in action at the demonstration grounds on the north and east sides of the event grounds. These demonstrations will include the use of combines and tractors with various tillage tools. 5. Sonny Perdue U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will attend a listening session on the next Farm Bill at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Shilling Auditorium on the Richland Community College campus south of the event site. he event will include 75 to 100 invited guests, as well as state directors of agriculture from Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Michigan. 6. Arts & Crafts Tent Those hoping to get the perfect gift for friends and family can head to the new Arts & Crafts Tent at the southern part of the event grounds, which will offer custom-made blankets, artwork, handbags, clothing, metal art, quilts and other items for attendees to take home with them. 7. Varied Industries Tents The two tents will offer attendees the chance to check out more than 150 exhibitors under 55,000 square feet. The exhibitors will offer a look at new markets, startups, and other smaller-scale looks at the future of agribusiness. 8. Buds along with suds This year will feature a brand-new beer garden at the southern part of the showground, which will offer attendees a chance to try out beverages from breweries across central Illinois and the Midwest. 9. Early morning fireworks Wednesday morning at the show promises to be an event, as fireworks to start at 8 a.m. outside the front entrance. 9 Reasons you don't want to miss the Farm Progress Show In a maze of tents and buildings known as Progress City USA, Farm Progress Show vendors display every agricultural and livestock product imaginable, from weed control to gleaming $400,000 combines. Check out these nine reasons to come and see the show Aug. 29-31. 1. Easton Corbin The country singer with hits such as "A Little More Country Than That" and "Roll with It" is set to perform at 5 p.m. Wednesday evening. The concert will be free - thanks to sponsorship from Ram Trucks - with parking and shuttles available at the northern part of the event grounds. 2. Horse Training Demonstrations For the first time since 2009, the Farm Progress Show will feature horse training demonstrations. The demonstrations, done by veteran horsemen Ray Ainsworth, will occur every day at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at lot 1009. 3. Ride 'n' Drive Two areas will be designated for Ride 'n' Drive, where attendees can try out everything from ATVs to new pickup trucks. Photo: The Extreme Flotation tire Ride 'N' Drive during the Farm Progress Show Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013. 4. Demonstrations Each day will allow companies to display their wares in action at the demonstration grounds on the north and east sides of the event grounds. These demonstrations will include the use of combines and tractors with various tillage tools. 5. Sonny Perdue U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will attend a listening session on the next Farm Bill at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Shilling Auditorium on the Richland Community College campus south of the event site. he event will include 75 to 100 invited guests, as well as state directors of agriculture from Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Michigan. 6. Arts & Crafts Tent Those hoping to get the perfect gift for friends and family can head to the new Arts & Crafts Tent at the southern part of the event grounds, which will offer custom-made blankets, artwork, handbags, clothing, metal art, quilts and other items for attendees to take home with them. 7. Varied Industries Tents The two tents will offer attendees the chance to check out more than 150 exhibitors under 55,000 square feet. The exhibitors will offer a look at new markets, startups, and other smaller-scale looks at the future of agribusiness. 8. Buds along with suds This year will feature a brand-new beer garden at the southern part of the showground, which will offer attendees a chance to try out beverages from breweries across central Illinois and the Midwest. 9. Early morning fireworks Wednesday morning at the show promises to be an event, as fireworks to start at 8 a.m. outside the front entrance.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois lawmakers sent a letter urging the White House to grant federal assistance for Central Illinois following severe summer weather.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, along with every member of the Illinois Congressional Delegation, sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Tuesday urging the government to grant Gov. J.B. Pritzker's request for federal assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration for the state.

We write in support of Illinois Governor JB Pritzkers request for federal assistance for the State of Illinois, to help 27 counties recover from storm damage that occurred from late June to early July, they wrote.

The federal assistance would help 27 counties across Central Illinois recover from storm damage caused from late June to early July, according to a statement from Durbin's office.

Severe storms that passed through Central Illinois included heavy rainfall, flash flooding, hail, tornadoes and straight-line winds, as well as five tornadoes with winds exceeding 100 miles per hour.

The aid would help the following counties: Adams, Calhoun, Christian, Clark, Coles, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Greene, Hancock, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, McDonough, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Piatt, Pike, Sangamon, Scott, St. Clair, Vermilion, Warren, and Washington.

A derecho yielding five tornadoes also passed through Central Illinois, with winds exceeding 100 miles per hour in several counties. This severe weather resulted in significant power outages and roadway interruptions due to flooding. Subsequent damage has impacted homeowners, businesses, and local governments, according to the letter. As such, the Governor seeks timely federal assistance from FEMA.

The full text of the letter is available online at durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases.
DECATUR  Two Decatur firefighters required hospital treatment, one of which being detained for observation, after battling a large fire Monday afternoon at the Archer Daniels Midland Co. East Plant on East Faries Parkway.

A fire department news release said crews had been dispatched just after 4 p.m. to find a process building was on fire.

First arriving crews found heavy fire and smoke from the industrial structure that contained process tanks, the news release said.

Initial crews accessed the fire area and discovered heavy fire in a processing tank that was spreading into adjacent tanks. Large attack lines were deployed from a ladder truck to keep the fire from spreading to the rest of the structure while ADM employees injected steam and water into tanks to keep the fire in check.

The fire incident commander upgraded the fire call to a third alarm due to the labor-intensive fire. Decatur firefighters remained on scene for some 12 hours before the fire was completely under control.

Total fire personnel for the incident was listed as seven engines, three ladder trucks, 38 personnel and six officers.

In a statement, ADM praised the quick response of city fire crews and thanked them for their assistance in dealing with the fire.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: A look back at Decatur firefighters through the years 
Social Security is committed to reducing barriers and ensuring people who are eligible for our benefits receive them. We provide income security for the diverse populations we serve. This includes people with autism spectrum disorder and their families.

Many parents and caretakers of children with disabilities lose work hours and income because of their childrens care needs. Supplemental Security Income provides monthly financial support to low-income families with children who have developmental and behavioral disabilities. These include ASD and physical impairments. For more information on SSI, visit ssa.gov/ssi. People with ASD may have questions about how ASD affects their employment options. They may also see their ASD as a barrier to employment. Employers have started to recognize that many people with ASD can bring a variety of skills and strengths to the workplace. Our Ticket to Work Program supports career development for people ages 18 through 64 who receive Social Security and want to work. The program helps get vocational rehabilitation, training, job referrals and other employment support services. For more information, go to ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10061.pdf.

We recognize the need to support, understand, accept, include and empower those on the autism spectrum. Please share this information with friends and family and help us spread the word on social media!

Disability

Q: I am expecting a child and will be out of work for six months. Can I qualify for short-term disability?

A: No. Social Security pays only for total disability  conditions that render you unable to work and are expected to last for at least a year or end in death. No benefits are payable for partial disability or short-term disability, including benefits while on maternity leave.

Q: What is the waiting period for Social Security disability benefits?

A: The law states Social Security disability benefits can be paid only after you have been disabled continuously throughout a period of five full calendar months. Social Security disability benefits begin with the sixth full month after the date your disability began. You are not able to receive benefits for any month during the waiting period. Learn more at ssa.gov/disability.
MECHANICSVILLE, Va.  Titos Handmade vodka is once again the top spirit of choice among customers at Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (ABC) stores, garnering $72 million in sales in fiscal year 2023.

Titos was followed by Hennessy VS cognac ($44M), Jack Daniels Old No. 7 whiskey ($30.1M), Patron Silver tequila ($28.6M) and Jim Beam straight bourbon whiskey ($24M). Titos sales grew by $5.1M compared to the prior year as it continues its six-year run as the top selling product in the commonwealth, according to a written statement from the state agency.

Among the top 10 best-selling products, Jameson Irish whiskey rose to No. 6; Makers Mark straight bourbon remained at No. 7; while Crown Royal Canadian whiskey dropped to No. 8. Grey Goose vodka rose to No. 9. Lunazul Blanco tequila joined the top ten  rising from No. 20 to No. 10  while Fireball whiskey fell to No. 14.

The biggest movers among the top-50 products were all tequila brands: Lunazul Reposado (up 127%), Lunazul Blanco (up 71%), Casamigos Blanco (up 67%), Teremana Reposado (up 57%) and Teremana Blanco (up 45%).

Among the top-50 products, Fireball represented the largest decline by percent (18.4%) and total sales (declining by $3.2M); followed by Crown Royal Regal Apple, which declined by 15.2% or $2.2M.

Virginia ABCs best-selling categories remained relatively steady, led by vodka at 1.64 million cases sold. Tequila (885,876 cases) overtook straight bourbon whiskey (780,777 cases). Cordials/liqueurs (514,517 cases) and rum (470,292 cases) rounded out the top-five categories.

The tequila category showed strong growth, with an 18.4% increase in cases sold. Tequila grew from an 11.8% to 13.7% market share.

The fastest-growing categories* were moonshine at 25.6%; tequila at 18.4%; specialty (such as gift sets) at 14.8%; domestic ready-to-drink cocktails at 10.1% and straight rye whiskey at 9.8%. The biggest declines were seen in Cognacs/Armagnacs at 14.6%; and Canadian whiskey at 10%.

*Sloe gin grew 64% but is Virginia ABCs smallest category, at only 141 cases sold.

Virginia ABC offers nearly 300 Virginia-distilled spirits. Sales of Virginia-distilled spirits grew to $24.1M of sales, with more than one million bottles sold.

The top-sellers in this category were Bowman Brothers Virginia straight bourbon ($1.6M), Cirrus Vodka ($1.2M), John J. Bowman Virginia straight bourbon ($841,852), Isaac Bowman port finish whiskey ($623,848) and Virginia Highlands War Horn Whiskey ($446,898).
ABINGDON, Va.  Washington County leaders received their first look Wednesday at the progress of a multi-year, $24 million project to expand and renovate the historic Washington County Courthouse.

Members of the Board of Supervisors, County Administrator Jason Berry and others took a guided walk-through tour of what will be the upper two floors of the 37,000 square foot courthouse addition now taking shape along Main Street.

What they saw were the beginnings of two new courtrooms for General District Court, two new Juvenile and Domestic Relations courtrooms, a plethora of offices for court staff, judges, probation services, plus new prisoner holding cells, the shaft for a prisoner-only elevator and a security area at what will be the future entrance off Main Street.

This is the first time Ive seen it, Berry said after the 45-minute tour. It is coming together nicely. The contractor and their subs have worked hard, things are coming together and were under budget and ahead of schedule by a few months  BurWil has been great to work with.

The expansion will allow for better security, better public access to the courts and better conditions for the employees, Berry said.

With this additional square footage there will be additional deputies, additional support staff, Berry said.

Plans call for the front of the addition to have two different facades  with red brick on the west end, Indiana limestone in the middle and the brick on the existing courthouse structure to give the appearance of multiple buildings.

Earlier this week the massive construction crane that had been in place for the past 11 months was removed. The expansion portion is expected to be completed by spring 2024.

About 60 to 70 workers have onsite since the work began nearly a year ago.

Nick Self, president of contractor BurWil Construction of Bristol, Tenn., said the new expansion is about 70% to 75% complete.

We expect to complete the addition then begin phasing moving people in and then renovating the existing courthouse space. That will start next year, Self said. Well probably start transitioning people [into the new space] in the early part of next year.

The renovation is expected to take an additional year to complete and be done in early 2025, Self said.

The two existing Circuit Court chambers in the old section will be retained, Self said.

Part of the addition is built atop the roof of the existing courthouse. Self said they are familiar with this kind of work but the lack of space around the courthouse has presented the greatest challenge.

We did basically the same thing in Smyth County. There are obstacles. The biggest challenge here has been logistics because there is no room. Its bounded on all sides by street or buildings, Self said.

In 2019 county leaders considered relocating the court functions to a former Kmart building in a shopping center overlooking Interstate 81. However voters rejected that plan in a special referendum, forcing the county to update and expand court facilities.

Berry said the county and town have worked to try and accommodate the work while keeping the court system open and functioning.

We worked with the town of Abingdon to shut half of Court Street down where the sally port  where the prisoners are coming and going, Berry said. But the biggest challenge has been parking. It was an issue before this construction project and it will be an issue after this is done.

The Board of Supervisors and Town Council had a joint meeting last fall discussing parking as a general issue. I think everybody acknowledges its an issue but there is no plan to fix it, Berry said.

Several years ago there was discussion of a parking garage off Court Street  near Troopers Alley.

That was a vision 10 years ago. I think the problem is who is going to build a parking garage? Its several million dollars, Berry said. If the parking issue could be fixed it would not only support the courthouse but the commerce and business of downtown Abingdon. It behooves all of us to try to fix it, if possible.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.  Appalachia Service Project will hold its seventh annual Race to Build event during the Bass Pro Shops Night Race Weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, Sept. 14-16, to build three homes for local Tri-Cities families.

ASP will construct these three new homes for a veteran family and two other families living in the Tri-Cities area, according to a written statement.

Three college teams, Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Kent State University, and University of Nebraska, will compete over three days to complete the fastest, safest, and most accurate construction of these new homes. The schools will also be competing for scholarship awards for their construction programs.

Following their completion, ASP will present the homes to Anthony Adragna, Larry and Ginger Casey, and Teresa Herrmann.

U.S. Army veteran Anthony, who served courageously in Operation Desert Storm, lives with ongoing disabilities from combat injuries. Despite using limited resources to repair his older homes roof and siding after returning from war, the house deteriorates faster than he can afford to fix. Given Anthonys dedicated service, providing him with a new, warm, safe, and dry home is a just and fitting way to honor his commitment to our country, according to the statement.

Larry and Ginger Casey face the daunting challenge of managing their disabilities in a severely deteriorated 83-year-old home. Its poor condition includes sagging floors, an unstable foundation, leaking roof, and inadequate insulation. The Caseys need essential handicap modifications for daily activities. A new home for the Caseys will provide a much-improved quality of life and help sustain their overall well-being.

After caring for her ailing mother, who has now passed, Teresa Herrmann remains in her 1945 childhood home. Due to her disability and limited income, repairs have become nearly impossible. The home faces multiple challenges: leaking roof, mold growth, fallen gutters, and a cracked foundation. Herrmanns burden is intensified by the lack of adequate heating and cooling, relying on space heaters and blankets. A new home will enable her to host her children, improve her health, and address other essential needs like transportation, ultimately enhancing her quality of life.

These three families currently experiencing housing instability will receive their ASP homes mortgage-free. ASP selects these recipients through a careful home review process and is honored to give back to the local community by providing stable housing to these families during this event.

This event will be held outside of the Bristol Motor Speedway track from Sept. 14-16. Construction will begin at 10 a.m. on Sept. 14, and will conclude at 4 p.m. on Sept. 16, with a closing ceremony honoring the families before the Bass Pro Shops Night Race begins.
RICHMOND, Va.  Kelly Gee, the head of the Virginia Lottery on Tuesday was named the next Secretary of the Commonwealth by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

She succeeds Kay Coles James, according to a written statement.

Were pleased Kelly Gee will be serving our administration as the new Secretary of the Commonwealth, Youngkin said in the statement. Her valuable expertise, years of public service, and commitment to serve Virginians will make her an excellent Secretary.

In June 2022, Kelly Gee was appointed by Youngkin to serve as executive director of the Virginia Lottery. Gee has spent the last decade in public service, including eight years as a senior staff member to General Assembly leadership, culminating in her role as deputy chief of staff to the 55th Speaker of the House.

I am thrilled to move into a new role within the Youngkin administration as Secretary of the Commonwealth, said Kelly Gee. After a decade of public service, I look forward to serving the Commonwealth in this new capacity by assisting Virginians on behalf of the Governor. Secretary James has served Virginians incredibly well, and I look forward to building on her progress.

When she joined the Lottery in 2018, Gee served on the Lotterys leadership team as the manager of government relations. She was responsible for managing the strategy and execution of legislative outreach efforts and played an active role in policy creation and implementation.

She holds an undergraduate degree in Government from the College of William and Mary and a Master of Arts in Political Science from Virginia Tech.

Secretary James will continue her service to students in Virginia as a member of the board at James Madison University.
Will Catawba County Schools change the systems book challenge policy?

Will parents have a say in the decision?

Those two questions were left unanswered on Monday night as the school systems board of education voted to revisit the book policy on Sept. 25.

The next book hearing is set for Sept. 18.

The board did talk about a parent survey during Mondays session and will take up the issue again on Sept. 25.

Board member Leslie Barnette raised the idea of a one-question survey to parents to determine their level of satisfaction with the current policies and procedures for challenging supplementary material from media centers or curriculum material.

Barnette said she feels the board has not heard from many parents of current students and would like to know what they think before the next book hearing on Sept. 18.

Barnette said she was open to what the question would be and wanted the boards input. She added, I think the question itself is very important, for it to be neutral and for it to get us an honest opinion from our parents rather than just being led to answer one way or another.

Board member Michelle Teague said it may take more than one question, because the book challenge process is not a simple issue. Teague is a veteran of the process, having challenged more than 20 books before being elected to the board in 2022.

Board member Jeff Taylor said a longer survey could yield fewer responses. Barnette said she wanted it as short and simple as possible.

Board member Don Sigmon said the survey is unnecessary because: These folks that come here (for public comments), they find out about what were doing.  So, I think (a survey) is either duplication, or we dont need it. They know what were doing.

Barnette said before the Aug. 21 book hearing, she received an email from a parent who wished to attend but was unable to do so because their child had open house that evening. Barnette said she wanted to hear from parents like that one, who could not make it to meetings to voice their opinions. Often, people that come speak to us are those that have different interests, that has nothing to do with their students, Barnette said. They dont have students. They have agendas, one way or the other.

Teague said that, if the school system is going to be transparent, there should be a list of all books in media centers containing explicit content.

Taylor said many parents may not have an issue with the books because the challenge process has been used rarely in the past. He added that he spoke anecdotally, not based on research, and that a parent survey may help determine how parents feel about the topic.

Teague said many parents did not realize explicit books were in school libraries. Board chairman Ronn Abernathy redirected the discussion to the topic of a parent survey rather than explicit books.

Board member Tim Settlemyre said the district is hitting parents with too much information at present to send a survey out now. Parents are trying to navigate newly implemented Senate Bill 49, regarding student nicknames and many other things, Settlemyre said. Taylor agreed.

At the end of the discussion, Barnette motioned for Superintendent Matt Stover and Board Attorney Crystal Davis to bring potential questions for a parent survey to the Sept. 25 work session. The motion passed 6-1, with Sigmon being the only board member to dissent.
A 15-year-old female student is accused of stabbing a classmate with pencils Tuesday on a Davie County school bus, authorities said.

Davie County sheriff's deputies responded at 4:34 p.m. to Yadkin Street in Cooleemee on a reported stabbing on a Davie County High School bus, the Davie County Sheriff's Office said.

The 15-year-old girl is accused of using pencils as a weapon to stab another female student as that student was getting off the bus in Cooleemee, Sheriff J.D. Hartman said.

After the attack, Davie County emergency medical technicians treated the victim at the scene, Hartman said.

Davie County authorities received two 911 calls about the incident, Hartman said.

The student has been referred to juvenile court authorities for assault with a deadly weapon, the sheriff office's said. A second juvenile will be referred to juvenile authorities for accessory to an assault.

The sheriff's office didn't identify the juveniles or the victim.

The students who were charged are facing disciplinary action at the school level, said Jeff Wallace, the superintendent of Davie County Schools.

"In line with our mission of educating all learners, we will explore alternative pathways to support both individuals continued educational path," Wallace said.

"The safety of our students is our top priority, and this type of behavior will not be tolerated in Davie County Schools," Wallace said. "Our team has been communicating with the victims family to provide assistance and ensure the well-being of the student affected, along with discussing the ongoing safety of the student."

School administrators are collaborating with the sheriff's office, Wallace said.

"We appreciate their immediate response to this situation," Wallace said. "We will continue to provide documentation and information to them regarding the incident."
All Peoples Church of Jesus Christ

Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. and worship at 10 a.m. Sunday at American Legion Post 172. Pastor: Prophet Roland Jordan. Sermon: Faith  The Devil Cant Get Me Because I Have Faith. Scriptures Hebrews 11.

Ann Street United Methodist Church

335 Ann St., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Randy L. Wall. In-person and Facebook Live worship at 11 a.m. Sermon: Am I My Brothers Keeper? Scripture: Genesis 4:1-16.

Bethpage United Methodist Church

109 Fellowship Ave. at West C St., Kannapolis. 704-932-5296. Pastor: Rev. McKenzie Sefa. Christian Education at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m.

Bogers Chapel United Methodist Church

1775 Flowes Store Road East, Concord. Pastor: Pastor Eric Shaver. Sunday school at 9 a.m. Worship in-person, Facebook, or YouTube, at 10 a.m. Sermon: Where Do I Stand? Scripture: Exodus 3:1-15.

Calvary Lutheran Church

950 Bradley St., Concord. 704-782-6923. Pastor: Rev. Debbie Frye. In-person worship at 8:30 a.m. (Outdoor Chapel  Pet Blessing Service) and 11 a.m. (traditional worship). Coffee/Cookie Social, 9:30-11 a.m. Adult Sunday school at 9:45 a.m. Rally Day on Sept. 10. Childrens Area and nursery available all times. All services live-streamed and available anytime on the Calvary Lutheran Concord Youtube channel  easy access through our website http://www.clconcord.org or church app Calvary Lutheran Church  NC. All are welcome. Sermon Series: Is Your God Big Enough? Sermon: Let Go and Let God.

Center United Methodist Church

1119 Union St. S, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Brian Crady. Sunday school for In Betweens and young adults at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. Nursery is provided during the worship service. Website is www.centerumcconcord.org. Look forward to you joining us for our service! Sermon: Acceptance with Child-Like Faith. Scripture: Mark 10:13-16.

Cold Springs Global Methodist Church

2550 Cold Springs Road, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Cliff Wall. Worship at 10 a.m. on Sundays. Visit online at https://youtube.com/@coldspringschurchconcord.

Crossroads Church

220 George W. Liles Parkway, Concord. Pastor: Lowell McNaney. Live worship streamed on Facebook, Crossroads Concord Church app or mycrossroads.co website at 9:30 a.m. and 11:11 a.m.

Crown Pointe Baptist Church

703 Tennessee St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Doug Crawley. Sunday school at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. in the sanctuary, or view online at our Facebook page. Series: Bridge Builders. Sermon: Breaking Barriers. (Week Four) Scripture: Ephesians 2:11-18 ESV.

Eastside Missionary Baptist Church

199 Elgin Drive, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Stephen Burrow. In-person services: Sunday school 9:30 a.m. Worship services 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Recorded worship services and other information at EastsideMissionaryBaptist.org. You will be welcomed. Practice social distancing.

Epworth United Methodist Church

1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Dennis Marshall. Sunday school at 9 a.m., followed by worship at 10 a.m. We welcome all to join us in person, or you may livestream or watch the recorded service at our website at www.epworthnc.com.

Forest Hill United Methodist Church

265 Union St. N., Concord. Senior Pastor: Rev. Mandy Jones. Associate Pastor: Rev. Wes Judy. We are open for in-person worship. Contemporary worship, 9 a.m. Sunday school/small groups  10 a.m. Traditional worship  11 a.m. Both the contemporary and the traditional worship services will also be live-streamed at foresthillumc.org or facebook.com/foresthillumc, in case you dont feel like being here in person.

Harmony United Methodist Church

101 White St., NW, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Thad Brown. Sunday school is at 10 a.m. followed by our worship service in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. Sermon: The Eternal Life. Scripture: John 1:1-5, I John 1:1-7, Isaiah 2:5, Isaiah 60:1-3, I John 1:8, Jeremiah 2:35, Proverbs 20:9, I John 1:9-10. Also, Service of Holy Communion. We welcome you to join us in worship! Service is live on Facebook.com/HarmonyUnitedMethodistChurch and we welcome all who are unable to join us in person to worship with us online. For more information, you can call the pastors phone, 704-791-2883, or the church phone, 704-782-8237.

Jackson Park United Methodist Church

715 Mable Ave., Kannapolis. Pastor Laurie Knoespel. Adult Sunday School 9:30 a.m. Worship at 10:30 a.m. Nursery will be provided during worship service.

Kirkwood Presbyterian Church

900 Klondale Ave., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Dennis B. Craft. Worship at 11 a.m. in church sanctuary on Sundays. No mask restrictions.

McGill Baptist Church

5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, in-person services. Pastor: Rev. Steve Ayers. If you have not taken the COVID-19 vaccine, please wear a mask. McGill will stream a worship service Sunday at 10 a.m. on www.facebook.com/mcgillbaptistchurch/ and on YouTube. The services will be live and also available on recording afterwards. Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Sermon: Overcoming. Scripture: Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45b; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28.

Midway United Methodist Church

108 Bethpage Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Craig Allen. Come join us on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. for Sunday School and 10:30 a.m. for worship. Our service is also livestreamed on the web at midwayunitedmethodistchurch.org or facebook.com/midwayUMC. Communion Sunday. Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Sermon: Stumbling Blocks and Good Intentions. First Reading: Psalm 105:1-6. Second Reading: Matthew 16:21-28. Suggested Hymns: UMH 176, Majesty, Worship His Majesty; UMH 620, One Bread, One Body.

Mt. Mitchell United Methodist Church

6001 Old Salisbury-Concord Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Joel Locklear. Sunday school at 9:45 a.m. (adult and children classes.) Worship at 11 a.m. in-person or Facebook. Sermon: How Christians Ought to Behave. Scripture: Romans 12:1-13.

Multiply Church Concord

150 Warren C. Coleman Blvd. N, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Douglas Witherup. 8:30 a.m. service held at 280 Concord Parkway S, Suite 15, Concord. Services at 150 Warren C Coleman Blvd N, are worship and sermon at 9:30 a.m. and worship and sermon at 11:15 a.m.

New Gilead Reformed Church, ECO

2400 Old Salisbury-Concord Road. 9:40 a.m., Adult Bible study. 10 a.m., Sunday school. 11 a.m., worship in the sanctuary, also live on Facebook.

Oak Grove Baptist Church

200 Sims Parkway, Harrisburg. Pastor: Rev. Franklin D. Watkins. 10 a.m. In-person worship service and Facebook Live and YouTube Live. Sermon: The Bright Side is in Christ. Scripture: Romans 8:28-39 (NKJV).

Second Presbyterian Church

1578 Dale Earnhardt Blvd., Kannapolis. Pastor Sue Black, minister. Rev. Aaron Price, assistant pastor. Sunday school at 10 a.m. Worship at 11 a.m. Sermon: The Reluctant Prophet. Scripture: Jonah Chapter 1.

St. Johns Reformed Church

901 N. Main St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Chris King. Sunday school for all ages, 9:30 a.m. Worship service, 10:30 a.m. Website  www.ourstjohns.org. Email/Phone- ourstjohns@gmail.com / 704-932-3656. Sermon: Real Forgiveness Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35.

Trinity United Church of Christ

38 Church St., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Nathan King; Pastor of Evangelism: Rev. Dr. Cathy Cook. Worship at 11 a.m., in-person or Facebook live. Website: commachurch.com. Youre invited! Sermon: The Sacrifice Fly. by Rev. Nathan King. Scripture: Exodus 3:1-16, Matthew 16:21-28.
"I truly believe we are embarking on a golden age of innovation, said Google CEO Sundar Pichai this morning, before the cloud giant delivered a series of announcements, all around the expansion and inclusion of AI within Googles products.

Pichai took the stage at Google Cloud Next, the first Google Cloud in-person conference since 2019. The conference messaging was clear; theres an old way and a new way, the latter leveraging the vast capabilities of artificial intelligence.

In the old way. companies are losing millions of dollars to fraud, doctors are waiting for diagnostics, and companies are reacting to cyber-attacks. The old way is, well, getting old; instead, AI is speeding up diagnosis from hours to seconds. Analytics is saving millions of dollars in wasted food and fuel. Cyber attacks are blocked proactively. 135 different languages can be translated in real time. Cancer research is advanced; citizens are served 24/7. Thats the new way, according to Google - a way that forecasts, optimises, unjams, and explores.

"The shift to AI will be one of the most profound shifts we will see, Pichai said. It will touch every industry, every business sector, and all the ways we live and work.

"As a company, we've been preparing for this moment for some time, he said.

"Google Cloud is one of the top enterprise companies in the world, Pichai said, before explaining in his many conversations with business leaders he encounters a consistent theme. Business leaders want a partner who is on the cutting edge of desktop, mobile, cloud, data, and AI, he said. A partner who can navigate and lead with them.

That partner is Google, Pichai said. It's no fly-by-night business, nor a late-comer to AI. In fact, for the last seven years weve taken an AI-first approach, to apply AI to make our products radically more helpful for everyone, he said.

For example, Pichai said Google has spent the last 25 years trying to perfect search (and were still going) and now has infused generative AI into its search to bring what is dubbed Search Generative Experience - or SG for short. SG easily follows up on conversations, finds help to coding topics  as we integrate GenAI into search were drawing on years of experience.

And what's more, "Google Cloud can bring the same tools and insights to your apps, Pinchal explained.

However, he cautioned, "as exciting as the AI opportunity is, we have to be clear of production challenges. Hence Google Cloud is committed to responsible AI with safety, security, and privacy at the core.

To provide greater detail, Pinchal turned the stage over to Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian (pictured), who announced the crux of Googles new product announcements is centred around three things:

Build AI apps with AI-optimised infrastructure, using Googles Vertex AI Use AI with the Google Workspace always-on collaborator, Duet AI And bring together an entire AI ecosystem, to ensure each organisation can succeed

Mind you, a lot is going into those three things, so hold on as iTWire summarises the bulk of Google Cloud Next announcements here:

Hardware announcements

Kurian announced the following hardware enhancements underpinning Google Cloud:

The new Cloud TPU v5e in preview, with twice the training performance per dollar, and 2.5x the inference performance per dollar. For clarity, TPU is Tensor Processing Unit, and is Googles custom-developed application-specific integrated circuits used to accelerate machine learning workloads. A new product in preview, GKE Enterprise, which is a premium edition of GKE, or Google Kubernetes Engine. GKE Enterprise brings 45% improved productivity while reducing software development times by 70%, and is aimed at supporting mission-critical applications. The general availability of a new virtual machine shape, the A3, which is powered by Nvidia H100 GPUs. This brings 3x faster training performance than the A2 VM, with 10x the network bandwidth, and is aimed at those who are working on incredibly demanding AI workloads. The introduction of Titanium, a system of purpose-built, custom silicon and multiple tiers of scale-out offloads that underpins AI performance. Kurian stated Titanium delivers 25% faster block storage IOPS per instance compared to the other two leading hyperscalers. Customers who want infrastructure in their own data centres can now make use of the general availability of Google Distributed Cloud (GDC), with next-generation hardware and security capabilities, AI integrations, and more. A new service, cross-cloud network, can aid companies in centrally managing, securing, and speeding up apps across all of their clouds and SaaS providers.

Vertex AI announcements



Vertex AI is Google's unified AI platform, first announced at Google.io in May 2021. It is designed to address and resolve many of the problems traditionally encountered while creating and implementing machine learning (ML) models.

You can try Vertex AI with $300 in free credits, allowing you to train, test, and tune ML models on a single platform; build generative AI apps quickly; accelerate development with unified data and AI; and reduce training time and costs.

The most talked-about, attention-gathering application of artificial intelligence today is undoubtedly generative AI, which at heart, learns patterns and structures of existing data, and generates new data with similar characteristics, Kurian said.

Vertex AI can help developers build apps quickly, using generative AI models and new services like enterprise search and conversation. Vodafone, Docusign, and box are among the companies currently building generative AI apps using Vertex AI already. Another is Estee Lauder, which is using generative AI to drive product innovation from the way customers speak about its products online. The insights cover evolving sentiment analysis, customers demands and needs, and how they use the products, all being gathered, collated and summarised to help Estee Lauder further its goal of becoming the most inclusive beauty brand in the world.

Specific Vertex AI announcements include:

New PaLM 2 upgrades that increase the input tokens by four times, allowing long documents to be processed. This equates to about 32Kb or 80 pages. For example, Google demonstrated pasting in the entire Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) drivers handbook, and then simply asking PaLM 2 via a prompt to summarise all the rules around pedestrians. 25% greater quality improvement to Codey, Googles text-to-code tool Industry-specific PaLM 2 variations, with Sec-PaLM to contextualise material for cybersecurity, and Med-PaLM building models more accurately and safely for the medical industry A new open model ecosystem, offering over 100 models from Google, open source, and partners - for example, Llama 2 and Claude 2. Enhanced generative image creation that can apply your own style templates with only as few as 10 images needed for learning. This particular tool is Googles Imagen (pronounced imagine, but clearly named as a play on image generation) and Google demonstrated how they can use it to create images of freight trucks based on its own model, but then load 10 images with a golden style effect, and use that to now tune the generated images style to match. With style tuning, well never go out of style, said Google Vertex AI product leader Nenshand Bardoliwalla. Digital watermarking, to preserve the fidelity and integrity of your images. With the new Google digital watermarking, powered by Google DeepMind SynthID, your images can be tracked and identified, but without resorting to easily-changed metadata, and without adjusting pixels that compromise the image quality. The watermark is embedded into the image but is invisible to the human eye and difficult to tamper with. This protects your images and also aids you in identifying where they are used. Vertex AI search and conversation capabilities in general availability, allowing your own apps to integrate Google search across your enterprise data including document repositories, websites, SaaS apps, Intranets and more. It provides multi-model search, the ability to search on text and images, and even multi-turn search that permits your users to effortlessly ask follow-up questions with the conversation remembering and understanding the context of your questions. Whats more, the service is grounded in your enterprise data to ensure you get factual results, and offers links back to the source documents or data. This is a huge step up from popular generative AI apps that tend to make things up when it doesnt know the answer. Vertex AI extensions allow models to be connected to third party apps. For example, you can draw from Jira, Confluence, and Salesforce data for your enterprise search and conversation. Vertex AI app logic can now be described in natural language; thats right - you can construct a playbook explaining what the logic ought to be, and the Vertex AI code editor will make the code for you. These might be tasks like collecting a customers request, categorising it, asking for their full name, looking up their details in a database, and so on - you really can create powerful, smart, chat-based apps in minutes.

As well as announcing these features, Kurian was keen to emphasise Vertex AI gives you full control and segmentation of your data, code, and intellectual property, with zero data leakage.

"Your data - by which we mean input data, metadata, model outputs, and human feedback - is your data, and no one elses, he said. When you train, fine-tune, or serve your models with Vertex AI with SaaS data, proprietary databases, or documents, you are not exposing them to Google services, other customers, the Internet, or the model provider.

"You can train your model in your own private GCP configuration under your sole control, Kurian said.

Duet AI announcements

The Google smart AI-powered collaboration assistant, Duet AI, has been available in preview - until now. Announcements include:

Duet AI is now generally available in Google Workspace for everyone. For clarity, Google Workspace is the new name for G-Suite, the enterprise version of Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Meet, and other products. Duet AI provides generative AI smarts to help with every single task you do. Google Workspace now has a project manager, a meetings note-taker, a writer, a creative visual designer, and a spreadsheet helper, Kurian said. And, he empathised, it brings the power and data of LLMs in a privacy-preserving way. Examples include generating an email to a customer regarding late invoice payment and getting the tone right, or writing a blog on clean energy regulations, to having Duet AI create an entire brand strategy presentation based on what it finds in your documents about your brand, your metrics, and your previous brand strategy designs. Or, you could have it translate, note-take, and summarise meetings for you. Latecomers to Google Meet meetings can get an overview of what they missed and ask questions about the content. The meeting presenter can be prompted with an intelligent teleprompter that will catch up if they skip ahead or ad-lib. Duet AI for Google Cloud is expanding and will be in general availability later this year. This similarly brings LLM smarts to your Google Cloud environment allowing you - for example - to easily take an alert in your cloud metrics, have Duet AI help you write a query to identify all the services impacted by the issue, to then ask, naturally and natively, what the cause is and possible ways to fix it. What may have otherwise taken hours to work out is now solved in minutes. Or, you can use Duet AI to chat within your development environment and ask it to rewrite legacy code into modern languages and frameworks for you.

And, continuing the Google message of security and trustworthiness, your data is your data; none of your data is used to train our data. No data ever leaks between users, departments, or organisations, a Google presenter said.

Database announcements

Data is everywhere, and Google's AI infusion isnt leaving the database products out of the picture by any means. Announcements include:

Natural language can now be used in BigQuery, allowing you to use generative AI models with your data. A new product BigQuery Studio is in preview, giving serverless notebooks. Looker Studio Pro allows you to use Looker with BigQuery and have a real-time chat with your data. For example, you might ask, Show me total sales from the top five seasonal product categories globally - Duet AI understands all the metrics and not only what you are specifically asking, but what you are trying to achieve. It pulls in data models, metrics, BigQuery tables, and puts it all in context, asking if you would like to see a demand forecast, for example. However, it doesnt simply give the data - it also provides actionable insights with visuals. You can send your top five product info and the demand forecast off to the procurement and promotions teams, say. Or have Duet AI create a Google Slide deck for you in one click, all about the demand forecast vs. the inventory for the top five products. Its truly remarkable to see it in action. Google's AlloyDB PostgreSQL database has been enhanced to offer 4x transaction speed and 100x faster analytical queries. It also now provides 10x faster pgvector search than standard PostgreSQL. What's more, Duet AI now powers the database migration service, which is in preview, allowing you to migrate Oracle and SQL Server databases - including stored procedures and functions - from those platforms to AlloyDB. Its not uncommon to see enterprises looking at their database and considering how they might be able to reduce costs by moving to an open-source model - were it not for the complexity involved. Well, now Googles database migration service can do this work for you, and not simply translate the schema but the code too.

Security announcements

Last, but not least, Kurian stated, "no mission is more important than your security mission, and explained Google was combining the knowledge of threats and bad actors from its Mandiant product with the smarts to perform cybersecurity actions as well as providing threat hunting from Mandiant exports.

Google Cloud Next 2023 has brought forth a rich array of AI-based functionality into Googles products. And this is not the end; We will continue to be bold and responsible in our approach and make these tools accessible so everyone can benefit, Pichai said.
For the first time in 51 years, Intel has opened some of its Malaysian factories to the media and analysts.

"Intel's in a great spot," said corporate vice president and APJ general manager Steve Long, adding that its "execution and innovation engine is alive and well."

The plan to introduce five nodes within four years is on track, with the Intel 7 process (previously known as 10nm Enhanced SuperFin) in high volume manufacturing, Intel 4 (7nm) production ramping up as the anticipated launch of the Meteor Lake family approaches, Intel 3 (3nm class) ready to go into manufacturing this year, and Intel 20A (2mn class) and Intel 18A (1.8nm class) expected to be ready for manufacturing in the first and second half of 2024 respectively.

Another part of Intel's plan is "democratising AI," he said.

AI capabilities will be built in across the company's product lines, including Arc, Core, Xeon, GPUs (presumably including the awaited 100 billion transistor Ponte Vecchio GPU), and the Habana and Gaudi data centre processors.

These "heterogeneous architectures" will allow Intel to offer the "right products for the right solution," with the oneAPI toolkits simplifying software development across the different processors.

"We want to lower the barrier to everyone," said Long, and oneAPI meets customers' desire for open rather than proprietary toolkits.

Intel general manager of technology solutions and APJ CTO Alexis Crowell said the company has been following a strategy to democratise AI for seven or eight years. Just as we now expect a laptop to include a Wi-Fi interface, we will soon be at the point where new computers have instruction sets support the types of operations needed for AI.

But this "AI everywhere" opportunity cannot be met with a "one size fits all" approach: a 700W chip might be fine in a data centre, but it is no good for a laptop or other edge device. So to make it work, "you've got to simplify the software stack," she said, and "you've got to get everyone in the ecosystem to rally around"  hence oneAPI.

"People want to be able to choose" between hardware vendors such as Intel and Nvidia, she asserted. "We can absolutely challenge in that space," and in any case there is room for more than one solution.

Intel's ecosystem approach is an area where "1+1=3," she suggested, as open and accessible platforms mean faster advances. "We want to be the best technology partner" providing the application developers with the right hardware and software.

Crowell noted that the speed of AI adoption varies between regions, and "what changes are the regulations behind the use cases." Intel wants to be a role model for responsible AI, she said.

The prospect of supporting AI in edge and client products is "super exciting," Intel client computing group vice president Gokul V Subramaniam said. "PCs are going to be central to bringing AI to scale" because they are used when people are focussed on their work.

But "if you don't start with the business problem, you can't get to the technology," said Crowell. "In a lot of cases you don't need something crazy expensive"  instead you may be able to do the job with capabilities already in your hardware, and that will become increasingly likely with forthcoming systems.

Manufacturing

Intel's attitude towards openness can also be seen in its IDM 2.0 (integrated device manufacturing version 2.0) model, which sees the company's own factories being used for manufacturing at scale along with the expanded use of third-party foundries to provide additional volume as well as the flexibility that comes from being able to mix and match chiplets from multiple vendors. The latter capability will be supported by the UCIe (Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express) standard that is also supported by TSMC and Qualcomm, among others).

"This is the path forward," he said.

The third leg of IDM 2.0 sees Intel Foundry as a world-class business open to customers and competitors. It is already being used by Mediatek, Cisco, Amazon and Ericsson. Arm proposes to build future low-power SoCs on Intel 18A, while Synopsys will use the Intel 3 and Intel 18A processes.

Intel vice president and managing director of Intel Malaysia A.K. Chong explained that IDM 2.0 is part of a strategy to make Intel the world's largest foundry by the end of the decade.

The company will continue building products in its own factories, but will use external capacity strategically.

Turning to manufacturing in Malaysia, he recalled that it started with 100 employees manually assembling DRAM chips. Today, 15,000 people work in 900,000 square feet (around 84,000 square metres), and further expansion is underway at the Penang and Kulim sites  the new four-storey advanced packaging facility under construction in Penang incorporates the piece of land where the first Malaysian factory stood.

These developments will give the company some two million square feet (around 186,000 square metres) of manufacturing space.

But it's not just manufacturing. The design and development lab has designed products including SoCs, CPUs, chipsets and FPGAs. It is involved in product development issues such as manufacturability and quality, platform and system validation, and works with customers that are integrating Intel products into their own.

"Intel Malaysia is like a little Intel," Chong observed, as most functions are carried out within the country. The main exception is fabrication: the wafers that Intel Malaysia turns into finished products come from the company's foundries in places such as Israel.

Like other companies, Intel Malaysia is addressing sustainability issues. Chong said it operates Intel's largest solar farm outside the US, is 84% of the way to achieving net-positive clean water, less than 1% of its waste went to landfill in 2022, and it is developing lower-carbon products.

Subramaniam said the company sees sustainability as an "end to end lifecycle opportunity" that includes manufacturing, operating (eg, performance per watt, repairability and upgradability), and end of life handling. That last point should be seen as including "end of first life" as it includes securely removing content from a device so it can be given or sold to someone else for further use before finally being taken out of commission and recycled to the extent possible.

As you might imagine, testing is a big part of semiconductor manufacturing.

Testing at Intel Malaysia starts before designs are turned into reality. New products are emulated and tested with synthetic tools as well as with real applications and benchmark programs running under target operating systems including Windows and Ubuntu.

Similar tests are performed when the design has become a prototype product. Automated processes load a BIOS and operating system, along with an application that will verify the operation of the features being tested. At this stage, the product can be tested with commercial BIOSes and firmware, and AI is used to help ensure test coverage, along with test suites designed to exercise multi-core and multi-module products.

Before a new product is launched, samples are tested to ensure the power and performance are within specifications using internal and external benchmarks. These tests are performed in conjunction with real-world firmware, BIOS and drivers, but they use reference motherboards with extra features allowing easy and extremely accurate measurement as well as the generation of unusual conditions such as injecting a particular waveform into the power lines. Again, these tests are run at a range of temperatures. One of the goals is to establish whether a design really is right for a particular segment such as thin and light notebooks. If not, the lab works with the product design team to address the issue, perhaps by rebalancing power and performance.

Post-silicon functional validation starts with determining how to verify the operation of new chips. The team needs to determine what to test and how to test it. This type of testing involves lots of hardware, lots of cycles, and sometimes lots of time. In general, an objective is to exercise as much of the device as possible in the time available, so the lab is set up to test multiple configurations simultaneously. When issues are detected, various debugging tools are used to provide feedback to the product team.

The lab also works with customers to help test and optimise products under development that use Intel processors. Part of the job is to develop testing methods for new technologies such as DDR6 memory. Customers come up with a wide range of possible configurations around each Intel processor, so testing needs to be similarly flexible in order to address possible thermal and power issues, as well as checking the balance between performance and power consumption.

Electrical validation is part of the system validation process. Part of this is signal integrity validation: does a particular interface (eg, PCIe Gen 5) work correctly across all configurations and operating conditions? A combination of software automation and robotic handling is used to speed testing, so a machine picks up the processor, checks its orientation, places it in the socket, and positions a thermal tester on top of it. The suite of tests are run (with the results being made available to remote users, who can specify the tests to be run), and then the processor is removed so the next one can be tested.

Once production has begun, wafers arrive from Intel fabs such as the one in Israel and are sawn into individual chips. This process involves mounting the wafer on a mylar sheet coated with an adhesive that is strong enough to hold the wafer and its constituent chips during the sawing process. It is then exposed to ultraviolet light, which weakens the adhesive sufficiently to allow the chips to be removed. Each chip is then tested for defects and sorted according to its performance. Weeding out faulty chips at this stage avoids wasting resources during subsequent manufacturing stages.

The testing process is highly automated. Trays of newly-separated chips are grouped in boxes, and these boxes are moved around the test facility by robotic vehicles. The boxes are loaded into the test cells by the vehicles, and subsequently returned to a storage area before being mounted on reels of tape for transfer to the next stage of the process.

Intel's 3D Foveros chip packaging technology involves mounting multiple tiles on top of a larger chip, and then mounting that assembly onto a substrate before sealing it with epoxy for mechanical strength. The company has recently introduced a single-nozzle process for applying the epoxy, which is drawn by capillary action between the silicon and the substrate. Where needed, thermal paste is applied and then the package lid is added before each part is checked for cosmetic issues.

The finished CPUs are then burned in at high temperatures and voltages to screen out major defects.

Surviving devices go through further testing to check all of the electrical traces as well as functionality.

Not all tests are electrical or concern the operation of specific software. Some involve using ultrasound to see what's happening below the surface, thermal cameras can detect hotspots, and lasers are also used in testing.

Intel System Integration and Manufacturing Services is located within the company's Malaysian operation. It manufactures test equipment that is used at Intel's factories around the world.

This equipment includes the High Density Burn-In Tester (which performs burn-in stress testing at high temperature and voltage on Intel CPUs), the High Density Modular Tester (for class or backend testing on Intel CPUs during new product development and production ramping), and the System Level Test (to confirm Intel products will function in a customer-like environment). Each tester is adaptable to the specific requirements of particular CPUs.

SIMS even developed some of the equipment used to manufacture the testers, including a machine to align two heavy circuit boards and plug them into each other, or to separate them again.

Disclosure: The writer travelled to Malaysia as a guest of Intel.
This provides the ability to quickly detect and easily resolve alert coverage gaps by using AI to identify anomalous behaviour, determine areas of the technology stack that aren't being monitored, and recommend new alerts to engineers. The industry's only observability solution that reduces the need to manually build numerous alert conditions using AI makes it easier to understand which signals are most important or what thresholds indicate performance problems. Now, every engineer, regardless of their experience level, can eliminate alerting blindspots  empowering them to detect, resolve, and respond to issues faster.

"In an increasingly dynamic landscape, it's easy for engineering teams to be overwhelmed by the need to configure alerts across different layers of the technology stack, especially since manually creating alert policies can be time- and resource-intensive. This can cause enormous gaps in the team's alerting policies, leaving them blind and incapable of responding quickly and confidently when things break," said New Relic chief product officer Manav Khurana. "We designed New Relic recommended alerts to remove those barriers, so teams have the alerts they need to proactively monitor their stack, diagnose incidents and prioritise them for immediate action before it impacts their customers, business, and bottom line."

Powered by AIOps, New Relic recommended alerts streamlines alerting with its alert coverage gaps feature, which continuously and automatically highlights areas in an organisation's technology stack that are missing alert coverage across application performance monitoring (APM), mobile and browser entities. Then, New Relic fills alerting gaps by recommending new alerts with pre-populated alert conditions, such as error percentage or response time. Using the recommendations as a starting point, engineers can also customise their alerts by implementing additional parameters to tailor the alert conditions and drive even better coverage for the team.

"Successful AIOps solutions are more than just technology  on its own, technology is passive, but AI is active," reports Forrester principal analyst Carlos Casanova in The Forrester AIOps Reference Architecture: The Need For Clarity (Forrester Research, 31 May 2022). The report continues, "Using AIOps, leaders can improve system resilience, decrease downtime, improve mean-time-to-resolution, and avoid certain incident scenarios altogether."

"We've seen rapid adoption of AIOps among Asia Pacific organisations and a clear mandate for use of automation to manage complexities and derive efficiencies in enterprises," said New Relic APJ chief architect Peter Marelas. "New Relic's latest enhancements will equip IT teams to stay ahead of crucial issues, respond quickly to incidents, and prevent further disruptions to performance and end-user experiences."

New Relic recommended alerts builds upon New Relic AI, a suite of AIOps capabilities that understands historical alerts and applies machine learning (ML) and AI to significantly reduce alert noise, enrich incidents with context, and provide intelligence and automation to engineering teams in real-time. With New Relic AI, engineers can detect, diagnose and resolve incidents faster, and continuously improve incident management workflow.

Coming soon, engineering teams will also be able to utilise New Relic Grok (currently in early access) to further enhance alerting by asking questions in natural language like "Hey Grok, what are the uncovered entities that I should be monitoring and what are the recommended conditions for this alert?" which will enhance the team's alert strategy and provide engineers with even better alert coverage.

Currently available as part of the New Relic platform, recommended alerts are now available at no additional cost to existing New Relic users. To get started, sign in to your New Relic account or sign up for a free account.

For more information on New Relic AIOps capabilities, visit our webpage.

Forward-looking statements

This press release, and the associated blog post and website, contain "forward-looking" statements, as that term is defined under the federal securities laws, including but not limited to statements regarding New Relic AIOps and applied intelligence, and its capabilities and anticipated benefits related thereto. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements are based on New Relic's current assumptions, expectations, and beliefs and are subject to substantial risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and changes in circumstances that may cause New Relic's actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. Further information on factors that could affect New Relic's financial and other results and the forward-looking statements in this press release is included in the filings New Relic makes with the SEC from time to time, including in New Relic's most recent Form 10-Q, particularly under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." Copies of these documents may be obtained by visiting New Relic's Investor Relations website at https://ir.newrelic.com or the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. New Relic assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

About New Relic

As a leader in observability, New Relic empowers engineers with a data-driven approach to planning, building, deploying, and running great software. New Relic delivers the only unified data platform that empowers engineers to get all telemetry  metrics, events, logs, and traces  paired with powerful full stack analysis tools to help engineers do their best work with data, not opinions. Delivered through the industry's first usage-based consumption pricing that's intuitive and predictable, New Relic gives engineers more value for the money by helping improve planning cycle times, change failure rates, release frequency, and mean time to resolution. This helps the world's leading brands including adidas Runtastic, American Red Cross, Australia Post, Banco Inter, Chegg, GoTo Group, Ryanair, Sainsbury's, Signify Health, TopGolf, and World Fuel Services (WFS) improve uptime, reliability, and operational efficiency to deliver exceptional customer experiences that fuel innovation and growth. www.newrelic.com.
GUEST INTERVIEW: iTWire caught up with Ben Cefalo and Anoop Dhankhar at the recent MongoDB .local Sydney event hosted earlier this month. Ben is one of the companys Product Vice Presidents while Anoop is the Regional Vice President for the Australian and New Zealand business, responsible for all the go to market activities in this part of the world.

We learned about MongoDBs new Queryable Encryption product and what the completion of its IRAP (Infosec Registered Assessors Program) Assessment means for potential government (and financial services) clients. We also learned how the company uses AI and how its helped Canva scale in the way it has!

MongoDB has been around for over a decade and was started by a group of developers who wanted to create a database that was built for the way developers think and code  and it became extremely popular within the development community. Now, companies want to work with MongoDB because of the developer velocity it offers, as well as the agility of the platform which helps organisations drive innovation at scale by providing a unified way to work with data.

The company currently operates in 111 cloud regions across AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.

The companys core product is MongoDB Atlas, developer data platform, which first started out as a managed database service. Over time it's morphed into MongoDBs primary cloud offering and includes features such as Vector Search, Stream Processing, Data Federation and more..

Hot off the press, though, is the eponymous Queryable Encryption product. It was initially previewed last year but its now generally available for customers to use in production. It is a first of its kind technology that enables organisations to meet the strictest data-privacy requirements by providing full-lifecycle data encryption. Ben explained that what MongoDB means by that is, Queryable Encryption helps organisations protect sensitive data when it is queried and in-use on MongoDB.. He said, We wanted to give organisations more flexibility, especially for highly regulated workloads and personally identifiable information.

Queryable Encryption provides built-in encryption capabilities for highly sensitive application workflowssuch as searching employee records, processing financial transactions, or analysing medical recordswith no cryptography expertise required.

This functionality reduces the risk of data exposure and improves developer productivity.

"The technology also enables you to do searches of this encrypted data, added Ben. The way it works is that you dont need to know the entire data set to search - for example, you can look for a credit card number without having to enter all the series of digits until it's returned to you as an end user.

He explained that all the encryption happens within the clients own application and libraries, MongoDB nor the customer's administrators, ever actually see the unencrypted data.

MongoDBs other big news is the completion of its IRAP Assessment for MongoDB Atlas. Anoop explains IRAP is a list of controls that the ASD (Australian Signals Directorate) publishes and then we match how we perform against those controls. It's a mandatory requirement for a Federal Agency to consume cloud-based technology."

MongoDB says that completion of the IRAP assessment provides Australian government customers the required assurance that MongoDB Atlas has the appropriate security controls in place for the processing, storing and transmission of information classified up to, and including, the 'PROTECTED' level.

The assessment is also increasingly being used by financial-services organisations as a mechanism to see what sort of controls we've got in our cloud platform, added Anoop

Anoop also told us, MongoDB has been working with financial services for things like transaction monitoring, transaction processing and payments for companies including the likes of Macquarie and Bendigo Bank. Some Federal Agencies are also using our technology on-premises.

He explained, MongoDB is available in two flavours: you have the cloud-based data platform that comes as a managed service and runs across all the major cloud providers. Or you have the self-managed version of the software which can be run on-premises as well as in the cloud."
GUEST RESEARCH: Delinea, a leading provider of solutions that seamlessly extend Privileged Access Management (PAM), today published its 2023 State of Cyber Insurance report finding that a significant gap is emerging between insurance carriers and organisations who are still scrambling to get affordable, comprehensive coverage.

The report, based on a survey of over 300 organisations in the US, found that the time and effort to obtain cyber insurance is increasing significantly, with the number of companies requiring six months or more skyrocketing year over year.



The survey, conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Delinea, looked to uncover new trends and evolving patterns since a similar report last year, which established that the demand for cyber insurance was at a fever pitch.

This year, companies that used their cyber insurance more than once increased to 47%, while 67% of respondents noted that their insurance rates increased 50-100% upon application or renewal. While only one organisation said it took longer than 6 months to obtain or renew cyber insurance in the 2022 report, over 20 respondents indicated it took that long in this years survey.

However, the survey found that there is an increasing list of exclusions that could make cyber insurance coverage void, including lack of security protocols in place (43%), human error (38%), acts of war (33%), and not following proper compliance procedures (33%). Even if organisations are able to get or renew cyber insurance policies they can afford, their claim may get denied or reduced because of the fine print.

Over the past year, its become evident that cyber insurers are learning from their data and are now maturing. In the early days of cyber insurance, they were just trying to address a huge demand, but now they realise they must reduce their own exposure to both avoidable and uncontrollable circumstances, said Delinea chief security scientist and advisory chief information security officer Joseph Carson.

Our survey results find that most organisations are not approaching cyber insurance with the same diligence  they are simply looking to get covered. What theyre not checking is whether the policy they had last year is what they need now, or if their policy changed at renewal. This cyber insurance gap could put a lot of organisations in a tough place when a cybersecurity incident occurs, and they want to utilise this financial safety net.

Asia Pacific organisations and boards should examine the US cyber insurance experience to understand some very worrying trends and act accordingly, said Delinea vice president Asia Pacific and Japan Wahab Yusoff.

That said, many organisations are continuing to invest in cybersecurity solutions to protect their organisations and meet increasing requirements for cyber insurance.

Ninety-six percent (96%) of organisations purchased at least one security solution before their application was approved. Furthermore, 81% received the budget they needed to get their desired cyber insurance policy, with 36% of respondents noting that it is now a requirement from Boards of Directors and executive management teams.

Considering that the majority of cyberattacks involve stolen credentials, its no surprise that insurance providers require related security controls. About half of respondents reported that Identity and Access Management (51%) and Privileged Access Management (49%) controls are required by their cyber insurance policies.

Again, leadership is making budget available as 50% purchased IAM solutions, 45% acquired a password vault, and 44% acquired PAM controls needed to secure their coverage.

If organisations dont already have these access control solutions, its time to implement them before they shop for or try to renew cyber insurance. These are essential security controls to add to cybersecurity strategies, along with basics like anti-malware software, data encryption, firewall and intrusion detection, patching, and vulnerability management, Carson continued.

To download a complimentary copy of the 2023 State of Cyber Insurance report from Delinea, click here.

For more information about Delinea, click here.
Fashion production, food processing and packaging are some of the industries to have faced heightened scrutiny in recent years as a growing global consciousness has emerged regarding the environmental impact of their manufacturing processes.

Despite the increasing acceptance of sustainable methodologies worldwide, numerous manufacturers in Australia continue to trail in the adoption and execution of these practices.

While sustainable practices have gained traction worldwide, many manufacturers in Australia and New Zealand still lag behind in adopting and implementing these practices. Our recent (Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) study, Keeping watch: Monitoring your path to a sustainable IT, conducted by Intuit-Research, revealed that businesses in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) are significantly behind their ASEAN peers regarding their sustainable IT strategies, with only 48 per cent already having one, whereas in ASEAN countries it is 72 per cent.

You can watch me discuss this report with iTWireTV's David M Williams here.

This article delves into the causal factors behind the delay in implementing sustainable practices by manufacturers in the ANZ region while underscoring the potential advantages of embracing sustainability to fortify their ESG objectives.

Limited Awareness and Education

One of the key reasons for the lack of sustainable practices among Australian manufacturers is the limited awareness and education regarding environmental issues. Many manufacturers are not fully aware of the negative consequences of their current practices or the potential benefits of adopting sustainable alternatives. Without adequate knowledge and understanding, they are unlikely to prioritise sustainability in their operations.

Cost Considerations

Another significant factor hindering the adoption of sustainable practices is the perception that they come with high costs. Australian and New Zealand manufacturers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), often operate on tight budgets and prioritise cost-saving measures. The initial investment required to transition to sustainable practices, such as upgrading machinery or sourcing eco-friendly materials, can be perceived as financially burdensome, discouraging many manufacturers from making the necessary changes.

Limited Government Support and Incentives

The lack of comprehensive government support and incentives further exacerbates the issue. While some initiatives have been introduced to promote sustainability, they often fall short of providing sufficient assistance to manufacturers in adopting sustainable practices. Manufacturers may find it difficult to justify investing in sustainability without substantial financial incentives or clear regulatory frameworks to guide them.

In our ESG study, the top barrier to adopting sustainability practices, reported by 50 per cent of ANZ businesses, was the lack of clarity from governing bodies.

Complex Supply Chains

Supply chains in industries like fashion manufacturing and food production can be highly complex, involving multiple stakeholders and extensive networks. Implementing sustainable practices across these intricate supply chains presents numerous challenges, such as tracing the origins of raw materials or ensuring ethical labour practices. Australian manufacturers may struggle to navigate these complexities, leading to hesitation to adopt sustainable practices.

Our study says that the cost of deployment was the second biggest barrier to adopting sustainable practices for 48 per cent of ANZ businesses.

Lack of Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing

Limited collaboration and knowledge sharing within the manufacturing sector contribute to the slow progress in sustainable practices. Manufacturers often operate in isolation, without actively engaging with peers or industry associations to exchange best practices and lessons learned. The absence of a supportive network makes it difficult for manufacturers to implement sustainable initiatives effectively.

Embracing Sustainable Practices: Benefits for ANZ Manufacturers

While the challenges are evident, embracing sustainable practices can offer numerous benefits to ANZ manufacturers:

Enhanced Reputation and Brand Value: Adopting sustainable practices can improve a manufacturer's reputation and brand image. Consumers are increasingly conscious of environmental issues and are more likely to support companies that prioritise sustainability. By aligning with sustainable values, manufacturers can attract a larger customer base and gain a competitive edge in the market.

Cost Savings and Efficiency: Despite the initial investment, sustainable practices can result in long-term cost savings. Energy-efficient technologies, waste reduction measures and optimised resource utilisation can lead to reduced operating costs and improved overall efficiency. Manufacturers can experience lower energy bills, decreased waste disposal expenses and improved resource management.

Compliance with Regulatory Requirements: As environmental regulations continue to evolve and tighten, manufacturers will face increasing pressure to comply with sustainability standards. By proactively adopting sustainable practices, ANZ manufacturers can stay ahead of regulatory changes and avoid potential penalties or legal complications.

Access to New Markets and Opportunities: The global demand for sustainable products is on the rise. Manufacturers that prioritise sustainability can tap into new markets and capitalise on emerging opportunities. ANZ manufacturers can position themselves as environmentally conscious suppliers, attracting partnerships with sustainability-focused brands and expanding their customer base.

Conclusion

The adoption of sustainable practice within the manufacturing sector here has been a gradual process. Increased awareness, government support, collaboration and knowledge sharing can help bridge the gap and accelerate the transition to more sustainable manufacturing practices.

Embracing sustainability into their expanding operations presents Australian and New Zealand manufacturers with a number of advantages that are too compelling to ignore. By aligning their practices with sustainability, these manufacturers can not only bolster their ecological footprint but also fortify their standing in the eyes of consumers. This strategic shift will open doors to long-term expansion and further success in the dynamic global marketplace.
Australia's peak body for innovation technology, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), has launched a whitepaper - Tech and Sustainability, How the technology sector is driving Australias transition to a net-zero economy - and urging government to adopt and support green technology practices.

The AIIA white paper comes as the tech sector is urging the Albanese Government to adopt recommendations to galvanise the role technology is playing in reducing Australias carbon emissions, growing the economy and realising the opportunity for Australia to export green expertise and capability.

AIIA CEO Simon Bush said: The AIIA has consulted widely to develop these recommendations, which will help Australia meet its net carbon zero goals and importantly grow the economy and make Australia a green tech leader. The AIIA and our members realises that the tech sector is both a large user of energy and water but also creates and provides the green and carbon reduction innovations across the economy. Our sector is a key enabler of a reduced carbon footprint for Australias economy and with government take-up of these recommendations, technology can achieve even more for sustainability goals. This is a key point in Australias transition to net-zero by 2050.

The AIIA notes that with 14 recommendations made to government, the white paper has identified a range of key areas including cloud adoption, government carbon reporting, and green skills that need to be addressed to support innovative technologies to help the reduction of carbon emissions.

Recommendation areas include:

Support the development of innovative technologies that drive the energy transition that will include international applications to reduce carbon emissions;

For Government to harness energy-efficient clouds and data centres for neighbouring Pacific Island countries as well as in Australia;

For government agencies to invest in the ability to capture and report carbon footprint across its business, allowing government to be an exemplar and lead in reporting on the carbon impacts of its own procurements; and

Government to provide greater training and support for labour mobility for workers with green skills, including embedding ESG into the Australian Digital Capability Framework.

Supported with case studies by a range of AIIA members including Accenture, Adobe, Amazon Web Services, CDC Data Centres, Cisco, Deloitte, Fujitsu and more, the paper highlights the many activities the tech sector is already actively engaged in to support carbon emission reduction.

In putting together this white paper, we were reminded of the incredible innovation the tech sector continues to drive. The practical measures adopted by our members that have reduced energy usage, in turn reducing carbon emissions, demonstrate the many benefits of the 14 recommendations we are putting forward to government in this paper. There is a long way to go to achieve net-zero by 2050, but technology will be core to reducing emissions and transforming the economy, with critical and emerging technologies such as AI, robotics and quantum also playing a role, added Simon Bush.

The global movement of reducing emissions is opening new industries and economic opportunities. Investment to support these innovations will help Australian businesses and jobs to flourish, enabling Australia to export services and products that reduce emissions on a global scale. New entities such as the National Reconstruction Fund and the Net-Zero Authority provide ready-made avenues to partner and support commercialisation of new climate technologies and capabilities.

At the heart of this economic transition must be a highly skilled workforce that is highly mobile across sectors. Technology impacts every economic sector. To deliver economy wide reductions in emissions and growth in productivity, a strong workforce that can be readily upskilled is needed. Across VET courses, undergraduate and through microcredentials, we urge government to embed consideration for green skills to support the economic transition.

Government decisions on procurement is another key area that is currently not sufficiently analysed through a sustainability lens. Government procurement directives and decisions can significantly impact the practices of industry. That is why we urge the government to invest in the ability for agencies to capture and report its carbon footprint across its activities. This will further allow government agencies to demonstrate carbon reduction efforts and a commitment to action in this important area.

The AIIA would like to thank our many contributors to this white paper. A significant amount of planning, research and preparation goes into preparing strong and achievable recommendations to government. The AIIA is committed to working with the all governments to ensure Australias tech sector continues to be world-leading and at the forefront of reducing carbon emissions.
Global shipments of smartwatches increased by 11% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2023, after two quarters of decreases, the technology analyst firm Counterpoint research says, adding that India's shipments, which soared by 70%, being the primary driver for the market rebound.

Another notable feature of the sector's rebound was Huawei taking the second spot, with a 58% surge in domestic shipments, the agency said.

In North America, shipments of these devices witnessed a 9% year-on-year decline.

Counterpoint research analyst Woojin Son said: Huawei recorded impressive growth in 2Q 2023, securing the second position in quarterly shipments for the first time in two years.

"The leading Chinese brands growth stagnated for some time due to technological sanctions and a slowdown in its domestic market.

"Although the Chinese markets recovery remained lukewarm, Huawei aggressively pushed new flagship products such as the Watch 4 series into the market in 2Q, achieving its highest quarterly shipments after 2020.

"Huawei seems to be determined to bounce back in the market. It remains to be seen whether this momentum can be effectively expanded to other sectors, such as smartphones.

As far as individual brands were concerned, Apple saw its market share fall from 27% to 22%, but it still remained the biggest single seller. Huawei was second and Noise third.

Huawei accounted for 10% of shipments, up from 7% in the corresponding quarter in 2022, while Noise took the third spot, also with 10%.

In regional shipment shares, India took 34%, China 20% and North America 21%. Brands that did well in India included Noise, Fire-Boltt and boAt, with these three taking up nearly three-quarters of total shipments.

China's share of the market grew by 5% in revenue terms, sales of devices priced at more than US$500 rose to a third of the total.

Of the North American market, Counterpoint said: "...there was a 9% YoY reduction in shipments in 2Q 2023. However, revenue saw a rise of around 3% due to the sustained popularity of high-end premium products.

"Nevertheless, North Americas share in global smartwatch revenues declined, compared to both 2Q 2022 and 2Q 2021."
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 The Price Is Right legendary host Bob Barker was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Cemetery Monday while being celebrated for his TV career. He set a record for fifty-one years of hosting daytime game shows on national television. His family is asking that instead of flowers, please send consolation prizes.

 The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce marked the one hundredth anniversary of the Hollywood sign. How did I decide to move to Hollywood? The day I graduated from OU, I stood in the living room of the ATO fraternity house and I threw a dart at a map of the U.S. on the wall and it landed in the trash.

 President Biden returned from what critics call National Lampoon's White House Vacation but they'll never get Chevy Chase to star in this one. Chevy already ruined his back doing pratfalls on Saturday Night Live imitating President Jerry Ford. Doing Joe Biden could put him in a wheelchair. President Biden visited a first-grade school class in Washington just back from summer vacation Monday. Thank G od there were no embarrassing photos of Biden sniffing little girls. Their parents heard Joe was coming and dabbed a little pepper spray on their necks before sending them off to school.

 President Biden claimed Monday he convinced South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond to vote for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Joe would have been 29 at the time, nine years from the Senate, and Thurmond certainly did not vote for it. The White House cleaned it up, saying Trump is a danger to our democracy.

 Donald Trump's campaign reports it sold seven million dollars in T-shirts that showed Trump's mug shot above the inscription Never Surrender! The mug shot thrilled his supporters and riled his enemies. Shia LeBeouf says he'll commit his next drunken crime spree in Georgia just for the mug shot.

 Donald Trump received a March 4th court date for his DC trial related to January 6th. There's a way to deal with Progressive judges. Upon arrival in town for every arraignment, Trump should stop his limo and loot a Nordstrom's on the way to the courthouse to keep from being arrested and charged.

 Michigan's Secretary of State cited a 14th Amendment clause written to ban Confederate officers from running for office in order to keep Trump off the ballot. It'll backfire. If they applied this ban to descendants of Confederate officers the Democrats would have no candidates to run except illegal aliens.

(COMMENT, BELOW)
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Let's say you hate Donald Trump and really, really, really don't want him to become president of the United States again. How do you prevent that? Well, most would agree the best way would be to defeat him electorally, either in the Republican primaries or in the 2024 general election.

But a significant number of Trump's adversaries don't have enough faith in our democratic process to make that happen. So, they hope that at least one of the four prosecutions targeting Trump, two from elected Democratic prosecutors in Manhattan and Atlanta and two from the Biden Justice Department, will put an end to Trump's presidential chances. Even though conviction does not legally bar Trump from running and winning, the hope is that, as a practical matter, there's no way a convicted Trump could regain the presidency.

But there are some of Trump's opponents who don't appear to have a lot of faith in that course of action, either. So, they are now exploring the idea that Trump is already disqualified from running for office. State election boards, or secretaries of state, they say, can, and should, simply remove his name from the ballot in their states. There's no need for a hearing, or a trial, or a legal ruling, or legislation, or any sort of adjudication process that might get messy. It's already done. Voila! Trump is off the ballot. Let's move on.

This magical result occurs, proponents say, by way of the 14th Amendment. Section 3 of the amendment prohibits anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against [the U.S.], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof," from ever holding public office. The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868. Section 3 was intended to apply to former Confederate officials. It has "played no significant role in American governance since 1872 and was regarded by many scholars as moribund," legal scholar and former federal Judge Michael McConnell wrote. But that was until some anti-Trumpers came up with the idea of using it against the former president.

The idea of using Section 3 to disqualify Trump from office has been floating around for a while. I wrote about it in January 2022. At the time, I wrote that for Trump to be kicked off ballots, some authority, such as Congress, "would first have to establish that the events of Jan. 6 constituted an 'insurrection or rebellion' against the United States government," and then that Trump engaged in the insurrection, and then such a judgment would have to stand up in court.

The new twist is the idea that none of that is necessary. Trump is already disqualified, and all state election officials have to do is remove him from ballots on their own initiative. And then he is gone. Section 3, in this way of thinking, is "self-enacting." It is "constitutionally automatic," in the words of law professors William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen, writing in a new law review article that is making the rounds. "Section 3 requires no legislation or adjudication to be legally effective. It is enacted by the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment [in 1868]. Its disqualification, where triggered, just is." All a state election official has to do is pick it up and use it.

Let's say the secretary of state in Pennsylvania (actually, they call it the secretary of the commonwealth) decides, entirely on his own, that Trump is disqualified from running for president. He cites the Baude and Paulsen article and removes Trump from the ballot in Pennsylvania. The millions of voters who support Trump then say, "Gosh, two professors and the secretary of the commonwealth say Trump is ineligible to be president, so I guess that's just the way it is." And the 45th president disappears from the race. That's the way the professors say it should work.

Trump's adversaries are already calling for a current Republican candidate to help the process along. Another law professor, Steven Calabresi, is urging former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to push for Trump's removal from the ballot. "Chris Christie is legally injured by Donald Trump's name being on the ballot," Calabresi wrote. "They draw from some similar voters. Christie should sue, if necessary, to get Trump's name off the ballot. Then the Supreme Court can open the dictionary and tell us what we all already know  that Trump incited an insurrection and is disqualified from being on any primary or general election ballots next year."

Yet another law professor, Laurence Tribe, and then another law professor and former federal judge, Michael Luttig, want Christie to get on it immediately  but a little more gently. According to Tribe, Calabresi is right that Christie is "legally injured" by Trump's presence on the ballot, "but if it's real impact Christie seeks, a better move might be to first ASK a Secretary of State to remove Trump." And then Trump goes away.

The anti-Trump law professors are telling election officials across the country that they can just take Trump's name off now. In fact, if they don't, they might find themselves the target of lawsuits from anti-Trump forces who demand Trump be removed.

It all seems a little too simple, doesn't it? A voice of caution in all this comes from Michael McConnell. First, McConnell is skeptical about applying the word "insurrection" to the events of Jan. 6, 2021. "Section 3 speaks of 'insurrection' and 'rebellion,'" he wrote. "These are demanding terms, connoting only the most serious of uprisings against the government, such as the Whisky Rebellion and the Civil War. The terms of Section 3 should not be defined down to include mere riots or civil disturbances, which are common in United States history. Many of these riots impede the lawful operations of government, and exceed the power of normal law enforcement to control. Are they insurrections or rebellions, within the meaning of Section 3?"

McConnell continued: "I would hazard the suggestion that a riot is the use of violence to express anger or to attempt to coerce the government to take certain actions, while insurrections and rebellions are the use of violence, usually on a larger scale, to overthrow the government or prevent it from being able to govern."

Then, McConnell questioned Baude and Paulsen's belief that all sorts of actions fit under the heading of "insurrection," even actions that many people would consider constitutionally protected speech. The authors' idea, apparently, is to define the offense so broadly that Trump is sure to be guilty of it. "Baude and Paulsen maintain that Section 3 'covers a broad range of conduct against the authority of the constitutional order, including many instances of indirect participation or support,'" McConnell wrote. "They explicitly state that Section 3 trumps the First Amendment. The terms 'broad range of conduct' and 'indirect support' are ominous, especially since they also say that Section 3 trumps the First Amendment and does not require due process. What could go wrong?"

A lot could go wrong. And then, there is the problem of letting state secretaries of state make so momentous a decision as to remove a major political party's presidential candidate from the ballot on their own authority. "We must not forget that we are talking about empowering partisan politicians such as state Secretaries of State to disqualify their political opponents from the ballot, depriving voters of the ability to elect candidates of their choice," McConnell wrote. "If abused, this is profoundly anti-democratic."

Finally, McConnell noted that Congress has passed a law against insurrection, which, like the 14th Amendment, also carries the penalty of disqualification to hold public office. The Justice Department could actually charge people with insurrection if it chose. The cases would then "proceed through the ordinary course of prosecution by the executive, trial by a court, decision by a jury, and appeal to appellate courts, with due process at every step," McConnell wrote. "It is significant that the Department of Justice has prosecuted hundreds of persons for their involvement in the January 6 incursion at the Capitol, but has not charged anyone, including Trump, with insurrection under this or any other statute. It is not obvious that partisan officials in state governments, without specific authorization or checks and balances, should apply broad and uncertain definitions to decide who can run for office in a republic, when responsible officials with clear statutory and constitutional authority have not done so."

McConnell's objections are contained in a brief letter to the Volokh Conspiracy blog, but they capture in some depth the essential danger of the latest 14th Amendment craze in the anti-Trump world. In addition, no one's analysis, so far at least, has really explored the effect such a stunt would have on our political system. But you can be sure of one thing: Someone is going to try this. Some official somewhere will cite the new interpretation of the 14th Amendment, Section 3, to remove Trump from a ballot.

And then, who knows what will happen?

(COMMENT, BELOW)




Booming culture, tourism inject new vigor into consumption in east China

Xinhua) 08:39, August 30, 2023

This photo taken on Aug. 21, 2023 shows tourist boats sailing on Qinhuai River in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua/Li Bo)

NANJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Boasting enchanting scenery, numerous historic sites and bustling markets along the riverbanks, the Qinhuai River, a major waterway of Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, serves as the cradle of ancient Jinling culture and has stood as a distinctive landmark of the country since ancient times.

During the summer, both local residents and tourists enjoy walking along the river or taking boat trips. Especially at nightfall, the ancient city of Nanjing, with a history of around 2,500 years, unveils its remarkable splendor as the intermittent sound of paddling boats mingles with the serene river, casting dancing lamp shadows that create captivating concentric circles of gentle illumination.

"The river highlights the charm of Nanjing, offering us an unforgettable cultural tour," said Chen Xin, a post-90s tourist from southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Located on the bank of the Qinhuai River, Fuzimiao, or the Confucius Temple, is a historical treasure integrating natural and cultural landscapes. It is a large architectural complex, consisting of temples, halls and commercial streets. Its main attractions include the Nanjing Imperial Examination Museum of China, which is themed on the imperial examination system in ancient China.

The museum attracted a multitude of primary school students to study the imperial examination culture during the summer holiday this year. Data shows that it received thousands of visitors daily during this period.

According to Liu Wei of the Nanjing Fuzimiao cultural tourism group, in order to inherit the millennium-old culture of Fuzimiao and cultivate new forms of tourism including research and study activities, the company has developed traditional cultural experience courses, such as movable-type printing, ancient book restoration and tie-dyeing, for young people.

In the first half of the year, the company's business segment involving research and study activities received a total of 90,000 tourists, an increase of 20 percent over the same period in 2019.

With a history spanning more than 600 years, the Xiaoxihu neighborhood boasts a wealth of historical remnants. The 46,900-square-meter block was once a run-down area in Nanjing.

Some years ago, the local government enhanced the living conditions in the block while also looking to preserve the historical elements. Since the revival, fashion stores, coffee shops, homestays, restaurants, and other kinds of businesses have opened up in the area.

Such urban renewal projects have also boosted the prosperity of the tourism sector in the ancient city. In the first half of 2023, the Qinhuai District of Nanjing, where the Fuzimiao-Qinhuai scenic belt is located, received over 35.14 million tourists, raking in a tourism revenue of more than 45 billion yuan (about 6.26 billion U.S. dollars).

Jiang Yongmei, director of culture and tourism bureau of Qinhuai District, said that the resurgence of cultural tourism consumption, exemplified by the Fuzimiao-Qinhuai scenic belt, indicates that China's cultural tourism industry is still vibrant and resilient.

"We will continue to tap new growth drivers and industry strengths to inject new vitality into the city's cultural tourism consumption," Jiang said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The Texas ranch where Gilda Jackson trains and sells horses has been plagued by grasshoppers this year, a problem that only gets worse when the hatch quickens in times of heat and drought. Jackson watched this summer as the insects chewed through a 35-acre pasture she badly needs for hay; what they didn't destroy, the sun burned up.

Irrigation might have saved Jackson's hay, but she and her husband rejected the idea about 10 years ago over the cost: as much as $75,000 for a new well and all the equipment. But now  with an extended drought and another U.S. heat wave this week that will broil her land about an hour northwest of Dallas for days in 100-degree-plus temperatures  Jackson said she is kind of rethinking.

Many other farmers and ranchers in the U.S. might be forced to do the same in coming decades, according to recent research into the expected effects of the rising heat and more frequent weather extremes associated with climate change.

That's if they even can. Some places in the U.S. are already struggling with groundwater depletion, such as California, Arizona, Nebraska and other parts of the central Plains.

Theres no surprise that in the future when it gets hotter and theres more demand for water, people are going to be using more water, said Jonathan Winter, an associate professor of geography at Dartmouth College and an author on a new study on future U.S. irrigation costs and benefits in Communications Earth & Environment.

Winter and his team used a computer model to look at how heat and drought might affect crop production by the middle and end of this century, given multiple scenarios for the emissions of warming greenhouse gases. In places like California and Texas where everyone is dropping their straw into the glass of groundwater, as Winter put it, current levels of irrigation won't be viable in the long term because there isnt enough water.

But use of irrigation may grow where groundwater supply isnt presently an issue.

In much of the Midwest, including the corn- and soybean-rich states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and the Dakotas, farmers might see a benefit in the next 50 years from installing irrigation infrastructure. Thats an expensive investment, and whether it will pay off may depend on humans' ability to stem the worst effects of climate change. A worst-case scenario would involve one generation investing in costly irrigation equipment, only for the next to see them fail to keep crops alive through extreme heat and weather.

There are many irrigation methods for row crops, but the most common is pivot irrigation  the long strands of pipes mounted on wheels that are pulled in a circle around a water source to sprinkle water onto a field. The equipment can easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus the cost of drilling a new well if needed, along with the electricity to pull up the water.

But if the system boosts yields and provides a return of $50 an acre or more, it can pay off well for a farmer, said Brady Brewer, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University.

While scientists are confident in the warming effects of greenhouse gas emissions, precipitation is harder to nail down, especially in the Midwest, said Dave Gochis, a senior scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research who was not involved with Winters study.

Climate change produces more weather extremes, meaning both an increased risk of flash droughts  quick, intense periods of short-term heat and dry weather  and more heavy rain and flooding events as precipitation increases with more water in the atmosphere.

That means we need to be more nimble and agile in how we manage water resources, Gochis said.

Brewer hasn't seen much increased interest in irrigation from Midwest farmers yet. So far, a surplus of water has been the bigger issue in many places, but if yields start showing losses in the coming years due to worsening heat and flash droughts, that's when farmers will invest, he said.

Farmers who don't choose irrigation, for now, might cope by planning ahead.

They could choose different crops with different water needs from season to season or be compensated for fallowing fields in times of water stress. Or they might use tools like the one developed by North Carolina State researchers Sankar Arumugam, a professor, and Hemant Kumar, a Ph.D. candidate.

They recently helped create a computer modeling tool, outlined in the journal Water Resources Research, which they hope will help farmers and water managers use a combination of seasonal forecasts and other data to find a sweet spot for balancing crop revenue and water use.

In the Southeast, where they focused their work and where water resources are plentiful, its more of a proactive strategy for people who already have irrigation equipment, Arumugam said, so that we dont overexploit the resources that are in place.

Irrigation, used responsibly, can be part of adapting to climate change, but its a moving target, Winter said.

He called for supporting farmers who have to make hard decisions as they adapt to climate change. But he also urged action to limit climate changes worst effects. Farmers need resources to make adjustments, but especially in the West, theres only so much water, he said.

States with the worst droughts States with the worst droughts #51. Ohio #50. Alaska #49. New York #48. Indiana #47. Pennsylvania #46. New Jersey #45. Vermont #44. West Virginia #43. Maine #42. New Hampshire #41. Kentucky #40. Delaware #39. Illinois #38. Maryland #37. Michigan #36. Massachusetts #35. Washington DC #34. Rhode Island #33. Connecticut #32. Wisconsin #31. Virginia #30. Mississippi #29. Tennessee #28. Missouri #27. Iowa #26. Arkansas #25. Minnesota #24. Florida #23. Louisiana #22. North Carolina #21. Alabama #20. Washington #19. North Dakota #18. South Dakota #17. Oklahoma #16. South Carolina #15. Kansas #14. Georgia #13. Nebraska #12. Montana #11. Texas #10. Hawaii #9. Oregon #8. Idaho #7. Colorado #6. Wyoming #5. California #4. Utah #3. New Mexico #2. Nevada #1. Arizona States with the worst droughts #50. West Virginia #49. Alaska #48. Ohio #47. Illinois #46. Kentucky #45. Tennessee #44. Indiana #43. Wisconsin #42. Arkansas #41. Maine #40. New Hampshire #39. Massachusetts #38. Vermont #37. Connecticut #36. Rhode Island #35. New York #34. Pennsylvania #33. Mississippi #32. Missouri #31. Michigan #30. Delaware #29. South Carolina #28. Georgia #27. Virginia #26. Louisiana #25. Arizona #24. New Jersey #23. Alabama #22. Maryland #21. North Carolina #20. Minnesota #19. California #18. Colorado #17. Washington #16. Wyoming #15. Iowa #14. New Mexico #13. Oklahoma #12. Texas #11. Kansas #10. Montana #9. Florida #8. Hawaii #7. Oregon #6. Utah #5. Nevada #4. Idaho #3. Nebraska #2. North Dakota #1. South Dakota
Advocate Health  the nations fifth-largest health care system  reported Tuesday a significant uptick in both core operating income and overall excess revenue from the first to second quarter of fiscal 2023.

Advocate debuted Dec. 2 representing the completed merger of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora. The system is based in Charlotte with former Atrium chief executive Eugene Woods serving as co-chief executive.

Baptist and Atrium Health operate under the Advocate umbrella. Advocate issued its first combined quarterly report in May.

The first-half 2023 report, posted Tuesday, listed Advocate with having $85.69 million in core operating income, up from $10.4 million for just the first quarter.

Investment income, meanwhile, was at $938.41 million as of June 30, up from $610.4 million on March 31.

Overall, Advocate reported having $1.03 billion in excess revenue over expenses, up from $578.7 million in the first quarter.

In a not-for-profit organization, excess revenue is analogous to profit in a for-profit organization.

Not-for-profit health care systems, such as Baptist, Cone Health and Novant Health Inc., depend on investment income to increase their bottom lines.

Advocate issued its overall quarterly report on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Boards website, www.emma.msrb.org, as well as individually from Atrium and Baptist.

EMMA reports are aimed primarily at bondholders and ratings agencies, and typically are submitted about 10 to 11 weeks after the quarter ended.

The overall Advocate system reported $15.91 billion in revenue for the first half, representing $12.82 billion in patient revenue, $1.75 billion in other revenue and $612.8 million in capitation revenue.

According to LawInsider.com, capitation revenue represents all payments from managed-care organizations, where payment is made periodically on a per member basis for the partial or total medical care needs of a patient, co-payments and all HMO incentive bonuses.

In terms of expenses, first-half 2023 sales, wage and benefits were $8.81 billion, along with $3.11 billion in supplies and drugs, and $2.44 billion in purchased services and other expenses. Purchased services has represented primarily travel nurse expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advocate has spent $627.5 million on capital investments so far in fiscal 2023.

Baptist and Atrium

Baptist reported $47.3 million in excess revenue over expenses for the first half.

That represented a $14.4 million operating loss and $63.6 million in investment income gains.

Baptist had $2.34 billion in operating revenues, including $1.85 billion in core patient service revenue and $494.9 million in other sources, and $2.36 billion in operating expenses.

The financial report combines reports for N.C. Baptist Hospital, Wake Forest University Health Sciences and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and all their affiliates.

Baptists utilization report showed an 8.2% year-over-year jump in outpatient visits to 1.03 million, an 8.7% increase in emergency department visits to 107,305, a 10.2% gain in inpatient visits to 31,678, and a 6.5% climb in total operating-room cases to 22,449.

For Atrium, it had $393.7 million in excess revenue over expenses for the first half.

Atrium had $4.22 billion in operating revenues, including $3.79 billion in core patient service revenue and $424.3 million from other revenue,, and $4.16 billion in operating expenses.
Allegacy Federal Credit Union has reached an undisclosed financial settlement in a N.C. Business Court complaint over how its overdraft fees were assessed in 2020.

However, Judge Adam Conrad is questioning the motivation behind the settlement and declining to approve without additional information from Allegacy, plaintiff Terri Moose and her counsel.

The court posted an update to the complaint on its website Wednesday. Allegacy could not be immediately reached for comment on the proposed settlement.

Conrad wrote that there are too many red flags to ignore, citing the proposed settlement amount and that more than 95% would go to Mooses counsel.

Moose is represented  in order of listing by the court  by Morgan and Morgan Complex Litigation Group, Stranch, Jennings & Garvey PLLC, Rhine Law Firm PC and Fox Rothschild LLP.

Moose sued in 2020 for breach of contract, unjust enrichment and unfair and deceptive trade practices under state law.

Mooses complaint focuses on her objections to how Allegacy was assessing overdraft fees on debit-card transactions in 2020.

The complaint referred to the overdraft fees policy as authorize positive, settle negative.

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency defines the overdraft fee structure as assessing overdraft fees on debit card transactions that are authorized when a consumers available account balance is positive, but later post to the account when the available balance is negative.

According to the proposed settlement, Allegacy discontinued the practice in May 2020.

The parties agreed to approve the dismissal of Mooses complaint with prejudice, which means it cannot be refiled.

However, the settlement allows for punitive class claims to be dismissed without prejudice, which means it can refiled.

In support of their motion, the parties deny any abuse and say that practical considerations drove their decision to settle, according to the filing.

Mooses counsel claim they overestimated the damages that the punitive class would recover if successful, partly because Allegacy stopped assessing the overdraft fees in May 2020.

Judges objections

Conrads reasoning for putting the proposed settlement on hold focused primarily on the actions by Moose and her counsel.

In return for dismissing the complaint and abandoning the class they purported to represent, Moose and her counsel received generous payments that dwarf the amount that she could have reasonably expected to recover through ordinary bilateral litigation of her individual claims, Conrad wrote.

According to the complaint, Moose experienced less than a combined $150 from four overdraft fees that Allegacy supposedly should not have charged Moose.

Conrad said Allegacy has agreed to pay several hundred times that figure.

Maybe the complaint undercounted the number of wrongful fees. And maybe Moose could have trebled her damages.

Even so, the disparity strongly suggests that the settlement had less to do with the value of Mooses case, and more to do with the risks of potential class-wide litigation.

Conrad said Moose would receive less than 5% of the settlement amount, while her counsel would get the rest.

As things stand now, there is no class-wide settlement, and there will be no fairness hearing. Mooses counsel are set to take the lions share of the recovery without obtaining any relief for the class and without a judicial determination that the fees are reasonable.

If that doesnt suggest a sweetheart deal or a collusive payoff, its hard to fathom what would.

Conrad said that the court is left with the impression that Mooses counsel made a self-interested calculation to take 95% percent of her individual settlement in lieu of a smaller share of a class-wide settlement.

Something is obviously amiss when counsel decides that half a loaf is better than none in terms of their own fees, but that none is just fine for the class.

Next steps

Conrad ordered the parties to file their settlement agreement publicly.

Sunshine is a proven disinfectant, Conrad wrote. At a minimum, the putative class members deserve to see what Moose and her counsel gained through this on-again, off-again class action.

The public, too, has a keen interest in overseeing not only how courts decide the rights of litigants, but also how they protect those who are absent.

The court sees no reason to believe that public disclosure would harm the parties or reveal truly secret information.

Conrad also said that Mooses counsel must report and substantiate their billing rates, the time they spent on this litigation, and any other costs and expenses

Mooses counsel must also: identify by case name, number and county all class actions that they have brought in North Carolina relating to APSN transactions; whether each case is pending or has been resolved; and for any case that has been resolved, whether the resolution took the form of an individual or class-wide settlement.
A Winston-Salem man is facing a criminal charge after he was accused Tuesday of exposing himself at Parkland High School, authorities said.

Zain Rosnedo Dominquez, 41, was arrested Wednesday and charged with misdemeanor indecent exposure, the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office said.

A Forsyth County magistrate set Dominquezs bond at $1,000, and he met the conditions for his release from custody, the sheriffs office said. He is scheduled to appear Nov. 3 in Forsyth District Court.

The deputy assigned as a school resource officer was notified at 10:54 a.m. Tuesday that a school employee was suspicious of a vehicle on the Parkland Highs campus, the sheriffs office said.

The deputy then went to a gray F-150 pickup and spoke to its occupant, the sheriffs office said. The deputy determined that person had no official business on campus and asked him to leave the school and not return.

Investigators learned that the school employee saw the man exposing his genitalia while he was in the pickup, the sheriffs office said.

We remain committed to the safety of every person on our school campuses, Col. Henry Gray of the sheriffs office said. The vigilance of the staff member ensured that no students were subjected to the lewd act.

Its been said many times but it bears repeating, Gray said, If you see something, say something.

We cannot investigate what we do not know about, Gray said. We must all work together to protect the valuable resources of our students, teachers and school employees.

Anyone with information about this incident can call the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office at 336-727-2112 or Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800 or its Spanish line at 336-728-3904.

The Text-A-Tip program at 336-920-8477 allows people to text tips, photos and videos to the sheriffs office.
A woman was injured Tuesday when she was threatened by a knife-wielding man who attempted to rob her in downtown Winston-Salem, authorities said.

Winston-Salem police responded at 1:03 p.m. to the 500 block of Vine Street on a reported attempted armed robbery, police said.

Investigators determined that a man approached the woman in the parking lot on Vine Street, police said. The man then placed a knife to the womans throat and demanded money.

The woman received a minor cut on her hand from the encounter with the man, police said. The man then ran from the scene.

The womans injuries are minor, police said.

Wake Forest University issued an emergency alert at 2:33 p.m. Tuesday because of the heavy police presence near the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, the university said.

WFU declared an all clear in its Innovation Quarter at 3 p.m. Winston-Salem police responded to the attempted robbery in a parking lot near the Innovation Quarter.

Officers are investigating the incident.

Anyone with information about the attempted robbery can call Winston-Salem police at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800 or its Spanish line at 336-728-3904.

Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County is on Facebook.

The Text-A-Tip program at 336-276-1717 allows people to text tips, photos and videos to the police.
BATAM, Indonesia  Indonesian police said Wednesday they arrested 88 Chinese citizens for involvement in a cross-border telephone and online romance scam syndicate after receiving a tip from the Chinese security ministry.

The suspects were arrested on Batam island, next to Singapore, said Riau Islands police spokesperson Zahwani Pandra Arsyad. They were working from a shophouse, a building with mixed commercial and residential use, in an industrial park. Police believe the suspects are members of a telephone fraud and online love scam syndicate, Arsyad said.

Most of their targets appeared to be fellow Chinese who were called over the internet and tricked into transferring money after the callers manipulated the "human emotion" of the victims, Arsyad said.

A preliminary investigation showed the gang operated since early this year, ensnaring hundreds of victims in China, but it is unclear how much money they collected.

"We are still investigating this case, including whether any Indonesians among the victims," Arsyad said, adding that none of the suspects can speak or write the Indonesian language. "If there are none, we would deport all of them immediately."

Arsyad said members of the syndicate came from China to Indonesia for three months at a time since January, using tourist visas, and they were committing the crimes from Indonesia after China cracked down on their networks.

He said Indonesian police are working closely with immigration officials and China's Ministry of Public Security in dealing with the suspects.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2019 announced that romance-related scams have generated more losses than any other consumer fraud reported to the agency. It said romance scams vary but criminals typically find their victims online, though a dating site or social media.

Scammers usually create a phony profile, often building a believable persona with another person's photo and direct communication. They woo the victim, building affection and trust until they see an opportunity to ask for money. The reasons for the request can vary but requests for money to pay for a medical emergency or travel costs for a long-awaited visit are common.

In a report Wednesday, the United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights said criminal gangs have forced hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia into participating in unlawful online scams, including false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.

It cited "credible sources" that at least 120,000 people in strife-torn Myanmar and roughly 100,000 in Cambodia "may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams."

The report shed a new light on cybercrime scams that have become a major issue in Asia, with many of the workers trapped in virtual slavery and forced to participate in scams targeting people over the internet.

Laos, the Philippines and Thailand were also cited among the main countries of destination or transit for tens of thousands of people. Criminal gangs have increasingly targeted migrants, and lure some victims by false recruitment  suggesting they are destined for real jobs.

Indonesia in 2017 arrested 419 Chinese and Taiwanese citizens who were involved in a telephone fraud and online investment scam syndicate. They were repatriated to face charges in their homeland after spending two months in Indonesian jails and being fined $770 for violating their tourist visas.

In 2019, Indonesian police arrested 85 Chinese citizens for involvement in a similar case.
It only took seconds for Zach Bryan to connect with the crowd that filled Pinnacle Bank Arena on Tuesday night.

After 1 hour, 45 minutes, the 14,000 plus, who sang along with nearly every song didnt want to let the Bryan and his band go as they tore through Revival to bring the show to a drink-throwing, stands-bouncing end.

The show, officially designated as the arenas 10th anniversary concert, was a homecoming show of sorts for Bryan, who, early on confessed:

I dont usually tell anyone this, but I used to live in Omaha, Nebraska  I hope you dont hate me for that.

Theres no way the crowd could have hated anything said by the Navy veteran, who in the last year has become one of the hottest artists in popular music.

Bryans seen as a country star, but hes no bro country act. Rather he comes from the Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Kasey Musgraves, Margo Price side of country/Americana.

I do my best to keep truth in songs, he sings in his road song Highway Boys, and those songs are literate  you dont hear many corporate country songs with lyrics that refer to metaphor  and incorporate pop/rock stylings with the fiddle and steel.

And fans know and seemingly love them all, lending their voices to Bryans from Open The Gate, which opened the show, onward.

That love had Bryan blinking back tears when the phones spontaneously came out during Sweet DeAnn, a lovely fiddle, upright bass song he wrote for his mother  you guys have no idea how much this means.

Clearly impressed by the singing crowd, Bryan took advantage of the giant chorus, dropping out of lines on his record-setting radio hit Something in the Orange with I trust you, Lincoln and letting the audience sing.

About the only times, the crowd didnt sing were on the songs from Bryans just-released self-title album  Tradesman, a touching acoustic story of the downtrodden; Smaller Acts; and the hard driving Overtime, another of his working man songs.

Tonight has been so amazing, thank you guys for being so kind, Bryan said before triggering Heading South and Burn, Burn, Burn, the namesake song for the tour that ends Wednesday, and the raucous 10-minute encore of Revival."

Tuesdays show turned out to be perfect 10th anniversary concert for the arena. The in-the-round staging pushed the attendance close to 15,000, putting it in the top five of all PBA shows.

It came from one of todays hottest stars  the sort of artist who would have never played Lincoln before the arena. And it was high energy and fully engaged with the audience that has made the arena a transformative success.

30 incredible moments at Pinnacle Bank Arena KISS Concert at Pinnacle Bank Arena, 7.22.16 Florida Georgia Line Cher Eric Church Elton John Pink in Lincoln, 3/6/18 Lorde at Pinnacle Bank Arena Garth Brooks Concert, 10.20.2017 Metallica Red Hot Chili Peppers Carrie Underwood performs in Lincoln Jason Aldean, 09/19/2013 Katy Perry Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Fleetwood Mac Pearl Jam Michael Buble Red Hot Chili Peppers Shania Twain at Pinnacle Bank Arena Billy Joel Concert Alice Cooper pyro Stevie Nicks Paul McCartney Blake Shelton performs at Pinnacle Bank Arena Lil' Wayne performs at Pinnacle Bank Arena JAKE OWEN Bob Seger Cyndi Lauper Bon Jovi Concert John Mayer Justin Bieber Performs at Pinnacle Bank Arena, 6.21.16 Miranda Lambert, 10/10/2013
A 19-year-old Lincoln man who trespassed three times at two middle schools earlier this year is now facing new charges over his alleged communications with a 12-year-old girl, according to court filings.

Now, prosecutors have charged Wells with two felonies  child enticement and enticement by electronic communications  after a warrant served on the 12-year-old student's Snapchat account revealed numerous messages the girl exchanged with Wells over the course of five months, including a photo of Wells' genitalia, police alleged in new court filings.

The girl in October sent a nude photo of Wells to her older sister, along with a screenshot of a message from Wells that suggested the 12-year-old and her sister should "engage in sexual activity with him," Lincoln Police Investigator Kelsey Burruss said in the probable cause statement for Wells' arrest.

In one January exchange, when the girl and Wells made plans to meet at a park so he could give her marijuana, the girl told him to "bring a condom," Burruss said in the statement.

In another message sent in January, Wells told the girl their relationship wouldn't work out "if you don't want sex," Burruss said.

Police sought a warrant for the girl's Snapchat in May  months after their investigation into her relationship with Wells started in January, when he snuck inside Irving twice on the morning of Jan. 22 as students arrived for breakfast.

Wells crashed into a fence as he tried to leave the school that morning, police said then.

Footage from that incident showed Wells' car arrive near the school at around 6:30 a.m. before the girl got in the rear seat of his car at 6:35 a.m., Burruss said. She remained there until 7:09 a.m., according to the court filing.

Four days later, on Jan. 26, a friend of the girl told police she was dating Wells.

The girl refused to describe her relationship with Wells to police, Burruss said in the court filing, but she told a school administrator she had sent "inappropriate photos" to Wells and planned to run away to Mexico with him.

In February, after Wells was arrested for trespassing at Culler Middle School, the girl posted a TikTok in which she said "my boyfriend is in jail."

Police sought a warrant for Wells' arrest in early August. Prosecutors moved forward with criminal charges against Wells last week, according to court filings. The 20-year-old was arrested Monday.

At his initial court appearance Tuesday, Judge Thomas Zimmerman set Wells' percentage bond at $150,000, according to court filings. He must pay $15,000 to be released.

Most dangerous cities in Nebraska Dangerous Cities in Nebraska 6. South Sioux City 5. Scottsbluff 4. North Platte 3. Lincoln 2. Grand Island 1. Omaha A note about the numbers
There appears to be movement on Gov. Jim Pillens controversial decision to build a new maximum security prison at 112th and Adams streets just outside the Lincoln city limits  possibly to a new location.

Pillen and Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird will hold a news conference Wednesday at noon concerning siting of the new 1,512-bed prison facility, the governors office said in a media advisory late Tuesday.

The advisory said nothing more, though on Monday, Pillen said on a KLIN radio call-in show that the state had been interested in locating the prison on city land north of Interstate 80 near Lincoln's landfill. The landfill is located on Bluff Road between North 70th and North 56th Street. The city owns several large parcels in that area.

On Aug. 17, Pillen announced the state had signed a purchase agreement to buy the more than 300 acres at 112th and Adams streets for $17 million to build its long-awaited $350 million prison.

The location  about a mile outside city limits in one of the fast-growing parts of the city  took city officials by surprise and angered northeast Lincoln residents and developers.

Northeast Lincoln residents balked at the idea of a prison being so near their homes, had safety concerns and said light and sound pollution and increased traffic would ruin their neighborhoods.

They also said a prison in an area identified in the top tier of the citys comprehensive plan for urban residential development would stifle future development.

On Monday, several northeast Lincoln residents appealed to the City Council to encourage the mayor to do what she could to find an alternative site, and said the one north of the Interstate made more sense.

Residents in northeast Lincoln have been upset at the lack of transparency in the process  and theres been little public comment since Pillens announcement.

The mayors office said theyd been contacted by state officials earlier in the year about building a prison on city land but didn't say where. They declined the request because they worried about reducing land available for future development and had general concerns about locating a prison in Lincoln.

They asked to be included in future discussions but said they learned of the chosen site just before Pillens news conference. Since then  the day after Pillens announcement  city officials have not commented.

Top Journal Star photos for August 2023
State and city officials have agreed to move the site of the new prison away from one of the fastest-growing parts of northeast Lincoln to a city-owned site about seven miles away, just north of Interstate 80.

The joint announcement Wednesday by Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and Gov. Jim Pillen came less than two weeks after the governor announced plans to build the prison about a mile outside city limits  a decision that surprised city officials and generated intense backlash by residents who live in several nearby neighborhoods.

The city and state will swap the land: 305 acres near 112th and Adams streets the state said it has purchased for $17 million for 300 acres of city-owned land east of 70th Street and McKelvie Road, just to the east of the citys landfill.

Discussions between the mayors office and state officials began shortly after the announcement, and on Wednesday, Gaylor Baird and Pillen called it a win for everyone.

Its a win for the people in Nebraska. A win for the city of Lincoln and a win for the state of Nebraska, Pillen said. This is the perfect location for this to be a transformative prison.

As part of the agreement, the state will be responsible for paying for improvements on the site. It also will initially pay for other infrastructure, including road improvements to the site, as well as removing an abandoned lagoon, wind turbine and underground pipe on the land, and getting sewer and electrical services to the site, Pillen said.

As part of the agreement the city will pay back the cost of those improvements, not to exceed $7 million, over time.

Sewer and water already are extended to nearby areas.

Gaylor Baird said the city already had plans to decommission the lagoon on the site and will accelerate those plans to accommodate the prison, and improvements to the area will benefit Lincoln as well.

The city still has space available for another landfill and it has taken measures to extend the life of the existing landfill, Gaylor Baird said, including expanding recycling efforts.

Nebraska lawmakers approved spending $350 million for the construction of a new prison, and state officials said the change in location won't affect the timeline: beginning construction in the fall of 2024 and finishing in 2027.

James Michael Bowers, the city councilman who represents northeast Lincoln, and Danielle Conrad, who represents north Lincoln in the Legislature, credited area residents for standing up and speaking out about the former proposed location.

"I'm really proud of northeast Lincolnites for getting their voice heard, for organizing and advocating for one another and our community," Bowers said. "A lot of folks who participated in this process and had their voice heard don't typically speak up and take time off from work in order to be part of the civic process."

Kurtis Conover, who lives in Waterford Estates, about a mile southeast of the original site, said the new site is the better of the two because it is a more industrial area with considerably less residential development. But he knows some residents still will be negatively affected.

Im sure its not ideal for some people, and I have empathy for them, he said.

The best thing about the past two weeks is how neighborhood residents from all different political perspectives came together to oppose the original site  but he's not sure how much impact they had, in the end.

In the grand scheme of things you had both political parties playing a political game, and citizens in northeast Lincoln were caught in the middle of it, he said. I am happy in the end the governor and mayor could both put the politics aside and come to a better solution than the original site.

Pillen said that after initially considering 70 locations, his staff narrowed the potential sites and determined Lincoln was the best location, including some in Omaha, because of the existing workforce. He said of the two Lincoln sites, he preferred the city-owned land, and reached out to the mayor in May and had more than one conversation, but it was clear she didn't want to sell the land.

Gaylor Baird said city officials met with the governor with the understanding the city land was among various sites being considered, and declined the states offer to buy the land because the city wanted to use it for future expansion of city recycling, waste management and biogas recovery, among other municipal operations.

We left the meeting at the governors office with an understanding they were still considering multiple sites, she said.

City officials told state officials they wanted to continue discussions if the prison were to be located in Lincoln, she said.

It wasn't until shortly before Pillen's public announcement that they learned the prison was going in Lincoln, she said.

We immediately reached out to the state to reopen the conversation, Gaylor Baird said. The circumstances changed. And of the two Lincoln sites, this location that were announcing today is the preferred alternative for both parties.

City officials appreciated the states willingness to pivot and renegotiate, she said, and she appreciated the communitys input and advocacy to retain the land near 112th and Adams for its intended residential use.

The city land, which is near an LES substation, is much less densely populated than the areas around the original site, which is identified in the citys comprehensive plan in the top tier for urban residential development.

Gaylor Baird said she doesnt know yet how the city will use the land at 112th and Adams.

At this time we have no immediate plans for the land, she said. It is possible that we may look in the future to trade that land for property in other parts of Lincoln to support municipal operations for our growing city.

In answer to a question, Pillen said he didn't announce the site as a way to encourage the city to negotiate on city land.

And the state wont lose money on the land swap that it may have committed as part of a purchase agreement on the land at 112th and Adams because it's buying the land.

Weve made a commitment on that property and we're not going back on our word, Pillen said. So we purchased the property.

Bowers, who said he found out about the new site selection Wednesday, plans to continue to study the issue, particularly, how much city taxpayers are going to be on the hook for putting more infrastructure out there.

Conrad said big questions remain about how the state decommissions the penitentiary and works to reduce the number of Nebraskans who are incarcerated.

Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney, a critic of the state correctional system, said he is skeptical the state will close the Nebraska State Penitentiary when the new prison opens in 2027. Several amendments he introduced to other bills in the Legislature this year would have required the state to demolish the penitentiary after the new prison is completed, but each failed to be adopted.

"I know they keep saying they're going to decommission it, but they're not. They are going to adjust the capacity level, or the number of individuals they hold inside, he said. I hope Lincoln is happy with an additional prison.
As she carried the last box of petitions from the bed of a U-Haul truck toward the Secretary of States Election Office on Wednesday morning, Jenni Benson turned to one of the dozens of allies she has joined forces with over the last three months.

"Let's do this, Brad," the president of the Nebraska State Education Association president said, summoning Brad Christian-Sallis, a director at the Nebraska Civic Engagement Table, who had been seated at a table outside the Cornhusker Hotel, which houses the election office.

Together, the two walked into the hotel to a chorus of cheers from dozens of Support Our Schools Nebraska advocates who had gathered to celebrate the end of the group's 90-day petition drive.

The box Benson carried held the last of 117,145 petition signatures the coalition turned in Wednesday  more than double the amount the group needs to put a law providing tax incentives for donors to scholarship funds for private and faith-based schools on the ballot in November 2024.

"The sheer number of signatures this coalition gathered in less than 90 days sends a powerful message to elected officials, and they need to listen," Benson told supporters and reporters at a gathering in the hotel's lobby.

The message, she said to a round of applause: "Nebraskans support public schools."

When LB753 takes effect in January 2024, individuals and entities will be able to reduce their tax liability by making donations to scholarship funds that help students attend private schools across the state.

The total amount of tax credits available in each of the first two years will be $25 million, according to the provisions of the bill, with the cap set to increase to $100 million after  or about one-tenth the amount of money appropriated by the state for public school education annually.

Opponents of the law, which include teachers unions, school board leaders, education policy organizations, advocates of individuals with disabilities and others say the policy harms students, families and schools by diverting would-be public school funding to private and parochial schools that dont have to accept every student.

"LB753 hurts our kids and our kids deserve better," said Christian-Sallis, the director of power building at Nebraska Civic Engagement Table, a Lincoln-based nonprofit that works to increase voter turnout in the state.

"So while some politicians and wealthy special interests have and will continue to try and stop us, the will of the people is clear: that we need to repeal LB753," he said Wednesday. "And that's what we're gonna do."

Law won't be suspended

A coalition of organizations set out to gather 90,000 signatures in 90 days to get the issue on the ballot.

The petition drive needed signatures from 5% of voters in 38 of Nebraskas 93 counties for the referendum to go before voters in the November 2024 general election.

Organizers said Wednesday that they reached the 90,000 signature benchmark weeks ago, but kept gathering signatures.

The group needed about 122,000 signatures  approximately 10% of registered voters in the state  to suspend the law from going into effect until after the issue appears on the ballot.

The coalition fell about 5,000 signatures short of that total  a fact that served as a rallying cry for opponents of the petition drive Wednesday, including the governor, the bill's sponsor, the Nebraska Catholic Conference and Keep Kids First, the group of state senators, community leaders and business owners who led a campaign urging Nebraskans not to sign a petition.

"The union bosses running this political campaign failed to gather enough signatures to suspend this great program," Pillen, the Republican governor who championed and signed LB753, said in a statement Wednesday. "We should not be fighting this fight."

Pillen also promised "the fight will not be over" if the initiative makes it onto the ballot next November.

"I will continue to make sure each student in Nebraska has the educational freedom to choose where they want to attend school," he said in the statement. "We will never give up on our kids.

Linehan, in her own statement, echoed Pillen, casting the 117,000 signatures gathered as a failure to stop the law from going into effect.

"The teachers union and their allies want to double down on their efforts to take opportunity away from vulnerable kids, including kids from low-income families and kids trying to escape bullying, thats a fight Im willing to take on," she said.

"Im proud to stand with Gov. Jim Pillen and a bipartisan super-majority of the Legislature to support parents and children desperately in need of education choice."

In a separate statement Wednesday, organizers with Keep Kids First also celebrated the 5,000 signature shortfall that will allow LB753 to take effect next year and accused Support Our Schools operatives of "blatantly and indisputably lying about the Opportunity Scholarships Act" over the past three months.

"More disturbing, they are obsessively attempting to rip opportunity away from the children and families that need it most," the statement read in part.

"We will continue fighting for children and families and look forward to lifting up the voice of the vast majority of Nebraskans who support expanding educational opportunity," the group said.

Polling conducted on behalf of OpenSky Policy Institute, a Lincoln-based left-leaning think tank that poured more than $100,000 into the petition effort, indicates a majority of Nebraska voters oppose the law.

The phone survey shows 55% of Nebraska voters oppose LB753 and 47% strongly support repealing the law.

Rebecca Firestone, the think tank's executive director, said at Wednesday's gathering that the effort surpassed the signature qualification threshold in two-thirds of the state's 20 largest counties and two-thirds of Nebraska's 20 smallest counties.

"(That's) led me to one conclusion which is that if you want to get something done, ask a teacher," she said.

Counting begins

With the effort's petitions in hand, the Secretary of State's Office will count all valid signatures from the state's 93 counties and ensure the group collected the minimum number of signatures required  about 61,000 statewide  and number each petition page prior to sending the petitions to county officials for verification.

Counties will have about 40 days after they receive the signatures to count and verify signatures.

As Support Our Schools organizers submitted the petitions Wednesday, they described their petition drive as the successful first leg of a relay race  one that they expect to last until next November.

"This is not done," said Paul Schulte, one of the petition's three sponsors. "It's like a race. We've handed the baton. ... We've got the signatures, we have the counties. Now we're gonna move forward."

Benson, another one of the petition's sponsors, put it simply: "We're gonna vote."

Spending tops $2M

The three-month effort to gather signatures  and the dueling effort urging Nebraskans to oppose the petition by declining to sign it or, in some cases, by filing an affidavit to remove their signature after doing so  has been a costly expenditure on both sides and has been the subject of bitter dispute.

The feuding groups combined to spend more than $2 million through the end of July, according to the most recent campaign spending reports, which cover a campaign finance period that ended July 26.

As of then, Support Our Schools had raised and spent more than Keep Kids First, raising more than $1.3 million and spending more than $1.2 million in the first two months of their effort.

Keep Kids First, meanwhile, spent $582,000 opposing the signature drive over the same time period, some of which was used to employ blockers who shadowed the Support Our Schools petition circulators in an effort to thwart signatures and ensure gatherers were accurately representing the petition.

Earlier this month, a petition circulator in Lancaster County sought a harassment protection order against a "Decline to Sign" blocker who, he alleged, was "very aggressively yelling" at both circulators and signers outside and inside Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso in Lincoln in late July.

The incident at Meadowlark ended after the circulator called police, he said in the application for the protection order. But the same blocker approached the circulator again at a public library Aug. 3 and suggested the circulator "was going to be in trouble" for calling authorities amid their last encounter.

"I am concerned that he will do something violent to me," the circulator wrote in the court filing.

District Court Judge Jodi Nelson dismissed his petition for a protection order, finding that the allegations did not meet the definition of harassment.

A spokeswoman for the Secretary of State's Office said Wednesday that the office has received 172 affidavits from voters requesting their signatures be removed from the petition after signing.

That total doesn't include voters who may have submitted signature removal affidavits to their individual county's election commission.

Photos: Last day of the 108th Nebraska Legislature
TEHRAN, Iran  Seventy years after a CIA-orchestrated coup toppled Iran's prime minister, its legacy remains both contentious and complicated for the Islamic Republic as tensions stay high with the United States.

While highlighted as a symbol of Western imperialism by Iran's theocracy, the coup unseating Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh  over America's fears about a possible tilt toward the Soviet Union and the loss of Iranian crude oil  appeared backed at the time by the country's leading Shiite clergy.

But nowadays, hard-line Iranian state television airs repeated segments describing the coup as showing how America can't be trusted, while authorities bar the public from visiting Mossadegh's grave in a village outside of Tehran.

Such conflicts are common in Iran, where Death to America can still be heard at Friday prayers in Tehran while many on its streets say they'd welcome a better relationship with the U.S. But as memories of the coup further fade away along with those alive during it, controlling which allegory Iranians see in it has grown more important for both the country's government and its people.

Maybe the U.S. did this out of fear of the emerging power of the Soviet Union, but it was like wishing for an earthquake to get rid of a bad neighbor, said Rana, a 24-year-old painter who like some others who spoke to The Associated Press gave only her first name for fear of reprisals. For Iranians, the rancor has never melted.

The August 1953 coup stemmed from U.S. fears over the Soviet Union increasingly wanting a piece of Iran as Communists agitated within the country. The ground had been laid partially by the British, who wanted to wrest back access to the Iranian oil industry, which had been nationalized earlier by Mossadegh.

Though looking initially like it failed, the coup toppled Mossadegh and cemented the power of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It also lit the fuse for the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which saw the fatally ill shah flee Iran and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini usher in the theocracy that still governs the country.

Today, several who spoke about the coup and possible relations with the U.S. put it in the context of Iran's ailing economy, which has been battered by years of sanctions after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Lower tensions with the U.S. will bring more money for my business, said Hossein, 47, who runs a canteen for cab drivers in southern Tehran. "Now taxi drivers spend less compared to the past years and it is because of these bad relations, sanctions.

I know about this bitter history but it should come to end sometime soon, added Majid Shamsi, who works as a parcel carrier in central Tehran. Young people in Iran seek a better life and it cannot come as a result of enmity with the U.S.

Even during increasingly common protests by teachers, farmers and others in Iran, some of the regular chants include: Our enemy is here; they lied to us (that the enemy) is the U.S.

Iran today should accept a deal with the U.S. like what it did to release dual nationals, added teacher Reza Seifi, 26. "I need it for my better future, for a better future for all.

But like with the exchanges with the U.S., there are limits to how far Iran's government will go in remembering Mossadegh.

Last weekend, State television's English-language Press TV aired a segment with a journalist standing on Mossadegh Street in northern Tehran. However, over the past 20 years, police have restricted access to those wanting to visit his grave in his ancestral home in the village of Ahmadabad, some 55 miles northwest of Tehran. In the village, tall walls and a locked gate keep those wanting to pay their respects out, while officers question those who look like they don't live there.

Some found other ways to mark the 70th anniversary of the coup.

I could not go to his grave to pay tribute but I have visited the graves of his supporters and allies like Hossein Fatemi, said Ebrahim Nazeri, 32, as he, his wife and two children stood at the graveside of Fatemi, Mossadegh's foreign minister who was executed after the coup. He was a hero like Mossadegh.

Another visitor to Fatemis grave, teacher Ehsan Rahmani, simply said that the U.S. planted hatred in the hearts of Iranians through the coup.

For Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 1953 coup represents what he views as the continued threat from the U.S., whether that be from economic sanctions or the nationwide protests that have gripped Iran after the death last year of Mahsa Amini.

On Thursday, Khamenei told members of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that Washington had planned to overthrow the country's theocracy through a coup like in 1953 through its military. Iran carried out mass executions and purges of its regular military after the revolution.

The Guards chief, Gen. Hossein Salami, in reply, vowed to expel American forces from the region. His remarks came amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf, with the possibility of U.S. troops boarding and guarding commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass.

However, some remain hopeful Iran could reach a detente with the U.S., as it recently did with Saudi Arabia.

I dream that the supreme leader allows talks and better relations with the U.S., said Mohsen, 29, a furniture shop salesman in northern Tehran. He allowed the restoration of ties with Saudi Arabia. He can allow the same for the U.S.

A look at the top historical sites in Iran 1. Naqsh-e Jahan Square 2. Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System 3. Imam Reza Holy Shrine 4. The Tabatabaei House 5. Jameh Mosque of Yazd 6. Qavam House 7. Vakil Bazaar 8. Eram Garden 9. Chehel Sotoun 10. Kandovan
Attendance up

Great weather contributed to a nearly 30% increase in the number of people attending the first five days of the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island compared to last year.

The total through Tuesday was 149,374, compared to 114,996 last year, an increase of 34,378 visitors, according to fair officials.

The day-by-day breakdown: Friday, 17,947; Saturday, 50,276; Sunday, 30,515; Monday, 22,691; Tuesday, 27,945.

Monday was the first of seven days of concerts before the fair ends on Labor Day.
A Douglas County judge lowered the bail for a man charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of a 30-year-old man during what prosecutors have described as a gunbattle.

Judge Marcena Hendrix lowered Mark Keesler Jr.s bail from $1 million to $50,000 during a preliminary hearing Monday. Prosecutors say 31-year-old Keesler killed Deving Willis-Smith during a gun battle on July 19 in a residential neighborhood near 27th and Whitmore Streets in Omaha.

Keesler allegedly produced a rifle during a dispute between a friend and Willis-Smith outside Keeslers friends house. Willis-Smith retrieved a handgun from a car and there was an exchange of gunfire, Chief Deputy Douglas County Attorney Brenda Beadle said last month. Beadle added then that Keesler shot numerous times, more than 10.

Four kids were said to be in the car but they were not injured.

Willis-Smith suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died at the Nebraska Medical Center after being taken there by ambulance.

In addition to manslaughter, Keesler is also charged with use of a firearm to commit a felony.

Keesler remained in the Douglas County Jail as of Monday afternoon. He must pay 10%, or $5,000, of his $50,000 bail in order to be released.

Keesler has been ordered to stand trial in district court.

This day in history: The last State Fair in Lincoln Midway on the last day Getting ready Camel rides Salute Picking prizes Color Guard Racing pigs Steer Last night Wii gaming Trains Serving food Snake handling Enjoying the rides Fire swalllowing At the fair At the fun house Waiting to show Waiting for a shirt
The Pleasant Prairie man charged in the fatal crash that killed two young people and injured two others when the truck he was allegedly driving while highly intoxicated crashed into a Kenosha store was bound over for trial Wednesday morning.

Ajay Pierangeli, who turned 21 last week, appeared in Intake Court for his preliminary hearing where probable cause was found by a court commissioner that felonies were committed by Pierangeli in the early morning hours of July 28.

Pierangeli, who appeared in a blue jail jumpsuit, handcuffed and wearing a neck brace, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him Wednesday.

The case now heads to Kenosha County Circuit Court where a judicial pre-trial date is set for the morning of Oct. 27 before Judge Angelina Gabriele.

Pierangeli, represented by attorney Dennis Melowski, remains in custody on a $500,000 cash bond. If he is able to post bond Pierangeli is to have no contact with those injured in the crash or the families of the deceased.

Assistant district attorney Zachary Brost appeared for the state Wednesday morning. Kenosha Police Det. Vicente Correa testified for the state and was cross-examined by the defense.

Friends and family of Pierangeli and the deceased were in the gallery Wednesday. Pierangeli remained silent during the proceeding.

Pierangeli is facing four felony charges including two counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, a Class D felony, injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle and operating while intoxicated and causing injury as a second or subsequent offense. He faces over 40 years of confinement and over 25 years of extended supervision if convicted.

Pierangeli is accused of driving a truck with four of his friends inside at a high rate of speed while intoxicated when he crashed into the front of Play It Again Sports, 4017 75th Street, in the early morning hours of July 28.

Dylan Zamora, 22, and Jenna Barrette, 21 were killed in the crash and pronounced dead at the scene. Pierangeli, who sustained a broken neck and other injuries, and two others were injured.

According to prosecutors. Pierangelis blood-alcohol content was about three times over the legal limit and he was driving recklessly eastbound on Highway 50 just before the crash.

Close Dylan Zamora and Jenna Barrette pose in this image from social media. The two Kenosha friends were killed in a car crash early on July 28. From left are Joe, Jordyn, Tammy and Jenna Barrette. Joe and Tammy talked about losing Jenna, their youngest daughte,r in a crash last month. Jenna Barrette, 21, was a strong lover of animals, even making her family pull over so she could stop and visit with people walking their pets. The family provided this childhood photo of Dylan Zamora. The family provided this childhood photo of Jenna Barrette. Dylan Zamora poses with a carnival prize. Barrette and Zamora Dylan Zamora and Jenna Barrette pose in this image from social media. The two Kenosha friends were killed in a car crash early on July 28. From left are Joe, Jordyn, Tammy and Jenna Barrette. Joe and Tammy talked about losing Jenna, their youngest daughte,r in a crash last month. Jenna Barrette, 21, was a strong lover of animals, even making her family pull over so she could stop and visit with people walking their pets. The family provided this childhood photo of Dylan Zamora. The family provided this childhood photo of Jenna Barrette. Dylan Zamora poses with a carnival prize.
RACINE  Avery Nahwahquaw was surprised by the request.

He was in an acting class at the Racine Correctional Institution and was asked to play two roles in A Midsummer Nights Dream usually performed by women.

My first instinct was, Hell no, Nahwahquaw said.

After some reflection, though, he decided to try it.

Some part of me thought initially that I was too cool, too tough, but when I really stopped for a moment and took a look at it, Im like, Its kind of up my alley, Nahwahquaw said.

Performing in the Shakespeare play took Nahwahquaw out of his comfort zone, and he learned more about himself.

I grew in heart and understanding, Nahwahquaw said. There was just so much to it, and all amidst the chaos and turmoil and violence that can be the prison system.

Jonathan Shailor, University of Wisconsin-Parkside communication professor and director of the Shakespeare Prison Project at RCI, asked Nahwahquaw to play the two characters and was impressed by his performances.

This strong, masculine man devoted himself fully to both of these roles, showing dedication, passion and not one bit of insecurity, Shailor wrote in an email. For this reason, he became a leader in the group, along with his work ethic, his quiet strength, his gentle sense of humor and his judicious sharing of Native wisdom.

Correcting the narrative

Nahwahquaw was released from prison in February 2021 and lives in Milwaukee.

Buoyed by friends, family and spirituality, he is working to lead a service-oriented life after 23 years of incarceration.

For those reasons, Nahwahquaw was one of eight people who will receive a Correcting the Narrative recognition Thursday from The Community, a Milwaukee nonprofit.

Shailor nominated Nahwahquaw for the recognition and wrote that he is a serious, hard-working, and deeply spiritual man who is dedicated to and supported by his family, focused on self-improvement and gainful employment.

Nahwahquaw appreciates the recognition but thinks many people are just as worthy.

Its like, Who am I? Nahwahquaw said. Its hard for me to believe that Im someone to be honored that way  I hope to be worthy of it.

Shannon Ross, The Community executive director, wants to humanize people who have criminal records, who he said are often viewed inaccurately.

He aims to increase understanding about problems connected to the justice system so they can be addressed.

Ross and Nahwahquaw were incarcerated together for about six months. They worked in the same prison kitchen, where Ross said Nahwahquaw was a calming presence.

Ross said one common misunderstanding is that incarcerated people cannot change. People also often do not take into account the circumstances that resulted in criminal action.

Its the complexity of it that people dont get, Ross said. We take a shortcut to determining who a person is because they have a criminal record.

A living apology

Nahwahquaw, who is of Menominee, Ojibwe and Oneida descent, grew up on the Menominee reservation in northeast Wisconsin and moved to Milwaukee at age 15.

There, he used drugs and alcohol and was living the fast life  leading to a conviction in 1997 for first-degree reckless homicide.

Nahwahquaw said he never meant to kill anyone. He knows he cant undo the damage from his crime but is trying to make up for it by creating positive impacts.

The only real apology of any value, in my thinking, is a living one, Nahwahquaw said. Walking in a way that brings back healing and health to the community, to people.

Fernando Torres met Nahwahquaw about 15 years ago, and they lived on the same cell block for eight years.

Torres and Nahwahquaw connected over sports, humor and self-improvement focused on education and spirituality.

Torres, who lives in Milwaukee, said Nahwahquaw is a humble man who goes out of his way to help people.

That includes helping Torres readjust to life when he was released from prison in 2022 after 42 years of incarceration.

Nahwahquaw assisted Torres with practicalities like insurance paperwork and building a credit score.

Adjusting to the world has not been easy, but Torres is doing so thanks to people like Nahwahquaw.

You do get scared, Torres said. Coming out into a world I didnt recognize, its difficult. Its been challenging, but  Ive been able to survive out here and make a difference.

Were free

It also has been a challenging adjustment for Nahwahquaw, who sometimes doesnt believe he is out.

He initially had a job as a food delivery driver, which he greatly enjoyed.

It was wonderful being out there in the car, all hours of the day, all hours of the night, totally legit, nothing to worry about, nothing to run from, just listening to good music by yourself in the world, not behind bars, Nahwahquaw said.

Nahwahquaw also worked at a shipping company. He recently earned a commercial drivers license and plans to work as a delivery driver.

In the weeks after his release, Nahwahquaw often went for walks to remind himself that he could do those types of simple things.

Similarly, Nahwahquaw often encourages Torres to enjoy activities like going for a drive, sitting by Lake Michigan or buying an ice cream.

I always tell him, Brother, were free. What more could a man want? Nahwahquaw said.

In prison, Nahwahquaw and Torres often talked about how they would trade their stresses for the challenges of the outside world.

Now we have them headaches, but we should accept them briefly, face them with courage and with a healthy heart and mind, Nahwahquaw said. It was part of everything we always wanted, and here it is.

Nahwahquaw appreciates moments like laughing with family and sitting outside on a beautiful day. He often talks to young people and tells them to learn from his mistakes.

The real wealth is in the kids, its in the people, its in the beauty of life, and its boundless, Nahwahquaw said. I try to be one with all of that.

Gradual change

Torres said misconceptions exist about people with criminal records.

Were not the devil, he said. Were human beings that made these errors, and we can change.

Nahwahquaws change was gradual, but he is on a better path.

Change, it doesnt come overnight, Nahwahquaw said. It takes reflection, it takes knowledge of yourself and then it takes practice  You have to do it consciously again and again until it becomes your nature. It becomes who you are.

Torres and Nahwahquaw work to positively influence one another. They meet monthly for cigars to laugh, share stories and build connections.

We found a bond, Torres said. We keep each other out of trouble  When you get good friends, you dont want to lose them.

Nahwahquaw said he and Torres are brothers from day one. I love that guy.

They remind one another to work through challenges by being of service.

Our goal in this world is to be the best human beings that we can, and helping others is probably one of the most important things, Torres said.

Nahwahquaw knows obstacles lie ahead, but he plans to embrace them and keep moving forward with a good heart and a good mind.

After a Shakespeare class altered how he viewed himself, Nahwahquaw is helping others while trying to embody a living apology.

When the sun sets on my life, I hope to look back and see more good than bad, Nahwahquaw said.

Photos: Program eases toll of separation on incarcerated moms, kids
A committee hearing on the future of Meagan Wolfes job as head of the Wisconsin Elections Commission was largely spent revisiting old grievances held by some Republicans over the states nearly 3-year-old presidential election.

The Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections and Consumer Protection met Tuesday to discuss a resolution ultimately aimed at unseating Wolfe, who has led the commission since 2018. Wolfe did not testify at the meeting, which was largely attended by some of her biggest critics, including several who have taken aim at the bipartisan commission and its administrator since the 2020 election.

The meeting was held as Senate Republicans move closer to removing Wolfe from her role as Wisconsins top election official  despite arguments that such a vote is not legally before the Legislature.

Both Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul and the Legislatures attorneys have said there is no legal nomination for the committee to consider.

Thats really a separate discussion. This was a public hearing about reappointing Meagan Wolfe, committee chair Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, said when asked about the legal questions raised about Wolfes nomination.

Knodl said he hasnt decided yet whether the committee will formally vote to send the resolution to the full Senate, where the Republican majority could remove Wolfe from office.

Not everything gets to an executive session, so I havent made that determination yet, he said, adding the matter could come before the full Senate as soon as mid-September.

Senate Resolution 3, adopted in June, declares that Wolfe has been nominated for reappointment by the bipartisan commission  despite the agency failing to secure the four votes traditionally needed for approval.

There is not a nomination before this committee, said Ann Jacobs, a Democratic member of the commission. There just isnt, and the law is very clear on that.

Recent actions

In June, the commissions three Republican members voted to reappoint Wolfe, while the agencys three Democratic members abstained from voting in an effort to prevent a majority vote that would send Wolfes reappointment to the GOP-controlled state Senate, where Republicans could reject the nomination and effectively oust Wolfe.

The next day, Senate Republicans adopted a resolution declaring Wolfe has been nominated for reappointment by the bipartisan commission  despite the agency failing to secure the four votes traditionally needed for approval. Senate GOP leaders argue the commissions three votes supporting her nomination, paired with three votes to abstain, constitutes a majority.

However, a memo prepared last week by Wisconsin Legislative Council attorneys Katie Bender-Olson and Peggy Hurley for Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, states that most Wisconsin Elections Commission actions, including the appointment of the agencys administrator, must be affirmed with at least four votes.

Based on the statutory text and conventions of statutory interpretation in Wisconsin, the best interpretation of state law is that appointment of a WEC administrator requires four votes of the commission, the memo states. This is because the provision relating directly to the appointment of an administrator refers to a majority of the members of the commission, and not to a majority of those voting, and because actions of the commission generally require a two-thirds vote.

While state law at times refers to members present and voting in some statutory provisions, that language is not included in a statute pertaining to an administrative appointment, the memo continues.

The Legislature chose not to use similar language for the appointment of an administrator, supporting the conclusion that appointment requires an affirmative vote by a majority of WEC members rather than a majority of members voting, the attorneys wrote.

Before Senate Republicans introduced the resolution on Wolfes nomination, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, privately expressed doubts about whether the chamber could remove Wolfe if she wasnt first reappointed by the commission, according to an email the senator sent to a group of conservatives.

Last week, Kaul made a similar argument in a letter sent to Wisconsin Legislative Council director Anne Sappenfield, stating that the commissions deadlock vote in June means there is no WEC administrator appointment before the Senate.

Its likely the matter will ultimately be decided in court.

Its just unfortunate that we are going to wind up back in court for trying to exercise our authority, Sen. Romaine Quinn, R-Cameron, said.

Back to 2020

Tuesdays meeting kicked off with lawmakers revisiting the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureaus nearly 2-year-old report on the 2020 election. The audit, released in October 2021, was never intended to reexamine the results of the election, but it contained no evidence of widespread fraud.

It did, however, recommend the state elections commission create rules defining the use of ballot drop boxes in elections and define when clerks are allowed to fill in missing information on absentee ballot envelopes. Wolfe and commission members have said many of the proposed changes raised by the audit have been made.

Even so, several who spoke Tuesday continued to relitigate the presidential election and raise concerns about election malfeasance and fraud.

Those who spoke in opposition to Wolfes nomination included: Peter Bernegger, of New London, who last year was fined by the Wisconsin Elections Commission for filing what the agency called frivolous claims of voter fraud; Harry Wait, who was charged with election fraud and identity theft after requesting and receiving absentee ballots in the names of legislators and local officials last year; and former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who was hired by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, to lead the now defunct taxpayer-funded review of the 2020 election.

While Gablemans review failed to find any evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, he used his platform to foster doubt in the electoral process and recommended the Legislature take the legally impossible step of decertifying the results.

The record speaks for itself, and nothing speaks as highly as the fact that (Wolfe) didnt come here today to tell you about all the good work shes been doing, Gableman said Tuesday.

A warning

Others, including Common Cause Wisconsin Executive Director Jay Heck, defended Wolfes experience and integrity at the helm of the state elections commission, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The vast majority of Wisconsins voters and citizens can and will lose confidence and trust in our elections if you, their elected representatives, commit the monumental mistake of ousting Meagan Wolfe, Heck said.

Wolfe was appointed to her role by the commission in February 2018. She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in May 2019.

A recount, court decisions and multiple reviews have affirmed that President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes.

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.
About two months after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed most of their tax cut proposal, legislative Republicans on Tuesday proposed a $2.9 billion plan to cut taxes for some earners and retirees.

Republicans also proposed a constitutional amendment that would prohibit the Assembly and Senate from passing a bill to increase Wisconsins sales tax, income tax or franchise tax unless such a proposal receives a two-thirds vote.

Much of the tax cut Republicans proposed Tuesday revolves around a measure Evers already vetoed. That plan, Assembly Bill 386, would reduce the 5.3% income tax rate covering individuals earning between $27,630 and $304,000 and married filers earning between $36,840 and $405,000 to 4.4%.

Republicans also proposed removing taxes on up to $100,000 that people age 67 or older receive from retirement income. That amount would be up to $150,000 for married couples who are both at least 67.

This is for the families, said Rep. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton. This is for the seniors. This is for the grandparents we have here in the state of Wisconsin.

Similar to the plan Evers vetoed in early July, the new proposal would collapse the current four income tax brackets into three. Unlike the earlier proposal, the latest Republican measure doesnt include a tax cut for the wealthiest Wisconsinites.

Were respecting the governor and his word to focus on the middle class, Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said. Thats exactly what were doing with both the third bracket and with the caps around this retirement plan. Its very middle-class focused.

Born said he hasnt discussed the latest proposal with Evers, who previously said he would negotiate with Republicans on taxes if they would consider his proposals, like spending more money on child care. Evers called Republicans into a special session in September to spend more money on child care and the University of Wisconsin System  something Republicans quickly dismissed.

The Legislature is not interested in spending more money, Born said. I know the governor wants to spend more money. The money thats left needs to be returned to the taxpayers.

Asked to comment about Republicans tax proposal, Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback pointed to a State Budget Office memo stating that tax reductions exceeding $430 million in the next two years could jeopardize over $2 billion that Wisconsin received from the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Born said he wasnt concerned about the federal government potentially recouping that money.

Evers plan

When Evers vetoed most of Republicans proposed $3.5 billion tax cut, he said the plan would have been fiscally irresponsible going forward and would have required Wisconsin to cut funding for schools and health care.

The provisions Evers signed into law amounted to a $175 million total tax cut.

Evers budget included a GOP provision to lower the 3.54% rate covering individuals earning less than $13,810 per year or married filers earning less than about $18,400 to 3.5%. He also signed a measure lowering the 4.65% rate covering individuals making up to $27,630 and joint filers earning $36,840 to 4.4%.

Evers vetoed Republicans plan to reduce the 5.3% rate covering individuals earning up to $304,000 and married filers earning up to about $405,000 to 4.4%. He also rejected Republicans plan to reduce the 7.65% tax rate covering individuals earning more than $304,000 or married filers earning more than about $405,500 to 6.5%.

Under the tax plan Evers modified, those making between $40,000 and $50,000 will receive an average $36 tax cut.

Under the GOP plan presented Tuesday, taxpayers making between $40,000 and $50,000 would receive an additional $52 cut.

Under the current structure, taxpayers making between $60,000 and $70,000, around Wisconsins median household income of $67,000, will receive a $44 income tax cut. Under Republicans plan, they would receive an additional $205 cut.

Those making between $90,000 and $100,000 will receive a $48 cut under Evers plan, less than 10% of the $515 cut they would receive under Republicans plan.

Wisconsinites making between $200,000 and $250,000 will receive an average $51 cut per year under the plan Evers signed. Under Republicans tax plan, theyd save an additional $1,650.

Last resort

Separate from the tax cut proposal, Republicans introduced a measure Tuesday, Assembly Joint Resolution 66, to require legislative supermajorities to implement increases to state sales, income or franchise taxes.

Constitutional amendments require approval from two successive legislatures before appearing on the ballot. The governor cannot veto a constitutional amendment.

By doing this, were protecting our citizens from getting overtaxed, Rep. Amy Binfield, R-Sheboygan, said.

We want to make sure that each taxpayer sees that we are being conscious of the fact that were not just here to take their money and spend it for them, but rather it would be a last resort option.
1. Yes. If KHA cant continue to run it, the city should step in. Its a necessary asset to the area.

2. Yes. The city already uses it as a warming and cooling center. It would be a smart move.

3. No. It may be in the citys interest to help subsidize insurance for the center, but nothing more.

4. No. The city doesnt need the added burden of staffing and insuring the center. Its a bad idea.

5. Unsure. It may be seem like a good idea, but other options should be explored as well.

Vote

View Results
People attend a rally against Japan's dumping of nuke wastewater in Suva, Fiji, Aug. 25. Xinhua-Yonhap



The Japanese government, which arbitrarily started dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea recently, is employing a combination of PR stunts at home and abroad in a bid to shift attention, create antagonism and turn itself from the culprit risking the global health and environment into an innocent victim of Chinese public opinion attacks by hyping Chinese fury over the dumping.



Echoing the Japanese government and media, the U.S.-led Western camp also took their media outlets to the frontline in highlighting the so-called anti-Japan sentiment growing in China, exaggerating the moves of a few Chinese citizens, including nuisance phone calls to Japanese enterprises and authorities.



While stressing that certain inappropriate actions by individual Chinese citizens are not encouraged and most Chinese people remain rational over the issue and follow the basic principle of protecting their health from potential nuclear contamination, Chinese experts pointed out that Japan is conducting the environmental terrorism incident and risks the future of the world, and asked how it dared to blame China over the reaction.



In response to a Japanese reporter's claims that Japanese in China are worried that the Chinese are becoming more active in "anti-Japanese" actions, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press briefing on Monday that China always protects the safety and legitimate rights and interests of foreign nationals in China in accordance with law.



Wang's remarks came after Japanese and some Western media outlets including Kyodo News, Reuters and BBC started hyping the harassing calls from China over Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water dumping.



"A lot of harassing phone calls believed to be originating from China are occurring in Japan ... These developments are extremely regrettable and we are concerned," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the chief government spokesperson, told a regular news conference, Reuters reported on Monday.



Also, Kyodo News cited Japanese government sources as saying on Monday that a rock was thrown into the grounds of a Japanese school in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province last Thursday, when the contaminated water discharge began, while eggs were hurled Friday at another Japanese school in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province. Nobody was hurt in those incidents.



Chinese observers said that after being challenged by Tokyo's reckless move, which sparked real-life "Godzilla fears" around the world, some people felt helpless and powerless to reverse it, letting off steam by engaging in some inappropriate behavior. But observers pointed out those were individual cases that were not encouraged by mainstream Chinese public opinion or the authorities.



Observers also warned of some false rumors among the cases. For example, Xi'an police in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Monday denied online rumors claiming that residents driving Japanese-made cars have been stopped and had their cars smashed.



Japan is trying to portray itself as a victim by exaggerating the expressions of dissatisfaction among some Chinese citizens and using it to divert the attention of the international community from its extremely irresponsible dumping, said Liu Jiangyong, vice dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University.



"We should really be on the alert for Japan's skilled and well-managed PR stunts that attempt to make a false countercharge against the Chinese side," Liu told the Global Times on Monday.



The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a policy to strengthen countermeasures against so-called "disinformation" over the contaminated water dumping by increasing its 2024 budget specially designed to respond to "disinformation" to approximately 70 billion yen ($478 million), NHK reported Thursday when Japan started the dumping process.



The Global Times also found out previously that Japan spends a great deal of money on PR efforts overseas to win more endorsements for dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea.



Wu Jianghao, the Chinese ambassador in Japan, lodged solemn representations on the disruption suffered by the Chinese embassies and consulates in Japan on Monday, saying that they have received a large number of harassing phone calls from Japan recently, which has seriously disrupted their normal operation.



According to a Monday statement by the Chinese Embassy in Japan, Wu said that China will continue to protect the safety of its embassy and consulates in Japan and the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens in accordance with law. At the same time, the Japanese side should correctly guide public opinion, stop hyping up related issues, and refrain from trying to divert the focus of the incident and cover up its wrongful act of dumping contaminated water into the sea.





Protestors holding placards march on the streets of Suva, Fiji, Aug. 25, to protest against Japan's release of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean. AFP-Yonhap
Hilda Beverly (Sidie) Matson, age 89, passed away Saturday, August 19, 2023, at Vernon Memorial Hospital after dealing with multiple health issues.

Hilda was born on April 8, 1934, in the family home in Sterling Township near Viroqua, Wisconsin to Harry and Bertha (Myhre) Sidie. Hilda was named after her mothers middle name of Mathilde and was the 2nd of their 8 children.

Growing up, Hilda lived in both Vernon and Crawford Counties, working hard on the familys farms. In 1948, she started at Viroqua High School, and during her sophomore year, magic happened across the smooth floor of Viroquas Roller Rink. There he was  the tall, suave senior who worked at the rink literally skating circles around everyone else  Jerrold Matson.

Hilda and Jerry dated for two years while she finished high school and he worked and attended technical school after graduating from Viroqua High in 1950. In early 1952, Jerry enlisted in the US Air Force while Hilda completed her senior year at Seneca High School. That July of 1952  one day after Jerrys 20th birthdaythey married in a candlelight ceremony in the chapel on Shepherds Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas where he was assigned for extra schooling after he finished basic training.

For the next 23 years, they traveled all around the globe while adding five children to the family  Michael, Terri, Shelley, Christie, and Jeffrey. In addition to raising the kids, often while Jerry was gone for months on a tour-of-duty in another county, Hilda served as the proverbial boy scout and girl scout leader, Sunday School teacher, and babysat children in her home.

The family returned to Viroqua in 1975 when Jerry retired from the Air Force. Her childrens activities still kept Hilda busy, and soon she was leading large fund-raising events for the kids church trips and activities. Her semi-annual rummage sales, which took all year to prepare, were renowned in the region, raising tens of thousands of dollars each sale.

After 12-15 years, the rummage sales had run their course, and the churchs pastor asked Hilda to start up and manage the countys first Food Pantry. When Jerry fully retired from working (again) he joined Hilda in the endeavor. In an article in the local newspaper marking the 25th anniversary of the Food Pantry in 2012, Jerry is quoted to have said Hilda runs the operation and hes just the go-fer. In 2015, a regional tv station honored Hilda with the Jefferson Award for her volunteerism with the food pantry which, in turn, makes our area a better place to live.

Within the next two years, Hildas involvement with the food pantry ended as Jerry needed more attention due to his changing health. Her retirement years have been filled with lots of rummage sales; making layettes and school kits for church mission work; welcoming more grandchildren and great-grandchildren to the family; gathering hundreds of stuffed animals for Toys for Tots and other childrens charities, to name a few. She also discovered a love of reading now that she finally had time to slow down and do something for herself. She especially liked to read Love Inspired books about Amish life and romance. She had also begun wearing a small angel pin every day, as a reminder that her guardian angel was watching over her and would gift these angel pins to almost everyone to remind them of their own guardian angels. But her most important task was to be the best Nana ever to her 19 grandchildren and great-grandchildren (plus another on the way soon).

Hilda is survived by her children: Shelley Matson, Christie Oneal, and Jeffrey (Stacy) Matson; daughter-in-law, Martha Matson; son-in-law, Richard Gratz; her grandchildren and their spouses, and her great-grandchildren: Anne McGee; William (Jennifer) Matson and daughter Lyric; Karissa Matson; Cara Gratz and children Brooklyn, Dakota, and Amara with her son Terrance; Derek (Alice) Gratz and daughters Leah and Lainee; Jeremy Matson; Erica Oneal and son Leo; Bethany (Sam) Harvey; Tessa Oneal; Alan Matson; and Otto Matson. She is also survived by three siblings: Ken Sidie, Leone Larsen, and Helen Shaner; plus sister-in-law, Chris Sidie; dozens of nieces, nephews, and other family members, plus, two special grandchildren Jonah Getter and Jennie (Getter) Voter.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years, Jerrold, in 2018; her son Michael Matson in 2019; daughter Terri Gratz in 2020; and son-in-law Marty Oneal in 2022. She is further preceded in death by her parents, and 4 siblings: Lucille Athnos, Raymond Sidie in infancy, Diane LaFleur, and Roy Sidie.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Viroqua or to the family.

Funeral Services were held at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Viroqua on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, at 11:00 am. Visitation was held from 4:00 pm to 7:00 p.m. on Monday, August 28 at Vosseteig Funeral Home in Viroqua, with a prayer service at 6:30 p.m. Visitation will also be at the church from 10:00 until the time of service. Interment to be in the Viroqua Cemetery. Online condolences may be expressed at www.vossfh.com.
The Shocking Kurdish Role in Iraq's Yazidi Genocide

After the brutal August 2014 ISIS attack on the Yazidi community in northern Iraq, a narrative quickly emerged blaming Sinjar's Sunni Arabs for supporting the genocide.

Yet a deeper delve into this harrowing episode uncovers a much darker reality -- one that implicates Iraqi Kurdish politician Masoud Barzani and the leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in a sinister collaboration with ISIS.

Yazidi massacre blame game

One of the massacres took place in the small village of Kocho on 15 August, which saw hundreds of women and children enslaved and their men executed. "All the Arabs around us were against us, with the terrorists of Daesh [an Arabic acronym for ISIS]," one male survivor was quoted as saying, pointing the finger at the Sunni Arabs of Sinjar.

In August 2016, Yazidi member of the Iraqi parliament Vian Dakhil claimed that around 1,000 foreign ISIS fighters invaded Sinjar, "But tens of thousands flocked to support them. Those tens of thousands were our neighbors."

However, several Sunni Arab men from Sinjar spoke with The Cradle to challenge this narrative. They claim they were not willing executioners of their Yazidi neighbors, with whom they had lived peacefully for generations.

As rural farmers and sheep herders, they had little power to stop the ISIS massacres. Some individual Sunni Arabs did join ISIS when the group invaded Sinjar, but this was a relatively small number and joining ISIS was largely opposed by the Arab community, they say. As one of the men explains:

"Terrorism represents no tribe, no group, they represent themselves. If a family member becomes a terrorist or ISIS member, this does not mean his brother accepts it. But they could not resist it, or they would be killed by other ISIS members. Everybody surrendered under the gun."

In fact, the grip of ISIS extended to the Sunni Arab populace in Sinjar and Mosul alike, leading to the execution of local law enforcement and security personnel as the terrorist group gained control over these regions.

One Sunni Arab informs The Cradle that ISIS executed 19 people from his village in 2014, including 11 members of his own family.

A report by the UN Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) corroborates the claim that ISIS also targeted Sunni Arabs, and documents the mass executions of Sunni Arab civilians and soldiers as ISIS seized power in Mosul and Tikrit. Even those who purportedly "repented" and swore allegiance to ISIS often met a grim fate, facing execution regardless.

'We know they could see us'

The Arab Sunni men speaking with The Cradle ask how they as civilians could have resisted ISIS in Sinjar when the Iraqi army, Kurdish Peshmerga, and US air force were all unable to prevent ISIS from taking Sinjar and massacring its Yazidi inhabitants.

The men claim that US F-16s warplanes were flying in the skies above Kocho as the massacre took place, but failed to intervene and carry out airstrikes, even though ISIS militants were driving in convoys of new Toyota pick-up trucks that were easily identifiable.

"We could see the ISIS members killing the Yazidis and the airplanes did nothing," one man tells The Cradle.

This was confirmed by human rights researcher Naomi Kikoler, who interviewed survivors of the Kocho massacre. One survivor told her there were "jets in the air. We know they could see us. We thought they would save us. I could still hear them after being shot."

'Even if I am slaughtered'

Despite the dangers Sinjar's Sunni Arabs also faced from ISIS, there are many instances where they helped their Yazidi neighbors escape after the Kocho massacre. One member of the local Sunni Arab community informs The Cradle:

"When ISIS killed the Yazidis in Sinjar, no one could go to help them. No one could do anything. We were just scared and sad about them. Some people escaped in the night and were injured and came and we helped them. Some had been shot. We gave them bandages, and water, and food, and we took them to the mountain to help them escape."

A prominent Yazidi figure, Sheikh Nayef Jasso, recounted the efforts of his Arab Sunni friend, Abu Saady, who lived in an adjacent village. Sheikh Jasso explained in an interview with the Iraq 24 news channel how he had asked Abu Saady to help two survivors of the massacre escape to the mountains. According to Sheikh Jasso, Abu Saady responded by saying, "I will try. Even if I am slaughtered myself, I have to do it."

However, the misperception that Sinjar's Sunni Arabs were responsible for the ISIS genocide still goes largely unchallenged, although it is a view that is propagated not by the broader Yazidi community, but rather by the political maneuverings of the KDP led by Masoud Barzani. Furthermore, allegations have emerged that the KDP paid select Yazidis to amplify these claims in the media, casting the shadow of blame on Sunni Arabs.

For example, Yazidi MP Vian Dakhil who blamed Sunni Arabs from Sinjar for the genocide, is a KDP member. The influential Kurdish political party often seeks to coopt politicians from Iraqi minority communities, hoping to control them and ensure these communities act in favor of KDP interests.

Sunni Arabs as scapegoats

Shifting culpability onto Sinjar's Sunni Arabs serves as a calculated diversion from the core culprits -- namely, the KDP, whose Peshmerga forces had undertaken the solemn duty to safeguard the Yazidis in Sinjar.

On 3 August, 2014, the Peshmerga betrayed this trust by abruptly abandoning their posts in the early hours of the morning, leaving the Yazidis defenseless against the ISIS onslaught. This was confirmed by journalist Christine Van Den Toorn writing for the Daily Beast.

Van Den Toorn writes that a local KDP official told her that "higher-ups in the party told representatives to keep people calm, and that if people in their areas of coverage left, their salaries would be cut."

Kurdish security officials also confiscated weapons from Christian communities in the Nineveh Plain, before abandoning these communities as ISIS invaded in using tactics similar to those in Sinjar.

By convincing Yazidis to stay in Sinjar despite the looming ISIS threat, confiscating their weapons, and then abandoning them at the last moment without warning, Barzani's KDP and Peshmerga ensured that ISIS would be able to massacre and enslave as many Yazidis as possible.

The harsh reality was that without the intervention of fighters from rival Kurdish factions, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its Syrian offshoot, the People's Protection Units (YPG), the atrocities carried out by ISIS would have been even larger. PKK and YPG militants coming from the Rabia border area with Syria created safe corridors for Yazidis to escape from Sinjar Mountain.

An explicit agreement

Several Yazidis who spoke with The Cradle said they knew the Peshmerga had betrayed them by suddenly withdrawing, but none said they understood why.

Several sources have alleged that Masoud Barzani made an agreement with ISIS, and this was the reason for the Peshmerga withdrawal.

According to French academic and Iraq expert Pierre-Jean Luizard, there was "an explicit agreement" between Barzani and ISIS, which "aims to share a number of territories." ISIS was given the role of "routing the Iraqi army, in exchange for which the Peshmerga would not prevent ISIS from entering Mosul or capturing Tikrit.

Cemil Bayik, a senior PKK member also alleged that Barzani had sent senior KDP member Azad Barwari to meet with Sunni political figures and ISIS representatives in Amman, Jordan to make plans for ISIS to take Mosul.

As reported by The Cradle, prominent Sunni politician Atheel al-Nujaifi, then-governor of Nineveh province, "who was both collaborating with ISIS and acting as a Turkish proxy" played a key role in facilitating the fall of Mosul.

Barzani's arrangement with ISIS apparently included supplying weapons to the notorious terror group. According to reporting from Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), these weapons included Kornet anti-tank missiles, which ISIS used to destroy M1A1 Abrams tanks in battles against the Iraqi army.

Journalists and members of the KRG parliament later verified that senior Peshmerga commanders had traded weapons with ISIS, and that none of them were ever charged.

The 'Kurdish Jerusalem'

Barzani's desire to share territories with ISIS, despite the atrocities that unfolded, was fueled by a calculated strategy to expand his influence and achieve his long-standing goal of establishing an independent Kurdish state.

At its core, Barzani's ambition sought to secure new territories, access untapped oil reserves, amass weapons, and garner international backing for the realization of a sovereign Kurdish state. The essential idea was for ISIS to take over mostly Sunni Arab territories in northern Iraq, forcing much of that population to flee, and then have US-backed Kurds "liberate" those lands and "Kurdify" them.

Reuters quoted a KRG official saying: "Everyone is worried, but this is a big chance for us. ISIL gave us in two weeks what Maliki couldn't give us in eight years."

As the chaos instigated by ISIS enveloped Mosul and the Iraqi army faltered, Barzani's swift directive was to mobilize his Peshmerga forces to capture the oil-rich city of Kirkuk -- a region of geopolitical importance that was also home to Arab and Turkoman populations. This territorial conquest held symbolic value akin to the "Kurdish Jerusalem."

Denise Natali of the National Defense University observed that "the Kurds' most evident gain from the ISIS takeover of Mosul is territorial, as the Kurds had extended their territory by about 40 percent." Assyrian writer Max Joseph sums it up well: "This is conquest masquerading as liberation."

Journalist and expert on Kurdish affairs Wladimir Van Wilgenburg similarly explained that after Mosul fell, "The Kurds control now most of the disputed territories ... They now almost have their national desired borders."

By controlling Kirkuk, Barzani gained not only new territory but massive new oil reserves which he immediately began exporting via a newly built pipeline to the Turkish port city of Ceyhan.

As reported by Forbes, the majority of this oil was then sold to Israel, despite strong opposition from Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The Jerusalem Post noted that by 2015, Kurdish oil was the source of 77 percent of Israel's oil imports.

Gaining global sympathy

However, the question arises: why was the subsequent Yazidi massacre necessary, considering Barzani's acquisition of the territory and resources he sought through the fall of Mosul?

A Kurdish businessman with links to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) explains to The Cradle that Barzani realized that exploiting the threat to religious minorities was the best way to generate sympathy for his own cause in the west.

Two weeks after Mosul fell to ISIS, Barzani had told the BBC: "Everything that's happened recently shows that it's the right of Kurdistan to achieve independence. From now on, we won't hide that that's our goal. Iraq is effectively partitioned now."

But Barzani's goal of Kurdish independence had garnered little international support; US policy officially advocated maintaining the unity of Iraq and Kurdish independence was also opposed by key regional players Iran and Turkiye. Unsurprisingly, the only state willing to strongly support Barzani's goal was Israel.

The politics of pity

The atrocities against the Yazidis has generated unprecedented international sympathy. The plight of the Yazidis who remained trapped on Sinjar Mountain under threat from black clad ISIS militants dominated the media cycle in the western press for many months.

Barzani effectively exploited the fear of ISIS and international sympathy for Yazidis by pressing the case that the Kurds needed direct help in liberating these areas, separated from the chaos plaguing the rest of Iraq. This allowed him to secure a reliable supply of weapons, independent of the central government in Baghdad.

The White House opened a direct weapons pipeline to Barzani's Peshmerga on 11 August, as the massacre of Yazidis was still underway. The Washington Post reported that this had to be done off the books and through the CIA because the US military had no legal authorization to bypass Baghdad and send weapons directly to the Kurds.

As The Guardian reported the same day:

"The idea of arming the Kurds has been the subject of weeks of internal deliberation and official silence by president Barack Obama's foreign policy advisers. It is a fateful step in Iraq's current crisis, one that risks facilitating the long-term disintegration of Iraq."

Annexation ambitions

Over a year later, a disturbing revelation came to light as a coalition of forces including the PKK, Peshmerga, and the US-led coalition successfully reclaimed Sinjar city. Barzani's ulterior motives for allowing the Yazidi massacre to unfold became startlingly evident as he moved to annex Sinjar, revealing his deeper motivations.

In a brazen statement, Barzani declared that Sinjar "belongs to Kurdistan in every way." This proclamation was followed by an attempt to rewrite the narrative of the Yazidi genocide itself.

Barzani sought to recast Sinjar as "a symbol of the oppression of the Kurdish people," essentially erasing the fact that the tragedy was fundamentally one of immense suffering endured by the Yazidis, posing an existential threat to this Kurdish religious minority.

He then went on to blame the Sunni Arab neighbors of the Yazidis in Sinjar for the crime he himself orchestrated:

"If the Arabs in the region have not committed crimes against the Yazidi brothers and have not helped ISIS, they are our brothers and we will protect them, but if their hands are red with the blood of Kurds and Yazidi brothers, they will have the same fate."

Fear of retribution

Speaking to The Cradle, several Yazidis expressed resentment over Barzani and the Peshmerga's role in betraying them.

However, they said the Yazidi community was afraid to speak about this openly and in the media, for fear of retribution. Even nine years later, few Yazidis from Sinjar have been able to return to their homes, and most instead live in tents in refugee camps dotting the Kurdistan region ruled by Barzani's KDP.

Because most Yazidis continue to live under the very same political sphere that orchestrated their massacre and enslavement, they live in constant fear that another genocide may soon take place, even though ISIS has largely, but not entirely, been vanquished.
MADISON  The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reminds the public to beat the crowds at state park properties this Labor Day weekend by purchasing their 2023 annual vehicle admission stickers online.

With 50 parks, 15 forests, 44 trails, 84,000 miles of rivers and streams, 15,000 lakes and hundreds of miles of Lake Michigan and Mississippi River shoreline, the state offers outdoor resources to explore from north to south.

The sticker is required on all motor vehicles stopping in state recreation areas. The annual rate for most state residents is $28.

Visitors must display an annual sticker or daily pass to the vehicle as instructed or show proof of purchase upon entrance. Once you purchase your annual sticker online, you can use your email confirmation as proof of purchase.

Visitors may print the email receipt and place it on the drivers side dashboard.

Popular parks may reach lot capacity this weekend due to demand. If a spot is not available, do not park on roadways.

Consider these parking suggestions:

Consider carpooling with friends or family.

Pack all the food and drinks needed for the trip. Leaving a park property and returning may make parking difficult to find.

If camping, consider leaving your vehicle at the campsite.

View current property information and be aware of temporary closures by visiting our state property condition notices page.

Find a state park property to explore by going to the DNRs website. The Find A Park feature on the website allows you to search activity or location. The Hidden Gems of Wisconsin State Park Properties map offers some of the lesser-known state parks, forests, trails and recreation areas to visit.
A new school year brings new changes for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

During opening remarks for the fall semester Wednesday, Joe Gow announced he would step down as chancellor at the end of the academic year and transition into a faculty role at the university.

Gow became UW-La Crosses 10th chancellor in February 2007, and is the longest serving active chancellor in the UW System and the second-longest serving chancellor in the schools history.

Its been about 17 years as your chancellor, and Ive enjoyed every minute of that, but I want to do other things, Gow said. He said he looks forward to spending more time with his family and to discussing emerging media and technology with students in his communications courses.

Plans to identify and install a new chancellor will be shared at a later date, according to the university.

Gows tenure has been marked by sustained growth and high achievement during a complex and often unpredictable time in the world of higher education  from reduced state funding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UW-La Crosse set enrollment records while fortifying its position as one of the top midsize universities in the Midwest, even as a decline in the number of high school graduates led to dwindling college enrollment nationwide.

Through it all, in large part due to Gows leadership, UW-L enjoyed stability.

UW-L was the top-ranked comprehensive campus in the UW System for more than two decades  including the first 16 years of Gows tenure  before being promoted to a national category by the U.S. News & World Report last year.

Gow credited members of his leadership team for much of the universitys recent success.

It (feels like) going out on the top of your game, Gow said. This university is so strong, and its because we had the wisdom to get some great vice chancellors on the team.

UW System leaders praised Gow for his over a decade-long run as chancellor.

As our longest-tenured chancellor, Joe Gow has left a lasting imprint on UW-La Crosse, the UW System and the state of Wisconsin, said Karen Walsh, Board of Regents president.

Chancellor Gow has helped create a vibrant, thriving university known for academic excellence, faculty expertise and student support, Walsh continued. Its a top choice for students from around the Midwest, and the Board of Regents is profoundly grateful for Joes leadership.

UW System president Jay Rothman said he has appreciated Gows leadership, advice and counsel over the years.

When Chancellor Gow steps down next year, he will be leaving UW-La Crosse much better off than it was when he arrived. This is a hallmark of excellent stewardship. He has provided a steady hand through challenging times and met the moment when we needed him, Rothman said.

I am also grateful that he has agreed to serve in the chancellor role for the full academic year, which positions us for a seamless transition as we seek a new leader for the university, he added.

Before coming to UW-La Crosse, Gow was the interim president (2006) and provost (2004-06) at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln.

He also had stops at Winona State University, serving as dean of the College of Liberal Arts (2001-04), and at Alfred University in New York, serving as associate dean of Liberal Arts & Sciences (1996-2001) and director of the Communication Studies Program (1990-2001).

Gow holds two degrees from Penn State University: a bachelors degree in journalism and a doctoral degree in speech communication. He earned his masters in speech communication from the University of Alabama.
A St. Louis man was arrested after fleeing police for 50 miles in a stolen semi that caught fire during the pursuit on Interstate 90/94 on Friday, the Wisconsin State Patrol reported on Tuesday.

The semi-truck, which had no trailer attached, was reported stolen from a business at about 2 p.m. on Friday and the owner tracked the semi by GPS and reported it to law enforcement, the State Patrol said in a statement.

A pursuit began on I-94 eastbound at milepost 135 in Jackson County, and went to milepost 85 on I-90/94 near Wisconsin Dells, with Tomah police, the Juneau County Sheriffs Office, and State Patrol deploying tire deflation devices, the State Patrol said.

As the pursuit entered Juneau County, a Juneau County armored vehicle deployed tactical assets, the State Patrol said. The assets werent described.

Authorities attempted to contact the driver to stop, but they were unsuccessful, the State Patrol said.

The semi eventually drove on just the rims, which caused the rear of the semi to start on fire and it eventually crashed at milepost 85.4, and the driver was arrested, the State Patrol said.

The Missouri man faces tentative charges in Juneau County of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, false imprisonment, attempting to flee or elude an officer, take and drive commercial vehicle without consent, resisting an officer, and criminal damage to property.
Its nice to have the right set of tools and skill sets to get the job done  and done right.

Learners in the Technical Education (Tech-Ed) program at Williams Bay High School will now be able to add another learning tool to their toolbox and further refine their skills this coming school year.

As the days count down to the post-Labor Day start of the 2023-2024 school year, the Williams Bay School District announced Aug. 23 that, with the financial support of Lake Geneva-based Midwest Precision Molding, Williams Bay High School was one of seven Wisconsin school districts to be awarded a Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Technical Education Equipment Grant.

The grant financially supports educational institutions in acquiring modern and industry-relevant equipment for their technical education programs.

The belief behind that grant is that by equipping educational institutions with state-of-the-art tools, machinery and resources, students will receive hands-on training that aligns with the demand of todays job market.

Midwest Precision Molding donated $8,400 to fulfill the 50% required match for the Williams Bay School District to be awarded the grant.

With the funding provided by the DWD Technical Education Equipment Grant and the Midwest Precision Molding donation, the Williams Bay School District was able to purchase an Amatrol Industry 4.0 Learning System from Jeffersonville, Ind.-based Amatrol, Inc., the worlds leader in skills-based interactive technical learning.

Working with our industry partner, Midwest Precision Molding, we have attained equipment that will accompany a new course offering here at Williams Bay, said Williams Bay High School Tech-Ed teacher Jacob White. This school year, high school students will be able to register for Introduction to Mechatronics. This course will utilize the new equipment for performance-based assessments and evaluate skill levels and competencies needed for advanced anufacturing, specifically manufacturing. Companies throughout Walworth, Racine and Kenosha counties, such as MPM, are implementing automation technologies and systems to help drive their manufacturing processes to stay competitive and to solve their staffing needs. Automating a process has a ton of benefits, but it still requires skilled workers to design, set up, program, troubleshoot, and maintain the work cell. Our aim at Williams Bay is to introduce these valuable skills to our students and open up opportunities for them. Furthermore, students that take Introduction to Mechatronics will receive state and industry recognized certifications, transcripted credits through Gateway, and qualify to register for Introduction to Industrial Robotics, a course our Tech-Ed program rolled out last year.

Amatrols Industry 4.0 Learning System is a high school-based program that prepares students for high-paying Industry 4.0 careers in local industries.

Industry 4.0 is also known as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)  the collection of sensors, instruments and autonomous devices connected through the internet to industrial applications.

The Amatrol System is a critical piece needed for adding new course offerings and allows students to earn industry certifications, said Williams Bay School District Administrator Dr. William White.

Midwest Precision Moldings support will allow Williams Bay High School students to receive training in advanced manufacturing practices to prepare for stable careers while they obtain dual enrollment credits, industry-endorsed certificates, and technical endorsements on high school diplomas.

I continue to be impressed by Jacob Whites passion to stay on top of what industries need so that our students receive relevant instruction and access to the latest technology, said Williams Bay High School Principal Emily Soley-Johnson. Jacobs follow through and dedication to pursue the Department of Workforce Development Technical Education Equipment Grant while working with MPM to create a partnership for our students is to be commended.

Located at 901 Geneva Parkway North in Lake Geneva, MPM is Wisconsins leading provider of tight tolerance plastic injection molded parts. Its Lake Geneva facility is home to some of the most dynamic equipment arrangements in the Midwest.

Midwest Precision Molding was designated as a 2023 Future 50 company for the third time by BizTimes Media and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Associations of Commerce. Future 50 is awarded to the 50 fastest growing businesses in southeast Wisconsin.

MPM is a member of the American Gear Manufacturers Association, the global network for technical standards, education and business information.

Like a lot of companies over the last couple years, weve had real issues trying to find good, talented young individuals that want to ... work in a manufacturing environment, said Midwest Precision Molding President Patrick Austin. Because of that, weve invested into more technology, and a lot of other companies and industries have as well, as far as automation and things like that to fill those gaps and a lack of a workforce. We saw a real big need to get more young adults into the field to support the industry around Walworth County.

Making a donation in support of Williams Bay High Schools tech-ed program made good business sense according to Austin, whose daughter is an incoming freshman at Williams Bay High School.

We thought itd be a good idea to support the Williams Bay High School tech-ed program in an effort to build that skill set in young kids these days, and hopefully theyll enter the marketplace in the future, Austin explained. Our thoughts are that sometime down the road we can develop this program, along with the school, to help introduce students to robotics, automation, Industry 4.0 and all that sort of stuff. Hopefully, as the program continues to evolve, we can work with them, whether its tours or internship programs...

As a Williams Bay School District resident and district parent, Austin aleady had a familiarity with the districts technical education program.

Williams Bay does a really good job and I think the [tech-ed] programs that they offer there is a really good program all-around, Austin said. I like the direction theyre going and the things theyre exposing kids to and we saw a lot of benefit in it. It seems like a worthwhile investment.

In 22 Photos: Williams Bay High School Drama Club presents "Treasure Island" Treasure11.jpg Treasure1.jpg Treasure2.jpg Treasure3.jpg Treasure4.jpg Treasure5.jpg Treasure6.jpg Treasure7.jpg Treasure8.jpg Treasure9.jpg Treasure10.jpg Treasure12.jpg Treasure13.jpg Treasure14.jpg Treasure16.jpg Treasure17.jpg Treasure18.jpg Treasure20.jpg TreasureCheckIn.JPG TreasureDeathbed.JPG TreasureDirector.JPG TreasureDrunkenPirates.JPG
Bucking a statewide and national trend of declining school enrollments and increasing levels of teacher turnover, the Fontana Joint 8 School District is reporting a modest enrollment increase and low levels of staff turnover.

District Administrator and Principal Steve Torrez reported to the Fontana Board of Eduction on Aug. 28 that, to date, the district is enrolling 201 students in Grades 4K-8 for the 2023-2024 school year, which starts after Labor Day on Tuesday, June 5.

In recent years, the district has been starting the school year with between 195-198 students acccording to Torrez.

Were over 200 to start the year for the first time, I think, since Ive been here, Torrez said. We have five new kids in fourth grade, four new kids in fifth grade and five new kids in eighth grade, and then kind of sporadic. When I started here, I think we had. like, four kids leave, so its kind of been a switcheroo, so thats good.

Enrollment breakdowns to start the 2023-2024 school year are as follows: 4K, 13; 5K, 16; 1st Grade, 17; 2nd Grade, 17; 3rd Grade, 16; 4th Grade, 25; 5th Grade, 24; 6th Grade, 23; 7th Grade, 26; and 8th Grade, 24.

Torrez also reported that Fontana Elementary School had seen little turnover in staff of late.

We havent had a lot of turnover in the last few years ... and I think part of that is the support that not only our school provides, but our staff and our community as well ... to be successful, Torrez said.

All of which lays the foundational groundwork for the start of the 2023-2024 school year.

Were ready to go, were fully staffed and our student enrollment is a little higher than its been to start the year, Torrez noted.

Hirings approved

In advance of the Sept. 5 start of the 2023-2024 school year, the Fontana Board of Education approved the hiring of two teachers.

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater graduate and first-year teacher Angela Jacoby, of Greenfield, was hired as band teacher/band director in the wake of the resignation of Chrissy Bagby two weeks ago.

We were super fortunate to find Angela ... because she had a job offer much closer to home but she decided to go with us, Torrez said.

Also hired was UW-Whitewater graduate and first-year teacher Lauren Chermak, of Waukesha, who was hired as an additional Grades 4-5 teacher, moving Fontana Elementary School to four Grades 4-5 groups from the existing three.

We felt that was going to be the best option as far as the students getting small group instruction, Torrez said, noting the largest class group in Grades 4K-5 is 17 students to ensure the elementary formative years will be small group.

Action tabled

Looking for more time for review, the Board of Education tabled action on a slate of 40-plus proposed district board policy updates submitted by Stow, Ohio-based Neola, an independent provider of policy service to more than 1,500 client school districts in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia and Florida.

Neola serves 316 school districts across Wisconsin, including 10 in Walworth County  Fontana Joint 8 School District, Big Foot Union High School District, Delavan-Darien School District, Geneva Joint 4 School District (Woods School), Genoa City Joint 2 School District (Brookwood Schools), Lake Geneva Schools, Linn Joint 4 School District (Traver School), Linn Joint 6 School District (Reek School), Sharon Joint 11 School District (Sharon Community School), and Walworth Joint School District No. 1 (Walworth Elementary School).

Following review, the Fontana Board of Education is slated to discuss and take possible action on the proposed district board policy updates at its September business meeting.

Other news

In other developments at the Aug. 28 meeting, the Fontana Board of Education:

Approved the districts 2023-2024 Professional Staff Handbook.

Approved the districts 2023-2024 Support Staff Handbook.

Approved the districts 2023-2024 Student/Parent Handbook.

Appoved the districts 2023-2024 Daycare Handbook.

Next meeting

The next regularly-scheduled meeting of the Fontana Joint 8 School District Board of Education will be held on Monday, Sept. 25, 5:30 p.m., in the school library at Fontana Elementary School, 450 S. Main St. in Fontana.

IN 16 PHOTOS: Fontana Elementary School presents "The Wizard of Oz: Junior Edition" - April 14.15, 2023 "Somewhere, over the rainbow..." Uncle Henry and Aunt Em on their Kansas farm Miss Almira Gulch comes to take away canine Toto and have him destroyed Dorothy Gale consults with psychic reader Professor Marvel The Mayor of Oz "Tot Munchkins" sing and dance in Fontana Elementary School's April 14-15 production of "The Wizard of Oz: Junior Edition" Scarecrow, Tin Man and Dorothy in the April 14-15 Fontana Elementary School production of "The Wizard of Oz: Junior Edition" Jitterbugs swarm in Nikko, leader of the Winged Monkeys "I'll get you my pretty  and your little dog, too!" Things look bleak for Dorothy Gale in the dungeon of the Wicked Witch's castle as time runs out Arrival at Emerald City The Wizard of Oz (Alex Cudnik) in the April 14-15, 2023 production of "The Wizard of Oz: Junior Edition" Glinda, the Good Witch of the North "There's no place like home..." Dorothy awakens back in Kansas, surrounded by concerned family and friends
Another balloon art event is blowing up next spring, not far from Lake Geneva.

The Balloon Adventure is scheduled for April 10-15, 2024, at Pier 290s Boat Barn, 1 Liechty Drive, Williams Bay.

Organized by Wisconsin Balloon Decor and Santa Cause Inc., the event will receive a financial boost from the city of Lake Geneva to help spread the word about it.

On Aug. 14, the Lake Geneva Tourism Commission voted 3-1 to approve a $30,000 grant to help promote the Balloon Adventure.

Theres so many things I love about this event, Commission Chairman Brian Waspi said. Its off-season. Youre combining the success from different organizations.

However, event organizers originally asked for a $75,000 to help promote the Balloon Adventure.

This is a big ask, Waspi said. The grant amount is massive. To me, thats the elephant in the room. This is probably the largest, single grant request weve seen.

Alderman Ken Howell, a commission member, was also uncertain about awarding $75,000.

He said such a grant would make it hard for the commission to award other grants this year.

The whole idea of the event sounds fine, but we dont know how successful it will be, Howell said. Its new. Its not what the previous one was, which was a larger thing, but hopefully this would be even better. But its a risk, and without knowing how much of a risk, based on what we have to spend, I wouldnt be able to say yes to this at this point.

Voting against the $30,000 grant was Alderwoman Mary Jo Fesenmaier, also a commission member. Before the vote, Fesenmaier proposed giving event organizers $20,000.

Kimberly Voller, of Santa Cause Inc., said she would like to receive some type of grant to inform people about the Balloon Adventure. Santa Cause and Wisconsin Balloon Decor are organizing the new event.

Voller, who is the incoming executive director of Santa Cause, previously was involved in organizing the Big Balloon Build.

She said even though the Big Balloon Build was well-attended, many people reported that they were not aware of the event.

We still had people say, We didnt know anything about this. So to make sure that nobody can walk away next year and say, We didnt know anything about this, we need to put that effort forth and put it out in the media and on digital content and go out to all the area communities, Voller said. I would love to have more openings for people to go through. So I feel like to be able to do that, you have to have the budget to do that.

Similar to the Big Balloon Build in March at Covenant Harbor in Lake Geneva, the Balloon Adventure will center around balloon art.

For the Balloon Adventure, the theme will be Follow the Yellow Brick Road.

Obviously, if you know anything about The Wizard of Oz, you know thats the key path into Oz, said Kimberly Voller, incoming executive director of Santa Cause Inc.

On Aug. 14, Santa Cause and Wisconsin Balloon Decor presented plans for the event. The Balloon Adventure is separate from the Big Balloon Build, but it is an influence of sorts on the new event.

Voller said she hopes people will respond to the Balloon Adventure as well as they did the Build. Last year, about 3,500 people attended the Build.

We brought 3,500 people through during a snowstorm, she said. We had rain, we had sleet, we had sunshine, so it was really great.

Sara Meyer, owner of Wisconsin Balloon Decor, said the Balloon Adventure will feature balloon artists from throughout the country.

Next year would be like bringing in the best of the best, and thats why were taking the reins of it being a local event, Meyer said.

The purpose of the Balloon Adventure is to help raise money for local nonprofit organizations that work with children, similar to other Santa Cause events such as the Christmas Tree Festival, Freezin for a Reason and the Williams Bay Farmers Market.

Voller said she hopes to have school groups and tour groups attend the event. She said if the Balloon Adventure receives enough attendance, they might decide to host the event an additional day.

We would invite groups from surrounding communities to come in as well to go through the Balloon Adventure.

According to Voller, the Big Balloon Build attracted tourists from several states who stayed overnight in Lake Geneva area hotels.

We had people from Arizona, California, Washington D.C. Some of those were balloon artists that came with their families, Voller said. However, we had people from Illinois. We hit the Chicago area with our marketing. Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio were also other states that came to see the Big Balloon Build.

Stephanie Klett, president and CEO of Visit Lake Geneva, said she is impressed with how many people attended the Big Balloon Build. Klett feels the Balloon Adventure will have a similar result.

You had a good portion, probably 25%, of the people staying overnight, said Klett. I know this isnt happening in Lake Geneva this year, but theyre looking for it to be here. Its a shoulder season in April when we really need the movement in terms of tourism.

Several of the tourism commission members asked why the event is not being held in Lake Geneva.

Voller said she tried to book at the Riviera, but it was not available.

We wouldnt be able to hold it there this year, but that would definitely be something we would be looking to do in the future, Voller said.
Why Assyrians in Iraq Are in Profound Danger

What the Christian community in Iraq faces can only be defined as intense hatred and hostility. Since 2003, Christians in central and southern Iraq have been subjected to killing, abuse, kidnapping, discrimination, and forced displacement. Over a hundred of their churches have been attacked, and a dozen of their clergy members, including bishops, priests, and deacons, have been killed, kidnapped, and tortured. Around 1,350 Christian civilians lost their lives. Out of a Christian population of 2.1 million, a staggering 80 percent fled the country, seeking refuge abroad, while others were internally displaced to the Kurdistan Region, following the historic initiative by President Masoud Barzani in 2003, which aimed to provide sanctuary to all Iraqi religious minorities. More than a Patriarch's struggle

The ongoing turmoil faced by Christians today mirrors the trials previously endured by Jews in Iraq. The emergence of militias intent on occupying Christian lands and properties in areas like the Nineveh Plains and other Iraqi cities encountered a significant obstacle in their path -- Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church. As the spiritual leader of Iraq's largest church, representing approximately 80 percent of Iraqi Christians, Patriarch Sako opposed the creation of Christian militias. His beatitude consistently urged the Iraqi government to prevent the existence of such groups, as Christians inherently advocate for a robust and stable government, not a fragile one.

Influential figures like the bishops of the (Nineveh Bishops Council) also opposed militia formation and the acquisition of Christian political representation in the Iraqi parliament through tens of thousands of votes outside of the Christian house gathered by militias to support their proxies and impose them on Christians , intended to consolidate the political power of these militias. The resilience of Christians shocked the militias, prompting them to target the head of the most powerful church, aiming to set an example that would discourage others from opposing their expansionist policies in the Nineveh Plains. This culminated in efforts to compel their allies to affect the decision of the presidential institution of Iraq, by issuing a presidential decree by the Iraqi president Abdul Latif Rashid, to withdraw the presidential dated for more than 10 years ago, only concerning Patriarch Sako. Suppressing the Christian voice

While numerous other decrees by the Iraqi presidency for various bishops and churches leaders remain in place, exclusively targeting Patriarch Sako serves the purpose of conveying a clear message: Christians must remain silent and cooperative during the militias' efforts to alter the demographics of their ancestral lands in the Nineveh Plains. This silence is also expected regarding the multitude of human rights violations and abuses committed by these militias. Since July 2023, Patriarch Sako has sought refuge in Erbil, where he was warmly welcomed by the government and the people. His choice signifies a protest against the actions of the Iraqi president and the militias, with thousands of Christians across Iraq, the Kurdistan Region, and elsewhere raising their voices against these unjust decisions. Despite the protests, neither the Iraqi government nor the presidency has taken steps to address this plight or end the ongoing demographic changes in Christian territories within the Nineveh Plains. Nineveh Plains held hostage by militias

On August 4th, 2023, the (Nineveh Bishops Council) organized a protest demanding immediate action by the Iraqi government to stop the continuous demographic alterations in the Nineveh Plains, threatening the Christian community's presence. Additionally, the council sought the enactment of an electoral law ensuring genuine Christian representation in the Iraqi parliament. The bishops, and thousands of Christians in the protest were shocked that the militias reacted by closing checkpoints and preventing journalists, as well as Christians from other towns and villages, from joining the protest.

What should Christians do?

Christians and other minorities in Iraq need to unite efforts, and organize their movement on both levels international, and local. Christian parties; Chaldean, Assyrian, Syriac, and Armenian, with Ezidi, Kakaye, and Turkmens need to understand that alone they lose, together they have a very strong chance to prevail, and guarantee their existence in their historic ancestral homeland. To be or not to be

It is imperative for the United Nations and its Security Council to take steps to safeguard the imperiled Christian community in Iraq, particularly in the Nineveh Plains. Establishing an internationally protected and closely monitored zone emerges as the most effective solution. Especially by the implementation of Sinjar agreement. Failure to act risks the world losing one of its oldest Christian communities. The international community must comprehend that Christians in Iraq face profound danger, a continuous hushed Genocide!

Ano Jawhar Abdoka is the Kurdistan Regional Government's Minister of Transport and Communications.
Is the U.S. Preparing To Return Nuclear Bombs to England?

Aug. 29, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)On April 11, 2022, Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists, reported on FY23 Biden Administration budget documents that added the Britain to the list of special weapons storage sites being upgraded as part of a $384 million military construction program underway for the past 13 years. The term special weapons is usually used to refer to nuclear bombs, but the document that Kristensen cited said little else. The document did not even name the location in the U.K. as RAF Lakenheath, which has hosted U.S. fighter jets for decades, and was determined most likely, as it was the last base in Great Britain to also host U.S. nuclear weapons. Kristensen reported, then, that U.S. B61 bombs were withdrawn from Lakenheath in 2008, but the 33 storage vaults for them were maintained in a usable condition.

Yesterday, in a new posting, Kristensen and his colleague, Matt Korda, offered new evidence, in documents and satellite imagery, contending that Lakenheath is being upgraded for a new nuclear mission.

 The Air Forces FY24 budget submission includes justification for construction of a 144-bed dormitory at Lakenheath as the result of the potential Surety mission. The term surety is commonly used within the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Energy to refer to the capability to keep nuclear weapons safe, secure, and under positive control. With the influx of airmen due to the arrival of the potential Surety mission and the bed down of the two F-35 squadrons there is a significant deficiency in the amount of unaccompanied housing available for E4s and below at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, the document says.  Kristensen also notes that the FY23 document named Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the U.K., and Turkiye as countries where security upgrades were underway, but the FY24 document omits the list altogether. The removal of country names from the Pentagons Military Construction Program budget request follows the denial of a recent FAS declassification request of previously available nuclear warhead numbers. These decisions contradict and undermine the Biden administrations appeal for nuclear transparency in other nuclear-armed states, he writes.

Kristensen concludes, The past two years of budgetary evidence strongly suggests that the United States is taking steps to re-establish its nuclear mission on U.K. soil. The circumstantial evidence includes the conversion of two fighter squadrons at Lakenheath to fly the nuclear capable F-35s and the replacement of the old B61 bombs in Europe with the upgraded B61-12. Kristensen notes that the upgrades, however, do not necessarily indicate that a decision has been made to deploy B61-12s at Lakenheath, only that the capability is being provided for them there, whether as a permanent deployment or in case of the temporary relocation of bombs from other bases in Europe.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR WEDNESDAY AUGUST 30, 2023

Kicking the Axioms of the Anglosphere

Aug. 29, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Kicking The Axioms of the Anglosphere

Come as you are;

Do not loiter over your toilet.

If your braided hair has loosened,

if the parting of

your hair be not straight, if the ribbons of your

bodice be not fastened,

do not mind. Come as you are; Do not loiter over your toilet.... Come as you are;

Do not loiter over your toilet,

If the wreath is not woven, who cares;

If the wrist-chain has not been linked, let it be.

The sky is overcast with cloudsit is late.

Come as you are; Do not loiter over your toilet. Rabindranath Tagore, Immortal

The New York Times ran a cartoon last week characterizingbut not satirizinghow the Aug. 23 Indian Chandrayaan-3 Lunar Mission triumph was seen by various closed minds of the Anglosphere. It depicts two smug, fat, older, affluent and cultured gents in a drawing room-cum-library setting, called the Elite Space Club. At the door is an Indian man, dressed poorly, in sandals, with his cow, knocking.

Indian journalist Palki Sharma, in her regular broadcast, characterized the cartoon as racist, pointing out, for example, that British politician Nigel Farage was downright apoplectic about Indias triumph. He fulminated, As they spend their money on space probes, as they spend their money on the military, they spend their money on nuclear weapons, still half of the country lives below the poverty line. Sharma pointed out that

It may have slipped [Mr. Farages] notice that India is the worlds fifth largest economy. It is, in fact, ahead of his country, the United Kingdom. But it seems he cant get rid of his colonial mindset. How can poor India have aspirations? How can a former colony reach the Moon before the so-called Great Britain?... And since hes so keen on discussing priorities, we have a question for him. Why does Britain keep paying for the Royal Family? The citizens cannot afford their electricity bills. Maybe help them, instead of paying for the king and his retinue.

In a larger sense, however, India, and the nations of the BRICS-Plus alliance, are creating, particularly through their joint commitment to the electrification and general industrialization of Africa, an ocean in which the jaded and obsolete neoliberal and neoconservative Anglosphere imperialists cannot swim. The very existence of the BRICS is a challenge, not to capitalism, but to the merchants of total war, including thermonuclear war, plying their bloody trade in Ukraine, and perhaps soon Taiwan, or even the Sahel. Remember Libya, 2011? The BRICS-Plus have, alternatively, embraced what will demonstrate itself to be, if it is not betrayed, an inevitably anti-Malthusian, pro-population-growth economic stance, a stance which, as Prof. Franco Battaglia of Italy has pointed out, equates the optimization of the use of fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas, and nuclear power, and the building of full-set, machine-tool-producing economies, with true national liberation.

The International Development Bank proposal of the late economist and statesman Lyndon H. LaRouche contains a crucial, unique idea that resolves the cry for justice from the developing sector nations, looted for centuries by the likes of the great Winston Churchill and the East India Company, beyond mere reparations. The views of LaRouche and Churchill on the nature of human beings were opposite. Churchill said in 1937, I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit, for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.

In contrast to the imperial predator view regarding the nations of the developing sector, Lyndon LaRouche, writing in 1975, said this:

If, as is necessary for global development, the developing nations exploit their petroleum, natural gas, coal, and mineral raw materials resources to the extent required for industrial expansion in both the industrialized and developing sectors, how shall we determine both the price of those resources and the compensation for the implied depletion of such assets? Without a brute force commitment to development of CTR [controlled thermonuclear reactions] technology, there is no price level or forward depletion compensation which could be considered equitable. The general basis for treaty agreements covering prices, and depleting compensation is fundamentally 1) a commitment to applicable CTR technology installations proliferating from 1985 onwards and 2) a commitment to bring those regions up to the level of employment of CTR-oriented technology by the 1985/1990 period. [Emphasis added.]

Nearly five decades ago, when LaRouche made this proposal, China had yet to begin to recover from the Cultural Revolution. Now, China is the largest productive economy in the world, a space power, and leads the world in several areas of fusion and CTR (controlled thermonuclear reaction) research. As RT pointed out on Aug. 26, the five (BRICS) members account for almost a third of the global economy. In 1975, LaRouche proposed what amounted to a 10-15 year brute force program, similar to the Manhattan Project, to transition national economies worldwide to nuclear/thermonuclear-based power-sourced economies, with fossil fuels being naturally decreasingly used over time, because of the much higher energy flux-densities, as well as the higher absolute amounts of energy produced by the higher-order systems. Instead of having to depend on the whims of the rich, whether corporations or individuals, for the usual, usually dishonest Bwana-style proposals (Why doesnt Elon Musk give $1 billion to the South African government for joint space research with the successful India program?), the New Development Bank and other such mechanisms are at the beginning of the hard work, hard thinking, and hard discussion about the right ways to do what former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has insisted must be done: Well transform ourselves into an important bank for developing countries and emerging markets. Our focus has to be that: a bank made by developing countries for themselves.

Advanced technology-transfer, in exchange for essential commodities, as the only actually equitable means of repayment by the trans-Atlantic nations for the natural resources patrimony of Africa, Asia, and South America, would not only result in an exponentially increasing energy consumption per capita and per square kilometer essential to Africa, Asia and South Americas economic progress, but would, equally importantly, do the same thing in those trans-Atlantic nations themselves, reversing their otherwise-unstoppable economic (and moral) decay. This approach, of course, is the opposite of energy conservation.

LaRouche observed, in his 1979 speech, The Myth about Equilibrium Economics:

When sections of mankind have, at any point, resorted to energy conservation, societies would have collapsed, biological catastrophes of famine, epidemic and desertification would have plunged such a society back toward savagery. It is to be emphasized that various now-dead societies did choose the Malthusian, energy conservation policy, and did slide into savagery or even oblivion.... There is something more profound than mere calories of energy involved in effecting the successful branches of human cultural development. The source of the new energy is the creative-mental potentialities of the human mind. In those courses of development of technologies which we comprehend coherently as progress in scientific knowledge, man increases his knowledgeable, willful mastery of the lawful organization of our universe. [Emphasis in original.]

On Sept. 9, the Schiller Institute will, in this newly-changed intellectual environment, hold an international conference to discuss the physical-economic, scientific and cultural determinants of a new, just economic order, in which the creative potentialities of the human mind, and not the rank, financial status, number of academic degrees, or hat-size of the individual, will matter. Days before the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther Kings I Have A Dream speech, the nation of India reaffirmed the immortality of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Rabindranath Tagore, of Indira Gandhi, and of Mahatma Gandhi follower King himself, through achieving one of the most advanced scientific engineering achievements in human history, at the fraction of the cost of a Hollywood movie. India had paid a debt to not only its founders, but, as Prime Minister Modi noted, to all of humanity. The BRICS-Plus Space Commission proposed by Modi the morning of Chandrayaan-3s landing on the South Pole of the Moon is the knock on the door of a nearly-deceased imperialism. Through our upcoming conference, we can help open that door.
Researchers, using information gathered by satellites, say the loss of ice in Antarctica hurts the survival chances of rare seabirds.

The large flightless birds are called emperor penguins. They raise their young in groups, or colonies, on ice that forms around the continent. The ice partly melts during the summer months.

The British and French researchers studied satellite images to look at five breeding colonies of the birds in the area of the Bellingshausen Sea in 2022.

They said the images showed no sea ice was left in December during the Southern Hemispheres summer. This also happened in 2021, the researchers noted.

The scientists said four of the five colonies they studied had been affected by early sea ice loss.

Emperor penguin chicks are born on the ice in Antarctica that forms during the winter there. The ice is important because penguin chicks do not develop waterproof feathers for one to two months after they are born.

Peter Fretwell is a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey who helped write the study. He said, If the sea ice breaks up under them, the young chicks will drown.

The scientists published their research in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Fretwells team also started a study of places where the penguins make their nests across Antarctica. They were able to identify the nesting places in satellite images because the birds waste is darker than the surrounding snow. The scientists estimate that there are 300,000 breeding pairs of emperor penguins in Antarctica. The birds are the worlds largest penguin.

Fretwell told the Associated Press that 30 percent of the 62 known penguin colonies were hurt by low levels of sea ice. He said 13 colonies likely failed.

Daniel Zitterbart studies Antarctica at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the state of Massachusetts. He was not involved in the study. But Zitterbart said he was not surprised by the results of the penguin study.

He said that, if penguins are not successful breeding in one place, they might look for another place next year. The population could recover.

But Zitterbart noted, If you look further out down the line, how many suitable places will be left?

Im Dr. Gena Bennett.

Gena Bennett adapted this Associated Press report for VOA Learning English.

____________________________________________________

Words in This Story

chick n. a baby bird

journal v. a publication that reports on special interest subjects, especially ones linked to university learning

breeding pair n. two animals that are ready to reproduce and raise young

down the line idiom at a later time
Diana, Princess of Wales, has died after a car crash in Paris.

She was taken to hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning where surgeons tried for two hours to save her life but she died at 0300 BST.

In a statement Buckingham Palace said the Queen and the Prince of Wales were deeply shocked and distressed.

Prince Charles broke the news of their mothers death to Princes William and Harry at Balmoral Castle in Scotland where the royal family had been spending the summer.

The accident happened after the princess left the Ritz Hotel in the French capital with her companion, Dodi Al Fayed  son of Harrods owner, Mohammed Al Fayed.

Dodi Al Fayed and the vehicles driver were also killed in the collision in a tunnel under the Place de lAlma in the centre of the city.

The princess Mercedes car was apparently being pursued at high speed by photographers on motorbikes when it hit a pillar and smashed into a wall.

Mr Al Fayed and the chauffeur died at the scene but the princess and her bodyguard were cut from the wreckage and rushed to hospital.

The French authorities have begun a criminal investigation and are questioning seven photographers.

Tributes to the princess have been pouring in from around the world.

Speaking from his home in South Africa, the princess brother, Lord Charles Spencer, said his sister had been unique.

While it was not the time for recriminations there was no doubt the press had played a part in her death, the earl added.

Hundreds of mourners have gathered at the princess London home, Kensington Palace and many have laid flowers at the gates.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

Only Princess Dianas bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived the crash.

Blood tests showed the driver, Henri Paul, had taken both drugs and a large amount of alcohol before the accident.

The royal family was criticised for its reserve during a time when there was an unprecedented national outpouring of grief.

Around one million people lined the streets to see the princess funeral cortege as it made its way to Westminster Abbey in early September.

No charges were brought against the paparazzi who had been pursuing the princess car.

But the behaviour of the press came under close scrutiny, the code governing the British media was tightened in December 1997.

An inquest into the princesss death was opened in the UK in 2004. It has been adjourned while the Metropolitan police, led by Lord Stevens, carry out an investigation into the crash. Retired judge Lady Elizabeth Butler-Sloss will conduct preliminary hearings into the inquests in early 2007.
Britains top diplomat, James Cleverly, is set to visit China today, as the two countries attempt to shore up frayed ties.

It will be the first trip by a U.K. foreign secretary to China in more than five years. Both countries confirmed the long-awaited trip yesterday.

The two sides will have in-depth communication on Sino-British relations and international and regional issues of common concern, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. We hope the British side will work with us to uphold the spirit of mutual respect, deepen exchanges, enhance mutual understanding and promote the stable development of Sino-British relations.

Cleverlys visit is an attempt to stabilize China-Britain ties, which have sunk to their lowest level in decades.

The countries disagree over issues such as Beijings curbing of civil freedoms in Hong Kong, a former British colony, alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, Chinas support for Russia and Britains close security ties with the United States.

In 2021, China sanctioned five British members of Parliament who are critical of Beijing. They are barred from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau and from doing business with Chinese citizens.

Cleverly was initially scheduled to travel to Beijing in July, but his trip was postponed, and his then-counterpart, Qin Gang, was later replaced with veteran diplomat Wang Yi.

The U.K. government said Cleverlys trip was aimed at strengthening channels of communication and protecting British interests. He will meet with Wang and Vice President Han Zheng, the Foreign Office said.

It is important we manage our relationship with China across a range of issues, Cleverly said in a statement. No significant global problem  from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic instability to nuclear proliferation  can be solved without China.

He said that Chinas size, history and global significance means they cannot be ignored, but that comes with a responsibility on the global stage. That responsibility means China fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.

Britains governing Conservative party is split over how tough a line to take with Beijing. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has described China as a growing systemic challenge to Britains values and interests, but he has also stressed the need to maintain a relationship with the Asian superpower.

Besides highlighting human rights and security concerns, Cleverly is expected to explore potential areas of cooperation with China, such as climate change and trade. MDT/AP
The top Chinese official in charge of economic relations with Washington told Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo yesterday he was ready to make new positive efforts to improve cooperation following an agreement to reduce trade tension by launching groups to discuss export controls and other commercial disputes.

The agreement Monday was the most substantial result to date out of a string of visits by American officials to Beijing over the last three months to revive relations that are at their lowest level in decades. They express optimism about better communication, but neither side has given a sign it is ready to compromise on disputes about technology, security, human rights and other irritants.

Vice Premier He Lifeng sounded an optimistic note, referring to in-depth exchanges in July with his American counterpart, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Im ready to work based on that with you, to make new positive efforts to deepen our consensus and extend our cooperation, He told Raimondo during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.

The two governments would launch an information exchange about U.S. controls on technology exports that irritate Beijing, though she defended the curbs as necessary for national security and gave no indication they might be relaxed.

Im looking forward to finding ways that we can more effectively engage on commercial issues that impact our relationship, Raimondo told He. She said President Joe Biden asked me to reiterate to you our desire to have more open engagement.

Meeting later with Raimondo, Chinas No. 2 leader, Li Qiang, expressed hope for concrete actions by Washington  a reference to Beijings desire for policy chances on Taiwan, access to technology and other issues.

We do hope the U.S. side will work in the same direction as China, show sincerity and take concrete actions to maintain and further develop bilateral relations, Li told Raimondo.

While we will never of course compromise in protecting our national security I want to be clear that we do not seek to decouple or to hold Chinas economy back, Raimondo told He.

Also yesterday, Raimondo met with the Chinese minister of culture and tourism, Hu Heping. She said they agreed to advance our people to people ties through increased tourism and educational and student exchange.

China is gradually reviving foreign tourism after lifting anti-virus controls that blocked most travel into and out of the country for three years. The number of foreign students in China fell close to zero during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The visits take place under an agreement made by Xi and Biden during a meeting last November in Indonesia. The Chinese state press has given them positive coverage, but Beijing has given no indication it might change trade, strategic, market access and other policies that irk Washington and its Asian neighbors. JOE McDONALD, BEIJING, MDT/AP
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida asked China yesterday to urge its citizens to halt acts of harassment, including crank calls and stone throwing at Japanese diplomatic facilities and schools, in response to Japans release of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

I must say it is regrettable, Kishida said.

He said Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Masataka Okano summoned Chinas ambassador, Wu Jianghao, to ask that Chinese people act calmly and responsibly.

The release of the treated wastewater into the ocean, which began Thursday and is expected to continue for decades, has been strongly opposed by fishing groups and by neighboring countries.

China immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood in response.

In South Korea, thousands of people joined rallies over the weekend to condemn the discharge.

Acts of harassment including crank phone calls and stone throwing have targeted Japans embassy and consulates and Japanese schools in China, while Chinas government has not responded to requests from Japan for a joint scientific discussion of the release by experts, Kishida said. He said the Japanese plan is seen by many countries as scientific and transparent.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK said thousands of crank calls from China have targeted Fukushima government offices and the nuclear plants operator. It said many of the callers shouted in Chinese, and some yelled stupid and other swear words.

Japans government and the plant operator say treated radioactive wastewater that has accumulated since the March 2011 accident at the nuclear plant, now totaling 134 million tons and stored in about 1,000 tanks, is taking up much of the plant area and must be removed to free up space to build facilities for the plants cleanup and decommissioning, which are also expected to take decades.

Kishida also pledged yesterday to do his utmost to protect Japans fisheries industry from the impact of Chinas import ban and said he will announce support measures later this week.

Japans Foreign Ministry issued a travel advisory on Sunday urging Japanese citizens to use extra caution in China, citing an escalation of harassment and violent protests, and not talk loudly in Japanese to avoid attention.

At home, the release plan has faced fierce opposition from Japanese fishing groups which fear it will further hurt the reputation of seafood from the Fukushima area. The groups are still striving to repair the damage to their businesses caused by the meltdowns of three reactors at the power plant caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami.

All seawater and fish sampling data since the release have been way below set safety limits.

Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura visited Fukushima yesterday to help with damage control. He joined officials from a supermarket chain and sampled locally caught surf clams and flounder.

I hope to promote delicious Fukushima seafood to as many people in and outside Japan as possible, Nishimura said. While safely carrying out the release, we will be transparent in disclosing all data. Thats the best way to fight reputational damage.

MARI YAMAGUCHI, TOKYO, MDT/AP
A mid the new tenders requirement to make additional investments in light of gross gaming revenue (GGR) reaching MOP180 billion, MGMs Pansy Ho said yesterday that the company is ready to invest the additional amounts.

During yesterdays interview session with a handful of selected media outlets, Ho, chairperson and executive director of MGM China Holdings Limited, cited the enterprises swift recovery from the economic downturn to support her comment. The gambling concessionaire executive revealed that her enterprise had not only recovered from the low point but had in fact started making a profit.

We have been in touch with banking consortiums discussing additional investments. With our satisfactory performance, there should not be a problem, Ho said, underlining that MGM Cotai has space for future developments and upgrades, with a floor area reaching 100,000 square feet.

Despite admitting to not having the physical capacity to host large-scale exhibitions and commercial fairs, the executive emphasized that her enterprise is completely capable of hosting meetings, incentives and conferences.

Not completely satisfied with the current capacities of MGM properties, she disclosed that 60,000 square feet of space at MGM Macau is currently under transformation into a completely novel multimedia space for meetings, incentives and conferences, capable of hosting performances, fashion shows and art exhibitions, among other events of a similar scale.

When we launch the new space, you will understand how versatile and multimedia-ready it will be, Ho said. She explained that the walls of the new venue will be fully covered with LED panels  a display mode currently used at MGM Cotai  so that event organizers will only need a digital file to decorate their space, Ho explained.

The new venue will be ready in the third quarter of 2024.

After normal travel resumed, the enterprise observed that there are more younger customers visiting Macau, and they want to see products that differ from the last time they visited Macau. With that said, all resort operators will need to demonstrate novelty more regularly than in the past 20 years to cater to new consumer preferences.

This is why, Ho explained, her enterprise will leverage its networks in art and culture circles to renew its offerings more often. Meanwhile, she disclosed that after the current Art Macao exhibition at MGM Theatre, there will be a resident show. Details will be released in due course.

Speaking on her views on the speculated economic downturn in mainland China, based on the performance of her enterprise in the first half of the year, she believed that mainland residents will still travel, but not as far or as frequently as before. They may drop farther destinations from their itineraries and visit Macau more frequently.

Were trying to entice them to visit Macau every long weekend, Ho said. For example, China has similar shopping offerings as Europe, so mainland residents dont need to travel that far.

This is also why MGM has picked art as its marketing strategy, because it can be instagrammable  or in Chinas context, Xiaohongshu-able. People may encounter an event at MGM that they will put on social media, and their friends will follow their footsteps, Ho explained.

On community efforts, she revealed that the enterprises annual lion dance event will incorporate the citys historic background and be staged in front of A-Ma Temple. So, were connecting an intangible heritage (lion dance) with a tangible heritage, she said.

It was also disclosed that the resort operator will soon open offices in Osaka, Japan and Manila, the Philippines.

Yesterday also saw MGM Cotai launching its Art Macao collateral exhibition, which showcases the Valkyrie Miss Dior art installation created by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos. The 24 by 7 meter installation has been created in association with luxury fashion brand Christian Dior and has been shown at the brands haute couture show in Paris.

It is the artists second art installation on show at an MGM China property. In 2015, the artist showcased her Valkyrie Octopus at MGM Macaus Grande Praca. The Octopus will tour to Europe this year before returning to China for a country tour.
Progressive candidate Bernardo Arevalo was confirmed the winner of Guatemalas presidential election by the countrys Supreme Electoral Tribunal yesterday [Macau time], but the same day another government body ordered his political party suspended.

Arevalo has faced a slew of legal challenges and allegations of irregularities since his unexpected victory over a candidate favored by the countrys conservative elite.

Arevalo appears certain to take office as president on Jan. 14, but it was not clear whether his Seed Movement lawmakers would be able to take their seats in the countrys Congress.

Arevalo called the suspension ruling legally void and said his party would appeal it.

As of this moment, no one can stop me from taking office on Jan. 14, he told a news conference.

The electoral registrys ruling arose from an investigation into the Seed Movement by Guatemalas attorney generals office for alleged irregularities in the gathering of signatures for its formation as a party.

If the Seed Party appeals the ruling, as promised, the case will be taken to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

The Tribunal outranks the electoral registry, so the victory by Arevalo and the seats won in parliament by Seed Movement lawmakers in the first round elections appear confirmed. But the impact of the suspension of their party would have is unclear.

The announcements come after one of the most tumultuous elections in the Central American nations recent history, which has put to test Guatemalas democracy.

At a time when Guatemalans, hungry for change, have grown disillusioned with endemic corruption, Arevalo and other opponents of the countrys elite faced waves of judicial attacks in an attempt to knock them out of the race.

Arevalo, the little-known son of a former president, shocked much of the country by emerging as a top contender in the first round of presidential voting. He failed to get enough support to win outright and headed to a runoff vote against former first lady Sandra Torres. His rise had come after a handful of other candidates were disqualified.

Arevalo rapidly gained support, campaigning on social progress and railing against corruption.

This message generated, aroused hope, mobilized people who were fed up with corruption, he told the AP in a June interview.

Arevalo easily beat Torres in the Aug. 20 presidential runoff. According to the official count, the progressive candidate obtained 60.9% of the valid votes cast, against 37.2% for the right-wing Torres. The party also won 23 seats in the 160-seat Congress.

His win has been the source of a legal back-and-forth between various governmental entities and courts, some staffed with officials who have been sanctioned by the United States on charges of corruption. He has faced allegations of voter fraud by Torres, legal challenges and more.

Eight days after the runoff, Torres still hasnt conceded defeat and outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei hasnt said anything about the latest developments.

Its obviously another attempt to subvert Semillas (the Seed Movements) path to power, said Alex Papadovassilakis, a Guatemala-based investigator for InSight Crime focused on crime and corruption. I think were entering uncharted waters.

Arrest warrants for electoral officials and raids to the partys headquarters have also caused concern in the international community and among Guatemalans.

Earlier this week, the Organization of American States human rights commission asked that Guatemala provide protection for Arevalo after reports emerged of a possible plot to kill him.

Arevalos victory has left much of the countrys political establishment reeling, while his supporters have held protests against attempts to thwart his taking office.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about the attempts to undermine the results of Guatemalas presidential election, a U.N. spokeswoman said earlier.

The 64-year-old son of former President Juan Jose Arevalo was born in Uruguay, where his father was in exile following the ouster in a 1954 CIA-backed coup of his successor President Jacobo Arbenz, whom the U.S. saw as a threat during the Cold War. SONIA PEREZ D. & MEGAN JANETSKY, GUATEMALA CITY, MDT/AP
The Rotary Club of Macau will invest in mental health following the lingering effects of the pandemic prevention measures among Macaus society fabric.

Joao Pinto, the 77th president of the Rotary Club of Macau, has stressed the importance that mental health projects will be accorded during his tenure.

The club will be sponsoring three different mental health projects during his tenure as president.

One involves a competition to be held among all secondary schools in Macau, while the other will be developed at the University of Macau. The third project takes place in Hong Kong and Macau and will deliver a series of Mental Health First Aid Training courses to provide participants with greater in-depth knowledge and hands-on training to help people with mental health needs.

The announcement was made at the joint inauguration ceremony of the new club leaders of the Rotary Club of Macau, Rotaract Club of Macau, Rotaract Club of University of Macau Students Union and Interact Club of St. Pauls School of Macau for the 2023-24 Rotary Year.

Each year, the joint ceremony officiates the passing of the baton from outgoing to incoming club presidents.

Outgoing 76th president of the Rotary Club of Macau, Li Ying, highlighted the projects and achievements of the club, saying, We had an extraordinary year of serving the local community and the world, with all of the four outgoing presidents, myself included, being female. With the Rotary International President of this last year also being the first female president in Rotary history, we are a true testament to increased diversity in Rotary leadership and vision.

Also during the ceremony, Pinto presented a check of 15,000 MOP to support activities at the Concordia School for Special Education. Staff Reporter
Dear Cathy: When our son was in his carousing years, and we had our border collie, she would sleep in his room until he got home in the wee hours. She would get up and go to the front door when she heard his 1982 Datsun turn onto our block from 10 houses away. How could she hear any car that far away, and how would she know it was his car? That was 40 years ago, but it still amazes me.  Richard, Westbury, New York

Dear Richard: Dogs have a much keener sense of hearing than we do. In fact, in most instances, dogs can hear 100 times better than humans, depending on the frequency of the sound. Human adults cannot hear sounds above 20,000 hertz. On the other hand, dogs can hear sounds as high as 47,000 to 65,000 hertz.

So, your dog not only can hear the car as it turns onto the street but recognizes some higher-frequency engine sounds that you and I can't hear. That incredible sense of hearing, combined with your son perhaps arriving around the same time during those wee hours, is how your dog knew your son would be pulling into the driveway at any moment.

Dear Cathy: I had the opposite advice from my local animal control about a neighbor's barking dog. They told me to speak with my neighbor before making an official complaint. I did so, but it didn't make a difference, so I went back to animal control, and they said I could take them to court. I didn't do that because I didn't know what kind of people I was dealing with and feared possible retaliation. We have been putting up with the barking.  Carol, Newington, Connecticut

Note: Carol is referring to a letter in which I had suggested the reader call animal control to report a barking/noise complaint and let them handle it rather than confront a neighbor they don't know well. Sometimes, approaching neighbors can be difficult since most people get defensive in these circumstances and become adversarial. Letting the experts at animal control handle something like this is always better because they can educate the pet owner about local pet ordinances.

Dear Carol: I contacted the Connecticut Humane Society to see what their suggestions would be in your state. I have since learned that Connecticut's local government handles things a little differently from local governments in other states. Barking is generally a complaint handled by animal control, but in your area, it could be handled under a noise ordinance and by code compliance, depending on the town you live in.

So, the Connecticut Humane Society suggested contacting your local mayor or selectman (the executive and administrative branch of your town government) to see if they can guide you. You can find their contact information by visiting www.newingtonct.gov and opening the Town Council page. Let me know what you find out.

Dear Cathy: In response to the letter from Susan, of East Northport, New York, who had a neighbor's dog peeing in the same place in front of her house: Many years ago, I had a similar problem. I resolved it by sprinkling black pepper on the area (where the dog was peeing). It covered the odor from previous visits. In my instance, I saw the dog sniff the area and pass it by. His owner was puzzled that the dog didn't relieve himself (on that same spot).

I did not have to speak to the dog owner. My solution did not require adding any elements to our environment. I did not have to go shopping for the solution. It only cost pennies. And, best of all, the dog owner saw no evidence that I had taken any action at all. Over time, I had to repeat the application, but for me, it was an easy, cost-effective solution to an annoying problem. I hope this can be a solution for readers of your column.  Diane, Glen Burnie, Maryland

Dear Diane: Thanks for sharing your tip. Susan's issue was that a neighbors dog was peeing on the street in front of her house, and she could smell it. I am not sure how this would work on a street where cars will dissipate the cover-up quickly, but black pepper and vinegar are two products that, when applied to certain areas, may discourage a dog from peeing in the same spot.

The reason that I recommend products over home solutions is that I know they are humanely developed for this purpose and give application instructions on usage that I know will be safe for animals.
A guitar shop that started in Wisconsin is moving its Fitchburg store to Sun Prairie.

Daves Guitar Shop has other stores in Milwaukee, Marshfield and La Crosse, where it first opened in 1982, said owner Dave Rogers. The business sells various types of guitars, from vintage to electric to acoustic, as well as basses, amps, keyboards, drums and other musical gear.

It carries major guitar brands like Fender, Gibson and Ibanez and has a popular online presence, too.

We do extensive repairs, also, Rogers said.

The business, which has close to 40 employees, will be moving into the former Market Street Diner on 110 Market St. in Sun Prairie.

Rogers said Daves Guitar Shop bought the former diner because it offers 10,000 square feet compared to the roughly 3,000-square-foot Fitchburg store.

The retro aesthetic of the diner also fits the vibe that Daves Guitar Shop would like to evoke, Rogers said, adding that the business currently leases the Fitchburg space. Owning the Sun Prairie location would give Rogers more control over operations, he said.

Renovations on the former diner are slated to finish this fall, Rogers said.

Ill be excited when its all done, he said.
After Dave Banker suddenly became tired and weak, paramedics took him to the emergency room at UW Health's East Madison Hospital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Then the 70-year-old from Madison got oxygen, intravenous antibiotics, doctor and nurse visits and other hospital care  not in a bed at the hospital but in the comfort of his home.

Through a new program at UW Health and a growing number of health systems around the country, some adult patients are receiving hospital-level care at home.

The service, which provides more complex care than traditional home health care, has expanded since Medicare started paying for it in November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2022, the coverage was extended through at least next year. Supporters hope the option becomes permanent.

What can be better than sitting at home in my own chair or laying in my own bed, doing what I want to do? said Banker, who recovered from his pneumonia after four days of hospital-at-home care in July.

Having been hospitalized at UW Hospital five times in recent years for various conditions, Banker knows hospital stays can be disruptive, especially to sleep. Being in the hospital, I dont really relax. When I leave, Im more tired than when I went in, he said.

The positives

Better sleep, along with more mobility, less confusion and fewer hospital-acquired infections, are among the patient benefits that can result in fewer readmissions to hospitals or transfers to nursing homes, said Mandy McGowan, director of home-based care programs at UW Health.

Were not having to try to build them back up again because theyve been laying in a hospital bed, McGowan said.

Without the overhead costs of a facility, the care can be cheaper. And with hospital capacity increasingly tight, the service provides a relief valve.

The beds are very full at our hospital, McGowan said. To be able to even shift a couple of beds to the home and free them up for other, higher-acuity patients who need that brick-and-mortar care is huge.

How it works

UWs new service, called the Home-Based Hospital Care program, has had eight patients so far, with plans to ramp up to 300 a year by next year. Patients who qualify typically have conditions such as pneumonia, COVID-19, lung disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes or infections requiring IV antibiotics, McGowan said.

For now, those on Medicare or with Quartz or Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin insurance can enroll. They must live within 20 to 25 miles of UW Hospital.

A doctor or other provider visits the patient once a day, and nurses come twice, as required by Medicare. Specialists, such as dermatologists and infectious disease experts, are available by video. Medical equipment is brought in, such as oxygen tanks, IV poles and mobile ultrasound and X-ray machines. Meals are delivered, and patients can reach the care team around the clock by phone or cellular tablets or smartwatches.

Most surgeries and higher-level care, such as ventilation, continuous heart monitoring and closely monitored medication drips, still require a hospital stay, McGowan said.

To qualify for hospital-at-home, patients need to be able to go to the bathroom, bathe, dress and feed themselves, or have a caregiver present all the time. Their homes must have electricity, refrigeration and a phone, but internet service is not required.

Elsewhere

St. Louis-based SSM Health, which owns seven hospitals in Wisconsin  including St. Marys hospitals in Madison and Janesville, St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo and Monroe Hospital  doesnt offer the program but is considering it, spokesperson Kim Sveum said. Patients with UnityPoint Health-Meriter providers can get the service through UW Health.

Nearly 300 hospitals in 125 health systems around the country offer the service. They include Marshfield Clinic hospitals in Marshfield, Minocqua, Eau Claire and Weston, Mayo Clinic Northwest Wisconsin in Eau Claire, Bellin Hospital in Green Bay and Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse.

Housing, clothing, and food are more expensive: Inflation of these household expenditures defies Fed rate hikes Housing, clothing, and food are more expensive: Inflation of these household expenditures defies Fed rate hikes Wages rose to keep up with inflation, which is now nearing more typical levels Above-average inflation continues in some categories
When Josey Chu started paging through some of her mother's cookbooks after her death, the last thing she expected to find tucked inside were handwritten recipes from her grandmother.

But as those pieces of paper fluttered out from between the pages, Chu discovered the recipes of her childhood and Singaporean culture. They now serve as the foundation of her sauce business, Madame Chu.

Since its launch in 2017, Madame Chu sauces have been sold at co-ops and grocery stores around the Madison area. The prepared sauces  a light and flavorful ginger garlic paste, a deep and assertive Sambal Nyonya and a sweet and hot Satay Peanut Nyonya  can be used with vegetables, proteins and noodle dishes. Chu also shares recipes online featuring the three sauces.

Chu said she has realized sharing her culture through food is key to its preservation. Chus family is from Singapore, and part of the Peranakan culture, a blending of Chinese, Malaysian and Western influences.

Read the series:

There is a gap in knowledge, Chu said. Cookbooks, YouTube, the internet really don't give you the true recipes. The true way of preserving food  it's hands-on experience, its watching us do it and then doing it.

Madison Public Market gives taste of its future offerings It isn't scheduled to open until 2020, but attendees at Saturday's "Taste of the Madison Public Market" met some of the planned vendors.

While Chu is sharing the food of her ancestors with the people of Madison, she understands that not everyone will want to do the same.

I just hope that people will contribute to a knowledge base so that we can all preserve our cultures, Chu said. Not just my culture, but various cultures, people from Ukraine, people from Russia, people from Singapore, Malaysia, we all could share our family recipes.

Tastes like home

Chu, 57, came to the U.S. from Singapore in 1995. She settled in Sun Prairie and graduated from UW-Madison with a doctorate in industrial engineering and, later, a nursing degree. Chu married Ben Johnson in 2003, who helps run Madame Chu.

Thinking back to her childhood, Chu said her mom didnt cook often but had a lot of cookbooks.

My mom is the kind that will buy loads of cookbooks, but she will not cook a single item, she joked. I think we all identify with that."

Chu always enjoyed cooking. She started out by making ramen noodles and fried rice to feed herself and her two siblings.

But it was Chu's maternal grandmother who truly inspired her love for food. She often spent time with her grandmother as she cooked, learning the spices and preparation of her favorite dishes.

The recipe for the ginger garlic paste comes from her paternal grandmother, who always kept her recipes secret. By standing an acceptable distance away from the kitchen, Chu was able to learn the intricacies of her grandmothers cooking over time.

At first, Chu and Johnson only used the recipes they discovered between the cookbook pages to prepare food for themselves, close family and friends.

But after the sauces got great reviews, they started playing with the idea of starting a business. They got a food license and became members of FEED Kitchens, a Madison commercial kitchen space available for rent.

Chu knew they were onto something big when a group of international students in Madison tried some of the sauces.

They would taste the product and say, Oh my gosh, it tastes really good. It tastes like home, she said. "It affirms that the product is not something that we just looked at in cookbooks: It truly is from my country."

Getting saucy

Madame Chu is run completely by Chu and her husband. They measure out all the ingredients individually for each batch of sauce and mix the product by hand. The sauces are considered slow foods since they take several hours to prepare.

The kitchen is calm one recent Sunday afternoon while they prepare the sauces. The fragrant smells of garlic and ginger fill the space. As people occasionally walk through the kitchen, Chu is sure to greet each passerby, often asking them to sample a sauce as it cooks.

Johnson has been enlisted as the stirrer  an important job for the ginger garlic recipe that requires the mixture to move as it heats. He stirs the sauce almost constantly while it simmers in a large vat, pointing out the arm workout he gets in the process.

The pair works mostly quietly though, tasting the sauce together and conferring on whether they need to add more of a certain ingredient. While they follow the recipes passed down from Chus grandmothers, theyll adjust the flavor slightly as needed.

They momentarily disagree about how to tailor the ginger garlic recipe but ultimately land on adding both brown sugar and vinegar.

The pH of the mixture is tested several times during the cooking process. Since the sauces dont have any preservatives or stabilizing ingredients, keeping the pH level around 4.5 makes sure bacteria wont affect the product, Chu said.

Sustainability is another focus of the Madame Chu brand. She intentionally makes smaller batches of the product to avoid food waste and limit water use.

When I talk about sustainability and being a responsible food manufacturer, what I mean is that we don't make (more than) the amount that is needed by the consumers, so much so that the product expires, Chu said.

The outlook

Despite the success, Madame Chu's operations are changing. After dedicating most of her time to the business for the past several years, Chu is returning to her career as a nurse. She said she sees a great need for more nursing staff and wants to do her part.

Johnson also works a full-time job as a software developer, so preparing recipes for Madame Chu is limited to the weekends. Chu said this adjustment means theyll spend less time operating pop-up food stands at events, and focus more on selling at grocery stores and co-ops.

Chu and Johnson are also beginning to think about retirement as they enter their late 50s. They may see whether their son, Keagan, is interested in carrying on the business. Theyre open to other options, too.

We hope that eventually someone will come and say, Hey, we want to learn your culture, we want to learn your food, we want to learn how to make your product, Chu said. At that stage, we'll pass it on because it is not something that I want to take to my grave. We want to share it  that's the key.
UW-Milwaukees Washington County campus shouldnt merge with the nearby technical college in West Bend, but the university can make some changes to make the satellite campus viable, a university-based task force recommended last week.

Among the recommendations are moving UW-Milwaukee and its branch campuses in West Bend and Waukesha closer to a one university, multiple locations structure, an approach UW-Green Bay implemented with its three branch campuses.

The task force recommended a phased plan that would allow students who enroll at either Washington County or Waukesha County to directly qualify as UW-Milwaukee bachelors degree-seekers or receive extra support to transition into a program; establish a common course catalog across all campuses; and eliminate the College of General Studies at the Washington and Waukesha campuses, with faculty being reassigned to the corresponding UW-Milwaukee department.

The task force also recommended areas where resources could be shared with Moraine Park Technical College for degrees in engineering or liberal arts.

Because a full merger seems untenable at the moment, and unwise if attempted too hastily, and because the status quo also seems to us unsustainable, we see only one way forward: full integration of UWM at Washington County with the rest of UWM, the task force wrote. We recommend moving in a phased way over the next several years to fully incorporate students, faculty, staff and curriculum into UWM.

The task forces recommendations come five months after the Washington County Board of Supervisors voted to create a community college concept by merging the Washington County campus with Moraine Park Technical College. The move came at the recommendation of Washington Countys own higher education task force, which restarted last October to address the woes of UW-Milwaukee at Washington County, which continues to hemorrhage students.

Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, who commissioned the countys task force last fall, said he was pleased with the resource-sharing solutions UW-Milwaukees task force proposed.

Whether you call it sharing resources, merging resources or transitioning resources, at the end of the day MPTC and UWM working together is better for students, businesses and our community, which is what we were shooting for from the beginning, Schoemann said. Both the (Washington County) Task Force and the UWM Work Group have gotten things pointed in the right direction to work out a solution.

Enrollment declines

UW-Milwaukee at Washington County has lost nearly 70% of its enrollment since 2010, when it had 1,117 students; in fall 2022, the headcount was 332. UW-Milwaukees Waukesha campus has seen a similar drop, with 65% of the 2,261 students it had in fall 2014 gone by fall 2022, when 790 students enrolled.

The majority of the Systems two-year branch campuses have seen declining enrollment in the past decade. Enrollment at some, such as UW-Eau Claire at Barron County and all of UW-Green Bays branches, has stabilized or rebounded in recent years.

The community college concept Washington County proposed still faces an uphill battle. With few details hashed out as to how it would work, neither UW System nor Wisconsin Technical College System leadership seem to want it, and Gov. Tony Evers used his line-item veto power to eliminate $3.35 million earmarked in the state budget to implement it.

The UW-Milwaukee task force also expressed reservations about merging the two West Bend campuses and said UW-Milwaukees practice of putting branch campus students on associate degree tracks, rather than in bachelors degree programs, discourages students. Less than a fifth of UW-Milwaukee at Washington County students graduate with an associate degree, with 40% transferring to a four-year university to complete a bachelors degree.

The majority have no intention of ever completing an associate degree, the task force wrote. This structural emphasis on the associate degree confuses and dismays students seeking bachelors degrees and has made UWMs branch campuses less competitive than they could be.

Photos: UW-Platteville Richland in Richland Center
Vivek Ramaswamy got off to a great start in this primary seasons first Republican presidential debate, and then things slid rapidly downhill.

The 38-year-old entrepreneur and graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School is a new face in politics, national or otherwise, as his opening line suggested with an indirect reference to another once-rising new face from a campaign long ago.

So, first, lemme just address a question that is on everybodys mind at home tonight, he said, cheerfully flashing a wall-to-wall smile that would prove to be as resilient as the national debt. Who the heck is this skinny guy with a funny last name, and what the heck is he doing in the middle of this debate stage?

That brought some welcoming chuckles, mixed with scattered groans from the crowd.

But things toughened up later in the debate, after Ramaswamy called the climate change agenda a hoax, chastised his fellow candidates for memorized, pre-prepared slogans and called himself the only person on the stage who isnt bought and paid for. His fellow candidates loudly objected, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was ready with a zinger.

Ive had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT standing up here, Christie said to Fox News moderator Bret Baier. And the last person in one of these debates, Bret, who stood in the middle of the stage and said, Whats a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here? was Barack Obama.

As the crowd hooted like a pro wrestling audience after a decisive body slam, Christie added, And Im afraid were dealing with the same type of amateur.

A double shot. But Ramaswamy was ready with a counter-zinger, however weak. Give me a hug just like you did to Obama, he said, and youll help elect me just like you did to Obama.

Not bad, although he sounded a bit rattled that his remark didnt land as well as he might have hoped. Welcome to the big leagues, Vivek.

But all eight candidates onstage seemed at least a bit off their game as if they were filling in for the main event who didnt show up, former President Donald Trump, who would be turning himself in to the Fulton County, Georgia, jail the next day after his fourth criminal indictment.

He now faces a total of 91 felony charges across four prosecution efforts, including two federal cases. Unprecedented no longer adequately describes the historic majesty of his alleged offenses. Yet, as long as his polling numbers seem to rise with each new indictment, we may not see him onstage again until the GOP convention in Milwaukee.

Still, Trumps presence in the debate was strong enough to be felt, despite his refusal to show up. Ramaswamy quite obviously seemed to be auditioning to be Trumps running mate and certainly qualified by any measure of his audacity.

Other candidates on the stage in Milwaukee were Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

I thought Ramaswamy took the prize for a memorable debut, despite his competitors scolding of him as shallow and annoying. His campaign reported raising $450,000 that night, demonstrating the old showbiz advice, Just spell my name right, especially if it is on a campaign donation check.

But Haleys performance seemed to be the most impressive, even if it has yet to help her climb out of single digits in polls. The former South Carolina governors experience showed in her frankness and knowledgeable grasp of the issues. Significantly, she also called out her own party for losing moderates by taking extreme positions on abortion. Labeling herself unapologetically pro-life, she clashed with Pences call for a federal ban on abortion, calling on him to be honest with the American people.

The Senates 60-vote filibuster threshold, she pointed out, meant that no Democratic or Republican president would be able to set abortion policy without some compromises. Do not make women feel like they have to decide on this issue, she said. That was a smart reminder of the current realities since the Supreme Court reversed the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Since June 2022, abortion has been on the ballot in seven states, and, in each instance, anti-abortion rights groups have lost.

But Pence, who is more moderate in his demeanor than in his politics, rebutted Haleys call for compromise, declaring, Consensus is the opposite of leadership.

I beg to differ. We Americans need the sort of leadership that can help to reach workable compromises. Id vote for that.
A crisis in child care has been unfolding in Wisconsin and will speed up when existing federal child care supports expires in January. The Legislatures Joint Finance Committee removed funding that had been proposed in the state budget to help fill the gap that will be left when the federal supports end.

Some child care facilities will close their doors and families will be left without viable child care options. The current worker shortage will be exacerbated as employees leave their jobs or decide not to enter the paid workforce because child care is either nonexistent or unaffordable. Hardest hit will be low-income workers, for whom child care costs take a bigger bite of income. Families living in rural areas already have limited options.

Wages have historically been low for trained child care workers who often earn less than the average retail worker. The federal support helped boost wages to keep child care as a viable career choice.

Lawmakers at the federal and state level need to hear we value our children, we value families and we want our communities to thrive. Adequate support for child care is an essential piece of the picture.

Barbara Feeney, president, League of Women Voters of Dane County
CEDAR KEY, Fla.  Florida residents living in vulnerable coastal areas were ordered to pack up and leave Tuesday as Hurricane Idalia gained steam in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and threatened to unleash life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.

Idalia also pummeled Cuba with heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday, leaving the tobacco-growing province of Pinar del Rio underwater and many of its residents without power.

Idalia had strengthened to a Category 2 system on Tuesday afternoon with winds of 100 mph. The hurricane was projected to come ashore early Wednesday as a Category 3 system with sustained winds of up to 120 mph in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The result could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year's Hurricane Ian.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia "an unprecedented event" since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend.

On the island of Cedar Key, more than a dozen state troopers went door to door warning residents that storm surge could rise as high as 15 feet.

Commissioner Sue Colson joined other city officials in packing up documents and electronics at City Hall. She had a message for the almost 900 residents who were under mandatory orders to evacuate the island near the coast of the Big Bend region.

"One word: Leave," Colson said. "It's not something to discuss."

Not everyone heeded the warning. Andy Bair, owner of the Island Hotel, said he intended to "babysit" his bed-and-breakfast, which predates the Civil War. The building has not flooded in the almost 20 years he has owned it, not even when Hurricane Hermine flooded the city in 2016.

"Being a caretaker of the oldest building in Cedar Key, I just feel kind of like I need to be here," Bair said. "We've proven time and again that we're not going to wash away. We may be a little uncomfortable for a couple of days, but we'll be OK eventually."

Tolls were waived on highways out of the danger area, shelters were open and hotels prepared to take in evacuees. More than 30,000 utility workers gathered to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricane's wake. About 5,500 National Guard troops were activated.

In Tarpon Springs, a coastal community northwest of Tampa, 60 patients were evacuated from a hospital out of concern that the system could bring a 7-foot storm surge.

"You do not have to leave the state. You don't have to drive hundreds of miles," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday morning at the state's emergency operations center. "You have to get to higher ground in a safe structure. You can ride the storm out there, then go back to your home."

Idalia's initial squalls were being felt in the Florida Keys and the southwestern coast of Florida on Tuesday afternoon, including at Clearwater Beach. Workers at beachside bars and T-shirt shops boarded up windows, children skimsurfed the waves and hundreds of people watched the increasingly choppy waters from the safety of the sand.

After landing in the Big Bend region, Idalia is forecast to cross the Florida peninsula and then drench southern Georgia and the Carolinas on Thursday.

Both Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced states of emergency, freeing up state resources and personnel, including hundreds of National Guard troops.

"We'll be prepared to the best of our abilities," said Russell Guess, who was topping off the gas tank on his truck in Valdosta, Georgia. His co-workers at Cunningham Tree Service were doing the same. "There will be trees on people's house, trees across power lines."

"One word: Leave. It's not something to discuss."

Sue Colson, city commissioner in Cedar Key, Fla.
Idaho legislators circulate petitions to call special session

Two petitions to bring the Idaho Legislature into special session to consider legislation that would restore the states 2024 presidential primary began circulating this week, one calling for a March primary and the second pitching a May primary.

The first petition, launched Sunday, is spearheaded by Republican Sen. Scott Herndon of the Idaho Freedom Caucus. A day later, Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, pushed another petition.

A special session, officially called an extraordinary sessions in Idaho, would be triggered if either petition garners at least 60% of signatures from the Legislatures two chambers. It would begin no later than 15 days after the petition is received by House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, and Winder.

The Legislature, seemingly unwittingly, eliminated the states presidential primary with House Bill 138, which was signed into law by Gov. Brad Little on March 30. A trailer bill, Senate Bill 186, which was intended to move to the primary from March to May, was opposed by Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon and didnt make it to vote.

The Idaho GOP responded at its summer convention in June by voting to hold a presidential nominating caucus on the first Saturday of March, unless the Legislature meets an Oct. 1 deadline to restore a primary election.

Also:

Idaho Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher

cosponsored legislation this month, called the Bring Our Heroes Home Act, that would consolidate records for recovering Americas Prisoners of War and Missing in Action service members. More than 81,500 Americans  including 361 Idahoans  remain unaccounted for from World War II, the Vietnam War and other conflicts, according to Simpsons office.

- Times News
Idaho is fortunate to be home to some of our nations most unique landscapes and vast natural resources. I am dedicated to protecting our environment in a manner that ensures the vitality of our forests and rangelands, protects the rights of property owners, and addresses the economic needs of our rural communities.

Quote I am dedicated to protecting our environment in a manner that ensures the vitality of our forests and rangelands, protects the rights of property owners and addresses the economic needs of our rural communities.

We have a responsibility to ensure that our local communities are consulted on decisions that impact the land on which they live and depend. Measures that empower state and local officials and private stakeholders to lead in the decision-making processes pertaining to our public lands help to avoid the drawn-out conflicts and costly litigation that we see all too often in communities throughout the West.

I continue to work to enact land management policies that ensure the strength of our natural environment, maintain public access and maintain resilient, self-sustaining economies for our rural counties for years to come.

For example, I recently joined fellow members of the Senate Western Caucus, including fellow U.S. senator for Idaho, Jim Risch, in requesting Senate appropriators support policies that play a vital role in maintaining the economic and environmental well-being of our region.

The Senate Western Caucus is made up of senators from western and rural states unified behind a western approach to solving Americas problems.

In the letter, we advocated for the following priorities:

Block the Bureau of Land Managements Conservation and Landscape Health Rule:

We stressed that rewriting the multiple-use mandate of our federal lands goes against both congressional intent and the will of those who work, recreate, or live near federal lands. We expressed our strong opposition to this rule and urged the prohibition of its implementation.

Block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys Clean Power Plan 2.0 and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Rule:

We expressed opposition to the implementation of these proposed rules that force power plants to close, discourage new investments, increase costs for consumers and harm the reliability of our electric grid. We also noted these rules have dubious legal standing based on Supreme Court decisions and exceed congressionally delegated authority.

Continue Prohibition on Greater Sage-Grouse Listing:

We stressed that enabling state and local communities to make informed decisions on the ground remains the most effective approach for conserving the greater sage-grouse and sustaining rural western communities and urged the continuation of the prohibition against listing the greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act.

Wild Horse and Burro Management:

We highlighted that because wild horse and burro populations double every four years, the federal government needs to take the necessary steps to prevent overpopulation that would pose a threat to western rangeland.

Wildfire Suppression and Prevention:

We urged the prioritization of resources for wildfire suppression, forest management and the firefighting workforce to address the challenges with forest fires burning longer and hotter.

We concluded the letter, As members of the Senate Western Caucus, we seek to promote and defend the western way of self-reliance, local decision-making, and love of the land. We believe the most successful land management policies are collaborative in nature and take into full consideration those whose heritage and livelihoods are tied to our lands and resources. Those who are closest and depend the most on the land are best equipped to take on land management challenges.

I will continue to work to advance policies that best address these and other issues that impact the economic and environmental well-being of the West.
Police are looking for a woman who went missing around 7 p.m. Monday while visiting relatives on Windsor Road in Bassett.

Carol Anthony Reich, 69, is described as a white female, 5-2, 170 pounds, with brown eyes and white hair. She is possibly wearing a long sleeve white sweatshirt and dark-colored long pants, and has on multiple necklaces and eyeglasses, a Virginia State Police release stated.

The Henry County Sheriff's Office say they presume Reich to be driving a gray 2016 Honda Pilot SUV with North Carolina Plates: JAV-7431. Her disappearance has been determined to pose a credible threat to her health and safety.

If anyone sees Reich, or knows of her whereabouts, you are asked to call 911 or the Henry County Sheriff's Office at 276-638-8751.
The armed group ISIL (ISIS) has almost doubled its territory in Mali in less than a year, UN experts have said in a new report, just as the United States has warned that the request by the Mali government for the United Nations to withdraw its peacekeepers by the end of the year is a recipe for disaster.

The world bodys withdrawal process in the north of the country speeds up as ISIS attacks intensify in the West African state. The UNs panel of experts said in a new report that the impasse in implementing the 2015 peace deal  especially the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of combatants into society  is empowering al-Qaeda-linked JNIM armed group to vie for leadership in northern Mali. In less than a year, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara has almost doubled its areas of control in Mali, the panel said, pointing to ISILs dominance of rural areas in eastern Menaka and large parts of the Ansongo area in northern Gao.

The violence has escalated in the past year after the countrys military junta forced French troops out, ordered the 15,000 UN peacekeepers to leave by 31 December and reportedly invited Russias mercenary Wagner Group to help it deal with the situation. As many of us feared, the transition governments decision to close MINUSMA has already triggered renewed violence on the ground, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the 15-member Security Council. She also warned that increased instability could pave the way for the expansion of terror groups in the region, potentially leading to war, which could unleash unspeakable, unthinkable devastation on the Malian people. This comes amid concerns voiced by the UN special representative to Mali that the second phase of the withdrawal of the 13,000-man mission from the West African country will be very challenging due to a tight calendar and dangerous security conditions on the ground.
Ethiopias restive Amhara region has seen at least 183 people killed since July in clashes, as Amhara fighters resist efforts by the federal government to disband them, the United Nations said Tuesday (29 August) as it appealed for the cessation of the killings, violence and rights abuses.

We are very concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in some regions of Ethiopia, a UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman told reporters in Geneva. In Amhara region, following a flare-up in clashes between the Ethiopian military and the regional Fano militia, and the declaration of a state of emergency on 4 August, the situation worsened considerably. The UN office also warned of the deteriorating human rights situation in the East African country, with more than 1,000 people reportedly arrested under a state of emergency declared in early August over the unrest.

Tensions in the restive region ratcheted up earlier this year after the end of a devastating war in neighboring Tigray region that also drew in fighters from Amhara. The declaration of the state of emergency followed clashes between federal troops and Amhara forces resisting a government order to disarm and demobilize regional special forces. Fears of another war that could match or even eclipse what happened in Tigray are not misplaced if a solution is not found, writes Yohannes Gedamu, a senior lecturer of political science at Georgia Gwinnett College, in The Conversation. He calls on the international community to press all groups, especially Ethiopias federal government, to start political dialogue immediately and agree to a ceasefire. Its also time for Abiy (Ethiopias Prime Minister) to prove that Ethiopia can be at peace under his leadership. The impact of another civil war in the Horn of Africa, at the same time as Sudans, would be catastrophic, Gedamu writes.
A 20-year-old Ugandan man has been charged with aggravated homosexuality, an offense punishable by death, and at least 67 people celebrating a gay wedding have been detained by the Nigerian police in a raid targeting outlawed homosexuality, defying pressure from Western governments and rights organizations that have long criticized an egregious violation of human rights in many African countries.

A 20-year-old man has become the first Ugandan to be charged with aggravated homosexuality  an offense punishable by death under the countrys recently enacted anti-gay law  though the charge sheet did not specify why the act was considered aggravated. The defendants lawyer said the entire law was unconstitutional and while the law has been challenged in court, the judges have not yet taken up the case. Meanwhile, police in Nigeria said Tuesday (29 August) they detained at least 67 people celebrating a gay wedding, in what is one of the countrys largest arrests of gay people where gay marriage is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Following the arrests of the gay suspects, state police spokesman Bright Edafe told reporters that homosexuality will never be tolerated in the West African nation.

Defying pressure from Western governments and rights organizations, Uganda in May enacted one of the worlds harshest laws targeting the LGBTQ community. A group of UN experts described the law as an egregious violation of human rights, while Amnesty International called it draconian and overly broad. Sadly, Uganda is not an outlier in Africa, posing a challenge for President Biden and other Western leaders as they seek to engage with countries on the continent  and keep them from joining Chinas orbit, said the editorial board of The Washington Post in April. Of the 64 or so countries that still criminalize same-sex relationships, at least half  at least 32 by most counts  are in Africa. While generally the world is moving toward more acceptance on LGBT rights, Africa forms a near-unanimous block of intolerance.
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Victims' agency and needs, independent of their desire to exit trafficking, should be the focus of health care services for individuals who have been sexually exploited, concludes a new study by researchers with McGill University's Ingram School of Nursing (ISoN).

"Unfortunately, we found a lack of awareness on the part of health care professionals and the inability to recognize the signs and symptoms of sex trafficking. This represents a lost opportunity to provide appropriate support, resources and services," says Johane Lorvinsky, RN, MSc(A), one of the study's co-authors and a former graduate student at the ISoN.

Now published in PLOS ONE, the study was conducted in Montreal, Quebec, in conjunction with the directors of "Les Survivantes," a unit within the Service de police de la Ville de Montreal (SPVM) that raises awareness of trafficking while supporting and educating service providers who interact with sex-trafficked individuals.

"This is a very hard-to-reach population," explains Ms. Lorvinsky. With the assistance of Les Survivantes, the researchers contacted 12 sex trafficking survivors who had left their abusers. Of these, seven participated in in-depth interviews that explored their experiences with the Quebec health care system. The goal of the study was to inform future education programs for health care professionals tailored to the complex needs of this underserved population.

Sex traffickers use force to coerce their victims to perform commercial sex acts. "The problem is largely hidden but experts believe that is far more prevalent than the 1,700 police-reported human trafficking cases in Canada from 20092018, of which sex trafficking is the largest subset," says Ms. Lorvinsky.

Signs of sex trafficking not recognized by health care professionals

Sexually exploited individuals often experience acute injuries, sexually transmitted infections, untreated anxiety and depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Fear of their trafficker, low self-esteem and feelings of shame often prevent victims from disclosing the abuse to health care professionals.

"At the same time, health care professionals often do not suspect these patients may be trapped in situations of sexual exploitation," says Ms. Lorvinsky. Visual cues included marks of physical abuse (e.g., cigarette burns, bruises) and/or sexual abuse, and dress code (e.g., "stripper clothes"). Behavioral clues were more subtle and included being anxious, stressed, fearful, pressed, and constantly texting, while contextual cues included stories inconsistent with injuries.

"Individually, these signs may be insufficient to indicate trafficking, but in combination, they ought to raise alarm," explains Ms. Lorvinsky.

Training on sex trafficking in university curriculums and the workplace recommended

Study participants also noted that the attitudes of health care professionals played a key role in building relationships of trust, which are essential for disclosure of abuse.

"Care was perceived as more impersonal, hasty and perfunctory in hospitals and private walk-in clinics. By contrast, in settings where health care professionals had higher exposure to marginalized groups, such as community care centers and sexual health clinics, they provided non-judgmental, holistic care. Yet, even in these more positive environments, study participants reported that health care professionals who may have suspected abuse or trafficking did not act on their suspicions," says Ms. Lorvinsky.

Complicating matters further, in some cases, sex-trafficked individuals lacked self-awareness of their situation. Once they were able to define their situation as one of sexual exploitation and felt ready to exit sex trafficking, they had no idea how to access resources that could help them to safely leave their abusers. Given these challenges, based on the accounts of study participants, the authors recommend a multifaceted approach for health care providers that includes:

Identifying personal biases and misconceptions about sex trafficking

Training on sex trafficking in university curriculums and in the workplace

Routinely querying psychosocial well-being and assessing for signs of abuse and trafficking

Developing screening tools to identify victims of sex trafficking

Creating a catalog of resources to meet the complex needs of survivors

Establish a network of health care professionals trained in anti-trafficking responses

Raising public consciousness of sex trafficking through awareness campaigns

"There is definitely a need for more evidence-based research to inform protocol and care delivery for this extremely vulnerable population," concludes Ms. Lorvinsky. Accordingly, the authors suggest that future research should be geared towards the creation and validation of screening tools to identify trafficked individuals as well as best practice intervention guidelines.

More information: Johane Lorvinsky et al, Sex trafficking survivors' experiences with the healthcare system during exploitation: A qualitative study, PLOS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290067 Journal information: PLoS ONE
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Credit: Pixabay/Pete Linforth.

Scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have made a 'paradigm shifting' discovery on the mechanisms required for learning and memory that could lead to new therapies for Alzheimer's disease and potentially Down syndrome. The study was published in the journal Nature.

For over 30 years, researchers believed that LTP or long-term potentiation, which is crucial for learning and memory, required enzymatic actions by an enzyme known as CaMKII.

But a team of researchers led by Ulli Bayer, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, found that LTP requires structural not enzymatic functions of CaMKII.

That's significant, Bayer said, because it opens the door to the therapeutic use of a new class of inhibitors that target only the enzymatic activity of CaMKII, but not the structural functions required for memory and learning.

Previous studies by Bayer's laboratory showed that inhibiting enzymatic CaMKII activity protects against some of the effects of amyloid-beta (Abeta) plaques in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

The researchers found one group of inhibitors that protected from the Abeta effects without impairing LTP, making it potentially useful in treating a number of brain diseases without debilitating side effects.

"The implications are that a certain class of CaMKII activity inhibitors actually could be used chronically to treat brain conditions including Alzheimer's disease," said Bayer, senior author of the study. "This is super novel, as it has previously been thought that any CaMKII activity inhibitor would block synaptic plasticity that underlies learning and memory so their chronic use would be counter-indicated."

Bayer said if the inhibitors work in humans, they could provide additional benefit in conjunction with any current AD treatment strategies.

"That's because different mechanisms are targeted," he said. "We are targeting the downstream effects of Abeta. While we are not even pretending that this would be curative, it has the potential to dramatically alleviate some of the most devastating symptoms of memory loss and learning."

The Bayer lab is now testing whether the predictions made by their ground-breaking paper can be harnessed for human therapy.

More information: Ulrich Bayer, LTP induction by structural rather than enzymatic functions of CaMKII, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06465-y. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06465-y Journal information: Nature
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COVID-19 Disease Outcomes During Hospitalization. Credit: Hurwitz et al.

A study of COVID-19 patients at a New Mexico hospital finds that the virus hit American Indian patients particularly hardeven though Native American patients had fewer other illnesses or conditions than non-native patients. Douglas Perkins and colleagues analyzed data on 475 patients with COVID-19 infections from the University of New Mexico Hospital. The sample was 30.7% Native American, 47% Hispanic, and 18.5% non-Hispanic White. The research is published in the journal PNAS Nexus.

At admission, Native American patients were younger, more likely to need mechanical ventilation, and had laboratory values indicative of more severe disease than other patients in the cohort. Being Native American was the highest risk factor for developing severe COVID-19. About 54% of the Native American patients developed severe disease, compared to about 36% of the Hispanic patients, and about 31% of the non-Hispanic White patientsdespite COPD, sleep apnea, hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism, and history of past smoking all being the lowest among Native American patients.

Additionally, the Native American population had the highest level of vaccination among ethnic groups in New Mexico during the study period, suggesting that vaccination status did not drive the disparity.

The researchers note that a similar pattern of relatively severe disease in Native Americans was seen during the 1918 influenza pandemic, historical tuberculosis outbreaks, and the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. The actual causes of this notable discrepancy are likely multifactorial and may include social determinants of health, as well as potential immunological responses to the virus, among other factors, according to the authors.

More information: Ivy Hurwitz et al, Disproportionate impact of COVID-19 severity and mortality on hospitalized American Indian/Alaska Native patients, PNAS Nexus (2023). DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad259 Journal information: PNAS Nexus

Provided by PNAS Nexus
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The EU's drug watchdog on Wednesday approved an updated version of Pfizer and BioNTech's anti-Covid jab to counter an infectious subvariant of the virus as winter approaches.

The World Health Organisation in May said it no longer considered Covid-19 a global health emergency, but the virus is still circulatingand new variants are being tracked.

The European Medicines Agency said it "has recommended authorizing an adapted Comirnaty vaccine targeting the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant".

The EMA in June recommended that vaccines be updated to target the XBB strain of the virus which have become dominant in Europe and other parts of the world.

Known as Comirnaty Omicron XBB.1.5, the mRNA vaccine is to be used to prevent Covid-19 in adults and children from six months.

Adults and children over five require a single shot "irrespective of their Covid-19 vaccination history" while younger children may get "one or three doses depending on whether they have completed a primary vaccination course or have had Covid-19" the Amsterdam-based EMA said.

Comirnaty uses messenger RNA technology which carries instructions how to make the spike protein which the virus uses to enter the body's cells.

When a person is given the vaccine, some of their cells will read the mRNA instructions and temporarily produce the spike protein.

If the vaccinated person later comes into contact with the virus, the immune system will recognize the spike protein on its surface and be prepared to attack it.

Comirnaty was first authorized in the EU in September 2020 with versions targeting other Covid-19 subvariants, in September 2022.

"Side effects are typically mild and short-lived," the EMA said, but added "that more serious side effects may rarely occur."

Pharmaceutical firms Moderna and Novavax and others are working on updating their Covid vaccines to target XBB subvariants.

The WHO is currently monitoring upwards of 10 variants and their descent lineages.

 2023 AFP
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The field of surgery has long been dominated by men, and still is today.

But two new studies show that if patients want safe, effective long-term results, picking a female surgeon might be key.

In one study involving more than 1 million Canadian surgical patients whose outcomes were followed for a year, "those treated by a female surgeon were less likely to experience death, hospital readmission or major medical complication," wrote a team led by Dr. Christopher Wallis, of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

Another studythis time focused on gallstone removal, one of the most commonly performed surgeriesalso found female surgeons outperforming males, on average, when it came to outcomes.

Both studies were published online Aug. 30 in JAMA Surgery.

Why the gender gap? According to Dr. Martin Almquist, who wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal, it might come down to differences in attitudes towards risk-taking, the surgeon's ability to collaborate with others, and being "patient-centered" when it comes to making decisions around surgery.

In both studies, female surgeons tended to be more methodical and take longer to complete a surgery compared to their male colleagues, the researchers noted.

"Being accurate and careful most likely beats risk-taking and speed when it comes to consistently achieving good outcomes for the patient," concluded Almquist, a surgeon at the Skane University Hospital in Lund, Sweden.

Almquist conceded that it's not yet proven how women outperform men in the OR.

"Perhaps personality traits more common among women contribute to better outcomes?" he said.

Regardless of the reasons, "Surely, the ideal of the surgeon as the [male] 'lonesome cowboy' belongs to an era long gone," Almquist added.

The surgical profession remains a largely male domain, however.

For example, in the Canadian studywhich looked at 25 different types of surgeries conducted between 2007 and 2019only about 151,000 of a total of nearly 1.2 million procedures had been conducted by women.

In the study, Wallis and his colleagues tracked 90-day and one-year outcomes for all patients.

Data was first compiled on a "composite outcome" that included deaths, hospital readmissions and/or complications. According to the study, nearly 14% of patients treated by male surgeons experienced at least one of these events within 90 days, compared to just 12.5% of people operated on by a woman.

At one year post-surgery, 25% of the patients of male surgeons had experienced such an event, compared to just under 21% of those treated by women. When it came to deaths, 2.4% of patients who'd been operated on by a man were deceased by one year post-surgery, compared to 1.6% of those who'd had a female surgeon.

The second study, focused on gallbladder operations, was led by Dr. My Blohm, a surgeon at Mora Hospital in Sweden.

It focused on more than 150,500 patients who underwent elective or emergency gallbladder surgeries between 2006 and 2019. Patient outcomes were tracked for 30 days after their procedures.

Again, the team found that female surgeons tended to spend more time on a surgeryan average 100 minutes for an elective procedure versus an average of 89 minutes for men.

Maybe that extra time and attention paid off for patients: For elective procedures, patients operated on by male surgeons had 28% longer hospital stays and a 66% higher odds for bleeding complications, compared to patients operated on by a female surgeon, Blohm's team reported.

So why would a surgeon's gender matter?

"Personal characteristics and attitudes are difficult to study, but probably affect outcomes," the Swedish group wrote.

"This study's important finding that female surgeons may perform safer operations and operate more slowly indicates that caution might be a favorable quality," they added.

However, women still comprise a small minority of surgeons in Sweden and elsewhere, the team noted. They hope that their new findings "will encourage young female physicians to choose a surgical specialty."

Wallis' group in Toronto agreed. Despite data showing that women equal or even surpass men as surgeons, "women continue to be marginalized in the workplace in many ways," they concluded. "To provide the best patient care, organizations should support women physicians and learn how they accomplish these improved outcomes."

More information: Christopher J. D. Wallis et al, Surgeon Sex and Long-Term Postoperative Outcomes Among Patients Undergoing Common Surgeries, JAMA Surgery (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamasurg.2023.3744 My Blohm et al, Differences in Cholecystectomy Outcomes and Operating Time Between Male and Female Surgeons in Sweden, JAMA Surgery (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamasurg.2023.3736 Journal information: JAMA Surgery

Copyright  2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Through vehicles on Interstate 5, through packages disguised as merchandise from abroad, or through smugglers traveling north, fentanyl has poured into the Puget Sound area.

In the past couple of years, the symptoms of this crisis have become more apparent: Overdose deaths involving fentanyl have surged, less deadly opioids have decreased in demand, and policymakers are debating how to combat the epidemic.

But why and how fentanyl is showing up in force in Seattle now, after years of ravaging the East Coast, is less obvious.

Seattle police did not respond to repeated requests to explain the supply chain they are seeing. But court records from cases in Kent, Spanaway and Marysville demonstrate how a sophisticated network of international drug-trafficking organization operatives manufacture, transport and distribute fentanyl in Washington.

From China to Marysville

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Los Angeles inspected a package shipped from China in June 2022. The package was declared as coming from Changsha, China, but had a "third party" return address on it in California. The package was addressed to Jose Garnica in Marysville.

It was labeled "furniture parts," but contained dies for use in a pill press.

Washington's fentanyl pills often start as chemicals manufactured in China and are shipped with false labeling, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Commonly, the raw ingredients are shipped to Mexico to be pressed into pills or powder, and then smuggled across the southwest border up the Interstate 5 corridor, said Jake Galvan, acting special agent in charge of the DEA Seattle Field Division.

In this case, the Marysville man manufactured the pills himself in a rental home.

Garnica, working with his co-conspirator Lauren Wilson, intended to use the dies to make pills that look like oxycodone, an opioid prescription painkiller that has a high addiction risk.

The M30 pilltypically small, round and pale blueis one of the most common forms that street fentanyl takes. They can look nearly identical to actual oxycodone.

Homeland Security investigators searched the man's property and found he had received five other packages from China.

The investigators also found 27 guns and 55 pounds of fentanyl in the home.

Investigators also found finished M30 pills packaged in "large brick-shaped bundles" they believe were manufactured in Mexico and then smuggled into the U.S., according to the court documents.

"This is one of the largest fentanyl seizures in the district," U.S. District Judge Tana Lin said during Garnica's sentencing hearing in June. "[The suspect] had so much fentanyl a hazmat team had to be called in."

The drug's powders, likely spread by the HVAC system, covered the residence.

The Marysville man was sentenced to 15 years in prison in June after pleading guilty to conspiracy to manufacture and deliver controlled substances, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

'Any manner that you can think of'

Federal law enforcement officials say fentanyl traffickers are transporting drugs by sea, air and car, and through social media.

"They're smuggled through in any manner that you can think of," said Galvan at the DEA.

While testifying before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations earlier this year, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said the agency's priority is targeting the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels. The cartels, Milgram said, have associates and brokers operating in every state, and control the majority of the global supply chain from manufacture to distribution.

Fentanyl took over heroin as the dominant market in the Seattle area about 1 1/2 to two years ago, said Dr. Caleb Banta-Green, a research professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Most people, particularly young adults and their parents, are familiar with the headlines about fentanyl but don't fully grasp the dangers, he said.

Many people are still trying to buy illicit, highly addictive opioid pills, not knowing most are tainted with fentanyl, like the ones the Marysville man was producing.

"Every instance in which they found a M30 at a death scene, there was never oxycodone present. ... It was always fentanyl," Banta-Green said.

Unless someone gets M30 pills from a pharmacy, Banta-Green said, it's almost guaranteed the pill they obtained contains fentanyl.

DEA testing has found that an average of 6 of 10 fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills contain a potentially lethal dose, Milgram said.

The fake pills are often sold online, targeting young people. While open air drug marketslike the area around Third and Pineare traditionally thought of as dealers' playgrounds, DEA special agent Galvan said every distributor mastered social media use after the pandemic.

"Cartels have maximized their influence on social media because of the anonymity and amount of users it can reach out to," he said.

The results are deadly. Nearly four people a day in King County die from a fentanyl-related overdose.

"The user's lives, as well as the lives of their families and friends, will never be the same," began a federal prosecutor's sentencing memo for a fentanyl dealer in a Western Washington court case. It's a refrain prosecutors often repeat in cases involving the drug.

An intricate web

Once in the U.S., drug-trafficking organizations rely on scores of distributors and dealers, many of whom use the drugs they sell or have a history of drug-related convictions.

Undercover confidential sources bought meth and fentanyl several times over the course of a year from drug-trafficking leader Jose Alfredo Maldonado-Ramirez and his associates. He and his girlfriend, Iris Amador-Garcia, were distributing in other regions across the nation.

Interstate couriers often transported the drugs in rental cars. The couple was helped by family members in Mexico, Washington, California and New York.

Drug-trafficking organization leaders are often heavily armed with illegally procured firearms for protection.

Maldonado-Ramirez also attempted to trade tens of thousands of fentanyl pills for semi-automatic rifles from DEA confidential sources. He stored the pills with other drugs and firearms at his apartment and storage unit in Kent.

Drug-trafficking operatives were captured on bank and ATM surveillance cameras depositing portions of the cash they got from selling drugs. The cartels use U.S.-based money-laundering organizations.

Maldonado-Ramirez and his fellow drug-trafficking leaders spawned a larger network. They supplied drugs to redistributors who then sold smaller quantities directly to users or to other distributors.

Intercepted communications show how one redistributor, a 61-year-old Spanaway, Pierce County, resident, would then distribute supplied drugs to local sellersmany of whom were addicted to the drugs they sell. The volume was high, with the Spanaway resident selling often in pounds rather than ounces.

Fentanyl's effects wear off quicker than those of other opioids. Many people addicted to the drug say they must use every 20 minutes or so, or they will start to feel a craving or withdrawal.

Maldonado-Ramirez and his co-conspirators were indicted as part of a large investigation into his network in Western Washington. Many of those indicted have pleaded guilty.

As fentanyl floods the market, putting those criminals away slows distribution. But it may not be enough to stop motivated cartels from continuing to spread the incredibly addictive drug even further.

"The cartel is doing this on purpose," Galvan said. "They're putting the fentanyl in there because they want to drive addiction."

2023 The Seattle Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Results from a study just released by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health show major inequities in the location of lead service lines across New York City. Communities with large numbers of Hispanic/Latino residents and those with children who are already highly vulnerable to lead exposure from numerous sources are disproportionately impacted by water service lines that may contain lead. The study findings are published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. Even at lower levels of exposure, lead is associated with impaired cognitive function, attention-related behavioral problems, and diminished academic performance. Lead service lines are a significant source of lead to drinking water, even when source water contains no lead.

Out of over 850,000 residential service line records analyzed, over 136,000 (16%) were potentially made of lead, and over 227,000 (27%) were made of an unknown material, which could also include lead. In total, over 40% of service lines in the city could contain lead.

The largest absolute number of potential lead and unknown service lines were in Brooklyn (91,377) and Queens (66,508), respectively. Relative to other boroughs, a larger proportion of service lines with potential lead were in the Bronx (21%) and Queens (20.5%); Brooklyn had the largest proportion of service lines made of unknown material that might also contain lead (33%).

The researchers determined whether service lines that could contain lead were evenly distributed throughout New York City. The researchers established that communities with higher proportions of Hispanic/Latino residents had a higher prevalence of service lines that could contain lead. The researchers also identified that potential lead service lines were also more likely to impact communities where children were already highly vulnerable to lead from all sources, including paint, dust, and water.

"Our objective was to evaluate whether the location of lead service lines was associated with community race, ethnicity, and child vulnerability to total lead exposure," said Anne Nigra, Ph.D., assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia Public Health. "Our goal was to help inform equitable interventions, especially the replacement of all lead service lines. These findings support that policy makers in NYC and NY State should consider these inequities in lead service line locations when prioritizing lead service line replacement efforts. They should work to immediately identify and replace all lead service lines."

The researchers also found differences within boroughs of the city. Specifically, potential lead service lines were associated with higher proportions of non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Asian residents in the Bronx and Manhattan, and higher proportions of non-Hispanic Black residents in Queens.

Although the U.S. EPA Lead and Copper Rule requires public water systems to conduct routine compliance monitoring for lead at taps throughout the distribution system and intervene to reduce lead corrosion, current regulations are inadequate to reduce water lead exposure and eliminate racial/ethnic disparities in water lead exposure, according to the researchers.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 allocated billions of dollars to improving drinking water quality across the US, but individual states set the prioritization criteria for determining which municipalities receive funding for lead service line replacement efforts. Under NYS's current lead service line replacement program, municipalities are prioritized for funding if those municipalities are low income (median household income <150% of regional average), are likely to have a high number of lead services lines (500 or more homes constructed before 1939), and have a high percentage of children with elevated blood lead levels (>0.5% children with blood level >5 g/dL.

"The high number of service lines that might contain lead in residential buildings throughout NYC and the significant inequities in lead service line prevalence underscores the importance of prioritizing lead service line replacement for the most impacted communities," noted Nigra. "Our findings suggest that NYC communities with known potential for child lead exposure from paint and dust may also be highly vulnerable to water lead from lead service lines."

Nigra and colleagues point out that numerous studies have called for justice-oriented interventions and policies that protect the most highly exposed communities. And while advancing environmental justice necessitates that all lead service lines should be identified and replaced, efforts should also prioritize the most impacted communities. "Improvements to public health demands attention to all potential lead sources, including water, soil, and paint.," observed Nigra.

"Future analyses in New York and around the nation should consider the pathways through which these inequities arose, including assessing differential disinvestment by neighborhood and patterns of residential segregation."

Co-authors are Wil Lieberman-Cribbin, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health; Benjamin C. Bostick and Steven N. Chillrud, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University; and Daniel Carrion, Yale University School of Public Health.
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Credit: AI-generated image

Aging populations, growing regional communities and an exhausted workforce are among the factors contributing to a chronic nurse shortage in regional and rural Australia.

With regional hospitals experiencing high workloads and funding pressures, additional staff supports for early career nurses may not be the highest priority. Yet retaining graduate nurses is vital and a University of South Australia study has shortlisted a range of strategiessuggested by the nurses themselveswhich require minimal cost or time and can be implemented locally.

Modeling suggests Australia could be short of 123,000 nurses by 2030. The current and forecasted shortage hits hardest in rural and regional areasan issue the current National Nursing Workforce Strategy is addressing as one of its four key priorities.

Rural and regional hospitals compete with more popular metropolitan sites for graduating nurses, so understanding the needs and preferences of those working in the regions is criticalhowever research has been minimal.

The recent UniSA study bridges this gap and provides valuable insights on what early career registered nurses believe will improve nurse retention in the regions.

The study, "Addressing the challenges of early career rural nursing to improve job satisfaction and retention: Strategies new nurses think would help," was undertaken by Heidi Rose, Dr. Gemma Skaczkowski and Associate Professor Kate Gunn. It has been published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Rose, a clinical nurse herself based at Mount Gambier, says nurses who participated in the study worked in regional areas across SA, QLD and WA.

"The aspects of regional work they enjoyed included better opportunities for broader work scope and job progression," Rose says.

"They also liked the more personal connection with patients that often comes from working in smaller communities, and the community connection."

She says transitioning from study to a busy health care setting can be challenging for any health worker, and the study found this pressure was exacerbated for regional nurses.

"Early career nurses in rural areas often have additional stresses, including those inherent in moving house and leaving family and friends behind to establish a new social network. There is also a smaller workforce to share the load, which can translate to less time spent on orientation and training, and longer work hours.

"Study participants suggested additional workplace supports would make the transition easier, including assistance finding accommodation and transport, and facilitating more social gatherings.

"On the job, they said more time on orientation activities, more contact with clinical facilitators and mentors, and more opportunities for clinical education were important.

"Greater flexibility in work hours and rostering was also a factor, together with having more say in clinical specialty rotations."

Dr. Gemma Skaczkowski says many hospitals are overwhelmed and their capacity to implement new staff support programs and interventions is likely to be limited.

"However, improving the experiences of early career nurses is vital to keep them in rural areas, and prevent further workforce shortages," Dr. Skaczkowski says.

"Pleasingly, many of the strategies suggested by nurses in our study could be actioned at a local level, with little time or financial investment.

"Further research to examine which of these strategies may be most feasible and impactful in practice would be useful."

The study involved 13 early career registered nurses working in outer regional, remote or very remote Australian hospitals, who had graduated from a Bachelor of Nursing program between 2018 and 2020. All participants were female, with 11 located in South Australia.

More information: Heidi Rose et al, Addressing the challenges of early career rural nursing to improve job satisfaction and retention: Strategies new nurses think would help, Journal of Advanced Nursing (2023). DOI: 10.1111/jan.15636 Journal information: Journal of Advanced Nursing
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Graphical Abstract. Credit: Cell Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113007

The human immune system is adaptive, remembering past infections and training itself to guard against future similar infections. But what happens when people have compromised immune systems due to chronic conditions, aging, or medications that decrease immunity as a side effect? In such cases, people can get opportunistic infections, so called because the germs causing illness would have been eradicated by a fully healthy immune system.

Conditions and medicines causing immune suppression are on the rise, and so are patients experiencing opportunistic infection. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine have uncovered a sex-based variance in the trained immune memory response to infection in mice that might translate to humans.

The researchers found that female mice were more vulnerable to opportunistic infection from a bacterial pathogen to which they had previously been exposed when progesterone levels were naturally elevated as part of their reproductive cycle. Their study is published in the journal Cell Reports.

"Differences in immune response in males and females have been observed before. For instance, males had increased morbidity and severity of COVID-19 from SARS-CoV-2 infections," said Dr. Adam Schrum, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. "But females are known to suffer other infections worse than males. Our research found that female mice were far more vulnerable to opportunistic bacterial infection than male mice because of a sex-based difference in their trained immunity."

To understand why the immune systems of female and male mice responded differently to a bacterial pathogen, the researchers examined whether the reproductive cycle affected immune training. They found that elevated progesterone levels correlated with lower trained immune responses. To test this more fully, the researchers gave the female mice progesterone blockers and found that their trained immune response was subsequently enhanced.

"The female mice had significantly restored trained immune response when progesterone was blocked, reaching comparable levels to those of male mice," said Schrum. "Sex hormone-based modulation of immune function needs more study to be fully understood, but as a first step we can conclude that immune training is influenced by a progesterone-dependent mechanism that results in a sex bias in mice."

In addition to further study to understand how and why progesterone specifically influences trained immune responses in mice, the researchers pointed out that because mice have shorter estrous cycles than the human menstrual cycle, further research is needed to understand how sex hormones might affect human immune training.

More information: Alexander P. Earhart et al, Lower female survival from an opportunistic infection reveals progesterone-driven sex bias in trained immunity, Cell Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113007 Journal information: Cell Reports
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Scientists around the world are growing more concerned about a newly emerging subvariant of the SARS-CoV-2 virusnamed BA.2.86 and referred to generically as "Pirola"according to Mun-Keat Loo, international features editor for the medical journal BMJ.

In his paper published on the site, Loo says that research conducted thus far on the variant suggests it has such a high number of mutations that it could neutralize the immune systems of people who have been infected with other earlier variants of the virus.

In his paper, Loo also notes that some in the field, such as Francois Balloux, with University College London's Genetics Institute, are calling the new strain the most striking SARS-CoV-2 subvariant to develop since omicron.

Media outlets have reported that genetic sequencing of the new strain has been conducted on blood samples of infected people in the U.S., the U.K., Israel and Denmark. And the circumstances surrounding such infections suggest that they were not connected, which means that the variant has become established in those countries and likely many others.

Loo notes that Balloux also pointed out that the genetic diversity found in the new variant suggests it has been circulating for several months. He notes also that all of its 30-plus mutations have been found in its spike protein, which is the part used to gain entry and infect other cells. Such mutations, he adds, could allow for neutralizing antibodies.

Research thus far has shown that BA.2.86 arose from the omicron variant and that it has 34 more mutations than its closest relative. Loo also spoke with Kristian Andersen, with the Scripps Research Institute, who told him that she and her team have found that the new variant has most if not all the features that suggest it could become a dominant strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Notably, the variant is still so new that no one really knows how virulent it is as it continues to mutate. No one knows yet whether its symptoms will be worse than prior variants, eitheror how effective current vaccines may be against it. In any case, Loo suggests that governments around the world start to pay better attention to the new variant and perhaps, at the very least, to start monitoring infection numbers, hospitalizations, and deaths again.

 2023 Science X Network
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Almost half of mobile phones tested at the height of the pandemic were contaminated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, bolstering a theory that the devices supercharged the spread of COVID-19.

Bond University conducted a systematic review of 15 studies from 10 countries that examined mobile phones for SARS-CoV-2 contamination in hospital settings between 2019 and 2023. The findings are published in the Journal of Infection and Public Health.

Of 511 phones, 231 (45%) tested positive for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19.

In one 2022 study in France, 19 out of 19 phones were contaminated with the virus.

Lead researcher Dr. Lotti Tajouri, an Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at Bond University, said he believed the systematic review provided a compelling explanation for the swift spread of COVID-19 around the world despite strict control measures including lockdowns, border closures, social distancing and masking.

Previous research established that the SARS-Cov-2 virus remained viable on glass surfaces such as mobile phones for up to 28 days.

Dr. Tajouri said that with more than seven billion mobile phones in use worldwide, the devices effectively served as a "third hand."

"You can wash your hands as many times as you want but as soon as you touch your mobile phone, you cross-contaminate yourself all over again," Dr. Tajouri said.

"Mobile phones are in the hands of billions of individuals, negating lifesaving hand-washing practices and might be responsible for carrying these viruses all around the world.

"In an earlier study we did in a hospital pediatric intensive care unit and pediatric emergency ward, we found 11,163 microbes on 26 health care workers' mobile phones, with pathogenic viruses and antibiotic-resistant bacteria," Dr. Tajouri said.

Authors of the systematic review recommended enclosed ultraviolet-C light phone sanitizers be installed near hand-washing stations in high-risk environments such as hospitals, restaurants, cruise ships, airports, child and aged-care facilities.

"Take the health care sector as an example. If nurses and doctors use mobile phones in these settings and they don't know those mobile phones are contaminated, they are going to bring microbes to their supposedly clean hands," Dr. Tajouri said.

"When they touch then vulnerable patients, they might transmit those viruses to these fragile and immunocompromised individuals."

UV-C light kills germs by damaging microbial DNA, and commercial UV-C phone sanitizers can disinfect a phone in 5-10 seconds.

"The future of infection control is technology driven," Dr. Tajouri said.

"I would like to see the UV-C phone sanitizers at least in health care settings, but I would love to see them even in areas like public toilets and bathrooms, in hotels and public spaces."

Dr. Tajouri said he became interested in researching germs on mobile phones while supporting his wife in hospital during a breech birth.

"I saw in the (operating) theater health care workers with mobile phones and gloves on, taking care of my wife.

"This is when I started to think, oh my God, there is something wrong with mobile phones in those settings."

This is the first systematic review to focus on mobile phone contamination with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

More information: Matthew Olsen et al, Do mobile phone surfaces carry SARS-CoV-2 VIRUS? A systematic review warranting the inclusion of a "6th" moment of hand hygiene in healthcare, Journal of Infection and Public Health (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2023.08.017

Provided by Bond University
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Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of racial disparities in mortality between Black and white people in the United States. New research from the University of Chicago Medicine suggests that parental incarceration may be contributing to these health gaps.

According to the new study, people who experienced a parent or parental figure's incarceration anytime before the age of 18 had higher levels of hypertension and coronary disease biomarkers than people whose parents were not incarcerated. These results indicate that mass incarceration may have transgenerational health consequences.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are difficult experiences that have been associated with long-term effects on physical and psychological health. The incarceration of a parental figure is an ACE that disproportionally affects marginalized communities, but its physical impacts have been understudied.

"There was very little data on its association with cardiovascular risks," said Elizabeth Tung, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at UChicago and the lead author on the study. "We set out to fill that gap in understanding."

The researchers analyzed data from over 9,600 young adults between the ages of 33 and 44 in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health)a robust, nationally representative dataset. They found that a staggering 14.1% of all participants and 21.4% of Black participants reported having been exposed to incarceration of a parent or parental figure during childhood.

Tung notes that these figures reflect mass incarceration rates in the 1980s and 1990s, when study participants were less than 18 years old. These people were more likely than their peers to develop hypertension in adulthood, and they had higher levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a marker of inflammation that health experts use to estimate risk of future coronary events.

The researchers did not find a correlation between parental incarceration and other markers of cardiovascular risk they examined, such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia and heart disease. However, Tung pointed out that these markers are more likely to emerge in middle age and beyond, whereas hypertension tends to emerge in young adulthoodthe age group examined in this study.

"From a societal perspective, it's important to consider our approach to incarceration in the U.S. and how racial disparities in incarceration may be contributing to health disparities," said Tung. She pointed out that there are multiple areas where resources can prove helpful to families affected by incarceration.

Legal aid partners can provide legal support and also connect families to social services and public benefits, which may in turn be able to address some of the economic insecurities that often arise. On the health care side, clinicians can offer family counseling and mental health resources to affected children.

Health care and policy groups alike have shown an increasing interest in social determinants of health: non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. Clinicians who screen for social determinants of health in order to inform patient care tend to ask questions about things like housing and food insecurity.

Tung said her group's findings should encourage health care practitioners to factor in the impact of parental incarceration, which is unfortunately prevalent at similar levels to other social determinants of health. However, she acknowledged that this line of inquiry may be less accepted due to the stigma currently associated with incarceration.

"As a society, we have a responsibility to destigmatize parental incarceration to remove shame-based pressures and instead address these issues with a focus on public health rather than criminality," said Tung.

Further research from this group will seek to explore connections between parental incarceration and other critical dimensions of public health, including social isolation and mental health outcomes such as suicidality.

The study, "Childhood Parental Incarceration and Adult-Onset Hypertension and Cardiovascular Risk" was published in JAMA Cardiology.

More information: Childhood Parental Incarceration and Adult-Onset Hypertension and Cardiovascular Risk, JAMA Cardiology (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamacardio.2023.2672 Journal information: JAMA Cardiology